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      Marcus Valerius Martialis (c. 40-104)
    Translated by Abraham Cowley (1618-1667)

from M. Valeri Martialis Epigrammaton, Liber Quintus

                                LVIII

    To Morrow you will live, you always cry;
    In what far Country does this Morrow lye,
    That 'tis so mighty long e'er it arrive?
    Beyond the Indies does this Morrow live?
    'Tis so far fetch'd this Morrow, that I fear
    'Twill be both very Old, and very Dear.
    To Morrow I will live, the Fool does say;
    To Day it self's too late, the Wise liv'd Yesterday.

 


The above (liberal) translation appears in Cowley's essay The Danger of Procrastination (where it is incorrectly identified as Epigram 59 from Book 5):
  • Cowley, Abraham. The Complete Works in Verse and Prose of Abraham Cowley, Vol. II. Rev. Alexander B. Grosart, ed. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1881(?). (as reprinted by New York: AMS Press, Inc., 1967.)

    It can be found under the title Procrastination in:

  • Van Doren, Mark, ed. An Anthology of World Poetry. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1936.

    The original Latin can be found in:

  • Martial. Epigrams. Walter C. A. Ker, trans. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1919.

        CRAS te victurum, cras dicis, Postume, semper.
            dic mihi, cras istud, Postume, quando venit?
        quam longe cras istud, ubi est? aut unde petendum?
            numquid apud Parthos Armeniosque latet?
        iam cras istud habet Priami vel Nestoris annos.
            cras istud quanti, dic mihi, possit emi?
        cras vives? hodie iam vivere, Postume, serum est:
            ille sapit quisquis, Postume, vixit heri.