Martial, : the twelve books of Epigrams,.

MARTIAL'S EPIGRAMS

* LV
TO CHRESTUS
THOUGH yOU send me no presents I'd not care a bit
If it were not that Tom, Dick, and Harry, and Kit
Get plenty. The next time you play dirty tricks,
I'll ask you on some Jewish gentry to fix.
* LVI
TO RABIRIUS, ARCHITECT OF
DOMILTIA N'S PALACE
To heaven thou must in thought at least have come
Who didst design our Emperor's palace home.
Were Phidian Jove due lodging to receive,
Pisa would beg our God thy aid to give.
LVII
LADY'S FA VOURS
HE was great with the gloves, but the lady he loves
Said boxing must now be deserted;
A Knight she has made him, and so has displayed him
As Pollux to Castor converted.
* LVIII
TO GALLA.
Six or seven young Nancies already you've wed,
Allured by their beards and their neatly-brushed head.
You test and you try them and find that each one
Falls very much short and is much too soon done.
So you give him the go-by and try a fresh sheet;
Only there once again disappointment to meet.
You had better endeavour a sage to discover
With rough, shaggy hair, if you want a true lover.
And even with them you may light on a Nan:
It is hard for a lady to find a real man.
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