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
