§10.222quot Basilus socios, quot circumscripserit Hirrus §10.223pupillos; quot longa viros exorbeat uno §10.224Maura die, quot discipulos inclinet Hamillus; §10.225percurram citius quot villas possideat nunc §10.226quo tondente gravis iuveni mihi barba sonabat.
How many partners Basilus, how many wards Hirrus cheated; how many men Maura drains in a single day, how many disciples Hamillus corrupts; I could more quickly run through how many villas he now possesses, under whose clipping my heavy beard sounded when I was a young man.
§10.227ille umero, hic lumbis, hic coxa debilis; ambos §10.228perdidit ille oculos et luscis invidet; huius §10.229pallida labra cibum accipiunt digitis alienis, §10.230ipse ad conspectum cenae diducere rictum §10.231suetus hiat tantum ceu pullus hirundinis, ad quem §10.232ore volat pleno mater ieiuna, sed omni §10.233membrorum damno maior dementia, quae nec §10.234nomina servorum nec vultum agnoscit amici §10.235cum quo praeterita cenavit nocte, nec illos §10.236quos genuit, quos eduxit, nam codice saevo §10.237heredes vetat esse suos, bona tota feruntur §10.238ad Phialen; tantum artificis valet halitus oris §10.239quod steterat multis in carcere fornicis annis.
One is weak in the shoulder, another in the loins, another in the hip; this man lost both his eyes and envies the one-eyed; this one's pale lips receive food from another's fingers; he himself, accustomed to open his mouth wide at the sight of dinner, merely gapes like a swallow's nestling, to whom its hungry mother flies with a full beak; but greater than any loss of limbs is dementia, which recognizes neither the names of slaves nor the face of the friend with whom he dined the night before, nor those whom he begot, whom he brought up; for by a cruel will he forbids his own children to be heirs, and all his goods are carried to Phiale; so powerful is the breath of that artful mouth which had stood for many years in the chamber of a brothel.
§10.240Ut vigeant sensus animi, ducenda tamen sunt §10.241funera natorum, rogus aspiciendus amatae §10.242coniugis et fratris plenaeque sororibus urnae.
Even though the senses of the mind remain strong, yet one must lead the funerals of one's children, the pyre of a beloved wife and of a brother must be beheld, and urns filled with sisters.
§10.243haec data poena diu viventibus, ut renovata §10.244semper clade domus multis in luctibus inque §10.245perpetuo maerore et nigra veste senescant.
This is the punishment given to those who live long, so that with the disaster of their house always renewed, they grow old in many griefs and perpetual mourning and in black clothing.
The King of Pylos, if you believe great Homer at all, was an example of a life second only to the crow.
§10.248felix nimirum, qui tot per saecula mortem §10.249distulit atque suos iam dextra conputat annos, §10.250quique novum totiens mustum bibit.
Happy indeed, who deferred death through so many generations and now counts his years with his right hand, and who drank new must so many times.
oro, parumper §10.251attendas quantum de legibus ipse queratur §10.252fatorum et nimio de stamine, cum videt acris §10.253Antilochi barbam ardentem, cum quaerit ab omni §10.254quisquis adest socius, cur haec in tempora duret §10.255quod facinus dignum tam longo admiserit aevo.
I pray you, attend a little to how much he himself complains of the laws of the fates and of the excessive thread, when he sees the burning beard of brave Antilochus, when he asks of every companion who is present, why he survives to these times, what crime he committed worthy of so long a life.
§10.256haec eadem Peleus, raptum cum luget Achillem, §10.257atque alius cui fas Ithacum lugere natantem.
These same things Peleus says when he laments Achilles snatched away, and that other one to whom it was permitted to mourn the drifting Ithacan.
§10.258incolumi Troia Priamus venisset ad umbras §10.259Assaraci magnis sollemnibus Hectore funus §10.260portante ac reliquis fratrum cervicibus inter §10.261Iliadum lacrimas, ut primos edere,planctus §10.262Cassandra inciperet scissaque Polyxena palla, §10.263si foret extinctus diverso tempore, quo non §10.264coeperat audaces Paris aedificare carinas,
If Troy had been unharmed, Priam would have gone to the shades of Assaracus with great solemnities, with Hector carrying the corpse and on the shoulders of the rest of his brothers, amid the tears of the Trojan women, so that Cassandra would begin to utter the first laments and Polyxena with rent garment, if he had died at a different time, when bold Paris had not begun to build the daring ships.
§10.265longa dies igitur quid contulit? omnia vidit
What then did a long life bring him?
§10.266eversa et flammis Asiam ferroque cadentem.
He saw everything overthrown, and Asia falling by fire and sword.
§10.267tunc miles tremulus posita tulit arma tiara §10.268et ruit ante aram summi Iovis ut vetulus bos, §10.269qui domini cultris tenue et miserabile collum §10.270praebet ab ingrato iam fastiditus aratro.
Then, a trembling soldier, having laid aside his tiara, he took up arms and fell before the altar of supreme Jupiter like an old ox, which offers its thin and wretched neck to its master's knife, now despised by the ungrateful plow.
§10.271exitus ille utcumque hominis, sed torva canino §10.272latravit rictu quae post hunc vixerat uxor.
That was at least the end of a human being, but she who survived him, his wife, barked fiercely with a fierce dog-like mouth.
§10.273Festino ad nostros et regem transeo Ponti §10.274et Croesum, quem vox iusti facunda Solonis §10.275respicere ad longae iussit spatia ultima vitae.
I hasten to our own examples and pass over the King of Pontus and Croesus, whom the eloquent voice of just Solon ordered to look back at the ultimate spaces of a long life.
§10.276exilium et carcer Minturnarumque paludes §10.277et mendicatus victa Carthagine panis §10.278hinc causas habuere;
Exile and prison and the marshes of Minturnae, and bread begged in conquered Carthage, had their causes from this.
quid illo cive tulisset §10.279natura in terris, quid Roma beatius umquam, §10.280si circumducto captivorum agmine et omni §10.281bellorum pompa animam exhalasset opimam, §10.282cum de Teutonico vellet descendere curru?
What happier citizen on earth had nature ever produced, what happier had Rome ever produced than that man, if, with the train of captives led around and with all the pomp of wars, he had breathed out his rich soul, when he was about to descend from his Teutonic chariot?
§10.283provida Pompeio dederat Campania febres §10.284optandas, sed multae urbes et publica vota §10.285vicerunt: igitur Fortuna ipsius et urbis §10.286servatum victo caput abstulit, hoc cruciatu
Provident Campania had given Pompey fevers to be wished for, but many cities and public vows triumphed: therefore his own Fortune and that of the city took away his preserved head from the defeated man.
§10.287Lentulus, hac poena caruit ceciditque Cethegus §10.288integer, et iacuit Catilina cadavere toto.
Lentulus escaped this torture, Cethegus escaped this punishment and fell whole, and Catilina lay with his entire body.
§10.289Formam optat modico pueris, maiore puellis §10.290murmure, cum Veneris fanum videt, anxia mater §10.291usque ad delicias votorum.
An anxious mother wishes for beauty, with a moderate murmur for her boys, and a louder one for her girls, when she sees the temple of Venus, even to the luxury of her vows.
cur tamen,
inquit,
"Yet why," she says, "should you reprove me?