tandem intrat positas inclusa per aequora moles 75
Tyrrhenamque pharon porrectaque bracchia rursum
quae pelago occurrunt medio longeque relincunt
Italiam; non sic igitur mirabere portus
quos natura dedit. sed trunca puppe magister
interiora petit Baianae peruia cumbae 80
tuti stagna sinus, gaudent ubi uertice raso
garrula securi narrare pericula nautae.
[75] And now at length the ship comes within the moles built out to enclose the sea. She passes the Tyrrhenian Pharos, and those arms which stretch out and meet again in mid-ocean, leaving Italy far behind — a port more wondrous far than those of Nature’s making. Then the skipper, with his crippled ship, makes for the still waters of the inner basin in which any Baian shallop may ride in safety. There the sailors shave their heads and delight, in garrulous ease, to tell the story of their perils.
ite igitur, pueri, linguis animisque fauentes
sertaque delubris et farra inponite cultris
ac mollis ornate focos glebamque uirentem. 85
iam sequar et sacro, quod praestat, rite peracto
inde domum repetam, graciles ubi parua coronas
accipiunt fragili simulacra nitentia cera.
hic nostrum placabo Iouem Laribusque paternis
tura dabo atque omnis uiolae iactabo colores. 90
cuncta nitent, longos erexit ianua ramos
et matutinis operatur festa lucernis.
[83] Away then, ye boys, and with reverent tongues and souls hang up garlands upon the shrines, sprinkle meal upon the knives, and deck the soft altars of verdant turf. I will quickly follow, and having duly performed the greater rite, will return thence home, where my little images of shining crumbling wax are being decked with slender wreaths. Here will I entreat my own Jupiter; here will I offer incense to my paternal Lares, and scatter pansies of every hue. Here all is bright; the gateway, in token of feast, has put up trailing branches, and is worshipping with early-lighted lamps.
neu suspecta tibi sint haec, Coruine, Catullus,
pro cuius reditu tot pono altaria, paruos
tres habet heredes. libet expectare quis aegram 95
et claudentem oculos gallinam inpendat amico
tam sterili; uerum haec nimia est inpensa, coturnix
nulla umquam pro patre cadet. sentire calorem
si coepit locuples Gallitta et Pacius orbi,
legitime fixis uestitur tota libellis 100
porticus, existunt qui promittant hecatomben,
quatenus hic non sunt nec uenales elephanti,
nec Latio aut usquam sub nostro sidere talis
belua concipitur, sed furua gente petita
arboribus Rutulis et Turni pascitur agro, 105
Caesaris armentum nulli seruire paratum
priuato, siquidem Tyrio parere solebant
Hannibali et nostris ducibus regique Molosso
horum maiores ac dorso ferre cohortis,
partem aliquam belli, et euntem in proelia turrem. 110
nulla igitur mora per Nouium, mora nulla per Histrum
Pacuuium, quin illud ebur ducatur ad aras
et cadat ante Lares Gallittae uictima sola
tantis digna deis et captatoribus horum.
alter enim, si concedas, mactare uouebit 115
de grege seruorum magna et pulcherrima quaeque
corpora, uel pueris et frontibus ancillarum
inponet uittas et, si qua est nubilis illi
Iphigenia domi, dabit hanc altaribus, etsi
non sperat tragicae furtiua piacula ceruae. 120
[93] Look not askance, Corvinus, upon these rejoicings. The Catullus for whose return I set up all these altars has three little heirs of his own. You may wait long enough before you find anyone to bestow a sickly hen, just closing her eyes, upon so unprofitable a friend; nay, a hen would be all too costly: no quail will ever fall for a man who is a father! But if the rich and childless Gallitta or Pacius have a touch of fever, their entire porticoes will be dressed out with tablets fastened in due form; there will be some to vow hecatombs, not elephants, indeed, seeing that elephants are not for sale, nor does that beast breed in Latium, or anywhere beneath our skies, but is fetched from the dark man’s land, and fed in the Rutulian forest and the domains of Turnus. The herd is Caesar’s,’ and will serve no private master, since their forefathers were wont to obey the Tyrian Hannibal and our generals and the Molossian king, and to carry cohorts on their backs — no small fraction of a war — whole towers going forth to battle! Therefore Novius would not hesitate, Pacuvius Hister2 would not hesitate, to lead that ivoried monster to the altar, and offer it to Gallitta’s Lares, the only victim worthy of such august divinities, and of those who hunt their gold. For the latter worthy, if permitted, will vow to sacrifice the tallest and comeliest of his slaves; he will place fillets on the brows of his slave-boys and maidservants; if he has a marriageable Iphigenia at home, he will place her upon the altar, though he could never hope for the hind of tragic story to provide a secret substitute.
laudo meum ciuem, nec comparo testamento
mille rates; nam si Libitinam euaserit aeger,
delebit tabulas inclusus carcere nassae
post meritum sane mirandum atque omnia soli
forsan Pacuuio breuiter dabit, ille superbus 125
incedet uictis riualibus. ergo uides quam
grande operae pretium faciat iugulata Mycenis.
uiuat Pacuuius quaeso uel Nestora totum,
possideat quantum rapuit Nero, montibus aurum
exaequet, nec amet quemquam nec ametur ab ullo.
[121] I commend the wisdom of my fellow townsman, nor can I compare a thousand ships to an inheritance; for if the sick man escape the Goddess of Death, he will be caught within the net, he will destroy his will, and after the prodigious services of Pacuvius will maybe by a single word, make him heir to all his possessions, and Pacuvius will strut proudly over his vanquished rivals. You see therefore how well worth while it was to slaughter that maiden at Mycenae! Long live Pacuvius! may he live, I pray, as many years as Nestor; may he possess as much as Nero plundered; may he pile up gold mountain-high; may he love no one, and be by none beloved!
Satire 13. The Terrors of a Guilty Conscience
Exemplo quodcumque malo committitur, ipsi
displicet auctori. prima est haec ultio, quod se
iudice nemo nocens absoluitur, improba quamuis
gratia fallaci praetoris uicerit urna.
quid sentire putas homines, Caluine, recenti 5
de scelere et fidei uiolatae crimine? sed nec
tam tenuis census tibi contigit, ut mediocris
iacturae te mergat onus, nec rara uidemus
quae pateris: casus multis hic cognitus ac iam
tritus et e medio fortunae ductus aceruo. 10
ponamus nimios gemitus. flagrantior aequo
non debet dolor esse uiri nec uolnere maior.
tu quamuis leuium minimam exiguamque malorum
particulam uix ferre potes spumantibus ardens
uisceribus, sacrum tibi quod non reddat amicus 15
depositum? stupet haec qui iam post terga reliquit
sexaginta annos Fonteio consule natus?
an nihil in melius tot rerum proficis usu?
[1] No deed that sets an example of evil brings joy to the doer of it. The first punishment is this: that no guilty man is acquitted at the bar of his own conscience, though he have won his cause by a juggling urn, and the corrupt favour of the judge. What do you suppose, Calvinus, that people are now thinking about the recent villainy and the charge of trust betrayed? Your means are not so small that the weight of a slight loss will weigh you down; nor is your misfortune rare. Such a mishap has been known to many; it is one of the common kind, plucked at random out of Fortune’s heap. Away with undue lamentations! a man’s wrath should not be hotter than is fit, nor greater than the loss sustained. You are scarce able to
bear, the very smallest particle of misfortune; your bowels foam hot within you because your friend will not give up to you the sacred trust committed to him; does this amaze one who was born in the Consulship of Fonteius, and has left sixty years behind him? Have you gained nothing from all your experience?
magna quidem, sacris quae dat praecepta libellis,
uictrix fortunae sapientia, ducimus autem 20
hos quoque felices, qui ferre incommoda uitae
nec iactare iugum uita didicere magistra.
quae tam festa dies, ut cesset prodere furem,
perfidiam, fraudes atque omni ex crimine lucrum
quaesitum et partos gladio uel pyxide nummos? 25
rari quippe boni, numera, uix sunt totidem quot
Thebarum portae uel diuitis ostia Nili.
nona aetas agitur peioraque saecula ferri
temporibus, quorum sceleri non inuenit ipsa
nomen et a nullo posuit natura metallo. 30
nos hominum diuomque fidem clamore ciemus
quanto Faesidium laudat uocalis agentem
sportula? dic, senior bulla dignissime, nescis
quas habeat ueneres aliena pecunia? nescis
quem tua simplicitas risum uulgo moueat, cum 35
exigis a quoquam ne peieret et putet ullis
esse aliquod numen templis araeque rubenti?
quondam hoc indigenae uiuebant more, priusquam
sumeret agrestem posito diademate falcem
Saturnus fugiens, tunc cum uirguncula Iuno 40
et priuatus adhuc Idaeis Iuppiter antris;
nulla super nubes conuiuia caelicolarum
nec puer Iliacus formonsa nec Herculis uxor
ad cyathos et iam siccato nectare tergens
bracchia Volcanus Liparaea nigra taberna; 45
prandebat sibi quisque deus nec turba deorum
talis ut est hodie, contentaque sidera paucis
numinibus miserum urguebant Atlanta minori
pondere; nondum imi sortitus triste profundi
imperium Sicula toruos cum coniuge Pluton, 50
nec rota nec Furiae nec saxum aut uolturis atri
poena, sed infernis hilares sine regibus umbrae.
inprobitas illo fuit admirabilis aeuo,
credebant quo grande nefas et morte piandum
si iuuenis uetulo non adsurrexerat et si 55
barbato cuicumque puer, licet ipse uideret
plura domi fraga et maiores glandis aceruos;
tam uenerabile erat praecedere quattuor annis
primaque par adeo sacrae lanugo senectae.
[19] Great indeed is Philosophy, the conqueror of Fortune, and sacred are her precepts; but they too are to be deemed happy who have learnt under the schooling of life to endure its ills without fretting against the yoke. What day is there, however festal, which fails to disclose theft, treachery and fraud: gain made out of every kind of crime, and money won by the dagger or the bowl? For honest men are scarce; hardly so numerous as the gates of Thebes, or the mouths of the enriching Nile. We are living in a ninth age; an age more evil than that of iron — one for whose wickedness Nature herself can find no name, no metal from which to call it. We summon Gods and men to our aid with cries as loud as that with which the vocal dole applauds Faesidius when he pleads. Tell me, you old gentleman, that should be wearing the bulla of childhood, do you know nothing of the charm of other people’s money? Are you ignorant of how the world laughs at your simplicity when you demand of any man that he shall not perjure himself, and believe that some divinity is to be found in temples or in altars red with blood? Primitive men lived thus in the olden days, before Saturn laid down his diadem and fled, betaking himself to the rustic sickle; in the days when Juno was a little maid, and Jupiter still a private gentleman in the caves of Ida. In those days there were no banquets of the heavenly host above the clouds, there was no Trojan youth, no fair wife of Hercules for cup-bearer, no Vulcan wiping arms begrimed by the Liparaean forge after tossing off his nectar. Each God then dined by himself; there was no such mob of deities as there is to-day; the stars were satisfied with a few divinities, and pressed with a lighter load upon the hapless Atlas. No monarch had as yet had the gloomy realms below allotted to him; there was no grim Pluto with a Sicilian spouse; there was no wheel, no rock, no Furies, no black torturing Vulture; the shades led a merry life, with no kings over their nether world. Dishonesty was a prodigy in those days; men deemed it a heinous sin, worthy of death, if a youth did not rise before his elders, or a boy before any bearded man, though he himself might see more strawberries, and bigger heaps of acorns, in his own home. So worshipful was it to be older by four years, so equal to reverend age was the first down of manhood!
nunc si depositum non infitietur amicus, 60
si reddat ueterem cum tota aerugine follem,
prodigiosa fides et Tuscis digna libellis
quaeque coronata lustrari debeat agna.
egregium sanctumque uirum si cerno, bimembri
hoc monstrum puero et miranti sub aratro 65
piscibus inuentis et fetae comparo mulae,
sollicitus, tamquam lapides effuderit imber
examenque apium longa consederit uua
culmine delubri, tamquam in mare fluxerit amnis
gurgitibus miris et lactis uertice torrens. 70
[60] But nowadays, if a friend does not disavow a sum entrusted to him, if he restore the old purse with all its rust, his good faith is deemed a portent calling for the sacred books of Etruria, and to be expiated by a lamb decked with garlands. If I discover an upright and blameless man, I liken him to a boy born with double limbs, or to fishes found by a marvelling rustic under the plough, or to a pregnant mule: I am as concerned as though it had rained stones, or a swarm of bees had settled in a long cluster on a temple-roof, or as though some river had poured down wondrous floods of milk into the sea.
intercepta decem quereris sestertia fraude
sacrilega. quid si bis centum perdidit alter
hoc arcana modo, maiorem tertius illa
summam, quam patulae uix ceperat angulus arcae?
tam facile et pronum est superos contemnere testes, 75
si mortalis idem nemo sciat. aspice quanta
uoce neget, quae sit ficti constantia uoltus.
per Solis radios Tarpeiaque fulmina iurat
et Martis frameam et Cirrhaei spicula uatis,
per calamos uenatricis pharetramque puellae 80
perque tuum, pater Aegaei Neptune, tridentem,
addit et Herculeos arcus hastamque Mineruae,
quidquid habent telorum armamentaria caeli.
si uero et pater est, ‘comedam’ inquit ‘flebile nati
sinciput elixi Pharioque madentis aceto.’ 85
[71] You complain, do you, that by an impious fraud you have been robbed of ten thousand sesterces? What if someone else has by a like fraud lost a secret deposit of two hundred thousand sesterces? A third a still greater sum, which could scarce find room in the corners of his ample treasure-chest? So simple and easy a thing is it to disregard heavenly witnesses, if no mortal man is privy to the secret! Hear how loudly the fellow denies the charge! See the assurance of his perfidious face! He swears by the rays of the sun and the Tarpeian thunderbolts; by the lance of Mars and the arrows of the Cirrhaean Seer; by the shafts and quiver of the maiden huntress, and by thine own trident, O Neptune, thou lord of the Aegaean sea. He throws in besides the bow of Hercules, and Minerva’s spear, and all the weapons contained in all the armouries of Heaven; if he be a father, “May I eat,” he tearfully declares, “my own son’s head boiled, and dripping with Egyptian vinegar!”
sunt in fortunae qui casibus omnia ponant
et nullo credant mundum rectore moueri
natura uoluente uices et lucis et anni,
atque ideo intrepidi quaecumque altaria tangunt.
[est alius metuens ne crimen poena sequatur.] 90
hic putat esse deos et peierat, atque ita secum:
> ‘decernat quodcumque uolet de corpore nostro
Isis et irato feriat mea lumina sistro,
dummodo uel caecus teneam quos abnego nummos.
et pthisis et uomicae putres et dimidium crus 95
sunt tanti. pauper locupletem optare podagram
nec dubitet Ladas, si non eget Anticyra nec
Archigene; quid enim uelocis gloria plantae
praestat et esuriens Pisaeae ramus oliuae?
ut sit magna, tamen certe lenta ira deorum est; 100
si curant igitur cunctos punire nocentes,
quando ad me uenient? sed et exorabile numen
fortasse experiar; solet his ignoscere. multi
committunt eadem diuerso crimina fato:
ille crucem sceleris pretium tulit, hic diadema.’ 105
[86] Some think that all things are subject to the chances of Fortune; these believe that the world has no governor to move it, but that Nature rolls along the changes of day and year; they will therefore lay their hands on any altar you please without a tremor. Another fears that punishment will follow crime; he believes that there are Gods, but perjures himself all the same, reasoning thus within himself: “Let Isis deal with my body as she wills, and blast my sight with her avenging rattle, provided only that even when blind I may keep the money which I disavow; it is worth having phthisis or running ulcers or losing half one’s leg at the price! Ladas himself, if not needing treatment at Anticyra or by Archigenes, would not hesitate to accept the rich man’s gout; for what is to be got out of fame for swiftness of foot, or from a hungry branch of the Pisaean Olive ? The wrath of the Gods may be great, but it assuredly is slow; if then they charge themselves with punishing all the guilty, when will they get my length? And besides I may perchance find the God placable; he is wont to forgive things like this. Many commit the same crime and fare differently: one man gets a gibbet, another a crown, as the reward of crime.”
Delphi Complete Works of Juvena Page 44