BOOK XIV.
Lewis Evans translation
ARGUMENT.
The fourteenth book contained, according to Schoenbeck's idea, the praises of a placid and easy life. Duentzer, on the other hand, says the subject was ambition. The two notions are not so much opposed, says Gerlach, as at first sight they seem: the object of the poet being to contrast the frugal simplicity and tranquil leisure of a rustic life, with the empty vanities and arrogant assumption of the ambitious man. Thus the Fragments 2, 4, 5, 12, 15, 16, and perhaps 1, contain the praises of frugal parsimony and an honorable leisure: 3, 6, 7, 8, and perhaps others, describe the heart-burnings and disappointments of a life devoted to ambition.
1 Is that rather the sign of a sick man that I live on bread and tripe? * * *[1766]
2 ... but you rather lead in peace a tranquil life, which you seem to hold more important than doing this.
3 Publius Pavus Tuditanus, my quæstor in the Iberian land, was a skulker, a mean fellow, one of that class, clearly.[1767]
4 ... these, I say, we may consider a sham sea-fight, and a game of backgammon ... but though you amuse yourself, you will not live one whit the better.[1768]
5 ... for that he preferred to be approved of by a few, and those wise men, than to rule over all the departed dead—[1769]
6 ... were he not associated with me as prætor, and annoyed me....[1770]
7 ... for that famous old Cato ... because he was not conscious to himself.[1771]
8 I will go as embassador to the king, to Rhodes, Ecbatana, and Babylon, I will take a ship....[1772]
9 ... no supper, he says; no portion for the god....[1773]
10 when that which we chew with our mouth, ...[1774]
11 I see the common people hold it in earnest affection—
12 The horse himself is not handsome, but an easy goer, a capital hackney.[1775]
13 ... whom oftentimes you dread; occasionally feel pleasure in his company.
14 ... In a moment, in a single hour....[1776]
15 ... the cheese has a flavor of garlic—[1777]
16 ... and scraggy wood-pigeons.[1778]
17 ... chalk....