TWELFTH MORSEL

Our moments of glory a lifetime to remember fair token of youth?s vigour

Carve now before the die sets while still new and pliable when it dries your mark stays hardened and nobly set surpassing life of wilted crowns a monument in your honour

Our moments of glory a lifetime to remember come pay heed to youth?s prayer

We won?t be here to bother having surpassed such worries earthborn to earth it goes like Assyrian ruins to those with merits deserving God and kind Fortune preserve them

Our moments of glory a lifetime to remember mementos of youth?s flower

THIRTEENTH MORSEL

A peasant who wishes for more changes his plough for arms The army has loyal farmers with absent fathers away far

Children of empire?s troops though honoured their father?s name they hardly know the man well though his name they proudly bear

Years abroad have rendered fathers estranged from families and friends yet love and regard still remain after gaps of years and distance

A peasant who wishes for more changes his plough for arms fertile fields left idle while we take grain from conquered lands

For children whom fathers left when they were too young to recall esteem comes to their hearts prior before the warmth of filial love

At long last parted faces meet again strange and familiar strange yet familiar they rekindle ties and retell tidings memories and previous habits return

Fertile fields left idle while we take grain from conquered lands the army has its own farmers with absent fathers battling far

Families once again reunited when warriors in togas turn civilians their children venture and nestle gladly

FOURTEENTH MORSEL

?De mortuis nil nisi bonum? speak well of the departed or else do not speak at all . The now sacred departed immune to our rebuke rejoice with their memory.

?De mortuis nil nisi bonum? speak well of the departed or else do not speak at all . Allow their good part live on they have gone beyond the gates those whom we regard dearly.

FIFTEENTH MORSEL

What draws us to oracles ?
Those structures where we worship ,
The place where future unfolds ,
For those who are uncertain ,
Gripped by Trouble?s tentacles .

What draws us to oracles ?
Priests and priestesses reveal ,
With omniscience in their being ,
With eyes of the temple gods ,
Free from earthly manacles .

SIXTEENTH MORSEL

There is nothing loathsome , in learning from others , with elders and with peers , we shared experiences , treasures of our youth , amusing in retrospect .

It is the matter?s worth the source dictates not choice progress comes not from disdain to live we nourish the form to advance we emulate the source dictates not choice It is the matter?s worth

If they should enrich us , ennoble the manner , magnify happiness , increase our contentment , in learning from others , there is nothing loathsome .

SEVENTEENTH MORSEL

For common good and for own glory a seat in the senate For common cause and own aspirations a seat in the senate For power over destinies for by themselves they'll drown a seat in the senate For a hand in fate and privilege to avert a few unpleasantries a seat in the senate For the pristine tunic and the challenge to keep it unsoiled a seat in the senate For rhetoric comes with quandaries of office a seat in the senate The toga is equal in prestige with the weight of armour a seat in the senate

EIGHTEENTH MORSEL

Arena gladiators with their lives amuse us liberty bought with blood the last one is set free.

Slaves of silver mines they crawl in tunnels dark they live with the terror of cave-ins and landslides .

Privilege of victory marked by thriving slavery of people subjugated.

The nameless galley slaves unpaid naval oarsmen chained to oars in battle live or drown with the ship.

Slaves who serve the household by bonded servitude are bound to their masters for their food and lodging.

Our state's territory with empire's history adorned with places conquered.

NINETEENTH MORSEL

PORTION I

callow upstarts those who dare advise hindrances to them

callow upstarts heedless of counsel unfelled by the mace uncut by the blade young and rash

callow upstarts they shall not avert except the obvious

PORTION II

To the philosopher thoughts and writings are his close friends he sees to needs he then dotes on work and study

To the philosopher thoughts and writings are his dear friends exile?s release from sycophants wary of him

TWENTIETH MORSEL

Emotion in the thick of bandying
Eloquence is reduced to instinct
The will to survive repeats in mind
Asserts itself amidst the bedlam
Barbaric ululations and cries
Enemy?s breath and blows on the flesh
Attack..defend..retaliate..avenge
Advance..retreat..encircle..scatter
There is no room to mourn the fallen
While in the midst of war?s grim reaping
Those destined to live long and see much
Shall live and thrive long after youth?s bloom .

TWENTY FIRST MORSEL

One class wash clothing inside common pools with scent and reek of others? washing One class have clothing cleaned inside clear pools water stored in lavish amphoraes Disparity exists even in the city of the world

A part of the city is alive when the sun is out A part of the city languishes in darkness at dusk The beast of disparity also dwells and lurks in Rome

Garrisons guard borders ever vigilantly behind stone slabs of sturdy fortress walls But it is too risky to take a walk at night in the city without armed entourage One quarter boasts stone and marble One quarter built from brick and wood Disparity exists even in the city of the world