“Pape Satàn, pape Satàn aleppe!”

Die mihi simpliciter, comoedis et citharoedis, fibula, quid praestas? “Carius ut futuant”. Tell me candidly, O clasp, What do you guarantee to comedians and harp-players? “The greater value of their favours”.

Martial, Epigrams, Book 14, CCXV
English translation by Walter C. A. Ker

Eugenio Lucas Villaamil, Arriving at the Theatre on a Night of a Masqued Ball, circa 1895. Credit: Carmen Thyssen Museum.