Book XI, Epigram 49 (Ker)

To honour the ashes, now well-nigli abandoned, and the sacred name of Maro was there but one, and he was poor. Silius resolved to rescue the regretted dead: and Silius — no less himself a poet — honours the bard. There is not an hour comes amiss to you, Phyllis, for plundering me in my infatuation: with such cunning do you rob me. Now your lying maid laments because a mirror has been left behind, or a jewel drops from your finger, or a stone from your ear; at one time silks lost by theft may be a means of profit, at another there is shown to me an empty casket of Cosmus' perfume; now a crumbling jar of dark Falernian is asked for that a chattering wise-woman may exorcise your dreams; now, to induce me to buy, either a huge bass or a two-pound mullet, a rich woman friend has proposed a dinner at your house. Let there be some moderation and at length some regard for fairness and justice. I deny nothing to you, Phyllis: deny nothing, Phyllis, to me.