Martial, : the twelve books of Epigrams,.

BOOK TWELVE
PREFACE
VALERIUS MARTIALIS to his friend PRISCUS
GREETING
I am aware that I owe you some sort of defence against a charge
of most obstinate indolence persisting for three years, an indolence
which could not be condoned even in one immersed in the engagements of city life, in which we more easily succeed in being a
nuisance to our friends than an assistance to thlem. Still less
is it excusable when one lives inl this provincial desolation in
which, unless a man spend his time in actually excessive study,
he has no consolation nor any excuse for having riunl away from
Rome.-Hear then my verses, wherein the chief and primary
point is that I miss that cultured city audience to which I was
accustomed, and feel as though I were conducting a lawsuit `in
a foreign court: for if there be anything pleasing in my books
it is my hearers who put it there.
That critical delicacy, that inspiration drawn from one's
surroundings, the libraries, theatres, and associations with msien
wherein pleasure learns without feeling that it is learninig, those
things, in a word, which I left in a mood of fastidiousness, I
long for now, as though I were deserted. Besides this, there is
the backbiting, typical of provincials; the envy that takes the
place of balanced judgment, and the fact that, in a paltry little
place like this, one or two malicious persons are as bad as a host
elsewhere.-In the face of this, it is not easy always to maintaint
good-humozur you need not wonder, therefore, that I abandon in
disgust occupations which I used to follow with relish. But noz,
you are coming from Rome and youf ask me for my work, and
that I might not meet you with a refitsal-although, in giving
you all I can, I am by no means clearing my debt of gratitude
to you-I laid upon myself as a duty the task I used to perform
as a pleasure, and devoted just a few days to it, so that I might
spread, as it were, a welcoming banquet before your ears which
are always so very friendly to mle. I only desire for these
verses, which with you alone run no risk of disapproval, that
you weigh their merits carefully and examirnc them without
reluctance-also (though this is very difficult in your case) that
in dealing with my trifles you will put aside all the glamour of
friendship, lest I should send to Rome-that is if you decide that
I ought to send-a book that not only comes froml the provinces,
but is utterly provincial.

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