Callidus effracta nummos fur auferet arca,
prosternet patrios impia flamma lares: debitor usuram pariter sortemque negabit, non reddet sterilis semina iacta seges: dispensatorem fallax spoliabit amica, mercibus extructas obruet unda rates. Extra fortunam est, quidquid donatur amicis: quas dederis, solas semper habebis opes. A cunning thief will break your money-box and carry your coin, Cruel fire will lay low your ancestral home; Your debtor will repudiate interest alike and principal, Your sterile crop will not return you the seed you have sown; A false mistress will despoil your treasures, The wave will overwhelm your ship stored with merchandise. Beyond Fortune’s power is any gift made to your friends; Only wealth bestowed will you possess always. Scaltro un ladro potrà involarti il danaro dall’arca, empia la fiamma potrà arderti i lari paterni; un debitore moroso froderà capitale e interessi, sterile fatta la messe non renderà la sementa; un’amica infedele spoglierà il tuo tesoriere, o il mare affonderà colme di merci le navi. Della fortuna al riparo è quel che si dona agli amici: vera ricchezza sarà quello che tu hai donato. |
Martial, Epigrams, Book 5, XLII
English translation by Walter C. A. Ker
Italian translation by Giuseppe Lipparini
English translation by Walter C. A. Ker
Italian translation by Giuseppe Lipparini
Aerial view of the new temporary shelter for Central American migrants — mostly from Honduras traveling to the United States — in east Tijuana, Baja California State, Mexico.
Photo: AFP/Guillermo Arias.
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