Martial - Epigrams Book IX:25 | Belami

[+ Avalon]

XXV. TO AFER.

 

Whenever I glance at your Hyllus as he pours out my wine, Afer, you fix upon me an eye full of mistrust. What harm is there, I ask, in admiring a pretty attendant? We gaze at the sun, the stars, the temples, the gods. Am I to turn away my head and hide my eyes and countenance, as though a Gorgon were handing me the cups? Alcides was severe; yet he permitted Hylas to be looked at; and Mercury is allowed to play with Ganymede. If you do not wish your guests, Afer, to look at your youthful attendants, you should invite only such as Phineus and Oedipus.1

 

1 Both were blind. Phineus was a king of Salmydessus in Thrace, and an augur.

 

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When I read that epigram I could imagine where all the servers were Belami models!

Edited September 7, 2018 by Avalon