Social Commentaries
Book III, Epigram 77 (Ker)
Translated by Walter C. A. Ker (1919–20) · From Epigrams (Loeb, 1919–20)
Nor mullet nor fieldfare gratifies you, Baetieus, nor is hare or boar ever palatable to you. Nor do rolls please you, nor a square of scored cake, nor does Libya or Phasis send you her birds. You devour capers, and onions floating in stale fish-pickle, and the lean from a dubious ham; and sprats salted please you, and heart-of-oak tunny with white skin; you drink resined wine, avoid Falernian. Your stomach has some secret failing I suspect; for why, Baeticus, do you feed on carrion?
This translation is printed as prose in its source edition.
Cite this poem
MLA
Martial. “Book III, Epigram 77 (Ker).” Translated by Walter C. A. Ker. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/martial/613/.
Chicago
Martial. “Book III, Epigram 77 (Ker).” Translated by Walter C. A. Ker. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/martial/613/.
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