Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) - 2.3.9. lyrics

“Denounce extravagance and Nomentan*s with me: Reason will prove spendthrifts are fools and madmen. This man, inheriting a thousand talents from his dad, Issued an edict: fishmongers, fruiterers, fowlers, Perfumers, all Tuscan Street's impious crew, poulterers And parasites, the Velabrum, all of the market, To come to him next morn. So? They arrived in crowds. A pimp was spokesman: ‘All I have, all that these others Have in the house, believe me is yours, send for it now Or tomorrow.' Hear what the reasonable young man said: ‘You, sleep in your boots in the snows of Lucania, So I can eat boar: you, trawl the wintry sea for fish. I'm idle, unworthy to own so much: so take it! You take ten: you as much: you three times more, it's you From whom your wife comes running at the midnight call.' Aesopus' son took a splendid pearl from Metella's Ear-lobe, and dissolved it in vinegar, clearly Intending to swallow a million straight: was that Saner than hurling it into the flood, or the sewer? Quintus Arrius' sons, equally famous brothers, Twins in waste and wickedness, loving depravity, Used to eat highly-priced nightingales for lunch: How should we list them? With chalk, sane, or with charcoal?”