Book V, Epigram 22 (Ker)

If I did not wish, and deserve, to see you "at home" in the morning, Paulus, may your Esquiline house be for me still farther off! But I am next-door neighbour to the Tiburtine column, where rustic Flora looks upon our ancient Jove; I must surmount the track up the hill from the Subura and the dirty pavement with its steps never dry, and I can scarce break through the long droves of mules and the blocks of marble you see hauled by many a cable. And — more annoying still — after a thousand exertions, Paulus, when I am fagged out, your door-keeper says you are "not at home "! Such is the result of misspent toil, and my poor toga drenched! To see Paulus in the morning was scarcely worth the cost. A diligent client always has inhuman friends: my patron if you do not stay in bed you cannot be.