§47.1Libenter ex is, qui a te veniunt, cognovi familiariter te cum servis tuis vivere.
I have learned with pleasure from those who come from you that you live familiarly with your slaves.
Hoc prudentiam tuam, hoc eruditionem decet.
This becomes your prudence, this becomes your erudition.
"Servi sunt. "Immo homines.
"They are slaves." Rather, they are men.
"Servi sunt. "Immo contubernales.
"They are slaves." Rather, they are comrades.
"Servi sunt. "Immo humiles amici.
"They are slaves." Rather, they are humble friends.
"Servi sunt. '' Immo conservi, si cogitaveris tantundem in utrosque licere fortunae.
"They are slaves." Rather, they are fellow-slaves, if you consider that fortune has the same power over both.
§47.2Itaque rideo istos, qui turpe existimant cum servo suo cenare.
Therefore, I laugh at those who think it disgraceful to dine with their slave.
Quare, nisi quia superbissima consuetudo cenanti domino stantium servorum turbam circumdedit? Est ille plus quam capit, et ingenti aviditate onerat distentum ventrem ac desuetum iam ventris officio, ut maiore opera omnia egerat quam ingessit; at infelicibus servis movere labra ne in hoc quidem, ut loquantur, licet.
For what reason, except that a most arrogant custom has surrounded the dining master with a crowd of standing slaves? He eats more than he can contain, and with immense greed loads his distended stomach, which is now unaccustomed to its proper office, so that he excretes everything with greater labor than he took it in; but the unfortunate slaves are not allowed to move their lips, not even for this purpose, namely, to speak.
§47.3Virga murmur omne conpescitur, et ne fortuita quidem verberibus excepta sunt, tussis, sternumenta, singultus.
Every murmur is checked by the rod, and not even accidental sounds are exempt from floggings—coughs, sneezes, hiccups.
Magno malo ulla voce interpellatum silentium luitur.
The silence interrupted by any voice is paid for with a great punishment.
Nocte tota ieiuni mutique perstant.
All night long they stand fast, hungry and mute.
§47.4Sic fit, ut isti de domino loquantur, quibus coram domino loqui non licet.
Thus it happens that those speak about their master, who are not allowed to speak in the presence of their master.
At illi, quibus non tantum coram dominis, sed cum ipsis erat sermo, quorum os non consuebatur, parati erant pro domino porrigere cervicem, periculum inminens in caput suum avertere; in conviviis loquebantur, sed in tormentis tacebant.
But those who had conversation not only in the presence of their masters but with them, whose mouths were not sewn up, were ready to offer their necks for their master, to turn aside imminent danger onto their own heads; they spoke at banquets, but in the midst of torments they were silent.
§47.5Deinde eiusdem arrogantiae proverbium iactatur, totidem hostes esse quot servos.
Then, from the same arrogance, the proverb is bandied about, that there are as many enemies as there are slaves.
Non habemus illos hostes, sed facimus.
We do not have them as enemies, but we make them so.
Alia interim crudelia, inhumana praetereo, quod ne tamquam hominibus quidem, sed tamquam iumentis abutimur.
Meanwhile, I pass over other cruel and inhuman things, because we abuse them not even as men, but as beasts of burden.
Cum ad cenandum discubuimus, alius sputa detergit, alius reliquias temulentorum toro subditus colligit.
When we have reclined for dinner, one wipes up the spittle, another, crouched under the couch, collects the leavings of the drunkards.
§47.6Alius pretiosas aves scindit; per pectus et clunes certis ductibus circumferens eruditam manum frusta excutit, infelix, qui huic uni rei vivit, ut altilia decenter secet, nisi quod miserior est, qui hoc voluptatis causa docet quam qui necessitatis discit.
Another carves the precious birds; drawing his skilled hand along the breast and rump with certain strokes, he cuts off the pieces—unfortunate man, who lives for this one thing, to carve fattened fowl properly, except that he is more miserable who teaches this for the sake of pleasure than he who learns it out of necessity.
§47.7Alius vini minister in muliebrem modum ornatus cum aetate luctatur; non potest effugere pueritiam, retrahitur, iamque militari habitu glaber retritis pilis aut penitus evulsis tota nocte pervigilat, quam inter ebrietatem domini ac libidinem dividit et in cubiculo vir, in convivio puer est.
Another, a wine-steward dressed in a woman's fashion, struggles with his age; he cannot escape his boyhood, he is dragged back to it, and though already of military age, he is kept hairless, with his hair rubbed off or completely plucked out, and stays awake all night, which he divides between his master's drunkenness and lust, being a man in the bedchamber, but a boy at the banquet.
§47.8Alius, cui convivarum censura permissa est, perstat infelix et exspectat, quos adulatio et intemperantia aut gulae aut linguae revocet in crastinum.
Another, to whom the censorship of the guests has been permitted, stands unfortunate and waits to see whom flattery and intemperance of either gluttony or tongue will recall for tomorrow.
Adice obsonatores, quibus dominici palati notitia subtilis est, qui sciunt, cuius illum rei sapor excitet, cuius delectet aspectus, cuius novitate nauseabundus erigi possit, quid iam ipsa satietate fastidiat, quid illo die esuriat.
Add the caterers, who have a subtle knowledge of the master's palate, who know what flavor excites him, what appearance delights him, by what novelty he, though nauseated, can be aroused, what he already loathes from sheer satiety, and what he hungers for on that day.
Cum his cenare non sustinet et maiestatis suae deminutionem putat ad eandem mensam cum servo suo accedere.
To dine with these he cannot bear, and he thinks it a diminution of his majesty to approach the same table with his slave.
Di melius!
Heaven forbid!
§47.9Quot ex istis dominos habet! Stare ante limen Callisti dominum suum vidi et eum, qui illi inpegerat titulum, qui inter reicula mancipia produxerat, aliis intrantibus excludi.
How many of these has masters! I saw his own master standing before the threshold of Callistus, and him who had attached the price-tag to him, who had produced him among the worthless slaves, shut out while others were entering.
Rettulit illi gratiam servus ille in primam decuriam coniectus, in qua vocem praeco experitur; et ipse illum invicem apologavit, et ipse non iudicavit domo sua dignum.
That slave, cast into the first decuria, in which the herald tests his voice, paid back the favor; he himself in turn rejected him, and he himself did not judge him worthy of his house.
Dominus Callistum vendidit; sed domino quam multa Callistus!
The master sold Callistus; but how many things did Callistus do to his master!
§47.10Vis tu cogitare istum, quem servum tuum vocas, ex isdem seminibus ortum eodem frui caelo, aeque spirare, aeque vivere, aeque mori! tam tu illum videre ingenuum potes quam ille te servum.
Will you please consider that this one, whom you call your slave, sprung from the same seeds, enjoys the same sky, breathes equally, lives equally, dies equally! You can see him as a freeborn man just as much as he can see you as a slave.
Mariana clade multos splendidissime natos, senatorium per militiam auspicantes gradum, fortuna depressit, alium ex illis pastorem, alium custodem casae fecit; contemne nunc eius fortunae hominem, in quam transire, dum contemnis, potes.
By the Marian disaster, fortune cast down many born most illustriously, who were beginning their senatorial career through military service, making one of them a shepherd, another a keeper of a cottage; despise now a man of that fortune into which, while you despise it, you can transition.