Epigrams (Modern Library Classics) - Softcover

Martial

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0375760423 ISBN 13: 9780375760426

Verlag: Random House Publishing Group, 2002

Inhaltsangabe

Martial, the father of the epigram, was one of the brilliant provincial poets who made their literary mark on first-century Rome. His Epigrams can be affectionate or cruel, elegiac or playful; they target every element of Roman society, from slaves to schoolmasters to, above all, the aristocratic elite. With wit and wisdom, Martial evokes not “the grandeur that was Rome,” but rather the timeless themes of urban life and society.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

James Michie studied classics at Trinity College, Oxford. His other translations include The Poems of Catullus and Horace’s Odes (available as a Modern Library Paperback Classic). His Collected Poems was awarded the Hawthornden Prize.

Shadi Bartsch is Chair of the Department of Classics at the University of Chicago, the editor in chief of Classical Philology, and the author of Decoding the Ancient Novel; Ideology in Cold Blood: A Reading of Lucan’s “Civil War”; and Actors in the Audi-ence: Theatricality and Doublespeak from Nero to Hadrian.

Aus dem Klappentext

father of the epigram, was one of the brilliant provincial poets who made their literary mark on first-century Rome. His Epigrams can be affectionate or cruel, elegiac or playful; they target every element of Roman society, from slaves to schoolmasters to, above all, the aristocratic elite. With wit and wisdom, Martial evokes not the grandeur that was Rome, but rather the timeless themes of urban life and society.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Hic est quem legis ille, quem requiris,

toto notus in orbe Martialis

argutis epigrammaton libellis:

cui, lector studiose, quod dedisti

viventi decus atque sentienti,

rari post cineres habent poetae.

iii

Argiletanas mavis habitare tabernas,

cum tibi, parve liber, scrinia nostra vacent.

nescis, heu, nescis dominae fastidia Romae:

crede mihi, nimium Martia turba sapit.

maiores nusquam rhonchi: iuvenesque senesque

et pueri nasum rhinocerotis habent.

audieris cum grande sophos, dum basia iactas,

ibis ab excusso missus in astra sago.

sed tu ne totiens domini patiare lituras

neve notet lusus tristis harundo tuos,

aetherias, lascive, cupis volitare per auras:

i, fuge; sed poteras tutior esse domi.

BOOK ONE

1

May I present myself—the man

You read, admire and long to meet,

Known the world over for his neat

And witty epigrams? The name

Is Martial. Thank you, earnest fan,

For having granted me the fame

Seldom enjoyed by a dead poet

While I’m alive and here to know it.

3

Frail book, although there’s room for you to stay

Snug on my shelves, you’d rather fly away

To the bookshops and be published. How I pity

Your ignorance of this supercilious city!

Believe me, little one, our know-all crowd

Is hard to please. Nobody sneers as loud

As a Roman: old or young, even newly-born,

He turns his nose up like a rhino horn.

As soon as one hears the deafening “bravos!”

And begins blowing kisses, up one goes

Skywards, tossed in a blanket. And yet you,

Fed up with the interminable “few,”

“Final” revisions of your natural song

By my strict pen, being a wild thing, long

To try your wings and flutter about Rome.

Off you go, then! You’re safer, though, at home.

iv

Contigeris nostros, Caesar, si forte libellos,

terrarum dominum pone supercilium.

consuevere iocos vestri quoque ferre triumphi,

materiam dictis nec pudet esse ducem.

qua Thymelen spectas derisoremque Latinum,

illa fronte precor carmina nostra legas.

innocuos censura potest permittere lusus:

lasciva est nobis pagina, vita proba.

x

Petit Gemellus nuptias Maronillae

et cupit et instat et precatur et donat.

Adeone pulchra est? Immo foedius nil est.

Quid ergo in illa petitur et placet? Tussit.

xxvii

Hesterna tibi nocte dixeramus,

quincunces puto post decem peractos,

cenares hodie, Procille, mecum.

tu factam tibi rem statim putasti

et non sobria verba subnotasti

exemplo nimium periculoso:

misˆv mn´amona symp´otan, Procille.

4

Caesar, if you should chance to handle my book,

I hope that you’ll relax the frowning look

That rules the world. Soldiers are free to mock

The triumphs of you emperors—there’s no shame

In a general being made a laughing-stock.

I beg you, read my verses with the same

Face as you watch Latinus on the stage

Or Thymele the dancer. Harmless wit

You may, as Censor, reasonably permit:

My life is strict, however lax my page.

10

Gemellus wants to marry Maronilla:

He sighs, pleads, pesters, sends a daily present.

Is she a beauty? No, a hideous peasant.

What’s the attraction, then? That cough will kill her.

27

Last night, after five pints of wine,

I said, “Procillus, come and dine

Tomorrow.” You assumed I meant

What I said (a dangerous precedent)

And slyly jotted down a note

Of my drunk offer. Let me quote

A proverb from the Greek: “I hate

An unforgetful drinking mate.”

xxxiv

Incustoditis et apertis, Lesbia, semper

liminibus peccas nec tua furta tegis,

et plus spectator quam te delectat adulter

nec sunt grata tibi gaudia si qua latent.

at meretrix abigit testem veloque seraque

raraque Submemmi fornice rima patet.

a Chione saltem vel ab Iade disce pudorem:

abscondunt spurcas et monumenta lupas.

numquid dura tibi nimium censura videtur?

deprendi veto te, Lesbia, non futui.

xxxviii

Quem recitas meus est, o Fidentine, libellus:

sed male cum recitas, incipit esse tuus.

xlvi

Cum dicis “Propero, fac si facis,” Hedyle, languet

protinus et cessat debilitata Venus.

expectare iube: velocius ibo retentus.

Hedyle, si properas, dic mihi, ne properem.

34

Lesbia, why are your amours

Always conducted behind open, unguarded doors?

Why do you get more excitement out of a voyeur than a lover?

Why is pleasure no pleasure when it’s under cover?

Whores use a curtain, a bolt or a porter

To bar the public—you won’t find many chinks in the red-light quarter.

Ask Chione or Ias how to behave:

Even the cheapest tart conceals her business inside a monumental grave.

If I seem too hard on you, remember my objection

Is not to fornication but detection.

38

They’re mine, but while a fool like you recites

My poems I resign the author’s rights.

46

When you say, “Quick, I’m going to come,”

Hedylus, I go limp and numb.

But ask me to hold back my fire,

And the brake accelerates desire.

Dear boy, if you’re in such a hurry,

Tell me to slow up, not to worry.

xlvii

Nuper erat medicus, nunc est vispillo Diaulus:

quod vispillo facit, fecerat et medicus.

liv

Si quid, Fusce, vacas adhuc amari—

nam sunt hinc tibi, sunt et hinc amici—

unum, si superest, locum rogamus,

nec me, quod tibi sim novus, recuses:

omnes hoc veteres tui fuerunt.

tu tantum inspice qui novus paratur

an possit fieri vetus sodalis.

lxiv

Bella es, novimus, et puella, verum est,

et dives, quis enim potest negare?

sed cum te nimium, Fabulla, laudas,

nec dives neque bella nec puella es.

47

Diaulus, recently physician,

Has set up now as a mortician:

No change, though, in the clients’ condition.

54

If you’ve still room in your affections—

For you have friends in all directions—

For one more, may I occupy

The vacant place? You can’t deny

Me this simply because I’m “new”:

All your old chums were once that, too.

Think, Fuscus: might not in the end

The newest prove the oldest friend?

64

That you’re young, beautiful and rich,

Fabulla, no one can deny.

But when you praise yourself too much,

None of the epithets apply.

lxxiii

Nullus in urbe fuit tota qui tangere vellet

uxorem gratis, Caeciliane, tuam,

dum licuit: sed nunc positis custodibus ingens

turba fututorum est: ingeniosus homo es.

lxxvii

Pulchre valet Charinus et tamen pallet.

parce bibit Charinus et tamen pallet.

bene concoquit Charinus et tamen pallet.

sole utitur Charinus et tamen pallet.

tingit cutem Charinus et tamen pallet.

cunnum Charinus lingit et tamen pallet.

73

When you complaisantly allowed

Any man, free of charge, to lay

Hands on your wife, not one would play.

But now you’ve posted a house guard

There’s an enormous randy crowd.

Caecilianus, you’re a card.

77

He’s...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Random House Publishing Group
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2002
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0375760423
• ISBN 13: 9780375760426
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 240
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: GPSR Kontakt; gpsr@libri.de; ; Europaallee 1; Bad Hersfeld; 36244; Deutschland