Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) - 2.5.3. lyrics

‘In case too close attention to a childless man Betrays you, try one whose rearing a sickly boy He's adopted, in noble style: creep softly towards Your goal of being named second heir, and if fate Sends the lad to Orcus you can usurp his place: It's very unusual for such a gamble to fail. If someone hands you his will to read, decline, And remember to push the thing far from you, But snatch a sidelong glance at the second line Of page one: run your eye over it quickly to see If you're one of many. Often a clerk cooked up From a minor official fools your gaping raven, Nasica the fortune-hunter's duped by a Coran*s.' Are you mad? Or teasing, versed in obscure utterance? ‘O Laertes' son, what I speak will prove true or not, Great Apollo gave me that gift of prophecy indeed.' Fine, but say what your nonsense means, if you would. ‘When a young hero, terror of Parthia, born of Aeneas' noble line, is mighty on land and sea, Manly Coran*s shall wed the stately daughter Of Nasica, he who dreads paying debts in full. The son-in-law will hand his will to his father-in-law To read: After many a refusal Nasica Will take it at last and scan it silently, finding That nothing's left to him and his, except lament.'