Martial, : the twelve books of Epigrams,.

MARTIAL'S EPIGRAMS
XII
TO REGULUS
NEAR to Alcides' town, cool Tivoli,
White Albula doth spread her misty mere,
And close, at the fourth milestone, thou shalt see
An holy grove and fields to Muses dear;
A farm with rugged porch for shade was here
That nigh had wrought a dreadful deed-ah me
So suddenly it fell!-And thou wert near,
Scarce from beneath thy steeds had carried thee!
I wot that even Fortune shrank aghast
From crime so foul, lest hate should be her meed.
Now is that ruin gain: for perils past
Are things of price to all that give them heed,
Dear Regulus, for had thy roof stood fast,
It had not proved that there are Gods indeed.
* XIII
ARRIA AND PAETUS
WHEN Arria, that model wife,
Drew from her breast the blood-stained knife' This does not hurt, dear lord,' she said,
' 'Tis of your hurt I am afraid.'
* XIV
THE HARE AND THE LIONS
THE other day we witnessed, Sire, a very funny thing,
When lions wantoned merrily and sported in the ring,
The while a hare leaped gaily forth from out their open jaws
And gambolled with the fearsome beasts amid our loud
applause.
We wondered how the captured prey escaped the lions wild
Till we were told that they were yours-and so of course were
mild.
XV
TO HIS FRIEND
AH Julius mine, I count no friend more dear,
So faithful love and friendship have we known;
And now your sixtieth consulate is near,
Ilow few the days that you can call your own;
Defer not joy, but claim the past alone;
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