Sat. 1.10.1Nempe inconpositō dīxī pede currere versūs
Lūcīlī.Yes, I did say that Lucilius' verses run on with clumsy feet. Sat. 1.10.2Quis tam Lūcīlī fautor ineptē est,
ut nōn hoc fateātur?Who is so foolishly partial to Lucilius as not to admit this? Sat. 1.10.3At īdem, quod sale multō
urbem dēfricuit, chartā laudātur eādem.But on the same page the same man is praised because he scoured the city with plenty of salt. Sat. 1.10.5Nec tamen hoc tribuēns dederim quoque cētera;Yet while granting this I would not grant the rest as well; Sat. 1.10.5nam sīc
et Laberī mīmōs ut pulchra poēmata mīrer.for at that rate I would admire the mimes of Laberius too as fine poems. Sat. 1.10.7Ergō nōn satis est rīsū dīdūcere rictum
audītōris;So it is not enough to make your listener's mouth gape with laughter; Sat. 1.10.8et est quaedam tamen hīc quoque virtūs.and yet there is some merit in this too. Sat. 1.10.9Est brevitāte opus, ut currat sententia neu sē
10inpediat verbīs lassās onerantibus aurīs,
et sermōne opus est modo trīstī, saepe iocōsō,
dēfendente vicem modo rhētoris atque poētae,
interdum urbānī, parcentis vīribus atque
extenuantis eās cōnsultō.There is need of brevity, so that the thought may run on and not entangle itself in words that weigh down tired ears; and there is need of a style now grave, often playful, taking the part now of orator and poet, at times of the wit, who spares his strength and deliberately makes it thin.
Sat. 1.10.14Rīdiculum ācrī
15fortius et melius magnās plērumque secat rēs.Ridicule often cuts through great matters more forcefully and better than sharpness. Sat. 1.10.16Illī, scrīpta quibus cōmoedia prīsca virīs est,
hōc stābant, hōc sunt imitandī;The men by whom the Old Comedy was written stood firm on this; in this they should be imitated; Sat. 1.10.17quōs neque pulcher
Hermogenēs umquam lēgit neque sīmius iste
nīl praeter Calvum et doctus cantāre Catullum.men whom neither pretty Hermogenes has ever read, nor that ape of yours, trained to sing nothing but Calvus and Catullus. Sat. 1.10.20'At magnum fēcit, quod verbīs Graeca Latīnīs
miscuit.' ō sērī studiōrum, quinē putētis
difficile et mīrum, Rhodiō quod Pitholeontī
contigit?'But he did a great thing in mixing Greek words with Latin.' O late learners, can you really think it hard and wonderful, what came easily to Pitholeon of Rhodes? Sat. 1.10.23'At sermō linguā concinnus utrāque
suāvior, ut Chīō nota sī conmixta Falernī est.'
25cum versūs faciās, tē ipsum percontor, an et cum
dūra tibi peragenda reī sit causa petillī?'But a style blended of both languages is pleasanter, as when a Chian vintage is mixed with Falernian.' When you are making verses, I ask you yourself — or also when you have to plead a hard case for Petillius?
Sat. 1.10.27Scīlicet oblītus patriaeque patrisque Latīnī,
cum Pedius causās exsūdet Poplicola atque
Corvīnus, patriīs intermiscēre petīta
30verba forīs mālīs, Canusīnī mōre bilinguis.No doubt, forgetting your fatherland and father Latinus, while Pedius Poplicola and Corvinus sweat over their cases, you would prefer to mix words fetched from abroad with your native speech, like a bilingual man of Canusium. Sat. 1.10.31Atque ego cum Graecōs facerem, nātus mare citrā,
versiculōs, vetuit mē tālī vōce Quirīnus
post mediam noctem vīsus, cum somnia vēra:
'in silvam nōn ligna ferās īnsānius ac sī
35magnās Graecōrum mālīs inplēre catervās.'
turgidus Alpīnus iugulat dum Memnona dumque
diffingit Rhēnī luteum caput, haec ego lūdō,
quae neque in aede sonent certantia, iūdice Tarpā,
nec redeant iterum atque iterum spectanda theātrīs.And when I, born this side of the sea, was making little Greek verses, Quirinus forbade me, appearing after midnight, when dreams are true, with words like these: 'You would not carry wood into a forest more madly than if you chose to swell the great throngs of the Greeks.' While bombastic Alpinus murders Memnon and while he misshapes the muddy head of the Rhine, I play at these things, which are not to be heard competing in the temple with Tarpa as judge, nor to return again and again to be watched in the theatres.
Sat. 1.10.40Argūtā meretrīce potes Dāvōque Chremēta
ēlūdente senem cōmis garrīre libellōs
ūnus vīvōrum, Fundānī, Polliō rēgum
facta canit pede ter percussō;You alone of living men, Fundanius, can chat away in genial little books in which a sharp-witted courtesan and Davus trick old Chremes; Pollio sings the deeds of kings in triple-beat feet; Sat. 1.10.43forte epos ācer
ut nēmō Varius dūcit, molle atque facētum
45Vergiliō adnuērunt gaudentēs rūre Camoenae:
hoc erat, expertō frūstrā Varrōne Atacīnō
atque quibusdam aliīs, melius quod scrībere possem,
inventōre minor;keen Varius leads on the strong epic as no one else can; to Virgil the Muses who delight in the countryside have granted tenderness and grace: this was what I could write better, after Varro of Atax and certain others had tried it in vain, though lesser than its inventor; Sat. 1.10.48neque ego illī dētrahere ausim
haerentem capitī cum multā laude corōnam.nor would I dare to pull from his head the crown that clings there with much praise. Sat. 1.10.50At dīxī fluere hunc lutulentum, saepe ferentem
plūra quidem tollenda relinquendīs.But I said that he flows muddy, often carrying more that should be removed than should be left.
Sat. 1.10.51Age quaesō,
tū nihil in magnō doctus reprehendis Homērō?Come, I ask you, do you, a learned man, find nothing to criticise in great Homer? Sat. 1.10.53Nīl cōmis tragicī mūtat Lūcīlius accī?Does genial Lucilius change nothing in the tragedian Accius? Sat. 1.10.54Nōn rīdet versūs Ennī gravitāte minōrēs,
55cum dē sē loquitur nōn ut maiōre reprēnsīs?Does he not laugh at verses of Ennius as falling short of their dignity, while speaking of himself as no greater than those he has censured? Sat. 1.10.56Quid vetat et nōsmet Lūcīlī scrīpta legentīs
quaerere, num illīus, num rērum dūra negārit
versiculōs nātūra magis factōs et euntīs
mollius ac sīquis pedibus quid claudere sēnīs,
60hōc tantum contentus, amet scrīpsisse ducentōs
ante cibum versūs, totidem coenātus, Etrūscī
quāle fuit Cassī rapidō ferventius amnī
ingenium, capsīs quem fāma est esse librīsque
ambūstum propriīs.What forbids us too, as we read the writings of Lucilius, to ask whether it was his own nature or the harsh nature of his subjects that denied him verses more finished and more smoothly flowing than if someone, content merely to enclose something in six feet, loves to have written two hundred lines before dinner and as many after dining, like the talent of Tuscan Cassius, more seething than a rushing river, who, so the story goes, was burnt on a pyre of his own book-boxes and books?
Sat. 1.10.64Fuerit Lūcīlius, inquam,
65cōmis et urbānus, fuerit līmātior īdem
quam rudis et Graecīs intāctī carminis auctor
quamque poētārum seniōrum turba;Grant, I say, that Lucilius was genial and urbane, grant that he was also more polished than the author of a rough verse untouched by the Greeks, and than the crowd of older poets; Sat. 1.10.67sed ille,
sī foret hoc nostrum fātō dēlapsus in aevum,
dētereret sibi multa, recideret omne quod ultrā
70perfectum traherētur, et in versū faciendō
saepe caput scaberet vīvōs et rōderet unguīs.yet he, if fate had brought him down into this age of ours, would rub away much from his work, would cut back everything that trailed on beyond perfection, and in making his verse would often scratch his head and bite his nails to the quick. Sat. 1.10.72Saepe stilum vertās, iterum quae digna legī sint
scrīptūrus, neque tē ut mīrētur turba labōrēs,
contentus paucīs lēctōribus.You must often turn your stylus, if you are going to write things worth reading a second time, and not toil to make the crowd admire you, but be content with a few readers.
Sat. 1.10.74An tua dēmēns
75vīlibus in lūdīs dictārī carmina mālīs?Or would you be mad enough to prefer your poems to be dictated in cheap schools? Sat. 1.10.76Nōn ego;Not I; Sat. 1.10.76nam satis est equitem mihi plaudere, ut audāx,
contemptīs aliīs, explōsa Arbuscula dīxit.for it is enough for me that the knights applaud, as bold Arbuscula said when hissed off the stage, scorning the rest. Sat. 1.10.78Mēn' moveat cīmex Pantilius?Should I be troubled by that bug Pantilius? Sat. 1.10.78Aut cruciet quod
vellicet absentem Dēmētrius?Or tormented because Demetrius carps at me behind my back? Sat. 1.10.79Aut quod ineptus
80Fannius Hermogenis laedat convīva Tigellī?Or because silly Fannius, the dinner guest of Hermogenes Tigellius, attacks me? Sat. 1.10.81Plōtius et Varius, Maecēnās Vergiliusque,
Valgius et probet haec Octāvius optimus atque
Fuscus et haec utinam Viscōrum laudet uterque
ambitiōne relēgātā.Let Plotius and Varius, Maecenas and Virgil, Valgius, and excellent Octavius approve these writings, and Fuscus, and would that both the Visci praised them, ambition set aside. Sat. 1.10.84Tē dīcere possum,
85Polliō, tē, Messalla, tuō cum frātre, simulque
vōs, Bibule et Servī, simul hīs tē, candide Furnī,
conplūrīs aliōs, doctōs ego quōs et amīcōs
prūdēns praetereō, quibus haec, sint quāliacumque,
arrīdēre velim, dolitūrus, sī placeant spē
90dēterius nostrā.You I can name, Pollio, you, Messalla, with your brother, and with you, Bibulus and Servius, and with them you, candid Furnius, and many others, learned men and friends, whom I knowingly pass over, on whom I would like these writings, such as they are, to smile, and should be grieved if they pleased less than I hope.
Sat. 1.10.90Dēmētrī, tēque, Tigellī,
discipulārum inter iubeō plōrāre cathedrās.Demetrius, and you, Tigellius, I bid you go and whine among the chairs of your girl pupils. Sat. 1.10.92Ī, puer, atque meō citus haec subscrībe libellō.Go, boy, and quickly add this to my little book.