Social Commentaries
Book I, Epigram 72 (Ker)
Translated by Walter C. A. Ker (1919–20) · From Epigrams (Loeb, 1919–20)
Is it by borrowing my verses, Fidentinus, that you think yourself a poet, and would have it believed? So Aegle imagines she has teeth when she has purchased bone and ivory; so she who is blacker than a falling mulberry, Lycoris, fancies herself when plastered with white lead. On this principle that makes you too a poet you will be well thatched when you are bald.
This translation is printed as prose in its source edition.
Cite this poem
MLA
Martial. “Book I, Epigram 72 (Ker).” Translated by Walter C. A. Ker. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/martial/408/.
Chicago
Martial. “Book I, Epigram 72 (Ker).” Translated by Walter C. A. Ker. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/martial/408/.
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