§2.3.164non est periurus neque sordidus: inmolet aequis §2.3.165hic porcum Laribus; verum ambitiosus et audax: §2.3.166naviget Anticyram.
He is not a perjurer nor a miser: let him sacrifice a pig to the favorable Lares; but he is ambitious and bold: let him sail to Anticyra.
quid enim differt, barathrone §2.3.167dones quidquid habes an numquam utare paratis?
For what does it matter whether you give whatever you have to a deep pit, or never use what you have acquired?
§2.3.168Servius Oppidius Canusi duo praedia, dives §2.3.169antiquo censu, gnatis divisse duobus §2.3.170fertur et hoc moriens pueris dixisse vocatis §2.3.171ad lectum: ‘postquam te talos, Aule, nucesque §2.3.172ferre sinu laxo, donare et ludere vidi, §2.3.173te, Tiberi, numerare, cavis abscondere tristem, §2.3.174extimui, ne vos ageret vesania discors, §2.3.175tu Nomentanum, tu ne sequerere Cicutam.
Servius Oppidius of Canusium, rich in ancient valuation, is said to have divided two estates between his two sons and to have said this as he was dying, having called his boys to his bed: "After I saw you, Aulus, carrying knucklebones and nuts in a loose fold of your toga, giving them away and playing, and you, Tiberius, counting them, and hiding them sadly in holes, I was terrified lest a discordant madness should drive you both, you to follow Nomentanus, and you Cicuta.
§2.3.176quare per Divos oratus uterque Penatis §2.3.177tu cave ne minuas, tu ne maius facias id §2.3.178quod satis esse putat pater et natura coercet.
Therefore, both of you, entreated by the household Penates, you beware lest you diminish, you lest you make larger that which your father thinks is enough and nature restricts.
§2.3.179praeterea ne vos titillet gloria, iure §2.3.180iurando obstringam ambo: uter aedilis fueritve §2.3.181vestrum praetor, is intestabilis et sacer esto. ’ §2.3.182in cicere atque faba bona tu perdasque lupinis, §2.3.183latus ut in circo spatiere et aeneus ut stes, §2.3.184nudus agris, nudus nummis, insane, paternis; §2.3.185scilicet ut plausus quos fert Agrippa feras tu, §2.3.186astuta ingenuum volpes imitata leonem?
Furthermore, lest glory tickle you, I will bind both of you by an oath: whichever of you becomes an aedile or praetor, let him be disqualified from testifying and be accursed." Would you waste your goods on chickpeas, beans, and lupines, so that you may strut grandly in the Circus and stand in bronze, stripped of your paternal lands, stripped of your money, madman; forsooth, so that you may win the applause that Agrippa wins, like a cunning fox imitating the noble lion?
§2.3.187nequis humasse velit Aiacem, Atrida, vetas cur?
Why, son of Atreus, do you forbid anyone from wishing to bury Ajax?
§2.3.188‘rex sum. ’ nil ultra quaero plebeius.
"I am a king." I, a plebeian, ask nothing further.
‘et aequam §2.3.189rem imperito, ac sicui videor non iustus, inulto §2.3.190dicere quod sentit permitto. ’ maxime regum, §2.3.191Di tibi dent capta classem redducere Troia.
"And I command what is fair, and if I seem unjust to anyone, I permit him with impunity to speak what he thinks." Greatest of kings, may the gods grant you to lead your fleet home from captured Troy.
§2.3.192ergo consulere et mox respondere licebit?
Is it permitted then to ask questions and soon to receive answers?
§2.3.193‘consule. ’ cur Aiax, heros ab Achille secundus, §2.3.194putescit, totiens servatis clarus achivis, §2.3.195gaudeat ut populus Priami Priamusque inhumato, §2.3.196per quem tot iuvenes patrio caruere sepulcro?
"Ask." Why does Ajax, the hero second to Achilles, rot, renowned for having so often saved the Achivi, so that Priam's people and Priam himself may rejoice in his unburied state, he through whom so many young men were deprived of their ancestral graves?
§2.3.197‘mille ovium insanus morti dedit, inclitum Ulixen §2.3.198et Menelaum una mecum se occidere clamans. ’ §2.3.199tu cum pro vitula statuis dulcem Aulide natam §2.3.200ante aras spargisque mola caput, inprobe, salsa,
"In his madness, he put a thousand sheep to death, shouting that he was killing the famous Ulysses and Menelaus along with me." When you place your sweet daughter before the altars at Aulis instead of a heifer, and sprinkle her head with salted meal, wicked man, do you preserve a right mind?
§2.3.201rectum animi servas? ‘quorsum?’ insanus quid enim Aiax §2.3.202fecit? cum stravit ferro pecus, abstinuit vim
"Whither does this tend?" For what did the mad Ajax do when he slaughtered the flock with his sword?
§2.3.203uxore et gnato; mala multa precatus atridis §2.3.204non ille aut Teucrum aut ipsum violavit Ulixen.
He kept his violence from his wife and son; though he prayed many evils upon the Atridae, he did not violate Teucer or Ulysses himself.
§2.3.205‘verum ego, ut haerentis adverso litore navis §2.3.206eriperem, prudens placavi sanguine Divos. ’ §2.3.207nempe tuo, furiose? ‘meo, sed non furiosus.
"But I, in order to rescue the ships stuck on the adverse shore, wisely appeased the gods with blood." Surely with your own, madman?
’ §2.3.208qui species alias veris scelerisque tumultu §2.3.209permixtas capiet, commotus habebitur atque §2.3.210stultitiane erret nihilum distabit an ira.
"With my own, but I was not mad." He who receives images other than the true ones, and mixed up with the tumult of crime, will be held to be disturbed, and it will make no difference whether he errs from folly or from anger.
§2.3.211Aiax inmeritos cum occidit desipit agnos: §2.3.212cum prudens scelus ob titulos admittis inanis, §2.3.213stas animo et purum est vitio tibi cum tumidum est cor?
Ajax is out of his mind when he kills innocent lambs; when you, with foresight, commit a crime for empty titles, are you sound of mind, and is your heart pure of vice when it is swollen?
§2.3.214siquis lectica nitidam gestare amet agnam, §2.3.215huic vestem ut gnatae, paret ancillas, paret aurum, §2.3.216Pusam aut Pusillam appellet fortique marito §2.3.217destinet uxorem: interdicto huic omne adimat ius §2.3.218praetor et ad sanos abeat tutela propinquos.
If someone should like to carry a sleek ewe in a litter, prepare clothes for her as for a daughter, prepare maids, prepare gold, call her Pusa or Pusilla, and destine her as a wife for a brave husband: the praetor would by injunction take away all his legal rights and the guardianship would go to his sane relatives.
§2.3.219quid, siquis gnatam pro muta devovet agna,
What, if someone sacrifices his daughter instead of a dumb lamb, is he sound of mind?
§2.3.220integer est animi? ne dixeris.
Do not say so.
ergo ubi prava §2.3.221stultitia, hic summa est insania; qui sceleratus, §2.3.222et furiosus erit; quem cepit vitrea fama, §2.3.223hunc circumtonuit gaudens Bellona cruentis.
Therefore, where there is depraved folly, there is the greatest madness; he who is wicked will also be mad; whom glassy fame has captured, around him Bellona, rejoicing in bloodshed, has thundered.
§2.3.224nunc age luxuriam et nomentanum arripe mecum.
Come now, arraign luxury and Nomentanus with me.
§2.3.225vincet enim stultos ratio insanire nepotes.
For reason will prove that foolish spendthrifts are mad.
§2.3.226hic simul accepit patrimoni mille talenta, §2.3.227edicit, piscator uti, pomarius, auceps, §2.3.228unguentarius ac Tusci turba inpia vici, §2.3.229cum scurris fartor, cum Velabro omne macellum §2.3.230mane domum veniant.
As soon as he received a thousand talents of patrimony, he issued an edict that the fishmonger, the fruit-seller, the bird-catcher, the perfumer, and the wicked crowd of the Tuscan street, the sausage-maker with the parasites, and the whole market of the Velabrum, should come to his house in the morning.
quid tum? venere frequentes,
What then? They came in crowds.
§2.3.231verba facit leno: ‘quidquid mihi, quidquid et horum §2.3.232cuique domi est, id crede tuum et vel nunc pete vel cras. ’ §2.3.233accipe quid contra haec iuvenis responderit aequus. §2.3.234‘in nive Lucana dormis ocreatus, ut aprum §2.3.235cenem ego; tu piscis hiberno ex aequore verris. §2.3.236segnis ego, indignus qui tantum possideam; aufer, §2.3.237sume tibi deciens; tibi tantundem; tibi triplex, §2.3.238unde uxor media currit de nocte vocata. ’
The pimp speaks: "Whatever I have, and whatever each of these has at home, believe it to be yours and ask for it either now or tomorrow." Hear what the fair youth answered in response to this: "You sleep in Lucanian snow wearing boots, so that I may dine on boar; you sweep fish from the winter sea.
§2.3.239filius Aesopi detractam ex aure Metellae, §2.3.240scilicet ut deciens solidum absorberet, aceto §2.3.241diluit insignem bacam: qui sanior ac si §2.3.242illud idem in rapidum flumen iaceretve cloacam?
I am lazy, unworthy to possess so much; take, receive ten hundred thousand sesterces for yourself; as much for you; three times as much for you, from whose house your wife runs when summoned in the middle of the night." The son of Aesopus dissolved a remarkable pearl, taken from Metella's ear, in vinegar, forsooth to swallow down ten hundred thousand sesterces at once: how was he more sane than if he had thrown that same thing into a rapid river or a sewer?
§2.3.243Quinti progenies Arri, par nobile fratrum
The offspring of Quintus Arrius, a noble pair of brothers...