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      because its future seems so filled with dread.

      Still, when Aquarius darkens the year45

      as it begins its turn, the ant stays near

      to home (wise creature!) drawing on its stash,

      but as for you, no heat or snow, no flash- floods, fires or wars could interrupt your quest for wealth until your hoard exceeds the rest.50

      What is the benefit that you create

      with gold and silver you accumulate

      in vast amounts if you just bury it

      while you're alone and scared? You gripe,

      “To split

      it leaves a measly penny as my fraction.”55

      But if you don't, what is your hoard's attraction?

      Suppose a hundred thousand sacks of grain

      come from your mill. Your stomach would remain

      the size of mine; the outcome is the same

      that it would be if somehow you became60

      a slave whose shoulders hoisted loads of bread—

      your idle peers would be no less well-fed.

      Moreover, if you live your life aligned

      with Nature's laws, what difference can you find

      between a hundred acres to be plowed65

      and ten times that amount? You cry out loud,

      “But I prefer selecting what I please

      from giant piles!”

      Why praise your granaries

      instead of bins if hoarding never offers

      an improvement over modest coffers?70

      It is as if you needed just a cup

      or jug of water, but you summoned up

      the gall to say,

      “I would prefer you took

      my portion from a river, not a brook!”

      When savoring what luxuries provide us,75

      we're swept downriver by the fierce Aufidus

      along with all the flotsam that's nearby,

      while he who longs for what can satisfy

      his basic needs avoids those waves of mud

      and does not perish when these rivers flood.80

      But many people, lured by false desire,

      will then respond,

      “You never can acquire

      too much because you are what you possess.”

      What do you do with people who profess

      such views?

      Tell them to wallow in despair85

      since that's the lot they chose!

      I would compare

      them to that Athens miser who, they say,

      would mock his neighbor's gossip in this way:

      “The peons always hiss, but when I see

      my trunks of coins I shout, ‘Hooray for me!’”90

      Dry-throated Tantalus just misses streams

      that tease his lips—why do you laugh? It seems

      that trading names would tell your story too.

      You snore with moneybags surrounding you

      and treat them with religious veneration95

      or an art collector's fascination!

      Don't you realize what your money means,

      what use it serves? Go purchase bread, some greens,

      a bit of wine, and any other stuff

      that worries people when there's not enough.100

      To lie awake half-comatose with fear

      because bloodthirsty robbers might be near,

      or flames, or slaves who try to rob you blind—

      is that so great? For that I would not mind

      if I remained among the destitute,105

      since if you're feeling chills from fever shoot

      right through your body, or some injury

      is keeping you in bed, who will there be

      to sit with you, to get your lotions ready,

      to call the doctor when you feel unsteady,110

      then ship you back to kids and other kin?

      You would recover to your wife's chagrin—

      and to your son's. You'll be despised by all,

      by people whom you barely can recall:

      friends, neighbors, children. Why does it amaze115

      you that when you indulge your greedy ways

      nobody gives you love you never earned?

      Or, when your schemes for winning love were spurned

      by family that Nature sent your way,

      wouldn't your efforts cause the same dismay120

      as if you gave your well-trained mule a crack

      at racing stallions at the Campus track?

      In short, be cautious as you get ahead,

      and when you grow more wealthy, let your dread

      of poverty decrease, and when you gain125

      what you are seeking, let it ease your pain

      so that you won't be like Ummidius,

      who was—put bluntly—so cupidinous

      he had to guess his count of moneybags

      yet was so cheap he dressed in servant's rags.130

      Until his final moments he would brood

      about his risk of death from lack of food

      until Tyndareus' boldest daughter,

      a former slavegirl, used her axe for slaughter.

      “Exactly what, then, are you urging on us?135

      Live like Naevius or Nomentanus?”

      You keep on posing opposite extremes!

      When I advise against your chintzy schemes,

      I'm not suggesting throwing cash around;

      there surely is a balance to be found140

      between Tanais and the family

      by marriage of Visellus. There must be

      measure in actions; bounds that do not change

      define the moral only in their range.

      So I return to where I first began,145

      and ask why greed does not allow a man

      to be content, and why he has to praise

      those taking other paths and mope for days

      about the larger udder of a goat

      his neighbor prizes, then has to devote150 himself to serial oneupsmanship (though with the unwashed masses he will skip comparisons). In such a competition, a richer fool keeps blocking your position as when the chariots escape the gate155 and thunder forward at a reckless rate; in hot pursuit you'll find some charioteer who doesn't worry who is in the rear. In the same fashion, hardly anyone confesses joy, and then, when life is done,160 says goodbye like a guest who's had his fill. But I have also overstayed, and will not add a word so no one thinks I stole from droopy-eyed Crispinus some dull scroll.

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