i I tiifiililiiW ' J f THE Satires JUVENAL. TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH VERSE ; BY CHARLES BADHAM, M. D, WITH NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS, Humani generis Mores tibi nosse volenti Sufficit. Sat. xiii. L. 159- LONDON: IPrinteD hi 8, % ®almtett Hane T FOR MESSRS. LONGMAN, HURST, REES, OKM£, AND BROWN ; LAW; RICHARDSON; RIVINGTON ; LACKINGTON, ALLEN, AND CO.; LUNN ; DULAU. 1814. \9 * £ ?; atibertfeement I advanced some considerable length in the following translation, with no design beyond the mere pleasure of the occupa- tion ; nor was it till I had written much s that the question arose whether what I had written might merit that painful and scru- pulous revision, which the thought of publi- cation would impose. I knew that Juvenal had been already several times translated ; with what degree of success, at this period of my undertaking, I did not enquire, for IV I was well persuaded that to all performan- ces of this kind a sufficient portion of failure must of necessity adhere, to exonerate from every reasonable charge of presump- tion the individual, who might choose to engage anew in the undertaking : a certain share of success might still, I thought, with no disrespectful sentiments towards the labors of others, be earned by my own. In this expectation, (which survived, I confess, some acquaintance with those labors,) if I should have erred, if I have thrown away the often painful application of more than two years, (for vast indeed is the difference between the delight of composition, and the irksome penance of revision, and correc- tion) the Critic, who gains an occupation usually, I believe, agreable, in proportion to what he apprehends to be the failure of the work he criticises, will surely not com- plain; the Printer laudably employed in his vocation will not complain; and least of all will those, if such there be, who con- sider me as an invader of their province. But I have already, in some measure, explored mj way : I have already been greeted as well by the encouragement of friends — Sj§*o-tov axqoct^cC — as by the sinistral croakings of those, who have unfortunately thought it necessary to be enemies : the fate of the book, which I now submit to the award of the Public, will necessarily in a few years, (and this is some consolation to those who hold the same opinions with myself concerning the craft of modern criti- cism) be settled independently of either. Part of this last sentence contemplates more imme- diately the circumstance of my having, two years since, printed and distributed a translation of the first Satire, which was attacked, (to be sure with as little of generalship as of good manners) in the Quarterly Review. The language in which the writer thought proper to in- dulge was certainly most offensive : He may now enjoy, if he likes it, the reflection that he has neither been able to suppress, nor (a year and eight months having since elapsed) in the smallest degree to precipitate the appearance of the VI work, which apparently cost him so much uneasiness. To have been the subject of unprovoked insult, as well as of substantial injury, might perhaps justify me in using some freedom of expression respecting the conduct of that publication ; as to the insult, however, the ruffian style of Criticism happily defeats its own end ; and as to the injury, I leave the remedy of it to time : to be av>jxooj Xoilofna.;, has seldom for the last 10 or 12 years been the privilege of an author. I cannot, however, but wonder that the Critical bench has not long since revised its penal code, seeing that the ?ijpa Qavarov, of which it has been so prodigal, has so marvellously failed. They have gone on for many years with this plan, often agreably embellishing their capital punishments with a little preliminary torture, inflicted with much good will, and considerable address. The Public is almost sickened with literary impalements and cruci- fixions — yet offenders are more numerous than ever : ij TOtVUV BstVOTSpOV TJ TOUTOV &£0£ SUpSTSQV £(TTIV, Y} Tods y£ OodsV stthtxsi. a\\' H MEN TIENIA ava.yy.Yi ryv rokpav waps- yrovara. — AI A' AAAAl STNTTXIAI, opyy tcov uvQgWTTMv, «wj sxacmj tij yanyzTai ux' avv}x.sj PREFACE. The art of Translation every one will allow to be full of difficulties, and the specimens of success in it to be fewer than in almost any branch of lite- rature. Whether the subject be an Historian, an Orator, or a Poet, the difficulties of treating it are quite inconceivable till the experiment be made. — From causes inherent to the very nature of the undertaking, success cannot by any degree of atten- tion be rendered uniform, and accordingly it is not perhaps too much to say, that there are scarcely any versions of Latin or Greek writers, certainly not of Poets, within many degrees of general excellence. The best I apprehend to be full of conspicuous fail- ures"; and, perhaps, not a few passages even of Pope's Homer may be read with little pleasure, excepting that derived from the highly finished versification, which in the works of this great Master generally consists more in the surprisingly harmonious struc- ture, than even in the termination of his lines. Vlll After this avowal of an opinion respecting trans- lations in general, nobody will, I hope, apprehend that I am a stranger to the defects of my own. Setting aside the greater works of this class incorpo- rated into the body of English poetry, mine will, I expect, be found with the rest to partake of that mixed character, which, I believe, must belong more or less to this species of writing. The public decision concerning the merit of translated poets comes, I believe, at last to be founded on the success of the finer passages, of such as are best recollected of the original — an opinion which takes it indeed for granted that trans- lated Poetry is most acceptable to those who are not unacquainted with its original ; a point on which my persuasion is so strong, that I greatly doubt not only whether Juvenal, in English, can ever become a favorite, but even whether Virgil be so. It appears to me that the pleasure derived from translations is of that kind chiefly which arises from contemplating all successful imitation, a pleasure of which every one is sensible, when the version recovers to his memory the faint and the nearly forgotten traces of the original. I am pretty certain too, that on this subject all the preceding translators of Juvenal have been of my way of thinking, (otherwise to what purpose the well-mar- shalled approbation and seductive notes, in which they take the reader aside to agitate critical ques- IX tions, or to display their reading in citations from authors more difficult than Juvenal himself?) and I still incline to believe that ' one John Dry den, an obscure poet of the seventeenth century ',' as little expected/ as the facetious person who cites him would have a right to expect, (supposing he had engaged in the same labor,) to be read or to be ad- mired by the generality of the reading part of his countrymen. As to the degree of closeness to which I should adhere in my translation, the manner of its com- mencement, (which I have mentioned,) excluded at the outset, any particular rule. Whatever principles I have adopted, presented themselves as I went on, and guided me more in correction than in coni' position. I apprehend indeed, that no canons of this nature can well be laid down in translating poetry, or would have any chance of being acted upon, if they were. 1 It must happen, at one time, the closest version will be also the most spirited, at another the reverse. Yet it will probably be seen, that I have on the whole judged strictness of inter- pretation to consist to a greater degree with the other objects which a translator proposes to himself, than is usually thought ; and, accordingly, I have 1 The very interesting and able volume on the « Princi- ples of Translation/ will assist much more in judging of the merits of this species of composition, than in the conduct of it. comprised the whole work in a much smaller num- ber of lines than has hitherto been done. But although I have endeavoured not to lose sight of this principle in general, I have never scrupled to abandon it, wherever the exigency of the case seemed so to require. I have also been scrupu- lous not to use any liberties with the author, except- ing such as are sanctioned by general practice, and are for the most part unavoidable; such as an occasional expansion of the original thought, or the introduction of an expletive line, chiefly with a view to make the transitions less abrupt, the con- nection of subjects more clear. As to disputed passages, it has been my practice to adopt what I considered to be the easiest sense they would bear. In compiling a set of notes for this work, my dif- ficulties were not few. Many subjects formerly very fit for investigation are now well understood ; common place learning is more general, and the readers of the classics are wisely more indifferent to the notes and digressions, of which the quantity seems to recommend certain editions to some pur- chasers. * Some of my own labors in this way will * The manner, in which the commentators sometimes follow each other, maybe compared not ill-naturedly to a custom said to obtain among the Arabians, who when they wish to lead a file of camels through deep water, select a quadruped remark- able for its length of ears, and for that species of courage which arises from insensibility to danger, to head the cara- van — to such a guide the camels willingly commit themselves! XI appear, I doubt not, a little erratic ; but what was to be done? If I had always written on the very same points as others, there are good natured per- sons who would have made this circumstance an objection, as depriving my work of the only chance of novelty. Readers, who are unaccustomed to the marches and countermarches of the modern school of illustration, may now and then be surprised, but I can only say, that it was in my power, strictly within precedent, if not within rule, to have alarmed them more. If I have detained them with an account of the fires of Rome, from which Umbritius, more fortunate, made his escape, they will pardon me, I hope, in consideration of my general forbear- ance. Lastly, on the subject of my versification, I beg to say, that while strength has been more particu- larly my object, I am yet painfully conscious that a number of feeble and unsightly lines have escaped expulsion; but the labor of correcting is endless, and it became a duty to fix an arbitrary and impassable limit to further solicitude on this subject. If my book should ever be reprinted, I shall not fail to improve my opportunity ; but, for the present, I feel myself compelled to pause. I am not, indeed, now conscious of pushing my labors on the world with an indecent haste, or without a due regard for that good taste which is so much diffused through society. Yet I could still employ many additional Xll hours, if they were afforded to me, in rendering this volume less unworthy of the favor for which it is a can- didate. But my experience of the changes and chan- ces of human life, and more than one painful inter- ruption, which has thrown aside the manuscript for months, seem to justify me in thus avoiding any longer delay in publication, and, at the same time, warn me to quit pursuits, to which inclination has perhaps too powerfully solicited, for other cares which constitute the proper business of my life. CONCERNING THE 3Ufe anD JKHrtttngs OF JUVENAL. As our information concerning the lives of most of the classic authors of antiquity seldom depends on any express documents which they have left, and is for the most part deduced from collateral events and the meagre authority of dates and con- sulships, we need not be surprised that all which is recorded of Juvenal, in the brief account which passes under the name of Suetonius, should be so far from satisfying that curiosity, which a character so energetic, and of necessity so conspicuous, would naturally invite. The proper and more favorite ob- jects of the muse, if they do not conciliate the regard and earn the applause of their own age, have at least none of those qualities, which alarm jealousy XIV or stimulate revenge. Far otherwise is it with the historian of a turbulent, or the satirist of a corrupt, period of society, who, if at all formidable from their talents, must necessarily (provided they have the courage to avow their productions) attain a dangerous eminence among the public characters of their times. We may, therefore, well conceive* from the power of his compositions at this distance of time, what must have been the sensation pro- duced by the satires of Juvenal, when read by thousands who understood every line, every word, and entered into every allusion, and when many or most of the characters exposed in them were fa- miliar to the streets of Rome. Notwithstanding all these considerations, the exact period, during which Juvenal florished is far from being uncontested, or accurately settled. If he was born about the beginning of the reign of Claudius (A. D. 42.) and lived to be eighty years of age., which (not to dwell on his calling himself an old man in one of the satires, nor on the Epigram of Martial addressed to him in the reign of Trajan,) there is good reason to think he did; he must necessarily have seen the Roman empire under a great variety of masters (Empe- rors were then often short lived), and have wit- nessed the enormities of its capital through the successive reigns of Nero, Galba, Otho, Vitel- lius, as well as those of Vespasian, Titus, Do- XV mitian, Nerva, and Trajan, Noverat ille Luxuriam Imperii veterem, Noctesque Neronis. It may well, then, be a matter of surprise and of some perplexity in his history, that a character, so in- trepid, should have lived, as he is said to have done, till middle age before he wrote at all ; that he should pass over the horrible excesses of the reign of Nero, to expose more particularly those of Domitian's ; and that (with the exception of a line of reproach to Otho's memory for carry- ing a looking-glass to the camp) he should not have devoted a single passage in any of his satires to the memory of some of the most atrocious characters, that ever disgraced a throne ! Juvenal must have been 27 years of age, when Nero met with his well merited reward : it is true that the satirist has bestowed on the memory of this prince some just compliments and very natural reflections. True also that he has touched on his penchant for the treasures of his subjects, (Sat. x. 15.) and for the persons of their sons, (x. 509.) and farther true that the advantages, which the youth of Rome derived during his reign from being scrofulous and deformed, Utcro pariter gibboque tumentes, XVI are very distinctly placed to his account : nor has he ungratefully omitted to commemorate the op- portunity, which this valiant prince afforded to his nobility of displaying their courage, in fighting with wild beasts, with Gladiators, or with one another, on the Arena — But still, the wreath which he fixes on the brow of Nero wants the freshness of the garland, which he has woven for Domitian ; and though he makes very merry with poor Claudius and his mushroom (v. 147. vi. 115. xiv. 330.), yet we hear nothing (perhaps Juvenal was then too young to notice them) of the atrocities of his reign, nor of those which disgraced the brief go- vernment of the detestable Vitellius. To the memory of Galba he seems to have been partial ; (ii. 104,) To Nerva and Trajan he never alludes, unless the beginning of the seventh satire, which has been claimed for each of them, belong to either. In none, however, of these or similar passages, does he decidedly speak like a man who had lived in the times alluded to : he seems, indeed, to have studiously misled us, inasmuch as all that he has any where said of any of the emperors might con- sist with their having lived a century before him, and no light whatever with regard to his own life or circumstances is afforded by any of the satires, in which allusions occur to those earlier reigns, under which he must necessarily have lived. We XV11 must, therefore, be content with the very meagre information, That Juvenal, the greatest satirist of any age, was born in the small town of Aquinum, during the reign of Claudius, and died in advanced life, most likely under that of Adrian, but how or where, is utterly unknown, . Only one specific event of his life is well establish- ed ; namely, his visit to Egypt under Domitian, which is recorded by Suidas, and alluded to by himself (Sat. xv. throughout). This visit is commonly sup- posed to have been involuntary, and that he was exiled thither by Domitian, at the instance of Paris, a pantomime player, on whose preposterous abuse of influence he had reflected. There can be little doubt, that however feeble the pretence, Domitian must have gladly availed himself of it, in order to remove so troublesome and so bold an inspector. Others, again, have thought that Juvenal travelled to Egypt for improvement. This country had indeed been frequented on such motives, but it was in more distant times, and in a much earlier stage of human knowledge. The ancient fame of Egypt now lay buried with the ruins of Thebes, and the dilapidated statue of Memnon ; nor is it in the least probable that this country could any longer invite the inves- tigation of a polished people, who justly held the people of the Nile as a race of infatuated savages, I think it therefore most probable that Juvenal JltV. b y XV111 went thither at the cost of the state, 4 Irati histrio- nis exul] which is the common opinion. Nothing whatever is known of his family, except that he was the son of a rich freedman, who gave him a liberal education, and bred him to the bar. The biographer adds, ' incertumjilius mi alumnus.' 1 This fact, if it is a fact, is extraordinary, as he speaks with invariable scorn of the ■ Liberti' and the advancement of their children, and dwells with peculiar pride on the honor of being a Roman citi- zen ; indeed, the value he places on this distinction is so conspicuous and general, that it may well out- weigh the assertion of an unknown writer of his life, the authority of whose materials we are not able to decide. That Juvenal was never married we may fairly . infer from his sixth satire; or else, that he was married unfortunately. Among his contemporaries were Quintilian, Martial, Statius, Lucan, Seneca, Persius. It is difficult to conceive how any doubt can ever have been entertained respecting the personal character of Juvenal, and the excellence of his de- sign ; of Juvenal, who, whether he denounces the grosser vices, or exposes folly and hypocrisy ; whe- j ther he delights to enlarge upon the simplicity of / former times, or probes the corruption of his own ; I whether he draws the picture of a cottage group, or XIX court, is always so plainly in earnest ; who, far from being a frigid declaiiner against vice, betrays every-where the resolute and indignant spirit of his own Lucilius, and the animation of a sincere friend to virtue. That he enlarged on disgusting topics, only with a view (however liable to exception) to make their turpitude so palpable and shocking, as to cover those who were addicted to them with confusion, is but a fair and charitable ex- planation, which, in contemplation of his general ^ character and design, we are bound, I think, ••• to accept. We are moreover to recollect, in discussing offences against delicacy, that tras is not like some of the higher virtues, referable to an immutable standard in all ages and countries, but a state of feeling ever fluctuating, destitute- of fixed limitation, and merely that, which shocks the general sense of our own times. The nqftptfers of his age must therefore be taken into the account, in reference to a freedom of expression whicfywould be intolerable to ours. Sometimes, indeed, it might be, and in the most offensive passage in all his works, it will occur to every one, that it was from design that our poet had recourse to peculiar coarse- ness of expression. How successfully ! for is it possible that any other sentiment than that of ab- horrence and disgust can ever have been suggested by it ? It really appears to me, that the great Sati- rist was so sensibly alive to the interests of virtue, XX as to be not only offended by crime, but shocked by impropriety. I have no doubt, that to his mind, the indecorous dress of the magistrate, the theatri- cal exposure of the nobles, were, as he represents them, subjects of humiliation and of regret. In the midst of a most profligate and degenerate city, this august reformer would appear to have sus- tained an highly important, although a self-assumed office, in holding up to his countrymen incessantly the alarming depravity into which Rome was fast, merging ; in denouncing vice of every kind, and fixing an indelible stigma on those who habitually pr-aetised it ; in respecting and claiming respect for virtue, inculcating both directly and indirectly re- verence for the Deity, insisting on personal good- ness, as the only claim to distinction, the only foundation for happiness ; and in pointing out to man, *'with the indifference of a superior being (as Mr. Gibbon beautifully expresses it,) the vanity /of his hopes and of his disappointments.' In a state where none any longer valued the name of a Roman, or felt an interest beyond the present hour, it was matter of pride to him to have been nourished on the Sabine olive, and to regard effeminate and corrupt foreigners with a love of country worthy of the severest times of his own * bearded Kings/ He was a true philosopher, without the fetters of a system, or the pride of making proselytes. His XXI own religious views were eminently superior, and though, like the sage, ' dulci vicinus Hymetto? he would not perhaps have shocked the prejudices of his country, by refusing to sacrifice a cock to JEscu- lapius, his own notions of the divine government were better worthy of times just beginning to dawn, perhaps inconsciously derived from them, and such as would have in all probability made him a willing disciple of the great preacher who was then calling the Pagan world from the altars of an unknown God. The merits of Juvenal as a writer of satire are such and so great, that he leaves all others of this class at a distance. Less sportive than Horace, he was an equal master of all the intricacies of the human heart, though, unlike to the bard of Venusium, who di- verted himself with the weaknesses, he applied himself to correct the wickedness, of human nature. Never so much himself as when he assumes the tone of indignation, apostrophises the virtuous founders of the republic, or pours down his invec- tive on some conspicuous criminal, he is yet singu- larly happy in his strokes of irony and of humour 5 and in the skilful introduction of oblique and in- direct satire. The amiable feelings, indeed, have been denied, or sparingly conceded to Juvenal, and it must be allowed that his writings contain fewer passages, on which a claim to such a complexion of XX11 character might be directly founded ; yet are they not deficient in many passages of much tenderness and sensibility. The severe, however, and the aw- ful, are plainly the leading features or his muse, and those in which the ascendancy of his genius is most conspicuous. That he is sometimes almost im- penetrably obscure, and on the whole, among the most difficult of the Latin Classics, arises mostly from the very nature of satire ; for here, as well as in the Comedy of the Antients, a variety of local institutions, and traits of antient usage, very im- perfectly known, must necessarily render the study of these writings far more difficult, and less in- teresting than of those productions, which speak not the local and confined idiom of the manners, but the universal language of the passions of man- kind. There is no Latin author who has been so often and so variously translated as Juvenal. A prose translation of a. poet would indeed appear to be a great absurdity, yet there are no less than three of these bald and insipid performances in English. Even for the purpose of facilitating an acquaintance with their originals, poetical versions are far to be preferred, as they endeavour to unite something of the stile and the beauties of an author with his meaning. Such versions also seem to avoid the objection of doing every thing for the learner with- out his own labor, for while they cannot in any xxm degree supersede the necessity of application, they supply a clue, which, by putting the student in possession of the general scope of his author, must necessarily- ceconomise his time. There is one prose version, however, of Juvenal which seems to require a more respectful mention, and which is in some esteem both on account of the general fidelity of the interpretation, and of the notes which are annexed to it. I mean that of Mr. Dusaulx in the French language. The translations of Holyday and of Stapylton, would not suffer much injustice in being classed with the former, for of poetry they are very com- pletely destitute. That of Holyday will, however, always maintain its claims to attention from the very full explanatory apparatus annexed to each satire. But Dryden has sufficiently exposed the strange fancy of rendering the Latin into the same number of English lines. The peculiar merit, in- deed, of the original, that brevity, which £ after retrenching whatever is superfluous, includes the principal thought, in a precise and vigorous expres- sion,' * ought certainly to be the main object in the view of a translator, but it is plainly not to be obtained after the manner in which Holyday in- tended to succeed. The great danger to which a 1 Gibbon. XXIV translator of Juvenal is exposed, is, no doubt, that of feebleness and redundancy, but it is not thus to be avoided. Of the version called Dryden's, but a small part was executed by himself : he had the assistance of seven hands, all very unequal to his own, some very unworthy of such a confederacy. The part, 3rd, 6th, 10th, and 16th, were by himself, two were executed by Tate, two by Charles Dryden. Of the remainder, one fell to the share respectively of Duke, Bowles, Stepney, Harvey, Long, Power, and Creech. The character even of his own parts of the performance is, I think, unequal to Dryden's reputation, and very far inferior to his Persius, which is remarkably spirited, and well merits the complimentary Prologue of Congreve. There are interspersed, indeed, throughout, redeeming pas- sages of great brilliancy, but these scintilla? some- times render the neighbouring darkness only more observable. One of his best passages is the following transla- tion of the well known and beautifully descriptive lines beginning In mllem Egeria descendimus, Sat. iii. 1. Into this lonely vale our steps we bend, I, and my sullen, discontented friend ! XXV The marble caves, and aqueducts we view, But how adulterate now and different from the true ! How much more beauteous had the fountain been, Ejnbellish'd with her first created green, Where crystal streams through living turf had run, Contented with an urn of native stone. Yet in the same satire occurs the following vile paraphrase, in the very worst taste of the times : The greasy gown, sully'd with often turning , Gives a good hint to say the man's in mourning ; Or if the shoe be ript or patches put, He's wounded, see the plaster on his foot. Mr. Tate has translated the second satire with an accuracy, the want of adherence to which we should have more than pardoned. The fourth is indifferently rendered by Mr. Duke, but does not deserve to be singled out as the worst of the performance. The fifth is not ill translated, as to faithfulness, by Mr. Bowles. In the sixth we again recognise the hand of the great master, who seems here to have written The seventh satire is by C. Dry den, the whole of it, well, and parts of it excellently done. The passages, respecting Tongilius and Quintilian, are very successful. XXVI Stepney, who in the eighth satire, makes the race horse * Print with his hoofs his conquest in the dust ;' unmercifully consigns an inferior animal of the species To turn a mill or drag a loaded life Beneath two panniers and a baker's wife ! Of Mr. Harvey, who undertook the ninth (and whom I can by no means agree to consider as the best of the associates) I remark that he made the most filthy passages, till then probably in existence, more foul, and the obscenities more ob- scene. We are now arrived at the tenth satire, con- cerning which, every thing is interesting. Here Dry den often deserts the original, and indulges throughout in great latitude of interpretation, yet finer lines than may be extracted from this poem are of no common occurrence : The cloven helm, the arch of victory, On whose high convex sits a captive foe, And sighing casts a mournful look below ! And again, XXV11 Should some wild fig-tree take her native bent, And heave below the gaudy monument, Would crack the marble titles and disperse The characters of all the lying verse. For sepulcres themselves must crumbling fall In Time's abyss, the common grave of all. Or still more beautifully, Griefs always green, a household still in tears, "1 Sad pomps : a threshold throng'd with daily biers, V And liveries of black for length of years. \ It is seldom that the triplet, which makes such a conspicuous figure in this translation throughout, comprises three such good lines — indeed, as em- ployed by these translators, it is usually a defor- mity. Priam falling at the altar is made with some quaintness, but still with much beauty, ' A Soldier half, and half a sacrifice.' If in these passages, and a great many single lines, such as ' With sores and sicknesses beleaguer'd round ' * The sleeping tyrant's interdicted door,' we recognise the pen of Dryden, it seems on the other hand unworthy of the great poet, to XXV111 say of Xerxes that he ' had not a mighty penny- worth of his prayer;' of Nile that he ' was tired of carrying his waters so far;' or of Hannibal's picture, ' that it did not deserve a frame.' The eleventh satire was the work of Congreve ; it is loosely interpreted, and the obscene passages (as usual in this translation) improved. Indeed it is plain throughout, that the translators have indem- nified themselves for the necessity of suppressing words by dilating ideas; and that they have ac- cordingly made it more inflammatory than the original. The twelfth satire is Mr. Power's, I know not who would desire to rob him of the credit of it. If it has a good line it is the last : ' Nor ever be, nor exerjind a friend.' Mr. Creech has done great injustice, and injury too, to the 1 3th, by slurring over the fine passages with which it abounds, and by foisting in dull com- mon places about Damocles and Phaeton. He has conspicuously failed in the highly finished picture of the self-inflicted torments of the guilty towards the conclusion of the piece. The younger Dryden translated the fourteenth, and Mr. Tate the fifteenth, satires. The former has nothing worthy of particular remark. Tate's is XXIX spirited enough, and upon the whole it is to him I should assign the second place of merit, — — ornatur lauro collega secunda. In this brief review of the different translators of the Roman satirist, it would be wrong to omit the mention of John Oldham, the contemporary and friend of Dryden : he was the first who attempted to accommodate Juvenal in a free paraphrase, to modern times, arid made the third and thirteenth satires the subjects of his attempt In some lines inscribed to his memory by Dryden, he pronounces upon his merits with the partiality of friendship in terms which posterity has certainly not ratified : For sure our souls were near allied, and thine Cast in the same poetic mould with mine. In his Preface, Oldham says, * I resolved to alter the scene from Rome to London, and to make use of English names of men, places, and customs, where the parallel would decently permit.' So that he set the example which Johnson so much im- proved upon : his versification, however, is rough, his parallels obscure, unhappy, and he is often very deficient in spirit. As Fate would hav't on the appointed day Of parting time, I met him on the way XXX Hard by Mile End, the place so fam'd of late In prose and verse for the great faction's treat : Here we stood still, and after compliments Of course, and wishing him good journey hence, I ask'd what sudden causes made him fly The once-lov'd town and his dear company. Such is the figure which Umbritius makes under the hands of Oldham. With much absurdity, he transfers the squabble for seats in the theatre, to the church. Turn out there, friend, cries one at church, the pew Is not for such mean scoundrel curs as you. Quando in consilio est adilibus fyc. assumes the following strange phraseology : What man of sense that's poor, e'er summon'd is Among the common council to advise 1 At vestry consults when does he appear "\ For choosing of some parish officer, \ Or making leathern buckets for the choir ? V So much for parallels and Mr. John Oldham. By which, of all the processes which blind our Judge- ment, or modify our sincerity in the expression of it, J could Dry den have been influenced, when he so complimented — not the man, but his memory? I have seen a volume of much later date, in which all the satires of Juvenal are tortured in this XXX I way. Supposing materials to exist for such illus- tration, it were far easier to work those materials into original composition. Two conditions are evi- dently wanting for success in this perilous under- taking. 1st, Instances sufficiently close to those of the original to afford pleasure by that resemblance. Sdly, Instances sufficiently familiar. Johnson was in this respect particularly happy, nor is it unlikely that to the fortunate parallelism of his two promi- nent characters to those of Juvenal, we owe his ad- mirable satire on the vanity of human wishes. In his paraphrase of the thirteenth satire ? Oldham adopted instances then perhaps, (at least some of them) fresh in memory, but not calculated to strike posterity. Confer et hos veteris, fyc. Sat. xiii. 147". Compare the villains who cut throats for bread, Or houses fire, of late a gainful trade, By which our city was in ashes laid. Compare the sacrilegious burglary From which no place can sanctuary be — Which rifles churches of communion plate, Which good King Edward's days did dedicate. Think, who durst steal St Alban's font of brass. That christen'd half the royal Scottish race,— Who stole the chalices at Chichester, In which themselves received the day before— Or that bold daring hand, of fresh renown, Who scorning common booty ? took a crown. I XXX11 Compare too, if you please, the horrid plot With all the perjuries to make it out, Or make it nothing, for the last three years Add to it Thynne's and Godfrey's murderers ; And if these seem but slight and trivial things, Add those that have, and would have murder'd kings. Thus far, in remarking on the productions of more distant times, I have incurred no risque of offence. With those of a more recent date, it is not for me to interfere — Escaping, therefore, from all such perils, and commending my work to the indulgence of the reader, I deliver it into his hands in the words of D'Alembert: " I should think myself happy in ob- " taining the suffrage of a small number of persons, " who, by their knowledge of the Nature of the two " languages, the genius of the original, and the true " principles of translating, are capable of estimating " the pains I have taken. With respect to those who " only believe they are, I have nothing to expect or " to demand from them. " The only favor I wish to receive from those " whom I acknowledge to be true Judges is, not to " confine themselves to the discovery of my faults, " but to offer me at the same time the means of cor- " recting them. Of all the injuries translators have " a right to resent, many of which I have already re- " marked, the principal is the manner in which they " have been accustomed to be censured. I dont XXX111 " speak of those silly, vague, false criticisms, which " deserve no attention ; I speak of censure that is not " without grounds, and equitable in appearance. Yet " even this, I say, in subjects of translation, is not " warrantable. We may judge of -a free work with- " out reserve, and content ourselves with exposing " its faults in a just criticism, because the author was " master of his plan, of what he ought to say, and- " the manner of saying it ; but the translator is in a " state of constraint on all sides ; obliged to advance " in a narrow and slippery path, not of his own choos- " ing, and sometimes to throw himself on one side " to escape a precipice ; so that, to criticise upon " him with justice, it is not sufficient to show he " has committed a fault, he must be convinced " that he could have done better, or as well, with- " out so doing : In vain will it be to reproach him, " that his translation wants a rigorous justness, if " it cannot be proved, that he could preserve this " justness without ceasing to be agreeable ; in vain " will it be to pretend, that he has not given the " full idea of his author, unless it can be shown, " that this was possible, without rendering the copy " feeble and languid ; in vain will it be to accuse " his translation of harshness, if another is not sub- <£ stituted in its stead, more natural and forcible. " To correct the mistakes of an author is merit in " a common critic, but is a duly in the censor of " a translation. Juv. c XXXIV " It is not to be wondered at then, if, in this kind of writing, as in all others, good critics should be as scarce as good compositions. And why should it be so? Satire is so very con- venient ! The generality are lavish of it to show their acuteness. ! Tis true learning alone that gives us a security, I will not say for being esteemed, but I will say, for being read." 3ftt*ex. Satire i. PAGE. Motives and Objects of Satire • • 5 Satire ii. Hypocrisy 32 Satire hi. Rome • 54 Satire iv. The Turbot of Ancona 84 Satire v. A Roman Dinner • • 105 Satire vi. Women » 130 Satire vn. Patronage — Literary Prospects • • • • 187 Satire viii. Hereditary Distinctions ••• • £17 Satire ix. The Complaint 243 XXXVI INDEX. PAGE. Satire x. Human Wishes 258 Satire xi. The Invitation 297 Satire xii. Shipwreck 317 Satire xiii. Penalties of Guilt 333 Satire xiv. Example 359 Satire xv. Cannibals 386 Satire xvi. Military Privileges 400 Sttgument The following Poem has been called an Introduction: while, however, it fully and excellently answers that pur- pose, it is as much a satire as any which succeed, and con- tains a very powerful and spirited sketch of the dissolute- ness of Rome. The degeneracy of poetry and of taste j women disordering all the scheme of society by the in- fraction of the decencies of life ; treacherous guardians, informers, poisoners ; together with an universal prevalence of servility, prodigality, gluttony, desertion of dependents, &c. are alleged as so many provocations for the assump- tion of the satiric pen. I know not of any adequate reason for supposing this to have been composed subsequently to the other satires, and merely as an introduction to them. Dusaulx gives the following titles, in place of argu- ments, to the satires. 1 . Why he writes. 2. Hypocrisy. 3. Rome. 4. The Turbot. 5. The Parasites. 6. Women. 7. Men of Letters. 8. Mobility. 9. Pro- tectors. 10. Wishes. 11. Luxury. 12. Return of Catullus. 13. The Deposit. 14. Example. 15. Su- perstition — Now the truth is, that there are not more than four satires, in which any thing like unity is preserved. Juv. A It will save much trouble to the reader, and for this at least I am secure of his gratitude, to present him with a List of Persons and Places at the commencement of each Satire, leaving the Notes to miscellaneous matter. In draw- ing up these Dramatis Persona 1 , I shall devote but a line or two to each, reserving for a longer annotation any indi- vidual of whom it seems desirable to hear something more. PERSONS AND PLACES MENTIONED IN THE SATIRE. PERSONS. CODRUS, a bad poet, perhaps the same mentioned in the third satire. Fronto (Julius), a Roman Nobleman, who patronized the poetasters of the day ; often mentioned by Martial. Lucilius. See the note. Sylla, the celebrated Dictator of Rome, and the first author of cruelties and proscriptions, improved upon by his three disciples, as Juvenal calls them, Sat. n. Crispinus, an Egyptian slave, raised to wealth and distinc- tion by Domitian. Matho, an indifferent pleader ( full of sound and fury sig- nifying nothing.' Bucca, as he is called in Satire xi. Ostentation not answering, his affairs went to ruin, and he recovered them by the florishing practice of an. informer. Cams (Mettius), a noted Informer. See Tacitus, Hist, iv. 50. Bebius Massa, another, and a worse : ' optimo cuique exitiosus.' Tacit. Latiuus, a distinguished Mime in the corps de ballet of Domitian. Thymele ; whether his wife or not, is uncertain. A lady certainly who was much devoted to him. Marius. See the note. Locusta, a woman, who prepared poisons in Rome ; and whom, when Agrippina determined to take off Clau- dius, she consulted ' de genere veneni.' ( Deligitur artifex talium vocabulo Locusta, nuper veneficii damnata et diu inter instrumenta regni habita.' Tacitus. Pallas, a freedman of Claudius, and his great favorite. To whom, (at the representation of the Emperor of his great merit in discovering the intermarriage of Roman women with slaves) the Senate voted a large sum of money, and the thanks of the public. ' Quod regibus Arcadiae ortus veterrimam nobilitatem usui publico post- poneret, seque inter ministros principis haberi sineret ? ' —Claudius replied : ' Contentum honore Pallantem intra priorem paupettatem subsistere ! ' — A very amus- ing farce, mutually understood by the performers ! Tigdlinus. See the noje. Mavia, Procideius, Gillo, Cluviemis, Coryinus — unknown. PLACES. Canopus; situated on one of the mouths of the Nile (hence called Canopicus) not far from Alexandria : a place infamous for its depravity. Lugdunum, Lyons : at the confluence of the Rhone and the Soane.. A florishing Roman colony, where there was an altar erected to Augustus. The capital of Gal- lia Lugdunensis. Gyarus, or Gyara ; a barren island in the JEgean sea. See the note. Cales, or Calenum ; a town of Campania, situated in a district famous for its wines. Horat. Od. iv. 12. 14. i. 20. 9. Laurentum, a town of Latium, not far from Ostia. Via Flaminia. The most ancient of the roads from Rome; which went from that city to Ariminium, through Etruria. attre i. That Theseid still ! and is there no resource ? Shall Codrus, with diurnal ravings hoarse, V. 1. That Theseid still! The hardships of attending poetical recitations had become by this time so considerable, that the great men of Rome were in a manner compelled, on pain of being thought indifferent to letters, to open their houses for the reception of the poets' audience ; and by their own attendance, and that of their dependents, to assist in forming it. See Pliny's Epistles and Sat. vu. Not a few, however, would look for gratuities of a more solid kind ; and, as the cost of satisfying such expectations would by no means add to the attractions of these reading parties, it was certainly no ill thought of Maculonus (Satire vn.) to pay them back in their own paper currency ; lpsefacit versus. That the titles of these compositions have survived their authors, they may thank Juvenal, who lays under more consi- derable obligations in another satire some equally distin- guished scribes, by conjoining with their own the names of their productions ; to which circumstance only is it due that posterity has heard of the Alcyonem Baechi, Thebas et Terea FaustL 6 Sat. i. Juvenal. v. 3 — 12. Shall whining elegies my peace invade, And plays — that never, never can be play'd ? Shall Telephus, my life's perpetual curse, 5 Pass, unrequited with a single verse ? Or huge Orestes, where, (alarming sight !) On no fair margin of reviving white The eye can rest, but ink and blackness all, One maze perplext — one complicated scrawl ! 10 The grove of Mars — the caves, where loudly roar, Grim Vulcan's forges on Catania's shore, The pieces here mentioned were, it seems, intended for the theatre. More productions of this class^ it is probable, have failed, than of any other, both in ancient and in modern times. Yet, however justly Juvenal might quarrel with the abuse of the practice of recitation, the iEneid was, in all probability, by its means, equally with the Theseid, made known to the exulting country (ovanti patries) of its immortal author; of whom, on such an occasion, he 'might have said, with some- thing less of hyperbole than of Statins, Fregit subsellia versu. V. il. Tlie grove of Mars. The mythological fables mentioned in the succeeding lines give occasion to remark the happy vein of ridicule with which Juvenal touches upon such subjects, and which he delights to introduce as if con- scious of his talent for playing them off to advantage. It is. one of his peculiar excellencies, as indirect and quite unlooked- for strokes of sa tire are others. The cracking of the marble columns by the concussion of so many voice* (adsiduo lectorej is well imagined ; and the verbal irony conveyed in the word pellicula must not be over- looked, though it cannot be translated— FeZZws would have left the fleece in possession of all its consequence. v. is — 30. Sat. i. Juvenal, 7 My very old and tried good friends are these- What winds are stirring, from the whispering breeze Up to the wintry blast that sweeps the sky j 15 What ghosts are scourged by JEacus— - -and why ; From shores of Colchis, how in days of old A daring robber filch'd the fleece of gold ; How warring Centaurs just like pebbles fling -j Uprooted oaks- — are tales which hundreds sing : > Tales which in Fronto's groves for ever ring ! J Which split the columns of his sounding halls ; And to their basis shake the marble walls ! On themes like these your expectations rest, Dear to the worst of poets, and the best. We, too, were once at school, and threw away Much good advice on Sylla every day, 26 By us assur'd, in private would he keep, 'Twas certain he'd enjoy much sounder sleep. While bards thus swarm, vain clemency it were, Paper, so sure to perish, still to spare ! 30 V. 23. We, too, were once at school. ' We too have our pretensions to be heard. We have gone the round of rhetor- ical exercises, &.c.' Of these, the usurpation of Sylla would naturally furnish an ample subject in the time of Juvenal. While the poetical themes were all (as our author complains) of a mythological kind, those of the schools seem to have been derived from striking passages in the Roman history : the Punic war was one of them, and, no doubt, a favorite one. Thus Hannibal is made the curse of the Roman school- master with excellent etfect in Sat. vn. S Sat. i. Juvenal. v. 31 — 38. Yet where Th'Auruncan erst with sounding thong Lash'd his fleet coursers at full speed along, Why of that plain the perils I pursue, (Happy might I partake its glories too) First let me tell — when to the marriage rite 35 The powerless eunuch fears not to invite ; When Msevia courts the onset of the boar, And loves to hear the stricken monster roar ; V. 31. Yet where Th'Auruncan. Concerning the merits of Lucilius (who was born 147 years A. C. at Sinuessa, and who composed 36 satires, some fragments of which remain) three important opinions, delivered by critics whose compe- tence cannot be questioned, are still in existence. Those of Horace and of Juvenal seem not to have been substantially different — that of Juvenal we find, at the end of this satire, in which it must be confessed that he praises not so much the poet as the man. Horace also assigns to Lucilius as his principal excellence, an intrepid spirit in attacking the vicious of his age. — A tem- perament so little suitable to finished composition, that it seems to warrant the expressions which he uses in delivering his opinion of the writings of the first satirists of Rome. We learn from Quintilian that some persons were so par- tial to Lucilius, in his days, as to prefer him, not only to the later writers of satire, but to all writers whatever. He dissents, however, equally from them, and from the less favorable judgment of Horace. Add to these the memorable expression of Persius, ' Secuit urbem,' and we shall be left but little doubtful of the real character of the lost satires of Lucilius, v. 39 — 44. Sat. r. Juvenal. 9 When he, by whom my earliest beard was mown, Could challenge senates with his wealth alone ; 40 From Nile,— aye from Canopus — when a slave, Crispinus, comes the sneers of Rome to brave, Recovering as he goes, with awkward air, The purple robe he knows not how to wear, V. 43. Recovering as he goes. I believe I have given this affair of the robe correctly, although the phrase ' hutnero revocante Lacernas ' has perplexed the commentators. 1 con- ceive that the Egyptian merely wore his robe aivkwardly and suffered it to slip from his shoulders, (this perhaps on account of the heat which made him loosen the latchet or cord that confined it) and hence that he was obliged ' revo- care' to recover it as he walked along. — In what manner he cooled his hand or his rings, none, I suppose, will venture to decide, but the traits are so personal, that on the first pub- lication of this satire, the individual meant would be known in an instant — the same verb ventilo recurs in another sense in Satire iii. ' Cursu ventilat ignem ' blows up the fuel (in the chaffing dish) by running. The refrigeration of the hand of Crispinus was, I am inclined to think, performed by his own lungs, and can fancy I see him engaged by turns in the double operations described above — both of them fit subjects for caricature. I subjoin the substance of a note of Dusaulx's. The Romans had three sorts of rings. 1. Those which distin- guished the rank of the wearer; 2. Marriage rings, and, 3. Chirographi or seals. From wearing one on each hand, they came to wear one on each finger, and then one on every joint. Their establishment of rings was so large that (says Lam- pridius) Heliogabalus would as soon have thought of wear- ing a shoe twice as the same^J ring. For more concerning 10 Sat. i. Juvenal. v. 45—68. Or blows his reeking fingers, all beset 45 With summer rings, the lightest he could get — Thus for the scourge while vice or folly cries, To write, and not write satire, might surprise. For who so well to crimes hath steel'd his breast, That he can bid the rising passion rest, 50 When past him glides the splendid palanquin, Where cushion' d Matho at his ease is seen ? Or his, whose whisper slew a wealthy friend, Whose venom shall to swift destruction send All that remains, tho' small the remnant be, 55 Of Rome's retrench'd and maim'd nobility ! Whom Carus bribes, whom Massa trembling views, Whom with a female friend, Latinus woos ! When some the claims of more than kindred earn By great deservings ! — they whose fortunes turn 60 (Thy fondest hopes laid prostrate in the dust) On some old Beldam's execrable lust ! With nice discernment of each favorite's skill, She writes, kind dame ! her equitable will : His well-earn'd tythe stout Proculeius gains, 65 The rest repays athletic Gillo's pains, And cost of blood.— The wretch that did not see, Until he felt the snake, less pale than he : rings for different seasons, see Pliny Hist. Nat. 33. 1. The passage about the rings might be more literally rendered Or blows his hand, with the Gem's ampler mold Unfit to cope— which sweats with Summer Gold. v. 69 — 76. Sat. i. Juvenal. 11 Or they that to Lugdunum must repair And try their doubtful skill in rhetoric there. 70 O ! what emotions in my bosom strive, When I behold the throngs that rudely drive Thro' passive crowds some scoundrel's path to clear, Rich with the spoils of orphans in the rear ? When Marius, sentenc'd by a vote inane, 75 (For what is infamy if wealth remain ?) V. 69. Or they that to Lugdunum, Caligula, as Suetonius informs us, instituted games at Lyons ; the competitors were exercised in Greek and Roman declamation. It remained to the vanquished to place a wreath on the brow of their success- ful rivals, and to pronounce a panegyric upon their merits, while those, whose written compositions were disapproved, had to expunge them with their tongues, or to be merged in. the Rhone. Dusaulx would explain the confusion of the speaker on other grounds ; that Lyons, being a very florishing place, the rendezvous of the deputies of Gaul, much frequented by the Romans on commercial adventures, and abounding with orators (Facunda Gallia) of its own — it would require no small share of confidence to rise in such an assembly. — ! But why should Juvenal go so far out of his way for this figure ? — Roman assemblies were much more august — the other must be the right interpretation. V. 75. When Marius. Marius Priscus had been Procon- sul of Africa, and on his return from that government was obliged to submit to a trial at the instance of his plundered subjects, ' quos discinxerit ' whose very zones, Juvenal face- tiously tells us (Sat. viii. 120.) he had taken from them. He obtained, however, from the emperor, the favor of select Judges (such they indeed were, since the historian Tacitus 12 Sat. i. Juvenal. v. 77 — 86. Enjoys the wrath of Heaven, and drinks e'en more And better wine in exile than before ! Go, conquering province, and lament the cost Of thy successful cause — far better lost ! 80 Shall not Venusium's lamp be well employ'd On deeds like these i or shall we still be cloy'd With tales of Labyrinths where monsters low, To Diomed for thrice-told stories go ; Still shall Herculean toils the poet deem, 85 And wings of wax, his most auspicious theme ? with Pliny, the consul, were of the number) and the fol- lowing passage will help us to their opinion of the im- peached. ' We, being assigned by the Senate as counsel for the Province, thought it our duty/ says Pliny, ' to tell the house, that the crimes alleged against him were of too atrocious a nature to go to an inferior court : for he was charged with venality in the administration of justice, and with taking money to pass sentence of death on persons perfectly innocent.' The same author gives a long and deep- ly interesting account of the trial, which lasted three days, and of which the issue was, that Marius was condemned to a heavy pecuniary fine, and to be banished from Italy. To such a character the loss of country would be nothing, and accordingly the satirist represents him perfectly at his ease in the enjoyment of his iniquitous gains. V. 86. And wings of wax. Vid. Ovid. Met. viii. The wings of Icarus were only too good, for soaring too near to the sun, they melted, and he fell into the Icarian sea, Vitreo daturus Nomina ponto. v. 87—92. Sat i. Juvenal. 13 When her vile Lord, th'adulterer's wealth to gain, (From which obtrusive laws the wife restrain) Will scan on proper hints, the roof, the floor, Doze at his cups, with wakeful nostril snore ; 90 When he gets high command, whom stalls bereft Of all the Lands his frugal sires had left ; V. 91. When he gets high command. The Romans were as much addicted to the pleasures of the stable and of the course as ourselves — so indeed were the Greeks. — In the 'Clouds' of Aristophanes, there is a scene in which this propensity is very happily ridiculed. Old Strepsiades is introduced lamenting the distresses to which his sou's sta- ble attachments perpetually expose him ; the son, asleep in the back ground, proving by abrupt exclamations that he is still dreaming of horses. 2TP. aAA' ov Swapou SsiXocios soosiv' Saxvoy^evos vi(o 7"7js Sairavys xai ryg parvus, xai ruiv xgscvv Slot rovrovi toy vlov o Ss xoy^v eyaov, 'iTfltaXfi'ttt.i T£ XOU %'JVWglxeV£TM, Ovs^ottoXbi 0' htitovs. Puer Automedon nam lora tenebat, Sfc. This passage has a difficulty which has long exercised the commentators. Automedon was the charioteer of Achilles. Fuscus (if he were the person intended) was the charioteer of Nero. Probably therefore, ipse is the emperor, the implied representative of Achilles. This opinion appears to be very just, and it well interprets the lines as allusive to the indecen- cies of which Nero was guilty in the affair of his favorite Sporus. Thus Juvenal has ironically given the name of one of the heroes of the Iliad (in the 4th Satire) to Domitian-.fr air ad Atridem. And of another (in the 10th) to Tiberius— vktm ne pesnas exigat A] ax. This seems to be a similar passage. 14 Sat i. Juvenal. v. 93 — 104, Whose well-match'd steeds on the Flaminian way This new Automedon would oft display— Whose skilful hand thTmperial car would guide, 95 While its base Master woo'd his Monster-Bride ! Might not the tablets now in ev'ry street Be fill'd with horrors, when some wretch we meet Aping of soft Maecenas every air, Borne by six slaves and swung in open chair ; 100 To whom a few short lines, authentic made By a stol'n seal, th' inheritance convey'd • Some well-born Matron, ready to infuse The toad's rank venom in Calehum's juice, V. 100. Berne hy six slaver,. The litter seems to have been quite similar to the palanquin of the East. Cicero says that Verres made use of one superbly decorated, and of which the pillows were stuffed with Roses ; it was also octophorus, borne by eight men, six being the usual number. A sort of sedan chair, sella gestatoria, which two men could carry, was in use among the Romans of more slender fortune ; but though the word here used is cathedra, the machine could not have been such a chair, because it is mounted ' sexta cervice.' There must have been a seat in the litter, when its occupant did not chuse to recline. In the 3rd. Satire, the rich man so carried reads or writes in his progress through the streets. V. 102. From a stol'n seal. * Gemma uda.' The engraved stones kept for the purpose of authenticating the more im- portant transactions of their possessors were usually depo- sited in some place of security. In the 1 4th Sat. we meet with the sard ' loculis quee custoditur ehurnis.' Whereas the common signet was worn on the hand— every body has heard of the frog of Maecenas. V. 104. The toads rank venom. Of Locusta we shall hear v. 105 — 106. Sat i. Juvenal. 15 And hold herself the cup, with torment stor'd, 1 05 To cool the thirst of her confiding Lord ! again. She was consulted by the affectionate wife of Clau- dius about the cooking of the mushroom, Post quern nil amplius edit. Also by Nero, when he was contriving his brother's 'epilepsy: In short, her reputation was so great, and her services so considerable, that she was long numbered, says Tacitus, ' Inter instrumenta regni.' Modern naturalists recognise no poisonous species of toad ; even the most formidable of the species, to appearance, that of Surinam, is said to be harm- less ; but the belief of the ancients on this matter was all but universal. Pliny is express on the subject ; and however liable to objection his testimony might be, those of Aetius and Dioscorides (the latter of whom lived in these very times, from Nero to Vespasian) are far otherwise. Aetius describes two kinds of this reptile, I. xuxzo; ij affoyyoc ; 2. tpwvr^r/.o;. The latter was probably the frog, as well from the epithet, as that he ascribes deleterious powers only to the former. Would the reader wish to know the symptoms which follow such a draught as that mentioned in the text ? I transcribe them from the Alexipharmaca of Dioscorides, siutpsfsv- oioyj- jxara cwpatros (a common effect of poison) psta, caworrffos stft'tetau.evyjs' hcffvostv ncci SvctujSicc oSuosvai to crtotxa, noti Xvy- po$ autoi; eirsrou, snots h y.cci Such verse as Cluvienus writes — or I ! ) Down from that moment when Deucalion spread His hasty sails, and to the mountain fled, 125 There breath'd awhile, and bless' d his little prow, While whelming torrents swell'd the floods below : What time the stones to warm with life began, And Pyrrha show'd the naked sex to man, Whate'er to man belongs, our page employs, 1 30 His wishes, fears, resentments, hopes, and joys. And when did vice so florish and abound, Or lust of Gold, since Time's eternal round ? When did such dire infatuation fly To the swift Mischief of the falling die ? 135 Few now for purses care, or lost or won, Made by a throw, or by a throw undone, They stake the chest ! — see how each valiant knight Snatches his arms, impatient for the fight : V. 138. They stake the chest. Preelia quanta illic dispensatore videbis Armigero I had translated this passage in the sense that the steward or person who took care of the chest got into quarrels from his unwillingness to pay his master's losses — against this sense v. 140— -143. Sat. i. Juvenal. 19 O is it mere and simple madness, say, 140 To lose ten thousand sesterces at play, And then attempt by paltry arts to save The cheap coarse garment of your shudd'ring slave ? which former translators have adopted, Dusaulx successfully argues, and at his representation I have rendered the passage anew by the adoption indeed of a more modern similitude. The Armiger or Squire on these occasions seems to have been, as he says, ' L'Esclave qtiifournissoit les Dez ' like the marker at a billiard room — not the steward of the gambler. It is well known that the bond, which united the No- ble with the Plebeian families of Rome, was founded on reciprocal advantage, and was, in her earlier days, an honor and a benefit to both. The Noble was surrounded by a train of clients whose interests he maintained, and whose necessi- ties he relieved : who sat in his hall and partook of his hos- pitality through life. — In the time of Juvenal, however, all this was passed away, nothing had become, as he tells us, (Sat. iii.) of less value than an old and faithful retainer, and the shadow of ancient generosity was reduced to an alms, either of provision or money, (at the option usually of the donor, though sometimes regulated by the emperors) which was dis- tributed at the door, beyond which the client gained no admittance. To make the picture before us as humiliating as possible, the crowd which scramble at the door are obliged to undergo an inspection by the distributor ; pretors and tribunes make a part of it ; while the host dines on the most extravagant dainties by himself — Peacock, one of them, which was at last so essential to a dinner, that Cicero writes to Pae- tus, ' vide audaciam, etiam Hirtio ccenam dedi sine Pavone. 7 V. 141. To lose ten thousand. Sestertius, Sestertiurn. These 'were the terms made use of in common computation. A sestertius is computed at 1 d. % ; a denarius, 7d. % ; a ses- 20 Sat. i. Juvenal, v. 144 — 160. What sire such villas rais'd, or e'er was known, Before seven covers to recline alone : 145 While at the Gates a pittance mean and small Awaits the mob of Gowns— yet not for all ; Each face is scrutiniz'd— -(for rogues might claim The purse of farthings in a spurious name.) * Known you'll be help'd' — they summon one by one, 150 Of Troy's high lineage every genuine son, For daily alms content with us to run ! 6 Sir, I'm the Praetor' — c I'm the Tribune' — « how !' Cries some bold freedman — e by the gods I vow, ' I came before ye both : — nor need I fear 155 ' To keep my right (altho' through either ear ' The day-light shine, and palpably proclaim c That hither from Euphrates' banks I came) 6 While five good rents the bleat ' Four Hundred* bring ' And deck my finger with th' Equestrian ring ? 160 tertium, which is the name of a sum, not of a coin, (like our pound) contained 1000 sestertii or Si. Is. 5d. f, V. 1.59. While jive good rents. The Equites, an interme- diate class between the patrician and plebeian orders, were eligible indifferently from either; the necessary estate in the latter times of the republic, and under the emperors was 400 sestertia, (32291.) according to some (see Middleton's Cicero, vol. i. 3.) There was latterly no election into this order : it was a matter of course, in the lustrum (which took place every five years) all who had the property were enrolled in the list— hence the boast of the freedman in this passage. The census of the Senators was double that of the Equites ; their v. 151—179. Sat i. Juvenal. 21 * What splendid Privilege can Purple shew, ' And a whole Senate's honors, I would know, ' If near Laurentum proud Corvinus keep, ' For daily hire, a stranger's flock of sheep ? ' Pallas, the Licini had less than we' 1 65 Enough ! enough ! ye tribunes, bend the knee, And wait with patience and humility ! . O wealth, the day is thine! let honor bow Its sacred head to all thy minions now, To slaves grown arrogant, who sought an home, 1 70 With feet unshod, in hospitable Rome ! And long it is since none at Rome deny To own of wealth the full divinity, Tho* to that power pernicious we behold No altar yet, no temple rais'd to Gold. 175 Yet Peace, and Faith and Victory maintain Their proper ritual and their separate fane, As Concord once — where storks, which none molest, Now in the ruins rear the clattering nest ! distinction was a gold ring ; their privilege, a separate place in the theatre, fourteen rows being set apart for their accom- modation : Sat. xiv. 324. effice summani bis septem ordinibus quam lex dignatur Othonis. The slave, when made free, was called libertus, or libertinus ; the former by his master (meus libertus) ; the latter, as here, when the object of discourse. — For these terms we have but the one awkward compound, freed-man. V. 178. As concord once. Another passage of some diffi- culty. Juvenal has no expletive or unmeaning terms. The nest here mentioned is generally given to the Stork ; does 22 Sat. i. Juvenal. v. 180 — 195* If beggar'd nobles are reduc'd to count 180 The daily pension's annual amount, Robb'd of his right how shall the poor man fare, Where get him clothing, shoes and fuel where ? In close wedg'd ranks the crowded litters join, To take the compromise of paltry coin : 1 85 Pregnant, or sick, at hazard of her life, This goes the daily circuit with his wife : Another follows with an empty chair, Receives his own, and claims his lady's share : ' My Galla, Sir, — she's ' there in the sedan, 190 ' And I'm in haste to-day — what ails the man ?' * Bid her look out' — ' My friend, you surely jest, * I left her sleeping — break a lady's rest !' Our every hour its proper care demands, The Dole — the Forum, where Apollo stands — 1 95 not Juvenal make the bird build there to intimate the de- sertion of that temple, and that it was allowed to fall into ruins 1 A similar word had been used by Ovid in relation to the Stork, Ipsa sibi plaudat crepitante Ciconia rostro, and an ingenious friend remarks to me, in the structure of the Stork's bill, the propriety of its application. That structure is such as to produce a noise, not ill expressed by the epithet of clattering, which, at his suggestion, I have adopted in the translation. V. 195. The Forum. The forum was the place of all public business, and thither was the great man still attended by such clients as he could contrive to keep about him at v. 196 — 217. Sat. i. Juvenal. 23 Where (not ungrateful) Rome has rais'd on high Triumphal Forms in marble majesty ; Where some Egyptian — some I know not who, Some Arabarch — must plant his image too ! — A spot select than which, in all the street 200 For nature's urgent calls were none more meet ! Long as he may, the famish'd client waits, Then turns reluctant from the churlish gates By hopes no more sustain'd ; the wretched man Must get him scraps and fuel as he can ; 205 Meanwhile his patron eats whate'er the field, Whate'er the woods, whate'er the ocean, yield : Before one table at his ease reclines, And 'midst a score of empty couches dines, Without one guest, tho' many an Orb be there, 210 Of vast circumference and materials rare. None now shall play the parasite at least, But O the meanness of a great man's feast ! Gods ! shall one throat for pleasures of its own Provide whole boars — for banquets meant alone ? But see, indignant fate her mission sends 216 And marks her man, as to the bath he tends small expense. — Juvenal seldom suffers any corrupt foreigner, never an Egyptian, to pass without a remark. The Roman tables mentioned a few lines lower were circular (orbes) and constituted an article of the greatest ostentation and luxury in these times. Juvenal will here best illustrate himself, re- fer to Sat. xi. 123. 24 Sat. i. Juvenal, v. 218 — 233. With peacock gorg'd — there bids him gasp for breath In one short struggle with convulsive death ! News with applause by angry friends receiv'd, 220 None grieves for him, for none who ever griev'd. Morals like ours defy posterity ! — Worse than their Sires, the sons can never be, To wish our wishes, all we did, to do, And of our crimes to follow all the clue, 225 Is left to them' — go then and spread thy sail, And fill its bosom with no changeling gale. All this is well, methinks I hear you say, But whence thy genius for the subject, pray ; Of ancient times that stern simplicity, 230 Of spirit dauntless and of utterance free ? ' Tho' Mutius take offence, I little care,' True, but if Tigellinus — O beware V. 233. True, but if Tigellinus. The person alluded to under this name might well be an object of terror. Tigel- linus himself was long since dead, having been destroyed by Otho. He was one of the most dangerous of the satellites of Nero, with whom he was in high favor. ' Validior indies Tigel- linus ; et malas artes, quibus solis pollebat, gratiores ratus si principem societate scelerum obstringebat.' (Tacit. Ann.) The same author relates a smart repartee addressed to this dangerous favorite. Nero having dismissed his wife Octavia on a charge of sterility, had married the infamous Poppgea. The latter, desirous to ruin Octavia beyond recovery, imputes to her an illicit amour with a slave. Tigellinus cross-ques- v. 234 — 235. Sat. i. Juvenal. 25 Lest it be yours that hapless band to join, Who writhe in tortures 'midst the blazing pine ; 235 tious the servants, and endeavours to extort something from them to criminate their mistress : one of them promptly re- plies to his interrogatories, ' Castiora esse muliebria Octaviae, quam os ejus.' The line above that, which occasioned this note, Quid refert an dictis ignoscat Mutius an non ? is by some interpreters of Juvenal given to that part of the dialogue sustained by his friend. There is far more of spirit, if it is read as the exclamation of the Satirist. The death of Tigellinus is worth transcribing : Inter stupra concubinarum, et oscula, et deformes moras, sectis novacula faucibus, infamem vitam foedavit, etiam exitu sero et inho- nesto. Tacit. Hist. i. 72. The remainder of this passage has been a favorite subject for contention. — The interpretation of the line, Et latum media sulcum diducit arena, which I have adopted, is that of Scaliger. The passage gene- rally refers to the horrible iniquity of Nero in putting the Christians to a most barbarous death, on an affected suspi- cion, that they had set fire to the city. I do not think that any one has adverted to the casualty which enabled this mon- ster to transfer with more success, than he otherwise could, the odium of this misfortune to the early converts of the Christian church. Without some plausible pretext he never would have been able to have carried his villainy into effect. Now it so happened that, in the destructive fire which brought on these calamities, two or three of the mobt ancient temples in Rome, (Vetustissimce Religionis, is the expression of Taci- tus) were reduced to ashes. The use to be made of this was 26 Sat i. Juvenal. v. 236—251. With throats transfiVd, who trickle as they stand, And form deep furrows in the crimson'd sand ; 6 What then shall he, who mingled Aconite c For his three uncles, still insult our sight ? ' Sunk in soft down, shall he in sovereign state* — Peace! peace! and rush not on thy certain fate : 241 Let him but point and say two words, * the Man — ' Thy doom is fix'd, be wise and change thy plan •, O bid the Muse to themes more harmless turn, And tell the tale of Hylas and his urn ; 245 JEneas, Turnus — none their quarrel harms, None shall vow vengeance where none feel alarms. But when Lucilius with intrepid hand, Bares the bright terrors of his gleaming brand ; How the warm current mantles in the cheek, 250 And sins reveal'd in burning blushes speak ! obvious ; and we all know the effects of religious bigotry. ' They quit our temples for new 'Gods, and next they burn them.' As to the Sulcus being occasioned by the liquefaction of the victims, I think it indeed probable the passage should be so un- derstood—but on the supposition of a strong hyperbole. By the road side were the places of interment of the Romans, which accounts for the monumental formulary, s I ste viatoe. That no burials took place within the walls of the city must have arisen from other causes than those which a modern reader, familiar with that odious practice, might suppose. Ashes are ever harmless. I conceive the custom, therefore, to resolve itself into a compliment to the memory of the de- ceased, rather than an act of self-protection on the part of the living. v. 252 — 259. Sat. i. Juvenal. 27 The bosom heaves with agony supprest, And chilling damps bedew the laboring breast ; Then comes the burst of rage ! — O friend, beware, Before you sound the trumpet for the war ; 255 The helmet on, thou canst no more decline, Now, be the perils of the combat thine ! Be then their patience tried, whose bones decay Beneath the Latin and Flaminian way. Supplementary Note. Two citations follow, both about rivers, extremely opposite in their kiuds of merit, but alike serving to show to what a degree objects only mode- rately interesting are capable of embellishment, by the poet's art. .ZEschylus must take precedence of Mr. Gray. Mollis picinum rupibus antrum Vulcani. pi%a.i£a •yXavKtx,; rfouSorgotpov ,■> 70 Sat in. Juvenal, v. 257 — 274. Except the mighty aedile, duly known & By the white tunic, which he wears alone. ' Here, to their station, and their means untrue, In gay attire, a thoughtless crowd we view ; 260 Who, though another's purse the cost defray, Are still eternal rivals in display. Here all is sold ! the privilege to call, And swell the crowd in yonder lordling's hall, What costs it, say ? — or what, the boon to share 265 Of mute Veiento's recognizing stare ? One brings his boy's first Tonsure to the fane To bear thy part, and join the flattering strain ; Good client ! quickly to the Mansion send Thy costly cakes, for rascal slaves to vend ! 270 For rascal slaves — for 'tis thy duty grown To feed sleek servants, tho' thou starve alone : Who at Prseneste fears, or ever shall, Lest on his head descend the mouldering wall ? V. 267. One brings his boy's, §c. Pliny says, that the Ro- mans began the use of the razor, A. U. C. 4.54, when Tici- nius Menas brought over Barbers from Sicily, and that Scipio Africanus brought the custom to be of daily use. When the beard was cut for the first time, it was customary to deposit it in a box, and to consecrate it to some God. The fourteen first emperors shaved — Adrian resumed the fashion of the beard. Dusaulx. On these occasions the poor clients were expected to fill the house libis venalibus, with dainties to be sold again ; and, in this way, to increase the wages of the great man's servants. He was compelled to give cakes, who had scarcely bread for himself. v. 275 — 296. Sat. in. Juvenal. 71 Midst Gabii's groves, Volsinium's woodland height, Or the steep cliffs of Tibur's lofty site ? [275 Here slender props a falling town suspend, And loaded with th' incumbent ruin, bend. For thus the thrifty steward would conceal The perils which yon desperate flaws reveal, 280 And, while the loosen'd pile yet nods on high, Bids us sleep on, in full security ! O ! let me dwell, where no nocturnal screams Shall break the golden links of blissful dreams ! Hark ! where Ucalegon for water cries, 285 Casts out his chattels — from the peril flies : See the third floor in flames involv'd, and smoke, In mounting flames ! nor yet thy slumbers broke, Who, while it roars below, the furious blast, Hast still the privilege— to burn the last S 290 Beneath thy canopy of tiles above, The fellow-lodger of the brooding dove. One truckle bed did Codrus once possess, (Than little Procula 'twas something less) A single cup, for use : six ewers of clay 295 Rang'd on the cupboard's head : for show were they — - V. 294. Than little Procula. Most of the commentators make this lady the wife of Codrus, for which he is not obliged to them, as she occurs in the second satire as ' the passive spouse of all the town.' The truth, I believe, is, that this is one of the many strokes of oblique humor, in which Juvenal de- lights. The lady was short of stature, but too tall to have been the companion of Codrus in this celebrated bed. 72 Sat. in. Juvenal, v. 297 — 326. From the same quarry hewn, reclin'd below, A Chiron's image ; and, like them, for show. Some rolls of Grecian lore had long possest, "With swarms of mice, a solitary chest, 300 There, unmolested, on the songs divine Of ancient days, the nibbling vermin dine. You call this nothing — true — but, to his cost, One night, this nothing the poor Codruslost! Depriv'd at once of fuel, clothes, and food, 305 "With shiv'ring body, and with soul subdued ; He finds, to thousands tho' his griefs were known, Compassion but from few, relief from none ! But, change the scene, and mark, will it be thus, When falls the house of great Asturicus ? 310 Matrons and Lords in cloaks of sorrow clad, And Rome itself looks desolate and sad ! The courts break up in haste — ah ! now we hate, ' These dreadful fires ! ' and of the damage prate. It blazes still ; but, ere the walls be cold, 315 One sends him marble, and one brings him gold : Works of Euphranor, or of Polyclete, On ev'ry side our hapless sufferer greet. Of Grecian fanes the choicest ornament Officious hands with ready zeal present ; 320 Books, busts, Minervas, presses, choke the way, And plate and coin in glittering display : Richer by ruin made, he'll soon restore Things costlier far than what were lost, and more ; Nor quite without suspicion will retire, 325 That he perchance set his own house on fire ! v. 327 — 348. Sat. in. Juvenal. 73 If the Circensian games thou canst forgo At Fabrateria, Sora, Frusino, A pleasant house awaits thee — and the rent ? What you now pay, to be in darkness pent ! 330 There, from the shallow well, your hand might pour Refreshing coolness on each opening flower. Live there, my friend, and learn to love the spade, And the neat garden, which thy hands have made, To which the Samian followers might repair, 335 And find a hundred ample banquets there. 'Tis something still to have one patch of ground, One meagre lizard's solitary bound. Worn out by restless vigils, not a few Here meet a lingering death — their ails, 'tis true, Might from the crude oppression first begin, [340 Which to the stomach clings, and frets within ; But who, that in hir'd lodgings makes his home, Can taste of sleep- — a thing of cost at Rome ! Where carts, embarrassed in the narrow street, 345 And the sharp turns, where angry drivers meet, With all the squabbles of th' obstructed team, Would rouse the drowsy Drusus from his dream ; V. 34S. Would rouse the drowsy Drusus. Of this geutle- nian, nothing remains for posterity except his somnolency. It is in this way that Juvenal often bestows half a line on persons not obnoxious to severer stripes. As to the Phoci, or sea- calves, Pliny says of them, nullum animal graviore somno premilur. Mr. Gibbon blames Juvenal for suffering Umbritius here 74 Sat. in. Juvenal, v. 349 — 358. And the sea-calves, awaken'd from their snore, Would close their lids in vain, and sleep no more ! Swung in his couch aloft, the rich man rides — [350 The crowd gives way — on, the Liburnian strides : He writes, or reads, by turns ; or, if he please, Closes the curtain round, and sleeps at ease. But, see, it stops — the mighty wave before ! 355 The thousands in the rear but press the more : Here a huge pole is level I'd at my brow, A ponderous joist bids fair to crush me now : to descend to the petty inconveniences common to all great cities, after having so nobly exposed the apostacy of Rome from the morals which formerly distinguished her. Yet the picture would be otherwise less complete. He has already touched upon all the greater motives of his friend's retreat, and mentions last the personal inconveniences which con- cur with them. The conveniences aud luxuries of the rich are no-where so much contrasted with the ill accommodations and privations of the poor as in cities : and, were this part of the satire less skilfully treated than it is, it most naturally serves as an introduction to the fate of the poor slave crushed by a waggon in the street, and waiting upon the pleasure of Charon, in place of attending his master at supper. — A pas- sage of great spirit and interest. It is a pity to pass over the excellent, though somewhat stale, joke of the correction proposed by one of the commen- tators, who, knowing nothing about sea calves, or natural history, proposed to substitute vetulis metritis, * old husbands,' (who, he says, are apt to be sleepy) for vitulis marinis. The story loses nothing in French, where they debate between veaux metritis and vieux maris. v. 359 — 372. Sal, in. Juvenal. 75 Here an unwieldy cask my head assails ; There a rude soldier, with his iron nails, 360 Recals my brain confus'd, to sharper woes, And stamps the dire impression on my toes. But, see, that smoke proclaims the season come, When hundreds (with their kitchens) hie them home. Why, Corbulo himself could hardly rear 365 The load of yonder wretched slaveling there, With unbent neck, who threads the moving throng, And fans the fuel as he stalks along ! Into new rags the mended gown is torn At every step, while, on its waggon borne, 370 Moves on the nodding beam — groans heavily Yon creaking wain beneath the ponderous tree j V. 363. But, see, that smoke. Among the throngs, who helped to obstruct the streets of Rome, were crowds of slaves, who, at a certain time, attended their masters, it should seem, to bring home the meat which the patron chose to give away as a compromise for entertaining his clients in his house. We have seen that this dole sometimes consisted of money : here it is of provisions, which a slave keeps hot on a chafing dish. Centum convivte, says Juvenal ; the term is used with a sneer ; they were no longer such, but mere receivers of alms. The rich no longer received guests of this class. Throughout the satires we find this point insisted on, that the reciprocal attachment of patroni and clientes was at an end, perierunt tempora longi servitii. The rich man sups alone ; or, if he invites such persons as these, it is to give them inferior fare, and to treat them with insult (Sat. v.). Of the same facts, the epigrams of Martial abound with evidence. 76 Sat. in. Juvenal, v. 373 — 392. But, O ye gracious powers! should that break down s That axle pil'd with huge Ligurian stone, And pour its mountain on the mob below, 375 What limb, what bone, what feature could you know ? One monstrous crush would pulverise the whole, And leave no more of body than of soul : Meanwhile the slaves at home yet unaware Of their associate's fate, the bath prepare ; 380 The strigils, napkins, and the vase of oil, Are ready all — alas ! the needless toil ! He sits despondent on the gloomy shore, Eyes the grim ferryman, the laboring oar, The leaky boat, the thick and murky stream, 385 And doubts the whole, and thinks 'tis but a dream ! Nor hopes to cross, who unprovided came To pay old Charon's unabating claim ! Such are our days : — let a new theme invite, And hear the greater perils of the night : 390 Behold those lofty roofs, from which, on high, The loosen'd tile oft wounds the passer by ; V. 378. And have no more. That is, leave no more to be seen of the one, than of the other. The annihilation of the soul most certainly did not make a part of the creed of Juvenal. The Romans used the bath at such a temperature, as to pro- duce copious sweating : the strigil was an instrument to remove it, or a kind of scraper, consisting of a metallic plate, bent nearly double, and furnished with two handles, so as to form a loop. An engraving of this instrument is given in Holy- day's notes. v. 393 — 420. Sat in. Juvenal. 77 Nor seldom, from some lofty casement thrown The crack'd and broken vase, comes thundering down ; See with what force it strikes the flint below 395 Where the flaw'd pavement tells the frequent blow: O ! thoughtless man ! improvident of ill, Sup not abroad, ere thou hast sign'd thy will — Assur'd, as many dangers thou shalt meet As there be open windows in ihe street ; 400 Too happy ! if with floods from basins full They only drench thy head — and spare thy skull ! The fiery youth, whom yet no murders stain, Frets, like Pelides for Patroclus slain : Turns on his face, utters the restless moan, 405 Sleepless and sad until the deed be done : There are whom brawls compose ! — but he in truth, Flush'das he is wilh wine, the generous youth Marks the long train, and glittering robes afar, And saves his courage, for an humbler war. 410 He shuns the brazen lamp, the torches bright ; Me, whom the moon conducts, or glimmering light Of which my hands ceconomise the thread, He marks for vengeance, unalloy'd with dread : And thus begins the fray— (to call it so, 415 Where he inflicts, and I receive the blow.) Full in my way c stand, fellow, stand,' he bawls, ('Tis prompt obedience, when a madman calls, And he too stronger !) c come, sir, quickly tell ' Whose beans and vinegar within thee swell ? 420 78 Sat. in. Juvenal, v. 421 — 440. 6 Say with what cobler didst thou slice the leek, * And eat the boil'd sheep's head ? — nay, sirrah, speak. 6 So ! silent ? — There ! take that ! — and that ! — and now ' Perchance the mighty secret thou' It avow, 6 What porch shall house thee for the night ? in sooth, 425 * Good fellow, thou hadst better tell the truth ' — - Or face the storm, or seek inglorious flight, In a whole skin look not to sleep to night, — To morrow, when he hears your rival's tale, Perhaps the prastor may accept your bail ! 430 Behold a poor man's rights ! insulted, bruis'd, Then of the insults he endur'd, accus'd. He must implore, that, with what teeth remain, For once, they'll let him seek his home again ! E'en now, 'twere well, were all our dangers past, And of our nightly perils this the last ! [435 When all is still, and not a hinge is heard And every silent door, is chain'd and barr'd, The robber bursts upon you, and the knife Is in a moment rais'd against your life ! 440 V. 441. The Pontine marsh. An extensive swamp of many miles, contiguous to Rome, and still the source of much of its uuhealthiness ; as the wind, blowing from that quarter, at the bad season, brings with it the remittent fever common to such situations. The Italian physicians relate many sin- gular circumstances on this subject, which would be foreign to this place to relate. In Juvenal's time it had become so v. 441 — 456. Sat. in. Juvenal. 79 The Pontine marsh, the Gallinarian pine The thieves they once conceal'd, to Rome resign ! Hark how each anvil rings, each furnace glows With forging chains ; almost we might suppose That iron would be wanting for the share, 445 And hooks become, and spades, and mattocks rare ! Hail, golden times of kings and tribunes, hail ! When Rome possess'd a solitary jail. To these, my friend, more reasons could I join — But, hold ! I mark long since the sun's decline — The cattle wait — th' impatient driver, see ! [450 Points to the road, and only stays for me : Farewell ! forget me not j when sore opprest, Aquinum soothes once more thy anxious breast ; The much-lov'd shores of Cuma I'll resign, 455 At his own Ceres and Diana's shrine, much the haunt of robbers, as to call for the establishment of an armed guard for the protection of the city — It is now in a great measure, I believe, drained, but still continues to be regarded as one principal source a of the unhealthiness of Rome, at a certain season of the year. The Gallinarian forest was situated in the bay of Cuma, v\r, avvfyos %ai atxixcuSr^ yy Ta.AXivoL$ia.v vXrp xakovtri. This place was, like the Pontine marsh, a noted receptacle for robbers. V. 444. The conclusion of this Satire is scarcely less beautiful than its beginning — indeed the whole piece is so full, so complete, so free from abruptness, so happy in its opening and conclusion, that it will almost more than any other of Juvenal's writings (except the 10th,) interest an Eng ? lish reader. 80 Sat. in. Juvenal, v. 457 — 460. To greet my friend, and in his Satires there (If they disdain not,) I will gladly bear What part I may, — in country shoes I'll come, Tread your bleak lands, and share your friendly home. 460 Slrffumen! This Satire is perhaps as entertaining as any Poem of the kind in existence. It has, however, some abrupt- ness in the beginning, and would, undoubtedly, read better, if it began with the thirty-sixth line, Cum jam semianimem, fyc. The early mention of Crispinus, who is not particularly conspicuous in the ridiculous consultation about the Turbot, does not seem an happy introduction of the main object of the piece : nor is there any thing which might not be spared in the first thirty lines. The rest of the Satire is remarkably happy; no express record of the times could give a better notion of the state of the empire under Domitian : This very lively, and well related adventure, concludes, however, with a vehemence worthy of the wri- ter and of the subject, and the more striking when con- trasted with the scornful tone of the lighter parts of the piece. Juv. 8:2 PERSONS AND PLACES MENTIONED IN THE SATIRE. PERSONS. The Persons mentioned in this Satire are for the most part reserved for the Notes, as requiring an Introduction somewhat more formal. TitiiiSy Seius. Nomi?ia nota et passim obvia in Jure civili. (Ruperti.) Apicius. There were three Apicii, of whom one wrote De Opsoniis. But as they were all gluttons, it were needless to consider which is specially referred to here. Palfurius. Armillatus. Only known by the men- tion of Suetonius vita Domit. ' Consulates viri qui per Delationes Domitiani gratiam captavere.' PLACES. Appulia. la Puglia, near the Mouth of the Adriatic, and adjacent to Calabria. Ancon. Ancona. Doric, because colonized by the Greeks — famous for a Temple of Venus, and for a 83 fine arch of Trajan which still remains. Ancona is a florishing place of trade to this day — Loretto in its vicinity. Mtzotis Palus. Sea of Azoff, into which the Ta- nais or Don discharges its waters, and which in its turn communicates with the Euxine by the Cimmerian Bos- phorus. Alba. Albano, fifteen miles from Rome, founded by Ascanius' — turn grains lulo At que novercafi sides pralata Lavino Conspicitur sublimis apex. — Sat. xii. 70. Aricia. La Riccia in Campania, a town situated on a hill and till lately the Capital of a dukedom in modern Italy. Lucrine. The rocks so called were between Baize and Puteoli on the Neapolitan coast. In place of this famous ''iake there is now a mountain of one thousand feet high (which was thrown up in September, 1538.) four miles in circumference, with a large crater in the top. Monte novo de cinere. Sir W. Hamilton on Vol- canoes. Circe, Promontory of — near Terracina on the coast of Campania. Monte Circello. Rutupi. Rutapics. Richborough in Kent, or Sand- wich. That part of the Kentish coast still famous for its oysters. Catti. The inhabitants of that part of Germany which is called Hesse in modern Geography ; a people, always remarkable for their military prowess. Sicambri. The people of the Duchy of Gueldres, in lower Germany. >atire iv. Stand forth once more, Crispinus, and display Thy shameless visage in the face of day ! V. 1, Stand forth once more, Sfc. Crispinus, with whom the reader has already formed some acquaintance ify -he iirst Satire, and who is here threatened, but does not seem to have been served with a third summons, was a great favorite of Domitian. His first prospects on arriving in Rome were no better than those of any other /Egyptian adventurer, and how he recommended himself to the good graces of the Emperor does no-where appear ; but he must have had the qualities required for imperial friendship in an eminent degree, seeing the disadvantage under which he lay in regard to country : for though the flexibility and artfulness of the Greeks and of the Asiatics soon opened a road (as we have seen in the last Satire) for their preferment at Rome, the case was far other- wise with respect to the natives of Egypt, whom the Romans always and justly despised as a race of barbarians, infected with the vilest superstitions. Nevertheless, we find Crispinus filling no less an office than that of Praetor, and in possession of all the distinctions which imperial favor, together with the acquisition of wealth, could confer. Not, however, exempt v. 3 — 14. Sat. iv. Juvenal. 85 Nor yet dismiss' d — villain ! whose bosom teems With vices which no trace of worth redeems ; Within whose frame diseased, still passion strives, 5 And 'midst the wreck of nature, lust survives, But still fastidious Lust — which rudely spurns The cheap caress, and from the widow turns ! In vain the long and stately colonnade Tires his sleek mules within its ample shade, 10 In vain he plants the grove, or rears the dome, Or owns whole acres in the midst of Rome ! Thebad,by conscience scourg'd, are strange to bliss ; Her sharpest pangs then can the traitor miss, from the fates of better men, he lost at last his influence at Court, became the object of suspicion, and put an end to himself. (Tacit. Ann. xvi. 37-) — A few tmits of his private life are presented to us in this Satire. V. <7. In rain where polish' d marbles, Sfc. Holyday has an entertaining Note on the Geslationes, Viridaria, Deam- bulaiicnes and Portieus cf the Romans, fie copies from Pignori«s an Inscription on one of them, which informed the Deambulator when he had walked a mile. See also Pliny's Description of his Country House at Laurenium. Epist. xviii. Lib. 2. IN HOC POMARIO GESTATIONIS PER CIRCUITUM 1TUM ET REDITUM OUlNgUIENS EFFICIT PASSUS MILLE. S6 Sat. iv. Juvenal. v. 15 — 28. That from the fane to his detested arms 1 5 Lur'd the chaste Vestal's heaven-devoted charms, Then left her, while each throbbing pulse beat high, Beside th* expiring lamp, alone to die ! ^ Sing we of lighter crimes — yet free were none The Censor thus to tempt, save he alone : 20 But what were shameless profligacy deem'd In all besides, Crispinus well beseem'd ! In whom quite decent the same acts became "Which Titius, Seius, venture not to name ! Vain were reproof — -alas ! mere waste of time, 25 The wretch is viler, than his vilest crime ! For a small Mullet once, as tattlers tell, Who ever love the wonderful to swell, — - V. 15. That from the fane. The following lines allude to the punishment inflicted by the severity of the Roman law on an unchaste Vestal. An account of its execution on Rhea, marked as it always was by circumstances of peculiar horror and solemnity, is to be found in Plutarch's Life of Numa. The offender, conducted by a mute procession across the Forum to the place of her interment near the Colline gate, was made to descend a ladder into the sepulchre, and left there with a lamp, a loaf of bread, and a cruse of water, the opening being immediately closed with earth and stones.— That the Romans saw the vast importance to religion of the purity of its ministers, is manifest from this horrible severity prepared for their delinquency, — a subject which has often exercised the pencil of the artist. V, 27- For a small mulht, $c. The fish called Mullus was not exactly the Mullet, but the ' Surmuht,' as Mr. Du- v. 29 — 46. Sat, iv. Juvenal. 87 Just six Sestertia, (for a fish that weigh'd Scarcely so many pounds,) — our glutton paid ! 30 Now had the high-pric'd morsel been design'd Some old, besotted, heirless fool to blind, (Price of the largest signet on his will,) We had commended much the artist's skill : A better reason yet perhaps it were 35 To court the tenant of yon window* d chair : — No ! good Crispinus thought of joys more dear, 'Twas a fine fish ! — and dinner time drew near ! O could i^picius come to life again, His frugal meals our tables would disdain ! 40 But this surpasses ! what, Crispinus, thou ! For a few Scales a price like this allow ! Around whose loins the rush-wove mat was seen, From Egypt's scorching suns the only screen ! Why, for a sum less great, one should have thought, The Fisherman himself might have been bought ! [45 saulx translates it, adding the following passage translated from Seneca, which serves to shew how easily luxury and cruelty associate. ' Un Surmulet ne par ait pas frais s'il ne meurt dans les mains des convives —on I' expose d la vae dans des vases de verre : on observe les differentes couleurs par les quell es line agonic lenie et douleureuse le fait passer successivement. lis en tuent d' auires dans la sauce § les font confire tout vivans.' V. 3,5. A better reason still. The Romans were un- acquainted (not indeed with glass) but with window panes ; the use of which was supplied by thin laminse of lapis spe- cularis. 88 Sat. iv. Juvenal. v. 47 — 60, Which here might still for some few acres pay, And buy whole manors in Apulia ! Now when a court-buffoon in purple comes T* eructate every day such costly fumes, 50 While he digests one solitary fish, His modest supper's least expensive dish ; Who oft would cry midst Egypt's motley crowd Sprats, —not his own, — with intonation loud ; [55 Whose tuneful voice, thy streets, Canopus, heard, Tho' here to all the knights of Rome preferr'd ; What may we think his lordly master ate, Or what rare dainties fill'd th' imperial plate ? Begin, Calliope, — and, Goddess, pray Be pleas' d to sit— we tell the truth to day — 60 V. 53. Who oft would cry, Sfc. Vender e municipes pacta mercede Siluros. As to the Silurus, the common authorities make it Shad fish ; — it certainly was not the Sprat. — However, the fish was of the vilest yet not his own : he cried them pacta mercede, at so much a day. V. 59. Begin, Calliope. This humorous invocation is admirably contrasted with the stately line which begins the Tale,— a line that defies translation, and deprecates para- phrase. Cum jam, semianimum laceraret Flavins orb. em. The 'last' of the Flavian family was Domitian, a family of which, says Suetonius, ' notwithstanding it possessed no images ' of its ancestors, and although Domitian justly paid the ' penalty of his crimes, the republic will never repent, since * it indemnified them in Titus and Vespasian.' — The baldness of Domitian is observable upon his coins. v. 61 — 82. Sat. iv. Juvenal. 89 Come, Virgins of Pieria, prompt the tongue, That calls ye maidens yet! that calls ye young! While the last Flavius with a daemon's skill The half expiring world was rending still, When his own Rome insulted, trampled lay, 63 A bald-head Nero's unresisting prey ; Close to the cliffs of Adria's stormy coast, Where stands the temple — Doric Ancon's boast — It chanc'd, a Turbot of unequall'd size (So huge, its owner scarce believ'd his eyes,) 70 Quite fill'd his net — Mceotic ice more vast Than this, conceals not till, the winter past, Forth into Euxine's mouth they make their way, Fat and lethargic from the long delay. The prize which fortune sent to bless his lines, 75 For Rome's High Priest he instantly designs. To buy or sell such dainties who would dare ? For pension' d spies were prowling even there — ■ With these inquisitors of wreck and weed, 'Twere fine to hear a ragged boatman plead ! SO Prepar'd with matchless impudence to say, The fish was Csesar's own, had run away, V. 76. Passing by the point of Natural History about the torpidity and fattening of the fish, which is from analogy not improbable, the English reader will remark, that the title of High Priest, Pontifex, which appears harsh to us as applied to Emperors, was one of those, as all their coins prove, which these persons invariably thought proper to as- sume, willing like their successors the Popes to strengthen the secular arm by the accession of the spiritual authority. 90 Sat. iv. Juvenal. v. 83—98. Fed in his ponds and fatten'd at his cost, They but reclaim'd the fugitive he lost ! And truly, with Palfurius if we join, 85 Or, Armiilatus, heed that tale of thine, All that is large and rare, where'er it swim. Is forfeit, and belongs of right to him ! A present then the man will wisely make Of what his friends at hand were sure to take. 90 The sickly autumn to the chilling blast Of winter's earliest storms was yielding fast ; Their quartans now the sick began to dread, The fish would keep ! — yet on the traveller sped With unremitting haste, for well he knew, 95 That he must fly as tho* the South wind blew ! And now he saw and now approach'd the lakes Where Ancient Alba's Town not yet forsakes V. gS. The expression quartamm sperantibus tegris has been the fruitful parent of many ample Notes. Spero as well as BXitiL,'jj occasionally signifies apprehension in place of hope— corresponding: expressions in Greek to that in the text are, ripuigins EATCI2 ou tf^oryyays ?w Sixaiy tov avQg:tj- %w.— av?nra.\M£. ya§ r£siv HAI1IZ0N. Dusaulx indeed suggests that the sick might have really unshed for agues (as we hear gout wished for) from a notion that it would release them from other disease — (and this to he sure was an old notion with regard to this particular disease, en which account somebody took the pains of writing a book ' De limitandis febrium lauditms.') But the context shows that the shuddering convalescent began to anticipate by some precursory symptoms a return of his old quartan, " v. 99 — 108. Sat. iv. Juvenal. 91 Her lesser Vesta, — then the porch he gain'd, (On such an embassy not long detain'd). , 100 On the smooth hinge the gates expanded wide, And through th' excluded Fathers, on he hied : Th' excluded Fathers saw th' admitted fish, Then to Atrides he presents the dish. ' Accept, we humbly ask, illustrious Sire, 105 4 A boon too great for any subject's fire. 4 Glad be the day, relax, my Liege, with haste ' The royal bowels for this rich repast ; One MS. makes them inhale the miasmata of ague ' spiran- tihus cegris.' V. 99. Her lesser Vesta. The worship of the greater Vesta was held at Rome ; the perpetual fire, [the pledge of the duration of the Empire,] being there maintained in her Temple. Hence it was so frequently burnt, through the carelessness of the Vittatse, who had sometimes, as we find from the Tale of Crispinus, other engagements on their hands. V. 102. Th' excluded fathers, fyc. The letting in of the fish is inimitably humorous, and the flow of the verse delightful — Fa- ciii patuerunt cardine valvce. — A Turbot desiring to be caught and eaten by an Emperor! An excellent lesson for the flatterer, and deserving a place in the chapter ' irs^i xo\azsix$.' — The picture of the Council which follows is, as Mr. Gibbon observes, one of the most finished pieces of satire in existence. The procession seems to move before us with graphical dis- tinctness ; Pegasus who runs, rapta abolla ; the quiet, easy- tempered Crispus, who owed his 80th solstice to disarm- ing qualities ; the belly of Montanus, the caucus adulator ; all are brought before us in strong and masterly outline. 92 Sat. iv. Juvenal. v. 109 — 126. * And condescend our Turbot to devour, c Kept for thy age and This auspicious hour ! * Which sure i am, — the fish himself de- si r'd/ [110 The bristles rose ! his vanity was fir'd,— - Grossness itself 'twere needless to refine ; For one for ever told that he's divine. But now, alas ! no vessel could be found 115 Meet to receive the Turbot 5 s ample round ; A Council then is summon'd to advise What shall be done with this imperial prize ; They meet ; — the objects of their Tyrant's hate— On every saddening countenance there sate 120 The pale dejected look which still attends All such high Friendships, all such fearful Friends ! First of the crowd, soon as the voice was heard, 6 Run, run, he sits'- — Old Pegasus appear'd. 'Twas his to rule the stunn'd and palsied town, 125 A sort of bailiff— in a prefect's gown. V. 126. A kind of Bailiff— Aitonitce positus modo viUicus urhi, words which will represent the situation of the representatives of a tyrant in all times, whom he mocks with the shadow of an authority which they dare not exercise according to the dictates of their conscience. The meaning of aticniice in this passage, as applied to the city, has been questioned. I think it means stunned, as if by a violent blow or thunderbolt, e^povrrjrof, sjj.ttKextos, in which senseless state Home was given over to the person in the text. Pegasus, said by the 'old' Scholiast (an old friend of all trans- v. 127 — 132. Sat. iv. Juvenal. 93 What more were prefects then ? yet in his trust, Confess'd by all impartial, faithful, just ; Tho' well he knew that in such times abhorr'd, Justice must ever wield a powerless sword. 130 Next Crispus came, Crispus who ever smil'd, And like his eloquence, his manners mild ; What mighty ruler of the land and sea Had e'er possest a wiser friend than he, Might human voice have ventur'd to assuage 1 35 Of Rome's great scourge, the sanguinary rage ? lators) to have been so conversant with law as to have been called ' a Book.' His motto as a Magistrate we read above ' inermi justitia.' V. 131. Next Crispus came. It was this facetious old Senator, who replied to the inquiry of some one whether any body was with Don.itian, (on seeing him come out of the Emperor's apartment.) ' Ne musca quidem ;' in allusion to the Emperor's amusement of killing flies — ' qtias stylo preeacuto configebat.' That a difference of opinion about the weather might have beeu fatal to a friend of Domitian, will tfot be discredited by the reader of Suetonius, when he finds that /Elius Lamia was put to death, ob suspiciosos quidem, verum et veteres, et innoxios joeos-~of which two are record- ed. The wife of Lamia had the misfortune to please Domitian, and was of course forcibly taken from him: after this event he replied to some one who praised his voice — ' Mine] I am dumb' — Hen taceo! To Titus the brother of Domitian, who advised him to marry a second time, he wit- tily replied xat crv ya^Toci dsXsi; ; — of this Crispus, however. Tacitus says, inter potentes potius quam bonosjuit, 94 Sat. iv. Juvenal, v. 133 — 148. But what more fearful favor than to gain A tyrant's ear, with whom the wind, the rain, Sunshine and clouds alike, occasion lend To seal the fate of an unhappy friend ! 140 He therefore ne'er oppos'd a fruitless force. Nor stretch'd his arms against the torrent's course : Not one of those intrepid souls, that dare Unwelcome truths, when needful, to declare ; Their lives the stake ! — thus arm'd, from mischief free, 145 An eightieth winter had he liv'd to see. A friend of years scarce fewer than his own, Acilius follow'd with his hapless son, V. 147. A friend of years, Sfc. Dusaulx reads this pas- sage differently from all the critics by altering the punctua- tion : Sic multas My ernes atque octogesima vidit Solstitia ; his armis ilia quoque tutus in aula. Proximus ejusdem properabat Acilius cevi, Cum juvene indigno, Sfc. He very justly remarks that according to this punctuation Acilius and his attendant are invested with no character (like Gyas and Cloanthus) and proposes to place the point at Solstitia, and to remove it from Aula. This is, I think, an ex- cellent alteration though not noticed in the edition of Ruperti. 1 do not join in the abuse of this good German, from whose work I have received very great assistance, while its copious- ness has saved me much unfruitful labor ; his commentary is indeed redundant, as what commentary is not I This is an evil, I fear, inherent to an explanatory book upon any subject : it must contain a great deal which half its readers already know, for the sake of the other half. A Reviewer, I have been v. 149 — 164. Sat. iv. Juvenal. 95 Who ill deserv'd his fast-approaching fate, An early victim, of the tyrant's hate. 150 But an ag'd noble had been long ago A prodigy at Rome ! a kind of shew, (O may the Gods to me much sooner send A GIANT BROTHER, THAN A ROYAL FRIEND !) Naught it avail'd, that he would oft engage 155 With fierce Numidian bears on Alba's stage, Unarm'd, alone — for who but comprehends The Arts on which a great man's breath depends ? Thy gestures, Brutus, who would now believe ? When kings wore beards—'twas easier to deceive. Not less disturb'd, tho' of ignoble race, [160 Old Rubrius came, with terror in his face ; An old offence, not to be nam'd again, Clung to his fame an everlasting stain — - told, not unfrequeutly gains much ostentatious knowledge from the very Author he proposes to dismember, nor can I reasonably doubt that a Translator is occasionally liable to the same accident of forgetting or ill-requiting his obliga- tions. — Considering the civilities which Authors and Com- mentators sometimes receive in return for the information they have communicated, they might not seldom adopt the com- plaint of the goat in the epigram : tw ATKONfg IAIX1N MAZX2N i^w ovk s9e Awcra. But to return to Acilius and his son ; nothing is known of either of them from history. His counterfeited madness, it seems, could not evade the sagacity of the Emperor. Of Brutus, whose example he followed, the story is well known, that after the death of his brother, he eluded a certain par- ticipation in his fate by counterfeiting madness, and under 96 Sat. iv. Juvenal. v. 165 — 168. More vile than he, whose pen could ne'er desist From Satire — Gods ! a pathic satirist ! — [165 And now the belly of Montanus comes ; Crispinus next, all reeking with perfumes that disguise prepared an occasion for the ruin of Tarquisi. Rubiicus is as little known as the two persons who precede him in the procession. The pathic satirist was unquestionably Nero. Tacit. Ann. xv. T. \67\ Of Montanus, the Scholiast says, " this is he of wliom mention is made in Tacitus Histor. L. iv." So it has been generally thought, perhaps not correctly, for the cha- racter of that Montanus in whose speech we meet with the fol- lowing sentences, will not fit the Montanus of Juvenal. An Ne- ronem extremum dgtninorum pvteiis ? idem crediderautqui Tibe- rio, qui Caio Caligulte superstites fuerunt, quum interim intes- tahilior et savior exortus est : who, after complimenting the moderation of Vespasian, continues j la/rtttSt olg os sig ra XidoxoWsc y&wrttu. Dioscorides, in reckoning up the several kinds of this stone, says, o jW-sv rig ecrr; "E^a^ay^wv — which is perhaps the species here alluded to. Under this head, it may also be worth while to put down, that he probably describes the smoky quartz or cairn gorum, (o h KAIINIA2 olaitscei xsxatfvHr-fAEVogi) almost by its present name. If there be any doubt of the similarity between the laspis and the emerald, an epigram upon a ring in the Anthologia, would go far to determine the point. Tag /Sou; %ai rov latnriv iSwv tfs§i X sl § 1 ^onrpsig Tag pev cLvcrtyeisiv, rov Ss XAOHKOMEEIN. What follows in the text alludes to the sword of iEneas. Stellatus Iaspide fulva Ensis erat. &neid. 1. iv. v. 77 — 96. Sat. v. Juvenal. 113 Void of all worth, — save only to be sold For some half score of matches duly told ! With meat and wine if Virro's stomach glow, He quaffs a cup more cold than Getic snow ; SO And said I viler wines were kept for you ? My friend, you drink inferior water too : Serv'd by the paw of some Getulian boor, Or bony fingers of an hideous Moor, At whom you'd start when all around is still 85 Amid the tombs that crown the Latin hill ! The flower of Asia waits your host's commands, Bought at a cost more vast than all the lands Of Tullus, or rich Ancus, could defray, Or all the goods of all Rome's kings could pay ! 90 Ask for thy negro Ganymede whene'er Thy throat is parch'd, nor dream a boy so fair Knows how to suit the taste of such as thee; Regard the stripling ere thou make so free ; His form, his age, his looks of high disdain — ■ 95 Thy hints, thy calls, thy signals all are vain ! V. 76*. The Beneventine cobler, SfC. The Beneventine Cobler was one Vatinius. — Vatinius inter foedissima ejus (Neronis) aulce ostenta fuit, sutrince tabernce alumnus, cor- pore detorto facetiis scwrilibus, Sfc. — [Tacit. Ann. xv.l — These cups with four projecting spouts, or lips, or handles, got the surname of Vatinius, says the Scholiast, because he had a very prominent nose. V. 80. He quaffs a cup, tyc. The expression decocta pruinis, is perhaps an intentional opposition of terms, but it is commonly stated in explanation that Nero was fond of boiled water afterwards refrigerated by immersion in snow. V. 87. Of Asia's youth the flower. It was not only the Juv. H' 114 Sat. v. Juvenal. v. 97 — 113. There, there he stands dispensing cold and hot, Thee and thy vulgar wants remembering not ! O cease to ask, — 'twould move our youngster's spleen To help an humble client were he seen : 100 His pride ill brooks, that thou reclin'd in state Canst eat at ease, while he forsooth must wait ! This insolence of slaves quite monstrous grown Is each great mansion's curse, with what a tone [105 The scoundrel hands you bread one scarce can break. Hard musty lumps which make the grinders ache, Kept for himself while loaves of fairest flour Your kind and generous landlord will devour ! Those tempting rolls, let not thy touch profane, Or, art thou scheming ? know thy arts are vain, 1 10 Comes one who bids thee the small theft resign, (Thou might'st be sure such bread was none of thine) ' Wilt thou be pleas'd once more, bold guest, to see ' The color of the loaves design'd for thee ?' * So ! 'twas for this,' you mutter, * that I left 115 4 My bed, my wife, of half my rest bereft, 6 Fac'd the raw breezes of th' Esquilian hill, * Felt thro' my cloak the drizzling rain distill, custom of the Romans to buy slaves from Asia, but to clothe thera with a total disregard to the change of climate. This is alluded to in the eleventh satire. Juvenal describes his attendant as A frigore tutus Non Phryx ant Lycins, non a mangone petitus. V. 97. There, there he stands, dispensing cold and hot, "The ancients made use of both at their meals ; which among various other testimonies is easily brought to recollection from v. 1 19-— 132. Sat. v. Juvenal. 115 * While all the sky with sables hung would lower ' Or burst the vernal hail's impetuous shower.' — Beyond thy reach, (of course,) a lobster grac'd With large asparagus, is duly plac'd : See how he brandishes his tail in scorn, As the claw'd monster o'er your heads is borne, — A stale, lean crab, and half an egg, — a treat 125 Fit for a tomb ! — behold your tempting meat. Merg'd in pellucid oil — reserv'd for him ! — The stately fish on Virro's plate shall swim ; Thy cabbage stinks of what the sharp canoe Brought from Micipsa's shores — reserv'd for you ! Fit for the lamp alone, so rank that none [130 To bathe with Bocchar's countrymen is known ! the circumstance of the poisoning of Brittannicus. The Prince called for a cup, it was purposely presented to him too hot- — he desired cold water to be added to it, and the opportunity was then taken to infuse the poison. V. I2(r. Fit for a tomb. The Feralis coena~& quantity of provision, usually of a very coarse description made a part of the Roman ceremony of interment, it was left in the tomb, and there were not seldom among the living persons sufficiently wretched to have recourse to this revolting banquet, for a meal. Prataeus tells us that a custom some- what similar remains in Languedoc, where on the evening of the first of November a table is set forth among the tombs provided with a banquet of wine, bread and meat in honor of the dead. This custom also, it is said, prevails in the East and in China. V. 130. Brought from Micipsa's shores. I have named the boat in question (which the commentators call ' Navicuh 116 tfat.v. Juvenal. v. 133—160. Who in their stench secure, defy the snakes- And all the venom of their native brakes ! A Mullet enters next, for Virro brought, 135 At Taormini, for Virro' s table caught : Since now the nets for new supplies must seek Far distant shores, and sift each foreign creek : No Tyrrhene fish remaining to appease The throat's demand, all drain'd th' Italian seas, From coasts remote must cunning Lenas gain [140 Gifts to Aurelia sent, — to sell again ! A Lamprey next to Virro they present From the Sicilian gulf for Virro sent ; (For while old Auster keeps the house and wrings The moisture from his wet-encumber'd wings, [145 Allur'd by gain the desperate plummets sound E'en where Charybdis whirls her surges round !) Now comes the dish for thy repast decreed A snake-like eel ! — or of that speckled breed 1 50 Which fatten'd where Cloaca's torrents pour, Sported in Tiber's mud, its native shore ; And where the drains thro' mid Suburra flow Swam the foul streams which fill the Crypt below ! A.nd now a word or two, in Virro's ear, 153 If Virro kindly will vouchsafe to hear : None ask, none hope from thee, my worthy friend, Such liberal gifts as Seneca would send ! Such aid as Cotta's bounty would impart, Or wealthy Piso's warm and generous heart ; 160 e canna') a canoe. Pliny says that canes in India attain soi great a size, ut singula Inter nodia alveo navigabili ternos interdum homines ferunt. v, 161—134. Sat. v. Juvenal. 117 (For once the power of doing good was thought The proudest privilege distinction brought ;) Feed, Virro, feed, 'tis all we ask from thee With some exterior guise of decency. Yes ! do but this — and be like many more, lSr> Rich to thyself, to all thy neighbours poor ! Return we to the feast. They next produce The monstrous liver of a pamper'd goose, (For him of course :) a fatten' d fowl before Leaves in the rear a huge and smoking boar ; 170 More huge than that which Meleager slew, But plac'd as usual, far remote from you :— Then if 'tis spring, and thunder clouds be kind, A dish of truffles peel'd appears behind. ■ O Lybia keep thy corn, Alledius cries. 175 ' And send us Truffles still in large supplies/ And now lest ought might yet remain untried To raise your passions or to gall your pride, Behold the Carver who with rare grimace And pompous air capers from place to place, 1 80 The meats arranging at the master's call And with a rapid knife dismembering all : For 'tis no light affair, believe me, how Hare, Fowl, or Pheasant are dissected now ; V. 179. Behold the Carver. The carver, Struct or, Dirt- hitor, Scissor was a servant whose express concern it was to dismember the articles of the repast. Another or perhaps the same to set it out in order. These were indispensable attendants at every feast. Veniet quifercula docte Componit ; veniet qui pulmentaria condit. Sat. 7. 135, The art of carving was taught on wooden models. 118 Sat. v. Juvenal. v. 185—205. Hal dost thou move a lip as if thy claims 185 "Were yet unforfeited, and those Three Names Gave still a Roman's right to speak thy mind, Kick'd to the street, thy error shalt thou find. O when shall Virro drink to such a guest When touch the goblet which thy lips have press' d ? Or which of you will be so rash, so lost 1 90 When uninvited, as to pledge your host ? The words are not a few, which want controuls, Which none may utter with a cloak in holes ! But should some god or mortal well inclin'd 195 Leave thee a fortune, than the fates more kind, How very soon thy abject state will end ! Now much caress'd ! now greatly Virro's friend ! * Help, worthy Trebius, put that cover near, * Come brother — taste this haunch before me here?'— 200 Brother ! O gold omnipotent, for thee This speech is meant of kind fraternity ! But would' st thou rule with undivided swa y -\ And lord it o'er thy lord the livelong day (. No young JEneas in thy hall must play, 205 ) V. 1 86. The three names, the mark of distinction between the' Roman citizen and the slave. The paraphrastic manner in which i have rendered the passage supersedes a longer note. The insulted client had three names, — was a Roman citizen still, but the privileges of independence they conferred were forfeit- ed by his despicable submission. tr. 206 — 219. Sat. v. Juvenal. 119 Her steps to thee no infant daughter bend, A STERILE WIFE SECURES A STEDFAST FRIEND. Though now, as times are changed, should Mycale Produce at once three little Trebii, three ! Be sure he'll play with the loquacious nest 210 And bring them nuts, and many a gaudy vest, And the demanded penny with delight Give to the playful infant Parasite. But let us view this hateful scene once more — And see ! kind Virro's cautious friends explore 215 The doubtful fungus, while before their host Delicious mushrooms take their usual post. Such, Claudius dearly lov'd, till One there came Of size conspicuous and of endless fame, V. 218. Such, Claudius lov'd. This Emperor ' boletorum uppetentissimus' was poisoned by a mushroom prepared by his wife Agrippina. The practitioner she consulted on tii.e occasion was the famous Locusta, mentioned in the first Satire with due commendation. ' She despaired of succeeding with his wine, of which he drank a great deal, on account/ says Dio, ' of the precautions which Emperors use ; aud finding her own judgment unequal to the case, Aokoucttocv riva v — and departed this life the succeeding day. He was deified in due time, and the deification afforded a good joke for Nero. ( Mushrooms,' said he,' are certainly the food of the Gods, 120 Sat v. Juvenal, v. 220—221 Which season'd for her valued lord's repast 220 Under his wife's directions, prov'd his last ! for Claudius became a God by eating them.* Exsjvoj- yaf 8ia iMvya^oc ©so$ syeyovei. Suetonius says, it was reported, that having thrown up the first dose he was supplied with a second by another mode of introduction. — Agrippina was, it must be confessed, a woman of perseverance. Tacitus relates the sequel thus : — The Em- peror being relieved, and Agrippina having every thing to fear, sent for Xenophon, a Physician ; he, on pretence of promoting the disposition to vomit, irritates the throat of his patient with a feather smeared with poison; a sensible man ! haud ig- NARUS SUMMA SCELERA INCIPI CUM PERICULO, PE- RAGI CUM PRiEMIO. Thus ends a long and full account of the practices of gluttony and the punishments of the parasite, tywij.ov ovzitjiiov yxtrTgi 2Ca.gity[J,evo$. One may allow a little for exaggeration — a few insertions for effect, — but the main fact is certainly true that the Table, which was formerly held even as sanctified and consecrated to the purposes of liberality and friendship, was now the scene of two opposite indeed, but equally degrading vices. Martial amply confirms the account of Juvenal. See lib. vi. 11. and iii. 60. for an expostulation with two Virros. Res tibi cum Rhombo est, at mihi cum sparulo. Cur sine te cozno, cum tecum Pont ice ccenem ? To Marcus who complains that he cannot find a Pylades he suggests the propriety of first becoming an Orestes. Nee melior pants turdusve dabatur Oresti. Sedpar atque eadem ccena duobus erat, A still further corroboration of these practices, though in truth Satire requires little confirmation— (the existence of the v. 222 — 229. Sat. v. Juvenal. 121 Apples to all the Virros, they present Of which his guests inhale the fragrant scent ; Such, mellow'd by Corcyra's brilliant sky Her endless autumns might alone supply, 225 Such thou might'st think, and only such as these Were pilfer'd from the fam'd Hesperides ! But as for your's, behold such precious fruit, Such windfalls as beseem the raw recruit, Satire proving the existence of the vice) may be found in Pliny's Letter to Avitus, 1. ii. 6. describing such an enter- tainment. The following is an extract from it. ' Some very elegant dishes were served up to himself and a * few more of us ; while those which were placed before the * rest of the company were extremely cheap and mean. There ■ were, in small bottles, three different sorts of wine : not ' that the guests might take their choice, but that they might ' not have an option in their power. The best was for him- * self and his friends of the first rank ; the next for those of a ' lower order, (for, you must know, he measures out his friend- * ship according to the degrees of quality,) and the third for * his own and his guests' freedmen. One who sat near me, * took notice of this circumstance, and asked me how I ap- ' proved of it 1 Not at all, I replied. Pray then, said he, * what is your method on these occasions 1 Mine, I returned, ' is to give all my visitors an equal reception : for when I " make an invitation it is to entertain, not distinguish, my ' company. I set every man upon a level with myself whom ' I admit to my table, not excepting my freedmen, whom I * look upon at those times to be my guests, as much as the 'rest. At this he expressed some surprize, and asked if I * did not find it a very expensive method 1 I assured him, not 122 Sat. v. Juvenal. v. 230—247. Who dreads the surly veteran's peevish blow, 230 While station'd in the trench he learns to throw The javelin, and with prompt address to wield The ponderous spear and shift the cumbrous shield. Perhaps thou reckon'st, friend, that all is done From a mean mind and avarice alone : — 235 Ah no ! 'tis done to make thee writhe and smart, To crush thy spirit and to wring thy heart ; Done all for sport ! for what more comic scene Than thy distress, 'twixt appetite and spleen ? 'Tis done, as all but thou must plainly see, 240 To make thee grind thy teeth in agony ; That bursting gall may vent itself in tears, And mutter'd curses be suppress'd by fears. Free dost thou call thyself, and take thy seat At such a board ? he knows you come to eat ; 245 Knows that they take thy virtue by surprise, Those savoury steams which from his kitchen rise. * at all ; and that the whole secret lay in being contented l& * drink no better wine myself than I gave to others.' I will conclude this subject with a translation from a Greek epigram, the turn of which however I have altered, as it seems flat even in the original. Far from the rich man's board be still thy seat, Touch not the parasite's insulting meat, Nor sorrowless shed thou the lying tear, Nor with the laugher laugh : be still sincere ; And when nor love nor hate thy bosom move,, With Virro hate not, nor with Virro Love. v. 248 — 263. Sat. v. Juvenal. 123 And he is right ; for who unless 'twere so A second time to such a treat would go ? Whether the poor man's leathern boss should deck Or gold Etruscan his patrician neck ? [250 Hope cheats thee still, methinks I hear thee say, * That hare half-pick' d we'll surely get to-day ; * That rump, at least,' — perhaps a fowl,' — you wait, Pick your dry bread, and view your empty plate. 'Tis just what you deserve, your host is wise, [255 If such an host you learn not to despise. Who can bear all things, all things ought TO BEAR ; Tarry a little longer, he shall dare, Poor humbled slave, thy shaven crown to smite, And thou wilt bear the blow,— perhaps invite ; [260 Think nothing hard, thy back to scourges lend, Worthy of such a feast, and such a friend ! argument Credo pudicitiam, fyc. This Creed of Juvenal's, of which in the progress of this long Satire he presents us with the several articles, must I fear be regarded (for Satire is in some measure History) as an authentic docu- ment on the state of manners among the sex at that period. It has been often noticed that the picture here drawn of the age of chastity is somewhat coarse and unattractive ; but we must consider the genius of satirical writing, which, conversant with cities and their inhabitants, rarely admits of descriptive poetry, unless for the sake of contrast. That Juvenal would have succeeded as the poet of rural life may be indeed doubted, nevertheless (though some critics have denied, or sparingly conceded to him this excellence) he seems to have possessed a mind highly susceptible of those emotions which arise from contem- plating the beauties of nature. Sat. iii. 18, 190, 226. viii. 206. ix. 125, &c. Everything that relates to the sexual passion in this Satire is exceedingly gross, and may be well contrasted with the delicacy and beauty of one at least of the Greek Philosophers, who thus discourses on the necessity of combining affection with animal passion. to [xsv Tijc oogag av&og rot^v ds nou TragUK^a^si, cckoXshtoVt to; Ss toutoVj ecva.yA.rj xa.it tijv ftXtctv o-vvscTrofJLagutvscr6tt.r ij ce if/w^*) 6<70V7rep av wovov <>] sm to

ote on the passage. Thymele, see Satire I. — Saltatrix egregia : Martial begs Domitian to read his epigrams with that countenance , with which he looks on the performances of Thymele. Qua Thymele spectas Ilia j route precor, carmina nostra legas. Accius, an actor of some renown, as appears from the text, but not farther known. Tuccia, — There was a vestal of this name, whose reputa- , j tion having fallen under a cloud, * Grant, O Vesta !' she exclaimed before a multitude collected to see the ex- periment, * in attestation of my chastity, that I may " drink out of this sieve and carry it back full of water 4 to thy temple,'— and the lady's honor was abundantly 126 vindicated. Vai. Maxim, de Judiciis Public. 1. viii. 1. The name was not a common one, but this personage does not seem to have been of the same family. Mlia, unknown, — as indeed most of the exemplary ladies of this Satire are and ought to be ; Hispulla, Hippia, Bibula, Cesennia, Sanfeia, Medullina, Maura, fyc. Echion, Ambrosias, unknown musicians ; but Glaphynis was a celebrated Piper in the reign of Augustus, of whom Antipater in the. Greek epigram, Ogtpsvs Qygag e-xufc : cry d' ogTiv > not only forgotten but frustrated. On the subject of the Atellan farce Dusaulx refers to the Mera. de 1' Acad, des Inscript. T. 1. p. 214. V. 105. Wife of a Senator. Respecting this lady, history is silent, if we except the narrative which follows, which records the anomaly of a lady running off from a luxurious and fascinating capital to a country of barbarians, and from opulence, ease and security, to danger, poverty and hard- ships, with an old, maimed, and exceedingly frightful gallant ! In a general Satire on Women, such a case, (very little likely to happen again,) would not have been worth alluding to, much less deserving circumstantial narration, except for the sake of the contrast which follows, Just a pericli Si ratio est et honest a, timent vavidoque gelantur, §c. By the periphrasis of the ' walls of Lagus', Alexandria is intended : and Veiento, the husband of Hippia, is found in the Alban Court of Domitian. Sat. iv. 113. v. 213 — 142. Sat. vi. Juvenal. 139 On her, misfortune ne'er had cast a frown, Her youth was cradled in the softest down ; Wealth filPd the halls of her paternal home, 115 Yet now o'er boisterous waves she loves to roam, Contemning fear, — fame had she long despised ; Fame ! by our pillow'd fair ones lightly priz'd ! Th' Ionian whirlwind, and the Tyrrhene waves, With breast most masculine, our heroine braves; 1 20 Yet let an honest cause for risque appear, Then are the gentle souls o'erwhelm'd with fear ! Her feet will scarce support the fainting dame ! Their courage they reserve for deeds of shame. What lady with an husband would be drown'd ? 1 25 Then, holds are filthy ; then, the head swims round. Who follows her gallant, no terrors try, None, none are sick, — save when the husband's by, Him, absent, o'er the ship they love to stray, Mess with the crew, and with the cordage play ! 1 30 What form, what features drew the dame aside ? For whom was Fame's insulting tongue defied ? Long since around his throat the beard had grown, His crippled arm to combats long unknown, And where his brow the helmet once had bound 135 Was seen a mark indelible around : A filthy wart from his mid nostril grew, His eye-lids dropt an acrimonious dew, Which kept his time-worn cheek for ever wet, But Sergy was a gladiator yet. 140 A new Adonis seem'd he to the dame For this alone— for this a mother's name 140 Sat. vi. Juvenal, v. 143 — 148. Hippia despis'd — the sword, the sword they prize, Here all the charm, all the seduction lies, And void of this, the fair he'd quickly find 145 To his, as to her husband's, merits blind. But these be vices of retir'd abodes ; Review we next the rivals of the Gods. V. 147. But these be vices. Another anecdote in high life is here related— Its subject, Messalina, the wife of the fifth Caesar, Ttogviyuorarv) xcti aTSA.ystj'ra.rrj,, whose debauch- eries are unexampled even in Roman history. The epithet ' gen-erosns' given to the amiable aud unfortunate Brittanicus, and indeed the introduction of his name, in connection with her depravities, were surely intended as aggravations of the mother's guilt, not as reflections on the son. She appears again towards the end of the 10th Satire, where Juvenal alludes to the story of her infatuated marriage with Cuius Silius, a scene which ended in her own swift destruction. The widowed Emperor, (here pleasantly enumerated ' inter rivales Deorum) declared he would have nothing more to do with matrimony : but his friends recommended Agrippiua, and his shyness was conquered by a decree of the Senate, that * lie should be compelled to take a wife as a matter of im- portance to the commonwealth. ' It turned out to be so far important that the state was indebted to her industry and in- genuity for the death of its ruler, which happened soon after, and she was in her turn, by a just retribution, put to death by that Nero for whose sake she had committed almost every possible enormity. In one part of her conduct in the brothel, Messalina, it seems, has found a modern imitatress. — ' Catherine Sforce petit e-fl lie de Francois Sforce montra son ventre dans line place publique,' says Dusaulx, ' mats quelle difference? Desseditkux la nunaccnt dans Rimini defairper'w y. 149 — 162. Sat. vi. Juvenal. 141 Come, hear the fates of Claudius, when she found The world's great lord, and her's, in sleep profound, The daring harlot cowl'd her shameless head, [1.50 And left an Emperor's for a strumpet's bed. One maid she bids her midnight feats to share, Binds in a yellow cawl her coal-black hair, Hies to the brothel, takes Lycisca's cell 155 And there, (a shameless tale which thousands tell !) There, all who would, Brittanicus, might see Without a veil, the loins possess'd by thee ! There long she waits with bare and gilded breast, And clasps delighted every kindling guest ; 160. And when the fading stars' retiring train Announce the end of night's declining reign, ses enfans quelle leur avail donne en Stage. Cette heroine re- troussant ses v&icmens leur dit — En quo possim liber os iierum, procreare. Much of Messalina's audacious violation of decency is recorded in detail by Dio ; more particularly her ad- venture with Mnester, the Dancer, who, refusing all her solicit- ations, she caused the stupid Claudius to lay commands upon him, that he was to obey her in whatever she desired. In this way she made her husband, in many instances, acces- sary to his own disgrace, wc yoco siSofoc rs tov KXavSiO'j tot. yiyvoiAzvx, kou crvyycvoovvros zixoiyjuero. Use brutish stupidity of this Emperor was indeed such, that they often took him by surprise, and so alarmed hi-m for his own safety, that lie would order the instant execution of some person, for whom he would inquire or send the next day, having totally forgotten the circumstances ! 142 Sat. vi. Juvenal, v. 163—168. She lingers yet, then, since depart she must, Worn with fatigue, but rigid still with lust, With sullied skin, and cheeks her shame that tell, To scented pillows bears the brothel's smell ! [165 Of step-sons by concocted poisons slain, And their domestic treasons I refrain V. \6j. Of stepsons hy concocted poisons, Sfc. The poison here particularly mentioned is Hippomanes, concerning which much has and may be written. It means two things chiefly ; 1st, an excrescence on the head of a colt new foaled, concerning which the ancients believed that if the mother did not lick it off, she would lose the instinctive love for her foal, and never suckle it. ro Ss htiiopcwss xxXovpsvov, says Aristotle, zKi^uzrai foig itooKot^, al Ss 'nprroi TfegiXei^ovo-cu kou xx9xigov rtveviAtx, 6' ffiitrtw rsxvwv ! The following lines from the Berenice of Racine, though merely descriptive, are extremely brilliant : De cette nuit, PMnice, as-tu vu la splendeur ? Tes yeux ne sont-ilspas tous pleins de sa grandeur ? Ces Flambeaux, ce Bucher, cette nuit enflammee, Ces aigles, ces Faisceaux, ce Peuple, cette armee, Cette foule de Rois, ces consuls, ce senat, Qui tous de mon amant empruntoient leur eclat: v. 203 — 218. Sat. vi. Juvenal. 147 Where length of days is graciously bestow'd On ancient swine, by an indulgent code ! What ! midst a race so numerous shall there be Not one from crime, not one from folly free ? — -[205 Come ! — grant her wealthy, fruitful, fair and chaste 3 Her halls with imag'd sires profusely grac'd, Pure as the dames who with dishevell'd hair Stemm'd the huge wave of desolating war, — 210 A wife of such perfections who can brook ? Or at such excellence unhumbled look ? Some poor Venusian lass I'd rather take Than thee, Cornelia, for the Gracchi's sake, If of thy merits I must bear the pride, 215 And her sire's triumphs must endow my bride : W ith thy eternal * Hannibal' away ! And rid me, rid me, of thy ' Carthage,' pray, Cette Ponrpre, — cet Or qui rehaussoient sa gloire, Et ces lauriers, encor temoins de sa victoire Ce Port Majestueux, cette douce Presence, fyc* V. 201. Where native monarchs. The Jews used to pay their vows on certain solemn occasions barefoot. Juvenal, who cared little about the matter, and never mentions this people without falling into error respecting their usages, here suppo- ses that the sabbaths were so kept even by their king*. V. 218. And rid me, rid me. So Boileau. * Si quelq' objet pareil chez moi, deca les monts, ' Pour m'&pouser entroit avec tons ses grands noms s ' Le sourcil rehausst d'orgueilleuses chimeres, * Je lui dirois bientot,je connois tous vos peress 148 Sat. vt. Juvenal, v. 219—228. * Spare, Phoebus, spare ! Goddess, thy rage sus- pend! 6 The boys are guiltless, at the parent bend 220 « Thy bow,' Amphion cries, the darts have sped, And he, and they, lie number 5 d with the dead. A race extinct ! because a parent's pride With fair Latona impudently vied, Because a vain and vaunting woman strove 225 With swine below, and goddesses above ! O where's the charm of form, wit, wisdom, say, If one's compell'd to praise them every day? * Ainsi done au plutot delogeant de ces lieux, ' Allez, Princesse, allez avec tons vous ayeux.' V. 225. Because a vain, Sfc. This is, I think, the most flatand t feeble part of the whole Satire: he enters, says Ruperti, upon a new subject, ' the vanity of prolific ladies on the score of their fruitfulness,' a veiny poor object for general attack at any rate, and tritely illustrated by the story of Niobe. It seems, however, that under this head of the Satire, the case of Niobe is cited only to show that the vanity of women hurts others as well as themselves — a view of the subject the more likely, as the ladies are afterwards celebrated for an accomplishment of an opposite kind, viz. the procuring of abortions. As to the white sow which he celebrates again in Sat. xii. Lcetis Phry gibus mirabile sumen Et nunquam visis triginta clara mamillis. It was one of the prodigies that attended the landing of iEneas, and from its color, gave name to Alba. Virg. Mn. iii„ 383. vii. 29. viii. 42. 81. v. 229 — 248. Sat. vi. Juvenal. 149 Far better want than be for ever tried With choicest gifts to arrogance allied : 230 The virtues he is forc'd so oft to hear, So oft to praise, what mortal will not fear ? Then see what trains of affectation come To blast the look'd-for comforts of thy home. Now Roman beauties are no longer fair, 235 Greece dictates every phrase and every air. No Miss from Sulmo condescends to speak About her father's farm, except in Greek ! Their rage is Greek, their sorrow and their dread Cecropian all — nay, they are Greek in bed. 240 Girls claim excuse, but thou of seventy-eight, To play the Grecian still ! 'tis much too late ! ZfiH KAI WTXH, what in public use, Th' incentive phrase and language of the stews ! Ah us'd in vain ! for words that most inflame 245 Pronounc'd by thee, can every passion tame ; Yes, let them steal more softly on the ears Than Hsemus speaks — the face computes the years ! V. 237' No Miss from Sulmo. The history of affectation might be compiled from the annals of every age and country, nor can there well be a greater than the substitution of another language for one's own. It was highly commendable in the Roman ladies to study the language of Greece for the sake of its authors, but they did this in the time of Juvenal for the very different and absurd purpose mentioned in the text. The introduction of Grecian terms, as well as manners, (Niceteria, Trechedipna, &c.) had already excited the repro- bation of the patriotic Satirist. Sat. iij. 68. 150 Sat, vi. Juvenal. v. 249—264. Now, if by marriage contracts firmly tied, You neither hope, nor wish to love your bride, 250 Why all that load of sweetmeats throw away, Suppers, and cakes, and all that bridegrooms pay ; The morning gift, — the plate with coins of gold On which our Dacian triumphs are enroll'd ? Again, if such a simpleton you prove 255 As to put on the yoke — and all for love, Believe me, friend, that thou hast much to bear, A doting husband, none will ever spare. Feel what she may, her courage will endure, Of his superior penalties secure. 260 He that's most fit for matrimonial life The least of all should venture on a wife ! Nought of his own a husband can confer, Buy, sell, or change, without consulting her : V. 251. Why all that load. An allusion is here made to the usages of a Roman marriage. 1. Coena, the marriage banquet ; 2. Mustaceum, the bride-cake, a custom not yet quite disused; 3. Ulud quod pro prima nocte datur— the Morgengabe of the north. The last industrious editor of Juve- nal has cited the recipe for a Roman bride-cake from Cato, deR.R.c. 121. Mustaceos sicfacito : Farince siligine modimn unum musto conspergito; Anisum, cuminum, Adipis P. II. casei libram ; et de virga Lauri deradito ecdem addito ; et ubi definxeris lauri folia Subtus addito, qunm coques. A piece of such cake was given to the guests as an * apopho- reton,' or gift to be taken home. v. 265' — 286. Sat. vi. Juvenal. 151 To her thy heart's affections all must bend, 265 Her peevish whim excludes thy ancient friend — The right of Testament each bawd can claim, Rogues, Panders, Players, all their heirs can name, But she shall dictate thine — not one or two, Nor those least hated, and despis'd by you. 270 c Sir, bid that slave be crucified* — f but stay, * His crime ? — to take from man his life away, ' Demands an awful pause'— ' so ! slaves are men! 6 Guilty or guiltless be the wretch — what then ? ' Begone, — nor longer about justice whine : 275 \ Let this suffice thee — 'twas my order— mine !' Thus reigns the wife, till tir'd of ruling you, She seeks new empire, and engagements new : Sick of the change, these new engagements spurns, To thy deserted bed once more returns, 280 While on the porch she quits, the wreaths are seen, And all the nuptial boughs hang fresh and green : So, ere five autumns yet be past and gone, Her eighth fond lord, thy partner may have known, And on her tomb posterity shall find 285 Thy honor'd name with seven successors join'd. V. 2So\ Thy honor d name with, fyc. 1 he Roman women were (according to some) stinted to eight divorces, after which number the law took it for granted that the lady was somehow to blame, and she became a reputed adulteress on the next oc- casion. It seems also (from this passage) to have been a custom to inscribe on the tomb of the dear deceased a list of all her hus- bands, not merely the name of the last who had enjoyed that honor. The Roman divorces were admitted on very light 152 Sat. vi. Juvenal, v. 287 — 296. Ne'er shall thy home be free from brawls and strife, While thy wife's mother breathes the breath of life, Her well train'd child to plunder she will teach All that of thine remains within her reach, 290 To gay gallants the rescript will indite In gentle phrase, terms civil and polite ; Will scatter dust in each suspicious eye, And quickly find the price of secrecy. Sometimes, to make the surety doubly sure, 295 Archigenes the feign* d disease must cure, grounds, although marriage with them was a religious cere- mony, and not as in France a mere contract entered into before the civil magistrate. The formulary was extremely brief; even shorter than the dismissal which Juvenal gives us in this satire, 'jam gravis es nobis,' fyc. it was comprised in four words, ' Res tuas tibi habeto.' V. 296. Archigenes the feign' d, SfC Archigenes was a physician at Rome in much repute, and moreover of such merit, as to have obtained the favorable testimony of Galen, Me chieftain of an opposite sect ! from whose authority it appears, that he left a great number of works (among the rest ten books on fevers) all of which have perished ; a catalogue of his writings is however given by Aetius. Pliny gives a list of several physicians at Rome who enjoyed from the Emperors a pension of 250 Sestertia, more than 2000/. per annum. Yet, in the reign of Claudius, one of these doctors, by name Stertiuius, complained to the Emperor of the smallness of this annuity, (which had been raised to 500 Sestertia, and told him (a curious reason for desiring an augmentation,) that he could make 600 by his practice in the city. (The Sestertium is computed at 8/. Is. 5d.) The brother of Stertinius enjoyed the same gratuity, and although they spent vast sums, it must be confessed, in a very public spirited v. 297—298. Sat. vi. Juvenal. 153 And while he largely on the case descants, The hot adulterer in concealment pants. manner, by adorning their native city of Naples, they left a fortune of 300,000 Sesterces. Vectius Valens entered upon his medical career with the eclat of an adulterous connection with Messalina ; Eudemus began by an intrigue with Livia, the wife of Drusus Caesar : the first of these persons became very insolent, ' rabie quadam in omnes eevi medicos; quali pru- dentia ingenioque vel ab uno argument o cestimari potest : cum monument o suo (quod est Appia via) Iatronicem se inscrip- serit.' His success, it seems, depended on suavity of manners, which, says Pliny, were so bland and courteous thatnoplayeror chariot-driver could exceed him ; however, in time he lost his popularity and was supplanted in much of his practice by the grave looks and assumed sagacity of another adventurer, Cri- nas of Marseilles : 'Cautior, religiosiorque qui ad siderum mo- llis ex Ephemeride Mathematica cibos dando, horasque observan- do auctoritate eum prcecessit.' These two physicians ' regebant Fata,'and were consulted by all Rome according to the taste of individuals for Affability or for Oracular Response, till there suddenly arrived, (repente) a new competitor called Charmis, who condemned of course all former doctors and systems, declared against the great and prevailing luxury of Rome, the warm bath, and directed his patients to plunge into cold water : etiam hibernis algoribus mersit cegros in Lacus : et VIDEBAMUS SENES CONSULARES USQUE IN OSTEN- tationem rigentes! Nee dubium est OMNES ISTOS, famam novitate alt qua aucupantes, ANIMAS statim nos- tras NEGOTIARI. Hinc illce circa cegros misera; senfen- iiarum concertationes (Consultations) nullo idem censente ne videatur accessio alterius. We see pretty clearly then the opinion of a tolerable judge respecting the latiic art and its professors, and are less surprised 154 Sat. vi. Juvenal, v. 299 — 302. Dost thou expect a mother should impart A code of morals foreign to her heart ? 300 Ah no, these hoary sinners find their gain In the lewd daughters whom to vice they train. at the impertinence of a certain monument on the Appian way,* which recorded that its tenant perished ' Turha medicorum.' Having discussed many of their moral excellences, intrigues, poisonings, forging wills &c. this useful writer, who has oddly found a physician for his editor and commentator, pro- ceeds to accuse the Roman practitioners (who were all foreigners — mostly Greeks,) of the profoundest ignorance— he is so unreasonable as to infer that, because Mithridate consisted of fifty-four articles, some of them must needs be good for nothing ; and so wicked as to announce that several of the Faculty, in place of Cinnabar, (one of the articles which enters into this famous compound) made use of red-lead or minium by mistake : ' which, says he, we shall prove to be poison, when we come to the paints.' — Let us not be inconsolable! for though there be some still perhaps who scarcely know the difference s ■Non sunt artis ista sed hominum. Pliny was no stranger to the true secret of all the delusions and artifices, which the soi-disdnt Pretender has ever, or will ever attempt, viz. the credulity of human nature. No phy- sician, says he, except he be a Greek, can maintain the small- est authority over his patient, even though the patient be totally ignorant of the language: and not only so, but if he hap- pen to have some slight acquaintance with fhe language of his medical attendant, his confidence diminishes in proportion. ' Itaque Hercufe, in hac artium sola evenit tit cuicunque medicum se professo, statim credatur, cum sit pei'iculum in nullo mendacio majus. Non tamen illud intuemur : Adeo bland a est spekandi pro se ctjioue du-l- CEDO.' v. 303—310. Sat vi. Juvenal. 155 Now scarce a cause in all the courts is heard, By woman's meddling spirit not preferr'd. Plaintiffs, if not accus'd, they doat on law, 305 Write their own briefs — and squabble for a straw. Celsus himself might from these casuists learn, The points on which his pleadings best may turn. In toils athletic how the sex excel, [310 Their mantles — their Cerome — who knows not well ? V. 309. In toils athletic. The picture which follows is so entirely abhorrent from the habits of modern times, that it cannot now be much relished. It is however a very finished specimen of the graphical powers of the poet. The female athlete, luxurious even in her coarsest enjoyments, makes use of the rug or endronris, (which was thrown about the wrestlers when, after being much heated, they ceased from exercise) but it is spun of Tyrian wool. The notion of an auction was a very happy one for introducing a catalogue of the lady's armour, and weapons. One cannot but admire that women should not at all times have well understood their own real strength, that they should ever have had recourse to exploits which men must in every age have detested, that, in fine, they could possibly overlook the undeniable proposition that, to be amiable, a woman must be supposed to need protection. All the other attributes of Minerva are forgotten in her armour, and we think only of the blue-eyed goddess, as of a strong, athletic, and somewhat masculine personage, not unworthy of the peculiar honors of her birth. But the Roman ladies were merely at a loss for something to do ; and perhaps most of the follies of human nature, not im- mediately dependent on passion, owe their origin to our natural impatience of idleness, and to our sense of relief in any 156 Sat. vi. Juvenal, v. 311— 332. The Stake all notch'd by blows well aim'd and keen, Who lives within the walls and has not seen ? Others, and still more exemplary dames, (Of merit meet for Flora's harlot games,) Desert the schools, fly to the public shows, 315 Pick out their man, and fight with real foes ! Nor pause, to put the ponderous helmet on, And laugh at fame to win a base renown. (Yet would they not, my friend, change sex with you, "Whose joys compar'd to theirs are cold and few !) Oh, if the wardrobe should be brought to sale, [320 The greaves, the gauntlet, and the coat of mail, The boots, which on the stage thy charmer wore, What exhibition could divert thee more ! Yet these be they whom silky robes oppress, 325 Whose tender frames, e'en cobweb films distress ; And now she stamps, and now she bends her low, And glides adroitly from the falling blow. How firm her step, how menacing her stride ! Laugh — canst thou help it ?— when she steps aside. Daughters of Lepidus, of Fabius, say, [330 In your austere and unforgiving day, state which dispels ennui: occupation being so precious an in- gredient, or rather so much an essential in human happiness, that, says Bishop Home, 'I have seen a man come home in high spirits from a funeral, merely because he had the ordering of it/ v. 333—260. Sat. vi. Juvenal. 157 What actress would have brav'd the public hiss In such a garb, at such a scene as this ? Thy very bed shall teem with endless strife, 335 So soon as it receive thy tigress wife. Sleep on that pillow shall no more be thine, There shall thy gentle partner sob and whine, Against pretended concubines inveigh With tears, which at the slightest call obey, 340 Which ever in their fruitful station stand, And burst in torrents at the first command. Fond cuckold ! who believ'st that this is love, And that these sun-shine storms her passion prove ! With eager lips, go, kiss those tears away— 345 Yet what, ah what, I wonder, would'st thou say, If the recesses of thy jealous whore, And all her letters, thou might'st there explore. But soft !— you find her in a friend's embrace, Perhaps a slave's — now say, is this a case 350 In which the summit of the casuist's art, Can aught of doubt or subterfuge impart ?. Quintilian's self from the defence would fly, Then, fairest lady ! thou thyself shall try— * Long since 'twas settled, and agreed, that you 355 c Should your own pleasures, unconstrain'd, pursue. 6 For me, then, is there no indulgence, none ? 'Make all the noise you please, Sir, sigh and groan, ' Have I no feelings ? are no passions mine ?' O ! when detected, most of all they shine, 360 158 Sat. vi. Juvenal, v. 361 — 376. Then crime supplies, with courage, and with fire, Or gives them wits, or sharpens all their ire. O ! from what fountains hateful and accurst, Have these foul floods of dire corruption burst ? Their lowly fortunes kept our females chaste, 365 New duties ere the shades of night were past Resum'd, the hardships of an humble home, And hands made coarse with toil — protected Rome : Stern Hannibal's all-desolating power, And their Lords station' d on the Colline tower : 37G While these remain'd, the mischief kept afar — Then peace, with sorer evils fraught than war, Arriv'd, and Luxury her flag unfurl'd, Inflicting vengeance for a conquer'd world ! Since Rome from want and hardships was secure, All crime was rife, and every vice mature : [375 V. 363. O from ivhat fountains. In this passage of con- spicuous beauty, the poet abates somewhat of his rigor against the sex. In the beginning of the Satire he excluded his countrywomen altogether, by confining the virtue of chastity to the golden age : he now allows them to have been virtuous before they became luxurious : the history of his own country, and of the world, which shows the insepa- rable connection between immorality and a high state of civilization, has fixed upon one memorable line in this pas- sage, the seal of unquestionable truth. The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire is indeed briefly comprehended in it. Savior armis Luxuria incubuit victumque ulciscitur orbem. v< 377 — 405. Sat. vi. Juvenal. 159 To the seven hills, foul Sybaris drew near, Miletus, Rhodes — all found disciples here : Hither, with all her train, corruption flows, Here, lewd and drunk, Tarentum twines the rose, Wealth quickly crush'd the virtue of the land, [380 And brought base morals from a foreign strand ! They, who each night, incentive meats devour, Drink essenc'd wines at midnight's deepest hour, Till spins the roof in swift gyrations round, 385 And lights, seen double, from the board rebound, Spurn every law, which nature fram'd to bind The wayward will of an ungovern'd mind ! What Maura to Collatia will relate, Doubt if you can, and on what themes they prate ; Whene'er yon mouldering altar they descry, [390 Where all may read ' to female chastity.' Here every night their litters they forsake, And irrigate the place, for insult's sake ; Whate'er besides they do, the Orb serene 395 Alone beholds — the remnant of the scene Thyself perchance next morn, thyself shalt tread, Near the foul spot, by some appointment led. Of the good Goddess, and that secret shrine, Whose shameless vot'ries, red with draughts of wine, The frantic Maenads of Priapus bound [400 J With tresses unconfin'd, and whirl them round > In rapid motion to the Trumpet's sound, ) All, all have heard : — Gods ! what a furious gust Bursts from the crew, what shouts of leaping lust ! 160 Sat. vi. Juvenal, v. 406 — 427. Impure Laufella hangs a wreath on high, [405 In lewdest games, the price of victory ! And Medullina in the well fought day, From all opponents bears the prize away. She that excels in these athletic feats, 410 With warm affection every sister greets : Done to the life, here are no idle shows ; Old Nestor's rupture they would discompose — Not hoary Priam's self with age grown cold, Such exhibitions could, unstirr'd, behold ! 415 Urg'd to its height, can lust no more refrain, Behold the sex unvarnish'd now, and plain ! The sacred hour is come — c admit the men' — ' Madam, they sleep.'- — * Your hood — fetch others, then — [420 ' None, say you, none ? our slaves, at least, are here, c Bid them — bid all the watermen appear ?' Deny them these — cut off all human aid, The very brute creation they'll invade ! Would our most ancient and time-honor'd rites, Had still been strange to these atrocious sights ! But now, behold, the Indian and the Moor, [425 In harpers' guise, who trod the sacred floor V. 424. Would our most ancient. The story of Clodius, who in the habit of a female got into the house of Cassar, where the Roman ladies were celebrating the mysteries of the Bona Dea, and where he accomplished the object of his intrusion, is too generally known. Juvenal touches upon the scrupulous exclusion of males, with great humor. Mils con- sents testiculi, fyc. Vi 428-7-449. Sat* VI, Juvenal* 161 Have heard long since, those awful precincts where Aught that of sex displays is veil'd with care, Where e'en the mouse respects the well-known law, And, if not female, hastens to withdraw! [430 None scoft'd religion then, nor dar'd revile The rites of Numa with a scornful smile, Nor view'd his fragile vase with cold disdain, Wrought from the plastic soil of Vatican ; 435 But times are chang'd, and now, too well 'tis known ! Each Fane maintains a Clodius of its own. Of sapient friends, the voice I seem to hear : 4 Confine her— -lock her up — place sentries near :' But who shall keep the keepers ? she begins 440 With these the first, and their connivance wins, Lust, lust alike, in rich and poor you meet, In her that tramps the flints with wounded feet, Or whom tall Syrians, thro* the motley throng, Bear in voluptuous indolence along. 445 The Circus, vain Ogulnia must frequent, Altho' in garments for th' occasion lent, The train of slaves who wait their lady's call, The chair, the chairmen,-— all are borrow'd, all ! V. 446. The next failing imputed to women is extrava- gance, concerning which, Juvenal begins with a very promi- sing tirade ; but in a few lines he relapses into the more prolific subject of their turpitude, imputing to them another and a more monstrous enormity, in finding constant employment for Heliodorus a celebrated surgeon, concerning whom see Paul. iEginet. iv. 4£)» JlLXh L 162 Sat vi. Juvenal. v. 450— 475, For smooth Athletes, the last small vase is sold, 450 And the last ounce of the paternal gold I Thousands, alas ! by poverty are tried, But all seem strangers to its honest pride : None, none will practise virtues, she detests, Or cares for counsels which the purse suggests :■ Of men (discipled by the ant,) a few [455 Prepare betimes for evils they foreknew. But prodigal in ruin, woman still Expects some miracle the void to fill, As IF THE COIN FROM QUICKENING GERMS WOULD BURST, 460 And a new harvest soon replace the first ! As if the chest could its own loss restore, And still be pillag'd, but to fill the more ! There be, to whom the eunuch's kiss is dear, The soft embrace devoid of every fear, 465 Where all without abortives is secure- — Supreme enjoyment ! when of growth mature To Heliodorus is the youth consign'd, And all that safely can, is left behind ! That youth an eunuch by his mistress made, 470 Stalks thro' the bath conspicuously array'd ; The god of gardens jealous of his fame Turns from th* unequal rivalship with shame. Some, music charms 5 these love the chorded lyre With Sard adorn'd, their fingers never tire, 475 Vc 476—495. Sat. vi. Juvenal. 163 The house with everlasting tinkling rings, While the stiff Plectrum strikes the sounding strings : And oft they kiss that Plectrum and the shell. Which deanHedymeles had lov'd so well. With wine, and meal, and pious offering comes A noble supplicant to Vesta's domes, [480 Lamian her race — her errand, to inquire If the wreath'd oak should deck her PolhVs lyre ! What had she done, if at her sickening child, No more the ever-smiling doctor smil'd ? 48.5 Before the altar, lo ! she veils her face, Repeats each form and usage of the place ; Pale, when the entrails smoke, too tender dame ! With sad forebodings for an harper's fame ! Say, eldest of the Gods, O Janus, say, 490 Do ye reply to such inquirers, pray ? Your occupations must indeed be few, An Heaven, a place for idlers, if ye do : This begs your aid for her comedian friend, Her ranting hero, this would recommend, 495 V. 490. Say, eldest of the Gods. There is scarcely a more lively sarcasm on the Polytheism of his age (for which Juve- nal had a very hearty contempt) throughout his Satires, than this appeal to Janus. If indeed there be any one subject on which the wit and humor of the Satirist is more successfully displayed than another, it is this. Yet his ridicule of the Gods of his country must not be wholly placed to the account of superior sagacity.— -They had long been getting unpopular. 164 Sat. vi. Juvenal, v. 496—522- Soon will the legs of the Aruspex swell, Who stands so long your embassies to tell. But let them sing — 'tis better than to roam Like her that wanders, only strange at home, Through all the crowded streets, and loves to walk With Generals, and of public news to talk ; [500 Who knows throughout the globe whate'er is done, At home, abroad, — -the stepdame and her son— • Scythia or Thrace, — thro' all alike she'll run ; What new adulteries are soon design'd, 505 What wives sagacious, and what husbands blind ; She tells who 'twas that wrought the widow's shame y And keeps her reckoning for the pregnant dame ! Lust's newest phrase and last imported modes Are hers, some new disaster she forebodes 510 To Parthia — and unless the comet lies, Can now predict Armenia's destinies ! She meets the earliest rumors at the gates, And some she hears — -and some she fabricates r 4 Niphates swoln with rains has pour'd his flood 515 * O'er all the lands,- where towns andV cities stood,. ' 'Tis ruin all' — with such authentic news The ear of every idler she'll abuse. Yet more revolting to the generous mind- Is that implacable ferocious kind, 520* Who, if a howling cur their slumbers break,. Will scourge the master for the mongrel's sake, & 523 — 540. Sat. vl Juvenal. 165 Rage rules the day, and rage would rule the night, Did not the duties of the bath invite ". There, 'midst a store of essences and oils, 525 Languid and faint with voluntary toils, The ponderous lead, with vigorous arm she wields, Till nature to the strenuous effort yields : Within her halls, while each insulted guest, With desperate hunger^ and with sleep opprest, 530 Expects the hostess — glowing she returns, Close at her feet they place replenished urns, She swallows down an hasty draught or two, To cleanse the stomach, and its powers renew ; In copious stream returns the smoking wine, 535 And lakes upon the marble pavement shine ! While her disgusted lord with maddening brain, And eyes close shut, can scarce his rage restrain. Some, ere the guests at table take their seat, Will Virgil's verses by the score repeat, 540 V. .5^3. Rage rules the day. This Bath scene is both very filthy and very faithful. We had better pass over it quickly, to an inimitably humorous delineation of a noisy, half-informed, troublesome, female pedant, who gives way in her turn to a nauseous set of practitioners in ointments, pastes, and cosmetics, and all the mysteries of the Roman toilet. The picture of the lady put out of humor, first by her husband's negligence, Ihen by the awkwardness of her tire-woman, we must allow to be very successful, whatever we may think of the truth of it, 166 Sat. vi. Juvenal, v. 541 — 568. Become the champions of Elissa's fame, And if one chance to mention Homer's name, 6 Why, as to Homer, Sir,' she smartly cries, — And then at length th 5 illustrious rivals tries. In either scale their several claims suspends, 54<5 And to the beam with critic eye attends ! The loudest bawlers of the Forum cease, Oblig'd, when she begins, to hold their peace \ The Lawyer yields the point without a word, The bellowing Crier can no more be heard ; 550 All, all, from mere despondency are mute, Nor ev'n a second woman will dispute ! Ten thousand clamorous bells together rung Match not th' eternal clatter of her tongue. From needless noise of horns and cymbals cease; The laboring moon her din will soon release ! \_555 With many a stiff, precise, pedantic line Of right and fit the boundaries she'll define : Methinks that ladies bless'd with parts so rare, With shorten'd tunic and with legs half bare 56Q Should to Sylvanus sacrifice the swine, And bathe with men, and pay the current coin. Let not the Matron that shall share thy bed, Be deep in style, or dialectics read, With short and crabbed Enthymems confute, 56$ Nor on each point of history dispute : 'Twere well they understood not some at least 5 Palsemon's she-disciples I detest, V. 569 — 598. Sat. vi. Juvenal. 167 Whose words in fetters move by rote and rule, And oft remand my ignorance to school j 570 Ouote verses that I never wish to hear, And make each country-cousin quake with fear : A truce, dear lady, with your prompt replies, And let a blundering husband Solecise ! if wealth be added to these pompous claims, 575 Nor fear restrains them now, nor censure shames ; Ears deck' d with pearls and arms with bracelets bound, Denote a tribe which nothing can confound : Of all life's various evils, few so great As woman privileg'd by large estate. 580 Some with Poppsean oils anoint the skin, And swathe the cheeks in meal, and keep within. Ye wretched husbands, who are doom'd to taste With every kiss some curs' d adhesive paste, Mark, how the wives ye daily loathe at home, 585 To spruce gallants with bright complexions come ! Whate'er of sweets the slender Indian sends, For them she buys, for them alone she blends : The foul integument, the hideous smear, Coat after coat comes off, till all be clear ; 590 Wash'd by that bland emulsion for the sake Of which, to Scythia exil'd, she would take Milch-asses by the score,— -a goodly train ! Behold thy lady now herself again ! But tell us pray, all dress'd in oil and meal, 595 Which nought of human countenance reveal, That mass in viscous pastes and plasters bound, Is there a face beneath it or a wound ? 168 Sat. vi. Juvenal. v. 599 — 628. And 'twere worth while a moment to afford, Their day's routine of duties to record : 600 First, if the frigid husband fail'd to keep His punctual vigils and pretended sleep, For his neglect the household shall atone, And pay the smart of slumbers not their own. Maidens and men — the awkward and the slow, 605 Must expiate his fault with many a blow, See many a cudgel crack* d on many an head, And many a back with whips and scourges red. Some, flog per contract, at so much per day, And keep a skilful arm in constant pay : 610 Paint all the while, chat with a female friend, To sage critiques on broider'd robes attend, Or con the day's or night's engagements o'er, Till stoutest arms can wield the lash no more ; Then, while the chamber vibrates with the tone, 613 ' Scoundrels ! I'll scourge ye worse than this !— be-, gone I s Fear'd more than stern Sicilia's Lord, her reign Of terror, agitates the servile train : Would she adorn with more than usual taste, Or to that bawd of bawds desires to haste, 620 Isis 'yclep'd ; or does th' adulterer wait, Pacing some distant street, and think her late, Poor Psecas with her hair by handfulls torn Her patient lady's tresses must adorn. ' Pray why is this' (then swiftly falls the thong) * So stiffly turn'd, and why is this so long ?' [625 Can Psecas help it, gentlest fair one, say, If your own nose displeases you to-day ? v. 629—650. Sat. vi. Juvenal. 169 A second hapless maiden must prepare To twist anew the refractory hair ; 630 This done, the matron sage, of old the maid, Now from the ranks advanc'd, must lend her aid ; Each, in the place which knowledge of the ait Or age assigns, their sentiments impart, And of their mistress a sweet counsel take, 635 As if her life, her honor were at stake J Thus row on row ascends, and tier on tier, You'd think Andromache herself were here, To view the stately figure from before : Behind, alas ! an heroine no more. 640 Yet let us not each small device refuse ; Haply, without the aid of tragic shoes, The pygmy fair-one might attempt in vain To touch the lips of her gigantic swain. Her husband's neighbour, save that of a tie 645 More near, his friends insulted might supply Some slight suspicion, and his squander'd coin,— Jn her a wife, what mortal could divine ? Change we the scene. Now from Bellona's domes A monstrous eunuch with his chorus comes, 650 V. 64^. Change we the scene. In this next division of the Satire, the imputations of superstition and credulity, which he heavily charges on women, give occasion to the poet to run over the current impostures of his times, and to furnish us with a very full notice of those inconceivable fol- lies: we may observe here, that this overflow of Imposture succeeded to, and indeed was naturally produced by, a de- cline of religion— such as it was. These sketches, as every 170 Sat. vi. Juvenal, v. 651—666. Who tried the virtues of the sharpen' d shell The hot rebellion of the blood to quell. Cease all the drums — the croaking crew around Are silent ; — then, in Phrygian turban crown' d, Their chief begins, and with terrific air 655 Bids, Of September's austral blasts beware, Unless the hundred eggs, his usual claim, And all her sin-infected robes, the dame, With meet contrition mov'd, without delay, Produce, and thus the year's transgressions pay. 660 Her Envoy next if snow-white Io send, The superstitious fool her steps will bend To frozen Tiber's side, there break the ice, And plunge her in the gelid current thrice I This done, th' unsparing goddess still to please, 665 Round Tarquin's field she crawls on bleeding knees i reader of Juvenal must have remarked, are so exceedingly graphical that a painter might work from them. The use of eggs was common in lustrations — Vestes Xeram* pelims (the color of dried vine-leaf) were usually worn by Matrons (vet. schol.) The interpreters of this passage usu- ally present the Priest of Cvbele with these cast-off garments, and make the begging of them the object of his visit. The gift of an hundred eggs would indeed have been but a sorry reward to so large a party. The lady, however, not only gives the eggs and the old clothes, but gets an imposition which it must have required all her piety to perform. Des- perate as these absurdities appear, the popular superstitions of the Highlands fully equal them.— Superstition indeed seems to prevail (though in a different taste) pretty equally under all degrees of civilization. See Browne's Vulgar Errors, — Bourne's Popular Antiquities, &c. v . 667—676. Sat. vi. Juvenal. 171 At Io's bidding, lo she hastes to bring A cruise of water from the tepid spring Of MerGe's isle, to sprinkle on the floor Where Isis dwells, and sheep were pen'd of yore. 670 These, these be they, with whom the Gods delight To hold high converse in the still of night ! No wonder that, so warn'd, she seems to hear The very Goddess whispering in her ear ! And next Anubis and his bald pate crew, 675 With secret scorn the gaping crowd that view, V. 675. And next Anubis. u e. the priest of Anubis, the 3011 of Osiris and Isis, who, according to the common inter- pretation, is made to jeer at his own God, but more naturally, according to the emendation of Ruperti, (adopted, I observe, from Holyday) at the mob, which the procession collects in its progress. The following passage, Ansere magno, Scilicet et tenui popano corruptus Osiris, is inimitably humorous, and most successfully levelled at the practice of making presents of such perishable commodities to Gods and Goddesses. But the donations of gold and silver, which were perpetually accumulating in the ancient temples, and which arose to a vast amount, were a very useful con- trivance for which the inventor deserves credit, This practice really converted the Temple into an JErarium, and afforded a considerable resource for purposes of national importance : it was but for the minister to obtain a loan from the God, who sel- dom, it is to be presumed, resisted. So well indeed was this little arrangement understood, that the golden ornaments of the ivory statue of Minerva in the Parthenon, seem to have been made to take off, and to pawn occasionally tor the exi- gencies of the state. At least this measure was expressly proposed by Pericles in summing up the resources of the state, at the commencement of the Peloponnesian War. 172 Sat. vi. Juvenal, v. 677 — 686. The threshold throng j their leader, if the dame On sacred days forbidden pleasures claim, Discovers by the silver serpent's nod The hot displeasure of the watchful God : 680 Yet of these sighs and penitential tears, Perhaps, — -from him — when great Osiris hears-— Ye Gods ! what fatal ills can gifts produce, See great. Osire, corrupted— by a goose ! These gone, a trembling Jewess next appears 685 Whose whisper'd tales allure her willing ears : IL-fi 5s v.%1 rcc ex. r'uy aXXwv legcoy rfgocsT'iSsi ^yjuara, ovk oXiya, o'lg ^rpsrrtiou avtov's' x-ou r t v wavu s^zigywvrca jfa.v?ioi>, xa; ATTHS THS ©EOT, TOIS IIEPIKEIMENOIS XPT- £1012. aitsipaivs <5" s^ov ro ar/a.Xua rs&ragako'Jfei raXavra 'sYa0«,oV yjvnov aitspkv, iiau 1IEPIAIPET0N ElNAI AIIAN- ^r j irau,svov^, Se ziti Giurrfeicc, sjf a mi vo> JsJ" 194 Sat. vii. Juvenal. v. 113 — 128. From Him, poor starving bard ! whose Atreus sent His very cloak in pledge for money lent ! Poor Numitor ! would take delight to cheer 115 The bard's cold garret, — but the times are dear ! Yet to his mistress ne'er ' the times' will plead j That lion's whelp 'twere cruel not to feed ; The bowels of the beast at smaller charge No doubt are fill'd ! — your Poet's paunch is large ! In his vast mansions Lucan may recline, [120 And talk of Fame — far other wants are thine, Serranus ! — say, Saleius, what to thee Will glory, lean and starving glory be ? All Rome exulting runs to hear the lay, 125 When Statius kindly grants the promis'd day ; He holds their eager minds in bondage sweet, While all the crowd their lov'd Thebais greet! V. 113. From him, poor starving bard. Of whom, by name Lappa, the Scholiast records that he was a poet of merit and in need. Lucan was more fortunate in the article of fame with his contemporaries than with posterity. Not that in the zenith of his reputation his pretensions were unsifted, for he lived with Quintilian, and is declared by that profound critic to be rather an orator than a poet, — a decision which posterity has exactly ratified. His subject is indeed highly unfortunate, but is often nobly treated, and may I add that Mr. Rowe's translation of the Pharsalia is executed in a style singularly appropriate to such a work, and appears to have very uncom- mon merit. v. 129— ] 36. Sat. vii. Juvenal. 195 But let each bench and form be broken down. With loud applause the favor'd bard to crown, 1 SO He shall not cease to starve, till Paris buy- Agave's woes — his virgin Tragedy ! Paris, whose voice a sure promotion brings, Who decks the poet with equestrian Rings ! What Nobles cannot, lo, the Player can ! 1 $5 Quit thy delusive hopes, infatuate man, V. 133. Paris, whose voice, SfC. The character and high station of this eminent person, has been already men- tioned in the Notes on Satire 6. That players very frequently became dangerous favorites in the later periods of the empire, is little to be wondered at : no species of talent more fascinating, and agreeable qualities are ever in higher demand, and give a far greater influence to the possessor, than the more solid and austere foundations of character. Paris, however, at last incurred the suspicion, and was put to death by Domitian. He is here represented as dispensing impe- rial favors with little judgment, granting Commissions to the authors of ' preelia diu vigilata,' and procuring their insertion, without the necessary qualifications in the roll of the Eques- trian order, &c. Some interpret ' Semestri auro,' as a peri- phrasis for the gold ring worn by the Eques ; others as a six months' appointment — which I do not at all understand. Quod non dant proceres, dahit histrio. To this sneer, rather at the profession of Paris than himself, it has been supposed that Juvenal owed his acquaintance with iEgypt— an harmless line indeed ! Antoni gladios possit contenmere, si sic Omnia dixisset ! Statius, says Juvenal, would have starved, if he bad not 196 Sat. vii. Juvenal, v. 137 — 152. In Barea's halls no longer idly wait, Ne'er linger thou at Camerinus , gate, Prefects, by lucky scenes and speeches made, And Tribunes see, by Philomel array 'd ! 140 Yet look not with contempt upon the bard Whom players patronise, and mimes reward, A Fabius, Cotta, Lentulus, to thee Will any, think' st thou, or Maecenas be ? The days are gone, when 'twas worth while to pine 145 And thro* December's cold abstain from wine. Haply of better hope th' Historian's toil, That vast consumer both of time and oil. Tho' the nine hundredth page before him lies, Still the redundant theme yields fresh supplies ; 150 Facts upon facts still force him to enlarge, And reams of costly paper swell the charge ! found in Paris a purchaser for his Agave.— Holyday quotes from Brodaeus, the price given to Terence for his Eunuchus, eight sestertia, about sixty-five pounds, but the authority is not stated. V. 152. And reams of costly paper. Reams, perhaps, is too technical. As to this article ' qua constet immortalitas hominum,' as Pliny expresses it, it is well known to have had its original and its name from the Papyrus of Egypt — the progressive series of substances employed for the purpose were, according to Pliny, 1. leaves of the palm, 2. barks of certain trees, 3. sheets of lead, 4. linen tablets, 5. wax, and lastly, the papyrus. This rush was divided and split, ' in prtetenues sed quatn latissimas jiluras. v. 153 — -164. Sat vn. Juvenal. 197 Enough—the harvest from this well wrought field ? Harvest ! Far more the scribe's dull labors yield ; True, but they live secluded and alone, \$5 Men should go forth, be active, and be known. — ■ Ask then the pleader's profits, whom attend Huge bags of books and papers without end, Gods ! How they bawl, but loudest then the cry, When'er they catch the client's watchful eye, 160 Or if their side be sharply jogg'd by some, Who to false claims with piles of parchment come, Then with gigantic lies the laboring breast Heaves bellows-like ! — - then froth pollutes the vest. V. 156. Men should go forth, fyc. One would bepuz- zled in the choice of a profession, with Juvenal for an adviser: sour wine and pickled sprats were but poor encouragement to hold out to^arristers ! Notwithstanding what Athenaeus said ,of the Grammarians ' that no occupation except phi/sic was a more foolish one/ si ju-tj largoi ycrav ouS'av yv i'oov ygappatiKwy ixwQorzfiov, this latter was the most prosperous of the faculties of Rome. I wonder much that its professors so completely (with the exception of Themison) escaped the lash of Juvenal, seeing from the satirical chapter of Pliny, that there was such an ample stock of material on a subject which has been so much a favorite in modern times, on such far less tenable ground. Had our poet by ill luck chosen to have entered the lists with the faculty, they might have said, as Martial does of his rough-handed Tonsor, Mitior implicitas Alcon secat Enterocelas. 198 Sat. vii. Juvenal, v. 165 — 181. But would'st thou truly the rewards compute 1 65 Of the laborious pleader's long pursuit, The profit of an hundred such compare With yonder Jockey's, clad in scarlet there ! — The Bench is seated, pallid Ajax, rise, With all thy eloquence the court surprise : 1 70 Before some clodpate judge thy vitals strain, Relate, subjoin, correct, amend, explain, So shall the Palm be to the Ladder bound, Which leads us to the Loft where thou art found ! Well, but the gains ? part of a rusty chine, 1 75 Some salted fish, or Moorish onions join To five small cans of sour and meagre wine ! Or if one piece of gold, four causes bring, Til' attorneys out of this their own will wring. But let iEmilius take the cause in hand, 1 80 Plead e'er so ill, he gets his full demand i V. ISO. But let JEmilius . Human weaknesses, like human passions, being ever the same, and failing not to appear when ever and wherever their occasions arise, the ground of com- plaint in the text is probably far from being yet exhausted. JEmilio dabitur quantum licet et melius nos Egimus. The same arts must still with the vulgar produce the same success, and even those who can lift the veil or walk behind it, are not seldom willing victims of a delusion : It may be said of name in a profession as of wealth. Unde habes qucerit nemo, sed oportet habere. iEmilius, it seems, attracted notice by ostentation of the most absurd and incongruous kind. However, his brazen war-horse was after all more judicious than an attempt to exhibit on a v. 182—201. Sat. vii. Juvenal. 199 For in his hall the brazen Car on high, Yok'd with four steeds abreast, attracts the eye, Where reining in the rampant Charger's prance, And poising steadily the ponderous lance, 1 85 With eye half clos'd, and fix'd upon the foe, The blinking Statue meditates the blow ! Yet will not ostentation always pay — See Matho bankrupt ! Pedo runs away ! As soon Tongillus will, whose ponderous horn 190 Whene'er he goes to bathe, is duly borne, Pest of the baths, with his tumultuous train ! — Whose monstrous paunch six slender Medes sus- tain, On poles which creak beneath th' enormous freight^ To bid for Vase, or Villa, Slaves, or plate. 195 His costly robe from Tyre, which all may see, Is for the payment full security !•— No useless craft ! — that Purple puts a price On the spruce lawyer's credit and advice : At that fine Gown see how the vulgar stare, 200 And scores of clients to his house repair! living quadruped of the species, as many a worthy Prafect, (intra Pomaria) could probably attest. Princes always ride well, says a French author; he is so good as to add the reason — ' because horses never flatter.' Martial has a facetious allusion to this rage for being repre- sented, not on canvas but in brass. The forges, he tells us, are all at work, and the smiths all alive, in fitting the lawyers t& their horses. Tarn grave percussis incudibus And hear his son, my hopeful pupil, bray ! ) These truths a score of Rhetoricians, blest With such divine employment, could attest, 250 For real litigations quit they now The wicked husband and the broken vow : Poisons and Rapes and Unguents, to give sight To aged blindness now no more invite — O he would quit that hard and thankless field 255 If to my counsel Vettius would yield, And seek for bread in some far different life, Ere change th'unreal, for the real strife, All, lest he want the pittance which may buy The granary Token for the day's supply ! 260 V. 260. The Granary token. Snmmula ne pereat qua vilis tessera venit Frumenti, v. 261 — 272. Sat. vn. Juvenal. 203 Enquire, I pray thee, what the rich bestow On learn'd Chrysogonus or Pallio, Who to the sons of Wealth the wordy art Of Theodore for scanty fees impart. Six thousand sesterces these worthies pay 265 For a new bath [-—throw thousands more away For Porticoes, where not a summer shower May check their wonted exercise an hour. Pent in their Homes should these, I pray, remain, 'Till clouds once more disperse, 'till cease the rain ? When here the ample Colonnade may tire [270 Their well kept mules, unsullied with the mire ! The Curatores Annonze distributed among the .poor of Rome small symbols or tickets of wood or of lead, which were an order for the receipt of so much grain. These Tesserae were a frequent present or largess from the Emperors. Some of them are preserved in the Museum at Portici. V. 263. Who to the sons of Wealth. Theodorus was a rhetorician born in Syria, who settled at Rome under Tiberius, and whose ' cognate maculae,' recommended him to the favor of that Emperor. Among the almost incredible luxuries of the Romans and their profusion in expensive buildings, their Baths and Porticos were the most conspicuous. The remains of several of the former of stupendous magnitude still attest this fact — Porphyry and marble were often brought from Numidia for this purpose. See that fine passage in the fourteenth satire, JEdificator erat Centronics. And Martial's Gellius cedificat semper SfC — 204 Sat. vir. Juvenal, v. 273 — 286. Numidian columns rear the vast saloon, To court the radiance of the winter's Noon ; This prodigal expence, however great, 275 The kitchen must maintain its proper state A troop of skilful cooks their means afford And others to arrange the costly board — Yet two sestertia, two at most, shall pay Quintilian for his long laborious day! 280 Vain and profuse in all these objects, one Demands the careful parent's thrift — his Son ! How gain'd Quintilian then that vast estate ? A single case !•— Quintilian's fortunate. [285 Of this be sure— -Wealth gives the best pretence, To Person, Courage, Conduct, Wit, and Sense ! V. 285. Of this be sure. Lucian has a passage exactly parallel about riches ol$ ocv wagy, -x.oi.Kovs ts avrovs xai troizovs xai icr^/vgovs a Trs^ya^srai, rit/.yv xeci So%a,v-o~vva. , itTUJv,Kaie% ajnf exsjvij #£> iv^a\£7tog Aip-Of ^aaaaroc^j oXstrv. Juv. O 210 Sat. vii. Juvenal, v. 365 — 366. Be this thy care, and when the year's complete, 365 You'll earn the price of — one successful heat ! Argument* The folly of pride, grounded on the merits or distinctions of others, is a subject in reality exhausted in this inimit- able Satire ; and while poets have been fond of recurring to it in all ages, this admirable piece is the repertory from which they have generally drawn. Indeed a noble subject, once nobly treated, is left, for the most part, for ever incapable of improvement. There are some good lines in one of the Greek epigrams on the same theme, but they be- come feeble when viewed in comparison with the grave yet highly poetical discourse of Juvenal (AnoXsi ju,s to ysvog, py K-y e< ^jAejj sjxs, x.t.X.); Two or three excellent and striking remarks, given by Dusaulx from Duclos; are well worth extracting in further illustration. ' The respect which we pay to birth only, is but an act < of mere civility — an homage to the memory of an- ' cestors who have given lustre to the name, and which, i as it regards their descendants who receive it, somewhat ' resembles the religious observance paid to images, of 212 ' which the materials may be contemptible and the work- 1 manship rude— it is to the feeling of piety that these 1 forms, which would otherwise be objects of ridicule, ' owe the whole of their respect.' — The comparison seems ingenious and happy ; the res- pect we pay to the descendant of a great name clearly resolves itself into association merely. 1 Juvenal/ says Mr. Gibbon, in discussing the merits of this Satire, ( is distinguished from all the poets who ' lived after the establishment of the monarchy, by his love ' of liberty and loftiness of mind ; — all the rest sing the ' ruin of their country ; Juvenal teaches how the evils in- i flicted by tyranny can be cured.' Spoliatis arma supersunt. 1 The liberty of speech, conspicuous in this Satire, also ' fixes its date. It was written under a good Prince, 1 Nerva or Trajan ; for tyrants have the nicest sensibility, ' and easily recognize their own portraits in those of their 1 predecessors : Domitian would have quickly concluded * that an enemy to Nero could be no friend of his.' See further on this subject, Aristot. Rhetoric. Chap, xvii. B. c 2. 213 PERSONS AND PLACES MENTIONED IN THE SATIRE. PERSONS. PONTICUS, with whom the poet expostulates, is asi unknown character : of the Mmiliani, Curii, Corvini, Lepidi, Numantini, and many others cited, it would be irrelevant to say more, than that they were families of the most acknowledged excellence, in possession, while they lived, of the full respect of their contempora- ries, and retaining their honors in the estimation of posterity. Osiris, the Egyptian Deity, worshipped under the form of an ox, which obtained the name of Apis. The Egyptians, however, from some theory which does not appear, used to drown the representative of their God after a certain number of years, and look out for another, whose discovery was announced by the cry, 214 Cecrops. It is almost needless to put down that he was the founder and the first King of Athens. Nepos, a miller whose name frequently occurs in Martial. Phalaris, the celebrated owner of a brazen bull, which, like the Trojan horse, had a hollow carcase, iuto which this respectable king of Agrigentum used to put any persons to whom he had proposed questions of difficult solution, and whose responses were obtained by lighting a fire just under the spot where they were placed. Cosmns, either a person who was very extravagant in the use of perfumes, or a celebrated perfumer in Rome : his name in the latter sense occurs frequently in Mar- tial. Pansa, and Natta, have the good fortune to be unknown : they were, it seems, adepts in the arts of larceny and house-breaking. _ Myro, a celebrated artist, chiefly known from his cow, which is thus made to express his merit, in the Greek epigram, BovxoXs, 7T0* 7rpoQssiv /xe /3»a£saj ; Kr^eo vutrcrMV ov yaq ju,oj re^vrj xcu toS' eSw>c=v sp^sjv. Phidias. — Who knows not that the ivory statue of Mi- nerva in the Parthenon, as well as the exquisite sculpture which adorned the front of that superb edifice, were among the works of this celebrated artist ? Mentor, an artist of uncommon skill in the engraving or sculpture of cups — mentioned again in Satire xv. ■ Stantem extra pocula cuprum. Sat. i. 76. 215 Dolabella, two of the name ; both prosecuted for cor- ruption and peculation. Cn. Corn. Dolabella, Procon- sul of Macedonia, A. U. 672, who had Julius Ca?sar for his accuser, Cotta and Hortensius for his advocates ; Cn. Dolabella, Proconsul of Cilicia, impeached by M. Scaurus, and found guilty. C. Anionius, son of M. Antonius, expelled the Senate for the same infirmity as that which troubled the pre- ceding Proconsuls, but restored by interest, and chosen as the colleague of Cicero in the Consulship. Marias, the same celebrated in Satire 1, ' qui fruitur Dis iratis.' Damasippus, probably a feigned name, Aapao-nnro; : but it was also the cognomen of the Licinian family. Catullus, not the distinguished poet of that name, but a mimographus, or farce writer. Laureolus, it was this person's part in the Drama to be crucified : Domitian, having ordered the play, directed for the sake of effect, that this part of the performance should be real — meaning, without doubt, to illustrate Aristotle — Si' sXbo; kou fofiov, fyc. Corinthus, an unknown, indifferent actor. Gracchus, See Satire 2. Verginius, the Roman General in Lower Germany ; Julius Vindex, in Gaul ; Serg. Galba, in Spain : all three revolted and conspired against Nero. 216 PLACES. Eiiganea, a district of ancient Italy, which should seem to correspond with Piedmont, or the confines of the Venetian territory, — though this is disputed. Jdumea Porta, a port or town of Idumaea, from which spices and perfumery were shipped ior Rome, — or, as some say, agate of Rome, erected by Titus in honor of his Jewish victories. satire viii And what is birth ? avails it ought to show Of sires in marble rang'd the stately row, iEmilian chiefs in sculptur'd cars sublime, The Curii mouldering and defae'd by time, Corvinus blacken'd o'er with smoke and dust, .5 Or Galba's noseless, mutilated bust. ? — - Why on the Lineal page so fond to trace The noble founders of thy ancient race, Or vaunt in terms that tell thy Mind's disease, Those, Masters of the Horse — -Dictators, these, 10 If thou, of imag'd Sires the worthless Son, Thro' all th' extremes of crime and folly run ? Wherefore these files of marshall'd statues, say, If thy pale vigils be consum'd at play, Uncheck'd by Scipio's interdicting frown, 15 And all the chiefs that look indignant down ? Strange to thy couch, till rise that morning Star That saw their Camps in motion for the war ! 218 Sat. vin. Juvenal. v. 19—26. Shall Fabius lord it o'er the lords of Rome, His the great altar ! — his th' Herculean dome ! — 20 If, soft as lambs on fair Euganea's plain, Made sleek with pumice, covetous and vain ; Eager to gain the earliest advice Of each new poison's properties and price, *Midst those dishonor' d forms he plant his own, 25 Soon to the earth with insult to be thrown ? V. I9. Shall Fabius lord it, ) implies much more than a charge of mere effeminacy. V. 26. Soon to the earth. Statues were with the ancients all, and more than portraits with the moderns, placed in their halls, and carried in public processions : They were all which those ages knew of ' the boast of Heraldry/ On these repre- sentations of the unworthy, the public fury often vented itself, and Rome, before Britain, had its Iconoclasts. Here, says Holiday, may be remembered that of Tacitus, Annal. 2, " Tunc Cotta Messalinus, ne imago Libonis exe- v. 27 — 48. Sat. viii. Juvenal. 219 The want of worth no Marbles can supply. Virtue alone is true nobility. Paulus, or Drusus, in thy morals then Make haste to rival ; imitate the men 30 Whose names ye boast— and let the generous deed Which stamps thy worth, thy Lictor's rods precede. Claim we one debt from the illustrious few, That grac'd by birth, they shine in merit too — Of pristine Faith the noble fame deserve, 35 Ne'er from the paths of truth, of honor swerve In Word, in Act — now, now indeed I see Thy race illustrious stand confess'd in thee, Getulicus, Silanus, whatsoe'er Thy name, egregious citizen and rare ! 40 As for a new Osiris, let the sound Through all our streets be heard, * he's found, he's found.' Noble shall he be deem'd on whom a name Confers its frail and solitary claim ; And who does nothing— nor intends to do 45 Worthy the lineage he delights to view ? Yes — when we call some dwarf an Atlas, tell How ^Ethiopia's babes the swans excel, quias posterorum comitaretur, censuit" — it is spoken of Libo, who slew himself on an accusation of treason by Tiberius. Here, I would add, may also be recorded that memorable expression of the same historian, on the exclusion of the statues of Brutus and Cassius from a public procession, " Prcefulgebant Bruti et Cassii imagines, eo ipso quod non visebantotr ." 220 Sat. vni. Juvenal. v. 49—78. On warp'd and stunted nymphs when men confer Europa's name, or for the mangy cur SO That crawls half-starv'd in quest of casual spoil, And licks from lamps extinct the fetid oil, Take from amidst the savage tribes, a name To mark the mongrel with conspicuous shame. Beware lest thus, O Creticus, you hear 55 Your name distinguish'd with emphatic sneer ! For whom these words of counsel you demand. For thee, O Plancus ! let the warning stand, For thee, vain-glorious of thy Drusian name, As if thyself had earn'd a wreath from fame ! 60 Proud of the noble blood which in thee flows, The Julian mother who that blood bestows, No spurious babe of her that knits for bread, Hous'd for the night in yon wind-shaken shed ; ' Hence, abject rabble !— vile Plebeians, go ! — 65 * What country claims ye, or what parents know ? * I sprung from Cecrops !' — all the joy be thine, The honors all of that illustrious line ! Yet 'midst the herd, the object of thy scorn, Be some, whom sense and eloquence adorn, 70 Who help the well-born dolt in many a strait And plead the cause of the unletter'd Great : Clad in Plebeian gowns there oft arise Who solve of law th' abstrusest subtleties : This valiant youth, fiYd with a soldier's pride, 15 Intent on glory, seeks Euphrates' side ; Whilst that, his country's distant eagles gains, Which hold in custody Batavia's plains, v . 79—92. Sat. vni. Juvenal. 221 Whilst thou, to virtuous ardor all supine, Art boasting still of thy ' Cecropian line/ 80 Yon head of Hermes, which on stones they hew, For aught appears, in worth quite equals you ; Or if inferior, 'tis in this alone, That life and action are denied to stone. Say, child of Teucer ! — do we e'er impute 85 A generous breed, save to a generous brute, Is it not thus we praise th' impatient steed, Whose easy triumph and transcendent speed, Palm after palm proclaim — while Victory In the hoarse Circus stands exulting by ! 90 His be the wreath, whatever pastures fed, Whatever meads obscure the courser bred, V. 8l. Yon head of Hermes, This is mentioned rather than any other block, from its greater frequency of occur- rence: for it was set up in the public ways, and at the doors of private houses. These Mercuries performed their tutelary functions at Athens as well as at Rome, and one of the first occasions of the disgrace of Alcibiades, arose from his being accused of defacing them in company with other young n\en s who seem to have practically anticipated the line of Juvenal, 'Cujus ad Effigiem, Sfc' This frolic (/xera vaidias xai oivou) was taken up as a very serious matter, and had nearly lost him his share in the conduct of the Sicilian expedition : by which in- deed in the sequel he would have held himself a gainer, oaroi ' EPMAI rja-ccv XiQivoi ev ft] itoXsi ft] Aftrjvaiouv (sim §s xafa to sttix^iov, 7j TETPArXlNOS EPrASIA, ntoXXoi h bv iSiois 7T£>e9ufo<; xai ev Isgois) pia vvx.fi oi itXsurroi iregisxQiryo-av ra irgoo-urta,. Thucy. vi. 28, 29. They were therefore Tetra- gonal stone pillars or Terms, with an head carved on the top. 222 Sat. vin. Juvenal, v. 93 — 112. Whom clouds of dust which on the margin rise Of the wide plain, speak foremost for the prize ! Meanwhile Coritha's undisputed race, 95 Their dam's fair fame protects not from disgrace, If no hereditary worth be found, And the dull yoke with not a prize be crown'd. For here, no ancestry contempt can stay, To the sire's shade here men no honors pay — 100 Consign'd to frequent sale without remorse, However bred, behold the vanquish'd horse : Doom'd for some paltry price new lords to gain, And with gall'd neck, to lug the ponderous wain, The slow of foot is to the collar bound, 105 And turns for life the mill of Nepos round ! Present us then — for not thy sires alone Can make thee honor* d — merits of thine own, Which with the titles that we gave and give, May on the sculptur'd stone united live. 110 Enough for him, to Nero's race allied, And fill'd as fame relates with empty pride V. 111. Enough for him, Sfc. Rubellius Plautus was, by the mother's side, says Tacitus, as nearly related as Nero to Augustus. This was too near for the safety or repose of the Emperor, who therefore sent him a letter, to desire " that he would withdraw from the Defamatory remarks of the multi- tude, and take up his abode on the possessions of his ancestors in Asia Minor, where his youth might be passed without alarm or hazard," — he took the hint, and very wisely withdrew thither with his wife Antistia. v. 113 — 132. Sat. viii. Juvenal. 223 From that illustrious birth — for small pretence May that same station claim to vulgar sense — But, Ponticus, the meed of solid worth, 115 I wish for thee, which all the claims of birth Can ne'er confer ; I wish to see thee shine By self-earn' d praise- — by merits truly thine ! O ! 'tis for creatures spiritless and tame To lean incumbent on another's Fame, 120 For but remove the Columns of thy trust, Lo, all thy honors prostrate in the dust — • The widow'd Vine, strew'd helpless on the ground, Mourns the supporting Elm to which 'twas bound. A valiant Soldier in thy country's cause, 125 Protect her soil — be mindful of her laws ; Th' uncertain or ambiguous call'd to prove, Judge ! Guardian ! Witness ! O let nothing move Thy vsoul to crime — tho' Phalaris command, Point to his bull, and raise the threatening hand, 130 Deem it consummate guilt one day to gain, If violated truth that day obtain ; V. 113. For small pretence. The meaning of sensus com- munis in this passage is disputed ; I think our colloquial ex- pression renders it properly, and that it is here imputed to high rank as a want of common understanding to be over fond of any distinctions which were acquired by no merits of its own ; — the ordinary sense of mankind being certainly in oppo- sition to this feeling, so universal among those who possess the smallest pretensions for the indulgence of it. 224 Sat. vin. Juvenal, v. 138 — 148. Thy peace for mere existence ne'er betray, Nor basely barter life's great end away! Hold thou in virtuous estimation dead 1 35 That man who lives from honest perils fled, Tho' Cosraus every scented bath prepare, Tho' Lucrine's rocks supply his sumptuous fare ! Lies the rich province prostrate at thy feet, Her long-expecting Lord prepar'd to greet? 140 The steady rein o'er every passion hold, Be strange to wrath, be strange to lust of gold ! There, spoil'd allies upon thy sight shall press, The moisture drain'd, the bones all marrowless, Of vassal princes, — Oh ! respect thy trust, 1 45 Think what sweet recompence awaits the just ! Think how Rome's vengeance, in her Senate's vote, The guilty Capito and Tutor smote, V. 134. Nor basely barter, fyc. For even the philosophers of antiquity held, that man was brought into existence for the purpose of exercising the higher capacities of his nature, — his moral faculties. To sacrifice these his greatest and best distinctions, was therefore, vivendi perdere causes, to relin- quish the main distinctions of that higher part of the creation which Cicero terms * ad honestatcm natum.' V. 14S. The guilty Capito and Tutor. The first of these Persons was brought to public justice by Paetus Thrasea, the illustrious Roman whose end has been noticed before. He was the scn-iu law of the infamous Tigellinus, and was sent by his interest as Proconsul to Cilicia. — Plunder, prosecution, and punishment, succeeded in their turn. It is not without reason that he and his confederate were called piratce Cilicum. v. 149 — 160. Sat. vin. Juvenal. 225 And how the Pirates qfCilicia far'd For all the shameful pillage they had shar'd. 150 But wherefore ? — since our friends are soon bereft By Pansa's hands of all that Natta left. Thy rags sold off, Chserippus, keep at home, And spare the labor of a trip to Rome ! Less loud the groans and less acute the wound, When copious spoils the recent victor found, [155 The Spartan chlamys and the shell of Cos Fill'd every house — and gold was held for dross. Parrhasius here display'd his art divine, And matchless forms, attested, Myro, thine ! 160 We may remark here, that piracy, properly so called, was among the earliest species of depredation. The danger of the element was nothing, when compared with the facility it gave for getting clear off with the booty (spoils which are ?u/3ao-T«5cra being set down by Aristotle as most desirable to thieves,) ; and it is not doubtful that these daring adventurers, stimulated as they were by the love of gain, were among the earliest improvers of nautical skill, and the leaders of maritime enterprize. The islands of the Archipelago were in the early periods of Greciau History subject to perpetual incur- sions from this universal enemy, till Theseus suppressed them ; Thucydides, indeed, gives this circumstance as a principal cause of the little permanency of the early settlements in Greece. Piracy therefore may be reasonably supposed to have led as much as Commerce to that 9aAac?)%£ Xar/wos m ixto-ov, rftzf CjW^aAox, pxerrouj r' eSeifa s av ax^rjv kuo^bvujv sivar rov h Saratov ysveviv si; TON 0NTX1S BION kcli tov BuSa.iy.ova rot; fiKopx Tovpov spfiuhsiv %ui 7[svxivr)$ KufiovTU A«jU,7nxSo£ ashxg Ti^crxi. Traehin.v. 11 95. To which passage I subjoin another in further illustration of the original. For since by promise thou'rt my guest, I'll be, Evander : thou Tyrinthius to me : SO 4 Sat. xr. Juvenal. v. 93 — 114. And 'midst the stars an equal honor found, Tho' this was wrapt in flames, and that was drown'd. Hear now what dainties thy arrival wait, 95 Which ne'er past muster at the market gate. Know first, in Tibur's richest meadows feeds A fatten'd kid, which at thy coming bleeds. Whose teeth ne'er champ'd the herb, nor crush'd the shoots, Which spring around the humid Osier's roots. 100 More full of milk than blood— our hills around With store of wild asparagus abound, My bailiff's dame, he?* distaff thrown aside, Shall cull the dainty from the mountain's side ; Eggs large and white, they bring us every day, 110 Warm from the recent nest of twisted hay ; Next, tender pullets the repast shall join, And grapes preserv'd, but fresh as from the vine, Apples, which with Picenum's might compare, Shall meet the Signian and the Syrian pear, 110 And now, from the crude juice of Autumn free, Eat, for thou may'st, with full impunity. Senates, become less frugal than before, Still sought no better feast in days of yore. Or that less guest (yet Venus was his mother,) Water sent one to heaven, and Fire the other. Holy day. V. 113. Senates, become less frugal. The picture which Juvenal here so beautifully draws of antient times, and many 125) v.- 115—129. Sat. xi. Juvenal. SOS From his small glebe when Curius would retire, To seethe his pottage o'er a scanty fire. [115 The earth's cheap produce then their only fare, Which fetter'd felons now would scorn to share, Remembering well where on the paps of swine Hot from the cauldron they were wont to dine. 1 20 The flitch suspended high in slender crate Was once preserv'd apart for days of state. Bacon was then esteem'd a birth-day treat, And if a victim chanc'd to furnish meat, Then was the fulness of the feast complete ! And they who councils, and who camps, had sway'd, In honor's purple garb the thrice array'd, For feasts like these would quit the mountain's soil, An hour abridg'd from customary toil ! others in which he is in the be:>t sense, e Laudator 'temporis acti,' fully develope the character of his mind, which evidently, amidst the shocking scenes he was compelled to describe, and to paint in strong colors, delighted to repose on the simplicity of ancient times, and to cherish the memory of the illustrious persons connected with them. V. 119- Remembering ivcll tvhere, fyc. The taste of the Romans, in several of their dishes, was not a little extraordinary. The article here presented would be none of the most attrac- tive, hut it is nothing when compared with what is set down below, and what appears from unquestionable authority to have been cumbered with their delicacies ! Vulva suilia in ddiciis erat Romanis et magis quidem ejec- titia, £%fi regimen impedire ; milesque pavidus et casuimi maris ignarus dum turbat nautas vel intempestive jurat, ojficia prudentium corrumpebat. Omnedehinc caelum' — but the passage is too long to transcribe. Lucian tells the historian that he will now and then have occasion for ' a poetical wind,'— de Hist. Conscrib. Ss-yosi yot% tots jf veto; dixisse, toq-qvtqv Quvutov tqv$ nXeovTcts onrs^siv, et Dio Chry- v* 73 — 92. Sat. xn. Juvenal. 323 That so, a board three inches thick, may BE, The measur'd distance betwixt death and THEE Yet stay, for if the deal be very wide, 75 Then six or seven may thee and fate divide ! O when your sea stores safe on board you view, Think, think of storms, and take the hatchet too. But when the raging ocean smil'd again, And Fate prevail'd o'er Eurus and the main, 80 When a new thread the Sister hands began, And whiter flax along their fingers ran, When scarcely stronger than the summer gale The wind subsiding softly swell' d the sail ; (One sail alone upon the prow was left) 85 In wretched plight, of mast and oar bereft, With stretch'd-out garments eagerly they try T'arrest the favoring breeze which passes by. The south wind fell, and now a sunny beam Breaks thro' the haze, and warms with cheerful gleam j 90 And next, high towering in the distant sky, The lofty shores lulus lov'd they spy ; sost. Oral. lxiv. de Fortuna, navem adpellat Tg»$axTuXc> %vXov irsuxivov. Ruperti. V. 92, The lofty shores lulus lov'd. The high lands of Alba Longa are several miles distant from the shore. They were named from the event which took place on the landing of Mneas, ' Icetis Phry gibus mirabih mmen' — Juvenal's re- 324 Sat, xii. Juvenal. v. 93 — 108. E'en to Lavinum's plains, the youth divine That hill preferr'd, on which the milk-white swine Its name impos'd, which by the Sons of Troy, 95 Spied afar off, might well be seen with joy ! Ere long those mighty Mounds of stone they gain, On which included waters beat in vain. The Tyrrhene tower — the arms that wide extend, And in mid-sea towards each other bend, 100 Leaving far, far behind (O talk no more Of nature's harbours) the Italian shore ! His crippled ship now safe within the pier, The hoary helmsman cautious still fiom fear Steers to the inmost shallows, where the boat 105 Of Baise's fishers may securely float j Then with shorn crowns, all press on shore to tell The tale which shipwrecked seamen love so well. spect for this story seems to have been much on par with the reverence he entertained for the rest of the mythology of his country. The lines, which presently follow, are a well-known de- scription of the Port of Ostla, which may he recognised in Suetonius, ' Portum Qstire exstruxit, circumdato dextrasinis- traque brachio, et ad introitum, profundo jam Salo, mole objeeta, quam quo stabilius fundaret, navem ante demersit, qua niagnus obeliscus ex ./Egypto fuerat advectus, congestis- que pilis superposuit altissimam turrim in exemplum Alex*- andrini Phari, ut ad nocturnes ignes cursum navigia dirigerent.' Juvenal, then, calls this light-house at the pier-head of Ostia, Tyrrhena Pharos, in opposition to the celebrated structure at Alexandria^ which had been so called, kcct' sfyxw* v. 109 — 130. Sat. xii. Juvenal. 825 Come, then, with garlands to the fanes repair, Be every rite and happy omen there, 110 Pile the green glebe and let the altar rise. Thence, when the rites of grateful sacrifice Are duly done, I'll to my small abode ; There shall each much rever'd domestic god Sustain his wreath of flowers : there I'll bring 115 To Jove my best and fairest offering ; Violets with lavish hand around I'll strew, Of every odour, and of every hue. *Tis ready all— with boughs the door is drest, And matin lamps the festival attest, — 1 20 O be not thou suspicious of my joys, Blest is Catullus with three thriving boys. That such a sterile friend as he might live, An hen, with half-shut eyes, say, who would give ? An hen ! — no mortal would a quail bestow ! 1 25 To snatch from death a sinking parent now ! But let Gallita, Paccius, heirless, — old — Flush with suspicious heats, or shake with cold, Then all the porch with tablets they invest, And with assiduous prayers each Fane molest. 130 V. 120. And matin lamps. This custom prevailed on all occasions either of public or private rejoicing : Persius alludes to the practice, or rather expressly mentions it. Sat. v. 181. Vnet&que fenestra Dispositce pinguem nebulam vomuere lucertue. 326 Sat. xn. Juvenal. v. 131 — 142, Some compromise for Hecatombs ! for here As yet no Elephants, for sale, appear — •. Alas, that Latian plains, a Latian sky, Should such a beast for such an use deny To ail but Cassar ! — he whole herds displays, 135 Hither from swarthy nations sent, to graze Amidst the land of Turnus, and to rove The stately stranger of the Latian grove ! Their sires perhaps the Punic chieftain taught, Or the Molossian, with whole cohorts fraught 140 Th' embattled tower, pois'd on their necks, to bear Themselves no slender portion of the war ! V. 132. As yet no elephants. In the year of Rome 471, when Pyrrhus made war against Italy, the Romans first be- came acquainted with the elephant ; they took some of these animals from the Carthaginians, in the Punic War, and Pliny reports, that five hundred were exhibited at one time in the Circus! It is wonderful, considering the trouble of embark- ing and disembarkation even of a regiment of cavalry, to find a people little skilled in mechanical inventions, trans- porting hundreds at a time of these unwieldy animals, across the Mediterranean. They were at length employed (fas est et ab hoste doceri) by the Romans themselves. We must not overlook the opposition of the quail to the elephant. The latter, Novius or Pacuvius would have been glad, he says, to lead to the altar, while the quail would have been too expensive even to save a father's life. Now the quail was not only a small bird, but in disesteem with the Romans, on the grounds that it was observed to eat the seeds of helle- bore, and other poisonous vegetables, and to be subject to some sort of fit, or epilepsy — most likely in consequence. v. 143 — 164. Sat. xii. Juvenal. S27 Such would Pacuvius, such would Novius slay- Before Gallita's gods without delay ! Is there a victim or a boon too great - 1.4$ To snatch Gallita from impending fate ? These to the altar would their slaves devote, Those of their ancient servants cut the throat ; This some fair maid would to the temple vow, And bind, himself, the fillet on her brow ! 150 If on her ruffian sire a daughter smil'd, He'd make the altar welcome to his child, And Iphigene must bleed, of tragic lore, Altho' the wondrous hind be hop'd no more ! I praise my countryman of wisdom rare, 155 Nor deem that any would a will compare To txvicejwe hundred ships ! for if the tomb His friend escape and Libitina's doom, Attentions so refin'd must needs er se All former names, and every claim efface S 1 60 Heir of the whole behold Pacuvius stalk, And 'midst his rivals insolently walk ; See to what good account a tragic lay- May turn ; how well judicious murders pay i V. 153. And Iphigene must bleed, Sfc. The Grecian fleet being detained at Aulis by contrary winds, the oracle told them, they should not depart till Agamemnon consented to the sacrifice of his daughter, Iphigenia : at the critical moment, Diana sends a hind as a substitute. 328 Sat. xii. Juvenal, v. 165 — 168. O may Pacuvius long as Nestor last, 165 All Nero plunder'd by his wealth surpast, And when to mountain height his heaps be grown, May he be, none, beloving^ lov'd by none ! V. l6\5. This poetical execration is perhaps imitated, says Dusaulx, from Ovid, 1 Sisque miser semper, nee sis miserabilis ulli.' Argument Juvenal teaches in this Satire that guilt pretty certain- ly meets with its punishment in this life, and exhibits a very powerful picture of a guilty person under the horrors of an awakened conscience. The defect of which doctrine should seem to be, that the lower degrees of guilt incur the penalty more surely than the greater, and that there is a hardening produced by habitual crime, which sets such a retribution at defiance. The piece abounds with excellence ; it is evidently the production of a wise and reflecting mind, which had con- templated human nature very deeply, and it supplies, without the dryness of an ethical treatise, such a skilful developement of the progress of unrestrained passions, that it can hardly be read by any without improvement. To my own taste, it is one of Juvenal's best pieces. 330 PERSONS MENTIONED IN THE SATIRE, CALFINUS, the person to whom Juvenal addresses this discourse is unknown, though the dedication of such a piece does him infinite honor. Ladas was celebrated for his swiftness, and gained fre- quent prizes at the Olympic Games. Catull. Iv. 25. The gout, therefore, (see the passage) would have been a serious affair for his reputation. I agellus, unknown. In most editions, Bathyllus,— the favorite of Anacreon, and of Polycrates, who caused a fine statue to be raised to the honor of his form. Gallicus Rutilius, made Prefect of the city by Domitian, Quern penes intrepida mitis custodia Roma. Chrysippus, a Stoic Philosopher, Sat. ii. 7. and one of the most distinguished of the sect : See a long and learned article in Bayle. Concerning Socrates, the 331 English Reader will do well to consult his '' Life/ by Cooper, a very well-written and interesting little, volume. C&ditius was, according to the Scholiast, one of the ferocious spirits which formed the Privy Council of Nero, and is therefore well coupled with Rhada- snanthus. attre xm. 1 hat crimes, successful crimes, the soul annoy And mar the conscience-stricken culprit's joy, That guilt, by self-inflicted terrors curst, This smart sustains, the surest and the first, O ! who can doubt, tho' knavish praetors dare By lying urns the crimes they judge to share! V. 5. Tho' knavish prcetors dare. Or as I had first trans- lated the passage, Altho' the Praetor's hand with shameful fraud Dismiss complaint, and venal crowds applaud. That the purposes of justice could be disturbed by gaining this officer is plain enough, for he had the casting up of the votes. In the first place, preparatory to the trial, he placed in his urn little balls, inscribed with the names of persons, out of which a certain number were withdrawn for the hearing of the cause : then, at the end of the trial, these persons severally threw in their votes, expressed by the letters A. C. NL. Absolvo. Condemno. Non Liquet. Balls were made use y. 7 — 26. Sat. xiii. Juvenal. 833 Think not that men are to thy wrongs unjust, Nor lightly deem of violated trust, But they are pleas'd that thou canst better bear The loss than some — nor is thy hardship rare, 1 A case long since to suffering thousands known, The news of every day familiar grown, "Which from promiscuous heaps the Goddess drew, Without design, and gave the lot to you! Cease then to sigh and let us soon dismiss 15 A grief too vehement for wrongs like this j A manly sorrow never should be found In weak excess, and greater than the wound. Behold ! of evils small, the smallest share Your troubled spirit thinks it much to bear, 20 Is it so strange a scoundrel-friend should hold In perjury's despite your trusted gold ? What ! with full sixty years behind thee left, Be scar'd by fraud or startled at a theft ! So little taught, by much experience school'd, 25 Grown grey with age, born when Fonteius rul'd ? of that, by their agitation in the vase, the sortitio might be entirely an affair of chance; but angular pieces of wood were afterwards made use of, as appears from a curious citation of Holyday, from a collection of ancient inscriptions. IS. PRETQR. SORTICULAM. UN AM. BUXEAM. LON- GAM. DIGITOS. IIII. LA.— V. 26. Born when Fonteius rul'd. Lucius Fonteius Capito was Consul under Nero and colleague of Caius 334 Sat. xiii. Juvenal. v. 27 — SS. Wisdom, th' impatient spirit to rebuke, Pens many a precept in her sacred book ; Yet happy those whom life itself can train To bear with dignity life's various pain, SO And who by long experience have been broke To toss not, but with meekness bear the yoke. What day so sacred that one shall not meet A ruffian or a rogue in every street ? Gains sought for and secur'd,by crimes abhorr'd, 35 And money earn'd by poison and the sword ? For O ! the just are rare, a race so small, The gates of Thebes would more than equal all - 7 Vipsanius, A. U. C. 872, from which date it follows, unless indeed the words ' seocaginta annos' were loosely and poetical- ly employed, that this Satire was written soon after the begin- ning of Adrian's reign. ' Juvenal', however, says Mr. Gibbon, ' seems to have taken a pleasure in perplexing us, by often speaking of many persons as his contemporaries who lived at different periods of time.' At any rate, this passage proves the Satire to have been writ- ten at such a period as to have made a person born in the Con- sulate of Fonteius, fit to be addressed in the character of an elderly man, and that Juvenal was at this very time in the full possession of his genius, is a point which may be safely left to the determination of the Satire itself. There was, indeed, a Consul of the same name, one hundred years earlier, but that would be much too early for the age of Juvenal, as it would reach to the latter years of the reign of Tiberius. V. 38. The gates of Thebes. The city of this name in t. 39 — 44. Sat. xin. Juvenal. 835 Or the seven mouths of Nile — and we are blest With a ninth age, outsinning all the rest, 40 Which nature's self has left without a name. Nor deem'd one metal worthy of the shame. Go, cry to all the Gods in strains more loud Than those for which Fessidius pays the crowd, /Egypt, which he mentions in the beginning of the 15th Satire, Dimidio Magicce resonant uhi Memnone chordce, had an hundred gates, sxaro^TrvKo;, the still more celebrated Thebes of Boeoiia had but seven. The reader, according to his opinion of human nature and of Juvenal, must guess which of the two are here in contemplation ; I am afraid the s divitis ostia Nill' is conclusive. V. 40. With a ninth age. We no-where else read of more than four ages, but the coniext here, Quorum sceleri non invenit ipsa Nomen, et a nulla posuit Natura metallo appears to prove that a farther refinement had taken place, and that all the metals then known were employed in aid of it. Lord Peterborough had a good practicable notion of the golden age ; in a letter to Pope, he says, " your notion of the golden age is, that every shepherd might pipe where he pleased : I have lived longer, am more moderate in my wishes, and would be simply content with the liberty of not piping, wheie I am not pleased." V. 44. Than those for which Fessidius. Ssivco^ xai t of Brutus at Philippi, and that of Varus, which is so finely told by Taci- tus. ' Ducemque terruit dira quies, nam Quinctiliurn Varum sanguine oblitum et paludibus emersum cernere et audire visus est, velut vocantem, non tamen obsecutus et manum iniendentis repulisse.' V. 315. These, these be they. Caligula, who despised the gods in fine weather, was accustomed, says Suetonius, when it lightened, to hide himself under the bed clothes! 'ad minima tonitrua et fulgura connive?^, caput obvohere, ad majora vero proripere se e Sfrato sub lectumque condere solebat. Let the great Gods That keep this dreadful pother o'er our heads Find out their enemies now. Tremble, thou wretch, That hast within thee undivulged crimes Unwhipt of justice : hide thee, thou bloody hand: Thou perjur'd and thou simular man of virtue, Thou art incestuous — Caitiff to pieces shake, That under covert and convenient seeming Hast practised on man's life ! Close pent up guilts, Rive your concealing continents and cry These dreadful summoners grace Lear. Juv. Z 354 Sat. xiii. Juvenal, v. 323 — 346 Passes this by, with yet more anxious ear And greater dread the future storm they fear. Its burning vigil, deadliest foe to sleep, 325 In their distemper'd frame if fever keep, Or sharp pleuritic pains their rest prevent, They deem that every god his bow has bent ! That pains and aches are stones and arrows hurl'd At bold offenders in this nether world ! 330 Or crested cock, when languid on the bed They dare not vow, nor bleating quadruped, For what can sickness hope, with sin conjoin'd, Or than itself what viler victim find ? Light and capricious ever is the mood 335 Of minds, with virtue's counsels unimbued. In vice alone inflexible, they shun The voice of conscience till the deed be done ; Then, will they ponder much of right and wrong, But habits form'd will ne'er be thwarted long, 340 Nature unchangeable, in spite of vows, Relapses to the deeds she disallows ! Who can assign a barrier to his sins, Or knows their utmost verge when he begins ? Once, once, expung'd ! 'tis vain again to seek 345 The crimson tinge that mantled in the cheek. V. 331. Or crested cock. This was the usual sacrifice of the convalescent, or of the sick to ^sculapius. See Pla- ton. Phtsdon. V. 345. Once, once, expung'd. Quando recepit lyectum semel attrita de fronte pudorem. v. 347 — 356. Sat. xm. Juvenal. 355 Amidst the race of man, select me one, Contented with a first offence alone. Thus step by step the traitor shall pursue His desperate course, and find at length his due. 350 Ere long the dungeon shall his crimes coerce, Or on iEgean rocks his fate he'll curse 'Midst banish'd thousands : then shalt thou rejoice- But 'midst thy joy, confess with alter' d voice, That deafness, in the skies, no prayer repels, 355 That 'midst the Gods no biind Tiresias dwells. Thus in that very humorous Dialogue of Lucian, where he brings all the sages of antiquity to be sold by auction (Jupiter the auctioneer and Mercury the clerk,) Diogenes, being put up, advises his purchaser first to get rid of all power of blushing, as a property very inconvenient to a philosopher, to sgvSgiay aitotyirov rov , irgotruj'irov itavrsXoug, and this ac- complished, he tells him all the rest is easy, ovSsv as ncu\v)\wtw zqzihfo, ov rw/xa, ou y>)§oti it^ov Or scores of trumpeteters had risen too ! ) The sparks were thine — the blaze shall quickly roll Involving all around and mock control, 315 Nor spare thy wretched self — within the den Thy growling cub shall his old keeper pen, Tear with strong talons and tremendous roar Those hands, his meal of blood which duly bore ! The astrologic seers perhaps foretell 320 A long and happy life — my friend, 'tis well ! V. 314. The sparks were thine. Ergo ignem, cujus scintillas ipse dedisti Flagrantem late, et rapientem cuncta videbis. , So Demosthenes, 6 ya.^ to Tits^.tx Ttocfac^ouv ouro; rjv fuv Kai v&Kiv ouVoy Qisrou. a/Aj 5'oAw; 0TAEN02. aAA« TTXHS. v. B6 — 45. Sat, xv. Juvenal. 389 A nation's crime ! a crime which thousands share ! At Coptus done, when Junius fill'd the chair. — From Pyrrha's times thro* each succeeding age, Evolve of tragic lore each moving page 3 No muse has plung'd a nation into sin 40 For stage effect — but let the tale begin. An antiquated grudge, a mortal hate, The Ombian people and the neighbouring state Of Tentyra, down to this day divides, Which lapse of years nor tends to heal nor hides. 45 V. 37. At Coptus done. Coptus was a city of Upper Egypt, much resorted to as a medium of commerce between Arabia and Ethiopia. There were two consuls of the name of Junius, one the colleague of Domitian, the other of Adrian ; thirty-six years elapsed between the two : some doubts exist of the text, (certain MSS giving Juno, Juueo, Vineo) otherwise this is another date for determining not only the age of Juvenal, but the period of his banishment to Egypt. V. 43. The Ombian people and the, fyc. The reader may consult a long note in the translation of Dusaulx, which gives the substance of the opinions of Barthelemy, L'Archer, and Brotier, on this passage, concerning which a geographical difficulty has been started, founded on the words Inter Fini- timos, it appearing that these districts were not immediately neighbours, but thirty leagues distant. Were history, not poetry, at stake, it would be important perhaps to enter upon them ; as it is, the general fact is enough, and it is perhaps the earliest instance of a quarrel founded on a subject so fruitful iii after times, Religious Intolerance. Quod Numina Vicincrum Odit uterque Locus. 390 Sat. xv. Juvenal. v. 46—73. High runs the feud — -and this the cause of all — . Each holds the others' gods t no gods at all. Each at his neighbours' scoffs, and deems his own To claim observance and to claim alone. The Ombians held a feast ; occasion meet 50 To a vindictive foe to spoil their treat, And in the midst of revels to destroy An unsuspecting people's thoughtless joy ! The feast was spread along the public ways, On which a seventh day's sun oft sheds his rays, 53 (For in excess, as i myself beheld, Not by Ganopus are these tribes excell'd:) O'er reeling drunkards and the stammering tongue, Victorious Pseans may be quickly sung ! Here thousands danc'd their swarthy piper round, 60 In festive joy, with blooming chaplets crown'd ; There Sober Malice watch'd — first brawls began To kindle wrath, ere to the fight they ran : The furious skirmish soon, with shouts and blows By kicks and cuffs inflicted, fiercely glows. 65 Nor swords nor spears were here-— yet on they rush'd, And many a comely feature soon was crush'd, Claw'd with the nails, or mangled with the stone, Thro' the torn flesh starts many a fractur'd bone. With blood the eyes were smear'd, the fists were dyed, 70 Yet this mere children's play they soon deride : Crush'd was no corpse beneath their hoofs, and why Should thousands fight, if none are yet to die ? v. 74—97. Sat. xv. Juvenal. 391 To glean the stones o'er all the field they ran, These gain'd, a fiercer onset soon began : 75 Th' artillery of mobs in vollies flew, Inflicting blows and wounds of many an hue. Not like the mass of rock which loudly rung Full on the Trojan's hip, adroitly flung By Ajax, Turnus, or by Diomed ; 80 Thin'd was that race, ere Homer's self was dead ! But such as powerless fingers like our own. In these degenerate ages, might have thrown, ! For now a puny nerveless breed is born, Of gods and heroes held in sovereign scorn ! 85 But we digress— new subsidies arrive And stones in vain with swords and arrows strive, Press'd by his cruel foe, who near. the shade Of Tentyra's palms his settlements has made. The Ombian flies ! — one with excess of fear 90 Tripp'd, fell, was seiz'd, — the savage foe was near— *■ The yelling crew to shreds their victim tore, And each his smoking piece in triumph bore : Soon with delight devour'd ! — no cauldrons heat. No spits transfix, the crude and quivering meat ! 95 And here, it much delights me to record That the pure flame escap'd these scenes abhorr'd, V. 7S. Not like the mass of rock. SdJcum circumspicit ingens, Saxum antiquum, ingens campo quod forte jacebat Limes agro po situs, litem nt discerneret arms. 392 Sat. xv. Juvenal, v. 98 — 114. That glorious booty, that ethereal prize, Which bold Prometheus pilfer'd from the skies : Great element ! the poet and his friend 100 To thee their compliments rejoice to send ! Ne'er to this hour with greater relish fed, The savage wretch that first attack' d the dead, For question not what pleasure he could feel, Who broach'd the blood and first commenc'd the meal. — 105 The last, amidst the remnant of the scene, Dabbled his hands, and lick'd his fingers clean ! Time was, the Vascons, as old tales relate, Thus fed, contended long with cruel fate. Want's sharpest pangs ! th' extremities of war, 1 10 The long, long siege drove every scruple far : If when the herb was perish'd all, and dry, Their cattle gone, and e'en their enemy, Saw not their wasted limbs without a sigh ; i V. 108. Time was, the Vascons, as. Two or three in- stances are related in which the severest hardships, and the most pressing famine, scarcely brought the unhappy subjects of these difficulties to touch human flesh, notwithstanding they were strangers to that philosophy which teaches that life itself may be kept at too great a price. The Vascons were a people of Hispania Tarraconensis, (The Modern Catalonia), at the foot of the Pyrenees. Their town Calaguris (Calohorra). The siege above alluded to, by which they suffered so much, was carried on against them by Pompey and Metellus. Saguntus, (Morviedro) is the second instance : its story, besieged and taken by Hannibal, as it lately was by the French, is well known. v. 115 — 136. Sat. xv. Juvenal. 393 If then upon each other's flesh they prey'd, 115 Almost upon their own — 'twas famine bade. What man, what god his pardon could forbear, To pangs like these, to miseries so rare ? For whom, their very victims' ghosts would plead, And be the first to justify the deed. 120 We, by sage Zeno's precepts better taught, Know life itself may be too dearly bought, But whence could the fierce Spaniard, in the age Of old Metellus, con the stoic page ? Now through the world a brilliant light has shone, Shed by that other Athens and our own. [125 The very Britons leave the toils of war, And taught by Gaul are studious of the bar ; E'en distant Thule's solitary coast, Will have ere long its Rhetoric school to boast. 130 These were a loyal race ! of hardships more, With equal constancy Saguntus bore, And each shall claim excuse — more bloody far, Fell iEgypt ! art thou, than the altars are, Of fierce Mceotis : — that infernal rite, 135 Of Tauris kills indeed, but not in spite, V. 1 23. But whence could the fierce Spaniard. Cantaber sera doraitus catena. — Hor. The most warlike people of antient Spain, who inhabited the provinces of Biscay, the Asturias, and Navarre. V. 135. Of fierce Mceotis. At the Tauric Chersonese or peninsula, the worship of Diana was attended with human sacrifices ; the story of Iphigenia is here principally in contem- plation. 394 Sat. xv. Juvenal. v. 137 — 156. Nor does inveterate Malice edge the knife, Which frantic Zeal has rais'd 'gainst human life ! What arms to crimes so monstrous can compel This brutish tribe, what tales have they to tell ?. 140 What hostile bands to hem their ramparts in, And prompt them to inexpiable sin ? By crimes less human, or by rites more vile, The rising flood of fertilising Nile Could they have stay'd — a dastard people view, 145 Which paddles on the stream in light canoe And wields in waveless seas its feeble oar, More fierce than Cimbria's sons, than Britain's more, Than the ferocious swarms, the Tartar hordes, Which Scythia's frightful wilderness affords ! 150 5 Tis vain to punish, where 'tis vain to teach ! Alas ! what lessons can the Savage reach, With whom mere vengeance makes a stronger plea Than Famine, War, and dire Necessity ! That Nature planted Pity in the breast 155 Let her distinctive boon, the Tear, attest ! V. 146. Which paddles on the stream. These canoes or boats (earthen ships, as Holiday calls them) were the miserable resource of a people under the temptation to avail themselves of the advantage of a great river, and living in a country almost destitute of wood. V. 155. That Nature planted, Sfc. This is beyond question, that passage in Juvenal which gives the best impressionof his heart. Destitute of the smallest vestige of the declamatory style, it appears as easy and as v. 157—168. Sat. xv. Juvenal. 395 The sorrows of a friend, she bids bewail, She bids us listen to the captive's tale : Or when the much-wrong'd orphan meets the view, CompelPd by cruel fraud in courts to sue, 160 She draws compassion for a face so fair, Those tear-dim' d eyes, that soft and glossy hair. 'Tis Nature, Nature, prompts us when we sigh For some fair girl whose funeral passes by, Or for the Pyre too small whene'er we see 165 Earth closing over lovely infancy ! What man is he, whose hands the sacred light, May bear unblam'd in Ceres' mystic rite, natural as the most tender passages in Euripides and Virgil, nor is it, I think, possible to deny to its author on the least attentive consideration, a large participation of the best qualities of the heart. V. l66\ Earth closing over, SfC. The bodies of infants under seven months old were buried, not burnt. Hominem priusquam genito dente cremari, mos gentium non est. Du- saulx well observes that the custom of destroying the animal remains by fire, though of such familiar mention among the Greek and Roman authors, was yet not so antient as that of burial. Our custom of burningthe body, says Pliny, took its origin from our foreign wars, wherein we burnt the slain to save them from insult. The funeral pile continued to the time of Theo- dosius. Virgil's beautiful allusion to the death of infants must be fast in the memory of most readers : 396 Sat. xv. Juvenal. v. 169—192, The sorrows of his kind that proudly spurns And from his neighbour's grief unpitying turns ? 1 70 Strange to the herd s to us alone was given, This precious sense, the kindest gift of heaven, And while for things divine receptive powers, Wisdom and skill for noblest arts are ours, To us alone, compassion was consign'd, 175 Denied the prone, earth-contemplating kind ! The common parent, when the world began, To both gave life, but mind alone to man— - That ties of love reciprocal might lead, To mutual offices in mutual need, 180 To walk together on life's common way, And give to-morrow what we ask to-day ! That mutual love and mutual aid might draw The race dispers'd and bind by social law, That men might quit the forest and the grove 1 85 Nor o'er the wild in lawless wanderings rove. But join the thresholds of their homes, that so Sound sleep from mutual confidence might grow. When fall'n and fainting from a mighty wound, A dear compatriot bleeds upon the ground, 190 'Tis ours ! the glorious privilege ! to fly, And snatch him from the foe or with him die ! Continuo auditte voces, vagiius et ingens Infantiemque animae Jlentes in limine primo : Qaos dulcis vilcB exortes et ab ubere raptos, Abstulit atra dies etfunere mersit acerbo ! v. 193—206. Sat, xv. Juvenal* S97 To rouse and rally at the self-same note s Of the hoarse trumpet's c war denouncing' throat. Share the same toils, man the same walls and towers, 195 And close the barriers with one key — are ours. And wherefore ours ? of discord less we find s 'Midst the suspicious brood of serpent kind ; His kindred specks behold the pard will spare \ Behold the Lion race — and none are there* 200 Who slay their weaker kind, no grove resounds While the fierce boar, his feebler comrade wounds* Een India's rabid Tygers will agree, And Bears together dwell in harmony ! 'Twas a small evil first to point the dart 205 And edge the falchion with destructive art, V. 199- His kindred specks. So Otway : Amidst the herd the Leopard knows his kind. The Tiger preys not on the Tiger brood. Man only is the common foe of man I The hunting tribes of air and earth, Respect the brethren of their birth ; Nature, who loves the claim of kind, Less cruel chase to each assign'd : The Falcon pois'd on soaring wing, Watches the wild duck by the spring, The slow hound wakes the fox's lair, The Grey-hound presses on the hare, &c. Rokeby, Canto 3. 398 Sat. xv. Juvenal. v. 207 — 218* (Tho' earlier workmen only knew to bend The crooked share j nor did their skill extend, From murderous spades, and rakes, to mould the blade And find in war a profitable trade) : 210 5 Twas a small evil — here a race behold, Whose fury dies not when the foe is cold ! Which finds in human muscles, bones, and blood, A new repast, a pleasant sort of food ! What had he said, or whither had he flown 215 Had sage Pythagoras these*monsters known ? Who deem'd all flesh to savour of his kind. Nor in all herbs a safe repast could find* Argument The subject of this Satire is the insolence of the Ro- man Military, of which Juvenal enumerates some of the privileges in his manner ; there can be little doubt that the subject was highly susceptible of being treated throughout in the same way, but the piece is probably imperfect ; some, indeed, have concluded that it was the production of an inferior, or written when the faculties of the poet were long past their meridian : I am not acquainted with any sufficient evidence of either. According to Ruperti, it is wanting in the most ancient MSS, in others it is not the last in order, but the last but one. attre xvi. Ihe boons that ramparts, mounds, and camps, bestow, And all th' immunities from arms that flow, Ah who can tell ? Be mine a lucky star, At the camp gate a novice yet in war, And tnat distinction shall await me more 5 Than if a note from Venus' self I bore To blustering Mars ; 'twould serve my fortunes less, Were Juno's self my honor'd patroness ! V. 5. And that distinction, fyc. Holyday justly remarks that these lines claim to be considered among the internal evidence that the piece is from the pen of Juvenal. Nothing can be more in his way than to say, that good luck was better than a letter of introduction to Mars from Venus, Quam si nos Veneris commendat epistola Marti, Et Samia genetrix quce dekctatur arena. v. 9 — SO. Sat xvi. Juvenal. 401 And first of smaller benefits, we learn A soldier's blow, no gownsman dare return : 10 Who'd show the judge and hope to be forgiven Those bleeding sockets whence his teeth were driven? Of livid bumps and bruises who'd complain And live to bear a livid bruise again ? Or with one doubtful eye, the praetor's chair 15 Attend, and tell his tale of suffering there ? To sift that too suspicious tale of thine, A judge in greaves and helmet they assign ! Thus the camp statute runs, * beyond the trench No soldier pleads before the civil bench 9 20 c Granted — yet mindful of their sacred trust * Centurion-judges will no doubt be just — ' Of chastisement the ruffian shall not fail, c I'll tell the truth, and truth shall still prevail' — What ! when five thousand ruffians more, at hand, On that one ruffian's side have sworn to stand? [25 A soldier's outrage is a grievous curse, Yet is a cohort's vengeance something worse ! If all the nails of all those hoofs conspire, And thou hast still two legs, and those entire, 30 V. 17- To sift, that too suspicious tale. This privilege, which of course was the foundation of every species of vio- lence of the camp, claiming cognizance of the offences of its own ^members, was established by Camillus, in order to remove the pretence of his soldiers, being absent on civil business. V. 29. If all the nails of all, fyc. The ponderous and JUV, 2 C 402 Sat. xvi. Juvenal. v. 31— 41, The soul of stout Vagellius it should need In such a court thy dangerous cause to plead ! And where's the Pylades, the faithful friend That shall thy journey to the camp attend ?— «. Dry up thy tears, see those tremendous shoes ! 33 Nor ask a service which e'en fools refuse. At length, ' who saw him knock you down, Sir ?' cries The frowning judge ; — ye gods ! and whp replies ? "Who sees those hard clench'd fists, and yet will" try To pluck up nerve and boldly venture — I 40 1 At once outbeards our bearded ancestry ! iron-bound shoes of the Roman soldiery form, as the reader will recollect, one of the miseries of which Umbritius, in de- parting from Rome, betrays a tender recollection. ' The Caliga/ says Flolyday, ' was a thick soal without an upper leather tied to the foot with thongs, somewhat like wooden pattens. It afterwards signified merely a shoe, ac- cording to that of St. Jerom, Epist. 47. cap. 3. speaking of an immodest maid thai went in creaking shoes, ' Caliga quo- que ambulantis nigella ac nitens, stridore ad sejuvenes vocat.' The original caliga, according to the same industrious inter- preter, ' came at last to be used by countrymen and citizens, (which sense I have given to it in the last line of the 3d Satire) it Was then made of wood and leather, with many nails under- neath, that they might last in long journies. Sometimes the Emperors gave thesn & largess of nails — donativum clavarium,' — (perhaps, however, this was only a name, like pin money.) The nails were commonly of iron or brass, but the soldiers of Antiochus were shod with gold — treading, says Justin, that under foot, for which men fight with iron. v. 42 — 57. Sat. xvi. Juvenal. 403 To swear away a townsman's life, a score Of perjur'd witnesses you'll find, or more, Ere one on desperate perils prompt to rush, And put a soldier* s honor to the blush ! 45 Yet far more solid gains than these are known The boisterous soldier's meed and his alone. Suppose, some powerful knave refuse to yield, Seiz'd by main force th' hereditary field, Or dare to move the sacred stone away, 50 Where thy first fruits at every harvest lay.— Suppose his hand and seal some rogue deny, And to retain our due, most stoutly lie, We poor Plebeians wait the lingering year Before a court will meet, our tale to hear : 55 A thousand tedious avenues are past, A thousand checks athwart our way are cast, V. 50. Or dare to move. — — Convallem ruris aviti Improhus, out campum mihi si vicinus adcmit • Et sacrum effodit , medio de limite saxum, Quod mea cum vetido, coluit puis annua libo. a passage, as Holyday observes, beautiful audi worthy of Juvenal ! — It alludes to the important religious ceremonies with which the ancients worshipped the God Terminus : in short, it was fixing a most important point, the sacredness of the division of land, on a religious foundation : hence the removing the landmark or boundary stone was, as the reader recollects, the subject of a curse in the Jewish Common- wealth, 404 Sat. xvi. Juvenal. v. 58 — 75. It takes an hour to lay the cushions strait- — Then, ere Cseditius loose his cloak we wait Another hour; then Fuscus steps aside, 60 And still our patience, not our cause, is tried. For those whom greaves and leathern belts surround, A time and place are in a moment found. To hearing prompt their slightest cause consign'd The law's long trailing drag-chain left behind ! 65 The belted soldier by especial rights, His father living, his own will indites ; For whatsoe'er of wealth the Sabre gains, From * lands and tenements' apart remains. And thus Coranus, who still earns his pay 70 And lays it by, — as frugal ensigns may, By his old sire is coax'd, who hopes to bear, All drivelling as he is, the name of heir ! The road to wealth his honest toils prepar'd, And well-tried valor brought its just reward. 75 V. 58. It takes an hour, fee. It is impossible to deny that this passage is much iu the style of Juvenal : on the contrary, few of his strokes of pleasantry are better aimed than — Jam facundo ponente Laeemas Cteditio, et Fusco jam micturiente, fyc. and the hand of the master may also be discerned in that excellent allusion to the procrastinating spirit of the laws, a few lines below. Nee res atteritur longo svfflamim litis. v. 76 — 79. Sat. xvi. Juvenal. 403 And 'tis the general's interest and concern. The well-deservings of his men to learn, His ready ear, to noble deeds to lend, And on the brave the frequent badge suspend. V. 7$- -And 'tis the General's, 3fc. This conclusion is flat and spiritless, and as all the Satires invaribly end well, I think the defect here an argument against the piece being perfect. FINIS. 406 In the Press, by the same Author, SECOND EDITION, MUCH ENLARGED* OF OBSERVATIONS ON Cfje 3(nflammatotp affections? OF THE SECRETING MEMBRANE OF THE BRONCHIA. ALSO, Preparing for Publication, A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON THE DISEASES OF THE CHEST. IN ONE VOLUME, Svo. PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, AND CO- Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide Treatment Date: August 2006 PreservationTechnologiej A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATIOI 1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive Cranberry Township, PA 1 6066 (724)779-2111 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 003 091 214 7 ■I .