Social Commentaries
Book X, Epigram 31 (Ker)
Translated by Walter C. A. Ker (1919–20) · From Epigrams (Loeb, 1919–20)
You sold a slave yesterday for twelve hundred sesterces, Calliodorus, that you might dine well once. You have not dined well: a four-pound mullet which you bought was the ornament and chief dish of your dinner. A man may cry, "This is not a fish, not a fish, you profligate: 'tis a man; a man, Calliodorus, is what you eat."
This translation is printed as prose in its source edition.
Cite this poem
MLA
Martial. “Book X, Epigram 31 (Ker).” Translated by Walter C. A. Ker. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/martial/1194/.
Chicago
Martial. “Book X, Epigram 31 (Ker).” Translated by Walter C. A. Ker. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/martial/1194/.
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