‘I've told you already, I'll tell you again: fish
About slyly for old men's wills, and if one or two
After swallowing the bait, escape your wiles,
Don't give up hope, or abandon the art in scorn.
If a case, great or small's debated in the Forum,
Whoever's the rich, childless crook who summons
The better man boldly to court, you be his lawyer:
Spurn the citizen with the better reputation
Or cause, if he's a fertile wife or an heir at home.
Say to Quintus, maybe, or Publius (sensitive ears
Enjoy their first name): “Worth makes me your friend:
I know the law's pitfalls, I can defend a case:
I'd sooner have someone pluck out my eyes than let him
Insult you or cheat you of a nutshell: my concern's
That you lose nothing, invite no ridicule.” Tell him
To go home and take care of his health: you be his
Lawyer: persist and adhere, even if “the glowing
Dog-star shatters dumb statues,” or Furius stuffed
With thick tripe “Spews hoar-frost on the wintry Alps.”
“Can't you see,” someone says nudging his neighbour,
“How patient he is, how willing, a help to his friends?”
And more tunny-fish will swim up, to stock your ponds.'