The Roman Equivalent of the Dive Bar

Continuing the project of going through minor poets, Greek and Latin, I ran finished off those few other poems attributed to Hadrian. Most are familiar with the lines addressed to his dying soul, but I was never bothered to read these others. I cannot say that I missed much, but I did run into the very useful vocabulary word popīna (a dive, or low-class eatery) in a retort to a poem by Florus.

Florus' poem reads:

Ego nolo Caesar esse,
ambulare per Britannos
...
Scythicas pati pruinas

I wouldn't be Caesar,
ambling among the Britons...
exposed to Scythian frosts

Hadrian answered thus:

Ego nolo Florus esse,
ambulare per tabernas,
latitare per popinas
culices pati rotundos.

I wouldn't be Florus,
ambling among the pubs,
holed up in his dives,
exposed to fat mosquitoes.

(A taberna in Ostia)