Latin (Martial, Epigrams 11.39) Literature Text

Front 1

cunarum fueras motor, Charideme, meurum et pueri custos assiduusque comes.

Back 1

You had been the rocker of my cradle, Charidemus, and the guardian and constant companion for me as a boy.

Front 2

iam mihi nigres**** tonsa sudaria barba

Back 2

Now the barber's towels grow black when my beard has been shaved

Front 3

et queritur labris puncta puella meis;

Back 3

and my girl complains when prickled by my lips;

Front 4

sed tibi non crevi: te noster villicus horret,

Back 4

but to you I have not grown up: our estate manager trembles at you,

Front 5

te dispensator, te domus ipsa pavet.

Back 5

our accountant fears you, the house itself fears you,

Front 6

Iudere nec nobis nec tu permittis amare;

Back 6

You allow us neither to play nor to love;

Front 7

nil mihi vis et vis cuncta licere tibi.

Back 7

you want nothing to be allowed to me and you want everything to be allowed to you.

Front 8

corripus, observas, quereris, suspiria ducis,

Back 8

You scold, you watch, you complain, you sigh,

Front 9

et vix a ferulis temperat ira tua.

Back 9

and your anger scarcely refrains from the canes.

Front 10

si Tyrios sumpsi cultus unxive capillos,

Back 10

If I have taken up purple clothes or I have dressed my hair,

Front 11

exclamas 'numquam fecerat ista pater';

Back 11

you exclaim 'your father had never done those things';

Front 12

et numeras nostros astricta fronte trientes,

Back 12

and you count our drinking cups with knotted brow,

Front 13

tamquam de cella sit cadus ille tua.

Back 13

as if that wine jar were from your cellar.

Front 14

desine; non possum libertum ferre Catonem.

Back 14

Stop; I cannot bear a killjoy freedman.

Front 15

esse virum iam me dicet amica tibi.

Back 15

My girlfriend will tell you that I am already a man.