278 to 301 ← 302 to 314 → 315 to 322
302 Nec tamen haec tantum metuas; nam qui spoliet te
303 non derit clausis domibus postquam omnis ubique
304 fixa catenatae siluit compago tabernae.
305 interdum et ferro subitus grassator agit rem:
306 armato quotiens tutae custode tenentur
- tutae referring to the shops? or the palus/pinus?
307 et Pomptina palus et Gallinaria pinus,
308 sic inde huc omnes tamquam ad vivaria currunt.
- vivarium - a place where living animals are kept
- 2 in 1 insult?
309 qua fornace graves, qua non incude catenae?
310 maximus in vinclis ferri modus, ut timeas ne
311 vomer deficiat, ne marra et sarcula desint.
- vomer ploughshare, ie the main cutting blade of a plough
312 felices proavorum atavos, felicia dicas
313 saecula quae quondam sub regibus atque tribunis
- tribunis: not the tribuni plebis but the tribuni militares consulari potestate who were occasionally appointed in the early republic and were the highest officials in the state. (fc)
314 viderunt uno contentam carcere Romam.
- carcere: the carcer Mamertinus (fc)
However, don't fear merely these things; for the guy that robbed you
does not [?] after all houses have been closed and all
the immovable hinges of chained shops everywhere are silent.
Meanwhile the unexpected bully does things with a sword:
both the Pomptine marsh and the Gallinarian pine,
many times they are held safe by an armed guard,
thus everyone runs to this place like they run to the preserves.
What furnace, what anvil, are the chains not heavy with?
In the restraints there is a great quantity of iron, so that you fear
the ploughshare would depart, the hoe and the light-hole would fail.
You would say that the great-great-great-grandfathers of grandfathers are lucky,
that the purses are lucky which formerly, under kings and tribunes
saw Rome, satisfied with only one jail.