§8.136si frangis virgas sociorum in sanguine, si te §8.137delectant hebetes lasso lictore secures, §8.138incipit ipsorum contra te stare parentum §8.139nobilitas claramque facem praeferre pudendis.
If you break the rods in the blood of our allies, if you delight in blunted axes with a tired lictor, the nobility of your ancestors themselves begins to stand against you and to hold a bright torch before your shameful deeds.
Every vice of the soul carries in itself a blame that is more conspicuous the greater the one who sins is held to be.
§8.142quo mihi te solitum falsas signare tabellas §8.143in templis quae fecit avus statuamque parentis
To what purpose do you show yourself to me, accustomed to sign false tablets in the temples which your grandfather built, and before the triumphal statue of your father?
To what purpose, if as a nocturnal adulterer you veil your covered temples with a Santonian cowl?
§8.146Praeter maiorum cineres atque ossa volucri §8.147carpento rapitur pinguis Lateranus, et ipse. §8.148ipse rotam adstringit sufflamine mulio consul. §8.149nocte quidem, sed Luna videt, sed sidera testes
Past the ashes and bones of his ancestors, in a swift carriage, the fat Lateranus is whirled along, and he himself, himself, a consul-muleteer, binds the wheel with the drag-chain; by night indeed, but the Moon sees, and the stars as witnesses strain their eyes.
§8.150intendunt oculos, finitum tempus honoris §8.151cum fuerit, clara Lateranus luce flagellum §8.152sumet et occursum numquam trepidabit amici §8.153iam senis ac virga prior annuet, atque maniplos §8.154solvet et infundet iumentis hordea lassis.
When the finished term of his office shall be over, in clear light of day Lateranus will take the whip and never tremble at the meeting of a friend now old, but will salute him first with his rod, and will unloose the bundles of hay and pour the barley for his tired beasts.
§8.155interea, dum lanatas robumque iuvencum §8.156more Numae caedit, Iovis ante altaria iurat §8.157solam Eponam et facies olida ad praesepia pictas.
Meanwhile, while he slaughters woolly sheep and a sturdy young bull after the manner of Numa, before the altars of Jupiter he swears by Epona alone and the faces painted on the smelly stables.
§8.158sed cum pervigiles placet instaurare popinas, §8.159obvius adsiduo Syrophoenix unctus amomo §8.160currit, Idymaeae Syrophoenix incola portae, §8.161hospitis adfectu dominum regemque salutat, §8.162et cum venali Cyane succincta lagona.
But when it pleases him to revisit the all-night taverns, meting him, a Syrophoenician anointed with constant amomum runs up, a Syrophoenician inhabitant of the Idumaean gate, with the affection of a host salutes him as master and king, and with him Cyane girded up with her jar of wine for sale.
§8.163Defensor culpae dicet mihi ‘fecimus et nos §8.164haec iuvenes. ’ esto, desisti nempe nec ultra §8.165fovisti errorem, breve sit quod turpiter audes; §8.166quaedam cum prima resecentur crimina barba, §8.167indulge veniam pueris: Lateranus ad illos
A defender of his fault will say to me, 'We also did these things as youths.' So be it; but surely you stopped, nor further did you foster your error; let what you shamefully dare be brief, since certain crimes are cut away with the first beard; indulge pardon to boys.
§8.168thermarum calices inscriptaque lintea vadit §8.169maturus bello Armeniae Syriaeque tuendis §8.170amnibus et Rheno atque Histro; praestare Neronem
But Lateranus goes to those cups of the bathhouse and the inscribed linen curtains, mature for war, for guarding the rivers of Armenia and Syria, and the Rhine and the Danube; this age is able to keep Nero secure.
§8.171securum valet haec aetas, mitte Ostia, Caesar, §8.172mitte, sed in magna legatum quaere popina; §8.173invenies aliquo cum percussore iacentem, §8.174permixtum nautis et furibus ac fugitivis, §8.175inter carnifices et fabros sandapilarum §8.176et resupinati cessantia tympana galli,
Send to Ostia, Caesar, send, but look for your general in some big tavern; you will find him lying with some cut-throat, mixed with sailors, thieves, and fugitives, among executioners and makers of cheap coffins, and the silent tambourines of a Gallus lying on his back.
Equal freedom is there, common cups, a bed not different for anyone, nor a table more remote for any.
§8.179quid facias talem sortitus, Pontice, servum?
What would you do, Ponticus, if you had allotted to you such a slave?
§8.180nempe in Lucanos aut Tusca ergastula mittas.
Surely you would send him to Lucania or the Tuscan workhouses.
§8.181at vos, Troiugenae, vobis ignoscitis, et quae §8.182turpia cerdoni, Volesos Brutumque decebunt.
But you, sons of Troy, forgive yourselves, and what is shameful for a cobbler will become the Volesi and Brutus.
What if we never use examples so foul and so shameful that worse do not remain?
After consuming your wealth, Damasippus, you hired out your voice to the stage-curtain, that you might play the noisy 'Phasma' of Catullus.
§8.187Laureolum velox etiam bene Lentulus egit, §8.188iudice me dignus vera cruce, nec tamen ipsi §8.189ignoscas populo; populi frons durior huius §8.190qui sedet et spectat triscurria patriciorum §8.191planipedes audit Fabios, ridere potest qui §8.192Mamercorum alapas.
Swift Lentulus also acted 'Laureolus' well, worthy in my judgment of a real cross; yet do not forgive the people themselves; the forehead of this populace is harder, which sits and watches the triple-scurrility of patricians, listens to the bare-footed Fabii, and is able to laugh at the slaps given to the Mamerci.
quanti sua funera vendant
At what price they sell their own deaths, what does it matter?
They sell with no Nero forcing them, nor do they hesitate to sell them to the games of the lofty praetor.
§8.195finge tamen gladios inde atque hinc pulpita poni, §8.196quid satius? mortem sic quisquam exhorruit, ut sit
Yet imagine that swords on one side, and the stage on the other are placed; which is better?
§8.197zelotypus Thymeles, stupidi collega Corinthi?
Has anyone so dreaded death that he would be the jealous husband of Thymele, or the colleague of the stupid Corinthus?
§8.198res haut mira tamen citharoedo principe mimus §8.199nobilis, haec ultra quid erit nisi ludus? et illic
Yet it is no wonder, with a lyre-player as prince, that a nobleman is a mime; what after this will there be but the arena?
§8.200dedecus urbis habes, nec murmillonis in armis §8.201nec clipeo Gracchum pugnantem aut falce supina; §8.202damnat enim tales habitus, sed damnat et, odit; §8.203nec galea faciem abscondit; movet ecce tridentem.
And there you have the disgrace of the city, Gracchus fighting not in the arms of a murmillo, nor with a shield, nor with a curved scythe; for he condemns such gear, yes, condemns and hates it, nor does he hide his face with a helmet; look, he wields a trident!