Sulpicius Lupercus Servastus

Sulpicius Lupercus Servastus (or Servasius; fl. c. 4th century AD or later) was a Latin poet. Two poems are extant; an elegy, De Cupiditate ('On Avarice'), in forty-two lines, and a sapphic ode, De Vetustate ('The Work of Time'), in twelve lines.

Quotes

• Omne quod Natura parens creavit,
  quamlibet firmum videas, labascit:
  tempore ac longo fragile et caducum
    solvitur usu.
  • Each thing our parent Nature hath created,
    How firm soever, Time will see it waste, and
    By a long usage, feeble grown and fragile,
      Fall into ruin.
  • De Vetustate, 1–4 (Tr. Henry C. Knight)

• Heu misera in nimios hominum petulantia census!
  • Alas for the wretched craving after excessive incomes!
  • De Cupiditate, 1 (Tr. Duff & Duff)

• Heu mala paupertas numquam locupletis avari!
    dum struere immodice quod tenet optat, eget.
  • Alas for the baleful poverty of the miser who is never rich! His desire for a limitless heap of what he holds makes him a beggar.
  • De Cupiditate, 13–14 (Tr. Duff & Duff)

• Romani sermonis egent, ridendaque verba
    frangit ad horrificos turbida lingua sonos.
  • They are beggared of Latin style, and their confused jargon minces ridiculous words to an accompaniment of shocking sounds.
  • De Cupiditate, 29–30 (Tr. Duff & Duff)

External links

• J. Wright Duff; Arnold M. Duff, Minor Latin Poets, Loeb Classical Library 284 (1934), p. 573

• Henry C. Knight, Poems, Vol. 1 (Boston: Wells and Lilly, 1821), p. 188