Martial, : the twelve books of Epigrams,.

BOOK TWO
XXXIX
FINE FEA THERS
You took a woman off the street,
You gave her dresses rich and rare,
And yet the penitential sheet
She might with greater fitness wear.
XL
ON TONGILIUS
AGUE they say! I know what his complaint is,
A case of greed suppressed and thirst unsated:
Exhibit thrushes fat and other dainties;
Red mullets too and pike are indicated;
With fine old port his thirst should be abated,
And rare liqueurs stored in their slender bottlesThe faculty have all miscalculated
Hydropathy won't cure such fevered throttles.
XLI
TO MIA XIMINA
'LAUGH, maiden, laugh, if thou be wise,'Aye, that methinks was Ovid's rede;
And yet not all doth he advise;
But if he spake to all indeed
The poet's saw thou can'st not plead
Who long are past thy maidenhood,
And hast, for teeth to serve thy need,
Three stumps the hue of pitch or wood.
So if thou trust thy glass and me,
Put thoughts of laughter out of mind;
The merry mood is not for thee,
Nor for the fops a blustering wind.
These shun the jostling of their kind,
The beldame with her powdered grace
Fears rain and is not glad to find
Bright sunshine on her painted face.
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