Horace 'The Satires' Book I Satire VIII

Horace 'The Satires' Book I Satire VIII: "BkISatVIII:23-50 Witchcraft!

I�ve seen Canidia myself, wandering barefoot
With her black robe tucked up, and dishevelled hair,
Howling with the elder Sagana: pallor making them
Hideous to view. They scraped at the soil with their nails,
Then set to tearing a black lamb to bits with their teeth:
The blood ran into the trench, so they might summon
The souls of the dead, spirits to give them answers.
There was a woollen doll there, and another of wax:
The wool one was larger to torment and crush the other.
The wax one stood like a suppliant, waiting slave-like
For death. One of the witches cried out to Hecate,
The other to cruel Tisiphone: you might have seen
Snakes and hell-hounds wandering around, a blushing Moon,
Hiding behind the tall tombs, so as not to be witness.
If I�m lying, foul my head with white raven�s droppings,
And let Julius, slim Pediatia, and that thief
Voranus come here, and shit and piss all over me.
Why tell every detail � how the spirits made shrill sad noises
As they conversed with Sagana, how the two witches
Stealthily buried the beard of a wolf, and the tooth
Of a spotted snake, how the wax doll made the fire
Blaze more brightly, and how I shuddered, a witness
To the twin Furies� words and deeds, but had my revenge?
My buttocks of fig wood split with a crack as loud
As the sound of a bursting bladder: and off they ran
To the city. You�d have been laughing and cheering
To see Canidia�s false teeth drop, and Sagana�s tall wig,
Herbs and magical love-knots tumbling from their arms."