Social Commentaries
Book X, Epigram 41 (Ker)
Translated by Walter C. A. Ker (1919–20) · From Epigrams (Loeb, 1919–20)
In Janus' opening month you abandon your old husband, Proculeia, and bid him keep his own property. What, I ask, what is the matter? What is the reason of this sudden resentment? Do you answer me nothing? I will tell you: he was praetor. The purple robe of the Megalensian festival was likely to cost a hundred thousand sesterces, should you give even a too thrifty show, and the Plebeian festival would have run off with twenty thousand. This is not divorce, Proculeia: it is good business.
This translation is printed as prose in its source edition.
Cite this poem
MLA
Martial. “Book X, Epigram 41 (Ker).” Translated by Walter C. A. Ker. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/martial/1204/.
Chicago
Martial. “Book X, Epigram 41 (Ker).” Translated by Walter C. A. Ker. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/martial/1204/.
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