Thursday, May 19, 2016

Sober-Minded

Exigis, ut donem nostros tibi, Quinte, libellos.
Non habeo, sed habet bibliopola Tryphon.
“Aes dabo pro nugis et emam tua carmina sanus?
Non” inquis “faciam tam fatue”. Nec ego.

You press me to give you my books, Quintus.
I haven’t any, but Tryphon the bookseller has.
“Shall I pay money for trifles and buy your poems in my sober mind?
I won’t act so foolishly”, you say. Nor will I.

Tu vuoi ch’io ti regali, o Quinto, i miei volumetti.
Io non li ho, ma li tiene il libraio Trifone.
“Spender denaro per queste facezie? Comprare i tuoi libri?
Non sono mica matto!”. E neppure io lo sono.

Martial, Epigrams, Book 4, LXXII
English translation by Holden Caulfield
Italian translation by Giuseppe Lipparini

Artwork © ThePea

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