Social Commentaries
Book XII, Epigram 53 (Ker)
Translated by Walter C. A. Ker (1919–20) · From Epigrams (Loeb, 1919–20)
Though you have moneys and wealth such as only a citizen here and there owns, you bestow nothing, Paternus, and brood over your treasui-e like the great dragon that poets sing of as guardian once of the Scythian grove. But the reason, as you report, and yourself repeat, is a son of dreadful rapaciousness. Are you looking, then, for simpletons and ignoramuses to delude and rob of sense? To this vice you have always been father.
This translation is printed as prose in its source edition.
Cite this poem
MLA
Martial. “Book XII, Epigram 53 (Ker).” Translated by Walter C. A. Ker. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/martial/1406/.
Chicago
Martial. “Book XII, Epigram 53 (Ker).” Translated by Walter C. A. Ker. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/martial/1406/.
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