Social Commentaries
Book VII, Epigram 12 (Ker)
Translated by Walter C. A. Ker (1919–20) · From Epigrams (Loeb, 1919–20)
May my Master be as certain to read me, Faustinus, with an unruffled brow, and to welcome my jests with his wonted heed, as my page has not wounded even those it justly hates, and fame won from another's blush is not dear to me! What does this avail me when certain folk would pass off as mine darts wet with the blood of Lycambes, and under my name a man vomits his viperous venom who owns he cannot bear the light of day? My jests are harmless: you know this well: I swear by the genius of mighty Fame, and the Castalian choir, and by your ears, which are to me as a great deity, O reader, who art free from ungentle envy.
This translation is printed as prose in its source edition.
Cite this poem
MLA
Martial. “Book VII, Epigram 12 (Ker).” Translated by Walter C. A. Ker. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/martial/903/.
Chicago
Martial. “Book VII, Epigram 12 (Ker).” Translated by Walter C. A. Ker. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/martial/903/.
Read this poem with the Codex →