which country rears more hares, which, more boars, which one's seas give more hiding to fish and seaurchins, so that I may return home from there a fat Phaeacian "—all this you must write us, and we must credit you in full.

26 Maenius gallantly used up all his mother and father had left him, then came into note as a city wit, a parasite at large, with no fixed fold, a man who when dinnerless knew not friend apart from foe, but would savagely trump up scandal against anybody, the market's ruin, a cyclone and abyss and so, whatever he gained, he gave to his greedy maw. This fellow, whenever he got little or nothing from those who applauded or feared his wicked wit, would sup on plates of tripe and cheap lamb, enough to satisfy three bears, so as actually to proclaim that prodigals should have their bellies branded with white-hot iron-he, a Bestius reformed! Yet the same man, if he ever got hold of some larger booty, would turn it into smoke and ashes, and then, “ In faith, I don't wonder," he would say, " if some devour their substance, since there is nothing better than a fat thrush, nothing finer than a large sow's paunch."

42 Such a man, in truth, am I. When means fail, I cry up a safe and lowly lot, resolute enough where all is paltry but when something better and richer comes my way I, the same man, say that only men like you are wise and live well-whose invested wealth is displayed in garish villas.

• Nothing is known about Bestius, but he may well have been what Maenius was, a figure in Lucilius. According to Acron, he was severely frugal. Presumably he had been a spendthrift in earlier life. The corrector of Lambinus would give good sense, Bestius being an example of the rake in the pulpit. d For bene vivere cf. Epist. i. 6. 56; i. 11. 29.

XVI

TO QUINCTIUS

THE Quinctius addressed may be Quinctius Hirpinus of Odes ii. 11. He is evidently a prominent man (1. 18), who is perhaps in public office (11. 33. 34), but nothing definite is known about him. The Epistle is the poet's commentary on the second Stoic paradox, ὅτι αὐτάρκης ἡ ἀρετὴ πρὸς εὐδαιμονίαν (Cic. Parad. 2).

To save you the trouble of asking about the products of my estate, my dear Quinctius, let me describe it to you. It lies in a valley among the hills, gets plenty of sun, has a good climate, grows an abundance of wild fruit and foliage, and possesses a copious spring of fresh water. In this charming retreat I enjoy good health even in the worst season of the year (1-16).

And now about yourself. Are you really the good and happy man that people think you are? Remember that popular applause is fickle, and often insincere, and that those who give titles can also take them away (17-40).

Well, who is the "good" man? The world will answer that it is he who keeps the laws, whose word is a bond and whose testimony is trusted, but those who live near him may know better. Such a man,

eager to seem good, but not to be good, may be no better than the slave, who refrains from stealing merely from fear of being found out (40-62).

The man who has set his heart on money is a creature of desires and fears. He is a deserter from the cause of Virtue. You might treat him as a prisoner or put him to death, yet he may make a useful slave (63-72).

No, the truly good and wise man will be as fearless and independent as Dionysus in the play, for no misfortunes-not death itself—can daunt him (73-79).

XVI.

Ne perconteris, fundus meus, optime Quincti, arvo pascat erum an bacis opulentet olivae, pomisne an pratis1 an amicta2 vitibus ulmo, scribetur tibi forma loquaciter et situs agri.

Continui montes, ni3 dissocientur opaca valle, sed ut veniens dextrum latus aspiciat sol, laevum discedens1 curru5 fugiente vaporet. temperiem laudes. quid si rubicunda benigni? corna vepres et pruna ferant? si quercus et ilex multa fruge pecus, multa dominum iuvet umbra? 10 dicas adductum propius frondere Tarentum. fons etiam rivo dare nomen idoneus, ut nec frigidior Thracam nec purior ambiat Hebrus, infirmo capiti fluit utilis, utilis9 alvo.

hae latebrae dulces, etiam, si credis, amoenae, incolumem tibi me praestant Septembribus horis.

6 quod si a.

8 si omitted by a; et (for si) π. 9 aptus et utilis A2RTO.

5

1 an pratis E Goth. : et pratis most мss.

2 amica E.

3 si aЕ (sci A2). The lemma of Porph. gives si but the note supports ni.

4 descendens T : decedens Bentley.

5 cursu V.

7 benignae.

15

a Ancient husbandry was chiefly concerned with five products, viz. grain, oil, fruit, cattle, and wine.

bi.e. the valley of the Digentia (see Epist. i. 18. 104),

EPISTLE XVI

Lest you, my good Quinctius, should have to ask me about my farm, whether it supports its master with plough-land, or makes him rich with olives, whether with apples or with meadows or vine-clad elms, I will describe for you in rambling style the nature and lie of the land.

a

5 There are hills, quite unbroken, were they not cleft by one shady valley, yet such that the rising sun looks on its right side, and when departing in his flying car warms the left. The climate would win your praise. What if you knew that the bushes bear a rich crop of ruddy cornels and plums, that oak and ilex gladden the cattle with plenteous fruitage, and their lord with plenteous shade? You would say that Tarentum with its verdure was brought hearer home. A spring, too, fit to give its name to a river, so that not cooler nor purer is Hebrus winding through Thrace, flows with healing for sickly heads and sickly stomachs. This retreat, so sweet -yes, believe me, so bewitching keeps me, my riend, in sound health in September's heat.

66

how called Licenza. Kiessling prefers the rival reading i dissocientur, with temperiem laudes the main clause in a conditional sentence, meaning: if you picture a mass of hills broken by a valley, you may imagine how pleasant the climate is."