[173] It is here mostly that lies the cause of crime. No human passion has mingled more poison-bowls, none has more often wielded the murderous dagger, than the fierce craving for unbounded wealth. For the man who wants wealth must have it at once; what respect for laws, what fear, what sense of shame is to be found in a miser hurrying to be rich? “Live content, my boys, with these cottages and hills of yours,” said the Marsian or Hernican or Vestinian father in the days of yore; “let the plough win for us what bread shall suffice our table; such fare the rustic Gods approve, whose aid and bounty gave us the glad ear of corn, and taught man to disdain the acorn of ancient times. The man who is not ashamed to wear high boots in time of frost, and who keeps off the East wind with skins turned inwards, will never wish to do a forbidden thing; it is purple raiment, whatever it be, foreign and unknown to us, that leads to crime and wickedness.”
haec illi ueteres praecepta minoribus; at nunc
post finem autumni media de nocte supinum 190
clamosus iuuenem pater excitat: ‘accipe ceras,
scribe, puer, uigila, causas age, perlege rubras
maiorum leges; aut uitem posce libello,
sed caput intactum buxo narisque pilosas
adnotet et grandes miretur Laelius alas; 195
dirue Maurorum attegias, castella Brigantum,
ut locupletem aquilam tibi sexagesimus annus
adferat; aut, longos castrorum ferre labores
si piget et trepidum soluunt tibi cornua uentrem
cum lituis audita, pares quod uendere possis 200
pluris dimidio, nec te fastidia mercis
ullius subeant ablegandae Tiberim ultra,
neu credas ponendum aliquid discriminis inter
unguenta et corium: lucri bonus est odor ex re
qualibet. illa tuo sententia semper in ore 205
uersetur dis atque ipso Ioue digna poeta:
“unde habeas quaerit nemo, sed oportet habere.”’
[hoc monstrant uetulae pueris repentibus assae,
hoc discunt omnes ante alpha et beta puellae.]
[189] Such were the maxims which those ancients taught the young; but now, when autumn days are over, the father rouses his sleeping son after midnight with a shout: “Awake, boy, and take your tablets; scribble away and get up your cases; read through the red-lettered laws of our forefathers, or send in a petition for a centurion’s vine-staff. See that Laelius notes your uncombed head and hairy nostrils, and admires your broad shoulders; destroy the huts of the Moors and the forts of the Brigantes, that your sixtieth year may bring you the eagle that will make you rich. Or if you are too lazy to endure the weary labours of the camp, if the sound of horn and trumpet melts your soul within you, buy something that you can sell at half as much again; feel no disgust at a trade that must be banished to the other side of the Tiber; make no distinction between hides and unguents: the smell of gain is good whatever the thing from which it comes. Let this maxim be ever on your lips, a saying worthy of the Gods, and of Jove himself if he turned poet: ‘No matter whence the money comes, but money you must have.’” These are the lessons taught by skinny old nurses to little boys before they can walk; this is what every girl learns before her ABC!
talibus instantem monitis quemcumque parentem 210
sic possem adfari: ‘dic, o uanissime, quis te
festinare iubet? meliorem praesto magistro
discipulum. securus abi: uinceris, ut Aiax
praeteriit Telamonem, ut Pelea uicit Achilles.
parcendum est teneris; nondum impleuere medullas 215
maturae mala nequitiae. cum pectere barbam
coeperit et longae mucronem admittere cultri,
falsus erit testis, uendet periuria summa
exigua et Cereris tangens aramque pedemque.
elatam iam crede nurum, si limina uestra 220
mortifera cum dote subit. quibus illa premetur
per somnum digitis! nam quae terraque marique
adquirenda putas breuior uia conferet illi;
nullus enim magni sceleris labor. “haec ego numquam
mandaui” dices olim “nec talia suasi.” 225
mentis causa malae tamen est et origo penes te.
nam quisquis magni census praecepit amorem
et laeuo monitu pueros producit auaros
[et qui per fraudes patrimonia conduplicari]
dat libertatem et totas effundit habenas 230
curriculo; quem si reuoces, subsistere nescit
et te contempto rapitur metisque relictis.
nemo satis credit tantum delinquere quantum
permittas: adeo indulgent sibi latius ipsi.
[210] To any father urging precepts such as these I would say this: “Tell me, O emptiest of men, who bids you hurry? The disciple, I warrant you, will outstrip his master. You may leave him with an easy mind; you will be outdone as surely as Telamon was beaten by Ajax, or Peleus by Achilles. Be gentle with the young; their bones are not yet filled up with the marrow of ripe wickedness. When the lad begins to comb a beard, and apply to its length the razor’s edge, he will give false testimony, he will sell his perjuries for a trifling sum, touching the altar and the foot of Ceres all the time. If your daughter-in-law brings a deadly dowry into the house, you may count her as already dead and buried. What a grip of fingers will throttle her in her sleep! For the wealth which you think should be hunted for over land and sea, your son will acquire by a shorter road; great crimes demand no labour. Some day you will say, ‘I never taught these things, I never advised them’: no, but you are yourself the cause and origin of your son’s depravity; for whosoever teaches the love of wealth turns his sons into misers by his ill-omened instruction. When he shows him how to double his patrimony by fraud, he gives him his head, and throws a free rein over the car; try to call him back, and he cannot stop: he will pay no heed to you, he will rush on, leaving the turning-post far behind. No man is satisfied with sinning just as far as you permit: so much greater is the license which they allow themselves!
cum dicis iuueni stultum qui donet amico, 235
qui paupertatem leuet attollatque propinqui,
et spoliare doces et circumscribere et omni
crimine diuitias adquirere, quarum amor in te
quantus erat patriae Deciorum in pectore, quantum
dilexit Thebas, si Graecia uera, Menoeceus, 240
in quorum sulcis legiones dentibus anguis
cum clipeis nascuntur et horrida bella capessunt
continuo, tamquam et tubicen surrexerit una.
ergo ignem, cuius scintillas ipse dedisti,
flagrantem late et rapientem cuncta uidebis. 245
nec tibi parcetur misero, trepidumque magistrum
in cauea magno fremitu leo tollet alumnus.
nota mathematicis genesis tua, sed graue tardas
expectare colus: morieris stamine nondum
abrupto. iam nunc obstas et uota moraris, 250
iam torquet iuuenem longa et ceruina senectus.
ocius Archigenen quaere atque eme quod Mithridates
composuit: si uis aliam decerpere ficum
atque alias tractare rosas, medicamen habendum est,
sorbere ante cibum quod debeat et pater et rex.’ 255
[235] “When you tell a youth that a man is a fool who makes a present to a friend, or relieves and lightens the poverty of a kinsman, you teach him to plunder and to cheat and to commit any kind of crime for money’s sake, the love of which is as great in you as was love of their country in the hearts of the Decii, or in that of Menoeceus, if Greece speaks true for Thebes — that country in whose furrows armed legions sprang into life out of dragons’ teeth, taking straightway to grim battle as though a bugler had also risen up along with them. Thus you will see the fire, whose sparks you yourself have kindled, blazing far and wide and carrying all before them. Nor will you yourself, poor wretch, meet with any mercy; the pupil lion, with a loud roar, will devour the trembling instructor in his den. Your na
tivity, you say, is known to the astrologers: but it is a tedious thing to wait for the slow-running spindle, and you will die before your thread is snapped. You are already in your son’s way; you are delaying his prayers; your long and stag-like old age is a torment to the young man. Seek out Archigenes at once; buy some of the mixture of Mithridates; if you wish to pluck one more fig, and gather roses once again, you should have some medicament to be swallowed before dinner by one who is both a father and a king.”
monstro uoluptatem egregiam, cui nulla theatra,
nulla aequare queas praetoris pulpita lauti,
si spectes quanto capitis discrimine constent
incrementa domus, aerata multus in arca
fiscus et ad uigilem ponendi Castora nummi, 260
ex quo Mars Vltor galeam quoque perdidit et res
non potuit seruare suas. ergo omnia Florae
et Cereris licet et Cybeles aulaea relinquas:
tanto maiores humana negotia ludi.
an magis oblectant animum iactata petauro 265
corpora quique solet rectum descendere funem
quam tu, Corycia semper qui puppe moraris
atque habitas, coro semper tollendus et austro,
perditus ~ac uilis~ sacci mercator olentis,
qui gaudes pingue antiquae de litore Cretae 270
passum et municipes Iouis aduexisse lagonas?
hic tamen ancipiti figens uestigia planta
uictum illa mercede parat, brumamque famemque
illa reste cauet: tu propter mille talenta
et centum uillas temerarius. aspice portus 275
et plenum magnis trabibus mare: plus hominum est iam
in pelago. ueniet classis quocumque uocarit
spes lucri, nec Carpathium Gaetulaque tantum
aequora transiliet, sed longe Calpe relicta
audiet Herculeo stridentem gurgite solem. 280
grande operae pretium est, ut tenso folle reuerti
inde domum possis tumidaque superbus aluta,
Oceani monstra et iuuenes uidisse marinos.
[256] I am showing you the choicest of diversions, one with which no theatre, no show of a grand Praetor can compare, if you will observe at what a risk to life men increase their fortunes, become possessors of full brass-bound treasure-chests, or of the cash which must be deposited with watchful Castor, ever since Mars the Avenger lost his helmet and failed to protect his own effects. So you may give up all the performances of Flora, of Ceres, and of Cybele; so much finer are the games of human life. Is there more pleasure to be got from gazing at men hurled from a spring-board, or tripping down a tight rope, than from yourself — you who spend your whole life in a Corycian ship, ever tossed by the wind from North or South, a poor contemptible trafficker in stinking wares, finding your joy in importing sweet wine from the shores of ancient Crete, or flagons that were fellow-citizens of Jove? Yet the man who plants his steps with balanced foot gains his livelihood thereby; that rope keeps him from cold and hunger; while you run the risk for the sake of a thousand talents or a hundred mansions. Look at our ports, our seas, crowded with big ships! The men at sea now outnumber those on shore. Whithersoever hope of gain shall call, thither fleets will come; not content with bounding over the Carpathian and Gaetulian seas, they will leave Calpe far behind, and hear the sun hissing in the Herculean main. It is well worth while, no doubt, to have beheld the monsters of the deep and the young mermen of the Ocean that you may return home with tight-stuffed purse, and exult in your swollen money-bags!
non unus mentes agitat furor. ille sororis
in manibus uoltu Eumenidum terretur et igni, 285
hic boue percusso mugire Agamemnona credit
aut Ithacum. parcat tunicis licet atque lacernis,
curatoris eget qui nauem mercibus implet
ad summum latus et tabula distinguitur unda,
cum sit causa mali tanti et discriminis huius 290
concisum argentum in titulos faciesque minutas.
occurrunt nubes et fulgura: ‘soluite funem’
frumenti dominus clamat piperisue coempti,
‘nil color hic caeli, nil fascia nigra minatur;
aestiuom tonat.’ infelix hac forsitan ipsa 295
nocte cadet fractis trabibus fluctuque premetur
obrutus et zonam laeua morsuque tenebit.
sed cuius uotis modo non suffecerat aurum
quod Tagus et rutila uoluit Pactolus harena,
frigida sufficient uelantes inguina panni 300
exiguusque cibus, mersa rate naufragus assem
dum rogat et picta se tempestate tuetur.
[284] Not all men are possessed with one form of madness. One madman in his sister’s arms is terrified by the faces and fire of the Furies; another, when he strikes down an ox, believes that it is Agamemnon or the Ithacan that is bellowing. The man who loads his ship up to the gunwale with goods, with only a plank between him and the deep, is in need of a keeper, though he keep his hands off his shirt and his cloak, seeing that he endures all that misery and all that danger for the sake of bits of silver cut up into little images and inscriptions! Should clouds and thunder threaten, “Let go!” cries the merchant who has bought up corn or pepper, “that black sky, this dark wrack, are nought — it is but summer lightning.” Poor wretch! on this very night perchance he will be cast out amid broken timbers and engulfed by the waves, clutching his purse with his left hand or his teeth. The man for whose desires yesterday not all the gold which Tagus and the ruddy Pactolus rolls along would have sufficed, must now content himself with a rag to cover his cold and nakedness, and a poor morsel of food, while he begs for pennies as a shipwrecked mariner, and supports himself by a painted storm!
tantis parta malis cura maiore metuque
seruantur: misera est magni custodia census.
dispositis praediues amis uigilare cohortem 305
seruorum noctu Licinus iubet, attonitus pro
electro signisque suis Phrygiaque columna
atque ebore et lata testudine. dolia nudi
non ardent Cynici; si fregeris, altera fiet
cras domus atque eadem plumbo commissa manebit. 310
sensit Alexander, testa cum uidit in illa
magnum habitatorem, quanto felicior hic qui
nil cuperet quam qui totum sibi posceret orbem
passurus gestis aequanda pericula rebus.
nullum numen habes, si sit prudentia: nos te, 315
nos facimus, Fortuna, deam.
[303] Wealth gotten with such woes is preserved by fears and troubles that are greater still; it is misery to have the guardianship of a great fortune. The millionaire Licinus orders a troop of slaves to be on the watch all night with fire buckets in their places, being anxious for his amber, his statues and Phrygian marbles, his ivory and plaques of tortoise-shell. The nude Cynic fears no fire for his tub; if broken, he will make himself a new house to-morrow, or repair it with clamps of lead. When Alexander beheld in that tub its mighty occupant, he felt how much happier was the man who had no desires than he who claimed for himself the entire world, with perils before him as great as his achievements. Had we but wisdom, thou wouldst have no Divinity, O Fortune: it is we that make thee into a Goddess!
mensura tamen quae
sufficiat census, si quis me consulat, edam:
in quantum sitis atque fames et frigora poscunt,
quantum, Epicure, tibi paruis suffecit in hortis,
quantum Socratici ceperunt ante penates; 320
numquam aliud natura, aliud sapientia dicit.
acribus exemplis uideor te cludere? misce
ergo aliquid nostris de moribus, effice summam
bis septem ordinibus quam lex dignatur Othonis.
haec quoque si rugam trahit extenditque labellum, 325
sume duos equites, fac tertia quadringenta.
si nondum impleui gremium, si panditur ultra,
nec Croesi fortuna umquam nec Persica regna
sufficient animo nec diuiti
ae Narcissi,
indulsit Caesar cui Claudius omnia, cuius 330
paruit imperiis uxorem occidere iussus.
[316] Yet if any should ask of me what measure of fortune is enough, I will tell him: as much as thirst, cold and hunger demand; as much as sufficed you, Epicurus, in your little garden; as much as in earlier days was to be found in the house of Socrates. Never does Nature say one thing and Wisdom another. Do the limits within which I confine you seem too severe? Then throw in something from our own manners; make up a sum as big as that which Otho’s law deems worthy of the fourteen rows. If that also knits your brow, and makes you thrust out your lip, take a couple of knights, or make up thrice four hundred thousand sesterces! If your lap is not yet full, if it is still opening for more, then neither the wealth of Croesus, nor that of the Persian Monarchs, will suffice you, nor yet that of Narcissus, on whom Claudius Caesar lavished everything, and whose orders he obeyed when bidden to slay his wife.
Satire 15. An Egyptian Atrocity
Quis nescit, Volusi Bithynice, qualia demens
Aegyptos portenta colat? crocodilon adorat
pars haec, illa pauet saturam serpentibus ibin.
effigies sacri nitet aurea cercopitheci,
dimidio magicae resonant ubi Memnone chordae 5
atque uetus Thebe centum iacet obruta portis.
illic aeluros, hic piscem fluminis, illic
oppida tota canem uenerantur, nemo Dianam.
porrum et caepe nefas uiolare et frangere morsu
(o sanctas gentes, quibus haec nascuntur in hortis 10
numina!), lanatis animalibus abstinet omnis
mensa, nefas illic fetum iugulare capellae:
carnibus humanis uesci licet. attonito cum
tale super cenam facinus narraret Vlixes
Alcinoo, bilem aut risum fortasse quibusdam 15
mouerat ut mendax aretalogus. ‘in mare nemo
hunc abicit saeua dignum ueraque Charybdi,
fingentem inmanis Laestrygonas et Cyclopas?
nam citius Scyllam uel concurrentia saxa
Cyaneis plenos et tempestatibus utres 20
Delphi Complete Works of Juvena Page 47