In stormy times, I knew it was the custom
To take one’s life as well as one’s belongings
And if you hid yourself in distant comers
Your property they’d take . . . . then burdensome becomes
The barren life, devoid of earthly treasures.
So I sold out, succeeded thus to hide
My life and wealth within the shades of science
In famous Athens . . . There I was enabled
To aid with loans, when the city’s need arose,
Or poverty had threatened to invade the homes
Of individuals I knew . . . Thus grew my wealth,
For money grows and strengthens, the more it travels
Like a river’s stream, increasing as it flows.
I was soon known as Athen’s benefactor.
(Which proves my motives were not based on profit)
They offered me the rights of citizenship,
Proposed a monument erected to my name . . .
But I refused . . . for one, it is not prudent
In times of strife to cause the shout of glory
About one’s person . . . if you but care to live . . .
And secondly, it ill becomes a Roman
To change his country in a time of stress,
Knowing such times will pass . . . I offered grain
When Athenians were starving . . . and friends,
At times I could not pass the streets
Because the Greek’s affection was so pressing
It fairly crushed me, sirs, that is the truth.
Later, when Sulla Felix came to Athens,
I quickly gained his favor, for I spoke
The Grecian tongue as a grammarian.
I Homer knew, recited lengthy passages
From his famed tragedies, and Felix listened
While his freckled hands, carelessly ruffled
Through his reddish hair . . . I followed him about
Like the very shadow.
Then finally when peace returned to Rome
I too returned . . . And there I lived, enjoying
Cicero’s warm and confidential friendship.
(Indeed, my sister soon became his wife).
And with Hortensius, Cicero’s rival
I too kept friendly, for he is but a fool
Who foolishly incites hostilities
With his friend’s enemies, yes, he’s a fool
Who would deny that it is not a folly,
Since enemies are life’s most deadly venom,
A chilling shadow cast over pleasing sunshine.
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