Martial: Epigrams, Volume III, Books 11-14 (Loeb Classical Library No. 480)

397 Pages·1993·12.39 MB·English

by  Martial

It was to celebrate the openlng of the
Roman Colosseum in 80 that Martial
A.D.
published his first book of poems, "On the
Spectacles." Written \vith satiric wit and a
talent for the memorable phrase, the
poems in this collection record the broad
spectacle of shows in the ne\v arena. The
great Latin epigrammist's twelve subse
quent books capture the spirit of Roman
life--both public and private--in vivid
detail. Fortune hunters and busybodies,
orators and la\\ryers, schoolmasters and
.I
street hawkers, jugglers and acrobats, doc-
tors and plagiarists, beautiful slaves, and
generous hosts are among the diverse
characters who populate his verses.
Martial is a keen and sharp-tongued obser
ver of Roman society. His pen brings into
crisp relief a wide variety of scenes and
events: the theater and public games, life
in the countryside, a rich debauchee's
banquet, Hons in the amphitheater, the
eruption of Vesuvius. The epigrams are
sometimes obscene, in the tradition of the
genre, sometimes \varmly affectionate or
amusing, and always pointed. Like his
contemporary Statius, though, Martial
shamelessly flatters his patron Domitian,
one of Rome's worst-reputed emperors.
D. R. Shackleton Bailey no\\' gives us, in
three volumes, a reliable modern transla
tion of Martial's often difficult Latin,
eliminating many misunderstandings in
THE LOEB CLASSICAL LIBRARY
FOUNDED BY JAMES LOEB
EDITED BY
G. P. GOOLD
PREVIOUS EDITORS
T. E. PAGE E. CAPPS
\V. H. D. ROUSE L. A. POST
E. H. \VARMIKGTON
.
MARTIAL
111
LCL 480
A'
! \
MARTIAL
EPIGRAMS
EDITED AND TRANSLATED BY
D. R. SHACKLETON BAILEY
VOLUME 111
!
J~jl~ IllUJ1!UllUltil ~l
11
HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS
LONDON, ENGLAND
1993
Copyright © 1993 by the President and Fellows
of Harvard College
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publieation Data
Martial.
Epigrams / edited and translated by D. R. Shaekleton Bailey.
p. eIn. - (Loeb classicallibrary)
Translation of: Epigrammata.
Ineludes bibliographieal referenees and index.
ISBN 0-674-99555-4 (v. 1). ISBN 0-674-99556-2 (v. 2).
ISBN 0-674-99529-.5 (v. 3).
1. Martial-Translations into English.
2. Epigrams. Latin-.T ranslations into English.
3. Oeeasional verse, Latin-Translations into English.
I. Shaekleton Bailey, D. R. (David Roy), 1917-.
11. Title. 111. Series: Loeb classicallibrary; L094, L095, L480
PA6502.B3.5 1993 92-8234
878'.0102-de20 CIP
Typeset by Chiron, [ne, Calnbndge, J.\1assaehusetts.
Printed in Great Bntain by St Edmundsbury Press Ltd,
Bury St Edlnunds, Suffolk, on aeid-free paper.
Bound by Hunter & Foulis Ltd, Edinburgh, Seotland.
CONTENTS
EPIGRAMS
BOOK XI 2
BOOK XII 88
172
BOOK XIII
BOOK XIV 226
APPENDIX A:
317
ADDITIONAL NOTES
APPENDIX B:
323
THE FICTITIOUS NAMES
327
INDEX
EPIGRAMS
BOOKS XI-XIV
LIBER XI
1
Quo tu, quo, liber otiose, tendis
cultus Sidone non cotidiana?
numquid Parthenium videre? certe:
vadas et redeas inevolutus.
5 libros non legit ille sed libellos;
nec Musis vacat, aut suis vacaret.
ecquid te satis aestimas beatum,
contingunt tibi si manus minores?
vicini pete porticum Quirini:
10 turbam non habet otiosiorem
Pompeius vel Agenoris puella,
vel primae dominus levis carinae.
sunt illic duo tresve qui revolvant
nostrarum tineas ineptiarum,
15 sed cum sponsio fabulaeque lassae
de Scorpo fuerint et Incitato.
2
BOOK XI
1
Where, where are you going, holiday book, dressed
in purpIe not of every day? 1s it to see Parthenius?
To be sure. Yo u would go and return unrolled. He
does not read hooks hut petitions, and has no time
a
for the Muses, else he would have time for his own.
Do you think yourself sufficiently happy if you fall
into lesser hands? Then make for the colonnade of
our neighbor Quirinus.b Not Pompey, nor Agenor's
girl, nor the fickle captain of the first shipc has an
idler crowd. There are two or three there to unroll
the bookworms breeding in my trifles, but only
when the betting and gossiping about Scorpus and
Incitatus is played out.
Addressed to the Emperor.
a
The temple ofQuirinus near M.'s house; cf. 10.58.10.
b
The references are respectively to the Porticus Pom
C
peii (cf. 2.14.10); the Porticus Europae (cf. 2.14.15); and
the Porticus Argonautarum (cf. 2.14.6). Jason is called
levis because ofhis conduct to Medea.
3
MARTIAL
2
Triste supercilium durique severa Catonis
frons et aratoris filia Fabricia
et personati fastus et regula morum,
quidquid et in tenebris non sumus, ite foras.
5 cl amant ecce mei '10 Satumalia' versus:
et licet et sub te praeside, N erva, libet.
lectores tetrici salebrosum ediscite Sant ram:
nil mihi vobiscum est: iste liber meus este
3
Non urbana mea tantum PipIeide gaudent
otia nec vacuis auribus ista damus,
sed meus in Geticis ad Martia signa pruinis
a rigidio teritur centurione liber,
5 dicitur et nostros cantare Britannia versus.
quid prodest? nescit sacculus ista meus.
at quam victuras poteramus pangere chartas
quantaque Pieria proelia flare tuba,
cum pia reddiderint Augustum numina terris,
10 et Maecenatem si tibi, Roma, darent!
2.2 Fabrieia P. Wagner: -eii ß'Y 6 libet . . . lieet s
4