§3.161sarcinulis impar? quis pauper scribitur heres?
unequal to her baggage? What poor man is written down as heir?
When is he in council with the aediles? Having formed a column, the poor citizens ought long ago to have emigrated.
§3.164Haut facile emergunt quorum virtutibus opstat §3.165res angusta domi, sed Romae durior illis §3.166conatus: magno hospitium miserabile, magno §3.167servorum ventres, et frugi cenula magno,
Not easily do they emerge whose virtues are obstructed by narrow circumstances at home, but at Rome their attempt is harder for them: a miserable lodging costs a great price, a great price for the bellies of slaves, and a frugal little dinner costs a great price.
§3.168fictilibus cenare pudet, quod turpe negabis §3.169translatus subito ad Marsos mensamque Sabellam §3.170contentusque illic Veneto duroque cucullo.
One is ashamed to dine from earthenware, which you will deny to be shameful if suddenly translated to the Marsians and a Sabellian table, and content there with a blue and coarse hood.
§3.171Pars magna Italiae est, si verum admittimus, in qua §3.172nemo togam sumit nisi mortuus, ipsa dierum
There is a great part of Italy, if we admit the truth, in which no one takes up the toga except when dead.
§3.173festorum herboso colitur si quando theatro §3.174maiestas tandemque redit ad pulpita notum §3.175exodium, cum personae pallentis hiatum §3.176in gremio matris formidat rusticus infans, §3.177aequales habitus illic similesque videbis §3.178orchestram et populum, clari velamen honoris §3.179sufficiunt tunicae summis aedilibus albae,
Even the very majesty of festival days is celebrated, if ever, in a grassy theatre, and at last the well-known exodium returns to the stage, when the rustic infant in its mother's lap fears the gaping mouth of the pale mask; you will see equal and similar attire there, the orchestra and the people; as the garb of high honor, white tunics suffice for the chief aediles.
§3.180hic ultra vires habitus nitor, hic aliquid plus §3.181quam satis est interdum aliena sumitur arca.
Here, the splendor of attire is beyond our means; here, something more than is sufficient is sometimes taken from another's chest.
§3.182commune id vitium est, hic vivimus ambitiosa §3.183paupertate omnes, quid te moror? omnia Romae §3.184cum pretio, quid das, ut Cossum aliquando salutes, §3.185ut te respiciat clauso Veiento labello?
That vice is common; here we all live in ambitious poverty. Why do I delay you? All things at Rome are with a price. What do you give to greet Cossus sometimes, so that Veiento may look back at you with closed lips?
One shaves his beard, another cuts the hair of his beloved slave; the house is full of cakes for sale.
accipe, et istud §3.188fermentum tibi habe: praestare tributa clientes §3.189cogimur et cultis augere peculia servis.
Accept them, and keep that yeast (anger) to yourself: we clients are compelled to pay tributes, and to increase the savings of sleek slaves.
§3.190Quis timet aut timuit gelida Praeneste ruinam §3.191aut positis nemorosa inter iuga Volsiniis aut §3.192simplicibus Gabiis aut proni Tiburis arce?
Who fears or has feared a collapse in cold Praeneste, or at Volsinii situated among woody ridges, or at simple Gabii, or on the citadel of sloping Tibur?
§3.193nos urbem colimus tenui tibicine fultam §3.194magna parte sui; nam sic labentibus obstat §3.195vilicus et, veteris rimae cum texit hiatum, §3.196securos pendente iubet dormire ruina,
We inhabit a city supported by a slender prop in a great part of itself; for thus the bailiff stops the falling walls, and when he has covered the gap of an old crack, he bids us sleep secure while ruin is impending.
§3.197vivendum est illic ubi nulla incendia, nulli §3.198nocte metus, iam poscit aquam, iam frivola transfert
One must live there where there are no fires, no terrors by night.
§3.199Vcalegon, tabulata tibi iam tertia fumant: §3.200tu nescis; nam si gradibus trepidatur ab imis, §3.201ultimus ardebit quem tegula sola tuetur §3.202a pluvia, molles ubi reddunt ova columbae,
Already Ucalegon calls for water, already he removes his trifles; already your third story is smoking for you: you do not know it; for if there is alarm from the lowest stairs, he will burn last whom the tile alone protects from the rain, where the gentle doves lay their eggs.
§3.203lectus erat Codro Procula minor, urceoli sex §3.204ornamentum abaci nec non et parvulus infra §3.205cantharus et recubans sub eodem marmore Chiron,
Codrus had a bed smaller than Procula, six little pitchers were the ornament of his sideboard, and also, underneath, a tiny cantharus and Chiron reclining under the same marble.
And now an old chest was keeping his Greek books, and uncultured mice were gnawing the divine poems.
§3.208nil habuit Codrus, quis enim negat? et tamen illud §3.209perdidit infelix totum nihil, ultimus autem
Codrus had nothing, for who denies it? And yet all that unhappy man lost his entire nothing.
§3.210aerumnae est cumulus, quod nudum et frusta rogantem §3.211nemo cibo, nemo hospitio tectoque iuvabit.
But the ultimate heap of his affliction is that, when naked and begging for scraps, no one will help him with food, no one with lodging and shelter.
§3.212Si magna Asturici cecidit domus, horrida mater, §3.213pullati proceres, differt vadimonia praetor, §3.214tum gemimus casus urbis, tunc odimus ignem,
If the great house of Asturicus has fallen, the mother (matrons) is disheveled, the nobles are in mourning, the praetor postpones his court; then we groan for the calamities of the city, then we hate fire.
§3.215ardet adhuc, et iam accurrit qui marmora donet, §3.216conferat inpensas; hic nuda et candida signa, §3.217hic aliquid praeclarum Euphranoris et Polycliti, §3.218hic Asianorum vetera ornamenta deorum, §3.219hic libros dabit et forulos mediamque Minervam, §3.220hic modium argenti, meliora ac plura reponit
It is still burning, and already someone runs to donate marbles, to contribute expenses; one will give naked and white statues, another some famous work of Euphranor and Polyclitus, another old ornaments of Asian deities, another will give books and cases and a bust of Minerva, another a modius of silver.
§3.221Persicus, orborum lautissimus et merito iam §3.222suspectus tamquam ipse suas incenderit aedes.
He replaces things with better and more, Persicus, the most elegant of the childless, and already with merit suspected, as though he himself had set fire to his own house.
§3.223Si potes avelli circensibus, optima Sorae §3.224aut Fabrateriae domus aut Frusinone paratur §3.225quanti nunc tenebras unum conducis in annum.
If you can be torn away from the Circensian games, an excellent house at Sora or Fabrateria or Frusino is purchased for the price at which you now rent a dark hole for a single year.
§3.226hortulus hic puteusque brevis nec reste movendus §3.227in tenuis plantas facili diffunditur haustu,
Here is a small garden, and a shallow well not to be worked with a rope, is diffused over tender plants with an easy draw.
Live a lover of the hoe, and the bailiff of a cultivated garden, from which you can give a feast to a hundred Pythagoreans.
It is something, in whatever place, in whatever retreat, to have made oneself the master of a single lizard.
§3.232Plurimus hic aeger moritur vigilando (set ipsum §3.233languorem peperit cibus inperfectus et haerens §3.234ardenti stomacho), nam quae meritoria somnum
Here, many a sick man dies from watching (but the languor itself was produced by food undigested and sticking to a burning stomach); for what lodgings allow sleep?
§3.235admittunt? magnis opibus dormitur in urbe.
It is only with great wealth that one sleeps in the city.
§3.236inde caput morbi, raedarum transitus arto §3.237vicorum in flexu et stantis convicia mandrae §3.238eripient somnum Druso vitulisque marinis.
Thence is the source of the disease: the passing of carriages in the narrow winding of the streets, and the abuse of the blocked herd will snatch sleep from Drusus and from seals.
§3.239si vocat officium, turba cedente vehetur §3.240dives et ingenti curret super ora Liburna §3.241atque obiter leget aut scribet vel dormiet intus; §3.242namque facit somnum clausa lectica fenestra,
If duty calls, the rich man will be carried as the crowd gives way, and will run over faces on a huge Liburnian litter, and by the way he will read or write or even sleep inside; for indeed a litter with closed window induces sleep.
§3.243ante tamen veniet: nobis properantibus opstat
Yet he will arrive before us; a crowd obstructs us as we hurry,