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71 Quotes for 'Marcus Valerius Martial' in the Database.
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Letter "M" »
Marcus Valerius Martial Quotes
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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.
Topic: Ants
Source: Epigrams (bk. VI, ep. 15)
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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.
Topic: Appearance
Source: None
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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.
Topic: Bees
Source: Epigrams (bk. IV, ep. 32)
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That which prevents disagreeable flies from feeding on your
repast, was once the proud tail of a splendid bird.
Topic: Birds
Source: Epigrams (bk. XIV, ep. 67)
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Birdes of a feather will flocke togither.
Topic: Birds
Source: Epigrams (bk. XIV, ep. 67)
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Every bird that upwards swings
Bears the Cross upon its wings.
Topic: Birds
Source: Epigrams (bk. XIV, ep. 67)
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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.
Topic: Borrowing
Source: Epigrams (bk. I, ep. 75)
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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.
Topic: Borrowing
Source: Epigrams (bk. IX, ep. 102)
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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.
Topic: Borrowing
Source: Epigrams (bk. XII, ep. 79)
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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.]
Topic: Bravery
Source: Epigrams (XI, 56, 15)
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Some are good, some are middling, the most are bad.
[Lat., Sunt bona, sunt quaedam mediocria, sunt mala plura.]
Topic: Comparisons
Source: Epigrams (I, 17, 1)
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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.]
Topic: Comparisons
Source: Epigrams (V, 13, 9)
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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.
Topic: Cookery
Source: Epigrams (bk. VIII, ep. 23)
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A cook should double one sense have: for he
Should taster for himself and master be.
Topic: Cookery
Source: Epigrams (bk. XIV, ep. 220)
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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.
Topic: Cookery
Source: Epigrams (bk. XIV, ep.68)
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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.
Topic: Eating
Source: Epigrams (bk. 13, ep. 82)
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You praise, in three hundred verses, Sabellus, the baths of
Ponticus, who gives such excellent dinners. You wish to dine,
Sabellus, not to bathe.
Topic: Eating
Source: Epigrams (bk. IX, ep. 19)
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Philo swears that he has never dined at home, and it is so; he
does not dine at all, except when invited out.
Topic: Eating
Source: Epigrams (bk. V, ep. 47)
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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.
Topic: Eating
Source: Epigrams (bk. V, ep. 76)
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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.
Topic: Eating
Source: Epigrams (bk. VII, ep. 48)
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As long as I have fat turtle-doves, a fig of your lettuce, my
friend, and you may keep your shell-fish to yourself. I have no
wish to waste my appetite.
Topic: Eating
Source: Epigrams (bk. XIII, ep. 53)
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See, how the liver is swollen larger than a fat goose! In
amazement you will exclaim: Where could this possibly grow?
Topic: Eating
Source: Epigrams (bk. XIII, ep. 58)
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Whether woodcock or partridge, what does it signify, if the taste
is the same? But the partridge is dearer, and therefore thought
preferable.
Topic: Eating
Source: Epigrams (bk. XIII, ep. 76)
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However great the dish that holds the turbot, the turbot is still
greater than the dish.
Topic: Eating
Source: Epigrams (bk. XIII, ep. 81)
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If my opinion is of any worth, the fieldfare is the greatest
delicacy among birds, the hare among quadrupeds.
Topic: Eating
Source: Epigrams (bk. XIII, ep. 92)
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You complain, Velox, that the epigrams which I write are long.
You yourself write nothing; your attempts are shorter.
Topic: Epigrams
Source: Epigrams (bk. I, ep. 110)
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Report says that you, Fidentinus, recite my compositions in
public as if they were your own. If you allow them to be called
mine, I will send you my verses gratis; if you wish them to be
called yours, pray buy them, that they may be mine no longer.
Topic: Epigrams
Source: Epigrams (bk. I, ep. 29)
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The book which you are reading aloud is mine, Fidentinus; but,
while you read it so badly, it begins to be yours.
Topic: Epigrams
Source: Epigrams (bk. I, ep. 38)
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You are pretty,--we know it; and young,--it is true; and rich,--
who can deny it? But when you praise yourself extravagantly,
Fabulla, you appear neither rich, nor pretty, nor young.
Topic: Epigrams
Source: Epigrams (bk. I, ep. 64)
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"You are too free spoken," is your constant remark to me,
Choerilus. He who speaks against you, Choerilus, is indeed a
free speaker.
Topic: Epigrams
Source: Epigrams (bk. I, ep. 67)
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What's this that myrrh doth still smell in thy kiss,
And that with thee no other odour is?
'Tis doubt, my Postumus, he that doth smell
So sweetly always, smells not very well.
Topic: Epigrams
Source: Epigrams (bk. II, ep. 12)
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Since your legs, Phoebus, resemble the horns of the moon, you
might bathe your feet in a cornucopia.
Topic: Epigrams
Source: Epigrams (bk. II, ep. 35)
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In whatever place you meet me, Postumus, you cry out immediately,
and your very first words are, "How do you do?" You say this,
even if you meet me ten times in one single hour: you, Postumus,
have nothing, I suppose, to do.
Topic: Epigrams
Source: Epigrams (bk. II, ep. 67)
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If you wish, Faustinus, a bath of boiling water to be reduced in
temperature,--a bath, such as scarcely Julianus could enter,--ask
the rhetorician Sabinaeus to bathe himself in it. He would
freeze the warm baths of Nero.
Topic: Epigrams
Source: Epigrams (bk. III, ep. 25)
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I could do without your face, and your neck, and your hands, and
your limbs, and your bosom, and other of your charms. Indeed,
not to fatigue myself with enumerating each of them, I could do
without you, Chloe, altogether.
Topic: Epigrams
Source: Epigrams (bk. III, ep. 53)
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Lycoris has buried all the female friends she had, Fabianus:
would she were the friend of my wife!
Topic: Epigrams
Source: Epigrams (bk. IV, ep. 24)
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You were constantly, Matho, a guest at my villa at Tivoli. Now
you buy it--I have deceived you; I have merely sold you what was
already your own.
Topic: Epigrams
Source: Epigrams (bk. IV, ep. 79)
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Do you wonder for what reason, Theodorus, notwithstanding your
frequent requests and importunities, I have never presented you
with my works? I have an excellent reason; it is lest you should
present me with yours.
Topic: Epigrams
Source: Epigrams (bk. V., ep. 73)
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You put fine dishes on your table, Olus, but you always put them
on covered. This is ridiculous; in the same way I could put fine
dished on my table.
Topic: Epigrams
Source: Epigrams (bk. X, ep. 54)
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And have you been able, Flaccus, to see the slender Thais? Then,
Flaccus, I suspect you can see what is invisible.
Topic: Epigrams
Source: Epigrams (bk. XI, ep. 101)
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You ask for lively epigrams, and propose lifeless subjects. What
can I do, Caecilianus? You expect Hyblaen or Hymethian honey to
be produced, and yet offer the Attic bee nothing but Corsican
thyme?
Topic: Epigrams
Source: Epigrams (bk. XI, ep. 42)
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When to secure your bald pate from the weather,
You lately wore a cape of black neats' leather;
He was a very wag, who to you said,
"Why do you wear your slippers on your head?"
Topic: Epigrams
Source: Epigrams (bk. XII, ep. 45), (trans. by Hay)
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See how the mountain goat hangs from the summit of the cliff; you
would expect it to fall; it is merely showing its contempt for
the dogs.
Topic: Epigrams
Source: Epigrams (bk. XIII, ep. 99)
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Never think of leaving perfumes or wine to your heir. Administer
these yourself, and let him have your money.
Topic: Epigrams
Source: Epigrams (bk. XIII, sp. 126)
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You crystal break, for fear of breaking it:
Careless and careful hands like faults commit.
Topic: Faults
Source: Epigrams (bk. XIV, ep. 111), (translation by Wright)
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Can the fish love the fisherman?
[Lat., Piscatorem piscis amare potest?]
Topic: Fishermen
Source: Epigrams (bk. VI, ep. 63, l. 5)
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A fisherman's walk: three steps and overboard.
Topic: Fishermen
Source: Epigrams (bk. VI, ep. 63, l. 5)
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A beau is one who arranges his curled locks gracefully, who ever
smells of balm, and cinnamon; who hums the songs of the Nile, and
Cadiz; who throws his sleek arms into various attitudes; who
idles away the whole day among the chair of the ladies, and is
ever whispering into some one's ear; who reads little billets-
doux from this quarter and that, and writes them in return; who
avoids ruffling his dress by contact with his neighbour's sleeve,
who knows with whom everybody is in love; who flutters from feast
to feast, who can recount exactly the pedigree of Hirpinus. What
do you tell me? is this a beau, Cotilus? Then a beau, Cotilus,
is a very trifling thing.
Topic: Foppery
Source: Epigrams (bk. III, ep. 6)
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Whoever makes great presents, expects great presents in return.
[Lat., Quisquis magna dedit, voluit sibi magna remitti.]
Topic: Gifts
Source: Epigrams (V, 59, 3)
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Glory paid to our ashes comes too late.
[Lat., Cineri gloria sera est.]
Topic: Glory
Source: Epigrams (I, 26, 8)
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