Martial, : the twelve books of Epigrams,.

BOOK SEVEN

No Spanish plate in complimecnt,
No dainty robe or cloak I sent,
Your ' generous ' dinner to requite;
'Tis gifts not friends that you invite.
Now you will say, ' That wretched slave
Forgot my note; I'll beat the knave.
* LXXXVII
PETS
IF Flaccus delights in a long-eared fox-hare,
If Canius dotes on his Libyan fair,
If Publius' darling's a dear little bitch,
And Cronius' a monkey as black as a witch,
If a knavish ichneumon gives Marius pleasure,
And his talking magpie seems to Lausus a treasure,
If Glaucilla entwines round her neck chilly snakes,
Telesilla a tomb for her nightingale makes;
When they find their joy in such monsters as these,
Whom would not the face of fair Labycas please?
LXXXVIII
POETIC GLORY
CAN this be true? In fair Narbonne 'tis said
My books are loved, all boys and sages con them,
Sweet matrons read them openly nor dread
To see a lord austere look sourly on them!
I count it naught so I am praised of these,
Should farthest Nile to me her homage proffer,
Should Hybla and Hymettus feed my bees,
Or gold of Tagus fill my swollen coffer.
For this is fame indeed; my heart was sad
And doubting feared lest flattering might deceive it;
When Lausus damned one song in three as bad
I thought his judgment erred, but now believe it.
LXXXIX
TO APOLLINARIS WITH A ROSE GARLAND
Go happy rose, let thy soft petals bind
Those locks now bright, and if, when they are white
With Time's chill snows, thou still thereon art twined,
May fate be kind, and Venus never slight
The flower she choose, the flower of her delight.
223