A Baby's Epitaph 63 populī Rōmānī longē ā domō bellāre, et prōpugnāculis imperii sociōrum fortūnās, nōn sua tecta, defendere. Sociis ego nostris mare per hōs annos 20 clausum fuisse dicam, cum exercitus vestrī numquam à Brundisiō nisi hieme summā transmiserint? Qui ad vōs ab exteris nātiōnibus venirent, captōs querar, cum lēgātī populī Rōmānī redempti sint? Mercātōribus tūtum mare nōn fuisse dicam, 25 cum duodecim secures in praedōnum potestatem pervenerint ? Pro di immortāles ! Tantamne ūnīus hominis incrēdibilis ac dīvīna virtūs tam brevi tempore lucem adferre reī publicae potuit, ut vōs, qui modo ante ostium Tiberīnum classem 30 hostium vidēbātis, ei nunc nullam intra Oceani ostium praedōnum nāvem esse audiātis? CICERO, De Imperio Pompeii 31-33. 66. A Baby's Epitaph The child itself is supposed to speak. Its name was Urbicus; it died when two and a half years old. Conditus hic ego sum, Bassi dolor, Urbicus infans, Cui genus et nōmen maxima Rōma dedit. Sex mihi de prīmā deerant trietēride mensēs, Rūpērunt tetricae cum mea pensa deae. Quid species, quid lingua mihi, quid prōfuit aetās? 5 Dā lacrimās tumulō, qui legis ista, meō. Sic ad Lethaeās, nisi Nestore sērius, undās Nōn eat, optābis quem superesse tibi. MARTIAL Vii 96. 64 A Prudent Hero 67. A Prudent Hero A Roman soldier, who had been rewarded for leading a forlorn hope, was less willing to run risks a second time now that he was rich. Luculli miles collecta viatica multīs Aerumnīs, lassus dum noctu stertit, ad assem Perdiderat; post hoc vehemens lupus, et sibi et hosti Īrātus pariter, iēiūnīs dentibus acer, 5 Praesidium rēgāle locō deiecit, ut aiunt, Summē mūnītō et multārum dīvite rērum. Clarus ob id factum dōnīs ornatur honestīs, Accipit et bis dēna super sestertia nummûm. Forte sub hoc tempus castellum ēvertere praetor 10 Nescio quod cupiens hortārī coepit eundem Verbis, quae timido quoque possent addere men tem: 'I, bone, quo virtus tua te vocat! i pede faustō, Grandia lātūrus meritōrum praemia! Quid stās ?' Post haec ille catus, quantumvis rusticus, ‘Ibit, 15 Ibit eo quò vis, qui zōnam perdidit' inquit. HORACE, Epistles ii 2, 26-40. The Last Speech of Crassus 68. The Last Speech of Crassus 65 Lucius Crassus, a Roman statesman and one of the greatest of Roman orators, died in B.c. 91, seven days after he had delivered a speech of extraordinary power in the Senate. The Social War broke out the next year; Marius fled from Italy in 88 B. C.; and his restoration in 87 was followed by atrocious massacres of his political opponents. Illa tamquam cycnea fuit dīvīnī hominis vox et ōrātiō; namque tum latus ei dicenti condoluisse sūdōremque multum consecutum esse audiēbāmus ; ex quo cum cohorruisset, cum fēbrī domum rediit, dieque septimō lateris dolōre consumptus est. 5 Ō fallacem hominum spem fragilemque fortūnam et inānēs nostrās contentiōnēs, quae mediō in spatio saepe franguntur et corruunt, aut ante in ipso cursu obruuntur quam portum conspicere potuerunt! Nam, quamdiu Crassī fuit ambitiōnis 10 labōre vīta districta, tamdiū prīvātīs magis officiīs et ingenii laude flōruit quam fructu amplitūdinis aut rei publicae dignitāte; qui autem annus ei prīmus ab honōrum perfunctiōne aditum, omnium concessu, ad summam auctoritātem dabat, is ēius 15 omnem spem atque omnia vītae consilia morte pervertit. Fuit hoc luctuosum suis, acerbum patriae, grave bonis omnibus; sed ei tamen rei publicae cāsūs consecuti sunt, ut mihi non erepta L. Crassō a dīs immortālibus vīta sed dōnāta mors 20 esse videatur. Nōn vidit flagrantem bellō Italiam, D. S. L. 5 nōn ardentem invidia senātum, non acerbissimam C. Marii fugam, non illam post reditum eius caedem omnium crūdēlissimam. This is part of the narrative of his wanderings told by Aeneas to Dido when she shewed hospitality to the Trojan fugitives. Postquam altum tenuēre ratēs, nec iam amplius ullae Apparent terrae, caelum undique et undique pontus, 5 Continuo venti volvunt mare, magnaque surgunt VIRGIL, Aeneid iii 192-208. Pyramus and Thisbe 67 70. Pyramus and Thisbe Long ago in Babylon two lovers, when prevented by their parents from meeting, talked to each other through a hole in the wall which separated their houses. The fate of the lovers may be read in Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream. Pyramus et Thisbe, iuvenum pulcherrimus alter, Altera, quas oriens habuit, praelāta puellīs, Contiguas tenuēre domōs, ubi dicitur altam Coctilibus mūrīs cinxisse Semiramis urbem. Nōtitiam prīmōsque gradūs vīcīnia fecit; Tempore crevit amor. Taedae quoque iure coissent, 5 Sed vetuere patrēs. Quod non potuēre vetārī, 15 20 |