Quotes
Quotes - Martial
I do not love thee, Sabidius, nor can I say why; this only I can say, I do not love thee.
The good man prolongs his life; to be able to enjoy one's past life is to live twice.
The bee enclosed and through the amber shown
Seems buried in the juice which was his own.
Neither fear, nor wish for, your last day.
Conceal a flaw, and the world will imagine the worst.
While an ant was wandering under the shade of the tree of Phaeton, a drop of amber enveloped the tiny insect; thus she, who in life was disregarded, became precious by death.
Rarity gives a charm; so early fruits and winter roses are the most prized; and coyness sets off an extravagant mistress, while the door always open tempts no suitor.
The bee is enclosed, and shines preserved, in a tear of the sisters of Phaeton, so that it seems enshrined in its own nectar. It has obtained a worthy reward for its great toils; we may suppose that the bee itself would have desired such a death.
That which prevents disagreeable flies from feeding on your repast, was once the proud tail of a splendid bird.
Birdes of a feather will flocke togither.
Every bird that upwards swings Bears the Cross upon its wings.
He who prefers to give Linus the half of what he wishes to borrow, rather than to lend him the whole, prefers to lose only the half.
You give me back, Phoebus, my bond for four hundred thousand sesterces; lend me rather a hundred thousand more. Seek some one else to whom you may vaunt your empty present: what I cannot pay you, Phoebus, is my own.
I have granted you much that you asked: and yet you never cease to ask of me. He who refuses nothing, Atticilla, will soon have nothing to refuse.
In adversity it is easy to despise life; he is truly brave who can endure a wretched life. [Lat., Rebus in angustis facile est contemnere vitam; Fortiter ille facit qui miser esse potest.]
Some are good, some are middling, the most are bad. [Lat., Sunt bona, sunt quaedam mediocria, sunt mala plura.]
Such are thou and I: but what I am thou canst not be; what thou art any one of the multitude may be. [Lat., Hoc ego, tuque sumus: set quod sum, non potes esse: Tu quod es, e populo quilibet esse potest.]
I seem to you cruel and too much addicted to gluttony, when I beat my cook for sending up a bad dinner. If that appears to you too trifling a cause, say for what cause you would have a cook flogged.
A cook should double one sense have: for he Should taster for himself and master be.
If your slave commits a fault, do not smash his teeth with your fists; give him some of the (hard) biscuit which famous Rhodes has sent you.
I am a shell-fish just come from being saturated with the waters of the Lucrine lake, near Baiae; but now I luxuriously thrust for noble pickle.
You praise, in three hundred verses, Sabellus, the baths of Ponticus, who gives such excellent dinners. You wish to dine, Sabellus, not to bathe.
Philo swears that he has never dined at home, and it is so; he does not dine at all, except when invited out.
Mithriades, by frequently drinking poison, rendered it impossible for any poison to hurt him. You, Cinna, by always dining on next to nothing, have taken due precaution against ever perishing from hunger.
Annius has some two hundred tables, and servants for every table. Dishes run hither and thither, and plates fly about. Such entertainments as these keep to yourselves, ye pompous; I am ill pleased with a supper that walks.
