§pr.1Latebat inter nugas meas libellus ignobilis;
An obscure little book was hiding among my trifles; I wish it had remained hidden and had not perished, like a shrew-mouse, by its own self-betrayal.
utinamque latuisset neque indicio suo tamquam sorex periret, hunc ego cum velut gallinaceus Euclionis situ chartei pulveris eruissem, excussum relegi atque ut avidus faenerator inprobum nummum malui occupare quam condere, dein cogitans mecum, non illud Catullianum,
"cui dono lepidum novum libellum,"
set ἀμουσότερον et verius:
"cui dono inlepidum, rudem libellum,"
non diu quaesivi, tu enim occurristi, quem ego, si mihi potestas sit ex omnibus deligendi, unum semper elegerim.
When I unearthed this, like Euclio's rooster, from the site of paper dust, I shook it out, reread it, and, like a greedy usurer, preferred to put this bad coin into circulation rather than to hoard it. Then thinking to myself, not that line of Catullus, "To whom do I give this charming, new little book?" but something more unpolished and more truthful: "To whom do I give this uncharming, rough little book?" I did not search for long, for you occurred to me, whom I, if I had the power to choose from all, would always choose as the one and only.
misi itaque ad te haec frivola gerris Siculis vaniora, ut, cum agis nihil, haec legas et, ne nihil agas, defendas.
And so I sent to you these trifles, emptier than Sicilian nonsense, so that when you are doing nothing, you may read them, and, lest you do nothing at all, you may defend them.
igitur iste nugator libellus iam diu secreta quidem, sed vulgi lectione laceratus perveniet tandem in manus tuas.
Therefore, this trifling little book, which has indeed been kept secret for a long time, but now torn by the reading of the common crowd, will at last reach your hands.
quem tu aut ut Aesculapius redintegrabis ad vitam, aut ut Plato iuvante Vulcano liberabis infamia, si pervenire non debet ad famam.
You will either restore it to life like Aesculapius, or, like Plato with the help of Vulcan, free it from infamy, if it ought not to reach fame.
Fuit autem ineptiolae huius ista materia, in expeditione, quod tempus, ut scis, licentiae militaris est, super mensam meam facta est invitatio, non illa de Rubrii convivio, ut Graeco more biberetur,1 set illa de Flacci ecloga, in qua propter
mediam noctem
et
novam lunam
et
Murenae auguratum
ternos ter cyathos attonitus petit vates.
Now, the material of this little folly was as follows: during an expedition—a time, as you know, of military license—at my table an invitation was made, not that one of Rubrius's banquet, to drink in the Greek fashion, but that one from Flaccus's eclogue, in which, on account of midnight and the new moon and Murena's augurship, the spellbound poet demands three times three cups.
hunc locum de ternario numero illico nostra illa poetica scabies coepit exculpere: cuius morbi quoniam facile contagium est, utinam ad te quoque prurigo commigret et fuco tuae emendationis adiecto inpingas sphongiam, quae inperfectum opus equi male spumantis absolvat.
From this passage about the triple number, our well-known poetic itch immediately began to carve out this piece; since the contagion of this disease is easy, I wish that the itch would pass to you too, and that, having applied the dye of your emendation, you would press the sponge, which may complete the imperfect work of the poorly foaming horse.
ac ne me nescias gloriosum, coeptos inter prandendum versiculos ante cenae tempus absolvi, hoc est, dum bibo et paulo ante quam biberem.
And lest you think me boastful, I finished these little verses, begun during lunch, before dinner-time—that is, while I was drinking and a little before I drank.
Sit ergo examen pro materia et tempore, set tu quoque hoc ipsum paulo hilarior et dilutior lege; namque iniurium est de poeta male sobrio lectorem abstemium iudicare.
Let this trial, therefore, be in keeping with the material and the time, but do you also read this very thing a little more cheerfully and diluted; for it is unjust for an abstemious reader to judge a poorly sober poet.
§pr.2Neque me fallit fore aliquem, qui hunc iocum nostrum acutis naribus et caperrata fronte condemnet negetque me omnia, quae ad ternarium et novenarium numeros pertinent, attigisse.
Nor does it escape me that there will be someone who will condemn this joke of ours with a sharp nose and a wrinkled brow, and deny that I have touched upon everything that belongs to the triple and ninefold numbers.
quem ego verum dicere fatebor, iuste, negabo, quippe si bonus est, quae omisi, non oblita mihi, sed praeterita existimet, dehinc qualiscumque est, cogitet secum, quam multa de his non repperisset, si ipse quaesisset, sciat etiam me neque omnibus erutis usum et quibusdam oblatis abusum.
I will admit that he speaks the truth, but I will deny that he does so justly; for if he is a good man, let him think that what I omitted was not forgotten, but passed over; further, whatever sort of man he is, let him think to himself how many things about these he would not have found if he himself had searched, and let him also know that I have neither used everything unearthed nor abused some things offered.
quam multa enim de ternario sciens nec-lego! tempora et personas, genera et gradus, novem naturalia metra cum trimetris, totam grammaticam et musicam librosque medicinae, ter maximum Hermen et amatorem primum philosophiae Varronisque numeros et quidquid profanum vulgus ignorat.
For how many things about the triple number do I knowingly omit! Times and persons, genders and degrees, the nine natural meters with the trimeters, the whole of grammar and music, and books of medicine, thrice-great Hermes, the first lover of philosophy, and Varro's numbers, and whatever the profane crowd is ignorant of.
Postremo, quod facile est, cum ipse multa invenerit, comparet se atque me, occupatum cum otioso, pransum cum abstemio, iocum et ludum meum, diligentiam et calumniam suam.
Finally, which is easy, when he himself has found many things, let him compare himself and me, the busy man with the idle, the one who has dined with the abstemious, my joke and play with his diligence and malice.
alius enim alio plura invenire potest: nemo omnia.
For one man can find more than another, but no one can find everything.
§pr.3Quod si alicui et obscurus videbor, aput eum me sic tuebere: primum eiusmodi epyllia, nisi vel obscura sint, nihil futura;
But if I also seem obscure to someone, you will defend me before him thus: first, that epyllia of this kind are nothing unless they are obscure; second, that the nature of numbers is not a rush, so as to be without knots; finally, if I am obscure even to you, to whom nothing is unread or uncomprehended, then indeed I shall be happy to attain what I aimed at, namely, that you search for me, that you miss me, and that you think of me.
deinde numerorum naturam non esse scirpum, ut sine nodo sint: postremo si etiam tibi obscurus fuero, cui nihil neque non lectum est neque non intellectum, tum vero ego beatus, quod adfectavi, adsequar, me ut requiras, me ut desideres, de me cogites. vale.
Farewell.