Satires 1:1 (28-40)

Question 1

ille gravem duro terram qui vertit aratro,
perfidus hic caupo, miles nautaeque, per omne
[30] audaces mare qui currunt,

Answer 1

The man that turns the heavy earth with the hard plough,
This cheating innkeeper, the soldier and the sailors who run
Boldly over every sea, with this intention do they say [30]

Question 2

hac mente laborem
sese ferre, senes ut in otia tuta recedant,
aiunt, cum sibi sint congesta cibaria: sicut

Answer 2

with this intention do they say [30]
They endure the toil, so that as old men they can withdraw into safe
Leisure, once their rations are heaped up: just as

Question 3

parvola—nam exemplo est—magni formica laboris
ore trahit quodcumque potest atque addit acervo
[35]quem struit, haud ignara ac non incauta futuri.

Answer 3

A tiny – for it serves as an example – ant of great labour
Drags in its mouth whatever it can and adds to the pile
Which it builds, neither ignorant or careless of what is to be. [35]

Question 4

quae, simul inversum contristat Aquarius annum,

non usquam prorepit et illis utitur ante

Answer 4

It, as soon as Aquarius makes sad the year as it turns,

Creeps forth nowhere, and uses those things that were

Question 5

quaesitis sapiens, cum te neque fervidus aestus
demoveat lucro neque hiems, ignis mare ferrum,
[40] nil obstet tibi, dum ne sit te ditior alter.

Answer 5

Sought before in its wisdom; while neither the boiling summer
Deflects you from profit, neither winter, fire, sea or sword,
Nothing gets in your way until no one should be wealthier than you. [40]