A LADY barber there doth dwell
Just where Suburra's vale emerges
To join the place where Argus fell,
Where hang the lictors' bloody scourges.
She sits among the cobblers' booths
That take up half the street or block it;
No chin this barber ever smooths!
What is it that she trims? — Your pocket.

From your cup no one ever to drink you allow:
But it really is kindness not pride that you show.

Both the judge and the counsel say you're in their debt:
You had best pay the one where most credit you'll get.

What means it, I wonder, the odour of scent
That's on your lips always, of cinnamon blent.
It's suspicious this perfume whenever we meet:
For men always scented don't really smell sweet.

You give me only half a kiss;
All thanks for that; but pray
Grant me a further boon; 'tis this —
Take half that half away.
Yet higher should the favour be —
Mere speech its worth profanes —
If you would not inflict on me
The quarter that remains.

She did not answer when I wrote,
Refusal must be meant;
And yet I know she read the note —
And silence gives consent.

You fondle your mother and she fondles you:
You're her " brother" and she is your " sister."
Why those mischievous names, I should much like to know?
Why are you not her son when you've kissed her?
If you think that such conduct is merely a jest,
You're mistaken, my innocent " brother."
When a mother as " sister" would fain be addressed,
She is neither the one nor the other.

You disappoint no creditor, you say?
True, no one ever thought that you would pay.

C RETE gave the mighty name Metellus bore,
Scipio a mightier gained on Afric shore,
But yet more grand the name from conquered Rhine
That, when a child, Germania made thine.
Thy sire and brother won the Jewish crown:
The wreath the Chatti send is all thine own.

The Day has come:
Prophets and seers foretold it, — greatest day;
All secrets of this life to be exposed,
All prisoners and slaves to be released,
All darkness banished and all discord healed, —
Old time is ripe for this, and earth and Heaven
Wait with expectant ear and eye the call.