SELECTED
EPIGRAMS
OF
MARTIAL
.
Englished
By
THOMAS
MAY
Esquire
.
—
Nec
Crimenerit
nec
Gloria
—
LONDON
,
Printed
for
Thomas
Walkley
at
Brittaines
Burse
.
1629.
To
the
Right
honourable
and
truly
Noble
,
HENRY
Earle
of
Holland
,
Knight
of
the
most
noble
Order
of
the
Garter
,
one
of
his
Maiesties
most
hon:
privie
Councell
,
and
Chancellour
of
the
famous
Vniversitie
of
Cambridge
,
&c.
My
noble
Lord
,
I
Should
not
present
,
without
much
Apologie
,
so
meane
a
Worke
to
a
hand
so
honourable
,
did
not
a
confidence
in
your
true
worth
,
and
the
clearenes●e
of
mine
owne
thoughts
,
give
me
Encouragement
.
Therfore
with
the
same
modesti●
that
the
ingenious
Author
of
these
Epigrams
presented
some
of
them
to
Plinius
Secundus
,
a
noble
Roman
of
happy
employment
under
Traian
the
Emperour
(
as
a
recreation
onely
to
his
howers
of
mirth
and
pleasure
)
do
I
offer
these
my
poore
Endeavours
to
your
Lordship
.
With
how
much
courtesie
the
noble
Pliny
in
one
of
his
Epistles
doth
acknowledge
the
respect
of
Martial
,
I
doe
no
waies
inferre
,
eyther
to
direct
,
or
much
lesse
to
engage
your
Lordships
acceptation
;
since
I
confesse
the
difference
to
bee
great
betweene
so
acute
an
Authour
,
and
my selfe
the
vnworthy
Translatour
.
Onely
requesting
humbly
that
you
would
be
pleased
in
this
little
to
accept
my
true
service
.
Of
which
(
in
mine
owne
iudgement
)
I
cannot
make
a
fitter
tender
than
to
such
a
Lord
,
to
whose
knowne
Vertues
so
famous
a
Vniversitie
as
Cambridge
hath
yeelded
the
Protection
of
her selfe
.
To
which
,
and
to
all
good
learning
,
that
you
may
long
live
a
favourable
Mecaenas
,
and
(
like
Mecaenas
)
graced
in
the
service
of
our
good
,
and
great
Augustus
,
hee
prayeth
,
that
will
ever
continue
Most
humbly
devoted
to
your
Lordship
THO.
MAY.
To
the
Reader
.
THe
Translation
of
these
Epigramms
is
a
thing
(
Reader
)
which
I
confesse
for
divers
Reasons
I
was
leath
to
publish
:
One
is
,
because
they
are
but
a
part
of
Martiall
,
and
chosen
out
here
and
there
;
so
that
I
am
lyable
to
a
double
censure
,
and
not
only
the
skill
in
translating
,
but
the
judgement
in
choosing
of
them
may
be
called
in
question
.
But
in
that
case
not
only
Ioseph
Scaliger
,
who
published
divers
of
these
Epigramms
,
translated
into
Greek
,
but
divers
others
,
in
other
Languages
,
may
in
part
excuse
me
for
meddling
with
a
part
of
a
Booke
.
The
second
reason
is
,
because
it
is
more
than
probable
,
that
divers
Gentlemen
have
exercised
or
pleased
themselves
in
translating
some
of
these
,
and
may
therefore
peruse
mine
with
a
more
rigid
censure
.
but
that
I
must
referre
to
the
goodnesse
of
their
dispositions
.
The
third
reason
is
,
because
that
having
already
published
two
Translations
,
I
was
loath
any
more
to
vexe
the
Romane
Poets
(
who
shall
sleep
quietly
in
their
Vrnes
hereafter
for
me
)
though
Translation
bee
a
thing
which
,
I
thinke
,
the
ablest
men
doe
not
at
all
condemne
.
Some
men
there
are
who
complaine
of
late
that
too
much
learning
is
brought
into
our
native
Language
,
and
that
that
is
by
others
attained
at
too
easie
a
rate
,
which
cost
themselves
more
labour
.
Those
(
as
I
take
it
)
are
such
pretty
Schollers
as
have
rather
strived
to
get
some
skill
in
the
Latine
or
Greeke
tongues
,
than
to
furnish
themselves
with
the
substance
of
Art
,
which
is
contained
in
those
tongues
;
and
wanting
so
much
reall
Learning
as
may
commend
them
to
the
world
,
would
faine
bee
applauded
for
the
shadow
of
it
:
Like
some
unlearned
or
iniudicious
Preachers
in
Countrey
parishes
,
who
would
rather
be
liked
by
the
ignorant
People
for
speaking
of
Latin
sentences
,
than
informing
their
knowledges
with
substantiall
Doctrine
,
and
have
the
fortune
to
bee
praised
by
none
,
but
those
which
doe
not
understand
them
:
and
indeed
those
which
I
have
observed
mis-likers
of
Translation
,
are
neither
perfect
in
the
Latin
,
nor
able
in
their
native
Language
.
There
are
many
things
(
Reader
)
in
this
Worke
I
doe
confesse
,
which
must
intreat
a
favourable
excuse
,
and
dare
not
stand
a
strict
censure
;
especially
the
first
Epigramme
of
all
,
which
is
in
the
Latin
both
too
full
to
be
rendred
in
a
Verse
of
ten
Syllables
,
and
subject
to
divers
Constructions
of
sense
:
But
being
intreated
which
by
a
friend
of
mine
to
doe
all
the
Booke
of
Spectacles
,
I
could
not
leave
out
the
first
of
them
.
Some
of
them
have
lyen
many
yeares
by
me
,
and
were
not
intended
for
the
Presse
,
and
many
of
them
in
loose
Papers
I
have
lost
,
and
perchance
thou
wilt
say
(
and
I
am
of
that
opinion
)
it
had
beene
no
great
matter
if
they
had
beene
all
lost
.