However, according
to Juvenal (Satires 3), Roman citizens did not always discard their broken
pottery in such an environmentally friendly way …
Respice nunc alia
ac dīversa perīcula noctis: │ Now look at other, quite different dangers of the
night:
quod spatium
tēctīs sublīmibus unde cerebrum / testa*
ferit, … │ how much room there is – from those lofty roofs — for a potsherd
to smash your skull!
*here referring to
a potsherd, a broken shard of pottery
… quotiēns rīmōsa
et curta fenestrīs / vāsa cadant, quantō percussum pondere
signent / et laedant silicem, … │ How often cracked and battered pots
fall from windows, striking the pavement with such weight that they mark and
mar the stone!
curtus, -a, -um:
broken
rīmōsus, -a, -um:
cracked
… possīs ignāvus
habērī │ You might be thought a fool,
et subitī cāsus
inprōvidus, … │ and careless of sudden disaster,
… intestātus eās: │ if you go out to dinner without first making your will
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