Martial, : the twelve books of Epigrams,.

BOOK EIGHT
VII
A GIFT OF SILENCE
YOUR skill, your eloquence, are vast indeed,
One word an hour suffices you-or less;
Yet for extended time you loudly plead:
How great your golden gift of speechlessness!
* VIII
DOMITIAN'S RETURN
THOUGH, Janus, you begin the flying year
And ages long renew when you appear;
Though vows and incense first to you we pay,
And consuls at your feet their offerings lay;
More joy is yours to know that in your time
Our God returns to Rome from northern clime.
IX
A4 FAIR OFFER
HYLAS, one quarter of his eyesight gone,
Proposed to pay three quarters of your fee;
But now one eye is ruined, whereupon
He says he'll pay you half: if you agree,
Close with the offer quick ere worse befall,
Or soon, stone-blind, he will not pay at all.
X
A BARGAIN
His cloak is brand-new, the best Tyrian hue,
He has got a good bargain I know.
'Was it cheap? ' do you say? Well, of course, he won't pay,
And what is ten thousand-to owve?
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