Verse Fragment: On Cold Work
(Codex Satoris, Liber I, fol. 17v)
Cold meets the hands before the sun.
The body answers without delay.
What waits for comfort stays undone.
What moves with care begins the day.
Stone keeps its patience and iron holds.
The ground receives each measured step.
The breath finds order and work unfolds.
The hours give what effort kept.
But speech adds nothing to the frost.
The body learns what must be done.
Strength grows aware of what it costs
To rise, to place the hand, to run.
Cold meets the hands before the sun.
— Marcus Domitius Sator
Marginal Note
Recovered from a damaged gathering bound into Codex Satoris during a later repair, likely Umbrian. The hand and ink match other early fragments attributed to Sator’s Etrurian period. No title appears in the source; the present heading is editorial. The meter suggests oral recitation during manual labor.
