Book XII, Epigram 63 (Ker)

CoRDUBA, more prolific than oil-bearing Venafrum,' nor less perfect than the jars of Istria, thou that dost outvie the sheep of white Galaesus, not by the aid of any cheating shell-fish or blood, but by flocks coloured in native hues,® tell your poet, I beg you, to have some shame, and not to recite my poems scot-free. I could bear it if a good bard did this, one I could visit with pain in his turn. A bachelor debauches without reprisal, a blind man cannot lose that whereof he robs you. Nothing is worse than a naked robber, nothing more safe than a bad poet.