Horace

“ I will break his servants with gifts! If I am kept out today,
I will not desist! I will seek my moment!
I will bump into him at crossroads! I will seduce him! Life gives
nothing to mortals without great effort! ”

“ As certainly as I know myself, you will not regard Viscus,
nor Varius, as a better friend than me: Who is able to write
many verses more swiftly than me? Who can move their limbs
more elegantly? Even Hermogenes would envy what I sing. ”

“ No one has used a fortune more skillfully. You would have
a great helper, who would be able to play the supporting role,
if you were willing to introduce me myself: May I be ruined,
if you did not then supplant everyone." "We don't behave
the way you think there at all; there is no house purer than it,
nor more distant from these evils; it never troubles me," I say,
"that someone there is richer or wiser; each person has
his place." ”