§6.509damnorum.
of his losses.
vivit tamquam vicina mariti, §6.510hoc solo propior quod amicos coniugis odit §6.511et servos, gravis est rationibus.
She lives just like a neighbor of her husband, closer to him in this alone: that she hates her husband's friends and his slaves, and is a heavy burden on his accounts.
Ecce furentis §6.512Bellonae matrisque deum chorus intrat et ingens §6.513semivir, obscaeno facies reverenda minori, §6.514mollia qui rapta secuit genitalia testa §6.515iam pridem, cui rauca cohors, cui tympana cedunt, §6.516plebeia et Phrygia vestitur bucca tiara. §6.517grande sonat metuique iubet Septembris et Austri §6.518adventum, nisi se centum lustraverit ovis §6.519et xerampelinas veteres donaverit ipsi, §6.520ut quidquid subiti et magni discriminis instat §6.521in tunicas eat et totum semel expiet annum, §6.522hibernum fracta glacie descendet in amnem, §6.523ter matutino Tiberi mergetur et ipsis §6.524verticibus timidum caput abluet, inde superbi §6.525totum regis agrum nuda ac tremibunda cruentis §6.526erepet genibus; si candida iusserit Io, §6.527ibit ad Aegypti finem calidaque petitas §6.528a Meroe portabit aquas ut spargat in aede §6.529Isidis, antiquo quae proxima surgit ovili. §6.530credit enim ipsius dominae se voce moneri: §6.531en animam et mentem cum qua di nocte loquantur! §6.532ergo hic praecipuum summumque meretur honorem, §6.533qui grege linigero circumdatus et grege calvo §6.534plangentis populi currit derisor Anubis. §6.535ille petit veniam, quotiens non abstinet uxor §6.536concubitu sacris observandisque diebus §6.537magnaque debetur violato poena cadurco §6.538et movisse caput visa est argentea serpens; §6.539illius lacrimae meditataque murmura praestant §6.540ut veniam culpae non abnuat, ansere magno §6.541scilicet et tenui popano corruptus, Osiris. §6.542Cum dedit ille locum, cophino faenoque relicto §6.543arcanam Iudaea tremens mendicat in aurem, §6.544interpres legum Solymarum et magna sacerdos §6.545arboris ac summi fida internuntia caeli. §6.546implet et illa manum, set parcius; aere minuto §6.547qualiacumque voles Iudaei somnia vendunt. §6.548Spondet amatorem tenerum vel divitis orbi §6.549testamentum ingens calidae pulmone columbae §6.550tractato Armenius vel Commagenus haruspex; §6.551pectora pullorum rimabitur, exta catelli, §6.552interdum et pueri; faciet quod deferat ipse. §6.553Chaldaeis set maior erit fiducia: quidquid §6.554dixerit astrologus, credent a fonte relatum §6.555Hammonis, quoniam Delphis oracula cessant §6.556et genus humanum damnat caligo futuri, §6.557praecipuus tamen est horum, qui saepius exul, §6.560inde fides artis, sonuit si dextera ferro §6.561laevaque, si longe castrorum in carcere mansit, §6.562nemo mathematicus genium indemnatus habebit, §6.563sed qui paene perit, cui vix in Cyclada mitti §6.564contigit et parva tandem caruisse Seripho. §6.565Consulit ictericae lento de funere matris, §6.566ante tamen de te Tanaquil tua, quando sororem §6.567efferat et patruos, an sit victurus adulter §6.568post ipsam: quid enim maius dare numina possunt? §6.569haec tamen ignorat quid sidus triste minetur §6.570Saturni, quo laeta Venus se proferat astro, §6.571quis mensis damnis, quae dentur tempora lucro: §6.572illius occursus etiam vitare memento, §6.573in cuius manibus ceu pinguia sucina tritas §6.574cernis ephemeridas, quae nullum consulit et iam §6.575consulitur, quae castra viro patriamque petente §6.576non ibit pariter numeris revocata Thrasylli. §6.577ad primum lapidem vectari cum placet, hora §6.578sumitur ex libro; si prurit frictus ocelli §6.579angulus, inspecta genesi collyria poscit; §6.580aegra licet iaceat, capiendo nulla videtur §6.581aptior hora cibo nisi quam dederit Petosiris. §6.582Si mediocris erit, spatium lustrabit utrimque §6.583metarum et sortes ducet frontemque manumque §6.584praebebit vati crebrum poppysma roganti, §6.585divitibus responsa dabit Phryx augur, et Indus §6.586conductus, dabit astrorum mundique peritus §6.587atque aliquis senior qui publica fulgura condit:
Behold, the chorus of raving Bellona and the mother of the gods enters, and the huge eunuch, a face to be revered by his obscene subordinates, who with a snatched potsherd cut his soft genitals long ago, to whom the hoarse cohort and the drums yield, and his plebeian cheek is covered with a Phrygian tiara. He sounds grandly and commands her to fear the coming of September and the South Wind, unless she purifies herself with a hundred eggs and donates her old reddish-brown tunics to him, so that whatever sudden and great danger threatens may go into the tunics and expiate the whole year at once. She will descend into the wintry river, breaking the ice, and will plunge three times in the morning Tiber, and in its very eddies wash her fearful head; thence, over the whole field of the proud king, naked and trembling, she will crawl on bleeding knees; if white Io commands, she will go to the end of Egypt and bring water sought from hot Meroe to sprinkle in the temple of Isis, which rises next to the ancient sheepfold. For she believes she is warned by the voice of the mistress herself: behold, a soul and mind with which the gods speak at night! Therefore, this one deserves the chief and highest honor, who, surrounded by a linen-wearing flock and a bald flock, runs as Anubis, the derider of the mourning people. He begs for pardon whenever the wife does not abstain from intercourse on sacred and solemn days, and a heavy penalty is owed for the violated bedcover, and the silver serpent is seen to have moved its head; his tears and studied murmurs ensure that Osiris does not refuse pardon for the fault, corrupted, of course, by a large goose and a thin sacrificial cake. When he has given place, leaving her basket and hay, a trembling Jewish woman begs into her secret ear, an interpreter of the laws of Jerusalem, a high priestess of the tree and a faithful messenger of the highest heaven. She too fills her hand, but more sparingly; for a tiny coin the Jews sell any kind of dreams you wish. An Armenian or Commagenian soothsayer promises a tender lover or a huge inheritance from a childless rich man, having handled the warm lung of a hot dove; he will peer into the breasts of chickens, the entrails of a puppy, sometimes even of a boy; he will do what he himself might inform against. But in the Chaldeans there will be greater trust: whatever the astrologer says, they will believe is brought from the fountain of Ammon, since the oracles cease at Delphi and a darkness of the future condemns the human race. Yet the chief of these is he who, more often an exile, thence comes trust in his art, if his right hand clanked with iron and his left, if he remained long in the prison of the camp; no astrologer un-condemned will have a genius, but he who almost perished, who barely managed to be sent to a Cyclad and at last to have escaped from small Seriphos. She consults him about the slow death of her jaundiced mother, but before that, your Tanaquil consults about you, when she may bury her sister and uncles, and whether the adulterer will survive after her: for what greater thing can the deities give? Yet she is ignorant of what the gloomy star of Saturn threatens, in what constellation joyful Venus displays herself, which month is for losses, what times are given to gain. Remember to avoid even the meeting of that woman in whose hands you see, like greasy amber, worn ephemerides, who consults no one and is now consulted herself, who, when her husband seeks the camp or homeland, will not go with him, recalled by the numbers of Thrasyllus. When she pleases to be carried to the first milestone, the hour is taken from her book; if the rubbed corner of her eye itches, she demands eye-salve only after inspecting her horoscope; though she lies sick, no hour seems more suitable for taking food than that which Petosiris has given. If she is of moderate means, she will traverse the space on both sides of the turning-posts and draw lots, and present her forehead and hand to the seer who asks for frequent clicking sounds. To the rich, a Phrygian augur will give answers, and a hired Indian, or one skilled in the stars and the universe, and some elder who buries public lightnings.