Sat. 1.8.1Ōlim truncus eram fīculnus, inūtile lignum,
cum faber, incertus scamnum faceretne Priāpum,
māluit esse Deum.Once I was a fig-tree trunk, a useless log, when a carpenter, uncertain whether to make a stool or a Priapus, preferred that I should be a god. Sat. 1.8.3Deus inde ego, fūrum aviumque
maxima formīdō;A god, therefore, I am, the greatest terror of thieves and birds; Sat. 1.8.4nam fūrēs dextrā coercet
5obscaenōque ruber porrēctus ab inguine pālus,
ast inportūnās volucrēs in vertice harundō
terret fīxa vetatque novīs cōnsīdere in hortīs.for my right hand keeps thieves in check, and the red stake stretched out from my obscene groin, while a reed fixed on my head frightens off the pestering birds and forbids them to settle in the new gardens. Sat. 1.8.8Hūc prius angustīs ēiecta cadāvera cellīs
cōnservus vīlī portanda locābat in arcā;Here formerly a fellow slave used to hire a cheap box to carry off the corpses thrown out of narrow cells; Sat. 1.8.10hoc miserae plēbī stābat commūne sepulcrum;this stood as the common graveyard for the wretched poor; Sat. 1.8.11Pantolabō scurrae Nōmentānōque nepōtī
mīlle pedēs in fronte, trecentōs cippus in agrum
hic dabat, hērēdēs monumentum nē sequerētur.here a pillar assigned a thousand feet of frontage and three hundred of depth to Pantolabus the jester and Nomentanus the spendthrift, so that the monument should not pass to the heirs.
Sat. 1.8.14Nunc licet Esquiliīs habitāre salūbribus atque
15aggere in aprīcō spatiārī, quō modo trīstēs
albīs īnfōrmem spectābant ossibus agrum,
cum mihi nōn tantum fūrēsque feraeque suētae
hunc vexāre locum cūrae sunt atque labōrī
quantum carminibus quae versant atque venēnīs
20hūmānōs animōs: hās nūllō perdere possum
nec prohibēre modō, simul ac vaga lūna decōrum
prōtulit ōs, quīn ossa legant herbāsque nocentīs.Now one may live on the healthy Esquiline and stroll on the sunny rampart, where lately sad passers-by looked out on a field hideous with whitened bones, while for my part not so much the thieves and the wild beasts used to haunting this place cause me trouble and toil as the women who twist human minds with spells and potions: these I can in no way destroy or prevent, as soon as the wandering moon has put forth her lovely face, from gathering bones and harmful herbs. Sat. 1.8.23Vīdī egomet nigrā succīnctam vādere pallā
Canidiam pedibus nūdīs passōque capillō,
25cum Saganā maiōre ululantem: pallor utrāsque
fēcerat horrendās adspectū.I myself saw Canidia walking with her black robe tucked up, barefoot and with hair dishevelled, howling with the elder Sagana: their pallor had made both horrible to look at.
Sat. 1.8.26Scalpere terram
unguibus et pullam dīvellere mordicus agnam
coepērunt;They began to scrape the earth with their nails and to tear apart a black lamb with their teeth; Sat. 1.8.28cruor in fossam cōnfūsus, ut inde
mānīs ēlicerent animās respōnsa datūrās.the blood was poured all together into a trench, so that from there they might draw out the spirits of the dead, souls to give them answers. Sat. 1.8.30Lānea et effigiēs erat altera cērea: maior
lānea, quae poenīs conpēsceret īnferiōrem;There was an effigy of wool and another of wax: the woollen one larger, to subdue the lesser with punishments; Sat. 1.8.32cērea suppliciter stābat, servīlibus ut quae
iam peritūra modīs.the waxen one stood as a suppliant, like one about to die a slave's death. Sat. 1.8.33Hecatēn vocat altera, saevam
altera Tīsiphonēn: serpentēs atque vidērēs
35īnfernās errāre canēs lūnamque rubentem,
nē foret hīs testis, post magna latēre sepulcra.One calls on Hecate, the other on savage Tisiphone: you might have seen serpents and hounds of hell roaming, and the moon, blushing, hiding behind the great tombs so as not to witness these deeds.
Sat. 1.8.37Mentior at sīquid, merdīs caput inquiner albīs
corvōrum atque in mē veniat mictum atque cacātum
Iūlius, et fragilis Pediātia, fūrque Voranus.But if I am lying in anything, may my head be fouled with the white droppings of crows, and may Julius and frail Pediatia and the thief Voranus come to piss and shit on me. Sat. 1.8.40Singula quid memorem, quō pactō alterna loquentēs
umbrae cum Saganā resonārint trīste et acūtum
utque lupī barbam variae cum dente colubrae
abdiderint fūrtim terrīs et imāgine cēreā
largior ārserit ignis et ut nōn testis inultus
45horruerim vōcēs Furiārum et facta duārum?Why should I tell each detail, how the shades, talking back and forth with Sagana, sounded sad and shrill, and how they secretly buried in the ground a wolf's beard with the tooth of a spotted snake, and how a greater fire blazed up from the waxen image, and how I, no unavenged witness, shuddered at the words and deeds of the two Furies? Sat. 1.8.46Nam, displōsa sonat quantum vēsīca, pepēdī
diffissā nate fīcus;For with a noise as loud as a bursting bladder, I, a fig-wood god, farted as my buttock split; Sat. 1.8.47at illae currere in urbem.but they ran off to the city.
Sat. 1.8.48Canidiae dentīs, altum Saganae caliendrum
excidere atque herbās atque incantāta lacertīs
50vincula cum magnō rīsūque iocōque vidērēs.You would have seen, amid great laughter and merriment, Canidia's teeth and Sagana's tall wig falling out, and the herbs and the enchanted love-knots dropping from their arms.