Epodes 6 (Martin): Quid Immerentis

Vile cur, why will you late and soon
At honest people fly?
You, you, the veriest poltroon
Whene'er a wolf comes by!

Come on, and if your stomach be
So ravenous for fight,
I'm ready! Try your teeth on me,
You'll find that I can bite.

For like Molossian mastiff stout,
Or dun Laconian hound,
That keeps sure ward, and sharp look-out
For all the sheepfolds round,

Through drifted snows with ears thrown back
I'm ready, night or day.
To follow fearless on the track
Of every beast of prey.

But you, when you have made the wood
With bark and bellowing shake,
If any thief shall fling you food,
The filthy bribe will take.

Beware, beware! Forevermore
I hold such knaves in scorn,
And bear, their wretched sides to gore,
A sharp and ready horn;

Like him, whose joys Lycambes dash'd,
Defrauding of his bride,
Or him, who with his satire lash'd
Old Bupalus till he died.

What! If a churl shall snap at me,
And pester and annoy.
Shall I sit down contentedly,
And blubber like a boy V