Martial, : the twelve books of Epigrams,.

MARTIAL'S EPIGRAMS
IV
TO DOMITIAN
CAESAR, if thou shouldst read what I have writ,
Wear not the frown a world doth quake to see;
Even in triumphs may the soldiers' wit
Flow unreproved, aye tho' they jest at thee;
But let the smile thou grantest Thymele,
Or gay Latinus, deck thy brow serene;
From censure may my harmless mirth be free,
My page is wanton but my life is clean.
V
THE EMPEROR'S REPLY
I SHOWED a pageant of the sea
And in return you send to me
Your wretched lines, you mocker;
Perhaps for this reward you look,
That I should send both bard and book
To Davy Jones' locker.
VI
THE HARE AND THE LIONS
SAFELY the Eagle bore young Ganymede
In careful talons through the empty air;
So now the lions hear their Quarry plead,
Safe in their mighty jaws doth sport the hare!
A God of power supreme each marvel wroughtIs Jove's or Caesar's greater in thy thought?
VII
THE RIVALS
ALTHOUGH Verona hears, I dare to say
That Stella's lovely cushat soars above
The pretty sparrow of Catullus' love.
Aye, lesser is thy singer's vaunted lay
As is the sparrow lesser than the dove.
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