Ex otio Negotium Or, Martiall his epigrams Translated. With Sundry Poems and Fancies, By R. Fletcher |
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Libell. Spect.
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Ex otio Negotium | ||
125
Libell. Spect.
Epig. 1.
In silence Nile thy miracles concealeNor let great Babylon her cost reveale,
May the soft gloryes of Diana's fane
Sinck with the Cuckold-god that hornd Jove's name.
Nor let the Carian People boast so high
Their hanging Monuments twixt earth and sky.
Whiles Cæsar's single Piece confines alone
Fame and the world to one encomion.
In Opera publica Cæsaris, Spect. Epig. 2.
Here where that high Coloss the Stars surveys,And lofty engines swell up in the wayes
The envied Courts of Nero shined: And one
One only house this Citty filld alone.
Here where the Amphitheatres vast Pile
Is now erected were his Pools ere while.
Where we admire the Baths that running gift
The proud Field from poor men their dwellings shrift.
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Was the extream part of his Pallace made.
Rome's to it self returnd, And by thee they
Though once thine Cæsar, are the Peoples joy.
De Gentium confluxu & congratulatione, Epig. 3.
What Nation's so remote or barbarousThat has not some spectator here with us?
The Thracian High-shooe from Mount Hæmus comes,
And Russians that in bloud pick up their crums,
He that sips the first streams of suddain Nile
And he that in the utmost Sea doth toyle.
Th'Arabian and Sabæans hither beat,
And moist Cilicians in their unguents sweat.
The Germans with their hair curld in a ring
And th'otherwise crisp'd Moores their presence bring.
The voyce sounds divers, but the votes agree
When Rome's true Father thou art said to bee.
Ad Cæsarem quod expulerit delatores, Epig. 4.
An envious crue to pleasant rest and peaceWhich wretched wealth still studyed to increase
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Receive the guilty Vagabonds on land.
So now the Teazers have
That bannishment they gave.
The Pick-thank's bannish'd the Ausonian gate,
The lifes of Princes from their gifts take date.
De Dædalo, Epig. 8.
Now Dædalus thou thus art torneBy the Lucanian Bear,
How dost thou with thy waxen wings
Again to cut the Ayre?
De sue quæ ex vulnere peperit, Epig. 13.
Peircd with a deadly Dart the wounded MotherAt one time loos'd one life and gave another.
How sure the levell'd Steel the right hand throwes!
This was Lucina's arme I doe suppose.
Diana's double power she did sustain,
When th'Parents was deliverd and yet slain.
De Orpheo, Epig. 21.
What Thrace on Orpheus Stage was said to seeCæsar the Sand exhibits here to thee.
The Rocks have crept, and the strange Wood did move,
Such as was once believd th'Hisperian Grove.
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And ore the Bard a cloud of Birds in th'aire.
But he lay torn by the ungrateful Bear
As it came feigned thence so twas true here.
De Priseo & vero Gladiatoribus, Epig. 29.
When Priscus and Uerus did enter the fieldAnd their valour proved equall and neither would yield,
The people besought that they parted might bee
But Cæsar the law of Armes would satisfie.
The Law was to cuff it out at fingers end,
Thence cherishing Cups and gifts he oft did fend,
A conclusion at last this equal strife found,
They both box'd alike, and both fell to the ground.
Cæsar to both gave rods, both did reward
Such guerdons their vertue found that fought so hard
This thing hath happ'd (Cæsar) to no Prince but thee,
When two men contended both victors should be.
Ex otio Negotium | ||