Classic Poem

Honest of speech by your skill you reign
Unchallenged lord of the Courts of Rome;
Your friend and comrade is going home,
Have you any commands for the Spanish main?

Is it better to catch foul frogs or bait
For worthless sticklebacks here or there,
To throw again to his rocky lair
The mullet of less than three pounds' weight?

Of tasteless mussels a feast you make,
And think dwarfed cockles are dainty fare,
Whilst Baiae envies the oysters there,
And even the slaves a share may take.

Which is the better, a fox to snare
That wounds your hounds with his poisoned teeth,
Or to draw full nets from the deeps beneath
And set them again for a leaping hare?

Here is your keeper—he looks quite vain
Having caught a badger—oh dainty dish!
You dwell by the coast, Rome sends you fish,
Have you any commands for the Spanish main?