Thread by @DocCrom

#LatinForTheDay – 25 May #Martial

“hic ubi sidereus propius videt astra colossus
et crescunt media pegmata celsa via,
invidiosa feri radiabant atria regis
unaque iam tota stabat in urbe domus.
hic ubi conspicui venerabilis Amphitheatri...

"...erigitur moles, stagna Neronis erant.
hic ubi miramur velocia munera thermas,
abstulerat miseris tecta superbus ager.
Claudia diffusas ubi porticus explicat umbras,...

"...ultima pars aulae deficientis erat.
reddita Roma sibi est et sunt te praeside, Caesar,
deliciae populi, quae fuerant domini.”

Martial, On the Shows 2

‘Here – where the star-tall Colossus stands eye-to-eye with the
Heavens and towering scaffolding rises in the middle of the road –
The hated palace of a beast-like king once glimmered:
An entire city was nothing more than his house....

'Here – where the great and glorious mass of the Amphitheatre
Soars upward – sat Nero’s private ponds.
Here – where we marvel at the express blessings of the Baths –
That haughty plot of his had levelled the hovels of the hopeless....

'Where the portico of Claudius spreads its dappled shade,
The last stretch of a palace’s foundations once crept.
Rome is restored to herself now, Caesar, and by your boon
A tyrant’s pleasure-domes now delight her people instead!’

Ah, there's few who can render up sycophantic verse better than Martial! Here he celebrates the Flavian conversion of the centre of Rome back into public space, replacing the 'Domus Aurea' of Nero.

The Image at the head of this thread is 'Roman Capriccio: The Colosseum and Other Monuments' by Giovanni Paolo Panini, 1735 (Indianapolis Museum of Art: 50.6).

Link - collection.imamuseum.org/artwork/50521/

#LatinForTheDay #Martial 🧵