§1.8.1Olim truncus eram ficulnus, inutile lignum, §1.8.2cum faber, incertus scamnum faceretne Priapum, §1.8.3maluit esse Deum.
Formerly I was a fig-tree trunk, a useless log, when a carpenter, uncertain whether to make a bench or a Priapus, preferred that I should be a god.
Deus inde ego, furum aviumque §1.8.4maxima formido; nam fures dextra coercet §1.8.5obscaenoque ruber porrectus ab inguine palus, §1.8.6ast inportunas volucres in vertice harundo §1.8.7terret fixa vetatque novis considere in hortis.
Hence I am a god, of thieves and birds the greatest dread; for thieves my right hand restrains and the red stake projecting from my obscene groin, while the troublesome birds, a reed fixed on my head terrifies and forbids to settle in the new gardens.
§1.8.8huc prius angustis eiecta cadavera cellis §1.8.9conservus vili portanda locabat in arca; §1.8.10hoc miserae plebi stabat commune sepulcrum; §1.8.11Pantolabo scurrae Nomentanoque nepoti
Hither formerly, corpses cast out from narrow cells a fellow-slave contracted to be carried in a cheap box; this stood as a common grave for the wretched plebeians, and for Pantolabus the buffoon and Nomentanus the spendthrift.
§1.8.12mille pedes in fronte, trecentos cippus in agrum §1.8.13hic dabat, heredes monumentum ne sequeretur.
Here a boundary stone gave a thousand feet in frontage, and three hundred deep, so that the monument should not follow the heirs.
§1.8.14nunc licet Esquiliis habitare salubribus atque §1.8.15aggere in aprico spatiari, quo modo tristes §1.8.16albis informem spectabant ossibus agrum, §1.8.17cum mihi non tantum furesque feraeque suetae §1.8.18hunc vexare locum curae sunt atque labori §1.8.19quantum carminibus quae versant atque venenis §1.8.20humanos animos: has nullo perdere possum §1.8.21nec prohibere modo, simul ac vaga luna decorum §1.8.22protulit os, quin ossa legant herbasque nocentis.
Now one may dwell on a healthy Esquiline, and stroll on the sunny rampart, where lately they used to look out sad upon a field unsightly with white bones; while to me, not so much the thieves and wild beasts accustomed to infest this place are a care and trouble, as those women who with incantations and poisons torment human minds; these I can in no way destroy nor prevent—as soon as the wandering moon has brought out her comely face—from gathering bones and noxious herbs.
§1.8.23vidi egomet nigra succinctam vadere palla §1.8.24Canidiam pedibus nudis passoque capillo, §1.8.25cum Sagana maiore ululantem: pallor utrasque §1.8.26fecerat horrendas adspectu.
I myself saw Canidia, girt in a black robe, stalk along with bare feet and disheveled hair, howling with the elder Sagana; paleness had made both of them ghastly to look upon.
scalpere terram §1.8.27unguibus et pullam divellere mordicus agnam §1.8.28coeperunt; cruor in fossam confusus, ut inde §1.8.29manis elicerent animas responsa daturas.
To scrape the earth with their nails and to tear a black lamb to pieces with their teeth they began; the blood was poured into a ditch, so that from it they might draw forth the spirits of the dead, to give them answers.
§1.8.30lanea et effigies erat altera cerea: maior §1.8.31lanea, quae poenis conpesceret inferiorem; §1.8.32cerea suppliciter stabat, servilibus ut quae §1.8.33iam peritura modis.
There was also a woolen image, and another of wax; the larger was of wool, to keep the smaller one in subjection by punishments; the waxen one stood supplicating, like one who was about to perish in a slave's fashion.
Hecaten vocat altera, saevam §1.8.34altera Tisiphonen: serpentes atque videres §1.8.35infernas errare canes lunamque rubentem, §1.8.36ne foret his testis, post magna latere sepulcra.
One calls on Hecate, the other on savage Tisiphone; you might see serpents and hell-hounds wander about, and the blushing moon, lest she should be a witness to these things, hide behind the great monuments.
§1.8.37mentior at siquid, merdis caput inquiner albis §1.8.38corvorum atque in me veniat mictum atque cacatum §1.8.39Iulius, et fragilis Pediatia, furque Voranus.
But if I lie in anything, may I be defiled on my head with the white droppings of crows, and may Julius come to piss and shit on me, and the effeminate Pediatia, and the thief Voranus.
§1.8.40singula quid memorem, quo pacto alterna loquentes §1.8.41umbrae cum Sagana resonarint triste et acutum §1.8.42utque lupi barbam variae cum dente colubrae §1.8.43abdiderint furtim terris et imagine cerea §1.8.44largior arserit ignis et ut non testis inultus §1.8.45horruerim voces Furiarum et facta duarum?
Why should I relate every detail, in what manner, speaking alternately, the shades resounded with Sagana sad and shrill, and how they buried stealthily in the earth a wolf's beard with the tooth of a spotted snake, and how a larger fire blazed from the waxen image, and how, not as an unavenged witness, I shuddered at the voices and deeds of the two Furies?