Social Commentaries
Book XI, Epigram 58 (Ker)
Translated by Walter C. A. Ker (1919–20) · From Epigrams (Loeb, 1919–20)
When you see that I am desirous, and perceive that I am on the stretch, Telesphorus, you ask a big price. Imagine I wish to refuse it: can I? And unless I swear when I say "I will give it," you withdraw those charms that give you much licence with me. What if a barber, when his drawn razor is over my head, should then ask me for his liberty and for wealth? I will promise it; for it is not a barber who asks on that occasion, a highwayman asks; a thing imperious is fear: but when his razor is safe in its crooked case, I will break the barber's shanks and his hands to boot. To you, however, I will do nothing; but, when it is otherwise sated, my ardour will bid your grasping avarice to go hang.
This translation is printed as prose in its source edition.
Cite this poem
MLA
Martial. “Book XI, Epigram 58 (Ker).” Translated by Walter C. A. Ker. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/martial/1312/.
Chicago
Martial. “Book XI, Epigram 58 (Ker).” Translated by Walter C. A. Ker. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/martial/1312/.
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