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