Epistula

You truly bear the Graces themselves on your tongue, and you seem to me to be a precinct of theirs, and a temple has been established somewhere here for you, and it charms the goddesses, a soul sounding with a pure plectrum in varied ways upon the tongue; whence they rejoice in this more than when they see Naxos, which a tradition holds to be the island of the Graces; there Dionysus was overcome by Ariadne and was her consort. But Semele's son has come upon us opportunely in the argument; who, if he were not a god, would have enjoyed how great an accusation from us, having overlooked a man who is poor and who, from his very bedclothes, dreams up the taxes, but is otherwise devoted to the Muses and Graces. He had a small piece of land, O Dionysus, and from it he kept his hopes aloft, waiting to receive this, which he seemed to give to the vines; why did you not come in force and show them heavy with fruit? Would that you had also set foot on the winepresses, and danced the Bacchic dance, and nothing of the must had been empty; whence having wealth well, he would have danced with pleasure and been more musical. Do you wish to learn what Dionysus says to these things? That "it is not possible to be rich in words and in money at the same time; whence," he says, "I am thinning out the grape clusters, so that I may better practice my tongue for him; since even the cicadas, nourished only by dew, contain the whole Muses within themselves, and you would say, hearing them, that they were men and have become cicadas." Therefore it is fitting to be content with what is at hand, and even if the tax collectors trouble you, only sing to them, and they will immediately forget about the money.