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Eugene Field - Marcus Varro
Work rating: Low

Marcus Varro went up and down
  The places where old books were sold;
He ransacked all the shops in town
  For pictures new and pictures old.
He gave the folk of earth no peace;
  Snooping around by day and night,
He plied the trade in Rome and Greece
  Of an insatiate Grangerite.

"Pictures!" was evermore his cry --
  "Pictures of old or recent date,"
And pictures only would he buy      
  Wherewith to "extra-illustrate."
Full many a tome of ancient type
  And many a manuscript he took,
For nary purpose but to swipe
  Their pictures for some other book.

While Marcus Varro plied his fad
  There was not in the shops of Greece
A book or pamphlet to be had
  That was not minus frontispiece.
Nor did he hesitate to ply
  His baleful practices at home;
It was not possible to buy
  A perfect book in all of Rome! 

What must the other folk have done --
  Who, glancing o`er the books they bought,
Came soon and suddenly upon
  The vandalism Varro wrought!  
How must their cheeks have flamed with red --
  How did their hearts with choler beat!
We can imagine what they said --      
  We can imagine, not repeat!

Where are the books that Varro made --
  The pride of dilettante Rome --
With divers portraitures inlaid
  Swiped from so many another tome?
The worms devoured them long ago --
  O wretched worms! ye should have fed
Not on the books "extended" so,
  But on old Varro`s flesh instead!

Alas, that Marcus Varro lives
  And is a potent factor yet!
Alas, that still his practice gives
  Good men occasion for regret!
To yonder bookstall, pri`thee, go,
  And by the "missing" prints and plates
And frontispieces you shall know
  He lives, and "extra-illustrates"!
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