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Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [G5r p105]

Versura inextricabilis.

The intricate creditor exchange

Two men in a room exchanging a bag of money for a document.
[Click on image to enlarge]

Versuram facio, quod solvo debeo semper,
Promovet & quantum pes, tenet alter item.
Nomina conficiens mihi non, sed lucror amicis;
Pro me, proque aliis angor, utrunque nocet.
Alterius qui vult opulentior esse crumena,
Non sua connumerat, pars ea maior abit.
Quanto esset satius curarum demere partem,
Ac tenui, moḍ sit commoda, veste tegi?
Quid mihi si plumis alienis induor, intus
Nil proprium quod sit postmoḍ possideam?
Turgida nunc Phoebe lucet, nunc indiga prorsus
Fit: nam quod monstrat, fratris ab orbe tulit.[1]

I am making exchanging creditors [versuram facere refers to the practice of borrowing money to pay off a creditor; versura = a turning, process of turning round], and as much as one foot comes forward, the other holds in. When I settle debts, not I, but my friends gain from it; I am distressed for myself and for others and it harms both. Who wants to be richer through someone else’s purse, does not reckon in his own, the bigger part of that will go away. How much more sufficient would it be to take away the part of the worries, and be clad in a small, but just suitable costume? Why should I strut in borrowed plumes, if later at home I don’t have anything which is my own. At one moment a grandiose Phoebe sparkles with light, at another, she is utterly needy, for what she shows, she took from her brother’s globe.

Notes:

1.  Here Phoebe the Titan associated with the moon, is being used for Diana, sister of Apollo. Phoebe is considered to be their grandmother, and Apollo similarly takes her name, as Phoebus.

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