Carm. 41.
Quisquis venerit huc, poeta fiat,
Et versus mihi dedicet iocosos;
Qui non fecerit, inter eruditos
Ficosissimus ambulet poeta.
Carm. 49.
Tu quicunque vides circa tectoria nostra
Non nimium casti carmina plena ioci;
(The songs I sing, thou art my witness, Priapus, are worthy but of a garden, not of a book. Wherefore whate’er it be that in leisure hours I have writ on thy temple-walls, receive, we pray, in good part.)
(Whosoe’er comes hither must become a poet and dedicate to me some merry lines; whoe’er refuses, amidst the learned let him walk most wooden of poets.—N.B. ficosus means at once like a fig-tree and afflicted with piles; perhaps we might render “most costive of poets”.)