Persius, Satire 2
Translated by Lewis Evans (1889)
Formatted by C. Chinn (2008)

	MARK this day, Macrinus, with a whiter stone, which, with 
	auspicious omen, augments thy fleeting years. Pour out the wine to 
	thy Genius! Thou at least dost not with mercenary prayer ask for 
	what thou couldst not entrust to the gods unless taken aside. But a 
5	great proportion of our nobles will make libations with a silent censer. 
	It is not easy for every one to remove from the temples his murmur 
	and low whispers, and live with undisguised prayers. A sound mind, 
	a good name, integrity—for these he prays aloud, and so that his neighbor 
	may hear. But in his inmost breast, and beneath his breath, he murmurs thus, 
10	"Oh that my uncle would evaporate! what a splendid funeral! and oh that 
	by Hercules' good favor a jar of silver would ring beneath my rake! 
	or, would that I could wipe out my ward, whose heels I tread on as next 
	heir! For he is scrofulous, and swollen with acrid bile. 
	This is the third wife that Nerius is now taking home!—That you may pray 
15	for these things with due holiness, you plunge your head twice or thrice 
	of a morning in Tiber's eddies, and purge away the defilements of night in the 
	running stream. Come now! answer me! It is but a little trifle that I wish to know! 
	What think you of Jupiter? Would you care to prefer him to some 
	man! To whom? Well, say to Staius. Are you at a loss indeed? 
20	Which were the better judge, or better suited to the charge of orphan 
	children! Come then, say to Staius that wherewith you would attempt to 
	influence the ear of Jupiter. "O Jupiter!" he would exclaim, "O good Jupiter!" 
	But would not Jove himself call out, "O Jove!" 
	Thinkest thou he has forgiven thee, because, when he thunders, the 
25	holm-oak is rather riven with his sacred bolt than thou and all thy house? 
	Or because thou dost not, at the bidding of the entrails of the sheep, 
	and Ergenna, lie in the sacred grove a dread bidental to be 
	shunned of all, that therefore he gives thee his insensate beard 
	to pluck? Or what is the bribe by which thou wouldst win over the 
30	ears of the gods? With lungs, and greasy chitterlings? 
	
	See some grandam or superstitious aunt takes the infant 
	from his cradle, and skilled in warding off the evil eye, 
	effascinates his brow and driveling lips with middle 
	finger and with lustral spittle, first. 
35	Then dandles him in her arms, and with suppliant prayer transports 
	him either to the broad lands of Licinus or the palaces of Crassus. 
	"Him may some king and queen covet as a son- in-law! May maidens 
	long to ravish him! Whatever he treads on may it turn to roses!" 
	But I do not trust prayers to a nurse. Refuse her these requests, 
40	great Jove, even though she make them clothed in white! 
	
	You ask vigor for your sinews, and a frame that will insure old age. 
	Well, so be it. But rich dishes and fat sausages prevent the gods 
	from assenting to these prayers, and baffle Jove himself. 
	
	You are eager to amass a fortune, by sacrificing a bull; and court Mercury's 
45	favor by his entrails. "Grant that my household gods may make me lucky! 
	Grant me cattle, and increase to my flocks!" How can that be, poor wretch, 
	while so many cauls of thy heifers melt in the flames? 
	Yet still he strives to gain his point by means of entrails and 
	rich cakes. "Now my land, and now my sheepfold teems. 
50	Now, surely now, it will be granted!" Until, baffled and hopeless, 
	his sestertius at the very bottom of his money-chest sighs in vain. 
	
	Were I to offer you goblets of silver and presents embossed with rich gold, 
	you would perspire with delight, and your heart, palpitating with joy 
	in your left breast, would force even the tear-drops from your eyes. 
55	And hence it is the idea enters your mind of covering the sacred faces 
	of the gods with triumphal gold. “ For among the Brazen 
	brothers, let those be chief, and let their beards be of gold, 
	who send dreams purged from gross humors.” 
	Gold hath expelled the vases of Numa and Saturnian brass, 
60	and the vestal urns and the pottery of Tuscany. 
	Oh! souls bowed down to earth! and void of aught celestial! 
	Of what avail is it to introduce into the temples of the gods these our modes 
	of feeling, and estimate what is acceptable to them by referring to our own 
	accursed flesh. This it is that has dissolved Cassia in the oil it pollutes. 
65	This has dyed the fleece of Calabria with the vitiated purple. 
	To scrape the pearl from its shell, and from the crude ore to smelt 
	out the veins of the glowing mass; this carnal nature bids. 
	She sins in truth. She sins. Still from her vice gains some emolument. 
	Say ye, ye priests! of what avail is gold in sacrifice? 
70	As much, forsooth, as the dolls which the maiden bestows on Venus! 
	Why do we not offer that to the gods which the blear-eyed progeny 
	of great Messala can not give even from his high-heaped charger? 
	Justice to god and man enshrined within the heart; the inner chambers of the soul 
	free from pollution; the breast imbued with generous honor. Give me these to 
75	present at the temples, and I will make my successful offering with a little meal.