Satires of Juvenal and Persius

Whatever men do, prayer, fear, anger, pleasure,
joys, running about, is the mish-mash of my little book.
And when was there a richer supply of vices? When
did the maw of greed open wider? When did the dice game
possess such spirits? For no one goes to the hazard of the board
with accompanying purses, but rather the whole cashbox is gambled.
What battles you will see there, with the steward acting as
armour-bearer. Is it simple madness to lose a hundred thousand sesterces,
and not give a tunic to a shivering slave?
Who has built so many villas? Which grandfather dined in secret
on seven courses? Now the sportula a small gift or handout, often of food or money, given by a patron to his clients sits at the first
threshold, to be snatched by the mob wearing the toga.
He looks at the face first, however, and trembles, lest
you come as a substitute and ask under a false name.

irony
Witty

Once recognized, you will receive it. He orders the
"Trojans" themselves to be called by the herald. For they bother the threshold
with us. "Give to the praetor, then give to the tribune."
But the freedman is first. "I am first," he says.
"Why should I fear or hesitate to defend my place? Born
anywhere toward the Euphrates, as the soft holes in my ears
prove, even if I myself deny it—yet five shops
bring in four hundred thousand sesterces. What does the purple add
worth wanting, if Corvinus guards rented sheep
in the Laurentian fields? I possess more than
Pallas and the Licini, so let the tribunes wait."
Let wealth win, and let it not yield to sacred honor,
for he who only recently came to this city with white, chalky feet a mark of a newly arrived slave.
Since among us is the holiest majesty of wealth,
and even if deadly money does not yet inhabit a temple,
we have erected no altars to coins.