Martial, : the twelve books of Epigrams,.

BOOK NINE

But, if you ask my private view,
The best of all is that where you
Are not required to listen to
A damned musician.
LXXVIII
ON PICENTINUS' MARRIAGE WITH GALLA
SEVEN husbands she got,
Made away with the lot,
And has buried them all-but I know
That as you're number eight,
She has not long to wait
Before she rejoins them-below.
* LXXIX
ON DOMITIAN'S HOUSEHOLD
THE servants once who stood at Caesar's board
In the proud palace were by Rome abhorred.
But now your men to all, Sire, are so dear
That our own households are our second care;
So deferential are they and so kind,
Such modest calm in every face we find.
Each page takes pattern by his master's ways
And not his own, but Caesar's, mood displays.
* LXXX
A BAD BARGAIN
POOR John in his youth was so very sharp-set,
He married a grand dame for what he could get.
To-day he discovers there's plenty to do;
For he has both to feed her and fondle her too.
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