PERSIUS, SATIRE II
her prayers to the domains of a Licinus,[1] or the mansion of a Crassus;[1] "May kings and queens desire him for their daughter! May the maidens scramble for him! May roses bloom wherever he plants his foot!"—No! never shall prayer of mine be committed to a nurse; reject, O Jupiter, her petition, though she be clothed in white to ask it of thee!
41You pray for strength of limb, and for a body that shall not fail you in old age. Good; but your grand dishes and rich ragouts forbid the gods to listen to you, and stay the hand of Jupiter.
44Lusting for wealth, you slay an ox, and summon Mercury[2] with a liver. "Grant that my household gods may prosper me!" you cry; "grant increase to my flocks and herds!" But how can that be, poor fool, when the fat of all those heifers is melting away in the flames? Yet on the fellow goes, bent upon winning his wish with his entrails and his rich cakes:—"I am now adding field to field, and flock to flock," he cries, ever hoping and hoping on, till at length his last coin, duped and disappointed, heaves a vain sigh at the bottom of his purse!
52 Were I to offer you cups of silver, or gifts richly inlaid with gold, your heart would beat high with joy, and drops of sweat would trickle from your left breast. Hence your idea of overlaying the faces of the gods with triumphal gold; for you say, "Let those among the brazen brothers[3] rank highest
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Both men of proverbial wealth. Crassus was the Triumvir slain at the battle of Carrhae B.C. 53; Licinus was an enfranchised slave of Caesar who became Procurator of Gaul. See Juv. i. 109 and Mayor's note.
- ↑ Mercury also (merx) was the god of gain.
- ↑ Several fanciful interpretations have been given of this phrase. The "brazen brotherhood" seems to refer to the gods as a whole, whose statues were usually of bronze. If any of these, says Persius ironically, send us dreams free from gouty humours, they should be highly honoured and given beards of gold. See Professor Housman, l.c. pp. 15–16.
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