quos natura dedit. sed trunca puppe magister Ite igitur, pueri, linguis animisque faventes tura dabo atque omnis violae iactabo colores. Nec suspecta tibi sint haec, Corvine: Catullus, pro cuius reditu tot pono altaria, parvos 80 85 90 tres habet heredes. libet expectare quis aegram 95 et claudentem oculos gallinam inpendat amico tam sterili; verum haec nimia est inpensa: coturnix nulla umquam pro patre cadet. sentire calorem si coepit locuples Gallitta et Pacius orbi, legitime fixis vestitur tota libellis 100 porticus, existunt qui promittant hecatomben, quatenus hic non sunt nec venales elephanti, nec Latio aut usquam sub nostro sidere talis belua concipitur, sed furva gente petita arboribus Rutulis et Turni pascitur agro, Caesaris armentum nulli servire paratum privato, siquidem Tyrio parere solebant 105 1 In fulfilment, no doubt, of a vow made in the moment of danger. 2 The emperors kept a herd of elephants for games, etc., at Laurentum, near the kingdom of the Rutulian Turnus. 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 heads1 and delight, in garrulous ease, to tell the story of their perils. 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. 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.2 The herd is Caesar's, and will serve no private master, since their forefathers were wont to obey the 243 Hannibali et nostris ducibus regique Molosso horum maiores ac dorso ferre cohortis, partem aliquam belli, et euntem in proelia tur rem. nulla igitur mora per Novium, mora nulla per 110 Histrum de grege servorum magna et pulcherrima quaeque corpora, vel pueris et frontibus ancillarum inponet vittas, et siqua est nubilis illi Iphigenia domi, dabit hanc altaribus, etsi non sperat tragicae furtiva piacula cervae. 115 120 125 Laudo meum civem, nec comparo testamento mille rates; nam si Libitinam evaserit aeger, delebit tabulas inclusus carcere nassae post meritum sane mirandum atque omnia soli forsan Pacuvio breviter dabit, ille superbus incedet victis rivalibus. ergo vides quam grande operae pretium faciat iugulata Mycenis. vivat Pacuvius quaeso vel Nestora totum, possideat quantum rapuit Nero, montibus aurum exaequet, nec amet quemquam nec ametur ab ullo. 1 Pyrrhus. Legacy-hunters. 130 3 Sacrificed by her father Agamemnon to procure a fair wind for the Greek fleet. Tyrian Hannibal and our generals and the Molossian king,1 and to carry cohorts on their backs-no small fraction of a war-whole towers going forth to battle! Therefore Novius2 would not hesitate, Pacuvius Hister 2 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.4 3 121 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! Later tradition pretended that a hind had been substituted for Iphigenia. SATVRA XIII EXEMPLO quodcumque malo committitur, ipsi displicet auctori: prima est haec ultio, quod se iudice nemo nocens absolvitur, improba quamvis gratia fallaci praetoris vicerit urna. quid sentire putas omnes, Calvine, recenti de scelere et fidei violatae crimine? sed nec tam tenuis census tibi contigit, ut mediocris iacturae te mergat onus, nec rara videmus quae pateris; casus multis hic cognitus ac iam tritus et e medio fortunae ductus acervo. ponamus nimios gemitus. flagrantior aequo non debet dolor esse viri nec vulnere maior. tu quamvis levium minimam exiguamque malorum particulam vix ferre potes spumantibus ardens visceribus, sacrum tibi quod non reddat amicus depositum; stupet haec qui iam post terga reliquit sexaginta annos Fonteio consule natus? an nihil in melius tot rerum proficis1 usu? Magna quidem, sacris quae dat praecepta libellis, victrix fortunae sapientia; ducimus autem hos quoque felices, qui ferre incommoda vitae nec iactare iugum vita didicere magistra. quae tam festa dies, ut cesset prodere furem, perfidiam, fraudes atque omni ex crimine lucrum quaesitum et partos gladio vel pyxide nummos? 1 proficit P: proficis & and Housm. 1 C. Fonteius Capito, consul A.D. 67. of this Satire to the year A.D. 127. 5 10 15 20 25 That fixes the date |