Martial, : the twelve books of Epigrams,.

BOOK EIGHT
* XLVIII
A WARNING
CRISPINUS was changing his dress yesterday
And handed his cloak to a stranger, they say.
Please return it, good sir, and we'll count it a joke:
It is not Crispinus who asks, but the cloak.
With commonplace wearers that stuff will not go,
Its Syrian purple requires a beau.
If you're just out for plunder and don't want it known,
The next time you try, lay your hands on a gown.
* XLIX
ON ASPER
FOR beauty I'd reckon blind Asper's girl high:
But it's plain that with him it's not lust of the eye.
* L
ON DOMITIAN'S TRIUMPHAL BANQUET
GREAT as the feast in heaven on that night,
Which did proclaim the Giant's fallen might,
When humble godlets could with Jove recline,
And Fauns had leave to call on him for wine:
So great thy victory banquet, Sire, to-day,
When our rejoicings make e'en heaven gay.
Knights, senate, people, all are welcome there,
And with their chieftain taste ambrosial fare.
How has thy looked-for largess been increased:
A dole thou promised and hast given a feast.
* LI
ON AN EMBOSSED BOWL
WHENCE comes this bowl, by Mys or Myron made,
By Mentor or by Polycleitus graved?
No leaden spots upon its surface stay,
Nor cloudy mass that fears the fire's assay.
Its golden ore more bright than amber gleams,
Its frosted silver snow-white ivory seems.
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