Martial, : the twelve books of Epigrams,.

BOOK TEN

LXVII
ON AN OLD WOMAN'S GRAIVE
SHE saw the flood in Noah's time,
To Cush she acted foster-mother,
But she was rather past her prime
When Milcah flourished and her brother;
With reverence seemly in a sage
Old Abram spoke of her as ' Granny ',
And it was in her middle age
That Isaac loved to call her ' Nanny'.
No hoary crow her years surpassed,
But still a mate we don't deny her:
Here lies she-amorous to the lastWith Jacob's oldest shepherd by her.
* LXVIII
TO A LADY WHO APES FOREIGN FASHIONS
You were not born in Paris nor yet Armentieres,
And you live in a flat near Park Lane, it appears.
Your father I know was a native of Thame,
And your simple old mother from Somerset came;
Yet though you're as English as honest Queen Bess,
As ' cheri ' and ' mon chou' all your men you address.
A couch is the place for such phrases as these,
When a maiden is anxious her lover to please.
Perhaps you would learn like our matrons to speak,
And ways of allurement to win lovers seek?
Well, though you may practise the tricks of Paree,
You will never a Madame de Pompadour be.
* LXIX
THE BREECHES-WEARER
WHEN a wife keeps her man under close lock and key
And herself goes wherever she will;
I think in this case every one will agree
That Jack is the lady not Jill.
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