XLIII. (LXXV.)
Against Curetius.[112]
Uranius, Curetius’ father, could set deceptive stars in a sphere of glass, gloomily shake his head over the errant course of Saturn, or ensure for a trifle the favourable influence of Jupiter. The father’s chicanery meets with its punishment, so long deferred, in the son whose mouth needs must pay the just penalty. For filthy are his delights and he wastes all his substance in wantoning and debauchery. And so the tongue of the son has squandered all the riches which that of his lying father gathered together.
XLIV. (LXXVI.)
The Same.
Wouldst thou, Curetius, have sure knowledge of thy horoscope, I can give it thee better than even thy father. Thy madness thou owest to the evil influence of Mars; thine ignorance of poetry to
[112] We know nothing further of Curetius.
quod turpem pateris iam cano podice morbum, 5
femineis signis Luna Venusque fuit;