Having promised you that I would be in the country for five days, liar that I am, I am missed through the whole of August.
§1.7.3si me vivere vis sanum recteque valentem, §1.7.4quam mihi das aegro, dabis aegrotare timenti, §1.7.5Maecenas, veniam, dum ficus prima calorque §1.7.6dissignatorem decorat lictoribus atris, §1.7.7dum pueris omnis pater et matercula pallet, §1.7.8officiosaque sedulitas et opella forensis §1.7.9adducit febris et testamenta resignat.
And yet, if you wish me to live healthy and in right good health, you will grant to me who fear to fall ill the same indulgence that you grant when I am sick, Maecenas, while the first fig and the heat adorn the undertaker with his black lictors, while every father and anxious mother turns pale for their children, and dutiful assiduity and the petty business of the forum bring on fevers and unseal wills.
§1.7.10quod si bruma nives Albanis illinet agris, §1.7.11ad mare descendet vates tuus et sibi parcet §1.7.12contractusque leget; te, dulcis amice, reviset §1.7.13cum Zephyris, si concedes, et hirundine prima.
But if winter shall smear the Alban fields with snow, your poet will go down to the sea, and spare himself, and read, huddled up; he will revisit you, sweet friend, with the Zephyrs, if you permit, and with the first swallow.
It was not in the manner that a Calabrian host bids you eat his pears that you have made me rich.
vescere, sodes. §1.7.16iam satis est. at tu quantum vis tolle. benigne. §1.7.17non invisa feres pueris munuscula parvis. §1.7.18tam teneor dono, quam si dimittar onustus. §1.7.19ut libet; haec porcis hodie comedenda relinques. §1.7.20prodigus et stultus donat quae spernit et odit; §1.7.21haec seges ingratos tulit et feret omnibus annis,
"Eat, please." "I have had enough already." "But take as much as you wish." "Thank you." "You will carry back no unwelcome little gifts to your little children." "I am as much obliged by the offer as if I were sent away fully laden." "As you please; you will leave these to be eaten by the pigs today." The prodigal and foolish man gives what he despises and hates; this soil has produced, and will produce in all years, ungrateful men.
§1.7.22vir bonus et sapiens dignis ait esse paratus, §1.7.23nec tamen ignorat quid distent aera lupinis.
A good and wise man says he is ready to help the deserving, and yet he is not ignorant of how much real money differs from lupines.
§1.7.24dignum praestabo me etiam pro laude merentis.
I will also show myself worthy in proportion to the praise of my benefactor.
§1.7.25quod si me noles usquam discedere, reddes §1.7.26forte latus, nigros angusta fronte capillos, §1.7.27reddes dulce loqui, reddes ridere decorum et §1.7.28inter vina fugam Cinarae maerere protervae.
But if you would have me never depart anywhere, you must restore to me my strong chest, the black hair on my narrow forehead, you must restore my sweet speech, my graceful laughter, and my lamenting, amid our cups, the flight of wanton Cinara.
§1.7.29Forte per angustam tenuis volpecula rimam §1.7.30repserat in cumeram frumenti, pastaque rursus §1.7.31ire foras pleno tendebat corpore frustra; §1.7.32cui mustela procul,
si vis,
ait, “effugere istinc, §1.7.33macra cavum repetes artum, quem macra subisti. ” §1.7.34hac ego si compellor imagine, cuncta resigno; §1.7.35nec somnum plebis laudo satur altilium nec §1.7.36otia divitiis Arabum Uberrima muto.
It happened that a lean little fox had crept through a narrow chink into a bin of corn, and having fed, was trying in vain to get out again with its full body, but in vain; to whom a weasel from afar said: "If you wish to escape from there, you must seek again, lean, the narrow hole which you entered lean." If I am addressed by this fable, I resign all; nor do I praise the sleep of the common people only when sated with fattened fowl, nor would I exchange my free leisure for the richest wealth of the Arabs.
§1.7.37saepe verecundum laudasti, rexque paterque §1.7.38audisti coram nec verbo parcius absens: §1.7.39inspice si possum donata reponere laetus.
You have often praised my modesty, and have been called "king" and "father" by me in your presence, nor was I more sparing of the word in your absence: see if I can cheerfully restore your gifts.
§1.7.40haud male Telemachus, proles parientis Ulixei: §1.7.41“non est aptus equis Ithace locus, ut neque planis §1.7.42porrectus spatiis nec multae prodigus herbae: §1.7.43Atride, magis apta tibi tua dona relinquam. ” §1.7.44parvum parva decent: mihi iam non regia Roma, §1.7.45sed vacuum Tibur placet aut imbelle Tarentum.
Not badly spoke Telemachus, the offspring of patient Ulysses: "Ithaca is not a country fit for horses, as it is neither stretched out in level plains, nor rich in abundant grass: son of Atreus, I will leave your gifts behind, as they are more suited for yourself." Small things become the small: to me now, not royal Rome, but quiet Tibur pleases, or peaceful Tarentum.
§1.7.46Strenuus et fortis causisque Philippus agendis §1.7.47clarus, ab officiis octavam circiter horam §1.7.48dum redit atque Foro nimium distare Carinas §1.7.49iam grandis natu queritur, conspexit, ut aiunt, §1.7.50adrasum quendam vacua tonsoris in umbra §1.7.51cultello proprios purgantem leniter unguis.
Philippus, active and strong, and famous for pleading causes, was returning from his duties around the eighth hour, and while complaining that the Carinae was too far from the Forum for his advanced age, he espied, as they say, a certain clean-shaven man in a vacant barber's shop, gently cleaning his own nails with a small knife.
§1.7.52Demetri,
(puer hic non laeve iussa Philippi §1.7.53accipiebat) “abi, quaere et refer, unde domo, quis, §1.7.54cuius fortunae, quo sit patre quove patrono. ” §1.7.55it, redit et narrat, Voltcium nomine Menam, §1.7.56praeconem, tenui censu, sine crimine, notum §1.7.57et properare loco et cessare et quaerere et uti, §1.7.58gaudentem parvisque sodalibus et lare certo §1.7.59et ludis et post decisa negotia Campo.
"Demetrius," (this boy received the orders of Philippus not awkwardly) "go, inquire and bring back word, from what home, who he is, of what fortune, who is his father, or who is his patron." He goes, returns, and relates: that his name is Volteius Mena, a crier, of slender fortune, free from blame, known both to exert himself in due season and to relax, to get and to spend, delighting in humble companions and a settled home, and in the games, and, after business is over, in the Campus.
§1.7.60“scitari libet ex ipso quodcumque refers: dic §1.7.61ad cenam veniat. ” non sane credere Mena,
"I should like to ask of himself all that you report: tell him to come to dinner." Mena could not indeed believe it; he wondered with himself in silence.
To be brief, "Most kind," he replies.
neget ille mihi?
“negat improbus et te §1.7.64neglegit aut horret. ” Volteium mane Philippus §1.7.65vilia vendentem tunicato scruta popello §1.7.66occupat et salvere iubet prior, ille Philippo
"Does he refuse me?" "The rascal refuses, and slights or dreads you." In the morning Philippus catches Volteius selling cheap trumpery to the tunic-clad common people, and is the first to bid him good morning.
§1.7.67excusare laborem et mercennaria vincla, §1.7.68quod non mane domum venisset, denique quod non §1.7.69providisset eum.
He to Philippus began to excuse his work and the shackles of his trade, for not having come to his house in the morning, and finally for not having seen him first.
“sic ignovisse putato §1.7.70me tibi, si cenas hodie mecum. ”
ut libet. “ergo §1.7.71post nonam venies: nunc i, rem strenuus auge. ” §1.7.72ut ventum ad cenam est, dicenda tacenda locutus §1.7.73tandem dormitum dimittitur.
"Consider yourself forgiven on this condition, if you dine with me today." "As you please." "Then you will come after the ninth hour; now go, and actively increase your fortune." When he came to dinner, having talked of things to be said and things to be unsaid, at length he is dismissed to go to sleep.
Hic ubi saepe §1.7.74occultum visus decurrere piscis ad hamum, §1.7.75mane cliens et iam certus conviva, iubetur §1.7.76rura suburbana indictis comes ire Latinis, §1.7.77impositus mannis arvum caelumque Sabinum §1.7.78non cessat laudare, videt ridetque Philippus,
When he had often been seen to run like a fish to the hidden hook, a morning client and now a regular guest, he is ordered, on the occasion of the Latin holidays to accompany him to his country estate near town; mounted on a pony, he never ceases to praise the Sabine fields and climate.
§1.7.79et sibi dum requiem, dum risus undique quaerit, §1.7.80dum septem donat sestertia, mutua septem §1.7.81promittit, persuadet uti mercetur agellum.
Philippus sees and laughs, and while seeking relaxation for himself, and amusement from every quarter, while he gives him seven thousand sesterces, and promises to lend another seven thousand, he persuades him to buy a small farm.
§1.7.82mercatur.
He buys it.
ne te longis ambagibus ultra §1.7.83quam satis est morer, ex nitido fit rusticus atque §1.7.84sulcos et vineta crepat mera, praeparat ulmos, §1.7.85immoritur studiis et amore senescit habendi.
Not to delay you with a long roundabout story beyond what is necessary, from a dapper gent he becomes a rustic, and prates of nothing but furrows and vineyards, prepares his elms, kills himself with his efforts and grows old with the love of possessing.
§1.7.86verum ubi oves furto, morbo periere capellae, §1.7.87spem mentita seges, bos est enectus arando, §1.7.88offensus damnis media de nocte caballum §1.7.89arripit iratusque Philippi tendit ad aedis.
But when his sheep were lost by theft, and his goats by disease, when his crops disappointed his hopes, and his ox was worked to death by plowing, provoked by his losses, in the middle of the night he seizes his horse, and in a rage makes for the house of Philippus.
§1.7.90quem simul aspexit scabrum intonsumque Philippus, §1.7.91durus,
ait, “Voltei, nimis attentusque videris §1.7.92esse mihi. ” “pol, me miserum, patrone, vocares, §1.7.93si velles,” inquit, “verum mihi ponere nomen.
As soon as Philippus beheld him, rough and unshorn, he says: "Volteius, you seem to me to be too hard-pressed and too anxious." "By Pollux! patron," he says, "you would call me wretched, if you wished to give me my true name.
§1.7.94quod te per Genium dextramque deosque Penatis §1.7.95obsecro et obtestor, vitae me redde priori!” §1.7.96Qui semel aspexit, quantum dimissa petitis §1.7.97praestent, mature redeat repetatque relicta.
Therefore, by your Genius, your right hand, and your household gods I beseech and implore you, restore me to my former life!" He who has once seen how much what he has given up excels what he seeks, let him return in time and seek again what he left behind.
§1.7.98metiri se quemque suo modulo ae pede verum est.
It is right that everyone should measure himself by his own rule and foot.