M. VALERI MARTIALIS EPIGRAMMATON (LIBER DE SPECTACVLIS) I
Marcus Valerius Martial [Martial]
38-104 AD
Trans RMBullard
Latin (Imperial Era)
Martial de spectaculis
III
Quae tam seposita est,
[What has been so secluded]
quae gens tam barbara, Caesar,
[you Caesar, what race of people is so far from civilization,]
ex qua spectator non sit in urbe tua?
[from where a man might not be present as a spectator in the city that belongs you?]
Venit ab Orpheo cultor Rhodopeius Haemo,
[From Haeman Orpheos comes the Rhodopeian farmer,]
uenit et epolo Sarmata pastus equo,
[and the Sarmatian shepherd comes upon his fierce steed,]
et qui prima bibit deprensi flumina Nili, 5
[and the man who drinks the first waters of the Nile, cast down]
et quem supremae Tethyos unda ferit;
[and the one whom the remotest wave of Thetys carries across;]
festinauit Arabs,
[The Arab hurried forth]
festinauere Sabaei,
[the Sabaeans rushed forth]
et Cilices nimbis hic maduere suis.
[and here the Cilicians standing dripping from their rainstorms.]
Crinibus in nodum tortis uenere Sygambri,
[The Sygambri came with their hair twisted into a knot]
atque aliter tortis crinibus Aethiopes. 10
[and the Ethiopians with the hair twisted differently.]
Vox diuersa sonat populorum,
[The collective voice of the people gathered is diverse]
tum tamen una est,
[and yet there is only one,]
cum uerus patriae diceris esse pater.
[when you are called the true "father of our nation"]
I N F I N I T A
