|
Who could, dear Gallius, the rewards outline
Of military service happily
Done provided the army camp is fine
And its gates friendly with the shy draftee
Under the auspices of the stars?
Indeed a single hour of benign
Fate is worth more than a recommendation
Coming from Venus or from Mars
Or from the gods’ progenitrix who
In Samos’ arena seeks delectation.
Let us first endeavour to go through
All the benefits customary
To soldiers, namely that no civvy
Will dare beat you. On the contrary
He’ll look the other way in case he
Gets thrashed and will indeed be wary
Of bringing to the praetor’s view all
The teeth he lost, the spots black and blue
On his face and his one good eye too
Which the doctor deems beyond recall.
He who insists on a fair treatment
Will get a judge, sitting on a stool
With his big calves encased in Bardaic boots,
According to Camillus’s ancient
And time-honoured army camp rule
Which states a soldier can have no lawsuits
Outside the wall and far from the pennants.
“It’s perfectly all right,” you say “ that once
The enquiry is clearly about
The military, a centurion
Should conduct it and no doubt
I’ll be given full satisfaction.”
But the whole cohort is your enemy
while all the companies of infantry,
Being in complete accord, will nullify
Revenge and add insult to injury:
A feat worth of such a foolish magpie
As Vagellium. But how can you defy
A thousand boots and nails with those
Two legs of yours? Who lives so far from Rome,
And to Pylades feels so close,
As to climb over a camp wall?
Quick, let’s dry our tears and never solicit
Our friends’ help, they’d surely walk away.
The judge will tell you: ‘bring forth all
Your witnesses’. The man who dares say
(Having seen you being punched in the face)
“I testify” that same man I’ll declare
Worthy of our forefathers’ beard and hair.
You could more easily produce
A false witness against a civvy
Than a true one who could abuse
A soldier’s fortune and modesty
Let us now see the other boons and benefits
Which go with an oath of allegiance:
If a neighbour with a rascally blitz
Has taken over a piece of my homestead
In a lone valley or, in my absence,
a swathe of my field, yanking the sacred stake
I annually honour with a gift of bread
Accompanied by a dish of cornmeal cake,
Or if a debtor keeps refusing to make
Good on the money he owes me and spurns
The bill he signed declaring it’s a fake,
I’ll have to wait until the court adjourns
To hear the complaints of the populace,
Not without a thousand delays and pains.
Often there’s just the time to spread out
the stools, while the impassioned Caedicius
puts down his cloak and Fuscus restrains
The urge to piss and we are all about
To have the case heard, they send us out.
In the Forum arena, where we fight,
The going is hard but those with arms bedight
And with a leather sash around their waist
Can choose the day of their judgement
Skipping a trial stressful and snail-paced.
Soldiers only can draw up a will
While their natural fathers are still
Alive, as the fruits of military commitment
Are not part of their fathers’ endowment.
That’s why you see Coranus - an ensign
Still getting his soldier’s wages - whose
Tremulous father treasures and woos.
A privilege generous and condign
Ties his career to his army duty.
This really seems to be what in brief
Matters to the officers in chief :
That the strong should also the happiest be
And all should be content with a windfall
Of twisted neck-chains, metal plates, and all …
|
Quis numerare queat felicis praemia, Galli,
militiae? nam si subeuntur prospera castra
me pauidum excipiat tironem porta secundo
sidere. plus etenim fati ualet hora benigni
quam si nos Veneris commendet epistula Marti
et Samia genetrix quae delectatur harena.
commoda tractemus primum communia, quorum
haut minimum illud erit, ne te pulsare togatus
audeat, immo, etsi pulsetur, dissimulet nec
audeat excussos praetori ostendere dentes
et nigram in facie tumidis liuoribus offam
atque oculum medico nil promittente relictum.
Bardaicus iudex datur haec punire uolenti
calceus et grandes magna ad subsellia surae
legibus antiquis castrorum et more Camilli
seruato, miles ne uallum litiget extra
et procul a signis. 'iustissima centurionum
cognitio est igitur de milite, nec mihi derit
ultio, si iustae defertur causa querellae.'
tota cohors tamen est inimica, omnesque manipli
consensu magno efficiunt curabilis ut sit
uindicta et grauior quam iniuria. dignum erit ergo
declamatoris mulino corde Vagelli,
cum duo crura habeas, offendere tot caligas, tot
milia clauorum. quis tam procul adsit ab urbe
praeterea, quis tam Pylades, molem aggeris ultra
ut ueniat? lacrimae siccentur protinus, et se
excusaturos non sollicitemus amicos.
'da testem' iudex cum dixerit, audeat ille
nescio quis, pugnos qui uidit, dicere 'uidi,'
et credam dignum barba dignumque capillis
maiorum. citius falsum producere testem
contra paganum possis quam uera loquentem
contra fortunam armati contraque pudorem.
praemia nunc alia atque alia emolumenta notemus
sacramentorum. conuallem ruris auiti
improbus aut campum mihi si uicinus ademit
et sacrum effodit medio de limite saxum,
quod mea cum patulo coluit puls annua libo,
debitor aut sumptos pergit non reddere nummos
uana superuacui dicens chirographa ligni,
expectandus erit qui lites incohet annus
totius populi. sed tum quoque mille ferenda
taedia, mille morae; totiens subsellia tantum
sternuntur, iam facundo ponente lacernas
Caedicio et Fusco iam micturiente parati
digredimur, lentaque fori pugnamus harena.
ast illis quos arma tegunt et balteus ambit
quod placitum est ipsis praestatur tempus agendi,
nec res atteritur longo sufflamine litis.
solis praeterea testandi militibus ius
uiuo patre datur. nam quae sunt parta labore
militiae placuit non esse in corpore census,
omne tenet cuius regimen pater. ergo Coranum
signorum comitem castrorumque aera merentem
quamuis iam tremulus captat pater; hunc fauor aequus
prouehit et pulchro reddit sua dona labori.
ipsius certe ducis hoc referre uidetur
ut, qui fortis erit, sit felicissimus idem,
ut laeti phaleris omnes et torquibus, omnes
|
English
Italian