C.D. Warner, et al., comp. The Library of the World’s Best Literature.
An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.
Live without Dining
By Martial (c. 40c. 104 A.D.)
N
If your invite is to a spread, then you must count me out:
I do not like that dark-brown taste, I dread the thought of gout,
I’m restless at the gorgeous gorge that ostentation dares.
My friend must offer me pot-luck on wash-days unawares;
I like my feed when his menu with my own larder squares.