Great are indeed all these, but thou by far be the greatest,
Never a man, but a great Mentula of menacing might.
Never a man, but a great Mentula of menacing might.
Catullus - Carmina
Therefore his grounds be rich own I, while he's but a pauper. 5
Laud we thy land while thou lackest joyance thereof.
With Firmian demesne not falsely is Mentula deemed rich, who has everything
in it of such excellence, game preserves of every kind, fish, meadows,
arable land and ferals. In vain: the yield is o'ercome by the expense.
Wherefore I admit the wealth, whilst everything is wanting. We may praise
the demesne, but its owner is a needy man.
CXV.
Mentula habes instar triginta iugera prati,
Quadraginta arvi: cetera sunt maria.
Cur non divitiis Croesum superare potissit
Vno qui in saltu totmoda possideat,
Prata, arva, ingentes silvas saltusque paludesque 5
Vsque ad Hyperboreos et mare ad Oceanum?
Omnia magna haec sunt, tamen ipse's maximus ultro,
Non homo, sed vero mentula magna minax.
CXV.
OF THE SAME.
Mentula! masterest thou some thirty acres of grass-land
Full told, forty of field soil; others are sized as the sea.
Why may he not surpass in his riches any a Croesus
Who in his one domain owns such abundance of good,
Grass-lands, arable fields, vast woods and forest and marish 5
Yonder to Boreal-bounds trenching on Ocean tide?
Great are indeed all these, but thou by far be the greatest,
Never a man, but a great Mentula of menacing might.
Mentula has something like thirty acres of meadow land, forty under
cultivation: the rest are as the sea. Why might he not o'erpass Croesus in
wealth, he who in one demesne possesses so much? Meadow, arable land,
immense woods, and demesnes, and morasses, e'en to the uttermost north and
to the ocean's tide! All things great are here, yet is the owner most great
beyond all; not a man, but in truth a Mentule mighty, menacing!
CXVI.
Saepe tibi studioso animo venante requirens
Carmina uti possem mittere Battiadae,
Qui te lenirem nobis, neu conarere
Telis infestis icere mi usque caput,
Hunc video mihi nunc frustra sumptus esse laborem, 5
Gelli, nec nostras his valuisse preces.
Contra nos tela ista tua evitamus amictu:
At fixus nostris tu dabi' supplicium.
CXVI.
TO GELLIUS THE CRITIC.
Seeking often in mind with spirit eager of study
How I could send thee songs chaunted of Battiades,
So thou be softened to us, nor any attempting thou venture
Shot of thy hostile shaft piercing me high as its head,--
Now do I ken this toil with vainest purpose was taken, 5
(Gellius! ) nor herein aught have our prayers availed.
Therefore we'll parry with cloak what shafts thou shootest against us;
And by our bolts transfixt, penalty due thou shalt pay.
Oft with studious mind brought close, enquiring how I might send thee the
poems of Battiades for use, that I might soften thee towards us, nor thou
continually attempt to sting my head with troublesome barbs--this I see now
to have been trouble and labour in vain, O Gellius, nor were our prayers to
this end of any avail. Thy weapons against us we will ward off with our
cloak; but, transfixed with ours, thou shalt suffer punishment.
