Martial, : the twelve books of Epigrams,.

BOOK EIGHT

* LIX
THE MASTER THIEF
Do you see that old fellow with only one eye
And beneath his rogue's brow a big black cavity?
Beware: he's a thief and a hard one to catch;
Autolycus even was scarcely his match.
If he's ever your guest, watch him closely; for then
He revels in plunder and beats two-eyed men.
Your slaves see the cups disappear with dismay,
And ladles and napkins he tucks snug away,
While even your mantle he draws from your arm
And goes off himself with two cloaks nice and warm.
If he sees a poor slave-boy asleep by the side
Of his lamp, he will steal it: he's no proper pride.
And if all else fail, lest his cunning he lose,
He will stealthily filch from his man his own shoes.
LX
ON CLAUDIA
'SHE'S just of the Colossus' height,' say you?
Were she a cubit shorter, 'twould be true.
LXI
ON CHARINUS
HE'S pale with rage, to bursting he is nigh enough,
With angry spite he cannot rave or cry enough,
He'd hang himself on any bough that's high enough.
'Tis not my world-wide fame that makes him furious,
Nor my repute at home he holds injurious,
Nor yet my scrolls in form and hue luxurious;
I have a little house-'tis no aspiring one,
A summer cot, a modest and retiring one;
I buy the mules I ride, instead of hiring one;
Hence all this angry spite, what can one say for it?
What evil curses imprecate and pray for it?
Would my estate were his, then he should pay for it.
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