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Chap. VI.
TRANSLATION.
105
or that which was posterior to the age of Alexander the Great. Of this period Diphilas and Menander were among the most shining ornaments.
We have a notable good law at Corinth,
Where, if an idle fellow outruns reason,
Feasting and junketting at furious cost,
The sumptuary proctor calls upon him,
And thus begins to slit him. — You live well,
But have you well to live? You squander freely,
Have you the wherewithal? Have you the fund
For these outgoings? If you have, go on!
If you have not, we'll stop you in good time,
Before you outrun honesty; for he
Who lives we know not how, must live by plunder;
Either he picks a purse, or robs a house,
Or is accomplice with some knavish gang,
Or thrusts himself in crowds, to play th' informer,
And put his perjur'd evidence to sale:
This a well-order'd city will not suffer;
Such vermin we expell. - "And you do wisely:
"But what is that to me?" — "Why, this it is:
Where, if an idle fellow outruns reason,
Feasting and junketting at furious cost,
The sumptuary proctor calls upon him,
And thus begins to slit him. — You live well,
But have you well to live? You squander freely,
Have you the wherewithal? Have you the fund
For these outgoings? If you have, go on!
If you have not, we'll stop you in good time,
Before you outrun honesty; for he
Who lives we know not how, must live by plunder;
Either he picks a purse, or robs a house,
Or is accomplice with some knavish gang,
Or thrusts himself in crowds, to play th' informer,
And put his perjur'd evidence to sale:
This a well-order'd city will not suffer;
Such vermin we expell. - "And you do wisely:
"But what is that to me?" — "Why, this it is:
