---
title: "On Elphinstone’s Translation of Martial’s Epigrams"
author: "Robert Burns"
form: "Poem"
year: "1787"
location: "Edinburgh"
source: "Project Gutenberg #1279 — Poems and Songs of Robert Burns"
source_url: "https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1279/pg1279.txt"
canonical_url: "https://robert-burns.com/poems/on-elphinstones-translation-of-martials-epigrams/"
---

# On Elphinstone’s Translation of Martial’s Epigrams

## Poem
O Thou whom Poetry abhors,  
Whom Prose has turned out of doors,  
Heard’st thou yon groan?—proceed no further,  
’Twas laurel’d Martial calling murther.

---

Source: [Project Gutenberg #1279 — Poems and Songs of Robert Burns](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1279/pg1279.txt)  
Canonical HTML: https://robert-burns.com/poems/on-elphinstones-translation-of-martials-epigrams/