Book II, Epigram 1 (Ker)

You might certainly have borne with you thrice a hundred epigrams, but who would have borne with you, my book, and have read you through? But now learn what are the merits of a concise book. This first: less of my paper is wasted; next, my copyist gets through it in a single hour, and he will not be wholly busied with my trifles; the third thing is this, that, if you are perhaps read to anyone, bad as you may be all through, you will not be a bore. The guest will read you after his five measures have been mixed, and before the cup he has put aside begins to grow cool. Do you fancy yourself guarded by such brevity? Alas, to how many even so will you be long!