Martial, : the twelve books of Epigrams,.

BOOK SEVEN
Other youths with a thick-eared old boxer you see
And a filthy masseur takes his scarcely-earned fee;
But you don't prepare for your bath with a ballWhether bladder or feather or solid withalNor strike with blunt sword at some poor dummy image,
Nor darting with speed snatch the ball from the scrimmage,
Nor yet waste your time at the wrestler's toil
With arms set akimbo all covered with oil.
You go for a run where the clear Virgo flows
Or where Europe's bull in the portico shows.
To trifle with games in a square, I confess,
When one might take a run, is just sheer idleness.
* XXXIII
TO CINNA
YoUR toga is filthy, your shoes white as snow;
But your toga hangs down so your feet do not show.
Pull it up, silly fellow, and let them appear:
As it is their effect is quite wasted, I fear.
* XXXIV
ON THE BATHS OF CHARINUS
How is it, you ask, that a rascal so low,
As Charinus could yet this one service bestow?
I'll explain. Was not Nero a monster confessed,
Yet are not his baths still accounted the best?
At this some base knave with a sly sneering nod
May remark-' To the gifts of our master and god
You prefer something else '-Nay, that is your vile fancy.
I preferred Nero's baths to the baths of a Nancy.
XXXV
INGUINA succinctus nigra tibi seruos aluta
Stat, quotiens calidis tota foueris aquis.
Sed meus, ut de me taceam, Laecania, seruos
Iudaeum nuda sub cute pondus habet,
Sed nudi tecum iuuenesque senesque lauantur.
An sola est serui mentula uera tui?
Ecquid femineos sequeris, matrona, recessus,
Secretusque tua, cunne, lauaris aqua?
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