Social Commentaries
Book X, Epigram 73 (Ker)
Translated by Walter C. A. Ker (1919–20) · From Epigrams (Loeb, 1919–20)
The letter o'f my eloquent friend has brought me a welcome pledge of love, the staid gift of an Italian toga, which not Fabricius, but Apicius would have been glad to wear, glad too Maecenas, Caesar's knight. Less prized would it have been if another sent it: 'tis not the victim slain by every hand that wins favour. By you 'tis sent and comes; if I could not love your gift, Marcus, I could love at least my own name. But more than the gift, and more welcome than the name itself, is the attention and judgment of a learned man.
This translation is printed as prose in its source edition.
Cite this poem
MLA
Martial. “Book X, Epigram 73 (Ker).” Translated by Walter C. A. Ker. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/martial/1235/.
Chicago
Martial. “Book X, Epigram 73 (Ker).” Translated by Walter C. A. Ker. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/martial/1235/.
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