O Souls bowed down to earth, and void of all heavenly thoughts! What avails it to bring our ideas into the temples, and to infer from this sinful flesh of ours what is pleasing to the gods? It is the flesh that has spoilt our oil by mingling it with casia, and misused Tyrian purple for the soaking of Calabrian fleeces; it is this that has bidden us pluck the pearl from the shell, and tear out the veins of shining ore from the native clay.
The flesh indeed sins, it sins, and yet it gets profit from its sinning. But tell me this, ye priests, what avails gold inside the sanctuary? Just as much as the dolls which maidens dedicate to Venus! Nay rather let us offer to the gods what the blear-eyed progeny of the great Messala cannot give out of his lordly salver;—a heart rightly attuned towards God and man; a mind pure in its inner depths, and a soul steeped in nobleness and honour.
Give me these to offer in the temples, and a handful of corn shall win my prayer for me!
Text matched to linked transcription; typography normalized.
Latin
The ancient words
Quin damus id superis, de magna quod dare lance
non possit magni Messalae lippa propago:
compositum ius fasque animo sanctosque recessus
mentis et incoctum generoso pectus honesto.
Haec cedo ut admoveam templis, et farre litabo.
Literal English
Editorial draft · developed with AI assistance
Why do we not give the gods what the bleary offspring of great Messalla could not give from a great platter: justice and divine law composed within the soul; the mind’s holy inner recesses; and a heart steeped in noble honor? Grant that I may bring these to the temples, and I shall sacrifice successfully with meal.
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Sources & notes
The five Latin lines are Satire 2.71–75. Some verse translations include surrounding lines or paraphrase the image of the offering.
Historical editions may include surrounding context or use different phrasing. Parallel columns compare passages; their lines are not word-for-word alignments.