SFttlttn&l k §Uv0m& 
 
R. BEERE AND CO. PRINTERS, 28, L. STRAND-ST. 
 
LITERAL TRANSLATION 
 
 OF THOSE 
 
 SATIRES 
 
 or 
 
 JUVENAL AND PERSIUS 
 
 WHICH AKE READ IN 
 
 Crimtg CoJUflt, ©ufiliu ; 
 
 WITH 
 COPIOUS EXPLANATORY 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 BY THE REVEREND M, MADAN. 
 
 In this Edition the exceptionable Passages are omitted, several inaccuracies corrects*! 
 and deficiencies supplied. 
 
 Ardel...Instat...Aperte jugulat" Scal. in Jut» 
 
 DUBLIN : 
 
 PRINTED FOR A. WATSON, CAPEL-STREET. 
 
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 ■P-RBFACB— 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 DECIMUS JUNIUS JUVENAL was born at Aqui- 
 num, a town of the Volsci, a people of Latium : hence, 
 from the place of his birth, he was called Aquinas. It is 
 not certain whether he was the son, or foster-child, of a 
 rich freedman. He had a learned education, and, in the 
 time of Claudius Nero, pleaded causes with great reputa- 
 tion. About his middle age he applied himself to the 
 study of Poetry ; and, as he saw a daily increase of vice 
 and folly, he addicted himself to writing Satire : but hav- 
 ing said something (sat. vii. 1. 88 — 92.) which was deemed 
 a reflection on Paris the actor, a minion of Domitian's, he 
 was banished into Egypt, at * eighty years of age, under 
 pretence of sending him as captain of a company of sol- 
 diers. This was looked upon as a sort of humourous pu- 
 nishment for what he had said, in making Paris the bestower 
 of posts in the army. 
 
 However, Domkian dying soon after, Juvenal returned 
 to Rome, and is said to have lived there to the times -f- of 
 Nerva and Trajan. At last, worn out with old age, he ex- 
 pired in a fit of coughing. 
 
 * Quanquam Octogenarius. Marshall, in Vit. Juv. 
 
 t Ibique ad Nervse et Trajani tempora supervixisse dicitur Marshal. Ibu 
 
v PREFACE, 
 
 He was a man of excellent morals, of an elegant taste 
 and judgment, a fast friend to Virtue, and an irreconcila- 
 ble enemy to Vice in every shape* 
 
 The attentive reader of Juvenal may see, as in a glass, 
 a true portraiture of the Roman manners in his time : here 
 he may see, drawn to the life, a people sunk in sloth, luxury, 
 and debauchery, and exhibiting to us the sad condition of 
 human nature, when untaught by divine truth, and unin- 
 fluenced by a divine principle. However polite and refined 
 this people was, with respect to the cultivation of letters, 
 arts, and sciences, beyond the most barbarous nations, yet, 
 as to the true knowledge of God, they were upon a footing 
 with the most uninformed of their contemporaries, and con- 
 sequently were, equally with them, sunk into all manner of 
 wickedness and abomination. The description of the Gen- 
 tiles in general, by St. Paul, Rom. i. 19 — 32. is fully ver- 
 ified as to the Romans in particular. 
 
 Juvenal may be looked upon as one of those rare meteors, 
 which shone forth even in the darkness of Heathenism. 
 The mind and conscience of this great man were, though 
 from * whence he knew not, so far enlightened, as to per- 
 ceive the ugliness of vice, and so influenced with a desire 
 to reform it, as to make him, according to the light he had, 
 a severe and able reprover, a powerful and diligent witness 
 against the vices and follies of the people among which he 
 lived ; and indeed, against all who, like them, give a loose 
 to their depraved appetites, as if there were no other liberty 
 to be sought after but the most unrestrained indulgence of 
 vicious pleasures and gratifications. 
 
 As to the old objection, that translations of the Classics 
 tend to make boys idle, this can never happen but through 
 the fault of the master, in not properly watching over the 
 method of their studies. A master should never suffer a 
 
 * Rom» ii. 15. Comp. Isaiah xlv. 5. See Sat. x. 1. 332. and note. 
 
PREFACE, v 
 
 boy to construe his lesson in the school, but from the Latin 
 by itself, nor without making the boy parse, and give an 
 account of every necessary word ; this will drive him to his 
 grammar and dictionary, nearly as much as if he had no 
 translation at all : but in private, when the boy is preparing 
 his lesson, a literal translation, and explanatory notes, so 
 facilitate the right comprehension and understanding of the 
 author's language, meaning, and design, as to imprint them 
 with ease on the learner's mind, to form his taste, and to 
 enable him not only to construe and explain, but to get 
 those portions of the author by heart, which he is at certain 
 periods to repeat at school, and which, if judiciously se- 
 lected, he may find useful, as well as ornamental to him, 
 all his life. 
 
 To this end I have considered that there are three pur- 
 poses to be answered. First that, the reader should know 
 what the author says ; this can only be attained by literal 
 translation : as for poetical versions, which are so often mis- 
 called translations, paraphrases, and the like, they are but 
 ill calculated for this fundamental and necessary purpose. 
 
 The next thing to be considered, after knowing what the 
 author says, is how he says it : this can only be learnt from 
 the original itself, to which I refer the reader, by printing 
 the Latin, line for line, opposite to the English, and, as the 
 lines are numbered, the eye will readilv pass from the one 
 to the other. The information which has been received 
 from the translation, will readily assist in the grammatical 
 construction. 
 
 The third particular, without which the reader would 
 fall very short of understanding the author, is to know 
 what he means ; to explain this is the intention of the notes, 
 for many of which I gratefully acknowledge myself chiefly 
 indebted to various learned commentators, but who, having 
 written in Latin, are almost out of the reach of those for 
 whom this work is principally intended. Here and there I 
 have selected some notes from English writers : this indeed 
 
 
vi PREFACE. 
 
 the student might have done for himself ; but I hope he 
 will not take it amiss, that I have brought so many different 
 commentators into one view, and saved much trouble to 
 him, at the expence of my own labour. The rest of the 
 notes, and those no inconsiderable number, perhaps the 
 most, are my own, by which, if I have been happy enough 
 to supply any deficiencies of others, I shall be glad. 
 
 The corrections of the present Edition are in general 
 taken from that published for the use of the Students by 
 Dr. Elrington, (now Bishop of Limerick). In some parts, 
 Notes which appeared unnecessary have been omitted, and 
 others of more consequence introduced. The Translation 
 has been retained according to the original plan ; except 
 where the most approved commentators were not followed, 
 or the sentiments of the Author were too obscurely ex- 
 pressed. — As this is professedly a literal Translation, and 
 aspires not to elegance of style, objections should be directed 
 not against the performance, but the principle on which it 
 is formed ; with respect to this, it may be sufficient to re- 
 mark, that Translations, on the plan of the present, while 
 they afford sufficient assistance to the industrious, are far 
 from granting that pernicious aid, which disheartens the 
 studious by placing the negligent on a level with them, and 
 which by encouraging idleness, effectually prevents any solid 
 classical acquirements. 
 
DEC1MI 
 
 JUNII JUVENALIS 
 
 AQUINATIS 
 
 SATIRE SELECTEE. 
 
 SELECT SATIRES 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
DECIMI 
 
 JUNII JUVENALIS 
 
 AQUINATIS 
 
 SATIRE SELECTS 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 Jupenal begins this satire with giving some humourous 
 reasons for his writing: such as hearing, so often, many 
 ill poets rehearse their works, and intending to repay 
 them in kind. Next he informs us, why he addicts him- 
 self to satire, rather than to other poetry, and gives a 
 summary and general view of the reigning vices and 
 Jollies of his time. He laments the restraints which the 
 
 SEMPER ego auditor tantum ? nunquamne reponam, 
 Vexatus toties rauci Theseide Codri ? 
 Impune ergo mihi recitaverit ille togatas, 
 
 Satires] Or satyrs. Concerning this by their applauses. See sat. vii. 40 — 4-. 
 
 word, see Chambers's Dictionary. Persius prolog. 1. 7. and note. Hor. 
 
 Line l.Onty a hearer.] Juvenal com- lib. i. sat. iv. 1. 73, 4. 
 plains of the irksome recitals, which — Repay.] Reponam here is used 
 
 the scribbling poets were continually metaphorically ; it alludes to the bor- 
 
 making of their vile compositions, and rowing and repayment of money. When 
 
 of which he was a hearer, at the pub- a man had repaid money which he had 
 
 lie assemblies, where they read them borrowed, he was said to replace it — 
 
 over. It is to be observed, that, some- reponere. So our poet, looking upon 
 
 times, the Romans made private re- himself as indebted to the reciters of 
 
 cicals of their poetry, among their pe- their compositions for the trouble which 
 
 culiar friends. They also had public they had given him, speaks as if he 
 
 recitals, either in the temple of Apollo, intended to repay them in kind, by 
 
 or in spacious houses, which were writing and reciting his verses, as 
 
 either hired, orient, for the purpose, as they had done theirs. Sat. vi. 1. 40, 
 
 by some rich and great man, who was — 4. Persius, prolog. 1. 7. Hor. lib. 
 
 highly honoured for this, and who got i. sab iv. 1. 73, 1. 
 his clients and dependents together on 2. Theseis.] A poem, of which The- 
 
 the occasion, in order to increase the sens was the subject, 
 audience, and to encourage the poet 
 
SELECT 
 
 SATIRES 
 
 OF 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 df irst &utivt. 
 
 satirists then lay under from a fear of punishment l , and 
 professes to treat of the dead, personating, in their 
 names, certain living vicious characters. His great 
 aim, in this, and in all his other satires, is to expose and 
 reprove vice itself, however sanctified by custom, or dig- 
 nified by the examples of the great. 
 
 oHALL I always be only a hearer? — shall I never repay, 
 Who am teaz'd so often with the Theseis of hoarse Codrus? 
 Shall one (poet) recite his comedies to me with impunity, 
 
 * — Hoarse Codrus.] A very mean 
 poet ; so pooi-, that he gave rise to the 
 proverb, '* Codro pauperior." He is 
 here supposed to have made himself 
 hoarse, with frequent and loud read- 
 ing his poem. 
 
 3. Comedies.'] Togatas — so called 
 from the low and common people, 
 who were the subjects of them. These 
 wore gowns, by which they were dis- 
 tinguished from persons of rank. 
 
 There were three different sorts of 
 comedy, each denominated from the 
 dress of the person which they repre- 
 sented. 
 
 First, The Togata ; which exhibited 
 the actions of the low sort ; and was 
 ^ species of what we call low comedy. 
 
 Secondly, The Prsetextata, so called 
 
 from the prsetexta, a white robe orna- 
 mented with purple, and worn by ma- 
 gistrates and nobles. Hence the come- 
 dies, which treated of the actions of 
 such, were called praetextatse. In our 
 time we should say, genteel comedy. 
 
 Thirdly, The Palliata ; from Palli- 
 um, a sort of upper garment worn by 
 the Greeks, and in which the actors 
 were habited, when the manners and 
 actions of the Greeks were represent- 
 ed. This was also a species of the 
 higher sort of comedy. 
 
 It is most probable that Terence's 
 plays, which he took from Menander, 
 was reckoned among the pailiatae, and 
 represented in the pallium, or Grecian 
 dress : more especially too, as the 
 scene of every play He? at Athens, 
 
4 JUVENALIS SATIRE s 
 
 Hie elegos ? impune diem consumpserit injvens 
 Telephus ? aut summi plena jam marginelibri 
 Scriptus et in tergo necdum finitus Orestes ? 
 
 Nota magis nulli domus est sua, quam mihi lucus 
 Martis, et iEoliis vicinum rupibus antrum 
 Vulcani. Quid agant venti ; quas torqueat umbras 
 Macus; unde alius furtivae devebat aurum 
 Pellicula : quantas jaculetur Monycbus ornos ; 
 Erontonis platani, convulsaque marmora clamant 
 Semper, et assiduo ruptae lectore columnar 
 Expectes eadem a summo, minimoque poeta. 
 
 10 
 
 4. Elegies.] These were little poems 
 on mournful subjects, and consisted 
 of hexameter and pentameter verses 
 alternately. We must despair of 
 knowing the first elegiac poet, since 
 Horace says, Art. Poet. 1. 77, 8. 
 Quis tamen cxiguos elegos tmiserit 
 
 a net or, 
 Grammatici ccrtant, et adhuc sub 
 
 jiidlce lis est. 
 
 By whom invented critics yet contend* 
 
 And of their vain disputing find no 
 
 end. Fmaxcis. 
 
 Elegies were at first mournful, yet 
 
 afterwards they were composed on 
 
 cheerful subject*. Hor. rb. 1. 75, 7G. 
 
 Versibus importer junctis querimo- 
 
 nia primum, 
 Post etiam hiclusa est voti scntcntia 
 
 eompos. 
 Unequal measures first were tun'd to 
 
 Sadly expressive of the lover's woe: 
 
 But now to gayer subjects fomid 
 they move, 
 
 In sounds of pleasure, and tl 
 
 love. Fraxcis. 
 
 — Bulky Telephus.'] Some prolix and 
 tedious play, written on the subject of 
 Telephus, kingof Mysia, who wasmor- 
 ially wounded by the spear of Achilles, 
 bat afterwards healed by the rust of the 
 same spear. Ovid. Trist. v. 2 15, 
 
 — Waste a day.] In hearing it read 
 over, which took up a whole day. 
 
 5. Or Orestes.] Another play on the 
 story of Orestes, the sonof Agamemnon 
 and Clytemnestra. He slew his own 
 mother, and jEgysthus, her adulterer, 
 who hadlrmrdered his father. This too, 
 by the description of it in this line and 
 the next, must have been a very long and 
 tedious performance. It was usual to 
 
 leave a margin, but this was all filled 
 from top to bottom — it was unusual 
 to write on the outside, or back, of 
 the parchment ; but this author had 
 filled the whole outside, as well as 
 the inside. 
 
 5. Of the xi-ho'c book.] Or, of the 
 whole of the book. Liber primarily 
 signifies the inward bark or rind of a 
 tree ; hence a book or work written, 
 at first made of barks of trees, after- 
 \\ ards of paper and parchment. Sum- 
 in us is derived from supremus; hence 
 summum-i, the top, the whole, the sum. 
 
 C. The grove of Mars.] The his. 
 tory of Romulus and Remus, whom 
 Ilia, otherwise called Rhea Sylvia, 
 brought forth in a grove sacred to 
 Mars at Alba : hence Romulus was 
 called Sylvius ; also the son of Mars. 
 This, and the other subjects mention- 
 ed, were so dinned perpetually into his 
 cars, that the places described were as 
 familiar to him as his own house. 
 
 — The den of Vulcan.] The history 
 of the Cyclops and Vulcan, the scene 
 of which was laid in Vulcan's den. 
 See ViRCr, JEn. viii. L 41fi — 2?. 
 
 9. The AZolian rocks.] On the north 
 of Sicily are seven rocky islands, which 
 were called ^Eolian, orVckanian; one 
 of which was called Hiera, or sacred, 
 as dedicated to Vulcan. From the fre- 
 quent breaking forth of fire and sul- 
 phur out of the earth of these islands, 
 particularly in Hiera, Vulcan was sup- 
 posed to keep his shop and forge there. 
 
 Here also iEolus was supposed to 
 confine and preside over the winds. 
 Hence these islands are called ^Eolian. 
 See Virg. -En. i. 1. 55—67. 
 
 — What the ■winds can do.] This prof 
 bably alludes to some tedious poetkai 
 
sat. u JUVENAI/S SATIRES. $ 
 
 Another his elegies ? shall bulky Telephus waste a day 
 With impunity ? pr Orestes— the margin of the whole book 
 already full, 5 
 
 And written on the back too, nor as yet finished ? 
 
 No man's house is better known to him, than to me 
 The grove of Mars, and the den of Vulcan near 
 The ^Eolian rocks : what the winds can do : what ghosts 
 ^Eacus may be tormenting : from whence another could con- 
 vey the gold 10 
 Of the stolen fleece : how great wild-ash trees Monychus 
 
 could throw : 
 The plane-trees of Fronto, and the convuls'd marbles resound 
 Always, and the columns broken with the continual reader : 
 You may expect the same things from the highest and from 
 the least poet. 
 
 treatises, on the nature and operations 
 of the winds. Or, perhaps, to some 
 play, or poem, on the amours of Bo- 
 reas and Orithya, the daughter of 
 Erectheus, King of Athens; 
 
 10. JEacvs may be tormenting.] jEa- 
 cus was one of the fabled judges of 
 hell, who with his two assessors, Mi- 
 nos and Rhadamanthus, were supposed 
 to torture the ghosts into a confession 
 of their crimes. See Virg. iEn. vi. 1. 
 566—69. 
 
 — From whence another, $c] Al- 
 luding to the story of Jason, who stole 
 the golden fleece from Colchis. 
 
 ll.MonycItus.] This alludes to some 
 play, or poem, which had been written 
 on the battle of the Centaurs and La- 
 pithae. 
 
 The wtord Monychus is derived 
 from the Greek povoq, solus, andocu^, 
 ungula, and is expressive of an horse's 
 hoof, which is whole and entire, not 
 cleft or divided. 
 
 The Centaurs were fabled to be half 
 men and half horses ; so that by the 
 Monychus we are to understand one 
 of the Centaurs, of such prodigious 
 strength, as to make use of large trees 
 as weapons, which he threw, or dart- 
 ed at his enemies. 
 
 12. The palm-trees of Fronto.] Julius 
 Fronto, a noble and learned man, at 
 whose house the pbets recited their 
 works, before they were read, or per- 
 formed in public. His house was 
 planted round with plane-trees, for 
 the sake of their shade. 
 
 — The convuWd marbles.] This may 
 refer to the marble statues which were 
 in Fronto's hall, and were almost 
 shaken off their pedestals by the din 
 and noise that were made ; or to the 
 marble with which the walls were built, 
 or inlaid ; or to the marble pavement; 
 all which appeared as if likely to be 
 shaken out of their places by the in- 
 cessant noise of these bawling reciters 
 of their works. 
 
 13. Thccohtmns broken.] The mar- 
 ble pillars too were in the same situ- 
 ation of danger, from Uie incessant, 
 noise of these people. 
 
 The poet means to expiess the wea- 
 risomeness of the continual repetition 
 of the same thing over and over again, 
 and to censure the manner, as well as 
 the matter, of these irksome repeti- 
 tions ; which were attended with such 
 loud and vehement vociferation, that 
 even the trees about Fronto's house, as 
 well as the marble within it, had rea- 
 son to apprehend demolition. This 
 hyperbole is humourous, and well ap- 
 plied to the subject. 
 
 14. You may expect the same things-* 
 $£C.] i. e. The same subjects, treated 
 by the worst poets, as by the best- 
 Here he satirizes the impudence and 
 presumption of these scribblers* who, 
 without genius or abilities, had ven- 
 tured to write, and expose their verses 
 
 •to the public ear ; and this, on subjects 
 which had been treated by men of a. 
 superior cast» 
 
6 JUVENALIS SATIRE. sat. r. 
 
 Et nos ergo manum ferulae subduximus : et nos 15 
 
 Consilium dedimus Syllas, privatus ut ahum 
 Dormiret. Stulta est dementia, cum tot ubique 
 Vatibus oecurras, periturae parcere chartae. 
 Cur tamen hoc libeat potius decurrere campo, 
 Per quern magnus equos Auruncas flexit alumnus : 20 
 
 Si vacat, et placidi rationem admittitis, edam. 
 Patricios omnes opibus cum provocet unus, 
 Quo tondente gravis juveni mihi barba sonabat : 
 Cum pars Niliacae plebis, cum verna Canopi 
 Crispinus, Tyrias humero revocante lacernas, 25 
 
 Ventilet aestivum digitis sudantibus aurum, 
 Nee sufferre queat majoris pondera gemmae : 
 Difficile est Satiram non scribere. Nam quis iniquae 
 Tarn patiens urbis, tarn ferreus, ut teneat se, 
 Causidici nova cum veniat lectica Mathonis 30 
 
 15. Therefore.'] I. e. In order to qua- 
 lify myself as a writer and declaimer. 
 His meaning seems to be, that as all, 
 whether good or bad, wrote poems, 
 why should not he, who had had an 
 education in learning, write as well as 
 they. 
 
 — Have -withdrawn my hand, §c] 
 The ferule was an instrument of pu- 
 nishment, as at this day, with which 
 schoolmasters corrected their scholars, 
 by striking them with it over the palm 
 of the hand : the boy watched the 
 stroke, and, if possible, withdrew his 
 hand from it. 
 
 Juvenal means to say, that he had 
 been at school, to learn the art of po- 
 etry and oratory, and had made decla- 
 mations, of one of which the subject 
 was, " Whether Sylla should take the 
 " dictatoi-ship, or live in ease and 
 " quiet as a private man ?" He 
 maintained the latter proposition. 
 
 18. Paper that will perish.] i. e. 
 That will be destroyed by others, who 
 will write upon it if I do not ; there- 
 fore there is no reason why I should 
 forbear to make use of it. 
 
 19. In the very field.] A metaphor, 
 taken from the chariot-races in the 
 Campus Martius. 
 
 20. The great pupil ofAurunca,fyc.] 
 Lucilius, the first and most famous 
 Roman satirist, born at Aurunca, an 
 ancient city of Latium, in Italy. 
 
 He means perhaps, you will ask, 
 
 " how is it that I can think of taking 
 " the same ground as that great satir- 
 " ist Lucilius ; and why I should ra- 
 " ther choose this way of writing, 
 " when he so excelled in it, as to be 
 " before all others not only in point of 
 " time, but of ability in that kind 
 "of writing?" 
 
 21. Hearken to my reason.] Literal- 
 ly, the verb admitto signifies to admit r 
 but it is sometimes used with auribus 
 understood, and then it denotes at- 
 tending, or hearkening, to something : 
 this I suppose to be the sense of it in 
 this place, as it follows the si vacat. 
 
 22; The patricians.] The nobles of 
 Rome. They were the desendants of 
 such as were created censors in the 
 time of Romulus. Of these there 
 were, originally, only one hundred— 
 afterwards more were added to them. 
 
 23. Who clipping, §c] The person 
 here meant is supposed to be Licinius, 
 the freeman and barber of Augustus, 
 or perhaps Cinnamus. See sat. x. 1. 
 215, 6. 
 
 — Sounded.] Alluding to the sound 
 of clipping the beard with scissars. Q. 
 D. who with his scissars clipped my 
 beard, when he was a young man, and 
 first came under the barber's hands. 
 
 24. Part of the commonality of the 
 Nile.] One of the lowest of the Egyp- 
 tians who had come as slaves to Rome. 
 
 — Canopus.] A city in Egypt, ad- 
 dicted to all kind of effeminacy and 
 
sat. i. JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 7 
 
 And I therefore have withdrawn my hand from the ferule : 
 
 and I ■ 15 
 
 Have given counsel to Sylla, that, a private man, soundly 
 He should sleep. It is a foolish clemency, when every where 
 
 so many 
 Poets you may meet, to spare paper, that will perish. 
 But why it should please me rather to run along in the very 
 
 field, _ 19 
 
 Through which the great pupil of Aurunca drave his horses, 
 I will tell you, if you have leisure, and kindly hearken to 
 
 my reason. 
 When one can vie with all the patricians in riches, 
 Who clipping my beard troublesome to me a youth sounded : 
 When a part of the commonalty of the Nile, when a slave 
 
 of Canopus, 
 Crispinus, his shoulder recalling the Tyrian cloaks, 25 
 
 Can ventilate the summer-gold on his sweating fingers, 
 Nor can he bear the weight of a larger gem ; 
 It is difficult not to write satire. For who can so endure 
 The wicked city — who is so insensible, as to contain himself, 
 When the new litter of lawyer Matho comes 30 
 
 debauchery ; famous for a temple of 
 Serapis, a god of the Egyptians. This 
 city was built by Menelaus, in memory 
 of his pilot, Canopus, who died there, 
 and was afterwards canonized. See 
 sat xv. 1. 46. 
 
 25. Crispinus.] He, from a slave, 
 had been made master of the horse to 
 Nero. 
 
 — His shoulder recalling.'] Revocan- 
 te — The Romans used to fasten their 
 cloaks round the neck with a loop, but 
 in hot weather, perhaps, usually went 
 with them loose. As Juvenal is now 
 speaking of the summer season, (as 
 appears by the next line,) he describes 
 the shoulder as recalling, or endeavour- 
 ing to hoist up and replace the cloak, 
 which, from not being fastened by a 
 loop to the neck, was often slipping 
 away, and sliding downwards from 
 the shoulders. 
 
 — .Tyrian cloaks.] i. e. Dyed with 
 Tyrian purple, which was very expen- 
 sive. By this he marks the extrava- 
 gance and luxury of these upstai-ts. 
 
 27. Ventilate the summer-gold, Qc] 
 The Romans were arrived at such an 
 height of luxury, that they had rings 
 for the winter, and others for the sum- 
 
 mer, which they wore according to 
 the season. Ventilo signifies, to wave 
 any thing to and fro in the air. 
 
 Crispinus is described as w r earing 
 a summer-ring, and cooling it by, per- 
 haps, taking it off, and by waving it 
 to and fro in the air with his hand — 
 which motion might likewise contri- 
 bute to the slipping back of the cloak. 
 
 29- So insensible.] Ferreus literally 
 signifies any thing made of iron, and 
 is therefore used here, figuratively, to 
 denote hardness or insensibility. 
 
 30. The new litter.] The lectica was 
 a sort of sedan, with a bed or couch in 
 it, wherein the grandees were carried 
 by their servants : probably something 
 like the palanquins in the East. This 
 was a piece of luxury which the rich 
 indulged in. 
 
 — Lawyer Matho.] He had been an 
 advocate, but had amassed a large for- 
 tune by turning informer. The empe- 
 ror Domitian gave so much encourage- 
 ment to such people, that many made 
 their fortunes by secret informations ; 
 insomuch that nobody was safe, how- 
 ever innocent ; even one informer was 
 afraid of another. See below, I. 3?», 
 4, aud notes. 
 
8 JUVENALIS SATIRE. sat. i. 
 
 Plena ipso ? et post hunc magni delator amici, 
 
 Et cito rapturus de nobilitate comesa 
 
 Quod superest : quern Massa timet : quern munere palpat 
 
 Cams ; et a trepido Thvmele summissa Latino. 
 
 Quid referam? quanta siccum jecur ardeat ira, 35 
 
 Cum populum gregibus comitum premat hie spoliator 
 Pupilli plorantis? et hie damnatus inani 
 Judicio (quid enim salvis infamia nummis ?) 
 Exul ab octavo, Marius bibit, et fruitur Dis 
 Iratis ? at tu victrix provincia ploras ! 40 
 
 Ha?c ego non credam Yenusina digna lucerna ? 
 Hasc ego non agitem ? sed quid magis Heracleas, 
 Aut Diomedeas, aut mugitum labyrinthi, 
 
 31. Full of himself.] Now grown 
 bulky and fat. By this expression, the 
 poet may hint at the self-importance of 
 this upstart fellow. 
 
 -The secret accuserof a great friend.] 
 This was probably Marcus Regulus, 
 (mentioned by Pliny in his Epistles,) 
 a most infamous informer, who occa- 
 sioned, by his secret informations, the 
 deaths of many of the nobility in the 
 time of Domitian. 
 
 Some think, that the great friend here 
 mentioned was some great man, an in- 
 timate of Domitian's ; for this emperor 
 spared not even his greatest and most 
 intimate friends, on receiving secret 
 informations against them, 
 
 But, by the poet's manner of ex- 
 pression, it should rather seem, that 
 the person meant was some great man, 
 who had had been a friend to Regulus, 
 and whom Regulus had basely be- 
 irayed. 
 
 32. From the devoured nohiliiy.] i. c. 
 Destroyed through secret accusations, 
 pr pillaged by informers for hush- 
 money. 
 
 33. Wlwm Massa fears.] Babius 
 Massa, an eminent informer ; but so 
 much more eminent was M. Regulus, 
 above mentioned, in this way, that he 
 was dreaded even by Massa, lest he 
 should inform against him. 
 
 34. Cams sooths.] This was ano- 
 ther of the same infamous profession, 
 yfho bribed Regulus, to avoid seme 
 secret accusation. 
 
 — Thymele.] The wife of Latin us 
 the famous mimic ; she was sent pri- 
 
 vately by her husband and prostituted 
 to Regulus, in order to avoid some 
 information which Latinus dreaded, 
 and trembled under the apprehension 
 of. 
 
 35. What shall I say?] Q. D. How 
 shall I find words to express the indig- 
 nation which I feel ? 
 
 — My dry liver burns.] The ancietfrs 
 considered the liver as the seat of the 
 irascible affections. So Hon.. lib. i. od. 
 xiii. 1. 4. says, 
 
 Difficili bile tumet jecur — to ex- 
 press his resentment and jealousy, at 
 hearing his mistress commend a rival. 
 
 Again, lib. iv. od; i. 1. 12. Si tor- 
 rere jecur quasris idoneum — by which 
 he means, kindling the passion of love 
 within the breast. 
 
 Our poet here means to express the 
 workings of anger and resentment 
 within him, at seeing so many exam- 
 ples of vice and folly around him, and 
 particularly in those instances which 
 he is now going to mention. 
 
 36. A spoiler of las pupil, <|r.] The 
 tutelage of young men, who had lost 
 their parents, was committed to guar- 
 dians, who were to take care of their 
 estates and education. Here one is 
 represented as a spoliator — a spoiler — 
 i. e a plunderer or pillager of his ward 
 as to his affairs. 
 
 — Presses on the people] Grown 
 rich by the spoils of his ward, he is 
 supposed to be carried, in a litter, 
 along the streets, with such a crowd 
 of attendants, as to incommode other 
 passengers. 
 
JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 9 
 
 Full of himself? and after him the secret accuser of a great 
 
 friend, ^ 
 
 And who is soon about to seize from the devoured nobility 
 What remains : whom Massa fears : whom with a gift 
 Carus sooths, and Thymele sent privately from trembling 
 Latinus. 34 
 
 What shall I say ?- With how great anger my dry liver burns, 
 When here a spoiler of his pupil lamenting presses on the 
 
 people 
 With flocks of attendants? and here condemned by a frivolous 
 Judgment, (for what is infamy when money is safe ?) 
 The exile Marius drinks from the eighth hour, and enjoys the 
 Angry gods ? but thou vanquishing province, lamentest I 40 
 Shall I not believe these things worthy the Venusinian lamp ? 
 Shall I not agitate these (subjects ?) — but why rather Hera- 
 cleans, 
 Or Diomedeans, or the lowing of the labyrinth, 
 
 37 — 8. By a frivolous judgment.] 
 Inani judicio — because, though in- 
 flicted on Marius, it was of no service 
 to the injured province ; for, instead 
 of restoring to it the treasures of which 
 it had been plundered, part of these, 
 to a vast amount, were put into the 
 public treasury. As for Marius him- 
 self, he lived in as much festivity as 
 as if nothing had happened, as the 
 next two verses inform us. 
 
 39. The exile Marius.] Marius Pris- 
 cus, proconsul of Africa, who, for pil- 
 laging the province of vast sums of 
 money, was condemned to be banished. 
 
 — From the eighth hour.] Began his 
 carousals from two o'clock in the after- 
 noon, which was reckoned an instance 
 of dissoluteness and luxury, it being 
 an hour sooner than it was customary 
 to sit down to meals. See note on sat. 
 xi. 1. 204. and on Persius, sat. iii.1.4. 
 
 39 — 40. He enjoys the angry Gods.] 
 Though Marius had incurred the an- 
 ger of the gods by his crimes, yet, re- 
 gardless of this, he enjoyed himself 
 in a state of the highest jollity and fes- 
 tivity. 
 
 — Vanquishing province, fyc.] Vic- 
 trix was usad as a forensic term, to 
 denote one who had got the better in 
 a law-suit. The province of Africa 
 had sued Marius, and had carried the 
 cause against him, but had still rea- 
 son to deplore her losses : for though 
 
 Marius was sentenced to pay an im- 
 mense fine, which came out of what 
 he had pillaged, yet this was put in- 
 to the public treasury, and no part of 
 it given to the Africans ; and, besides 
 this, Marius had reserved sufficient to 
 maintain himself in a luxurious man- 
 ner. See above, note on 1. 39, 40. 
 
 41. Worthy the Venusinian lamp.] 
 i. e. The pen of Horace himself? 1 his 
 charming writer was born at Venusi- 
 um, a city of Apulia. When the poets 
 wrote by night, they made use of a 
 lamp. 
 
 42. Shall I not agitate, <fr.] Agitem 
 implies pursuing, as hunters do wiid 
 beasts — hunting — chasing. So in- 
 veighing against by satire, driving 
 such vices as he mentions out of their 
 lurkingplaces,andhuntingthemdown, 
 as it were, in order to destroy them. 
 
 — But why rather HeraclcansJ] Ju- 
 venal here anticipates the supposed 
 objections of some, who might perhaps 
 advise him to employ his talents on 
 some fabulous and more poetical sub- 
 jects — such as the labours of Hercules, 
 &c. " Why should I prefer these (as 
 " if he had said) when so many sub- 
 " jects in real life occur, to exercise 
 " my pen in a more useful way?" 
 
 43. Or Diomedeans.] i.e. Verses ou 
 the exploits of Diomede, a king of 
 Thrace, who f~d his horses with man's 
 flesh. Hercules slew him, and threw 
 
 C 
 
10 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRyE. 
 
 Et mare percussura puero, fabr unique volantem ? 
 s Cum fas esse putet curam sperare cohortis, 
 
 Qui bona donavit praesepibus, et caret omni 
 Majorum censu, dum pervolat axe citato 
 Flaminiam : puer Automedon nam lora tenebat, 
 Ipse lacernatae cum se jactaret amicae. 
 
 Nonne libet medio ceras implere capaces 
 Quadrivio —cum jam sexta cervice feratur 
 (Hinc atque inde patens, ac nuda pene cathedra, 
 Et multum referens de Maecenate supino) 
 Signator falso, qui se lautum, atque beat um 
 Exiguis tabulis, et gemma fecerat uda ? 
 
 45 
 
 50 
 
 him to be devoured by his own horses. 
 
 43. The lowing of the labyrinth.]The 
 story of the Minotaur, the monster 
 kept in the labyrinth of Crete, who was 
 half a bull, and slain by Theseus. See 
 AlUsw. Minotaur us. 
 
 44. The sea stt ickcn by a boy.] The 
 story of Icarus, who, flying too near 
 the sun, melted the wax by which his 
 wings were fastened together, and fell 
 into the sea; from him called Icarian. 
 See Hor. lib. iv. od. ii. 1. 2 — 4. 
 
 — The flying artificer.'] Daedalus, 
 who invented and made wings for him- 
 self and his son Icarus, with which 
 they fled from Crete. See Ajnsw. 
 Dcedalus. 
 
 45. A cohort.] A company of foot 
 in a regiment, or legion, which con- 
 sisted of ten cohorts. 
 
 1-6. Hath given his estate to stables.] 
 i. c. Has squandered away all his patri- 
 mony in breeding and keeping horses. 
 Praesepe sometimes means, a cell, 
 stew, or brothel. Perhaps this may be 
 the sense here, and the poet may mean, 
 that this spendthrift had lavished his 
 fortune on the stews, in lewdness and 
 debauchery. 
 
 46 — 7. Lacks all the income, Qc] 
 Has spent the family estate. 
 
 47. While he flies, §c] The person 
 here meant is far from certain. Com- 
 mentators differ much in their conjec- 
 tures on the subject. Britannicus gives 
 the matter up. " This passage," says 
 he, " is one of those concerning which 
 " we are yet to seek." 
 
 But whether t Cornelius Fuscus be 
 meant, who when a boy was charioteer 
 to Nero, as Automedon was to Achilles, 
 
 and who, after wasting his substance in 
 riotous living, was made commander . 
 of a regiment ; or Tigellinus, an infa- 
 mous favourite of Nero's, be here de- 
 signed, whose character is supposed to 
 have answered to the description here 
 given, is not certain; one or other 
 seems to be meant. The poet is men- 
 tioning various subjects as highly pro- 
 per for satire ; and among others, 
 some favourite at court, who, after 
 spending all his paternal estate in riot, 
 extravagance, and debauchery, was 
 made a commander in the army, and 
 exhibited his chariot, driving full speed 
 over the Flaminian way, which led to 
 the emperor's villa ; and all this, be- 
 cause when a boy, he had been Nero's 
 charioteer, or, as the poet humourous- 
 ly calls him, his Automedon, and used 
 to drive out Nero and his minion Spo- 
 rus, whom Nero castrated, to make 
 him, as much as he could, resemble a 
 woman, and whom he used as a mis- 
 tress, and afterwards took as a wife, 
 and appeared publicly in his chariot 
 with him, openly caressing, and mak- 
 ing love, as he passed along. 
 
 The poet humourously speaks of 
 Sporus in the feminine gender. As 
 the lacerna was principally a man's 
 garment, by lacernatae arnica?, the po- 
 et may be understood as if he had cal- 
 led Sporus, Nero's male -mistress, be- 
 ing habited like a man, and caressed 
 as a woman; 
 
 The above appears to me a probable 
 explanation of this obscure and diffi- 
 cult passage. Holiday gives it a dif- 
 ferent turn, as may be seen by his 
 annotation on this place. I do not pre- 
 
 
JUVENAUS SATIRES. 
 
 11 
 
 And the sea stricken by a boy, and the flying artificer ? 
 When he can think it right to hope for the charge of a 
 
 cohort, 45 
 
 Who hath given his estate to stables, and lacks all 
 The income of his ancestors, while heflies, with swiftaxle, over 
 The Flaminian way : for the boy Automedon was holding 
 
 the reins, 
 When he boasted himself to his cloaked mistress. 
 
 Doth it not like one to fill capacious waxen tablets in the 
 
 middle of a 50 
 
 Cross-way — when now can be carried on a sixth neck 
 (Here and there exposed, and in almost a naked chair, 
 And much resembling the supine Maecenas) 
 A signer to what is false ; who himself splendid and happy 
 Has made, with small tables, and with a wet gem ? 55 
 
 sume to be positive, but will say with 
 Britannicus, '« Sed quum in ambiguo 
 " sit, de quo poeta potissimum intel- 
 " ligat, unusquisque, si neutrum ho- 
 " rum probabile visum fuerit, quod 
 " ad loci explanationem faciat, exco- 
 " gitet." 
 
 48. The Flaminian way.] A road 
 made by Caius Flaminius, colleague of 
 Lepidus, from Rome to Ariminum. 
 
 49. W7ten7ieboasted himself.] Jactare 
 se alicui signifies to recommend, to 
 insinuate one's self into the favour or 
 good graces of another ; as when a 
 man is courting his mistress. By ipse, 
 according to the above interpretation 
 of this passage, we must understand 
 the- emperor Nero. 
 
 50. Capacious waxen tablets.'] These 
 are here called ceras ; sometimes they 
 are called ceratas tabellae, because they 
 were thin pieces of wood, covered 
 over with wax, on which the ancients 
 wrote with the point of a sharp instru- 
 ment, called stylus, (see Hor. lib. i, 
 sat. x. 1. 72.) it had a blunt end to 
 rub out with. They made pocket 
 books with these. 
 
 51. Cross-way ] Juvenal means, that 
 a man might please himself by filling 
 a large book with the objects of satire 
 which he meets in passing along the 
 street. Quadrivium properly means 
 a place where four ways meet, and 
 where there are usually most people 
 passing — a proper stand for observa- 
 tion. 
 
 — On a sixth neck.] i. e. In a litter 
 carried by six slaves, who bare the 
 poles on the shoulder, and leaning 
 against the side cf the neck. These 
 were called hexaphori, from Gr. j| f 
 six, and $£§«>, to bear or carry. See 
 Sat. vii. 1. 141. n. 
 
 52. Exposed, §e.] Carried openly 
 to and fro, here and there, through 
 the public streets, having no shame 
 for what he had done to enrich him- 
 self. 
 
 53. The supine Mcecenas.] By this 
 it appears, that Maecenas was given to 
 laziness and effeminacy. 
 
 Horace calls him Malthinus, from 
 (AuhSaKoq, which denotes softness and 
 effeminacy. See Hor. lib. i. sat. ii. 
 1. 25. 
 
 54. A signer, <§-c] Signator signi- 
 fies a sealer or signer of contracts or 
 wills. Here it means a species of cheat, 
 who imposed false wills and testaments 
 on the heirs of the deceased, supposed 
 to be made in their own favour, or in 
 favour of others with whom they 
 shared the spoil. See sat. x. 1. 305, 
 and note. Some suppose this to be 
 particularly meant of Tigellinus, a fa- 
 vourite of Nero's, who poisoned three 
 uncles, and, by forging their wills, 
 made himself heir to all they had. 
 
 55. By small tables.] Short testa- 
 ments, contained in a few words. Comp. 
 note on 1. 50. 
 
 — A wet gem.] i. e. A seal, which 
 was cut on some precions stone, worn 
 
12 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Occurrit matrona potens, quae molle Calenum 
 Porrectura viro miscet sitiente rubetam, 
 Instituitque rudes melior Locusta propinquas, 
 Per famam et populum, nigros efferre maritos. 
 Aude aliquid brevibus Gyaris, et carcere dignum, 
 Si vis esse aliquis : Probitas laudatur, et alget. 
 Criminibus debent hortos, praetoria, mensas, 
 Argentum vetus, et stantern extra pocula caprum. 
 Quern patitur dormire nurus corruptor avarae ? 
 Quern sponsss turpes, et praetextatus adulter? 
 Si natura negat, facit indignatio versum, 
 Qualemcunque potest : quales ego, vel Cluvienus. 
 Ex quo Deucalion, nimbis tollentibus aequor, 
 Navigio moritem ascendit, sortesque poposcit, 
 
 60 
 
 65 
 
 in a ring on the finger, and occasion- 
 ally made use of to seal deads or wills 
 —this they wetted to prevent the wax 
 sticking to it. This was formerly 
 known among our forefathers by the 
 Dame of a seal-ring. 
 
 56. A potent matron occurs.] Another 
 subject of satire the poet here adverts 
 to, namely, women who poison their 
 husbands, and this with impunity. 
 The particular person here alluded to, 
 under the description of matrona po- 
 tens, was probably, Agrippina, the 
 wife of Claudius, who poisoned her 
 husband, that she might make her son 
 Nero emperor. 
 
 — Occurs.] Meets you in the public 
 street, and thus occurs to the obser- 
 vation of the satirist. Comp. 1. 50, 51. 
 
 — Calenian wine.] Calenum was a 
 city in the kingdom of Naples, famous 
 for a soft kind of wine. 
 
 57. About to reach forth.] Porrectura 
 ■ — The husband is supposed to be so 
 thirsty as not to examine the contents 
 of the draught ; of this she avails 
 herself, by reaching to him some Ca- 
 lenian wine with poison in it, which 
 was extracted from a toad. 
 
 58; A letter Locusta.] This Loqpsta 
 was a vile woman, skilful in prepar- 
 ing poisons. She helped Nero to poi- 
 son Britannicus, the son of Claudius 
 and Me ^salina ; and Agrippina to dis- 
 patch Claudius. The woman alluded 
 to by Juvenal, L 56. he here styles, 
 melior Locusta, a better Locusta, i. c; 
 more- skilled in poisoning than even 
 Locusta herself. 
 
 — Her rude neighbours.] i e. Un- 
 acquainted, and unskilled before, in 
 this diabolical art. 
 
 59. Through fame and the people.] 
 Setting all reputation and public re- 
 port at defiance ; not caring what peo- 
 ple should say. 
 
 — To bring forth.] For burial — 
 which efferre particularly means; See 
 Ter. And. act. i. sc. i. 1. 90. 
 
 — Black huslands.] Their corpses 
 turned putrid and black, with the ef- 
 fects of the poison. 
 
 60. Dare.] i. e. Attempt — presume 
 — be not afraid — to commit. 
 
 — Something.] Some atrocious crime, 
 worthy of exile, or imprisonment. 
 
 The narrow Gyarce.] Gyaras was 
 an island in the jEgean sea, small, bar- 
 ren, and desolate, to which criminals 
 were banished. 
 
 61. If you would be somebody.] i. e. 
 If you would make yourself taken no- 
 tice of, as a person of consequence, at 
 Rome. A severe reflection on certain 
 favourites of the emperor, who, by be- 
 ing informers, and by other scandal- 
 ous actions, had enriched themselves. 
 
 — Probity is praised, $c] This 
 seems a proverbial saying, and applies 
 to what goes before, as well as to 
 what follows, wherein the poet is 
 shewing, that vice was, in those days, 
 the only way to riches and honours. 
 Honesty and innocence will be com- 
 mended, but those who possess them 
 be left to starve. # 
 
 62. Gardens.] i. e. Pleasant and 
 
sat. i. JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 13 
 
 A potent matron occurs, who soft Calenian wine 
 About to reach forth, her husband thirsting, mixes a toad, 
 And, a better Locusta, instructs her rude neighbours, 
 Through fame and the people, to bring forth their black 
 
 husbands. x ^ 
 
 Dare something worthy the narrow Gyarae, or a prison, 60 
 If you would be somebody. Probity is praised and 
 
 STARVES WITH COLD. 
 
 To crimes they owe gardens, palaces, tables, 
 
 Old silver, and a goat standing on the outside of cups. 
 
 Whom does the corrupter of a covetous daughter in-law 
 
 suffer to sleep ? 
 Whom base spouses, and the noble young adulterer ? 65 
 If nature denies, indignation makes verse, 
 Such as it can : such as I, or Cluvienus. 
 From the time that Deucalion (the showers lifting up the sea) 
 Ascended the mountain with his bark, and asked for lots, 
 
 beautiful retreats, where they had gar. self with Cluvienus, (some bad poet of 
 
 dens of great taste and expence. his time,) that he might the more 
 
 — Palaces.] The word prsetoria de- freely satirize him, which he at the 
 
 notes noblemens seats in the country, same time does, the more severely, by 
 
 as well as the palaces of great men in the comparison, 
 the city. 68. From the time that Deucalion.] 
 
 Tables.] Made of ivory, marble, and This and the three following linesrelate 
 
 ether expensive materials. tothe history of the deluge, asdescribed 
 
 63. Old silver Ancient plate — by Ovid. See Met. lib. i. 1. 264 — 315. 
 
 very valuable on account of the work- 69. Ascended the mountain, <£c] 
 
 manship. Alluding to Ovid : 
 
 . -—A goat standing, $•€.] The figure Mons ibi verticibus petit arduus as~ 
 of a goat in curious bas relief — which tra duobus, 
 
 animal, as sacred to Bacchus, was very Nomine Parnassus— 
 
 usually expressed on drinking cups. Hie ubi Deucalion (nam ccetera tex- 
 
 64. Whom] i.e. Which of the poets erat asquorj 
 
 or writers of satire, can be at rest from Cum consorte tori parvd rate vectus 
 
 writing, or withhold his satiric rage ? adhoesit. 
 
 —The corrupter.] i.e. The father, — Asked for lots.] Sortes here means 
 
 who takes advantage of the love of mo- the oracles, or billets, on which the 
 
 ney in his son's wife, to debauch her. answers of the gods were written. Ovid. 
 
 6S.Base spouses.] Lewd and adulter- (ubi supra,) 1. 367, 8. represents Deu- 
 
 ©us wives. calion, and his wife Pyrrha, resolving 
 
 — The noble young adulterer.] Prae- to go to the temple of the goddess 
 
 textatus, i. e. the youth, not having Themis, to inquire in what manner 
 
 laid aside the praetexta, or gown mankind should be restored, 
 
 worn by boys, sons of the nobility, - , placuit cceleste prcecari 
 
 till, seventeen years of age — yet, in Numen, et auxiliumper sacras qux- 
 
 this early period of life, initiated into * rere sortes. 
 
 the practice of adultery. ' And I. 381. Mota Dea est, sortem- 
 
 66. Indignation'makes verse.] Forces que dedit. 
 
 one to write, however naturally with- Again, 1. 389. Verba data sortis. 
 
 «ut talent for it; Ta this Juvenal alludes in this line; 
 
 67. Such al /, ar Cluvienus.] i. e. wherein sortes may be rendered, ora- 
 
 Make or write. The noet names him- cular answers. 
 
n 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Paulatimque anima caluerunt mollia saxa, 70 
 
 Quicquid agunt homines, votum, timor, ira, voluptas, 
 Gaudia, discursus, nostri est farrago libelli. 
 Et quando uberior vitiorum copia ? quando 
 Major avaritise patuit sinus ? alea quando 
 Hos animos ? neque enim loculis comitantibus itur 75 
 
 J^ Ad casum tabula?, posita sed luditur area 
 Praelia quanta illic dispensatore videbes 
 Armigero ! simplexne furor sestertia centum 
 Perdere, et horrenci tunicam non reddere servo ? 
 Quis totidem erex.it villas ? quis fercula sept em 80 
 
 Secreto ecenavit avus ? nunc sportula primo 
 Limine parva sedet, turbse rapienda togatae. M 
 
 70. The soft stones, §c.] When Deu- 
 calion and Pyrrha, having consulted 
 the oracle how mankind might be re- 
 paired, were answered, that this might 
 be done by their casting the bones of 
 their great mother behind their backs, 
 they picked stones from off the earth, 
 and cast them behind their backs, and 
 they became men and women. 
 
 Jussos hipidcs sua post vestigia mit- 
 tunt : 
 
 Saxa 
 
 Ponerc duriticm ccepcrc> sumnque 
 rigorcm, 
 
 MoU'uique mora, molUtaquc ducere 
 formam, See ib. 1. 399 — 402. 
 Hence Juvenal says — mcllia saxa. 
 
 It is most likely that the whole ac- 
 count of the deluge, given by Ovid, 
 is a corruption of the Mosaical histo- 
 ry of that event. — Plutarch mentions 
 the dove sent out of the ark. 
 
 73. The composition <§-c] Farrago 
 signifies a mixture, an hodge-podge — 
 as we say, of various things mixed 
 together. The poet means, that the 
 various pursuits, inclinations, actions, 
 and passions of men, and all those 
 human follies and vices, which have 
 existed, have been increasing, ever 
 since the flood, are the subjects of his 
 satires. 
 
 74. Bosom of avarice.] A meta- 
 phorical allusion to the sail of a ship 
 when expanded to the wind — the cen- 
 tre whereof is called sinus — the bo- 
 som. The larger the sail, and the 
 more open and spread it is, the great- 
 er the capacity of the bosom for re- 
 ceiving the wind, and the more pow- 
 
 erfully is the ship driven on through 
 the sea. 
 
 Thus avarice spreads itself far and 
 wide ; it catches the inclinations of 
 men, as the sail the wind, and thus 
 drives them on in a full course — when 
 more than at present ? says the poet. 
 
 — The die.] A chief instrument of 
 gaming — put here for gaming itself. 
 Metok. 
 
 75. These spirits.] Animus signifies 
 spirit of courage ; and in this sense 
 we are to understand it here. As if 
 the poet said, when was gaming so 
 encouraged ? or when had games of 
 hazard, which were forbidden by v the 
 law, (except only during the Satur- 
 nalia,) the courage to appear so open 
 and frequently as they do now ? The 
 sentence is elliptical, and must be sup- 
 plied w itb habuit, or some other verb 
 of the kind, to govern — hos animos. 
 
 — They do not go with purses, eye] 
 Gaming has now gotten to such an ex- 
 travagant height, that gamesters are 
 not content to play for what can be 
 carried in their purses, but stake a 
 "■.hole chest of money at a time — this 
 seems to be implied by the word po- 
 sita. Pono sometimes signifies — lay- 
 ing a wager — putting down as a stake. 
 See an example of this sense, from 
 Plautus. Ainsw. pono, No. .5. 
 
 77. Hew many battles, §c.] i. e. 
 How many attacks on one another at 
 play. 
 
 — The steward.] Dispensator signi- 
 fies a dispenser, a steward, one who 
 lays out money, a manager. 
 
 79. A- 
 
JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 15 
 
 And the soft stones by little and little grew warm with life, 70 
 Whatever men do~desire, fear, anger, pleasure* 
 Joys, discourse — is the composition of my little book. 
 And when was there a more fruitful plenty of vices ? when 
 Has a greater bosom of avarice lain open ? when the die 74 
 These spirits ? — they do not go, with purses accompanying, 
 To the chance of the table, out a chest being put down h 
 
 played for. 
 How many battles will you see there, the steward 
 Armour-bearer ! is it simple madness an hundred sestertia 
 To lose and not give a coat to a ragged servant ? 
 Who has erected so many villas ? What ancestor on seven 
 
 dishes 80 
 
 Has supped in secret? Now a little basket at the first 
 Threshold is set, to be snatched by the gowned crowd. 
 
 were servants who followed their mas- 
 ters with their shields, and other arms, 
 when they went to fight. The poet 
 still carries on the metaphor of prselia 
 in the preceding line. There gaming 
 is compared to fighting ; here he hu- 
 mourously calls the steward the ar- 
 mour-bearer, as supplying his master 
 with money, a necessary weapon at a 
 gaming table, to stake at play, in- 
 stead of keeping and dispensing it, or 
 laying it out for the usual and honest 
 expenses of the family. 
 
 — Simple madness, S[c] All this is 
 a species of madness, but not without 
 mixture of injury and mischief; and 
 therefore may be reckoned something 
 more than mere madness, where such 
 immense sums are thrown away at a 
 gaming table, as that the servants of 
 the family cannot be afforded common 
 decent necessaries. The Romans had 
 their sestertius and sestertium. The 
 latter is here meant, and contains 
 1000 of the former, which was worth 
 about \\d. See 1. 92, n. 
 
 79. And not give a coat, $c] The 
 poet here puts one instance, for many 
 of the ruinous consequences of ga- 
 ming. 
 
 Juvenal, by this, severely censures 
 the gamesters, who had rather lose a 
 large sum at the dice, than lay it out 
 for the comfort, happiness, and decent 
 maintenance of their families. 
 
 80. So many villas.] Houses of plea- 
 sure for the summer season. These 
 
 were usually built and furnished at a 
 vast expense. The poet having in- 
 veighed against their squandering at the 
 gaming table, now attacks their lux- 
 ury, and prodigality in other respects; 
 and then the excessive meanness into 
 which they were sunk. 
 
 81. Supped in secret, 8{C.~\ The an- 
 cient Roman nobility, in order to shew 
 their munificence and hospitality, 
 used, at certain times, to make an 
 handsome and splendid entertainment, 
 to which they invited their clients and 
 dependents. Now they shut out these, 
 and provided a sumptuous entertain- 
 ment for themselves only, which they 
 sat down to in private. Which of our 
 ancestors, says the poet, did this ? 
 
 — Now a little basket, <|-c] Sportula 
 — a little basket or pannier, made of a 
 kind of broom called sportum. Ken- 
 net, Antiq. p. 375. In this were put 
 victuals, and some small sums of mo- 
 ney, to be distributed to the poor cli- 
 ents and dependents at the outward 
 door of the house, who were no longer 
 invited, as formerly, to the entertain- 
 ment within. 
 
 82. To be snatched, $c] i. e. Eager- 
 ly received by the hungry poor clients, 
 who crowded about the door. 
 
 — The gowned crowd.] The com- 
 mon sort of people were called turba 
 togata, from the gowns they wore, 
 by which they were distinguished from 
 the higher sort. See note before on 
 1. 3; 
 
16 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Ille tamen faciem prius inspicit, et trepidat ne 
 Suppositus venias, ac falso nomine poscas : 
 Agnitus accipies. Jubet a praecone vocari 
 Ipsos Trojugenas ; nam vexant limen et ipsi 
 Nobiscum : da Praetori, da deinde Tribune 
 Sed libertinus prior est : prior, inquit, ego adsum : 
 Cur timeam, dubitemve, locum defendere ? quamvis 
 Natus ad Euphraten molles quod in aure fenestra? 
 Arguerint, licet ipse negem : sed quinque tabernae 
 Quadringenta parant : quid confert purpura majus 
 
 85 
 
 90 
 
 83. But he.] i. c. The person who 
 distributes the dole. 
 
 —First inspects the fo-ce.] That he 
 may be certain of the person he gives to. 
 
 — And trembles.'] At the apprehen- 
 sion of being severely reproved by 
 his master, the great man, if he 
 should make a mistake, by giving to 
 people who assume a false name, and 
 pretend themselves to be clients, when 
 they are not. 
 
 85. Acknowledged, $c] Agnitus, 
 owned, acknowledged, as one for 
 whom the dole is provided. 
 
 Perhaps, in better days, when the 
 clients and dependents of great men 
 were invited to partake of an enter- 
 tainment within doors, there was a 
 sportula, or dole basket, which was 
 distributed, at large to the poor, at 
 the doors of great men's houses. Now 
 times were altered; no invitation of 
 clients to feast within doors, and no 
 distribution of doles, to the poor at 
 large without : none now got any 
 thing here but the excluded clients, 
 and what they got was distributed 
 with the utmost caution, 1. 83, 4. 
 
 — He commands to be called.] i. c. 
 Summoned, called together. The poet 
 is now about to inveigh against the 
 meanness of many of the nobles and 
 magistrates of Rome, who could suf- 
 fer themselves to be summoned by the 
 common crier, in order to share in the 
 distribution of the dole-baskets. 
 
 86. The very descendants of the 
 Trojans.] Ipsos Trojugenas ; from 
 Troja or Trojanus, and gigno. The 
 very people, says he, who boast of 
 their descent from Eneas and the an- 
 cient Trojans, who first came to set- 
 tle in Italy ; even these are so dege- 
 nerate, as to come and scramble, as it 
 
 were, among the poor, for a part of 
 the sportula. The word ipsos makes 
 the sarcasm the stronger. 
 
 — Molest the threshold.] Crowd 
 about it, and are very troublesome. 
 So Hor. lib. i. sat. viii. 1. 18 — hunc 
 vexare locum. 
 
 87. With us.] Avec nous autres, 
 as the French say. 
 
 — Give to the Ficctor.] In Juvenal's 
 time this was a title of a chief magi- 
 strate, something like the lord-mayor 
 of London ; he was called Praetor 
 Urbanus, and had power to judge 
 matters of law between citizen and 
 citizen. This seems to be the officer 
 here meant : but for a further ac- 
 count of the Praetor, see Aixsw. 
 Prcetor. 
 
 87. The Tribune.] A chief officer 
 in Rome. The tribunes, at their first 
 institution, weretwo, afterwards came 
 to be ten ; they were keepers of the 
 liberties of the people, against the 
 encroachments of the senate. They 
 were called tribunes, because at first 
 set over the three tribes of the people. 
 See Ainsw. Tribunus and Tribus. 
 
 Juvenal satirically represents some 
 of the chief magistrates and officers of 
 the city as bawling out to be first serv- 
 ed out of the sportula. 
 
 88. The libertine.] A.n enfranchised 
 slave. There were many of these in 
 Rome, who were very rich, and very 
 insolent : of one of these we have an 
 example here. 
 
 — Is first; S(C.] " Hold," says this 
 upstart, " a freedman, rich as I am, 
 •* is before the praetor; besides I came 
 " first, and I'll be first served." 
 
 89. Why should I fear, $c] i. e. I 
 am neither afraid nor ashamed to chal- 
 lenge the first place. I will not give 
 
JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 17 
 
 But he first inspects the face, and trembles, lest 
 
 Put in the place of another you come, and ask in a false name. 
 
 Acknowledged you will receive. He commands to be called 
 
 by the crier 85 
 
 The very descendants of the Trojans : for even they molest 
 
 the threshold 
 Together with us : " Give to the Praetor — then give to the 
 
 « Tribune." 
 But the libertine is first : I the first, says he, am here present. 
 Why should I fear, or doubt to defend my place ? altho' 
 Born at the Euphrates, which the soft holes in my ear 90 
 Prove, though I should deny it : but five houses 
 Procure 400 (sestertia), what does the purple confer more 
 
 it up to any body. 
 
 89—90. Althougli born at the Eu- 
 phrates] He owns that he was born 
 of servile condition, and came from a 
 part of the world from whence many 
 were sold as slaves. The river Eu- 
 phrates took its rise in Armenia, and 
 ran through the city of Babylon, which 
 it divided in the midst. 
 
 90. The soft holes, §c] The ears of 
 all slaves in the East were bored, as 
 a mark of their servitude. They wore 
 bits of gold by way of ear-rings ; 
 which custom is still in the East 
 Indies, and in other parts, even for 
 whole nations ; who bore prodigious 
 holes in their ears, and wear vast 
 weights at them. DRrDEX. Pliit. 
 lib. xi. c. 37. 
 
 The epithet molles may, perhaps, 
 intimate, that this custom was look- 
 ed upon at Rome (as among us) as a 
 mark of effeminacy. Or the poet, by 
 Hypallage, says, Molles in aure fene- 
 strae, for, fenestra? in molli aure. 
 
 91. Five houses.'] Tabernae here may 
 be understood to mean shops or ware- 
 houses, which were in the forum, or 
 market-place, and which by reason 
 of their situation, were let to mer- 
 chants and traders at a great rent. 
 
 92. Procure 400.] In reckoning by 
 sesterces, the Romans, had an art 
 which may be understood by these 
 three rules : 
 
 First : If a numeral noun agree in 
 number, case, and gender, with ses- 
 tertius, then it denotes so many ses- 
 tertii ; as decern sestertii. 
 
 Secondly ; If a numeral noun of an- 
 
 other case be joined with the genitive 
 plural of sestertius, it denotes so many 
 thousand, as decern sestertium signi- 
 fies 10,000 sestertii. 
 
 Thirdly : If the adverb numeral be 
 joined, it denotes so many 100,000; 
 as decies sestertium signifies ten hun- 
 dred thousand sestertii. Or if the nu- 
 meral adverb be put by itself, the sig- 
 nification is the same : decies or vi- 
 gesies stand for so many 100,000 ses- 
 tertii, or, as they say, so many hun- 
 dred sestertia. 
 
 The sestertium contains a thousand 
 sestertii, and amounted to about £17. 
 16*. 3d. of our money. Kennet, Ant. 
 374, 5. 
 
 After 400, quadringenta, sestertia 
 must be understood, according to the 
 third rule above. 
 
 The freedman brags, that the rents 
 of his houses brought him in 400 ses- 
 tertia, which was a knight's estate. 
 
 — Wlutt does the purple, §c.] The 
 robes of the nobility and magistrates 
 were decorated \vith purple. He means 
 that, though he cannot deny that he 
 was born a slave, and came to Rome 
 as such, (and if he were to deny it,) 
 the holes in his ears would prove it,) 
 yet he was now a free citizen of Rome, 
 possessed of a larger private foiv 
 tune than the praetor or the tribune. 
 What can even a patrician wish for 
 more ? Indeed, " when I see a noble- 
 " man reduced to keep sheep for his 
 '* livelihood, I cannot perceive nny 
 44 great advantage he derives from his 
 " nobility ; what can it, at best, con^ 
 ** fer, beyond what I possess?" 
 
 D 
 
18 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 95 
 
 100 
 
 Optandum, si Laurenti custodit in agro 
 Conductas Corvinus oves ? Ego possideo plus 
 Pallante, et Licinis : expectent ergo Tribuni. 
 Vincant divitias ; sacro nee cedat honori 
 Nuper in hanc urbcm pedibus qui venerat albis ; 
 Quandoquidem inter nos sanctissima divitiarum 
 Majestas : etsi, funesta Peeunia, templo 
 Nondum habitas, nullas nummorum ereximus aras, 
 Ut colitur Pax, atque Fides, Vietoria, Virtus, 
 Quaeque saiutato crepitat Concordia nido. 
 
 Sed cum summus honor finito computet anno, 
 Sportula quid referat, quantam rationibus addat : 
 Quid facient comites, quibus hinc toga, calceus hinc est, 105 
 Et panis, fumusque domi ? densissima centum - 
 Quadrantes lectica petit, sequiturque maritum 
 Languida, vel prscgnans, et circumducitur uxor. 
 Hie petit absenti, nota jam callidus arte, 
 Ostendens vacuam, et clausam pro conjuge sellam : 
 Galla mea est, inquit ; citius dimitte : moraris ? 
 Profer, Galla, caput. Noli vexare, quiescit. 
 
 110 
 
 03. Corvinus.] One of the noble fa- 
 mily of the Corvini, hut so reduced, 
 that he was obliged to keep sheep, as 
 an hired shepherd, near Laurentum, 
 in his own native country. Lauren- 
 tum is a city of Italy, now called San- 
 to Lorenzo. 
 
 95. Pallas.] A freedman of Clau- 
 dius. 
 
 — The Licini.] The name of seve- 
 ral rich men, particularly of a freed- 
 man of Augustus ; and of Licinius 
 Crassus, who was surnamed Dives. 
 
 96. Let riches prevail] Vincant, 
 overcome, defeat all other pretensions. 
 
 — Sacred honour.] Meaning the tri- 
 bunes, whose office was held so sacred, 
 that if any one hurt a tribune, his life 
 was devoted to Jupiter, and his family 
 was to be sold at the temple of Ceres. 
 
 97. With white feet] It was the 
 custom, when: foreign slaves were ex- 
 posed to sale, to whiten over their na- 
 ked feet with chalk. This was the 
 token by which they were known. 
 
 98. The majesty of riches.] Intima- 
 ting their great and universal sway 
 among men, particularly at Rome, in 
 its corrupt state, where every thing 
 
 . was venal, which made them rever- 
 enced, and almost adored. This inti- 
 
 mates too the command and domi- 
 nion which the rich assumed over 
 others, and the self-importance which 
 they assumed to themselves; a notable 
 instance of which appears in this im- 
 pudent freedman. 
 
 99. Baleful money.] i e. Destruc- 
 tive, the occasion of many cruel and 
 ruinous deeds. 
 
 100. Altars of Money.] i. c. No 
 temple dedicated, no altars called ara; 
 nummorum, as having sacrifices offer- 
 ed on them to riches, as there were to 
 peace, faith, concord, &c. 
 
 102. Which chatters, §c] Crepito 
 here signifies to chatter like a bird. 
 The temple of Concord, at Rome, was 
 erected by Tiberius, at the request of 
 his mother Livia. About this birds, 
 such as choughs, storks, and the like, 
 used to build their nests. What the 
 poet says allude?, to the chattering noise 
 made by these birds, particularly when 
 the old ones revisited their nests, after 
 having been out to seek food for their 
 young. See Aixsav. Salutatus, No. 2. 
 
 103. The highest honour, £c] i. c. 
 People of the first rank and dignity. 
 
 —Can compute, Sfc] i. e. Can be 
 so sunk into the most sordid and mean- 
 est avarice, as to be reckoning, at the 
 
JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 29 
 
 To be wished for, if, in the field of Laurentum, Corvinus 
 Keeps hired sheep ? 1 possess more 94 
 
 Than Pallas and the Eicini : let the Tribunes, therefore, wait. 
 Let riches prevail : nor let him yield to the sacred honour, 
 Who lately came into this city with white feet : 
 Since among us the majesty of riches is 
 Most sacred : altho', O baleful money ! in a temple 99 
 Asyet thou dostnotdwell, we have erected no altars of money. 
 As Peace is worshipped, and Faith, Victory, Virtue, 
 And Concord, which chatters with a visited nest. 
 
 But when the highest honour can compute, the year being 
 
 finished, 
 TV hat the sportula brings in, how much it adds to its accounts, 
 What will the attendants do, to whom from hence is a gown, 
 
 from hence a shoe, 105 
 
 And bread, and smoke of the house ? A thick crowd of litters 
 An hundred farthings seek; and the wife follows the husband, 
 And, sick or pregnant, is led about. 
 
 This asks for the absent, cunning in a known art, 109 
 
 Shewing the empty and shut-up sedan instead of the wife, 
 u It is my Galla," says he, u dismiss her quickly : do you delay ?" 
 " Galla put out your head'"' — " don't vex her— she is asleep.'" 1 
 
 year's end, what they have gained out 
 of these doles which were provided for 
 the poor. 
 
 105. The attendants, ^c] The poor 
 clients and followers, who, by these 
 doles, are, or ought to be, supplied 
 with clothes, meat, and fire. What 
 will these do, when the means of their 
 support is taken from them by great 
 people ? 
 
 — From hence.] i. c. By what they 
 seceive from the dole-basket. 
 
 — A shoe.] Shoes to their feet, as 
 we say. 
 
 106. Smoke of the house.] Wood or 
 other fuel for firing : or firing, as we 
 say. The effect, smoke, for the 
 cause, fire. Me ton. 
 
 — Crowd of Utters.] The word den- 
 sissima here denotes a very great num- 
 ber, a thick croWd of people carried 
 in litters. 
 
 10T. An hundred far Utings.] The 
 quadrans was a Roman coin, the fourth 
 part of an as, in value not quite an 
 halfpenny of our money. An hundred 
 of these were put into the sportula, or 
 dole-basket : and for a share in this 
 
 paltry sum, did the people of fashion 
 (for such were carried in litters) seek 
 in so eager a manner, as that they 
 crowded the very door up, to get at 
 the sportula. 
 
 1C8. Is led ahout.] The husband 
 lugs about his sick or breeding \\ ife 
 in a litter, and claims her dole. 
 
 109. This asks for the absent.] Ano- 
 ther brings an empty litter, pretending 
 his wife is in it. 
 
 — Cunning in a known art.] i. e. 
 He had often practiced this trick with 
 success. 
 
 110. It is my Galla.] The supposed 
 name of his wife. 
 
 111. Put out your head.] i. e. Out 
 of the litter that I may see you are 
 there, says the dispenser of the dole. 
 
 — Don't ?cx her,] " Don't disturb 
 " her," replies the husband ; ** don't 
 " disquiet her, she is not very well, 
 " and is taking a nap." By these 
 methods he imposes on the dispenser, 
 and gets a dole for his Absent wife ; 
 though, usually, none #as given but 
 to those who came in person ; and in 
 order to this, the greatest caution was 
 commonly used. See 1. 83, 4. 
 
20 
 
 JUNENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Ipse dies pulchro distinguitur ordine rerum ; 
 Sportula, deinde forum, jurisque peritus Apollo, 
 Atque triumphales, inter quas ausus habere 
 Nescio quis titulos zEgyptius, atque Arabarches ; 
 Cujus ad effigiem non tan turn mejere fas est. 
 Vestibulis abeunt veteres, lassique clientes, 
 Votaque deponunt, quanquam longissima ccenae 
 Spes homini: caules miseris, atq^ue ignis emendus. 
 Optima sy [varum interea, pelagique vorabit 
 Hex horum, vacuisque toris tantum ipse jacebit : 
 Nam de tot pulchris, et latis orbibus, et tarn 
 
 115 
 
 120 
 
 The violent hurry which this impos- 
 tor appears to be in (I. 111.) was no 
 doubt, occasioned by his fear of a dis- 
 covery, if he staid too long. 
 
 Thus does our poet satirize not only 
 the meanness of the rich in coming to 
 the sportula, but the tricks and shifts 
 which they made use of to get at the 
 contents of it. 
 
 113. The day itself, $c.] The poet 
 having satirized the mean avarice of 
 the higher sort, now proceeds to ridi- 
 cule their idle manner of spending 
 time* 
 
 114. The sportula.] Sec before, 1. 
 61. The day began with attending 
 on this. 
 
 — The forum.] The common place 
 where courts of justice were kept, and 
 matters of judgment pleaded. Hither 
 they next resorted to entertain them- 
 selves, with hearing the causes which 
 were there debated. 
 
 — Apollo learned in the law.] Augus- 
 tus built and dedicated a temple and 
 library to Apollo, in his palace on 
 mount Palatine ; in which were large 
 collections of law-books, as well as the 
 works of all the famous authors in 
 Rome. 
 
 Hor. lib. i. epist. iii. 1. 16, 17. men- 
 tions this ; 
 
 Et tangere vitat 
 
 Scripta Palatinus qv&cunqe recepit 
 Apollo. 
 But I should rather think, that the 
 poet means here the forum which Au- 
 gustus built, ^here, it is said, there 
 was an ivory statue of Apollo, which 
 Juvenal represents as learned in the 
 law, from the constant pleadings of 
 the lawyers in that place. Here idle 
 people used to lounge away their time. 
 
 115. The triumphals.] The statue? 
 of heroes, and kings, and other great 
 men who had triumphed over the 
 enemies of the state. These were 
 placed in great numbers in the forum 
 of Augustus, and in other public parts 
 of the city. 
 
 — An Egyptian, $c] Some obscure 
 low wretch, who for no desert, but 
 only on account of his wealth, had his 
 statue placed there. 
 
 116. An Arabian prcefect.] Arabar- 
 ches. So Pompey is called by Cic. 
 epist. ad Attic. 1. 2. epist. xvii. because 
 he conquered a great part of Arabia, 
 and made it tributary to Rome. But 
 Juvenal means here some infamous 
 character, who had probably been 
 praefect, or vice-roy, over that coun- 
 try, and hud, by rapine and extortion, 
 returned to Rome with great riches, 
 and thus got a statue erected to him. 
 like the Egyptian above mentioned, 
 whom some suppose to have been in 
 a like occupation in Egypt, and there- 
 fore called iEgyptius. Arabarches- - 
 from Aga^ or A%clGk>; and a.^yr^ 
 
 117. To make water.] There was a 
 very severe law on those who did this 
 at or near the images of great men. 
 This our poet turns into a jest on the 
 statues above mentioned. Some are 
 for giving the line another turn, as if 
 Juvenal meant, that it was right, or 
 lawful, not only to do this, non tan- 
 tum mejere, but something worse. 
 But I take the first interpretation to 
 be the sense of the author, by which 
 ha would intimate, that the statues of 
 such vile people were not only erected 
 among those of great men, but were 
 actually protected, like them, from 
 all marks of indignity. So Pebs. sat. 
 
«at. i. JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 21 
 
 The day itself is distinguished by a beautiful order of things: 
 The sportula, then the forum, and Apollo learned in the 
 
 law, *r 
 
 And the triuniphals : among which, an Egyptian, I know 
 
 not who, 115 
 
 Has dared to have titles : and an Arabian prsefect ; 
 At whose image it is not right so much as to make water. 
 The old and tired clients go away from the vestibules, 
 And lay aside their wishes, althd' the man has had a very 
 
 long 
 Expectation of a supper : pot herbs for the wretches, and 
 
 fire is to be bought. 120 
 
 Meanwhile their lord will devour the best things of the 
 
 woods, and of the sea, 
 And he only will lie on the empty beds : 
 For from so many beautiful, and wide, and ancient dishes, 
 
 i. 1. 110. Sacer est locus, ite prophani, The poet seems to mention this by 
 
 extro mejite. way of contrast to what follows. 
 
 118. The old and tired clients.'] The 121. Their lord.] L e. The patron 
 
 clients were retainers, or dependents, of these clients. Rex not only signi- 
 
 on great men, who became their pa- fies a king, but any great or rich man : 
 
 trons : to these the clients paid all so a patron. This from the power and 
 
 reverence, honour, and observance, dominion which he exercised over his 
 
 The patrons, on their part, afforded clients. Hence, as well as from his 
 
 them their interest, protection, and protection and care over them, he 
 
 defence. They also in better times, was called patronus, from the Greek 
 
 made entertainments, to which they vrxrgwv, fe»o;, from cr«TWi a father, 
 
 invited their clients. See before, note — Meanwhile.] i. e. While the poor 
 
 on 1. 81. Here the poor clients are clients are forced to take up with a 
 
 represented as wearied out with wait- few boiled coleworts; 
 
 ing, in long expectation of a supper, — The best tilings of the Mods, <|r;] 
 
 and going away in despair, under their The woods are to be ransacked for the 
 
 disappointment. Cliens is derived choicest game, and the sea for the finest 
 
 from Greek x.\nu, celebro, celebrem sorts of fish, to satisfy the patron's 
 
 reddo ; for it was no small part of gluttony : these he will devour, with- 
 
 their business to flatter and praise out asking any body to partake with 
 
 their patrons. him. 
 
 — Vestibules.] The porches, or en- 122. On the empty beds.] The Ro- 
 
 tries of great men's houses. mans lay along on beds, or couches, 
 
 Vestibulum ante, ipsum primoq?ic in at their meals. Several of these beds 
 
 limine. Virg. JEn. ii. 1. 469; are here supposed to be round the table 
 
 1 20. Pot-herbs.'] Caulis properly de- which were formerly occupied by his 
 notes the stalk or stem of an herb, friends and clients, but they are now va- 
 and by Synecdoche, any kind of pot- cant — not a single guest is invited to 
 herb, especially coleworts, or cabbage, occupy them, or to partake of the en- 
 See AlNSW. Caulis, No. 2. tertainment with this selfish glutton. 
 
 -Tobebought.] Thehungry wretches 123. Dishes.] Which were round, 
 
 go from the patron's door, in order to in an orbicular shape ; hence called 
 
 lay out the poor pittance which they orbes. 
 
 may have received from the sportula — Beautiful] Of a beautiful pattern 
 
 in some kind of pot-herbs, and in buy- —ancient — valuable for their antiqui- 
 
 ing a little fire-wood, in order to dress ty ; made probably, by some artists 
 
 them for a scanty meal. of old time. 
 
522 
 
 JUVENALIS SATlRiE 
 
 Antiquis, una comedunt patrimonia mensa. 
 Nullus jam parasitus erit: sed quis feret istas 
 Luxuriae sordes ? quanta est gula, quae sibi totos 
 Ponit apros, animal propter convivia natum ? 
 Poena tamen praesens, cum tu deponis amictus 
 Turgid us, et crudum pavonem in balnea portas : 
 Hinc subitos mortes, atque intestata senectus. 
 It nova, nee tristis per cunctas fabula ccenas : 
 Ducitur iratis plaudendum funus amicis. 
 Nil erit ulterius, quod nostris moribus addat 
 Posteritas : eadem cupient, facientque minores. 
 Oaixe in pr.ecipiti vitium stetit : utere velis, 
 Totos pande sinus. Dicas hie forsitan, " unde 
 " Ingenium par materia? ? unde ilia priorum 
 " Scribendi quodcunque animo flagrante liberet 
 
 SAT. 1, 
 
 125 
 
 130 
 
 135 
 
 124. At one meal] Mensa. — lit. 
 table — which (by Meton.) stands here 
 for what is set upon it. Thus they 
 waste and devour their estates in this 
 abominable and selfish gluttony. 
 
 125. No parasite] From Tracpac near, 
 and enrov food. 
 
 These were a kind of jesters, and 
 flatterers, who were frequently invited 
 to the tables of the great ; and who, 
 indeed, had this in view, when they 
 flattered and paid their court to them. 
 Terence, in his Eunuch, has given a 
 most spirited and masterly specimen 
 of parasites, in his inimitable charac- 
 ter of Gnatho. 
 
 But so fallen were the great into the 
 meanest avarice, and into the most 
 sordid luxury, that they could gorman- 
 dize by themselves, without even in- 
 viting a parasite, to flatter or divert 
 them. But who, even though a pa- 
 rasite, would endure (feret) such a 
 sight ? 
 
 12G. Filthiness of luxury.] Sordes, 
 nastiness ; a happy word to describe 
 the beastliness of such gluttony with 
 regard to the patron himself, and its 
 stinginess and niggardliness, with re- 
 spect to others, 
 
 — How great is the gullet.] The glut- 
 tonous appetite of these men. 
 
 Puts.] Ponit, sets, places on the 
 
 table. 
 
 127. Whole boars, §c] A whole 
 boar at a time, the wild boar, espe- 
 
 cially the Tuscan, was an high article* 
 of luxury at all grand entertainments. 
 The word natum is here used as the 
 word natis. Hoit. lib. i. od. xxvii. 
 1. 1. See also Ovid, Met. lib. xv. 1. 
 117. 
 
 Quid mcruistis, ozes, placidum pc- 
 cus, itique tuendus 
 
 NATUM homines? 
 
 Juvenal speaks as if boars weie 
 made and produced for no other pur- 
 pose than convivial entertainments. 
 
 128. A present punishment.] Of 
 such horrid gluttony. 
 
 — Put off your clothes.] Strip your- 
 self for bathing. 
 
 129. Turgid.] Turgidus, swoln ; 
 puffed up with a full stomach. 
 
 — An indigested peacock.] Which 
 you have devoured, and which is crude 
 and indigested within you. 
 
 — To the baths.] It was the custom 
 to bathe before meals ; the contrary 
 was reckoned unwholesome. See Peb.>. 
 sat. iii. 1. 98 — 105. and Hon. Epist. 
 lib. i. Ep. vi. 1. 61. 
 
 130. Sudden deaths.] Apoplexies 
 and the like, which arise from too- 
 great repletion. Bathing with a full 
 stomach must be likely to occasion 
 these, by forcing the blood with too 
 great violence towards the brain. 
 
 — Intestate old age.] i. e. Old glut- 
 tons thus suddenly cut off, w ithout 
 time to make their wills. 
 
 131. A nev> story, <§;c] A fresh piece 
 pf news which nebedy is scrry for. 
 
JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 23 
 
 They devour patrimonies at one meal. 
 
 There will now be no parasite : but who will bear that 1 25 
 
 Filthiness of luxury? how great is the gullet, which, for 
 
 itself, puts 
 Whole boars, an animal born for feasts ? 
 Yet there is a present punishment when you put off your 
 
 clothes, 
 Turgid, and carry an indigested peacock to the baths : 
 Hence sudden deaths, and intestate old age. 130 
 
 A new story, nor is it a sorrowful one, goes thro' all com- 
 panies : 
 A funeral, to be applauded by angry friends, is carried forth. 
 There will be nothing farther, which posterity can add 
 To our morals : those born after us will desire and do the 
 
 same things. 
 All vice is at the height. Use sails, 135 
 
 Spread their whole bosoms open. Here, perhaps, you'll 
 
 say — " Whence 
 " Is there genius equal to the matter? Whence that simplicity 
 (( Of former (writers), of writing whatever they might like, 
 with 
 
 132. A funeral is carried forth.] 
 The word ducitur is peculiarly used 
 to denote the carrying. forth a corpse 
 to burial, or to the funeral pile. So 
 Viiig. Geor. iv. 256. 
 
 Exportant tectis, et tristia funera 
 
 DUCUNT. 
 
 Owing perhaps to the procession of 
 the friends, &c. of the deceased, which 
 went before the corpse, and led it to 
 the place of burning, or interment. 
 
 —Applauded by angry friends.] 
 Who, disobliged by having nothing 
 left them, from the deceased's dying 
 suddenly, and without a will, express 
 their resentment by rejoicing at his 
 death instead of lamenting it. See 
 Pers. sat. vi. 33, 4. 
 
 134. To our morals.] Our vices and 
 debaucheries, owing to the depravity 
 and corruption of our morals. 
 
 — Those born after us.] Minores, i.e. 
 natu, our descendants ; the opposite 
 of majores natu, our ancestors. 
 
 135. All vice is at the height.] In 
 praecipiti stetit, hath stood, hath been 
 for some time at its highest pitch, at 
 its summit, so that our posterity can 
 
 carry it no higher. Compare the two 
 preceding lines. 
 
 Vice is at stand, and at the highest 
 flow. Dryden. 
 
 On tip-toe. Ainsw. 
 
 135 — 6. Use sails. Spread, fyc] A 
 metaphor taken from sailors, who, 
 when they have a fair wind, spread 
 open their sails as much as they can. 
 The poet here insinuates, that there 
 is now a fair opportunity for satire to 
 display all its powers. 
 
 136 — 7. Whence isthcre genius, $c] 
 Here he is supposed to be interrupted 
 by some friend, who starts an objec- 
 tion, on his invocation to Satire to 
 spread all its sails, and use all its 
 powers against the vices of the times. 
 
 Where shall we find genius equal 
 to the matter? equal to range so wide 
 a field ? equal to the description and 
 due correction of so much vice? 
 
 137. Whence that simplicity, §c] 
 That simple and undisguised freedom 
 of reproof which former writers exer- 
 cised. Alluding, perhaps, to JLucilius, 
 Horace, and other writers of former 
 times. 
 
24 
 
 JUTENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 .** Simplicitas, cujus non audeo dicere nomen ? 
 * Quid refert dictis ignoscat Mutius, an non? 
 " Pone Tigellinum, taeda lucebis in ilia, 
 ct Qua stantes ardent, qui fixo gutture fumant, 
 " Et latum media sulcum deducis arena. 
 " Qui dedit ergo tribus patruis aconita, vehetur 
 " Pensilibus plumis, atque illinc despiciet nos ? 
 " Cum veniet contra, digito compesce labellum : 
 " Accusator erit, qui verbum dixerit, hie est. 
 " Securus licet iEneam, Rutilumque ferocem 
 
 SAT. i. 
 
 140 
 
 145 
 
 139. A burning mind.] Inflamed 
 with zeal, and burning with satiric 
 rage against the vices and abuses of 
 their times. 
 
 — Of which I dare not, $c] It is 
 hardly safe now to name, or mention, 
 the liberty of the old writers ; it is so 
 sunk and gone, that the very naming 
 it is dangerous. 
 
 140. Mutius.] Titus Mutius Albu- 
 tius, a very great and powerful man. 
 He was satirized by Luciiius, and this 
 most severely by name. See note on 
 Pers. sat i. I. 115. 
 
 Luciiius feared no bad consequences 
 of this, in those days of liberty. 
 
 141. Set down TigeUinus.] i. e. Ex- 
 pose him as an object of satire — sati- 
 rize this creature and infamous fa- 
 vourite of Nero's, and most terrible 
 will be the consequence. 
 
 — In that torch.] This cruel punish- 
 ment seems to have been proper to 
 incendiaries, in which light the poet 
 humourously supposes the satirizers of 
 the emperor's favourites, and other 
 great men, to be looked upon at that 
 time- 
 After Nero had burnt Rome, to sa- 
 tisfy his curiosity with the prospect, 
 he contrived to lay the odium on the 
 Christians, and charged them with 
 setting the city on fire. He caused 
 them to be wrapped round with gar- 
 ments, which were bedaubed with 
 pitch, and other combustible matters, 
 and set on fire at night, by way of 
 torches to enlighten the streets ; and 
 thus they miserably perished. See 
 Keknett, Ant. p. 147. 
 
 142. Standing.] In an erect posture. 
 — With fixed throat] Fastened by 
 
 the neck to a stake. 
 
 143. And you draw out a wide fur- 
 
 row, $c] After all the danger which 
 a satirist runs of his life, for attacking 
 Tigellinus, or any other minion of 
 the emperor's, all his labour will be 
 in vain ; there is no hope of doing 
 any good. It would be like plough- 
 ing in the barren sand, and would 
 yield nothing to reward your pains. 
 
 Commentators have given various 
 explanations of this line, which is very 
 difficult, and almost unintelligible 
 where the copies read deducet, as if 
 relating to the fumant in the preced- 
 ing line; but this cannot well be, that 
 the plural should be expressed by the 
 third person singular. They talk of 
 the sufferer's making a trench in the 
 sand, by running round the post, to 
 avoid the flames ; but how can this 
 be, when the person has the combus- 
 tibles fastened round him, and must 
 be in the midst of fire, go where he 
 may? Besides, this idea does not 
 agree with fixo gutture, which im- 
 plies being fastened, or fixed, so as 
 not to be able to stir. 
 
 Instead of deducet, or deducit, I 
 should think deducis the right read- 
 ing, as others have thought before me. 
 This agrees, in number andperson, with 
 lucebis, 1. 141 1 and gives us an easy and 
 natural solution of the observation ; 
 viz. that, after all the dangers incur- 
 red by satirizing the emperor's fa- 
 vourites, no good was to be expect- 
 ed : they were too bad to be reformed. 
 
 The Greeks had a proverbial say- 
 ing, much like what 1 contend for 
 here, to express labouring in vain, viz. 
 Aftjxcv fjAT^tiq — Arenam metiris, you 
 measure the sand — i. e. of the sea. 
 
 Juvenal expresses the same thought, 
 sat. vii. 48, 9. as I would suppose him 
 to do in this line. 
 
SAT. I. 
 
 JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 25 
 
 " A burning mind, of which I dare not tell the name. 
 * What signifies it, whether Mutius might forgive what 
 
 they said or not^ 140 
 
 " Set down Tigellinus, and you will shine in that torch, 
 "In which standing they burn, who with fixed throat 
 
 smoke; 
 * c And you draw out a wide furrow in the midst of sand. 
 " Shall he, therefore, who gave wolf's bane to three uncles, 
 
 be carried 14 4 
 
 " With pensile feathers, and from thence look down on us ?" 
 w When he shall come opposite, restrain your lip with your 
 
 finger — 
 " There will be an accuser (of him) who shall say the word— 
 
 " That's he." 
 " Though, secure, iEneas and the fierce Rutilian 
 
 Nos tamcn hoc agimus, 
 
 pulvere sulcos 
 Ducimus, et littus steriliversamus 
 
 aratro. 
 
 144. Wolfsbane.] Aconitum is the 
 Latin for this poisonous herb ; but it 
 is used in the plural, as here, to de- 
 note other sorts of poison, or poison 
 in general. See Ovid, Met. i. 147. 
 
 Lurida terribilcs miscent Aconita 
 novercce. 
 
 — Three uncles.] Tigellinus is here 
 meant, who poisoned three uncles that 
 he might possess himself of their es- 
 states. And, after their death, he 
 forged wills for them, by which he 
 became possessed of all they had. He 
 likewise impeached several of the no- 
 bility, and got their estates. See more 
 in Aiisrsw, under Tigellinus. 
 
 — Shall he, therefore, <|c] "And 
 " because there may be danger in wri- 
 " ting satire, as things now are, is 
 " such a character as this to triumph 
 " in his wickedness unmolested ? 
 «' Shall he be carried about in state, 
 *'* and look down with contempt upon 
 " other people, and shall I not dare 
 *' to say a word ?" This we may sup- 
 pose Juvenal to mean, on hearing 
 what is said about the danger of wri- 
 ting satire, and on being cautioned 
 against it. 
 
 145. With pensile feathers.] Pensilis 
 means, literally, hanging in the air. 
 It was a piece of luxury to have a 
 mattress and pillows stuffed with fea- 
 thers ; on which the great man repo- 
 
 sed himself in his litter. Hence the 
 poet makes use of the term pensilibus 
 to plumis, as being in the litter which 
 hung in the air, as it was carried 
 along by the bearers. See before, 1. 30. 
 and note ; and 1. 51, 2. and note. 
 
 — From thence.] From his easy 
 litter. 
 
 — Look down.] With contempt and 
 disdain. 
 
 146. When he shall come opposite.] 
 The moment you meet him, carried 
 along in his stately litter, (says Juve- 
 nal's supposed adviser,) instead of 
 saying any thing, or taking any no- 
 tice of him, let him pass quietly — . 
 lay your hand on your mouth — hold 
 your tongue — be silent. 
 
 147; There will be an accuser.] An 
 informer, who will lay an accusation 
 before the emperor, if you do but so 
 much as point with your finger, or 
 utter with your lips, " That's he." 
 Therefore, that neither of these may 
 happen, lay your finger upon your 
 lips, and make not the slightest re- 
 mark. 
 
 — (Of him) who.] Illi or illius is 
 here understood before qui, Sec. 
 
 148. Though, secure.] Though you 
 must not meddle with the living, you 
 may securely write what you please 
 about the dead. 
 
 — JEneas and the fierce Rutilian.] 
 i. e. ./Eneas, and Turnus, a king of 
 the Rutilians, the rival of JEneas, and 
 slain by him. Sec YlilG. Mn. sii. 
 919, &c. 
 
26 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRJE. 
 
 '* Committas : nulli gravis est percussus Achilles : 
 
 " Aut multum qusesitus Hylas, urnamque secutus. 
 
 " Ense velut stricto quoties Lucilius ardens 
 
 " Infremuit, vubet auditor, cui frigida mens est 
 
 " Criminibus, tacita sudant praecordia culpa : 
 
 " lnde irae, et lachrymae. Tecum prius ergo voluta 
 
 " Haec animo ante tubas ; galeatum sero duelli 
 
 " Pcenitet." Experiar quid concedatur in illos, 
 
 Quorum Flaminia tegitur cinis, atque Latina. 
 
 150 
 
 155 
 
 149. You may match.] Committas 
 is a metaphorical expression, taken 
 from matching or pairing gladiators, 
 or others, in single combat. 
 
 Martial says, 
 
 Cum Juvenale meo cur mc com- 
 mitterc tcntas ? 
 " Why do you endeavour to match 
 " me with my friend Juvenal ?" i. c. 
 in a poetical contest with him. 
 
 By committas we are therefore to 
 understand, that one might very safe- 
 ly write the history of jEneas and 
 Turn us, and match them together in 
 fight, as Virgil has done. 
 
 — Smitten Achilles.} Killed by Paris 
 in the temple of Apollo. 
 
 — Is grievous to none.] Nobody will 
 get into danger, or trouble, by writ- 
 ing the history of this event. 
 
 150; Hylas much sought.] By Her- 
 cules when he had lost him. See Vikg. 
 eel. vi. 43, 44. 
 
 — Followed hispitchrr.]'with which 
 he was sent by Hercules, to the river 
 Ascanius to draw some water : where 
 being seen, and fallen in love with by 
 
 three river-nymphs, they pulled him 
 into the stream. 
 
 On subjects like these, saith the ad- 
 viser, you may say what you please, 
 and nobody will take offence ; but be- 
 ware of attacking the vices of living 
 characters, however infamous or ob- 
 noxious. 
 
 151. Ardent.] Inflamed with satiric 
 rage against the vices of his day. 
 
 152. Raged.] Infremuit — roared 
 aloud, in his writings, which were as 
 terrible to the vicious, as the roaring 
 of a lion, which the verb infremo sig- 
 nifies : hence Met. to rage [violently, 
 or tumuItuoiHy. 
 
 — Reddens.] With anger and shame. 
 
 152-3. Frigid -with crimes.] Chilled, 
 as it were, with horror of conscience 
 — their blood ran cold as we should 
 say. 
 
 153. The bosom.] Praecordia — lit. 
 the parts about the heart — supposed 
 to be the scat of moral sensibility. 
 
 — Sweats.] Sweating is the effect of 
 hard labour. Sudant is here used me- 
 taphorically, to denote the state of a 
 
sat. i. JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 27 
 
 " You may match : smitten Achilles is grievous to none : 
 " Or Hylas much sought, and having followed his pitcher. 
 " As with a drawn sword, as often as Lucilius ardent 151 
 " Raged — the hearer reddens, who has a mind frigid 
 " With crimes ; the bosom sweats with silent guilt : 
 u Hence anger and tears. Therefore first revolve, with thyself, 
 " These things in thy mind, before the trumpets : the hel- 
 " meted late of a fight 155 
 
 " Repents." Ill try what may be allowed towards those, 
 Whose ashes are covered in the Flaminian and Latin way. 
 
 mind labouring, and toiling, under the 
 grievous burden of a guilty conscience. 
 This image is finely used, Mat. xi. 28. 
 151. Anger and tears.] Anger at 
 the satirist — tears of vexation and 
 sorrow at being exposed. 
 
 155. Before the trumpets.] A meta- 
 phor taken from the manner of giv- 
 ing the signal for battle, which was 
 done with the sound of trumpets. 
 
 Think well, says the adviser, before 
 you sound the alarm for your attack 
 — weigh well all hazards before you 
 begin. 
 
 — The hclmcted, $c.~\ When once 
 a man has gotten his helmet on, and 
 advances to the combat, it is too late 
 to change his mind. Once engaged 
 in writing satire, you must go through ; 
 there is no retreating. 
 
 156. ril try, §e.] Well, says Juve- 
 nal, since the writing satire on the 
 living is so dangerous, I'll try how 
 far it may be allowed me to satirize 
 the dead. 
 
 Hence he writes against no great 
 and powerful person, but under the 
 
 feigned name of some vicious charac- 
 ter that lived in past time. 
 
 157. Whose ashes are covered.] 
 When the bodies were consumed on 
 the funeral pile, the ashes were jput 
 into urns and buried. 
 
 — The Flaminian and Latin way.] 
 These were two great roads, or ways, 
 leading from Rome to other parts. In 
 the via Flaminia and via Latina, the 
 urns and remains of the nobles were 
 buried, and had monuments erected. 
 
 Hence have been so often found in 
 ancient Roman inscriptions on monu- 
 ments, Siste viator. 
 
 It was ordered by the law of the 
 Twelve Tables that nobody should be 
 buried within the city ; hence the urns 
 of the great were buried, and their 
 monuments were erected on those ce- 
 lebrated roads or ways. For the Fla- 
 minian way, see before, 1. 48. note. 
 The via Latina was of great extent, 
 reaching from Rome, through many 
 famous cities, to the farthest part of 
 Latium. 
 
Jrattra 5C*rtia- 
 
 Juvenal introduces Umbritius, an old friend of his, tak- 
 ing his departure Jrom Rome, and going to settle in a 
 country retirement at Cumcc. He accompanies Umbri- 
 tius out of town ; and, before they take leave of each 
 other, Umbritlus tells his friend Juvenal the reasons 
 
 QUAMVIS digressu veteris confusus amici, 
 Laudo tamen vacuis quod sedem figere Cumis 
 Dcstinet, atque unum civem donare Sibylla?. 
 Janua Baiarum est, et gratum littus amoeni 
 Secesstts. Ego vel Prochytam praepono Suburrae. 
 Nam quid tarn miserum, tarn solum vidimus, ut non 
 Deterius credas horrere incendia, lapsus 
 Tectorum assiduos, ac mille pericula saevae 
 Urbis, et Augusto recitantes mense poetas ? 
 Sed dum tota domus rheda componitur una. ^J 
 
 10 
 
 Line 2. Cumce.] An ancient city of 
 Campania near the sea. Some think 
 it had its name from xu jautoc, waves : 
 the waves, in rough weather, dashing 
 against the walls of it. Others think 
 it was so called from its being built 
 by the Cumtei of Asia. Plix. hi. 4. 
 Juvenal calls it empty in comparison 
 with the populousness of Rome : it was 
 now, probably, much decayed, and 
 but thinly inhabited : on this account 
 it might be looked upon as a place of 
 leisure, quiet, and retirement ; all 
 which may be understood by the word 
 vacuis. 
 
 3. The Sybil'] Quasi fiov (3ov\y), 
 Dei consilium. Aixsw. The Sibyls 
 were women, supposed to be inspired 
 with a spirit of prophecy. Authors 
 are not agreed as to the number of 
 them ; but the most famous was the 
 Cumsean, so called from having her 
 residence at Cumae. Umbritius was 
 now going to bestow, dor.are, one 
 citizen on this abode of the Sybil, by 
 
 taking up his residence there. See 
 ViRG; Mx\. vi. 1. 10. et seq. 
 
 4. The gate of Baice.] Passengers 
 from Rome to Baiae were to pa:s 
 through Cumae; they went in on one 
 side, and came out on the other, as 
 through a gate. 
 
 — Baice.) A delightful city of Cam- 
 pania, of which Hor. lib. L epist. i. 
 1. 83- 
 
 NuBus in orbe sinus Baiis prcelucet 
 amoeni s. 
 Here were fine warm springs and 
 baths, both pleasant and healthful : 
 on which account it was much resort- 
 ed to by the nobility and gentry of 
 Rome, many of whom had villas there 
 for their summer residence. It foims 
 part of the bay of Naples* 
 
 — A grateful shore.] Gratum : 
 grateful, here, must be understood 
 in the sense of agreeable, pleasant. 
 The whole shore, from Cumae to Baiae, 
 was delightfully pleasant, and calcu- 
 lated for the most agreeable retire* 
 
Shirty Satire. 
 
 which had induced him to retire from Rome : each of 
 "which is replete with the keenest satire on its vicious 
 inhabitants. Thus the Poet carries on his design of in- 
 veighing against the vices and disorders which reigned 
 in that city. 
 
 THOUGH troubled at the departure of an old friend, 
 I yet approve that to fix his abode at empty Cumas 
 He purposes, and to give one citizen to the Sibyl. 
 It is the gate of Baise, and a grateful shore of pleasant 
 Retirement. I prefer even Prochyta to Suburra : 5 
 
 For what so wretched, so solitary do we see, that you 
 Would not think it worse to dread fires, the continual 
 Falling of houses, and a thousand perils of the fell 
 City, and poets reciting in the month of August ? 
 But while his whole house is put together in one vehicle, 10 
 
 ment. See the latter part of the last 
 note. * 
 
 5. Prochyta.] A small rugged island 
 in the Tyrrhenian sea, desert and bar- 
 ren. 
 
 — Suburra.] A street in Rome, 
 much frequented, but chiefly by the 
 vulgar, and by women of ill fame. 
 Hence Mart. vi. 66. 
 
 Fames non nimium bonce puclla, 
 Qualcs in media, sedent Suburra. 
 
 6. For -what so •wretched $c.~\ Solita- 
 ry and miserable as any place may 
 be, yet it is better to be there than 
 at Rome, where you have so many 
 dangers and inconveniences to appre- 
 hend. 
 
 7. Fires.] House-burnings, to which 
 populous cities, from many various 
 causes are continually liable, 
 
 8. Falling of houses.] Owing to the 
 little care taken of old and ruinous 
 buildings. Propertius speaks of the 
 two foregoing dangers. 
 
 Prazterea domibus Jlammam, domi- 
 busaue ruinam. 
 
 8-9. The fell city.] That habitation 
 of daily cruelty and mischief. 
 
 9. And poets reciting.] Juvenal 
 very humourously introduces this cir- 
 cumstance among the calamities and 
 inconveniences of living at Rome, 
 that even in the month of August, 
 the hottest season of the year, when 
 most people had retired into the coun- 
 try, so that one might hope to enjoy 
 some little quiet, even then you were 
 to be teazed to death, by the constant 
 din of the scribblingpoets reciting their 
 wretched compositions, and forcing 
 you to hear them. Comp. sat. i. 1. 
 1 — 14. where our poet expresses his 
 peculiar aversion to this. 
 
 10. His whole house, Qc-.] While 
 all his household furniture and goods 
 were packing up together in one wag- 
 gon, (as rheda may here signify.) 
 Umbritius was moving all his bag and 
 baggage, (as we say,) and, by its tak- 
 ing up no more room, it should seem 
 to have been very moderate in quan- 
 tity. 
 
so 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Substitit ad veteres arcus, madidamque Capenam : 
 Hie, ubi nocturnae Numa constituebat arnicas, 
 Nunc sacri fontis nemus, et del ubra locantur ^/ 
 Judaeis : quorum cophinus, fcenumque supellex. 
 Omnis enim populo mercedem pendere jussa est ^ 
 Arbor, et ejectis mendicat sylva Camcenis. 
 In vallem JEgerias descendimus, et speluncas 
 Dissimiles veris : quanto praestantius esset 
 Numen aquae, viridi si margine clauderet undas 
 
 11. He stood still.'] He may be sup- 
 posed to have walked on out of the 
 city, attended by his friend Juvenal, 
 expecting the vehicle with the goods 
 to overtake him, when loaded : he 
 now stood still to wait for its coming 
 up ; and in this situation he was, 
 when he began to tell his friend his 
 various reasons for leaving Rome, 
 which are just so many strokes of the 
 keenest satire upon the vices and fol- 
 lies of its inhabitants. 
 
 — At the old arches.] The ancient 
 triumphal arches of Romulus, and 
 of the Horatii, which were in that 
 part. Or perhaps the old arches of 
 the aqueducts might here be meant. 
 
 — Wet Capena.] One of the gates 
 of Rome, which led towards Capua: 
 it was sometimes called Triumphalis, 
 because those who rode in triumph 
 passed through It ; it was also called 
 Fontinalis, from the great number of 
 springs that were near it, which occa- 
 sioned building the aqueducts, by 
 which the water was carried by pipes 
 info the city : hence Juvenal calls it 
 madidam Capenam. Here is the spot 
 where Numa used to meet the goddess 
 vEgeria. 
 
 12. Numa.] Pompilius, successor 
 to Romulus. 
 
 — Nocturnal mistress.] The more 
 strongly to recommend his laws, and 
 the better to instil into the Romans 
 a reverence for religion, he persuaded 
 them, that every night he conversed 
 with a goddess, or nymph, called JEge- 
 ria, from whose mouth he received 
 hid v, hole form of government, both 
 civil and religious ; that their place of 
 meeting was in a grove without the 
 gate Capena, dedicated to the Muses, 
 • herein was a temple consecrated to 
 themandtothe goddess JEgeria, whose 
 fountain waters the grove ; for she is 
 
 fabled to have wept herself into a 
 fountain, for the death of Numa. 
 This fountain, grove, and temple, were 
 let out to the Jaws, at a yearly rent, 
 for habitation ; they having been dri- 
 ven out of the city by Domitian, and 
 compelled to lodge in these places, 
 heretofore sacred to the Muses. De- 
 lubra is a general term for places of 
 worship. SeeAixsw. By the phrase 
 nocturnae amicae constiLuebat, Juve- 
 nal speaks as if he were describing 
 an intrigue, where a man meets his 
 mistress by appointment at a particu- 
 lar place : from this we can be at no 
 loss to judge of our poet's very slight 
 opinion of the reality of the transac- 
 tion. 
 
 14. A hasJcei and hay, Qc] These 
 were all the furniture which these poor 
 creatures had — the sum total of their 
 goods and chattels. 
 
 This line has been looked upon as 
 very difficult to expound. Some com- 
 mentators have left it without any at- 
 tempt to explain it. Others have ra- 
 ther added to, than diminished from, 
 whatever its difficulty may be. They 
 tell us, that these were the marks not 
 of their poverty, but, by an ancient 
 custom, of their servitude in Egypt, 
 where, in baskets, they carried hay, 
 straw, and such things, for the mak- 
 of brick, and in such like labours. 
 See Exod. v. 7 — 18. This comment, 
 with the reasons given to support it, 
 we can only say, is very far fetched, 
 and is not warranted by any account 
 we have of the Jewish customs. 
 
 Others say, that the hay was to feed 
 then- cattle. But how could these 
 poor Jews be able to purchase, or to 
 maintain cattle, who were forced to 
 beg in order to maintain themselves ? 
 Others, that the hay was for their bed 
 on which they lay ; but neither is this 
 
SAT. III. 
 
 JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 He stood still at the old arches, and wet Capena ; 
 Here, where Numa appointed his nocturnal mistress, 
 Now the grove of the sacred fountain, and the shrines are 
 
 hired 
 To the Jews : of whom a basket and hay are the household 
 
 stuff. 14 
 
 For every tree is commanded to pay a rent to the people : 
 And the wood begs, the muses being ejected. 
 We descend into the vale of iEgeria, and into caves 
 Unlike the true: how much better might have been 
 The deity of the water, if, with a green margin, the grass 
 
 inclosed 
 
 likely ; for the poet, in another satire, 
 describes a mendicant Jewess as com- 
 ing into the city, and leaving her 
 basket and hay behind her ; which 
 implies, that the basket and hay were 
 usually carried about with them when 
 they went a begging elsewhere. Now 
 it is not to be supposed that they 
 should carry about so lai-ge a quantity 
 of hay, as served them to lie upon 
 when at home in the grove. 
 
 It is clear that the basket and hay 
 are mentioned together here, and in 
 the place before mentioned, from 
 whence I infer, that they had little 
 wicker baskets in which they put the 
 money, provisions, or other small 
 alms which they received of the pass- 
 ers by, and, in order to stow them the 
 better, and to prevent their dropping 
 through the interstices of the wicker, 
 put wisps of hay, or dried grass, in 
 the inside of the baskets. These Jew 
 beggars were as well known by bas- 
 kets with hay in them, as our beggars 
 are by their wallets, or our soldiers 
 by their knapsacks. Hence the Jew- 
 ess, in the satire above alluded to, 
 left her basket and hay behind her 
 when she came into the city, for fear 
 they should betray her, and subject 
 her to punishment for infringing the 
 emperor's order against the Jews com- 
 ing into the city. Her manner of 
 begging too, by a whisper in the ear, 
 «■ems to confirm this supposition. 
 The Latin cophinus is the same as Gv. 
 x&ipivos, which is used several times 
 in the New Testament to denote a 
 provision-basket, made use of among 
 the Jews. See Matt. xiv. 20. Matt. 
 xvi. 9, 10. Mark vi. 43. Mark viii. 
 
 19, 20. Luke ix. 17. John vi. 13. 
 
 15. To pay a rent] The grove 
 being let out to the Jews, every tree, 
 as it were, might be said to bring in a 
 rent to the people at Rome. The poet 
 seems to mention this as a proof of 
 the public avarice, created by the 
 public extravagance, which led them 
 to hire out these sacred places for 
 what they could get, by letting them 
 to the poor Jews, who could only pay 
 for them out of what they got by 
 begging. 
 
 16. The wood begs, $c] L e. The 
 Jews, who were now the inhabitants 
 of the wood, (meton.) were all beg- 
 gars ; nothing else was to be seen in 
 those once sacred abodes of the Muses, 
 who were now banished. 
 
 17. We descend, $c.] Umbritius 
 and Juvenal sauntered on, till they 
 came to that part of the grove which 
 was called the vale of iEgeria, so 
 called, probably, from the fountain, 
 into which she was changed, running 
 there. 
 
 17_18. And into caves ivnYike the 
 true.] These caves, in their primitive 
 state, were as nature formed them, 
 but had been profaned with artificial 
 ornaments, which had destroyed their 
 native beauty and simplicity. 
 
 18. How much better.] How much 
 more suitably situated. 
 
 19. The deity of the water.] Each 
 fountain was supposed to have a 
 nymph, or naiad, belonging to it, who 
 presided over it as the goddess of the 
 water ; iEgeria may be supposed to 
 be here meant. 
 
 — If, with a green margin, 8[C.] If, 
 instead of ornamenting the banks 
 
32 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Herba, nee ingenuum violarent marmora topliuni ? 20 
 
 Hie tunc Umbritius : quando artibus, inquit, honestis 
 
 Xullus in urbe locus, nulla emolumenta laborum, 
 
 Res hodie minor est, here quam fuit, atque eadem eras 
 
 Deteret exiguis aliquid ; proponhnus illuc 
 
 Ire, fatigatas ubi Da?dalus exuit alas : 25 
 
 Dum nova canities, dum prima, et recta scnectus, 
 
 Dum superest Lachesi quod torqueat, et pedibus me 
 
 Porto meis, nullo dextram subeunte bacillo, 
 
 Cedamus patria : vivant Arturius istic, 
 
 Et Catulus : maneant qui nigra in Candida vertunt, 30 
 
 Queis facile est aedem conducere, flumina, portus, 
 
 with artificial borers made of marble, 
 they had been left in their natural 
 state, simple and unadorned by hu- 
 man art, having no other margin but 
 the native turf, and the rude stone 
 (tophum) which Was the genuine pro- 
 duce of the soil. These were once 
 consecrated in honour of the fountain- 
 nymph, but had now been violated 
 and destroyed, in order to make way 
 for artificial ornaments of marhle, 
 which Roman luxury and extrava- 
 gance had put in their place. 
 
 21. Here then Umbritius.] Juvenal 
 and his friend Umbritius being ar- 
 rived at this spot, at the profanation 
 of which they were both equally 
 scandalized, Umbritius there began to 
 inveigh against the city of Rome, 
 from whicn he was now about to de- 
 part, and spake as follows. 
 
 Honest arts.] Liberal arts and 
 
 science, such as poetry, and other 
 literary pursuits, which are honour- 
 able. Comp. sat. vii. 1-6. Honestis 
 artibus, in contradistinction to the 
 dishonest and shameful methods of 
 emplovment, which received counte- 
 nance and encouragement from the 
 great and opulent. Umbritius was 
 himself a poet. See this sat. 1. 310, 
 11. 
 
 22. Xo emohonents of labour.] No- 
 thing to be gotten by all the pains of 
 honest industry. 
 
 23. One's substance, <|c] Instead 
 of increasing what I have, I find it 
 daily decrease ; as I can get nothing 
 to replace what I spend, by all the 
 pains I can take. 
 
 — And the same to-morrozc, £c] 
 This same poor pittance of mine will 
 to-morrow be wearing away some- 
 thing from the little that is left of it 
 to-day : and so I must find myself 
 growing poorer from day to day. 
 Deteret is a metaphorical expression, 
 taken from the action of the file, which 
 gradually wears away and diminishes 
 the bodies to which it is applied. So 
 the necessary expences of Umbritius 
 and his family were wearing away his 
 substance in that expensive place, 
 which he determines to leave, for a 
 more private and cheaper part of the 
 country. 
 
 21. IVc propose.] i. c. I r.'.ul my 
 family propose — or proponhnus for 
 propono. Synec. 
 
 -23-6. Thither to go.] i.e. ToCama?, 
 where Daedalus alighted after his 
 flight from Crete. 
 
 26. Greyness is neu:] While grey 
 hairs, newly appearing, warn me that 
 old age is coming upon me. 
 
 — Fnsh and upright.] While old 
 aje in its first stage appears, and I am 
 not yet so far advanced as to be bent 
 double, but am able to hold myself 
 upright. The ancients supposed old 
 age fir^st to commence about the 4(ith 
 year. Cic. de Senectute. Philoso- 
 phers (says Holyday) divide man's 
 life according to its several stages. 
 First, infantia to three or four years 
 of age. Secondly, puerr.ia, thence to 
 ten. From ten to eighteen, pubertas. 
 Thence to twenty-five, adolescentia. 
 Then juventus, from twenty-five to 
 thirty-five or forty. Thence to fifty, 
 Betas, virilis. Then came senectus 
 
sat. in. JUVENAL'S SATIRES S3 
 
 The waters, nor had marbles violated the natural stone ? 20 
 Here then Umbritiusj — Since for honest arts, says he, 
 There is no place in the city, no emoluments of labour, 
 One's substance is to-day less than it was yesterday, and the 
 
 same to-morrow, 
 Will diminish something from the little : we propose thither 
 To go, where Daedalus put oft his weary wings, 25 
 
 While greyness is new, while old age is fresh and upright, 
 While there remains to Lachesis what she may spin, and 
 
 on my feet 
 Myself I carry, no staff sustaining my hand, 
 Let us leave our native soil : let Arturius live there, 
 And Catulus : let those stay who turn black into white. 30 
 To whom it is easy to hire a building, rivers, ports, 
 
 prima et recta till sixty-five ; and then 
 ultima et decrepita till death. 
 
 27. While there remains to Lache- 
 sis, <£c] One of the three destinies : 
 she was supposed to spin the thread 
 of human life. 
 
 The Parcae, or poetical fates or des- 
 tinies, were Clotho, Lachesis, and 
 Atropos. The first held the distaff ; 
 the second drew out, and spun the 
 thread ; which the last cut off when 
 finished. 
 
 — And on my feet, <|-c.] While I 
 can stand on my own legs, and walk 
 without the help of a staff. 
 
 29. Let us leave, §c.~\ Let me, and 
 all that belongs to me, take an ever- 
 lasting farewell of that detested city, 
 which, though my native place, I am 
 heartily tired of, as none but knaves 
 are fit to live there. 
 
 29-30. Arturius and Catulus.'] Two 
 knaves, who, from very low life, had 
 raised themselves to large and affluent 
 circumstances. Umbritius seems to 
 introduce them as examples, to prove 
 that such people found more encou- 
 ragement in Rome, than the profes- 
 sors of the liberal arts could hope for. 
 See before, 1. 21. note 2. 
 
 30. Let those star/, <§~c.] He means 
 those, who by craft and subtlety 
 could utterly invert and change the 
 appearances of things, making virtue 
 appear as vice, and vice as virtue ; 
 falsehood as truth, and truth as false- 
 hood. Such were Arturius and 
 Catulus. 
 
 31. To hire a luil&ing.\ The word 
 
 aedem, here being joined with other 
 things of public concern, such as ri- 
 vers, ports, &c. seems to imply their 
 hiring some public buildings, of which 
 they made money; and it should 
 seem, from these lines, that the se- 
 veral branches of the public revenue 
 and expenditure were farmed out to 
 certain contractors, who were answer- 
 able to the aediles, and to the other 
 magistrates, for the due execution of 
 their contracts. Juvenal here seems 
 to point at the temples, theatres, and 
 other public buildings, which were 
 thus farmed out to these people, who, 
 from the wealth which they had ac- 
 quired, and of course from their re- 
 sponsibility, could easily procure such 
 contracts, by which they made an im- 
 mense and exorbitant profit. iEdis-is 
 signifies any kind of edifice. Ainsw. 
 Omne aedeficium cedis dicitur. 
 
 — Rivers.'] Fisheries perhaps, by 
 hiring which, they monopolized them, 
 so as to distress others, and enrich 
 themselves; or the carriage of goods 
 upon the rivers, for which a toll was 
 paid ; or, by flumina, may here be 
 meant, the beds of the rivers, hired 
 out to be cleaned and cleared at the 
 public expence. 
 
 — Ports.'] Where goods were export- 
 ed and imported ; the customs of these 
 ports they rented, and thus became 
 farmers of the public revenue, to the 
 great grievance of those who were to 
 pay the duties, and to the great emo- 
 lument of themselves, who were sure 
 to make the most of their bargain. 
 
u 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Siccandam eluviem, portanclum ad busta cadaver, 
 Et praebere caput domina venale sub hasta 
 Quondam hi cornicines, et municipalis arenas 
 Perpetui comites, notaeque per oppida buccae, 
 Munera nunc edunt, et verso pollice vulgi 
 Quemlibet occidunt populariter : inde reversi 
 Conducunt foricas : et cur non omnia ? cum sint 
 Quales ex humili magna ad fastigia rerum 
 Extoliit, quoties voluit Eortuna jocari. 
 Quid Romas faciam ? mentiri nescio : librum, 
 Si malus est, nequeo laudare, et poscere : motiis 
 
 35 
 
 40 
 
 32. A setccr to he d/ied.] Eluvies 
 signifies a sink or common-sewer ; 
 which is usual in great cities, to carry 
 off the water and filth that would 
 otherwise incommode the houses and 
 streets. From eluo, to wash out, wash 
 away. 
 
 These contractors undertook the 
 opening and clearing these from the 
 stoppages to which they were liable, 
 and by which, if not cleansed, the city 
 would have been in many parts over- 
 flowed. There was nothing so mean 
 and filthy, that these two men would 
 not have undertaken for the sake of 
 •gain. Here we find them scavengers. 
 
 A corpse, <£c] Busta were 
 
 places where dead bodies were burned; 
 also graves and sepulchres. Ainsw. 
 Bustum from ustum. Sometimes 
 these people hired or farmed funerals, 
 contracting for the expence at such a 
 price. In this too they found their 
 account. 
 
 33. And to expose, <£t\] These fel- 
 lows sometimes were mangonets, sel- 
 lers of slaves, which they purchased, 
 and then sold by auction. See Pers. 
 vi. 72, 3. 
 
 — The mistress-spear.] Domina 
 hasta. It is difficult to render these 
 two substantives literally into Eng- 
 lish, unless we join them, as we fre- 
 quently do some of our own ; as in 
 master-key, queen-bee, &c. 
 
 We read of the hasta decemviralis 
 which was fixed before the courts of 
 justice. So of the hasta centum viralis, 
 also fixed there. A spear was also 
 lixed in the forum where there was an 
 auction, and was a sign of it: all 
 things sold there were placed near it, 
 and were said to be sold under the 
 
 spear. Hence (by meton.) hasta is 
 used, by Cicero and others, to signify 
 an auction, or public sale of goods. 
 The word domina seems to imply the 
 power of disposal of the property in 
 persons and things sold there, the 
 possession and dominion over which 
 were settled by this mode of sale, in 
 the several purchasers. So that the 
 spear, or auction, might properly be 
 called domina, as ruling the disposal 
 of persons and things. 
 
 34. These, in time past, hom-blozc- 
 crs.~\ Such was formerly the occupa- 
 tion of these people; they had tra- 
 velled about the country, from town 
 to town, with little paltry shows of 
 gladiators, fencers, wrestlers, stage- 
 players, and the like, sounding horns 
 to call the people together, like our 
 trumpeters to a puppet-show. 
 
 — Municipal theatre ] Municipium 
 signifies a city or town-corporate, 
 which had the privileges and freedem 
 of Rome, and at the same time go- 
 verned by laws of its own, like our 
 corporations. Municipalis denotes any 
 thing belonging to such a town. 
 Most of these had arenas, or theatres, 
 where strolling companies of gladi- 
 ators, &c. (like our strolling players,) 
 used to exhibit. They were attended 
 by horn-blowers and trumpeters, who 
 sounded during the performance. 
 
 35. Checks known, $c] Blowers 
 on the horn, or trumpet, were some- 
 times called buccinatores, from the 
 great distension of the cheeks in the 
 action of blowing. This, by constant 
 use, left a swollen appearance on the 
 cheeks, for which these fellows were 
 well known in all the country towns. 
 Perhaps buccae is here put for buceimv,. 
 
JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 35 
 
 A sewer to be dried, a corpse to be carried to the pile, 
 And to expose a venal head under the mistress-spear. 
 These, in time past, horn blowers, and on a municipal 
 
 theatre 
 Perpetual attendants, and cheeks known through the towns, 
 Now set forth public shows, and the people's thumb being 
 
 turned 36 
 
 Kill whom they will, as the people please : thence returned 
 They hire jakes : and why not all things ? since they are 
 Such, as, from low estate, to great heights of circumstances 
 Fortune raises up, as often as she has a mind to joke. 40 
 What can I do at Rome ? I know not to lie : a book 
 If bad I cannot praise, and ask for : the motions 
 
 the horns, trumpets, and sueh wind 
 instruments as these fellows strolled 
 with about the country. See Aixsw. 
 Bucca, No. 3. 
 
 36. Now set forth public s7wws.] 
 Munera, so called because given to 
 the people at the expence of him who 
 set them forth. These fellows, who 
 had themselves been in the mean con- 
 dition above described, now are so 
 magnificent, as to treat the people 
 with public shows of gladiators at the 
 Roman theatre. 
 
 — The people's thumb, $c] This 
 alludes to a barbarous usage at fights 
 of gladiators, where, if the people 
 thought he that was overcome behaved 
 like a coward, without courage or art, 
 they made a sign for the vanquisher 
 to put him to death, by clenching the 
 hand, and holding or turning the 
 thumb upward. If the thumb were 
 turned downward, it was a signal to 
 spare his life. 
 
 37. Whom they will, $c] These 
 fellows, by treating the people with 
 shows, had grown so popular, and 
 had such influence among the vulgar, 
 that it was entirely in their power to 
 direct the spectators, as to the signal 
 for life or death, so that they either 
 killed or saved, by directing the plea- 
 sure of the people. See Ainsw. Po- 
 pularUer, No. 2. 
 
 — Thence returned, <$r.] Their 
 advancement to wealth did not alter 
 their mean pursuits ; after returning 
 from the splendour of the theatre, 
 they contract for emptying bog» 
 houses of their soil and iilth. Such 
 
 were called at Rome, foricarii and 
 latrinarii ; with us, night-men. 
 
 38. Why not all things ?] 
 
 Wliy hire they not the town, not 
 
 every thing, 
 Since such as they have fortune in 
 
 a string ? Dryden. 
 
 39. Such, as, from loxv estate.] The 
 poet here reckons the advancement of 
 such low people to the height of opu- 
 lence, as the sport of fortune, as one 
 of those frolics which she exercises 
 out of mere caprice and wantonness, 
 without any regard to desert. See 
 Hor. lib, i. ode xxiv. 1. 1-4-16. and 
 lib. iii. ode xxix, 1. 49-52. 
 
 40. Fortune.'] Had a temple and 
 was worshipped as a goddess* The 
 higher she raised up such wretches, 
 the more conspicuously contemptible 
 she might be said to make them, and 
 seemed to joke, or divert herself, at 
 their expence. See sat. x. 335. 
 
 41. / knoic not to lie.] Dissemble, 
 cant, flatter, say what I do not mean, 
 seem to approve what I dislike, and 
 praise what in my judgment I conr 
 demn. What then should I do at 
 Rome, where this is one of the only 
 means of advancement ? 
 
 42. Ask for.] It was a common 
 practice of low flatterers to commend 
 the writings of rich authors, however 
 bad, in order to ingratiate themselves 
 with them, and be invited to their 
 houses ; they also asked, as the 
 greatest favour, for the loan or gift 
 of a copy, which highly flattered the 
 composers. This may be meant by 
 poecere, in this place. See Hor. Art. 
 
36 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Astrorum ignoro : funus promittere patris 
 
 Nee volo, nee possum : ranarum viscera nunquam 
 
 Inspexi : ferre ad nuptam qua? mittit adulter, 45 
 
 Quae mandat, norint alii : me nemo ministro 
 
 Fur erit ; atque ideo nulli comes exeo, tanquam 
 
 Mancus, et extinctae corpus non utile dextrae. 
 
 Quis nunc diligitur, nisi conscius, et cui fervens 
 
 iEstuat occultis animus, semperque tacendis ? 50 
 
 Nil tibi se debere putat, nil conferet unquam, 
 
 Participem qui te secreti fecit honest i. 
 
 Carus erit Verri, qui Verrem tempore, quo vult, 
 
 Accusare potest. Tanti tibi non sit opaci 
 
 Omnis arena Tagi, quodque in mare volvitur aurum, 55 
 
 Poet. L 419-37. Martial has an epi- 
 gram on this subject. Epigr. xlviii. 
 lib. vi. 
 
 Quod tarn grande aotpus clamat tibi 
 
 turba togata, 
 Non, tu, Fomponi, ccena discrta 
 
 tua est. 
 Pomponius, thy wit is extolVd by 
 
 the rabble, 
 'Tis not thee they commend — but the 
 
 cheer at thy table. 
 42-3. Motions of the stars, |-c] I 
 have no pretensions to skill in astro- 
 logy. 
 
 43. The funeral of a father, $c] 
 He hereby hints at the profligacy and 
 ■want of natural affection in the 
 young men who wished the death of 
 their fathers, and even consulted 
 astrologers about the time when it 
 might happen ; which said pretended 
 diviners cozened the youths out of 
 their money, by pretending to find out 
 the certainty of such events by the 
 motions or situations of the planets. 
 
 This, says Umbritius, I neither can 
 nor will do. 
 
 44. The entrails of toads.] Rana is 
 a general word for all kinds of frogs 
 and toads. 
 
 The language here is metaphorical, 
 and alludes to augurs inspecting the 
 entrails of the beasts slain in sacri- 
 fice, on the view of which, they drew 
 their good or ill omens. 
 
 Out of the bowels of toads, poisons, 
 charms, and spells, were supposed to 
 be extracted, sat. i. 57. Umbritus 
 seems to say, " I never foretold the 
 ** death of fathers, or of other rich re- 
 
 " lations ; nor searched for poison, 
 " that my predictions might be made 
 " good by the secret administration 
 " of it." 
 
 45. To carry to a married -woman.] 
 1 never was pimp, or go-between, in 
 carrying on adulterous intrigues, by 
 secretly conveying lo\ e-letters, pre- 
 sents, or any of those matters which 
 gallants give in charge to their confi- 
 dants. I leave this to others. 
 
 4G. / assisting, <§c] No villainy 
 will ever be committed by my advice 
 or assistance. 
 
 47. I go forth, fyc] For these rea- 
 sons I depart from Rome, quite 
 alone, for I know none to whom I can 
 attach myself as a companion, so uni- 
 versally corrupt are the people. 
 
 48. Maimed.] Like a maimed 
 limb, which can be of no service in 
 any employment : just as unfit am I 
 for any employment which is now 
 going forward in Rome. 
 
 — The useless body, §e. ] As the body, 
 when the right-hand, or any other 
 limb that once belonged to it, is lost 
 and gone, is no longer able to main- 
 tain itself by laborious employment ; 
 so I, having no inclination or talent, 
 to undergo the drudgery of vice of 
 any kind, can never thrive at Rome. 
 
 Some copies read, extincta dextra ; 
 abl. abs. the right hand being lost. 
 The sense amounts to the same. 
 
 49. Unless conscious.] Who now 
 has any favour, attention, or regard 
 shewn him, but he who is conscious, 
 privy to, acquainted with, the wicked 
 secrets of others ? 
 
JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 37 
 
 Of the stars I am ignorant of : the funeral of a father to 
 
 promise 
 I neither will, nor can : the entrails of toads I never 
 Have inspected : to carry to a married woman what an 
 adulterer sends, 45 
 
 What he commits to charge, let others know : nobody, I 
 
 assisting, 
 Shall be a thief ; and therefore I go forth a companion to 
 
 none, as 
 Maimed, and the useless body of an extinct right-hand. 
 Who now is loved, unless conscious, and whose fervent 
 Mind boils with things hidden, and ever to remain in si- 
 lence ? 50 
 He thinks he owes you nothing, nothing will he bestow, 
 Who hath made you partaker of an honest secret. 
 He will be dear to Verres, who Verres, at any time he will, 
 Can accuse. Of so much value to you let not of shady 
 Tagus the whole sand be, and the gold which is rolled into 
 the sea, 55 
 
 49-50. Fervent mind lolls, <%c] Is 
 in a ferment, agitated between telling 
 and concealing what had been com- 
 mitted to its confidence. The words 
 fervens and aestuat are, in this view, 
 metaphorical, and taken from the 
 raging and boiling of the sea, when 
 agitated by a stormy wind. Fervet 
 vertigine pontus. Ov. Met. xi. 549. 
 So, aestuare semper fretum. Curt. 
 iv. 9. Ainsw. JEstuo, No. 4. 
 
 Hence sestuans signifies boiling 
 with any passion, when applied to the 
 mind. Animo aestuante reditum ad 
 vada retulit. Catull. See Ainsw. 
 See Isa. lvii. 20. 
 
 Or we may give the words another 
 turn, as descriptive of the torment 
 and uneasiness of mind which these 
 men must feel, in having become ac- 
 quainted with the most flagitious 
 crimes in others, by assisting them, 
 or partaking with them in the com- 
 mission of them, and which, for their 
 own sakes, they dare not reveal, as 
 well as from the fear of those by 
 whom they are intrusted. 
 
 Who now is lotfd out he who loves 
 the times, 
 
 Conscious of close intrigues, and 
 dipp'd in crimes : 
 
 Laboring with secrets which his 
 bosom burn. 
 
 Yet never must to jpublie light 
 return. Dryden. 
 
 51. He thinks he owes you nothing, 
 ^■c] Nobody will think himself obliged 
 to you for concealing honest and fair 
 transactions, or think it incumbent on 
 him to buy your silence by conferring 
 favours on you. 
 
 53. Verres.] Juvenal mentions him 
 here as an example of what he has 
 been saying. Most probably, under 
 the name of Verres, the poet means 
 some characters then living, who 
 made much of those who had them 
 in their power by being acquainted 
 with their secret villanies, and who, at 
 any time, could have ruined them by 
 a discovery. 
 
 54-5. Shady Tagus.~\ A river of 
 Spain, which discharges itself into 
 the ocean near Lisbon, in Portugal. 
 It was anciently said to have golden 
 sands. It was called opacus, dark, 
 obscure, or shady, from the thick 
 shade of the trees on its banks. 
 
 JEstus serenos aureo /ranges Tago 
 
 Obsctirus umbris arborum. 
 
 Mart. lib. i. epigr. 50. 
 Or opacus may denote a dusky turbid 
 appearance in the water. 
 
38 JUVENALIS SATIRE. sat. 
 
 Ut somno careas, ponendaque praemia sumas 
 Tristis, et a magno semper timearis amico. 
 
 Qua? nunc divitibus gens acceptissima nostris, 
 Et quos praccipue fugiam, properabo fateri ; 
 Nee pudor obstabit. Non possum ferre, Quirites, 
 Graecam urbem : quamvis quota portio fascis Achseae ? 
 Jamprideni Syrus in Tiberim defluxit Orontes, 
 Et linguam, et mores, et cum tibicine chordas 
 Obliquas, necnon gentilia tympana secum 
 
 60 
 
 56, That you should 'want sleep, 
 \\c] O thou, whoe'er thou art, that 
 may be solicited to such criminal se- 
 cresy by the rich and great, reflect on 
 the misery of such flagitious confi- 
 dence, and prefer the repose of a quiet 
 and easy conscience, to all the golden 
 sands of Tagus, to all the treasures 
 ■which it can roll into the sea ! These 
 would make you but ill amends for 
 .sleepless nights, when kept awake by 
 guilt and fear. 
 
 — Accept rewards to be rejected.] 
 i. e. Which ought to be rejected — by 
 way of hush-money, which, so far, 
 poor wretch, from making you happy, 
 will fill you with shame and sorrow, 
 and which, therefore, are to bo looked 
 upon as abominable, and to be utterly 
 refused, and laid aside. Foncnda ; 
 lit. to be laid down ; but here it has 
 the sense of abominanda — respuenda 
 — rejicienda — abneganda. See Hon. 
 lib. iii. od. ii. I. 19. 
 
 57. Feared, <§r.] The great man 
 who professes himself your friend, 
 and who has heaped his favours upon 
 you in order to bribe you to silence, 
 will be perpetually betraying a dread 
 of you, lest you should discover him. 
 The consequence of which, you may 
 have reason to apprehend, may be his 
 ridding himself of his fears by rid- 
 ding the world of you, lest you should 
 prove like others — magni delator 
 amid. See sat. i. 31. But whether 
 the great man betrays this fear or not, 
 you may be certain he will be con- 
 stantly possessed with it ; and a much 
 greater proof of this you cannot have, 
 than the pains he takes to buy your 
 silence. When he grows weary of 
 this method, you know what you may 
 expect. Alas ! can all the treasures 
 of the whole earth, make it worth 
 vour while to be in such a situation ! 
 Comp. 1, 103. 
 
 58. Wliat nation, <£c] Umbritius 
 proceeds in his reasons for retiring 
 from Rome. Having complained of 
 the sad state of the times, insomuch 
 that no honest man could thrive there, 
 he now attacks the introduction of 
 Grecians and other foreigners, the 
 fondness of the rich find great towards 
 them, and the sordid arts by which 
 they raised themselves. 
 
 60. Nor shall shame hinder.] In 
 short, I'll speak my mind without re- 
 serve, my modesty shall not stand in 
 my way. 
 
 — O Rninans.] Quirites — this an- 
 ciently was a name for the Sabine.% 
 from the city Cures, or from quiris, 
 a sort of spear used by them : but af- 
 ter their union with the Romans, this 
 appellation was used for the Roman 
 people in general. The name Quiri- 
 nus was first given to Romulus. 
 
 Probably the poet used the word 
 Quirites here, as reminding them of 
 their ancient simplicity of manners 
 and dress, by way of contrast to their 
 present corruption and effeminacy in 
 both ; owing very much to their fond- 
 ness of the Greeks and other foreign- 
 ers, for some time past introduced 
 among them. 
 
 61. A Grecian cit>/.] Meaning 
 Rome — now so transformed from 
 what it once was, by the rage which 
 the great people had for the language, 
 manners, dress, &c. of those Greeks 
 whom they invited and entertained, 
 that, as the inferior people are fond of 
 imitating their superiors, it was not 
 unlikely that the transformation might 
 become general throughout the whole 
 city : no longer Roman, but Grecian, 
 Umbritius could not bear the thought. 
 
 — Thoi' what is the portion, Qc] 
 Though, by the way, if we consider 
 the multitudes of other foreigners, 
 
JUVENAL'S SATIRES 
 
 39 
 
 That you should want sleep, and should accept rewards to 
 
 be rejected, ^ 
 Sorrowful, and be always feared by a great friend. 
 
 What nation is now roost acceptable to our rich men, 
 And whom I would particularly avoid, I will hasten to con- 
 fess ; 
 Nor shall shame hinder. O Romans, I cannot bear CO 
 A Grecian city : tho 1 what is the portion of Achaean dregs : 
 Some while since Syrian Orontes has flow'd into the Tiber, 
 And its language, and manners, and, with the piper, harps 
 Oblique, also its national timbrels, with itself 
 
 with which the city now abounds, 
 what, as to numbei-s, is the portion 
 of the Greeks ? they are comparatively 
 few. See sat. xiii. 157. Heec quota 
 pars scelerum, &c. What part is 
 this (i. e. how small a part or portion) 
 of the crimes, &c. 
 
 — Achoeandregs.] Acha?, or Achaia, 
 signifies the whole country of Greece, 
 anciently called Danae, whence the 
 Greeks are called Dana'i. Ain'SW. 
 Dregs — metaph. taken from the foul, 
 turbid, filthy sediment which wine 
 deposits at the bottom of the cask. A 
 fit emblem of these vile Greeks, as 
 though the}' were the filth and refuse 
 of all Greece. 
 
 Sometimes the word Achaea, or 
 Achaia, is to be understood in a more 
 confined sense, and denotes only some 
 of that part of Greece called Pelopon- 
 nesus, or Pelops' island, now the 
 Morea, anciently divided into Arcadia, 
 and Achaia, of which Corinth was the 
 capital : the inhabitants of this city 
 were proverbially lewd and wicked : 
 xopivviu^siv was a usual phrase to 
 express doing acts of effeminacy, 
 lewdness, and debauchery — what then 
 must the dregs of Corinth and its en- 
 virons have been ? See 1 Cor. vi. 9- 
 1 1 , former part. 
 
 62. Syrian Orontes.] Orontes was 
 the greatest river of Syria, a large 
 country of Asia. Umbritius had said 
 (at 1. 61.) that the portion of Grecians 
 Was small in comparison ; he now 
 proceeds to explain himself, by men- 
 tioning the inundation of Syrians, and 
 other Asiatic strangers, who had for 
 some time been flocking to Rome: 
 these were in such numbers from 
 Syria, and they had so introduced 
 
 their eastern manners, music, &c. that 
 one would fancy one's self on the- 
 banks of the Orontes, instead of the 
 Tiber. The river Orontes is here put 
 for the people who inhabited the tract 
 of country through which it ran. Me- 
 ton. So the Tiber for the city of 
 Rome, which stood on its banks. 
 
 62. Has florid.] Metaph. Tins well 
 expresses the idea of the numbers, as 
 well as the mischiefs they brought 
 with them, which were now over- 
 whelming the city of Rome, and ut- 
 terly destroying the morals of the 
 people. 
 
 63. With the piper,] Tibicen signi- 
 fies a player on a flute, or pipe. A 
 minstrel. They brought eastern mu- 
 sicians, as wellas musical instruments. 
 The flute was an instrument whose 
 soft sound tended to mollify and ener- 
 vate the mind. 
 
 G3-4. Harps oblique] Chordas, li- 
 terally strings : here it signifies the 
 instruments, which, being in a crook- 
 ed form, the strings must of course, 
 be obliquely placed. 
 
 64. National timbrels.] Tabours, 
 or little drums, in form of a hoop, 
 with parchment distended over it, and 
 bits of brass fixed to it to make a jing- 
 ling noise ; which the eastern people 
 made use of, as they do to this day, at 
 their feasts and dancings, and which 
 they beat with the fingers. 
 
 61-5. With itself hath brought.] 
 As a river, when it breaks its bounds, 
 carries along with it something from 
 a!l the different soils through which 
 it passes, and rolls along what it may 
 meet with in its way ; so the torrent 
 of Asiatics has brought with it from 
 Syria to Rcme, the language, morals, 
 
40 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Vexit, et ad Circum jussas prostare puellas. 
 lte, quibus grata est picta lupa Barbara mitra 
 
 Itusticus ille tuus sumit trechedipna, Quirine, 
 Et ceromatico fert niceteria collo. 
 
 Hie alta Sicyone, ast hie Amydone relicta, 
 Hie Andro, ille Samo hie Trallibus, aut Alabandis, 
 Esquilias, dictumque petunt a vioiine collem ; 
 Viscera magnarum domuum, dominique futuri. 
 
 Ingenium velox, audacia perdita, sermo 
 Promptus, et Isaeo torrentior : ede quid ilium 
 
 65 
 
 dress, music, and all the enervating 
 and effeminate vices of the several 
 eastern provinces from whence they 
 came. 
 
 65. Circus.] There were several 
 circi in Rome, which were places set 
 apart for the celebration of several 
 games : they were generally oblong, 
 or almost in the shape of a bow, hav- 
 ing a wall quite round, with ranges 
 of seats for the convenience of spec- 
 tators. The Circus maximus, which 
 is probably meant hero, was an im- 
 mense building; it was firs; built by 
 Tarquinius Priscus, but beautified and 
 adorned by succeeding princes, and 
 enlarged to such a prodigious extent, 
 as to be able to contain, in their pro- 
 per seats, two hundred and sixty 
 thousand spectators. See Kesxett, 
 Ant. part ii. book i. c. 4. 
 
 — Go ye, Qc] Umbritius may be 
 supposed to have uttered this with no 
 small indignation. 
 
 66. Strumpet.] Lupa literally sig- 
 nifies a she- wolf ; but an appellation 
 fitly bestowed on common whores or 
 bawds, whose profession led them to 
 support themselves by preying at large 
 on all they could get into their clutches. 
 Hence a brothel was called lupanar. 
 The Romans called all foreigners bar- 
 barians. 
 
 — A painted noire.] A sort of tur- 
 ban, worn by the Syrian women as a 
 part of their head-dress, ornamented 
 with painted linen. 
 
 67. O Quirinus.] O Romulus, thou 
 great founder of this now degenerate 
 city ! See note on 1. 60. 
 
 — That rustic of thine.] In the 
 days of Romulus, and under his go- 
 vernment, the Romans were a hardy 
 race of shepherds and husbandmen. 
 Sat. viii. 1. 273, i. rough in their 
 
 dress, and simple in their manners. 
 But alas ! how changed ! 
 
 — A Grecian dress.] Trechedipna— 
 from T££%o;, to run, and hiTrtov, a 
 supper. A kind of garment in which 
 they ran to other people's suppers. 
 AlNsw. It was certainly of Greek 
 extraction, and though the form and 
 materials of it are not described, yet 
 we must suppose it of the soft, effe- 
 minate or gaudy kind, very unlike 
 the garb and dress of the ancient rus- 
 tics of Romulus, and to speak a sad 
 change in the manners of the people. 
 Dryden renders the passage thus : 
 
 O Romulus, and father Mars, look 
 dozen ! 
 
 Your Jterdsjnan primitive, your 
 homely clown, 
 
 Is turned a beau, in a loose taxedry 
 gincn. 
 
 6?. Grecian ornaments] Niceteria 
 — rewards for victories, as rings, col- 
 lars of gold, &.C. Prizes. From Gr. 
 «xij, victory. 
 
 — On his perfumed neck.] Ceroma- 
 tico collo. The ceroma (Gr. y.n?uu.a., 
 from **£<>?, cera) was an oil temper- 
 ed with wax, wherewith wrestlers 
 anointed themselves. 
 
 But what proofs of effeminacy, or 
 depravation, doth the poet set forth 
 in these instances. 
 
 Using wrestlers' oil, and wearing 
 on the neck collars of gold, and other 
 insignia of victory, if to be under- 
 stood literally, seems but ill to agree 
 with the poet's design, to charge the 
 Romans with a loss of all former har- 
 diness and manliness: therefore we 
 are to understand this line in an ironi- 
 cal sense, meaning, that, instead of 
 wearing collars of gold as tokens of 
 victory, and rewards of courage and 
 
JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 41 
 
 Hath brought, and girls bidden to prostitute themselves at 
 
 the Circus.— ^ 65 
 
 Go ye, T ,vho like a Barbarian strumpet with a painted mitre. 
 
 That rustic of thine, Quirinus, assumes a Grecian dress, 
 And carries Grecian ornaments on his perfumed neck. 
 
 One leaving high Sicyon, but another Amydon, 
 He from Andros, another from Samos, another from Tralles, 
 or Alabanda, 70 
 
 Seek the Esquilias, and the hill named from an osier ; 
 The bowels, and future lords, of great families. 
 
 A quick wit, desperate impudence, speech 
 Heady, and more rapid than Isasus, Say — what do you 
 
 activity, their niceteria were trinkets 
 and gewgaws, worn merely as orna- 
 ments suitable to the effeminacy and 
 luxury into which, after the example 
 of the Grecians, Syrians, &c. they 
 were sunk. By the ceroma he must 
 also be understood to mean, that, in- 
 stead of wrestlers' Gil, which was a 
 mei- compound of oil and wax, their 
 ceroma was some curious perfumed 
 unguent with which they anointed 
 •their persons, their hair particularly, 
 merely out of luxury. Thus Mr. 
 Dryden : 
 
 J£is once urikem'd and horrid lochs 
 behold 
 
 Stilling sweet oil, 7iis neck enchaitfd 
 with gold : 
 
 Aping the foreigners in every dress, 
 
 Which, bought at greater cost, be- 
 comes him less. 
 
 69. High Sicyon.] An island in the 
 ^Egean sea, where the ground was 
 very high. The jEgean was a part 
 -of the Mediterranean sea, near Greece, 
 dividing Europe from Asia. It is now 
 called the Archipelago, and i;v the 
 Turks, the White sea. 
 
 — Amydon.] A city of Macedonia. 
 
 70. Andros.] An island end town 
 of Phrygia the Lesser, situate in the 
 JEgean sea. 
 
 — Samos.] An Island in the Ionian 
 sea, west of the bay of Corinth, now 
 under the republic of Venice, now 
 Cephalonie. 
 
 — Trultes.] A city of Lesser Asia 
 between Curia and Lydia. 
 
 — Alabanda.] A city uf'Caria in the 
 Lesser Asia. 
 
 Tl.Esquiliar.] The mops cwpulinus, 
 
 one of the seven hills in Rome ; so 
 called from esculus, a beech-tree, of 
 which many grew upon it. See Ainsw. 
 
 — The hill named, $e.} The colli? 
 viminalis, another of the seven hills 
 on which Rome was built : so called 
 from a wood or grove of osiers which 
 grew upon it. There was an altar 
 there to Jupiter, under the title of 
 Jupiter Viminalis, 
 
 These two parts of Rome may 
 stand (by synec.) for Rome itself : or 
 perhaps these ay ere parts of it where 
 these foreigners chiefly settled. 
 
 72. The boivcls, §c] Insinuating 
 themselves, by their art and subtlety, 
 into the intimacy of great and noble 
 families, so as to become their confi- 
 dants and favourites, their vitals as it 
 were, insomuch that, in time, they 
 govern the whole : and, in some in- 
 stances, become their heirs, and thus 
 lords over the family possessions.-™ 
 The wheedling and flattering of rich 
 people, in order to become their heirs, 
 are often mentioned in Juvenal ; such 
 people were called captatores. 
 
 73. A quick ten 1 .] Ingenium yelox. 
 Ingenium is a word of many mean- 
 ings; perhaps, here joined with Ye- 
 lox, it might be rendered a ready in- 
 vention. 
 
 — Desperate ir^p-idcnce.] That no T 
 thing can abash or dismay. 
 
 73-4. Speech ready.] Having words 
 at will. 
 
 7L Ix(vus.] A famous Athenian 
 orator, preceptor of Demosthenes. 
 Torrentijr, more copious, flowing 
 with more precipitation and fuJlncs--, 
 more like a roi;rejyt. 
 
 $ 
 
42 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Esse putes ? quemvis hominem secum attulit ad nos : 75 
 Grainmaticus, Rhetor, Geometres, Pictor, Aliptes, 
 Augur, Schoenobates, Medicus, Magus : omnia Dpvit. 
 Graeculus esuriens in coelum, jusseris, ibit. 
 
 Ad summum non Maurus erat, nee Sarmata, nee Thrax, 
 Qui sumpsit pennas, mediis sed natus Athenis. 80 
 
 Horum ego non fugiam conchylia ? me prior ille 
 Signabit ? fultusque toro meliore recumbet, 
 Advectus Romam, quo prima et coctona, vento ? 
 Usque adeo nihil est, quod nostra infantia caelum 
 Hausit Aventini, bacca nutrita Sabina 85 
 
 Quid ! — quod adulandi gens prudentissima laudat 
 Sermonem indocti, faciem deformis am.ci, 
 Et longum invalidi collum cervieibus aequat 
 Herculis, Antseum procul a tellure tenentis — 
 
 7-1. Say, §c] Now by the way, my 
 friend, tell me what you imagine such 
 a man to be ; I mean of what calling 
 or profession, or what do you think 
 him qualified for ? 
 
 75. Whatman, £«.] Well, Til not 
 puzzle you with guessing, but at once 
 inform you, that, in his own single 
 person, he has brought with him every 
 character that you can imagine : in 
 short, he is a jack of all trades. As 
 the French say, C'est un valet a tout 
 faire. Or, as is said of the Jesuits, 
 Jesuitus est omnis homo. 
 
 7 J. Anointer-.] Aliptes, (form Gr. 
 aMtpu, to anoint,) lie that anointed 
 the wrestlers, and took care of them. 
 Aixsw. 
 
 77. lie kno-ws all things.] Not only 
 what I have mentioned, but so versa- 
 tile is his genius, that nothing can 
 come amiss to him. There is nothing 
 that he does not pretend to the know- 
 ledge of. 
 
 78. A hungry Greek.} The dimi- 
 nutive Graeculus is sarcastical. q. d. 
 Let my little Grecian be pinched with 
 hunger, he would undertake any thing 
 you bade him, however impossible or 
 improbable ; like another Daedalus, 
 he would even attempt to fly into the 
 air. 
 
 79. In fine, $c] Ad summum ; 
 upon the whole, be it observed, that 
 the Greeks of old were a dexterous 
 people at contrivance; for the attempt 
 at flying was schemed by Daedalus, a 
 native of Athens. No man of any 
 
 other country has the honour of the 
 invention. 
 
 81. The splendid dress.] Conchylia; 
 shell-fish ; the liquor thereof made 
 purple, or scarlet colour : called ->l$o 
 muiex. Conchylium, by meton. sig- 
 nifies the colour itself ; also garments 
 dyed therewith, which were very ex- 
 pensive, and worn by the nobility and 
 other great people. 
 
 Shall not I fly, fugiam, avoid the 
 very sight of such garments, when 
 worn by such fellows as these, who 
 are only able to wear them by the 
 wealth which they have gotten by their 
 craft and imposition ? 
 
 81-2. Sign before me.] Set his name 
 before mine, as a witness to any deed 
 &c. which we may be called upon to 
 sign. 
 
 S2. Supported by a better eonch, £c] 
 The Romans lay on couches at their 
 convivial entertainments ; these cou- 
 ches were ornamented more or less, 
 some finerand handsomer than others, 
 which were occupied according to the 
 quality of the guests. The middle 
 couch was esteemed the most honour- 
 able place, and soin order from thence. 
 Must this vagabond Greek take place 
 of me at table, says Umhritius, as if 
 he were above me in point of quality 
 and consequence ? As we should say, 
 Shall he sit above me at table ? Hon. 
 lib. ii. sat. viii. 1. 20-3. describes an 
 arrangement of the company at ta- 
 ble. 
 
 83. Brought to Rome.] Advectus; 
 
SAT. III. 
 
 JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 43 
 
 Think him to be ? He has brought us with himself what 
 
 man you pleaser: 75 
 
 Grammarian, Rhetorician, Geometrician, Painter, Anointer, 
 
 Augur, Rope-dancer, Physician, Wizard : he knows all 
 
 things. 
 A hungry Greek will go into heaven, if you command. 
 
 In fine — he was not a Moor, nor Sarmatian, nor Thracian, 
 Who assumed wings, but born in the midst of Athens. 80 
 Shall I not avoid the splendid dress of these ? before me 
 
 shall he 
 Sign ? and supported by a better couch shall he lie at table, 
 Brought to Rome by the same wind as plumbs and figs ? 
 Is it even nothing that our infancy the air 
 Of Aventinus drew, nourished by the Sabine berry ? 85 
 What !— because a nation, most expert in flattery, praises 
 The speech of an unlearned, the face of a deformed friend, 
 And equals the long neck of the feeble, to the neck of 
 Hercules, holding Antaeus far from the earth — 
 
 imported from a foreign country, by 
 the same wind, and in the same ship, 
 with prunes, and little figs, from Syria. 
 These were called coctona, or cottana 
 as supposed, from Heb. ^tflp little. 
 Mart. lib. xiii. 28. parva cottana. 
 
 Syria pcculiares habet arbores, in 
 ficorum genere. Caricas, et minores 
 ejus generis, quae coctana vocant. 
 Plin. lib. xiii. C; 5. 
 
 Juvenal means to set forth the low 
 origin of these people ; that they, at 
 first, were brought out of Syria to 
 Rome, as dealers in small and con- 
 temptible articles. Or he may mean, 
 that as slaves they made a part of the 
 cargo, in one of these little trading 
 vessels. See sat. i. 96. 97. 
 
 85. Aventinus, <£c.] One of the 
 seven hills of Rome ; so called from 
 Avens, a river of the Sabines. Aisrsw. 
 Umbritius here with a patriotic indig- 
 nation at the preference given to fo- 
 reigners, asks, What ! is there no 
 privilege in having drawn our first 
 breath in Rome ? no pre-eminence in 
 being born a citizen of the first city 
 in the world, the conqueror and mis- 
 tress of all those countriesfrom whence 
 these people came ? Shall such fellows 
 as these not only vie with Roman 
 citizens, but be preferred before them. 
 
 — Sabine berry.'] A part of Italy on 
 the banks of the Tiber, once belong- 
 
 ing to the Sabines, was famous for* 
 olives, here called bacca Sabina. But 
 we are to understand all the nutritive 
 fruits and produce of the country in 
 general. Pro specie genus. Syn. In 
 contradistinction to the pruna et coc- 
 tona, 1. 83; 
 
 86. What /] As if he had said. 
 What ! is all the favour and preference 
 which these Greeks meet with, owing 
 to their talent for flattery ? are they 
 to be esteemed more than the citizens 
 of Rome, because they are a nation of 
 base sycophants ? 
 
 87. The speech, Sfc] Or discourse, 
 talk, conversation, of some ignorant, 
 stupid, rich patron, whose t'avorr :s 
 basely courted by the most barefaced 
 adulation. 
 
 — Face of a deformed, <$c.] Per- 
 suading him that he is handsome ; or 
 that his very deformities are beauties. 
 
 88. The long neck, <|-c] Compares 
 the long crane-neck of some puny 
 wretch, to the brawney neck and 
 shoulders (cervicibus) of Hercules. 
 
 89. Holding, #c] This relates td 
 the story of Antaeus, a giant of pro- 
 digious strength, who, when knocked 
 down by Hercules, recovered himself 
 by lying on his mother earth ; Her- 
 cules therefore held him up in his left 
 hand, between earth and heaven, and, 
 with his right hand, dashed his brains 
 out. 
 
44 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRES. 
 
 Hasc eadem licet et nobis laudare : sed illis 90 
 
 Creditur. An melior cum Thai'da sustinet, aut cum 
 Uxorem comasdus agit, vel Dorida nullo 
 Cultam palliolo ? mulier nempe ipsa videtur, 
 Non persona loqui : nee erit mirabilis illic 
 Aut Stratocles, aut cum molli Demetrius Hsemo : 9-j 
 
 Natio comeeda est : rides ? majore cachinno 
 Concutitur : flet, si lachrymas conspexit amici, 
 Nee dolet : igniculum brumse si tempore poscas, 
 Accipit endromidem : si dixeris, aestuo, sudat. 
 Non sumus ergo pares : melior qui semper, et omni 100 
 Nocte dieque potest alienum sumere vultum ; 
 Scire volunt secreta domus atque inde timeri. 
 Et quoniam ccepit Graccorum mentio, transi 
 
 90. iVe may praise also.] To be 
 sure we Romans may flatter, but 
 without success ; we shall not be be- 
 lieved : the Greeks are the only people 
 in such credit as to have all they say 
 pass for truth. 
 
 91. Whether is he better when he 
 plays, S-cJ] Sustinet, sustains the part 
 of a Thais, or courtezan, or the more 
 decent character of a matron, or a 
 naked sea nymph : there is no saying 
 which a Grecian actor excels most in; 
 he speaks so like a woman, that you'd 
 swear the very woman seems to speak, 
 
 „ and not the actor. Persona signifies 
 a false face, a mask, a vizor, in which 
 the Grecian and Roman actors played 
 their pints, and so by meton. became 
 to signify an actor. 
 
 This passage shews, that women's 
 partj were represented by men : for 
 which these Greeks had no occasion 
 for any alteration of voice : they dif- 
 fered from women in nothing but 
 their sex. 
 
 92. Doris, Src.'] A sea nymph re- 
 presented in some play. See Ainsw. 
 Doris, Palliolum was a little upper 
 garment : the sea nymphs were usu- 
 ally represented naked, nullo palliolo, 
 without the least covering over their 
 bodies» Palliolum, dim. of pallium. 
 
 SG. Do you laugh ?] The poet here 
 illustrates what he had said, by in- 
 stances of Grecian adulation of the 
 most servile and meanest kind. 
 
 If one of their patrons happens to 
 4aujfh, or even to smile, for so rideo 
 
 also signifies, the parasite set»" up a 
 loud hcrse-Iaugh, and laughs aloud* 
 or, as the word concutitur implies, 
 laughs ready to split his sides, as v\ e 
 say. 
 
 97. He weeps, §c] If he finds hi* 
 friend in tears, he can humour this 
 too ; and can squeeze out a lamenta- 
 ble apjK?arance of sorrow, but without 
 a single grain of it. 
 
 98. If in -u-i ntcr -time you ask, c\l.\ 
 If the weather be cold enough for the 
 patron to order a little fire, the versa- 
 tile Greek instantly improves on the 
 matter, and puts on a thick gown— . 
 endromidem — a sort of thick rug, 
 used by wrestlers, and other gymnasi- 
 asts, to cover them after their exer- 
 cise, lest they should cool too fast. 
 
 99. / am hot, tfc.] If the patron 
 complains of heat, the other vows that 
 he is all over in a sweat. 
 
 Shakespeare has touched this sort 
 of character something In the way of 
 Juvenal, Hamlet, act v. sc. ii. where 
 he introduces the short but well-drawn 
 character of Osrick, whom he repre- 
 sents as a complete temporizer with 
 the humours of his superiors. 
 
 H am. 1 'on r Ion net to h is right use— 
 'tis for the head. 
 
 OsR. / thank your lordship, '//V 
 very hot. 
 
 Ham. A r o, believe me, 'tis very 
 cold ; the wind is northerly. 
 
 Osk. It is indifferent cold, my lord, 
 indeed. 
 
 Ham. But yet, victhink*, it it very 
 
SAT. HI 
 
 JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 45 
 
 These same things we may praise also : but to them , 90 
 Credit is given. Whether is he better when lie plays Thais* 
 
 or when 
 The comedian acts a wife, or Doris with no 
 Cloak dressed ? truly a woman herself seems to speak, 
 Not the actor : nor admirable there will 
 Either Stratocles, or Demetrius, with soft Hsemus, be : 9& 
 The nation is imitative. Do you laugh? with greater laughter 
 Is he shaken : he weeps, if he has seen the tears of a friend, 
 Not that he grieves : if in winter-time you ask for a little 
 
 fire, 
 He puts on a great coat : if you should say, u 1 am hot * — 
 
 he sweats. 
 We are not therefore equals : better is he who always and all 
 Night and day, can assume another's countenance, 101 
 They will know the secrets of the family, and thence be 
 
 feared. 
 And because mention of Greeks has begun, pass over 
 
 sultry, and hot, for my complexion. 
 
 Osr. Exceedingly, my lord, it is 
 very sultry, as it were, I can't tell 
 how 
 
 But Terence has a full length pic- 
 ture of one of these Grecian parasites, 
 which he copied from Menander. 
 See Ter. Eun. the part of Gnatho 
 throughout : than which nothing can 
 be more exquisitely drawn, or more 
 highly finished. 
 
 This, by the way, justifies Juvenal 
 in tracing the origin of such charac- 
 ters from Greece. Menander lived 
 about 350 B. C. Terence died about 
 159 B. C. 
 
 100. We are not therefore equals.] 
 We Romans are no match for them — 
 they far exceed any thing we can at- 
 tempt in the way of flattery. 
 
 — Better is he, fyc] He who can 
 watch the countenance of another 
 perpetually, and, night and day, as it 
 were, practise an imitation of it, so 
 as to coincide, on all occasions, with 
 the particular look, humour, and dis- 
 position of others, is better calculated 
 for the office of a sycophant, than we 
 can pretendrto be. 
 
 102. And thence le feared.] Lest 
 they should reveal and publish the se- 
 
 crets which they become possessed of. 
 See before, 1. 50-7. 
 
 Farnaby, in his note on this place, 
 mentions an Italian proverb, which 
 is much to the purpose. 
 
 Servo d'altrui si fa, chi dice it sua 
 secret» a chi no 7 sa, 
 
 " He makes himself the servant of 
 f s another, who tells his secret to on<^ 
 " that knows it not." 
 
 103. And because mention, $c] q. d- 
 And, by the way, as I have begun to 
 mention the Greeks. 
 
 — Pass over, $c] Transi, imp. of 
 transeo, to pass over or through ; also 
 to omit, or say nothing of; to pass a 
 thing by, or over. 
 
 Each of these senses is espoused by 
 different commentators. Those who 
 are for the former sense, make the 
 passage mean thus : " Talking of 
 " Greeks, let us pass through their 
 " schools, so as to see and observe 
 " what is going forward there." 
 
 The others make the sense to be, 
 " Omit saying any thing of the 
 " schools ; bad as they may be, they 
 M are not worth mentioning, in com- 
 " parison of certain other worse 
 " things." 
 
m 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 sat. in. 
 
 Gymnasia, atque audi facinus majoris abolla?. 
 Stoicus occidit JBaream, delator amicum, 
 Discipulumque senex, ripa nutritus in ilia 
 Ad quam Gorgonei delapsa est penna caballi. 
 Non est Romano cuiquam Jocus hie, ubi regnat 
 Protogenes aliquis, vel Diphilus, aut Erimanthus, 
 Qui gentis vitio nunquam partitur amicum ; 
 Solus habet. Nam cum facilem stillavit in aurem 
 Exiguum de natura?, patriaeque veneno, 
 Limine summoveor : perierunt tempora longi 
 Servitii : nusquam minor est jactura clientis. 
 Quod porro officium, (ne nobis blandiar,) aut quod 
 Pauperis hie meritum, si curet nocte togatus 
 
 105 
 
 110 
 
 115 
 
 I rather think with the former, 
 whose interpretation seems best to 
 suit with the et audi in the next sen- 
 tence, q. d. M As we are talking of 
 " the Grecians, I would desire you 
 ■« to pass from the common herd, go 
 " to the schools, take a view of their 
 " philosophers-, and hear what one of 
 " their chiefs was guilty of." 
 
 10-t. The schools.] Gymnasia here 
 signifies those places of exercise, or 
 schools, where the philosophers met 
 for disputation, and for the instruc- 
 tion of their disciples. See Aixsw. 
 Gymnasium. 
 
 L A eked.] Facinus, in a bad sense, 
 
 means a foul act, a villainous deed, a 
 scandalous action. 
 
 Greater abolla.] Abolla was a 
 
 sort of cloak, worn by soldiers, and 
 also by philosophers. The abolla of 
 the soldiers was less than the other, 
 and called minor abolla ; that of the 
 philosopher, being larger, was called 
 major abolla. 
 
 Juvenal also uses the word abolla 
 (sat. iv. 76.) for a senator's robe. 
 
 Here, by meton. it denotes the phi- 
 losopher himself. 
 
 105. Stoic] One of the straitest 
 sects of philosophers among the 
 Greeks. See Aixsw. Stoici-orum. 
 
 Kitted, §c] By accusing him 
 
 of some crime for which he was put 
 to death. This was a practice much 
 encouraged by the emperors Nero and 
 Domitian, and by which many made 
 their fortunes. See note on sat. i. 
 
 — Barens.] The fact is thus related 
 by Tacitus, Ann. vi. " P. Egnatius 
 " (the Stoic above mentioned) circum- 
 " vented by false testimony Bareas 
 " Soranus, his friend and disciple, 
 " under Nero." 
 
 106. His ditcipk.] To whom he 
 owed protection. 
 
 — Nourished on thai lank, <\c] 
 By this periphrasis we are to under- 
 stand, that this Stoic was originally 
 bred at Tarsus, in Cilicia, a province 
 of ancient Greece, which was built by 
 Perseus, on the banks of the river 
 Cydnus, on the spot where his horse 
 Pegasus dropped a feather out of his 
 wing. He called the city Ta^aoc, 
 which signifies a wing, from this 
 eventi 
 
 107. Gorgoncam.] The winged 
 horse Pegasus was so called, because 
 he was supposed to have sprung from 
 the blood- of the gorgon Medusa, af- 
 ter Perseus had cut her head off. 
 
 1C8. For any Roman.] We Ro- 
 mans are so undermined and sup- 
 planted by the arts of these Greek 
 sycophants, that we have no chance 
 left us of succeeding with great men. 
 
 IC9. Some Protogenes.] The name 
 of a famous and cruel persecutor of 
 the people under Caligula. See Ant. 
 Univ. Hist. vol. xiv. p. 302. 
 
 — Diphikts.] A filthy favourite and 
 minion of Domitian. 
 
 — Erimanthus.] From efK» strife, 
 and [AatTn;, a prophet, i. e. a fore- 
 teller of strife. This name denotes 
 ?ome notorious informer. 
 
sat. in. JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 47 
 
 The schools, and hear a deed of the greater abolJa. 
 A Stoic killed Bareas, an informer his friend, 105 
 
 And an old man his disciple, nourished on that bank, 
 At which a feather of the Gorgonean horse dropped down. 
 No place is here for any Roman, where reigns 
 Some Protogenes, or Diphilus, or Erimanthus, 109 
 
 Who, from the vice of his nation, never shares a friend ; 
 He alone hath him : for, when he has dropp'd into his easy ear 
 A little of the poison of his nature, and of his country, 
 I am removed from the threshold : — times of long service 
 Are past and gone — no where is the loss of a client less. 
 Moreover, what is the office, (that I may not flatter our- 
 selves,) or what 115 
 The merit of a poor man here, if a client takes care by night 
 
 The sense of this passage seems to 
 be, " There is now no room for us 
 " Romans to hope for favour and 
 " preferment, where nothing but 
 " Greeks are in power and favour, 
 *' and these such wretches as are the 
 *' willing and obsequious instruments 
 ** of cruelty, lust, and persecution." 
 
 110. Vice of his nation-] (See be- 
 fore, 1. 86.) That mean and wicked 
 art of engrossing all favour to them- 
 selves. 
 
 — Never shares a friend.] With 
 any body else. 
 
 111. He alone hath him.] Engages 
 and keeps him wholly to himself. 
 
 — He has dropped, <Jfc] Stillavit ; 
 hath insinuated by gentle and almost 
 imperceptible degrees. 
 
 — Into his easy ear.] L e. Into the 
 ear of the great man, who easily lis- 
 tens to all he says. 
 
 112. The poison of his nature.] 
 Born, as it were, with the malicious 
 propensity of advancing themselves 
 by injuring others. 
 
 — And of his country.] Greece, the 
 very characteristic of which is this 
 sort of selfishness. 
 
 113. I am removed, <|c] No longer 
 admitted within my patron's or friend's 
 doors. 
 
 1 14. Past and gone.] Perierunt ; 
 lit. have perished. My long and faith- 
 ful services are all thrown away, for- 
 gotten, perished out of remembrance, 
 and are as if they had never been. 
 
 — -.y^ whcre % ..\\-.j There is no parr 
 
 of the world where an old client and 
 friend is more readily cast off, and 
 more easily dismissed, than they are 
 at Rome : or where this is done with 
 less ceremony, or felt with less regret. 
 
 Look round the -world, ■what country 
 •will appear, 
 
 Where friends are left with greater 
 ease than here. Dryden". 
 
 The word jactura signifies any loss 
 or damage : but its proper meaning 
 is, loss by shipwreck, casting goods 
 overboard in a storm. The old friends 
 and clients of great men, at Rome, 
 were just as readily and effectually 
 parted with. 
 
 115. What is the office.] Officium, 
 business, employment, service. 
 
 — That I may not flatter, £c] q. d. 
 Not to speak too highly in our own 
 commendation, or as over-rating our- 
 selves and our services. 
 
 115-6. What the merit, $c] What 
 does the poor client deserve for the 
 assiduous and punctual execution of 
 his office towards his patron. 
 
 116. If a client.] So togatus signi- 
 fies here. It was usual for great men, 
 on these occasions, to have a number 
 of their dependents and clients to at- 
 tend them : those who went before 
 were called anteambulones ; those 
 who followed, clicntes togati, from 
 the toga, or gown, worn by the com- 
 mon people. 
 
 — Takes care.] Makes it his con- 
 stant business. 
 
48 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Currere, cum Prsetor lictorem impelJat, et ire 
 Praecipitem jubeat, dudum vigilantibus orbis, 
 s*Ne prior Albinam, aut Modiam collega salutet ? 
 Divitis hie servi claudit Jatus ingenuorum 
 Filius ; alter enim quantum in legione Tribuni 
 Accipiunt, donat Calvina?, vel Catiena?, 
 Cum tibi vestiti facies scorti placet, haeres, 
 Et dubitas alta Chionem deducere sella. 
 
 120 
 
 116-7. By night to run,] To post 
 away after his patron before day- 
 break to the early levees of the rich. 
 
 These early salutations or visits 
 •were commonly made with a view to 
 get something from those to whom 
 they were paid ; such as persons of 
 great fortune who had no children, 
 rich widows who were childless, and 
 the like. He who attended earliest, 
 was reckoned to shew the greatest 
 respect, and supposed himself to stand 
 fairest in the good graces, and, per- 
 haps, as a legatee in the wills of such 
 persons as he visited and compli- 
 mented. 
 
 The word currere implies the haste 
 which they made to get first. 
 
 117. 7 he Prtetur drives on, <£c] 
 The Praetor was the chief magistrate 
 of the city. He was preceded by of- 
 ficers called lictors, of which there 
 were twelve, who carried the insignia 
 of the Praetor's office, viz. an axe tied 
 up in a bundle of rods, as emblems 
 of the punishment of greater crimes 
 by the former, and of smaller crimes 
 by the latter. The lictors were so 
 called from the axe and rods bound or 
 tied (ligati) together. So lector, from 
 lego, to read. 
 
 So corrupt were the Romans, tbat 
 not only the nobles, and other great 
 men, but even their chief magis- 
 trates, attended with their state offi- 
 cers, went on these mercenary and 
 scandalous errands, and even has- 
 tened on the lictors (who on other oc- 
 casions marched slowly and solemnty 
 before them) for fear of being too late. 
 
 117-8. To go precipitate.'] Head- 
 long, as it were, to get on as fast as 
 jthev could. 
 
 118. The chUdtess, <yc] Orbus sig- 
 nifies a child that has lost its parents, 
 parents that are bereaved of their 
 children, women who have lost their 
 
 husbands without issue, Sec. this last 
 (as appears from the next line) seems 
 to be the sense of it here. 
 
 These ladies were very fond of he- 
 ing addressed and complimented at 
 their levees by the flattering visitors 
 who attended there, and were ready 
 very soon in the morning, even up 
 before day-light, for their reception. 
 The Praetor drives on his attendants 
 as fast as he can, lest he should not 
 be there first, or should disoblige the 
 ladies by making them wait. 
 
 The childless matrons are long since 
 arcake, 
 
 And for affronts the tardy visits 
 take. Dri'DEX. 
 
 120. Lest first his colleague.] Ano- 
 ther reason for the Praetor's being in 
 such a hurry, was to prevent his col- 
 league in office from being there be- 
 fore him. 
 
 It is to be observed, that, though 
 at first there was but one Praetor, 
 called Praetor Urbanus, yet, as many 
 foreigners and strangers settled at 
 Rome, another Praetor was appointed 
 to judge causes between them, and 
 called Praetor Peregrinus. 
 
 Juvenal gives us to understand, 
 that, on such occasions, both were 
 equally mean and mercenary. 
 
 — Alhina or Modia.] Two rich and 
 childless old widows* to whom these 
 profligate fellows paid their court, ill 
 hopes of inheriting their wealth. 
 
 This passage, from 1. 116 to 120, 
 inclusive, relates to what Umbritius 
 had just said about the very easy man- 
 ner in which the great men at Rome 
 got rid of their pour clients, notwith- 
 standing their long and faithful ser- 
 vices : q. d. " I don't mean to boast, 
 *' or to rate our services too high ; 
 " but yet, as ia the instance here 
 " given, and in many others which 
 44 might be mentioned, when what 
 
JUVENAUS SATIRES. 
 
 49 
 
 To run, when the Praetor drives on the lictor, and to go 
 Precipitate commands him, (the childless long since awake,) 
 Lest first his colleague"should salute Albina or Modia? * 
 Here, the son of a rich slave closes the side of the 120 
 Free-born : but another, as much as in a legion Tribunes 
 [Receive, presents to Calvina, or Catiena : 
 When the face of a well-dressed harlot pleases thee, thou 
 
 hesitatest, 
 And doubtest to lead forth Chione from her hio-h chair, 
 
 ** we do, and what we deserve, are 
 *' compared together, and both with 
 *' the ungrateful return we meet 
 " with, in being turned off to make 
 ** room for the Grecian parasites, 
 " surely this will be allowed me as 
 *' another good reason for my depar- 
 *' ture from Rome." 
 
 120. Here.] At Rome. 
 
 — The son of a rich slave, %c] A 
 person of mean and servile extrac- 
 tion, whose father, originally a slave, 
 got his freedom, and by some means 
 or other acquired great wealth. 
 
 The sons of such were called li- 
 bertini. 
 
 Closes the side.] Walks close to 
 
 his side in a familiar manner : per- 
 haps, as we say, arm in arm, thus 
 making himself his equal and in- 
 timate. 
 
 120-1. The free-lorn.] Of good 
 extraction ; a gentleman of liberal 
 birth, of a good family ; such were 
 called ingenui. 
 
 The poet seems alike to blame the 
 insolence of these upstarts, who aimed 
 at a freedom and intimacy with then- 
 betters ; and the meanness of young 
 men of family, who stooped to inti- 
 macies with such low people. 
 
 121. Another.] Of these low-born 
 people, inheriting riches from his 
 father. 
 
 — Tribunes.] He means the Tri- 
 buni Militum, of which there were 
 six to each legion, which consisted of 
 ten regiments or cohorts. See sat. i. 
 1. 45. n. 
 
 122. Presents to Calvina, or Co-* 
 tiena.] He scruples not to give as 
 much as the pay of a tribune amounts 
 to, to purchase the favours of these 
 women ; who probably were courte- 
 sans of notorious characters, but held 
 their price very high. 
 
 123. Well-dressed.] Vestitus means 
 not only apparelled, but decked and 
 ornamented. Ainsw. Some are for 
 understanding vestiti, here, as syno- 
 nimous with togati, to express a low 
 strumpet, but I find no authority for 
 such a meaning of the word vestitus. 
 
 124. Chione.] Some stately cour- 
 tezan of Rome, often spoken of by 
 Martial. See lib. i. epigr. 35-0, et 
 al. So called from Gr. %»*>?, snow. 
 
 Her high chair.] Sella sig- 
 nifies a sedan chair, borne aloft on 
 men's shoulders : which from the epi- 
 thet alta, I take to be meant in this 
 place — q. d. While these upstart fel- 
 lows care not what sums they throw 
 away upon their whores, and refrain 
 from no expence, that they may carry 
 their point, their betters are more 
 prudent, arid grudge to lavish away 
 so much expence upon their vices, 
 though the finest, best-dressed, and 
 most sumptuously attended woman 
 in Rome were the object in question. 
 
 — To lead forth.] Deducere ; to 
 hand her out of her sedan, and to at- 
 tend her into her house. 
 
 Many other senses are given of this 
 passage, as may be seen in Holyday, 
 and in other commentators ; but the 
 above seems to me best to apply to the 
 poet's satire on the insolent extrava- 
 gance of these low-born upstarts, by 
 putting it in opposition to the more 
 decent prudence and frugality of their , 
 betters. 
 
 Dry den writes as follows : 
 
 But you, poor sinner, tho'' you love 
 the vice, 
 
 And like the whore, demur upon the 
 price : 
 
 And, frighted with the wicked sum, 
 forbear 
 
 To lend an hand, and help her from 
 the chah; 
 
 If 
 
50 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Da testem liomae tarn sanctum, quam fuit hospes 125 
 Numinis Idaei : procedat vel Numa, vel qui 
 Servavit trepidam flagranti ex aede Miner vara : 
 Protinus ad censum ; de moribus ultima fiet 
 Quaestio : quot pascit servos ? quot possidet agri 
 Jugera ? quam multa, magnaque paropside caenat ? 130 
 Quantum quisque sua nummqrum servat in arca, 
 tantum habet et fidei. Jures licet et Samothracum, 
 Et nostrorum aras, contemnere fulmina pauper 
 Creditur, atque Deos, Dis ignoscentibus ipsis. 
 Quid, quod materiam praebet causasque jocorum 13£ 
 
 Omnibus hie idem, si fceda et scissa lacerna, 
 Si toga sordid ula est, et rupta calceus alter 
 Pelle patet : vel si consuto vulnere crassum 
 Atque recens linum ostendit non una cicatrix ? 
 Nil hauet infelix paupertas durius in se, 140 
 
 Quam quod ridiculos homines facit. Exeat, inquit, 
 
 As to translating (as some have 
 done) vestiti by the word masked, it 
 is totally incongruous with the rest of 
 the sentence ; for how can a face, 
 with a mask on, be supposed to please, 
 as it must be concealed from view ? 
 Besides, it is not said vestita facies, 
 but facies vestiti scorti. 
 
 However, it seems not very proba- 
 ble, that the poet only means to say, 
 that the man hesitated, and doubted 
 about coming up to the price of Chi- 
 onc, because he was so poor that he 
 had it not to give her, as some would 
 insinuate ; for a man can hardly hesi- 
 tate, or doubt, whether he shall do a 
 thing that is out of his power to do. 
 
 125. Produce a witness.] Umbri- 
 tius here proceeds to fresh matter of 
 complaint against the corruption of 
 the times, insomuch that the truth of 
 a man's testimony was estimated, not 
 according to the goodness of his cha- 
 racter, but according to the measure 
 of his property. 
 
 125-6; The host of the Idcan deity.] 
 Scipio Nasica, adjudged by the senate 
 to be one of the best of men. He re- 
 ceived into his house an image of the 
 goddess Cybele, where he kept it until 
 a temple was built for it. She had 
 various names from the various places 
 where she was worshipped, as Phiy- 
 gia, Ida, &c. Ida was a high hill in 
 Phrygia, near Troy, sacred to pybele. 
 
 See Virg. .En. x. 252. 
 
 126. Numa.] See before, notes on 
 1. 12. He was a virtuous and religi- 
 ous prince. 
 
 127. Preserved trembling Minerxa.] 
 Lucius Metellus, the high priest, 
 preserved the palladium, or sacred 
 image of Minerva, out of the temple 
 of Vesta, where it stood trembling, as 
 it were, for its safety when that tem- 
 ple was on fire. Metellus lost his eyes 
 by the flames. 
 
 128. Immediately as to income, £c] 
 q. d. Though a man had all their 
 sanctity, yet would he not gain credit 
 to his testimony on the score of his 
 integrity, but in proportion to the 
 largeness of his income ; this is the 
 first and immediate object of inquiry. 
 As to his moral character, that is the 
 last thing they ask after. 
 
 129. In how many, $c] What 
 sort of a table he keeps. See Ainsw. 
 Paropsis. 
 
 132. Swear by the altars.] Jurare 
 aras signifies to lay the hands on the 
 altar, and to swear by the gods. See 
 Hon. Epist. lib. ii. epist. i. 1. 16. 
 Aixsw. Juro. Or rather, as appears 
 from Hob., to swear in or by the name 
 of the god to whom the altar was 
 dedicated. 
 
 133. Samothracian.] Samothrace 
 was an island near Lemnos, not far 
 from Thrace, very famous for religi- 
 
JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 51 
 
 Produce a witness at Rome, as just as was the host 125 
 Of the Idean deity : let even Numa come forth, or he who 
 Preserved trembling Minerva from the burning temple : 
 ^Immediately as to income, concerning morals will be the last 
 Inquiry : how many servants he maintains ? how many acres 
 
 of land 
 He possesses ? in how many and great a dish he sups ? 130 
 
 As MUCH MONEY AS EVERY ONE KEEPS IN HIS CHEST, 
 
 So much credit too he has. Tho' you should swear by 
 
 the altars, both 
 Of the Samothracian, and of our gods, arpoor man to con- 
 temn thunder 
 Is believed, and the gods, the gods themselves forgiving him. 
 What, because this same affords matter and causes of jests 
 To all, if his garment be dirty and rent, 136 
 
 If his gown be soiled, and one of his shoes with torn 
 Leather be open : or if not one patch only shews the coarse 
 And recent thread in the stiched-up rupture ? 
 Unhappy poverti has nothing harder in itself 140 
 Than that it makes men ridiculous. Let him go out 5 
 says he, 
 
 ©us rites. Prom hence Dardanus, the 
 founder of Troy, brought into Phry- 
 giathe worship of the dii majores ; 
 such as Jupiter, Minerva, Mercury, 
 &c. From Phrygia, ^Eneas brought 
 them into Italy. 
 
 Our gods.] Our tutelar deities, 
 
 Mars and Romulus, q. d. Were you 
 to swear ever so solemnly. 
 
 134. The gods themselves, §c] Not 
 punishing his perjuiy, but excusing 
 him, on account of the temptations 
 which he is under from his poverty 
 and want; 
 
 135. What.] Quid is here elliptical, 
 and the sense must be supplied — 
 q. d. What shall we say more ? be- 
 cause it is to be considered, that, be- 
 sides the discrediting such a poor man 
 as to his testimony, all the symptoms 
 of his poverty are constant subjects of 
 jests and railerv. See Aixsw, Quid, 
 No. 2. 
 
 This same.] Hie idem; this same 
 
 poor fellow. 
 
 136. His garment.] Lacerna, here, 
 perhaps means what we call a surtout, 
 a sort of cloak for the keeping off the 
 «veather. See Aijsrsw. Lacerna. 
 
 137. Gown.] Toga ; the ordinary 
 dress for the poorer sort. See sat. i. 
 3. 
 
 — Soiled.] Sordidula, dim. of sor- 
 didus ; and signifies somewhat dirty 
 or nasty- 
 
 — With torn leather, fye.] One shoe 
 gapes open with a rent in the upper 
 leather 1 . 
 
 138-°. The poet's language is here 
 metaphorical ; he humourously, by 
 vulnere, the wound, means the rup- 
 ture of the shoe ; by cicatrix, <which 
 is, literally, a scar, or seam in the 
 flesh,) the aukward seam on the patch 
 of the cobbled shoe, which exhibited 
 to view the coarse thread in the new- 
 made stitches, 
 
 141. Says he.] i. e. Says the per- 
 son who has the care of placing the 
 people in the theatre. 
 
 — Let him go out, Qc.] Let the man 
 who has not a knight's revenue go out 
 of the knight's place or seat. 
 
 It is to be observed, that formerly, 
 all persons placed themselves, as they 
 came, in the theatre, promiscuously ; 
 now in contempt of the poor, that 
 license was taken away. Lucius Ros. 
 
52 JUVENALIS SATIIUE. sat. hi. 
 
 Si pudor est, et de pulvino surgat equestri, 
 
 Cujus res legi non sufficit, et sedeant hie 
 
 Lenonum pueri, quocunque in fornice nati. 
 
 Hie plaudat nitidi proeconis filius inter 145 
 
 Pinnirapi cultos juvenes, juvenesque lanistse : 
 
 Sic libitum vano, qui nos distinxit, Othoni. 
 
 Quis gener hie placuit censu minor, atque puellae 
 
 Sarcinulis impar ? quis pauper scribitur haeres ? 
 
 Quando in consilio est JEdilibus ? agmine facto 150 
 
 Debuerant olim tenues migrasse Quirites. 
 
 cias Otho, a tribune of the people, 
 instituted a law, that there should be 
 four' een rows of seats, covered with 
 cushions, on which the knights were 
 to be seated. If a poor man got into 
 one of these, or any other, who had 
 not 400 sestertia a year income, which 
 made a knight's estate, he was turned 
 out with the utmost contempt. 
 
 143. Is not sufficient for the faa'.] 
 i. c. Who has not 400 sestertia a-year, 
 according tu Otho's law. 
 
 lit. The sons of pimps, fyc] The 
 lowest, the most base-born fellows, 
 who happen to be rich enough to an- 
 swer the conditions of Otho's law, are 
 to be seated in the knights' seats ; and 
 - of th^; best family are turned 
 out, to get a scat where they can, if 
 they happen to be poor. See Hor. 
 epod. iv. 1. 15, 16. 
 
 145. Crier.] A low officer among 
 the Romans, as among us, who pro- 
 claimed the edicts of magistrates, 
 public sales of goods, Sec. The poet 
 says, nitidi prfficonis ; intimating that 
 the criers got a good deal of money, 
 lived well, were fat and sleek in their 
 appearance, and affected great spruce* 
 ness in their dress. 
 
 — Applaud.] Take the lead in ap- 
 plauding theatrical exhibitions; Ap- 
 plause was expressed, as among us, by 
 clapping of hands. 
 
 14'». Of a sword-player.] Pinnirapi 
 denotes that sort of gladiator, called 
 also Retiarius, who, with a net which 
 he had in his hand, was to surprise 
 his adversary, and catch hold on the 
 crest of his helmet, which was adorned 
 with peacock's plumes; from pinna, 
 le or feather, and rapio, to 
 snatch. Where we shall find the fi- 
 gure of a fish on the helmet ; and as 
 
 pinna also means the fin of a fish, per- 
 haps this kind of gladiator was called 
 Pinnirapus, from his endeavouring to 
 catch this in his net. 
 
 — The youths.] The sons — now 
 grown young men — juvenes. Such 
 people as these were entitled to seats 
 in the fourteen rows of the equestrian 
 order, on account of their estates : 
 while sons of nobles, and gentlemen 
 of rank, were turned out because 
 their income did not come up to what 
 Mas required, by Otho's law, to con» 
 stitute a knight's estate. 
 
 — A fencer.] Lanista signifies a 
 fencing-master, one that taught boys 
 to fence. 
 
 147. Thus it pleased vain Otho.] 
 q. d. No sound or good reason could 
 be given for this ; it was the mere 
 whim of a vain man, who established 
 this distinction, from his own caprice 
 and fancy, and to gratify his own 
 pride and vanity. 
 
 However, Otho's law not only dis- 
 tinguished the knights from the ple- 
 beians, but the knights of birth from 
 those who were advanced to that dig- 
 nity by their fortunes or service; 
 giving to the former the first rows on 
 the equestrian benches. Therefore 
 Hon. epod. iv. where he treats in the 
 severest manner Menas, the freedman 
 of Cn. Pompeius, who had been ad- 
 vanced to a knight's estate, mentions 
 it as one instance of his insolence 
 and pride, that he sat himself in one 
 of the first rows after he became pos- 
 sessed of a knight's estate. 
 
 SediRlmsguemagnusi i primis cques, 
 ve cvutempto, 
 
 See FhaxCIS, notes in Inc. 
 
 14S. What son-in-law.] Umbriiius 
 stili proceeds in shewing the miseries 
 
SAT. III. 
 
 JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 53 
 
 If he has any shame, and let him rise from the equestrian 
 
 cushion, 
 Whose estate is notr sufficient for the law, and let there sit 
 
 here 
 The sons of pimps, in whatever brothel born. 
 Here let the son of a spruce crier applaud, among 145 
 The smart youths of a sword-player, and the youths of a 
 
 fencer : 
 Thus it pleased vain Otho, who distinguished us. 
 What son-in-law, here, inferior in estate, hath pleased, and 
 
 unequal 
 To the bags of the girl? what poor man is written down heir? 
 When is he in counsel with iEdiles ? In a formed body, 
 The mean Romans ought long ago to have migrated. 151 
 
 of being poor, and instances the dis- 
 advantages which men of small for- 
 tunes lie under with respect to mar- 
 riage. 
 
 — Inferior in estate] Census signi- 
 fies a man's estate, wealth, or yearly- 
 revenue. Also a tribute, tax, or sub- 
 sidy, to be paid according to men's 
 estates. 
 
 According to the first meaning of 
 census, censu minor may signify, 
 that a man's having but a small for» 
 tune, unequal to that of the girl 
 to whom he proposes himself in mar- 
 riage, would occasion his being re- 
 jected, as by no means pleasing or 
 acceptable to her father for a son-in- 
 law. 
 
 According to the second interpre- 
 tation of the word census, censu mi- 
 nor may imply the man's property to 
 be too small and inconsiderable for en- 
 try in the public register as an object 
 of taxation. The copulative at que 
 seems to favour the first interpreta- 
 tion, as it unites the two sentences ; 
 as if Umbritius had said, Another in- 
 stance, to shew how poverty renders 
 men. contemptible at Rome is, that 
 nobody will marry his daughter to 
 one whose fortune does not equal 
 hers ; which proves, that in this, as 
 in all things else, money is the grand 
 and primary consideration. 
 
 Themistocles, the Athenian gene- 
 ral, was of another mind, when he 
 said, ** I had rather have a man for 
 *• my daughter without money, than 
 " money without a man." 
 
 149. Written down heir?] Who 
 ever remembered a poor man in his 
 will, so as to make him his heir ? 
 
 150. JEdiles.] Magistrates in Rome, 
 whose office it was to oversee the re- 
 pairs of the public buildings and 
 temples ; also the streets and con- 
 duits ; to look to weights and mea- 
 sures ; to regulate the price of corn 
 and victuals ; also to provide for so- 
 lemn funei*als and plays. 
 
 This officer was sometimes a sena- 
 tor, who was called Curulis, a sella 
 curuli, a chair of state made of ivory, 
 carved, and placed in curru, in a 
 chariot, in which the head officers of 
 Rome were wont to be carried into 
 council. 
 
 But there were meaner officers 
 called jEdiles, with a similar juris- 
 diction in the country towns, to in- 
 spect and correct abuses in weights 
 and measures, and the like. See sat. 
 x. 101, 2. 
 
 When, says Umbritius, is a poor 
 man ever consulted by one of the 
 magistrates ? his advice is looked 
 upon as not worth having ; much less 
 can he ever hope to be a magistrate 
 himself, however deserving or fit 
 for it. 
 
 — In a formed lody.] Agmine fac- 
 to — i. e. collected together in one 
 body, as we say. So Virg. Georg. iv. 
 167. of the bees flying out in a swarm 
 against the drones. And again, Mn. 
 i. 80. of the winds rushing forth to- 
 gether from the cave of iEolus. 
 
 151. Long ago.] Alluding to the 
 
34 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 IIatji) FACILE EMURGUXT, QUORUM virtutirus obstat 
 Res angusta domi ; sed Romae durior illis 
 Conatus : magno hospitium miserable, magno 
 Servorum ventres, et frugi coenula magno. 155 
 
 Fictilibus caenare pudet, quod turpe negavit 
 Translatus subito ad Marsos, mensamque Sabellam, 
 Contentusque illic Veneto, duroque cucullo. 
 
 Pars magna Italise est, si verum admittimus, in qua 
 Nemo togara sumit, nisi mortuus. Ipsa dierum 160 
 
 Festorum herboso colitur si quando theatro 
 Majestas, tandemque redit ad pulpita notum 
 
 sedition and the defection of the ple- 
 beians, called here tenues Quirites ; 
 when oppressed by the nobles and se- 
 nators, they gathered together, left 
 Borne, and retired to the Mons Sacer, 
 an hill near the city consecrated to 
 Jupiter, and talked of going to settle 
 elsewhere ; but the famous apologue 
 of Menenius Agrippa, of the belly 
 and the members, prevailed on them 
 to return. This happened about 500 
 years before Juvenal was born. See 
 Ant. Un. Hist. vol. xi. 383-403. 
 
 — Ought long ago to have migrated.] 
 To have persisted in their intention 
 of leaving Rome, and of going to 
 some other part, where the}' could 
 have maintained their independency. 
 See before, 1. 60. Quirites. 
 
 152. Easily emerge.] Out of ob- 
 scurity and contempt. 
 
 — Whose virtues, £©.] The exer- 
 cise of whose faculties and good qua- 
 lities is cramped and hindered by the 
 narrowness of their circumstances : 
 and, indeed, poverty will always pre- 
 vent respect, and be an obstacle to 
 merit, however great it may be. So 
 Hor. sat. v. lib. ii. 1. 8. 
 
 At qui 
 
 Et genus et virtus, nisi cum re, 
 vtlior alga est, 
 
 But high descent and meritorious 
 deeds, 
 
 Unblest with wealth, are viler than 
 sea-weeds. Francis. 
 
 154: The endeavour.] But to them— 
 illis — to those who have small in- 
 come?, the endeavouring to emerge 
 from contempt is more difficult at 
 Rome than in any other place ; be- 
 cause their little is, as it were, made 
 less, by the excessive dearoess of even 
 
 common necessaries ; a shabby lodg- 
 ing, for instance ; maintenance of 
 slaves, whose food is but coarse ; a 
 small meal for one's self, however 
 frugal ; all these are at an exorbitant 
 price. 
 
 156. It shamcth, §c] Luxury and 
 expence are now got to such an 
 height, that a man would be ashamed 
 to have earthen ware at his table. 
 
 — Which he denied, t $-c] The poet 
 is here supposed to allude to Curius 
 Dentatus, who conquered the Sam- 
 nites and the Marsi, and reduced the 
 Sabellans (descendants of the Sa- 
 bines) into obedience to the Roma^. 
 When the Samnite ambassadors came 
 to him to treat about a league with 
 the Romans, they found him among 
 the Marsi, sitting on a wooden seat 
 near the fire, dressing his own dinner, 
 which consisted of a few roots, in an 
 earthen vessel, and offered him large 
 sums of money ; but he dismissed 
 them, saying, " I had rather com- 
 " mand the rich, than be rich my- 
 " self; tell your countrymen, that 
 " they will find it as bard to corrupt 
 " as to conquer me." 
 
 Curius Dentatus was at that time 
 consul with P. Corn. Rufinus, and 
 was a man of great probity, and who, 
 without any vanity or ostentation, 
 lived in that voluntary poverty, and 
 unaffected contempt of riches, which 
 the philosophers of those times were 
 wont to recommend. He might, 
 therefore, well be thought to deny 
 that the use of earthen ware was dis- 
 graceful, any more than of the 
 homely and coarse clothing of those 
 people, which he was content to wear. 
 See Ant. Univ. Hist. vol. xii. p. 139. 
 
JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 $5 
 
 They do not easily emerge, to whose virtues narrow 
 Fortune is a hindrance; but at Rome more hard to themis, 
 The endeavour ; a miserable lodging at a great price, at a 
 
 great price 
 The bellies of servants, and a little frugal supper at a great 
 
 price. 155 
 
 It shameth to sup in earthen ware : which he denied to be 
 
 disgraceful, 
 Who was translated suddenly to the Marsi, and to the Sa- 
 
 bell an table, 
 And there was content with a Venetian and coarse hood.^ 
 ~\"There is a great part of Italy, if we admit the truth, in 
 
 which 159 
 
 Nobody takes the gown, unless dead. The solemnity itself of 
 Festal days, if at any time it is celebrated in a grassy 
 Theatre, and at length a known farce returns to the stage, 
 
 But among commentators there are 
 those, who, instead of negavit, are 
 for reading negabit — not confining the 
 sentiment to any particular person, 
 but as to be understood in a general 
 sense, as thus : However it may he 
 reckoned disgraceful, at Rome, to 
 use earthen ware at table, yet he who 
 should suddenly be conveyed from 
 thence to the Marsi, and behold their 
 plain and frugal manner of living, as 
 well as that of their neighbours the 
 Sabellans, will deny that there is any 
 shame or disgrace in the use of earthen 
 ware at meals, or of wearing gar- 
 ments of coarse materials. 
 
 This is giving a good sense to the 
 passage — but as Juvenal is so fre- 
 quent in illustrating his meaning, 
 from the examples of great and good 
 men who lived in past times, and as 
 negavit is the reading of the copies, 
 I should rather think that the first in- 
 terpretation is what the poet meant. 
 
 157. Translated suddenly.] On be- 
 ing chosen consul, he was immedi- 
 ately ordered into Samnium, where 
 he and his colleague acted separately, 
 each at the head of a consular army. 
 The Marsi lay between the Sabelii and 
 the Samnites. 
 
 158. A Venetian arid coarse hood.] 
 Venetus-a-um, of Venice — dyed in a 
 Venice blue, as the garments worn 
 by common soldiers and sailors were. 
 Ainsw. This colour is said to be first 
 .Used by the Venetian fishermen. 
 
 The cucullus was a cowl, or hood, 
 made of very harsh and coarse cloth, 
 which was to pull over the head, in 
 order to keep off the rain. 
 
 160. Unless dead.] It was a cus- 
 tom among the Romans to put a 
 gown on the corpse when they carried 
 it forth to buriaL In many parts of 
 Italy, where they lived in rustic sim- 
 plicity, they went dressed in the tu- 
 nica, or jacket, never wearing the 
 toga, the ordinary habit of the men 
 at Rome, all their lifetime. Umbri- 
 tius means to prove what he had be- 
 fore asserted, (1. 153-5.) that one 
 might live in other places at much 
 less expence than at Rome. Here he 
 is instancing in the article of dress. 
 
 , — The solemnity, $c ] The dies 
 festi were holidays, or festivals, ob- 
 served on some joyful occasions; 
 when people dressed in their best ap- 
 parel, aud assembled at plays and 
 shows. 
 
 161-2. A grassy theatre.] He 
 here gives an idea of the ancient 
 simplicity which was still observed ia 
 many parts of,- Italy, where, on these 
 occasions, they were not at the ex- 
 pence of theatres built with wood or 
 stone, but with turfs dug from the 
 soil, and heaped one upon another, by 
 way of seats for the spectators. See 
 Virg. .En. v. 286-90. 
 
 162. A known farce.] Exodium 
 (from Gr. t^ooo^j exitus,) was a farce 
 or interlude, at the end of a tragedy 
 
56 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIR/E. 
 
 Exodium, cum personam pallentis hiatum 
 In gremio matris formidat rusticus infans : 
 JEquales habitus illic, similemque videbis 
 Orchestram, et populum : clari velamen honoris, 
 Sufficiunt tunicas summis JEdilibus albas. 
 V^ Hie ultra vires habitus nitor : hie aliquid plus 
 Quam satis est ; interdum aliena sumitur area. 
 Commune id vitium est : hie vivimus ambitiosa 
 Paupertate omnes : quid te moror ? Omnia Romae 
 Cum pretio. Quid das, ut Cossum aliquando salutes ? 
 Ut te respiciat clauso Vciento labello ? 
 Ille metit barbam, crinem hie deponit amati : 
 Plena domus libis venalibus : accipe et, illud 175 
 
 165 
 
 170 
 
 exhibited to make the people laugh. 
 Notum exodium signifies some well- 
 known, favourite piece of this sort, 
 which had been often represented. 
 
 162. Stage.] So pulpitum signifies, 
 *. c. that part of the theatre where the 
 actors recited their parts. 
 
 163. Th e gap i ng of the pa fe- look i ng 
 mask.] Persona, a false face, vizard, 
 or mask, which the actors wore over 
 the face : they were painted over with 
 a pale flesh-colour, and the mouth 
 was very wide open, that the perfor- 
 mer might speak through it the more 
 easily. Their appearance must have 
 been very hideous, and may well be 
 supposed to affright little children. 
 A figure, with one of these masks on, 
 may be seen in Holyday, p. 55. col. 2. 
 Also in the copperplate, facing the 
 title of the ingenious Mr, Colman's 
 translation of Terence. See also Juv. 
 edit. Casaubon, p. 73. 
 
 165. Habits are equal there.] All 
 dress alike there ; no finical distinc- 
 tions of dress are to be found among 
 such simple people. 
 
 166. The orchestra, §c.] Among 
 the Greeks this was in the middle of 
 the theatre, w here the Chorus danced ; 
 but among the Romans, it was the 
 space between the stage and the com- 
 mon seats, where the nobles and sena- 
 tors sat. 
 
 No distinction of this sort was 
 made, at those rustic theatres, be- 
 tween the gentry and the common 
 people. 
 
 — The clothing of bright honczir.] 
 The chief magistrates of these country 
 places did not wear, as at Rome, fine 
 
 robes decked with purple ; but were 
 content to appear in tunics, or jack- 
 ets, white and plain, even when they 
 gave or presided at these assemblies. 
 See AlNSW. Tunica, No. 1, letter 6, 
 under which this passage is quoted. 
 
 167. JEdiks.] See before, 1. 150, 
 and note. 
 
 168. Here, $c] Here at Rome 
 people dress bevond what thev can 
 a fiord. 
 
 168-9. Something more than 
 fnough.] More than is sufficient for 
 the purpose of any man's station, be 
 it what it may ; in short, people seem 
 to aim at nothing but useless gaudy 
 show. 
 
 160. Sometimes if u taken, §c] 
 This superfluity in dress is sometimes 
 at other people's expence : either 
 these fine people borrow money to pay 
 for their extravagant dress, which 
 they never repay ; or they never par 
 for them at all — which, by the way, 
 is a vice very common among such 
 people. 
 
 170-1. Ambitions poverty.] Our 
 poverty, though very great, is not 
 lowly and humble, content with hus- 
 banding, and being frugal of the little 
 we have, and with appearing what 
 we really are — but it makes us ambi- 
 tious of appearing what we are not, 
 of living like men of fortune, and thus 
 disguising our real situation from the 
 world. This is at the root of that dis- 
 honesty before mentioned, so com- 
 mon now-a-days, of borrowing mo- 
 ney, or contracting debts, which we 
 never mean to pay. See 1. 1G9. 
 
 171. Why do J detain you?] Quid 
 
JUVENAL^S SATIRES. 
 
 57 
 
 When the gaping of the pale-looking mask 
 
 The rustic infant in its mother's bosom dreads : 
 
 Habits are equal there, and there alike you will see 165 
 
 The orchestra and people : the clothing of bright honour, 
 
 White tunics, suffice for the chief iEdiles. 
 
 Here is a finery of dress beyond ability : here is something 
 
 more 
 Than enough : sometimes it is taken from another's chest r 
 That vice is common. Here we all live in ambitious 170 
 Poverty : — why do I detain you ? All things at Rome 
 Are with a price. What give you that sometimes you may 
 
 salute Cossus? 
 That Veiento may look on you with shut lip ? 
 One shaves the beard, another deposits the hair of a favourite: 
 The house is full of venal cakes : take, and that 175 
 
 te moror ? So Hor. sat. i. lib. i. 1. 14, 
 15. 
 
 Ne te morcr audi 
 
 Quo rem deducam 
 
 This is a sort of a phrase like our 
 M In short — not to keep you too long." 
 
 172. With a price.] Every thing 
 is dear at Rome ; nothing is to be had 
 without paying for it ; viz. extrava- 
 gantly. See 1. 154—5. 
 
 — What give you, <^c] What does 
 it cost you to bribe the servants of 
 Cossus, that you may get admittance ? 
 Cossus was some wealthy person, 
 much courted for his riches. Here it 
 seems to mean any such great and opu- 
 lent person. 
 
 173. Veiento.] Some other proud 
 nobleman, hard of access, who, 
 though suitors were sometimes with 
 difficulty admitted to him, seldom 
 condescended to speak to them. Hence 
 Umbritius describes him k clauso la- 
 bello. Yet even to get at the favour 
 of a look only, it cost money in bribes 
 to the servants for admittance. 
 
 174. One shaves the beard.] On the 
 day when they first shaved their beard, 
 they were reckoned no longer youths, 
 but men . A festival was observed on 
 the occasion among the richer sort, on 
 which presents were made ; and the 
 misery was, that the poor were ex- 
 pected to send some present, on pain 
 of forfeiting the favour of the great 
 man. But the poet has a meaning 
 here, which may be gathered from the 
 
 next note, and from the word amati 
 at the end of this line. 
 
 — Another deposits the hair.] It 
 was usual for great men to cut off the 
 hair of their minions, deposit it in a 
 box, and consecrate it to some deity. 
 On this occasion, too, presents were 
 made. It was, indeed, customary for 
 all the Romans to poll their heads at 
 the age of puberty. 
 
 Umbritius still is carrying on his 
 design of lashing the vices of the 
 great, and of setting forth the wretch- 
 edness of the poor — q. d. "A great 
 " man can't shave his minion for the 
 " first time, or poll his head, but pre- 
 ** sents are expected on the occasion 
 " from his poor clients, ill as they 
 " can afford them, and presently 
 " there's a houseful of cakes sent in, 
 " as offerings to the favourite." 
 
 175. Venal cakes.] These were 
 made of honey, meal, and oil, and 
 sent, as presents or offerings, from 
 the poorer to the richer sort of people, 
 on their birth-days, (hence some read 
 here libis genialibus,) and on other 
 festal occasions. They came in such 
 numbers as to be an object of profit, 
 insomuch that the new trimmed fa- 
 vourite slave, to whom they were pre- 
 sented, sold them for some consider- 
 able sum. Hence the text says, libis 
 venalibus. 
 
 I — Take, <§-c] The language here 
 is metaphorical: cakes have just been 
 mentioned, which were leavened, or 
 
58 
 
 JUVENALIS SATHUE. 
 
 Fermentum tibi habe : praestare tributa clientea 
 Cogimur, et cultis augere peculia servis. 
 
 Quis timet, aut timuit gelida Praeneste ruinam ; 
 Aut positis nemorosa inter juga Volsiniis, aut 
 Simplicibus Gabiis, aut proni Tiburis arce ? 
 Nos urbem colimus tenui tibicine fultam 
 Magna parte sui : nam sic labentibus obstat 
 Villicus, et veteris rimae contexit hiatum : 
 Securos pendente jubet dormire ruina. 
 Vivenduni est illic, ubi nulla incendia, nulli 
 Noctemetus: jam poseit aquam, jam, frivola transfert 
 Ucalegon : tabulata tibi jam tertia fumant : 
 Tu nescis; nam si gradibus trepidatur ab imis, 
 Ultimus, ardebit, quern tegula sola tuetur 
 
 ISO 
 
 18, 
 
 fermented, in order to make them 
 light. Umbritius is supposed, from 
 this, to use the word fermentum, as 
 applicable to the ideas of anger and 
 indignation, which ferment, or raise 
 the mind into a state of fermentation. 
 
 Accipe — " there," says Umbritius, 
 " take this matter of indignation, let 
 44 it work within your mind, as it 
 44 does in mine, that the poor clients 
 44 of great men are obliged, even on 
 44 the most trivial and most infamous 
 11 occasions, to pay a tribute towards 
 " the emolument of their servants, 
 44 on pain and peril, if they do it not, 
 44 of incurring their displeasure, and 
 44 being shut out of their doors." 
 
 By cultis servis the poet means to 
 mark those particular slaves of great 
 man, whose spruce and gay apparel 
 bespake their situation as favourites ; 
 and, indeed, the word cultis may 
 very principally allude to this last cir- 
 cumstance ; for the verb colo not only 
 signifies to trim, deck, or adorn, but 
 also lo love, to favour, to be attached 
 to. See Ainsw. 
 
 Peculia seems here to imply what 
 we call vails. 
 
 178 Cold Picb teste.] A town in 
 Italy, about twenty miles from Rome. 
 It stood on a hill, and the waters 
 near it were remarkably cold : from 
 which circumstance, as well as its 
 high situation, it was called gelida 
 Praeneste Vmft. iEn. vii. 68?. 
 
 179. Volsinium.] A town in Tus- 
 canv, the situation o£ which was 
 pleasant and retired. 
 
 180. Simple Galil] A town of the 
 Volsaians, about ten miles from 
 Rome ; it was called simple, because 
 deceived into a surrender to Tarquin 
 the proud, when he could not take it 
 by force ; or perhaps from the simple 
 and unornamented appearance of the 
 houses. 
 
 — The tower of prone Tibur.] A 
 pleasant city of Italy, situate about 
 sixteen miles from Rome, on the ri- 
 ver Anio : it stood on a precipice, 
 and had the appearance of hanging 
 over it. Arx signifies the top, sum- 
 mit, peak, or ridge of any thing, as 
 of a rock, hill, &c. also a tower, or 
 the like, built upon it. 
 
 lal. We.] Who live at Rome. 
 — Supported, Qc] In many parts 
 of it very ruinous, many of the houses 
 only kept from falling, by shores or 
 props set against them, to prevent 
 their tumbling down. 
 
 182. The steward.] Villicus here 
 seems to mean some officer, like a 
 steward or bailiff, whose business it 
 was to overlook these matters ; ft 
 sort of city surveyor, (see sat. iv. 7G.) 
 who, instead of a thorough repair, 
 only propped the houses, and plas- 
 tered up the cracks in their wall?, 
 which had been opened by their giv- 
 ing way ; so that, though they might 
 to appearance be repaired and strong, 
 yet they were still in the utmost dan- 
 ger of falling. Villicus may perhaps 
 mean the steward, or bailiff, of the 
 great man who was landlord of these 
 houses : it was the steward's dutv to 
 
JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 59 
 
 Leaven have to thyself : we clients to pay tributes 
 Are compelled, and teraugment the wealth of spruce servants. 
 Who fears, or hath feared the fall of a house in cold 
 
 Prseneste, 
 Or at Volsinium placed among shady hills, or at 
 Simple Gabii, or at the tower of prone Tibur ? 180 
 
 We inhabit a city supported by a slender prop 
 In a great part of itself ; for thus the steward hinders 
 What is falling, and has covered the gaping of an old chink : 
 He bids us to sleep secure, ruin impending. 184? 
 
 There one should live, where there are no burnings, no fears 
 In the night. — Already Ucalegon asks for water, already 
 Removes his lumber : already thy third floors smoke : 
 Thou know'st it not : for if they are alarmed from the 
 
 lowest steps, 
 The highest will burn, which the roof alone defends 
 
 sea that repairs were timely and pro- 
 perly done. 
 
 184. He bids us to sleep, §c.] If 
 we express any apprehension of dan- 
 ger, or appear uneasy at our situa- 
 tion, he bids us dismiss our fears, 
 and tells us, that we may sleep in 
 safety, though at the same time the 
 houses are almost tumbling about our 
 earsi 
 
 Umbritius urges the multitude of 
 ruinous houses, which threaten the 
 lives of the poor inhabi ants, as ano- 
 ther reason why he thinks it safest 
 and best to retire from Rome. 
 
 185. There one should live, Qc] 
 As a fresh motive for the removal of 
 Umbritius from Rome, he mentions 
 the continual danger of fire, especi- 
 ally to the poor, who being obliged to 
 lodge in the uppermost jjarts of the 
 houses in which ihey are inmates, sat. 
 x. 1.18. run the risk of being burned in 
 their bed. ; for which reason he thought 
 A best to live yvhere here was no dan- 
 ger of house-burning, and nightly 
 alarms arising from such a calamity.) 
 
 lSG. Already Ucalegon ] He seems 
 here to allude to Virg. Mn. ii. 310- 
 12. where he is giving a description of 
 the burning of the city of Troy : 
 
 — Jam Ddpholi dedit ampla ruinam, 
 
 Vulcano super-ante, do/nus: jam 
 proximus ardct 
 
 Ucalegon. — 
 Some unhappy Ucalegon, say3 Um- 
 britius, who $eea the ruin of his 
 
 neighbour's house, and his own on 
 fire, is calling out for water, is re- 
 moving his wretched furniture (fri- 
 vola, trifling, frivolous, of little va- 
 lue) to save it from the flames. 
 
 187. Thy third floors.] Tabulatum, 
 from tabula, a. plank, signifies any 
 thing on which planks are laid ; so 
 the floors of a house. 
 
 188. Thou know'' st it not.] You a 
 poor inmate, lodged up in the garret, 
 are, perhaps, fast asleep, and know 
 nothing of the matter; but you are 
 not in the less danger, for if the fire 
 begins below, it will certainly reach 
 upwards to the top of the house. 
 
 — If they ere alarmed.] '1 repidatur, 
 impers. (like concurritur, Hor. sat. 
 i. 1. 7.) if they tremble, are in an up- 
 roar. (Ainsw.j from the alarm of fire. 
 
 —From the lowest steps.] (iradus is 
 a step or a stair of a house ; imis 
 gradibus, then, must denote the bot- 
 tom of the stairs, and signify what 
 we call the ground-floor. 
 
 189. The highest.] Ultimus, i. c. 
 gradus, the last stair from the ground, 
 which ends at the garret, or cock- 
 loft, (as we call it,) the wretched 
 abode of the poor. This 'will be 
 reached by the ascending flamesv when 
 the lower part of the house is con- 
 sumed. 
 
 — The roof.] Tegula, lit. signifies 
 a tile ; a tego, quod tegat cedes ; 
 hence it stands for the roof of a 
 house» 
 
6a 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIIUE. 
 
 A pluvia ; molles ubi reddunt ova columbse. 190 
 
 Lectus erat Codro Procula minor : urceoli sex 
 Ornamentum abaci ; necnon et parvulus infra 
 Cantharus. et recubans subeodem marmore Chiron ; 
 Jamque velus Graecos servabat cista iibellos, 
 Et divina Opici rodebant carmina mures. 195 
 
 Nil habuit Codrus : quis enim negat ? et tamen illud 
 Perdidit infelix totum nil : ultimus autem 
 yErumna? cumulus, quod nudum, et frusta rogantem 
 Nemo cibo, nemo hospitio, tectoque juvabit. 
 
 Si magna Arturii cecidit domus : horrida mater, 200 
 Pullati proceres, differt vadimonia Praetor : 
 Tunc gemimus casus urbis, tunc odimus ignem : 
 
 190. Where the soft pigeons.] The 
 plumage of doves and pigeons is re- 
 markably soft. Perhaps molles here 
 has the sense of gentle, tame ; for 
 this sort love to lay their eggs and 
 breed in the roofs of buildings. 
 
 191. Codrus had a led, eye.] Umbri- 
 tius still continues to set forth the 
 calamities of the poor, and shews that, 
 under such a calamity as is above 
 mentioned, they have none to relieve 
 or pity them. 
 
 Codrus, some poor poet : perhaps 
 he that is mentioned sat. i. 1. 2. which 
 see, and the note. 
 
 The furniture of his house consisted 
 of a wretched bed, which was less, or 
 shorter, than his wife Procula, who 
 is supposed to have been a very little 
 woman. Minor signifies less in any 
 kind, whether in length, breadth, or 
 height. 
 
 — Siv little pitchers.] Urceoli, (dim. 
 of urceus,) little water pitchers made 
 of clay, and formed on the potter's 
 wheel. r 
 
 Amphora ccepit 
 
 Institui, currente rota cur urceus 
 exit? Hoh. ad Pis. 1. 21, 2. 
 
 192-3. A small jug.] Cantharus, a 
 sort of drinking vessel, with a handle 
 to it ; Attrita pendebat cantharus 
 ansa. Virg. eel. vi. 17. 
 
 193. A Chiron reclining, Sfc] A 
 figure of Chiron the centaur in a re- 
 clining posture under the same mar- 
 ble, i. e. under the marble slab, of 
 which the cupboard was formed, per- 
 haps by way of support to it. 
 
 Some suppose Urabrrtius to mean 
 
 by sub eodem marmore, that this was 
 a shabby figure of Chiron made of the 
 same materials with the «mthnrus. 
 viz. of clay, which he jeeringly cy- 
 presses by marmore, for of this images 
 were usually made. 
 
 194. An' old chest, §c] This is 
 another instance of the poverty of 
 Codrus — he had no book-case, or li- 
 brary, but only a few Greek books in 
 an old worm-eaten wooden chest. 
 
 19j. Barbarous mice, $c.] Opicus 
 is a word taken from the Opici, an 
 ancient, rude, and barbarous people 
 of Italy, so called from Ops, i.t.Terra, 
 as being the aborigines; hence the ad- 
 jective opicus signifies barbarous, rude 
 unlearned. The poet, therefore, hu- 
 mourously calls the mice opici, as hav- 
 ing so little respect for learning, that 
 they gnawed the divine poems, perhaps 
 even of Horner himself, which might 
 have been treasured up, with others, 
 in the chest of poor Codrus. 
 
 Some suppose opici to be applied to 
 mice, from Gr. ow, a cavern — al- 
 luding to the holes in which they hide 
 themselves. 
 
 196. Who forsooth denies it 9] By 
 this it should appear, that the Codrus 
 mentioned here, and in sat. i. 1. 2. are 
 the same person, whose poverty was 
 so great, and so well known, as to be 
 proverbial. See note, sat. i. 1. 2. 
 
 197-8. The utmost addition, $c.] 
 Ultimus cumulus — the utmost height 
 — the top — of his unhappiness ; as the 
 French say, Le cornble de son mal- 
 heur. The French word comble evi- 
 dently comes from Lat. cumulus, 
 
JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 61 
 
 SAT. III. 
 
 From the rain : where the soft pigeons lay their eggs, 190 
 
 Codrus had a bedjess than Procula : six little pitchers 
 The ornament of hisf cupboard ; also, underneath, a small 
 Jug, and a Chiron reclining under the same marble. 
 And now an old chest preserved his Greek books, 
 And barbarous mice were gnawing divine verses. 195 
 
 Nothing had Codrus — who forsooth denies it ? andyet all that 
 Nothing unhappy he lost. But the utmost 
 Addition to his affliction was, that, naked, and begging 
 
 scraps, 
 Nobody will help him with food, nobody with entertain- 
 ment, and an house, f 
 If the great house of Arturius hath fallen ; the mother 
 is ghastly, 200 
 
 The nobles sadly clothed, the Praetor defers recognizances : 
 Then we lament the misfortunes of the city: then we hate fire: 
 
 which signifies, in this connexion, that 
 which is over and above measure — 
 the heaping of any measure — when 
 the measure is full to the brim, and 
 then more put on, till it stands on an 
 heap above, at last it comes to a point, 
 and will hold no more. Bover ex- 
 plains comble to mean, Ce qui peut 
 tenir par dessus une mesure deja 
 pleine. We speak of accumulated 
 affliction, the height of sorrow, the 
 completion of misfortune, the finish- 
 ing stroke, and the like, but are not 
 possessed of any English phrase, which 
 literally expresses the Latin ultimus 
 cumulus, or the French comble du 
 malheur. 
 
 198. Naked.] Having lost the few 
 clothes he had by the fire. 
 
 — Scraps.] Frusta — broken victu- 
 als, as we say. In this sense the 
 word is used, sat. xiv. 128. 
 
 190. With entertainment.] Sohos- 
 pitium seems to mean here, and is to 
 be understood, in the sense of hospi- 
 tality, friendly or charitable reception 
 and entertainment : some render it 
 lodging— but this is implied by the 
 next word. 
 
 — And an house.] Nobody would 
 take him into their house, that he 
 might find a place where to lay his 
 head, secure from the inclemency of 
 the weather. 
 
 Having shewn the miserable estate 
 of the poor, if burnt out of house and 
 heme, as we say, Urnbritius proceeds 
 
 to exhibit a strong contrast, by stating 
 the condition of a rich man under 
 such a calamity ; by this he carries 
 on his main design of setting forth the 
 abominable partiality for the rich, and 
 the wicked contempt and neglect of 
 the poor. 
 
 200. Arturius.] Perhaps this may 
 mean the same person as is spoken of, 
 1. 29. However, this name may stand 
 for any rich man, who, like Arturius, 
 was admired and courted for his riches. 
 
 — Hath fallen.] A prey to flames ; 
 hath been burnt down. 
 
 — The mother is ghastly.] Mater 
 may here mean the city itself. All 
 Rome is in a state of disorder and la- 
 mentation, and puts on a ghastly ap- 
 pearance, as in some public calamity ; 
 or, the matrons of Rome, with torn 
 garments and dishevelled hair, appear 
 in all the horrid signs of woe. See 
 Virg. JSn. ii. 1. 489. 
 
 201. The nobles sadly clothed,] 
 Pullati ; clad in sad-coloured apparel, 
 as if in mourning. 
 
 —The Praetor, $c] The judge ad- 
 journs his court, and respites the 
 pledges, or bonds, for the suitors' ap- 
 pearances to a future day; 
 
 202. Then -we lament, $c] , Then 
 we lament the accidents to which the 
 city is liable ; particularly the loss of 
 so noble an edifice as the house of 
 Arturius, as if the whole city was in- 
 volved in the misfortune. 
 
 —We hatejire.] We can't bear the 
 
62 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRJS. 
 
 Ardet adhuc — et jam accurrit qui marmora donet, 
 Conferat impensas : hie nuda et Candida signa ; 
 Hie aliquid prscclarum Euphranoris, et Polycleti ; 
 Phsecasianorum Vetera ornamenta deorum. 
 Hie libros dabit, et forulos, niediamque Minervam ; 
 Hie modium argenti : ineliofa, ae plura reponit 
 Persic us orborurn lailtissimus, et merito jam 
 Suspectus, tanquam ipse suas incenderet sedes. 
 
 Si potes avelli Circensibus, optima Sorae, 
 Aut Fabrateriae domus, aut Frusinone paratur, 
 Quanti nunc tenebras unum conducis in annum : 
 Hortulus hie, puteusque brevis, nee reste movendus, 
 
 205 
 
 210 
 
 very mention of fire. It was customary 
 for mourners to have no fire in their 
 booses. Perhaps thismay be mean . 
 
 203. It burns yet] i.e. While the 
 bouse is still on (ire, before the flames 
 
 have quite consumed it. 
 
 — And now runs one, <$\] Some 
 - officious flatterer of Arturius loses no 
 time to improve his own interest in 
 the great man's favour, but hastens to 
 offer his services hei'ore the fire has 
 done smoking, and to let him know, 
 that he has marble of various kinds, 
 which he wishes to present him with, 
 for the rebuilding of the house. 
 
 204. tHatf contribute expence*.\ i.e. 
 Can contribute towards the expence 
 of repairing the damage, by present- 
 ing a large quantity of this fine 
 marble, which was a very expensive 
 article. 
 
 Another, §c] Of the same 
 
 stamp ; as one furnishes marble to 
 rebuild the outside of the house, ano- 
 ther presents ornaments for the in- 
 side ; such as. Grecian statues, which 
 were usually naked, and made of the 
 finest white marble. 
 
 205. Another something famous, 
 ^c] Some famous works of Euphra- 
 norand Polycletus, two eminent Gre- 
 cian statuaries. 
 
 206. Of Phatcasian gods ] The an- 
 cient images of the Grecian deities 
 were called Phaecasian, from £«»xaa>:s 
 calceus albus ; because they were re- 
 presented with white sandals ; pro- 
 bably the statues here mentioned had 
 heen ornaments of Grecian temples. 
 
 ?07. Minerva dozen to the waist.] 
 
 Probably this means a bust of Mi- 
 nerva, consisting of the head, aud 
 part of the body down 10 the middle. 
 — Pallas to the breast. ImvDEX. 
 
 Grangius observes, that they had 
 their imagines aut Integra, aut di- 
 midiata; ; of which latier sort was 
 this image of Minerva. 
 
 Britannicus expounds mediam Mi- 
 nervam, M Statuam Minerva inrae- 
 " dio reponendam, ad exornandam 
 " biuliothecam." — '« A statue of Mi- 
 " nerve to be placed in the middle, 
 " by way of ornamenting his li- 
 " brary. w 
 
 208. A bushel of silver.] A forge 
 quantity ; a definite for an indefinite; 
 as we say, " such a one is worth a 
 " bushel of money." — So the French 
 say, un boisseau d'ecus. Argenti, 
 here, may either mean silver to be 
 made into plate, or silver plate al- 
 ready made, or il may signify money. 
 Either of these senses answers the 
 poet's design, in Setting forth the at- 
 tention, kindness, and liberality shewn 
 to the rich, and forms a striking con- 
 trast to the want of all these towards 
 the poor. 
 
 209. The Persian, £c] Meaning 
 Arturius, who either was a Persian, 
 and one of the foreigners who came 
 and enriched himself at Rome, (see 
 1. ^2.) or so called, on account of his 
 resembling the Persians in splendor 
 and magnificence. 
 
 — The most splendid of destitutes.] 
 Orbus means one that is deprived of 
 any thing that is dear, necessary, or 
 useful ; as children of their parents ; 
 
JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 m 
 
 It burns yet— and now runs one who can present marbles, 
 Can contribute expences : another naked and white statues ; 
 Another something famous of Euphranor and Polycletus ; 
 
 The ancient ornaments of Phsecasian gods. 
 
 206 
 
 This man will give books, and book-cases, and Minerva 
 
 down to the waist ; 
 Another a bushel of silver : better and more things doth 
 The Persian, the most splendid of destitutes lay up, and 
 
 now deservedly 
 Suspected, as if he had himself set fire to his own house. 
 Could you be plucked away from the Circenses, a most 
 excellent house 211 
 
 At Sora, or Fabrateria, or Frusino, is gotten 
 At the price for which you now hire darkness for one year : 
 Here is a little garden, and a shallow well, not to be drawn 
 
 by a rope, 
 
 men of their friends ; or of their sub- 
 stance and property, as Arturius, 
 who had lost his house, and every 
 thing in it, by a fire. But, as the 
 poet humourously styles him, he was 
 the most splendid and sumptuous of 
 all sufferers, for he replaced and re- 
 paired his loss, with very considerable 
 gain and advantage, from the contri- 
 butions which were made towards the 
 rebuilding and furnishing his house, 
 with more and better (meliora et 
 plura) materials for both, than those 
 which he had lost. 
 
 The contrast to the situation of 
 poor Codrus is finely kept up, as well 
 as the poet's design of exposing the 
 monstrous partiality which was shewn 
 to riches. 
 
 209-10. Now deservedly suspected.'] 
 See Martial, epigr. 51. lib. iii. 
 
 The satire upon the venality, self- 
 interestedness, and mercenary views 
 of those who paid their court to the 
 rich and great, is here greatly height- 
 ened, by supposing them so notorious, 
 as to encourage Arturius to set his 
 own house on fire, on the presumption 
 that he should be a gainer by the pre- 
 sents which would be made him from 
 those who expected, in their turn, to 
 be richly repaid by the entertainments 
 he would give them during his life, 
 and, at his death, by the legacies he 
 might leave them in his will. Such 
 were called captatores. See sal. x. 
 202. HOR. lib! ii. sat. v. 1. 67. 
 
 As for poor Codrus, he was left to 
 starve; nobody could expect any thing 
 from him, either living or dying, so 
 he Avas forsaken of all — orborum mis- 
 errimus — whereas Arturius was, as 
 the poet calls him, orborum lautissi- 
 mus. 
 
 211. The Circenses.] The Circen- 
 sian games; so called, because ex~ 
 hibited in the Circus. Sec Kennett, 
 Antiq. book v. part ii. chap. ii. These 
 shows were favourite amusements, 
 and therefore the Romans could 
 hardly be prevailed on to absent them- 
 selves from them ; hence he says, Si 
 potes avelli. 
 
 212. Sera, <§-c] These were plea- 
 sant towns in Campania, where, says 
 Umbri ius to Juvenal, a very good 
 house and little garden is purchased 
 (para;ur) for the same price (quanti) 
 as you now, in these dear times, hire 
 (conducis) a wretched, dark, dog- 
 hole (tenebras) at Rome for a single 
 year. 
 
 214- A shallow well, #c] The 
 springs lying so high, that there is no 
 occasion for a rope for letting down a 
 bucket to fetch up the water ; the " 
 garden may be watered with the 
 greatest ease, by merely dipping, and 
 thus, facili haustu, with an easy draw- 
 ing up by the hand, your plants be 
 refreshed. This was no small acqui- 
 sition in Italy, where, in many parts, 
 it seldom rains. 
 
64 
 
 JUVENALXS SATIR.E. 
 
 In tenues plantas facili diffunditur haustu. 
 Vive bidentis amans, et culti villicus horti, 
 Unde epulura possis centum dare Pythagoraeis. 
 Est aliquid quocunque loco, quocunque recessu, 
 fJnius sese dominum fecisse lacertae. 
 
 Plurimus hie aeger moritur vigilando ; (sed ilium 
 Languorem peperit cibus imperfectus, et haerens 
 Ardenti stomacho,) nam quae meritoria somnum 
 ^ Admittunt ? Magnis opibus dormitur in urbe. 
 Inde caput morbi. Rhedarum transitus arcto 
 Vicorum inflexu, et stands convicia mandrae 
 Eripiunt somnum Druso, vitulisque marinis. 
 Sivocat officium, turba cedente vehetur 
 Dives, et ingenti curret super ora Liburno, 
 
 21s 
 
 220 
 
 216. Live fond of the fork.] i. e. 
 Pass your time in cultivating your 
 little spot of ground. The bidens, or 
 fork, of two prongs, was used in hus- 
 bandry ; here, by met. it is put for 
 husbandry itself. 
 
 217. An hundred Pythagoreans.] 
 Pythagoras taught his disciples to ab- 
 stain from flesh, and to live on vege- 
 tables. 
 
 219. Of one lizard.] The green 
 lizard is very plentiful in Italy, as 
 in all warm climates, and is very fond 
 of living in gardens, and among the 
 leaves of trees and shrubs. 
 
 Scu ii rides rubum 
 
 Dimovcre laeertao 
 
 Hon. lib. i. cd xxiii. 1. 6, 7. 
 The poet means, that, wherever a 
 man may be placed, or wherever re- 
 tired from the rest of the world, it is 
 no small privilege to be able to call 
 one's self master of a little spot of 
 ground of one's own, however small 
 it may be, though it were no bigger 
 than to contain one poor lizard. This 
 seems a proverbial or figurative kind 
 of expression. 
 
 220. VTiih watching.] With being 
 kept awake. Another inconvenience 
 of living in Rome is, the perpetual 
 noise in the streets, which is occa- 
 sioned by the carriages passing at all 
 hours, so as to prevent one's sleeping. 
 This, to people who are sick, is a 
 deadly evil. 
 
 220-1. But that languor, <§c] q. d. 
 Though, by the way, it must be ad- 
 mitted, that the weak, languishing, 
 
 and sleepless state, in which many of 
 these are, they first bring upon them- 
 selves by their own intemperance ; 
 and therefore their deaths are not 
 wholly to be set down to the account 
 of the noise by which they are kept 
 awake, however this may help to 
 finish them. 
 
 221. Food — imperfect.] i. e. Im- 
 perfectly digested — indigested — and 
 lying hard at the stomach — barren ..-, 
 adhering, as it were, to the coats of 
 the stomach, so as not to pass, but to 
 ferment, and to occasion a burning or 
 scalding sensation. This seems to be 
 a description of what we call the 
 heart-burn, (Gr. y.Afoix^yiu,) which 
 arises from indigestion, and is so pain- 
 ful and troublesome as to prevent 
 sleep : it is attended with risings of 
 sour and sharp fumes from the sto- 
 mach into the throat, which occasion 
 a sensation almost like that of scald 
 ir.g water. 
 
 222. ror what hired lodgings, §c] 
 The nam, here, seems to join this sen- 
 tence to vigilando, 1. 221. I there- 
 fore have ventured to put the inter- 
 mediate words in a parenthesis, 
 which, as they are rather digressive, 
 makes the sense of the passage more 
 easily understood. 
 
 Mei itcrium— a mersndc — locus qui 
 mercede locatur, signifies any place 
 or house that is hired. Such, in the 
 city of Rome, were mostly, as we 
 may gather from this passage, in the 
 noisy part of the town, in apartments 
 
JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 65 
 
 SAT. III. 
 
 Is poured with an easy draught on the small plants. 215 
 Live fond of the fork, and the farmer of a cultivated garden, 
 Whence you may give a feast to an hundred Pythagoreans, 
 It is something in any place, in any retirement, . 
 To have made one's self master of one lizard. 
 
 Here many a sick man dies with watching ; (but that 220 
 Languor food hath produced, imperfect, and sticking 
 To the burning stomach,) for what hired lodgings admit 
 Sleep ? — By great wealth one sleeps in the city. 
 Thence the source of the disease : the passing of carriages 
 
 in the narrow 
 Turning of the streets, and the foul language of the 
 
 standing team, 225 
 
 Take away sleep from Drusus, and from sea-calves. 
 If business calls, the crowd giving way, the rich man will be 
 Carried along, and will pass swiftly above their faces with a 
 
 huge Liburnian, 
 
 next to the street, so not very friendly 
 to repose. 
 
 223. With great wealth.] Dormi- 
 tur is here used impersonally, like 
 trepidatur, 1. 188* None but the rich 
 can afford to live in houses which are 
 spacious enough to have bed-cham- 
 bers remote from the noise in the 
 streets ; those who, therefore, would 
 sleep in Rome, must be at a great ex- 
 pence, which none but the opulent 
 can afford. 
 
 224. Thence the source, <§c] One 
 great cause of the malady complained 
 of (morbi, i. e. vigilandi, 1. 220.) must 
 be attributed to the narrowness of the 
 streets and turnings, so that the car- 
 riages must not only pass very near 
 the houses, but occasion frequent 
 stoppages ; the consequence of which 
 is, that there are perpetual noisy dis- 
 putes, quarrels, and abuse (convicia) 
 among the drivers. Rheda signifies 
 any carriage drawn by horses, &c. 
 
 225. Of the standing team.] Man- 
 dra signifies, literally, a hovel for 
 cattle, but, by meton. a company or 
 team of horses, oxen, mules, or any 
 beasts of burden ; these are here sup- 
 posed standing still, and not able to 
 go on, by reason of meeting others in 
 a narrow pass ; hence the bickerings, 
 scoldings, and abusive language which 
 the drivers bestow on each other for 
 stopping the way. 
 
 226. Drusus.] Some person re- 
 markable for drowsiness. 
 
 — Sea-calves.] These are remark- 
 ably sluggish and drowsy ; they will 
 lay themselves on the shore to sleep, 
 in which situation they are found, and 
 thus easily taken. 
 
 Stcrnunt se somno diverse? in littore 
 phocce. Virg. Georg. iv. 432. 
 
 227. If business calls.] Umbritius, 
 having shewn the advantages of the 
 rich, in being able to afford them- 
 selves quiet repose, notwitstanding the 
 constant noises in the city, which 
 break the rest of the poorer sort, now 
 proceeds to observe the advantage 
 with which the opulent can travel 
 along the crowded streets, where the 
 poorer sort are inconvenienced beyond 
 measure. 
 
 Si vocatofficium — if business, either 
 public or private, calls the rich man 
 forth, the crowd makes way for him 
 as he is carried along in his litter. 
 
 228. Pass swiftly, §c] Curret— 
 lit. will run : while the common pas- 
 sengers can hardly get along for the 
 crowds of people, the rich man passes 
 on without the least impediment, 
 being exalted above the heads of the 
 people, in his litter, which is elevated 
 on the shoulders of tall and stout 
 Liburnian bearers. 
 
 The word ora properly means faces 
 or countenances j the super ora may 
 
66 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 SAT. III. 
 
 Atque obiter leget, aut scribet, aut dormiet intus ; 
 NamqueTacit somnum clausa lectica fenestra. 
 Ante tamen veniet : nobis properantibus obstat 
 Unda prior, raagno populus premit agmine lumbos 
 Qui sequitur : ferit hie cubito, ferit assere duro 
 Alter ; at hie tignum capiti incutit, ille metretam, 
 Pinguia crura luto : planta mox undique magna 
 Calcor, et in digito clavus mihi militis haeret. 
 
 Nonne vides quanto celebretur sportula fumo ? 
 Centum convivse ; sequitur sua quemque culina : 
 Corbulo vix ferret tot vasa ingentia, tot res 
 Impositas capiti, quot recto vertice portat 
 
 230 
 
 235 
 
 240 
 
 denote his being carried above the 
 faces of the crowd, which are turned 
 upwards to look at him as he passes. 
 
 228. A huge Liburnian .] The chair- 
 men at Rome commonly came from 
 Liburnia, a part of Illyria, between 
 Istria and Dalmatia. They were re- 
 markably tall and stout. 
 
 229. Read, or write, or sleep.] He 
 is carried on with so much ease to 
 himself, that he can amuse himself 
 with reading, employ himself in 
 writing, or, if he has a mind to take 
 a nap, has only to shut up the win- 
 dow of his litter, and he will be soon 
 composed to sleep. All this he may do, 
 obiter, in going along — En chemin 
 faisant — en passant, as the French say. 
 
 • 231. But he will come before us.] 
 He will lose no time by all this ; for, 
 however he may employ himself in 
 his way, he will be sure to arrive be- 
 fore us foot-passengers at the place he 
 is going to. 
 
 — Us hastening.] Whatever hurry 
 we may be in, or whatever haste we 
 wish to make, we are sure to be ob- 
 structed ; the crowd that is before us, 
 in multitude and turbulence, like 
 waves,, closes in upon us, as soon as 
 the great man, whom they made way 
 for, is passed, so that we can hardly 
 get along at all. 
 
 232. The people who follow, %c] 
 As the crowd which is before us stops 
 up our way, that which is behind 
 presses upon our backs, so that we 
 can hardly stir either backward or 
 forward. 
 
 <rQ:>3. One strikes toith the eliow.] 
 To jostfe us ourdf his way. 
 
 233-4. Another — with a large joist.] 
 Which he is carrying along, and runs 
 it against us. Asser signifies a pole, 
 or piece of wood ; also the joist of an 
 house; which, from the next word, 
 we may suppose to be meant here, at 
 least some piece of timber for build- 
 ing, which, being carried along in the 
 crowd, must strike those who are not 
 aware of it, and who stand in the 
 way. 
 
 Some understand asser in this place 
 to mean a pole of some litter that is 
 passing along ; a chair pole, as we 
 should call it. 
 
 234-. Drives a bca?n, %c] Another 
 is carrying tignum, a beam, or rafter, 
 or some other large piece of wood 
 used in building, which, being carried 
 on the shoulder, has the end level 
 with the heads of those it meets in its 
 way, and must inflict a severe blow. 
 
 — A tub.] Metreta signifies a cask 
 of a certain measure, which, in being 
 carried through the crowd, will strike 
 and hui-t those who don't avoid it. 
 
 235. Thick with mud.] Bespattered 
 with the mire of the streets, which is 
 kicked up by such a number of people 
 upon each other. 
 
 235-6. On all sides — the nail, §c.] 
 I can hardly turn myself but some 
 heavy, splay-footed fellow tramples 
 upon my feet ; and at last some sol- 
 dier's, hob-nail runs into my toe. The 
 soldiers wore a sort of harness on 
 their feet and legs, called caiiga, 
 which was stuck full of large nails. 
 
 Such are the inconveniences which 
 the common sort of people meet with 
 in walking the streets of Rome. - 
 
 
 
 ' 
 
JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 67 
 
 SAT. III. 
 
 And in the way he will read, or write, or sleep within ; 
 For a litter with the window shut causeth sleep. 230 
 
 But he will come before us : us hastening the crowd before 
 Obstructs : the people who follow press the loins with a large 
 Concourse : one strikes with the elbow, another strikes with a 
 
 large 
 ' Joist, but another drives a beam against one's head, another 
 
 a tub. 
 The legs thick with mud : presently, on all sides, with a 
 
 great foot 235 
 
 I'm trodden on, and the nail of a soldier sticks in my toe. 
 
 Do not you now see with how much smoke the sportula 
 
 is frequented ? 
 An hundred guests : his own kitchen follows every one : 
 Corbulo could hardly bear so many immense vessels, so 
 
 many things 239 
 
 Put on his head, as, with an upright top, an unhappy little 
 
 237. Do not you see, #C;] Umbri- 
 tius proceeds to enumerate farther 
 inconveniences and dangers which at- 
 tend passengers in the streets of 
 Rome. 
 
 Some understand fumo, here, in a 
 figurative sense — q. d. With how 
 much bustle, with what crowds of 
 people, like clouds of smoke, is the 
 sportula frequented ? Others think it 
 alludes to the smoke of the chafing 
 dishes of hot coals which were put 
 under the victuals, to keep them 
 warm as they were carried along the 
 street : this, from the number, must 
 have been very offensive. 
 
 — .The sportula.] Of this, see sat. 
 i. 81. note. But, from the circum- 
 stances which are spoken of in the 
 next four lines of this passage, it 
 should seem, that the sportula men- 
 tioned here was of another kind than 
 the usual poor dole-basket. Here are 
 an hundred guests invited to partake 
 of it, and each has such a share dis- 
 tributed to him as to be very con- 
 siderable. 
 
 238. His o-wn kitchen follows ] Each 
 of the hundred sharers of this spor- 
 tula had a slave, who, with a chafing- 
 dish of coals on his head, on which 
 the victuals were put, to keep them 
 hot, followed his master along the 
 street homewards : so that the whole 
 
 made a very long procession. 
 
 Culina denotes a place where vic- 
 tuals are cooked; and as the slaves 
 followed their masters with vessels of 
 fire placed under the dishes so as to 
 keep them warm, and, in a manner, 
 to dress them as they went along, 
 each of these might be looked upon 
 as a moveable or travelling kitchen : 
 so that the masters might each be 
 said to be followed by his own kitchen. 
 
 239. Corbulo.] A remarkably strong 
 and valiant man in the time of Nero. 
 Tacitus says of him, Corpore ingens 
 erat, et supra experientiam sapien- 
 tiamque erat validus. 
 
 240. An upright top.] The top of 
 the head, on which the vessels of fire 
 and provision were carried, must be 
 quite upright, not bending or stoop- 
 ing, lest the soup, or sauce, which 
 they contained, should be spilt as they 
 went along, or vessels and all slide 
 off. The tot vasa ingentia, and tot 
 res, shew that the sportula above- 
 mentioned was of a magnificent kind, 
 more like the splendor of a ccena 
 recta, a set and full supper, than the 
 scanty distribution of a dole-basket. 
 
 240-1. Unhappy little slave.] Who 
 was hardly equal to the burden which 
 he was obliged to carry in so uneasy 
 a situation, as not daring to stir his 
 head. 
 
65 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Servulus infelix ; et cursu ventilat ignem. 
 
 Scinduntur tunicae sartae : modo longa coruscat 
 
 Sarraco veniente abies, atque altera pinum 
 
 Plaustra vehunt, nutant alte, populoque minantur. - 
 
 Nam si procubuit, qui saxa Ligustica portat 
 
 Axis, et eversum fudit super agmina montem, 
 
 Quid superest de corporibus ? quis membra, quis ossa 
 
 Invenit ? obtritum vulgi perit omnc cadaver 
 
 More anima?. Domus inierea secura patellas 
 
 Jam lavat, et bucca foculum excitat, et sonat unctis 
 
 Strigilibus, pleno et componit liatea gutto. 
 
 Haec inter pueros varie properantur ; at ille 
 
 Jam sedet in ripa, tetrumque novitius horret 
 
 Porthmea ; nee sperat coenosi gurgitis alnum 
 
 245 
 
 250 
 
 241. In running ventilates, £c.] 
 He blew up, or fanned, the fire under 
 the provisions, by the current of air 
 •which he excited in hastening on 
 with his load. These processions Ura- 
 britius seems to reckon among other 
 causes of the street being crowded, 
 and made disagreeable and inconve- 
 nient for passengers, 
 
 242. Botched coats arc torn.] Some 
 refer this io the old botched clothes 
 of these poor slaves ; but I should 
 rather imagine, ; r Umbritius here 
 introduces a new circumstance, which 
 relates to the poor in general, whose 
 garments being old, and only hang- 
 ing together b\ being botched and 
 mended, are rent and torn off their 
 backs, in getting through the crowd, 
 by the violence of the press, which is 
 increased by the number of masters 
 and servants, who are hurrying along 
 with the coutents of the sportula. 
 
 — A long fir-tree] Another incon- 
 venience arises from the passing of 
 timber-carriages among the people in 
 the streets. Seneca, epist. xl. Lon- 
 go vehiculorum ordine, pinus aut 
 abies deferebatur vicis intrementibus. 
 
 — Brandishes.] Corusco signifies 
 to brandish or shake ; also neut to 
 be shaken, to wave to and fro ; which 
 must be the case of a long stick of 
 timber, of the ends especially, on a 
 carriage. This may be very danger- 
 ous if approached too near. 
 
 243. The -waggon coming.] Mov- 
 ing on its way ; sarracum signifies a 
 waggon, or wain, for the purpose of 
 carrying timber. 
 
 244 They nod on high.] These 
 trees being placed high on the carri- 
 ages, and lying out beyond them at 
 each end, tremble aloft, and threaten 
 the destruction of the people. 
 
 245. But if the axle, §c] i.e. If 
 the stone-carriage has overturned by 
 the breaking of the axle-tree. 
 
 — Ligustian atone*.] Which were 
 hewn, in vast masses, in Liguria, 
 from the quarries of the Appenine 
 mountains. 
 
 24-6. The overturned mountain.] 
 Hyperbole, denoting the immensity 
 of the block of stone. 
 
 — Upon the croxed.] Agmen denotes 
 a troop or company ; also a number 
 of people walking together, as in a 
 crowded street. 
 
 247. What remains, §c] If such 
 an immense mass should, in its fall, 
 light upon any of the people, it must 
 grind them to atoms : no trace of a 
 human body, its limbs, or bones, 
 could be found. 
 
 219. In the manner of the soul] 
 i. c. The particles which composed 
 the body could no more be found, 
 than could the soul which is immate- 
 rial ; both would seem to have va- 
 nished away, and disappeared to- 
 gether. 
 
 — Mean-while.] Interea — q. d. 
 While the slave is gone to bring home 
 the provisions, and is crushed to 
 pieces, by the fall of a stone-carriage, 
 in his way. See I. 252-3. 
 
 — The family.] The servants of the 
 family (comp. 1. 252.) safe at home, 
 and knowing nothing of what had 
 
sat. in. JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 69 
 
 Slave carries ; and in running ventilates the fire.— 
 ^Botched coats are torn. — Now a long fir-tree brandishes, 
 The waggon coming^ and a pine other 
 Carts carry, they nod on high, and threaten the. people./ 
 But if the axle, which carries the Ligustian stones, 245 
 Hath fallen down, and hath poured forth the overturned 
 
 mountain upon the crowd, 
 What remains of their bodies ? who finds members — who 
 Bones ? every carcase of the vulgar, ground to powder, 
 
 perishes 
 In the manner of the soul. Meanwhile, the family secure 
 
 now washes 
 The dishes, and raises up a little fire with the cheek, and 
 
 makes a sound with anointed 250 
 
 Scrapers, and puts together the napkins with a full cruse. 
 These things among the servants are variously hastened : 
 
 but he 
 Now sits on the bank, and, a novice, dreads the black 
 Ferryman ; nor does he hope for the boat of the muddy 
 
 gulph, 
 
 happened, set about preparing for 
 supper. 
 
 250. The dishes.] Patella signifies 
 any sort of dish to hold meat. One 
 washes and prepares the dishes which 
 are to hold the meat when it arrives; 
 
 — Raises up a little Jirc, §c] Ano- 
 ther, in order to prepare the fire for 
 warming the water for bathing before 
 supper, blows it with his mouth. 
 Hence it is said, bucca foculum ex- 
 citat ; alluding to the distension of 
 the cheeks in the act of blowing. 
 
 250-1. With anointed scrapers.] 
 Strigil denotes an instrument for 
 ■ scraping the body after bathing; it 
 had some oil put on it, to make it 
 slide with less friction over the skin. 
 Scrapers were made of gold, silver, 
 iron, or the like, which, when gather- 
 ed up, or thrown down together, made 
 a clattering sound. 
 
 251. Puts together the napkins.] 
 Lintea — linen napkins, or towels, 
 made use of to dry the body after 
 bathing: these he folds and lays in 
 order. 
 
 — A full cruse.] Gutto — a sort of 
 oil-cruet, with a long and narrow 
 neck, which poured the oil, drop by 
 drop, on the body after bathing, and 
 
 then it was rubbed all over it. 
 
 252. These things among the ser- 
 vants, fyc] Each servant, in his de- 
 partment, made all the haste he could, 
 to get things ready against the supper 
 should arrive. 
 
 — But he.] Ille — i. e. The servulus 
 infelix, (which we read of, 1. 241.) in 
 his way home with his load of provi- 
 sions, is killed by the fall of a block 
 of stone upon him. 
 
 253. Sits on the bank.] Of the river 
 Styx. By this account of the de- 
 ceased, it is very clear that Juvenal 
 was no Epicurean, believing the soul 
 to perish with the body, which some 
 have wrongly inferred, from what he 
 says, h 249. more animae. 
 
 — A novice.] Just newly arrived, 
 and now first beholding such a scene. 
 
 253-4. The black ferryman.]? orth- 
 mea — from Gr. wogQfASvq, a ferryman, 
 one who ferries people over the wa- 
 ter. Charon, the fabled ferryman of 
 hell, is here meant. 
 
 254. JVor docs he hope for trie beat, 
 Qc] Alnus properly signifies an el- 
 der-tree ; but as the wood of this tree 
 was used in making boats.it therefore, 
 by met. signifies a boat. 
 
 As the poor deceased had died a 
 
70 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Infelix, nee babet quem porrigat ore trientem. %55 
 
 llespice nunc alia, ac diversa pericula noctis : 
 Quod spatium tectis sublimibus, unde cerebrum 
 Testa ferit, quoties rimosa et curta fenestris 
 Vasa cadunt, quanto percussum pondere signent, 
 Et laedant silicem : possis ignavus baberi, 260 
 
 Et subiti casus improvidus, ad coenam si 
 Intestatus eas; adeo tot fata, quot ilia 
 Nocte patent vigiles, te praetereunte, fenestrae. 
 Ergo optes, votumque feras miserabile tecum, 
 Ut sint contentse patulas effundere pelves. 265 
 
 Ebrius, ac petulans, qui nullum forte cecidit, 
 Dat poenas, noctem patitur lugentis amicum 
 Pelidae ; cubat in faciem, mox deinde supinus : 
 Ergo non aliter poterit dormire : Quibusdam 
 Somnum rixa tacit : sed quamvis improbus annis, 270 
 
 violent death, and such a one as dis- 
 sipated all the parts of his body, so as 
 that they could not be collected for 
 burial, he could not pass over the 
 river Styx, but must remain on its 
 banks an hundred years, which was 
 held to be the case of all unburicd bo- 
 dies. See Virg. JEn. vi. 32.5-29. 
 "Gj-6. and Hon. lib. i. ode xxviii. 
 35-6. This situation was reckoned 
 to be very unhappy. 
 
 255. Nor hath he a farthing, 8j-c] 
 The triens was a very small piece of 
 money, the third part of the as, 
 which was about three farthings of 
 our money. It was a custom among 
 the Greeks to put a piece of money 
 into the mouth of a dead person, 
 which was supposed to be given to 
 Charon, as his fare, for the passage 
 in his boat over the river Styx. This 
 unhappy man, being killed in the 
 manner he was, could not have this 
 done for him. 
 
 Though Ju'enal certainly believed 
 a future state of rewards and punish- 
 ments, yet he certainly means here, 
 as he does elsewhere, to ridicule the 
 idle and foolish superstitions, which 
 the Romans had adopted from the 
 Creeks, upon those subjects, as well 
 as on many others relative to their re- 
 ceived mythology. 
 
 256. No-w consider, %r.] Umbri- 
 tius stiil pursues his discourse, and 
 adds fresh reasons for his departure 
 
 from Rome : which, like the former 
 already given, arise from the dangers 
 which the inhabitants, the poorer sort 
 especially, are exposed to, in walking 
 the streets by night. These he sets 
 forth with much humour. 
 
 — Other, and different dangers.] 
 Besides those already mentioned. L 
 181-190. 
 
 257. What space from high roofs.] 
 How high the houses are, and, con- 
 sequently, what a long way any thing 
 has to fall, from the upper windows 
 into the street, upon people's heads 
 that are passing by ; and therefore 
 must come with the greater force ; 
 insomuch that pieces of broken 
 earthen ware, coming from such a 
 height, make a mark in the flint 
 pavement below, and, of course, must 
 dash out the brains of the unfortunate 
 passenger on whose head they may 
 happen to alight. 
 
 260. Idle.] Ignavus — indolent — , 
 negligent of your affairs, q. d. A man 
 who goes out to supper, and who has 
 to walk home through the streets at 
 night, may be reckoned very indolent, 
 and careless of his affairs, as well as 
 very improvident, if he does not make 
 his will before he sets out. 
 
 262. As many fates.] As many 
 chances of being knocked on the head, 
 as there are open windows, and pec- 
 pie watching to throw down their 
 
SAT. III. 
 
 JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 71 
 
 Wretch [that he is] — nor hath he a farthing which he can 
 reach forth from his mouth. £55 
 
 Now consider other, and different dangers of the night : 
 What space from high roofs, from whence the brain 
 A potsherd strikes, as often as from the windows cracked 
 
 and broken 
 Vessels fall, with what weight they mark and wound 
 The stricken flint : you may be accounted idle, 260 
 
 And improvident of sudden accident, if to supper 
 You go intestate ; there are as many fates as, in that 
 Night, there are watchful windows open, while you pass by. 
 Therefore you should desire, and carry with you a miserable 
 
 wish, 
 That they may be content to pour forth broad basons. 265 
 
 One drunken and petulant, who haply hath killed nobody, 
 Is punished ; suffers the night of Pelides mourning 
 His friend ; he lies on his face, then presently on his back : 
 For otherwise he could not sleep : To some 
 A quarrel causes sleep : but tho* wicked from years 270 
 
 broke» crockery" into the street, as 
 you pass along. 
 
 264. Therefore you should desire, 
 <£c] As the best thing which you 
 can expect, that the people at the 
 windows would content themselves 
 with emptying the nastiness which is 
 in their pots upon you, and not 
 throw down the pots themselves. 
 
 Pel "is is a large bason, or vessel, 
 wherein they washed their feet, or put 
 to more filthy uses. 
 
 266. One drunken, <|c.] Umbri- 
 tius, among the nightly dangers of 
 Rome, recounts that which arises 
 from meeting drunken rakes in their 
 cups. 
 
 . —Drunken and petulant.} We may 
 imagine him in his way from some 
 tavern, very much in liquor, and very 
 saucy and quarrelsome, hoping to 
 pick a quarrel, that he may have the 
 pleasure of beating somebody before 
 he gets home ; to fail of this is a pu- 
 nishment to him. 
 
 267. The night of Pelides.'] The 
 poet humourously compares the un- 
 easiness of one of these young fel- 
 lows, on missing a quarrel, to the dis- 
 quiet of Achilles (the son of Peleus) on 
 the loss of his friend Patroclus ; and 
 almost translates the description 
 
 which Homer gives of that hero's 
 restlessness on the occasion. Iliad 12. 
 10, 11. 
 AAA or £7n TrXeuga? v.a.Ta.v.it-jt.tvQq, 
 aAAoTe cA avrs 
 
 YTTTtOf, aAAoTE OS TTPYiVriSl 
 
 Nunc lateri i?icumbe>is, itcrum post 
 paulo supinus 
 
 Corpore, nunc pronus. 
 So the poet describes this rake-helly 
 youth, as tossing and tumbling in his 
 bed, first on his face, then on his 
 back (supinus) — thus endeavouring to 
 amuse the restlessness of his mind, 
 under the disappointment of having 
 met with nobody to quarrel with and 
 beat — thus wearying himself, as it 
 were, into sleep. 
 
 269-70. To some a quarrel, %c.\ 
 This reminds one of Prov. iv. 16. 
 " For they (the wicked and evil men, 
 " ver. 14.) sleep not, except they 
 " have done mischief, and their sleep 
 ** is taken away unless they cause 
 " some to fall." 
 
 270. Wicked from years.] Impro- 
 bus also signifies lewd, rash, violent, 
 presumptuous. — Though he be ail 
 these, owing to his young time of life, 
 and heated also with liquor, yet he 
 takes care whom he assaults. 
 
72 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Atque mero fervens, cavet hunc, quem coccina laena 
 Vitari jubet, et comitum longissimus ordo ; 
 Multum praeterea flammarura, atque aenea lampas. 
 Me quem Luna solet deducere, vel breve lumen 
 Candelae, cujus dispenso et tempero filum, 
 Contemnit : miserae cognosce prooemia rixae, 
 Si rixa est, ubi tu pulsas ego vapulo tantum. 
 Stat contra, starique jubet; parere necesse est ; 
 Nam quid agas, cum te furiosus cogat, et idem 
 Fortior ? unde venis? exclamat : cujus aceto, 
 Cujus conche tumes ? quis tecum sectile porrum 
 Sutor, et elixi vervecis labra comedit ? 
 Nil mihi respondes ? aut die, aut accipe calcem : 
 Ede ubi consistas : in qua te quaero proseucha ? 
 Dicere si tentes aliquid, tacitusve recedas, 
 Tantundem est : feriunt pariter : vadimonia deinde 
 Irati faciunt. Libertas pauperis ha?c est : 
 Pulsatus rogat, et pugnis concisus adorat, 
 Ut liceat paucis cum dentibus inde reverti. 
 
 275 
 
 280 
 
 285 
 
 271. A scarlet cloak.] Instead of 
 attacking, he will avoid any rich man 
 or noble, whom he full well knows 
 from his dress, as well as from the 
 number of lights and attendants 
 which accompany him. 
 
 The laena was a sort of cloak usu- 
 ally worn by soldiers : but only the 
 rich and noble could afford to wear 
 those which were dyed in scarlet. 
 Coccus signifies the shrub which pro- 
 duced the scarlet grain, and coccinus 
 implies what was dyed with it of a 
 scarlet colour. 
 
 273. Brazen lamp.] This sort of 
 lamp was made of Corinthian brass : 
 it was very expensive, and could only 
 fall to the share of the opulent. 
 
 274. Me whom the moon, §c] 
 Who walk by moon-light, or, at 
 most, with a poor, solitary, short 
 candle, which I snuff* with my fin- 
 gers — such a one he holds in the ut- 
 most contempt. 
 
 276. Know the preludes, %c] At- 
 tend a little, and hear what the pre- 
 ludes are of one of these quarrels, if 
 that can properly be called a quarrel, 
 where the beating is by the assailant 
 only. 
 
 Rixa signifies a buffeting, and fight- 
 ing, which last seems to be the best 
 
 sense in this place, viz. if that Can be 
 called fighting, where the battle is all 
 on one bide. 
 
 278. He stands opposite.] Directly 
 in your way, to hinder your pasting, 
 and orders you to stop. 
 
 27i>. What can you do, £c] You 
 must submit, there's no making any 
 resistance ; you are no match for 
 such a furious man. 
 
 280. With whose vinegar, #c]— 
 Then he begins his taunts, in hopes 
 to pick a quarrel. Where have you 
 been? with whose sour wine have you 
 been filling yourself ? 
 
 281 With whose bean, §c] Conchis 
 means a bean in the shell, and thus 
 boiled — a common food among the 
 lower sort of people, and very filling, 
 which is implied by tumes. 
 
 — What coble r.] — He now falls foul 
 of your company, as well as your 
 entertainment. 
 
 282. Sliced leek.] Sectilis signifies 
 any thing that is or may be easily cut 
 asunder. But see sat, xiv. 1." 133 
 note. 
 
 — A boiled sheep" 1 s head.] Vervex 
 particularly signifies a wether sheep. 
 Labra, the lips, put here, by synec. 
 for all the flesh about the jaws. 
 
 283. A kick.] Calx properly signi- 
 
sat. in. JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 7S 
 
 And heated with wine, he is aware of him whom a scarlet 
 
 cloak sr 
 
 Commands to avoid, and a very long train of attendants* 
 Besides a great number of lights, and a brazen lamp. - 
 Me whom the moon is wont to attend, or the short light 
 Of a candle, the wick of which I dispose and regulate, 275 
 He despises : know the preludes of a wretched quarrel, 
 If it be a quarrel where you strike and I am beaten only. 
 He stands opposite, and bids you stand ; it is necessary to 
 
 obey ; 
 For what can you do, when a madman compels, and he 
 The stronger ? " Whence come you," he exclaims, " with 
 
 " whose vinegar, 280 
 
 "With whose bean, swell you ? What cobler with you 
 " Sliced leek, and a boiled sheep's head, hath eaten ? 
 " Do you answer me nothing ? — either tell 5 or take a kick % 
 w Tell where you abide — in what begging-place shall I seek 
 
 " you ?" — 
 If you should attempt to say any thing, or retire silent, 285 
 It amounts to the same : they equally strike : then, angry, 
 
 they 
 Bind you over. This is the liberty of a poor man» 
 Beaten he asks, bruised with fists he entreats, 
 That he may return thence with a few of his teeth. 
 
 fies the heel — but by meton. a spurn giving the first blow, you get nothing 
 
 or kick with the heel. by not answering ; for their determi-» 
 
 284. Where do you abide.~\ Consisto nation is to beat you ; thei'efore either 
 
 signifies to abide, stay, or keep in one way, whether you answer, or whe- 
 
 place — here I suppose it to allude 1o ther you are silent, the event will be 
 
 taking a constant stand, as beggars just the same — it will be all one. 
 do, in order to beg : as if the assail- — Then angry, fyc] Then, in a 
 
 ant, in order to provoke the man violent passion, as if they had been 
 
 more, whom he is wanting to quarrel beaten by you, instead of your being 
 
 with, meant to treat him as inso- beaten by them — away they go, swear 
 
 lently as possible, and should say, the peace against you, and make you 
 
 *' Pray let me know where you take give bail, as the aggressor, for the 
 
 «' your stand for begging ?" This idea assault. 
 
 seems countenanced by the rest of the 287. This is the liberty , <|c] So 
 
 iine. Sat. iv. 114. xiv. 134. that, after our boasted freedom, a 
 
 — In what begging-place, <|-c.]— poor man at Rome is in a fine situ- 
 
 Proseucha properly signifies a place ation — all the liberty which he has is, 
 
 of prayer, from the Gr. wpo<ret/^e<T$«t to ask, if beaten, and to supplicate 
 
 in the porches of which beggars used earnestly, if bruised unmercifully with 
 
 to take their stand. Hence by met. «sty-cuffs, that he may return home, 
 
 a place where beggars stand to ask from the place where he was *o used, 
 
 alms of them who pass by. without having all his teeth beat out 
 
 286. They equally strike.] After of his head— and perhaps he is to be 
 
 having said every thing to insult and prosecuted, and ruined at law, as the 
 
 provoke you, in the hope of your aggressor. 
 
 L 
 
 ^ 
 
74 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Nee tamen hoe tantum metuas : nam qui spoliet te 290 
 Non deerit, clausis domibus, postquam omnis ubique 
 Fixa catenatae siluit compago tabernae. 
 Interdum et ferro subitus grassator agit rem, 
 Armato quoties tutae custode tenentur 
 Et Pontina palus, et Gallinaria pinus. 295 
 
 Sic inde hue omnes tanquam ad vivaria currunt. 
 
 Qua fornace graves, qua non incude catenae ? 
 Maximus in vinclis ferri modus, ut timeas, ne 
 Vomer deficiat, ne marrae et sarcula desint. 
 Felices proavorum atavos, felicia dicas 300 
 
 Secula, quae quondam sub regibus atque tribunis 
 Viderunt uno contentam carcere Romam. 
 
 His alias poteram, et plures subnectere causas : 
 Sed jumenta vocant, et sol inclinat ; eundum est : 
 Nam mihi commota jamdudum mulio virga 305 
 
 290. Yet neither, <£c] Umbritius, 
 as another reason for retiring from 
 Rome, describes the perils which the 
 inhabitants are in from house and 
 street-robbers. 
 
 291. The houses being shut up.] 
 The circumstance mentioned here, 
 and in the next line, mark what he 
 says to belong to the alia et diversa 
 pericula noctis, 1. 256. 
 
 292. The chained shop.] Taberna 
 has many significations ; it denotes 
 any house made of boards, a trades- 
 man's shop, or warehouse ; also, an 
 inn or tavern. By the preceding do- 
 mibus he means private nouses. Here, 
 therefore, we may understand tabernae 
 to denote the shops and taverns, 
 which last were probably kept open 
 longer than private houses or shops ; 
 yet even these are supposed to be 
 fastened up, and all silent and quiet 
 within. — This marks the lateness of 
 the hour, when the horrid burglar is 
 awake and abroad, and when there is 
 not wanting a robber to destroy the 
 security of the sleeping inhabitants. 
 
 Compago signifies a joining, or clo- 
 sure, as of planks, or boards, with 
 which the tabernas were built — fixa 
 compago denotes the fixed and firm 
 manner in which they were compact- 
 ed or fastened together — Induct a 
 etiam per singulos asseres grandi ca- 
 tena — Vet. Schol *' with a great 
 
 ** chain introduced through every 
 
 " plank " — in order to keep them 
 from being torn asunder, and thus 
 the building broken open by robbers. 
 
 The word siluit, here, shews that 
 the building is put for the inhabitants 
 within. Meton. The noise and hurry 
 of the day was over, and they were 
 all retired to rest. 
 
 293. The sudden footpad.] Grassa- 
 tor means an assailant of any kind, 
 such as highwaymen, footpad**, &c. 
 One of these may leap on a sudden 
 from his lurking-place upon you, and 
 do your business by stabbing you. Or 
 perhaps the poet may.here allude to 
 what is very common in Italy at this 
 day, namely assassins, who suddenly 
 attack and stab people in the streeta 
 late at night. 
 
 295. Pontinian marsh.] Strabo de* 
 scribes this as in Campania, a cham- 
 pain country of Italy, in the kingdom 
 of Naples ; and Suet, says, that Ju- 
 lius Caesar had determined to dry up 
 this marsh ; it was a noted harbour 
 for thieves. 
 
 — Gallinarian pinr.] i. e. Wood, 
 by synec. This was situated near the 
 bay of Cumse, and was another re- 
 ceptacle of robbers. 
 
 When these places were so infested 
 with thieves, as to make the environs 
 dangerous for the inhabitants, as well 
 as for travellers, a guard was sent 
 there to protect them, and to appre- 
 hend the offenders; when this was» 
 
JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 75 
 
 Yet neither may you fear this only : for one who will rob 
 
 you will not 290 
 
 Be wanting, the houses being shut up, after, every where, 
 
 every 
 Fixed fastening of the chained shop hath been silent : 
 And sometimes the sudden footpad with a sword does your 
 
 business, 
 As often as, with an armed guard, are kept safe 
 Both the Pontinian marsh, and the Gallinarian pine ; 295 
 Thus from thence hither all run as to vivaries. 
 
 In what furnace, on what anvil are not heavy chains ? 
 The greatest quantity of iron (is used) in fetters, so that 
 
 you may fear, lest 
 The ploughshare may fail, lest hoes and spades may be 
 
 wanting. 
 
 You may call our great-grandfathers happy, happy 
 The ages, which formerly under kings and tribunes, 
 Saw Rome content with one prison. 
 
 To these I could subjoin other and more causes, 
 But my cattle call, and the sun inclines, I must go : 
 For long since the muleteer, with his shaken whip, 
 
 300 
 
 305 
 
 fche case, the rogues fled to Rome, 
 where they thought themselves se- 
 cure; and then these places were ren- 
 dered safe. 
 
 296. As to vivaries.] Vivaria are 
 places where wild creatures live, and 
 are protected, as deer in a park, fish 
 in a stew-pond, &c. The poet may- 
 mean here, that they are not only 
 protected in Rome, but easily find 
 subsistence, like creatures in vivaries. 
 See sat. iv. 1. 50. 
 
 What Rome was to the thieves, 
 when driven outof their lurking places 
 in the country, that London is to the 
 thieves of our time. This must be 
 the case of all great cities. 
 
 297. In what furnace, Qc] In this, 
 and the two following lines, the poet, 
 in a very humurous hyperbole, de- 
 scribes the numbers of thieves to be so 
 great, and to threaten such a con- 
 sumption of iron in making fetters 
 for them, as to leave some apprehen- 
 sions of there being none left to make 
 ploughshares, and other implements 
 of husbandry. 
 
 300. Our great grandfathers, <$c] 
 j. e. Our ancestor^ of old time — pro- 
 
 avorum atavos — old grandsires, or an- 
 cestors indefinitely. 
 
 301. Kings and tribunes.] After 
 the expulsion, of the kings, tribunes, 
 with consular authority, governed the 
 republic. 
 
 302. With one prison.] Which was 
 built in the forum, or market-place, 
 at Rome, by Ancus Martius, the 
 fourth king. Robberies, and the other 
 offences above mentioned, were then 
 so rare, that this one jail was suffi- 
 cient to contain all the offenders. 
 
 303. And more causes.] i. e. For 
 my leaving Rome. 
 
 304- My cattle call.] Summon me 
 away. It is to be supposed, that the 
 carriage, as soon as the loading was 
 finished, (see 1. 10.) had set forward, 
 had overtaken Umbritius, and had 
 been some time waiting for him to 
 proceed. 
 
 — The sun inclines.] From the me- 
 ridian towards its setting. 
 Inclinare merediem 
 
 Scntis — H or. lib. iii. od. xxviii. 1. 5. 
 
 305. The muleteer.] Or driver of 
 the mules, which drew the carriage 
 containing the goods, (see 1. JO.) had 
 
76 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Innuit : ergo vale nostri memor ; et quoties te 
 
 Roma tuo refici properantem reddet Aquino, 
 
 Me quoque ad Helvinam Cererem, vestramque Dianam 
 
 Convelle a Cumis : Satirarum ego (ni pudet illas) 
 
 Adjutor gelidos veniam caligatus in agros. 310 
 
 long since given a hint, by the motion 
 of his whip, that it was time to be 
 gone. This Umbritius, being deeply 
 engaged in his discourse, had not ad- 
 verted to till now. 
 
 306. Mindful of me.] An usual 
 way of taking leave. See Hor. lib. 
 iii. ode xxvii. 1. 14. 
 
 Et memor nostri Galatea vivas. 
 
 307. Hastening to be refreshed.] 
 The poets, and other studious persons, 
 were very desirous of retiring into the 
 country from the noise and hurry of 
 Rome, in order to be refreshed with 
 quiet and repose. 
 
 Hor. lib. i. epist. xviii. 1. 104. 
 Me quoties refcit gelidus Digentia 
 rivus, Qc. 
 
 See also that most beautiful passage, 
 O Rus, &c. lib. ii. sat. vi. 1. 60-2. 
 
 — Your Aquinum.] A town in the 
 Latin way, famous for having been 
 the birth-place of Juvenal, and to 
 which, at times, he retired. 
 
 308. Helvinc Ceres.] Helvinam Cere- 
 rem — Helvinus is used by Pliny to 
 denote a sort of flesh-colour. Ainsw. 
 Something perhaps approaching the 
 yellowish colour of corn. Also a pale 
 red-colour — Helvus. Ainsw. But 
 we may understand Ceres to be called 
 Helvinus or Elvinus, which was near 
 Aquinum. Near the fons Helvinus 
 was a temple of Ceres and also of Di- 
 
JBAT. III. 
 
 JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 77 
 
 Hath hinted to me : therefore farewell mindful of me : and 
 
 as often as 
 Home shall restore you, hastening to be refreshed, to your 
 
 Aquinum, 
 Me also to Helvine Ceres, and to your Diana, 
 Rend from Cumae : I of your Satires (unless they are 
 
 ashamed) 
 An helper, will come armed into your cold fields, 310 
 
 ana, the vestiges of which are said to 
 remain till this day. 
 
 309. Rend from Cumce.] Convelle 
 i— pluck me away ; hy which expres- 
 sion Umbritius describes his great un- 
 willingness to be taken from the place 
 o^ his retreat, as if nothing but his 
 friendship for Juvenal could force 
 him (as it were) from it. 
 
 310. Armed, $c] Caligatus — the 
 caliga was a sort of harness for the 
 leg, worn by soldiers, who hence were 
 
 called caligati. It is used here meta- 
 phorically. 
 
 " I (says Umbritius,) unless your 
 " Satires should be ashamed of my 
 " assistance, will come, armed at all 
 " points, to help you in your attacks 
 " upon the people and manners of the 
 " times." By this it appears that 
 Umbritius was himself a poet. 
 
 — Your cold fields. ] Aquinum was 
 situated in a part of Campania much 
 colder than where Cumse stood» 
 
J^atira &mxtu> 
 
 From the luxury and prodigality of Crispinus,, whom he 
 lashes so severely, sat. i. 25 — 8, Juvenal takes occasion 
 to describe a ridiculous consultation, held by Domitian 
 over a large turbot ; which was too big to be contained 
 in any dish that could be found. The Poet with great 
 wit and humour, describes the senators being summoned 
 in this exigency, and gives a particular account of their 
 characters, speeches, and advice. After long consulta- 
 
 ECCE iterum Crispinus ; et est mihi saepe vocandus 
 Ad partes ; monstrum nulla virtute redemptum 
 A vitiis, asger, solaque libidine fortis : 
 Quid refert igitur quantis jumenta fatiget 
 Porticibus. quanta nemorum vectetur in umbra, 5 
 
 Jugera quot vicina foro, quas emerit aedes ? 
 Nemo malus felix ; minime corruptor, et idem 
 Incestus, cum quo nuper vittata jacebat 
 Sanguine adhuc vivo terram subitura sacerdos. 
 
 L'mc 1. Again Crispinus.] Juvenal 
 mentions him before, sat. i. 25. He 
 was an Egyptian by birth, and of very 
 low extraction ; but having the good 
 fortune to be a favourite of Domitian's 
 he came to great riches and prefer- 
 ment, and lived in the exercise of all 
 kinds of vice and debauchery. 
 
 2. To his parts.] A metaphor, 
 taken from the players, who, when 
 they had finished the scene they were 
 to act, retired, but were called again 
 to their parts, as they were succes- 
 sively to enter and carry on the piece. 
 
 Thus Juvenal calls Crispinus again, 
 to appear in the parts, or characters, 
 which he has allotted him in his 
 Satires. 
 
 — By no virtue, £c] He must be 
 a monster indeed, who had not a sin- 
 gle virtue to rescue him from the to- 
 tal dominion of his vices. Redemp- 
 tum here is metaphorical, and alludes 
 
 to the state of a miserable captive, 
 who is enslaved to a tyrant master, 
 and has none to ransom him from 
 bondage. 
 
 3. Sick.] Diseased — perhaps full of 
 infirmities from his luxury and de- 
 bauchery. JEgev also signifies weak, 
 feeble. This sense too is to be here 
 included, as opposed to fortis. 
 
 — And strong in hist, Qc] Vigo- 
 rous and strong in the gratification of 
 his sensuality only. 
 
 4. In how large porches, Qc] It 
 was a part of the H^nan luxury to 
 build vast porticos in their gardens, 
 under which they rode in wet or hot 
 weather, that they might be sheltered 
 from the rain, and from the too great 
 heat of the sun. Jumentum signifies 
 any labouring beast, either for carriage 
 or draught. Sat. hi. 304. 
 
 5. How a great shade, Qc] Ano- 
 ther piece of luxury was to be carried 
 
df trnvti) J^attrr* 
 
 Hon, it was proposed that the fish should be cut to pieces j 
 and so dressed : at last they all came over to the opinion 
 of the senator Montanus, that it should be dressed whole ; 
 and that a dish, big enough to contain it, should be made 
 on purpose for it. The council is then dismissed, and 
 the Satire concludes ; but not without a most severe cen- 
 sure on the emperor's injustice and cruelty towards some 
 of the best and most worthy of the Romans. 
 
 BEHOLD again Crispinus ! and he is often to be called 
 by me 
 To his parts : a monster by no virtue redeemed 
 From vices — -sick, and strong in lust alone : 
 What signifies it, therefore, in how large porches he fatigues 
 His cattle, in how great a shade of groves he may be carried. 
 How many acres near the forum, what houses lie may have 
 bought ? 6 
 
 No bad man is HArPY : least of all a corrupter, and the same 
 Incestuous, with whom there lay, lately, a filletted 
 Priestess, about to go under ground with blood as yet alive, 
 
 in litters among the shady trees of are near of kin — but, in the best au- 
 
 their groves, in sultry weathei\ thors, it signifies unchaste ; alsd 
 
 6. Acres near the forum.'] Where guilty, profane. As in Hoe. lib. in- 
 land was the most valuable, as being ode ii* 1. 29. 
 
 in the midst of the city. Scepe Diespitcr 
 
 — What houses, Qc] What pur- Neglcctus incesio addldlt integrum. 
 
 Chases he may have made of houses In this place it may be taken in the 
 
 in the same lucrative situation. Comp. sense of profane, as denoting that sort 
 
 sat. i. 1. 91. and note. of unchastity which is mixed with 
 
 7. No lad man, fyc] This is one profaneness, as in the instance which 
 of those passages, in which Juvenal follows, of defiling a vestal virgin. 
 speaks more like a Christian, than 8-9. A filletted priestess.] The ves- 
 like an heathen. Comp. Isa lvii. 20, tal virgins, as priestesses of Vesta, 
 21. had fillets bound round their heads, 
 
 — A corrupter.] A ruiner, a de- made of ribbons, or the like, 
 
 baucher of women. ^ 9. With blood as yet alive.] The 
 
 8. Incestuous.] Incestus — from in vestal virgins vowed chastity, and if 
 and castus — in general is used to any broke their vow, they were buried 
 denote that specie? of unchastity, alive; by a law of Numa.Pompiliiis 
 which consists in defiling those who their founder. 
 
80 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIILE. 
 
 Sed nunc de factis levioribus : et tamen alter 
 Si fecisset idem, caderet sub judice morum. 
 Nam quod turpe bonis, Titio, Seioque, decebat 
 Crispin um : quid agas, cum dira, et foedior omni 
 Crimine persona est ? mullum sex millibus emit, 
 JEquantem sane paribus sestertia libris, 
 Ut perhibent, qui de magnis majora loquuntur. 
 Consilium laudo artificis, si munere tanto 
 Praecipaam in tabulis ceram senis abstulit orbi. 
 Est ratio ulterior, magnae si misit arnica?, 
 Quae vehitur clauso latis specularibus antro. 
 Nil tale expectes : emit sibi : multa videmus, 
 
 10 
 
 15 
 
 20 
 
 10. Lighter deeds.] i. e. Such faults 
 as, in comparison with the preceding, 
 are trivial, yet justly reprehensible, 
 and would be so deemed in a charac- 
 ter less abandoned than that of Cris- 
 pinus, in whom they are in a manner 
 eclipsed by greater. 
 
 11. Under the judge, §c] This 
 seems to be a stroke at the partiality 
 of Domitian, who punished Maxi- 
 milla, a vestal, and those who had de- 
 filed her, with the greatest severity. 
 Suet. Domit. ch. viii. See note 2. 
 on 1. 59. 
 
 Crispinus was a favourite, and so 
 he was suffered to escape punishment, 
 however much he deserved it, as was 
 the vestal whom he had defiled, on 
 the same account. 
 
 Suet, says, that Domitian, particu- 
 larly — Morum correctionem exercuit 
 in vestales. 
 
 12. What would be base, §c] So 
 partial was Domitian to his favourite 
 Crispinus, that what would be reckon- 
 ed shameful, and be punished as a 
 crime, in good men, was esteemed 
 very becoming in him. 
 
 Titius, or Scius.] It does not 
 
 appear who these were ; but probably 
 they were some valuable men, who 
 had been persecuted by the emperor 
 for some supposed offences. See this 
 •at. 1. 149-50. 
 
 13. What can you do, £c] q. d. 
 What can one do with such a fellow 
 as Crispinus ? what signifies sati- 
 rizing his crimes, when his person is 
 more odious and abominable than all 
 that can be mentioned ? What he is, 
 is so much worse than what he DOES, 
 that one is at a loss how to treat him. 
 
 This is a most severe stroke, and 
 introduces what follows on the glut- 
 tony and extravagance of Crispinus. 
 
 14. A mullet.] Mullus— a sea fish, 
 of a red and purple colour, therefore 
 called mullus, from mulleus, a kind 
 of red or purple shoe, worn by sena- 
 tors and great persons. Ainsw. I 
 take this to be what is called the red 
 mullet, or mullus barbatus ; by some 
 rendered barbel. Horace speaks of 
 this fish as a great dainty : 
 
 Laudas insane, trilibrem 
 
 Mullum 
 
 Hor. sat. ii. lib. ii. 1. 33, 4. 
 So that about three pounds was their 
 usual weight : that it was a rarity to 
 find them larger, we may gather from 
 his saying, 1. 37. His breve pondus. 
 
 But Crispinus meets with one that 
 weighed six pounds, and rather than 
 not purchase it, he pays for it the 
 enormous sum of six thousand ses- 
 tertii, or six sestertia, making about 
 46/. lis. 6d. of our money. 
 
 For the manner of reckoning ses- 
 terces, see before, sat. i. 1. 92. and 
 note. 
 
 This fish, whatever it strictly was,, 
 was in great request, as a dainty, 
 among the Romans. Asinius Celer, 
 a man of consular dignity under the 
 emperor Claudius, is said to have 
 given 8000 nummi (z. c. eight sester- 
 tia) for one. See Sexec. epist. xcv. 
 
 15. Truly equalling, §c.] That is, 
 the number of sestertia were exactly- 
 equal to the number of pounds which 
 the fish weighed, so that it cost him 
 a sestertium per pound. 
 
 16. As they report, <§•<:.] So Cris- 
 pinus's flatterers give out, who, t» 
 
JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 81 
 
 But now concerning lighter deeds : and yet another, 10 
 If he had done the same, would have fallen under the judge 
 
 of manners: 
 For what would be base in good men, in Titius, or Seius^ 
 
 became 
 Crispinus: what can you do, since dire, and fouler than every 
 Crime, his person is ? — He bought a mullet for six sestertia, 
 Truly equalling the sestertia to a like number of pounds, 15 
 As they report, who of great things speak greater. 
 I praise the device of the contriver, if, with so large a gift, 
 He had obtained the chief wax on the will of a childless old 
 
 man. 
 There is further reason, if he had sent it to a great mistress,- 
 Who is carried in a close litter with broad windows. 20 
 Expect no such thing : he bought it for himself : we see 
 
 many things 
 
 excuse his extravagance, probably re- 
 present the fish bigger than it was, 
 for it is not easily credible that this 
 sort of fish ever grows so large. Pliny 
 says, that a mullet is not to be found 
 that weighs more than two pounds. 
 Hor. ubi supr. goes so far as three 
 pounds — so that probably these em- 
 bellishers of Crispinus made the fish 
 to be twice as big as it really was. 
 
 17. J praise the device, $-c] If 
 this money had been laid out in buy- 
 ing such a rarity, in order to present 
 it to some childless old man, and, by 
 this, Crispinus had succeeded so well 
 as to have become his chief heir, I . 
 should commend such an artifice, and 
 say that the contriver of it deserved 
 some credit. 
 
 18. Had obtained the chief wax, $c.~\ 
 It was customary for wills to consist 
 of two parts : the first named the 
 primi haeredes, or chief heirs, and was 
 therefore called cera praecipua, from 
 the wax which was upon it, on which 
 was the first seal. The other con- 
 tained the secundi haeredes, or lesser 
 heirs : this was also scaled with wax 
 — this was called cera secunda. Hor. 
 Lib. ii. Sat. v. 53. 
 
 19. There is further reason, cjfc] 
 There might have been a reason for 
 his extravagance, even beyond the 
 former ; that is, if he had purchased 
 it to have presented it to some rich 
 woman of quality, in order to have 
 
 M 
 
 ingratiated himself with her as a mis- 
 tress, or to induce her to leave him 
 her fortune, or perhaps both. Comp. 
 sat. hi. 119, 20, and ib. 123. 
 
 20. Carried in a close litter.] An- 
 trum properly signifies a den, cave* 
 or the like — but here it seems to be 
 descriptive of the lectica, or litter, in 
 which persons of condition were car- 
 ried close shut up. 
 
 — Broad windows.'] Latis specu- 
 laribus. Specularis means any thing 
 whereby one may see the better, be- 
 longing to windows or spectacles. 
 The specularis lapis was a stone, clear 
 like glass, cut into small thin panes, 
 and in old times used for glass; 
 
 This was made use of in the con- 
 struction of the litters, as glass is 
 with us in our coaches and sedan 
 chairs, to admit the light, and to keep 
 out the weather. 
 
 The larger these windows were, the 
 more expensive they must be, and 
 the more denote the quality of the 
 owner. 
 
 21. Expect no such thing, <£c] If 
 you expect to hear that something of 
 the kind above mentioned was a mo-* 
 tive for what he did, or that he had 
 any thing in view, which could in the 
 least excuse it, you will be mistaken ; 
 for the truth is, he bought it only for 
 himself, without any other end or 
 view than to gratify his own selfish- 
 ness and gluttony. 
 
82 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Quae miser et frugi non fecit Apicius : hoc tu 
 Succinctus patria quondam, Crispine, papyro. 
 Hoc pretium squamae ? potuit fortasse minoris 
 Piscator, quam piscis, emi. Provincia tanti 
 Vendit agros : sed majores Apulia vendit. 
 
 Quales tunc epulasipsum glutisse putemus 
 Induperatorem r cum tot sestertia, partem 
 Exiguam, et modica? sumptam de margine ccena? 
 Purpureus magni ructarit scurra palati, 
 Jam princeps equitum, magna qui voce solebat 
 Vendere municipes pacta mercede siluros ? 
 
 Incipe Calliope, licet hie considere : non est 
 Cantandum, res vera agitur : narrate puellae. 
 
 2-5 
 
 30 
 
 22. Apicius.] A noted epicure and 
 glutton in the days of Nero. He 
 ■rtrote a volume concerning the ways 
 and means to provoke appetite, spent 
 a large estate on his gut.?, and, grow- 
 ing poor and despised, hanged him- 
 self. 
 
 The poet means, that even Apicius, 
 glutton as he was, was yet a mortified 
 and frugal man in comparison of 
 Crispinus. 
 
 Thou, Crispinus, Jiast done, what 
 Apicius never did. 
 
 23. Formerly girt, £c] q. d. Who 
 wast, when thou first earnest to 
 Rome, a poor Egyptian, and hadst 
 not a rag about thee better than what 
 was made of the flags that grow 
 about the river Nile. Of the papyrus, 
 ropes, mats, and, among other things, 
 a sort of clothing was made. 
 
 This flag, and the leaves of it, were 
 equally called papyrus. See sat. L 1. 
 24-5. where Crispinus is spoken of 
 much in the same terms. 
 
 24. The price of a scale.] Squamae, 
 here, by synec put for the fish it- 
 self: but, by this manner of expres- 
 sion, the poet shews his contempt of 
 Crispinus, and means to make his 
 extravagance as contemptible as he 
 can. 
 
 25. A province, §c] In some of 
 the provinces which had become sub- 
 ject to Rome, one might purchase an 
 estate for what was laid out on this 
 mullet. 
 
 26. But Apulia, <£c] A part of 
 Italy near the Adriatic gulph, where 
 land- it seems,. was very cheap, either 
 
 from the barrenness and craggy height 
 of the mountains, or from the un- 
 wholesomeness of the air, and the 
 wind atabulus : 
 
 Montes Apulia notos 
 Quos torrct atabulus. 
 
 Hon. lib. i. sat. v. 1; 77, 8. 
 q. d. The price of this fish would pur- 
 chase an estate in some of the pro- 
 vinces ; but in Apulia a very exten- 
 sive one. 
 
 For less some provinces "whole acres 
 sell : 
 
 Kay, in Apulia, if you bargain 
 ■well, 
 
 A manor would cost less than such a 
 meal. Dike. 
 
 27. Tlie emperor, §c.~\ Domitian. 
 q. d. What must we suppose to be 
 done by him in order to procure 
 dainties ? how much expence must 
 he be at to gratify his appetite, if 
 Crispinus can swallow what cost so 
 many sestertia in one dish, and that 
 not a principal one ; not taken from 
 the middle, but merely standing as a 
 side-dish at the edge of the table ; 
 not a part of some great supper, 
 given on an extraordinary occasion, 
 but of a common ordinary meal. 
 
 30. A purple buffoon.] No longer 
 clad with the papyrus of Egypt, (see 
 note on 1. 23.) but decked in sump- 
 tuous apparel, ornamented with pur- 
 ple. So sat. i. 25. 
 
 Crispinus, Tyriashumcro rcvocanie 
 
 lacernas. 
 
 Though advanced to great dignity, by 
 
 the favour of the emperor, yet letting 
 
 himself down to the low servility 
 
SAT. IV. 
 
 JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 S3 
 
 Which the wretched and frugal Apicius did not : this thou 
 
 [didst] 
 Crispinus, formerly girt with your own country flag. 
 Is this the price of a scale ? perhaps, at less might 
 The fisherman, than the fish, be bought. At so much a 
 province £5 
 
 Sells fields : but Apulia sells greater. 
 
 What dainties then can we think the emperor himself 
 To have swallowed, when so many sestertia, a small 
 Part, and taken from the margin of a moderate supper, 
 A purple buffoon of the great palace belched ? 30 
 
 Now chief of knights, who used, with a loud voice, 
 To sell his own country shads for hire. 
 
 Begin Calliope, here you may dwell : you must not 
 Sing, a real matter is treated s relate it ye Pierian 
 
 -and meanness of a court-jester or 
 buffoon. 
 
 — Bekhed."\ The indigestions and 
 crudities, which are generated in the 
 stomachs of those who feed on various 
 rich and luscious dainties, occasion 
 flatulencies, and nauseous eructations. 
 The poet here, to express the more 
 strongly his abhorrence of Crispinus's 
 extravagant gluttony, uses the word 
 ructarit — the effect for the cause. See 
 sat. iii. 221. note. 
 
 31. Chief of knights.] i. e. Chief 
 of the equestrian order. 
 
 Horace hath a thought like this, 
 concerning a low-born slave, who, like 
 Crispinus, had been advaneed to 
 .equestrian dignity. 
 
 Sedilibusque inprimis eques 
 Othone contempto sedet. 
 
 Epod. iv. 1. 15, 1& 
 See before, sat. iii. 147. and note. 
 
 31-2. Who used— to sell. $•<?.] Who 
 used formerly, in his flag-jacket, (1. 
 23.) to cry fish about the streets. 
 
 22. Shads.] What the siluri were I 
 cannot find certainly defined; but 
 most agree that they were a small 
 and cheap kind of fish, taken in great 
 numbers out of the river Nile ; hence 
 the poet jeeringly styles them muni- 
 cipes, q. d. Crispinus's own country?- 
 men. Aixsw. 
 
 —For hire.] Various are the read- 
 ings of this place ; as fracta de merce 
 . — pacta de merce — pharia de merce ; 
 but I think s with Casaubon, that 
 
 pacta mercede gives the easiest and 
 best sense.: it still exaggerates the 
 wretchedness and poverty of Crispinus 
 at his outset in life, as it denotes, that 
 he not only got his living by bawling 
 fish about the streets, but that these 
 fish were not his own, and that he 
 sold them for the owners, who bar- 
 gained with him to pay him so much 
 for his pains-— -pacta mercede — lit. for 
 agreed wages or hire. 
 
 33. Calliope.] The mother of Or- 
 pheus, and chief of the nine muses : 
 said to be the inventress of heroic verse. 
 
 To heighten the ridicule, Juvenal 
 prefaces his narrative with a bur- 
 lesque invocation of Calliope, and then 
 of the rest of the muses. 
 
 —Here you may dwell.] A subject 
 ,of such importance requires all your 
 attention, and is not lightly to be 
 passed over, therefore, here you may 
 sit down with me. 
 
 33-4. Not sing.] Not consider it as 
 a matter of mere invention, and to 
 be treated, as poetical fictions are, 
 with flights of fancy : my theme is 
 real fact, therefore, non est cantan- 
 dum, it is not a subject for heroic 
 song ; or, tibi understood, you are 
 not to sing — 
 
 Begin Calliope, but not to sing ; 
 
 Plain honest truth we for our 
 
 subject bring. Duke. 
 
 34. Relate.] Narrate corresponds 
 with the non est cantandum ; q. d? 
 deliver it in simple narrative. 
 
84 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Pierides : prosit mihi vos dixisse puellas. 
 
 Cum jam semianimum laceraret Flavius orbem 
 Ultimus, et calvo serviret Roma Neroni, 
 Incidit Adriaci spatium admirabile rhombi, 
 Ante domum Veneris, quam Dorica sustinet Ancon, 
 Implevitque sinus : neque enim minor haeserat illis. 
 Quos operit glacies Maeotica, ruptaque tandem 
 Solibus effundit torpentis ad ostia Ponti, 
 Desidia tardos, et longo frigore pingues. 
 
 Destinat hoc monstrum cymbae Unique magister 
 Pontifici summo : quis enim proponere talem, 
 Aut emere auderet ? cum plena et littora multo 
 Delatore forent : dispersi protinus algae 
 
 35 
 
 40 
 
 45 
 
 34-5. Pierian 7naids.] The muses 
 were called Pierides, from Pieria, a 
 district of Thessaly, where was a 
 mountain, on which Jupiter, in the 
 form of a shepherd, was fabled to 
 have begotten them on Mnemosyne. 
 See Ov. Met. vi. 111. 
 
 35. Let it avail me, <%c] He ban- 
 ters the poets who gave the appellati- 
 ons of nymphue and puella; to the 
 muses, as if complimenting them on 
 their youth and chastity. It is easily 
 seen that the whole of this invocation 
 is burlesque. 
 
 36*. When no-u.:] The poet begins 
 his narrative, which he introduces 
 with great sublimity, in this and the 
 following line ; thus finely continuing 
 his irony ; and at the same time da- 
 ting the fact in such terms, as reflect 
 a keen and due severity on the cha- 
 racter of Domitian. 
 
 — The last Flavins.] The Flavian 
 family, as it was imperial, began in 
 Vespasian, and ended in Domitian, 
 whose monstrous cruelties are here al- 
 luded to, not only as affecting the city 
 of Rome, but as felt to the utmost 
 extant of the Roman empire, tearing, 
 as it were, the world to pieces. Se- 
 mianimum, half dead under oppres- 
 sion. Metaph. 
 
 37. Was in bondage to bald Nero.] 
 Was in bondage and slavery to the ty- 
 rant Domitian. This emperor was 
 bald ; at which he was so displeased, 
 that he would not suffer baldness to 
 be mentioned in his presence. He 
 was called Nero, as all the bad empe- 
 rors were, fiom his cruelty. Scrvire, 
 
 implies the service which is paid to a 
 tyrant : parere, that obedience which 
 is paid to a good prince. 
 
 38. There fell, $c] Having related 
 the time when, he now mentions the 
 place where, this large turbot was 
 caught. It was in the Adriatic sea, 
 near the city of Ancon, which was 
 built by a people originally Greeks, 
 who also built there a temple of Ve- 
 nus. This city stood on the shore, 
 at the end of a bay which was formed 
 by two promontories, and made a 
 curve like that of the elbow when the 
 arm is bent ; hence it was called 
 ayy.vv, the elbow. The poet, by be- 
 ing thus particular, as if he were re- 
 lating an event, every circumstance 
 of which was of the utmost import- 
 ance, enhances the irony. 
 
 The Svracusans, who fled to this 
 part of Italy from the tyranny of 
 Dionysius, were originally from the 
 Dorians ; a people of Achaia : hence 
 Ancon is called Dorica : it was the 
 metropolis of Picenum. Ancona is 
 now a considerable city in Italy, and 
 belongs to the papacy. 
 
 39. Sustains.] Sustinet does not 
 barely mean, that this temple of Ve- 
 nus stood at Ancon, but that it was 
 upheld and maintained, in all its 
 worship, rites, and ceremonies, by 
 the inhabitants. 
 
 40. Into a net.] Sinus, lit. means 
 the bosom or bow of the net, which 
 the turbot was so large as entirely to 
 fill. 
 
 — Stuck.] Haeserat, had entangled 
 itself, so as to stick fast. 
 
JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 85 
 35 
 
 Maids — let it avail me to have called ye maids — 
 
 When now the last Flavius had torn the half-dead 
 World, and Rome was in bondage to bald Nero, 
 There fell a wondrous size of an Adriatic turbot, 
 Before the house of Venus which Doric Ancon sustains, 39 
 Into a net and filled it, for a less had not stuck than those 
 Which the Maeotic ice covers, and at length, broken 
 By the sun, pours forth at the entrance of the dull Pontic, 
 Slow by idleness, and, by long cold, fat. 
 
 The master of the boat and net destines this monster 
 
 For the chief pontiff — for who to offer such a one to 
 
 sale, 45 
 
 Or to buy it, would dare ? since the shores too with many 
 
 An informer might be full : the dispersed inquisitors of 
 
 sea-weed 
 
 41. The Maeotic ice.] The Maeotis 
 was a vast lake, which in the winter 
 was frozen over, and which, when 
 thawed in summer, discharged itself 
 into the Euxine sea, by the Cimmerian 
 Bosphorus. 
 
 Here vast quantities of fine fish 
 were detained while the frosts lasted, 
 and then came with the flowing waters 
 into the mouth of the Pontus Euxinus. 
 These fish, by lying in a torpid state 
 during the winter, grew fat and 
 bulky. 
 
 42. The dull Pontic] So called 
 from the slowness of its tide. This 
 might, in part, be occasioned by the 
 vast quantities of broken ice, which 
 came down from the lake Maeotis, 
 and retarded its course. 
 
 The Euxine, or Fontic sea, is some- 
 times called Pontus only. See Ainsw. 
 Euxinus and Pontus. 
 
 44. Net.] Linum, lit. signifies flax, 
 and, by meton. thread, which is 
 made of flax ; but as nets are made 
 of thread, it frequently, as here, sig- 
 nifies a net. Meton. See Virg. 
 Georg. ii. 1. 142. 
 
 45. For the chief pontiff.] Domi- 
 tian, whose title, as emperor, was 
 PontifexSummus, or Maximus. Some 
 think that the poet alludes to the 
 gluttony of \he pontiffs in general, 
 which was so great as to be proverbial. 
 The words glutton and priest were 
 almost synonymous ; Coenae pontifi- 
 cum, or the feasts which they made 
 
 on public occasions, surpassed all 
 others in luxury; Hence Hor. lib. 
 ii. ode xiii. ad fin. 
 
 Pontificum potior e ccenis. 
 Juvenal, therefore, may be under- 
 stood to have selected this title of the 
 emperor, by way of equivocally call- 
 ing him what he durst not plainly 
 have expressed, the chief of gluttons. 
 He was particularly the Pontifex 
 Summus of the college at Alba. See 
 note on 1. 59. ad fin. 
 
 The poor fisherman, who had 
 caught this monstrous fish, knew full 
 well the gluttony, as well as the 
 cruelty of Domitian : he therefore de- 
 termines to make a present of it to the 
 emperor, not daring to offer it to 
 sale elsewhere, and knowing that, if 
 he did, nobody would dare to buy it ; 
 for both the buyer and seller would 
 be in the utmost danger of Domitian 's 
 resentment, at being disappointed of 
 such a rarity. 
 
 46. Since the shores, $r.] The 
 reign of Domitian was famous for the 
 encouragement of informers, who sat 
 themselves in all places to get intelli- 
 gence. These particular people, who 
 are mentioned here, were officially 
 placed on the shore to watch the land- 
 ing of goods, and to take care that the 
 revenue was not defrauded. They 
 appear to have been like that species 
 of revenue officers amongst us, which 
 are called tide-waiters. 
 
 47. Inquisitors of sea-weed.] Alga 
 
$6 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Inquisitores agerent cum remige nudo 
 Non dubitaturi fugitivum dicere piscem, 
 Depastumque din vivaria Caesaris, inde 
 Elapsum, veterem ad dominum debere reverti. 
 Si quid Palphurio, si credimus Arraillato, 
 Quicquid conspicuum, pulchrumque est aequore toto, 
 JEtes fisci est, ubicunque natat. Donabitur ergo, 
 Ne pereat. Jam letnifero cedente pruinis., 
 Autumno, jam quartanam sperantibus apgris, 
 Stridebat deformis hyems, praedamque recentem 
 Servabat : tamen hie properat, velut urgeat Auster : 
 Utque lacus suberant, ubi, quanquam diruta, servat 
 
 50 
 
 55 
 
 signifies a sort of weed, which the 
 tides cast up and leave on the shore. 
 The poet's calling these people algae 
 inquisitores, denotes their founding 
 accusations on the merest trifles, and 
 thus oppressing the public. They dis- 
 persed themselves in such a manner 
 as not to be avoided; 
 
 48. Would immediately contend, 
 $c.~\ They would immediately take 
 advantage of the poor fisherman's for- 
 lorn and defenceless condition, to be- 
 gin a dispute v, ith him about the fish ; 
 and would even have the impudence 
 to say, that, though the man might 
 have caught the fish, yet he had no 
 right to it — that it was astray, and 
 ought to return to the right owner. 
 
 50. Long had fed, $&] Vivarium, 
 as has been before observed, denotes 
 a place where wild beasts or fishes are 
 kept, a park, a warren, a stew or 
 fishpond. 
 
 The monstrous absurdity of what 
 the poet supposes these fellows to ad- 
 vance, in order to prove that this fish 
 was the emperor's property, (notwith- 
 standing the poor fisherman had 
 caught it in the Adriatic sea,) may be 
 considered as one of those means of 
 oppression, which were made use of 
 to distress the people, and to wrest 
 their property from them, under the 
 most frivolous and groundless pre- 
 tences, and at the same time under 
 colour of legal claim. 
 
 52. Palphurius — Armillatvs.'] Both 
 men of consular dignity ; lawyers, 
 and spies, and informers, and so fa- 
 vourites with Domitian. 
 
 Here is another plea against the 
 poor fisherman, even granting that 
 
 the former should fail in the proof; 
 namely, that the emperor has, by his 
 royal prerogative, and as part of the 
 royal revenue, a right to all fish which 
 are remarkable in size or value, 
 wheresoever caught in any part of the 
 sea ; and as this turbot came within 
 that description, the emperor must 
 have it, and this on the authority of 
 those great lawyers above mentioned. 
 By the law of England, whale and 
 sturgeon are called royal fish, because 
 they belong to the king, on account 
 of their excellence, as part of his or- 
 dinary revenue, in consideration of 
 his protecting the seas from pirates 
 and robbers. See Blacks. Com. 4to. 
 p. 290. 
 
 54. Therefore it shall be presented.} 
 The poor fisherman, aware of all this, 
 rather than incur the danger of a pro- 
 secution at the suit of the emperor, 
 in which he could have no chance but 
 to lose his fine turbot, and to be 
 ruined into the bargain, makes a vir- 
 tue of necessity, and therefore wisely 
 determines to carry it as a present to 
 Domitian , who was at that time at Alba. 
 
 55. Lest it should be lost.] Lest it 
 should be seized, and taken from him 
 by the informers. 
 
 The boatman then shall a xvise pre- 
 sent ?nake, 
 And give thefsh, before the seizers 
 take. Duke. 
 
 Or, It shall be presented, and that 
 immediately, lest it should grow stale 
 and stink. 
 
 — Deadly autumn, t £f.] By this 
 we learn, that the autumn, in that 
 part of Italy, was very unwhole- 
 some. Hor. Lib. ii. Sat. vi. 19. 
 
sat. iv. JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 87 
 
 Would immediately contend with the naked boatman, 
 Not doubting to say J;hat the fish was a fugitive, 
 And long had fed irfCaesar's ponds, thence had 50 
 
 Escaped, and ought to return to its old master. . 
 If we at all believe Palphurius, or Armillatus, 
 Whatever is remarkable, and excellent in the whole sea, 
 Is a matter of revenue, wherever it swims. — Therefore it 
 shall be presented 54 
 
 Lest it should be lost. Deadly autumn was now yielding to 
 Hoar-frosts, the unhealthy now expecting a quartan, 
 Deformed winter howled, and the recent prey 
 Preserved : yet he hastens as if the south wind urged. 
 And as soon as they had got to the lakes, where, tho' de- 
 molished, Alba 
 
 and that, at the beginning of the win- 
 ter, quartan agues were expected by 
 persons of a weakly and sickly habit. 
 Spero signifies to expect either good 
 or evil. This periphrasis describes 
 the season in which this matter hap- 
 pened, that it was in the beginning of 
 winter, the weather cold, the heats of 
 autumn succeded by the hoar-frosts, 
 so that the fish was in no danger of 
 being soon corrupted. 
 
 58. Yet he hastens, #c] Not- 
 withstanding the weather was so fa- 
 vourable for preserving the fish from 
 tainting, the poor fisherman made as 
 much haste to get to the emperor's 
 palace, as if it had been now sum- 
 mer-time. 
 
 59. They.] i. e. The fisherman, and 
 hfs companions the informers, they 
 would not leave him. 
 
 — Got to the lakes.] The Albanian 
 lakes: these are spoken of by Hor. 
 Mb. iv. od. i. 1. 19, 20. 
 
 Albanos prope te lacus 
 Ponet marmoream sub trabe citrea. 
 The city of Alba was built between 
 these lakes and the hills, which, for 
 Jhis reason, were called Colles Al- 
 bani ; hence these lakes were also 
 called Lacus Albani. Alba was about 
 fifteen miles from Rome. 
 
 —Tho J demolished, $c] Tullus 
 Hostilius, king of Rome, took away 
 all the treasure and relics which the 
 Trojans had placed there in the tem- 
 ple of Vesta ; only, out of a super- 
 stitious fear, the fire was left ; but he 
 overthrew the city, See Antt. Un. 
 
 Hist. vol. xi. p. 310. All the temples 
 were spared. Liv. 1. i. 
 
 The Albans, on their misfortunes, 
 neglecting their worship, were com- 
 manded, by various prodigies, to re- 
 store their ancient rites, the chief of 
 which was, to keep perpetually burn- 
 ing the vestal fire which was brought 
 there by iEneas, and his Trojans, as 
 a fatal pledge of the perpetuity of the 
 Roman empire* 
 
 Alba Longa was built by Ascanius 
 the son of iEneas, and called Alba, 
 from the white sow which was found 
 on the spot. See Virg. iEn. iii. 390- 
 3. Mix. viii. 43-8. 
 
 Domitian was at this time at Alba» 
 where he had instituted a college of 
 priests, hence called Sacerdotes, or 
 Pontifices Albani. As he was their 
 founder and chief, it might be one 
 reason of his being called Pontifex 
 Summus, 1. 45. when at that place. 
 The occasion of his being there at that 
 time, may be gathered from what 
 Pliny says in his epist. to Corn. Mu- 
 natianus. 
 
 " Domitian was desirous to punish 
 " Corn. Maximilla, a vestal, by bu« 
 " rying her alive, she having been 
 '* detected in unchastity; he went to 
 " Alba, in order to convoke his col- 
 " lege of priests, and there, in abuse 
 " of his power as chief, he con- 
 " demned her in her absence, and 
 44 unheard." See before, 1. 11. and 
 note. 
 
 Suetonius says, that Domitian went 
 every year to Alba, to celebrate the 
 
88 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRJE. 
 
 a Ignem Trojanum, et Vestam colit Alba minorem, 
 "J Obstitit intranti miratrix turba parumper : 
 ITTcessit, facili patuerunt cardine valvse : 
 Exclusi spectant admissa opsonia patres. 
 Itur ad Atridem : turn Ejcens, accipe, dixit, 
 Privatis majora focis; genialis agatur 
 V Iste dies ; propera stomach um laxare saginuu 
 Et tua servatum consume in saecula rhombum : 
 Ipse capi voluit. Quid apertius? et tamen ill i 
 Surgebant crista? : nihil est, quod credere de se 
 Non possit, cum laudatur Dis aequa potestas. 
 Sed deerat pisci patinse mensura : vocantur 
 Ergo in concilium proceres, quos oderat ille : 
 
 60 
 
 65 
 
 70 
 
 Quinquatria, a feast so called, be- 
 cause it lasted five days, and was held 
 iti honour of Minerva, for whose ser- 
 vice he had also instituted the Alba- 
 nian priests ; this might have occa- 
 sioned his being at Alba at this time. 
 
 60. The lesser Vesta.] So styled, 
 with respect to her temple at Alba, 
 which was far inferior to that at 
 Rome built by Xuma. 
 
 61. Wondering cro-xd.] A vast 
 number of people assembled to view 
 this fine fish, insomuch that, for a 
 little while, parumper, they obstruct- 
 ed the fisherman in his way to the 
 palace. 
 
 62; As it gave -way.] i.e. As the 
 crowd, having satisfied their curiosity, 
 retired, and gave way for him to pass 
 forward. 
 
 — The gates, §c.~\ Valva?, the large 
 folding doors of the palace are thrown 
 open, and afford a ready and welcome 
 entrance to one who brought such a 
 delicious and acceptable present — 
 Com p. Hor. lib. i. od. xxv 1. 5, 6. 
 
 6:1. The excluded fathers.] Patres 
 — i. c, patres conscripti, the senators, 
 whom Domitian had commanded to 
 attend him at Alba, either out of 
 state, or in order to form his privy- 
 council on state affairs. 
 
 There is an antithesis here between 
 the admissa opsonia and the exclusi 
 patres, intimating, that the senators 
 ut out of the palace, when 
 t (dots were thrown open to the 
 6 rman and his turbot : these ve- 
 nerable personages had only the pri- 
 vilege of looking at it as it was car- 
 ried through the crowd. 
 
 Many copies read expectant — q. d. 
 The senators are to wait, while the 
 business of the turbot is settled, be- 
 fore they can be admitted : lit. they 
 await the admitted victuals. See ex- 
 pectant used in this sense. Virg. ./En. 
 iv. 1. 134. 
 
 Casaubon reads spectant, which 
 seems to give the most natural and 
 easy sense. 
 
 — Dainties.] Opsonium-ii, signifies 
 any victuals eaten with bread, espe- 
 cially fish. Aiksw. Gr. 0-4/ov, pro- 
 prie, piscis. Hed. So likewise in 
 Johnvi.P. ovo o^a.% ia,two littlefishes. 
 Here Juvenal uses opsonia for the 
 rhombus. 
 
 64. Atrides.] So the poet here hu« 
 mourously calls Domitian, in allusion 
 to Agamemnon, the son of Atreus, 
 whose pride prompted him to be 
 styled the commander over all the 
 Grecian generals. Thus Domitian af- 
 fected the titles of Dux ducum, Prin- 
 ceps principum, and even Deus. 
 
 — The Picenian.] i. c. The fisher- 
 man, who was an inhabitant of 
 Picenum. 
 
 — Accept.] Thus begins the fish- 
 erman's abject and fulsome address 
 to the emperor, on presenting the 
 turbot. 
 
 65. What is too great.} Lit. greater 
 than private fires. Focus is properly 
 a fire-hearth, by met. fire. Focis, 
 here, means the fires by which vic- 
 tuals are dressed, kitchen fires ; and 
 so, by met. kitchens, q. d. The tur- 
 bot which he presented to the empe- 
 ror was too great and valuable to be 
 dressed in any private kitchen. 
 
SAT. IV. 
 
 JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 Preserves the Trojan fire, and worships the lesser Vesta, 60 
 A wondering crowd, for a while, opposed him as he entered : 
 As it gave way, the gates opened with an easy hinge : 
 The excluded fathers behold the acjniitted dainties. 
 He comes to Atrides : then the .Picenian said " Accept 
 " What is too great for private kitchens : let this day be 
 
 _" passed 05 
 
 " As a festival ; hasten to release your stomach from its 
 
 " crammings, 
 (( And consume a turbot reserved for your age : 
 " Itself it would be taken." — What could be plainer? and yet 
 His crest arose : there is nothing which of itself it may not 
 Believe, when a power equal to the gods is praised. 70 
 
 But there was wanting a size of pot for the fish ; therefore 
 The nobles are called into council, whom he hated : 
 
 66. As a festival] The adj. genialis 
 signifies cheerful, merry, festival ; so 
 genialis dies, a day of festivity, a festi- 
 val ; such as was observed on marriage 
 or on birth- days : on these latter, they 
 held a yearly feast in honour of their 
 genius, or tutelar deity, which was 
 supposed to attend their birth, and to 
 live and die with them. See Hon. 
 lib. ii. Ep. ii. 187. and Pers. sat. ii. 
 1. 3. and note. Probably the poet here 
 means much the same as Horace, lib. 
 iii. ode xvii. by genium curabis, you 
 shall indulge yourself, make merry. 
 
 — Hasten to release, $c] The poet 
 here lashes Domitian's gluttony, by 
 making the fisherman advise him to 
 unload, and set his stomach at liberty 
 from the dainties which it contained, 
 (which was usually done by vomits,) 
 in order to whet it, and to make room 
 for this turbot. Sagina lit. means any 
 meat wherewith things are crammed 
 or fatted, and is well applied here to 
 express the emperor's stuffing and 
 cramming himself, by his daily glut» 
 tony, like a beast or a fowl that is 
 put up to be fattened. 
 
 67. Reserved for your age] As if Pro- 
 vidence had purposely formed and pre- 
 served this fish for the time of Domitian. 
 
 68. Itself it would be taken.] The 
 very fish itself was ambitious to be 
 caught for the entertainment and gra- 
 tification of your Majesty. 
 
 — What could be plainer ?] What 
 flattery could be more open, more 
 palpable than this ? says Juvenal. 
 
 N 
 
 69. His crest arose.] This flattery* 
 which one would have thought too 
 gross to be received, yet pleased Do- 
 mitian, he grew proud of it — surge- 
 bant cristse. Metaph. taken from the 
 appearance of a cock when he is pleased, 
 and struts and sets up his comb. 
 
 — There is nothing, $&] i. e. When 
 a prince can believe himself equal in 
 power to the god?., (which was the 
 case with Domitian,) no flattery can 
 be too gross, fulsome, or palpable to 
 be received ; he will believe every 
 thing that can be said in his praise, 
 and grow still the vainer for it. 
 
 Mr. Dry den, in his ode called 
 Alexander's Feast, has finely ima- 
 gined an instance of this, where Alex- 
 ander is almost mad with pride, at 
 hearing himself celebrated as the son 
 of Jupiter by Olympia. 
 With ravish'' d ears 
 The monarch hears ; 
 Assumes the god. 
 Affects to nod, 
 And seems to shake the spheres. 
 
 71. But — a size, %c] They had 
 no pot capacious enough, in its di* 
 mensions, to contain this large tur- 
 bot, so as to dress it whole. Patina 
 is a pot of earth or metal, in which 
 things were boiled, and brought to 
 table in their broth. Ainsw. 
 
 72. The nobles.] Proceres— -the 
 senators — called patres, 1. 63. 
 
 — Are called into council.] To de« 
 liberate on what was to be done in 
 this momentous business. 
 
90 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIR/E. 
 
 In quorum facie misera?, magnaeque sedebat 
 
 Pallor amicitiae. Primus, clamante Liburno, 
 
 Currite, jam sedit, rapta properabat abolla 75 
 
 Pegasus, attonitae positus modo villicus urbi : 
 
 Anne aliud tunc Praefecti ? quorum optimus, atque 
 
 Interpres legum sanctissimus ; omnia quanquam 
 
 Temporibus diris tractanda putabat inermi 
 
 Justitia. Venit et Crispi jucunda senectus, 80 
 
 Cuj us erant mores, qualis facundia, mite 
 
 Ingenium. Maria, ac terras, populosque regenti 
 
 Quis comes utilior, si clade et peste sub ilia 
 
 Saevitiam damnare, et lionestum afierre liceret 
 
 Consilium ? sed quid violentius aure tyranni, 85 
 
 Cum quo de nimbis, aut aestibus, aut pluvioso 
 
 Vere locuturi fatum pendebat amici ? 
 
 Ille igitur nunquam direxit brachia contra 
 
 72. Whom he hated.] From a con- 
 sciousness of his being dreaded and 
 hated by them. 
 
 73. The paleness.] We have here 
 a striking representation of a tyrant; 
 •who, conscious that he must be hated 
 by all about him, hates them, and 
 they, knowing his capricious cruelty, 
 never approach him without horror 
 and dread, lest they should say or do 
 something, however undesignedly, 
 which may cost them their lives. 
 Comp. 1. S5-S7. 
 
 71. A Liuwiiian.} Some have ob- 
 served that the Romans made criers 
 of the Libur lians, a remarkable lusty 
 and stout race of men, (sat.iii. 1. 22tr.) 
 because their voices were very loud 
 and strong. Others take Liburnus 
 here for the proper name of some par- 
 ticular man who had the office of 
 crier. 
 
 7.5. Rim, c$t.] " Make haste, lo?e 
 " no time ; the emperor has already 
 " taken his seat at the council-table — 
 " don't make him wait." 
 
 —.With a snatched-vp gou-n.]— 
 Abolla here signifies a senator's robe. 
 In sat. iii. 101. it signifies a philoso- 
 pher's gown. On hearing the sum- 
 mons, he caught up his robe in a vio- 
 lent hurry, and huddled it on, and 
 away he went. 
 
 This Pegasus was an eminent 
 lawyer, who had been appointed prae- 
 tt< i or governor of the ci-y of Rome. 
 
 Juvenal calls him villicus, or bailiff; 
 as if Rome, by Domitian's tyranny, 
 had so far lost its liberty and privileges, 
 that it was now no better than an in- 
 significant village, and its officers had 
 no more power or dignity than a 
 country bailiff; a little paltry officer 
 over a small district. 
 
 The praefectus urbis (says Kev- 
 xett, Ant. lib. iii. part ii. c. 13.) 
 was a sort of mayor of the city, 
 created by Augustus, by the advice 
 of his favourite Maecenas, upon whom 
 at first he conferred the new honour. 
 He was to precede all other city ma- 
 gistrates, having power to receive ap- 
 peals from the inferior courts, and to 
 decide almost all causes within the li- 
 mits of Rome, or one hundred miles 
 round. Before this, there was some- 
 times a praefectus urbis created, when 
 the kings, or the greater officers, 
 were absent from the city, to admi- 
 nister justice in their room. 
 
 But there was an end of all this, 
 their hands wei e now tied up, their 
 power and consequence were no more; 
 Domitian had taken every thing into 
 his own hands, and no officer of the 
 city could act farther than the empe- 
 ror deigned to permit, who kept the 
 whole city in the utmost terror and 
 astonishment at his cruelty and op- 
 pression. 
 
 77. Of whom, $r.] This Pegasus 
 was an excellent magistrate, the best 
 
JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 91 
 
 In the face of whom was sitting the paleness of a miserable 
 And great friendship,— First, (a Liburnian crying out — 
 " Run — he is already seated,")— with a snatched-up gown, 
 hastened 75 
 
 Pegasus, lately appointed bailiff to the astonished city — 
 Were the Prefects then any thing else? — of whom [he 
 
 - was] the best, and 
 Most upright interpreter of laws • tho' all things, 
 In direful times, lie thought were to be managed with un- 
 armed 
 Justice. The pleasant old age of Crispus also came, 80 
 Whose manners were, as his eloquence, a gentle 
 Disposition : to one governing seas, and lands, and people, 
 Who a more useful companion, if, under that slaughter and 
 
 pestilence, 
 It were permitted to condemn cruelty, and to give honest 
 Counsel ? But what is more violent than the ear of a tyrant, 
 With whom the fate of a friend, who should speak of 
 showers, S(? 
 
 Or heats, or of a rainy spring, depended ? 
 He therefore never directed his arms against 
 
 "tV* 
 
 of any that had filled that office ; 
 most conscientious and faithful in his 
 administration of justice; never strain- 
 ing the laws to oppress the people., 
 but expounding ther/i fairly and ho- 
 nestly. 
 
 79-80. With unarmed, justice.] — 
 Such was the cruelty and tyranny of 
 Domitian, that even Pegasus, that 
 good and upright magistrate, was de- 
 terred from the exact and punctual 
 administration of justice, every thing 
 being now governed as the emperor 
 pleased; so that the laws had not 
 their force ; nor dared the judges ex- 
 ecute them, but according to the will 
 of the emperor ; justice was disarmed 
 of its powers. 
 
 80. Crispus.] Vibius Crispus, who, 
 when one asked him if any body was 
 with Caesar ? answered, " Not even 
 " a fly." Domitian, at the begin- 
 ning of his reign, used to amuse him- 
 self with catching flies, and sticking 
 them through with a sharp pointed in- 
 strument. A sure presage of his fu- 
 ture cruelties. 
 
 81-2. A gentle disposition.] He 
 wtis as remarkable for sweetness of 
 temper, as for his eloquence, plea- 
 
 santry, and good nature. Com. Hon. 
 lib. ii. sat. i. 1. 72. Mitis sapientia 
 Laeli. 
 
 83. Who a more useful companion.] 
 The meaning is, who could have been 
 a more salutary friend and companion,, 
 as well as counsellor, to the emperor, 
 if he had dared to have spoken his 
 mind, to have reprobated the cruelty 
 of the emperor's proceedings, and to 
 have given his advice to a man, who, 
 like sword and pestilence, destroyed 
 all that he took a dislike to. 
 
 85. What is more violent, §c.] 
 More rebellious against the dictates 
 of honest truth — more impatient of 
 advice — more apt to imbibe the most 
 fatal prejudices. 
 
 8G. Speak of showers, £{C.~\ Such 
 was the capaciousness and cruelty of 
 Domitian, that it was unsafe for his 
 friends to converse with him, even on 
 the most indifferent subjects, such as 
 the weather, and the like : the least 
 word misunderstood, or taken ill, 
 might cost a man his life, though to 
 that moment he had been regarded as 
 a friend. 
 
 88. Never directed, <|r.] Never 
 attempted to swim against the stream^ 
 
92 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Torrentem : nee civis erat, qui libera posset 
 
 Verba an urn proferre, et vitam impendere vero. 90 
 
 Sic multashyemes, atque octogesima vidit 
 
 Solstitia : bis armis, ilia quoque tutus in auja. 
 
 Proximus ejusdem properabat Acilius aevi 
 
 Cum juvene indigno, quern mors tarn sa?va maneret, 
 
 Et domini gladiis jam festinata : sed olhn 95 
 
 Prodigio par est in nobilitate senectus : 
 
 Unde fit, ut malim fraterculus esse gigantum. 
 
 Profuit ergo nihil misero, quod cominus ursos 
 
 Figebat Numidas, Albara xiudus aTena 
 
 Venator: quis enim jam non intelligat artes 100 
 
 Patricias ? quis prpcum illud miretur acumen, 
 
 Brute, tuum ? facde est barbato*imponere regi ? 
 
 Nee melior vultu, quamvis ignobilis ibat 
 
 Rubrius, offensae vetcris reus, atque tacendas; 
 
 as we say. He knew the emperor 
 too well ever to venture an opposition 
 to bis will and pleasure. 
 
 90. Spend hi» l-je, $c] Crispus 
 was not one of those citizens who 
 dared to say what he thought ; or to 
 hazard his life in the cause of truth, 
 by speaking his mind. 
 
 \ih solstices.] Eighty 
 solstices of winter and summer; i. r. 
 he was now eighty years of age. 
 
 92. WUh the** arms, $c\] Thus 
 armed with prudence and caution, he 
 had lived to a good old age, even in 
 the court of Domitian, where the 
 least on'cnce or prejudice would long 
 Since have t;.ken him off. 
 
 93. Acilius.] Glabrio, a senator of 
 singular prudence and fidelity. 
 
 9-k Willi a youth, Sec] Domitius, 
 the son of Acilius, came with his fa- 
 ther; but both of them were soon af- 
 ter charged with designs against the 
 emperor, and were condemned to 
 death. The father's sentence was 
 changed into banishment, the more 
 to grieve him with the remembrance 
 of bus son's death. 
 
 — Unworthy.] Not deserving that 
 so cruel a death should await him. 
 
 This unhappy young man, to save 
 his life, affected madness, and fought 
 naked with \\ ild beasts in the amphi- 
 theatre at Alba, where Domitian every 
 year celebrated games in honour of 
 Minerva : but he was not to be deceiv- 
 
 ed, and he put Domitius to death in 
 a cruel manner. See 1. 100, 101. 
 
 95. The swords.] Gladiis, in the 
 plur. either by syn. for gladio, sing. 
 or perhaps to signify the various me- 
 thods of torture and death used by 
 this emperor. 
 
 — Of the tyrant.} Domini, lit. of 
 the lord, i. e. the emperor Domitian, 
 who thus lorded it over the lives of his 
 subjects. 
 
 96. Old age in nobility.'] q. d. From 
 the days of Nero, till this hour, it 
 has been the practice to cut off the 
 nobility, when the emperor's jea- 
 
 ear, or hatred, inclined him 
 so to do ; insomuch that to see a no- 
 bleman live to old age, is something 
 like a prodigy ; and indeed this has 
 long been the case. 
 
 97. Of the gin;}?*.] These fabulous 
 beings were supposed to be the sons 
 of Titan and Tellus. These sons of 
 Earth were of a gigan'ic size, and 
 said to rebel and fight against Jupiter. 
 SeeOv. Met. lib, i. fab. vi 
 
 q. d. Since to be born noble is so 
 very dangerous, I had much rather, 
 like these Terras filii, claim no higher 
 kindred than my parent Ear'h, and, 
 though not in size, yet as to origin, 
 be a brother of theirs, than be de- 
 scended from the highest families a- 
 mongpur nobility. 
 
 100. Who cannot «oar, $-c.] Who is 
 ignorant of the arts of the nobility. 
 
 fifth <*& fJf 
 
SAT. IV. 
 
 juvenal's satires. 
 
 93 
 
 The torrent : nor was he a citizen, who could utter 89 
 
 The free words of his mind, and spend his life for the truth, 
 
 Thus he saw many winters, and the eightieth 
 
 Solstices : with these arms, safe also in that court. 
 
 Next, of the same age, hurried Acilius 
 
 With a youth unworthy, whom so cruel a death should await, 
 
 And now hastened by the swords of the tyrant : but long 
 
 since 95 
 
 Old age in nobility is equal to a prodigy : 
 Hence it is, that I had rather be a little brother of the 
 
 giants. 
 Therefore it nothing availed the wretch that he pierced 
 Numidian bears in close fight, a naked hunter in the AJban 
 Theatre : for who cannot now understand the arts 100 
 
 Of the nobles ? who can wonder at that old subtlety of thine, 
 O Brutus ? It is easy to impose on a bearded king. 
 Nor better in countenance, tho' ignoble, went 
 Rubrius, guilty of an old crime, and ever to be kept in 
 
 silence : 
 
 either to win the emperor's favour, or 
 to avoid his dislike, or to escape the 
 effects of his displeasure ? these are 
 known to every body, therefore it can 
 hardly be supposed that they are un- 
 known to the emperor ; hence poor 
 Domitius miscarried in his stratagem. 
 See note on 1. 94. 
 
 Domitian could perceive, yet could 
 swallow down the grossest flattery, 
 and thus far deceived himself, (comp. 
 1. 69.) yet no shift, or trick, to avoid 
 his destructive purposes could ever 
 deceive him. 
 
 101. Who can wonder, Qc] Lu- 
 cius Junius Brutus saved his life by 
 affecting to play the fool in the court 
 of Tarquin the Proud, when many of 
 the nobility were destroyed, and, 
 among the rest, the brother of Brutus. 
 Hence he took the surname of Bru- 
 tus, which signifies senseless, void of 
 reason. 
 
 q. d. This old piece of policy 
 would not be surprisi. g now ; it 
 would be looked upon but as a shal- 
 low device : therefore, however it 
 might succeed in thoye days of anci- 
 ent simplicity, we find it wouid not 
 do now, as the wretched Domilius 
 sadly experienced, 
 
 10?. On a bearded king.] Alluding 
 
 to the simplicity of ancient times, 
 when Rome was governed by kings, 
 Avho, as well as their people, wore 
 their beards ; for shaving and cutting 
 the beard were not in fashion till 
 later times. Barbatus was a sort of 
 proverbial term for simple, old-fashi- 
 oned. See Ainsw. 
 
 It is remarkable that, long before 
 the days of Brutus, we have an in- 
 stance of a like device, by which 
 David saved himself at the court of 
 Achish, king of Gath. 1 Sam. xxi. 
 10-15. 
 
 103. Nor letter in countenance.] 
 He looked as dismal as the rest. See 
 1. 73. 
 
 — The? ignoble.] Though he was 
 of plebian extraction, and therefore 
 could not be set up as a mark for 
 Domitian's envy and suspicions, as 
 the nobles were, yet he well knew 
 that no rank or degree was safe ; as 
 none were above, so none were be- 
 low his displeasure and resentment. 
 
 10k Guilt (j, <£c] What this of- 
 fence was is not said particularly ; 
 however, its not being to be named, 
 must make us suppose it something 
 very horrible ; or that it was some 
 offence against the emperor, which 
 was kept secret, 
 
94 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRJE. 
 
 Montani quoque venter adest, abdomine tardus : 105 
 
 Et matutino sudans Crispinus amomo ; 
 
 Quantum vix redolent duo funera : saevior illo 
 
 Pompeius tenui jugulos aperire susurro : 
 
 Et, qui vulturibus servabat viscera Dacis, 
 
 Fuscus, marmorca meditatus praelia villa : 110 
 
 Et cum mortifero prudens Veiento Catullo, 
 
 Qui nunquam visae flagrabat amore puellae, 
 
 Grande, et conspicuum nostro quoque tempore monstrum ! 
 
 Caecus adulator, dirusque a ponte satelles. 
 
 Dignus Aricinos qui mendicaret ad axes, 115 
 
 Blandaque cu vexae jactaret basia rhedae. 
 
 Ne.no magis rhombum stupuit : nam plurima dixit 
 
 In laev urn con versus: at illi dextra jacebat 
 
 Beliua: sic pugnas Cilicis laudabat, et ictus. 
 
 Some commentators have supposed 
 it to have heen debauching Julia, 
 Domitian's wife. 
 
 105. The belly, Sec] As if his 
 belly were the most important thing 
 belonging to him, it, rather than 
 himself, is said to he present. This 
 Montanus was some corpulent glut- 
 ton, fat and unwieldy. 
 
 106. Crispinus, &c] Here we find 
 Crispinus brought forward again, vo- 
 catus ad partes. See 1. 1 and 2. 
 
 — With ?)iornhig perfume.] The 
 amomum was a shrub which the 
 Easterns used in embalming. Of this 
 a fine perfumed ointment was made, 
 with which Crispinus is described as 
 anointing himself early in a morning, 
 and in such profusion, as that he 
 seemed to sweat it out of his pores. 
 
 Some think that the word matu+ino 
 here alludes to that part of the world 
 from whence the amomum came, i. c. 
 the Eust. where the sun first arises : 
 but I find no example of such a use 
 of the word. 
 
 107. Tzeo funerals, §c] Crispinus 
 had as much perfume about him as 
 would have served to anoint two 
 corpses for burial. It was a custom 
 among the ancients to anoint the 
 bodies of persons w ho died with sweet 
 ointments. See Matt. xxvi. 12. This 
 custom, among others, was derived 
 from the Easterns to the Romans. 
 
 108. Than him more cruel, <fec.] 
 Pompeius was another of this assem- 
 
 bly, more cruel than Crispinus, in 
 getting people put to death, by the 
 secret accusations which he whispered 
 against them into the emperor's ear. 
 
 109. Fuscus, who VOl />/■<>( i : iiic, 
 §c ] Cornelius Fuscus was sent by 
 Domitian general against the Daci- 
 ans, where his army and himself were 
 lost, and became food for the birds of 
 prey. 
 
 110. Meditated -wars, <£r.] An 
 irony, alluding to his being sent to 
 command, without having any other 
 ideas of war, than he conceived amid 
 the sloth and luxury of his sumptuous 
 \ ilia. 
 
 111. Prudent Veiento.] See sat. 
 iii. 173. The poet gives Veiento the 
 epithet o{ prudent, from his knowing 
 how to conduct himself wisely, with 
 regard to the emperor, so as not to 
 risk his displeasure, and from hii 
 knowing when, and how, to flatter to 
 the best advantage. See 1. 121. 
 
 — Deadly Catullus.] So called from 
 his causing the death of many by se- 
 cret accusations. He was raised hy 
 Domitian from begging at the foot of 
 the Aricine hill, in the Via Appia, to 
 be a minisU" of state. 
 
 112. Who burn'd, §c] Catullus 
 was blind, but his lust was so great, 
 that he could not hear a woman men- 
 tioned without raging with desire. 
 Or perhaps this alludes to some par- 
 ticular mistress which he kept, and 
 was very fond of. 
 
JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 95 
 
 The belly of Montanus too is present, slow from his 
 
 paunch : ^ 105 
 
 And Crispinus sweating with morning perfume : 
 Two funerals scarcely smell so much. Pompeius too, 
 Than him more cruel to cut throats with a gentle whisper. 
 And Fuscus, who was preserving his bowels for the 
 
 Dacian 
 Vultures, having meditated wars in his marble villa. 110 
 And prudent Veiento, with deadly Catullus, 
 Who burn'd with the love of a girl never seen ; 
 A great, and also, in our times, a conspicuous monster ! 
 A blind flatterer, a dire attendant from the bridge, 
 Worthy that he should beg at the Aricinian axles, 115 
 And throw kind kisses to the descending carriage. 
 Nobody more wonder'd at the turbot : for he said many 
 
 things 
 Turned to the left, but on his right hand lay 
 The fish : thus he praised the battles and strokes of the 
 
 Cilician, 
 
 113. In our times, $c.~\ He was 
 so wicked, as, even in the most de- 
 generate times, to appear a monster 
 of iniquity. 
 
 114. A blind flatterer.] As he 
 could admire a woman without seeing 
 her, so he could natter men whom he 
 never saw 5 rather than fail, he would 
 flatter at a venture. 
 
 — A dire attendant, §c] There 
 was a bridge in the Appian way, 
 which was a noted stand for beggars. 
 From being a beggar at this bridge, 
 he was taken to be an attendant on 
 the emperor ; and a most direful one 
 he was, for he ruined and destroyed 
 many by secret accusations. 
 
 115. Worthy that he should leg.] 
 This he might be allowed to deserve, 
 as the only thing he was fit for. See 
 note 111. 
 
 — Aricinian axles.] Axes — by syn. 
 for currus or rhedas — i. e. the carri- 
 ages which passed along towards or 
 from Aricia, a town in the Appian 
 way, about ten miles from Rome, a 
 very public road, and much fre- 
 quented ; so very opportune for beg- 
 gars. See Hoh. lib. i. sat. v. 1. 1. 
 Hod. la Ricca. 
 
 11G. Throw kind kisses.] Kissing 
 
 his hand, and throwing it from his 
 mouth towards the passengers in the 
 carnages, as if he threw them kisses, 
 by way of soothing them into stop- 
 ping, and giving him alms. 
 
 — The descending carriage.] Aricia 
 was built on the top of an high hill, 
 which the carriages descended in their 
 way to Rome ; this seems to be the 
 meaning of devexae. See Ainsw. 
 Devexus-a-um. From de and veho, 
 q. d. Deorsum vehitur. 
 
 117. Nobody more wondered.] — 
 That is, nobody pretended more to 
 do so, out of flattery to Domitian ; 
 for as for the fish, which Juvenal 
 here calls Bellua, (speaking of it as 
 of a great beast,) he could not see it, 
 but turned the wrong way from it, 
 and was very loud in its praises : just 
 as he used to flatter Domitian, by 
 praising the fencers at the games he 
 gave, and the machinery at the thea- 
 tre, when it was not possible for him 
 to see what was going forward. Ju- 
 venal might well call him. 1. 114. 
 caucus adulator. 
 
 119. The Cilician.], Some famous 
 gladiator, or fencer, from Cilicia, who 
 probably, was a favourite of Do- 
 mitian. 
 
96 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRJE. 
 
 Et pegma, et pueros inde ad velaria raptos. 
 Non cedit Veiento, sed ut fanaticus oestro 
 Percassus, Bellona, tuo divinat ; et ingens 
 Omen habes, inquit, magni clarique triumphi : 
 Regem aliqnem capies, aut de temone Britanno 
 Excidet Arviragus : peregrina est bellua, cernis 
 Erectas in terga sudes ? hoc defuit unura 
 Fabricio, patriam ut rhombi memoraret, et annos. 
 Quidnam igitur censes ? conciditur ? absit ab illo 
 Dedecus hoc, Montanus ait ; testa alta paretur, 
 Quae tenui muro spatiosum colligat orbem. 
 Debetur magnus patinae subitusque Prometheus : 
 Argillam, atque rotam citius properate : sed ex hoc 
 Tempore jam, Caesar, figuli tua castra sequantur. 
 Vicit digna viro sententia : noverat iJle 
 
 120 
 
 125 
 
 130 
 
 120. The machine.'] Pegma, (from 
 Gr. 7rr 1 yvvfM i figo)asort of woodenma- 
 chine used in scenical representations, 
 which was so contrived, as to raise 
 itself to a great height : boys w ere 
 placed upon it, and on a sudden car- 
 ried up to the top of the theatre. 
 
 — The caveringii] Velaria — were 
 sail-cloths, extended over the top uf 
 the theatre, to keep out the weather. 
 Aixsw. 
 
 121. Veiento.'] We read of him, 
 sat. iii. 1. 173. as observing great si- 
 lence towards those who were his in* 
 feriors ; but here we find him very 
 lavish of his tongue when he is flat- 
 tering the emperor. Seel. 111. 
 
 — Docs not yield.'] Is not behind- 
 hand to the others in flattery, not 
 even to blind Catullus who spoke 
 last. 
 
 122. O Bellona.] The supposed sis- 
 ter of Mars ; she was fabled to pre- 
 side over war : Virg. JSn. v. iii. 1. 
 703. describes her with a bloody 
 scourge. Her priests, in the celebra- 
 tion of her feasts, used to cut them- 
 selves, and dance about as if they 
 wore mad, pretending also to divine 
 or prophesy future events. 
 
 (JEstrus signifies a sort of fly, which 
 we call a gad-fly ; in the summer- 
 time it bites or stings cattle, so as to 
 make them run about as if they were 
 mad. See Virg. G. iii. 1. 146-53. 
 By meton. inspired fury of any kind. 
 Hence our poet humourously calls the 
 
 a. 
 
 spirit which inspired the priests of 
 Bellona by this name. 
 
 — Divines.] In flattery to Domitian, 
 he treats the event of the turbot as 
 something ominous, as if the taking 
 it predicted some signal and glorious 
 victory, the taking some monarch pri- 
 soner — perhaps Arviragus, then king 
 of the Britons, with whom Domitian 
 was at war, might be prefigured, as 
 falling wounded from his chariot into 
 the hands of the emperor. 
 
 125. Is foreign.] Therefore denotes 
 some foreign conquest. 
 
 126. Spears, £e,] Sudes properly 
 signifies a stake, a pile driven into the 
 ground in fortifications ; also a spear 
 barbed with iron. Hence x-ctru^xrh- 
 xu$, the fin of a fish. Aixsw. 
 
 q. d. Do you perceive his sharp fins 
 rising on his back ; they look like so 
 many spears, and portend and sig- 
 nify the spears which you shall stick 
 in the backs of vanquished foes. 
 
 127. Fabricius.] i. e. Fabricius Vei- 
 ento. He was so diffuse in his ha- 
 rangue, that, in short, there wanted 
 nothing but his telling where it was 
 bred, and how old it was, to complete 
 and establish his prophetic history of 
 the fish. 
 
 128. What thinJiesi thou then, <|c] 
 The words of Domitian, who puts the 
 original question for which he assem- 
 bled these senators, i. 71. viz. as no 
 pot could be got large enough to dress 
 the turbot in, that they should ad- 
 
JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 97 
 
 And the machine, and the boys snatched up to the co- 
 verings. 120 
 Veiento does not yield : but as a fanatic stung with thy 
 
 gad-fly, 
 O Bellona, divines, and says, " A great omen 
 " You have, of a great and illustrious triumph ; 
 " You will take some king, or from a British chariot 
 " Arviragus will fall ; the fish is foreign ; do you perceive 
 " The spears erect on his back if This one thing was 
 wanting 126 
 
 To Fabricius, that he should tell the country of the turbot, 
 
 and its age. 
 " What thinkest thou then ? — Must it be cut ?" " Far 
 
 " from it be 
 " This disgrace,"" says Montanus : " let a deep pot be 
 
 u prepared, 
 " Which, with its thin wall, may collect the spacious 
 " orb. 130 
 
 " A great and sudden Prometheus is due to the dish : 
 " Hasten quickly the clay, and the wheel : but now, from 
 
 " this 
 " Time, Caesar, let potters follow your camps." 
 The opinion, worthy the man, prevailed : he had known 
 
 vise what was to be done ; this they 
 had said nothing about; therefore 
 Domitian asks, if it should be cut in 
 pieces. 
 
 129. Montanus.] The glutton- 
 See 1. 105. He concludes the debate, 
 with expressing a dislike of disfigur- 
 ing this noble fish, by dividing it, 
 and, at the same time, by flattering 
 the emperor, and raising his vanity. 
 
 — Let a deep pot.] Testa signifies a 
 pot, or pan, made of clay. He ad- 
 vises that such a one be immediately 
 made, deep and wide enough to hold 
 the fish within its thin circumference, 
 (tenui muro :) by this means the fish 
 will be preserved entire, as in such 
 a pot it might be dressed whole. 
 
 131. Prometheus, Qc] The poets 
 feigned him to have formed men of 
 clay, and to have put life into them 
 by fire stolen from heaven. Juvenal 
 humourously represents Montanus as 
 •calling for Prometheus himself, as it 
 were, instantly to fashion a pot on so 
 great an occasion, when so noble a 
 
 fish was to be dressed, and that for so 
 great a prince. 
 
 132. Hasten.] That the fish may 
 not be spoiled before it can be dressed. 
 
 — The clay and the wheel] Clay is 
 the material, and a wheel, which fe 
 solid, and turns horizontally, the en- 
 gine on which the potter makes his 
 ware. This was very ancient. Jer» 
 xviii. 3. 
 
 133. Let potters follow, <£c] This 
 is a most ludicrous idea, and seems 
 to carry with it a very sharp irony on 
 Domitian, for having called his coun- 
 cil together on such a subject as this ; 
 but, however, it might be meant, the 
 known gluttony of Montanus, which 
 is described, 1. 13-1-41. made it pass 
 for serious advice, and as such Do- 
 mitian understood it, as the next 
 words may inform us. 
 
 134. The opinion, $c] What Mon- 
 tanus had said about dressing the fish 
 whole, was thoroughly worthy lm 
 character ; just what might have been 
 expected from him, and as such pr«e* 
 vailed. 
 
98 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Luxuriam imperii veterem, noctesque Neronis 135 
 
 Jam Medias, aliamque famem, cum pulmo Falerno m 
 
 Arderet : nulli major fuit usus edendi 
 
 Tempestate men. Circaeis nata forent, an 
 
 Lucrinum ad sax uni, Rutupinove edita fundo 
 
 Ostrea, callebat primo deprendere morsu ; 140 
 
 Et semel aspecti littus dicebat echini. 
 
 Surgitur, et mis>o proceres exire jubentur 
 Concilio, quos Albanam dux magnus in arcem 
 Traxerat attonitos, et fastinare coactos, 
 Tanquam de Cattis aliquid, torvisque Sicambris 145 
 
 Dicturus ; tanquam diversis partibus orbis 
 Anxia praecipiti venisset epistola penna. 
 
 Atque utinam his potius nugis tota ilia dedisset 
 Tempora saevitiae, claras quibus abstulit urbi 
 Illustresque animas impune, et vindice nullo. 150 
 
 Sed periit, postquam cerdonibus esse timendus 
 Cceperat : hoc nocuit Lamiarum caede madenti. 
 
 134. He had known, $c] He was an 
 old court glutton, and was well ac- 
 quainted with the luxury of former 
 emperors, here meant by luxuriam 
 imperii. No man understood eating, 
 both in theory and practice, better 
 (had he did, that has lived in my 
 time, says Juvenal. 
 
 13.3. Nero.] As Suetonius ob- 
 serves, used to protract his feasts from 
 mid-day to mid-night. 
 
 136. Another hunger, S^c] i. e. 
 What could raise a new and fresh ap- 
 petite, after a drunken debauch. 
 
 138. Clrccei.] -orum. A town of 
 Campania, in Italy, at the foot of 
 mount Circello on tie sea coast. 
 
 139. The Lucrine rock.) The Lu- 
 crine rocks were in the bay of Lucri- 
 num, in Campania. AJ1 these places 
 were famous for different sorts of 
 oysters. Hor. Epod. ii. 49. & Sat. iL 
 4, 43. 
 
 — Rutitplan, Lcftom.] Rutupae-arum, 
 
 Richburnnv in Kent Rutupina 
 
 littora, the Foreland of Kent. The 
 luxury of the Romans must be very 
 great, to send for oysters at such a 
 distance, when so many places en the 
 shores of Italy afforded them. 
 
 111. Sea-urchin.} Echinus, a sort 
 of crab with prickles on its shell, 
 
 reckoned a great dainty, q. d. So 
 skilled in eating was Montanus, that 
 at the first bite of an oyster, or at the 
 fiivt Bight of a crab, he could tell 
 where they were taken. 
 
 11,'. They rise.] Surgitur, imp. the 
 council broke up. See 1. 64. itur. 
 
 1+3. The great general.] Domitian, 
 who gave the word of command for 
 them to depart, as before to assemble. 
 
 — Into the Jlban toucr.] To the 
 palace at Alba, where the emperor 
 now was. The word traxerat is very 
 expiessive,as if they had been dragged 
 thither sorely against their wills. 
 
 14k .Astonished — compelled, <$r.]-_ 
 Amased'at the sudden summons, but 
 dared not to delay a moment's obedi- 
 ence to it. Comp. 1. 75. 
 
 14-5. Catti] A people of Germany, 
 now subject to the Landgrave of 
 Hesse — Sicambri, inhabitants of Gu- 
 elderland. Both these people were 
 formidable enemies. 
 
 147. An alarming epistle, cy<\] — 
 Some sorrowful news had been dis- 
 patched post-haste frcm various parts 
 of the empire. 
 
 Little could the senators imagine, 
 that all was to end in a consultation 
 upon a turbot. 
 
 The satire here is very fine, and re- 
 
sat. iv, JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 99 
 
 The old luxury of the empire, and the nights of Nero 135 
 No\r half spent, and another hunger, when the lungs with 
 
 Faleruan 
 Burned : none had a greater experience in eating 
 In my time. Whether oysters were bred at Circsei, or 
 At the Lucrine rock, or sent forth from the Rutupian 
 
 bottom, 
 He knew well to discover at the first bite ; 140 
 
 And told the shore of a sea-urchin once looked at. 
 
 They rise— and the senators are commanded to depart 
 from the dismissed 
 Council, whom the great general into the Alban tower 
 Had drawn astonished, and compelled to hasten, 144 
 
 As if something concerning the Catti and the fierce Si- 
 cam bri 
 He was about to say ; as if from different parts of the 
 
 world 
 An alarming epistle had come with hasty wing. 
 
 And I wish that rather to these trifles he had given all 
 those 
 Times of cruelty, in which he took from the city renowned 
 And illustrious lives with impunity, and with no avenger. 
 But he perished, after that to be fear'd by coblers 151 
 
 He had begun : this hurt him reeking with slaughter of the 
 Lamia?, 
 
 presents Domitian as anxious about a racy formed against him» See Ant. 
 
 matter of gluttony, as he could have Un. Hist. vol. xv. p. 87. 
 
 "ieen in affairs of the utmost import- 152. The Lami&.] The Lamian fa- 
 
 ice to the Roman empire. mily was most noble. See Hor. lib. 
 
 14'8. And 'I wish, $ .] I. c. It were iii. ode xvii. Of this was jElius 
 
 to be wished that he had spent that Lama, whose wife, Dormtia Longina, 
 
 time in such trifles as this, which he Domitian took away, and afterwards 
 
 passed in acts of cruelty and murder, put the husband to death, 
 
 which he practised with impunity, The Lamise here may stand for the 
 
 on numbers of the greatest and best nobles in general, (as before the cer- 
 
 men in Rome, nobody daring to a- dones for the rabble in general,) who 
 
 venge their sufferings. had perished under the cruelty of 
 
 151. But he perished, &c.~\ Cerdo Domitian, and with whose blood he 
 
 Signifies any low mechanics, such as might be said to be reeking, from the 
 
 coblers. and the like. Ceidonibus quantity of it which he had shed dur- 
 
 stands here for ihe rabble in general. ing his reign. 
 
 While Domi ian only cut off, now Tie died ninety-six years after 
 
 and then, some of the nobles, the Christ, aged forty-four years, ten 
 
 people were quiet, however amazed months, and twenty-six days. He 
 
 they m'ght be, (cemp. 1. 76.) but reigned fifteen years and five days, 
 
 when he extended his cruelties to the and was succeeded by Is'erva ; a man 
 
 plebeians, means were devised to cut very unlike him, being a good man, 
 
 biin off, which was done by a eonspi- a good statesman, and'a good soldier. 
 
£?atira &t#ti\\xa. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 This Satire is addressed to Telesinus, a poet. Juvenal 
 laments the neglect of encouraging learning. That 
 Ccesar only is the patron of the fine arts. As for the 
 rest of the great and noble Romans, they gave no heed to 
 
 ET spes, et ratio studiorum in Caesare tantum : 
 Solus enim tristes hac tempestate camcenas 
 Respexit; cum jam celebres, notique poetae 
 Balneolum Gabiis, Romae conducere furnos 
 Tentarent : nee fcedum alii, nee turpe putarent 
 Praecones fieri ; cum desertis Aganippes 
 Vallibus, esuriens migraret in atria Clio. 
 Nam si Pieria quadrans tibi nullus in umbra 
 Ostendatur, ames nomen, \ictumque Machaerae ; 
 Et vendas potius, commissa quod auctio vendit 
 
 10 
 
 Line 1. The hope and reason, <|r.] 
 i. e. The single expectation of learned 
 men, that they shall have a reward 
 for their labours, and the only reason, 
 therefore, for their employing them- 
 selves in liberal studies, are reposed 
 in Ca?sar only. Domitian seems to 
 be meant ; for though he was a 
 monster of wickedness, yet Quinti- 
 lian, Martial, and other learned men, 
 tasted of his bounty. Quintilian says 
 of him, " Quo nee prassentius aliquid 
 " nee studiis magis propitium numen 
 " est." See 1. 20-1. 
 
 2. The mournful muses.] Who may 
 be supposed to lament the sad condi- 
 tion of their deserted and distressed 
 votaries. 
 
 4. Bath ft GaliL] To get a liveli- 
 hood by. Gabii was a little city near 
 Rome. Balneolum, a small bagnio. 
 
 — Ovens.] Public bakehouses, where 
 people paid so much for baking their 
 bread. * 
 
 6. Criers.] Praecones — whose of- 
 fice at Rome was to proclaim public 
 meetings, public sale?, and the like— 
 a very mean employment ; but the 
 poor starving poets disregarded this 
 circumstance — " any thing rather 
 " than starve" — and indeed, however 
 meanly this occupation might be 
 looked upon, it was very profitable. 
 See sat. iii. 1. 140. note. 
 
 — Aganippe.] A spring in the soli- 
 tary part of Bceotia, consecrated to 
 the nine Muses. 
 
 7. Hungry Clio.] One of the nine 
 Muses, the patroness of heroic po- 
 etry : here, by meton. put for the 
 starving poet, who is forced, by his 
 poverty, to leave the regions of po- 
 etry, and would fain beg at great 
 men's doors. Atrium signifies the 
 court, or court-yard, before great 
 men's houses, where these poor poets 
 are supposed to stand, like other beg- 
 gars, to ask alms. 
 

 ^tontl) gMtivt* 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 the protection of poets, historians, rhetoricians, gram- 
 marians, Sfc. These last were not only ill paid, but 
 even forced to go to law, for the poor pittance which they 
 had earned, by the fatigue and labour of teaching 1 school, 
 
 BOTH the hope, and reason of studies, is in Caesar only: 
 For he only, at this time, hath regarded the mournful 
 
 Muses, 
 When now our famous and noted poets would try 
 To hire a small bath at Gabii, or ovens at Rome : 
 Nor would others think it mean, nor base, 5 
 
 To become criers ; when, the vallies of Aganippe 
 Being deserted, hungry Clio would migrate to court-yards. 
 For if not a farthing is shewn to you in the Pierian shade, 
 You may love the name, and livelihood of Machaera ; 
 And rather sell what the intrusted auction sells ] 
 
 8. In the Pierian shade.'] See sat. 
 iv. 1. 34. note, q. d. If by passing 
 your time, as it were, in the abodes 
 of the Muses, no reward or recom- 
 pence is likely to be obtained for all 
 your poetical labours. Some read 
 area — but Pieria umbra seems best to 
 carry on the humour of the meto- 
 nymy in this and the preceding line. 
 
 9. Love the name, <|~c.] Machaera 
 seems to denote the name of some fa- 
 mous crier of the time, whose busi- 
 ness it was to notify sales by auction, 
 and, at the time of sale, to set a price 
 on the goods, on which the bidders 
 were to increase ; hence such a sale 
 was called auctio. See Ainsw. Frccco, 
 No. 1. 
 
 q. d. If you find yourself penny- 
 less, and so likely to continue by the 
 exercise of poetry, then, instead of 
 thinking it below you to be called a 
 crier, you may cordially embrace it, 
 
 and be glad to get a livelihood by auc- 
 tions, as Machaera does. 
 
 10. Intrusted.] So Holyday. Com- 
 missus signifies any thing committed 
 to one's charge, or in trust. 
 
 Goods committed to sale by public 
 auction are intrusted to the aucti- 
 onier in a twofold respect — first, 
 that, he sell them at the best price ; 
 and, secondly, that he faithfully ac- 
 count with the owner for the produce 
 of the sales. 
 
 Commissa may also allude to the 
 commission, or license, of the ma- 
 gistrate, by which public sales in the 
 forum -were appointed. 
 
 Some understand commissa auctio 
 in a metaphorical sense, alluding to 
 the contention among the bidders, 
 who, like gladiators matched in fight, 
 commissi, (see sat. i. 149. note.) op- 
 pose and engage against each other in 
 their several biddings. 
 
102 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Stantibus, oenophorum, tripodes, armaria, cistas, 
 
 Alcithoen Pacci, Thebas et Terea Fausti. 
 
 Hoc satius, quam si dicas sub judice, Vidi, 
 
 Quod non vidisti : faciant equites Asiani, 
 
 Quanquam et Cappadoces faciant, equitesque Bithyni, 16 
 
 Altera quos nudo traducit Gallia talo. 
 
 Nemo tamen studiis indignum ferre laborem 
 
 Cogetur posthac, nectit quicunque canoris 
 
 Eloquium vocale modis v taurumque momordit. 
 
 Hoc agite, 6 Juvenes : circumspicit, et siimulat vos, 
 
 Matcriamque sibi ducis indulgentia quarit. 
 
 Si qua aliunde putas rerum expectanda tuarum 
 
 Praesidia, atque ideo croceae membrana tabellae 
 
 Impletur ; lignorum aliquid posce ocyus, et quae 
 
 Componis, dona Veneris, Telesine, marito : 
 
 Aut claude, et positos tinea pertunde libellos. 
 
 SO 
 
 25 
 
 11. To the standers ly.] i. e. The 
 people who attend the auction as 
 buyers. 
 
 12. The Alcithoe — the. Thebes, $c.] 
 Some editions read Alcyoncm liac- 
 chi, &c. These were tragedies writ- 
 ten by wretched poets, which Juvenal 
 supposes to be sold, with other lum- 
 ber, at an auction. 
 
 13. Than if you said, $e.] This, 
 mean as it may appear, is sail getting 
 your bread honestly, and far better 
 than hiring yourself out as a false 
 witness, and forswearing yourself for 
 a bribe, in open court. 
 
 14. The Asiatic knights.] This sa- 
 tirizes those of the Roman nobility, 
 who had favoured some of their Asi- 
 atic slaves so much, as to enrich 
 them sufficiently to be admitted into 
 the equestrian order. These people 
 were, notwithstanding, false, and not 
 to be trusted. 
 
 Minoris Asiee populis mtllam jidem 
 esi-e adhibcndain. 
 
 Cic. pro Flacco. 
 15. The Cappadoeians.] Their 
 country bordered on Armenia. They 
 were, like the Cretans, (Tit. i. 12.) 
 liars and dishonest to a proverb ; yet 
 many of these found means to make 
 their fortunes at Rome. 
 
 — The knights of Bithynia.] Bithy- 
 nia was another eastern province, a 
 country of Asia Minor, from whence 
 many such people, as are above de- 
 
 scribed, came, and were in high fa- 
 vour, and shared in titles and ho- 
 nours. 
 
 16. The other Gaul.] Gallo Graecia, 
 or Galatia, another country of Asia 
 Minor : from hence came slaves, who, 
 like others, were exposed to sale with 
 naked feet. Or it may rather signify, 
 that these wretches (however after- 
 wards highly honoured) were so poor, 
 when they first came to Rome, that 
 they had not so much as a shoe to 
 their feet. 
 
 The poet means, that getting ho- 
 nest bread, in however mean a way, 
 was to be preferred to obtaining the 
 greatest affluence, as these fellows 
 did, by knavery. 
 
 — Brings over.] Traducit signifies 
 to bring, or convey, from one place 
 to another. It is used to denote 
 transplanting trees, or plants, in 
 gardens, &c. and is a very signifi- 
 cant word here, to denote the trans- 
 planting, as it were, of these vile 
 people from the east to Rome. 
 
 18. That joins, §c.] The perfec- 
 tion of heroic poetry, which seems 
 here intended, is the uniting grand 
 and lofty expression, eloquium vo- 
 cale, with tuneful measures, modis 
 canoris. 
 
 Vocalis signifies something loud- 
 making a noise. — therefore, when ap- 
 plied to poetry, lofty — high-sounding. 
 q. d. No writer, hereafter, who ex. 
 
SAT. VII. 
 
 JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 10S 
 
 To the stand ers by, a pot, tripods, book-cases, chests, 
 The Alcithoe of Paccius, the Thebes and Tereus of 
 
 Faustus. ^ 
 
 This is better than if you said before a judge, " I have 
 
 44 seen,'" 
 What you have not seen : tho'' the Asiatic knights 
 And the Cappadocians may do this, and the knights of 
 - Bithynia, 15 
 
 Whom the other Gaul brings over barefoot. 
 But nobody to undergo a toil unworthy his studies 
 Hereafter shall be compelled, whoe'er he be that joins, to 
 
 tuneful 
 Measures, melodious eloquence, and hath bitten the laurel. 
 Mind this, young men, the indulgence of the emperor 20 
 Has its eye upon, and encourages you, and seeks matter 
 
 for itself. 
 If you think protectors of your affairs are to be expected 
 From elsewhere, and therefore the parchment of your 
 
 saffron-colour'd tablet 
 Is filled, get some wood quickly, and what 524* 
 
 You compose, Teiesinus, give to the husband of Venus : 
 Or shut up, and bore thro' with the moth your books laid 
 
 by. 
 
 Cels in uniting loftiness of style with 
 harmony of verse, shall be driven, 
 through want, into employments 
 which are below the dignity of his 
 pursuits as a poet. Comp. 1. 3-6. 
 
 19. Bitten the laurel] Laurummo- 
 mordit. It was a notion, that, when 
 young poets were initiated into the 
 service of the Muses, it was a great 
 help to their genius to chew a piece of 
 laurel, in honour of Apollo. Some 
 think that the expression is figurative, 
 and means those who have tasted of 
 glory and honour by their composi- 
 tions ; but the first sense seems to 
 agree best with what follows. 
 
 20. Mind this.] Hoc agite — lit. do 
 this— i. e. diligently apply yourselves 
 to poetry. 
 
 — Of the emperor,] Ducis is here 
 applied to the emperor, as the great 
 patron and chief over the liberal arts. 
 
 21. Seeks matter for itself.] Care- 
 fully endeavours to find out its own 
 gratification by rewarding merit. 
 
 23. Therefore the parchment. $c] 
 
 They wrote on parchment, which 
 sometimes was dyed of a saffron-co- 
 lour ; sometimes it was white, and 
 wrapped up in coloured parchment. 
 The tabellae were the books themselves 
 — i. e. the pages on which their ma- 
 nuscripts were written. 
 
 If, says the poet, you take the 
 pains to write volumes full, in hopes 
 of finding any other than Caesar to re- 
 ward you, you had better prevent 
 your disappointment, by burning 
 them as fast as you can. Lignorum 
 aliquid posce ocyus — lose no time in 
 procuring wood for the purpose. 
 
 25. Teiesinus.] The poet to whom 
 this Satire is addressed. 
 
 — The husband of Venus.] Vulcan, 
 the fabled god of fire — here put for 
 the fire itself. He was the husband 
 of Venus. 
 
 q. <L Put all your writings into th« 
 fire. 
 
 26. Or shut up, and bore, <£c.] . 
 
 Lay by your books, and let the moths 
 eat them. 
 
104 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIR.E. 
 
 Frange miser calamos, vigilataque praelia dele, 
 Qui facis in parva sublimia carmina cella, 
 Ut dignus venias hederis, et imagine macr&. 
 Spes nulla ulterior : didicit jam dives avarus 
 Tantum admirari, tantum laudare disertos, 
 Ut pueri Junonis avem. Sed defluit a3tas, 
 Et pelagi patiens, et cassidis, atque ligonis. 
 Taedia tunc subeunt animos, tunc seque suamque 
 Terpsichoren odit facunda et nuda senectus. 
 Accipe nunc artes, ne quid tibi conferat iste, 
 Quern colis : Musarum et Apollinis aede relicta, 
 Ipse facit versus, atque uni cedit Homero, 
 Propter mille annos. At si dulcedine famae 
 Succensus recites, Maculonus commodat cedes ; 
 Ac longe ferrata domus servire jubetur, 
 In qua sollicitas imitatur janua portas. 
 Scit dare libertos extrema in parte sedentes 
 Ordinis, et magnas comitum disponere voces. 
 Nemo dabit regum, quanti subsellia constent, 
 
 30 
 
 35 
 
 40 
 
 4-5 
 
 27. Your watched battles.] Your 
 writings upon battles, the descriptions 
 of which have cost you many a watch- 
 ful, sleepless night. 
 
 28. A small celL] A wretched gar- 
 ret, as we say. 
 
 29. Worthy of ivy, £c.] That, af- 
 ter all the pains you have taken, you 
 may have an image, i. c. a represen- 
 tation of your lean and starved per- 
 son, with a little paltry ivy put round 
 the head of it, in the temple of 
 Apollo. 
 
 30. There is no farther hope.] You 
 can expect nothing better, nothing 
 beyond this. 
 
 32. As boys the bird of Juno.] As 
 children admire, and are delighted 
 with the beauty of a peacock, (see 
 Ainsw. tit. Argus,) which is of no 
 service to the bird ; so the patrons, 
 which you think of getting, however 
 rich and able to afford it they may be, 
 will yet give you nothing but compli- 
 ments on your performances; these 
 will do you no more service, than the 
 children's admiration does the pea- 
 cock. 
 
 32-33. Your age passes away.] You 
 little think that, while you are em- 
 ploying yourself to no purpose, as to 
 your present subsistence, or provision 
 
 for the future, by spending your time 
 in writing verses, your life is gliding 
 away, and old age is stealing upon 
 you ; your youth, which is able to 
 endure the toils and dangers of the 
 sea, the fatigues of wars, or the la- 
 bours of husbandry, i* decaying. 
 
 34. Then.] When you grow old. 
 — Weariness, c\-c] You'll be too 
 
 feeble, in body and mind, to endure 
 any labour, and become irksome even 
 to yourself. 
 
 35. Hates bath itself and its Terp- 
 sichore.] Your old age, however learn* 
 ed, clothed in rags, will curse itself, 
 and the Muse that has been your un- 
 doing. Terpsichore was one of the 
 nine Muses, who presided over danc- 
 ing and music ; she is fabled to have 
 invented the harp; here, by meton. 
 lyric poetry may be understood. 
 
 * 36. His. arts, $c.] The artifices 
 which your supposed patron will use, 
 to have a fair excuse for doing nothing 
 for you. 
 
 37; The temple, §c.] There was a 
 temple of the Muses at Rome, which 
 was built by Martius Phil ippus, where 
 poets used to recite their works. Au- 
 gustus built a library, and a temple 
 to Apollo, on Mount Palatine, where 
 the poets used also to recite their 
 
sat. vii. JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 105 
 
 Wretch, break your pens, and blot out your watched 
 
 battles, 
 Who makest sublime^verses in a small cell, 
 That you may become worthy of ivy, and a lean image. 
 There is no farther hope : a rich miser hath now learnt SO 
 As much to admire, as much to praise witty men, 
 As boys the bird of Juno. But your age, patient of the 
 
 sea, 
 And of the helmet, and of the spade, passes away. 
 Then weariness comes upon the spirits ; then, eloquent 34 
 And naked old age hates both itself and its Terpsichore. 
 Hear now his arts, lest he whom you court should give you 
 Any thing : both the temple of the Muses, and of Apollo, 
 
 being forsaken, 
 Himself makes verses, and yields to Homer alone, 
 Because a thousand years [before him.] But if, with the 
 
 desire of fame 39 
 
 Inflamed, you repeat your verses, Maculonus lends a house; 
 And the house strongly barr'd is commanded to serve you, 
 In which the door imitates anxious gates. 
 He knows how to place his freedmen, sitting in the extreme 
 
 part 
 Of the rows, and to dispose the loud voices of his attendants. 
 None of these great men will give as much as the benches 
 
 may cost, • 45 
 
 verses, and where they were deposit- exceedingly — very much — q. d-. If 
 ed. See Pers. prol. 1. 7. and HoR. you are thought to want money of 
 lib. i. epist. iii. 1. 17, ■ him for your verses, the doors of his 
 Among the tricks made use of by house will be barred against you, and 
 these rich patrons, to avoid giving resemble the gates of a city when be- 
 any thing to their poor clients, the sieged, and under the fear and anxiety 
 poets, they affected to make verses which the besiegers occasion ; but if 
 so well themselves, as not to stand in you profess only to write for fame, he 
 need of the poetry of others ; there- will open his house to you, it will be 
 fore they deserted the public recitals, at your service, that you may recite 
 and left the poor retainers on Apollo your verses within it, and will pro- 
 and the Muses to shift as they could. cure you hearers, of his own freed- 
 
 38. Yields to Homer alone.] In his men and dependents, whom he will 
 own conceit ; and this only upon ac- order to applaud you. 
 
 count of Homer's antiquity, not as 43. He knows hoxu to place, $c.] 
 
 thinking himself Homer's inferior in Dare, lit. to give q. d. He knows 
 
 any other respect. how to dispose his freedmen on the 
 
 39. If, tvith the desire of fame, farthest seats behind the rest of the 
 <^c] If you don't want to get money audience, that they may begin a clap, 
 by your verses, and only wish to re- which will be followed by those who 
 peat them for the sake of applause. are seated more forward. Ordo is a 
 
 40. Maculoaus, ijr.] Some rich rank or row of any thing, so of 
 man will lend you his house. benches or seats. 
 
 41. Strongly barr'd.] Longe — lit. 44. And to dispose, <£c] How to 
 
 P 
 
i#6 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Et quae conducto pendent anabathra tigillo, 
 
 Quaeque reportandis posita est orchestra cathedra. 
 
 Nos tamen hoc agimus, tenuique in pulvere sulcos 
 
 Ducimus, et Jittus sterili versamus aratro. 
 
 Nam si discedas, laqueo tenet ambitiosi 50 
 
 Consuetudo niali : tenet insanabile multos 
 
 Scribendi cacoethes, et aegro in corde senescit. 
 
 Sed vatem egregium, cui non sit publica vena, 
 
 Qui nihil expositum soleat deducere, nee qui 
 
 Communi feriat carmen triviale moneta : 55 
 
 Hiiiic, qualem nequeo monstrare, et sentio tantum, 
 
 Anxietate carens animus facit, omnis acerbi 
 
 Impatiens, cupidus sylvarum, aptusque bibendis 
 
 Fontibus Aonidum : neque enim cantare sub antro 
 
 Pierio, thyrsumve potest contingere sana 60 
 
 Pauper tas, atque seris inops, quo nocte cheque 
 
 Corpus eget. Satur est, cum dicit Horatius, Euhoe ! 
 
 Quit locus ingenio : nisi cum se carmine solo 
 
 dispose his clients and followers, so 
 as best to raise a roar of applause — 
 euge ! — bene ! — bravo ! as we say, 
 among your hearers. All this he will 
 do, for it costs him nothing. 
 
 46. Th4 stairs, Src.] These were for 
 the poet to ascend by into his ros- 
 trum, and were fastened to a little 
 beam, or piece of wood, which was 
 hired for the purpose. 
 
 47. The orchestra, #c] The or- 
 chestra at the Greek theatres was the 
 part where the churns danced — the 
 stage. Among the Romans it was the 
 space between the stage and the com- 
 mon seats, where the senators and 
 nobles sat to see plays acted. The 
 poor poet is here supposed to make up 
 such a place as this for the reception 
 of the better sort, should any attend 
 his recitals ; but this was made up of 
 hired chairs, by way of seats, but 
 which were to be returned as soon as 
 the business was over. 
 
 43. Yet zee still go on.~\ Hoc agi- 
 mus — lit. we do this — we still pursue 
 our poetical studies. Hcc agere is a 
 phrase signifying to mind, attend to, 
 what we are about. See Tfr. And. 
 act i. sc. ii. 1. 12. So before, 1. 20. hoc 
 agite, Juvenes. 
 
 — Draw furroxvs, §cJ\ We take 
 much pains to no purpose, like peo- 
 
 ple who should plough in the dust, or 
 on the sea-shore. Com p. sat. i. 143. 
 note. 
 
 50. Would leave off.] Discedas— if 
 you would depart from the occupation 
 of making verses. 
 
 — Custom of ambitious ciil.] Evil 
 ambition, which it is so customary for 
 poets to be led away with. 
 
 51. An incurable ill halit.~\ Caco- 
 ethes (from Gr. xax&r, had, and v)$0c y 
 a custom or habit) an evil habit. 
 Many are got into such an itch of 
 scribbling, that they cannot leave it 
 off*. Cacoethes also signifies a boil, 
 an ulcer, and the like. 
 
 52. Gro-u-s illiterate, <§c] It grows 
 old with the man, and roots itself, as 
 it were, by time, in his very frame. 
 
 53. No common vein.] Such talent? 
 as are not found among the generality. 
 
 54-. Nothing trifling.] Expositum 
 — common, trifling, obvions — nothing 
 in a common way. 
 
 55. Trivial verse, §c.] Trivialis 
 comes from trivium, a place where 
 three ways meet, a place of common 
 resort : therefore I conceive the mean- 
 ing of this line to be, that such a poet 
 as Juvenal is describing writes nothing 
 low or vulgar ; such verses as are 
 usually sought after, and purchased 
 by the common people in the street. 
 
SAT^ VIT. 
 
 JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 107 
 
 And the stairs which hang from the hired beam, 
 
 And the orchestra, which is set with chairs, which are to be 
 
 carried back. r~ 
 Yet we still go on, and draw furrows in the light 
 Dust, and turn up the shore with a barren plough. 
 For if you would leave off, custom of ambitious evil 50 
 Holds you in a snare : many an incurable ill habit of writing 
 Possesses, and grows inveterate in the distemper'd heart. 
 But the excellent poet, who has no common vein, 
 Who is wont to produce nothing trifling, nor who 
 Composes trivial verse in a common style, 55 
 
 Him (such a one I can't shew, and only conceive) 
 A mind free from anxiety makes ; of every thing dis- 
 pleasing 
 Impatient, desirous of woods, and disposed for drinking the 
 Fountains of the Muses ; for neither to sing in the 
 Pierian cave, or to handle the thyrsus, is poverty, 60 
 
 Sober, and void of money, (which night and day the body 
 
 wants,) 
 Able*#*Horace is satisfied, when he says — Euhoe ! 
 What place is there for genius, unless when with verse alone 
 
 The word feriat is here metaphorical, 
 Ferio literally signifies to strike, or 
 hit ; thus to coin or stamp money ; 
 hence to compose or make (hit off, as 
 we say) verses ; which, if done by a 
 good poet, may be said to be of no com- 
 mon stamp. Moneta is the stamp, 
 or impression, on money ; hence, by 
 meta. a style in writing. IT or. A. P. 59. 
 
 57. A mind, cjfc] i. e. Such a poet 
 is formed by a mind that is void of 
 care and anxiety. 
 
 58. Impatient.] That hates all trou - 
 ble, cannot bear vexation. 
 
 — Desirous of woods ] Of sylvan 
 retirement. Hor. Epis. ii. 2, 77. 
 
 50. Fountains of the Musss.] Called 
 Aonides, from their supposed habi- 
 tation in Aonia, which was the hilly 
 part of Bceotia, and where there were 
 many springs and fountains sacred to 
 the Muses. Of these fountains good 
 poets were, in a figurative sense, said 
 to drink, and by this to be assisted in 
 their compositions. 
 
 59-60. In the Pierian cave, $c.] 
 Pieria was a district cf Macedon, 
 where was a cave, or den, sacred to 
 the Muses. 
 
 <S0. Thyrsus.] A spear wrapt about 
 with ivy, which they carried about in 
 their hands at the wild feasts of Bac- 
 chus, in imitation of Bacchus, who 
 bore a thyrsus in his hand. The 
 meaning of this passage is, that, for a 
 poet to write well, he should be easy 
 in his situation, and in his circum- 
 stances : for those who are harrassed 
 with poverty and want cannot write 
 well, either in the more sober style 
 of poetry, or in the more enthusiastic 
 and flighty strains of composition. 
 By sana paupertas, the poet would 
 insinuate, that no poor poet that had 
 his senses would ever attempt it. 
 
 G2. Horace is satisfied, §c] It 
 might be objected, that Horace was 
 poor when he wrote, therefore Juve- 
 nal's rule will nothold,that a poor poet 
 cannot write well. To this Juvenal 
 would answer, " True, Horace was 
 44 poor, considered as to himself; but 
 44 then remember what a patron he 
 44 had in Mecaenas, and how he was 
 44 enabled by him to avoid the cares 
 44 cf poverty. When he wrote his 
 44 fine Ode to Bacchus, and uttered 
 '" his sprightly Evaa or Kulioe, lie, 
 
108 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRyE. 
 
 Vexant, et dominis Cirrhae, Nisseque feruntur 
 Pectora nostra, duas non admittentia curas ? 
 Magna? mentis opus, nee de lodiee paranda 
 Attonita?, currus et equos, faciesque Deorum 
 Aspicere, et qualis Kutulum confundit Erinnys. 
 Nam si Virgilio puer, et tolerabile desit 
 Hospitium, caderent ouines acrinibus hydn : 
 Surda nihil gerneret grave buccina. Poscimus ut sit 
 Non minor antiquo Kubrenus Lappa cothurno, 
 Cujus et alveolos et laenam pignerat Atreus ? 
 Non habet infelix Numitor, quod mittat amico ; 
 Quintillae quod donet, habet: nee defuit illi, 
 Undeemeret multa pascendum carne Jeonem 
 Jam domitum. Constat leviori beJlua sumptu 
 Nimirum, et capiunt plus iptestina pcetae. 
 Contentus fama jaceat Lucanus in hortis 
 Marmoreis ; at Serrano, tenuique Saleio 
 
 65 
 
 70 
 
 75 
 
 80 
 
 " doubtless, was -\v r ell sated with good 
 " cheer." See lib. ii. ode xix. 1. 
 
 5-8; 
 
 6k The lords of Cirrha and N'ucu] 
 Apollo and Bacchus, the tutelar gods 
 of poets. Cirrha was a town of 
 Phocis, near Delphos, where Apollo 
 had an oracle. 
 
 Nisa, a den in Arabia, where Bac- 
 chus was educated by the nymphs, 
 when sent thither by Mercury. From 
 hence Bacchus was called Dionysius, 
 ex Ato?, and Niea ; Gr. Aiovvaio.;, 
 
 65. Carried on.] i. c. Inspired, and 
 assisted. 
 
 66. Not of one, $c] q. d. It is the 
 work of a great and powerful mind, 
 above want, not of one that is dis- 
 tracted about getting a blanket for his 
 bed, to fix the eye of the imagination, 
 so as to conceive and describe horses 
 and chariots, and godlike appearances, 
 in such a manner as to do justice to 
 these sublime subjects of heroic verse. 
 See Virg. iEn, xii. 1. 32G, 7. 
 
 6$. And xvhat an Erinnys.'] How 
 Alecto looked when she astonished 
 the Rutuhan king Turnus, when she 
 filled him with terror, by throwing 
 her torch at him. JEn. vii. 1. 436, 7. 
 Erinnys is a name common to the 
 three furies of hell, of which Alecto 
 was one. 
 
 70. All the snakes rcould have fallen, 
 Qc] q. d, Had Virgil been poor, and 
 
 without his pleasures and conveni- 
 ences, he never would have been able 
 to describe, in the manner he has 
 done, the snaky tresses of Alecto. 
 See J3n. vii. 1. 450. All this had been 
 lost to us. 
 
 71. The silent trumpet.'] Surdus 
 not only means to express one who 
 does not hear, but that also which 
 gives no sound. See sat. xiii. 1. 194. 
 
 Juvenal alludes to Mb. vii. 1. 519, 
 20, 1. 
 
 72. Ruhrenus Lappa, c\c.] An in- 
 genious, but poor and miserable tragic 
 poet, who lived in Juvenal's time. 
 
 — Less than the ancient buxhin.] 
 Not inferior to the old writers of 
 tragedy. Cothurno, per metonym. 
 put here for the tragic poets, as it 
 often is for tragedy. 
 
 73. Atreus had laid in pawn."] It 
 has been observed by Ainsworth, 
 against Stephanus and other lexico- 
 graphers, that pignero does not mean 
 to take, or receive, a thing in pawn, 
 but to send it into pawn. In this 
 view we may understand Atreus to 
 be the name of some tragedy, on the 
 subject of Atreus, king of Mycenae, 
 which met with such bad success as 
 to oblige poor Rubrenus to pawn his 
 clothes and furniture. Stephanus and 
 others understand pignerat in the 
 sense of taking to pawn, and suppose 
 Atreus to be the name of the pawn- 
 
sat. vii. JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 109 
 
 Our minds trouble themselves, and by the lords of Cirrha 
 
 and Nisa 
 Are carried on, not Admitting two cares at once ? 65 
 
 It is the work of a great mind, not of one that is amazed 
 
 about 
 Getting a blanket, to behold chariots, and horses, and the 
 
 faces 
 Of the gods, and what an Erinnys confounded the Rutulian: 
 For if a boy, and a tolerable lodging had been wanting to 
 
 Virgil, 
 All the snakes would have fallen from her hairs : 70 
 
 The silent trumpet have groan'd nothing disastrous. Do 
 
 we require 
 That Rubrenus Lappa should not be less than the ancient 
 
 buskin, 
 Whose platters, and cloke, Atreushad laid in pawn ? 
 Unhappy Numitor has not what he can send to a friend ; 
 He has what he can give to Quintilla; nor was there 
 
 wanting to him 75 
 
 Wherewithal he might buy a lion, to be fed with much flesh, 
 Already tamed. The beast stands him in less expence, 
 Doubtless, and the intestines of a poet hold more. 
 Lucan, content with fame, may lie in gardens adorn'd with 
 Marble : but to Serranus, and to thin Saleius, 80 
 
 broker, to whom Rubrenus had rich poet of Corduba in Spain, who, 
 
 pawned his goods. coming to Rome, was made a knight. 
 
 The first sense seems to have the He wrote, but lived not to finish, the 
 
 best authority ; but with which ever civil wars between Caesar and Pom- 
 
 we may agree, the thought amounts pey, in an heroic poem, called Phar- 
 
 to the same thing in substance ; viz. salia. He was put to death by Nero. 
 
 Can it be expected that this poor poet See more, Ainsw. Lucanus. 
 
 should equal the fire and energy of — May lie in gardens, $c] Repose 
 
 the old tragic writers, while his clothes himself in ease and luxury, fame be- 
 
 and furniture were pawned, in order ing sufficient for one who wants no- 
 
 to supply him with present necessaries thing else. Marmoreis — adorned with 
 
 to keep him from starving ? A man fine buildings of marble, 
 
 in such distress, whatever his genius 80. Serranus, and to thin Saleius, 
 
 might be, could not exert it. <$t.] These were two poor poets in 
 
 74. Numitor.~\ The name Numitor Juvenal's time. Of the latter Taci- 
 
 may stand here for any rich man, tus says, " Who takes any notice of, 
 
 who would let a poet starve for " or even attends or speaks to our 
 
 want of that money which he lays " excellent poet Saleius ?" 
 
 out upon his mistress, or in buying These men may get fame by the 
 
 some useless curiosity, such as a tame excellence of their compositions ; but 
 
 lion. Infelix is here ironical. what signifies that, if they get no- 
 
 78. Doubtless; $c] Ironically said, thing else ? fame wont feed them. 
 No doubt it would cost more to main- Perhaps the poet calls Saleius te- 
 tain a poet than a lion. nuis, thin, from his meagre appear- 
 
 79. Jjucan, <£c] A learned and ance. 
 
110 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIILE. 
 
 ?AT. VII. 
 
 Gloria quantalibet, quid erit, si gloria tantum est ? 
 
 Curritur ad vocem jucundam, et carmen arnicas 
 
 Thebaidos, laetam fecit cum Statius urbem, 
 
 Promisifque diem : taut a dulcedine captos 
 
 Afncit ille animos, tantaque libidine vulgi 85 
 
 Auditur : sed cum fregit subsellia versu, 
 
 Esurit, intactam Paridi nisi vendat Agaven. 
 
 Ille et militias multis largitur honorem ; 
 
 Semestri vatum digitcs circumligat auro. 
 
 Quod non dant proceres, dabit histrio. Tu Camerinos 90 
 
 Et Bareas, tu nobilium magna atria curas? 
 
 Prsefectos Pelopea facit, Philomela tribunos. 
 
 Hand tamen invideas rati, quern pulpita pascunt. 
 
 Quis tibi Mecaenas? quis nunc erit aut Proculeius, 
 
 Aut Fabius? quis Cotta iterum ? quis Lentulus alter ? 95 
 
 82. They run.] Cun itur, here used 
 impersonally, like concurritur. Hor. 
 sat. i. 1. ?. 
 
 — The pleasing voice.'] i. c. Of Sta- 
 tius, when he reads over his Thebais 
 in public. 
 
 84 Promised a day.] i. e. Ap- 
 pointed a day for a public recital of 
 his poem on the Thcban w r. 
 
 86. Broken the. bene) , t \ .] By 
 the numbers of his hearers, who 
 flocked to attend him when he recited 
 his Thebais. Notwithstanding this 
 he oaust starve, for -e.ry tiling the no- 
 
 II do fot bias. 
 
 87. His untouched Agave.] His new 
 play called Jlgaie, which has never 
 been heard, or performed. This play 
 was formed upon the story of Agave, 
 the daughter of Cadmus, who was 
 married to Echion king of Thebes, 
 by whom she had Penthaeus, whom 
 she, and the rest of the Menades, in 
 their mad revels, tore limb from limb, 
 because he would drink no wine, and 
 for this was supposed to slight the 
 feasts of Bacchus. Ainsw. See Hok. 
 Sat. Jib. ii. sat. hi. 1. 303 ; and OvlD. 
 Met. iii. 725-8. 
 
 — Parts.] A stage-player, in high 
 favour with Domitian ; insomuch that 
 Domitian fell in Jove with him, and 
 repudiated his wife Domitia for his 
 sake. 
 
 What Juvenal says here, and in 
 the three following lines, in a seem- 
 ing complimentary way, was no more 
 
 than a sneer upon Paris the player, 
 and, through him, upon the empe- 
 ror, who so understood it, and turned 
 our author's jest into his punishment ; 
 for in his old age he sent him into 
 Egypt, by the way of an honorary 
 service, with a military command. 
 This shews that this Satire was writ- 
 ten in the time of Domitian, and he 
 is meant by Ceesare, I. 1. 
 
 However, it is very evident, that 
 Juvenal meant to rebuke the nobles 
 for their parsimony towards | 
 genius, by shewing how generous 
 Paris was to them, insomuch that 
 they ought to be ashamed to be out- 
 done by a stage-player. 
 
 89. Semesirian gold.] Semestris not 
 only means a space of six months, 
 (sex mensium), but the half or mid- 
 dle of a month. The moon is called 
 semestris, when she is arrived at the 
 middle of her month, and is quite 
 round in form. 
 
 The aurum semestre here morns 
 gold in a round form, i. c . a ring ; 
 such as was worn by knights, to which 
 dignity some poets had been raised, 
 through the interest of this stage- 
 player with the emperor. But qu — 
 If there be not here an allusion to the 
 winter and summer rings ? See sat. L 
 1. 27. 
 
 91. Camerini and Bancs, §c] — 
 Some rich nobles, whose levees the 
 poor poets might «attend in vain. 
 
 92. Pelopea makes prefects.] The 
 
SAT. VII. 
 
 JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 Ill 
 
 What will ever so much fame be, if it be only fame ? 
 They run to the pleasing voice, and poem of the favourite 
 Thebais, when Statius has made the city glad, 
 And has promised a day : with so great sweetness does he 
 
 affect 
 The captivated minds, and is heard with so much eager 
 
 desire - 85 
 
 Of the vulgar : but when he has broken the benches with 
 
 his verse, 
 He hungers, unless he should sell his untouched Agave to 
 
 Paris. 
 He also bestows military honour on many ; 
 He binds round the fingers of poets with Semestrian gold. 
 What nobles do not give, an actor will. Dost thou trouble 
 
 thine 90 
 
 Head about the Camerini and Barese, and the great court» 
 
 of nobles ? 
 Pelopea makes prefects, Philomela tribunes. 
 Yet envy not the poet whom the stage maintains. 
 Who is your Mecssnas ? who will now be either a Proculeiu>, 
 Or a Eabius ? who a second Cotta ? who another Lentulus ? 
 
 tragedy of Pelopea, the daughter of 
 Th'yestes, who was lain with by her 
 own father, and produced iEgysthus, 
 who killed Agamemnon and Atreus. 
 
 — -Philomela trihunes.~\ The tragedy 
 of Philomela, the dat?ghter of Pan- 
 dion king of Athens, ravished by Te- 
 reiis, who had married her sister 
 Progne. See more, Aixsw. tit. Phi- 
 lomela. 
 
 The poet seems here to insinuate, 
 that the performance of Paris, in these 
 tragedies, so charmed the emperor, 
 and gave the actor such an ascend- 
 ancy over him, as to enable Paris to 
 have the great offices of state at his 
 disposal, so that they were conferred 
 on whomsoever he pleased. 
 
 03. Envy not, $c] q. d. Though, 
 in some instances, great things have 
 been done for some individuals, thro' 
 the influence and interest of Paris, 
 yet, in general, those who have no- 
 thing else to depend on but writing 
 for the stage, are left to starve, and 
 therefore are hardly (baud) to be en- 
 vied. Pulpita — see sat. iii. 1. 163. 
 note. 
 
 94. Mcccenas.] Who is the rich 
 man that is such a patron to you, as 
 
 Mecsenas was to Horace ? who not 
 only enriched him, but made him his 
 friend and companion, and introduced 
 him to the favour of the emperor 
 Augustus. 
 
 — Prociileius.] A Roman knight, 
 intimate with Augustus. He was so 
 liberal to his two brothers, Scipio and 
 Murena, that he shared his whole 
 patrimony with them, v hen they had 
 been ruined by the civil wars. See . 
 Hok. lib. ii. ode ii. 1. 5-0. 
 
 95. Fullus.] The Fabius is, per- 
 haps, here meant, to Avhom Ovid 
 wrote four epistles in his banishment, 
 as to a noble and generous patron of 
 men of genius. Or it may relate to 
 Fabius Maximus, who sold his estate, 
 in order to redeem some Romans who 
 had been taken prisoners by Han- 
 nibal. 
 
 — Cotta.'] A great friend to Ovid, 
 who wrote to him three times from 
 Pontus, as to a constant patron. Ovid 
 says to him, 
 
 C unique h.lent alii, jactataque vela 
 r clinquant, 
 Tu laccrce remanes anchvra *& 
 rati: 
 
112 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Tunc par ingenio pretium : tunc utile rnultis 
 Pallere, et vinum toto nescire Decembri. 
 
 Vester porro labor foecundior, historiarum 
 Scriptores : petit hie plus temporis, atque olei plus : 
 Nanique oblita modi millesima pagina surgit 
 Omnibus, et crescit multa damnosa papyro. 
 Sic ingens rerum numerus jubet, atque operum lex. 
 Quae tamen inde seges? terras quis fructus apertae ? 
 Quis dabit historico, quantum daret acta legenti ? 
 Sed genus ignavum, quod lecto gaudet et umbra. 
 Die igitur, quid causidicis civilia pra?stent 
 Oflicia, et magno comites in fasce libelli ? 
 Ipsi magna sonant ; sed tunc cum creditor audit 
 Pra?eipue, vel si tetigit latus acrior illo, 
 Qui venit ad dubium grandi cum codice nomen : 
 Tunc immensa cavi spirant mendacia folles, 
 
 100 
 
 105 
 
 110 
 
 Grata tua est igitur p'utas. Ignos- 
 cimus UHs, 
 Qui, cum fortuna, tcrga dedire 
 jug*. 
 
 95. Lcntuhts.] A man of great libe- 
 rality, to whom Cic. epist. vii. lib. i. 
 ad famil. thus writes : Magna e*t ho- 
 minum opinio de te, magna commen- 
 datio liberalitatis. 
 
 96. Re-ward icas eq2ial, §c] When 
 there were such men as these to en- 
 courage genius, and to be the patrons 
 cf learning, then reward was equal 
 to merit. 
 
 97. To be pah:] With constant 
 study and application, which were 
 then sure to be profitable. Comp. 
 Hoe, epist. iii. 1. 10- Tees. sat. i. 124 
 
 — Tokno-x nothing of zcinc, &c] — 
 The feast of the Saturnalia was ob- 
 served in the month of December, 
 with great festivity and jollity, with 
 plenty of wine and good cheer : ail 
 this it was worth a poet's while to 
 give up entirely for his study ; and 
 rather than not finish what he was* 
 about, not taste so much as a single 
 drop of wine during the whole festi- 
 val, knowing that he was certain *:o 
 he well paid for his pains. 
 
 93. Your labour, §*c] He now 
 speaks of the writers of history, whose 
 labour and fatigue are beyond those 
 of other writers, and yet they are 
 equally neglected. 
 
 98-©. Is more abundant, tjrcJ) The 
 
 subject-matter more various and ex- 
 tensive. 
 
 99. Jforc oil) Alluding to the lamps 
 which they \ix.h\ to write by, in which 
 they consumed a great quantity of 
 oil. See sat. i. 1. 41. note. 
 
 100. Forgetful of measure.] The 
 subjects are so various, and the inci- 
 dents crowd in so fast upon the histo- 
 rian, that he passes all bounds, with* 
 out attending to the size of his work, 
 it rises to a thousand pages before you 
 are aware. 
 
 101. Ruinous wi# mu eh paper.] — 
 So much paper is used, as to ruin 
 the poor historian with the expence 
 of it. 
 
 102. The great nu??ibcr of il, ings.] 
 i. e. Which are treated. 
 
 — The law of such -u-orks.] The 
 rules of history, which oblige the 
 historian to be particular in his rela- 
 tion of facts, and, of course, diffuse. 
 
 103. What harvest.] What pro- 
 fit do you reap. 
 
 — The fa r-ca tended ground.] The 
 wide and boundless field of history. 
 Ccmp. Virq. Geor. iii. 194-5. and 
 Geor. h. 280. 
 
 Some think that this expression of 
 terra? apertse, taken in connection 
 with the seges, is, as that is, meta- 
 phorical, and alludes to the labour of 
 the husbandman, in opening the 
 ground by tillage, in order to prepare 
 it for the seed. So the historian 
 
sat. vii. JUVENAL'S SATIRES. US 
 
 Then reward was equal to genius: then 'twas useful to 
 many 96 
 
 To be pale, and to know nothing of wine for a whole De- 
 cember. 
 Moreover your labour, ye writers of histories, is more 
 Abundant: this demands more time, and more oil ; 
 For the thousandth page, forgetful of measure, arises 100 
 To ye all, and increases ruinous with much paper : 
 Thus the great number of things ordains, and the law of 
 
 (such) works. 
 What harvest is from thence ? what fruit of the far-ex- 
 tended ground ? 
 Who will give an historian as much as he would give to a 
 
 collector of the registers ? 
 But they are an idle race, which rejoices in a couch or a 
 shade. 105 
 
 Tell me then, what civil offices afford to the lawyers, 
 And the libels their attendants in a great bundle ? 
 They make a great noise, but especially then, when the 
 
 creditor 
 Hears, or if one, more keen than he, has touched his side, 
 Who comes with a great book to a doubtful debt : 110 
 
 Then his hollow bellows breathe out prodigious lies, 
 
 ploughs, and digs, and labours, as it 108. A great noise.'] Bawls aloud 
 
 were, in the field of history, in hopes — magna, adverbially, for magnopere. 
 
 of reaping profit thereby. Graecism. 
 
 104 A collector of ike registers.} — 10S-9. Especially — when the credi- 
 
 The acta were journals, registers, acts tor hears.] Creditor signifies one that 
 
 of the senate, or the like records, lends, or trusts ; a creditor. 
 
 The clerk, who wrote or collected The lawyer here spoken of must be 
 
 them, was called actuarius. He was supposed to be of council with the 
 
 a sort of historian in his way. plaintiff, or creditor, who makes a 
 
 105. They are an idle race, §c] — demand of money lent to another. If 
 But perhaps it may be said, that, the lawyer observes him to be within 
 
 though they write much, yet that hearing, he exerts himself the more, 
 they write at their ease ; that they, as 109. One more keen.] If another, 
 well as the poets, are a lazy set of fel- of a more eager disposition, and more 
 lows, who write lolling upon their earnest about the event of his cause, 
 couches, or repose themselves in shady who sues for a book-debt of a doubt- 
 places. Hence Hoa. lib. i. ode xxxii. I. ful nature, and brings his account- 
 Poscimus. Si quid vacui sub umbra books to prove it, thinks that the 
 Lusimus tecum. lawyer does not exert himself suffici- 
 Again : — Somno gaudentis et umlrd. ently in his cause, and intimates this 
 Epist. ii. lib. ii„ 1. 78. to the pleader, by a jog on the side 
 
 106. Civil offices, $c] What they with his elbow — then, &c. See Ainsw. 
 get by their pleading for their clients Codex, No. 2 ; and Nomen, No. 5. 
 in civil actions. 111. Hollow bellows.] i.e. His lung*. 
 
 107. The libels, $•<?.] Their bun- — Breathe out prodigious lies.'] In 
 dle3 of briefs which they carry with order to deceive the court, and to 
 them into court. make the best of a bad cause. 
 
114 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Conspuiturque sinus. Verum deprendere messem 
 Si libet ; bine centum patrimonia causidicorum, 
 Parte alia solum russati pone Lacertae. 
 Consedere duces: surgis tu pallidus Ajax, 
 Dicturus dubia pro liberate, Bubulco 
 Judice. Rumpe miser tensum jecur, ut tibi lasso 
 Figantur virides, scalarum gloria, palmae. 
 Quod vocis pretium ? siccus petasunculus, et vas 
 Pelamidum, aut veteres, Afrorum epimenia, bulbi ; 
 Aut vinum Tiberi devectum : quinque lagenae, 
 Si quater egisti. Si contigit aureus unus, 
 Inde cadunt partes, ex fcedere pragmaticorum. 
 iEmilio dabitur, quantum petet, et melius nos 
 
 llo 
 
 120 
 
 111. Is spit upon.] Is slavered all 
 over with his foaming at the mouth. 
 
 — If you would discover, §c] Were 
 it possible to compute the gains of 
 lawyers, you might put all they get 
 in one scale, and in the other those 
 of Domitian's coachman, and there 
 would be no comparison, the latter 
 would so far exceed. 
 
 As some understand by the russati 
 Lacertae, a charioteer belonging to 
 Domitian, who was clad in a red li- 
 ver v, and was a great favourite of that 
 emperor, so others understand some 
 Soldier to be meant, who, as the cus- 
 tom then was, wore a red or russet 
 apparel : in this view the meaning is, 
 that the profits of one hundred lawyers, 
 by pleading, do not amount in value 
 to the plunder gotten by one soldier. 
 So Mr. C. Drydex: 
 
 Ask what he gains by all this lying 
 
 prate, 
 A captains plunder trebles his 
 estate. 
 
 So Joh. Britannicus — Ilussati La- 
 cerlce. Lacerta, noinen militis, fic- 
 tum a poeta : nam miiites llomani usi 
 sunt in ppaelio vestibus russatis, &c. 
 
 115. The chiefs, fr.] Consedere 
 duces. The beginning of Ovid's ac- 
 count of the dispute, between Ufygsea 
 and Ajax, for the armour of Achilles. 
 Ovid, Met. lib. xiii. 1. i. here hu- 
 mourously introduced to describe the 
 sitting of the judges on the bench in 
 a court of justice. 
 
 — Thou risest a pale Ajax.] Allud- 
 ing to Ovid, lib. xiii. 1. 2. 
 
 Sit/git ad hos clypei dominus sep* 
 te n y >ti c i s Ajax — 
 
 by way of ridicule on the eager and 
 agitated lawyer, who is supposed to 
 arise with as much fury and zeal in 
 his client's cause, as Ajax did to as- 
 sert his pretensions to the armour in 
 dispute. 
 
 116. Doubtful freedom.'] The ques- 
 tion in the cause is supposed to be, 
 whether such or such a one is entitled 
 to the freedom of the city ; there were 
 many causes on this subject. 
 
 116-17. Bubulcus being judge.]—. 
 This may mean C. Atilius Bubulcus, 
 who was consul. Or, by Bubulcus, 
 the poet may mean some stupid, ig- 
 norant fellow, who was fitter to be an 
 herdsman, than to fill a seat of jus- 
 tice. And thus the poet might sati- 
 rize the advancement of persons to 
 judicial offices, who were totally un- 
 qualified and unfit for them. 
 
 117. Break your stretched liver.] — 
 Which, with the other contents in 
 the region of the diaphragm, must 
 be distended by the violent exertions 
 of the speaker : or it may mean the 
 liver distended by anger. So Horace 
 on another occasion, fervens difficili 
 bile tumet jecur. Hor. ode xiii. lib. 
 i. 1. 4. 
 
 118. Green palms, fyc] It was the 
 custom of the client, if he succeeded 
 in his cause, to fix such a garland at 
 the lawyer's door. 
 
 — The glory of your stairs.] By 
 which the poor lawyer ascended to his 
 miserable habitation. 
 
 119. Of your voice.] Of all your 
 bawling — What do you get by all the 
 noise which you have been making ? 
 
 120. Of sprats.] Pelamidum. It 
 
SAT. VTI. 
 
 JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 115 
 
 And his bosom is spit upon. But if you would discover 
 
 the 
 Profit, put the patrimony of an hundred lawyers on one 
 
 side, 
 And on the other that of the red-clad Lacerta only. 114 
 The chiefs are set down together, thou risest a pale Ajax, 
 In order to plead about doubtful freedom, Bubulcus 
 Being judge: break, wretch, your stretched liver, that, to 
 
 you fatigued, 
 Green palms may be fixed up, the glory of your stairs. 
 What is the reward of your voice ? a dry bit of salt bacon, 
 
 and a vessel 
 Of sprats, or old bulbous roots which come monthly from 
 
 Africa, 
 Or wine brought down the Tiber: five flagons, 121 
 
 If you have pleaded four times — If one piece of gold befalls, 
 From thence shares fall, according to the agreement of 
 
 pragmatics. 
 To iEmilius will be given as much as he will ask ; and we 
 
 have 
 
 is not very certain what these fish 
 were ; but some small and cheap fish 
 seem to be here meant. Ainsworth 
 says they were called pelamides, a 
 Gr. mhos, lutum — clay, or mud. 
 Most likely they were chiefly found 
 in mud, like our grigs in the Thames, 
 and were, like them, of little worth. 
 
 — Old bulbous roots, $c] Perhaps 
 onions are here meant, which might 
 be among the small presents sent 
 monthly from Africa to Rome. See 
 Ainsw. Epimenia. Plijt. xix. 5. 
 calls a kind of onion, epimenidium, 
 from Gr. t7r\,u.r,n$iQV. Ainsw. Epi* 
 viaicd'aim. Those sent to the lawyer 
 were veteres — old and stale. 
 
 121. Wine brought down the Ti- 
 ber.] Coming down the stream from 
 Veiento, or some other place where 
 bad wine was made. 
 
 — Five flagons.] Lagena. was a sort 
 of bottle in which wine was kept. 
 The five lagenae cannot be supposed 
 to make up any great quantity. Five 
 bottles of bad wine, for pleading four 
 causes, was poor pay. 
 
 122. A piece of gold, #c.] If it 
 should so happen, that you should 
 get a piece of gold for a fee. The 
 
 Roman aureus wa3 in value about 
 11. 4y, 3d. according to Fliny, lib. 
 xxxiii. c. 3. Set post, 1. 243. 
 
 12,3. Thence shares fall, $c] This 
 poor pittance must be divided into 
 shares, and fall equally to the lot of 
 others besides yourself. 
 
 k— According to the agreement, $c] 
 Ainsworth says, that the pragmatic! 
 were prompters, who sat behind the 
 lawyers while they were pleading, and 
 instructed them, telling them what 
 the law, and the meaning of the law, 
 was. For this, it may be supposed, 
 that the pragmatici agreed with the 
 lawyers, whom they thus served, to 
 share in the fees. We use the word 
 pragmatical, to denote busily med- 
 dling and intruding into others' con- 
 cerns ; hence foolishly talkative, im- 
 pertinent, saucy. Phillips. Gr. 
 
 7T£ayfAti7iH.a<; solers in negotiis 
 
 agendis. 
 
 124. To AHmWuts will be given , 
 $c.~\ We may suppose that this Mini* 
 lius was a rich lawyer, who, though 
 of inferior abilities to many poor 
 pleaders, yet got a vast deal of mo- 
 ney by the noble and splendid appear- 
 ance which he made. 
 
116 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Egimus : hujus enim stat currus aheneus, alti 125 
 
 Quadrijuges in vestibulis, atque ipse feroci 
 
 Bellatore sedens curvatum hastile minatur 
 
 Eminus, et statua meditatur praelia lusca. 
 
 Sic Pedo conturbat, Matho deficit : exitus hie est 
 
 Tongilli, magno cum rhinocerote lavari 130 
 
 Qui solet, et vexat lutulenta balnea turba, 
 
 Perque forum juvenes longo premit assere Medos, 
 
 Empturus pueros, argentum, myrrhina, villas : 
 
 Spondet enim Tyrio stlataria purpura filo. 
 
 Et tamen hoc ipsis est utile : purpura vendit 135 
 
 Causidicum, vendunt amethystina : convenit illis 
 
 Et strepitu, et facie majoris vivere census. 
 
 Sed finem impensae non servat prodiga Roma. 
 
 Ut redeant veteres, Ciceroni nemo ducentos 
 
 124-5. We have pleaded better.] — 
 Though there be some among us who 
 are abler lawyers. 
 
 12.5. A brazen chariot, <f-c] He 
 had a large brazen statue, a fine 
 bronze, as we should call it, of a 
 chariot, drawn by four horses, placed 
 in his vestibule, or entrance to his 
 house, which made a magnificent ap- 
 pearance. Quadrijugis signifies four 
 horses harnessed together, and draw- 
 ing in a chariot. 
 
 126-7. Himself— sitting, #c.] — 
 There was also an equestrian statue 
 of J3milius himself, mounted on a 
 war-horse, in the very action of bend- 
 ing back, his arm, as if ready to throw 
 a javelin. 
 
 128. A blinking statue.'] The sta- 
 tue represents iEmilius as meditating 
 some great stroke against an enemy, 
 and having one eye shut, in order to 
 take aim w ith the other. Or perhaps 
 iEmilius had but one eye, which the 
 statue represented. All these things, 
 which can add no real worth or abi- 
 lity to the owner of them, yet strike 
 the vulgar with high veneration for 
 iEmilius, and engage them to em- 
 ploy him in preference to others, in- 
 somuch that he may have what fees 
 he pleases. See 1. 124. 
 
 129. Thus Fedo breaks.] Contur- 
 bat — ruins himself, by wanting to ap- 
 pear rich, in order to draw clients. 
 
 — Jlatho fails.] Becomes bankrupt, 
 as it were, by the expence he puts 
 himself to on the same account. 
 
 130. Of Tongillus.] This was some 
 other lawyer, who ruined himself by 
 wanting to seem rich and consider- 
 able. 
 
 — With large rh inoceros.] The richer 
 sort used to go to the baths, with their 
 oil in a vessel made of the horn of a 
 rhinoceros, which was very expen- 
 sive. Tongillus did this in order to 
 be thought rich. So ivory is called 
 elephant. Geor. iii. 26. Meton. 
 
 131. With a dirty crowd.] Who 
 followed him through the dirty 
 streets, as his attendants, and there- 
 fore were themselves muddy and 
 dirty, and, of course, very offensive 
 to the gentry who resorted to the 
 public baths. 
 
 132. Presses the yonng Medes.) 
 He rides through the forum in a lit- 
 ter, set upon poles which rested on 
 the shoulders of the bearers, 
 
 — Young Modes.] The Roman» 
 were furnished with slaves from Me- 
 dia and Persia, who were very tall 
 and robust ; these were chiefly em- 
 ployed in carrying the lecticae, or lit- 
 ters, in which the richer people were 
 carried through the streets of Rome. 
 
 133. Going to buy, £c] Appear- 
 ing thus, as some great man who was 
 going to lay out money in various ar- 
 ticles of luxury. Pueros, here, means 
 young slaves. 
 
 134. His foreign purple.] His 
 dress was also very expensive, and 
 was such as the nobles wore. 
 
 — Promises for him.] i. s. Gains 
 
JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 117 
 
 Pleaded better: for a brazen chariot stands, and four 
 stately 125 
 
 Horses in his vestibules, and himself on a fierce 
 War-horse sitting, brandishes a bent spear 
 Aloft, and meditates battles with a blinking statue. 
 Thus Pedo breaks— Matho fails : this is the end 
 Of Tongillus, who to bathe with large rhinoceros 130 
 
 Is wont, and vexes the baths with a dirty crowd ; 
 And thro" the forum presses the young Medes with a long 
 
 pole, 
 Going to buy boys, silver, vessels of myrrh, and villas; 
 For his foreign purple with Tyrian thread promises for him. 
 And yet this is useful to them : purple sells 135 
 
 The lawyer, violet-colour'd robes sell him : it suits them 
 To live with the bustle and appearance of a greater income. 
 But prodigal Rome observes no bounds to expence. 
 Tho** the ancients should return, nobody would give Cicero 
 
 him credit. Spondeo properly sig- 
 nifies to undertake, to be surety for 
 another, and it is here used in a me- 
 taphorical sense ; as if the expensive 
 dress of Tongillus was a surety for 
 him as being rich, because by this he 
 appeared to be so. 
 
 —Foreign purple] Stlatarius, (from 
 stlata, a ship or boat) signifies out- 
 landish, foreign, as imported by sea 
 from a foreign country. 
 
 — Tyrian thread.] The thread, of 
 which the garment of Tongillus was 
 made, was dyed in the liquor of the 
 murex, a shell-fish, of which came 
 the finest purple dye, and the best of 
 which were found near Tyre ; there- 
 fore we often read of the Tyrian pur- 
 ple. See Mn. iv. 262. Hok. epod. 
 xii. 1. 21. 
 
 135. This is useful, §c] All this 
 parade of appearance is a means of re- 
 commending the lawyers to observa- 
 tion, and sometimes to employment, 
 therefore may be said to have its use 
 where it succeeds. 
 
 135-6. Purple sells the lawyer.] — 
 His fine appearance is often the cause 
 of his getting employment, in which, 
 for the price of his fee, he may be 
 said to sell himself to his client. 
 
 i36. Violet-coloured robes.] Ame- 
 thystina. The amethyst is a precious 
 stone of a violet-colour* This colour 
 
 also the gentry among the Romans 
 were fond of wearing ; and this, there- 
 fore, also recommended the lawyers 
 to observation, and sometimes to em- 
 ployment. 
 
 137. With the bustle, §c.] They 
 found it suitable to their views of re- 
 commending themselves, to live above 
 their fortunes, and, of course, to be 
 surrounded with numbers of attend- 
 ants, &c. and, from this, and the 
 appearance of their dress, to seem 
 richer than they were : this, as the 
 next line imports, because nobody 
 was looked upon that was not sup- 
 posed able to afford to be extravagant; 
 such was the monstrous prodigality 
 of the times, that the expences of 
 people were boundless. 
 
 139. Nobody rvould give Cicero, 
 tjfc] Such is the importance of fashi- 
 onable and expensive appearance, that 
 even Tully himself, (if he could re- 
 turn from the dead,) though the 
 greatest orator that Rome ever saw, 
 as well as the ablest advocate, nobody 
 would give him a fee, though ever 
 so small, unless he appeared with a 
 ring of great value glittering upon 
 his finger, ducentos nummos. The 
 nummus argenti was a sesterce, the 
 fourth part of a denarius, but seven 
 farthings of our money. 
 
118 
 
 JTJVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Nunc dederit numtnos, nisi fulserit annulus ingens. 140 
 
 Respicit hoc primum qui litigat, an tibi servi 
 
 Octo, decern comites, an post te sella, togati 
 
 Ante pedes. Ideo conducta Paulus agebat 
 
 Sardonyche, atque ideo pluris, quam Cossus agebat, 
 
 Quam Basil us. Rara in tenui facundia panno. 
 
 Quando licet flentem Basilo producere matrem ? 
 
 Quis bene dicentem Basilum ferat ? accipiat te 
 
 Gallia, vel potius nutricula causidicorum 
 
 Africa, si placuit mercedem imponere linguae. 
 
 Declamare doces ? 6 ferrea pectora Vecti ! 
 
 Cum perimit saevos classis nunierosa tyrannos ; 
 
 Nam qusecunque sedens modo legerat, haec eadem stans 
 
 Proferet, atque eadem cantabit versibus isdem. 
 
 145 
 
 150 
 
 141. He that litigates, Sec] He 
 that wants to employ counsel, instead 
 of first inquiring into the abilities of 
 the man whom he employs, asks 
 how many servants he keeps, and in 
 what style he lives. 
 
 111-2. Eight servants.] i. e. Slaves 
 to carry your litter. The litters were 
 more or less respectable, as to their 
 appearance, from the number of bear- 
 ers which carried them ; some had 
 six. See sat. i. 1. 51, and note 2. 
 These were called hexaphori, from 
 Gr. e|, six, and p*§w, to bear. 
 
 Lax'tor hcxaphoris tua sit lectica 
 liccbit. Mart. lib. ii. ep. 81. 
 
 Quum till non csscnt sex millia, 
 CccciUanc, 
 
 Ingenti late vectus es hexaphoro. 
 
 Mart. lib. iv. ep. 50. 
 
 Tranquillus writes, that Caligula 
 was carried on a litter borne by eight 
 
 octophoro. This piece of state 
 
 might afterwards be affected by those 
 who wished to make a great and 
 splendid appearance. 
 
 142. Ten attendants-.'] Comites, 
 attendants upon him. It was the 
 custom, says Grangius, not only for 
 pi-inces, but for others, who were car- 
 ried in litters, to have a number of 
 people attending them, who were 
 called comites. 
 
 Whether a chair, §c.] Whether, 
 
 though you may walk on foot, you 
 have a litter carried after you, that 
 you may get into when you please. 
 
 Gownsmen, $e.] Poor clients, 
 
 called togati, from the gowns which 
 
 they wore. See sat. i. 1. 3, and note; 
 and sat. iii. 1. 117, note. Numbers 
 of these were seen walking before the 
 great, on whom they were dependent. 
 — Therefore Fan Ins, <$r.] Some 
 poor lawyer, who, though he could 
 not afford to buy a ring set with a 
 sardonyx, yet hired one to make his 
 appearance with at the bar ; and by 
 this means got greater fees than those 
 who appeared without some such or- 
 nament. 
 
 145. Cossus or Basilus.] Two poor, 
 but, probably, learned lawyers of the 
 time. 
 
 — Eloquence is rare, <£c] Nobody 
 will give a man credit for being elo- 
 quent, if he appears in rags, at least 
 very rarely. 
 
 146. When can Basilus produce, 
 §*.] When will Basilus, or any man 
 with a mean appearance, be employed 
 in a cause of great consequence, as 
 Cicero for Fonteius, where a mother 
 was produced in court, weeping and 
 supplicating for the life of her son. 
 
 147. Who -will bear Basilus, Sec] 
 i. e. Let a lawyer be ever so able, or 
 speak ever so well, nobody will pay 
 him the least attention, if his appear- 
 ance be poor and shabby. 
 
 — Let Gallia, <Src.] France and 
 Africa were remarkable, at that time, 
 for encouraging eloquence, and had 
 great lawyers who got large fees. See 
 Mr. C. Dryden's note. 
 
 Comp. sat. xv. I. 111. Ainsw. ex- 
 plains nutricula, a breeder, a bringer* 
 up. 
 
SAT. VJI. 
 
 JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 119 
 
 Now-a-days two hundred sesterces, unless a great ring 
 
 shone. 140 
 
 He that litigates regards this first, whether you have eight 
 Servants, ten attendants, whether a chair is after you, 
 Gownsmen before your steps. Therefore Paulus pleaded 
 
 with an hired 
 Sardonyx, and therefore pleaded at an higher fee than 
 Cossus or than Basilus. Eloquence is rare in a mean 
 
 clothing. 
 When can Basilus produce a weeping mother ? 145 
 
 Who will bear Basilus (tho 1 ) speaking well ? let Gallia 
 Receive you, or rather, that nurse of lawyers, 
 Africa, if it has pleased you to set a reward upon your 
 
 tongue. 
 Do you teach to declaim ? O the iron heart of Vectius ! 
 When a numerous class hath destroy 'd cruel tyrants: 151 
 For whatever, sitting it has just read, these same things 
 
 standing, 
 It will utter, and rehearse the same, over and over, in the 
 
 same verses. 
 
 149. If it has pleased you, <|-c."| i. e. 
 If you make a point of getting money 
 by your eloquence at the bar. 
 
 150. Do you teach, Qc] Having 
 shewn how badly the lawyers were 
 off, in this dearth of encouragement 
 given to liberal sciences, and of re- 
 warding real merit and abilities, he 
 now proceeds to shew, that the teach- 
 ers of rhetoric, who opened schools 
 for the laborious employment of in- 
 structing youth in the knowledge and 
 art of declamation, were, if possible, 
 still worse off. 
 
 — O the iron heart, <%c.] q. d. O the 
 patience of Vectius ! One would think 
 that his mind was insensible of fa- 
 tigue, quite steeled, as it were, against 
 the assaults of impatience or weari- 
 ness. See sat. i. 1. 31. 
 
 — Vectius.] The name of some 
 teacher of rhetoric, or perhaps put 
 here for any person of that pro- 
 fession. 
 
 i51. When a numerous class, $c] 
 Classis here signifies a number of boys 
 in the same form, or class, every one 
 of which was to repeat over a long 
 declamation to the master, on some 
 particular subject which was given 
 put to them as a thesis. 
 
 —.Destroyed cruel tyrants.] Al- 
 luding to the subject of the declama- 
 tion, as, " Whether tyrants should 
 " not be destroyed by their subjects ?'* 
 The declaimers are supposed to hold 
 the affirmative. Comp. sat. i. 15-17, 
 and note on 1. 15. 
 
 Some refer this to Dionysius, the 
 tyrant of Sicily, who, after he was 
 deposed, went to Corinth and set up 
 a school, where Juvenal humourously 
 supposes him to be killed by the fa- 
 tigue of his employment ; but the 
 first sense, which is given above, 
 seems to be the most natural. 
 
 152. For whatever, sitting, $r.] It 
 is probable, that the rhetoricians first 
 taught their scholars the manner of 
 pronounciation and utterance, which 
 they might do, when their scholars 
 read over their declamations sitting ; 
 but when they instructed them in 
 gesture and action, then they were 
 made to stand up, still repeating the 
 same things over and over again, and 
 the master exerting himself, to shew 
 them the best method of speaking and 
 action. 
 
 153. Rehearse over, §c] Canto — 
 lit. signifies to sing or chant. Per- 
 haps the ancients, in their declama'. 
 
120 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Occidit miseros crambe repetita magistros. 
 
 Quis color, et quod sit causae genus, atque ubi summa 155 
 
 Quaestio, quae veniant diversa parte sagittae, 
 
 Scire volunt omnes, mercedem solvere nemo. 
 
 Mercedem appellas ? quid enira scio ? culpa docentis 
 
 Scilicet arguitur, quod laeva in parte mamillae 
 
 Nil salit Arcadico juveni, cujus mihi sexta 
 
 Quaque die miserum dirus caput Hannibal implet. 
 
 Quicquid id est, de quo deliberat ; an petat urbem 
 
 A Cannis ; an post nimbos et fulmina cautus 
 
 Circumagat madidas a tempestate cohortes. 
 
 Quantum vis stipulare, et protinus accipe quod do, 
 
 Ut toties ilium pater audiat. Ast alii sex 
 
 £t plures uno conclamant ore sophistse, 
 
 160 
 
 165 
 
 tion, used a kind of singing, or chant- 
 ing, to mark the cadences of their 
 periods. Canto also signifies to re- 
 peat the same thing over and over 
 again, in the same letters and sylla- 
 bles ; nothing more than this seems 
 to be meant here. Versus, as well as 
 a verse, signifies a line, even in prose. 
 Aixsw. Versus, No. 5. 
 
 154. The cabbage, §c] Crambe — 
 a kind of colewort, or cabbage. The 
 joet means (in allusion to the Greek 
 saying, Aif x^a^v Savxrot;) that 
 the hearing the same things for ever 
 (like cabbage warmed up, and served 
 at table many times to the same per- 
 sons) must be nauseous and surfeit- 
 ing, enough to tire and weary the mas- 
 ters to death. 
 
 Others read Cambre, a town near 
 mount Gaurus, in Campania, where a 
 battle had been fought between the 
 Campanians and the people of Cumae. 
 This had been made the subject of a 
 declamation, which the scholars re- 
 peated so often in the schools, for 
 their exercises, as to tire their masters 
 almost to death. 
 
 155. What the colour.] That which 
 the ancients called the colour, was 
 that part of the declamation which 
 was introduced by way of cause, or 
 reason, for the thing supposed to be 
 done, and by way of plea or excuse 
 for the action. As Orestes, when he 
 confessed killing his mother, " I did 
 " it," says he, " because she killed 
 44 my father." 
 
 — IThat the kind of cause.} Deli- 
 berative, demonstrative, or judicial 
 — or whether defensible or not. 
 
 156. The chief question.'] That on 
 which the whole cause must turn. 
 
 — What arrows, $c] What argu- 
 ments may come from the other side. 
 Metaph. from shooting arrows at a 
 mark. 
 
 157. All would know, §c] Every 
 body is willing enough to be taught 
 these things, but very few choose to 
 pay the master for his pains in teach- 
 ing them. 
 
 158. Do you call for your reward ?] 
 i. c. What do you mean by asking for 
 payment ? (says the scholar.) What 
 do I know more than before ? This 
 is supposed to be the language of the 
 scholar, when the master demands 
 payment for his trouble. The dull 
 and inapprehensive scholar, who gets 
 no benefit from the pains of the mas- 
 ter, lays his ignorance upon the mas- 
 ter, and not upon his own inattention 
 or stupidity ; and therefore is suppos- 
 ed to blame the master, and to think 
 that he deserves nothing for all the 
 pains he has taken. 
 
 159. In the left part of the breast, 
 A;c] The heart is supposed to be in 
 the left part of the breast, and to be 
 the seat of understanding and wis- 
 dom ; in both which the youth here 
 spoken of seems to be as deficient, as 
 if his heart were almost without mo- 
 tion, without that lively palpitation 
 which is found in others. Lit. no- 
 
SAT. VII. 
 
 JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 121 
 
 The cabbage repeated kills the miserable masters. 154 
 
 What the colour, and what the kind of cause, and where 
 
 The chief question, what arrows may come from the con- 
 trary party. 
 
 All would know, nobody pay the reward. 
 
 Do you call for your reward ? — what, forsooth, do I know ? 
 The fault of the teacher 
 
 You may be sure is blamed, because in the left part of the 
 breast 
 
 The Arcadian youth has nothing that leaps, whose dire 
 Hannibal, 160 
 
 Every sixth day, fills my miserable head : 
 
 Whatever it be concerning which he deliberates, whether 
 he should go to the city 
 
 From Cannae, or after showers and thunder cautious, 
 
 He should wheel about his troops wet with the tempest. 
 
 Bargain for as much as you please, and immediately take 
 what I give, 165 
 
 That his father should hear him as often. But six other 
 
 Sophists, and more, cry together with one mouth, 
 
 thing leaps to the Arcadian youth in 
 the left part of the breast. 
 
 160. Arcadian youth.'] Arcadia was 
 famous for its breed of asses, to 
 which, by the appellation Arcadico, 
 this young man is compared, whose 
 dulness had prevented his profiting 
 under the pains which his master took 
 with him. See Pers. sat. iii. 1. 9. 
 
 — Whose dire Hannibal, %c.] No 
 theme was more common, in the Ro- 
 man schools, than the adventures of 
 Hannibal. Every week, says the 
 master, does the story of Hannibal 
 torment my poor head upon a de- 
 claiming day. 
 
 162. Go 1o the citi/.] March directly 
 to Rome, after the battle of Cannae. 
 
 161. Wheel about his troops wet, 
 ( yt\] Hannibal, when within about 
 three miles from Rome, was assault- 
 ed by a dreadful tempest. Maherbal, 
 his general of horse, persuaded him 
 to go on, and promised him that he 
 should, that night, sup in the capitoi ; 
 but Hannibal deliberated, whether he 
 should not lead his troops back into 
 Apulia, as they were so assaulted and 
 dismayed by the violence of the 
 tempest. 
 
 These circumstances are supposed 
 to be the constant subjects of decla- 
 mations in the schools. 
 
 165. Bargain for, $c.] Ask what 
 you please, I will give it you, if you 
 can get this stupid boy's father to 
 hear him as often as I do : then I 
 think he would be persuaded of his 
 son's dulness, and think also that I 
 deserve to be handsomely paid for 
 what I have gone through in hearing 
 him. See Aixsw. Stipulor. 
 
 166-7. Six other sophists, <|-c.]— 
 Sophista? meant at first learned men 
 (from Gr. Jo$o;, wise) ; afterwards 
 it meant pretenders to learning, prat- 
 ing cavillers. It also signifies orators : 
 in this last sense it seems used here, 
 where the poet means to say, that 
 many cf these teachers of rhetoric 
 had left the schools, where fictitious 
 matters only were declaimed upon, 
 for the bar, where real causes were 
 agitated. 
 
 167. Cr>/ together •with one mouth.'] 
 i. c. All agree with one consent to 
 take this step, vis. to have done with 
 teaching school, and to go to the 
 bar. 
 
 11 
 
122 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Et veras agitant lites, raptore relicto : 
 
 Fusa venena silent, malus ingratusque maritus, 
 
 Et quae jam veteres sanant mortaria caecos. 170 
 
 Ergo sibi dabit ipse rudem, si nostra movebunt 
 
 Consilia, et vitae diversum iter ingredietur, 
 
 Ad pugnam qui rhetorica descendit ab umbra, 
 
 Summula ne pereat, qua vilis tessera venit 
 
 Frumenti : quippe haec merces lautissima. Tenta 175 
 
 Chrysogonus quanti doceat, vel Pollio quanti 
 
 Lautorum pueros, artem scindens Theodori. 
 
 Balnea sexcentis, et pluris porticus, in qua 
 
 Gestetur dominus quoties pluit : anne serenum 
 
 Exspcctet, spargatve luto jumenta recenti? 180 
 
 Hie potius : namque hie mundae nitet ungula mulae. 
 
 Parte alia longis Numidarum fulta columnis 
 Surgat, et algentem rapiat coenatio solem. 
 Quanticunque domus, veniet qui fercula docte 
 
 168. The ravishcr leing left.] i. e. 
 Leaving the fictitious subjects of de- 
 clamation, such as some supposed ra- 
 visher, or perhaps the rape of Helen, 
 Proserpine, 6ec. 
 
 169. The mixed poisons arc silent. ~\ 
 Nothing more is said about the poi- 
 sons of Medea. Fusa — poured and 
 mixed together* 
 
 — Ungrateful hnshand.] Jason, who 
 having married Medea, left her, and 
 married another. 
 
 170. What medicines noxc heal, Src] 
 Mortaria — mortars. Per met. medi- 
 cines brayed in a mortar. What me- 
 diclnes recovered old Mean to his 
 youth and sight again. Ov. Met. lib. 
 Vii. 1. 2b7_93. 
 
 Grangius thinks that this alludes 
 to the story of a son, who made up 
 some medicines to cure his father's 
 eyes, and who was accused by his 
 mother-in-law of having mixed up 
 poison, .which the father believing, 
 jriied him. So Farnaby. 
 
 171. Therefore.} Ergo — 3. d. As 
 the profession of teaching school is so 
 miserable, and without profit, I would 
 therefore advise those who have left 
 the shadowy declamation of the school 
 for the real contention of the bar, to 
 follow a new course of life, and never 
 think of returning to teaching rhe- 
 toric again, lest they should have no- 
 
 thing left to buy bread with ; thL' 
 seems to be the sense of the passage. 
 
 — Discharge himself.} Sibi dabit 
 ipse rudem — literally, he Mill give 
 himself the wand. 
 
 The rudis Mas a rod, or wand, 
 given to sword-playcrs, in token of 
 a discharge, or release, from that ex- 
 ercise. Hence the phrase, dare ru- 
 dem, to give a discharge, to dismiss. 
 
 See Hor. cp. i. 1. 2. donatum jam 
 rude — dismissed. Francis. 
 
 He Mill discharge himself from 
 keeping school. 
 
 173. The rhetorical shadow.] From 
 the poor empty declamations in the 
 schools, which at best are but a sha- 
 dow of reality, and are but shadows 
 in point of profit. 
 
 — Real engagement.] To engage in 
 pleading "causes at the bar, which have 
 reality for their subject, and which, 
 he hopes, will produce real profit. 
 Descendit ad pugnam — a military 
 phrase. 
 
 174—5. A vile wheat-ticket.] In any 
 dole made by the emperor, or by one 
 of the city magistrates for distribut- 
 ing corn, the poor citizens had each 
 a tally, or ticket, given them, which 
 they first shewed, and then received 
 their proportion, according to the 
 money they brought to buy wheat 
 from the public magazines, at a lov\ or 
 
JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 123 
 
 And agitate real causes, the ravisher being left : 
 
 The mixed poisons axe silent, the bad and ungrateful 
 
 husband, 
 And what medicines now heal old blind men. 170 
 
 Therefore he will discharge himself, if my counsels will 
 Move ; and he will enter upon a different walk in life, 
 Who has descended from the rhetorical shadow to real en- 
 gagement, 
 Lest the small sum should perish, from which cometh a vile 
 Wheat-ticket : for this is a most splendid reward. Try 175 
 For how much Chrysogonus teaches, or Pollio the children 
 Of the quality, dividing the art of Theodorus. 
 Baths are at six hundred sestertia, and a portico at more, 
 
 in which 
 The lord is carried when it rains : can he wait for 
 Fair weather, or dash his cattle with fresh mud ? 180 
 
 Here rather, for here the hoof of the clean mule shines. 
 In another part, propped with tall Numidiari pillars, 
 A supper-room arises, and will snatch the cool sun. 
 Whatever the house cost, one will come who composes 
 skilfully 
 
 than the market price. This tally, 
 or ticket, was called tessera, it being 
 four-square : it was made of a piece 
 of wood, or of lead — hence Juvenal 
 calls it vilis. 
 
 • 175. A most splendid reward.] — 
 Though they should get only a wheat- 
 ticket for a fee, yet this is noble, in 
 comparison of what they get by teach- 
 ing rhetoric. 
 
 176. Chrysogonus — Polho.] Rhe- 
 toric-masters, who read to their pu- 
 pils the works of Theodorus Gadareus, 
 an excellent orator, born at Gadara, a 
 city of Syria, not far from Ascalon. 
 
 177. The quality.] The nobility, 
 the rich fathers of the poor rhetorici- 
 cian's pupils. 
 
 — Dividing.} Scindens — dividing, 
 taking to pieces, and thus opening 
 ansVexplaining the several parts. 
 
 — Baths are at six hundred ses- 
 tertia.] Which they built for them- 
 selves, and maintained at a great ex- 
 pence. See sat. i. I. 92. note. 
 
 — A portico at more.] They were 
 still more expensive in their porticos, 
 cr covered ways, where they used to 
 ride in rainy or dirty weather. 
 
 179. Can he wait, 7 §c.] Should 
 
 these great people be forced to stay at 
 home till fine weather came, or else 
 go out and splash themselves, and 
 their fine horses with dirt ? 
 
 181. Here rather, <£c] To be sure 
 he will use the portico, where not only 
 he, but his very mules, are protected 
 from having their feet soiled. 
 
 182. Tall Numidian pillars.] The 
 room raised high on pillars of marble 
 from Numidia, which was very ele-> 
 gant and expensive. 
 
 183. A supper -room.] A dining- 
 room we should call it ; but ccenatio, 
 among the Romans, signified a room 
 to sup in, for their entertainments 
 were always at supper. 
 
 — Snatch the cool sun.] The win- 
 dows so contrived as to catch the sun 
 in winter- time. The Romans were 
 very curious in their contrivances of 
 this sort. They had rooms toward 
 the north-east, to avoid the summer 
 sun ; and toward the south-west, to 
 receive the sun in winter. 
 
 184. Whatever the house cost.]—. . 
 They little regarded the e*f ence tliey 
 were at in building. 
 
 — One will come, $c] They will be 
 sure to have their tables sumptuously 
 
124 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Componit, veriict qui pulmentaria condit. 185 
 
 Hos inter sumptu, sestertia Quintiliano, 
 
 Ui multumj duo sufficient; res nulla minoris 
 
 Oonstabit patri, quum filius. Unde igitur tot 
 
 QuintmamK habet saltus ? exempla novorum 
 
 Fatorum Iran si : felix et pulcher et acer, 190 
 
 Felix el sapiens et nobilis et generosus, 
 
 Appositam nigra? lunam subtexit alutae : 
 
 Felix, orator quoque maximus, et jaculator, 
 
 Et si prefri\it. cantat bene. Distat enim, qua? 
 
 Sidera te excipiant, modo primps incipientem 195 
 
 Edere vagitus, et adhuc a matre l ubentcni. 
 
 Si Fortuna volet, fies de rhetorc consul. 
 
 Si volet ha?c eadem, flcs de consule rhetor. 
 
 Ventidius quid enim ? quid Tullius? anne aliud quam 
 
 Sidus, et occulti miranda potentia fati ? 200 
 
 Servis regna dabunt, captivis fata triumpho». 
 
 Felix ille tamen, corvo quoque rarior albo. 
 
 Poenituit multos vanae sterilisque cathedra 1 , 
 
 Sicut Thrasvmachi probat exitus, atque Secundi 
 
 Carrinatis ; et hunc inopem vidistis, Athena?, 203 
 
 furnished by cook?, confectioners, &c. 
 Pulmentaria seems used here for vic- 
 tuals in general. Ainsw. 
 
 186. Amidst thesj exjjcuccs, <£t.']— 
 Which they squander away in build- 
 ings, eating, and drinking, they 
 think two poor sestertia (about l.V.) 
 enough to pay Quintilian (the great 
 rhetoi ician) for teaching their children. 
 
 187-8. Will cost a father lcs.% ,$•<■.] 
 They laid out their money with cheer- 
 fulness on their gluttony, &.c. but 
 grudged ever so little expence for the 
 education of their children : therefore 
 nothing costs them so little. 
 
 18S-9. Hath Quintilian, £c] If 
 these things be so, how comes Quin- 
 tilian to have so large an estate, and to 
 be the owner of such a tract of country ? 
 
 189. Examples of new fairs, £c] 
 There is nothing to be said of men, 
 whose fortunes are so new and lin- 
 gular as this : they must not be men- 
 tioned as examples for others. As if 
 he had said, Who but Quintilian ever 
 grew rich by the cultivation of the 
 liberal arts ? It is qujte a novelty. 
 The Romans called an unusual good 
 fortune, nova fata. 
 
 190. The fortunate is handsome, 
 tjv.] In these lines the poet is saying» 
 that, " luck is all ;" let a man be but 
 fortunate, and he will be reckoned 
 every thing else. 
 
 — Witty.] Acer — sharp, as we say 
 — acer ingenio. 
 
 192. The moon, $c] The hundred 
 patricians, first established by Romu- 
 lus, were distinguished by the nume- 
 ral letter C fixed on their shoes, 
 which, from its resemblance to an 
 half moon, was called luna. This 
 was continued down to later times, as 
 a mark of distinction among the pa- 
 tricians : they wore a sort of buskin 
 made of black leather. Hor. lib. i. 
 sat. vi. 27. By this line the poet 
 means to say, that the fortunate may 
 become senators and nobles. Aluta — 
 lit. tanned leather: by meton. any- 
 thing made thereof; hence a leather 
 shoe, or buskin. Mart. xii. 26. 9. 
 
 193. A dart-throve >:] This Is the 
 literal sense of jaculator : but we mu >t 
 here suppose it to mean, one skilful in 
 throwing out, or darting, arguments— 
 i. e. a great disputant — 1. 156. 
 
 194. Tlicrc is a difference, #c] — 
 
sat. vii. JUVENAKS SATIRES. 126 
 
 Dishes of meat, and one who seasons soups. 185 
 
 Amidst these expences, two sestertiums, as a great deal, 
 Will suffice for a Qumtilian, No thing will cost a father 
 Less than a son. Whence, therefore, hath 
 Quintilian so many forests ? — The examples of new fates 
 Pass over : the fortunate is handsome, and witty, 190 
 
 The fortunate is wise, and noble, and generous, 
 And subjoins the moon set upon his black shoe. 
 The fortunate is also a great orator, a dart-thrower, 
 And, if he be hoarse, sings well : for there is a difference what 
 Stars receive you, when you first begin 195 
 
 To send forth crying, and are yet red from your mother. 
 If Fortune please, you will from a rhetorician become a 
 
 consul : 
 If this same please, you will from a consul become a 
 
 rhetorician. 
 For what was Ventidius ? what Tullius ? was it other than 
 A star, and the wonderful power of hidden fate ? 200 
 
 The fates will give kingdoms to slaves, triumphs to captives. 
 Yet that fortunate person is also more rare riian a white crow. 
 Many have repented the vain and barren chair, 
 As the exit of Thrasymachus proves, and of Secundus 
 Carrinas, and him whom poor you saw, O Athens, 205 
 
 The Romans were very superstitious, 202. More rare, $c.] However, 
 
 and thought that the fortune of their that same fortunate and happy man 
 
 future life mainly depended on the is rare to be met with, 
 
 stars, or constellations, which pre- 203. Many have repented, $-c] Of 
 
 sided over their natal hour. the barren and beggarly employment 
 
 190. Red from your mother.'] The of teaching rhetoric — which they did, 
 
 skin of infants just born, is red, on sitting in a chair, desk, or pulpit, 
 
 account of its delicacy. 204. Thrasymachus.] Who hanged 
 
 197. From a rhetorician, §c] For himself. He was a rhetorician of 
 instance, Cicero. Athens, born at Carthage. 
 
 198. This same.] Fortune. 204-5. Secundus Carrinas.] He 
 —From a consul, <^c] Valerius came from Athens to Rome, and, de- 
 
 Licianus, who from being a senator, claiming against tyrants, was banish- 
 
 and consul, was obliged to turn rheto- ed by Caligula. 
 
 ©cian. Plin. Ep. 1. iv. ep. 11. 205. Him whom poor you saw, $c.] 
 
 199. Ventidius.] Bassus, son of a Socrates, whom you saw, ungrateful 
 bondwoman at Ascalon. He was first Athenians! almost starving, and paid 
 a carman, then a muleteer; after- him nothing for his lectures, but the 
 wards, in one year, he was created barbarous reward of cold hemlock, 
 praetor and consul. with which he was poisoned by the 
 
 — Tullius.] The sixth king of sentence of his judges. Hemlock has 
 
 Rome, born of a captive. such a refrigerating power over the 
 
 199-200. Other than a star.] i. e. blood and juices, as to cause them to 
 
 To what did these men owe their stagnate, and thus occasion death ; it 
 
 greatness, but to the stars which pre- is therefore reckoned among the cold 
 
 sided at their birth, and to the mys- poisons. The word ausae, here, is 
 
 terious power of destiny ? very significant, to intimate the dar- 
 
126 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 SAT. VII. 
 
 Nil praeter gelidas ausse conferre cicutas. 
 
 Di majorum umbris tenuem, et sine pondere terrain, 
 Spirantesque crocos, et in urna perpetuum ver, 
 Qui praeceptorem sancti voluere parentis 
 Esse loco. Metuens virgae jam grandis Achilles 
 Cantabat patriis in niontibus: et cui non tunc 
 Elicerct risum citharcedi cauda magistri ? 
 Sed Ruffum, atque alios csedit suaquaeque juventus: 
 RufFum, qui toties Ciceronem Allobroga dixit. 
 Quis gremio Enceladi, doctique Palaemonis affert 
 Quantum grammaticus meruit labor ? et tamen ex hoc, 
 Quodcunque est, (minus est autem, quam rhetoris aera,) 
 Discipuli custos pracmordet Accenitus ipse, 
 Et qui dispensat, frangit sibi. Cede, Palsemon, 
 Et patere inde aliquid dccrescere, non alitor, quam 220 
 
 Institor hybernae tegetis, niveique caclurci : 
 
 210 
 
 215 
 
 ing insoVr.ce and cruelty of the Athe- 
 nians, who, to their own eternal in- 
 famy, could reward such a man in 
 such a manner. 
 
 207. Grant, &t.] Tins sentence is 
 elliptical, and must be supplied with 
 some verb to precede umbris, as give, 
 grant, or the like. 
 
 — Thin earth, See.] It was usual 
 with the Romans to express their 
 good wishes for the dead in the man- 
 ner here mentioned, that the earth 
 might lie light upon them. 
 
 Sit till Urn levU% moUiq 
 
 arena. Martial. 
 
 208. Breathing crocuses.} Breath- 
 ing forth sweets. Cnvus, lit. saffron ; 
 also the yellow chives in the midst of 
 flowers. What we call a crocus blows 
 early in the spring. 
 
 — Perpetual springy Sei.] May flow- 
 ers be perpetually growing and bloom- 
 ing, as in the spring of the year. 
 They were fond of depositing the 
 urns of their deceased friends among 
 banks of flowers. 
 
 209. IV'o mould have a preceptor, 
 §c.~\ Who venerated their masters 
 and teachers as if they were their 
 parents ; and esteemed them, as 
 standing in the place of parents. 
 
 210. Achilles, £c] Thefamousson of 
 Thetis, when almostaman,wasin great 
 awe of his tutor Chiron the Centaur. 
 
 211. Sang.] Practised lessons in 
 yocal and instrumental music under 
 his tutor. 
 
 — In his paternal mountains.] The 
 mountains of '1 hessaly, from whence 
 came Peleus the father of Achilles. 
 
 212. Would nut the tail, §c] The 
 upper part of Chiron was like a man, 
 the lower like an horse. His figure 
 must l>e ridiculous enough, with a 
 man's bead and an horse's tail, and 
 would have been laughed at by most 
 people ; but Achilles had too much 
 reverence for his master to make a 
 joke of his figure, as more modern 
 scholars would have done. 
 
 212. Harper his master.] Chiron is 
 said to have taught music, as well as 
 medicine and astronomy. 
 
 213. But Rujus, Sec'.] Now, so far 
 from the masters receiving veneration 
 from their scholars, it is a common 
 practice for the scholar to best the 
 master, as had been the case of Ruf- 
 fus and others. So Pl.utus, Bacch. 
 iii. 3. 37. Puer septuennis paedagogo 
 tabula dirumpit caput. 
 
 21k Rujfus, eye] This Rofius 
 charged Cicero with writing barbarous 
 Latin, like an Allobrogian, or Savov' 
 ard. Even this great grammarian could 
 not obtain respect from his scholars. 
 
 21 j. Who bring*, e]-c] Who pays ' 
 Enceladus a rev» ard equal to his la- 
 bours ? Ke was a famou:- grammarian. 
 Gremio here denotes a loose cavity, 
 or hollow, formed by the doubling of 
 
 the robe or garment q. d. A lap, 
 
 into which things were put. Gr. 
 xOA7rof. Comp. Luke vi. 38. 
 
sat. vii. JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 127 
 
 Daring to bestow nothing but cold hemlock. 
 
 Grant, ye gods, tqjthe shades of our ancestors thin earth, 
 and without weight, 
 And breathing crocuses, and perpetual spring upon their 
 
 urn, 
 Who would have a preceptor to be in the place of a sacred 
 Parent. Achilles, now grown up, fearing the rod, 210 
 
 Sang in his paternal mountains; and from whom then 
 Would not the tail of the harper his master have drawn 
 
 forth laughter ? 
 But RufFus, and others, each of their own young men 
 
 strike, 
 Ruffus, who so often called Cicero an Allobrogian. 
 Who brings to the lap of Enceladus, or of the learned 
 
 Palsemon, 215 
 
 As much as grammatical labour has deserved ? and yet 
 
 from this, 
 Whatever it be, (but it is less than the money of the 
 
 rhetorician,) 
 Accenitus himself, the keeper of the scholar, snips, 
 And he who manages, breaks off some for himself. Yields 
 
 Palsemon, 
 And suffer something to decrease from thence, not other- 
 wise than 220 
 A dealer in winter-rug, and white blanket. 
 
 — The learned Palamon.] Rhem- timatcs that the pedagogue, who, 
 
 nius Falaemon, a very learned and perhaps, carried the pay, took a part 
 
 distinguished grammarian, but who of it before he delivered it to the rnas- 
 
 was so conceited, as to say, that ter : like a person who is to give a 
 
 learning would live and die with him- piece of bread to another, and bites 
 
 See Suet, de Gramm. 23. a piece off first for himself. 
 
 217. Whatever it be, $c] After 219. He ivho manages, §c] Qui 
 all, small as the pay of a gramma- dispensat, i. e. dispensator, the stew- 
 rian may be, (which at the most is ard,or housekeeper; either the one be- 
 even smaller than that of a rhetori- longing to the grammarian, into whose 
 cian) there are sad defalcations from it. hands the money is paid, and who re- 
 
 218. Accenitus — the keeper, ^c] — tains some part of it for his wages, 
 The Acaenitus is a feigned name for or the steward of the gentleman who 
 some pedagogue, (Gr. flra»?i a bov, P a )' s **» stains a part of it by way 
 and *y», to lead,) who was a sort of of P^agc, or perquisite, to him. 
 servant, that followed his young mas- ? clf * * «ngit^tttetaph. from break- 
 ter, took care of hi* behaviour, and 1U ° ">™«*™g £f " as e ^ irc ; 
 particularly attended him to his exer- ~ *' icJ(U J*»"* fr'V ^ 
 cise, and to school. mi t0 these ***««*■» *& be g la <* 
 
 He is properly called here, disci- t0 h ^ e ™*JJjg. though less than 
 
 pulicustos. He insisted on having >'™ r due ' f?***™ ™* *"**?* 
 
 part of the poor grammarian's pay, wh ° are wri . hn S ^ a ,u scmethin S 
 
 as a perquisite. The word pramor- £ fh«ir pnee, rather than not sell 
 
 det is here peculiarly happy, and in- **"" goods. ** Ainsto InstOor. 
 
128 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRJE. 
 
 SAT. VII. 
 
 Dummodo non pereat, media? quod noctis ab hora 
 Sedisti, qua nemo faber, qu& nemo sederet, 
 Qui docet obliquo Ian am deducere ferro : 
 Dummodo non pereat tot idem olfecisse lucernas, 
 Quot stabant pueri, cum totus decolor esset 
 EJaccus, et hsereret nigro fuligo Maroni. 
 Rara tamen merces, quae cognitione Tribuni 
 Non egeat. Sed vos sacvas imponite leges, 
 Ut praeceptori verborum regula constet, 
 Ut legat historias, auctores noverit omnes, 
 Tanquam ungues digitosque suos ; ut forte rogatus 
 Bum petit aut thermas, aut Phcebi balnea, dicat 
 Nutricem Anehisae, nomen, patriamque noverca? 
 Archemori : dicat quot Acestcs vixerit annus, 
 Quot Siculus Phrygibus vini donaverit urnas. 
 Exigite, ut mores teneros ceu pollice ducat, 
 Ut si quis cera vultum facit : exigite, ut sit 
 Et pater ipsius coetus, ne turpia ludant, 
 
 22.j 
 
 230 
 
 236 
 
 222. Let it not be lost, §c] Only 
 take care to have something for your 
 trouble; let not all jour pains, which 
 you have taken, be thrown away, in 
 rising at midnight to teach your boys ; 
 a fatigue that no common mechanic 
 would undergo. 
 
 224. To draw out -u-ool, S^c] To 
 comb wool, which they did, as we 
 lind by this passage, with a card 
 having crooked teeth made of iron, 
 like those now in use. 
 
 22.3. To have smelt, £&] Let it 
 not be for nothing that you have been 
 half poisoned with the stink of as 
 many lamps as you have boys stand- 
 ing round you to say their lessons be- 
 fore it is light, and therefore are each 
 of them with a lamp in his hand to 
 read by. 
 
 226-lT. Horace all discG?onr\l.] — . 
 With the oil of the lamps, which the 
 boys, through carelessness, let drop 
 on their books. 
 
 227. Slack Virgil] Made black 
 with the smoke of the lamps, which 
 the boys held close to their books, 
 when they were reading their les- 
 sons. 
 
 225. Yet pay is rare, tchich, §c] 
 Though little is left of the pay to the 
 grammarian, after all the deductions 
 above-mentioned, yet it is very rare 
 
 that they get any thing at all, unless 
 they go to law for it. The tribune 
 here means the judge who tried civil 
 causes. 
 
 229. Jiut impose yc, e}c] Though 
 the poor grammarian labours under 
 all these difficulties, be sure, you that 
 send your sons to them, to impose 
 all the task upon them that ye can : 
 make no abatement in his qualiika- 
 tions : expect that he knows every 
 rule of grammar. 
 
 231. Uead hutoties, £<?.] That he 
 should be a good historian : that he 
 should know all authors at his fingers' 
 ends, ad unguem, as the saying if. 
 
 233. The hot baths.] There were 
 thermoe, hot baths, in Rome, as well 
 as cold baths, balnea ; to the former 
 they went to sweat, in the other they 
 washed. Now this poor grammarian 
 was expected to be ready to answer 
 any questions which were asked him, 
 by people whom he met with, when 
 he went either to the one or the 
 other. 
 
 233. Phccbus.] The name of some 
 bath-keeper. 
 
 234. The nurse of Anchiscs.] The 
 poet here, perhaps, means to ridicule 
 the absurd curiosity of Tiberius, who 
 used to be often teasing the gramma- 
 rians with silly and unedifying ques- 
 
sat. viT. JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 129 
 
 Only let it not be lost, that from the midnight hour 
 
 You have sat, in which no smith, in which nobody would 
 
 sit, 
 Who teaches to draw out wool with the crooked iron : 
 Only let it not be lost to have smelt as many lamps 225 
 
 As boys were standing, when all discolour'd was 
 Horace, and soot stuck to black Virgil. 
 Yet pay is rare which may not want the cognizance 
 Of the Tribune. — But impose ye cruel laws, 229 
 
 That the rule of words should be clear to the preceptor : 
 That he should read histories, should know all authors 
 As well as his own nails and fingers ; that, by chance, being 
 
 ask'd 
 While he is going to the hot baths, or the baths of Phoebus, 
 
 he should tell 
 The nurse of Anchises, the name and country of the step- 
 mother 
 Of Archemorus : should tell how many years Acestes lived : 
 How many urns of wine the Sicilian presented to the 
 
 Phrygians. 236 
 
 Require, that he should form the tender manners as with 
 
 his thumb, 
 As if one makes a face with wax : require, that he should 
 
 be 
 Even a father of his flock, lest they should play base 
 
 tricks ; 
 
 tions ; as, Who was Hecuba's mo- 235. Acestes.] Mn. i. 199; and 
 
 ther ? What was the name of Achilles iEn. v. 73. 
 
 when dressed in woman's clothes? 236. The Sicilian.] Meaning Acestes, 
 
 What the Sirens sung ? and the like, who was king of Sicily, of his giving 
 
 See Suet, in Tibeiuo, cap. Ixx. wine to the Trojans. See iEn. i. 199- 
 
 Such foolish questions might be 200. 
 asked the grammarian, when he met 237. Require.] Exigite, exact — 
 
 with people at the baths ; and he was that, beside his teaching your chii- 
 
 bound to answer them, under peril of dren, (and, in order to that, he be. 
 
 being counted an ignoramus. perfectly learned,) he also should 
 
 Caieta, the nurse of iEneas, is watch over their morals, and form 
 
 mentioned, iEn. vii, 1-2 ; but there them with as much nicety, care, and 
 
 is no mention of the nurse of Anchi- exactness, as if he were moulding a 
 
 ses : perhaps Juvenal means to ridi- face in wax with his fingers. Ducat 
 
 cule the ignorance of the querist, as . — metaph. taken from statuaries, 
 
 mistaking Anchises for iEneas. Comp. Virg. JEn. vi. 1. S4S. 
 
 234-5. Of the step-mother of Ar- 239. A father of his flock.] Re- 
 
 chemorus.\ For Anchemolus, (see quire also, that he should be as anxi- 
 
 jEn. x. 1. 389.) who seems here ous, and as careful of his scholars, as 
 
 meant ; but perhaps the querist may if he were their father, 
 be supposed to call it Archemorus. 
 
150 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Haec, inquit, cures ; sed cum se verterit annus, 
 Accipe, victori populus quod postulat, aurum. 
 
 240 
 
 240. When the year, $c.) When 
 the year comes round — at the end of 
 the year. 
 
 241. Accept a piece of gold.] Au- 
 rum. The Roman aureus (according 
 to Ainsw. Val. and Proportion of Ro- 
 man coins) was about 1/. 0*. Vd. of our 
 money : but, whatever the precise 
 value of the aurum mentioned here 
 might be, the poet evidently means 
 to say, that the grammarian does not 
 get more for a whole year's labour in 
 teaching, and watching over a boy's 
 morals, than a victorious fencer, or 
 
 sword-player, gets by a single battle 
 won upon the stage, viz. about 47. 
 (or rather about 51.) of our money, 
 which Marshal, after Vet. Schol. 
 says, was the stated sum, and which 
 was not to be exceeded. 
 
 241. Which the people require.] — 
 When a fencer, or gladiator, came » 
 off victorious, the Roman people re- 
 quired the quinque aurei to be given 
 to him by the praetor, tribune, or 
 other person, who gave and presided 
 at the show. This passage is, br 
 some, referred to Mart. lib. x. epigt. 
 
SAT. VII. 
 
 JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 131 
 
 These things, says he, take care of — but when the year turns 
 itself, 240 
 
 Accept a piece of gold, which the people require for a 
 conqueror. 
 
 74. where he mentions one Scorpus, 
 a famous charioteer, who, by being 
 victor in a chariot-race, carried off, 
 in one hour's time, fifteen sacks full 
 of gold. But this does not seem to 
 agree with what Juvenal says of the 
 gains of the poor grammarian, which 
 the poet evidently supposes to be no 
 more than the perquisite of a com- 
 mon gladiator that had come off con- 
 queror : even this" was five times as 
 
 much as a lawyer got by a cause. 
 Comp. 1. 122. 
 
 Thus Juvenal concludes this Satire, 
 having fully accomplished his pur- 
 pose ; which was to shew, by many 
 instances, the shameful neglect of 
 learning and science, as well as of 
 the professors of them, which then 
 prevailed among the nobility of 
 Rome, 
 
Nittra $ttaba. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 In this Satire the Poet proves, that true nobility does not 
 consist in statues and pedigrees, but in honourable and 
 good actions. And, in opposition to persons nobly born, 
 
 STEMMATA quid faciunt? quid prodest, Pontice, 
 longo 
 Sanguine censeri, pictosque ostendere vultus 
 Majorum, et stantes in curribus JEmilianos, 
 Et Curios jam dimidios, humeroque minorem 
 Corvinum, et Galbam auriculis nasoque carentem ? 5 
 
 Quis fructus generis tabula jactare capaci 
 Corvinum, et post hunc multa deducere virga 
 Fumosos equitufti cum Dictatorc Magistros, 
 Si coram Lepidis male vivitur ? effigies quo 
 Tot bellatorum, si luditur alea pernox 10 
 
 Ante Numantinos ? si dormire incipis ortu 
 
 Line 1. What do pedigrees 9] i. e. 
 Of what use or service are they, 
 merely considered in themselves ? 
 
 — Po?iticus.] There was a famous 
 heroic poet of this name, much ac- 
 quainted with Propertius and Ovid : 
 but the person here mentioned, to 
 whom this Satire is addressed, was 
 probably some man of quality, highly 
 elevated by family pride, but whose 
 manners disgraced his birth. 
 
 2. By a long descent.] Longo san- 
 guine, a descent through a long train 
 of ancestors of noble blood. 
 
 — Painted countenances, §e.] It 
 was customary among the Romans 
 to have their houses furnished with 
 family pictures, images, &c. and it 
 was no small part of the pride of the 
 nobility. 
 
 3-4-15. The JEmUil — Curii—Cor- 
 yinus.] Were noble Romans, the 
 
 founders of illustrious families, and 
 an honour to their country. 
 
 3. Standing in chariots.] Triumphal 
 cars, as expressed in the triumphal 
 statues. 
 
 4. Now half.] i. e. Half demo- 
 lished by length of time. 
 
 4—5. Less by a shoulder Corv/nus.] 
 His statue thus mutilated by time 
 and accident. 
 
 5. Galba.] The statue of Sergius 
 Galba, a man of consular dignity, 
 and who founded an illustrious fa- 
 mily, was also defaced and mutilated 
 by time. 
 
 ' G. What fruit.] i. e. Of what real, 
 solid use can it be. 
 
 — The capacious table.] viz. A large 
 genealogical table. 
 
 7. By many a branch.] The gene- 
 alogical tables were described in the 
 form of tree* : the first founder of 
 
(Bigfofy Satire* 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 who are a disgrace to their family, he displays the worth 
 of many who were meanly horn, as Cicero, Marius, Serv. 
 Tidlius, and the Decii. 
 
 WHAT do pedigrees ? what avails it, Ponticus, to be 
 valued 
 By a long descent, and to shew the painted countenances 
 Of ancestors, and iEmilii standing in chariots, 
 And Curii now half, and less by a shoulder 
 Corvinus, and Galba wanting ears and nose ? 5 
 
 What fruit to boast of Corvinus in the capacious table 
 Of kindred, and after him to deduce, by many a branch, 
 Smoky masters of the knights, with a Dictator, 
 If before the Lepidi you live ill ? whither (tend) the 
 
 effigies 
 Of so many warriors, if the nightly die be played with 10 
 Before the Numantii ? if you begin to sleep at the rising of 
 
 the family was the root, his immedi- 
 ate descendants the stem, and all the 
 collaterals from them were the 
 branches. So among us* 
 
 8. Smoky masters of the hnights.~\ 
 Images of those who had been ma- 
 gistri equitum, masters or chiefs of 
 the order of knights, now tarnished, 
 and grown black, by the smoke of 
 the city. 
 
 — With a dictator.'] An image of 
 some of the family who had filled that 
 office. He was chief magistrate a- 
 mong the Romans, vested with abso- 
 lute power, and from whom lay no 
 appeal. Twenty-four axes were car- 
 ried before him. He was never 
 chosen but in some great danger or 
 trouble of the state ; and commonly 
 
 at the end of six months was to re- 
 sign his office. 
 
 9. If before the Lepidi, fyc.\ i. e. 
 If before the images of those great, 
 men you exhibit scenes of vileness and 
 infamy ? 
 
 10. The nightly die, $-c] Pernox 
 signifies that which lasts through the 
 night. What avails it, that your 
 room is furnished with busts, pic- 
 tures, &c. of your noble ancestors, 
 if, in that very room, before their 
 faces, as it were, you are gambling 
 and playing all night at dice ? 
 
 11. If you begin to sleep, $c.] If 
 you, after a night's debauch, are go- 
 ing to bed at day-break, the very time 
 when those great generals were set- 
 ting forth on their march to attack 
 an enemy. 
 
134 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIR/E. 
 
 SAT. VIII. 
 
 Luciferi, quo signa Duces et castra movebant ? 
 Cur Allobrogicis, et magna gaudeat ara, 
 Natus in Herculeo Fabius lare, si cupidus, si 
 Vanus, et Euganea quantum vis mollior agna ? 
 Si tenerum attritus Catinensi pumice lumbum 
 Squallentes traducit avos : emptorque veneni 
 Frangenda miseram funestat imagine gentem ? 
 Tota licet veteres exornent undique ceras 
 Atria, nobilitas sola est atq.ue unica Virtus. 
 Paulus, vel Cossus, vel Drusus moribus esto : 
 Hos ante effigies majorum pone tuorum : 
 Praecedant ipsas illi, te consule, virgas. 
 Prima mihi debes animi bona. Sanctus haberi, 
 Justitiaeque tenax factis dictisque mereris ? 
 Agnosco procerem : salve, Getulice, seu tu 
 Silanus, quocunque alio de sanguine rarus 
 Civis, et egregius patrias contingis ovanti. 
 Exclamare libet, populus quod clamat Osiri 
 
 15 
 
 20 
 
 13. Fabius, $■;*.] Why should Fa- 
 bius, the son of Qu. Fah, Maximus, 
 who overcame the Allobroges, boast 
 in his father's achievements, and in 
 the origin of his family's descent 
 from Hercules, the care of whose al- 
 tar was hereditary in that family, if 
 he be covetous and vain, and unwor- 
 thy of the honour which he claims ? 
 This altar was built by Evander. 
 
 15. Softer than an Euganean Iamb.] 
 The sheep bred upon the Euganean 
 downs had the finest and softest 
 fleeces in all Italy. To have a very 
 soft and delicate skin was a mark of 
 great effeminacy; but more especially 
 if, as the following line supposes, it 
 was made so by art. 
 
 16. Catinensian pumice] The best 
 pumice stones were gathered in Si- 
 cily, at the foot of Mount Mtna ; 
 with these the effeminate Italians 
 used to smooth their skins. Catina 
 (now Catania) was a city near Mount 
 -Etna, almost ruined by an earth- 
 quake, in 1693. Here were the finest 
 pumice stones. 
 
 17. He sJianies, $c.] He dishonours 
 the old and venerable pictures, or im- 
 ages, of his rough and hardy ances- 
 tors, now dirty with the rust of time, 
 and thus disgraces the memory of 
 those great men. Traduco signifies to 
 expose to public shame. Aivsw. Noȣo 
 
 18. An image to be broken.) If he 
 should cast a sadness over the whole 
 family, as it were, by having his own 
 image placed among those of his an- 
 cestors, when he does such things as 
 to deserve to have his image broken. 
 If any one, who had an image of 
 himself, was convicted of a grievous 
 crime, his image was to be broken to 
 pieces, and his name erased from the 
 calendar, either by the sentence of 
 the judge, or by the fury of the peo- 
 ple. Comp. sat. x. 1. 58. Such must, 
 most likely, be the case of a man 
 who dealt in poisons to destroy 
 people. 
 
 19. Old waxen figures.] Images 
 and likenesses of ancestors, made in 
 wax, and set up as ornaments and 
 memorials of the great persons from 
 whom they were taken. 
 
 20. Virtue, £c.] All the ensigns 
 of grandeur and nobility are nothing 
 without this — it is this alone which 
 stamps a real greatness upon all who 
 possess it. 
 
 21. Paulus.] JEmilius, who con- 
 quered Perses king of Macedonia, 
 and led him and his children in tri- 
 umph : he was a man of great fru- 
 gality and modesty. 
 
 — Cossus.] He conquered the Getu- 
 Iians, under Augustus Caesar, hence 
 was called Getulicus. See 1. 26. 
 
sat. vTii. JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 135 
 
 Lucifer, at which those generals were moving their standards 
 
 and camps? 
 Why should Fabius,4>orn in a Herculean family, rejoice 
 In the Allobroges, and the great altar, if covetous, if 
 Vain, and never so much softer than an Euganean lamb? 
 If, having rubb'd his tender loins with a Catinensian 
 
 pumice, 16 
 
 He shames his dirty ancestors — and, a buyer of poison, 
 He saddens the miserable family with an image to be 
 
 broken ? 
 Tho' the old waxen figures should adorn the courts on all 
 
 sides, 
 Virtue is the only and single nobility. 20 
 
 Be thou in morals Paul us, or Cossus, or Drusus ; 
 Put these before the effigies of your ancestors : 
 Let them, you being consul, precede the fasces themselves. 
 You owe me first the virtues of the mind — do you desene 
 To be accounted honest, and tenacious of justice, in word 
 
 and deed ? 25 
 
 I acknowledge the nobleman : — Hail, Getulian !— or thou 
 Silanus, from whatever other blood, a rare, and 
 Choice citizen, thou befallest thy triumphing country. 
 We may exclaim, what the people call out to Osiris 
 
 — Drusus.] There were three of ble Roman, who conquered Magon 
 
 this name, all of which deserved well the Carthaginian general, took Han- 
 
 of the republic. non, another commander, prisoner» 
 
 22. Put these before, $c] Prefer and did other great services to his 
 the examples of those good men be- country. 
 
 fore the statues of your family. q. d. If, besides your personal pri- 
 
 23. Let them, $c] If ever you vate virtues, (1. 24-5.) you shew 
 should be consul, esteem them before yourself a rare and choice citizen, 
 the fasces, and all the ensigns of your eminently serviceable and useful to 
 high office. your country, like Silanus of old. 
 
 24. You owe me, §c.] The orna- from whatever blood you may derive 
 ments — bona, the good qualities — your pedigree, however mean it may 
 of the mind, are what I first insist be, yet your country will rejoice that 
 upon ; these I expect to find in you, such a man has fallen to its lot — and 
 before I allow you to be indeed noble, exclaim, as the Egyptians did, when 
 
 25. Honest.] Sanctus is an exten- they found Osiris. 
 
 sive word, and here may include 29. Osiris, $c] The chief deity of 
 
 piety to the gods, as well as justice, Egypt, which the Egyptians wor- 
 
 honesty, and truth towards men. See shipped under the form of a bull, or 
 
 sat. iii. 126. ox. This said bull was supposed to 
 
 26. i" acknowledge, Qc] I then ac- be inhabited by Osiris: but they used, 
 knowledge you as a man of quality. once in a few years, to put this bul' 
 
 — Hail, Getulian !] I salute you as to death, and then go, with their 
 
 if you were Cossus, the conqueror of priests, howling, and making lamen • 
 
 Getulia — hence called Getulicus, 1. tations, in search of another Osiris. 
 
 21. note. or Apis, with the same exact marks 
 
 ~~Or thou, fyc] Silanus was a no- as the former had; which, when they 
 
136 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Invento: quis enim generosum dixerit hunc, qui 30 
 
 Indignus genere, et praeclaro nomine tantum 
 Insignis? nanum cujusdam Atlanta vocamus: 
 jEthiopem cygnum : parvam extortamque puellam, 
 Europen : canibus pigris, scabieque vetusta 
 Laevibus, et siccae lambentibus ora lucerna?, 35 
 
 Nomen erit pardus, tigris, leo ; si quid adhuc est, 
 Quod fremat in terris violentius. Ergo cavebis, 
 Et metues, ne tu sic Creticus, aut Camerinus. 
 
 His ego quern monui ? tecum est mihi sermo, JRubelli 
 Plaute : tumes alto Drusorum sanguine, tanquam 40 
 
 Feceris ipse aliquid, propter quod nobilis esses ; 
 Ut te conciperet, quag sanguine fulget Iuli, 
 Non quae ventoso conducta sub aggere texit. 
 Vos humiles, inquis, vulgi pars ultima nostri, 
 Quorum nemoqueat patriam monstrare parentis : 45 
 
 Ast ego Cecropides. Vivas, et originis hujus 
 Gaudia longa feras : tamen ima ex plebe Quiritem 
 
 had found, they shouted for joy, and 
 with loud acclamations, called out, 
 Et>^)jy.ajw,£v / Ei^Ka/AEV / we have 
 found him ! we have found him ! 
 Tvy^u^ufjitv ! let us rejoice together! 
 
 31. An illustrious name] Or title, 
 derived from some great and illustri- 
 ous ancestor. 
 
 32. The drear/ of some one ] The 
 people of quality used to keep dwarfs 
 for their amusement. 
 
 — Atlas.] A high hill in Maurita- 
 nia, so high that the poets make a 
 person of it, and feign that he was the 
 brother of Prometheus, and turned 
 into this mountain by Perseus, at the 
 sight of the gorgon's head. From its 
 height it was fabled to support the 
 celestial globe. See Virg. Mn. iv. 
 1. 481-2. 
 
 33. An Ethiopian — a swan.] i. e. 
 Black white. 
 
 34. Europa.] The beautiful daugh- 
 ter of Agenor, king of the Phoenici- 
 ans, whom Jupiter in the form of a 
 bull carried into Crete. From her 
 the quarter of the globe, called Fu- 
 rope, is said to take its name. See 
 Hon. lib. iii. od. xxvii. 1. 75-6. 
 
 — Slow dogs.] Slow hounds that 
 are unfit for the chace. 
 
 35. Smooth.] Having all their hair 
 eaten off by the mange. 
 
 — Licking the mouths, $c] So 
 hungry and starved as to lick the 
 stinking oil off the edges of lamps. 
 Giving the titles of nobility, and call- 
 ing those noble who are, by their evil 
 manners, and bad actions, a disgrace 
 to their families, is calling a dwarf, 
 a giant ; a blackmoor, a fine white 
 swan ; a crooked deformed wench, 
 Europa : we may as well call a pack 
 of mangy, worthless hounds, tigers, 
 leopards, and lions ; or by the name 
 of nobler beasts, if nobler can be 
 found. 
 
 37. Beware, Qc] Cavebis — metues 
 — lit. you will be cautious, and will 
 fear, lest the world flatter you with 
 the mock titles of Creticus and Ca- 
 merinus in the same way. 
 
 Publ. Sulpitius Camerinus was an 
 illustrious and virtuous Roman, who 
 was sent by the senate, with Posthu- 
 mius and Manlius, to Athens, to copy 
 the laws of Solon, as well as those of 
 other cities. See sat. vii. 1. 90. 
 
 39. By these things.] By what I 
 have been saying. 
 
 40. Rubellhis Plavlvs.] Some read 
 Plancus, others Blandus; but Plautus 
 seems to be right. Rubellius Blan- 
 dus was his father, who married 
 Julia the daughter of Drusus, son of 
 Livia, wife of Augustus. 
 
sat. viii. JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 137 
 
 When found. — But who would call him noble, who is SO 
 Unworthy his race, and for an illustrious name only 
 Remarkable ? We call"the dwarf of some one, Atlas : 
 An Ethiopian, a swan : a little and deformed wench, 
 Europa : to slow dogs, and with an old mange 
 Smooth, and licking the mouths of a dry lamp, 35 
 
 The name of lion, leopard, tiger shall belong ; and if there 
 
 be yet 
 Any thing on earth that rages more violently. Therefore 
 
 beware, 
 And dread, lest thou should'st thus be Creticus, or Came- 
 
 rinus. 
 Whom have I admonished by these things ? with thee is 
 my discourse, 
 Rubellius Plautus : you swell with the high blood of the 
 
 Drusi, as if 40 
 
 You yourself had done something, for which you should be 
 
 noble ; 
 That she should have conceived you, who shines with the 
 
 blood of Iiilus, 
 Not she who, being hired, has woven under the windy mount. 
 " Ye are low," say you, " the last part of our common 
 
 " people ; 
 " Of whom none can shew the country of his parent : 45 
 " But 1 am a Cecropian." — May you live — and long enjoy 
 
 the happiness 
 Of this origin : yet, from the lowest of the people, art elo- 
 quent Roman 
 
 — Of the DntsL] You are very 44. The last part, fyc] The very 
 
 pioudof your descent on your mother's dregs of our plebeians. 
 
 Side. Compare the preceding note. 45. Of whom none, fyc] Of such 
 
 41. Done something, fyc] As if obscure parentage, as to be unable tp 
 
 you yourself had done something to trace out the birth-place of your 
 
 make you illustrious, and deserving parents. 
 
 the honour of a mother of the Julian 46i / am a Cecropian.] Descended 
 
 line. from Cecrops, the first king of Athens. 
 
 43. Not she, $c] Instead of being This is an insolent speech, which 
 
 the son of some poor creature who some proud noble is supposed to make 
 
 knitted stockings for her bread under in scorn and derision of those whom 
 
 the town- wall. The agger, here men- he thought his inferiors, 
 
 tioned, is the mount raised by Tar- — May you live, <$•".] Sir, I wish 
 
 quin, for the defence oi the city, a you much joy of your noble descent, 
 
 place much resorted to by low peo- Ironically spoken. Viva ! as the Ita- 
 
 ple. Ventoso merely signifies lofty, lianssay. 
 
 thus Homer says " the windy [lion." 47. Yet, f? am the lowest, #:'.] — 
 
 II. iii. 1. 305. Much as you despise them, there 
 
 Some read sub aero, ?. c. sub dio — have been men of the highest talents 
 
 in the open air. and abilities from among them, some 
 
138 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Facundum invenies : solet hie defendere causas 
 Nobilis indocti : veniet de plebe togata, 
 Qui juris nodos, ct legum aenigmata, solvat. 
 Hie petit Euphraten juvenis, domitique Batavi 
 Custodes aquilas, armis industrius : at tu 
 Nil nisi Cecropides, truncoque simillimus Herma? : 
 Nullo quippe alio vincis discrimine, quam quod 
 I Hi marmoreum caput est, tua vivit imago. 
 Die mihi, Teucrorum proles, animalia inuta 
 Quis generosa putet, nisi fortia ? nempe volucrem 
 Sic laudamus equum, facilis cui plurima palma 
 Fervetj etexultat rauco victoria circo. 
 Nobilis hie, quocunque venit de gramme, cujus 
 Clara fuga ante alios, et primus in aequore pulvis. 
 Sed venale pecus Corythae, posteritas et 
 Hirpini, si rarajugo victoria sedit. 
 Nil ibi majorum respectus, gratia nulla 
 Umbrarum ; dominos pretiis mutare jubentur 
 Exiguis, tritoque trahunt epirhedia collo 
 
 50 
 
 GO 
 
 65 
 
 who have defended the causes of ig- 
 norant nobles, when they themselves 
 could not have defended them. 
 
 49. The gowned people ] i. e. The 
 common people, called togati, from 
 the gowns which they wore. See. sat. 
 i. 1. 3, and note. 
 
 50. Who can untie, §c] Some 
 great and eminent lawyer, able to 
 solve all the difficulties, and unfold 
 all the perplexities of jurisprudence. 
 
 51. Seeks the Euphrates, £*.] Ano- 
 ther goes into the \i,\<, and distin- 
 guishes himself as a soldier. 
 
 — .(' E .} The Batavi, 
 
 or Hollanders, conquered by Domi- 
 tfan when a youth. 
 
 52. The guardian eagles.] The ea- 
 gles mean the Roman troops, which 
 had the figures of eagles on their 
 standards, and were set to keep the 
 newly conquered Batavi from re- 
 volting. 
 
 Another of the common people dis- 
 tinguishes himself as a useful person 
 to his country, by joining the troops 
 that were sent on this occasion. 
 
 53. But a Cecropian.] As for you, 
 when you have called yourself a Ce- 
 cropian, you have no more to say ; 
 and this most properly belongs to 
 you, from your resemblance to one 
 
 of the Hennas at Athens, that is 
 made of marble; so, in point of in- 
 sensibility, are you : that has neither 
 hands nor feet ; no more have you, 
 in point of usefulness, to your coun- 
 try, yourself, or to any body else. 
 
 — A mutilated Henna.] Herma-a- 
 signifies a statue of Hermes, or Mer- 
 cury. Mercury was called Hermes, 
 from Gr. E£/£i)Vsu0j to interpret ; be- 
 cause he was the supposed inventor 
 of speech, by which men interpret 
 their thoughts to each other. See 
 Hon. lib. i. ode x. 1. 1-3. 
 
 It was a piece of religion at Athens, 
 to have a figure of Mercury fixed up 
 against their houses, of a cubic form, 
 without hands or feet ; this was called 
 Hernia. The poet, therefore, humour- 
 ously compares this Bubellius Plau- 
 tus, who boasted of his descent from 
 Cccrops, and therefore called himself 
 a Cecropian, to the useless figures of 
 Mercury, \\ Inch were set up at 
 Athens, or, perhaps, to the posts on 
 which they stood. In this sense he 
 might call himself Cecropian. 
 
 51. You excel.] You have no pre- 
 ference before him in point of utility 
 to your country, or in any thing else, 
 than that you ate a living statue, and 
 he a dead one. 
 
sat. vni. JUVENAL/S SATIRES. 139 
 
 You will find : this is used to defend the cause of an 
 Unlearned nobleman :^there will come from the gowned 
 
 people 
 Another, who can untie the knots of right, and the riddles 
 
 of the laws. 50 
 
 This youth seeks the Euphrates, and of conquer'd Batavus 
 The guardian eagles, industrious in arms ; but thou 
 Art nothing but a Cecropian, and most like to a mutilated 
 
 Herma ; 
 For you excel by no other difference, than that 
 He has a marble head, your image lives. 55 
 
 Tell me, thou offspring of the Trojans, who thinks dumb 
 
 animals 
 Noble, unless strong ? for thus a swift 
 Horse we praise, for whom many a kind hand 
 Glows, and victory exults in the hoarse circus. 
 He is noble, from whatever pasture he comes, whose flight 
 Is famous before the others, and whose dust is first on the 
 
 plain. 61 
 
 But the cattle of Corytha are set to sale, and the posterity of 
 Hirpinus, if victory seldom sits on their yoke. 
 There is no respect of ancestors, no favour 
 Of shades; they are commanded to change their masters 65 
 For small prices, and draw waggons with a worn neck, 
 
 56. Thou offspring of the Trojans.] 59. The hoarse circus.'] i. c. The 
 . Meaning Rub. Plautus, who, though people in the circus, hoarse with their 
 
 he boasted himself of being descend- applauding acclamations. 
 
 ed from Cecrops the first king of 60. From whatever pasture.] Lit. 
 
 Athens, and who is supposed to have grass — q. d. wherever bred. 
 
 lived before Deucalion's Hood, yet 61. Whose dust is first, fyc] Who 
 
 likewise might boast, that he was keeps before the others, so that the 
 
 also descended from ancestors, who first dust must be raised by him. 
 
 derived their blood, in later times. 62. The cattle of Corytha.] The 
 
 from the Trojans who first settled in breed, or stock, of a famous mare, 
 
 Italy. so called, are sold. 
 
 Some think that we may read this, 63. Hirpinus.] A famous horse, so 
 
 Ye Trojans, _ meaning the chief peo- called from the place where he was 
 
 pie of Rome in general, who prided bred, being a hill in the country of 
 
 themselves on their descent from the the Sabines. 
 
 Trojans, and to whom he may be — If victory, $l\] If they sel- 
 
 supposed to address himself. Comp. dom win in the chariot race. 
 
 *at. i. 86. where he calls them Troju- 65. Of shades.] No regard to the 
 
 genas. But see 1. 71. post. ghosts of their departed ancestors. 
 
 57. Strong.] Fortia — vigorous, cou- — To change their masters, §c.~\-- . 
 rageous, fit for the purposes for which Thtir present master disposes of 
 they are wanted. them very cheaply to others. 
 
 58. Many a kind hand, $c] They 66. With a worn neck.] They are 
 used to clap their hands, in token of put into teams, and the hair is all 
 applause, at the public shows and worn off their necks, which are 
 sports. galled with the harness with which 
 
140 
 
 JUVENILIS SATIRE. 
 
 Segnipedes, dignique molani versare Nepotis. 
 
 Ergo ut miremur te, non tua, primum aliquid da, 
 
 Quod possim titulis incidere pra?ter honores, 
 
 Quos illis damus, et dcdimus, quibus omnia debes. 70 
 
 Haec satis ad juvenem, quern nobis fama superbum 
 Tradit, et inflatum, plenumque Nerone propinquo. 
 Rarus cnim ferme scnsus communis in ilia. 
 Fortuna. Sed te censeri laude tuorum, 
 Pontice, nolueriin, sic ut nihil ipse futurae 75 
 
 Laudis agas : miseki t m est aliex.e ixcembere fam.e, 
 Ne collapsa ruant subductis tecta columnis. 
 Stratus humi palmes viduas desiderat ulmos. 
 Esto bonus mues, tutor bonus, arbiter idem 
 Integer : ambiguae si quando citabeie testis 80 
 
 Incertgeque rei, Phalaris licet imperei ut sis 
 Falsus, et achnoto dictet perjuria tauro, 
 
 SOMMUM CREDE NEFAS AX I MAM PR.EFEREE PUDOEI, 
 
 Et propter vitam vivendi perdere causa?. 
 
 they are fastened to the carriage. See 
 
 Ejnrhcdiu ;i\ A I x s W. 
 
 67. Of ifcpos.] The name of some 
 miller) who ground corn in horse- 
 mills. 
 
 68. Admire you, not yours, $c ]— 
 That \vc may admire you personally 
 for your own sake, and not merely 
 for your family, or fortune, or title. 
 
 — Shew something, $c] Give us 
 some proof, by some noble and wor- 
 thy actions, of true nobility, which, 
 besides your high titles, may be re- 
 corded with honour to yourself. 
 
 70. Which we give, £c] i. c. To 
 your ancestors, to whom, as things 
 are at present, you stand solely in- 
 debted for every mark of respect that 
 is bestowed upon you. 
 
 71. To the youth, eye] q. d. So 
 much for Rubellius Plautus, a youth 
 (as fame represents him, &c.) 
 
 72. His kinsman Nero.] His rela- 
 tionship to Is'ero. Comp. note on I. 
 40. 
 
 73. Rare, $r.] Very seldom found 
 in such a situation of life. 
 
 73; Pontic us, <|o.] See 1. 1. of this 
 Sat. and note. 
 
 The poet tells the person to whom 
 he addresses this Satire, that he should 
 be sorry to have him esteemed merely 
 on account of his ancestors. 
 
 76. Nothing of future pralsc.]~m 
 That he should do nothing himself, 
 in order to raise his own character in 
 times to come. 
 
 77. Lest the house fallen, $c] — 
 Metaph. i. c. lest, like a building 
 which tumbles into ruins, when the 
 pillars which support it are removed, 
 so you, if you have no other support 
 to your character, than what your 
 ancestors have done, if this be once 
 put out of the question, should fall 
 into contempt. 
 
 78. The vine, S(C.] If you owe the 
 support of your fame entirely to that 
 of others, let that be removed, and 
 you will be like a vine which want» 
 the support of an elm to keep it from 
 crawling along the ground. 
 
 They used to fasten up their vines, 
 by tying them to the trunks of elm- 
 trees. See Vino. Georg. i. 1. 2. 
 
 If by any accident the vines broke 
 from the trees, and lay upon the 
 ground, they called the trees viduas 
 ulmos, alluding to their having lost 
 the embraces of the vine, as a widow 
 those of her husband when he dies. 
 
 79. A good soldier.] Serve jour 
 country in the army. 
 
 — A faithful tutor.] Quasi tuitor 
 —a trusty guardian to some minor, 
 having the charge of his person and 
 
sat. viii. JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 141 
 
 Slow of foot, and worthy to turn the mill of Nepos. 
 Therefore that we may. admire you, not yours, first shew 
 
 something, 
 Which I may inscribe among your titles besides your 
 
 honours, 
 Which we s^ive, and have given, to them to whom you owe 
 
 _all. 70 
 
 These things are enough to the youth, whom fame de- 
 livers to us 
 iProud, and puffed up, and full of his kinsman Nero. 
 For common sense is, for the most part, rare in that 
 Condition. But to have thee esteemed from the praise of 
 
 your ancestors, 
 Pontic us, I should be unwilling, so as that yourself should 
 
 do 75 
 
 Nothing of future praise : 'tis miserable to rest on 
 
 another's fame, 
 Lest the house fallen, by the pillars being taken away, 
 
 should tumble into ruins. 
 The vine strow'd on the ground wants the widow'd elms. 
 Be you a good soldier, a faithful tutor, an uncorrupted 
 Umpire also : if you are summoned as a witness in a doubt- 
 ful 80 
 And uncertain thing, though Phalaris should command that 
 
 you 
 Should be false, and should dictate perjuries with the bull 
 
 brought to you, 
 Believe it the highest impiety to prefer life to 
 
 reputation, 
 And, for the sake of life, to lose the causes of living. 
 
 affairs, till he comes of age to manage death, by burning you alive, if you 
 
 for himself. would not speak falsely, yet let not 
 
 79-80. An uncorrupted umpire.] — even this make you deviate from the 
 
 When called upon to decide a cause truth. 
 
 by your arbitration, distinguish your- 83, The highest impiety, $c]— • 
 
 self by the utmost impartiality. Esteem it a crime of the deepest dye 
 
 80. A witness, ^c] If called upon to value your life, so as to preserve 
 as a witness in some dark and dim- it in a dishonourable way, at the ex- 
 cult matter, let your testimony be pence of your reputation and ho- 
 true, fair, and unbiassed. nour. Pudor — fame, reputation.— 
 
 81. Phalaris, $c] One of the most Ainsw. 
 
 cruel of all the Sicilian tyrants ; he 84. To lose, <|r.] i. e* The only 
 
 had a brazen bull, in which he en- causes which make life valuable, the 
 
 closed people, and burnt them to purposes for which it was ordained» 
 
 death. and for which it should be desir- 
 
 Though this tyrant were to bring able, honour, truth, and surviving 
 
 his bull, and threaten to put you to fame. 
 
JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 SAT. VIII. 
 
 Dignus morte perit, coenet licet ostrea centum 85 
 
 Gaurana, et Cosmi toto mergatur aheno. 
 
 Expectata diu tandem provincia cum te 
 Rectorem accipiet, pone irae frcena, modumque 
 Pone et avaritiae : miserere inopum sociorum. 
 Ossa vides regum vacuis exhausta medullis. 90 
 
 Respice, quid moneant leges, quid curia mandet ; 
 Praemia quanta bonos maneant ; quam fuhnine justo 
 Et Capito et Tutor ruerint, damnante senatu, 
 Piratae Cilicum : sed quid damnatio confert, 
 Cum Pansa eripiat quicquid tibi Natta reliquit ? 95 
 
 Praeconem, Chaerippe, tuis circumspice pannis, 
 Jamque tace : furor est post omnia perdere naulum. 
 Non idem gemitus olim, nee vulnus crat par 
 Damnorum, sociis florentibus, et modo victis. 
 Plena domus tune omnis, et ingens stabat acervus 100 
 
 85. He perishes, ffc.] Such a 
 wretch, who would prefer his safety 
 to his innocence, deserves to perish 
 utterly, and, when he dies, to have 
 his memory perish with him, how- 
 ever sumptuously he may have 
 lived. 
 
 86. Gauranc oysters.] Lucrine oys- 
 ters, taken about the port at Baice, 
 near the mountain Gaurus, in Cam- 
 pania. 
 
 — Immersed, £<•.] The Romans 
 gave particular names to particular 
 perfumed ointments; sometimes they 
 named them after the country from 
 whence they came, sometimes (as 
 probably here) after the name of the 
 confectioner, or perfumer, who pre- 
 pared them. They had an ungentum 
 Cosmianum, so called from one Cos- 
 mus, who, by boiling various aroma- 
 tics together, produced his famous 
 ointment. The poet here means, 
 that, if the person spoken of were 
 not to anoint himself, as others, but 
 could afford to purchase, and dip him- 
 self in a whole kettle full at once of 
 this rare perfume, yet his name 
 Mould deservedly rot with his carcase. 
 It is not living sumptuously, but liv- 
 ing well, that gives reputation after 
 death. 
 
 87. The province, §c] He now ad- 
 vises Ponticus as to his behaviour to- 
 \vards the people he is to govern, 
 
 when in possession of the govern- 
 ment of one of the conquered pro- 
 vinces, which he had long expected. 
 
 88. Pitt, cheeks, £a] Frcena — li- 
 terally, bridles, q. d. Bridle your an- 
 ger, keep your passion within proper 
 bounds. 
 
 89. Put to covetousness.] Restrain 
 your avarice, set bounds toyour desires. 
 
 — The poor associates.] The poor 
 people who have been reduced by 
 conquest, and now become the allies 
 of the Romans. 
 
 90. The bones of king*, £c] ;. r. 
 You see some of the kings, which we 
 conquered, unmercifully squeezed, 
 and the very marrow, as it were, 
 sucked out of their bones. Ossa va- 
 cuis medullis — i. e. ossa vacua a me- 
 dullis, Hypallage. 
 
 91. The state.] Curia literally sig- 
 nifies a court, more especially where 
 the senate or council assembled : 
 here (by metonym.) it may stand for 
 the senate itself — Curia pro senatu — 
 Campus pro comitiis — Toga pro pace, 
 Sec. appellatur. Cic. de Orat. iii. 42. 
 It was usual for the senate to give a 
 charge to new governors, on their 
 departure to the provinces over which 
 they were appointed. 
 
 92. How just a stroke.] How justly 
 they were punished by a decree of the 
 senate, which fell on them like a 
 thunderbolt. 
 
sat. viii. JUVENAUS SATIRES. 143 
 
 He perishes worthy of death, though he should sup on an 
 hundred S5 
 
 Gaurane oysters, and sliould be immersed in the whole cal- 
 dron of Cosmus. 
 When at length the province, long expected, shall receive 
 you 
 Governor, put checks to anger, and measure also 
 Put to covetousness : pity the poor associates. 89 
 
 You see the bones of kings exhausted, with empty marrow. 
 Regard what the laws may admonish, what the state com- 
 mand ; 
 How great rewards may await the good ; with how just a 
 
 stroke 
 Both Capito and Tutor fell, the senrte condemning, 
 The robbers of the Cilicians : but what does condemnation 
 
 avail, 
 "\Vhen Pansa can seize whatever Natta left you ? 95 
 
 Look about for a crier, Chaerippus, for your rags, 
 And now be silent : it is madness, after all, to lose your 
 
 freight. 
 There were not the same complaints formerly, nor was the 
 
 wound of 
 Losses equal, when our associates flourished, and were just 
 
 conquer'd. 
 Then every house was full, and there was standing a great 
 heap 100 
 
 94. Robbers of the Cilicians.] Cos- money, for fear the new governor 
 sutianus Capito, and Julius Tutor, should seize it. 
 
 had been successively prefects, or go- — Your fnight.] Naulum signifies 
 
 vernors, of Cilicia, and both recalled the freight or fare, paid for a pas- 
 
 and condemned by the senate for pe- sage over the sea in a ship. The poet 
 
 dilation and extortion. seems here to mean, that it would be 
 
 95. Funsa can seize, §c] Where no better than madness, to let the 
 is the use of making examples of governor know of the money which the 
 wicked governors, when, if you pu- goods sold for; for, by these means, 
 nish one, his successor will still seize even this would be seized, and the 
 on all he left behind him, and thus poor sufferer not have enough left to 
 complete the ruin which he began. pay his passage to Rome, in order to 
 
 96". Chcerippus.] He introduces lodge his complaint before the senate, 
 Chaerippus, a subject of this plun- against the oppressor, 
 dered province, whom he advises to 98-9. The -cound of losses, <yc.]~ 
 make a sale of his clothes, and the The hurt or damage received by the 
 rest of his poor rags, which he had rapine of governors, with respect to 
 left, before the successor comes with the property of individuals, 
 u fresh appetite, and devours all, sup- 99. Associates.] Sociis. The con- 
 posing that if he turned what he had quered provinces were allied with the 
 into money, it might be better con- Romans, and called socii. 
 cealed. 100. Every house -.vas full] i. c, 
 
 97. Be silent.] Say nothing of the Of valuable things, as well as of large 
 
144 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Nummorum, Spartana chlamys, conchylia Coa, 
 
 Et cum Parrhasii tabulis, signisque Myronis, 
 
 Phidiacum vivebat ebur, nee non Polycleti 
 
 Multus ubique labor : rarae sine Mentore mensae. 
 
 Inde Dolabella est, atque hinc Antonius, inde 
 
 Sacrilegus Verres. Referebant navibus altis 
 
 Occulta spolia, et plures de pace triumphos. 
 
 Nunc sociis juga pauca bourn, et grex parvus equarum ; 
 
 Et pater armenti capto eripietur agello : 
 
 Ipsi deinde Lares, si quod spectabile signum, 
 
 Si quis in asdicula Deus unicus : haec etenim sunt 
 
 Pro summis : nam sunt base maxima. Despicias ta 
 
 Forsitan imbelles Rhodios, unctamque Corinth um : 
 
 Despicias merito : quid resinata ju vent us, 
 
 Cruraque totius facient tibi laevia gentis ? 115 
 
 10.3 
 
 110 
 
 sums of money, which the conquerers 
 left untouched. 
 
 101. A S part a n cloak. ] A garment 
 richly dyed with the purple of the 
 inurex taken on the shore of Laconia, 
 a country of Peloponnesu.*, the chief 
 city of which was Sparta. 
 
 101. Purples of Cos.] Cos, or Coos, 
 was an island of the ^Egcan sea, near 
 which the fish, from whence the pur- 
 ple dye was taken, was also found. 
 Sat. iii. 1. 81, note. 
 
 102. Parrhaslus.] A famous painter 
 of Greece, who contended with Zeuxis, 
 and gained the prize. See Hoit. ode 
 viii. lib. iv. 1. 6. 
 
 — Myron.] An excellent statuary, 
 whose works were in high esteem, es- 
 pecially his brazen cow, which exer- 
 cised the pens both of the Greek and 
 Roman poets. Ut similis vera vacca 
 .Myronis opus. Ov. e Pont. iv. 1. 34. 
 
 103. Phidias.] A famous painter 
 and statuary : he is here said to have 
 wrought so curiously in ivory, that 
 his figures seemed to be alive. See 
 also Aixsw. Phidias. 
 
 104. Polycletus.] A Sicyonian, a 
 famous statuary and sculptor. There 
 were many of his works among this 
 collection. 
 
 — Mentor.] A noble artist in chas- 
 ing and embossing plate. We are to 
 understand here, that there were few 
 tables, i. e. entertainments, where, 
 in the courses and services of the 
 table, there were not some cups, 
 
 dishes, plates, &c. of Mentor's work- 
 manship. 
 
 All these fine ornaments were per- 
 mitted to remain in the houses of the 
 owners by their first conquerors ; but 
 the avarice and rapine of the gover- 
 nors who succeeded, stripped them 
 of all. 
 
 10.5. Titcnrc.] These things left by 
 the conquerors proved a source of ra- 
 pine and plunder to the prefects who 
 succeeded. 
 
 — Dolahclla.] A proconsul of Asia, 
 accused by Scaurus, and condemned, 
 for plundering the province over 
 which he presided. 
 
 — Antony.] C. Antonius, a pro- 
 consul of Achaia, likewise condemn- 
 ed for plundering the province. 
 
 10G. Sacrilegious Verres.] The 
 plunderer of Sicily, who spared not 
 even sacred things. The province 
 prosecuted him, and, Tullv under- 
 taking the cause, he was condemned 
 and banished. Vid. Cic. in Verrem. 
 
 107. Hidden spoils.] Which they 
 kept, as much as they could, from 
 public view ; not daring to expose 
 them, as was usual by fair conquer- 
 ors in their triumphs. 
 
 — More triumphs, §e.] Than 
 others did from war. q d. They got 
 a greater booty, by stripping the poor 
 associates, now at peace, and in 
 amity with Rome, than the conquer- 
 ors of them did, when they sub» 
 dued them by open war. 
 
JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 U5 
 
 Of money, a Spartan cloak, purples of Cos, 
 
 And with pictures of Parrhasius, statues of Myron, 
 
 The ivory of Phidias was living, also every where 
 
 Much of the labour of Polycletus: few tables without 
 
 Mentor. 
 Thence is Dolabella, and thence Antony, thence 105 
 
 The sacrilegious Verres : they brought in lofty ships 
 Hidden spoils, and more triumphs from peace. 
 Now the associates have a few yokes of oxen, and a small 
 
 herd of mares. 
 And the father of the herd will be taken away from the 
 
 captured field. 
 Then the very household gods, if any remarkable image, 
 If any one single god be in the small shrine. But these 
 
 (crimes) are 111 
 
 For chiefs, for these are the greatest.' — You may despise, 
 Perhaps, the weak Rhodians, and anointed Corinth : 
 You may deservedly despise them : what can an effeminated 
 
 youth 
 And the smooth legs of a whole nation do to you ? 115 
 
 109. The father of the herd, <f-c] 
 Mr. Stepney, in his poetical transla- 
 tion of this passage, has well ex- 
 pressed the sense of it ; viz. 
 
 oar confederates, now, 
 
 Have nothing left but oxen for the 
 plough, 
 
 Or some few mares reserved alone 
 for breed; 
 
 Yet, lest this provident design 
 succeed, 
 
 They drive the father of the herd 
 away, 
 
 Making both stallion and his pas- 
 ture prey. 
 
 110. The very household gods, $c] 
 These plunderers of the provinces 
 are so merciless and rapacious, that 
 they refrain not even from the lares, 
 or little images, of those tutelar dei- 
 ties which were placed in people's 
 houses ; and, particularly, if any of 
 these struck their fancy, as a hand- 
 some, well-wrought image — specta- 
 bile signum. Nay, though there were 
 but one single image, they would 
 take even that. See Ainsw. Lar. 
 
 112. For chiefs.] Pro summis, i. e> 
 viris. q. d. These sacrilegious depre- 
 dations are for Roman chiefs to com- 
 mit, because they are the most enor- 
 
 mous (maxima, the greatest) crimes 
 of all — (scelera understood)— such as 
 no others would be guilty of. 
 
 Other senses are given to this pas- 
 sage ; but the above seems best to 
 agree with the poet's satire on the 
 Roman chiefs, who plundered the 
 conquered provinces after their alli- 
 ance with Rome. 
 
 113. The weak Rhodians.] A peo- 
 ple infected with sloth and effemi- 
 nacy. 
 
 — Anointed Corinth.] So called 
 from its luxury and use of perfumed 
 ointments, a sure sign of great effe- 
 minacy. 
 
 You may safely, and indeed with 
 good reason, despise such people vs 
 these ; for you have nothing to fear, 
 either from their resistance, or from 
 their revenge. 
 
 114. An effeminated youth.] A race 
 of youth, or young men, wholly sunk 
 into effeminacy. Resinata juvenius 
 — literally, the youth (of Corinth) 
 who are resined — i. c. bedaubed all 
 over with perfumes and essences of 
 aromatic resins or gums. See Ainsw. 
 Resinatus. 
 
 115. Smooth legs, fyc] It was cus- 
 tomary for the delicate \oung men to 
 
 u 
 
146 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Horrida vitanda est Hispania, Gallicus axis, 
 Illyricumque latus. Parce et messoribus illis, 
 Qui saturant urbem, circo, scenaeque vacantem. 
 Quanta autem inde feres tarn dirae praemia culpae, 
 Cum tenues nuper Marius diseinxerit Afros ? 
 Carandum imprimis, ne magna injuria fiat 
 Fortibus et miseris, tollas licet omne quod usquam est 
 Auri atque argenti ; scutum gladiumque relinques, 
 Et jacula, et galeam ; spoliatis arma supersunt. 
 Quod modo proposui, non est sententia ; verum 
 Credite me vobis folium recitare Sibylla?, 
 
 Si tibi sancta cohors comitum ; si nemo tribunal 
 Vendit acersecomes; si nullum in conjuge crimen; 
 Nee per conventus, et cuncta.per oppida curvis 
 Unguibus ire parat nummos raptura Celaeno ; 
 Tunc licet a Pico numeres genus ; altaque si te 
 Nomina delectent, omnem Titanida pugnam 
 
 120 
 
 125 
 
 130 
 
 remove, as much as possible, the 
 hair which grew on their limbs. The 
 poet here means, that an oppressive 
 governor could have nothing to fear 
 from such people as these, who could 
 not have spirit, or courage enough, 
 to attempt any resistance. 
 
 1 16. Rough Spain.] Then a hardy 
 and brave people, who would not 
 tamely submit to injuries done them 
 by the Roman prefects. 
 
 — Gidlk axis.] The Gauls faught 
 from chariots. 
 
 117. The coast of Myria,] Latus — 
 lit. the side. The Illyiians inhabited 
 the right side of the Adriatic gulph, 
 including Dalmatia and Sclavonia ; a 
 hardy race of people. Their country 
 was over against Italy. 
 
 — Those reapers, $c.] Meaning the 
 people of Africa, who supplied Rome 
 with corn. 
 
 118. The city.] Rome. 
 —Intent, $c] Vacantem — empty 
 
 of all other employment, and mind- 
 ing nothing else but the public di- 
 versions of the circus, and of the 
 theatres. 
 
 119. Huto great rewards, $c] But 
 suppose you oppress the poor Africans, 
 what can you get by it. 
 
 120. Marius.] Priscus, who being 
 pro-consul of Africa, pillaged the 
 people of the province, for which he 
 
 was condemned and banished. See 
 Sat. i. 139. 
 
 — Stripped.] Diseinxerit — lit. un- 
 girded ; a metaphorical expression, 
 alluding to the act of those who take 
 away the garments of others, and 
 who begin by loosening the girdle by 
 which they are fastened. 
 
 122. The brave and miserable, ^rc] 
 Beware of provoking such by any un- 
 warrantable oppression ; they will 
 certainly find some way to revenge 
 themselves. Though you pillage them 
 of all their money and goods, yet re- 
 member they have arms left, with 
 which they can revenge their wrong. 
 
 — Entirely.] Omne quod usquam ; 
 lit. every thing which (is) any where. 
 
 126. Leaf of a Silyl.] The Sibyls 
 were supposed to be inspired with 
 knowledge of future events, which 
 came to pass as they foretold. See 
 sat. iii. 1. 3, and note. 
 
 Do not think, says Juvenal, that I 
 am here giving you a mere random 
 opinion of my own— no ; what 1 say 
 is as true as an oracle, as fixed as fate 
 itself, and will certainly come to pass; 
 therefore regard it accordingly. 
 
 127. A virtuous set, <|vj Cohors 
 here signifies cohors pra;loria, those 
 that accompanied the magistrate who 
 went into a province. See Ainsw. 
 Cohors, No. 5. — a. d. If the persons 
 
sat. vin. JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 147 
 
 Rough Spain is to be avoided, the Gallic axis, 
 
 And the coast of Illyria.: spare also those reapers 
 
 Who supply the city, intent upon the circus, and the 
 
 theatre. 
 But how great rewards of so dire a crime will you bring 
 
 from thence, k 
 Since Marius has lately stripp'd the slender Africans? 120 
 First care is to be taken, lest great injury be done 
 To the brave and miserable ; though you may take away 
 
 entirely every thing 
 Of gold and silver, you will leave the shield and sword, 
 And darts, and helmet : — arms remain to the plunderM. 
 What I have now proposed is not a mere opinion, but 125 
 Believe me to recite to you a leaf of a Sibyl. 
 
 If you have a virtuous set of attendants ; if no favourite 
 Sells your seat of judgment ; if no crime be in your wife ; 
 Nor through the districts, and through the towns, with 
 
 crooked 
 Talons, does she, a Celaeno, contrive to go to seize money ; 
 Then, you may reckon your lineage from Picus, and, if 
 
 high names 131 
 
 Delight you, you may place the whole Titanian battle, 
 
 of your retinue, who attend you as judicial business. In each of these 
 
 your officers and ministers within the prefect held a court, something 
 
 your province, are virtuous and good, like our judges on the circuits, to try 
 
 —If no favourite, $-c.J Acerse- criminal and civil causes. So likewise 
 
 comes was an epithet of Apollo, (Gr. in the cities, which were districts of 
 
 aKe^a-eKo^viq, intonsus,) and was themselves, like some of ours. This 
 
 transferred to the smoolh-faced boys, custom is very ancient, see 1 Sam. 
 
 which great men kept among their vii - 16 - 0n these occasions the pre- 
 
 attendants. feet's, or judge's wives, might at- 
 
 These favourites had great interest tend » with no small advantage to 
 
 and influence with their masters, and herself, if she were inclined to extort 
 
 people used to give them bribes to ob- money from the suitors, to influence 
 
 tain their interference with the pre- her husband in their favour, 
 feet when he sat in judgment, so as 129-30. Crooked talons, %c] Like 
 
 to incline hjm to favour their friends an harpy, seizing on all she could 
 
 in his decisions. g et - 0f Celaeno, and the other hai> 
 
 128. No crime he in your ■wife.'] It P ies > read Mn - ™- *• 211-18, 245, 
 was too frequent for the governors of 365, 703. 
 
 the provinces to be influenced by their 131 « Picus.} The first king of the 
 
 wives in their deierminationsof causes. Aborogines, an ancient people of 
 
 129. Districts} See Ainsw. Con- ItaI J» who incorporated themselves 
 ventus, No 3. It being put here with the Romans. He was said to be 
 with oppida, seems to mean those tn e son of Saturn. 
 
 districts into which the provinces were ]3 2. Titanian battle.] All the Ti,. 
 divided, like our counties, wherein tans » who were set in battle array 
 the people were summoned by the against Jupiter, these were sons of 
 
 magistrate to meet for the dispatch of 
 
 Saturn also. 
 
148 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Inter ma] ores, ipsumque Promethea ponas : 
 De quocunque voles proavum tibi sumito libro. 
 Quod si praecipitem rapit ambitus atque libido, 
 Si frangis virgas sociorum in sanguine, si te 
 Delectant hebetes lasso lictore secures : 
 Incipit ipsorum contra te stare parentum 
 Nobilitas, claramque facem praeferre pudendis. 
 
 OmNE ANIMI VIT1UM TANTO CONSPECTIUS IN SE 
 
 Crimen habet, quanto major, qui peccat, habetur 
 Quo mihi te solitum falsas signare tabellas 
 In templis, quae fecit avus ; statuamque parentis 
 Ante triumphalem ? quo, si nocturnus adulter 
 Tempora Santonico velas adoperta cucullo ? 
 
 Praeter majorum cineres, atque ossa volucri 
 Carpento rapitur pinguis Damasippus ; et ipse, 
 Ipse rotam stringit multo sufflamine Consul : 
 Nocte quidem : sed luna videt, sed sidera testes 
 
 135 
 
 140 
 
 145 
 
 1 33. Prometheus himself.'] The son 
 of Iapetus, one of the Titans, and 
 Clymene, whom the poets feigned to 
 have been the first former of men 
 out of clay, and then to have animat- 
 ed them by fire stolen from heaven. 
 See sat. iv. 131. 
 
 131-. Whatever hook, $c] I e. 
 From whatever history of great and 
 famous men you please — q. d. You 
 are welcome to this if you are your- 
 self a worthy man and a good ma- 
 gistrate. 
 
 136. Break rods, $c] If you break 
 the rods, which ycu prepare for the 
 allies over which you preside, on their 
 bloody backs — l. e. if you cruelly 
 torment them with scourges. 
 
 137. The lictor, £v.] If you delight 
 in putting the poor people to death, 
 till the very axes are blunted by fre- 
 quent use, and the executioner him- 
 self be tired out with the number of 
 executions. 
 
 138. The nobility, $c ] So far from 
 the nobility of your family's reflect- 
 ing any honour upon you, it rises, 
 and stands in judgment, as it were, 
 against you, and condemns you for 
 your degeneracy. 
 
 139. A clear torch] Makes your 
 foul deeds the more conspicuous, 
 and exposes your shame in a clearer 
 light, 
 
 140. Every vice.] Such as cruelty, 
 avarice, and the like. Pravitates ani- 
 mi, vitia recte dicuntur. Cic. 
 
 —More conspicuous, <J-c.] So far 
 from deriving any sanction from high 
 and noble birth, the vices of the great 
 are the more blameable, and more evi- 
 dently inexcusable in proportion to 
 the greatness of their quality ; their 
 crimes are the more notorious, their 
 examples the more malignant. 
 
 142. Ulicreforc, £c] Jactas is 
 here understood — Quo mihi jactas te 
 solitum, &c — q. d. " It is of very 
 " little consequence, that you, who 
 " are in the habit of forging wills, 
 *' should be boasting to me your no- 
 " bility : to what end, intent, or pur- 
 " pose, can you do it ?" Quo. here, 
 has the sense of quorsum. 
 
 143. In the temples,] It was usual 
 to sign, as a witness to a will, in the 
 temples of the gods, to put men in 
 mind that they were obliged by reli- 
 gion to be true and faithful. See sat. 
 i. 1. 54-5. 
 
 —Your grandfather built.] Fecit 
 — lit. made. The piety of your an- 
 cestors reflects no honour upon you. 
 
 144. The triumphal statue] Which 
 being set up in the temple, is, as it 
 were, a witness of your villainy. 
 
 — A nightly adulterer.] Taking ad- 
 vantage of the night to conceal your 
 
SAT. VIII. 
 
 JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 149 
 
 And Prometheus himself, among your ancestors : 
 
 Take to yourself a great grandfather from whatever book 
 
 you please. 
 But if ambition, and lust, hurry you headlong, 135 
 
 If you break rods in the blood of the allies, if thee 
 Blunt axes delight, the lictor being tired, 
 The nobility of your ancestors themselves begins to stand 
 Against yon, and to carry a clear torch before your shame- 
 ful deeds. 
 Every vice of the mind has by so much more conspi- 
 cuous 140 
 Blame, by how much he that offends is accounted 
 
 GREATER. 
 
 Wherefore to me boast yourself accustomed to sign false 
 
 wills 
 In the temples, which your grandfather built, and before 
 The triumphal statue of your father ? what, if a nightly 
 
 adulterer, 
 You veil your covered temples with a Santonic hood ? 145 
 By the ashes of his ancestors, and their bones, in a swift 
 Chariot, fat Damasippus is whirled along, and he, 
 Himself, the consul, binds the wheel with many a drag. 
 By night indeed, but the moon sees, but the conscious stars 
 
 deeds of darkness. See Job xxiv. 15- 
 17. 
 
 145. Your temples'] Your head and 
 face, of which the temples are a part. 
 Synec. 
 
 — A Santonic hood.] The Santones 
 were a people of Aquitain, a part of 
 France, from whom the Romans de- 
 rived the use of hoods, or cowls, 
 which covered the head and face. 
 
 1 40. By the ashes, «S-c.j The poet 
 here inveighs against the low and de- 
 praved taste of the noblemen in Rome, 
 whose passion it was to become cha- 
 rioteers. The name Damasippus (from 
 Gr. $a,pcta)y to tame, and IviroQ, 
 an horse) signifies an horse-tamer, 
 and is applicable not merely to any 
 single person, but to all of the same 
 taste. Damasippus, says he, drives 
 furiously by the ashes and bones of his 
 great progenitors; so totally unin. 
 fluenced by their examples of true 
 greatness, as to sink into the mean 
 character of a coachman, or chario- 
 teer. The emperor Nero affected 
 
 this, and was followed in it by many 
 by way of paying court to him ; and 
 indeed the poet here must be under- 
 stood to glance at this. 
 
 148. Binds the ivheel, $c.] The 
 sufflamen was the drag put on the 
 wheel of a carriage to stop or stay it, 
 that it should not go too fast down 
 hill, or run back when going up hill. 
 The person who attended to put this 
 on was some slave ; but Damasippus, 
 though consul, submits to this otiice 
 himself. Multo suffiamine implies his 
 often doing this. 
 
 149. By night, £c] This indeed 
 he does in the night, when he thinks 
 nobody sees him ; but the moon and 
 stars are witnesses of the fact, which 
 is so degrading to a man in his situ- 
 ation, and which would not happen 
 had he a due regard to his own dig- 
 nity. Testis signifies, lit. a witness. 
 Hence, met. that is privy to a thing, 
 conscious. Sat. iii. 4$ $ and sat» xiii» 
 75. 
 
150 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIILE. 
 
 SAT. VIII. 
 
 150 
 
 Intendunt oculos. Finitum tempus honoris 
 
 Cum fuerit, claia Damasippus luce flagellum 
 
 Sumet, et occursum nusquam trepidabit amici 
 
 Jam senis, at virga prior innuet, atque maniplos 
 
 Solvet, et infundet jumentis hordea lassis. ; 
 
 Interea dum lanatas, torvumque juvencum 155 
 
 More Numae easdit Jovis ante altaria, jurat 
 
 Hipponam, et facies olida ad praesepia pictas. 
 
 Sed cum pervigiles placet instaurare popinas, 
 
 Obvius assiduo Syrophcenix udus amomo 
 
 Currit, Idumaeae Syrophoenix incola portae, 160 
 
 Hospitis affectu Dominum, Regemque salutat, 
 
 Et cum venali Cyane, succincta lagena. 
 
 Defensor culpae dicet mihi : fecimus et nos 
 
 Haec juvenes. Esto ; desisti nempe, nee ultra 
 
 Fovisti errorem. Breve sit. quod turpiter audes. 165 
 
 Quaedam cum prima resecentur crimina barba. 
 
 Indulge veniam pueris : Damasippus ad illos 
 
 Thermarum calices, inscriptaque lintea vadit, 
 
 150. The time of honour is fnish- 
 cd.] When he goes out of office at the 
 end of the year. 
 
 151. In the clear light, $c.] In 
 open day light he will appear as a cha- 
 rioteer. 
 
 153. Now old,] And therefore 
 grave and sedate ; yet Damasippus 
 will feel no shame at meeting him. 
 
 — Make a sign, £c] Salute him 
 with a dexterous crack of his whip. 
 See sat. iii. 305-6. 
 
 154. Loosen, «Jr.] Will feed his 
 horses himself, coachman like. Ma- 
 nipulum is an handful, armful, or 
 bundle ; here we may suppose it to 
 mean a truss of hay. 
 
 155. Kills sheep.] When he goes 
 to offer sacrifices, according to the 
 rites established by Numa, the suc- 
 cessor of Romulus, at the altar of 
 Jupiter. 
 
 156-7. Swears ly Hippona.] Hip- 
 pona (from i7T7ro? an horse) is the 
 goddess he swears by, and in whose 
 name he makes his vow?. She was 
 the goddess of hors?s and stables ; 
 her image was placed in the middle of 
 the stalls, and curiously bedecked 
 with chaplets of fresh roses. By et 
 facies pictas, we may suppose that 
 there were other deities, of a like 
 
 kind, painted on the walls of the 
 stables. 
 
 158. To renew the watchful ta- 
 verns.'] To renew his visits, and re- 
 pair to the taverns, where people sat 
 up all night. 
 
 159. A Si/ropheeniciaru] A name 
 of Syria and Phoenicia, from whence 
 the finest perfumed ointments came, 
 as did also those who prepared them 
 best. 
 
 — Wet, <|-c] Greasy, by continu- 
 ally busying himself in his trade. 
 
 160. Inhabitants of the Idumcean 
 gate.] The Idumaean gate at Rome 
 was so called from Vespasian's and 
 Titus's entry through it, when they 
 triumphed over the Jews. Idumaea 
 is a part of Syria, bordering on Ju- 
 daea. This part of Rome, which was 
 called the Idumaean gate, was pro- 
 bably much inhabited by these Syrian 
 perfumers. 
 
 161. With the affectation, |-c] — 
 The innkeepers at Rome were very 
 lavish of their flatteries and civil 
 speeches to people who came to their 
 houses, in order to engage their cus- 
 tom. This perfumer affects the same, 
 in order to bespeak the custom of Da- 
 masippus, and flatters him with the 
 highest titles that he can think of. 
 
SAT. VIII. 
 
 JUVENAL/S SATIRES. 
 
 151 
 
 Fix their eyes upon him : when the time of honour is 
 
 finished, r 150 
 
 Damasippus, in the clear light, the whip will 
 Take, and no where tremble at the meeting of a friend 
 Now old, but will first make a sign, with his whip ; and 
 
 trusses 
 Of hay will loosen, and pour in barley to his tired beasts. 
 Mean time while he kills sheep, and the fierce bullock, 155 
 After the manner of Numa, before the altars of Jove, he 
 
 swears by 
 Hippona, and faces painted at the stinking mangers : 
 But when he pleases to renew the watchful taverns, 
 A Syrophcenician, wet with a constant perfume, runs to 
 Meet him, a Syrophcenician inhabitant of the Idumsean 
 
 gate; ,• 160 
 
 With the affectation of an host, he salutes him lord and 
 
 king ; 
 And nimble Cyane with a venal flagon. 
 A defender of his fault will say tome, " We also have done 
 
 " these things 
 " When young men." " Be it so — but you left off, nor 
 
 " farther 
 " Cherished your error. — Let that be short which you 
 
 ■* shamefully adventure." 165 
 
 Some crimes should be cut off with the first beard. 
 Indulge favour to boys. Damasippus goes to those 
 Cups of the hot baths, and to the inscribed linen, 
 
 162. Nimble Cyane.] The woman 
 of the house loses no time in setting 
 a bottle of liquor before him. Suc- 
 cinctus eursitat hospes. Hor. lib. ii. 
 sat. vi. 1. 107. Succinctus — lit. girt, 
 trussed, tucked up, for the greater 
 expedition. 
 
 — A venal flagon."] Of wine, which 
 was sold at the tavern. 
 
 163. A defender, <£c] Some person 
 may perhaps say, by way of excuse. 
 
 165. Let that be short,] i. e. Stop 
 short, and never persist in doing ill. 
 
 " Nee lusissc pudet sed non incidere 
 Zwrfc." Hor. 
 
 166. Should be cut off.] Left off 
 when we come to manh >od. 
 
 167. Indulge favour.] Make all pro- 
 per allowances for the errors of youth. 
 
 — Damasippus, <§r.] True, one 
 would make every allowance for the 
 follies of young men ; but Damasip- 
 
 pus is of an age to know and to do 
 better. See 1. 169-71. 
 
 168. Cups of the hot baths.] The 
 Thermae, or hot baths at Rome, were 
 places, where some, after bathing, 
 drank very hard. Hence Epigram- 
 matogr. lib. xii. epigr. 71. cited bv 
 Grangius, in his note on this passage. 
 Frangendos calices, effundendumque 
 Falernum. 
 Clamabat, bibcret, qui modolotuseques. 
 A sene sed postquam mimmi venire 
 trecenii, 
 Sobrius a Thcrmis nescit abire do- 
 mum. 
 They also drank hot wine, while bath- 
 ing, to make them perspire. 
 
 168. The inscribed linen.} Alluding 
 to the brothel^, over the doors of 
 which the entertainment which the 
 guests might expect was set forth on 
 painted linen. 
 
152 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Maturus bello Armenia?, Syriaeque tuendis 
 
 Amnibus, et Rheno, atque Istro. Praestare Neronem 170 
 
 Securum valet haec aetas. Mitte Ostia, Caesar, 
 
 Mitte; sed in magna legatum quaere popina. 
 
 Invenies aliquo cum percussore jacentem, 
 
 Permistum nautis, aut furibus, aut fugitivis, 
 
 Inter canrifices, et fabros sandapilarum, 17 b 
 
 Et resupinati cessantia tympana Galli. 
 
 ^Equa ibi libertas, communia pocula, lectus 
 
 Non alius cuiquam, nee mensa remotior ulli. 
 
 Quid facias, talem sortitus, Pontice, servum ? 
 
 Nempe in Lucanos, aut Thusca ergastula mittas. 180 
 
 At vos, Trojugenae, vobis ignoscitis, et quae 
 
 Turpia cerdoni, Volesos Brutosque decebunt. 
 
 Quid, si nunquam adeo fcedis, adeoque pudendis 
 Utimur exemplis, ut non pejora supersint ? 
 Consumptis opibus vocem, Damasippe, locasti 185 
 
 169. Mature for the war, <$<*.]-*■ 
 Damasippus is now grown up to man- 
 hood, and ripe for entering upon the 
 eervice of his country. 
 
 — Armenia.'] In the reign of Nero, 
 Armenia excited new and dangerous 
 tumults. 
 
 169-70. Rivers of Syria, ry\"|— 
 As the Euphrates, Tigris, and Oron- 
 tes, which were to be well defended, 
 to prevent the incursions of enemies 
 into Syria. 
 
 170. The Rhine and Ister.] The 
 former anciently divided Germany 
 and France : the latter means the 
 Danube, the largest river in Europe ; 
 as it passeth';by Illyricum, it is called 
 the Ister. On the banks of both these 
 rivers the Romans had many con- 
 quered nations to keep in subjection, 
 and many others to fear. 
 
 171; This age is able.] Persons, 
 at the time of life to which Dama- 
 sippus is arrived, are capable of en- 
 tering into the armies, which are to 
 protect both the emperor and the em- 
 pire. By Neronem any emperor may 
 be meant — perhaps Domitian. Sat. 
 iv. 38. 
 
 — Send Ccesar, $c] q. d. Have you 
 occasion, O Ceesar, for an ambassador 
 to dispatch on business of state to 
 Ostia, or to the coasts of the Roman 
 provinces ? Ostia was a city built by 
 
 Ancus Martius, at the mouth of the 
 river Tiber. Ostia-ae, sing, or Ostia- 
 orum, plur. 
 
 172. Seek your legate, <$r.] If you 
 should choose to employ Damasippus, 
 you must look for him in some ta- 
 vern, and among the lowest and most 
 profligate company. 
 
 175. Makers of coffins.] Sandapila 
 was a bier, or coffin, for the poorer 
 sort, especially for those who were 
 executed. 
 
 176. The ceasing dr ions, §c] The 
 priests of Cybele, in their frantic pro- 
 cessions, used to beat drums. Here 
 is an account of one asleep on his 
 back, perhaps dead drunk, with bis 
 drums by him quite silent. They 
 were called Galli, from Gallus, a ri- 
 ver in Phrygia, in which country 
 Cybele was peculiarly worshipped. 
 
 177. There is equal liberty, fye 
 
 All are here upon one footing ; they 
 drink out of the same cup. 
 
 — Another couch, $c] The Ro- 
 mans, at their entertainments, lay 
 upon couches, or beds ; and people 
 of distinction had their couches orna- 
 mented, and some were raised higher 
 than others; but here all were ac- 
 commodated alike. 
 
 1 78. Table more remote, $c.] No 
 table set in a more or less honourable 
 place ; no sort of distinction made, 
 
SAT. VIII. 
 
 JUVENAI/S SATIRES. 
 
 153 
 
 Mature for the war of Armenia, and for defending the 
 
 rivers 
 Of Syria, and for the Rhine and Ister. To make Nero 170 
 Safe, this age is able. Send, Csssar, send to Ostia, 
 But seek your legate in a great tavern. 
 You will find him lying by some cut-throat, 
 Mix'd with sailors, or thieves, or fugitives, 
 Among hangmen, and makers of coffins, 175 
 
 And the ceasing drums of a priest of Cybele lying on his 
 
 back. 
 There is equal liberty, cups in common, not another couch 
 To any one, nor a table more remote to any. 
 What would youvdo, Ponticus, if you had such a slave ? 
 You would surely send him among the Lucani, or the Tus- 
 can workhouses. 180 
 But you, sons of Troy, forgive yourselves, and what things 
 Are base to a cobler, will become the Volesi or Bruti. 
 
 What, if we never use so foul, and so shameful 
 Examples, that worse cannot remain ? 
 Thy riches consumed, thy voice, Damasippus, thou hast 
 hired to 185 
 
 or respect shewn, to one more than 
 another. They were all " Hail fel- 
 " low ! well met !" as we say. 
 
 179. Such a slave, #c] If you had 
 a slave that passed his time in such a 
 manner, and in such rascally com- 
 pany ; if such a one had fallen to your 
 lot, what would you do with him ? 
 
 180. The Lucani.} Lucania was a 
 country of Italy, belonging to Na- 
 ples, where the slaves were punished 
 by being made to dig in fetters. 
 
 — Tuscan workhouses.'} Ergastula 
 —places of punishment for slaves, 
 where they were made to work in 
 chains. These were very frequent in 
 
 181. Sons of Troy.} A sneer on 
 the low-minded and profligate nobi- 
 lity, who were proud of deriving 
 their families from the ancient Tro- 
 jans, who first settled iu Italy. See 
 sat i. 8C. 
 
 — Forgive yourselves.} Easily find 
 out excuses for what you do. 
 
 182. Will lecome the Volesi or 
 Bruit.} By these he means the no- 
 bles of Rome, the most ancient fa- 
 milies being derived from Valerius 
 
 Volesus, who came and settled at 
 Rome, with Tatius king of the Sa- 
 bines, on the league of amity with 
 Romulus. Brutus also was a name 
 highly reverenced, on account of the 
 noble acts of some who had borne it. 
 Junius Brutus was the first consul 
 after the expulsion of the kings ; Do- 
 mitius Junius Brutus was one of the 
 conspirators against Julius Csesar ; 
 these were the chiefs of a noble fa- 
 mily in Rome, who bore the name 
 of Brutus. 
 
 The poet here observes, that the 
 Roman nobility were got to such a 
 state of shameless profligacy, that 
 they gloried in actions and practices, 
 which a low mechanic would have 
 been ashamed of, and which would 
 have disgraced even a cobler. 
 
 183. If we never, $c] q. d, What 
 will you say, if after the examples 
 which I have produced, so infamous 
 and shameful, there should remain 
 yet worse ? 
 
 185. Damasippus.} See his charac- 
 ter, 1. 147-180. At last he is sup- 
 posed to have ruined himself, and to 
 go upon the stage. 
 
 X 
 
154 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 SAT. VIII. 
 
 Sipario, clamosum ageres ut Phasma Catulli. 
 
 Laureolum Velox etiam bene Lentulus egit, 
 
 Judice me, dignus vera cruce. Nee tamen ipsi 
 
 Ignoscas populo: populi frons durior hujns, 
 
 Qui sedet, et spectat triscurria patriciorum : 190 
 
 Planipedes audit Fabios, ridere potest qui 
 
 Mamercorum aiapas. Quanti sua funera vendant, 
 
 Quid refert r vendunt nullo cogente Nerone, 
 
 Nee dubitant celsi Praetoris vendere ludis. 
 
 Finge tamen gladios inde, atque hinc pulpita pone : 195 
 
 Quid satius? mortem sic quisquam exhorruit, ut sit 
 
 Zelotypus Thymeles ; stupidi collega Corinthi ? 
 
 Res haud mira tamen, citharaedo principe, mimus 
 
 Nobilis : haec ultra, quid erit nisi ludus ? et illic 
 
 Dedecus urbis habes : nee mirmillonis in armis, 200 
 
 186. The stage. 1 ] Siparium, pro- 
 perly, is the curtain of a theatre : 
 here, by synec. it denotes the theatre 
 itself. 
 
 — Phasma.] Catullus wrote a play, 
 entitled Phasma, or the Vision •> so 
 called from Gr. ^atyo/xat, appareo. 
 Probably the work of some scribbler 
 of that name, full of noise and rant. 
 
 187. Velox Lent /tins.] Another of 
 these profligate noblemen. 
 
 — Laureolus.] The name of a tra- 
 gedy, in which the hero Laureolus, 
 for some horrid crime, is crucified. 
 
 188. Worthy, §e.] Richly deserv- 
 ing to be crucified in earnest, for con- 
 descending to so mean a thing as to 
 turn actor upon a public stage. 
 
 — / being judge.] In my opinion ; 
 in my judgment. 
 
 189. The very people.] Even the 
 commonalty who attend at these exhi- 
 bitions. 
 
 — The front of this people, $c.]-- 
 The spectators are still, if possible, 
 more inexcusable, who can impu- 
 dently sit and divert themselves with 
 such a prostitution of nobility. 
 
 190. Buffooneries.] Triscurria, from 
 tris (Gr. t^k) three times, and 
 scurra, a butfoon ; the threefold buf- 
 fooneries of persons acting so out of 
 character. 
 
 — Patricians.] Noblemen of the 
 highest rank. 
 
 191. Barefooted Faoii ] Planipee — 
 
 an actor or mimic, that acted with- 
 out shoes, or on the plain ground. 
 
 A fine piece of diversion, for the 
 spectators to behold a man, descend- 
 ed from one of the first families, 
 acting so low a part ! 
 
 192. Of the Mamerci.] A great 
 family in Rome, descended from Ma- 
 mercus iEmilius, who, when dictator, 
 subdued the rebels at Fidenae. 
 
 A curious entertainment, truly, to 
 see a descendant of this family suffer- 
 ing kicks, and slaps on the face, like 
 a merry-andrew, on a public stage, 
 for the diversion of the people ! 
 
 192. Sell their deaths, <£-c] i. e. 
 Expose their persons to be put to 
 death, q. d. No matter for what price 
 these nobles run the hazard of their 
 lives ; they do it voluntarily, there- 
 fore nobody will pity them if they be 
 killed. He now proceeds to satirize 
 the noble gladiators. 
 
 193. No Nero compelling, fyc] — 
 Alluding to the cruelty of Nero, who 
 commanded four hundred senators, 
 and six hundred knights, to fight in 
 the amphitheatre ; these were excus- 
 able, for they could not help it ; but 
 this was not the case with those the 
 poet is here writing of, who, of their 
 own accord, exposed their lives upon 
 the stage for hire, like common gla- 
 diators ; which we may understand, 
 by vendunt. 
 
 * 194. Nor douU f $c.] They make 
 
SAT. VIII. 
 
 JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 155 
 
 The stage,, that thou mightest act the noisy Phasina of 
 
 Catullus. 
 Velox Lentulus also acted well Laureolus, 
 Worthy, I being judge, a real cross. Nor yet can you 
 Excuse the very peoples the front of this people is still 
 
 harder, 
 Who sits, and beholds the buffooneries of patricians : 1 90 
 Hears barefoot Fabii — who can laugh at the slaps 
 Of the Mamerci. At what price they may sell their deaths 
 What does it signify ? they sell them, no Nero compelling, 
 Nor doubt to sell them to the shows of the haughty praetor. 
 But imagine the swords there, and put the stage here : 195 
 Which is best ? has any one so feared death, that he should 
 
 be 
 Jealous of Thymele ; the colleague of stupid Corinthus ? 
 Yet it is not surprising, when the prince is a harper, that 
 
 the noble 
 Is a mimic : after these things, what will there be but a 
 
 play ? and there 
 You have the disgrace of the city : Gracchus, neither in 
 
 the arms of a Mirmillo, 200 
 
 no scruple to engage in the shews of 
 gladiators given by the praetor, who 
 sat on high, exalted in a car, to di- 
 rect and superintend the whole. See 
 sat. x, 1. 36. They hire themselves, 
 as it were, for this purpose. 
 
 195. Imagine the s-u-ords, <|-:\] — 
 Suppose you were to choose, put the 
 lists for sword-playing on one hand, 
 the stage on the other, which should 
 you think best; which would you 
 choose ? 
 
 196. Has any one, fyc.] Has any 
 one known the fear of death so much, 
 as not to risk his life in a combat, ra- 
 ther than to play the fool as an actor. 
 
 We are to understand the poet here 
 to say, that it is more shameful to 
 act upon the stage, than to fight as a 
 gladiator, though at the hazard of 
 life : for who would not detest to 
 play the part of the cuckold Latinus, 
 the jealous husband of Thymele, or 
 be a fellow-actor with that stupid fel- 
 low Corinthus, a low mimic and 
 buffoon. 
 
 197. Thymele.'} See sat. i. 1. 34. 
 and note. 
 
 J.38. Prime* a harper.] No wonder 
 
 a nobleman, born under the reign of 
 Nero, who turned actor and harper 
 himself, should be influenced by, and 
 follow the example of the emperor. 
 
 The poet is here shewing the mis- 
 chief which accrues from the evil ex- 
 ample of princes. 
 
 199. After these things, £c\ After 
 this, what can you expect, but that 
 it should become a general fashion, 
 and that nothing should be found, in 
 the polite world, but acting plays 
 and prize-fighting. Ludus signifies 
 both. 
 
 — There.] i. e. In that manner of 
 employment, so unworthy the nobi- 
 lity of Rome, you have Gracchus, 
 &c. Some read Illud, agreeing with 
 dedecus — q. d. You have Gracchus, 
 that disgrace, ace. 
 
 200. The disgrace, |r.] A severe 
 rebuke of Gracchus, a nobleman of 
 one of the greatest families in Rome, 
 who debased himself, to the scandal 
 of even the city itself, in fighting 
 upon the stage. Juvenal censures 
 him for three enormities at once. 
 
 1 st. For his bareness, in such a 
 condescension. 
 
156 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRjE. 
 
 Nee clypeo Gracchum pugnantern, aut falce supina, 
 (Damnat enim tales habitus, sed damnat et odit,) 
 Nee galea frontem abseondit : movet ecce tridentem, 
 Postquam librata pendentia retia dextra 
 Nequiequam effudit, nudum ad spectacula vultura 
 Erigit, et tota fugit agnoseendus arena. 
 Credam us -tunica?, de faucibus aureacum se 
 Porrigat, et longo jactetur spira galcro. 
 Ergo ignomioiam graviorem pertulit omni 
 Vulnere, cum Graccho jussus pugnare secutor. 
 Libera si deutur populo suffragia, quis tarn 
 Perditus, ut dubitet Senecam praeferre Neroni ? 
 Cujus supplicio non debuit una parari 
 Simia, nee serpens unus, ncc culeus unus. 
 Par Agamemr.cnidae crimen ; sed causa facit rem 
 
 205 
 
 210 
 
 21 £ 
 
 2ndly. For his impudence, in not 
 choosing an habit which might have 
 disguised him. 
 
 3dly. For his cowardice in running 
 away, and meanly shewing himself 
 to the people to obtain their favour. 
 
 — Mirnullo.'} There were two sorts 
 of gladiators among the Romans, 
 which had different names according 
 to the arms and habit which they ap- 
 peared in. One fought with a sword, 
 or falchion, shaped like a scythe 
 (falce) in his right hand, a target on 
 his left arm, and an htlmet on his 
 head ; he was called Mirmillo, (from 
 jAv^rAoSf an ant, which is covered 
 with scales like armour. See AlXSW.) 
 or Secutor : the other wore a short 
 coat without sleeves, called tunica; 
 a hat on his head ; he carried in his 
 right-hand a javelin, forked like a 
 trident, called fuscina ; on his left 
 arm a net, in which he endeavoured 
 to catch his adversary, and from 
 thence was called Retiarius. 
 
 Now Gracchus did not take the 
 arms of the Mirmillo, which would 
 have covered him from being so ea- 
 sily known, but took the habit of the 
 Retiarius, and impudently exposed 
 his person to the knowledge of the 
 beholder*. 
 
 203. A trident.] The fuscina. See 
 note on I. 200. 
 
 204. After the nets, £c] It was 
 the play of the Retiarius to throw his 
 
 net over the Mirmillo, and so, coi> 
 f.ning him, to have him in his power ; 
 to this end he took the best aim he 
 could, balancing the net as exactly as 
 possible, that it might cover his mark. 
 But Gracchus missed it, and then tied 
 to escape his antagonist. 
 
 205. The seajfolds.] Spectacula— 
 the scaffolds on which the spectators 
 sat to behold the shows. Spectacu- 
 lum sometimes signifies a beholder. 
 Ainsw. No. 4. 
 
 206. Acknowledged, #r.] Be known 
 by the spectators, that, seeing who 
 he was, they might not make the 
 signal for his being put to death, as 
 a bad and cowardly gladiator. See 
 sat. iii. J. 3d, note 2. 
 
 — Arena.] Literally signifies sand ; 
 but, by metonymy, the part of the 
 amphitheatre where the gladiators 
 fought, because strewed with sand, 
 to keep them from slipping, and to 
 drink up the blood. 
 
 207. Trust to his tunic] The Re- 
 tiarius wore a sort of coat without 
 sleeves, called tunica — hence Grac- 
 chus is called tumcatus. His was so 
 rich and magnificent, as plainly to 
 shew what he was. Some instead of 
 credamus read cedamus, let us yield 
 — i. e. to the evidence of his habit, 
 to prove his rank. 
 
 — Since, %c.] Cum — here used as 
 qu an dequid em— forasmuch as— see- 
 ing that, 
 
JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 157 
 
 SAT. VIII. 
 
 Nor fighting witlrthe shield, or held-up scythe, 
 
 (For he condemns such habits, but he condemns and hates 
 
 them,) 
 Nor hides his forehead with an helmet : behold he moves a 
 
 trident, 
 After the nets, hanging from his balanced right-hand, 
 He has cast in vain, his countenance naked to the scaffolds 
 He erects, and flies to be acknowledged over the whole 
 
 arena. 206 
 
 Let us trust to his tunic, since a golden wreath from his 
 
 jaws 
 Stretches itself, and is tossed from his long cap. 
 Therefore the Secutor bore an heavier ignominy than any 
 Wound, being commanded to fight with Gracchus. 210 
 
 If free suffrages were allowed the people, who is so 
 Lost, as that he should doubt to prefer Seneca to Nero ? 
 For whose punishment there ought not to be prepared 
 One ape, nor one serpent, nor one sack. 
 The crime of Orestes was equal ; but the cause makes the 
 
 thins: 215 
 
 —A golden wreath.] The spira was 
 a band, or twisted lace, which was 
 fastened to the hat, and tied under the 
 chin, to ke2p it upon the head. This 
 band, or lace, also, being of gold, 
 plainly shewed that he was no com- 
 mon gladiator. 
 
 " See 
 
 " His coat and hat-band shew his 
 " quality" Stepney." 
 
 208. Stretches itself, $c] Being 
 untied, hangs down on each side of 
 hisface — porrigatdefaucibus — loosely 
 from the hat, or cap, which, having 
 an high crown, appeared of a consi- 
 derable length from the base to the 
 top — longo galero. 
 
 — Is tossed.] Blown to and fro by 
 the air, in his running from the Mir- 
 millo. 
 
 209. The Secutor.] Or follower. 
 The Mirmillo was so called from his 
 following the Retiarius to kill him, 
 after the latter had missed with his 
 net, unless his life were begged. 
 
 — An heavier ignominy, $c] The 
 gladiator who fought with so inexpe- 
 rienced and cowardly a fugitive, got 
 more dishonour in fighting with him, 
 though he overcame him, than if toe 
 
 had himself received a wound from a 
 brave and experienced antagonist. 
 
 211. If free suffrages, #c] Iftha 
 people were allowed to give their votes 
 freely. See sat. x. 77-81. 
 
 212. Seneca to Nero.] Lucius Se- 
 neca, uncle to Lucan the poet, and 
 appointed tutor to Nero by Agrippina, 
 who recalled him from banishment. 
 He was an orator, poet, philosopher, 
 and historian. He was put to death 
 by Nero. q. d — Who is so lost to all 
 sense of virtue, who so abandoned, 
 as even to doubt whether he should 
 prefer Seneca to Nero ? 
 
 213. For whose punishment.] i. e. 
 For Nero's. 
 
 213-14. Nor one ape, $c] A par- 
 ricide, by the Roman law, was sewn 
 up in a sack, with a cock, a serpent, 
 an ape, and a dog, and thrown into 
 the sea. 
 
 The poet means, that Nero's many 
 parricides deserved more than one 
 death. 
 
 215. Of Orestes.] Agamemnonidae, 
 the son of Agamemnon and Clytem- 
 nestra. 
 
 -—Crime equal] He slew his mo- 
 ther, and therefore was a parricide a& 
 
158 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Dissimilem : quippe ille Deis auctoribus ultor 
 Patris erat caesi media inter pocula : sed nee 
 Electras jugulo se polluit, aut Spartani 
 Sanguine conjugii : nullis aconita propinquis 
 Miscuit : in scena nunquam cantavit Orestes : 
 Troica non scripsit. Quid enim Virginius armis 
 Debuit ulcisci magis, aut cum Vindice Galba ? 
 Quid Nero tarn saeva, crudaque tyrannide fecit ? 
 Hasc opera, atque hae sunt generosi principis artes, 
 Gaudentis fcedo peregrina ad pulpita cantu 
 Prostitui, Graiaeque apium meruisse coronas. 
 Majorum effigies habeant insignia vocis, 
 Ante pedes Domiti longum tu pone Thyestae 
 Syrma, vel Antigones, seu personam Menalippes, 
 
 220 
 
 225 
 
 well as Nero, who slew his mother 
 Agrippina, by whose means he got 
 the empire. 
 
 — The cause makes, $c.~\ The oc- 
 casion and the motive from which 
 Orestes acted were very different from 
 that of Nero, and therefore make 
 a great difference as to the act it- 
 self. 
 
 216. Was the avenger, <%c.] — 
 Orestes killed his mother Clytemnes- 
 tra, because she, with her paramour, 
 ^Egysthus, had murdered his father 
 Agamemnon; therefore Orestes might 
 be looked upon as a minister of divine 
 justice, to execute the vengeance of 
 the gods, and to act, as it were, by 
 their command. 
 
 217. In the midst of his cups.] — 
 Homer — Odyss. a. and K — is of Ju- 
 venal's opinion, that Agamemnon was 
 slain at a banquet, when he little ex- 
 pected such treatment. 
 
 Homer, as well as Juvenal, justi- 
 fies this revenge, as being undertaken 
 by the advice of the gods. 
 *218. Throat of Elect ra.] Orestes 
 did not kill his sister Electra, as Nero 
 did his brother Britannicus. Holt, 
 lib. ii. sat. hi. 1. 137-40. 
 
 219. Spartan wedlock.] He did not 
 kill his wife Hermione, the daughter 
 of Menelaus king of Sparta, as Nero 
 murdered his wives Octavia, Antonia, 
 and Pcppasa. 
 
 ~—Foison for none, $c] As Nero 
 did for his brother Britannicus, and 
 fox his aunt Domitia. 
 
 220. Never sang, $c] Orestes, 
 (see sat. i. 1. 5, note,) mad as he was, 
 never sang upon the stage, as Nero 
 did, who not only sang upon the thea» 
 tre among the ordinary comedians, 
 but took a journey to Greece, on pur- 
 pose to try his skill among the most 
 famous artists, from whom he bore 
 away the garland, and returned to 
 Borne in triumph, as if he had con- 
 quered a province. 
 
 221. Never wrote Tro'ics.] Nero 
 had also the vanity of being thought 
 a good poet, and made verses on the 
 destruction of Troy, called Troica ; 
 and, it is reported, that he set Bonne 
 on fire, in order to realize the scene 
 better. It is also said, that he placed 
 himself, dressed in a theatrical habit, 
 on an eminence in Borne, and sang a 
 part of his Troica to his harp, during 
 the conflagration. 
 
 — What ought Virginius, $c-— 
 Nero's monstrous frolicks and cruel- 
 ties could not but make the people 
 weary of his government. Virginius 
 Bufus, his lieutenant-general in Gaul, 
 by the assistance of Junius Vindex, 
 (a nobleman of that country,) soon 
 persuaded the armies under his com- 
 mand to fall from their allegiance, and 
 solicited Sergius Galba, lieutenant- 
 general in Spain, to do the like, by 
 offering him the empire in favour of 
 mankind, which he at last accepted, 
 upon intimation that Nero had issued 
 secret orders to dispatch him, and 
 marched, with all the forces he could 
 
JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 159 
 
 SAT. VIII. 
 
 Unlike, for he, the gods being commanders, was the 
 
 avenger 
 Of a father slain in the midst of his cups : but he neither 
 Polluted himself with the throat of Electra, nor with the 
 
 blood 
 Of Spartan wedlock : poison for none of his relations 
 Did he mix. Orestes never sang upon the stage : 220 
 
 Never wrote Troics : for what ought Virginius with his 
 
 arms 
 Rather avenge, or Galba with Vindex ? 
 What did Nero in a tyranny so savage and bloody ? 
 These are the works, and these the arts of a noble prince, 
 Rejoicing, with shameless song, on foreign stages to be 225 
 Prostituted, and to have deserved the parsley of a Grecian 
 
 crown. 
 " Let the statues of your ancestors have the tokens of your 
 
 " voice, 
 " Before the feet of Domitius do thou place the long gar- 
 
 " ment 
 " Of Thyestes ; or of Antigone ; or the mask of Menalippe ; 
 
 gather, towards Rome. Nero, not 
 being in a condition to oppose such 
 troops, fell into despair, and endea- 
 voured to make his escape ; he put 
 himself in disguise, and crept, with 
 four attendants only, to a poor cot- 
 tage, where, perceiving he was pur- 
 sued, as a samfice to public ven- 
 geance, and fearing to fall into the 
 hands of the people, with much ado 
 he resolved to stab himself. 
 
 223. Whit did Nero, £c] What, 
 among all his acts of cruelty and ty- 
 ranny, has he ever done worthy a 
 prince ? what has he achieved by 
 them ? or, indeed, what beside these 
 can be said of him ? 
 
 224. These are the works, £c] If 
 you ask me, says an answerer, I will 
 tell you all that can be said of him ; 
 liz. That it was his delight to prosti- 
 tute the dignity of a prince, to the 
 meanness of a common fidler, by ex- 
 posing himself on the public stages of 
 Greece, that, instead of glorying in 
 real crowns of triumph, his ambition 
 was to get a garland of parsley (the 
 reward of the best fidler) in the 
 Nemaean games, from the Grecian 
 music -masters. These games were 
 
 celebrated to the memory of Arche- 
 morus, the young son of Lycurgus. 
 
 227. " Let the statues,'" §c] As 
 such were your exploits, O Nero, and 
 you have no other trophies wherewith 
 to ornament the statues of your an- 
 cestors, let the parsley-crown, which 
 you won by singing, be placed before 
 them. Insigne, plur. insignia, signi- 
 fies all marks and tokens of honour, 
 such as crowns, robes, &c 
 
 228. " QfDomUius."] Thy grand- 
 father and father, both of which were 
 named Domitius. His father was 
 Caius Domitius Ahenobarbus, consul, 
 and afterwards governor of Transal- 
 pine Gaul ; he was slain in the war 
 with Pompe)\ 
 
 229. " Of Thyestes; or of AntU 
 gone."] i. e. The dress which you 
 wore when you played in the trage- 
 dies so called. Syrma, a long gar- 
 ment which tragic players used. 
 
 . — " The mask of Menalippe."] The 
 mask which you wore when you 
 acted the part of Menalippe, the sister 
 of Antiope, queen of the Amazons, 
 in the comedy of Euripides, written 
 on her story. She was taken captive 
 by Hercules, and given Theseus to 
 wife. 
 
160 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Et de niarmoreo citharam suspende colosso. 
 
 Quis, Catilina, tuis natalibus, atque Cethegi 
 lnveniet quicquam sublimius ? anna tamen vos 
 Noctuma, et flainmas domibus templisque parastis, 
 Ut Braccatorum pueri, Senonumque minores, 
 Ausi quod liceat tunica punire molesta : 
 Sed vigilat consul, vexillaque vestra coercet. 
 Hie novus Arpinas, ignobilis, et modo Romas 
 Municipalis eques, galeatum ponit ubique 
 .Presidium attonitis, et in omni gente laborat. 
 Tantum igitur muros intra toga contulit ilii 
 Nominis et tituli, quantum non Leucade, quantum 
 Thessalias campis Octavius abstulit udo 
 v Caedibus assiduis gladio. Sed Roma parentem, 
 Roma patrem patriae Ciceronem libera dixit. 
 
 230 
 
 235 
 
 24-0 
 
 230. " Suspend an harp,' 1 '' §c] — 
 Nero, according to Pliny, erected a 
 colossal statue of Augustus, one hun- 
 dred and ten feet high, (according to 
 Suetonius, one hundred and twenty.) 
 Suetonius, de Ner. ii. 10. says, that 
 Nero honoured highly a harp that 
 was given him by the judges, (in his 
 contest with the Grecian musicians,) 
 and commanded it to be carried to 
 the statue of Augustus. This the poet 
 alludes to in this place. 
 
 The apostrophe to Nero, in the 
 above four lines, is conceit 
 much humour, and at the same time 
 with due severity ; these are greatly 
 heightened by the ironical use of the 
 word insignia, 1. 227. 
 
 231. Catiline.] The conspirator, 
 whose plots and contrivances were 
 found out and defeated by Cicero. He 
 was so debauched and profligate, that 
 his name is frequently used to denote 
 the vilest of men. So Juvenal, sat. 
 xiv. 41, 2. 
 
 Catilhiam 
 
 Quoeunquc in populo videos, cue- 
 cunque sub axe. 
 Yet he was well born. 
 
 232. Cethcgus.] Caius, cneof the 
 conspirators with Catiline, a man of 
 senatorial dignity. 
 
 232-3. Nocturnal antos.] Medi- 
 tated the destruction of the people of 
 Rome by night, and armed yourselves 
 accordingly with torches, and other 
 instruments of mischief. 
 
 234. Sons of the Gauls.] Bracca- 
 
 torum. The Gauls were called Erac- 
 cati, from the breeches, or trousers, 
 which the people of Nar bonne and 
 Provence used to wear. 
 
 — Srnoncs.] A people of the an- 
 cient race of the Celtae, inhabiting the 
 Lionnoifl in Gaul. 
 
 These people, under Brennus, their 
 general, sacked and burnt Rome, and 
 besieged the eapitol, but, by the con- 
 duct and valour of the dictator Ca- 
 millus, were defeated. 
 
 235. A pitched coat.] Tunica mo- 
 lesta. This was a coat, or garment, 
 bedaubed and interwoven with pitch 
 and other combustibles, and put on 
 criminals, who were chained to a post, 
 and thus burnt alive. Sec Aixsw. 
 Mohsius. This instrument of tor- 
 ture was expressed by the phrase, 
 tunica molesta. 
 
 The emperor Nero, after charging 
 the Christians with setting Rome on 
 fire, publicly tortured and slew them 
 on the stages in the day-time, and at 
 night put tunica? molestae on their 
 bodies, and lighted them up, by way 
 of torches, in the night-time. Comp. 
 sat. i. 1. 141. note 2. 
 
 23G. The consul] Cicero was then 
 consul. 
 
 — Restrains your banners."] Under 
 which many wicked and desperate 
 men had enlisted : but the fury of 
 their arms was restrained by the vigi- 
 lance of the consul, who watched all 
 their motions. 
 
JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 161 
 
 SAT. VIII. 
 
 ** And suspend an harp from a marble colossus." 230 
 
 Who, Catiline, will find out any thing more noble than 
 
 your birth, 
 Or than that of Cethegus ? but yet, nocturnal 
 Arms, and flames, for the houses and temples ye prepared, 
 As sons of the Gauls, or the posterity of the Senones, 
 Attempting what it would be right to punish with a pitched 
 
 coat : 235 
 
 But the consul is vigilant, and restrains your banners. 
 This new man of Arpinum, ignoble, and lately at Home 
 A municipal knight, puts every where an helmeted 
 Safeguard for the astonished people, and labours every 
 
 where. 
 Therefore the gown conferred on him, within the walls, 
 
 more fame 240 
 
 And honour, than Octavius brought away from Leucas, or 
 
 from 
 The fields of Thessaly, by his sword wet 
 With continual slaughters : but Rome, the parent, 
 Rome set free, called Cicero the father of his country. 
 
 237. New man.] The Romans 
 gave this name to those who were the 
 first dignified persons of their family, 
 and who themselves were of obscure 
 birth. Catiline, in derision, urged 
 this name in contempt against Cicero. 
 
 — Arpinum.] An ancient town of 
 the Volsci in Italy, famous for being 
 the birth-place of Tully and Marius. 
 
 Arpinas signifies one of Arpinum. 
 
 — Ignoble.] Of mean extraction. 
 
 238. A municipal knight.] Muni- 
 cipalis signified one who belonged to 
 a town free of the city of Rome ; 
 this was the case with Tully, who was 
 born at Arpinum, and had been, soon 
 after his coming to Rome, admitted 
 into the equestrian order. Catiline 
 called him therefore municipaliseques, 
 in contempt. 
 
 — Helmeted.] Armed. Synec. like 
 galeatus, sat. i. 155; and caligatus, 
 sat. hi. 310. 
 
 239. Astonished people.] Who were 
 dreadfully terrified by the designs and 
 attempts of the conspirators. 
 
 — Labours every where.] Bestirs 
 himself in all quarters, for the secu- 
 rity of the city. 
 
 I take — in omni gente — in this 
 place, to mean something like ubique 
 
 Y 
 
 gentium, which signifies every where, 
 in what part of the world soever. 
 
 And indeed Tully not only shewed 
 his activity within the city, but he 
 disposed guards and spies throughout 
 all Italy, as well as among every 
 tribe of the Roman people, finding 
 out, by the Allobroges and others, 
 the designs of the traitors. 
 
 240. The gown.] His robe of of- 
 fice ; but here, by metonym. his pru- 
 dence and wise counsels. Toga here 
 is opposed to gladio, I. 243. 
 
 241. Octavius.] Caesar, afterwards 
 called Augustus. 
 
 — Leucas.] A promontory of Epi- 
 rus, called also Leucate, near which 
 Octavius Caesar defeated Antony and 
 Cleopatra, in a bloody naval battle. 
 
 242. Fields of Thessaly, $c.] Phi- 
 lippi, in Thessalia, where he defeat- 
 ed Brutus and Cassius. 
 
 244. Rome set free.] Delivered 
 and set free from the dangers that, 
 threatened it, and restored to its laws 
 and liberties, which for a while 
 had been suspended by the public 
 troubles. 
 
 — Father of his country."] This ho- 
 nourable title was given to Cicero, af- 
 ter the defeat of Catiline's conspiracy,. 
 
162 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Arpinas alius Volscorum in monte solebat 245 
 
 Poscere mercedes alieno lassus aratro ; 
 
 Nodosam post haec frangebat vertice vitem, 
 
 Si lentus pigra muniret castra dolabra : 
 
 Hie tamen et Cirabros, et summa pericula rerura 
 
 Excipit, et solus trepidantem protegit urbem. 250 
 
 Atque ideo postquam ad Cimbros, stragemque \olabant, 
 
 Qui nunquam attigerant rnajora cadavera, corvi, 
 
 Nobilis ornatur lauro collega secunda. 
 
 Plebeiae Deciorum anirnae, plebeia fuerunt 
 Nomina : pro totis legionibus hi tamen, et pro 255 
 
 Omnibus auxiliis, atque omni plebe Latina 
 Sufficiunt Dis infernis, Terraeque parenti : 
 Pluris enim Decii, quam qui servantur ab illis. 
 Ancilla natus trabeam et diadem a Quirini, 
 Et fasces meruit, regum ultimus ille bonorum. 260 
 
 Prodita laxabant portarum claustra tyrannis 
 
 He was the first who bore it. It was 
 afterwards given to some of the em- 
 perors; but much more from flat» 
 tery, than because they deserved it. 
 
 245. Another Arpinian."] C. Ma- 
 rius, who also came from Arpinum, 
 was a poor ploughman there, who 
 hired himself out to plough theground 
 of others. 
 
 — Of the Volsci.] Arpinum was an 
 ancient city in the country of the 
 Volsci, now called Arpino, between 
 Tuscany to the west, and Campania 
 to the east. 
 
 247. He broke a knotty viae, #c] 
 The Roman centurions used to carry 
 a piece of tough vine-branch in their 
 hands, with which they corrected the 
 soldiers when they did amiss. Marius 
 was once a private soldier, and had 
 had the centurion's stick broke upon 
 his head, for being lazy at his work, 
 when set to chop with an axe the 
 wood used in fortifying the camp 
 against the enemy. 
 
 249. The Cimbri.] The Teutones 
 and Cimbri, neighbouring nations, 
 joined their forces, and marched to- 
 wards Rome, by which they struck 
 a terror throughout Italy ; but C. 
 Marius, with Q, Catullus the pro- 
 consul, marched out against them, 
 sustained their attack, and totally 
 defeated them. 
 
 —Dangers of affairs.] When the 
 
 affairs of Italy, of Rome especially, 
 seemed to be in the utmost danger 
 from these powerful enemies. 
 
 250. And alone, $c] Though Q. 
 Catullus was with Marius in this vic- 
 tory, yet Marius was the commander 
 in chief in the Cimbrian war, there- 
 fore the whole honour of the victory 
 was ascribed to him. Comp. 1. 253. 
 
 251 — After — the crows, §c.] And 
 other birds of prey, which, after the 
 battle, came to feed upon the slain. 
 See Hom. II. i. 5. 2. 393, et al. q. d. 
 After the battle was ended. See sat. 
 iv. 1. 109. 
 
 252. Greater carcases.] The Cim- 
 bri were, in general, men of large 
 stature. 
 
 253. His noble colleague.] Q. Ca- 
 tullus, who had been second in com- 
 mand, and was of noble birth. 
 
 •—-/> adorned 'with the second lau- 
 rel.'} Received only the second ho- 
 nours of the day. 
 
 254. The Decii, £<?.] These, 
 though originally of low extraction, 
 yet gained immortal honours, by sa«- 
 crificing their lives for their country ; 
 the father in the Latin war, the son 
 in the Hetruscan, and the grandson 
 in the war against Fyrrhus. 
 
 255. Whole legions, $c] The Ro- 
 mans had a superstition, that if their 
 general would consent to be devoted 
 to death, or sacrificed to Jupiter 
 
JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 163 
 
 SAT. VIII. 
 
 Another Arpinian, hi the mountain of the Volsci, used 245 
 
 To demand wages, tired with the plough of another man ; 
 
 After this he broke a knotty vine with his head, 
 
 If, idle, he fortified the camp with a lazy axe. 
 
 Yet he both the Cimbri, and the greatest dangers of 
 
 affairs, 
 Sustains, and alone protects the trembling city. 250 
 
 And so, after to the Cimbri, and to the slaughter, the 
 
 crows 
 Flew, who had never touched greater carcases, 
 His noble colleague is adorned with the second laurel. 
 
 The souls of the Decii were plebeian, their names 
 Plebeian : yet these, for whole legions, and for all %55 
 
 Our auxiliaries, and for all the Latin common people, 
 Suffice for the infernal Gods, and parent Earth : 
 For the Decii were of more value than those who were 
 
 saved by them. 
 Born from a servant maid, the robe and diadem of Romulus, 
 And the fasces, that last of good kings deserved. 260 
 
 The youths of the consul himself were opening the fasten- 
 
 mgs 
 
 Mars, the Earth, and the infernal 
 Gods, all the misfortunes of his party 
 would be transferred on their enemies. 
 This opinion was confirmed by seve- 
 ral successful instances, particularly 
 two, in the persons of the Decii, fa- 
 ther and son. The first being consul 
 ■with Manlius in the wars against the 
 Latins, and perceiving the left wing, 
 which he commanded, give back, 
 called out to Valerius the high priest 
 to perform on him the ceremony of 
 consecration, (Livr, lib. viii.) and 
 immediately spurred his horse into 
 the thickest of the enemies, where 
 he was killed, and the Romans gained 
 the battle. His son afterwards died 
 in the same manner in the war against 
 the Gauls, with the like success. 
 
 257. Suffice."} i. e. To appease, and 
 render them propitious to the Roman 
 arms. 
 
 258. More value, ftc") Such men 
 as these are to be more highly prized 
 than all the army and people for 
 whom they thus nobly sacrificed their 
 lives. 
 
 259. Born from a servant maid.] — 
 Servius Tullius, born of the captive 
 Oriculana, But Livy supposes her 
 
 to have been wife to a prince of Cor- 
 niculum, (a town of the Sabines in 
 Italy,) who was killed at the taking 
 of the town, and his wife carried 
 away captive by Tarquinius Priscus, 
 and presented as a slave to his wife 
 Tanaquil, in whose service she was 
 delivered of this Tullius. 
 
 259. The robe, $c>] The ensigns of 
 royalty are here put for the kingdom, 
 or royalty itself ; so the fasces, for the 
 highest offices in the state. See sat. 
 iii. 118, note. 
 
 — Romidus.] Called Quirinus. See 
 sat. iii. 1. 67, note on "O Quirinus." 
 
 260. Last of good kings.] Livy 
 says that, with him, justa ac legi- 
 tima regna ceciderunt. 
 
 261. Youths of the consul, $c 
 
 The two sons of L. Junius Brutus, 
 Titus and Tiberius, who, after their 
 father had driven Tarquin, and hi» 
 whole race, out of Rome, and taken 
 an oath of the Romans never more 
 to suffer a king, entered into a con- 
 spiracy to restore the Tarquins ; the 
 sum of which was, that the gates of 
 the city should be left open in the 
 night-time for the Tarquins to enter : 
 to this purpose they sent letter*, iu> 
 
164 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Exulibus juvenes ipsius consulis, et quos 
 Magnum aliquid dubiapro libertate deceret, 
 Quod miraretur cum Coclite Mutius, et quae 
 Imperii fines Tiberinum virgo natavit. 
 Occulta ad patres produxit crimina servus 
 Matronis lugendus : at illos verbera justis 
 Afficiunt pcenis, et legum prima securis. 
 Malo pater tibi sit Thersites, dummodo tu sis 
 iEacidse similis, Vulcaniaque arma capessas, 
 Quam te Thersitae similem producat Achilles. 
 Et tamen, ut longe repetas, longeque revolvas 
 Nomen, ab infami gentem deducis asylo. 
 Majorum primus quisquis fuit ille tuorum, 
 Aut pastor fuit, aut illud, quod dicere nolo. 
 
 SAT. VIII. 
 
 265 
 
 270 
 
 275 
 
 der their own hands, with promises 
 to this effect. 
 
 The fastenings, <|-c.] The 
 
 bars of the city gates, which were 
 to be betrayed to the Tarquins. 
 
 262. Exiled tyrants.] The Tar- 
 quins. 
 
 263. Some great thing, #c] It 
 would have been becoming these sons 
 of the patriot Brutus to have stricken 
 some great stroke, that might have 
 tended to secure the public liberty ; 
 which, under the new government, 
 after the expulsion of the kings, must 
 have been in a doubtful and uncer- 
 tain state ; not as yet established. 
 
 264. Mutius."] Scaevola, who, when 
 Porsenna, king of Tuscany, had en- 
 tered into an alliance with the Tar- 
 quins, to restore them by force, went 
 into the enemy's camp with a resolu- 
 tion to kill their king Porsenna, bat, 
 instead of him, killed one of his 
 officers; and, being brought before 
 the king, and finding his error, burnt 
 off his right hand, as a penalty for 
 his mistake. 
 
 — Cocks.] Horatius, being to guard 
 a bridge, which he perceived the 
 enemy would soon be master of, he 
 stood and resolutely opposed part of 
 their army, while his own party re- 
 passed the bridge, and broke it down 
 after them. He then threw himself, 
 armed as he was, into the Tiber, and 
 ^scaped into the citv. 
 
 265. Who smm, $c] Clelia* a 
 
 Roman virgin, who was given to 
 king Porsenna as an hostage, made 
 her escape from the guards, and 
 swam over the Tiber. King Porsenna 
 was so stricken with these three in- 
 stances of Roman bravery, that he 
 withdrew his army, and courted their 
 friendship. 
 
 266. A slave."] Vindicius, a slave 
 who waited at table, overhearing part 
 of the discourse among the conspira- 
 tors, went strait to the consuls, and 
 informed them of what he had heard. 
 The ambassadors from the Tarquins 
 were apprehended and searched ; the 
 letters above mentioned were found 
 upon them, and the criminals seized. 
 
 — Bewailed by matrons, $-c] By 
 the mothers of such of the conspira- 
 tors as were put to death, as the sad 
 cause of their destruction, by accus- 
 ing them to the senate. 
 
 — Produced.] Produxit— brought 
 out, discovered. 
 
 267. But stripes, $c.] The proof 
 being «.vident against them, they suf- 
 fered the punishment (which was 
 newly introduced) of being tied naked 
 to a stake, where they were first 
 whipped by the lictors, then behead- 
 ed : and Brutus, by virtue of his of- 
 fice, was unhappily obliged to see 
 this rigorous sentence executed on his 
 own children. See JEn. vi. 817- 
 23. 
 
 268. First axe of the lazes.] i. e. 
 The first tune this sentence had been 
 
SAT. VIII. 
 
 JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 165 
 
 Of the gates, betrayed to the exiled tyrants, and whom 
 Some great thing foFdonbtful liberty might have become, 
 Which Mutius, with Codes, might admire, and the virgin 
 Who swam the Tiber, the bounds of our empire. 265 
 
 A slave, to be bewailed by matrons, produced their hidden 
 
 - crimes 
 To the fathers : but stripes affected them with just 
 Punishment, and the first axe of the laws. 
 1 had rather thy father were Thersites, so thou art 
 Like Achilles, and take in hand the Vulcanian arms, 270 
 Than that Achilles should produce thee like Thersites. 
 And yet, however far you may fetch, and far revolve 
 Your name, you deduce your race from an infamous 
 
 asylum. 
 Whoever he, the first of your ancestors, was, 
 Either he was a shepherd, or that which 1 am unwilling to 
 say. 275 
 
 executed since the making of the 
 law. 
 
 269. Thersites.] An ugly huffoon 
 in the Grecian army before Troy. 
 See Hom. II. B. 1. 216-22. 
 
 270. Achilles.] iEacides-ae, or — is, 
 so called from his grandfather iEacus, 
 who was the father of Peleus, the 
 father of Achilles. 
 
 — The Vulcanian arms.] Or ar- 
 mour, that was made by Vulcan, at 
 . the request of Thetis, the mother of 
 Achilles, which could be pierced by 
 no human force. 
 
 271. Than that Achilles, $c] The 
 poet here still maintains his argu- 
 ment, viz. that a virtuous person, of 
 low and mean birth, may be great 
 and respectable : whereas a vicious 
 and profligate person, though of the 
 noblest extraction, is detestable and 
 contemptible. 
 
 272. However far, $c] Juvenal 
 here strikes at the root of all family- 
 pride among the Romans, by carry- 
 ing them up to their original. Re- 
 volve, roll or trace back, for however 
 many generations. 
 
 273. An infamous asylum.'] Romu- 
 lus, in order to promote the peo- 
 pling of the city in its first infancy, 
 established an asylum, or sanctuary, 
 
 where all outlaws, vagabonds, and 
 criminals of all kinds, who could 
 make their escape thither, were sure 
 to be safe. 
 
 275. Either he was a shepherd.]—* 
 As were Romulus and Remus, and, 
 their bringer up, Faustulus. 
 
 — Unwilling to say.] As the poet 
 does not speak his own meaning, it 
 may not be very easy to determine 
 it; but it is likely that he would in- 
 sinuate, that none of the Romans had 
 much to brag of in point of family 
 grandeur, and that none of them 
 could tell but that they might have 
 come from some robber, or cut-throat, 
 among the first fugitives to Rome, 
 or even from something worse than 
 that, if worse could be : and indeed 
 Romulus himself, their founder, was 
 a parricide, for he is said to have 
 killed his brother Remus. 
 
 Thus Juvenal concludes this fine 
 Satire on family-pride, which he 
 takes every occasion to mortify, by 
 shewing, that what a man is in him- 
 self, not what his ancestors were, is 
 the great matter to be considered. 
 
 Worth makes the man, the want of 
 it the fellow ; 
 
 The rest is all but leather or prtt- 
 ncllo. Pope. 
 
J&ttra ©mma* 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 TJie PoeCs design in this Satire, which deservedly holds 
 the first rank among all performances of the kind, is to 
 represent the various wishes and desires of mankind, 
 and to shew the folly of them. He mentions riches, 
 honours, eloquence, Jame for martial achievements, long 
 life, and beauty, and gives instances of their having 
 proved ruinous to the possessors of them. He concludes % 
 
 OMNIBUS in terris, quae sunt a Gadibus usque 
 Auroram et Gangeni, pauci dignoscere possunt 
 Vera bona, atque illis multum diversa, remota 
 Erroris nebula : quid enim ratione timemus, 
 Aut cupimus ? quid tarn dextro pede concipis, ut te 5 
 
 Conatus non poeniteat, votique peracti ? 
 Evertere domos totas optantibus ipsis 
 Di faciles. Nocitura toga, nocitura petuntur 
 
 * This satire has been always ad- dour of day-break,) metonym. the 
 
 mired ; Bishop Burnet goes so far, as East. 
 
 to recommend it (together with Fer- — Ganges.] The greatest river in 
 
 sius) to the serious perusal and prac- the East, dividing India into two 
 
 tice of the divines in his diocese, as parts. 
 
 the best common places for their ser- 3-4. Cloud of error.'] That veil of 
 mons, as the storehouses and maga- darkness and ignorance which is over 
 zines of moral virtues, from whence the human mind, and hides from it, 
 they may draw out, as they have as it were, the faculty of perceiving 
 occasion, all manner of assistance for our real and best interests, as distin- 
 the accomplishment of a virtuous guished from those which are deceit- 
 Jife. The tenth Satire (says Crusius ful and imaginary, 
 in his Lives of the Roman Poets) is 4. What, -with reason.] Accord- 
 inimitable for the excellence of its ing to the rules of right and sober 
 morality, and sublime sentiments. reason. 
 
 Lbie'l. Gades.] An island without o. So prosperously, §c.] Tarn dex^ 
 
 the streights of Gibraltar in the south tro pede — on so prosperous a footing 
 
 part of Spain, divided from the con- — with ever such hope and prospect 
 
 tinent by a small creek. Now called of success, that you may not repent 
 
 Cadis, by corruption Cales. your endeavour (conatus) and pains 
 
 2. The East.] Aurora, (quasi aurea to accomplish it, and of your desires 
 
 ■Jiora. from the golden-coloured splen- and wishes being fully completed and 
 answered ?— votique peracti. 
 
CentJ gativt.* 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 therefore, that we should leave it to the gods to make 
 a choice for us, they knowing what is most for our 
 good. All that we can safely ask is health of body and 
 mind : possessed of these, we have enough to make us 
 happy, and therefore it is not much matter what zee 
 want besides. 
 
 IN all lands, which are from Gades to 
 The East and the Ganges, few can distinguish 
 True good things, and those greatly different from them, 
 
 the cloud 
 Of error removed : for what, with reason do we fear, 
 Or desire? what do you contrive so prosperously, that 
 you 5 
 
 May not repent of your endeavour, and of your accom- 
 plished wish ? 
 The easy gods have overturned whole houses, themselves 
 Wishing it. Things hurtful by the gown, hurtful by war- 
 fare, 
 
 The right and left were ominous — moral sense, those conceptions and 
 
 dexter-a-um, therefore, signifies lucky, contrivances of the mind, which are 
 
 favourable, fortunate, propitious — as the foundations of human action, on 
 
 laevus-a-um, unlucky, inconvenient, which men build for profit or happi- 
 
 unseasonable. ness : — this seems to be its meaning 
 
 Tam dextro pede is equivalent to here. 
 
 tarn fausto — secundo — prospero pede. 7. The easy gods, #<\] The gods, 
 
 I pede fausto— go on and prosper, by yielding to the prayers and wishes 
 
 Hon. lib. ii. epist. ii. 1. 37. So Virg. of mankind, have often occasioned 
 
 JErt. viii. L 302. their ruin, by granting such things as 
 
 Et nos et tua dexter adi pede sacra in the end proved hurtful. So that, 
 
 secundo. in truth, men, by wishing for what 
 
 " Approach us, and thy sacred appeared to them desirable, have, in 
 
 " rites, with thy favourable pre- effect, themselves wished their own 
 
 ** sence."— - destruction. 
 
 Pes — lit. a foot, that member of 8. By the gown.'] Toga here being 
 the body on which we etand — some- opposed to militia, may allude to the 
 times means the foundation of any gown worn by the senators and ma- 
 tting— ^ plot fer building ; — so, in a gistrates of Rome ; and so, by me- 
 
168 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Militia. Torrens dicendi copia multis, 
 Et sua mortifera est tacundia. Viribus ille 
 Confisus periit, admirandisque lacertis. 
 Sed plures niraia congesta pecunia cura 
 Strangulat, et cuncta exsuperans patrimonia census, 
 Quanto delphinis balasna Brittanica major. 
 Temporibus diris igitur, jussuque Neronis, 
 Longinum, et magnos Seneca? praedivitis hortos 
 Clausit, et egregias Lateranorum obsidet aedes 
 Tota cohors : rarus venit in coenacula miles. 
 Pauca licet >portes argenti vascula purr; 
 Nocte iter ingressus, gladium contumque timebis, 
 Et motae ad lunam trepidabis arundinis umbrani. 
 Caktabit vacuus coram latrone viator. 
 
 Prima fere vota, et cunctis notissima tern pi is, 
 Divitiae ut crescant, ut opes ; ut maxima toto 
 Nostra sit area foro : sed nulla aconita bibuntur 
 
 10 
 
 20 
 
 25 
 
 ton. signify their civil officers in the 
 government of the state. — q. d. Many 
 have wished for a share in the govern- 
 ment and administration of civil af- 
 fairs, others for high rank and post 
 of command in the army, each of 
 which have been attended with damage 
 to those who have eagerly sought af- 
 ter them. 
 
 9. A fluent copiousness, §c.] Many 
 covet a great degree of eloquence ; 
 but how fatal has this proved to pos- 
 sessors of it ! Witness Demosthenes 
 and Cicero, who both came to violent 
 deaths; — the former driven, by the 
 malice of his enemies, to poison him- 
 self: the latter slain by order of M. 
 Anton}-. See Keysler's Travels, 
 vol. ii. p. 342, note. 
 
 10; To his strength.] Alluding to 
 Milo, the famous wrestler, born at 
 Croton, in Italy, who, presuming too 
 much on his great strength, would 
 try whether he could not rend asun- 
 der a tree which was cleft as it grew 
 in the forest ; it yielded at first to his 
 violence, but it closed presently again, 
 and, catching his hands, held him, 
 till the wolves devoured him. 
 
 12. Destroys.] Lit. strangles. Met. 
 ruins, destroys. Strangulo quasi 
 stringo gulam. 
 
 The poet is here shewing, that, of 
 ail things which prove ruinous to the 
 
 possessors, money, and especially an 
 overgrown fortune, is one of the most 
 fatal — and yet, with what care is this 
 heaped together ! 
 
 13. Exceeding, $c] i. c. Beyond 
 the rate of a common fortune. 
 
 14. A British uhale.] A whale 
 found in the British seas. 
 
 16. Longinus.] Cassius Longinus, 
 put to death by Nero : his pretended 
 crime was, that he had, in his cham- 
 ber, an image of Cassius, one of Ju- 
 lius Caesar's murderers, but that 
 which really made him a delinquent 
 was his great wealth, which the em- 
 peror seized. 
 
 16. Seneca.] Tutor to Nero — sup- 
 posed to be one in Piso's conspiracy, 
 but put to death for his great riches. 
 Sylvanus the tribune, by order' of 
 Nero, surrounded Seneca's magnifi- 
 cent villa, near Rome, with a troop 
 of soldiers, and then sent in a centu- 
 rion to acquaint him with the empe- 
 ror's orders, that he should put him- 
 self to death. On the receipt of this, 
 he opened the veins of his arms and 
 legs, then was put into a hot bath; but 
 this not finishing him, he drank poison. 
 
 17. Surrounded.] Beset — encom- 
 
 -Laterani.] Plautius Lateranus 
 had a sumptuous palace, in which he 
 was beset by order of Nero, and 
 
JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 169 
 
 SAT. X. 
 
 Are asked : a fluent copiousness of speech to many 
 And their own eloquence is deadly. — -He, to his strength 10 
 Trusting, and to his wonderful arms, perished. 
 But money, heaped together with too much care, destroys 
 More, and an income exceeding all patrimonies, 
 As much as a British whale is greater than dolphins. 
 Therefore in direful times, and by the command of Nero, 
 A whole troop Longinus, and the large gardens of wealthy 
 Seneca, 16 
 
 Surrounded, and besieged the stately buildings of the Late- 
 rani — 
 The soldier seldom comes into a garret. 
 Though you should carry but few small vessels of pure silver, 
 Going on a journey by night, you will fear the sword and 
 the pole, 20 
 
 And tremble at the shadow of a reed moved, by moon- 
 light. 
 An empty traveller will sing before a robber. 
 Commonly the first things prayed for, and most known 
 at all temples, 
 Are, that riches may increase, and wealth ; that our chest 
 
 may be 
 The greatest in the whole forum: but no poisons are 
 drunk 25 
 
 • killed so suddenly, by Thufius the 
 tribune, that he had not a moment's 
 time allowed him to take leave of his 
 children and family. He had been 
 designed consul. 
 
 18. The soldier, $c] Coenaculum 
 signifies a place to sup in — an upper 
 chamber — also a garret, a cockloft in 
 the top of the house, commonly let 
 to poor people, the inhabitants of 
 which were too poor to run any risk 
 of the emperor's sending soldiers to 
 murder them for what they have. 
 
 19. Though you should carry, $c] 
 Though not so rich as to become an 
 Object of the emperor's avarice and 
 cruelty, yet you cannot travel by 
 night, with the paltry charge of a 
 little silver plate, without fear of your 
 life from robbers, who may either 
 stab you with a sword, or knock you 
 down with a bludgeon, in order to 
 rob you. 
 
 20. Pole.] Contus signifies a long 
 pole or staff — also a weapon, where- 
 
 with they used to fight beasts upon 
 the stage. It is probable that the 
 robbers about Rome armed themselves 
 with these, as ours, about London, 
 arm themselves with large sticks or 
 bludgeons. 
 
 21. Tremble, $c] They are alarm- 
 ed with the least appearance of any 
 thing moving near them, even the 
 trembling and nodding of a bulrush, 
 when its shadow appears by moon» 
 light. 
 
 22. Empty traveller, $c] Having 
 nothing to lose, he has nothing to 
 fear, and therefore has nothing to in- 
 terrupt his jollity as he travels along, 
 though in the presence of a robber. 
 
 23. Temples.] Where people go to 
 make prayers to the gods, and to im- 
 plore the fulfilment of their desires 
 and wishes. 
 
 25. The greatest, #?.] The forum, 
 or market-place, at Rome, was the 
 place where much money- business 
 was transacted, and where money- 
 
 7 
 
170 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Fictilibus : tunc ilia time, cum pocula sumes 
 
 Gemmata, et lato Setinum ardebit in auro. 
 
 Jamne igitur laudas, quod de sapientibus alter 
 
 Kidebat, quoties a limine moverat unum 
 
 Protuleratque pedem : flebat contrarius alter ? SO 
 
 Sed facilis cuivi9 rigidi censura cachinni : 
 
 Mi rand um est, unde ille oculis suffecerit humor, 
 
 Perpctuo risu pulmonem agitare solebat 
 
 Dcmocritus, quanquam non essent urbibus illis 
 
 Praetexta, et trabeae, fasces, lectica, tribunal. 35 
 
 Quid, si vidisset Praetorem in curribus altis 
 
 Extantem, et medio sublimem in pulvere circi, 
 
 In tunica Jovis, et pictae Sarrana ferentem 
 
 Ex humeris aulsea toga?, magnaeque coronae 
 
 Tantum orbem, quanto cervix non sufficit ulla ? 40 
 
 Quippe tenet sudans banc publicus, et sibi Consul 
 
 lenders and borrowers met together ; 
 and he that was richest, and had most 
 to lend, was sure to make the great- 
 est sums by interest on his money, 
 and perhaps was most respected. 
 Hence the poet may be understood to 
 mean, that it was the chief wish of 
 most people to be richer than others. 
 Or, he may here allude to the chests 
 of money belonging to the senators, 
 and other rich men, which were laid 
 up for safety in some of the build- 
 ings about the forum, as the temple 
 of Castor, and others. Comp. sat. 
 adv. 1. 258-9. 
 
 — N~o poisons, §?.~\ The poorer 
 sort of people might drink out of 
 their coarse cups of earthen ware, 
 without any fear of being poisoned 
 for what they had. 
 
 26. Them.] Poisons. 
 
 27. Set with gems."] This was a 
 mark of great riches. 
 
 — Sctine wine.] So called from Se- 
 tia, a city of Campania. It was a 
 most delicious wine, preferred by 
 Augustus, and the succeeding empe- 
 rors, to all other. Glows with a tine 
 red colour, and sparkles in the cup. 
 
 — Wide gold-"} Large golden cups. 
 Those who were rich enough to af- 
 ford these things, might indeed rea- 
 sonably fear being ppisoited by some- 
 body, in order to get their estates. 
 
 28. Do you approve'] Laudas — 
 praise ar commend his conduct ; for 
 
 while these philosophers lived, many 
 accounted them mad. 
 
 — One of the wise men, <yrj Mean- 
 ing Democritus of Abdera, who al- 
 ways laughed, because he believed 
 our actions to be folly : whereas He- 
 raclitus of Ephesus, the other of the 
 wise men here alluded to, always 
 wept, because he thought them to be 
 misery. 
 
 29.' As oft as, <£r.] Whenever he 
 went out of his house — as oft as he 
 stepped over his threshold. 
 
 30. The other.'] Heraclitus. See 
 note on line 28. 
 
 31. The censure, §c] It is easy 
 enough to find matter for severe 
 laughter. Rigidi here, as an epithet 
 to laughter, seems to denote that sort 
 of censorious sneer which condemns 
 and censures, at the same time that 
 it derides the follies of mankind. 
 
 32. The wonder is, $c.] How He- 
 raclitus could find tears enough to 
 express his grief at human wretched- 
 ness, guilt, and woe, the occasions 
 of it are so frequent. 
 
 34. In those cities.'] As there is at 
 Rome. The poet here satirizes the 
 ridiculous appendages and ensigns of 
 office, which were so coveted and 
 esteemed by the Romans, as if they 
 could convey happiness to the v. earers. 
 He would also insinuate, that these 
 things were made ridiculous by the 
 conduct of the possessors of them. 
 
JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 171 
 
 From earthen ware :_ then fear them, when you take cups 
 Set with gems, and Setine wine shall sparkle in wide gold. 
 Nor therefore do you approve, that one of the wise men 
 Laughed, as oft as from the threshold he had moved, and 
 Brought forward one foot; the other contrary, wept ? 30 
 But the censure of a severe laugh is easy to any one, 
 The wonder is whence that moisture could suffice for his 
 
 eyes. 
 With perpetual laughter, Democritus used to agitate 
 His lungs, though there were not, in those cities, 
 Senatorial gowns, robes, rods, a litter, a tribunal. 35 
 
 What, if he had seen the praator, in high chariots 
 Standing forth, and sublime in the midst of die dust of the 
 
 circus, 
 In the coat of Jove, and bearing from his shoulders the 
 
 Tyrian 
 Tapestry of an embroidered gown, and of a great crown 
 So large an orb, as no neck is sufficient for ? 40 
 
 For a sweating officer holds this, and lest the consul should 
 
 35. Senatorial gowns.] Praetexta — 
 so called because they were faced and 
 bordered with purple — worn by the 
 patricians and senators. 
 
 — Robes.] Trabeae — robes worn by 
 kings, consuls, and augurs. 
 
 — Rods.] Fasces — bundles of birch- 
 en rods carried before the Roman ma- 
 gistrates, with an axe bound up in 
 the middle of them, so as to appear 
 at the top. These were ensigns of 
 their official power to punish crimes, 
 either by scourging or death. 
 
 — -A Utter.] Lectica. See sat. i. 32, 
 note. 
 
 — Tribunal.] A seat in the forum, 
 built by Romulus, in the form of an 
 half-moon, where the judges sat, who 
 had jurisdiction over the highest of- 
 fences : at the upper part was placed 
 the sella curulis, in which the praetor 
 sat. 
 
 36. The prcetor, #c] He describes 
 and derides the figure which the praetor 
 made, when presiding at the Circen- 
 sian games. 
 
 — In high chariots.] In a triumphal 
 car, which was gilt, and drawn by 
 four white horses — perhaps, by the 
 plural curribus, we may understand 
 that he had several for different oc- 
 casions. 
 
 37. Dust of the circus.] He stood, 
 by the height and sublimity of his 
 situation, fully exposed to the dust, 
 which the chaiiots and horses of the 
 racers raised. 
 
 38. Coat of Jove.] In a triumphal 
 habit ; for those who triumphed wore 
 a tunic, or garment, which, at other 
 times, was kept in the temple of 
 Jupiter. 
 
 38-9. The Tyrian tapestry, #c.J— 
 Sana, (from Heb. IJSj) a name of 
 Tyre, where hangings and tapestry 
 were made, as also where the fish was 
 caught, from whence the purple was 
 taken with which they were dyed. 
 This must be a very heavy material 
 for a gown, especially as it was also 
 embroidered with divers colours ; and 
 such a garment must be very cum- 
 bersome to the wearer, as it hung 
 from his shoulders. 
 
 40. So large an orb, $c] Add to 
 this, a great heavy crown, the cir- 
 cumference of which was so large 
 and thick, that no neck could be 
 strong enough to avoid bending under 
 it. 
 
 41. A sweating officer.] Publicus 
 signifies some official servant, in some 
 public office about the praetor on these 
 occasions, who sat by him in the cha- 
 
172 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Ne placeat, curru servus portatur eodem. 
 Da nunc et volucrem, sceptro quae surgit eburno, 
 Illinc cornicines, hinc praecedentia longi 
 Agminis officia, et niveos ad fraena Quirites, 
 Defossa in loculis quos sportula fecit amicos. 
 Tunc quoque raateriam risus invenit ad omnes 
 Occursus hominum ; cujus prudentia monstrat, 
 Summos posse viros, et magna exempla daturos, 
 Vervecum in patria, crassoque sub aere nasci. 
 Ridebat curas, necnon et gaudia vulgi, 
 Interdum et lachrymas ; cum fortunes ipse minaci 
 Mandaret laqueum, mediumque ostenderet unguem. 
 Ergo supervacua haec aut perniciosa petuntur, 
 Propter quae fas est genua incerare Deorum. 
 
 45 
 
 50 
 
 55 
 
 riot, in order to assist in bearing up 
 the crown, the weight of which made 
 him sweat in holding it up. 
 
 41. Lest the consul, <|fc.] The an- 
 cients had an institution, that a slave 
 should ride in the same chariot when 
 a consul triumphed, and should ad- 
 monish him to know himself, lest he 
 should be too vain. 
 
 This was done with regard to the 
 piaetor at the Circensian games, who, 
 as we have seen above, appeared like 
 a victorious consul, with the habit and 
 equipage of triumph — Juvenal seems 
 to use the word consul, here, on that 
 account. 
 
 43. Add the bird, £-.] Among 
 other ensigns of triumph, the praetor, 
 on the above occasion, held an ivory 
 rod, or sceptre, in his hand, with the 
 figure of an eagle, with wings ex- 
 panded, as if rising for flight, on the 
 top of it. 
 
 44. The trumpeters.] Or blowers of 
 the horn, or cornet. These, with the 
 tubicines, which latter seem included 
 here under the general name of cor- 
 nicines, always attended the camp, 
 and, on the return of the conqueror, 
 preceded the triumphal chariot, sound- 
 ing their instruments. 
 
 — The preceding offices, <£c.J OfS- 
 cium signiiies sometimes a solemn at- 
 tendance on some public occasion, as 
 on marriages, funerals, triumphs, &c. 
 Here it denotes, that the praetor was 
 attended, on this occasion, by a long 
 train of hisfriendsanddependents, who 
 came to grace the. solemnity, by march- 
 
 ing in procession before his chariot. 
 
 45. Snou-y citizens, <£ ' ] Many of 
 the citizens, as was usual at triumphs, 
 dressed in white robes, walking by 
 the side of the horses, and holding 
 the bridles. 
 
 4G. The sportula.] The dole-basket. 
 See sat. i. 1. 81. 
 
 — Buried in his coffers'] The mean- 
 ing of this passage seems to be, that 
 these citizens appeared, and gave 
 their attendance, not from any real 
 value for him, but for what they 
 could get. 
 
 By defossa in loculis is meant the 
 mere promise of a sportula ; it shews 
 the corruption of the Romans, who 
 were willing to attend in his train, 
 and shew every mark of flattery, 
 through the hope of a reward, which 
 was safe in his own pocket. — q. d. 
 All this formed a scene which would 
 have made Democritus shake his sides 
 with laughing. Comp. 1. 33-4. 
 
 47. Then also he.] Democritus in 
 his time. 
 
 47-8. At all meetings of mro.]— 
 Every time he met people as he 
 walked about — or, in every company 
 he met with. 
 
 48. Whose prudence.] Wisdom, 
 discernment of right and wrong. 
 
 60. Of blockheads.] Vervex liter- 
 ally signifies a wether-sheep,, but was 
 proverbially used for a siupid person ;- 
 as we use the word sheepish, and 
 sheepishness, in something like the 
 same sense, to denote an aukward, 
 stupid shyness. 
 
JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 173 
 
 Please himself, a slave is carryed in the same chariot. 
 Now add the bird which rises on the ivory sceptre, 
 There the trumpeters, here the preceding offices of a long 
 Train, and the snowy citizens at his bridles, 45 
 
 Whom the sport uia, buried in his coffers, has made his 
 
 _ friends. 
 Then also he found matter of laughter at all 
 Meetings of men ; whose prudence shews, 
 That great men, and those about to give great examples, 
 May be born in the country of blockheads, and under 
 
 thick air. 50 
 
 He derided the cares, and also the joys of the vulgar, 
 And sometimes their tears ; when himself could present a 
 
 halter 
 To threatening Fortune, and shew his middle nail. 
 Therefore, these (are) unprofitable, or pernicious things, 
 
 (which) are asked, 
 For which it is lawful to cover with wax the knees of the 
 
 gods. 55 
 
 The poet therefore means, a coun- 
 try of stupid fellows. Plaut. Pers. 
 act ii. has, Ain' vero vervecum 
 caput ? 
 
 50. Thick air.] Democritus was 
 born at Abdera, a city of Thrace, 
 where the air, which was foggy and 
 thick, was supposed to make the in- 
 habitants dull and stupid. 
 
 So Horace, speaking of Alexander 
 the Great, as a critic of little or no 
 discernment in literature, says, Boeo 
 turn in crasso jurares aere natum. 
 Epist. i. lib. ii. 1. 244. By which, as 
 by many other testimonies, we find 
 that the inhabitants of Boeotia were 
 stigmatized also in the same manner. 
 Hence Boeoticum ingenium was a 
 phrase for dulness and stupidity. 
 
 52. Present a halter, $r.] Man- 
 dare laqueum alicui, was a phrase 
 made use of to signify the utmost 
 contempt and indifference, like send- 
 ing a halter to a person, as if to bid 
 him hang himself. Democritus is 
 here represented in this light as con.» 
 tinually laughing at the cares and joys 
 of the general herd, and as himself 
 treating with scorn the frowns of ad- 
 verse fortune. 
 
 53. His middle nail] i. e. His 
 middle finger, and point at her in de- 
 
 rision. To hold out the middle fin 
 ger, the rest being contracted, and 
 bent downwards, was an act of great 
 contempt ; like pointing at a person 
 among us. This mark of contempt 
 is very ancient. See Isa. lviii. 9. 
 
 54. Therefore, #c] It follows, 
 therefore, from the example of De- 
 mocritus, who was happy without the 
 things which people so anxiously seek 
 after, and petition the gods for, that 
 they are superfluous and unnecessary. 
 It likewise follows, that they are in- 
 jurious, because they expose people 
 to the fears and dangers of adverse 
 fortune ; whereas Democritus, who 
 had them not, could set the frowns 
 of fortune at defiance, possessing a 
 mind which carried him above worldly 
 cares or fears. 
 
 55. Lawful."] Fas signifies that 
 which is permitted, therefore lawful 
 to do. 
 
 — To cover with wax, $c] It was 
 the manner of the ancients, when 
 they made their vows to the gods, to 
 write them on paper, (or waxen ta- 
 bles,) seal them up, and, with wax, 
 fasten them to the knees of the images 
 of the gods, or to the thighs, that 
 being supposed the seat of mercy. 
 When their desires were granted, they 
 
174 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Quosdam praecipitat subjecta potentia magnae 
 Invidise ; mergit longa atque insignis honorum 
 Pagina ; descend tint statuae, restemque sequuntur ; 
 Ipsas deinde rotas bigarum impacta securis 
 Caedit, et immeritis frangur.tur crura caballis. 60 
 
 Jam strident ignes, jam follibus atque caminis 
 Ardet adoratum populo caput, et crepat ingens 
 Sejanus: deinde ex facie toto orbesecunda 
 Fiunt urceoli, pelves, sartago, patellae. 
 Pone domi lauros, due in Capitoka magnum 65 
 
 Cretatumque bovem ; Sejanus ducitur unco 
 Spectandus: gaudent omnes: quae labra? quis illi 
 Vultus erat ? nunquam (si quid mihi credis) amavi 
 Hunc horainem : sed quo cecidit sub crimine ? quisnam 
 Delator ? quibus indiciis ? quo teste probavit ? 70 
 
 Nil horum : verbosa et grandis epistola venit 
 
 took away the paper, tore it, and of- 
 fered to the gods what they had pro- 
 mised. The gods permit us to ask, 
 but the consequences of having our 
 petitions answered are often fatal. 
 Com p. 1. 7,-8. 
 
 56. Precipitates some.] viz. Into 
 ruin and destruction. 
 
 57. Catalogue, $ :] Pagina, in its 
 proper and literal sense, signifies a 
 page of a book, but here alludes to a 
 plate, or table of brass, fixed before 
 the statues of eminent persons, and 
 containing all the titles and honours 
 of him whose statue it was. 
 
 — Overwhelms.] With ruin, by ex- 
 posing them to the envy and malice 
 of those, in whose power and incli- 
 nation it may be to disgrace and des- 
 troy them. 
 
 58. Statues descend.] Are pulled 
 down. 
 
 Follow the rope.] With which the 
 populace (set on work by a notion of 
 doing what would please the emperor, 
 who had disgraced his prime-minis- 
 ter Sejanus) first pulled down all the 
 statues of Sejanus, of which there 
 were many set up in Rome, and then 
 drugged them with ropey about the 
 streets. 
 
 59. The driven axe.] Impacta — 
 driven — forced against. There were 
 some statues of Sejanus, by which 
 he was represented on horseback ; 
 others in a triumphal car, draAvn by 
 
 two horses (comp. sat. viii. 1. 3.) ; all 
 which were broken to pieces, the 
 very chariots and horses demolished, 
 and, if made of brass, carried to the 
 fire and melted. 
 
 60. Undeserving horses, $c.] Their 
 spite against Sejanus, who could alone 
 deserve their indignation, carried 
 them to such fury, as to demolish 
 even the most innocent appendages 
 to his state and dignity. 
 
 61. The fires roar, §c] From the 
 force of the bellows, in the forges 
 prepared for melting the brass of the 
 statues. 
 
 — Stoves.] Or furnaces. 
 
 62. The head adored, $c] Of Se- 
 janus, once the darling of the peo- 
 ple, who once worshipped him as a 
 god. 
 
 63. Cracks.] By the violence of the 
 flames. 
 
 — Second face, ftc] Sejanus was 
 so favoured by Tiberius, that he 
 raised him to the highest dignity next 
 to himself. 
 
 64. Water-pots, $e.] The mean- 
 est household utensils are made from 
 the brass, which once conferred the 
 highest honour on Sejanus, when 
 representing him in the form of 
 statues. 
 
 65. Laurels, $c] Here the poet 
 shews the malicious triumph of envy. 
 It was customary to adorn the doors 
 of their houses with crowns, or gar» 
 
sat. x. JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 175 
 
 Power, subject to great envy, precipitates some, 
 A long and famous^catalogue of honours overwhelms, 
 Statues descend and they follow the rope ; 
 Then, the driven axe, the very wheels of two-horse cars 
 Demolishes, and the legs of the undeserving horses are 
 
 broken. 60 
 
 Now the fires roar, now with bellows and stoves, 
 The head adored by the people burns, and the great 
 
 Sejanus 
 Cracks : then, from the second face in the whole world, 
 Are made water-pots, basons, a frying-pan, platters. 
 Place laurels at your house, lead to the capitol a large 65 
 White bull ; Sejanus is dragged by a hook 
 To be looked upon : all rejoice : " what lips ? what a 
 
 " countenance 
 " He had ? I never (if you at all believe me) loved 
 " This man : — but under what crime did he fall ? who 
 
 " was 
 " The informer ? from what discoveries ? by what witness 
 
 " hath he proved it?" 70 
 
 " Nothing of these : a verbose and great epistle came from 
 
 lands of laurel, on any public occa- 
 sion of joy ; such was the fall of 
 poor Sejanus to his enemies. 
 
 66. A white bull.] The beasts sa- 
 crificed to the celestial gods were 
 white (cretatum, here, lit. chalked, 
 whited) ; those to the infernal gods 
 were black. This offering to Jupiter, 
 in his temple on the capitol hill, must 
 be supposed to have been by the way 
 of thanksgiving for 
 
 nus. A lively haired 
 
 and prejudice which the people had 
 conceived again 
 grace ; as it foil 
 
 — Dragged by a \ook.\ To the Sca- 
 lar Gemoniae, ai 
 the Tiber. 
 
 67. To be loo) d upon."] As a spec- 
 tacle of contenv- to the nrhoie city. 
 
 — All rejoice.] At his disgrace and 
 misery. the people triumph. 
 
 — " What lips, ^o.] The poet here 
 supposes a language to be holden, 
 which is very natural for a prejudiced 
 ignorant people to utter on such an 
 occasion, as they saw him dragging 
 along by the hands of the executioner, 
 or perhaps as they viewed him lying 
 dead on the bank of the Tiber, (comp. 
 
 1. 86.) before his body was thrown 
 into it. 
 
 What a blubber-lipp'd, ill-looking 
 fellow ! say they. 
 
 69. What crime.] What was 
 charged against him (says one) that 
 he should be brought to this. 
 
 70. Informer.] Delator — his ac- 
 cuser to the emperor. 
 
 — What discoveries.] Of th P fo^f 
 and its eh 
 
 ( 
 
 form o; 
 — A %i 
 
 Ffberius, that his favourite aejanus 
 had a design upon the empire, on 
 which he wrote a long pompous epis- 
 tle to the senate, who had .Sejanus 
 seized, and sentenced him to be pu- 
 nished, as is mentioned above : viz. 
 that he should be put to death, then 
 have a hook fixed in him, be dragged 
 through the streets of Rome to the 
 Scalae Gemoniae, and thrown at liibt 
 into the Tiber. 
 
17G 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 A Capreis — bene habet : nil plus interrogo ; sed quid 
 Turba Remi ? Sequitur fortunam, ut semper, et odit 
 Damnatos. Idem populus, si Nurscia Thusco 
 Favisset, si oppressa foret secura senectus 
 Principis, hac ipsa Sejanum diceret hora 
 Augiistum. Jampridem, ex quo suffragia nulli 
 Vendimus, effudit curas — nam qui dabat olim 
 Imperium, fasces, legiones, omnia, nunc se 
 Continet, atque duas tantum res anxius optat, 
 Panem et Circenses. Perituros audio multos: 
 Nil dubium : magna est fornacula : pailidulus mi 
 Brutidius meus ad Martis fuit obvius aram — 
 Quam timeo, victus ne pcenas exigat Ajax, 
 
 7S 
 
 SO 
 
 Tiberius was at that time at Ca- 
 preae, an island on the coast of Na- 
 ples, about twenty-five miles south 
 of that city, indulging in all manner 
 of excess and debauchery. 
 
 The Scalae Gemonise was a place 
 appointed either for torturing crimi- 
 nals, or for exposing their bodies af- 
 ter execution. Some derive the name 
 Gem on ice from one Gemonius, who 
 was first executed there ; others from 
 gemere, to groan, because the place 
 rang with the groans and complaints 
 of those who were put to death. It 
 was on the hill Aventinus, and there 
 were several steps leading up to it, 
 whence the place was called Scalae 
 Gemoniae. The dead bodies of those 
 who died under the hands of the exe- 
 cutioner were dragged thither by an 
 iron hook, and after they had been 
 
 . ~*" It j j , $ } 
 
 is answered — The common people be- 
 haved as they always do, by chang- 
 ing with the fortune of the con- 
 demned, and treating them with the 
 utmost spite. 
 
 74.. I\ r urscia, <$\".] Sejanus was a 
 Tuscan, born at Volscinium, where 
 the goddess of Nurscia, the same as 
 Fortune, was worshipped, q, d. If 
 fortune had favoured Sejanus. 
 8^ 
 
 75. Secure old age, $r.] If Tibe- 
 rius had thought himself secure from 
 any plot against him, and therefore 
 had taken no measures to pi-event the 
 consequences of it. 
 
 70'. Oppressed.] By death, from the 
 hands of Sejanus. q. d. If the plot 
 of Sejanus had succeeded, and the 
 emperor had been dethroned. 
 
 — Would, £c] That very popu- 
 lace who now treat the poor fallen 
 Sejanus so ill, would have made him 
 emperor, and have changed his name 
 to the imperial title of Augustus. 
 
 — This very hour.'] Instead of hi' 
 being put to death, dragged by the 
 hook, and insulted by the populace, 
 they would, at that very hour, have 
 been heaping the highest honours 
 upon him. So precarious, fluctuat- 
 ing, and uncertain, is the favour of 
 
 The poorer sort 
 sell their votes 
 • public offices, 
 ook from them 
 ig their m;»gis^ 
 ne — i 
 ice. 
 ] Effudit, h\ 
 
 y, — r .,^.v^ v.dt, as a person 
 
 empties a vessel by pourir.?; out the 
 liquor. The poet means, that since 
 the right of electing their magistrates 
 was taken from them, and they could 
 no longer sell their votes, they had 
 parted with all their cares about the 
 state. 
 
 — For it-~\ That same populace. 
 — Which once gave, $c] By their 
 
JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 177 
 
 c Capreae :" — " It is^ery well, I ask no more : but what 
 
 " did 
 s The mob of Remus ?" — " It follows fortune, as always, 
 
 " and hates 
 : The condemned — The same people, if Nurscia had 
 
 u favoured 
 : The Tuscan — if the secure old age of the prince had 
 
 " been 75 
 
 : Oppressed, would, in this very hour, have called Sejanus, 
 : Augustus. Long ago, ever since we sell our suffrages 
 : To none, it has done with cares ; for it, which once cave 
 ; Authority, fasces, legions, all things, now itself 
 ; Refrains, and anxious only wishes for two things, SO 
 
 Bread and the Circenses." — " I hear many are about to 
 
 " perish " — 
 1 No doubt : the furnace is large : my friend Brutidius 
 
 Met me, a little pale, at the altar of Mars" — 
 ; How I fear lest Ajax conquered should exact punishmem, 
 
 having the right of election, conferred 
 public offices on whom they chose. 
 
 79. Authority.'] Power, or govern- 
 ment : this alludes to the great offi- 
 ces in the state, which were once 
 elective by the people. 
 
 — Fasces.] Consuls and praetors, 
 who had the fasces carried before 
 them. 
 
 — Legions.] Military prefectures. 
 
 — All things.] All elective offices. 
 
 79-80. Itself refrains.] From con- 
 cerns of state. 
 
 80. Only wishes, $c] Now they 
 care for nothing else, at least with 
 any anxiety, but for bread to be dis- 
 tributed to them as usual, by the 
 command of the emperor, to satisfy 
 their hunger ; and the games in the 
 circus to divert them : of these last 
 the populace were very fond. 
 
 81. " J hear many,' 1 '' #c] Here 
 begins a fresh discourse on the oc- 
 casion and circumstances of the 
 time. 
 
 I hear, says one of the standers 
 by, that Sejanus is not the only one 
 who is to suffer ; a good many more 
 will be cut off, as well as he, about 
 this plot. No doubt, says the 
 other — 
 
 82. The furnace is large.] And, 
 made to hold more statues for melt- 
 
 2 
 
 ing than those of Sejanus. See I. 
 61. 
 
 82-3. Brutidius met ?nc] This was 
 a rhetorician and famous historian, a 
 great friend of Sejanus, and thei-efore 
 was horridly frightened, lest it should 
 be his turn next to be apprehended 
 and put to death, as concerned in the 
 conspiracy. 
 
 84. Lest Ajax conquered, #£•]— - 
 Alluding to the story ot Ajax, who, 
 being overcome in his dispute with 
 Ulysses about the armour of Achilles, 
 (see Ovid. Met. lib. xiii.) went mad, 
 fell upon man and beast, and after- 
 wards destroyed himself. 
 
 These seem to be the words of Bru- 
 tidius, expressing his fears of being 
 suspected to have been concerned in 
 the conspiracy with Sejanus ; and, 
 in order to wipe off all imputation oj 
 the kind, not only from himself, but 
 from the person he is speaking to, he 
 advises, that no time should be lost, 
 but that they should hasten to the 
 place where the corpse of Sejanus 
 was exposed, and do some act which 
 might be construed into an abhor- 
 rence of Sejanus, and consequently 
 into a zeal for the honour and service 
 of the emperor. 
 
 " How I fear," says Brutidius, 
 looking aghast, " lest the emperor, 
 
178 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Ut male defensus ! curramus praecipites, et, 85 
 
 Dum jacet in ripa, calcemus Caesaris hostem. 
 
 Sed videant servi, ne quis neget, et pavidum in jus 
 
 Cervice astricta dominum trahat. Hi sermones 
 
 Tunc de Sejano: secreta base murmura vulgi. 
 
 Visne salutari sicut Sejanus ? habere 90 
 
 Tantundem, atque ill i sellas donare curules? 
 
 Ilium exercitibus praeponere ? tutor haberi 
 
 Principis Augusta Caprearum in rupe scdentis 
 
 Cum grege Chaldaeo? vis certe pila, cohortes, 
 
 Egregios equites, et castra domestica — quidni 95 
 
 Haec cupias ? et qui nolunt occidere quenquam, 
 
 Posse volunt. Sed quae praeclara, et prospera tanti, 
 
 Cum rebus laetis par sit mensura malorum ? 
 
 " thinking his cause not cordially 
 " espoused, and that he was badly 
 " defended, should wreak his ven- 
 *' geance on such as he suspects to 
 " have been too remiss, and, like the 
 " furious Ajax, when overcome, like 
 " another victus Ajax, destroy all 
 " that he takes to be his enemies, as 
 " Ajax destroyed the sheep and oxen 
 M when he run mad on his defeat, 
 " taking them for the Grecians, on 
 " whom he vowed revenge." Other 
 expositions are given to this place, 
 but 1 think this suits best with 1. 
 82-3. 
 
 85. Let us run, <|r.] As precipi- 
 tately, as fast as we can ; let us lose 
 no time to avoid the emperor's sus- 
 picion of our favouring Sejanus, 
 and wreaking his vengeance upon 
 us. 
 
 — While he.'] Sejanus — I. c. his 
 corpse. 
 
 80*. Lies on the bank.] i. e. Ex- 
 posed on the bank, be .ore it is thrown 
 into the river Tiber. 
 
 — Trample, $c] Set our feet upon 
 his corpse, to shew our indignation 
 against this supposed enemy of Ti- 
 berius. 
 
 87. Let the slaves see, §c] That 
 they may be witnesses for their mas- 
 ters, in case these should be accused 
 of not having done it, or of having 
 shewn the least respect to Sejanus, 
 and so be brought under the displea- 
 sure of the emperor, and hurried to 
 judgment. 
 
 88. Shackled veck."] Those who 
 
 were dragged to punishment, had a 
 chain or halter fastened about the 
 neck : this was the condition of some 
 when brought to trial ; so, among us, 
 felons, and others accused of capital 
 offences, are usually brought to their 
 trial with gyves or fetters upon their 
 legs. 
 
 88-9. The discourse.?, tjjv.] Thus 
 do the people talk about poor Sejanus, 
 the remembrance of his greatness 
 being all passed and gone, and his 
 shameful sufferings looked upon with 
 the most ignominious contempt. 
 
 90. Saluted, $c] You, who think 
 happiness to consist in the favour of 
 the prince, in great power, and high 
 preferment, what think you? do you 
 now v. ish to occupy the place which 
 Sejanus once held, to have as much 
 respect paid you, to accumulate as 
 many riches, to have as many prefer- 
 ments and places of honour in your 
 gift? 
 
 91. Chief chairs, #c] Sella-? 
 curules. The poet speaks in the plu- 
 ral number, as each of the great of- 
 ficers of Rome had a chair of state, 
 made of ivory, carved, and placed in 
 a chariot — curru — in which they were 
 wont to be carried to the senate ; so 
 the praetor had his sella curulis, in 
 which he was carried to the forum, 
 and there sat in judgment. See be- 
 fore, 1. 35. n. No. 4. When an aedile 
 was a person of senatorial dignity, he 
 was called curulis, from the curule 
 chair in which he was carried. 
 
 Sellas curules, here, is used in 2 
 
JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 179 
 
 " As defended badly !— let us run headlong, and, while 
 « he 85 
 
 " Lies on the bank, trample on the enemy of Caesar. 
 " But let the slaves see, lest any should deny it, and drag 
 
 " into 
 " Law their fearful master with shackled neck : " these were 
 
 the 
 Discourses then about Sejanus ; these the secret murmurs 
 
 of the vulgar. 
 Will you be saluted as Sejanus ? have 90 
 
 As much— and give to one chief chairs of state — 
 Set another at the head of armies ? be accounted guardian 
 Of a prince, sitting in the august rock of Capreae, 
 With a Chaldaean band? you certainly would have jave- 
 lins, cohorts, 
 Choice horsemen, domestic tents. " Why should you not 
 " Desire these things ?•" Even those who would not kill 
 any one 96 
 
 Would be able. But what renowned and prosperous things 
 
 are of so much 
 Value, since to prosperity there may be an equal measure 
 of evils ? 
 
 metonymical sense. Like curule ebur, 
 Hor. lib. i. epist. vi. 1. 53-4-. to de- 
 note the chief offices in the state, 
 which had all been in the disposal of 
 the once-prosperous Sejanus. See the 
 last n. ad fin. 
 
 92. Guardian, $c.] Who, in the 
 absence of Tiberius, at his palace on 
 the rock at Capreae, (see note on 1. 
 71-2, ad fin.) amidst a band of astro- 
 logers from Chaldaea, (who amused 
 the prince with their pretended know- 
 ledge of" the stars, and their govern- 
 ment of human affairs,) governed all 
 his affairs of state, and managed 
 them, as a tutor or guardian manages 
 the affairs of a youth under age. 
 Thus high was Sejanus in the opinion 
 and confidence of Tiberius ? but do 
 you envy him ? 
 
 94. Javelins.'] Pila were a kind of 
 javelins with which the Roman foot 
 were armed: therefore the poet is 
 here to be understood as saying to the 
 person with whom he is supposed to 
 discourse, " You certainly wish to be 
 *' an officer, and to have soldiers un- 
 *' der your command." 
 
 — Cohorts.] A cohort was a tenth 
 part of a legion. 
 
 95. Domestic tents, fyc."] The cas« 
 tra domestica were composed of horse, 
 who were the body-guards of the 
 prince or praetor ; hence called also 
 praetoi-iani. These seem to have been 
 something like our life-guards. 
 
 — " Why should you not," <f"C.]— « 
 What harm, say you, is there in 
 such a desire ? — " I don't desire this 
 " for the sake of hurting or killing 
 " any body." — ** Aye, that may be, 
 « but still, to know that such a thing 
 " may be in your power, upon occa- 
 " sion, gives you no small idea of 
 " self-importance." 
 
 97. What renowned, #c] But, to 
 consider cooly of the matter, what is 
 there so valuable in dignity and pros- 
 perity, since, amid the enjoyment of 
 them, they are attended with an equal 
 measure of uneasiness, and when a 
 fatal reverse, even in the securest and 
 happiest moments, may be impend- 
 ing ? the evil, therefore, may be 
 said, at least, to counterbalance thf 
 good. 
 
180 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Hujus, qui trahitur, praetextam sumere mavis, 
 
 An Fidenarum, Gabiorumque esse potestas, 100 
 
 Et de mensura jus dicere, vasa minora 
 
 Frangere pannosus vacuis JEdilis Ulubris? 
 
 Ergo quid optandum foret, ignorasse fateris 
 
 Sejanum : nam qui nimios optabat honores, 
 
 Et nimias poscebat opes, numerosa parabat 105 
 
 Excels» turris tabulata, unde altior esset 
 
 Casus, et impulsse prseceps immane ruinae. 
 
 Quid Crassos, quid Pompeios evertit, et ilium, 
 Ad sua qui domitos deduxit flagra Quirites ? 
 Summus nempe locus, nulla non arte petitus, 110 
 
 Magnaque numinibus vota exaudita malignis. 
 Ad generum Cereris sine ca?de et vulnere pauci 
 Descend unt reges, et sicca morte tyranni. 
 
 Eloquium ac fainam Demosthenis, aut Ciceronis 
 Incipit optare, et totis Quinquatribusoptat, 115 
 
 Quisquis adhuc uno partam colit asse Minerva», 
 
 99. Of this man, $c.] Of Sejanus. 
 Had you rather be invested with his 
 dignity ? 
 
 100. The power.] The magistrate 
 of some little town, like Fidenae, or 
 Gabii. Called in Italy, Podesta. 
 Something like what we should call 
 . — a country justice; 
 
 102. A ragged JEdile.'] Pannosus 
 signifies patched or ragged. The 
 jEdile, in the burghs of Italy, was 
 an officer who had jurisdiction over 
 weights and measures, and if these 
 were bad, he had authority to break 
 them. He was an officer of low rank, 
 and though, like all magistrates, he 
 wore a gown, yet this having been 
 delivered down from his predecessors, 
 was old and ragged, very unlike the 
 fine robe of Sejanus, and other chief 
 magistrates at Rome. See Pers. sat. 
 i. 1. 130, and note. 
 
 — Empty Ul libra.] A small town 
 of Campania, in Italy, very thinly in- 
 habited. Comp. sat. iii. 1. 2. 
 
 103. Therefore, #c] In this, and 
 the four following lines, the poet very 
 finely applies what he has said, on the 
 subject of Sejanus, to the main argu- 
 ment of this Satire ; viz. that mortals 
 are too short-sighted to see, and too 
 ignorant to know, what is best for 
 them, and therefore those things 
 which are most coveted, often prove 
 
 the most destructive ; and the higher 
 we rise in the gratification of our 
 wishes, the higher may we be raising 
 the precipice from which we may 
 fall. 
 
 107. Enforced ruin.] Impulse 
 ruinae, into which he was driven, as 
 it were, by the envy and malice of 
 those enemies, which his greatness, 
 power, and prosperity, had created. 
 Impulsae, metaph. alluding to the vio- 
 lence with which a person is thrown, 
 or pushed, from an high precipice. 
 Immane — dreadful — immense — huge 
 — great. 
 
 108. The Crassi.] M. Crassus mak- 
 ing war upon the Parthians fcr the 
 sake of plunder, Surena, general of 
 the enemy, slew him, and cut off 
 his head and his hand, which he car- 
 ried into Armenia to his master. 
 
 — The Pompey s.] Pompey the 
 Great, being routed at the battle of 
 Pharsalia, fled into Egypt, where he 
 was perfidiously slain. He left two 
 sons, Cneius and Sextus ; the first 
 was defeated in a land battle in Spain, 
 the other in a sea-fight on the coast 
 of Sicily. We are not only to under- 
 stand here Crassus and Pompey, but, 
 by Crassos et Pompeios, plural, all 
 such great men who hare fallen by 
 ill-fated ambition. 
 
SAT. X. 
 
 JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 181 
 
 Had you rather take the robe of this man, who is dragged 
 Along, or be the power of Fidenae, or Gabii, 100 
 
 And judge about a measure, and lesser vessels 
 Break, a ragged xEdile at empty Ulubrse ? — 
 Therefore, what was to be wished for, you will confess 
 
 Sejanus 
 To have been ignorant; for he who desired too many 
 
 honours, 
 And sought too much wealth, was preparing numerous 105 
 Stories of an high tower, from whence his fall might be 
 Higher, and the precipice of his enforced ruin be dreadful. 
 What overthrew the Crassi, the Pompeys, and him 
 
 who 
 Brought down the subdued Romans to his scourges ? 
 Why truly, the chief place, sought by every art, 110 
 
 And great vows listened to by malignant gods. 
 To the son-in-law of Ceres, without slaughter and wound, 
 
 few 
 Kings descend, and tyrants by a dry death. 
 
 For r the eloquence and fame of Demosthenes, or of 
 
 Cicero, 
 He begins to wish, and does wish during the whole Quin- 
 
 quatria, 115 
 
 Whoever reveres Minerva, hitherto gotten for three far- 
 things, 
 
 109. Brought down, $c,] i. e. Ju- 
 lius Caesar, who, after he had obtain- 
 ed the sovereignty, partly by arms 
 and violence, partly by art and in- 
 trigue, was publicly assassinated in 
 the senate-house, as a tyrant and ene- 
 my to the liberty of his country. 
 His scourges — i. e. made them slaves, 
 as it were, and subject to his will, 
 liable to be treated in the most humi- 
 liating manner. 
 
 110. Chief place] The ambition of 
 reigning absolutely. The poet here 
 shews the fatal source of misery to 
 the aspiring and ambitious, namely, 
 a restless desire after greatness, so as 
 to leave no stone unturned to come at 
 it — nulla non arte, &c. 
 
 111. Great vows.] i. e. Wishes 
 and prayers for greatness, honours, 
 riches, &c. 
 
 — By malignant gods.1 Who, pro- 
 voked by the unreasonable and foolish 
 wishes of mortals, punish item, with 
 
 accepting their vows, and with grant- 
 ing their desires. Comp, 1. 7-8. 
 
 1 12. Son-in-law of Ceres.] Pluto, 
 the fabled god, and king of the in- 
 fernal regions : he stole Proserpina, 
 the daughter of Jupiter and Ceres, 
 and carried her to his subterranean 
 dominions. 
 
 The poet means here to say, that 
 few of the great and successful ambi- 
 tious die, without some violence com- 
 mitted upon them. 
 
 113. A dnj death.] Without blood- 
 shed. 
 
 115. The whole, $c.] Minerva was 
 the goddess of learning and elo- 
 quence ; her festival was celebrated 
 for five days, hence called Quinqua- 
 tria ; during this the school-boys had 
 holidays. 
 
 116. W7ioever reveres, $c.] The 
 poor school-boy, who has got as much 
 learning as has cost him about three 
 farthings ; i. e. the merest young 
 
182 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Quern sequitur custos angustse vernula capsae : 
 Eloquio sed uterque perit orator : utrumque 
 Largus et exundans letho dcdit ingenii fons : 
 Ingenio manus est et cervix caesa ; nee unquam 120 
 
 Sanguine causidici maduerunt rostra pusilli.— 
 " O fortunatam natam, me consule, Komam !" 
 Antoni gladios potuit contemnere, si sic 
 Omnia dixisset : ridenda poemata malo, 
 Quam te conspicuae, divina Philippica, famae. 125 
 
 Volveris a prima quae proxima. Sa?vus et ilium 
 Exitus eripuit, quern mirabantur Athenae 
 Torrentem, et pleni moderantem frasna theatri. 
 Dis ille adversis genitus, fatoque sinistro, 
 Quern pater ardentis massaa fuligine lippus, 130 
 
 A carbone et forcipibus, gladiosque parante 
 Incude, et luteo Vulcano ad rhetora misit. 
 Bellorum exuviae, truncis aflixa trophaeis 
 
 beginner at the louver end of the 
 school. 
 
 117. A little shne, £c.] This is a 
 natural image of iittle master going 
 to school, with a sen ant-boy io carry 
 his satchel of bocks after him, and 
 heightens the ridiculous idea of his co- 
 veting the eloquence of the great 
 orators. 
 
 US. Each orator, <£v.] See note 
 on 1. 9. i. c. both Demosthenes and 
 Cicero. Demosthenes, to avoid the 
 crueltv of Anlipater, poisoned him- 
 self. 
 
 130. Hand and neck, , y r.] Of Ci- 
 cero, which were cut off by the emis- 
 saries of Antony, when they attacked 
 and murdered him in his litter on the 
 road. They, /. c. Tully's head and 
 hand, were afterwards fixed up at the 
 rostra, from whence he had spoken 
 his Philippics, by order of Antony. 
 
 — Cut off ly genius.] u c. His ca- 
 pacity and powers of eloquence, 
 which he usei against Antony, 
 brought this upon him. 
 
 1 SI. Rostra. \ A. place in the fo- 
 rum, where lawyers and orators ha- 
 rangued. See Aixsu'. Rostra, No. 
 2. No weak lawyer, or pleader, could 
 ever make himself of consequence 
 enough to be in danger of any design 
 against his life, by what he was capa- 
 ble of saving in public. 
 
 12?. O fortunatam, £c] Mr. Drj- 
 dea lenders this line, 
 
 Fortune fore-tun d the dying note» 
 of L 
 
 Till I, thy consul sole, con sold thy 
 doom : 
 and observes, that " the Latin of this 
 " couplet is a verse of Tully's, (in 
 ** which he sets out die happiness of 
 " his own consulship,) famous for 
 " the vanity and ill poetry of it." 
 
 It is bad enough ; but Mr. Dryden 
 has made it still worse, by adding 
 more jingles to it. However, to at- 
 tempt translating it is ridiculous, be- 
 cause it disappoints the pin-pose of 
 the passage, \\ hich is to give a sam- 
 ple of Tully's bad poetry in his own 
 words. 
 
 123. If thus, $e.~\ q. d. If Tully 
 had never written or spoken better 
 than this, he needed not to have 
 dreaded any mischief to himself; he 
 might have defied the swords which 
 Antony employed against him. 
 
 121. Laughable poems."] Ridenda 
 — ridiculous, that are only fit to be 
 laughed at. 
 
 12o. Divine Philippic.'} Meaning 
 Cicero's second Philippic, which, of 
 all the fourteen orations which he 
 made against Antony, was the most 
 cutting and severe, and this probably 
 cost him his life. 
 
JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 183 
 
 
 Whom a little slave follows, the keeper ox his narrow 
 
 satchel : 
 But each orator perished by eloquence ; each 
 A large and overflowing fountain of genius consigned to 
 
 death. 
 The hand and neck was cut off by genius ; nor ever 120 
 "Were rosta wet with the blood of a weak lawyer. 
 " O fortunatam natam, me consule, Romani !" 
 He might have contemned the swords of Antony, if thus 
 He had said all things. 1 like better laughable poems, 
 Than thee, divine Phillippic of conspicuous fame, 125 
 
 Who art rolled up next from the first. Him also a cruel 
 Death snatched away, whom Athens admired, 
 Rapid, and moderating the reins of the full theatre. 
 He was begotten, the gods adverse, and fate unpropitious, 
 Whom his father, blear-eyed with the reek of a burning 
 
 mass, ISO 
 
 From coal and pincers, and from the anvil preparing 
 Swords, and from dirty Vulcan, sent to a rhetorician. 
 The spoils of war, to maimed trophies a breast-plate 
 
 He called these orations Philippics, 
 as he tells Atticus, because in the 
 freedom and manner of his speech he 
 imitated the Philippics {^^TTTnaoi 
 ?\oyoi) of Demosthenes, whose ora- 
 tions against Philip were so called. 
 
 126- RoWd up, $c] Vol veris. The 
 books of the ancients were rolled up 
 in volumes of paper or parchment ; 
 this famous Philippic stood second in 
 the volume. See sat. xiv. 1. 102. 
 
 127. Alliens admired.] Demos- 
 thenes. See nole on 1. 9. 
 
 128. Rapid.] Torrentem, his elo- 
 quence rapid and flowing, like the 
 torrent of a river. 
 
 — Moderating — ] Or governing the 
 full assembly of his hearers as he 
 pleased, as a horse is governed and 
 managed by a rein ; so Demosthenes 
 regulated and governed the minds of 
 his auditory. 
 
 129. Gods adverse, <£c] It was a 
 current notion among the ancients, 
 that where people were unfortunate 
 in their lives, the gods were displeased 
 iit their birth, and always took a part 
 against them. 
 
 130. His father.] Demosthenes is 
 
 said to have been the son of a black- 
 smith at Athens. 
 
 — Of a vurning mass."] Large 
 masses of iron, when red-hot out of 
 the forge, are very hurtful to the eye* 
 of the Avorkmen, from their great 
 heat. 
 
 131. Coal and pincers, $:] Hi? 
 father at first thought of bringing up 
 his son Demosthfues to his own 
 trade ; but he took him from this, and 
 put him to a rhetorician to be taught 
 eloquence; 
 
 132. Dirty Vtil ' a;>.] Vulcan wa^ 
 the fabled god of sn iths, whose trade 
 is very filthy and dirty. Sat. xiii. L 
 44-5. 
 
 133. Maimed trophies.] The trophy 
 was a monument erected in memory 
 of victory. The custom came from 
 the Greeks, who, when they had 
 routed their enemies, erected a tree, 
 with all the branches cut off, on 
 which they suspended the spoils of 
 armour which they had taken from 
 them, as well as other ensigns of vic- 
 tory : several of which the poet here 
 enumerates; but as nothing was en- 
 tire, the* poet calls them maimed 
 trophies. 
 
184 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Lorica, et fracta de casside buccula pendens, 
 
 Et curtum temone jugam, victaeque triremis 135 
 
 Aplustre, et summo tristis captivus in arcu, 
 
 Humanis majora bonis creduntur : ad haec se 
 
 Romanus, Graiusque ac Barbarus induperator 
 
 Erexit : causas discriminis atque laboris 
 
 Indehabuit. Taxto major fam.e sitis est, qtjam 110 
 
 VlRTUTIS : aUIS ENIM VIRTUTEM AMPLECTITUR IPSAM, 
 
 Prjsmia si tollas ? patriam tamen obruit olim 
 
 Gloria paucorum, et laudis, titulique cupido 
 
 Haesuri saxis cinerum custodibus : ad quas 
 
 Discutienda valent sterilis mala robora ficiis, 14-5 
 
 Quandoqnidem data sunt ipsis quoque fata sepulchris. 
 
 Expende Hannibalem : quot libras in duce summo 
 
 Invcnies ? hie est, quern non capit Africa Mauro 
 
 134. A heaver."] Buccula, from 
 bucca, the cheek, seems to have been 
 that part of armour which was fas- 
 tened to the helmet, and came down 
 over the checks, and fastened undor 
 the chin. 
 
 135. Beam."] Temo was the beam 
 of the wain, or the draught-tree, 
 whereon the yoke hung : by this the 
 chariot was supported and conducted, 
 while drawn by the yoke. 
 
 136. A sad captive, &c] On the 
 top of the triumphal arch, which was 
 built upon these occasions, they made 
 *ome wretched captive place himself, 
 and there sit bemoaning his wretched 
 fate, while the conquerors were ex- 
 ulting in their victory. So Drvde:;: 
 
 — an arch of victory, 
 On whose high convex sits a captive 
 
 And sighing casts a mournful look 
 below. 
 
 137. To he greater, $c] Such is 
 the folly of mankind, that these 
 wretched trifles are looked upon not 
 only as bearing the highest value, but 
 as something more than human. 
 
 — For these, <£c] Commanders of 
 all nations have exerted themselves, 
 through every scene of danger and 
 fatigue, in order to get at these en- 
 signs of fame and victory. Erexit se 
 — hath roused himself to mighty 
 deeds. 
 
 138. The Roman.] By the Roman, 
 perhaps, we may understand Julius 
 
 Caesar, M. Antony, and others, who, 
 while they were greedily following 
 military glory, were preparing ruin 
 for themselves, as well as many Bad 
 calamities to their country. 
 
 —Grcs/c] Here Miltiades and The- 
 mistocles, the two Athenian generals, 
 may be alluded to, who, while they 
 were catching at military fame, pe- 
 rished miserably. 
 
 138. Barbarian.'] A name which 
 the Greeks and Romans were fond of 
 fixing on all but themselves. 
 
 Here may be meant Hannibal, the 
 great Carthaginian general, who, 
 while he vexed the Romans with con- 
 tinual wars, occasioned the overthrow 
 of his country, and his own miserable 
 death. 
 
 139. Causes of danger, #c.j These 
 things have been the grand motives 
 of their exertions, in the very face 
 of difficulty, and even of death. 
 
 140. So much greater, $c.] i. e. 
 All would be great ; how few wish to 
 be good ! 
 
 142. If you take away, $c] Who 
 is so disinterestedly virtuous, as to 
 love and embrace virtue, merely for 
 the sake of being and doing good ? 
 indeed, who would be virtuous at all, 
 unless the fame and reputation of be- 
 ing so brought something with them 
 to gratify the pride and vanity of the 
 human heart ? Virtue seldom walks 
 forth, saith one, without vanity at 
 her side. 
 
SAT. X. 
 
 JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 185" 
 
 Fixed, and a beaver hanging from a broken helmet, 
 A yoke deprived of its beam, the flag of a conquered 135 
 Three-oared vessel, and a sad captive at the top of an arch^ 
 Are believed to be greater than human goods : for these 
 The Roman, Greek, and Barbarian commander hath 
 Exerted himself: the causes of danger and labour hath had 
 From thence. So much greater is the thirst of fame than 
 Of Virtue : for who embraces even virtue itself, 141 
 If you take away its rewards ? — yet formerly the glory 
 
 of a few 
 Has ruined a country, and the lust of praise, and of 
 A title to be fixed to the stones, the keepers of their ashes ; 
 
 which, 
 To throw down, the evil strength of a barren fig-tree is 
 
 able, 145 
 
 Since fates are given also to sepulchres themselves. *~ 
 Weigh Hannibal— how many pounds will you find in that 
 Great General ? this is he, whom Africa, washed by the 
 
 Moorish 
 
 —The glory of a few.] As Marius, 
 Sylla, Pompey, Antony, &c — q. d. 
 Many instances have there been, 
 where a few men, in search of fame, 
 and of the gratification of then- am- 
 bition, have been the destroyers of 
 their country. 
 
 144. A title, <J(-c.] An inscription 
 to be put on their monuments, in 
 which their remains were deposited ; 
 this has often proved a motive of am- 
 bition, add has urged men to the 
 most dangerous, as well as mischiev- 
 ous exploits. 
 
 145. Evil strength, $c.] There was 
 a sort of wild fig-tree, which grew 
 about walls and other buildings, 
 which, by spreading and running its 
 roots under them, and shooting its 
 branches into the joinings of them, 
 in length of time weakened and des- 
 troyed them, as we often see done by 
 ivy among us. See Pers. sat. i» 1. 25. 
 Evil here is to be understood in the 
 sense of hurtful, mischievous. 
 
 A poor motive to fame, then, is a 
 stone monument with a fine inscrip- 
 tion, which, in length of time, it will 
 be in the power of a wild fig-tree to 
 demolish. 
 
 14fi. Fates arc ghen, <£(] Even 
 sepulchres themselves must ) ield to 
 
 2 1 
 
 fate, and, consequently, the fame and 
 glory, which they are meant to pre- 
 serve, must perish with them ; how 
 vain then the pursuit, how vain the 
 happiness, which has no other mo- 
 tive or foundation ! 
 
 147. Weigh Hannibal] Place him 
 in the scale of human greatness ; i. e* 
 consider him well, as a great man. 
 
 Hannibal was a valiant and politic 
 Carthaginian commander ; he gave 
 the Romans several signal over- 
 throws, particularly at Cannae, a vil- 
 lage of Apulia, in the kingdom of 
 Naples. 
 
 — How many pounds, 8[c.] Alas, 
 how little is left of him ! a few in- 
 considerable ashes ! which may be 
 contained within the compass of an 
 urn, though, when living, Africa it- 
 self was too small for him ! So 
 Dryden t 
 
 Great Hannibal "vithin the balance 
 lay, 
 
 And tell how many pounds his ashes 
 weigh, 
 
 Whom Afric was not able to con* 
 tain, $v. 
 
 148. WasVd, $c.] By the Moorish 
 •sea. The post describes the situation 
 of Africa, the third part of the globe 
 then known, From Asia it ii sepa- 
 
186 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIR.E. 
 
 Perfusa occano, Niloque admota tepenti. 
 
 Rursus ad iEthiopum populos, aliosque elephantos . 
 
 Additur imperils Hispania : Pyrenseum 
 
 Transilit : opposuit natura Alpemque nivemque : 
 
 Diduxit scopulos, et montem rupit aceto. 
 
 Jam tenet Italiam, tamen ultra pergere tendit ; 
 
 Actum, inquit, nihil est, nisi Poeno milite portas 
 
 Frangirmis, et media vexilium pono Suburra. 
 
 O qualis facies, et quali digna tabella, 
 
 Cum Gsetula ducem portaret bellua luscum ! 
 
 Exitus ergo quis est ? 6 gloria ! vincitur idem 
 
 Nempe, et in exilium pra:-eeps fugit, atque ibi magnus 
 
 Mirand usque cliens sedet ad praetoria regis, 
 
 Donee Bithyno libeat vigilare tyranno. 
 
 150 
 
 155 
 
 160 
 
 rated by the Nile ; on the west it is 
 washed by the Atlantic ocean, which 
 boats upon the shores of Ethiopia 
 and Libya, joining to which were the 
 people of Mauritania, or Moors, con- 
 quered by Hannibal. 
 
 1 19. Warm Nik. | Made so by the 
 great heat of the sun, it lying under 
 the torrid zone. 
 
 150. Again.] Rursus — i. c. insuper, 
 moreover. 
 
 — Other elephants.] Other coun- 
 tries where elephants are bred; mean- 
 ing, here, Libya and Mauritania, 
 which -wevc conquered by Hannibal. 
 
 151. Spain is added, $c] To the 
 empires he had conquered he added 
 Spain, yet was not content. 
 
 — The Pijrcncan.\ The Pyrenees, 
 as they are now called, that immense 
 range of high mountains which sepa- 
 rate France from Spain. 
 
 152. Nature opposed, #■.] For na- 
 ture, as Pliny says, raised up the 
 high mountains of the Alps as a wall, 
 to defend Italy from the incursions 
 of the Barbarians. These are con- 
 stantly covered with snow. 
 
 153. Severed rocks, <|- .j By im- 
 mense dint of labour and perseverance 
 he cut a way in the rocks, sufficient 
 for his men, horses, and elephants to 
 pass. 
 
 — With vinegar.] Livy says, that, 
 in order to open and enlarge the way 
 above mentioned, large trees wee 
 felled, and piled round the rock, and 
 set on fire ; the wind blowing hard, a 
 fierce flame soon broke out, «so that 
 
 the rock glowed like the coals with 
 which it was heated. Then Hannibal 
 caused a great quantity of vinegar to 
 be poured upon the rock, which pierc- 
 ing into the veins of it, which were 
 now cracked by the intense heat of 
 the fire, calcined and softened it, so 
 that he could the more easily cut the 
 path through it. 
 
 Polybius says nothing of this vine- 
 gar, and therefore many reject thig 
 incident as fabulous. 
 
 Tliny mentions one extraordinary 
 quality of vinegar, viz. its being able 
 to break rocks and stones which have 
 been heated by fire. But, admitting 
 D s difficult to conceive how 
 Hannibal could procure a quantity of 
 vinegar sufficient for such a purpose, 
 in so mountainous and barren a 
 country. See Ant. Univ. Hist. vol. 
 xvii. p. 597, 8. 
 
 154. Possesses Italy, §c] i. c. Ar- 
 rives there, comes into Italy, which 
 for sixteen years together he wasted 
 and destroyed, beating the Roman 
 troops wherever he met them ; but 
 he was not content with this, he de- 
 termined to go further, and take 
 Rome. 
 
 155. Nothing is dojic, £c.] This is 
 the language of an ambitious mind, 
 which esteemed all that had been 
 done as nothing, unless Rome itself 
 were conquered. 
 
 — Punic army.'} The 1'ceni (quasi 
 Phceni a Phcenicibus unde orti) were 
 a people of Africa, near Carthage ; 
 but being united to them, Pocni is 
 
JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 187 
 
 Sea, and adjoining to the warm Nile, does not contain : 
 Again, to the people of Ethiopa, and to other elephants, 
 Spain is added to his empires : the Pyrenean . 151 
 
 He passes : nature opposed both Alps and snow : 
 He severed rocks, and rent the mountain with vinegar. 
 He now possesses Italy, yet endeavours to go farther: 
 " Nothing is done, v says he, " unless, with the Punic army, 
 
 " we break 155 
 
 " The gates, and I place a banner in the midst of Suburra. 11 
 O what a face ! and worthy of what a picture ! 
 When the Getulian beast carried the one-eyed general ! 
 Then what his exit ? O glory ! for this same man 
 Is subdued, and flies headlong into banishment, and there 
 
 a great 160 
 
 And much to be admired client sits at the palace of the 
 
 king, 
 Till it might please the Bithynian tyrant to awake. 
 
 used, per synec. for the Carthaginians 
 in general. 
 
 156. Suburra.] One of the princi- 
 pal streets in Rome. See before, sat. 
 iii. 5, note. 
 
 1 57. What a face /] What a figure 
 was he all this while ; how curious a 
 picture would he have made, mount- 
 ed on his elephant, and exhibiting 
 his one-eyed countenance above the 
 rest ? 
 
 When Hannibal came into Etruria 
 (Tuscany) the river Arno was swelled 
 to a great height, insomuch that it 
 occasioned the loss of many of his 
 men and beasts, particularly of the 
 elephants, of which the only one re- 
 maining was that on which Hannibal 
 was mounted. Here, by the damps 
 and fatigue, he lost one of his eyes. 
 
 158. Getulian beast,} i. e. The ele- 
 phant. The Getulians were a people 
 of Lybia, bordering en Mauritania, 
 where many elephants were found. 
 
 159. His exit.] What was the end 
 of all his exploits, as well as of him- 
 self'? 
 
 — O glory /] Alas, what is it all ! 
 
 160. Is subdued, $%•.] He was at 
 last routed by Scipio, and forced to 
 fly for refuge to Prusias king of 
 Bithynia. 
 
 161. Client.] Chens signifies a re- 
 tainer, a dependent, one who has put 
 himself under the protection of a pa- 
 
 tron, to whom he pays all honour and 
 observance. 
 
 This great and wonderful man was 
 thus reduced, after all his glorious 
 deeds. 
 
 — Sits, $c] Like a poor and mean 
 dependent. 
 
 162. Till it might please, fyc.] — , 
 The word tyrant is not alw r ays to be 
 taken, as among us it usually is, in 
 a bad sense. It was used in old time 
 in a good sense for a king, or sove- 
 reign. 
 
 — To awake.] When he came to 
 prefer his petition for protection, he 
 could gain no admission till the king's 
 sleeping hours were over : Hannibal 
 was now in too abject and mean a 
 condition to demand an audience, or 
 even to expect one, till the king was 
 perfectly at leisure. 
 
 It is the custom of the eastern 
 princes to sleep about the middle of 
 the day (2 Sam. iv. 5.) when the heats 
 are intense, and none dare disturb 
 them. This was the occasion of the 
 deaths of many in our time at Cal 
 cutta, where, when, taken by the Sv- 
 bah Surajah Dowlah, a number of 
 gentlemen were put into a place called 
 the Black-hold, where the air was so 
 confined, that it suffocated the great- 
 est part of them : but they could not , 
 be released while their iives might 
 have been saved ; for, being put there 
 
188 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Finem animae, quae res humanas miscuit olirn, 
 Non gladii, non saxa dabant, non tela, sed ille 
 Cannarum vindex, et tanti sanguinis ultqr, 
 AnXulus. I, demens, et saevas curre per Alpes, 
 Ut pueris placeas, et declamatio fias. 
 
 Unus Pellseo javeni non sufiicit orbis : 
 iEstuat infelix angusto lirnite mundi, ' . 
 
 Ut Gyarae clausus scopulis, parvaque Seripho. 
 Cum tamen a figulis munitam intraverat urbem, 
 Sarcophago contentus erat. Mors sola fatetur 
 Quaxtula stnt HOMixuM corpuscula. Creditur olim 
 Velificatus Athos, et quicquid Graecia mendax 
 Audet in historia ; constratum classibus isdem, 175 
 
 Suppositumque rotis solidum mare : credimus aitos 
 Defecisse anmes, epotaque flumina Medo 
 Prandente, et rnadidis cantat quae Sostratus alis. 
 
 165 
 
 170 
 
 by order of the Subah, who alone 
 could order their i"elease, the officers 
 of that prince only answered their 
 cries for deliverance, by saying, that 
 the Subah was lain down to sleep, 
 and nobody dared to wake him. 
 
 163. Disturbed human affairs'} — 
 Miscuit, disordered, put into confu- 
 sion, a grout part of the world, by 
 his ambitious exploits and under- 
 takings. 
 
 166. A ring, <£c] When he over- 
 threw the Romans at Cannae, he took 
 above three bushels of gold rings 
 from the dead bodies, Which, says 
 the poet, were fully revenged by his 
 ring, which he always carried about 
 him, and in which he concealed a 
 dose of poison ; so that when the Ro- 
 mans sent to Prusias to deliver him 
 up, Hannibal, seeing there were no 
 hopes of safety, took the poison and 
 died. Thus fell that great man, who 
 had so often escaped the swords, and 
 the darts, and stones hurled by the 
 enemy, as well as the dangers of the 
 horrid rocks and precipices of the 
 Alps ! 
 
 166. Go madrm ?.] For such wert 
 thou, and such are all who build 
 their greatness and happiness on mi- 
 litary fame. 
 
 167. Please lays, <|c] The beys 
 in the schools used to be exercised in 
 making and speaking declamations, 
 the subjects of which were usually 
 
 taken from histories of famous men. 
 A fine end, truly, of Hannibal's Al- 
 pine expedition, to become the sub- 
 ject of a school-boy's theme or decla- 
 mation ! well worthy so much labour, 
 fatigue, and danger ! 
 
 168. Pellaan youth.] Alexander 
 the Great, born at Pel la, a city of 
 Macedon, died of a fever, occasioned 
 by drinking to excess at Babylon. He 
 had lamented that, after having con- 
 quered almost all the East, all Greece, 
 and, in short, the greatest part of the 
 world, there wei*e no more worlds for 
 him to conquer. He died three hun- 
 dred and twenty-three years before 
 Christ, ast. thirty-three. 
 
 170. Gyaras.] One of the Cyclades 
 (islands in the JEgean sea) whereto 
 criminals were banished : it was full 
 of rocks. See i. 60. 
 
 171. The city.] Babylon. 
 
 — Brickmakers.] This city was sur- 
 rounded by a \\ all of brick, of an 
 immense height and thickness. Ov. 
 Met. iv. 1. 58. Figulus signifies any 
 worker in clay ; so a maker of 
 bricks. 
 
 172. Sarcophagus.] A grave, tomb, 
 or sepulchre. A ca^f, flesh, and 
 tpctyuv, to eat, because bodies there 
 consume and waste away. 
 
 — Death only, $c] Death alone 
 teaches us how vain and empty the 
 pursuits of fame and earthly glory 
 are ; and that, however the ambitious 
 
JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 189 
 
 The end of that life, which once disturbed human affairs. 
 Nor swords, nor stones, nor darts gave, but that 
 Iiedresser of Cannae, and avenger of so much blood, l6o 
 A ring. — Go, madman, and run over the savage Alps, 
 That you may please boys, and become a declamation. 
 
 One world did not suffice the Pellaean youth : 
 He chafes unhappy in the narrow limit of the world, 169 
 As one shut up in the rocks of Gyaras, or small Seriphus, 
 Yet when he had entered the city fortified by brickmakers, 
 He was content with a Sarcophagus. Death only; dis- 
 covers 
 how little the small bodies of men are. it is 
 
 believed, that, formerly, 
 Athos was sailed through, and whatever lying Greece 
 Adventures in history ; the solid sea strowed with 175 
 
 Those very ships, and put under wheels : we believe deep 
 Rivers to have failed, and their waters drunk up when the 
 
 Mede 
 Dined, and what things Sostratus sings with wet wings. 
 
 may swell with pride, yet, in a little 
 while, a small urn will contain the 
 hero, who, when living, thought the 
 world not sufficient to gratify his am- 
 bition. 
 
 174. Athos, Qc.~\ A mountain in 
 Macedon, running like a peninsula 
 into the iEgean sea. Xerxes is said 
 to have digged through a part of it 
 to make a passage for his fleet. 
 
 175. Adventures in history.} i. e. 
 Dares to i-ecord in history. The Gre- 
 cian historians wex-e very fond of the 
 marvellous, and, of course, were 
 apt to introduce great improbabili- 
 ties and falsehoods in their nar- 
 rations. 
 
 175. Stroked.] Covered, paved, as 
 it were ; for Xerxes is said to have 
 had twelve thousand ships with him 
 in his expedition, with w hich he form- 
 ed the bridge after mentioned. 
 
 176. Those very ships.} Which had 
 sailed through the passage at mount 
 Athos. 
 
 — Fiit under wheels.] He, in order 
 to march his forces from Asia into 
 Europe, made a bridge with his ships 
 over the sea, which joined Abydus, a 
 city of Asia, near the Hellespont, to 
 Sestos, a city of the Thracian Cher- 
 sonesus, which was opposite to Aby- 
 
 dus, and separated by an arm of the 
 sea ; this part is now known by the 
 name of the Dardanelles. The sea 
 being thus made passable by the help 
 of the bridge, the army, chariots, 
 horses, &c. went over, as if the sea 
 had been solid under them ; therefore 
 the poet says, sepositum rotis soli- 
 dum mare, the fircn sea. Hol. 
 
 — We believe.] i. c. If we give cre- 
 dit to such historians. 
 
 177. Rivers failed, <|v.] It is said 
 that Xerxes' army was so numerous, 
 as to drink up a river at once, when- 
 ever they made a meal. Herodot. 
 lib. ii. 
 
 — The Mede J The Medes and Per- 
 sians composed the army of Xerxes. 
 
 178. Sostratus. J A Greek poet, who 
 wrote the Persian expedition into 
 Greece. 
 
 — Wet wings.] The fancy of a poet 
 may be compared to wings, for it is 
 by this he takes his flight into the re- 
 gions of invention. The fancy of 
 Sostratus is here supposed to have 
 been moistened with wine ; in short, 
 that no man who was not drunk, 
 which is signified by madidus, could 
 ever have committed such improba- 
 bilities to writing. 
 
190 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 llle tainen qualis rediit Salauiine relicta, 
 In Corum atque Eurum solitus saevire flagellis 
 Barbarus, iEolio nunquara hoc in carcere passos, 
 Ipsum compedibus qui vinxerat Ennosigaeum ? 
 Mitius id sane; quad non et stigmate dignum 
 Credidit : huic quisquam vellet servire deorum. 
 Sed qualis rediit ? nempe una nave cruentis 
 Eluctibus, ac tarda per densa cadavera prora. 
 Has toties optata exegit gloria poenas. 
 
 Da spatium vita?, multos da, Jupiter, annos : 
 Hoc recto vultu, solum hoc et pallidus optas. 
 Sed quam continuis et quantis longa senectus 
 Plena malis ! deformem, et tetrum ante omnia vultum, 
 Dissimilemque sui, deformem pro cute pellem, 
 Pendent esq ue genas, et tales aspice rugas, 
 Quales, umbriferos ubi pandit Tabraca saltus, 
 
 180 
 
 185 
 
 190 
 
 179. What, $c] What manner of 
 man — qualis — how wretched, how 
 forlorn, how changed from what he 
 ■was ! Comp. 1. 185. 
 
 — That barbarian.'] Xerxes. 
 
 Salami* being lift.] When he left 
 and fled from Salamis, an island and 
 city in the iEgean sea, near which 
 Themistocles, the Athenian general, 
 overcame him in a sea-fight, and 
 forced him to fly. 
 
 180. Rage with whips, $-c] When 
 he found the sea raging, and being 
 raised by those winds, to have des- 
 troyed his bridge, he was mad enough 
 to order the Hellespont to be scourged 
 with three hundred lashes. I don't 
 read any where, but in this passage of 
 Juvenal, of his whipping the winds. 
 
 181. Never suffered', $.\~\ The 
 poet here alludes to Mn. i. 1. 56-67. 
 where ^Eolus is represented as hold- 
 ing the winds in prison, and giving 
 them liberty to come forth as he 
 pi . ased. 
 
 182. Who bound Ennosigceus, fyc] 
 Xerxes was also mad enough to cast 
 iron fetters into the sea, as if to bind 
 Neptune in chains ; who was called 
 Ennosigaeus, the earth-shaker, from 
 the notion that he presided over the 
 waters of the sea, which made their 
 way into the earth, and caused earth- 
 quakes. From Gr. evvocn;, concus- 
 sie, and yaicc, terra. See Gel- 
 
 Lius. See the Orphic hymn, quoted 
 in Parkii. Heb. Lex. under THi 
 No. 1. 
 
 183. Rather mild, %e.] The poet 
 ironically says, " that, to be sure, all 
 " this was veiy gentle in Xerxes, and 
 " that he did not carry the matter 
 " farther, must be considered as very 
 " gracious in a man who might have 
 " thought proper to have marked him 
 " as a slave." Stigma signifies a 
 brand or mark seV. on the forehead of 
 fugitive slaves, to which, no doubt, 
 this passage alludes. 
 
 184. Any of the gods."} As well as 
 Neptune, would, doubtless, without 
 murmuring, have served so mild and 
 gracious a prince ! Still speaking 
 ironically, in derision of the pride and 
 folly of Xerxes. 
 
 185. What manner, £c] After all 
 this extravagance of pride. See note 
 onl. 179. 
 
 — One vessel] Navis signifies any 
 vessel of the sea or river. The vessel 
 in which Xerxes made his escape, 
 after his defeat near Salamis, was a 
 poor fishing-boat. 
 
 iSG. Bloody waves.'] Made so by 
 the slaughter of such numbers of the 
 Persian army. 
 
 — Slow prow, <*jc] The sea was 
 so crowded with the floating carcase» 
 of the slain, that the boat could hardly 
 make its way. 
 
sat. x. JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 191 
 
 But what did that barbarian return, Salamis being left, 
 Who was wont to rage with whips, against the north-west 
 
 and 180 
 
 East wind, (which never suffered this in the iEolian 
 
 prison,) 
 Who bound Ennosigseus himself with fetters ? 
 That indeed was rather mild, that not worthy a mark also 
 He thought him. — Anjr of the gods would be willing to 
 
 serve him. 
 But what manner of man returned he ? Truly with one 
 
 vessel in the 185 
 
 Bloody waves, and, with slow prow, through thick carcases, 
 Glory so often wished for exacted this punishment.^ 
 
 Give length of life, give, O Jupiter, many years ! 
 This with upright countenance, and this, pale, alone you 
 
 wish. — 
 But with what continual, and with how great evils is old 
 
 age 190 
 
 Full ! See the countenance deformed, and hideous beyond 
 
 every thing, 
 And unlike itself, an unsightly hide instead of a skin : 
 And pendent cheeks, and such wrinkles, 
 As, where Tabraca extends its shady forests, 
 
 187. Glory, <£c] This haughty dus may denote a state of old age and 
 prince, who had collected so vast a sickness: comp. 1. 19 J. 
 
 force together, in order to cany on " Both sick and healthful, old and 
 
 the war with the Athenians, begun young, conspire 
 
 by his father Darius, and invading " In this one silly, mischievous d.-- 
 
 Greece with seven hundred thousand sire." Drybex. 
 
 men of his own kingdoms, three hun- 192. Itself. ] Its former self, 
 
 dred thousand auxiliaries, and with — Unsightly hide] Here is a dis- 
 
 tvvelve thousand ships, after beating tinction between cutis and pellis, the 
 
 Leonidas and taking Sparta, is de- former signifying the skin of a man, 
 
 feated by Themistocles, his army cut the other the hide of a beast ; to the 
 
 to pieces, his fleet destroyed, and last of which, by an apt catachresis, 
 
 himself forced to escape in a wretched the poet compares the coarse and 
 
 fishing-boat. All this might be well rugged appearance of an old uian'ai 
 
 called the just demand of vengeance skin. 
 
 against his pride, and mad thirst after 193. Pendent checks.'] It is ob- 
 
 glory. servable, that, in old persons, the 
 
 188. Give, $w] The poe.t now cheeks, not only in the part of them 
 satirizes the folly of wishing for long which is immediately below the eyes* 
 life : he supposes one praying for it. hang in purses downwards, but also 
 
 189. Upright countenance, $c.]i.e. in that part which, in youth, form» 
 Looking up to heaven — pale, with the roundness, and contributes so 
 fear of death, or lest the petition much to the beauty and comeliness of 
 should be refused. the face, hang downwards in a re- 
 
 But, perhaps, recto vultu may here laxed and pendent state. 
 be a phrase to express one in youth 194. Tabraca, $-c] Now called 
 and health ; and the following palli- Tunis, on the Mediterranean, near 
 
192 
 
 JUVENALIS SATlRiE. 
 
 In vetula scalpit jam mater simia bucca. 195 
 
 Plurima sunt juvenum discrimina, pulchrior ille 
 
 Hoc, atque ille alio : mul turn hie robustior illo : 
 
 Una senum facies, cum voce trementia membra, 
 
 Et jam laeve caput, madidique infantia nasi. 
 
 Frangcndus misero gingiva panis inermi : 200 
 
 Usque adeo gravis uxori, gnatisque, sibique, 
 
 Ut captatori moveat fastidia Cosso. 
 
 Non eadem vini atque cibi, torpente palato, 
 
 Gaudia quid refert, sedeat qua parte theatri, 
 
 Qui vix cornicines exaudiat, atque tubarum 205 
 
 Concentus ? clamore opus est, ut sentiat auris, 
 
 Quern dicat venisse puer, quot nunciet boras. 
 
 Praeterea minimus gelido jam in corpore sanguis 
 
 Febre calet sola : circumsilit agmine facto 
 
 Morborum omne genus, quorum si nomina quaeras, 210 
 
 Promptius expediam, quot amaverit Hippia mcechos, 
 
 Quot Themison aegros autumno occiderit uno ; 
 
 which was a wood, wherein was a 
 vast quantity of apes. 
 
 195. Her old cheek.] Bucca pro- 
 perly signifies the cheek, or that part 
 of it which swells out on blowing ; 
 but here it seems (by synec.) to de- 
 note the whole face, every part of 
 which, in the animal he speaks of, 
 especially when old, is in a wrinkled 
 state. 
 
 Dryden has well preserved the hu- 
 mour Qf this simile : 
 
 Such wrinkles as a skilful hand 
 
 would draw, 
 For an old grandam-apc, when, 
 
 with a grace, 
 She sits at sqnat, and scruhs her 
 
 leathern face.. 
 
 196. The differences, £c.J The poet 
 is here to be understood as observing, 
 that, however, in the days of youth, 
 one is distinguishable from another 
 by different beauties of countenance, 
 and strength of body, old age ren- 
 ders all distinctions void ; and, in 
 short, one old man is too like ano- 
 ther to admit of them, both with re- 
 spect to countenance and bodily 
 strength. 
 
 199. Smooth head.] Bald with the 
 loss of hair. 
 
 — Infancy, <£c] A running and 
 drivelling nose, like a young child. 
 
 200. Unannd gum.] Having lost 
 all his teeth, he has nothing left but 
 his bare gums to mumble his food 
 withal. 
 
 202. The flatterer Cossus.] Capta- 
 tor signifies one who endeavoureth to 
 get or procure any thing, particularly 
 he who rlattereth a man to be his heir. 
 This mean occupation was frequent 
 in Rome, and this Cossus seems to 
 have been famous for it ; yet old age, 
 like what the poet has been describ- 
 ing, is sufficient, says he, even to 
 disgust Cossus himself, so as to keep 
 him away from paying his court. 
 
 203. The palate, <§c] Every 
 thing now growe insipid ; aii dh'- 
 ference of meats and d links is lost. 
 See this symptom of age mentioned 
 by Barzillai. 2 Sam. xix. 35. 
 
 205. The comets.] Cornicen (from 
 cornu, an horn, and cano* to sing) 
 signifies a blower on the horn, or cor- 
 net, the sound of which was proba- 
 bly very loud and harsh, as was that 
 of the trumpets. If he be so deaf 
 that he cannot hetir these, he cannot 
 expect to hear the singers, and the 
 soft instruments. 
 
 20G. Bawling, <£r.] His boy must 
 bawl as loud as he can into his ear, 
 when he would tell him who called to 
 visit him, or to let him know what 
 
sat. x. JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 193 
 
 A mother-ape scratches in her old cheek. 195 
 
 The differences of youths are very many, one is handsomer 
 
 than 
 This, and he than another : this far more robust than 
 
 that : 
 The. face of old men is one, the limbs trembling with the 
 
 voice, 
 And now a smooth head, and the infancy of a wet nose. 
 Bread is to be broken by the wretch with an unarmed 
 
 gum : 200 
 
 So verv burthensome, to wife, and children, and himself, 
 That he would move the loathing of the flatterer Cossus. 
 The palate growing dull, the joys of wine and food are not 
 
 the same : 
 What signifies it in what part of a theatre he may sit, 
 Who can hardly hear the cornets, and the sounding of 
 
 the 205 
 
 Trumpets ? There needs a bawling, that the ear may per- 
 ceive 
 Whom his boy may say has come, how many hours he may 
 
 bring word of. 
 Beside, the very little blood, now in his cold body, 
 Is only warm from : fever : there leap around, formed into a 
 
 troop, 
 All kind of diseases, the names of which were you to ask, 
 I could sooner unfold, how many adulterers Hippia has 
 
 loved, 211 
 
 How many sick Themison has killed in one autumn ; 
 
 o'clock it was. They had not watches him, like wild beasts leaping on their 
 
 and decks as we have, but sun-dials prey. 
 
 and hour-glasses, which a boy was — Formed into a troop.] A whole 
 
 to watch, and acquaint the master troop of diseases, in array against 
 
 how the time went. him. Agmine facto. See Yirg. jEn. 
 
 Horas quinque puer nondinn till i. 86. from whence our poet borrows 
 
 nunt'tat, et tu this expression. See sat. iii. lol, 
 
 Jam coni-fca mihi, Ca:ciliane,vcrAs. and note 2. 
 
 Mart. lib. viii. ep. 67. 211. Hippia.] A woman famous 
 209. Warm from fever.] The for her debaucheries, 
 blood is so cold, and circulates so 212. Themison."] A physician much 
 slowly, that nothing can warm or commended by Pliny and Celsus, 
 quicken it but that hectic, feverish though here spoken of in no very fa- 
 habit, which frequently is an attend- vourable light. Perhaps Juvenal 
 ant on the decays of of old age. gives this name to some empiric, in 
 GeUius tardante scnecta derision. 
 
 Sanguis hebet, <.\c. .En. v. 1. — Autumn.'] The autumn was usu- 
 
 393-6. ally a sickly time at Rome. See sat. 
 
 — Leap around, $c] Surround iv. L 55-6, and n 
 him on all sides, readv to rush upon 
 
 2 C 
 
194 
 
 JUVENALI3 SATIRjE. 
 
 Quot Basllus socios, quot circumscripserit Hirrus 
 
 Percurram citius, quot villas possideat nunc, 
 
 Quo tondente, gravis juveni mihi barba sonabat. 215 
 
 Illc humero, hie lumbis, hie coxa debilis, ambos 
 
 Perditit ille oculos, et luscis invidet : hujus 
 
 Pallida labra cibum capiunt digitis alienis. 
 
 Ipse ad conspectum ccense diducere rictum 
 
 Suetus, hiat tantum, ceu pullus hirundinis, ad quern 220 
 
 Ore volat pleno mater jejuna. Sed ornni 
 
 Mcmbrorum damno major dementia, qua? nee 
 
 Nomina servorum, nee vultum agnoscit amici, 
 
 Cum quo praeterita ccenavit nocte, nee illos, 
 
 Quos genuit, quos eduxit : nam codice saevo 225 
 
 Haeredes vetat esse suos ; bona tota feruntur 
 
 Ad Phialen : tantum artificis valet halitus oris, 
 
 Quod steterat multos in carcere fomicis annos. 
 
 Ut vigeant sensus animi, ducenda tamen sunt 
 
 213. Allies, $c] When the Ro- 
 mans had conquered any people, they 
 reduced them into the form of a pro- 
 vince, which, being subject to Rome, 
 was governed by a Roman praetor, 
 and the inhabitants were called socii, 
 n'lics, and, indeed, looked upon, in 
 all respects, as such, not daring to 
 refuse a confederacy with their con- 
 querors. Besilus was one of these 
 pra'tors, who shamefully plundered 
 Lis province. 
 
 —Hirrus.\ Some read Irus. "Who- 
 ever this was, his character is here 
 noted, as a cheater and circumventer 
 of youth, committed to his care and 
 guardianship. 
 
 He that had the tuition of a ward 
 was called tutor. The word was called 
 Pupillus. The pupilli were orphans, 
 who hadjost their parents, and thus 
 fell under the tuition of guardians, 
 who frequently, instead of protecting 
 them, plundered and cheated them 
 out of their patrimony. 
 
 215. Wkocbppwg.] See sat. i. 23, 
 and notes. 
 
 Cinnamus was a barber at Rome, 
 who got a knight's estate, and grow- 
 ing very rich, had several villas, and 
 lived in a sumptuous manner ; but, 
 at last, he broke, and fled into Si- 
 cily. See Mart. vii. epigr. 64. 
 
 216. One is weak, §c] That host 
 of diseases, mentioned L 209-10. are 
 
 here represented as making their at- 
 tacks on different parts of the body. 
 
 218, Of this.] Hujus— i. c. ho- 
 minis. 
 
 — Take food, $c] So feeble and 
 childish that he cannot feed himself, 
 and is forced to be fed by another. 
 
 219. He, at the sight, See.} As 
 soon a? supper is served, lie, as it 
 were mechanically, stretches open his 
 jaws ; but, unable to feed himself, 
 he only gapes, lik^e a young swallow 
 in a nest, when it sees the old one 
 flying towards it with food in her 
 mouth. This natural image is beau- 
 tifully expressed. 
 
 222-3. Neither knows.] i. e. Re- 
 collects ; his memory now failing. 
 
 223. TIte names of servants.] The 
 poet here brings his old man into the 
 last stage of superannuation, when the 
 understanding and memory fail, 
 which, as he says, is worse than all 
 the rest. 
 
 225. Brought up.} Though he hr,s 
 not only begotten, bnt brought up his 
 children, so that they must have 
 lived much with him, yet they are 
 forgotten ; he makes a will, by which 
 he disinherits them, and leaves all 
 he has to some artful strumpet who 
 has got possession of him. 
 
 — A cruel uill.] Codex, or caudex. 
 literally means the trunk, stem, or 
 body of a tree. Hence, by metcnynv 
 
sat. x. JUVENAL/S SATIRES. 195 
 
 How many of our allies Basilus, how many Hirrus has 
 
 cheated. 
 Sooner run over how many country-houses he may now 
 
 possess, 
 Who clipping, my beard, troublesome to me a youth, 
 
 sounded. 215 
 
 One is weak in his shoulder, another in his loins, another 
 
 in his hip, 
 Another has lost both his eyes, and envies the blind of one . 
 The pale lips of this take food from another's fingers : 
 He, at the sight of a supper, accustomed to stretch open his 
 Jaw, only gapes, like the young one of a swallow, to 
 
 whom 220 
 
 The fasting dam flies with her mouth full. But, than all 
 
 the loss 
 Of limbs, that want of understanding is greater, which 
 
 neither 
 Knows the names of servants, nor the countenance of a 
 
 friend, 
 With whom he supped the night before, nor those 
 Whom he hath begotten, whom brought up: for, by a 
 
 cruel will, 225 
 
 He forbids them to be his heirs ; all his goods are carried 
 To Phiale : so much avails the breath of an artful mouth, 
 Which has stood for many years in the prison of a brothel. 
 Though the senses of the mind may be strong, 3'et funerals 
 
 of children 
 
 a table-book, made of several boards ground. Ainsw. Hence, from the 
 
 joined together, on which they used darkness or filthiness of their situa- 
 
 to write ; hence any writing, as a tion, as well as from the confinement 
 
 deed, will, &c. See sat. vii. 1 10. of the wretched inhabitants therein, 
 
 226. Forbids them.} He excludes who stood ready for every comer, 
 them from inheriting his estate, i. e. Juvenal represents Phiale as having 
 he disinherits them. stood in carcere fornicis, which is 
 
 — Are curried.] Are disposed of, describing her as a common pros- 
 conveyed by the will. titute. 
 
 227. To Phiale.] See above, 1. 225. Hor. lib. i. sat. ii. 30. alluding to 
 note the first. the filth of these dungeons, says, 
 
 — So much avails, fyc.~\ Such an Contra alius nullum nisi olenti in 
 
 old dotard as this, may be easily per- for nice stantem. 
 
 suaded to any thing by an artful Career signifies also a starting-place 
 
 strumpet ; so great an ascendancy at the chariot-races ; hence, by me- 
 
 does she acquire over him by her art- tonym. a beginning: in this sense it 
 
 ful and insinuating tongue. may mean the entrance of a brothel, 
 
 228. Prison of a brothel.] Fornix, where the harlots presented them- 
 lit. an arch or vault in houses ; also, selves to the view of the passers-by. 
 meton^ a stew or brothel, because Comp. sat. iii. 1. 65. n. 1. 
 
 these were in vaults or wells under 229. Tho' the senses, Sj;c.] i, e. Yet 
 
196 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRJE. 
 
 Funera gnatorum, rogus aspiciendus amata* 
 Conjugis, et fratris, plenseque sororibus urnae. 
 Hffic data poena diu viventibus ; ut renovata 
 Semper clade domus, multis in luctibus, inque 
 Perpetuo moerore, et nigra veste senescant. 
 Hex Pvlius (magno si quiequam credis Homero) 
 Exemplum vita? fuit a cornice secunda? : 
 Felix nimirum, qui tot per saecula mortem 
 Distulit, atque suos jam dextra computat annos, 
 Quique novum toties must una bibit : oro, parumper 
 Attendas, quantum de legibus ipse queratur 
 Fatorum, et nimio de stamine, cum videt acris 
 Antilochi barbam ardentem : nam quaerit ab omni, 
 Quisquis adest, socio, cur hsec in tempora duret ; 
 Quod facinus dignum tarn longo admiserit aevo. 
 Haec eadem Peleus, raptum cum luget Achillem, 
 Atque alius, cui fas Ithacum lugere natantem. 
 
 230 
 
 235 
 
 240 
 
 245 
 
 allov.- him to retain his senses in full 
 vigour, what grievous scenes oi' dis- 
 tress has he to go through ! 
 
 — Children.] So Vikg. .En. vi. 1. 
 308. 
 
 Imposltisque mgis ju-jcr.ts antcora 
 parentum. 
 
 230. To be attended.] Ducere fu- 
 nera is a phrase peculiar!;- adapted to 
 the ceremony of funerals, and pro- 
 bably it is derived from a custom of 
 the friends of the deceased walking 
 in procession before the corpse. See 
 i. 132. See Gjiaxg. in. loc. " Du- 
 " cere — verbum sepulturae. Albinov. 
 " ad Liviam. Funera duenntur lto- 
 " mani per oppida Di-usi." 
 
 — The pile] The funeral pile, on 
 which the body was reduced to 
 ashes. 
 
 231. Urns filVd, $c] i. e. With 
 their bones and ashes, which it was 
 customary to preserve in pots (after 
 being gathered from the funei al pile) 
 called urns. 
 
 232. this pain, $c.] This is the 
 sad lot of long lived people, as it 
 must be their fate to out-live many 
 of their friend-. 
 
 232-3. Slaughter of the fimUy* 
 Sec.] Some part or other of which is 
 continually dropping off. 
 
 233. Many sorrozc-s. $r.] i. e. Be- 
 -.vailinss of the death of friends. 
 
 ?34r Black habit.] By this we find, 
 
 that the wearing of mourning for the 
 loss of relations is very ancient, and 
 that black was the colour which the 
 ancients used on such occasions. See 
 sat. iii. 1. 201. 
 
 235. Fylian ling.] Nestor, the 
 king of Pylos, in Pelopcnnerus, who, 
 according to Homer, is said to have 
 lived three hundred years. 
 
 23C. Second from a crou:] Covnix 
 signifies a crow, or rook. This spe- 
 cies of bird is fabled to live nine times 
 the age of a man. Nestor (says the 
 poet) stands second to this long-lived 
 bird. 
 
 23S. With the right] The an- 
 cients u?cd to count their numbers 
 with their fingers ; all under one hun- 
 dred was counted on the left hand, 
 all above on the right. 
 
 239. So often drank, $v.] Mustum 
 signifies new vine. The vintage, 
 when this was made, was in the au- 
 tumn ; so that the poet here means 
 to observe that Nestor lived for many 
 returns of this season. 
 
 — Attend.] The poet calls for at- 
 tention to what he is going to prove, 
 by various examples, namely, that 
 happiness does not consist in long 
 life. 
 
 240-1. Lazes of the fates.] The 
 ancients believed all things, even the 
 gods themselves, to be governed by 
 the fates. Old men, who were from 
 
JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 197 
 
 Are to be attended,^the pile to be seen of a beloved 230 
 Wife, and of a brother, and urns filled with sisters. 
 This pain is given to long-livers, so that, the slaughter 
 Of the family being continually renewed, in many sorrows, 
 
 and in 
 Perpetual grief, and in a black habit, they may grow old. 
 The Pylian king (if you at all believe the great Homer) 
 Was an example of life second from a crow : 286 
 
 Happy, no doubt, who through so many ages had deferred 
 Death, and now computes his years with the right hand, 
 And who so often drank new must : I pray, attend 
 A little — How much might he complain of the laws 240 
 Of the fates, and of too much thread, when he saw the 
 
 beard of 
 Brave Antilochus burning : he demands of every friend 
 Which is present, why he should last till these times — 
 What crime he had committed worthy so long life. 
 The very same does Peleus, while he mourns Achilles 
 
 snatched away, 245 
 
 And another, to whom it was permitted to lament the 
 
 swimming Ithacus. 
 
 various causes afflicted, might be apt 
 to complain of their destiny, and 
 Nestor among the rest. 
 
 241. Of too much thread.] The 
 fates were supposed to be three sis- 
 ters, who had all some peculiar busi- 
 ness assigned them by the poets, in 
 relation to the lives of men. One 
 held the distaff, another spun the 
 thread, and the third cut it. q. d. 
 How might he complain that the 
 thread of his life was too long. 
 
 242. Antiloc/ms.] The son of Nes- 
 tor, slain, according to Homer, by 
 Memnon, at the siege of Troy ; ac- 
 cording to Ovid, by Hector. His 
 beard burning, i. e. on the funeral 
 pile. This mention of the beard im- 
 plies, that he was now grown to man's 
 estate. 
 
 — He demands, $c.] The poet 
 here very naturally describes the 
 workings and effects of grief, in the 
 afflicted old man, who is now tempt- 
 ed to think, that his great age was 
 granted him as a punishment for 
 some greater crime than he could re- 
 collect to have committed, as he was 
 permitted to live to see so sad an 
 event as the death of his brave and 
 
 beloved son. He is therefore repre- 
 sented as inquiring of his friends 
 what could be the cause of his being 
 reserved for such an affliction. 
 
 245. Peleus.) The father of Achil- 
 les, slain by Paris, who shot him in 
 the heel in the temple of Apollo, the 
 only part where he was vulnerable. 
 His father Peleus had to lament his 
 untimely death. 
 
 246. Another.'} Laertes, a prince 
 of Ithaca, father of Ulysses. He, 
 during his son's absence, and wander- 
 ings over the seas, wearied himself 
 with daily labour in husbandry, and 
 having no other attendant than an 
 old maid-servant, who brought him 
 food : during this period his constant 
 petition to Jupiter was, that he might 
 die. 
 
 —Swimming Ithacus.] Ulysses was 
 called Ithacus, from Ithaca, a coun«. 
 try of Ionia where he reigned. After 
 the destruction of Troy, he suffered 
 many toils and hardships, for ten 
 years together, before his return 
 home. The word natantem perhaps 
 alludes to his shipwreck near the 
 island of Calypso, whei*e he was 
 forced to swim to save his life ; or 
 
198 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Incolumi Troja Priamus venisset ad umbras 
 Assaraci magnis solennibus, Hectore funus 
 Portante, ac reliquis fratrum cervicibus, inter 
 Jliadum lachrymas, ut primos edere planctus 
 Cassandra inciperet, scissaque Poryxena palla, 
 Si forct extinctus diverso tempore, quo non 
 Cocperat audaces Paris aedificare carinas. 
 Longa dies igitur quid contulit ? omnia vidit 
 Eversa, et ffammis Asiain ferroque cadentem 
 Tunc miles tremulus posita tulit arma tiara, 
 Et ruit ante aram summi Jovis, ut vetulus bos, 
 Qui domini cultris tenue et miserabile collum 
 Prsebet, ab ingrato jam fastiditus aratro. 
 Exitus ille utcumque hominis : sed torva canino 
 Latravit rictu, qua? post hunc vixcrat, uxor. 
 Festino ad nostros, et regem transeo Ponti, 
 
 250 
 
 255 
 
 260 
 
 perhaps it may allude, in general, to 
 the length of time he passed in sail- 
 ing en the sea. 
 
 247. Truy lehig snfc] i. r. Had 
 Troy stood, and remained in safety. 
 
 — Pr'tdm.\ The last king of Troy, 
 who lived to see the city besieged by 
 the Greeks for ten years together, and 
 :it length taken. 
 
 247-8. Shades of A'ssaracu*, £c] 
 Had joined his ancestor's ghosts, or 
 shades, in the infernal regions: ;. , . 
 had died in peace, and had been bu- 
 ried with the splendid funeral rites 
 belonging to his rank. See Viiig. 
 Mn. i. 288; and AlKsw. Assaracus. 
 
 248. Hector carrying, £.-.] Among 
 the ancients, the corpse of the parent 
 was carried forth to the funeral pile 
 by the sons of the deceased. If Troy 
 had remained in quiet, Priam's son 
 Hector had not been slain by Achil- 
 les, but had survived his father, and 
 have, as the custom was, been one 
 of his bearers to the funeral pile. 
 
 249. The rest of the shoulders, $v. J 
 Reliquis cervicibus — for cervicibus re- 
 liquorum, &c. Hypullage. Accord- 
 ing to Horner, Priam had fifty sons 
 and twelve daughters : the former of 
 which would have assisted Hector in 
 carrving their father's corpse. Pliny 
 tsays, (lib. vii. c. 44.) Quintus Metel- 
 lus Macedtmicus, a quatuor filiis ilia- 
 fas est rogo. 
 
 Priam was slain in the siege by 
 
 Pyrrhus, the son of Achilles, and 
 most of his children were destroyed. 
 See Mn. ii. 501-54* 
 
 250. As soon as, <yc] This was the 
 signal for the funeral procession to 
 move forwr.y. towards the pile. 
 
 — Cassandra, Sc] She was the 
 daughter of Priam and Hecuba, it 
 was customary to hire women to 
 mourn at burials, who went before 
 the corpse to lament the dead ; the 
 chief of them who began the 
 mbny was called pracflca, (apraeficio, 
 planctuum prince;. s. Aixsw.) This 
 part must here most naturally have 
 been taken by Cassandra, Priam's 
 daughter, who would, doubtless, have 
 put herself at the head of the mourn- 
 ing women. See 2 Chron. xxxv. 2-3. 
 
 After the taking of Troy, she fell 
 to the share of Agamemnon. She 
 was married to Choroebus, and de- 
 bauched by Ajax Oileus, in the tern-, 
 pie of Minerva. See ^En. i. 41. and 
 ii. 1. -103-7. 
 
 251. Polyxena, $v.] The daugh- 
 ter also of Priam, who gave her in 
 marriage to Achilles ; but he, coming 
 into the temple of Apollo to perform 
 the nuptial rites, was there treacher- 
 ously slain by Paris. She was after- 
 wards sacrificed at the tomb of Achil- 
 les. See before, 1. 2-15. note. 
 
 — Sent garment.'] Rending the gar- 
 ments, in token of grief, was very- 
 ancient. 
 
JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 199 
 
 Troy being safe, Priam had come to the shades 
 
 Of Assaracus with great solemnities, Hector carrying 
 
 The corpse, and the rest of the shoulders of his brethren, 
 
 among 
 The tears of the Trojans, as soon as Cassandra should 
 begin 250 
 
 To~utter the first wailings, and Polyxena with a rent gar- 
 ment, 
 Had he been extinct at another time, in which Paris 
 Had not begun to build the daring ships. 
 What therefore did long life advantage to him ? he saw all 
 
 things 
 Overturned, and Asia falling by fire and sword. 255 
 
 Then, a trembling soldier, the diadem being laid aside, he 
 
 bore arms, 
 And fell before the altar of high Jove, as an old ox,* 
 Who, to the master's knife, offers his lean and miserable 
 Neck, now despised by the ungrateful plough. 
 However, that was the exit of a man : but his fierce wife, 
 AVho outlived him, barked with a canine jaw. gfil 
 
 I hasten to our own, and pass by the king of Pontus, 
 
 252. Been extinct'] i. e. If he had 
 died. 
 
 — At ancthcr tone, §cj i. e. Be- 
 fore Paris prepared to sail into Greece, 
 in order to ravish Helen from her 
 husband Menelaus. Had this been 
 the case, Priam would have been 
 borne to the grave by his sons, and 
 his funeral solemnized by the public 
 lamentations of his daughters. 
 
 233. Da ring ships.] So called from 
 the daring design they were employed 
 in ; the execution of which occasion- 
 td the Trojan war, and the destruc- 
 tion of the country by the Greeks. 
 
 251. What therefore, $c.] The 
 poet here applies this instance of old 
 king Priam to his main argument 
 .against wishing to live to old age, 
 feeing with how many sorrows it may 
 be accompanied. 
 
 255. Asia failing.] See Virg. JEn. 
 iii. 1. 1. By Asia is here meant the 
 Lesser Asia, containing the Greater 
 and Lesser Phyrgia, the kingdom of 
 Priam. 
 
 256. Trembling soldier.] Priam, 
 now trembling, and almost worn out 
 by age. 
 
 — Diadem being laid aside.] Hay- 
 ing laid aside all ensigns of royalty, 
 
 — Bore arms.] In defence of" his 
 country. See iEn. ii. 207-558. where 
 these parts of Priam's history are de- 
 scribed. 
 
 257. Fell lefore the altar.] Of Ju- 
 piter Herceus, erected by Priam in an 
 open court belonging to the palace : 
 hither he fled for succour and protec- 
 tion, but was slain by P) Trims. jEb. 
 ii. 501-2. 
 
 259. Ungrateful plough.] Proso- 
 popeia. The plough is here repre- 
 sented as ungrateful, as forgetting 
 the labours of the old worn-out ox, 
 and despising him as now useless. 
 Some understand aratro for agricola 
 — meton. 
 
 260. Exit of a man.] He died, 
 however, like a manJUhis was not 
 the case of his wife. 
 
 — Fierce rcife, §-c] Hecuba, wife 
 of Priam, who, after the sacking of 
 Troy, railed so against the Greeks, 
 that she is feigned to have been turned 
 into a bitch. Ovid Met. lib. xiii. I. 
 567-9. 
 
 262. To cur own.] To mention in- 
 
200 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Et Croesum, quern voxjusti facunda Solonis 
 llespicere ad longag j ussit spatia ultima vitas. 
 Exilium et career, Minturnarumque paludes, 
 Et mendicatus victa Carthagine panis, 
 Hinc causas habuere. Quid illo cive tulisset 
 Natura in terris, quid Roma beatius unquam, 
 Si circumducto captivorum agmine, et omiri 
 Bellorum pompa, animam exhal asset opimam, 
 Cum de Teutonico vellet descendere curru ? 
 Provida Pompeio dederat Campania febres 
 Optandas ; sed multa? urbes, et publiea vota 
 Vicerunt : igitur fortuna ipsius, et urbis 
 Servatum victo caput abstulit. Hoc cruciatu 
 Lentulus, hac poena caruit, ceciditque Cethegus 
 Integer, et jacuit Catilina cadavere toto. 
 
 Formam optat modico pueris, majore puellis 
 ]\Iurmure, cum Veneris fanum videtanxia mater, 
 
 265 
 
 270 
 
 275 
 
 stances and e^Snnnles among our own 
 people. * 
 
 —The Ming of Pontile] Mithri- 
 dates, who maintained a long AV ar 
 with the Romans, but was at last 
 routed By Pompey. He would have 
 shortened his days by poison, but had 
 so fortified himself by an antidote, 
 invented by him, and which still 
 bears his name, that none would ope- 
 rate upon him. 
 
 263. Cmsus, whom, tjc.] Croesus 
 was the last king of Lydia. so rich, 
 that Croesi divitiae was a proverbial 
 saying. He asked Solon (one of the 
 wise men of Greece, and lawgiver of 
 the Athenians) who was the happiest 
 man ? The philosopher told him, 
 " no man could be said to be happy 
 ** before death." This, afterwards, 
 Croesus found to be true ; for, being 
 taken prisoner by Cyrus, and order- 
 ed to be burned, he cried out, " So- 
 44 Ion ! Solon ! Solon !" Cyrus asked 
 the reason of this, and was told what 
 Solon had said; whereupon, consi- 
 dering it might be his own case, he 
 spared his life, and treated him with 
 much respect. Respicere — to consi- 
 der — mind — regard. 
 
 265. Marshes of M'ntumtr.] — 
 Cains Marius being overcome in the 
 civil war by Sylla, was forced to skulk 
 in the marshes of Minturnae, a city 
 by the river Liris, where he was 
 
 found, taken, and imprisoned; he 
 then escaped into Africa, where he 
 lived in exile, and begged his bread 
 in the streets of Carthage, which had 
 been conquered by the Romans. 
 
 267. Hence had their causes] All 
 these misfortunes were owing to Ma- 
 rius's living so long ; he died in the 
 sixty-eighth year of his age. 
 
 — Thau that citi;:cn.] i. e. Than 
 Marius. 
 
 269-71. If— when, §c) If when, 
 in his triumph after conquering the 
 Cimbri, he had numbers of captives 
 led around his triumphal car, and 
 amidst all the pom» and glory of vic- 
 tory, he had breatfted out his mighty 
 soul, as he desce^fle|j, after the tri- 
 umph was over, from his chariot, he 
 had been the happiest man in nature, 
 or that Rome ever bred, and have 
 escaped the miseries which afterwards 
 befel him. 
 
 271. Teutonic chariot.] The Teu- 
 tones were a people bordering on the 
 Cimbri, conquered by Marius ; the 
 chariot in which Marius rode in his 
 triumph over these people, is there» 
 fore called Teutonic, as used on that 
 occasion. 
 
 272. Provident Campania.] When 
 first Pompey engaged in the civil war 
 against Csssar, he had a violent fever 
 at Naples, and another at Capua, of 
 which he was like to have died: thes» 
 
JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 201 
 
 And Croesus, whomjjie eloquent voice of just Solon 
 Commanded to look at the last period of a long life. 
 Banishment and a prison, and the marshes of Minturnse, 
 And bread begged in conquered Carthage, 26$ 
 
 Hence had their causes — -what, than that citizen* had 
 Nature on the earth, or Rome ever borne, more happy, 
 If, the troop of captives being led around, and in all 
 The pomp of wars, he had breathed forth his great soul, 
 When he would descend from the Teutonic chariot? 271 
 Provident Campania had given Pompey fevers 
 To be wished for ; but many cities, and public vows 
 Overcame them ; therefore his own fortune, and that of the 
 
 city, 
 Took off his preserved head from him conquered : this tor- 
 ment, 275 
 This punishment Lentulus was free from ; and Cethegus 
 
 Entire, and Catiline lay with his whole carcase. 
 
 With moderate murmur, the anxious mother desires 
 beauty 
 For her boys — with greater for her girls, when she sees the 
 temple of Venus, 
 
 seem to have been provided against 
 the miseries which afterwards befel 
 him. 
 
 273. To he wished for.] In order 
 to take him out of life, while he was 
 great and happy. 
 
 274. Overcame them.] The united 
 wishes and prayers of so many cities 
 and people, for his recovery, pre- 
 vailed against the effects of his sick- 
 ness, and saved his life. 
 
 — His own fortune.] Which re- 
 served him to be slain in his Sight to 
 Egypt, after his defeat by Caesar. 
 
 — That of the city.] Doomed to 
 fall under the dominion of Pompey's 
 enemy, after suffering so much by a 
 civil war. 
 
 275. Took of, $c.] That life which 
 had been preserved in a dangerous 
 sickness (see note on 1. 274.) was des- 
 troyed after his defeat, and his head 
 severed from his body by Achillas 
 and Salvius, sent for that purpose 
 from Ptolemy, who intended it as a 
 present to Caesar. 
 
 Of Pompey's death, see Ant. 
 Univ. Hist. vol. xiii. p. 217. 
 
 276. Leniulus — Cethegus.] These 
 were in the conspiracy with Catiline, 
 and being put into prison, by order 
 of Cicero, then consul, were stran- 
 gled, so that their bodies were not 
 dismembered. 
 
 277. Catiline, %c.] The famous 
 conspirator, whose designs were de- 
 tected and frustrated by Cicero, died 
 in battle, without the loss of any part 
 of his body. See Sallust. All 
 these died young men, and thus were 
 taken away from the miseries which 
 those meet with who live to old age. 
 
 278. Moderate murmur.] The 
 word murmur here implies that sort 
 of muttering -which they used at 
 their prayers to the gods ; this was 
 louder, and more distinct, on some 
 occasions than on others, according 
 to the degree of fervency in the sup° 
 pliant. Comp. Pers. sat. ii. 6-8. 
 
 —Anxious mother, fyc."] The poet 
 here represents another popular folly» 
 in supposing a mother anxious for 
 having handsome children, and pray* 
 ing for this at the shrine of Venus* 
 the fabled goddess of beauty. 
 
 2 D 
 
202 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE 
 
 Usque ad delicias votorum : cur tamen, inquit, 280 
 
 Corripias ? pulchra gaudet Latona Diana. 
 Sed vetat optari faciem Lucretia, qualem 
 Ipsa habuit. Cuperet Rutilae Virginia gibbum 
 Accipere, atque suam Rutilae dare. Filius autem 
 Corporis egregii miseros trepidosque parentes 285 
 
 Semper habet. Rara est adeo concordia form.e 
 Atque pudicitee ! sanctos licet horrida mores 
 Trad id ei it domus, ac veteres imitata Sabinas. 
 Praeterea, castum ingenium, vultumque modesto 
 Sanguine ferventem tribuat natura benigna 290 
 
 Larga manu : (quid enim puero conferre potest plus 
 Custode, et cura Natura potentior omni ?) 
 Sed casto quid forma nocet ? quid profuit olim 
 Hippolyto grave propositum ? quid Rellerophonti ? 
 Erubuit nempe haec, ceu fastidita repulsa : 295 
 
 Nee Sthenoboea minus quam Cressa excanduit, et se 
 Concussere ambae. Mulier ssevissima tunc est, 
 
 280. Even to the delight, $c] So 
 that the highest and fondest of them 
 might be gratified ; delicias means 
 gratification ; she prays they might 
 be so handsome as fully to satisfy her 
 wishes. 
 
 281. Blame me.~\ A question sup- 
 posed from the mother to the poet, on 
 his finding fault with her for what she 
 did. 
 
 —Latona rejoices, <£c.] She defends 
 what she does by quoting an example. 
 Latona, daughter of Cceus, one of the 
 Titans, bore, to Jupiter, Apollo and 
 Diana at the same birth. 
 
 282-3. Lucretia forbids, §c] The 
 poet answers the example brought for 
 asking beautiful children, by the in- 
 stance of Lucretia, whose beauty 
 proved her undoing. She was a beau- 
 ful Roman lady, the daughter of Lu- 
 cretius, prefect of the city, and wife 
 of Tarquinius Collatinus, ravished by 
 Sextus Tarquinius, son of Tarquinius 
 Superbus, which she so resented, that 
 she sent for her father and husband, 
 and stabbed herself before them. The 
 people of Rome, on this, rose in arms, 
 expelled the Tarquins, and changed 
 the monarchy to a commonwealth. 
 
 2S3. Virginia.'] A Roman virgin, 
 exceedingly beautiful, whom her own 
 father, to prevent her being exposed 
 
 to the lust of Appius, one of the De- 
 cemviri, stabbed in the middle of the 
 forum. 
 
 283-4. Butila.] An ugly deformed 
 old woman, above seventy-seven years 
 old, as Pliny says, was in no danger 
 of such a death, and therefore hap- 
 pier in her deformity than Virginia 
 in her beauty ; so that the latter 
 might have gladly changed her person 
 for that of Rutila. 
 
 284s, But a son, <£c.] t. e. A son 
 with an accomplished and beautiful 
 person makes his parents unhappy, 
 and keeps them in perpetual fear, so 
 very rarely do beauty and modesty 
 meet together. 
 
 285. Person.] The word corporis, 
 which literally signifies the body, is 
 here used for the whole person of the 
 man, per synec. 
 
 287. Homely house, §c.j i. e. 
 Though the plain family, rough and 
 honest, should have furnished him 
 with the best morals, and brought 
 him up in all the plain and virtuous 
 simplicity of the old Sabines, trans- 
 mitting modesty and chastity by their 
 own examples also. 
 
 289. Glowing, $c] Easily blush- 
 ing at every species of indecency. 
 
 292. More powerful, ^-c.J i. e. 
 Who is more powerful than all out-. 
 
sat. x. JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 303 
 
 Even to the delight of her wishes. Y et, why, says she, 
 Should you blame me ? Latona rejoices in fair Diana. 281 
 But Lucretia forbids a face to be wished for, such 
 As she had. Virginia would desire to accept the hump of 
 
 Rutila, 
 Andjyive her (shape) to Rutila. But a son, with a 
 Remarkable person, always has miserable and trembling 
 Parents — So hare is the agreement of beauty 286 
 And chastity ! — Though the homely house chaste morals 
 
 should 
 Have transmitted, and imitated the old Sabines. 
 Beside, a chaste disposition, and a countenance glowing 
 With modest blood, let bounteous nature give him 290 
 With a kind hand, (for what more upon a boy can 
 Nature, more powerful than a guardian, and than all care, 
 
 bestow ?) ^ 
 But how does beauty hurt the chaste ? what, once on a time, 
 
 did 
 A solemn resolution benefit Hippolytus ? what Belle- 
 
 rophon ?. 
 Truly this one reddened as if scorned by a repulse : 295 
 Nor was Sthenobcea less on fire than the Cretan, and both 
 Vexed themselves. A woman is then most cruel 
 
 ward restraints, q. d. Natural good noboea, hearing of his success, killed 
 
 dispositions are more powerful preser- herself. 
 
 vatives against vice, than all the 295. This one redden* 'd,$c.] Phaedra 
 
 watchfulness and care of guardians reddened with anger and resentment, 
 
 and parents. as thinking herself despised. 
 
 293. How does beauty, £c] Grant- 296. Sthenobcea, $c.~\ See note on 
 ing that beauty may be pernicious, in 1. 294. 
 
 instances like those above mentioned, —The Cretan.'] Phaedra was the 
 
 yet how can it injure the chaste and daughter of Minos, king of Crete, 
 virtuous ? — Both.] Phaedra and Sthenobcea. 
 
 294. A solemn resolution, $c.]— 297. Vexed themselves.'] Concussere. 
 This was the solemn resolve of Hip- The verb concutio literally signifies 
 polyt us, to refuse the love of his step- to shake, jog, or stir; and, when 
 mother Phaedra, who, for this, ac- applied to the mind, to trouble, vex, 
 cused him of tempting her to incest, or disquiet. Here it intimates, that 
 He fled away in a chariot by the sea these women shook, or stirred them- 
 side, but the horses taking fright at selves, into a fit of rage and vexation, 
 the sea-calves lying on the shore, It seems to be used metaphorically, 
 overturned the chariot, and killed from the custom of the wrestlers and 
 him. boxers at the theatres, who, before 
 
 — Bcllerophon.] Sthenobcea (the they engaged, gave themselves blows 
 
 wife of Poetus, king of the Argives) on the breast, or sides, to excite an- 
 
 falling in love with him, he refused ger and fury. Thus the lion is said 
 
 her ; at which she was so incensed, to shake his mane, and lash himself 
 
 that she accused him to her husband ; with his tail, when he would be fu- 
 
 this forced him upon desperate ad- rious. 
 ventures, which he overcame. Sthe- -.Mo.si cruel, fyc] A woman is 
 
204 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Cum stimulos odio pudor admovet. Elige quidnam 
 Suadendum esse y>utes, cui nubere Caesaris uxor 
 Destinat : optimus hie, et formosissimus idem 
 Gentis patricia? rapitur miser extinguendus 
 Messalina? oculis : dudum sedet iila parato 
 Flammeolo ; Tyriusque palam genialis in hortis 
 Sternitur, et ritu decies centena dabuntur 
 Antiquo : venict cum signatoribus auspex. 
 H02C tu secreta, et paucis commissa putabas ? 
 Non nisi legitime vult nubere. Quid placeat, die : 
 Ni parere velis, pereundum est ante lucernas : 
 Si scelus admittas, dabitur mora parvula, dum res 
 Nota urbi et populo, contingat principis aures : 
 Dedecus ille domus sciet ultimus. Interea tu 
 Obsequere imperio, si tanti est vita dierum 
 Paucorum : quicquid melius, leviusque putaris, 
 
 300 
 
 305 
 
 310 
 
 then most savage and relentless, 
 when, on being disappointed, the fear 
 of shame adds spurs to her resent- 
 ment, and her passion of love is 
 changed to hatred. See Gen. xxxix. 
 
 Virgil represents Juno as stirred 
 up to her relentless hatred to iEneas, 
 and the Trojans, from several mo- 
 lives ; among the rest, from the con* 
 tempt which had been shewn her by 
 Paris, in his judgment against her at 
 mount Ida. 
 
 Necdum etiam causae irarum, sccvi- 
 
 que dchres, 
 JZxciderdnt ammo, manet alia mente 
 
 repostwrrp 
 Judicium Puridis, sjjrctccaue in- 
 jurid forma-, §c. &c. 
 
 iEn. i. 29, 30, 31. 
 See also iEn. v. 5—7. 
 
 298. Choose, #r.] u e. Think it 
 over, and determine, all things con- 
 sidered, what advice you would give. 
 
 299. To him -whom, Arc] Sijius is 
 meant here, a noble Roman, whom 
 the empress Messalina so doated upon, 
 that she made him put away his wife 
 Julia Syliana, and resolved to marry 
 him in the absence of her husband, 
 the emperor Claudius, who was gone 
 no farther than Ostia, a city near the 
 mouth of the Tiber. 
 
 302. By the eyes, dvc.~[ By her hav- 
 ing fixed her eyes upon him, so as to 
 become enamoured v. ith him. 
 
 —Long she sits, £c_] The time 
 
 seems long to her, while wailing for 
 Silius. 
 
 302-3. Prcpdred bridal veiL] — 
 Which she had prepared for the ce- 
 remony. 
 
 303. Openly, $•<%] She transacts 
 her matter openly, without fear or 
 shame; accordingly she omits nothing 
 of the marriage ceremony ; she put 
 on the flame-coloured marriage veil ; 
 the conjugal bed was sumptuously 
 adorned with purple, and prepared 
 in the Lucullan gardens, a place of 
 public resort. See note on 1. 307. 
 
 304. Ten times an hundred.] She 
 had her portion ready, according to 
 ancient custom. On this instance it 
 amounted to the vast sum of one. 
 thousand sestertia. See sat. i. I. 92. 
 note. This was supposed to be given 
 to the husband, in consideration of 
 the burdens of matrimony. 
 
 305. Soothsayer — signers, $c."} — 
 The soothsayer, who always attended 
 on such occasions. Valer. lib. ii. 
 says, that, among the ancients, no- 
 thing of consequence was undertaken, 
 either in private or public, without 
 consulting the auspices ; hence a 
 
 soothsayer attended on marriages 
 
 Auspex — quasi avispex — because they 
 divined from the flight and other ac- 
 tions of birds. 
 
 The signatories were a sort of pub- 
 lic notaries, who wrote and attested 
 wills, deeds, marnrge-settlements, 
 &c. These also were present ; lor. 
 
sat.x. JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 205 
 
 When shame adds goads to hatred. Choose what 
 
 You think to be advised, to him whom Caesar's wife 
 
 destines 
 To marry : this the best and most beautiful too 300 
 
 Of a patrician family is hurried, a wretch, to be destroyed 
 By the eyes of Messalina : long she sits in her prepared 
 Bridal veil, and openly the Tyrian marriage-bed is strowed 
 In the gardens, and ten times an hundred will be given by 
 
 ancient 
 Bite: the soothsayer, with the signers, will come. 305 
 
 Do you think these things secret, and committed to a 
 
 few ? 
 She will not marry unless lawfully. Say — what like 
 
 you ?— 
 Unless you will obey, you must perish before candle- 
 light. 
 If you commit the crime, a little delay will be given, till the 
 
 thing, 
 Known to the city and to the people, reaches the prince's 
 
 ears, 310 
 
 (He will last know the disgrace of his house.) In the 
 
 mean while 
 Do thou obey the command, if the life of a few days is 
 Of such consequence ; whatever you may think best and 
 
 easiest, 
 
 before the marriage, they wrote down this horrid woman's offer, she will 
 
 in tables, (tabulis,) by way of record, have you murdered before night, 
 
 the form of the contract, to which 309. If you commit the crime.\— 
 
 they, with the witnesses, set their Of marrying the wife of another, 
 
 seals. — A little delay, $c] You will 
 
 306. These things secret, Qc] That probably live for a tew days ; the pub- 
 she does things privately, so that only lie rumour will reach the prince's 
 a few chosen secret friends should ears, though later than the ears of 
 know them ? by no means. others, as he will probably be the last 
 
 307. Unless lawfully.] She deter- who hears the dishonour done to his 
 mines to marry publicly, with all the family, few, perhaps, daring to break 
 usual forms and ceremonies ; and such a thing to him. 
 
 this, says Tacitus, in the face of the 312. The command.'] Of Messa- 
 
 senate, of the equestrian order, and of lina. 
 
 the whole people and soldiery. See . — If the life of a few days, 4 C, 1 
 
 Ant. Univ. Hist. vol. xiv. p. 344. If you think that living a few days 
 
 note i. more or less is of so much conse- 
 
 — Say, what like you ?] Quid pla- quence, that you will sooner commit 
 
 ceat — what it may please you to do. a crime of such magnitude fo gain a 
 
 Say, Silius, which part will you take short respite, than risk an earlier 
 
 in such a situation ? what do you death, by avoiding the commission 
 
 think best to do, under so fatal a di- of it, then to be sure you must 
 
 lemma? obey; but whichever way you deter- 
 
 308. Unless, §c.~\ If you refuse mine — 
 
206 
 
 JUVENALIS SAT1RJE. 
 
 315 
 
 320 
 
 Praebenda est gladio pulchra haec et Candida cervix. 
 
 Nil ergo optabunt homines ? si consilium vis, 
 Permittes ipsis expendere numinibus, quid 
 conveniat nobis, rebusque sit utile nostris. 
 Nam pro jucundis aptissima quaeque dabunt Di. 
 Cabior est illis homo, quam siBi : lios animorum 
 Impulsu, et caeca magnaque cupidine ducti, 
 Conjugium petimus, partumque uxoris : at illis 
 Notum, qui pueri, qualisque futura sit uxor. 
 Ut tamen et poscas aliquid, voveasqne sacellis 
 Exta, et candiduli divina tomacula porci ; 
 
 OrANDUM EST, UT slT MENS SANA IN CORrORE SANO. 325 
 
 Fortem posce animum, et mortis terrore carentem; 
 Qui spatium vitas extremum inter munera ponat 
 Naturae, qui ferre queat quoscunque labores ; 
 
 31 4. Neck, #c] This beautiful 
 person of yours will be sacrificed, 
 either to Messalina's resentment, if 
 3'ou do not comply, or to the empe- 
 ror's, if you do. However, the mar- 
 riage took place, and they pleased 
 themselves in all festivity that day 
 and night ; afterwards Silius was 
 seized by the emperor's command, 
 and put to death ; thus exhibiting a 
 striking example of the sad conse- 
 quences which often attend being re- 
 markable for beauty. Messalina, 
 soon after, was killed in the gardens 
 of Lucullus, whither she had retired. 
 See Axt. Univ. Hist. vol. xiv. p. 
 348-9. 
 
 315. Shall men therefore, §c.] If 
 «11 you say be considered, the conse- 
 quence seems to be, that it is wrong 
 to wish, or pray, for any thing. 
 
 — Have advice.] If you will be 
 advised what is best to do, I answer — 
 
 316. Permit, the gods, §c] Leave 
 all to the gods ; they know what is 
 best for us, and what is most suit- 
 able to our circumstances and si- 
 tuations. 
 
 318. Instead of pleasant things, 
 <JJT.] They can, though we cannot, 
 foresee all consequences which will 
 arise, and therefore, instead of be- 
 stowing what may be pleasing, they 
 will give what is most proper, most 
 suitable, and best adapted to our 
 welfare ; and this, because mortals 
 are dearer to them than we are to 
 •urselves. Comp. 1 Pet. v. 7. 
 
 319-20. By the impulse, £c] We 
 are impelled to wish for things, 
 merely from the strong desire we have 
 to possess them ; and do not reflect, 
 as we ought, on the blindness of our 
 minds, which cannot see farther than 
 present things, and therefore are led 
 to judge amiss of what may be for 
 our good in the end. 
 
 321. Wedlock, and the bringing 
 forth, ftc."] We pray for a wife, and 
 that that wife may bring forth chil- 
 dren ; but the gods only can foresee how 
 either the wife or children may turn 
 out, consequently, whether the gra- 
 tification of our wishes may be for 
 our happiness. 
 
 323. Ask something.] In the for- 
 mer part of this fine passage the 
 poet speaks of leaving all to the gods, 
 in such an absolute and unreserved 
 manner, as seemingly to exclude the 
 exercise of prayer : as to outward 
 things, such as power, riches, beauty, 
 and the like, he certainly does, inas- 
 much as these matters ought to be 
 left entirely to Providence, we not 
 being able to judge about them; and, 
 indeed, as he has shewn throughout 
 the preceding part of this Satire, the 
 having of these things may prove 
 ruinous and destructive, therefore are 
 not proper subjects either of desire 
 or prayer : but now the poet finely 
 shews, that there are subjects of 
 prayer, which are not only desirable, 
 but to be petitioned for, as conducive 
 to our real good and happiness. 
 
JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 m 
 
 This fair and white neck is to be yielded to the sword. 
 Shall men therefore wish for nothing ? If you will have 
 advice, 315 
 
 Permit the gods themselves to consider what 
 
 May suit us, and be useful to our affairs. 
 
 For, instead of pleasant things, the gods will give what- 
 ever are fittest. 
 
 Man is dearer to them, than to himself ; we, led by 
 the 
 
 Impulse of our minds, and by a blind, and great desire, 
 
 Ask wedlock, and the bringing forth of our wife : but to 
 them 321 
 
 Is known, what children, and what sort of a wife she may 
 be. 
 
 However, that ye may ask something, and vow in chapels 
 
 Entrails, and the divine puddings of a whitish swine. 
 
 YOU MUST PRAY, THAT YOU MAY HAVE A SOUND MIND IN 
 A SOUND BODY. -32.5 
 
 Ask a mind, strong, and without the fear of death ; 
 Which puts the last stage of life among the gifts of 
 Nature-; which can bear any troubles whatsoever ; 
 
 — Vow in chapels.] Sacellum signi- 
 fies a chapel, a little temple, or per- 
 haps any place consecrated to divine 
 worship. Here it may signify the 
 sacred shrines of their gods, before 
 which they offered their vows, prayers, 
 and sacrifices. 
 
 324. Entrails.] The bowels, or in- 
 wards, of animals, which were ex- 
 ecta, (unde exta,) cut out, and offer- 
 ed in sacrifice. 
 
 — Divine paddings, $•<%} Toma- 
 cula, or tomacla, from Gr. r n^vu ) 
 to cut, were puddings, or sausages, 
 made of the liver and flesh of the 
 animal, chopped and mixed together, 
 and were called also farcimina, gut- 
 puddings ; and, like our sausages, 
 were made by stuffing a gut taken 
 from the animal with the above in- 
 gredients. These accompanied the 
 sacrifices, and were therefore called 
 divine. 
 
 — Whitish sxvine.'] This was of- 
 fered to Diana, under the name of 
 Lucina, in order to make her propi- 
 tious to child-bearing women, as also 
 on other occasions. See Hoa. lib. 
 j'ii. ode xxii. 
 
 325. You must pray, $c.~\ As if 
 the poet had said, " 1 by no means 
 *' object either to sacrifices or prayers 
 " to the gods, provided what is asked 
 " be reasonable and good, we cannot 
 " be too earnest." 
 
 — A sound mind, <$-c] q. d. Health 
 of body and mind is the first of bless- 
 ings here below : without a sound 
 mind we can neither judge, deter- 
 mine, or act aright ; without bodily 
 health there can be no enjoyment. 
 
 326. A mind, strong, J&] Forti- 
 tude, by which, unmoved and undis- 
 mayed, you can look upon death 
 without terror. 
 
 327. The last stage, #c] Ultimum 
 spatium, in the chariot and horse- 
 racing, signified the space between 
 the last bound or mark, and the goal 
 where the race ended. Hence, by 
 an easy metaphor, it denotes the lat- 
 ter part of life, when we are near 
 our end, and are about to finish our 
 course of life. 
 
 So the apostle, 2 Tim. iv. 7. says, 
 rov tyo(jt.Qv TSTihsKcc, I have finished 
 my course. 
 
 327-8. Gifts of nature-'} The word 
 
208 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 SAT. X. 
 
 Nesciat irasci ; cupiat nihil ; et potiores 
 
 Herculis asrumuas credat, saevosque labores, 330 
 
 Et Venere, et coenis, et plumis Sardanapali. 
 
 Monstro quod ipse libi possis dare : Semita certe 
 
 TraXQUILL-E PER V1RTUTEM PATET UNICA VIT.E. 
 
 Nullum mimed habes, si sit prudentia : sc-d te 
 
 Nos facimus, Fortuna, dean), coeloque locamus. 33<j 
 
 munus either signifies a gift, or a 
 duty or office. If we take munera, 
 here, in the former sense, we must 
 understand the poet to mean, that 
 true fortitude, so far from fearing 
 death as an evil, looks on it as a gift 
 or blessing of nature. So Mr. Duy- 
 dex : 
 
 A soul that can securely death 
 
 And count it nature's privilege to 
 die. 
 In the other sense, we must under- 
 stand the poet to mean, that death 
 will be looked upon, by a wise and 
 firm mind, as an office, or duty, 
 which all are to fulfil, and therefore 
 to be submitted to as such, not with 
 fear and dismay, but with as much 
 willingness arid complacenl 
 other duty which nature has laid upon 
 us. 
 
 328. Any troubles, c$c] Any mis- 
 fortunes, without murmuring and re- 
 pining, much less sinking under 
 them. 
 
 329. Knows not to be angry ] Can 
 so rule the tempers and passions of 
 the soul, as to control, on i 11 occa- 
 sions, those perturbations which arise 
 within, and produce a violence of 
 anger. 
 
 —Covets nothing. ,] Being content 
 and submissive to the will of Provi- 
 dence, desires nothing but what it 
 has, neither coveting what others 
 have, or uneasy to obtain what we 
 ourselves have not. 
 
 330. The toils of Hercules, #c.]— 
 Alluding to what are usually called, 
 the twelve labours of Hercules. 
 
 331. Than the fagevwousness, <£c. 
 Such a mind as ha; been : escribed 
 esteems the grei.tes sufferings and 
 labours, even such as Hercules un- 
 derwent, more eligible than all the 
 pleasures and enjoyments of sen- 
 suality. 
 
 — Sardanapalus.] The last king of 
 Ass\ ria, whose life was such a scene 
 of lasciviousness, luxury, and effe- 
 minacy, that he fell into the utmost 
 contempt in the eyes of his subjects, 
 who revolted ; and he, being over- 
 come, made a pile, set it on fire, and 
 burnt himself, and his most valuable 
 moveables in it : " The only thing," 
 says Justin, " he ever did like a 
 " man." 
 
 As the word venere, in this line, 
 is metonymically used for lewdness, 
 or lasciviousness, Venus being the 
 goddess of these, and coenis for all 
 manner of gluttony and luxury, so 
 plumis may here be used to denote 
 softness and effeminacy of dress. 
 
 Plumas, in one sense, is used 
 sometimes to denote plates, scales, 
 or spangles, wrought on the armour 
 or accoutrements of men or horses, 
 one whereof was laid upon another. 
 Garments also were adorned with 
 gold and purple plumage, feather- 
 work, Ainsw. See JEn. xi. 1. 770-1. 
 
 332. What yourself may give, «Jr.] 
 While others are disquieting them- 
 selves, and asking for the gratification 
 of their foolish and hurtful desires, 
 let me tell you the only way to solid 
 peace and comfort, and what it is 
 in your own power to bestow upon 
 yourself; 1 mean, and it is most cer- 
 tainly true, that there is no other 
 way to happiness, but in the paths 
 of virtue. Comp. Eccl. xii. 13-14-. 
 The heathen thought that every man 
 was the author of his owfl virtue 
 and wisdom ; but there were some at 
 Rome, at that time, who could have 
 taught Juvenal, that every good 
 
 GIFT, A>'D EVER* PERFECT GIFT, 
 IS FROM ABOVE, AND COMETH 
 DOWS FROM THE FATHER OF 
 
 eights. Comp. Jer. x. 23. 
 
 Kor. iib. i. epist. xviiL 1. 111-12, 
 says, 
 
JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 209 
 
 Knows not to be angry ; covets nothing ; and which 
 
 thinks 
 The toils of Herculus, and his cruel labours, better 330 
 Than the lasciviousness, and luxury, and plumes of Sar- 
 
 danapalus. 
 I shew what yourself may give to yourself: Surely the 
 
 ONLY 
 
 Path to a quiet life lies open through virtue. 
 You have no deity, O Fortune, if there be prudence ; 
 
 but 
 Thee we make a goddess, and place in heaven. 335 
 
 Sed satis est orare Jovem qui donat 
 et aufert, 
 
 Det vitam, det opes, cequum mi 
 animum ipse pardbo. 
 
 Cic. Nat. Deorum. lib. iii. c. 
 xxxvi. declares it as a general opinion, 
 that mankind received from the gods 
 the outward conveniencies of life, 
 virtutem autem nemo unquam accep- 
 tam Deo retulit ; " but virtue none 
 " ever yet thought they received 
 " from the Deity." And again, 
 " this is the persuasion of all, that 
 " fortune is to be had from the gods, 
 " wisdom from ourselves." Again, 
 " who ever thanked the gods for his 
 " being a good man ? men pray to 
 " Jupiter, not that he would make 
 '* them just, temperate, wise, but 
 *' rich and prosperous." Thus 
 " they became vain in their imagi- 
 ■■ nations, and their foolish heart 
 " was darkened ; professing them- 
 ** selves to be wise, they became 
 " fools." Rom. i. 21-2. 
 
 The Greeks had many temples de- 
 dicated to Fortune, under the name of 
 TYXH. Pindar makes her one Of 
 the destinies, the daughter of Ju» 
 piter. Ancus Martius, king of the 
 Romans, first built a temple at Rome 
 to this deity. Servius Tullus also 
 built one at the capitol. Afterwards 
 ihe Romans consecrated temples to 
 her under various titles, as Fortuna 
 libera, redux, publica, equestris, &c. 
 See Brought on, Bibl. Hist. Sacr. 
 tit. Fortune. 
 
 Horace's description of this god- 
 dess, and her great power, forms one 
 of the most beautiful of his odes. 
 .See lib. i. ode xxxv. 
 
 Diva gratum quce regis Antium, 
 Preesens, $c. <£-c] 
 
 336. Place in heav 71.] Gi-e her a 
 place among the gods ~q, d. As 
 things are, men are foolish enough to 
 erect temples f o Fortune, make her 
 a goddess, worship her as such, and 
 attribute all their miscarriages and 
 troubles, not to their own neglect, 
 folly, and mismanagement, but to 
 the power and influence of this ima- 
 ginary deity. 
 
 For the ideas which the Romans 
 entertained about the goddess For- 
 tune, see sat. iii. 1. 39-40. 
 
 1 should observe, that some copies 
 read, 1.334 
 
 Nulhim numen abest, fyc. 
 
 No deity is absent, fyc. 
 As if it were said, that if there be 
 prudence, that is, if a man acts wisely 
 and prudently, all the gods are pre- 
 sent with him, not one absents him- 
 self from him ; or, prudence is all- 
 sufficient, and no other piety can be 
 wanting. But the sense fii'st above 
 given, on the reading muBum numen 
 habes, appears to be most consonant 
 to the intention of the two lines taken 
 together. 
 
 I know not how to end my obser- 
 vations on this Tenth Satire of Ju- 
 venal, without calling it the finest 
 piece, in point of composition, mat- 
 ter, and sentiment, which we have 
 derived from heathen antiquity. I 
 should call it inimitably fine, had not 
 the late Dr. Samuel Johnson's 
 poem on " The vanity of human 
 " wishes," appeared; such a copy, 
 of such an original, is rarely to be 
 met with. 
 
 2e 
 
^atira Qtotonma* 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 The Poet writes this Satire to Calvinus, to comfort him 
 under the loss of a large sum of money, with which he 
 had entrusted one of his friends, and which he could not 
 get again. Hence Juvenal takes occasion to speak of the 
 
 EXEMPLO quodcunque malo committitur, ipsi 
 Displicet author). Prima est hsec ultio, quod se 
 Judice nemo nocens absolvitor ; improba quamvis 
 Gratia fallacis praetoris vicerit urnam. 
 
 Quid sentire putas omnes. Calvine, recenti 5 
 
 He scelere, et fldei violatae crimine ? Sed nee 
 Tarn tenuis census tibi contigit, ut mediocris 
 Jacturae te mergat onus : nee rara videmus 
 Qua? pateris ; casus multis hie cognitus, ac jam 
 Tritus, et e medio Fortunae ductus acervo. 10 
 
 Ponamus nimios gemitus. Flagrantior aequo 
 
 Line 1. With bad example.] Every 
 evil deed which tends to set a bad ex- 
 ample to others. 
 
 — Displeases.] Gives him unpleasant 
 sensations. 
 
 2. First revenge.] The vengeance 
 which first seizes upon him arises from 
 himself; his own conscience will con- 
 demn him, though he should have no 
 other judge. 
 
 4. Should have overcome the 21m.] 
 Vicerit — '%■. e. should have defeated 
 the urn's impartial decision, and have 
 declared him innocent. — The praetor, 
 who was the chief judge, had others 
 appointed with him as assistants. The 
 names of these were written upon 
 little balls, and cast into an urn by 
 the praetor : after they were shaken 
 together, he drew out as many as the 
 law required for the cause ; after 
 which the parties had power to reject 
 such as they thought would be partial. 
 The number of those excepted against 
 
 were filled up by the praetor's drawing 
 other names out of the urn. Then 
 the judges, which were thus appoint- 
 ed, took an oath to judge according 
 to law ; but, on many occasions, 
 others were often substituted by the 
 praetor. The cause being heard, the 
 praetor gave to each of the judges 
 three waxen tables. On one wa., the 
 letter A, to signify the acquittal or 
 absolution of the defendant. On ano- 
 ther C, to imply his condemnation. 
 On another N L, for non liquet, sig. 
 nified that a farther hearing was ne- 
 cessary : which delay of the cause 
 was called ampliation. Then the 
 judges, being called upon, cast the 
 billet, expressing their opinion, into 
 urn, according to which the praetor 
 pronounced sentence. But if the 
 praetor was a wicked judge, and in- 
 clined that partiality should get the 
 better of justice, he might so manage 
 matters, in all these many tarns of 
 
CgirtetntJ) &%tivt* 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 villainy of the times — shews that nothing can happen but 
 by the permission of' Providence — and that wicked men 
 carry their own punishment about with them. 
 
 WHATEVER is committed with bad example, dis- 
 pleases even 
 The author of it. This is the first revenge, that, himself 
 Being judge, no guilty person is absolved ; altho' the wicked 
 Favour of the deceitful prsetor should have overcome the urn. 
 What do you suppose all to think, Calvinus, of the recent 
 Wickedness, and crime of violated faith ? But neither 6 
 Has so small an income come to your share, that the burden 
 Of a moderate loss should sink you : nor do we see rare 
 Those things which you suffer. This misfortune is known 
 
 to many, and now 
 Trite, and drawn from the midst of Fortune's heap. 10 
 Let us lay aside too many sighs. More violent than whatisjust^ 
 
 the business, that the defendant, how- ly revenue, as recorded in the Censor's 
 
 ever guilty, might appeal* to have the books. 
 
 urn in his favour. This our poet ve- — The burden.] A metaphor taken 
 
 ry properly calls, Improba gratia fal- from a ship's sinking by being over- 
 
 lacis praetoris. loaded. 
 
 5. What do you suppose.'] What, 8. Rare, %c] His case was not sin- 
 think you, are the opinions of people gular, but very commonly happened 
 in general, of this injustice which you to many as well as to Calvinus : he 
 lately suffered, and of the breach of therefore must not look upon himself 
 trust in your friend, of which you so as a sufferer beyond others, 
 loudly complain ? — Drawn from the midst, Qc.] Not 
 
 — Calvinus.] Juvenal's friend, to taken from the top, or summit, of 
 whom he addresses this Satire. And that heap of miseries, which Fortune 
 here he comforts him by many con- stores up for mankind, but from the 
 siderations : first, that he must have middle, as it were — not so small as 
 all the world on his side ; every body not to be felt, nor so severe as to over- 
 must join with him in condemning whelm you. He calls it onus me- 
 such a transaction. diocris jacturae, I. 7, 8. 
 
 7. So small an income.] Another ll. Too many sighs.] Immoderate 
 
 comfort is, that his circumstances are grief. 
 
 such, that such a loss won't ruin him. — More violent.] A man's concern 
 
 Census means a man's estate, or year- should never exceed the proper bounds. 
 
212 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Non debet dolor esse viri, nee vulnere major. 
 Tu quamvis levium minimam, exiguamque malorum 
 Particulam vix ferre potes, spumantibus ardens 
 Visceribus, sacrum tibi quod non reddat amicus 
 Depositum. Stupet hsec, qui jam post terga reliquit 
 Sexaginta annos, Fonteio Consule natus ? 
 An nihil in melius tot rerum proficis usu ? 
 Magna quidem, sacris qua? dat prascepta libellis, 
 Victrix Fortunns Sapientia. Dicimus autem 
 IIos quoque felices, qui ferre incommoda vitae, 
 Nee jactare jugum, vita didicere magistra. 
 
 Qua? tarn festa dies, ut cesset prodere furem, 
 Perfidiam, fraudes, atque omni ex crimine lucrum 
 Quassitum, et partos gladio vel pyxide nummos? 
 Kari quippe boxi : numero vix sunt totidem, quot 
 Thebarum porta?, vel divitis ostia Nili. 
 Nunc aetas agitur, pejoraque saecula ferri 
 
 15 
 
 20 
 
 25 
 
 12. Than his tgOUfuL] Should not 
 rise higher than that which occasions 
 it requires. Sorrow should be pro- 
 portioned to suffering. 
 • 13. Tho" you # J The poet here 
 reproves the impatience and anger of 
 his friend, who, instead of appor- 
 tioning his grief to his loss which 
 was comparatively small, according 
 to the preceding maxim, (1. 11, 12.) 
 shewed a violence of grief and resent- 
 ment on the occasion, which bespake 
 him unable to bear, in any measure 
 as he ought, a light injury or misfor- 
 tune. 
 
 11. Burning; S^c."] Your very bow- 
 els on fire with rage and indignation. 
 We often find the intestines, such as 
 the heart, liver, and bowels, or en- 
 trails, represented as the seat of mo- 
 ral feelings. 
 
 15. Your friend, $c] The poet 
 calls the money which Calvinus had 
 intrusted his false friend with, and 
 which he was afraid to lose, a sacred 
 deposit, because delivered to him to 
 keep, under the sacred confidence of 
 friendship. 
 
 16. Does he wonder.] Does my 
 friend Calvinus, now turned of sixty, 
 and consequently well acquainted with 
 the nature of mankind from many 
 years experience, stand astonished at 
 such a common transaction as this ? 
 
 17. Fo?itcius.'} L. Fonteius Capito 
 
 was consul with C. Vipsatrius, in the 
 reign of Nero. 
 
 18. Of so many things.] Of so many 
 things of a like kind, which your 
 knowledge cf the world must have 
 brought to your observation — has all 
 your experience of men and things 
 been of no use or profit to you ? 
 
 19. Wisdom, indeed, #c.]Thevo. 
 lumes of philosophers, held sacred by 
 the followers of them, contain rules 
 for a contempt of fortune : and the 
 wisdom by which they were indited, 
 and which they teach, is the great 
 principle which triumphs over the 
 misfortunes we meet with. So Se- 
 neca, epist. 98. Valentior omni for- 
 tuna est animus sapientis. The books 
 of moral philosophy abound in max- 
 ims of this kind. 
 
 22. JVor to toss the yoke."] A meta- 
 phor taken from oxen which are res- 
 tive, and endeavour to get rid of the 
 yoke by flinging and tossing their 
 necks about. 
 
 The poet means, that much may 
 be learned on the subject of triumph- 
 ing over fortune from the sacred vo- 
 lumes of philosophy : but those are 
 to be pronounced happy also, who, by 
 the experience of life only, have 
 learned to bear, with quietness, sub- 
 mission, and patience, any inconve- 
 niences, or misfortunes, which they 
 may meet with. 
 
sat. xin. JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 218 
 
 The grief of a man^ught not to be, nor greater than his 
 
 wound. 
 Tho' you can hardly bear the least, and small particle 
 Of light misfortunes, burning with fretting 
 Bowels, because your friend may not return to you a sa- 
 _ cred 15 
 
 Deposit. Does he wonder at these things, who already has 
 
 left behind 
 His back sixty years, born when Fonteius was consul? 
 Do you profit nothing for the better by the experience of so 
 
 many things ? 
 Wisdom, indeed, which gives precepts in the sacred books, 
 Is the great conqueror of fortune. But we call 20 
 
 Those also happy, who, to bear the inconvenieces of life, 
 Nor to toss the yoke have learnt, life being their mistress, 
 
 What day so solemn, that it can cease to disclose a thief, 
 Perfidy, frauds, and gain sought from every crime, 
 And money gotten by the sword, or by poison ? 25 
 
 For coon men are* scarce : they are hardly as many in 
 
 number 
 As the gates of Thebes, or the mouths of the rich Nile. 
 An age is now passing, and worse ages than the times of 
 
 —Levins ft patieniia more openly by the sword, or more 
 
 Quiequid corrigcre est nefas. secretly by poison. 
 
 Hor. lib. i. ode xxiv. ad fin. — Poison.'] Pyxis signifies a little 
 
 Superanda omnis Fortuna ferendo box ; but here, by meton. poison, 
 
 est. Virg. Mn. v. 1. 710. See Jer. which used to be kept in such boxes, 
 
 xxxi. 18. by way of concealment and easiness 
 
 — Life being their mistress.'] Their of conveyance. 
 
 teacher or instructor ; i. e. who are 27. Thebes.] A city of Boeotia, built 
 
 instructed by what they meet within by Cadmus, the son of Agenor ; it 
 
 common life, and profit by daily ex- was called Heptapylos, from having 
 
 perience. seven gates. There was another Thebes 
 
 ■ . To know in Egppt, built by Busiris, king of 
 
 That which before us lies in daily life Egypt, which was called Heliopolis, 
 
 Is the prime •wisdom. Milton, famous for an hundred gates. The 
 
 23. What day.] Festa dies signifies first is meant here. 
 
 a day set apart for the observance of — Mouths of the rich Nile.] Which 
 
 some festival, on which some sacri- were seven. The Nile is called rich, 
 
 fices or religious rites were performed; because it made Egypt fruitful by its 
 
 a holiday, as we call it. overflowing, thus enriching all the 
 
 Festus also signifies happy, joyful, country within its reach. 
 
 Perhaps the poet means to say, what 28. An age, fyc] i. e. The present 
 
 day is so happy as not to produce some age in which we live, now passing on 
 
 mischief or other ? in the course of time. The verb ago, 
 
 24. Gain sought, <|-c] Every sort when applied to age or life, has this 
 of wickedness practised for the sake signification : hence agere vitam, to 
 of gain. live. Si octogesimum agerent annum: 
 
 25. Money gotten.] Somebody or if they were eighty years old. Cic. 
 other murdered for their money, either — Worse ages. ] The word saeculurn, 
 
214 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Temporibus : quorum sceleri non invenit ipsa 
 Nomen, et a nullo posuit natura metallo. 
 Nos hominum Diviimque fidem clamore ciemus, 
 Quanto Faesidium laudat vocalis agentem 
 Sportula. Die senior bulla dignissime, nescis 
 Quas habeat Veneres aliena pecunia ? nescis 
 Quern tua simplicitas risum vulgo moveat, cum 
 Exigis a quoquam ne pejeret, et putel ullis 
 Esse aliquod numen templis, araeque rubenti ? 
 Quondam hoc indigenae vivebant more, prius quam 
 Sumeret agrestem posito diademate falcem 
 Saturnus fugiens : tunc, cum virguncula Juno, 
 Et privatus adhuc Idaeis Jupiter antris.' 
 Nulla super nubes convivia Ccelicolarum, 
 Nee puer Iliacus, formosa nee Herculis uxor 
 
 30 
 
 35 
 
 40 
 
 like tctas, means an age ; a period of 
 an hundred years. Here the poet 
 would represent the age in which he 
 wrote as worse than any that had 
 gone before. 
 
 28-9. The times of iron.] The last 
 of the four ages into which the world 
 was supposed to be divided, and 
 which was worse than the three pre- 
 ceding. See Ov. Met. lib. i. 
 
 29." Nature iisclf, $c] The wick- 
 edness of the present age is so great, 
 that nothing in nature can furnish us 
 with a proper name to call it by. 
 
 30. Imposed, %c] Literally put it. 
 . — q. d. Nor has any name been affixed 
 to it from any metal. The first age 
 of the world \\ as named Golden, from 
 its resembling gold in purity ; and 
 after this came the Silver, the Brazen, 
 the Iron Age ; but now the age is po 
 bad, that no metal can furnish it wilh 
 a name which can properly describe 
 the nature of it. Nomen poncre sig- 
 nifies to put or affix a name, i. e. to 
 name. Nature herself can find no 
 metal base enough to call it by. 
 
 31. We invoke ftc.] Pro Deamatque 
 hominum fidem ! was a usual excla- 
 mation on any thing wonderful or sur- 
 prizing happening — q. d. We can 
 seem much amazed, and cry aloud 
 against the vices of the age — we can 
 call heaven and earth to witness our 
 Indignation. 
 
 3-2. The vocal sportula.] The dole- 
 basket ; the hope of sharing which 
 opens the mouths of the people who 
 
 stand by Facsidius while he is plead- 
 ing at the bar, and makes them, with 
 loud shouts, extol his eloquence : 
 hence the poet calls it vocalis sportula. 
 See an account of the sportula, sat. L 
 1. SI. Comp. x. 1. 46. 
 
 Hor. lib. i. epist. xix. L 37, 8. 
 
 Non ego ventosa: plcbis svffragia 
 venor 
 
 Impensis cccnarum, et tritcc muncre 
 vest is. 
 
 *' I never hunt tli* inconstant peo- 
 ple's vote, 
 
 " With cost! i/ slippers, or a thread' 
 " ha re coat." F R an C i s. 
 
 The name Fa?sidius, or Fessidius, 
 a? some editions have it, may mean 
 same vain pleader of the time, w ho 
 courted the applause of the mob, by 
 treating them with his sportula. Per- 
 haps no particular person may be only 
 meant, but such sort of people in 
 general. 
 
 33. Old man, worthy the bulla."} The 
 bulla was an ornament worn about 
 the necks of Children, or at their 
 breasts, made like an heart and hoi. 
 low within ; they wore it till seven- 
 teen years of age, and then hung it 
 up to the household gods — PjSRS. sat. 
 v. 1. 31. *t was originally given as a 
 mark of distinction to the children of 
 those Sabine women who reconciled 
 Romulus and Tatius. 
 
 The poet addresses himself to his 
 old friend Calvinus, in a joking man- 
 ner; as if he said, " Well old gen» 
 " tleman," (comp. 1. 16, 17.) " wo*> 
 
SAT. XIII. 
 
 JUVENAUS SATIRES» 
 
 %15 
 
 Iron : for the wickedness of which, nature itself has not 
 Found a name, noHmposed it from any metal. 30 
 
 We invoke the faith of gods and men with clamour, 
 With as much as the vocal sportula praises Faesidius 
 Pleading. Say, old man, worthy the bulla, know you not 
 What charms the money of another has ? know you not 
 What a laugh your simplicity may stir up in the vulgar, when 
 You require from any not to forswear, and that he should 
 
 think, that to any 
 Temples there is some deity, and to the reddening altar ? 
 Formerly our natives lived in this manner, before 
 Saturn, flying, took the rustic sickle, his diadem 
 Laid down : then, when Juno was a little girl, 40 
 
 And Jupiter as yet private in the Idaean caves. 
 No feasts of the gods above the clouds, 
 Nor Iliacan boy, nor handsome wife of Hercules 
 
 " thy again to wear your childish 
 " baubles, are you, at sixty years 
 M old, such a child, as not to know" 
 
 34. What charms, fyc.] i. e. As to 
 be ignorant how great the temptation 
 is when a knave has other people's 
 money in his power ? 
 
 35." What a laugh, $c] How the 
 whole town will laugh at your sim- 
 plicity. 
 
 35-6. When you require. <§c] q. d. 
 If you expect that people will not for- 
 swear themselves, when perjury is so 
 common. 
 
 36. Should think.] i. e. And require 
 that they should think, &c. 
 
 37. Some deity, $c] Should believe 
 that religion is not all a farce, but 
 that really there is not any of the 
 temples without some deity which 
 notices the actions and behaviour of 
 men, so as to punish perjury and 
 breach of faith. 
 
 — The reddening altar.'] i. c. Red 
 with the blood of the sacrifices, or 
 with the fire upon it. q.d. How child- 
 ish would you appear, and what a 
 laughter would be raised against you, 
 if you professed to expect either re- 
 ligion or morals in the present age ? 
 
 38. Natives.] Indigenae. The first 
 natives and inhabitants of Italy, our 
 homebred ancestors. 
 
 —-Lived in litis manner.] Avoiding 
 perjury and fraud, and believing the 
 presence of the gods in their temples, 
 and at their altars. 
 
 39. Saturn flying.] Saturn was ex- 
 pelled from Crete by his son Jupiter, 
 and fled into Italy, where he hid him- 
 self, which from thence was called 
 Latium, a latendo, and the people 
 Latins. See Virg. jEn. viii. I. 319, 
 20. The poet means the Golden Age, 
 which the poets place during the reign 
 of Saturn. 
 
 — Rustic sickle] Or scythe, which 
 Saturn is said to have invented, and 
 to have taught the people husbandly, 
 after his expulsion from his kingdom ; 
 for during the Golden Age, the earth 
 brought forth every thing without cul- 
 ture. See Ovid, Met. lib. fab. iii. 
 
 — His diadem, fyc] His kingdom 
 being seized by his son Jupiter — and 
 he being driven out of it. 
 
 40. When Juno, %c.] The daugh- 
 ter of Saturn, sister and wife to Jupi- 
 ter — a little girl — i. e. before she was 
 grown up , and marriageable. 
 
 41. Idcean caves.] Jupiter, when 
 born, was carried to mount Ida, in 
 Crete, where he was concealed, and 
 bred up, lest his father Saturn should 
 devour him. See Ainsw. Saturnus, 
 
 42. No feasts, <£c] No carousing, 
 as in after times there was supposed 
 to be. Com p. 3. 4,5. 
 
 43. Iliacan boy.] Ganymede, the 
 son of Tros, king of Troy, or Illium, 
 whom Jupiter, in, the form of an 
 eagle, snatched up from mount Ida, 
 and, displacing Hebe, made cup- 
 bearer at the feasts of the gods. 
 
216 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRES. 
 
 Adcyathos: et jam siccato nectare, tcrgens 
 
 Brachia Vulcanus Liparaea nigra taberna. 45 
 
 Prandebat sibi quisque Deus, nee turba Deorum 
 
 Talis, (ut est hodie,) contentaque sidcra paucis 
 
 Numinibus, miserum urgebant Atlanta minori 
 
 Pondere. Nondum aliquis sortitus triste profundi 
 
 Imperium, aut Sicula torvus cum conjuge Pluto. 50 
 
 Nee rota, nee Furiae, nee saxum, aut vulturis atri 
 
 Poena : sed infernis hilares sine regibus umbras. 
 
 Improbitas illo fuit admirabilis aevo. 
 
 Credebant hoc grande nefas, et morte piandum, 
 
 Si juvenis vetulo non assurrexerat ; et si 55 
 
 Barbato cuicunque puer : licet ipse videret 
 
 Plura domi fraga, et majores glandis acervos. 
 
 Tarn venerabile erat praecedere quatuor annis, 
 
 Primaque par adeo sacrae lanugo senectas. 
 
 Nunc, si depositum non inficietur amicus, CO 
 
 43. Wife of Hercules.] Hebe, the 
 daughter of Juno, and cup-bearer to 
 Jupiter ; she happened to make a slip 
 at a banquet of the gods, so was turn- 
 ed out of her place, and Gam mede 
 put into it : she was afterwards mar- 
 ried to Hercules, 
 
 44. The nectar, fyc] Nectar, a 
 pleasant liquor, feigned to be the 
 drink of the gods. Siccato nectare, 
 the nectar being all drunk up, the 
 feast now over, Vulcan retired to his 
 forge. Or Vulcan on account of his 
 lameness did not arrive until the feast 
 was over. Siccato nectare ; although 
 he had not even taken time to wash 
 his hands. F.lr. All this happened 
 lifter the Golden Age, but not during 
 the continuance of it. 
 
 45. Wiping his arms.'] From the soot 
 and dirt contracted in his filthy shop. 
 
 -—Liparaan.] Near Sicily were se- 
 veral islands, called'theLipary Islands; 
 'in one of which, called Vulcania, 
 Vulcan's forge was fabled to be. See 
 A'irg. viii. 416, et seq. This was in 
 the neighbourhood of mount iEtna. 
 See sat. i. 1. S. 
 
 46. Every god dined ly himself] 
 The poet here, and in the whole of 
 this passage, seems to make very 
 free with the theology of his country, 
 and, indeed, to satirize the gods of 
 Rome as freely as as he does the 
 people. 
 
 — Crowd of gods.] The number of 
 
 gods which the Romans worshipped 
 might well be called turba deorum, 
 for they amounted to above thirty 
 thousand. 
 
 47. This day.] The Roman poly- 
 theism and idolatry went hand in hand 
 with the wickedness of the times ; 
 they had a god for every vice, both 
 natural and unnatural. The awful 
 origin of all this, as well as its con- 
 sequences, is set down by St. Paul, 
 Rom. i. 21—32. 
 
 — The stars.] The heavens, per 
 metonym. 
 
 48. Urged miserable Atlas.] A high 
 hill in Mauritania, feigned by the 
 poets to bear up the heavens. See 
 sat viii. 32. note. 
 
 49. Shared the sdmc empire, fyc] 
 The world as yet was not divided by 
 lot among the three sons of Saturn, 
 by which Neptune shared the domin- 
 ion of the sea — Jupiter heaven — and 
 Fluto the infernal regions. 
 
 50. His Sicilian wife.] Proserpine, 
 the daughter of Ceres, whom Pluto 
 ravished out of Sicily, and made her 
 his wife. 
 
 51. A "wheel] Alluding to the story 
 of lxion, the father of the Centaurs ; 
 Jupiter took him up into heaven, 
 where he would have ravished Juno, 
 but Jupiter formed a cloud in her 
 shape, on which he begat the Cen- 
 taurs. He was cast down to hell, for 
 boasting that he had lain with Juno, 
 
JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 817 
 
 At the cups ; and now the nectar being drunk up, Vulcan 
 Wiping his arms black with the Liparaean shop. 45 
 
 Every god dined by himself, nor was the crowd of gods 
 Such, (as it is at this day,) and the stars content with a few 
 Deities urged miserable Atlas with a less 
 Weight. Nobody as yet shared the sad empire 
 Of the deep, or fierce Pluto with his Sicilian wife. 50 
 
 Nor a wheel, nor furies, nor a stone, or the punishment of 
 
 the black 
 Vulture : but the shades happy without infernal kings. 
 Improbity was in that age to be wondered at. 
 They believed this a great crime, andtobepunish'd by death, 
 If a youth had not risen up to an old man, and if 55 
 
 A boy to any who had a beard : tho 1 he might see 
 At home more strawberries, and greater heaps of acorn. 
 So venerable was it to precede by four years, 
 And the first down was so equal to sacred old age. 
 Now, if a friend should not deny a deposit, 60 
 
 where he was tied to a wheel, and 
 surrounded with serpents. 
 
 — F itrlcs.'] Of which there were 
 three. Alecto, Megsera, Tisiphone. 
 These were sisters, the daughters of 
 Acheron and Nox; they are described 
 Avith torches in their hands, and snakes 
 instead of hair, on their heads. 
 
 51. A stone."} Alluding to Sisyphus, 
 the son of TEolus ; he greatly infested 
 Attica with his robberies, but being 
 .slain by Theseus, he was sent to hell, 
 and condemned to roll a great stone 
 up an hill, which stone, ^when he 
 had got it to the top, rolled back 
 again, so that his labour was to be 
 constantly renewed. 
 
 51-2. Slack vulture.) Prometheus 
 was chained to mount Caucasus for 
 stealing fire from heaven, where a 
 black vulture was continually preying 
 on his liver, which grew as fast as it 
 was devoured. 
 
 52. But the shades.] The ghosts of 
 the departed — were 
 
 —Happy without infernal lings.} 
 For there being, at that time, no 
 crimes, there wanted no laws nor 
 kings to enforce them ; of course no 
 punishments. 
 
 53. Improbity, <*,t.] Villainy of 
 all kinds was scarcely known ; any 
 crime woidd have been a wonder. 
 
 55. If a youth, <Jjv.] In those days 
 *£ purity and innocence, the highest 
 2 F 
 
 subordination was maintained. It was 
 a capital crime for a young man even 
 to have sat down in the presence 
 of an old one, or if sitting, not to 
 have risen up on his approach. Comp. 
 Job xxix. 8. 
 
 So for a boy not to have done the 
 same in the presence of a youth, now 
 arrived at the age of puberty, which 
 was indicated by having a beard. 
 
 56. Tho'' he might see, frc] Straw- 
 berries, acorns, and such-like are 
 here supposed to be the first food of 
 mankind in the Golden Age. The 
 poet's meaning here is, that supe- 
 riority in age always challenged the 
 respect above mentioned, from the 
 younger to the elder, though the for- 
 mer might be richer, in the possessions 
 of those days, than the latter. 
 
 58. So venerable, §".] So observant 
 were they of the deference paid to 
 age, that even a difference of four 
 years was to create respect, insomuch 
 that the first appearance of down upon 
 the chin was to be venerated by 
 younger persons, as the venerable 
 beard of old age was by those grown 
 to manhood ; so there was an 
 equal and proportionate subordination 
 throughout. 
 
 60. Now.] In our day. 
 
 — Should not deny.] Either deny 
 that he received it, or should not re- 
 fuse to deliver it. 
 
218 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 SAT. XIII. 
 
 Si reddat veterem cum tota a?rugine follem, 
 Prodigiosa fides, et Thuscis digna libellis : 
 Quaeque coronata lustrari debeat agna. 
 Egregiiun sanctumque virum si cerno, bimembri 
 Hoc monstrum puero, vel mirandis sub aratro 
 Piscibus inventis, et fcetae comparo mulae ; 
 Sollicitus tanquam lapides efFuderit imber, 
 Examenque apium longa consederit uva 
 Culmine dekfbri, tanquam in mare fluxerit ononis 
 Gurgitibus miris, et lactis vortice torrens. 
 Intercepta decern quereris sestertia fraude 
 Sacrilega ? quid si bis centum perdidit alter 
 Hoc arcana modo? majorem tertius ilia 
 Summam, quam patula? vix ceperat angulus area? ? 
 Tarn facile et pronum est Superos contemnere testes, 
 
 TO 
 
 — A deposit.'} Something commit- 
 ted to his trust. 
 
 61. With a, I the rust.] i. e. The 
 coin, which has lain by so long as to 
 have contracted a rust, not having 
 been used. Meton. 
 
 62. Prodigious faithfulness. I Such 
 a thing would be looked upon, in these 
 times, as a prodigy of honesty. 
 
 A like sentiment occurs in Ter. 
 Phorm. act i. sc. ii. where Davus re- 
 turns to Gcta some money which he 
 had borrowed. 
 
 Daw Accipe Item ; 
 Ledum est, cunvruiet Humerus ; 
 quantinn dcbtii. 
 Get. A mo te, et won neglexisse 
 
 Jiabeo grai 
 Dav. Prasertim ut nunc sunt 
 
 mores : add 
 Si qu\s quid reddit, magna ha- 
 benda est gratia. 
 
 62. Worthy the Tuscan books ! J— 
 To be recorded there among other 
 prodigies. It is said, that the art of 
 soothsaying first came from the Tus- 
 cans, which consisted in foretelling 
 future events from prodigies ; these 
 were recorded in books, and were 
 consulted on occasion of any thing 
 happening of the marvellous kind, 
 as authorities for the determination 
 of the auspices, or soothsayers, there- 
 upon. 
 
 63. Expiated. §c] When any pro- 
 digy happened, the custom of the 
 Tuscans was to make an expiation 
 
 by sacrifice, in order to avert the 
 consequences of ill omens, which 
 were gathered from prodigies. ThL> 
 the Romans followed. 
 
 — A crowned she-tomb.] They put 
 garlands of flowers, or ribbands, on 
 the heads of the victims. A she- 
 lamb was the offering on such an oc- 
 casion. 
 
 64 An excellent] Egregium — ex 
 toto grege lectum — /'. e. as we say, 
 one taken out of the common herd 
 of mankind — choice — singular for 
 great and good qualities. 
 
 65. A boy of tuo parts.} A mons- 
 trous birth, as prodigious as a child 
 born with parts of two different spe- 
 cies ; hence the Centaurs were called 
 bimemhres. 
 
 — Wonderful fishes, «Jr.] A wond- 
 rous shoal of fish unexpectedly turned 
 up in plowing the ground. 
 
 66. A 7/iuk with foal."] Which was 
 never known to happen. Though 
 Appian, lib. i. says, that, before the 
 coming of Sylla, a mule brought 
 forth in the city. This must be looked 
 on as fabulous. 
 
 67. Anxious."} Solicitous for the 
 event. 
 
 — As if a shower, «Jr.] As if the 
 clouds rained showers of stones. 
 
 68. A swarm, «jfc] It was account- 
 ed ominous if a swarm of bees set- 
 tled on a house, or on a temple. 
 
 — Long bunch.} When bees swarm 
 and settle any where, they all cling 
 
SAT. XIII. 
 
 JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 219 
 
 If he should restorean old purse with all the rust ; 
 
 Prodigious faithfulness ! and worthy the Tuscan books ! 
 
 And which ought to be expiated by a crowned she- 
 lamb. 
 
 If 1 perceive an excellent and upright man, I compare 
 
 This monster to a boy of two parts, or to wonderful 
 fishes 65 
 
 Found under a plough, or to a mule with foal. 
 
 Anxious as if a shower had poured forth stones, 
 
 And a swarm of bees had settled, in a long bunch, 
 
 On the top of a temple, as if a river had flowed into the 
 sea 
 
 With wonderous gulfs, and rushing with a whirlpool of 
 milk. 70 
 
 Do you complain that ten sestertiums are intercepted by 
 
 Impious fraud ? what if another has lost two hundred 
 secret 
 
 Sestertiums in this manner? a third a, larger sum than 
 that, 
 
 Which the corner of his wide chest had scarce received ? 
 
 So easy and ready it is, to contemn the gods who are wit- 
 nesses, 75 
 
 to one another, and hang down, a 
 considerable length, in the form of a 
 bunch of grapes. Hence Virg. 
 Georg. iv. 557-8. 
 
 ■ — Jamque arbore summa 
 
 Confluere, et lentis uvam demittere 
 ramis. 
 
 69. A river, <|-c.] All rivers run 
 into the sea, and many with great 
 violence ; therefore the poet cannot 
 mean that there is any wonder in 
 this ; but in flowing with unusual 
 and portentous appearances, such as 
 being mixed with blood, which Livy 
 speaks of, lib. xxiv. c. 10. or the like. 
 
 70- Rushing.'] Torrens — violent, 
 headlong, running in full stream, 
 like the rushing of a land-flood, with 
 dreadful violence, eddying in whirl- 
 pools of milk. When we consider 
 what has been said in the last seven 
 lines, what an idea does it give us of 
 the state of morals at Rome in the 
 time of Juvenal ! 
 
 71. Ten sestertiums.] About 80/. 
 his. 7d. of our money. 
 
 — Intercepted.'] i. e. Prevented 
 from coming to your hands. 
 
 72. What if another, §c.] The 
 poet endeavours to comfort his friend 
 under his loss, and to keep him from 
 indulging too great a concern about 
 it, by wishing him to consider that 
 he is not so great a sufferer as many 
 others perhaps might be by a like 
 fraud. 
 
 — Secret, $c] Arcana — q. d. bis 
 centum sestertia arcana — i. e. deli- 
 vered or lent secretly, when no wit- 
 nesses were by, as had been the case 
 of Juvenal's friend Calvinus. 
 
 74. Which the corner, <£-c] Ano- 
 ther, says he, may have lost so larc;e 
 a sum of money, as even to be 
 greater than could be easily 
 
 ed in a large chest, though stuffed at 
 every corner, in which he had stowed 
 it. 
 
 75. So ca!>>j and ready, $c] So 
 prone are men to despise the gods, 
 who are witnesses io all their" actions, 
 that if they can but hide them from 
 the eyes of men, they make them- 
 selves quite easy under the commis- 
 sion of the greatest frauds. 
 
220 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Si mortalis idem nemo sciat. Aspice quanta 
 
 Voce neget ; qua? sit fieri constantia vultus. 
 
 Per solis radios, Tarpeiaque fulmina jurat, 
 
 Et Martis frameam, et Cirrhaei spicula vatis ; 
 
 Per calatnos venatricis, pbaretramque puellae, 80 
 
 Perque tuum, pater yEgaei Neptune, tridentem : 
 
 Addit et Hercuieos arcus, hastamque Minerva?, 
 
 Quicquid habent telorum armamentaria cceJi. 
 
 Si vero et pater est, comcdam, inquit, flebile gnati 
 
 Sinciput elixi, Pharioque madentis aceto. 85 
 
 Sunt, in Fortunac qui casibus omnia ponunt, 
 Et nullo credunt mundum rectore moveri, 
 Natura volvente vices et lucis, et anni, 
 Atque ideo intrepidi qusecunque altaria tangunt. 
 
 Est alius, metuens ne crimen poena sequatur : 90 
 
 76. Behold with how great, <£c.J — 
 This contempt of the gods is carried 
 so far, that men will not only de- 
 fraud, but, with a loud unfaltering 
 voice, and the most unembarrassed 
 countenance, deny every thing that 
 is laid to their charge ; and this by 
 the grossest perjury. 
 
 77. Feigned countenance.] Putting 
 on, in his looks, a semblance of truth 
 and honesty. 
 
 78. By the rays of the stun.] This 
 was an usual oath. See Ma. ill. J09- 
 600. and note. Delph. edit. 
 
 — Tarpeian thunderbolts.] i.e. The 
 thunder of Jupiter, who had a tem- 
 ple of the Tarpeian rock. 
 
 IB. Cyrrhtmu prophet] Apollo, 
 who had an oracle at Delphos, near 
 Cirrha, a city of Phi x cis, where he 
 was worshipped. 
 
 80. Virgin-huntress.] Puellae vena- 
 tricis. Diana, the fabled goddess of 
 hunting; she, out of chastity, avoid- 
 ed all company of men, retired into 
 the woods, and there exercised her- 
 self in hunting. 
 
 81. Trident.] Neptune's trident 
 was a sort of spear with thr^e prongs 
 at the end, and denoted his being 
 king of the sea, which surrounded the 
 three then known parts of the world. 
 With this instrument he is usually 
 represented, and with this he was 
 «imposed to govern the sea, and even 
 to shake the earth itself; so that there 
 is no wonder that the superstitious 
 heathen should swear by it, as Nep- 
 
 tune was so considerable an object of 
 their veneration and worship. Sec 
 Virg. iEn. i. 142-149. et a!. 
 
 — Father of jEgcus."] ^Egeus was 
 the son of Neptune, the father of 
 Theseus. He reigned at Athens — 
 he threw himself into the JSgean sea, 
 which was so named after him. 
 
 82. Herculean bows.'} Perhaps the 
 poet particularly here alludes to those 
 fated bows and arrows of Hercules, 
 which he gave to Philoctetes, the son 
 of Paeas, king of Meliboea, a city of 
 Thessaly, at the foot of mount Ossa ; 
 and which weapons, unless Phi- 
 loctetes had carried to Troy, it 
 was fated that the city could not 
 have been taken. See Viae» -In. 
 iii. 402. and note, Delph. 
 
 S.j. Armories of heaven.] Juvenal 
 held the Roman mythology in great 
 contempt ; he certainly means here 
 to deride the folly of imagining that 
 the gods had arsenals or repositories 
 of arms. 
 
 84. A father, £c] Here is an al- 
 lusion to the story of Thyeates, the 
 brother of Atreus, w ho, having com- 
 mitted adultery with the wife of 
 Atreus, Atreus in revenge killed and 
 dressed the child born of her, and 
 served him up to his brother at his 
 own table. 
 
 The defrauder is represented as 
 perjuring himself by many oaths ; 
 and now he wishes, that the fVte of 
 Thyestes may he his, that I 
 have his son dressed and served op 
 
JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 221 
 
 If that same thing np mortal can know. Behold, with how 
 
 great 
 A voice he denies it, what steadiness there is of feigned 
 
 countenance. 
 By the rays of the sun, and the Tarpeian thunderbolts he 
 
 swears; 
 And the javelin of Mars, and the darts of the Cyrrhsean 
 
 prophet ; 
 By the shafts, and the quiver of the virgin -huntress, 80 
 And by thy trident, O Neptune, father of iEgeus : 
 He adds also the Herculean bows, and the spear of Mi- 
 nerva, 
 Whatever the armories of heaven have of weapons ; 
 And truly if he be a father, I would eat, says he, a doleful 
 Part of the head of my boiled son, and wet with Pharian 
 vinegar. 85 
 
 There are who place all things in the chances of Fortune, 
 And believe the world to be moved by no governor, 
 Nature turning about the changes both of the light and year, 
 And therefore intrepid they touch any altars whatsoever. 
 Another is fearing lest punishment may follow a crime ; 
 
 to table for him to eat, if he be guilty 
 of the fraud which is laid to his charge. 
 
 85. Part of the head."] Sinciput 
 signifies the forepart, or, perhaps, 
 one half of the head, when divided 
 downwards. See Ainsw. Quasi sc- 
 micaput — or, a scindendo, from whence 
 sinciput. 
 
 — Pharian vinegar.'} Pharos was 
 an island of Egypt, from whence 
 came the best vinegar, of which wore 
 made sauces and seasonings for vic- 
 tuals of various «kinds. The poet 
 does not add this without an ironical 
 fling at the luxury of his day. 
 
 86. There are, #c\] I e. There 
 are some so atheistically inclined, as 
 to attribute all events to mere chance. 
 
 87. The world to he moved, §c.]— 
 Epicurus and his followers acknow- 
 ledged that there were gods, but that 
 they took no care of human affairs, 
 nor interfered in the management of 
 the world. So Hon. sat. v. lib. i. 1. 
 101-3. 
 
 Deos didic'i sccurum agcre cevum, 
 Nee, si quid miri faeiut natura, 
 
 Deos id 
 T/istes ex alto cceli demiticre tccto. 
 
 88. Nature, $c] A blind princi- 
 ple, which they call natui'e, bringing 
 about the revolutions of days and 
 years — (lucis et anni) — acting merely 
 mechanically, and without design. 
 
 89. Intrepid they touch, #<?.]_ . 
 When a man would put another to 
 his solemn oath, he brought him to a 
 temple, and there made him swear, 
 laying his hand upon the altar. But, 
 what constraint could this have on the 
 consciences of tho.se who did not be- 
 lieve in the interference of the god> 
 — what altars could they be afraid to 
 touch, and to swear by in the most 
 solemn manner, if they thought that 
 perjury was not noticed ? 
 
 90. Another, #c] The poet, hav- 
 ing before mentioned atheists, who 
 thought the world governed by mete 
 chance, or, though they might allow 
 that there were gods, yet that these 
 did not concern themselves in the or- 
 dering of human affairs, now conies 
 to another sort, who did really allow, 
 not only the existence, but also the 
 providence of the gods, and their at- 
 tention to what passed among mor- 
 tals, and yet ^uch persons having u 
 
m% 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 SAT. XIII, 
 
 Hie putat esse Deos, et pejerat, atque ita secum ; 
 Decernat quodcunque volet de corpore nostro 
 v Isis, et irato feriat mea lumina sistro, 
 
 Dumraodo vel caecus teneam, quos abnego, nummos. 
 
 Et phthisis, et vomicae putres, et dimidium cms £, j 
 
 Sunt tanti ? pauper locupletem optare podagram 
 
 Ne dubitet Ladas, si non eget Ant icy ra, nee 
 
 Archigene : quid enim velocis gloria plantae 
 
 Preestat, et esuriens Pisa?se ramus olivse ? 
 
 Ut SIT MAGNA, TAMEX CEUTE LENTA IRA DEORUJI EST. 
 
 Si curant igitur cunctos punire nocentes, 1C1 
 
 Quando ad me venient r £ed et exorabile numen 
 Fortasse experiar : solet his ignoscere Multi 
 Committunt eadem diverso crimina fato. 
 Ille crucem pretium sceleris tulit, hie diadema. 105 
 
 salvo, to console themselves under the 
 commission of crimes, which he well 
 describes in the following lines. 
 
 91. Thus with himself.} i.e. Thus 
 argues with himself, allowing and 
 fearing that he will be punished. 
 
 92 " Let /«*,* £&] Isis was ori- 
 ginally an Egyptian goddess ; but the 
 Romans having adopted her among 
 their deities, they built her a temple 
 at Rome, where they worshipped her. 
 She was supposed to be much con- 
 cerned in inflicting diseases and ma- 
 ladies on mankind, and particularly 
 on the perjured. 
 
 93. Strike my eyes.'] Strike me 
 blind. 
 
 — Angry sistrum.} The sistrum was 
 a musical instrument ; it is variously 
 described, but generally thought to 
 be a sort of timbrel, of an oval, or a 
 triangular form, with loose rings on 
 the edges, which, being struck with 
 a small iron rod, yielded a shrill 
 sound. The Egyptians used it in 
 battle instead of a trumpet. It was 
 also used by the priests of Isis at her 
 sacriiices, and the goddess herself was 
 described as holding one in her right 
 hand. 
 
 Her angry sistrum — per hypallagen 
 —for the angry goddess with her 
 sistrum. 
 
 91. Keep the money, §c.) Juvenal 
 e cribes one, who, having mo- 
 ney intrusted to him, refuses to de- 
 up when called upon, and 
 who is during enough, not only to 
 
 deny his ever having received it, bvit 
 to defy all punishment, and its con- 
 sequences, so that he may but suc- 
 ceed in his perjury and fraud, and 
 still keep the money in his pos- 
 session. 
 
 93. A phthisic.] (From Gr. <pSi<7K, a 
 $$iu, to corrupt.) A consumption 
 of the lungs. 
 
 — Putrid sores. 1 Vomica? — impos- 
 thumes of a very malignant kind. 
 
 9.3. Haifa leg.} The other half 
 being amputated, on account of in- 
 curable sores, which threatened mor- 
 tification. 
 
 96. Of such consequence, ] Tanti—. 
 of so much consequence — i. c. as to- 
 counterbalance the joy of possessing 
 a large sum of money. 
 
 — Ladas.} The name of a famous 
 runner, who won the prize at the 
 Olympic games. 
 
 97. The rich gout.} So called, be- 
 cause it usually attacks the rich and 
 luxurious. 
 
 — If he does not want Artticyra.}— 
 i. e. If he be not mad. Anticyra, an 
 island of the Archipelago, was fa- 
 mous for producing great quantities 
 of the best hellebore, which the an- 
 cients esteemed good to purge the 
 head in cases of madness. Whence 
 naviga Anticyram, was so much as 
 to say — you are mad. See Hon. lib. 
 ii. sat. iii. 1. 166. 
 
 98. Archigenes.} Some famo 
 sician, remarkable, perhaps, for cur- 
 ing madness. 
 
SAT. XIII. 
 
 JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 225 
 
 He thinks there are gods, and forswears, and thus with 
 
 himself-— 91 
 
 " Let Isis decree whatever she will concerning tins body 
 " Of mine, and strike my eyes with her angry sistrum, 
 " So that, even blind, I may keep the money which I 
 
 deny. 
 u Are a phthisic, or putrid sores, or half a leg 95 
 
 " Of such consequence ? let not poor Ladas doubt to wish 
 
 " for 
 " The rich gout, if he does want Anticyra, nor 
 " Archigenes : for what does the glory of a swift foot 
 " Avail him, and the hungry branch of the Pissean olive?" 
 " Though the anger of the gods be great, yet cer- 
 
 " tainly it is slow. 100 
 
 " If they take care therefore to punish all the guilty, 
 " When will they come to me ? — But, perhaps too, the 
 
 " deity 
 " Exorable I may experience : he useth to forgive these 
 
 '• things. 
 " Many commit the same crimes with a different fate. 
 " One-has borne the cross as a reward of wickedness, ano* 
 
 u ther a diadem. 1 '' 105 
 
 _ The glory of a swift foot, ftc} 
 What good does the applause got by 
 his swiftness do him ? it will not fill 
 his belly. 
 
 99. Hungry vranch of the Pi&cean 
 olive.'] Pisa was a district of Elis, in 
 Peloponnesus, in which was Olym- 
 pia, where the Olympian games were 
 celebrated : the victors in which were 
 crowned with chaplets made of olive 
 branches, hence called Pisaean. 
 
 The hungry branch — i. e. that will 
 afford no rood to the gainers of it. — 
 See note on 1. 93, ad fin. 
 
 The speaker here means, that to be 
 sick and rich, is better than to be 
 healthy and poor ; that the famous 
 Ladas, unless he were mad, would 
 sooner choose to be laid up with the 
 gout and be rich, than to enjoy all 
 the glory of the Olympic games and 
 be poor. 
 
 100. Tho' the auger, fyc] Another 
 flatters himself, that, though punish- 
 ment may be heavily inflicted some 
 time or other, yet the evil day may 
 be a great way off. See Eccl. viii. 
 
 101. If they tale care, <£(".] q. d. 
 If they do observe the actions of* men, 
 and attend to what they do, so as to 
 take order for the punishment of 
 guilt, wherever they find it, yet it 
 may be a great while before it comes 
 to my turn to be punished. 
 
 103. Exorable, $c.] It may be I 
 shall escape all punishment ; for per- 
 haps I may obtain forgiveness, and 
 find the Deity easy to be entreated. 
 
 — He useth, tjfc.J i. e. Crimes 
 of this sort, which are not commit- 
 ted out of contempt of the Deity, 
 but merely to get a little money, he 
 usually forgives. 
 
 104. Different fate.] Another sub- 
 terfuge of a guilty conscience is, that 
 though, in some instances, wrong 
 doers are punished grievously, yet in 
 others they succeed so happily as to 
 obtain rewards ; so that the event of 
 wickedness is very different io differ- 
 ent people. 
 
 105. Boms the cross, $?.] The 
 same species >f wickedness that has 
 brought one man to the gallows, has 
 exalted another to a throne. 
 
224 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIILE. 
 
 Sic animum dirae trepidum formidine culpee 
 
 Gonfirmant. Tunc te sacra ad delubra vocantem 
 
 Praecedit, trahere imo ultro, ac vexare paratus. 
 
 Nam cum magna mala? superest audacia causae, 
 
 Creditur a multis fiducia : minium agit ille, 110 
 
 TTrbani qua! cm fugitivus scurra Catulli. 
 
 Tu miser exclamas, ut Stentora vinccre possis, 
 
 Vel potius quantum Gradivus Homericus : audis, 
 
 Jupiter, haec? nee labra moves, cum mittere voccm 
 
 Debueras, vel marmoreus, velaheneus? aut cur 115 
 
 In carbon e tuo charts pia tbura soluta 
 
 Ponimus, etsectum vituli jecur, albaque porci 
 
 Omenta ? ut video, nullum discrimen habendum est 
 
 Effigies inter vestras, statuamque Bathylli. 
 
 Accipe, quae contra valeat solatia ferre, 120 
 
 Et qui nee Cynicos, nee Stoica dogmata legit 
 
 106-7. Thus they confirm.] By all 
 these specious and deceitful reason- 
 ings, they cheat themselves into the 
 commission of crimes, and endea- 
 vour to silence the remonstrances and 
 terrors of a guily conscience. 
 
 108. He precedes, #<•.] Thus con- 
 fident, the wretch whom you sum- 
 mon to the temple, in order to swear 
 to his innocence, leads the way be- 
 fore you, as if in the utmost haste to 
 purge himself by oath. 
 
 — Ready to draw, eye] He is ready 
 to drag you along by force, and to 
 harass and teaze you to get on faster, 
 in order to bring him to his oath. 
 
 109. When gredt impudence, fyc] 
 When a man is impudent enough, 
 however guilty, to set a good face 
 upon the matter, this is mistaken by 
 many for a sign of honest confidence, 
 arising from innocence. 
 
 110. He acts the farce, <yc] Al- 
 luding to a play written by one Lu- 
 cius Catullus, called the Phasma, or 
 Vision, (see sat. viii. 185-6.) in which 
 there was a character of a buffoon, 
 who ran away from his master, after 
 having cheated him, and then vexed, 
 and even provoked him, that he 
 might be brought to swear himself 
 off, cheerfully proposing thus to be 
 perjured. This play is lost by time, 
 so that nothing certain can be said 
 concerning this allusion ; but what is 
 here said (after Kolyday) seems pro- 
 bable. 
 
 111. Witty Catullus.] Some ex- 
 pound urbani, here, as the cognomen 
 of this Catullus. 
 
 112. You miserable exclaim,] You, 
 half mad with vexation at finding 
 yourself thus treated, and in amaze- 
 ment at the impudence of such a per- 
 jury, break forth aloud. 
 
 112. Stcntur.\ A Grecian mention- 
 ed by Homer, II. e 1. 785-6. to have 
 a voice as loud as fifty people to- 
 gether. 
 
 113. Homerican Gradivut.] Ho- 
 mer says, II. e 860-2.) that when 
 Mars was wounded by Dioxnede, he 
 roared so loud that he Tightened the 
 Grecians and Trojans, and made a 
 noise as loud as 10,000 men to- 
 gether. 
 
 In some such manner as this, 
 wouldst thou, my friend, Calvinus, 
 exclaim, and call out to Jupiter. 
 
 114. Nor move your lips.] Canst 
 thou be a silent hearer, O Jupiter, of 
 such perjuries as these ': wilt thou not 
 so much as utter a word against such 
 things, when one should think thou 
 oughtest to threaten vengeance, wert 
 thou even made of marble or brass, 
 like thine images which are among 
 us ? 
 
 115. Or why.] Where is the use — 
 to what purpose is it ? 
 
 116-17. From the loos' d paper.] — 
 Some think that the offerers used to 
 bring their incense wrapped up in pa- 
 per, and, coming to that altar, they 
 
sat. xiii. JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 225 
 
 Thus the mind trembling with the fear of dire guilt 
 They confirm : then you, calling him to the sacred shrines, 
 He precedes, even ready of his own accord to draw you, 
 
 and to teaze you. 
 For when great impudence remains to a bad cause, 
 It is believed confidence by many : he acts a farce, 110 
 Such as the fugitive buffoon of the witty Catullus. 
 You miserable exclaim, so as that you might overcome 
 
 Stentor, 
 Or rather as much as the Homerican Gradivus : " Do you 
 
 " hear, 
 " O Jupiter, those things ? nor move your lips, when you 
 
 " ought 
 " To send forth your voice, whether you are of marble or 
 
 " of brass ? or why, 1 15 
 
 " On thy coal, put we the pious frankincense from the 
 
 u loosed 
 " Paper, and the cut liver of a calf, and of an hog 
 " The white caul ? as I see, there is no difference to be 
 
 " reckoned, 
 " Between your images, and the statue of Bathyllus." 
 Hear, what consolations on the other hand one may bring, 
 And who neither hath read the Cynics, nor the Stoic doc- 
 trines, differing 121 
 
 opened the paper, and poured the friend utter with so much vehemence, 
 
 incense out of it upon the fire. there is very keen raillery against 
 
 But others, by charta soluta (abl. the folly and superstition that pre- 
 
 absol.) understand a reference to the vailed at Rome, which Juvenal held 
 
 custom, mentioned sat. x. 55. (see in the highest contempt. This al- 
 
 note there,) of fastening pieces of pa- most reminds one of that fine sar- 
 
 per, containing vows, upon the images casm of the prophet Elijah— .1 Kings 
 
 of the gods, and taking them off xyiii. 27. 
 
 when their prayers were granted, af- 1 20. Hear, <£c.J The poet is now 
 
 ter which they offered what they had taking another ground to console his 
 
 vowed. friend, by representing to him the 
 
 117. " The cut liver" $c] The frequency not only of the same, but 
 
 liver cut out of a calf, and the caul of much greater injuries than what 
 
 which covered the inwards of an hog, he has suffered ; and that he, in bc- 
 
 were usual offerings. ing ill used, is only sharing the com- 
 
 119. " The statue of Bathyllus."\ mon lot of mankind, from which he 
 
 A fiddler and a player, whose statue is not to think himself exempt, 
 
 was erected in the temple of Juno, 120. Hear.\ Accipe — auribus un- 
 
 at Samos, by the tyrant Polycrates. derstood. 
 
 — q. d. At this rate, I do not see that 121. Neither hath read."} Never 
 
 there is any difference between thy hath made these his study, 
 
 images, O Jupiter, and those that — Tlie Cynics.] " followers of 
 
 may be erected in honour of a fiddler. Diogenes* 
 
 In this expostulatory exclamation — Stoic doctrines.] The doctrines 
 
 to Jupiter, which the poet makes his of Zeno and his followers, who were 
 
 2 o 
 
226 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 A Cynicis tunica distantia ; non Epicurum 
 
 Suspicit exigui lagtum plantaribus hprti. 
 
 Curentur dubii medicis majoribus aegri, 
 
 Tu venam vel discipulo committe Plrilippi. 1515 
 
 Si nullum in terris tam detestabile factum 
 Ostendis, taceo ; nee pugnis caedere pectus 
 Te veto, nee plana faciem contundere palma ; 
 Quandoquidem accepto claudenda est janua damno, 
 Et majore domus gemitu, niajore tumultu 130 
 
 Planguntur nummi, quam funera : nemo dolorem 
 Fingit in hoc casu, vestem diducere summAm. 
 Contentus, vexare oculos humore coacto : 
 Ploratur lachrymis amissa pecunia veris. 
 Sed si cuncta vides simili fora plena querela ; 135 
 
 Si decies lectis diversa parte tabellis, 
 
 called Stoics, from r*>a> a porch, 
 where they taught. 
 
 — Differing, $c] The people dif- 
 fered from each other in ^heir dress, 
 the Cynics wearing no tunic (a sort 
 of waistcoat) under their cloaks, as 
 the Stoics did ; but both agreed in 
 teaching the contempt of money, and 
 of the change of fortune. 
 
 122. Epicurus.) A philosopher of 
 Athens, a temperate and sober man, 
 who lived on bread and water and 
 Sierbs : he placed man's chief happi- 
 ness in the pleasure and tranquillity 
 of the mind. He died of the stone 
 at Athens, aged seventy-two. His 
 scholars afterwards sadly perverted 
 his doctrines, by making the plea- 
 sures of the body the chief good, and 
 ran into those excesses which brought 
 « great scandal on the sect. Suspicit 
 — lit. looks up to. 
 
 124. Dubious sick, <$c] Those %vho 
 are so ill, that their recovery is 
 doubtful, should be committed to the 
 eare of very experienced and able 
 physicians. 
 
 So, those who are afflicted with 
 heavy misfortunes, stand in need of 
 the most grave and learned advice. 
 
 125. Commit your vein, ^-c.J A 
 person whose cause of illness is but 
 slight, may trust himself in the hands 
 of a young beginner. 
 
 So you, Calvinus, whose loss is 
 but comparatively slight, have no 
 need of Stoics, or Cynics, or of such 
 a one as Epicurus, to console you ; I 
 
 am sufficient for the purpose, though 
 I do not read or study such great phi- 
 losophers. 
 
 — Philip.] Some surgeon of no 
 great credit or reputation; but e\en 
 his apprentice might bo trusted to 
 advise bleeding, or not, in a slight 
 disorder. So you may safely trust 
 to my advice in your present circum- 
 stances, though I am no deep philo- 
 sopher ; a little common sense will 
 serve the turn. 
 
 The whole of these two last lines 
 is allegorical ; the ideas are taken 
 from bodily disorder, but arc to be 
 transferred to the mind. 
 
 126. If you shew, ijc] Could you 
 shew no act in all the world so vile 
 as this which has been done toward-, 
 you, I would say no more — I would 
 freely abandon you to your sorrows, 
 as a most singularly unhappy man. 
 
 127. Nor do I, $r.] i. e. Go on, 
 like a man frantic with grief — beat 
 your breast — slap your face till it be 
 black and blue. 
 
 129. Since, $r.] In a time of 
 mourning for any great loss, it was 
 usual to shut the doors and windows. 
 
 — Loss being received.] A loss of 
 
 money incurred He is here rallying 
 
 his friend Calvinus. — q. d. Inasmuch 
 as the loss of money is looked upon 
 as the most serious of all losses, 
 doubtless you ought to bewail your 
 misfortune, with every circumstance 
 of the most unfeigned sorrow. 
 
 130. Mourning of the house, <|-c.J 
 
JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 227 
 
 SAT. XIII. 
 
 From the Cynics by a tunic : nor admires Epicurus 
 Happy in the plants of a small garden. 
 The dubious sick may be taken care of by greater physi- 
 cians, 
 Do you commit your vein even to the disciple of Philip, 
 
 If you shew no fact in all the earth so detestable, 126 
 I am silent : nor do I forbid you to beat your breast 
 With your fists, not to bruise your face with your open 
 
 palm; 
 Since, loss being received, the gate is to be shut, 
 And with greater mourning of the house, with a greater 
 tumult, 130 
 
 Money is bewailed than funerals : nobody feigns grief 
 In this case, content to sever the top of the garment, 
 To vex the eyes with constrained moisture : 
 Lost money is deplored with true tears. 134 
 
 But if you see all the courts filled with the like complaint, 
 If, tablets being read over ten times, by the different 
 party, 
 
 5. e. Of the family — for, to be sure, 
 the loss of money is a greater subject 
 of grief, and more lamented than the 
 deaths of relations. 
 
 131. • Nobody feigns, #<\] The 
 grief for loss of money is very sin- 
 cere, however feigned it usually is at 
 funerals. 
 
 132. Content to sever, $c."] No- 
 body contents himself with the mere 
 outward show of grief — such as rend- 
 ing the upper edge of a garment, 
 which was an usual sign of grief. 
 
 133. Vex the eyes, #c] To rub 
 the eyes, in order to squeeze out a 
 few forced tears. 
 
 See Tkrent. Eun. act. i. sc. i. 
 where Parmeno is, describing the 
 feigned grief of Phasdria's mistress, 
 and where this circumstence of dissi- 
 mulation is finely touched : 
 
 Hec verba una mehercle falsa la- 
 crumula, 
 
 Quani, oculos tcrcndo misere, vix 
 vi expresserit 
 
 RpstingTiet, fyc. 
 So Viuo. ;En. ii. 1. 196. 
 
 Capiifue dolis lachrymisque coacti. 
 
 134. Lost money is deplored, £c] 
 When we see a man deploring the 
 loss of money, we may believe the 
 sincerity of his tears. 
 
 The poet in this, and the preced- 
 ing lines on this subject, finely sati- 
 rizes the avarice and selfishness of 
 mankind, as well as their hypocrisy, 
 and all want of real feelings, where 
 self is not immediately concerned. 
 
 135. If you see, $•<?.] q. d. How- 
 ever I might permit you to indulge in 
 sorrow, if no instance of such fraud 
 and villainy had happened to any 
 body but yourself, yet if it be every 
 day s experience, if the courts of jus- 
 tice are filled with complaints of the 
 same kind, why should you give 
 yourself up to grief, as singularly 
 wretched, when what has happened 
 to you is the frequent lot of others ? 
 
 136. If t-ablets.] L e. Deeds or ob- 
 ligations written on tablets. 
 
 — Read over, $c] i.e. Often read 
 over in the hearing of witnesses, as 
 well as of the parties. 
 
 — By the different party.] This ex- 
 pression is very obscure, and does not 
 appear to me to have been satisfacto- 
 rily elucidated by commentators- 
 Some read diversa in parte, and ex- 
 plain it tp mean, that the deeds had 
 been read over in different pltcse — 
 variis in locis, says the Delphin inter- 
 pretation. However, after much 
 consideration, I rather approve of 
 
228 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 sat. xrn. 
 
 Vana supervacui dicunt chirographa ligni, 
 Arguit ipsorum quos litera, gemmaque princeps 
 Sardonyches, loculis quae custoditur eburnis : 
 Ten\ 6 delicias, extra communia censes 
 Ponendum ? Qui tu gallinae filius albae, 
 Nos viles pulli nati infelicibus ovis ? 
 Hem pareris modicam, et mediocri bile ferendam, 
 Si flectas oculos uiajora ad crimina : Confer 
 Conductum latronem, incendia sulphure ccepta, 
 Atque dolo, primos cum janua colligit ignes : 
 Confer et hos, veteris qui tollunt grandia templi 
 Pocula adorandae rubiginis, et populorum 
 Dona, vel antiquo positas a rege coronas. 
 Haec ibi si non sunt, minor extat sacrilegus, qui 
 Radat inaurati femur Herculis, et faciem ipsam 
 
 140 
 
 145 
 
 150 
 
 reading diversa parte, by the different 
 (/'. e. the opposite) party. Pars means, 
 sometimes, a side or party in con- 
 tention. Ainsw. In this view, it 
 exaggerates the impudence and vil- 
 lainy of a man who denied his deed 
 or obligation, seeing that his adver- 
 sary, the creditor, having frequently 
 read over the deed, could not be 
 mistaken as to its contents, any more 
 than the debtor, who had signified 
 and sealed it, as well a* heard it read 
 over. 
 
 137. They say.'] i. e. The fraudu. 
 lent debtors say, that the hand-writ- 
 ings contained in the bonds are false 
 and void. 
 
 Supervacuus means superfluous- 
 serving to no purpose or use — Super- 
 vacui ligni, i. c. of the inscribed 
 wooden tablets, which are of no use, 
 though the obligation be written on 
 them. 
 
 q, d. Notwithstanding the hand- 
 writing appears against them, signed 
 and sealed by themselves, and that 
 before witnesses, yet they declare 
 that it is all false, a mere deceit, and 
 of no obligation whatsoever — they 
 plead, non est factum, as we say. 
 
 138. Whom their own letter con- 
 victe.] Whose own hand-writing 
 proves it to be their own deed. 
 
 — A principal gem, fyc] Their seal 
 cut upon a sardonyx of great value, 
 with which they sealed the deed. 
 
 139. Which is kept, $cl Kept in 
 splendid cases of ivory, perhaps one 
 
 within another, for its greater secu- 
 rity. By this circumstance, the poet 
 seems to hint, that the vile practice 
 which he mentions was by no mean;, 
 confined to the lover sort of peoplr, 
 but had made its way among the rich 
 and great. 
 
 1 10. O tweet Sir,] Delicias — homi- 
 ng understood. An ironical apostrc 
 phe to his friend. 
 
 Deliciae is often used to denote a 
 darling, a minion, in which a per- 
 son delights : here delicias might b« 
 rendered choice, favourite, i. e. of 
 fortune — as if exempted from the 
 common accidents of life — aa if put 
 or placed out of their reach. 
 
 1 11. How.] Why — by what mean^ 
 — how can you make it out ? 
 
 — The of spring of a white hen.]— 
 The colour of white was deemed 
 lucky. This expression appears to 
 have been proverbial in Juvenal's 
 time to denote a man that is born to 
 be happy and fortunate. 
 
 Some suppose the original of this 
 saying to be the story told by Sueto- 
 nius in his life of Galba, where he 
 mentions an eagle, which soaring 
 over the head of Livia, a little after 
 her marriage with Augustus, let fall 
 into her lap a white hen, with a lau- 
 rel branch in her mouth ; which hen, 
 being preserved, became so fruitful, 
 that the place where this happened 
 was called Villa ad Gallinus. 
 
 But the poet saying nothing of 
 fruitfulness, but of the colour only» 
 
juvenal's satires. 
 
 229 
 
 SAT. XIII* 
 
 They say the hand-writings of the useless wood are vain, 
 Whom their own letter convicts, and a principal gem 
 Of a sardonyx, which is kept in ivory boxes. 
 Think you, O sweet Sir, that out of common things 140 
 You are to be put? How are you the offspring of a white hen* 
 We, vile chickens hatched from unfortunate eggs ? 
 You suffer a moderate matter, and to be borne with mode- 
 rate choler, 
 If you bend your eyes to greater crimes : compare 
 The hired thief, burnings begun with sulphur, 145 
 
 And by deceit, when the gate collects the first fires ; 
 Compare also these, who take away the large cups 
 Of an old temple, of venerable rust, and the gifts 
 Of the people, or crowns placed by an ancient king. 
 If these are not there, there stands forth one less sacrilegi- 
 ous, who 150 
 May scrape the thigh of a gilt Hercules, and the very 
 face of 
 
 it i6 rather to be supposed that Eras- 
 mus is right in attributing this pro- 
 verb to the notion which the Romans 
 bad of a white colour, that it denoted 
 luck or happiness, as dies albi, and 
 albo lapillo notati, and the like. 
 
 142. Unfortunate eggs."] The infe- 
 licibus ovis, put here in opposition to 
 the white hen, seems to imply the 
 eggs of some birds of unhappy omen, 
 as crows, ravens, &c figuratively to 
 denote those who are born to be un- 
 fortunate. 
 
 Scepe sinistra cava prcedixit ah 'dice 
 Comix. 
 
 Virg. eel. i. 18 ; and ix. 15. 
 
 143. With moderate choler, $r.] i. 
 e. Moderate wrath, anger, resent- 
 ment, when you consider how much 
 greater injuries others suffer from 
 greater crimes. 
 
 144. Compare.'] Consider in a com- 
 parative view. 
 
 145. Hired thief.] Or cut-throat, 
 who is hired for the horrid purpose 
 of assassination. 
 
 — Burnings begun trith sulphur."} 
 Which is here put, by synec. for all 
 fort of cumbustible matter with 
 which incendiaries fire houses. 
 
 146. By deceit] In a secret man- 
 ner, by artfully laying the destructive 
 materials, so as not to be discovered 
 
 till too late to prevent the mischief. 
 
 — Collects the frst fires.] So as f 
 prevent those who are in the house 
 from getting out, and those who are 
 without from getting in, to afford 
 any assistance. It is not improbable 
 that the poet here glances at the 
 monstrous act of Nero, who set 
 Rome on fire. 
 
 147. Large cups, $c] Who are 
 guilty of sacrilege, in stealing the 
 sacred vessels which have been for 
 ages in some antique temple, and 
 which are venerable from the rust 
 which they have contracted by time. 
 
 148-9. The gifts of the people.}!. 
 Rich and magnificent offerings, given 
 to some shrine by a whole people to- 
 gether, in honour of the god that 
 presided there. 
 
 149. Crowns placed, $c] As by 
 Romulus and other kings, whose 
 crowns, in honour of their memory, 
 were hung up in the temples of the 
 gods. 
 
 150. If these are not there.] If it 
 so happen that there be no such va- 
 luable relics as these now mentioned, 
 yet some petty sacrilegious thief will 
 deface and rob the statues of the 
 gods. 
 
 151. Scrape the thigh, £c] To get 
 a little gold from it. 
 
230 
 
 JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 SAT. XIII. 
 
 Neptuni, qui bracteolam de Castore ducat. 
 An dubitet, solitus totum conflare Tonantem ? 
 , Confer et artifices, mercatoremque veneni, 
 Et deducendum corio bovis in mare, cum quo 155 
 
 Clauditur adversis innoxia simia iatis. 
 Haec quota pars scelerum, quae custos Gallicus urbis 
 Usque a Lucifero, donee lux occidat, audit? 
 Humani generis mores tibi nosse volenti 
 Sufficit una domus ; paucos consume dies, et 160 
 
 Dicere te miserum, postquam illinc veneris, aude. 
 Quis tumidum guttur miratur in Alpibus ? ant quis 
 In Meroe crasso majorem infante mamillam ? 
 Caerula quis stupuit Germani lumina, flavam 
 Cassariem, et madido torquentem cornua cirro ? 165 
 
 Nempe quod hsec illis natura est omnibus una. 
 Ad subitas Thracum volucres, nubemque sonoram 
 
 151— 2. Face, of Neptune.] Some 
 image of Neptune, the beard whereof 
 was of gold. 
 
 152. Draw off the kaf-gold, <$r.J 
 Peel it off, in order to steal it, from 
 the image of Castor ; there were great 
 treasures in his temple. See sat. xiv. 
 J. 260. 
 
 153. fVill he hesitate.) At such 
 comparatively small matters as these, 
 who could steal a whole statue of Ju- 
 piter, and then melt it down ; and 
 who can make a practice of such a 
 thing ? A man who accustoms him- 
 self to greater crimes, cannot be sup- 
 posed to hesitate about committing 
 less. 
 
 154'. Contrivers, and the merchant 
 of poison.] Those who make and 
 those who sell poisonous compositions, 
 for the purposes of sorcery and 
 witchcraft, or for killing persons in r 
 secret and clandestine manner. See 
 Hon. sat. ix. lib. i. 31 ; and epod. ix. 
 1.61. 
 
 155. Launched into the sea, <£c] 
 Farricides were put into a sack made 
 of an ox's hide, together with an ape, 
 a cock, a serpent, and a dog, and 
 thrown into the sea. See sat. 
 viii. 21+. The fate of these poor in- 
 nocent animals is very cruel, they 
 having done no wrong. Dedudecen- 
 dum. Met. See Vina. G. i. 2 5.3. 
 
 157. Keeper of the city.'} Rutilius 
 
 Gallicus was appointed, under Do- 
 mitian, praefectus urbis, who had 
 cognizance of capital offences, and 
 sat every day on criminal causes. — 
 There is* great force in the word custos 
 here, it means a jailer, and denotes 
 that Rome at this time resembled a 
 prison, the chief magistrate of which 
 was no better than a jailer. 
 
 158. From the morning.'] Lucifero. 
 The planet Venus, when seen at day- 
 break, is called Lucifer — i. e. the 
 bringer of light. See sat. viii. 12. 
 Xosccrc pricque dievi veniens age 
 Lucifer ulimnn. 
 
 Vjug. eel. viii. 1. IT. 
 
 Lucifer orius crat 
 
 Or. Met. iv. 661. 
 It is not to be supposed that the 
 praefectus urbis literally sat from 
 morning to night every day, but that 
 he was continually, as the phrase 
 among us imports, hearing causes, 
 in which the most atrocious crimes 
 were discovered and punished. 
 
 160. One house suffices, q. d.] If 
 you desire to be let into a true history 
 of human wickedness, an attendance 
 at the house of Gallicus alone will be 
 sufficient for your purpose. 
 
 — Spend a 'feu. days, §c] Attend 
 there for a few days, and when you 
 come away, dare, if you can, to call 
 yourself unhappy, after hearing what 
 you have heard at the house of Galli- 
 cus. Domus is a very general n ord, 
 
SAT. XIII. 
 
 JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 231 
 
 Neptune, who may draw off the leaf-gold from Castor. 
 Will he hesitate, who is used to melt a whole Thunderer ? 
 Compare also the contrivers, and the merchant of poison, 
 And him to be launched into the sea in the hide of an ox, 
 With whom an harmless ape, by adverse fates, is shut 
 
 up. 156 
 
 How small a part this of the crimes, which Gallicus, the 
 
 keeper of the city, 
 Hears from the morning, until the light goes down? 
 To you who are willing to know the manners of the human 
 
 race 
 One house suffices; spend a few days, and dare 160 
 
 To call yourself miserable, after you come from thence. 
 Who wonders at a swoln throat in the Alps ? or who 
 In Meroe at a breast bigger than a fat infant ? 
 Who has been amazed at the blue eyes of a German, his 
 
 yellow 
 Hair, and twisting his curls with a wet lock ? 165 
 
 Because indeed this one nature is to them all. 
 At the sudden birds of the Thracians, and the sonorous 
 
 cloud, 
 
 and need not be restricted here to 
 signify the private house of the judge, 
 but may be understood of the court 
 or place where he sat to hear causes. 
 
 162. Stoofo throat, $c] The in- 
 habitants about the Alps have gene- 
 rally great swellings about their 
 throats, occasioned, as some suppose, 
 by drinking snow water. The French 
 call these protuberances on the out- 
 side of the throat, goitres. 
 
 163. MeroZ.] An island surround- 
 ed by the Nile. The * omen of this 
 island are said to have breasts of an 
 enormous size. Our poet is hardly 
 to be understood literally. 
 
 164. Blue eyes, $c.'\ Tacit, de 
 Mor. Germ, says, that the Germans 
 have truces et caeruleos oculos, et 
 comas rutilas — fierce and blue eyes, 
 and red hair. 
 
 165. Twisting his curls.") Cornu — 
 lit. an horn ; but is used in many 
 senses to express things that bear a 
 resemblance to an horn — as here, the 
 Germans twisted their hair in such a 
 manner, as that the curls stood up 
 and looked like horns. 
 
 —A wet lock.] Cirrus signifies a 
 
 curled lock of hair, The Germans 
 used to wet their locks with ointment 
 of some kind, perhaps that they 
 might the more easily take, and re- 
 main in, the shape in which the 
 fashion was to put them ; something 
 like our use of pomatum; or the 
 ointment which they used might be 
 some perfume. Com p. Hor. lib. ii* 
 ode vii. 1. 7-8. 
 
 166. Because, #c.J Nobody would 
 be surprised at seeing a German as 
 above mentioned, and for this reason, 
 because all the Germans do the same, 
 it is the one universal fashion among 
 them. Natura sometimes signifies, a 
 way or method. 
 
 167. Sudden birds, ^r.] A flight 
 of cranes coming unexpectedly from 
 Strymon, a river of Thrace. 
 
 Strymonice grucs. 
 See Vikg. G. i. 120 ; ^En. x. 265. 
 
 —Sonorous cloud.] The cranes are 
 birds of passage, and fly in great 
 numbers when they change their cli- 
 mate, which they were supposed to 
 do when the winter set in in Thrace ; 
 they made a great noise as they fleyr. 
 See Mn, x. 26a-6. 
 
2S2 JUVENALIS SATIRE. sat. xiii 
 
 Pygmaeusparvis currit bellator in armis : 
 
 Mox impar hosti, raptusque per aera curvis 
 
 Unguibus a saeva fertur grue : si videas hoc 170 
 
 Gentibus in nostris, risu quaterere : sed illic, 
 
 Quanquam eadein assidue spectentur praelia, ridet 
 
 Nemo, ubi tota cohors pede non est altior uno. 
 
 Nullane perjuri capitis, fraudisque nefandae 
 
 Poena erit ? abreptum crede hunc graviore catena 175 
 
 Protinus, et nostro (quid plus velit ira ?) necari 
 
 Arbitrio : manet ilia tamen jactura, nee unquam 
 
 Depositum tibi sospes erit : sed corpore trunco 
 
 Invidiosa dabit minimus solatia sanguis : 
 
 At vindicta bonum vit jucundius ipsa. 180 
 
 Nempe hoc indocti, quorum praecordia nullis 
 
 Interdum, aut levibus videas flagrantia causis : 
 
 Quantulacunque adeo est occasio, sufficit irae. 
 
 Chrysippus non dicet idem, nee mite Thaletis 
 
 Ingenium, dulcique senex vicinus Hymetto, 185 
 
 168. Pygmaean warrior, <%c] The 
 Pygmies (from "rtvy^h the fist, or a 
 measure of space from the elbow to 
 the hand, a cubit) were a race of 
 people in Thrace, which were said to 
 be only three inches high. Aixsw. 
 Juvenal says, a foot, 1. 173. They 
 were said always to be at war with 
 the cranes. 
 
 —Little arms.'] His diminutive 
 weapons. 
 
 169. The enemy.] The cranes. 
 
 171. In our nations, £r.] In our 
 part of the world, if an instance of 
 this sort were to happen, it would 
 appear highly ridiculous ; to see a lit- 
 tle man fighting a crane, and then 
 flown away with in the talons of the 
 bird, wouid make you shake your 
 sides with laughter, from the singu- 
 larity of such a sight. 
 
 172. The same battles, <£c] In 
 that part of the world, there being 
 no singularity or novelty in the mat- 
 ter, though the same thing happens 
 constantly, nobody is seen to laugh, 
 however ridiculous it may be to see 
 an army of people, not one of which 
 is above a foot high. 
 
 The poet means to infer from all 
 this, that it is the singularity and no- 
 velty of events which make them 
 wondered at : hence his friend Calvi- 
 ng is so amazed and grieved that he 
 
 should be defrauded, looking upon it 
 as peculiar to him ; whereas, if he would 
 look at what is going forward in the 
 world, particularly in courts of civil 
 and criminal judicature, he would see 
 nothing to be surprised at, with re- 
 spect to his own case, any more than 
 he would be surprised, if he went 
 among the Germans, to sec blue eyes, 
 and red hair, or locks curled and 
 wetted with some ointment, seeing 
 they all appear alike. Or if he were 
 to go among the Pygmies, he would 
 see nobody laugh at their battles with 
 the cranes, which are constantly hap- 
 pening, and at the diminutive size of 
 the Pygmy warriors, which is alike 
 in all. 
 
 174-. "Xo piininhment" $'C-3 Well 
 but, says Calvinus, though you ob- 
 serve that I am not to be surprised 
 at what 1 have met with, because it 
 is so frequent, is such a matter to be 
 entirely unnoticed, and such an of- 
 fender not to be punished ? 
 
 " A perjured head."] A perjured 
 
 person. Capitis, per synec. stands 
 here for the whole man. 
 
 So Hob. lib. i. ode xxiv. 1. 2. 
 Tarn ehari capitis. 
 
 175. " Wicked fraud." \ In taking 
 my money to keep for me, and then 
 denying that he ever had it. 
 
 J— " Suppose " Scc.]3\i\'v\v& answers, 
 
sat. xiii, JUVENAL'S SATIRES, 233 
 
 The Pygmaean warrior runs in his little arms, 
 
 Soon unequal to the enemy, and seized, through the air, 
 
 with crooked 
 Talons^ he is carried by a cruel crane : if you could see this 
 In our nations, you would be shook with laughter : but 
 
 there, 171 
 
 Though the same battles may be seen constantly, nobody 
 Laughs, when the whole cohort is not higher than one foot. 
 " Shall there be no punishment of a perjured head, 
 " And of wicked fraud ?" " Suppose this man dragged 
 
 " away with 175 
 
 " A weightier chain immediately, and to be killed (what 
 
 " would anger have more ?) 
 " At our will : yet that loss remains, nor will ever 
 <c The deposit be safe to you :"" " But from his maimed 
 
 " body 
 " The least blood will give an enviable consolation. 
 " But revenge is a good more pleasant than life itself.^ 180 
 Truly this is of the unlearned, whose breasts you may see 
 Burning, sometimes from none, or from slight causes : 
 However small the occasion may be, it is sufficient for 
 
 anger. 
 Chrysippus will not say the same, nor the mild disposition 
 Of Thales, and the old man neighbour to sweet Hymettu:?;, 
 
 Suppose the man who has injured you of one who is void of all knowledge 
 
 hurried instantly away to prison, and of true philosophy — indocti. 
 
 loaded with fetters heavier than ordi- — Whose breasts, $v.] Praecordia 
 
 nary graviore catena. signifies, literally, the parts about 
 
 176. " Be kiWd," fyc."} Be put to the heart, which is supposed to be the 
 death by all the tortures we could in- seat of the passions and affections ; 
 vent — (and the most bitter anger could here it may stand for the passions 
 desire no more) — what then ? themselves, which, says the poet, are 
 
 177. " That loss"] i. e. Which you set on fire, sometimes for no cause at 
 complain of. all, sometimes from the most trivial 
 
 — '* Remains.'''''] Is still the same. causes, in silly people. 
 
 178. " The deposit." $c] The mo- 183. However small, %c] Any trif- 
 ney which you deposited in his hands ling thing is sufficient to put them in- 
 would not be the safer — i. e. at all to a passion — but it is not so with the 
 the more secure. wise. 
 
 179. i* The least blood," fyc.\ True, 184. Chrysippus will not say, %c] 
 replies Calvinus, but I should enjoy A famous Stoic philosopher, scholar 
 my revenge ; the least drop of blood to Zeno, who taught the government 
 from his mangled body would give me of the passions to be a chief good, 
 such comfort as to be enviable ; for 185. Thales.j A Milesian, one of 
 revenge affords a pleasure sweeter the seven wise men of Greece He 
 than life itself. held that injuries were to be contemn» 
 
 181. Truly this, $c.] Truly, says ed, and was not himself easily pro- 
 Juvenal, ignorant and foolish people voked to anger, 
 think .so. q. d. This is the sentiment — The old man.] Socrates. 
 
 2 H 
 
234 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Qui partem accept» saeva inter vinc'la cicutae 
 
 Accusatori nollet dare. Plurima felix 
 
 Paulatim vitia, atque errores exuit omnes, 
 
 Prima docens rectum Sapientia : quippe minuti 
 
 Semper et infirmi est aximi exiguique voeuptas 190 
 
 Ultio. Continuo sic collige, quod vindicta 
 
 Nemo magis gaudet, quam foemina. Cur tamen hos tu 
 
 Evasisse putes, quos diri conscia facti 
 
 Mens habet altonitos* et surdo verbere caedit, 
 
 Occultum quatiente animo tortore flagellum ? 
 
 Poena autem vehemens, ac multo saevior illis, 
 
 Quas et Caeditius gravis invenit aut Rhadamanthus, 
 
 Nocte dieque strain gestare in pectore testem. 
 
 Spartano cuidam respondit Pythia vates, 
 Hand impunitum quondam fore, quod dubitaret 
 Depositum retinere, et fraudum jure tueri 
 
 19-5 
 
 200 
 
 185. Neighbour to s^cet Tlymettu^.] 
 Hymettus, a mountain in Attica, fa» 
 mous for excellent honey, hence cal- 
 led dulcis Hymettus. See Hor. lib. 
 ii. ode vi. 1. 14, 15. This mountain 
 was not far from Athens, where So- 
 crates lived, and where he was put 
 to death. 
 
 18G. Who would not, $c] It wan 
 a maxim of Socrates, that he who 
 did an injury was more to be pitied 
 than he who suffered it. He was ac- 
 cused of contemning the gods of 
 Athens, and for this, was condemned 
 to die, by drinking the juice of hem- 
 lock^ which he did with circumstances 
 of calmness and fortitude as well as 
 of forgiveness of his accusers» that 
 brought tears from all that were pre- 
 sent with him in the prison during the 
 sad scene. 
 
 An old scholiast has observed on 
 this passage, as indeed some others 
 have done, that one of his accusers, 
 Melitus, was cast into prison with 
 him ; and asking Socrates to give 
 him some of the poison, that he might 
 drink it, Socrates refused it. 
 
 187. Received hemlock.'] Which he 
 had received from the executioner, 
 and then held in his hand. For an 
 account of his death, see Ant. Univ. 
 Hist. vol. vi. p. 407, note z, trans- 
 lilted from Plato. 
 
 Ilappif wisdom.] The poet here 
 
 xueuns the teachings of the moral 
 
 philosophers, some of which held» 
 thaf, even in torments, a wise man 
 was happy. 
 
 189. First teaching ichat is righf, 
 <$c] To know what is right is first 
 necessary, in order to do it — this, 
 therefore, is the foundation of moral 
 philosophy, in order to strip the mind 
 of error, and the life of vicious ac- 
 tions. 
 
 Vitae philosophia dux, virtutis inda- 
 gatrix, expultrixque vitiorum. Cic- 
 Tusc. v. ii. 
 
 " Philosophy is the guide of life, 
 " the searcher-out of virtue, the ex- 
 " peller of vice." 
 
 191. Thus conclude.] ?'. e. Con- 
 clude, without any farther reasoning,, 
 that the above observation, viz. that 
 revenge is the pleasure of weak 
 minds, is true, because it is so often 
 found to be so in the weaker sex. 
 
 Persius uses the verb colligo in the 
 sense of conclude, or infer — mendose 
 colligis, you conclude falsely, 
 
 193. To have escaped, §c] Though 
 no outward punishment should await 
 these evil-doers, and you may sup- 
 pose them to have escaped quite free, 
 yet their very souls, conscious of 
 dreadful crimes, are all astonishment 
 — their guilty conscience smiting 
 them with silent, but severe, re- 
 proof. 
 
 195. The conscience."] i. c. Their 
 conscience, the executioner, shak- 
 
SAT. XIII. 
 
 JUVENAKS SATIRES. 
 
 235 
 
 Who would not, amidst cruel chains, give a part of 186 
 The received hemlock to his accuser. Happy wisdom, 
 By degrees puts off most vices, and all errors, 
 First teaching what is right : for revenge 
 
 Is ALWAYS THE PLEASURE OF A MINUTE, WEAK, AND 
 LITTLE 190 
 
 Mind. Immediately thus conclude, because in revenge 
 No]body rejoices more than a woman. But why should you 
 Think these to have escaped, whose mind, conscious of a 
 
 dire 
 Fact, keeps them astonished, and smites with a dumb stripe, 
 Their conscience the tormentor shaking a secret whip ? 
 But it is a vehement punishment, and much more cruel, 
 
 than those 196 
 
 Which either severe Caeditius invented, or Rhadamanthus, 
 Night and day to carry their own witness in their breast. 
 The Pythian prophetess answered a certain Spartan, 
 That in time to come he should not be unpunished, be- 
 
 cause he doubted 200 
 
 To retain a deposit, and defend the fraud by swearing : 
 
 ing its secret scourge with terror over 
 them. 
 
 A metaphor, taken from the whip- 
 ping of criminals, whose terrors are 
 excited at seeing the executioner's 
 scourge lifted up and shaken over 
 them. 
 
 Public whipping was a common 
 punishment among the Romans for 
 the lower sort of people. See Hoa. 
 epod. iv. 1. 11. 
 
 196. Vehement punishment, Qc] — 
 The poet here means, that the tor- 
 ments of a wounded conscience are 
 less tolerable than those of bodily pu- 
 nishment. Comp. Prov. xviii. 14. 
 
 197. Severe Cocditius.) A very 
 cruel judge in the days of Vitellius ; 
 or, according to some, in the days of 
 Nero. 
 
 — Rhadajnantus.) One of the 
 judges of hell. See sat i. 1. 10. note. 
 
 198. Their own witness, <§r.] Con- 
 tinually bearing about with them the 
 testimony of an evil conscience. 
 
 199. Pythian prophetess.) The 
 priestess of Apollo, (called Pythius, 
 from his slaying the serpent Python,) 
 by whom Apollo gave answers at his 
 wacle of Delphos. 
 
 The story alluded to is told by 
 
 Herodotus, of one Glaucus, a Spar- 
 tan, with whom a Milesian, in con- 
 fidence of his honesty, had left a sum 
 of money in trust. Glaucus after- 
 wards denied having received the 
 money, when it was demanded by 
 the sons of the Milesian, and sent 
 them away without it : yet he was 
 not quite satisfied in himself, and 
 went to the oracle, to know whether 
 he should persist in denying it or 
 not. He was answered, that if he 
 foreswore the money, he might escape 
 for a time ; but for his vile intention, 
 he and all his family should be de- 
 stroyed. Upon this, Glaucus sent 
 for the Milesians, and paid the whole 
 sum- But what the oracle foretold 
 came to pass, for he and all iris km- 
 dred were afterwards extirpated. 
 
 200. Time to come."] Though he 
 might escape from the present, yet, 
 at a future time, he should not go 
 without punishment. 
 
 — Because he doubted.) Could suf- 
 fer himself even to entertain a doubt 
 in such a case as this. 
 
 201. A deposit ] Of money com- 
 mitted to his trust. 
 
 — By swearing.) By perjury — jure 
 jurundo. Tmesis. 
 
236 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Jurando : quasrebat enim quae numinis esset 
 
 Mens; et an hoc illi facinus suaderet Apollo. 
 
 Reddidit ergo metu, non moribus ; et tamen omnem 
 
 Vocem advti dignam templo, veramque probavit, 205 
 
 Extinctus tota pariter cum prole domoque, 
 
 Et quamvis longa deductis gente propinquis. 
 
 Has patitur poenas peccandi sola voluntas. 
 
 Nam sceia s intra se tacitum qui cogitat ullum, 
 
 Facti crimen habet : cedo, si conata peregit ? 
 Perpetua anxietas : nee niensse tempore cessat ; 
 Faucibus ut morbo siccis, interque molares 
 Difficili crescente cibo. Sed vina misellus 
 Exspuit : Albani veteris pretiosa senectus 
 Displicet : ostendas melius, densissima ruga 
 Cogitur in frontem, velut acri ducta Falerno. 
 
 210 
 
 215 
 
 202. He asked, #c] In hopes that 
 he might get such an answer as would 
 quiet his mind, and determine him 
 to keep the money. 
 
 203. Would advise, £c] Would 
 per?uade him to the fact — i- e. to re- 
 tain the deposit, &c. 
 
 20 1. From feur, not, §c] More 
 from a principle of fear of the con- 
 sequences of keeping it, than an ho- 
 nest desire of doing right. 
 
 205. The vice of the shrine.]— 
 Adytum signifies the most .secret and 
 sacred place of the temple, from 
 whence the oracles were supposed to 
 he delivered. 
 
 — Worthy the temple, <fyc-] It was 
 reckoned highly for th.3 reputation of 
 the temple, when the things there 
 foretold came to pass ; on account of 
 which, these oracles were usually de- 
 livered in equivocal terms, so that 
 they might be supposed to tell truth, 
 on whichever side the event turned 
 out. 
 
 207. Deduced from a long race.] — 
 IiOnga gente, from a long train of 
 ancestors — all that were related to 
 him, however distantlv, were cut 
 off. 
 
 208. These punishments, £&,] Thus 
 was the mere intention of doing ill 
 most justlv punished. 
 
 210. Hath the guilt, $c] Is as 
 really guilty as if he had accomplish- 
 ed it. In this, and in many cther 
 passages, one would almost think 
 -' -venal was acquainted with some- 
 
 thing above heathenism. Comp. Prov. 
 xxiv. 8-f); and Matt. v. 28. 
 
 — " Tell me," <£c] A question 
 asked by Calvinus, on hearing what 
 Juvenal had said before. Tell me, 
 says Calvinus, if what you say be 
 true, that the very design to do evil 
 makes a person guilty of what he de- 
 signed to do, what would be the case 
 of his actually accomplishing what 
 he intended, as my false friend has 
 done ? 
 
 211. " Perpetual anxiety.'"] Ju- 
 venal answers the question, by set- 
 ting forth, in very striking colours, 
 the anguish of a wounded conscience. 
 First, he would bo under continual 
 anxiety. 
 
 — " The time of the talk."] Even 
 at his meals — his convivial hours. 
 
 212. " With jam dry," <|r.] His 
 mouth hot and parched, like one in a 
 fever. 
 
 213. " Difficult food increasing."] — 
 This circumstance is very natural — 
 the uneasiness of this wretch's mind 
 occasions the symptoms of a fever ; 
 one of which is a dryness in the 
 mouth and throat, owing to the want 
 of a due secretion of the saliva, by 
 the glands appropriated for that pur- 
 pose. The great use of this secretion, 
 which we call saliva, or spittle, is in 
 masticating and diluting the food, and 
 making the first digestion thereof; 
 also to lubricate the throat and oeso- 
 phagus, or gullet, in order to facili- 
 tate deglutition, which, by those 
 
sat. xiii. JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 237 
 
 For he asked what was the mind of the Deity, 
 
 And whether Apollo would advise this deed to him. 
 
 He therefore restored it from fear, not from morals, and 
 
 yet all 
 The voice of the shrine, he proved worthy the temple, and 
 
 true, 205 
 
 Being extinguished together with all his offspring, and 
 
 family, 
 And with his relations, tho" deduced from a long race. 
 These punishments does the single will of offending 
 
 suffer. 
 For he who within himself devises any secret wick- 
 edness, 
 Hath the guilt of the fact. — " Tell me, if he accom- 
 
 " plishM his attempts ?" 21 
 
 " Perpetual anxiety : nor does it cease at the time of the 
 
 " table, 
 " With jaws dry as by disease, and between his grinders 
 " The difficult food increasing. But the wretch spits 
 
 " out 
 " His wine : the precious old age of old Albanian 214 
 " Will displease : if you shew him better, the thickest 
 
 " wrinkle 
 " Is gathered on his forehead, as drawn by sour Fa- 
 
 ** lernan. 
 
 means, in healthy persons, is attend- oned the finest and best wine in all 
 
 ed with ease and pleasure. Italy, especially when old. See Hor. 
 
 But the direct contrary is the case, lib. iv. ode xi. 1. 1-2. 
 
 where the mouth and throat are quite 215. " Shew him letter."] If you 
 
 dry, as in fevers — the food is chewed could set even better wine than this 
 
 with difficulty and disgust, and can- before him, he could not relish it. 
 
 not be swallowed without uneasiness — " The thickest wrinkle " $-c] — 
 
 and loathing, and may well be called His forehead would contract into 
 
 difficilis cibus in both these respects, wrinkles without end, as if they were 
 
 Wanting also the saliva to moisten occasioned by his being offered sour 
 
 it, and make it into a sort of paste Falernan wine. 
 
 for deglution, it breaks into pieces Densissima is here used, as in sat. 
 between the teeth, and taking up i. 105. to denote a vast number ; as 
 more room than when in one mass, it we say, a thick crowd, where vast 
 fills the mouth as if it had increased numbers of people are collected to- 
 rn quantity, and is attended with gether. 
 
 a nausea, or loathing, which still in- Falernan wine was in high repute 
 
 creases the uneasiness of the sen- among the Romans when it was of 
 
 sation. the best sort ; but there was a kind 
 
 213-14. " Spits out his wine."] — of coarse, sour wine, which came 
 He cannot relish it, his mouth being from Falernus, a mountain of Cam- 
 out of taste, and therefore spits it out pania, which, when drank, would 
 as something nauseous. occasion sickness and vomiting. 
 
 211. " Albanian."''} This was reck- 
 
238 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRiE. 
 
 SAT. XIII. 
 
 Nocte brevem si forte indulsit cura soporem, 
 
 Et toto versata toro jam membra quiescunt, 
 
 Continuo templum, et violati numinis aras, 
 
 Et (quod praecipuis mentem sudoribus urget) 
 
 Te videt in somnis : tua sacra et major imago 
 
 Humana turbat pavidum, cogitque fateri. 
 
 Hi sunt qui trepidant, et ad omnia fulgura pallent, 
 
 Cum tonat; exanimes primo quoque murmure cceli: 
 
 Non quasi fortuitus, nee ventorum rabie, sed 
 
 l'ratus cadat in terras, et vindicet ignis. 
 
 Ilia nihil nocuit, cura graviore timetur 
 
 Proxima tempestas ; velut hoc dilata sereno. 
 
 Praeterea lateris vigili cum febre dolorem 
 
 Si ccepere pati, missum ad sua corpora morbum. 
 
 Infesto credunt a numine ; saxa Deorum 
 
 220 
 
 22-5 
 
 230 
 
 218. " His limbs tumbled over," 
 Qc] Tumbling and tossing from one 
 side of the bed to the other, through 
 the uneasiness of his mind. See sat. 
 iii. 280, and note ; and Aixsw. Verso, 
 No. 2. 
 
 219. " The temple — the altars," 
 $c.~\ He is haunted with dreadful 
 dreams, and seems to see the temple 
 iu which, and the altar upon which, 
 he perjured himself, and thus pro- 
 faned and violated the majesty of the 
 Deity. 
 
 220. " What urges his mind,' 1 
 $c] But that which occasions him 
 more misery than all the rest (see 
 Ainsw. Sudor; and sat. i. 153.) is, 
 that he fancies he beholds the man 
 whom he has injured, appearing (as, 
 aggrandized by his fears) greater than 
 a human form. The ancients had 
 much superstition on the subject of 
 apparations, and always held them 
 sacred ; and (as fear magnifies its ob- 
 jects) they always were supposed to 
 appear greater than the life. Hence 
 Juvenal savs, sacra et major imago. 
 Comp. Virg. iEn. ii. 1. 772-3. 
 
 222. " Compels him to confess,"] 
 i. e. The villainy which he has been 
 guilty of — a confession of this is 
 wrung from him by the terrors which 
 he undergoes ; he can no longer keep 
 the secret within bis breast. 
 
 223. " All lightnings," §c] The 
 poet proceeds in his description of the 
 miserable state of the wicked, and 
 
 here represents them as filled with 
 honor by thunder and lightning, and 
 dreading the consequences. 
 
 224. " First murmur," $c.] — 
 They are almost dead with fear, on 
 hearing the first rumbling in the sky. 
 
 225. " Not as if," #c] They do 
 not look upon it as happening fortui- 
 tously, by mere chance or accident, 
 without any direction or intervention 
 of the gods, like the Epicureans — 
 See Hor. sat. v. lib. i. 1. 101-3. 
 
 — " Rage of winds."') Or from the 
 violence of the winds, occasioning a 
 collision of the clouds, and so pro- 
 ducing the lightning, as the philoso- 
 phers thought, who treated on the 
 physical causes of lightning, as Pliny 
 and Seneca. 
 
 226. " Fire may fall," #c] The 
 wretch thinks that the flashes which 
 he sees and dreads will not confine 
 their fury to the skies, but, armed 
 with divine vengeance, may fall upon 
 the earth, and destroy the guilty. 
 
 227. " That did no harm,"] i. e. 
 That last tempest did no mischief; 
 it is now over and harmless : * 4 So 
 " far is well," thinks the unhappy 
 wretch. 
 
 — »« The next tempest, 1 * <|' c 0-— 
 Though they escape the first storm, 
 yet they dread the next still more, 
 imagining that they have only had a 
 respite from punishment, and there- 
 fore that the next will certainly ries- 
 trov them. 
 
sat. xiii. JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 239 
 
 " In the night, if haply care hath indulged a short 
 
 " sleep, > 
 
 " And his limbs tumbled over the whole bed now are 
 
 " quiet, 
 " Immediately the temple, and the altars of the violated 
 
 " Deity, 
 u And (what urges his mind with especial pains) 220 
 
 " Thee he sees in his sleep : thy sacred image, and 
 
 <• bigger 
 " Than human, disturbs him fearful, and compels him to 
 
 " confess.'" 
 w There are they who tremble, and turn pale at all light- 
 
 " nings 
 " When it thunders : also lifeless at the first murmur of 
 
 " the heavens ; 
 <c Not as if accidental, nor by rage of winds, but 225 
 
 " Fire may fall on the earth enraged, and may avenge." 
 " That did no harm" — " the next tempest is fear'd 
 " With heavier concern, as if deferred by this fair 
 
 " weather. 
 " Moreover a pain of the side with a watchful fever, 
 " If th.ey have begun to suffer, they believe the disease 
 
 " sent 230 
 
 ic To their bodies by some hostile deity : they think these 
 
 " things 
 
 228. " As if deferred," $c] As " That art incestuous: Caitiff, to 
 if delayed by one fair day, on pur- *' pieces shake 
 
 pose, afterwards, to fall the heavier. " That under covert and convenient 
 
 This passage of Juvenal reminds " seeming 
 
 one of that wonderfully fine speech, M Hast practis'd on man's life ! 
 on a similar subject, which our great " Close pent-up guilts, 
 
 and inimitable poet, Shakespeare, has " Rive your concealing continents, 
 put into the mouth of king Lear, " and cry 
 
 when turned out by his cruel and un- " These dreadful summoners grace !" 
 grateful daughters, and, on a desolate Lear, act iii. sc. 1. 
 
 and barren heath, is in the midst of 229. " Pain of the side," <|jr.] — 
 
 a storm of thunder and lightning. The poet seems here to mean a pleu- 
 
 Leaii. m Let the great gods risy , or pleuritic fever, a painful and 
 
 ** That keep this dreadful pother dangerous distemper. 
 
 *' o'er our heads, — " A watchful fever."] i. e. A fe- 
 
 ** Find out their enemies now. ver which will not let them sleep, or 
 
 " Tremble thou wretch take their rest. 
 
 " That hast within thee undivulged 230. " Begun to suffer," Qc.j — 
 
 " crimes, On the first attack of such a disorder, 
 
 " Unwhipt of justice: hide thee, they believe themselves doomed to 
 
 " thou bloody hand ; suffer the wrath of an offended Deity, 
 
 44 Thou perjured and thou simular of which their illness seems, to them. 
 
 " man of virtue an earnest. 
 
240 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Usee, et tela putant : pecudem spondere sacello 
 
 Balantem, et Laribus cristam promittere galli 
 
 Non audent. Quid enim sperare nocentibus aegris 
 
 Concessum ? vel quae non dignior hostia vita ? 235 
 
 Mobilis et varia est ferme natura malorum. 
 
 Cum scelus admittunt, superest constantia : quid fas, 
 
 Atque nefks, tandem incipiunt sentire, peractis 
 
 Criminibus. Tamen ad mores natura recurrit 
 
 Damnatos, fixa et mutari nescia. Nam quis 240 
 
 Peccandi finem posuit sibi ? quando recepit 
 
 Ejectum semel attrita de fronte ruborem ? 
 
 Quisnam hominum est, quern tu contentum videris uno 
 
 Flagitio ? dabit in laqueum vestigia noster 
 
 Perfidus, et nigri patietur careens uncum, 245 
 
 Aut maris JEg&i rupem, scopulosque frequentes 
 
 23?. " Stones and darts.'"] These 
 were weapons of war among the an- 
 cients ; when they attacked a place, 
 they threw, from engines for that 
 purpose, huge stones to batter down 
 the wall, and darts to annoy the be- 
 sieged. 
 
 Here the poet uses the words in a 
 metaphorical sense, to denote the ap- 
 prehension of a sick criminal, who 
 thinks himself, as it were, besieged 
 by an offended Deity, who employs 
 the pleurisy and fever, as his artillery, 
 to destroy the guilty wretch. 
 
 — " To engage a bleating sheep,'' 1 
 $-c] Or lamb — pecus may signify 
 either. It was usual for persons in 
 danger, or in sickness, to engage by 
 vow some offering to the gods, on 
 their deliverance, or recovery ; but 
 the guilty wretches here mentioned 
 are supposed to be in a statj of utter 
 despair, so that they dave not so 
 much as hope for recovery, and there- 
 fore have no courage to address any 
 vows to the gods. 
 
 233. " Comb of a cock," %c.] — 
 So far from promising a cock to 
 iEsculapius, they have not the cou- 
 rage to vow even a cock's comb, as a 
 sacrifice to their household gods. 
 
 234. " Allowed the guilty" #0 
 Such guilty wretches can be allowed 
 no hope whatever — their own consci- 
 ences tell them as much. 
 
 235. " Is not more •worthy,'''' §e.] 
 i. e. Does not more deserve to live 
 tlian they. 
 
 23G. " Fickle and changeable,"]— 
 L e. Wavering and uncertain, at first ; 
 before they commit crimes, they are 
 irresolute, and doubting whether they 
 shall or not, and often change their 
 mind, which is in a fluctuating 
 state. 
 
 237. " Remains constancy."]—. 
 When they have once engaged in evil 
 actions, they become resolute. 
 
 — " Wliat is right," $r.J After 
 the crime is perpetrated, they begin 
 to reflect on what they have done— 
 they are forcibly stricken with the 
 difference between right and wrong, 
 insomuch that they feel, for a while, 
 a remorse of conscience ; but not- 
 withstanding this — 
 
 239. " Nature recurs," ^r.]— 
 Their evil nature will return to its 
 corrupt principles, and silence all re- 
 morse ; fixed and unchangeable in 
 this respect, it may be said, Naturam 
 expellas furca tamen usque rccurret. 
 Hor. lib. i. epist. x. 1. 24. 
 
 241. " Hath laid down to himself" 
 <£r.] What wicked man ever con- 
 tented himself with one crime, or 
 could say to his propensity to v ick- 
 edness, " hitherto shaft thou come, 
 " and no farther," when every crime 
 he commits hardens him the more, 
 and plunges him still deeper ? 
 
 — " When recovered" fyc.) No 
 man ever yet recovered a sense of 
 shame, who had once lost it. 
 
 242. " Worn forehead," %c]— 
 Attritus signifies rubbed or worn 
 
sat. xiii. JUVENAUS SATIRES 241 
 
 " The stones and darts of the gods : to engage a bleating 
 
 " sheep 
 " To the little temple, and to promise the comb of a cock 
 
 " to the Lares 
 " They dare not ; for what is allowed the guilty sick 
 <c To hope for ? or what victim is not more worthy of life ? 
 u The nature of wicked men is, for the most part, fickle, 
 
 " and changeable ; 236 
 
 w When they commit wickedness, there remains constancy : 
 
 " what is right A 
 
 " And what wrong, at length they begin to perceive, their 
 
 " crimes 
 " Being finish^ : but nature recurs to its damned 
 " Morals, fix'd, and not knowing to be changed. For 
 
 " who -240 
 
 " Hath laid down to himself an end of sinning ? when re- 
 
 " cover'd 
 " Modesty once cast off from his worn forehead ? 
 " Who is there of men, whom you have seen content with 
 
 " one 
 " Base action ? our perfidious wretch will get his feet into 
 " A snare, and will suffer the hook of a dark prison, 245 
 66 Or a rock of the iEgean sea, and the rocks abounding 
 
 away, as marble, or metals, where send him to gaol, and load him with 
 an hard and polished surface remains ; fetters. Or, he will walk into a snare 
 so a wicked man, by frequent and (Comp. Job xviii. 8-10.) and be en- 
 continual crimes, grows hardened a- tangled in his own devices, 
 gainst all impressions of shame, of 245. " Suffer the hook" fyc] The 
 which the forehead is often repre- uncus was a drag, or hook, by which 
 sen ted as the seat. See Jer. iii. 3. the bodies of malefactors were dragged 
 latter part. about the streets after execution. See 
 
 243. " Who is there" #c] Who sat. x. 1. 66. 
 
 ever contented himself with sinning But, by this line, it -should seem 
 
 but once, and stopped at the first as if some instrument of this sort 
 
 fact ? was made use of, either for torture, 
 
 244. " Our perfidious wretch" or closer confinement in the dungeon. 
 £c] Noster perfidus, says Juvenal, 246. " Rock of the JEgean sea."] 
 meaning the villain who had cheated Or, if he should escape the gallows, 
 Calvinus, and then perjured himself, that he will be banished to some 
 As if the poet had said, Do not be so rocky, barren island in the iEgean 
 uneasy, Calvinus, at the loss of your sea, where he will lead a miserable 
 money, or so anxious about i-eveng- life. Perhaps the island Seriphos is 
 ing yourself upon the wretch who has here meant. 
 
 perjured you ; have a little patience, — " The rocks frequent" #c] — 
 
 he will not stop here, he will go on The rocky islands of the Cyclades, to 
 
 from bad to worse, till you will find which numbers were banished, and 
 
 him sufficiently punished, and your- frequently, either by the tyranny of 
 
 self amply avenged. the emperor, or through their own 
 
 244-5. " Into a snare." \ He will crimes, persons of high rank, 
 do something or other which will 
 2 I 
 
242 JUVENALIS SATIRE. sat. xiii. 
 
 Exulibus magnis. Poena gaudebis amara 
 Nominis invisi : tandemque fatebere laetus 
 Nee sordum, nee Tiresiam quenquam esse Deorum. 
 
 247. " You 'will rejoice" <£ c -]— W1 'H not be mentioned, but with the 
 You, Calvinus, will at last triumph utmost detestation and abhorrence, 
 over the villain that has wronged you, — "Athngth — confess."] However, 
 when you see the bitter sufferings in time past, you may have doubted 
 which await him, fall upon him. of it, you will in the end joyfully 
 
 248, '* His hated name."] Which own — 
 
JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 243 
 
 ct With great exiles^ You will rejoice in the bitter punish» 
 
 " ment 
 15 Of his hated name, and, at length, glad will confess^ 
 
 " that no one of 
 H The gods is either deaf, or a Tiresias." 
 
 248-9. " That no one of the gods," 
 $c] Whose province it is to punish 
 crimes, is either deaf, so as not to 
 hear such perjury, or blind, so as not 
 to see every circumstance of such a 
 transaction, and to punish it accord- 
 ingly. Comp. 1» 112=19= 
 
 249. «« Tiresias."] A blind sooth- 
 sayer of Thebes, fabled to be stricken 
 blind by Juno, for his decision in 
 a dispute between her and her hus- 
 band, in favour of the latter, who 
 in requital gave him the gift of pro* 
 pbecy. 
 
Jratira «SuartaUmma* 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 This Satire is levelled at the bad examples which parents 
 set their children, and shews the serious consequences of 
 such examples, in helping to contaminate the morals of 
 the rising generation, as ice arc apt, by nature, rather 
 to receive ill impressions than good, and are, besides, 
 
 PLURIMA sunt, Fuscine, et fama digna sinistra, 
 Et nitidis maculam haesuram figentia rebus, 
 Quae monstrant ipsi pueris traduntque parentes. 
 Si damnosa senem juvat alea, ludit et haeres 
 liullatus, parvoque eadem movet arma fritillo : 5 
 
 Nee de se melius cuiquam seperare propinquo 
 Concedet juvenis, qui radere tubera terrae, 
 Boletum condire, et eodem jure natantes 
 Mergere ficedulas didicit, nebulone parente, 
 
 Line l. Fuscinns.] A friend of Ju- 
 venal's, to whom this Satire is ad- 
 dressed. 
 
 — Worthy of unfavourable report. 1 } 
 Which deserve to be ill spoken of, to 
 be esteemed scandalous. 
 
 The word sinistra here is metapho- 
 rical, taken from the Roman super- 
 stition, with regard to any thing of 
 the orninous kind, which appeared 
 on the left hand ; they reckoned it 
 unlucky and unfavourable. See sat. 
 x. 1. 1 29, where the word is applied, 
 as here, in a metaphorical sense. 
 
 2. Fixing a stain, <|\\] A meta- 
 phor, taken from the idea of clean 
 and neat garments being soiled, or 
 spotted, with filth thrown upon them, 
 the marks of which are not easily got 
 out. So these things of evil report 
 fix a spot, or stain, on the most splen- 
 did character, rank, or fortune — all 
 which, probably, the poet means by 
 nitidis rebus. 
 
 3. Which parents, $c.] The things 
 worthy of evil report, which are af- 
 terwards particularized, are matters 
 which parents exhibit to their chil- 
 dren by example, and deliver to them 
 by precept. Comp. 1. 9. 
 
 4. If the destructive die pleases, 
 <£c] If the father be fond of playing 
 at dice. 
 
 — Wearing the bulla, $c] His son, 
 when a mere child, will imitate his 
 example — For the bulla, see sat. xiii. 
 1. 33. note. 
 
 5. The same weapons, $c] Arma, 
 literally, denotes all kind of v\ arlike 
 arms and armour, and, by met. all 
 manneruf tools and implements, for 
 all arts, mysteries, occupations, and 
 diversions. Aixsw. The word is 
 peculiarly proper to express dice, and 
 other implements of gaming, where- 
 with the gamesters attack each other, 
 each with an intent to ruin and des- 
 troy the opponent. See sat. i. 7S. 
 noie. 
 
tfouxtmxty ^atirtt 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 more pliant in our younger than in our riper years. 
 From hence he descends to a Satire on tivarice, which he 
 esteems to he of worse example than any other of the vices 
 which he mentions before ; and concludes with limiting 
 our desires within reasonable bounds. 
 
 THERE are many things, Fuscinus, worthy of un- 
 favourable report, 
 And fixing a stain which will stick upon splendid things, 
 Which parents themselves shew, and deliver to their chil- 
 dren. 
 If the destructive die pleases the old man, the heir wearing 
 
 the bulla 
 Will play too, and moves the same weapons in his little 
 dice-box. 5 
 
 Nor does the youth allow any relation to hope better of him, 
 Who has learnt to peel the fungi of the earth, 
 To season a mushroom, and, swimming in the same sauce. 
 To immerse beccaficos, a prodigal parent, 
 
 5. Little dice-box.] Master, being 
 too young to play with a large dice- 
 box, not being able to shake and ma- 
 nage it, has a small one made for 
 him, that he may begin the science 
 as early as possible. See Ainsw. 
 Fritillus. 
 
 6. Nor does the youth allow, $c] 
 The poet, having mentioned the 
 bringing up children to be gamesters, 
 here proceeds to those who are eai-ly 
 initiated into the science of gluttony. 
 Such give very little room to their 
 family to hope that they will turn out 
 better than the former. 
 
 7. To peel the fungi of the 
 earth.] Tuber (from tumeo, to swtll 
 or puff" up) signifies what we call a 
 puff, which grows in the ground like 
 
 a mushroom — a toadstool. But I ap- 
 prehend that any of the fungous pro- 
 ductions of the earth may be signified 
 by tuber; and, in this place, we are 
 to understand, perhaps, truffles, or 
 some other food of the kind, which 
 were reckoned delicious. 
 
 — To peel.] Or scrape off the 
 coat, or skin, with which they are 
 covered. 
 
 3. A mushroom.] The boletus was 
 reckoned the best sort of mushroom. 
 See Ainsw. Condio. 
 
 9. Beccaficos.] Ficedulas — little 
 birds which feed on figs, now called 
 beccaficos, or fig-peckers ; they are 
 to this day esteemed a great dainty. 
 
 It was reckoned a piece of high 
 luxury to have these birds dressed, 
 
M6 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Et can! monstrante gula. Cum septimus annus. 
 Transierit puero, nondum omni dente renato, 
 Barbatos licet admoveas rnille inde magistros, 
 Hinc totidcm, cupiet lauto coenare paratu 
 Semper, et a magna non degenerare ciilina. 
 
 Mitem anlmum, et mores, modicis erroribus asquos 
 Praecipit, aU;iie animas servorum, et corpora nostra 
 Materia constare putat, paribusque elementis ? 
 An saevire docet Rutilus? qui gaudet acerbo 
 Plagarum strepitu, et nullam Sirena flagellis 
 Comparat, Antiphates trepidi laris, ac Polyphemus, 
 Turn feiix, quoties aliquis tortore vocato 
 Uritur ardenti duo propter lintea ferro ? 
 Quid suadet juveni laetus stridore catena?, 
 Quern mire afficiunt inscripta ergastula, career 
 
 10 
 
 15 
 
 20 
 
 and served up to table, in the same 
 sauce, or pickle, with fungi of 
 various kinds. 
 
 9. A prodigal parent."] Nebulo sig- 
 nifies an unthrift, a vain prodigal ; 
 and is most probably used here in 
 this sense. See Aixsw. Nebulo, 
 No. 2. 
 
 10. A grey throat, <£c] Gula is, 
 literally, the throat or gullet ; but, 
 by met. may signify a glutton, who 
 thinks of nothing but his gullet. So 
 yctrr.p, the belly, is used to denote a 
 glutton ; and the apostle's quota- 
 tion from the Cretan poet, Tit. i. 12. 
 ya-ftqiz u^yoi, instead of slow bellies, 
 which is nonsense, should be render- 
 ed lazy gluttons, which is the un- 
 doubted sense of the phrase. 
 
 Cana gula here, then, may be ren- 
 dered an hoary glutton — i. c. the old 
 epicure, his father setting the exam- 
 ple, and shewing him the arts of lux- 
 urious cooker v. 
 
 10. The seventh year, $c."] When 
 he is turned of seven years of age, a 
 time when the second set of teeth, 
 after shedding the first, is not com- 
 pleted, and a time of life the most 
 flexible and docile. 
 
 12. Tho' you should place, <§" c — 
 Though a thousand of the gravest and 
 most learned tutors were placed on 
 each side of him, so as to pour their 
 instructions into both his ears at the 
 same time, yet they would avail no- 
 thing at all towards reclaiming him. - 
 
 — q. d. The boy having got such an 
 early ta:,te for gluttony, will never 
 get rid of it, by any pains which can 
 be taken with him for that purpose. 
 
 The philosophers and learned teach- 
 ers wore beards ; and were therefore 
 called barbati. They thought it 
 suited best with the gravity of their 
 appearance. See Ho it. lib. ii. sat. iii. 
 1. 3.5. and note. 
 
 13. He would desire, <$€.] He 
 would never get rid of his inclination 
 to gluttony. 
 
 13-14. With a sumptuous prepara- 
 tion^ With a number cf the most 
 delicious provisions, dressed most lux- 
 uriously, and served up in the most 
 sumptuous manner. 
 
 14. Not to degenerate, <£r.] Either 
 in principle or practice, from the 
 profuse luxury of his father's ample 
 kitchen. 
 
 So true is that of Holt. Epist. lib. 
 i. epist. ii. 1. 68-9. 
 
 Quo scmel imbuta est reccnf scnabit 
 odor em 
 
 Testa din. 
 
 1.3. Rutilus.'] The name of some 
 master, who was of a very cruel dis- 
 position towards his servants. 
 
 Kind to small errors.] Making 
 
 allowance for, and excusing, small 
 faults. 
 
 16. And the souls of slaves, <£c] — 
 Does he think that the bodies of slaves 
 consist of the same materials, and 
 that their souls are made up of the 
 
SAT. XIV. 
 
 JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 247 
 
 And a grey throat shewing him. When the seventh year 
 Has passed over the boy, all his teeth not as yet renewed, 
 Though you should place a thousand bearded masters 
 
 there, 
 Here as many, he would desire always to sup with a 
 Sumptuous preparation, and not to degenerate from a great 
 
 kitchen. 
 Does Rutilus teach a meek mind and manners, kind to 
 small errors, 15 
 
 And the souls of slaves, and their bodies, does he think 
 To consist of our matter, and of equal elements ? — 
 Or does he teach to be cruel, who delights in the bitter 
 Sound of stripes, and compares no Siren to whips, 
 The Antiphates and Polyphemus of his trembling house- 
 hold— 20 
 Then happy, as often as any one, the tormentor being 
 
 called, 
 Is burnt with an hot iron on account of two napkins ? 
 What can he who is glad at the noise of a chain advise to 
 
 a youth, 
 Whom branded slaves, a rustic prison, wonderfully 
 
 same elements as ours, who are their 
 masters ? Does he suppose them to 
 be of the same flesh and blood, and 
 to have reasonable souls as well as 
 himself ? 
 
 18. Or does he teach to he cruel.]— 
 Instead of setting an example of 
 meekness, gentleness, and forbear- 
 ance, does he not teach his children 
 to be savage and cruel, by the treat- 
 ment which he gives his slaves ? 
 
 18-19. In the litter sound of 
 stripes.] He takes a pleasure in hear- 
 ing the sound of those bitter stripes, 
 with which he punishes his slaves. 
 
 19. Compares no Siren, <Jfc] The 
 song of a Siren, would not, in his 
 opinion, be so delightful to his ears, 
 as the crack of the whips on his 
 slaves' backs. 
 
 20. The Antiphates and Polyphe- 
 mus, $c] Antiphates was a king of 
 a savage people near Formiae, in Italy, 
 who were eaters of man's flesh, 
 
 Polyphemus the Cyclops lived on 
 the same diet. See Virg. Mn. iii. 
 620. et seq. 
 
 Rutilus is here likened to these two 
 monsters of cruelty, inasmuch as that 
 he was the tenor of his A\hole fa- 
 
 mily, which is the sense of laris in 
 this place. 
 
 21. Then happy.] It was a matter 
 of joy to him. 
 
 — As often as any one.] i. e. Of his 
 slaves. 
 
 22. Is burnt, <yc] Burnt with an 
 hot iron on his flesh, for some petty 
 theft, as of two towels or napkins. 
 These the Romans wiped with after 
 bathing. 
 
 23. What can he advise, $c] What 
 can a man, who is himself so barba- 
 rous, as to be affected with the highest 
 pleasure at hearing the rattling of 
 fetters, when put on the legs or bo- 
 dies of his slaves — what can such a 
 father persuade his son to, whom he 
 has taught so ill by his example ? 
 
 24. Branded slaves — a rustic pri- 
 son.] Ergastulum — lit. signifies a 
 workhouse, a house of correction, 
 where they confined and punished 
 their slaves, and made them work. 
 Sometimes (as here it means a slave.) 
 Inscriptus-a-um, signifies marked, 
 branded ; inscripta ergastula, brand- 
 ed slaves ; comp. 1. 22. note. q. d. 
 Whom the sight of slaves branded 
 with hot iron?, kept in a workhouse, 
 
248 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRJE. 
 
 SAT. XIV. 
 
 Rusticus ? Expectas, ut non sit adultera Largae 
 Fiiia, quae nunquam maternos dicere mcechos 
 Tarn cito nee tanto poterit contexere cursu, 
 Ut non tcr decies respiret ? conscia matri 
 Virgo fuit : ceras nunc hac dictante pusillas 
 Implet, et ad mcechum dat eisdem ferre ministris. 
 Sic natura jubet : velocius et eitius nos 
 Corrumpunt vitiorum exempla domestica, magnis 
 Cum subeunt animos authoribus. Unus et alter 
 Forsitan haec spernant juvenes, quibus arte benigna, 
 Et meliore luto finxit prsecordia Titan. 
 Sed reliquos fugienda patrurn vestigia ducunt ; 
 Et monstrata diu veteris trahit orbita culpae. 
 Abstineas igitur damnandis : hujus enim vel 
 Una potens ratio est, ne crimina nostra sequantur 
 Ex nobis geniti ; quoniam dociles imitandis 
 Turpibus et pravis omnes sumus; et Catilinam 
 Quocuntjue in populo videas, quocunque sub axe : 
 
 25 
 
 30 
 
 40 
 
 in the country, where they are in 
 fetters, (1. 23.) and which is therefore 
 to be looked on as a country-gaol, af- 
 fects with wonderful delight. We may 
 ruppose the ergastula something like 
 our bridewells. 
 
 25. Largxi.] Some famous lady of 
 that day ; here put for all such cha- 
 racters. 
 
 25. Should not be, $c] When she 
 has the constant bad example of her 
 mother before her eyes. 
 
 26. Who never, <£c] Who could 
 never repeat the names <of all ber mo- 
 ther's gallants, though she uttered 
 them as fast as possibly she could, 
 without often taking breath before 
 she got to the end of the list, so great 
 was the number. 
 
 2S. Privy, fyc.~\ She was a witness 
 of all her mother's lewd proceedings, 
 and was privy to them ; which is the 
 meaning of conscia in this place. See 
 sat. ili. 1. 49. 
 
 29. itfiwe.] i. e. Now she is grown 
 something bigger, she does as her 
 mother did. 
 
 — She dictating] The mother in- 
 structing, and dictating what she shall 
 say. 
 
 " — Liiik tabkis] Cera signifies wax, 
 but as they wrote en thin wooden 
 tablets smeared over with wax, ceras,, 
 
 per met. means the tablets or letters 
 themselves. See sat. i. 1. 50. 
 
 Some understand by ceras pusillas, 
 small tablets, as best adapted to the 
 size of her hand, and more proper for 
 her age, than large ones. As the 
 boy (1. 5.) had a little dice-box to 
 teach him gaming, so this girl be- 
 gins with a little tablet, in order to 
 initiate her into the science of in- 
 trigue. But, perhaps, by pusillas 
 ceras the poet means what the French 
 would call petits billets-doux. 
 
 30. Stic Jills.] i. e. Fills with writ- 
 ing. The daughter employs the 
 same messengers that her mother did, 
 to cany her little love-letters. 
 
 31. So nature commands, ^r.]— 
 Thus nature orders it, and therefore 
 it naturally happens, that examples 
 of vice, set by those of our own fa- 
 mily, corrupt the soonest. 
 
 22. When they possess minds, $c.] 
 When they insinuate themselves into 
 the mind, under the influence of those 
 who have a right to exercise autho- 
 rity over us. ^tee Aixsw. Aiator, 
 No. 6. 
 
 33. One or too.] Unus ct alter- 
 here and there one, as we say, may 
 be found as exceptions, and who may 
 reject, with due contempt, their pa- 
 rent's vices, but then they nui£t 
 
sat. xtv. JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 249 
 
 Delight? — Do you expect that the daughter of Larga 
 
 should not be 25 
 
 An adulteress, who never could say over her mother's 
 
 gallants, 
 So quickly, nor could join them together with so much 
 
 speed, 
 As that she must not take breath thirty times r privy to her 
 
 mother 
 Was the virgin : now, she dictating, little tablets 
 She fills, and gives them to the same servants to carry to 
 the gallant. 30 
 
 So nature commands ; more swiftly and speedily do domestic 
 Examples of vices corrupt us, when they possess minds 
 From those that have great influence. Perhaps one or two 
 Young men may despise these things, for whom, by a be- 
 nign art 
 And with better clay, Titan has formed their breasts. 35 
 But the footsteps of their fathers which are to be avoided, 
 
 lead the rest, 
 And the path of old wickedness, long shewn, draws them. 
 Abstain therefore from things which are to be condemned : 
 
 for of this at least 
 There is one powerful reason, lest those who are begotten 
 
 by us 
 
 Should follow our crimes; for in imitating base and wicked 
 Things we are all docile ; and a Catiline 41 
 
 You may see among every people, in every clime : 
 
 be differently formed from the gene- 37. Path of old wickedness, fyc.~\ 
 
 rality. And the beaten track ot wickedness, 
 
 34. By a benign art, <$r.J Prome- constantly before their eyes, draws 
 
 theus, one of the Titans, was feigned, them into the same crimes, 
 
 by the poets, to have formed men of 38. Abstain therefore, fyc.] Refrain 
 
 clay, and put life into them by fire therefore from ill actions ; at least we 
 
 stolen from heaven. should do this, if not for our own 
 
 The poet here says, that, if one or sakes, yet for the sake of our chil- 
 
 two young men are found who reject dren, that they may not be led to fol- 
 
 their father's bad example, it must low our vicious examples, and to 
 
 be owing to the peculiar favour of commit the same crimes which they 
 
 Prometheus, who, by a kind exertion have seen in us. 
 
 of his art, fprmed their bodies, and 40. In imitating, $r.] Such is the 
 
 particularly the parts about the heart condition of human nature, that we 
 
 (prcecordia) of better materials than are all more prone to evil than to 
 
 those which he employed in the for- good, and, for this reason, we are 
 
 mation of others. easily taught to imitate the vices of 
 
 36. Footsteps, $c.] As for the com- others, 
 
 mon run of young men, they are led, 41. A Catiline, #<-.] See sat. viii. 
 
 by the bad example of their fathers, 231. Vicious characters are easily to 
 
 to tread in their fathers' steps, which be met with, go where you may. 
 ought to be avoided. 
 
 2 K 
 
250 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Sed nee Brutus erit, Bruti nee avunculus usquam. 
 Nil dictu foedum, visuque hsec limina tangat, 
 Intra qua? puer est. Procul hinc, procul inde puellae 
 Lenonum, et cantus pernoctantis parasiti. 
 Maxima debetur puero reverentia. Si quid 
 Turpe paras, ne tu pueri contempseris annos : 
 Sed peccaturo obsistat tibi films infans. 
 Nam si quid dignum Censoris fecerit ira, 
 (Quandoquidem similem tibi se non eorpore tantum, 
 Nee vultu dederit, morum quoque Alius,) et cum 
 Omnia deterius tua per vestigia peccet, 
 Corripies nimirum, et castigabis acerbo 
 Clamore, ac post haec tabulas mutare parabis. 
 Unde tibi frontem, libertatemque parentis, 
 Cum facias pejora senex ? vacuumque cerebro 
 Jampridem caput hoc ventosa cucurbita quserat ? 
 
 45 
 
 50 
 
 43. Brut us.] M. Brutus, one of 
 the most virtuous of the Romans, 
 and the great asscrtor of public li- 
 berty. 
 
 — Uncle of Brut us."] Cato of Utica, 
 ™ho was the brother of Servilia, the 
 mother of Brutus, a man of severe 
 virtue. 
 
 So prone is human nature »o evil, 
 so inclined to follow bad example, 
 that a virtuous character, like Brutus 
 or Calo, is hardly to be found any 
 where, while profligate and debauch- 
 ed characters, like Catiline, abound 
 all the world over ; this would not be 
 *=omuch the case, if parents were more 
 careful about the examples which 
 they set ; heir children. 
 
 -14. Filthy."] Indecent, obscene. 
 
 — Should' touch, £c_] Should ap- 
 proach those dcors, w here there are 
 children, lest they be corrupted. 
 Therefore — 
 
 45. Far from hence, c\c] Hence 
 far away, begone ; a form of speech 
 made use of at religious solemnities, 
 in order to hinder the approach of the 
 profane. So Horace, lib. iii. odei. 1. 
 1. when he calls himself musarum 
 sacerdos, says, Odi profanum vulgus 
 et arceo. 
 
 Virg. iEn. vi. 258-9. makes the 
 Sibyl say : 
 
 ^-Procul, O procul este j>rofani 
 
 — Totoque absistite luco. 
 
 45-6. GbU of bawds."} The com- 
 
 mon prostitutes, who are kept by 
 common panders, or pimps, for lewd 
 purposes. 
 
 46. The nightly parasite.] Pernoc- 
 tans signifies tarrying, or sitting up 
 all night. The parasites, who fre- 
 quently attended at the table of great 
 men, used to divert them with lewd 
 and obscene songs, and for this pur- 
 pose would sit up all night long. 
 
 47. Greatest reverence, $c] Peo- 
 ple should keep the strictest guard 
 over their words and actions, in the 
 presence of boys ; they cannot be 
 under too much awe, nor shew too 
 great a reverence for decency, w hen 
 in their presence. 
 
 -18. You go alout, §c] If you in- 
 tend, or purpose, or set about, to do 
 w hat is wrong, do not say, " There 
 " is nobody here but my young sen, 
 " I don't mind him, and he is too 
 " young to mind me." — Rather say, 
 " My little boy is here, I will not 
 " hurt his mind by making him a 
 " witness of what I purposed to do, 
 " therefore I will not do it before 
 " him." 
 
 50. Of the censor.] The censor of 
 good manners, or morum judex, was 
 an officer of considerable power in 
 Rome, before whom offenders against 
 the peace and good manners were car- 
 ried and censured. Sat. iv. 1. 11. 
 
 q. d. Now, if, in after times, your 
 son should be taken before the censor, 
 
SAT. XIV. 
 
 JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 251 
 
 But neither will Brutus^ nor uncle of Brutus, be any where. 
 Nothing filthy, to be said, or seen, should touch these 
 
 thresholds. 
 Within which is a boy. Far from hence, from thence the 
 
 girls 45 
 
 Of bawds, and the songs of the nightly parasite : 
 The greatest reverence is due to a boy. If any base thing 
 You go about, do not despise the years of a boy, 
 But let your infant son hinder you about to sin. 
 For if he shall do any thing worthy the anger of the 
 
 censor, 50 
 
 (Since he, like to you not in body only, nor in countenance, 
 Will shew himself, the son also of your morals,) and when 
 He may offend the worse, by all your footsteps, 
 You will, forsooth, chide, and chastise with harsh 
 Clamour, and after these, will prepare to change your will 
 Whence assume you the front, and liberty of a parent, 56 
 When, an old man, you can do worse things, and this 
 
 head, 
 Void of brain, long since, the ventose cupping-glass may 
 
 seek ? 
 
 for some crime cognizable and pu- 
 nishable by him. 
 
 52. Shew himself, $0."} (For he 
 will exhibit a likeness to his father, 
 not in person, or face only, but in his 
 moral behaviour and conduct ; there- 
 fore, if you set him a 
 
 you must not wonder tl i1 tie follows 
 it, and appears his fath 
 in mind as well as in boi 
 
 53. Offend the worse, \ And i,t 
 is most probable, that f 
 
 steps has made him do 
 otherwise would. 
 
 54. You will, fyc] 
 him to a severe accoui 
 
 here is to be understood like our Eng- 
 lish — forsooth. 
 
 — And chastise, Qc.] You- will be 
 very loud and bitter in your reproaches 
 of his bad conduct, and even have 
 thoughts of disinheriting him, by 
 changing your last will. 
 
 56. Whence, $c] With what con- 
 fidence can you assume the counte- 
 nance and authority of a father, so 
 as freely to use the liberty of paren- 
 tal reproof ? We may suppose sumas 
 to be understood in this line. 
 
 j7« When* $r.] When you, at 
 
 an advanced age, do worse than the 
 youth with whom you are so angry. 
 
 — This head, #c] When that 
 
 brainless head of yours may, for some 
 
 time, have wanted the cupping-glass 
 
 to set it right — i. e. when you have 
 
 • ■— , u„„„ acting a? if vou 
 
 58. J ; 
 
 - 
 I 
 
 . and ap- 
 plied them to the neaa to relies c pamo 
 there, but particularly to mad peo- 
 ple. The epithet ventosa, which sig- 
 nifies windy, full of wind, alludes to 
 the nature of their operation, which 
 is performed by rarifying the air which 
 is within them, by the application of 
 fire, on which the blood is forced 
 from the scarified skin into the cup- 
 ping-glass, by the pressure of the 
 outward air ; so that the air may be 
 called the chief agent in this opera- 
 tion. The operation of cupping on 
 the head in phrensies is very anciepk 
 
252 JUVENALIS SATIRE. sat. xiv. 
 
 Respite venturo, ccssabit nemo tuorum : 
 Verre paviinentum, nitidas ostende coiumnas, 60 
 
 Arida cum tota descendat aranea tela: 
 Hie la?ve argentum, vasa aspera tergeat alter : 
 Vox domini fremit instantis, virgamque tenentis. 
 Ergo miser trepidas, nc stercore foeda canino 
 Atria displiceant oculis venientis amici ? 65 
 
 Ne perfusa luto sit porticus: et tamen uno 
 Semodio scohis ha?c emundet scrvulus unus : 
 Iilud noo agitas, ut sanctam filius omni 
 Aspiciat sine labe domum, vitioque carentem? 
 Gratum est, quod patriae civem populoque dedisti, 70 
 
 Si facis, ut patriae sit idoneus, utilis agris, 
 Utilis et bellorum, et pacis rebus agendis : 
 Plurimum enim intererit, quibus artibus, et quibus hunc tu 
 
 59. A guest, $c] When you ex- 
 pect a friend to make you a vit it, you 
 set all hands to work, in order to 
 prepare your house for his reception. 
 
 60. " Sweep the pavement," $c] 
 " Sweep" (say you to your servant) 
 ** the floors clean — wipe the dust 
 " from all the pillars." 
 
 The Roman floors were cither laid 
 with stone, or made with a sort of 
 mortar, or stucco, composed of shells 
 reduced to powder, and mixed in a 
 due consistency with water ; this, 
 when dry, was very hard and smooth. 
 Hence, Britannicus observes, pa\i- 
 mentum was called ostraceum, or tes- 
 taceum. These floors are common 
 
 - 
 
 I 
 I 
 
 ■ 
 
 ^v-.o, . . 
 
 as to be dead and dried up, sweep 
 them, and all their cobwebs, down. 
 
 62. " Smooth silver."] The un- 
 wrought plate, which is polished and 
 smooth. 
 
 — " The rough vessels."'] The 
 wrought plate, which is rough and 
 uneven, by reason of the embossed 
 figures upon it, which stand out on 
 its surface. See sat. i. 63. — So -'En. 
 ±1 263, 
 
 JBina dabo argenio perfecta atquc as~ 
 
 pera sign is 
 Pucula 
 
 63. Holding a rod.] To keep them 
 all to their work, on pain of being 
 scourged. 
 
 — Blusters.] He is very loud and 
 earnest in his directions to get things 
 in order. 
 
 64. Therefore, $c] Canst thou, 
 wretch that thou art, be so solicitous 
 to prevent all displeasure to thy guest, 
 by his seeing what may be offensive 
 about thine hou^e, either within or 
 without, and, for this purpose, art 
 thou so over anxious and earnest, 
 when a vcx*y little trouble might suf» 
 
 \ at the same time, 
 o prevent any morel 
 e from being seen in 
 vour own son ? This 
 e of the poet's ap- 
 
 ts.] Atrium signifies 
 
 :ourt before an house, 
 
 where they used to 
 
 All these may be 
 
 meant, in this place, by the plur. 
 
 atria ; for, to all these places their 
 
 favourite dogs might have access, and. 
 
 of course, might daub them. 
 
 56. The porch, $c] A sort of gal- 
 lery, with pillars, at the door (ad 
 portam) of the house ; or a place 
 where they used to walk, and so lia- 
 ble to be dirty. 
 
 — Servant boy.] Servulus (dim of 
 servus) a servant lad. 
 
sat. xiii. JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 253 
 
 A guest being to come, none of your people will be 
 
 idle. 
 u Sweep the pavement, shew the columns clean, . 60 
 
 " Let the dry spider descend with all her web : 
 " Let one wipe the smooth silver, another the rough 
 
 " vessels : 
 Tie voice of the master, earnest, and holding a rod, 
 
 blusters. 
 Therefore, wretch, dost thou tremble, lest, foul with canine 
 
 dung, 
 Thy courts should displease the eyes of a coming friend ? 
 Lest the porch should be overspread with mud ? and yet 
 
 one servant boy, 
 With one half bushel of saw-dust, can cleanse these : 
 Dost thou not manage it, that thy son should see 
 Thine house, sacred without all spot, and having no 
 
 vice ? 
 It is acceptable, that you have given a citizen to your 
 
 country and people, 70 
 
 If you make him, that he may be meet for his country, 
 
 useful in the fields, 
 Useful in managing affairs both of war and peace : 
 For it will be of the greatest consequence, in what arts, and 
 
 with what morals 73 
 
 67. Saw-dust <|»c] Scobs signifies so educate and form him, that he may 
 
 any manner of powder, or dust, that be an useful member of society, 
 
 cometh of sawing, filing, or boring. — In the fields.'] Well skilled in 
 
 Probably the Romans sprinkled over agriculture. 
 
 the floors of their porticos with saw- 72. In managing affairs, fyc] Ca- 
 
 dust, as we do our kitchens and lower pable of transacting the business of 
 
 parts of the house with sand, to give a soldier, or that of a lawyer or se- 
 
 them a clean appearance, and to bin- nator. The opposition of belli et 
 
 der the dirt of people's shoes from pacis, like anna et togas, in cedant 
 
 sticking to the floor. See Holyday, anna togae, seems to carry this 
 
 note 3, on this Satire, who observes, meaning. 
 
 that Heliogabalus was said to strew So Holyd.— the helmet or the 
 
 bis porticus, or gallery, with the dust gown, 
 
 of gold and silver. The old Romans were careful so 
 
 (J8. Manage it, fyc.~\ viz. To keep to breed up their sons, that after- 
 your house sacred to virtue and good wards they might be useful to their 
 example, and free from all vicious country in peace or war, or plough- 
 practices, that your son may not be ing the ground. J. Dryden, jun. 
 corrupted by seeing them. 73. In what arts. Qc] So as to 
 
 70. Acceptable, $c] i. e. To the make him useful to the public, 
 public, that, by begetting a son, you —What morals, Qc] So as to re- 
 have added to the country a subject, gulate his conduct, not only as to his 
 and to Rome a citizen. private behaviour, but as to his de« 
 
 71. If you make him, $c] If you meanour in any public office which 
 
 he may be called to. 
 
2-54: 
 
 JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 Moribus instituas. Serpente ciconia pullos 
 Nutrit, et inventa per devia rura lacerta : 
 UK eadem sumptis quaerunt animalia pennis. 
 Vultur jumento, et canibus, crucibusque relictis, 
 Ad foetus properat, partemque cadaveris affert. 
 Hinc est ergo cibus magni quoque vulturis, et se 
 Pascentis, propria cum jam facit arbore nidos. 
 Sed leporem, aut capream, famula? Jovis, et generosae 
 In saltu venantur aves : hinc praeda cubili 
 Ponitur : inde autem, cum se matura levarit 
 Progenies stimulante fame, festinat ad ilJam, 
 Quam primum rupto praedam gustaverat ovo. 
 jEdificator erat Cenjtronius et modo curva 
 Littore Cajetas, summa nunc Tiburis arce, 
 Nunc Praehestinis in montibus, alta parabat 
 Culffiina viilarum, Gra?cis, longeque petitis 
 Marmoribus, vincens Fortunae atque Herculis aedem ; 90 
 Ut spado vincebat Capitolia nostra Posides. 
 Dum sic ergo habitat Centronius, imminuit rem, 
 Frcgit opes, nee parva tamen men sura relictac 
 
 80 
 
 85 
 
 74. A storlc nourishes, <|t.] i. e. 
 Feeds her young ones with snakes 
 and lizards. 
 
 75. Devious fields."] Devius (ex de 
 and via — quasi a recta via remotum) 
 tignilies out of the way, or road. 
 
 Devia rura may be understood of 
 the remote parts of the country, 
 where serpents and lizards are usually 
 found. 
 
 76. Take their -u lugs'] i. e. The 
 young storks when able to fly and 
 "provide for themselves, will seek the 
 same animals for food, with which 
 they were fed by the old ones in the 
 rest. 
 
 77. Cattle, <|c] Jumento, cani- 
 bus, crucibus, are all ablatives ab- 
 solute. 
 
 Having left crosses.] I. c. The re- 
 mains of the bodies of malefactors 
 that were exposed on crosses, or gib- 
 bets, she brings part of the carcase 
 to her nest__l. 79. 
 
 79. Hence, $-c] From thus being 
 supplied with such sort of food by 
 the old one, the young vulture, when 
 ehe is grown up to be a great bird, 
 feeds upon the same. 
 
 80. When now, $v.] She feeds 
 herself and her young in the same 
 
 manner, whenever she has a nest of 
 her own, in some tree which she ap- 
 propriates for building in. 
 
 SI. Handmaids of Jove.] Eagles. 
 See Hor. lib. iv. ode iv. 1. 1. et seq. 
 where the eagle is called ministrum 
 fulminis alitem, because supposed to 
 tarry Jove's thunder. See rRASCis, 
 note there. 
 
 81-2. Noble birds, Sec] Not only 
 engles, but the falcons of various 
 kinds, hunt hares and kids, and hav- 
 ing caught them, carry them to their 
 nests to feed their young with. 
 
 83. Thence, Qc] i. e. From be- 
 ing fed with such sort of food when 
 young. 
 
 —The mature progeny.] The young 
 ones, when grown up, and full 
 fledged. 
 
 84. Raised itself, $e.] Upon its 
 ■n ings, and takes its flight. 
 
 — Hunger stimulating.] When 
 sharpened by hunger. 
 
 84-5. Hastens to that prey.] To 
 the same sort of food. 
 
 85. Which it had first tasted, %c\ 
 Which it had been u^ed to from the 
 time it was first hatched — rupto cvo, 
 
 from the bioken egg from its very 
 
 egsr-shell, as we say. 
 
sat. xiy. JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 255 
 
 You may train him up. With a serpent a stork nourishes 
 Her young, and with a-lizard found in the devious fields ; 
 They, when they take their wings, seek the same animals. 
 The vulture cattle, and dogs, and crosses, being left, 
 Hastens to her young, and brings part of a dead body. 
 Hence is the food also of a great vulture, and of one feeding 
 Herself, when now she makes nests in her own tree. 80 
 But the hare or the kid, the handmaids of Jove, and the 
 
 noble 
 Birds, hunt in the forest : hence prey is put 
 In their nest : but, thence, the mature progeny, when 
 It has raised itself, hunger stimulating, hastens to that 
 Prey, which it has first tasted the egg being broken. 85 
 
 Centronius was a builder, and now on the crooked 
 Shore of Caieta, now on the highest summit of Tibur, 
 Now in the Praenestine mountains, was preparing the 
 
 high 
 Tops of villas, with Grecian, and with marble sought 
 Afar off, exceeding the temple of Fortune and of Hercules: 
 As the eunuch Posides out-did our capitols. 91 
 
 While thus, therefore, Centronius dwells, he diminished 
 
 his estate, 
 He impaired his wealth, nor yet was the measure of the re- 
 maining 
 
 86. Centronius."} A famous extra- ble by Nero ; but here ia meant that 
 vagant architect, who, with his son, at Praeneste. 
 
 (who took after him,) built away all — Of Hercules.] At Tibur, where 
 
 his estate, and had so many palaces there was a very great library, 
 
 at last, that he was too poor to live 91. Eunuch Posides, $rc.] A freed» 
 
 in any of them. man and favourite of Claudius Caesar, 
 
 87. Caieta.] A sea-port in Cam- who was possessed of immense 
 pania, not far from Baiae, built in riches ; he built on the shore at 
 memory of Caieta, nurse to JSneas. Baiae some baths which were very 
 See iEn. vii. 1. 1-4. The shore was magnificent, and called, after him, 
 here remarkably sinuous and crooked. Posidianee. 
 
 —Summit of Tibur.] See sat. iii. — Our capitols.] Of which there 
 
 181. note. were several, besides that at Rome, 
 
 88. Prccncstine mountains.] On the as at Capua, Pompeia, and other 
 mountains near Praeneste, a city of places. But the poet means particu- 
 Italy, about twenty miles from Rome, larly the capitol at Rome, which. 
 
 — Wits preparing.'] Planning and after having been burnt, was rebuilt 
 
 building, thus preparing them for ha- and beautified most magnificently by 
 
 bitation. Domitian. 
 
 88-9. The high tops, $c] Magni- 92. While thus, #c] While he 
 
 ficent and lofty country -houses. thus builds and inhabits such expen- 
 
 89. With Grecian, <%c] Finished sive and magnificent houses, he out- 
 in the most superb taste with Grecian runs his income. 
 
 and other kinds of foreign marble. 93. Nor yet, $c] Nevertheless, 
 
 90. Temple of Fortune.] There was though he lessened his fortune, yet 
 one at Rome built of the finest mar- there was no small part of it left. 
 
256 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Partis erat : totam hanc turbavit filius amens, 
 
 Dum meliore novas attollit marmore villas. 9» 
 
 Qaidam sortiti metuentem Sabbata patrem, 
 Nil praeter nubes, et coeli numen adorant ; 
 Nee distare putant humana came suillara, 
 Qua pater abstinuit ; mox et praeputia ponunt : 
 Romanas autem soliti contemnere leges, 10d 
 
 Judaicum ediscunt, et servant, ac metuunt jus, 
 Tradidit arcano quodcunque volumine Moses : 
 Non monstrare vias, eadem nisi sacra colenti ; 
 Quaesitum ad fontem solos deducere verpos. 
 Sed pater in causa, cui septima quseque f uit lux 105 
 
 Io-nava, et partem vitas non attigit ullam. 
 
 9k His mad son, $c.] His son, 
 -who, from the example of his father, 
 had contracted a sort of madness for 
 expensive building, consumed the re- 
 maining part of his father's fortune, 
 when it came to him, after his 
 father's death. 
 
 95. Rated up new vUku, £&] En- 
 deavouring to excel his father, and 
 to build at a still greater expence, 
 with more costly materials. 
 
 This instance of Centronius and his 
 son is here given as a proof of the 
 poet's argument, that children will 
 follow the vices and follies of parents, 
 and perhaps even exceed them (comp. 
 L 53.) ; therefore parents should be 
 very careful of the example which 
 they set their children. 
 
 96. Some chance, $<£ Sortiti— i.e. 
 it falls to the lot of some. 
 
 Fears the sabbath >.] Not only 
 
 reverences the seventh day, but the 
 other Jewish feasts, which were called 
 Sabbaths. 
 
 The poet having shewn, that chil- 
 dren follow the example of their pa- 
 rents in vice and folly, here shews, 
 that in religious matters ateo children 
 are led by their parents' example. 
 
 97; Beside the clouds.] Because the 
 Jews did net worship images, but 
 looked toward heaven when they 
 prayed, they were charged with wor- 
 shipping the clouds, the heathen hav- 
 ing no notion but of worshipping 
 «cme visible object. 
 
 The Doty of heaven.] Juvenal, 
 
 though he was wise enough to laugh 
 at his oxv, country gods, yet had not 
 
 any notion of the OKE TflUE God, 
 which makes him ridicule the Jewish 
 worship. 
 
 However, I doubt much, whether, 
 by numen eceli, in this place, we are 
 not to suppose Juvenal as represent- 
 ing the Jews to worship the material 
 heaven, ** the blue aetherial sky," (as 
 Mr. Addison phrases it in his trans- 
 lation of the 19th Psalm,) imagining 
 that they made a deity of it, as he 
 supposed they did of the clouds ; this 
 I think the rather, as it stands here 
 joined with nubes, and was likewise 
 a visible object. Sec Tacit. Hist. v. 
 initio. 
 
 As for the God of Heaven, he was 
 to Juvenal, as to the Athenian*, 
 ayvvroq £so-:, (See Acts xvii. 23.1 
 utterly unknown ; and therefore the 
 poet could not mean him by numen 
 coeli. " After the wisdom of God, the 
 " world by wisdom knew not God." 
 1 Cor. i. 21. 
 
 98. Swine's fesh to be different 
 from human.] They think it as abo- 
 minable to eat the one as the other. 
 Here he ignorantly ridicules their ob- 
 servance of that" law, Lev. <xi; 7, 
 &c. 
 
 99. The father, §c] He treats it 
 as a matter of mere tradition, as if 
 the son only did it because his father 
 did it before him. 
 
 Soon they lay aside, %c.\ Here 
 
 he ridicules the right of circumcision, 
 which was performed on the eighth 
 day after their birth, according to 
 Gen. xr ii. 10. et seq. 
 
 100. Used to despise, <£c] It being 
 
SAT. XIV. 
 
 JUVENAL'S SATIRES, 
 
 257 
 
 Part small : bis mad son confounded all this. 
 
 While he raised up new villas with better marble. 9-5 
 
 Some chance to have a father who fears the Sabbaths, 
 They adore nothing beside the clouds, and the Deity of 
 
 heaven : 
 Nor do they think swine's flesh to be different from human, 
 From which the father abstained ; and soon they lay aside 
 
 their foreskins : 
 But used to despise the Roman laws, 300 
 
 They learn, and keep, and fear the Jewish law, 
 Whatsoever Moses hath delivered in the secret volume : 
 Not to shew the ways, unless to one observing the same 
 
 rites, 
 To lead the circumcised only to a sought-for fountain ; 
 But the father is in fault, to whom every seventh day was 
 Idle, and he did not meddle with any part of life. 106 
 
 their wonted custom and practice to 
 hold the laws of Rome, relative to 
 the worship of the gods in particular, 
 in the highest cohtempt. See Exod. 
 xxiii. 24. 
 
 101. They learn.] From their 
 childhood. Ediscunt — learn by heart. 
 
 — And keep.'] Observe. 
 
 —And fear.] And reverence — 
 
 102. Whatsoever Moses, $c. ] i. e. 
 Whatsoever it be that Moses, &c. 
 From this passage it appears, that 
 Moses was known and acknowledged 
 by the heathen, to be the lawgiver of 
 the Jews. 
 
 — Secret volume.] By this is meant 
 the Pentateuch, (so called from Trevrs, 
 five, and Ttv%oc, a book or volume,) 
 or five books of Moses. A copy of this 
 was kept, as it is to this day, in every 
 synagogue, locked up in a press, or 
 chest (area), and never exposed to 
 sight, unless when brought out to be 
 read at the time of worship in the 
 s}-nagogue, and then (as now) it was 
 returned to its place, and again lock- 
 ed up. This is probably alluded to 
 by Juvenal's epithet of arcano, from 
 area — as Romanus, from Roma. See 
 AlNSW. Arcanus-a-um. Volumine, 
 from volvo, to roll, denotes that the 
 book of the law was rolled, not folded 
 np. See sat. x. 126. note. 
 
 103. Not to shew the ways, $c] — 
 They were forbidden certain connec- 
 'ions with the heathen ; but when 
 
 the poet represents them so mons- 
 trously uncharitable, as not to shew 
 a stranger the way to a place which 
 he was inquiring after, unless he 
 were a Jew, he may be supposed to 
 speak from prejudice and misinfor- 
 mation. So in the next line 
 
 104. To lead, $c.j He supposes, 
 that if a man, who was not a Jew, 
 were ever so thirsty, and asked the 
 way to some spring to quench his 
 thirst, they would sooner let him pe- 
 rish than direct him to it. But no 
 such thing was taught by Moses. See 
 Exod. xxii. 21 ; and ch.'xxiii. 9. 
 
 Verpos, like Horace's apella, is a 
 word of contempt. 
 
 105. The father, #c] Who, as the 
 poet would be understood, set them 
 the example. 
 
 —Every seventh day, $c.] Through- 
 out the year this was observed as a 
 day of rest, the other sabbaths at 
 their stared times. The poet igno- 
 rantly imputes this merely to an idie 
 practice, which was handed down 
 from father to son, not knowing the 
 design and importance of the divine 
 command. 
 
 106. Meddle, §•©.] i. e. He re- 
 frained from all business, even such 
 as related to the necessaries of com- 
 mon life. The Jews carried this to a 
 superstitious height ; they even con- 
 demned works of necessity and cha- 
 rity, if done on the sabbath. See 
 
258 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIR.E. 
 
 SAT. XIV. 
 
 Sponte tamen juvenes imitantur caetera : solam 
 Inviti quoque avaritiam exercere jubentur. 
 Fallit enim vitium specie virtutis, et umbra, 
 Cum sit triste habitu, vultuque et veste severum. 110 
 
 Nee dubie tanquam frugi laudatur avarus, 
 Tanquam parcus homo, et rerum tutela suarum 
 Certa magis, quam si fortunas servet easdem 
 Hesperidum serpens, aut Ponticus : adde quod hunc, de 
 Quo loquor, egregium populus putat, atque verendum 115 
 Artificem : quippe his creseunt patrimonia fabris. 
 Sed creseunt quocunque modo, majoraque iiunt 
 Incude assidua, semperque ardente camino. 
 Et pater ergo animi felices credit avaros, 
 
 John vii. 23. They also declared 
 self-defence to be unlawful on the 
 Sabbath-day. See Ant. Univ. Hist, 
 vol. x. p. 272. 
 
 107. Young vien, $c.~\ The poet 
 now begins on the subject of avarice, 
 in order to shew how this also is com- 
 municated from father to son ; but 
 here he makes a distinction. As to 
 other vices, says he, youth want no 
 force to be put upon them to incline 
 them to imitation ; whereas, this of 
 avarice, being rather against their 
 natural bent towards prodigality, re- 
 quires some pains to be taken, in or- 
 der to instil it into their minds. 
 
 — The rest. "J The other vices which 
 have been mentioned. 
 
 108. Commanded, £c] They have 
 much pains taken with them to force 
 them, as it were, into it, against 
 their natural inclinations. 
 
 109. Vive deceives, <vr.] They are 
 deceived at iirst, by being taught to 
 look upon that as virtuous, from its 
 appearance, which in truth, in its 
 real nature and design, is vicious. 
 Nothing is more common than for 
 vice to be concealed under the garb of 
 virtue, as in the instance which the 
 poet is about to mention. In this 
 sense it may be said — Decipimur 
 specie recti. Hop., de Art. 1. 25. 
 
 110. Sed inhabit, £e.] The poet, 
 in this line, in which he is describing 
 vice, wearing the garb, and putting 
 on the semblance, ,of wisdom and 
 virtue, has probably in his eye the 
 hypocrites, w horn he so severely lashes 
 at the beginning of the second Satire. 
 
 Habitu here means outward caiv 
 riage, demeanour, manner. Sad— . 
 triste— grave, pensive, demure. 
 
 — Severe in countenance, £ec.~\ A 
 severity of countenance, and a negli- 
 glence in dress, were supposed cha- 
 racteristic of wisdom and virtue, and 
 were therefore in high esteem among 
 the philosophers, and those who 
 would be thought wiser and better 
 than others. Hence, in order to de- 
 ceive, these were assumed by vicious 
 people. See Matt. vi. 16. 
 
 111. Doubtfully praised, <£c] No- 
 body doubts his sincerity, or that he 
 is other than his appearance bespeaks 
 him, v'v.. a frugal man, and careful 
 of his affairs, which is certainly a 
 laudable character. 
 
 SiC timid us se cautum vocat, «r- 
 didus parcum. Sen. 
 
 113. More certain, ^r.j At the 
 same time he is acting from no bet- 
 ter principle, than that of the most 
 sordid avarice, and takes care to hoard 
 up and secure his money-bags in such 
 a manner, as that they are safer than 
 if guarded by the dragon which 
 watched the garden of the Hesperides, 
 the daughters of Atlas, from whence, 
 notwithstanding, Hercules stole the 
 golden apples; or by the dragon, 
 which guarded the golden fleece at 
 Colchis, in Pontus, from whence, 
 notwithstanding, it was stolen by 
 Jason. 
 
 114. Add"} We may also add to 
 this account of the character here 
 spoken of, that he is in high estima- 
 tion with the generality of people, 
 
JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 259 
 
 Young men, nevertheless, imitate the rest of their own 
 
 accord; only 
 Avarice they are commanded to exercise against their 
 
 wills ; 
 For vice deceives under the appearance and shadow of 
 
 virtue, 
 When it is sad in habit, and severe in countenance and 
 
 dress. 110 
 
 Nor is the miser doubtfully praised as frugal, 
 As a thrifty man, and a safeguard of his own affairs, 
 More certain, than if, those same fortunes, the serpent 
 Of the Hesperides or of Pontus should keep. Add, that 
 This man, of whom 1 speak, the people think an excellent, 
 
 and venerable 115 
 
 Artist, for to these workmen patrimonies increase : 
 But they increase by whatsoever means, and become greater 
 By the assiduous anvil, and the forge always burning. 
 And the father therefore believes the covetous happy of 
 
 mind, 
 
 who always judge of a man by what 
 he is worth. 
 
 At bona pars hominum, decepta cu- 
 
 pidine falsa, 
 JVil satis est, inquit, quia tanti 
 quantum habeas, sis. 
 
 Hon. lib. i. sat. i. 1. 61-2. 
 '* Some self-deceived, who think 
 
 " their lust of gold 
 ** Is but a love of fame, this maxim 
 
 " hold — 
 '* No fortune's large enough, since 
 
 *' otficrs rate 
 " Our worth proportioned to a large 
 '* estate" Francis. 
 
 115. The people think, $c] They 
 reckon this man, who has been the 
 fabricator of his own fortune to so 
 large an amount, an excellent work- 
 man in his way, and to be highly re- 
 verenced. 
 
 116. To these workmen, #c] Fa- 
 bris here is metaphorical, and is ap- 
 plied to these fabricators of wealth 
 for themselves, because those who 
 coined or made money for the public 
 were called fabri, or monetae fabrica- 
 tores. Faber usually denotes a smith 
 — i. e. a workman in iron and other 
 hard materials, a forger, a hammerer : 
 so these misers, who were continu- 
 ally at work to increase their wealth, 
 
 might be said to forge and hammer 
 out a fortune for themselves, and in 
 this sense might be called fabri. To 
 such as these, says the poet, riches 
 increase. 
 
 117. By •whatsoever means.'] They 
 were not very scrupulous or nice, as 
 to the means of increasing their store, 
 whether by right or wrong. 
 
 118. By the assiduous anvil, and 
 the forge, $c] The poet still conti- 
 nues his metaphor. As smiths, by 
 continually beating their iron on the 
 anvil, and having the forge always 
 heated, fabricate and complete a great 
 deal of work ; so these misers are al- 
 ways forging and fashioning some- 
 thing or other to increase their wealth. 
 Their incessant toil and labour may 
 be compared to working at the anvil, 
 and the burning. desire of their minds 
 to the lighted forge. Camino here 
 is to be understood of the forge or 
 furnace in which the iron is heated. 
 
 119. The father therefore, #<•.]— 
 Seeing these men abound in wealth, 
 and not recollecting what pains it 
 cost them, both of body and mind, 
 to acquire it, thinking the rich are 
 the only happy people, and that s 
 poor man must be miserable.-». 
 
260 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Qui miratur opes, qui nulla exempla beati 120 
 
 Pauperis esse putat ; juvenes hortatur, ut illam 
 
 Ire viam pergant, et eidem incumbere sects. 
 
 Sunt quaedam vitiorum elemcnta : his protinus illos 
 
 Imbuit, et cogit minimas ediscere sordes. 
 
 Mox atquirendi docet insatiabile votum : 125 
 
 Servorum venires modio castigat iniquo, 
 
 Ipse quoque esuriens : neque enim omnia sustinet unquam 
 
 Mucida ccerulei panis consumere frusta, 
 
 Hesternum solitus medio servare minutal 
 
 Septembri ; ttec non differre in tempore ccenae 130 
 
 Alterius, conchen sestivi cum parte lacerti 
 
 Si^natam, vel dimidio putrique siluro, 
 
 Fiiaque sectivi numerata includere porri : 
 
 121. Exhorts his young men.] His 
 sons tha< are growing up. 
 
 122. To go that wofr\ To tread in 
 the steps of these money-getting 
 people. 
 
 — Apply earnesth/, $v.] Incumbo 
 signifies to apply with earnestness 
 and diligence to any thing. The fa- 
 ther here recommends it to his son-, 
 to apply tlieins Ives diligently to the 
 practices of these people, whom the 
 poet hnmourouslj styles a sect, as if 
 they were a sect of philosophers, to 
 which the word properly belongs. 
 Those who joined in following the 
 doctrines of Plato, were said to be 
 of the Platonic sect — so secta So- 
 cratica. Secta comes from sequor, to 
 follow. 
 
 123. Certain elements, #\| Cer- 
 tain rudiments or beginnings. The 
 father does not all at once bid Ins sons 
 to be covetous, but insinuates into 
 their minds, by little and little, sor- 
 did principles. This he does as soon 
 as they are capable of receiving them, 
 which I take to be the meaning of 
 protinus here. Imbuo signifies to 
 season meat, or the like ; so, by me- 
 taph. to season the mind ; also to 
 furnish, or store. 
 
 1£4. Cowpeh them to learn, $r ] 
 From his example, little paltry acts 
 of meanness and avarice — minimas 
 sordes. 
 
 125. By-and-ly.] As they grow up, 
 he opens his grand plan to them ; 
 and as they have been taught to be 
 mean and stingy in lesser matters, he 
 
 now instructs them how to thrive, by 
 applying the same principle 
 science of getting money by low and 
 illiberal means. 
 
 — Insatiable wish-] A desire that 
 can never be satisfi< d — such is the in- 
 ordinate love of money. Amor ha- 
 bendi. Viijg. Mn Mii. I. 327. 
 
 126*. He chastises, <£\] The poet 
 in this, and in some of the following 
 lines, particularizes certain instances 
 of those minimae sordes, which he 
 had hinted at, 1. 124. and which the 
 father is supposed to set an example 
 of to his sons, in order to season and 
 prepare their minds for greater acts of 
 sordidness and avarice. 
 
 First, Juvenal takes notice of the 
 way in which the father treats his ser- 
 vants. He pinches their bellies, by 
 withholding from them their due al- 
 lowance of food, by giving them 
 short measure, which is implied by 
 iniquo modio. The Romans mea- 
 sured out the food which they gave 
 their slaves ; this was so much a 
 month, and therefore called demen- 
 sum, from mensis — or rather, per- 
 haps, from demetior — whence part, 
 demensus-a-um. 
 
 We find this word in Ter. Phorm. 
 act i. sc. i. 1. 9. where Davus is re- 
 presenting Geta, as having saved 
 something out of his allowance, as a 
 present for the bride of his master's 
 son. 
 
 Quod Ulc unciatim vix de demenso 
 
 sua, 
 Suum drfruudans genium, conipar- 
 sit miser. 
 
JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 261 
 
 Who admires wealth, who thinks that there are no ex- 
 amples 120 
 Of an happy poor man ; he exhorts his young men, that 
 
 they 
 May persist to go that way, and apply earnestly to the same 
 
 sect- 
 There are certain elements of vices ; with these he immedi- 
 ately seasons 
 Them, and compels them to learn the most trifling stingi- 
 ness. 
 By-and-by he teaches an insatiable wish of acquiring : 125 
 He chastises the bellies of the servants with an unjust 
 
 measure, 
 He also hungering : for neither does he ever bear 
 To consume ail the musty pieces of blue bread, 
 Who is used to keep the hash of yesterday in the midst of 
 September ; also to defer, to the time of another supper, 
 The bean, sealed up with a part of a summer 181 
 
 Fish, or with half a stinking shad, 
 And to shut up the numbered threads of a sective leek . 
 
 Geta had saved of his corn, of 
 which the slaves had so many mea- 
 sures every month, and turned it into 
 money. Modium was a measure of 
 about a peck and an half. Ainsw. 
 
 127. He also hungering.] Half 
 starving himself at the same time. 
 
 — Neither does he, fyc] He does 
 not suffer, or permit, all the pieces 
 of bread, which are so stale as to be 
 blue with mouldiness, andmustj r with 
 being hoarded up, to be eaten up at 
 once, but makes them serve again and 
 again. 
 
 129. The hash, <£c] Minutal, a 
 dish made with herbs and meat, and 
 other things chopped together ; from 
 minuo, to diminish, or make a thing 
 less. 
 
 — Of yesterday.] Which had been 
 dressed the day before, and now 
 served up again. This he will still 
 keep, though in the month of Sep- 
 tember, a time of year when, from 
 the autumnal damps, victuals soon 
 grow putrid. The blasts of the south- 
 wind at that time were particularly 
 insalubrious. 
 
 130. Also to defer, #r.] Who ac- 
 customs himself to keep for a second 
 meal. 
 
 131. The lean.] Conchis. — See sat. 
 iii. 281. note. 
 
 — Sealed up.] Put into some vessel, 
 the cover or mouth of which was 
 sealed up close with the master's seal, 
 to prevent the servants getting at it. 
 Or perhaps into some cupboard, the 
 door of which had the master's seal 
 upon it. 
 
 131-2. Part of a summer fish.]— . 
 Lacerti sestivi. — What fish the lacer- 
 tus was, I do not any where find 
 with certainty. Ainsworth calls it a 
 kind of cheap fish usually sailed. — 
 This, mentioned here, is called a sum- 
 mer fish ; I suppose, because caught 
 in the summer time ; and for this 
 reason, no doubt, not very likely to 
 keep long sweet. 
 
 132. With half a stinking shad.] 
 See sat. iv. 32 ; and Ainsw. Silurus. 
 Lit. and with an half and putrid 
 silurus. 
 
 133. To shut up.] Includere — i.e. 
 to include in the same sealed vessel. 
 The infinitive includere, like the ser- 
 vare, 1. 129. and the non differe, 
 1. 130. is governed by the solitus, 1. 
 129. 
 
 — Numler^d threads, $c] Sectivi 
 poni; in sat. iii. 281-2. Juvenal 
 
262 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 SAT. XIV. 
 
 Invitatus ad haec aliquis de ponte negaret. 
 
 Sed quo divitias haec per tormenta coactas ? 135 
 
 Cum furor hand dubius, cum sit manifesta phrenesis, 
 
 Ut locuples moriaris, egenti vivere fato ? 
 
 Intcrea pleno cum turgit sacculus ore, 
 
 Crescit^mor xummi, quantum ipsa pecunia crescit ; 
 
 Et minus hanc optat, qui non habet. Ergo paratur 140 
 
 Altera villa tibi, cum rus non sufficit unum, 
 
 Et proferre libet fines ; majorque videtur, 
 
 Et melior vicina seges : mercaris et hanc, et 
 
 Arbusta, et densa, montem qui canet oliva : 
 
 Quorum si prctio donrinus non vincitur ullo, 145 
 
 Nocte boves macri, lassoque famelica collo 
 
 Armenta ad viridis hujus mittentur aristas ; 
 
 Nee prius inde domum, quam tola novalia saevos 
 
 calls it sectile porrum. See there. 
 There were two different species of 
 the leek ; one sort was called sectum, 
 sectile, and sectivum ; the other ca- 
 pitatum ; the former of which was 
 reckoned the worst. See Plin. lib. 
 xix. c. 6. 
 
 From the bottom of a leek there 
 are fibres which hang downwards, 
 when the leek is taken out of the 
 ground, which the poet here calls 
 fila, or threads, which they resemble. 
 He here humourously represents a 
 person so sordidly avaricious, as to 
 count the threads, or fibres, at the 
 bottom of a leek, that if one of these 
 should be missing he might find it 
 out. 
 
 The epithet?, sectivum and sectile, 
 arc given to that sort of leek, from 
 its being usual to cut or shred it into 
 small pieces when mixed with victuals 
 of any kind. See AlNSW. Sectivus. 
 
 131. Invited from a bridge."] See 
 sat. iv. 114. The bridges about Rome 
 were the usual places where beggars 
 took their stand, in order to beg of 
 the passengers. 
 
 The poet, to finish his description 
 of the miser's hoard of victuals, here 
 tells us, that if this wretch were to 
 invite a common beggar to such pro- 
 visions as he kept for himself and 
 family, the beggar would refuse to 
 come. 
 
 135. But for -what end, $c] Some 
 i*erb must be understood here, as 
 
 babes, or possides, or the like — other- 
 wise the accusative case is without a 
 verb to govern it. We may then 
 read the line — 
 
 To what purpose do you possess 
 riches, gathered together by these tor- 
 ments — i. c. with so much punish- 
 ment and uneasiness to yourself? Sec 
 sat. x. 1. 12, 13. 
 
 136. Undoubted madness, ftc] So 
 Hor. sat. iii. lib. ii. 1. 82. 
 
 Danda est helkbori multo pars 
 
 maxima avarit, 
 Wescio an Anticyram ratio UHs 
 
 destinet omnem. 
 Misers make whole Anticyra their 
 
 own ; 
 Its hellebore reserved for them alone. 
 Francis. 
 For Anticyra, see above, Juv. sat. 
 xiii. 1. 97, note. 
 
 137. A needy fate, £c] i. e. To 
 share the fate of the poor ; to live as 
 if destined to poverty and want, for 
 the sake of being rich when you die, 
 a time «hen your riches can avail you 
 nothing, be they ever so great. 
 
 138. When the bag swells, <£c] 
 
 And all this, for which you are tor- 
 menting yourselves at this rate, you 
 find no satisfaction or contentment 
 in ; for when your bags are filled up 
 to the very mouth, still you want 
 more. The getting of money and 
 the love of money increase together ; 
 the more you have, the more you 
 want. 
 
JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 263 
 
 Any one invited fronva bridge to these, would refuse. 
 But for what end are riches gathered by these torments, 
 Since it is an undoubted madness, since it is a manifest 
 phrensy, 138 
 
 That you may die rich, to live with a needy fate ? 
 In the mean time, when the bag swells with a full mouth, 
 The love of money increases, as much as money it* 
 
 self increases ; 
 And he wishes for it less, who has it not. Therefore is pre- 
 pared 140 
 Another villa for you, when one country seat is not suffi- 
 cient ; 
 And it likes you to extend your borders ; and greater ap- 
 pears 
 And better your neighbour's corn : you buy also this, and 
 Groves of trees, and the mountain which is white with the 
 thick olive; 144 
 With any price of which if the owner be not prevailed on, 
 By night the lean oxen, and the famished herds, with tired 
 Necks, will be sent to the green corn of this man. 
 Nor may they depart home from thence, before the whole 
 crop 
 
 Crescii Indulgens sioi dims hydrops, 
 <£c See Hor. lib. ii. ode ii. and lib. 
 iii. ode xvi. 1. 17, 18. 
 
 Crescentem sequitur cura pecuniam 
 
 Majorumquc fumes. 
 
 140. He wishes for it less, S^c."} A 
 poor man looks no farther than for a 
 supply of his present wants ; he never 
 thinks of any thing more. 
 
 — Therefore.] Because thou art 
 insatiable in thy desires. 
 
 — Is prepared, $c] Not content 
 with one country-house, another is 
 purchased, and gotten read} r , prepared 
 for thy reception, as one will not suf- 
 fice. 
 
 142. It Ultes you to extend, <|c] — 
 You think the present limits of your 
 estate too confined, and therefore you 
 want to enlarge them. 
 
 143. Ncigltbour's corn.'] Arista is 
 properly the beard of corn, and, by 
 synec. the whole ear ; and so the corn 
 itself, as growing. You take it into 
 your head that your neighbour's corn 
 looks better than yours, therefore you 
 determine to purchase, and to possess 
 yourself of hi* estate. 
 
 144. Groves of trees.] Arbustum 
 signifies a copse or grove of trees» 
 pleasant for its shade. 
 
 — Which is white, fyc] The bloom 
 of the olive is of a white or light grey 
 colour. Densa htre means a vast 
 quantity. See sat. i. 105, note, 
 
 145. With any price of which, fyc-] 
 If you cannot tempt the owner to paYt 
 with them for any price which you 
 offer for the purchase, then you have 
 recourse to stratagem to make him 
 glad to get rid of them. 
 
 146. By night the lean cam, $r.) 
 In the night-time, when you are not 
 likely to be discovered, you turn your 
 oxen which are half-starved, and your 
 other herds of grazing beasts, which 
 are kept sharp for the purpose, into 
 your poor neighbour's corn. 
 
 146-7. Tired necks.'} That have 
 been yoked, and at work all day, and 
 therefore the more hungry. 
 
 147. To the green corn, $c] la 
 order to eat it up. 
 
 148. Nor may they <lepart home* 
 $c] They are not suffered to stir 
 homeward, till they have eaten up the 
 
JUVENALIS SATIR-E. 
 
 S \.T. XIV. 
 
 In ventres abeant, ut credas falcibus actum. 
 
 Bicere vix possis, quam multi talia plorent, 150 
 
 Et quot venales injuria fecerit agros. 
 
 Sed qui sermones ? quam fcedae buccina fama; ? 
 
 Quid nocet hoc ? inquit : tunicam mihi malo lupini, 
 
 Quam si me toto laudet vicinia pago 
 
 Exigai ruris paucissmia farm secantem. 155 
 
 Scilicet et morbis et debilitate carebis, 
 
 Et luctum et curam effugies, et tempora vitas 
 
 Longa tibi post base fato meliore dabuntur ; 
 
 Si tantum culti solus possederis agri, 
 
 Quantum sub Tatio populus Romanus arabat. 160 
 
 Mox etiam fractis aetate, ac Punica passis 
 
 Praslia, vel Pyrrhum immanem, gladiosque Molossos, 
 
 Tandem pro multis vix jugera bina dabantur 
 
 whole crop, as clean as if it had been 
 reaped. 
 
 — The whole crop.] Tota novalia. 
 Novale est, saith Pliny, quod alternis 
 annis seritur — M Land sown every 
 •* other year." and therefore produces 
 the more plentiful crops. Here, In- 
 met, novalia signifies the crops that 
 grow on such land. See Vine Geor. 
 i. 1. 71. 
 
 151. Injury, fie] Many have had 
 reason to complain of such treat- 
 ment, and have been forced to sell 
 their land to avoid being ruined. 
 
 152. " What speeches .2"] What 
 does the world say of you, says the 
 poet, for such proceedings ? 
 
 — " Trumpet of foul fame"' — ] The 
 poet is interrupted before he has 
 finished, by the eager answer of the 
 person to whom he is supposed to 
 be speaking, and with whom he is 
 expostulating. 
 
 153. ** What docs this hurt?"]— 
 Says the miser ; what harm can what 
 the world says do ? See Hor. sat. i. 
 1. 64-7. 
 
 — Coat of a lupine.} Lupinus sig- 
 nifies a kind of pulse, of a hitter and 
 harsh taste, covered with a coat, husk, 
 or shell. See Virg. G. i. 1. 75, 6. 
 Isidorus says, that the best definition 
 of lupinus is, a.7T0 rr,$ Xvkyic, quod 
 vultum gustantis amantadine cor> 
 tristet. Ainsworth thinks that lupi- 
 nus signifies what we call hops ; and 
 this seems likely, as we may gather 
 
 from the story in Athenaeus, lib. ii. 
 <■. xiv. where he relates of Zeno the 
 Stoic, that he was ill-tempered and 
 harsh, till he had drunk a quantity of 
 wine, and then he was pleasant and 
 good-humoured. On Zeno's being 
 asked the reason of this change of 
 temper, he said, that M the same 
 "thing happened to him as to lupi- 
 " nes; for lupines," says he, " be- 
 " fore they are soaked in water, are 
 " very bitter ; but when put into wa- 
 M ter, and made soft by steeping, and 
 " are well soaked, they are mild and 
 " pleasant." Hops grow with coats, 
 or laminae, one over another. But 
 whatever be the exact meaning of 
 lupini, the meaning of this hasty an- 
 swer of the miser's is as follows ; 
 " Do not talk to me of what speeches 
 M are made about me, or what the 
 " trumpet of fame may spread abroad* 
 " to the disadvantage of my charac- 
 " ter. I would not give a pin's head 
 ** for all they can say against me, if 
 " 1 do but get rich : but I would not 
 " give the husk of a lupine for the 
 " praise of all the town, if my farm 
 " be small, and afford but a poor 
 '* crop." 
 
 q. d. If I am rich, they cannot hurt 
 me by their abuse ; but if poor, their 
 praise will do me no good. 
 
 ]55. The very scanty produce.'] — 
 Faucissima farra. Far denotes all 
 manner of corn. Paueissima need not 
 be taken literally in the superlative 
 
SAT. XIV. 
 
 JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 265 
 
 Is gone into their cruel bellies, so that you would believe it 
 
 done by sickles. 
 You can hardly say, how many may lament such things, 
 And how many fields injury has made to be set to sale. 150 
 " But what speeches ? how the trumpet of foul fame ?"— « 
 " What does this hurt ?" says he : "I had rather have the 
 
 " coat of a lupine, 
 " Than if the neighbourhood in the whole village should 
 
 praise me 
 " Cutting the very scanty produce of a little farm." 155 
 I warrant you will want both disease and weakness, 
 And you will escape mourning and care ; and a long spaee 
 
 of life, 
 After these things, will be given you with a better fate ; 
 If you alone possessed as much cultivated ground, 
 As, under Tatius, the Roman people ploughed. 160 
 
 Afterwards even to those broken with age, and who had 
 
 suffered the Punic 
 Wars, or cruel Pyrrhus, and the Molossian swords, 
 At length hardly two acres were given for many 
 
 sense, but as intensive, and as mean- 
 ing a very small, an exceeding scanty 
 crop of corn. See note on densissima 
 lectica, sat. i. 1. 106, n. 2. The com- 
 parative and superlative degrees are 
 often used by the Latin writers only 
 in an intensive sense. 
 
 156. i" warrant, fyc.) Here the 
 poet is speaking ironically, as if he 
 had said to the miser — To be sure, 
 Sir, people like you, who are above 
 the praise or dispraise of the world, 
 are doubtless exempted too from the 
 calamities which the rest of the world 
 suffer, such as sickness and infirmi- 
 ties. See sat. x. 1. 216. You are also 
 out of the reach of affliction and sor- 
 row. See sat. x. 1. 231-4. Carebis — 
 you will be without — free from. 
 
 158. After these things, fyc] Add 
 to all this, that you must live longer 
 than others, and be attended with un- 
 common happiness — meliore fato — , 
 with a more prosperous and more fa- 
 vourable destiny. 
 
 159. If you alone possessed, $c] — 
 Provided that you were so wealthy as 
 to possess, and* be the sole owner of as 
 much arable land as the people of 
 Home cultivated, when the empire 
 was in its infancy, under Romulus, 
 
 and Tatius the Sabine ; who, for the 
 sake of the ladies he brought with 
 him, was received into the city, and 
 consociated with Romulus in the go- 
 vernment. However this might be 
 considered as small, to be divided 
 among all the people, yet, in the hands 
 of one man, it would be a vast 
 estate. 
 
 161. Afterwards.] In after times 
 — mox — some while after. 
 
 — Broken with age.] Worn out 
 with age and the fatigues of war. 
 Gravis annis miles. Hor. sat. i. 5. 
 
 161-2. Had suffered the Punic, 
 wars.} Hpd undergone the toils aftd 
 dangers of the three wars with the 
 Carthagenians, which almost ex- 
 hausted the Romans. 
 
 162. Cruel Pyrrhns.) The king of 
 Epirus, who vexed the Romans with 
 perpetual wars, but, at last, was de- 
 feated and driven cut of Italy. 
 
 — Molossian swords.) The Mo- 
 lossi were a people of Epirus, who 
 fought against the Romans in Pyrr- 
 hus's army. 
 
 163. At length.] i. e. After so 
 many toils and dangers. 
 
 — Hardly two acres.] Jugerum — 
 an acre, so called from jugum bourn, 
 M 
 
9M 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIR.E. 
 
 Vulneribus : merces ea sanguinis atque laboris 
 
 Nullis visa unquam meritis minor, aut ingratae 165 
 
 Curta fides patriae : saturabat glebula talis 
 
 Patrem ipsum, turbamque casae, qua fceta jacebat 
 
 Uxor, et infantes ludebant quatuor, unus 
 
 Vernula, tres domini : sed magnis fratribus horuni 
 
 A scrobe vel sulco redeuntibus, altera coena 170 
 
 Amplior, et grandes fumabant pultibus ollae. 
 
 Nunc modus hie agri nostro non sufficit horto. 
 
 Inde fere scelerum causa?, nee plura venena 
 
 Miscuit, aut ferro grassatur saepius ullum 
 
 Humana? mentis vitium, quam saeva cupido 175 
 
 Indomiti census ; nam dives qui fieri vult, 
 
 Et cito vult fieri ; sed quae reverentia legum ? 
 
 Quis metus, aut pudor est unquam properantis avari ? 
 
 Vivite contend casulis et collibus istis, 
 
 O pueri, Marsus dicebat et Hernicus olini, 180 
 
 Vestinusque senex ; panem qua^ramus aratro, 
 
 being as much land as a yoke of oxen 
 could plough in a day. Scarcely so 
 much as two acres were given as a 
 reward for manv wounds in battle. 
 
 10.5. Than no deserts, $c] And 
 this portion of two acres, given to a 
 soldier, as a rev ard for the blood 
 which he had shed, and the toils he 
 had undergone in the service of his 
 country, was never found fault with 
 as too little for his deserts, or as an 
 instance of a breach of faith in his 
 country towards him, by rewarding 
 him less than he had reason to ex- 
 pect. Curtus means little, short, cur- 
 tailed, imperfect, broken. Curta fides 
 may be applied to express a man's 
 coming short of his promise. 
 
 166. Little glebe.] Such a small 
 piece oi arable land. 
 
 166-7. Satisfied the father.] The 
 poor soldier, who was the father of a 
 numerous family. 
 
 167. Rabble of his cottage.] Con- 
 sisting of his wife and many children, 
 some small, others grown up. 
 
 1 67. Big.'] i. e. Big, or great, with 
 child. 
 
 169. Bond-slave — three masters.] — 
 One of the four children that were 
 playing together was a little bond- 
 slave born of a she slave. The three 
 others were children of the wife, and 
 
 therefore masters over the little slave, 
 but all playing together, happy and 
 content. 
 
 — Great brothers] The elder chil- 
 dren now big enough to go out to la- 
 bour. 
 
 170. Ditch or fur r oxo, $c] Com- 
 ing home from their day's work, at 
 digging and ploughing. 
 
 171. J\[ore ample.] Their being 
 grown up, and returning hungry from 
 their labour, required a more copious 
 meal, than the little ones who stayed 
 at home. 
 
 — Great pots.] Pots proportionably 
 large to the provision which was to 
 be made. 
 
 — Smoked <wUh pottage] Boiling 
 over the fire. Puis was a kind of pot- 
 tage made of meal, water, honey, or 
 cheese and eggs sodden together. 
 Ainsw. 
 
 172. Measure of ground.] xiz. Two 
 acres, which, in ancient davs, was 
 thought a sufficient reward for an old 
 valiant defender of his country, after 
 all his dangers, toils, and wounds, 
 and which provided for, and made 
 him and all his family hpppy, is not, 
 as times go, thought big enough for 
 a pleasure- garden. 
 
 173. Thence, ^r.J From covetcu^ • 
 ness. Ccmp. 1. 17 J. 
 
JUVENAL/S SATIRES 
 
 267 
 
 SAT. XIV. 
 
 Wounds. That reward of blood, and of toil, 
 Than no deserts ever seemed less, or the faith small 165 
 Of an ungrateful country. Such a little glebe satisfied 
 The father himself, and the rabble of his cottage, where 
 
 big lay 
 The wife, and four infants were playing, one a little 
 Bond-slave, three masters: but for the great brothers of 
 
 these 
 From the ditch or furrow returning, another supper 170 
 More ample, and great pots smoked with pottage. 
 Now this measure of ground is not sufficient for our garden. 
 Thence are commonly the cause of villainies, nor more 
 
 poisons 
 Has any vice of the human mind mixed, or oftener 
 Attacked with the sword, than a cruel desire 175 
 
 Of an unbounded income ; for he who would be rich, 
 Would be so quickly too. But what reverence of the laws ? 
 What fear, or shame, is there ever of a hastening miser ?— - 
 44 Live contented with those little cottages and hills, 
 44 O youth s," said the Marsian and Hernician formerly, 180 
 And the old Vestinian, 44 let us seek bread by the plough, 
 
 — Causes of villainies, fyc] i. e. 
 From this vile principle arise, as from 
 their source, all manner of cruel and 
 had actions. See 1 Tim. vi. 10. for- 
 mer part. 
 
 — More poisons, <$-c.j Contrived 
 more methods of destroying people 
 in order to come at their property, 
 either by poison or the sword. See 
 James iv. 1-2. 
 
 175. A cruel desire.] Which thinks 
 no act of cruelty too great, so that its 
 end may be- accomplished. 
 
 So Virg. JEn. iii. 1. 56-7. 
 
 Quid non mortalia pectora cogis 
 Auri sacra fumes ? 
 
 176. Unbounded.] Lit. untamed — 
 i. c. that cannot be kept or restrained 
 within any bounds. A metaphor 
 taken from animals that are wild and 
 untamed, which are ungovernable, 
 and not to be restrained. 
 
 — He who would be rich.]— 
 So the apostle, 1 Tim. vi. 9. 
 ol fiovhofizvoi n'hovTiiv. 
 
 177. Would le so quickly.] And 
 therefore takes the shortest way to 
 carve for himself, through every ob- 
 stacle. 
 
 —■Reverence of the luxes.] The laws 
 
 which are made to restrain all acts of 
 murder, and violence, and fraud, are 
 put totally out of the question ; he 
 treads them under his feet. 
 
 178. Hastening miser.] A covetous 
 man who hastens to be rich has nei- 
 ther fear nor shame ; he dreads not 
 what the laws can do to him, nor 
 what the world will say of him. See 
 Prov. xxviii. 22. 
 
 179. " Live contented,'''' %c.\ The 
 poet here mentions what was the doc- 
 trine of ancient times, in the days of 
 simplicity and frugality, by introduc- 
 ing the exhortation of some wise and 
 thrifty father to his children. 
 
 180. " O youths,"" $c] Such was 
 the language formerly of the fathers 
 among the Marsi, the Hernici, and 
 the Vestini, to their children, in or- 
 der to teach them contentment, fru- 
 gality, and industry. 
 
 — Marsian.] The Marsi were a la- 
 borious people, about fifteen miles 
 distant from Rome. 
 
 — Hernician.] The Hernici, a peo- 
 ple of New Latium. 
 
 181. Vestinian.] The Vestini were 
 a people of Latium, bordering on th.<? 
 Sabines. 
 
268 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 SAT. XIV. 
 
 Qui satis est mensis : laudant hoc numina ruris, 
 
 Quorum ope et auxiiio, grata? post munus arista?, 
 
 Contingunt homini veteris fastidia quercus. 
 
 Nil vetitum fecisse volet, quern non pudet alto 185 
 
 Per glaciem perone tegi ; qui summovet Euros 
 
 Pellibus invents : peregrina, ignotaque nobis 
 
 Ad seelus atque nefas, quodcunque est, purpura ducit. 
 
 Haec illi veteres proccepta minoribus : at nunc 
 
 Post finem autumni media de nocte supinum 190 
 
 Clamosus juvenem pater excitat : accipe ceras, 
 
 Scribe, puer, vigila, causas age, perlege rubras 
 
 Majorum leges, aiit vitem posce libello. 
 
 Sed caput intact urn buxo, naresque pilosas 
 
 Annotet, et grandes miretur La?lius alas. 195 
 
 Dirue Maurorum attegias, castella Brigantum, 
 
 181. " Seek bread by the plough," 
 ^v.] Let us provide our own bread In- 
 cur industry, as much as will suffice 
 for our support. 
 
 182. " Deities of the count/;/."] — 
 The Romans had their rural gods, as 
 Ceres, Bacchus, Flora, &c. which 
 they particularly worshipped, as pre- 
 siding over their lands, and as at first 
 inventing the various parts of hus. 
 ban dry. 
 
 183. " By whose help," £c] He 
 means particularly Bacchus, who first 
 found out the use of wine, and Ceres, 
 who found out corn and tillage. 
 
 184. " Loathing," $c] Since the 
 invention of agriculture, and the pro- 
 duction of corn, men disdain living 
 upon acorns, as at first they did. See 
 Virg. G. i. 1. 5-23. where may be 
 seen an invocation to Bacchus and 
 Ceres, and the other rural deities, 
 as the inventors and patrons of agri- 
 culture. 
 
 185. " Any tiling forbidden," <|v.] 
 Those who are bred up in poverty 
 
 and hardship, are unacquainted with 
 the temptations to vice, to which 
 
 those who are in high life are liable. 
 
 186. M Thro'' ice to be cozer'a," 
 tyc] Pero — a sort of high shoe, made 
 of raw leather, worn by country peo- 
 ple as a defence against snow and 
 cold. Aixsw. 
 
 187. " Inverted, skin*."] The skins 
 of beasts with the wool or hair turned 
 inwards next the bodv, to defend it 
 
 from the cold Minds, and to keep the 
 wearer warm. 
 
 Thus shod and thus clothed wer.e 
 the hardy rust ics of old time : they 
 lived in happy ignorance of vice and 
 luxury, and of all offences to the laws. 
 
 — " Purple," $e.] q. d. The 
 Tynan purple, with which the gar- 
 ments of the rich and great are dyed, 
 is a foreign piece of luxury, and un- 
 known to us. The introduction of 
 this, as well as other articles of foreign 
 luxury, is the forerunner of all man- 
 ner of vice and wickedness : for when 
 once people cast off a simplicity of 
 dress and manners, and run into lux- 
 ury and expence, they go all lengths 
 to supply their vanity and extrava- 
 gance. It cannot be said of any 
 such — nil vclitum fecissevolet. Quad- 
 cunque refers to seelus atque nefas — 
 some copies read quaecunque, and 
 refer it to purpura— q. d. this foreign 
 purple whatsoever it is, &c. 
 
 1S9. These precepts, §c.j Such were 
 thelessons which those rustic veteran» 
 taught their children, and delivered to 
 the younger part of the ommunity, 
 for the benefit of posterity. 
 
 — But now.] i. e. As matters are 
 new, fathers teach their children very 
 different lessons. 
 
 190. After the end of Autumn.]— 
 When the winter sets in, and the 
 nights are long and cold. 
 
 — From the middle of the night.] 
 As soon as midnight is turned. 
 
sat. xiv. JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 269 
 
 "Which is enough for our tables: the deities of the 
 
 44 country approve this, 
 " By whose help and assistance, after the gift of acceptable 
 
 44 corn, 
 44 There happen to man loathings of the old oak. 
 '-'- He will not do any thing forbidden, who is not ashamed 
 44 Through ice to be covered with an high shoe ; who keeps 
 
 44 off the east wind 186 
 
 • 4 With inverted skins. Purple, foreign, and unknown 
 
 44 to us, 
 41 Leads to wickedness and villainy, whatsoever it may be." 
 These precepts those ancients gave to their posterity : but 
 
 now, 
 After the end of Autumn, from the middle of the night, 
 
 the noisy 190 
 
 Father rouses the supine youth : 44 Take the waxen tablets, 
 44 Write, boy, watch, plead causes, read over the red 
 44 Laws of our forefathers, or ask for a vine by a petition. 
 44 But your head untouched with box, and your hairy 
 
 44 nostrils,* 
 44 Laelius may take notice of, and admire your huge arms. 
 44 Destroy the tents of the Moors, the castles of the Bri- 
 
 44 gantes, 196 
 
 190-1. The noisy father.] Bawling Serjeants halberds. See sat. viii. 1. 
 
 «to wake his son, who is lying along on 247, note. — If a man were to advise 
 
 his back (supinum) in his bed fast another to petition for an halberd, it 
 
 asleep. would be equivalent to advising him 
 
 191. " The waxen tablets."'] See to petition to be made a serjeant. So 
 note on 1. 30. here, the father advising his son to 
 
 192. " Write.**] Pen something petition for a vine, i. e. vine-branch, 
 that you may get money by. is equivalent to his petitioning to be 
 
 — " Watch."] Sit up all night at made a centurion, 
 
 study. 194. " Untouched with box."] — 
 
 — " Plead causes."] Turn advo- Your rough and martial appearance, 
 
 cate — be called to the bar. owing to your hair lying loose, and 
 
 — " Read ooer, n <^-c] Study the law. not being combed. The Romans made 
 
 192-3. " The red laurs."~\ So their combs of box-wood, 
 called, because the titles and begin- — "Hairy nostrils."] Another 
 nings of the chapters were written in mark of hardiness ; for effeminate and 
 red letters. Hence the written law delicate people plucked off all super- 
 was called rubrica. See Pers. sat. fluous hairs, 
 v. 1. 90. 19.5. " Lectins."'] Some gi eat gene- 
 
 193. " Ask for a line," $c.] For ral in the army may notice these 
 a centurion's post in the army — draw things, as bespeaking you fit for the 
 up a petition for this. army. 
 
 The centurion, or captain over an — " Huge arms."] Probably rough 
 
 hundred men, carried, as an ensign with hair. See above, n. 2. on 1. 
 
 of his office, a stick or batoon in his 194. Ala signifies the armpit, also 
 
 hand, made out of a vine branch ; as the arm. See Aixsw. 
 
 cur captains do spontoons, and our 196. " Destroy the tents of the 
 
270 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 SAT. XIV. 
 
 TTt locupletem aquilam tibi sexagesimus annus 
 
 Afferat : aut longos castrorum ferre labores 
 
 Si piget, et trepido solvunt tibi cornua ventrem 
 
 Cum lituis audita, pares, quod vendere possis 200 
 
 Pluris dimidio, nee te fastidia mercis 
 
 Ullius subeant ableganda? Tiberim ultra : 
 
 Nee credas ponendum aliquid discriminis inter 
 
 Unguenta, et corium : luciu bonus est odor ex re 
 
 Qualibet. Ilia tuo sententia semper in ore 205 
 
 Yersetur, Dis atque ipso Jove digna, poetae : 
 
 UxDE HABEAS QU.ER1T NEMO l SED OPORTET HABERE. 
 
 Hoc monstrant vetula? pueris poscentibus assem : 
 
 Hoc discunt omnes ante Alpha et Beta puella?. 
 
 Talibus instantem monitis quemcunque parentem 210 
 
 Sic possem affari : die, 6 vanissime, quis te 
 
 Festinare jubet ? meliorem pra?sto magistro 
 
 Moory."] Go and do some great ex- 
 ploit — distinguish yourself in an ex- 
 pedition against the people of Mauri- 
 tania. Attegia? (from ad and tegere, 
 to cover) signifies cottages, huts, ca- 
 bins, tents, and the like, in which 
 people shelter themselves from the 
 weather. 
 
 — " Castles of the Brigands."] Of 
 the inhabitants of Britain. The peo- 
 ple of Lancashire, Yorkshire, and 
 other northern parts of England, were 
 called Rrigantes ; they had strong 
 castles. 
 
 197. " That a rich edgle" <£"•]— 
 The Soman ensign was the figure of 
 an eagle, which was carried at the 
 head of every regiment. T he care of 
 this standard was committed to the 
 eldest captain of the regiment, and 
 was a very rich post. 
 
 The father is here exhorting his son 
 to go into the army ; in order to 
 ■which, first, he is to petition for the 
 vine-rod, or centurion's post ; then 
 he exhorts him to go into service, and 
 distinguish himself against the enemy, 
 that, at sixty years old, he may be 
 the eldest captain, and enrich himself 
 by having the care of the standard, 
 which was very lucrative. Hence 
 Juvenal calls it locupletem aquilam. 
 
 198. " Or if to bear," £c] If you 
 dislike going into a military life. 
 
 199. « The horns," $c\] If the 
 cornets and trumpets throw you into 
 
 a panic at the sound of them, so that 
 you are ready to befoul yourself when 
 you hear martial music. 
 
 200. " Yon may purchase " $c.} 
 You may go into trade, and buy 
 goods which you may sell for half as 
 much more as they cost you. 
 
 201. " Nor let 'the dislike," £e.J— 
 Do not be nice about what you deal 
 in, though ever so filthy, though 
 such as must be manufactured on the 
 olher side of the Tiber. 
 
 202. " Sent away beyond the Ti- 
 ber.'"] Tanning, and other noisome 
 trades, were carried on on the olher 
 side of the river, to preserve the city 
 sweet and healthy. 
 
 203. "Do not believe," §c.] Do 
 not take it into your head that one 
 thing, which you may get money by, 
 is better than another. So as you do 
 but enrich yourself, let it be the same 
 thing to you, whether you deal in 
 perfumed ointments, or stinking 
 hides. 
 
 204. " The smell of gain," #c.]_ 
 He alludes to the answer made by 
 Vespasian to his son Titus, who was 
 against raising money by a tax on 
 urine. — Titus remonstrated with him 
 on the meanness of such an imposi- 
 tion ; but he, presenting to his son 
 the first money that accrued to him 
 from it, asked him whether the smell 
 offended him. Ayr. Univ. History, 
 vol. xv. p. 26. 
 
sat. xiv. JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 271 
 
 " That a rich eagle to thee the sixtieth year 
 
 " May bring ; or if td'bear the long labours of camps 
 
 " It grieves you, and the horns heard with the trumpets 
 
 46 loosen 
 " Your belly, you may purchase, what you may sell 200 
 " For the half of more, nor let the dislike of any merchan- 
 
 " dise, 
 " Which is to be sent away beyond the Tiber, possess you, 
 " Do not believe there is any difference to be put between 
 " Ointments and an hide. The smell of gain is sweet 
 u From any thing whatsoever. Let that sentence of 
 
 " the poet 205 
 
 " Be always in your mouth, worthy the gods, and of Jove 
 
 " himself: 
 
 " NOEODY ASKS FROM WHENCE YOU HAVE, 3UT IT BE- 
 " HOVES YOU TO HAVE." 
 
 This, the old women shew to the boys asking three far- 
 things : 
 
 This, all the girls learn before their Alpha and Beta. 
 
 Whatsoever parent is instant with such admonitions, 210 
 
 I might thus speak to: "Say, (O most vain man,) who 
 " commands 
 
 M Thee to hasten ? I warrant the scholar better than 
 
 205. " Sentence of the poet," $c.] 208. This, the old women, ftc.] 
 
 e. e. Of the poet Ennius, quoted 1. This maxim, old women, when then 
 
 20T. children ask them for a trifle to buy 
 
 206. " Be always in your month"'] play-things, or some trash to eat, ai- 
 Be always at your tongue's end, as ways take care to instil into their 
 we say. minds ; they take this opportunity 
 
 — «' Worthy the gods," §c] Juve- to preach up the value of money, and 
 
 nal very naturally represents this old the necessity of having it, no matter 
 
 covetous fellow as highly extolling a how ; nobody will trouble their head 
 
 maxim so exactly suited to his sorded about that, 
 principles. The Roman as was about three 
 
 See Moliere's Avare, act in. sc. farthings of our money. 
 v. where the miser is so pleased with 209. This, all the girls, $c] In 
 
 a saying which suits his principles, short, children of the other sex too 
 
 as to want it written in letters of are taught this before their A B c. 
 
 gold. No marvel then, that avarice is so 
 
 207. " Nobody asks," <£c] general and so ruling a principle. 
 T°have money is a necessary task, 210. Is instant."] Takes pains to 
 From whence His got the world impress such maxims upon his chil- 
 
 will never ask. dren. 
 
 J. DitYBEN, jun. 211. Thus speak to.] Thus address. 
 
 .\nd therefore only take care to be myself to. 
 
 rich, nobody will inquire how you 212. " To hasten."] Who bid thee 
 
 came so. The poet, in the next two be in such a hurry to teach your son 
 
 lines, humourously observes the early such principles ? why begin with him 
 
 implanting this doctrine in the minds so young, and take so much pains ? 
 of children. _*, « J warrant."] So praesto 
 
%n 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 2K 
 
 220 
 
 Discipulem : securus abi : vinceris, ut Ajax 
 
 Praeteriit Telamonem, lit Pelea vicit Achilles. 
 
 Parceiidum est leneris ; nondum implevere medullas 
 
 Nativa? mala nequitiae : cum pectere barbam 
 
 Coeperit, et longi mucronem admittere cultri, 
 
 Falsus erit testis, vendet perjuria summa 
 
 Exigun, Cereris tangens aramque pedemque. 
 
 Elatam jam crede nurum, si limina vestra 
 
 Mortifera cum dote subit : quibus ilia premetar 
 
 Per somnum digitis ? nam qua? terraque marique 
 
 Acquircnda putes, brevior via conferet illi : 
 
 Nullus enim magni sceleris labor. Ha>c ego nunquam 
 
 Mandavi, dices olim, nee talia suasi : 225 
 
 Mentis causa malce tamen est, et origo penes te : 
 
 Nam quisquis magni census prsecepit amorem, 
 
 Et lsevo monitu pueros producit avaros ; 
 
 signifies here. Sec AlNSW. Prccsto. 
 No. 8. 
 
 — " The scholar letter," £c] A 
 greater proficient than yourself in 
 avarice, and in every other vice, in 
 which you may instruct him. 
 
 213. '* Depart secure.**] Make your- 
 self quite secure and easy upon this 
 subject. 
 
 — " As Ajax,'''' <$v.] Your son will 
 outdo you in avarice, as much as 
 Ajax surpassed his father Telamon, 
 or as Achilles surpassed his father 
 Peleus, in valour and warlike achieve- 
 ments. 
 
 215. " You must spare,'''' <yc] — 
 You must make allowance for the 
 tenderness of youth, and not hurry 
 your son on too fast ; have patience 
 with him, he will be bad enough by- 
 and-by. 
 
 — w Their marrows," %c] The 
 evil dispositions and propensities with 
 which they were born (mala nativas 
 nequitiae) have not had time to grow 
 to maturity, and to occupy their 
 whole minds, marrow fills the bones. 
 The marrow, which is placed within 
 the bones, like the bowels, which 
 are placed within the body, is often 
 figuratively, and by analogy, made 
 use of to signify the inward mind. 
 
 Tully says Fara. xv. 16. Mihi 
 hoeres in medullis — I love you in my 
 heart. And again, Philip, i. 15. In 
 medullis populi Romani, ac visceribus 
 
 han'cbant — they were very dear to the 
 Roman people. 
 
 217. " To comb his lcard."\ i. c. 
 When he is grown up to maturity. 
 
 — " To admit the point" £&] The 
 edge of a razor — a periphrasis for 
 being shaved. Sec sat. i. 23. and sat. 
 x. 21 5. 
 
 218. " Sell perjuries," £cj He 
 will forswear himself for a very small 
 price. 
 
 219. " Touching loth the altar," 
 §e.} It was the custom among the 
 Romans, on occasions of solemn 
 oaths, to go to a temple, and when 
 they swore, to lay their hand upon 
 the altar of the god. Here, to make 
 his oath the more solemn, the mi- 
 ser's son is represented, not only as 
 laying his» hand upon the altar of 
 Ceres, but also on the foot of her 
 image. See sat. iii. 1. 133. and 
 note. 
 
 — " Of Ceres."] The altar of 
 Ceres was reckoned the most sacred, 
 because, in the celebration of her 
 worship, nothing was to be admitted 
 that was not sacred and pure. 
 
 220. " Your daughter-in-law."] — 
 Your son's wife — pronounce her dead, 
 if she comes within your doors with 
 a large fortune, for your son, her 
 husband, will murder her, in order to 
 get the sole possession of it. 
 
 _ " Carried forth."] I e. To be 
 buried, or, as the manner then was, 
 
JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 373 
 
 " The master : depart, secure : you will be outdone, as 
 
 " Ajax 
 " Surpassed Telamon, as Achilles outdid Peleus. • 
 " You must spare the tender ones : as yet their marrows 
 
 " the evils 215 
 
 " Of native wickedness have not filled : when he has begun 
 " To comb his beard, and to admit the point of a long 
 
 « knife, 
 " He will be a false witness, he will sell perjuries for a small 
 " Sum, touching both the altar and foot of Ceres." 
 " Already believe your daughter-in-law carried forth, if 
 
 " your thresholds 220 
 
 "She enters with a deadly portion. J3y what fingers will 
 
 u she be pressed 
 " In her sleep ? — for, what things you may suppose to be 
 
 " acquired 
 " By sea and land, a shorter way will confer wpon him : 
 " .For of great wickedness there is no labour. These things 
 
 " I never 
 " Commanded, may you some time say, nor persuaded such 
 
 " things, 225 
 
 " But the cause of a bad mind, nevertheless, and its origin, 
 
 " is in you : 
 (l For whoever has taught the love of a great income, 
 " And, by foolish admonition, produces covetous boys, 
 
 to be burned on the funeral pile. See 
 Ter. Andria. act i. sc. i. 1. 90. 
 
 221- " With a deadly portion."]— 
 Mortifera cum dote — i. e. which is 
 sure to occasion her death, by the 
 hands of her covetous husband. 
 
 — " By what fingers,'''' (|-e.] How 
 eager will his fingers be to strangle 
 her in her sleep ! 
 
 -222. " For, what things," $c] — 
 What you may suppose others to get 
 by traversing land and sea, in order 
 to trade and acquire riches, your son 
 will find a shorter way to come at, 
 by murdering his wife. 
 
 224. " There is no labour."]— 
 There is very little trouble in such a 
 business as this, it is soon done. 
 
 224—5. " I never commanded," 
 ^•c] The time may come, when, 
 seeing your son what I have been de- 
 scribing, you will be for exculpating 
 yourself, and you may say, " 1 ne- 
 * 4 ver gave him any such orders ; 
 2 
 
 " this was owing to no advice of 
 " mine." 
 
 226. " But the cause," $c] The 
 poet answers — No, you might not 
 specifically order him to do such or 
 such an action, but the principle 
 from which he acts such horrid scenes 
 of barbarity and villainy, is owing to 
 the example which you have set him, 
 and originates from the counsel which 
 you have given him to enrich him- 
 self by all means, no matter how ; 
 therefore all this is penes te — lies at 
 your door. 
 
 221. " Whoever lias taught," §c.] 
 Whoever has given a son such pre- 
 cepts as you have given yours, in or- 
 der to instil into him an unbounded 
 love of wealth. 
 
 228. " Foolish admonition," <gc] 
 So Laevus seems to be used, Mn. ii. 
 54 ; and Eclog. l. 1 6. Si mens non 
 lseva fuisset. See Ainsw. Locvtis, 
 No. 2. But perhaps it may mean 
 N 
 
274 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRJE. 
 
 Et qui per fraudcs patrimonia conduplicare 
 
 Dat Jibertatem, totas efFundit habenas 230 
 
 Curriculo ; quern si revoces, subsistere nescit, 
 
 Et te contempto rapitur, metisque relictis. 
 
 Nemo satis credit tantum delinquere, quantum 
 
 Permittas : adeo indulgent sibi latius ipsi. 
 
 Cum dick juveni, stultum, qui donet amico, 23.* 
 
 Qui pauperlatem levet, attollatque propinqui ; 
 
 Et spoliare doces, et circumscribere, et omni 
 
 Crimine divitias acquirerc, quarum amor in te est, 
 
 Quantus erat patriae Deciorum in pectore, quantum 
 
 Dilexit Thebas, si Graecia vera, Menceceus, 240 
 
 In quarum sulcis legiones dentibus anguis 
 
 Cum clypeis nascuntur, et horrida belJa capessnnt 
 
 Continuo, tanquam et tubicen surrexerat una. 
 
 Ergo igncm, cujus scintillas ipse dedisli, 
 
 Flagrantem late, et rapientem cuncta videbis. 245 
 
 Nee tibi parcetur misero, trepidumque magistrum 
 
 unlucky, unfortunate, like sinistro. 
 Sec this Satire, 1. 1. and note 
 
 Or laevo may be here understood, 
 IS we sometimes understand the word 
 sinister, when we mean to say, that 
 a man's designs are indirect, disho- 
 nest, unfair. 
 
 — " Produces covetous boysJ"\ — 
 Brings up his children with covetous 
 principles. 
 
 230. " Gites Ulerty," #c] i. c. 
 So far from checking such dispositi- 
 ons, gives them full liberty to exer- 
 cise themselves, pleased to see the 
 thriftiness of a son, who is defraud- 
 ing all mankind, that he may double 
 his own property. 
 
 — " Loosens aU the reins," $v.] 
 Gives full and ample loose to every 
 kind of evil. A metaphor, taken from 
 a charioteer, who by loosening the 
 reins, by which he holds and guides 
 the horses, too freely, they run away 
 with the chariot, and when he wants 
 to stop them he cannot. 
 
 231. " Which if you would recall '," 
 ^jv.] It is in vain to think of stop- 
 ping or recalling such a one, who 
 knows no restraint. 
 
 232. " You contemned."] Having 
 forfeited the authority of a father, all 
 you can say, to stop his career, is h«.ld 
 in the utmost contempt. 
 
 — " The bounds being left."} As 
 the charioteer is run away with by 
 his horses (see note above, 1. 230.) 
 beyond the bounds of the race ; so 
 your son, who has had the reins 
 thrown upon the neck of his vices, 
 can neither be stopped, nor kept 
 Avithin any bounds whatsoever in his 
 wickedness, but is hurried on, rapi- 
 tur, by his passions, without any 
 power of control. 
 
 233. " Nobody thinks it enough,'" 
 <yr.J Nobody will ever draw a Line, 
 so as to stop just at a given point, 
 and only sin as far as he is permitted, 
 and no farther. 
 
 23k " So 77iuch do thej/ indulge* 
 So prone are they to indulge 
 propensity to evil, in a moi\ 
 sive manner. 
 
 235. M lYhenyousay," §c\ When 
 you tell your son, that giving money 
 to help a distressed friend, < rela- 
 tion, is a folly. 
 
 236. '« Who may lighten," $c.] 
 
 Alleviate his distress, and raise up hie 
 state of poverty into a state of plenty 
 and comfort. 
 
 237. M You both teach him to rob."] 
 By thus seeking to destroy the prin- 
 ciples of humanity and charity with- 
 in him, you teach him, indirectly at 
 least, to rob, to plunder other people. 
 
sat. xiv. JUVENAL'S SATIRES, 275 
 
 " And he who to double patrimonies by frauds, 
 
 " Gives liberty, loosens all the reins to the chariot, 230 
 
 6t Which if you would recall, it knows not to stop, ■ 
 
 * s And, you contemned, and the bounds being left, it is 
 
 " hurried on. 
 " Nobody thinks it enough to offend so much, as you may 
 " Permit, so much do they indulge themselves more widely. 
 " When you say to a youth, he is a fool who may give to 
 
 " a friend, 235 
 
 " Who may lighten, and raise up the poverty of a relation ; 
 4i You both teach him to rob, and to cheat, and by every 
 
 " crime 
 " To acquire riches, the love of which is in thee, 
 if As much as of their country was in the breast of the 
 
 " Decii, as much 
 4i As Menceceus loved Thebes, if Greece be true, 240 
 
 ** In the furrows of which, legions from the teeth of a 
 
 " snake 
 " With shields are born, and horrid wars undertake 
 " Immediately, as if a trumpeter too had risen with them. 
 u Therefore the fire, the sparks of which yourself have 
 
 " given, 
 " You will see burning wide, and carrying off all things. 
 fo ' Nor will he spare your miserable self, and the trembling 
 
 " master 246 
 
 — " To cheat."] Circumscribere — pent, took the teeth, and sowing 
 
 to over-reach and circumvent, that them in the ground, there sprang up 
 
 he may enrich himself. from each an armed man : these pre* 
 
 — " By every crime" fyc] To sently fell to fighting, till all were 
 
 scruple no villainy which can enrich slain except five, who escaped with 
 
 him. their lives. See Ovid, Met. lib. iii. 
 
 239. " The Decii."] The father, fab. i. See Ainsw. Cadmus. 
 
 son, and grandson, who for the love 243. " Trumpeter too had risen."] 
 
 they bare their country, devoted To set them together by the ears. See 
 
 themselves to death for its service, above, 1. 199. note. The Romans 
 
 See sat. viii. 254. note. had cornets and trumpets to give the 
 
 240. " Mcncecius"] The son of signal for battle. 
 
 Creon, king of Thebes, who, that he 244. " The fire" $c.] The pritt- 
 
 might pi-eserve his country, when ciples which you first communicated 
 
 Thebes was besieged by the Argives, to the mind of your son, you will see 
 
 devoted himself to death ; the oracle breaking out into action, violating all 
 
 having declared, that Thebes would law and justice, and destroying all he 
 
 be safe, if the last of the race of has to do with ; like a fire that first 
 
 Cadmus would willingly suffer death, is kindled from little sparks, then 
 
 — " If Greece be true."] If the spreads far and wide, till it devours 
 
 Grecian accounts speak truth. and consumes every thing in its 
 
 241. " In the furrows of which " way. 
 
 fee] He alludes to the story of Cad- 24G. " Nor will he spare" $c] 
 
 pus, A\ho haying slain a large ser- He will not even spare you that arc 
 
276 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 In cavea magno fremitu leo toilet alumnus. 
 
 Nota Mathematicis genesis tua : sed grave tardas 
 
 Expectare colos : morieris stamine nondum 
 
 Abrupto : jam nunc obstas, et vota moraris ; 250 
 
 Jam torque t juvcnem longa et cervina senectus. 
 
 Ocyus Archigenem quaere, atque erne quod Mithridates 
 
 Composuit, si vis aliam decerpere ficum, 
 
 Atque alias tractare rosas : medicamen habendum est 
 
 Sorbere ante cibum quod debeat aut pater aut rex. 255 
 
 Monstro voluptatem egregiam, cui nulla theatra, 
 
 Nulla aequare queas Praetoris pulpita lauti, 
 
 Si spectes, quanto capitis discrimine constent 
 
 Incrementa domus, aerata multus in area 
 
 Fiscus, et ad vigilem ponendi Castora nummi, 260 
 
 Ex quo Mars ultor galeam quoque perdidit, et res 
 
 his own wretched father, or scruple 
 to take you oft* (?. e. murder you) to 
 possess himself of your property. 
 
 247. " The young Ron" c$r.] Al- 
 luding to the story of a tame lion, 
 which, in the time of Domitian, tore 
 his keeper, that had brought him up, 
 to pieces. 
 
 Lnsernt hi g rail lev perfidus ore 
 mtigistrnm. 
 
 Martial, Spectac. ep. x. 
 
 248. " Your nativity," $c] But, 
 say you, the astrologers, who cast 
 nativities, and who by their art can 
 tell how loner people are to live, have 
 settled your nativity, and calculated 
 that your life will be long. 
 
 — " But it Is grievous. J But, says 
 Juvenal, it is a very irksome thing to 
 your sou. 
 
 249. " To expect slow distqfs"] — 
 To be waiting while the fates are 
 slowly spinning out your thread of 
 long life. See sat. hi. 27. note ; and 
 sat. x. 241. note. 
 
 — " You 11 die" $■<?.] You will be 
 taken off by a premature death, not 
 by the course of nature, like those 
 who live till their thread of life is cut 
 by their destinies. See the references 
 in the last note ar-cve. 
 
 230. " You even now hinder" 
 £c] You already stand in your son's 
 way, and delay the accomplishment 
 of his daily wishes for your death, 
 that he may possess what you have. 
 
 2.51. " Sfag-lifee o!d age."] The 
 
 ancients had a notion that stags, as 
 well as ravens, were very long- 
 lived. 
 
 Cic. Tuscul. iii. 69. says, that 
 Theophrastus, the Peripatetic philo- 
 sopher, when he was dying, accused 
 nature for giving long life to ravens 
 and stags, which was of no significa- 
 tion ; but to men, to whom it was of 
 great importance, a short life. See 
 sat. x. 1. 238. 
 
 — " Torments the youth."] Gives 
 the young man, your son, daily un- 
 easiness and vexation, and will, most 
 likely, put him upon some means to 
 get rid of you ; therefore take the 
 best precautions you can. 
 
 252. " Archigcncs."] Some famous 
 physician ; see sat. xiii. 98. to pro- 
 cure for him some antidote against 
 poison. 
 
 253. " If yon are witling" $r.] — 
 If you wish to live to another au- 
 tumn — the time when figs are ripe. 
 
 254-. " Other roses"] And to ga- 
 ther the roses of another spring. 
 
 — " A medicine is to be had" <§*c] 
 You must get such an antidote against 
 poison, as tyrants, who fear their 
 subjects, and as fathers, who dread 
 their children, always ought to swal- 
 low before they eat, in order to se- 
 cure them from being poisoned at 
 their meals ; the tyrant, by some of 
 bh oppressed and discontented sub- 
 jects — the father, by a sen who wants 
 to get his estate* 
 
JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 277 
 
 " The young lion in his cage, with great roaring, will take 
 
 " off." ' 
 " Your nativity is known to astrologers." — " But it is 
 
 " grievous 
 " To expect slow distaffs : you will die, your thread not yet 
 u Broken off: you even now hinder, and delay his wishes, 
 " Now a long and stag-like old age torments the youth. 
 c * Seek Archigenes quickly, and buy what Mithridates 252 
 " Composed, if you are willing to pluck another fig, 
 " And to handle other roses : a medicine is to be had, 
 " Which either a father, or a king, ought to sup up before 
 
 " meat." 9.55 
 
 I shew an extraordinary pleasure, to which no theatres, 
 No stages of the sumptuous praetor, you can equal, 
 If you behold, in how great danger of life may consist 
 The increase of an house, much treasure in a brazen 
 Chest, and money to be placed at watchful Castor, 260 
 
 Since Mars, the avenger, also lost his helmet, and his own 
 
 256. / shew, <|r.] The poet is now 
 about to expose the folly of avarice, 
 inasmuch as the gratification of it is 
 attended with cares, anxieties, and 
 dangers, which its votaries incur, and 
 for which they are truly ridiculous. 
 Now, says he, monstro voluptuta- 
 tera "egregiam — I will exhibit an 
 highly laughable scene, beyond all 
 theatrical entertainments, &c. 
 
 256. No theatres.] Nothing upon 
 the stage is half so ridiculous. 
 
 257. No stages of the sumptuous 
 praetor.'] It was the office of the 
 prsetor to preside, and have the di- 
 rection at the public games. See sat. 
 x. I. 36-41. notes. 
 
 The pulpitum was the higher part 
 of the stage, where poets recited their 
 verses in public. 
 
 It also signifies a scaffold, or raised 
 place, on which the actors exhibited 
 plays. 
 
 The, praetor is here called lautus — 
 sumptuous, noble, splendid, from the 
 fine garments which he wore on those 
 occasions, as well ns from the great 
 expence which be put himself to, in 
 treating the people with magnificent 
 exhibitions of plays and other sports. 
 
 258. If yon heboid, #c] If you 
 only observe what hazards and perils, 
 even of their lives, those involve 
 themselves in, who are increasing 
 
 and hoarding up wealth — so far from 
 security, danger and riches frequently 
 accompany each other, and the means 
 of increasing wealth may consist in 
 the exposing life itself to danger. 
 
 259. Increase of an house.] The 
 enlargement and increase of family- 
 property. 
 
 — In a brazen chest.] See sat. xiii. 
 1. 74 ; and Hor. sat. i. lib. i. 1. 67. 
 The Romans locked up their money 
 in chests. 
 
 260. Placed at watchful Castor.] i.e. 
 At the temple of Castor. They used 
 to lay up their chests of treasure in 
 the temples, as places of safety, be- 
 ing committed to the care of the geds, 
 who were supposed to watch over 
 them. Sat. x. 25. note, and fin. 
 
 261. Since Mars, §c] The 
 wealthy used to send their chests of 
 money to the temple of Mars ; but 
 some thieves having broken into it, 
 and stolen the treasures, even strip- 
 ping the helmet from the head of 
 Mar's image, they now sent their 
 treasures to the temple of Castor, 
 where there was a constant guard ; 
 hence the poet says, vi,elem Cas- 
 tora. 
 
 — The avenger.] When Augustus 
 returned from his Asiatic expedition, 
 which he accounted the most glori- 
 ous of his whole reign, he caused a 
 
27$ 
 
 JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 Non potuit servare suas : ergo omnia FJorse 
 
 Et Cereris licet, et Cybeles aulasa relinquas, 
 
 Tanto majores humana negotia ludi. 
 
 An magis oblectant animum jactata petauro %65 
 
 Corpora, quique solent rectum descendere funem, 
 
 Quam tu, Corycia semper qui puppe moraris, 
 
 Atque habitas, Coro semper tollendus et Austro, 
 
 Perditus, ac vilis sacci mercator olentis ? 
 
 Qui gaudes pingue antiquae de littore Cretae 270 
 
 Passum, et municipes Jovis advexisse lagenas ? 
 
 Hie tamen ancipiti figens vestigia planta 
 
 V r ic.um ilia mercede parat, brumamque famemque 
 
 Ilia reste cavet : tu propter mille talenta, 
 
 Et centum villas tamerarius. Aspice portus, 275 
 
 temple to be built in the capitol to 
 Mars the Avenger. See A\T. Univ. 
 Hist. vol. xiii. p. 507-8. and note f. 
 
 261-2. Ws own affairs, §c] The 
 poet takes an opportunity here, as 
 usual, to laugh at the gods of his 
 country. See sat xiii. 39-52. 
 
 263. The scenes.] Aulaea were 
 hangings, curtains, and other orna- 
 ments of the theatres ; here, by sy- 
 nec. put for the theatres themselves. 
 
 You may leave, says the poet, the 
 public theatres ; you will not want 
 the sports and plays which are exhi- 
 bited at the feasts of Flora, Ceres, or 
 Cjfcele, to divert you. 
 
 26+. By so much, <|r.] You may 
 be better entertained, and meet with 
 more diversion, in observing the ri- 
 diculous business of mankind. 
 
 265. Bodies thrown from a ;nachinc, 
 %'.] The petaurum (from "ErErat'^cv, 
 pertica, a perch, a long staff or pole) 
 was a machine, or engine, made of 
 wood, hung up in an high place, out 
 of which the petauristas (the persons 
 who exhibited such feats) were 
 thrown into the air, and from thence 
 fiew to the ground. Aixsw. 
 
 Others say, that the petaurus was 
 a wooden circle, or hoop, through 
 which the petaun'stae threw them- 
 selves, so as to light with their feet 
 upon the ground. 
 
 Holyday gives a plate of the pe- 
 taurum, which is taken from Hieron. 
 Mercurialis, whom he calls an excel- 
 lent Italian antiquary, and represents 
 
 the petaurus like a swing, in which a 
 person sits, and is drawn up by peo- 
 ple who pull ropes, which go over a 
 pole at top, placed horizontally, and 
 thus raise the petaurista into the air, 
 where probably he swang backwards 
 and forwards, exhibiting feats of ac- 
 tivity, and then threw himself to 
 the ground upon his feet. See more 
 on this subject, Delph. edit, in 
 notis. 
 
 Whatever the petaurus might be, 
 as to its form, it appears, from this 
 passage of Juvenal, to have afforded 
 an amusement to the spectators, 
 something like our tumbling, vault- 
 ing, and the like. 
 
 266. To descend a strait rope, $c.] 
 First climbing up, and then sliding 
 down. Or if we take rectum here in 
 the sense of tensum, stretched, we 
 may suppose this a periphrasis for 
 rope-dancing. 
 
 After all, taking the two lines to- 
 gether, I should doubt whether the 
 poet does not mean rope-dancing in 
 both , and whether the petaurum, ac- 
 cording to the definition given by 
 Ains worth, signifies, here, any thing 
 else than the long pole which is used 
 by rope-dancers, in order to balance 
 them as they dance, and throw their 
 bodies into various attitudes on the 
 rope. Comp. 1. 272-4. 
 
 267. Thau thou.] q. d. Art not 
 thou as much an object of laughter — 
 full as ridiculous ? 
 
 — fVho always abidat.] Who livest 
 
SAT. XIV. 
 
 JUVENAL\S SATIRES. 
 
 279 
 
 Affairs he could not keep. Therefore you may leave 
 All the scenes of Flora", and of Ceres, and of Cybele, 
 By so much are human businesses greater sports. 
 Do bodies thrown from a machine more delight £65 
 
 The mind, and those who are used to descend a strait 
 
 rope, 
 Than thou, who always abidest in a Corycian ship, 
 And dwellest, always to be lifted up by the north-west 
 
 wind, and the south, 
 Wretched, the vile merchant of a stinking sack ? 
 Who rejoicest, from the shore of ancient Crete, to have 
 
 brought 270 
 
 Thick sweet wine, and bottles the countrymen of Jove. 
 He nevertheless fixing his steps, with doubtful foot, 
 Procures a living by that recompence ; and winter and 
 
 hunger 
 By that rope he avoids: you on account of a thousand 
 
 talents, 
 And an hundred villas are rash. Behold the ports, 275 
 
 on shipboard, and are tossed up and 
 down by every gale of wind. 
 
 — A Coryciaa ship.] i. e. Trading 
 to Corycium, a promontory in Crete, 
 where Jupiter was born. 
 
 269. Wretched.] Perditus signifies 
 desperate, past being reclaimed, lost 
 to all sense of what is right. 
 
 — A stinking sack.'] Olentis is ca- 
 pable of two senses, and may be un- 
 derstood either to signify that he 
 dealt in filthy stinking goods, which 
 were made up into bales, and packed 
 in bags ; or that he dealt in perfumes, 
 which he brought from abroad ; but 
 by the epithet vilis, 1 should rather 
 think the former. 
 
 271. Thick sweet wine.] Passum 
 was a sweet wine made of withered 
 grapes dried in the sun. Uva passa, 
 a sort of grape hung up in the sun to 
 wither, and afterwards scalded in a lixi- 
 vium, to be preserved dry, or to make 
 a sweet wine of. Ainsw. The poet 
 calls it pingue, from its thickness 
 and lusciousness. 
 
 — The countrymen of Jove.] Made 
 in Crete, where Jove was bora. See 
 sat. iv. 1. 31. 
 
 272. He nevertheless, #c] The 
 ropedancer above mentioned, 1. 265-0. 
 
 272. Fixing 7tis steps.] Upon the 
 narrow surface of the rope. 
 
 — With doubtful foot] There being 
 great danger of falling. Planta sig- 
 nifies the sole of the foot. 
 
 213. By that recommence.] Which 
 he receives from the spectators for 
 what he does. 
 
 — Winter and hunger.] Cold and 
 hunger. See Hor. lib. i. sat. ii. 1. 
 6. 
 
 274. He avoids.] Cavet — takes care 
 to provide against. 
 
 — You on account, <§c] The poor 
 rope-dancer ventures his limbs to 
 supply his necessary wants; you 
 rashly expose yourself to much great- 
 er dangers, to get more than you 
 want. 
 
 — A thousand talents'] Amounting 
 to about 1ST, 500/. of our monev. 
 See Hoi.yday, note }), on this Sa- 
 tire. 
 
 275. An hundred villas.] Or coun- 
 try-houses, when one would satisfy 
 any reasonable mind. 
 
 — Are rash.] Rashly run yourself 
 into all the dangers of the sea. 
 
 — Behold the ports.] What num- 
 bers of ships are there fitting for 
 .sea. 
 
£80 
 
 JUVEXALIS SATIR/E. 
 
 Et plenum magnis trabibus mare : plus hominum est jam 
 In pelago : vcniet classis, quocunque vocarit 
 Speslucri; nee Carpathium, Ga?tulaque tan turn. 
 yEquora transiliet : sed longe Calpe relicta, 
 
 Audiet Herculeo stridentem gurgite solem. 280 
 
 Grande operae pretium est, ut tenso folk reverti 
 
 Inde domum possk, tumidaque suptrbus aluta, 
 
 Oeeani monsira, et juvenes vidisse marinos. 
 
 Non unus mentes agitat furor: ille sororis 
 
 In manibus vultu Eumenidum terretur et igni. 235 
 
 Hie bove pereusso mugire Agamemnona credit, 
 
 Aut Itbacum : pavcat tunieis licet atque lacerms, 
 
 Curatoris eget, qui navem mercibus implet 
 
 Ad sumnium latus, et tabula distinguitur unda ; 
 
 Cum sit causa mali tanti, et discriminis hujus, 290 
 
 216. Large yiius.] The .sea covered 
 with ships. Trabs signifies a beam, 
 any larger piece of timber. With 
 these ships were built : but here, by 
 meton. is meant the ships themselves. 
 See Vihg. -En. iii. 191 — cuva trabe 
 currirous sequon 
 
 — The majority, <§c.] Plus homi- 
 num — the greater part of the people. 
 — q. (i. There tire more people now 
 at sea than on land. This hyperbole 
 (for we cannot take the words liter- 
 ally) is to be understood to express 
 the multitudes who were venturing 
 their lives at sea for gain. So with 
 us, when any thing grows general, 
 or gets into fashion, we say — every 
 body follows it — all the world does 
 it. 
 
 277. The fleet mill come.] No mat- 
 ter how distant or perilous the voy- 
 age may be, in whatever part of the 
 world money is to be gotten, the 
 hope of gain will induce, not merely, 
 here and there, a single ship, but a 
 whole fleet at once to go in search of 
 it. 
 
 278. Carpathian and GetuUan seas.] 
 The Carpathian sea lay between 
 Khodes and Egypt, and was so called 
 from the island Carpathus. 
 
 By the Gaetulian, we are to under- 
 stand what now is called the Straits 
 of Gibraltar. 
 
 219. Calpe being far left, £c.]— 
 Calpe, a mountain or high rock on 
 the Spanish coast (hod. Gibraltar,) 
 
 and Abyla (now Ceuta) on the African 
 coast, were called the pillars of Her- 
 cules. These pillars were generally 
 believed, in Juvenal's time, to be the 
 farthest west. 
 
 880. The sun hissing.] Alluding to 
 the notion of the sun's arising out of 
 the ocean in the east, and setting in 
 the ocean in the west. 
 
 —Herculean gulph.] i.e. The At- 
 lantic ocean, which, at the Straits, 
 was called the Herculean gulph, be- 
 cause there Hercules is supposed to 
 have finished his navigation, and on 
 the two now opposite shores of Spain 
 and Africa, which then united, (as is 
 said,) to have built his pillars ; (see 
 note above, 1. 219.) If they sailed 
 beyond these, they fancied they could, 
 when the sun set, hear him hiss in 
 the sea, like red-hot iron put into wa- 
 ter. This was the notion of Posido- 
 nius the philosopher, and others. 
 
 281. It is a great reward cf la- 
 bour.] Grande opes ai pretium — a la- 
 bour exceedingly worth the while ! 
 Ironice. 
 
 — A stretched purse.] Filled full of 
 money. 
 
 282. A swelled bag.] Aluta signifies 
 tanned or tawed leather ; and, by 
 metonym, any thing made thereof, 
 as shoes, scrips, or bags of an) 7 kind 
 — here it means a money -hag. 
 
 — Swelled.] Distended — puffed out 
 — with money. 
 
SAT. XIV. 
 
 JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 281 
 
 And the sea full with: large ships — the majority of mankind 
 
 are now 
 On the sea : the fleet will come wherever the hope of gain 
 Shall call ; nor the Carpathian and Gaetulian seas only 
 Will it pass over, but, Calpe being far left, 
 Will hear the sun hissing in the Herculean gulph. 280 
 
 It is a great reward of labour, that with a stretched purse, 
 You may return home from thence, and proud with a 
 
 swelled bag, 
 To have seen monsters of the ocean, , and marine youths. 
 Not one madness agitates minds r he, in the hands of his sister* 
 Is affrighted with the countenance, and fire of the Eume- 
 nides. 285 
 This man, an ox being stricken, believes Agamemnon to 
 
 roar, 
 Or Ithacus. Though he should spare his coats and cloaks^ 
 He wants a keeper, who fills with merchandise a ship 
 To the topmast edge, and by a plank is divided from the 
 
 water ; 
 When the cause of so great evil, and of this danger, 290 
 
 283. Monsters, $c] Whales, or 
 Other large creatures of the deep. 
 
 —Marine youths.] Tritons, which 
 were supposed to be half men, half 
 fish. Mermaids also may be here 
 meant, which are described with the 
 bodies of young women, the rest like 
 fishes. 
 
 Desinat in piscem mulier formosa 
 superne. 
 
 Hor. de Art. Poet. 1. 4. 
 
 284. Not one madness, $c] i. e. 
 Madness does not always shew itself 
 in the same shape ; men are mad in 
 different ways, and on different sub- 
 jects. 
 
 — He, in the hands of Ms sister, 
 4fc.J Alluding to the story of Orestes, 
 who, after he had slain his mother, 
 was tormented by furies : his sister 
 Electra embracing himj endeavoured 
 to comfort him ; but he said to her, 
 ■• Let me alone, thou art one of the 
 " furies ; you only embrace me, that 
 "* you may cast me into Tartarus." 
 Eurip. in Orest. 
 
 285. Eumenides.] The three furies, 
 the daughters of Acheron and Nox — 
 Afecto, Tisiphone, and Megaera. — 
 They were called Eumenides, by an- 
 tiphrasis, from ivptrr.<;, kind, bene- 
 
 volent. They are described with 
 snakes on their heads, and with light- 
 ed torches in their hands. 
 
 286. This man, an ox being stricken t 
 fyc] Ajax, on the armour of Achilles 
 being adjudged to Ulysses, (see Ov. 
 Met. lib. xiii.) ran mad, and destroy- 
 ed a flock ef sheep, thinking he was 
 destroying the Greeks. He slew two 
 oxen, taking one for Agamemnon, 
 the other for Ulysses. See Sophoc. 
 Ajax Mastigophorus. 
 
 287. Ithacus*] Ulysses, king of 
 Ithaca. See sat. x. 246. 
 
 — Spare his coats, fie] Though he 
 should not be so furiously mad, as to 
 tear his clothes off his back. 
 
 288. Wants a keeper.] Curatoris 
 eget — stands in need of somebody to 
 take care of him. 
 
 —Who fills, $c] Who, for the 
 hopes of gain, loads a ship so deep, 
 that there is nothing left of her above 
 the water, but the uppermost part, 
 or edges of her sides. 
 
 280. A plank, $c.} Has nothing 
 between him and the fathomless deep 
 but a thin plank. 
 
 290. When the - cause, $c] The 
 only motive to all this. 
 
 2 O 
 
2S2 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 Concisum argentum in titulos faciesque minutas. 
 Occurrunt nubes et fulgura : solvite funem, 
 Frumenti dominus clamat, piperisque coemptor ; 
 Nil color hie cceli, nil fascia nigra minatur : 
 iEstivum tonat : infelix, ac forsitan ipsa 
 Nocte cadet fractis trabibus, fluctuque premetur 
 Obrutus, etzonam laeva morsuve tenebit. 
 Sed, cujus votis modo non suffecerat aurum, 
 Quod Tagus, et rutila, volvit Pactolus arena, 
 Frigida sufficient velantes inguina panni, 
 Exiguusque cibus ; mersa. rate naufragus assem, 
 Dum petit, et picta se tempestate tuetur. 
 Tantis parta malis, cura majore metuque 
 Servantur : misera est magni custodia census. 
 Dispositis prsedives hamis vigilare cohorten 
 
 295 
 
 300 
 
 305 
 
 291. Silver battered, #c] A peri- 
 phrasis for money. The silver of 
 which it was made was first cut into 
 pieces, then stamped with the name 
 and titles of the reigning emperor, 
 and also with a likeness of his face. 
 See Matt. xxii. 20-1. 
 
 292. Clouds and lightning* occur.'} 
 The weather appears cloudy, and 
 looks as if there would be a storm of 
 thunder and lightning; but this does 
 not discourage the adventurer from 
 leaving the port. 
 
 — " Loose the cable."} Says he — 
 " unmoor the ship, and prepare for 
 44 sailing." 
 
 Funem may signify either the ca- 
 ble with which the vessel was fasten- 
 ed on shore, or the coble belonging to 
 the anchor, by which she was fas- 
 tened in the water. 
 
 293. Cries the owner, $c] The 
 owner of the freight calls out aloud. 
 
 —The buycr-uj) of pepper.] Juve- 
 nal does not simply say, emptor, the 
 buyer, but coemptor, the buyer-up ; 
 as if he meant to describe a monopo- 
 lizer, who buys up the whole of a 
 commodity, in order to sell it on his 
 own terms. 
 
 294. " This colour of the heaven."] 
 This dark complexion of the sky. 
 
 — ." This black cloud."] Fascia sig- 
 nifies a swathe or band. A thick 
 cloud was called Fascia, because it 
 seemed to swathe or bind up the sun, 
 and hinder its light ; but, perhaps, 
 rathe** from its being: an assemblage 
 
 of many clouds collected and bound, 
 as it were, together. 
 
 295. " It is summer thunder."]— 
 Nothing hut a mere thunder shower, 
 which will soon be over, and which 
 in summer time is very common, 
 without any storm following. 
 
 — Unhappy wretch.] Who is blind- 
 ed by his avarice, so as to consider 
 no consequences. 
 
 296. Beams being broken.] Ship- 
 wrecked by the ensuing tempest, he 
 v ill fall into the sea, the timbers of 
 his ship broken to pieces. 
 
 297. His girdle, §c.\ Some think 
 that the ancients carried their money 
 tied to their girdles, from whence 
 Plautus calls a cut-purse, sector zo- 
 narius. But I should rather think 
 that they carried their money in their 
 girdles, which were made hollow for 
 that purpose. See Hoit. epist. ii. I. 
 40. Suet. Vitell. c. 16. says, Zona 
 se aureorum plena circumdedit. 
 
 —Left hand.] While he swims with 
 his right. 
 
 — Or -with his bite.] i. e. With his 
 teeth, that he may have both hands 
 at liberty to swim with. 
 
 298. But for him, $c] Whose 
 wishes were boundless, and whose 
 desires after wealth were insatiable. 
 
 299. Tagus."} A river of Portugal. 
 Sec Ov. Met. ii. 251. 
 
 — Pactolus.] A river in Lydia, 
 called also Chryscrrhoas. Both these. 
 rivers were said to have golden sands. 
 See Hor, epod. xv. 20. 
 
JUVENAKS SATIRES. 
 
 283 
 
 Is silver battered into titles, and small faces. 
 Clouds and lightnings occur : " Loose the cable" — ■ 
 (Cries the owner of the wheat, and the buyer-up of pep- 
 per—) 
 " Nothing this colour of the heaven, nothing this black 
 
 w cloud threatens : 
 " It is summer- thunder." — Unhappy wretch ! and perhaps 
 that very 295 
 
 Night he will fall, the beams being broken, and be pressed 
 
 down by a wave, 
 Overwhelmed, and will hold his girdle with his left hand, 
 
 or with his bite. 
 But for him, for whose washes a while ago the gold had not 
 
 sufficed, 
 Which Tagus, and Pactolus rolls in its shining sand, 
 Rags covering his cold thighs will suffice, 300 
 
 And a little food; while, his ship being sunk, shipwrecked, he 
 Asks a penny, and supports himself by a painted tempest. 
 Things gotten with so many evils, with greater care and fear 
 Are kept — miserable is the custody of great wealth. 
 Wealthy Licinus commands his troop of servants, with 305 
 
 — Rolls.] Or throws up, by the 
 course of its waters over the sands, 
 so that it is found at low water. This 
 is said to be the case of some waters 
 in Africa, which flow down precipices 
 with great impetuosity, and leave 
 gold-dust, which they have washed 
 from the earth in their passage, in 
 the gullies and channels which they 
 make in their way. 
 
 300. Rags covering, <Jfc] This 
 very wretch, who could not before 
 have been satisfied with all the gold 
 of the Tagus and Pactolus, is now, 
 having been shipwrecked and ruined 
 by the loss of his all, very content, if 
 he can but get rags to cover his na- 
 kedness fj om the inclemency of the 
 weather. 
 
 301. A little food.] Bestowed upon 
 him in charity, or purchased with the 
 few pence he gets by begging. 
 
 301-2- He asks a penny.] Who be- 
 fore wanted a thousand talents, more 
 than he had, to content him. Seel. 
 274. 
 
 302. A painted tctnpest.2 Persons 
 who had lost their property by ship- 
 wreck used to have their misfortune 
 
 painted on a board, and hung at their 
 breasts, to move compassion in the 
 passers by ; as we often see sailors 
 and others begging in the streets, 
 with an account of their misfortunes 
 written on paper or parchment, and 
 pinned on their breasts. Tuetur means 
 he defends or supports himself in this 
 manner. 
 
 303. With so many evils.} But 
 suppose all this be avoided, and the 
 man comes home rich and prosper- 
 ous, still he is not happy ; he must 
 be harassed with continual care, anxi- 
 ety, and dread, in order to keep what 
 he has gotten, and these may give 
 him more uneasiness than any thing 
 else has given him in the pursuit of 
 his wealth. 
 
 304. Miserable is the custody, #<?.] 
 The constant watchfulness, the incest 
 sant guard, that are to be kept over 
 heaps of wealth, added to the con- 
 stant dread of being plundered, may 
 be truly said to make the owner lead 
 a miserable life. This is well des- 
 cribed by Horace, sat. i. 1. 76-9. 
 
 305. Licinus.] The name of some 
 very rich man. It stands here for 
 
284 
 
 JUVENALIS SATIRJE. 
 
 Servorum noctu Licinus jubet, attonitus pro 
 
 Electro, signisque suis, Phrygiaque colurnna, 
 
 Atque ebore, et lata testudine : dolia nudi 
 
 Non ardent Cynici : si fregeris, altera fiet 
 
 Cras domus ; aut eadem pi umbo commissa manebit. 
 
 Sensit Alexander, testa cum vidit in ilia 
 
 Magnum habitatorem, quanto felicior hie, qui 
 
 Nil cuperet, quam qui totum sibi posceret orbem, 
 
 Passurus gestis aequanda pericula rebus. 
 
 Nullum numen habes, si sit prudentia : sed te, 
 
 Nos facimus, Fortuna, Deam. Mensura tamen quae 
 
 Sufficiat census, si quis me consulat, edam. 
 
 In quantum sitis atque fames et frigora poscunt : 
 
 Quantum, Epicure, tibi parvis suffecit in hortis : 
 
 Quantum Socratici ceperunt ante Penates. 
 
 S10 
 
 315 
 
 320 
 
 any such. Wealthy — presdives, very 
 rich, beyond others wealthy. 
 
 306. Buckets set in order.) Ham a 
 signifies a water-bucket made of lea- 
 ther. Ainsw. Dispositis, properly 
 disposed, so as to be ready in case of 
 tire. 
 
 — Affrighted.] Half distracted, as 
 it were, with apprehension. 
 
 307. His amber.] Lest he should 
 lose his fine cups and other vessels 
 made of amber. Eleetrum also sig- 
 nifies a mixture of gold and silver, 
 whereof one fifth part was silver. — 
 Ainsw. 
 
 — His statues.] Signum denotes a 
 graven, painted, or molten image, a 
 figure of any thing. 
 
 — Phrygian column.] His fine or- 
 namented pillars, made of marble 
 brought out of Phyrgia, a country of 
 the Lesser Asia. 
 
 308. For his ivory.) His furniture 
 made or inlaid with ivory. 
 
 — Broad tortoise-shell.] His couches, 
 and other moveables, richly inlaid 
 and ornamented with large and valu- 
 able pieces of tortoise-shell. 
 
 — The casks, $-c] Dolia, the plu- 
 ral put for the singular, per synec. 
 The cask of Diogenes, the Cynic phi- 
 losopher, is here meant, which was 
 not made of wood, as has been com- 
 monly supposed, but of clay baked, 
 and so in no danger of fire, Dolium 
 signifies any great vessel, as a tun, 
 pipe, or hogshead. In these dolia 
 the ancients used to keep their wine. 
 
 Hence Ter. Heaut. act iii. sc. i. 1. 
 51. Iielevi omnia dolia — which some 
 translators have rendered, " I have 
 " pierced every cask." But, how- 
 ever that may be agreeable to our 
 idiom, piercing an earthen vessel, 
 which the dolium was, is not to be 
 supposed. Lino signified the securing 
 the mouth, or bung hole, of any ves- 
 sel with pitch, rosin, or wax, to pre- 
 vent the air's getting in, to the pre- 
 judice of what might be contained in 
 it : and as this was never omitted, 
 when any vessel was filled with wine, 
 hence it is used for putting wine into 
 casks. 
 
 Hor. Od. lib. i. ode xx. 1. 1-3. 
 Vile pofabis modicis Sabinuvi 
 
 Cantharis, Grccca quod ego ipse 
 testa 
 
 Conditum LEVI. 
 
 Relino-evi signifies, consequently, 
 to remove the rosin, or pitch, upon 
 opening the vessel for use, 
 
 309. Break them.] Should you 
 dash them all to pieces, so as not to 
 be repaired, such another habitation 
 is very easilv provided. 
 
 310. Solder' d with lead.] Any frac- 
 ture or chink may easily be stopped, 
 by fixing some lead over it, or pour- 
 ing some melted lead into the crack, 
 which would fill it up. 
 
 311. Alexander.] Alexander the 
 Great might easily perceive how 
 much happier, and more content, 
 Diogenes was in his poverty, than he 
 who coveted emnire so much as not 
 
SAT. XIV. 
 
 JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 285 
 
 Buckets set in order, tq^watch by night, affrighted for 
 His amber, and for his statues, and his Phrygian column, 
 And for his ivory, and broad tortoise-shell. The casks of 
 
 the naked 
 Cynic do not burn : should you break them, another house 
 Will be made to-morrow, or the same will remain soldered 
 
 with lead. 310 
 
 Alexander perceived, when he saw, in that cask, 
 The great inhabitant, how much happier this man was, who 
 Desired nothing, than he, who required the whole world, 
 About to suffer dangers to be equalled to things done. 
 Thou hast no divinity, O Fortune, if there be prudence : 
 
 but thee 315 
 
 We make a goddess. Nevertheless the measure of an estate 
 Which may suffice, if any should consult me, I will declare. 
 As much as thirst and hunger, and cold require ; 
 As much, Epicurus, as sufficed thee in thy little garden ; 
 As much as the Socratic Penates had taken before. 320 
 
 to be content with one world. This 
 alludes to the story of Alexander's 
 coming to Corinth, where he found 
 Diogenes, and not being saluted by 
 him, Alexander went up to him, and 
 asked him, " if he could do any 
 '* thing for him ?" " Yes," said 
 Diogenes, " stand from between me 
 " and the sun." 
 
 — In that cask.] Testa. This shews 
 that the vessel, or hogshead, which 
 Diogenes lived in, was not made of 
 wood. 
 
 312. The great inhabitant.^ Dio- 
 genes, the chief of the Cynics, very 
 properly so styled, from xvuv, xvvoq, 
 a dog, from the snarling surliness of 
 their manners ; of this we have a 
 specimen in the answer of Diogenes 
 to Alexander above-mentioned. 
 
 314. About to suffer, $c.] i. e. To 
 expose himself to, and to undergo 
 dangers, proportionate to his attempts 
 to accomplish his vast designs, and 
 equal to all the glory which he might 
 acquire. 
 
 315. No divinity, $-c] See sat. x. 
 I. 365-6, and notes. 
 
 316. The measure, $-c] If I were 
 asked what I thought a competency 
 sufficient to furnish the comfortable 
 necessaries of life, I would answer as 
 fellow;? — 
 
 318. As much, $-c.] That which 
 will suffice — as much as is required 
 for food and raiment. So St. Paul, 
 1 Tim. vi. 8. 
 
 Necis quo valeat minimus ; quam 
 
 proebeat usum 9 
 Panis ematur, olus, vini sextet riu s ; 
 
 adde 
 Quels humana sill dokat natura ne- 
 
 gatis. 
 
 Hor. sat. i. 1. 73-5. 
 " Would you the real use of riches 
 
 " know! 
 " Bread, herbs, and tvine are all 
 
 " they can bestow. 
 " Or add what nature's deepest 
 
 " wants supplies, 
 i( These, and no more, thy mass 
 
 " of money buys." 
 
 Francis. 
 So Pope, in his use of riches, Eih. 
 ep. hi. 1. 81-2. 
 
 " What riches give us let us first 
 
 " inquire, 
 " Meat, fire, and clothes — -what 
 
 " more? meat, clothes, and 
 
 " fire.» 
 
 319. Little garden.] See sat. xiii. 
 122-3. hortis, plur. per synec. pro 
 horto, sing. 
 
 320. Socratic penates, $•<;.] i. e. As 
 much as Socrates required and took 
 for the maintenance of his household. 
 
JUVENALIS SATIRE. 
 
 NuNQUAM ALIUD NATUEA, ALIUD SAPIENTIA DTCIT. 
 
 Acribus exemplis videor te claudere ; misce 
 Ergo aliquid nostris de moribus ; effice summam, 
 Bis septem ordinibus quam lex dignatur Othonis. 
 Haec quoque si rugam trahit, extenditque labellum, 
 Sume duos Equites, fac tertia quadringenta : 
 Si nondum implevi gremium, si panditur ultra; 
 Nee Croesi fortuna unquam, nee Persica regna 
 Sufficient animo, nee divitiae Narcissi, 
 lndulsit Caesar cui Claudius omnia, cujus 
 Paruit imperiis, uxorem occidere jussus. 
 
 325 
 
 330 
 
 Here, by meton. called Penates, from 
 the household gods which were in his 
 house. 
 
 — Before.] i. e. In earlier times, 
 before Epicurus. Socrates died four 
 hundred years before Christ ; Epicu- 
 rus two hundred and seventy-one. 
 
 321. Nature never says, <£c] i. e. 
 Nature and wisdom always agree in 
 teaching the same lesson. By nature, 
 here, we must understand that simple 
 principle which leads only to the de- 
 sire ofthe necessary comforts of life. 
 
 If we go farther, the term nature 
 may extend to the appetite and pas- 
 sions, which, in their desires and pur- 
 suits, suit but ill with the dictates of 
 wisdom. 
 
 Pope, Eth. epist. iii. 1. 25, 6. 
 
 *' What nature -wants" (a phrase I 
 must disfruit) 
 
 " Extends to luxury, extends to 
 " lust," $c. 
 
 322. / seem to confine, £c] By 
 saying this, I may seem, perhaps, too 
 
 severe, and to circumscribe your de- 
 sires in too narrow a compass, by 
 mentioning such rigid examples of 
 persons, of what you may think, sour 
 dispositions. 
 
 323. Our manners.] That I may 
 not be thought too scanty in my al- 
 low ance, I will permit you to mingle 
 something of our more modern way 
 of thinking and living. 
 
 — Make the su?n, ^r.] Suppose 
 you make up, together with what I 
 have mentioned as sufficient, a sum 
 equal to a knight's estate, which, by 
 a law of Roscius Otho the tribune, 
 called the Roscian law, was to amount 
 to four hundred sestertia revenue per 
 annum, about 3,125/. of our money. 
 
 324. Twice seven ranks, §c] Four- 
 teen ranks or rows of seats in the 
 theatre were assigned to the eques- 
 trian order. See Hor. ep. iv. 1. 15, 
 16 ; and Juv. sat. iii. 1. 144, 5, and 
 notes. 
 
 325. If this also draws, $e.] If 
 
JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 287 
 
 SAT. XIV. 
 
 Nature never says one thing, wisdom another. 
 I seem to confine you by sour examples ; mix 
 Therefore something from our manners, make the sum 
 What the law thinks Worthy the twice seven ranks of Otho. 
 If this also draws a wrinkle, and extends your lip, 325 
 
 Take two knights, make the third four hundred. 
 If as yet I have not filled your bosom, if it be opened 
 
 farther, 
 Neither the fortune of Croesus, nor the Persian kingdoms, 
 Will ever suffice your mind, nor the riches of Narcissus, 
 To whom Claudius Caesar indulged every thing, whose 330 
 Commands he obeyed, being ordered to kill his wife. 
 
 this contracts your brow Into a frown, - 
 and makes you pout out your lips, as 
 in disdain or displeasure— as we say, 
 hang the lip — i. e. if this, as well as 
 the examples before mentioned, of 
 Socrates and Epicurus, displeases you. 
 
 326. Take two knights.] Possess 
 an estate sufficient for two of the 
 equestrian order. See above, 1. 323, 
 note 2. 
 
 — Make the third four hundred.] 
 Even add a third knight's estate, have 
 three times four hundred sestertia. 
 
 327. Fitted your bosom, fyc] A 
 metaphor alluding to the garments of 
 the ancients, which were loose, and 
 which they held open before to receive 
 what was given to them.- Comp. Isa. 
 Ixv. 6, 7. Luke vi. 38. 
 
 The poet means, If I have not yet 
 satisfied your desires by what I allow 
 you: if I have not thrown enough 
 into your lap, as we say. See sat. 
 vii. 215, and note. 
 
 ^-Opened farther.] The metaphor 
 is still continued — q. d. If your desires 
 are still extended beyond this. 
 
 328. Fortune of Croesus.] The 
 rich king of Lydia. See sat. x. 263. 
 
 — Persian kingdoms.] The kings 
 of Persia, particularly Darius and 
 Xerxes, were famed for their magni- 
 ficence and riches. 
 
 329. Suffice your mind.] Will be 
 sufficient to gratify your desires. 
 
 — Riches of Narcissus.]- A freed- 
 man and favourite of Claudius 
 Caesar, who had such an ascendancy 
 over the emperor, as to prevail on 
 him to put Messalina to death, after 
 her paramour Silius. See sat. x. 1. 
 298-314. Claudius would have par- 
 doned her adultery, but, at the insti- 
 gation of Narcissus, he had her killed 
 in the gardens of Lucullus. By the 
 favour of the emperor, Narcissus was 
 possessed of immense wealth. 
 
AULI 
 
 PERSII FLACCI 
 
 SATIRE. 
 
 THE 
 SATIRES 
 
 AULUS FLACCUS PERSIUS. 
 
 2 p 
 
PREFACE 
 
 AULUS PERSIUS FLACCUS was born at Vola- 
 terrae, in Etruria (now Tuscany), about the twentieth 
 year of the emperor Tiberius, that is to say, about two 
 years after the death of Christ. Flaccus, his father, was 
 a Roman knight, whom he lost when he was but six 
 years of age. His mother, Fulvia Sisennia, afterwards 
 married one Fusius, a Roman knight, and within a few 
 years buried him also. Our poet studied, till the age of 
 twelve years, at Volaterrae ; he then came to Rome, where 
 he put himself under the instruction of Remmius Palse- 
 mon, a grammarian, and Virginius Flaccus, a rhetorician; 
 to each of which he paid the highest attention. At 
 sixteen he made a friendship with Annseus Cornutus, (by 
 country an African, by profession a Stoic philosopher,) 
 from whom he got an insight into the Stoic philosophy. 
 By means of Cornutus he became acquainted with 
 Annseus Lucanus, who so admired the writings of Persius, 
 that on hearing him read his verses, he could scarcely 
 refrain from crying out publicly, that " they were abso- 
 '* lute poems." 
 
 He was a young man of gentle manners, of great mo- 
 desty, and of remarkable sobriety and frugality : dutiful 
 and affectionate towards his mother, loving and kind to 
 his sisters ; a most strenuous friend and defender of vir- 
 tue — an irreconcileable enemy to vice in all its shapes, as 
 may appear from his Satires, which came from his mas- 
 terly pen in an early time of life, when dissipation, 
 lewdness, and extravagance were cultivated and followed 
 by so many of his age, and when, instead of making them 
 
292 PREFACE. 
 
 his associates, he made them the objects of his severest 
 animadversion. 
 
 He died of a disorder in his stomach about the thirtieth 
 year of his age, and left behind him a large fortune ; the 
 bulk of which he bequeathed to his mother and sisters ; 
 leaving an handsome legacy to his friend and instructor 
 Coram t us, together with his study of books: Cornutus 
 only accepted the books, and gave the money, which 
 had been left him, to the surviving sisters of Persius. 
 
 Some have supposed, that Persius studied obscurity in 
 his Satires, and that to this we owe the difficulty of un- 
 ravelling his meaning ; that he did this, that he might 
 with the greater safety attack and expose the vicious of 
 his day, and particularly the emperor Nero, at whom 
 some of his keenest shafts were aimed : however this may 
 be, I have endeavoured to avail myself of the explana- 
 tions which the learned have given, in order to facilitate 
 the forming of my own judgment, which, whether co- 
 incident with theirs or not, I have freely set down in the 
 following notes, in order that my readers may the more 
 easily form theirs. 
 
 As to the comparisons which have been made between 
 Horace, Persius, and Juvenal, (the former of which is so 
 often imitated by Persius,) I would refer the reader to 
 Mr. Drydea's Dedication to the Earl of Dorset, which is 
 prefixed to the translation of Juvenal and Persius, by 
 himself and others, and where this matter is very fully 
 considered. For my own part, I think it best to allow 
 each his particular merit, and to avoid the invidious and 
 disagreeable task of making comparisons, where each is 
 so excellent, and wherein prejudice and fancy too often 
 supersede true taste and sound judgment. 
 
 However the comparative merit of Persius may be de- 
 termined, his positive excellence can hardly escape the 
 readers of his Satires, or incline them to differ from 
 Quintilian, who says of him, Inst. Orator, lib. x. cap. 1. 
 
PREFACE. 293 
 
 " Multum et vera? gloria?, quamvis uno libro Persius 
 <w meruit." 
 
 Martial seems of this opinion, lib. iv. epig. xxviii. 1. 
 7,8. 
 
 " Saepius in libro memoratur Persius uno, 
 " Quam levis in tota Marsus Amazonide." 
 
 On which the Scholiast observes, by way of note, 
 " Gratior est parvus liber Satirarum Persii, quam in- 
 " gens volumen Marsi, quo helium Her cutis scripsit 
 " contra Amazonas? 
 
 Nor were the Satires of Persius in small esteem, even 
 among some of the most learned of the early Christian 
 writers — such as Cassiodore, Lactantius, Eusebius, St. 
 Jerom, and St. Austin. This is observed by Holyday, 
 who concludes his preface to his translation with these 
 remarkable words, " Reader, be courteous to thyself, 
 " and let not the example of an heathen condemn thee, 
 " but improve thee," 
 
PROLOGUS 
 
 AD 
 
 J^ittram $Jrtmanu 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 fik The design of the author was to conceal his name and 
 quality. — He lived in the dangerous times of Nero, and 
 aims particularly at him in most of his Satires : fur 
 which reason, though he was of equestrian dignify, and 
 
 iif a plentiful fortune, he would appear, in this Prologue, 
 
 NEC fontc labra prolui Caballino : 
 Ncc in bicipiti somniassc Parnasso 
 Memini ; ut rc-pente sic pocta prodirem. 
 Heliconidasque, pallidainque Pirenen 
 
 I His remitto, quorum imagines iambunt 5 
 
 Hedera? sequaces. Ipse seinipaganus 
 
 Line I. Caouiline Joint tain.] A 
 fountain near Helicon, a hill in Baeo- 
 tia, sacred to the .Muses and Apoilo, 
 which the horse Pegasus is said to 
 have opened with his hoof: therefore 
 sometimes called Hippocrene, from 
 the Gr. iiriros, an horse, and xgwv, 
 a fountain. 
 
 The poet in derision calls it cabal- 
 Iinus, from caballus, which is a name 
 for a sorry horse, a jade, a pack- 
 horse, and the like. 
 
 The poets feigned, that drinking 
 of this sacred fountain inspired, as it 
 were, poetic fancy, imagination, and 
 abilities. Thus Virg. ^En. vii. 641 ; 
 and iEn. x. 163. 
 
 Panditc nunc HeKcona, Dcoc, can- 
 tusque movete. 
 Persius means to ridicule this notion. 
 
 2. Hare dreamed, <§v.] Parnassus 
 is a mountain of Phocis, in Achaia, 
 in which is the Castalian spring, and 
 
 temple of Apollo. It was a notion, 
 that whosoever ascended this hill, 
 and staid there for any time, imme- 
 diately became a poet. It hath two 
 tops, Cyrrha and Nisa, or, as others, 
 Helicon and Cytheron, or Thithorea 
 and Ilyampeus according to Herodo- 
 tus, the former sacred to Apollo and 
 
 the Muses, the latter to Bacchus 
 
 Hence our poet says — bicipiti Par- 
 nasso. 
 
 He is supposed to allude to the 
 poet Ennius, who is said to have 
 dreamed that he was on mount Par- 
 nassus, and that the soul of Homer 
 entered into him. 
 
 3. Suddenly.] i. e. All on a sudden 
 — without any pains or study — by im- 
 mediate inspiration, as it were. 
 
 4. Heliconides.] The Muses, so 
 called from Helicon. Seel. 1, note. 
 
 — Pirate.] Pirene was another 
 fountain near Corinth, sacred to the 
 

 
 PROLOGUE 
 
 J^irst &utkt. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 but a beggarly poet, zvho writes for bread. After this 
 he breaks into the business of the first Satire, zvhich is 
 chiefly to decry the poetry then in fashion, and the im- 
 pudence of those zvho were endeavouring to pass their 
 stuff upon the world." Dryden. 
 
 I HAVE neither moistened my lips with the Caballine 
 
 fountain, 
 Nor to have dreamed in two-headed Parnassus, 
 Do I remember, that thus I should suddenly come forth a 
 
 poet. 
 Both the Heiiconides, and pale Pirene, 
 I leave to those, whose images the pliant ivy- boughs 5 
 
 Touch softly. I, half a clown, 
 
 Muses ; so called from Pirene, the 
 daughter of Achelous, who is fabled 
 to have wept forth from her eyes the 
 fountain called by her name. The" 
 epithet pale may refer to the com" 
 plexion of Pirene pale with grief : 
 or, as some think, is to be understood 
 figuratively, to denote the paleness 
 of those poets who studied and la- 
 boured hard to make their verses. 
 See sat. i. 1. 121, and note. 
 
 5. Those , whose images, $c] The 
 poet feigns himself to be an untu- 
 tored rustic, and to write merely 
 from his own rude genius, without 
 those assistances which others have 
 derived from the Muses and the sa- 
 cred fountains: these, says he, I 
 leave to such great men as have their 
 images set up in the temple of the 
 Muses, and crowned with ivy, in 
 token of honour. 
 
 Me doctarum hederee prcemia fron- 
 Hum 
 
 Diis miscent superis. 
 
 Hon. ode i. lib. i. 1. 29-30. 
 
 . — The pliant ivy.] The ivy bends, 
 and intvvines whatever it is planted 
 against, and may be said to follow 
 the form and bent thereof; hence the 
 epithet sequaces. So, when gathered 
 and made into chaplets, it follows ex- 
 actly the circular form of the head on 
 which it is placed, easily bending and 
 intwining it. Some think that sequa- 
 ces here intimates its following dis- 
 tinguished poets as their reward. 
 
 6. Touch softly.'] Lambo properly 
 signifies to lick with the tongue — 
 hence, to touch gently or softly. Lam- 
 bunt is peculiarly applicable, as ivy is 
 in the shape of a tongue. 
 
 — /, half a clown.] See above, note 
 on 1. 5. 
 

 296 
 
 PROLOGUS. 
 
 Ad sacra vatum carmen affero nostrum. 
 
 Quis expedivit psittaco suum x&~yi ? 
 Picasque docuit verba nostra conari ? 
 Magister artis, ingenique largitor 
 Venter, negatas artifex sequi voces. 
 
 Quod si dolosi spes refulserit nummi, 
 Corvos poetas, et poetrias picas, 
 Cantare credas Pegaseium melos. 
 
 10 
 
 7. Consecrated repositories, Qc.] i. e. 
 The temple of Apollo and the Muses 
 built by Augustus on mount Palatine, 
 where the works of the poets were 
 kept and recited. See Juv. sat. i. 1. 
 1, note. 
 
 8. Who has expedited, ^e."] Expe- 
 divit— lit. hastened — q. d. Who has 
 made a parrot so ready at speaking 
 the word X a '£ £ - This, like salve, 
 ave, or the like, was a salutation 
 among the ancients at meeting or part- 
 ing ; this they taught their parrots, 
 or magpies, who used to utter them, 
 as ours are frequently taught to speak 
 some similar common word. See 
 Mart. lib. xiv. ep. 73-0. 
 
 9. Taught magpie», $r.] The mag- 
 pie, as we daily see, is another bird 
 which is often taught to speak. 
 
 11. The hclly.] }. c. Hunger, 
 which is the teacher of this, as qf 
 
 many other arts — the giver of genius 
 and capacity — skilful and cunning to 
 follow after the most difficult attain- 
 ments from which it can hope for re- 
 lief to its cravings. 
 
 — Cunning.] Artifex-icis. adj. See 
 Aixsw. 
 
 — Denied words.] This hunger is a 
 great artist in this way, of teaching 
 birds to utter human language, which 
 naturally is denied them. 
 
 The birds are, in a manner, starved 
 into this kind of erudition, the mas- 
 ters of them keeping them very sharp, 
 and rewarding them with a bit of 
 food, when they shew a compliance 
 with their endeavours, from time to 
 time. On this principle we have, in 
 our day, seen wonderful things, quite 
 foreign to the nature of the animals, 
 taught to horses, dogs, and even tu 
 swine. 
 
PROLOGUE. 
 
 297 
 
 Bring my verse to the consecrated repositories of the poets. 
 
 Who has expedited to a parrot his ^«jps ? 
 And taught magpies to attempt our words ? 
 A master of art, and a liberal bestower of genius, 10 
 
 The belly, cunning to follow denied words. 
 
 But if the hope of deceitful money should glitter, 
 Raven-poets, and magpie-poetesses, 
 You may imagine to sing Pegaseian melody. 
 
 The poet means, that as parrots and 
 magpies are starved into learning to 
 speak, which by nature is denied 
 them, so the scribblers, which he 
 here intends to satirize, are driven 
 into writing verses, by their poverty 
 and necessity, without any natural 
 genius or talents whatsoever. 
 
 12. If the hope, $c.\ These poor 
 poets, who are without all natural 
 genius, and would therefore never 
 think of writing ; yet, such is their 
 poverty, that if they can once encou- 
 rage themselves to hope for a little 
 money by writing, they will instantly 
 set about it. 
 
 — Deceitful money.] Money may, 
 on many accounts, deserve the epi- 
 thet here given it. But in this place 
 particularly it is so called, from its 
 deceiving these scribblers into doing 
 
 what they are not fit for, and by at- 
 tempting of which they expose them- 
 selves to the utmost contempt and 
 derjsion. 
 
 13. Raien-poefs, fyc"\ Once let the 
 gilded bait come in view, you will 
 hear such a recital of poetry , as would 
 make you think that ravens and mag- 
 pies were turned poets and poetesses, 
 and had been taught to recite their 
 performances. 
 
 14. Pegaseian melody.] They would 
 do this with so much effrontery, that 
 instead of the wretched stuff which 
 they produced, you would think they 
 were reciting something really poe- 
 tical and sublime, as if they had 
 drunk of Hippocrene itself, (see 
 above, note on h 1.) or had mounted 
 and soared aloft on the winged Pe- 
 gasus. 
 
J&attra Ifrtma» 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 This Satire opens in form of a dialogue between Persius 
 and a friend. — We may suppose Persius to be just seated 
 in his study, and beginning to vent his indignation in 
 satire An acquaintance comes in, and, on hearing the 
 first line, dissuades the poet from an undertaking so 
 dangerous ; advising him, if he must write, to accommo- 
 date his vein to the taste of the times, and to write like 
 other people. 
 
 Persius acknowledges, that this would be the means of 
 gaining applause; but adds, that the approbation of 
 such patrons as this compliance would recommend him to 
 was a thing not to be desired. 
 
 PERSIUS. MONITOR. 
 
 P. O CUR AS hominum ! 6 quantum est in rebus inane! 
 M. Quis leget haec ? P. Min" tu istud ais ? M. Nemo, 
 
 Hercule. P. Nemo ? 
 M. Vel duo, vel nemo; turpe et miserabile. P. Quare? 
 Ne mihi Polydamas et Troiades Labeonem 
 Pra?tulerint ? nogse ! — Non, si quid turbida Roma 5 
 
 Line 1. O the caret, Qc] Persius 
 is supposed to be reading this line, 
 the Hist of the Satire which he had 
 composed, when his friend is entering 
 and overhears it. Comp. Eccl. i. 2-1 4-. 
 
 2. Who will read these ?] Says his 
 friend to him — i. c. Who, as the 
 present taste at Rome is, will trouble 
 themselves to read a work which be- 
 gins with such serious reflections ? 
 Your very first line will disgust them 
 —they like nothing but trifles. 
 
 — Do you say that, <|c] Do you 
 say that to me and my writings ? 
 
 — Xobody.] Yes I do, and aver 
 that you will not have a single reader ; 
 nay, I will swear it by Hercules— an 
 usual oath among the Romans. 
 
 — Xobody 9] Says Persius — Do you 
 literally mean what you say ? 
 
 3. Perhaps two, #c] It may be, 
 replies the friend, that here and there 
 a few readers may be found ; but I 
 rather think that even this will not 
 be the case ; I grant this to be very 
 hard, after the pains which you have 
 bestowed, and very shameful. 
 
 — Wherefore ?] Wherefore do you 
 call it a miserable, or a shameful 
 thing, not to have my writings read ? 
 Are you afraid that I should be un- 
 easy at seeing my performances 
 thrown aside, and those of a vile 
 scribbler preferred ? 
 
 4. Polydamas and the Troiads, <§-(*.] 
 The poet dares not speak out, there» 
 
ffiivzt Satire, 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 After this, he exposes the wretched taste which then pre- 
 vailed in Rome, both in verse and prose, and shews what 
 sad stuff the nobles wrote themselves, and encouraged in 
 others. He laments that he dares not speak out, as 
 Lucilius and Horace did — but it is no very difficult 
 matter to perceive that he frequently aims at the emperor 
 Nero. 
 
 He concludes, with a contempt of all blockheads, and says, 
 that the only readers, whose applause he courts, must be 
 men of virtue and sense, 
 
 PERSIUS. MONITOR. 
 
 P. O THE cares of men ! O how much vanity is there 
 in things ! — 
 
 M. Who will read these ? P. Do you say that to me ? 
 M . Nobody, truly. P. Nobody ? 
 
 M, Perhaps two, peril aps nobody ; it is a shameful and la- 
 mentable thing. P. Wherefore? 
 
 Lest Polydamas and the Troiads should prefer Labeo 
 
 To me ? — trifles ! — do not, if turbid Rome should dis- 
 parage 5 
 
 fore designs Nero and the Romans, 
 under the feigned name of Polyda- 
 mas and the Trojans, in allusion to 
 Hector's fearing the reproaches of 
 Polydamas (the son-in-law of Priam, 
 and who is said to have betrayed 
 Troy to the Greeks) and of the Tro- 
 jan men and women, if he retired 
 within the walls of Troy. See II. %. 
 1. 100-5. 
 
 — Labeo.'] A wretched poet, who 
 made a miserable translation of Ho- 
 mer's Iliad. He was a court-poet, 
 and a minion of Nero. 
 
 5. Trifles.] So far from its being 
 the miserable thing which you ima- 
 
 gine, I look on it as ridiculous and 
 trifling, nor do I trouble my head 
 about it. 
 
 — If turbid Rome, Jc] Metaph. 
 from waters, whi" 1 , by being dis- 
 turbed, are mud , thick, turbid, as 
 we say. 
 
 If the people of Rome, says the 
 poet, turbid, i. e. muddy, not clear 
 in their judgment, having their minds 
 vexed and disturbed too with what is 
 written against them, disparage any 
 work, and speak lightly of it, through 
 anger and prejudice, I desire you will 
 not agree with them in what they say, 
 or accede to their opinion. The word 
 
300 
 
 PERSII SATIRyE. 
 
 Elevet, accedas : examenve improbum in ista 
 Castiges trutina : ne te quaesiveris extra. 
 Nam Romae quis non — ? Ah, si fas dicere ! Sed fas 
 Tunc, cum ,ad canitiem, et nostrum istud vivere triste, 
 Aspexi, et nucibus facimus qusecunque relictis: 10 
 
 Cum sapimus patruos — tunc, tunc ignoscite. M. Nolo. 
 P. Quid faciam ? nam sum petulanti splene cachinno. 
 M. Scribimus inclusi, numeros ille, hie pede liber, 
 
 elevet is metaphorical, and alludes to 
 scales, where that which is lightest 
 is raised up, and signifies undervalu- 
 ing, disparaging, or, as \vc say, mak- 
 ing light of any thing. 
 
 6. Nor correct, §c.\ Examen pro- 
 perly signifies the tongue, needle, or 
 beam of a balance, which always in- 
 clines toward the side where the 
 weight preponderates — where this does 
 not act truly, and in due proportion, 
 it shews that the balance is false ; 
 how false it is, and, of course, how it 
 may be properly judged of and cor- 
 rected, may be seen, by weighing the 
 same thing in a true scale, or by a 
 true balance ; this will exactly disco- 
 ver the deficiency. 
 
 The poet, alluding to this, advises 
 his friend not to attempt correcting 
 one false balance by another ; he 
 means, that, if any thing should be 
 amiss, which the people in general 
 find fault with, yet it is not to be 
 weighed or considered according to 
 their opinion, which, like a false ba- 
 lance, is erroneous ; much less to be 
 corrected by their standard of judg- 
 ment. 
 
 7. Seek not thyself, <|-r.] j c. Judge 
 for yourself, by your own conscience 
 raid opinion, not by what other peo- 
 ple ss.y. The more exact meaning of 
 this stoical maxim seems to be — You 
 can judge of yourself better by what 
 passes within you, than by the opi- 
 nions of others ; so, go not out of 
 yourself, in order to draw just and 
 true conclusions concerning yourself. 
 The Stoics maintained, that a wise 
 man should not make other people's 
 opinions, but his own reason, his rule 
 of action. 
 
 The conscience is the test of ev'ry 
 
 ■mind ; 
 Seek not thyself, without thyself, to 
 
 Jnd. DjtYDEN. 
 
 The poet seems to urge this senti- 
 ment upon his friend, in order to 
 guard him against such an attention 
 to popular opinion, as might lead him 
 to assent to it, contrary to his own 
 opinion, judgment, and conscience. 
 In this view it answers to what he has 
 before said : 
 
 Non, si quid tnrhida Roma 
 
 Elevet, accedas. 1. 5, 6. 
 
 8. Who docs not ?] t. e. Who does 
 not leave his own judgment and con- 
 science out of the question, and suf- 
 fer himself to be led away by popular 
 opinion ? This is an aposiopesis : but 
 I think the nam refers us to the pre- 
 ceding sentence to make out the sense. 
 This view of it furnishes a farther 
 argument against trusting the opini- 
 ons of others, since even they do not 
 judge for themselves. 
 
 — Ah ! if I might say /] i. e. Alas ! 
 if I were but at liberty to speak out 
 plainly. 
 
 — But I may, ifc] Persius lived 
 in ths reign of Nero, a dangerous 
 period for the writeis of satire ; he 
 was therefore, as he hints in the pre- 
 ceding line, afraid to speak out : but 
 yet he will hot quite refrain ; the ob- 
 jects of satire were too many, and 
 too gross, for him to be silent, 
 and therefore he determines to attack 
 them. 
 
 9. When I have beheld grcyncss.] 
 When I have turned my eyes on the 
 grey hairs of old age. 
 
 — Our grave way of life.] Vivere, 
 here, for vita, a Graecism — these of- 
 ten occur in Persius. 
 
 When I behold, says the poet, the 
 gravity and austerity with Which we 
 appear to live. 
 
 10. Whatever xve do, £c] The 
 manner in which people employ 
 themselves, as soon as they have left 
 their playthings, and are become men. 
 
I 
 
 SAT. I. 
 
 PERSIUS'S SATIRES. 
 
 301 
 
 Any thing, agree with it, nor correct a false balance 
 
 By that scale : seek not thyself out of thyself. 
 
 For at Rome who does not — ? Ah, if I might say ! — But I 
 
 may 
 Then, when I have beheld greyness, and that our grave 
 
 way of life, 
 And whatever we do after our playthings are left; 10 
 
 When we have the relish of uncles— then, then forgive. 
 
 M. 1 will not. 
 P. What shall I do ? for I am a great laugher with a 
 
 petulant spleen. 
 M. We write shut up. One numbers, another prose, 
 
 Nuces, lit. nuts — and tali, little 
 square stones, or bones with four 
 sides — were the usual playthings of 
 children. The nuces were little balls 
 of ivory, or round stones. See Fran- 
 cis' Hor. lib. ii. sat. iii. 1. 172. Hence 
 nucibus relictis signifies ceasing to be 
 children. See Hon. lib. ii. sat. iii. 1. 
 171-2. 
 
 11. Relish of uncles, $e.] Patruus 
 is a father's brother, on whom some- 
 times the care of children devolved 
 on the loss of their father. The fa- 
 ther's brother, thus having the au 
 thority of a father, without the ten- 
 derness and affection of a father, was 
 apt to be very rigid and severe ; this 
 was so much the case, as almost to 
 become proverbial ; hence patruus 
 signified a severe, rigid reprover. 
 See Ainsw. Hence Hor. lib. ii. sat. 
 iii. 1. 87-8. 
 
 — Sive ego prave, 
 
 Sen recte hoc vohci, ne sis, patruus 
 mihi. 
 Comp. lib. iii. ode xii. 1. 3, where we 
 find, 
 
 Mctuentes patruoe veruera linguae. 
 See also the note there, in edit. Delph. 
 
 The poet's meaning seems to be as 
 follows : 
 
 *' When I consider the vanity and 
 folly in which we Romans (he speaks 
 in the first person, as if he meant to 
 include himself, to avoid offence) are 
 employed, from our first becoming 
 men to our old age, and, at the same 
 time, that pretended and assumed 
 gravity and severity which we put on, 
 insomuch that we have the relish, or 
 savour of morose uncle-guardians in 
 our reproofs of others, and in our 
 
 carriage towards them, though we 
 are in truth as vain and foolish as 
 those whom we reprove, then, then 
 I think 1 may be forgiven if I write 
 and publish my satires, when the 
 times so evidently stand in need of 
 reproof." 
 
 11. J will not.] Says the friend- 
 All you say does not convince me 
 that you should publish your satires. 
 
 1 2. What shall I do?\ Says Per- 
 sius — How can I contain myself? 
 how can I control my natural temper 
 and disposition ? 
 
 — A great laugher.'] Cachinno-onis, 
 from Cachinnus, a loud laugh- 
 ing, a laughter in derision or scorn. 
 Ainsw. 
 
 — A petulant spleen.] The spleen, 
 or milt, was looked upon by the an- 
 cients to be the organ of laughter. — 
 See Chambers, tit. Spleen. Also the 
 receptacle of the atrabilious, or me- 
 lancholic humour. Hence when peo- 
 ple are low-spirited or melancholy, 
 they are said to be splenetic ; so when 
 they are disgusted and out of hu- 
 mour. Thus Swift, in his City 
 Shower : 
 
 " Saunf ring in coffee-house is Dul- 
 " man secn y 
 
 " Rails on the climate and com- 
 " plains of spleen." 
 
 Our poet gives his friend to under- 
 stand, that he can't take his advice to 
 suppress his Satires ; for that his 
 spleen, which is of the petulant kind, 
 and his natural disposition to laugh at 
 the follies of men, make it impossi- 
 ble for him to resist the temptation of 
 publishing. 
 
 13. We write shut up.] Persius 
 
302 
 
 PERSII SATIRES. 
 
 Grande aliquid — P Quod pulmo animae praelargus anhelet. 
 
 Scilicet haec populo, pexusque togaque recenti, 15 
 
 Et natalitia tandem cum sardonyche albus, 
 Sede leges celsa, liquido cum plasmate guttur 
 Mobile collueris, patranti fractus ocello. 
 
 Tun', vetule, auriculis alienis colligis cscas ? 
 
 having expressed his turn for satire, 
 from his natural disposition, and hav- 
 ing asked his friend what he should 
 do, were he to be silent, and lay by 
 his intention of writing — the friend 
 gives him to understand, that he may 
 indulge his desire for writing, with- 
 out writing satires — " Do as others 
 " do, who indulge their genius for 
 " writing on popular and inoffensive 
 " suhjects, some in verse, others in 
 " prose, shut up in their studies, for 
 " their greater quiet and privacy, 
 M where they compose something in 
 " a grand and lofty style." — " Aye," 
 says Persius, interrupting him, " so 
 " grand, as to require a very large 
 *' portion of breath to last through 
 M their periods and sentences, which 
 ** are too bombast and long- winded 
 *' to be read by ordinary lungs." — 
 The speaker uses the first person 
 plural — scribimus inclusi — we — nous 
 autres (as the French say). By this 
 mode of speech, the pointedness and 
 personality of what is said are much 
 lessened ; consequently the prejudice 
 and ofFence with which a more direct 
 charge on the persons meant would 
 have been received. 
 
 Hor. lib. ii. epist. i. 1. 117. 
 
 Scribimus indocti, ductiqitc pocmata 
 passim. 
 
 " But cv'ri/ desperate blockhead 
 M dares to write, 
 
 ** Verse is the trade of every living 
 " tvight." FEAKCIS. 
 
 13. One numbers.'] i. e. One pens 
 verses. 
 
 — Another prose.] Pede liber — a 
 periphrasis for prose-writing, which 
 is free from the shackles of feet and 
 numbers, by which writers in verse 
 are confined. 
 
 14. Something grand.] The speaker 
 is going on with his advice, and in his 
 enforcing it from the examples of the 
 writers of his day ; but at the words 
 grande aliquid, Persius interrupts 
 
 him, as though not able to bear such 
 an epithet as grande, when applied 
 to the bombast and fustian which 
 were daily coming forth in order to 
 catch the applause of the vulgar. In 
 this Persius has, no doubt, a stroke 
 at Nero's writings, some samples of 
 which we meet with in a subsequent 
 part of this Satire, 1. 90-2, and 1. 
 96-9. 
 
 — Which lungs, $c] See note on 
 1. 14. The word anhelet is well ap- 
 plied here. Anhelo signifies to breathe 
 short and with difficulty — to pant, as 
 if out of breath — also to labour in 
 doing a thing — and well denotes the 
 situation of one who has to read aloud 
 the poems and performances in ques» 
 tion. 
 
 — Large of air.] Capable of con- 
 taining a very large portion of air. 
 
 1.5. Doubtless these to the people, 
 $r.] Persius, as we shall find, by 
 using the second person singular, 1. 
 17, leges, and collueris, 1. 18, is not 
 to be understood as confining what 
 he says to the person with whom he 
 is discoursing, but means covertly to 
 attack and expose all the poetasters 
 at Rome, who shut themselves up to 
 compose turgid and bombast poems 
 and declamations, to recite in public, 
 in order to get the applause of their 
 ignorant and tasteless hearers. 
 
 The Monitor had said — scribimus, 
 L 13; hence the poet addresses him 
 particularly ; but, no doubt, means 
 to carry his satire to all the vain 
 scribblers of the time, and especially 
 to those who exposed themselves in 
 the ridiculous manner after described; 
 not without a view to the emperor 
 Nero, who was vain of his poetry, 
 and used to recite his poems in pub- 
 lic. See my note on 1. 131, ad fin. 
 and comp. Juv. viii. 220-30, and 
 notes there. 
 
 I would observe, that in the ar- 
 rangement of the dialogue, v. 13-14. 
 
 
PERSIUS'S SATIRES. 
 
 303 
 
 Something grand — Pr Which lungs, large of air, may 
 
 breathe. 
 
 Doubtless these to the people, combed, and with a new 
 
 gown, 15 
 
 White, and lastly with a birth-day sardonyx, 
 
 You will read, in a high seat, when with the liquid gargle 
 
 you have washed 
 Your moveable throat, and effeminate with a lascivious eye : 
 Dost thou, O old man, collect food for the ears of others? 
 
 I have followed Mr. Brewster, whose 
 ingenious version of Persius is well 
 worthy the reader's attention. 
 
 According to the usual arrange- 
 ment, whereby scribimus indocti, &c. 
 is given to Persius, he receives no 
 answer to his question, quid faciam, 
 1. 12, but abruptly introduces a new 
 subject ; whereas, according to the 
 above method, the Monitor very na- 
 turally begins an answer, which in- 
 troduces the chief subject of this Sa- 
 tire, and the poet as naturally inter- 
 rupts, at the words grande aliquid, 1. 
 14, in order to pursue it ; which he 
 does by describing the vanity and folly 
 of these scribblers, some of whom, 
 at an advanced time of life, when 
 they ought to be wiser, are writing 
 trifling and lascivious poems, and 
 reading them to the people in public ; 
 this, with every disgraceful circum- 
 stance of dress and manner. 
 
 15. ComVd.] Or crisped, curled, 
 and set in an effeminate style. 
 
 — A new gown.] Made, and put 
 on, on the occasion. 
 
 16. White.'] Albus. This cannot 
 agree with toga, therefore some refer 
 it to the man himself, as supposing 
 him to look white, or pale, with fear 
 and anxiety, for the success of his 
 poem, and make it equivalent to palli- 
 dus. Hor. epod. vii. 1. 15, says, al- 
 bus pallor; and albus, in one sense 
 of it, signifies pale or wan. Ainsw. 
 
 But I do not see why we may not 
 read albus toga recenti, to denote the 
 person's being clad in a new white 
 garment — lit. white with a new 
 gown. 
 
 His hair Icing first IccmVd and 
 
 smooth, and then bedight 
 In a fair comely garment fresh and 
 white. HolydaY. 
 
 The Romans wore white garments, 
 as a piece of finery, on certain festival 
 occasions, as on a birth day, and the 
 like. So Ovid : 
 
 Scilicet expectas solitum till moris 
 honorem, 
 
 Fendeat ex humcris vesiis tit alba 
 mcis. 
 
 — A linh-day sardonyx.] This 
 species of precious stone, set in a 
 ring, and worn on the finger, was 
 reckoned a piece of finery, which the 
 Romans were very ambitious of dis- 
 playing. See Juv. sat. vii. 1. 112, 3. 
 
 By a birth-day sardonyx, the poet 
 probably means a present that had 
 been made to the man, on his birth- 
 day, of this ling, which he wore on 
 this occasion. It was usual to send 
 presents to a person on his birth- 
 day. 
 
 17. You will read.] i. c. Rehearse 
 aloud. 
 
 — In a high seat.] When authors 
 read their works publicly, they had a 
 sort of desk, or pulpit, raised above 
 the auditory, by which means they 
 could be better seen and heard. 
 
 — Liqzud gargle, #c] Plasma, a 
 gargle, or medicine to prevent or take 
 away hoarseness, and to clear the 
 voice. 
 
 18. Moveable throat."] Mobilis — 
 i. c. pliant, tractable, easily contract- 
 ing or dilating, according to the 
 sounds which are to be formed. 
 
 — A lascivious eye.] Suiting the 
 lewdness of his look to the obscenity 
 of his subject. See Aixsw. Fractus, 
 No. 4, and Fatrans, ib. 
 
 19. Dost thou, O old man, $c] — 
 Persius, in this apostrophe, inveighs 
 against these lascivious old fellows, 
 who wrote such poems as are before 
 mentioned. 
 
304 
 
 PERSII SATIRE. 
 
 Auriculis ! quibus et dicas cute perditus, Ohe. 20 
 
 " Quo didicissc, nisi hoc fernientum, et quae setnel intus 
 
 " Innata est, rupto jecore exierit caprih'cus ?" 
 En pallor, seniumque ! O mores, usque ad eon e 
 
 Scire tuum nihil est, nisi te scire hoc sciat alter ! 
 
 " At pulchrum est, digito monstrari, et dicier, Hie est. 
 
 " Ten" cirratorum centum dictata fuisse, 26 
 
 Dost thou, who art old enough to 
 be wiser, put together such obscene 
 and filthy stuff, in order to become 
 food for the ears of your libidinous 
 hearers ? 
 
 20. For cars, fyc] He repeats the 
 word auriculis, in order to make his 
 reproof the more striking. 
 
 — To which even thou, <£r.] The 
 poet's imitations of Horace, in all his 
 Satires, are very evident ; in none 
 more than injthis line. There can be 
 little doubt 'that Persius had in his 
 eve that passage of Horace, lib. ii. 
 sat. v. 1. 96-8. 
 
 Importnnus amut laud it i? donee 
 
 ohe jam ! 
 Ad caelum manibus sublatis dixcrit, 
 
 urge, et 
 CrcscenUrntumidis injla scr?nonibus 
 iitrcm. 
 
 Should hist 
 
 Of empty glory be the blockhead's 
 
 gust, 
 Indulge his eager appetite, and puff 
 The glowing bladder with inspiring 
 
 stuff; 
 Till he, with hands uplifted to the 
 
 skies, 
 Enough ! enough ! in glutted rap- 
 ture cries. Fraxcis. 
 Thus Persius represents the reciter 
 of the obscene verses to be so flatter- 
 ed, as to be read}' to burst with the 
 vanity created within him ; so that 
 he is forced to stop the fulsome ap- 
 plause and compliments of his hear- 
 ers, with crying, " Enough ! for- 
 " bear ! I can endure no more !" 
 —Ohe 
 Jam satis est! 
 Hor. sat. v. lib. i. 1. 12, 13. 
 Cute perditus has perhaps a refer- 
 ence to the fable of the proud frog, 
 who swelled till she burst. See Hor. 
 sat. iii. lib. ii. 1. 314-19. 
 
 21. " Unless this ferment."] The 
 old man answers— To what purpose. 
 
 then, is all my study and pains to 
 excel in this kind of writing, unless 
 they appear thus, and shew them- 
 selves in their effects on myself and 
 hearers ? In vain would you mix 
 leaven with the dough of which bread 
 is made, unless it ferments and ligwt- 
 ens the mass ; so all my science 
 would be vain, if it lay dormant and 
 quiet within me, and did not shew it- 
 self visibly to others, by being pro- 
 ductive of such compositions which 
 raise such a ferment in the minds of 
 my hearers. Fcrmentum here is me- 
 taphorical. 
 
 — " And what or.ee, 4-c.''] I" order 
 to understand this line, we are to ob- 
 serve, that the caprificufl was a sort 
 of wild fig-tree, which grew about 
 walls and other buildings ; and by 
 shooting its branches into the joints 
 of them, burst a passage through 
 them, and, in time, weakened and 
 destroyed them. See Juv. sat. x. 1. 
 14o, note. 
 
 The apologist farther illustrates his 
 meaning, by comparing his natural, 
 as well as acquired talents, to the ca- 
 prrficus — these having once taken 
 root within, will burst forth, through 
 the inmost i-eccsses of the mind, to 
 the observation of all, as the caprili- 
 cus does through the clefts of rocks, 
 or stone-quarries, or stone-walls : 
 and, " unless this were the case, 
 •' what good would these inbred ta- 
 " lents do me '-"' The ancients reck- 
 oned the liver as the seat of the con- 
 cupiscible and irascible passions. See 
 Juv. sat. i. 1. 35, note. Here Persius 
 uses the word jecore for the inward 
 mental part, which contained the 
 genius and talents of the poet, and 
 was to be broken through by the 
 energy of their exertions. 
 
 23. Lo, paleness and old-age /]-— 
 These words are by some supposed to 
 be the end of the apologist's speech. 
 
SAT. I. 
 
 PERSIUS'S SATIRES. 
 
 305 
 
 For ears, to which even thou, in skin destroyed, mayest 
 say—" Enough." 20 
 
 " For what purpose to have learnt, unless this ferment, 
 " and what once 
 c< Is within innate, the wild fig-tree, should come forth from 
 "the bursten liver? 1 ' 
 Lo, paleness and old-age ! O manners ! is your know- 
 ing, then, 
 Altogether nothing, unless another should know that you 
 know it ? 
 " But it is pleasant to be shewn with the finger, and to 
 " be said—This is he." 25 
 
 " For thee to have been the exercises of an hundred curl- 
 " pates, 
 
 as if he had said — See how pale I am 
 with study and application, and that 
 in my old age, a time of life when 
 others retire from labour — and shall 
 I meet with no reward for all this ? 
 
 Others suppose the words to be the 
 reply of Persius, and a continuation 
 of his reproof. " Lo, paleness of 
 " countenance and old-age ! and yet 
 *' thou dost not cease from such vain 
 « toils ! See Juv. vii. 96-7. 
 
 — O manners /J Like that of Tully 
 O tempora ! O mores ! Catal. i. 
 
 q. d. What are we come to ! what 
 can we say of the manners of the 
 times, when an old fellow can write 
 such obscenity, and can find hearers 
 to approve his repetition of it ! 
 
 24. Altogether nothing, unless, $c] 
 Persius here imitates a passage of Lu- 
 cilius. 
 
 Id me 
 
 Nolo scire mihi cujus sum consciu* 
 solus, 
 
 Nc damnum fachm. Scire est nes- 
 cire, nisi id me 
 
 Scire alius sciret. 
 
 What, says Persius, is all your 
 science, then, nothing worth, unless 
 you tell all the world of it ? have you 
 no pleasure or satisfaction in what 
 you know, without you exert a prin- 
 ciple of vain glory^ by cultivating the 
 applause of others ? Is this the end of 
 your study and application ? Scire 
 tuum — i. e. scientia tua. Graecisra. 
 Comp. istud vivere, 1. 9. 
 
 25. " Shewn with the Jinger."] — 
 Here is an ironical prolepsis — the 
 
 poet anticipates some of the pleas of 
 these writers for their proceedings. 
 It is a pleasant thing, perhaps, you 
 may say, to be so famous for one's 
 writings, as to be pointed at as one 
 goes along by the passers-by, and to 
 hear them say, " That's he" — " that's 
 the famous poet." 
 
 Horace disgraces one of his finest 
 odes, by mentioning, with pleasure, 
 such a piece of vanity— 
 
 Quod monstror digiio prcetercuntium 
 
 Romance Jidicen lyroe. 
 
 Ode iii. lib. iv. i. 22-3. 
 
 Cicero, Tusc. v. 36, mentions it 
 as an instance of great weakness in 
 Demosthenes, in that he professed 
 himself much pleased with hearing a 
 poor girl, who was carrying water, 
 say to another, as he passed by, 
 " There, lhat is the famous Demos- 
 " thenes." — " Quid hoc levius ?" says 
 Tully — " At quantus orator ? — Sed 
 " apud alios loqui videlicet didicerat, 
 " non multum ipse secum." 
 
 26. The exercises, <§c] Dictata. 
 Precepts or instructions of any kind — 
 particularly, and most frequently, 
 lessons which the master pronounceth 
 to his scholars ; school-boys' exerci- 
 ses. Aixsw. The poet continues his 
 banter — 
 
 Is it nothing, think you, to have 
 your verses taught to the children of 
 the nobles at school ; to have an 
 hundred such boys getting them by 
 heart, and repeating them as their 
 lessons, or writing themes on passages 
 of your work» ? The poet, here, has 
 
 R 
 
306 
 
 PERSI1 SATIRE. 
 
 " Fro nihilo pendas ?"— Ecce, inter pocula, quaerunt 
 Romulida? saturi, quid dia poemata narrent ! 
 Hie aliquis, cui circum humeros hyacinthina laena est, 
 (Rancidulum quiddam balba de nare locutus,) 
 Phyllidas, Hypsipylas, vatum et plorabile si quid, 
 Eliquat ; et tenero supplantat verba palato, 
 Assensere viri — Nunc non cinis ille poetae 
 Felix ? nunc levior cippus non imprimit ossa ? 
 Laudant convivse — Nunc non e manibus illis, 
 Nunc non e tumulo, fortunataque favilla, 
 Nascentur violae ? Rides, ait, et nimis uncis 
 
 30 
 
 35 
 
 a cut at the emperor Nero, who 
 ordered his poems to be taught in the 
 schools for youth. 
 
 — Curl-pates.] i.e. The young no- 
 bility, so called, from having their 
 hair dressed and curled in a particu- 
 lar manner. 
 
 27-8. Satiated Romans, <£r.] He 
 calls the Roman nobility, Romulida?, 
 dim. from Romulus their great pro- 
 genitor ; and he means hereby to in- 
 sinuate, sarcastically, their declension 
 and defection from the sober and vir- 
 tuous manners of their ancestors. — 
 Com p. J iv. sat. i. 1. 86\ note. 
 
 Here we see them at table, gorman- 
 dizing, and satiated with eating and 
 drinking; then calling for somebody 
 to repeat passages from the writings 
 of poets for their entertainment, or 
 perhaps that they might inquire into 
 the merit of them. 
 
 28. Divine poems.'] Dia, frcm Gr. 
 cio;, divinus. The science of poetry 
 was reckoned divine ; but the poet's 
 use of the epithet, in this place, is 
 ironical, meaning to satirize those 
 productions which these Romuiidas 
 saturi were so pleased with. Quid 
 narrent — i. c. what they may contain 
 and set forth. 
 
 29. Here] i. c. Upon this occasion. 
 — Sonic one, $c.] Some noble and 
 
 delicate person, dressed in a violet- 
 coloured garment, which was a sign 
 of effeminacy, and greatly in fashion 
 among such of the Roman nobility 
 v> ho were the beaux of the time. 
 
 30. Something ranleish, Qc.] i. e. 
 Repeated something of the obscene 
 or filthy kind, though with a bad 
 voice, uttered through his nose by 
 way of preface to what follows. 
 
 31. Phylilsses.] Phyllis, the dagh- 
 ter of Lycurgus, who fell in love with 
 Demophoon, the son of Theseus, on 
 his return from Troy, and entertained 
 him at bed and board. He, after 
 some time, going from her, promised 
 to return again ; but not performing 
 his promise, she hanged herself upon 
 an almond-tree. 
 
 — Hypsipylcc.] Hypsipylc was the 
 daughter of Thoas, and queen of 
 Lemnos, who, when all the women in 
 the island slew their male kindred, 
 preserved her father ; for which pious 
 deed she was banished. She enter- 
 tained Jason in his way to Colchos, 
 and had twins by him. 
 
 The poet mentions the names of 
 these women in the plural number ; 
 by which we may understand, that 
 he means any women of such sort of 
 character, who have suffered by their 
 amours in some disastrous way or 
 other, and have been made subjects 
 of verse. Eliquo signifies to melt 
 down, xrr -make liquid. Hence, to 
 sing, or speak softly and effeminately. 
 AlNSW. 
 
 — Some lamentable matter, §c.] — 
 Some mournful love-tale, either in- 
 vented or related by the poets. 
 
 32. Slurs his words, §c.] He docs 
 not utter the words in a plain, manly 
 manner, but minces and trips them 
 up, as it were, in their way through 
 his palate, to make them sound the 
 more apposite to the tender subject. 
 He alludes to Nero's reading tragedies 
 in the public Theatre. Sueton. Nero. 
 c. 10. 
 
 A metaphor, frcm wrestlers, who. 
 when they trip up their antagonists, 
 are said— supplantare. 
 
PERSIUS'S SATIRES. 
 
 307 
 
 SAT. I. 
 
 " Dost thou esteem as^- nothing ?" Lo, among their cups s 
 
 the satiated 
 Romans inquire, what divine poems may relate. 
 Here, some one, who has round his shoulders a hyacinthine 
 
 cloak, 
 (Having spoken something rankish from a snuffling nos- 
 tril,) 30 
 If he hath gently sung Phyllises, Hypsipylae, and some la- 
 mentable matter 
 Of the poets, and slurs his words with a tender palate, 
 The men have applauded : now are not the ashes of that poet 
 Happy ? now does not a lighter hillock mark his bones ? 
 The guests praise : now will there not from those manes, 
 Now will there not from the tomb, and the fortunate ember, 
 Violets spring up ?— You laugh, says he, and too much 
 indulge 
 
 His refining throat 
 
 Fritters, and melts, and minces 
 cSri) note. 
 
 Brewster. 
 
 His dainty palate tripping forth his 
 wards. Holyday. 
 
 33- The men have assented.] The 
 post uses the word viri, here, as a 
 mark of censure — that those who 
 were called men, should be delighted 
 with such verses, so repeated. 
 
 The} r all assented to the approbation 
 given by some of the company. 
 
 — Ashes of that poet, $r.] Cinis 
 ille poetas — i. e. cinis illius poeta?. 
 Hypallage. It was the custom to 
 burn the bodies of the dead, and to 
 gather up their ashes, and put them 
 into urns, in order to preserve them. 
 
 To be sure, the very ashes of a 
 poet, thus approved by a set of drun- 
 ken people, must be happy I Iron. 
 
 34 Lighter hillock.] Cippus is a 
 grave-stone, or monument ; also a 
 little hill of earth, such as is raised 
 over graves. 
 
 This line alludes to the usual super- 
 stitious wish which the Romans ex- 
 pressed for a deceased friend — Sit tibi 
 terra levis — may the earth be light 
 upon thee ! The cippus marked the 
 grave. 
 
 35. The guests praise.] Now they 
 all break forth into the highest com- 
 mendation. 
 
 s^ Manes.} Signifies the spirit, or 
 
 ghost, of one departed— sometimes 
 what we call the remains, or dead 
 body. 
 
 Sepulchra diruta, nudati manes, 
 Liv. and this seems the sense of it 
 here. 
 
 36. From the tomb."} Tumulus sig- 
 nifies an hillock, or heap of earth ; 
 also a tomb, grave, or sepulchre. 
 Aisrsw. 
 
 —Fortunate ember.] Favilla (from 
 tpavu), to shine) a hot ember ; the 
 white ashes wherein the fire is raked 
 up. 
 
 Here it means the embers of the 
 funeral pile, some of which were 
 mixed with the bones in the urn. 
 
 37. Violets spring zip.] Tt was usual 
 among the Greeks and Romans, 
 when they would extol a living per- 
 son, to speak of flowers springing up 
 under his footsteps ; and of the fa- 
 voured dead, to speak of sweet-smell- 
 ing flowers growing over their graves. 
 Perhaps this idea was first derived 
 from the custom of strewing flowers 
 in the way of eminent persons as 
 they walked along, and of strewing 
 flowers over the graves of the de- 
 parted. 
 
 It is easy to see that Persius is 
 jeering the person to whom he is 
 speaking, when he mentions the 
 above circumstances of honour and 
 happiness, attending the writers of 
 such verses, as are repeated to, and 
 
308 
 
 PERSII SATIRE 
 
 Naribus indulges : an erit qui velle recuset 
 Os populi meruisse ? et cedro digna locutus, 
 Linquere nee scombros metuentia carmina, nee thus ? 
 
 Quisque es, 6 modo quern ex ad verso dieere feci, 
 Non ego, cum scribo, si forte quid aptius exit, 
 (Quando haec rara avis est,) si quid tanien aptius exit, 
 Laudari metuam : neque enira mihi cornea fibra est. 
 Sed recti fiueraque extremumque esse recuso 
 Euge tuum et Belle. Nam Belle hoc excute totum : 
 Quid non intus habet ? Non hie est I lias Acci, 
 Ebria veratro ? Non si qua elegidia crudi 
 Dictarunt proceres? Non quicquid denique lectis 
 Scribitur in citreis ? — Calidum scis ponere sumen ; 
 
 40 
 
 45 
 
 50 
 
 approved by, a set of drunken liber- 
 tines at a feast. 
 
 Juvenal, on anotber occasion, has 
 collected all the above ideas, as the 
 gift of the gods to the good and wor- 
 thy. Sat. vii. 1. 207-8. 
 
 —You laugh, says he, <£<%] The 
 defender of such writings is not a 
 little hurt with the ironical sneer of 
 Persius. O, says the galled poet, you 
 are laughing all this while ; you are 
 too severe upon us. 
 
 38. Hocked nostrils.] Uncis naribus 
 indulges — a phrase for indulging 
 scorn and sneering ; taken from the 
 wrinkled and distorted shape assumed 
 by the nose on such occasions. Thus 
 HoJt. lib. i. sat. vi. 1. 5, where he is 
 observing, that " Maecenas does not, 
 " as too many are apt to do, look 
 " with scorn and contempt on people 
 " of obscure birth," expresses him- 
 self in this monner : 
 
 Afcc 
 
 Ut pleriquc solent, naso suspendis 
 adunco 
 
 Ignctos. 
 
 The ideas of scorn and contempt 
 are often expressed among us by turn- 
 ing up the nose. 
 
 — Will there be, #c] i. c. Is such 
 n person to be found, who is so lost 
 fo all desire of praise, continues the 
 apologist, as to have no concern at all 
 to merit the approbation and counte- 
 nance of the public ? 
 
 39. Worthy of cedar, See.] — i. e. 
 Worthy to be picserved. Cedar was 
 looked upon as an incorruptible wood, 
 which never decayed. From the ce- 
 
 dar they extracted a j nice, which be- 
 ing put on books, and other things, 
 kept them from moths, worms, and 
 even decay itself. 
 
 40. To leave verses, Src] I. e. In no 
 danger of being used as waste paper, 
 either by fishmongers, to wrap or 
 pack khflir fish in w hen they sell it, or 
 by perfumers, for their frankincense 
 or other perfumes. See Hor. lib. 
 ii. epist. i. 1. 266, &c. here imitated 
 by Persius. 
 
 41. Whoever thou art, $c.] The 
 poet here, after having severely sati- 
 rized a desire of false praise, and 
 empty commendation of what really 
 deserves no praise at all, now allows, 
 that praise, where properly bestowed, 
 is not to be despised. 
 
 — Made to speak, <£;■.] i. e. Whom 
 I have been setting up as a supposed 
 adversary, or opponent, in this dis- 
 pute. Whosoever thou art, that 
 findest what I have been saying ap- 
 plicable to thyself, let me confess to 
 thee, that — 
 
 42. /, when I write, $c.] i. e. 
 When I compose verses — if by chance 
 any thing well adapted to the sub- 
 ject, and well expressed, flows from 
 my pen, (since I confess this happens 
 but seldom, and therefore gives me 
 the greater satisfaction,) I should not 
 fear commendation. 
 
 44. Inwards so horny.] Fibra, the 
 inwards or entrails — here, by met. 
 the inward mail; the moral sense. 
 
 Horny — hard — insensible like horn. 
 See Juv. sat. i. 1. 29. 
 
 q. d, I am not so callous, so insen- 
 
PERSIUS'S SATIRES. 
 
 309 
 
 Your hooked nostrils. Will there be, who can refuse to be 
 
 willing 
 To have deserved the countenance of the people ? and, 
 
 having spoken things worthy of cedar, 
 To leave verses fearing neither little fishes, nor frankincense ? 
 Whoever thou art, O thou, whom I just now made to 
 
 speak on the adverse part, 41 
 
 I, when I write, if haply something more apt comes forth, 
 (Since this is a rare bird,) yet if something more apt comes 
 
 forth, 
 Would not fear to be praised ; nor indeed are my inwards 
 
 so horny. 
 But to be the end and extreme of right I deny 45 
 
 Your " Well done !"" and your " O fine !" for examine this 
 
 whole " O fine," 
 What has it not within ? Is not the Iliad of Accius here, 
 Drunk with hellebore ? are they not here, if crude nobles 
 
 have dictated 
 Any little elegies ? Is there not, lastly, whatever is written 
 In citron beds ? — You know how to place a hot sowVudder ; 
 
 sible, or unfeeling, as not to be 
 pleased, as well as touched, with de- 
 served praise. 
 
 48. But to be the end, $c] But 
 that the eulogies of fools and sots 
 should be the end and aim of writing, 
 I deny ; or indeed, that merely to 
 gain applause should be the view and 
 end of even doins right, I cannot allow. 
 
 49. Your "Well done! Ofine!"] 
 Euge ! — belle ! like our Well done ! 
 fine ! bravo ! which were acclama- 
 tions of applause. See Juv. sat. vii. 
 1. 44, note. 
 
 46. Examine this whole " O fine!"] 
 Sift, canvass well this mark of ap- 
 plause which you are so fond of — lit. 
 shake out — met. from shaking out 
 the contents of a sack ; we say sift. 
 
 47. What has it not within ? £c] 
 What is there so absurd, that you 
 will not find it applied to as the ob. 
 ject of it? in short, what is not con- 
 tained within it ? 
 
 — The Iliad of Accius.] Accius La- 
 beo, who made a wretched translation 
 of Homer's Iliad. See note above, 1. 
 4. Is not even this contained within 
 the compass of your favourite terms 
 of applause ? 
 
 48. Drunk with Hellebore.] The 
 ancients made use of Hellebore, not 
 only when they were disordered in 
 the head, but also when in health, 
 in order to quicken the apprehension. 
 This the poet humourously supposes 
 Accius to have done, but in such a 
 qnantity as to stupify his senses. 
 
 — Are they not here, if crude nobles, 
 fee] Are not the flimsy and silly little 
 elegies and sonnets, which our raw 
 and unexperienced nobles write and 
 repeat, all subjects of your favourite 
 Belle ? Is not this constantly bestowed 
 upon them ? 
 
 49. Is there not, lastly, %c] The 
 citron wood was reckoned very valu- 
 able and precious ; of this the nobles 
 had their beds and couches made, on 
 which they used to lie, or sit, when 
 they wrote. Lastly, says Persius, 
 all the trash which issues forth from 
 the citron couches of the great is con- 
 tained within the compass of this 
 mark of applause; therefore your 
 making it your end and aim is but 
 very little worth your while ; it is so 
 unworthily bestowed, as to be no sort 
 of criterion of excellence and desert. 
 
 50. How to place, #cj The poet 
 
310 
 
 PERSII SATIR/E. 
 
 Scis comitem horridulum trita donare lacerna ; 
 Et verum, inquis, amo ; verum mihi dicite de me. 
 
 Qui pote ? Vis dicam ? — Nugaris, cum tibi, calve, 
 Pinguis aqualiculis propenso sesquipede extet. 
 
 O Jane, a tergo quern nulla ciconia pinsit, 55 
 
 Nee man us auriculas imitata est mobilis albas ; 
 Nee linguae, quantum sitiat canis Appula, tantum ! 
 Vos, O patricius sanguis, quos vivere fas est 
 Occipiti coeco, postica? occurrite sannse ! 
 
 " Quis populi sermo est ?" — Quis enim, nisi carmina 
 molli 60 
 
 Nunc demum numero fluere, ut per laeve severos 
 Effundat junctura ungues? Scit tendere versum, 
 
 still continues to satirize empty ap- 
 plause, by shewing that it may be 
 gained by the lowest and most abject 
 means. 
 
 He therefore attacks those who 
 bribe for it. You know how, says he, 
 to place on your table a dainty dish. 
 
 51. You know to present, <£<.] — 
 You know the effect of giving an old 
 shabby coat to one of your poor de- 
 pendents. Comp. Hor. epist. xix. lib. 
 ii. 1. 37-8, 
 
 52. "J love truth," $c] Then, 
 •when you have given a good dinner 
 to some, and still meaner presents to 
 others, in order to purchase their ap- 
 plause, you ask them their opinion, 
 desiring them to speak the truth. 
 
 53. Horn is it possible?] i.e. That 
 they should speak the truth, when 
 they are afraid of offending you if 
 they did ? You have obliged them, 
 and they fear to disoblige you, which, 
 if they speak their real thoughts, they 
 would most probably do 
 
 — Would you have mc say it ?] — 
 Says Persius, who am no dependent 
 of yours, or under any obligation to 
 disguise my sentiments. 
 
 — You trifle, $r. ] I tell you plainly, 
 and without disguise, that you are an 
 old trifler, to pretend to wit or poetry, 
 with that great belly of yours, that 
 hangs down at least a foot and an half 
 below your middle, and bespeaks a 
 genius for gluttony, but for nothing 
 else. Perhaps the poet hints at the 
 Greek proverb. 
 
 '• A fat belly produccth not a subtle 
 *' ■mind.'''' 
 
 55. O Janus !] Janus was the first 
 king of Italy, who gave refuge to Sa- 
 turn, when he fled from his son Ju- 
 piter from Crete. From his name the 
 first month of the year is called Janu- 
 ary. He was pictured with two 
 faces, one before and one behind, as 
 regarding the time past and future. 
 
 q. d. Thou art happy, Janus, in- 
 asmuch as, being able to see both 
 before and behind, thou art in no 
 danger of being ignorant of what 
 passeth behind thy back, and, there- 
 fore, of enduring the flouts and jeers, 
 which our nobles receive behind their 
 backs, from those who flatter them to 
 their faces. 
 
 — Whom no stork pecks, $c] — 
 There were three methods of scoff 
 and ridicule: one was holding out the 
 finger, and crooking it a little to imi- 
 tate the bill of storks ; they held it 
 towards him who was the object of 
 derision, moving it backwards and 
 forwards, like the pecking of the 
 stork. See A ix 3 w. 
 
 56. The moveable hand, £c] Ano- 
 ther mode of derision was, putting 
 the thumbs up to the temples, and 
 moving them in such manner as to 
 imitate asses' ears, which, in the in- 
 side, are usually white. 
 
 57. Nor so much qffketongue s §c.} 
 A third method was to loll out the 
 tongue, like a dog when thirsty. 
 
 Apula was the hottest part of Italy, 
 of course the dogs most thirsty, and 
 
PERSIUS'S SATIRES. 
 
 311 
 
 You know to present a shabby client with a worn garment ; 
 And " I love truth (say you) ; tell me the truth concern- 
 
 " ing me." 
 How is it possible ? — Would you have me say it ? you 
 
 trifle, when, O bald head, 
 Your fat paunch stands forth with a hanging-down foot and 
 
 an half. 
 O Janus ! whom no stork pecks behind your back, 55 
 Nor has the moveable hand imitated white ears, 
 Nor so much of the tongue, as an Apulian bitch when 
 
 athirst. 
 Ye, O patrician blood, whose condition it is to live with 
 The hinder part of the head blind, prevent flouts behind 
 
 your backs ! 
 What is the speech of the people ? — What forsooth, un- 
 less that the verses 60 
 Now at last flow with soft measure, so that, across the 
 
 polish, the joining 
 May pour forth severe nails. He knows how to extend a 
 
 verse, 
 
 most apt to loll out their tongues the 
 farthest. 
 
 None of all this could happen to 
 Janus without his seeing it. 
 
 58. O patrician Hood, S[C.] Ye sons 
 of senators, ye nohles of Rome, 
 whose fortune it is to be born without 
 eyes at the back of your heads, and 
 who therefore cannot be apprized of 
 what passes behind your backs, 
 
 59. Prevent flouts, §cj By avoid- 
 ing all occasions of them ; by not 
 writing verses, for which your flat- 
 terers will commend you to your face, 
 and laugh at you behind your backs. 
 
 60. What is the speech, $-c] — 
 Persius here seems to go back to the 
 de me, 1. 52 ; all between which, and 
 this 1. 60, is to be understood as a pa- 
 renthesis, very properly introduced in 
 the course of the subject. 
 
 Now, says the great man to his 
 flatterer, after having treated him 
 with a good dinner (1. 50), what 
 does the world say of me and my 
 writings ? 
 
 — What forsooth.] i. c. What should 
 they say, what can they say, unless 
 to commend ? 
 
 61. Nov at last, $c.~\ That after 
 all the pains you have taken, you 
 
 have at last produced a charming- 
 work — the verses flow in soft and 
 gentle numbers. 
 
 — Across the polish, §c] Your 
 verses are so highly finished, that they 
 will stand the test of the severest and 
 nicest critics. 
 
 Metaph. taken from polishers of 
 marble, who run their nail over the 
 surface, in order to try if there be 
 any unevenness ; and if the nail passes 
 freely, without any stop or hindrance 
 whatsoever, even over where there 
 ai*e joinings, then tha work is com- 
 pletely finished. (Comp. Hob. de 
 Art. Poet. 1. 294.) The surface being 
 perfectly smooth, was said eftundere 
 unguem, it passing as smoothly as 
 water poured forth over it. 
 
 62. Hoxo to extend a verse.] This 
 period is also metaphorical, and al- 
 ludes to the practice of carpenters and 
 others, who work by line and rule, 
 and who, when they would draw a 
 straight line, shut cne eye, the better 
 to Confine the visual rays to a single 
 point. So, says the flatterer, this 
 poet of ours draws forth his verses to 
 their proper length, and makes them 
 as exact as if he worked by line and 
 rule» 
 
312 
 
 PERSII SATIRE. 
 
 Non secus ac si oculo rubricam dirigat uno. 
 Sive opus in mores, in luxum, in prandia regurn, 
 Dicere res grandes nostro dat Musa poetae, 
 
 Ecce, modo, heroas sensus afferre videmus 
 Nugari solitos Graece ; nee ponere lucum 
 Artifices ; nee rus saturum laudare, ubi corbes, 
 Et focus, et porci, et fumosa Palilia fceno : 
 Unde Remus, sulcoque terens dentalia, Quinti, 
 Quem trepida ante boves dictatorem induit uxor ; 
 Et tua aratra doraum lictor tulit. — Euge, poeta ! 
 
 Est nunc, Brissei quem venosus liber Acci, 
 Sunt quos Pacuviusque, et verrucosa moretur 
 
 65 
 
 70 
 
 63. The rubric] Rubrica, a sort 
 of ruddle, or red chalk, with which 
 carpenters draw their lines on their 
 work. 
 
 61. On manners.] Whatever the 
 subject may be — whether he writes 
 comedy, and ridicules the humours of 
 the times. 
 
 — On lux/try.] Or if he write sa- 
 tire, and lash the luxury of the great. 
 
 —Or the dinners of kings.} Or 
 writes tragedy, and chooses for his 
 subject the sad feasts of tyrants. Per- 
 haps Persius here alludes to the story 
 of Thy est es, the son of Pelops, and 
 brother of Atreus, with whose wife 
 he had committed adultery ; to re- 
 venge which, Atreus dressed the child 
 born of her, and served him up to his 
 brother at his own table. On this 
 Seneca wrote a tragedy. 
 
 63. The JT/isc gives our poet, <£-.\] 
 In short, be what may the subject, a 
 Muse is ever at hand, to inspire our 
 poet with the most sublime and lofty 
 poetry. 
 
 Such is the account which the great 
 man receives of himself from his 
 flatterer, as an answer to his ques- 
 tion, 1. 60, M What does the world 
 " say of me?" 
 
 6b. Behold noxc me see, %c.~\ Our 
 poet proceeds to satirize other writers 
 of his time, who, allured with the 
 hopes of being flattered, attempted 
 the sublime heights of epic writing, 
 though utterly unfit for the under, 
 taking. 
 
 — Heroic thoughts, <£e.] Heroas 
 sensus. Sensus signifies not only 
 sense, meaning, understanding, but 
 also thought. 
 
 Heroas, from herous-a-um, heroic, 
 stands here for heroos, masc — i. e. 
 heroicos. Heroi sensus is to be un- 
 derstood of sublime matters for poetry, 
 such as heroic or epic subjects. 
 
 Now-a-days, saith Persius, we see 
 certain * riters attempting and bring- 
 ing out heroic poems, who used to be 
 writing tiifles in Greek, such as little 
 epigrams, or the like. Some copies, 
 instead of videmus, read docemus, as 
 it" the poet attacked schoolmasters, 
 and other instructors of children, for 
 teaching boys to write in heroics, at a 
 time when they are not fit for it : but 
 as it is not the purpose of these papers 
 to enter into controversy with editors 
 and commentators, I take videmus, 
 as it stands in the Delphin edition, 
 Farnaby, and Marshal!. 
 
 67. Nor to describe a gro: 
 They are so unskilled, and such bad 
 artists even in the lighter style of com- 
 position, that they know not how to 
 describe, as they ought, the most trite 
 and common subjects, such as a grove, 
 fields, &c. Pono-ere, literally signi- 
 fies to put or place : but it also sig- 
 nifies to paint, draw, or portray, and 
 so to describe. See Hoh. lib. iv. ode 
 viii. 1. S. 
 
 Hie saxo, liquidis iUe eoloribus 
 
 Sole/s nunc homincm po?iere, nunc 
 dc:nn. 
 
 6S. Xor to praise a fertile country, j 
 So as to set forth its beauties. 
 
 — Where are laskets, <yc] Instead 
 of describing the great and leading 
 features of a fine plentiful country, 
 they dwell upon the most trivial cir- 
 cumstance : 
 
SAT. I. 
 
 PERSIUS'S SATIRES. 
 
 313 
 
 Not otherwise than if^he should direct the rubric with one 
 
 eye; 
 Whether the work is on manners, on luxury, or the dinners 
 
 of kings, 
 The Muse gives our poet to say great things. 65 
 
 Behold now we see those bring heroic thoughts, 
 Who used to trifle in Greek, nor to describe a grove 
 Skilful ; nor to praise a fertile country, where are baskets, 
 And a fire-hearth, and swine, and the feasts of Pales smoky 
 
 with hay : 
 From whence Remus, and thou, O Quintius, wearing 
 
 coulters in a furrow, 70 
 
 Whom thy trembling wife clothed dictator before the oxen, 
 
 And thy ploughs the lictor carried home. Well done, O poet ! 
 
 There is now, whom the veiny book of Brisaean Accius ; 
 
 There are those whom both Pacuvius, and rugged Antiopa 
 
 His lay 
 
 Recounts its chimnies, panniers, 
 hogs and hay. 
 
 Brewster. 
 
 69. Feasts of Pales, $c] Pales 
 was the goddess of shepherds, who 
 kept feasts in honour of her, in order 
 to procure the safe parturition of their 
 cattle. The reason of the epithet 
 fumosa is, that during the feast of 
 Pales the rustics lighted fires with 
 hay, straw, or stubble, over which 
 they leaped, by way of purifying 
 themselves. These feasts of Pales 
 w-ere sure to be introduced by these 
 jejune poets. 
 
 70; From whence Remus."] Ano- 
 ther circumstance which they intro- 
 duce is a description of the birth- 
 place of Remus and Romulus. 
 
 — Thou, O Quintius, Qc] Cincin- 
 natus, who was called from the 
 plough to be made dictator of Rome 
 he too is introduced on the occa- 
 sion. 
 
 71. Tkytremllingwife,$ct\ They 
 tell us, how his wife Racilia was 
 frightened at the sight of the messen- 
 gers from Rome, and how she helped 
 him on with his dictator's robe, as he 
 stood by the oxen which were in the 
 plough ; and how one of the Roman 
 officers, who had attended the em- 
 bassy to call him to the dictatorship, 
 carried his plough home upon his 
 shoulders. 
 
 72. Well done, O poet !] Iron.— 
 Finely done, to be sure, to introduce 
 such weighty matters as these into 
 thy poem ! thou art in a fair way to 
 gain the highest applause ! 
 
 Persius, in this passage, glances at 
 some poetaster of his time, who, in a 
 poem on the pleasures of a country 
 life, had been very particular and te- 
 dious upon the circumstances here re- 
 cited. See Casaubon. 
 
 73* There is now, §c] The poet, 
 now proceeds to censure those who 
 affected antiquated and obsolete 
 words and phrases, and who pro- 
 fessed to admire the style of anti- 
 quated authors. 
 
 — The veiny book.] Venosus — rac 
 taph. from old men, whose veins stand 
 out and look turgid, owing to the 
 shrinking of the flesh, through old 
 age Venosus liber hence signifies a 
 book of some old and antiquated au- 
 thor — a very old book. 
 
 — Briscean Accius.] Brisas was a 
 town in Thrace, where Bacchus was 
 worshipped with all the mad rites 
 used at his feasts ; hence he was 
 called Brisaeus. Persius gives this 
 name to Accius, on account of th3 
 wild and strange bombast which was 
 in his writings. 
 
 74. Pacuvius.] An ancient tragic 
 poet of Brundusium, who wrote the 
 tragedy of Antiopa, the wife of Ly- 
 cus, king of Thebes, who was repu- 
 
314 
 
 PERSII SATIRE. 
 
 Antiopa, " aerumnis cor luctificabile fulta." 75 
 
 Hos pueris monitus, patres infundere lippos 
 
 Cum videas, quaerisne unde hsec sartago loquendi 
 
 Venerit in linguas ? unde istud dedecus, in quo 
 
 Trossulus cxultat tibi per subsellia laevis ? 
 
 Nilne pudet, capiti non posse pericula cano 80 
 
 Pellere, quin tepidum hoc optes audire, Decenter? 
 Fur es, ait Pedio : Pedius quid ? crimina rasis 
 
 Librat in antithetis : doctas posuisse figuras 
 
 Laudatur: helium hoc — hoc bellum ? An, Romule, ceves ? 
 
 Men' moveat quippe, et, cantet si naufragus, asseni 85 
 
 diated by her husband, on account of 
 her intrigue with Jupiter. The poet 
 says, verrucosa Antiopa, to express 
 the roughness and ruggedness of the 
 style in which this tragedy was writ- 
 ten. Verrucosus, full of warts, 
 tumps, or hillocks — so uneven, 
 rugged. 
 
 75. Might detain.'] Moretur— i. e. 
 might detain their attention. 
 
 — Having proppd, £cj This 
 strange fustian expression is probably 
 to be found in the tragedy. The poet 
 appears to cite it, as a sample of the 
 ytyle in which the play i^ written. 
 
 There are those, says Persius, who, 
 now-a-days, can spend their time in 
 reading these authors. 
 
 76. Blear- eyed fathers, cjrr.] In old 
 men the eyes are apt to be weak, 
 moist, and to distil corrosive matter. 
 When you see such advising their 
 children to study the old barbarous 
 Latin poets, and to be fond of the ob- 
 solete words — 
 
 77. Do you seek, §c.] Are you at 
 a loss to know whence this jargon, 
 of obsolete and modern words, as 
 heard in our common speech ? 
 
 Sartago literally signifies a frying- 
 pan ; and the poet, perhaps, calls the 
 mixture or jargon of old words and 
 new, sartago loquendi, in allusion to 
 the mixture of ingredients, of which 
 they made their fried cakes, as bran, 
 fat,' honey, seeds, cheese, and the like. 
 
 Some think that he alludes to the 
 crackling, bouncirig, ana hissing noise 
 of the frying-pan, with these ingre- 
 dients in it, over the fire ; this seems 
 to relate to the manner of utterance, 
 more than to what was uttered. See 
 Arftsw. Sartago, No. 2. 
 
 78. Whence that disgrace] That 
 style of writing, and of speaking, so 
 disgraceful to the purity and smooth- 
 ness of the Latin language. 
 
 79. Smooth T row I us, $c] The 
 Roman knights were called Trossuli, 
 from Trossulus, a city of Tuscany, 
 which they took without the assistance 
 of any infantry. Here the poet joins 
 it with the epithet lasvis, soft, effe- 
 minate; therefore Trossulus, here, 
 appears to signify a beau, a coxcomb, 
 a petit-maitre. See Aixsw. Trossu- 
 lus ; and Cassaubon in loc. 
 
 — Thro" 1 the benches.] Subsellia— . 
 the seats at the theatre, or at the 
 public recitals of poetry, and other 
 compositions. These fine gentlemen 
 were so pleased with the introduction 
 of obsolete words and phrases, that 
 they could hardly keep their places ; 
 they spread a general applause thro* 
 all the benches where they sat, and 
 leaped up with ecstacy in their seats, 
 charmed with such a poet. 
 
 80. Does it nothing shame you, <$-c] 
 Persius now proceeds to censure the 
 vanity of the orators, who paid more 
 regard to the commenda;ions of their 
 auditors; than to the issue of the 
 most important causes, even where 
 life or fame was at stake. 
 
 Are you not ashamed says Persius, 
 ought you not to blush at your vanity 
 and folly, that, if accused of some ca- 
 pital crime, instead of using plain ar- 
 guments to defend your life from the 
 danger which awaits it, and to make 
 that your end and aim, you are en- 
 deavouring so to speak, as to catch 
 the applause of your judges, and of 
 the auditory, and make it your chief 
 wish to hear them say — " Well, the 
 
PERSIUS'S SATIRES. 
 
 315 
 
 Might detain, having propped her mournful heart with 
 sorrows. 75 
 
 When you see blear-eyed fathers pour these admonitions 
 into 
 
 Their children, do you seek whence this bombast manner 
 of speaking 
 
 Came on their tongues ? Whence that disgrace, in which 
 
 The smooth Trossulus exults to thee through the benches ? 
 
 Does it nothing shame you, not to be able to drive away 
 dangers from 80 
 
 Your grey head, but you must wish to hear this luke- 
 warm — Decently ? 
 Thou art a thief (says one to Pedius) — What Pedius ? 
 his crimes 
 
 He weighs in polished antitheses ; to have laid down 
 learned figures 
 
 He is praised : this is fine ! — this is fine ! O Romulus, do 
 you wag the tail ? 
 
 For if a shipwrecked mariner sings, could he move me, and 
 a penny 85 
 
 *' man speaks decently :" a poor 
 lukewarm expression at best. 
 
 82. Pedius.] Pedius Blesus was 
 accused, in the time of Nero, by the 
 Cyrenians, of having robbed and plun- 
 dered the temple of iEsculapius. He 
 was condemned, and put out of the 
 senate. 
 
 Hence the poet uses the name of 
 Pedius here, as denoting any sup- 
 posed person accused of theft. 
 
 " Thou art a thief," says some ac- 
 cuser, laying a robbery to his charge. 
 
 — What Pedius ?] i.e. What says 
 Pedius, or what doth he, on such an 
 accusation ? 
 
 83, He weighs in -polished antithe- 
 sis.] He opposes to his accusation 
 curious figures of speech, affected 
 phrases, sentences, and periods, in 
 order to catch applause, instead of 
 producing weighty, pertinent, and 
 plain arguments for his defence. He 
 puts, as it were, his accusation in one 
 scale, and his affected periods in the 
 other, and thus weighs one against 
 the other. Antithesis (from am, 
 contra, and ti$*)jou, pono) is a rhe- 
 torical flourish, when contraries are 
 opposed to each other. Here, by sy- 
 
 nee. it stands for all the affected flow- 
 ers of speech. 
 
 84. He is praised.] The judges 
 and auditory are highly delighted 
 with the learned figures of speech 
 which he has laid before them in his 
 oration. 
 
 — This is fine /] Say his hearers 
 
 finely spoken ! finely said ! 
 
 —This is fine /] Answers Persius, 
 with indignation at the absurdity of 
 such ill-timed applause, of such afr 
 fected and ill-timed flourishes. 
 
 — O Romulus, $c] Can any Ro- 
 man shew himself thus degenerate 
 from his great and virtuous ancestor 
 Romulus, as to fawn and flatter on 
 such an occasion, and be like a dog 
 that wags his tail when he would 
 curry favour ? Ceveo signifies to wag, 
 or move the tail, as dogs do when they 
 fawn upon one. Hence, metapb» 
 it is used to express fawning and 
 flattery. 
 
 Persius uses the word Romule, as 
 Juv. sat. iii. 1. 67, uses Quirine. Sec 
 the note thei-e; 
 
 85. If a shipwreck" 1 d mariner sings, 
 §c.~\ If a poor sailor, that had been 
 cast, away, should meet me in the 
 
316 
 
 PERSII SATIR.E. 
 
 Protulerim ? cantas, cum fracta te in trabe pictum 
 Ex humero portes ? Verum, nee nocte paratum 
 Plorabit, qui me volet incurvasse querela. 
 
 M. Sed numeris decor est, et junctura addita crudis. 
 P. Claudere sic versum didicit : Berecynthius Attin, 90 
 Et qui coeruleum diriinebat Nerea delphin : 
 Sic costam longo subduximus Apennmo. 
 
 M. Anna virum, nonne hoc spumosum, et cortice pingui ? 
 P. Ut ramale vetus prsegrandi subcre coctum. 
 
 M. Quidnam igitur tenerum, et laxa cervice legendum? 
 
 street, and ask an alms, at the same 
 time appearing very jolly and merry, 
 would this be the way to move my 
 compassion ; to make me pull some 
 money out of my pocket and give it 
 him ? 
 
 86. Do you sing, $c] It was the 
 custom for persons that had been 
 shipwrecked, and had escaped with 
 their lives, to have themselves, toge- 
 ther with the scene of their misfor- 
 tune and danger, painted on a board, 
 ■uhich they hung by a string from 
 their shoulders upon their breast, that 
 the passers-by might be moved with 
 compassion at the sight, and relieve 
 them with alms. These tables were 
 afterwards hung up in the temples, 
 and dedicated to some god, as Nep- 
 tune, Juno, &c. hence they were 
 called votiva- tabula;. See Hon. lib. 
 i. ode v. ad fin. 
 
 The poet here allegorizes the case 
 of Pedius. Do you sing, when you 
 are carrying your miserable self paint- 
 ed on a board, and represented as suf- 
 fering the calamity of shipwreck, in 
 
 order to move compassion ?'. c. Are 
 
 you studying and making fine flou- 
 rishing speeches, filled with affected 
 tropes and figures, at a time when 
 you are accused of such a crime as 
 theft, and are standing in the dan- 
 gerous situation of an arraigned rob- 
 ber ? Is this the way to move com- 
 passion towards you? 
 
 87. A true, S[cJ} There wants plo- 
 ratum, dolorem, or some such w ord, 
 after verum — plorare verum dolorem, 
 like vivere vitam, for instance. 
 
 — Not prepared by night.'] Not 
 conned, studied, or invented before- 
 hand ; over night, as we say. 
 
 88. Bend me by his complaint.] i. 1". 
 
 Make me bow or yield to the feel- 
 ings of commisseration for his suf- 
 ferings. 
 
 The poet means, that the com- 
 plainant who would move his pity, 
 must speak the true and native lan- 
 guage of real grief from the heart, 
 not accost him with an artful studied 
 speech, as if he had conned it over 
 beforehand. 
 
 Si vis ?nc ficrc, dolcndum est 
 
 P/i/num ipsi tibi. 
 
 Hon. cie Art. Poet. 1. 102-3. 
 
 So Pediiu-, however he might get 
 the applause of his hearers, by his 
 figurative eloquence and flowery lan- 
 guage, when on his trial, could never 
 excite pity for his situation. 
 
 89. But there is beauty, §c.] Well, 
 but however the flights which you 
 have been mentioning, says the poet- 
 aster, and the studied and flowery 
 style, may be unsuitable in declama- 
 tion, especially on such occasions, yet 
 surely they have a peculiar beauty in 
 our verses, which would be quite raw, 
 and appear crude and undigested 
 without them. 
 
 — And composition added, fyc] — 
 Junctura is literally a coupling, or 
 joining together ; hence a composi- 
 tion, or joining words in a particular 
 form, as in verse. 
 
 Notum si callida verbum 
 
 Rcddidcrit junctura novum. 
 
 Hor. de Art. Poet. I. 47-8. 
 
 The poetaster would fain contend 
 for the great improvement made in 
 writing verses by the modern studied 
 composition, and the introduction of 
 figurative writing. 
 
 90. Thus hath he learnt to conclude 
 a verse.] The didicit here, without a 
 nominative case, is rather abrupt and 
 
PERSIUS'S SATIRES. 
 
 317 
 
 Should I bring forth ? do you sing, when yourself painted 
 
 on a broken plank 
 You carry from your shoulder ? A true (misfortune), not 
 
 prepared by night, 
 He shall deplore, who would bend me by his complaint. 
 M. But there is beauty and composition added to crude 
 numbers. 
 P. Thus hath he learnt to conclude a verse : " Berecyn- 
 " thian Attin, 90 
 
 " And the dolphin which divided cserulean Nereus — 
 " Thus we removed a rib from the long Apennine. 1 ' 
 
 M. " Arms and the man" — is not this frothy, and with 
 a fat bark ? 
 P. As an old bough dried with a very large bark. 
 
 M. What then is tender, and to be read with a loose 
 neck ? 95 
 
 obscure, but the poet affects to be so ; 
 he does not venture to name the per- 
 son meant, though his quoting some 
 verses of Nero, as instances of the 
 great improvements which had been 
 made in the composition of verse, 
 plainly shews his design, which was 
 to ridicule the emperor, whose af- 
 fected, jingling, and turgid style, 
 was highly applauded by his flat- 
 terers. 
 
 — " Berecyntliian Attin."'] This 
 and the next verse rhyme in the 
 original. 
 
 91. " And the dolphin" #c] Al- 
 luding to ths story of Arion, who was 
 carried safe to land, when thrown 
 overboard, on the back of a dolphin. 
 
 Nereus, a sea god, is here affect- 
 edly put for the sea itself. 
 
 92. " Thus we removed" <|r.J — 
 There is a jingle in this verse between 
 thelongo in the middle, and Apennino 
 fit the end. The writer of these three 
 quoted lines changes Atys or Attis 
 into Attin, to make it rhyme with 
 Delphin. 
 
 Atys, or Attis, the subject of this 
 poem, was a handsome youth of 
 Phyrgia, beloved by Cybele, who 
 from Berecynthus, a mountain of 
 Asia Minor, where she was worship- 
 ped, was called Berecynthia : hence 
 the writer of the poem affects to call 
 Atys Berecynthius. 
 
 ■ — " Thus xve removed a rib," $r.J 
 
 The end of this verse is spondaic, 
 which Nero much affected in his he- 
 roics. He calls Hannibal's opening 
 a way for his army over the Alps, 
 removing a lib from the Apenine 
 mountains — a strange, affected phrase. 
 
 93. " Arms and the man, <§"£.]— • 
 Arraa virumque — Mn. i. 1. 1. Well, 
 replies the poetaster, if you find fault 
 with what you have quoted, I sup- 
 pose you will find fault with Virgil's 
 arma virumque cano, and perhaps 
 with his whole iEneid, as frothy, tur- 
 gid, and, like a tree with a thick 
 bark, appearing great, but having 
 little of value within. 
 
 94. As an old bough, $c] Ramale 
 is a dead bough cut from a tree. 
 Persius answers, Yes, Virgil is like 
 an old bough Avith a thick bark ; but 
 then we must understand, such a 
 bough as has been cut from the tree, 
 and whose bark has been dried for 
 many years by the sun, so that all it* 
 gross particles are exhaled and gone, 
 and nothing but what is solid remains. 
 Suber signifies the cork- tree, which 
 is remarkable for its thick bark — 
 therefore put here for the bark ; syn. 
 — thus cortex, the bark, is sometimes 
 put for the tree, which is remarkably 
 light. Hon. ode ix. lib. iii. 1. 22. 
 
 95. What then is tender, fyc."] — . 
 Well, says the opponent to Persius, 
 let us have done with heroics, and 
 
318 
 
 PERSII SATIR.E. 
 
 P. u Torva Mimalloneis implerunt cornua bombis ; 96 
 
 f* Et raptum vitulo caput ablatura superbo 
 
 Ci Bassaris ; et lyncem Maenas flexura corymbis, 
 
 " Evion ingeminat: reparabilis adsonat echo." 
 
 Haec fierent, si virtutis vena ulla paterni 100 
 
 Viverit in nobis? Suinma delumbe saliva 
 Hoc natat in labris ; et in udo est Maenas et Attin ; 
 Nee pluteum credit, nee demorsos sapit ungnes. 
 
 M. Sed quid opus teneras mordaci radere vero 
 Auriculas ? Vide sis, ne ma jorum tibi forte 105 
 
 Limina frigescant. Sonat hie de nare canina 
 
 tell me what you allow to be good of 
 the tender kind of writing. 
 
 — With a loose neck.} With a head 
 reclined, in a languishing, soft, and 
 tender manner. This is humour- 
 ously put in opposition to the atti- 
 tudes made use of in reading the bom- 
 bast and fustian heroics of these po- 
 etasters, who stood w ith the neck 
 stretched as high as they could, and 
 straining their throats, to give force 
 and loudness to their utterance. 
 
 96. " Thejf JilFd their .fierce 
 horns" £*.] Giving a fierce and war- 
 like sound. Some render torva here 
 writhed, twisted, or crooked, quasi 
 torta. 
 
 Persius deriding the querist, quotes 
 four more lines, which are supposed 
 to have been written by Nero, and 
 which exhibit a specimen of one of 
 the most absurd rhapsodies that ever 
 was penned. 
 
 — " M'nmtl'oncan Hosts."] The 
 Mimallonss were priestesses of Bac- 
 chus ; they were so called from Mi- 
 mas, a mountain of Ionia, sacred to 
 Bacchus. 
 
 Bombus signifies a hoarse sound or 
 blast, as of a trumpet or horn. 
 
 07. " Bassaris !'] Agave, or any 
 other of the priestesses ; called Bas- 
 saris, from Bassarus, a name of Bac- 
 chus. 
 
 Having given the alarm, Agave 
 and the rest of the Mimallones cut 
 off the head of Pentheus (the son of 
 Agave and Echion), and tore him to 
 pieces, because he would drink no 
 -.vine, and slighted the feasts of Bac- 
 chus. Pentheus is thought to be 
 meant here by the superbo vitulo. 
 
 ys. " Manas.*] These priestesses 
 
 of Bacchus were also called Macnades 
 (from Gr. /xsuncrSa», insanire.) 
 
 — " To guide a lynx."] These 
 were beasts of the leopard or tyger 
 kind, and represented as drawing the 
 chariot of Bacchus. The word flex- 
 ura here, like flectere, Virg. Geo. ii. 
 357, means to guide. — So again, Mn. 
 i. 156. flectit equos — " he guides or 
 " manages his horses." Thus the 
 priestesses of Bacchus might be said 
 flectere, to guide or manage lynxes 
 with bands or rods of ivy. This was 
 sacred to Bacchus, because, returning 
 conqueror from India, he was 
 crowned with ivy. 
 
 99. " Redoubles Evlon."] Inge- 
 mino signifies to redouble — to repeat 
 often. Evios, or Evius, a name of 
 Bacchus, on which the Bacchantes 
 used to call (Et/ot, Gr.) till they 
 wrought themselves into a fur)' like 
 madness. See Juv. sat. vii. 1. 62, 
 and note. 
 
 — " The reparable echo" $c] So 
 called from repeating, and so repair- 
 ing the SG.'inds, which would other- 
 wise be lost. 
 
 100. Would these be made.] i. e. 
 Would such verses as these be made, 
 but more especially would they be 
 commended. 
 
 — If any vein, Sec] If there were 
 the least trace of the manly wisdom 
 of our ancestors among us ? 
 
 101. This feeble stuff.] Delumbis 
 
 weak, feeble, broken-backed, as it 
 
 were. 
 
 102. Swims in the lips.] The poet, 
 by this phrase, seems to mean, that 
 the flatterers of Nero had these lines 
 always at their tongue's end, (as we 
 
PERSIUS^ SATIRES. 
 
 319 
 
 P. " They filled theif fierce horns with Mimallonean blasts, 
 " And Bassaris, about to take away the head snatched from 
 
 " tlie proud 
 " Calf, and Mamas, about to guide a lynx with ivy, 
 " Redoubles Evion : the reparable echo sounds to it." 
 Would these be made, if any vein of our paternal manli- 
 ness -"» 1 00 
 Lived in us? Tfhis feeble stuff, on the topmost spittle, 
 Swims in the lips, and in the wet is Mamas and Attys. 
 Nor does he beat his desk, nor taste his gnawn nails. 
 
 M. Rut where is the need to grate tender ears with 
 biting truth ? 
 See to it, lest haply the thresholds of the great 105 
 
 Should grow cold to you : here from the nostril sounds the 
 canine letter — 
 
 say) and were spitting them out, i. c. 
 repeating and quoting them conti- 
 nually. 
 
 — And in the wet.'] In udo esse, 
 and in summa saliva natare, seem to 
 imply the same thing ; viz. that these 
 poems of Atys and Meenas were al» 
 ways in people's mouths, mixed with 
 their spittle, as it were. 
 
 103. Nor does he beat his desk, <%c] 
 The penman of such verses as these 
 is at very little pains about them. He 
 knows nothing of those difficulties, 
 which, at times, pains-taking poets 
 are under, so as to make them smite 
 the desk which they write upon, and 
 gnaw their nails to the quick with 
 vexation. 
 
 See Hoe. lib. ii. sat. hi. 1. 7-8. 
 Culpantur frustra calami, frus- 
 
 traque laborat 
 Iratis natus paries Dis atque poetis. 
 And again, lib. i. sat. x. 1. 70-1. 
 
 In versu faciendo 
 
 Sape caput scdberet, vivos et roderet 
 ungues 
 
 104. Where's the need, $c,~\ We 
 are to recollect, that this Satire opens 
 with a dialogue between Persius and 
 his friend, that the latter persuades 
 Persius against publishing ; that Per- 
 sius says, he is naturally of a satiri- 
 cal turn of mind, and does not know 
 how to refrain, (I. 12.) and then 
 launches forth into the severest cen- 
 sure on the writers of his day. His 
 friend perceiving that what he first 
 
 said against publishing would not 
 have its effect, still farther dissuades 
 him, by hinting at the danger he ran 
 of getting the ill-will of the great. 
 
 '* Where is the necessity, (says his 
 '* friend,) supposing all you say to 
 " be true, yet where is the necessity 
 " to hurt the ears of those who have 
 ** been used to hear nothing but flat- 
 " tery, and therefore must be very 
 " tender and susceptible of the acut- 
 " est feelings of uneasiness and dis- 
 " pleasure, on hearing such bitter and 
 " stinging truths as you deliver." 
 
 105. Sec to it.] Vide sis {i. c. si 
 vis) — take care, if you please. 
 
 — Lest haply the thresholds, $" c 0-~ 
 Lest it fall out, that you should so 
 offend some of the great folks, as to 
 meet with a cool reception at their 
 houses. 
 
 So Hor. sat. i.lib. ii. 1. 60-3. 
 O puer, ut sis 
 
 Vitalis metuo, ct mqjorum nc quti 
 amicus 
 
 F rigor e te feriaU 
 
 106. Here.] i. e. In these Satires 
 of yours, there is a disagreeable sound, 
 like the snarling of a dog, very un- 
 pleasant to the ears of such people. 
 
 — From the nostril sounds the 
 canine letter. ] R is called the dog's, 
 letter, because the vibration of the 
 tongue in pronouncing it resembles 
 the snarling of a dog. See Alchy- 
 mist, act ii. sc. v'u 
 
1320 
 
 PERSII SATIR.E. 
 
 Liter» — P. Per me, equidem, sint omnia protinus alba ; 
 Nil moror. Euge, omnes, omnes bene mine eritis res. 
 Hoc juvat ; hie, inquis, veto quisquam faxit oietum 
 Pinge duos angues : Pueri, sacer est locus, extra 
 Meite : discedo. Secuit Lucilius urbem, 
 Te, Lupe, te Mati ; et genuinum fregk in illis. 
 Omne vafet vitium ridenti Flaccus amico 
 Tangit ; et admissus circum praecordia ludit, 
 Callidus excusso populuin suspendere naso. 
 Men 1 mutire nefas ? Nee clam, nee cum scrobe ? 
 
 M. 
 
 quam. 
 P. Hie tamen infodiam 
 
 110 
 
 115 
 Nus- 
 
 " Vidi, vidi ipse, libelle : 
 Auriculas asini quis non habet ?" — Hoc ego opertum, 
 
 107. For my part, truly, §c.]— 
 Well, answers Persius, if this be the 
 case, I will have nothing to do with 
 them ; all they do and say shall be 
 perfectly right, for me, from hence- 
 forward. The ancients put black for 
 what was bad, and white for what 
 was good, according to that of Py- 
 thagoras : 
 
 To />tsv hf.y.ov tyiS Aycivov tpvacug, 
 TO <5e [*.i>,UV xur.ov. 
 White is of the nature of good — 
 black of :vi/. 
 
 108. / hinder 7iot.] I shall say no- 
 thing to prevent its being thought so. 
 Or, nil moror may be rendered, I do 
 not care about it. Comp. Hor. sat. 
 iv. lib. i. 1. 13. 
 
 O brave ! $c] Well done ! 
 
 every thing, good people, that ye say 
 and do shall be admirable. Iron. 
 This wretched verse is supposed to be 
 written as a banter on the bad poets. 
 
 109. This pleases.] Surely this 
 concession pleases you, my friend. 
 
 — Here say you, I forbid, §c] — 
 Metaph. It was unlawful to do their 
 occasions, or to make water, in any 
 sacred place ; and it was customary 
 to paint two snakes on the walls or 
 doors of such places, in order to mark 
 them out to the people. The poet is 
 ironically comparing the persons and 
 writings of the great (glancing, no 
 doubt, at Nero) to such sacred places ; 
 and as these were forbidden to be de- 
 filed with urine and excrement, so he 
 understands his friend to say, that 
 neither the persons or writings of the 
 
 emperor and of the nobles were to be 
 defiled with the abuse and reproofs of 
 satirists. See Juv. sat. i. 117. 
 
 110. Paint two snakes.] These 
 were representatives of the deity or 
 genius of the sacred place, and paint- 
 ed there as signals to deter people, 
 children especially, who were most 
 apt to make free with such places, 
 from the forbidden defilement. Mark 
 out, says Persius, these sacred cha- 
 racters to me, that I may avoid de- 
 filing them. Iron. 
 
 111. / depart.] Says Persius, I am 
 gone — I shall not tarry a moment on 
 forbidden ground, nor drop my Satire* 
 there. 
 
 — Lucilius cut the city.] Lucilius, 
 whose works are not come down to 
 us, was almost the father of the Ro- 
 man satire. He was a very severe 
 writer ; hence our poet's saving, se- 
 cuit uroem, he cut up, slashed as with 
 a sword, the city, i. e. the people of 
 Rome, from the highest to the lowest. 
 So Jw. sat. i. 1. 151. 
 
 Ense velut stricto quoiics Lucilin? 
 a r dens 
 
 InfremuU, <fr. 
 Comp. Hor. sat. iv. lib. i. 1. 1-12. 
 
 Persius seems to bethink himself. 
 He has just said, 1 depart — i. e. I 
 shall not meddle with the great peo- 
 ple — " But why should I depart ? Lu- 
 " cilius could lash all sorts of people, 
 " and why should not I r" 
 
 112. Thee, Lupus, thee, Mittius.] 
 Pub. Rutilius Lupus, the consul, and 
 Titus Mutius Albutius, a very pow- 
 erful man — q. d. Lucilius not only 
 
sat. i. PERSIUS'S SATIRES. 321 
 
 P. For my part, truly, let every thing be henceforward 
 
 white. 
 I hinder not. O brave ! all things, ye shall all be very 
 
 wonderful. 
 This pleases.— Here, say you, I forbid that any should 
 
 commit nuisance ; 
 Paint two snakes : boys, the place is sacred : without 110 
 Make water- — I depart. — Lucilius cut the city, 
 Thee, Lupus, thee, Mutius ; and he brake his jaw- tooth 
 
 upon them. 
 Sly Horace touches every vice, his friend laughing : 
 And admitted round the heart, plays 
 Cunning to hang up the people with an unwrinkled nose. 
 Is it unlawful for me to mutter ? neither secretly, nor with 
 
 a ditch ? M. No where. \ 16 
 
 P. Nevertheless I will dig here. " I have seen, I myself 
 
 " have seen, O little book :— ■ 
 * c Who has not the ears of an ass ?" I this hidden thing, 
 
 satirized the great, but did it by 
 name. 
 
 — Brake his jaw-tooth, fyc.] Me- 
 taph. from grinding food between the 
 jaw-teeth, to express the severity with 
 which he treated them, grinding 
 them to pieces as it were ; brake his 
 very teeth upon them. 
 
 113- Sly Horace touches, $c] Ho- 
 race, though he spared not vice, even 
 in his friends, yet he was shrewd 
 enough to touch it in such a manner 
 as to please even while he chas- 
 tised. 
 
 114. And admitted, $c.] He insi- 
 nuated himself into the affections, 
 and seemed in sport, having the 
 happy art of improving, without 
 the least appearance of severity or 
 sneering. 
 
 115. Cunning to hang iip, <|-c.] — 
 Suspendere, to hang them or hold 
 them up to view, as the subjects of 
 his satires. 
 
 Excusso naso here stands in oppo- 
 sition to naribus uncis, supr. 1. 38, 
 see note there, and to the naso adunco 
 of Horace ; and means the unwrinkled 
 and smooth appearance of the nose 
 when in good humour, and so, 
 good-humour itself: Quasi — rugis ex- 
 cusso. 
 
 110. To mutter. %c] If others, in 
 
 2 T 
 
 their different ways, could openly sa- 
 tirize, may not I have the liberty of 
 even muttering, secretly with myself, 
 or among a few select friends pri- 
 vately. 
 
 — Nor -with a ditch.} Alluding to 
 the story of Midas's barber, who, 
 when he saw the asses ears which 
 Apollo had placed on the head of 
 Midas, not daring to tell it to others, 
 he dug a ditch or furrow in the 
 earth, and there vented his wish to 
 speak of it, by whispering what he 
 had seen. 
 
 117. Nevertheless I will dig here, 
 fyc] Though I cannot speak out, yet 
 I will use my book as the barber did 
 the ditch ; 1 will secretly commit to 
 it what I have seen. Infodiam re- 
 lates to the manner of writing with 
 the point of an iron bodkin, which 
 was called a style, on tablets of wood 
 smeared with wax, so that the writer 
 might be said to dig or plough the 
 wax as he made the letters. 
 
 — * O little book.''] Here, with in- 
 dignation, the poet relates, as it were, 
 to his book (as the barber did to his 
 ditch) what he had seen ; namely, the 
 absurdity and folly of the modern 
 taste for poetry, in Nero, in the no- 
 bles, and in all their flatterers. 
 
 1 18. * The ears of an ass.'] Allud- 
 
322 PERS1I SATIRES. sat. i. 
 
 Hoc ridere meum, tam nil, nulla tibi vendo 
 
 Iliade. Audaci quicunque afflate Cratino, 120 
 
 Iratum Eupolidem praegrandi cum sene palles, 
 
 Aspice et haec. Si forte aliquid decoctius audis, 
 
 Inde vaporata lector mihi ferveat aure. 
 
 Non hie, qui in crepidas Graiorum ludere gestit 
 
 Sordidus, et lusco qui possit dicere, Lusce : 125 
 
 Sese aliquem credens, Italo quod honore supinus, 
 
 Fregerit heminas Areti aedilis iniquas. 
 
 ing still to the story of Midas, who, 
 finding fault with the judgment of 
 the country deities, when they ad- 
 judged the prize to Apollo, in his 
 contention with Pan, had asses' ears 
 fixed on him by Apollo. 
 
 Who, says the poet, does not judge 
 of poetry as ill as Midas judged of 
 music ? One would think they had 
 all asses' ears given them for their 
 folly. Suet, in Viu Persii, says, 
 that this line originally stood for mida 
 rex habet, which Cornutus, his friend 
 and instructor, advised him to change 
 to quis non habet ? lest it should be 
 thought to point too plainly at 
 Nero. 
 
 — I this hidden thing.] This secret 
 joke of mine. 
 
 119. This laugh of mine."] Hoc ri- 
 dere, for hunc risum, a Giaecism; 
 meaning his Satires, in which he de- 
 rides the objects of them. See 1. 9, 
 and note. 
 
 119. Such a nothing.] So insignifi- 
 cant and worthless in thine opinion, 
 my friend, (comp. 1. 2, 3.) and per- 
 haps in the eyes of others, that they 
 would not think them worth reading, 
 as you told me. 
 
 — J sell to thee, <£c] Nero, as well 
 as Labeo, had written a poem on the 
 destruction of Troy ; to these the 
 poet may be supposed to allude, when 
 he says he would not sell his Satires 
 — his nothing, as others esteemed 
 them — for any Iliad : perhaps the 
 word nulla may be understood as ex- 
 tending to Homer himself. 
 
 120. O thou whosoever, #c] Af- 
 flate — hast read so much of Cratinus, 
 as to be influenced and inspired with 
 his spirit. Cratinus was a Greek 
 comic poet, who, with a peculiar 
 boldness and energy, satirized the 
 
 evil manners of his time. The poet 
 is about to describe what sort of 
 readers he chooses for his Satires, and 
 those whom he does not choose. 
 
 121. Art pale.] With reading and 
 studying hast contracted that pale- 
 ness of countenance, which is inci- 
 dent to studious people. See Juv. 
 sat. vii. 1. 97 ; and Fere sat. v. I. 
 62. 
 
 — Angry Eupolis.] This was ano- 
 ther comic poet, who, incensed at the 
 vices of the Athenians, lashed them 
 in the severest manner. He is said- 
 to have been thrown into the sea by 
 Alcibiades, for some verses written 
 against him. 
 
 — With the very great old man.] 
 The poet here meant is Aristophanes, 
 who lived to a very great age. He 
 was of a vehement spirit, had a 
 genius turned to raillery, wit free and 
 elevated, and courage not to fear the 
 person when vice was to be reproved. 
 He wrote thirty-four comedies, where- 
 of eleven only remain. 
 
 Hok. lib. i. sat. iv. 1. 1, mentions 
 all these three poets together. 
 
 Persius gives him the epithet oi' 
 praegrandi, either on account of his 
 age, for he lived till he was four- 
 score, or on account of the great emi- 
 nence of his writings, for he was the 
 prince of the old comedy, as Menan- 
 der was of the new ; but so as we 
 must join, says Ainsworth, Eupoiis 
 and Cratinus with the former, Di- 
 philus and Polemon with the latter. 
 
 122. These too behold.] Look also 
 on these Satires of mine. 
 
 —7/' haply any thing more refined \ 
 $c.] The poet speaks modestly of his 
 own writings, si forte, (see before 1. 
 41, 2.) if it should so happen, that 
 thou shouklest meet with any thing 
 
sat. i. FERSIUS'S SATIRES. 323 
 
 This laugh of mine, such a nothing, I sell to thee for no 
 Iliad. O thou whosoever art inspired by bold Oratinus, 
 Art pale over angry Eupolis, with the very great old man, 
 These too behold : if haply any thing more refined you 
 - hear, 122 
 
 Let the reader glow towards me with an ear evaporated 
 
 from thence. 
 Not he, who delights to sport on the slippers of the 
 
 Grecians, 
 Sordid, and who can say to the blinkard, thou blinkard : 
 Thinking himself somebody ; because, lifted up with Ita- 
 lian honour, 126 
 An aedile he may have broken false measures at Aretium. 
 
 more clear, well digested, pure, re- 
 fined than ordinary. Metaph. taken 
 from liquors, which, by being often 
 boiled, lose much of their quantity, 
 but gain more strength and clearness. 
 It is said of Virgil, that he -would 
 make fifty verses in a morning, or 
 more, and in the evening correct and 
 purge them till they were reduced to 
 about ten. 
 
 123. Let the reader glow, $c] If, 
 says Persius, there be any thing in my 
 writings better than ordinary, let the 
 reader, who has formed his taste on 
 the writings of the poets above men- 
 tioned, glow with a fervour of delight 
 
 'towards the author. This I take to 
 be the meaning of the line, which li- 
 terally is — 
 
 Let the reader glow towards me 
 with an ear evaporated (i. e. purified 
 from the false taste of the present 
 times) from thence (i. e. from, or by, 
 reading and studying the writings of 
 Cratinus, &c.) — such I wish to be 
 my readers. Vaporo signifies to send 
 cut vapours, to evaporate : thus the 
 metaphor is continued through both 
 the lines. 
 
 124. Not he, who delights, %c.\— 
 Persius now marks out those who 
 were not to be chosen for his readers. 
 
 The first class of men which he 
 objects to are those who can laugh 
 at the persons and habits of philoso- 
 phers ; this bespeaks a despicable, 
 mean, and sordid mind. 
 
 — Slippers of the Grecians.} Crepi- 
 das Graiorum, a peculiar sort of slip- 
 pers, or shoes, worn by philosophers 
 
 — here put by synec. for the whole 
 dress ; but it is most likely, that Per* 
 sius here means the philosophers 
 themselves, and all their wise sayings 
 and institutes ; these were originally 
 derived from Greece. 
 
 125. Sordid.] See note, No. 1, above, 
 at 1. 1 24, ad fin. 
 
 — Say to be blinkard, fyc] Luscus 
 is he that has lost an eye, a one-eyed 
 man. 
 
 Persius means those who can up- 
 braid and deride the natural infirmi- 
 ties or misfortunes of others, by way 
 of wit : 
 
 Can mock the blind: and has the 
 •wit to cry— 
 
 ( Prodigious wit! ) — " Why, friend, 
 " you want an eye." 
 
 Brewster. 
 
 126. Thinking himself somebody.] 
 A person of great consequence. 
 
 — Lifted vp, §c] Puffed up with 
 self-importance, because bearing an 
 office in some country-district of Italy, 
 and therefore flippant of his abuse, by 
 way of being witty, 1. 124-5. 
 
 127. An ccdile, £c] An inferior 
 kind of country-magistrate, who had 
 jurisdiction over weights and mea- 
 sures, and had authority to break and 
 destroy those which were false. Juv. 
 sat. tf. 1. 102. 
 
 — A re thou.] A city of Tuscany, 
 famous for making earthen-ware, but, 
 perhaps, put here for any country 
 town. 
 
 So heminas, half sextaries, little 
 measures holding about three quar- 
 ters of a pint, are put for mea- 
 
324 
 
 PERS1I SATIRE. 
 
 SAT. I. 
 
 Nec, qui abaco numeros, et secto in pulvere metas, 
 
 Scit nsisse vafer ; multum gaudere paratus, 
 
 Si Cynico barbam petulans Nonaria vellat. 
 
 His, mane, edictum ; post prandia, Callirhoen, do. 
 
 130 
 
 sures in general. Comp. Juv. sat. x. 
 101-2. 
 
 128. Nor who, arch, £c] Ano- 
 ther class of people, which Persius 
 would exclude from the number 
 of his readers, are those who laugh 
 at and despise all science whatso- 
 ever. 
 
 Abacus signifies a bench, slate, or 
 table, used for accounts by arithmeti- 
 cians, and for figures by mathemati- 
 cians — here put for arithmetic and 
 mathematics. 
 
 129. Bounds in divided dust.] The 
 geometricians made their demonstra- 
 tions upon dust, or sanded floors, to 
 the end that their lines might be 
 easily changed and struck out again — 
 here geometry is meant. 
 
 130. Petulant Nonaria, $c.] Who 
 think it an high joke, if they see an 
 
 impudent strumpet meet a gftve Cy- 
 nic in the street, and pull him by the 
 beard ; which was the greatest affront 
 that could be offered. Comp. Hor- 
 sat. iii. lib. i. I. 133, 4. 
 
 The ninth hour, or our three 
 o'clock in the afternoon, was the time 
 when the harlots made their first ap- 
 pearance ; hence they were called 
 Nonariae. Perhaps our poet may al- 
 lude, in this line, to the story of 
 Diogenes, (mentioned by Athen. lib. 
 xiii.T who was in love with Lais, the 
 famous courtezan, and had his beard 
 plucked by her. 
 
 131. In the morning, an edict.] To 
 such people as these I assign employ- 
 ments suitable to their taleuts and 
 characters. It has been usually 
 thought, that edictum here means the 
 praetor's edict } and that by Callirhoo 
 
PERSIUS'S SATIRES. 
 
 325 
 
 Nor who, arch, knows to laugh at the numbers of an ac 
 
 countable, 
 And bounds in divided dust ; prepared to rejoice much, 
 If petulant Nonaria should pluck a Cynic's beard. 130 
 I give to these, in the morning, an edict ; after dinner, 
 
 Callirhoe. 
 
 is meant some harlot of that name ; 
 and therefore this line is to be under- 
 stood, as if Persius meant that these 
 illiterate fellows should attend the 
 forum in the morning, and the brothel 
 in the evening : but the former seems 
 too serious an employ for men such 
 as he is speaking of. 
 
 Marcilius, therefore, more reason- 
 ably, takes edictum (consonant to the 
 phrases edictum ludorum, edictum 
 muneris gladiatorii, &c) to signify a 
 pi'ograrnma, a kind of play -bill, which 
 was stuck up, as ours are, in the 
 morning ; and Callirhoe to be the 
 title of some wretched play, written 
 on the story of that famous parricide 
 (who slew her father because he would 
 Jiot consent to her marriage) by some 
 of the writers at which this Satire is 
 
 levelled, and which was announced 
 to be performed in the evening. 
 
 q. d. Instead of wishing such to 
 read my Satires, I consign these 
 pretty gentlemen to the study of the 
 play-bills in the morning, and to an 
 attendance on the play in the evening. 
 Thus this Satire concludes, in con- 
 formity with the preceding part of it, 
 with lashing bad writers and their ad- 
 mirers. 
 
 Marcilius contends, that this line 
 is to be referred to Nero, against 
 whom, as a poet, this Satire is prin- 
 cipally, though covertly, levelled — 
 who, by ordering bills to be distri- 
 buted, called the people together, in 
 order to hear him sing over his poems 
 on Callirhoe. 
 
J^attra £tnmtra» 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 It being customary among the Romans for one friend to 
 send a present to another on his birth-day — Persius, on 
 the birth-day of his friend Macrinus, presents him xcith 
 this Satire, which seems (like Juv. Sat. x.) to be founded 
 an Plato's dialogue on prayer, called The Second 
 Alcibiadcs. 
 
 The Poet takes occasion to expose the folly and impiety of 
 those, who, thinking the gods to be like themselves, ima- 
 gined that they were to be bribed into compliance ivith 
 their prayers by sumptuous presents ; whereas, in truth, 
 the gods regard not these, but regard only the pure in- 
 tention of an honest heart. 
 
 AD PLOTIUM MACRINUM. 
 
 HUNC, Macrine, diem numera meliore lapillo, 
 Qui tibi labentes appoint candidus annos. 
 Funde merum genio : non tu prece poscis emaci, 
 Quae, nisi seductis, nequeas committere divis : 
 At bona pars procerum tacita libabit acerra. 5 
 
 Line 1. Macrinus.] Who this Ma- — Adds to thee sliding years.] Sets 
 
 crinus was does not sufficiently ap- one more complete year to the score, 
 
 pear; he was a learned man, and a and begins another, 
 
 friend of Persius, who here salutes — Sliding years.] 
 
 him on his birth-day. Ehcufngaccs,Posthume,Posthumc> 
 
 — Better stone] The ancients reck- Laluntur anni. 
 
 oned happy days with white pebbles, Hor. ode xiv. lib. ii. 
 
 and unhappy days with black ones, Years that glide swiftly, and almost 
 
 and at the end of the year cast up the imperceptibly away, 
 
 reckoning, by which they could see 3. Pour out wine to your genius.] 
 
 how many happy, and how many un- The genius was a tutelar god, which 
 
 happy days had past. they believed to preside at their birth, 
 
 The poet here bids his friend dis- whom they worshipped every year 
 
 tinguish his birth-day among the on their birth-day, by making a liba- 
 
 happiest of his days, with a better, a tion of wine. They did not slay any 
 
 whiter stone than ordinary. beast in sacrifice to their genius on 
 
 2. Which.] i. e. Which day — that day, because they would not take 
 
 —White.] >'. e. Happy, good, pro- away life on the day on which they 
 
 pitious< received it. They supposed a genius 
 
j&trmtt gntivt* 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 In the course of this Satire, which seems to have given 
 occasion to the Tenth Satire of Juvenal, Persius men- 
 tions the impious and hurtful requests which men make, 
 as well as the bad means which they employ to have their 
 wishes fulfilled. 
 
 The whole of this Satire is very grave, weighty, and in- 
 structive ; and, like that qf Juvenal, contains sentiments, 
 more like a Christian than an heathen. 
 
 Bishop Burnet says, that " this Satire may zcell pass for 
 u one of the best lectures in divinity." 
 
 TO PLOTIUS MACRINUS. 
 
 THIS day, Macrinus, number with a better stone, 
 Which, white, adds to thee sliding years. 
 Pour out wine to your genius. You do not ask with mer- 
 cenary prayer, 
 Which you cannot commit unless to remote gods : 
 But a good part of our nobles will offer with tacit censer. 5 
 
 not only to preside at their birth, but 3. Mercenary prayer.] Emaci, 
 to attend and protect them constantly from erao, to buy — i. e. with a prayer, 
 through their life ; therefore, on other with which, as with a bribe, or re- 
 days, they sacrificed beasts to their ward, you were to purchase what you 
 genii. — Hence Hor. lib. iii. ode xvii. pray for. 
 
 1. 14—16. 4. Which you cannot commit, Qc] 
 
 ——Crasgeniummcro Which you must offer to the gods 
 
 Curdbis, et porco limestri, in secret, and as if the gods were 
 
 Cum famidis operum sohttis. taken aside, that nobody but them- 
 
 The libation of wine on their birth- selves should hear what you say to 
 
 day was attended also with strewing them. 
 
 £ owers. The former was an em- Committere, here, has the sense of 
 
 blem of cheerfulness and festivity ; —to intrust, to impart, 
 
 the latter, from their soon fading, 5. A good part.] A great many, a 
 
 of the frailty and shortness of human large portion. 
 
 life. So Hor. lib. i. sat. i. 1. 61. Bona 
 
 Hor. epist. i. lib. ii. I. 143-4. pars hominum ; a good many, as we 
 
 Tellurcm porco y Sylvamtm lacte say. 
 
 plalant, —.Tacit censer.] Acerra properly 
 
 Floribus et vino genium, mc?norem signifies the vessel, or pan, in which 
 
 Irex is tevi. the incense is burnt in sacrifice ; they 
 
328 
 
 PERSII SATIRE. 
 
 Haud cuivis promptum est, murmurque humilesque su- 
 
 surros 
 Tollere de templis, et aperto vivere voto. 
 6 Mens bona, fama, fides ; hsec clare, et ut audiat hospes. 
 Ilia sibi introrsum, et sub lingua immurmurat, ' O si 
 ' Ebullit patrui prasclarum funus ! — et, O si 10 
 
 c Sub rastro crepet argenti mihi seria, dextro 
 < Hercule ! — Pupillumve utinam, quern proximus liaeres 
 1 Impello, expungam ! namque est scabiosus, et acri 
 6 Bile tumet — Nerio jam tertia ducitur uxor/ 
 
 Haec sancte utposcas, Tiberino in gur^ite mergis 15 
 
 Mane caput, bis, terque ; et noctem flumine purgas. 
 
 Heus age, responde ; minimum est quod scire laboro : 
 
 said their prayers as the smoke of the 
 incense ascended ; but these nobles 
 spake so low, as not to be heard by 
 othcrs, so that the incense seemed si- 
 lently to ascend, unaccompanied with 
 any words of prayer. This seems to 
 be the meaning of tacita Hbabit as- 
 cerra. In short, their petitions were 
 of such a nature, that they cared net 
 to utter them loud enough for other 
 people to hear them ; they themselves 
 were ashamed of them. 
 
 6. It is not east/, «Jr.] As times go, 
 people arc not very ready to utter 
 their wishes and prayers publicly, 
 and to remove from the temples of 
 the gods those inward murmurs and 
 low whispers in which their impious 
 petitions are delivered. 
 
 7. And to live, <$v.] i. e. To make 
 it their practice to utter their vows 
 and prayers openly, in the sight and 
 hearing of all. 
 
 8. * A good mind, reputation,'' <£c] 
 These things, which are laudable and 
 commendable, and to be desired by 
 virtuous people, these they will ask 
 for with a clear and audible voice, so 
 that any stander-by may hear them 
 perfectly. 
 
 P. Those, $c] i. c. Those things 
 that follow (which are impious ar.d 
 scandalous) and which he does not 
 care should be heard by others, he 
 mutters inwardly. 
 
 — Under his tongue.] Keeps them 
 within his mouth, fearing to let them 
 pass his lips. 
 
 10. ( The pompous funcraV} One 
 prays for the death of a rich uncle. 
 
 — * Bubble «/>.') i. c. Appears in all 
 its pomp. Ebullit, for ebullient — 
 metaph. from water when boiling up, 
 which swells, as it were, and runs 
 over. 
 
 11. 'A pot of silver,' £r.] Ano- 
 ther prays that he may find a vessel 
 of hidden treasure, as he is rak- 
 ing his field. See Hem. lib. ii. sat. vi„ 
 1. 10. 
 
 — ■ Hercules, $c.] He was sup- 
 posed to preside over hidden trea- 
 sures. 
 
 12. Or my ward, «Jj-c] If it were 
 not to be his lot to have his avarice 
 gratified by finding hidden treasure, 
 yet, says this covetous suppliant — 
 " I have a rich orphan under my 
 " care, to whom I am heir at law, O 
 " that I could but put him out of the 
 " way !" Expungam — blot him out. 
 
 1?." « Impel.'] A metaph. taken 
 from one wave driving on another, 
 and succeeding in its place. 
 
 — ' He is sciM?/.'' «Jr.] Here is an 
 instance of the petitioner's hypocrisy 
 — he pretends not to wish his pupil's 
 death, that he might inherit his estate, 
 but out of compassion to an unhealthy 
 young man ; pretends to wish him 
 dead, that he may be released from 
 his sufferings, from his scrophulous 
 disorders. 
 
 11. • A third rvife,' §c] Another 
 prays for the death of his wife, that 
 he may be possessed of all she has, 
 and that he may get a fresh fortune 
 by marrying again. He thinks it very- 
 hard that he cannot get rid of one, 
 when Nerius, the usurer, has been 
 
PERSIUS'S SATIRES. 
 
 329 
 
 SAT. II. 
 
 It is not easy to every one, their murmur, and low whispers 
 To remove from the temples, and to live with open prayer. 
 
 * A good mind, reputation, fidelity ;' these clearly, that a 
 
 stranger may hear. 
 Those inwardly to himself and under his tongue he mut- 
 ters — ' O if 
 ' The pompous funeral of my uncle might bubble up ? O if 
 ' Under my rake a pot of silver might chink, Hercules 
 ' being propitious 11 
 
 * To me ! or my ward, whom I the next heir 
 
 ' Impel, I wish I could expunge ! for he is a scabby, and 
 
 6 with sharp 
 8 Bile he swells. A third wife is already married by 
 
 6 Nerius.' 
 That you may ask these things holily, in the river Tiber 
 
 you dip 15 
 
 Your head in the morning two or three times, and purge 
 
 the night with the stream. 
 Consider, mind, answer, (it is a small thing which I 
 
 labour to know,) 
 
 so lucky as to bury two, and is now 
 possessed of a third. On the death of 
 the wife, her fortune went to the hus- 
 band; even what the father had set- 
 tled out of his estate, if his daughter 
 survived him. 
 
 15. That you may ask, §c] That 
 the gods may be propitious, and give 
 a favourable answer to your prayers, 
 you leave no rite or ceremony unob- 
 served, to sanctify your person, and 
 render youi*self acceptable. 
 
 — In the river Tiber, $c] It was 
 a custom among the ancients, when 
 they had vows or prayers to make, 
 or to go about any thing of the reli- 
 gious or sacred kind, to purify them- 
 selves by washing in running water. 
 
 Attrectarc nefas, donee ?tie Jlumine 
 vivo 
 
 AUuero — 
 
 SeeiEn. ii. 1. 719, 20. 
 
 Hence the Romans washed in the 
 river Tiber — sometimes the head, 
 sometimes the hands, sometimes the 
 whole body. 
 
 — You dijp.] Or put under water. 
 Those who were to sacrifice to the in- 
 fernal gods only sprinkled themselves 
 with water ; but the sacrilicers to the 
 heavenly deities plunged themselves 
 
 into the river, and put their heads 
 under water. 
 
 16. In the mo ruing.'} At the rising 
 of the sun ; the time when they ob- 
 served this solemnity in honour of 
 the ccelestial gods : their ablutions in 
 honour of the Dii Manes, and infer- 
 nal gods, were performed at the set- 
 ting of the sun. 
 
 — Tzvo or three times.] The num- 
 ber three was looked upon as sacred 
 in religious matters. 
 
 Tenia t'ibi hcec primum tripliei di- 
 versa colore 
 
 Licia circumdo, terque hxc alteria 
 circum 
 
 Effigiem duco: nunicro Dcus im- 
 pure gaudct. 
 Virg. eel. viii. 1. 73-5 ; and note 
 there, 75., Delph. See G. i. 315. 
 
 — Purge the night, $c.] After 
 nocturnal pollution they washed— 
 Comp. Deut. xxiii. 10, 11. The an- 
 cients thought themselves polluted by 
 the night itself, as well as by bid 
 dreams in the night, and therefore 
 purified themselves by washing their 
 hands and heads every morning ; 
 which custom the Turks observe to 
 this day. 
 
 17. Consider, mind, <£c] The poet, 
 U 
 
330 
 
 PERSII SATIRJE. 
 
 De Jove quid sentis ? — Estne ut prseponere cures 
 
 Hunc Cuiquam f— Cuinam ? vis Staio ? an, scilicet, haeres? 
 
 Quis potior judex ? puerisve quis aptior orbis ? 20 
 
 Hoc igitur, quo tu Jovis aurem impeliere tentas, 
 
 Die agedum Staio. Proh Jupiter ! O bone, clamet, 
 
 Jupiter ! — At sese non clamet Jupiter ipse ? 
 
 Tgnovisse putas, quia, cum tonat, ocyusilex 
 
 Sulfure discutitur sacro, quam tuque domusque? %o 
 
 An, quia non fibris ovium, Ergennaque jubente, 
 
 Triste jaces lucis, evitandumque bidental, 
 
 Idcirco stolidam praebet tibi vellere barbam 
 
 Jupiter ? A.ut quidnam est, qua tu mercede deorum 
 
 Emeris auriculas ? pulmone, et lactibus unctis ? 30 
 
 Ecce avia, aut metuens divum matertera, cunis 
 Exemit puerum, frontemque, atque uda labella, 
 
 having stated the impiety of these 
 worshippers, now remonstrates with 
 them on their insult offered to the 
 gods. See Aivsw. Heus, No. 3. 
 
 " Come," says he, "let me ask 
 *' you a short question." 
 
 18. What think you of Jove ?]— 
 What are your notions, what your 
 conceptions of the god which you 
 pray to, and profess to honour ? 
 
 — Is he, that you would care, <|-c] 
 Do you think him preferable to any 
 mortal man ? 
 
 19, To idiom — ] Do you prefer 
 him ? 
 
 — Will you to Stains?] Will you 
 prefer him to Stains ? 
 
 — Do yon doubt, $v.] Do you he- 
 sitate in determining ? which is the 
 best judge, or the best guardian of 
 orphans, Jupiter or Staius ? From this 
 it appears that this Statius was some 
 notorious wretch, who had behaved ill 
 in both these capacities. 
 
 22. Say it to Status.] As you must 
 allow Staius not comparable to Ju- 
 piter, but, on the contrary, a very vile 
 and wicked man, I would have you, 
 that you may judge the better of the 
 nature of your petitions, propose to 
 Staius what you have proposed to 
 Jupiter — how would Staius receive 
 it? 
 
 — O Jupiter ! §c. would he cry.] 
 Even Staius, bad as he is, would be 
 shocked and astonished, and call on 
 Jupiter for vengeance on youv head. 
 
 23. And may not Jupiter, <£•£.]— 
 Think you that Jupiter then may not, 
 with the highest justice, as well a* 
 indignation, call on himself for ven- 
 geance on you ? 
 
 24-. To have forgiven."} Do you 
 suppose that Jupiter is reconciled to 
 your treatment of him, because you 
 and yours are visited v ith no marks 
 of divine vengeance ? 
 
 26. Bowels of sheep.] Offered in 
 sacrifice by way of expiation. 
 
 — Ergtnna.} Krgenna was the 
 name of some famous soothsayer, 
 whose office it was to divine, by in- 
 specting the entrails of the sacri- 
 fices. 
 
 27. A scid bidental.] When any 
 person was struck dead by lightning, 
 immediately the priest came and bu- 
 ried the body, enclosed the place, and 
 erecting there an altar, sacrificed tv\ o 
 two-year old sheep (bidentes) — hence 
 the word bidental is applied by au- 
 thors, indifferently, to the sacrifice, 
 to the place, or (as here) to the 
 person. 
 
 — In the groves.] Or woods, where 
 the oak was rent with lightning, and 
 where you remained unhurt. Comp. 
 1. 21-5. 
 
 28. Jupiter offer you, $c] Because 
 you have hitherto escaped, do you 
 imagine that you are at full liberty to 
 insult Jupiter as you please, and this 
 with impunity, and even with the 
 divine permission and approbation ? 
 
sat. ii. PERSIUS'S SATIRES. 331 
 
 What think you of Jove ? is he, that you would care to 
 
 prefer 
 Him to any one ? to whom ? will you to Staius ? what ! — 
 
 do you doubt ? 
 Who is the better judge ? who the fittest for orphan chil- 
 dren ? 20 
 This, therefore, with which you try to persuade the ear of 
 
 Jove, 
 Come, say it to Staius : O Jupiter ! O good Jwpiter ! would 
 
 he cry : 
 And may not Jupiter cry out upon himself? 
 Do you think him to have forgiven, because, when he 
 
 thunders, the oak sooner 
 Is thrown down, by the sacred sulphur, than both you, and 
 
 your house ? 9,5 
 
 Or because, with the bowels of sheep, Ergenna commanding, 
 You do not lie a sad, and to-be-avoided bidental, in the 
 
 groves, 
 
 Therefore does Jupiter offer you his foolish beard to pluck ? 
 
 Or what is it ? with what reward hast thou bought the ears 
 
 Of the gods ? with lungs, and with greasy entrails ? 30 
 
 Lo ! a grandmother, or an aunt fearing the gods, from 
 
 the cradle 
 Takes a boy, and his forehead and his wet lips, 
 
 Plucking or pulling a person by the unctis lactibus, because they are sur- 
 
 beard was one of the highest marks rounded with fat. 
 
 of contempt and insult that could be The poet mentions these too in a • 
 
 offered — see sat. i. 1. 129, note ; for sneering way, as if he had said, 
 
 the beard was cherished and respected " What ! do you think that you have 
 
 * ae a mark of gravity and wisdom — " corrupted the gods with lungs and 
 
 see Juv. sat. xiv. 12, note. " guts ?" 
 
 29. Or -what is it .'] i. e. What hast 31. Lo ! a grandmother, $c.[ The 
 thou done, that thou art in such high poet now proceeds to expose the folly 
 favour with the gods ? of those prayers which old women 
 
 — With what reward, <|-c] With make for children, 
 what bribe hast thou purchased the di- — An aunt] Matertera quasi ma- 
 vine attention ? ter altera — the mother's sister, the 
 
 30. With lungs.] Contemptuously aunt on the mother's side, as amita is 
 put here, per meton. for any of the on the father's side. 
 
 larger intestines of beasts offered in — Fearing the gods.] Metuens di- 
 
 sacrifice. vura — superstitious ; for all supersti- 
 
 — And with greasy entrails.] Lactes tion proceeds from fear and terror; 
 
 signifies the small guts, through it is therefore that superstitious people 
 
 which the meat passeth first out of are called in Greek hur^onuon^ 
 
 SENSES'* V^V****** fr ° m from hfo, to fear, and *«, w a 
 the iacteals, or small vessels, the j ■. ■ « . \ 
 
 mouths of which open into them to d %™ 0n U a . &f , See . A « 8 f"* 
 receive the chyle, which is of a white h ** •£ * ffw Y t* 1 Z™™ 
 ev milky colour. The poet says, *2? ndlcules * e . f ° ohsh and su P er " 
 3 " FUtl *y*> stitious rites which women observed 
 
 on these occasions. 
 
332 
 
 
 PERSII SATIRE. 
 
 SAT. 11. 
 
 Infami digito, et lustralibus ante salivis 
 
 Expiat ; urentes oculos inhibere perita. 
 
 Tunc manibus quatit, et spem macram, supplice voto, 
 
 Nunc Licini in campos, nunc Crassi mittit in aedes. 
 
 ' Hunc opient oenerura rex et regina ! puellae 
 
 ' Hunc rapiant ! quicquid calcaverit hie, rosa fiat V 
 
 Ast ego nutrici non mando vota : negato, 
 
 Jupiter, haec illi, quamvis te albata rogarit. 
 
 Poscis opem nervis, corpusque fidele senecta3 : 
 Esto, age : sed grandes patinee, tucetaque crassa 
 Annuere his superos vetuere, Jovemque morantur 
 
 Rem struere exoptas, caeso bove ; Mercuriumque 
 
 35 
 
 40 
 
 First, after having taken the infant 
 out of the cradle, they, before they 
 began their prayers, wetted the mid- 
 dle finger with spittle, with which 
 they anointed the forehead and lips 
 of the child, by way of expiation, 
 and preservative against magic. 
 
 32. Wei lips.] i. e. Of the child, 
 which are usually wet with drivel 
 jrom the mouth. 
 
 33. Infamous fnger.] The middle 
 finger, called infamis, from its being 
 made use of in a way of scorn to 
 point at infamous people. SeeJuv. 
 sat. x. 1. 53, and note. 
 
 ^-Purifying spittle] They thought 
 fasting spittle to contain great virtue 
 against fascination, or an evil eye ; 
 therefore w ith that, mixed w ith dust, 
 they rubbed the forehead and lips by 
 way of preservative. Thus in Petro- 
 nius — " Mox turbatum sputo pul- 
 M verem, anus medio sustulit digito, 
 M frontemquc repugnanlis signat." 
 
 — She beforehand.] i. e. Before she 
 begins her prayers for the child. 
 
 31. Expiates.] See above, note on 
 l f 32, ad fin. 
 
 Skilled to inhibit, #c] Skilful to 
 hinder the fascination of bewitching 
 eyes. Uro signifies, lit. to burn ; also 
 to injure or destroy. "Virg. G. ii. 1. 
 196. One sort of witchcraft was sup- 
 posed to operale by the influence of 
 the eye. Virg. eel. iii. 103. 
 
 35. Then shrikes him, §c] Lifts 
 him up, and dandles him to and fro, 
 as if to present him to the gods. 
 
 — Her slender hope.\ The little ten- 
 der infant. 
 
 =^~With suppliant wish.] Or prayer. 
 
 Having finished her superstitious 
 rites of lustration, she now offers 
 her wishes and prayers for the infant. 
 
 36. She now sends, #c] Mittit is 
 a law term, and taken from the 
 praetor's putting a person in posses- 
 sion of an estate which was recovered 
 at law. Here it denotes the old wo- 
 man's wishing, and, in desire, putting 
 the child in possession of great riches, 
 having her eye on the possessions of 
 Crassus and Licinius, the former of 
 which (says Plutarch) purchased so 
 many houses, that, at one time or 
 other, the greatest part of Rome came 
 into his hands. Licinius was a young 
 slave of so saving a temper, that he 
 let out the offals of his meat for in- 
 terest, and kept a register of debtors. 
 Afterwards he was made a collector 
 in Gaul, where he acquired (as Persius 
 elsewhere expresses it, quantum non 
 milvus oberret) " more lands than a 
 •' kite could fly over." 
 
 37. ■ King and queen "wish? See.]-— 
 May he be so opulent as that even 
 crowned heads may covet an alliance 
 w ith him as a son-in-law. 
 
 37-8. « Girls seize him.''] May he 
 be so beautiful and comely, the girls 
 may all fall in love w ith him, and 
 contend who shall first seize him for 
 her own. 
 
 38. ■ Shall have trodden upon,'' eye] 
 This foolish, extravagant hyperbole 
 well represents the vanity and folly of 
 these old women, in their wishes for 
 the children. 
 
 39. But to a nurse, $-c] For my 
 part, says Persius, I shall never leave 
 it to my nurse to pray for my child. 
 
sat. it. PERSIUS'S SATIRES. 333 
 
 With infamous finger, and with purifying spittle, she 
 
 beforehand 
 Expiates, skilled to inhibit destructive eyes. 
 Then shakes him in her hands, and her slender hope, with 
 
 suppliant wish, 35 
 
 She now sends into the fields of Licinius, now into the 
 
 houses of Crassus. 
 ( May a king and queen wish this boy their son-in-law ; 
 
 6 may the girls 
 i Seize him ; whatever he shall have trodden upon, may it 
 
 ' become a rose V 
 But to a nurse I do not commit prayers : deny, 
 O Jupiter, these to her, though clothed in white she should 
 
 ask. 40 
 
 You ask strength for your nerves, and a body faithful to 
 
 old age : 
 Be it so— go on : but great dishes, and fat sausages, 
 Have forbidden the gods to assent to these, and hinder 
 
 Jove. 
 You wish heartily to raise a fortune, an ox being slain, 
 
 and Mercury 
 
 39-40. Deny, O Jupiter, $c] If 
 she should ever pray thus for a child 
 of mine, I beseech thee, O Jupiter, 
 to deny such petitions as these, how- 
 ever solemnly she may offer them. 
 
 40. Tho' clothed in white.] Though 
 arrayed in sacrificial garments. The 
 ancients, when they sacrificed and 
 offered to the gods, were clothed with 
 white garments, as emblems of inno- 
 cence and purity. 
 
 41. You ask strength, fyc.~\ Ano- 
 ther prays for strength of nerves, and 
 that his body may not fail him when 
 he comes to be old. 
 
 42. Be it so — go on.~\ I see no harm 
 in this, says Persius ; you ask no- 
 thing but what may be reasonably de- 
 sired, therefore I don't find fault with 
 your praying for these things — go on 
 with your petitions. 
 
 — Great dishes.'] But while you are 
 praying for strength of body, and for 
 an healthy old age, you are destroy- 
 ing your health, and laying in for a 
 diseased old age, by your gluttony 
 and luxury. 
 
 — Sausages.] Tuceta, a kind of 
 meat made of pork or beef chopped, 
 or other stuff, mingled with suet. 
 
 43. Have forbidden, $c] While 
 you are praying one way, and living 
 another, you yourself hinder the gods 
 from granting your wishes. 
 
 — Hinder Jove."\ Prevent his giv- 
 ing you health and strength, by your 
 own destroying both. 
 
 The poet here ridicules those in- 
 consistent people, who pray for health 
 and strength of body, and yet live 
 in such a manner as to impair both, 
 nothing but a youth of temperance 
 is likely to ensure an old age of 
 health. This is finely touched by the 
 masterly pen of our Shakespeare : 
 Tho' I look old, yet I am strong 
 
 and lusty -. 
 For in my youth I never did apply 
 Hot and rebellious liquors in my 
 
 blood ; 
 Nor did not -with unbashful fore- 
 head woo 
 The means of weakness and debility ; 
 Therefore my age is as a lusty 
 winter, 
 
 Frosty, but kindly 
 
 As you like it, act ii. sc. iii. 
 
 44. You -wish, $c] Another is en- 
 deavouring to advance his fortune by 
 offering costly sacrifices, littlfr4 hir)k - ., 
 
331 
 
 PERSI1 SATIRE. 
 
 Arcessis fibra : ( da fortunare penates ! 45 
 
 ' Da pecus, et gregibus foetum P — Quo, pessime, pacto, 
 Tot tibi cum in flammis junicura omenta liquescant? 
 
 : turner] hie extis, et opinio vincerc £ 
 1 utendit : : jam crescit ager, jam . i e soil ovile : 
 ' Jam dabitur, jam jam :* donee deceptus, et exspes, 50 
 Nequicquam fundo suspiret nummus in imo. 
 
 Si tibi crateras argenti, incusaque pingui 
 Auro dona feram, sudes; et pectore lacvo 
 Excutias guttas : Iretari prsetrepidum cor. 
 Hinc ill ad subiit, auro sacras quod ovato 55 
 
 Perducis facics. Nam, fratres inter ahenos, 
 Somnia pituita qui pnrgatissima mittunt, 
 Praxipui sunto ; sitque illis aurea barba. 
 
 ing that these are diminishing what 
 he wants to augment. 
 
 — Ox being slain.] i. c. In sacri- 
 fice — in order to render the god pro- 
 pitious ; but you don't recollect that 
 by this you have an ox tbia 
 
 — Mercury.] The god of gain. 
 
 45. You invite.'] Arcessis — send for, 
 as it were — invite to favour you. 
 
 — With imcards.] Extis, the en- 
 trails of beasts offered in sacrifice. 
 
 , — " The household gods" Qc] — 
 " Grant, O Mercury, " say you, " that 
 " my domestic affairs may prosper." 
 See Ainsw. Penates. 
 
 46. " Give cattle," §c] Grant me 
 a number of cattle, and let all my 
 flocks be fruitful, and increase ! 
 
 46. Wretch, by what msans ?] — 
 How, thou silliest of men, can this 
 be? 
 
 47. When the cauls of so many, 
 Sec."] When you are every day pre- 
 venting all this, by sacrificing your 
 female beasts before they are old 
 enough to breed, and thus, in a two- 
 fold manner, destroying your stock ? 
 
 The cauls.] Omentum is the caul 
 
 or fat that covers the inwards. 
 
 Melt in flames.] Being put on 
 
 the fire on the altar. 
 
 — For you.] In hopes to obtain 
 what you want. 
 
 48.* Yet this man, #r.J Thinks he 
 shall overcome the gods with the mul- 
 titude of sacrifices which he offers — 
 this is his intention. 
 
 — With bowels.] The inwards of 
 beasts offered in sacrifice. 
 
 — A rich pudding.] They offered 
 ; udding, or cake, made of 
 bran, wine, and honey. 
 
 49. " Now the field increases."} 
 Says he, fancying his land is better 
 for what he has been doing. 
 
 — " Now tie sh>c r -fold.] « Now 
 " rethinks my sheep breed better." 
 
 50. " Now it shall br given," 4fC,l 
 " Methinks I already see my wishes 
 " fulfilled — every thing will be given 
 " me that I asked for." 
 
 — " Xou jircsen lit/."] " I shall not 
 " be able to wait much longer." 
 
 — Till deceived and hopeless.] Till, 
 at length, he finds his error, and that, 
 by hoping to increase his fortune by 
 the multitude of his sacrifices, he has 
 only just so far diminished it — he has 
 nothing left but one poor solitary ses- 
 terce at the bottom of his purse, or 
 chest; which, finding itself deceived, 
 and hopeless of any accession to it, 
 sighs, as it were, in vain, for the loss 
 of its companions, which have been 
 so foolishly spent and thrown away. 
 
 The Roman nummus, when men- 
 tioned as a piece of money, was the 
 same with the sestertius, about one 
 penny three farthings. The proso» 
 popeia here is very humourous. 
 
 52. If to thee cups, <|c.] JMen are 
 apt to think the gods like themselves, 
 pleased with rich and ccstly gifts — to 
 such the poet now speaks. 
 
 If, saith Persius, I should make 
 you a present of a fine piece of silver 
 plate, or of some costly vessel of the 
 finest gold — 
 
sat. ii. PERSIUS'S SATIRES. 335 
 
 You invite with inwards — " grant the household gods to 
 
 " make me prosperous ! 45 
 
 " Give cattle, and offspring to my flocks !" — Wretch, by 
 
 what means, 
 When the cauls of so many young heifers can melt for you 
 
 in flames ? 
 And yet this man to prevail with bowels, and with a rich 
 
 pudding- 
 Intends; " Now the field increases, now the sheep-fold — 
 " Now it shall be given, now presently :" till deceived, and 
 
 hopeless, 50 
 
 In vain the nummus will sigh in the lowest bottom. 
 
 If to thee cups of silver, and gifts wrought with rich gold 
 I should bring, you would sweat, and from your left breast 
 Shake out drops — your over- trembling heart would rejoice. 
 Hence that takes place, that with gold carried in triumph 
 
 you 55 
 
 Overlay the sacred faces. For, among the brazen brothers, 
 Let those who send dreams most purged from phlegm, 
 Be the chief, and let them have a golden beard. 
 
 53. You •would sweat.] You would 
 be so pleased and overjoyed, that you 
 would break into a sweat with agi- 
 tation. 
 
 — Left breast] They supposed the 
 heart to lie on the left side. 
 
 54. Shake out drops.] i. e. You 
 would weep, or shed tears. Lachry- 
 mas excutere, to force tears. Ter. 
 Heaut. act i. sc. i. 1. 115. Tears of 
 
 joy would drop, as it were, from your 
 very heart. Lachrymor prae gaudio. 
 Ter. Some understand Laevo here in 
 the sense of foolish, silly ; as in 
 Virg. eel. i. 16. Casaub. 
 
 — Your over-trembling heart, Qc.j 
 Palpitating with unusual motion, from 
 the suddenness and emotion of your 
 surprise and joy, would be de- 
 lighted. 
 
 55. Thdt takes place.'} The notion 
 or sentiment takes place in your 
 mind, that, because you are so over- 
 joyed at receiving a rich and sump- 
 tuous present of silver or gold, there- 
 fore the gods must be so too — judg- 
 ing of them by yourself. 
 
 — Gold carried in triumph, Ggc.] 
 Hence, with the gold taken as a spoil 
 from an enemy, and adorning the 
 triumph of the conqueror, by being 
 
 carried with him in his ovation, you' 
 overlay the images of the gods — thus 
 complimenting the gods with what 
 has been taken from your fellow mor- 
 tals by rapine and plunder. 
 
 56. The brazen brothers.] There 
 stood in the porch of the Palatine 
 Apollo fifty brazen statues of the fifty 
 sons of iEgypius, the brother of Da- 
 naus, who, having fifty sons, married 
 them to the fifty daughters of Danaus, 
 and, by their father's order, they all 
 slew their husbands in the night of 
 their marriage, except Hypermnes- 
 tra, who saved Lynceus. See HoR. 
 lib. iii. ode xi. 1. 30, &c. 
 
 These were believed to have -great 
 power of giving answers to their in- 
 quirers, in dreams of the night, rela- 
 tive to cures of disorders. 
 
 57. Most purged, <£c] Most clear 
 and true, as most defecated and un- 
 influenced by the gross humours of 
 the body. 
 
 58. Be the chief.] Let these be had 
 in honour above the rest — q. d. Be- 
 stow most on those from whom you 
 expect most. 
 
 — A golden beard.] This alludes to 
 the image of iEsculapius, in the tern» 
 pie of Epidaurum, which was sup- 
 
336 
 
 PERSII SATIILE. 
 
 Aurum vasa Numae, Saturniaque impulit aera : 
 Vestalesque urnas, et Tuscum fictile mutat. 60 
 
 O curvae in terras animae, et eoelestium inanes ! 
 Quid juvat hoc, templis nostras immittere mores, 
 Et bonadiis ex hae scelerata ducere pulpa? 
 Hsec sibi corrupto Casiam dissolvit olivo ; 
 Et Calabruni coxit, vitiato murice, vellus. 65 
 
 Hsec baccam conchas rasisse ; et stringere venas 
 Ferventis massae, crudo de pulvere, jussit. 
 Peccat et haec, peccat : vitio tamen utitur. At vos 
 Dicite, pontifices, in sacris quid facit aurum ? 
 Nempe hoc, quod Veneri donatae a virgine pupa?. 70 
 
 Quin damus id superis, de magna quod dare lance 
 
 posed to reveal remedies for disorders 
 in dreams. This image had a golden 
 beard, which Dionysius the tyrant of 
 Syracuse took away, saying jestingly, 
 that, " as the father of J3sculapius, 
 44 Apollo, had no beard, it was not 
 ** right for the son to have one." 
 
 This communicating, through 
 dreams, such remedies as were adapt- 
 ed to the cure of the several dis- 
 orders of the inquirers, was at first 
 accounted the province of Apollo and 
 jEscuIapius only ; hut, on the break- 
 ing out of Egyptian superstition, Isis 
 and Osiris were allowed to have the 
 same power, as were also the fifty 
 sons of ^Egyptus, here called the 
 brazen brothers, from their statues of 
 brass. 
 
 59. Driven away, $c.] Has quite 
 expelled from the temples the plain 
 and simple vessels made use of in the 
 days of Numa, the first founder of 
 our religious rites. 
 
 The Saturnian brass.'] The brazen 
 
 vessels which were in use when Sa- 
 turn reigned in Italy. 
 
 60. Changes the vestal v.rns.] The 
 pitchers, pots, and other vessels, 
 ■which the vestal virgins used in cele- 
 brating the rites of Vesta, and which 
 were anciently of earthen-ware, are 
 now changed into gold. 
 
 60. The Tuscan earthen-ware.] — 
 Aretium, a city of Tusdany, was fa- 
 mous for earthen-ware, from whence 
 it was carried to Rome, and to other 
 parts of Italy. This was now grown 
 quite out of use. Comp. Jrv. sat. iii. 
 L 157. 
 
 The poet means to say, that peo- 
 ple, now-a-days, had banished all the 
 simple vessels of the ancient and pri- 
 mitive worship, and now, imagining 
 the gods were as fond of gold as they 
 were, thought to succeed in their pe- 
 titions, by lavishing gold on their 
 images. Comp. Isa. xlvi. 6. 
 
 81. O souls bowed, $c] This apos- 
 trophe, and what follows to the end, 
 contain sentiments worthy the pen of 
 a Christian. 
 
 62. What doth this avail.] What 
 profitetfa it. 
 
 — To place our manners, <£c] Im- 
 mittere-p-to admit, or suffer to enter. 
 Our manners — i. e. our ways of 
 thinking, our principles of action — 
 who, because we so highly value, and 
 are so easily influenced by rich gifts, 
 think the gods will be so too. See 
 Ainsw. Immitio, No. 3, and 7. 
 
 63. And to esteem, See] To pre- 
 scribe, infer, or reckon what is good 
 in their sight, and acceptable to 
 them. 
 
 — Out of this wicked pulp."] From 
 the dictates of this corrupted and de- 
 praved flesh of ours. Flesh here, as 
 often in Scripture, means the fleshly, 
 carnal mind, influenced by, and under 
 the dominion of, the bodily appetites 
 — ruy ca.^y.iy.uv £7ri$vy.iuv, 1 Pet. 
 ii. 11. " That which is born of the 
 *' flesh is flesh." John iii. 6. 
 
 Pulpa literally means the pulp, the 
 fleshy part of any meat — a piece of 
 flesh without bone. Ainsw. 
 
 64. This.] This same flesh — 
 —Dissolves for itself Cassia.] Cas- 
 
PERSIUS^S SATIRES. 
 
 337 
 
 Gold has driven away the vessels of Numa, and the 
 Saturnian brass, 
 And changes the vestal urns, and the Tuscan earthen- 
 ware. 60 
 O souls bowed to the earth — and void of heavenly things J 
 What doth this avail, to place our manners in the temples, 
 And to esteem things good to the gods out of this wicked 
 
 pulp ? 
 This dissolves for itself Cassia in corrupted oil, 
 And hath boiled the Calabrian fleece in vitiated purple. 
 This has commanded to scrape the pearl of a shell, and to 
 draw the veins 66 
 
 Of the fervent mass from the crude dust. 
 This also sins, it sins : yet uses vice. But ye, 
 O ye priests, say what gold does in sacred things ? 
 Truly this, which dolls given by a virgin to Venus. 70 
 
 But let us give that to the gods, which, to give from a 
 great dish, 
 
 sia, a sweet shrub, bearing spice like 
 cinnamon, here put for the spice ; of 
 this and other aromatics mingled with 
 oil, which was hereby corrupted from 
 its simplicity, they made perfumes, 
 with which they anointed themselves. 
 
 65. Hath boiled, $c] To give the 
 wool a purple dye, in order to make 
 it into splendid and sumptuous gar- 
 ments. 
 
 The best and finest wool came 
 from Calabria. The murex was a 
 shell-fish, of the blood of which the 
 purple dye was made. The best were 
 found about Tyre. See Virg. ^En. 
 iv. 262. Hoit. epod. xii. 21 Viti- 
 ated — i. e. corrupted to the purposes 
 of luxury. 
 
 66. To scrape, cj-c.} This same 
 pulp, or carnal mind, first taught 
 men to extract pearls from the shell 
 of the pearl-oyster, in order to adorn 
 themselves. 
 
 — And to draw, fyc] Stringere — 
 to bring into a body or lump (Ainsw.) 
 the veins of gold and silver, by melt- 
 ing down the crude ore. Ferventis 
 massae — the mass of gold or silver 
 ore heated to fusion in a furnace, and 
 thus separating them from the dross 
 and earthly particles. 
 
 The poet is shewing that the same 
 depraved and corrupt principle, which 
 leads men to imagine the £,ods to be 
 
 2 
 
 like themselves, and to be pleased 
 with gold and silver because men are, 
 is the inventor and contriver of all 
 manner of luxury and sensual grati- 
 fications. 
 
 68. This also sins, #c] This evil 
 corrupted flesh is the parent of all sin, 
 both in principle and practice. Comp. 
 Rom. vii. 18-24. 
 
 — Yet uses vice.'] Makes some use 
 of vice, by way of getting some emo- 
 lument from it, some profit or plea- 
 sure. 
 
 69. O ye priests, £c] But tell 
 me, ye ministers of the gods, who 
 may be presumed to know better than 
 others, what pleasure, profit, or emo- 
 lument, is there to the gods, from all 
 the gold wi-h which the temples are 
 furnished and decorated ? 
 
 70. Truly this, $c] The poet an- 
 swers for them — " Just as much as 
 " there is to Venus, when girls offer 
 " dolls to her." Pupa, a puppet, a 
 baby, or doll, such as girls played with 
 while little, and, being grown big, 
 and going to be married, offered to 
 Venus, hoping, by this, to obtain her 
 favour, and to be made mothers of 
 real children. The boys offered their 
 bullae to their household gods. Juv. 
 sat. xiii. 33, note. 
 
 71. But ht us give, fyc] The poet 
 is now about to shew with what sacri- 
 
338 
 
 PERSII SATIRJE. 
 
 Non possit magni Messalas lippa propago : 
 Compositum jus, fasque animi ; sanctosque recessus 
 Mentis, et incoctum generoso pectus honesto. 
 Haec cedo, ut admoveam teinplis, et farre Ktabo. 
 
 fices the gods will be pleased, and 
 consequently what should be offered. 
 
 — A great dish.] The lanx — lit. a 
 deep dish — signifies a large censer, 
 appropriated to the rich ; but some- 
 times they made use of the ascerra 
 (v. 5.) a small censer appropriated to 
 the poor. 
 
 72. The blear-eyed race, $r.] Val. 
 Corv. Messala took his name from 
 Mcssana, a city of Sicily, which was 
 besieged and taken by him ; he was 
 the head of the illustrious family of 
 the Messala'. The poet here aims at 
 ;i descendant of his, who degenerated 
 from the family, and so devoted him- 
 
 self to gluttony, drunkenness, and 
 luxury of all kinds, that, in his old 
 age, his eyelids turned inside out. 
 
 Let us offer to the gods, says Per- 
 sius, that which such as the Messalae 
 have not to offer, however large their 
 censers may be, or however great the 
 quantities of the incense put within 
 them. 
 
 73. What is just and right.] Jus 
 is properly that which is agreeable to 
 the laws of man — fas, that which is 
 agreeable to the divine laws. 
 
 — Disposed.] Settled, fashioned, 
 set in order or composed, fitted, set 
 together, within the soul. It is very 
 
PERSIUS'S SATIRES. 
 
 339 
 
 The blear-eyed race of great Messala could not — 
 
 What is just and right disposed within the soul, and the 
 
 sacred recesses 
 Of the mind, and a breast imbued with generous honesty— 
 These give me, that I may bring to the temples, and I 
 
 will sacrifice with meal. 75 
 
 difficult to give the full idea of com- 
 positum in this place by any single 
 word in our language. 
 
 73-4. The sacred recesses of the 
 mind.] The inward thoughts and 
 affections — what St. Paul calls 
 
 TOC. HgV7TTX TVV CtV^UTFUV. Rom. 
 
 ii. 16. Prov. xxiii. 26. 
 
 74. A breast imbued, $-c] Incoc- 
 tum — metaph . taken from wool , which 
 is boiled, and so thoroughly tinged 
 with the dye. It signifies that which 
 is infused ; not barely dipped, as it 
 were, so as to be lightly tinged, but 
 
 thoroughly soaked, so as to imbibe 
 the colour. See Virg. G. iii. 307. 
 
 75. That I may bring to the tem- 
 ples.] Let me be possessed of these, 
 that I may with these approach the 
 gods, and then a little cake of meal 
 will be a sufficient offering. Comp. 
 Virg. Mix. v. I. 745; and H OR. lib. 
 iii* ode xxiii. 1. 17, Sec. 
 
 Lito not only signifies to sacrifice, 
 but, by that sacrifice, to obtain what 
 is sought for. 
 
 Turn Jupiter faciat tit semper 
 
 Sacrificem, nee unquam litem, 
 
 Plaut. in Persa. 
 
tativa Certta* 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 Persius in this Satijr, in the person of a Stoic preceptor, 
 upbraids the young men with sloth, and with neglect of 
 the study of philosophy. He shews the sad consequences 
 tvhich icill attend them throughout life, if they do not 
 apply themselves early to the knowledge of virtue. 
 
 NEMPE haec assidue ? Jam clarum mane fenestras 
 Intrat, et angustas cxtendit ] Limine rimas. 
 Stertimus, indomitum quod despumare Falernum 
 Sufficiat, quinta dum linea tangituf umbra. 
 En, quid agis ? siccas insana canicula messes 5 
 
 Line 1. " What — these things ron- 
 
 " stonily ?"] The poet here intro- 
 duces a philosopher, rousing the pu- 
 pils under his care from their sloth, 
 and chiding them for lying so late in 
 bed. " What," says he, " is this to 
 *' be every day's practice.*' 
 
 — '* Already the clear morning" 
 §c."] q. d. You ought to be up and at 
 your studies by break of day ; but 
 here you are lounging in bed at full 
 day-light, which is now shining in at 
 the windows of your bed-room. 
 
 2. " Extends -with light, §c.]— 
 Makes them appear wider, say some. 
 But Casaubon treats this as a foolish 
 interpretation. He says, that this is 
 nn " Hypallage. Not that the chinks 
 '* are extended, or dilated, quod qui- 
 •' dem inepte scribunt, but the light 
 " is extended, the sun transmitting 
 ** its rays through the chinks of the 
 " lattices." 
 
 Dr. Sheridan says — " this image 
 " (angustas extendit lumine rimas) 
 " very beautifully expresses the widen - 
 " ing of a chink by the admission of 
 " light." But I do not understand 
 how the light can be said to widen a 
 chink) if we take the word widen in 
 
 its usual sens2, of making any thing 
 wider than it was. Perhaps we may 
 understand the verb extendit, here, 
 as extending to view — '/. e. making 
 visible the interstices of the lattices, 
 which, in the dark, are imperceptible 
 to the sight, but when the morning 
 enters become apparent. It should 
 seem, from this passage, that the fe- 
 nestras of the Uomans were lattice 
 windows. 
 
 But the best way is to abide by ex- 
 perience, which is in favour of the 
 first explanation ; for when the bright 
 sun shines through any chink or 
 crack, there is a dazzling which makes 
 the chink or crack appear wider than 
 it really is. Of the first glass win- 
 dows, see Jortin, Rem. vol. iv. p. 
 190". 
 
 3. " We snore.'"'] Stertimus — i. c. 
 stertitis. The poet represents the 
 philosopher speaking in the first per- 
 son, but it is to be understood in 
 the second — " We students," says he, 
 as if he included himself, but mean- 
 ing, no doubt, those to whom he 
 spake. Comp. sat. i. 1. 13. 
 
 — " To digest witamed" §c.] In- 
 stead of rising to study, we (i. e. ye 
 
C^irir &%tivt* 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 The title of this Satire, in some ancient manuscripts, was, 
 " The Reproach of Idleness ,•" though in others it is in- 
 scribed, " Against the Luxury and Vices of' the Rich ;"— - 
 in both of which the poet pursues his intention, but 
 principally in the former. 
 
 " WHAT — these things constantly ? Already the clear 
 
 " morning enters 
 *' The windows, and extends with light the narrow chinks. 
 " We snore, what to digest untamed Falernan 
 " Might suffice : the line is already touched with the fifth 
 
 " shadow. 
 " Lo ! what do you ? the mad dog-star the dry harvests 5 
 
 young men) are sleeping, as long 
 as would suffice to get rid of the 
 fumes of wine, and make a man 
 yober, though he went to bed ever so 
 drunk. 
 
 " To digest.''''] Despumare — 
 
 metaph. taken from a new wine, or 
 any other fermenting liquor, which 
 rises in froth or scum : the taking off 
 this scum or froth was the way to 
 make the liquor clear, and to quiet its 
 working. Thus the Falernan, which 
 was apt, when too much was drunk 
 of it, to ferment in the stomach, was 
 quieted and digested by sleep. The 
 epithet indomitum refers to this fer- 
 menting quality of the wine. 
 
 Perhaps the master here alludes to 
 the irregularities of these students, 
 who, instead of going to bed at a rea- 
 sonable hour and sober, sat up late 
 drinking, and went to bed with their 
 stomachs full of Falernan wine. 
 
 4. " The line is already touched" 
 $c] Hypallage; forquinta lineajam 
 ttngitur umbra, i. e. the fifth line, 
 
 the line or stroke which marks the 
 fifth hour, is touched with the sha- 
 dow of the gnomon on the sun- 
 dial. 
 
 The ancient Romans divided the 
 natural day into twelve parts. Sun- 
 rising was called the first hour ; the 
 third after sun-rising answers to our 
 nine o'clock ; the sixth hour was 
 noon ; the ninth answers to our three 
 o'clock P. M. and the twelfth was the 
 setting of the sun, which we call six 
 o'clock P. M. The fifth hour, then, 
 among the Romans, answers to our 
 eleven o'clock A. M. The students 
 slept till eleven — near half the day. 
 
 5. " Lo ! what do you V] What 
 are you at — why don't you get up ? 
 
 — " The mad dog-star."'} Cani- 
 cula — a constellation, which was sup- 
 posed to arise in the midst of sum- 
 mer, when the sun entered Leo; 
 with us the dog-days. This is reck- 
 oned the hottest time in the year; 
 and the ancients had a notion, that 
 the influence of the dog-star occa- 
 
342 
 
 PERSII SATIRE. 
 
 SAT. III. 
 
 Jamduduui coquit, et patula pecus omne sub ulmo est. 
 
 Unus ait comitum, ' Verumne ? Itane ? Ocius adsit 
 c Hue aliquis. Nemon' > ? Turgescit vitrea bilis : 
 Finditur, Arcadiae pecuaria rudere credas. 
 
 Jam liber, et bicolor positis membrana capillis, 
 Inque manus chartae, nodosaque venit arundo. 
 Turn queritur, crassus calamo quod pendeat humor ; 
 Nigra quod infusa vanescat sepia lympha: 
 Dilutas, queritur, geminet quod fistula guttas. 
 
 O miser, inque dies ultra miser ! huccine rerum 
 Venimus ? at cur non potius, teneroque columbo 
 Et similis regum pueris, pappare minutum 
 
 10 
 
 sioned many disorders among the hu- 
 man species, but especially madness 
 in dogs. 
 
 Jam Procyo n fur it, 
 Et stlla vesani Leoitis, 
 Sole dies refcrente siccos. 
 Hor. ode xxix. lib. iii. 1. 18-20. 
 Rabiosi tempora signi. 
 
 IIor. sat. vi. lib. i. 1. 126. 
 The dog-star rage** Pope. 
 
 6. *' Long since ii ripening.''''] — 
 They supposed that the intense heat, 
 at that time of the year, was occa- 
 sioned by the dog-star, which rose 
 with the sun, and forwarded the ri- 
 pening of the corn. The poets fol- 
 lowed this vulgar error, which sprang 
 from the rising of the dog-star when 
 the sun entered into Leo; but this 
 star is not the cause of greater heat, 
 which is, in truth, only the effect of 
 the particular situation of the sun at 
 that season. 
 
 — " All thcjlock," §c.} 
 
 Jam pastor umbras cum grcge lun- 
 
 giddo 
 Rivumque fessus quctrit, et horridi 
 
 Dumeta Silvani 
 
 Hor. ode xxix. lib. iii. 1. 21-3. 
 A T nnc etlam pecudes umbras et 
 frigora captant. 
 
 Virg. eel. ii. 8. 
 
 7. FeUotv students.'] This seems to 
 be the meaning of comites in this 
 place. 
 
 " Quick," §c] Let some of 
 
 the servants come immediately, and 
 bring my clothes, that 1 may get up. 
 
 8. " Is there nobody" #c] Does 
 nobody hear me call ? 
 
 •^Vitreous lite swells.] He falls 
 
 into a violent passion at nobody's 
 answering. 
 
 Horace speaks of splendida bilis, 
 clear bile — i. e. furious — in opposi- 
 tion to the atra bilis, black, bile, which 
 produces melancholy. This is pro- 
 bably the meaning of vitrea, glassy, 
 in this place. 
 
 9. " / am split."] Says the youth, 
 with calling so loud for somebody to 
 come to me — 
 
 — " That you'd believe," $c] Ycu 
 may well say you are ready to split, 
 for you make such a noise, that one 
 would think that all the asses in 
 Arcadia were braying together, an- 
 swers the philosopher. Eclipsis. Ar- 
 cadia, a midland country of Pelopon- 
 nesus, very good for pasture, and 
 famous for a large breed of asses. See 
 Jvv. sat. vii. 1. 160, note. 
 
 10. Now a book.] At last he gets 
 out of bed, dresses himself, and takes 
 up a book. 
 
 — Txi-o-coioured parchment.] The 
 students used to write their notes 
 parchment : the inside, on wh 
 they wrote, was white: the ot 
 side, being the outer side of the si 
 on which the wool or hair grew, 
 of a yellow cast. See Juv. sat. 
 1. 23, note. 
 
 — The hairs, §0.") The hairs. 
 wool, which grew on the skin, ^ 
 scraped off, and the parchn 
 smoothed, by rubbing it with a 
 mice-stone. 
 
 11. Paper."] Charta signifies 
 material to write upon. The anc: 
 made it of various things, as le; 
 bark of trees, &c. and the Egyp 
 
PERSIUS'S SATIRES. 
 
 343 
 
 " Long since is ripening, and all the flock is under the 
 " spreading elm." 
 Says one of the fellow-students — " Is it true ? Is it so ? 
 " Quick let somebody 
 (( Come hither — Is there nobody ?"" — vitreous bile swells. 
 " IT am split ;" — " that you would believe the cattle of 
 " Arcadia to bray." 
 Now a book, and two-coloured parchment, the hairs 
 being laid aside, 1 
 
 And there comes into his hand paper, and a knotty reed. 
 Then he complains that a thick moisture hangs from the pen : 
 That the black cuttle-fish vanishes with water infused : 
 He complains that the pipe doubles the diluted drops. 
 
 " O wretch ! and every day more a wretch ! to this pass 
 " Are we come ? but why do not you rather, like the ten- 
 " der dove, 16 
 
 " And like the children of nobles, require to eat pap, 
 
 of the flag of the river Nile, which 
 was called Papyrus — hence the word 
 paper. Charta Pergamena, %■ e. apud 
 Pergamum inventa (Plin. Ep. xiii. 
 12.) signifies the parchment or vellum 
 which they wrote upon, and which 
 was sometimes indifferently called 
 charta, or membrana. Comp. Hon. 
 sat. x. lib. i. 1. 14 ; and sat. iii. lib. ii. 
 1. 2. 
 
 But chartae here seems to mean 
 paper of some sort, different from the 
 membrana, 1. 10. 
 
 The lazy student now takes pen, 
 ink, and paper, in order to write. 
 
 — A knotty reed.] A pen made of 
 a reed, which was hollow, like a pipe, 
 and grew full of knots, at intervals, 
 on the stalk. 
 
 12. He complains, £c.] That his 
 ink is so thick that it hangs to the nib 
 of his pen. 
 
 13. Cutilc-fidi, Qc] This fish dis- 
 charges a black liquor, which the an- 
 cients used as ink. 
 
 — Vanishes ivith icaier, <|;c<] He 
 first complained that his ink was too 
 thick ; on pouring water into it, to ' 
 make it thinner, he now complains 
 that it is too thin, and the water has 
 caused all the blackness to vanish 
 away. 
 
 14. The pipe.] i. c. The pen made 
 of the reed. 
 
 —DouWe* the diluted dmp$.] Now 
 
 the ink is so diluted, that it comes too 
 fast from the pen, and blots his paper. 
 All these are so many excuses for his 
 unwillingness to write. 
 
 15. " O wretch !" #c] The philo- 
 sopher, hearing his lazy pupil con- 
 trive so many trivial excuses for idle- 
 ness, exclaims " O wretch, O 
 
 " wretched young man, who art likely 
 *' to be more wretched every day you 
 " live !" 
 
 16. " Are ise come" $r."| Are all 
 my hopes of you, as well as those of 
 your parents, who put you under my 
 care, come to this ! 
 
 — " Why do you not rather."]— 
 Than occasion all this expence and 
 trouble about your education. 
 
 — . " The tender dove."] These 
 birds were remarkably tender when 
 young — the old ones feed them with 
 the half-digested food of their own 
 stomachs. 
 
 3 7." Children of nohles."] And of 
 other great men, which are delicately 
 nursed. 
 
 — " Require to cat pap."] Pappare 
 is to eat pap as children. Minutus-a- 
 um, signifies any thing lessened, or 
 made smaller. Here it denotes meat 
 put into a mother's or nurse's mouth, 
 there chewed small, and then given 
 to the child — as the dove to her young. 
 Comp. the last note on 1. 16, 
 
344 
 
 PERSII SATIR.E. 
 
 Poscis ; et iratus mammae, lallare recusas ? 
 
 6 An tali studeam calamo T Cui verba ? Quid istas 
 Succinis ambages ? Tibi luditur : effluis amens. 20 
 
 Contemnere. Sonat vitium percussa, maligne 
 Kespondet, viridi non cocta fidelia limo. 
 Udum et molle lutum es ; nunc, nunc properandus, et acri 
 Fingendus sine fine rota. Sed rure paterno 
 Est tibi far modicum ; purum, et sine labe, salinum. 25 
 Quid metuas ? cultrixque foci secura patella est. 
 Hoc satis ? An deceat pulmonem rumpere ventis, 
 
 18. " Angry at the nurse.''''] The 
 word mammae here refers to the mo- 
 ther or nurse, which the children 
 call mamma, as they called the father 
 tata. 
 
 This well descrihes the pettish- 
 ncss of an humoured and spoiled 
 child, which, because it has not im- 
 mediately what it wants, Hies into a 
 passion with its nurse when she at- 
 tempts to sing it to sleep, and will 
 not suffer her to do it. See Aixsw. 
 Lallo. 
 
 The philosopher sharply reproves 
 his idle pupil. Rather, says he, than 
 come to school, you should have 
 stayed in the nursery, and have 
 shewed your childish pervcrseness 
 there rather than here. 
 
 19. " Can I study with sucli a 
 pen ?"] The youth still persists in his 
 frivolous excuses, totally unimpress- 
 ed by all that his master has said — 
 " blame the pen, don't blame me — 
 " can any mortal write with such a 
 " pen ?" 
 
 — " Whom dost thou deceive?"] — 
 I should suppose, that cui verba is 
 here elliptical, and that das, or existi- 
 mas dare, is to be understood. Verba 
 dare is to cheat or deceive ; and here 
 the philosopher is representing his 
 pupil, who is framing trivial excuses 
 for his unwillingness to study, as a 
 self-deceiver — tibi luditur, saith he, 
 in the next line. 
 
 19-20. " Those shifts."] Ambages 
 —shifts, prevaricating, shuffling ex- 
 cuses. 
 
 20. " Repeat."] Succinis — The 
 verb succino signifies to sing after 
 another, to follow one another in sing- 
 ing or saying — here properly used, 
 as expressing the repetition of his 
 foolish excuses, which followed one 
 
 another, or which he might be said to 
 repeat one after the other. 
 
 — " ""Tis you are beguiled."] Lu- 
 ditur here is used impersonally ; as 
 concurritur, Hor. sat. i. lib. i. 1. 7. 
 
 — M Thoughtless you run out." 1 ] — 
 Amens — foolish, silly, out of one's 
 wits (from a priv. and mens) — so, 
 unthinking, without thought. You 
 run out — effluis — inetaph. from a bad 
 vessel, out of which the liquor leaks. 
 You, foolish and unthinking as you 
 are, are wasting your time and op- 
 portunity of improvement, little 
 thinking, that, like the liquor from a 
 leaky vessel, they are insensibly pass- 
 ing away from you — your very life is 
 gliding away, and you heed it not. 
 
 21. " You 11 he despised."] By all 
 sober, thinking people. 
 
 — " A pot" <yc] Any vessel, made 
 of clay that is not well tempered — 
 viridi limo, which is apt to chap and 
 crack in the fire — non cocta, not 
 baked as it ought to be — will answer 
 badly, when sounded by the finger, 
 and will proclaim, by its cracked and 
 imperfect sound, its defects. 
 
 Thus will it be with you, none 
 will ever converse with you, or 
 you to the proof, but you will e 
 make them sensible of your de 
 ency in wisdom and learning, am ^ 
 the object of their contempt. 
 
 23. " Wet and soft clay."} 
 poet still continues the metaphor. 
 
 As wet and soft clay will take 
 impression, or be moulded into 
 shape, so may you ; you are yoi 
 your understanding flexible, and 
 pressible by instruction — 
 — idoneus arti 
 
 CuUibet: argilla qv.idvis imita\ 
 /. ia. 
 
 Hop., epist. ii. lib. ii. 1. 
 
PERSIUS'S SATIRES. 
 
 345 
 
 " And angry at the tiurse, refuse her to sing lullaby."' — 
 " Can I study with such a pen ?" " Whom dost thou 
 
 " deceive? Why those 
 " Shifts do you repeat ? 'Tis you are beguiled : thoughtless 
 
 " you run out. 20 
 
 " You will be despised. A pot, the clay being green, not 
 
 " baked, answers 
 e Badly, being struck, its sounds its fault. 
 <c You are wet and soft clay ; now, now you are to be 
 
 " hastened, 
 " And to be formed incessantly with a brisk wheel. But 
 
 " in your paternal estate 
 " You have a moderate quantity of corn, and a salt-cellar 
 
 " pure and without spot. 25 
 
 " What can you fear ? and you have a dish a secure wor- 
 
 " shipper of the hearth."— 
 f Is this enough ? Or may it become you to break your 
 
 " lungs with wind, 
 
 — .'* Hasten'' d."\ Now, now you 
 are young, you are to lose no time, 
 but immediately to be begun with; 
 
 24. ** Formed incessantly" S[c] 
 The metaphor still continues. As 
 the wheel of the potter turns, with- 
 out stopping, till the piece of work 
 is finished, so ought it to be with 
 you ; you ought to be taught inces- 
 santly, till your mind is formed to 
 what it is intended, and this with 
 strict discipline, here meant by acri 
 rota. 
 
 24. " Paternal estate," §cJ\ But 
 perhaps you will say, M Where is the 
 *' occasion for all this ? I am a man 
 *' of fortune, and have a sufficient 
 ** income to live in independency ; 
 «« therefore why all this trouble about 
 M I ning." 
 
 ** Moderate quantity." «Jr.] — 
 signifies all manner of corn 
 the land produces ; here, by 
 ym. the land itself — far mo- 
 urn, a moderate estate, a compe- 
 
 A salt-cellar without spot."\ 
 cients had a superstition about 
 id always placed the salt-cellar 
 
 the table, which was thought 
 ecrate it : if the salt was for- 
 
 it was looked on as a bad 
 
 The salt-cellar was of silver, 
 scended from father to son. 
 2 
 
 See Hon. ode xvi. lib. ii. 1. 13, 14. 
 But here the salinum, per synec. 
 seems to stand for all the plate which 
 this young man is supposed to have 
 inherited from his father, which he 
 calls purum and sine labe, either from 
 the pureness of the silver, or from 
 the care and neatness with which it 
 was kept, or from the honest and fair 
 means by which the father had ob- 
 tained that and all the rest of his pos- 
 sessions. 
 
 26. " What can you- fear ?"] Say 
 you who are possessed of so much pro< 
 perty ? 
 
 t — " You have a dish" $c.] Pa- 
 tella — a sort of deep dish, with broad 
 brims, used to put portions of meat 
 in that were given as sacrifice. 
 
 Before eating, they cut off some 
 part of the meat, which was first put 
 into a pan, then into the fire, as an 
 offering to the Lares, which stood on 
 the hearth, and were supposed the 
 guardians of both house and land, 
 and to secure both from harm : hence 
 the poet says — cultrix secura. 
 
 q. d. You have not only a compe- 
 tent estate in lands and goods, but 
 daily worship the guardian gods, who 
 will therefore protect both, what need 
 you fear ? 
 
 27. " Is this enough?"] To mak* 
 you happy. 
 
 y 
 
346 
 
 PERS1I SATIIUE. 
 
 Stemmate quod Tusco ramum millesime ducis ; 
 
 Censoremve tuum vel quod trabcate salutas? 
 
 Ad populum phaleras : ego te intus, et in cute, novi. 30 
 
 Non pudet ad morem discincti vivere Nattae ? 
 
 Sed stupet hie vitio ; et fibris increvit opimura 
 
 Pingue : caret culpa : nescit quid perdat : et alto 
 
 Demersus, summa rursus non bullit in unda. 
 
 Magne pater divum, saevos punire tyrannos 35 
 
 Haud alia ratione velis, cum dira libido 
 Movent ingenium, ferventi tincta veneno: 
 ' Virtutem videant, intabescantque relicta.' j 
 Anne magis Siculi gemuerunt aera juvenci ; 
 
 27. " May it become you."] Having 
 reason, as you may think, to boast 
 of your pedigree, can you think it 
 meet — 
 
 — " To break your lungs" c$c] 
 To swell up with pride, till you are 
 ready to burst, like a man that draws 
 too much air at once into his lungs. 
 
 28. " A thousandth, derive" $c.] 
 Millesime, for tu millesimus, antipto- 
 sis ; like trabeate, for tu trabeatus, 
 in the next line — because you can 
 prove yourself a branch of some 
 Tuscan family, a thousand off from 
 the common stock. The Tuscans 
 were accounted of most ancient nobi- 
 lity. Horace observes this, in most 
 of his compliments to Maecenas, who 
 was derived from the old kings of 
 Tuscany. See ode i. lib. i. I. 1, et al. 
 freq. 
 
 29. " Censor" $c] The Roman 
 knights, attired in the robe called 
 trabea, were summoned to appear be- 
 fore the censor (see Aixsw. CcnsorJ, 
 and to salute him in passing by, as 
 their names were called over. They 
 led their horses in their hand. 
 
 Are you to boast, says the philoso- 
 pher to his pupil, because the cen- 
 sor is your relation (.tuum), and that 
 when you pass in precession before 
 him, with your knight's robe on, you 
 may claim kindred with him ? 
 
 30. " Trappings- to the people — "J 
 q. d. These are for the ignorant vi 1- 
 gar to admire. The ornaments of 
 vour dress you may exhibit to the 
 mob;, they will he pleased with such 
 gewgaws, and respect ycu accord- 
 ing 1 }- 
 
 The word phalerae-arum, signifies 
 trappings, or ornaments for horses ; 
 also a sort of ornament worn b\ the 
 knights : but these no more ennobled 
 the man, than those did the horse. 
 
 — " / know you intimately ," <§v.J 
 Inside and out, as we say ; therefore 
 you cannot deceive me. 
 
 31. " Does it not shame you " <£<.] 
 Do you feel no shame at your way of 
 life, you that are boasting of your 
 birth, fortune, and quality, and yet 
 leading the life of a low profligate 
 mechanic ? 
 
 Xatta signifies one of a sorry, 
 mean occupation, a dirty mechanic. 
 But here the poet means somebody 
 of this name, or at least who de- 
 serves it by his profligate and worth- 
 less character. See Holt, sat. vi. lib. 
 i. 1. 121; and Juv. sat. viii. 1. 95. 
 
 32. " /TV is stupified with vice."] 
 He has not all his faculties clear, and 
 capable of discernment, as you have, 
 therefore is more excusable than you 
 are. By long contracted habits of 
 vice he has stupified himself. 
 
 — " Fat hath increased ," £c]-— 
 Pingue, forpinguedo. These words 
 are, I conceive, to be taken in a l.viral 
 sense ; and by fibris, the inwarc s or 
 entrails, is to be understood the mind 
 and understanding, the judgment 
 and conscience, the inward man, 
 which, like a body overwhelmed with 
 fat, are rendered torpid, dull, and 
 stupid, so as to have no sense and 
 feeling of the nature of evil remain- 
 ing. See Ps. cxix. 70, former part, 
 
 33. " He is not to blame."} i. e. 
 
SAT. III. 
 
 PERSIUS'S SATIRES. 
 
 Ml 
 
 " Because you, a thousandth, derive a branch from a Tus- 
 
 " can stock ; 
 " Or because robed you salute the censor (as) yours ? — 
 " Trappings to the people — I know you intimately and 
 . " thoroughly. 30 
 
 " Does it not shame you to live after the manner of disso- 
 
 « lute Natta ? 
 " But He is stupified with vice, rich fat hath increased in his 
 " Inwards : he is not to blame : he knows not what he may 
 
 " lose, and with the deep 
 " Overwhelmed, he does not bubble again at the top of the 
 
 " water." 
 Great father of gods ! will not to punish cruel 35 
 
 Tyrants by any other way, when fell desire 
 Shall stir their disposition, imbued with fervent poison ; 
 Let them see virtue, and let them pine away, it being left. 
 Did the brass of the Sicilian bullock groan more, 
 
 Comparatively. See Juv. sat. ii. 1. 
 15-19. 
 
 — " He knows not^ <Jrc] He is 
 insensible of the sad consequences of 
 vice, such as the loss of reputation, 
 and of the comforts of a virtuous life. 
 He has neither judgment to guide 
 him, nor conscience to reprove hira. 
 
 34. '* Overwhelmed."] Sunk into 
 the very depths of vice, like one sunk 
 to the bottom of the sea. 
 
 — ** Bubble again,"' fyc] i. e. He 
 does not emerge, rise up again. Me- 
 taph. from divers, who plunge to the 
 bottom of the water, and, when they 
 rise again, make a bubbling of the 
 surface as they approach the top. 
 
 Therefore, O young man, beware 
 of imitating, by thine idleness and 
 pending of time, this wretched 
 . lest thou shouldst bring thyself 
 he same deplorable state. 
 By any other way.] Than by 
 ;• them a sight of the charms of 
 irtue, which they have forsaken, 
 and to which they cannot attain. 
 1 velis — i. e. noli. 
 Wlien dire last, fyc] When they 
 eir evil passions exciting them 
 s of tyranny. See Ainsw. Li- 
 No. 1, 3. 
 
 . Jmbued toiih fervent poison.] 
 :a — imbued, full of, abounding 
 } with the inflaming venom of 
 ty, which may be cailed the poi- 
 
 son of the mind, baleful and fatal as 
 poison in its destructive influence. 
 
 3S. Let them sec virtue.'] Si virtus 
 humanis oculis conspiceretur, miros 
 amores excitaret sui. Senec. - This 
 would be the case with the good and 
 virtuous ; but it would have a con- 
 trary effect towards such as are here 
 mentioned ; it would fill them with 
 horror and dismay, and inflict such 
 remorse and stings of conscience, as 
 to prove the greatest torment which 
 they could endure. 
 
 — Let them pine away.] For the 
 loss of that which they have forsaken 
 and despised, as well as from the de- 
 spair of ever retrieving it. 
 •^ — It being left."} i. e. Virtute re- 
 iicta. Abl- absol. 
 
 39. The Sicilian bullock, #".] Al- 
 luding to the story of Phalaris's 
 brazen bull. Perillns, an Athenian 
 artificer, made a figure of a bull in 
 brass, and gave it to Phalaris, tyrant 
 of Syracuse, as an engine of torment :' 
 the bull was hallow ; a man put into' 
 it, and set over a large fire, would, 
 as the brass heated and tormented'' 
 him, make a noise which might be 
 supposed to imitate the roaring of a 
 bull. The tyrant accepted the pre- 
 sent, and ordered the experiment to 
 be first tried on the inventor him« 
 self. 
 
548 
 
 PERS1I SATIRiE. 
 
 Et magis, auratis pendens laquearibus, ensis 
 Purpureas subter cervices terruit, ' imus, 
 c Imus praecipites," quam si sibi dicat ; et intus 
 Pallcat infelix, quod proxima nesciat uxor? 
 
 Saepe oculos, memini, tangebam parvus olivo, 
 Grandia si nollem morituri verba Catonis 
 Discere, non sano multum laudanda magistro ; 
 Quae paler adduetis sudans audiret amicis : 
 Jure ; etenim id summum, quid dexter &euio ferret, 
 Scire erat in voto ; damnosa canicula quantum 
 Raderet; angustae collo non fallier orcae ; 
 
 40 
 
 45 
 
 50 
 
 40. The sword hanging, <£c] Da- 
 mocles, the flatterer of Dion} nus, 
 the Sicilian tyrant, having greatly ex- 
 tolled the happiness of monarchs, was 
 ordered, that he might be convinced 
 of his mistake, to be attired, as a 
 king, in royal apparel ; to be seated 
 at a table spread with the choicest 
 viands, but withal, to have a naked 
 sword hung over his head, suspended 
 by a single hair, with the point down- 
 wards ; which so terrified Damocles, 
 that he could neither taste of the 
 dainties, nor take any pleasure in his 
 magnificent attendance. 
 
 41. Purpk neck, Ac] ;. c. Damo- 
 cles, who was placed under the point 
 of the suspended sword, and magni- 
 ficently arrayed in royal purple gar- 
 ments. Meton. Purpureas cervices, 
 for purpuream cervicem — synec. 
 
 -11-2. " I g», Igo" %c] A per- 
 son within the bull of Phalaris would 
 not utter more dreadful groans ; nor 
 would one seated like Damocles, un- 
 der the sharp point of a sword, sus- 
 pended over his head by a single 
 horse-hair, feel more uneasy, than 
 the man who is desperate with guilt, 
 io as to give himself over for lost, 
 and to have nothing else to say than, 
 " I am going, I am plunging hcad- 
 *' long into destruction, nothing can 
 *' save me." 
 
 4-2-3. Within unhappy.] Having 
 an hell, as it were, in his conscience; 
 
 43. Turn pate.] Palleo literally 
 signifies to be pale- -as this often 
 arises from fear and dread, palleo is 
 used to denote fearing, to stand in fear 
 of, per meton. bo Hob. lib. iii. ode 
 xxvii. 1. 27, «. 
 
 —Mediasque fravdet 
 Palluit audax. 
 
 In the above passage of Horace, 
 palleo, though a verb neuter, is used 
 actively, as here by Persius ; like- 
 wise before, sat i. 1. 121, where pal- 
 les is used metonymically for hard 
 studying, which occasions paleness 
 of countenance. 
 
 — Nearest wife, #c] His consci- 
 ence tormented with the guilt of 
 crimes, which he dares not reveal to 
 the nearest friend that he has, not 
 even to the wife of his bosom, who is 
 nearest of all. 
 
 •14. Besmear d my ryes, $r.] The 
 philosopher here relates some of his 
 boyish pranks. I used, says he, when 
 I was a little boy, and had not a mind 
 to learn my lesson, to put oil into my 
 eyes, to make them look bleary, that 
 my master might suppose they really 
 were so, and excuse me my task. 
 
 45-6. Great words of dying 
 Catc] Cato of Utica is here meant, 
 who killed himself, that he might not 
 fall into the hands of Julius Caesar, 
 after the defeat of Pompey. His 
 supposed last deliberation w ith him- 
 self before his death, whether he 
 should stab himself, or fall into the 
 hands of Caesar, was given as a 
 theme for the boys to write on ; then 
 they were to get the declamation, 
 which they composed, by heart, and 
 repeat it by way of exercising them 
 in eloquence. 
 
 16. Much to he praised.] It was 
 the custom for the parents and their 
 friends to attend on these exercises 
 of their children, which the master 
 was sure to commend very highly, 
 
PERSIUS'S SATIRES. 
 
 m 
 
 Or the sword hanging from the golden ceiling, did it 40 
 
 More affright the purple neck underneath ; " I go, 
 
 " I go headlong," (than if any one should say to himself,) 
 
 and, within 
 Unhappy, should turn pale at what his nearest wife must 
 be ignorant of? 
 I remember, that I, a little boy, often besmeared my eyes 
 with oil, 
 If I was unwilling to learn the great words of dying 45 
 Cato, much to be praised by my insane master ; 
 Which my father would hear sweating, with the friends he 
 
 brought : 
 With reason ; for it was the height of my wish to know 
 
 what V? 
 The lucky sice would bring, how much the mischievous 
 
 ace 
 Would scrape off— not to be deceived by the neck of the 
 narrow jar— 50 
 
 by way of flattering the parents with 
 a notion of the progress and abilities 
 of their children, not; without some 
 view, that the pai-ents should compli- 
 ment the masier-^ow the pains which 
 he had taken with his scholars. 
 
 — Insane.] This does not mean 
 that the master was mad, but that, 
 in commending and praising such pu- 
 erile performances, and the vehe- 
 mence with which he did it, he did 
 not act like one that was quite in his 
 right senses. 
 
 47. Sweating.] i. e. With the ea- 
 gerness and agitation of his mind, 
 that I might acquit myself well be- 
 fore him and the friends which he 
 might bring to hear me declaim. 
 See above, note on 1. 46, No. 1. 
 
 48. With reason, $•<?."] Jure — not 
 without cause — #; d. My father 
 might well sweat with anxiety ; for 
 instead of studying how to acquit 
 myself with credit on these occasions, 
 it was the height of my ambition to 
 •' w the chances of the dice, play at 
 
 ck, and whip a top, better than 
 other boy. 
 
 9. Lucky sice, $c.] Dexter, lucky, 
 unate — from dexter, the right 
 d, which was supposed the lucky 
 - s, as sinister, the left, was ac- 
 nted unlucky. 
 
 The sice—the six — the highest 
 number on the dice, which won. 
 
 —Mischievous ace, fyc] The ace 
 was the unluckiest throw on the dice, 
 and lost alt. See Ainsw. CanicuUx* 
 No, 5* 
 
 It was the summit of his wish to 
 be able to calculate the chances of the 
 dice; as, what he should win by 
 throwing a six, and what he should 
 lose if he threw an ace. How much 
 a sice, ferret, might bring, ». e. add, 
 contribute to his winnings — how 
 much the ace, raderet, might scrape 
 off, ?*. e. diminish, or take away from 
 them. Metaph. from diminishing a 
 thing, or lessening its bulk by scrap- 
 ing it. 
 
 50. Neck of the narrow jar.] Orca 
 signifies a jar, or like earthen vessel, 
 which had a long narrow neck : the 
 boys used to fix the bottom m the 
 ground, and try to chuck, from a lit- 
 tle distance, nuts, or almonds, into 
 the mouth ; those which they chucked 
 in were their own, and those which 
 missed the mouth, and fell on the 
 ground, they lost. 
 
 I made it my study, says he, to 
 understand the game of the orca, and 
 to chuck so dexterously as not to miss 
 the mouth, however narrow the neck 
 might be. 
 
S50 
 
 PERSII SATIRE. 
 
 Neu quis callidior buxum torquere flagello. 
 
 Haud tibi inexpertum, curvos deprendere mores ; 
 Quaeque docet sapiens, braccatis illita Medis, 
 Porticus : insomnis quibus et detonsa juventus 
 Invigilat, siliquis ct grandi pasta polenta. 
 Et tibi, qua? Samios deduxit litera ramos, 
 Surgcntem dextro monstravit limite callem. 
 Stertis adhuc ? laxumque caput, compage soluta, 
 Oscitat hesternum, dissutis Lindique malis ? 
 Est aliquid quo tendis, et in quod dirigis arcum ? 
 An passim sequeris corvos testaque lu toque, 
 Securus quo pes ferat, atque ex tempore vivis ? 
 
 Heileborum frustra, cum jam cutis aegra tumebit, 
 
 55 
 
 60 
 
 51. The top.] Buxus— lit. the box- 
 tree, box- wood. As the children's 
 tops were made of this, therefore, per 
 meton. it is used to denote a top, as 
 well as any thing else made of box- 
 wood. Consistently with bis plan, 
 he was determined to excel, even in 
 whipping a top. 
 
 52. Unexperienced, $v.] The phi- 
 losopher makes use of what he has 
 been saving, by way of remonstrance 
 with his pupil. You, says he, are not 
 a child as I was then, therefore it does 
 iiot become you to invent excuses to 
 avoid your studies, in order to follow 
 childish amusements — you know bet- 
 ter, you have been taught the pre- 
 cepts of wisdom and moral philoso- 
 phy, and know by experience the dif- 
 ference between right and wrong. 
 
 — Crooked morah.] Morals which 
 deviate from the straight rule of right. 
 Metaph. from the things that are 
 bent, bowed, crooked, and out of a 
 straight line. 
 
 53. Wise portico.] Meton. the place 
 where wisdom is taught, put for the 
 teachers. The Stoics were so called, 
 from too., a portico, in Athens, 
 spacious, and finely embellished, 
 where they used to meet and dispute. 
 
 53. DauVdvvcr, £c] On the walls 
 of the portico were painted the battles 
 of the Medes and Persians with the 
 Athenians, who, with their kings 
 Xerxes and Darius, were defeated by 
 Miitiades, Leonidas, and Themislo.- 
 cles, Athenian generals, at Marathon, 
 Thermopylae, and on the coast of Sa- 
 lamis. 
 
 — Trorvscr'd Medes.] The bracca 
 was a peculiar dress of the Medes, 
 which, like trowsers, reached from 
 the loins to the ancles. 
 
 54 Which ] i. c. The things taught 
 by the Stoics. 
 
 — Sleepless youth.] The young men 
 who follow the strict discipline of the 
 Stoics, and allow themselves but little 
 sleep, watching over their studies 
 night and day. 
 
 — Shorn.'] After the manner of the 
 Stoics, who did not suffer their hair to 
 grow long. 
 
 55. Bean-pods.] Siliquais the husk, 
 pod, or shell of a bean, pea, or the 
 like ; also the pulse therein : put here 
 to denote the most simple and frugal 
 diet. 
 
 — A great pudding.'] Polenta— 
 barley-flour, dried at the fire and fried, 
 after soaking in water all night. — , 
 Aisrsw. This made a sort of fried 
 pudding, or cake, and was a kind of 
 coarse food. 
 
 56. And to thee, the letter, «£c.J 
 The two horns, or branches, as Per T 
 sius calls them, of the letter Y, 
 were chosen, by Pythagoras, to de-, 
 monstrate the two different paths of 
 virtue and vice, the right branch 
 leading to the former, the left to the 
 latter: it was therefore called his 
 letter : and Persius calls the two 
 branches, into which the Y divides 
 itself, Samios, from Samos, an island 
 in the Ionian sea, where Pythagoras 
 was born, who hence was called the 
 Samian philosopher, and the Y the 
 Samian letter. 
 
PERSIUS'S SATIRES. 
 
 351 
 
 Nor that any one should whir! more skilfully the top with a, 
 
 scourge. 
 It is not a thing unexperienced to you, to discover 
 
 crooked morals, 
 And the things which the wise portico, daubed over with 
 
 the trowsered Medes, 
 Teaches, which the sleepless and shorn youth 
 Watch over, fed with bean-pods and a great pudding : 55 
 And to thee, the letter, which bath severed the Samian 
 
 branches, 
 Hath shewn the path rising with the right-hand limit. 
 Do you still snore? and does your lax head, with loosened 
 
 joining,- 
 Yawn from what happened yesterday, with cheeks unsewed 
 
 in all parts ? 
 Is there any thing whither you tend ? and to what do you 
 
 direct your bow ? 60 
 
 Or do you follow crows up and down with a potsherd and 
 
 mud, 
 Careless whither your foot may carry you ; and do you live 
 
 from the time ? 
 In vain. hellebore, when now the sickly skin shall swell, 
 
 57. Shewn the path raising, $c] i. e. 
 He had been well instructed in the 
 doctrine of Pythagoras, concerning 
 the way to virtue. 
 
 Liter a Pythagorce discrhnine secta 
 
 bicorni, 
 
 Humanae vitas speciem prceferre 
 
 videtnr. Mart. 
 
 5S. Do you still snored Thou, 
 
 who hast been taught better things, 
 
 from the principles and practices of 
 
 the Stoics and Pythagoreans, art 
 
 thou sleeping till almost noon ? See 
 
 1.4. 
 
 — Your lax head, <^c] In sleep, 
 the muscles which raise the head, and 
 keep it upright, are all relaxed, so, 
 that the head will nod, and drop, as if 
 it had nothing to confine it in its 
 place : this is often seen in people who 
 sleep as they sit. 
 
 59. Yawn, §c] From the sleepi- 
 ness and fatigue occasioned by yes- 
 terday's debauch are you yawning as 
 if your jaws were ripped asunder ? 
 Dissutis — metaph. from the parting, 
 or gaping, of things sewed together, 
 when unstitched, or ripped asunder. 
 
 Mala signifies either the cheek» or 
 jaw-bone. 
 
 Oscitat hesternum. Graecism. q. d. 
 Yawn forth yesterday's debauch. 
 
 Osciic.ndo cvaporat, et edormit, hes- 
 tcrnam crapulam. Mart. 
 
 GO. Is there any thing, $-c] Have 
 you any pursuit, end, or point in 
 view ? 
 
 — Direct your bow.'] What do you 
 aim at ? Metaph. taken from an 
 archer's aiming atamaik. 
 
 61. Follow crows, <£c] Or do you 
 ramble about, you not why, nor ay hi- 
 ther, like idle boys, that follow crows 
 to pelt them with potsherds and mud. 
 in order to take them ? (as we should 
 say, to lay salt upon their tails.) A 
 proverbial expression to denote vain, 
 unprofitable, and foolish pursuits. 
 
 62. Live from the ti?ne.\ Extem- 
 pore — without any fixed or premedi- 
 tated plan, and looking no farther 
 than just the present moment. 
 
 63. In vain hellebore, Qc] The 
 herb hellepore was accounted a great 
 cleanser of noxious humours, there- 
 fore administered in dropsies. 
 
35« 
 
 PERSII SATIRE. 
 
 SAT. III. 
 
 Poscentes videas. Venienti occurrite morbo ; 
 Et quid opus Cratero magnos promittere montes ? 
 Discite, 6 miseri ! et causas cognoscite rerum : 
 Quid sumus : et quidnam victuri gigniinur : ordo 
 Quis datus : et meta? qua mollis flexus, et undae. 
 Quis modus argento: quid fas optare: quid asper 
 Utile nummus habet: patriae, carisque propinquis, 
 Quantum elargiri deeeat : quern te Deus esse 
 Jussit ; et humana qua parte locatus es in re— 
 Disce : nee invideas, quod multa fidelia putet 
 In locuplete penu, defensis pinguibus Umbris; 
 
 65 
 
 70 
 
 When the skin is swoln with a 
 dropsy, it is too late to begin with re- 
 medies, in very many cases. 
 
 64. Prevent, §c] The wisest way 
 is to prevent the disorder by avoiding 
 the causes of it, or by checking its 
 first approaches, Occurrite— meet it 
 in its way to attack you. 
 
 Principiis obsta : scro medicina pa- 
 ratur. 
 
 Cum mala per longas invaluirc mo- 
 ras. Ovid. 
 
 65. What need is there, $c] What 
 need have you to let the distemper 
 get such a head, as that you may be 
 offering mountains of gold for a cure. 
 Craterus was the physician of Au- 
 gustus — put here for any famous and 
 skilful practitioner. 
 
 The poet here, is speaking figura- 
 tively, and means, that what he says 
 of the diBtempers of the body should 
 be applied to those of the mind ; of 
 which all he says is equally true. 
 
 The first approaches of vice are to 
 be watched against, and their pro- 
 gress prevented ; otherwise, if disre- 
 garded till advanced into habits, they 
 may be too obstinate for cure. Comp. 
 1. 32-4. 
 
 66. Learn, $c] Here the philoso- 
 pher applies what he has been saying, 
 by way of reproof and remonstrance, 
 in a way of inference. Learn then, 
 says he, ye miserable youths, who 
 are giving way to sloth, idleness, and 
 neglect of your studies — learn, before 
 it be too late, the causes, the final 
 causes of things, which are the great 
 objects of mosal philosophy, which 
 teacheth us the causes and purposes 
 for which all things were made. 
 
 67. What we are.] Both as to body 
 
 and soul ; how frail and transitory a* 
 to the one, how noble and exalted a» 
 to the other. 
 
 — What we are engendered, S[C.]^ 
 To what end and purpose we are be- 
 gotten, in order to live in this world, 
 and what life we are to lead. 
 
 67-8. What order is given.] In 
 what rank or degree of life we are 
 placed. 
 
 68. By what teoy the turning, <$r.J 
 Metaph. to denote the wise, well-or- 
 dered, and well-directed management, 
 and right conduct of our affairs ; as 
 charioteers in the circus used all their 
 care and management in turning the 
 meta, or goal, so as to avoid touching 
 it too nearly. To touch it with the 
 inward wheel of the chariot, yet so 
 as but to touch it, was the choice art 
 of the charioteer : this they called 
 stringere metam ; as to escape the 
 danger in the performance of it they 
 called evitare metam. 
 
 Mctaque fcrvidis 
 Evitata rotis. " HoR. ode i. 
 If they performed not this very dex- 
 trously, they were in danger of having 
 the chariot and themselves dashed to 
 pieces. 
 
 — And of Vie water.] Another me- 
 taphor to the same purpose, alluding 
 to the naumachia, er ship-races, 
 wherein there were likewise placed 
 metae; and the chief art was, when 
 they came to the meta, to tack their 
 ship so dextrously, as to *ail as near 
 as possible round it, yet so as to avoid 
 running against it. See .En. v. 129- 
 31. 
 
 It was one part of moral philoso- 
 phy, to teach the attainment of the 
 best end, by the safest, easiest, and 
 
PERSIUS\S SATIRES. 
 
 353 
 
 You may see people asking for. Prevent the coming dis- 
 ease ; 
 
 And what need is there to promise great mountains to 
 Craterus ? 65 
 
 Learn, O miserable creatures, and know the causes of 
 things, 
 
 What we are, and what we are engendered to live : what 
 order 
 
 Is given, and by what way the turning of the goal, and of 
 the water, may be easy : 
 
 What measure to money — what it is right to wish — what 
 rough 
 
 Money has that is useful. To our country, and to dear 
 relations, 70 
 
 How much it may become to give ; whom the Deity com- 
 manded 
 
 Thee to be, and in what part thou art placed in the human 
 system — 
 
 Learn: — nor be envious, that many ajar stinks 
 
 In a rich store, the fat Umbrians being defended, 
 
 best means, avoiding all difficulties 
 and dangers as much as possible. 
 
 69. What measure to money.]— 
 What limits or bounds to put to our 
 desires after it, so as to avoid covet- 
 ousness. 
 
 —.What it is right to wisli.] Or pray 
 for. See sat. ii. per tot. 
 
 69-70. Rough money, $c] The 
 true use of money, for this atone can 
 make it useful. Asper nummus is 
 coined gold or silver ; so called from 
 the roughness which is raised on the 
 surface by the figures or letters stamp- 
 ed on it. 
 
 Not only money, but all wrought 
 or chased silver or gold, is signified 
 by the epithet asper. 
 
 Vasa aspera. Jtrv. sat. xiv. I. 62. 
 
 Cymbiaque argento perfecta at que 
 aspera signis. Mil. v. 1. 267. 
 
 70. Our country, fyc.~\ What we 
 owe, and, consequently, what it be- 
 comes us to pay, to our country, our 
 relations, and friends, &c. 
 
 71. Whom the deity commanded, 
 $c] Quem — what manner of person 
 it is the will of heaven you should be 
 in your station. 
 
 72. In what part placed, §c] Lo- 
 catus, Metaph. from the placing peo- 
 
 ple according to their rank on the 
 benches at the theatres ; or from sol- 
 diers, who are placed in particular 
 stations as centinels, &c. which they 
 must not forsake, but by leave, or 
 order, of the commander. Thus the 
 Stoics taught that every man was 
 placed, or stationed, in some destined 
 part of the human system (humana 
 i*e), which he must not quit at his 
 own will and pleasure, but solely by 
 the permission or command of the 
 Deity. 
 
 73. Learn.\ Get a thorough, prac- 
 tical knowledge of the above-mention- 
 ed important particulars, and then 
 you need not envy any body. 
 
 — A jar stinks, $c] Nor envy any 
 great lawyer the presents which are 
 made him, of such quantities of pro- 
 visions, that they grow stale and pu- 
 trid before he can consume them. 
 Penus-i, or -us, signifies a store of 
 provisions. Ainsw. 
 
 74. Fat Umbrians.] The Umbrian 
 and the Marsian were the most plen- 
 tiful of all the provinces in Italy. 
 
 — Being defended.] Ably and stre- 
 nuously, in some great cause, in 
 which they were defendants — they 
 sent present^ of provisions to their 
 
354 
 
 PERSII SATIRE. 
 
 sat. hi. 
 
 Et piper, et pernae, Marsi monumenta clientis : 
 ?*Ia?naque quod prima nondum defecerit orca. 
 
 Hie aliquis de gente hircosa centurionum 
 Dicat ; " Quod sapio, satis est mihi : non ego euro 
 " Esse quod Arcesilas, aerumnosique Solones, 
 " Obstipo capite, et figentes lumine terram ; 
 " Murmuracum secum, et rabiosa silentia rodunt, 
 " Atque exporreeto trutinantur verba labello, 
 " yEgroti veteris meditantes somnia : g'igni 
 " De nihilo nihilum, in niluluni nil posse revcrti. 
 
 75 
 
 80 
 
 counsel, and this in such quantities^ 
 that they could not use them while 
 they were good. 
 
 75. And pepper, <$c] And that 
 there is pepper, &c. in the lawyer's 
 store. The poet means to ridicule 
 such vile presents, as after him Ju- 
 venal did. See Juv. sat. vii. lli)- 
 21. 
 
 — Monuments, <$c] Monumentum 
 or monimentum (from moneo) a me- 
 morial of any person or tiling. The 
 poet calls these presents of the INIar- 
 sians, monuments, or memorials of 
 them, because they were the produce 
 of their country, and bespake from 
 whence they came as presents, to re- 
 fresh their counsel's memory con- 
 cerning his Marsian clients, who were, 
 perhaps, plaintiffs in the cause against 
 the Umbri. 
 
 76*. Because the pilchard, $ Be- 
 cause a second jar of pickled herrings, 
 or pilchards, was sent, before the 
 first that had been sent was all used. 
 
 What fish the macna was is not 
 certain, but something, we may sup- 
 pose, of the herring, pilchard, or an- 
 chovy kind, which was pickled, and 
 put up in jars. 
 
 The Stoics were no friends to the 
 lawyers ; not that they condemned 
 the profession itself, but because it in- 
 duced men to sell their voices, in or- 
 der to gratify their covetous desire of 
 gain, -u hich, by the way, could not be 
 very considerable, if it consisted only 
 in such fees as are above mentioned. 
 Com p. Juv. sat. vii. 106-21. 
 
 However, Persius makes his philo- 
 sopher, in his discourse to his pupils, 
 take an opportunity of ridiculing the 
 lawyers, with no little contempt and 
 severity, by telling the young men, 
 
 that, if possessed of all the valuable- 
 principles of moral philosophy, they 
 need not envy the fees of the lawyers, 
 which, by the way, he represents in 
 the most ridiculous and contemptible 
 light. 
 
 77. 11 ei e some one, <|c] The poet 
 here represents the philosopher as an- 
 ticipating some objections which 
 might be made to his doctrines, on 
 the subject of studying philosophy, 
 which he does, by way of answering 
 them ; and thus he satirizes the ne- 
 glect and contempt of philosophy by 
 the Jtoman people, and shews the fal- 
 lacy and absurdity of their arguments 
 against it. 
 
 — Stalling centurions.'] Hircosus, 
 from hircus, a goat, signifies stink- 
 ing, rammish, smelling like a goat. 
 
 The centurions, and the lower part 
 of the Roman soldiery, were very 
 slovenly, seldom pulled off their 
 clothes, and wore their beards, which 
 they neglected ; so that, by the nas- 
 tincss of their persons, they smelt 
 rank like goats. 
 
 Persius makes one of these the 
 spokesman, by which he means, 
 doubtless, to reflect on the opponents, 
 as if none could be of their party but 
 such a low, dirty, ignorant fellow as 
 this. 
 
 78. " What I know," 4"c] The 
 foundation of all contempt of know- 
 ledge is self-sufficiency. 
 
 I know enough to answer my pur- 
 pose, says the centurion ; I don't 
 want to be wiser. 
 
 79. " Arcesilas."] An iEolian by 
 birth, and scholar to Polemon ; af- 
 terwards he came to Athens, and 
 joined himself to Crantor, and be- 
 came the founder of an acacemv. He 
 
SAT. III. 
 
 PERSIUS'S SATIRES. 
 
 355 
 
 And pepper, and gammons of bacon, the monuments of a 
 
 Marsian client, 75 
 
 And because the pilchard has not yet failed from the first 
 
 jar. 
 Here some one, of the rank race of centurions, 
 May say ; " What I know is enough for me. I do not care 
 " To be what Arcesilas was, and the wretched Solons, 
 M With the head awry, and fixing the eyes on the ground, 
 " When murmurs with themselves, and mad silence they 
 
 " are gnawing, 81 
 
 " And words are weighed with a stretched-out lip, 
 " Meditating the dreams of an old sick man— that nothing 
 
 " can 
 ei Be produced from nothing, nothing can be returned into 
 
 " nothing. 
 
 opposed Zeno's opinions, and held, 
 that nothing could be certainly 
 known. 
 
 Persius, probably, who was a Stoic, 
 means here to give him a rub, by 
 supposing this ignorant centurion to 
 mention him as a great man. 
 
 " Wretched Solons.''''] Solon was 
 
 one of the wise men of Greece, and 
 the great lawgiver at Athens. 
 
 I would not give a farthing, says 
 the centurion, to be such a philoso- 
 pher as Arcesilas, or as wise as So- 
 lon, who was always making himself 
 miserable with labour and study, or 
 indeed as any such people as Solon 
 was — (Solones.) 
 
 80. " Head awry"] An action 
 which the philosophers much used, 
 as having the appearance of modesty 
 and subjection. See Holt. sat. v. lib. 
 ii. 1. 92, 
 
 80. *' Fixing the eyes on the 
 ground."] As in deep thought. 
 
 Figentes lumine terram. Hypal- 
 lage for figentes lumina in terram. 
 
 81. ** Murmurs ibith themselves."] 
 Persons in deep meditation are apt 
 sometimes to be muttering to them- 
 selves. 
 
 — " Mad silence" #c] They ob- 
 served a silence, which, being attend- 
 ed with reclining the head, fixing 
 their eyes on the ground, and only 
 now and then interrupted by a mut- 
 tering between the teeth, as if they 
 were gnawing or eating their words, 
 
 made those who saw them take them 
 for madmen, for they appeared like 
 melancholy mad. Perhaps rabiosa 
 silentia may allude to the notion of 
 mad-dogs, who are supposed never to 
 bark. 
 
 82. " Words are weighed" Qc] 
 Trutinantur — metaph. from weigh- 
 ing in scales : so these philosophers 
 appear to be balancing, i. e. deeply 
 considering, their words, with the lip 
 pouted out; an action frequently 
 seen in deep thought. 
 
 83. " Meditating the dreams," $c] 
 Sick men's dreams are proverbial for 
 thoughts which are rambling and in- 
 coherent ; as such the centurion re- 
 presents the thoughts and researches 
 of these philosophers :j)f this he gives 
 an instance — 
 
 8S-4-. " Nothing can he produced" 
 S[c] q. d. Ex nihilo nil fit. This was 
 looked on as an axiom among many 
 of the ancient philosophers, and so 
 taken for granted, that the centurion 
 is here supposed to deride those, who 
 took the pains to get at it by study, 
 as much as we should do a man who 
 should labour hard to find out that 
 two and two make foui\ 
 
 But we are taught, that God made 
 the world out of matter, which had 
 no existence till he created it, con- 
 trary to the blind and atheistical no- 
 tion of the eternity of the world, or 
 of the world's being God, as the Stoics 
 and others taught. 
 
356 
 
 PEItSII SATIRJE. 
 
 (i Hoc est, quod palles ! cur quis non prandeat, hoc est !" 
 His populus ridet ; multumque torosa juventHS 86 
 
 Ingeminat tremulos, naso crispante, cachinnos. 
 
 Inspice ; nescio quid trepidat mihi pectus, et aegris 
 Faucibus exsuperat gravis halitus ; inspice sodes, 
 Qui dicit medico ; jussus requiescere, postquam 90 
 
 Tertia compositas vidit nox currere venas, 
 De majore domo, modice sitente lagena, 
 Lenia loturo sibi Surrentina rogavit. 
 
 " Heus, bone, tu palles. 1 " Nihil est. " Videas tamen istud. 
 " Quicquid id est : surgit tacite tibi lutea pcllis." 95 
 
 At tu detefius palles ; ne sis mihi tutor ; 
 Jampridcm hunc sepeli : tu restas ? " Perge, tacebo." 
 
 85. '* Is this what you study ?"] — 
 Palles — lit. art pale. Sec note on sat. 
 i. L 121. 
 
 — " Should not dine.*' I Is it for this 
 that you philosophers half-starveyour- 
 ■elves with fasting, that your heads 
 may he clear. 
 
 Mente uti rccte non possumus 
 m til to cibo et potione completi. Cic. 
 Tusc Quest 5. Quis for aliquis — 
 Jit. some one. 
 
 86. The people laugh at tills.] At 
 these words the people, who are the 
 supposed hearers of this centurion, 
 burst into a horse-laugh. 
 
 — The brarcny youth, $c] The 
 stout, brawny young fellows, the sol- 
 diers who st^od around, were highly 
 delighted with the centurion's jokes 
 upon the philosophers, and with re- 
 peated loud laughter proclaimed their 
 highest approbation. 
 
 87. Tremulous loud laughs.] Ca- 
 chinnus signifies a loud laugh, parti- 
 cularly in derision or scorn — tremulos 
 denotes the trembling or shaking of 
 the voice in laughter, as ha ! ha ! ha ! 
 
 — Wrinkling nose.] In laughter the 
 nose is drawn up in wrinkles. See 
 sat. i. 1. 38, note. 
 
 88. " Inspect" $c.] The philoso- 
 pher having ended the supposed 
 speech of the centurion against the 
 study of philosophy, now relates a 
 story, by way of answer, in order to 
 shew, that a man who rejects and 
 ridicules the principles of philosophy, 
 which are to heal the disorders of the 
 mind, acts as fatal a part, as he who, 
 with a fatal distemper in his body. 
 
 should reject and ridicule the advice of 
 a physician, even act against it, and 
 thus at last destroy himself. The 
 qui, 1. 90, is a relative without an 
 antecedent, but may be supplied 
 thus — 
 
 Let us suppose a man, who finding 
 himself ill, says to a physician, " Pray 
 " doctor, feel my pulse, observe my 
 " case, examine what is the matter 
 " with me." — Inspice. 
 
 — " / know not why," <£c] I don't 
 know how or what it is, but I find 
 an unusual fluttering of my heart. 
 
 89. " Heavy breath abounds."] I 
 feel an heaviness and oppression of 
 breath, a difficulty of breathing ; 
 which seems here meant, as quickness 
 of puke and difficulty of breathing 
 are usual symptoms of feverish com- 
 plaints, especially of the inflamma- 
 tory kind ; also a fetid rmell of the 
 breath, which gravis also denotes. 
 
 — " Inspect, I pray you.'"] Feeling 
 himself ill, and not knowing how it 
 may end, he is very earnest for the 
 physician's advice, and again urges 
 his request. 
 
 So would it be with regard to phi- 
 losophy ; if men felt, as they ought, 
 the disorders of their mind, and 
 dreaded the consequences, they would 
 not despise philosophy, which is the 
 great healer of the distempered mind, 
 but apply to it as earnestly as this 
 sick man to the physician. 
 
 90. Ordered to rest] Being ordered 
 b} r the physician to go to bed, and 
 keep himself quiet. 
 
 90-1. After a third night.] The 
 
PERSIUS'S SATIRES. 
 
 357 
 
 SAT. III. 
 
 " Is this what youlstudy ? Is it this why one should not 
 
 « dine f" 85 
 
 The people laugh at this, and much the brawny youth 
 Redoubles the tremulous loud laughs with wrinkling nose. 
 "Inspect : I know not why my breast trembles, and from 
 
 " my sick 
 " Jaws heavy breath abounds : inspect, I pray you" — » 
 Who says to a physician ; — being ordered to rest— after 90 
 A third night hath seen his veins to run composed, 
 From a greater house, in a flagon moderately thirsting, 
 He has asked for himself, about to bathe, mild Surrentine. " s 
 " Ho ! good man, you are pale. 1 ' " It is nothing." " But 
 
 " have an eye to it, 
 " Whatever it is : your yellow skin silently rises. ,, — 95' 
 " But you are pale — worse than I — do not be a tutor to me, 
 €; I have long since buried him, do you remain ?" — " Go on 
 
 " — I will be silent." 
 
 
 patient, after about three days ob- 
 servance of the doctor's prescription, 
 finds his fever gone, the symptoms 
 vanished, and his pulse quite com- 
 posed and calm. As soon as he finds 
 this, he forgets his physician, and his 
 danger, and falls to eating and drink- 
 ing again as usual. 
 
 92. Greater house.'] He sends to 
 some rich friend, or neighbour, for 
 some surrentine wine ; which was a 
 small wine, not apt to affect the head, 
 as Pliny observes : 
 
 Surrentina vina caput non tencnt. 
 Plin. xxiii. c. 1. 
 therefore, drunk in a small quantity, 
 might not have been hurtful ; espe- 
 cially as this kind of wine was very 
 eld, and therefore very soft and mild, 
 before it was drunk. 
 
 — A Jlagon moderately thirsting.] 
 Persons who thirst but little, drink 
 but little i this idea seems to be used 
 here, metaphorically, to denote a fla- 
 gon that did not require much to fill 
 it — i. e. a moderate sized flagon, but 
 yet holding enough to hurt a man re- 
 covering from sickness, if drunk all 
 at one meal, and particularly before 
 bathing, as seems to be the case here. 
 
 93. About to bathe.] Intending to 
 bathe, which, after much eating and 
 drinking, was reckoned very un- 
 wholesome. Comp. Juv. sat. i 1. 
 128-30. 
 
 94 " Ho I good man" §e.] Away, 
 after an hearty meal, with his belly 
 full of wine and victuals (1. 98.) he 
 goes to the baths, where his physician 
 happening to meet him, accosts him 
 with a friendly concern, and mentions 
 to him some symptoms, which ap- 
 peared as if he had a dropsy. 
 
 — " You are pale."] Says the phy- 
 sician ; you look ill. 
 
 — " It is nothing."] O, says the 
 spark, I am very well — nothing ails 
 me. 
 
 — " Hate an eye," $c] Says the 
 physician — be it what it may that 
 may occasion such a paleness, I 
 would have you take care of it in 
 time. 
 
 95. " Yellow skin," Qc] Lutea 
 pellis — the skin of a yellow cast, like 
 the yellow-jaundice, which often pre- 
 cedes a dropsy. 
 
 — M Silently rises."] Tacite— insen- 
 sibly, by little and little, though you 
 may not perceive it — quasi sensim, 
 rises, swells. 
 
 96. " You are pale" fyc] Says the 
 spark, in a huff, to the physician ; 
 you are paler than I am — pray look 
 to yourself. 
 
 — " DonH be a tutor."] " Do not 
 *' give yourself airs, as if you were 
 " my guardian, and had authority 
 *' over me." 
 
 BL iJ J have long since," t^-c] " It 
 
358 PERSII SATIRJE. sat in 
 
 Turgidus hie epulis, atque albo ventre lavatur ; 
 Gutture sulphureas lente exhalante mephites. 
 Sed tremor inter vina subit, calidumque triental 100 
 
 Excutit e manibus: dentes crepuere retecti; 
 Uncta cadunt laxis tunc pulmentaria labris : 
 Hinc tuba, candelae. Tandemque beatulus alto 
 Compositus lecto, crassisque lutatus amomis, 
 In portam rigidos calces extendit. At ilium 105 
 
 Hesterni capite iuduto subiere Quirites. 
 
 Tange, miser, venas ; et pone in pectore dextram : 
 Nil calet hie. Summosque pedes attinge, manusque: 
 Non frigent visa est si forte pecunia, sive 
 
 " is a great while since I buried my 
 M tutor." 
 
 97. " Do you remain ?"] " Do you 
 ** presume to take his place ?" 
 
 M Goon — III he siknt."] " Opray." 
 replies the physician, " go on your 
 *• own way — I shall say no more." 
 
 OS. Turgid vriih dainties.] Having 
 his stomach and bowels full of meat 
 and drink. 
 
 — A -white belli/] When the liver, 
 or spleen, is distempered, as in the 
 dropsy, and the chyle is not turned 
 into blood, it circulates in the veins 
 and small vessels of the skin, and 
 gives the whole body a white or pallid 
 appearance. Thus Hor. lib. ii. ode ii. 
 Crescit indu/gens sibi dims hydrops, 
 Nee sitim pel fit , nisi causa vwrbi 
 Fugerit vents, et aquosus albo 
 Corpore languor. 
 
 — Is bathed.] i. e. He persists in 
 going into the bath in this manner, 
 notwithstanding the warning which 
 had been given him. 
 
 99. His throat slowly exhaling, §-c.J 
 The fumes of the meat and drink 
 ascend out of the stomach into the 
 throat, from whence they leisurely 
 discharge themselves in filthy steams. 
 Mephitis signifies a stink, particularly 
 a damp, or strong sulphurous smell 
 arising from corrupted water. See 
 jEn. vii. 1. 84. Mephitis was a name 
 of Juno, because she was supposed to 
 preside over stinking exhalations. 
 
 100. A trembling comes on, <$c.] 
 The riotous and gluttonous used to 
 bathe after supper, and in the going 
 in, and in the bath itself, they drank 
 large draughts of hot wine, to pro- 
 duce sweat. Hence Juv. sat. viii. L 
 
 168. thermarum calices. As also after 
 bathing they sometimes drank very 
 hard. See my note on Juv. ubi supr. 
 — Trienta'l.] A little vessel, which 
 was a third part of a larger, and held 
 about a gill ; this he has in his hand 
 full of warm wine, but it is shook out 
 of Ms hand by the trembling with 
 which he is seized. 
 
 101. His uncovered teeth, <£a] His 
 f.ice being convulsed, the lips are 
 drawn asunder, and discover his teeth, 
 which grind or gnash — this is frequent 
 in convulsion-fits. 
 
 102. Greasy soups, $c.] Pulmen- 
 tarium, chopped meat, with pottage 
 or broth — Ainsw. which undigested 
 meat, vomited up, resembles. He 
 was seized with a violent vomiting, 
 and brought up all the dainties which 
 he had filled his stomach with before 
 he went into the batb. 
 
 . — From his loose lips.] Hippoerat. 
 in Prognostic, says, that, when the 
 lips appear loose and hanging down, 
 it is a dendly sign. 
 
 103. Hence the trumpet.] Of this 
 intemperance he dies. The funerals 
 of the rich were attended with trum- 
 pets and lights — the poor had only 
 tibiae, small pipes which played on the 
 occasion. 
 
 — This happy fellow.] Beatulus— 
 dim. from beatus, happy. Iron. 
 
 103-4. On an high bed, $c.] Laid 
 on an high bier. Compositus here 
 seems to express what we mean by 
 laying out a corpse. 
 
 "lO'L Daubed over, <£ej} After 
 washing the corpse with water, they 
 anointed it with perfumed ointment, 
 of whi« h the amomum. an ar w 
 
 
SAT. III. 
 
 PERSIUS'S SATIRES. 
 
 850 
 
 He, turgid with dainties, and with a white belly is bathed, 
 
 His throat slowly exhaling sulphureous stenches: . 
 
 But a trembling comes on whilst at his wine, and the warm 
 
 triental 100 
 
 He shakes out of his hands ; his uncovered teeth crashed, 
 Then the greasy soups fall from his loose lips : 
 Hence the trumpet, the candles : and, at last, this happy- 
 
 fellow, on an high 
 Bed laid, and daubed over with thick ointments, 
 Extends his rigid heels towards the door : but him 10$ 
 The hesternal Romans, with covered head, sustained. 
 " Touch, wretch, my veins, and put your right hand on 
 
 u my breast : 
 u Nothing is hot here : and touch the extremes of my feet 
 
 " and hands : 
 " They are not cold.'"—- " If haply money be seen, or 
 
 shrub, which grew in Armenia, fur- 
 nished the chief ingredient. The 
 amomum was used in embalming. 
 Hence momy or mummy. See Ainsw. 
 
 105. His rigid heels, $c.] The Ro- 
 mans always carried the dead heels 
 foremost, noting thereby their last 
 and final departure from their house. 
 Rigid — i. e. stiff with death. 
 
 106. Hesternal Romans.'] See Juv. 
 sat. iii. 6'C, note. When a person of 
 consequence died, all the slaves which 
 he had made free in his life-time at- 
 tended the funeral ; some bore the 
 corpse, (subiere — put themselves un- 
 der the bier,) others walked in pro- 
 cession. These, being freedmen, were 
 reckoned among the Roman citizens ; 
 but they were looked on in a mean 
 light, and were contemptuously called 
 hesterni, Romans of yesterday — *. e. 
 citizens whose dignity was of very 
 short standing. Thus the first gentle- 
 man or nobleman of his family was 
 called novus homo. So we, in con- 
 tradistinction to families which are 
 old, and have been long dignified, say, 
 of some family lately ennobled, that 
 it is a family of yesterday. 
 
 106. Covered head.] Wearing the 
 pileus, or cap, which was the signal 
 vf liberty. Servum ad pileum vocare, 
 signified to give a slave his liberty, 
 which they did among the Romans, 
 by first shaving his head, and then 
 putting a cap upon it. AiNSW. 
 
 107. " Touch, wretch, my veins." j 
 It is very evident, from the four last 
 lines, that the case, which the philo- 
 sopher has put, is to be taken in an 
 allegorical sense ; and that, by the 
 conduct of the wretched libertine, 
 who rejected his physician's advice, 
 and proceeded in his absurd courses, 
 till he fixed a disorder upon him. 
 which brought him to the grave, he 
 meant to represent the conduct of 
 those who despised the philosophers, 
 those physicians of the mind, and set 
 at nought the precepts which they 
 taught, till, by a continuance in their 
 vices, their case became desperate, 
 and ended in their destruction. 
 
 However, the opponent is supposed 
 to understand what the philosopher 
 said, in his story of the libertine, in a 
 mere literal and gross sense, and 
 is therefore represented as saying, 
 " What's all this to the purpose ? 
 *« What is this to me ? I am not sick 
 M — I don't want a physician — try, 
 ** feel my pulse." 
 
 — *' On my breast."] To feel the 
 regular pulsation of my heart. 
 
 108. ** Nothing is hot 7iere."]—t 
 There is no sign of any feverish 
 heat. 
 
 — " Touch the extremes," <!*£.]—. 
 You will find there the natural heat i 
 no coldness as in the feet and hands 
 of a dying man. 
 
 1QB. ♦' If haply money he seen,"] 
 
360 
 
 PERSII SATIRJS. 
 
 Candida vicini subrisit molle puella ; 
 Cor tibi rite salit ? Positum est algente catino 
 Durum olus ; et populi cribro decussa farina : 
 Tentemus fauces. Tenero latet ulcus in ore 
 Putre, quod baud deceat plebeia radere beta. 
 
 Alges, cum excussit membris timor albus aristas : 
 Nunc, face supposita, fervescit sanguis, et ira 
 Scintillant oculi : dicisque, facisque, quod ipse 
 Non sani esse hominis, non sanus juret Orestes. 
 
 110 
 
 us 
 
 Here the philosopher explains him- 
 .<^]f, and .seems to say, " I grant that 
 your bodily health is good, but how 
 is your mind ? does not this labour 
 under the diseases of covetousness, 
 fleshly lust, intemperance, fear, and 
 anger? As a proof of this, let me 
 ask you, if a large sum of money 
 comes in view, or your neighbour's 
 handsome daughter should smile upon 
 you, does your heart move calmly as 
 it ought, do you feel no desire of pos- 
 sessing either ?" 
 
 111. " There is placed" §c] — 
 What think you of a vile dish Of hard, 
 half-boiled cabbage, or cole worts, and 
 coarse bread, such as the common 
 people eat. Farina is lit. meal or 
 flour; here, by meton. the brer.d it- 
 self which is made of it. Shaken 
 through the sieve of the people — i. c. 
 of the poorer sort, who used coarse 
 sieves, which let more of the bran 
 and husks through, and therefore 
 their bread was coarser than that of 
 the gentry. 
 
 113. Try your jaws."] Whether 
 they can devour such coarse fare, or 
 whether you would not find yourself 
 as unable to chew, or swallow it, as 
 if you had a sore and putrid ulcer 
 lurking in your mouth, too tender 
 for such coarse food, and which it 
 would not be at all fitting to injure, 
 by scratching, or rubbing against it 
 with vulgar food. 
 
 3 1 k Beet.] Beta — some sort of 
 
 hard, coarse, and unsavoury herb. 
 Aixsw. Put here, by meton. for 
 any kind of ordinary harsh food. 
 
 If you found this to be the case, 
 you may be certain that you have a 
 luxurious appetite. 
 
 115. When white fear, §c.] You 
 said that you had no cold in the ex- 
 tremes of yqur feet and hands — but 
 how is it with Vou when you shudder 
 with fear ? The Stoics were great ad- 
 vocates for apathy, or freedom from 
 all passions, fear among the rest. 
 "White fear, so called from the pale- 
 ness of countenance that attends it. 
 
 — liou.s'd the brittle*.] Arista signi- 
 fies an ear of corn, or the beard of 
 corn. Sometimes, by catachresis, an 
 hair or bristle, which is often suid to 
 stand an end when poople are in a 
 fright. 
 
 116. Now with a torch, $c] He 
 now charges him with the disease of 
 violent anger, the blood set on fire, as 
 if a burning torch were applied, and 
 eyes sparkling and flashing fire as it 
 were. In this situation, says he, you 
 say and do things, that even Orestes 
 himself, mad as he was, would swear 
 were the words and actions of a per- 
 son out of his senses. So that, 
 though you may think you are well, 
 because you find no feverish heat in 
 v our body, yet you are troubled with 
 a fever of the mind every time you 
 are angry. Therefore in this, as well 
 as with regard to the disease* of covet- 
 
PERSIUS'S SATIRES. 
 
 361 
 
 «< The fair girl of your neighbour smile gently, 110 
 
 " Does your heart leap aright ? — there is placed in a cold 
 
 " dish 
 *< An hard cabbage, and flour shaken through the sieve of 
 
 - "the people : 
 "" Let us try your jaws : a putrid ulcer lies hid in your 
 
 " tender mouth, 
 " Which it would be hardly becoming to scratch with a 
 
 6i plebeian beet. 
 " You are cold, when white fear has roused the bristles 
 
 " on your limbs : 115 
 
 " Now, with a torch put under, your blood grows hot, and 
 
 " with anger 
 " Your eyes sparkle, and you do and say, what, Orestes 
 
 " himself 
 " Not in his sound mind, would swear was not the part of 
 
 " a man in his right senses. 1 ' 
 
 ousness, lust, luxury, and fear, which 
 are all within you, you as much 
 stand in need of a physician for your 
 mind, as the poor wretch whom I 
 have been speaking of, stood in need 
 of a physician for his body ; nor did 
 he act more oppositely to the dictates 
 of sound reason by despising his phy- 
 sician, and rejecting his remedies for 
 his bodily complaints, than you do, 
 by despising the philosophers, and re- 
 jecting their precepts, which are the 
 only remedies for the disorders of the 
 mind. 
 
 Thus the philosopher is supposed 
 to conclude his discourse with his op- 
 ponent, leaving an useful lesson on 
 the minds of his idle and lazy pupils, 
 who neglected their studies to indulge 
 in sloth and luxury, not considering 
 the fatal distempers of their minds, 
 which, if neglected, must end in their 
 destruction. 
 
 117. Orestes.] Was the son of 
 Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. He 
 «lew his own mother, and iEgysthus, 
 her adulterer, who had murdered his 
 father. He killed Pyrrhus, the son 
 of 'Achilles, in the temple of Apollo 
 
 for marrying Hermione, who had 
 been promised to him by her fathet 
 Menelaus. Apollo sent furies to 
 haunt him for the profanation of his 
 temple, and forced him to expiate his 
 crimes at the altar of Diana Taurica. 
 
 See Hon. sat. hi. lib. ii. 1. 133, et 
 seq. in which satire Horace, with a 
 degree of humour and raillery pecu- 
 liar to himself, exposes the doctrine 
 of the Stoic philosophers, which was, 
 that all mankind were madmen and 
 fools, except those of their own sect ; 
 this he, with infinite humour and ad- 
 dress, turns upon themselves, and na- 
 turally concludes, upon their own 
 premises, that they were greater fools 
 than the rest of the world. 
 
 The Stoics were a proud, harsh, 
 severe, and sour sect, in many parti- 
 culars not very different from the Cy- 
 nics. The reader may find an in- 
 structive account of their principles, 
 doctrines, and practices, as well as an 
 edifying use made of them, in that 
 masterly performance of Dr. Leland, 
 entitled, " The Advantage and Ne- 
 " cessity of the Christian Revelation,'' 
 vol. ii. p. 140-223. 
 
 Sii 
 
rattra Huinta* 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 This Satire is justly esteemed the best of the six. — It con- 
 sists of three parts : in the first of which the Poet highly 
 praises Annceus Cornutus, who had been his preceptor, 
 and recommends other young men to his care. — In the 
 second part, he blames the idleness and sloth of young 
 men, and exhorts them to follow after the liberty and 
 
 Persius. VATIBUS hie mos est, centum sibi posccrc 
 voces, 
 Centum ora, et linguas optare in carmina centum : 
 Fabula sen mcesto ponatur hianda tragcedo, 
 Vulnera seu Parthi ducentis ab inguine fcrrum. 
 
 Cornutus. Quorsum haec ? aut quantas robusti carminis 
 offas 5 
 
 Ingeris, ut par sit ccnteno gutture niti ? 
 Grande locuturi, nebulas Helicone legunto : 
 Si quibus aut Prognes, aut si quibus olla Thyestae 
 
 Line 1. A custom, §c] Of epic 
 poets, and sometimes of orators, to 
 adopt this idea. 
 
 Hom. U. ii. for instance : 
 X$ /x-c* <5W« pev y'Kuaaca, hxct <>£ 
 
 rofAurcc azv. 
 
 So Virg. Geor. ii. 1. 43 ; and JEn. 
 vi. 1. G25. 
 
 Noil mihi si coition Ungues sint, 
 oraquc centum. 
 
 And, Quint, ad. fin. Decl. vi. Uni- 
 versorum vatum, scriptorumque ora 
 consentiant, vincet tamen res ista 
 mille linguas, &c. 
 
 — An hundred voices.] Alluding 
 perhaps to the responses of the Sibyl 
 — Virg. Mn. vi. 1. 43-4. 
 
 ... . Adit 'us centum, ostia centum, 
 
 Unde ruuut totidem voces res_ponsa 
 Sibylla. 
 
 2. For verses.] i. e. That, when 
 they compose their verses, their style 
 
 and language might be amplified and 
 extended, adequately to the greatness 
 and variety of their subjects. 
 
 3. Whether a fable.] The subject 
 or story on which they write is called 
 the fable. 
 
 —Bawled out, §e.) i. c. Whether 
 they write tragedy, to be acted on the 
 stage. 
 
 i. Or the wounds of a Parthian, 
 Qc."} Or write an epic poem on the 
 wars of the Romans with the Parthi- 
 ans, in which the latter were over- 
 come. 
 
 Aut labentis cquo describcre vulnera 
 Parthi. 
 
 Hor. sat. i. lib. ii. 1. 15. 
 
 5. CoRNUTUS. Wherefore these 
 things ?] Quorsum— to what end, 
 purpose, or intent, do you mention 
 these things, as if you were w ishing 
 them for yourself? 
 
dfiftf) &ntivt. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 enfranchisement of the mind. — Thirdly, he shews where- 
 in true liherty consists, and asserts that doctrine of the 
 Stoics, that " a wise man only is free ; n and that a 
 slavery to vice is the most miserable of all. 
 The Satire begins in the form of a dialogue between Persius 
 and Comutus. 
 
 Persius. THIS is a custom with poets, to ask for them- 
 selves an hundred voices, 
 And to wish for an hundred mouths, and an hundred 
 
 tongues for their verses : 
 Whether a fable be proposed to be bawled out by the sad 
 
 tragedian ; 
 Or the wounds of a Parthian drawing the sword from his 
 
 groin. 
 Cornutus. Wherefore these things ? or how great pieces 
 
 of robust verse 5 
 
 Dost thou thrust in, that it should be meet to strive with an 
 
 hundred throats ? 
 Let those who are about to speak something great, gather 
 
 clouds in Helicon, 
 If to any either the pot of Progne, or if to any that of 
 
 Thyestes 
 
 — How g-reat pieces, <%c] Metaph. the sacred top, and which teem, no 
 from a person who puts large lumps doubt, with poetical rapture, 
 or pieces of meat into his mouth, big 8. The pot of Progne, Qc.~\ i. e. If 
 enough to require a number of throats any shall have his imagination warm- 
 to swallow them. ed with the feasts of Progne and 
 
 q. d. What great and huge heroics Thyestes, so as to write upon them, 
 art thou setting about, which thou Progne was the wifeof Tereus, king 
 
 canst think equal to such a wish, in of Thrace : Tereus fell in love with 
 
 order to enable thee to do them Philomela, sister to Progne, ravished 
 
 justice? her, and cut out her tongue. In rer 
 
 7. Gather clouds in Helicon.'] Let venge Progne killed Itys, her own son 
 
 them go to mount Helicon, (see ante, by Tereus, and served him up at a 
 
 the Prologue, 1. 1, note,) and there feast to be eaten by his father, 
 gather up the mists which hang over — Thyestes} Atreus, king of My* 
 
364 
 
 PERSII SATIR.E. 
 
 Fervebit, saspe insulso coenanda Glyconi. 
 
 Ta neque anhelanti, coquitur dum massa camino, 
 
 Folle premis ventos : nee, clauso murmure raucus, 
 
 Nescio quid tecum grave cornicaris inepte : 
 
 Nee scloppo tumidas intendis rumpere buccas. 
 
 Verba togas sequeris, junctura callidus acri, 
 
 Ore teres modico, pallentes radere mores 
 
 Doctus, et ingenuo culpam defigere ludo. 
 
 Hinc trahe qua? dicas : rnensasque relinque Mycenis 
 
 Cum capite et pedibus ; plebeiaque prandia noris. 
 
 Pers. Non equidem hoc studco, bulktis ut mihi nugis 
 
 10 
 
 15 
 
 cence, banished his brother Thyestes, 
 for defiling his wife ./Erope : after- 
 wai'ds, recalling him, invited him to 
 a banquet, ordered the children he had 
 by her to be dressed and set before 
 him on a table. 
 
 9. Often to be supped on by foolish 
 Glycon.] He was some wretched tra- 
 gedian of those times, who acted the 
 parts of Tereus and Thyestes, and, 
 accordingly, represented both of them 
 as eating their children. 
 
 10. Thou neither, while the mats, 
 $c] Metaph. from smiths beating 
 iron in furnaces, where the fire is kept 
 up to a great heat by the blowing with 
 bellows, in order to render the iron 
 ductile, and easily formed into what 
 shape they please. 
 
 q. d. You, says Cornutus, are not 
 forging in your brain hard and diffi- 
 cult subjects, and blowing up your 
 imagination, to form them into sub- 
 lime poems. See Hon. lib. i. srt iv. 
 1. 19-21. 
 
 11. Nor hoarse, ircJ\ Nor do you 
 foolishly prate, like the hoarse croak- 
 ing of a crow, with an inward kind 
 of murmer to yourself, as if you were 
 muttering something you think very 
 grand and noble. See sat. iii. 1. 81, 
 and note. 
 
 13. Tumid checks, Qc] Scloppus 
 is a sound made with puffing the 
 cheeks, and then forcing the air out 
 suddenly by striking them together 
 With the hands. 
 
 q. d. Nor do you, when you repeat 
 your verses, appear as if you were 
 making a noise like that of cheeks 
 puffed up almost to bursting, and then 
 suddenly stricken together, like the 
 swelling and bombast method of elo- 
 
 cution ured by the fustian poets of our 
 flay, 
 
 Cornutus praises Persius in a three- 
 fold view. 1st. As not heating Ins 
 imagination with high and difficult 
 subjects. 2dly. As not affecting to 
 be meditating and murmuring with- 
 in himself, as if he would be thought 
 to be producing some great perfor- 
 mance. 3dly. As in the repetition of 
 his verses avoiding all bombastic ut- 
 terance. 
 
 14. J Fords of the gown.") Toga is 
 often used to signify peace — Cedant 
 arma togae. Cic — for, in time of 
 peace, the Romans wore only the 
 toga, or gown ; in time of war, the 
 toga was thrown aside for the sagum, 
 or soldier's cloak. 
 
 Cornutus here means to say, that 
 Persius did not write of wars and 
 bloodshed, but confined himself to 
 subjects of common life, such as pa.^s- 
 ed daily among the people, and made 
 use of plain words suited to his 
 matter. 
 
 — Cunning in sharp composition.] 
 Acute and ingenious in a neat com- 
 position of verse. Metaph. from those 
 who work in marble, who so exactly 
 join their pieces together, and polish 
 them so neatly, that the joints can't 
 be perceived. See sat. i. 1. 61, note. 
 
 15. Smooth tcith moderate language.] 
 Teres signifies smooth, even ; also ac- 
 curate, exact. Modico ore — with a 
 moderate, modest language, or style 
 of writing, neither rising above, nor 
 sinking below the subject, nor flying 
 out into that extravagance of expres- 
 sion, so much then in vogue. See sat. 
 i. 1.95-99. 
 
 — To lash.] Radere, lit. signifies 
 
PERSIUS'S SATIRES. 
 
 365 
 
 Shall be hot, often ^o be supped on by foolish Glycon. 
 
 Thou neither, while the mass is heated in the furnace, 10 
 
 Pressest the wind with breathing bellows ; nor hoarse, with 
 close murmur, 
 
 Foolishly croakest I know not what weighty matter with 
 ~ thyself: 
 
 Nor in tend est to break thy tumid cheeks with a puff. 
 
 You follow the words of the gown, cunning in sharp com- 
 position, 
 
 Smooth with moderate language, to lash vicious manners 
 
 Skilled, and to mark a crime with ingenuous sport. 16 
 
 Hence draw what you may say : and leave the tables at 
 Mycenae, 
 
 "With the head and feet, and know plebeian dinners. 
 
 Pers. I do not indeed desire this, that with empty 
 trifles my 
 
 to scratch, or scrape up, or rub 
 against; here, by meton. to lash or 
 chastise. When a satirist does this 
 effectually, the guilty turn pale at his 
 reproof: for paleness is the effect of 
 fear ; and fear, of conscious guilt. — 
 Hence Hon. epist. i. lib. i. 1. 60, 1. 
 Hie mums ahencus esto, 
 
 Nil conscire sibi, nulla pallesccre 
 culpa. 
 
 Vicious manners.] Pallentes 
 
 mores — lit. manners turning pale— 
 the effect for the cause. Meton. See 
 the last note. 
 
 16. Mark a crime with ingenuous 
 sport.] Defigere — metaph; from fix- 
 ing a dagger, or critical mark, against 
 any word or sentence, either to be 
 corrected as faulty, or struck out as 
 superfluous. This the Greeks called 
 XEVTEtv, r*C«"> compungere, confo- 
 dere, or the like. 
 
 So Persius is said to stigmatize, or 
 mark down, a crime with ingenuous 
 sport — i. e. with well-bred raillery, 
 in order to its correction ; to fix a 
 mark against it. 
 
 Qu — If this be not going rather too 
 far with regard to Persius, who seems 
 not much inclined to politeness, with 
 respect to those whom he satirizes, 
 but rather treats them with severity 
 and roughness ? 
 
 Horace indeed deserved such an 
 account to be given of him. Comp. 
 sat. i. 1. 113-15. 
 
 John H anvil, a monk of St. Al- 
 ban's, about the year 1190, thus 
 writes on the different merits of Ho- 
 race and Persius : 
 
 Persius in pelago Flacci decurrit, 
 
 et audet 
 Mendieasse stylum Satirx, serraque 
 
 cruentus 
 Rodit, et ignorat polientcm pectora 
 limam. 
 
 17. Hence draw, $c] From hence, 
 i. e. from the vices of mankind, se- 
 lect the subjects of your writings. 
 
 — Leave the tables, $c] Leave the 
 tragical banquet of Thyestes at My- 
 cense for others to write on — trouble 
 not yourself about such subjects. 
 
 18. With the head and feet.]— 
 Atreus reserved the heads, feet, and 
 hands of the children ; which after 
 supper he shewed to his brother Thy- 
 estes, that he might know whose flesh 
 he had been feasting upon. 
 
 — Know plebeian dinners.] Ac- 
 quaint yourself only with the enormi- 
 ties that puss in common life — noris 
 — quasi, fac noscas— let these be your 
 food for satire. 
 
 19. I do not indeed desire this.]-m 
 Persius here answers his preceptor 
 Cornutus, and tells him, that he does 
 not want an hundred tongues and 
 voices, in order to be writing vain and 
 highflown poems ; but that he might 
 duly express Cornutus's worth, and 
 his sense of it. 
 
m§ 
 
 PERSII SATIRE. 
 
 Pagina turgescat, dare pondus idonea fumo. 20 
 
 Secreti loquimur : tibi nunc, hortante camoena, 
 
 Excutienda damns praacordia : quantaque nostras 
 
 Pars tua sit, Cornute, animae, tibi, dulcis amice, 
 
 Ostendisse juvat. Pulsa, dignoscere cautus 
 
 Quid solidum crepet, et picta? tectoria linguae. 25 
 
 His ego centenas ausim deposcere voces, 
 
 Ut, quantum mihi te sinuoso in pectore fixi, 
 
 Voce traham pura : totumque hoc verba resignent, 
 
 Quod latet arcana non enarrabile fibra. 
 
 Cum primum pavido custos mihi purpura cessit, 30 
 
 Bullaque succinctis Laribus donata pependit ; 
 Cum blandi comites ; totuque impune Suburri 
 Permisit sparsisse oculos jam candidus umbo; 
 
 Studeo signifies, literally, to study, 
 but also to apply the mind to, to care 
 for a thing, to mind, 10 desire it. 
 
 — Empty trifles.'] Bullatis (from 
 bulla, a bubhle of water) nugis — by 
 met. swelling lines, lofty words, 
 without sense, empty expressions — 
 AlXSW. 
 
 20. Fit to give weight [to smoke."] 
 a. e. Fit for nothing else but to give 
 an air of consequence and importance 
 to trifles, which, in reality, have no 
 more substance in them than smoke. 
 Nugis addcre podus. Hor. Epist. 
 lib. i. epLst. xix. J. 42. 
 
 21. Secret toe speak. 1 ] You and I, 
 Cornutus, are not now speaking to 
 the multitude, but to each other in 
 private, and therefore I will disclose 
 the sentiments of my heart. 
 
 — The Muse exhorting.] My Muse 
 prompting and leading me to an am- 
 ple disclosure of my thoughts, and to 
 reveal how great a share you have in 
 my affections — to do this is a pleasure 
 to myself. 
 
 25. What may sound solid.] Try 
 and examine me, knock at my breast ; 
 if you wish to know whether I am 
 sincere or not, hear how that sounds. 
 Metaphor* from striking earthen ves- 
 sels with the knuckle, in order to try, 
 by the sound, whether they were 
 solid or cracked. See sat. hi. 1. 21, 2, 
 and note. 
 
 — The coverings, §c.] Tectorium 
 —the plaster, parget, or rough-cast 
 of a wall, which conceals it : hence 
 dissimulation, flattery, which cover 
 
 the real sentiments of the heart. See 
 Matt, xxiii. 27. 
 
 — Painted tongue.] Pictae linguae 
 — i. c. a tongue adorned and garnish- 
 ed with dissimulation — varnished over 
 with falsehood. 
 
 26. For these things.] i. c. Properly 
 to disclose my friendship and grati- 
 tude to you, by drawing forth and 
 uttering what I feel for you, whom I 
 have fixed within the most intimate 
 recesses of my breast. See Aixsw. 
 Sinuoxus, No. 4. This sense of the 
 word seems metaphorical, and to be 
 taken from what hath many turnings 
 and windings, and so difficult to find 
 or trace out. 
 
 2S. Willi pure mice.] With the 
 utmost sincerit}-, pure from all guile. 
 
 — Words ma ;i unseal.] Resigno is 
 to open what is sealed, to unseal ; 
 hence, met. to discover and declare. 
 
 29. Not to he told.] Not fully to 
 be expressed. 
 
 — In my secret inwards.] In the 
 secret recesses of my heart and mind. 
 Comp. sat. i. 1. 44. 
 
 30. The guardian purple.] The 
 habit worn by younger noblemen 
 was edged about with a border of 
 purple ; an ornament which had the 
 repute of being sacred, and was 
 therefore assigned to children as a sort 
 of preservative. Hence Persius calls 
 it custos purpura. 
 
 — Fearful.] Which protected me 
 when a child, and when I was under 
 the fear and awe of a severe master. 
 
 — Yielded.] Resigned its charge s 
 
SAT. V. 
 
 PERSIUS'S SATIRES. 
 
 36*7 
 20. 
 
 Page should swell, fir to give weight to smoke. 
 
 Secret we speak : to you now, the Muse exhorting, 
 
 I give my heart to be searched, and how great a part 
 
 Of my soul, Cornutus, is yours, to you, my gentle friend, 
 
 It pleases me to have shewn : knock, careful to discern 
 
 What may sound solid, and the coverings of a painted 
 
 tongue. 25 
 
 For these things I would dare to require an hundred voices, 
 That, how much I have fixed you, in my inmost breast, 
 I may draw forth with pure voice ; and all this, words may 
 
 unseal, 
 Which lies hid, not to be told, in my secret inwards. 
 
 When first to fearful me the guardian purple yielded, 
 And the bulla presented to the girt Lares hung up ; 31 
 When kind companions, and, with impunity, in the whole 
 
 Suburra 
 Now the white shield permitted me to have thrown about 
 
 my eyes, 
 
 and gave place to the toga virilis, or 
 manly gown. About the age of six- 
 teen or seventeen they laid aside the 
 the praetexta, and put on the toga 
 virilis, and were ranked with men. 
 
 31. And the bulla.] This was ano- 
 ther ornament worn by children ; it 
 was worn hanging from the neck, or 
 about the breast, and was made in the 
 shape of an heart, and hollow within. 
 This they left off with the praetexta, 
 and consecrated to the household 
 gods, and hungup in honour to them. 
 See Axt. Univ. Hist. vol. xi. p. 289, 
 note s. 
 
 31. The girt Lares.} The images 
 of the Lares, or household gods, were 
 described in a sort of military habit, 
 which hung on the left shoulder, with 
 a lappet fetched under the other arm, 
 brought over the breast, and tied in a 
 knot. The idea of this dress was first 
 taken from the Gabini, and called 
 Cinctus Gabinus. See Aixsw. Gabi- 
 nus ; and Virg. Mn. vii. 612. and 
 Servius's note there. 
 
 32. Kind companions.] A set of 
 young fellows, who were my com- 
 panions, and ready to join in any 
 scheme of debauchery with me. I 
 cannot think that comites here is to 
 be understood of " his schoolmasters, 
 u or pedagogues, who now no longer 
 
 " treated him with seventy." He 
 was now a man, and had done with 
 these. Of such a one Horace soys, 
 
 Imlerlns juvenis, tandem cuslode 
 remoto, $r. 
 
 Be Art. Poet. 1. 161-5. 
 And see KenneTT, Antiq. p. 311, 
 edit. 5. 1713. 
 
 — In the whole Suburra.] This was 
 a famous and populous street in 
 Rome, where were numbers of bro- 
 thels, the harlots from which walked 
 out bj- night, to the great mischief of 
 young men. Here, says Persitis, I 
 could ramble as I pleased, and fix my 
 eyes where I pleased, and had nobody 
 to call me to account, or punish me 
 for it. Juv. sat. hi. 1. 5. 
 
 S3. The white shield, #c] When 
 the young men put on the toga virilis 
 they were presented with a white 
 shield ; that is to say, a shield with 
 no engraving, device, or writing upon 
 it, but quite blank. This shield was 
 a token that they were now grown 
 up, and fit for war. Its being blank, 
 signified their not having yet achieved 
 any warlike action worthy to be de- 
 scribed, or recorded, upon it by a de- 
 vice. 
 
 So Virg, JEn.ix. 1. .518. 
 
 En fie levis nudo, parmaque. inglorin s 
 alba. 
 
868 
 
 PERSII SATIILE. 
 
 Cumque iter ambiguum est, et, vitae nescius, error 
 Diducit trepidas ramosa in compita mentes ; 
 Me tibi supposui : teneros tu sucipis annos, 
 Socratico, Cornute, sinu. Tunc fallere solers, 
 Apposita intortos extendit regula mores ; 
 Et premitur ratione animus, vincique laborat, 
 Artificemque tuo ducit sub pollice vultum. 
 Tecum etenim longos memini consumere soles ; 
 Et tecum primas epulis decerpere noctes. 
 Unum opus, et requiem pariter disponimus ambo : 
 Atque verecunda laxamus seria mensa. 
 
 Non equidem hoc dubites, amborum foedere certo 
 Consentire dies, et ab uno sidere duci. 
 
 35 
 
 40 
 
 45 
 
 When this shield was a passport to 
 me, says Persius, to go where I plea- 
 sed, without being molested by my 
 old masters. 
 
 34. fVIicn the journey is doubtful."} 
 When the mind of a young man is 
 doubting what road of life to take, 
 like a traveller who comes to where 
 two ways meet, and can hardly deter- 
 mine which to pursue. 
 
 — And error.] So apt to beset 
 young minds, and so easily to mislead 
 them. 
 
 —Ignorant of life.} Of the best 
 purposes and ends of life, and wholly 
 unknowing and ignorant of the 
 world. 
 
 35. Parts asunder trembling minds.} 
 Divides the young and inexperienced 
 minds of young men, fearing and 
 trembling between the choice of good 
 and evil, now on this side, now on 
 that. 
 
 35. Branching cross-ways.} Com- 
 pitum is a place where two or more 
 ways meet. The poet here alludes to 
 the Pythagorean letter V. See sat. 
 iii. 1. 56. note. 
 
 36. 1 put myself under you.] Un- 
 der youi care and instruction. 
 
 — You undertake, <|r.] You ad- 
 mitted me under your discipline, in 
 order to season my mind with the 
 moral philosophy of the Stoics : you 
 not only received me as a pupil, but 
 took me to your bosom with the aflec- 
 tion of a parent. 
 
 Antisthenes, the master of Dioge- 
 nes, was a disciple of Socrates ; 
 Diogenes taught Crates the Theban, 
 
 who taught Zeno the founder of the 
 Stoic school ; so that the Stoic dogmas 
 might be said to be derived, originally, 
 from Socrates, as from the fountain- 
 head. 
 
 37. Dextrous to deceive, §c.} The 
 application of your doctrine to my 
 morals, which were depraved, and 
 warped from the strict rule of right, 
 first discovered this to me, and then 
 corrected it : but this you did with so 
 much skill and address, that I' grew 
 almost insensibly reformed : so gra- 
 dually were the severities of your 
 discipline discovered to me, that I 
 was happily cheated, as it were, into 
 reformation; whereas, had you at 
 first acquainted me with the whole at 
 once, I probably had rejected it, not 
 only as displeasing, but as unattain- 
 able by one who thought as I then 
 did. 
 
 38. Applied rule.] Metaph. from 
 mechanics, who, by a rule applied to 
 the side of any thing, discover its 
 being warped from a straight line, 
 and set it right. 
 
 — Ratifes.] Lit. extends. Me- 
 taph. from straitening a twisted or 
 entangled cord, by extending or 
 stretching it out. Intortos, lit. twist- 
 ed, entangled. 
 
 30. My mind is pressed by reason, 
 Qc.] My mind and all its faculties 
 were so overpowcx-ed [by the convic- 
 tion of reason, that it strove to coin- 
 cide with what I heard from you, 
 and to be conquered by your wisdom. 
 
 — Labours, <$r.] The word labo- 
 rat denotes the difficulties which lie 
 
sat. v. PERSIUS'S SATIRES. 369 
 
 And when the journey is doubtful, and error, ignorant of 
 life, 
 
 Parts asunder trembling minds into the branching cross- 
 ways, 35" 
 
 I put myself under you : you undertake my tender years, 
 
 Corriutus, with Socratic bosom. Then, dextrous to de- 
 ceive, 
 
 The applied rule rectifies my depraved morals, 
 
 And my mind is pressed by reason, and labours to be 
 overcome, 
 
 And draws, under your thumb, an artificial countenance. 
 
 For I remember to consume with you long suns, 41 
 
 And with you to pluck the first nights from feasts. 
 
 One work and rest we both dispose together, 
 
 And relax serious things with a modest table. 
 
 Do not indeed doubt this, that, in a certain agreement, 
 
 The days of both consent, and are derived from one star. 46 
 
 in the way of your minds to yield to 
 instruction, and to subdue and cor- 
 rect their vicious habits and inclina- 
 tions. 
 
 40. And draws, $c] Metaph. 
 from an artist who draws forth, or 
 forms, figures with his fingers, out of 
 wax or clay. Ducere is a word pecu- 
 liar to the making of statues in marble 
 also. 
 
 Vivos ducent de marmore vultus. 
 
 Mn. vi. 848. 
 
 —An artificial countenance.] Arti- 
 ficem, hypallage, for artifici pollice. 
 The sense is — My mind, by thee 
 gently and wisely wrought upon, put 
 on that form and appearance which 
 you wished it should. The like 
 thought occurs, Juv. sat. vii. 1. 237. 
 
 Exigite ut mores teneros ecu pollice 
 ducat, 
 
 Ut si quis cera vultumfacit — •. 
 
 41. Consume long suns.] To have 
 passed many long days — soles, for 
 dies. Meton. 
 
 . - —Sxpe ego longos 
 Cantando puerum memini mc con- 
 dere soles. 
 
 Virg. eel. ix. 1. 51-2. 
 
 42. To pluck the first nights, #c.j 
 Decerpere — metaph. from plucking 
 fruit. The first nights — the first part 
 or beginning of nights ; we plucked, 
 i. e. we took away from the hours of 
 feasting — a. d. Instead of supping at 
 
 % 
 
 an early hour, and being long at ta- 
 ble, we spent the first part of the 
 evening in philosophical converse, 
 thus abridging the time of feasting 
 for the sake of improvement. 
 
 Of the night 
 
 Have borrowed the first hours, 
 
 feasting with thee 
 On the choice dainties of philosophy. 
 
 HOLYDAY. 
 
 43. One work and rest, fyc] We, 
 both of us, disposed and divided our 
 hours of study, and our hours of rest 
 and refreshment, in a like manner to- 
 gether. 
 
 44. And relax serious things.] Re- 
 laxed our minds from study. 
 
 — A modest table.] With innocent 
 mirth, as we sat at table, and with 
 frugal meals. 
 
 45. Do not doubt this, fyc] Be- 
 yond a doubt, this strict union of our 
 minds must be derived from an agree- 
 ment in the time of our nativity, be- 
 ing born both under the same star. 
 
 So Hor. lib. ii. cde xvii. 1. 21-2. 
 
 Utrumque nostrum incredibili modo 
 
 Consentit astrum. 
 
 The ancients thought that the 
 minds of men were greatly influenced 
 by the planet which presided at their 
 birth ; and that those who were born 
 under the same planet, had the same 
 dispositions-and inclinations. 
 
370 
 
 PERS1I SATIRiE. 
 
 Nostra vel a?quali suspendit tempora Libra 
 Parca tenax veri ; seu nata fidelibus hora 
 Dividit in Geminos concordia fata duorum ; 
 Saturnumque gravem nostro Jove frangimus una. 
 Nescio quod certe est, quod me tibi temperat, astrum. 
 
 Mille iiominum species, et rerum discolor usus : 
 Velle suum, cuique est; nee voto vivitur uno. 
 Mercibus bic Italis millat, sub sole recenti, 
 Rugosum piper, et pallentis grana cumini : 
 Hie, satur, irriguo mavult turgescere somno; 
 Hie campo indulget : hunc alea decoquit : ille 
 In Venerem putret. Sed cum lapidosa chiragra 
 Fregerit articulos, veteris ramalia fagi ; 
 Tunc crassos transisse dies, lucemque palustrcm, 
 
 50 
 
 55 
 
 60 
 
 47. Fate, tenacious of truth.'] Un- 
 erring fate, as we say. 
 
 —Suspended our times.] Metaph. 
 fcom hanging things on the heam of 
 a balance, in order to weigh them. 
 
 Fate weighed, with equal balance, 
 our times, when Libra had the as- 
 cendancy. 
 
 4-8. With equal Libra.] A constel- 
 lation into which the sun enters about 
 the twentieth of September, described 
 by a pair of scales, the emblem of 
 equity and justice. 
 
 Felix ocquatce genitus sub pondere 
 Libra:. M,\xil. lib. v. 
 
 Sen Libra, sen vie Sccrpius aspicit 
 Formidolosus, pars xiokiiior 
 NatttRi horn?, Qc. 
 
 Hor lib. ii. ode xvii. J. 17-22. 
 — Framed for the faithful} The 
 particular hour which presides over 
 the faithfulness of friendship. 
 
 49. Divides to the Twins, ^c] The 
 Gemini, another constellation repre- 
 sented by two twin-children, under 
 which whosoever were born, were 
 supposed by the astrologers to con- 
 sent, very exactly, in their affections 
 and pursuits. 
 
 Magnus erit Gcminis amor et C0)b- 
 cordia duplex: 
 
 MASTL, lib. ii. 
 50. Break, $r.J Frangere and tem- 
 perate were used by the astrologers, 
 when the malignant aspect of one star 
 was corrected, and its influence pre- 
 vented, by the power of some other 
 propitious and benign planet. 
 
 Hence that astrological axiom— 
 
 Quicquid ligat Saturnus, solvit Ju- 
 piter. 
 
 The planet Saturn was reckoned to 
 have a malign aspect ; the planet Ju- 
 piter a^ mild and favourable one, and 
 to counteract the former. 
 
 Tc Joe-is impio 
 Tutela SaturnOy rcfulgens 
 Eripuit. 
 
 Hon. ode xvii. lib. ii. 1. 22-1. 
 
 51. / knozc not, Sec] I will not 
 take upon me to be certain what star 
 it was ; but that it proceeds from the 
 influence of some friendly star or 
 other, which presided at our natal 
 hour, that we are one in heart and 
 sentiment, I am very clear. 
 
 Tempero literally signifies to tem- 
 per, mix or mingle together. 
 
 52. There arc a thousand species, 
 ftc."] i. e. Different kinds of men, as 
 to their dispositions and pursuits. 
 
 — Different 2ise, %c.] Discolor-- 
 literally, of a different colour. Their 
 use of what they possess differs as 
 much as one colour from another ; 
 some, (as it follows in the next lines,) 
 from avarice, trade to increase their 
 store ; others, through luxury and 
 extravagance, squander it away. 
 
 53. Has his xi-ill] Velle, i. e. vo- 
 luntas, a Graecism. Vivitur, impers. 
 See sat. iii. 20, note. 
 
 54. The recent sun.'] In the east, 
 where the sun first appears. 
 
 55. Changes, §c] Sails to the 
 East Indies, where he barters the pro- 
 duce of Italy for the produce of the 
 East. 
 
PERSIUS'S SATIRES. 
 
 371 
 
 Fate, tenacious of truth, either suspended our times 
 With equal Libra ; or the hour, framed for the faithful, 
 Divides to the Twins the concordant fates of both ; 
 And we together break grievous Saturn with our Jupiter. 
 I know not what star it is certainly which tempers me with 
 
 you. 51 
 
 There are a thousand species of men, and a different use 
 
 of things: 
 Every one has his will, nor do they live with one wish. 
 This man, for Italian merchandizes under the recent sun, 
 Changes the wrinkled pepper, and grains of pale cumin : 
 Another, sated, had rather swell up with moist sleep : 56 
 Another indulges in the field ; another the die consumes ; 
 
 another 
 Is rotten for Venus : but when the stony gout 
 Has broken his joints, the branches of the old beech, 
 Then, that their gross days have passed away, and the 
 
 gloomy light, 60 
 
 — Wrinkled pepper.] When the 
 pepper is gathered, and dried in the 
 sun, the coat or outside shrivels up 
 into wrinkles. 
 
 — Pale cumin.'] The seed of an 
 herb, which being infused into wine, 
 or other liquor, causes a paleness in 
 those who drink it; it comes from 
 Ethiopia. Probably it stands here for 
 any Oriental aromatics. 
 
 Hon. epist. xix. lib. i. 1. 17, 18, 
 speaks of his imitators : 
 
 Quod si 
 
 Pallerem casu, biberent exsangue 
 cuininum. 
 
 56. Sated.] Satur — that has his 
 belly full — glutted with eating and 
 drinking. 
 
 — Swell up."} With fat. 
 
 — Moist sleep.] Irriguus signifies 
 wet, moist, watered; also, that water- 
 eth. Here, metaph. from watering 
 plants, by which they increase and 
 grow. So sleep is to those who eat 
 much, and sleep much ; it makes 
 them grow, and increase io bulk. 
 
 57. Indulges in the fold.] In the 
 sports and exercises of the Campus 
 Marti us. Or perhaps field-sports may 
 be understood. Comp. IIor. ode i. 
 1. 3-6, and i. 25-8. 
 
 — The die consumes.] Is ruined by 
 gaining. Decoquit — metaph. from 
 boiling away liquors over a fire. So 
 
 the gamester, by continual play, con- 
 sumes his substance. 
 
 58. For Venus.] i. e. Ruins his 
 health — is in a manner rotten — by 
 continual acts of lewdness and de- 
 bauchery. Putris means also wan- 
 ton, lascivious. 
 
 Omncs iu Damalim putrcs depO' 
 nent oculos. 
 
 Hor. lib. i. ode xxxvi. 1. 17, 18. 
 —The stony goiit] So called from 
 its breeding chalk-stones in the joints, 
 when long afflicted with it.- 
 
 59. Broken his joints."] Destroyed 
 the use of them as much as if they 
 had been broken, and are so to all 
 appearance. 
 
 — The branches, fyc") Ramalia — 
 seared or dead boughs cut from a 
 tree, which may be looked upon, 
 from their withered and useless ap- 
 pearance, as very strong emblems of 
 a gouty man's limbs, the joints of 
 which are useless, and the flesh wi- 
 thered away — (see sat. i. 9k) — so that 
 they appear like the dead branches of 
 an old decayed beech-tree. 
 
 60. Gross days.] Crassos — the day$ 
 which they have spent in gross sen- 
 suality, as well as in thick mental 
 darkness and error. 
 
 — Gloomy light.] Palustrem — me- 
 taph. from the fogs which arise in 
 marshes and fenny places, which ok- 
 
372 
 
 PERSII SATIRE 
 
 Et sibi jam seri vitam ingemuere relictam. 
 
 At te nocturnis juvat impallescere chartis, 
 Cultor enim juvenum, purgatas inseris aures 
 Fruge Cleanthea. Petite liinc, juveneseque senesque, 
 Finera animo certum, miserisque viatica canis. 65 
 
 6 Cras hoc fiet.' Idem eras fiet. ' Quid ! quasi magnum 
 c Nempe diem donas P 1 Sed cum lux altera venit, 
 Jam cras hesternum consumpsimus : eccealiud eras 
 Egerit hos annos, et semper paulum erit ultra : 
 Nam quamvis prope te, quamvis temone sub uno, 70 
 
 Vertentem sese frustra sectabere canthum, 
 Cum rota posterior curras, et in axe secundo. 
 
 scure the light, and involve those who 
 live in it, or near them, in unwhole- 
 some mists. Such is the situation of 
 those whose way of life is not only 
 attended with ignorance and error, 
 but with injur}' to their health, and 
 with ruin of their comfort. 
 
 61. Late bewailed.] Too late for 
 remedy. 
 
 — The life now left, |t] They not 
 only bemoan themselves, at the re- 
 collection of their past mispent life, 
 but the portion of life which now re- 
 mains, being embittered by remorse, 
 pain, and disease, becomes a grief 
 and burthen. 
 
 62. Grow pale, #c] Your delight, 
 O Cornutus, is to pass the time, when 
 others sleep, in hard study, which 
 brings a paleness on your counte- 
 nance. See sat. i. 1. 121 ; and sat. iil. 
 1.85. 
 
 63. A cultivator of youths.] Cultor 
 — metaph. from colo, to till or culti- 
 vate the ground. 
 
 q. d. As the husbandman tills or 
 cultivates the ground, and prepares it 
 to receive seed, and to bring forth 
 fruit— so do you, Cornutus, prepare 
 youthful minds to receive and bring 
 forth wisdom. 
 
 — You sow their purged ears.] The 
 metaphor is still carried on ; as the 
 husbandman casts the seed into the 
 ground which he has prepared and 
 cleaned, by tillage, from needs — so do 
 you sow the doctrines of moral phi- 
 losophy, which were taught by Clean- 
 thes, the disciple and successor of 
 •Eeno, in the ears of your pupils, after 
 having purged away those errors, 
 
 falsehoods, and prejudice», with which 
 they were at first possessed, by your 
 wise and well-applied instruction. 
 You first teach them to avoid vice and 
 error, and then to embrace and follow 
 truth and virtue. 
 
 Virlus est v it iion fugcrc, et sapi* 
 entia prima 
 
 Stultitia earuisse. 
 
 Hon. lib. i. epist. i. 1. 41, 2. 
 
 64. Hence seek, <£c\] Persius here 
 invites both young and old to seek 
 for wisdom from the Stoic philosophy, 
 as taught by his friend and preceptor 
 Cornutus : that, thereby, they might 
 find some certain and fixed end, to 
 which their views might be directed, 
 and no longer fluctuate in the uncer» 
 tainty of error. 
 
 Certum voto pete fncm. 
 
 Hor. Epist. lib. i. ep. ii. 1. 56. 
 
 65. Stores, $c] Viatica, literally 
 are stoies, provisions, things neces* 
 sary for a journey; as money, vic- 
 tuals, &c. 
 
 The poet here advises their learn» 
 ing philosophy, that their minds 
 might be furnished with what would 
 suffice to support them through the 
 journey of life, and more particularly 
 through the latter part of it, when 
 under the miseries and infirmities of 
 old age. 
 
 66. " To-morrow" $c."\ Persius 
 here introduces some idle young man t 
 as if saying — " To be sure you ad» 
 " vise very rightly, but give me a lit- 
 " tie time — to-morrow (q. d. some 
 " time hence) I will apply myself to 
 M the studies which you recommend."" 
 
 — « The same will be done to-mor* 
 
PERSIUS^S SATIRES. 
 
 373 
 
 SAT. V. 
 
 And they have late bewailed the life now left to them. 
 
 But it delights you to grow pale with nightly papers, 
 For a cultivator of youths, you sow their purged ears 
 With Cleanthean corn. Hence seek, ye young and old, 
 A certain end to the mind, and stores for miserable grey 
 
 hairs. 65 
 
 " To-morrow this shall be done 1 ' — " the same will be 
 
 " done to-morrow"" — " what ! 
 " As a great thing truly do you give a day ?" — " but when 
 
 " another day comes, 
 " We have already spent yesterday*^ to-morrow. Behold 
 
 K another to-morrow 
 " Has spent these years, and will always be a little beyond : 
 " For although near you, although under one beam, 70 
 44 You will in vain follow the felly turning itself, 
 44 When you, the hinder wheel, do run, and on the second 
 
 « axle." 
 
 row."] When to-moiTow comes, an- 
 swers Persius, the same thing will 
 be done ; that is, you will want to de- 
 fer it for a day more. 
 
 66. " What /" #<?.] What ! re- 
 plies the procrastinator, will not you 
 allow me another day before I begin ? 
 —what ! do you make such a mighty 
 matter of giving me a day, as if that 
 were of so great consequence ? 
 
 68. " Yesterday's to-morrow"]— 
 But, rejoins Persius, when another 
 day comes, remember that yesterday, 
 which was the morrow of the day be- 
 fore it, and which you wished to be 
 allowed you, is passed and gone. 
 
 — «* Behold, another to-morrow"] 
 This day, which is the morrow of yes- 
 terday, is now arrived, and is, with 
 all the past morrows, exhausting and 
 consuming these years of ours ; and 
 thus the time you ask for will always 
 be put off, and stand a little beyond 
 the morrow you fix upon; 
 
 70. «' Altho? near you," $-c] The 
 poet, in allusion to the hind-wheel of 
 a carriage, which is near to, and fol- 
 lows the fore-wheel, but never can 
 overtake it, gives the young man to 
 understand, that, though to-day is 
 nearly connected with to-moiuow, in 
 point of time, yet it cannot overtake 
 it, the morrow will always keep on 
 from day to day, and it can never be 
 uvertaken— thus shewing, that pro- 
 
 crastinated time will always fly on, 
 keep out of his reach , however near 
 he may be to it, all his resolutions to 
 overtake it will be in vain. 
 
 — " Under one beam."] Temo sig- 
 nifies the beam of the wain, or the 
 draught-tree, whereon the yoke hang- 
 eth. Sometimes, by synec. the whole 
 carriage. — q. d. Our days may be con- 
 sidered as the wheels by which our 
 lives roll on ; each day, as well as 
 another, is joined to the space allotted 
 us, like wheels to the same chariot. 
 
 71. " The felly."] Canthus pro- 
 perly signifies the ii*on wherewith the 
 wheel is bound, or shod, on the out- 
 ward circle, called the felly — here, by 
 synec. the wheel itself. 
 
 72. " The second axle."] Axis — 
 the axle-tree on which the wheel is 
 fixed, and about which it turns — the 
 second, i. e. the hinder. — q. d. You 
 will, like the hinder wheel of a car- 
 riage, which can never overtake the 
 fore-wheel, be still following the time 
 before you, but will never overtake 
 it ; therefore defer not till to-morrow, 
 what you should do to-day. The 
 whole of the metaphor, 1. 70-2, is 
 very fine, and well expressed. See 
 Hoit. lib. ii. ode xviii. 1. 15, 16. 
 
 I must confess that I cannot dis- 
 miss this part of my task, without 
 mentioning that beautiful description 
 of the slipping away of time, unper- 
 
374 
 
 PERSI1 SATIRE. 
 
 SAT. V. 
 
 Libertate opus est : non hac, qua, ut quisque Velina 
 Publius emeruit, scabiosum tesserula far 
 Possidet. Heu steriles veri, quibus una Quiritern 
 Vertigo facit ! — Hie Dama est, non tressis agaso ; 
 Vappa, et lippus, et in tenui farragine mendax : 
 Verterit hunc dominus, momenta turbinis exit 
 
 Marcus Dama. Papa? ! Marco spondente, recusas 
 
 Credere tu nummos ? — Marco sub judice palles ? 
 
 — Marcus dixit : ita est. — Assigna, Marce, tabellas. — 
 
 75 
 
 80 
 
 ceived and unimproved, which we find 
 hi Shakespeare : 
 
 " To-morrow, and to-morrow, and 
 
 " to-morrow, 
 !' Creeps in this petty pace from day 
 
 " to day, 
 " To the last syllable of recorded 
 
 ** time: 
 *• And all our yesterdays have Vght- 
 *« ed fools 
 
 " The way to dusty death, 9 * " 
 
 Macb. act v. sc. 5. edit. Stockdalc. 
 
 73. There is need of liberty.] The 
 poet now advances to a discussion of 
 that paradoxof theStoics — that "only 
 " the wise are free ;" — and that those, 
 who would follow after, and attain to 
 true liberty, must be released from 
 the mental shackles of vice and error. 
 His treatment of the subject is ex- 
 quisitely fine, and worthy our serious 
 attention. 
 
 — Not th\sJ] Not merely outward 
 liberty, or liberty of the body, such 
 as is conferred on slaves at their ma- 
 numission. 
 
 — By which.] See I. 74, note 2. 
 
 — Every Publius.] The slaves had 
 no praenomen ; but when they had 
 their freedom given them, they as- 
 sumed one — so, for instance, a slave 
 that was called Licinius, would add 
 the name of his master to his own, 
 and call himself, if his master's name 
 were Publius, Publius Licinius — they 
 also added the name of the tribe into 
 which they were received and en- 
 rolled; suppose the Velinan, then 
 the freed-man would style himself 
 Publius Licinius Velina — thus he was 
 distinguished from slaves. 
 
 74. Been discharged.] i. e. From 
 slavery — made free. Emeruit — me- 
 taph. from soldiers, who for some 
 meritorious service were sent home, 
 a-nd discharged from going to war.-» 
 
 Also from gladiators, who for their 
 valour and dexterity at the theatre 
 obtained their dismission from their 
 perilous occupation, and were donati 
 rude, presented with a rod, or wand, 
 in token of their discharge and re- 
 lease. Hor. epist. i. lib. i. 1. 2. 
 These were styled Emeriti. 
 
 So slaves were often made free, on 
 account of their past services, as hav- 
 ing deserved this favour — this is sig- 
 nified by emeruit here. 
 
 — Mouldy corn, £c] Those who 
 are thus admitted to freedom, and en- 
 rolled in one of the tribes, were en- 
 titled to all public doles and dona- 
 tions, on producing a little ticket or 
 tally, which was given them on their 
 manumission. The corn laid up in 
 the public magazines was not of the 
 best sort, and was frequently damaged 
 with keeping. 
 
 The name of the person and of the 
 tribe, which he belonged to, was in- 
 scribed on the ticket, by which he was 
 known to be a citizen. See Ju v. sat. 
 vii. I. 174, note. 
 
 75. Alas ! ye barren, #c] The 
 poet speaks with commisseration, of 
 their ignorance, and total barrenness, 
 with respect to truth and real wisdom, 
 who could imagine that a man should 
 be called free, because he was eman- 
 cipated from bodily slavery. 
 
 — One turn.] Vertigo (from ver- 
 tere, to turn). This was one of the 
 ceremonies of making a slave free : 
 he was carried before the praetor, who 
 turned him round upon his heel, and 
 said — Hunc esse liberum volo. 
 
 So Plautus, Menaechm. Liber esto, 
 ito quo voles. Thus he became Qui- 
 ris, a Roman citizen. See Juv. sat. 
 hi. 1. 60, note. 
 
 76. Here is Dama.] For instance, 
 
SAT. V. 
 
 PERSIUS'S SATIRES. 
 
 375 
 
 There is need of liberty : not this, by which every Pub- 
 
 lius in the Velinan tribe, 
 As soon as he has been discharged, mouldy corn with his 
 
 tally 
 Possesses. Alas ! ye barren of truth — among whom one 
 
 turn 75 
 
 Makes a Roman ! here is Dama, a groom not worth three 
 
 farthings ; 
 A scoundrel, and blear-eyed, and a liar in a little corn : 
 If his master turn him — in the movement of a top, he comes 
 
 forth 
 Marcus Dama. Wonderful ! Marcus being security, re» 
 
 fuse you 
 To lend money ? Are you pale under judge Marcus ? 80 
 Marcus said it — it is so. — Sign, Marcus, the tablets. 
 
 says the poet, here is the slave 
 Dama. 
 
 —A groom not worth, <£c. ] Agaso, 
 an horse-keeper, a groom that looks 
 after his master's horses, from ago and 
 asinus. Non tressis (qu. tres asses) 
 a poor, paltry fellow, worth hardly 
 three farthings if one were to pur- 
 chase him. They bought their slaves. 
 
 77. A scoundrel.'] Vappa signifies 
 wine that is palled, that has lost its 
 strength, therefore called vapid. — 
 Hence a stupid, senseless fellow ; or 
 a scoundrel, a good-for-nothing fel- 
 low. 
 
 —Blear-eyed.] Perhaps from de- 
 bauchery and drunkenness. See sat. 
 ii. 1 72, note. 
 
 — A liar in a little corn.] That will 
 cheat his master, and defraud his 
 horses of their slender allowance, and 
 then lie to conceal his petty knavery. 
 Farrago is a mixture of several grains 
 — Mesceline. 
 
 78. If his master, %c] Let his 
 master but turn him upon his heel. 
 See note above, 1. 75. 
 
 — Movement of atop.] In one turn 
 of a top, which is very swift when it 
 is spinning — i. e. as we say, in the 
 twinkling of an eye. This allusion to 
 the turning of a top, very humour- 
 ously agrees with the veterit. 
 
 — He comes forth, $c] He that 
 went before the praetor plain Dama, 
 now comes out from him with a no- 
 ble prasnomen, and calls himself 
 Marcus Dama. 
 
 79. Wonderful /] What a surpris- 
 ing change ! or papae may introduce 
 the following irony, where a person 
 is supposed to hesitate about lending 
 money, for which Marcus offers to 
 become surety. Papae — How strange! 
 that you should scruple it, when so 
 respectable a person as Marcus offei-s 
 his bond, and engages for the pa}- 
 ment ! 
 
 80. Are you pale ?] Do you fear 
 lest you should not have justice done 
 you, where so worthy a person is ad- 
 vanced to the magistracy ? 
 
 81. Marcus said it, fyc] Marcus 
 gives his testimony, and who can 
 contradict so just and upright a wit- 
 ness—what he says must be true. 
 
 — Sign, Marcus, the tablets.]— 
 The poet here repeats the word Mar- 
 cus, and drops the word Dama, as if 
 he would ludicrously insinuate, that 
 however great a rogue Dama was* 
 yet to be sure Marcus was a very dif- 
 ferent kind of person, He supposes 
 him called upon to sign his name, as 
 witness to somebody's will, which he 
 could not do when a slave, for their 
 testimony was not received. 
 
 — The tablets.] Thin planks of 
 wood, smeared over with wax, on 
 which they wrote wills, deeds, &c. 
 Here the will or deed itself. 
 
 The poet, in the preceding irony, 
 carries on his grand point, which was 
 to deride the common notion of li- 
 berty, or of a change being wrought, 
 with regard to the respectability of 
 
376 
 
 PERSII SATIRE. 
 
 SAT. V- 
 
 Haec mera libertas ! Hoc nobis pilea donant ! 
 
 6 An quisquam est alius liber, nisi ducere vitam 
 4 Cui licet, ut voluit? licet, ut volo, vivere: non sum 
 4 Liberior Bruto t Mendose colligis, inquit 
 Stoicus bic, aurem mordaci lotus aceto : 
 Hoc reliquum accipio ; licet illud, et, ut volo, tolle. 
 
 4 Vindicta postquam raeus a praetore recessi, 
 4 Cur inihi non liceat, jussit quodcunque voluntas ; 
 4 Excepto, si quid Masuri rubrica vetavit P 1 
 
 Disce ; scd ira cadat naso, rugosaque sanna, 
 Dum veteres avias tibi de pulmone revello. 
 
 Non pra?toris erat, stultis dare tenuia reruni 
 
 85 
 
 90 
 
 those 'who were still, however eman- 
 cipated from bodily slavery, slaves 
 under ignorance, vice, and error. 
 
 82. Mere liberty.] Mera — bare, 
 naked liberty (says the Stoic) — i. e. 
 in the bare, outward, literal sense of 
 the word ; but it is to be understood 
 no farther. 
 
 — This caps give vs."] The slaves 
 went bare-headed, with their hair 
 growing long, and hanging down ; 
 but when they were manumitted, 
 their heads were shaved, and a cap, 
 the ensign of liberty, put on their 
 heads in the temple of Feronia, the 
 goddess of liberty. Sec sat. iii. 1. 10(1. 
 
 S3. " Any other free," $«.] Here 
 the poet introduces Dama as replying 
 — '• Aye, you may deride my notions 
 " of liberty ; but pray who is free if 
 " I am not ? Is there any other free- 
 " dom but to be able to live as one 
 •' pleases ? But I may live as I please 
 <« —therefore am 1 not free ?" by this 
 syllogism thinking to prove hispoint. 
 
 85. " More free than Brutus."] — 
 M. Junius Brutus, the great asserter 
 and restoi-er of liberty, by the expul- 
 sion of the Tarquins, &c. who sacri- 
 ficed his own sons in the cause of 
 freedom, and changed the form of the 
 goveniment into a commonwealth. 
 
 — " You conclude falsely.''''] Your 
 argument is bad ; the assumption 
 which you make, that " you live as 
 " you please," is not true, therefore 
 ihe conclusion which you gather or 
 collect from it is false, namely, " that 
 " you are free." See Aixsw. Colligo, 
 No. 6. 
 
 85-6. Says a Stoic] i. e. Methinks 
 J hear some Stoic say. 
 
 86. Washed his ear, §c] At 1. 
 63. we find purgatas aures, where 
 sec the note; here, lotus aurem, mean- 
 ing also the same as before, only un- 
 der a different image, differently ex- 
 pressed. By vinegar, here, we are 
 to understand the sharp and severe 
 doctrines of the Stoic philosophy, 
 which has cleansed his mind from all 
 such false ideas of liberty, and made 
 his ear quick in the discernment of 
 truth and falsehood. 
 
 87. " I accept," <|c] Your defi- 
 nition of liberty in your first propo- 
 sition is true ; I grant that " all who 
 " may live as they please are free ;" 
 but I deny your minor, or second 
 proposition, viz. " that you live as 
 "you please;" therefore your con- 
 clusion, viz, " that you are free," 
 is also wrong. 
 
 That — " / may," and " as I will."] 
 i. c. Take away your minor proposi- 
 tion, and I admit what remains — hoc 
 reliquum accipio — viz. all that is con- 
 tained in the first proposition — that 
 " all who may live as they please are 
 " free :" this is certainly a good defi- 
 nition of liberty : but this is not your 
 case. 
 
 88. " From tJtc prcctor."] Before 
 whom I was carried, i* order to re- 
 ceive my freedom. 
 
 — " My own."] Meus — i. e. my 
 own master; being made free, and 
 emancipated from the commands of 
 another, replies Dama, not at all un- 
 derstanding what the Stoic meant by 
 liberty. 
 
 — " By the wand."] Vindicta. The 
 praetor laid a wand upon the slave's 
 
PERSIUS'S SATIRES. 
 
 377 
 
 This is mere liberty -^this caps give us. 
 
 " Is there any other free, unless he who may live 
 u As he likes ? — I may live as I like : am not I 84j 
 
 " More free than Brutus ?" — " You conclude falsely," says 
 A Stoic here, having washed his ear with sharp vinegar : 
 6i I accept this which is left, take away that — " I may," 
 and " as I will. ,, 
 " After I withdrew from the praetor, my own by the 
 " wand, 
 " Why might I not do whatever my will commanded, 
 u Except if the rubric of Masurius forbad any thing ?" 90 
 " Learn ; but let anger fall from your nose, and the 
 " wrinkling sneer, . -/^-^^ *■ 
 * £ While I pluck from your breast your old wives' tales. 
 " It was not of the praetor to give the delicate manage- 
 " ment of things 
 
 head, and said, *« I will that this man 
 *' become free," and then delivered 
 the wand out of his own hand into 
 the lictor's ; (see post, 1. 1 75.) This 
 wand was called vindicta, as vindi- 
 cating, or maintaining liberty. See 
 Hor. lib. ii. sat. vii. I. 76. V . 
 
 90. " Rubric."'} The text of the 
 Roman laws was written in red let- 
 ters, which was called the Rubric. 
 Drvden. According to others, the 
 titles and beginnings of the different 
 Statutes were only written in red, and 
 therefore to be understood by rubrica. 
 See Aixsw. See Juv. sat. xiv. 1, 192, 
 3, note. 
 
 — *.* Masurius."] An eminent and 
 learned lawyer, in the reign of Ti- 
 berius, who made a digest of the 
 Roman laws. /r^/^Z - * ■ * 
 
 q. d. When I received my freedom 
 from the praetor, surely I was at li- 
 berty to do as I would, except, in- 
 deed, breaking the law ; I do not say 
 that I might do this. 
 
 91. " Lcam.''''] The Stoic here be- 
 gins his argument, in order to refute 
 what Dama was supposed to say in 
 support of his notion of liberty. 
 
 Now listen to me, says the Stoic, 
 that you may learn what true liberty 
 is, and in what it consists. 
 
 — *' Let anger fall '," $c] Cease 
 from your anger at me, tor ridiculing 
 your notion of liberty. 
 
 Jt is to be remarked, that the an- 
 
 cients represented the nose as denot- 
 ing laughter, sat. i. 115. Contempt, 
 sat. i. 37. Anger, as here. So we 
 find the nose, or nostrils, denoting an- 
 ger frequently in the Hebrew Bible. 
 See the learned and accurate Mr. 
 Parkhurst, Heb. and Eng. Lex. 
 r\X, No. 5.o 
 
 — " Wrinkling sneer."] Comp.sat, 
 i. 37, 8. and note. 
 
 92. *' From your breast" ^c.]— 
 Pulmo, literally, signifies the lungs ; 
 but here denotes the whole contents 
 of the breast in a moral sense. " Put 
 away anger and sneering at what I 
 say, while I pluck up those foolish 
 notions of liberty, which are implant- 
 ed and rooted within your mind, and 
 with which you are as pleased and 
 satisfied, as a child is with an old wo- 
 man's tale.'' A via is literally a 
 grandame, or grandmother : hence 
 old women's tales. Axxsw. Fabellce 
 auiles. Hor. lib. ii. sat. vi. 1. 77, 8. 
 Tgaufruq [AvSovq. 1 Tim. iv. 7. 
 
 93. " It was not of " Qc] It was 
 not in the power of the praetor. 
 
 — " The delicate management of 
 things, Sfc] Though the praetor might 
 confer civil liberty upon you at your 
 manumission, and though you may 
 know how to direct yourself, so as to 
 avoid offending against the letter of 
 the law — yet you could receive from 
 the praetor none of that wisdom and 
 discernment, by which ajone you can 
 3 c 
 
878 
 
 
 
 PERSII SATIRJE. 
 
 SAT. V. 
 
 Officia ; atque usum rapida? permittere vitae— 
 
 Sambucam citius caloni aptaveris alto. 95 
 
 Stat contra ratio, et secretam garrit in aurem, 
 
 Ne liceat facere id, quod quis vitiabit agendo. 
 
 Publica lex hominum, naturaque continet hoc fas, 
 
 Ut teneat vetitos inscitia debilis actus. 
 
 Diluis helleborum, certo compescere puncto 100 
 
 Nescius examen ? vetat hoc natura medendi. 
 
 Navem si poscat sibi peronatHS arator, 
 
 Luciferi rudis ; exclamet Melicerta, perisse 
 
 Frontem de rebus. — Tibi recto vivere talo 
 
 Arsdedit? et veri speciem dignoscere calles, 105 
 
 Ne qua suba?rato mendosum tinniat auro ? 
 
 distinguish aright, as touching those 
 more minute and delicate actions 
 which concern you in the more nice 
 duties of life, and which are to be at- 
 tained by philosophy alone- I take 
 this to be meant by tenuia officia re- 
 rum — lit. small officer, or duties of 
 things or affairs. 
 
 94-. " To fools."] The Stoics held, 
 that " all fools were slave:?," — and 
 that "nobody was free except the 
 " wise." A man must therefore be 
 wise before he is free ; but the praetor 
 could not make you wise, therefore 
 he could not make you free. 
 
 — '* To pinali the use."] It was 
 not in the prsetor's power to commit 
 to such that prudence and wisdom, 
 by which they can alone be enabled to 
 make a right use of this fleeting life, 
 and of all things belonging to it. 
 
 95. " Sooner ft,"* |r.] Sambuca 
 was some musical instrument, as an 
 harp, dulcimer, or the like; but what 
 it exactly was we cannot tell. 
 
 — " A tall footman.'"] Alto caloni. 
 Calo, a soldier's boy, or any meaner 
 sort of servant. Aixsw. Horace 
 seems to use it in the latter sense, 
 lib. i. sat. vi. 1. 103; and perhaps it 
 is so to be understood here. 
 
 You might sooner think of putting 
 a harp, or some delicate musical in- 
 strument, into the hands of a 
 great overgrown booby of a servant, 
 and expect him to play on it, than to 
 commit the nice and refined duties of 
 life to fools, and expect them either 
 to understand or practise them. Asi- 
 cus ad Lvram. Pro v. 
 
 96. " Reason stands against it."'] 
 Reason itself opposes such an idea. 
 
 — " IVhispers into the secret ear."] 
 Secretly whispers into the ear. Hy- 
 pallage — Comp. supr. 1. 40, and note. 
 
 97. " Let it not be lawful"] Ne, 
 before the potential, has the sense of 
 the imperative mood. So Hon. ode 
 xxxiii. lib. i. 1. 1. Ne doleas ; and 
 ode xi. 1. Ne quaesieres. Here, ne 
 liceat is likew ise imperative, and sig- 
 nifies that the voice of reason secretly 
 whispers in the ear this admonition, 
 " Let it not be permitted, that any 
 " should undertake what they are not 
 " fit for, but would spoil in doing it." 
 Or ne liceat may be understood, here, 
 as non licet. 
 
 98. " The public laic of men."] — 
 The common rule among mankind, 
 as well as nature, may be said to 
 contain thus much of what is right 
 and just. 
 
 99. •' That weak ignorance" $c.] 
 That an ignorance of what we un- 
 dertake, which must render us inade- 
 quate to the right performance of it, 
 should restrain us from attempting 
 acts, which, by the voice of human, 
 as well as of natural law, are so clearly 
 forbidden to us. Comp. 1. 96, 7. 
 
 100. " Do you dilute helleborc. ,, ] — 
 He here illustrates his argument by 
 examples; 
 
 Suppose, says he, you were to at- 
 tempt to mix a dose of hellebore, not 
 knowing how to apportion exactly the 
 quantity. 
 
 100-1. " To a certain point."]— 
 Metaph. Examen signifies the tongue, 
 
PERSIUS'S SATIRES. 
 
 379 
 
 ' To fools, and to permit the use of rapid life-— 
 6 You would sooner fit a dulcimer to a tall footman. 95 
 ' Reason stands against it, and whispers into the secret ear," 
 ( Let it not be lawful to do that, which one will spoil in 
 
 " doing :"" 
 i The public law of men, and nature, contains this right, 
 i That weak ignorance should forbear forbidden acts. 
 s Do you dilute hellebore, not knowing how to confine, 
 
 "'to a 100 
 
 5 Certain point, the balance ? the nature of healing forbids 
 
 " this. 
 : If the high-shoed ploughman should require a ship for 
 : Himself, ignorant of Lucifer, Melicerta exclaims, that 
 
 " shame 
 : Has perished from things. — To live with an upright 
 
 " ancle 
 ' Has art given you ? — Are you skilful to distinguish the 
 
 " appearance of truth, 105 
 
 : Lest any should tinkle false with gold having brass un- 
 
 " der it ? 
 1 And what things are to be followed, and, in like manner, 
 
 " what avoided ? 
 
 or beam of a balance, by the inclina- 
 tion of which we judge of proporti- 
 onal weights. 
 
 101. ** The nature of healing for- 
 bids this."] All medical skill, in the 
 very nature of it, must place this 
 among the vetitos actus, which weak 
 ignorance is not to attempt. See 1. 99. 
 
 102. '* High-shoed ploughman."'] 
 Pei-onatus. The pero was an high 
 shoe worn by rustics, as a defence 
 against snow and cold. See Juv. sat. 
 xiv. 1. 186. 
 
 103. " Ignorant of Lucifer."]— 
 Knowing nothing of the stars. Lu- 
 cifer, or the day-star, is here put (by 
 synec.) for all the stars, from which 
 mariners take their observations to 
 steer by. 
 
 — " Melicerta exclaims" $c] Also 
 called Portunus, or Portumnus, be- 
 cause supposed to preside over ports. 
 See his story, Ov. Met. lib. iv. fab. 
 xiii. Melicerta, the sea-god, would 
 exclaim, that all modesty was ba- 
 nished from among those who under- 
 took the management and direction 
 
 of human affairs, when he saw so 
 impudent an attempt. 
 
 — " S7iame."] Frontem, lit. the 
 forehead, or countenance, the seat 
 of shame — here, by met. shame or 
 modesty itself. 
 
 104. " Upright ancle."] Metaph. 
 from persons having their legs and 
 ancles straight, and walking upright- 
 ly ; which is often used, to denote 
 going on through life with an honest 
 and virtuous conduct. This occurs 
 frequently in Scripture as Ps. xv. 2. 
 Ixxxiv. 11. Prov. x. 9. et al. 
 
 105. " Has art," £c] That is phi- 
 losophy, which is the art of living 
 well — has this enabled you to do this ? 
 
 106. " Lest any" Qc.} Ne qua— . 
 i. e. ne aliqua species veri. Have 
 you learnt to distinguish between the 
 appearance and reality of truth and 
 virtue, lest you should be deceived, 
 as people are who take bad money for 
 good, when, instead of answering to 
 the appearance of the outside, which 
 is fair, they find, upon sounding it, 
 that it is brass underneath, instead of 
 being all gold. 
 
380 
 
 PERSII SAT1RJE. 
 
 Quaeque sequenda forent, quaeque evitanda vicissim ; 
 Ilia prius creta, uiox haec carbone notasti ? 
 Es modicus voti ? presso lare ? dulcis amicis ? 
 Jam nunc astringas, jam nunc granaria laxes ? 
 Inque luto fixum, possis transcendere minimum, 
 Ncc glutto sorbere salivam mercurialem ? 
 
 Haec mea sunt, teneo, cum vere dixeris ; esto 
 Liberque ac sapiens, praetoribus ac Jove dextro. 
 
 Sin tu, cum fueris nostra? paulo ante farina, 
 Pelliculam veterem retines ; et, fronte politus, 
 Astutam vapido servas sub pectore vulpem: 
 Quae dederam supra repeto, funemque reduco. 
 Nil tibi concessit ratio : digitum exere, peccas : 
 Et quid tarn parvum est ? sed nullo thure litabis, 
 
 110 
 
 115 
 
 120 
 
 108. " Marked those -with c/m//.-," 
 $-c] The ancients used to denote 
 things good and prosperous with a 
 ■white mark, and things bad and un- 
 lucky with a black one. In allusion 
 to this, the Stoic is supposed to ask 
 the question in the preceding line, 
 which is, not only whether his oppo- 
 nent has been taught to distinguish 
 the appearances of good and evil, but 
 whether he has particularly noted 
 down what a wise man ought to fol- 
 low, and what he ought to avoid. See 
 Hon. lib. ii. sat. iii. 1. 216. Mendo- 
 sum tinniat, for mendose : Graecism, 
 
 109. " Moderate, $c"] Are your 
 desires confined within the bounds of 
 moderation ? 
 
 — M A confined household."] Your 
 household-establishment frugal, and 
 not expensive — contracted within a 
 little compass ; or perhaps by presso 
 lare, may be signified a small house. 
 
 — «« Kind to your friends."'] Dulcis 
 —obliging, sweet, agreeable. See 
 Hor. lib. i. sat. iv. 1. 135. 
 
 110. " Sometimes fasten " fyc] — 
 Judging rightly when it is a time to 
 withhold, and when to give. Here 
 perhaps is an allusion to the public 
 granaries, or magazines of corn at 
 Rome, which, at a time of dearth aad 
 want, was dealt out in doles to the ci- 
 tizens, on producing their tickets, 
 but, at other seasons, locked up. 
 Jam nunc — lit. just now — i. e. just at 
 a proper time. 
 
 111. ** Can you pass oy money™ 
 <£c.] Alluding to a practice among 
 the boys at Rome, who used to fas- 
 
 ten a piece of counterfeit money to 
 the ground, or stick it in the mud, 
 with a string tied to it ; and if any 
 miserly fellow coming by, and ima- 
 gining it to be real, stooped to pick 
 it up, they snatched it away, and 
 laughed at him. 
 
 In trii lis Jixum qui sc dnnitlit ob 
 assem. 
 
 Hon. lib. i. epist. xvi. I. 64. 
 
 112. M Mercurial spittle."] Mer- 
 cury was the god of gain ; hence a 
 desire of gain is called saliva mercu- 
 rialis. Metaph. from gluttons, who, 
 at beholding some dainty dish, have 
 their spittle increased in such a 
 manner, that if they did not swallow 
 it, it would run out of the mouth. 
 This we call, the mouth watering. 
 Can you see money without your 
 mouth watering at it ? i. e. without 
 being greatly delighted, and coveting 
 it? 
 
 113. " These""} All these good 
 qualities. 
 
 114. " Proctors and Jupiter pro- 
 pitious.'"] I then allow you to be free 
 in the sight of God and man — i. c. 
 not only with respect to the liberty 
 of the bod}*, which you received from 
 the praetor, but with respect to free- 
 dom of the mind, of which Jupiter 
 alone is the author. 
 
 115. " But if you."] Now he 
 comes to the other side of the ques- 
 tion — 
 
 — " Since you."] Since you, but a 
 little before your manumission, were 
 just like what we were till taught by 
 
PERSIUS'S SATIRES. 
 
 381 
 
 " Have you first marked those with chalk, then these with 
 
 " a coal ? 
 " Are you moderate in your wish — with a confined house- 
 
 " hold — kind to your friends ? — 
 *' Can you sometimes fasten, and sometimes open your 
 
 granaries t 
 
 110 
 
 " And can you pass by money fixed in mud, 
 
 " Nor swallow with your gullet mercurial spittle ? 
 
 " When you can truly say, these are mine, I possess 
 
 " them — be thou 
 ** Free and wise, the praetors and Jupiter propitious. 
 
 " But if you, since you were a little before of our meal, 
 " Retain your old skin, and, polished in front, 116 
 
 " Keep a cunning fox under your vapid breast : 
 " What I had above given I demand again, and bring 
 
 " back the rope. 
 fi Reason has granted you nothing : put forth your finger, 
 
 " you sin : 
 " And what is so small ? but you will obtain, by no in- 
 
 " cense, 120 
 
 philosophy — i. e. naturally full of ig- 
 norance and error. 
 
 — " Of our viced.""] Metaph. taken 
 from loaves of bread, which are all 
 alike, and taste alike, if made of the 
 same flour — so mankind, having the 
 same nature, are all corrupt. 
 
 116. " Retain your old skin."] — 
 Metaph. taken from snakes, which 
 cast off their old skin, and have a 
 new one every year. — q. d. If you re- 
 tain your old depraved manners and 
 conduct (see 1. 76, 7.) and have not 
 changed and cast them off. 
 
 — " Polished in front.'''''] Appear- 
 ing with a countenance seemingly 
 open and ingenuous. Necquicquam 
 pelle decorus. 
 
 117. ** Keep a cunning fox " «Jj-c] 
 Entertain wily, cunning, and deceit- 
 ful principles within — 
 
 — " Your vapid breast"} Within 
 your rotten heart. See 1. 77, note. 
 Nunquam tefallant animi sub vulpe 
 latentes. 
 
 Hor. Ars Poet. 437. 
 
 118. " What I had above given."] 
 i. c. What I just now granted ; viz. 
 that you are free and wise — 
 
 «V I demand again."] I recall. 
 
 — " And bring back the rope."] 
 Metaph. from leading beasts with a 
 rope, which sometimes they length- 
 ened, and gave the animal a good 
 deal of liberty ; but, if restive and 
 mischievous, they shortened it to 
 confine him. Thus the Stoic, .who 
 lengthened his allowance so far as to 
 pronounce the man wise and free, 
 supposing him to answer the descrip- 
 tion which he gives of those who are 
 so, now, on finding the contrary, 
 draws back what he had said, and 
 reduces the man to his old narrow 
 bounds of bodily freedom only. 
 
 119. " Reason has granted you no- 
 thing."] Whatever the praetor may 
 have done, wisdom has done nothing 
 for you. 
 
 — " Put forth your finger, you 
 sin"\ The Stoics held, that there 
 was no medium between wisdom and 
 folly, that a man was either perfectly 
 wise, or perfectly foolish ; therefore, 
 that the most trivial and indifferent 
 thing, if done by the latter, could not 
 be done aright, not even the putting 
 forth of a finger. 
 
 120. " What is so small ?"] « What 
 " can be so trivial as this ?" yet, tri- 
 
382 
 
 PERSII SATIRE. 
 
 SAT. V. 
 
 Haereat in stultis brevis ut semuncia recti, 
 
 Haee miscere nefas : nee, cum sis caetera fossor, 
 
 Tres tantum ad numeros satyri moveare Bathylli. 
 
 ' Liber ego."* Unde datum hoc sumis, tot subdite rebus ? 
 
 An dominum ignoras, nisi quern vindicta relaxat ? 125 
 
 I, puer, et strigiles Crispini ad balnea defer, 
 
 Si increpuit, cessas, nugator ? — Servitium acre— 
 
 Te nihil impellit ; nee quicquam extrinsecus intrat, 
 
 Quod nervos agitet Sed si intus, et in jecore aegro 
 
 Nascanturdomini, qui tu impunitior exis 130 
 
 Atquc hie, quern ad strigiles scutica et metus egit herilis ? 
 Mane piger stertis. 4 Surge, 1 inquit Avaritia : ' eja 
 
 
 rial as it is, it can only be done by the 
 wise and free, as it ought, as every 
 other action, of what nature or kind 
 soever. 
 
 — " IVtll oltain."] Rito signifies 
 not only to sacrifice, but to obtain 
 that for which the sacrifice is offered. 
 See sat. ii. I. 7.5, and note. 
 
 121. " Half ounce of right" §c.] 
 In short, the Stoics held, that not a 
 grain of what was right could reside 
 within any but the wise and free, in 
 their sense of the words ; or, in 
 truth, in any but their own sect — all 
 the rest of the world they accounted 
 fools and mad, and that though they 
 were to offer incense, in ever so 
 great a quantity, to the gods, yet they 
 could never obtain a single fixed 
 principle of what was right. 
 
 122. •* to mix these, #<.] i. e. 
 Wisdom and folly ; there must be 
 either all one, or all the other. See 
 above, note on 1. 119. It ii impos- 
 sible they should be mixed in the 
 same person. 
 
 — " A digger."] Fossor — a ditch- 
 er, delver, and the like — q. d. A mere 
 clown. 
 
 q. d. When, in every thing else — 
 caetera, i. e. quoad caetera, Graecism 
 — you are as clumsy and aukward 
 as a common clown, it is impos- 
 sible that you should dance, even 
 three steps, like the famous dancer 
 Bathyllus. Perhaps the poet, by fos- 
 sor, alludes to the slaves, who were 
 set to dig with fetters on their legs. 
 
 123. •« The satyr BathyUus.* , f He 
 was a famous dancer in the time of 
 Nero, and, for his great agility and 
 nimble movements, was surnamed 
 
 the Satyr. Saltan tes Satyros. Vikg. 
 eel. v. 73. 
 
 The Stoic concludes this part of 
 his argument with averring, that those 
 who are not wise and free, as in every 
 thing else they are unable to do what 
 is right, so neither can they, in the 
 most trivial or indifferent action ; any 
 more than an aukward clown could 
 dance like Bathyllus for three steps 
 together. 
 
 V?l. " 7" am fee."'} "Aye, it is 
 " all very well," says Dama : "but 
 " I do insist upon it, that I am free, 
 " notwithstanding all you say." 
 
 — " Whence take you this," ^-c] — 
 Datum is a technical term — when 
 any thing is yielded, agreed, and 
 granted as true, it is called a datum. 
 " Now," answers the Stoic, " whence 
 " had you that datum, for so it ap- 
 " pears to you, that you are free, 
 " becnuse you have had j our freedom 
 •' given you by the praetor's wand, 
 " you who are put under (subdite) 
 " the power and dominion of so much 
 " error and folly r" 
 
 Comp. sat. iii. 1. 23, and no'.e. 
 
 12.5. " Arc you ignorant ," tjj\".} — 
 " Know you not any other master 
 " than he who exercised an outward 
 " autborjty ever you til! you were 
 " released from him by the praetor's 
 " wand ?" See before, 1. 88, note. 
 
 1 20. " Go, slc/z-c, and carry," <£r.] 
 I grant you that you have nothing to 
 fear from your late master. If he 
 were, in a loud and surly manner, to 
 bawl out — " Here, slave, carry these 
 " scrapers," Ac. and scold }ou for 
 the least delay — 
 
 127-8. v Sharp servitude " <|-c]— 
 
SAT. V. 
 
 PERSIUS'S SATIRES. 
 
 w That a small, half ounce of right should be fixed in fools. 
 " To mix these is impossibility : nor, when as to other things 
 
 " you are a digger, 
 " Can you be moved to three measures only of the satyr 
 
 " Bathyllus." 
 " I am free." — " Whence take you this for granted, sub- 
 
 " jected by so many things ? 
 ** Are you ignorant of a master, unless he whom the wand 
 
 " relaxes ?" 125 
 
 " Go, slave, and carry the scrapers to the baths of Cris- 
 
 " pinus, r> 
 " If he has sounded forth — " do you loiter, trifler ?" Sharp 
 " Servitude impels thee nothing, nor does any thing enter 
 
 " from without 
 " Which may agitate your nerves. But if within, and in a 
 
 " sick liver 
 " Masters are produced, how go you forth more un- 
 
 " punished, 330 
 
 " Than he, whom the scourge, and fear of his master, has 
 
 " driven to the scrapers ? 
 " In the morning, slothful, you snore : " Rise,'" says 
 
 u Avarice, 
 
 However sharp and severe bodily ser- 
 vitude may be, yet you have nothing 
 to do with it, it cannot enforce any 
 such orders upon you. 
 
 128. (i Nor does any thing enter" 
 #<?.] Nor can any thing, as threats, 
 or menaces, of being punished for not 
 obeying, enter into your mind, so as 
 to make you uneasy ; all this I grant 
 —in this sense you are free. 
 
 129. " But 'if •within"] If vice 
 and folly, generated within your dis- 
 ordered heart, are your masters, and 
 rule over you, so as to compel your 
 obedience to their commands. 
 
 Jecore aegro. See Juv. sat. i. 35, 
 and note.. — The ancients looked on 
 the liver as the seat of the concupis- 
 cible and irascible affections, and 
 therefore jecore segro may be under- 
 stood, metonymically, to denote the 
 diseased or disordered affections, for 
 vice is the sickness or disease of the 
 mind. 
 
 130. «* How go you forth ," $c] — 
 How can you be said to be less liable 
 to punishment, from the slavery and 
 misery of your mind, than the poor 
 
 slave is, in a bodily sense, when com- 
 pelled to obey his master, from the 
 terror of bodily punishment. The 
 only difference between you is, he 
 serves his master, you your vices. 
 
 131. " The scrapers."] Strigiles. 
 These were the instruments which 
 the Greeks and Romans made use of 
 to scrape their bodies after bathing, 
 and were carried to the baths by their 
 slaves. Driven to the scrapers — i. t. 
 has forced to carry the scrapers to the 
 baths, when ordered. 
 
 132. " Slothful, you snore." The 
 poet proceeds to illustrate and confirm 
 his argument (in which he has been 
 contending for the " slavery of all 
 " but the wise," according to the 
 Stoic doctrine) by instancing the pow~ 
 er of sloth, avarice, and luxury, over 
 the human mind, in its corrupted 
 state. 
 
 He introduces a dialogue between 
 Dama and Avarice. Avarice is sup- 
 posed to find Dama snoring a-bed in 
 the morning, in the luxurious ease of 
 his so highly-prized freedom. 
 
 — *.« Rise" says Avarice] This 
 
384 PERSII SATIRE. sat. y. 
 
 6 Surge. 7 — Negas. Instat, ■ surgt, 7 iuquit. Nod queo. 
 
 8 Surge. 7 
 Et quid agam ? s rogitas ? Saperdas advehe Ponto, 
 ' Castoreum, stuppas, hebenum, thus, lubrica Coo. 135 
 c Tolle recens, primus, piper e sitiente camelo. 
 6 Verte aliquid ; jura." Sed Jupiter audiet. « Eheu, 
 ' Baro ! regustatum digito terebrare salinum, 
 ' Contcntus perages, si vivere cum Jove tendis. 7 
 
 Jam pueris pellem succinctus, et cenophorum aptas : 140 
 Ocius ad navem : nihil obstat quip trabe vasta 
 JSgaeum rapias, nisi solers Luxuria ante 
 
 word, f Rise," is repeated four 
 times. Thus Vice ceases not from its 
 importunity ; and the answers of 
 Dama, " I will not" — " I cannot" — 
 *' what shall I do if I rise ?" — are a 
 lively representation of the power of 
 idleness and sloth, when indulged. 
 This is finely described, Prov. vi. 9, 
 10. xxii. 13. xxvi. 13, H. 
 
 134 " Fish from FmfM. w j Saper- 
 das — a sort of fish which came from 
 Ppntus, or the Black sea. 
 
 13.1. M Castor?*] Castoremn — 
 This signifies either beavers' skins, 
 or what we call castor---/, c. the medi- 
 cinal part of the animal ; both of 
 which were articles of hrafficJ 
 
 — «* Fbr."] Stuppft, or stupa — 
 the coarse part of fla*, u-w ■, hards, 
 oakum to calk ships with. AlRsW. 
 
 — " Ebony." 1 ] A black vroodi will 
 known amongst- us— the tree where- 
 of bears neither leaves nor frul;. — 
 
 AlNSW. 
 
 — " Slippery Coan tcincsS*] From 
 the island Co, or Coos, in the /Bgeati 
 sea. They were soft, and of a ltt*- 
 ative quality ; hence called lubrica. 
 
 136. « Tahrjirxt the recent pepper." } 
 Be sure Ik? at the market first, that 
 you may not only have the first 
 choice, but return to a better sale, 
 by coming home before the other 
 merchants. 
 
 Hon. lib. i. epist. vi. 1. 32, 3. 
 
 Cove rw partus occupet alter 
 
 Xe Cybimiica, nc Bithyna tieeo- 
 t'ui per do a. 
 — " Thirsting cai nel. ,*-] The eastern 
 people loaded their pepper and other 
 spices on the hacks of camels. These 
 iuiimals are said to endure thirst, in 
 tWeir ioumeys over the dfesettSj for 
 
 many days together ; wherefore, in a 
 part of the world where «rater is ver\ 
 scarce, they are peculiarly useful. 
 
 137. " Turn something."] Trade, 
 barter — /'. c. as we say, turn the 
 penny. 
 
 — " Svear.**] Do not mind a little 
 perjury upon occasion, either with 
 respect to the goodness of your wares, 
 or concerning the first cost, and what 
 you can afford to sell them at. 
 
 — ** Jupiter will hear."] Dama is 
 supposed to raise a scruple of con- 
 science. 
 
 137-S. " AUui timjfletom.**} Baro, 
 or varo — a servant that waited upon 
 the common soldiers, who was usually 
 very stupid and ignorant — hence a 
 blockhead, a dolt, a foolish fellow. 
 
 138. l * To bore zcith yonr.fi» fftrt"] 
 Sc] If you aim at living (i. e. li\ing 
 in amity) with Jupiter, you must not 
 think of trading to increase your i'or- 
 liuie, but must be content to live in 
 a poor, mean way. The poorer sort 
 of people lived upon bread, with a 
 little salt. Pfersins supposes the Stoic 
 to tell Dama, that if he would not 
 perjure himself, in order to get money 
 by trade, he must be content to put 
 bis finger, and endeavour to scrape up 
 a little salt from the bottom of his 
 own poor sait-celbr ; where there 
 were only a few grains left, from his 
 having done this often, in order to 
 give a relish to his palate, by licking 
 his fingers, after they had rubbed the 
 bottom of the salt-cellar, as if he 
 meant to bore it through. This is 
 proverbial, to express very great po- 
 verty. Salem lingere signified to live 
 in the utmost poverty— to fare poorly. 
 1'L/fT. CurcvJl. act iv. sc. the last- 
 
PERSIUS'S SATIRES. 
 
 385 
 
 " Rise." — You refuse— he urges-—" Rise," says he.—" I 
 
 " cannot."—" Rise." 
 " And what shall I do ?" " Do you ask ? — bring fish from 
 
 " Pontus, 
 " Castor, fl#x, ebony, frankincense, and slippery Coan 
 
 " wines : 13-5 
 
 " Take first the recent pepper from the thirsting camel : 
 " Turn something ; swear."—" But Jupiter will hear." — 
 
 " Alas ! 
 " Simpleton, to bore with your finger the re-tasted salt- 
 
 " cellar, 
 " Content you will pass your time, if you aim to live with 
 
 " Jove. 
 " Now, ready, you fit the skin to the slaves, and a wine- 
 
 " vessel : 140 
 
 " Quick to the ship : nothing hinders, but in a large ship 
 " You may hurry over the iEgean : unless sly Luxury 
 
 " should 
 
 Hie hodie apud me nunquam delinges 
 salem ; that is as much as to say — 
 ** you shall not eat a morsel." 
 
 140. '* Now ready."] Succinctus 
 — literally, girt, trussed up. The an- 
 cients wore long loose garments, 
 -which, when they prepared to travel, 
 they ghded, or trussed up, about 
 their loins, that they might walk the 
 more freely. See Hon. lib. ii. sat. vi. 
 107. Hence, being ready, prepared; 
 also nimble, expeditious. See Exod. 
 xi. 11, former part. 1 Kings xviii. 
 46. Luke xii. 35. 
 
 — " Fit the skin" $c] They 
 had wallets, or knapsacks, made of 
 skins, in which they packed their 
 clothes, and other necessaries, when 
 they travelled either by land or sea. 
 
 You put your knapsack, and your 
 cask of wine for the voyage, on the 
 backs of your slaves, to carry on 
 board. 
 
 141. " Quick to the shijj"l You 
 lose no time, you hurry to get on 
 board. 
 
 — " Nothing hinders.'"] Nothing 
 stands in your way, to prevent the 
 immediate execution of your plan, or 
 to discourage you — unless— See 1. 
 142, note 2. . 
 
 — " A large shij)."] Trabs is a 
 beam, or any great piece of timber, 
 
 of which ships are built ; hefe, by 
 meton. the ship itself. See Juv. sat. 
 xiv 1. 276. Virg. Mr\. hi. 191. 
 
 lit. " The jEgean."] A part of 
 the Mediterranean sea, near Greece, 
 dividing Europe from Asia. It is now 
 called the Archipelago, and, by the 
 Turks, the White sea. Its name is 
 supposed to be derived from aiyoq, 
 Dor fluctus, from its turbulent waves. 
 From this dangerous sea are made 
 two adages, viz. iEgeum scaphula 
 transmittere— to cross the iEgean sea 
 in a little boat — i. c. to undertake a 
 weighty business with small abilities ; 
 and ^Egeum navigare — to undeitake 
 an hazardous enterprise. See Aixsw. 
 Hence our Stoic mentions this sea in 
 particular, to shew the power of ava- 
 rice over the mind that is enslaved by 
 it, and that no dangers will deter 
 from its pursuits — Nihil obstat, says 
 he. 
 
 — " SI j luxury."] Solers — shrewd, 
 wily, cunning. 
 
 We have seen the victory of Ava- 
 rice over Sloth, now Luxury is intro- 
 duced, as putting in its claim for the 
 mastery. 
 
 Thus, says the Stoic, will Avarice 
 lord it over you, and drag you in her 
 chains over the dangerous iEgean for 
 lucre's sake, unless, being beforehand 
 
 3 D 
 
386 PERSII SATIRE. sat. v. 
 
 Seductum moneat ; ' Quo deinde, insane, ruis ? Quo ? 
 ' Quid tibi vis ? calido sub pectore mascula bilis 
 c Intumuit, quam non extinxerit urna cicuta?. 145 
 
 < Tun" mare transilias ? Tibi, torta cannabe fulto, 
 
 * Coena sit in transtro ? Veientanumque rubellum 
 c Exhalet, vapida laesum pice, sessiles obba ? 
 
 * Quid petis ? ut nunimi, quos hie quincunce modesto 
 
 c Nutrieras, pergant avidos sudare deunces? 150 
 
 c Indulge genio : carpamus dulcia ; nostrum est 
 ' Quod vivis : cinis, et manes, et fabula fies. 
 
 seduced and enthralled by Luxury, 
 you should listen to her admonitions. 
 Ante — i. c. before you put in practice 
 what Avarice has advised. 
 
 143. •■ Whither thence," £c.]— 
 Whither from that warm and com- 
 fortable bed of yours, on which you 
 so delightfully repose yourself, are 
 you running headlong (ruis), like a 
 madman as you are ? See 1. 132. 
 
 144. M Manly bile" ijj-c] Mascu- 
 lus — male; hence manly, stout, 
 hardy, than which nothing is more 
 opposite to luxury. Your warm 
 breast — i. e. hated and inflamed with 
 the ardent desire which now possesses 
 you to face the danger of the seas ; 
 for this an hardy rage is risen up, 
 (intumuit) swells within you, says 
 Luxury, and prompts you to this dan- 
 gerous resolution. 
 
 145. " Urn of hemlock."] An urn 
 was a measure of about four gallons. 
 Cicuta. — an herb like our hemlock, 
 the juice of which was of an ex- 
 tremely cold nature, so as to be a 
 deadly poison, when taken in a cer- 
 tain quantity. Also a sort of helle- 
 bore, administered medicinally, in 
 madness, or frenzies, to cool the 
 brain. See Aixstv. Cienta, No. 
 
 1, ?• 
 
 Qua? poicrunt unqua?n satis cxpur- 
 gare cicuta?. 
 
 HoR. epist. ii. lib. ii. 53. 
 
 146. " Can you cross the sea 9"] — 
 Can you be so forgetful of the blan- 
 dishments of ease and luxury, as to 
 subject yourself to the dangers and 
 inconveniencies of a sea-voyage? 
 
 — " A supper,'" #c.] Instead of 
 tin elegant and well spread table, can 
 you bear to eat your supper upon a 
 rough plank ; and instead of an easy 
 
 couch, to be supported by a coil of 
 cable, by way of a seat ? 
 
 147. "Red Veientan wine.""} A 
 coarse, bad wine, such as seamen car- 
 ried with them among their sea-stores. 
 See Hor. lib. ii. sat. iii. I. 143. 
 
 148. " The broad-bottomed jug."} 
 Obba — a bowl or jug with a great 
 belly and broad bottom, that sittetb, 
 as it were — sessilis. This sort of 
 jug, or bowl, was peculiarly useful 
 at sea, because not easily thrown 
 down by the motion of the ship. 
 
 ---" Exhale.''] Cast forth the fumes 
 of. 
 
 — " Injured by nasty pitch."] — - 
 Smelling and tasting of the pitch 
 with which every thing on board a 
 ship is daubed — this, perhaps, was 
 the case with the obba : or the pitch 
 may be meant, with which the ves- 
 sel which held the wine was stopped, 
 and which being of a coarse son, 
 might give a disagreeable taste to the 
 liquor. 
 
 149. " What seek you9"] What 
 errand are you going upon ? Is it to 
 make better interest of your money, 
 than you can make by staying at 
 home? 
 
 — ** Modest five per cent."] This, 
 as among us, was not reckoned usu- 
 rious, but modest — i. e. moderate, 
 legal interest. 
 
 150. " Nourished.""] Metaph. from 
 nourishing, nursing, fostering a child, 
 making it thrive and grow ; hence 
 applied to money, as increasing it by 
 care. 
 
 — To sweat."] Metaph. from the 
 effect of toil and labour — these must 
 attend those who endeavour to make 
 extraordinary interest of their monef , 
 by trading to foreign countries. 
 
PERSIUS'S SATIRES. 
 
 387 
 
 " Admonish you before seduced" — " Whither thence, 
 
 " madman, do you rush ? 
 " Whither ? what would you have ? under your warm 
 
 " breast manly bile 
 i( Has swelled up, which an urn of hemlock could not have 
 
 " extinguished. 145 
 
 " Can you cross the sea ? to thee shall there be a supper on 
 
 " a bench, 
 u Propped with twisted hemp ? and red Veientan wine 
 *' Shall the broad-bottomed jug exhale, injured by nasty 
 
 " pitch ? 
 ** What seek you ? that money, which here with modest 
 
 " five per cent. 
 " You had nourished, should go on to sweat greedy cent 
 
 " per cent. ? 150 
 
 " Indulge your genius— let us pluck sweets — It is mine 
 " That you live : you will become ashes, and a ghost, and 
 
 " a fable. 
 
 150. " Greedy. "J Mataph. from an 
 immoderate desire of food. Those 
 who strive to make exhorbitant in- 
 terest of their money, may well be 
 called greedy of gain ; and hence the 
 epithet greedy is applied to the gain 
 itself. 
 
 — " Cent per cent."] Deunx — 
 a pound lacking an ounce. A duo- 
 decim, una dempta uncia. Eleven 
 ounces— eleven parts of any thing 
 divided into twelve: so that deunces 
 here signifies eleven pounds gained 
 by every twelve, which is gaining very 
 near cent, per cent, as we say. 
 
 151. " Indulge your genius/'\— 
 Here genio means natural inclination. 
 Indulgere genio, to make much of 
 himself. Aixsw. 
 
 — " Pluck sweets") Metaph. from 
 plucking fruits or flowers. Hor. lib. 
 i. ode xi. 1. 8. 
 
 Carpe diem. 
 g, d. Let us seize on and enjoy the 
 .sweets of life. 
 
 This sentiment is finely expressed 
 in the apocryphal book of Wisdom, 
 ch. ii. 6. ct seq. 
 
 Luxury has been dissuading Dama 
 from attempting his voyage, by re- 
 presenting the dangers and inconve- 
 nienciee which must attend it : now 
 :be invites him to stay, that he may 
 
 not lose the pleasures of ease and 
 luxury, which the shortness of life 
 affords him but a little time for the 
 enjoyment of. 
 
 151-2. " Mine that you live.**] i. d 
 It is owing to me, says Luxury, that 
 you enjoy the pleasures and sweets of 
 life, without which, to live is not life. 
 
 says the Greek proverb. Among us 
 — " May we live all the days of our 
 ** life, 11 is a common convivial ex- 
 pression. 
 
 Horace, on another occasion, says 
 to the muse Melpomene, 
 
 Quod sjiiro ct placco, si placeo, 
 twain est. 
 
 Lib. iv. ode iii. I. 24-. 
 
 152. " Become ashes/ 3 'j You will 
 soon die, and be carried to the funeral 
 pile, where ycu will be burnt to ashes, 
 
 — " A ghost/'] Manes — a spirit 
 separated from the body. 
 
 — " A fable/' ] Fabula, (from for 
 -faris, to speak or talk,) a subject of 
 discourse. Pershis, here, some think 
 to allude to Horace's fabulaeque 
 manes — i. c. manes de quibus multse 
 sunt fabuiEe — the mahes whdaremuch 
 talked of. Lib. i. ode iv. 1. 16. 
 
 But as the Stoic is here speaking as 
 an Epicurean, who believes body and 
 soul to die together, I sh^uJd rath or 
 
388 
 
 PERSI1 SATIR/E. 
 
 SAT. V s 
 
 4 Vive m-emor, lethi : fdgit hora : hoc quod loquor 
 ' inde est.'' 
 
 En quid agis ? duplici in diversum scinderis hamo. 
 Hunccine, an hunc, sequeris ? subeas alternus oportet, 155 
 Ancipiti obsequio, dominos : alternus oberres. 
 
 Nee tu, cum obstiteris semel, instantique negaris 
 Parere imperio, i rupi jam vincula, 1 dicas. 
 Nam et luctata canis nudum abripit : attamen illi, 
 Cum fugit, a collo trahitur pars longa catena?. 160 
 
 Dave, cito, hoc credas jubeo, finire dolores 
 Praeteritos meditor : (crudum Chaerestratus unguem 
 Abradens, ait ha?c.) An siccis dedecus obstem 
 
 think that fabula here means an in- 
 
 vented story, a groundless tale — for 
 
 pueh they looked upon the doctrine of 
 
 a future state. See Wisd. ii. 1-9. 
 
 " A nothing but a:; old -cif's 
 
 talc" Drydek. 
 
 Soon wilt thou glide a ghost for 
 
 gosripsf* chat. Brewster. 
 
 153. " Live mindful of dcath."\ — 
 
 q. d. Memento Mori. 
 
 Dum licet in rebus jucundis vivo 
 bent us : 
 Vive monor quam sis crvi brevis. 
 Hon. lib. ii. sat. vi. 1. 96, 7. 
 — " Tfic hour flies."] 
 Currit enim fcrox atas. 
 
 Hor.lib. ii. ode v. L 13, 11. 
 Sed fugit hitcrcciy fugit irrcpura- 
 bile tempu». 
 Virg. Georg. iii. 1. 2S4. Comp. Ma. 
 x. 4- 7, 8. 
 
 — *♦ This, which I speak, is from 
 thence."] The time in which 1 am 
 now speaking is taken from thence — 
 i. c. from the flying hour. See Hor. 
 lib. i. ode xi. 1. 7. 
 
 Duvi loquimur fugerit invida 
 JStas. 
 The late Lord Hervey, in a poeti- 
 cal epistle to a friend, applies this 
 vary beautifully : 
 
 " Even now, while 1 write, time 
 
 *' steals on our youth, 
 M And a moment's cut off from our 
 
 41 friendship and truth." 
 The whole of Luxury's argument 
 amounts to— 4 ' Let us eat and drink, 
 44 for to-morrow we die." Isai. xxii. 
 13. 1 Cor. xv. 3?. 
 
 154. 44 Lo, ichat do you ?"] The 
 Mote now turns his dk course., imme- 
 
 diatcly, as from himself, to Dam*, 
 whom he has represented as beset by 
 Avarice and Luxury, and at a loss 
 which to obey. Now, says he, what 
 can you do, under these different so- 
 licitations? 
 
 — «« You arc divided ," $c] Mc- 
 taph. from angling, with two hooks 
 fixed to the line, and differently 
 baited, so that the fish are doubtful 
 which to take. 
 
 155. 44 This do you follow" 4c] 
 Hunc— dominum understood. Which 
 master will you follow— Avarice or 
 Luxury. 
 
 — " By turns it behoves," $c] — 
 The truth is, that you will sometimes 
 go under, or yield to, the dominion 
 of the one, sometimes of the other, 
 alternately —ancipiti obsequio— doubt, 
 ing which you shall serve most.— 
 Ahemus-a-utn. See Aixsw. 
 
 15G. 44 Wander."] Oberres — he 
 like one that is at a loss, and wanders 
 up and down ; you will wander in 
 your determinations which to serve, 
 at times, their commands being con- 
 trary to each other. Avarice bids you 
 get more — Luxury bids you enjoy 
 what you have. 
 
 157. 44 Withstood," §c.] Perhaps 
 for once, or so, you nay refuse to 
 obey their most importunate solicita» 
 tions and commands ; but do not, 
 from thte, conclude, that you are free 
 from their service. It is not a single 
 instance, but a v. hole tenor of resist- 
 ance to vice, winch constitutes free- 
 dom. Iostanti — earnest, urgent. 
 
 159. 4( A dog, u S(C.] A dog may 
 struggle till he breaks his chaiir, but 
 
sat. v. PERSIUS'S SATIRES. 389 
 
 " Live mindful or~ death ; the hour fltes : this, 
 
 " which I speak, is from thence. 1 ' 
 " Lo, what do you ? you are divided different ways with 
 
 " a double hook. 
 " This do you follow, or this ? By turns it behoves that 
 
 %i you go under, 155 
 
 '* r With doubtful obsequiousness, your masters : by turns, 
 
 " you may wander. 
 " Nor can you, when once you have withstood, and have 
 
 " refused to obey 
 "An instant command, say 6 I now have broken my 
 
 {i i bonds."' 
 Ci For also a dog, having struggled, breaks the knot : but 
 
 6i to him, 
 " When he flies, a long part of the chain is drawn by his 
 
 " neck. 160 
 
 "Davus, quickly (I command that this you believe) to 
 
 " finish griefs 
 " Past T meditate : (Choerestratus, his raw nail 
 ii Gnawing, says these words) shall I, a disgrace, oppose 
 
 " my sober 
 
 then runs away with a long piece of 
 ft hanging to him at his neck, by 
 which he is not only incommoded in 
 his flight, but easily laid hold of, and 
 broughs back to his confinement. 
 Canis — here feminine — lit. a bitch. 
 
 So will it be with you ; you may 
 break loose ; for a while, from the 
 bondage and service of vice, but 
 those inbred principles of evil, which 
 you will carry about you, will hinder 
 your total escape, and make it easy 
 for the solicitations of your old mas- 
 ters to reduce you again into bondage 
 to them. Therefore, while there re- 
 mains any vice and folly within you, 
 you will be a slave, however you 
 may call yourself free. 
 
 161. " Davus" $c] The Stoic, 
 in confirmation of his main argu- 
 ment, to prove that " all but the 
 " wise are slaves," having instanced 
 sloth, avarice, and luxury, as lording 
 it over the minds of men, now pro- 
 ceeds to shew that the passion of love 
 is another of those claims by which 
 the mind is bound. 
 
 He introduces a scene in the 
 Eunuch of Menander, from which 
 Terence took his Eunuch, whe,re the 
 
 lover is called Chasrestratus (in Te- 
 rence, Phasdria) communicating to his 
 servant Davus (in Terence, Parmeno) 
 his intention of leaving his mistress 
 Chrysis (in Terence, Thais). 
 
 " Davus," says Chaerestratrus— 
 11 (and I insist on your believing me 
 ** to be in earnest), I am thinking to 
 ' ' give up my mistress, and to do thi9 
 " shortly — cito — and thus to put an 
 " end to all the plague and uneasiness 
 " which she has cost me." 
 
 162-3. " His raw nail gnawing" 
 $c] Biting his nail to the quick ; a 
 very common action with people in 
 deep and anxious thought. 
 
 163. " Shall I, a disgrace."] q. d. 
 Shall I, who have made myself a dis- 
 grace to my family by keeping this 
 woman — 
 
 — " Oppose."] Act contrary to the 
 wishes and advice of my sober rela- 
 tions ? 
 
 Siccus signifies sober, in opposition 
 to uvidus, soaked, mellow with li- 
 quor. Hor. ode iv. 5. 38-4-0. 
 Dicimus integro 
 Sicci mane die, dicimus uvidi 
 Cum Sol oceano suhest. 
 
 Hence sicci means sober, orderly 
 
390 
 
 PERS1I SATIRE. 
 
 Cognatis ? An rem patriam, rumore sinistro, 
 JLimen ad obsccenum, frangam, dum Chrysidis udas 
 Ebrius ante fores, extincta cum face, canto ? 
 
 Euge, puer, sapias : diis depellentibus agnam 
 Percute. Sed censen' plorabit, Dave, relicta ? 
 Nugaris : solea, puer, objurgabere rubra, 
 Ne trepidare velis, atque arctos rodere casses. 
 Nunc ferus, et violens : at si vocet, haud mora dicas, 
 4 Quid nam igitur faciam ? ne nunc, cum accersat, et ultro 
 ' Supplicet, accedam?" Si totus, et integer, illinc 
 
 165 
 
 170 
 
 people in general, in contradistinction 
 to rakes and libertines. 
 
 164. " Paternal estate," #c] — 
 Spend and diminish my patrimony, 
 at the expence of my reputation. 
 
 165. M An olscenc threshold."] At 
 the house of an harlot. Sy nee. limen 
 for domum. 
 
 — " Wet doors," <gc] The doors 
 wet with the dew of the night — 
 " Shall I serenade her at midnight, 
 •* when I am drunken, and have put 
 *' out the torch with which my ser- 
 ** vantis lighting me home, for fear 
 M of being seen and known by the 
 •' passers bv ?" 
 
 167. " mil done," $c] M Well 
 •' done, my young master," says Da- 
 vus, " I hope you will come to your 
 • l senses at last." 
 
 — " Repelling gods,** §c] It was 
 usual to offer a thank-offering to the 
 gods, on a deliverance from any dan- 
 ger : hence Davus bids his master sa- 
 crifice a lamt) — diis depellentibus — 
 to the gods, whose office it was to re- 
 pel and keep off evil. Perhaps Cas- 
 tor and Pollox are here meant, as they 
 ■were reckoned peculiarly to avert 
 mischief. See Delph. note. Horace 
 sacrificed a lamb to Faunus, the god 
 of the fields and woods, for his escape 
 from the falling tree. Lib. ii. ode 
 xv ii. ad fin. Averruncus. Deus qui 
 mala averiit. AlHSW. 
 
 168. " Think you Darns," Sc] 
 Here the young man wavers in his 
 resolution, and shews that he is still 
 a slave to his passion for Chrysis — he 
 cannot bear the thought of making 
 her uneasv. 
 
 169. "You trifle."] Answers Da- 
 ves. Is this the way in which you 
 are to put an end to all the plague 
 
 and uneasiness of this amour, to be 
 thus irresolute, and unable to bear the 
 thought of her tears for the loss of 
 vou ? Alas ! how vou trifle with your- 
 self! 
 
 — " You will be chidden," #c.]— 
 O foolish youth, when once Chrysis 
 finds out that you are so fond of her, 
 that you cannot bear to grieve her by 
 forsaking her, she will make her ad- 
 vantage of it ; she will let you see 
 her imperiousness, and will not only 
 scold, but beat you. 
 
 — " Red slipper."] Solea — a kind 
 of pantoflc, or slipper, covering only 
 the sole of the foot, and fastened with 
 laces. It was a fashion among the 
 fine ladies to have these of a red or 
 purple colour, as well as to make use 
 of them for the chastisement of their 
 humble admirers. 
 
 Thraso is represented by Terence 
 (Eun. act v. sc. vii.) as intending, after 
 his quarrel with the courtezan Thais, 
 to surrender himself to her at discre- 
 tion, and to do whatever she com- 
 manded. The parasited Gxatho 
 says — Qid est ? 
 
 Tiiraso. Qui minus quam Jlcreidcs 
 setvi vit Omphalc? 
 Gx. Exemplum placet : 
 
 Utinam till comniitigari vidcam 
 sandalio caput. 
 
 From this answer of Gnatho, it 
 seems likely that there was represent- 
 ed, on the Athenian stage, some 
 comedy on the loves of Hercules and 
 Omphale, in which that hero wai 
 seen spinning of wool, and his mi*- 
 tress si:t:ngby, and beating him with 
 her sandal, or slipper, when he diG 
 "urong. To this our poet may pro- 
 de. See the ino-enxu<: Mr. 
 
PERSIUS'S SATIRES. 
 
 391 
 
 " .Relations ? Shall I my paternal estate, with an ill report, 
 " Spend at an obscene threshold, while, before the wet 
 
 " doors 165 
 
 " Of Chrysis, drunken I , sing with an extinguished 
 
 « torch ?"— 
 " Well done, boy, be wise : to the repelling gods a lamb 
 " Smite :* — " But think you, Davus, she will weep, being 
 
 « left r 
 
 " You trifle — you will, boy, be chidden with a red 
 
 " slipper, 
 " Lest you should have a mind to struggle, and bite the 
 
 " tight toils : 170 
 
 u Now fierce and violent : but, if she should call, without 
 
 " delay you would say — 
 u What therefore shall I do? now, when she can send for 
 
 " me, and willingly 
 " Supplicate, shall I not go P"— " If whole and entire from 
 
 " thence 
 
 Colman's translation of this passage, 
 and the note. 
 
 170. «« To struggle."] i. e. That 
 you may not again attempt your li- 
 berty. Metaph. from the fluttering 
 of birds when caught on lime-twigs, 
 who flutter their wings to free them- 
 selves, by which they are the more 
 limed, and rendered more unable to 
 escape. Marshall. 
 
 Sic aves dum viscum trepidantes 
 excutiunt, plumis omnibus illinimt. 
 Sexeca, de Ira. 
 
 Trepido does not always signify 
 trembling through fear, but some- 
 times to hasten, to bustle, to keep a 
 clutter. 
 
 Dum trepidant alee. 
 Virg. JEn. iv. 121 ; and ix. 114. 
 So struggling to get free from a 
 haughty mistress : 
 
 Ac veluti primo Taums detractat 
 aratro, 
 Mox venit assueto mollis ad arva 
 jtigo. 
 Sic primo juvencs trepidant in amorc 
 feroccs, 
 Dchinc domiti posihac ccqua ct 
 iniqua fcrunt. 
 
 PROrERT. lib. ii. 
 
 — " And bite" Qc.} Metaph. from 
 
 wild beasts taken in nets, or toils, 
 
 who endeavour to free themselves by 
 
 biting them asunder. 
 
 In short, Chrysis will so use yoxr^ 
 if you again put yourself in her pow- 
 er, that you will not dare to attempt 
 a second time to escape her. 
 
 171. " Fierce and violent.**] Now 
 you are not with her you can bluster 
 stoutly. 
 
 — " Call"] i. e. Invite you to come 
 to her — 
 
 — " Without delay," $c] You 
 would instantly change your note, 
 and say — 
 
 172. " What therefore, $c] These 
 are almost the words of Phredria, in 
 Ter. Eun. act i. sc. i. 1. 1, 2. 
 
 Quid igitur faciamf nan earn, ne 
 nunc quidem 
 
 Cum acccrsor ultra 9 
 Horace also has imitated this pas 
 sage ; 
 
 Nee nunc cum me vocet altro 
 
 Acccdam. Lib. ii. Sat. iii. 2(53, 
 
 173. " Whole and entire" &cJ] — 
 "If when you left her, you had been 
 " entirely heart whole, and had 
 " shaken off the yoke of lust and pas- 
 " sion, you would not — nee nunc, 
 " not even now — return to her, even 
 " though she has sent to entreat you 
 " to do it ; but, from your thought of 
 " yielding to her intreaties, I see 
 " very plainly that, notwithstanding 
 ** all your deliberations about leaving 
 " her, you are still a slave to her, v 
 
392 PERSII SATIRE. sat. v. 
 
 Exieras, nee nunc. Hie, hie, quem quaerimus, hie est : 
 Nonin festuca, lictor quam jactat ineptus. 175 
 
 Jus habet ille sui, palpe quem ducit hiantem 
 Cretata Ambitio ? Vigila, et cicer ingere large 
 Rixanti populo, nostra ut Floralia possint 
 Aprici meminisse senes ! quid pulchrius ? — At cum 
 Herodis venere dies, unctaque fenestra 180 
 
 174. " Whom -we seek."} The man 
 who can so far emancipate himself 
 from his passion, as to free himself 
 from its dominion, so as no longer to 
 be a slave to it, which Chaerestratus 
 would have proved himself, if he 
 could have kept his resolution against 
 all solicitations to break it; this is 
 the man I mean, says the Stoic, this 
 is the man I allow to be free. 
 
 175. " Net iff the wand," <£c] — 
 The better to explain this place, as 
 well as 1. 8S of this Satire, it may not 
 be amiss to mention, particularly, the 
 ceremony of manumission. 
 
 " The slave was brought before 
 the consul, and, in after-times, be- 
 fore the praetor, by his master, who, 
 laying his hand upon his servant's 
 head, said to the praetor — Hunc ho- 
 minem liberum esse volo, and, with 
 that, let him go out of his hand, 
 which they termed— e manu emittere, 
 whence manumission : then the prae- 
 tor, laying a rod upon his head, called 
 rindicta, said — Dico eum liberum 
 esse more Quiritum ; and turned him 
 round on his heel. See L 75, 6; Af- 
 ter this, the lictor, taking the rod out 
 of the praetor's hand, struck the ser- 
 vant several blows upon the head, 
 face, and back, (which part of the ce- 
 remony Persius refers to in this Jine,) 
 and nothing now remained but Pileo 
 donare, to present him with a cap in 
 token of liberty, and to have his 
 name entered in the common roll of 
 freemen, with the reason of his ob- 
 taining that favour." See before, 1. 
 88. See Kekket, Antiq. p. 100. 
 
 — " The foolish lictor."] Ineptus, 
 here, is either used in contempt of 
 the lictor, who was a sort of beadle, 
 that carried the fasces before the 
 praetor, and usually, perhaps, an ig- 
 norant, illiterate fellow ; or it may 
 be used in the sense of unapt, unfit, 
 improper — i. e. to convey true liberty 
 
 on the slave, whom he struck with 
 the rod, in that part of the ceremony 
 which fell to his share. 
 
 — " Shakes."] Jacto — is to shake 
 or move ; to move to and fro, as in 
 the action of striking often ; also to 
 brag or boast. 
 
 176. •« Right of himself."] The 
 poet now instances, in the vice of am- 
 bition, another chain which binds the 
 enslaved mind, and which hinders 
 that freedom for which our Stoic is 
 contending. 
 
 Can he call himself his own mas- 
 ter — mcus, 1. 88 ; or say that he i? 
 sui juris — i. e. that he can dispose of 
 himself as he pleases, as having a so- 
 vereign right over his own person. 
 
 — " Whom gaping."] Hiantem — 
 gaping after, coveting greatly, like a 
 creature gaping for food. 
 
 — " With its lure."] Palpum-i. lit. 
 a gentle, soft stroking with the hand ; 
 hence obtrudere palpum alicui — to 
 wheedle, flatter, or coax. AlXSW. 
 
 176-7. " Chalked ambition."'} This 
 expression alludes to the white gar- 
 ments worn by candidates for offices ; 
 in these they went about to ask the 
 people's votes, and from these white 
 garments, which to make still whiter 
 they rubbed over with chalk, they 
 were called candidati. 
 
 177. " Ambition."} Literally sig- 
 nifies a going about, from ambio : 
 hence a suing or canvassing for fa- 
 vour — hence that desire of honour 
 and promotion, which is called ambi- 
 tion. 
 
 — " Watch — "2 Says Ambition ; 
 always be upon the look out ; lose no 
 opportunity to make ycusself po- 
 pular. 
 
 — "Heap vetches largely."'] Those 
 who aspired to public offices, endea- 
 voured to gain the votes of the peo- 
 ple by donations and largesses. These 
 kind* of public bribes consisted ir v 
 
PERSIUS'S SATIRES. 
 
 393 
 
 " You had come forth,- not now/ 1 — " This, this, this is he, 
 
 u whom we seek, 
 " Not in the wand which the foolish lictor shakes. 175 
 
 " Has he the right of himself, whom gaping, with its 
 
 " lure, chalked 
 " Ambition leads ? Watch : and heap vetches largely on 
 
 " the 
 " Quarrelling people, that our feasts of Flora sunny old 
 
 " men 
 " May remember : what more glorious ? but when 
 " The days of Herod have come, and in the greasy 
 
 " window 180 
 
 pease, beans, lupines ox* vetches, given 
 away among the people. The Ro- 
 mans ran to such extravagance on 
 these occasions, that several of the 
 richest entirely ruined themselves. 
 Julius Caesar employed in such lar- 
 gessess near a million and an half 
 more than his estate was worth. 
 
 In ciccre aique faba bona tu per- 
 
 dasque lupinis, 
 Lotus tu in ctrco sjpatiere, ant 
 ceneus ut stes — . 
 Hor. lib. ii. sat. hi. 1. 182, 3. 
 
 178. " Quarrelling people."] Quar- 
 relling about their shares in the 
 largesses and donations ; or, as we 
 tee at our elections, about the inter- 
 ests of the different candidates, whom 
 they severally espoused* 
 
 — " Our feasts," #<?.] That the 
 feasts which we gave, marked by our 
 great liberality, may never be forgot- 
 ten, to the latest old age of those who 
 attended them. 
 
 — " Feasts of Flora."] Flora was 
 a noted courtezan in Rome, who hav- 
 ing gotten a large sum of money by 
 prostitution, made the Roman peop'e 
 her heir ; but they, being ashamed of 
 her profession, made her the goddess 
 of flowers. 
 
 In honour of her, feasts were held, 
 and games exhibited, which were 
 provided by the iEdile, who, on this 
 occasion, was very liberal in his do- 
 nations to the people, in hopes of 
 gaining their votes for an higher place 
 in the magistracy. The Floralia 
 were held on the 28th of April. 
 
 — " Sunny old men"] Aprici senes 
 —old men who loved to bask in the 
 »un, the warmth of which was very 
 3 
 
 acceptable to their cold habit of body, 
 which old age brought on ; then* de- 
 light was to bask on a sunny bank, 
 and talk over old times. 
 
 In the well-known, beautiful bal- 
 lad of Darby and Joan, the poet has 
 made use of this idea, as one descrip- 
 tion of the amusement of old age— 
 Together they totter about, 
 Or sit in the sun at the door — |r. 
 
 179. " What more glorious?"]— 
 Than thus to recommend ourselves 
 to the people, gain their favour, and 
 leave a lasting memory of our muni- 
 ficence ? Iron. 
 
 180. " The days of Herod," £c] 
 Another chain in which the human 
 mind is holden in superstition ; to this 
 all but the wise are slaves. He in- 
 stances this in those Romans who 
 had addicted themselves to many of 
 the Jewish rites and superstitions, for 
 such their whole religion appeared to 
 the heathen. See Jrv. sat. xiv. 1. 
 96-106. We find, by Matt. xiv. 6. 
 and Mark vi. 21. that the king's 
 birth-day was an high festival, ob- 
 served at Herod's court ; and, by this 
 passage of Persius, it appeai-s to have 
 been celebrated by the Jews at Rome 
 also, particularly by the Herodians, 
 who constituted a society in honour 
 of Herod, after the manner of the 
 Sodalitia at Rome. See Brought ox, 
 Bibliotheca— -tit. Herodians. 
 
 — " Greasy xcindoxc."] They stuck 
 up candles, or lamps, in their win- 
 dows, in token of a rejoicing-day— 
 they lighted them early in the day, 
 and by their flaring and guttering 
 they made the frames of the windows 
 on which they stood all over grease. 
 E 
 
394 
 
 PERSII SATIRE 
 
 Dispositae, pingucm nebulam vomuere lucerna?, 
 Portantcs violas ; rubrumque amplexa catinum, 
 Cauda natat thynni, tumet alba fidelia vino ; 
 Labra moves tacitus, recutitaque sabbata palles : 
 Tunc nigri lemures, ovoque pericula rupto : 
 Hinc grandes Galli, et cum sistro lusca sacerdos, 
 Incussere deos inflantes corpora, si non 
 Pra?dictum, ter mane, caput gustaveris alii. 
 Dixeris ha?c inter varicosos centurioncs, 
 
 185 
 
 181. lt Pat cloud."] I c. Of smoke 
 --An exact description of the smoke 
 of a candle, or lamp, which is im- 
 pregnated with particles of the fat, 
 or grease, from which it ascends ; as 
 may be seen on ceilings, or other 
 places, on which this smoke has 
 alighted, and which when they are 
 attempted to be cleared, are found to 
 be soiled with a mixture of soot and 
 grease. 
 
 Vomuere is a 'word well adapted to 
 express the discharge of the thick and 
 filthy smoke from the wicks. So 
 Vino. JEn. v. G82. 
 
 Stupa vomens tardum fumum. 
 
 The tow discharging tardy, languid 
 smoke. 
 
 182. " Bearing violet*"] They 
 adorned their limps w ith wreaths of 
 violets, and other flowers, on these 
 occasions. 
 
 — " Embraced a red d'ah."} Hy- 
 pallage, for the dish embracing the 
 tail of the fish. Thynnus, a large 
 coarse fish ; the poet mentions only 
 the tail of it, which was the worst 
 part — this he does, probably, by \by 
 of derision of the Jews' festal-din- 
 ner. The dish, of red earthen-ware. 
 
 1S3- " Swims") In sauce. 
 
 — " White pitcher.' 1 ' 1 ] An earthen 
 vessel, a white crock of earth. 
 
 — M Swells."] Is filled up to the 
 brim — or tumet may imply, that the 
 wine was bad and in a fermenting state, 
 frothing up above the brim. Every 
 circumstance of the entertainment 
 seems to be mentioned with a tho- 
 rough air of contempt, and to denote 
 the poverty of the Jews. 
 
 184. " Silent you move your lips."] 
 You join in the solemnity, you attend 
 at their proseuchae, and like them, 
 mutter prayers inwardly, only mov- 
 ing your lips. See sat. ii. 1. 6. 
 
 — .*■ And fear."'] Pallidus is used by 
 
 our poet elsewhere to denote hard 
 study, which occasions paleness. See 
 sat. i. 1. 121 ; and sat Hi. 85. Here it 
 is used to denote that superstitious 
 fear, which occasions, from yielding 
 to it, a pale and wan appearance ia 
 tbe countenance. 
 
 — " Circumcised sabbaths"] Re- 
 cutita sabbata. Hypall. for sabbata 
 recutitorum — the sabbaths of the cir- 
 cumcised. Palles sabbata, here, is 
 equivalent to metuentem sabbata. — 
 Jrv. sat. xiv. 1. 96. — q. d. By de- 
 grees you will enter into all the Jewish 
 superstition. 
 
 The word sabbata, in the plural, 
 may here denote, not only the sab- 
 bath-days, but all the Jewish holi- 
 days, which were days of rest from 
 labour ; among others, the festival 
 which they had instituted in honour 
 of Herod's birth-day. 
 
 185. " Then Hack hobgoblins."]— 
 The mind enslaved by superstition, 
 falls from one degree of it into ano- 
 ther. 
 
 Lemures — ghosts, spirits that walk 
 by night, hobgoblins; quasi Remures 
 from Remus, whose spirit was sup- 
 posed to haunt his brother. AlXSW* 
 NocturnM lemures. Hoit. ep. ii. lib. ii. 
 1. 209. They are only supposed to 
 appear by night — hence called black. 
 
 — •* Dangers from a broken egg."] 
 The ancients had a superstition about 
 egg-shells : they thought, that if an 
 egg-shell were cracked, or had an 
 hole bored through at the bottom of 
 it, they were subject to the power of 
 sorcery. 
 
 This is contrary to the superstition 
 of those, who, in the days when 
 w itches were believed in, always broke 
 the bottom of an egg-shell, and 
 crossed it, after having eaten the egg, 
 lest some witch should make use of it 
 in bewitching them, or sailing over 
 
PERSIUS'S SATIRES. 
 
 395 
 
 The candles disposed, have vomited a fat cloud, 
 Bearing violets ; and, having embraced a red dish, 
 The tail of a tunny-fish swims, the white pitcher swells 
 
 " with wine ; 
 Silent you move your lips, and fear circumcised sabbaths : 
 Then black hobgoblins, and dangers from a broken egg : 
 Hence huge priests of Cybele, and a one-eyed priestess 
 
 " with a sistrum, 186 
 
 Have inculcated gods inflating bodies, if you have not 
 Tasted, three times in the morning, an appointed head 
 
 M of garlick. 
 " If you say these things among the veiny centurions, 
 
 the sea in it, if it were whole. See 
 Dryden's note. 
 
 For an instance of national super- 
 stition, as ridiculous as any that can 
 be imagined, I would refer the reader 
 to the solemn public statute of 1 Jac. 
 I. c. 12. against witchcraft, now re- 
 pealed by 9 Geo. II. c. 5. 
 
 116. " Hence."] i. e. From this 
 superstitious principle in the minds 
 of men, they are led from one degree 
 of credulity to another : of this ad- 
 vantage has been taken by the priests 
 of Cybele, and of Isis, to fill them 
 with groundless terror. 
 
 186. *« Huge priests of Cybele."] 
 See these described at large. They 
 were called Galli, from Gallus, a ri- 
 ver of Phyrgia, the drinking of which 
 made people furious. So Ovid, Fast. 
 iv. 
 
 Inter ait, viridem Cybelen altasque 
 Celenas, 
 
 Amnis it uisania nomine Gallus 
 aqua. 
 
 Qui bibit inde furit, fyc. 
 
 Persius calls them grandes — Juve- 
 nal says, ingens semivir, &c. They 
 vure usually of great stature, owing, 
 as has been said, to their castration, 
 which increased their bulk. Their 
 strange, mad gestures, and their ex- 
 traordinary appearance, as well as 
 their loud and wild vociferation, had 
 great effect upon weak and supersti- 
 tious minds. 
 
 r — " One-eyed priestess with a sis- 
 tfum."] The superstition of the 
 ^Egyptian goddess Isis had been trans- 
 ferred to Rome, where she had a tem- 
 ple. She was represented with a sis- 
 
 trum, a sort of brazen or iron tim- 
 brel, with loose rings on the edges in 
 her hand. J,tir£ov t from crnu, 
 to shake — its noise proceeding from 
 its being shaken violently, and struck 
 with the hand, or with an iron rod. 
 
 The priestess of Isis, when cele- 
 brating the wild rites of Isis, carried 
 a sistrum in her hand, in imitation of 
 the goddess, and had great influence 
 over the minds of the superstitious. 
 
 The poet calls her one-eyed — per- 
 haps this was her situation, and that 
 she pretended to have lost an eye by 
 a blow from the sistrum of Isis ; for 
 it seems that this was the way which 
 the goddess took to avenge herself on 
 those who offended her. 
 
 Deeernat qnodc unique volet de cor- 
 pore nostro 
 
 Isis, et irato feriat mea luinina 
 sistro. 
 Juv. sat. xiii. I. 92, 3. See the note 
 there, on I. 93. 
 
 187. " Have inculcated, $c] — 
 These vile impostors, when once the 
 mind is enslaved so far by supersti- 
 tion as to receive their impositions, 
 will inculcate their absurd and wild 
 notions as so many truths — they will 
 persuade you, that the gods which 
 they serve will send dropsies, and 
 other swellings of the body, unless 
 you use some amulet or charm to 
 prevent it ; such as eating a head, or 
 clove, of garlick, for three mornings 
 successively. 
 
 188. " Appointed."'} i. e. Ordered 
 — prescribed — as a preservative. 
 
 189. " If you say these things," 
 $c] If you were to discourse, as 
 
fJ96 PERSII SATIRE. sat. v. 
 
 Continuo crassum ridet Pulfenius ingens, 190 
 
 Et centum Graecos curto centusse licebit. 
 
 I have done, in the hearing of one name of some remarkable tall and 
 
 of our rough centurions (comp. sat. lusty soldier of that day—put here 
 
 iii. 1. 77.) in order to prove the for any such sort of person, 
 
 slavery of all men to vice and folly, — M Rudely laughs."] Crassum ri- 
 
 except the wise, he would set up a dct, for crasse ridet. Graecism. 
 
 loud horse-laugh at you. 191. * And cheapens."] Liceoreri, 
 
 189. " Veiny.'"] Varicosus, having dep. to cheapen a thing, to bid money 
 
 large veins — perhaps from the robust- for it, to offer the price, 
 
 ness of his make. " Greeks."] i. e. Philosophers, 
 
 J 90, "Huge Pulfenius"] The most of which first came from Greece, 
 
SAT. V. 
 
 PERSIUS'S SATIRES. 
 
 897 
 
 " Immediately huge Pulfenius rudely laughs, 190 
 
 " And cheapens an hundred Greeks at a clipped centussis." 
 
 — ." A clipped centussis."] Centus- 
 sis, a rate of Roman money, amount- 
 ing to about six shillings and three- 
 pence of our money. 
 
 — ** Clipped."] Curtailed, battered 
 —short of its nominal value, like bad 
 money among us. 
 
 q. d. If Pulfenius, the centurion, 
 were to hear what I have said on the 
 subject of liberty, he would only 
 
 laugh at it, but, if he were asked what 
 he would give for an hundred philo- 
 sophers, he would not offer a good 
 six and three-penny piece for them 
 all. However, though you may be 
 of the same mind, Dama, yet what I 
 have said is not the less true, nor are 
 philosophers the less valuable in the 
 eyes of all the wise and good. 
 
J^ativa &txta. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 Persius addresses this epistolary Satire to his friend 
 Ccesius Bassus, a lyric poet. They both seem, as was 
 usual with the studious among the Boma?is, in the be- 
 ginning of winter, to have retired from Rome to their 
 respective country-houses ; Persius to his, at the port of 
 Luna, in Liguria ; Bassus to his, in the territories of 
 the Sabines. 
 
 The Poet first inquires after his friend's manner of lifs 
 
 AD CESIUM BASSUM. 
 
 ADMOVIT jam bruma foco te, Basse, Sabino? 
 Jamne lyra, et tetrico vivunt tibi pectine chordae ? 
 Mire opifex, numeris veterum primordia rerum, 
 Atque marem strepiturryfidis intendisse Latina? ; 
 Mox juvenes agitare jo\ i\ eP, pollice honesto, 5 
 
 Line 1. Sabine fre-hearth.] The 
 ancient Sabines were a people between 
 the Umbrians and Latins, but, after 
 the rape of the Sabine women, incor- 
 porated into one people with the La- 
 tins, by agreement between Tatius 
 and Romulus. This part of Italy .still 
 retained its name ; and here Bassus 
 had a country-house, to which he re- 
 tired at the beginning of winter, for 
 the more quiet and convenient oppor- 
 tunity of study. This was not far 
 from Rome. 
 
 — Fire-hearth.~\ So focus literally 
 signifies, quodfoveat ignem — Aixsw. 
 but it is sometimes used for the whole 
 house, by synec. and, perhaps, is so 
 to be understood here. Sometimes, 
 by meton. for the fire. 
 
 2. Does now the lyre.] The lyre 
 was a stringed instrument, which 
 gave a soft and gentle sound when 
 touched with fingers; but when struck 
 with a quill, which, when so used, 
 
 was called pecten, gave a louder and 
 harsher sound. 
 
 The language here is figurative — 
 the lyre stands for lyric, or the softer 
 and gentler kind of poetry ; and the 
 strings or chords, being struck tetrico 
 pectine, with the rough or harsh 
 quill, denote the sharper and severer 
 style of verse. The poet inquires 
 whether Bassus, in his retirement, 
 was writing lyric verses, and whether 
 he was also employing himself in 
 graver or severer kinds of composi- 
 tion. 
 
 — Lite to thee.) "When an instru- 
 ment lies by, and is not played on, it 
 may be said to be dead, and when 
 taken up and played on, the strings 
 may be said to be alive, from their 
 motion and sound. 
 
 ?:. Admirable artist .'] Opifex — tit. 
 a workman : it also means an inven- 
 tor, deviser, and frames 
 
&ixtf) &utixt> 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 and studies, then informs him of his own, and where he 
 now is. He describes himself in his retirement, as quite 
 undisquieted with regard to care or passions ; and, with 
 respect to his expences, neither profuse nor parsimoni- 
 ous. He then treats on the true use of riches; and 
 shews the folly of those who live sordidly themselves for 
 the sake of leaving their riches to others, 
 
 TO CLESIUS BASSUS. 
 
 HAS winter already moved thee, Bassus, to thy Sabine 
 
 fire-hearth ? 
 Does now the lyre, and do the strings, live to thee with a 
 
 rough quill ? 
 Admirable artist ! in numbers the beginnings of things 
 To have displayed, and the manly sound of the Latin lute; 
 Then to agitate young jokes, and with an honest thumb 5 
 
 ~-In numbers.} i. e. In verses — in 
 metre. 
 
 — The beginnings.] Primordia — 
 the first beginnings — the history of 
 the earliest beginnings of things. So 
 Ovid, Met. lib. i. 1. 3, 4. 
 
 Primaque ab orig'me mundi 
 
 Ad mea perpetuitm deducite tempera 
 carmen. 
 Some understand the poet to mean, 
 that Bassus had written a treatise in 
 verse, concerning the original begin- 
 ning or rise of old and antiquated 
 words, reading, after many copies, 
 veterum primordia vocum — and that 
 Bassus was not only a good poet, but 
 a learned antiquary. But rerum af- 
 fords the easiest and most natural 
 sense — Malim igitur cum Casaubono 
 et aliis quibusdam, Gtoyonxv et 
 pvSifOgixr intelligere. See Delph. 
 note. 
 
 4. Displayed.] Intendisse — lit. to 
 have stretched. The sound is given 
 from instruments by the tension of 
 the strings. 
 
 — Manly sound of the Latin lute.] 
 i. e. To have written Latin lyric 
 verses in a noble, manly strain. 
 
 Among the Greeks they reckon nine 
 famous lyric poets : but two among 
 the Romans ; viz. Horace and Caesius 
 Bassus. 
 
 Horace calls himself, Romanes fidi- 
 cen lyrae. Ode hi. lib. iv. 1. 23. 
 
 To be reckoned this was his great 
 ambition, as appears, ode i. lib. i. ad 
 fin. where he says to Maecenas, 
 
 Quod si me lyricis vatibus inseres, 
 
 Sublimi feriam sidera vertice, 
 
 5. Then to agitate young jokcs.'\~» 
 Then, in light and lively strains, to 
 describe the amours and frolics of 
 young men. 
 
400 
 
 PERSII SATIRE. 
 
 SAT. VI. 
 
 Egregios lusisse senes ! — Mihi nunc Ligus ora 
 Intepet, hybernatque meum mare ; qua latus ingens 
 Dant scopuli, et multa littus se valle receptat. 
 ' Lunai portum est operae cognoscere, cives f 
 Cor jubet hoc Enni; postquam destertuit esse. 
 Maeonides, quintus pavone ex Pythagoreo. 
 
 Hie ego securus vulgi, et quid praeparet auster 
 Infelix pecori : securus et angulus ille 
 Vicini nostro quia pinguior : et si adeo omnes 
 Ditescant orti pejoribus, usque recusem 
 Curvus ob id minui senio, aut ccenare sine uncto ; 
 Et signum in vapida naso tetigisse lagena. 
 
 10 
 
 15 
 
 5. Honest thuml.] Meton. with 
 truth and faithfulness, representing 
 the actions and worthy deeds of older 
 men, who have distinguished them- 
 selves in a more advanced time of life. 
 
 (». L'tgurian.] i. e. Being now re- 
 moved from Rome into Liguria — 
 Ligus ora, for Ligustica ora. 
 
 6-7. Coast gfOWi rearm.] Either 
 from its situation near mountains, 
 which kept off the cold hlasts of 
 wind, or from the circumstance next 
 mentioned, the agitation of the sea, 
 which causes a warmth in the water. 
 
 Tully, Nat. Deor. lib. ii. says — 
 ♦' Seas agitated by the wind grow so 
 " warm, as easily to make us under- 
 " stand, that in those large bodies of 
 11 water there is heat included : for 
 M that heat which we perceive, is not 
 ■* to be accounted merely external 
 " and adventitious, but excited by the 
 M agitation which is in the innermost 
 ** parts of the water ; this also hap- 
 ** pens to our bodies, when by motion 
 " they grow warm." 
 
 7. My sea is rough,'] That is, the 
 sea near Volaterra, a city of Tus- 
 cany, where Persius was born, and 
 near which he now was. 
 
 Large side, %c."} The rocks run- 
 ning out far into the sea, present an 
 extensive side to the water, by which 
 the waves are stopped, and a quiet 
 bay formed. 
 
 8. The shore draics itself in, $c.] 
 The shore retires, and forms a large 
 circular valley between the moun- 
 tains ; which is another reason of the 
 warmth of my situation ; my house 
 which is situated in that valley being 
 sheltered from the wintry storms. 
 
 9. " Port of Luna"] So called from 
 the shape of the bay in which it was 
 situate, which, from the circular form 
 of the shore, was like an half-moon 
 — Lunai, per diasrism, for Lunse. 
 
 — *« It is worth while," <£c] This 
 line is from Ennius, who began his 
 annals of the Roman people with — 
 
 Est opera: prctium, O cives, cog- 
 noscere portum. 
 
 Lunce. 
 
 10. The heart of Ennius, <§r.] Hs 
 was an ancient poet, born at Rudiae, 
 a town of Calabria : he wrote annals 
 of the Roman people ; also satires, 
 comedies, and tragedies ; but nothing 
 of his is come to us entire. He died 
 169 years before Christ. 
 
 Cor means, literally the heart ; 
 and, by meton. the mind, wisdom, 
 judgment. Perhaps the poet means 
 to say, that Ennius, when in his right 
 mind and sober senses, recommended 
 the port of Luna to his countrymen, 
 after he came out of his vagaries after 
 mentioned. 
 
 — Dreaming, $c] See prologue to 
 sat. i. 1. 2, and note. Maeonides was 
 a name given to Homer, on account 
 of his supposed birth at Smyrna, in 
 the country of Maeonia, i. e. Lydia. 
 
 11. Fifth from the Pythagorean 
 peacock.] Some are for supposing 
 Quintus, here, to be understood as a 
 pragnomen of Ennius : — but it should 
 rather seem, as if Persius were here 
 laughing at the extravagant idea of 
 the Pythagorean doctrine of transmi- 
 gration, which Ennius for a while had 
 received, and who is said to have 
 dreamt that the soul of a peacock had 
 transmigrated, first into Euphorbus, 
 
SAT. VI. 
 
 PERSIUS'S SATIRES. 
 
 401 
 
 To have played remarkable old men. To me now the Li- 
 gurian coast 
 
 Grows warm, and my sea is rough, where a large side 
 
 The rocks give, and the shore draws itself in with much 
 valley. 
 
 " The port of Luna it is worth while to know, O citizens :" 
 
 The heart of Ennius commands this, after he ceased dream- 
 ing that he was 10 
 
 Mseonides, the fifth from the Pythagorean peacock. 
 
 Here [am] I, careless of the vulgar, and what the south, 
 
 Unfortunate to the cattle, may prepare : and unconcerned 
 because that corner 
 
 Is more fruitful than mine that's next to it : and if all, 
 
 Sprung from worse, should grow ever so rich, I should al- 
 ways refuse, 15 
 
 On that account, to be diminished crooked with old age, or 
 to sup without a dainty, 
 
 And to have touched with my nose the seal in the vapid 
 cask. 
 
 then into Homer, then into Pythago- 
 ras, and then into Ennius.; so that 
 he stood fifth from the peacock. See 
 Dryd. Trans, and note on this place. 
 This is an evident banter on the 
 Pythagorean notion of the metempsy- 
 chosis. 
 
 12. Here am I, <|-c.j In this com- 
 fortable retreat of the port of Luna, I 
 trouble not my head about what peo- 
 ple say of me. 
 
 — What the south, $c] The south 
 wind, when it blew with any long 
 continuance, was reckoned very un- 
 wholesome, particularly to cattle. So 
 Viiig. Geor. i. 1. 444. 
 
 Arboribusquc, satisque, K~otus, pe- 
 coriquc sinister. 
 
 The poet seems to say, that he was 
 without care or anxiety in his retreat. 
 The modern Italians call this wind 
 Sirocco, or Scilocco, which blows 
 from the south-east. 
 
 13. That comer, <$c.] Horace sat. 
 vi. lib. ii. 1. 8, 9. 
 
 , O si angulus illc 
 
 Proximus accedat, qui nunc denor- 
 mat agellum. 
 Persius took his angulus ille from 
 this passage of Horace. 
 
 14. And if all, $c] If ever so 
 many of my inferiors, however lowly 
 
 and meanly born, should grow so 
 rich, adeo ditescant, as to have their 
 possessions exceed mine — 
 
 15. I should always refuse, ^-c] 
 I should not make myself uneasy, so 
 as to fret upon that account, and to 
 bring on old age before my time, as 
 if bowed under a weight of years. 
 
 16. Sup without a dainty.] Unctus, 
 literally, is anointed, greasy, and ap- 
 plied to describe a dainty rich meal, 
 good cheer. Hence unctissimae ccenas. 
 See Ainsw. Unctus. 
 
 I will not live the worse ; envy 
 shall not spoil my appetite ; I will not 
 abate a single dish at my table, in or- 
 der to save up what would make me 
 as rich as my neighbour. 
 
 17. And to have touched with my 
 nose, <^c] I shall not bottle up dregs 
 of musty wine, and then examine the 
 sea], which I have put on the mouth 
 of the vessel, as closely as if I meant 
 to run my nose into the pitch which 
 has received its impression, to try 
 whether any of my servants have 
 opened it. 
 
 q< d. 1 shall neither fret myself 
 into old age before my time with envy, 
 nor turn niggard, in order to save 
 money, that I may equal my richer 
 neighbours. 
 
 3 F 
 
402 
 
 PERSII SATIRE. 
 
 Discrepet Ins alius. Geminos, Horoscope, varo 
 Producis genio. Solis natalibus, est qui 
 Tingat olus siccum muria, vafer, in callice empta, 20 
 
 Ipse sacrum irrorans patinae piper. Hie bona dente 
 Grandia magnanhnus peragit puer.— - Utar ego, utar : 
 Nee rhombos, ideo, libertis ponere lautus ; 
 Nee tenuem solers turdarum nosse salivam. 
 
 Messe tenus propria vive ; et granaria (fas est) 25 
 
 Emole ; quid metuas ? occa, et seges altera in herba est. 
 
 ' At vocat officium. Trabe rupta, Bruttia saxa 
 * Prcndit amicus inops: remque omnem, surdaque vota, 
 
 18. Another may differ, «Jr.] How- 
 ever such may be my way of think- 
 ing, yet as there are 
 
 Milk hominum species, et rtrum 
 
 discolor usus. — See sat. v. 52. 
 
 it is certain that others may differ 
 
 from me in sentiments, with regard 
 
 to these matters. 
 
 — O Horoscope.) Horoscopus here 
 signifies the star that had the ascend- 
 ant, and presided at one's nativity. 
 
 q. d. Whatever astrologers may 
 say, two persons, even twins, born 
 under the same horoscope, are fre- 
 quently seen to be produced with a 
 different genius, or natural incli- 
 nation. 
 
 19. There is, icho, <.yc] Of these 
 twins, one of them shall be covetous 
 and close, the other prodigal. 
 
 One of them will grudge himself 
 almost the common comforts of life. 
 
 — On his birth-day.] This was 
 usually observed as a time of feasting, 
 and making entertainments for their 
 friends. 
 
 20. Wily.'] Vafer — cunning, crafty. 
 — Dip his dry herbs.] Olus-eris — 
 
 any garden herbs for food — probably 
 what we call a sallad. Hon. lib. ii. 
 sat. ii. 1. 55, &c. 
 
 Instead of pouring oil, or other 
 good dressing, over the whole, he, in 
 order to have no waste, craftily con- 
 trived to dress no more than he ate, 
 by dipping the herbs, as he took them 
 up to eat, into a small cup of pickle : 
 of this he had no store by him, but 
 bought a little for the occasion. 
 
 Muria was a kind of sauce, or 
 pickle, made of the liquor of the 
 tunny-fisV-a very vile and cheap 
 sauce. 
 
 21. Himself sprinkling, §c] He 
 would not trust this to a servant, for 
 fear of his sprinkling too much, there- 
 fore did it himself. 
 
 — Sacred pepper.'} Which he sets 
 as much store by as if it were sacred. 
 Hor. lib. i. sat. i. 1. 71, 2. 
 Tanquam parcerc xacris 
 Cogcris. 
 And lib. ii. sat. iii. 1. 110. 
 
 Metucnsque vclut cont'wgere sa- 
 crum. 
 — This.] i. e. The other twin, 
 quite of a contrary disposition. 
 
 — A magnanimous boy.] Yet not 
 grown to manhood, but having early 
 a noble disposition. Iron. 
 
 22. His tooth.] By the indulgence 
 of his luxurious appetite — meton.— 
 devours all he has. 
 
 ^-Dispatches a great estate.] i. e. 
 Makes an end of a large estate, by 
 spending it profusely upon his glut- 
 ton} 7 and luxury. 
 
 — / will use, #<\] For my part, 
 says Perdue, I will use what I have; 
 I say use, not abuse it, either by ava- 
 rice on the one hand, or by prodigality 
 on the other. 
 
 23. Not therefore splendid, $c.]~ 
 Not so sumptuous and costly, as to 
 treat my freedmen, when they come 
 
 to see me, with turbot for dinner 
 
 ideo, i. e. merely because I would 
 appear splendid. 
 
 24. Nor wise to kno-w, <£c] Nor 
 yet indulge myself in gluttony, or 
 cultivate a fine delicate palate, so as to 
 be able to distinguish the small differ- 
 ence between one thrush and another. 
 
 These birds, which we commonly 
 translate thrushes, were in great re- 
 pute as dainties. Some pretended to 
 
SAT. VI. 
 
 PERSIUS'S SATfRES. 
 
 403 
 
 Another may differ in these things : twins, O Horoscope, 
 
 with a various 
 Genius you produce. There is, who, only on his birth-day, 
 Wily can dip his dry herbs in a cup with bought pickle, 
 Himself sprinkling on the dish sacred pepper. This a 
 
 magnanimous boy 21 
 
 With his tooth dispatches a great estate. — I will use, I will 
 
 use : 
 Not therefore splendid to put turbots to my freedmen, 
 Nor wise to know the small state of thrushes. 
 
 Live up to your own harvest : and your granaries (it is 
 
 right) 25 
 
 Grind out. What can you fear ? — Harrow — and another 
 
 crop is in the blade. 
 " But duty calls. With broken ship, the Bruttian rocks 
 " A poor friend takes hold of, and all his substance, and 
 
 " his unheard vows 
 
 so nice a taste, as to be able to dis- 
 tinguish whether the bird they were 
 eating was of the male or female kind, 
 the juices of the latter being reckoned 
 most relishing. 
 
 I will use what I have, says Per- 
 sius, but then it shall be in a rational 
 moderate way ; not running into 
 needless extravagance, for fear of be- 
 ing reckoned covetous, or setting up 
 for a connoisseur in eating, for fear 
 of not being respected as a man of a 
 delicate taste. 
 
 25. Your own harvest.'] Equal your 
 expences to jour income. 
 
 26. Grind out"] Do not hoard, but 
 live on what you have — use it all. 
 Fast est — q. d. You may do it, and 
 ought to do it. 
 
 i — What can you fear 9] You have 
 nothing to be afraid of; the next har- 
 vest will replace what you spend.-— 
 Comp. Matt. vi. S4. 
 
 — Harrow.] Occo is to harrow, to 
 break the clods in a ploughed field, 
 that the ground may lie even, and 
 cover the grain. Here, by synec. it 
 stands for all the operations of hus- 
 bandry — q. d. Plough, sow, harrow 
 your land, and you may expect ano- 
 ther crop. Herba is the blade of any 
 corn, which, when first it appears, is 
 green, and looks like grass. *' First 
 M the blade, then the ear, then the 
 f full corn in the ear." Mark iv, 28. 
 
 Persius was for Horace's auream 
 mediocritatem (ode x. lib. ii. 1. 5-8.) 
 neither for hoarding out of avarice, 
 nor for exceeding out of profuseness. 
 
 27. " But duty calls."] Aye, says 
 a miser, all this is very well ; but I 
 may be called upon to serve a friend, 
 and how can I be prepared for this if 
 I spend my whole annual income ? 
 
 — " With broken ship."] Methinks, 
 says the miser, who is supposing a 
 ease of a distressed friend — methinks 
 I see him . ship-wrecked, and cast 
 away on the Bruttian rocks, and seiz- 
 ing hold on a point of the rock to save 
 himself. See ZEneid, vi. 360. 
 
 Prcnsantemque uncis manibus capita 
 aspera montis. 
 
 Brutium, or Bruttium, was a pro» 
 montory of Italy, near Rhegium, hod. 
 Reggio, not far from Sicily, nigh to 
 which there were dangerous rocks. 
 
 28. il His unheard vows."] Surdus 
 means not only deaf, but also that 
 which is not heard. It was usual for 
 persons in distress at sea to make 
 vows to some god, in order for their 
 deliverance, that they would, if pre- 
 served, make such or such offerings 
 on their arriving safe on shore. But, 
 alas ! the poor man's freight, and all 
 the vows that he made, were all gone 
 together to the bottom of the Ionian 
 sea. The sea between Sicily and 
 Crete was anciently so called. 
 
404 
 
 PERSII SATIRE. 
 
 ( Condidit Ionio : jacet ipse in littore, et una 
 
 6 lngentes de puppe dei ; janique obvia mergis, 
 
 6 Costa ratis lacerfe. 1 — Nunc, et de cespite vivo, 
 
 F range aliquid ; largire inopi ; ne pictus oberret 
 
 Caerulea in tabula. s Sed ccenam funeris haeres 
 
 4 Negliget, iratus quod rem curtaveris : urnae 
 
 • Ossa inodora dabit : seu spirent cinnama surdum, 
 
 ' Seu ceraso peccent Casia?, nescire paratus. 
 
 i Tune bona incolumis minuas ? — Sed Bestius urcret 
 
 30 
 
 35 
 
 30. " The great gods fro?}} I he 
 slrrm"] The ancients had large figures 
 of deities, which were fixed at the 
 stern of the ship, and were regarded 
 as tutelar gods. Aurato fulgebat 
 Apolline pnppis. Virg. .En. x. 171. 
 The violence of the waves is sup- 
 posed to have broken these off from 
 the vessel, and thro\\ n them on shore, 
 whither also the man is supposed to 
 have swum, and where he now lav. 
 
 — " Sca-gul!.<."] Mergus is the 
 name of several sea-bird.-, from their 
 swimming and diving in the sea— 
 Ainsworth says it particularly means 
 the cormorant. 
 
 The ribs of the ship were now torn 
 open, and exposed to the birds of prey 
 which haunted the sea, who might 
 devour the dead bodies, or any provi- 
 sions which were left on board. 
 
 31. The Vac turf, £c.] q. d. Now, 
 upon such an occasion as tins (which, 
 how ever, is not so likely to happen to 
 an individual of your acquaintance, 
 as in the prospect of it, to be a pre- 
 tence for not freely and hospitably 
 spending the whole annual produce 
 of jour land) you may relieve your 
 ruined friend by a sale of part of your 
 land, supposing that you have none 
 of the fruits of it left to help him 
 with. Sell a piece of your land al- 
 ready sown, on ^hich the blade is 
 now springing up, and give the mo- 
 rcy to your friend who ha.; lost bis 
 all ; that is, do not stay till you have 
 reaped, but help him immediately as 
 his wants require. 
 
 Cesoes is a turf, a sod, or clod cf 
 earth, with the gsass or other pro- 
 duce, as corn, >xc. growing upon it ; 
 hence called vivus, living. 
 
 So Hon. lib. i. ode xix. I. 13. 
 //;.- vivum mitt cespitem, §•«% 
 
 And lib. iii. ode viii. 1. 3, 4. 
 
 Posit usque turbo in 
 Cespite vivo. 
 
 Here cespite vivo is to be under- 
 stood of the land itself, with the corn 
 glowing upon it. The image is taken 
 from the idea of a man's taking up a 
 sod, breaking off a piece of it, and 
 giving it to another. 
 
 :)>-3. hut fainted, $ej See sat. i. 
 1. 86, note. 
 
 The table, or plank, on which the 
 story of the distress was painted, re- 
 presented the sea, and therefore ap- 
 peared of a sea-green colour. Hence 
 . S — Caaulea tabula. 
 
 33. " l'our funeral supper " <£c] 
 Prolepsis. Persius, who well knew 
 the workings of avarice within the 
 human mind, and how many excuses- 
 it would be making, in order to avoid 
 the force of what he has been saying, 
 here anticipates an objection, which 
 might be made to what he last said, 
 about selling part of one's estate, in 
 order to relieve a ship-wrecked friend. 
 
 But perhaps you will say, that if 
 you sell part of your land, and thus 
 diminish the inheritance, j T our heir 
 will be offended, and resent his hav- 
 ing less than he expected, bj- not af- 
 fording you a decent funeral. 
 
 Horace says, epist. ii. lib. ii. 1. 
 191-2. 
 
 Nee Vietnam quid de me ju- 
 
 dictt hares. 
 Quod rum plum datis iuvencrat— 
 
 It uas usual at the funerals of rich 
 people to make sumptuous entertain- 
 ments, the splendour of which de- 
 pended on the heir of the deceased, 
 at whose expence they were given. 
 These ccena? ferales, or ccenae funeris, 
 were three-fold. 1st. A banquet was 
 put on the funeral pile, and burnt 
 
PERSIUffS SATIRES. 
 
 405 
 
 " He has buried infthe Ionian : himself lies on the shore, 
 
 " and together [with him] 
 " The great gods from the stern : and now obvious to the 
 
 " sea-gulls 30 
 
 " Are the sides of the torn ship." — Now even from the live 
 
 turf 
 Break something ; bestow it on the poor man, lest he should 
 
 wander about 
 Painted in a eserulean table. "But your funeral supper, 
 
 " your heir 
 " Will neglect, angry that you have diminished your sub- 
 
 " stance : To the urn 
 * { He will give my uuperfumed bones : whether cinnamons 
 
 " may breathe insipidly, 35 
 
 6( Or Casias offend with cherry-gum, prepared to be ig- 
 
 " norant. 
 " Safe can you diminish your goods ?" — But Bestius urges 
 
 tvith the corpse. See iEneid, vi. 222- 
 5. 2dly* A grand supper was given 
 to the friends and relations of the fa- 
 mily. ClC. de Leg. lib. ii. 3dly. A 
 dish of provisions was deposited at 
 the sepulchre. This last was sup- 
 posed to appease their manes. 
 
 35. " My unperfumed bones."] — 
 After the bodies of the rich were burnt 
 on the funeral pile, the ashes contain- 
 ing their bones were usually gathered 
 together, and put into an urn with 
 sweet spices. 
 
 — " Whether cinnamons" $c.] — 
 Persius here names cinnamon and 
 Casia, the latter of which he supposes 
 to be sophisticated, for the sake of 
 cheapness, with cherry-gum, or gum 
 from the cherry-tree. The cinnamon, 
 if true and genuine, is a fine aro- 
 matic; but the expression, spirent 
 gurdum, breathe insipidly — (surdum, 
 Grsecism, for surde — or, perhaps, 
 odorem may be understood) — looks as 
 if the cinnamon, as well as the Casia, 
 were supposed to be adulterated, and 
 mixed with some ingredient which 
 spoiled its odour. The heir is sup- 
 posed to lay out as little as he well 
 could on the deceased. 
 
 36. *' Prepared to be ignorant."] 
 I. e. Determined beforehand not to 
 trouble his head about the matter — 
 the worse the spices, the less the 
 cost. 
 
 37. " Safe diminish," <£c] There- 
 fore can you, while alive and well, 
 having no sickness or loss of your 
 own — all which are meant by incolu- 
 mis — subtract from your estate, and 
 thus disoblige your heir ? Some sup- 
 pose these to be the words of the heir, 
 remonstrating against the old man's 
 spending his money, and so diminish- 
 ing the patrimony which he was to 
 leave behind him : but I rather sup- 
 pose the poet to be continuing the 
 prolepsis which begins 1. 33 ; and it is 
 a natural question, which may be 
 imagined to arise out of what the 
 miser has been supposed to offer 
 against being kind and generous to a 
 distressed friend. The poet before 
 supposes him to urge his fear of dis- 
 obliging his heir, if he diminished his 
 estate — Then, continues Persius, tune 
 bona incolumis minuas ? — q. d. Can 
 you then, on pain and peril of having 
 your heir neglect your funeral, and 
 shew the utmost contempt to your re- 
 mains, think (while alive and well— 
 incolumis — having no sickness, or loss 
 of your own) of subtracting from your 
 estate for the sake of other people ? 
 this you will urge as an unanswerable 
 objection to what I propose you 
 should do for the sake of an unfortu- 
 nate friend — by this you plainly shew, 
 that you are more concerned for what 
 may happen to you after you arc 
 
406 
 
 PERSI1 SATIRE. 
 
 SAT. VI. 
 
 * Doctores Graios : ita fit, postquam sapere urbi, 
 
 * Cum pipere et palmis, venit nostrum hoc, maris expers, 
 
 1 Foenisecae crasso vitiarunt unguine pukes.' 40 
 
 Haec cinere ulterior metuas ? At tu, meus haeres 
 
 Quisquis eris, paulum a turba seductior, audi • 
 O bone, num ignoras ? missa est a Caesare laurus, 
 
 Insignem ob cladem Germanae pubis ; et aris 
 
 Frigidus excutitur cinis : ac jam postibus arma, 45 
 
 dead, than for your friends while you 
 are alive. 
 
 37. But Bestlus, $c] The name of 
 some covetous fellow, a legacy hunter, 
 who is represented very angry that 
 philosophers have taught generosity, 
 by which the sums which they expect 
 may be lessened during the testator's 
 life, and that from Greece has also 
 been derived the custom of expensive 
 funerals, which affect the estate after 
 the testator's death. 
 
 37-8. Urges the Grecian teachers.] 
 i. e. Rails, inveighs against the phi- 
 losophers, who brought philosophy 
 first from Greece, and taught a liberal 
 bestowing of our goods on the neces- 
 sities of others. 
 
 39. " Pepper and dates" §c ] — 
 Pepper, dates, and philosophy, were 
 all imported together from Asia. This 
 is said in the same strain of contempt 
 as Juvenal's 
 
 Advectits Itoviav:, quo prima et 
 coetona vento. Sat. iii. 1. S3. 
 
 — " This our wisdom."] Nostrum 
 sapere, Gr. for nostra sapientia — like 
 ■vivere triste, for tristis vita, sat. i. 
 1. 9. 
 
 < — " Void of manliness."] A poor 
 effeminate thing, void of that noble 
 plainness and hardiness of our ances- 
 tors, who never thought of leading so 
 lazy and indolent a life as the philoso- 
 phers, or of laying out extravagant 
 sums in spices, and burning aroma- 
 tics on funeral piles, or putting costly 
 spices into urns. 
 
 The poet uses marem strepitum ft» 
 a strong manly sound, 1. 4. of this 
 Satire. This, among other senses 
 given of this difficult phrase — maris 
 expers — seems mostly adopted by 
 commentators. But as Persius evi- 
 dently applies the words — maris ex- 
 pers — from Hoit. lib. ii. sat. viii. 1. 
 15, it may perhaps be supposed that 
 
 he meant they should be understood 
 in a like sense. 
 
 Fundanius is giving Horace an ac 
 count of a great entertainment which 
 he had been at, and, among other par- 
 ticulars, mentions the wines : 
 — Procedit fuse us Hudaspes 
 
 Caccuba vina fcrens ; Alcon, Chium 
 via ris expers. 
 — " Black Hi/da spes stalks 
 
 " fVith right Cacubian, and the 
 mine of Greece — 
 
 m Of foreign growth which never 
 crossed the seas." 
 
 Francis. 
 To this Mr. Francis subjoins the fol- 
 lowing note. 
 
 " Chium maris expert. "] M It was 
 " customary to mix sea-water with 
 " the strong wines of Greece ; but 
 44 Fundanius, when he says that the 
 " wine which Alcon carried had not 
 44 a drop of water in it, would have 
 •* us understand, that this wine had 
 M never crossed the seas, and that it 
 " was an Italian wine, which Nasi- 
 " dienus (the master of the feast) re- 
 44 commended for Chian." Lam». 
 
 This seems to be a good interpreta- 
 tion of Horace's maris expers, and, 
 therefore, as analagous thereto, we 
 may understand it, in this passage of 
 Persius, in a like sense — to denote 
 that the philosophy, which Bestius 
 calls nostrum hoc sapere, " this same 
 44 wisdom of ours," and which came 
 from Greece originally, is now no 
 longer to be looked upon as foreign, 
 but as the growth of Italy, seeing that 
 that, and the luxurious manners 
 which came from the same quarter, 
 have taken place of the ancient sim- 
 plicity and frugality of our fore- 
 fathers. 44 And so it comes to pass 
 44 (ita fit, 1. 39.) that we are to give 
 44 away our substance to others, and 
 44 that a vast expence is to attend our 
 
SAT. VI. 
 
 PERSIUS'S SATIRES. 
 
 mi 
 
 The Grecian teachers : " So it is, after to the city, 
 
 " With pepper and dates, came this our wisdom void of 
 
 " manliness, 
 " The mowers have vitiated their pudding with thick oil." 
 " Do you fear these things beyond your ashes ? — But 
 
 " thou, my heir, 41 
 
 <c Whoever thou shalt be, a little more retired from the 
 
 " crowd, hear. 
 " O good man, are you ignorant ? A laurel is sent from 
 
 " Caesar 
 " On account of the famous slaughter of the German youth, 
 
 " and from the altars 
 " The cold ashes are shaken off; and now, to the posts, 
 
 " arms, 45 
 
 " funerals, and that even a common 
 " rustic cannot eat his pudding with- 
 «* out a rich sauce." But see Casau- 
 bon in loc. 
 
 40. M The mowers," <§r.] The 
 common rustics have been corrupted 
 with Grecian luxury, and now 
 
 The ploughman truly could no longer 
 eat, 
 
 Without rich oils to spoil their 
 xvholesomc meat. 
 
 Bestius is very right in saying, that 
 the philosophy which the Stoics taught 
 at Borne came from Greece ; but he 
 would not have railed at the philoso- 
 phers, if they had not taught princi- 
 ples entirely opposite to his selfish- 
 ness and avarice ; nor would he have 
 found fault with the introduction of 
 what made funerals expensive, had 
 he not carried his thoughts of parsi- 
 mony beyond the grave, and dreaded 
 the expence he must be put to in 
 burying those whom he expected to 
 be heir to ; and even the luxury which 
 had been imported from Greece would 
 not have troubled him, but as it cost 
 money to gratify it. 
 
 40. " Their puddings."] Puis -tis 
 —a kind of meat which the ancients 
 used, made of meal, water, honey, 
 or cheese and eggs ; a sort of ha sty - 
 pudding — here put for any rustic, 
 homely fare. The words vitiarunt 
 well intimates the meaning of the 
 selfish Bestius, which was to express 
 his enmity to even* thing that looked 
 like expence. 
 
 41. *« Beyond your ashes."] Be- 
 
 yond the grave, as we say — Do you, 
 miserable wretch, concern yourself 
 about what your heir says of you, or 
 in what manner your funeral is con- 
 ducted ? 
 
 — " But thou, my heir," ^-c.]— 
 Persius here, coincidently with the 
 subject he is now entering upon, re- 
 presents, in a supposed conversation 
 in private with the person who might 
 be his heir, the right a man has to 
 spend his fortune as he pleases, with- 
 out standing in awe of those who 
 come after him : and first, to be libe- 
 ral and munificent on all public occa- 
 sions of rejoicing ; next, to live hand- 
 somely and comfortably, and not 
 starve himself that his successor may 
 live in luxury. 
 
 42. " Retired from the crowd."} 
 
 Secretam garrit in aurem. sat. v. 1. 
 96. Step aside a little, if you please, 
 that I might deal the more freely 
 with you, and listen to me. 
 
 43. " O good man."'] q. d. Hark 
 ye, my good friend, and heir that i.s 
 to be — 
 
 — " Are you ignorant ?"] Have 
 you not heard the news ? 
 
 — *« A laurel is sent," $-c] Caius 
 Caligula affected to triumph over the 
 Germans, whom he never conquered, 
 as he did over the Britons ; and sent 
 letters to Rome, wrapt aoout with 
 laurels, to the senate, and to the em- 
 press Caesonia his wife. 
 
 45. " The cold ashes."] The ashes 
 which were to be swept off the altars 
 were either those that were left there 
 
40$ 
 
 PERS1I SATIRE. 
 
 SAT. VI. 
 
 Jam chlamydas rcgum, jam lutea gausapa captis, 
 Essedaque ingentesque locat Caesonia Rhenos. 
 Diis igitur, genioque ducis, centum paria, ob res 
 Egregie gestas, induce Quis vetat ? audc. 
 Vae, nisi connives — Oleum artocreasque popello 
 Largior : an prohibes ? die clare. Non adeo, inquis, 
 
 50 
 
 after the last sacrifice for victory, or 
 might, perhaps, mean the ashes which 
 were left on the altars since some 
 former defeat of the Romans by the 
 Germans ; after which overthrow the 
 altars had been neglected. Duvdek. 
 
 45. "And now."] i. e. On the re- 
 ceipt of this good news. 
 
 — " To the posts, arms."] Per- 
 sius here enumerates the preparations 
 for a triumph ; such as fixing to the 
 doors or columns of the temple the 
 arms taken from the enemy. Thus 
 Virg. Mn. vii. 183-6. 
 
 Mullaque pratcrea sacr'is in posti- 
 
 lus anna, 
 Captivi pendent ciirnts, curvaquc 
 
 secures, 
 Et crista; capitum, cl porta nun iu- 
 
 gentia claitstra, 
 Spiculaquc, cbjpciquc, crcptaquc 
 rostra carinis. 
 And Hor. lib. iv. ode xv. 1. 6-8. 
 Et signa posies restituH Jovi, 
 Dercpta Parthorum supcrbis 
 Postibus. 
 46. " Garments of kings."] — 
 Chlamys signifies an habit worn by 
 kings and other commanders in war. 
 — Ipse agminc Pallas 
 In medio, chlamyde, ct pictis con- 
 spectus in armis. 
 
 JEn. viii. I. 587, 8. 
 
 46. " Sorry mantles on the cap- 
 tives.'''''] When captives were to be led 
 in triumph, they put on them cloth- 
 ing of the coarsest sort, made of a 
 dark frize, in token of their abject 
 state. 
 
 47. "And chariots."] Essedum is 
 a Gallic word — a sort of chaise or 
 chariot used by the Gauls and Bri- 
 tons ; also by the Germans. 
 
 Belgica vel molli melius fcret es- 
 seda collo. 
 
 Virg. G. iii. 1. 204. 
 
 The Beige were originally Germans, 
 
 but, passing the Rhine, settled 
 
 themselves in Gaul, of which they 
 
 occupied what is now called the Ne- 
 therlands. 
 
 — " Huge Germans.'"] Rhenos, so 
 called because they inhabited the 
 banks of the Rhine ; they were men 
 of great stature. 
 
 — " Ccesonia."] Wife to Caius Ca- 
 ligula, who afterwards, in the reign of 
 Claudius, was proposed to be mar- 
 ried to him, after he had executed the 
 empress Messalinn for adultery, but 
 he would not have her. See her cha- 
 racter — ANT. Univ. Hist. vol. xiv. p. 
 297. 
 
 48. " To the gods, therefore."}— 
 By way of thanksgiving. 
 
 — .** The genius of the general.'''''] 
 Of the emperor Caligula — see sat. ii. 
 1. 3, note — who protected and pros- 
 pered him. 
 
 — " An hundred pair."] i. c. Of 
 gladiators. These were beyond the 
 purse of any private man to give; 
 therefore this must be looked upon 
 as a threatening to his heir, that he 
 would do as he pleased with his 
 estate. 
 
 On public occasions of triumph, 
 all manner of costly shows and games 
 were exhibited, in honour of the gods, 
 to whose auspices the victory wag 
 supposed to be owing : also in honour 
 of the conqueror ; therefore Persius 
 adds — ob res egregie gestas. 
 
 49. " / produce.'''] Induco signi- 
 fies to introduce — to bring in — to 
 bring forth, or produce. Aixsw. 
 
 — " Who forbids. 1 "] Who puts a 
 negative on my intention ? 
 
 — " Dare»"] Will you, who are to 
 be my heir, contradict this ? do if you 
 dare. 
 
 50. " Woe ! unless you connive."] 
 Conniveo is to wink with the eyes. 
 Met. to wink at a matter, to take 
 no notice, to make as if he did not 
 see it. 
 
 Woe be to you, says Persius, if 
 you offer to take notice, or to object 
 
PERSIUS'S SATIRES. 
 
 409 
 
 SAT. VI. 
 
 " Now the garments of kings, now sorry mantles on the 
 
 " captives, 
 w And chariots, and huge Germans, Caesonia places. 
 c * To the gods, therefore, and to the genius of the general, 
 
 -" an hundred pair, 
 " On account of things eminently achieved, I produce : 
 
 " Who forbids ?— *Dare — 
 " Woe ! unless you connive — Oil and pasties to the people 
 " I bestow : do you hinder ?— speak plainly ."-— " Your field 
 
 « hard by, 51 
 
 to what I purpose doing on this oc- 
 casion. 
 
 — * f Oil and pasties to the people"} 
 Moreover I intend to bestow a dole 
 upon the common people — popello 
 in order to enable them to celebrate 
 the victory. Oil was a favourite sauce 
 for their victuals. See 1. 40, and 
 note. 
 
 Artocrea (from ccgrcx;, bread, and 
 k^s«?» flesh) a pie, or pasty of flesh. 
 AlNSW. 
 
 51. " Do you hinder ?"] Says he 
 to his supposed heir; do you find 
 fault with this bounty of mine, would 
 you prevent it ? 
 
 — " Speak plainly"] Come, speak 
 out. 
 
 — " Your field hard by," fyc."} Per- 
 haps you will say, that my estate 
 near Rome, though its vicinity to the 
 city makes it the more valuable, 
 yet is not fertile enough to afford all 
 this. 
 
 Exossatus, cleared of the stones, 
 called the bones of the earth. Ov. 
 Met. i. 193. to which Persius perhaps 
 alludes. Here it is supposed to mean 
 cleared of the stones — i. e. cultivated 
 to such a degree, as to be rich and 
 fertile enough to produce what would 
 be answerable to such an expence. 
 
 The above is the leading sense 
 given by some of the best commen- 
 tators to this difficult passage ; but I 
 cannot say that it satisfies me. I see 
 no authority, from any thing that 
 precedes or follows, to construe juxta 
 —nigh the city, and hence make juxta 
 equivalent to suburban us : nor is the 
 taking est from juxta, and trans- 
 ferring it to exossatus or ager, as 
 done above, the natural method of 
 the syntax. 
 
 3 
 
 I would therefore place the words 
 in their natural order in which they 
 are to be construed — "Non adeo, in- 
 quis, juxta est exossatus ager. The 
 Delph. interpret, says, Non ita, ais, 
 prope est ager sine ossibus. 
 
 Exosso-are— is to take out the 
 bones of an animal ; to bone it, as 
 we say. Congrum istum maximum 
 in aqua sinito ludere paulisper, ubi 
 ego venero» exossabitur. Ter. Adelph. 
 Ager is a field, land, ground — hence, 
 a manor with the demesnes, an estate 
 in land. Hence, by Metaph. exossa- 
 tus ager may mean, here, an estate 
 that has been weakened, diminished 
 by extravagance of great expence, 
 having what gave it its value and 
 consequence taken out of it. 
 
 In this view I think we may sup- 
 pose the poet as representing his heir's 
 answer to be— 
 
 " An estate that has been exhaust- 
 " ed and weakened — exossatus, boned 
 " as it were, by such expence as you 
 " propose, is not so near — non adeo 
 " juxta est — i. e. so near my heart, 
 " so much an object of my concern, 
 " as to make it worth my while to 
 " interfere about it, or attempt to 
 " hinder this last expence of your 
 " dole to the mob, when the first of 
 " the hundred pair of gladiators, I. 
 " 48, will bone it — i. e. diminish 
 " its substance and value, sufficiently 
 *' to render me very unconcerned as 
 " to being your heir." We often use 
 the word near, to express what con- 
 cerns us. 
 
 This appears to me to be the most 
 eligible construction of the words, as 
 well as most naturally to introduce 
 what follows. 
 
410 
 
 PERSII SATIRE 
 
 Exossatus ager juxta est. Age, si mihi nulla 
 
 Jam reliqua ex amitis ,• patruelis nulla ; proneptis 
 
 Nulla manet ; patrui sterilis matertera vixit ; 
 
 Deque avra nihilum superest : accedo Bovillas, 55 
 
 Clivumque ad Virbi; praesto est mihi Manius haeres. 
 
 ' Progenies terra?"* — Quaere ex me, quismihi quartus 
 
 Sit pater ; haud prompte, dicam tamen. Adde etiam unum, 
 
 Unum etiam : terrae est jam fiiius : et mihi ritu 
 
 Manius hie generis, prope major avunculus exit. 60 
 
 Qui prior es, cur me in decursu lampada poscas ? 
 
 SHm tibi Mercurius : venio deus hue ego, ut ille 
 
 Pingitur. An renuis ? vin" tu gaudere relictis ? 
 
 ' Dcest aliquid summse.' Minui mihi : sed tibi totum est. 
 
 52. " Go to — "] Says Persius — 
 very well, take your own way — think 
 as you please, I am not in the least 
 fear of finding an heir, though I 
 should not have a relation left in the 
 world. 
 
 53. " My aunts."] Amita is the 
 aunt by the father's side-^-the father's 
 sister. 
 
 — u Cousin-german."] Patruelis — 
 a father's brother's son or daughter. 
 
 — M Niece's daughter." \ So pro- 
 neptis signifies. 
 
 54. •' The aunt of my uncle."] — 
 Matertera — matris soror— an aunt by 
 the mother's side. 
 
 — M Lhcd barren."] Had no chil- 
 dren. 
 
 55. M Grandmother."] Avia, the 
 wife of the avus, or grandfather. 
 
 Persius means, that if he had no 
 relation, either near or distant, he 
 should find an heir who would be glad 
 of his estate. 
 
 — " / go to Bo-cilice" ] A town in 
 the Appian way, about eleven miles 
 from Rome, so called from an ox 
 which broke loose from an altar, and 
 was there taken : it was near Aricia, 
 a noted place for beggars, the high- 
 way heing very public. 
 
 Digitus Aricinus qui mendiearet ad 
 axes. See Juv. sat. iv. 1. 115. 
 
 56. " The hill of Virlius."] An 
 hill about four miles from Rome ; so 
 called from Hippolytus, Mho was 
 named Virbius, and worshipped there, 
 on account of his living twice— inter 
 viros bis. See JEn. vii. 761-77. This 
 bill, too, was always filled with beg- 
 
 gars, who took their stands by the 
 road-side. 
 
 — " Manius is ready." £c.} Ma- 
 nius is the name of some beggar, and 
 so put for any ; the first which he 
 met with would immediately be glad 
 to be his heir. Praesto— ready at hand. 
 
 57. " An offspring of euril" — J 
 What, says the other, would you take 
 such a low base-born fellow as that, 
 whose family nobody knows any thing 
 about, a mere son of earth, to be your 
 heir? 
 
 -— " Inquire of me " $r.J As for 
 that, replies Persius, if you were to 
 ask me who was my great grand- 
 father's father, who stood in the 
 fourth degree from my father, I could 
 not very readily inform you. But go 
 a step higher, add one, and then add 
 then add another, I could give you no 
 account at all ; I then must come to 
 a son of earth, nobody knows who, 
 but somebody that, like the rest of 
 mankind, sprung from the earth. 
 
 Empedocles, and some other philo- 
 sophers, held that mankind originally 
 sprang from the earth. 
 
 59-60. " By the course of kin" 
 dred" $c.] Perhaps, in this way of 
 reckoning, as the earth is our com- 
 mon mother, Manius may appear to 
 be my relation, my great uncle for 
 ought I know, or not very far from 
 it ; for as children of one common 
 parent, we must be related. 
 
 61. " You ii'lw are before" <%c.] 
 This line is allegorical, and alludes to 
 a festival at Athens, instituted in ho- 
 nour of Vulcan, or of Prometheus, 
 
sat. vi. PERSIUS'S SATIRES. 411 
 
 " Say you, is not solertile" — " Go to, if none to me 
 
 " Now were left of my aunts, no cousin-german, no niece's 
 
 " daughter 
 " Remains ; the aunt of my uncle has lived barren, 
 " And nothing remains from my grandmother : I go to 
 
 " Bovillae, 55 
 
 " And to the hill of Virbius ; Manius is ready at hand to 
 
 " be my heir" — 
 " An offspring of earth" — " Inquire of me, who my fourth 
 
 " father 
 " May be, I should nevertheless not readily say. Add 
 
 " also one, 
 *' Again one ; he is now a son of earth : and to me, by the 
 
 " course 
 " Of kindred, this Manius comes forth almost my great 
 
 " uncle. 60 
 
 " You who are before, why do you require from me the 
 
 " torch in the race ? 
 " I am to thee Mercury : I a god come hither, as he 
 " Is painted. Do you refuse ? — Will you rejoice in what 
 
 " is left ? 
 " There is wanting something of the sum •" " I have di- 
 
 " minished it for myself, ** 
 
 where a race was run by young men not look on me as thy nearest kins- 
 
 with lighted torches in their hands, man, on thyself as my certain heir, 
 
 and they strove who could arrive first and on my estate as what ought to 
 
 at the end of the race without extin- come to you by right ; but rather 
 
 guishing his torch. If the foremost look on me as the god Mercury, who 
 
 in the race tired as he was running, is the bestower of unlooked-for and 
 
 he gave up the race, and delivered his fortuitous gain. 
 
 torch to the second ; the second, if 62-3. " Js he is painted"] Mer- 
 
 he tired, delivered it to the third, cury, as the god of fortuitous gain, 
 
 and so on, till the race was over. — was painted with a bag of money in 
 
 The victory was his who carried the his hand. Hercules was the god of 
 
 torch lighted to the end of the race. hidden treasures. See sat. ii. 11, and 
 
 Now, says Persius, to his presump- note. Mercury presided over open 
 
 live heir, who appears to be more ad- gain and traffic, and all unexpected 
 
 vanced in life, why do you, who are advantages arising therefrom, 
 
 before me in the race of life, i. e. are 63. " Do yon refuse ?"] Are not 
 
 older than I am, Avant what I have you willing to look upon me in this 
 
 before the course is over, i. e. before light, and to accept what I may leave, 
 
 I die, since, in the course of nature, as merely adventitious ? 
 
 the oldest may die first ? I ought An magis excors 
 
 therefore to expect your estate in- Rejecta predd, qiiam praesens Mer- 
 
 stead of your expecting mine. It is curius fert ? 
 
 the first in the torch-race that, if he Hor. lib. ii. sat. iii. 1. 67, ». 
 
 fails, gives the torch to the second, — " Will you rejoice in what i* 
 
 not the second to the first. See left?"] Will you thankfully and joy- 
 
 Aivsw. Lampasy ad fin. fully take what I leave ? 
 
 62. " / am to thee Mercury."] Do 64, « There is wanting something " 
 
412 
 
 PERSII SATIRE. 
 
 Quicquid id est. Ubi sit, fuge quaerere, quod mihi quon- 
 dam 65 
 Legarat Tadius, neu dicta repone paterna : 
 ' Fcenoris accedat inerces ; hinc exime sumptus. 1 
 
 * Quid reliquum est ? reliquurn ? Nunc, nunc impensius 
 
 unge, 
 Unge, puer, caules. Mihi, festa luce, coquatur 
 Urtica, et fissa fumosum sinciput aure. 70 
 
 1 Vende animam lucro ; mercare ; atque excute solers 
 c Omne latus mundi : ne sit praestantior alter 
 
 • Cappadocas rigida pingues plausisse catasta. 
 
 s Rem duplica.' ' Feci. — Jam triplex ; jam mihi quarto, 
 
 4*c] But methinks you grumble, 
 and find fault that a part of the estate 
 has been spent. 
 
 — " Diminished it for myself."] — 
 Well, suppose my estate to be less 
 than it was, I, that had the right so 
 to do, spent the part of it that is 
 gone upon myself and my own con- 
 cerns. 
 
 6V5. " But you have the rchoh-," 
 $c] But you have all at my decease, 
 whatever that all may be ; you could 
 have no right to any part while I was 
 alive ; so that you have no right to 
 complain, when what I -leave comes 
 whole and entire to you. 
 
 — ** Avoid to ask" See.] Do not 
 offer to inquire what 1 have done with 
 the legacy which my friend Tadius 
 left me, or to bring me to an account 
 concerning that, oy any thing else. 
 
 66. " Paternal sayings."] Nor 
 think of laying down tome, as a rule, 
 the lesson that old covetous fathers 
 inculcate to their sons, whom they 
 wish to make as sordid as themselves. 
 Perhaps repone may here be rightly 
 translated retort (corap. Juv. sat. 1. 
 I. 1, and note) — q. d. Do not cast this 
 in my teeth. 
 
 67. '* Let the gains of usury ," <J-c] 
 q. d. " Put your money out to usury, 
 ** and live upon the interest which 
 M you make, reserving the principal 
 " entire :*' let me hear none of this, 
 says Persius, as if I were bound-to 
 live on the interest of what I 
 have, that the principal may come to 
 you. 
 
 68. *« What is the residue V'"]— 
 Well, but though I may not call you 
 
 to an account about your expences, 
 yet let me ask you how much, after 
 all, may be left for me to inherit. 
 
 — •« The residue !"] Says Persius, 
 with indignation ; since you can ask 
 such a question, as if you meant to 
 bind me down to leave you a certain 
 sum, you shall have nothing, I will 
 spend away as fast as I can. 
 
 — " jVoir, no-jo more expensively" 
 <£c] " Here," says Persius, " slave, 
 " bring me oil, pour it more pro- 
 « fusely over my dish of pot-herbs. 
 " Now" I see that your avarice leads 
 M you to be more concerned about 
 " what I am to leave, than you are 
 44 about my comfort while I live, or 
 ** for my friendship and regard, I 
 *« will even spend away faster than 
 " ever.'* 
 
 70. « A nettle."] Shall I, even 
 upon feast-days when even the poor 
 live better, content myself with hav- 
 ing a nettle cooked for my dinner ? 
 i. e. any vile worthless weed. 
 
 — "And a smoky hog's chtek. ]— 
 An old rusty hog's cheek, with an 
 hole made in the ear by the string 
 which passed through it to hang it up 
 the chimney. 
 
 Sinciput-- -the fore-part, or perhaps 
 one half of the head ; also a hog's 
 cheek. See J uv. sat. xiii. 1. 85, and 
 note. 
 
 Here it is put for any vile and cheap 
 eatable. 
 
 71. " Sell your life for gain*]— 
 Persius having pretty largely set forth 
 how he should treat his supposed heir, 
 who presumed to interfere with his 
 manner of living, or with the dis- 
 
PERSIUS'S SATIRES. 
 
 4rlS 
 
 " But you have the whole, whatever that is : avoid to ask 
 
 " where that is which 65 
 
 " Tadius formerly left me, nor lay down paternal say- 
 
 " ings— 
 " Let the gains of usury accede ; hence take out your ex- 
 
 M pence." 
 " What is the residue ?V« the residue !— Now— now— 
 
 " more expensively anoint, 
 " Anoint, boy, the pot-herbs. Shall there be for me on a 
 
 " festival-day boiled 
 • c A nettle, and a smoky hog's cheek with a cracked ear. 70 
 
 " Sell your life for gain ; buy, and, cunning, search 
 " Every side of the world : let not another exceed you 
 " In applauding fat Cappadocians in a rigid cage. 
 "Double your estate: — " I have done it: — Now three- 
 
 " fold, now to me the fourth time, 
 
 posal of his fortune while alive ; and 
 all this in answer to what the raiser 
 had said, on not daring to sell any 
 part of his estate in order to relieve 
 his shipwrecked friend, for fear his 
 heir should resent it after his decease 
 (see 1. 33-7.) now concludes the Satire 
 with some ironical advice to the mi- 
 ser, in which he shews that the de- 
 mands of avarice are insatiable. 
 
 If, after all I have said, you still 
 persist in laying up riches, and hoard- 
 ing for those who are to come after 
 you, even take your com'se, and see 
 what will be the end of it ; or rather 
 you will see no end of it, for neither 
 you, nor your heir, will ever be satis- 
 fied. However, sell your life and all 
 the comforts of it— i. d expose it to 
 every difficulty and danger : in short, 
 take all occasions to make money, let 
 the risk be what it may. See sat. v. 
 L 133-6. Epitrope. 
 
 71. " Buy."] Purchase whatever 
 will turn to profit. 
 
 — " Cunning."] Shrewd, dextrous, 
 in your dealings. 
 
 71-2. " Search every side of the 
 'world."] Sail to every part of the 
 world, that you may find new articles 
 of merchandize. 
 
 72. " Let not another exceed" §c] 
 Make yourself thorough master of the 
 slave-trade, that you may know how 
 to bring slaves to market, and to 
 commend and set them off to the 
 
 best advantage. Plausisse— literally, 
 to have clapped with the hand. It 
 was customary for the mangones, or 
 those who dealt in slaves, to put them 
 into a sort of cage, called catasta, in 
 the forum, or market-place, where the 
 buyers might see them : to whom 
 the owners commended them for their 
 health, strength, and fitness for the 
 business for which they Avanted them ; 
 also they clapped or slapped their 
 bodies with their hands, to shew the 
 hardness and firmness of their flesh. 
 The slaves had fetters on ; therefore 
 the poet says — rigid catasta. They 
 had arts to pamper them, to make 
 them look sleek and fat ; they also 
 painted them to set them off, as to 
 their complexion and countenance: 
 hence the slave-dealers were called 
 mangones. See Ainsw. Mango. 
 
 73. " Fat Cappadocians."] Cap- 
 padocia was a large country in the 
 Lesser Asia, famous for horses, mules, 
 and slaves. It has been before ob- 
 served, that the slaves, when im-, 
 ported for sale, were pampered to 
 make them appear sleek and fat— 
 or perhaps we may understand, by 
 pingues, here, that the Cappadocians 
 were naturally more plump and lusty 
 than others. 
 
 74. '* Double your estate."] i. e. 
 By the interest which you make. 
 
 — " / have done it."] That, says 
 the miser, I have already done. 
 
414 
 
 PERSII SATIRE. 
 
 ' Jam decies redit in rugam. Depunge ubi sistam, 
 1 Inventus, Chrysippe, tui finitor acervi !* 
 
 75 
 
 75. ** Ten times it returns into a 
 fold."] i. e. It is now tenfold. Me- 
 taph. from garments, which, the 
 fuller they are, the more folds they 
 make : hence duplex, from duo, two, 
 and plico, to fold — triplex, from tres, 
 and plico, &c. So the verbs, du- 
 plico, to double, to make two-fold — 
 triplico, &c. Ruga, Gr. f vrtq a qvu 
 -» -i. e. igvoi, traho, quod ruga cus- 
 tim aut vestem in plicas contrahat. 
 See Ainsw. 
 
 — M Mark <7<?r/<»," £c] Depunge 
 — metaph. from marking points on a 
 balance, at which the needle, or beam, 
 stopping, gave the exact weight. 
 
 The miser, finding his desires in- 
 crease, as his riches increase, knows 
 not where to stop : 
 
 Crescit amor nuvimi quantum ipsa 
 pecunia crescit. 
 
 Juv. sat. xiv. I. 139. 
 
 76. M O Chrysippus," <§c] A 
 Stoic philosopher, a disciple of Zeno, 
 or, according to others, of Cleanthes. 
 He was the inventor of the argument, 
 or vicious syllogism, called sorites, 
 from Gr. cwgoj, an heap, it consist- 
 
 ing of a great number of propositions 
 heaped one upon the other, so that 
 there was hardly any end to be found 
 — A proper emblem of covetous de- 
 sire, which is continually increasing. 
 
 Persius calls Chrysippus, inventus 
 finitor, the only finisher, that was 
 found, of his own heap — because he 
 investigated the method of putting 
 an end to the propositions, or ques- 
 tions, in that mode of argument, 
 and wrote four books on the subject. 
 
 This the poet may be supposed to 
 be deriding in this place, as in truth 
 an impossible thing, Chrysippus him- 
 self having devised no better expe- 
 dient, than to state only a certain 
 number of propositions, and then to 
 be silent. But this would not do, he 
 might be forced on, ad infinitum, by 
 a question on what he said last. See 
 Cic. Acad. Qu. lib. ii. 29. 
 
 Marshall reads this line : 
 
 11 Inventor, Chrysippe, tui, et Jini- 
 u tor acervi." 
 " Sic legas meo periculo," says he, 
 " sensu multo concinniore." 
 
 O Chrysippus ! thou that couldst 
 
SAT. VI. 
 
 PERSIUS'S SATIRES. 
 
 415 
 
 " Now ten times it returns into a fold ; mark down where I 
 " shall stop, 75 
 
 u O Chrysippus, the found finisher of your own heap." 
 
 invent, and set bounds to thy increas- 
 ing sorites, teach me to set bounds to 
 my increasing avarice. Iron. The 
 miser is supposed to be wearied out 
 with the insatiableness of his avari- 
 cious desires, and longs to see an end 
 put to them — but in vain. 
 
 Having now finished my work, 
 which, like the sorites of Chrysippus, 
 has, from the variety and redundancy 
 of the matter, been so long increas- 
 ing under my hands, much beyond 
 what I at first expected, I should 
 hope that the Reader, so far from 
 blaming the length of the perfor- 
 mance, will approve the particularity, 
 and even minuteness, of the obser- 
 vations, which I have made on the 
 preceding Satires of Juvenal and Per- 
 sius, as on all hands they are allowed 
 to be the most difficult of the Latin 
 writers; therefore mere cursory re- 
 marks, here and there scattered on 
 particular passages, would assist the 
 Reader but little, in giving him a 
 complete and consistent view of the 
 whole; to this end every separate 
 part should be explained, that it may 
 fee well understood and properly ar- 
 
 ranged within the mind: this, I 
 trust, will stand as an apology for the 
 length of these papers, which, where- 
 ever they may find their way, will be 
 attended with the Editor's best wishes, 
 that they may carry those solid and 
 weighty instructions to the mind, 
 which it is the business of our two 
 Satirists to recommend — Delectando 
 pariterque monendo. 
 
 However Persius may be deemed 
 inferior to Juvenal as a poet, yet he 
 is his equal as a moralist ; and as to 
 the honesty and sincerity with which 
 he wrote — " There is a spirit of sin- 
 •' cerity," says Mr; Dryden, " in all 
 " he says — in this he is equal to Ju- 
 M venal, who was as honest and 
 " serious as Persius, and more he 
 " could not be." 
 
 I have observed, in several parts of 
 the foregoing notes on Persius, his 
 imitations of Horace— The reader 
 may see the whole of these accurately 
 collected, and observed upon — Ca- 
 saub. Persiana Horatii Imitatio, at 
 the end of his Commentaries on the 
 Satires. 
 
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