251	Corbulo uix ferret tot uasa ingentia, tot res inpositas capiti, quas recto uertice portat seruulus infelix et cursu uentilat ignem. scinduntur tunicae sartae modo, longa coruscat serraco ueniente abies, atque altera pinum	Huge pans, which Corbulo could scarce uprear, With steady neck a puny slave must bear, And, lest amid the way the flames expire, Glide nimbly on, and gliding, fan the fire; Through the close press with sinuous efforts wind, And, piece by piece, leave his botch’d rags behind. Hark! groaning on, the unwieldy waggon spreads Its cumbrous load, tremendous! o’er our heads, Projecting elm or pine, that nods on high, And threatens death to ever passer by. Heavens! should the axle crack, which bears a weight Of huge Ligurian stone, and pour the freight On the pale crowd beneath, what would remain, What joint, what bone, what atom of the slain? The body, with the soul, would vanish quite, Invisible as air, to mortal sight!— Meanwhile, unconscious of their fellow’s fate, At home, they heat the water, scour the plate, Arrange the strigils, fill the cruise with oil, And ply their several tasks with fruitless toil: For he who bore the dole, poor mangled ghost, Sits pale and trembling on the Stygian coast, Scared at the horrours of the novel scene, At Charon’s threatening voice, and scowling mien; Nor hopes a passage, thus abruptly hurl’d, Without his farthing, to the nether world. Pass we these fearful dangers, and survey, What other evils threat our nightly way. And first, behold the mansion’s towering size, Where floors on floors to the tenth story rise; Whence heedless garretteers their potsherds throw, And crush the unwary wretch that walks below! Clattering the storm descends from heights unknown, Ploughs up the street, and wounds the flinty stone! ’Tis madness, dire improvidence of ill, To sup abroad, before you sign your Will; Since fate in ambush lies, and marks his prey From every wakeful window in the way:
256	plaustra uehunt; nutant alte populoque minantur. nam si procubuit qui saxa Ligustica portat axis et euersum fudit super agmina montem, quid superest de corporibus? quis membra, quis ossa inuenit? obtritum uolgi perit omne cadauer
261	more animae. domus interea secura patellas iam lauat et bucca foculum excitat et sonat unctis striglibus et pleno componit lintea guto. haec inter pueros uarie properantur, at ille iam sedet in ripa taetrumque nouicius horret
266	porthmea nec sperat caenosi gurgitis alnum infelix nec habet quem porrigat ore trientem.      respice nunc alia ac diuersa pericula noctis: quod spatium tectis sublimibus unde cerebrum testa ferit, quotiens rimosa et curta fenestris
271	uasa cadant, quanto percussum pondere signent et laedant silicem. possis ignauus haberi et subiti casus inprouidus, ad cenam si intestatus eas: adeo tot fata, quot illa nocte patent uigiles te praetereunte fenestrae.
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