Strict censure may this harmless sport endure:
My page is wanton, but my life is pure.[Innocuos censura potest permittere lusus:
Lasciva est nobis pagina, vita proba.]Martial (AD c.39-c.103) Spanish Roman poet, satirist, epigrammatist [Marcus Valerius Martialis]
Epigrams [Epigrammata], Book 1, epigram 4 (1.4.7-8) (AD 85-86) [tr. Duff (1929)]
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An appeal to Emperor Domitian, who became censor-for-life in AD 85.
(Source (Latin)). Other translations:Wantons we are; and though our words be such,
Our Lives do differ from our Lines by much.
[tr. Herrick (1648)]The Censor does with harmless Pastime bear;
My Leaves are wanton, but my Life’s severe.
[tr. Killigrew (1695)]The censorship may tolerate innocent jokes:
my page indulges in freedoms, but my life is pure.
[tr. Bohn's Classical (1859)]Licentious though my page, my life is pure.
[ed. Harbottle (1897)]A censor can permit harmless trifling:
wanton is my page; my life is good.
[tr. Ker (1919)]From censure may my harmless mirth be free,
My page is wanton but my life is clean.
[tr. Pott & Wright (1921)]Your censure well such license may endure;
My page is wanton, but my life is pure.
[tr. Francis & Tatum (1924)]The censor passes the risqué parts in a play
and my pages can be very gay
without my being that way.
[tr. Bovie (1970)]Harmless wit
You may, as Censor, reasonably permit:
My life is strict, however lax my page.
[tr. Michie (1972)]A censor can permit harmless jollity. My page is wanton, but my life is virtuous.
[tr. Shackleton Bailey (1993)]A censor can relax, wink just one eye:
My poetry is filthy -- but not I.
[tr. Wills (2007)]As Censor, you can exercise discretion: my jokes hurt no one; let them be. My page may be dirty, but my life is clean.
[tr. Nisbet (2015)]Let not these harmless sports your censure taste:
My lines are wanton, but my life is chaste.
[tr. 17th C Manuscript]These games are harmless, censor: let them pass.
My poems play around; but not my life.
[tr. Elliot]
Quotations about:
probity
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
The vanity of being known to be trusted with a secret, is generally one of the chief motives to disclose it; for however absurd it may be thought to boast an honour by an act which shows that it was conferred without merit, yet most men seem rather inclined to confess the want of virtue than of importance, and more1 show their influence, though at the expense of their probity, than glide through lift with no other pleasure than the private consciousness of fidelity; which, while it is preserved, must be without praise, except from the single person who tries and knows it.
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1750-05-01), The Rambler, No. 13
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