Soon now these princely palaces will spare

But little room for ploughland, and you’ll find

Artificial fishponds everywhere

Wider than lakes, and the plane tree, un-vined,

Will conquer the old elms; violets then,

And myrtles and the nostrils’ treasured scents,

Throughout the olive grove that former men

Had harvested, will waft their decadence:

Then with thick branches laurel will exclude

The burning sunbeams. This is not the way

That Romulus and Cato taught our rude

Forefathers, who lived simply in their day.

The private wealth they kept was miniscule,

The public wealth enormous; portico

Columns weren’t measured with a ten-foot rule

That citizens might catch the Great Bear’s glow

At home, nor did the law let them decline

Huts roofed with humble earth, but gave the nod

To cities built at public cost, a shrine

Made beautiful with marble for each god.

First published in Proteus Bound: Selected Translations, 2008-2020