EPIGRAMS - I.31EPIGRAMS - I.31
Martial (M. Valerius Martialis)trans. David Lisle Crane
Hos tibi, Phoebe, vovet totos a vertice crines
Encolpus, domini centurionis amor,
Grata Pudens meriti tulerit cum praemia pili.
Quam primum longas, Phoebe, recide comas,
Dum nulla teneri sordent lanugine vultus
Dumque decent fusae lactea colla iubae;
Utque tuis longum dominusque puerque fruantur
Muneribus, tonsum fac cito, sero virum.
 Recorded in plain words a bargain
for love's sake with Phoebus:

that Encolpus, the beloved of the centurion his master,
vows his boy's long curls to Phoebus
so that Pudens may get the desired promotion,
while as yet no hair mars the boyish face
and the curls cluster on the milk-white neck.

May it be that boy and master long enjoyed their prize
and that the boy though early shorn was late
in becoming a man.
Trans. Copyright © David Crane 1998 - publ. University of Salzburg 







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