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SVFFENVS iste, Vare, quem probe nosti,
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1
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That Suffenus, Varus, whom you know very well,
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homo est uenustus et dicax et urbanus,
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2
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is a charming fellow, and has wit and good manners.
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idemque longe plurimos facit uersus.
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3
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He aIso makes many more verses than any one else.
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puto esse ego illi milia aut decem aut plura
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4
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I suppose he has got some ten thousand or even more
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perscripta, nec sic ut fit in palimpsesto
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5
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written out in full, and not, as is often done,
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relata: cartae regiae, noui libri,
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6
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down on old scraps; imperial paper, new rolls,
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noui umbilici, lora rubra membranae,
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7
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new bosses, red ties, parchment wrappers;
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derecta plumbo et pumice omnia aequata.
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8
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all ruled with lead and smoothed with pumice.
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haec cum legas tu, bellus ille et urbanus
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9
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When you come to read these, the fashionable well-bred
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Suffenus unus caprimulgus aut fossor
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10
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Suffenus I spoke of seems to be nothing but any goatherd or ditcher
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rursus uidetur: tantum abhorret ac mutat.
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11
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to look at him again; so absurd and chamged he is.
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hoc quid putemus esse? qui modo scurra
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12
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How are we to account for this? The same man who was just now
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aut si quid hac re scitius uidebatur,
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13
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a dinner-table wit or something (if such there be) even more practised,
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idem infaceto est infacetior rure,
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14
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is more re clumsy than the clumsy country,
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simul poemata attigit, neque idem umquam
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15
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whenever he touches poetry; and at the same time he is never
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aeque est beatus ac poema cum scribit:
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16
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so happy as when he is writing a poem:
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tam gaudet in se tamque se ipse miratur.
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17
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he delights in himself and admires himself so much.
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nimirum idem omnes fallimur, neque est quisquam
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18
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True enough, we all are under the same delusion, and there is no one
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quem non in aliqua re uidere Suffenum
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19
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whom you may not see to be a Sufferms in one thing
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possis. suus cuique attributus est error;
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20
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or another. Everybody has his own delusion assigned to him:
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| sed non uidemus manticae quod in tergo est. |
21 |
but we do not see that part of the bag which
hangs on our back. |