Social Commentaries
Book X, Epigram 11 (Ker)
Translated by Walter C. A. Ker (1919–20) · From Epigrams (Loeb, 1919–20)
You talk of nothing but Theseus and Pirithous, and think yourself, Calliodorus, the peer of Pylades. May I be hanged if you are fit to hand Pylades a chamber-pot, or to feed Pirithous' swine. "Yet," you say," I gave a friend five thousand, and a toga only three or four times washed, a considerable gift." And what if Pylades never gave anything to Orestes? He who gives — however many gifts he makes — denies more.
This translation is printed as prose in its source edition.
Cite this poem
MLA
Martial. “Book X, Epigram 11 (Ker).” Translated by Walter C. A. Ker. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/martial/1174/.
Chicago
Martial. “Book X, Epigram 11 (Ker).” Translated by Walter C. A. Ker. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/martial/1174/.
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