Martial, : the twelve books of Epigrams,.

MARTIAL'S EPIGRAMS

A ravening bird would be preferred to you, Antiochus.
Pentheus would flee to Agave, that mother infamous,
Or Orpheus face the Maenad race-but not Antiochus.
I've lost the skin from cheek and chin, the cause would you
discuss?
It was not strife or frenzied wife-it was Antiochus!
Old pugilists from other's fists are oft disfigured thus;
But I am marred and mauled and scarred all by Antiochus.
The goat alone hath wisdom shown, more sensible than us,
He grew a beard because he feared to meet Antiochus!
LXXXV
SIDERE percussa est subito tibi, Zoile, lingua,
Dum lingis. Certe, Zoile, nunc futuis.
LXXXVI
THE GREEDY PATIENT
To heal your throat and give your cough relief
The doctor put you on a pleasant diet,
Sweet kernels, honey, cakes-the things, in brief,
We give to noisy boys to keep them quiet.
That cough goes on-the treatment seems no use for it —
'Tis greed, my friend, and coughing the excuse of it!
LXXXVII
DIUES erat quondam: sed tunc pedico fuisti
Et tibi nulla diu femina nota fuit.
Nunc sectaris anus. O quantum cogit egestas!
Illa fututorem te, Charideme, facit.
LXXXVIII
MULTIS iam, Lupe, posse se diebus
Pedicare negat Charisianus.
Causam cur modo quaererent sodales,
Uentrem dixit habere se solutum.
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