Ep. 9.17.1Recēpī litterās tuās quibus quereris taediō tibi fuisse quamvīs lautissimam cēnam, quia scurrae cinaedī mōriōnēs mēnsīs inerrābant.I have received your letter in which you complain that a dinner, however sumptuous, was tedious to you because buffoons, effeminates and fools were wandering among the tables. Ep. 9.17.2Vīs tū remittere aliquid ex rūgīs?Will you not relax your frown a little? Ep. 9.17.2Equidem nihil tāle habeō, habentēs tamen ferō.For my part I keep nothing of the kind, yet I put up with those who do. Ep. 9.17.2Cūr ergō nōn habeō?Why then do I not keep them? Ep. 9.17.2Quia nēquāquam mē ut inexspectātum fēstīvumve dēlectat, sī quid molle ā cinaedō, petulāns ā scurrā, stultum ā mōriōne prōfertur.Because it gives me no pleasure at all, as something unexpected or amusing, if something lewd comes from an effeminate, something impudent from a buffoon, something stupid from a fool. Ep. 9.17.3Nōn ratiōnem sed stomachum tibi narrō.I am telling you not my reason but my taste. Ep. 9.17.3Atque adeō quam multōs putās esse, quōs ea quibus ego et tū capimur et dūcimur, partim ut inepta partim ut molestissima offendant!And indeed, how many do you think there are who are offended by the things that captivate and draw you and me, finding them partly silly and partly most tiresome!
Ep. 9.17.3Quam multī, cum lēctor aut lyristēs aut cōmoedus inductus est, calceōs poscunt aut nōn minōre cum taediō recubant, quam tū ista - sīc enim appellās - prōdigia perpessus es!How many, when a reader or a lyre-player or a comic actor is brought in, call for their shoes or lie there with no less tedium than you endured those monstrosities — for so you call them! Ep. 9.17.4Dēmus igitur aliēnīs oblectātiōnibus veniam, ut nostrīs impetrēmus.So let us grant indulgence to the amusements of others, so that we may obtain it for our own. Ep. 9.17.4Valē.Farewell.