t be drawn. Now, if I please, I
can go as far as Tarentum on my bob-tail mule, whose loins the
portmanteau galls with his weight, as does the horseman his shoulders.
No one will lay to my charge such sordidness as he may, Tullius, to you,
when five slaves follow you, a praetor, along the Tiburtian way,
carrying a traveling kitchen, and a vessel of wine. Thus I live more
comfortably, O illustrious senator, than you, and than thousands of
others. Wherever I have a fancy, I walk by myself: I inquire the price
of herbs and bread; I traverse the tricking circus, and the forum often
in the evening: I stand listening among the fortune-tellers: thence I
take myself home to a plate of onions, pulse, and pancakes. My supper is
served up by three slaves; and a white stone slab supports two cups and
a brimmer: near the salt-cellar stands a homely cruet with a little
bowl, earthen-ware from Campania. Then I go to rest; by no means
concerned that I must rise in the morning, and pay a visit to the statue
of Marsyas, who denies that he is able to bear the look of the younger
Novius. I lie a-bed to the fourth hour; after that I take a ramble, or
having read or written what may amuse me in my privacy, I am anointed
with oil, but not with such as the nasty Nacca, when he robs the lamps.
But when the sun, become more violent, has reminded me to go to bathe, I
avoid the Campus Martius and the game of hand-ball. Having dined in a
temperate manner, just enough to hinder me from having an empty stomach,
during the rest of the day I trifle in my own house. This is the life of
those who are free from wretched and burthensome ambition: with such
things as these I comfort myself, in a way to live more delightfully
than if my grandfather had been a quaestor, and father and uncle too.

* * * * *

SATIRE VII.

_He humorously describes a squabble betwixt Rupilius and Persius._

In what manner the mongrel Persius revenged the filth and venom of
Rupilius, surnamed King, is I think known to all the blind men and
barbers. This Persius, being a man of fortune, had very great business
at Clazomenae, and, into the bargain, certain troublesome litigations
with King; a hardened fellow, and one who was able to exceed even King
in virulence; confident, blustering, of such a bitterness of speech,
that he would outstrip the Sisennae and Barri, if ever so well equipped.

I return to King. After nothing could be settled betwi