Hoc agit, ut doleas : nam quae comoedia, mimus Tu tibi liber homo et regis conviva videris : nec male coniectat. Quis enim tam nudus, ut illum bis ferat, Etruscum puero si contigit aurum, vel nodus tantum et signum de paupere loro? Spes bene cenandi vos decipit. 66 'Ecce, dabit iam semesum leporem atque aliquid de clunibus apri : ad nos iam veniet minor altilis." Inde parato intactoque omnes et stricto pane tacetis. Ille sapit, qui te sic utitur. Omnia ferre si potes, et debes. Pulsandum vertice raso praebebis quandoque caput, nec dura timebis flagra pati, his epulis et tali dignus amico. 160 165 170 LIBER TERTIUS SATURA VII 1-16.—Caesar is the poet's only friend. Many through want of a patron have turned to all sorts of mean occupations, and better to do that than to turn false-witness as Oriental freedmen do. Er spes et ratio studiorum in Caesare tantum : solus enim tristes hac tempestate Camenas respexit, cum iam celebres notique poetae balneolum Gabiis, Romae conducere furnos temptarent, nec foedum alii, nec turpe putarent 169 iacetis P. D praecones fieri; cum, desertis Aganippes 17-21.—But henceforth no poet need so degrade himself. Nemo tamen studiis indignum ferre laborem cogetur posthac, nectit quicunque canoris eloquium vocale modis, laurumque momordit. ΤΟ 15 Hoc agite, O iuvenes : circumspicit et stimulat vos materiamque sibi Ducis indulgentia quaerit. 20 22-35.-If, however, you trust to any other help than Caesar's, you had better burn your parchment at once. The rich will admire you, but allow you to beg in your old age. Si qua aliunde putas rerum spectanda tuarum 25 Spes nulla ulterior: didicit iam dives avarus 30 16 Gallia p. w. 22 exspectanda . 27 calamum P. calamos p. w. tantum admirari, tantum laudare disertos, 35 36-47.-Your patron writes himself, and if he does anything for you, he only lends a musty room for your recitation, and expects you to pay for the chairs yourself. Accipe nunc artes. Ne quid tibi conferat iste, quem colis, et Musarum et Apollinis aede relicta, ipse facit versus atque uni cedit Homero propter mille annos: et, si dulcedine famae succensus recites, maculosas commodat aedes; haec longe ferrata domus servire iubetur, in qua sollicitas imitatur ianua portas. Scit dare libertos extrema in parte sedentes ordinis et magnas comitum disponere voces. Nemo dabit regum, quanti subsellia constent et quae conducto pendent anabathra tigillo, quaeque reportandis posita est orchestra cathedris. 40 45 48-52.-And yet the habit of scribbling, unprofitable as it is, is hard to escape from. Nos tamen hoc agimus tenuique in pulvere sulcos ducimus et litus sterili versamus aratro. Nam si discedas, laqueo tenet ambitiosi consuetudo mali; tenet insanabile multos scribendi cacoethes, et aegro in corde senescit. 40 maculosas S. Maculonis P. Maculonus s. 50 53-73.-The true poet must be free from all paltry anxiety, as Horace and Vergil were. The divine aflatus ill consorts with contrivances for obtaining a blanket to sleep on. Sed vatem egregium, cui non sit publica vena, qui nil expositum soleat deducere, nec qui communi feriat carmen triviale moneta, hunc, qualem nequeo monstrare et sentio tantum, anxietate carens animus facit, omnis acerbi impatiens, cupidus silvarum aptusque bibendis fontibus Aonidum. Neque enim cantare sub antro Pierio thyrsumve potest contingere maesta paupertas atque aeris inops, quo nocte dieque. corpus eget satur est, cum dicit Horatius, Euhoe! Quis locus ingenio, nisi cum se carmine solo vexant, et dominis Cirrhae Nysaeque feruntur pectora nostra, duas non admittentia curas? Magnae mentis opus nec de lodice paranda attonitae, currus et equos faciesque Deorum aspicere, et qualis Rutulum confundat Erinys. Nam si Vergilio puer et tolerabile deesset hospitium, caderent omnes a crinibus hydri; surda nihil gemeret grave bucina. Poscimus, ut sit non minor antiquo Rubrenus Lappa cothurno, cuius et alveolos et laenam pignerat Atreus. 55 60 65 70 74-78.-Our patrons nowadays can better afford to keep a lion than a poet. Non habet infelix Numitor, quod mittat amico: 75 79-87.-Rich poets-save the mark-like Lucan may be content with glory, but the majority find, as even Statius did, that nothing pays but pantomimes. Contentus fama iaceat Lucanus in hortis marmoreis at Serrano tenuique Saleio 80 85 88-97.—It is the pantomime Paris who is now the only patron. If you won't stoop to supply him with what he wants-you may starve. Ille et militiae multis largitur honorem, semenstri vatum digitos circumligat auro. Quod non dant proceres, dabit histrio: tu Camerinos 90 et Baream, tu nobilium magna atria curas? pallere et vinum toto nescire Decembri. 95 98-104.-Are historians, then, better off? Why, they hardly make enough to pay for the papyrus they write on. Vester porro labor fecundior, historiarum |