Sat. 1.1.1Quī fit, Maecēnās, ut nēmō, quam sibi sortem
seu Ratiō dederit seu Fors obiēcerit, illā
contentus vīvat, laudet dīversa sequentīs?How does it happen, Maecenas, that no one lives content with the lot which either Reason has given him or Chance has thrown in his way, but praises those who follow different paths? Sat. 1.1.4'Ō fortūnātī mercātōrēs' gravis annīs
5mīles ait, multō iam frāctus membra labōre.'O lucky merchants!' says the soldier, heavy with years, his limbs now broken by much toil. Sat. 1.1.6Contrā mercātor nāvim iactantibus Austrīs,
'mīlitia est potior.The merchant, on the other hand, as the South Winds toss his ship: 'Soldiering is better. Sat. 1.1.7Quid enim?And why? Sat. 1.1.7Concurritur: hōrae
mōmentō cita mors venit aut victōria laeta.'
agricolam laudat iūris lēgumque perītus,
10sub gallī cantum cōnsultor ubi ōstia pulsat;There is a clash: in an hour's moment comes swift death or joyful victory.' The man skilled in right and statute praises the farmer, when a client knocks at his door around cockcrow; Sat. 1.1.11ille, datīs vadibus quī rūre extrāctus in urbem est,
sōlōs fēlīcīs vīventīs clāmat in urbe.the other, who has given sureties and been dragged from the country into the city, cries that only those who live in the city are happy.
Sat. 1.1.13Cētera dē genere hōc (adeō sunt multa) loquācem
dēlassāre valent Fabium.The other instances of this kind (so many are there) could wear out even talkative Fabius. Sat. 1.1.14Nē tē morer, audī,
15quō rem dēdūcam.Not to keep you waiting, hear where I am heading with this. Sat. 1.1.15Sī quis Deus 'ēn ego' dīcat
'iam faciam quod voltis: eris tū, quī modo mīles,
mercātor;If some god were to say, 'Look, I shall now do what you want: you, a soldier just now, shall be a merchant; Sat. 1.1.17tū, cōnsultus modo, rūsticus: hinc vōs,
vōs hinc mūtātīs discēdite partibus.you, a lawyer just now, a countryman: you go this way, you that, your parts exchanged; off with you. Sat. 1.1.18Ēia,
quid stātis?' nōlint.Come on, why are you standing there?' they would refuse. Sat. 1.1.19Atquī licet esse beātīs.And yet they are free to be happy. Sat. 1.1.20Quid causae est, meritō quīn illīs Iuppiter ambās
īrātus buccās īnflet neque sē fore posthāc
tam facilem dīcat, vōtīs ut praebeat aurem?What reason is there why Jupiter should not, as they deserve, puff out both his cheeks at them in anger and say that henceforth he will not be so obliging as to lend an ear to their prayers?
Sat. 1.1.23Praetereā, nē sīc ut quī ioculāria rīdēns
percurram — quamquam rīdentem dīcere vērum
25quid vetat?Besides, not to run through it laughing like someone telling jokes — though what forbids one to tell the truth with a laugh? Sat. 1.1.25Ut puerīs ōlim dant crustula blandī
doctōrēs, elementa velint ut discere prīma —
sed tamen āmōtō quaerāmus sēria lūdō:
ille gravem dūrō terram quī vertit arātrō,
perfidus hic caupō, mīles nautaeque, per omne
30audācēs mare quī currunt, hāc mente labōrem
sēsē ferre, senēs ut in ōtia tūta recēdant,
aiunt, cum sibi sint congesta cibāria: sīcut
parvola—nam exemplō est—magnī formīca labōris
ōre trahit quodcumque potest atque addit acervō
35quem struit, haud ignāra ac nōn incauta futūrī.As kindly teachers sometimes give little cakes to boys, so that they may be willing to learn their first letters — but still, let us put play aside and look into serious matters: the man who turns the heavy earth with the hard plough, this cheating innkeeper, the soldier and the sailors who race boldly over every sea, say that they bear their toil with this intention, that when they are old they may retire to safe leisure, once they have provisions piled up for themselves: just as the tiny ant — for she is their example — a creature of great industry, drags in her mouth whatever she can and adds it to the heap she is building, by no means unaware or careless of the future.
Sat. 1.1.36Quae, simul inversum contrīstat Aquārius annum,
nōn usquam prōrēpit et illīs ūtitur ante
quaesītīs sapiēns, cum tē neque fervidus aestus
dēmoveat lucrō neque hiems, ignis mare ferrum,
40nīl obstet tibi, dum nē sit tē dītior alter.She, as soon as Aquarius saddens the turning year, never creeps out anywhere, and wisely uses what she has gathered before, while you are turned from profit neither by blazing heat nor by winter; fire, sea, sword, nothing stands in your way, so long as no other man is richer than you. Sat. 1.1.41Quid iuvat inmēnsum tē argentī pondus et aurī
fūrtim dēfossa timidum dēpōnere terrā?What good does it do you to bury a vast weight of silver and gold, fearfully and by stealth, in a hole dug in the earth? Sat. 1.1.43Quod, sī conminuās, vīlem redigātur ad assem?Is it that, if you were to break into it, it would dwindle to a worthless copper? Sat. 1.1.44At nī id fit, quid habet pulcrī cōnstrūctus acervus?But unless that is done, what beauty has the heap you have built up? Sat. 1.1.45Mīlia frūmentī tua trīverit ārea centum:
nōn tuus hōc capiet venter plūs ac meus: ut, sī
rēticulum pānis vēnālis inter onustō
forte vehās umerō, nihilō plūs accipiās quam
quī nīl portārit.Suppose your threshing floor has threshed a hundred thousand bushels of grain: your belly will not hold more for that than mine: just as, if among the slaves for sale you happened to carry the net of bread on your loaded shoulder, you would receive no more than the one who carried nothing.
Sat. 1.1.49Vel dīc quid rēferat intrā
50nātūrae fīnīs vīventī, iūgera centum an
mīlle aret?Or tell me, what does it matter to a man who lives within the limits of nature whether he ploughs a hundred acres or a thousand? Sat. 1.1.51'At suāve est ex magnō tollere acervō.'
dum ex parvō nōbīs tantundem haurīre relinquās,
cūr tua plūs laudēs cumerīs grānāria nostrīs?'But it is pleasant to take from a large heap.' So long as you let us draw just as much from a small one, why should you praise your granaries more than our baskets? Sat. 1.1.54Ut tibi sī sit opus liquidī nōn amplius urnā
55vel cyathō ac dīcās 'magnō dē flūmine māllem
quam ex hōc fonticulō tantundem sūmere.' eō fit,
plēnior ut sīquōs dēlectet cōpia iūstō,
cum rīpā simul avolsōs ferat Aufidus ācer.It is as if you needed no more than a jug or a cup of water and said, 'I would rather take the same amount from a great river than from this little spring.' Hence it happens that those who delight in a plenty fuller than is right are carried off, bank and all, by the fierce Aufidus.
Sat. 1.1.59At quī tantulī eget quantō est opus, is neque līmō
60turbātam haurit aquam neque vītam āmittit in undīs.But the man who wants only as little as he needs neither drinks water muddied with slime nor loses his life in the waves. Sat. 1.1.61At bona pars hominum dēcepta cupīdine falsō
'nīl satis est', inquit, 'quia tantī quantum habeās sīs':
quid faciās illī?But a good part of mankind, deceived by false desire, says, 'Nothing is enough, because you are worth as much as you have': what can you do with such a man? Sat. 1.1.63Iubeās miserum esse, libenter
quātenus id facit: ut quīdam memorātur Athēnīs
65sordidus ac dīves, populī contemnere vōcēs
sīc solitus: 'populus mē sībilat, at mihi plaudō
ipse domī, simul ac nummōs contemplor in arcā.'
Tantalus ā labrīs sitiēns fugientia captat
flūmina — quid rīdēs?Bid him be wretched, since he is so willingly: like a certain man at Athens, it is recorded, mean and rich, who used to scorn the people's talk like this: 'The people hiss me, but I applaud myself at home, as soon as I gaze at the coins in my chest.' Thirsty Tantalus snatches at the streams that flee from his lips — why are you laughing?
Sat. 1.1.69Mūtātō nōmine dē tē
70fābula narrātur: congestīs undique saccīs
indormīs inhiāns et tamquam parcere sacrīs
cōgeris aut pictīs tamquam gaudēre tabellīs.Change the name, and the tale is told about you: you fall asleep gaping over moneybags piled up from every side, and are forced to spare them as if they were sacred, or to enjoy them as if they were painted pictures. Sat. 1.1.73Nescīs, quō valeat nummus, quem praebeat ūsum?Do you not know what money is worth, what use it offers? Sat. 1.1.74Pānis emātur, holus, vīnī sextārius, adde
75quīs hūmāna sibi doleat nātūra negātīs.Let bread be bought, vegetables, a pint of wine; add the things which human nature would grieve to be denied. Sat. 1.1.76An vigilāre metū exanimem, noctēsque diēsque
formīdāre malōs fūrēs, incendia, servōs,
nē tē conpīlent fugientēs, hoc iuvat?Or is it this that pleases you, to lie awake half dead with fear, and night and day to dread wicked thieves, fires, slaves, in case they rob you and run away? Sat. 1.1.78Hōrum
semper ego optārim pauperrimus esse bonōrum.Of goods like these I should always wish to be the poorest of men.
Sat. 1.1.80At sī condoluit temptātum frīgore corpus
aut alius cāsus lectō tē adflīxit, habēs quī
adsideat, fōmenta paret, medicum roget, ut tē
suscitet ac reddat gnātīs cārīsque propinquīs?But if your body has fallen sick, attacked by a chill, or some other mishap has pinned you to your bed, have you someone to sit by you, prepare poultices, call the doctor, so that he may raise you up and restore you to your children and dear relatives? Sat. 1.1.84Nōn uxor salvum tē volt, nōn fīlius;Your wife does not want you well, nor does your son; Sat. 1.1.84omnēs
85vīcīnī ōdērunt, notī, puerī atque puellae.all hate you, neighbours, acquaintances, boys and girls. Sat. 1.1.86Mīrāris, cum tū argentō post omnia pōnās,
sī nēmō praestet, quem nōn mereāris, amōrem?Do you wonder, when you put everything second to money, if no one offers you the love you do not earn? Sat. 1.1.88At sī cognātōs nūllō nātūra labōre
quōs tibi dat, retinēre velīs, servāreque amīcōs,
90īnfēlīx operam perdās, ut sīquis asellum
in campō doceat pārentem currere frēnīs.But if you wished to keep, without any effort, the relatives whom nature gives you, and to keep your friends, you would waste your pains, poor wretch, like someone training an ass to run on the Campus obedient to the reins.
Sat. 1.1.92Dēnique sit fīnis quaerendī, cumque habeās plūs,
pauperiem metuās minus et fīnīre labōrem
incipiās, partō quod avēbās, nē faciās quod
95Umidius quīdam;In short, let there be an end to getting, and since you have more, fear poverty less and begin to end your toil, now that you have gained what you longed for, so as not to do what a certain Umidius did; Sat. 1.1.95nōn longa est fābula: dīves
ut mētīrētur nummōs, ita sordidus, ut sē
nōn umquam servō melius vestīret, ad ūsque
suprēmum tempus, nē sē pēnūria vīctūs
opprimeret, metuēbat.it is not a long story: he was so rich that he measured his money, so mean that he never dressed better than a slave, and right up to his final hour he feared that lack of food would overwhelm him. Sat. 1.1.99At hunc līberta secūrī
100dīvīsit medium, fortissima Tyndaridārum.But a freedwoman split him down the middle with an axe, the bravest of the daughters of Tyndareus. Sat. 1.1.101'Quid mī igitur suādēs?'What then do you advise me? Sat. 1.1.101Ut vīvam Naevius aut sīc
ut Nōmentānus?' pergis pugnantia sēcum
frontibus adversīs conpōnere: nōn ego avārum
cum vetō tē, fierī vappam iubeō ac nebulōnem:
105est inter Tanain quiddam socerumque Visellī:
est modus in rēbus, sunt certī dēnique fīnēs,
quōs ultrā citrāque nequit cōnsistere rēctum.To live like Naevius, or like Nomentanus?' You keep pitting things that clash head to head: when I forbid you to be a miser, I am not telling you to become a wastrel and a good-for-nothing: there is something between Tanais and the father-in-law of Visellius: there is a measure in things, there are, in short, fixed limits, beyond and short of which what is right cannot stand.
Sat. 1.1.108Illūc, unde abiī, redeō, quī nēmō, ut avārus,
sē probet ac potius laudet dīversa sequentīs,
110quodque aliēna capellā gerat distentius ūber,
tābēscat neque sē maiōrī pauperiōrum
turbae conparet, hunc atque hunc superāre labōret.I return to where I left off, how no one, miser that he is, is satisfied with himself, but rather praises those who follow different paths, and pines because his neighbour's she-goat carries a more swollen udder, and does not compare himself with the greater crowd of poorer men, but labours to outdo this man and that. Sat. 1.1.113Sīc festīnantī semper locuplētior obstat,
ut, cum carceribus missōs rapit ungula currūs,
115īnstat equīs aurīga suōs vincentibus, illum
praeteritum temnēns extrēmōs inter euntem.So the richer man always stands in the way of one who hurries, as, when the hooves sweep along the chariots let loose from the starting gates, the charioteer presses hard on the horses that are beating his own, scorning the one he has passed as he goes along among the last. Sat. 1.1.117Inde fit, ut rārō, quī sē vīxisse beātum
dīcat et exāctō contentus tempore vītā
cēdat utī convīva satur, reperīre queāmus.Hence it comes about that we can rarely find a man who says he has lived happily and, content with the time he has spent, departs from life like a guest who has had his fill.
Sat. 1.1.120Iam satis est.Now that is enough. Sat. 1.1.120Nē mē Crispīnī scrīnia lippī
conpīlāsse putēs, verbum nōn amplius addam.In case you think I have rifled the book-boxes of bleary-eyed Crispinus, I shall not add a word more.