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 THE 
 
 SATIRES 
 
 OF 
 
 DECIMUS JUNIUS JUVENALIS, 
 
 TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH VERSE. 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM GIFFORD, ESQ,. 
 
 WITH 
 
 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 niJAKOI E'E IEPH2 OAITH AIBA2. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED BY W. BULMER AND CO. 
 
 CLEVELAND-HOW, ST. JAMES's, 
 
 FOR G. AND W. NICOL, BOOKSELLERS TO HIS MAJESTY; 
 
 AND R. EVANS, PALL-MALL. 
 1802.
 
 7^ r '^ 
 
 TO 
 
 RICHARD EARL GROSVENOR, 
 
 VISCOUNT BELGRAVE, BARON GROSVENOR, 
 
 THIS 
 
 TRANSLATION OF JUVENAL 
 
 IS INSCRIBED, 
 
 AS 
 
 AN HUMBLE, BUT SINCERE TESTIMONY, 
 
 OF THE 
 
 GRATITUDE AND RESPECT OF 
 
 THE TRANSLATOR. 
 
 May 1st, 1802. 

 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 1 AM about to enter on a very uninteresting subject: but all my 
 friends tell me that it is necessary to account for the long delay of 
 the following Work ; and I can only do it by adverting to the cir- 
 cumstances of my life. Will this be accepted as an apology ? 
 
 1 know but little of my family, and that little is not very precise. 
 My great-grandfather, (the most remote of it, that I ever recollect 
 to have heard mentioned,) possessed considerable property at Hals- 
 worthy, a parish in the neighbourhood of Ashburton ; but whether 
 acquired or inherited, I never thought of asking, and do not 
 know.* 
 
 He was probably a native of Devonshire, for there he spent the 
 last years of his life ; spent them too, in some sort of consideration, 
 for Mr. T. (a very respectable surgeon of Ashburton,) loved to 
 repeat to me, when I first grew into notice, that he had frequently 
 hunted with his hounds. 
 
 My grandfather was on ill terms with him : I believe, not with- 
 out sufficient reason, for he was extravagant and dissipated. My 
 father never mentioned his name, but my mother would sometimes 
 tell me that he had ruined the family. That he spent much, I know ; 
 but I am inclined to think that his undutiful conduct occasioned 
 my great-grandfather to bequeath a part of his property from him. 
 
 * I have, however, some faint notion of hearing my mother say, that he, or his father, 
 had been a China merchant in Ixindon. By China merchant, I always understood, 
 and so perhaps did she, a dealer in China-ware. 
 
 a
 
 n INTRODUCXrON. 
 
 My father, I fear, revenged in some measure the cause of my 
 great grandfather. He was, as I have heard my mother say, 
 " a very wild young man, who could be kept to nothing." He 
 was sent to the grammar-school at Exeter; from which he made 
 his escape, and entered on board a man of war. He was soon re- 
 claimed from this situation by my grandfather, and left his school 
 a second time, to wander in some vagabond society.'" He was now 
 probably given up, for he was, on his return from this notable ad- 
 venture, reduced to article himself to a plumber and glazier, with 
 Avhom he luckily staid long enough to learn the business. I sup- 
 pose his father was now dead, for he became possessed of two small 
 estates, married my mother,-!- (the daughter of a carpenter at Ash- 
 burton,) and thought himself rich enough to set up for himself; 
 which he did with some credit, at South Molton. Why he chose 
 to fix there, I never inquired ; but 1 learned from my mother, that 
 after a residence of four or live years he was again thoughtless 
 enough to engage in a dangerous frolic, which drove him once 
 more to sea. This was an attempt to excite a riot in a Methodist 
 chapel ; for which his companions were prosecuted, and he fled, 
 as I have mentioned. 
 
 My father was a good seaman, and was soon made second in 
 command in the Lyen, a large armed transport in the service of 
 government : while my mother (then with child of me) returned to 
 her native place, Ashburton, where I was born, in April, 1757. 
 
 The resources of my mother were very scanty. They arose from 
 the rent of three or four small fields, which yet remained unsold. 
 With these, however, she did what she could for me ; and as soon 
 as I was old enough to be trusted out of her sieht, sent me to a 
 school-mistress of the name of Parret, from whom I learned in due 
 time to read, I cannot boast much of my acquisitions at this 
 
 * He had gone with Bamfjlde Moore Ca;ew, tlien an old man. 
 
 t Her maiden name was Elizabeth Cain. My father's christian name was Edward,
 
 INTRODUCTION. Ill 
 
 school ; they consisted merely of the contents of the " Child's 
 Spelling Book :" but from my mother, who had stored up the lite- 
 rature of a country town, which, about half a centary ago, amounted 
 to little more than what was disseminated by itinerant ballad- 
 singers, or rather, readers, I had acquired much curious knowledge 
 of Catskin, and the Golden Bull, and the Bloody Gardener, and 
 many other histories equally instructive and amusing. 
 
 My father returned from sea in 1764- He had been at the siege 
 of the Havannah ; and though he received more than a hundred 
 pounds for prize money, and his wages were considerable ; yet, as 
 he had not acquired any strict habits of economy, he brought home 
 but a trifling sum. The little property yet left was therefore 
 turned into money ; a trifle more was got by agreeing to renounce 
 all future pretentions to an estate at Totness ;* and with this my 
 father set up a second time as a glazier and house-painter. I was 
 now about eight years old, and was put to the free-school (kept 
 by Hugh Smerdon.) to learn to read and write, and cypher. Here 
 I continued about three years, making a most wretched progress, 
 when my father fell sick and died. He had not acquired wisdom 
 from his misfortunes, but continued wasting his time in unprofitable 
 pursuits, to the great detriment of his business. He loved drink 
 for the sake of society, and to this love he fell a martyr ; dying of 
 a decayed and ruined constitution before he was forty. The town's 
 people thought him a shrewd and sensible man, and regretted his 
 death. As for me, I never greatly loved him; I had not grown up 
 with him ; and he was too prone to repulse my little advances to 
 familiarity, with coldness, or anger. He had certainly some reason 
 to be displeased with me, for I learned little at school, and nothing 
 iit home, though he would now and then attempt to give me some 
 
 * This was a lot of small houses, which had been thoughtlessly suffered to fall into 
 decay, and of which the rents had been so long unclaimed, that they could Jiot now be 
 recovered, unless by an expensive litigation.
 
 IV INTRODUCTION. 
 
 insight into the business. As impressions of any kind are not veiy 
 strong at the age of eleven or twelve, I did not long feel his loss ; 
 nor was it a subject of much sorrow to me, that my mother was 
 doubtful of her ability to continue me at school, though I had by 
 this time acquired a love for reading. 
 
 I never knew in what circumstances my mother was left : most 
 probably they were inadequate to her support, without some kind 
 of exertion, especially as she was now burthened with a second 
 child about six or eiglit months old. Unfortunately she determined 
 to prosecute my father's business ; for which purpose she engaged 
 a couple of journeymen, who, finding her ignorant of every part 
 of it, wasted her property, and embezzled her money. What the 
 consequence of this double fraud would have been, there was no 
 opportunity of knowing, as, in somewhat less than a twelvemonth, 
 my poor mother followed my father to the grave. She was an ex- 
 cellent woman, bore my father's infirmities with patience and good 
 humour, loved her cliildren dearly, and died at last, exhausted 
 with anxiety and grief more on their account than on her own. 
 
 I was not quite thirteen when this happened ; my little brother 
 was hardly two; and we had not a relation nor a. friend in the 
 world. Every thing that was left was seized by a person of the 
 
 name of C , for money advanced to my mother. It may be 
 
 supposed that I could not dispute the justice of his claims ; and as 
 no one else interfered, he was suffered to do as he liked. My little 
 brother was sent to the alms-house, whither his nurse followed 
 him out of pure affection ; and I was taken to the house of the 
 person I have just mentioned, who was also my godfather. Respect 
 for the opinion of the town, (which, whether correct or not, was, 
 that he had repaid himself by the sale of my mother's effects,) in- 
 duced him to send me again to school, where I was more diligent 
 than before, and more successful. I grew fond of arithmetic, and 
 my master began to distinguish me : but these golden days were
 
 INTRODUCTION. V 
 
 over in less than three months. C sickened at the expense ; 
 
 and, as the people were now indifferent to my fate, he looked round 
 for an opportunity of ridding himself of a useless charge. He had 
 previously attempted to engage me in the drudgery of husbandry. 
 I drove the plough for one day to gratify him, but I left it with a 
 firm resolution to do so no more, and in despite of his threats and 
 promises, adhered to my determination. In this, I was guided no 
 less by necessity than will. During my father's life, in attempting 
 to clamber up a table, I had fallen backward, and drawn it after 
 me : its edge fell upon my breast, and I never recovered the effects 
 of the blow ; of which I was made extremely sensible on any ex- 
 traordinary exertion. Ploughing, therefore, was out of the question, 
 and, as I have already said, I utterly refused to follow it. 
 
 As I could write and cypher, (as the phrase Is,) C next thought 
 
 of sending me to Newfoundland, to assist in a storehouse. For this 
 purpose he negotiated with a Mr. Holdsworthy of Dartmouth, who 
 agreed to fit me out. I left Ashburton with little expectation of 
 seeing it again, and indeed with little care, and rode with my god- 
 father to the dwelling of Mr. Holdsworthy. On seeing me, this 
 great man observed with a look of pity and contempt, that I was 
 " too small," and sent me away sufficiently mortified. I expected 
 to be very ill received by my godfather, but he said nothing. He 
 did not however choose to take me back himself, but ient me in 
 the passage-boat to Totness, from whence I was to walk home. On 
 the passage, the boat was driven by a midnight storm on the rocks, 
 and I escaped with life almost by miracle. 
 
 My godfather had now humbler views for me, and I had little 
 heart to resist any thing. He proposed to send me on board one 
 of the Torbay fishing boats ; I ventured, however, to remonstrate 
 against this, and the matter was compromised by my consenting to 
 go on board a coaster. A coaster was speedily found for me at 
 Brixham, and thitlierl went when little more than thirteen.
 
 VI INTRODUCTION. 
 
 My master, whose name was Full, though a gross and ignorant, 
 was not an ill natured, man ; at least, not to me : and my mistress 
 used me with unvarying kindness ; moved perhaps by my weak- 
 ness and tender years. In return, I did what I could to requite 
 her, and my good will was not overlooked. 
 
 Our vessel was not very large, nor our crew very numerous. On 
 ordinary occasions, such as shoit trips to Dartmouth, Plymouth, Sec. 
 it consisted only of my master, an apprentice nearly out of his 
 time, and myself: when we had to go farther, to Portsmouth for 
 example, an additional hand was hired for the voyage. 
 
 In this vessel (the Two Brothers) I continued nearly a twelve- 
 month ; and here I got acquainted with nautical terms, and con- 
 tracted a love for the sea, which a lapse of thirty years has but 
 little diminished. 
 
 It will be easily conceived that my life was a life of hardship. I 
 was not only a " ship-boy on the high and giddy mast," but also 
 in the cabin, where every menial office fell to my lot : yet if I was 
 restless and discontented, I can safely say, it was not so much on 
 account of this, as of my being precluded from all possibility of 
 reading; as my master did not possess, nor do I recollect seeing 
 during the whole time of my abode with him, a single book of any 
 description, except the Coasting Pilot. 
 
 As my lot seemed to be cast, however, I was not negligent in 
 seeking such information as promised to be useful ; and I therefore 
 frequented, at my leisure hours, such vessels as dropt into Torbay. 
 On attempting to get on board one of these, which I did at mid- 
 night, I missed my footing, and fell into the sea. The floating 
 away of the boat alarmed the man on deck, who came to the ship's 
 side just iit time to see me sink. He immediately threw out several 
 ropes, one of which providentially (for I was unconscious of it) 
 intangled itself about me, and I was drawn up to the surface, till 
 a boat could be got round. The usual methods were taken to
 
 INTRODUCTION. VU 
 
 recover me, and I aAvoke in bed the next morning, remembering 
 notliing but the horror I lelt, when I first found myself unable to 
 cry out for assistance. 
 
 This was not my only escape, but I forbear to speak of them. 
 An escape of another kind was now preparing for me, which de- 
 serves all my notice, as it was decisive of my future fate. 
 
 On Christmas day (1770) I was surprised by a message from my 
 godfather, saying that he had sent a man and horse to bring me to 
 Abhburton ; and desiring me to set out without delay. My master, 
 as well as myself, supposed it was to spend the holydays there; 
 and he therefore, made no objection to my going. We were, how- 
 ever, both mistaken. 
 
 Since I had lived at Brixham, I had broken off all connection 
 with Ashburton. I had no relation there but my poor brother,* 
 who was yet too young for any kind of correspondence ; and the 
 conduct of my godfather towards me, did not intitle him to any 
 portion of my gratitude, or kind remembrance. I lived therefore 
 in a sort of sullen independance on all I had formerly known, and 
 thought without regret of being abandoned by «very one to my 
 fate. But I had not been overlooked. The women of Brixham, 
 who travelled to Ashburton twice a week with fish, and who had 
 
 * Of my brother here introduced for the last time, I must yet say a few words. He 
 
 was literally 
 
 The child of misery baptised in tears ; 
 
 and the short passage of his life did not belie the melancholy presage of his infancy. 
 When he was seven years old, the parish bound him out to a husbandman of the name 
 of Leman, with whom he endured incredible hardships, which I had it not in my 
 power to alleviate. At nine years of age he broke his thigh, and I took tliat opportunity 
 to teach him to read and write. When my own situation was improved, I persuaded 
 him to try the sea; he did so, and was taken on board the Egmont, on condition that 
 his master should receive his wages. The time was now fast approaching when 1 could 
 serve liim, but he was doomed to know no favourable change of fortune : he fell sick, 
 and died at Cork.
 
 via INTRODUCTION. 
 
 known my parents, did not see me without kind concern, running 
 about the beach in a ragged jacket and trowzers. They mentioned 
 this to the people of Ashburton, and never without commiserating 
 my change of condition. This tale often repeated, awakened at 
 length the pity of their auditors, and, as the next step, their re- 
 sentment against the man who had reduced me to such a state of 
 wretchedness. In a large town, this would have had little effect, 
 but in a place like Ashburton, where every report speedily becomes 
 the common property of all the inhabitants, it raised a murmur 
 which my godfather found himself either unable or unwilling to 
 withstand : he therefore determined, as I have just obsei-ved, to 
 recall me ; which he could easily do, as I wanted some months of 
 fourteen, and consequently was not yet bound. 
 
 All this, I learned on my arrival ; and my heart, which had beea 
 cruelly shut up, now opened to kinder sentiments, and fairer 
 views. 
 
 After the holydays I returned to my darling pursuit, arithmetic : 
 my progress was now so rapid, that in a few months I was at the 
 head of the school, and qualified to assist my master (Mr. E. 
 Furlong) on any extraordinary emergency. As he usually gave 
 me a trifle on those occasions, it raised a thought in me, that by 
 cnaaiiina; with him as a resrular assistant, and undertakin"; the in- 
 struction of a few evening scholars, I might, with a little additional 
 aid, be enabled to support myself. God knows, my ideas of sup- 
 port at this time, were of no very extravagant nature. I had, 
 besides, another object in view. Mr. Hugh Smerdon (my first 
 master) was now grown old and infirm ; it seemed unlikely that he 
 should hold out above three or four years ; and I fondly flattered 
 myself that, notwithstanding my youth, I might possibly be ap- 
 pointed to succeed him. I was in my fifteenth year, when I built 
 these castles : a storm, however, was collecting, which unexpectedly 
 burst upon me, and swept them all away.
 
 INTRODUCTION. IX 
 
 On mentioning my little plan to C , he treated it with the 
 
 utmost contempt ; and told me, in his turn, that as I had learned 
 enough, and more than enough, at school, he must be considered 
 as having fairly discharged his duty (so, indeed, he had ;) he added, 
 that he had been negotiating with his cousin, a shoe-maker, of 
 some respectability ; who had liberally agreed to take me without 
 a fee, as an apprentice. I was so shocked at this intelligence, that 
 I did not remonstrate ; but went in suUenness and silence to my 
 new master, to whom I was soon after bound, * till I should attain 
 the age of twenty-one. 
 
 The family consisted of four journeymen, two sons about my 
 own age, and an apprentice somewhat older. In these there was 
 nothing remarkable ; but my master himself was the strangest 
 creature 1 He was a Presbyterian, whose reading was entirely con- 
 fined to the small tracts published on the Exeter Controversy. As 
 these (at least his portion of them) were all on one side, he enter- 
 tained no doubt of their infallibility, and being noisy and dispu- 
 tacious, was sure to silence his opponents ; and became, in conse- 
 quence of it, intollerably arrogant and conceited. He was not, 
 however, indebted solely to liis knowledge of the subject for his 
 triumph: he was possessed of Fenning's Dictionary, and he made 
 a most singular use of it. His custom was to fix on any word in 
 common use, and then to get by heart the synonym, or periphrasis 
 by which it was explained in the book ; this he constantly sub- 
 stituted for the other, and as his opponents were commonly ignorant 
 of his meaning, his victory was complete. 
 
 With such a man I was not likely to add much to my stock of 
 knowledge, small as it was ; and, indeed, nothing could well be 
 smaller. At this period, I had read nothing but a black letter 
 romance called Parismus and Parismenus, and a few loose magazines 
 which my mother had brought from South Molton. The Bible, 
 
 * My indentarc, which now lies before me, is dated the 1st of January, }77'2. 
 
 b
 
 X INTRODUCTION. 
 
 indeed, I was well acquainted with ; it was the favourite study of 
 my grand-mother, and reading it frequently with her, had im- 
 pressed it strongly on my mind ; these then, with the Imitation of 
 Thomas a Kempis, which 1 used to read to my mother on her 
 death-bed, constituted the whole of my literary acquisitions. 
 
 As I hated my new profession with a perfect hatred, I made no 
 progress in it ; and w'as consequently little regarded in the family, 
 of which I sunk by degrees into the common drudge : this did not 
 much disquiet me, for my spirits Avere now humbled. I did not 
 however quite resign the hope of one day succeeding to Mr, Hugh 
 Smerdon, and therefore secretly prosecuted my favourite study, at 
 every interval of leisure. 
 
 These intervals were not very frequent ; and when the use I 
 made of them was found out, they were rendered still less so. I 
 could not aiuess the motives for this at first ; but at leng-th I disco- 
 vered that my master destined his youngest son for the situation 
 to which I aspired. 
 
 I possessed at this time but one book in the world: it was a 
 treatise on Algebra, given to me by a young woman, who had found 
 it in a lodo-insi-house. I considered it as a treasure ; but it was a 
 treasure locked up : for it supposed the reader to be well acquainted 
 with simple equation, and I knew nothing of the matter. My 
 master's son had purchased Fenning's Introduction: this was pre- 
 cisely what I wanted, but he carefully concealed it from me, and 
 I was indebted to chance alone for stumbling upon his hiding- 
 place. I sat up for the greatest part of several nights successively, 
 and, before he suspected that his treatise was discovered, had com- 
 pletely mastered it. I could now enter upon my own ; and that 
 carried me pretty far into the science. 
 
 This was not done without difficulty. I had not a farthing on 
 earth, nor a friend to give me one : pen ink and paper, therefore, (in 
 despite of the flippant remark of Lord Or ford,) were, for the most
 
 INTRODUCTION. XI 
 
 part, as completely out of my reach, as a crown and sceptre. There 
 was indeed a resource ; but the utmost caution and secrecy were 
 necessary in applying to it. I beat out pieces of leather as smooth 
 as possible, and wrought my problems on them with a blunted 
 awl: for the rest, my memory was tenacious, audi could multiply 
 and divide by it, to a great extent. 
 
 Hitherto I had not so much as dreamt of poetry: indeed I scarce 
 knew it by name ; and, whatever may be said of the force of nature, 
 I certainly never " lisp'd in numbers." I recollect the occasion 
 of my first attempt : it is, like all the rest of my non-adventures, of 
 so unimportant a nature, that I should blush to call the attention 
 of the idlest reader to it, but for the reason alleged in the intro- 
 ductory paragraph. A person, whose name escapes me, had un- 
 dertaken to paint a sign for an ale-house; it was to be a lion, but 
 the unfortunate artist produced a dog. On this awkward afiair 
 one of my acquaintance wrote a copy of what we called verse : I 
 liked it, but fancied I could compose something more to the pur- 
 pose; I tried, and by the unanimous suffrage of my shop-mates 
 was allowed to have succeeded. Notwithstanding this encourage- 
 ment, I thought no more of verse, till another occurrence, as trifling 
 as the former, furnished me with a fresh subject : and so I went on, 
 till I had got together about a dozen of them. Certainly nothing 
 on earth was ever so deplorable: such as they were, however, they 
 were talked of in my little circle, and I was sometimes invited to 
 repeat them, even out of it. I never committed a line to paper for 
 two reasons ; first, because I had no paper ; and secondly — perhaps 
 I might be excused from going farther; but in truth I was afraid, 
 for my master had already threatened me, for inadvertently hitching 
 the name of one of his customers into a rhyme. 
 
 The repetitions of which I speak were always attended with 
 applause, and sometimes with favours more substantial : little col- 
 lections were now and then made, and I have received sixpence in
 
 Xii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 an evening. To one who had long lived in the absolute want of 
 monev, such a resource seemed like a Peruvian mine. I furnished 
 myself by degrees with paper, 8cc. and what was of more import- 
 ance, with books of geometry, and ofthe higher branches of algebra, 
 which I cautiously concealed. Poetry, even at this time, was no 
 amusement of mine ; it was subservient to other purposes ; and I 
 only had recourse to it, Avhen I wanted money for my mathematical 
 pursuits. 
 
 But the clouds were gathering fast. My master's anger was 
 raised to a terrible pitch by my indifference to his concerns, and 
 still more by the reports which were daily brought to him of my 
 presumptuous attempts at versification. I was required to give up 
 my papers, and when I refused, my garret was searched, ray little 
 lioard of books discovered, and removed, and all future repetitions 
 prohibited in the strictest manner. 
 
 This was a very severe stroke, and I felt it most sensibly ; itVas 
 followed by another severer still ; a stroke which crushed the hopes 
 I had so long and so fondly cherished, and resigned me at once to 
 despair. Mr. Hugh Smerdon, on whose succession I had calcu- 
 lated, died, and was succeeded by a person not much older than 
 myself, and certainly not so well qualified for the situation. 
 
 I look back to that part of my life which immediately followed 
 this event, with little satisfaction ; it was a period of gloom, and 
 savage unsociability : by degrees I sunk into a kind of corporeal 
 torpor ; or, if rouzed into activity by the spirit of youth, wasted the 
 exertion in splenetic and vexatious tricks, which alienated the 
 few acquaintances compassion had yet left me. So I crept on in 
 silent discontent; unfriended and unpitied ; indignant at the 
 present, careless of the future, an object at once of apprehension 
 and dislike. 
 
 From this state of abjectness I was raised by a young woman of 
 my own class. She was a neighbour ; and whenever I took my
 
 INTRODUCTION. XIU 
 
 SoliUry walk, with my Wolfius in my pocket, she usually came to 
 the door, and by a smile, or a short question put in the friendliest 
 manner, endeavoured to solicit my attention. My heart had been 
 long shut to kindness, but the sentiment was not dea,d in me : it 
 revived at the first encouraging word; and the gratitude I felt for 
 it, was the first pleasing sensation I had ventured to entertain for 
 many dreary months 
 
 Together with gratitude, hope, and other passions still more 
 enlivening, took place of that uncomfortable gloominess which so 
 lately possessed me: I returned to my companions, and by every 
 winning art in my power, strove to make them forget my former 
 repulsive ways. In this, I was not unsuccessful ; I recovered their 
 good will, and by degrees grew to be somcAvhat of a favourite. 
 
 My master still murmured ; for the business of the shop went 
 on no belter than bef )re : I comforted myself, however, with the 
 reflection that my apprenticeship was drawing to a conclusion, 
 when I determined to renounce the employment for ever, and to 
 open a private school. 
 
 In this humble' and obscure state, poor beyond the common lot, 
 yet flattering my ambition with day-dreams which, perhaps, wovild 
 never have been realized, I was found in the twentieth year of my 
 age by Mr. William Cookesley, a name never to be pronounced 
 by me without veneration. The lamentable doggerel which I have 
 already mentioned, and which had passed from mouth to mouth 
 among people of my own degree, had by some accident or other 
 reached his ear, and given him a curiosity to inquire after tiie 
 author. 
 
 It was my good fortune to interest his benevolence. My little 
 history was not untinctured with melancholy, and I laid it fairly 
 before him: his first care was to console; his second, which he 
 cherished to the last moment of his existence, was to relieve and 
 support me.
 
 XIV INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Mr. Cookesley was not rich: his eminence in his profession, 
 which was that of a surgeon, procured him, indeed, much em- 
 ployment ; but in a country town, men of science are not the most 
 liberally rewarded: he had besides, a very numerous family, which 
 left him little for the purposes of general benevolence : that little, 
 however, was chearfuUy bestowed, and his activity and zeal were 
 always at hand to supply the deficiencies of his fortune. 
 
 On examining into the nature of ray literary attainments, he 
 found them absolutely nothing : he heard, however, with equal 
 surprise and pleasure, that amidst the grossest ignorance of books, 
 I had made a very considerable progress in the mathematics. He 
 engaged nie to enter into the details of this affair ; and when he 
 learned that I had made it In circumstances of discouragement and 
 danger, he became more warmly Interested in my favour, as he 
 now saw a possibility of sei'ving me. 
 
 The plan that occurred to him was naturally that which had so 
 often suo-o-ested itself to me. There were indeed several obstacles to 
 be overcome : I had eighteen months yet to serve ; my hand-writing 
 was bad, and my language very incorrect; but nothing could slacken 
 the zeal of this excellent man ; he procured a few of my poor 
 attempts at rhyme, dispersed them amongst his friends and acquain- 
 tance, and when my name was become somewhat familiar to them, 
 set on foot a subscription for my relief. I still preserve the original 
 paper ; its title M'as not very magnificent, though it exceeded the 
 most sanguine wishes of my heart: it ran thus, " a Subscription 
 for purchasing the remainder of the time of William GlfFord, and 
 for enabling him to improve himself in Writing and English 
 Grammar." Few contributed more than five shillintrs, and none 
 went beyond ten-and-slxpence : enough, however, was collected 
 to free me from my apprenticeship, (the sum my master received 
 was six pounds,) and to maintain me for a few months, during 
 which I assiduously attended the Rev. Thomas Smerdon.
 
 INTRODUCTION. XV 
 
 At the expiration of this period, it was found that my progress 
 (for I will speak the truth in modesty,) had been more considerable 
 than my patrons expected : I had also written in the interim several 
 little pieces of poetry, less rugged, I suppose, than my former ones, 
 and certainly with fewer anomalies of language. My preceptor, 
 too, spoke favourably of me; and my benefactor, who was now 
 become my father and my friend, had little difficulty in persuading 
 my patrons to renew their donations, and continue me at school 
 for another year. Such liberality was not lost upon me ; I grew 
 anxious to make the best return in my power, and I redoubled my 
 diligence. Now, that I am sunk into indolence, I look back Avith 
 some degree of scepticism to the exertions of that period. 
 
 In two years and two months from the day of my emancipation, 
 I was pronounced by Mr. Smerdon, fit for the University. The 
 plan of opening a writing school had been abandoned almost from 
 the first ; and Mr. Cookesley looked round for some one who had 
 interest enough to procure me some little office at Oxford. This 
 person, who was soon found, was Thomas Taylor, Esq. of Den- 
 bury, a gentleman to whom I had already been indebted for much 
 liberal and friendly support. He procured me the place of Bib. 
 Lect. at Exeter College ; and this, with such occasional assistance 
 from the country as Mr. Cookesley undertook to provide, was 
 thought sufficient to enable me to live, at least, till I had taken a 
 degree. 
 
 During my attendance on Mr. Smerdon I had written, as I ob- 
 served before, several tuneful trifles, some as exercises, others 
 voluntarily, (for poetry was now become my delight,) and not a few 
 at the desire of my friends. When I became capable, however, of 
 reading Latin and Greek with some degree of facility, that gentle- 
 man employed all my leisure hours in translations from the Classics ; 
 and indeed I do not know a single school-book, of which I did not 
 render some portion into English verse. Among others, Juvenal
 
 XVI INTRODUCTIO>f. 
 
 engaged my attention, or rather my master's, and I translated the 
 tenth Sathe for a holyday task. Mr. Smerdon was much pleased 
 with this, (I was not undeliglited with it myself;) and as I was now 
 become fond of the author, he easily persuaded me to proceed 
 with him, and I translated in succession the third, the fourth, the 
 twelfth, and I think the eighth Satires. As I had no end in view but 
 that of giving a temporary satisfaction to my benefactors, I thought 
 little more of these, than of many other things of the same nature 
 which I wrote from time to time, and of which I never copied a 
 sincle line. 
 
 On my removing to Exeter College, however, my friend, ever 
 attentive to my concerns, advised me to copy my translation of the 
 tenth Satire, and present it, on my arrival, to the Rev. Dr. Stinton, 
 (afterwards Rector,) to whom Mr. Taylor had given me an intro- 
 ductory letter: 1 did so, and it was kindly received. Thus en- 
 couraged, I took up the first and second Satires, (I mention them 
 in the order they were translated,) when my friend, who had sedu- 
 lously watched my progress, first started the idea of my going 
 throus;h the whole, and publishing it by subscription, as a means 
 of increasing my means of subsistence. To this I readily licceded, 
 and finished the thirteenth, eleventh, and fifteenth Satires: the 
 remainder were the work of a much later period. 
 
 When I had got thus far, we thought it a fit time to mention our 
 design ; it was very generally approved of by my friends ; and on 
 the first of January, 1781, the subsciiption was opened by Mr. 
 Cookesley at Ashhurton, and by myself at Exeter College. 
 
 So bold an undertaking so precipitately announced, will give 
 the reader, I fear, a higher opinion of my conceit than of my 
 talents: neither the one nor the other, however, had the smallest 
 concern with the business, which originated solely in ignorance : 
 I wrote verses with great facility, and I was simple enough to 
 imagine that little more was necessary for a translator of JuvenalJ
 
 INTRODUCTION. XVU 
 
 I was not, indeed, unconscious of my inaccuracies : I knew that 
 they were numerous, and that I had need of some friendly eye to 
 point them out, and some judicious hand to rectify or remove them : 
 but for these, as well as for every tiling else, I looked to Mr. 
 Cookesley, and that worthy man, with his usual alacrity of kind- 
 ness, undertook the laborious task of revising the whole translation. 
 My friend was no great Latinist, perhaps I was the better of the 
 two; but he had taste and judgment, Avhich I wanted. What 
 advantages might have been ultimately derived from them, there 
 was unhappily no opportunity of ascertaining, as it pleased the 
 Almighty to call him to himself by a sudden death, before we had 
 quite finislied the first Satire. He died with a letter of mine 
 unopened in his hands. 
 
 This event, which took place on the 15th of January, 1781, af- 
 flicted me beyond measure.* I was not only deprived of a most 
 faithful and affectionate friend, but of a zealous and ever-active 
 protector, on whom I confidently relied for support: the sums 
 that were still necessary for me, he always collected ; and it was to 
 be feared that the assistance which was not solicited with warmth, 
 would insensibly cease to be afforded. 
 
 In many instances this was actually the case ; the desertion, how- 
 ever, was not general ; and I was encouraged to hope, by the unex- 
 pected friendship of Servington Savery, a gentleman who volun- 
 tarily stood forth as my patron, and watched over my interests 
 with kindness and attention. 
 
 Some time before Mr. Cookcsley's death, we had agreed that 
 it would be proper to deliver out with the terms of subscription, a 
 
 * I began this uiiadorneil narrative on tlic loth of .laiuuiry, ] 80 1 : twenty years ha\ e 
 therefore elapsed since I lost my benefactor antl my friend. In the interval I have wept 
 a thousand times at the recollection of his goodness: I yet cherish his memory with 
 filial respect; and at this distant period, my heart sinks within me at every repetition 
 «f his name. 
 
 c
 
 XVllI INTRODUCTION. 
 
 specimen of the manner in which the translation was executed : * 
 to obviate any idea of selection, a sheet was accordingly taken from 
 the beginning of the first Satire, My friend died while it was in the 
 press. 
 
 After a few melancholy weeks, I resumed the translation ; but 
 found myself utterly incapable of proceeding. I had been so ac- 
 customed to connect Mr. Cookesley's name with every part of it, 
 and I laboured with such delight in the hope of giving him 
 pleasure, that now, when he appeared to have left me in the midst 
 of my enterprize, and I was abandoned to my own efforts, I seemed 
 to be engaged in a hopeless struggle, without motive or end: and 
 his idea, which was perpetually recurring to me, brought such bitter 
 anguish with it, that I shut up the work with feelings bordering 
 on distraction. 
 
 To relieve my mind, I had recourse to other pursuits. I en- 
 deavoured to become more intimately acqviainted with the Classics, 
 and to acquire some of the modern languages: by permission too, 
 or rather recommendation, of the Rector and Fellows, I also under- 
 took the care of a few pupils; this removed much of my anxiety 
 respecting my future means of support. I have a heartfelt pleasure 
 in mentioning this indulgence of my college: it could arise from 
 nothing but the liberal desire Inherent, I think, in the members 
 of both our Universities, to encourage every thing that bears the 
 most distant resemblance to talents: for I had no claims on them 
 from any particular exertions. 
 
 The lapse of many months had now soothed, and tranquillized 
 my mind, and I once more returned to the translation, to which a 
 
 * Many of these papers were disfributed ; the terms, wiiich I extract from oue of 
 them, were these. "The work shall be printed in quarto, (without notes,) and be de- 
 livered to the Subscribers in the month of December next." 
 
 " The price will be sixteen shillings in boards, half to be paid at the time of sub- 
 scribing, the remainder on delivery of the book."
 
 INTRODUCTIOiN. XtX 
 
 wish to serve a young man surrounded with difficuUies, had in- 
 duced a number of respectable characters to set their names : but 
 alas, what a mortification I I now discovered, for the first time, 
 that my own inexperience, and the advice of my too, too partial 
 friend had engaged me in a work, for the due execution of which, 
 my literary attainments were by no means sufficient. Errors and 
 misconceptions appeared in every page. I had, indeed, caught 
 something of the spirit of Juvenal, but his meaning had frequently 
 escaped me, and I saw the necessity of a long and painful revision, 
 which would carry me far beyond the period fixed for the appear- 
 ance of the work. Alarmed at the prospect, I instantly resolved 
 (if not wisely, yet I trust honestly) to renounce the publication for 
 the present. 
 
 In pursuance of this resolution, I wrote to my friend in the 
 country, (the Rev. Servington Savery,) requesting him to return 
 the subscription money in his hands, to the subscribers. He did 
 not approve of my plan ; nevertheless he promised, in a letter 
 which now lies before me, to comply with it; and, in a subsequent 
 one, added that he had alieady begun to do so. 
 
 For myself, I also made several repayments ; and trusted a sum of 
 money to make others, with a fellow collegian, who, not long after, 
 fell by his own hands in the presence of his father. But there were 
 still some whose abode could not be discovered, and others, on 
 whom to press the taking back of eight shillings Mould neither be 
 decent nor respectful : even from these I ventured to flatter myself 
 (hat I should find pardon, when on some future day I presented 
 them with the Work, (which I was still secretly determined to 
 complete,) rendered more worthy of their patronage, and increased, 
 by notes, which 1 now perceived to be absolutely necessary, to 
 more than double its proposed size. 
 
 In the leisure of a country residence, I fancied this might be 
 done in two years ; perhaps I was not too sanguine : the expeii-
 
 XX INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ment, however, was not made, for about this time a circumstance 
 happened which changed my views, and indeed my whole system 
 of life. 
 
 I had contracted an acquaintance with a person of the name of 
 
 ■ , recommended to my particular notice by a gentleman of 
 
 Devonshire, whom I was proud of an opportunity to oblige. This 
 person's residence at Oxford was not long, and when he returned 
 to town, I maintained a correspondence witl) him by letters. At 
 his particular request, these were inclosed in a cover, and sent to 
 Lord Grosvenor : one day I inadvertently omitted the direction, 
 and his Lordship, necessarily supposing it to be meant for himself, 
 opened and read it. There was something in it which attracted his 
 notice ; and when he save the letter to mv friend, he had the 
 curiosity to inquire about his correspondent at Oxford ; and, upon 
 the answer he received, the kindness to desire he migrht be brouarht 
 to see him upon his coming to town : to this circumstance, purely 
 accidental on all sides, and to this alone, I owe my introduction to 
 that nobleman. 
 
 On my first visit, lie asked me Avhat friends I had, and what 
 were my prospects in life ; and I told him that I had no friends, 
 and no prospects of any kind. He said no more ; but when I 
 called to take leave, previous to returning to college, I found that 
 this simple exposure of my circumstances had sunk deep into his 
 mind. At parting, he informed me that he charged himself with 
 my present support, and future establishment ; and that till this last 
 could be effected to my wish, I should come and reside with him. 
 These were not words of course: they were more than fulfilled in 
 every point. I did go, and reside with him ; and I experienced a 
 warm and gordial reception, a kind and affectionate esteem, that 
 lias known neither diminution nor interruption, from that hour to 
 this, a period of twenty years I 
 
 In his Lordsln'p's house I proceeded with Juvenal, till I was called
 
 INTRODUCTION. XXI 
 
 upon to accompany his son, (one of the most amiable and accom- 
 ph'shed young noblemen that this country, fertile in such characters, 
 could ever boast.) to the continent. With him, in two successive 
 tours, I spent many years : years of which the remembrance will 
 always be dear to me, from the recollection that a friendship was 
 then contracted, which time, and a more intimate knowledge of 
 each other, have mellowed into a regard that forms at once the 
 pride and happiness of my life. 
 
 It is Ioug: since I have been returned and settled in the bosom 
 of competence and peace: my translation frequently engaged my 
 thoughts, but I had lost the ardour and the confidence of youth, 
 and was seriously doubtful of my abilities to do it justice. I have 
 wished a thousand times that I could decline it altogether ; but the 
 ever-recurring idea that there were people of the description I 
 have already mentioned, who had just and forcible claims on me 
 for the due performance of my engagement, forbad the thought ; 
 and I slowly proceeded towards the completion of a work in 
 which I should never have engaged, had my friend's inexperience, 
 or my own, suffered us to suspect for a moment the labour, and 
 the talents of more than one kind, absolutely necessary to its success 
 in any tolerable degree. Such as I could make it, it is now before 
 the Public. 
 
 majora canamus.
 
 THE 
 
 LIFE OF JUVENAL. 
 
 L/ECiMUs Junius Juvenalis,* theauthor of the following Satires, 
 was born at Aquinum, a considerable town of the Volsci, about the 
 year of Christ 38.t He was either the son, or the fosterson, of 
 
 • Junius Juvenalis lilerti lociipletis incertum Jilius an alumnus, ad mediant (ttaten dc- 
 claniarif, aiiinii tnagis causd, quam quod scholx aut foro se pnepararet. The learned 
 reader knows that this is taken from the brief account of Juvenal, commonly attributed 
 to Suetonius; but which is probably posterior to his time ; as it bears very few marks of 
 being written by a contemporary author : it is, however, the earliest extant. The old 
 critics, struck with its deficiencies, have attempted to render it more complete by 
 variations, which take from its authenticity, without adding to its probability. 
 
 t I have adopted Dod well's chronology. Sic autem (says he) se rem illam tot am, 
 habuisse censeo. Exvl eral Juv. cum Satiram scribcret xv. Hoc confirmat etiam in v. 27 
 3cho/iastes. " De se Juv. dicit, quia in /Egypto milifem tenuit, et ea promittit se relaturum 
 qua ipse ridif." Had not Dodwell been predisposed to l)clieve this, he would have seen 
 that the scholium " confirmed" nothing: for Juvenal makes no such promise. Proinde 
 rix(e an ipse adjuit quam describit. So error is built up ! How does it appear that Juvenal 
 was present at the quarrel he describes? He was in Egypt, we know ; he had passed 
 through the Ombite nome, and he speaks of the face of the country, as falling under 
 h\s own inspection : but this is all ; and he might have heard of the quarrel, at Rome, 
 or else^vbere. Tempus autem ipse designarit rixix illius cum et " nuper"\ illam contigisse 
 dicit, et qiridt-m " Consule Junio." Jun. dupliccm habcnt fasti, alium Dojnit. in x. Con- 
 stilatu collcgam App. Junium Sabinum A.D. l.xxxiv; alium Uadriani in suo ilidan con- 
 
 l 1 his nuper is a very convenient word. Here, we see, it 5ignifies lately; but when 
 it is necessary to bring the works of our author down to a late period, it means, as 
 Britannicus explains it, de longo tempore, long ago.
 
 XXIV THE LIFE OF JUVENAL. 
 
 a wealthy freedman, who gave him a liberal education. From the 
 period of his birth, till he had attained the age of forty, nothing 
 more is known of him than that he continued to perfect himself 
 in the study of eloquence, by declaiming, according to the practice 
 of those days : yet more for his own amusement, than from any 
 intention to prepare himself, either for the schools, or the courts 
 of law. About this time, he seems to have discovered his true bent, 
 and betaken himself to poetry. Domitian was now at the head of 
 the government, and shewed symptoms of reviving that system of 
 favouritism which had nearly ruined the empire under Claudius, 
 by his unbounded partiality for a young pantomime dancer of the 
 name of Paris. Against this minion, Juvenal seems to have directed 
 the first shafts of that satire which was destined to make the most 
 powerful vices tremble, and shake the masters of the world on their, 
 thrones. He composed a few lines" on the influence of Paris, with 
 
 sulatu III collegam Q. Junium Rusticum. Quo minus prior infelligi poasif, ohsfant ilia 
 omnia quoe in his ipsis Safiris occurrunt Domitiani tcmporibus recaitiora. Yet, such is 
 the capricious nature of criticism, Dodwell's chief argument to prove the late period at 
 which Juvenal was banished, is a passage confessedly written under Domitian, and foisted 
 into a satire published, as he himself maintains, many years after that emperor's death! 
 Postcriorem crgo intcllexcrit oportct. Hoc ergo anno (cxix.) eraf in exi/io. Scd lerb 
 Homd ilium ejicere non potuit Trajanns, qui ab anno usque cxii. liumie ipse non adfuit ; 
 nee etiam ante cxvni. quo Romam xcnit imperator Hadrianus. Sic ante anni cxviii. 
 fincm, aut cxix. initium, mitti rix poluit in cxilium Juvenalis: crat autem cum relegaretur, 
 ocfogenarius. Proindc natusfuerit vel anni xxxviiLjinc, vcl xxxiy.. initio. Annal. 
 J 07—159. 
 
 I have made this copious extract from Dodvvell, because it contains a summary of 
 the chief arguments which induced Pithaius, llenninius, Lipsius, Salmasius, iScc. tq 
 attribute the banishment of the author to Hadrian. To me they appear any thing but 
 conclusive ; for, to omit other objections for the present, why may not the .Iiinius of 
 the liftecnth Satire be the one who was Consul with Domitian in 8+, wlien Juvenal, by 
 Dodwell's own calculation, was in his 47th year ? 
 
 * Dcinde paucorum lersuum satira nun absurdc cowposita in rarid(7» panlomimum, 
 poctamque Claudii Xeronis, (the writer seems, in this and the following clause, to have 
 referred to Juvenal's words ; it is therefore probable that we should read Calvi Neronisj
 
 THE LIFE OF JLVENAL. XXV 
 
 considerable success, which encournged him to cuUivatc this kind 
 of poetry: lie had the prudence, however, not to trust himself to 
 an auditory, in a reign which swarmed with informers; and his 
 compositions were, therefore, secretly handed about amongst his 
 friends.* By degrees, he grew bolder ; and, having made many 
 
 i. e. Domitian; otlifiwise tlie plirase must be given li]i as an alj^urd interpolation) ejus 
 temestribus 7iiilitiol!b- tumenian: genus script urce iiulvslrio.sc cxcoluit. Suet. 
 
 * Et tamen diii, ne modico quidem auditorio quicquam coynmittcre aitsus est. Suet. 
 On this Dodwell observes, Tarn longe aberant ilia a PariJis ira concifaiida, si vel siipcr- 
 ttifc Paride fuisscnt scripta, (urn irrilare nun posscnt, cum nondiaii emanassent in publi- 
 cum, ifil. He then adds that " Martial knew nothing oi his poetical studies,! who 
 boasted that he was as familiar with Juvenal as Pylades with Orestes !" It appears 
 indeed that they were acquainted ; but I suspect, notwithstanding the vthcnience of 
 Martial's assertions, that there was no great cordiality between minds so very dissimilar. 
 Some one, it seems, had accused the epigrammatist to our author, not improbably, of 
 making too free with his thoughts and expressions. lie was seriously offended ; and 
 Martial, instead of justifying himself, (whatever the cliarge might bo,) imprecates 
 thamo on his accuser in a strain of idle rant, not much above the level of a school-bo}'. 
 Lib. VII. 24. 
 
 But if he had been acquainted, say tlicy, with his friend's poetry, he would cer- 
 tainly have spoken of it. Not quite so certainly. These learned critics seom to think 
 ■that Juvenal, like the poctj he ridicules, wrote nothing but trite fooleries on the Argo- 
 nauts and the Lapithaj. Were the Satires of Juvenal to be mentioned with approbation? 
 and, if they were, was Jlartial the person to do it? Martial, the most devotjed syco- 
 phant of the age, who was always begging, and sometimes recci\ing, favours from the 
 man whose castigation was, in general, the express object of them. Is it not more 
 consonant to his character, to suppose that he would conceal his knowlegc of them 
 %\ith the most scrupulous care } 
 
 \ Hill how is this made out? O, very easily; he calls \x\\n facundus JuvcmiHs. 
 Here the question is finally left ; lor none of the commentators suppose it possible that 
 the epithet can be applied to any but a rhctorici;ui. Yet it is applied, by tlie author 
 himself, to a jxiet of no ordinary kind ; 
 
 " — — — tuix scque suamipie 
 
 " Tcrpsichoren odit facunda et nuda senectus." 
 Let it be remembered too, that Martial, as is evident from the frequent allusions to 
 Domitian's expedition against the Catti, wrote this eprigram (Lib. vii. 90 'i> t'le 
 commencement of his reign, when it is acknowledged tliat Juvenal had produced buf 
 one or two of his Satires.
 
 XXVl THE LIFE OF JUVENAL. 
 
 large additions to his first sketch, or perJiaps recast it, produced 
 what is now called his Seventh Satire, which he recited to a nume- 
 rous audience. The consequences were such as he had prohably 
 anticipated : Paris, informed ol the part he bore in it, was seri- 
 ously offended, and complained to the emperor, Avho, as the old 
 account has it,* sent the author, by an easy kind of punishment, 
 
 But when Domitian \v;is dead, and Martial removed from Rome ; when, in short, 
 there was no danger of speaking out, he still appears, say they, to be ignorant of his 
 friend's poetic talents. I ara almost ashamed to repeat what the critics so constantly 
 forget — that Juvenal was not only a satiii:?t, but a republican, who looked upon Trajan 
 as an usurper, no less than Domitian. And how was it " safe to speak out," when 
 they all assert that he was driven into banishment by a milder prince than Trajan, for 
 a passage " suspected of bearing a figurative allusion to tlic times ?" What inconsist- 
 encies are these ! 
 
 * Mox magna freqxientia, magnoque successu bis ac tcr auditiis est ; ut ca quoque quJt 
 prima feccrat, infircirct novis scriptis, 
 
 " Quod non dant proceres dabit histrio, &c." Sat. vu. .90 — 92. 
 
 £rat tiiia in dditiis atikc histrio, muUiquc Juutorum ejus quotidie provehebantur. Vciiit 
 ergo in suspicioneni quasi tcmporajiguratc notasset : ac statim perhonoremmilitiolee,quan- 
 quam octogcnarius, urbe summotus, missiisqite ad prcefccturam co/iortis in extrcmd parte 
 tcndentis jF.gi/pti. Id supplicii genus piacuit, nt levi atque joculari delicto par esset. 
 Vervm intra brevissimvm tempus angore et tadio periif. Suet. Passing by the interpo- 
 lations of the old {zrammarians, I shall, as before, have recourse to Dodwell. Rccitavit 
 vi Jailor, omnia, emiailqve in publicum cxviii. (Juvenal was now fourscore !) postquam 
 Romam venisset Hadrianvs, quern illc principem a benevolo ejus in hcec studia unimo, in 
 hoc ipsa satira, in qua occurrunt verba ilia de Paride ccmimendat. l6l. Salmasius sup- 
 posed that the last of his Satires only were published under Hadrian ; Dodwell goes 
 farther, and maintains that the whole, with the exception of the loih and l6'th t (si 
 tamen veri} et ilia Juvenilis ftierit) were then first produced ! Ilia in Paridem dicteria 
 
 t The former of these, Dodwell says, was written in exile, after the author was 
 turned of eighty. Salmasius, more rationally, conceives it to have been produced at 
 Rome. Giving full credit, however, to the story of his late baiiislinient, he is driven 
 into a very awkward supposition. An von alio tempore, atque alia de causa JEgyptmn 
 lust rare juxenis potuit Jurenali.s? animi ncrnpe gratia, kcu tij; irofia? x"?"' "' urbes 
 regionis illius, populori/mqiie mores cegnosccrelV Would it not be more simple to attribute 
 his exile at once to Domitian ? 
 
 With respect to the l6th Satire, Dodwell, we see, hesitates to attribute it to Juvenal; 
 atid indeed the old tcholiast says that, in his time, many thought it to be the work of
 
 THE LIFE OF JUVENAL. XXVll 
 
 into Egypt -with a military command. To remove such a man from 
 his court, must undoubtedly have been desirable to Domitiau ; 
 
 histriontm, in suam {cnjvs nomen non prodidit auctor) kistrioncm dicta inkrprttabatur 
 Hadriaims. Inde cxilii causa. Scripsit ergo in exilio Saf. xv. Scdcum " nujier Consu- 
 Sttlcin Juitium" ftiisse dicaf, ante anmim ad minimum cxx. scribcre illam non potuit 
 Juv. Ncc verb postca scripsisse, exinde colligimm, <pibd " intra brcvissimwn tempus" 
 perierit. l6i. Such is the manner in which DoJwell accommodates Suetonius to his 
 own ideas : which seem also to have Ixien tliose of a much higher name, Saim;isius ; 
 and, while I am now writing, to be sanctioned by the adoption of tl»c learned and judi- 
 cious Rupert.f I never affected singularity; yet I find myself constrained to (htlor 
 
 a different hand. So it always appeared to me. It is unworthy of the author's best 
 days, and seems but little suited to his worst. He was at leait eighty-one, they say, 
 when he wrote it, yet it begins — 
 
 " Nam si ■ 
 
 " IMe pa\ idum excipiat tyronem porta secundo 
 
 " Sidere, inc." 
 Surely, at this age, the writer resembled Piiani, the tremulus wiles, more than thf 
 timid tyro ! Nor do I believe that Juvenal would have been much inclined to amuse 
 himself with the fancied advantages of a profession to which he was so unworthily 
 driven. Uul the satire must have been as ill-timed for tlie army as for himself, since 
 it was probably, at this period, in a better state of subjection than it had been for 
 many reigns. I suppose it to bo written, in professed imitation of our author's man- 
 ner, about the age of Commodus. It has considerable merit, though the iirst and last 
 paragraphs are feeble and tautological ; and the execution of the whole much infe- 
 rior to the design. Such as it is, however, 1 should ha\e presented a tian-.hition ot 
 it to the reader ; if a fiiend, to whom this work has many obligations, and who had, at 
 my request, undertaken it, had not disappointed me when it was too late to apply 
 elsewhere, or to attempt it myself. I yet hope to oiler it to the public on a future 
 occasion. 
 
 + Duiing the progress of the translation, I had frequent occasion to lament the 
 want of a gocjd edition of my author, I was far from foreseeing that my wishes on 
 this head were about to be gratitied, when 1 received, by the kindness of .Mr. Evans 
 of Pall Mall, vvlic> had heard of my undertaking, the tirsl copy of a new edition of 
 Juvenal, which reached this country. It is by Cieo. Alex. Hujiert, already honourably 
 known to the literary world by his excellent edition of Silius Iialicus. It equals my 
 warmest expectations : it is accurate and ingenious, possessing all the advantages of 
 the best editions which 1 have seen, and adding others which none of them possess. 
 
 It came too late tor mc to protil by it in the translation, which was already nearly 
 out of the press when I received it : but it has been useful to me in the pages which 
 follow the Life of Juvenal. — I hope I may be allowed to take an honeU pride in the 
 similuritj' of our ideas res|H'Ctiiig the original. We shall be found to dill'er in very few 
 places; we have sought int'ornuition at the same .sources ; and our illustrations, parallel 
 passages, &c. are therefore frequently tlie same. In industry and learning I frankly 
 yield to thi> excellent critic : it is praise enough for me, to be found so olten in his 
 footsteps.
 
 XXviii THE LIFE or JUVENAt. 
 
 and, as he was spoken of with kindness in the same Satire, which 
 is entirely IVee from political allusions, the " lacetiousness" of 
 
 I'roin tlioin all: but I will state nvy reasons. In his 71L Satire, after speaking of 
 <Juiiililiaii, Juvenal adds, 
 
 " Si fortuna volet, fies de rhetorc consul : 
 
 " Si volet ha-c cadcni fies dc consule rhetor," 
 Which, taking it for a proverbial expression, I have loosely rendered, Fortune can 
 make kings of pedants, and pedants ot' kings. Dodwell, however, imderstaiids it lite- 
 rally. H(vc sane cum Quintiliani causa dicat, vix est quin Q. takm ostendant e rhetore 
 nimirum " nohilan, senatorium, consularcm," et quidcm illis divitiis iiistructum, quee 
 esscnt ctiam ad censiim senaforium neccssarhe. 152. Now as Pliny, who probably died 
 before Trajan, observes that Quintilian was a man of moderate fortune, it follows that 
 h« must have acquired the wealth and honours of which Juvenal speaks, at a later 
 period. Dbdwell fixes this to the time when Hadrian entered Rome cxviii. which' 
 he states to be also that of the author's banishment. It must be confessed, that he 
 lost no time in exerting himself : he had remained silent fourscore years; he now 
 bursts forth at once, as Dodwell expresses it, recites all his Satires without intermis- 
 jion, (wiis contiiiuisque recitationibus,) celebrates Quintilian, attacks the Emperor, 
 sind is immediately dispatched to Egypt ! l6'2. Here is a great deal of business 
 crowdctl into the compass of a few weeks, or, perhaps, days ; — but let us examine it a 
 little more closely. Rigaltius, with several of the commentators, sees in the lines 
 above quoted a sneer at Quintilian, and he accounts for the rhetor's silence respecting 
 our author, by the resentment which he supposes him to have felt at it As this mili- 
 tates strongly against Dodwell's ideas, he will not allow that any thing severe was 
 intended by the passage in question; and adds that Quintilian could not mention 
 Juvenal as a satirist, because he had not then written any Satires. 16O. 1 believe that 
 both are wrong. In speaking of the satirists, Quintilian says that Persius had justly 
 acquired no small degree of reputation by the little he had written. Lib. x. c. i. He 
 then adds, sunt clan hodkque et qui ulim nominabuntur. There arc yet some excellent 
 ones, some who will be better known hereafter. It always appeared to me, that this 
 last phrase alluded to our author, with whose extraordinary merits Quintilian was 
 probably acquainted, but whom he did not choose, or did not dare to mention in a 
 work composed under a prince whose crimes this unnamed satirist persecuted with a 
 fcvcrity as uninitigaled as it was just. Quintilian had no political courage. Either 
 from a sense of kindness or fear, he tiatteis Domitian almost as grossly as Martial: — 
 but his life was a life of innocence and integrity : I will therefore say no more on this 
 subject ; but leave it to the reader to consider whether such a man was hkely to startle 
 the " god of his idolatry" by celebrating the merits of Juvenal. 
 
 Nor do I agree with the commentators whom Dodwell has followed, in the literal
 
 THE LIFE OF JITVENAL. XXIX 
 
 the punishment (though Domitlan's was not a facetious reign) 
 renders the fact not altogether improbable. Yet, when we consider 
 
 interpretation of those famous lines. Unde igitur tot, <^c. Sat. vii. v. 1S8 — ipi. 
 Quintilian was rich, when the rest of his profession were in the extremes of want. 
 Here then was an instance of good fortune. He was lucky ; and, with luck, a man 
 may be any tiling ; handsome, and witty, and wise, and noble, and high-born, and a, 
 member of the senate. Vho docs not see in this a satirical exaggeration ? Wisdom, 
 beauty, and higli birth, luck cannot give : why llien should the remainder of this pas- 
 sage be so strictly interpreted, and referred to the actual history of Quintilian ? The 
 lines, Si for tuna volet, •.^c. are ^till more lax : a reflection thrown out at random, and 
 expressing the greatest possible extremes of fortune. Yet on these authorities princi- 
 pally (for the passage of AusoniuSjt written more than two centuries later, is of no 
 great weight) has Quintilian been advanced to consular honours ; while Dodwell,who, 
 as we have seen, has taken immense pains to prove that they could only be conferred 
 on him by Hadrian, has hence deduced his strongest arguments for the late date of 
 our author's satires; which he thus brings down to the period of mental imbecility ! 
 Hence, too, he accounts for the difl'erent ideas of Quintilian's wealth in Juvenal and 
 Pliny. When the latter wrote, he thinks Quintilian had not acquired much property, 
 he was " modicus facultatibus :" when the former, " he had been enriched by the im- 
 perial bounty, and was capable of senatorial honours." Yet Pliny might not think his 
 old master rich enough to give a fortune with liis daughter adequate to the expecta- 
 tions of a man of considerable rank, <^Ltb. iv. Ep. ii.) though Juvenal, writing at the 
 same instant, might term him wealthy, in conipaiison of the rhetoricians who were 
 starving around him; and count him a peculiar favourite of fortune. Let us bear in 
 
 t Q. consulariu per C/emenlem ornamenta sortitus, honcstamenta pottos videtur quam 
 insignia pulestatis habuisse. In gratiar. act. Quintilian, then, was not actually cun- 
 iul : but tliis is no great matter — it is of more consequence to ascertain the Clemens 
 by whom he was so honoured. In the preface to his fourth book, he says, CUrn lerb 
 milu Doin. Augustus soruris suce nepotunt ddegaxit curam, 3fC. Vespasian had a daugli- 
 ter, Don:atilla, wht)mairied, and tlicd long bcl'orc her father: she left a daughter, who 
 was given to I'lavius Clemens, by whom she had two sons. These were the grand- 
 children of Uomitian's sister, of whom Quintilian speaks; and to their father, Clemens, 
 according to Ausonius, he was indebted for the show, though not the leality, of 
 power, 'i here is nothing incongruous in all this; yet so possessed arc Dodweil and his 
 numerous followers (among whom I am soiry to rank Dusaulx) of the Uiie peri'.id iit 
 which it happened, that they will needs have Hadrian to be meant by Domitianus 
 Augu»l\is, though the detestable flattery which follows the words I have quoted, most 
 indisputably proves it to be Domitian ; and though Dodweil hnnself is forced to confess 
 that he can find no Clemens under Hadrian to whom the passage applies. Quis autem 
 J'uerit Clemens die qui Q. oninmenta ilia sub lladriunu impctnixxrit me scuii Jatior 
 iguorare ! l65.
 
 XXX THE LIFE OF JUVENAL. 
 
 that these reflections on Paris could scarcely have been published 
 before S4, and that the favourite was disgraced and put to death 
 almost immediately after, we shall be inclined to doubt whether 
 his banishment actually took place; or, if it did, whether It was 
 of any long duration. That Juvenal was in Egypt is certain ; but 
 he might have gone there from motives of personal safety, or, as 
 Salmasius has it, of curiosity. However this may be, it does not 
 appear that he was ever long absent from Rome, where a thousand 
 internal marks clearly shew that all his Satires were written. But 
 whatever punishment might have followed the complaint of Paris,* 
 it had no other effect on our author, than increasing his hatred of 
 
 iniud, too, that Jiiveiuil is a satirist, and a poet; in tlu; latter capacity, liic minute 
 accuracy of an annalist cannot be expected at iiis liands ; and in tlie I'oriner — as his 
 object was to shew the general discouragement of literature, he could not, consistently 
 with his plan, attribute the solitary good fortune of (iuintilian to any thing but luck. 
 
 But why was Quintilian made consul ? Because, rephes Dodwell (l64), when 
 Hadrian lirst entered Rome, he was desirous of gaiiiing ihe aifcctions of the people; 
 which could be done no way so eti'ectually as by conciliating the esteem of the literati; 
 and he therefore conferred this extraordinary mark of favour on the rhetor. How did 
 it escape this learned man, tliat he was likely to do himself more injury in their opi- 
 nion by the banishment of Juvenal at that same instant? au old man of fourscore, 
 who, by his own testimony, had spoken of him with kindness, in a poem which did 
 more honour to his reign than any thing produced in it ! and whose only crime was 
 an allusion to the influence of a favourite player! — Indeed, the intbrmers of Hadrian's 
 reign must have had more sagacious noses than those of Domitian's, to smell out his 
 fault. What Statius, in his time, was celebrated for the recitation of a Thcbaid, or 
 V\hat Paris, for the purchase of an untouched .Agave? And where, might we ask 
 Dodwell, was the " jest" of sending a man on the verge of the grave, in a military 
 capacity, into Eg\-pt ? Could the most supple of Hadrian's courtiers look on it as any 
 thing but a wanton exercise of cruelty ? At eighty, the business of satirizing, either in 
 prose or verse, is nearly over : what had the Emperor then to fear ? And to sum up 
 all, in a word, can any rational being seriously persuade himself that the Satires of 
 Juvenal were produced, for the first time, by a man turned of fourscore ! 
 
 * But why should he complain at all? Was he ashamed of being known to possess 
 an influence at the imperial court ? These were not very modest times, nor is modesty, 
 in gcncral> the crying vice of the " quality." He was more likely to have gloried ia
 
 THE LIFE OF JUVENAl. XXXI 
 
 tyranny, and turning his indignation upon the emperor himself, 
 whose hypocrisy, cruelty, and licentiousness, became, from that pe- 
 riod, the object of his keenest reprobation. He profited, indeed, so 
 far by his danger or his punishment, as to recite no more in public; 
 but he continued to write during the remainder of Domitian's reign, 
 in which he finished, as I conceive, his second, third,* fifth, sixth, + 
 
 it. If Bareas, or Cainerinus, or any of the olJ nobility, had complained of the author, 
 I should have thought it more reasonable; — but Domitian cared nearly as little for 
 them as Paris himself did. 
 
 • I hold, in opposition to the commentators, that Juvenal was known in Domitian's 
 time, not only as a poet, but as a keen and vigorous satirist. He himself, though he 
 did not choose to commit his safety to a promiscuous audience, appears to make no 
 great secret of his peculiar talents. In this Satire, certainly prior to many of the 
 others, he fells us that he accompanied Umbritius, then on his way to Cumae, out of 
 Rome. Umbritius predicted, as Tacitus says, the death of Galba, at which time he 
 was looked upon as the most skilful aruspe.x of the age. He could not then be a young 
 mar.; yet, at quitting the capital, he still talks of himself as in the first stage of old age, 
 nova canities, et prima et recta st-nectus. His voluntary exile, therefore, could hot 
 possibly fake place long after the commencement of Domitian's reign ; when he speaks 
 of Juvenal as already celebrated for his satires, and modestly doubts whether the 
 assistance of so able a coadjutor as himself would be accepted. 
 
 This, at least, serves to prove in what light the author wished to be considered: — 
 for the rest, there can, I think, exclusively of what I have urged, be little doubt that 
 this Satire was produced under Domitian. It is known, from other authorities, that he 
 revived the law of Otho in all its severity, that he introduced a number of low and 
 vicious characters, pinnirapi cidtos juTenes, juvenesque lanistce, into the Equestrian 
 Order, that he was immoderately attached to building, «Svc. Circumstances much 
 dwelt on in this satire, and applicable to him alone. 
 
 t The following line, Daciats ct scripto radiat Germanieus auro, seems to militate 
 against the early date of this Satire. Catanxus and Arntzenius say, Juvenal could not 
 mean Domitian here, because " he did not think well enough of him to do him such 
 honour; whereas he was fond of commending Trajan." I see no marks of th.is fond- 
 ness: nor were the titles, if moan^ of Domitian, intended to do him honour, but to 
 reprove his vanity; — after all, I may be incorrect in attributing them to Domitian. 
 Had I read the very ingenious and instructive Essay on Medals by Mr. I'inkcrton, 
 before I wrote the note (p. 186), I should have spoken with somewhat Icis confidence 
 on the subject. 
 
 W hether medals were ever struck with the inscription of Dacicus and Germanieus
 
 XXXII THE LIFE OF JUVEMAL. 
 
 and perhaps thirteentli* Satires; the eightht I have always looked 
 upon as his first, 
 
 ill honour of Domitian, I must now doubt. Certain it is, however, that he assumed 
 both these titles; the latter, indeed, in common with his predecessors from the time 
 of Germ. Cassar; and the former, in consequence of his pretended success in the 
 Dacian war, for wliich he is bitterly sneered at by Pliny, as well as Dio. It is given 
 to him, amongst others, by Martial, who dedicates his Eighth Book, Imper. Dumit. 
 Cics. Augusta Germanko Dacico. Dodwell gives, as I do, the line to Domitian — a 
 little inconsistently, it must be confessed; but that is his concern. If, however, it be 
 adjudged to Trajan, I should not for that bring down the date of the Satire to a later 
 period. Juvenal revised and enlarged all his works, when he gave them to the public: 
 this under consideration, ia particular, has all the marks of having received considerable 
 additions; and one of them might be the line in question. 
 
 ' This Satire has contributed as much perhajis as the seventh to persuade Lipsius, 
 Salinasius, and others, that Juvenal wrote his best pieces when he was turned of 
 fourscore. 
 
 " Stupet ha:c, qui jam post terga reliquit 
 
 " Sexaginta aiinos FoiiteJo Consulc natus !" 
 There were four consuls of this name. The first is out of the question ; the second 
 was consul A. D. 13, the third in 5j), and the fourth in 08. If we take the secv>nd, 
 and add any intermediate number of years between sixty and seventy, for C'alvinus had 
 parsed his sixtieth year, it will just bring us down to the early part of Domitian's 
 reign, which I suppose to be the true date of this Satire ; for I cannot believe, as I 
 have already observed, that this, or indeed any part of Juvenal's works, was produced 
 when he was trembhng on the verge of ninety, as must be the case if cither of the 
 latter periods be adopted. But he observes, IIccc quota pars scekrum quce custos Galli- 
 cvs vrbis, SjC. Now Rutilius Gallicus was praefect of Rome from the end of 85 to 88, 
 (Domitian succeeded his brother in 81,) iii which year he died. There seems to be 
 no necessity for mentioning a magistrate as sitting, who was not then in existence; 
 nor can any reason be assigned, if the Satire was written under Hadrian, for tlie au- 
 thor's recurring to the times of Domitian for a n:une, when that of the custos urbis 
 of the day would have better answered his purpose. It is probable that Gallicus suc- 
 ceeded Pegasus, who was prasfect when the ridiculous farce of the turbot took place 
 (Sat. IV.) ; this would lix it to 85, the year before.. Fuscus, who was present at it, was 
 sent into Dacia. 
 
 t This Satire is referred by the critics to the reign of Trajan, because Marius, whose 
 trial took place under that prince, is mentioned in it. I have attributed it to an earlier 
 period; principally moved by the consideration that it presents a faithful copy of the 
 state of Rome and the conquered provinces under Mero, and which could scarcely
 
 THE LIFE OF JUVENAL. XXXlll 
 
 In 95, when Juvenal was in his 54th year, Domitian banished the 
 philosophers from Rome, and soon after from Italy, with many 
 circumstances of cruelty ; an action, for which, I am sorry to 
 observe, he is covertly praised by Quintilian. Though Juvenal, 
 strictly speaking, did not come under the description of a philo- 
 sopher, yet he might not unreasonably entertain some apprehen- 
 sions for his safety, and, with many other pers(ms eminent for 
 learning and virtue, judge it prudent to withdraw from the city. 
 To this period I have always inclined to fix his journey to Egypt. 
 Two years afterwards the world was happily relieved from the 
 tyranny of Domitian ; and Nerva, who succeeded, recalled the 
 exiles. From this time, there remains little doubt of his being at 
 Rome, where he continued his studies in tranquillity. 
 
 His first Satire, after the deatli of Domitian, seems to have been 
 what is here called the fourth. About this time, too, he probably 
 thought of revising and publishing those he had already written; 
 and composed that introductory piece, * which now stands at the 
 head of his works. As the order is every where broken in upon, 
 it is utterly impossible to arrange them chronologically ; but I am 
 
 have been given in such vivid colours after the original had ceased to affect the mind. 
 What Rome was under Domitian, may be seen in the secomi Satire, and the difference, 
 which has not been sufficiently attended to, is stiikiiig in tiie exlieiiie. I would observe 
 too, that Juvenal speaks here of the ciitiies of Marius: — they might be, and probably 
 were, committed long before his condemnation ; but under Domitian, it was scarcely 
 safe to attempt bringing such gigantic peculators to justice. Add to this, that tiie 
 other culprits mentioned in it, are all of tiiem prior to that prince ; nay, one of them, 
 Capito, was tried so early as the beginning of Nero's reign ! The inserticm of Marius, 
 however, (which might be an after-thought) forms a main argument with Dodviell 
 for the very late date of this Satire; he observes tliat it had escaped Lipsius and 
 Salmasius; and boasts of it, as longc ccrtissimum SfC. 156. 
 
 • I ha\e often wondered at tiie stress wliich Dodwell and others lay on the 
 concluding lines of this Satire : F.xpcriar quid cuncedatur, SiC They fancy the engage- 
 ment was seriously made, and religiously obscived. N<'lhing was ever f.iilher from 
 the mind of Juvenal. It is merely a poetical, or if you will, a. satirical, flourish ; sincr^ 
 
 e
 
 XXxIv THE LIFE OF JUVENAL. 
 
 inclined to think that the eleventh Satire closed his poetical career. 
 
 All else is conjecture ; but in this, he speaks of himself as an old 
 
 man, 
 
 " Nostra bibat vernum contracta cuticula solem ;" 
 
 and indeed he had now passed his grand climacteric. 
 
 This is all that can be collected of the life of Juvenal ; and 
 how much of this is built upon uncertainties I I hope, however, 
 it bears the stamp of probability ; which is all I contend for ; 
 and which indeed, if I do not deceive myself, is somewhat more 
 than can be affirmed of what has been hitherto delivered on the 
 subject. 
 
 Little is known of his circumstances ; but, happily, that little is 
 authentic, as it comes from himself. He had a competence. The 
 dignity of poetry is never disgraced in him, as it is in some of his 
 contemporaries, by fretful complaints of poverty, or clamorous 
 whinings for meat and clothes ; — the little palrimony his foster- 
 father left him, he never diminished, and probably never increased. 
 It seems to have equalled all his wants, and, as far as appears, all 
 his wishes. Once only he regrets the narrowness of his fortune : 
 but the occasion does him honour ; it is solely because he cannot 
 afford a more costly sacrifice to express his pious gratitude for the 
 preservation of his friend : vet " two lambs and a youthful steer," 
 bespeak the affluence of a philosopher; which is not belled by the 
 entertainment provided for his friend Persicus, in that beautiful 
 Satire which I have called the la^t of his works. Farther it is 
 useless to seek : from pride or modesty, he has left no other 
 notices of himself; or they have perished. Horace and Persius, his 
 immediate predecessors, are never weary of speaking of themselves. 
 
 tliere is not a single Satire, I am well persuaded, in wliich the names of many, who 
 were alive at the time, are not introduced. Had Dodwell forgotten Quintilian i Or, 
 that he had allowed ouc of his Satires, at least, to be prior to this f"
 
 THE LIFE OF JUVENAL. XXXV 
 
 The life of the former might be written, from his own materials, 
 with the minuteness of a contemporary history: and the latter, 
 who attained to little more than a third of Juvenal's age, has left 
 nothing to be desired on the only topics which could interest 
 posterity, — his parent, his preceptor, and his studies.
 
 AN 
 
 ESSAY ON THE ROMAN SATIRISTS. 
 
 It will now be expected from me, perhaps, to say something on 
 the nature and design of Satire ; but in truth this has so frequently 
 been done, that it seems, at present, to have as little of novelty as 
 of utility, to recommend it. 
 
 Dryden, who had diligently studied the French critics, drew 
 up from their remarks, assisted by a cursory perusal of what 
 Casaubon, Heinsius, Rigaltius, and Scaliger, had written on the 
 subject, an account of the rise and progress of dramatic and 
 satiric poetry amongst the Romans ; which he prefixed to his 
 translation of Juvenal. What Dryden knew, he told in a manner 
 Uiat renders every attempt to recount it after him, equally hope- 
 less and vain ; but his acquaintance with works of literature was 
 not very extensive, while his reliance on his own pr.wers, some- 
 times betrayed him into inaccuracies, to which the influence of his 
 name gives a dangerous importance. 
 
 " The comparison of Horace with Juvenal and Persius," which 
 makes a principal part of his Essay, is not formed with much 
 niceness of discrimination, or accuracy of judgment. To speak 
 my mind, I do not think that he clearly perceived, or fully 
 understood, the characters of the first two — of Persius indeed he 
 had an intimate knowledge ; for, though he certainly deemed too
 
 XXXVIU AN ESSAY OH THE ROMAN SATIRISTS. 
 
 humbly of his poetry, he yet speaks of his beauties and defects, 
 in a manner which evinces a more than common acquaintance 
 M'ith both. 
 
 Wliat Dryden left Imperfect, has been filled up in a great 
 measure by Dusaulx, in the preliminary discourse to his transla- 
 tion of Juvenal, and by Rupert, inhis learned and ingenious Essay 
 £)e diversa Salirarum Lucil. Moral. Pers. et Juvenalis indole. With 
 the assistance of these, I shall endeavour to give a more extended 
 view of the characteristic excellencies an J"^rects~oT"T;Tie rival 
 Satirists, than has yet appeared in our language ; little solicitous 
 for the praise of originality, if I may be allowed to aspire to that of 
 candour and truth. Previously to this, however. It will be neces- 
 sary to say something on the supposed origin of Satire: and as this 
 is a very beaten subject, I shall discuss it as briefly as possible. 
 
 It is probable that tlie first metrical compositions of the Romans, 
 like those of ev«ry other people, were pious effusions for favours 
 received or expected. from the gods: of these, the earliest, ac- 
 cording to Varro, were the hymns to Mars, which, though used 
 by the Salii In the Augustan age, were no longer intelligible. To 
 these, succeeded the Fescennine verses, which were sung, or 
 rather recited, after the vintage and haivest, and appear to have 
 bepn little more than rude praises of the tutelar divinities of the 
 counbry^ internuxed with clownish jeers and sarcasms, extemporally 
 poured out by the rustics In some kind of measure, and indiffer- 
 ently iiii-ected at the spectators, or at one another. These, by 
 degrees, assumed the form of a dialogue; of which, as nature Is 
 every where the same, and the progress of refinement but little 
 varied, some resemblance may perhaps be foinid in the eclogues 
 of Theocritus. 
 
 Thus improved, (if the word may be allowed of such barbarous 
 amusements) they formed, for near three centuries, the delight of 
 that nation : popular favour, however, had a dangerous effect on
 
 AN ESSAY ON THE ROMAN SATIRISTS. XXXIX 
 
 the performers, whose licentiousness degenerated at length Into 
 such wild invective, that it was found necessary to restrain it by a 
 positive law. Si qui popiilo vccenlassif, carmenve condisit, (juod in- 
 Jamiam faxit Jlagiliumve alteri, Juste ferito/'' . From this time, we hear 
 no Farther complaints of the Fescennine verses, which continued to 
 charm the Romans; until about a cdntury afterwards, duHng the 
 ravages of a dreadful pestilence, the senate, as the historians say, 
 in order to propitiate the gods, called in a troop of players from 
 Tuscany, to assist at the celebration of their ancient festivals. 
 This was a wise and a salutary measure: the plague had spread 
 dejection through the city, which was thus rendered more ob- 
 noxious to its fury ; and it tlierefore became necessary, by novel 
 and extraordinary amusements, to divert the attention of the people 
 from the melancholy objects around theiru 
 
 As the Romans were unacquainted with the language of Tuscany, 
 the players, Livy tells us, omitted, the modulation and the words, 
 and confined themselves solely to gestures, which were accom- 
 panied by the tlute. This imperfect exhibition, however, was so 
 superior to their own, that the Romans eagerly strove to attain the 
 art ; and as soon as they could imitate what they admired, graced 
 their rustic measures with music and dancing. By degrees they 
 dropped tlie Fescennine verses, for something of a more regular 
 kind, which now took the name of Satire. t 
 
 • Rupert. Juv. Lxxxv. 
 
 t The origin of this word is now acknowletlgod to be Roman. Scaliger derived it 
 from <7aTi.p&- (satijrus,) but Casaubon, Dacier and otiicrs, more reasonably, from 
 sa/iiia (fern, ofsatur) rich, abounding, full of varii-ty. In this scr.se it was applied to 
 the lan.\ or charger, in which the various productions of the soil were otRred u|> 10 the 
 gods; aiul thus came lo be used for any miscellaneous collection in general. Hat ma 
 oUa, a hotch-potch ; .satwa leges, laws comprehending a multitude of reguUitions, t^c. 
 'J'hi= deduction of the -.lamc, may serve to explain, in some mcs'ire, the nature of the 
 first Satires, which treated of various subjects, ai:d were full of various matters: but 
 enough on this trite to; ic.
 
 xl AN ESSAY ON THE ROMAN SATIRISTS. 
 
 These Satires (for as yet they had little claim to the title of 
 dramas) contimied, without much alteration, to the year 514, when 
 Livius Andronicus, aGreekby birth, anda freedmanofL. Salinator, 
 who was undoubtedly acquainted with the old comedy of his 
 country, produced a regular play. That it pleased, cannot be 
 doubted, for it surpassed the Satires, even in their improved state ; 
 and indeed banished them for some time from the scene. They 
 had however taken too strong a hold of the affections of the people 
 to be easily forgotten, and it was therefore found necessary to 
 reproduce and join them to the plays of Andronicus, (the supe- 
 riority of which could not be contested) under the name of Exodia 
 or after-pieces. These partook, in a certain degree, of the general 
 amelioration of the stage ; something like a story was now intro- 
 duced into them, which, though frequently indecent, and always 
 extravagant, created a greater degree of interest, than the recipro- 
 cation of gross humour and scurrility in unconnected dialogues. 
 
 Whether any of the old people still regretted this sophistication 
 of their early amusements, it is not easy to say ; but Ennius, who 
 came to Rome about twenty years after this period, and who was 
 more than half a Grecian, conceived he should perform an agree- 
 able service by reviving the ancient Satires.* He did not pretend 
 to restore them to the stage, for which indeed the new pieces were 
 infinitely better calculated, but endeavoured to adapt them to the 
 closet, by refining their grossness, and softening their asperity. 
 Success justified the attempt ; Satire, thus I'reed from action, and 
 formed into a poem, became a favourite pursuit, and was cultivated 
 
 • It should be observed, however, that the idea was obvious, and the work itself highly 
 necessary. The old Satire, amidst much coarse ribahlry, licquently attacked ihe follies 
 and vices of the day. This could not be done by the comedy which superseded it, and 
 which, by a strange perversity of taste, was never rendered national. Its customs, 
 manners nay, its very plots, were Grecian ; and scarcely more applicable to the 
 Romans than to us.
 
 AN ESSAY ON THE ROMAN SATIRISTS. xH 
 
 by several writers of eminence. In imitation of his model, Ennius 
 confined himself to no particular species of verse, nor indeed of 
 language, for he mingled Greek expressions with his Latin, at will. 
 It is solely with a reference to this new attempt, that Horace and 
 Quintilian are to be understood, when they claim for the Romans 
 the invention* of this kind of poetry ; and certainly they had 
 
 * To extend this to Lucilius, as is sometimes done, is absurd, since he evidently had 
 in view the old comedy of the Greeks, of which his satires, according to Horace, were 
 rigid imitations: 
 
 " Eupolis atque Cratinus, Aristophanesque po'etse 
 
 " Atque alii, quorum comoedia prisca virorum est; 
 
 •' Si quis erat dignus describi, quod malus, aut fur, 
 
 " Quod moechus foret, aut sicarius, aut alioqui 
 
 " Famosus, multa cum libertate notabant. 
 
 " IIiNC omnis pendct Lucilius, hosce secutus, 
 
 " Mutatis tantura pedibus numerisque :" — 
 Here the matter would seem to be at once determined by a very competent judge. 
 Strip the old Greek comedy of its action, and change the metre from iambic to heroic, 
 and you have the Roman satire ! It is evident from this, that unless two things be 
 granted; first, that the actors in those ancient satires were ignorant of the existence of 
 the Greek comedy ; and secondly, that Ennius, who knew it well, passed it by for a 
 ruder model ; the Romans can have no pretensions to the honour thoy claim. 
 
 And even if these be granted, the honour appears to be scarcely \\'orth the claiming ; 
 for the Greeks had not only dramatic, but lyric and heroic satire. To pass by the 
 Margites, what were the iambics of Archilochus, and the scazons of Hipponax, but 
 satires? nay, what were the Silli — Casaubon derives them a.'nro rov o-iXXaivsif, to scoll", to 
 treat petulantly; and there is no doubt of the justness ofJiis derivation. These little 
 pieces were made up of passages from various poems, which, by slight alterations, were 
 humourously or satirically applied at will. The satires of Ennius were probably little 
 more ; indeed we have the express authority ot Dioraedes the grammarian, for it. 
 After speaking of Lucilius^ whose writings he derives, with Horace, from the old 
 comedy, he adds, et ulim carmen, quod ex vaiiin pocmatibus constabat, satira xocabatur; 
 quale scripsenint Pacuiius et Ennius. Modern critics agree in understanding ex varii-t 
 pocmalibu.s, of various kinds of metre; but, I do not see why it may not mean, as I 
 have rendered it, " of various poems;" milcss we choose to compliment the Romans, 
 by supposing that what was in the Greeks a mere cento, was in thorn an original 
 fomposition. 
 
 It would scarcely be doing justice, however, to Ennius, to suppose that he did not 
 
 f
 
 xlii AN ESSAY ON THE ROMAN SATIRISTS. 
 
 opportunities of judging, which we have not, for little of Ennius, 
 and nothing of the old satire, remains. 
 
 It is not necessary to pursue the history of Satire farther in this 
 place, or to speak of another species of it, the Varronian or, as 
 Varro himself called it, theMenippean, which branched out from 
 the former, and was a medley of prose and verse : it will be a more 
 pleasing, as well as a more useful employ, to enter a little into 
 what Dryden, I know not for what reason, calls the most difficult 
 part of his undertaking, " a comparative view of the Satirists," 
 not certainly with the design of depressing one at the expense 
 of another, (for though 1 have translated Juvenal, I have no 
 quarrel with Horace and Persius) but for the purpose of pointing 
 out the characteristic excellencies and defects of them all. To 
 do this the more effectually, it will be previously necessary to 
 take a cursory view of the times in which their res-pective works 
 ■were produced. 
 
 surpass his models, for, to say the truth, the Greek Silli appear to have been no very 
 extraordinary performances. A few short specimens of them may be seen in Diogenes 
 Laertius, and a longer one, which has escaped the writers on this subject, in Dio 
 Chrysostom. As this is, perhaps, the only Greek satire extant, it may be regarded as 
 a curiosity; and as such, for as a literary etfort it is worth nothing, a short extract 
 from it may not be uninteresting. Sneering at the people of Alexandria, for their mad 
 attachment to chariot-raees, &c. he says, this folly of theirs is not ill exposed by one 
 ©f those scurrilous writers of (Silli, or) parodies : n xaKwjTi; wapeiromo-s ru> <r«wpai> twtkit 
 
 Alport yai^euTKt fj^Tnofcf toi Jj Searai 
 
 XXvpoi VTreti Jeibj iri^n^Tiiiitoi, uS' vvo »ixnf 
 A^X^l^ole^l t( xExAofxE^oi, xa) vruai Stotj-i 
 K«tpa{ a»to^o»Te{, /»By«^' iw;geTO«iiTo ixxfoi, 
 Hi/T£ n(f x^ayyjj ytfaciiuy tteXii, rji xoT^otuv, 
 Ai T ETTii ar ^i-'So' t'sttiov, xai a6£(7W»To> oivoi', 
 KAayyig Tai yt viTotrctt airt fajioio xeMv^H. x. T. X. 
 
 Ad Akxand. Orat. xxxii.
 
 AN £SSAY ON THE ROMAN SATIRISTS. xliji 
 
 LuciLius, to whom Horace, forgetting what he had said in 
 another place, attributes the invention of Satire, flourished in the 
 interval between the siesre of Cartha2;e and the defeat of the Cimbri 
 and Teutons, by Marius.* He lived therefore in an age in which 
 the struggle between the old and new manners, though daily 
 becoming more equal, or rather inclining to the worse side, was 
 still far from being decided. The freedom of speaking and writing, 
 was yet unchecked by fear, or by any law more precise than that 
 which, as has been already mentioned, was introduced to resti'ain 
 the coarse ebullitions of rustic malignity. Add to this, thatLucilius 
 was of a most respectable family, (he was great-uncle to Pompey,) 
 and lived in habits of intimacy with the chiefs of the republic, 
 with Lxlius, Scipio, and others, who were well able to protect 
 him from the Lupi and Mutii of the day, had they attempted, 
 which they probably did not, to silence or molest him. Hence that 
 boldness of satirizing the vicious by name, which startled Horace, 
 and on which Juvenal and Persius delight to felicitate him. 
 
 Too little remains of Lucilius, to enable us to judge of his 
 manner : his style seems, however, to bear fewer marks of delicacy 
 than of strength, and his strictures appear harsh and violent. 
 With all this, he must have been an extraordinary man ; since 
 Horace, who is evidently hurt by his reputation, can say nothing 
 worse of his compositions than that they are careless and hasty, 
 and that if he had lived at a more refined period, he would have 
 partaken of the general amelioration. I do not remember to have 
 heard it observed, but 1 suspect that there was something of 
 political spleen In the excessive popularity of Lucilius under 
 Augustus, and something of courtly complacency in the attempt 
 of Horace to counteract It. Augustus enlarged the law of the 
 twelve tables respecting libels ; and the people who found them- 
 selves thus abridged of the libertv of satirizing the great by name, 
 • Kuport, Juv. Tom. I. cxxiii.
 
 xliv AN ESSAY ON THE ROMAN SATIRIST*. 
 
 might not improbably seek to avenge themselves, by an over- 
 strained attachment to the works of a man who, living, as they 
 would insinuate, in better times, practised without fear, what he 
 enjoyed without restraint. 
 
 The space between Horace and his predecessor, was a dreadful 
 interval " filled up with horror all, and big with death." Luxury 
 and a long train of vices which followed the immense wealth in- 
 cessantly poured in from the conquered provinces, sapped the 
 foundations of the republic, which were finally shaken to pieces 
 by the civil wars, the perpetual dictatorship of Ciissar, and the 
 second triumvirate, which threw the Roman world, without the 
 hope of escape, into the power of an individual. 
 
 Augustus, whose sword was yet reeking with the best blood of 
 the state, now that submission left him no pretence for farther 
 cruelty, was desirous of enjoying in tranquillity the fruits of his 
 guilt. He displayed, therefore, a magnificence hitherto unknown; 
 and his example, which was followed by his ministers, quickly 
 spread among the people, who were not very unwilling to ex- 
 change the agitation and terror of successive proscriptions, for 
 tlie security and quiet of undisputed despotism. 
 
 Tiberius had other views, and other methods of accomplishing 
 them. He did not indeed put an actual stop to the elegant insti- 
 tutions of his predecessor, but he surveyed them with silent 
 contempt, and they rapidly degenerated. The race of informers 
 multiplied with dreadful celerity ; and danger, which could 
 only be averted by complying with a caprice not always easy to 
 discover, created an abject disposition, fitted for the reception 
 of the grossest vices, and eminently favourable to the designs of 
 the emperor ; which were to procure, by universal depravation, 
 that submission which Augustus sought to obtain by the blandisli- 
 ments of luxury, and the arts. 
 
 From this gloomy and suspicious tyrant, the empire was trans,-
 
 AN ESSAY ON THE ROMAN SATIRISTS. xlv 
 
 ferred to a profligate madman. It can scarcely be told without 
 indio:nation, that when the sword or Chserea had freed the earth 
 from his disj2;raceful sway, the senate had not sufficient virtue to 
 resume the rights of which they had been deprived; but, after a 
 timid debate, delivered up the state to a pedantic dotard, incapable 
 of governing himself. 
 
 To the vices of his predecessors, Nero added a frivolity which 
 rendered his reign at once odious and contemptible. Depravity 
 could reach no farther, but misery might yet be extended. This 
 was fully experienced througli the turbulent and murderous usur- 
 pations of Galba, Otho, and Vitellius ; when the accession of Ves- 
 pasian and Titus gave tlie groaning world a temporary respite. 
 
 To these succeeded Domitian, whose crimes form tlie subject of 
 many a melancholy page in the ensuing work, and need not 
 therefore be dwelt on here. Under him, every trace of ancient 
 manners was obliterated; liberty was unknown, law openly tram- 
 pled upon, and, while the national rites Avere either neglected or 
 contemned, a base and blind superstition took possession of the 
 enfeebled and distempered mind. 
 
 Better times followed. Nerva, and Trajan, and Hadrian, and the 
 Antonines, restored the Romans to safety and tranquillity ; but 
 they could do no more: liberty and virtue were gone for ever; 
 and after a short period of comparative happiness, which they 
 scarcely appear to have deserved, and which brought with it no 
 amelioration of mind, no return of the ancient modesty and fruga- 
 lity, they were finally resigned to destruction. 
 
 I now proceed to the " comparative view" of which I have 
 already spoken ; as the subject has been so often treated, little of 
 novelty can be expected from it: to read, compare, and judge, is 
 almost all that remains. 
 
 Horace, who was gay, and lively, and gentle, and affectionate, 
 seems fitted fur the period in which he wrote. He had seen the
 
 Xlvi AN ESSAY ON THE ROMAN SATIRISTS. 
 
 worst times of the republic, and might therefore, with no great 
 suspicion of his integrity, be allowed to acquiesce in the infant 
 monarchy, which brought with it stability, peace, and pleasure. 
 How he reconciled himself to his political tergiversation it is 
 useless to inquire.* What was so general, we may suppose 
 brought with it but little obloquy ; and it should be remembered, 
 to his praise, that he took no active part in the government he had 
 once opposed .4 if he celebrates the master of the world, it is not 
 until he is asked by him whether he is ashamed that posterity 
 should know them to be friends; and he declines a post, which 
 few of his detractors have merit to deserve, or virtue to refuse. 
 
 His choice of privacy, however, was in some measure con- 
 stitutional ; for he had an easiness of temper which bordered on 
 indolence ; hence he never rises to the dignity of a decided cha- 
 racter. Zeno and Epicurus share his homage, and undergo his 
 ridicule by turns : he passes without difficulty from one school to 
 another, and he thinks it a sufficient excuse for his versatility, 
 that he continues, amidst every change, the zealous defender of 
 virtue. Virtue, however, abstractedly considered, has few obli- 
 gations to his zeal. 
 
 • I doubt whether he was ever a good royalist at heart ; he frequently, perhaps un- 
 consciously, betrays a lurking dissatisfaction ; but having, as Johnson says of a much 
 greater man, lasted the honey of favour, he did not choose to return to hunger and 
 philosophy. Indeed, he was not happy ; in the country he sighs for the town, in town 
 for the country ; and he is always restless, andstrainingafter something which he never 
 obtains. To float, like Aristippus, with the stream, is a bad recipe for felicity ; there 
 should be some fixed principle, by which the passions and desires may be regulated. 
 
 t He is careful to disclaim all participation in pubhc affairs. He accompanies 
 Mxcenas in his carriage, but their chat, he wishes it to be believed, is on the common 
 topics of the day, the weather, amusements, &c. Though this may not be strictly true, 
 it is yet probable that politics furnished but a small part of their conversation. That 
 both Augustus and his minister were warmly attached to hira, cannot be denied, but 
 then it was as to a pla)-thing. In a word, Horace seems to have been the enfant gate 
 of the palace, and was viewed, I believe, with more tenderness than respect.
 
 AN ESSAY ON THE ROMAN SATIRISTS. xlvil 
 
 But though, as an ethical writer, Horace has not many claims to 
 the esteem of posterity ; as a critic, he is intitled to all our venera- 
 tion. Such is the soundness of his judgment, the correctness of 
 his taste, and the extent and variety of his knowledge, that a body 
 of criticism might be selected from his works, more perfect in its 
 kind than any thing which antiquity has bequeathed us. 
 
 As he had little warmth of temper, he reproves his contempo- 
 raries without harshness. He is content to " dwell in decencies," 
 and, like Pope's courtly dean, never mentions hell to ears polite. 
 Persius, who was infinitely better acquainted with him than we 
 can pretend to be, describes him, I think with great happiness; 
 " Omne vafer vitium ridenti Flaccus araico 
 " Tangit, et admissus circum praecordia ludit, 
 " Gallidus excusso populum suspendere naso." 
 " He, with a sly insinuating grace, 
 " Laugh'd at his friend, and looked him in the face: 
 " Would raise a blush, where secret vice he found, 
 *' And tickle, while he gently probed the wound. 
 " With seeming innocence the croud beguil'd ; 
 " But made the desperate passes M'lien he smil'd. 
 These beautiful lines have a delect under which Dryden's 
 translations Ircquently labour ; they do not give the true sense of 
 the original. Horace " raised no blush," (at least Persius does not 
 insinuate any such thing.) and certainly " made no desperate 
 passes."^' His aim rather seems to be, to keep the objects of his 
 satire in good humour with himself, and with one another. 
 
 • Mr. Drummonil has given this passage with equal elegance, and truth : 
 " With greater ait sly Horace gain'd his end, 
 " But spared no failing of bis smiling friend. 
 " Sporlive and pleasant round the heart he play'd, 
 " And wrapt in jests the censure he convcy'd; 
 " With such address his willing victims seiz'd, 
 " That tickled fools were rallied, and were please<l."
 
 xlviil AN ESSAY ON THE ROMAN SATIRISTS. 
 
 To raise a laugh at vice, however, (supposing it feasible,) is not 
 the legitimate office of Satire, which is to hold up the vicious, as 
 objects of reprobation and scorn, for the example of others, who 
 may be deterred by their sufferings. But it is time to be explicit. To 
 laugh even at fools is superfluous ; — if they understand you, they 
 will join in the merriment ; but more commonly, they will sit with 
 vacant unconcern, and gaze at their own pictures : to laugh at the 
 vicious, is to encourage them ; for there is in such men a wilful- 
 ness of disposition, which prompts them to bear up against shame, 
 and to shew how little they regard slight reproof, by becoming 
 more audacious in baseness. Goodness, of which the characteristic 
 is modesty, may, I fear, be shamed ; but vice, like folly, to be 
 restrained, must be overawed. Labeo, says Hall, with great 
 energy, 
 
 " Labeo Is whipt, and laughs me in the face ; 
 
 " Why ? for I smite, and hide the galled place. 
 
 " Gird but the Cynic's helmet on his head, 
 
 " Cares he for Talus, or his flayle of lead?" 
 Persius, who borrowed so much of Horace's language, has 
 little of his manner. The immediate object of his imitation seems 
 to be Lucilius ; and if he lashes vice with less severity than his 
 great prototype, the cause must not be sought in any desire to 
 spare what he so evidently condemned. But he was thrown " on 
 evil times ;" he was besides, of a rank distinguished enough to make 
 his freedom dangerous, and of an age, when life had yet lost little 
 of its novelty; to write, tlierefore, even as he has written, proves 
 him to be a person of very singular courage and virtue. 
 
 In the interval between Horace and Persius, despotism had 
 changed its nature : the chains which the policy of Augustus con- 
 cealed in flowers, were now displayed in all their hideousness. 
 The arts were neglected, literature of every kind discouraged or 
 disgraced, and terror and suspicion substituted in the place of the
 
 AN. ESSAY ON THE ROMAN SATIRISTS. xlix 
 
 former ease and security. Stoicism, which Cicero accuses of having 
 infected poetry, even in his days, and of which the professors, 
 as Qiiintilian observes, always digregarded the graces and elegan- 
 cies of composition, spread with amazing rapidity." In this school 
 Persius was educated, under the care of one of its most learned 
 and respectable masters. 
 
 Satire was not his first pursuit: indeed, he seems to have some- 
 what mistaken his talents when he applied to it The true end of 
 this species of writing, as Dusaulx justly says, is the improvement 
 of society ; but for this, much knowledge of mankind (quicquid 
 agunt homines) is previously necessary. Whoever is deficient in 
 that, may be an excellent moral and philosopliical poet; but 
 cannot with propriety, lay claim to the honours of a satirist. 
 
 And Persius was moral and philosophical in a high degree ; he 
 was also a poet of no mean order. But while he grew pale over 
 the page of Zeno, and Cleanthes, and Chrysippus, while he im- 
 bibed, with all the ardour of a youthful mind, the paradoxes of 
 those great masters, together with their principles, the foundations 
 of civil society were crumbling around him, and soliciting his 
 attention in vain. To judge from what he has left us, it might 
 almost be affirmed that he was a stranger in his own country. 
 The degradation of Rome was now complete ; yet he felt, at 
 least he expresses, no indignation at the means by which it was 
 effected : a sanguinary buffoon was lording it over the prostrate 
 world ; yet he continued to waste his most elaborate efforts on the 
 
 * Dusaulx accounts for this by the general consternation. Most of those, he says, 
 distinguished for talents or rank, took refuge in the school of Zeno; not so much to 
 learn in it how to live, as how to die. I think, on the contrary, that this would rather 
 have driven them into the arms of Epicurus. " Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow 
 we die," will generally be found, I believe, to be the maxim of dangerous times. It 
 would not be dillicuit to shew, if this were the place for it, that the prevalency of 
 Stoicism was due to the increase of profligacy, for which it furnished a convenient: 
 cloke. This, however, does not apply to Persius. 
 
 g
 
 1 AN ESSAY ON THE ROMAN SATIRISTS. 
 
 miserable pretensions of pedants in prose and verse 1 If this 
 savours of the impassibility of Stoicism, it is intitled to no great 
 praise on the score of outraged humanity, which has stronger 
 claims on a well regulated mind, than criticism, or even philo- 
 sophy. 
 
 Dryden gives that praise to the dogmas of Persius, which he 
 denies to his poetry. " His verse," he says, " is scabrous and 
 hobbling, and his measures beneath those of Horace," This is 
 too severe ; for Persius has many exquisite passages, which nothing 
 in Horace will be found to equal or approach. The charge of 
 obscuiity, has been urged against him with more justice ; though 
 this, perhaps, is not so great as it is usually represented. Casaubon, I 
 fancy, could have defended him more successfully than he has done ; 
 but he was overawed by the brutal violence of the elder Scaliger : 
 for I can scarcely persuade myself that he really believed this 
 obscurity to be owing to " the fear of Nero, or the advice of 
 Cornutus." The cause of it should be rather sought in his natural 
 disposition, and in his habits of thinking. Generally speaking, 
 however, it springs from a too frequent use of tropes, approaching 
 in every instance to a catachresis, an anxiety of compression, and 
 a quick and unexpected transition from one overstrained figure to 
 another. After all, with the exception of the sixth Satire, which, 
 from its abruptness, does not appear to have received the author's 
 last touches, I do not think there is much to confound an attentive 
 reader : some acquaintance, indeed, with the porch braccatis illita 
 Medis, is previously necessary. His life may be contemplated 
 with unabated pleasure: the virtue he recommends, he practised 
 in the fullest extent ; and at an age when few have acquired a 
 determinate character, left behind him an established reputation 
 for genius, learning, and worth. 
 
 Juvenal wrote at a period still more detestable than Persius. 
 Domitian, who now governed the empire, seems to have inherited
 
 AN ESSAY ON THE ROMAN SATIRISTS. li 
 
 the bad qualities of all his predecessors. Tiberius was not more 
 hypocritical, nor Caligula more bloody, nor Claudius more 
 sottish, nor Nero more mischievous, than this ferocious despot; 
 who, as Theodorus Gadareus indignantly declared of Tiberius, 
 ■was truly vm>^ov octfAxn ir£^upa/*f>o>, a lump of clay kneaded up with 
 blood ! 
 
 Juvenal, like Persius, professes to follow Lucilius ; but what was 
 in one a simple attempt, is in the other a real imitation, of his 
 manner.* Fluent and witty as Horace, grave and sublime as 
 Persius ; of a more decided character than the former, better 
 acquainted with mankind than the latter, he did not confine him- 
 self to the mode of regulating an intercourse with the great, or to 
 abstract disquisitions on the nature of scholastic liberty ; but, 
 disregarding tlie claims of a vain urbanity, and fixing all his soul 
 on the eternal distinctions of moral good and evil, he laboured, 
 with a magnificence of language peculiar to himself, to set forth 
 the loveliness of virtue, and the deformity and horror of vice, in 
 full and perfect display. 
 
 Dusaulx, who is somewhat prejudiced against Horace, does 
 ample justice to Juvenal. There is great force in what he says; 
 and, as I do not know that it ever appeared in English, I shall 
 take the liberty of laying a part of it before the reader, at the 
 hazard of a few repetitions. 
 
 " The bloody revolution which smothered the last sighs of 
 liberty,t had not yet found time to debase the minds of a people, 
 
 • I believe that Juvenal meant to describe himself in the following spirited picture of 
 Lucilius: 
 
 " Ense velut sfricto quotics Lucilius ardcns 
 " Infremuit, rubet auditor, cui frigida mens est 
 " Criminibus, tacita sudant praecordia culpa. 
 f This is an error which has been so often repeated, that it is believed. What libcrly 
 was destroyed by the usurpation of Augustus? For more tiian luilf a century, Rome 
 had been a- prey to ambitious chiefs, while five or six civil wars, each more bloody than
 
 lil AN ESSAY ON THE ROMAN SATIRISTS. 
 
 amongst whom the traditionary remains of the old manners still 
 subsisted. The cruel but politic Octavius scattered flowers over 
 the paths he was secretly tracing towards despotism : the arts of 
 Greece, transplanted to the Capitol, flourished beneath his auspices; 
 and the remembrance of so many civil dissentions, succeeding each 
 other with increasing rapidity, excited a degree of reverence for 
 tlie author of this unprecedented tranquillity. The Romans feli- 
 citated themselves, at not lying down, as before, with an appre- 
 hension of finding themselves included, when they awoke, in the 
 list of proscription : and neglected amidst the amusements of the 
 Circus and Amphitheatre, those civil rights of which their fathers 
 had been so jealous. 
 
 " Profiting of these circumstances, Horace fororot that he had 
 combated on the side of liberty. A better courtier than a soldier, 
 he clearly saw how far the refinement, the graces, and the culti- 
 vated state of his genius, (qualities not much considered or regarded 
 till his time'^') were capable of advancing him, without any extra- 
 ordinary effort. 
 
 " Indifferent to the future, and not daring to recall the past, he 
 thought of nothino; but securing.himself from all that could sadden 
 the mind, and disturb the system which he h^d skilfully arranged 
 on the credit of those then in power. It is on this account, that, of 
 all his contemporaries, he has celebrated none but the friends of 
 his master, or, at least, those whom he could praise without fear 
 of compromising his favour. 
 
 the other, had successively delivered up the franchises of the empire to the conqueror of 
 the day. The Gracclii first opejicd the career to ambition, and wanted nothing but the 
 means of corruption, which ihe east afterwards siipphcd, to effect what JNIarius, Sylla, 
 and the two triumvirates brought about with sufficient ease. 
 
 • This is a veiy strange observation. It looks as if Dusa.lx had leaped from the times 
 of old Metellus, t . those of Augustus, without casting a glance at the interval. The 
 chef-d'oeuvres of Ron. an literature were in every hand, wlicn he supposed thern to be 
 neglected : and, indeed, if Horace had left us nothing, the qualities of which Dusaulx 
 speaks, might still be found in many works produced before he was known.
 
 AN ESSAY ON THE ROMAN SATIRISTS. liii 
 
 *' In what I have said of Horace my chief design has been to 
 shew that this Proteus, who counted among his friends and admirers 
 even those whose conduct he censured, chose rather to capituhite 
 than contend ; that he attached no great importance to his own 
 rules, and adhered to his principles no longer than they favoured 
 his views. 
 
 " Juvenal began his satiric career where the other finished, that 
 is to say, he did that for morals and for liberty, which Horace had 
 done for decorum and taste. Disdaining artifice of every kind, he 
 boldly raised his voice against the usurpation of power ; and 
 incessantly recalled the memory of the glorious era of independ- 
 ence to those degenerate Romans, who had substituted suicide in 
 the place of their ancient courage ; and from the days of Augustus 
 to those of Domilian, only avenged their slavery by an epigram or 
 a bon-mot. 
 
 " The characteristics of Juvenal were energy, passion, and in- 
 dignation : it is nevertheless easy to discover, that he is sometimes 
 more afflicted than exasperated. His great aim was to alarm the 
 vicious, and if possible, to exterminate vice, which had, as it were, 
 acquired a legal establishment. A noble enterprise I but he wrote 
 in a detestable age, when the laws of nature were publicly violated, 
 and the love of their country so completely eradicated from the 
 breasts of his fellow-citizens, that, brutified as they were by slavery 
 and voluptuousness, by luxury and avarice, they merited rather 
 the severity of the executioner than the censor. 
 
 " Meanwhile the empire, shaken to its foundations, was rapidly 
 crumbling to dust. Despotism was consecrated by the senate ; 
 liberty, of which a few slaves were still sensible, was nothing but 
 an vmmeaning word for the rest, which, unmeaning as it was, they 
 did not dare to pronounce in public. Men of rank were declared 
 enemies to the state for having praised tlieir equals ; historians 
 ivere condemned to the cross, philosophy was oroscribed, and its
 
 Ivr AN ESSAY ON THE ROMAN SATIRISTS. 
 
 professors banished. Individuals felt only for their own danger, 
 which they too often averted by accusing others ; and there were 
 instances of children who denounced their own parents, and ap- 
 peared as witnesses against them I It was not possible to weep for 
 the proscribed, for tears themselves became the object of proscrip. 
 tion ; and when the tyrant of the day had condemned the accused 
 to banishment or death, the senate decreed that he should be 
 thanked for it, as for an act of singular favour. 
 
 " Juvenal, who looked upon the alliance of the agreeable with 
 the odious as utterly incompatible, contemned the feeble weapon 
 of ridicule, so familiar to his predecessor: he therefore seized the 
 sword of Satire, or, to speak more properly, fabricated one for 
 himself, and rushing from the palace to the tavern, and from the 
 gates of Rome to the boundaries of the empire, struck, without 
 distinction, whoever deviated from the course of nature, or from 
 the paths of honour. It is no longer a poet like Horace, fickle, 
 pliant, and fortified with that indifference so falsely called philo- 
 sophical, who amused himself with bantering vice, or, at most, 
 with upbraiding a few errors of little consequence, in a style, 
 which, scarcely raised above the language of conversation, flowed 
 as indolence and pleasure directed ; but a stern and incorruptible 
 censor, an inflamed and impetuous poet, who sometimes rises with 
 his subject, to tiie noblest heights of tragedy. 
 
 From this declamatory applause, which even La Harpe allows to 
 be worthy of the translator of Juvenal, the most rigid censurer of 
 our author cannot detract much ; nor can much perhaps be added 
 to it, by his warmest admirer. I could, indeed, have wished that 
 he had not exalted him at the expense of Horace ; but something 
 must be allowed for the partiality of long acquaintance ; and 
 Casaubon, when he preferred Pcrsius, with whom he had taken 
 great, and indeed successful pains, to Horace and Juvenal, suffi- 
 ciently exposed, while he tacitly accounted for, the prejudices of
 
 AN ESSAY ON THE ROMAN SATIRISTS. Iv 
 
 commentators and translators. With respect to Horace, if he falls 
 beneath Juvenal (and who does not ?) in eloquence, in energy, and 
 in a vivid and glowing imagination, he evidently surpasses him in 
 taste, and critical judgment. I could pursue the parallel through 
 a thousand ramifications, but the reader who does me the honour 
 to peruse the following sheets, will see that I have incidentally 
 touched upon some of them in the notes : and, indeed, I preferred 
 scattering my observations through the work, as they arose from 
 the subject, to bringing them together in this place ; where they 
 must evidently have lost something of their pertinency, without 
 much certainty of gaining in their effect. 
 
 Juvenal is accused of being too sparing of praise. But are his 
 critics well assured that praise from Juvenal could be accepted 
 with safety ? I do not know that a private station was " the post 
 of honour," in those days ; it was certainly that of security. 
 Martial, Statius, V. Flaccus, and other parasites of Domitian, 
 might indeed venture to celebrate their friends, who were also 
 those of the emperor. Juvenal's, it is probable, were of another 
 kind ; and he might be influenced no less by humanity than pru- 
 dence, in the sacred silence he observed respecting them. Let 
 it not be forgotten, however, that this intrepid champion of virtue, 
 who, under the twelfth despot, persisted, as Dusaulx observes, in 
 recognising no sovereign but the senate, while he passes by those 
 whose safety his applause might endanger, has generously cele- 
 brated the ancient assertors of liberty, in strains that Tyrtasus 
 might have wished his own : Cras bibet, <bc. 
 
 He is also charged with being too rhetorical in his language. 
 The critics have found out that he practised at the bar, and they 
 will therefore have it that his Satires smack of his profession, 
 redolent declamatorem* That he is luxuriant, or, if it must be so, 
 
 * I have often wished that we had some of the pleadings of Juvenal. It cannot be 
 alTirtned, I think, that there is any natural connection between prose and verse in th«
 
 Ivi AN ESSAY ON THE ROMAN SATIRISTS. 
 
 redundant may be safely granted ; but I doubt whether the pas- 
 sages which are cited for proofs of this fault, were not reckoned 
 amongst his beauties, by his contemporaries. The enumeration of 
 deities in the thirteenth Satire, is well defended by Rigaltius, who 
 allows, at the same time, that if the author had inserted it any 
 where but in a Satire, he should have accounted him a babler ; 
 faterer Juv. hie -rcifiXxXov fuisse el verborum prodigum. He appears to 
 me equally successful, (see his dissertation) in justifying the long 
 list of oaths in the same Satire, which Creech, it appears, had not 
 couraaie to translate. 
 
 The other passages adduced in support of this charge, are either 
 metaphorical exaggerations, or long traits of indirect Satire, of 
 which Juvenal was as great a master as Horace. I do not say that 
 these are interesting to us ; but they were eminently so to those 
 for whom they were written ; and by their pertinency at the time 
 should they, by every rule of fair criticism, be estimated. The 
 version of such passages is one of the miseries of translation. 
 
 I have also heard it objected to Juvenal, that there is in many of 
 his Satires a want of arrangement ; this is particularly observed of 
 the sixth and tenth. I scarcely know what to reply to this. Those 
 who are inclined to object, would not be better satisfied, perhaps, 
 if the form of both were changed ; for I suspect that there is no 
 natural gradation in the innumerable passions which agitate the 
 human mind. Some must precede and others follow ; but the 
 order of march is not, nor ever was, invariable. While I acquit 
 him of this, however, I readily acknowledge a want of care in 
 
 same mind, though il may be observed, that most of our celebrated poets have written 
 admirably 6o/i//rt' oratione: yet if Juvenal's oratory bore any rebcmblaiice to his poetry, he 
 yielded to few of the best ornaments of the bar. The turrens dicendi copia was iiis, in 
 an eminent degree; nay, so full, so rich, so strong, and so magnificent is his eloquence, 
 that I have heard one well qualified to judge, frequently declare that Cicero himself 
 could hardly be said to surpass him.
 
 AN ESSAY ON THE ROMAN SATIRISTS,' Ivil 
 
 many places, unless, it be rather attributable to a want of judgment. 
 On some occasions, too, when he changed or enlarged his first 
 sketch, he forgot to strike out the unnecessary lines : to this are 
 owing the awkward repetitions to be found in his longer works, as 
 well as the transpositions, which have so often perplexed the 
 critics, and translators. 
 
 Now I am upon this subject, I must not pass over a slovenliness 
 in some of his lines, for which he has been justly reproached, as it 
 would have cost him so little pains to improve them. Why he 
 should voluntarily debase his poetry, it is difficult to say : if he 
 thought he was imitating Horace in his laxity, his taste must 
 suffer considerably. Horace's verses are indeed akin to prose ; 
 but as he seldom rises, he has the art of making his low flights, in 
 which all his motions are easy and graceful, appear the effect of 
 choice. Juvenal was qualified " to sit where he dared not soar." 
 His element was that of the eagle, " descent and fall to him were 
 adverse," and, indeed he never appears more awkward than when 
 he flutters, or rather waddles, along the ground. 
 
 I have observed in the couise of the translation, that he em- 
 braced no sect with warmth. In a man of such lively passions, 
 the retention with whicli he speaks of them all, is to be admired. 
 From liis attachment to the writings of Seneca, I should incline to 
 think tliat he leaned towards Stoiclsui ; his predilection for the 
 school, however, was not very strong ; perhaps, it is to be wished 
 that he had entered a little more deeply into it, as he seems not to 
 have those distinct ideas of the nature of virtue and vice, which 
 were entertained by many of the ancient philosophers, and indeed, 
 by his immediate predecessor, Pcrbius. As a general champion for 
 virtue, he is commonly successful, but he sometimes misses his 
 aim ; and, in more than one instance, has confounded the nature 
 of the several vices in his mode of attacking them : he confounds 
 Kjo the very essence of virtue, which, in his hands, has olten " no 
 
 h
 
 Iviii AN ESSAY ON THE ROMAN SATIRISTS. 
 
 local habitation and name," but varies with the ever-varying 
 passions, and caprices of mankind. I know not whether it be 
 ■worth while to add that he is accused of holding a different 
 language at different times, respecting the gods ; since in this he 
 differs little from the Greek and Roman poets in general ; who, 
 as often as they introduce their divinities, state, as Juvenal does, 
 the mythological circumstances coupled with their names, without 
 regard to the existing system of physic or morals. When they 
 speak from themselves indeed, they give us exulted sentiments of 
 virtue, and sound philosophy ; when they indulge in poetic recol- 
 lections, they present us with the fables of antiquity. Hence the 
 gods are alternately, and as the subject requires, venerable or con- 
 temptible ; and this could not but happen, through the want of some 
 religious standard, to which all might with confidence refer. 
 
 I come now to a more serious charge against Juvenal, that of 
 indecency. To hear the clamour raised against him, it might be 
 supposed, by one unacquainted with the times, that he was the 
 only indelicate writer of his age and country. Yet Horace and 
 Persius wrote with equal grossness : yet the rigid Stoicism of 
 Seneca did not deter him from the use of expressions, which 
 Juvenal perhaps would have rejected : yet the courtly Pliny 
 poured out gratuitous indecencies in his frigid hendecasyllables, 
 which he attempts to justify by the example of a writer to whose 
 freedom the licentiousness of Juvenal ii>^ purity. It seems as if 
 tliere was something of pique in the singular severity with which 
 he is censured. His pure and sublime morality operates as a tacit 
 reproach on the generality of mankind, who seek to indemnify 
 themselves by questioning tlie sanctity they cannot but respect ; 
 and find a secret pleasure in persuading one another that " this 
 dreaded satirist" was at heart, no inveterate enemy of the licen- 
 tiousness he so vehemently reprehends. 
 
 When we consider the unnatural vices at which Juvenal direct%
 
 AN ESSAY ON THE ROMAN SATIRISTS. lix 
 
 his indignation, and reflect, at the same time, on the peculiar 
 qualities of his mind, we shall not find much cause perhaps for 
 wonder in the strength of his expressions. I should resign him in 
 silence to the hatred of mankind, if his aim, like that of too many- 
 others, whose works are read with delight, had been to render 
 vice amiable, to fling his seducing colours over impurity, and 
 inflame the passions by meretricious hints at what is only innoxious 
 when exposed in native deformity : but when I find that his views 
 are to render depravity loathsome; that every thing which can 
 alarm and disgust, is directed at her, in his terrible page, I forget 
 the grossness of the execution in the excellence of the design ; and 
 pay my involuntary homage to that integrity, which fearlessly 
 calling in strong description to the aid of virtue, attempts to 
 purify the passions, at the hazard of wounding our delicacy, and 
 offending our taste. This is due to Juvenal ; in justice to myself, 
 let me add, that I could have been better pleased to have had no 
 occasion to speak at all on the subject. 
 
 Wiiether any considerations of this or a similar nature, deterred 
 our literali from turning these Satires into English, I cannot say ; 
 but, though partial versions might be made, it was not until the 
 beginning of the seventeenth century that a complete translation 
 was thought of; when two men, of celebrity in their days, under- 
 took it about the same time ; these were Barten Holyday, and Sir 
 Robert Stapylton. Who entered first upon the task, cannot well 
 be told. There appears somewhat of a querulousness on both 
 sides; a jealousy that their versions had been communicated in 
 manuscript to each other : Stapylton's however, was first pub- 
 lished, though Holyday's seems to have been first finished. 
 
 Of this ingenious man it is not easy to speak with too much 
 respect. His learning, industry, judgment, and taste are every 
 where conspicuous : nor is he without a very considerable portion 
 of shrewdness to season his observations. His poetry indeed, or
 
 Ix AN ESSAY ON THE ROMAN SATIRISTS,. 
 
 rather his ill-measured prose, is Intolerable : no human patience 
 can toil through a single page of it ;* but his notes, tliough 
 inelegantly written, will always be consulted with pleasure. His 
 work has been of considerable use to the subsequent editors of 
 Juvenal, both at home and abroad ; and indeed, such is its general 
 accuracy, that little excuse remains for any notorious deviation 
 from the sense of the original. 
 
 Stapylton had equal industry, and more poetry ; but he wanted 
 his learning, his judgment, and his ingenuity. His notes, though 
 numerous, are trite, and scarce beyond the reach of a school-boy. 
 He Is besides scandalously indecent on many occasions, where 
 his excellent rival was Innocently unfaithful, or silent. 
 ■ With these translations, such as they were, the town was satis- 
 fied until the end of the seventeenth century, when the necessity of 
 something more poetical becoming apparent, the booksellers, as 
 Johnson says, " proposed a new version to the poets of that time, 
 which was undertaken by Dryden, whose reputation was such, 
 that no man was unwilling; to serve the Muses under him." 
 
 Dryden's account of this translation, is given with such candour, 
 in the exquisite dedication which precedes it, that I shall lay it 
 before the reader in his own words. " The common way which 
 we have taken, is not a literal translation, but a kind of para- 
 phrase, or somewhat which is yet more loose, betwixt a paraphrase, 
 and a translation. 
 
 " Thus much may be said for us, that If we give not the whole 
 sense of Juvenal, yet we give the most considerable part of it: we 
 give it. In general, so clearly, that few notes are sufficient to make 
 us intelligible : we make our author at least appear In a poetic 
 
 • With all my respect for the learning of this good old man, it is impossible, now and 
 then, to suppress a smile at his simplicity. In iipologizing for his translation, he says : 
 " As for pnblishing poetry, it needs no defence; there being, if my Lord of Verulara's 
 judgment bhall be admitted, a divine rapture in it!"
 
 AN ESSAY ON THE ROMAN SATIRISTS. 
 
 Ixr 
 
 dress. We have actually made him more sounding, and more 
 elegant, than he was before in English: and have endeavoured to 
 make him speak that kind of Enn;lish, which he would have 
 spoken had he lived in England, and had written to this age. IT 
 sometimes any of us (and it is but seldom) make him express the 
 customs and manners of his native country, rather than oi Rome, 
 it is, either when there was some kind of analogy, betwixt their 
 customs and ours ; or when, to make him more easy to vulgar 
 understandinscs, we nave him those manners which are familiar to 
 us. But I defend not this innovation, it is enough if I can excuse 
 it. For to speak sincerely, the manners of nations and ages are not 
 to be confounded." 
 
 This is, surely, sufficiently modest. Johnson's description of it 
 is somewhat more favourable, " the general character ol this 
 translation will be given when it is said to preserve the wit, but to 
 want the dignity, of the original." Is this correct? Dryden fre- 
 quently degrades the author into a jester ; but Juvenal has few 
 moments of levity. Wit, indeed, he possesses in an eminent 
 degree, but it is tinctured with his pecuharities ; rar.) jocos, as 
 Lipsius well observes, sapius acerbas sales tniscel. Dignity is the 
 predominant quality of his mind : he can, and does, relax with 
 grace, but he never forgets himself; he smiles, indeed; but his 
 smile is more terrible than his frown, for it is never excited, but 
 when his indignation is mingled with contempt; ridet el odit ! 
 Where his dignity, therefore, is wanting, his wit will be imper- 
 fectly preserved.'' 
 
 On the whole, there is nothing in this quotation to deter suc- 
 
 • Yet Johnson knew him well. The peculiarity of Juvenal, he says, (Vol. IX.p.42-1-,) 
 is a mixture of gaiety and slateliness, of pointed sentences, and dpclamatory grandeur. 
 A good idea of it may be formed from liis own beautiful imitation of the third Satire. 
 His imitation of the tenth (still more beautiful as a poem) has scarce a trait of the 
 author's manner.
 
 Ixii AN ESSA.Y ON THE ROMAN SATIRISTS. 
 
 ceeding writers from attempting at least, to supply the deficiencies 
 of Dryden, and his fellow labourers : and, perhaps, I could point 
 out several circumstances which might make it laudable, if not 
 necessary : — but this would be to trifle with the reader, who is 
 already apprized that, as far as relates to myself, no motives but 
 those of obedience, determined me to the task for which I now 
 solicit the indulgence of the public. 
 
 When I first took up this author, I knew not of any other 
 translator ; nor was it until the scheme of publishing him was 
 started, that I began to reflect seriously on the nature of what I 
 had undertaken, to consider by what exertions I could render that 
 'useful which was originally meant for amusement, and justify, in 
 some measure, the partiality of my benefactors. 
 
 My first object was to become as familiar as possible with my au« 
 thor, of whom I collected every edition that my own interest, or that 
 of my friends could procure ; together with such translations as I 
 could discover either here or abroad : from a careful examination 
 of all these, I formed the plan, to which, while I adapted my former 
 labours, I anxiously strove to accomodate my succeeding ones. 
 
 Dryden had said " if we give not the whole, yet we give 
 the most considerable part of it." My determination was to give 
 the whole, and really make the work what it professed to be, 
 a translation of Juvenal. I had seen enough of castrated editions, 
 to observe that little was gained by them on the score of propriety ; 
 since, when the author was reduced to half his bulk, at the ex- 
 pense of his spirit and design, sufficient remained to alarm the 
 delicacy for which the sacrifice had been made. Chaucer observes 
 with great naivete, 
 
 " Whoso shall tell a tale after a man, 
 
 " He moste reherse as neighe as ever he can 
 
 " Everlch word, if it be in his charge, 
 
 " All speke he never so rudely and so large: —
 
 AN ESSAY ON THE ROMAN SATIRJSTS. Ixlii 
 
 And indeed the age of Chaucer, like that of Juvenal, allowed of 
 such liberties. Other times, other manners. Many words were in 
 common use with our ancestors, which raised no improper ideas, 
 though they would not, and indeed could not, at tliis time be 
 tolerated : with the Greeks and Romans, it was still worse : their 
 dress, which left many parts of the body exposed, gave a boldness 
 to their language, which was not perhaps lessened by the infre- 
 quency of women at those social conversations, of which tliey now 
 constitute the refinement, and the delight. Add to this, that tlieir 
 mythology, and their sacred rites, which took their rise in very 
 remote periods, abounded in the undisguised phrases of a rude 
 and simple age, and being religiously handed down from genera- 
 tion to generation, gave a currency to many terms, which offered 
 no violence to modesty, though, abstractedly considered by people 
 of a different language and manners, they appear pregnant with 
 turpitude and guilt. 
 
 When we observe this licentiousness (for I should wrong many 
 of the ancient writers, to call it libertinism) in the pages of their 
 historians and philosophers, we may be pretty confident that it 
 raised no blush on the cheek of their readers. It was the Ian<i:uas:e 
 of the times — liac illis natura est omnibus una : and if it be consi- 
 dered as venial in those, surely a little farther indulgence will not 
 be misapplied to the satirist, whose object is the exposure of what 
 the former have only to notice. 
 
 Thus much may suffice for Juvenal : but shame and sorrow on 
 the head of him, who presumes to transfer his grossness into the 
 vernacular tongues. Though I have given him entire, I have en- 
 deavoured to make him speak as he would have spoken if he had 
 lived amongst us ; when, refined with the age, he would have ful- 
 minated against impurity in terms, to which, though delicacy might 
 disavow them, manly decency might listen without offence. 
 
 I have said above, that " the whole of Juvenal" is here given;
 
 Ixiv AN ESSAY ON THE ROMAN SATIRISTS. 
 
 this must be understood with a few restrictions. Where vice, of 
 whatever nature, formed the immediate object of reprobation, it has 
 not been spared in the translation ; but I have sometimes taken 
 the liberty of omitting an exceptionable line, when it had no 
 apparent connection with the subject of the Satire. Some acquaint- 
 ance with the original will be necessary to discover these lacunae, 
 which do not, in all, amount to half a page : for the rest, I have 
 no apologies to make. Here are no allusions, covert or open, to 
 the follies and vices of modern times ; nor has the dignity of the 
 original been prostituted, in a single instance, to the gratification 
 of private spleen. 
 
 I have attempted to follow, as far as I judged it feasible, the 
 style of my author,* which is more various than is usually sup- 
 posed. It is not necessary to descend to particulars ; but my 
 meaning will be understood by those, who carefully compare the 
 original of the thirteenth and fourteenth Satires, with the transla- 
 tion. In the twelfth, and in that alone, I have perhaps raised it a 
 little ; but it really appears so contemptible a performance in the 
 doggerel of Dryden's coadjutor, (a Mr. Power) that I thought some- 
 what more attention than ordinary was in justice due to It. It is not 
 a chef-d'oeuvre by any means ; but it is a pretty and a pleasnig little 
 poem, deserving more notice than it has usually received. 
 
 I could have been sagacious and obscure on many occasions, 
 with very little difficulty ; but I strenuously combated every in- 
 clination to find out more than my author meant. The general 
 character of this translation, if I do not deceive myself, will be 
 
 * Let me be explicit. Several of these Satires were Englished before I had acquired 
 a-iiy precise notions tf style. On the revision of what I had written, I certainly endea- 
 voured to adapt it to my nioic mature ideas on the subject: it is not for me to say, 
 how I have succeeded : but with the exception of tlic third Satire, whicli is almost 
 literally transcribed from my school exercise, all have undergone considerable alte- 
 rations.
 
 AN ESSAY ON THE ROMAN SATIEISTS. Ixv 
 
 found to be plainness ; and, indeed, the highest praise to which I 
 aspire, is that of having left tlie original more intelligible than I 
 loinul it. 
 
 On numbering the lines, I find that my translation contains a 
 few more than Dryden's. This will not appear extraordinary, 
 when it is considered that I have introduced an infinite number of 
 circumstances from the text, which he thought himself justified in 
 omitting ; and tiiat, with the trifling exceptions already mentioned, 
 nothing has been passed, whereas he and his assistants overlooked 
 whole sections, and sometimes (as in the fourteenth Satire) very 
 considerable ones. Every where, too, I have endeavoured to 
 render the transitions less abrupt, and to obviate or disguise the 
 difficulties which a difference of manners, habits, k.c. necessarily 
 creates : all this calls for an additional number of lines ; which 
 the English reader at least, will seldom have occasion to regret. 
 
 Of the " borrowed learning of notes," which Dryden says he 
 avoided as much as possible, I have amply availed myself. During; 
 the long period in which I have had my thoughts fixed on Juvenal, 
 it has been usual with me, whenever I found a passage that related 
 to him, to fix it on my memory, or to note it down. These, on 
 the revision of the work for the press, I added to such reflections 
 as arose in my own mind, and arranged in the manner they now 
 appear. I confess tliat tiiis was not an unpleasant task to me, and 
 I will venture to hope, that il my own suggestions fail to please, 
 yet the frequent recurrence of some ol' the most striking and beau- 
 tiful passages of ancient and modern poetry, history. Sec. will render 
 it neither unamusina; nor uninstructive to the general reader. The 
 information insinuated into the mind by miscellaneous collections 
 of this nature, is much greater tlian is usually imagined; and I 
 have been frequently encouraged to proceed, by recollecting tlie 
 benefits I formerly derived from casual notices scattered ovei the 
 margin, or dropped at the bottom of a page. 
 
 i
 
 Ixvi AN ESSAY ON THE ROMAN SATIRISTS. 
 
 In this compilation, I proceeded on no regular plan, farther than 
 considering what, if I had been a mere English reader, I should 
 wish to have had explained: it is therefore extremely probable, as 
 every rule of this nature must be imperfect, that I have frequently 
 erred ; have spoken where I should be silent, and been prolix 
 where I should be brief: on the whole however, I chose to offend 
 on the safer side; and to leave nothing unsaid, at the hazard of 
 sometimes saying too much. Tedious, perhaps, I may be, but, I 
 trust, not dull ; and with this negative commendation I must be 
 satisfied. The passages I have produced, are not always translated; 
 but the English reader needs not for that be discouraged in pro- 
 ceeding, as he will frequently find sufficient in the context, to 
 give him a general idea of the meaning. In many places I have 
 copied the words, together with the sentiments of the writer ; for 
 this, if it call for an apology, I shall take that of Macrobius, who 
 had somewhat more occasion for it than I shall be found to have: 
 JVec mihi vitiovertas, si res quas ex lectione varia mulimbor, ipsis sape 
 verbis quibus ab ipsis auctoribus enarrata sunt e.xplicabo, quia prasens 
 opus noil eloquenliee ostenlalionem, sed noscendorum congeriem polli- 
 celur, &c. Saturn. Lib. I. c. i. 
 
 I have now said all that occurs to me on this subject : a more 
 pleasing one remains. I cannot, indeed, like Dryden, boast of my 
 poetical coadjutors. No Congreves and Creeches have abridged, 
 while they adorned, my labours;* yet have I not been without 
 assistance, and of the most valuable kind. 
 
 Whoever is acquainted with the habits of intimacy in which I 
 have lived from early youth, with the Rev. Mr. Ireland, t will not 
 
 * I must except the first twenty or thirty Uncs of the eleventh Satire. See the 
 Argument. f Vicar of Croydon, in Surry.
 
 AN ESSAY ON THE ROMAN SATIRISTS. IxvU 
 
 want to be informed of his sliare in the following pages. To those 
 who are not, it is proper to say, that besides the passages in which 
 he is introduced by name, every other part of the work has been 
 submitted to his inspection. Nor would his affectionate anxiety for 
 the reputation of his friend, suffer any part of the translation to 
 appear, without undergoing the strictest revision. His uncommon 
 accuracy, judgment, and learning, have been uniformly exerted on 
 it, not less, I am confident, to the advantage of the reader, than to 
 my own satisfiiction. It will be seen that we sometimes differ in 
 opinion ; but as I usually distrust my own judgment in those cases, 
 I have submitted the decision to the reader. 
 
 I have also to express my obligations to Abraham Moore, Esq. 
 Barrister at law, a gentleman whose taste and learning are well 
 known to be only surpassed by his readiness to oblige: of which 
 I have the most convincing proofs ; since the hours he dedicated 
 to the following sheets (which I lament that he only saw in their 
 progress through the press) were snatched from avocations as urgent 
 as they were important. 
 
 A paper was put into my hand by Mr. George Nicol, the pro- 
 moter of every literary work, from R. P. Knight, Esq. containing 
 subjects lor engravings illustrative of Juvenal, and, with singular 
 generosity, offering nie the use of his marbles, gems, 8cc. As these 
 did not fall witliin my plan, I can only here retui'n him my thanks 
 for a kindness as extraordinary as it was unexpected. But I have 
 other and greater obligations to Mr. Nicol. In conjunction with Mr. 
 William Nicol, he has watched tlie progress of this work through 
 the press with unwearied solicitude. Dining my occasional absences 
 from town, the correction of it (for which, indeed the state of my 
 eyes renders me at all times rather unfit) rested almost solely on 
 him ; and it is but justice to add, that his habitual accuracy in this 
 ungrateful employ, is not the only quality to which I am bound 
 to confess my obligations.
 
 THE 
 
 SATIRES 
 
 OF 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 B
 
 SATIRE I. 
 
 SCrguniciu. 
 
 DrydenwUI have this Sat'ue to he the " ground-work oj all the rest;" 
 it rather seems, from several circumstances mentioned in it, to have been 
 produced siihsequent to most of them; and iims probably draiini up after 
 the Author had determined to collect and jmblish his jyojks, as a kind of 
 Introduction. 
 
 Even without this evidence, we misht have concluded it to be written 
 late in lije, and by a man habituated to composition. Juvenal could not 
 say with Hall, 
 
 " Stay till my beard shall siueep my aged breast, 
 " Then shall I seem an aivjul Satirist." 
 He had reached that period; ami deriving dignity f)om years, and 
 intrepidity Jrom conscious rectitude, he announces himself with a tone 
 of autho)ity, which we neither jeel inclined to doubt, nor to n'ithstand. 
 
 He breaks silence with an impassioned complaint of the clamorous 
 importunity of bad writers, and a humourous resolution of retaliating 
 upon them, by liuiiing author himself ! He then ridicules the frivolous 
 taste of his contemporaries in the choice oj their subjects, intimating his 
 own determination to devote himself wholly to Satire; to which he 
 declares, with all the warmth of virtuous indignation, he is driven by 
 the vices of the age. 
 
 He now exposes the corruption of the men, the profligacy of the women, 
 the luxury of courtiers, the baseness of informers and fortune-huntei s, 
 the treachery of guardians, and the peculation of the officers of the state. 
 Kindling with his theme, he warmly censures the general avidity for 
 gamins;, tfie servile rapacity of the mendicant patricians, the avarice and 
 (ylutlony of the rich, and the miser(d)le slate of poverty and dejection in 
 which they kept their followers and dependants. Finally, lie makes some 
 bitter reflections on the danger of satirizing living villany, and concludes 
 with a resolution to attack it, under the mask of departed names.
 
 SATIRE I. 
 
 V. I — 4. 
 
 What ! while with one eternal mouthing hoarse, 
 Codrus persists on my vex'd ear to force 
 His Theseid, must I, to my fate resign'd, 
 Hear, on'LY hear, and never pay in kind? 
 
 Ver. 1. What! while with one eternal mouthing hoarse,'] Before the in- 
 vention of printing, authors had no shorter road to fame than public rehearsals. 
 To procure full audiences for these, they had recourse to interest, solicitations, 
 and, in case they were rich enough, to bribes. 
 
 This is mentioned as one of the plagues of Rome, so early as the time of 
 Horace — auditum scripla relictis omnibus qfficiis; and Suetonius relates of 
 Augustus, that he attended them with great patience and good humour. But 
 the race of scribblers was prodigiously multiplied in Juvenal's days, and con- 
 sequently, the grievance of following their rehearsals was more deeply felt. 
 Pliny, good man! says he sacrificed months to them : our author, if we may 
 judge from his manner, had sacrificed more. It appears, however, from a 
 very picturesque passage in Pliny's letter to S. Senecio, that the general 
 listlessness with which they were attended, was exceedingl)' great. After 
 repeated invitations and delays, when the rehearser has now taken his station, 
 and spread his book before him, and is on the point of beginning, " turn 
 demum," says Pliny, " ac tunc quoque lenle, cunctanterque veniunt, ttec tamen 
 permanent, scd antejinem recedunt ; alii dissimulanter etfurtim, alii simpliciter 
 it liberL" Ep. xiii. lib. i. 
 
 Ver. 2. Codrus, &>€.'] Holyday supposes this to be the person who is 
 mentioned again in the third Satire ; and of whose goods and chattels so
 
 6 SATIRE I. JUVENAL. V. 5—12. 
 
 Must this with farce and folly rack my head 
 Unpunish'd? that, with sing-song, whine me dead? 
 Must Telephus, huge Telephus ! at will 
 The day, unpunish'd, waste? or, huger still, 
 Orestes, with broad margin over-writ, 
 
 And back, and O, ye gods ! not finish'd yet? 
 
 Away — I know not my own house so well 
 As the trite, thread-bare themes, on which ye dwell ; 
 
 curious an inventory is there given. It may be so; and yet the vahiables 
 alluded to, would rather seem to have been collected by an antiquary, than a 
 poet. Holyday adds, " he had nothing of a poet but the poverty :" he might, 
 at least, have throvi^n in the pertinacity. What else he had cannot now be 
 known, as his works are lost. The old scholiast tells us, that the Theseid 
 (which so happily provoked our author to retaliate) was a tragedy : it was 
 more probably an epic poem. The authors of Telephus and Orestes, have 
 escaped the edge of ridicule ; they are no where mentioned. 
 
 Ver. 11. Away — I know not my own house so well, 4"c.] Hall has imitated 
 this passage with some humour : 
 
 " No man his threshold better knows than I 
 
 " Brutes first arrival, and his victory, 
 
 " St. George's sorrel, and his cross of blood, 
 
 " Arthur's round board, or Caledonian wood ; 
 
 " But so to fill up books, both back and side, 
 
 " What boots it ? " Sec. 
 We have here a summary of the subjects which usually employed the wits 
 of Rome ; and certainly they could not be much more interesting to the 
 readers of those times, than they are to us. Martial seems to have thought 
 as meanly of them as our author; and in two very excellent epigrams, asserts 
 the superior usefulness of his own compositions; you mistake, says he, when 
 you call my works trifles; the Supper of Tereus, the Flight of Da?dalus, 
 &c. &c. these are trifles : what I write " comes home to mens' businesses, 
 and bosoms" — et hominem ^agi»a nostra supit ! 
 The expedition to fetch, or, as Juvenal will have it, to steal, the golden
 
 SATIRE I. JUVENAL. V. 13— 20, 7 
 
 Mars' grove, and Vulcan's cave ! — How the Winds roar, 
 How gliosts are tortured on the Stygian shore. 
 How Jason stole the golden fleece, and how 
 The Centaurs fought on Othrys' shaggy brow% 
 The walks of Fronto echo round and round ; 
 (The columns trembling with the eternal sound,) 
 \\'hile high and low, as the mad fit invades, 
 Bellow the same dull nonsense through the shades. 
 I TOO CAN WRITE. — OivcE, at a pedant's frown, 
 I pour'd my frothy fustian on the town. 
 And idly proved that Sylla, far from power, 
 Had pass'd, unknown to fear, the tranquil hour: 
 Now I resume my pen ; for since we meet 
 Such swarms of desperate bards in every street, 
 
 fleece, is a manifest allusion to the Argonauts of Valerius Flaccus. The poem 
 is, by no means, a bad one ; and yet he sneers at it again in this very Satire : 
 but it was the triteness of the story which provoked his ridicule; to which, 
 perhaps, may be added some little prejudice against the author, for his 
 flattery of the Flavian family — a family which Juvenal hated; and to use an 
 expression of Dr. Johnson's, he was a good hater! 
 
 Ver. 17- The walks of Fronto, 4'c.] Juvenal returns to the charge. The 
 unhappy men who could not procure an audience for their rehearsals, haunted 
 the baths, forums, porticos, and other places of general resort, in order to 
 fasten on the loiterers, and thus obtain a hearing. For this, no place was so 
 well adapted as the house and gardens of Fronto (a noblemaa of great 
 learning and virtue), which were always open to the public, and exceedingly 
 frequented. 
 
 The picture in the original is excellent: nor can the fancy easily conceive 
 a more ludicrous scene, than the little groups collected by the eager poets, in 
 various parts of the garden, and compelled to listen to the ravings which 
 burst the pillars, and shook the statues from their pedestals.
 
 8 SATIRE I. JUVENAL. V. 27—34. 
 
 'Twere vicious clemency to spare the oil. 
 And hapless paper, they are sure to spoil. 
 
 But why I choose, adventurous, to retrace 
 The Auruncan's route, and in the arduous race 
 Follow his glowing wheels, attentive hear. 
 If leisure serve, and truth be worth your care. 
 
 When the soft eunuch makes the fair a bride, 
 When Maevia, all the woman laid aside, 
 
 Vee. 29. But whj/ I choose, adventurous, to retrace 
 
 The Auruncan's route, 4'c.] By the Auiuncan, Juvenal means 
 Lucilius, who was born at Aurunra, a town in Campania. Horace calls him 
 the first satirist, which he was not, for Ennius preceded him by many years. 
 Quintilian, with his accustomed accuracy, terms him the first regular one ; and 
 this he confessedly was. His works appear to have been highly esteemed, even 
 in the Augustan age, when Horace, with more good sense than success, endea- 
 voured to qualify the general prejudice in his favour. Quintilian observes of 
 him, that he had a great deal of wit and learning, and that his boldness was 
 equal to his seventy. It was this latter quality which endeared him to Juvenal, 
 who, as well as his immediate predecessor, Persius, always mentions him with 
 respect. 
 
 Ver. 34. JVhen Mcevia, ^c] Under Domitian such instances were com- 
 mon ; for he not only exhibited combats of men with wild beasts, but of 
 women also ; and the noblest of both sexes were sometimes engaged in them ! 
 Drydcn read, in .1 note on this passage. Alia indignutio in mulierum im- 
 pudentiam quce temporibus Domitiani, in renationes et pitgnas Iheatrales 
 descendebanl . The word renationes (the technical term for these kinds of 
 combats) struck him, and he according rendered the original thus, 
 " When mannish Majvia, that two-handed whore, 
 " Astride on horse-back hunts the Tuscan boar." 
 For this, a late translator condescends to pity him, " Unhappy Drjden," saith 
 he, " but he shall appear but once more." Now this, as Parson Hugh sagely 
 observes, " is aflectations;" and should, I think, be " reformed altogether." 
 If Pope called Dryden unhappy, it was not for an unimportant mistake ;
 
 SATIRE I. JUVENAL. V. 35— 38. 
 
 Enters the lists, and, to the middle bare, 
 Hurls at the Tuscan boar the quivering spear ; 
 When he who oft, since manhood first appear'd. 
 Hath trimm'd the exuberance of this soundin^ beard, 
 
 besides, that great man might venture to say what we small poets cannot 
 with modesty repeat after him ; and methinks it would not be amiss, if an 
 observation of our author's, on another occasion, were sometimes in our minds, 
 
 " plurima sunt quae 
 
 " Non audent homines pertusS. dicere lasn^." 
 Of Maevia I can find no account : there is, indeed, a strumpet so called in 
 IMartial, but she was poor : her profligacy, however, may have tempted 
 Juvenal to transfer her name to this noble gladiatrix. 
 Ver, 37. When he who oft, ^c] 
 
 " Quo tondente gravis juveni mihi barba sonabat :" 
 Juvenal seems pleased with this line, for he introduces it in a subsequent 
 passage. I suppose he meant it for a specimen of the mock-heroic ; it is not, 
 however, a very sucdessful one. Holyday's translation of it, is curious enough. 
 " One whose officious scizzars went snip, snip, 
 " As he my troublesome young beard did clip ! " 
 This " snipper" was Cinnamus, who, from the servile employment here 
 mentioned, raised himself, by ministering to the pleasures of the ladies, to a 
 knight's estate, and a prodigious fortune. He is brought forward again in the 
 tenth Satire, and nearly in the same words. His fate affords a striking illus- 
 tration of the great truths contained in that admirable piece; for not long 
 alter it was written, he was prosecuted for some offence not now known, and, 
 to avoid condemnation, left all his wealth behind him, and fled into Sicily : 
 where Martial, wiio is frequently the best commentator on Juvenal, honours 
 him with an epigram ; in whicli, after bitterly condoling with him on his 
 helpless old age, and reckoning up a variety of employments for which he is 
 not fit, he points out to him the necessity of turning barlx;r again ! 
 " Non rhetor, non grammaticus, ludive magister, 
 
 "■ Non Cynicus, non tu Stoicus esse poles ; 
 " Vendere nee vocem, Siculis plausumque theatris, 
 
 " Quod superest, iterum Cinname, tonsor cris." E^.lxiv, lib, \ii, 
 
 C
 
 10 SATIRE I. JUVEKAL. V. 39—42. 
 
 Vies with the state in riches : when that vile 
 And low-bred reptile, from the slime of Nile, 
 Crispinus, from his lady-shoulder throws 
 The purple cloke which too luxuriant flows, 
 
 To this man, and to his fortunes, might justly be applied the fine sarcasm 
 of Claudian on the eunuch Eutiopius : 
 
 " Culmine dejectum vitae Foituna piioii 
 " Reddidit, insano jam satiata ludo !" 
 Ver. 41. Cum pars Niliaca plebis, ciim verna Canopi 
 
 Crhpinm, ] This man rose, under Nero, from the con- 
 dition of a slave, to riches and honours. His connection with that monster 
 recommended him to Domitian, with whom he seems to have been in high 
 favour. He shared his counsels, ministered to his amusements, and was the 
 ready instrament of his cruelties. For these, and other causes, Juvenal re- 
 garded him with perfect detestation. He cannot speak of him with temper; 
 and whenever he introduces him, which he does on all occasions, it is with 
 mingled contempt and horror. Here he is not only a Niliacan (an expression 
 which conveyed more to Juvenal's mind than it does to ours) but a Canopian, 
 a native of the most profligate spot in Egypt ; not only one of the dregs of the 
 people, but a slave ; and not only a slave, but a slave born of a slave ! Hence 
 the poet's indignation at his effeminate luxury. 
 
 Martial, always begging, and always in distress, has a hue and cry after a 
 " purple cloke," stolen from this minion, while he was bathing : 
 " Nescit cui dedcrit Tyriam Crispinus abollam * 
 " Dum mutat cultus," &,c. 
 
 * The abo/Ia (which I suppose to be the lacerna of our author), was a loose 
 upper garment or wrapper, worn by philosophers, magistrates, senators, &,c. : 
 " that it was a grave habit" (says Hol3'day, on another occasion), " I nothing 
 doubt, from Pegasus' taking it with him to the council." This, however, 
 depended on circumstances. A cloke of coarse gray clotli was neither repug- 
 nant to the age, nor gravity of the praefect: but the abolla of Crispinus was 
 a very different thing; it was dyed in Tyrian purple, the most expensive of 
 all colours; and, from its size, must have cost an inconceivable sum. 
 
 it may seem odd, that he who could scarce bear the weight of a summer 
 ring, should nevertheless load his shoulders with a robe of this kind : but it 
 was the splendour and extravagance of it, which influenced his choice. 
 Vanity, as Shakspeare somewhere says of miser)', makes a man acquainted 
 with strange garments ! 
 
 i
 
 SATIRE I. JUVENAL. V. 43—^1. u 
 
 \ 
 
 Or fans his finger, labouring with the fi-eight 
 Of a hght summer ring ; and, faint with heat, 
 Cries, " save me from a gem of greater weight !" 
 'Tis hard to choose a less indignant strain — 
 For who so slow of heart, so dull of brain. 
 So patient of the town's increasing crimes, 
 As not to burst impetuous into rhymes ! 
 When bloated Matho, in a new-built chair, 
 Stuft with himself, is borne abroad for air; 
 
 and in an epigram equally contemptible for its baseness, and its impiety, 
 entreats his favourable word with Domitian : Sic, saj-s he, 
 
 " Sic placidum videas semper, Crispine, tonantem, 
 " Nee te Roma minus quam tua Memphis amat." 
 But he has his reward : his adulation was then neglected, and is now despised ; 
 while the severity of his manlier friend, was the admiration of his own age, 
 and will be the delight of posterity. 
 
 I do not know whether Ammianus Marcellinus had the character of Cris- 
 pinus in his thoughts, when he wrote the following elegant passage ; but it 
 certainly throws more light than any other I am acquainted with, on the 
 humero rcvocante lacernas, the flinging back and recovering the " purple 
 cloke." Alii summum deem in ambilioso vestium cultu ponenies, sudant suit 
 ponderilms lacernarum, quas collis iiisertai cingulis ipsis adnectunt, nimia 
 suhleminum temiitate perfiahiks, cxpectanti-s crebiis agitationibus, maximiquc 
 sinistra, iit longiorcsjimbrice limiccEque perspicue litceanl. 
 
 Ver. 44. Of a light summer ring, Sfc."] The "dainty pride" of the 
 Romans, as Holyday calls it, liad arrived at such a pitch, that they had dif- 
 ferent rings for different seasons : not that so absurd a refinement in luxury 
 could be general ; it serves, however, to mark the affected delicacy of 
 Crispinus. 
 
 Ver. 50. When bloated Matho, &)C.] Matho (as we find from the seventh 
 Satire) originally followed the profession of a lawyer; but meeting, perhaps 
 deserving, no encouragement, he fell into the extremes of poverty, and broke.
 
 12 
 
 SATIRE I. JUVENAL. V. 52—57- 
 
 Follow'd by him, who, to the imperial hate, 
 A noble friend betray 'd ; and now, elate 
 AVith one patrician's fall, aspires to wrest 
 The poor remains of greatness from the rest ; 
 Whom Massa dreads, though of the informing tribe, 
 Whom anxious Carus softens with a bribe, 
 
 He then turned informer ; the dreadful resource of men of desperate fortunes 
 and desperate characters. In this he seems to have been successful : he has a 
 chair^ which Juvenal takes care to tell us had not been long in his possession, 
 and he is grown immoderately fat, for he fills it himself. 
 
 Critics are divided about the man who followed Matho. The old Scholiast 
 says it was Ileliodorus the Stoic, who informed against iiis friend and pupil 
 Silanus ; or it was EgnatiuS Celer, or Demetrius, the lawyer. See. It was more 
 probably, however, Marcus Regulus, who carried on the trade of an informer 
 under Nero, and again under Domitian. Pliny gives an entertaining account 
 of his cowardly apprehensions for himself after the death of the latter; and 
 pronounces him to be the wickedest of all two-legged creatures, omnium 
 bipedum nequissimus. 
 
 The difficulty of fixing on any particular name, affords matter for deep 
 reflection. That so many people should at the same period be guilty of the 
 complicated crimes of treachery and ingratitude (for such is the charge) 
 could only be believed on the credit of concurring testimonies ; and gives us a 
 dreadful picture of the state of corruption into which Rome was now fallen. 
 
 Vek. 56. Whom Massa dreads, (S)c.] He speaks of Btfibius Massa, who 
 took up the trade of an informer under Domilian, and rose to great eminence 
 in guilt. Tacitus calls him a pernicious enemy to all good men, and the 
 cause of maiiv evils to the state. He was prosecuted in his turn for mal- 
 practices in his government (of the province of Ba?tica), and condemned to 
 refund his ill-gotten property. It seems, however, from Pliny, who was one 
 of his prosecutors, that there was some collusion among the judges; and that 
 the sentence was never inforced. 
 
 But though Massa might be rich, he was now no longer powerful : for 
 Martial, who was never accused of temerity, attacks him without fear.
 
 SATIRE I. JUVENAL. V. 58—71. 13 
 
 And pale Latinus, trembling for his life. 
 
 Seeks to propitiate with a handsome wife. 
 
 When brawny knaves defeat thee of thy right 
 
 By the lewd labours of a lusty night ; 
 
 For now, the hoary grandam's itch supplies 
 
 The readiest means to wealth, and power to rise : — 
 
 Not that an equal rank her minions hold, 
 
 Or all that share her favours, share her gold : 
 
 More prudent, she, their different merits known, 
 
 By nature's bounty regulates her own ; 
 
 And Proculeius mourns his scanty measure, 
 
 While Gillo triumphs in exuberant treasure. 
 
 And let him triumph ! 'tis the price of blood — 
 
 While thus defrauded of the generous flood, 
 
 Humourously exaggerating the thievish propensities of one Hermogenes, a 
 thief by descent, he observes, that he was as great a stealer of napkins, 
 wherever he Went, as Massa was of money ! 
 
 Ver. 57. Whom anxious Carus, ^c] This was Carus Metius, no less 
 conspicuous for villany than Massa. He did not, indeed, begin so early ; for 
 when Tacitus was writing the life of Agricohi, he had obtained " but one 
 victory ;" that, probably, over the virtuous Senecio, who assisted Pliny in the 
 prosecution of Massa. 
 
 The first draught of this Satire (for it was afterwards considerably improved 
 and enlarged), might be formed, I should think, soon after the above event : 
 since we find Carus, infamous as he was, and ready to join in the destruction 
 of the worthiest characters, not yet so firmly established in the Emperor's 
 favour, but that he needed the protection of a more powerful villain. 
 
 Carus obtained more " victories," as Tacitus calls them, afterwards, and 
 outlived his execrable master ; when he fell into poverty and contempt. Of 
 Latinus, or rather the mime represented by him (for he himself had been put 
 to death in a former reign), I have nothing to relate with certainty.
 
 14 SATIRE I. JUVENAL. V. 72 — 83. 
 
 The colour flies his cheek, as though he press'd, 
 With naked foot, the invenom'd aspic's crest ; 
 Or stood prepared at Lyons to declaim, 
 Where the least hazard is the loss of fame. 
 
 Heavens ! need I tell what frenzy fires my brain, 
 When yon ^ile spoiler, with his numerous train, 
 Chokes up the street, and leaves his orphan charge 
 To prostitution, and the world at large? 
 When, by a juggling sentence damn'd in vain, 
 (For who that holds the plunder, heeds the pain?) 
 Marius to wine devotes his morning hours, 
 And laughs, in exile, at the offended powers ; 
 
 Ver. 74. Or stood prepared at Lyons to declaim, Sfc.'] It was here that 
 Caligula instituted games of oratory. The meed of the conqueror is no where 
 mentioned^ but the punishment of the vanquished was to obliterate what he 
 had written with his tongue, to be ducked in the river, &c. See. Tyranny, 
 like dullness, sometimes " loves a joke," and this was a most miserable one. 
 
 If Caligula himself were one of the candidates, and any other won the 
 palm, his reward was certain death. Dio tells a curious story of Caligula's 
 accusing Domilius Afer in a set speech. Doraitius wisely determined not to 
 answer it ; but throwing himself into an ecstacy at the beauty of the compo- 
 sition, he repeated parts of it here and there, affecting to be so enraptured by 
 it, as utterly to forget that it was pronounced against himself. The artifice 
 succeeded ; his life was spared, because, when ordered to plead, he prostrated 
 himself — >tat p^af**' xeI|U£>(^, ix£T£u<r£>, u$ y.»i toi/ ^tiropa. a,v\ov (/.OiKKov n tou 
 KxKrxpOi 9oSa/x£>@'. Lib. Lix. c. xix. 
 
 The scene of these contests, which was at the confluence of the Soane and 
 the Rhone, had been looked on as a sacred spot from the earliest ages. 
 After the subjection of the country, the natives built a temple and altar here 
 to Augustus, and established, or rather renewed, the ancient festival, to which 
 there was annually a great resort. The happy thought of instituting oratorical 
 games at this altar, is, as I have already observed, due to Caligula.
 
 SATIRE I. JUVENAL. V. 84—93. 15 
 
 AVhllcj sighing o'er the victory she has won, 
 The province finds herself but more undone! 
 
 And shall I feel that crimes like these require 
 The avenging strains of the Venusian lyre, 
 And not pursue them? Shall I sing, instead, 
 Fond trifler! Hercules^ and Diomed, 
 The bellowing labyrinth, the builder's flight, 
 And the boy fall'n " such a pernicious height;" 
 When He can take th' adulterer's goods, and heir 
 That wealth, the law forbids the wife to share, 
 
 Ver. 82. Marias, ^c] Marius (see Sat. viii. v. 198), was proconsul of 
 Africa, and being prosecuted by tlie province for extortion and cruelty, was 
 convicted on the clearest evidence, fined, and banished from Italy. " Yet," 
 says Holyda)^, " reserving the greater part of his former spoils, he lived in a 
 wanton exile;" — while the Africans returned home with the wretched con- 
 solation of having defrayed their own expenses, and seen the money levied 
 on their oppressor, carried to the Roman treasury. 
 
 Juvenal observes, Marius was damnatus inani judicio ; that is, says the 
 Scholiast, non ademptis bonis. Now CiEsar had made a law to prevent this 
 kind of judgment. Pitnas facinorum auxit (Suet. Cues. Ixii), cum locupletes eo 
 J'acilius scekie sc obligarcnt, quod integris patrimoniis exulabant. It is true, 
 this, with other good laws, was now grown obsolete ; but the Scholiast's ex- 
 planation is, nevertheless, unfounded : Juvenal uses the expression inani 
 judicio, in reference to the vast wealth of Marius, which could be little, if at 
 all, aftectcd by the paltry sum (not quite ^^6000.) exacted from him by way of 
 punishment. After ail, I believe here is a tacit censure on Trajan; in the 
 third year of whose reign this scaudaluu» instance of lenity took place. 
 
 Vek. 92. When He can take the adulterer's goods, and heir 
 
 That wealth, the law forbids the zoife to share, <?)C.] Adulterers 
 were accustomed to bequeath their properly to their mistresses : this opened 
 a door to universal corruption, and occasioned so great a clamour amongst
 
 16 SATIRE I. JUVENAL. V. 94—97. 
 
 Who gave with wand'ring eye, and vacant face, 
 A tacit sanction to his own disgrace, 
 And while at every turn a look he stole, 
 Snor'd unsuspected o'er the social bowl : 
 
 the defrauded relatives, that Doniitian interfered,* and by an express law 
 rendered such infamous women incapable of receiving any bequests whatever. 
 The avarice of the Roman husbands, however, contrived to elude this whole- 
 some restriction : they became panders to their own wives, and the legacies 
 v.'ere in consequence of it, transferred to themselves ! 
 
 AuTu Tij yy\f/.as TrtBa.vviv tu ynTovt ffyj^f* 
 Kai TPClpeTOCi. TaJJ' nv iv^oX^ E^yairia. 
 
 Mr) TrXitv, f/.r\ (TxocTrleiv, aXX' t^irofAxyuis XTO^iy^av 
 
 But this was not all. If the adulterer was old and wealthy, the husband 
 slept and snored on ; if not, he watched his opportunity, and took care to 
 wake at a moment favourable to his views of extorting a compromise for an 
 attempt. 
 
 Now I am on this subject (far, indeed, from a pleasing one), I will relate a 
 little anecdote of Maecenas. He was invited to supper by one Galba, who 
 had a handsome wife. The minister was at this time all-powerful, and his 
 protection, therefore, of consequence to his host, who remarked with joy his 
 advances to his wife, and after supper, fell fast asleep. Mjecenas made the 
 best use of his time ; and a friend, whom he had brought with him, was pro- 
 ceeding to the same familiarities, when Galba, who had nothing to hope from 
 this new competitor, gravely raised his head, and exclaimed noti omnibus 
 dormio, I don't sleep for every body. This was thought a good joke at Rome, 
 where the expression soon passed into a proverb. 
 
 * Domitian's interference, however, obtains little credit with Xiphilinus. 
 Sneering at his sudden and inconsistent starts of virtue, he says he put to 
 death several women for adultery whom himself had debauched ! Su^kh ^f ta! 
 
 Lib, Lxvn. c, xii.
 
 SATIRE 1. JUVENAL. V. 98 — los. 17 
 
 Or when He hopes, presumptuous ! a command, 
 Who spent on horses all his father's land, 
 While, meanly proud the charioteer to shew, 
 O'er the Flaminian way he bade the axle glow — 
 For there, our young Automedon first tried 
 His powers, there loved the rapid car to guide, 
 
 Ver. 98. Or when Ilchopcs, presumptuous ! a command, l>;c.'\ He probably 
 alludes to Cornelius Fuscus, who fell in the Dacian war. (See Sat. iv.) Fuscus 
 had assisted Nero in his mad follies, to the ruin of his patrimony; and on 
 that founded his claim to promotion. Hence the indignation of Juvenal. 
 
 The two concluding lines of this paragraph have given the commentators 
 some trouble : 
 
 " puer Automedon nam lora tenebat, 
 
 " Ipse lacernatae cum se jactaret amicae." 
 If I understand Holyday, he refers ipse to Fuscus, and arnica lacernata to his 
 " warlike mistress :" but from the mention of Automedon, it should seem as 
 if ipse was meant of the Emperor, who, while Fuscus was shewing his dexterity 
 in driving, employed himself in exhibiting his talents in some other way, to 
 one of his favourites. 
 
 If this be allowed, the arnica lacernata must relate to Sporus, whom this 
 monster of lust espoused in Greece, afterwards brought to Italj', and exhibited 
 publicly in the streets of Rome, and elsewhere, as his wife.* Hunc Sporum. 
 lecticrc Tectum, et circa convcntus mercatusqne Gracia:, ac mox Roma circa 
 Sigillaria comitatus est, identidem exosculans ! Suet. Nero, xxviii. 
 
 The end of Sporus is singular enough to deserve a line. A few years after 
 this transaction, he was ordered, by Vitellius (then Emperor) to personate a 
 nymph, who, in some pantomime, was to be carried oft" by a ravisher: and 
 this creature — branded in the face of the whole world with infamy of the 
 deepest dye, actually put an end to himself, to avoid appealing on the stage, 
 in the dress of a female ! 
 
 * The assertion of Dio may be a comment on the complex term (amica 
 lacernata) applied to this master-miss by our author. Nero hoped to impose 
 his eunuch-v.'ifc on the people, by giving him a female name — i>»oft<«^e ^i XaQ^xi 
 tct Stojm — and tims excused his public kisses. Lib. i.xiii. c. xiii. 
 
 D
 
 18 SATIRE I. JUVENAL. V. 104— 117. 
 
 While great Pelides sought superior bliss, 
 And toy'd, and wanton'd with his master-miss. 
 
 Who would not, reckless of (he swarms he meets, 
 Fill his wide tablets in the public streets 
 With angry verse? when, through the mid-day glare, 
 Born by six slaves, and in an open chair, 
 The forger comes, who owes his lavish state 
 To a wet seal, and a fictitious date ; 
 Comes, like the soft Maecenas, lolling by, 
 And impudently braves the public eye ! 
 Or the rich widow, who, in secret, bruised 
 A filthy toad, and the rank juice infused 
 Into sweet Calene wine, and, tender soul ! 
 Reach'd to her thirsty spouse, the treacherous bowl. — 
 
 Ver. 112 Comes, like the soft Maecenas, ^c] This great man seems to have 
 beenj at once, a beau and a sloven. Seneca says, he used to walk abroad 
 with his tawdry tunic about his heels. He was so indolent, that when the 
 praefect of the guards came to him for the countersign, or watch-word, he 
 generally received him half undrest. His effeminacy is again noticed in the 
 twelfth Satire. 
 
 Vek. 114. Or the rich zcidozc, Ssc.'] The person here alluded to, saj's 
 Madan, was Agrippina, the wife of Claudius, &,c. It is not unusual (and I 
 speak it for the sake of critics of a much higher order than Mr. Madan), for 
 a commentator to note what is immediately before him, without deigning to 
 cast an eye to the right hand or the left. The husband, in the text, is poisoned 
 by a draught of wine ; Claudius was dispatched by a mushroom : but it is 
 needless to pursue the subject. Poisoning husbands, unluckily, was not so 
 rare an event in those days, that we should set an author at variance with 
 himself to appropriate it. It is sad to see Britannicus fall into this error ; sed 
 aliqitaiuh bonus. — For the next line, see Sat. ni. ver. 5.
 
 SATIRE 1. JUVENAL. V. 118—128. 19 
 
 Now baffling old Locusta in her skill. 
 She shows her simpler neighbours how to kill, 
 And how to bear the spotted corpse along, 
 Deaf to the murmurs of th' indignant throng. 
 Dare nobly, man, if greatness be thy aim, 
 And practice what may chains and exile claim ; 
 On Guilt's broad base, thy towering fortunes raise, 
 For Virtue starves on — universal praise ; 
 While Vice controls the penury of Fate, 
 Bestows the sculptured vase, the antique plate, 
 The lordly mansion, and the fair estate. 
 
 \ 
 
 Ver. 118. Now baffling old Locusta, <%c.] This superannuated wretch, 
 Locusta (or, as the commentators on Dio call her, Lucusla), who seems to 
 have reduced the art of poisoning to a science, is frequently mentioned by the 
 writers of Juvenal's time, with execration. She had been condemned to die 
 for a thousand crimes ; but was kept alis'e by the besotted Claudius, as an 
 useful instrument of state vengeance : and was, at length, employed against 
 the very man, whose dark designs she was reserved to facilitate ! But so it 
 ever is : the man who formed the brazen bull, first proved its tortures ; and, 
 as Shakspeare beautiiully observes, 
 
 " ■ 'tis the sport to see the engineer 
 
 " Hois'd with his own petar." 
 Nero made use of her afterwards to destroy Britannicus, and, perhaps, 
 Burrhus; but upon the accession of Galba, she was dragged to execution 
 amidst the shouts and insults of the populace. 
 
 Vek. 125. For Virtue starves on — universal praise;] This is prettily 
 alluded to by Massinger. 
 
 " in this avaricious age 
 
 " AVhal price bears Honour ? Virtue ? Long ago 
 " It was but praised, and freezed; but now-a-days, 
 " "Tis far more cold, and has nor love, nor praise." 
 
 Fatal Dowry,
 
 20 SATIRE I. JUVENAL. V. 129—156. 
 
 O ! who can see the step-father impure, 
 The greedy daughter to his bed alhire ; 
 See, and suppress his feeUngs while he sees, 
 Unnatural brides, and stripling debauchees? 
 When crimes like these on every side arise, 
 Anger shall give the verse, that wit denies ; 
 Force every dolt in Virtue's cause to write; 
 And make a poet in Minerva's spite. 
 
 E'er since Deucalion and his Pyrrha stood 
 On old Parnassus, (by the general flood 
 Upraised,) and, taught by Heaven, behind them threw 
 Their mother's bones, that soften'd as they flew, 
 Soften'd, and, with the breath of life made warm, 
 Assumed, by slow degrees, the human form ; 
 Whatever wild desires have swell'd the breast, 
 Whatever passions have the soul possess'd, 
 Joy, Sorrow, Fear, Love, Hatred, Transport, Rage, 
 Shall form the motley subject of my page. 
 
 And when could Satire boast so fair a field ? 
 Say, when did Vice a richer harvest yield ? 
 When did fell Avarice so inflame the mind? 
 And when the lust of play so curse mankind? 
 For now no more the pocket's stores supply 
 The boundless charges of the desperate die : 
 The chest is staked ! Muttering the steward stands, 
 And scarce resigns it, at his lord's commands. 
 Is it a SIMPLE MADNESS, I would kuow. 
 To venture countless thousands at a throw,
 
 SATIRE I. JUVENAL. V. 157 — 162. 21 
 
 Yet want the soul a single piece to sparer 
 
 To clothe tlie slave, that shivering stands, and bare? 
 
 Who call'd, of old, so many seats his own, 
 Or on seven sumptuous dishes supp'd alone? 
 Then plain, and open, was the frugal feast, 
 And every client was a bidden guest ; 
 
 Ver. 159. W'^o calTd, of old, so many seats his own. 
 
 Or on seven sumptuous dishes supp'd alone?'\ Juvenal might 
 well ask this; for the ancients did neither. Their usual eating-room was the 
 atrium, or common-hall, which was open to the view of ever}^ passer-by; and 
 they had rarely more than two plain dishes. Even the first men of the state, 
 says Velleius, (lib. 11. c. iii.)\vere not ashamed to dine and sup there; nor had 
 they any dish, which they blushed to expose to the meanest of their fellow- 
 citizens. 
 
 Veu. IG2. jind evert/ elient was a hidden guest ; S\c.'] The old Republicans 
 used to admit the clients, who attended them from the forum, to supper. 
 Under the Emperors, this laudable custom was done away, and a little basket 
 of meat given to each of them to carry home. Nero (Suet, xvi.) ordered a 
 small sum of money to be distributed instead of meat, and Domitian brought 
 back the former practice Whether any changes were subsequently intro- 
 duced, is not certainly known, but we here find, that money was again ■ 
 distributed: perhaps, the choice was in the patron. The sum was a hundred 
 quadrantcs, pieces something less than a farthing, and making, in all, about 
 fifteen-pence of our money. 
 
 As this is the first place in which the names of patron and client occur, it 
 may not be amiss to say a few words on the relative situations of two classes 
 of men, which comprehended nearly all the citizens of Rome. A patron then, 
 was a man of rank and fortune, under whose care the meaner people volun- 
 tarily put themselves, and, in conseqirence of it, were denominated his 
 clients. The patron assisted his client with his influence and advice, and the 
 client, in return, gave his vote to his patron, when he sought any office for 
 himself, or his friends. The client owed his patron respect, the patron owed 
 his client protection, Tlie institution of this state of mutual dependance.
 
 22 SATIRE I. JUVENAL. V. 163—176. 
 
 Now for the scanty dole aloof they wait, 
 
 Nay, scramble for it at the outward gate. 
 
 And first the porter, trembling for his place, 
 
 Walks round and round, and pries in every face : 
 
 Lest, strangers to the patronage you claim, 
 
 You take the largess in a borrow'd name ; 
 
 When recognised, you then may hope to share, — 
 
 And now he bids the sons of Troy draw near, 
 
 The noble sons ; for these besiege the door. 
 
 E'en these, and wrest their pittance from the poor ! 
 
 "■ Dispatch the Praetor first," the steward cries, 
 
 " And next the Tribune." " No, not so," replies 
 
 The Freedman, bustling through — " first come, you know, 
 
 " First served; and I may claim my right, 1 trow — 
 
 which commenced with the monarchy, was attended with the happiest 
 effects ; and, for the space of six centuries, we find no dissentions or jea- 
 lousies between the two parties. But as riches and pride increased, new 
 duties were imposed on the clients ; they were harrassed with constant 
 attendance, and mortified by neglect: in a word, they were little better 
 than slaves. 
 
 They had yet other causes of complaint ; and Juvenal, who appears, from 
 an epigram addressed to him from Spain, by his friend Martial (see Sat. xi.), 
 to have deeply felt the degradation he describes, sometimes speaks of it with 
 pathos, and sometimes with indignation. But of this, elsewhere. 
 
 Ver. 170. And nozo he bids the sons of Troy draw near, iSsc] The old 
 nobility of Home affected to derive their origin from the great families of 
 Troy. The satire here is very poignant : vain of their rank, they were care- 
 less of their actibns, and swelling with the dignity of their ancient blood, 
 were mean enough to be found scrambling amongst the poor, for a few 
 paltry halfpence '
 
 SATIRE I. JUVENAL. V. 177—186. 23 
 
 " Though born a slave (for why should I deny 
 " What my bored ears evince to every eye), 
 " The rent of five good mansions now I touch; 
 " Your boasted nobles ! can they say as much ? 
 " There's poor Corvinus, of patrician stock, 
 " Tends, for a groat a day, a grazier's flock : 
 " Tut ! I can buy 'em all ; then, wherefore, pray, 
 " Should I be pass'd? No; let the Tribunes stay." 
 Yes, let them stay ! Thine, Riches ! be the field, — 
 It is not meet that he to Honour yield. 
 
 Ver. 177. Though born a slave, ^c] The original is " though born near 
 the Euphrates," i. e. in Armenia, or rather in Cappadocia, from whence the 
 llomans were chiefly supphed witii domestics. From the fVeednian's appeal 
 to the holes, or as Juvenal contemptuously calls them, the windows in his 
 ear, it would seem as if the meaner Asiatics all wore ear-rings at that time 
 (as, indeed, they still do) — and this explains one. of Cicero's best jokes. His 
 rival, Octavius, said to him rather rudely one day as he was pleading, " I can't 
 hear what you say;" " and yet," replied the orator, " you were wont to have 
 your ears well bored!" A bitter retort; for the family of Octavius, though 
 then ennobled, was supposed to have come originally from beyond sea, in 
 a mean condition. 
 
 Ver. 183. Tut! I can buy 'em all; ^c] In the original, the frecdman 
 boasts that he can buy Pallas and the Licinii ; this is going a little too far, 
 for Pallas, in particular, was immeasurably rich. He was the freedman of 
 Claudius, a weak prince, who lavished unbounded wealth upon his favourites, 
 and impoverished himself. When he complained of tiic emptiness of his 
 treasury, somebody observed, and not badly, as Tacitus remarks, that it would 
 be full enough, if his two freedmen (Pallas and Narcissus) would condescend 
 to take him into their firm. 
 
 Pallas outlived Claudius, and was for some time in high favour with Nero, 
 but was involved in the disgrace of Agrippina, and dismissed the court. He
 
 24 SATIRE t. JUVENAL. V. 187—208. 
 
 To SACRED Honour, who with whiten'd feet, 
 Was haAvk'd for sale so lately through the street. 
 
 Pernicious gold ! though yet no temples rise. 
 No altars to thy name, perfume the skies. 
 Such as to Victory, Virtue, Faith, are rear'd, 
 And Concord, where the clamourous stork is heard. 
 Yet is thy full divinity confess'd, 
 And thy shrine fix'd in every human breast. 
 
 But while, with anxious eyes, the great explore 
 How much the dole augments their annual store, 
 What misery must the poor dependants dread, 
 Whom this small pittance clothed, and lodged, and fed? 
 Wedged in thick ranks before the donor's gates, 
 A phalanx firm, of chairs and litters, waits: 
 Thither one husband, at the risk of life, 
 Hurries his teeming, or his bed-rid wife ; 
 Another, practised in the well-known art, 
 With greater cunning tops the beggar's part, 
 Plants at his side a close and empty chair; 
 
 " My Galla, master- give me Galla's share." 
 
 " Galla !" the porter cries ; " let her look out ;" 
 
 " Sir, she's asleep: nay, give me — can you doubt!" 
 
 was now grown old, but as the strength of his constitution still threatened to 
 disappoint the eager avarice of the Emperor, he broke through all restraint, 
 and put him to death for the very wealth to which he trusted for safety! 
 
 The reader will observe, that the satire of Juvenal is incessant: the 
 freedman is made to select for his examples, either an old patrician grown 
 poor, or new men (iiovi hominis) got into power from nothing.
 
 SATIRE I. JUVENAL. V. 209 — 214. 25 
 
 What rare employments waste the clients' day ! 
 First to the great man's door they speed their way; 
 Thence to the forum, to support his cause, 
 Last to Apollo, learned in the laws, 
 And the triumphal statues ; where some Jew, 
 Some mongrel Arab, some — I know not wlio, — 
 
 Ver. 209. JVliat rare employmenli wasle the clients' dai/, &ic.'\ The day is 
 distinguished by nearly the same employments in Martial : 
 " Prima salutantes atque altera continet hora, 
 
 " Exercet raucos tertia causidicos, 
 " In quintam varios extendit Roma labores, 
 " Sexta (juics lassis, septima fiais erit." 
 Ver. 211. Thence to the forum, 4c.] Here, i. e. in the forum x«T e^<'p^'i^, 
 (for there were several others scattered about the city,) the public business 
 was chiefly carried on. Apollo, who is mcnlioned in tlic next line, stood in 
 the forum of Augustus, and acquired the legal knowledge, for which he is so 
 handsomely complimented, from the lawyers, who frequented the courts of 
 justice established there. The " triumphal statues " stood also in this forum ; 
 they were those of the most eminent persons who hud appeared in the state 
 from the earliest ages. 
 
 Ver. 213. where some Jew, Sfc.'] The indignation of the i)oct has 
 
 involved him in obscurity. It is not easy to say who is meant here ; and the 
 commentators have taken advantage of the uncertainty to display a world of 
 curious research. Holyday, who recapitulates their conjectures, concludes, 
 with every appearance of reason, that it was one Tiberius Alexander, a 
 renegade Jew, who embraced the religion of Rome, and was made prajfecl 
 of Egypt. He was the first to declare for Vespasian, (Tacit. Hist. xi. 79,) to 
 whose party he brought a vast accession of strength, and was therefore, pro- 
 bably, honoured with a statue. Alexander's partialitj' to this prince, however, 
 did him no great credit with our author; whose hatred of Domilian was such, 
 that he seems to have looked with abhorrence — 
 
 " on all unfortunate souls 
 
 "■ That traced him in his line." 
 E
 
 26 SATIRE I. JUVENAL. V. 215—226. 
 
 Has impudently dared his own to raise. 
 
 Fit to be p against, or — wiiat you please. 
 
 Returning home, he drops them at the gate ; 
 And now the weary clients, wise too late, 
 Resign their hopes, and supperless retire. 
 To spend the paltry dole in herbs and fire. 
 Meanwhile, whatever earth and sea afford, 
 Of rich or rare, will heap their patron's board : 
 He from the vacant couch, where stretch'd he lies, 
 Rolling o'er many an orb his eager eyes, 
 Will cull forth one of special worth and note ; 
 And cram an ample fortune down his throat. 
 
 Ver. 223. He from the vacant couch, ^c] Seneca somewhere says, that 
 good cheer without a friend to partake it, is the entertainment of a wild 
 beast. And the poet Alexis, 
 
 Eco' £5 xopaxxi iJLOiio(px'y( nai Toij^aeuxf. 
 Go and be hang'd, thou solitary glutton. 
 Thou house-breaker ! 
 Ver. 225. Nam de tot pidchris, et latis orbibus, et tarn 
 
 Antiquis, iSfc] Ad huric locum nihil videre interprctes, says 
 Graevius ; who is not a whit clearer sighted in the matter than the rest. I 
 conceive that the satire is here levelled not so much at the gluttony, as at the 
 extravagance of this secret gormandizer; who possessed such a number of 
 large, beautiful, and antique orbs,* as to be somewhat embarrassed in the 
 selection of one for his immediate use. 
 
 The prodigality of tiie Romans knew no bounds in the acquisition of these 
 
 * So .Juvenal calls the upper part of the table, which was formed of the 
 most rare and costly materials, and never of the same substance with the 
 feet. See Sat. xi. ver. 200.
 
 SATIRE I. JUVENAL. V. 227 — i-'3S. 27 
 
 But who, (for not a Hatterer will be there), 
 Who such luxurious sordidness can bear? 
 See, he requires Avhole boars ! serves up a beast 
 To his own maw, created for a feast ! 
 But mark him soon by signal wrath pursued ; 
 When to the bath he bears the peacock crude, 
 That frets, and swells within ; — thence every ill, 
 Spasm, sudden death, and age without a Will! 
 Swift Hies the tale, by witty spleen increast, 
 And furnishes a laugh at every feast : 
 The laugh his friends not undelighted hear. 
 And, fall'n from all their hopes, insult his bier. 
 
 favourite objects of luxury : the elder Pliny says, that two were exposed to 
 sale amongst the effects of Asinius Gallus, which produced more than the 
 price of two manors ! 
 
 Ver. 237. The laugh his friends not undelighted hear, 
 
 Andjfall'nfroni alt their hopes, insult his bier, tSc] Wn have a 
 good instance of this in Pliny. Domitius Tullus amused himself, during a 
 long life, with feeding the hopes of these will-hunters^ se captandum prccbuit, 
 and yet left his fortune to the heir-at-law ; upon which they began to abuse 
 him. There is humour in the following passage. Ergo varii tola civitale 
 sermones: alii (seil. eapliitores)Jictnm, ingralum, iinmemoreni loquuntur,seque 
 ipsos, dum inseclantur ilium, turpissimis conj'essionibus produnl, qui de illo uti 
 de patre, uvo, proavo quasi orbi querantur ; alii eontra hoc ipsuni laudibus 
 ferunt, quod sit frustralus iinprobas spes hominuin, quos sic deeipere pro moribus 
 teinporum prudeitlia est. Lib. v in. Epist. xviii. 
 
 The glutton, in the text, is prevented from remembering his parasites by 
 the suddenness of his death, which did not allow time for a Will. Hence 
 the comical mixture of rage and ridicule, with whicli they pursue his 
 obsequies : 
 
 " Ducitur iratis plaudendiim funus amicis."
 
 28 SATIRE I. JUVENAL. V. 239— 25iJ. 
 
 Nothing is left — nothing for future times, 
 To add to the full catalogue of crimes ; 
 The baffled sons must feel the same desires, 
 And act the same mad follies, as their sires. 
 Vice has attain'd its zenith. — Then, set sail, 
 Spread all thy canvass to the favouring gale — 
 
 F. Hold: — Where's the genius for so vast a theme? 
 And where the liberty? Or dost thou dream 
 Of that rude plainness, (plainness, that I dare 
 Nor name, nor hint at,) which allow'd, whilere, 
 Our sires to pour on vice without controul, 
 The impassion'd dictates of the kindling soul? 
 Touch Tigellinus now, and thou shalt shine, 
 (Such the vast difference 'twixt their days and thine,) 
 
 V 
 
 Ver. 252. Touch Tigellinus now, ^c] Fielding makes Booth, in the other 
 world, inquire of Shakspeare the precise meaning of the famous apostrophe of 
 Othello, " Put out the light," &c. ; and if some curious critic had done the 
 same of Juvenal, respecting the sense of the following lines, he would have 
 done a real service to the commentators, and saved an ocean of precious ink, 
 which has been wasted on them to little purpose. The lines stand thus in the 
 old editions, as cited by Lipsius. 
 
 " Pone TigeUinum, tasda lucebis in ilia 
 " Qua stantes ardent, qui fixo gutture ftimant, 
 " Et latus mediam sulcus diducit arenam." 
 " Touch but Tigellinus, and j'ou shall shine in that torch, where they 
 "■ stand and burn, who smoke, fastened to a stake, and (where) a wide furrow 
 " divides the sand." 
 
 The dreadful conflagration which laid waste a great part of Rome in the 
 reign of Nero, broke out in the house of Tigellinus. As his intimacy with the 
 Emperor was no secret, it strengthened the general belief, that the city wai
 
 SATIRE I. JUVENAL. V. 253 — 254. 29 
 
 In that pitch'd sliiit in which such crowds expire, 
 Chain'd to the bloody stake, and wrapp'd in fire ; 
 
 burned by design. Nothing seems to have enraged Nero so much as tliis 
 discovery; and to avert the odium t'roni his favourite, lie basely taxed the 
 Christians with having set fire to his house. Under this pretence, thousands 
 of these innocent victims were dragged to a cruel death. The Emperor, says. 
 Tacitus, (Ann. xv. 44,) added insult to their sufferings: some were covered 
 with the skins of wild beasts, and worried to death by dogs ; others were 
 crucified, and others again, were smeared with inflammable matter, 
 and LiGUTED UP when the day declined, to serve as torches 
 DURING THE NIGHT ! This last horrid species of barbarity sufficiently ex- 
 plains the two first lines; the remaining one, it seems, is not so easily 
 got over. 
 
 I once supposed Uiat a part of tlie amphitheatre might be separated from 
 the rest by a " wide furrow," or ditch, and allotted to this dreadful purpose: 
 this idea, however, does not seem to have occurred to any of the critics, (no 
 great recommendation of it, I confess,) since they prefer altering the text, 
 and reading, 
 
 " Et latum media sulcum deduces arena," 
 " And you shall make, or draw out, a wide furrow in the sand." That is, say 
 they, " by turning round the stake to avoid the fiames :" which, as the 
 sufferer was fixed to it, he could not well do. If the alteration be allowed, I 
 should rather imagine the sense to he, " when the pitched cloth, in which 
 you are wrapped, is burned out, your scorched, and half-consumed body, shall 
 be dragged by a hook out of the arena." In the translation (for I am not 
 quite satisfied with this last interpretation), I have taken " ct" for a disjunc- 
 tive, and supposed the passage to relate to a separate punishment. Madan's, 
 or rather Curio's, idea, that the expression is proverbial in this place, and 
 means " labouring in vain," is almost too absurd for notice. " You will be 
 burned alive if you touch any of the Emperor's favourites, and besides, you 
 will plough the sand, you will lose your labour !" 
 
 There is yet another meaning adopted by some of the learned, and 
 which is produced by a gentleman in his remarks on Madan's translation 
 of this very line. " I am surprised (he says) that Mr. M. when he knew
 
 30 SATIRE I. JUVENAL. V. 255—256. 
 
 Or writhing on a hook, be dragg'cl around, 
 
 And with thy mangled members, plough the ground. 
 
 so much, should not have been acquainted with the following passage of 
 Jos. Scaliger, which sets the whole in the clearest light. Stantibus ad 
 pahim destinatis unco (ne motatione capitis picem cadcntem declinarent) 
 gutturi stiffixo h lamina ardente pix aiit utiguen in caput liquejiebat, ita lit 
 rivi pinguedinis humana per arenam sulcum facercnt . By this interpretation, 
 so intuitively true, that, by one acquainted with the facts, it might have 
 been deduced from the vulgar text without the emendation of Scaliger," 
 (rather of Lipsius, Scaligero, as Ferrarius says, non improbantt), " the 
 spirit of the poet is vindicated, history illustrated, and the image raised to its 
 climax." 
 
 I have seen enough of criticism to be always on my guard against interpre- 
 tations " intuitively true." Human fat, whether dissohed " in streams," or, 
 as this gentleman translates it, " drop by drop," could scarcely make a wide 
 furrow in the sand ; and, indeed, both Ferrarius and Vossius, who had this 
 interpretation of Scaliger's before them, concur in rejecting it as improbable. 
 With respect to the " illustration of history," the former adds, " Quib Scaliger 
 de lamina et pice adhibita Christianis ad palum, non memini me apud alios 
 legisse !" I see no reason to alter my translation. 
 
 To return to Tigellinus; he was recommended to Nero by his debaucheries. 
 After the murder of Burrhus, he succeeded to the command of the praetorian 
 guards, and abused the ascendency he had over the Emperor, to the most 
 dreadful purposes. He afterwards betrayed him; by which, and other acts of 
 perfidy, he secured himself, during the short reign of Galba. He was put to 
 death by Otho, to the great joy of the people ; and he died as he had lived, a 
 profligate and a coward. 
 
 Who the person was that is here alluded to under his name, cannot now be 
 known. Trajan, though a good prince on the whole, had many failings. He 
 is covertly taxed, as I have observed, in this very Satire, for his lenity in the 
 affair of Marius ; and the blood-suckers of Domitian's time seem to have yet 
 had too much influence. He was, besides, addicted to a vice which we shall 
 have too frequent occasions to mention, and consequently surrounded by 
 effeminate and worthless favourites, whom it might be dangerous to provoke.
 
 SATIRE I. JUVENAL. V. 257—264. 31 
 
 J. What ! sliall tlie man who drugg'd three uncles, three ! 
 Tow'r by in triumph, and look down on me ! 
 
 F. Yes ; let him look. He comes : avoid his way, 
 And on your lip your cautious finger lay : 
 Crowds of informers follow in his rear, 
 And if you say but " Lo !" will overhear. 
 Bring, if you will, vEneas on the stage. 
 Once more the fierce Rutilian to engage; 
 
 For thesCj and other reasons, Juvenal seems lo have regarded him with no 
 great kindness; and, indeed, if the state of things be truly represented, we 
 cannot accuse him of injustice. 
 
 Ver. 257. li/iat! shall the man zcho drugg'd three uncles, Sfc.'] "Still 
 harping on Tigellinus :" trcs enim liabuif patruos quos omnes, ut eorum hcvre- 
 ditalibus potiretur, veneno absumsit ; uiblractisque annulis, et falso tabulis 
 signatis, hareditalts sum/no scclere consicutus est. Val. Prob. 
 
 It appears that Juvenal really had some one in view, whose enormities bore 
 a wonderful similarity to those of Tigellinus. The forger 
 
 " who owed his lavish state 
 
 " To a wet seal, and a fictitious date," 
 is described in the very words of this quotation ; and if the reader will have 
 the goodness to turn to v. 1 12, he will probably be convinced that the person 
 there alluded to, was some worthless minion, who derived his confidence in 
 guilt from the partiality of a powerful protector. 
 
 Ver. SG3. Bring, if you will, jEneas on the stage, 8ic.'] Pliny has 
 a passage on this subject nearly to the same purpose. Nus enim qui in 
 foro, verisque lilibus terimur, mullum malitia: quanivis nolimns, adi/isrimus. 
 Schola ct auditorium, ut Jicta causa, ita res inermis innoxia est. 'I'lie same 
 thought too, is touched with humour by Beaumont in the Knight of the burn- 
 ing Pestle. 
 
 Prol. By your sweet favour, we intend no harm to the city. 
 
 Cit. 'So, sir! Yes, sir. If you were not resolved to play the jack, what 
 need you study for new subjects purposely to abuse your betters? Why
 
 32 SATIRE I. JUVENAL. V. 265—280. 
 
 Make stern Achilles bleed in epic strain, 
 And " Hylas ! Hylas!" fill the shore in vain. 
 Harmless, nay pleasant, shall your verse be found, 
 You bare no ulcer^ and you probe no wound. 
 But when Lucilius, fired with virtuous rage, 
 Nerves his bold arm to scourge an impious age, 
 The conscious villain shudders at his sin. 
 And burning blushes speak the pangs within ; 
 Cold drops of sweat from every member roll, 
 And growing terrors harrow up his soul. 
 Then tears of shame, and dire revenge succeed — 
 Say ; have you ponder'd well th' adventurous deed ? 
 Now — ere the trumpet sound — your strength debate ; 
 The soldier once engaged, repents too late. 
 
 J. Yet I must write; and since these iron times, 
 From living knaves preclude my angry rhymes, 
 
 could not you he content, as well as others, with the Legend of Whit- 
 tington, the Story of Queen Eleanor, and the rearing of London Bridge upon 
 woolsacks ? 
 
 Ver. 268. But xehen 'Lucilius, ^t.] In Randolph's Entertainment there is 
 so admirable a paraphrase of this passage, that I shall be easily forgiven for 
 producing it : 
 
 " When I (Satire) but frown'd in my Lucilius' brow. 
 
 " Each conscious cheek grew red, and a cold trembling 
 
 " Freez'd the chill soul, while every guilty breast 
 
 " Stood, fearful of dissection, as afraid 
 
 "To be anatomized by that skilful hand, 
 
 " And have each artery, nerve, and vein of sin, 
 
 " By it laid open to the public scorn."
 
 SATIRE I. JUVENAL. V. 281—282. 33 
 
 I point my pen against the guilty dead, 
 And pour its gall on each obnoxious head. 
 
 Ver. 279. I point my jkh against the guilty dead, ^c] Hall, on the 
 
 contrarj'j 
 
 "■ I will not ransack up the quiet grave, 
 
 " Nor burn dead bones as he (Juv.) example gave, 
 
 " I lax the living, let the ashes rest, 
 
 "■ Whose faults are dead, and nailed in their chest. 
 
 But Hall, like his predecessor, makes use of departed names; so that the 
 
 generosity is more in appearance than reality. The design of both was the 
 
 same ; and nobody was deceived. 
 
 F
 
 SATIRE II. 
 
 SCrgunicnt. 
 
 This Salire contains an irre;r^ular but animated attack, upon the hyfw- 
 crisy oj philosophers and rejonners ; whose ignoxince, piojligacy, and 
 impiety, it exposes with just severity. 
 
 Domitian is here (he hero : his vices are covertly or openly alluded 
 to, tinder every different name; and it must give us a high opinion of the 
 intrepid spirit of the man ifho could venture to produce and circulate, 
 though hut in private, so jaithjul a lepresentation oJ that Jerocious and 
 blood-thirsty tyrant. 
 
 The diffculties in the way of translating this Satire, are scarcely to 
 be conceived but by those ivho have made the experiment : if my success 
 were but at all equal to my pains, I should dismiss it n'itli some degree 
 of confidence.
 
 SATIRE II. 
 
 V. 1 — 10. 
 
 O, FOR an eagle's wings ! for I could fly 
 To the bleak regions of the polar sky. 
 Whene'er they make morality their theme 
 Who live like Bacchanals, yet Curii seem ! 
 
 Devoid of knowledge, as of worth, they thrust 
 In every nook some philosophic bust ; 
 For he, amongst them, counts himself most wise, 
 Who most old sages of the sculptor buys ; 
 Sets most true Zenos', most Cleanthes' heads, 
 To guard the volumes which he — never reads. 
 
 Ver. 4. Who live like Bacchanals, ye Curii seem .'J The frugality and absti- 
 nence of the Curii, seem to have been proverbial. See Sat. iii. and xi. 
 
 Ver. 9. ''^ets most true Zenos', most Cltaiil/ics' heads, S)'c.'] As these philo- 
 sophers were notorious above all others, for the shrewdness and subtilty of their 
 disquisitions, there is a considerable degree of humour in our author's making 
 his blockheads fix on their busts, for the purpose of ornamenting their 
 libraries. 
 
 If we could suppose Lucian to have read .Juvenal, (and he probably had) he 
 might have this passage in his thoughts, when he wrote his illiterate book- 
 hunter, ATa-*iJjuT®J xcu iroXAa €iSai« wi/8ji*£k(^. Locher, who translated Brant's 
 
 2' 
 
 I
 
 SS SATIRIC II. JUVENAL. V. 11—14. 
 
 Trust not to outward shew ! in every street 
 Obscenity in formal garb, you meet. 
 And dost thou, hypocrite! our lusts arraign, 
 Thou ! of Socratic pathics the mere drain! 
 
 Ship of Fools, had undoubtedly both Juvenal and Lucian before him, when he 
 gave the following version, 
 
 " Spem quoque nee parvam collecta volumina prsebent, 
 
 " Calleo nee vcrbum, nee libri sentio mentem, 
 
 " Attamen in magno per me servantur honore." 
 For the rest; if another Brant were to arise, and incline to furnish out a cargo 
 of fools from the stock in hand, I much doubt whether the " illiterate book- 
 hunter" would not still be the first he would put on board. 
 
 Vek. 11. Trust not to outrcard show ! <?fc.j Martial has a pleasant epigram 
 on this passage. A lady of his acquaintance, anxious to get, what he calls, a 
 true husband, had tried six, and failed ! But they were fops, it seems ; he there- 
 fore advises her to have recourse to the rough and hirsute, whom he describes 
 in the very words of Juvenal; though even then he does not flatter her with 
 any great hopes of success. (Lib. vii. .58.) 
 
 " Quaere aliquem Curios semper Fabiosque loquentem, 
 " Hirsutum, et dura rusticitate trucem, 
 
 " Invenies: sed habet tristis quoque turba cinaedos, 
 " Difficile est vero nubere, Galla, viro." 
 Ver. 14. Thou! oj" Socratic pathics the mere drain '.'\ This line has given 
 offence to some of the critics, who consider it as a wanton attack upon 
 Socrates ; while others, on the contrary, justify it, from the alleged pro- 
 pensities of that philosopher. This is no place to enter into a vindication of 
 his character, which 1 believe, and which every good man must delight to 
 think, unspotted; nor, indeed, does Juvenal afford the least occasion for it. 
 The opposite terms, Socraticos cinados, conveyed not, in his mind, the slightest 
 censure ; they are merely a continuation of the double image with which he 
 began, and must evidently be referred to the the qui Curios simulant, &c. It 
 is extraordinary that the mistake should be so general, since whatever contempt 
 our author might feel for the rabble of Greek philosophists, he never mentions
 
 SATIRE II. JUVENAL. V. 15 — 30. 39 
 
 Thy rough and shaggy limbs might seem design'd 
 The index of a fierce, and vigorous mind ; 
 But all's so smooth below, the surgeon smiles, 
 " And scarcely can, for laughter, lance the piles." 
 Gravely demure, in wisdom's solemn chair, 
 (His beetling eyebrows longer than his hair,) 
 In silent state, the affected stoic sits. 
 And drops his maxims on the croAvd by fits. 
 Yon tottering pathic, whose wan look betrays 
 His rank debaucheries, and more rank disease, 
 With patience I can bear ; he braves disgrace, 
 Nor skulks behind a sanctimonious face : 
 Him may his folly, or his fate excuse — 
 But whip me those, who Virtue's name abuse. 
 And, soil'd with all the vices of the times, 
 Thunder damnation on their neighbours' crimes. 
 
 Socrates but with the highest respect. He quotes him as a pattern of mode- 
 ration and virtue in the last Satire but one; and few of his readers have 
 forgotten, I trust, tliat most beautiful designation of him in the address to 
 Calvinus 
 
 " dulcique Senex vicinus Hymetto, 
 
 " Qui partem aceepta; s;cva inter vincla cicutaj 
 
 " Accusatori uollet dare. 
 But the misapprehension has had another ill eflcct ; it has induced those who 
 thought well of Socrates (and the learned Prideaux among the rest) to suspect 
 the integrity of the text, and alter Socraticos into Sotadicos ! A most inju- 
 dicious step; for Sotades was certainly no hypocrite: indeed, he appears from 
 Strabo, Athenaaus, and Suidas to be so far from pretending to the character 
 of a rigid moralist {turpinm castigator) that he openly wrote of, and recom- 
 mended, the most detestable vices.
 
 40 SATIRE II. JUVENAL. V. 31 — 36. 
 
 Why should I shrink at Sextus? can I be, 
 The foul Varillus cries, more foul than he, 
 More infamous? — the man who treads aright 
 May mock the halt, the swarthy Moor, the white; 
 This we allow ; but all must hear, the while, 
 The Gracchi rail at faction, with a smile. 
 
 Vee. 31. ^Vhy should I shrink at Sextus? Sfc.^ The immediate design of 
 the Satire here opens upon us. Varillus, a beggarly debauchee, had been 
 threatened by Sextus (a magistrate, it should seem) with the punishment due 
 to a crime of which he was equally guilty. From this circumstance, Varillus 
 takes occasion, first to claim impunity for himself, and then to expose the 
 hypocrisy of his judge ; which he aggravates by a number of examples, till 
 the charge is artfully brought to bear with accumulated force on Domitian ; 
 to whom every vice here mentioned, is ultimately made to refer. 
 
 Ver. 36. The Gracchi, <%"f .] The history of the Gracchi is an important 
 one; but too long to be given in this place. They were brothers,* nobly 
 descended, and virtuously educated; but, unfortunatelj', too ambitious: they 
 were Caesars, born near a century before their time. They proposed an 
 Agrarian law, and to get it passed, struck at the root of that liberty of which 
 they professed themselves the champions; and were guilty of unjustifiable 
 violence — conceiving, perhaps, with other hasty reformers, that the end justi- 
 fied the means. 1 hey were murdered with every circumstance of barbarity; 
 Tiberius, in the midst of his followers, by Scipio Nasica; and Caius, some 
 time after, bj' a mob more powerful, and more profligate, than his own. 
 
 As Juvenal calls them factious, we may be sure he thought them so; and 
 
 * The difference of their characters is thus marked by Dio : £«£l^©-'f*£v 
 (Tiberius) oczr apfrri; £? (plAoTl|Lcla^, xai eJ aurn; f? xocmtjii/ i^uxiiXsv, ar©-" it ra,- 
 fcc^uiSm T£ ^iia-£i nv, xai fxwK £73-oi/r)(i£U£To, X. T. oc. Frag <J0. Plutarch is of a 
 difli'rent opinion. Cicero speaks in the highest terms of Caius's abilities. 
 7'. (iiacchum sequutus est C. Ct'acchus, quo ingeiiio! quanta gravitate dicendi ! 
 ut dolerent boni omnes, non ilia tanta ornamcnta ad mc/iorem mentem volunta- 
 temque esse conversa. De Arusp. Resp. xli. The aim of both seems to have 
 been the obtaining and securing of power by whatever means.
 
 SAT IRK II. JUVENAL. V. 37 — 42. 41 
 
 Who would not swear by every awful name, 
 If Milo murder, Verres theft, should blame, 
 Clodius pursue adulterers to the bar^ 
 Caius tax Catiline with civil war, 
 Or Sylla's pupils, aping every deed. 
 Against his Tables of Proscription plead? 
 
 the opinion of so decided a friend to the liberties of his country, must neces- 
 sarily have great weight in determining the justice of their fall. But the 
 mischief, unfortunately, did not end with them: they had shewn what migiit 
 be effected by an unbridled multitude; and ambitious men, inferior indeed to 
 the Gracchi in ability, but greater adepts in the easy arts of cornipting and 
 inflaming the ignorant, learnt from their example, to make a more effectual 
 use of the tremendous engine they first set in motion.* Elections were carried 
 on by violence and outrage, and men of moderate and patriotic views were 
 driven from the service of the slate. Then followed a dreadful scene — arde- 
 bant ciincta, et fracta compage rvebant. Sylla, and Marius, and Cinna, 
 appeared upon the stage in succession, and thinned the world by their bloods- 
 proscriptions. Others followed, equally sanguinary, till the people, weary of 
 being disturbed to no end, and fatigued without direction or object, threw 
 themselves, almost without a sti'uggle, into the torpid arms of tyranny, as the 
 only remaining refuge from anarchy and perpetual irritation. 
 
 The reader will find some account of Verres, Clodius, &e. in the subse- 
 quent pages. 
 
 Ver. 41. Or Sylla's pupils, ^c] There were two Triumvirates, but Juvenal 
 alludes to the last, which was the most bloody, and composed of Augustus, 
 Antony, and Lepidus. Both, indeed, took Sylla for their master, and both 
 might have said with Shylock, " the villainy you teach us, we will e.vecule, 
 and it shall go hard but we will better the instruction." 
 
 * Here are some of the immediate effects of the conduct of the Gracchi, 
 
 otjSiv lyiyvno' aXX rt t£ Ta,fOi,yri xxi t| axpi(ri« ■STai/Ta^u ■m'oXXri riv' >cai oiiou,ot, 
 •sroXiu; Kpipov, rpaTo-srtJa ^£ nity awfij^oi/. Dio. Frag. 87.
 
 42 SATIRE II. JUVENAL. V. 43— 50. 
 
 Yet have we seen, — O shame for ever fled ! 
 Warm from th' embrace of an incestuous bed, 
 A barbarous prince those rigid laws awake. 
 At which tlie Powers of War, and Beauty quake, 
 E'en while his drugs were speeding to the tomb 
 The abortive fruit of Juha's teeming womb ! — 
 Ye hypocrites ! the worst of men shall hear 
 Your fulsome admonitions with a sneer; 
 
 Ver. 45. Jl barbarous prince, ^'c] The old scholiast will needs have 
 Claudius to be meant here, but without reason : and, indeed, every circum- 
 stance marks out Domitiau so strongly, that it is wonderful he should have 
 overlooked it. Claudius neither revived the laws against adulteryj nor caused 
 his niece to procure abortions. Domitian did both. He did worse: stained 
 with every enormity, he affected an outrageous zeal for the propagation of 
 morality ; and under this hypocritical mask, indulged his savage disposition in 
 the punishment of numbers^ who probably thought themselves secure by his 
 example. 
 
 One curious instance of this I have already given (p. l6) from Dio; but I 
 forgot to add what immediately follows: that during this fit of virtue, he 
 put to death a woman convicted of unrobing herself before one of his 
 statues ! 
 
 The " law " mentioned in this line, was the Julian de Adulteriis, introduced 
 by Augustus, and so called, not as some have supposed from his daughter, but 
 from his great uncle, the Dictator, whose name at first he bore. It had fallen 
 into disuse, but had lately been revived in all its force by Domitian; for which 
 Martial and Statius pay him many pretty compliments. His unfortunate 
 niece Julia (v. 48), soon after this was written, followed her " abortive fruit" 
 to the tomb; being killed by a potion stronger than ordinary. Pliny speaks 
 with great indignation of Domilian's barbarous hyprocris}-, in an allusion to 
 this very circumstance, l^ec rninore scekre quam quid ulcisci vidtbatur Dom. 
 absentcm, inaudilamque (Corneliam) damnavit inctsti, cum ipse fratrisjiliam 
 incesto iion poUuisset solum, verum etiam occidissel ! Lib. iv. xi.
 
 SATIRE II. JUVENAL. V. 51— Gb. 43 
 
 And, while their flagrant vices ye arraign, 
 Turn, nice the trampled asp, and bite again. 
 
 A reverend brother late, amidst the crowd, 
 With deep-dissembled virtue, cried aloud, 
 " Where sleeps the Julian law?" His zealous strain, 
 Enraged, Laronia heard, and smiled disdain — 
 " O, blest," she cried, " be these discerning times, 
 " That made thee censor of our heinous crimes! 
 " Blush, Rome, and hom the sink of sin arise ; 
 " Cato the Third's descended from the skies ! 
 "■ But mirth apart; in what sequester'd street 
 " Did you, most fragrant sir, that essence meet, 
 " Which scents your bristly hide? What! does it shame 
 " Your reverence to disclose the vender's name? — 
 
 " If ancient laws must reassume their course, 
 " Give the Scantinian first its proper force ; 
 
 Vek. 56. Enraged, Laronia, Sfc.'] Biitannicus supposes this advocate for 
 the sex to be the Laronia mentioned by Martial (Lib. ii. 32.); but this 
 is little, if at all probable. The person, however, is immaterial; and I only 
 mention her for the sake of observing, that the fable of the Lion and the 
 Painter is admirably illustrated by her attack — which not only docs away, in 
 advance, several of the heaviest charges brought against the women in the 
 Sixth Satire, but retorts them with good cflect on the men. 
 
 Ver. 65. JJ' ancient laws must reassume their course. 
 
 Give the Scantinian, <Sfc.] This was a law against unnatural lust. 
 It took its name from C. Scantinius, tribune of the people, who in the 707lh 
 year of Rome was convicted by C. Marcellus of an assault upon his son. The 
 punishment at this time was a fine, but under the Christian Emperors the 
 offence was made capital. 
 
 Others, however, contend that the law was so called from Scantinius Aricinus, 
 who procured it to be passed; it not being usual (as they say) for laws to
 
 44 SATIRE II. JUVENAL, V. 67—84. 
 
 " Men, lordly men, examine, and confess 
 
 " Their vices greater, their indulgence less: 
 
 " Yet, unappall'd, their shrouded phalanx stands, 
 
 " Safe in its numerous, and united bands. 
 
 " I know your monstrous leagues ; but can you find 
 
 " Our sex in interdicted pleasures join'd? 
 
 " E'en Flora, though her life in lewdness past, 
 
 " Slept with Catulla, and with Cluvia, chaste; 
 
 •'' While Hippo's brutal itch both sexes tried, 
 
 " And proved, by turns, the bridegroom and the bride. 
 
 " We ne'er, with mis-spent zeal, explore the laws, 
 
 " We throng no forum, and we plead no causej 
 
 " Some few, perhaps, may wrestle, some be fed, 
 
 " To aid their breath, with strong athletic bread: 
 
 " Ye twirl the distafiPwith unmanly grace, 
 
 " And spin more subtly than Arachne's race, 
 
 " Bent o'er your daily task, like the poor jade 
 
 " That, tether'd to a block, pursues her thriftless trade. 
 
 receive their titles from those who are the objects of them, but from those who 
 introduce them. It may be so; though tliis is not always the case — but the 
 matter is of no great consequence. 
 
 Vee. 70. Safe in its numerous, ^c] Thus Lucan, 
 
 " ipsa metus exsolverat audax 
 
 " Turbasuos. Quicquid multis peccatur, inultum est." 
 Ver.SG. SeeSat. XI. v.27. 
 Ver. 83. Bent o'er your daily task, like the poor jade 
 
 That, tether'd to a block, pursues her thriftless trade.'] "Mistresses 
 of families," says the old scholiast, " if they suspected their female slaves of 
 too great familiarity with their masters, used, byway of punishment, to fasten 
 them to a large log of wood before the door, and keep them to incessant 
 labour, by dint of blows."
 
 SATIRE II. JUVENAL. V. 85—100. 45 
 
 " Why Hister's freedman heir'd his weaUh, and why 
 " His wife, while yet he hved, was bribed so high, 
 *' Who knows not ? She must thrive who, sway'd by gain, 
 " Can make a third in bed, and ne'er complain. — 
 " On sniother'd secrets gold and jewels wait, 
 " Then wed, my girls; be silent, and be great. 
 
 " Yet these are they who, loud in Virtue's cause, 
 " Consign our venial h-ailties to the laws, 
 " And, while with partial aim their censure moves, 
 *' Acquit the vultures, and condemn the doves." 
 Laronia paused ; — the zealots dared not stay. 
 But, awed by her bold truths, fled tremblingly away. 
 
 Ah ! how shall vice be shamed, when loosely drest 
 In the light texture of a cobweb vest. 
 Thou, Creticus, amidst the wondering croud, 
 At Procla, and Pollinea, rails't aloud? 
 
 Ver. 99. Thou Creticus, ^c] Some will have this to be a fictitious name 
 formed from Crete^ (the judges of that island being deservedly famous for 
 the integrity of their decisions,) and ironically given to some magistrate then 
 in office: others, with more reason, suppose it to be a real name; and apply 
 it to a descendant of the great Metellus, who took the addition of Creticus 
 from his conquests. The scholiast says there was a learned pleader of this 
 name under the Caesars; another, but of what profession I know not, is 
 mentioned by Martial, who addresses an epigram to him : and this, perhaps, 
 is the person so indignantly apostrophised here. 
 
 What I have rendered a " cobweb vest," is in the original multitia ; that is, 
 say the critics, scricas, vel bombi/cinas molli mbtcxlas subteminc, &ic. This I 
 conceive to be confounding two things as distinct as silk and cotton. Seika 
 Testes (I speak with hesitation) were what we now call fine cottons, imported 
 into Europe then, as they were for ages before, from India, through Uie
 
 46 
 
 SATIRE II. JUVENAL. V. 101—106. 
 
 These, thou rejoins't, are " daughters of the game." 
 
 Strike, then — yet know, though lost to honest fame, 
 
 The wantons would reject a robe so thin, 
 
 And blush, Avhile suffering, to display their skin. 
 
 But Sirius rages with unwonted tire ; 
 
 I glow, I burn ! quit then thy whole attire, 
 
 country of the Seres, the modern Bocharia. Bombi/cina: vestes, on the contrary, 
 were of silk, and from a region mucii more remote. 
 
 It is not easy to say when the use of these vests was first introduced into 
 Rome: no mention of them is made during the times of the old republic; so 
 that they probably crept in with other luxuries, under the Emperors. They 
 were first appropriated to the ladies, and appear to have given no small offence, 
 if we may judge from the frequent pelting they received. Seneca is particu- 
 larly severe against them, and quotes, with some humour, two lines of P. 
 Syrus. 
 
 " ^quum est induere nuptam ventum textilem, 
 
 " Palam prostare nudam in nebula linea! 
 
 " A woven wind should married women wear, 
 
 " And naked in a linen cloud appear!" 
 And in a very curious passage, tinctured with that pruriency of language to 
 which, with reverence be it spoken, this grave philosopher was a little too 
 prone; video sericas vestes, si vestes vocaudtesunt, in quibus nihil est quo defendi 
 corpus aut denique pudor possit : qnibus sumptis niulier parum liquido nudam 
 se non essejurabit. Hac ingenti siimma ab ignotis etiam ad commercium gentibus 
 accersuniur,ut matronce nostne ne adulteris quidem plus sui incubiculo quam in 
 publico osteiidant. The adoption of them by the men, was therefore some- 
 thing of a novelty when Juvenal wrote; and if we consider the fashion of a 
 Roman gown, we must allow that a brawny magistrate, sitting on his awful 
 tribunal in fine muslin, was a sight calculated to provoke a less irritable spec- 
 tator than our author. 
 
 Ver. 103. The zvantojis would reject a robe so thin,^ The word which I 
 have rendered robe is logo ; this was peculiar to the men, as stola was to the 
 women: but females of dishonest lives, and more especially such as were
 
 SATIRE II. JUVENAL. V. 107— 120. 47 
 
 And what thy perfect reason would debase, 
 Madness, perhaps, may sheher from disgrace. 
 O ! had our sires, with recent victory crown'd, 
 And bleeding still from many a glorious wound. 
 Brave mountaineers, that " daft the plough aside" 
 To meet the foe, a judge so drest descried, 
 So lewdly drest ! how had the patriot train 
 Burst forth, with mingled anger and disdain ! 
 Lo ! robes that would a witness misbecome, 
 Invest the censor of imperial Rome ; 
 And Creticus, stern champion of the laws. 
 Gleams through the tissue of pellucid gauze ! 
 Anon from thee, as from its fountain head, 
 Wide and more wide the raging pest will spread, 
 
 convicted of adultery, were enjoined by way of penance to appear in public 
 in the toga. Thus Martial, speaking of an effeminate wretch who walked out 
 in it, says 
 
 " Thelin viderat in toga Spadonem, 
 
 " Damnatam Numa dixit esse intecham." 
 Hence stolata and togala came by degrees to signify the virtuous and the 
 loose part of the sex. Martial can find no worse designation of his anta- 
 gonist, than matris togatajilim, in plain English, son of a w ; and he 
 
 upbraids an acquaintance for sending a stola to a woman of no reputation, 
 when a toga would have suited her better. 
 
 " ianthina donas! 
 
 " Vis dare quae meruit munera? mitte togam. 
 The Romans seem to have borrowed this custom, as they did many others, 
 from the Greeks who, as Suidas says, had a law that prostitutes should wear a 
 particular dress, rxi; traipac «i/&iv« (pofuv.
 
 4S SATIRE II. JUVENAL. V. 121—124. 
 
 As swine take measles from distemper'd swine, 
 And one infected grape pollutes the vine. 
 And we, erewhile, shall see thee, lewdlier clad, 
 (For none at once become completely bad) 
 
 Vek. 122. And one infected grape pollutes the vine.'] 
 " Uvaque conspecta livorem ducit ab uva." 
 It is probable, after all, that Juvenal meant nothing more by livor, than that 
 ripening colour which the rustics of his time supposed grapes to acquire by 
 looking at one another. In this case, the line will not state the communication 
 of a bad effect, but simply of an effect; tlie translation, however, agrees best 
 with the other example. 
 
 For the rest, this is a proverbial expression. I find it in many languages. 
 " One plum gets colour by looking at another" is said by Mr. Gladwin (in the 
 Bahar Danush) to be a common phrase in Persia — to signify the propagation 
 of an opinion, custom, &c. 
 
 Vek. 123. And we, erewhile, shall see thee, lewdlier clad, 
 (For none at once become completely bad) 
 " Foedius hoc aliquid quandoque audebis auiictu." 
 Lubin would read aliud, and, I think, judiciously; for Juvenal does not mean, 
 as he is generally translated, ''you will attempt a worse crime than this dress," 
 but " you will assume a dress even more scandalous and flagitious tiian this :" 
 — evidently alluding to his entering into the society mentioned below, which 
 took the ornaments and attire of women. 
 
 The observation that immediately follows (nemo repente fuit turpissimus) 
 is a most important one, and cannot be too frequently, nor too deeply medi- 
 tated upon. Dryden, or rather Stapylton, has rendered it 
 " No man e'er reach'd the heights of vice at first," 
 which is very correct; though, if the laws of translation allowed, it might be 
 given with more effect thus loosely. 
 
 By just degrees we mount from crime to crime. 
 And perfect villain is the work of time; 
 Madan has quoted a passage from some forgotten tragedy, which affords 
 an admirable comment on our author's remark :
 
 SATIRE II. JUVENAL. V. 125—128. 49 
 
 Join that dire circle, which, in secret, decks, 
 With flowing bands their brows, with pearls their necks, 
 Sooths the Good Goddess with large bowls of wine, 
 And the soft belly of a pregnant swine. — 
 
 " Never let man be bold enough to say, 
 
 "Thus and no farther shall my passion stray; 
 
 " The first crime past, compels us on to more, 
 
 " And guilt proves fate, which was but choice before." 
 Beaumont has an allusion to it in his " King and no King:" 
 
 " There is a method in man's wickedness, 
 
 " It grows up by degrees. I am not come 
 
 " So high as killing of myself; there are 
 
 " A hundred thousand sins 'twixt it and me, 
 
 " Which I must do — I shall come to't at last." 
 And Gresset applies it very happily to the singular depravity of the unfor- 
 tunate Ver-Vert: 
 
 " II dementit les celebres maximes 
 
 " Oii nous lisons, qu'on ne vient aux grands crimes 
 
 " Que par dcgres. II fut uu scelerat 
 
 " Prof^s d'abord, et sans noviciat." 
 Ver. 125. Join that dire circle, which, in secret, decks. 
 
 With flowing bands their brows, with pearls their necks, 
 Sooths the Good Goddess, &c.] We have here a piece of 
 private history, which, from the silence of contemporary authors, cannot now 
 be fully understood. Every one has heard of the Good Goddess, whose mys- 
 terious rites were performed with an extraordinary appearance of sanctity, by 
 women only (see .Sat. vi.); and it would seem that a number of men, in those 
 days of irreligion, had formed themselves into a society for the sole purpose 
 of burlesquing them : 
 
 " Atque utinam ritus veteres, et publica saltern 
 
 " His intacta malis agerentur sacra" 
 
 but the memory of my readers will supply them witii an instance, wiicrc 
 
 H
 
 50 SATIRE II. JUVENAL. V. 129— i3b. 
 
 No female, strange perversion ! dares appear, 
 
 For males, and only males, officiate here ; 
 
 " Far hence," they cry, " unhallow'd sex, be found, 
 
 " Hence, with your yelling minstrel's barbarous sound!" 
 
 (At Athens thus, while all the city slept, 
 
 Cotytto's priests her secret orgies kept, 
 
 And in such wanton rites their vigils past, 
 
 That e'en Cotytto thought them too unchaste.) 
 
 These with a tiring-pin their eye-brows dye, 
 
 Till the full arch give lustre to the eye, 
 
 rites more sacred, and mysteries more divine were polluted — quin velut occul- 
 tumpereat scelus ! 
 
 To make the ridicule more complete, the ancient society adopted as much 
 of the established ceremony as possible; the object of worship, and the sacri- 
 fices, were the same ; and as the women, for the sake of greater secrecy and 
 security, met in the house of the Consul or Praefect, these assembled in a 
 private house, and not in a temple ; — but here the resemblance ceased, and all 
 besides was debauchery and profanation. 
 
 The commentators, however, maintain that Juvenal alludes, in the above 
 passage, to a college or brotherhood founded by Domitian at Alba, in honour 
 of Minerva, to whom (on account of his superior wisdom and virtue, I suppose) 
 he fancied himself related. But this appears to be altogether improbable, from 
 Suetonius's account of the institution : CeUbrabat et in Albano quotaunis Qxiin- 
 quatria Minervec, cui collegium instituerat ; ex quo sorte ducti magisterio fun- 
 gerentur, ederentque exitnias venationes et scenicos ludos, superque oratorum ac 
 poetarum certamina. There are no features of similarity. Add too, that 
 Statins (in a poem to his wife) boasts of having obtained three prizes in these 
 contests; and he was a man little likely to be connected with a band of cata- 
 mites and atheists. 
 
 Ver. 137. These with a tiring-pin their eye-brows dye, i5)C.] We are now 
 admitted into the interior of this society, and behold the members at their
 
 SATIRE II. JUVENAL. V. 139—140. 51 
 
 That, trembling, darts lascivious glances ; Those 
 Swill from a glass Priapus^ and inclose, 
 
 several employments. These are well imagined and strongly painted: and if 
 the mention of Otho had not, unfortunately, brought Domitian to the author's 
 recollection, and occasioned a long digression for the sole purpose of attack- 
 ing one who was probably dear to that prince, I know not where we should 
 have found a higher-coloured picture, than that of the detestable group 
 before us. 
 
 The custom of darkening and extending the arch of the eye, seems to have 
 been derived from the East, where it prevailed from the earliest ages. We 
 read of Jezabel (2 Kings, c. ix. v, 30) that she "painted her face and tired her 
 head, and looked out of the window." In the Hebrew, it seems, it is " she 
 put her eyes in paint," that is, says Bishop Patrick, in stibium (the word em- 
 ployed by Juvenal's commentators) " which made the eyes look black, and 
 was accounted beautiful ; and also dilated the eyebrows, and made the eyes 
 appear big; which in some countries was also thought amiable." Britannicus 
 seems to have thought with our translators of the Bible ; per oculos, says he, 
 intellige genus, qua: injiciebantur ; while the Septuagint renders the Hebrew, 
 and rightly, as 1 suppose, xat If^afitA jixso-f, xai ictf^[j.iT(ii.-To tbj oipSaAjitas a-vrm , 
 X. T. a. To effect this, an impalpable violet-coloured powder was taken up 
 with the sharp point of a steel or silver needle, and applied to the inner surface 
 of the lids: this was supposed to give the eye a brilliant humidity, a lascivious 
 lustre, altogether irresistible. From the East it travelled lu Greece, where we 
 find frequent allusions to it. Anacreon desires the painter to give his mistress 
 such an eye, that the portrait may resemble the original. 
 
 E;^£Tw S\ oTTWf EKEINH, 
 
 To AfAtiS'OTWf <rviio(pp\jiif 
 
 BXiipapuii i' iTUV xiXati/riv, 
 In Rome too, the custom seems to have been pretty general among the ladies, 
 before the period we arc arrived at ; for Ovid mentions it among many other 
 notable receipts for increasing the power of their charms. Only instead of 
 antimony (which appears to have been the Grecian pigment) the Romans 
 used burnt coal : indeed, they used something stranger still — raritatem, says
 
 52 SATIRE II. JUVENAL. V. 141 — 143. 
 
 In cawls of golden wire, their length of hair, 
 Liglit filmy vests of azure shield-work wear. 
 And by their Juno bid their servants swear. 
 
 PWnj, siipercifiorum emendant cum fungis lucernarum, et fuligine q ike est in 
 roatris caritm. Lib. xxviii. This is the composition in the text. 
 
 Holyday 8033 (and it is a very singular saying) that "the bal/s of their eyes 
 were painted :" In this case tremtntes will not have the idea of lustful, (his word) 
 butj quivering from the tenderness of the application : but this learned man was 
 misled, I suspect, by too literal a translation of his authorities; as the art he sup- 
 poses, seems altogether impracticable. However this may be, the custom of 
 which I have spoken, continued to prevail even in the decline of the empire, 
 though it was zealously combated by some of the fathers. Naumachius, among 
 much excellent advice which he gives the young women of his time, warns them 
 not to blacken their eyes — which I the rather mention, because, tliougli Holvday 
 probably was not aware of the passage, it seems to favour his interpretation: 
 
 Veu. 140. Swill from a glass Priapus, Sfc.} This vice is represented by the 
 fabulist (at least it would seem so from the imperfect remains of a little 
 apologue which have come down to us) as introduced in the the days of Pro- 
 metheus. The vice, as Shakspeare says, is " of good kindred," though not 
 quite so highly descended : but it was not unusual with the ancients, when they 
 could not satisfactorily account for the introduction of any abomination, to 
 refer it to the " unwiser son of Japhet." A tacit acquiescence, as it appears 
 to me, in the Scripture doctrine of original depravation. 
 
 On the line before us it will be sufficient to remark, that it strongly charac- 
 terises the profligacy of those wretches, who not only assumed the dress and 
 manners of women ; but ostentatiously imitated the most abandoned part of 
 them, in their unnatural propensities. 
 
 Pliny the Elder complains of this detestable custom (Proem. Lib. xxxiii.) 
 Auxere et artem ritiorum irritamenta, in poculis litndines ceelarcjuvit, ac per 
 ohscenitates hibere — bibere! say the commentators, imo edere: thus Martial, 
 " Si vis esse satur, nostrum potes esse Priapum 
 " [psa licet rodas inguina, purus eris ." Lib xiv. Ixix.
 
 SATIRE II. JUVENAL. V. 144—145. 53 
 
 These grasp a mirror — pathic Otho's boast, 
 (Auruncan Actor's spoil) where, while his host, 
 
 And thus a more ancient writer, 
 
 " Fuiget, et in patinis ludit pidcherrima Nais, 
 " Prandentum inflanimans ora decore suo 
 
 " Congrua non tardus diffundat jura minister, 
 " Ut lateat positis tecta libido cibis." 
 I do not know whether it be worth while to add, that in the cabinet of curi- 
 osities, collected by the profligate Commodus, and after his death, exposed to 
 sale by Pertinax, there were several of these toys, these drillopotm, argmto, 
 auro, ebore, citroque composilte. 
 
 Ver. 143. yJnd hi/ their Juno bid their servants swear."} Men swore by the 
 male, and women by the female deities ; there are exceptions to be found, no 
 doubt, but Juno was always considered as exclusively belonging to the latter. 
 For a man, therefore, to swear by her, was the extreme of effeminacy and 
 irreligion ; and this probably was what chiefly recommended it to this 
 worshipful fraternity. 
 
 Ver. 144. These grasp a mirror — pathic Otho's boast,^ Our author seems 
 extremely hostile to Otho: he recollected, perhaps, the influence he possessed 
 in the court of Nero, to whose pleasures he administered in the most shame- 
 less manner. VV^ith the usual versatility of favourites, he was the first to join 
 Galba, against his too indulgent master; and we now see him mnrdcring the 
 man whom he had contributed so much to advance. 
 
 And yet he had some virtues. When his compliances with the vices of Nero 
 h.id procured him the Province of Lusitania, he conducted himself like a just 
 and merciful governor: and there is great reason to suspect, that the report 
 of his effeminate behaviour in the struggle with V'itellius, is a satirical exag- 
 geration. Let us hear Tacitus. Nee illi segne aut corruptum luxu iter; (not 
 a word of the speculum) sed loricaferrea, et ante signa pedester, horridus, in- 
 complusjfamaque dissimilis. This rough and soldier-like appearance, so unlike 
 his former habits, added to his voluntary death, and the alleged motives for 
 it, should have txenijilcd him from the sarcastic triumph with which Juvenal 
 pursues his end. But the truth is, he was actuated by a spirit of hostility to 
 the Flavian family, with whom Otho was a favourite — for Vespasian, who
 
 1 
 
 54 SATIRE II. JUVENAL, v. 146—154. 
 
 With shouts, the signal of the fight requir'd. 
 
 He view'd his mailed form ; vievv'd, and admir'd ! 
 
 Heavens ! what a subject for the historic page, 
 
 For the new annals of this favour'd age, 
 
 A Mirror, midst the arms of civil rage! 
 
 To murder Galba was — a general's part ! 
 
 A Senator's, forsooth, to — dress with art ! 
 
 The empire of the world in arms to seek. 
 
 And — spread a softening poultice on the cheek! — 
 
 suspected Galba of a design upon his life, and therefore persecuted his memory, 
 could not but be well pleased with his murderer. 
 
 " Pathic Otho's boast" is pleasantly parodied from Virgil's validi gestamen 
 Abantis; as is Aurutican Actor s spoil, in the next line, from Actoris Auriiuci 
 spolium — shewing, as Holyday expresses it from Lubin, " that these base 
 sinners as much esteemed of Otho's looking-glass, as Turnus did of the mighty 
 spear which he wan from Actor Auruncus." But these " base sinners" were 
 not in possession of Otho's looking-glass, nor does Juvenal say so. — They had, 
 indeed, a glass, and so had Otho — the indignation of the poet supplied the 
 rest. 
 
 Otho obtains no favour with Mr. Ireland: speaking of v. 151, he says, 
 " amidst tlie obscurity of this passage, which is very abrupt and unconnected, 
 the meaning of Juvenal may be seen in some degree, perhaps, by referring to 
 the history of the time. Galba entered Rome, Dio says, with his sword, hang- 
 ing from his neck by a string, being too much crippled to hold it in his hand. 
 What a triumph, the conquest of such a foe ! Otho's treachery, too, was re- 
 markable in this affair. He attended the Emperor, as his friend, to the Capitol; 
 then stole away to the camp, to bribe the soldiers, and left the poor old man 
 to be stabbed by his partizans, who remained behind. As to his march against 
 Vitellius, it was but a march — for he quitted the field before the action, pretend- 
 ing that he could not bear the sight of citizens destroying each other ! — as if, 
 adds Dio, he had not destroyed every body that stood between himself and the 
 empire, urnif u t«; ti wVara; xai rev Kaij-ctpas, rov re »vroxp»r9p» f» «i)I>j rn
 
 SATIRE II. JUVENAL. V. 155—160. 55 
 
 Preposterous vanity ! and never seen 
 Or in the Assyrian, or the Egyptian queen, 
 Though Tiiat in arms near old Euphrates stood, 
 And This at Actium the dire conflict view'd. 
 
 No reverence for the table here is found ; 
 But brutal mirth, and jests obscene go round: 
 
 Poj/xi) (poin\i<s-x^. Lib. lxiv. c. x. The only thing to be commended in him 
 was liis dcatli. Plutarch says he lived full as badly as Nero, but died better: 
 and l)io states tliis more strongly still, KOMifx ye y.riv ocuB^uts-uv ^vktjic, xaAXir* 
 azri^xvt, axt xa>iispyora,riic rr\v xp-^qv tx,f!SX(rx^, ocpi^ct, xx/rri; (x.-srr\XXoc.yt\. 
 
 Ver. 159. No reverence for the table here is found, <?)f.] Among many 
 absurd, and many impious, tenets of the ancient theology, there are some to 
 be found of excellent tendency, and not undeserving of imitation. Such, for 
 instance, as the reverent attention with which they regarded their tables, at 
 which the gods were constantly supposed to be invisible guests: 
 " Ante focos olim longis considcre scamnis 
 " Mos erat, et mensa; ciedere adesse Deos." Ovid. Fast. 
 This pleasing idea originated in the infancy of the world, when both profane 
 and sacred history assure us, that celestial intelligences, " on errands of 
 supernal goodness bent," did not disdain to sit and eat with men. Thus 
 Catullus, in that noble burst of poetry which concludes his Peleus and Thetis, 
 " Prajsentes namcjue ante domus invisere castas 
 " Saepius, et sese mortali ostendere ccEtu 
 "■ Ccelicola;, nondum spreta pietate, solebant." 
 Whatever may be thought of this persuasion, the consequences of it were 
 highly beneficial: for from hence arose that universal hospitality, in countries, 
 and in times confessedly barbarous. From hence, too, that inviolable sanctity 
 attached to the character of a poor man, and a stranger who, for aught his 
 entertainer knew, might be a superior being in disguise. Such, at least, was 
 the prevailing doctrine in the days of Homer : 
 
 suvoii aTijomirai" Trp©^ yxp Ai6{ iKrm cIts'xvtk 
 
 HllK/l T£, TTiUXOi T£
 
 5(J SATIRE II. JUVENAL V. 161—166. 
 
 They lisp, they squeal, and the rank language use 
 
 Of Cybele's lewd votaries^ or the stews ; 
 
 Some wild enthusiast, silver'd o'er with age. 
 
 Yet fired bv lust's ung;overnable rao;e, 
 
 Of most insatiate maw, is named the priest, 
 
 And sits fit umpire of th' unhallow'd feast — 
 
 r 
 
 And to this the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews alhides. " Be not for- 
 getful to entertain strangers ; for thereby some have entertained Angels 
 unawares." c. xiii. r. 2. The same thought, too, is prettil}^ touched by Massin- 
 ger's Angelo. 
 
 " I try'd your charity 
 
 " When in a beggar's shape you took me up, 
 " And fed (as 3'ou belicv'd) my famish'd mouth. 
 " Learn all from this, to look upon the poor 
 " With gentle eyes, for in such habits, often 
 " Angels desire an alms. 
 While the table was regarded as sacred, Jtpov ti j^p»I/Aa, no light discourse 
 was permitted there: hence we find the most grave and important conver- 
 sations of the ancient philosophers to have taken place at it: conversations 
 which began with a pious libation to the presiding power " though unseen," 
 and which tended to the increase of wisdom and virlue. With reason, there- 
 fore, does Juvenal launch his indignation at this execrable society-, who, not 
 content with burlesquing the rites, profaned the wholesome customs, of their 
 ancestors, and instead of the images of the Gods, (by the apposition of which 
 they were used to consecrate it) placed upon the polluted table the instruments 
 of impurity and vice ! 
 
 Ver. 162. Of Cybele's lewd votaries, Sjc.'] He alludes to the obscene buf- 
 fooneries with which the feast of this mother of the gods was celebrated; and 
 which were so gross, that one who knew them well assures us, the parents of 
 the actors in them were ashamed to be present at the rehearsals which took 
 place at home, previous to the celebration of the festival. 
 
 The Gain mentioned a few lines below, were the priests of Cybele; effe- 
 minate, debauched, and irreligious wretches, differing in nothing but their 
 
 r 
 
 i
 
 } 
 
 SATIRE II. JUVENAL. V. 167—179. 
 
 Why wait they then ? i'Miy, hke the Galli, say, 
 Do they not seize the knife without delay, 
 And hack at once their useless flesh away ? 
 
 Gracchus admir'd a trumpeter, or fife, 
 And, with an ample dower, became his wife : 
 The contract sign'd, the wonted bliss implored; 
 A costly supper decks the nuptial board, 
 And the new bride, amidst the wondering room, 
 Lies in the bosom of th' accursed groom ! 
 And do we now, O Peers ! a Censor need, 
 Or an Aruspex? do not these exceed, 
 These portents, all that Nature disavows. 
 Of calving women and of lambing cows ! 
 
 being eunuchs from this respectable set. It is not without cause, therefore, 
 that .Juvenal wonders why the latter preserve so trifling a mark of distinction; 
 the abolition of which would completely assimilate them to their worthy 
 prototypes, 
 
 Ver. 170. Gracchus admird, <?)"c.] Whether this horrid transaction really 
 happened, as Juvenal relates it, cannot now be told, as none of his contem- 
 poraries speak of it: certain it is, that Nero had set the example, and, as our 
 author well observes, quis non faciei quod princeps? That I may not be obliged, 
 as Tacitus says, to return to so disgusting a subject, (ne sapius eadem prodi- 
 gentia narranda sit,) Iwill give his account of it. "At the feast of Tigellinus, 
 the Emperor personated a woman, and was given in marriage to one of his 
 favourites called Pythagoras. Tiie augurs assisted at the ceremony, the 
 portion was paid, the genial couch j)rcpared, the nuptial torches lighted up, 
 and all which in a natural marriage is covered with darkness, freely exposed 
 to the view of the people." yliin. xv. 38. 
 
 Vek. 170 Jnd do we now, O Peers! a Censor need. 
 
 Or an Aruspex?] The first, says Holyday, purified the city from 
 offences, by punishment; the second from monstrous births, prodigies, 8cc. bv 
 sacrifices and expiations. It was the service of these tliat was now wanted. 
 
 I
 
 SATIRE II. JUVENAL. V. 180—185. 
 
 The lusty priest whose limbs dissolved in sweat, 
 What time he danced beneath th' Ancilia's weight, 
 Now lays the ensigns of his god aside, 
 And takes the modest vestments of a bride ! 
 
 Father of Rome ! from what pernicious clime 
 Did Latian swains derive so foul a crime? 
 
 Ver. 180. The lusty priest, S^c.'] It appears from this, that Gracchus was of 
 a noble family, (indeed it is said so just below,) for such only were admitted 
 into the college of the Salii, or priests of Mars, who had the care of the Ancilia. 
 They were twelve in number, and were so called from the extravagance of 
 their gestures in their annual procession through the city. Plutarch gives a 
 description of their dress, &.c. which is very picturesque in the original. — 
 T«c iiftn; iriXroii KvxXatiAnriv iv tu> Maprito jonin, (poivixni fxiv ivisSvfxmoi ^irundTiH;, 
 fAiTpxif h ^xXxxif CzTi^u<T[ji.i^oi TrXaTfijtif, xxi xpaKH ya.\tf.a. ipopuvTi^, tyj^sipij'iot; 
 ic jiAixpoi; TX ozrXx xfrnovTCi' KiP8kT«t ii izriTC^Tz-ag iXiyfj-isi; Ti^fl!;, xjci fMrx^oXxq tv 
 pufifAM Tay(^ i^oi/n x«i zyuMOTHTX ft,trx puju.»if >c«i xatpornT®^ xsToStSovTii. V it . Nufn. 
 With respect to the Ancile, it was a circular, or oblong shield, which, in the 
 days of Numa, fell from Heaven, and was looked upon as the Palladium of 
 the city. To prevent its being stolen, as that of Troy had been, the good king 
 ordered eleven more to be made as like it as possible, and delivered them into 
 the keeping of twelve of the most respectable families of Rome. It was these 
 which were carried about the street in such boisterous solemnity. 
 
 When we consider the disposition of the Romans, we shall be almost tempted 
 to excuse the salutary fraud of Numa. In giving them a pledge of security 
 from above, he evidently sought to check that suspicious ferocity, which in- 
 duced them to see their safety in nothing but incessant warfare, and the 
 depression of their neighbours. Nor was the experiment a new one: these 
 xyxXy.xTX itoTmn were frequent in the old world : — witness the statue of Pallas 
 at Troy, of Cybele in Phrygia, of Diana in Taurus, of Minerva at Athens, 
 &c. &,c. Tliough in some cases, these well-meant deceptions seem to have 
 answered the purpose of their employers, yet are they for ever to be deplored, 
 as having, in later days, taught men to use them, with little variation, in 
 the fancied support of a cause which wants no such aids.
 
 SATIRE II. JUVENAL. V. 18G — 207. 59 
 
 Say where the poisonous weed at first arose, 
 Whose baneful juice through all thy offspring flows ; 
 Behold ! a man for rank, for power renown'd, 
 Marries a man ! — and yet, with thundering sound, 
 Thy brazen helmet shakes not; earth yet stands 
 Fix'd on its base, nor feels thy wrathful hands ! 
 Is thy arm shorten'd? raise to Jove thy prayer — 
 But Rome no longer knows thy guardian care, 
 Quit then thy charge to some diviner Power, 
 Of strength to punish in th' obnoxious hour. 
 " To-morrow, with the sun, I must attend 
 " In yonder vale. So early! why? A friend 
 " Takes to himself a husband there : — but who ? 
 " Nay, that's a secret; — and has ask'd a few 
 " Discreet acquaintance." Good! — but wait a while; 
 And this, and other marriages as vile, 
 Will openly affront you, and appear 
 Recorded in the " annals of the year," 
 
 Meanwhile, one pang these passive monsters find. 
 One ceaseless pang, that preys upon their mind ; 
 They cannot shift their sex, nor pregnant prove 
 With the dear pledges of a husband's love. 
 
 Ver. 204. Mcamvhile, one pang, ^c] See the complaint of the eunuch 
 Eutropius, after his dismission from the arms of the Egyptian soldier. 
 
 " pro sors generis durissima nostri ! 
 
 " Fcemina cum sennit, retinet connubia partu, 
 " Uxorisque docus matris reverentia pensat : 
 " Nos Lucina fugit, nee pignore nitimur ullo."
 
 60 SATIRE II. JUVENAL. V. 208—212. 
 
 'Twas fix'd by Heaven, that Nature's steady plan 
 Should counteract the wild desires of man, 
 And wisely: — so the steril pathics die, 
 Though bloated Lyde all her nostrums try^ 
 And tlie lewd priest of Pan his agile wand apply. 
 
 1 
 
 Ver. 21Q. And the lewd priest of Pan his agile wand applj/.l The festival 
 of the Lupercalia (to which Juvenal here alludes) seems to have been instituted 
 in honour of Pan by the herdsmen ; and the rites were such as their uncul- 
 tivated minds would naturally suggest. A gout was sacrificed, and as that 
 animal was the symbol of generation, the rustics who partook of it were sup- 
 posed to have the faculty of communicating fecundity to whatever they touched: 
 they therefore wrapt themselves in the skin of the victim, and ran about the 
 fields with a thong or light wand in their liands, with whicli they gently struck 
 the palms of the women who superstitiously threw themselves in their way. 
 
 This festival was probably introduced into Italy by Evander; who was found 
 sacrificing by iEneas (see the beautiful description of it, iEneid. lib. vin.) in a 
 thick grove near the Palatine hill. As this was also the spot where Romulus 
 and his brother were afterwards suckled by the wolf, it became doubly inte- 
 resting to the Romans ; and here, therefore, they built their temple to Lupercus 
 or Pan. 
 
 The privilege of rendering the ladies fruitful, was not long confined to the 
 rustics. Two societies of noble Romans were early instituted for this bene- 
 volent purpose, and a third was afterwards added by Julius Csesai", of which 
 Antony was a member : 
 
 Casar. Antonius! 
 Anton. Cffisar, my lord. 
 CcEsar. Forget not, in your speed, Antonius, 
 To touch Calphurnia: for our elders say. 
 The barren, touched in tliis holy chase, 
 Shake off tlieir steril curse. Shakspeare. 
 
 This folly continued long after the introduction of Christianity; and is 
 frequently alluded to, in terms of great indignation, by Lactantius, Minucius 
 Felix, Prudentius, and others. But in their days, some slight innovations had
 
 SATIRE u. JUVENAL. V. 213—218. 61 
 
 Yet these, O Heavens ! these monstrous acts appear 
 Less monstrous than the net and three-fork'd spear 
 Of Gracchus, when he urg'd th' unequal fight, 
 And fled, dishonour'd^ in a nation's sight! 
 Though nobler born, than all that throng'd the place, 
 Nobler than Paulus', Fabius', ManUus' race, 
 
 been introduced : — the ladies who, when Juvenal wrote, only exposed their 
 bare hands to the stroke, began now to strip themselves, to receive it more 
 effectually. To sum up all in a word, this ceremony, indecent as it was, seems 
 to have been one of the last Pagan superstitions that went out. It was abolished 
 by Gelasius, and not without trouble: nay, the discontent ran so high, that 
 the holy father was obliged to justify himself by an elaborate apology, which 
 still exists: — apud illos, says he, nobiks ipit currebant, et matroiKC nudato 
 corpore vapulabant ! 
 
 Ver. 214. Lessmonstrous than the net and three-fork'd spear, iSfc] Holyday 
 thinks it strange that Juvenal should fancy it more monstrous in Gracchus to 
 become a gladiator than a wife; " the one being only a fault against honour, 
 the other a crime against nature." He will, therefore, have it, that the poet 
 does not compare the two, for the heinousness, but for the impudence in com- 
 mitting tliem. But this was far from the mind of Juvenal, who thought as he 
 spoke, and really believed this last action of Gracchus to be his worst.— Yet 
 this, says Mr. Ireland, (in a remark on the passage) may well be doubted. 
 In the eight Satire, he seems to go a step beyond this, and to consider the 
 stage-playing of the great men, as still worse? than their gladiatorship. Yet 
 could he be of that opinion ? Perhaps it is an instance of that spirit of aggra- 
 vating satire whicii so much distinguishes Juvenal. Whatever the vice is which 
 he lashes, he bestows the whole of his fury upon it; and in many places the 
 climax of moral reprehension is strangely perverted. 
 
 However this may be, it is certain that the gladiatorship of the nobility was 
 felt with the utmost horror by the writers of Roman history, whether native or 
 Grrcian. As I shall have an occasion to return to this subject, I postpone 
 what I have to say on this adventure of Gracchus, to the eighth Satire, where 
 it is given more at large.
 
 62 SATIRE II. JUVENAL. V. 219— 237. 
 
 Nobler than he whose gold the Shews supplied 
 At which his base dexterity was tried. 
 
 That angry Justice form'd a dreadful hell, 
 That ghosts in subterraneous regions dwell, 
 That hateful Styx his muddy current rolls, 
 And Charon ferries o'er unbodied souls, 
 Are now as tales, or idle fables prized, 
 By children question'd, and by men despised : 
 Yet this, do thou believe. What thoughts, declare, 
 Ye Scipios, (once the thunderbolts of war!) 
 Fabricius, Curius, great Camillus" ghost ! 
 Ye valiant Fabii, in yourselves an host! 
 Ye dauntless youths at fatal Cannae slain! 
 Spirits of many a brave, and bloody plain ! 
 Declare, what thoughts your sacred rest invade, 
 Whene'er ye spy an unbelieving shade? 
 — Ye fly, to expiate the blasting view ; 
 Fling on the pine-tree torch the sulphur blue. 
 And from the dripping bay dash round the lustral dew. 
 
 } 
 
 Vek. 235. Yejiy, to expiate the blasting view ; ^c] " The ancient manner 
 of purifying those who were poihited by the sight or touch of impure objects, 
 was with sulphur, and fire made of the unctuous pine:" they were also 
 sprinkled with a laui"el branch dipped in water. Juvenal's expression is — 
 cuperent Imtrari, si qua darentur, if they could get sulphur, &,c. i. e. says 
 Lubin, apud inferos ubi talia forte non sunt! I love a careful commentator, 
 like Lubin. In the simplicity of his heart, good man ! he sometimes ventures 
 to suspect the veraciti/ of his author; but that he could ever be guilty of the 
 crime oi poetry, does not once seem to have entered his thoughts. 
 
 For tlie rest ; we see here, that the poet attributes the profligacy of the
 
 SATIRE II. JUVENAL. V. i?3S— 243. 6.9 
 
 And yet to these abodes we all must come; 
 Believe or not, these are our final home, 
 Though wide around our conquering arms are hurl'd, 
 And the huge grasp embrace the polar world. 
 But why of" conquest boast ? the conquer'd climes 
 Are free, O Rome, from thy detested crimes. 
 
 times to the disbelief of a future state, and certainly with great reason ; for 
 were it possible that such incredulity could become general, no barrier would 
 remain of sufficient force to check the torrent of vicious propensities, which 
 would burst upon us from u thousand springs, and again, as in the days of 
 Noah, fill the earth with corruption and violence. 
 
 It is to be lamented that Juvenal, who appears to be extremely anxious to 
 impress upon the minds of his countrymen, the existence of a future state, 
 should yet have given a description of it which, to speak tenderly, borders upon 
 the mean, if not the ridiculous. But he is rather to be pitied than blamed. 
 Such doctrines as his creed supplied, he laboured to enforce. It is true, purer 
 sources of information had been opened, but before we condemn his ignorance, 
 wc ought to be sure that he had it in his power to avail himself of them. 
 
 Mr. Owen has an excellent observation on this passage. " Many strange 
 conceptions have prevailed, even among Christians, with regard to the circum- 
 stances of the invisible world. And no wonder: we can only conceive it 
 under sensible images. But the general truth stands independent of all fictions, 
 and follies. Scepticism ma^' smile at the croaking frogs, and squalid ferry- 
 man, but Nature will not be laughed out of her hopes and fears." 
 
 These "strange conceptions," however, do not affect Christianity. They arc 
 the reveries of men, unmindful alike of the language of their divine Master, 
 and of his Apostle. By the former, a state of reprobation is briefly, but 
 forcibly, described as a place " where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not 
 quenched :" and of a state of blessedness, the latter says, with unrivalled energy 
 and beauty " eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into 
 the heart of man to conceive, the things which God hath prepared for them 
 that love him."
 
 64 SATIRE II. JUVENAL. V. 244—253. 
 
 Yet one Armenian youth, (so rumour says,) 
 
 Has travell'd far in these polluted ways: 
 
 So powerful is example ! Here he came 
 
 An iiostage, here he caught th' infectious flame— 
 
 O, would the striplings flee I for sensual art 
 
 Here lies in wait to catch th' untutor'd heart ; 
 
 Then farewell simple nature — pleased no more 
 
 With knives, whips, bridles, (all they prized of yore) 
 
 Thus taught, and thus debauch'd, they hasten home, 
 
 To spread the vices of imperial Rome I
 
 SATIRE III 
 
 Umbritius, an Aruspex^'' and a friend of our Author, disgusted at the 
 prevalence of vice, and the total disregard of needy, and unassuming 
 virtue, is introduced on the point of cjuitting Rome. The Poet accompanies 
 him some little luay Jrom the city, ivlien the honest exile, no lunger able 
 to suppress his indignation, stops short, and in a strain of animated 
 invective, acquaints him with the causes of his retirement. 
 
 This Satire is managed lyith wonderful ingenuity. The way by which 
 Juvenal conducts his friend out of the city, is calculated to raise a 
 thousand tender images in his mind; and when, after lingering a moment 
 at the gate, Umbritius stops to look at it for the last time, in a spot en- 
 deared by religion, covered with the venerable relics of antiquity, and 
 in itself eminently beautiful; we are templed to listen with uncommon 
 attention to the Jarewell oj the solitary fugitive. 
 
 What he says may be arranged under the following heads, that Flattery 
 and Vice are the oyily thriving arts at Rome ; that in these, particularly 
 the first, foreigners have a manifest superiority over the natives, and con- 
 sequently engross all pivoiir ; that the poor are universally exposed to 
 scorn and insult ; that the general habits of extravagance render it dif- 
 ficult for them to subsist; and that a crowded capital subjects them to 
 numberless inconveniences unknown in the country (on the tranquillity 
 and security of which he feelingly dilates! : He then adverts again to the 
 peculiar sufferings oj the poorer citizens jrom the lyant oj a well regulated 
 police : these he illustrates by a variety of examples, and concludes in a 
 strain of pathos and beauty, it'hich winds up the whole with singular 
 effect. 
 
 * Tacitus says, that on the day Galba was murdered, Umbritius predicted the impeiid- 
 iiig treachery (Hist. lib. i.xxvii.); in which he is followed by Plutarch. Pliny calls 
 him the most skilful Aruspcx of the age, Umbritius Aruspicum in nostra <no peritissimus, 
 
 K
 
 SATIRE III. 
 
 V. 1- 
 
 Cjriev'd though I am, to see the man depart, 
 \Vho long has shared, and still must share, my heart, 
 I yet applaud his firm resolve, to live 
 At lonely Cumae, and the Sibyl give 
 One citizen at least, one virtuous fugitive. 
 
 I 
 
 Ver. 4. At londy Cum/r., <?fe.] Juvenal gives the epithet vacua, to Cuniae, 
 which puzzles honest Barten ; for how, says he, can a place be empty wliich 
 is described, just below, as a thoroughfare to Baiae ? This, too, seems to be the 
 opinion of the commentators, who, alarmed for the veracity of the poet, ex- 
 plain the word by cjiiieta', otiosee, noii tarn pltiia: hominam quam est Roma, Sfc. 
 But there is no need — a place may be uninhabited though numbers pass 
 through it daily; and this, in truth, is what the author satirically hints at: 
 thai i?uia>, which Sciu-ca calls fh'versorium vitioritiii, should have such attrac- 
 tions for the llomans, ai to draw them all to it, — in despite of the many 
 delightful spots in its vicinity, through which thej- were obliged to pass, and 
 of whose charms, therefore, they could not be ignorant. 
 
 The next line — atque unum civiin donare SihylUe, — appears to me to have 
 been constantly mistaken. Holyday translates it — 
 
 " to add, 
 
 " To good Sibylla one inhabitant more;" 
 and he is followed, I think, by all the rest, without exception. I have little 
 doubt, however, but the poet meant to insinuate, that Cumw was entirely de- 
 serted. No great compliment to the good sense of his contemporaries; for 
 the situation was well chosen, and the country about it delightful. Whether
 
 G8 SATIRE III. JUVENAL. V. 6—15. 
 
 Full on the road to Baise, Cumas lies, 
 And many a sweet retreat her shore supplies — 
 Though I would make e'en Prochyta my home, 
 Bare as it is, ere the throng'd streets of Rome ; 
 For what rude, desert spot, can more affright 
 Than fires, wide blazing through the gloom of night, 
 Houses, with ceaseless ruin, thundering down, 
 And all the horrors of this hateful town. 
 Where poets, while the dog-star glows, rehearse, 
 To gasping multitudes, their barbarous verse ! 
 
 the taste of the Romans improved, I know not; but this town was afterwards 
 inhabited, and, in the reign of Justinian, stood a long and severe siege. 
 
 I did not mention in its place, that Cuniaj was dedicated to the Sibyl, who 
 had a temple here. It was here, too, that Dsedalus (v. 41) alighted, in his 
 flight from Crete. 
 
 Ver. 8. Though I would make e'en Prochyta, ^c] Prochyta was a bare 
 and rugged rock in the Tuscan Sea, not far from the Promontory of Misenus. 
 It is now a fertile, and a pretty spot. 
 
 Ver. 14. Where poets, SjcJ] The humourous malice of the author ! Who, 
 enumerating the dreadful dangers of an overgrown capital — fires,falls of houses, 
 8cc. finishes with the most dreadful of all — poets reading their works in the 
 dog-days. Metastasio's translation of this Satire, though it be neither re- 
 markable for vigour, nor for a right apprehension of the drift of the original, 
 has jet many well turned passages. This is one of them : — to those who have 
 experienced an Italian summer, it must be pecuharly striking : 
 
 " a tanti rischi 
 
 " Delia citta trovarsi esposto, e al folle 
 "■ Cicalar de' poeti a' giorni estivi." 
 He follows \he rest, in his rendering of the passage above — 
 " Che a far s' en vada alia Sibiila il dono 
 " D'un nuovo cittadin." —
 
 SATIRE III. JUVENAL. V. 16 — 25. 09 
 
 Now had my friend, impatient to depart, 
 Consign'd his httle all to one poor cart — 
 For this, without the town he chose to wait ; 
 But stopt a moment at the Conduit-gate. 
 Here Numa erst his nightly visits paid, 
 And held high converse with the Egerian maid : 
 Now the once-hallow'd fountain, grove, and fane, 
 Are let to Jews, a wretched, wandering train, 
 Whose wealth is but a basket stutF'd with hay : — 
 For every tree is forced a tax to pay ; 
 
 Ver. 20. Here Nnma erst, Sfc."] We lately (Sat. n.) had occasion to 
 notice one of the pious frauds of this good king ; here is another not less pure 
 in its nature, and not less salutary in its cflect. 
 
 Livy tells us, that, just without the walls of Rome, there was a little grove, 
 watered by a perennial spring, which rose in the middle of it. To this, Numa, 
 who had probably contracted, in the privacy of his former life, a love of soli- 
 tude, whicii followed liim to tlie throne, used frequently to retire: and here he 
 seems, soon after his accession, to have conceived the design of turriing his 
 darling propensity to the advantage of his new subjects. For this purpose, he 
 gave out, that, in tliis lonely recess, he met the goddess Egeria, who furnished 
 him from time to time with the statutes to be observed by the city. A rude 
 and uninformed race of warriors listened with awe to the dictates of Heaven : 
 and Numa had the secret satisfaction of seeing his institutions not merely 
 received, but revered. 
 
 Ver. 24. Whose wealth is but a basket stnff'd icithhaij:—'\ Tbe commentators, 
 not content with the obvious meaning of this passage, have laboured to find 
 a mystery in it. Britannicus, in his observations on the Sixth Satire, (where 
 the same words are again used,) says, the hay served them to lie on. This is 
 rational enough; but how, rejoins liolyday, could they carry about sufficient 
 for such a purpose ? He, therefore, inclines to tiiink, with Lyranus, that the 
 liay was not so much a mark of their poverty, as of their servitude in Egypt, 
 which, it seems, they gloried in obtruding upon the notice of the llonians : by
 
 70 SATIRE III. JUVENAL. V. 26—35. 
 
 And the sweet Nine are banish'd, that the place 
 May raise an income from this beggar'd race ! 
 
 Thence down the vale we slowly wind, and view 
 The Eo;erian srots — ah I how unlike the true ! 
 Nymph of the spring! more graced thy haunts had been, 
 More honour'd, if an edge of living green, 
 Thy bubbling fount had circumscribed alone, 
 And marble ne'er profan'd the native stone. 
 
 Umbritius here his sullen silence broke, 
 And turn'd on Rome, indignant, as he spoke. 
 
 way of contrasting it, I suppose, with their present flourishing and happy 
 situation ! ll may loolc like trifling to reply, that in this case, they should 
 rather have carried straw : but the truth is, there is no room for refinement on 
 the subject. The poet merely intended to censure the irrcligion and avarice 
 of his countrymen. The former, in assigning the sacred groves to this despised 
 race (pais despectissiina servientium) who, being driven from the cit3' by 
 Domitian, were glad to take up their abode in the nearest place which pro- 
 mised them a shelter : and the latter, in exacting the rent from them, though 
 all their wealth was a basket, in which, perhaps, they carried what they begged, 
 and a little haj', which either served for provender for their beasts, (asses) or 
 for themselves to lay their heads on at night. 
 
 One of Juvenal's most judicious translators obsei-ves, that it is, " improbable 
 the Jews should pay tribute (why tribute'? is it not mcrcidem, rent'?) for their 
 cold lodging in a grove." Yet this is expressly asserted by this author, omnis 
 emm popitlo, Sir. ! He will, therefore, have it (and he is far from being singular) 
 that Juvenal alludes to the tribute which every Jew was obliged to pay to the 
 Temple, and which, after its destruction, Vespasian transferred to the Capitol. 
 Such an idea is altogether inconsistent with the spirit of the passage. The 
 obnoxious nature of the demand (in Juvenal's mind) was for the use of the 
 groves themselves, and every other supposition weakens the force of his satire. 
 , Ver. 30. ISi/mph of the spring! (.Sc] ^Ve have here a pleasing instance of 
 the good taste of Juvenal: — but he was an enthusiastic admirer of nature, and
 
 SATIRE III. JUVENAL. V. 30 — 54. 71 
 
 Since Virtue droops, he cried, without regard, 
 And honest toil scarce hopes a poor reward ; 
 Since every morrow sees my means decay, 
 And still makes less the little of to-day ; 
 I hasten there^ where, all his labours past, 
 The flying artist found repose at last : — 
 While something yet of health and strength remains, 
 While yet my steps no bending staff sustains. 
 While few gray hairs upon my head are seen, 
 And my old age is vigorous still, and green ; 
 Here let me bid my native soil farewell — 
 There may Arturius and his colleague dwell; 
 Unblushing villains, who in truth's despite, 
 Can white to black transform, and black to white, 
 Build temples, furnish funerals, auctions hold, 
 Farm rivers, ports, and scour the drains for gold : 
 These once were trumpeters, and up and down 
 Follow'd the prizes, through each country town ; 
 Where their pufTd cheeks were known to ev'ry clown. 
 
 \ 
 
 the little views of the country with which he indulges as from time to time, 
 arc painted con amore (as they say), and from the heart. 
 
 It is but justice, however, to add, tiial he is indebted for some of the finest 
 touches in the picture before us, to a most exquisite description of a fount and 
 grotto, by Ovid. 
 
 " in extremo est antnmi nemorale recessu, 
 
 "Arte laboratum nulla; simulavcral artem 
 
 " Ingenio natura suo: nam pumice vivo, 
 
 " Et ievibus tophis nativuni duxerat arcum. 
 
 " Fons sonat a dextra tenui perlucichis unda, 
 
 " Margine gramineo patuios succinctus hiatus. Mil, iii. 157-
 
 72 SATIRE III. JUVENAL. V. 55—58. 
 
 Now they give shews themselves; and save, or kill. 
 As the rude rabble hint their sovereign will ; 
 Whom thus they court ; then, as their avarice wakes, 
 Run from the bloody scene, to — farm the jakes ! 
 
 Ver. 55. Note they give shews, &,c.] i. e. munera ; exhibitions of gladiators: 
 — " They once served the players, (so Mr. Ireland thinks it should be, and 
 not prize-fighters, as I have rendered it,) now they affect to be great men, 
 and hire gladiators to amuse the people." 
 
 When an ancient custom can be rendered with precision, it is always right 
 to do that justice to the original; when it cannot, it is better, perhaps, to give 
 its general sense, than lo descend to particulars, in which every thing is dis- 
 puted, and nothing concluded : 
 
 " verso pollice vulgi 
 
 " Quemhbet occidunt populariter" — 
 literally means, from an affectation of popularity they put to death whomso- 
 ever the people, by a turn of their thumbs, condemn. Verso pollice, and con- 
 verso pollice, are known to be signals of contempt, by which the spectators 
 adjudged to death the vanquished combatant. How these were expressed, — 
 whether by holding up a hand clenched, with the thumb bent backward, or by 
 what other method, cannot now be determined. Nor is it of much conse- 
 quence; the sense of the passage is given in the translation, and the reader 
 who wishes fcr further remarks on it, ra&y consult Dacier and others, who have 
 written professedly on the subject. 
 
 When I observed, that the vanquished was adjudged to death converso 
 pollice, I should have added, that he was sometimes preserved compresso pollice, 
 1 wish I could have said freqitentli/ : but he who considers how great a tendency 
 the sight of reiterated murder has to harden the mind, will not believe that 
 there were many proofs of compassion exhibited. If we look for them any 
 where, it must be amongst the Vestal Virgins, whose service was unbloody, and 
 who must, therefore have had a little of the " milk of human kindness" in 
 them. Hear now Prudentius : 
 
 " O tcnerum mitemque animum ! consurgit ad ictus : 
 " Et, quoties victor fernmijugulo inserit, ilia 
 " Delicias ail esse suas ! pectusque jacentis 
 "Virgo modestajubet converso pollice rumpi;
 
 SATIRE III. JUVENAL. V. 59— 0-'. 7J 
 
 And why not every thing? Since these are they 
 Whom Fortune, midst her wild and wanton phiy 
 With human state, iier toy, in some bHnd hour 
 Lifts, from the dregs of earthy to weaUh and power. 
 
 " Ne lateat pars ulla animae vitalibus imis, 
 " Altius imprcsso dum palpitat eiise secutor!" 
 
 Now I have mentioned these sports (for so they were called !) it may not be 
 amiss to add a few words on the dreadful waste of mankind occasioned by 
 them. No war, no pestilence, ever swept oft' such multitudes of the human 
 race. Lipsius asserts, that in some months, twenty or thirty thousand were 
 slaughtered in Europe alone ; and his calculation does not appear at all 
 exaggerated. We blame, says lie, the cruelty of Nero and Caligula, who pro- 
 bably put to death some hundreds of men in the course of their reigns; while 
 we say nothing of many private citizens, who frequently butchered a thousand 
 in a da}' ! 
 
 The dead (I scarce know why, unless from a prineij)le of revenge in the 
 living) were anciently supposed to delight in human blood. Prisoners of war, 
 therefore, were sometimes put to death at the grave of a favourite chief who 
 had fallen in battle, as the readiest way to appease his manes. From this 
 practice, undoubtedly, sprang the one of which we are treating: combats of 
 gladiators having been primarily exhibited in Kome, at the funerals of eminent 
 persons ; to which indeed they were for some time restricted. The magistrates 
 themselves first broke through this restraint, and produced them for the 
 entertainment of the city at the Saturnalia, and other festivals. As they 
 were much followed, ambitious men soon discovered that the readiest road to 
 power, was to gratifv liii' people in these their favourite amusements, and 
 they, therefore, became extremely frequent. 
 
 They seem to have received their first check from Cicero, who introduced 
 a law for preventing candidates i'or public ollices from exhibiting them. 
 Augustus afterwards decreed, thai they should be given only twice a }'ear; 
 and these regulations continued in force during the reign of his immediate 
 successor. Caligula again permitted all the citizens to give them as often 
 as they pleased. Domitian, who snufted the scent of blood like a vulture, 
 encouraged them by every means in his power ; and even the " mild virtues" of 
 
 L
 
 74 SATIRE lu. JUVENAL, v. 63— 66. 
 
 What should I do at Rome ! I know not, I, 
 To cog and flatter; I could never lie, 
 Nor when I heard a great man's verses, smile, 
 And beg a copy, if I thought them vile. 
 
 Trajan were not thought disgraced by the horrid spectacle of 10,000 wretched 
 victims, whom he exhibited in his triumph over the Dacians ! 
 
 Besides the checks above mentioned, there were others of a secondary 'j 
 
 nature. Tacitus quotes a decree of the senate, by which it was provided, 7ie f 
 
 quis gladiatorum munus cderet an minor quadringentorum millium res esset. 
 Even thus, it seems to have been confined to the free citizens; for Harpocras, 
 the freedman of Claudius, is mentioned by Suetonius as exhibiting them by 
 the Emperor's " special indulgence." We may now account for the indignation 
 with which the poet speaks of those arrogant upstarts, " Arturius and his jt 
 
 colleague,'' who, puffed up by the success of their sordid contracts, presumed -J 
 
 to put forth those bloody shews, and dispose of the lives of their fellow-creatures f' 
 
 at the caprice of a barbarous rabble. '' 
 
 Combats of gladiators continued to the days of Constantine, who, to the 
 honour of Christianity, first prohibited them by an edict. Some faint traces -^ 
 
 of them, however appeared under the succeeding emperors ; but they were 
 finally done away by Arcadius and Honoriiis. 
 
 Ver. 60. What should I do at Rome ! ^t.] Martial has conveyed (" convey, 
 the wise it call,") this and the following lines from our author, and worked 
 them up into a tolerable epigram. Here is Cowley's translation of it ; which 
 is not so good as it might be : — for the concluding couplets I am answerable. 
 
 '*■ Honest and poor, faithful in word and thought, 
 
 "■ What has thee, Fabian, to the city brought? 
 
 " Thou neither the buffoon nor bawd can'st play, 
 
 " Nor with false whispers th' innocent betray ; 
 
 " Nor wives corrupt, nor from rich beldames get 
 
 " A living by thy industry and sweat; 
 
 " Nor with vain promises and projects cheat, 
 
 " Nor bribe nor flatter any of the great, 
 
 " What means hast thou to thrive ? Ho ! thou art just, 
 
 " A man of courage, firm, and fit for trust.
 
 SATIRE III. JUVENAL. V. bl—li. 75 
 
 A sublunary wight, 1 have no skill 
 To read the stars ; I neither can, nor will, 
 Presage a father's death ; I never pried 
 In toads for poison, nor in aught beside. — 
 Others, with subtler art, and nicer care. 
 The adulterer's billets to the wife may bear; 
 
 " Nay then, thou canst not fail; — but, hie thee home, 
 
 "■ For seriously, thou art not made for Rome." IJh. iv. \ . 
 
 In Wj'att's epistle to his friend Poines, there are several passages which 
 shew that he had this Satire before him : 
 
 " But how may I this honour now attain, 
 
 " That cannot dje the colour black a lyar ? 
 
 " My Poines, I cannot frame my lips to feigne, 
 
 " To cloke the truth," See. 
 In consequence of this attachment to truth, he protests (among other things) 
 that he cannot prefer Chaucer's tale of Sir Topas to his Palemon and Arcite: 
 he cannot — 
 
 " Approve Sir Topas for a noble tale, 
 
 " And scorn the story that the knight he told. 
 
 " Praise him for counsel that is drunk of ale, 
 
 " Grinnc when he laughs that beareth all the swaye, 
 
 "■ Frowne when he frowns, and groan when he is pale ; 
 
 " In others lust to hang both night and day." — 
 
 Ver. 69. 1 never pried 
 
 In toads for poison, Sicl Either our toad is not the rana rubeta 
 of the ancients, or it has lost its destructive qualities in this country ; where 
 it is generally understood to be altogether innoxious. In Juvenal's time, no 
 doubt was entertained of its poisonous nature. It is frequently alluded to by 
 the elder Pliny, and once in strong terms, as extremely hostile to hfe. The 
 compounders of these doses, (and, as Rabelais says, there was a world of 
 people at Home then, as well as now, that got an honest livelihood by poison- 
 ing,) might probably give out such a report, to conceal the real lact; but 1 
 should imagine the substances they used were cither vegetable, or mineral.
 
 76 SATIRE III. JUVENAL. V. 73 — 90. 
 
 No pimp of pleasure, I such deeds detest, 
 And honest, let no thief partake my breast. 
 For this, without a friend, the world I quit ; 
 A palsied limb, for every use unfit ! 
 
 For who is lov'd, in these degenerate times, 
 Rut he whose conscious bosom swells with crimes. 
 With monstrous crimes, he never must impart. 
 Though the dire secret burst his labouring heart ? 
 They owe, they pay thee nothing, who prepare 
 To trust an honest secret to thy care ; 
 But, a dishonest ! — there they feel thy power, 
 And buy thy friendship high from hour to hour; 
 But let not all that Tagus' waves contain, 
 Nor all the gold they pour into the main, 
 Be deem'd a bribe sufficient, to requite 
 Thy loss of peace by day, of sleep by night* — 
 O take not, take not what thy soul rejects. 
 Nor sell the faith, which he who buys suspects! 
 
 and of a much more subtle, and deleterious nature than any thing the genus 
 of toads could supply. It is no great reflection, however, on our author, that 
 he was iijnorant of the secret. 
 
 Madan has a curious note on this line: "The lana;uaa:e here is meta- 
 phorical, and alludes to augurs inspecting the entrails of beasts slain in sacri- 
 fice, on the view of which they drew their good or ill omens." With a degree 
 of carelessness inexcusable in a school-boy, Mr. Madan confounds augurs 
 wilii aruspices; and the consequences are such as might be expected. Um- 
 britius, whose sole employment was inspecting the entrails of beasts, (Mr. 
 Madan's " metaphorical" toads,) is made to declare, that he never looked into 
 them; while the augurs, who always divined l)y the flight of birds, are said to
 
 SATIRE III. JUVENAL. V. 91 — 108. 77 
 
 Who flourish now the favourites of the state, 
 A supple crew I must for ever hate ; 
 Unaw'd by fear, and unrestrain'd by shame, 
 I haste to shew, nor thou my transport blame : 
 I cannot rule my spleen, and calmly see 
 Rome dwindling to a Grecian colony. 
 Grecian ! O, no : to this vast sewer compar'd, 
 The dregs of Greece are scarcely worth regard. 
 Long since the stream that wanton Syria laves 
 Has disembogued its filth in Tiber's waves. 
 Its language, arts ; o'erwhelm'd us with the scum 
 Of Antioch's streets, its minstrels, harp, and drum. 
 Hie to the Circus ! ye wlio pant to prove 
 A barbarous mistress, an outlandish love ; 
 Hie to the Circus ! there in crowds they stand, 
 Tires on their head, and timbrels in their hand. 
 
 Father of Rome, behold ! thy rustic wears 
 A fencer's garb, and on his oil'd neck bears 
 
 take their omens ironi the beasts slain in sacrifice, with whicii they never 
 meddled ! 
 
 Veu. 97. Grecian.' 0,no,^;c.^ Qiiamvis quota porliojkcis jlchcca? As if, 
 saysBritannicus, the vices of the Greeks were so great, that a small portion of 
 them was sufficient to corrupt the city, O bone, ttoicv (ti tw^ <pvycii\ Surely 
 Juvenal means to say — I have called Rome a Grecian colony ; yet when I 
 consider what a multitude of Syrians, &,c. the Orontes has poured into the 
 Tiber, I must confess that the filth of Greece forms but a small part of that 
 inundation of impurity with which we are overwhelmed. 
 
 Ver. 107. Rttsticus ilk tints sumit trecliedipna, Quirine, 
 
 Et ceromatico fert nicetiria col/o.'] In this apostrophe to 
 Romulus, the poet observes, that while the Greeks, &c. were worming liiem- 
 selves into all places of power and profit, the Romans, once so renowned for
 
 78 SATIRE in. JUVENAL. V. lOf) — 112. 
 
 A paltry prize, well-pleas'd ; while every land, 
 Sicyon, and Amydos, and Alaband, 
 Tralles, and Samos, and a thousand more, 
 Thrive on his indolence, and daily pour 
 
 their rough and manly vu-tues, were wholly taken up ^\itll the idle amusements 
 of tlie Circus. 
 
 Of this perversion of the " Latian shepherd," he marks his contempt, by 
 crowding his description with Greek words; of which the first, trechtdipna, 
 has occasioned the commentators some trouble. Holyday (from Lubin) trans- 
 lates it, the " haunt-dole gown," a rfi-)(u vm\ Shtvov : but the Romans " haunted 
 the dole" in the toga; the use of which was no novelty, and therefore not 
 worth appealing to Romulus about. Madan quotes Dryden, to shew that it 
 was an " effeminate, gawdy kind of garment;" and Mr. Owen, to my great 
 surprise, adopts his very words ! It seems to me, that the poet meant to ex- 
 press but one action ; and that is determined by the context. Ticchedipna, 
 therefore, (unless that name be given to the endromidas, or shaggy cloak, see 
 Sat. VI .) must mean the succinct vest, which the Romans probably adopted from 
 the Greek westlers, &c. Ceroma was a mixture of oil, clay, and bees-wax, with 
 which they smeared their neck and breasts, and as it should seem, profusely ; 
 lor Seneca, speaking to his friend Lucilius of a journey he had taken, says, the 
 roads were so bad, that he rather swam than walked, and before he came to 
 his inn, was covered with ceroma, like a prize-fighter. Madan still harping 
 upon his " gawdiness," will have ceroma not to mean ceroma, but a curious 
 and costly unguent for the hair ! For this he again quotes Dryden, who neither 
 thought, nor cared about the matter, and whose authority in tiiis case can there- 
 fore determine nothing, l^iceteria, Lubin says, were vestes peregrina; ; but he 
 was misled by the scholium, where, by a mistake of the transcriber, nicetcria is 
 put for trcchedipna: indeed, he afterwards corrects himself. Niccteria are 
 the prizes which the victors ostentatiously wore round their necks. 
 
 The change of character is singular : — the Greeks, so fond of the Gym- 
 nasium at home, forsook it entirely here, and turned all their attention to 
 the arts of thriving; while the Romans neglected the latter to apply to the 
 former; and then broke out into childish complaints at being supplanted by 
 the superior address of tlie foreigners.
 
 SATIRE III. JUVENAL. V. 113—139. 79 
 
 Their starving myriads forth : hither they come, 
 
 And batten on the genial soil of Rome; 
 
 The minions, then the lords, of every princely dome. 
 
 A flattering, cringing, treacherous, artful race. 
 
 Of fluent tongue, and never-blushing face; 
 
 A Protean tribe, one knows not what to call. 
 
 That shifts to every form, and shines in all; 
 
 Grammarian, painter, augur, rhetorician. 
 
 Geometer, cook, conjurer, and physician. 
 
 All arts his own the hungry Greekling counts. 
 
 And bid him mount the skies, the skies he mounts — 
 
 You smile — was't a barbarian, then, that Hew? 
 
 No 'twas a Greek, 'twas an Athenian, too ! 
 
 Bear with their state who will . — but I disdain 
 
 All converse with the proud, the upstart train, — 
 
 Wretches, who, stow'd in some dank lighter's womb. 
 
 With rotten figs, were lately borne to Rome, 
 
 Yet now above me sit, before me sign. 
 
 Their friendship and their faith preferr'd to mine ! 
 
 And is the privilege of freedom lost! 
 And is it nothing, nothing then, to boast 
 That from the first, the breath of life I drew 
 In Roman air, on Roman olives grew ! — 
 But, no — the Greek applauds, with winning grace. 
 His patron's folly, and his Gorgon face ; 
 Admires his voice, that grates upon the ear 
 Like the shrill scream of wanton chanticleer ; 
 
 ]
 
 II 
 
 so SATIRE in. JUVENAL, v. 140—159. 
 
 And equals his crane neck, and narrow chest, 
 To Hercules, wlien, strainhig to his breast 
 The giant-son of earth, his every vein 
 Swells with the toil, the more than mortal pain. 
 
 We too can flatter; true: but they alone 
 Gain credit, they who make all parts their own. 
 See ! they step forth, and figure to the life. 
 The naked nymph, the mistress, and the wife, 
 So just, so true, you view the woman there, 
 And fancy all, beneath the girdle, bare. 
 No longer now, the favourites of the stage 
 Boast their exclusive power to charm the age ; 
 The happy art with them a nation shares, 
 Greece is a Theatre, where all are players, 
 For lo! their patron smiles, — they burst with mirth; 
 He weeps, — they droop, the saddest souls on earth ; 
 He calls for fire, — they court the mantle's heat ; 
 'Tis warm, he cries, — and they dissolve in sweaL 
 lU-match'd! ill-match'd! they get, and keep, the start, 
 "Who, taught from youth to play a borrow'd part, 
 
 Vek. 154. Forlo! their patron smiles, — ^c] The character of the flaUerer 
 is touched with great force in these lines; which are, however, exceeded, at 
 least in humour, by the following : 
 
 Hamlet. Your bonnet lo its right use : 'tis for the head. 
 
 Osrick. I thank your lordship, 'tis very hot. 
 
 Hamlet. No, believe me, 'tis very cold; the wind is northerly. 
 
 Osrick. It is indifferent cold, my lord, indeed. 
 
 Hamlet. But yet, raethinks, it is very sultry and hot for my complexion. 
 
 Osrick. Excecdingl}', my lord, it is very sultry as it were, I can't tell how.
 
 SATIRE III. JUVENAL. V. 160—175. 8l 
 
 Can, with a glance, the rising passion trace, 
 And mould their own to suit their patron's face ; 
 At deeds of shame tiieir hands admiring raise, 
 And mad debauchery's worst excesses praise. 
 
 Besides,. no mound their raging lust restrains; 
 All ties it breaks^ all sanctity profanes 
 The wife, and virgin-daughter, are undone. 
 The bridegroom, and the yet-untainted son: 
 If none of these their patron's roof supplies, 
 The hoary grandam falls a sacrifice. — 
 They notice every word, haunt every ear, 
 His secrets learn, and fix him theirs from fear. 
 You think, perhaps, the wiser Greeks disclaim 
 These horrors — turn, since Greeks are now my theme. 
 Turn to their schools; — yon gray professor see, 
 Sraear'd with the sanguine stains of perfidy I 
 
 Ver. 174 — yon gray professor see, ^c] This was P. 
 
 JEgnatiuSj who came forward against Baicas Soranus, accused of a conspiracy 
 against Nero. The appearance of tiiis man, says Tacitus, (who gives a lull 
 account of the transaction,) excited general indignation. He had been first 
 the client of Soranus, and afterwards his preceptor; and was bribed by the 
 emissaries of the Emperor, to give evidence against his pupil and patron ! He 
 was a Stoic, who, under the appearance of austere and simple manners, con- 
 cealed a crafty and perfidious, an avaricious and profligate mind. Money 
 laid him open to view; and mankind learned from his example, that it was 
 not sufficient to guard against characters of notorious baseness, since perfidy 
 and deceit might be found under the mask of philosophy and virtue. 
 
 The iionest Aruspex triumphs in the idea of his being a Grccilin, and even 
 marks out the place of his birth, by a contemptuous allusion to an adventure 
 of Pegasus, (who is said to have stumbled, and dropt a feather from his fetlock 
 
 M
 
 82 SATIRE III. JUVENAL. V. 176—185. 
 
 That tutor, most accurst his pupil sold ! 
 
 That Stoic sacrificed his friend to gold ! — 
 
 A Greek ! a true-born Greek ! spawn'd on that coast 
 
 Where the Gorgonian hack a pinion lost. 
 
 Hence Romans, hence ! no place for you remains 
 Where Diphilus, where Erymanthus reigns ; 
 Miscreants, who, faithful to their native art, 
 Admit no rival in their patron's heart ; 
 For let them fasten on his easy ear, 
 And drop one hint, one poisonous slander, there, 
 
 at Tarsus, a town in Cilicia) whom he degrades into a hack. Caballi appd- 
 lationc afficit, as Casaubon observes, non quod iUi quern in calis vetustas collo- 
 cavit, vtllet iridetractum; sed quia Greecos male oderat. He did, indeed, hate 
 the Greeks ; but he thought, and I beheve with justice, that they had ruined 
 the rigid virtues of his countrymen. 
 
 The professor is distinguished by the use of the aboUa : a large kind of 
 wrapper, mightily affected by the " budge-doctors of the Stoic fur." These I 
 suppose, had it, for humility's sake, of the cheapest and coarsest materials, to 
 serve them, as occasion required, either for a gown or a rug, tiudi tegmen 
 grahati ; but it was sometimes seen of the costliest stuff, and the most glowing 
 colours : it was then the proud distinction of the rich and great. Crispinus, 
 as I have already observed, (p. 10,) had a purple abolla stolen from him 
 while he was bathing, which Martial tells the thief will be an unprofitable 
 robbery to him, since none but a person of eminence coiild venture to wear 
 it. And Caligula, moved by envy, destroyed young Juba, (percussit) because, 
 at a public exhibition, the prince, by the splendour of his abolla, drew all eyes 
 from the Emperor to himself. 
 
 This was the greater abolla : but there was also a lesser abolla, peculiar to 
 the military, and used by them when on duty. From its description it appears 
 to have been something like the loose cloak worn by the German soldiery at 
 this day.
 
 SATIRE III. JUVENAL. V. ISO — 205. 83 
 
 Suck'd from their country's venom, or their own, 
 That instant they possess the man alone; 
 While we are driven, dishonour'd, from the door. 
 Our long, long slavery thought upon no more. 
 'Tis but a client lost, — and that, we find, 
 Sits wond'rous lightly on a patron's mind ; 
 And light, indeed, it is : for, to be plain, 
 What merit can a poor dependant gain 
 By his best services ? e'en though he rise 
 And snatch his gown, while night involves the skies, 
 And to the levee run ; when, long before, 
 * The chiefs of Rome were hurrying to the door; 
 And e'en the Praetor, with impatient face, 
 And clamorous tongue, quickening the Lictors' pace, 
 Lest his associate, in the brisk pursuit 
 Should pass him, and the matrons first salute. 
 The childish matrons^ who, long since awake, 
 His late appearance for neglect will take ! 
 
 Deaf to the voice of honour, men of birth 
 Here give the wall to upstarts, sons of earth ; 
 
 Ver. 193. JVhat merit can a poor dependant gain] This is touched with 
 great force by Martial : 
 
 " Cum tu laurigeris annum qui fascibus intras 
 
 " Mane salutator hmina miile teras, 
 " Hie ego quid faciam ? quid nobis, Paule, rcHnquis 
 " Qui de plebe Numa^, dcnsaque turba sumus?" 
 The conclusion is entirely in the spirit and manner of Juvenal: 
 " Quid faciei pauper, cui non licet esse clienti i 
 
 " Dimisit nostras purpura vestra togas." Lib. x. Ep. x.
 
 I 
 
 S4 SATIRE III. JUVENAL. V. 206—216. 
 
 And wherefore? these, forsooth, can fling away, 
 
 On Catiene, a tribune's ample pay 
 
 For one short nigiit ; while those, when some gay fair 
 
 Inflames their fancy, boggle, and forbear 
 
 To hand the wanton from her stately chair. 
 
 Produce at Rome your witness ; let him boast 
 The sanctity of Cybele's fam'd host, 
 Of Numa, or of Him whose zeal divine 
 Snatch'd pale Minerva from her blazing shrine ; 
 First to explore his wealth the judges haste, 
 His honour, and his honesty, the last — 
 
 • 
 
 Vee. 212. The sanctity of Cybele's fam'd host, (?fc.] In the year 548th of 
 Rome, the republic being much terrified by prodigies, the SibylHne books were 
 consulted for the proper expiations : it was there found, that the evil might 
 be averted, if the goddess Cybele were brought from Phrygia to Rome. Five 
 men of eminence were deputed to fetch this powerful protectress, (a rude and 
 shapeless stone ; see Sat. xi.) and these were ordered, by the oracle, to place 
 her, at their return, in the hands of the most virtuous man in the common- 
 wealth, till a temple could be prepared for her reception. The senate imani- 
 mously declared Scipio Nasica to be this " most virtuous man," and Cybele 
 was accordingly lodged with him. 
 
 The old scholiast says, hie est Scipio qui oppressit Tiberium Gracchum leges 
 agrarias ferre conantem : — from which it appears, that people wrote notes 
 formerly, as they sometimes do now, without thinking much of the text: since 
 a moment's reflection on it, must have shewn the good man he was totally 
 wrong ; more than seventy years having passed between the two events. The 
 Scipio of Juvenal was the grandfather of the Scipio mentioned by the scholiast; 
 who seems, indeed, to have had few or no pretensions to the honourable dis- 
 tinction in favour of his ancestor. 
 
 Ver. 213. or of Him, (^"c] This was L. Metellus, Pontifex 
 
 Maximus, who, in a dreadful conflagration which happened at Rome a few 
 years before the last mentioned event, when the fire had seized the temple of
 
 SATIRE III. JUVENAL. V. 217— 233. 85 
 
 " What does his table cost him; can you guess? 
 
 " What servants, what demesnes does he possess?" 
 
 These weighty matters known, his faith they rate, 
 
 And square his probity to his estate. 
 
 The poor may swear by all the Immortal Powers, 
 
 By the great Samothracian gods, and ours, 
 
 Their oaths are false, they cry ; the knaves despise 
 
 Almighty justice, and contemn the skies ; 
 
 Almighty justice knows they lie for bread. 
 
 And bids its thunders spare each venial head !— 
 
 Add, that the wretch is still the theme of scorn, 
 
 If the soil'd vest be rent, or over-worn. 
 
 If the bare foot through tlie burst shoe appear, 
 
 Or the coarse botch betray some recent scar. 
 
 O Poverty ! thy thousand ills combin'd, 
 
 Sink not so deep into the generous mind. 
 
 As the contempt, and laughter of mankind. 
 
 Vesta, and the virgins deserted it, ventured his life to save the Palladium. 
 One of his arms was disabled in the attempt, and his sight totally destroyed, 
 yet he effected his purpose. Ovid has some pretty lines on the subject. 
 Fast. VI. 444. 
 
 Ver. 222. Bi/ the great Samothracian gods, iSjt.] Macrobius (the only one 
 of the Romans who has written rationally on the Samothracian gods) says 
 they were Jupiter, Juno, Vesta, and Minerva. With this we must be content; 
 for it would require a volume, instead of a note, to investigate this truly 
 curious subject. Besides, I am warned by that most learned of historians, 
 Dionysius Halicarnassus, of the impiety of inquiring loo minutely into so 
 sacred a matter. Those, however, who feel unawed by his admonition may, 
 after carefully perusing his first and second books, turn to Cumberland's 
 OniGiNEs; wherein his Appendix " dc Cabiris,'" ihey will find some remarks 
 on the Samothracian worship, that will well reward their pains.
 
 86 SATIRE III. JUVENAL, v. 234—237. 
 
 " Up ! up ! those cushion'd benches," Lectius cries, 
 " Are not for such as you : for shame ! arise." 
 " Not such!" — but you say well; the pander's heir, 
 The spawn of bulks and stews, is station'd there, 
 
 Ver. 231. O Poverty, Sfc.'] 
 
 OUX {(TTt TTSVKXg xSiV aSXlfclTftfOl/ 
 
 E> Tu Ciu (TU/xWTWjt**" )t«i yap a.v (puiTEj 
 Ztraj'ai^J 1)5 , wfKtif Si, ■x.a.TO.yiXuiq £(rt). 
 Lubin (from whom I have taken these lines) gives them to Crates. He has 
 printed them as prose ; and, indeed, as he has copied them, they are not metre. 
 I have no access to Stobaeus, where he sa^'s lie found the passage, and have, 
 therefore, regulated it at a venture. 
 
 Ver. 234. Up! up! those cushion'd benches, S^c.'] Umbri tins alludes with be- 
 coming indignation to a law procured by L. Otho, tribune of the people, for 
 the assignment of distinct seats in the theatres* to the knights, who used 
 before to sit promiscuously with the populace. By this law, fourteen rows of 
 benches next to those of the senators, were appropriated to their use; by 
 which, says Cicero, (who seems marvellously pleased with the regulation,) both 
 their dignity and their pleasure were properly consulted. The people, how- 
 ever, who were as fond of their amusements as the knights, and whose pleasure 
 had not been at all consulted, resented the indignity of being thrust back, 
 ■with great bitterness: and were only prevented from coming to blows on the 
 spot, by the commanding eloquence of Cicero. The speech he made to them 
 is lost — and I am sorry for it ; for who would not wish to know by what argu- 
 ments he convinced them that they had not been injured and suddenly turned 
 (as he says he did) their violent censure of Otho into applause ? 
 
 This happened in the 685th year of Rome: the senators, it should be 
 
 * I say theatres, because the regulation did not extend to the Circus, where 
 the people were still suffered to mix indiscriminately with the knights. By 
 an oversight very unusual with the excellent translator of Tacitus, the two 
 places are confounded. (Ann. xv. j2.) The senators were first separated 
 from the rest, by Claudius: and Nero brought forward the knights: he did 
 not, however, content himself with assigning them fourteen benches only, but 
 ordered the whole body of them to take place of the Plebeians; who were 
 thus driven to the very top of the building.
 
 sATinE III. JUVENAL, v. 238 — 245. 87 
 
 The crier's spruce son, fresh from the fencer's school, 
 And prompt the taste to settle, and to rule : — 
 So Otho fix'd it, whose preposterous pride 
 First dar'd to chace us from their honours' side. 
 
 In these curs'd walls, devote alone to gain, 
 When do the poor a wealthy wife obtain ? 
 When are they nam'd in wills ? when call'd to share 
 The ^dile's council, or assist the chair? — 
 
 observed, had obtained the same privilege about 130 j'ears before, through the 
 influence of" the elder Africanus ; a distinction in a free city, which even then 
 irritated the lower orders exceedingly, and as Val. Maximus observes, yar or cot 
 Scipionis magnopa-e 'quassavit, mightily shook his popularity. Livy says, 
 Africanus repented of what he had done ; this, however, had no weight with 
 the senators, who kept their seats; and in due time, as we have seen, were 
 followed by the knights. 
 
 This invidious separation had now subsisted more than a century; yet it 
 still rankled in the breast of the poorer citizens ; but there is a peculiar pro- 
 priety in its being mentioned here: for Domitian had revived the distinction, 
 which, from its odious nature, was growing obsolete ; and, out of pure hatred 
 to the people, appointed overseers of the theatres, to inforce it. Martial takes 
 frequent notice of this law, and incidentally gives us the name of one of the 
 overseers : 
 
 " Quadringenta tibi non sunt, Chsrestrate, surge, 
 
 " Lectius ecce venit: sta, fuge, curre, late !" 
 Ver. 245. The JEdilc's council, (?)T.] For the duties of this officer see Sat. x. 
 In the following line, Umbritius alludes to the secession of the people to 
 the sacred mount in the days of Men. Agrippa, by whose persuasions they 
 were brought back to the city. At that time the poor had to struggle against 
 the cruelty of the patricians; they had now to complain of their insolent con- 
 tempt. The high and indcpendant spirit of Juvenal thought this, perhaps, the 
 greater evil of the two: and we must not, therefore, wonder at his recommend- 
 ing a second, and more effectual migration.
 
 88 SATIRE III. JUVENAL. V. 246—254. 
 
 Long since should they have ris'n, thus shghted, spurn'd, 
 And left their home — but, not to have return'd ! 
 
 Depress'd by poverty, the good and wise, 
 In every clime, by painful efforts rise; 
 Here, by more painful still — where all runs high, "^ 
 
 Servants' expenses, lodgings next the sky, v 
 
 And the most frugal supper you can buy. j 
 
 An earthern dish is slighted here; yet he 
 That, to the Marsian's seat remov'd, should see 
 
 Ver. 248. Depress'd hi/ povertif, &;c.'\ Whether the condition of the " good 
 and wise " was much improved in the time of Claudian may be very reasonably 
 doubted, from the genuine history of that period. Had we no better infor- 
 niatiouj indeed, than the poet's, we should be inclined to think it was, from 
 the following elegant apostrophe to Stilicho : 
 
 " non obruta virtus 
 
 " Paupertate jacet: lectos ex omnibus oris 
 
 " Evehis, et meritum, non qua; cunabula, quaeris ; 
 
 " Et qualis, non unde satus." 
 
 The turn of the expression, and the choice of the circumstances, lead me to 
 think tliat Claudian had Juvenal in his thoughts, and that he aimed at con- 
 trasting our author's times with his own. For a compliment, the idea is well 
 enough; for a hint it is better. I hope some worthy man was benefitted b\' it. 
 Ver. 253. An earthen dish, &"c.] 
 
 " Fictilibus coenare pudet, quod turpe negavit 
 
 " Translatus subito ad Marsos," &c. 
 Holyday (to say nothing of the rest) supposes the allusion is to the story of 
 Curius Dentatus, (see Sat. xi.)butl cannotbc of his opinion. I doubtwhether 
 Juvenal would have designated this good old man by so odd a phrase as Iraii- 
 slatus subito, because, as they say, he was stiddenli/ sent into Samnium: and 
 I am very sure it was not necessary; since his plainness and frugality were 
 habitual, and he would as soon have eaten out of an earthen dish at Rome, as 
 in the most secluded corner of Ilalv. It seems to me, that the author hud
 
 SATIRE III. JUVENAL. V 255 — 2G2. 89 
 
 His frugal board, would scarce disdain it there, 
 Or blush the coarse Venetian hood to wear. 
 There are, they say, and I believe it true, 
 Some parts of Italy, nor those a few, 
 Where old simplicity prevails, and none 
 But dead men know the luxury of a gown. 
 There, when the toil forgone, and annual play, 
 Mark, from the rest, some high and solemn day, 
 
 nothing in view but general observation. At Rome every thing is extrava- 
 gantlj' dear, yet we dare not contract our expenses, for fear of being despised: 
 in the country we should have none of those prejudices to encounter ; we 
 might be poor without becoming the objects of scorn, and frugal without being 
 thought ridiculous. Yet, says Holyda}', if this had been the poet's meaning 
 he might have said negabit : he might so; and even then, would be less 
 correct than he probably was : negavit here, as well as in Sat. xiv. v. 134; 
 should, in my opinion, be negarit. We want a correct edition of Juvenal. 
 
 Ver. 260. the Itixm-y of a goicn.'] I have said the "luxury" 
 
 of a gown; but I am not certain whether the allusion be not rather to the 
 independance of these good people, than their frugality. The toga was the 
 dress of ceremony ; it was worn by the poor when they paid their respects to 
 the rich; hence Martial calls the laborious attendance which was exacted from 
 him by his patron, operam togatam: and in a little poem which he addressed 
 to our author from Spain, seems to hint, that the chief happiness of his retreat 
 consisted in its ignorance of the toga : 
 
 " Ignota est toga : sed datur petenti 
 
 " Ruptfi proxima vestis li cathedra. 
 It was also the dress of business; and Pliny reckons it not one of the least 
 advantages of his Tusculan villa, that he was not obliged to appear there in 
 the toga: — ihi nulla necessitas toga. 
 
 With business or ceremony these happy villagers had little to do; and the 
 sumptuous habiliment was, therefore, appropriated to the dead: for it should 
 be observed, to their honour, that the ancients (the Romans more particularly) 
 paid a sacred regard to the remains of their friends, wliich they dressed with 
 
 N
 
 go SATIRE III. JUVENAL, v. 263— 266. 
 
 To theatres of turf the rustics throng, 
 
 Charm'd with the farce which charm'd their sires so long ; 
 
 While the pale infant, ol the mask afraid, 
 
 Hides, in his mother's breast, his little head. 
 
 more than common care^ and committed to the earth with, supei-fluouSj but 
 pious cost. 
 
 Ver. 263. To theatres of turf, ^c] Thougli the Romans had always been 
 excessively fond of such stage-shews as the times produced, they could boast, 
 for many ages, of no better theatres than the rustics before us. Even when 
 they began to frame them of more durable materials dian " turf," they con- 
 sidered them as merely temporary, and, as such^ commonly removed them as 
 soon as the exhibition was over. 
 
 Pompey first built a permanent theatre at Rome, about threescore years 
 before the Christian sera. It was of hewn stone, and though a very noble 
 structure, appears to have given great offence to the old people, (Tacit. Ann. 
 XIV. 20,) who looked upon it as a dangerous innovation on the practice of 
 their forefathers. This, however, did not prevent them from being multiplied ; 
 and when Juvenal wrote, they were to be found in every quarter of the city. 
 
 Ferrarius says, he does not see why Juvenal might not mean by herboso, a 
 theatre overgrown with weeds, on account of its being so little frequented. 
 Papa ! these theatres were temporary, and raised for the occasion. Refinement 
 frequently reverts to the old simplicity : there is no country on earth where 
 there are so many of those turfy theatres, as in modern Italy. 
 
 Ovid has a charming picture of the simplicity of past times, in those edifices ; 
 which he artfully contrasts with the luxury and magnificence of the present. 
 " Time neque marmoreo pendebant vela theatro." 
 
 ^rte Aman.Lib, i. r, 103. 
 Tlien, from the marble theatre, no veils 
 VV^aved liglitly in the sun ; no saflion showers 
 Bedrench'd the stage with odours. Oaken boughs, 
 Lopt on the spot, and rudely rang'd around 
 By the glad swains, a leafy bower compos'd : — 
 Here, 'midst the simple scenery, they sat. 
 Or on llie green-sward, or the flowing turf.
 
 SATIRE III. JUVENAL. V. 2G7— 272. 91 
 
 No modes of dress high birth distinguish there; 
 All ranks, all orders, the same clothing wear, 
 And the dread ^dile's dignity is known, 
 O sacred badge ! by his white coat alone. 
 But HERE, beyond our power, array'd we go 
 In all the gay varieties of show ; 
 
 Artlessly piled; while their rough brows were crown'd 
 With garlands, such as the next tree supplied. 
 Warton has somewhere observed, that every true poet must be a lover of 
 antiquity. Were our author's pretensions to be determined by this criterion, 
 they would be readily admitted; for, with the exception of Ovid, I know no 
 one who has more frequent allusions to the " olden time," or who appears to 
 dwell on it with greater delight. 
 Veu. 2Ci7. No modes of dress, ^r.'] 
 
 " similemque videbis 
 
 " Orciiestram, et populum," 
 
 In the divisions of the Roman theatre (for those of the Greek were diflerent) 
 orchestra signified tiie place where tlie dances were performed : it was next 
 the pulpitum or stage, but not on a level with it ; and, as affording a good view 
 of the actors, was usually frequented by the senators, who had chairs placed 
 for them tiicre. In his seventh Satire, Juvenal makes his poet borrow thooC 
 chairs to accommodate his audience at a private house: 
 
 " Quaeque reportandis posita est orchestra cathedris." 
 Our rustic theatre had no such orchestra of course ; and Umbritius here uses 
 tlie word figuratively for the space nearest the actors, where the wealthier 
 villagers sat. 
 
 In the next line the poet pursues the contrast between the luxury and ex- 
 travagance of Rome, and the frugality of the country; there the meanest of 
 the people assisted at the theatre, dressed in white ; here the JEdiles only, 
 under whom tiie plays were acted, and whose importance is, according to 
 custom, ironically magnified. 
 
 It is singular that this should have escaped Dryden ; 
 
 " clari velamen honoris, 
 
 " Sufficiunt tunics summis iEdilibus albae."
 
 92 SATIRE III. JUVENAL V. 273—284. 
 
 And when our purse supplies the charge no more, 
 Borrow, unblushing, horn our neighbour's store : 
 This is the reigning vice ; and thus we flaunt, 
 Proud in distress, and prodigal in want ! 
 Briefly, my friend, here all are slaves to gold, 
 And words, and smiles, and every thing, is sold. 
 What will you give for Cossus' nod? how high 
 Will you Veiento's gracious silence buy? — 
 For these, O Heavens ! we to the temples bear 
 The firstlings of the favourite's beard and hair ; 
 With tributary sweet-meats swell his hoard, 
 And bribe the page for leave to bribe his lord. 
 
 He renders, 
 
 " In his white cloak the magistrate appears, 
 "■ The country bumkin the same hvery wears." 
 which is directly contrary, not only to the intent, but to the words of his 
 author. 
 
 Ver. 279. What will you give for Cossus nod? iSfc] I know nothing of 
 Cossus. Veiento is mentioned in the fourth Satire, and again in the sixth. He 
 had been a great favourite with Nero; which probably recommended him to 
 Domitian ; in whose reign this Satire appears to have been written. After the 
 death of his execrable master, he fell into disesteem, and lived, I believe, to 
 see the day when neither his silence nor his speech was worth the purchase. 
 
 Ver. 281. For these, O Heavens! we to the temples bear 
 
 The jirstlings of the favourite's beard and hair;] It was the 
 custom of the wealthier Romans to dedicate the first shavings of their beard, 
 and pollings of their hair, after the}' arrived at a state of manhood, to some 
 deity. Thus Suetonius and Dio tell us, among a variety of other instances, 
 that Nero inclosed his in a golden pix adorned with pearls, and offered it with 
 great state to the Capitoline Jove, omi^nxi tu Au tw Ka-sriruXino. The day 
 this was done by the rich, was kept as a festival, and presents were expected
 
 SATIRE III. JUVENAL. V. 285 — 305. 93 
 
 Who fears the crasli of houses, at the seat 
 Of simple Gabii, or the cool retreat 
 Of steep Volsinium, or the rugged brow 
 Of Tibur, beethng o'er the plahi below? — 
 While half the city here by stilts is staid, 
 And feeble cramps, that lend their treacherous aid. 
 For thus the stewards patch the riven wall, 
 Thus prop the mansion, tottering to its fall ; 
 Then bid the tenant sleep secure from dread. 
 While the loose pile hangs trembling o'er his head. 
 
 O ! may I live where no such fears molest, 
 No midnight conflagrations break my rest ! 
 For here 'tis tumult all : the neighbours cry 
 For " water" ! and, in wild confusion, fly 
 With what they can: — meantime the flames aspire, 
 And the third floor is wrapt in smoke and fire, 
 Ere thou art well awake: up, hoi and know, 
 That, when th' impetuous pest bursts forth below, 
 The topmost story soon becomes its prey, 
 Where the thin tile scarce turns the shower away. 
 And doves (a timid flock) their eggs securely lay. 
 
 I 
 
 from relations, friends, and clients, as on their birth-days, &c. This, however^ 
 is not what provoked the spleen of Unibritius: he complains, and justly too, 
 that these presents should be exacted from the poor dependant, not only when 
 his patron, but when his patron's minions, first polled and shaved! He is 
 indignant, that it should be necessary to pay them tribute, as he calls it; since, 
 possessing the car of their lord, no means of access were left the client, but 
 through the good pleasure of these proud slaves, which could only be purchased 
 by presents.
 
 94 SATIRE III. JUVENAL. V. 30G— 315. 
 
 Codrus had but one bed, and that more short 
 Than his short wife ; his goods of every sort 
 Were else but few : — six Httle pitchers graced 
 His cup-board head, a Httle can was placed 
 On a snug shelf beneath, and by it lay 
 A Chiron, form'd of the same marble-clay : 
 Item, a crazy chest, which, from the rage 
 Of barbarous mice, ill kept the Grecian page — 
 " Codrus, in short, had nothing." You say true ; 
 And yet poor Codrus lost that nothing too : 
 
 Vee. 306, Codrus, Sfc."] The commentators will have this to be the 
 person mentioned in the first Satire: but to me it seems doubtful. Be lie wiio 
 he will, his poverty was so notorious, that it grew into a proverb. Codrus 
 might have furnished our author with a striking illustration of a remark in this 
 very Satire — Quid, quod materiam prcebet causasque jocorum, Sfc. ; for jests 
 and witticisms were poured upon him from all quarters. Here is one, which 
 is neither the best, nor the worst of the set. I hope it had more ill-nature 
 than truth in it. 
 
 " Plus credit nemo tota quam Codrus in urbe : 
 " Cum sit tam pauper, quomodo ? C£ecus amat." 
 The inventoiy of this unfortunate man is drawn up with humour, and, perhaps, 
 with accuracy; the trifles he possesses are all described by diminutives; they 
 are, besides, so few in number, that they can scarce be said, like the words of 
 Otway's old woman, to " speak variety of wretchedness." 
 
 I have never read this passage without feeling for poor Codrus. His little 
 collection of curiosities (for such I am persuaded they were) totally destroyed, 
 and himself t urned out to starve in the streets ! I hope it is not wicked ; 
 but 1 have been frequently tempted to exclaim with Martial on another 
 occasion — 
 
 " O scelus, O magnum facinus, crimenque deorum, 
 " Non arsit pariter quod domus, et dominus !"
 
 SATIRE III. JUVENAL. V. 316 — 327. 95 
 
 One curse alone was wanting to complete 
 His woes, that, cold and hungry, through the street 
 He begg'd relief, and, in the hour of need, 
 Found none to lodge, to clothe him, or to feed. 
 
 But should the raging flames on greatness prey, 
 And low in dust Asturius' palace lay, 
 The squalid matron sighs, the senate mourns, 
 The sympathizing judge the court adjourns; 
 All join to wail the city's hapless fate, 
 And rail at fire with more than common hate. 
 Lo ! while it burns, the obsequious courtiers haste, 
 With rich materials, to repair the waste: 
 
 Ver. 30.2. The squalid malion sighs, the senate mourns, <^c.] We have here 
 a veiy accurate description of a public mourning for any signal calamity. 
 The women laid aside their ornaments, the senate put on black, the courts 
 of justice deterred all business, 8cc. That all this would be done on such an 
 occasion as the jiresent may be reasonably doubted; — and yet if we duly 
 attend to the state of Rome in our author's time, we shall not be inclined to 
 suspect him of much exaggeration ; for to be rich and childless gave the 
 person so circumstanced the utmost consequence. Asturius was the richest 
 of those, orborum lauiissiiiius, (a word, by the bye, of which Lubm mistakes 
 the meaning,) and therefore an object of no common consideration. 
 
 The state of manners must have been long declining at Rome; for Augustus 
 had found it necessary, even in his time, to introduce a law (lex Papia Pop- 
 p(ca) which conferred many privileges on matrimony, and subjected a single 
 life to a variety of vexations, penalties, and inconveniences : notwithstanding 
 which, celibacy still prevailed ; and with the rapid degeneracy of manners under 
 the succeeding emperors, became daily more common, and more reputable ; 
 insomuch, that there are instances of people of both sexes proving too powerful 
 for the laws, because they were, like Asturius, rich, old, and childless!
 
 96 SATIRE III. JUVENAL, v. 328—341. 
 
 This brings him marble, that a finish'd piece 
 Of art, the boast of Polyclete, and Greece ; 
 This ornaments, which graced of old the fane 
 Of Asia's gods ; that hgur'd plate and plain ; 
 This cases, books, and busts : — thus more, much more, 
 The childless wretch possesses than before, 
 Though richest of the rich ; and now there's bred 
 A shrewd suspicion, that, by a\ arice led, 
 Asturius set his old abode on fire. 
 To raise a new, more sumptuous, from the pyre. 
 O I from the Circus had'st thou power to fly, 
 At Frusino^ or Sora, thou might'st buy 
 Some elesant retreat, for what will here 
 Scarce hire a gloomy dungeon for a year ! 
 
 Ver. 334. and now there's bred 
 
 A shrewd suspicion, (Sfc] Martial has the same thought on a 
 similar event, expressed with no less elegance than brevit\': 
 " Empta donius fuerat tibi, Tongiliane, ducentis : 
 " Abstulit hanc nimium casus in urbe frequens. 
 " Collatum est decies. Rogo, non potes ipse videri 
 " Incendisse tuani, TongilianCj domuni ?" 
 The singular art with which the poet contrasts the different fate of Codrus 
 and Asturius, has not, I trust, escaped the notice of the reader ; any more 
 than the dexterity with which it is made conducive to the great, indeed the 
 sole, object of the Satire. 
 
 Ver. 340 O ! Jrom the Circus had'st thou power toJii/,SiC.'] Si potes avelli; 
 wliich implies something of force; and, indeed, the fondness of the Romans 
 for the sports of the Circus, well warrants the expression. Juvenal has many 
 iillusions to this extravagant attachment. In his sixth Satire, after observing
 
 SATIRE III. JUVENAL. V. 342— 351. 
 
 There wells, by nature form'd, which need no rope. 
 No labouring arm, to crane their waters up, 
 Around thy lawn their facile streams shall pour, 
 And cheer the springing plant, and opening flower. 
 There live, delighted with the rustic's lot. 
 And till, with thy own hands, the little spot; 
 The little spot with herbs shall crown thy board, 
 And to thy frugal friends a pure repast afford. — 
 And sure, in any corner we can get. 
 To call one lizard ours, is something yet ! 
 
 that Hippia had abandoned her husband, her children, and her country, to 
 follow a blear-eyed gladiator, he adds, with a dignity of sarcasm peculiar to 
 hunself, 
 
 " Utque magis stupeas, ludos, Parldemque reliquil!" 
 He is not less severe ou the whole Roman people in the tenth Satire, where 
 he represents them as careless of the loss of their political importance, and 
 only solicitous for two things, of which the Circus is -one. It is needless to 
 multiply instances ; they will occur in the course of the translation. 
 
 Ver. 350. jlndsure, in any corner we can get. 
 
 To call one lizard ours, is something i/et !] "We asked -Doctor 
 Johnson" (saj's Boswell, in his amusing life of that author) "the meaning of 
 that expression in Juvenal, miius dominum lacertcB. Johnson — I think it clear 
 enough; it means as much ground as one may have a chance of finding a lizard 
 upon." And so it does ! and this, the Doctor might have added, is very little 
 in Italy. Poor Boswell was a man of infinite curiosity: it is a pity he never 
 heard of the ingenious conjecture of a Dutch critic, who would exchange 
 lacertee for lacerti, which he accurately translates ctn hand vol lands, and still 
 more accuratch' interprets, " a piece of ground equal in extent to the space 
 between the shoulder and the elbow," — of a middle sized man I presume ; 
 lliough the critic has unaccountably forgot to mention it. 
 
 But see the fallacy of criticism ! This lacertus, which was triumphantly pro- 
 nounced to mean ecu hand vol lands, by one commentator, is irrefiagably 
 
 o
 
 9S SATIRE III. JUVENAL. \.352—Sb5. 
 
 Sick with the fumes of undigested food, 
 Which, while it clogs the stomach, fires the blood, 
 Here hmguid wretches painful vigils keep, 
 Curse the slow hours, and die for want of sleep ; 
 For who can hope his weary lids to close, 
 Where brawling taverns banish all repose ? — 
 Rest is not for the poor, it costs too dear. 
 And hence disease makes such wild havoc here. 
 The rumbling carts with rumbling carts that meet, 
 In every winding of the narrow street, 
 The drivers' efforts to inforce their way, 
 Their clamorous curses at each casual stay, 
 From drowsy Drusus all his sleep would take. 
 And keep the calves of Proteus broad awake ! 
 
 proved by another (a countryman of the former) to mean a salt-fish ! Similes 
 delicia in sakamentis lacerti Sfc. pari modo " lacerti dominum" dixit Jitv. sic 
 enim malo quam lacerta : lacertce perperam nunc circnrnfcrlur, (could Burman 
 possibly be ignorant that lacertus and lacerta, were both used for a lizard .') 
 quod ipse damnat Sat. xiv. " cum parte lacerti;" nequc enim lacerta inter 
 edulia habita! Bur. Ovid. Tom. iii. p. 126. 
 
 A tnae critic, we know, never looks an inch on this side, or on that of the 
 object before him ; Burman may therefore be excused for giving the poet a 
 salt-fish to season his repast, notwithstanding he had said in the line imme- 
 diately above, that it was the produce of his own garden, where such delicacies 
 never grow; and was served up to his Pythagoric friends, who lived entirely 
 on vegetables ! 
 
 Ver. 364. From drowsij Drusus, S^-c."] Some will have this to be the Emperor 
 Claudius, who, to say the truth, if he had not, long ere this was written, fallen 
 into the unyptroD Cuvov., would not have been much injured by the supposition. 
 It was more probably some well known character alive at the time. There is 
 a good deal of humour in those unexpected, and gratuitous strokes of satire.
 
 SATIRE 111. JUVENAL. V. 366— 374. 9!) 
 
 1 
 
 If business call, obsequious crowds divide, 
 While o'er their heads the rich securely ride, 
 By tall Illyrians borne ; and read, or write, 
 Or, should the sultry hour to rest invite, 
 Shut close the litter, and enjoy the night. 
 Yet reach they first the goal; while, by the throng 
 Elbow'd, and jostled, scarce we creep along; 
 Sharp strokes from poles, tubs, rafters, doom'd to feel; 
 Bespatter'd o'er with mud, from head to heel, 
 
 so frequent in our author; and one can hardly help wondering at the want of 
 taste in the commentators, who seldom appear to comprehend, and seldomer 
 still to feel them. Thus Britannicus, vir gregis ipse caper, would alter Driifo 
 to Urso, because bears, forsooth, as Pliny somewhere says, are " very good 
 sleepers;" and it seems more natural to proceed from one drowsy animal to 
 another, than from a man ! 
 
 Seals, or sea-calves, which are mentioned in the next line, are proverbially 
 lethargic and sluggish. This, it must be confessed, is not a very recondite ob- 
 servation ; and, indeed, I only make it for the sake of introducing the follow- 
 ing remarks on the passage, by the learned Graevius. " How sea-calves, vitulis 
 marinis, could be waked at Rome, let those tell who have seen them there, or 
 elsewhere:" (meaning, I suppose, that there were no such persons.) " Every 
 one sees that the place is corrupt. It should be vetidis maritis ; old men being 
 naturally drowsy; besides, there is another reason why old bride-grooms, 
 married to young brides, should sleep sound!" And yet there are critics 
 sceptical enough, forsooth, to doubt the authenticity of the far-famed " resto- 
 rations" of Marlinus Scriblerus. 
 
 Ver. 36G. If business call, ohsequinm crowds divide, t)C.'\ We have here 
 another lively picture of the misery attending the great inequality of fortunes 
 in a state so constituted as that of Rome, The rich rapidly, and almost with- 
 out consciousness of impediment, moving to the levees of the old and child- 
 less ; while the poor, whose sole support probably depended upon their early 
 appearance there, are hopelessly struggling with dangers and dilHculties tliat 
 spring up at every step, to retard them !
 
 100 SATIRE in. JUVENAL. V.375— 380. 
 
 Kick'd by rude clowns, by brutal soldiers gor'd, 
 And trampled by the followers of my lord! 
 
 See, from the Dole a vast tumultuous throng, 
 Each fbllow'd by his kitchen, pours along! 
 Huge pans, which Corbulo could scarce uprear, 
 With steady neck the wretched menials bear, 
 
 Ver. 377. See from the Dole, §c.] Umbritius shifts the scene. The diffi- 
 culties of the morning are overpast, and the streets freed from the crowds of 
 levec-hunters, &c. New perils now arise, and the poor are obstructed in tiie 
 prosecution of their evening business, by the prodigious nuinbers of clients 
 I'eturning from the houses of their patrons with the aportida, or supper. 
 
 As he observes, that each of these clients was followed by his kitchen, (se- 
 quitnrsua qutmque cidina,) and, as it further appears, preserved some state at 
 liome ; it is probable that his view here, as weW as in the first Satire, was to 
 expose the meanness and avarice of the rich, who were content to swell the 
 train of the vain or ambitious, and to exact the dole in consequence of it, to 
 the manifest injury of the poorer clainaants, in whose favour the distribution 
 was first instituted. 
 
 The " kitchen" here spoken of was a larger kind of chaffing-dish, divided 
 into two cells, in the uppermost of which, they put the meat, and in the lower, 
 fire to keep it warm. It was to cherish this, that the slaves made such haste: 
 — to bustle through the smoke and heat of such an eager throng, must have 
 been no less difficult than disagreeable. How often have I been reminded of 
 the sportula, by the fire-pans, and suppers of the Neapolitans. As soon as it 
 grows dark, the streets are filled with twinkling fires, glancing about, in every 
 direction, on the heads of those modern " Corbulos ;" and suddenly disap- 
 pearing as they enter their houses with their frugal meal. 
 
 Ver. 379. Huge pans, ichich Corbulo, S)C.'\ Corbulo, says the old scholiast, 
 was a famous wrestler; — but he was something better: he was a great and 
 .successful commander under Nero, by whom, when his services grew too great 
 for reward, he was basely decoyed to Cenchrc£e, (a small town near Coiinth,) 
 and condemned unheard. 
 
 He is called a faithful and wary chief, by Amm. Marcellinus, a judge of
 
 SATIRE III. JUVENAL. V. 381—392. loi 
 
 And, lest amid the way the flames expire, 
 Ghde nimbly on, and gliding, fan the fire ; 
 Through the close press witli sinuous efforts wind, 
 And, piece by piece, leave their botch'd rags behind. 
 Hark ! groaning on, th' unweildy waggon spreads 
 Its cumbrous freight, tremendous! o'er our heads, 
 Projecting elm or pine,, that nods on high, 
 And threatens death to every passer by, 
 Heavens ! should the axle break which bears a weight 
 Of huge Ligurian stone, and pour the freight 
 On the pale crowd beneath ; what would remain, 
 What joint, what bone, what atom, of the slain? 
 
 military merit : and Tacitus, who relates liis actions, speaks of him with great 
 respect, lie terms him one of the most illustrious men of that age, not defi- 
 cient surely in such characters ; and describes him of a gigantic stature^ and 
 of inconceivable strength. He fell on his sword, like a Roman. 
 
 Ver. 38.3. Hark ! groaning on, tli unwcildtf li^aggon spreach, &)C.'\ Tliis seems 
 lu i)e an oblique attack on the frenzj' of the emperors for building; as it was 
 chiefly for their use, that these immense beams, masses of stone, &c. were 
 brought to Rome. .luvcnal, however, lived to sec the evil, in some degree, 
 lessened, at least, if we may credit Pliny, who celebrates Trajan (Paneg. 
 c. li.) for his moderation in this respect. Here is the passage, and it is a very 
 pertinent one. He first commends him for being tam parcus in cEdiJicando 
 quam diligcns in tutndo ; and he immediatel}' adds, Itaque iion ut ante immaniiim 
 transveclione saxorum urbis tecla qnaliimtur : slant secura. domus, nccjam templa 
 jiutantia. Lipsius says, the allusion here is to Domitian. Of this there can 
 be no doubt; and this, if there were no other circumstance, would serve 
 to determine under whose reign tliis Satire "was written. Baudius too, quotes 
 a good passage from the life of Poplicola: it is an ap().^t^opIK' to Domitian. 
 Oux £U(7£fr); «T£ ipiAoTifAi^ tT\iy i(T(ri, Kityon £;)^£ij j p^ai/)£(f K(/,TOiM'hjji.ui/, MTtif » M J«ij ; 
 the last thought is not a bad one.
 
 102 
 
 SATIRE III. JUVENAL. V. 393— 404. 
 
 The body, with the soul, would vanish quite, 
 Invisible as air, to mortal sight ! — 
 Meanwhile, unconscious of their fellow's fate, 
 At home they heat the water, scour the plate, 
 Arrange the strigils, fill the cruise with oil, 
 And ply their several tasks with fruitless toil : 
 For he who bore the dole, poor mangled ghost. 
 Sits pale and trembling on the Stygian coast, 
 Scared at the horrors of the novel scene. 
 At Charon's threatening voice^ and scowling mien; 
 Nor hopes a passage, thus abruptly hurl'd, 
 Without his farthing, to the nether world. 
 
 Ver. 397. Arrange the slrigilsj ^c] Tlie stiigil was an instrument with 
 which the Romans scraped the sweat from their bodies after bathing. Bri- 
 tannicus say.s, it was made of iron ; this, I suppose, was usually the case, but 
 we read of brass, silver, and even of gold strigils. Holyda}' has given a print 
 of one from Fortunatus Scacchus, from which it appears to be an orbicular 
 rim of metal, fixed to a long tapering handle. 
 
 There are some who will have the strigil to be a coarse shaggy napkin ; and 
 others again, an artificial sponge: probably the rich had them of all these dif- 
 ferent kinds. Whatever it was, the application of it must have been peculiarly 
 grateful to the Romans, since we find that several of them, and Augustus 
 among the rest, injured their skin by too constant an application of it. 
 
 Ver. 404. Without his farthing, cSc] The ancients believed, that the souls of 
 the deceased could not cross the Styx, without paying a trifling fare to Charon, 
 for their passage ; this they were careful to put into the mouths of their dead 
 friends, previous to their being carried out for interment. This idle notion, the 
 Romans borrowed, together with other fooleries, from the Greeks : it does 
 not, indeed, appear to have been general ; but the vulgar, who every where 
 adopted it, adhered to the custom with the most scrupulous pertinacity, and
 
 SATIRE III. JUVENAL, V. 405— 420. 103 
 
 Pass we these fearful dangers, and survey 
 What other evils threat our nightly way, 
 And first, behold the mansion's towering size. 
 Where floors on floors, to the tenth story rise ; 
 Whence heedless ganetteers their potsherds pour, 
 And crush the passenger beneath the shower; 
 Clattering the storm descends from heights unknown. 
 Ploughs up the street, and wounds the flinty stone. 
 'Tis madness, dire improvidence of ill^ 
 To sup from home before you make your Will ; 
 For know, as many deaths your steps belay, 
 As there are wakeful windows in the way : 
 Pray then ; and deem yourself full fairly sped, 
 If pots be only — emptied on your head ! 
 
 The drunken bully, ere his man be slain. 
 Frets through the night, and courts repose in vain; 
 
 feared nothing so much, as being consigned to the grave, without their 
 farthing. 
 
 Liician frequently sneers at this fancy : and our author who, amidst his 
 belief of a future state, had sense enough to mark the ibily of the prevailing 
 system, evidently points his ridicule at the monstrous absurdity of the 
 practice. 
 
 Veh. 405. Pass Ke these fearful dangers, Sjcj] Having gone through the 
 difficulties and dangers which attended the poor in their morning and evening 
 walks through the city, Umbritius completes his design by a description of the 
 further evils which awaited them at night. There is every reason, from the 
 testimony of contemporary writers, to believe that the picture is as faithful as 
 it is animated ; it is nearly that, in short, of every overgrown and vicious 
 capital, which is not protected by a night-watch, or a vigilant police.
 
 loi SATIRE in. JUVENAL, v. 421— 426. 
 
 And while the thirst of blood his bosom burns, 
 From side to side, in restless anguish, turns ; 
 Like Peleus' son when, quell'd by Hector's hand, 
 His lov'd Patroclus prest the Phrygian strand. 
 There are, who murder as an opiate take, 
 And only when no'brawls await them, wake: 
 
 Ver. 422. From side to side, in restless anguish, turns ;] Tliis is literally 
 from Homer: 
 
 AAAot' fsri zrXc\jPSc(; x(x,TXxeiiJi.eii^, ccWoti. S' ocute 
 TsTTi^, aAAoTE (?£ Zupni/ri'; II. li. I. 10. 
 
 a passage, by the way, for which he is censured by Plato, who thinks the son 
 of a goddess should have been made to bear his affliction witli more dignity. 
 From the terms of the comparison, it would seem that Juvenal thought the 
 same. I believe that the old bard knew more of these matters than either of 
 them. 
 
 Vee. 425. There are, who murder as an opiate take &ic.'\ Tliere is a sur- 
 prising similarity between this passage, and one in the Proverbs of Solomon. 
 " Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men : for 
 they sleep not except they have done mischief, and their rest is taken away 
 unless they cause some to fall." Chap. iv. 14. 
 
 The description which follows ; the humorous, but strong and indignant, 
 picture of the miseries to which the poor were exposed by the brutal insolence 
 of midnight debauchees, roaming in quest of objects on whom to exercise their 
 crueltj', is no exaggeration of our author's : grave historians have delivered 
 the same accounts. Thus Tacitus, in the life of Nero ; who, by the way, ap- 
 pears to have been one of the first disturbers of the public peace. " In the 
 garb of a slave, he roved through the streets, attended by a band of rioters, 
 who offered violence to all that fell in their way. In these mad frolics he was 
 sometimes wounded;" not with impunitj', however, for it appears that Juhus 
 Montanus was put to death, for repelling his insults. Tacitus does not tell us 
 to whom they were offered, but Dio, who lias the same story, says it was to 
 his wife, xyxvKKrm»<: vzj-e^ th? yvvMX^ ■Erp5a-£W£T£ t£ wutw, x. t.«. ; '' but from.
 
 } 
 
 SATIRE III. JUVENAL. V. 427— 441. 105 
 
 Yet e'en these heroes, flush'd with youth and wine, 
 
 All contest with the purple robe decline ; 
 
 Securely give the lengtiien'd train to pass, 
 
 The sun-bright flambeaux, and the lamps of brass. 
 
 But me, who wander darkling, and alone, 
 
 Or haply guided by the friendly moon, 
 
 Pale lamp of night ; or candle's paler beam, 
 
 Whose wick I husband to the last extreme, 
 
 Me he attacks ; hear how the quarrel rose ; 
 
 If that be deem'd a quarrel, where, heaven knows, 
 
 He only gives, and I receive, the blows ! 
 
 Across my path he strides, and bids me stand, 
 
 I bow, obsequious to the dread command ; 
 
 What else remains where rage, inflam'd by wine. 
 
 Is back'd by strength, superior far to mine ? 
 
 the moment It was known that the emperor was become a niglil brawler, the 
 mischief grew truly alarming. Men of rank were insulted, and women of 
 condition suffered gross indignities : private persons took the opportunity to 
 annoy the public; every quarter was filled with tumult and disorder, and Rome 
 at night resembled a city taken by storm !" 
 
 It seems from Suetonius, that tiie evil continued to increase. Otho and 
 others, he tells us, constantly sallied forth at night for the princely purpose 
 of beating such as they met, and tossing them in the sagum (a coarse garment 
 worn by the soldiery) ; and we learn from the Augustan history, that the ^'oAc 
 was repeated with improvements, by those outcasts of human nature. Corn- 
 modus, Ihliogabalus, Vitus 6ic. It was little discouraged, probably, by any 
 of the succeeding emperors, until the introduction of Christianity inspired 
 humaner sentiments, and shewed the necessity of establishing something like 
 y. regular system of protection.
 
 106 SATIRE III. JUVENAL, v. 442— 467. 
 
 " Whose lees," he cries, " have swell'd your bloated maw? 
 
 " Where did you, rogue, to-night your bean-husks gnaw? 
 
 " And with what cobler club, to wag your cheeks 
 
 ♦' On dainty sheep's-head porridge, and chopp'd leeks? 
 
 " What ! no reply? speak, or be sure to feel 
 
 " The immediate greeting of my wrathful heel — 
 
 " Your name? your station? At what temple door 
 
 " Crouch ye, collecting farthings for the poor?" 
 
 Whether I strive to sooth him, or retire, 
 
 I'm beaten, just the same ; then, full of ire, 
 
 He drags me to the bar, transfers the fault, 
 
 And impudently sues me for the assault. 
 
 Such law, such liberty, enjoy the poor ! 
 
 Compell'd, though wrong'd, forgiveness to implore, 
 
 And creeping off, that mercy to admire, 
 
 Which sets them free, with yet a bone entire ! 
 
 Nor are these evils all : when wary care 
 Has fix'd the ponderous chain and massy bar ; 
 When noisy shops a transient silence keep, 
 And harrass'd Nature woos the balm of sleep ; 
 Then thieves and murderers ply their dreadful trade : 
 With stealthy steps your drowsy couch invade — 
 Roused from the treacherous calm, aghast you start, 
 And the flesh'd sword is buried in your heart ! 
 
 Hither from bogs, from rocks, and caves pursued 
 (The Pontine marsh, and Gallinarian wood,) 
 
 Vee. 467. The Pontine marsh 4"c.] The Pontine marsh was a noted harbour 
 for thieves, in Campania. It is at present too pestiferous for this, or any other
 
 SATIRE III. JUVENAL. V, 468— 48". 107 
 
 The dark assassins flock, as to their home, 
 And fill with dire alarms the streets of Rome. 
 Such countless multitudes our peace annoy, 
 That bolts and shackles every forge employ, 
 And cause so wide a waste, the country fears 
 A want of ore for mattocks, rakes and shares- 
 
 O ! happy were our sires, estrang'd from crimes. 
 And happy, happy were the good old times, 
 Which saw, beneath their kings', their tribunes' reign, 
 One cell the nation's criminals contain ! 
 
 Much could I add to prove this exile right. 
 And make you own the justice of my flight ; 
 But see ! the impatient team is moving on, 
 The sun declining ; and I must be gone : 
 Long since the driver murmur'd at my stay, 
 And jerk'd his whip to summon me away. 
 Farewell, my friend ; with this embrace we part — 
 Cherish my memory ever in your heart ; 
 And when, for health and spirits, you retreat 
 To your Aquinum, to your native seat, 
 
 purpose. The Galliiiariaii wood lay somewhere in the neighbourhood of 
 Cumsc, Unibritius's ])inposcd place of" residencCj and, Ukc the former spot, was 
 a well-known reccptaele for footpads, robbers, &,c. 
 
 When their numbers became so great as to render travelling altogether 
 unsafe, it was customary to send a body of soldiers from the capital to scour 
 their retreats: the inevitable consequence of which was, that they escaped 
 in crowds to Rome, where they continued to exercise their old trade of 
 plunder and blood, and probably carried on their depredations wilh more 
 security and effect than before.
 
 lOS SATIRE in. JUVENAL, v. 48S— 491. 
 
 Tear me from Cumae ; I will come, and share 
 Your bleak abode, arm'd at all points for war, 
 War, (if you deign my service to engage,) 
 Just war with you, against an impious age. 
 
 Ver. 487. To i/our Aquinmn, to youT native seat, 1 This is the only place, 
 in which we find an}- mention made of our author's birth-place. Aquinum 
 was a small town of the Volsci, (Lubin says a great one, but he mistakes,) on 
 the Latin road. 
 
 Tliere is something exquisitely beautiful in the conclusion of this Satire: 
 the little circumstances which accelerate the departure of Umbritius, the 
 tender farewell he takes of his friend, the compliment he introduces to his 
 abilities, and the affectionate hint he throws out, that, in spite of his attach- 
 ment to Cumse, he may command his assistance in the noble task in which he 
 is engaged, all contribute to leave a pleasing impression of melancholy on 
 the mind, and interest the reader deeply in the fate of this neglected, but 
 virtuous and amiable ascetick. 
 
 Caligatus, I have translated, "■ armed at all points :" that is, says Holyday, 
 like a prepared soldier ; which is the sense given to it by the whole body of 
 commentators without exception. Mr. Ireland, however, differs from us all; 
 and this is what he says. " You have fallen, I see, into the opinion of 
 Britannicus: Umbritius ergo habit u miUtari ostendit se venturum ad Jiiv, ut 
 proinde mirum videri non debeat ip&is saliris, si 71011 satis idoneus auditor visus 
 fiierit, qitum habitu non poetico sed militari vencrit. There is no idea of any 
 thing niilitarj' about Umbritius ; notwithstanding his shoes. Caliga was the 
 name of a country shoe, as distinguished from a town shoe ; and was not ap- 
 propriated to the soldiers, though worn by them in common with the peasantry, 
 on account of its cheapness. Umbritius is therefore made to persevere in his 
 preference of the country, by telling his friend that he will visit him in his 
 country shoes, determined never more to wear town shoes, in other words, 
 never to see Rome again. In this sense, the last line of the Satire agrees with 
 the general drift of it, and keeps up the notion with which it began."
 
 SATIRE IV. 
 
 Mtsumenu 
 
 In this Salire, which was probably written under J\''erva, Juvenal 
 indulges his honest spleen against two most distinguished culprits, 
 Crispinus, already noticed in his first Satire, and Duinilian the constant 
 object oj his scorn and abhorrence. 
 
 Considered as a whole, this is not a very capital performance ; yet no 
 particular division of it is witlwut merit : its principal deject seems to 
 be in the sudden transition Jrom the shocking enormities oj Crispinus to 
 Ids gluttony and extravagance. Even this, inartificial as it ceitainly 
 is, appeals in some degiee necessary to the completion oj his design — the 
 introduction oj Domitian. 
 
 The whole of this part is excellent. The mock solemnity with which 
 the anecdote of the turbot is introduced, the procession of the affrighted 
 counsellors to the palace, and the ridiculous debate which terminates in 
 as ridiculous a decision, sheiv a masterly haiul : and though the mere 
 reader may be tempted to cry out with Desdemona, " most lame and 
 impotent conclusion !" yetthe critic will acquit the poet of any great want 
 of judgment, since he most probably gives t/m circumstances as he found 
 them. 
 
 IVJiat is more peculiarly his own, is the striking picture of the state 
 of the empire under the suspicious, and gloomy tyranny of Domitian ; 
 11'hich he boldly dashes out by briefly, but ingeniously, touching on the 
 character and conduct of the chief courtiers, as they pass in rei'ieiy 
 b(fore liim : — nor should we overlook the indignant and high-spii ited 
 apostrophe with which he concludes the Satire; an apostrophe, ivhic/t 
 under soiue of the emperors would be fatal, and wuler none oj them 
 without danger.
 
 SATIRE IV. 
 
 V. 1 — 10. 
 
 Once more my voice (and oft shall I renew 
 Th' alarming strain) calls forth to public view 
 Crispinus; monster! in whose tainted heart 
 Not one atoning virtue claims a part : 
 Diseased, emaciate, weak in all but lust, 
 And whom the widow's sweets alone disgust. 
 Avails it then, in what long colonades 
 He tires his mules ? through what extensive glades 
 His chair is borne? what vast estate he buys, 
 (Houses and lands,) that near the Forum lies? 
 
 Ver. 3. Crispinus; 7no)ister ! i^c."] Crispinus has been already noticed in 
 the notes to the lirst Satire. All that needs be added of hiin here is, that he 
 continued in great favour during the whole reign of Doniitian, and amassed 
 immense riches ; which he squandered in the gratification of the most vicious 
 passions. 
 
 I am by no means satisfied with the usual explanations of the sixth line: 
 " ostciidit ilium jucundiora tantum sectari adulteria, nam qui viduas seque- 
 bantur, id lucri gratia faciebant." I rather think the author means to in- 
 sinuate that Crispinus would not indulge his lust, unless he could add to it a 
 crime of some peculiar heinousness. To corrupt virgin innocence, to invade 
 the sanctity of the marriage bed, was his dehght: intrigues with widows iuid 
 too little turpitude in them to gratify his singular depravity.
 
 ii_' SATIRE IV. JUVENAL. V. 11— 16. 
 
 O ! no : peace never sooths the guihy mind : 
 Least his, who incest to adultery joia'd. 
 His, who deflower'd a Vestal ; whom, dire fate ! 
 The long dark night, and living tomb await. 
 
 Turn we to slighter crimes — and yet had these 
 Li others, Seius, Titiiis, whom you please, 
 
 ViiR. 13. His, who deflower'd a Vestal, S^c.'] If a vestal violated her vow of 
 chastity, she was interred alive. The solemnity is thus described by Plutarch. 
 At the Colline Gate, within the city, in a subterraneous cavern, there were 
 first placed a bed, a lamp, a pitcher of water, and a loaf. The offender was 
 then bound alive upon a bier, and carried through the Forum with great 
 silence and honor. "\Mien they i-eached the place of interment, the bier was 
 set down, and the poor wretch unbound ; a ladder was then brought, by which 
 she descended into the excavation, when upon a signal given, the ladder was 
 suddenly withdrawn, and the mouth of the opening completely filled up with 
 stones, earth, &,c. 
 
 It is doubtful, whether the Vestal debauched by Crispinus, really underwent 
 this punishment. Juvenal's words do not necessarily imply so much ; the 
 participle in rus (like the other) involving the moral fitness of the future event, 
 and not exclusively the certainty of its accomphshment : terram suhitura, i. e. 
 who ought to be buried alive. For the rest, the severity exercised by Domitian 
 against the Vestals was so dreadful, (whether their guilt was proved or not,) 
 that one of the Pontifices, Elvius Agrippa, is related to have expired through 
 the terror of it. 
 
 The word incest, used by Juvenal, is applied to the same act by Suetonius 
 and Pliny; and is, say the critics, the appropriate term for cohabitation with 
 a Vestal. This, however, is a mistake, it is an improper term : but such was 
 the respect for religion, that they transferred to it a word which was only 
 appropriate, in other acceptations ; and the violator of a Vestal virgin, was 
 placed upon a par, in criminality, with the violator of all natural decorum. 
 
 Ver. IG. Se'im, Titius.'] " It does not appear," says Madan, " who these 
 were ; but probably they were some valuable men who had been persecuted 
 bj the emperor for a supposed crime." These " valuable men" had, indeed.
 
 SATIRE IV. JUVENAL. V. 17—28. 113 
 
 The Censor roused ; for what the good would shame, 
 
 Becomes Crispinus, and is honest fame. 
 
 But, when the actor's person far exceeds. 
 
 In native loathsomeness, his direst deeds, 
 
 Say, what can satire? for a fish that weigh'd 
 
 Six pounds, six thousand sesterces he paid, 
 
 For a sur-mullet ! as they tell, whose care 
 
 Still magnifies the mighty things they hear. 
 
 Had this expense been meant, with well-timed skill, 
 
 To gull some childless dotard of a Will ; 
 
 Or e'en to bribe some fashionable fair, 
 
 Who flaunts conspicuous in her splendid chair ; 
 
 been persecuted for many a supposed crime; but, to give the devil liis due, not 
 by the Emperor. It is surprising the translator should not know that they 
 were men of straw, fictitious personages, like our John Doe and Richard 
 Roe, and, like them, inserted into all law-processes. Thus Plutarch, to quote 
 no other, refj Jt ovo[i,ot<ri txtoij «A.Xwj xi^rii/TXi koivoij artv, wVwtjj ot cd/aixoi TMoUf 
 ^wov, x«i Tniov. Quast. Rom. 30. 
 
 Ver. 23. For a sur-mullet! &)C.'\ So I have rendered mullus, and I believe 
 properly. Barbel, which is the counaon translation, is a coarse fish, and could 
 never be worth any thing. Mullet is still more incorrect: the proper word for 
 that, being mugilis. For the rest, there is something extremely whimsical in 
 the conduct of the Romans respecting their tables; sur-mullets, as it aj)pcari 
 from the elder Pliny, were exceedingly plentiful, and consequently cheap; 
 but then, they seldom weighed above two pounds. In proportion as tiicy e.M- 
 cecded this, they grew valuable, till at last they reached the sum mentioned 
 in the text, (aboutj^50.) and even went beyond it. 
 
 One would think nature had fallen in with the caprice of the Romans, for 
 the fish seems to have grown larger in the decline of the empire, as if to 
 Immour the extravagance of this degenerate people. Horace thought he had 
 pretty well stigmatized the fiantic folly of his glutton, by a mullus of three
 
 114 SATIRE IV. JUVENAL, v. 29— 34. 
 
 'Twere not unwortliy praise : — but no, he bought 
 The dainty for his own voracious throat. 
 This all past gluttony from shame redeems ; 
 And now Apicius poor and frugal seems ! 
 Didst thou, Crispinus, who cam'st here a slave. 
 Wrapt in the flags thy country's marshes gave, — 
 
 pounds weight, (Lib. ii. Sat. ii.) the next reign furnished one of four and a 
 half;* here we have one of six pounds, and we read elsewhere of others laiger 
 still ! How long the passion for these enormous fish continued, I do not know; 
 but Macrobius, speaking with indignation of one that was purchased under 
 Claudius, by Asinius Celer, for a greater sum than any we have mentioned, 
 (,£56. 10s.) adds, that in his time, such mad prices were happily unknown : 
 pretia hac imana iiescimus. 
 
 Ver. 34. IVrapt in the flags, ^c] The translators have clothed Crispinus 
 in paper : he was not, I believe, quite so delicately drest. Pliny the Elder says 
 that the ^g3'ptians manufactured the stalks of the papyrus, not only into mats 
 and sails, but into garments, vela tegetesque, nee non et vestem. I once thought 
 Crispinus might have obtained one of these, but I am now persuaded he was 
 not so fortunate. He was girt, in short, round the middle with the papyrus 
 coarsely strung or plaited together, as the savages of the new-discovered 
 islands are said to be, and as his countrymen are at this day. Rear- Admiral 
 Perree, who certainly had no intention of illustrating Juvenal, mentions this 
 
 * The story is in Seneca; it is curious, and as it seems to illustrate a passage 
 in our author, I think it worth subjoining. Some one had presented Tiberius 
 with a mullus of a prodigious size, (why should I not mention its weight, to 
 make our gluttons' mouths water?) of four pounds and a half! The emperor 
 ordered it to be carried to market, observing, at the same time, to his friends, 
 that he should not be much surprised if it were bought either by P. Octavius 
 or Apicius. His expectations were more than fulfilled, for these two gluttons 
 bade one upon another for it. The victory fell at length to Octavius, who 
 acquired a prodigious reputation among his acquaintance, for giving ,^40. 
 for a fish which the Emperor sold, and wiiicli Apicius could not alford to buy ! 
 To this last circumstance Juvenal probably alludes, in v. 32.
 
 SATIRE IV, JUVENAL. V. S5— 52. 115 
 
 Didst thou buy fish so dear? thou niight'st, I guess, 
 Have bought the fisherman himself for less ; 
 Bought, in some countries, manors at this rate, 
 And in Apulia, an immense estate. 
 
 How gorged the Emperor ! when so dear a fish, 
 Yet, of his cheapest meals, the cheapest dish, 
 \A'as guttled down by this impurpled lord, 
 (Chief knight, chief parasite, at Caesar's boards) 
 Whom Egypt heard so late, with ceaseless yell. 
 Clamouring through all her towns — " ho ! sprats to sell I" 
 
 Pierian Maids begin — this claims your care, 
 But not to sing ; a simple fact is here : 
 Recount it then ; and by your ready aids. 
 Prove it avails me, to have call'd you Maids. 
 
 When the last Flavins, drunk with fury, tore 
 The prostrate world, that bled at every pore, 
 And Rome beheld, in body as in mind, 
 A bald-pate Nero rise, to curse mankind ; 
 
 circumstance, which, to my mind, does it very happily. Lafiiocitc des habitans 
 est j)ire que les sauvagcs; majeure partie hahil/cs enpaille. The ferocity of the 
 natives exceeds that of savages; most of them appear to be clothed in reeds 
 or rushes. Intercept. Lett. Part I. p. 117. 
 
 The contrast between Crispiniis thatched with rushes, and Crispinus clothed 
 in Tyrian purple, is not overlooked by our author. 
 
 Ver. 52. yl bald-pate Ne70 rise, ^c] This Nero, as, with some injury 
 to his worthy prototype, Juvenal calls Domitian, is said by Suetonius to 
 have been so sore on the subject of his baldness, that it was not safe to 
 mention a want of hair in his hearing. By a strange obliquity of reasoning, 
 fis soon as his hair was gone, he set about composing a treatise on the method
 
 iiG SATIRE IV, JUVENAL. V, 53 — 62. 
 
 It chanced, that where the fane of Venus stands, 
 Reai'd on Ancona's coast by Grecian hands, 
 A turbot, rushing from the IlJyrian main, 
 Fill'd the wide bosom of the bursting seine. 
 Monsters so bulky, from its frozen stream, 
 Maeotis renders to the sohir beam, 
 And pours them, fat with a whole winter's ease, 
 Through the dull Euxine's mouth, to warmer seas. 
 
 The mighty draught the wondering fisher eyes, 
 And to the Pontiff's board allots his prize ; 
 
 of taking care of it : and it should seem from the short extract which Suetonius 
 has preserved of the work, that Sir Fretful himself could not have borne his 
 misfortunes with greater fortitude, or talked of them with greater sincerity : — 
 forti animo fero comam in adolescent ia senescentem. Scias nee gr alius qiddquam 
 decore, nee brevius. Domit. 18. Be this at it may, the designation our author 
 has given of this last and worst of his family, is a masterly one. 
 
 The old scholiast says these four lines provoked the Emperor to send him 
 into banishment. This is a judicious thought, as they must be allowed to be 
 much more offensive than the short reflection on Paris, (in the seventh Satire,) 
 Avhich is commonly cited as the cause of his exile. There are, however, two 
 objections, wliich I own have their weight with me ; first, that Domitian would 
 have thrown the author of so severe a passage from the Tarpeian Rock, 
 instead of sending him into Egypt ; and secondly, that he was luckily dead 
 (as the critic would have found if he had read a few lines further) when it was 
 written. 
 
 Ver. 62. And to the PontiJjTs board, ^c] Britannicus thinks Juvenal calls 
 Domitian Pontiff, in allusion to his condemnation of the Vestals, which was 
 the peculiar province of the High-priest. Others again suppose there is an 
 allusion to the sottish vanity of the Emperor, in accumulating upon himself 
 every office of power, and every title of honour. But can Britannicus be 
 right? Surely there were vices enough belonging to Domitian, and appro-
 
 SATIRE IV. JUVENAL. V. 63— 70. 117 
 
 For who would dare to sell it, who to buy? 
 When the coast swarm'd with many a practis'd spy ; 
 Mud-rakers ! leagued to swear the fish had fled 
 From Caesar's ponds, where many a year it fed^ 
 And ought, recaptur'd now, to be restor'd 
 To the dominion of its ancient lord. 
 Nay, if Palphurius may our credit gain, 
 Whatever rare, or precious, swims the main, 
 
 priate to his character. Our author could hardly mean to impute it to him as 
 a crime that he was Pontifex jVIax. when he assumed that title only in com- 
 pliance with the custom of his predecessors. He might, indeed, mean to con- 
 trast the real viciousness of his character with the outward sanctity of office: 
 — after all, I cannot much admire Juvenal's taste in the selection of this word; 
 he should rather have fixed on some title, by virtue of which the fish might be 
 claimed. For the rest, the charge of assuming dignities improperly, might 
 have been justly urged against liim in the case of the Consulate and Censor- 
 ship. He was Consul for ten years together, and Censor for life; and he was 
 the first of the Romans that so usurped these honours, tt^wt©^ in xoa juok^, xxl 
 iSmtuv xai avroupxropuv. 
 
 Ver. 69. Nai/, if Palphurius, (Sfc] Tliis is not much unlike what we find 
 in Blackstone, that sturgeon and whale were anciently called royal fish with 
 us, on account of their excellence, and, as such, appropriated to the sovereign. 
 Palphurius, indeed, goes farther than our ancestors, and would confiscate 
 every rare and precious fish, to the imperial use. 
 
 The history of this Palphurius is curious. He had been a buflibon and a 
 parasite at the court of Nero ; occupations for which Vespasian disgracefully 
 turned him out of the senate; when he commenced Stoic in spite, and talked 
 (wiiich Suetonius says he could do very eloquently) of abstinence and virtue, 
 till Domitian, who wanted little other recommendation of a man, than the 
 having justly incurred the contempt and anger of his father, made him his 
 own lawj"er, and gave him the management of his informations, pidscriptions, 
 £ic. ; ill which, says my author, he bestirred himself to some purpose.
 
 lis SATIRE IV. JUVENAL. V. 71— 86. 
 
 Is forfeit to the crown, and you may seize 
 The obnoxious dainty, when and where you please. 
 This point allow'd, our wary boatman chose 
 To give the prize he else was sure to lose. 
 
 Now were the dog-star's sickly fervours o'er, 
 Earth, pinch'd with cold, her frozen livery wore ; 
 The old began their quartan fits to fear, 
 And wintry blasts deform 'd the beauteous year, 
 And kept the turbot sweet : yet on he flew 
 As if the sultry south corruption blew. — 
 And now the lake, and now the hill he gains, 
 Where Alba, though in ruins, still maintains 
 The Trojan fire, that but for her were lost. 
 And worships Vesta, though with less of cost. 
 The wondering crowd, that gather'd to survey 
 Th' enormous fish, and choak'd the fisher's way, 
 
 Ver. 82. Where Alba, ^c] Alba, where Domitian now was, stood on the 
 declivity of a hill, near a pretty spacious lake, famous in Roman story. It 
 was built by Ascanius, after the death of his mother, and the Trojans seem to 
 have deposited there the sacred fire brought from Ilium. When the city was 
 destroyed, and Rome made the capital of the nation, a remnant of this fire 
 was still left there from some superstitious motive, and piously preserved 
 through all the vicissitudes of the commonwealth. 
 
 Domilian, as I have elsewhere observed, was attached to Alba. Here he 
 spent much of his time, and here he usually kept the Quinquatria, or Festival 
 of Minerva, whom, with matchless propriety, he had chosen for his patron and 
 protectress. Madan, in the true spirit of a commentator, tells us, that the 
 occasion of Domitian's being there at this time, miglit be the celebration of 
 this holiday. This is excellent; the Quinquatria began on the IQth of April, 
 and Juvenal has just told us, that the fish was presented at the close of 
 autumn !
 
 SATIRE IV. JUVENAL. V. 87— 102. 119 
 
 Satiate at length, retires ; then wide unfold 
 The gates ; the senators, shut out, behold 
 The luscious dainty enter: on the man 
 To great Atrides press 'd, and thus began. 
 
 " This, which no subject's kitchen can contain, 
 ' ' This fish, reserv'd for your auspicious reign, 
 " O, chief, accept : — to free your stomach haste, 
 " And here at large indulge your princely taste; 
 " I sought him not, — he long'd his lord to treat, 
 " And rush'd, a willing viciim, to the net." 
 
 Was flattery e'er so rank? yet he grows vain. 
 And his crest rises at the fulsome strain. 
 When to divine a mortal power we raise, 
 He looks for no hyperboles in praise ! 
 
 But when was joy unmix'd ? no pot is found 
 Capacious of the turbot's ample round : 
 
 Vkr. 92. This fish, reieni'd for your auspicious reign, 
 
 O, chief, accept : — ^c] I suppose no one ever expected to see 
 tiiis siiLlime flight of the Anconian fisherman seriously imitated ; and yet 
 tliore is something extremely like it, in a little poem written by a very grave 
 doctor of the l6th century: 
 
 " Lycidas ad sese lina reducens, 
 
 " Exeruit salientem udo de carcere piscem, 
 " Quern nulli casses, quern nulla incendia terrent 
 " Json ingrata tua; modo sint sua viscera mcnsiE !" 
 Veb. 99. JVhen to divine, ^c] 
 
 " O what is it proud slime will not believe 
 " Of his own worth, to hear it equal prais'd 
 " Thus with the gods r" Sijanus. 
 
 But Ben was not so much the imitator as the translator of the ancients.
 
 i-^o SATIRE IV. JUVENAL. V. 103—110. 
 
 In this distress^ he calls the chiefs of state, 
 At once the objects of his scorn and hate, 
 In whose wan cheeks distrust and doubt appear, 
 And all a tyrant's friendship brings of fear. 
 
 Scarce was the loud Liburnian heard to say 
 " He sits, the Emperor sits; away, away!" 
 Ere the new bailiff of the affrighted town 
 (For what were Prsefects more?) snatch'd up his gown, 
 
 Ver. 103. In this distress, he calls the chiefs of state, £)'c.'] This brings to my 
 recollection an anecdote of Nero, worthy, in every respect, to be placed bj' the 
 side of this before us. ^V^hen the empire was now in a state of revolt against 
 him, (a revolt which was soon followed by his flight and death,) he affected 
 to despise the general commotion. One day, however, he summoned the 
 senate in great haste : they assembled (as Domitian's counsellors did) i^xrrtvrii 
 ffTTuSti, expecting to hear something about the alarming state of public affairs. 
 To their utter amazement, he merely wanted to inform them of an improve- 
 ment he had made on the hydraulic organ ! E^fupii>{ai (for I will use, says the 
 historian, his very words) ttwj « \jSpxuXtg k«i (Wsi^ok x«i tf/.^iXii-ifov (p^iy^non ! 
 
 Ver. 109. Ere the tiew bailiff of the affrighted tozvn,i^c.'\ 
 " Pegasus attonit£e positus modo villicus urbi." 
 
 ^' I consulted," Mr. Gibbon says, " the first volume de 1' Academic des Belles 
 Lettres, for the meaning oi attonitcc. De Valois applies it to the astonishment 
 which prevailed at Rome on the revolt of L. Antonius. This is not impossible. 
 But I am surprised he has not drawn from it the only conclusion that could 
 render it interesting. Antonius' revolt happened in the year of Rome 840 : 
 the tyranny of Domitian had then reached its meridian," (no, not quite,) " yet 
 the Romans had the baseness to endure it nine years longer !" 
 
 This is good ; and yet the observation on which it is founded, is not correct. 
 Fuscus, who was called to this famous council, fell in battle about the same 
 time that Antonius revolted in Lower Germany : some other cause of the 
 affright must, therefore, be sought. It need not be long in finding ; for, 
 besides the Dacians, who were now keeping Rome in a constant slate of
 
 SATIRE IV. JUVENAL. V. Ill — 114. 121 
 
 And rusli'd to council. From the ivory chair 
 He dealt out justice with no common care; 
 But yielded oft to those licentious times, 
 And, where he could not punish, wink'd at crimes. 
 
 alarm, the Catti, the Sicambri, and other barbarous nations, were on the eve 
 of commencing hostilities. 
 
 After all, little more, perhaps, is meant than that the town was amazed and 
 terrified at the suddenness of the summons. The caprices of the emperor 
 were always bloody: — and, indeed, Phny mentions it, as a striking instance 
 of the happiness which the senate enjoyed under Trajan, that when they met, 
 they did it without fear of losing their heads! 
 
 Ver. 1 10. For what where Prafects more ?] Praefects were first appointed 
 by Romulus, and his successors, and after them by the Consuls; but their 
 auUiority was so much enlarged by Augustus, that he may be almost con- 
 sidered as having instituted them, lie is said to have done this by the advice 
 of Maecenas ; and the choice of those on whom he successively conferred the- 
 office, shews his opinion of its importance. 
 
 The Prefect was, indeed, trusted with extraordinary powers. His juris- 
 diction was no longer confined, as before, to the city, but extended a hundred 
 miles beyond it — intra centesimum lapidcm. He decided in all causes between 
 masters and slaves, patrons and clients, guardians and wards, &.c.; he iiad 
 the inspection of the mints, the regulation of the markets, and the superin- 
 tendence of the public amusements. 
 
 But this was in better days: the Praefect, like every other popular magis- 
 trate, was now reduced to insignificance; and the expressions of Juvenal 
 contain a bitter sarcasm on the supineness of the Romans, who had carelessly 
 seen this great officer degraded, b3' the overbearing tjTanny of Domitian, and 
 his immediate predecessors, to the humiliating situation of a bailitf, or country 
 eteward. 
 
 Lubin says that Pegasus was made Praefect of the city by Vespasian. I 
 know not how to reconcile this to our authors modo positus, just appointed ; 
 and I suspect tlie accuracy of the critic; who is, however, followed by Holy- 
 day. For the rest, Pegasus was an upright and worthy magistrate ; and, ac- 
 cording to the scholiast, had presided over many of the provinces with honour to 
 
 R
 
 1-'^ SATIKE IV, JUVENAL. V. 115—123. 
 
 Then old, facetious Crispus hastes along, 
 Of gentle manners, and persuasive tongue; 
 None filter to advise the lord of all, 
 Had that pernicious pest, whom thus we call, 
 Allow'd a friend to check his savage mood, 
 And give him counsel, wise at once and good. 
 But who shall dare this liberty to take, 
 When every word you speak your life's at stake, 
 
 himself, and satisfaction to the people. He was, besides, a man of great learn- 
 ing, and a most profound lawyer. Pegasus, I believe, was succeeded by 
 Rutiiius Gallicus, a man of extraordinary merit ; in that case, the adventure 
 of the turbot must have taken place before the year 87. 
 
 Ver. 115. Then old facetious Crispus, Sfc.} Crispus is characterised nearly 
 in the same manner by Statins. One of his good things is on record. He was 
 met by a friend coming out of the palace, and asked whether any body was 
 with the emperor. " No," replied he, " not even a fly :" — for Uomitian, to keep 
 his hand in, used to amuse his leisure hours with hunting these poor insects^ 
 and sticking them upon a stile, or sharp pointed instrument for writing. 
 
 Tacitus, from what motives it is not easy to say, speaks less favourably of 
 Crispus than our author. It could not surely be for his cautious conduct; 
 for this is what he expressly commends in his lite of Agricola. " He did not 
 choose," says he, " to imitate the zeal of those who by their intemperance 
 provoked their fate, and rushed on sure destruction, without rendering any 
 kind of service to their country." — Happily for mankind, the historian him- 
 self had the prudence to copy the example of his father-in-law. But whatever 
 Crispus's demerits might be, we may be sure, from the language of Juvenal, 
 who, though not so good a politician as Tacitus, was as honest a man, and as 
 sincere a hater of tyranny in all its modes and forms, that a base compliance 
 ■with any dangerous caprice of the emperor was not one of them. Like 
 Pegasus, where he could not approve, he was probably silent. 
 
 The old scholiast makes a pleasant mistiike about this man: he compounds 
 him with Crispus Passienus, who was put to death by Claudius.
 
 SATIRE IV. JUVENAL. V. 123— 13'-J. 123 
 
 Though all your theme be cold, or showery sprhigs?— 
 
 For tyrants' ears,- alas ! are ticklish things. 
 
 So did the good old man his tongue restrain ; 
 
 Nor strove to stem the headlong tide in vain. 
 
 Not one of those, who, valuing life at nought, 
 
 With freedom utter'd, what with truth they thought, 
 
 He wisely temporized, and, thus secur'd, 
 
 To fourscore springs, e'en in that court, cndur'd ! 
 
 Next him, appear'd Acihus hurrying on, 
 Of equal years, — and foUow'd by his son; 
 
 Ver. 131 Next him, appear'd Acilius, ^c] Little is kaown of Acilius, bul 
 thai littlo is favourable. How he could become dangerous to Domitian, at the 
 advanced age of eighty, is not easily explained ; but we find in Suetonius, that 
 soon after the event here so worthily celebrated, he was driven into banish- 
 ment on a suspicion of treason. His treasons were probably his virtues; for 
 Pliny, speaking of him many years after his death, describes him as a man of 
 singular prudence and worth. In the next line I have supposed, with most 
 of the commentators, that the young man who followed Acilius was his son : 
 this, however, is doubtful. 
 
 Why the youth, be he who he may, was induced to feign fatuity, after the 
 example of the elder Brutus ; and for what crime, real or pretended, he finally 
 fell, are circumstances which have not come down to us. Juvenal lightly 
 touches on the stor}-, as one well knowTi to his contemporaries; and the mul- 
 tiplied murders of Domitian, unfortunately took away all incUnation, and 
 indeed, all power, from the historians to particularize them. 
 
 There is, however, a singular story in Dio which I have been sometimes 
 tempted to think might allude to the person who accompanied Acilius. A. 
 Ghibris, (the name seems to correspond) was put to deatli by Domitian, on 
 an accusation of impiety, and of having fought in the arena. The impiety is 
 explained by his attachment to what Dio calls, t« twi- l^Sxiw »iS», perhaps 
 Christianity. The fighting (on x«i S'n/iioif tixx^cro) was thus : when he was 
 Consul (to this his youth is no objection, considering the times in wliicli he
 
 124 SATIRE IV. JUVENAL. V. 133—148. 
 
 Who fell, unjustly fell, in early age, 
 
 A victim to the tyrant's jealous rage: 
 
 But long ere this, was hoary hair become 
 
 A prodigy, amongst the great, at Rome; 
 
 Hence would I rather choose the humblest birth, 
 
 And, like the giants, rise from mother earth — 
 
 Poor youth! in vain the well-known sleight you try; 
 
 In vain, with frantic air, and ardent eye, 
 
 You rend your vest, and desperate battle wage 
 
 With bears, and lions, on the Alban stage. 
 
 All smell the trick: and, spite of Brutus' skill, 
 
 There are who take him for a driveller still , 
 
 Since, in his days, it ask'd no mighty pains, 
 
 T'outwit a prince with much more beard than brains. 
 
 Rubrius, though not, like tiiese, of noble race, 
 Came next, with equal terror in his face; 
 
 IK'ed*) Domitian sent for him to Alba, (here we have our author's Alban a 
 arenaj)and compelled him to engage a lion at the celebration of the Juvenilia. 
 He killed the beast, and Domitian put him to death, through envy of the ap- 
 plause he acquired by it. This also agrees with the text, prqfuit ergo nihil 
 misero, Sfc. What follows, however, in Juvenal, seems to shew, unless some- 
 thing occurred which the historians of that period have agreed in omitting, 
 that he and Dio do not speak of the same person : — but I leave it to the 
 reader. 
 
 Ver. 147. Rubrius, ^c] Who this was is also doubtful. There were 
 several of the name; but the inquiry is not worth pursuing. His terrors, not- 
 Avithstunding his obscure birth, might have taught our author that there was 
 
 * He was Consul with Trajan, who must also have been young.
 
 SATIRE IV. JUVENAL. V. 149—154. 125 
 
 Andj — labouring with a crime I dare not name, — 
 More than the pathic satirist, lost to shame. 
 
 Montanus' belly next appear'd in sight, 
 Then, his legs tottering with th' unweildy weight. 
 Crispinus follow'd, daub'd with more perfume, 
 Thus early .' than two iunerals consume. 
 
 not so much safety in befng a son of nobody, or " of earth," as he just before 
 appears to have imaghied. Tyranny knows no distinctions. 
 
 Holyday has a long note on his " fault," which " to name/' as he poetically 
 phrases it, " is no wit": and indeed, so it should seem; for, what he says of 
 it, is at variance with his author. Juvenal has purposely wrapped it up in 
 obscurity and his commentators will do well to leave it there : 
 
 " Non ego variis obsita frondibus 
 
 " Sub dio rapiam." 
 Ver. 151. Montanus belli/, ^c] If this be the Montanus mentioned by 
 Tacitus, (Hist. iv. 42,) of which there can be little doubt, he must have deviated 
 widely from that firm and honourable conduct which he is there represented 
 as pursuing to provoke the contempt of Juvenal. The designation of him by 
 his overgrown belly, fully prepares us for tlie part he takes m the memorable 
 debate which ensues. 
 
 Vek. 153. Crispinus fo/lozv'J, ^c] Ecce iteruni Crispinus! But he now 
 makes his appearance in a subordinate character, matutino sudans amomo, 
 dripping with early ointments. Holyday says that some of the commentators 
 take matutino for eastern, and some for morning, and that both arc right. 
 This I doubt. He himself properly takes it in the last sense; but he misre- 
 presents the manners of the Romans, (a thing altogether unusual with him,) 
 and totally overlooks the sense of his author. " It was the custom of the 
 Romans," says he, " to bathe in the morning, and then to use ointments." Now 
 it was not the custom of the Romans to bathe in the morning, but at two or 
 three in the afternoon; and the satuc is evidently levelled, at this voluptuous 
 upstart, for a scandalous breach of that pratice, by bathing, and anointing 
 himself at so early an hour. In the eleventh Satire, indeed, Juvenal tells his
 
 126 
 
 SATIRE IV. JUVENAL. V. 155—162. 
 
 Then bloodier Pompey, practised to betray» 
 And hesitate the noblest Hves away. 
 Then Fuscus, who, in studious ease at home, 
 Plann'd future triumphs for the arms of Rome : 
 Bhnd to the coming hour ! those arras, defeat, 
 Inglorious wounds, and Dacian vultures wait. 
 Then shrew'd Veiento with Catullus came, 
 Cruel Catullus, who, at beauty's name, 
 
 friend PersicuSj that he may go Into the bath before noon, without being 
 ashamed. But Persicus was an old man, and the concession was professedly 
 meant as an extraordinary indulgence to him. See the conclusion of that 
 Satire. 
 
 Ver. 155. Then bloodier Pompey, (Sfc] Of this wretch nothing is known, 
 but what Juvenal tells us. Fuscus (v. 157) seems to have been a favourite 
 with the emperor, by whom he was raised to the command of a pretorian 
 cohort, and trusted with the conduct of the Dacian war, in which he perished 
 witii a great part of his army. Martial honoured his memory with a very 
 good epitaph, (lib. vi. 76,) from which it appears, that his successor iu the 
 command had better fortune. He probably studied the ait of ^var in the 
 field. 
 
 •Tuvenal doubtless enjoyed this passing allusion to the Dacian war. It was 
 the opprobrium and disgrace of Domitian : — but see Sat. vi. 
 
 Ver. i61. Then shrew'd Veiento with Catullus came^ For Veiento, see Sal. 
 in. V. 280 and vi. The only circumstance worth recording of him in this place 
 is, that though he appears here ;is a base and servile flatterer., he was once in 
 tlie greatest danger of losing liis life for a crime of a very dift'erent nature. 
 lie was accused (Tacit. Ann. xiv. 50) iu the reign of Nero of drawing up 
 and publishing what he called tlie last wills of person deceased, in which he 
 inserted strokes of satire on several of the senate, and, as it should seem, from 
 the report of T. Germinus, his accuser, on the emperor himself! He escaped 
 with banishment. 
 
 Catullus (see above) is mentioned by Pliny, whose character of him is not
 
 SATint IV. JUVENAL. V. 162—164. 127 
 
 Took fire, although unseen : a wretch whose crimes 
 Struck with amaze e'en these prodigious times. 
 
 a wliit more favourable than Juveual's. He says, that he was a wretch, who 
 added to the loss of sight, a most savage disposition ; that he was equally 
 void of pity and remorse, of shame and fear ; and was, therefore, used by 
 Domitian as his most formidable weapon in the destruction of all that was 
 virtuous. 
 
 His death may be added to the innumerable instances of retribution, which 
 " vindicate the ways of God to man." He was afflicted with an incurable 
 disease, attended by the most excrutiating, and unremitting torture. Yet, says 
 the commentator, the agonies of his body were perfect ease, compared to 
 those of his mind. He was constantly haunted with the thoughts of his past 
 cruelties; the ghosts of those he had accused, seemed ever befoie him, and he 
 used to leap from his bed with the most dreadful shrieks, as if avenging flames 
 had already seized upon it. Worn out at length by his mental sufferings, he 
 expired one livid mass of putrefaction ! 
 
 This note is already too long; — but in the dearth of virtue, to which my 
 subject has condemned me, I cannot resist the temptation of recording 
 one instance of noble-mindedness, to which the man just mentioned gave 
 birth; and I do it the rather, as It is connected with the history of the two 
 last names quoted above. " Nerva was supping with a few select friends. 
 Veiento lay next him, and almost in his bosom ; the conversation turned on 
 the crimes and cruelties of the execrable Catullus, of whom all the guests spoke 
 with the greatest freedom : when the emperor" (who was probably warned 
 by the conversation into a momentary contempt for such characters) " ex- 
 claimed, ' I wonder what would be his fate were he now alive.' ' His fate,' 
 replied Junius Mauricus (casting his eyes on Veiento, who was little less 
 criminal than Catullus,) ' his fate,' replied he, with the dauntless spirit of an 
 old Roman, ' would be to — sup with us !" P/iii. Epist. lib. iv. 22. 
 
 In his translation of this epistle. Lord Orrery observes that the answer of 
 Mauricus" was levelled at Veiento." No such matter: it was levelled at the 
 emperor, and well levelled too.
 
 128 SATIRE IV. JUVENAL v. 1C5--176. 
 
 A base, blind parasite, a murderous lord, 
 
 From the bridge-end, rais'd to the council-board ; 
 
 Yet fitter to resume his ancient stand. 
 
 And, as the travellers pass, to beg with outstretch'd hand. 
 
 None dwelt so largely on the turbot's size. 
 
 Or rais'd with more applause his wondering eyes ; 
 
 But to the left (O treacherous want of sight!) 
 
 He pour'd his praise; — the fish was on tJie right. 
 
 Thus would he at the fencers' matches sit, 
 
 And shout with rapture at some fancied hit ; 
 
 And thus applaud the stage-machinery, where 
 
 The youths were rapt aloft, and tost in air. 
 
 Ver. 166. From the bridge-end, <^c.] Bridges appear to have been the 
 usual stands for beggars among the Romans. Juvenal seldom introduces a 
 beggar without mentioning a bridge at the stune time. 
 
 Ver. 175. And t/nis applaud the stage-machinery/, S^c.'] This stage-ma- 
 chinery, or pegma, as Juvenal calls it, I am -utterly unable to describe, so as 
 to convey an adequate idea of what it really was, to the reader. It seems to 
 have been a huge frame or platform of light materials, which, on its gradually 
 projecting arms, supported men and boys, who by the pressure of enormous 
 weights on the machinery below, were suddenly forced upwards to a consider- 
 able height. 
 
 The Roman theatres were open at the top. During the performance, how- 
 ever, they were usually covered with an immense veil (velarium) which was 
 stretched across, and formed a kind of ceiling. Immediately under this, where 
 the extremities were fastened to the veil, sat the common people, and, as I 
 collect from the poets, the ladies of a gayer turn. Thus Ovid says to Corinaa; 
 " Sive ego marmorei respexi summa theatri, 
 " Elegis e multis unde dolere veJis.
 
 SATIRE IV. JUVENAL. V. 177—184. lijy 
 
 Nor fell Veiento short : — as it possest, 
 With all Bellona's rage, his labouring breast, 
 Burst forth in prophecy; " I see, I see, 
 " The omens of some glorious victory! 
 •' Some powerful monarch captur'd: — lo, he rears, 
 " Horrent, on every side, his pointed spears ! 
 " Some chief hurl'd headlong from the British car — 
 " The fish is foreign; Ibreign is the war!" 
 
 And Cynthia lo Propcrtius, 
 
 " Colla cave inflectas ad summum obliqua theatium." 
 Holyday calls tlie vdarium a " feigned cloud." If he supposed it bore any 
 analogy to the painted ceilings of our theatres, he evidently mistook, for there 
 was no idea of deception in it: he has, however, misled Dry den, who strangely 
 renders the passage, 
 
 " So did the scenes, and stage-machines admire, 
 " And boys that flew through canvas clouds in wire." 
 To return to thepegma ; when it was to be lowered, and the boy at the top 
 brought down again, the weights were removed, and the machine gradually 
 reduced itself, and look another form : 
 
 " Mobile pondcribus descendat pegma reductis, 
 " Inque chori speciem spargentes ardua flammas 
 " Scena rotet." Claudian. 
 
 Whatever the pegma was, it was a very favourite exhibition. Holyday 
 thinks it was commonly used in playing the Kapc of Ganymede. I do not 
 well see how this could be : — and yet it is highly probable from a passage in 
 St. Augustin, who was present, when a young man, he says, at a play of those 
 arreptitios, or " rapt boys," that it was appropriated to something of tiie same 
 disgraceful nature ; to some amour in short, of those opprobriums of common 
 sense, and common decency, Ihe stage divinities of Home. 
 
 Ver. 183. Some, chief, t>;c\ Juvenal calls him Arviragus. Holyday (from 
 our monkish historians) says tliat he was the younger son of Cymbeline, that 
 he began his reign in the fourth year of Claudius, whose daughter he married 
 
 s
 
 SATIRE IV. JUVENAL. V. 1S5 — 194. 
 
 Proceed great Seer, and, what remains untold, 
 The turbot's age, and country, next unfold ; 
 So shall thy lord his fortunes better know. 
 And where the conquest waits, and who the foe ; 
 
 The Emperor now the important question put: 
 " How say ye, fathers? Shall the fish be cut?" 
 " O! far be that disgrace," Montanus cries, 
 " No, let us form a pot of amplest size, 
 " Within whose slender rim, the fish, dread Sire ! 
 " May spread its vast circumference entire. 
 
 at Gloucester, that he then revolted from his father, was brouglit back to 
 his duty by Vespasian, reigned many years in great glorj', and left his 
 crown to his son, a prince not less valourous, and rather more wise, than his 
 father. 
 
 Though all this be evidently fabulous, I have nothing more worthy of credit 
 to substitute in its place. It is sufficient to observe with Owen, that some chief 
 is alluded to, who had made himself formidable to the Romans after the recall 
 of Agricola. The person known by the name of Arviragus had now been dead 
 many years. 
 
 In the " monarch," about whom the commentators trifle so egregiously, our 
 author might sarcastically allude to Decebalus, whose name he could not 
 bring into his verse, but whose actions were the opprobrium of Domitian's 
 reign. He opposed the emperor in tbe Dacian war in which Fuscus fell, 
 (v. 160,) and was, indeed, no contemptible enemy. 
 
 Ver. 192. No, let itsjbrm a pot of amplest size,'] Montanus has devised an 
 expedient, we see, for dressing the fish : but how is it to be served up ? I do 
 not know that this " tun of man" recollected it, but there was a dish at hand 
 that would not have disgraced his pot. 
 
 Vitellius had collected, at an enormous expense, a prodigious quantity of 
 the brains of birds, and livers of fishes,- these he was desirous of bringing to 
 table in a sinele dish. The kitchen treasures were ransacked, as in the present 
 
 «
 
 SATIRE IV. JUVENAL. V 195—210. 131 
 
 " Bring, bring the temper'd clay, and let it feel 
 
 " The quick gyrations of the plastic wheel ; 
 
 " But Caesar, thus fore-warn'd, have special care, 
 
 " And bid your potters follow you to war." 
 
 He spoke : a murmur through the assembly ran, 
 
 Applausive of the speech, so worthy of the man. 
 
 Vers'd in the old court-luxury, he knew 
 
 The feasts of Nero, and his midnight crew ; 
 
 And how, when potent draughts had fir'd the brain, 
 
 The jaded taste was spurr'd to gorge again. 
 
 And, in our days, none understood so well 
 
 The science of good eating; he could tell, 
 
 At the first smackj whether his oysters fed 
 
 On the Rutupian, or the Lucrine bed. 
 
 And from a crab, or lobster's colour, name 
 
 The country, nay the spot, from whence it came. 
 
 case, for one of an adequate size ; but none could be found : nor would the 
 potters undertake to make such a one. In this distress, the emperor applied 
 to the silver-smiths, who succeeded to his wishes. In honour of the achieve- 
 ment, the dish was afterwards preserved as a sacred deposit, mwsp ti ot^ixS'wju,* I 
 Adrian had the good sense to melt it down. 
 
 Vee. 201. Vers'd in the old court-luxury, ^c] Tliis is well explained by 
 Suetonius in his life of Nero. (§. 27.) Paulatim vero invalescentibus vitiu, nuUa- 
 que dhsimulandi cura, ad majora pala//i erupit. Epulas a medio die ad mcdiam 
 noctem protrahebat ; refotus sczpius calidispiscinis, ac tempore astivo nivalis. This 
 accounts very naturally for the unweildy paunch ofMontanus,and for the part 
 he has just taken in the debate which, as Juvenal properly observes, was so 
 worthy of him. 
 
 Holyday justly remarks, on the following Hues, that tlie" wanton lu.xury of
 
 .13^ SATIRE IV. JUVENAL, v. 211—224. 
 
 Here closed the solemn farce. The fathers rise, 
 And each, submissive, from the presence hies : — 
 Pale, trembling wretches, whom the chief, in sport, 
 Had dragg'd, astonish'd, to the Alban court, 
 As if the stern Sicambri were in arms, 
 Or the fierce Catti threaten 'd new alarms; 
 As if ill news, by flying posts, had come. 
 And gathering nations sought the fall oi Rome. 
 
 O ! that such scenes, disgraceful at the most, 
 Had all those years of tyranny engrost, 
 In which he daily drain'd, by none withstood. 
 The city of its best, and noblest blood! — 
 And yet he fell ! he fell .' for when the herd 
 Saw his dire cruelty to them transferr'd, 
 
 the Romans may be discerned by the variety of their oysters, which were 
 brought from every sea." Those from Rutupia (or the coast of Kent) were 
 highly vahied at Rome for their sweetness (dukitudo) ; but there are several 
 others mentioned in our author, Circaean, Gauran, Lucrine, &c. all distin- 
 guished for their peculiar excellencies. 
 
 Vek.217. Js if ill news, bi/ flying posts, &)C.'] Flying posts, — in the original 
 pracipiti peunA ; which has been variouslj- interpreted. Brilannicus thinks it 
 alludes to the ancient custom of sending intelligence by pigeons, of which 
 there are numerous instances in history. This is not very probable. Holyday 
 understands the words metaphorically, for a '* letter of ill news, which is usually 
 swift-winged." The scholiast explains them literally. Antea si quid miiitia- 
 hant Coustiles in iirhe, per epistolas nuntiabant. Si victoria mmtiabatur, 
 lauTiisin epistoluflgebattir ; si aliquid adversi, penna. The former observation 
 is certainly just ; if the latter be so, which I doubt, we need look no farther 
 for the meaning of Juvenal : .nt any rate, the translation is sufficiently 
 correct.
 
 SATIRE IV. JUVENAL. V. i'i.'5 — 2^6. 133 
 
 Tliey seized the murderer, wet with Laniian gore, 
 And instant hurl'd hiin to the infernal shore ! 
 
 Veu. QIj. Thii/ seized the murderer, wet with Lamian gore,] The Laniian 
 family, saj-s Holyday, was most noble, being sprung from kings which, by 
 the testimony of Homer, reigned at Cajeta. Of this family was iElius Lamia, 
 ^vhose wife Domitiau took away, and afterwards put Lamia himself to 
 death. 
 
 Beaumont and Fletcher have imitated, or rather translated, the concluding 
 lines thus, 
 
 " Princes may pick their suffering nobles out, 
 " And one by one, employ them to the block ; 
 " But when they once grow formidable to 
 
 " Their clowns, and coblers, ware then." 
 
 The indiijrnant sarcasm on the tameness of the nobilitv, who suffered them- 
 selves to be butchered by this detestable tyrant, Avithout resistance, does 
 lionour to the invincible spirit of our author. He himself was one of the herd, 
 the cerdones, and I have not a doubt, but that the exultation with which he 
 mentions their prompt and decisive vengeance, was intended to convey a 
 salutary, but an awful lesson to both parties — to the oppressors, and the 
 oppressed.
 
 SATIRE V. 
 
 3Ilr0wniatt, 
 
 In this excellent Satire, Juvenal lakes occasion, under pretence of ad- 
 vising one Trebius to abstain from the table oj Virro, a man of rank and 
 fortune, to give a spirited detail of the mortifications to which the poor 
 tyere subjected by the rich, at those entertainments to ivhich, on account 
 of the political connection subsisting between patrons and clients, it was 
 sometimes thought necessary to invite them. 
 
 A strain of manly indignation pervades the whole : — nor has it so 
 much exaggeration as some of the commentators have perceived in it : since 
 there is scarcely a single trait of insult and indignity here mentioned, 
 tvliich is not to be found animadverted upon, with more or less seveiity, 
 in the writers of that age. 
 
 One of Pliny s letters (lib. ii. 6) is expressly on this subject ; and as 
 a belter illustration of the Satire before us, cannot possibly be desired, I 
 subjoin a pretty long extract from it. " Longum est altius repeteie, 
 Sec. / supped lately with a person with whom I am by no means inti- 
 mate, who in his own opinion treated us with much splendid frugality; 
 but according to mine, in a sordid, yet expensive manner. Some very 
 elegant dishes were served up to himself and a few more of us ; rvhile 
 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 lake their choice, but that they might not 
 have an optio)i in their power. The best was for himself and his friends 
 of the first rank; the next for those of a lower order; and the third for 
 his own and his guests' f reed-men. One who sat near me look notice of 
 this circumstance, and asked me how I approved of it ? J\^ot at all I re- 
 plied. Pray then, said he, wliat is your method on siich occasions .^ 
 When I make an invitation, I replied, all are sored alike : I invite 
 them with a design to entertain, not to affront them ; and those I think 
 worthy of a place at my table, J certainly think worthy of every thing it 
 affords."
 
 SATIRE V. 
 
 TO TREBIUS. 
 
 Y. 1-— 8. 
 
 If, — by reiterated scorn made bold, 
 
 Thy mind can still its shameless tenor hold, 
 
 Still think the greatest blessing earth can give, 
 
 Is solely at another's board to live ; 
 
 If, for this sordid purpose, thou can'st hear, 
 
 Unmov'd, the open taunt, the whisper'd jeer ; 
 
 Cans't brook what sneaking Galba would have spurn d. 
 
 And mean Sarmentus with a frown return *d ; 
 
 Ver. 7. Cans't brook what sneaking Galba would have spum'd, 
 
 And mean Sarmentus, &,€.'] Galba. This is probably the person 
 mentioned in the notes to the first Satire, (p. 1(5,) and who, from the anecdote 
 there recorded, appears not altogether unworthy of the epithet here assigned 
 liim. He is frequently noticed by Martial; and appears to have been a kind 
 of necessary fool or jester, on whom every one broke his witticisms with 
 impunit)'. 
 
 Sarmentus was a run-a-way slave, who, instead of being sent back to his 
 Biistrcss to be whipt, as he deserved, was taken into the family of a man, who 
 has been usually supposed to have other, and better claims on the gratitude 
 of posterity, than the patronage of a scurrilous buffoon. 
 
 In his journey to lirundusium, Horace gives an account of a scolding match, 
 
 T
 
 138 sATiRK V. JUVENAL, v.g— 18. 
 
 At Caesar's haughty board dependants both; 
 I scarce would take thy evidence on oath. 
 
 The belly's fed with little cost : yet grant 
 Thou should'st, unhappily, that little want, 
 Some vacant bridge might surely still be found, 
 Some high-way side, where, grovelling on the ground. 
 Thy shivering limbs compassion's sigh might wake, 
 And gain an alms for " Charity's sweet sake!" 
 What! can a meal thus sauced, deserve thy care? 
 Is hunger so importunate? when there, 
 
 which he witnessed, between this Sarmentus, and a fellow of the name of 
 Messius. There was not much humour in the dispute, yet Maecenas, who was 
 also present at it, found it so agreeable to his taste, that he took the former 
 into his train, carried him to Rome, and recommended him to Augustus, 
 with wliom (as we learn from Plutarch) he became a kind of favourite. The 
 old scholiast gives a long account of him ; from which it appears, that what 
 was so unworthily bestowed by the emperor, was as unworthily spent by his 
 minion ; who was again reduced, in the decline of life, to a state of absolute 
 beggary and dependence. 
 
 Vek. 11. The belh/'sfed, 3,c. 
 
 " Discite quam parvo liceat producere vitani 
 " Et quantum natura petat" — Liican, jv. 377. 
 
 and Spencer, 
 
 " But would men think with how small allowance 
 " Untroubled nature doth herself suffice, 
 " Such superfluity they would despise 
 " As with sad care impeach their native joys." 
 Here is the moral of the Satire in three words, and a very fine one it is : — but 
 intemperance, as Cowley says of avarice, has been so pelted with good say- 
 ings, that every reader can suggest them to himself. 
 Ver. 13. Some vacant bridge, (Jrc] See Sat. iv. v, 166.
 
 SATIRE V. JUVENAL. V. 19—40. 139 
 
 There, in thy wretched stand, thou mayst, my friend, 
 On casual scraps more honestly depend. 
 With chattering teeth toil o'er thy wretched treat, 
 And gnaw the crusts that dogs refuse to eat. 
 
 For, first, of this be sure : whene'er thy lord 
 Thinks proper to invite thee to his board, 
 He pays, or thinks he pays, the total sum 
 Of all thy pains, past, present, and to come. 
 Behold the meed of servitude I The great 
 Reward their humble followers with a treat. 
 And count it current coin : they count it such. 
 And though it be but little, think it much. 
 If, therefore, after two whole months, he send 
 A billet to his long-neglected friend, 
 (Though but to fill a vacant couch,) and say, 
 You — Master Trebius, dine with me to-day ; 
 Thy joys o'erflow; — Trebius for this must rise, 
 (The dew of sleep yet lingering on his eyes,) 
 While the faint stars yet gleam, and round the pole 
 The wain of slow Bootes seems to roll; 
 Trembling, lest every levee should be o'er, 
 And the full court retiring from the door ! 
 
 And what a meal at last ! such ropy wine 
 As wool, which takes all liquids, would decline ; 
 Hot, heady lees, to fire the wretched guests. 
 And turn them all to Corybants, or beasts. 
 At first with sneers, and sarcasms you engage, 
 Then deal round mutual wounds, with mutual rage :
 
 140 SATIRE V. JUVENAL, v. 47 — 58. 
 
 And oft do you and the domestic train, 
 With coarse stone pots, a desperate fight maintain, 
 While streams of blood in smoking torrents flow, 
 And my lord smiles to see the battle glow ! 
 
 Not such his beverage ; he enjoys the juice 
 Of ancient days, when beards were yet in use; 
 The nectar of the times, when civil hate 
 Raged with wild fury, and convulsed the state : 
 Enjoys it to himself; nor condescends 
 To cheer, with one small cup, his drooping friends. 
 To-morrow he will change^ and, haply, fill 
 The mellow vintage of the Alban hill, 
 
 Ver. 53. The nectar of the times, when civil hate 
 
 Raged with wildfuri/, &;c.'] He speaks of the Social or Maisian 
 war jwhich broke out in Italy near two centuries before this Satire was written. 
 Can wines be kept so long ? Those of Italy were, indeed, of a rougliness and 
 strength that a considerable lapse of time only could subdue : — but such a 
 period! Pliny the Elder, however, mentions a wine whicli bad been kept for 
 200 years; but then it had acquired, he saj's, the colour, and, I suppose, the 
 consistency of honey; and was no longer drinkable. 
 Hall has imitated tiiis passage with much iuimour : 
 
 " What though he quaft' pure amber in his bowl 
 " Of March-brew 'd wheat; he slakes thy thirsting soul 
 " With palish oat frothing in Boston clay, 
 " Or in a shallow cruize ; nor must that stay 
 " Within thy reach, for fear of thy craz'd brain, 
 " But call and crave, and have thy cruize again !"' 
 Ver. 58. The mellow vintage of the yllban kill,] This wine is frequently 
 alluded to by our author, as of peculiar excellency. Addison tells us in his 
 Italian travels, that Alba still preserves its credit for wine, " which would 
 probably be as good now as it was anciently, did they preserve it to so great 
 
 '/I
 
 SATIRE V. JUVENAL. V. 59— GG. HI 
 
 Or Setine; wines that cannot now be known^ 
 
 So much has mouldiness the cask o'ergrown, 
 
 The district, and the date; such generous bowls 
 
 As Thrasea and Helvidius, patriot souls ! 
 
 To freedom pour'd, when, crown'd with flowers, they lay, 
 
 And largely quafF'd, on Brutus' natal day. 
 
 Before thy patron, cups of price are placed. 
 Amber and gold, with rows of beryls graced: 
 
 an age." Setine wine was still more excellent; at least, if we may trust 
 Augustus, who is said, by Pliny, to have preferred it to all others: it grew in 
 Campania. This passage also is well imitated by Hall : 
 " If Vino list revive his heartless grains 
 " With some French grape, or pure Canariane; 
 " While pleasing Bourdeaux falls unto his lot, 
 " Some sowerish Kochelle cuts thy thirsting throat." 
 Veu. 62. Jls Thrasea or Helvidius, Sic."] Of these two eminent men, the 
 former was put to death, and the latter driven into banishment, by Nero. 
 Tacitus dwells with singular complacency on their virtues; and, indeed, we 
 may gather from the concurring testimonies of historians, that Rome had 
 seldom, if ever, produced two worthier citizens. They fell, in trulh, " on evil 
 days," but tliey seem to have " bated no jot of heart," and in every circum- 
 stance to have acted with dignity and spirit. Helvidius was recalled from 
 banishment by Galba ; (another motive for our author's partiality to tiiat chief;) 
 he was afterwards prosecuted on a charge of sedition, bv Vespasian, but 
 acquitted; and probably ended his days in peace. 
 
 Thrasea was the son-in-law of that Paitus whose wife Arria is so justly 
 celebrated for her heroic constancy in that well-known epigram of Martial's, 
 Casta suo gladium, S;c. 
 
 There are no data to determine the precise time when this Satire was written. 
 The passage before us certainly evinces a noble spirit of daring; but it is 
 probably somewhat posterior to the reign of Domitian. The two men whose 
 memory was particularly hateful to tliat tyrant, were, undoubtedly, Thrasea
 
 1-1- 
 
 SATIRE V. JUVENAL. V. 67— 7'J. 
 
 Cups, thou cans't only at a distance view, 
 
 And never trusted to such guests as you! 
 
 Or if they be ; a faithful slave attends, 
 
 To count the gems, and watch your fingers' ends. 
 
 You'll pardon him ; but lo ! a jasper there, 
 
 Which cannot be observ'd with too much care: 
 
 For Virro, like his brother peers, of late, 
 
 Has stripp'd his fingers to adorn his plate. 
 
 Alas, for glory ! jewels, which the lord 
 
 Of Dido wore upon his conquering sword, 
 
 Irradiate now the cups of some luxurious board. 
 
 From such he drinks; thou drain'st the four-lugg'd pot, 
 
 The pipkin of the Beneventine sot, 
 
 I 
 
 and Helvidius, who are here indirectly introduced for the sake of a covert 
 censure on the wretch who insulted their fame ! Domitian put one person to 
 death for calling Thrasea a man of sanctity, rov Qpx(ri»v Ufov wvojt*«^£; and 
 another for writing the life of Helvidius ! 
 
 Ver. 69. bttt lo! a jasper there,'] He alludes, as the commen- 
 tators have observed, to Virgil, who places such a stone in the hilt of iEneas' 
 sword. 
 
 " atque illi stellatus jaspide fulva. 
 
 " Ensis erat." jEti. lib. iv. v. 26l. 
 
 A tawny jasper is singular enough; yet Plin^^ also mentions one of them. 
 
 Ver. 79. TJie pipkin of the Biitevciitine so^,] This Beneventine was a 
 drunken cobler called Vatinius. It would have been well if giving his name 
 to an article of coarse pottery had been his only claim to celebrity; but 
 he had, unfortunately, others of a different nature. He possessed, says 
 Tacitus, " a vein of ribaldry and vulgar humour, which qualified him to 
 succeed as a buffoon ; in which character he first recommended himself to 
 notice : but he soon forsook his scurrility for the trade of an informer, and
 
 sATiKF. V. JUVENAL. V, So— 95. 143 
 
 A fragment, a mere shard, of little worth 
 But to be truck'd for matches — and so forth. 
 
 If my lord's veins with indigestion glow, 
 They bring him water, cold as Scythian snow, — 
 What! did I late complain a different wine 
 Fell to thy lot ? a different water's thine ! 
 
 Getulian slaves thy vile potations pour, 
 Or the coarse paws of some huge, raw-bon'd Moor; 
 Spectres, whose ghostly aspect would affray, 
 If met by moon-light near the Latin way; 
 On him, a youth, the flower of Asia, waits, 
 So dearly purchas'd, that the whole estates 
 Of Tullus, Ancus, would not raise the sum. 
 No, nor the gear of all the kings of Rome ! 
 Bear this in mind; and, when a cup you need. 
 Call on your own Getulian Ganymede: 
 
 having, by the ruin of the worthiest characters, arrived at eminence in guilt, 
 he rose to wealth and power, the most dangerous miscreant of those dangerous 
 times." 
 
 Tacitus adds, that when Nero was on his way to Greece, to earn immortal 
 honour by his musical exertion, he stopped at Beneventum, where Vatinius 
 entertained him with a shew of gladiators. 
 
 The " four-lugg'd pot" is mentioned by Martial, who is always to be found 
 at the heels of Juvenal: 
 
 " Vilia sutoris calicem monunicnta Vatini 
 " Accipe ; sed nasus longior ilie fuit." 
 Here the allusion is evidently to the character given of him in the note. The 
 noses or handles of the pot, indeed, were long, but the nose of the inventor 
 was longer still : hinting at his pernicious sagacity in finding out charges 
 against the objects of the emperor's fear or hate.
 
 I4f SATIRE V. JUVENAL. V. 90— 113. 
 
 A page that cost so much, will ne'er, be sure, 
 Come at your beck; he heeds not, he, the poor; 
 But of his youth and beauty justly vain, 
 Trips by them, with indifference, or disdain. 
 When does he note thy wants ? When, at thy call, 
 Bring hot or cold, or — any drink at ail ? 
 No ; he is fir'd with rage, to see the board 
 Sham'd with an old dependant of his lord. 
 Who offers to command him, lolls at ease, 
 While he stands by, and serves : such pets as these, 
 Such proud, audacious minions swarm in Rome, 
 And trample on the poor where'er they come ! 
 
 Mark, with what insolence another thrusts 
 Before thy plate th' impenetrable crusts, 
 Black, mouldy fragments, which no teeth can chaw. 
 The mere despair of every aching jaw! 
 While manchets of the finest flour of wheat. 
 Snow-white, and soft, before thy lord are set; 
 
 Ver. 112. While manchets., &)C^ 
 
 " What though he chires on purer manehet's crown 
 " While his kind chent grinds on black and brown, 
 " A jolly rounding of a whole foot broad, 
 " From off the niong-corn heap shall Trebius load." 
 
 Hall. Lib. v. Sat. ii. 
 Manners were strangely tiltered at Rome since the days of Cassar, who is said, 
 by Suetonius, (J. Cies. 48,) to have severely punished his " paiitler," for serving 
 his guests vvitli a species of bread inferior to that which was placed before 
 himself.
 
 SATiUE V. JUVENAL. V. 114—127. 145 
 
 So tempting — but, the sight, the touch forbear, 
 
 Safe be the pantler's honour! should 'st thou dare, 
 
 Yet, should'st thou rashly dare — they quickly wrest 
 
 The untasted morsel from thee. " Saucy guest," 
 
 They frown, and cry, " what! wilt thou ne'er divine 
 
 " What's for thy patron's tooth, and what for thine ; 
 
 " Never take notice from what trough thou'rt fed, 
 
 " Nor know the colour of thy proper bread !" 
 
 " Was it for this," the baffled client cries. 
 
 While tears of indignation fill his eyes, 
 
 " Was it for this I left my wife ere day, 
 
 •• And o'er the cold Esquilian urg'd my way, 
 
 " While the wind howl'd, the hail-storm beat amain, 
 
 " And my cloak stream 'd beneath the driving rain!" 
 
 Ver. 122. Was it for this, Sfc."] The early hour at which the client was ex- 
 pected to attend the levee of his patron was a serious subject of complaint. It 
 is frequently mentioned by Juvenal, and still more frequently by Martial who, 
 like Trebius, had often suffered from the inclemency here so well described. 
 lie tells his patron, in one place, that unless he will sleep longer, he must not 
 expect to see him; and in another, expostulates with him in the following 
 sensible and affecting language : 
 
 " Si quid nostra tuis adicit vexatio rebus, 
 " Mane, vel h. media nocte logatiis ero. 
 " Stridentesque feram flatus Aquilonis iniqui, 
 
 " Et patiar nimbos, excipiamque nives. 
 " Sed si non fias quadrante beatior uno, 
 
 " Per gemitus nostros, ingenuasque cruces: 
 " Parce, precor, lasso, vanosque remitte labores, 
 " Qui tibj non prosunt,et mihi, Galle, nocent." Lib. x. J5p.lxxii. 
 
 u
 
 146 SATIRE V. JUVENAL, v. 128—147. 
 
 But lo ! a lobster introduc'd in state, 
 Whose ample body stretches o'er the plate — 
 With what a length of tail, he seems to scorn 
 The wretched guests, as, by them proudly borne, 
 He presses on, with herbs and pickles crown'd, 
 And comes before his lordship, with a bound ! 
 Thou hast a crab, with half an egg prepar'd, 
 A supper for the dead ! in an old shard. 
 
 He pours Venafran oil upon his fish 
 \A' hile the stale cole-worts in thy wooden dish 
 Stink of the lamp ; for such to thee is thrown, 
 Such rotten grease, as Afric sends to town; 
 So strong ! that when her factors seek the bath, 
 All wind, and all avoid the noisome path ; 
 So pestilent ! that her own serpents fly 
 The horrid stench, or meet it but to die. 
 
 See ! a sur-mullet next before him set ; 
 From Corsica, or isles more distant yet. 
 Brought post to Rome ; since our own seas no more 
 Supply the insatiate glutton, as of yore, 
 
 Ver. 135. A supper for the dead, ^c] " They did place, (says Holyda^-,) 
 in the sepulchres of the dead, to appease their ghosts, (such was the heathens' 
 folly,) a little milk, honey, wine and olives." If these were eaten by the dead, 
 it was well; if not, they were burned, or, what was more generally the case, 
 stolen by a set of starving wretches, who frequented the burying-grounds for 
 this pui-pose. 
 
 With all their reverence for the deceased, the ancients seem to have been 
 strangely inattentive to their diet. It was not only of the worst quality, but 
 
 I
 
 sATiKE V. JUVENAL. V. 14s— 101. 1 17 
 
 Thinn'd by the net, whose everlasting throw 
 Allows no Tuscan fish in peace to gro^Y. 
 Still luxury yawns, unfiU'd;— the nations rise, 
 And ransack all their coasts for fresh supplies ; 
 Thence come your presents, thence, as rumour tells. 
 The dainties Lenas buys, Aurelia sells. 
 
 A lamprey of the largest size, and caught 
 Near howling Scylla, is to Virro brought : — 
 For oft as Auster seeks his cave, to fling 
 The cumbrous moisture from his dripping wing, 
 Forth flies the daring fisher, lur'd by gain, 
 While rocks oppose, and whirlpools threat in vain. 
 To thee they bring an eel, whose slender make 
 Bespeaks a near relation to the snake ; 
 
 extremely ill prepared. Plautus (Pscudolo, A. 111. S. ii.) says of a worlhless 
 cook, that Vic was " merely fit to dress a supper for the dead ;" and those of 
 the living who condescended to share it with them, were universally stigma- 
 tized as the most necessitous and miserable of human beings : 
 " Uxor Meneni sa;pe quam in sepulchretis 
 " Vidisti ipso raperc de rogo ca3nam." Cattill. 
 
 Ver. 153. yitirelia, &;c.'] " Aurelia," Madan says, " was pro» 
 
 bably the name of some famous dealer in fine fish !" It is not in this manner 
 Juvenal is to be read. Aurelia was a rich and childless old lady, whom Lenas, 
 one of those legacy-hunters who swarmed in Rome, endeavoured to wheedle 
 out of a bequest in his favour, by costly presents offish, ^c. So far, indeed, 
 she might be termed a " dealer in fine fish," that, preferring money to mullets, 
 she sent what was given her to market. 
 
 Aurelia is mentioned by Pliny, who calls her a respectable lady, and tells 
 an amusing story of her being obliged to tack a codicil to her will in favour 
 of a more daring, and apparently, a more successful liasredipetc than Lenas; 
 the detestable Regulus. Lib. ii. Episi. xx.
 
 us SATIRE V. JUVENAL. V. iCi— 179. 
 
 Or some frost-bitten reptile, nurs'd at home, 
 In Tyber's bed, amidst the fihh of Rome; 
 Some tenant of tlie sewers, that, day by day. 
 Through half the city's mud suck'd his vile wayl 
 
 Would Virro deign to hear me, I could give 
 A few brief hints : — we look not to receive 
 What Seneca, what Cofta, us'd to send, 
 What the good Piso, to an humble friend; 
 (For bounty then preferr'd a juster claim 
 Than birth and power, to honourable fame.) 
 No; — all we ask, and 'tis a small request, 
 Is — to sup free from insult: for the rest, 
 Be, like the world, to thy dependants poor, 
 Rich to thyself; we seek, we hope, no more. 
 
 But no: near him a goose's liver lies, 
 A capon, equal to a goose in size. 
 And a boar, huge as that which felt the spear 
 Of the fam'd hero with the golden hair. 
 
 Ver. 176. a goose's liver,"] This was looked upon as a great 
 
 dainty by the ancient epicures ; and they, therefore, tooic extraordinary 
 pains to increase its size, by subjecting the animal to a particular kind of 
 regimen. 
 
 Brydone says of the Sicilians, that by a modern refinement in luxury, they 
 contrive to increttse the livers of their fowls, See. (The refinement, as the 
 reader sees, is not very modern.) Upon which Doctor Darwin observes; " it 
 is to be lamented that he did not procure the secret." There is no great 
 secret in the matter, I fancy ; as there is scarce a town on the continent which 
 is not possessed of it. I do not pretend to know it myself; but I have been 
 told, that the animals are very closely confined, and kept without water; but
 
 SATiUE V. JUVENAL. V. ISO— 187. 149 
 
 Then mushrooms, if the spring its influence shed, 
 
 And welcome thunders call them from tlieir bed. 
 
 Large mushrooms enter : ravish'd with their size, 
 
 "O Lybia! spare thy grain!" Alledius cries, 
 
 " And break thy ploughs, and loose thy oxen straight ; 
 
 " What .' thou that grow'st such mushrooms, think of wheat !" 
 
 Meanwhile, to put thy patience to the test, 
 Lo ! the spruce carver, to his task addrest, 
 
 what ! I am talking Latin before clerks ; since both the dainty, and the manner 
 of obtaining it, are probably as well known in London as in Sicily, or else- 
 where. 
 
 It may be superfluous to remark, that Doctor Darwin we possede trop bien 
 son Martiak : the liver of which he speaks, was not increased so much b^' the 
 goose's feeding, as by the cook's stuffing. The distich in question, 
 " Adspice quam tumeat magno jecur ansere majus ! 
 
 " Miratus dices; hoc, rogo, crevit ubi?" Lib. xin. Ep. Iviii. 
 is a riddle; no very extraordinary one, it must be confessed ; and the solution 
 is — a kitchen. 
 
 Ver. 179. Ofthefam'd hero with the golden hair.'] He speaks of Meleager, 
 of whom, as well as of the " boar" he destroyed, a pretty romantic tale is told 
 in the Iliad, lib. ix. Thomson, who was now and then a little pedantic, calls 
 him, somewhere in his " Liberty," the yellow hunter; I suppose from the 
 Jiaims of our author; an epithet which, though by no means uncommon, does 
 not seem to have pleased the critics. It is an idle one, (epitheton oliosum,) says 
 Heinsius, and he, therefore, recommends validus (a silly one) in its place ; 
 while Burmann thinks that Juvenal did not mean to apply it to the Meleager 
 who killed the boar, but to the mintstrum delicattim habitii venatorio, who was 
 to cut it up ! So learnedly can men trifle. 
 
 In the lines that follow, there is much genuine humour in the rapturous 
 apostrophe of Alledius to Lybia. Africa, it should be remembered, was one of 
 the principal granaries of Rome. See Sat. viu. 
 
 Ver. 187. See Sat. xi.
 
 15U sATiuK V. JUVENAL. V. ISS— 107. 
 
 Skips, like a harlequin, from place to place, 
 And waves his knife with pantomimic grace, 
 Till every dish be rang'd, and every joint 
 Dissected, by just rules, from point to point. 
 Thou think'st this folly — 'tis a vulgar thought — 
 To such perfection, now, is carving brought, 
 That different gestures, by our curious men 
 Are us'd for different dishes, hare and hen. 
 But think whate'er thou may'st, thy comments spare 
 For should'st thou, like a free-born Roman, dare 
 
 Vek. 197. For shoulds't thou, like a Jtee-horn Eoman, dare, <§•.] In the 
 original, tanquam habeas tria noniina, as if thou hadst three names : this, 
 when Juvenal wrote, every free-born Roman had, and, as appears from his 
 own case, every liber thius, or son of a freedman. These were, the nomcn, the 
 prtenomen, and tlie eognomen ; the nomen was the family or sur-name, as Scipio ; 
 the prtenomen answered to our font-name, as Cornelius, and the eognomen was 
 added from some incidental circumstance, or to mark some particular branch 
 of a family, as Publius. To these a fourth name was sometimes superadded, as 
 an honourable distinction, as Africanus. 
 
 There seems no great difficulty in this passage, and yet the reader would 
 bless himself, if he did but know the ingenius absurdities to which it has given 
 birth. Even Holyday, bewildered in the maze of his own learning, wanders 
 with the rest. He cannot conceive why Juvenal should say of Trebius, " if 
 thou hadst three names," when it is evident that, being a freeman, he must 
 have had three names : and he, therefore, goes back to the first ages of the 
 commonweakh, when none but the nobility were thus distinguished, and ex- 
 plains his author in this manner; " thou may'st not (though free) talk like a 
 nobleman, i. e. like a three-named man of the first institution, before the pri- 
 vilege became ordinary." He did not see, that Juvenal, from the very com- 
 mencement of the Satire, aflects to consider Trebius as a slave, and that
 
 SATIRE V. JUVENAL. V. 198—213. iji 
 
 To speak tliy mind, forth springs some sturdy groom. 
 And drags tliee straight, heels foremost, from the room ! 
 
 Does Virro ever pledge thee? ever sip 
 The liquor toucii'd by thy unhallow'd lip ? 
 Or is there one of all thy tribe so free, 
 So daring, as to say — " Sir, drink to me?" — 
 O, there is much, that never must be spoke 
 By a poor client in a threadbare cloke. 
 
 But should some god, or man of godlike soul. 
 The penury of fate, for once, control. 
 
 And give thee wealth; Heavens, what a change ! How dear 
 Would'st thou be then ! How great would'st thou appear 
 From nothing! Virro, so reserv'd of late, 
 Grows quite familiar: " brother, send your plate, 
 " Dear brother Trebius ! you were wont to say 
 " You lik'd these dainties ; let me help you, pray." 
 
 the principal aim of it is to prove that Virro considered him in the same 
 
 LIGHT. 
 
 Mr. Ireland disagrees with me in this explanation. What he says on the 
 subject is very ingenious, and will probably obtain more suftVages tiian that 
 whicii I have just hazarded. " Juvenal does not consider him as a slave 
 whose oath is never admitted; but (what is far more cutting) his meaning is, 
 I know thou art a freeman, that thy oath is, by the laws, to be believed; as 
 I know here too, that thou hast the honour of bearing three names, and there- 
 lore mayst use the language of a privileged Roman ; but such is the servility 
 of ihy disposition, that it destroys the effect of these advantages. Sworn, as 
 thou hast a right to be, (this is the force of quamvisjurato,) I will not believe 
 thee; and having a right to liberty of speech, thy supper-hunting draws thee 
 into situations where thou art afraid to make use of it."'
 
 152 S.VTIUE V. JUVENAL, v. 214—231. 
 
 O riches ! you're his brother, and to you 
 Alone this friendship, this respect, is due ! 
 
 But would'st tiiou be " my lord?" nay, my lord's lord? 
 Let no young Trebius wanton round thy board, 
 No Trebia, none : a barren wife procures 
 The tenderest, truest friends ! let such be yours. 
 Yet should she breed, and, to augment thy joys, 
 Pour in thy lap, at once, three bouncing boys, 
 Virro will still, so thou be wealthy, deign 
 To toy and prattle with the lisping train; 
 Will have his pockets still with flirthings stor'd, - 
 And, when the sweet young rogues approach his board. 
 Will order pretty corslets for the breast, 
 And nuts, and apples, for each coaxing guest. 
 
 You champ on spongy toadstools, hateful treat ! 
 Fearful of poison, in each bit you eat : 
 He feeds secure on mushrooms, fine as those '^ 
 
 Which Claudius erst, imperial glutton, chose 
 
 Ver.217. Let 710 young Trebius, §c.] This is a pleasant parody of a 
 passage in Virgil, 
 
 " si quis mihi parvulus aula 
 
 " Luderet iEneas." 
 It would not be easy to point out a piece of more chaste humour than a little 
 tetrastic on the subject of the preceding line, which is to be found amongst 
 Jthe reprobated Greek epigriims : 
 
 Hv S' «u jun T» AaSu, to <ppocrip tint f/.ovov. 
 Slvix yxp x«» T«uT« T« f7>ixxT» ' ocvTixp tyuyi 
 OuH fS'fXw SofjLmt, 8 yap i^u $ofi.tyeu>
 
 SATIRE V. JUVENAL. V. 232—241. 154 
 
 To feast on ; till, with one more fine, his wife 
 Ended at once his feasting, and his life. 
 
 Apples, which thou mayst smell, but never taste. 
 Before thy lord, and his great friends, are placed ; 
 Apples, as fragrant, and as bright of hue. 
 As those which in Alcinoiis' garden grew, 
 Mellow'd by constant sunshine ; or as those 
 Which graced the Hesperides in burnish'd rows. 
 To thee they bring mere wind-falls: such stale fruit, 
 As serves to mortify the raw recruit, 
 
 Ver. 230. He feeds secure on mushrooms, <?ic.] " The agaricm casarcus, or 
 imperial agaric, is the most splendid of all the species; it is common in Italy, 
 and is brought to the markets there for sale. The ancient Romans esteemed 
 it one of the greatest luxuries of the table. This is the mushroom with which 
 Claudius was poisoned." Miller's Gard. Diet. 
 
 I am sorry that the botanists did not go a step farthei', when they were 
 naming this article, and call it the agaricm claudianus. When every German 
 professor who discovers a new species of dandelion in his walks, is immor- 
 talized : why should not this poor emperor be permitted to take his rank iu 
 the everlasting muster-roll, with Swartzia, Krockeria, and Wachendorfia ? 
 Ver. 231. Which Claudius, Ssc] See Sat. vi. 
 
 " Die mihi, quis furor est? turba. spectante vocata, 
 
 " Solus boletos, Cajciliane, voras. 
 " Quid dignum tan to tibi ventre, gulaque precabor? 
 
 " Boletum, qualem Claudius edit, edas." Mart. Lib.l. Ep. xxi. 
 Vee. 240. To thee they bring mere wiiid-Ja/ls, ^c ] 
 
 " Tu scabie frueris mali, quod in aggcrc rodit 
 " Qui tegitur parmu, et galea, metuensque flagelii, 
 " Discit ab hirsuta jacuium torquere capella." 
 There are few passages iu Juvenal, or, indeed, in any other author, which 
 have cost the critics more pains than this. Scahie mali, says the old sclioliast, 
 i. e. such as apes eat, qualem simia manducal i nothing more was necessary to 
 
 X
 
 154 SATIRE V. JUVENAL. V, 242—247. 
 
 When, arm'd with helm and shield, he learns to throw 
 The javelin, fearful of the impending blow. 
 
 Thou think'st, perhaps, that Virro treats so ill, 
 To save expense: no; 'tis to vex thee still; 
 For, say, what comedy such mirth can raise 
 As hunger, tortur'd thus a thousand ways ? 
 
 convince the commentators that the whole passage related to an ape : they 
 never reflected that though apes might eat stale fruit, it did not necessarily 
 follow that they monopolized it. — But Cluverius had seen an animal of this 
 kind practice his tricks on the back of a goat, at some fair in Germany: and 
 it is really entertaining to contemplate the delight which this good man re- 
 ceived from it. Dii boni ! quam vohtpe est spectare hanc bestiolam, ubi pra- 
 sertim clifpeum sinistra, jacuhim dexter a ostentat, molosso, ^c. lapsu proclivi, 
 iiihccrens ! 
 
 Cluverius was the first, says Henninius, that comprehended the scholiast; 
 and he was soon followed by Grangaus, Rutgersius, and others. 
 
 But though the majority of the learned, refened, with Cluverius, the qui 
 tegitur to an ape, no two of them agreed about the sense of hirsuta capella. 
 One understood it of a thong made of goat's skin, another of a garment, a 
 third of a quiver, and a fourth, of I know not what. Titius thought it meant 
 a goat on which the tyro was seated, in imitation of the children of kings, 
 who in ancient times were accustomed to learn to ride on rams ! — the example 
 of Hellewas lost upon them, we see; while Grangseus took it to be the show- 
 man, who taught the ape his exercise ! 
 
 After all this, comes Ferrarius and tells us, that the notion of an ape seated 
 on a goat, is an old woman's fable. Not so, replies Henninius, the ape was 
 certainly seated on a goat; but to suppose, as Rutgersius and Grangaeus do, 
 that he was exhibited by a showman, is worse than an old woman's fable. — 
 No, no, he was kept in the praetorian camp, and taught to ride and fling darts, 
 hy the idle soldiery, who had no better methods of amusing themselves ! 
 
 Pshaw ! quoth Lipsius, I cannot away with this nonsense about apes. The 
 qui tegitur cannot possibly mean any thing but a bestiarius, a person who 
 fought with wild beasts in the amphitheatre; and the goat (for a goat there 
 
 i
 
 SATIRE V. JUVENAL. V. 248—251- 155 
 
 No ; if thou know'st it not, 'tis to excite 
 Thy rage, thy frenzy, for his mere dehght ; 
 'Tis to compel thee all thy gall to show. 
 And gnash thy teeth in agonies of woe. — 
 
 is) was not for him to ride, but to practise upon — i. e. to fling darts at, that 
 he might acquire dexterity enough to attack lions, tigers, 8cc. 
 
 But it is time to draw towards a concUision. Scaliger, Britannicus, Curio, 
 and Ferrarius, understand the passage nearly as I have given it above ; and, 
 as I am persuaded, the old scholiast understood it before them. Qui iegitur 
 parmu, &)C. he explains by tj/ro, which applies very well to a young recruit ; 
 though scarcely so, to an ape of any age. Discit ab £fc. he explains by 
 sene magistro, which clearly shews, as Ferrarius, and Scaliger have well ob- 
 served, that he read hirsuto. Capella will then be the name of the campi- 
 doctor, who taught the young soldiers the use of arms ; and we know it 
 was not an uncommon one at Rome. — The propriety of the epithet hirsutus 
 applied to such a person, I suppose no one will dispute. 
 
 But why, says Lipsius — who returns to the charge, should the raw recruit 
 eat vile apples ! I cannot tell ; unless it were that his pay would not enable 
 him to purchase better. Indeed, I should be as much at a loss to tell why the 
 bestiarius, or tlie ape, should: — those of the latter that I have seen, having 
 been rather delicate in their choice of fruit. To his other questions, why the 
 /j/ro should be armed with apartna (a round shield) when they were no longer 
 in use ? or be afraid of a scourge, (Jlagellum,) when he could only be beaten 
 with a rod? it might perhaps, be sufficient to answer, that Juvenal writes like 
 a poet, and not like a drill-serjeant: — but Holyday goes farther, and con)bats 
 the critics' accuracy. 
 
 This learned man, who candidly recapitulates the opinions of the commen- 
 tators, follows that of Rutgersius. I did not expect this: — it is but fair, how- 
 ever, to give his reasons for it. " First, because it is without any alteration of 
 the copy; second, because it is free from any of those inconveniences which 
 follow the other opinion ; third, because it supposes nothing, but what, accord- 
 ing to the ordinary custom of such sports, will be easily granted ; and lastly, 
 because it is far more quick and satirical, to this sense; Virro has his curious 
 fruit; but thou such as they feed apes with."
 
 156 SATIRE V. JUVENAL, v. 252—263. 
 
 Thou deem'st thyself, (such pride inflates thy breast,) 
 Forsooth, a heeman, and thy patron's guest; 
 He thinks tliee a vile slave, drawn by the smell 
 Of his warm kitchen there; and he thinks well. 
 For who so low, so wretched, as to bear 
 Such treatment twice, whose fortune 'twas to wear 
 The golden boss ; nay, to whose humbler lot 
 The poor man's ensign fell, the leathern knot ! 
 
 Your palate still beguiles you : heavens ! how nice 
 That smoking haunch! now we shall have a slice; 
 Now that half hare is coming; now a bit 
 Of that young pullet; now — and thus you sit, 
 
 Ver. 258. The golden bossi^ This ornament, or rather amulet, was adopted 
 by the Romans from the Etruscans, (who probably brought it from the East,) 
 and at first worn only by the children of the nobility. In process of time, it 
 became common, like the tria nomina, to all who were free born. From 
 its Latin name bulla, it would seem to have been a little hollow drop, or 
 globule; — indicative, as Lubin says, of human fragility, llolyday, who adopts 
 the opinion of Macrobius on the subject, thinks it was shaped like a heart, 
 and worn before the breast as an incitement to virtue; while Plutarch gives it 
 the form of a crescent, to which, indeed, the heart (if it was moulded like 
 the trinkets of our days,) might bear no very distant resemblance. 
 
 Whatever its figure was, and probably it was variable, it was considered/ 
 as the scholiast rightly remarks, as a badge of liberty, and used by the childrea 
 of all ranks of freemen, till they reached iheage of fifteen. 
 
 Whether any degree of birth was necessary at the time our author wrote, 
 to intitle a family to wear the Htlrmcum aurum, is not easily ascertained : 
 from his own words, I should incline to the negative, and conclude that cir- 
 cumstances alone determined it. In that case we may say, that the rich 
 only had the bulla of gold ; the poor, and the immediate descendants of freed- 
 men, of leather, and, perhaps, of other cheap materials.
 
 SATIRE V. JUVENAL. V. 264— 273. 157 
 
 Thumbing your bread in silence ; looking still 
 For what has never reach'd you, never will. 
 
 No more of freedom ; 'tis a vain pretence ! 
 Your patron treats you like a man of sense : 
 For, if you can, without a murmur, bear. 
 You well deserve th' indignities you share. 
 Anon, like voluntary slaves, you'll bow 
 Your humbled neck beneath the oppressor's blow, 
 Nay, with bare backs, solicit to be beat. 
 And merit such a friend, and such a treat !
 
 SATIRE VI. 
 
 This is not only the longest, hut the most complete, of our Author's 
 works. With respect to his other Satires, some of them are distinguished 
 by one excellence, and some by another ; but in this he has combined them 
 all. Forcible in argument, flojying in diction ; bold, impassioned, and 
 sublime ; it looks as if the poet had risen with his theme, and, conscious 
 of its extent, taxed all his powers to do it justice. 
 
 The whole of this Satire is directed against the female sex. It is strictly 
 viethodical in its plan, and may be distributed under thefolloiyijig heads: 
 lust variously modified, imperiousness of disposition, fickleness, gallantry, 
 attachment to improper pursuits, liligioiisness, drunkenness, unnatural 
 passions, fondness for singers, dancers, &c.; gossipi)ig, cruelly, ill- 
 maniurs, outrageous pretensions to criticism, grammar, and pliilosophy ; 
 superstitious and tinbounded credulity in diviners and fortune-tellers, 
 introducing supposititious children into their families, poisoning their 
 stepsons to possess tluir jortunes, and, lastly, murdering their husbands. 
 
 These, it must be confessed, form a dreadful catalogue of enormities, 
 and seem to have terrified the translators. Even Dryden, H'ho ims never 
 suspected of sparing the sex, either in his poems or plays, deems it ne- 
 cessary to apologize here, and assures the world that he was compelled 
 to translate this formidable Satire because " 7io one else rvould do it." 
 " Sir C. S." he says, " had undertaken it, and, thoiigh he would have 
 done it better than himself, he unfortunately gave it up.'" That Sir C. 
 S. (Sir Charles Sedley, I suppose) would have succeeded better than 
 Dryden, no one but Dryden would venture to insinuate. It is a piece 
 of affectation, equally false and foolish — but sic vivitur, as Cicero some- 
 where says— for Dryden s translation, though neither complete nor 
 correct, is a most noble effort of genius.
 
 160 ARGUMENT. 
 
 I know not why such dread should befell at approaching this Satire. 
 The ashes of the ladies ifhose actions are here recorded, have long been 
 covered by the Latin and Flaminian ways ; nor have their follies, or 
 their I'ices, much similarity with those of modern times. If theiebe any, 
 hotvever, who recognize themselves (for guilt is sometimes ingenuous) in 
 the pictures here drawn, lei them shudder in silence, and amend; ivJiile 
 the rest gaze with a portion of indignant curiosity, on the representation 
 of a profligate and abandoned race, not more distant in time, than in every 
 virtue and accomplishment, from themselves. 
 
 It would seem from internal evidence, that this Satire was written 
 under Domitian. It has few political allusions ; and might not front its 
 subject, perhaps, have been displeasing lo thai ferocious hypocrite, ii'ho 
 affected, at various times, a wonderful anxiety to restrain the licentious- 
 ness of the age.
 
 SATIRE VI. 
 
 TO URSIDIUS POSTHUMUS. 
 
 V. 1—6. 
 
 Yes, I believe that Chastity was known, 
 
 And priz'd on earth, while Saturn fill'd the throne; 
 
 When rocks a bleak and scanty sheher gave, 
 
 When sheep and shepherds throng'd one common cave, 
 
 And when the mountain wife her couch bestrew'd 
 
 With skins of beasts, joint tenants of the wood, 
 
 Ver. 5. And zc'hen the mountain wife, SicJ] "That is," says Stapylton, " the 
 wife that dwelt in the mountain before such time as the men, although tliey 
 came down themselves, durst bring their wives into the level !" This is the 
 strangest idea imaginable. The women here spoken of, were not very likely 
 to create any fears on their account : they were not less bold and adventurous 
 than tile men, nay often, says the poet, more so. — But thus it is, when the 
 author is thinking of one thing, and the translator of another. A few lines 
 below,' because Juvenal calls the children of these primeval women large, 
 Madan tells us that they were suckled till they were aear a hundred years 
 old! 
 
 This passage is charmingly imitated by Beaumont and Fletcher in their 
 tragedy ofPhilaster: 
 
 Phil. O, that I had but digg'd myself a cave. 
 Where I, my fire, my cattle, and my bed 
 
 Y
 
 162 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL, v. 7— 16. 
 
 And reeds, and leaves pluck'd from the neighbouring tree; 
 
 A woman, Cynthia, far unUke to thee, 
 
 Or thee, weak child of fondness and of fears. 
 
 Whose eyes a sparrow's death suffus'd with tears : 
 
 But strong, and reaching to her burly brood 
 
 Her big-swoll'n breasts, replete with wholesome food, 
 
 And rougher than her husband, gorg'd with mast, 
 
 And frequent belching from his coarse repast. 
 
 For when the world was new, the race that broke, 
 
 Unfather'd, from the soil, or opening oak, 
 
 Might have been shut together in one shed ; 
 And then had taken me some momitain girl, 
 Beaten with winds, chaste as the harden'd rock. 
 Whereon she dwells ; that might have strew'd my bed 
 With leaves and reeds, and witli the skins of beasts. 
 Our neighbours ; and have borne at her big breasts. 
 My large coarse issue. Act. iv. 
 
 Thus did the reading of the old dramatists enable them to enrich their works 
 •with passages that charmed alike in tine closet, and on the stage. The reading 
 of the present race of Bartholomew-fair farce-mongers, seldom, I believe, 
 extends, beyond the nursery, and their productions are in consequence of it, 
 the disgrace of the one, and the contempt and aversion of the other. 
 
 Ver. 9. Or thee, weak child of fondness, ^c] He means Lesbia, the mistress 
 of Catullus, whose exquisite hendecasyllables on the death of her I'avourite 
 spairow are still extant. The lines to which Juvenal particularly alludes are 
 these, 
 
 " O factum male, O miselle passer, 
 " Tua nunc operii meaj puellae 
 " Flendo lurgiduli rubent ocelli." 
 Cynthia, mentioned in the preceding line, was the mistress of Propertius. 
 
 Ver. 15. For when the world was new, ^c] Juvenal had Lucretius in his 
 eye in this passage :
 
 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL. V. 17—26. 16S 
 
 Liv'd most unlike the men of later times, 
 The puling brood of follies and of crimes. 
 
 Nay, after this, some trace perhaps, remain'd 
 Of chastity, while Jove usurping reign'd, 
 But while he yet was beardless ; ere mankind 
 Learn 'd by each others' heads their faith to bind, 
 Or, dreading theft, their gardens to immure ; 
 And all was unenclos'd, and all secure. 
 At length Astrea, from these confines driven, 
 Rcgain'd, by slow degrees, her native heaven j 
 
 " Et genus humanum multo fuit illud in aivis 
 
 " Durius, ut decuit, tellus quod dura creasset ; 
 
 "• Et majoribus, &c." Lib. v. 923. 
 
 It is not to be supposed, that he adopted the ideas of this Epicurean system- 
 monger with his words, and spoke his real sentiments here. — No; ho had 
 juster and more elevated notions of the origin of mankind; and in his 15th 
 Satire, as Owen well observes, almost speaks the language of Holy Writ. But 
 see the introduction. 
 
 Ver. 21. ere mankind,'\ In the original, " ere the Greeks," 
 
 the standing objects of his dislike. Holyday has a long and learned note on 
 this passage, which is worth consulting: though it is probable, after all, that 
 the poet only meant, that in those days of innocence, men had not the trick, 
 afterwards so common, of binding themselves by the most solemn asseverations 
 to an untruth. It is well known, that the Greeks were as much talked of for 
 their bad failh, as the Carthaginians, and, iis some think, with much more 
 reason; and that their usual form of oath was by another's head. I do not 
 call the reader's attention to the contemptuous sneer at Jupiter in the pre- 
 ceding lines, because it must have pressed itself on his notice. To do the 
 author justice, he treats the vices and follies of the popular divinities with 
 as little ceremony as those of Nero or Domitian, or any other object of his 
 abhorrence.
 
 I64 SATIRE VI, JUVENAL v. 27 — 46. 
 
 With her retir'd her sister in disgust, 
 And left the world to rapine, and to lust. 
 
 'Tis, my good friend, no modern vice, to slight 
 The sacred Genius of the nuptial rite, 
 And climb another's couch : all other crimes 
 Were the sad offspring of the iron times, 
 All but adultery ; that, and that alone, 
 E'en in the silver age too well was known. 
 Yet thou, it seems^ art labouring to engage 
 Thy witless neck, in this degenerate age ! 
 E'en now thy hair the modish curl is taught 
 By master hands ; e'en now the ring is bought ; 
 E'en now — thou once, Ursidius, hadst thy wits ; 
 But thus to talk of wiving! O, these fits — 
 What madness, prithee, has thy soul possest, 
 What snakes, what furies agitate thy breast? 
 Heavens, wilt thou tamely drag the galling chain. 
 While hemp is to be bought, while knives remain ? 
 While windows woo thee so divinely high. 
 And Tiber, and the ^milian bridge, are nigh ? 
 
 Ver. 25. At length Astrea, ^c] Juvenal seems to have had in view in this 
 place, that beautiful passage of Hesiod Mwet' nrnr w^tiAov, x. t. \. of which 
 the concluding lines form the moie immediate subject of his imitation: 
 
 Kjt* TOT£ ^»i Trpo? OXvjATTov UTTO j^&oi/^ cvfivoSetrif, 
 
 Aiuno7<riv (pxpiKTiTi xaXuiJ/JSjiAfi/u j^oa x«Ao>, 
 
 AiSui; x«i NfjiAEo-is . Ta St XEnJ/trai xXyix \vyfx 
 
 ©VJireij av^funoKTt' xaxa J'ax Kranoti »Ax»i. E/i. xctt H/i*. V. IQJ.
 
 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL. V. 47—62. 105 
 
 But should'st thou, Posthumus, too hard to please, 
 Take no great fancy to such leaps as these, 
 Say, art thou not already better sped, 
 With a soft blooming boy to share thy bed ? — 
 " Ay, but the law," thou criest, " the Julian law, 
 " Will keep my wife secure from every flaw; 
 " Besides, I long for heirs." Good ! and for tliose 
 Ursidius will, forsooth, the turtle lose, 
 And all the dainties, which the flatterer still 
 Heaps on the childless, to secure his Will ! 
 But what will hence impossible be held, 
 If thou, old friend, to wedlock art impell'd ? 
 If thou,^ the veriest debauchee in town, 
 With whom wives, widows, every thing, went down, 
 Should'st change at this late hour, and idly poke 
 Thy aukward nose into the marriage yoke ? 
 
 Vek. 51. " the JiiUan law,"] So called because Augustus, the 
 
 author of it, had been adopted by Julius Caesar. It was meant to prevent 
 adultery ; but the increasing depravity of the times, rendered it of little effect, 
 and, indeed, it was almost forgotten, when Domitian revived it with all its 
 terrors. Stalius calls it a castamfulmeu, but there are not many instances of 
 offenders being struck by it, (one is to be found in Pliny, Lib. vi. Ep. xxxi.) 
 as it was rendered nugatory, at least as to the spirit of it, by the facility with 
 which illusory divorces might be obtained. Martial has a good epigram on 
 the subject (Lib. vi. Ep. vii.) " It is hardly thirty days," says he, •' since the 
 Julian law was revived, and Thelesina, to escape the odium of adultery, has 
 already taken her tenth husband!" 
 
 Authors are not agreed on the punishment inflicted by this law ; some 
 maintaining it to be death, and others banishment : it was most probably the 
 latter.
 
 166 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL, v. 63—80. 
 
 Thou, fam'd for scapes, and, by the trembUng wife, 
 
 Thrust in a chest so oft, to save tliy hie? 
 
 But what ! Ursidius liopes a mate to gain 
 
 Frugal and chaste, and of the good old strain: 
 
 Alas, he's frantic ! ope a vein with speed, 
 
 And bleed him copiously, good doctor, bleed. — 
 
 Jewel of dotards ! lowly bending, pay 
 
 Thy vows to Juno, and a heifer slay; 
 
 If thy researches for a wife, be blest 
 
 With one who is not need I speak the rest ? 
 
 For few the matrons Ceres now can find 
 Her haliow'd fillets with chaste hands to bind; 
 Few whom their fathers with their lips can trust, 
 So strong their filial kisses smack of lust ! 
 
 Go then, prepare to bring thy mistress home. 
 And dress thy door with garlands ere she come ; 
 But tell me; will one man her fancy please? 
 Alas ! one eye may do't, with equal ease. 
 
 Ver. 77. Go then, prepare to bring thy mistress home, 
 
 And dress thy doors with garlands ere she come ;] Tliere are frequent 
 allusions to this custom, which it will be sufficient once for all, to mention. 
 Previously to bringing home the bride, the door-posts of the bridegroom were 
 adorned with wreaths of flowers, branches of laurel. Sec. while scaffolds were 
 erected before the front of the house, for the accommodation of the people 
 who flocked to see the nuptial procession. It must be understood that I speak 
 of the better sort: — though the poor were not altogether without their garlands, 
 and their processions on this important occasion. 
 Ver. 79. But tell me, SjC.'] 
 
 " Unus Iberinae vir sufficit? oc^'us illud 
 ** Extorquebis, ut haec, 8cc. 
 
 %
 
 } 
 
 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL. V. 81— 93. i67 
 
 And yet there runs, I hear, a wond'rous tale, 
 
 Of some chaste maid that Hves in some lone vale; 
 
 There she may live; but let the phoenix, plac'd 
 
 At Gabii, or Fidenae, still prove chaste 
 
 As at her father's farm — Yet who can swear 
 
 That nought was done in night, and silence there? 
 
 The gods have oft, in other times, we're told, 
 
 With many a nymph, in rocks and caves, made bold ; 
 
 And still, perhaps, they may not be too old. 
 
 Survey our public places : see'st thou there, 
 One woman worthy of thy serious care ? 
 See'st thou, through all the crowded benches, one 
 Whom thou might'st take, with prudence, for thy own? 
 
 llolyday thinks that hac and illud are used emphatically to express the 
 author's suspicions of Ursidius' destined wife ; while Jortia fancies they serve 
 only as props to keep up the verses. Jortin is evidently right; the lines are 
 careless and unpoetical. 
 
 Vee. 84. At Gabii, or Fide/ue, ^r.] The translators do not appear to have 
 felt the full force of the satire here. Stapylton calls Gahii and Fidenae, " great 
 towns," and Holyday seems to admit, that though ihcy were exceedingly in- 
 ferior to Rome, yet they were likely, from the number of their inhabitan ts, to cor- 
 rupt the maidens' virtue. But these " great towns" had scarce any inhabitants. 
 Even in Horace's time they were proverbial for their deserted state, Gabiis de- 
 sertior, atqiie Fideiiis: and that they had not improved when Juvenal wrote, 
 appears from the way in which lie speaks of them in the tenth Satire. In short, 
 they were wretched hamlets, and almost abandoned by every body. What the 
 poet, therefore, means lo insinuate is, that though these places differed but 
 liitle, in point of populousness, from her father's farm ; yet that little, such 
 was the frail texture of female purity, was sufficient to endanger it.
 
 1^8 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL, v. 94— 97. 
 
 Lo ! while Bathyllus, with his flexile limbs, 
 Acts Leda, and through every posture swims, 
 Tuccia delights to realize the play, 
 And in lascivious trances melts away; 
 
 Ver. 94. Lo! while Bat/ii/llus, &ic.^ As Juvenal has frequent allusions to 
 these amusements, and to the extravagant fondness of the people for them, 
 I ivill endeavour to give the best account I can find, of their rise, progress, 
 and final disappearance. 
 
 Before the time of Augustus, the Romans were acquainted only with mimes 
 and farces of the lowest kind. Buffoons from Tuscany were the performers 
 in these pieces, which were introduced between the acts of their tragedies, 
 and comedies, and consisted of little more than coarse. and licentious ribaldry, 
 -and the most ridiculous and extravagant gestures. 
 
 In this state the stage was found by Pylades and Bathyllus ; the latter of 
 whom was a native of Alexandria, and one of Maecenas's slaves. He had 
 seen Pylades dance in Cilicia, and spoke of him in such terms to his master, 
 that he sent for him to Rome. Here these two men formed the plan of a 
 new kind of spectacle, which pleased Maseenas so much, that he gave Ba- 
 tliyllus his freedom, and recommended both him and his friend to Augustus. 
 
 This new spectacle was a play performed by action alone; it was exhi- 
 bited on a magnificent theatre raised for the purpose, and being accompanied 
 by a better orchestra than Rome had yet seen, it astonished and delighted the 
 people so much, that they forsook, iu some measure, their tragic and comic 
 poets, for the more expressive ballets of Pylades and Bathyllus. 
 
 To say the truth, these were very extraordinary men. The art which they 
 introduced, they carried to the highest pitch of perfection; and however skill- 
 ful their follo\vers may have been, they do not appear to have added any 
 thing to the magnificence of the scene, or the scientific movements of the 
 first performers. ■ 
 
 We can form no adequate idea of the attachment of the Romans to these 
 exhibitions ; it degenerated into a kind of passion, and occupied their whole 
 souls. Augustus regarded it with complacency, and either from a real love 
 for the art, or from polic)', conferred honours and immunities on its professors.
 
 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL. V. 98—101. 169 
 
 While rustic Thymele, with curious eye, 
 Marks the quick pant, the lingering, deep-drawn sigh, 
 And, while her cheeks with burning blushes glow, 
 Learns this, — learns all the city matrons know. 
 
 By an old law, magistrates were allowed to inflict corporal punishment on 
 mimi and players ; pantomimi (such was the expressive name given to these 
 nt\v performers) were exempted from this law: they were besides allowed to 
 aspire to honours from which the former were excluded. Such protection pro- 
 duced its natural effects: insolence in the dancers, and parties among the 
 people. Pylades excelled in tragic, and Bathyllus in comic subjects : hence 
 arose disputes on their respective merits, which were conducted with all the 
 warmth of a political question. Augustus fancied he should re-establish tran- 
 quillity by banishing the former; but he was mistaken : the people found they 
 had lost one great source of amusement by his absence, and their clamour.^' 
 occasioned his immediate recall. 
 
 The death of Bathyllus, soon after this event, left Pylades without a rival. 
 He did not bear his faculties meekly ; he frequently insulted the spectators 
 for not comprehending him, and ihey endeavoured to make him feel the 
 weight of tlieir resentment. He had a favourite pupil named Hylas ; this 
 youth they opposed to the veteran, who easily triumphed over his adversary, 
 though he could not humble him. We hear no more of Pylades; but Hylas 
 fell under the displeasure of the emperor soon after, and, if I understand Sue- 
 tonius right, was, " contrary to the statute in that case made and provided," 
 publicly whipped at the door of his own house. 
 
 It appears from this, that Augustus kept the superintendence of these people 
 in his own hands. Tiberius left them to themselves, and the consequence 
 was, that the thr.-itres were frequently made a scene of contention and blood, 
 in which numbers of all ranks fell. A variety of rcguhitioiis, as we learn from 
 Tacitus, were now made to check the evil, which they only exasperated; and 
 in conclusion, tlic emperor was obliged to shut up the theatres, and banish 
 the poiformer.';. 
 
 In this state were things at the accession of Caligula. His fust care was to 
 Hndo every thing that had been done. Under this profligate madman, the 
 
 z
 
 170 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL. V. 102--105. 
 
 Others, when ot the theatres bereft, 
 And nothino; but the wrano;lincr bar is left. 
 In the long interval that, 'twixt the shows, 
 (The Megalesian and Plebeian,) flows, 
 
 ballets took a licentious turn, and hastened the growing degeneracy of manners. 
 Claudius left them as he found them ; but under Nero, the bloody disputes 
 to which till y constantly gave birth, reluctantly compelled that excellent 
 prince to banisli them once more. He was too fond oftlie fine arts, however, 
 to sufler so capital a branch of them to languisli in neglect, and therefore, 
 speedily brought back the exiles. From this time, the pautoniimi seem to 
 have flourished unmolested, until Paris, the Bathylius of Domitian's reign, 
 raised the jealousy of that wretched tyrant, who put him, and a j'oung dancer 
 who resembled him, to death, and drove the rest from Rome. They were 
 recalled the instant the emperor was assassinated, and continued through the 
 whole of Nerva's, and some part of Trajan's reign; but they were now become 
 so vitiated by the shameful indulgence of Caligula and Nero, that, if we may 
 believe Pliny, (which I am not much inclined to do in this case,) that prince 
 finally suppressed them, at the unanimous desire of the people. 
 
 From this long, and, as I fear I shall be told, unnecessary note, which I 
 have painfully collected from various commentators, but principally from Sal- 
 masius and Cahousac, I return to my text. 
 
 In a very profound treatise on dancing, which I only know by an extract 
 in the Encyclopjedia Britannica, the author cites this passage in Juvenal to 
 prove that there was a female dancer of the name of Chironomon. Papae! 
 the Chironomon here mentioned, was a ballet of action founded on the well 
 known amour of Leda, in which some favourite dancer (probably Paris) was 
 the principal performer. Whether he played the swan or the lady, cannot 
 now be told; but in a story so wantonly framed, and in an age where so little 
 restraint was imposed on an actor, enough might be done in either to interest 
 and inflame the coldest spectator. 
 
 Ver. 105. (The Megalesian and Plebeian,) ^c] The former games were 
 celebrated on the 5th of April, and the latter on the I5th of November; so 
 that here really was a long interval to exercise the patience of the ladies.
 
 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL. V 106— Ul. m 
 
 Sicken for business, and assume the airs. 
 The dress, and so forth — of their favourite players. 
 Some hire bufloons their wanton mirth to raise. 
 In a loose jig ; poor /Elia doats on these : 
 Some from Seleucus take the power to sing, 
 Some, at high rates, slip the comedian's ring, 
 
 Vuu. 109. In a hose jig i2 In thi: orh^ini\], gt si i/iit.s Jul ouo'i-s. All tliat is 
 kno>vn of Autono'e is that she was daughter to an unliappy father, (Cadmus,) 
 and mother to an unhappy son. (Aeticon.) How such a " himenlable tragedy" 
 as her life presents, could be "■ mixed full of pleasant mirth," as we find it 
 was, is not easy to conceive. Probably it was a burlesque of some serious 
 ballet on the subject. ^T^lia, mentioned in llie same verse, was of a noble 
 family, long since fallen into decay. If Rome had been less corrupt, or fur- 
 nished fewer instances of " prodigality in want," I should have taken her to be 
 the person mentioned in another part of this Satire, by the name of Ogulnia. 
 Ver. 111. Some, at high rates, slip the comedian's ring, ^c] " // s'agif," 
 sajs Dusaulx, " d'une operation prutiquec par Ics anciens pour conservcr aux 
 jeunes gens la sante, aux gladiatcurs la force, aux acteurs la voix : etle s'ap- 
 pclloit infibulatioii, son ohjct etoit d'empccfier ccux que I'on houcloit (car Vinfi- 
 butation ti etoit rien autre chose) d'avoir commerce avec lesfcmmes," i. e. the 
 oliject of i\\c Jlliula (or, as I have translated it, ring) was to prevent a favourite 
 comedian or tragedian from having any connection with women. A useless 
 precaution, it appears, for the public, though suflieicntly profitable for the 
 actors. 
 
 Among many pleasant epigrams by INIartiai on this subject, there is one so 
 truly humourous, and at the same time so void of olfence, tliat 1 think I may 
 venture to quote it. 
 
 "■ Menophili penem tarn grandis fibula vestit, 
 
 " Utsit comocdis omnibus una satis. 
 " Ilunc ego credideram (nam sa*pe lavamur in uno) 
 
 " Sollicitum voci parccre, ]''lacee, sua; : 
 " Dum ludit medi& populo spectante pala;str&, 
 
 " Delapsa est misero fibula; vcrpus erat 1" Lib, vii. Up. l,\.\xii.
 
 172 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL, v, 112—117. 
 
 Some the tragedian's ; some — but thou art mov'd ; 
 Heavens ! didst thou think OuintiJian would be lov'd? 
 Hie then, fond Lentulus, and instant wed, 
 That the chaste partner of thy loving bed, 
 May single, from this piping, fiddhng race, 
 Some Ghiphyrus, thy honour'd brows to grace: 
 
 Holyday has two engravings of these fibula, which being, as he truly says, 
 " without any immodestie," I would have copied, had I thought them, as he 
 did, curiosities. 
 
 It is not unamusing to see how sedulously the early Christian writers ac- 
 commodated their language to the habits and manners of the people whom 
 they wished to convert. Thus when TertuUian, in conformity to the precepts 
 of the Gospel, injoins the " mortifying of our lusts," he expresses himself by 
 an " infibulation of the {iesh,"—fibulam carni imponere. 
 
 Ver. 113. Quititilian — ] Juvenal always speaks with great 
 
 respect of this most learned and excellent man, whom he is fond of introducing, 
 and whose name he uses in this place, as the representative of all that is wise 
 and good. Some of the commentators say that our author studied rhetoric 
 under him, but I know not on what authority. Sec more respecting him in 
 the next Satire. 
 
 Vek. 1 14. Hie then, fond Lentulus, Sj'c.'] In the name which Juvenal here 
 gives his friend Posthumus, he had in view a very curious anecdote, which is 
 handed down to Us by Valerius Maximus, and which Grangseus, I believe, was 
 the first to notice. Lentulus and Metellus (Consuls a. u c. dcvii.) were 
 observed by all the spectators at a play, to be extremely like a second, and 
 third rate actor, then on the stage ! Lib. ix. c. 14. Sec. iv. The reader now 
 sees the malicious archness of the allusion. Madan's idea, (which indeed is 
 that of most of the commentators except Owen,) that Lentulus was a famous 
 fencer of those days, is too absurd for notice. Did he not know that Lentulus 
 was the name of one of the noblest families of Rome ? 
 
 Ver. 117. Some Glaphyrus, SicJ] We learn from Martial that Glaphyrus 
 was a popular performer upon some musical instrament. This poet has taken 
 
 I
 
 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL. V. lis— 126. m 
 
 1 
 
 Yes, hie — before thy gates huge scaffolds raise, 
 
 And crown thy threshold with triumphant bays ; 
 
 That the proud heir of thy illustrious name, 
 
 In every feature, may, at once, proclaim 
 
 From what sword-player, sweet innocent ! he came. 
 
 Hippia, who shar'd a rich patrician's bed. 
 To Egypt, with a gladiator, fled, 
 Where rank Canopus eyed, with strong disgust, 
 This ranker specimen of Roman lust. 
 
 up Juvenul's idea, and formed a very laughable epigram on it. It is too long 
 to be inserted here, but is worth turning to. Vide Lib. vi. Epist. xxxix. 
 
 Ver. 123. Hippia, who shard a rich patrician s bed. 
 
 To Egypt, (Sfc] It is not clear when this elopement took place, 
 but it could not be much later than the middle of Domitian's reign ; about 
 which time, too, this Satire must have been composed. Paris, who is men- 
 tioned in it, was put to death not long after; and the pantomimic performers, 
 here spoken of as the minions of the ladies, ignominiously driven from the 
 city. 
 
 Veiento (her husband) has been mentioned twice before. (See Sat. in. v. 'IHO, 
 and IV. V. lOl,) Ilesurvived his disgrace many years, though he was not young 
 when it happened. He talked of himself as a very old man in a succeeding 
 reign, when, upon being prevented from speaking in a cause which concerned 
 himself, and his friend Certus, by the clamours of the senate; lie exclaimed in 
 the words of Tydidcs to Nestor, 
 
 X2 ytfn^ if n*(xX« Sn ci noi rfi^airt f^ap^riTat. 
 Tlie critics will not allow Hippia to be the real name of his precious moiety. 
 Juvenal calls her so, they say, for two reasons: first, for her lustful disposition, 
 (in allusion to that [)assageof Virgil, Scilicet ante omius, i)'c.J and secondly, for 
 the sake of concealing her real name, out of respect to her noble family. Tlu- 
 first may be right for aught I know ; but the second is absurd enough. I'o give 
 a woman a fictitious name, and then to bring forward her husband, and relate at 
 length the most remarkable occurrences ol' licr life, with an idea ot concealing,
 
 174 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL, v. 127— 146. 
 
 Without one pang the profligate resign'd 
 
 Her husband, sister, sire; gave to tlie wind 
 
 Her weeping children ; tore lierself away, 
 
 (O, passing strange!) from Paris, and the Plav. 
 
 And though, to affluence born, a parent's cares 
 
 Nurs'd in the lap of ease, her infant years, 
 
 She brav'd the deep, (she long had brav'd her fame, 
 
 But that's a trifle to the courtly dame ;) 
 
 And with undaunted breast, the tossing bore 
 
 Of the rude billows, and thdr deafning roar. — 
 
 Have they a call, an honest call, to bear 
 
 These hardships? they are struck with sudden fear^ 
 
 Cold shiverings on their listless members seize, 
 
 And slowly lliey advance on knocking knees : 
 
 But set illicit pleasure in their eye, 
 
 Onward they rush, and every toil defy. 
 
 Had Hippia been requested by her lord, 
 
 Alas ! she'd cry, how can I get aboard? 
 
 Then the sink's noisome, then the ship's unsound, 
 
 And her head's dizzy, and the sky turns round ! 
 
 her, sccnis just sucli another happy contrivance as that of Bottom's comrade ; 
 wlio, after being dressed out at all points like a lion, was to thrust his head 
 •through tlic animal's neck, " and tell the audience plainly that he was Snug 
 ■llic joiner!" 
 
 Js'othing can be more full of bitterness tlian the remark which follows, tliat 
 •even Canopus was disgusted at the profligac}- of the Roman ladies, — el mores 
 inbis (htmiunite Canopo, — since that town, as I before observed, (p. 10,) sur- 
 passed in dissoluteness of manners, every part of Egyptj and, perhaps, of the 
 Empire.
 
 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL. V. 147—174. 175 
 
 With her gallant, no idle qualms she knows, 
 Strong, and more strong her stomach hourly grows ; 
 But with her husband — O, how chang'd the case! 
 " Sick ! sick!" she cries, and vomits in his face. 
 
 But with what form was Hippia so inspir'd, 
 With wiiat gay stripling was her bosom fir'd, 
 ^^'hat youth, what beauty; that she calmly bore 
 The title of a gladiator's whore? 
 O, the sweet Sergy — note it, prithee note — 
 Had long begun to scrub his bristly thi'oat, 
 And hope a quick dismission from the stage. 
 Due to his wounds, and his declining age ; 
 Add, that his face was batter'd, and decay 'd j 
 The helmet on his brow huge galls had made, 
 A wen deform'd his nose of monstrous size, 
 And sharp rheum trickled from his blood-shot eyes. 
 But then he was a swordsman ! that alone 
 Made every charm, and every grace his own; 
 That made him dearer than her father's house, 
 Dearer than country, sister^ children, spouse. — 
 'Tis blood they love: let Sergius quit the sword. 
 And he'll appear, at once, so like her lord ! 
 
 Start'st thou at wrongs that touch a private name, 
 At Hippia's lewdness, and Veiento's shame? 
 Turn to the rivals of the Immortal Powers, 
 And mark how like their fortunes are to ours. 
 Claudius had scarce begun his eyes to close, 
 Ere from his side his Messalina rose;
 
 176 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL, v. 175— 18o. 
 
 (AcciKtom'd long the bed of state to slight, 
 For the rank mattress, and the hood oi night ;) 
 And with one maid, and her dark hair conceal'd 
 Beneath a yellow tire, a strumpet veil'd ! 
 She slipt into the stews, unseen, unknown, 
 And hir'd a cell, yet recking, for her own. 
 
 Ver. 177. her dark hair conceaVd 
 
 Beneath a yellow tire, — ] Holyday, whose authority is always 
 respectable, understands galerus of a veil. I take it to be an artificial tire or 
 head-dress. The empress seems to have chosen it of a yellow, or rather carotty 
 colour, not only as an effectual disguise, but as being in some degree appro- 
 priated to prostitutes. Ferrarius makes himself merry with Servius for saying 
 that black hair (false, it must be understood) was peculiar to matrons, and 
 yellow to women of pleasure; but without reason, for Servius is essentially 
 right. To bring passages wherc^^arMs is applied to Lavinia, Lucretia, 8cc. is 
 the worst of trifling. "Who does not know that the ancients availed them- 
 selves of such epithets i\s,Jtavus, Candidas, purpnr cits, ijX. as mere indicatives of 
 beauty, and without the smallest reference to the colours respectively signified 
 by them ? The sense must always be determined b\' the context. 
 
 In the present case, it is certain that the Roman prostitutes wore a kind of 
 vellow head-dress ; nor -was this custom peculiar to them ; the}- found it estab- 
 lished in Greece, where this coloured hair was deemed as improper for a 
 ■matron to ajjpear in,. as it was at Rome. This is clear from a fragment of 
 Menandcr : 
 
 Nuv J' tff «7r oixay ttinSt, T)iv yu>«ix« yap 
 Tjiv ci^^fov H Sh t«? Tfij^aj ^iZkSaf 7roui>. 
 
 Ver. 179. -^It ^/ipf if to 'A'' stetis, Ac] The stews at Rome wore con- 
 -structed in the form of a gallery, along which wciv. ranged on each side, a 
 number of contiguous cells, or little chambers. Over the door of each of these 
 was written the name of the tenant, who stood at the entrance, solliciting the 
 preference of the visitors. IMessalrna, wc see, took tlie cell of Lycisca, whose 
 .absence she had probably procured, and who was undbubtcdlj a lady in gome
 
 sATiuE VI. JUVENAL. V. iSi — 196. ni 
 
 There, flinging off her dress, the imperial whore 
 
 Stood, with bare breasts, and gilded, at the door, 
 
 And shew'd, Brilannicus, to all that came. 
 
 The womb that bore thee, in Lycisca's name : 
 
 Allur'd the passers by wath many a wile. 
 
 And ask'd her price, and took it, with a smile 
 
 And when the hour of business was expir'd. 
 
 And all the girls dismiss'd, with sighs retir'd; 
 
 Yet what she could, she did ; slowly she past. 
 
 And saw her man, and shut her cell the last. 
 
 Still raging with the fever of desire. 
 
 Her veins all turgid, and her blood all fire. 
 
 Exhausted, but unsatisfied, she sought 
 
 Her home, and to the Emperor's pillow l)rought. 
 
 Cheeks rank with sweat, limbs drench'd with poisonous dews, 
 
 The steam of lamps, and odour of the stews ! 
 
 request. She is mentioned by Marliiil, with whom she seems to liave been a 
 favourite. 
 
 I should have added, that the writing over the door contained not only the 
 name of the lady, but the price of her favours. The following curious proof 
 of it, is to be found in Hist. Apoll. Tyr. Quicumoue Tarsujm deflora- 
 
 VERIT MEDIAM LIBRAM DAUIT. PoSTEA POPULO PATEBIT AD SlNtiULOS 
 SOLIDOS. 
 
 Ver 182. uil/i bare breasls, and gilded, difc] The critics do not seem 
 
 to understand this [)assagc : they eitlier suppose iVlessalina's breasts to be 
 bound with golden fillets, or they chun^eatiratis (gilded) into or««fis (beautiful); 
 but Juvenal is to be understood literally — the papillcc were covered with gold- 
 leaf; a species of ornament which, however repugnant to our ideas of beauty, 
 is used by many of the dancing girls, and privileged courtesans of the East, to 
 this day. 
 
 Aa
 
 178 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL, v. 197— 20G. 
 
 'Twere long to tell what philters they provide, 
 What drugs, to set a son-in-law aside. 
 Women, in judgment weak, in feeling strong, 
 By every gust of passion borne along. 
 Act in their fits such crimes, that, to be just, 
 The least pernicious of their sins is lust. 
 
 But wliy's Cesennia then, you say, ador'd. 
 And call'd the first of women, by her lord ? 
 Because she brought him thousands. Such the price, 
 It cost the lady to be free from vice I 
 
 Ver. 203. But why's Cesennia, 5fc.] Juvenal is seldom without his meaning; 
 and while he exposes the overgrown fortunes of the women in his own time, 
 and the vicious liberties they took in consequence of their wealth, he secretly 
 reminds us of the very moderate dowers given to the daughters of the first men 
 of the state in the belter times of Rome; and of the domestic virtues for 
 which they were conspicuous. It was usual for the rich wives of his time, to 
 hold a considerable portion of their fortune, and a certain number of slaves, 
 at their own disposal. It was not, therefore, the mere gratitude of the husband 
 which made him wave his own authority, and allowed the wife to domineer. 
 'I'he Greeks seem to have given tlie same personal indulgence to women who 
 ■brought ample dowers with them. " The ornaments of gold which now adorn 
 my head," says Hermione, " and the variety of robes I possess, came to me 
 neither from Achilles, nor from Peleus. I brought them from Sparta. Mene- 
 laus, my father, presented them to me with a dowry still more considerable, 
 to the end that I might speak with freedom!" Androiu. 
 
 It is amusing to obsci-ve the contrast this custom of the Greeks, and Romans 
 forms, with the practice of the rugged nations of the North. These high- 
 ■spirited barbarians could not bear the idea of dependanceeven on their wives, 
 and they, therefore, refused to receive any<lowries with them. " yJpud Got/ios 
 non mitlicr viro, sed vir mitlieri dotem assignat, ne conjux, ob magnitiidinem 
 dotis imohhcens, aliquando ex placida consorte proterva evMdat,atque in mari- 
 tum dominari contcndat."
 
 sATiKE VI. JUVENAL. V. 207—234. 179 
 
 You think the good man for her beauty pin'd, 
 And, like a true Arcadian, puled and whin'd ; 
 No, 'twas her ample dower that touch'd his heart, 
 That shot the fotal, the resistless dart. 
 She brought enough her liberty to buy, 
 And tip the wink before her husband's eye: 
 A wealthy wanton, to a miser wed. 
 Has all the privilege of a widow'd bed. 
 
 But then, Sertorius what I say disproves. 
 For though his Bibula was poor, he loves. 
 True! but examine him, and, on my life, 
 You'll find he loves the beauty, not the wife. 
 Let but a wrinkle on her forehead rise, 
 And time obscure the lustre of her eyes, 
 Let but the moisture leave her flaccid skin, 
 And her teeth blacken, and her cheeks grow thin. 
 And you shall hear th' insulting freedman say, 
 " Pack up your trumpery, madam, and away; 
 " Nay, bustle, bustle; here you give offence, 
 " With snuffling night and day : — take your nose hence!" — 
 
 But ere that hour arrive, she reigns indeed ! 
 Shepherds, and sheep of Canusinian breed. 
 Vineyards (but these are trifles all,) she craves, 
 And store of boys, and troops of country slaves; 
 Briefly, for all her neighbour has, she sighs. 
 And plagues her doting husband till he buys. 
 In winter, when the merchant fears to roam, 
 And snowy roofs confine his crew at home;
 
 180 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL. V. 235— 238. 
 
 She ransacks every storcliouse : cheapens here. 
 Huge myrrhe and chrystal vases ; there, tliat dear, 
 And far-fam'd gem, which on die Hnger glow'd 
 Of Berenice, (dearerlhence,) bestow'd 
 
 Ver. 236. Huge myrrhe, and chrystal vases,"] In the original myrrhina, a 
 word about which no two oi the commentators are agreed. Pliny the Elder 
 says, that these vases were first introduced by I^ompcy. £a victoria fthat, over 
 I\lilhridatcs)^jr/?«H/?i in iirbtm miirrhina induxit , primiisque VompeiuB stxjjoru/a 
 ex CO triumjjho Capilolino Jovi dicavit, qu(Z protiims ad hominum usum tran- 
 siere — excrescitque indies ejus rei usus. 37.2. PropertiuSj who had undoubtedly 
 seen them, says, 
 
 " Murrheaque in Parthis pociila cocta focis." 
 This seems a very good description of what we now call porcelain, and with 
 this we might have been content, had not Pliny, who coukl not be ignorant of 
 it, added, Oriens murrhina mittil : inveniuntur enim ibi in phtribus locis, nee 
 insigiiibus, maxinte Parthici regni; prcecipue (amen in Carniama. Here it is 
 manifest that Pliny took them for gems; and so, indeed, he elsewhere terms 
 them; in which he is followed by Martial, and others. Hardouin inclines 
 to Propertius. 
 
 I am aware that all this is very unsatisfactory; but I know not where to 
 look for any thing more to the purpose. Salmasius is confused and contra- 
 dictory on the subject, and Scaliger, who agrees with Propertius, introduces 
 a circumstance which is incompatible with his own explanation. Ainsworth 
 says, murra is a " stone of divers colours, of which cups are made-" this is well 
 pnou2;h ; yet he refers to this passage of Juvenal, under another word, myr- 
 rhina ; i. e. says he, " of myrrh, or scented with myrrh." In some modern 
 travels, I find that the districts mentioned by Pliny, still afford a gem that 
 answers, in some measure, to his description : it is a species of agate; and this, 
 after all, may be the substance alluded to. 
 
 Ver. 2.'38 Oj' Berenice, cV.] .Tortin observes, on a passage in the J4th 
 Satire, that the commentators have poured out a flood of nonsense or pro- 
 fanenes-s, in attempting to explain it. He might have said the same of this 
 before us, with e([ual justice. Briefly, (for here is nothing after all, very 
 obscure, though Dusaulx thinks it, " beyond doubt, the most difficult place in
 
 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL. V. i.'39_L'.io. «8i 
 
 By an incestuous brother, in that State, 
 Where kings the sabbath, barefoot, celebrate; 
 
 Juvenal,") the Berenice mentioned above, was the daughter of Agrippa, whose 
 youngest son, called after his father,* was suspected of an incestuous com- 
 merce with her. She was a woman equally celebrated for her lewdness and 
 her beauty ; and had prevaih d on 'I'itus to promise her marriage ; a promise 
 which nothing but his dread of an insurrection, prevented him from carrying 
 into execution : turn rcn'inaiii Biriiiicmi cliiitisif, invitiia iiivita/it. 
 
 Ver. 239. "' (/'C^ Sidtc,'] That is, says the old scholiast, in 
 
 Juda?a, where the Synagogue is, and where they spare the old hogs because 
 the}- prefer eating the young ones ! This is very good : eating the young hogs 
 is certainly not the wa}' to have old ones. The truth, however, is thai this good 
 man knew not what he was writing about. Juvenal himself is sufliciently in- 
 correct. The ancients observed that the Jews did not cat swine's licsh, and 
 they, therefore, conjectured, that they held swine in reverent estimation. The 
 fact is, that they neither ate old nor young; they kept them indeed, but it 
 was for their neighbours ; and hogs in Judaea, I fancy, had no |)arlicular 
 indulgences. 
 
 It is well known that Plutarch is sufficiently credulous : he is less rcj)re- 
 hensible for this, however, than for his unaccountable propensity to give 
 reasons for all the nonsensical things he relates. He says that the Jews wor- 
 shipped swine. And why ? Out of gratitude, forsooth, to the animals who first 
 taught them to plow the ground! — ^The journey to Lapula will hereafter rank 
 with the treatise on Isis and Osiris. 
 
 In the next line Juvenal says, mcro pede (barefoot); if it were not for his 
 general ignorance of the Jewish ritual, I should be almost tempted to think, 
 with Holyday, that he had looked into Joscphus for this circumstance. See 
 Bell. Jud. Lib. ir. 
 
 A[)ropos of Holyday. It may tend to relax the severity of the ciitic at an 
 awkward phrase, when he sees to what hard shifts the wicked necessity of 
 
 ■ * This young Au;rippa was the Tctrarch of Galilca who heard Saint Paul at 
 Cicsarea, during his visit to the Proconsul.
 
 182 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL. V. 241—254. 
 
 And old indulgence grants a length of life 
 To hogs^ that fatten fearless of the knife. 
 
 What ! and is none of all this numerous herd, 
 Worthy thy choice? not one to be preferr'd? — 
 Suppose her from a line of heroes sprung, 
 An ancient line; of fruitful blood, and young; 
 Perfect in every duty, rich and fair. 
 And (though a black swan be not half so rare,) 
 Chaste as the Sabine wives, who rush'd between 
 The kindred hosts, and clos'd the dreadful scene. 
 Yet who could bear to lead an humbled life. 
 Curst with that veriest plague, a faultless wife ! 
 Some simple rustic at Venusium bred, 
 Would I, much sooner than Cornelia, wed, 
 
 rhyme, sometimes drives this most excellent scholar. The verse in question, he 
 translates; 
 
 " where, you know, 
 
 " Kings, on their sabbath, barefoot go, tho' cold! 
 " And where kind custom lets their hogs grow old." 
 Ver.234." IVoiild I, much sooner than Cornelia, wed,"^ This Cornelia was the 
 daughter of Scipio Africanus, the wife of Cornelius, and the mother of Caius, 
 and Tiberius Gracchus. She had, the reader sees, some reason to be proud, 
 and it appears she was not wanting to herself; for Plutarch says, she was fond 
 of boasting of the victories of her father over Hannibal and Syphax. To this 
 laudable propensity Juvenal alludes ; he had also in view, perhaps, a circum- 
 stance that seems to have escaped the critics. So great was her haughtiness, 
 that when Ptolemy, king of Egypt, asked her in marriage, after the death of 
 her husband, she was seriously offended, and rejected the proposition with 
 every mark of indignation. The unhappy fate of her two sons has been already 
 mentioned; (see Sat, 11. v. 3Ci;) their eloquence and spirit were hers, tfaei/
 
 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL. V. x'55— 270. ,1*3 
 
 If to great virtues, greater pride she join, 
 And count her ancestors as current coin. 
 Hence with thy Hannibal ! go, prithee tramp, 
 Witli vanquish'd Syphax, and his sooty camp! 
 Plague me no more with Carthage ! I'd be h'ee 
 From all this pageaniry of worth, and thee. 
 
 O let, Apollo, let my children live, 
 And thou, Diana, pity, and forgive, 
 Amphion cries; they, they arc guiltless all : 
 The mother sinn'd, let then the mother fall. 
 In vain he cries ; Apollo bends his bow, 
 And, with the children, lays the father low. 
 Such were the effects of Niobe's mad pride I 
 Vain of her numerous offspring, she decried 
 Latona; nay, the sow yEneas found, 
 With thirty snow-white sucklings grunting round. 
 
 turbulence, I hope, was their own : — not that she seems allogelher to have 
 disapproved of it, for on the basis of a statue raised to her memory, wc find 
 CoKNiii.iA MATiiR Gracchorum ; the very words of Juvenal. 
 Boileau has imitated this passage very happily : 
 
 " Ainsi done au plutot delogeant de ces lieux, 
 
 " AUez, princesse, allez avec tous vos aieux, 
 
 " Sur le pompeux debris des lances Espagnoles, 
 
 " Coucher, si vous voulez, aux champs de Cerizoles." Sat, x. v. 479- 
 
 Ver. 269. nay, the sow JEneas found, ^"c] This famous sow, who 
 
 is introduced more than once, was found by ^^neas near Lavinium, on the 
 spot where Alba was afterwards built. Ridiculous as the incident is, it makes 
 a conspicuous figure in the /Eneid, where it is given with wonderful gravity. 
 Juvenal has fallen into a curious anachronism in mentioning it; but of this 
 he was as well aware as we can be ; he produced it, I am [jcrsuaded, merelj
 
 IS4 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL, v. 271— 286, 
 
 Beauty and worth are purchas'd much too dear, 
 If a wife ding them hourly in your ear ; 
 For say, what pleasure can you hope to find, 
 E'en in this boast, this phoenix of her kind, 
 If, warp'd by pride, on all around she lour. 
 And in your cup more gah than honey pour? 
 Ah ! who (though bhndly wedded to the state) 
 Who would not shrink from such a perfect mate, 
 Of eveiy virtue feel th' oppressive weight, 
 And curse the worth he loves, seven hours in eight? 
 
 Some faults, though small, there are, which none can bear 
 For, shame to sense ! none fancies she is fair. 
 Unless her thoughts in Attic terms she dress; 
 A mere Cecropian of a Sulmoness I 
 All now is Greek : in Greek their souls they pour, 
 In Greek their fears, hopes, joys ; — what would you more? 
 
 to vex Domitian, (whom he never forgets,) who beinn;, as Owen observes, 
 extremely attached to Alba, and probably interested in its glory, might be 
 mortified at having this idle story brought forward, and ridiculed. 
 
 Extulit ergo gregem natorum, ipsumque parentnm, Owen translates, " and 
 sons, and mother slew." Perhaps it is an error of the press ; though I observe 
 the same expression in Dryden. The satire evidently requires that we should 
 imderstand it of Amphion, who fell upon the bodies oi\\\%sou?,,ferro per pectus 
 adacto, as Ovid says. It is true, Niobe herself perished not long after; but 
 this Juvenal purposely drops: his business was to shew the fatal consequences 
 of her pride, on those who had no share in her guilt. 
 
 Ver. 284. A mere Cecropian of a Sulmoness !'\ The satire of this line will 
 be understood by recollecting, that the inhabitants of Sulmo, a town of Pelig- 
 num, spoke a barbarous Latin dialect; while the Cccropians, oi :eople of 
 Athens, made use of the purest and most elegant Greek. 
 
 After this line there follows in the original, f«ws<V iurpe magisnostris nescire
 
 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL. V.287 — 304. 185 
 
 In Greek they clasp their lovers. We allow 
 
 These fooleries to girls, indeed; but thou, 
 
 Who tremblest on the verge of eighty-eight, 
 
 To Greek it still ! O, 'tis a day too late. — 
 
 Foh ! how it savours of the dregs of lust, 
 
 When an old hag, whose blandishments disgust, 
 
 Affects the infant lisp, the girlish squeak, 
 
 And mumbles out, " my life ! my soul !" in Greek. 
 
 Words which the secret sheets alone should hear, 
 
 But which thou trumpet'st in the public ear. — 
 
 And words, we know, possess a magic power. 
 
 To heighten , or prolong the extatic hour : 
 
 But tliough thou speak'st them in a tend'rer strain 
 
 Than Haemus, or Carpophorus, — 'tis vain: 
 
 Thy face alone employs thy lover's cares. 
 
 And while thou sigh'st soft things, he counts thy years. 
 
 But tell me; — if thou canst not love a wife, 
 Made thine by every tie, and thine for life, 
 
 Latiiii ; which I beheve, with Barthius and others, to be spurious, and have 
 therefore omitted. It is unworthy of Juvenal; who seldom deals in those 
 modicums of wisdom; those trite observations, which every body can make, 
 and which, when made, are good for nothing. 
 
 Vek. 2<)4. yJnd mumbles out, "mi/ lift! my soul!" in Greek.'] Zut\ x.ou 
 i)/yp^r.. These expressions were familiar to the Roman ladies. We find them 
 again in Martial, in an epigram patched up from the passage before us: 
 " Cum tibi noa Ephesos, nee sit Rhodos, ant Mitylcue, 
 
 " Sed domus in vico, Laelia, patricio, — 
 " Zu>i ){«i '^/xiyri lascivum congeris usque, 
 
 " Proh pudor! Hersiliae civis, et ^gerias." Xi6. .\. Ep. l.wiii. 
 
 Bb
 
 186 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL. V. 305—316, 
 
 Wliy sliould'st thou wed at all? wliy, my good friend, 
 
 Lavish thy fortune to no earthly end? 
 
 Why waste the wedding-supper, and the cakes 
 
 The queazy-stomach'd guest, at parting, takes, 
 
 And the rich present, which the bridal right 
 
 Claims for the favours of the happy night. 
 
 The charger, where, triumphantly inscroll'd, 
 
 The Dacian hero shines in current gold ? 
 
 If thou canst love, and thy besotted mind 
 
 Is so uxoriously to one inclin'd. 
 
 Then bow thy neckj and, with submissive air, 
 
 Receive the yoke thou must for ever wear. 
 
 Vee. 312. The Dacian hero, ^c] Dacicus, (saj-s the scholiast,) hoc est, 
 solidi ita siguati, qui pro virginitate deposita novcc nupta donatitiir. The 
 custom was not peculiar to Rome ; it prevailed, under the name of morgcngab, 
 or morning-present, over a great part of the North of Europe ; where, indeed, 
 some faint traces of it are still to be found. 
 
 The kind of money which was given to the bride, is not specified without 
 reason. It was coined, we see, in consequence of Domitian's victories in the 
 Dacian war; and there is no doubt, as I have already said, (p. 126,) but that 
 Juvenal mightily enjoyed this indirect allusion to them. 
 
 The Dacian war was one of the most dishonourable circumstances of Do- 
 mitian's reign. He a^^pired to the conduct of it himself: and the consequences 
 were precisely such as might have been predicted. His cowardice kept him at 
 a distance from danger, and his voluptuousness ruined the discipline of the 
 camp : thus every thing went on ill under his auspices. Happily for the army, 
 he left it at last: j-et not till he had dispatched his " laurell'd letters" to Rome : 
 where the senate (nearly as contemptible as their master) decreed that medals 
 SHOULD BE STKUCK, and statues raised to his success; and that he should 
 come among them at all times, in the habit of triumph ! 
 
 1
 
 sATiRKvi. JUVENAL. V. 317— 339. 187 
 
 Women no mercy to a lover show 
 Who once declares his passion ; though they glow 
 ^Vith equal fires, no warm return they deign, 
 But triumph in his spoils, — but mock his pain. 
 Less hope has then a man of blameless life, 
 Less prospect of enjoyment, with a wife, 
 When e'en his virtue (such the fatal curse 
 Of their perverseness,) makes his case the worse. 
 Nought must be given, if she opposes ; nought, 
 If she opposes, must be sold or bought ; 
 She tells thee where to love, and where to hate, 
 Shuts out the ancient friend, whose beard thy gate 
 Knew, from its downy to its hoary state : 
 And when pimps, parasites, of all degrees, 
 Have power to Will their fortunes as they please, 
 She dictates thine, and impudently dares, 
 To name thy very rivals for thy heirs. 
 
 " Go, crucify that slave." For what oHence? 
 Who's the accuser? where the evidence? 
 Hear all : no time, whatever time we take, 
 To sift the cause, when a man's life's at stake, 
 Can e'er be long; hear all, then, I advise — 
 " Dolt I idiot ! is a slave a man?" she cries, 
 
 Ver. 336. 710 time, ^c] Thus Amm. Marcellinus, De vita et spiritu 
 
 homiim lalurum sentetitiam diu multumque cimctari oportere, nee preccipiti 
 studio, ubi irrevocabile sit factum, agitari. But bolli Ainmianus, and our 
 'author, had been long preceded in this humane sentiment, by the Grecian
 
 188 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL, v. 340—353. 
 
 " He's innocent; be'tso: — 'tis my command, 
 " My will ; let that, sir, for a reason stand." 
 
 Thus the she-tyrant triumphs, thus she reigns ; — 
 Anon she sickens of her first domains, 
 And seeks for new ; husband on husband takes, 
 Till of her bridal veil one rent she makes. 
 Again she tires, again for change she burns, 
 And to the bed she lately left returns, 
 While the fresh garlands, and th' unfaded boughs, 
 Yet deck the threshold of her wondering spouse. 
 Thus swells the number, thus the list appears 
 Gloriously full; eight husbands in five years ! 
 
 While thy wife's mother lives, expect no peace. 
 She teaches her, with savage joy, to fleece 
 
 legislator. No/*©' xXX^ Tripi ^xvoirm ju,ji jiakjsk f»,oi/oii ■^f/i.spxii xpivim, ocXXtx, TroAXasj. 
 Plato i\pol. de Socrat. I find a very notable piece of advice on this subject, 
 among the wise sayings of D. Cato, 
 
 " Nil temer^ uxori de servis crede querent! ," 
 which every husband should get translated, and hung over his parlour- 
 chimney. 
 
 Ver. 351. EIGHT iiDSBANDS IN FIVE YEARS !] I havc already 
 
 mentioned the facility with which divorces might be obtained, (v. 51,) it only 
 remains to add here, that the licence was most grievously abused. Women of 
 fashion do not now, says Seneca, reckon their years by the number of Consuls, 
 but by the husbands they have had. 
 
 Britannicus, taking an epigram of Martial's too literally, (Lib. vi. Epig. 
 Tii.) affirms that Juvenal mentions eight husbands, because the law allowed no 
 more; all beyond that number being esteemed adultery. In this he is followed 
 by Holyday ; but surely both are wrong: no such licentiousness ever was, or 
 ever could be, allowed by law. But Juvenal adds, iitulo res digna sepitkhri!
 
 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL. V. 354—369. 1S<J 
 
 The wretched husband ; she, kind soul ! befriends 
 
 The lover's hopes, and when her daughter sends 
 
 An answer to his prayer, the style inspects, 
 
 Softens the cruel, and tlie wrong corrects. 
 
 Experienc'd bawd! she blinds, or bribes all eyes, 
 
 And brings the adulterer in despite of spies. — 
 
 And now the farce begins ; the lady falls 
 
 " Sick, sick. Oh! sick;" and for the doctor calls: 
 
 Sweltering she lies, 'till the dull visit's o'er, 
 
 While the rank letcher, at the closet door, 
 
 Lurking in silence, maddens with delay,- 
 
 And in his own impatience melts away. 
 
 Nor think this strange: what mother e'er was known 
 
 T' inculcate morals purer than her own? 
 
 No; — with their daughters' lusts they swell their stores. 
 
 And thrive as bawds, w hen out of date as whores ! 
 
 Upon which Lubin (not Biitannicus, as Holyday has it) says, il was customary 
 to inscribe the number ot" husbands a woman liad takenj on her sepulchre ; 
 and he fancies he proves it by this distich of Martial's, which, as usual, is 
 little more than a transcript from our author : 
 
 " Inscripsit tumulo septem celebrata virorum 
 " Se fecisse Chloe. — Quid pote simplicius ?" 
 But I doubt the fact itself. To have been the wife of one man only, was looked 
 upon as an honourable distinction, it is true, and therefore was carefully noted 
 on the tombs of such as were intitled to it, but that a lady's executors ever 
 recorded that she had buried seven or eight husbands, I cannot bring myself 
 to thiuk. The exclamation of Juvenal is merely a bitter sarcasm on tiic 
 wives of his time, who were so lost to every sense of the ancient honour, as 
 to be ready to perpetuate their want of chastity on their tomb-stones!
 
 190 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL. V. 370 — 3S3. 
 
 Women support the bar : they love the law. 
 And raise litigious questions for a straw. — 
 They meet in private, and prepare the Bill, 
 Draw up the Instructions with a lawyer's skill, 
 Suggest to Celsus, where the merits lie. 
 And dictate points for statement or reply. 
 
 Nay more, they fence! who has not mark'd their oil, 
 Their purple rugs, for this preposterous toil? 
 Room for the lady — see ! she seeks the list, 
 And fiercely tilts at her antagonist, 
 A post ! M'hich, with her buckler, she provokes, 
 And bores, and batters with repeated strokes; 
 'Till all the fencer's art can do, she shows, 
 And the glad master interrupts her blows. 
 
 Ter. 374. Suggest to Celsas, i8f<;.] An orator of those times, says the scho- 
 liast, who left behind him seven books of institutes. If by " those times" be meant 
 the age of Juvenal, there is a manifest error, for Celsus died in the reign of 
 Tiberius. He is now better known as a physician than a lawyer. 
 
 There is, indeed, a Junius (Juventius) Celsus mentioned by Granga>us; 
 and this, perhaps, may be the person to whom the scholiast alludes. But as 
 he flourished under Adrian, (somewhat too late a period for the date of tliis 
 satire,) I still incline to believe that our author gives, as is customary with 
 him, the name of the well-known rhetorician, to some cotemporary master of 
 the art. 
 
 Ver. 377. T/ieir purple rugs, ^"c] I have already mentioned these rugs 
 {endromidfz) in the third Satire, (p. 78.) They were usually put on after violent 
 exercise. It only remains to note with what ingenuity the ladies contrived 
 to make even their tilting pursuits subservient to their vanity. Their rugs are 
 ornamental, and they grow cool in Tyrian purple ! How happened it that this 
 -escaped Martial ?
 
 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL. V. 3S 1—385. ' 191 
 
 O worthy, sure, to liead those wanton dames, 
 Who foot it naked at the Floral games j 
 
 Ver. 385. the Floral games :} Flora, the Romans say, 
 
 was a lady of pleasure, who, having acquired an immense fortune in the honest 
 way of trade, left it to llie people, on condition that the inte.'est of it should 
 be annually laid out in a merry meeting, which was to be held on her birth- 
 day, and called, after her own name, Floraliu. The senate took the money, 
 and, out of gratitude (out of shame, Lactantius thinks,) to so exquisite a bene- 
 factress, made her a goddess forthwith, and put the flowers under her protec- 
 tion ! The people, good souls ! made no objection to the promotion of ihcir 
 old friend, and kept her birth-day, now her festival, more zealously than ever! 
 Except the audacious claim put in by Greece on behalf of Rhodope, (" a 
 customer," like the former,) to the erection of one of the pyramids, which was 
 built before that country had yet given shelter to a few naked siivages ; nothing 
 was ever more impudently urged than this idle story. The flowers of Italy 
 had a presiding power, ages before Home or her senate was heard of. Varro 
 supposes Flora to have been a Sabine deity ; and adds, that Numa first gave 
 her a priest. Ovid puzzles himself sorely to account for the singular manner 
 in which she was worshipped in his time, but is at no loss about the rest of her 
 story. He translates her name into Greek, proves her to have acted as a mid- 
 wife at the birth of Mars, 8cc. and has some beautiful verses on her marriage 
 with Zephyrus, who gave her the charge of blossoms, and llowcrs, fur a dowry. 
 — But enough of this. 
 
 The Floralia were first sanctioned by the government in the consulship of 
 Claudius Centho, and Senipronius Tuditanus, (a.u.c. dxciii.) out of the lines 
 then exacted for trespasses on the grounds belonging to the peoi)ie : (this is 
 Ovid's story :) even then they were only occasional ; but about eighteen years 
 afterwards, on account of an unfavourable spring, the senate decreed that they 
 should be celebrated atuiually, as the most effectual method to propitiate the 
 goddess of the season. 
 
 This is the best account I can find of them: mj' own opinion is, that they 
 had their rise in a very remote age, and, like the Lupercalia, were the uncouth 
 expressions of gratitude of a rude and barbarous race, handed down by
 
 1<)^ 
 
 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL. V. 386—393. 
 
 Unless to nobler daring she aspire, 
 And tempt the Arena's truer fight, for hire! 
 What sense of shame is to that woman known. 
 Who envies our pursuits, and hates her own ? 
 Yet — though siie madly doat on arms and blood, 
 She would not be a man, e'en if she cou'd, 
 For there's a thing she loves beyond compare, 
 And we, alas ! have no advantage there. — 
 
 tradition, adopted by a people as j-et but little refined, and finally, degenerating 
 into licentiousness amidst the general corruption of manners. 
 
 These games were celebrated on the last day of April, and the first and 
 second of May ; and with an indecency hardly credible amongst a civilized 
 people. Strumpets, taken from the dregs of the populace, appeared upon 
 the stage, and exhibited a variety of obscene dances, feats of activit}', &c. 
 The people claimed a privilege of calling upon these miserable wretches, to 
 strip themselves quite naked; which was regularly done with immense ap- 
 plause ! Val. Maximus says, that when Cato once happened to be present at 
 these games, the spectators were ashamed to call upon the ladies to strip as 
 usual; Cato, who, I suppose, expected it, asked his friend Favorinus why they 
 delayed; and was answered, out of respect to him; upon which he imme- 
 diately left the theatre, to the great joy of the people, who proceeded to in- 
 demnify themselves for their reluctant forbearance. Martial has an epigram 
 on this story, in which he puts a very pertinent question. " Why," says he to 
 Cato, " since you knew the nature of these games, did you go into the theatre .' 
 was it merely that you might come out again !" 
 
 Holyday tells us " that these vile strumpets were wont to dance naked about 
 iJic streets, to the sound of a trumpet, to which the poet alludes here more 
 particularly." I cannot find it " so set down ;" but they were certainly as- 
 sembled by the sound of a trumpet ; and, at any rate, the leader of this im- 
 modest band must have required all the impudence, and all the profligacy, 
 which Juvenal sees in his female fencer.
 
 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL. V. 394—413. 193 
 
 O, how it must delight thee to behold 
 
 Thy wife's accoutrements in public sold ; 
 
 And auctioneers, displaying to the throng 
 
 Her crest, her belt, her gauntlet, and her thong ! 
 
 Or, if in other frolics she engage, 
 
 And take her private lessons for the stage, 
 
 Then double, treble joy must fill thy breast, 
 
 To see her greaves " a-going" with the rest. 
 
 Yet these are they, the tender souls ! who sweat 
 In muslins, and in silks expire with heat. 
 Mark, with what force, as the full blow descends, 
 She thunders " hah!" again, how low she bends 
 Beneath the opposer's stroke, how firm she restSj 
 Pois'd on her hams, and every step contests, 
 How close tuck'd up for fight, behind, before, 
 Then laugh to see her squat, when the vile farce is o'er. 
 
 Tell me, ye daughters of Metcllus old, 
 if'.milius, Gurges, did ye e'er behold 
 A fencer's trull, and be the truth confest. 
 Thus tilting at a stake, thus impudently drest? 
 
 Ver. 413. Thus tilling <Sfc.] We have now seen the ladies exhibiling as 
 fencers, prize-fighters, gladiators. Sec. Occupations so abhorrent from the 
 nature of the sex, that the mere dilficulty of conceiving it possible they should 
 ever engage in them, has probably led many to imagine the whole to be the 
 invention of the poet. But this is to be ignorant of the history of those times. 
 We have but to open the pages of cotemporary writers to be convinced that, 
 far from inventing, he does not even exaggerate, 
 
 I had once a design of tracing the progressive infamy of the Uoiuaii women 
 from Nero, when female decorum received its first great shock, to the period 
 
 Cc
 
 194 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL. V. 414—437. 
 
 'Tis night ; yet hope no skimbers with thy wife ; 
 The nuptial Ijed is still the scene of strife ; 
 There lives the keen debate, the clamorous brawl, 
 And quiet " never comes, that comes to all." 
 Fierce as a tigress plunder'd of her young, 
 Rage fires her breast, and loosens all her tongue, 
 When, conscious of her guilt, she feigns to groan, 
 And chides thy want of love, to hide her own ; 
 Rails at the produce of thy loose amours, 
 And twits thee with imaginary whores : 
 Then opes the fruitful fount of tears, and bids 
 The impassion'd showers fall copious from her lids, 
 For at their posts, like marshall'd troops, they stand, 
 Prepar'd to flow, to pour, at her command. 
 Thou fanciest cares for thee this tempest move, 
 And deem'st thyself so happy in her love ! 
 With fond caresses striv'st her heart to chear. 
 And from her eye-lid suck'st the starting tear: 
 But could'st thou now examine the scrutore. 
 Of this most loving, this most jealous whore, 
 What billet-doux, what letters would'st thou see; 
 Proofs, damning proofs, of her sincerity ! 
 
 But these are doubtful ; — put a clearer case : 
 Suppose her taken in a slave's embrace, 
 
 of this Satire : but I dropt it from mere irksomeness. Those, however, who 
 delight in such humiliating speculations may find abundant gratification in 
 the pages of Tacitus, Suetonius, Dio, 8cc.
 
 sATiRi: V]. JUVENAL. V. 438— 465. 195 
 
 Or, e'en a knight's. Now, my Quintilian, come, 
 
 And fashion an excuse. What! thou art dumb' 
 
 Then let the lady speak. " Was't not agreed 
 
 The MAN should please himself?" " It was ; proceed." 
 
 " Then so may I." "■ Heavens!" — " Nay, no oath, no oath: 
 
 " Man is a general term, and takes in both." 
 
 When once surprised, the sex all shame forego, 
 
 And more audacious, as more guilty grow. 
 
 And dost thou ask from what polluted source, 
 These monstrous crimes, these horrors, took their course? 
 From wealth, my friend. Our matrons then were chaste, 
 When huswifery, that gave no hour to waste, 
 Short, hasty slumbers, long, laborious days. 
 Hands still employ 'd the Tuscan wool to tease, 
 Their husbands arm'd, and anxious for the State, 
 And Carthao;e hovering near the Colline gate, 
 Conspir'd to keep all thoughts of ill aloof. 
 And banish'd vice far from their lowly roof. 
 Now, all the evils of long peace are ours ; 
 Luxury, more terrible than hostile powers, 
 Her baleful influence wide around has hurl'd. 
 And well aveng'd thy cause, O conquer'd world ! 
 Yes, since the good old poverty is fled. 
 Vice, like a deluge, o'er the State has spread : — 
 Now, shame to Rome ! in every street is found 
 Th' effeminate Sybarite, with roses crown'd. 
 The rank Miletan, and the Tarentine, 
 Lewd, petulant, and reeling ripe with wine.
 
 196 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL, v. 466—473- 
 
 Riches^ the ready pander to all sin. 
 Brought foreign manners, foreign vices in; 
 Enervate riches, and with sensual art 
 Sapp'd every home-bred virtue of the heart ; 
 Yes, every: — for what cares the drunken dame, 
 (Take head or tall ; to her 'tis much the same.) 
 Who at deep midnight, on fat oysters sups, 
 And froths with unguents her Falernian cups; 
 
 Ver. 473. And froths with unguents her Falernian cups;'] This most extra- 
 vagant custom of pouring precious ointments into their wine, and drini^ing 
 them oflp together, is mentioned in terms of great indignation by the Elder 
 Pliny, (lib. xxxi.) Jt, Hercules, jam quidam etiam in potu addunt unguenta, 
 — nt odore prodigo fruantur, ex utraque parte corporis, exteriori scilicet et irt- 
 tcriori! 
 
 It was then, we see, confined to a few ; but it swiftly spread, with every other 
 vicious excess, and when Martial wrote was common enough. 
 " Hac licet in gemma, quae servat nomina Cosmi, 
 " Luxuries^ bibas, si foliata sitis." 
 Cosmus seems to have been a celebrated compounder of this unguent. I do not 
 know his ingredients ; but the commentators on Martial say, they consisted of 
 the leaves ofnardus, castas, SjX. This is likely enough; and when we are so 
 liappy as to know what the leaves of nardus, castas, S^c. are, our perfumers 
 may hope to rival Cosmus. 
 
 Tills monstrous luxury continued in fashion to the decline of the empire. 
 It is casually mentioned by ^lian, (Hist. lib. xii.) ji*ufu otfou n*iy>ui/T£f arwf 
 f3■lvo^; and introduced more than once byClaudian. In a note on this hemis- 
 tich, — Tefoliis Arabes ditent, — his critic says, odoralis scilicet foliis, qua erant, 
 et nunc sunt quaque, inter aromata. Ex his foliis faciebant unguent urn quad 
 foliatum tisurpabatur ; pretiosissimuni erat. 
 
 It is not very easy to conceive the motives for the singular practice to which 
 I have just alluded. Savage nations, it is well known, are fond of having re- 
 course to the most nauseous mixtures, for the sake of procuring a temporary 
 delirium : strong infusions of aromatic ointments in wine, are said to produce
 
 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL. V. 474— 479. 197 
 
 Who swallows oceans, till the tables rise, 
 And double lustres dance before her eves? 
 
 And canst thou doubt, as Tullia homeward goes, 
 With what contempt she tosses up her nose 
 At Chastity's hoar fane? what impious jeers, 
 Collatia pours in Maura's tingling ears ? 
 
 giddiness : and it is not altogether improbable, but that this corrupt and pro- 
 fligate people (as the extremes of barbarism and refinement sometimes meet) 
 might be influenced by considerations of a similar nature, to adopt so dis- 
 gusting and extravagant an e.vpedient, for the mere purpose of accelerating, 
 and heishtenins; the effects of intoxication. 
 
 I would not lightly introduce sacred matters; but I wish to observe here, 
 that the Jews were accustomed to give condemned persons a draught of wine 
 and myrrli. This is a[)parent from the last scene of our blessed Saviour's life. 
 St. Mark calls the wine wliicli they gave him i^r^M^via^iwv oivov. This was ac- 
 cording to the usual practice ; and the mercitul purpose of it was to stupify 
 the feelings of the sutferer. This was independant of what they offered him 
 afterwards — that was done in derision; but they first acted by him as they did 
 by common criminals. 
 
 In his Prayer before his Passion, he prays that the " cup might pass from 
 liim." Is it allowable to conjecture, that, in his own miud, he put the custo- 
 mary cup of stupefaction, for his actual death ? 
 
 Vkr. 477- IVith zekat contempt, S^cl " They are not pleased," says Sta- 
 pylton, " with all the variations of wantonness, unless they do show tlieir 
 spite to, and contempt of the Goddess of Chastity, at her antiquated, and 
 neglected altars." There were two temples of Chastity at Rome ; one conse- 
 crated to Pudicitia Patricia in the Forum Boarium,OT ox-market, the other to 
 Pudicitia Plebcia, in the Ficus Loiigus, or high-street. The former, (which was 
 also the most ancient) was the scene of these nocturnal impurities. 
 
 I find no mention of Tulla or Collatia elsewhere, but Maura is brought for- 
 ward again in the tenth Satire: and in a manner csery way worthy of her 
 introduction here.
 
 19S sATiKE VI. JUVENAL, v. 480— 506. 
 
 Here stop their litters, here they all ahght, 
 
 And- squat together in the Goddess' sight ; — 
 
 Then separate to their homes. At break of day 
 
 Thou to the levee go'st, and, on the way, 
 
 Wad'st through the plashy scene of thy chaste moiety's play. 
 
 Who knows not now, my friend, the secret rites 
 Of the Good Goddess ; when the dance excites 
 The boiling blood, wlien to distraction wound, 
 By wine, and music's stimulating sound, 
 The votaries of Priapus, with wild air, 
 Howl horrible, and toss their flowing hair ! — 
 Then, how their lusts at every pore o'erflow ! 
 How their eyes sparkle ! how tiieir bosoms glow ! — 
 Saufeia now springs forth, and tries a fall 
 With the town prostitutes, and throws them all : 
 But yields, herself, to Medullina, known 
 For parts and powers, superior to her own. 
 Maids, mistresses, alike the contest share, 
 And 'tis not always birth that triumphs here. 
 Nothing is feign'd in this unnatural game, 
 'Tis genuine all ; and such as would inflame 
 The frozen age of Priam, and inspire 
 The ruptur'd, bed-rid Nestor with desire. 
 Stung with their mimic feats, a heavy groan 
 Of lust goes round ; the sex, the sex is shown ! 
 And the cave echoes with the impassion'd cry, 
 " Let in the men, the adulterers, or we die." 
 
 }
 
 SATiRK VI. JUVENAL. V. 507— 5HJ. 199 
 
 They're not yet come. " Not come? then scour the street, 
 " And bring us quickly here the first you meet." 
 There's none abroad. " Then letch our slaves." They 're gone. 
 " Then hire a waterman." There's none. " Not one!" — 
 
 And, would to heaven, our ancient rites were free 
 From these impurities ! But earth, and sea, 
 Have heard what singing-wench produc'd his ware, 
 Vast as two Anti-Catcs, there, e'en there, 
 Where the male mouse, in reverence, lies conceal'd. 
 And e'en the picture of a man is veii'd. 
 
 Ver. 513. what singing-wench, <?fc.] This was Clodius. The 
 
 affair to which Juvenal alludes was a remarkable one, and happened thus. 
 Clodius, then a very young man, had an intrigue with Pompeia, the wife of 
 Julius Caesar. As the lady was narrowly watched by her mother-in-law, 
 Aurelia, they had few opportunities of meeting; this irritated their impatience, 
 and forced them upon an expedient as flagitious as it was new. The mysteries 
 of the Bona Dea, as every one knows, were so respected of the Romans, that 
 none but women had the privilege of officiating at them ; every male, even of 
 animals, was driven from the house, and every statue, every picture of the 
 masculine kind scrupulously veiled. Clodius dressed himself like a woman, 
 and knocked at the door of Caesar's house, where the mysleries were then 
 celebrating. One of Pompeia's maids, who was in the secret, let him in ; but 
 unluckily, while she was gone to acquaint her mistress with his arrival, the 
 impatient Clodius advanced towards the assembly. On the way, he was met 
 by another domestic, who, taking him for one of her own sex, began to toy 
 with him. Clodius was confused; which the other perceiving, insisted on 
 knowing who, and what he was. His voice, and still more his agitation, be- 
 trayed him. The women, struck with horror at the profanation, covered the 
 altar and the implements of sacrifice with a veil, and drove the intruder from 
 the house. They left it themselves immediately after, and went to acquaint 
 their husbands with the unprecedented abomination. Clodius was instantly
 
 •00 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL. V. 517—538. 
 
 And who was tlien a scoffer ? who despis'd 
 The Immortals ; and the simple rites, devis'd 
 By Numa? Now, rehgion's in its wane, 
 And daring Clodii swarm in every fane. 
 
 I hear, old friends, I hear you: " make all sure, 
 " Plant spies within, and bolts without the door." 
 But who shall keep the keepers? Wives contemn 
 Our poor precautions, and begin with them. 
 Lust is the master-passion; it inflames 
 Alike both high and low ; alike the dames 
 Who, on tall Syrians' necks, their state display, 
 And those who pick on foot their miry way. 
 
 Whene'er Ogulnia to the Circus goes, 
 To emulate the rich, she hires her clothes. 
 Hires followers, friends, and cushions; hires a chair, 
 A nurse, and a trim girl with golden hair. 
 To slip her billets : — prodigal and poor, 
 She wastes the wreck of her paternal store 
 On smooth-fac'd wrestlers : wastes her little all, 
 And strips her shivering mansion to the wall. 
 There's many a woman knows distress at home ; 
 Not one that feels it, and, ere ruin come, 
 
 accused, and would have been condemned ; but for the clandestine influence 
 of Pompey and Caesar, (of whom he was a necessary tool,) and a species of 
 bribery almost too infamous for belief, though Cicero asserts it as a fact. Jam 
 vero (O Dii boni!) rem perdilam; diamnoctis certarum mulicrum, atqneado- 
 lebctntitlorum iwbiliuin introductiones uonnullis judicibus pro mercedis ciimulo 
 fueraiit!
 
 SATIUE VI. JUVENAL. V. 539—560. 201 
 
 To her small means conforms. Taught by the ant, 
 
 Men sometimes guard against the extremes of want, 
 
 And stretch, though late, their providential cares, 
 
 To food and raiment, for their future years ; 
 
 But women never see their wealth decay; 
 
 With lavish hands, they scatter night and day. 
 
 As if the gold, with vegetative power. 
 
 Would bloom afresh, and spring from hour to hour; 
 
 As if the mass its present size would keep^ 
 
 And no expense reduce th' eternal heap. 
 
 Others there are, who centre all their bliss 
 In the soft eunuch, and the beardless kiss : 
 I'hey need not from his chin avert their face, 
 Nor use abortive drugs, for his embrace. 
 But oh! their joys run high if he be form'd 
 When his full veins the fire of love has warm'd ; 
 When every part's to full perfection rear'd. 
 And nought of manhood wanting, but the beard. 
 
 But should the dame in music take delight; 
 The public singer is disabled quite : 
 In vain the praetor guards him all he can, 
 She slips the buckle, and enjoys her man. 
 
 Ver. 545. Js if the gold, ^c] None of the commentators seem to have 
 understood this passage, which is represented by some of tiicm as incorrect, 
 and by others as unintelhgible. It is neitlier the one nor the otiier; but a plaiu 
 allusion to a notion very generally received amongst the ancients, that mines, 
 after being exhausted, sometimes reproduced their ores. 
 
 Ver. 560. She slips the buckle,'] See p. 171. 
 
 Dd
 
 202 
 
 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL. V. 561—572. 
 
 Still in her hand his instrument is found, 
 
 Thick set with gems, that shed a lustre round; 
 
 Still o'er his lyre the ivory quill she flings, 
 
 Still runs divisions on the trembling strings, 
 
 The trembling strings, which her lov'd Hedymel 
 
 Was wont to strike so sweetly, and so well ! 
 
 These still she holds, with these she sooths her woes; 
 
 And kisses on the dear, dear wire bestows. 
 
 A noble lady, of the Lamian line, 
 
 To Janus' temple came, with meal and wine ; 
 
 To ask if PoUio might expect renown, 
 
 At the next contest lor the Harmonic crown 1 
 
 Ver. 569. A noble lady of the Lamiati line,'] I have already observed, 
 (Sat. IV. V. 225,) that the Lamian family was of great antiquity. Pollio, for 
 whom this high-born dame was so interested, is mentioned by JNIartial, and 
 appears to have been a favourite performer. The games at which he proposed 
 to become a competitor, were instituted by that great amateur, Domitian : 
 they were held every fifth year, and from their being dedicated to Tarpeian 
 Jove, probably in the Capitol. Tiie manner in which Juvenal describes the 
 mode of consulting the Aruspex, is worth noticing; it is so minute, and at the 
 same time so accurate, as to leave little to be added on the subject. 
 
 Pliny says, that the stated forms of prayer were adhered to with the most 
 scrupulous exactness, and that a monitor (a minor priest, I suppose,) stood by 
 the suppliant, to prevent the slightest aberration. Tertullian, who was inti- 
 mately acquainted with all such matters, has an observation on the subject of 
 these monitors, in which he nobly contrasts the practices of the Christians 
 with those of their adversaries " Illtic sunpicieiites Christiaiii, manihus ex- 
 pansis quia innocuis ; (the hands of the lieatliens were fold;'d ;) capite nudo, 
 (the heads of the Heathens were covered,) quia nan erubescimus ; denique sine 
 monitore, quia de pectore orarnus !"
 
 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL. V. 573 — 592. 90:] 
 
 What could she for a husband more have done, 
 
 What for an only, an expiring son ? — 
 
 Yes, for a harper the besotted dame 
 
 Approach'd the altar, reckless of her fame. 
 
 And veil'd her head, and, with a pious air, 
 
 Follow'd the Aruspcx through the form of prayer ; 
 
 And trembled, and turn'd pale, as he explor'd 
 
 The entrails, breathless for the fatal word. 
 
 But tell me, lather Janus, if you please. 
 
 Tell me, most ancient of the deities ; 
 
 Is your attention to such suppliants given? 
 
 If so ; — there is not much to do in heaven. 
 
 For a comedian, this consults your will. 
 
 For a tragedian that; kept standing, still. 
 
 By this eternal rout, the wretched priest 
 
 Feels his legs swell, and longs to be releas'd. 
 
 But let her rather sing, than scour the streets, 
 And thrust herself in every croud she meets; 
 Chat with great generals, with a forward air. 
 And in your presence lay her bosom bare. — 
 
 Ver. 590. j^nd thrust herself in every crowd, <5fc.j There is a beautiful 
 passage in Troilus and Cressida, which may serve to illustrate this remark of 
 our author : 
 
 " O, these ENCOUNTERERS SO glib of tongue, 
 
 " That give a coasting welcome ere it come, 
 
 " And wide unclasp the tables of their thoughts 
 
 " To every ticklish reader ! set them down 
 
 " For sluttish spoils of opportunity, 
 
 " And daughters of the game."
 
 \ 
 
 !04 sATiuEVi. JUVENAL. V. 593— 614. 
 
 She too with curiosity o'erflows, 
 And all the news of all the world, she knows; 
 Knows what in Scythia, what in Thrace is done ; 
 The secrets of the step-dame and the son ; 
 Who speeds, and who is jilted: she can swear 
 Who made the widow pregnant, when, and where, 
 And what she said, and how she jigg'd it there. 
 She first espied the star, whose baleful ray 
 O'er Parthia, and Armenia, shed dismay : — 
 She watches at the gates, for news to come, 
 And intercepts it, as it enters Rome ; 
 Then, fraught with full intelligence, she flies 
 Through every street, and, mingling truth with lies, 
 Tells how Niphates swell'd beyond its bound, 
 Burst forth, and deluged all the country round, 
 "W^hile cities rock'd, and hills sunk in the gulf profound. 
 
 And yet this itch, though never to be cur'd. 
 Is easier than her cruelty endur'd: 
 For let a dog but bark, and discompose 
 Her rest a moment, wild with rage she grows ; 
 " Ho ! whips," she cries; *' and flay that cur accurst ; 
 •* But flay the rascal there, that owns him, first." 
 
 Ver. 600. She first espied the star, Sfc."] Lubin (as well as Lipsius) says the 
 -appearance of this blazing star must be referred to the times of Trajan, who 
 undertook an expedition against the Parthians and Armenians. But this Satire, 
 was vvritleu, I believe, before Trajan began his reign, I should, therefore, refer 
 it to the times of Titus. The dreams of Henninius on the subject, are not 
 worth noticing, any more than the conjectures about the overflowing of the 
 
 I
 
 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL. V G15— 630. 505 
 
 Dangerous to meet while in these frantic airs, 
 
 And terrible to look at, she prepares 
 
 To bathe at night; she issues her commands, 
 
 And in long ranks forth march the obedient bands, 
 
 With tubs, cloths, oils ; — for 'tis her dear delight 
 
 To sweat midst clamour, tumult and affright. 
 
 Then, when her arms refuse the balls to ply. 
 
 And the sly bath-keeper has rubb'd her dry ; 
 
 All flush'd she enters, where the wretched guest, 
 
 At once with hunger, and with sleep opprest, 
 
 Has sicken'd at her stay ; enters athirst 
 
 For floods, whole floods of wine, and swallows first 
 
 Two quarts to clear her stomach, and excite 
 
 A ravenous, an unbounded appetite! — 
 
 Huisch ! up its comes, good heavens ! meat, drink, and all, 
 
 And rolls in muddy torrents round the iiall ,• 
 
 Kiphates ; which, behig a mountain river, might be supposed liable to such 
 accidents, without any extraordinary stretch of imagination. Besides, Juvenal 
 covertly insinuates these prodigies to have been rather fabricated by liis female 
 gossip, than to have actually happened. 
 
 Ver. f)21. Then, when her arms, (^"c] This alludes to the custom of swing- 
 ing two heavy masses of lead, to procure a profuse perspiration, before they 
 went into the bath ; — no very delicate fancy for a lady ; though full as much 
 so, by the bye, as that of having a male bath-keeper to anoint, and rub her 
 dry. 
 
 Ver. 629. Huisch! up it comes, ^c] Here again Juvenal is accused of 
 exaggeration, but with how little reason will appear from the following 
 passage of Seneca: " Noti minus pervigilant,non minus potant ; ctoknetmero 
 viros provocant : atque invitis ingesta visceribus per os reddunt, ct vinum omnc 
 vomilu remetianlur !" Need I go farther?
 
 ^'06 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL. V. 631— 654. 
 
 Or a gilt ewer i-eceives the foul contents, 
 
 And poisons all the house with vinous scents. 
 
 So, dropt into a vat, a snake is said 
 
 To drink, and spew. The husband turns his head. 
 
 Sick to the soul, from this disgusting scene, 
 
 And struggles to suppress his rising spleen. 
 
 But she is more intolerable yet. 
 Who plays the critic when at board she's set, 
 Calls Virgil charming, and attempts to prove 
 Poor Dido right, in venturing all for love. 
 From Maro, and Maeonides, she quotes 
 The striking passages, and while she notes 
 Their beauties, and defects, adjusts her scales, 
 And accurately weighs, which bard prevails. 
 The astonish'd guests sit mute : grammarians yield, 
 Loud rhetoricians baffled, quit the field ; 
 E'en auctioneers, and lawyers stand aghast. 
 And not a woman speaks ! — so thick, and fast, 
 The wordy shower descends, that you would swear 
 A thousand bells were jingling in your ear, 
 A thousand basons clattering. YeK no more 
 Your trumpets, and your timbrels, as of yore, 
 To ease the labouring moon ; her single yell, 
 Can drown their clangor, and dissolve the spell. 
 
 Ver, 653. To ease the labouring moon, Sfc.'] In Melchor's song at the court 
 of Moab, Cowley has these two lines, 
 
 " He sung how earth blots the moon's gilded wain, 
 " Whilst foolish men beat sounding brass in vain."
 
 sATiuE VI. JUVENAL. V. 655 — G60. i>07 
 
 She lectures on the kalon, and explains, 
 " In good set terms" at large, the end and means : — 
 But should not she, who makes a bold pretence 
 To more than female eloquence, and sense, 
 Abjure all female ornaments, and wear 
 The coarse, short coat of a philosopher ; 
 
 On which he has a note. It is clumsily drawn up, but as it contains an accu- 
 rate account of the superstitious foUy to which Juvenal alludes, I have sub- 
 joined it. " This custom took the original from an opinion that witches, by 
 muttering some charms in verse, caused the eclipses of the moon, which they 
 conceived to be when the moon (that is, the goddess of it,) was brought down 
 from the sphere by the virtue of these enchantments ; and therefore they made 
 a great noise by the beating of brass, sounding of trumpets, whooping and 
 hallowing, and the like, to drown the witches' murmurs, that the moon might 
 not hear them, and so to render them ineffectual." 
 
 Veu. 655. She lectures on the KAhON, S^cJ Imponit Jinem sapiens ft rebus 
 honestis. Without entering into the disputes on this difficult line, which would 
 lead me too far, I shall merely observe, that I have given what I conceive to 
 be the sense of it, in conformity to the opinion of some of the most judicious 
 commentators. Non solum mulier de poetis judicat (says Brit.) sed etiam more 
 philoxophi prtccepta dot de ratione recth vivendi, &ic. And Lubin, Etiam phi- 
 Ivsophiam tractat! — et more sapieiifum de summo bono disputat. llolyday 
 translates it thus, 
 
 " In just acts too new aim she gives." — 
 I do not pretend to understand his poetry, but in a long, and learned note on 
 it, beseems to explain his author as I do; except, that he supposes the lady 
 ambitious to cslablish a sect of her own. 
 
 Doctor Jortin thinks the meaning is " the wise person in all things, even 
 in things honest, and commendable, observes the due medium, the to firtSh 
 et,yv.v: therefore a prudent woman, &c. See." This is very good sense, and 
 may, perhaps, be that of the author. 
 
 I pass over tlie idle fancies of the critics on the following lines — their
 
 208 SATIRE VI, JUVENAL. V. 661—670. 
 
 A hog, Sylvanus, sacrifice to thee, 
 
 And bathe in public for the farthing fee? — 
 
 O, never may the partner of my bed, 
 With subtleties of logic stuff her head; 
 Nor whirl her rapid syllogisms around, 
 Nor with imperfect enthymemes confound ! 
 Enough for me, if common things she know. 
 And have the little learning schools bestow. 
 I hate the female pedagogue, who pores 
 O'er her Palaemon hourly ; who explores 
 
 obvious meaning is, that the woman who quits her proper pursuits to follow 
 those of men, should also adopt their peculiar habits, privileges, &c. should 
 wear a succinct coat, instead of a flowing stole, sacrifice to S^'lvanus, (which 
 none but men might do,) and frequent the common baths, like one of the 
 people. 
 
 Ver. 663. O, never may the partner of my bed, &;c.'\ In the Wife, by Sir 
 Thomas Overbury, there is a stanza on this subject, which, whatever may be 
 thought of its poetry, is not deficient in good sense : 
 
 " Give me, next good, an understanding wife, 
 
 " By nature wise, not learned by much art; 
 
 " Some knowledge on her side, will all my life 
 
 " More scope of conversation impart ; 
 " Besides, her inborn virtues fortify, 
 " Tiiey are most firmly good , who best know why." 
 How superior is this (I do not mean in poetry, but in just and liberal think- 
 ing) to the following : 
 
 'Lo(pi\v it jL*i(rw. Mr) yap iv y £(U.oi? SofAOis 
 Ein (pcoyniTa. z^Kiiov, ») yunxtxa ypiv. 
 To yap TSKVHfyoy fxixXXov t^rtxTti Kusr/>K 
 
 Ev rai? <ropaio-iv. jLurip, riip. 
 
 Ver. 670. O'er her Paleemon, ^c] For Palaemon, See Sat. vii.
 
 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL. V. 671— 6S8. 209 
 
 All modes of speech, regardless of the sense:, 
 
 But tremblingly alive to mood and tense: 
 
 Who, when I speak, corrects my homely phrase, 
 
 By some old canticle of Numa's days. 
 
 To me unknown ; and, by the book, amends 
 
 The verbal slips of her provincial friends, 
 
 Which I scarce mark'd : 'tis well ; — but let me make 
 
 A solecism, uncheck'd, for heaven's sweet sake ! 
 
 A woaian stops at nothing, when she wears 
 Rich emeralds round her neck, and, in her ears, 
 Pearls of enormous size ; these justiiy 
 Her faults, these make all lawful in her eye. 
 Sure, of all ills with which the state is curst, 
 A wife, who brings you money, is the worst. 
 Behold ! her face a spectacle appears,. 
 Bloated, and foul, and plaister'd to the ears 
 With viscous pastes r — the husband looks askew, 
 And sticks his lips in tliis detested glew. 
 
 V'er. G81. Pearh of enornwtia size f\ Magnos ehnchos. It is not easy lo 
 say what these were : tlie sclioliast calls them iinwnt's, margarilas ob/oiigas ; 
 the modern comiuentiitors, oval, oblong, and pear-shaped pearls. Holyday 
 quaintly translates the word, eye-checking, because, as he says, cXcy^u some- 
 times signifies to check, or reprehend! I incline to think that eUncltns did 
 not signify a single pearl for the ear, but a drop, formed of several ; for that 
 such were worn and admired in Juvensd's time, may be readily proved. The 
 following passage in Seneca, De Ik'neficiis, seems t me much to tlie purpose: 
 I'ideo unioncs noii siiigulos singulis auribus comparalos; (jam ciiitn exercitatee 
 aures oneriftrendo sunt ;) junguittur inter se,et insiipcr alii hini suppanguntiir. 
 Non butis i/tufieOris insania viros suhjccerat, nisi bina, ac tcrna palrimonia siiir 
 gulis auribus prpcndisscnt ! 
 
 Ee
 
 ST^ SATIRE VI. JUVENAL, v.. 689— 696. ,i 
 
 Still to the adulterer, sweet 'and clean she goes,' 
 (No sigiit ofTends his eye, no smell his nose,) 
 But rots in filth at home, a. very pest, 
 And thinks it loss of leisure to'be dfest. 
 For him she breathes of nard,for him alone, 
 She makes the sweets of Araby her own; 
 For him, at length, she ventures, to uncase 
 Her person ; scales the rough-cJist from her face, 
 
 Ver. 687. Withviscous pastes, 3|C.] Ariosto had this passage ia his thoughts^ 
 when he wrote the following lines: 
 
 " Se sapesse Ercolan dove la labbia 
 " Pon quando bacia Lidia^ avria piil a schivo 
 " Che se baciasse un cul marcio di scabbia; 
 " Non s^ che '1 liscio e t'atto col salivo 
 
 " Delle Giiidee" 
 
 but the old bard grows quite abominable as he proceeds. 
 
 Ver. CS9. Still to the adulterer, 4c.] Le Grange fancies that Juvenal had 
 Lucilius in view in this place : 
 
 " Quom tecum est, quidvis satis est ; visuri alieni 
 " Sint homines, spirani, pallas, redimicula promit." Sat. xv. 
 
 This is not unlikely : but I belive the more immediate subject of his imitation* 
 was the following passage of Tibulhis, Lib. 1. El. ix. G7. 
 " Tune putas illam pro te disponere crines, 
 " Aut tenues denso pectere dente comas ? 
 " Ista haec persuadet facies, auroque lacertos 
 
 " Vinciat, ctTyrio prodeat apta siiui ? 
 " Non tibi, sed juveni cuidam vult bella videri ; 
 " Devoveat pro quo remquc, domumquc tuam." 
 
 Vee. 696. scales the rough-cast from her face,'] Thus, too, Tibullus, 
 
 " Et faciem, dempta \ye\\e, refcrre novam ." 
 Scaliger, speaking of this renewing of faces, has a most ungallant observation. 
 I thought, says he, nostra tempore taiitum hoc iiicepisse ; sed, quantum vid(0, 
 nan minus ilia veteres lupte insaiiiehant, quam ha nostra atatis.
 
 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL. V. 697—706. 211 
 
 And (while her maids to know her now begin) 
 V\ ashes, with asses' milk, her frowzy skin; 
 Asses, which, exiled to the Pole, the fair, 
 For her cl)arms' sake, would carry with her there. 
 But tell me yet ; this thing, thus daub'd and oil'd, 
 Thus pouUic'd, plaister'd, bak'd by turns and boil'd, 
 Thus with pomatums, ointments, lacquer'd o'er, 
 Is it a FACE, LTrsidius, or a sore? 
 
 'Tis worlh a little labour, to survey 
 Our wives more near, and trace 'em through the day. 
 
 Ver. 698. Washes with asses' milk, <^c.] For this refinement in luxury, as 
 well as for the " viscous paste" mentioned above, the Roman ladies were in- 
 debted to the younger Poppaja, the mistress, and finally the wife, of Nero; 
 who avenged the cause of two husbands, whom she had abandoned, by a kick 
 which occasioned her death. 
 
 " Poppaea," Stapylton says, " was so careful to preserve her beauty, that 
 when she went into banishment, she carried fifteen" (the scholiast says fifty) 
 " she-asscs along with her, for their milk to wash in." I will not vouch for the 
 truth of this anecdote ; but that Popptta was profusely extravagant, in every 
 thing which related to her person, is undoubted. Here is Xiphilinus's account : 
 H Si SaSim CCVTV arwj weperpv^miv, ua-re T«f te »jU.ioi/aj roc; ayiscrois jsutji^ £-sri- 
 j^'v((7« VTsroSiti^M, xjsi ovHi Wfi/Tajtoria? apriTOJCs? xa^ n'ju.£/)aK afj-iXyiq^xi. m' iv to> 
 yxXuKTi auTUK Xanrai. Lib. Lxn. 28. Here we find that she had not fifteen, as 
 Stapylton, or fifty, as the scholiast, says ; but five hundred she-asses in her 
 suite ! 
 
 Apropos of the scholiast. He has furnishwl Reimarus with a notable op- 
 portunit}' of displaying i)is critical sagacity. Nugatur S. aiit cerli miu-ri cor- 
 riiptus est, quiiiquaginlas asiiias Poppccam secuta esse " missam in exilium." 
 Scribe quiitgentas, cum Dione, et Piiitio ; ct missam in solium, quod est vas bal- 
 neare. To exchange an error for an absurdity is too much. Certainly, tlie 
 scholiast was no great critic ; yet Rcimai us must excuse me, if I still bcheve 
 hini incapable of saying tiiat fifty asses followed Poppaja into the bathing-tub !
 
 JI2 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL. V. 707— 734. 
 
 If, dreadful to relate i the night foregone, 
 The husband turn'd his back, or lay alone, 
 All, all is lost ; the house-keeper is stript, 
 The tire-maid chidden, and the chairman whipt; 
 Rods, cords, and thongs, avenge the master's sleep, 
 And force the guiltless house to wake, and weep. 
 There are, who hire a beadle by the year, 
 To lash their servants round; who, pleas'd to hear 
 Th' eternal thong, bid him lay on, while they, 
 At perfect ease, the silk-man's stores survey. 
 Chat with their female gossips, or replace 
 The crack'd enamel on their treacherous face. 
 No respite yet ; — they leisurely hum o'er 
 The numerous items of the day before, 
 And bid him still lay on; till, faint with toil, 
 He drops the scourge; when, with a rancorous smile, 
 " Begone," they thunder, in a horrid tone, 
 ^' Now your accounts are settled, rogues, begone !" 
 !But worse remains ; for, should she wish to dress 
 With more than common care, and the time press, 
 (Whether th' adulterer for her coming wait 
 In Isis" fane, to bawdry consecrate, 
 Or in Lucullus' walk^,) t'lie house appears 
 Like Phalaris' court, ;ill bustle, gloom, and tears. 
 The wretched Psecas, lor the wiiip prepar'd, 
 Her locks dishevell'd, and her shoulders bar'd, 
 Attempts her hair: fire flashes from her eyes. 
 And, " strumpet, why this curl so high?" she cries.
 
 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL. V. 735— 75 i. 2l:i 
 
 Instant the lash, without remorse, is plied, 
 
 And the blood stains her bosom^ back, and side. 
 
 But why this fury? Is the girl to blame, 
 
 If your own looks displease you? shame, O shame !— 
 
 But now another on the left, prepares 
 
 To open, and arrange the straggling hairs 
 
 In ringlets trim ; meanwhile the council meet ; 
 
 And first the nurse, a personage discreet. 
 
 Late from the toilet to the wheel remov'd, 
 
 (Th' effect of time,) yet still of taste approv'd, 
 
 Gives her opinion ; then the rest debate, 
 
 In turn, as age, or practice gives them weight. 
 
 So warm they grow, and so much pains they take. 
 
 You'd think her honour, or her life at stake,.;.., ;^ ,. 
 
 So high they build her head, such tiers on tiers. 
 
 With wary hands they pile, that she appears 
 
 Andromache before ; — and what behind? | 
 
 A dwarf, a creature of a different kind,— if!iv)iv;jt. -r',-,],,]] 
 
 Veh. 749. So high thty build her head, tS'c] S^ncsius, who lived in ihe 
 fourth century, describes a bride as walking about like Cybele, with turrets 
 on her liead. Who instigated the women to follow so absurd a fashion in 
 tliis good man's time, I cannot tell; but about two centuries before, the tur- 
 pitude of it was ascribed to the devil. " He," says one of the fathers, " first 
 introduced it to give the lie to our Saviour, who hath said, no one can add 
 one cubit to his stature." — An idea which proves (and which, indeed, was my 
 sole reason for producing it) the preposterous excess to which tljis custom was 
 carried. 
 
 .Juvenal adds, that she appeared in front like Andromache. Tradition re- 
 presents this lady (I su[)pose because .'she was the wife of a hero) as very tail. 
 Dares I'hrygius (utit qiiisquh ilk fail) calls her lungain, Ovid, longhsimam j .
 
 214 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL, v. 753— 76o. 
 
 Meanwhile, engross'd by these important cares, 
 She thinks not on her lord's distrest affairs, 
 Scarce on himself; but leads a separate life, 
 As if she were his neigiibourj not his wife ; 
 Or, — but in this, that all he loves she hates, 
 Destroys his peace, and squanders his estates. 
 
 Room for Bellona's frantic votaries ! room 
 For Cybele's mad enthusiasts ! lo, they come ! 
 
 and in another place he says, " that though every boily else thought her too 
 strapping a dame, spatiosior (cquo, Hector himself was perfectly satisfied with 
 her," — which I am very glad to hear. 
 There follows in the original, 
 
 " cedo, si breve parvi 
 
 " Sortita est lateris spatium, breviorque videtur 
 " Virgine Pygmae^, nullis adjula cotliurnis; 
 " Et levis erecta consurgit ad oscula planta J" 
 I have thrown this passage out of the text, not so much on account of its 
 singular clumsiness, as of my utter inability to make any tolerable sense of it, 
 Holyday satisfied himself with rendering it in this manner: 
 
 " if she's short loin'd ; 
 
 " Than a girle-pygmie shee's more dwarf without 
 " High-heels, and tiptoes for a kiss and flout." 
 The other translators have, 1 think, evaded the difticulty. If it be at all intel- 
 ligible, it may be something in this way: though, even thus, the drift of the 
 author is not very apparent : 
 
 Nay, if unbuskin'd, slie scarce match in size 
 A Pygmy virgin, and must lightly rise 
 On tip-toe for a kiss; there's some excuse. 
 If every art to aid lier height, she use. 
 Ver. 759. lioom for Bellona's frantic votaries ! Sfc.'] We come now to 
 one of the grand divisions of this Satire, and, as it seems to me, the most 
 curious. How a late translator could call it " dull and tedious," I cannot con-
 
 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL. V. 761—772. 215 
 
 A lusty semiyir, whose part obscene 
 
 A broken shell has whipt off smooth and clean, 
 
 A raw-bon'cl, turban'd priest, whom the whole choir 
 
 Of curtail'd priestlings reverence, and admire, 
 
 Enters, with his wild rout; and bids the fair 
 
 Of autumn, and its sultry blasts, beware, 
 
 Unless she lustrate with an hundred eggs 
 
 Her household straight :.;— then impudently begs 
 
 Her cast-off clothes, that every ill they fear 
 
 May enter them, and expiate all the year ! 
 
 But lo! another tribe : at whose command. 
 See her, in winter, near the Tiber stand, 
 
 ceive; since the very reason he gives for his assertion — " that the practices 
 here mentioned are now no where to be met with" — evidently tends to render 
 it peculiarly' interesting. A\ hatever may be thought of Liiis, however; it must 
 have appeared of no little importance to Juvenal, since he has laboured it with 
 uncommon care: nor is there any part of his works in which his genius is 
 more conspicuous. 
 
 Of Cybele and her frantic votaries I have already spoken. (Sat. ii. v. I(i2.) 
 Bellona's, were not a whit more sane. They ran up and down, lancing their 
 arms with sharp knives, upon her festival, which was kept on the twenty-third, 
 or twenty-fourth of March, and which, in allusion to those horrid rites, was 
 somelimcs called the Day of Blood. 
 
 Ver. 7^1. A lusty semkir, ^x.] Lusty {ingeiis) is not an idle epithet; for 
 these priests of Cybele seem to have been creatures of an extraordinary size. 
 1 suppose their bulk was increased by the operation they underwent ; but I do 
 not know that it was so. I'ersius calls them grandex — this, a late commen- 
 tator savs, must be applied to the mind, and rendered stupid. Must it so ? 
 then both Juvenal and Persius have chosen the wrong words; since, what- 
 ever these people might be, they were certainly not stupid. The truth is, that 
 grandis, like ingcm, must be applied to the body, and in its customary sense; 
 as a very lilllc acquaintance with tlie subject, would have sufficed to shew.
 
 SIC 
 
 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL. V. 773—778. 
 
 Break the thick ice, and, ere the sun appears, 
 Plunge in the crashing eddy to the ears, 
 Once, twice, and thrice ; then shivering at the breeze, 
 Crawl round the field, on bare and bleeding knees. 
 Should milk-white 16 bid, from Meroe's isle, 
 She'll fetch the sacred waters of the Nile, 
 
 Ver. 771. But lo ! another tribe, <?)C.] These are the priests of Isis, whose 
 absurd and contemptible ceremonies, are described with admirable spirit and 
 humour. 
 
 It is not easy to say by what criterion the Romans judged of the admissi- 
 bility of foreign divinities into their temples. Cybele, with all her train of wild 
 and furious enthusiasts, found an easy admittance ; while Isis and Osiris, deities 
 not more detestable, were long opposed, and still longer regarded with distrust 
 and aversion. 
 
 Of a truth, however, this was confined to the men : the women seem to have 
 found something peculiarly seducing in the worship of Isis, and to have beeu 
 from the first, her warmest devotees. 
 
 Whether the envy of the priests of Cybele, and other exotic divinities, was 
 excited by this marked predilection, or whether the attendance on her rites 
 was made (as it certainly was in after times) a cloak for intrigue, I do not 
 know; but in the consulship of Piso and Gabinius, a furious persecution was 
 raised against her ; and she was banished, with all her ridiculous mummery, 
 froui the territories of the republic. Some years afterwards, however, her 
 worship was re-established, when Tiberius, on account of an impious farce 
 which was phiyed in one of her temples, (see the story in Joseph. Antiquil. 
 lib. xviii ) rased it to the ground, hanged or crucified the priests, and tlung 
 the statue of the goddess into the Tiber. Again the temple was rebuilt, again 
 destroyed by a decree of the senate, and again, and again reconstructed, till 
 the vigilance of the government was finally remitted, or its obstinacy over- 
 come. It was then, that they rose on all sides, and became (what too many of 
 the Koman temples were) the most favoured spots for forming assignations. 
 
 Whenever Juvenal has occasion to mention these JEgj'ptian divinities, he 
 does it with a contemptuous sneer; but in this, he is notsingular; since almost
 
 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL. V. 779— 786. 217 
 
 To sprinkle la her fane ; for she, it seems, 
 Has heavenly visitations in her dreams — 
 Oh precious soul ! with whonj the gods delight 
 To hold hiQ;h converse at tiie noon of nloiht! 
 For this she cherishes above the rest, 
 (^^'hat can she less?) her lo's favourite priest; 
 A holy hypocrite, who strolls abroad. 
 With his Anubis, his dog-headed god, 
 
 every ancient writer on the subject, does the same. Lucan conveys a bitter 
 reproach to his countrymen for their partiahty to them, in a pathetic and 
 beauliCiil apostrophe to yEgypt, on the muidoc of Pompey. Lib. viii. 831. 
 " Nos in tempia tuam Romana acccpimus Isin, 
 " Semideosque canes, et sistra jubentia luctus, 
 " Et qiiom tu plangens hominein testaris Osirin : 
 " Tu uostros, iEgypte, tencs in puivere manes. 
 
 " Tu q.uoque" 
 
 But I should never have done if I pretended to quote all the indignant ridicule 
 that has been poured on these brutal superstitions. 
 
 With all this, however, they continued in full vigour from our author's time 
 to that of Comniodus, who, as Lampridius says, enrolled himself amongst the 
 priests of Isis, and condescended to carry her son (the dog-headed Anubis,) 
 upon his shoulder.* Conslanline abolished them, with tlie other heallieu rites : 
 
 * However severe the satirists may have been on these follies, they fall in- 
 finitely short of the Prophets. Isaiah, in particular, prosecutes them with a 
 dignity of sarcasm, a biltcrness oi' ridicule, that is altogether irresistible. " He 
 planleth an ash, and the rain tloth nourish it, — he burnclh part thereof in the 
 fire — yea, he warmcth himsoif, and saitii, ' aha! I am warm, I have seen the 
 fire.' And the residue thereof he maketh a God ! he falloth down unto it, and 
 saith ' deliver me, for thou art my God !' Chap. xliv. v. 17. And again, more 
 tauntingly: ' Tluy lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in ihe balance, 
 and hire a goldsuiilh, and he maketh a God! They fall down, yea they 
 worship. They jbeae him upon the shoulder, thev caurv him, (aipsa-iv 
 
 Ff
 
 S18 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL, v. 7 87—790. 
 
 Girt by a linen-clad, a bald-pate crew 
 Of howling vagrants, who their shrieks renew 
 In every street, as up and down they run, 
 To find OsiRE, fit father to fit soni 
 
 they were again revived, and for the last time, by that frivolous pedant Julian, 
 (so liberally dubbed a philosopher,) who laboured to enforce their observation, 
 ■in some of his epistles. 
 
 Ver. 785. A holj/ hi/pocrite, who strolls abroad. 
 
 With his Anubis, ^c] These gloomy and fantastic processions 
 in quest of Osiris, (see Sat. viii.) continued for several days; during which 
 the female votaries of Isis, in sympathy for her loss, abstained from all com- 
 merce with their husbands. For cadurcm, which I have rendered sacred 
 sheets, but which was more probablj' a kind of coverlet, some copies have 
 caduceus ; put, the critics say, by an allowable metonymy, for Mercury, the 
 Osiris of Egypt. Of this I believe nothing. Whatever sacrifices an interested 
 set of vagabonds from that country might make to Roman vanity, a sensible 
 Egyptian would have smiled at this pretended identity of beings so characte- 
 ristically distinct as Osiris and Mercury: the latter, therefore, must be sent 
 packing with his caduceus, and the old reading recalled. 
 
 But what is the meaning of argentea serpens, the silver snake ? Holyday 
 gives a long account from Macrobius, of a three-headed monster that stood in 
 the temple of Osiris; and seems mightily pleased with the "exposition;" 
 though he confesses he can find nothing concerning the snake — the only 
 material point. 
 
 But Macrobius speaks of Alexandria, where such allegorical groups might 
 
 £sri TB W|U.8, >t*i ar»(!£ui3i/T«i) and set him in his place, and he standeth!' Chap. 
 XLVi. V. 6, 7. 
 
 St. Jerome applies this passage of the sacred writer, to the circumstance in 
 the text, i. e. to the" carrying" about of Anubis on the shoulders of the cliief 
 priest. It is singular that he should do so; since the prophet is evidently 
 speaking of the Babylonish divinities Bel and iSebo. The quotations, how- 
 ever, prove the great antiquity of these idolatrous processions.
 
 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL. V. 791—80?. 219 
 
 He sues for pardon, when the liquorish dame 
 Abstains not from the interdicted game, 
 On high, and solemn days; fur great the crime 
 To stain the sacred sheets at such a time. 
 And a;reat the atonement due : — " the silver snake 
 " Abhorrent of the deed, was seen to quake." 
 Yet he propitiates heaven ; back'd by a goose, 
 And a plumb-cake, his tears and prayers induce 
 Osiris, great Osiris, to forgive 
 Th' enormous deed, and let the culprit live. 
 
 His end obtain'd, he vanishes : and straight 
 A Jewess, who, without the city-gale, 
 
 possibly exist: at Rome nothing of this kind was to be found. The snake, I 
 am persuaded, was nothing more than the asp, wreathed round the head of 
 Isis and Osiris, as the well known symbol of eternity : at least, I recollect that 
 when I was in Italy, a bust of the former was found, thus incircled; and waa 
 then thought, by the literati, to give light to this very passage. 
 
 Holyday follows the commentators in supposing that the snake moved its 
 head in sign of reconciliation. I rather think the priests insinuated tliatsuch 
 a miracle had taken place, in sign of anger — and accordingly, we see them 
 proceeding with prayers and tears to the work of propitiation. 
 
 It should be observed, that it is Osiris, and not Isis, who is offended. The 
 bawd (as Juvenal irreverently calls the goddess a few lines above) understood 
 her trade too well, to be seriously hurt at a peccadillo of this kind ; but then it 
 was necessary that her husband should be represented as extremely delicate 
 on the subject — aliter nonfit, Avite, liber ; otherwise, no goose for the priest! 
 
 The goose is not mentioned at random : that bird was usually sacrificed to 
 Isis, and in iigypt constituted the chief food of her priests. The Romans were 
 at first a little scandalized at this treatment of the ancient guardian of their 
 Capitol; but use soon reconciled them to it.
 
 220 
 
 SATIRE VI, JUVENAL. V. S03 — 812. 
 
 Has left her hay, and basket •, pale with fear, 
 
 Enters, and begs a triHe in her ear. 
 
 No common personage ! she knows full well 
 
 The laws of Solyma, and she can tell 
 
 The dark decrees of heaven ; a priestess she, 
 
 An hierarch of the consecrated tree. 
 
 Mov'd by these claims, thus modestly set forth, 
 
 She gives her a kw coins of little worth; 
 
 For Jews are moderate, and, for farthing fees, 
 
 Will sell whatever idle dreams you please. 
 
 Ver. 803. Has left Iter Iiaj/ and basket ;"] The Jews have here the same 
 characteristic symbols they had in the third Satire : their baslcets and their 
 hay. Domitian had laid a heavy poll-tax on these people, and that they 
 might not evade it, they were enjoined, I suppose, not to appear abroad with- 
 out these badges of their condition. To avoid being detected, and insulted by 
 the rabble when thej' entered the cit}-, these poor persecuted wretches laid 
 aside their degrading accompaniments. This accounts for the epithet tremens, 
 which Juvenal applies to this female fortune-teller, who, if she had been dis- 
 covered, would, in spite of her lofty pretensions, have been severely punished 
 for contempt of the imperial regulations. W hat is meant by magna sacerdos 
 a-rboiis, liigh-priestess of the tree, I cannot tell. Probably the Egerian grove, 
 the degradation of which is so indignantly deplored in the third Satire, might, 
 like the Norwood of our metropolis, be frequented by such of the vulgar as 
 were anxious to inquire their fortunes. In that case, some favourite tree might 
 be the place of rendezvotis, and this Betty Squires, the most infallible oracle 
 ofit. 
 
 The conjectures of some of the critics, that Juvenal alludes to the idolatrous 
 propensity of the Jews for worshipjiing in woods; and of others, that he hints 
 at the " gi'ove of oaks by Dodona in Chaonia, which was consecrated to 
 .lupiter," »re alike unfinnided. Of the first he knew nothing; and the second 
 was much too fi\r-fetched for his purpose.
 
 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL. V. 813— 82G. 221 
 
 The prophetess dismissal, a Syrian sage 
 Now enters, and explores the future page, 
 In a dove's reeking entrails; there, he sees 
 A youthful lover, there, rich legacies — 
 For more assurance, then a chick he takes, 
 And in its breast, and in a puppy's, rakes. 
 And sometimes in a child's — O, he will do, 
 What, in another, he'd to deatli pursue ! 
 
 15ut chielly in Chaldeans she believes, 
 Whate'er they say, with reverence she receives, 
 As if from Hammon's secret fount it came : 
 Since Delphi now, if we may credit fame. 
 Gives no responses, and a long, dark night, 
 Conceals the future hour from mortal sight. 
 
 Ver. 8I9. O, he will do, 
 
 What, in another, he'd lo death pursue.'] The scholiast says that 
 this really happened. A'lgnatium Philoaophum sigtii/icat, qiiijiliam Bureee Sora/ti, 
 quam, cum ipsius ad magicam descendisstt hortatn, Neroiii detulit. I do not know 
 his authority for this application. Tacitus, who tells the story of her condem- 
 nation, (Ann. lib. xvi. 32,) and who speaks of tiic testimony of iEgnatius upon 
 the occasion, with cverj' mark of horror; docs not say that he instigated iier 
 to the practices for which she suffered : the anecdote may nevertheless be 
 genuine. Vide Sat. m. v. 174. 
 
 Ver. 824. Since Delphi rww, Sfc.'] When this was written, and indeed long 
 before, oracles were rapidly falhng into contempt. This accounts naturally 
 enough fur their silence, without having recourse to the pious fancies of the 
 earlier Christians, which are evidently groundless. If the oracle of Ju[)iter 
 Ammon survived the rest, as Juvenal says it did, it was probably because, like 
 Voltaire's El Dorado, few, or none, could go to seek it.
 
 900 
 
 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL. V. 827—842. 
 
 Of these the most appiov'd is he, who sent 
 Oftenest to prison, and to banishment, 
 Stands forth the veriest knave; he who foretold 
 The death of Galba, — to his rival sold. 
 Yes, trust him, trust him! he can never fail, 
 Who long has rotted in a loathsome jail ; 
 Who arms yet livid from his chains can show, 
 And a back welk'd with many a beadle's blow. 
 
 No conjurer must for fame, or profit hope, 
 Who has not narrowly escap'd the rope ; 
 Begg'd hard for exile, and, by special grace, 
 Obtain'd confinement in some desert place. — 
 To him thy Tanaqiiil applies, in doubt 
 How long her hectic mother may hold out, 
 But first, how long her husband; next inquires, 
 When she shall follow to their funeral pyres 
 
 Ver. 829 he zoho foretold, ^r.] This was Ptolemy, who ac- 
 companied Olh.o into Spain, and there predicted that he would survive Nero. 
 " From Ills success in this instance," says Tacitus, " he took courage, and 
 yen tu led to predict his elevation to the empire. Otho believed it" or rather 
 affected to believe it, " and from that moment determined to work the de- 
 struction ot Galba." In the dreadful scenes which followed, Ptolemy was a 
 principal actor. 
 
 I have no intention, even if I had room, to give the history of astrolog}-. 
 Suffice it to say, that its professors were alternately banished and recalled, per- 
 secuted and cherished, as the events they predicted were prosperous, or adverse, 
 to the fortunate candidates for power. Tliat they were the occasion of frequent 
 commotions among this ambitious, and credulous people, cannot be doubted; 
 and, indeed, Tacitus says of them with equal truth and spirit genus hominum
 
 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL. V. S43-— SCO. i2S 
 
 Her sisters, and her uncles : last, if fate 
 Will kindly lengthen out the adulterer's date 
 Beyond her own; — content, if he but live, 
 And sure that heaven has nothing more to givcx 
 Yet she may still be sufier'd; for what woes 
 The low'ring aspect of old Saturn shows; 
 Or in what sign bright Venus ought to rise, 
 To shed her mildest influence from the skies ; 
 Or what fore-fated month to gain is given. 
 And what to loss, (tlie mysteries of heaven ! ) 
 She knows not, nor pretends to know ; but Hee 
 The dame, whose Manual of Astrology 
 Still dangles at her side,, smooth as chafed gum, 
 And fretted by her everlasting thumb. 
 Yes, flee her, flee ! profound in mystic lore, 
 She now consults astrologers no more. 
 But is herself consulted : if her mate 
 Prepare to seek, or quit, the parent state, 
 
 poteiitibtis wfidum, Sfc. " They were a pestileot race of impostors, ever ready 
 to poison tlie heart of princes, and stiiiiuiate ambition to its ruin : a setof j)er;i- 
 dious men proscribed by law, and yet in deiiauce of law, tolerated in the heart 
 of the city." Hist. i. 'I'l. 
 
 Ver. 839- To him thy Tanaquil, ^c] So he calls the future spouse of Post- 
 humus. Tanaciuil was the wife of Tarquinius Priscus, " a notable house- 
 wife," Iloiyday says — and (what was more to our author's purpose) if we believe 
 Val. Maximus, a marvellous adept in tiie art of divination. 
 
 ■ Vea* 859, if her mate 
 
 Prepare to seek, ^c] This folly appears to have struck its roots 
 meunceivably deep. Near three centuries after Juvenal's time, we find Amm. 
 MarccUinus characterizing the Romans by it, and almost in the words of our
 
 224 
 
 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL. V. 861—874. 
 
 She will not follow ; she has look'd above, 
 And certain stars forbid her to remove. 
 If sl;e iijcline to take the air, she'll look 
 For the fit hour and minute, in the book ; 
 If her eye itch, most patiently endure, 
 Nor, till her scheme be raised, apply the cure ; 
 Nay, languishing in bed, will touch no meat, 
 Till Petosyris bid her rise and eat. 
 
 The curse is universal ! high and low 
 Are mad alike the future hour to know. 
 The rich provide a Babylonian seer, 
 Skill'd in the mysteries of either sphere ; 
 Or a gray-headed priest, kept by the state. 
 To watch the lightning, and to expiate. 
 
 author. Multi apud eos negantes esse superas potestates in caclo, nee in publico 
 prodeunt, nee pr (indent, nee lavari arbitrantur se caulins posse, antequani tphe- 
 meride serupuluse seiscitata didicerint ubi sitsignuni Mneitrii, Sfc. (Lib. xxvni. 
 cap. iv). Here we have Pope's — " godless regent trembhng at a star." Such 
 are the monstrous inconsistencies of atheism ! 
 
 Ver. 868. Till Petosyris, ^c] Petosyris was a celebrated astrologer. He 
 seems, like our learned Moore, to have allotted particular diseases, and par- 
 ticular stages of life, to the government of particular planets. "Taurus? 
 that's sides and heart. No, sir; it is legs and thighs." See the profound 
 disquisitions of Sir Toby Belch on the subject. 
 
 Ver. 874. To zcatch the lightning, ^c] Hie Romans had many super- 
 stitious notions respecting lightning. It would be a waste of time to enter into 
 them, but, by way of 'explaining the text, it may be neccessary to observe, 
 that whenever a place was struck, a priest was always called in to expiate it. 
 This was done by collecting every thing that had been scorched, and burying 
 in on the spot, with due solemnity. A two-year old sheep was then sacrificed, 
 and the ground slightly railed in — after which, all was supposed to be well.
 
 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL. V. 875—886. 225 
 
 " The middle sort, who have not much to spare," 
 Flock to the Circus' well-known haunts, and there 
 Seek out some common quack, at whose command 
 They lift the forehead, and make bare the hand ; 
 While the sly letcher in the table pries. 
 And clasps it wantonly, with gloating eyes. 
 The poor apply to humbler cheats, who crawl, 
 A filthy group ! along the Circus wall, 
 Or the dry ditch : she who no trinkets wears, 
 (Sad proof of penury !) to the tow'rs repairs, 
 And anxiously inquires, which she shall chuse, 
 The tapster, or old-clothes man ; which refuse. 
 
 Ver. 883. Or the dry ditch: ^c] This ditch, or moatj was for the reception 
 of water, when the emperors thought fit to indulge the people with a naumachia, 
 or sea-fight ; it ran along a considerable part of the Circus wall. The towers, 
 and dolphins' pillars mentioned in the original, were also a part of tlie Circus: 
 the first were for the accommodation of the better order of spectators during 
 the chariot-races; the second, I believe, were purely ornamental; they stood 
 at the two extremities, and had their name from the dolphins which crowned 
 their capitals. This is but a jejune account; it is the fullest, however, my 
 limits will admit: those who wish for more detailed information, may consult 
 such treatises as have been expressly written on the subject ; of which there is 
 no want. 
 
 Tiie hemistich which follows that which I have just quoted — " she who no 
 trinkets wears," qua nullis longum ostcndit ctrvicifjus aurum, has somewhat em- 
 barrassed me. Perhaps (for I can think of no more probable meaning,) th^ 
 poet might intend to point out the general extravagance of 4Jie Roman women, 
 in thus characterising the extremity of indigence amongst ^hem, by the want 
 of a gold necklace. 
 
 Ferrarius takes these inquisitive wenches for courtezans. He did not see 
 that they came. to consult the wizard about marrying. Vossius has a note on
 
 226 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL. V. 887 — 902. 
 
 Yet these the pangs of child-birth undergo, 
 And all the yearnings of a mother know; 
 These, urg'd by want^ assume the nurse's care, 
 And learn to breed the children which they bear. 
 Those shun both toil and danger; for, though sped, 
 The wealthy dame is seldom brought to bed : 
 Such is the power of drugs, such the curs'd skill 
 They boast, to cause miscarriages at will ! 
 Weep'st thou ? O, fool ! the blest invention hail, 
 And give the potion, if the gossips fail ; 
 For should the seed that now distends her womb, 
 Ouicken to life ; — thou, haply, might'st become 
 Sire to an Ethiop ! to a sooty thing. 
 That, seen at morn^ would sure misfortune bring 
 On all the day ; that, got without thy care, 
 The law, in thy despite, will make thy heir ! 
 
 this passage, of such consummate arrogance, and absurdity, that a short extract 
 from it may not be unentertaiiiing : 
 
 " Quae nudis longum ostendit cervicibus annum." 
 Annum reposuimns pro auriim, uti vtt/go inepte legitur, et ineptiits etiamnitm a 
 viris doclis exponitur. Longum nempe annum vocat, quern longum, et tadiosum 
 J'aciatfrigus ; hanc emendationem noslram conjirmant sequentia, ubi muliercula 
 ista quterit num rectius fad ura sit, si, caupone relicto,7iubat negotiatori sagario, 
 qui nempe frigus arceat. Not. ad Catull. 
 
 Ver. 900. That, seen at morn, ^e.] Another absurd superstition of the 
 Romans. Vetus opinio (says Dempster in his notes on Claudian) non tantun 
 vulgo approbata occursu Mthiopis, iter inceptum reddi infaustum. If this hap- 
 pened in a morning, not only the walk, but the whole business of tiie day, was 
 superseded and ruined !
 
 SATiuE VI. JUVENAL. V. 903—910. 227 
 
 Supposititious breeds, the Iiope and joy 
 Of fond believing husbands, I pass by; 
 The beggars' bantUngs, spawn'd in open air. 
 And lelt by some pond side, to perish there — 
 From hence your Flamens, hence your Salians come; 
 Your Scauri, and your noblest blood of Rome ! 
 Fortune stands tittering by, in playful mood, 
 And smiles complacent on the sprawling brood ; 
 
 Ver. 909. Fortune, <S|C.] Fortune^ I think, is the only one of the old rabble 
 of divinities that we have adopted. She still retains her ancient attributes, 
 and is spoken of at this hour, much as she was two thousand years ago ; some- 
 times as a person, and sometimes as a quality ; as something, in short, which 
 every one can conceive, and no one define. Fortune is for all the world like 
 Bottom's dream, " man is but an ass if he go about to expound her, — man is 
 but a patched fool if he will ofier to say what she is :" yet hath Mr. Spence 
 attempted it! Though his entertaining work shows no great learning, or 
 reach of thought in general, yet I cannot but think him particularly inef- 
 ficient in what he says of Fortune. In speaking of this line, — stat Fortuita iin- 
 proba noctu, he adds, " that Juvenal alludes to a statue of Fortune, which 
 represented her under a good character, as the patroness of poor infants." 
 Juvenal alludes to no statue, but to the goddess \ie\%e\i in propria persona, nox 
 does he represent her under a good character. — But Mr. Spence goes on — 
 " the distinction of the bona and mala Fortuna is very necessary for the ex- 
 planation of the passage: the lady stands like Fortune in the streets, (not the 
 good Fortune, but the very bad one), and gets up all the children she can, to 
 introduce them into the family, and boast of them as her own." In this 
 washer-woman's language does he mangle, and confound, one of the most 
 amusing and animated pictures, that a keen and vigorous fancy ever drew ! 
 
 But why must it be a hidy, and not Fortune herself, that is engaged in 
 getting up children? O, for a very excellent reason, because " improha is ap- 
 plied to her, and the action itself, is a good one !" Not to reply that what is 
 good for the one, could not be bad for the other, it seems very strange that 
 Mr. Spence should be ignoraut of the meaning of impruba in this place. He
 
 228 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL, v. 911— 930. 
 
 Takes them all naked to her fostering arms, 
 Feeds from her mouth, and in her bosom warms : 
 Then to the mansions of the great she bears 
 The precious brats, and for herself prepares 
 A secret farce ; adopts them for her own : 
 And when her nurselings are to manhood grown, 
 She brings them forth, rejoiced to see them sped, 
 And wealth and honours dropping on their head. 
 
 Some purchase charms, some, more pernicious still, 
 Curs'd philters, to subdue a husband's will 
 Entirely to their lusts ! and make him bear, 
 Blows, insults, all a saucy wife can dare; 
 From hence proceeds that dizziness, from hence, 
 Those vapours which envelop every sense; 
 That strange forgetfuhiess from hour to hour; 
 And well if this be all : — more fatal power, 
 More terrible effects, the dose may have, 
 And force thee, like Caligula, to rave, 
 When his Caesonia squeez'd into the bowl 
 The dire excrescence of a new-dropt foal. 
 
 renders it bad ; but it signifies what we call, unlucky, i. e^ delighting in 
 sportive mischief. Some of the commentators explain it by slolida, stupid! 
 Can the reader find any thing stupid m the business in which Tortunc is so 
 actively engaged ? 
 
 Ver. 930. The dire excrescence of a new-dropt foal.} This excrescence, 
 Holyday says, " is a tender piece of flesh, growing on the brow of a young 
 foal." Dryden calls it " mother's love," which, I take for gra\ited, \i its true 
 English name; as he was very well acquainted with those trifles. 
 
 How the critics, and Holyday among the rest, could suppose for a mortient.
 
 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL. V. 931—938. 229 
 
 Then uproar rose ; the universal chain 
 
 Of order snapp'd, and Anarchy's wild reign 
 
 Came on apace, as if the queen of heaven 
 
 Had fired the Thunderer, and to madness driven. — 
 
 Thy mushroom, Agrippine! was innocent 
 
 To this accursed draught; that only sent 
 
 One palsied, bed-rid sot, with gummy eyes, 
 
 And slavering lips, heels foremost to the skies ; 
 
 that, in this fine passage, Juvenal alluded to the effect produced on Jupiter, by 
 the borrowed cestus of Venus, I cannot imagine. I will not take upon myself 
 to defend the taste of our author in every instance: — but if we only allow him 
 common sense, it must surely be more than enough, to keep him from such an 
 absurd application of one of the most beautiful allegories in ail poetry. I know 
 but little mischief that was produced by Juno's charming philter, more than 
 procuring a few Trojans to be knocked on the head. What has this then, to 
 do with the frantic and wide-spreading massacres of a Caligula ! massacres 
 which appear to have made so powerful an impression on the poet, that he can 
 think of nothing to ilhistrate them by, but the universal destruction tliat must 
 have ensued if Juno, like Caesoaia, had driven her husband mad! 
 
 Ver. 935. Thy mushroom, Agrippine ! <?>•<;.] We have already seen (Sat. v.) 
 that Claudius was poisoned by a mushroom, his favourite food. " It was pre- 
 pared," Tacitus says, by Locusta (Sat. i. v. 118)" and given to him when lie 
 was either hsvlf stupid, or half asleep" — most likely both — " so that he did not 
 perceive it had any ill taste." For the rest, Juvenal's description of tliis moon- 
 calf, is confirmed, in every part, by Suetonius. liims indecent, ira turpior, 
 spitmaiite rictu, huiaentibuH naribus, caputque ciimscmpcr, turn iii (juatUu/ocuni/jiie 
 aclii vel maxime tremiiliim, §. 30. To make the poor creature some amends 
 for poisoning him, they made a god of him, out of hand; and the facetious 
 Nero, who profited by his apotheosis, used ever after, in allusion to the event, 
 to call mushrooms, Qpufd.x ^tuv, the food of the gods! 
 
 But there was no end to the pleasantries of the Romans on this descent of 
 Claudius into heaven ! Seneca's play upon the word KVo^MxroKm is well known.
 
 230 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL, v. 939—960. 
 
 This, to wild fury rous'd a bloody mind, 
 And call'd for fire and sword; this potion join'd, 
 In one promiscuous slaughter, high and low. 
 And levell'd half the nation at a blow. 
 Such is the power of philters ! such the ill 
 One sorceress can effect by wicked skill ! 
 
 They hate theLi- husband's spurious breed ; and this, 
 If this were all, were not, perhaps, amiss: 
 But they go farther; and 'tis now some time, 
 Since poisoning sons-in-law was held no crime. 
 Mark then, ye fatherless ! what I advise, 
 And trust, O, trust no dainties, if you're wise: 
 Ye heirs to large estates ! touch not that fare. 
 Your mother's fingers have been busy there ; 
 See ! it looks livid, swoll'n. — O check your haste. 
 And let your wary foster-father taste 
 Whate'er she sets before you : fear her meat, 
 And be the first to look, the last to eat. 
 
 But this is fiction all ! I pass the bound 
 Of Satire, and incroach on tragic ground: 
 Deserting truth, I choose a fabled theme. 
 And, like the buskin'd bards of Greece, declaim 
 
 Gallio, his brother too, is celebrated for a joke on the subject ; which seems to 
 have pleased Dio, and is, indeed, far from a bad one. AUuding to the hooks 
 with which criminals were dragged from the place of execution to the Tiber, 
 and of which by far too many instances occurred under Claudius, he obsen'ed 
 that he was " hooked to Heaven." — KXxvSioii uyMrpun rovsfxvov uHvej(^^nv»il
 
 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL. V. 901— 9G6. 231 
 
 In deep-mouth'd tones, in swelling strains, on crimes 
 
 As yet unknown to our Rutulian climes. 
 
 Would it were so! but Pontia cries aloud, 
 
 " No, I perform'd it." seel the fact's avow'd — 
 
 " I mingled poison for my cljildren, I : 
 
 " 'Twas found upon me, wherefore then deny ?" 
 
 Ver. 963. Would it were so! but Pontia cries aloud, ^c] Here again the 
 ancient objectors to the truth of our author's statements imagined, perhaps, 
 like the modern, that tliey had taken him at a disadvantage; but he was pre- 
 pared for them. The story of Pontia, wiiich he produces as his justification, 
 was well known at Rome. Indeed, it so happens, that tliere sverc two monsters 
 of that name, and tiiat the history of either would have answered his purpose. 
 The first was the wife of Vectius Bolanus, a man of high rank and estimation, 
 who gave her two children (they were twins) poison in tlie time of Nero. 
 Parrhasius, Holyday says, seems to make it but an attempt in her. If he had 
 read Statins with his woflted care, he would have seen that Parrhasius was 
 right; for the Protrepticon of that poet is addiesscd to one of these children, 
 who at the time he wrote, which was in the beginning of Domitian's reign, was 
 still a mere youth. 
 
 The scholiast says the mother was put to death by Nero ; this is doubtful. 
 Statius, whose authority is moie to be relied on, seems to say it was by Domi- 
 tian : — at least, those adulatory lines appear to be meant of him, 
 " Exegit painas, hominum cui cura suorum, 
 " Quo pietas authore redit, terrasque revisit, 
 " Quern timet omne nefas" Protrep. S^l. v. 
 
 The other Pontia, to whom Juvenal more particularly alludes, was the wife 
 of Drymo; whose family took care to perpetuate her crime by the following 
 inscription (which we owe to Grangaeus, not, as Holyday thinks, to Pithajus) 
 on her tomb. Pontia Tixi Pontii filia iieic sua sum qu;e duobus 
 
 NATIS A ME VENENO CONSUMPTIS AVARITIJE OPUS MISERE MIHI MORTEM 
 CONSCTVI Tu gUISQUIS ES QUI HAC TRANSIS SI PIUS ES QU.T.SO A ME 
 
 ocuLos AVERTE. It is uot Unprofitable to remark, that tiiis wretched woman 
 was diiven to escape, by self-murder, from the reproaches of her own con-
 
 232 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL, v. 967—986. 
 
 What, two at once, most barbarous viper! two? 
 
 " Nay, sev'n, had sev'n been there ; what's here to do !" 
 
 Now let us credit wiiat the ancient stage. 
 Abhorrent, sung of fierce Medea's rage, 
 And Progne's; tales, which, disbeliev'd before, 
 Now grow familiar, and revolt no more. 
 These, in their days, in infamy were bold, 
 And acted monstrous crimes, but not for gold. 
 In every age we view with less surprise, 
 Less horror, such enormities as rise 
 From gusts of passion, which unseat the soul. 
 And rage and swell, indignant of controul. — 
 As when impetuous winds, and driving rain, 
 Have rain'd a rock, that overhung the plain, 
 The massy ruin falls with thundering force, 
 And bears down all that interrupts its course. 
 
 Curse on the woman who reflects by fits^ 
 And in cold blood her cruelties commits ! — 
 They see, upon the stage, the Grecian wife 
 Redeeming, with her own, her husband's life ; 
 
 science. To this Pontia, 1 suppose. Martial addressed the following witty 
 epigram — though it would serve equally well for the other : 
 
 " Cum mittis turdumve mihi, quadramve placentae, 
 
 " Sive femur leporis, sive quid his simile ; 
 *' Buccellas misisse luas te, Pontia, dicis. 
 
 " Has ego nee mittam, Pontia, sed nee edam." Lib. vi. 75. 
 Ver. 985. Thci/ see upon the stage, the Grecian wife, ^c] The Grecian 
 wife was Alceste, who voluntarily submiUed to die, to preserve the life of her 
 husband Admetus, king of Thessaly. Euripides has a tragedy on the subject.
 
 SATIRE VI. JUVENAL. V. 987 — 998. 233 
 
 Yet, in her place, would eagerly deprive 
 Their lords of breath, to keep their dogs alive! 
 
 Abroad, at home, the Belides you meet, 
 And Ciytemnestras swarm in every street ; 
 But here the difference lies ; — those bungling wives, 
 With a blunt axe hack'd out their husbands lives: 
 While now, the deed is done with dextrous art, 
 And a drugg'd bowl performs the axe's part. 
 Yet if the husband, prescient of his fate, 
 Have fortified his breast with mithridate, 
 She baffles him e'en there, and has recourse 
 To the old weapon, for a last resource. 
 
 Veu. 989. the Belides, ^r.] The Belides, as every one knows, 
 
 were the daughters of Danaus ; they were fifty in numher, and were married, 
 on the same day, to the fifty sons of their uncle ^gyptus, all of whom, except 
 one, they murdered at night. Clytemnestra had more patience ; she waited 
 several years before she dispatched Agamemnon. There is another lady men- 
 tioned in the text, but I spare her, on account of her singular humanity — she 
 only sent her husband to be killed, and that, too, for value received. 
 
 Hh
 
 SATIRE VII. 
 
 This Satire contains an animated account oj the general discouragement 
 under whicli Literature laboured at Rome. Begiiining mtk Poetry (of 
 which several i)ileresting circumstances are inlrodiiccc^ it proceeds tylth 
 great regularity through, the various departments of History, Law, 
 Oratory, Rhetoric, and Grammar : interspersing many curious anec- 
 dotes, and enlivening each dijfferent head with such satirical, humourous, 
 and sentimental remarks, as naturally Jlow from the subject.
 
 SATIRE VII. 
 
 TO TELESINUS. 
 
 V. 1—6. 
 
 Y Es, all the hopes of learning, 'tis confest, 
 And all the patronage, on C^sar rest : 
 For he alone the drooping Nine regards — 
 Now, when our best and most illustrious bards, 
 Drop their ungrateful studies, and aspire 
 Baths, bagnios, what they can, for bread, to hire; 
 
 Ver. 2. ^nd all the patronage on C;esar rest ;] There have been many dis- 
 putes among the learned concerning the Caesar, wlio is here styled the sole 
 patron of the arts. Granga-us will have it to be Trajan, and warns his readers 
 to be careful how ihcy understand it of Uomitian. Britannicus does the same; 
 and quotes a very apposite passage from the Panegyrics of Pliny in support 
 of his opinion. Some will have it to be Nerva ; who, though a poet himself, 
 was little disposed to patronize poetry in others; and others, again, Nero. 
 Lubin, however, and Graevius, et quorum niclior senlentia, understand it of 
 Domitian ; of which, indeed, I have not the slightest doubt. 
 
 This excellent prince, it appears, had once an idea of contesting the empire 
 with his father : finding the armies, however, averse from his designs, he re- 
 tired from all public business, and, with a specious appearance of content, 
 lived in a kind of solitude; pretending that poetry, and literary pursuits in
 
 238 SATIRE VII. JUVENAL, v. 7—8. 
 
 With humbled views, a Hfe of toil embrace, 
 And deem a cryer's business no disgrace ; 
 
 geueral were his only passion.* This mask he continued to wear during the 
 reign of Titus; and whether habit had begot a kind of nature, or that he 
 thought it dangerous to lay aside the hypocrite too soon, I know not; but 
 from one or other of these causes, he certainly patronized the arts at his ac- 
 cession : Quintilian, Statins, Valerius Fiaccus, Martial, Sec. tasted of his 
 bounty, and sang his praises with more gratitude, perhaps, than truth. 
 
 This Satire must have been written in the early part of Domitian's reign. 
 Like the fifth and si.xth (both of which were somewhat posterior to it) it has 
 few political allusions, and, with the exception of the short passage, for which 
 our author is supposed to have suffered, might have been pubhshed under the 
 most inquisitorial tyranny. 
 
 In giving " one honest line" of praise to Domitian, Juvenal, probably, meant 
 to stimulate him to extend his patronage. I am persuaded ho did not think 
 
 * The attachment of the emperor to Minerva, is frequently noticed by 
 Juvenal's contemporaries. Thus Martial, in that most detestable medley of 
 flattery and impiety, (lib. ix. iv.) 
 
 " Pallada prajtereo ; res agit ilia tuas." 
 
 Whether the goddess took as much pleasure in hini, as he professed to do 
 in her, I cannot sav ; but, according to the custom of the emperors in select- 
 ing some favourite deity for their especial worship, he made choice, as 1 have 
 said, of Minerva. In Keger's Numismala, a Pallas frequently accompanies 
 Domitian on the reverse of his coins: and on one of them (lab. xxxii. 4,) 
 he appears in the act of sacrificing to her, with his head veiled, in the usual 
 manner. There is little doubt, I think, but that these representations allude to 
 some former attachment of his to the cause of literature: at all events, this 
 strengthens the opinion I have hazarded above, that, the poet means to speak 
 of the early part of Domitian's reign. 
 
 I'hat he afterwards changed his sentiments, and fell suddenly upon the men 
 of letters is certain: but this may readily be accounted lor, from the nature of 
 the man, which was at once crafty and violent. Thus he is represented by 
 Xiphil. in the beginning of lib. lxvu. 
 
 Aoj(AiTia>o? Si nv iJ.iv x«i S'/jairuf xat opyiXoj, tiv Si xai £5riE«Ai!f x«i xpuvl/ii/ac' 
 wo-Tf a^' tKaripuv run y-iv to -rrfOTrirti;^ ruu Ss to So?aov t^uv, iroKKx [/.(u uj cxriTrJcf 
 •^£u; ciAirtTrluv TKrii-. sXv[AxiviTo, ttoXA* ^£ xai £x notpxfKiwf tKOMnpyet.
 
 1 
 
 SATIRE VII. JUVENAL. V. 9 — 23. 239 
 
 Since Clio, driven by hunger from the shade, 
 Mixes ill crowds, and bustles for a trade. 
 
 And truly, if (the bard's too frequent curse) 
 No coin be found in thy Pierian purse, 
 'Twere not ill done to copy, for the nonce, 
 Machaera, and turn auctioneer at once. 
 Hie, my poetic friend ; in accents loud, 
 Commend thy precious lumber to the crowd, 
 Tubs, presses, chests, joint-stools ; swell with the praise 
 Of CEdipus and Tereus, the damn'd plays 
 Of Faustus, Paccius, and such sots as these ! 
 Better do so, than haunt the courts, and deal 
 In oaths, and informations, for a meal : 
 Leave that resource to Cappadocian knights. 
 To Gallo-Greeks, and such new-fiingled wights 
 
 very ill of him at this time^ and that he augured happily for the future. Nor 
 is it certain, imt that the anguish he felt at finding his predictions falsified, and 
 his " sole patron of literature" changed, in a few years, into a ferocious and 
 bloody persecutor of all the arts, might have exasperated his resentment, and 
 produced that superior hatred, with which he pursues his memory. 
 
 Vek. ly. Of Faustus, Paccius, S^cJ] For Paccius some copies have Bacchus. 
 It signifies little which we read, for nothing is known of either. Their works 
 luckily followed — it may be, preceded, them ; or, according to the happy 
 expression of a lady, lamenting the premature fate of her infant. 
 Their babes, which ne'er received the gift of breath. 
 Did pass before them, through the gates of death ! 
 Ver. 2C. Leave that resource to Cappadocian knights, 4'c.] Who has not 
 heard of the three kappas ? 
 
 ■ rpia xazTsra xMxira, 
 
 Kji»iT£f, KacnrCTaJoxffj KiAixc;.
 
 240 
 
 SATIRE VII. JUVENAL. V. 24—43 
 
 As want, or infamy has chas'd from home, 
 And driven, in bare-foot multitudes, to Rome. 
 
 But come, my youths ; — the genuine sons of rhyme, 
 Wlio in sweet numbers couch the true subhme, 
 Sliali, from this hour, no more their fate accuse, 
 Or stoop to pains unworthy of the Muse. 
 Come then, my youths ; your tuneful labours ply, 
 Secure of favour ; lo ! the imperial eye 
 Looks round, attentive, on each rising bard, 
 For worth to praise, for genius to reward. 
 But if for other patronage you look, 
 And therefore write, and therefore swell your book, 
 Quick, call for wood, and let the flames devour 
 The hapless produce of the studious hour; 
 Or lock it up, to moths and worms a prey, 
 And break your pens, and fling your ink away : — 
 Or pour it rather o'er your epic flights. 
 Your battles, sieges, (fruits of sleepless nights ;) 
 Pour it, mistaken men, who rack your brains 
 In garrets, cocklofts, for heroic strains ; 
 
 There is a curious circumstance respecting the Cappadocians mentioned by 
 the old scholiast on Persius. It is nothing to the purpose for which it is there 
 produced ; but it serves well enough to illustrate the passage before us. Hoc 
 dicit, quia Cappadoces dicerentiir habere studium naturale ad faha testimonia 
 prqferenda ; qui nutrili in tormentis a pueritia — cum in paina perduiarenf, ad 
 perjuria se bene venundarent. Tlie same character, according to Cicero, might 
 be justly given of all the people of Lesser Asia. It is singular, however, that 
 with such numbers contending for the preference of selling their evidence, 
 any of them should get rich.
 
 SATIHE vn. JUVENAL, v. 44— 56. 241 
 
 Who toil and sweat to purchase mere renown. 
 And a starv'd statue, with an ivy crown ! 
 
 Here bound your expectations : for the great, 
 Grown covetous, have wisely learn'd of late, 
 To praise, and only praise, the high-wrought strain, 
 As boys, the bird of Juno's glittering train. 
 Meanwhile those vigorous years, so fit to bear 
 The toils of agriculture, commerce, war. 
 Spent in this idle trade, decline apace. 
 And age, unthought of,, stares you in the face: 
 Then you look round, and finding, to your cost, 
 Nought but sweet strains, and nakedness to boast. 
 You curse die Muses, but yourselves the most. 
 
 Ver. 45. And a starv'd statue, with an ivi/ crown .'] I do not know whether 
 the starved statue with which Juvenal tlircatens his poet, aHudes to the custom 
 of erecting statues to all such as distinguished themselves; or to the busts ol" 
 celebrated writers, which were sometimes placed, together with their works, 
 in the temple of the Pidaline Apollo. 
 
 I'he old scholiast is pleased, but without knowing it, to be witty at tlie poor 
 poet's expense. Imagine macru, he thus explains, corpore exili propter vii^ilias; 
 quia poelcc sic pinguntur quasi ad summam macicin iiiinio labore (et inedia, he 
 should have added) confecii. But Juvenal had no such " lenten slulV" in iiis 
 thoughts ; he merely meant to say that his poet was in the condition of one 
 described by Aristophanes, — ■ 
 
 'Lrtipai/Qv fAiv t/^wf, <?t4"i <J' airoAwAwf. 
 Ver. 48. To praise, and only praise, ^c.J This is prettily imitated by 
 Spenser in the Shepherd's Calendar. What signifies it, says he, to receive no 
 other recompense than applause ? 
 
 " So praisen bab(«s the peacock's spotted train 
 
 " And wondren at bright xVrgu.s' blazing eye; 
 " But who rewards him e'er the more, forlhy, 
 " Or feeds him once the fuller by a grain?" 
 li
 
 242 SATIRE VII. JUVENAL, v.57— 6«. 
 
 Hear now what sneaking ways our patrons find 
 To save their darHng gold ; — they pay in kind ! 
 Verses, compos'd in every Muse's spite, 
 To the starv'd bard they, in their turn, recite; 
 And if they yield to Homer, let him know 
 "Tis — that he liv'd a thousand years ago. 
 But, if inspir'd with genuine love of fame, 
 A dry rehearsal, only, be your aim. 
 The generous miser will not fail to lend 
 His house, his castle rather, to a friend, 
 
 Ver. 57. Hear now rvhat sneaking ways, 5fc.] 
 
 " Discite pro numeris numeros sperare, poetaj, 
 
 " Mutare est animus carmina, non emere." Fet, Epig. 
 
 There is a very good story told by Macrobius, which will not be much out of 
 the way here. A Greek poet had presented Augustus Caesar with many little 
 compliments, in hopes of some trifling remuneration. The emperor, who 
 found them worth nothing, took no notice of the poor man ; but as he persisted 
 in offering him his complimentary verses, composed himself an epigram in 
 praise of the poet ; and when he next waited on him with his customary 
 panegyric, presented his own to him with amazing gravity. The man took, 
 and read it with apparent satisfaction ; then putting his hand into his pocket, 
 he dehberately drew out two farthings, and gave them to the Emperor, saying, 
 » x»rx Tnv Tvy^tiv, u o-tSorrf i! vXiiovx tt^ov, vrXnot/ix. xv x«i t^ifw. " This i» 
 not equal to the demands of your situation, Sire ; but 'tis all I have : if I had 
 more I would give it to you." Augustus, who was not an ill-natured man, 
 could not stand this; he burst into a fit of laughter, and, as Macrobius sa3's, 
 made the poet a handsome present. 
 
 Tlie Bufo of Pope is shadowed out in part from this animated passage: 
 '' Till grown more frugal in his riper days, 
 " He paid some bards with port, and some with praise; 
 " To some a dry rehearsal was assign'd, 
 " And others, harder still! he paid in kind."
 
 SATIRE VII. JUVENAL. V. C7— 88. 543 
 
 Where every door, secur'd by iron plates, 
 
 Is watch'd, like a beleagur'd city's gates. 
 
 Nay, he will do e'en more ; dispose with care 
 
 His clients and his freedmen, here and there, 
 
 Through the throng'd benches to support your cause, 
 
 And rouse the tardy audience to applause : — 
 
 But will not spare one farthing, to defray 
 
 The numerous charges of this glorious day, 
 
 The rostrum, where with so much pride you sat, 
 
 The beams, and scaffolds, and I know not what. 
 
 Still we persist', plough the light sand, and sow 
 
 Seed after seed, where none can ever grow : 
 
 Nay, should we, conscious of our fruitless pain, 
 
 Strive to escape, we strive, alas ! in vain ; 
 
 Long habit, and the thirst of praise, beset 
 
 And close us in the inextricable net. 
 
 Th' insatiate itch of scribbling, hateful pest ! 
 
 Creeps, like a tetter, through the human breast. 
 
 Nor knows, nor hopes a cure ; since years, which chill 
 
 AH other passions, fire this growing ill. 
 
 But HE, the bard of every age and clime, 
 Of genius fruitful, and of soul sublime, 
 
 Ver. 73. But will not f pare one farthing, &)C.'\ I have little doubt but that if 
 we were better acquainted with liie literary history of Juvenal's time, we 
 should find most of his allusions to be founded on fact. I could almost venture 
 to affirm, ijiat in tlie little narrative here produced, he had Saleius Bassus in 
 view: — at least, manj' of the circumstances correspond witii what Taoitus de- 
 livers of him in the Dial, de Oratoribus : Versus Basso domi nascutitur pulchri
 
 •44 SATIRE vii. JUVENAL, v. 89— lOG. 
 
 Who, from the glowuig mint of fancy, pours 
 
 No spurious metal, fus'd from common ores, 
 
 But gold, to matchless purity refined, 
 
 And stamp'd with all the god-head in his mind ; 
 
 He whom I feel, but have not power to paint, 
 
 Springs from a breast impatient of restraint, 
 
 And free from every care; a breast that loves 
 
 The Muses' haunts, clear springs, and shady groves. 
 
 Never, no never, did he wildly rave. 
 
 And shake his thyrsus in the Aonian cave, 
 
 Whom poverty kept sober, and the cries 
 
 Of a lean stomach, clamorous for supplies: 
 
 No ; the wine circled briskly through the veins 
 
 Of Horace, when he pour'd his dithyrambic strains ! 
 
 What room for fancy, say ; unless the mind, 
 
 And all its thoughts, to poetry resign'd, 
 
 Be hurried with resistless force along, 
 
 By the two kindred Powers of wine and song ! 
 
 fjiiidem et juciindi, quorum tamen hie exitus est, ut cum tola anno, per omnes 
 dies, magna noctium parte, iiuum librum eitudit, rogare ultro et ambire cogatur, 
 ut sint qui dignentur audire : et ne id quidem gratis, nam et domurn mutuatur, 
 et auditorium extruit, et subsellia conducit, etc. §. g. 
 
 Ver. 103. JV/tat room for fancy, say ; ^c] Spenser had this passage ia 
 his thoughts, when he wrote the following noble lines: 
 
 " The vaunted lays a vacant head demand; 
 
 " Ne wont with crabbed care the Muses dwell, 
 
 " Unwise'y weaves, that takes two webs in hand. 
 " Who ever casts to compass weighty prize, 
 
 " Let pour in lavish cups, and generous meat.
 
 SATIRE VII. JUVENAL. V. 107— 112. 245 
 
 O ! 'tis the exclusive business of a breast 
 Impetuous, uncontroll'd, not one distrest 
 About a rug at night, to paint th' abodes. 
 The steeds, the chariots, and the forms of Gods; 
 And the fierce Fury, as her snakes she shook, 
 And wither'd the RutuHan with a look. — 
 
 " For Bacchus' fruit is friend to Phoebus wise ; 
 
 " And when with wine the brain begins to sweat, 
 
 " The numbers flow as fast as spring doth rise. 
 
 " Thou kenst not, Percie, how tlie rime should rage, 
 
 " O if my temples were distain'd with wine: — 
 
 " How I would rear the Muse on stately stage, 
 
 " And teach her tread aloft in buskins fine^ 
 
 " With quaint Bellona in her equipage !'• Eel. x. 
 
 Ver. 109. ■ to paint th' abodes, 
 
 The steeds, the chariots, and the forms of gods ,] In these and the 
 following lines Juvenal alludes to various passages in Virgil, but chiefly to 
 these two : 
 
 " Jam summas arces Tritonia (respice) Pallas 
 
 " Insedit, nimbo eftulgens et Gorgone sa;va. 
 
 " Ipse pater Danais animos viresque secundas 
 
 " Sufficit; ipse deos in Dardana suscitat arma. — 
 
 " Apparent diraa I'acies, inimicaque Trojte 
 
 " Numina magna Deum." 
 
 " TalibuB Alecto diclis exarsit in iras. 
 
 " At Juveni oranti subitus tremor occupat artus; 
 
 " Diriguere -oculi ; tot Erinnys sibilut hydris, 
 
 " Tantaque ee facies aperit:" 8cc. 
 These are good specimens of the sublime, especially the first ; yet I cannot 
 but think our author might have found in the compass of Latin poetry, some- 
 tiiing more to his purpose; but he was evidently partial to Virgil: no great 
 impeachment of his taste, by the way. Horace has a quotation from Enniusof 
 much force and subhmity; and Lucretius (who had also his Mxcenas) would
 
 546 
 
 SATIRE vn. JUVENAL, v. 113— ISO. 
 
 Those snakes, had Virgil no Maecenas found, 
 Had dropt, in listless lengdi, upon the ground ; 
 And the loud trump, that rous'd the world to arms, 
 Languish'd in silence, guiltless of alarms. 
 Yet we expect from Lappa's tragic rage. 
 Such scenes as graced of old the Athenian stage: 
 Though he, poor man ! from hand to mouth be fed, 
 And driv'n to pawn his furniture for bread ! 
 
 When Numitor is ask'd to serve a friend, 
 " He cannot, he is poor:" yet he can send 
 Rich presents to his mistress ; he can buy 
 Tame lions, and find means to keep them high: 
 What then ? the beasts are still the lightest charge ; 
 For your starv'd bards have maws so devihsh large ! 
 
 Stretch'd in his marble palace at his ease, 
 Lucan may write, and only ask your praise ; 
 But what is this, if this be all you give, 
 To Bassus and Serranus? they must live! 
 
 have supplied him, I think, with examples of greater fire and animatioH than 
 those he has selected ; but Lucretius was doomed to misfortune : his contem- 
 poraries neither saw his beauties, nor his defects; and succeeding writers, if 
 they did not entirely neglect, plundered him, and were silent. His philosophy 
 ruined his poetry in the eyes of the Romans. 
 
 Ver. ISO. To Bassus and Serranus'? ^"c] Bassris is spoken of in the Dial, 
 de Orat. (see note on v. 73,) as a most excellent poet (absohilksimum poetam, 
 %. 5,) and a worthy man. I take him to be the person alluded to in v. 86 ; as 
 Quintilian, after observing that he had a fervid genras, adds, that the warmth 
 of it was not repressed by age, ncc ipsum (ingenium) seuectus maturavit, 
 Tacitus, who was evidently attached to him, introduces him again (^. 9,) to 
 shew thatj notwithstanding his acknowledged merit, he was scandalously
 
 SATIRE VII. JUVENAL. V 131—132. 2A1 
 
 When Statius fix'd a morning to recite 
 His Tliebaid to the town, with what dehght 
 
 neglected. Once, indeed, it appears from the same authority, he received a 
 present of five hundred sesterces from Vespasian, (a prodigious effort of gene- 
 rosity in that frugal prince,) and this was sufficient to make Domitian neglect 
 him ; for he was not over fond of imitating his father. 
 
 I can find nothing of Serranus, but that he was very much in debt to one 
 Afer. Mart. Lib. iv. 37. 
 
 Veu. 131. IVhai Statius, &c.'] " Juvenal," says Doctor Warton (Pope's 
 Works, Vol. IV. p. 202,) " in a well known passage, laughs at Statius re- 
 citing his Thebaid !" This is (at best) hastily said ; but something to the same 
 effect, has been asserted by others. Gevartius observes, in his notes on Statias, 
 that Martial and this poet were on ill terms: this, I am afraid, is too true: 
 now, says llenninius, as Juvenal was extremely attached to Martial, it is pro- 
 bable that he took up the quarrel, and gave his enemy a rub in transitu. I 
 doubt this extreme attachment: that they were friends is certain ; but surely 
 not sufficiently so, to induce either of them to embrace the unjust prejudices 
 of the other. Afterwards, indeed, the gross flattery which Statius continued 
 to heap upon Domitian might, and probably did, contribute to alienate our 
 author from him ; but at the time this Satire was written, and when there is 
 reason to suppose that Statius himself was no great favourite, he could have 
 had no possible cause for his displeasure. On the most careful perusal of the 
 passage, I can see nothing like a tendency to laughter, but rather to pity. 
 Public recitation, if not highly honourable, was yet exceedingly common; 
 and, if the short history of our author's life may be credited, was frequently 
 practiced by himself. 
 
 If there be any thing which can be construed into a sneer in any part of this 
 passage, (which yet I do not suspect) it may be levelled at the singular fond- 
 ness of Statius for reciting; joined, as it seems to me, with a certain degree 
 of vanity at the respectability of his audiences, and the effect his poetry 
 usually had upon them. In the Epicedion on his father, he says very 
 beautifully, 
 
 " Qualis eras, Latios quoties ego carmine patrf.s 
 " Mulccrcm, fclixque tui spectator adesses
 
 548 SATIRE VII. JUVENAL, v. 133— 13S. 
 
 They flock'd to hear ! with what fond rapture hung 
 On the sweet strains, made sweeter by his tongue ! 
 Yet, while the seats crack'd with a general peal 
 Of boisterous praise, the bard had lack'd a meal, 
 Unless with Paris he had better sped. 
 And truck'd a virgin tragedy for bread. 
 
 " Muneris : heu quail confusus gaudia fletu 
 " Vota, piosque nietus inter, la;tumque pudoiem! 
 " Quam tuus ille dies, qua nou mihi gloria major." Sj/l. v. 215. 
 and in the Protrepticon to young Crispinus, where he laments that he shall 
 not have him at his readings, &,c. 
 
 " Hei mihi ! sed coetus solitos si forte ciebo, 
 " Et mea Romulei venient ad carmina patres, 
 " Tu deeds, Crispine, mihi, cuneosque per omnes 
 " Te mens absentem circumspeclabiL Achilles." 
 For catus some copies have quastus; because, says Gronoviiis, Papinius ex- 
 tercitatione (read recitalione ) pocmatum victum quarebat. I suppose he was 
 encouraged to these frequent rehearsals by the sweetness of his voice ; which 
 is noticed, as we see, by Juvenal, and again by the old scholiast. Est enim, 
 as he truly observes, ctpoema (Tlieba'is) ipsumdelectabile, et ipse dicitur bonam 
 vocein habuisse. 
 
 Ver. 137. Unless with Paris he had better sped, ^c] For Paris, see Sat. 
 VI, V. 94. He here appears as the dispenser of t!ic imperial favours; but such 
 is the capricious nature of tyranny, and so unsteady is the tenure of its attach- 
 ment, that not long after the publication of this Satire, he was seized and 
 put to death in a fit of jealousy, by the very man over whom his influence was 
 at this moment unbounded! 
 
 It is probable that Domilian, with the usual versatility of t_yrants, repented 
 of the fact as soon as he had committed it; for Martial has a very good epitaph 
 on Paris, which he would not have ventured to write if the emperor's dis- 
 pleasure had continued. It is in his eleventh book ; whicii, though published 
 after Domitian's deatli, was principally composed, 1 believe, during his 
 reign.
 
 SATIRE VII. JUVENAL. V. 139 — 1-10. 249 
 
 Minor of men ! he gives, with liberal hands. 
 To needy poets^ honours and commands; 
 
 Ver. 139. fie gives, with liberal hands, 
 
 To needy poets, honours and commands ;'] Semesfri vatum digitos 
 tircumligat auro ; he adorns the poets' fingers with semestral gold ; in other 
 words, makes them mihtary tribunes tor six mouths. Keanet saj-s, these tri- 
 bunes had the honour of wearing a gold ring* in the same manner as the 
 knights ; and because their office was extremely desired, to encourage as many 
 as possible, their command lasted but half a year. Rom. Ant. p. I95. 
 
 'What Kcnnet (or rather Lipsius, from whom he took it,) means by the con- 
 cluding part of the paragraph, I cannot tell. A permission to wear a gold 
 ring for six months, seems to hold out no mighty " encouragement" either to 
 poets or soldiers: indeed, if the thing were so " extremely desirable," much 
 would not be necessary, for what was to become of them, on their descent 
 I'rom iheii' temporary elevation ? To be plain, I have long suspected that 
 Lipsius, whose general accuracy, and learning I chearfully acknowledge, 
 spoke without sufficient consideration, in this place. 
 
 I wish there were any authority for supposing that the aurum semestre al- 
 luded to a division of quantit\', and not of duration : the permission to wear 
 it, might then confer an honorary, or brevet rank, (a real command, I am 
 convinced, it never could,) which should give the possessor a claim to some- 
 thing like half-pay. Or, if this be not allowed, it might intitle him to certain 
 privileges, and immunities, which, though less than these conferred by the 
 jus Irium libcrorum, might yd be very advantageous: I have said less, because 
 this favour could only be granted by the emperors; whereas the other, was 
 bestowed by generals, praefects, &c. Thus I'liny entreats Sossius (one of 
 Trajan's lieutenants) to confer this honour on the nephew of his friend C. 
 ISepos. C. Calvisium rogo semestri tribunalu splcndidioreni el sibi, et avunculo 
 suo facias. Lib. iv. Epist. iv. And in another place, he transfers a tribuneshi|), 
 which he had obtained for Suetonius, at tiie historian's own request, to one of 
 
 * That the militar}- tribunes wore gold rings, is clear enough: the only 
 question is, whether, as Kennct says, {loc, cit.) these rings were what Juvenal 
 calls the aurum setncstrc. 
 
 Kk
 
 250 SATIRE VII. JUVENAL, v. 141— 146. 
 
 Behold! an actor's patronage affords 
 A surer means of rising, than a lord's ! 
 And wilt thou still on Camerinus wait, 
 And Bareas? wilt thou still frequent the great? 
 Ah! rather to the Player thyself betake, 
 And, at one lucky stroke, thy fortune make. 
 
 his relations. Lib. ui. 8. Lord Orrery observes on this with some surprise, 
 that Suetonius is " usually drawn as a philosopher rather than a soldier." He 
 is so — and this seems to confirm what I have just advanced, that the aurum 
 semestre, though sufficiently lucrative perhaps, required no actual service. 
 
 I have already hinted that I know no authority for my supposition. The 
 reader, therefore, will kindly receive what is urged, as nothing more than an 
 attempt to examine, or rather to induce those who are competent to the task, 
 to examine a custom, hitherto taken on credit, and which still appears, to me 
 iit least, in want of explanation. 
 
 Ver. 145. yifi! rather to the Flayer, ^c] This is the famous passage for 
 which, according to the ancient critics, Juvenal was sent into banishment. 
 Certainly, 
 
 " It stands on record that in Richard's times, 
 " A man was hanged for very honest rhj'mes," 
 and there is no phv'sical impossibility in the way of a man's being banished 
 for a similar offence. But does there not appear something hke a contra- 
 diction in those learned gentlemen ? They agree tliatour author was sent into 
 exile by Domitian; and yet they differ about the emperor under whom this 
 Satire was written ! What is equally strange, they must allow, that if he was 
 punished for the line in question, it could only be by Domitian, and yet this 
 is the only work in which he is mentioned with kindness ! 
 
 I am no advocate either for the gratitude, or the consistency of that prince ; 
 I have other reasons for disbelieving the 'popular tale; these I have already 
 given in the life of the Author, and to these I refer the reader. 
 
 Doctor Warton, in his excellent edition of Pope, (so, it seems, we must call 
 it,) says that Juvenal was " banished for commending the Agave of Statius;" 
 
 for commending the Agave of Statius ! well-
 
 SATIRE VII. JUVENAL. V. 147—154. 25.I 
 
 Yet envy not the man that earns hard bread 
 By tragedy : the Muses' friends are fled ; 
 Maecenas, Proculeius, Fabius, gone ; 
 And Lentulus, and Cotta, — every one ! 
 Then worth was cherish'd, then the bard might toil, 
 Secure of favour, o'er the midnight oil ; 
 Then all December's revelries refuse, 
 And give the festive moments to the Muse. 
 
 Ver. 147. Yet envy not the man, ^"c] The protection of Paris, and such 
 as he, does not gratify the manly mind of Juvenal; he feelingly regrets the 
 want of those whose favourable opinion might be received with pride, and 
 whose bounty might be accepted without dishonour. 
 
 The patrons he has enumerated were, indeed, " the Muses' friends," and 
 such as they have seldom had to boast. The name of Maecenas, is but another 
 word for generosity. Proculeius and Lentulus, were little less celebrated for 
 their unbounded liberality ; while Fabius and Cotta joined to this, the rarer 
 quality of fidelity in distress: they were both the affectionate friends of Ovid, 
 and that too, at a time when their friendship was as valuable to him, as'dan- 
 gerous to themselves; when he was an exile, and in disgrace! 
 
 I have sometimes wondered why Juvenal never mentions Pliny. He had 
 here an opportunity of doing it; and Pliny was certainly a generous, and in 
 some cases a munificent man. It may be, that he thought there was more of 
 vanity than of genuine kindness in the favours he conferred ; and there is 
 certainly some reason for such an opinion. In one of his letters lie mentions 
 his kindness to Martial, but in a way that shews he was thinking more of him- 
 self than of the poet. The whole account is degrading, and has always mor- 
 tified me in the perusal. It was not so that Lentulus and Cotta shewed their 
 love of genius! 
 
 Spenser has an allusion to these lines : 
 
 " But ah ! Mtecenas is yclad in clay, 
 
 " And great Augustus long ago is dead, 
 
 " And all the worthies liggen wrapt in lead, 
 
 " That matter made for poets on to play !"
 
 252f SATIRE VII. JUVENAL, v, 155—182. 
 
 So fare the tuneful race. The historians' pains 
 Are, doubtless, recompens'd by ampler gains. 
 More time, more study they require, and pile 
 Page upon page, heedless of bulk the while; 
 Till, fact conjoin'd to fact, with toil intense. 
 The work is clos'd at many a ream's expense. 
 Say now, what harvest was there ever found, 
 What golden crops, from this long-labour'd ground? 
 None; 'tis a thriftless soil: and a dull scribe '.-f 
 
 Gets more, by copying briefs, than all the tribe. 
 True ; but the breed is slothful, fond of ease, 
 And solitude: then tell me, if you please, 
 What gain the lawyer's active life affords, 
 His sacks of papers, and his war of words? 
 Heavens ! how he bellows in our tortur'd ears ; 
 But then, then chiefly, when the client hears. 
 Or one, (more anxious than his fellows) come 
 To prove the credit of a doubtful sum. 
 
 Twitches his elbow : — then his passions rise ! 
 
 Then forth he pufts tli' immeasurable lies 
 
 From his swoll'n lungs ! then the white foam appears, 
 
 And, drivelling down his beard, his vest besmears ! 
 
 Take now the balance, and the profits weigh — 
 
 And first, th* accumulated fortunes lay 
 
 Of five-score lawyers there; then, place me here. 
 
 The riches of a favourite charioteer, 
 
 And see which sinks! " The generals take their place;" 
 
 Thou, my poor Ajax, rising wiih pale face,
 
 SATIRE VII. JUVENAL. V. 183— 19s. 253 
 
 Stepp'st forth to plead a trembling client's cause, 
 
 Before Judge Jolthead — learned in the laws. 
 
 Now stretch thy throat, unhappy man ! now raise 
 
 Thy voice, that, when thou'rt hoarse, a bunch of bays, 
 
 Stuck in thy garret-window, may declare 
 
 What a victorious pleader nestles there ! 
 
 O glorious hour! but what's thy fee, meanwhile? 
 
 A rope of shrivell'd onions from the Nile, 
 
 A rusty ham, a jar of broken sprats. 
 
 And wine, the refuse of our country vats ; 
 
 Five flaggons for four causes ! if thou hold, 
 
 Though this indeed be rare, a piece of gold ; 
 
 The brethren, 'ds per contract, on thee fall. 
 
 And share the prize, sollicitors and all. 
 
 Whate'er he asks, >^milius may command ; 
 Though more of law be ours : but then, there stand 
 
 Ver. 181. " The generals take their place ;"] A humourous 
 
 parody on Ovid : 
 
 " Consedere duces, et vulgi stante corona, 
 
 " Surgit ad hos clypei dominus septeniplicis Ajax." 
 
 Ver. igG. And share the prize, sollicitors, ^c] It appears from the Orator 
 of Cicero, (lib. i. 45, and 59,) that in his time these solhcitors (pragmutici) 
 were confined to Greece. The Roman cansiilici, or advocates, wiien they 
 were ignorant of the law, used at tliat time to apply to the learned men of 
 rank, such as the Scaevolae, &,c. But under the successors of Augustus, there 
 was not the same encouragement (nor indeed security) for these great men 
 to study that science: tlie orators were, therefore, obhged of course to adopt 
 the Grecian method. "Nique ego, says Quint, lib. xii. c. iii. sum nostri maris 
 igiiarus, oblilusve eoriim qui veliit ad Arculas sedent, et tela agent il/us submi- 
 itislrant; neque idem Gracos quoque nesciofaclitare, unde nomen his Pragma' 
 ticorum datum est.
 
 254 SATIRE VII. JUVENAL, v, 199—208. 
 
 Four stately steeds, conspicuous from afar, 
 Before his gate ; stands too a brazen car ; 
 And the great pleader, balancing his spear, 
 On a fierce charger that scarce treads on air, 
 Looks round with wary eye, in act to throw. 
 And seems to meditate no common blow. 
 Seduced by this example, Matho sought 
 By the same arts to rise, and thus was brought 
 To want ; and thus Tongillus, who was borne 
 To bathe (with oil in a capacious horn) 
 
 Ver. 201. And the great pleader, balancing his spear, 
 
 On a fierce charger, Sfc.'] This vagary of iEmilius (choosing, 
 though a man of peace, to be represented on a war-horse) seems to have taken 
 mightily at Rome, most probably from its absurdity, and to have had a number 
 of imitators Martial, in an attack upon an unfortunate pedagogue for inter- 
 rupting his sleep, can think of nothing to compare the noise of his school to, 
 but the sledges of the smiths forging war-horses for the lawj'ers : 
 " Tani grave percussis incudibus sera resultant, 
 " Causidicum medio cum faber aptat equo." 
 We learn from the sequel, that it did not succeed much with his imitators; 
 and, indeed, it seldom happens that any but the author of a joke, profits by it. 
 
 Ver. 205. Matho, ^c] Matho deficit. This Dryden translates, 
 
 " With arts like these rich Matho when he speaks 
 " Attracts all fees, and little lawyers breaks." 
 For this he was indebted to Lubin, who corrects himself, indeed, a few lines 
 after; this, however, Dryden did not read far enough to see. I should not 
 have noticed the blunder, had it not materially interfered with the date of this 
 Satire. It appears that Matho, disgusted with his ill-success as a lawyer, gave 
 it up entirely, and betook himself to the trade of an informer. In this, unfor- 
 tunately, he succeeded but too well; and when Juvenal wrote his first Satire, 
 which was consequently many years after the present, he was become wealthy, 
 arrogant, and luxurious. See Sat. i. v. 50.
 
 SATIRE VII. JUVENAL. V. 209—228. 255 
 
 By a long, draggled train ; or swept in state, 
 To every auction, villas, slaves, or plate ; 
 And, trading on the credit of his dress, 
 Cheapen'd whate'er he saw, though penny less. — 
 
 And some, indeed, have risen by tricks like these: 
 Purple and violet, swell a lawyer's fees ; 
 Bustle and shew above his means, conduce 
 To business, and profusion is of use: 
 But 'tis a general failing; Rome confounds 
 The wealthiest, — prodigal beyond all bounds. 
 
 Could our old pleaders visit earth again, 
 TuUy himself would scarce a brief obtain, 
 Unless his robe were purple, and a stone, 
 Diamond, or jasper, on his finger shone. 
 The wary plaintiff, ere a fee he gives. 
 Inquires at what expense his counsel lives ; 
 " Has he eight slaves, ten followers ; chairs to wait, 
 •' And clients to precede his march in state?" 
 This Paulus knows full well, and therefore hires 
 A ring to plead in; therefore, too, acquires 
 
 Ver. 228. A ring to plead in; Sfc.'] Tliis " hired ring" seems to have an- 
 swered even better than the war-horse of iEmilius; for PauUis, in process of 
 tiracj grew into great practice, and consequently great riches. Our author's 
 friend Martial had the misfortune to be under his patronage which, like that 
 of many other parvenus, was so burdensome, that the poet, in a fit of spleen, 
 threatens to shake it off entirely : 
 
 te post mille labores 
 
 " Paule, negat lasso j.initor esse domi: 
 " Exitushic operis vani, togulaeque madfintis;
 
 256 
 
 SATIRE vn. JUVENAL, v. 229—244. 
 
 More briefs than Cossus : — preference not unsound ; 
 For how should eloquence in rags be found 9 
 Who trusts poor Cossus with a cause of state? 
 When does he, to avert a culprit's fate, 
 Produce a weeping mother? or who heeds 
 How close he argues, and how well he pleads? 
 Unhappy drudge ; — but, Cossus ! thou art wrong: 
 Wouldst thou procure subsistence by thy tongue ; 
 Renounce the town, and instantly withdraw 
 To Gaul ; or Afric, the dry nurse of law. 
 But Vectius, O that adamantine frame ! 
 Has op'd a rhetoric school of no mean fame, 
 Where boys, in long succession, rave and storm 
 At tyranny, through many a crowded form. — 
 The exercise, he lately, sitting, read. 
 Standing, distracts his miserable head, 
 
 " Vix tanti Pauhim mane videre fuit. 
 "Semper inhumauos habet officiosus amicos: 
 
 " Rex, nisi dormieris, non potes esse incus."' Lib. v. 23. 
 
 Among all the evils of clientage, I perceive that Martial deprecates none so 
 bitterly as the being obliged to attend the levees of the great before day. 
 Juvenal seems to have thought with his friend on this subject. 
 
 Ver. 238. 2o Gaul; or Jfric, &)C.'\ " Gaul and Africa," JNIadan sa3's, " were 
 remarkable at that time for encouraging eloquence ; and had great lawyers 
 who got large fees!" For this precious piece of information, he refers to 
 Drydcn's notes, which are beneath the notice of a school-boy. That Gaul 
 and Africa were noted for litigiousncss is certain, and to this Juvenal ulhides ; 
 but he was far from imagining there were great lawers, or great fees, I believe^ 
 to be found in either country.
 
 SATIRE VII. JUVENAL. V. 245— 260. 257 
 
 And every day^ and every hour, affords 
 
 The self-same subject, in the self-same words, 
 
 Till, like hash'd cabbage serv'd for each repast, 
 
 The repetition kills the wretch at last. 
 
 Where the main jet of every question lies. 
 
 And whence the chief objections may arise, 
 
 All wish to learn ; but none th' expense will pay. 
 
 " Th' expense!" exclaims the scholar, " do you say? 
 
 Why, what know I?" there go the master pains. 
 
 Because, forsooth, the Arcadian brute lacks brains ! 
 
 And yet this oaf, every sixth morn prepares 
 
 To split my head with Hannibal's affairs; 
 
 While he debates at large, " whether 'twere right 
 
 " To take advantage of the general fright, 
 
 " And march to Rome ; or, by the storm alarm 'd, 
 
 " And all the elements against him arm'd, 
 
 Ver. 243. The exercise, ^c] Juvenal has omitted one evil which attended 
 this unfortunate race: besides having their heads distracted with these constant 
 declamations, they were sometimes hable to lose them altogether : and Do- 
 mitian actually put one of them to death for a rhetorical flourish about tyranny, 
 which was produced in his school. Dio tells the story, and says the name of 
 the poor wretch was Maternus. Our author, perhaps, did not consider this as 
 an additional calamity in the lives of such men. 
 
 Ver. 254. the Orcadian brute, 8(0.'] i.e. ass. Arcadicojuveni ; hoc est, 
 
 says Britannicus, /orrfo et asinino : ham in jdrcadid opt\mi progenerantur .' 
 Though this seems an odd kind of deduction, the reader, 1 believe, must ac- 
 quiesce in it ; unless he choose to subscribe to the opinion of Lubin, who says 
 it is a mule ; which, besides being as stupid as an ass, is, as he very gravely 
 asserts, an ungrateful brute, 7iam vbi matris ubera ad satietatem mque suxit, in 
 earn calcem rejicit, perciititque ! 
 
 LI
 
 358 SATIRE VII. JUVENAL, v. 261— 284. 
 
 " The dangerous expedition to delay, 
 
 " And lead his harrass'd troops some other way." 
 
 Sick of the theme that still returns, and still, 
 
 Th* exhausted master cries, ask what you will, 
 
 I'll give it, so you on the sire prevail, 
 
 To hear as oft, the booby's tedious tale. 
 
 Thus Vectius fares: his brethren, wiser far, 
 Have shut up school, and taken to the bar; 
 Adieu the idle fooleries of Greece ; 
 The soporific diTig, the golden fleece, 
 The faithless husband, and the abandon'd wife. 
 And yEson, coddled to new light and life, 
 A long adieu! on more productive themes, 
 On actual crimes, the sophist now declaims : 
 Thou too, my friend, would'st thou my counsel hear, 
 Should'st free thyself from this ungrateful care; 
 Lest all be lost, and thou reduc'd, poor sage. 
 To want e'en bread, in thy declining age: — 
 Bread still the lawyer earns; but tell me yet, 
 What your Chrysogonus, and PoUio get, 
 The chief of rhetoricians, thougli they teach 
 Our youth of quality, the art of speech? 
 
 Oh, no ! the great pursue a nobler end, — 
 Five thousand on a bagnio they expend ; 
 
 Ver. 282. Our youth of qualitif, the art of speech ?] This " Art of 
 Speech" was written by Theodonis Gadareus, a man of great eminence in 
 rhetoric, who flourished in the reign of Tiberius. Britannicus and others will 
 have Chrysogonus and Pollio mentioned in the preceding line, to be music-
 
 SATIRE VII. JUVENAL. V. 285 — 304. 259 
 
 More on a portico, where, when it lours. 
 They ride, and bid defiance to the showers. 
 What ! shall they tarry till the sky be clear, 
 Or splash their mule so sleek? no, rather here. 
 Here rather, let them ride ; for here the beast 
 May keep its hoof's unsullied, at the least. 
 Yet more; on columns of enormous size, 
 They bid a spacious eating-room arise, 
 Which fronts the east, wide opening to the day, 
 Ere yet the sun emit too warm a ray. 
 Expensive these ! but cost whate'er they will, 
 Sewers must be hir'd, and cooks of taste and skill. — 
 'Midst this extravagance, that knows no bounds, 
 Quintilian gets, and hardly gets, ten pounds 
 For all his pains: there's no possession, none. 
 That costs a sire so little as a son. 
 
 Whence has Ouintilian, then, his vast estate? 
 Urge not an instance of peculiar fate: 
 Perhaps, by luck. The lucky, I admit, 
 Have all advantages ; beauty, and wit, 
 
 masters. True it is, that there were two professors of these names at Rome 
 about this period ; but they were not likely to be much acquainted with the 
 works of Theodorus. I have little doubt but that the translation gives the 
 true sense of the author. Dryden follows Britaiiuicus. 
 
 Ver. 301. JVhence has Quiiitilian, then, S)C.'] For Quintihan, see Sat. vt. 
 V. 127. Juvenal here considers him as a rick man, while Pliny, in a letter 
 which does equal honour to himself and his master, (for such Quiiitilian was,) 
 talks of his moderate forlune. The cause of this difference should probably be 
 sought in the difl'erent circumstances of the two writers. What appeared
 
 i.'6o SATIRE VII. JUVENAL, v. 305— 31i2. 
 
 And wisdom, and high blood : the kicky, too. 
 
 May take at will the senatorial shoe ; 
 
 Be first-rate speakers, pleaders, every thing; 
 
 And, though they croak like Irogs, be thought to sing. 
 
 O, there's a difference, friend, beneath what sign 
 We spring to light, or kindly, or malign ! 
 Fortune is all. Fortune can, if she please, 
 Make kings of pedants, and, with equal ease, 
 
 immense to Juvenal, might be far from seeming so, to so wealthy a man as 
 Phny. It is pleasant, however, to know that this amiable and virtuous 
 character experienced nothing of the neglect and poverty, which overwhelmed 
 so many of his unfortunate brethren. 
 
 Ver. 306. May take at will the senatorial s/ioe,] The shoes of senators 
 differed from those of the people, in various ways ; but chiefly in colour, shape, 
 and ornament. The colour, Middleton says, in his Treatise on the Rom. Sen. 
 was invariably black, while others wore them of any colour, according to their 
 fancies; the form was somewhat like a short boot, reaching nearly to the 
 middle of the leg, as they are sometimes seen in statues, and bas-reliefs; and 
 the appropriate and peculiar ornament was a figure of a half-moon sewed 
 upon the fore-part, near the instep. Plutarch, in his Quest. Roman, proposes 
 several reasons for this emblem ; and more may be found in the commentators 
 on Juvenal. It is probable, after all, however, that it had no kind of reference 
 lo the moon, but was merely designed to express the letter C, as the numerical 
 sign of a hundred, the original number of the senators. 
 
 Cicero tells a pleasant story of a man who, during the confusion that fol- 
 lowed the death of Caesar, got into the senate merely by changing his shoes. 
 JEsf etiam quidam senator volttntarius lectus ipse a se. Apcrtam curiam vidit 
 post Casaris necem, mutavit calceos, pater conscriptus repenti est factus ! 
 Phillip. XIII. 13. 
 
 Ver. 311. Fortune can, if she please, 
 
 Make kings of pedants, ^c] Though Juvenal could scarcely 
 mean to be understood literally, yet something very like th'is,fes de comule 
 rhetor, happened about the time he wrote. Valerius Licinianus, a mostcloquent
 
 SATIRE VII. JUVENAL. V. 313— 324. 561 
 
 Pedants of kings: for what, my Vectius, say, 
 Were Tullus and Ventidius ? what were they, 
 But great examples of the secret power 
 Of stars, presiding o'er the natal hour; 
 Of stars, whose unrespective smiles, or frowns. 
 Give captives triumphs, and dependants crowns ! 
 He, then, is lucky ; yet a coal-black swan 
 Is easier found, than such another man : 
 Hence many a rhetorician counts his gains, 
 And execrates, too late, his fruitless pains. 
 Witness Thrasymachus, thy end; and thine, 
 Charinas: — and thou saw'st him, Athens, pine! 
 
 •peaker, as Pliny tells us, was expelled the senate on suspicion of an incestuou* 
 commerce with the vestal Cornelia (Sat. iv.) and driven into Sicily; where 
 he set up a school for teaching rhetoric. His opening speech bears a wonderful 
 similarity to the passage above. " Quos tibi, Fortuna, ludosjacis? Facis enim 
 tx proj'essoribus seiiatores, ex senatoribus pro/essores !" A sentence, says Pliny, 
 so full of bitterness and gall, that I am almost persuaded he turned rhetoric- 
 master for the sole purpose of uttering it. The other hemistich^^/iVs de rhetore 
 consul, though originally, perhaps, pronounced at random, a succeeding age 
 saw literally fulfilled in the person of Ausonius, who, from a professor of 
 rhetoric, was advanced by Gratian to the consulship, in the year coclxxix. 
 
 Ver. 314. TuUius and Fentidius?] He means Servius TuUius, whom 
 
 he afterwards (Sat. viii.) calls the last good king of Home, and who was said 
 to be boru of a servant. Ventidius ran through a greater variety of fortune. 
 He was taken prisoner when an infant, together with his mother, by Pompeius 
 Strabo ; (father of Pompey the Great;) became an errand-boy, next a waggoner, 
 then a muleteer, a soldier, centurion, general, tribune of tiie people, prtctor, 
 and, in the same year, pontiff and consul. He obtained, too, a splendid 
 triumph over the Parthians, to which Juvenal more particularly alludes; and 
 thus, says Stapylton " he who formerly lay in prison as a captive, at last filled 
 the Capitol with his trophies :" finally, he was honoured with a public funeral.
 
 a62 SATIRE VII. JUVENAL, v. 325—334. 
 
 Thou saw'st him ! and would'st nought but bane bestow ; 
 The only charity thou seem'st to know ! 
 
 O, peaceful may our great forefathers rest, 
 And lightly lie the turf upon their breast; 
 Sweet-smelling crocus scatter odours round, 
 And everlasting sun-shine deck the ground! 
 They honour'd tutors, now a slighted race. 
 And gave them all a parent's power and place. 
 
 Achilles, grown a man, the lyre essay 'd 
 On his paternal hillsj and, while he play'd, 
 
 Ver. 323. Witness, Thrasymachiis, thy aid; and thine, 
 
 Charinas: — ] Tlnasymachus taught rhetoric, the old commen- 
 tators say, at Athens. Want of encouragement forced him to shut up his 
 school, and want of every thing else, probably, drove him to suicide. 
 
 Charinas taught rhetoric in the same city, and with the same ill success: he 
 left it, therefore, and came to Rome. It appears from Dio, that he might 
 almost as well have followed the example of Thrasymachus, and hanged him- 
 self where he was: — for he had scarce opened his school, ere he provoked the 
 suspicion of Caligula by a declamation against tyranny, and was either sent 
 into banishment immediately, or poisoned ! The Charinas mentioned by Tacitus 
 in his Annals, I take to be a different person. 
 
 Madan, and some others, refer the hmic inopem of our author to Socrates. 
 The general allusion, indeed, in the bitter sarcasm on Athens, is to him ; but 
 the words apply immediately to Charinas. 
 
 Vek. 333. AchiUes, grozcm n man, ^c] Thus Ovid, very prettily: 
 " Phillyrides puerum cithaiae perfecit Achillem, 
 
 " Atque animos placidR contuditarte feros. 
 " Qui toties socios, toties exterruit hostes; 
 " Creditur annosum pertimuisse senem. 
 " Quas Hector sensurus erat, poscente magistro, 
 " Verberibus jussas praebuit ille manus." 
 
 De Art. Aman. lib. 1. 10.
 
 SATIRE VII. JUVENAL. V. 335—344. SG3 
 
 With trembling ey'd the rod ; — and yet the tail 
 Of the good Centaur, hardly then could fail 
 To raise a smile : such reverence now is rare, 
 And boys with bibs strike Ruffus on his chair; 
 Fastidious Ruflus, who, with critic rage, 
 Arraign'd the purity of TuUy's page. 
 
 Enougli of these. Let the last wretched band. 
 The poor grammarians, say what liberal hand 
 Rewards their toil: let learn 'd Palaemoa tell. 
 Who proffers what his skill deserves so well. 
 
 Ver. 337. such reverence now is rare. 
 
 And boys with bibs strike Riijfus in his chair ;] This was a com- 
 plaint of long standing. Plaiitus has a remark on the subject, which, if it has 
 lost nothing In passing through my hands, will be allowed to possess some force, 
 as well as humour. 
 
 " Mam dim populi prius honorem capiebat suffragio, 
 " Quam magistri desinebat esse dicto obcdiens. Sec. &c." 
 
 Bacchides, Act. in. Sc. iii. 
 Time was, a tutor was obey'd, and feai'd. 
 Till youth grew fit for office: now, alas! 
 Let him but chide a child of seven years old. 
 And the brat flings his tablets at his head — 
 You hasten to his fatiier, and complain: 
 And what redress ? aha! old Bumbrusher, 
 You see my boy here can defend himself. 
 So touch him, at your peril. Thus aveng'd. 
 You hang your ears iu silence, and sneak home. 
 With your crack'd pate beplaister'd, and bepatch'd. 
 Like an old paper lantern ! — 
 
 Ver. 343. let learn'd Palcemon tell, Sfc.'] Palajmon, " a 
 
 poor grammarian, but of great esteem." Drydcn. If he really was poor, it 
 was in consequence of his extravagance, for he had a very handsome income.
 
 564 SATIRE vn. JUVENAL, v. 345—366. 
 
 Yet from this pittance, whatsoe'er it be, 
 (Less, surely, than a rhetorician's fee,) 
 The usher snips off something for his pains, 
 And the purveyor nibbles what remains. 
 Courage, Palaemon ! be not over nice. 
 But suffer some abatement in your price; 
 As those who deal in rugs, will ask you high, 
 And sink by pence, and half-pence, 'till you buy. 
 Yes, suffer this ; while something's left to pay 
 Thy rising, hours before the break of day, 
 When e'en the labouring poor their slumbers take. 
 And not a weaver, not a smith's awake : 
 While something's left, to pay thee for the stench 
 Of smouldering lamps, thick hung on every bench. 
 Where ropy vapours Virgil's pages soil, 
 And Horace looks one blot, all soot and oil. 
 
 Even then, the salary thus reduc'd, thus small, 
 Without a law-suit, rarely comes at all. 
 
 Add yet, ye parents, add to their disgrace. 
 And heap new hardships on this wretched race. 
 Make it a point that all, and every part. 
 Of their own science, be possess'd by heart ; 
 
 Suetonius represents him as an arrogant, luxurious, and profligate pedant, 
 rendered infamous by vice of every kind, and to whom no youth could with 
 safety be trusted ; though he allows his grammatical knowledge to have been 
 very extraordinary. He had been long dead, however, when this Satire was 
 written, being mentioned for the last time under Claudius. Juvenal merely 
 gives his name to some excellent grammarian of his own time, in allusion to 
 his celebrity in the art. See Sat. vi, v. 670.
 
 SATIRE VII. JUVENAL. V. 367—380. S6: 
 
 That general history with our own, they blend, 
 And iiave ail autiiors at their finger's end: 
 That tiiey may stiJl inform you, should you meet, 
 And ask them at the bath, or in the street, 
 Who nurs'd Anchises; from what country came 
 Archim'rus' step-motiier, and what her name; 
 How long Acestes flourish'd, and, iu short. 
 With how much wine -^neas left his court. 
 Make it a point too, that, like ductile clay, 
 They mould the tender mind, and, day by day. 
 Bring out the form of virtue; that they prove 
 A father to the youths, in care and love; 
 And watch that no obscenities prevail. — 
 And trust me, friend, e'en Argus' self might fail, 
 
 Ver. 371. fV/io nurs'd Anchises ; SjC. 2 This absurd curiosity about things 
 which, Seneca well observes, it is more profitable to be ignorant of than to 
 know, was but loo common among the ancients. A. Gellius, in one of iiis best 
 chapters, (lib. xiv. cap. vi.) gives us many pleasant instances of it, to which the 
 learned translator has added more. Diogenes, I have somewhere read, used 
 to reprove the grammarians, because they were solicitous to know what evils 
 Ulystes suflered, while they were negligent of their own : the censure of 
 Juvenal, however, falls rather on those who exacted such miserable miiiutiiz 
 of them ; in particular, he seems to allude to an anecdote recorded of Tiberius, 
 (Suetonius, §. lxx.) who used to harrass these poor men, by inquiring who 
 was Hecuba's mother, what the Sirens used to sing, &.c. &c. 
 
 It is impossible to suppress a smile at the perverse industry of the more 
 modern critics, in hunting out what Juvenal represents as puzzling those of 
 his own lime. The nurse of Anchises, and the step-mother of Archimorus, are 
 now no longer secrets. 
 
 M m
 
 266 
 
 SATIRE VII. JUVENAL. V. 381—386. 
 
 The busy hands of school-boys to espy, 
 
 And the lewd fires that twinkle in their eye. 
 
 Yes, make all this a point ; and, having found 
 
 The man you seek, say — when the year couies round, 
 
 We'll give thee for thy twelve-month's toil and pains, 
 
 As much — as in an hour a fencer gains !
 
 SATIRE VIII. 
 
 3IIrgunicnt. 
 
 In this Satire, in which Juveiial puis on a most serious and impressive 
 air, lie demonstrates that distinction is merely personal ; that though we 
 may derive rank, and titles from our ancestors, yet ijive degenerate from 
 the virtues hyifhich they obtained them, we cannot be considered as truly 
 noble. This is (he great object of the Satire : it branches out, however, 
 into many collateral topics ; the first of which is, the profligacy of the 
 young nobility ; from this, he passes, by an easy transition, to the miser- 
 able slate of the provinces, which were usually placed under their vuinage- 
 ment, and whicJi they plundered and harrassed without mercy. This part 
 of his Satire is treated with a freedom of thought, and an elevation of 
 languxige, worthy of the best times of the Republic : and from this, he re- 
 turns once more to the main subject of the Satire, the state of debasement 
 into which the descendants of the first families had voluntarily sunk : he 
 severely lashes their meanness, cowardice, and base prostitution of every 
 hind ; vices which he sets in the strongest light, by contrasting them with 
 the opposite virtues, to be found in persons of the lowest station, and the 
 humblest descent. 
 
 Considered as a whole, this is a very fine performance. If tve are in- 
 clined to examine it with severity, we may perhaps discover a triteness 
 in the instances produced towards the conclusion. Cicero and Marius 
 are somewhat loo hacknied, to give zest to a subject like this ; but perhaps 
 the poet lyas it'illing to sacrifice novelty to notoriety; and fancied his ex- 
 amples would i;e more effectual in proportion as they were more generally 
 recognized and allowed. 
 
 All expression in line fifty-one of the original fdom\t\c[iie Batavl^ has 
 been supposed to allude to Domitian. As it appears from Tacitus, Siliiis
 
 56S ARGUMENT. 
 
 Ilaticiis, and Sue/onins, lluil he was really engaged in an expedition 
 against those people in his youth, I am induced to embrace this opinion. 
 In this case, I should fix on a very early period for the production oj 
 this Satire : and indeed the detailed history oj JYero's enormities shews 
 it to have been lyritten while tiiey were yet fresh in the author's mind; 
 probably before the death of Vespasian. 
 
 Pliny has a letter upon this very subject, which is every way worthy 
 of him. The reader who turns to it, must not expect to find tlie force and 
 dignity of Juvenal, though lie will meet lyith much of his good sense and 
 humanity. It is that to Ids friend Maximus. Lib. viii. Epist xxiv. 
 
 If the works of Epicharmus ryere extant in our Author's time, he might, 
 as it should seem from what has reached us, have found some hints for 
 this Satire in^ne of his comedies.
 
 SATIRE VIII. 
 
 TO PONTICUS. 
 
 V. 1 — 10. 
 
 Your ancient house !" no more. — I cannot see 
 The wondrous merits of a pedigree ; 
 No, Ponticus ; — nor of a proud display 
 Of smoaky ancestors, in wax or clay ; 
 iEmilius mounted on his car sublime, 
 Curius, half wasted by the teeth of time, 
 Corvinus dwindled to a shapeless bust. 
 And high-born Galba crumbling into dust. 
 
 What boots it, on the lineal tree to trace, 
 Through many a branch, the founders of our race, 
 
 Ver. 3. No, Ponticus; — (Sfc] Of the young nobleman to whom this Satire is 
 addressed, nothing is known but the name: as Juvenal took an interest in his 
 conduct, he had probably some sparks of worth. We do not find that he after- 
 wards distinguislied himself; let us hope, then, that his virtues were greater 
 than his talents, and that, if he did not add to his family honours, the poet's 
 admonitions prevented him, at least, from tarnishing, or contemning them. 
 
 The illustrious names which follow, and history can boast of none more 
 truly so, are familiar to every reader.
 
 270 SATIRE VIII. JUVENAL, v. ll — 26, 
 
 Time-honoured chiefs ; if, in their sight, we give 
 A loose to vice, and hke low vihains live? 
 Say, what avails it, that, on either hand 
 The stern Numantii, an illustrious band, 
 Frown from the Avails, if their degenerate race 
 Waste the long night at dice, before their face ? 
 If, staggering, to a drowsy bed they creep, 
 At that prime hour when, starting from their sleep, 
 Those chiefs the signal of the fight unfurl'd. 
 And drew their legions forth, and won the world? 
 Why should yon Fabius, of the Herculean name, 
 Vaunt, with such arrogance, his House's claim 
 To the GREAT ALTAR? if, with anxious care. 
 From his soft limbs he pumice every hair, 
 And shame his rough-hewn sires? if greedy, vain, 
 If a vile trafficker in secret bane, 
 
 Ver. 14. The stern Numantii, Sfc."] By the Numantii, he means Scipio 
 Africanus, (the conqueror of Numantia,) and the immediate descendants and 
 relatives of that great man. 
 
 Ver. 21. Jfhi/ should yon Fabius, S^c.'] The Fabian family pretended to 
 derive their origin from Hercules ; and for this reason, were entrusted with the 
 service of the altar, erected to that hero, in the Forum Boarium, or ox-market. 
 This altar, which Juvenal calls magna, but which was more commonly called 
 maxima, seems to have been regarded with great veneration ; and the Fabli 
 were, probably, not a little vain of their exclusive right to minister at it. They 
 were very far, however, from being as tenacious of the virtues, as of the privi- 
 leges of their family ; for one of them was interdicted, for his riotous excesses, 
 from the use of the Fabian estate, by the father of Pompey the Great; and 
 his descendants, if we may trust our author's account of them, added to his 
 extravagance, every other vice.
 
 SATIRE VIII JUVENAL. V. 27—32. 271 
 
 He blast his wretched family with a bust, 
 For public justice — to reduce to dust? 
 
 Fond man ! though all the heroes of your line 
 Bedeck your hails, and round your galleries shine, 
 In wax or stone; yet, take this truth from me, 
 " Virtue alone is true nobility." 
 
 Ver. 27. a bust 
 
 For public justice — to reduce to dust'Q The busts and statues of 
 such as had been guilty of any notorious crime, were sometimes delivered up 
 to the common executioner to be destroyed, that they miglit not disgrace the 
 name, by being carried with the rest, in the funeral processions of the family. 
 This might have operated as a very powerful preventive of vice, had it not, 
 like many other salutary customs, been perverted by the emperors, and their 
 favourites, to the purposes of private hatred and revenge. Motions were 
 sometimes made in the senate, for breaking the busts of such as were ob- 
 noxious to the tyrant of the day ; and even so early as the reign of Tiberius, 
 we find it was not considered safe in the splendid funeral of Junia, the wife of 
 Cassius, to bring out, amongst the numerous busts of her illustrious family, 
 either that of her husband, or her brother. 
 
 De Foe, in a poem which I yet remember to have read with pleasure, has 
 compressed this, and the following idea, into a few lines pregnant with good 
 sense. I quote from memory, for I have not seen the book since I was at 
 school : 
 
 " Could but our fathers break the bonds of fate, 
 
 " And see their offspring thus degenerate; 
 
 " How they contend for birth and names unknown, 
 
 " And build on others actions, not their own, 
 
 " They'd burn their titles, aud their tombs deface, 
 
 " And disavow the vile, degenerate race: 
 
 " For fame of families is all a cheat, 
 
 " 'Tis personal virtue only, makes us great."
 
 572 SATIRE VIII. JUVENAL. V. <53— 48. 
 
 Be then what Drusus, Cossus, Paulus were; — 
 The bright examples of their lives prefer 
 To all your statues; nay, to all the state, 
 Chairs, fasces, lictors, of your consulate. 
 
 No slave to births the virtues I require. 
 Inherent, not reflected from the sire, 
 Must aggrandize the son : dare to be just. 
 Firm to your word, and faithful to your trust; 
 These praises hear, at least deserve to hear, 
 , ,1 grant your claim, and recognise the peer. 
 Haill from whatever stock you draw your birth. 
 The son of Cossus, or the son of Earth, 
 All hail ! in you, exulting Rome espies. 
 Her guardian power, her great Palladium rise ; 
 And shouts like Egypt, when her priests have found 
 A new Osiris, for the old one drown'd. 
 
 Ver. 47. j4nd shoiils like jEgi/pt, ^c] This is no place to enter into the 
 mythology of Egypt : it will be sufficient, for the understanding of this passage, 
 to remark, that Osiris was worshipped in that country, under the figure of a 
 live ox, which he was supposed to animate. When the animal grew old, and 
 consequently unfit for the residence of the divinity, he was thought to quit it, 
 and migrate into a younger body of the same species. Just as the Tartars, 
 with infinitely more good sense, are taught to believe that their Lama migrates 
 from one human body to another. The deserted ox was drowned with much 
 ceremonious sorrow ; and then, those melancholy maniacs, his priests, at- 
 tended by an immense concourse of people, dispersed themselves over the 
 country, wailing and lamenting, in quest of the favoured individual which 
 Osiris had selected to dwell in. This the priests were supposed to know by 
 •ome sacred marks, and this they always took care to find in due time : the
 
 SATIRE VIII. JUVENAL. V. 49—62. 27. <J 
 
 But who shall call him great, that founds his claim 
 To title, only on a father's fame? 
 Preposterous thought ! — so, with a taunting smile, 
 The dwarf an Atlas, Moor a swan, we style; 
 The crook-back'd runt, Europa ; and the hound, 
 Broken with age, blind, toothless, and unsound. 
 That listless lies, and licks the lamps for food, 
 Lord of the chase, and tyrant of the wood ! 
 You, too, beware, lest Satire's piercing eye 
 The slave of guilt through grandeur's blaze espy, 
 And, drawing from your crimes some sounding name. 
 Declare at once your greatness, and your shame. 
 
 Ask you for whom this picture I design ? 
 Plautus ! thy birth and folly make it thine. 
 
 lamentations of the people were then changed into songs of joy ; they con- 
 ducted him with great pomp to the shrine of his predecessor, shouting and 
 calling to the inhabitants as they passed, " We have found him, we have found 
 him! come, and let us rejoice together." 
 
 Ail the rites of the Egyptians were of a gloomy cast. I should be inclined 
 to give this as one of the causes of the singular attachment of the women to 
 them, wherever they were introduced. — This, however, by the way. We have 
 leen in the sixth Satire, in what manner the priests of Isis ran up and duwn 
 the streets of Rome, howling and lamenting for Osiris : this was a paltry imi- 
 tation of their native ceremonies; to the clamorous termination of which 
 Juvenal here alludes. 
 
 Vee. 62. Plautus! Sfc] The commentators will have this to be the Rubel- 
 lius Plautus mentioned by Tacitus, in the life of Nero; but the account there 
 given of him, (ipse placita majorum colebat, liabilu severo, casta et secreta do/no, 
 ^c. jinn. XIV. 22,) agrees but ill with the description of our author. If it be 
 he, however, it must be confessed that he had some grotmds for his pride ; for 
 he was descended from Julia, ihe sister of Caesar; and thus as aeaily related 
 
 Nn
 
 S74 SATIRE vni. JUVENAL, v. 63— 8*. 
 
 Thou vaunt'st thy pedigree, on every side 
 To noble and imperial blood allied ; 
 As if thy honours by thyself were won, 
 And thou hadst some illustrious action done, 
 To make the world believe thee Julia's heir, 
 And not the oifspring of some easy fair. 
 Who, shivering in the wind, near yon dead wall, 
 Plies her vile labour, and is all to all. 
 
 " Away," thou criest, " ye slaves of humblest birth, 
 *• Ye dregs of Rome, ye nothings of the earth, 
 " Whose fathers who shall tell ! my ancient line 
 '• Descends from Cecrops." Man of blood divine, 
 Long may'st thou know the secret sweets which spring 
 In breasts affined to so remote a king I — 
 Yet know, amidst those " dregs of Rome/' thy scorn, 
 Names may be found whom arts and arms adorn : 
 Some skill'd to plead a noble blockhead's cause, 
 And solve the deep asnigmas of the laws ; 
 Others that, great in war, to conquest fly, 
 And spread our fame beneath the polar sky ; 
 
 to tlie throne as Nero. Indeed, there was more than once a design on foot 
 for removing that monster, and putting Rubellius in Jiis place. After all, I 
 am disposed to think, both from what is said above, and from the date of this 
 Satire^ that the person here meant, was a son of this Plautus, for we learn from 
 the account of his assassination by Nero, that he left several children. 
 
 Here is the maternal line of the famih', as it is given by Lipsius : Julia 
 (Caesar's sister), Atia, Octavia, Antouia, Julia, the mother of Rubellius Plautus, 
 and, as I suppose, tiie grand-mother of the vain and insolent young noble- 
 man, here introduced.
 
 SATIRE viii. JUVENAL. V. 83—92. 275 
 
 While thou, in mean inglorious pleasure lost, 
 With " Cecrops! Cecrops !" all thou hast to boast, 
 Art a full-brother to the cross-way stone, 
 Which clowns have chipp'd the head of Hermes on: 
 For 'tis no bar to kindred, that thy block 
 Is form'd of flesh and blood, and their's of rock. 
 Say, of dumb animals who vaunts the blood, 
 Unless their courage, or their strength be good ? — 
 'Tis thus we praise the horse, that mocks our eyes, 
 While, to the goal, with lightning's speed, he flies ; 
 
 Vek. 85. Art a full-brother to the cross-way stone, <^"c.] The figures here 
 described were termes, rough-hewn square stones set upright, and surmounted 
 with a head of Hermes, or Mercury. They were anciently placed at the 
 turning of streets, and in cross and intricate roads, for the direction of pas- 
 sengers: for which purpose they were furnished with an appendage> which, 
 though those good old limes saw nothing extraordinary in it, might, perhaps, 
 be thought a little singular at present. The honour of serving as a direction- 
 post, was allotted to Hermes, as the old critics say, on account of his name, 
 awe Ta i/)ji*n»'£U£ii', to shew, or explain : it is much more probable, however, that 
 it was in reference to some obscure idea of his being the same deity as Sol, or 
 the sun. 
 
 Ver. 89. Sai/, of (lumh a?iitnah, SicJ] Hall, who has imitated some parts of 
 this Satire very closely, though not in his best manner, has been rather successful 
 here : 
 
 " Tell me, thou gentle Trojan, dost thou prize 
 " Thy brute beasts' worth by their dams' qualities ? 
 " Say'st thou this colt shall prove a swift-paced steed, 
 " Only because a Jennet did him breed ? — 
 " The whiles thou see'st some of thy stallion race, 
 " Their eyes bor'd out, masking the miller's maze^ 
 " Like to a Scythian slave sworne to the J>ayle, 
 " Or dragging iVulhy barrels at their taylcr"
 
 276 SATIRE VIII. JUVENAL, v. 93--10S. 
 
 Whom many a well-earn'd palm and trophy grace. 
 And the Cirque hails, unrivall'd in the race. 
 Yes, they are noble, spring from what they will, 
 Whose footsteps in the dust are foremost still ; 
 While Hirpine's stock are to the market led, 
 If victory light but rarely on their head: 
 For no respect to pedigree is paid. 
 No honour to their sire's illustrious shade ; 
 Truck'd for a song, they drag the cumbrous wain, 
 With shoulders bare, and bleeding from the chain; 
 Or take, with some blind ass in concert found, 
 At Nepo's mill, their everlasting round. 
 That Rome may, therefore, thee, not thine, admire, 
 Exert thyself, Rubellius, and acquire 
 Some individual praise thy name to grace. 
 Besides the deeds that dignified thy race, 
 
 Veb. 105. That Rome may, therefore, thee, not thine admire, ^c] Hall 
 again, 
 
 " And were thy fathers gentle ? that's their praise; 
 
 " No thank to thee, by whom their name decays; 
 
 " By virtue got they it, and valorous deed, 
 
 " Do thou so, Pontice, and be honoured." 
 These are fine lines, but they are much surpassed in beauty by the following, 
 with which I shall, for the present, conclude my extracts from this admirable 
 writer : 
 
 " Brag of thy father's faults, they are thine own, 
 
 " Brag of his lands, if they are not foregone ; 
 
 " Brag of thine own good deeds ; for they are thine, 
 
 " More than his life, or lands, or golden line." 
 
 hih. IV. Sat. iii.
 
 SATIRE vin. JUVENAL, v. 109— n I. 277 
 
 And won those honours which, with pain, we see, 
 Are rankj and worth, and every thing to thee. 
 
 This for the youth, whom Rumour brands as vain. 
 And insolently boastful of his strain ; 
 Perhaps with truth: — for rarely do we see, 
 A modest sense in those of his degree. 
 
 Veb. 113. rardy do we see, 
 
 A modest setise in those of his degree."] 
 
 " Rarus euim ferme sensus communis in illu 
 
 " Forluna." 
 
 Juvenal seems \.u havi had Piiaidius in his ihoiiglits here, (lib. i. fab. vii.) but 
 what is the meaning of the passage ? Holyday turns it in this manner, 
 
 " For almost common sense is hardly found 
 
 "In such great state," 
 
 ^rhicli, though barbaroush' expressed, is clearl}' what Phoedrus means by sensus 
 communis: whether Juvenal does so too, ma}^ reasonably admit of a doubt. 
 
 Stepney, who translated this Satire, follows Holyda^'. Dryden probably re- 
 vised the version published under his name, we may conclude therefore, that 
 . he did not object to this interpretation. Indeed, we are not left to probability 
 in the matter, for in the preface to All for Love, he quotes the original, and 
 evidently understands it of common sense. 
 
 . The words had, however, another meaning, which is more likely to be that 
 of Juvenal. Communis hominum Scnsus, is used by Cicero for a polite inter- 
 course between man and man; by Horace, for suavity of manners; by 
 Seneca, for a proper regard for the decencies of life; and by others for ail 
 these, which are but various modifications of the same thing, and which 
 together constitute what we call courteousness, or good breeding. This too, 
 I am persuaded, is the meaning of the phrase in Quintilian. Sensus ipsum, qui 
 communis ciicilur, vbi discet, cum se a congrtssu, — segregarit V Lib. i. c. ii. §. 20. 
 The learned bpalding thinks with our translators; and approves Dusaulx for 
 rendering the words of Juvenal, I/s out rarement k sens commun. Sensus ergo 
 communis, he adds, hie est notitia eorum quce nossc sentire homines sotcnt, ^x. 
 Quint. I'ol. up. 43. But Quintilian is speaking of the advantages of a public
 
 27 S vvTiRE viii. JUVENAL, v. 115— 120. 
 
 But trust me, Pojjticus, 'twould grieve thy friend, 
 To see thee so on others' worth depend, 
 As to neglect thy own. Get thee a name ; 
 'Tis dangerous building on another's fame, 
 Lest thp foundation sink, and, sinking, cast 
 Thy baseless pile in ruins on the waste. — 
 So, straggling on the ground, the frail vine tries 
 To clasp the elm she dropt from, fails — and dies ! 
 
 Be brave, be just ; and when thy country's laws 
 Call thee to witness in a dubious cause. 
 Though Phalaris place his bull before thine eye, 
 And frowning, dictate to thy lips a lie, 
 
 education for boys ; one of vvliich is, that true civility, that sensits communis 
 which society only can leach, by shewing the necessity of condescension, and 
 mutual forbearance. 
 
 The emperor Marcus Auielius, seems to have found a good word for it: he 
 calls it >£o(K);'ov)|Oio(j-ui/Ji. and a better commentary on Juvenal cannot be hoped 
 for, than the learned Salmaslus furnishes, iu his explanation of it. Koii/okoh/ao- 
 a-wnv ekgaiiter locat modeslam illam, moderatam, usitatam et ordinariam, ut, 
 ita dicam,homiuis mentem qu<c in commune quodammodo consulit,nec omnia ad 
 commodiim smtm rcfert ; rcspectumque etiam habet eoriim cum quibus lersatur, 
 fitodeslt modiceque de se senticns. At contra, injiati it supcrbi omnts se sibi 
 iantum suisque commodis natos arbitrantur, etprcc se cateros contemnunt etnegli- 
 e;nnt : et hi sunt qui sensum communem non habere recl^ did possunt. In Jul. 
 Capitol, notaj. 
 
 Mr. Ireland thinks that illafortuna, (which I have translated, those of his 
 degree) though certainly not meant to exclude thenobihty at large, was prin- 
 cipally intended to characterise the Imperial House. I do not think this 
 unlikely, when the hatred which Juvenal bore to it, is taken into consideration ; 
 and that the reflection comes immediately after the winding up of the climax 
 of insolence, j;/fHu/«jMC Nerone piopinquo.
 
 9ATiR£ VIII. JUVENAL. V. 127 — 148. 279 
 
 Think it the height of baseness, breath to choose 
 
 Ere honour, and life's end for life to lose. 
 
 Life ! I recall the word; can he be said 
 
 To hve, who merits death? No, he is dead; 
 
 Though Gauran oysters load his sumptuous board, 
 
 And o'er his dripping limbs, all Cosmo's sweets be pour'd. 
 
 Mark! when the province (meed of service past) 
 Long wish'd, and long expected, comes at last ; 
 Restrain thy wrath, thy avarice restrain, 
 Fling on each wild desire the curbing rein, 
 And pity our allies: all Asia grieves. 
 Her blood, her marrow, drain'd by legal thieves. 
 Revere the laws, obey the parent state; 
 Observe what rich rewards the good await, 
 What punishments the bad : how Tutor sped. 
 While Rome's whole thunder rattled round his head. 
 And yet what boots it, that one spoiler bleed. 
 If still a worse, and still a worse succeed; 
 If neither fear, nor shame controul their theft. 
 And Pansa seize the little Natta left? 
 Haste then, Cherippus, while 'tis yet thy own, 
 Look for a chapman for thy tatter'd gown ; 
 
 Ver. 147. Haste then, Cherippus, <S|f.] This is exceedingly well cxplaiaed 
 by the old scholiast. Of wluit advantage is it to thee, Cherippus, (one of the 
 poor Cilicians who had been first robbed by Tutor, and then by Pansa and 
 Nalta) to complain, since when one rapacious ruler is removed, another still 
 more so, is sent in his stead ? Belter to sell the few trifles thou hast, before a 
 new governor conies to devour what the former spared. " Intending," as
 
 280 SATIRE VIII. JUVENAL, v. 149— 164. 
 
 Go, sell it, and say nought ; 'tis honest craft ; 
 Thou could'st not keep the hatchet ; — save the haft. 
 
 Not such the cries of old ; not such the stroke, 
 When first the nations bow'd beneath our yoke. 
 Weahh, then, was theirs, unenvied and unsought ; 
 Then ail had pictures by Parrhasius wrought. 
 Busts, that from Myro did their form receive, 
 And ivory, taught by Phidias' skill to live: 
 On every side a Polyclete you view'd. 
 And scarce a board without a Mentor stood. 
 These Antony and Dolabella fir'd 
 With most rapacious frenzy, these inspir'd 
 The sacrilegious Verres : — so, for Rome 
 They shipp'd their secret spoils ; so they brought home 
 More plunder from our friends, in peace, obtain'd, 
 Than from our foes, in war, were ever gain'd ! 
 
 Holyday justly remarks, " that if he did thus turn his small goods into 
 money, he might happily the better conceal it." His next idea, that hy furor 
 est post omnia perdere naulum, is meant, " never take a passage to Rome, lest 
 thou spend the little left thee, in vain upon thy waftage;" though he thinks it 
 the best interpretation of the passage, is certainly wrong. It is merely a pro- 
 verbial expression, and means, save what thou canst in the wreck of thy 
 fortunes, or, as I have rendered it by a corresponding English proverb, do not 
 throw the haft after the hatchet. 
 
 Ver. 161. The sacrilegious Ferres, ^c."] He' calls Verres sacrilegious, in 
 allusion to one of the charges brought against him by Cicero. Siculosjam ne 
 Deos quidem in suis urbibus, ad quos confugerent, habere ; quod eorum simu- 
 lacra sanctissima C. Verres ex delubris sanctissimis sustulisset. It is not un- 
 pleasing to reflect, that Verres fell a sacrifice at last to tlie detestable rapacity 
 for which he is here stigmatized ; being proscribed by a greater plunderer.
 
 SATIRE VI I r. JUVENAL, v. 165— 153. 2^1 
 
 Now all is gone ! the stallion made a prey, 
 The kw brood-mares and oxen swept away, 
 The Lares, — if the houseliold shrine possess'd 
 One little god that pleas'd above the rest; — 
 Mean spoils indeed ! but such were now their best. 
 
 Perhaps thou scorn'st, and may'st securely scorn, 
 The essenc'd Greeks whom arts, not arms, adorn : 
 Soft limbs, and spirits by refinement broke, 
 Would feebly struggle with th' oppressive yoke. 
 But spare the Gaul, the fierce Ulyrian spare, 
 And the rough Spaniard, terrible in war, 
 Spare too the Afiick hinds, whose ceaseless pain 
 Fills our wide granaries with autumnal grain , 
 And pampers Rome, while weightier cares engage 
 Her precious hours— the Circus and the Stage ! 
 For, shouldst thou rifle them, what share of spoil 
 Would recompense thy execrable toil. 
 When greedy Marius fleec'd them all, so late, 
 And bare, and bleeding, left the hapless state I 
 
 M. Antony, for the sake of his Sicihan rarities, which no persuasions could 
 induce him to surrender. 
 
 The other two, C. Antony, governor of Achaia, and Dolabella, proconsul 
 of Asia, were both prosecuted by the senate, and condemned for extortion. 
 
 Ver. 182. When greedtf Mariusjteec'd them all, so lute, ^e.] For Marius, 
 see Sat. i. v. 82. In his translation of Pliny's Letters, Lord Orrery has intro- 
 duced a singular observation respecting the fate of this man. 
 
 He is speaking of the trial of Caecilius Classicus, who escaped from the 
 puaishmeat that hung over him, by a voluntary death. He then adverts to 
 
 Oo
 
 282 SATIRE VIII. JUVENAL. V. 184—194. 
 
 But chief the brave, and wretched; — hold thou there; 
 Nor tempt too far the madness of despair : 
 For, shouldst tliou all their little treasures drain, 
 Helmets, and shields, and swords, would still remain ; 
 The plunder'd ne'er want arms. What I foretell 
 Is no trite apothegm, but, mark me well, 
 ■ True as a Sibyl's leaf, fix'd as an oracle. 
 
 If men of worth the posts beneath thee hold. 
 If no spruce favourite barter law for gold ; 
 If no inherent stain thy wife disgrace, 
 Nor, harpy-like, she flit from place to place, 
 
 the lenity exhibited in the case of Marius, and adds. " In these two trials we 
 may perceive the different influence which the two emperors, Domitian and 
 Trajan, had over the senate. Under the tyranny of the first, the laws were not 
 put in execution against Marius ; under the golden age of the latter, Classicus 
 and his abettors were punished in the amplest manner, and according to law." 
 Vol. I. p. 207. 
 
 Well and wisely singelh that ancient bard of Warwickshire : 
 " Let's write good angel on the devil's horn, 
 " Tis not the devil's crest !" 
 Certainly not; let us call the age of Trajan "golden," and all injustice shall 
 be wiped away from it. Who would imagine after this, that the two trials took 
 place in the same reign, and, probably, within a few months of each other! 
 Yet so it was: the compliment to Trajan, therefore, is as unjust, as the attack 
 on Domitian; who, heaven knows it, little needed to be saddled with the 
 offences of his successors ! 
 
 Ver. 193. If no inherent slaiu thy zcife disgrace, <?)T.] The avarice and 
 rapacity of the women who followed tiieir husbands to their governments, had 
 long, ere this, become a serious subject of complaint. Before the time of 
 Augustus, the women rarely, if ever, went abroad : that uxorious emperor look 
 Livia with him in most of his expeditions, and his example seems to have had
 
 sATiuE vui. JUVENAL. V. 195 — 212. j283 
 
 A curs'd Celaeno, ever on the watch, 
 
 And ever furious, all she sees to snatch ; 
 
 Then choose what race thou wilt : derive thy birth 
 
 From Picus, or those elder sons of earth, 
 
 That shook the throne of heaven ; call him thy sire, 
 
 Who first inform'd our clay with living fire ; 
 
 Or single from the songs of ancient days. 
 
 What tale may suit thee, and what parent please. 
 
 But if wild passions rage without controul, 
 
 And into guilt precipitate thy soul, 
 
 Into rank pride, and lust; if thy stern eyes 
 
 Can view the lictors mangle our allies, 
 
 And ply the deed oi death, athirst for gore, 
 
 Till their tir'd arms hft the dull'd ax no more; 
 
 Then, every honour by thy father won, 
 
 Indignant to be borne by such a son, 
 
 Will to his blood oppose thy daring claim, 
 
 And light a torch, to blaze upon thy shame. 
 
 a pernicious effect; for in the succeeding reign, the custom was grown s» 
 common, and so oppressive to the provinces, that Severus Caecina made a 
 motion in the senate, iie quern magistral itm, citi provincia obvenisstt, uxor comi- 
 tantiir. Tacitus, who gives his speech at some length, contents himself with 
 observing, that the senate did not meet the question fairly ; out of compliment 
 perhaps to Drusus, who opposed it ; and who, instead of answering Ca;cina'» 
 objections, had recourse to the argumenlum ad hominem. " Se quoque in llly- 
 ricum profcctum ; et siita conducat, alias ad gentes ituritm, hand semper aquo 
 ammo,siab uxore carissima divelleretur." Ann. Lib. iii. 34. 
 
 As the proconsuls could not be prevented from taking their wives with 
 them, it seemed but just tliat they should be answerable for their peculations, 
 &c.; and this principle was recognized by the senate. Projieisci autcm
 
 2S4 SATIRE VIII. JUVENAL. V. 213— 224. 
 
 For vice is still more criminal, and base, 
 As he, who sins, is high in power or place. 
 
 See! by his great progenitors' remains 
 Fat Damasippus sweeps, with loosen'd reins: 
 Good Consul ! he no pride of office feels, 
 But humbly stoops to clog his headlong wheels. 
 " What then ! is't not by night?" the hero cries. 
 But the MOON sees! but the stars stretch their eyes 
 Intentive, on thy shame! a moment wait. 
 Till Damasippus quits his cumbrous state ; 
 Then, proud the experienced driver to display, 
 He'll mount his chariot, in the face of day, 
 
 proconsukm melius est sine uxore ; sed et cum uxore potest, dummodo sciaf, se- 
 natum, Cotta et Messala Coss. censuissefulurvm, ut si quid uxores eorum, qui ad 
 officia projiciscuntur, deliquerint, ab ipsis ratio et vindicta exigatur. 
 
 Ver. 213. -For vice is still, Sfc.'] This idea is finely exemplified by Beaumont 
 and Fletcher, 
 
 " The sins the great do, people view through optics 
 
 " Which shew 'em ten times more than common vices, 
 
 " And sometimes multiply them." Thiery and Theodoret. 
 
 After this, there fiallow in the original, four lines which by some accident have 
 been shufHcd out of their plac e, and which I cannot re-instate to my satis- 
 faction. Some have supposed they relate to Fabius, mentioned in the begin- 
 ing of this Satire, in that case, they would come in after the thirtieth line; 
 but I have not ventured to insert them. Here is the translation : 
 
 Say, what's thy birth to me, — if thou incline 
 
 Thy life to perjury in the very shrine 
 
 Thy pious fathers rear'd, and in the sight 
 
 Of their triumphal statues r If, by night. 
 
 Thou steal abroad disguis'd, that none may see 
 
 Thy lewd amours ; say, what's thy birth to me r
 
 SATIRE VIII. JUVENAL, V. 225 — 244. 285 
 
 Whirl, with bold front, his grave associate by, 
 
 And jerk iiis whip, to catch the senior's eye : 
 
 Unyoke his wearied steeds, and, to requite 
 
 Their service, feed and htter tiiem at niglit. 
 
 Meanwhile, 'tis all he can, what time he stands 
 
 At Jove's high altar, as the law commands, 
 
 And offers sheep and oxen, he forswears 
 
 The eternal king, and gives his silent prayers 
 
 To stable deities, whose forms divine 
 
 Our ostlers o'er their stinking cribs enshrine, 
 
 Hippona, and the rest! — this for the day: 
 
 At night, to his old haunts he slips away ; 
 
 Where, while the host, bedrenched with liquid sweets, 
 
 With many a courteous phrase his entrance greets, 
 
 And many a smile ; the hostess nimbly moves, 
 
 And gets the flaggon ready, which he loves. 
 
 Here some, perhaps, my growing warmth may blame. 
 And say, " in youth's wild hours we did the same." 
 I grant we did; but then we stopp'd in time. 
 Nor hugg'd our darling faults beyond our prime. 
 
 Ver. 235. Hippona, ^c] This strange goddess " which," as Holyday ob- 
 serves, " the lamentable devotion of the heathens did raise to themselves," is 
 frequently mentioned by the ancient writers. 
 
 It is not known with what rites she was worshipped, but j!\puleius says he 
 saw her image prettily adorned with fresh-gathered roses. Juvenal speaks of 
 her with great contempt, in which he is followed by the early Christians, who 
 rally the heathens with equal spirit and success, on their devotion to so odious 
 and contemptible an object. It should be mentioned, however, that though 
 they placed her " over their stinking cribs," as Juvenal calls tliem, they did
 
 286 
 
 SATIRE VIII. JUVENAL. V. 245 — 260. 
 
 O friends ! be folly's giddy reign concise. 
 
 And brief the hour ye consecrate to vice. 
 
 Some sins must, with the firsthngs of the beard, 
 
 Be thrown aside ; boys only should be spared. 
 
 Yet Damasippus still frequents the stews, 
 
 Still haunts the bagnios, now, that manlier views 
 
 Should urge him, ripe in vigour and in age, • 
 
 The foes of Caesar and the State t'engage ; 
 
 On Tigris' banks in burnish'd arms to shine, 
 
 And sternly guard the Danube, or the Rhine. 
 
 " The East has risen" ho ! let the troops repair 
 
 To Ostia, quick ! " But where's the general? where?" 
 
 Go search the nastiest tavern's nastiest hole, 
 
 There shall you find his honour, cheek by jole. 
 
 With cut-throats, bargemen, vagabonds, thieves, slaves, 
 
 Hangmen, contractors " for base biers" and graves. 
 
 not presume to introduce her into heaven ; which, considering the Uberty they 
 sometimes took, is a notable instance of forbearance : 
 
 " Nemo Cloacinae aut Eponae super astra deabus, 
 " Dat sohum, quamvis ohdam persolvat acerram." 
 
 Pruden. ^potheos. 2G5. 
 Upon which Fulgentius remarks, Vertumnum, Priapum, et deam stabulorum 
 (quavi Apuleius Hiponem alii Hipponam mincupant ) inter semonas deos nu- 
 merarl, qui, tanquani calo indigtti, ob merifi pmipertatem, calitum numero 
 nunquam adscripti fncrunt . Fulgentius might have learned from Ovid, that 
 one of them at least was admitted amongst the gods, and that for no very 
 extraordinary merit, — sedde his iatis. 
 
 Vek. 260. contractors "for base biers"'\ These contractors, (fabri san- 
 
 dapilarum) who figure in this worshipful society, were people employed in 
 furnishing the biers, or rather perhaps hand-barrows, on which the bodies of such
 
 SATIRE vni. JUVENAL, v. 261— 2S2. 587 
 
 And Cybele's priests butstretch'd, a precious pack ! 
 Midst their loose drums, and snoring on their back. 
 Here none are less, none greater, than the rest. 
 Here my lord gives and takes the scurvy jest ; 
 Here all who can, round the same table sprawl, 
 And here one greasy tankard serves for all. 
 Blessings of birth! but Ponticus, a M'ord: 
 Hadst thou a slave, like this degenerate lord, 
 Wiiat would'st thou do? send him, in chains, to till 
 Thy Lucan farm, or turn thy Tuscan mill. 
 But Troy's great sons dispense with being good, 
 And boldly sin by courtesy of blood ; 
 Wink at each other's crimes, and look for fame 
 In what would tinge a cobler's cheek with shame. 
 
 What ! have I wreak'd on such foul deeds my rage, 
 That worse should yet remain to blot my page ; 
 Should, as I strike, with tenfold vigour grow, 
 And rise like Hydra's heads beneath my blow '. 
 Thou, Lateranus, now thy all is spent, 
 Art doom'd a squealing ghost to represent ; 
 While Lentulus, thy brother in renown. 
 So well plays Laureole, the perjur'd clown, 
 
 as were killed in the bloody sports of the amphitheatre, were removed to the 
 place of interment. The scholiast has suntlatiorum, but the common reading 
 IS right: base biers, is Holyday's version. 
 
 Ver. 282. -So <ie// plays Laurtok, ^c] This slave, whose part was so well 
 performed by this degenerate nobleman, was a principal character in a ballet, 
 or drama of action, composed by Najvius. For a dance it mu&t have been 
 horrible enough in all conscience, since Laureolus (whose supposed crime was
 
 2SS SATIRE VIII. JUVENAL. V.283 — 290. 
 
 Is crucified so well, that, for his pains, 
 I hold him worthy of — the death he feigns. 
 Nor must I not the thoughtless rabble blame, 
 Who, lost alike to decency and shame, 
 Sit with unblushing li'ont, and calmly see 
 The hir'd patricians' low buffoonery ; 
 Smile at the Fabii's tricks, and grin to hear 
 The cuffs resound fi-om the Marmerci's ear. 
 
 I 
 
 peijury) was not only crucified, but set upon by wild beasts, while in thai 
 (dreadful situation. 
 
 Juvenal might have taken the hint of recommending Lentulus to a real 
 cross, from what happened at Rome in his own time; for Martial tells us, that 
 this ballet was truly, and, bona fide, performed in the amphitheatre, for the 
 amusement of this detestable people. A malefactor (he does not seem to know 
 for what crime) was actually nailed to a cross, while real bears, hungry Cale- 
 donian bears, were let loose to devour him 1 
 
 " Nuda Caledonio sic viscera praebult urso, 
 "■ Non falsa pendens in cruce Laureolus. 
 " Vivebant laceri membris stillantibus artus, 
 " Inque omni nusquam corpore corpus erat." 
 
 De Spectac. Ep. vii. 
 Ver. 289. Smile at the Fabii's tricks, <?fc.] Juvenal calls them (the Fabii) 
 planipedes; buffoons of the lowest order; bare-footed Jack-puddings, who, 
 imeared with soot, and dressed in sheep or goat skins, capered about the stage, 
 in the intervals of the play, for the entertainment of the rabble. And this was 
 done by the descendants of Fabius, and Marmercus ! a dereliction of every 
 honourable feeling, that more than justifies the indignation of our author. In 
 his subsequent remark, too, on the conduct of the spectators, there is much 
 good sense ; since nothing is more certain, than that the people are degraded in 
 the voluntary degradation of their superiors: a momentous truth, that seems 
 to have escaped the observation of many princes, and many people of modern, 
 as well as of ancient, times.
 
 SATIRE VIII. JUVENAL. V, 291—296. 289 
 
 Who heeds how low they sell their blood, how high? 
 
 No Nero drives them now their fate to try : 
 
 Freely they come, and freely they expose 
 
 Their lives for hire, to grace the public shows. 
 
 But grant the worst : suppose the scaffold here, 
 
 And there the stage; on which would'st thou appear? 
 
 Vi;u. 992. Ao Xtv'o drives them now, (^"c] Nero compelled four hundred 
 senators, and six hundred laiights, some of them of fair fortune, and ch.aracter, 
 to enter the Usls as gladiators, ei'.counterers of wild beasts, &c. ad varia arcnx 
 miuhtcria. (Suef. Nero, §. 12.) To this circumstance Juvenal alludes. From 
 ■the numbers here mentioned, a suspicion has arisen that the text is corrupt, 
 and that for quadriiigentos, should be I'ead quadraginta ; this is probable 
 enough, as the amount would, even then, sufficiently tax our credulity. 
 
 To do all justice, however, to this worth}' prince, it should be observed that 
 he merely perfected the system which was entered upon by his predecessors. 
 Cajsar seems to have had the honour of striking it out; as there is no earlier 
 instance of this scandalous prostitution, than that which occurs in tlie account 
 of his life by Suetonius. Munere in foro depugnavit Furius Leptinus, stirpe 
 prcctoria, et Q. Calpentis senator. Liidis D. Laberius equcs Romanus minium 
 suii/n egit, S^c. Casar. 39. The exquisitely digniiled and pathetic remonstrance 
 of the knight, at being compelled to appear upon the stage, is still extant: 
 the noblemen and senators, probably, submitted with a better grace, at least 
 wc hear of no complaints they made. 
 
 Augustus, who was extravagantly fond of the amusement of the Circus and 
 Amphitheatre, appears to have extended the shameful practice. In Circa 
 aurigas, cursoresqiie, et confectoresferarum, ttnonnunquam ex nobilissimajuven- 
 tulc, produxit. And again. Jd sceuicas qtioque ct gladiatorias operas, etiam 
 equitibus lioinanis uUquando usus est. (Suet. Aug. 43.) This emperor, however, 
 who had many pretensions to decency, and some to humanity, put a temporary 
 stop to the shameful practice; which was afterwards revived, and continued 
 tlirough the succeeding reigns, till it reached, a« has been just observed, its 
 highest point under Nero.
 
 290 SATIRE VIII. JUVENAL. V, 297—306. 
 
 The first: for death I never so did dread, 
 
 Asj in a stupid scene, to whine for bread ; 
 
 Squat on my liams, in some blind noolc to sit, 
 
 And watch my mistress, in a jealous fit. 
 
 But 'tis not wondrous, when the emperor tunes 
 
 A scurvy harp, the lords should turn buflfoons; 
 
 The wonder is, they turn not Fencers too, 
 
 Secutors, Retiarians, — an'd tiiev do! 
 
 For lo ! the last of all our ribald peers. 
 
 The worthless Gracchus, in the lists appears : 
 
 ' Ver. 303. The zeonder is, they turn not Fencers too, 
 Secuto7-s, Retiarians, — and they do! 
 Forlo! the last of all our ribald peers, 
 
 The zc-orthkss Gracchus, i^t-] Our autlior here takes up the 
 scandalous adventure of Gracchus, on which he had briefly touched in the 
 second Satire. The reader who recollects the lines, may appreciate the horror 
 with which Juvenal regarded the transaction; since he speaks of it as sur- 
 passing in infamy a crime at which universal nature revolts. 
 
 Mr. Ireland, who doubted whether the author was sincere in what he ad- 
 vanced, attributed (see p. 6l,) his superior indignation at the transaction before 
 us, to that spirit of aggravation which led him to treat whatever vice he hap- 
 pened to be satirizing, as the most enormous in the catalogue. 1 believed 
 then, as I still do, that the poet " spoke as he thought, and really imagined 
 this last action of Gracchus to be his worst." 
 
 Every sentence, every word that drops from Juvenal, proves him to have 
 been a sturdy republican, a genuine, and unsophisticated patriot, who loved 
 the honour and dignity of his country, above his life ; and felt with the deepest 
 ane;uish, every act which tended to debase her in the eyes of surrounding 
 nations. I shall now produce one of the most striking passages in Dio ; 
 indeed, I might say, without fear of contradiction, in any historian extant, to 
 »how that this debasement was more effectually brought about by the gladia-
 
 9ATFRF. VIII. JUVENAL. V. 307— 310. 291 
 
 No shield his arm, no sword his tliigh invests, — 
 He spurns such weapons, he ; spurns and detests ; 
 Spurns e'en a casque, and impudently stands 
 With the poised net and trident in his liands, 
 
 toiial pursuits of the young nobilil}-, than by any other enormity whatever. 
 In his sixty-first book, that writer observes that, amidst all the scandalous fes- 
 tivities and excesses of Nero, nothing appeared so truly flagitious and abo- 
 minable, as the prostitution of the male and female nobility, who exhibited 
 themselves in tiie Orchestra, Circus, and Amphitheatre, on a footing with the 
 vilest of the rabble. The old and honourable families of the state, the Furii, 
 the Fabii, the Porcii, and the Valerii, to whose ancestors temples and trophies 
 had been erected by the public, voluntarily (at least for the greatest part) sub- 
 mitted to this degradation, in the presence of all Rome, and of an imuiense 
 concourse of people from every part of the empire! These, probably, enjoyed, 
 with the highest relish, a spectacle that amply revenged the conquest of their 
 respective countries by the ancestors of those who now degraded themselves 
 for their amusement. " As the sports and combats proceeded, the strangers 
 pointed out to each other, the descendants of those great men — tJautTuAoJeix- 
 mv yi xiTSs «AX*iX(!ij, xai {Asyoi/, MxyiS^wi; [j.£v, Out©." ig-tv o rs HavKts ixyou^ 
 (Emilius Paulus;) 'EAAnwf Si, 'Oul©^ ts Mo/x|txia (Lucius Mummius;) XijceAim- 
 rai, liiTC TlJ^KAau(ylo^ (Claudius Marcellus ;) ETrfipwrai, ISen rov Arrzs'iov (Appiu* 
 Claudius;) A(Ttxvoi, toi' Akkioi/ (Lucius Scipio;) lSy,ptg, tov TlnuMov (Publius 
 Scipio ;) Kxi>p(r,ionoi, AfpiKuvov (Seipio Afrieanus ;) PUMAIOI AE IIANTAS ! 
 c.i. §. 17. 
 
 It is more than probable, that Juvenal himself was present at these most 
 luiniiliating scenes. As a spectator, we may conceive him to have watched 
 the significant looks of the strangers, as their fingers moved from object to 
 object; to have heard their whispers, to have noted theirsneers ! — Can it now be 
 wondered at, that a man of his quick feelings, of his strong sensibility, should 
 speak with indignation and horror, of actions, which were sure to spread the 
 disgrace and ridicule oi" his country, as far as the wanderings of the astonished 
 visitants extended f Or, that he should think lliem superior in infamy to the 
 most hateful vices; which, however they might imi)licate the character of 
 individuals, brought no great degree of odiiitu on the general reputation ol
 
 i'Sa SATIRE VIII. JUVENAL. V. 311— 314. 
 
 And waits the foe; anon a cast lie tries, 
 But misses, and, in wild confusion, flies 
 Around tlie Cirque ; and, anxious to be known, 
 Lifts his bare face, with many a piteous moan. 
 
 Rome? I do not think it can. However this may be, the praise of consis- 
 tency must, in the present Ci\se at least, be fully allowed him. lu this very 
 Satire, when he enumerates the crimes of Nero, he insinuates that it was not 
 so much his multiplied murders, as his public exposure of himself on the stage 
 (where he repeated his Troics), that exhausted the patience of mankind, and 
 excited that general insurrection, which swept him from the eartli! 
 
 Of this enough. It now only remains to add a few words, for the sake of 
 the English reader, o.n the weapons, manner of fighting, Sec. of tbese heroes 
 ef the amphitheatre. 
 
 Of the two combatants (who entered the lists) one was called Retiarius, and 
 the other Mirmillo, oi'Secutor: the former was lightl)- drcst in a tunic, or short 
 foat, and furnished with a trident, or three-forked spear, and a net, (rete,) 
 whence his name. The latter was armed with a helmet, shield, and short 
 scimitar. They approached each other, the Secutor with liis weajwn raised, 
 and the Retiarius with his protruded trident in his right hand, and his net open, 
 and ready for casting, in his left. His object was to throw it over the head 
 of his antagonist, and entangle him in such a manner, as to render him an 
 easy prey, if he failed in his attempt, he had no resource but flight, for which 
 the lightness of his dress was well adapted ; and during which, he endeavoured 
 to collect, and prepare his net for a second throw : — if the Secutor reached 
 him before this was done, his fate was inevitable, unless he were saved by tha 
 interposition of the spectators, which sometimes happened. 
 
 It is not easy, at this distance of time, to say whether one of these characters 
 was looked upon as less respectable than the other, or not: — but Juvenal 
 seems to direct some of his indignation at Gracchus, for choosing the part of 
 ihe Retiarius, instead of that of the Secutor: perhaps it was less dangerous; 
 it was certainly more impudent, for it afforded no raeans^ of concealing the 
 face ; since we know, from Suetonius, that the drivelling Claudius took a cruel 
 pleasure in putting the Retiarii to death upon particular occasions, that he 
 might have the diabolical satisfaction of remarlung the successive changes ia
 
 SATIRE VIII. JUVENAL. V. 315— 320. 293 
 
 " 'Tis he! 'tis he! I know the Salian vest, 
 "■ Bedeck'd with golden fringe about the breast; 
 " Know too the Sahan hat, from whose high crown 
 " The o-Htterinw ribands float redundant down. 
 " O spare him, spare!" — the brave Secutor heard, 
 And stopp'd tlie chase, and bhish'd ; for he preferr'd 
 
 their expiring countenances! Gracclius, however, seems to have been deter- 
 mined in his choice more b^' cou-ardicc, than by impudence ; as he did not 
 merely rely upon being recognized by his features, which, as he was of one 
 of the most distinguished families in Rome, could not but be well known ; but 
 was even mean enough to enter the lists iu the magnificent hat and tunic of 
 the Salii, or priests of Mars, of whom he was probably the chief. 
 
 It only remains to say a word of the Mirmillo. " He was so called," says 
 Madan, after some of the commentators, " from i^^py-©^ (myrinos) an ant ;" a 
 derivation that pleases him wonderfully, for he gives it again in the sequel. 
 He was called so, however, from f/.of^vX©' (murmi//i(s,) a spotted fish, aioX©^ 
 »X^"f, (Oppian Halicut.iib. i. 100,) a representation of which formed the crest 
 of his helmet. Hence the chaunt of the Retiarius, mentioned by Festus : " I 
 do not want to catch you, 1 only want to catch your Jish; what are you afraid 
 of r" This, as Stepluuio observes, is but a scurvy tune to sing at a man's 
 funeral; but it had, apparently, as much music as wit in it. 
 
 Polytunus and I'estus derive the origin of the Retiarius from Pittacus, one 
 of the seven sages of Greece, who fought in this manner with Phryno: ufcpov 
 il IX. n*o>o/M.«j^4«j 7rpo<r/t«X£(r«jLtf 1/8 t8 ^pui/WK^ a,XnvTHiw MaXa&iav ^xiun;/, C[ui'f<5'p«fx£ 
 xai TW ^tv x[t.<p\^M<rrpa Treptc^xXi, t*) Tpiaix*) ic nxt tu ^upiJiu szs-itpt xai xviiXi. 
 Lib. xui. Here is sagacity with a witness r but tlie practice was undoubtedly 
 very ancient, for Herodotus speaks of it as existing among the Persians : — 
 " there are some of them," says be (die Sagartae) " who, when they tome to. 
 engage, cast a rope with a kind of gin at the end of it, on the enemy, and 
 thus endeavour to entangle and draw him into their power." From these people, 
 and their manner of fighting, came most probably the Greek word Xxpyxnn^, 
 a soi°t of coarse basket.
 
 294 SATIRE VIII. JUVENAL, v. 521— 324- 
 
 AVounds, death itself, to the contemptuous sneer, 
 Of conquering such a hero ! such a peer ! 
 
 Were Nero, Seneca, propos'd for choice; 
 What wretch would hesitate to give his voice, 
 
 Ver. 323. Were Nero, Seneca, <^c.] Every one knows that Seneca was 
 put to death by Nero, on a charge of being concerned in Piso's conspirac}', 
 of which he was confessedly innocent. It was reported at Rome, Tacitus says, 
 (Ann. XV. Go,) tliat the conspirators, after having made use of Piso to destroy 
 Neroj intended to make away with Piso himself, (for what should we gain, said 
 tlie chief of them, Subrius Flavius, by exchanging a harper for a tragedian ? 
 alluding to Piso's having appeared on the stage,) and raise Seneca to the 
 vacant seat. It is to this circumstance, which seems to have escaped the 
 notice of the commentator?, that Juvenal alludes: I must, however, be per- 
 mitted to add, that if the conspirators really entertained such an idea, they 
 were the weakest of men ; for Seneca (to say nothing of his age and infir- 
 mities) was too unpopular to have held the undisturbed possession of the 
 empire for a daj-. 
 
 With respect to Seneca, it is his fortune to have been " at the Fair of good 
 names, and to have bought a reasonable commodity of them;" for, exclusive 
 of our author, who evidently thought highly of him, and appears to have been 
 a very diligent reader of his works, several ancient writers have been lavish in 
 his praise : and I have somewhere read (where, I do not now recollect,) that 
 St. Jerome put him into the catalogue of saints. Yet we shall look in vain 
 into the history of his life for any extraordinary number of virtuous, or praise- 
 worthy actions. 
 
 Ilis first exploit was corrupting the daughter of Germanicus, for which he 
 was driven into banishment ; and I should judge, from tiie obtrusive and never- 
 ending boasts of the magnanimity with which he endured it, that Ovid him- 
 self did not bear his exile much more impatiently than this impassible Stoic. 
 He flattered Claudius, and still more grossly his favourite, Polybius, in order 
 to obtain his recall; and as soon as he had succeeded, forgot the latter, and 
 betrayed the former. He then joined the virtuous Nero, whom he took care 
 to supply with a mistress, in his hatred of Agrippina, his great patroness; and
 
 SATIRE VIII. JUVENAL. V. 325—528. 295 
 
 Had he the right of suffrage, (lost long since) 
 
 To the philosopher, before the prince? 
 
 Whose crimes, so much have they all crimes out-done, 
 
 Deserve more serpents, apes, and sacks, than one. 
 
 when her son, not long afterwards, put her to death, lie was more tlian sus- 
 pected of drawing up the palUating account of it. 
 
 A better moralist than Seneca, hath said, " he wlio maketli haste to be rich, 
 shall not be innocent." This was notoriously our philosopher's case. Die 
 attributes the insurrection of the Britons, in a great measure to his avarice 
 and rapacity; and P. Suiiius appears, from Tacitus, to have attacked him on 
 this head, witli a violence wiiich no common arts of enriching himself, could 
 have provoked. " By what system oi" ethics has this professor, in less than 
 four years, amassed three hundred million sesterces? His snares are spread 
 through all the city ; last wills and testaments are his quarry, and the rich, 
 who have no children, are his prey. He has overwhelmed Italy ; the provinces 
 are exhausted, and he is still unsatisfied !" Annal. xni. 42. 
 
 His behaviour too, after he perceived the decline of Nero's favour, was 
 pusillanimous; and bis affected resignation of his unbounded wealth, pitiful 
 in the extreme. He did not, indeed, imitate the elder Brutus, for what .Juvenal 
 calls the time of bearded kings, was past; but he feigned himself sick, and 
 infirm, and lived on spring water, and bread baked under his own eye. In a 
 word, I can find little amiable in his life; and in his boasted death, scarcely 
 any thing more than a fond and over-vvceuing anxiety, to make an exhibition 
 of it. 
 
 His writings, where they are not too free, are, to me at least, excellent : 
 it is pleasant to see so poor a pedant as Aulus Gellius, aflect to treat ihcui 
 with contempt! 
 
 V'er. 328. Destrvc more serpcnls, apts, diid sacks, tlmn om\'\ l';uricidcs, by 
 the Roman law, were sewn up in a sack, with these and other unfortunate 
 creatures, and thrown into the nearest river, or the sea. See Sat. xiii. 
 
 It is scarcely possible to understand the next five and twenty lines, without 
 a constant reference to the life of Nero, of whose more than bedlamite follies 
 and crimes they contain an enumeration.
 
 296 
 
 SATIRE VIII, JUVENAL. V. 329—336. 
 
 " Orestes slew his mother." True; but know, 
 The same effects from different causes flow: 
 He slew her, to avenge his father's death, 
 High in the social hour deprived of breath ; 
 Slew her at heaven's command : — but, in liis mood, 
 Poison'd no kindred, shed no consort's blood, 
 Buried no poniard in a sister's throat, 
 Sung on no public stage, no Troics wrote — 
 
 Ver. 333. Slew her at heaven's command: — 1 A manifest allusion to this 
 passage of the Electra. 
 
 n zrxrptfo]/ Suj/,»' (TB yjcp tp^oi/.oii 
 
 In the comparison here instituted between the insane Orestes, and the sane 
 Nero ; if, as one of the commentators well observes, such a wretch can be 
 called sane ; the advantage is infinitely on the side of the former. They both 
 nnudered their mothers ; but what was in Orestes an act of divine retribution, 
 (since antiquity represents Clj'temnestra as forewarned by heaven of the fate 
 that awaited her, if she imbrued her hands in her husband's blood;) was in 
 Nero an act of gratuitous cruelty; for Agrippiua had done him no injury; 
 nay, had been guilty of the greatest crimes to pave his way to the empire. 
 Waving this, however, says Juvenal, Orestes, mad as he was, did not poison 
 his relations, (as Nero poisoned Domitia and Britannicus,) nor kill his sister, 
 (as Nero killed Antonia,) nor murder his wife, (as Nero murdered Octavia,) 
 nor appear upon the stage, (as Nero did in several places,) nor write verses on 
 the burning of Troy. Here the poet suddenly breaks off the parallel for the 
 sake of observing that, savage as the emperor's conduct was, he could not go 
 beyond this last act of baseness. The commentators, not entering into the feel- 
 ings of Juvenal, cannot conceive how this could " top," &c. Some of them, 
 thei-efore, suppose that he alludes to Nero's recitation of his Troics while 
 Rome was burning; which Suetonius and Xiphilinus, though with some varia- 
 tion in tlie circumstances, concur in affirming he did : Hoc incendium t turri 
 Mteccnatiana jirospeclans, latusqite Jlammcc, nt aichat, pulchritudine, «Xw(rJv
 
 SATIRE vnr. JUVENAL, v. 337— 348. 5<>7 
 
 This topt his frantic crimes ! this rouz'd mankind ! 
 
 For what could Galba or Virginias find, 
 
 In the dire annals of his bloody reign. 
 
 That call'd for vengeance in a louder strain ? 
 
 Lo here, the arts, the studies, tliat engage 
 
 Our matchless chief; proud, on a foreign stage, 
 
 To prostitute his voice for base renown, 
 
 And ravish from the Greeks their parsley crown ! 
 
 Come then, great prince! great poet ! come along, 
 Bring the rich trophies of thy deathless song, 
 To grace thy fathers' statues ; bring forth all 
 Thy tragic properties, the sweeping pall, 
 
 Ilii, in illo siio scenico habitii decantavit. Nero 38. And Xiph : NEpwi- ti n 
 TO ayifov ra ■rra.Xxlis a^»^X■9■rI, xai T»^ Oicvrif Trif aiS'xpuSixri]/ AaEwi', »i<rfi/ a^wni/, «f 
 l*iv «J]©>^ iXiyiv, lAia, u{ <?i iupxro, 'Pu^^?. Lib. Ixii. §. 18. 
 
 Others again imagine that the author alludes to the report of this profligate 
 madman having set Home on fire, (for the sai<e of illustrating his subject,) a 
 circumstance which, whether true or not, was generally credited in our author's 
 time; and with which, indeed, Nero was charged to his face by Subrius 
 Flavins, who suffered with Seneca; and whose dying words Tacitus seems 
 inclined, and to my thinking, not without reason, to prefer to those of the 
 philosopher. Ann. xv. 67- But I am persuaded, (see p. 292,) that the author 
 meant to speak only of his reciting his poem in public, which we know he did 
 at the Pentaetericon, and other festivals. 
 
 Ver. 345. Come then^ great prince ! ^c] " It were but an overplus (as 
 Holyday observes,) to fill the reader with the base and scenical behaviour of 
 Kero,bolh in Italy and Greece; the dishonour being as known as the empire 
 he dishonoured: wherefore I leave him to the jeere of our satirist." I cannot 
 help saying a word, however, on his singular choice of characters ; the parts 
 which he chiefly delighted to perform, would have suited Bottom to a miracle ; 
 they were trulv " parts to tear a cat in :" being, exclusive of those enumerated 
 
 Qq
 
 i.'98 
 
 SATIRE viii. JUVENAL. V. 349 — 355. 
 
 In which thou lov'd'st Antigone to play, 
 And Menalippe; bring the masks, and lay 
 The whole before Domitius' feet ; then bear 
 Thy conquering harp, prime object of thy care, 
 To the Colossus, and suspend it there! 
 
 Cethegus ! Catiline ! whose ancestors 
 Were nobler born, or higher rank'd, than vours? 
 
 } 
 
 fay Juvenal, Hercules raving mad, Qi^dipus murdering his father, Orestes 
 stabbing his mother, gtc. Sec. 
 
 With respect to Menalippe, the only piece on the list, whose subject is not 
 known to every sehool-boy, Nero appears to have been directed to it solely 
 by his love of the sciences. Dionysius' of HaUcarnassus saye, that Euripides 
 wrote a play of the Wise Menalippe^ t-u; a-npr.s MivxXiirTrrtg , of which this is 
 the plot. The young lad}-, in spite of her wisdom, had an amour with Neptune, 
 who got her with child of twins; these she contrived to hide in her father's 
 cow-house, where Ire soon after found them. In the simplioity of his heart, 
 good man, he took them for a monstrous production of one of his cows, and 
 was about to commit them to the flames; when his wise daughter slept in, 
 and by a long series of reasoning, convinced the poor old king that they were 
 the natural produce of the animal, and thus fortunately saved them both. 
 " Our armies swore terribly in Flanders, quoth mv uncle Tobv, but nothing to 
 this." No, no, much'enduring as the frequenters of our theatres are, (and 
 surely no ass was ever more patient,) they would fly out nt such an hetero- 
 geneous jumble of dullness and absuidily as this, t low an Athenian audience 
 could listen to it, is to me inconceivable. 
 
 It is probable, that what the poet here affects to recommend to the emperor, 
 is merely a recapitulation of what was actually done. There is no account, 
 indeed, of his having laid his " tragic properties" at the feet of his fathers and 
 grandfathers' (the Uomitii's) statues, though the circumstance is far from being 
 unlikely; but the suspension of his harp to .the Colossus, is an historical fact: 
 ciTHARAM aui€m,(says Suetonius, Nero ]%)ajudicibus adsedelatam, adoravit, 
 ferrique ad Augusli statuamjussil. If the learned Casaubon had recollected
 
 SATiitr. v;i], JUVENAL, v. ;]:G— :](ij. ijgg 
 
 Yet ye conspir'd, with more than Gallic hate, 
 To wrap in midnight flames this hapless state; 
 On men and gods your barbarous rage to pour, 
 And deluge Rome widi her own children's gore : 
 Horrors, that call'd indeed ibr vengeance dire, 
 For the pitch'd coat, and stake, and smouldering fire. 
 But Tully watch'd — your league in silence broke. 
 And crush'd your impious arms, without a stroke. 
 
 Juventxl when he read this passage, he would not have altered cilharam to 
 citharce, from an idea that a crown was more likely to be offered to Augustus 
 than a harp. See his note on the passage, loc. cit. 
 
 There is still some doubt among the commentators, whether Nero might 
 not have graced his own statue with this immortal instrument. Both Pliny and 
 Suetonius say that he erected one ot" prodigious height and magnitude: but 
 as this seems to have been of brass, and that mentioned by Juvenal, is e.\- 
 pressly said to be of marble, I see no room for hesitation. 
 
 The fate of Nero's Colossus is worth noticing. After his death the senate, 
 in a fit of virtuous resentment, which generally seized them at the accession of 
 a new family, whipt off that prince's head from it, and put on one of Apollo : 
 this preserved its situation until the reign of Commodus, who removed it in 
 its' turn, to make way for a head of himself! It must be confessed, that Apollo 
 had got some how or other, into a very worshipfid line; and it would periiaps, 
 have puzzled his godship, and all his oracles to boot, to determine precisely 
 whether he derived most honour from his immediate successor or predecessor. 
 
 Ver. 361. ^ the pitch'd coat, and stake, ^c] This was the punishment 
 
 of incendiaries. I hope Juvenal meant this as a tacit kind of testimony to the 
 innocence of the Christians, (at that time universally acknowledged) respect- 
 ing the charge of setting fire to Rome; of which they were accused by Nero, 
 and in consequence of it, put to death in great numbers, (see p. 28.) He seems 
 to say, you Catiline and Cethegus, who actually conspired to burn the eity, 
 really merit that dreadful punishment which was so unjustly inflicted upon the 
 Christians, — aiisi quod liceat tunica punire molcsta! For Tully, see Sat. x.
 
 300 SATIRE VIII. JUVENAL, v. 364— 373. 
 
 Yes, he, poor Arpine, of no rank at home. 
 And made, and hardly made, a knight at Rome, 
 Secur'd the trenibhng town, plac'd a firm guard 
 In every street, and toil'd in every ward : 
 And thus within the walls, in peace, obtain'd 
 More fame, more honour, than Augustus gain'd 
 At Actium, or Philippi, from a flood 
 Of patriot gore, and sword still drench'd with blood ; 
 For Rome, free Rome, hail'd him, with loud acclaim, 
 The Father of his Country — glorious name! 
 
 Ver. 373. The Father of his Country — ] Parens et Pater Patriec. The 
 founder and father of his country. This honourable title was conferred on Cicero, 
 after his detection and defeat of Catiline's conspil•ac3^ There is a strong and 
 characteristic trait of the stern republican in the epithet libera, (free,) which is 
 not applied to Rome, as the critics think, on account of her recent delivery 
 from the machinations of the conspirators; but rather to stigmatize her situa- 
 tion under the emperors, where our author considered her, and justly, as in a 
 state of shivery. The title of Paler Patria was given to Augustus, and after- 
 wards, to several of his successors : but Cicero was the first, and indeed last, 
 to whom it was given by free Rome; the only circumstance, in the manly 
 and independent spirit of Juvenal, that made it oF any estimation. 
 
 Libera is used with the same feelings in v. 32d ; Libera si denlur, S;e. It 
 must have been these flashes of uncontroulable indignation at the fallen slate 
 of his country, and not a sarcastic compliment to a favourite dancer, that 
 occasioned his removal from Rome. 
 
 The toga of Cicero, and the szi'ord of Augustus, are strikingly contrasted. 
 It must be admitted, that this emperor was, at one period of his life, loo lavish 
 of humam blood ; but his clemency was more fatal, perhaps, to our author's 
 cause, than his cruelty. Juvenal, however, was no compromiser ; he hated 
 Augustus, even worse than Sir William Jones, and, indeed, with somewhat 
 more reason.
 
 SATIRE VIII. JUVENAL. V. 374— 387. 301 
 
 Another Aipine, wont in youth to till, 
 For scanty hire, his bleak paternal hill, 
 Sick of the ungrateful toil, forsook his plough. 
 And join'd the legions, lowest of the low ; 
 Where the centurions, when lie wrought too slack. 
 Broke many a knotty vine-twig on his back. 
 And yet, when the fierce Cimbri threaten'd Rome 
 With swift, and scarcely evitable doom, 
 This man, in the dread hour, to save her rose, 
 And turn'd the impending ruin on her foes : 
 For which, while ravening birds devour'd the slain. 
 And their huge bones lay whitening on the plain, 
 His nobler colleague to his worth gave way. 
 And took, well pleas'd, the secondary bay. 
 
 Ver. 374. Another Arpine, 3|C.] I should have mentioned before, thai 
 Aiphium was a httle town of tlie Volsci, situated in the north of what is novr 
 calltd the Campania Felice, and still retaining its ancient name. Speaking 
 of this place, \ alerius iVIaximus remarks, that it had the singular fortune of 
 producing two of the greatest characters of tiie age, in a cultivator of lite- 
 rature, and a despiser of it; in a Cicero and a Marius. — With respect to the 
 latter, Juvenal represents him as a labouring hind, or ploughman, in which he 
 agrees with Plutarch, and others ; Vclleius, however, says he was born eqiicstri 
 loco, this is contrary to his own declaration ; Lipsius, therefore, for cqucstri 
 would read agresti, which is ingenious enough ; but the error probably lie« 
 deeper. 
 
 Ver. 386. His nobler colleague, Sfc.'] This was Q. Catulus, a man of e.v- 
 traordinary merit, and one of the speakers in Cicero's Dial, de Orat. He docs 
 not appear to have gained much by his complacency to Marius; being after- 
 wards barbarously put to death by the ferocious old man. 
 
 Some acquaintance with the earlier part of the Roman history is necessarj
 
 302 SATIKE VIII. JUVENAL, v. 388— 396. 
 
 The Decii were plebeians all : — they came 
 From a mean stock; and mean was still their name, 
 When they devoted, in the trying hours, 
 Their heads to Earth, and to the Infernal Powers ; 
 And, by those solemn acts, redeem'd h'om fate, 
 Confederates, legions, the whole Latian state : 
 More priz'd than all they sav'dj in heaven's just estimate. 
 
 The last good king of Rome a bondmaid bore; 
 And yet he dignified the crown he wore. 
 
 \ 
 
 to the undeistandiiig of the remainder of this Satire ; of this the reader is pre- 
 sumed to be possessed. Were it otherwise, the illustration of every trivial event 
 here mentioned, would be insufferably tedious, as I should be reduced to copy 
 whole pages of what the commonest school-book will supply. 
 
 Ver. 390. When they devoted, ^c] It was anciently supposed, that if the 
 leader of an army would consent to devote, or sacrifice, himself to Earth and 
 the infernal deities, the misfortunes which might otherwise befal his party would, 
 b}' that pious and patriotic act, be transferred to his enemies. The form of 
 devotement, which is very solemn and awful, is to be found in Livy ; as is the 
 story of the Decii, who, father, son, and grandson, all fell in this manner, 
 glorious but mistaken sacrifices to the interests of their country. 
 
 This was not, as the commentators fancy, a superstitious reverie peculiar 
 to the Romans; it prevailed also in Greece, where it was, in better times, fre- 
 quently acted upon, as the fate of Menaeceus, Codrus, and others, sufficiently 
 proves. 
 
 Ver. 395. The last good king of Rome a bondmaid bore.^ Ancilla natus ; 
 Juvenal is sufficiently complaisant to the good king: for it appears from the 
 \ best authorities, that he was not only born of a servant, but of a servant born of a 
 servant ; the lowest degree of servitude. Livy pleasantly makes him descended 
 from a captive maid; so does Dryden in the passage before us: undoubtedly, 
 a princess in disguise: 
 
 " Regium certe genus, et penates 
 " Moeret iniquos!"
 
 SATIRE VIII. JUVENAL. V. .^97 — 418. 303 
 
 The Consul's sons, (e'en his, who set us free 
 From lawless lust, and pride, and tyranny,) 
 ^^^ho, while the recent storm yet shook the state, 
 And Tarquin thunder'd vengeance at the gate, 
 Should, to confirm tiie labours of their sire, 
 Have dar'd what Codes, Mutius, might admire, 
 And she who mock'd the javelins whistling round, 
 -And swam the Tiber, then the empire's bound ; — 
 The Consul's sons, leagued basely to betray 
 Their country to the Exiles' hated sway : 
 While a poor slave tlieir dark designs disclos'd ; 
 For which, when low on earth his head repos'd, 
 The grateful matrons wept him: while all Rome 
 FoUow'd with execrations to the tomb. 
 The high-born pair; just forfeits of the laws, 
 And the hrst sacrifice to Freedom's cause. 
 
 I'd rather far Thersites gave thee birth. 
 So thou wert like Achilles, first in worth, 
 Than that Achilles should thy father be, 
 And in his derogate son a mere Thersites sec. 
 
 And yet, how high soe'er thy pride may trace 
 The long-forgotten founders of thy race, 
 
 Ver. 403. And she who mock'd, ^c] This was Clelia, one of the hostages 
 ^vho made her escape from I'orsenna. Madaii thinks tiiat the slave mentioned 
 in the next lines, was bewailed by the matrons " as the sad cause of their sons' 
 death." He seems to have a very incompetent idea of the matrons of that 
 early age : they bewailed him as one of their patrons; they bewailed him in 
 sliortj as they did Brutus, and the other assertors of their lii)erty.
 
 304 sAtire VIII. JUVENAL, v. 419—424. 
 
 Still must the search with that Asylum end, 
 From whose polluted source we all descend. 
 Haste then, th' inquiry haste, secure to find 
 Thy sire some vagrant slave, some bankrupt hind, 
 Some — but I mark the kindling glow of shame, 
 And will not shock thee with a baser name.
 
 SATIRE IX. 
 
 31lrgiunent. 
 
 JVo pari of Juvenal' s works has given such offence as this Saline; in 
 tyhich, he is accused of speaking too openly of that most execrable prac- 
 tice, in rvhich the ancients, to their eternal shame, so freely indulged. 
 
 Vice, as Pope has well obsei-ved, 
 
 " Vice is a monster of so foul a mien, 
 " That to be hated, needs but to be seen;" 
 but we fear to strip her, and thus conceal half her enormity. Juvenal 
 fuid no such apprehensions : he, therefore, exhibits her in all the deformity 
 of nakedness, and the spectacle strikes us witli disgust and horror. Far 
 from him was the idea of corrupting the heart, of inflaming the passions, 
 by a partial exposure of the projligacj- lie pretends to censure : no, his 
 aim was direct, and his immediate purpose, to impress the minds of others 
 with the same loathing lie fell himself for a crime, which to name is l» 
 condemn. 
 
 This is no place to enter into the disputes respecting llie propriety of 
 his object : granting it, however, to be legitimate, he will be universally 
 allowed to have pursued it with no ordinary degree of dexterity and 
 success. 
 
 The Satire consists of a dialogue between himself and one Aavolus, 
 an enfranchised slave ; a poor wretch, who, Jrom a kind oj jester or 
 dabbler in small wit for a meal, liad become what is called a man of 
 pleasure; and thence, by a regular gradation, a dependant of some 
 wealthy debauchee (here named Firro,) who made him subservient to his 
 unnatural passions ; and in return, starved, insulted, haled, despised, 
 <ind discarded him ! This miserable object Juvenal rallies with infinite 
 spirit, on his disconsolate appearance ; and, by an affected ignorance oj the 
 
 Rr
 
 306 
 
 ARGUMENT 
 
 cause, engages him to enter into a detailed account of his infamous life. 
 The gravilf M'ith which this is done constitutes, in the opinion oj Gibbon, 
 the ivhole pleasantrj- of the Satire. Pleasantry is )iot the word. 'There 
 is a loathsomeness in JVavolus's part of the dialogue, which, though 
 admirably calculated for the e)td our author had in view, never j^et ex- 
 cited one agreeable sensation ; and, in that of Juvenal, a vein of keen and 
 sarcastic ridicule, that maj- provoke indignation, but cannot create mirth. 
 Tliis, however, is Jar from being the only^ merit oj the piece ; it lias manj^ 
 beautiful, and manj- moral passages, exclusive of the grand and important 
 lessou, which, ivhether Juvenal meant it or not, it is our dutj^ to gather 
 from it ; that a life of sin is a life of slaverjr, that those who embrace 
 it for tlie sake of profit, are deluded in their expectations from day 
 to daj-, till in age thej'- sigh to be emancipated J torn that stale of misery 
 which they voluntarily adopted, and from which, while they view it with 
 eyes of anguish caul despair, the/" have no longer strengtli or resolution 
 to fly: therefore, in the words of Divine Wisdom, " they sfuill eat of 
 the fruits of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.'"
 
 SATIRE IX. 
 
 V. 1 — 12. 
 
 Juv. What all amort, good Naevolus! O say, 
 
 What means this shew of grief from clay to clay, 
 
 This copy of flay 'd Marsyas? what dost thou 
 
 With such a length of face, and such a brow, 
 
 As Ravola wore, when his bedabl)led beard 
 
 Was caught of late, where — all the world has heard? 
 
 Not Pollio look'd so rueful, so cast down, 
 
 What time he" trudg'd through every street in town. 
 
 And proffeiing treble rate, found not one friend, 
 
 One usurer, indiscreet enough to lend. 
 
 But seriously, (for thine's a serious case,) 
 How came those sudden wrinkles in thy face? 
 
 Veil 3. T/iis copy of fay d Marsyas ?] The story of Marsyas, who was over- 
 come by Apollo in a musical contest, and afterwards flayed alive by him for 
 iiis presumption, is known to every school-boy. .Juvenal here alludes to a very 
 celebrated statue of this baffled champion, which stood in tlie Forum, so that 
 the comparison must have been sufficiently striking. 
 
 Veh. 7. Not Pollio, Sfc."] We find this liberal- hearted gentleman again in 
 the eleventh Satire; but his circumstances do not seem to have im|)roved in 
 the interval, for he is there reduced to pawn his last article of value for a dinner.
 
 508 sATinE IX. JUVENAL, v. 13—32. 
 
 I knew thee once, a gay light-hearted slave, 
 Contented with the little fortune gave; 
 A sprightly guest, of every table free, 
 And fam'd for modish wit and repartee. 
 Now all's revers'd : dejected is thy mien, 
 Thy locks are like a tangled thicket seen ; 
 And every limb, once smooth'd with nicest care, 
 Rank with neglect, a shrubbery of hair! 
 
 What dost thou with that dull, dead, wither'd look, 
 Like some old debauchee, long ague-shook? 
 All is not well within ; for still we find 
 The face the unerring index of the mind, 
 And as this feels or fancies joys or woes, 
 That pales with sorrow, or with rapture glows. 
 What must I think ? too sure, the scene is chang'd, 
 And thou, from thy old course of life estrang'd: 
 For late, as I remember, at all haunts 
 Where dames of fashion flock to hire gallants, 
 At Isis, and at Ganimede's abodes. 
 At Cybele's, dread mother of the gods, 
 
 Veb. 23. 
 
 -for still xeejind 
 
 The face the unerring index of the mind,'] So Ovid, in vultu pig- 
 nora mentis habet: and Achilles Tatius more fully. 'Oyxp k«; »ju,oi ioxa XO.t^- 
 ^cci xaXwj £•►«( osopaT©^ TO TTXfx %stt.v ■ ^;e.(^£T«t yoip ax/iiSu?', w? tx Kxro'nn^tii, iv 
 Tu zB-potrwsrij). Am. Clit. lib. vi. 
 
 Veu. 31. At Isis, and at Ganimede's abodes, 
 
 At Cybele's, (Sfc] This enumeration of temples consecrated to 
 the purposes of debauchery, presents a fric;htful picture of the stal« of morals 
 at Rome. It must be confessed, indeed, that the name of some of those deities,
 
 SATIRE IX. JUVENAL. V. 33— 45. 303 
 
 Nay, at chaste Ceres, (for at shame they spurn. 
 And e'en her temples now to brothels turn,) 
 None was so fam'cl: the favourites of the town, 
 Baffled alike in business and renown. 
 Murmuring retired ; wives, daughters, were thy own, 
 And, if the truth must come, not they alone. 
 
 N^v. Right : and to some this trade has answer'd yet : 
 But not to me ; for what is all I get? 
 A drugget cloak, to save my gown from rain^ 
 Coarse in its texture, dingy in its grain. 
 And a few pieces of the " second vein!" 
 
 I 
 
 does not suggest the idea of much purity in their votaries : we need not, there- 
 fore, be greatly surprised at the use which was made of the temple of Gani- 
 jnede, or of CybelCjOr of Isis, who, as Ovid says, had made many women what 
 she iierself was tojupiler: but that Ceres, the patroness of chastity, whose 
 fillets it was unlawful for any suspected person to bind, or even to touch, that 
 her temple should be prostituted to the same shameful purposes, sufficiently 
 proves that the city must now have been in the last stage of depravity ! 
 
 This horrible desecration did not escape the notice of the first Christians, 
 who speak of it with an indignant freedom, not unworthy of Juvenal himself. 
 Ubi auttirt, says Minucius Felix, magis a sacerdotibiis qitani inter aras et 
 deluhra conduciintur stupra, tractantur Icnocinia, adulteria meditantur'^ fre- 
 qutntius denique in (cdituorum cellulis quam in ipsis lupanaribus Jiagrans libido 
 defnngitiir! And Teitullian, whom he seems to have had in view, Cteteruni si 
 adjiciain, qiiw non minus conscientia omnium rirognoscent, in templis adulteria 
 comyoni, inter aras Icnocinia tractari, in ipsis pteriimque tcdituorum et sacer- 
 dotum tabirnaculis, sub iisdcm vittis, et apicibus, et purpuris, thure flagrante, 
 libidincm expnngi, &;c. 
 
 Vee 43. of the " second vcin!"^ J'enxque secundcc, i. e. 
 
 says Grangajus, quod nostri non amplius argentum vocant, sed billon. Silver 
 adulterated with brass below the standard; base metal, in short.
 
 310 SATIRE ix. JUVENAL. V, 44— 63. 
 
 Fate governs all. Fate, with full power, presides 
 E'en o'er those parts which modest nature hides ; 
 And little, if her genial influence fail, 
 Wi\l vigour stead, or boundless powers avail. 
 Though Virro, gloating on thy naked charms, 
 Foam with desire, and woo thee to his arms, 
 With many a soothing, many a flattering phrase ;— 
 For your curs'd pathics have such winning ways ! 
 
 But mark this prodigy, this mass impure 
 Of lust and avarice! " Let's," he cries, " be sure: 
 Fve given thee this, and this ; — now count the sums, 
 (He counts, and woos the while,) look, love! it conies 
 To five sestertia, five! now, look again, 
 And see how much it overpays thy pain." 
 " What ! ' overpays?' " is it then nothing, pray, 
 To rake into the filth of yesterday?" — 
 " But thou, forsooth, art fair, and form'd for love, 
 And worthy of the cup and couch of Jove !" 
 Will they relieve a client, they who grudge 
 A doit to feed the miserable drudge 
 
 Ver. 44. Fate governs allJ] Etiam, says Fainaby, pleasantly enough, etiam 
 ffTwixi^fi ciiKcdus iste scarabaus! He does so ; and it is in character. I see no 
 reason, therefore, to give these reflections, as some do, to Juvenal. 
 
 Ver. 51. For your curs d pathics, <i^f.] This verse, in the original, is parodied 
 from aline in the Odj'ssey — aiiT{^ yap sipiXxnat a.\iSfx a-tSrii>@^; which had, 
 before this, been imitated, as Rigaltius observes, in the following epigram: 
 Mayi/71? 'HpaxAfiT©-' f/xoi sro^^' an (nSr\cov
 
 SATIRE IX. JUVENAL. V. 64— 83. 311 
 
 That toils in their disease ? — behold, my friend, 
 The reverend youth, to whom we presents send 
 Upon the female calends, or the day 
 That gave him birth; in wiiat a lady-way 
 He takes our favours, as he lies in state, 
 And sees adoring crouds besiege Iiis gate ! 
 
 Insatiate sparrow 1 whom does thy estate. 
 Thy numerous- hills, thy numerous vales await; 
 ManorSj which such a tract of land embrace, 
 That kites are tir'd within the unmeasur'd space? 
 For thee the purple vine luxuriant glows, 
 On Trifbline's plain, and on Misenus' brows; 
 And hollow Gaurus, from his fruitful hills, 
 Thy spacious vaults with generous nectar fills. 
 What were it then, a kw poor roods to grant 
 To one so worn with letchery and want? 
 Sure yonder female, with the child she bred. 
 The dog their play-mate, and their little shed, 
 Had with more justice been conferr'd on me, 
 Than on a cymbal-beating debauchee. 
 
 Ver. 66. Upon the female calends, ^c] He speaks of the Matronalia, a 
 festival instituted in honour of the women, for tlieir meritorious exertions in 
 putting an end to the Sabine war. (See Sat. vi. v. 249.) It fell on the first of 
 March, which, therefore, Juvenal elegantly calls the Female Calends. On 
 this day, as well as on their birth-day, the ladies sat at home " in great solem- 
 nity," and received from tlicir liusbands, admirers, and friends, such presents 
 OS were peculiarly adapted to their sex. The satire here is obvious.
 
 S12 
 
 SATIRE IX. JUVENAL. V. S4 — 93, 
 
 *' I'm troubksome;" you say, when I apply, 
 " And give, give, give ! is my eternal cry." — 
 But house-rent due, solicits to be paid, 
 But my sole slave, importunate for bread, 
 Follows me, clamouring in as loud a tone 
 As Polyphemus, when his guest was flown. 
 Nor will this one suffice ; my work's too great : 
 Another must be had, and both must eat. 
 What shall I say, when cold December blows, 
 And their bare limbs shrink at the driving snows. 
 
 Ver. 88. 
 
 • clamouring in as loud a tone 
 
 As Polyphemus, ^x.] 
 
 " appellat puer unicus, ut Polyphemi 
 
 " Lata acies, postquam solers evasit Ulysses." 
 Postquam is the reading of Grangatus ior per quam, and, as I think, the true 
 one. Those who are curious to see how strangely men can wander on a plain 
 subject, may turn to Holyday, who has collected the opinions of the critics oa 
 this passage. Rigaitius, the learned Rigaltius, as he calls him, supposes 
 Naevolus to mean, that the eye of Polyphemus was so broad, that Ulysses 
 escaped through it! Tliis they all allow to be very foolish; but then they say, 
 it is quite in character, and suitable to the stupidity of Naevolus. But Naevolus 
 is not stupid : he appears to me to be a kind of rustic Polonius ; with faculties, 
 indeed, somewhat confused, and enfeebled by a long course of execrable de- 
 bauchery, but with a brain still " crammed with strange places of observation, 
 the which he quotes," — 
 
 To return to the original. There is, I fancy, no great violence done to the 
 Latin idiom, in rendering lata acies Polyphemi, the broad-eyed Polyphemus: 
 the rest is clear enough. Juvenal, who frequently amuses himself with the 
 hyperboles of Homer, has a little fling here, not much to the credit of his taste, 
 perhaps, at the bellowing of the Cyclops after his eye "was put out: — and this 
 is the whole purport of the comparison.
 
 SATIRE IX. JUVENAL. V. 94—115. 513 
 
 What shall I say then- drooping hearts to cheer? 
 " Be merry, boys, the spring will soon be here!" 
 
 But though my other merits you deny, 
 One yet you must allow — that had not I, 
 I, your devoted client, lent my aid. 
 Your wife had to this hour remain'd a maid. 
 You know what motives urg'd me to the deed, 
 And what you promis'd, could 1 but succeed: — 
 Oft in my arms the flying fair I caught. 
 And back to your cold bed reluctant brought. 
 E'en when she'd cancell'd all her former vows, 
 And now was signing to another spouse. 
 What pains it cost to set this matter right, 
 While you stood whimpering at the door all night, 
 I spare to tell: — a friend, like me, has tied 
 Full many a knot when ready to divide. 
 
 Where will you turn you now, sir? whither fly 
 What to my charges first; or last, reply ? 
 Is it no merit, none, ungrateful ! none 
 To give you thus a daughter, or a son. 
 Whom you may breed with credit at your board, 
 And prove yourself a man upon record? 
 
 Ver. 115. And prove yoitrself a man upon recordf\ He alludes to the public 
 registers, in wliich parents were obliged to set down the names of tiieir 
 children, a few days after their births. These registers were kept in the temple 
 of Saturn, where they were open to all; and as, besides births, they contained 
 records of marriages, divorces, deaths, and other occurrences of Uie year, they 
 were of singular use to the historian, antiquary, &c. 
 
 Ss 
 
 9
 
 314 SATIRE IX. JUVENAL, v. 116—121. 
 
 Haste, with triumphal wreaths your gates adorn ; 
 
 You're now a father, and no theme for scorn : 
 
 My care has ta'en the opprobrium from your name, 
 
 And stopt the babbhng of mahcious fame. 
 
 A parent's rights you now may proudly share, 
 
 Now, thank my industry, be nam'd an heir ; 
 
 Ver. 120. A parent's rights, S^c.'] This and the five following lines can 
 only be understood by a reference to the Lex Papia Poppeca, (already men- 
 tioned in the sixth Satire^) which was introduced at the desire of Augustus, 
 for the sake of extending the provisions of the Lex Julia de maritandis ordi- 
 nibus. By this law, it was provided, amongst other things; First, that persons 
 living in a state of celibacy, should not succeed to an inheritance,* except in 
 cases of ver}' near relationship, unless they married in somewhat more than 
 three months from the death of the testator. Second, that, if a married person 
 had no child, a tenth part, and, in some cases, a much greater proportion of 
 ■what was beque.ithed him, should fall to the exchequer. Virro was no longer 
 in this situation ; he had a child, and was, therefore, capable of the " whole 
 bequest." Third, that those who at Rome had " three children" lawfully born 
 in wedlock, in the other parts of Italy four, and in the provinces five, should 
 be intitled to various privileges and immunities ; of which the principal were, 
 an exemption from the trouble of wardship, a priority in bearing offices, and ' 
 a treble proportion of grain on the customary distributions. 
 
 What Juvenal calls windfalls, were those unexpected legacies which were 
 left a person on certain conditions, such as those of being married, having 
 children, &c. (which were all settled by the same law,) and in default of which 
 the whole went to the prince. 
 
 The avowed purpose of these and similar clauses, was to promote popu- 
 lation, at a time when Italy had been thinned by a long succession of civil 
 wars ; and certainly they were well calculated to answer the end. They were. 
 
 * ^lany of the Romans, says Plutarch, in a very striking passage, marry 
 and beget children, not so much for the sake of having heirs, as to enable them- 
 selves to be the heirs of others ! 'Pwf*«iwi/ ■sroMot yajusir* x«» yivi/t>i(ri)i> ajj,' Iv*
 
 SATIRE IX. JUVENAL. V. 122—139. 315 
 
 Take now the whole bequest, and what beside, 
 From lucky windfalls, may in time betide ; 
 With other blessings, if I but repeat 
 My pains, and make the number three complete." 
 
 Juv. Nay, thou hast reason to complain, I feel: 
 But what says Virro ? 
 
 N.EV. Not a syllable; 
 
 But while my wrongs and I unnoticed pass, 
 Hunts out some other drudge, some two-legg'd ass. 
 Enough : — and never, on your life, make known 
 The secret, I have told to you alone ; 
 But let my injuries, undivulg'd, still rest 
 Within the closest chamber of your breast : 
 How the discovery migiit be borne, none knows — 
 And your smooth pathics are such fatal foes ! 
 Virro, who trusts me still, may soon repent. 
 And hate me for the confidence he lent ; 
 With fire and sword my wretched life pursue* 
 As if I'd blabb'd already all I knew. 
 
 however, abused, like every other salutary regulation : and the most important 
 of them, the jus trium liberorum, ("or the privilege annexed to having three 
 children,) was frequently granted not only to those who had no children, but 
 even to those who were never married ! If the reader wish for more, he may 
 turn to the Excursus of Lipsius on the Ann. of Tacit. lib. m, c. 25; where 
 he will find every thing that can be said on the subject. 
 
 Ver. 138. With fire, ^cj As I would have the reader pass as lightly over 
 this Satire as possible, I have studiously avoided detaining him by notes, &c.; 
 I cannot, however, resist the temptation of laying before him one short speci- 
 men of the perverse pruriency of the old critics. What I have translated 
 " fire," is, in the original, candelam apponcre valvh; a simple phrase, hardly
 
 316 
 
 SATIRE IX. JUVENAL. V. 140--I57. 
 
 Sad situation mine ! for, in your ear, 
 The rich can never buy revenge too dear ; 
 And — but enough : be cautious, I entreat, 
 And secret as the Athenian judgment-seat. 
 
 Juv. And dost tiiou seriously believe, fond swain, 
 The actions of the great unknown remain ! 
 Poor Corydon ! e'en beasts would silence break, 
 And stocks and stones, if servants did not, speak. 
 Bolt every door, stop every cranny tight, 
 Close every window, put out every light; 
 Let not a whisper reach th' attentive ear. 
 No noise, no motion ; let no soul be near; 
 Yet all that pass'd at the cock's second crow. 
 The nearest vintner shall ere day-break know. 
 With what besides the cook's and carver's brain. 
 Subtly malicious, can in vengeance feign: 
 For thus they glory, with licentious tongue, 
 To quit the harsh command, and galling thong. 
 
 possible to be misunderstood, for setting a house on fire : yet hear Doniitius 
 Calderinus; apponere candelam valvis,i. e. produci, hoc supplicii gams notavit 
 CaluUiis : 
 
 " Ah, turn te miserum malique fati, 
 " Quem attractis pedibus, patente porta, 
 " Percurrent raphanique, mugilesque !" 
 Pafentem portam dixit Catullus, ut valvam Juvenalis. Upon which Britannicus 
 remarks with surprising gravity; domum accetidere adhibita candela ; hoc 
 ■magis placet quam ut intelligas candelam per injtriora immissam : illud cnim 
 minime letale esset supplicium ! 
 
 Ver. 156. For thus they glory, with licentious tongue, 4fc.] 
 — [ACxXoi y £3ro?3r/£iifiv Soku 
 
 Otwk xarospairw/Aoi \»^px tw SirsroTvi. Rarue, v, 737.
 
 sAtiRE IX. JUVENAL, V. 158— 169 317 
 
 Though these be mute, some drunkard in the streets 
 
 Will pour out all he knows, to all he meets. 
 
 Force thee unwilling, the long tale to hear, 
 
 And with his stories drench thy hapless ear. 
 
 Go now, and earnestly of these request. 
 
 To lock, like me, the secret in their breast ; 
 
 Alas! they heed thee not, and will not sell 
 
 The dear, dear privilege to see and tell, 
 
 For more stol'n wine than late Saufeia bouz'd, 
 
 When, for the people's safety, she — carouz'd. 
 
 Live virtuously — thus many a reason cries, 
 But chiefly this, that so thou may'st despise 
 
 •and in allusion, I suppose, to this trick of the servants avenging themselves 
 of their masters, with their licentious tongues, Menander calls them yXwira-- 
 •HTEj-iJaj, quod lingua se tanquam sciito defendant. 
 
 Ver. 166. For more stoFn wine tlian late Sanfcia bouz'd, ^c] Stolen waters, 
 says Solomon, are sweet. Juvenal seems to have thought the same of stolen 
 wines. — ^The Saufeia here mentioned, who turned a religious institution into a 
 drinking-bout, and intoxicated herself, while she was sacrificing to the Bona 
 Dea for the safety and prosperity of the people, is undoubtedly the person 
 introduced in the sixth Satire, v. 493. The poet does not forget her love of 
 wine, for there too, she is prepared by previous intoxication, for the infamous 
 scene in which she appears. 
 
 It may not be improper to remark, that the propensity of the women for 
 wine was so strong, that it was found necessary to prevent their officiating at 
 any of the sacred rites, (at which wine was always used,) after nigiit-fali, by 
 an express law. The only exception was this before us, to the Bona Dea; and 
 we see how it was abused. Cicero gives us the words of the prohibition: noc- 
 tiirna mulicrum sacri/icia ne sunto, prater olla, qua pro populo ritcjiant. But 
 «ee Sat. xii.
 
 318 SATIRE IX. JUVENAL, v. 170— 193. 
 
 Thy servants' tongues ; for, take this truth from me, 
 'Tis the bad slave's worst part ; yet worse is he, 
 The lord, whose actions keep him still in dread 
 Of the domestic spies who eat his bread. 
 
 N^v. Well have you taught, how we may best disdain 
 Th' envenom'd babbling of our household train ; 
 But this is general, and to all applies: — 
 What, in my proper case, would you advise. 
 After such hopes, such expectations crost. 
 And so much time in vain dependance lost? 
 For youth, too transient flower, (of life's short day 
 The shortest part,) but blossoms to decay. 
 Lo ! while we give the unregarded hour 
 To wine and revelry, in Pleasure's bower, 
 The noiseless foot of Time steals swiftly by, 
 And ere we dream of manhood, age is nigh ! 
 
 Juv. Tut ! fear not : thou canst never seek in vain 
 A pathic friend, while these seven hills remain ; 
 Hither in crouds the master-misses come 
 From every point, as to their proper home. 
 One hope has fail'd ; another may succeed : 
 Do thou, meanwhile, on hot eringo feed. 
 
 N^v. Tell this to happier men; the Fates ne'er meant 
 Such luck for me ; my Clotho is content, 
 
 Ver. 179. For youth, too transient flower, <%c] 
 
 T/Lxpu^, ivov T eui ynv KtSy*r*i ritAil^. Mimner.
 
 SATIRE IX. JUVENAL. V. 194—214. 519 
 
 When all my toil a bare subsistence gains, 
 And fills my belly by my back and reins. 
 
 O, my poor Lares ! dear domestic powers! 
 To whom I come with incense, cakes, and flowers, 
 When shall my prayers, so long preferr'd in vain, 
 Acceptance find ? O, when shall I obtain 
 Enough to free me from the constant dread 
 Of life's worst ill, gray hairs and want of bread? 
 On mortgage, eight-score pounds a year complete, 
 A little plate, which yet, for over-weight, 
 Fabricius would have censur'd; a sLout pair 
 Of hireling Msesians, to support my chair 
 In the throng'd Circus : add to these, one slave 
 Well skill'd to paint, another to engrave ; 
 And I — but let me give tiiese day-dreams o'er. 
 Wish as I may, I ever shall be poor; 
 For when to Fortune I prefer my prayers, 
 Th' obdurate goddess stops at once her ears 
 With that same wax which serv'd Ulysses' crew, 
 When by the Syrens* rocks and songs 
 False songs, and treacherous rocks, 
 
 1 Ulysses' crew, "\ 
 
 ongs they flew, > 
 
 wiiich still to ruin drew.* 
 
 Ver. 201. A little plate, tchich yet, for overweight, 
 
 Fabricius would have cemur'd; A'c] Livy tells us that C. Fabri- 
 cius, when censor, removed Rufinus, who had been twice consul, and once 
 dictator, from the senate, because he had in his possession more tiian ten 
 pounds wcii^'ht of plate : " esteeming this/' as Ilolyday says, " as a aoloriou» 
 cnsample of luxury."
 
 SATIRE X. 
 
 3Crgunicnt. 
 
 IHE subject of this inimitable Satire is the Vanit/ of Human Wishes. 
 The poet takes his stand on the great theatre of the world, and summons 
 before him the illustrious characters of all ages. As the/ appear in suc' 
 cession, he shews, from the principal events of their lives, how little 
 happiness is promoted, fy- the attainment of what our indistinct and 
 boundedviews represent, as the most perfect of earthly blessings. Of these, 
 he instances wealth, power, eloquence, viilitary glory , and personal accom- 
 plishments ; all of which have, as he observes, proved dangerous or 
 destructive to their respective possessors. From hence, lie argues the 
 wisdom of acquiescing in the dispensations of Heaven; and concludes 
 with a form of prayer, in which fie points out, with great force and 
 beauty, the objects for which a rational being may presume to approach 
 the Almighty. 
 
 The commentators suppose Juvenal to have had the second Alcibiades 
 of Plato, or the Hunc Macrlne diem, of Persius, in his thoughts; it 
 is probable he had both : fie has lafien notfiing from tfiem, fiowever, but 
 ifie general idea ; tfie filling up is entirely fiis own, and it is done with 
 a boldness of imagery, an awful and impressive sublimity of style and 
 manner, of wfiich it would per fiaps be dijficult to find unoifitr example in 
 any merely tiuman composition. 
 
 V I
 
 SATIRE X. 
 
 1 
 
 V. 1 — 13. 
 
 In every clime, from Ganges' distant stream 
 
 To GadeSj gilded by the western beam, 
 
 Few, from tiie clouds of mental error free, 
 
 In its true light, or good or evil, see. — 
 
 For what, with reason, do we seek or shun? 
 
 What plan, how happily soe'er begun, 
 
 That, when achiev'd, we do not wish undone? 
 
 Tiie gods have heard, with too indulgent ears, 
 
 And crush'd whole families beneath their prayers. 
 
 Bewilder'd thus, by folly or by fate, 
 We beg pernicious gifts in every state : 
 A copious tide, a full and rapid flow 
 Of eloquence, lays many a speaker low ; 
 
 Veu. 5. For what, with reason, do we seek or shun? (Sfc] This is beautifully 
 alluded to by Shakspeare, who, without knowing any thing, perhaps, of our 
 author, frequently falls into his train of thinking: 
 
 " We ignorant of ourselves, 
 
 " Beg often our own harms, which the wise powers 
 
 " Deny us for our good ; so find we profit 
 
 " By losing of our prayers."
 
 ^«4 SATIRE X. JUVENAL, v. 14—31. 
 
 E'en strength itself is fatal ; Milo tries 
 His wondrous arms, and in the trial dies. 
 
 But heaps of wealth have still more dangerous prov'd, 
 (Too anxiously amass'd, too fondly lov'd,) 
 Heaps, which o'er common fortunes proudly rise, 
 As o'er the dolphin towers the whale in size. 
 Hence, in those dreadful times, at Nero's word, 
 The ruffian bands unsheath'd the murderous sword, 
 Rush'd to the swelling coffers of the great. 
 And seiz'd the rich domain, and lordly seat ; 
 While sweetly in their cock-lofts slept the poor, 
 And heard no soldier thundering at their door. 
 
 The traveller, freighted with a little wealth, 
 Sets forth at night, and makes his way by stealth ; 
 E'en then, he fears the bludgeon and the blade, 
 And starts at every rush's waving shade ; 
 While, void of care, the beggar trips along, 
 And, in the spoiler's presence, trolls his song. 
 
 Ver. 14. 
 
 Mi/o tries 
 
 His wondrous arms, SfcJ] The story of Milo is told in two words 
 by Roscommon : 
 
 " Remember Milo's end, 
 
 " Wedg'd in the timber which he strove to rend." 
 Ver, 26. The traveller, §"c.] Paiica licet partes, Ssc. Tliis, which all the 
 translators take for an imaginary case, I believe to be an historical fact. 
 The poet is still speaking of Nero's time, and he alludes to the cautious 
 practice of those who, being in possession of a few valuables, wished to remove 
 them without being seen: — nocte iter ingressus; even thus, they trembled for 
 their safety. The rapacity of Nero is again noticed in the twelfth Satire, 
 which sec.
 
 SATIRE X. JUVENAL. V. 3^—45. 325 
 
 The first great wish we all with rapture own, 
 The general cry, to every temple known, 
 Is gold, gold, gold ! " O give us gold, ye powers, 
 " And let our neighbour's coffer yield to ours!" 
 Yet none from earthen bowls destruction sip : 
 Dread then the baneful draught, when at thy lip 
 The goblet mantles, grac'd with gems divine. 
 And the broad gold inflames the Setine wine. 
 
 And do we now admire the stories told 
 Of the two Sages, so renown'd of old ; 
 How This for ever laugh'd, whene'er he stept 
 Across the threshold; That, for ever wept? 
 But all can laugh : — the wonder yet appears. 
 What source supplied the eternal stream of tears I 
 
 Ver. 42. How This for ever laugh'd, ^c] " To believe," Holyday says, 
 " that Heraclitus did continually weep, may well deserve to be laughed at." He 
 has a long anatomical note, however, to prove that if lie did not, it was not 
 from any natural deficiency of tears; but neither did Democritus continually 
 laugh. How these two meu came to be distinguished by the names of the 
 laughing and the crying Philosophers, I know not ; they certainly did not de- 
 serve such trifling appellations. Democritus in particular, was a man of very 
 extraordinary talents: and unless some perverted, or exaggerated notions, 
 respecting the nature of his scepticism, led the vulgar to form so silly an 
 opinion of him, it will be difficult to account for this singular degradation of 
 the first philo.sopher of his age.* As for Heraclitus, he was a stern and rigid 
 moralist of what was afterwards called, the Stoic school; as litllo likely to 
 
 * This praise, however, must not go fi)rth untpialified. He was the father of 
 all that desolating philosophy which, placing the senses in the room of reason, 
 tends to extinguish science, while it encourages personal gratifications.
 
 226 SATIRE X, JUVENAL, v. 46—55- 
 
 Democritus, at every step he took, 
 
 His sides with unextinguish'd laughter shook, 
 
 Though in his days, O Thrace ! thy simple towns 
 
 No fasces, litters knew, no purple gowns. — 
 
 What ! had he seen, in his triumphal car, 
 
 Amid the dusty Cirque conspicuous far. 
 
 The Praetor perch'd aloft, superbly drest 
 
 In Jove's gay tunic, with a trailing vest 
 
 Of Tyrian tapestry, and o'er him spread 
 
 A crown, too bulky for a mortal head, 
 
 cry upon all occasions, as the other to laugh. This, however, was not Juvenal's 
 concern ; he had only to do with the qualities commonly assigned them ; and 
 it must be granted, that he has made an admirable use of both, particularly of 
 those allotted to Democritus. 
 
 Ver. 50. What ! had he seen, in his triumphal car, <?fc.] He describes the 
 procession of the Prastor to open the Circensian games. It was not, I believe, 
 altogether so absurd as it is here represented, for Juvenal has confounded it 
 with a triumph, from which it differed in two or three circumstances. The 
 " vest of Jove," indeed, was borrowed of the god for a day, for the Praetor, 
 as well as for the victorious general; the " tapestry of the toga" too, was 
 common to both ; but the crown and the slave were appropriated solely, I 
 lliink, to the latter. 
 
 The imperial ensign, (the ivory sceptre surmounted with an eagle,) seems 
 as much out of its place here, as most of the other accompaniments; it was 
 however too important a gew-gaw to be left behind ; for, as Prudentius tells us, 
 " Aquila ex eburna sumit arrogantiam 
 " Gestiitor ejus, ac superbit bcUuce 
 
 " Inflatus osse." 
 
 Upon the whole, this heterogeneous jumble of unwieldy magnificence had 
 enough of ridicule in it to provoke the spleen of a much less risible spectator 
 than Democritus is supposed to be.
 
 \ 
 
 SATiuE X. JUVENAL. V. 5G— 70. 327 
 
 Which a poor slave supports, ordain'd to ride 
 In the same car, forsooth, to check his pride ! 
 Add too, the ivory sceptre in his hands, 
 The trumpeters, and tlie dependant bands 
 That stalk before him ; add the friends in white, 
 That lead his steeds, allur'd to grace the sight, 
 By the fond prospect of a dole at night ! 
 
 Yes, in those times, in every varied scene 
 The good old man found matter for his spleen; 
 A wondrous Sage! whose story makes it clear, 
 That men may rise in folly's atmosphere, 
 Beneath Boeotian fogS; of soul sublime. 
 And great examples to the coming time. 
 He laugh'd aloud to see the vulgar cares, 
 Laugh'd at their joys, and sometimes at their tears ; 
 
 Veb. 66. in folly's atmosphere, c^c] Deinocritus was born 
 
 at Abdera, a town of Thrace, proverbial, it seems, for the stupidy of its inha- 
 bitants. 
 
 Boeotia lay under the same, or even a worse reproach: it was the country 
 of " hogs," BoioTi«v vv, as the other was of " sheep." Pindar, who was a 
 Boeotian, seems a little mortified at the proverb. He of all men, had the least 
 reason for it; for, though there might be belter poets, there certainly was not 
 a wiser or a better man in any of the states around him. 
 
 I recollect an old French epitaph, which says, 
 
 " Guillaume de Machault, ainsi avoie nom, 
 
 " Nu en Champagne fus, et si cu grand rcnom !" 
 
 Champaignc then, is the Abdera of France; and indeed most countries have 
 some reprobate spot, to which its courteous neighbours, uno ore, assign the ex- 
 clusive privilege of producing bell-wethers. I do not pretend to know the 
 Abdera of England ; n)y readers, I fear, have been sometimes inclined to fancy 
 il must be Ashburlon.
 
 328 SATIRE X. JUVENAL. V. 71—86. 
 
 Himself, the while, would mock at Fortune's frown, 
 And when she threaten'd, bid her hang or drown. 
 Learn hence, that when we crowd each sacred shrine, 
 And fix our tablets on the powers divine. 
 Dangerous or useless favours we require. 
 And grow most wretched through our own desire. 
 What crowds by envied power, the wish of all, 
 Are hiul'd from high; press'd, in their rapid fall, 
 By cumbrous names ! — the statues tumbled down. 
 And dragg'd by hooting thousands through the town ; 
 The cars upturn'd, the wheels to shivers broke, 
 And the steeds fractur'd by the axe's stroke ! — 
 Then roar the fires ; the sooty artist blows, 
 And all Sejanus in the furnace glows ; 
 Sejanus once so honour'd, so ador'd, 
 And only second to the world's great lord, 
 
 Ver. 74. And fix our tablets on the powers divi/ie,'] " It was the manner of 
 the ancients/' Holyday says, " when they made their vows to the gods, to 
 write them in paper, (and some in waxen tables,) seal them up, and with 
 wax, fasten them to the knees of the gods ;) or to the thighs of them, (for so 
 Apuleius speaks,) the ancients counting that the seat of mercy. When their 
 desires were granted, the manner w.is to take away the paper, tear it, and 
 bring unto the gods what they had promised." Substitute saints for gods, 
 and the passage will accord with the practice in Catholic churches at this 
 day. 
 
 Ver. 84. Atid all Sejanus in the furnace glows; Sfc.'] This instance of 
 Sejanus is most happily chosen, since it exhibits at one view, not only the 
 instability of court, but of popular, favour. 
 
 No subject ever ascended to such a height of power; none ever fell from it 
 *o rapidly into the abyss of disgrace and ruin. This is not the place for his
 
 SATiRK X, JUVENAL. V. 87—94. 329 
 
 Runs glittering from the mould, in cups and cans, 
 And such mean things, in pitchers, pots, and pans. 
 
 " Hang out your laurels, and of" triumph full, 
 " Lead to the Capitol a milk-white bull ; 
 " For lo ! where great Sejanus by the throng, 
 " A joyful spectacle, is dragg'd along. 
 " What an ill-favour'd wretch! well, for my part, 
 " I never lov'dliim — that is, in my heart. 
 
 history, but it may not be improper to call the readers attention to this picture 
 of the unfeeling and barbarous versatility of tiie mob; u picture which for 
 truth and humour has seldom, I think, been equalled. 
 
 To understand the little drama which follows, we must suppose one of those 
 who had witnessed the commencement of Sejanus's punishment, to have 
 hastened home to announce the intelligence, and prepare his public demon- 
 strations of loyalty and joy. The dialogue passes between him and his 
 neighbours. 
 
 Witii respect to Sejanus, it may be said of him, as it was of Lally, by Vol- 
 taire ; he was one against whom every man had a right to lift his hand, but 
 the executioner. During the full tide of his prosperity, liothing seems to have 
 been too low for his malice. In the prologue to his third book of Fables, 
 Phaidrus, the obscure and inoffensive Phasdrus, pathetically complains of 
 having been unjustly accused by him : he survived, however, both the accu- 
 sation, and the accuser, and in his story of Princcps Tibiceu, gently retorts 
 upon the fallen fortunes of his adversary. 
 
 I know not wliether Pliny had this particular event in his thoughts; but he 
 gives a very entertaining detail of the impotent vengeance exercised on the 
 statues of disgraced favourites by the rabble. Juvabat illidere solo superbis- 
 simos vultus, itistarc ferro, savire sccuribus, ut si singu/os ictus sanguis dolorque 
 Mqueretur. Nemo tarn temperatis gaudii, serccque latititc, quin iiistar ultionis 
 videretitr cernere iaciros artus, tnincata membra, pos/rcmo truces horrendusqiie 
 imagines abjectas excoctasque Jiammis, ut ex illo lerrore et minis, in usum homi- 
 num ac voluptates, ignibus mutarcntur. Pancgyr. cap. lii. 
 
 Uu
 
 I 
 
 330 SATIRE X. JUVENAL, v. 95-_io7- 
 
 " But tell me; why was he adjudg'd to bleed? 
 " And who discover'd, and who prov'd the deed?" 
 " Prov'd? tush! a huge epistle came, they say, 
 *' From Capreae." Good ! I'm satisHed : but pray, 
 " What think the people of their favourite's fate?" — 
 They follow fortune as of old, and hate 
 With their whole souls the victim of the state. 
 Yet would the herd, thus zealous, thus on fire. 
 Had Nurscia met the Tuscan's fond desire, 
 And crush'd tii' unwary prince, have all combin'd, 
 And hail'd Sejanus Master of mankind. 
 For since their votes have been no longer bought, 
 AH public care has vanish'd from their thought ; 
 
 Ver. 97. a huge epistle came, they say, 
 
 " From Caprea," 4c.] Dio sneers at the length of this epistle : and 
 Suetonius calls it, pudenda miserandaque oratio. The truth is, that Tiberius, 
 who, like Cromwell, was always too cunning to be clear, was at this time con- 
 founded by his fears, or at least pretended to be so; and therefore wrote 
 " about it, and about it." Suetonius has preserved a sentence of this memorable 
 address, which fully justifies the character he has given of it. Among other 
 things Tiberius besought the senate, mitterent alteram e cortsulibus, qui senem se, 
 et solum in conspectum eorum, cum aliquo militari pmsidio perduceret ! Tib. 65. 
 
 Ver. 103. Had Nurscia, Sfc.'] So the Tuscans called the Goddess Fortuna. 
 As Sejanus was a Tuscan, Lipsius fancies there is some cleverness in giving 
 her this name. Begging pardon, both of Lipsius and Juvenal, I think there 
 is more pedantry. 
 
 Ver. 106. For since their votes, Sfc."] There spoke the old republican ! and 
 indeed, it must be confessed, that if Juvenal sometimes lashes the tyranny of 
 the chiefs, he at others treats the base and abject submission of the people 
 with equal, if not superior, severity. 
 
 It is clear, that their power had been broken by the usurpations of Marius
 
 SATIRE X. JUVENAL. V. 108— 113. 331 
 
 And they who once, with unresisted sway, 
 Gave armies, empire, every thing, away, 
 For two poor claims have long resign'd (he whole, 
 And only ask, — the Circus and the Dole. 
 
 " But there are more to suffer." " So 'tis said; 
 " So fierce a fire for one was never made. 
 
 and Sylla; they, still, however, retained a considerable degree of influence, 
 and nominally gave, or rather sold, their suffrages, till the days of Julius Ca;sar. 
 That they were ripe for the slavery which awaited them, cannot be denied; 
 for such was their corruption and rapacit}-, that they only inquired which of 
 the candidates would bribe highest. 
 
 Csesar, however, did not directly deprive the people of their suffrages, (owrfa 
 adhuc servitutc, as Lipsius says,) he onlj' took the nomniation of the consuls 
 upon himself, and left the choice, or rather the sale, of the inferior magis- 
 tracies to them, upon condition that he should have the recommendation to 
 one half! Suetonius has preserved his conge d'tlire, and a very curious one it is, 
 on many accounts. C^sar Dictator illitiubui. Commcndo vobis ilium, et 
 ilium, ut vESTRo suFFRAGiosuaOT dignitatem tctuanl. (.luliusCicsar, 41.) The 
 reader may be sure that these recommendations were never overlooked : preces 
 trant, as Tacitus says on another occasion, sed qiiibits contradici hoh posset. 
 
 Augustus seems somewhat to have enlarged the power of the people, which 
 was again abridged by Tiberius, or rather taken quite away ; neqiie, says die 
 historian witli honest indignation, populits ademptumjus questus est nisi in/mi 
 rumorc. Caligula, in a fit of popularity, shewed symptoms of re-establishing 
 them in a part of their rights, which however came to nothing : this I think 
 was the last effort in their favour, and from this period they gradually, and 
 indeed deservedly, sunk into insignificance and contempt. 
 
 It argues great courage in our author to reproach the Romans for their 
 supineness; and must have been highly offensive to their rulers. About this 
 however, he appears to be little solicitous; nay, I am persuaded that much of 
 what he says here, is immediately levelled at Trajan, who had, about this time, 
 transferred to the senate, or rather to himself, the very trifling degree of 
 power which the people had hitherto been permitted to retain.
 
 332 SATIRE X. JUVENAL, v. 114—129. 
 
 " I met my friend Brutidius, and I fear, 
 
 " From his pale loolcs, he thinks there's danger near ; 
 
 " Heavens! if the baffled Ajax once be led 
 
 " To deem our zeal too luke-warm, — we are sped. 
 
 " Swift then, let's fly our loyalty to show, 
 
 " And trample on the carcase of his foe: 
 
 " But hear me; — lest our slaves the fact forswear, 
 
 " And drag us to the bar, look they be there." 
 
 Thus of the favourite's fall the converse ran, 
 
 And thus the whisper pass'd from man to man. 
 
 Lur'd by the splendour of his happier hour, 
 Would'st thou possess Sejanus' wealth and power ; 
 See crowds of suppliants at thy levee wait, 
 Give this to sway the army, that the state ; 
 And keep a prince in ward, who sits the while, 
 With his Chaldean flock, in Capreae's isle? 
 
 Ver. 129. ■ in Caprea:'s isle ?] angusta Caprearum 
 
 in rupe, as Juvenal happily expresses it. For angusta most of the copies have 
 augusta, whichj though an ingenious variation, appears to me to weaken the 
 force of the satire. The long residence of Tiberius at Capreae is too well 
 known to he dwelt on here. 
 
 It may seem a little extraordinary that Tiberius, who, at a former peiiod 
 had driven the Chaldeans, (i. e. the astrologers,) out of Italy, nay, put some 
 of them to death, should, in the decline of life, have secluded himself from Uie 
 world to enjoy their society without molestation ; but his conduct may be ac- 
 counted for, from the condition of human nature. The multiplied cruelties 
 that followed the fall of Sejanus, though they could not appease the ferocity, 
 had yet alarmed the conscience, of this execrable monster : anguish and de- 
 spair took possession of all his thoughts, and if we could for a moment suppose 
 the damned permitted to make their " eternal blazon to ears of flesh and
 
 sATiKE X. JUVENAL. V. 130—141. 333 
 
 Yes, yes thou vvould'st, (thy secret thoughts I see,) 
 
 Have cohorts, legions, armies, just as he ; 
 
 'Tis nature this : e'en they who want the will, 
 
 Pant for the dreadful privilege to kill. 
 
 And yet, what great delight can power bestow, 
 
 Since every joy is balanc'd by its woe! 
 
 Or would 'st thou, rather than assume the gown 
 
 Of him whom public rage dragg'd up and down. 
 
 At Gabii or Fidenae laws propound. 
 
 For faulty measures, and for wares unsound, 
 
 And take the tarnish'd robe, and petty state, 
 
 Of poor Ulubrae's ragged magistrate? 
 
 blood," we could not image terms of deeper horror for them, than those with 
 which he begins one of hislelters to the senate. Quid scribam vobis P. C. aut 
 quomodo scribam, aut quid omnino non scribam, hoc tempore, Dii me, Deaque 
 pejus perdaiit, qua m quotidieperire sentio, si scio. Suet. Tiber. 67. In this state, 
 dissatisfied with the present, and anxious for the future, his enfeebled and 
 distracted mind clung for relief, to the wretched impostures of astrology, 
 which it had formerly rejected ; and endeavoured to divert the evils of to-day, 
 by vague and senseless researches into the destiny of to-morrow. I have already 
 remarked the strange inconsistency of atheism ; Tiberius is a striking proof of 
 it : circa deos, (says Suet. 69,) ac religioues negligentior ; quippe addictus matht- 
 matictB, persuasiouisque pkuus, cunctafato agi, ^c. Dio has the same remark. 
 
 Ver. 141. poor Ulubrte's ragged magistrate^] Pannosus vacuis 
 
 Mdilis Vlubris. There were two kinds of ^Ediles, (strictly speaking indeed, 
 there were three,) the Curuie, and the Plebeian: the first were officers of 
 considerable power. It is the latter, however, of whom Juvenal now speaks, 
 and with whose imaginary importance he delights, on all occasions, to sport. 
 They were chosen, as their name imports, out of the commons or plebeians, 
 and had the care of weights and measures, of markets and provisions, the
 
 534 SATIRE X. JUVENAL, v. 142— 155. 
 
 You grant me then, Sejunus grossly err'd, 
 Nor knew what prayer his folly had preferr'd : 
 For when he rashly begg'd for too much power, 
 And too much wealth, he did but climb a tower 
 Of giddy height, a heavier fall to prove, 
 Hurl'd with tremendous ruin from above ! 
 
 What wrought the Pompeys, what the Crassi's doom. 
 And his, who bow'd the stubborn neck of Rome, 
 But power supreme, obtain'd by force or fraud, 
 And boundless vows heard by some angry god? 
 For few th' ambitious chiefs who breathe in peace^ 
 Till weaned nature sends a kind release. 
 
 The urchiuj whom a slave conducts to school, 
 Has scarce acquir'd his first and easiest rule, 
 
 determination of petty cases, the inspection of the roads, the overseeing of the 
 theatres, &c. In httle municipahties, such as Fidenaa, Gabii, and Ulubrse, 
 they were probably the only magistrates. We have nothing precisely like 
 them in this country ; but in the Italian villages, they still subsist, as ragged 
 and consequential as ever, under the name of Podeslas. The "tarnished robe," 
 which was probably an heir-loom attached to the office, is finely contrasted 
 with the pratexta, or purple gown of Sejanus. 
 
 Ver, 145. he did but climb a tozcer 
 
 Of giddy height, ijcJ] The thought is from Horace : 
 *' excelsae graviore casu 
 
 " Decidunt turres." 
 
 but wonderfully heightened and improved by our author; who has, in his turn, 
 found many imitators. 
 
 Ver. 49. And his, ^c] Julius Caesar's. The Crassi, (father and son,) seem 
 rather to have fallen sacrifices to their avarice, than their ambition.
 
 SATIRE X. JUVENAL. V. 156— 165. 3:1b 
 
 Ere ardent hopes his Httle bosom seize, 
 
 To rival Tully and Demosthenes 
 
 In eloquence and fame : lor this he prays, 
 
 And plagues Minerva through her sacred days. 
 
 Yet both these orators, in evil hours, 
 
 Prov'd the sad victims of persuasive powers ; 
 
 Both found it fatal to harangue too well, 
 
 And that by steel, and this by poison, fell : 
 
 While meaner speakers unmolested stood, 
 
 Nor smear'd the rostrum with their wretched blood. 
 
 Ver. 159. And plagues Minerva through her sacred daysJ] He speaks of 
 the Quinquatria; a festival kept in honour of Minerva, as the patroness of the 
 arts and sciences. It began on the nineteenth of March, and lasted, as the 
 name imposts, for five days, during wliich the schools were shut up. 
 
 Ver. J(i3. And that by steel, Sfc.] Cicero was murdered by the second tri- 
 umvirate. Antony, whom Juvenal supposes to have been particularly irritated 
 by the second Philippic, dispatched a band of assassins after him, who over- 
 took him as he was proceeding to the sea-side. He made no resistance, but 
 looking sternly on the leader, whose life he had formerly saved, and thrusting 
 his neck as forward as he could out of the litter, he bade him take what he 
 wanted. The ungrateful wretch cut off his head, and his hands, and carried 
 them to Antony, who rewarded him for the agreeable present, with a civic 
 crown ! and a large sum of money. The head was fixed on the Rostra, between 
 the two hands, (where, as we find from Florus, the people ran as eagerly to 
 see his relics, as formerly to hear his eloquence,) a piece of impotent revenge, 
 which, not long after, recoiled on the author of it. 
 
 Speaking of Antonius, (the grandfather of the triumvir,) who fell in the 
 bloody proscription of Sylla, Cicero has an observation of striking singularity: 
 j« his ipsis roUris in qiiibus ille remp. conslantissime consul dcfenderat, positum 
 caput illudjuit, a quo erant muUorum civiuni capita servala ! Never could it 
 be more truly said, 
 
 " niutato nomine, de te 
 
 " Fabula narratur,"
 
 S36 SATIRE X. JUVENAL, v. 166— 1G7. 
 
 " O happy Rome ! that happen'd to be sav'd 
 " By me, her consul, sole." 
 
 Ver. ] 66. " O happy Rome ! that happened, ^c] O fortunatam natam, me 
 consule, Romam. I have attempted to give the English reader some idea of the 
 construction of this well known verse of Cicero's, but not, I think, with much 
 success. Most of my predecessors seem to have thought it necessarj' to tran- 
 slate it into nonsense, or load it with the most barbarous tautology: this, 
 however, is paying but an ill comphment to one of the greatest men " that ever 
 lived in the tide of times," and is, besides, as unjust as it is impertinent. 
 
 It appears notwithstanding, that this line, or some one like it, had been 
 made the subject of ridicule during the author's life. In the second Philippic, 
 after severely retorting upon Antony, he adds, — nee vera tibi de versibiis re- 
 spondebo ; tantum dicam breviter neque illos, neque ullas te omnino literas nosse. 
 This, I suppose, is " the reply churlish; when, instead of answering an ad- 
 versarj', you disable his judgment:" what he subjoins, however, is a noble 
 apology for his lighter studies. 
 
 I doubt whether Cicero's poetry, generally speaking, deserved the epithet, 
 (ridenda,) which Juvenal has been pleased to affix to it : the verse in question, 
 indeed, has long been the jest of small wits, and even the " mousing Miutial 
 hawks at it;" but there are many vigorous and elegant passages scattered 
 amongst his works. After all, perhaps, it was the me consule, and not the 
 natam natam, the vanity, and not the jingle, of the verse which provoked th« 
 sneers of his contemporaries. 
 
 Middleton has laboured to establish his poetical character. Plutarch, he 
 says, reckons Cicero among the most eminent of the Roman poets; but 
 Plutarch's judgment, in this matter, is of no great weight. To Quintilian's 
 authority indeed, every one must subscribe, but not to Middleton's interpre- 
 tation of it. In carminibus utinamperpercisset quee non desierunt carpere maligni. 
 " Quintilian seems to charge the cavils of his censurers to a principle of ma- 
 lignity;" whereas he merely wishes that he had omitted some things, (evi- 
 dently alluding to his boastings,) which furnished a constant subject of 
 censure to his enemies. To conclude, his verse is only mean, when comparecl 
 to his prose; and if he had not been the first of orators, no one would have 
 been unjust enough to stile him the last of poets.
 
 SATIRE X. JUVENAL. V. 16S— 185. 337 
 
 Such had his pleadings been, no haughty lord 
 Had deem'd the jingle worthy of his sword: 
 Yet such would I prefer, the scorn of Rome, 
 To that Philippic which provok'd his doom, 
 That second burst, where eloquence divine 
 Pour'd on the ear from every nervous line. 
 And he too fell, whom Athens, wondering, saw 
 Her fierce democracy, at will, o'er awe ; 
 Fell by a cruel death : some angry power 
 Scowl'd with dire influence on his natal hour. — 
 Blear'd with the glowing mass, the luckless sire, 
 From anvils, sledges, bellows, tongs, and fire. 
 From tempering swords, his own more safe employ, 
 To study rhetoric sent his liopeRil boy. 
 
 The spoils of war; the trunk in triumph placed, 
 And with the gleanings of the battle graced, 
 Crush'd helms, and batter'd shields ; and streamers borne 
 From vanquish'd fleets, and beams from chariots torn. 
 
 Ver. 174. jlndhe too fell, ^c] Demosthenes, who poisoned himself to avoid 
 falling into the hands of Antipatcr. 
 
 Veu. 182. The spoils of war ; the trunk, <?fc.] This, says Dryden, who tran- 
 slates the passage very carelessly, is a mock account of a Roman triumph ! 
 On the contrary, it is a serious account of the manner of raising a trophy on 
 the field of battle, after a victory ; which, as Holj'day properly observes, " was 
 by cutting down a tree, lopping off its branches, fixing it in the ground, and 
 then hanging upon it the spoils taken from the enemy." But indeed the whole 
 process is so admirably described in the text^ that any further remarks on it 
 are unnecessary. 
 
 Xx
 
 338 
 
 sATiRK X. JUVENAL. V. 186—205. 
 
 And captives rang'd around in mournful state, 
 
 Are priz'd as blessings scarcely known to fate ; 
 
 Fir'd with the love of these, what countless swarms, 
 
 Barbarians, Romans, Greeks, have rush'd to arms, 
 
 All danger slighted, and all toil defied. 
 
 And madly conquer'd, or as madly died ! 
 
 So much the raging thirst of fame exceeds 
 
 The generous warmth which prompts to worthy deeds, 
 
 That none confess fair Virtue's genuine power, 
 
 Or woo her to their breast, without a dower. 
 
 Yet has this wild desire, in other days. 
 
 This boundless avarice of a few for praise. 
 
 This frantic rage for names to grace a tomb, 
 
 Involv'd their country in one general doom : 
 
 Vain rage ! the roots of the wild fig-tree rise, 
 
 Strike through the marble, and — their memory dies ; 
 
 For, like their mouldering tenants, tombs decay, 
 
 And with the dust they hide, are swept away. 
 
 Produce the urn that Hannibal contains. 
 And weigh the mighty dust which yet remains : 
 
 Vek. 194. That none confess fair Virtue's genuine power, ^-c] 
 " Nee facile invenies multis in millibus uuum, 
 
 " Virtutem pretium qui putet esse sui ; 
 " Ipse decor recti, facti si pviemia desint, 
 " Non movet ct gratis paeuitet esse prdbum." 
 
 Ex Pont. lib. u. 3. 
 Ver. 205. And weigh the mighty dust, ^c] I do not know that this was 
 ever done; at least with regard to Hannibal; but in the Statistical Account
 
 SATIRE X. JUVENAL. V. 206—221. 839 
 
 And is this all ! Yet this was once the bold, 
 
 The aspiring chief, whom Afric could not hold, 
 
 Afric, outstretch'd from where the Atlantic roars, 
 
 To Nilus ; from the Line, to Lybia's shores ! 
 
 Spain conquer'd, o'er the Pyrenees he bounds ; 
 
 Nature oppos'd her everlasting mounds, 
 
 Her Alps, and snows : through these he bursts his way, 
 
 And Italy already OAvns his sway 
 
 Still thundering on, — " think nothing done/' he cries, 
 
 " Till low in dust our haughty rival lies ; 
 
 " Till through her smoaking streets I lead my powers, 
 
 " And plant my standard on her hated towers." 
 
 Big words ! but view his figure, view his face : 
 
 O, for some master-hand the chief to trace. 
 
 As through the Etrurian swamps, by rains increas'd, 
 
 Spoil'd of an eye he flounc'd, on his Getuliun beast! 
 
 of Scotland, I find that Sir John Paterson had the curiosity to collect, and 
 weigh tlie ashes of a person discovered a few )'ears since in the parish of 
 Eccles; which he was happily enabled to do with great facility, as " the inside 
 of the coffin was smooth, and the whole body visible." Wonderful to relate, 
 he found the whole did not exceed in weight one ounce and a half! And 
 IS TIMS all! 
 
 Ver. 212. through these he burstshis way,'] In the original et montem 
 
 riipit aceto, he rent the mountain with vinegar. Appian's account is Ex^uv St 
 tw» T* AATTiof 6fn, x.T. a. " He came to the Alps, and finding an abundance 
 of frost and snow there, he cut down the trees, burned them, and e\liii..^uished 
 the glowing embers with vinegar and water {^r^v icrifpoiv a-Qemus vixrt xai o^tijj 
 he then beat down the rock, thus softened, with sledges, and so oi)inid a 
 passage." But see Mr, Whitaker's learned and ingenious work ou this subject.
 
 340 SATIRE X. JUVENAL, v. 222 — 237. 
 
 But what ensued, illusive glory! say? — 
 Subdued on Zama's memorable day. 
 He flies in exile to a foreign state, 
 With headlong haste ; and^ at a despot's gate 
 Sits, wond'rous suppliant! of his fate in doubt, 
 'Till the Bithynian's morning nap be out. 
 
 Just to his fame, what death has Heaven assign'd 
 This great controller of all human kind? 
 Did hostile armies give the fatal wound. 
 Or mountains press him, struggling, to the ground? 
 No; three small drops, within a ring conceal'd, 
 Aveng'd the blood he pour'd on Cannae's field ! 
 Go madman, go ! the paths of fame pursue, 
 Climb other Alps, and other realms subdue. 
 To please the rhetoricians, and become, 
 A Declamation for the boys of Rome! 
 
 Ver. 232. three small drops, within a ring conceal'd, 
 
 Aveng'd, iSfc.] Such was the end of Hannibal : the Romans, 
 whenever thought themselves secure while this great man was alive, no sooner 
 heard that he had taken shelter at the court of Prusias, than they sent Q. 
 Flaminius to demand him. Hannibal, who was well acquainted with the weak- 
 nesss of the Bythinian prince, and determined to die free, saw no other re- 
 source, but swallowing poison ; which, to be prepared against the worst, he 
 always carried with him in the hollow of a ring ! 
 
 To the question in v. 228, 1 think Hannibal might have replied, with Arbaces : 
 " Why should you that have made me stand in war 
 " Like fate itself, cutting what tineads I pleas'd, 
 " Decree such an unworthy end to me, 
 ** And all my glories r" King and no King.
 
 SATIRES. JUVENAL. V. 238— 247. 341 
 
 One world the ambitious Youth ofPtlhi found 
 Too small ; and toss'd his feverish limbs around, 
 And gasp'd lor breath, as if confin'd the while, 
 Unhappy prince, in Gyarae's rocky isle : 
 But, entering Babylon, found ample room 
 Within the narrow limits of a tomb! 
 Death, the great teacher. Death alone proclaims 
 The true dimensions of our puny frames. 
 
 The daring tales in Grecian story found. 
 Were once believed: — of Alhos sail'd around, 
 
 Vee. 241. Uiihapptf prince, in Gyara's rocky isle :] 
 
 " Ut Gyarae clausus scopulis, parvaque Serjpho." 
 As these places are frequently mentioned by Juvenal, It may be necessary, 
 once for all, to observe, that they were bare and rocky islands in the ^gcan 
 sea, to which offenders vi^ere sometimes banished, and generally in the worst of 
 cases. The inhabitants of these little spots were despised. Gibbon says, " for 
 their ignorance and obscurity:" they should rather have been pitied for their 
 wretchedness. Stratonicus, who was sent to the former of them (Gyarae) tor 
 defamation, found himself so uncomfortable there, that he one day asked his 
 host what crime was punished with exile in his country; tiieman said peijury, 
 " why dost thou not forswear thyself then," replied Stratonicus, " that thou 
 mayest be dismissed from this accursed placer" 
 llali has a line allusion to the next verse : 
 
 " Fond fool! six feet shall serve for all thj' store, 
 " And he that cares for most, shall find no more." 
 What harmonious monosyllables ! but this is surpassed by that beautiful 
 and pathetic apostrophe of Prince Henry to the lifeless remains of Hotspur : 
 
 " Fare thee well great heart ! 
 
 " lil-weav'd ambition, how much art thou shrunk ! 
 " When that this body did contain a spirit, 
 " A kingdom for it was too small a bound; 
 " But now, two paces of the vilest earth 
 " Is room enough !"— — —
 
 342 SATIRE X. JUVENAL, v. 248—249. 
 
 Of fleets that bridges o'er the waves supplied, 
 Of chariots rolUng on the sledfast tide, 
 
 Ver. 246. The daring tales in Grecian story found, ^c] The guicquid 
 Grcecia mendax, says the translator of Herodotus^ (apphed by Juvenal to 
 the Greek Historian^) " partakes more of insolence than justice." Gillies 
 too, terms it " downright impudence;" " by my troth, Gossip, these be bitter 
 words :" and the former adds, it is not perhaps very extravagant to affirm, 
 that Livy has more prodigies than all the Greek historians together." Perhaps 
 not ; and if Juvenal had been called on to give his opinion of them, he would 
 have delivered it with very little ceremony. But he is not on the subject of 
 prodigies here, nor, as far I can see, of Herodotus : he is speaking of Soslratus, 
 a poet, says the old scholiast, (who knows nothing of the matter,) that wrote 
 the campaigns of Xerxes. After all, I do not mean to palliate his hesitation 
 respecting the vagaries of the Persian prince, nor the incredulity with which he 
 treats" thedaring tales of Greece" in general. There can, I think, be no doubt 
 with any rational person, but that most of the circumstances of this famous 
 expedition, are either fabricated by the Greeks, or grossly exaggerated. As far 
 indeed as relates to circumnavigating Athos, (next to chaining the waves, the 
 most absurd of all exploits, since even Herodotus* allows that the fleet might 
 have been dragged over-land with infinitely less pains,) I am somewhat inclined 
 to think Sostratus correct ; since not only Thucydides, unm imtar omnium, but 
 Plato, Lysias, Diodorus, and others speak of it, as an undoubted fact. The 
 wonder is, that a matter so easy to ascertain, should ever have been a subject 
 of dispute. Yet it was, and is; this is sufiicient for Juvenal. 
 
 Modern travellers can find no traces of this work, and therefore discredit 
 the story. But they do not reflect on the size of the ancient ships. A canal, 
 somewhat less than that of Languedoc, would be sufiicient for them ; and yet 
 even that, if neglected, would be completely filled up in a few centuries. 
 
 * I am much pleased at the caution of Herodotus, who, with all the cre- 
 dulity of his countrymen, had little of their vanit)', and none of their propensity 
 to falsehood. " He had heard of stigmata too," he says; but he does not take 
 upon himself to answer for this: »i<J») Si nx-aa-x mj x«i <FTiyi»i *sr£W£jiA4'£ ri^oir^f 
 Toc EXAna-7rcvT9».
 
 SATIRE X. JUVENAL. V. 250—273. 543 
 
 Of lakes exhausled, and of rivers quaf't 
 By countless nations^ at a morning's draught, 
 With all that Sostralus so wildly sings, 
 Besotted poet, of the king of kings. 
 
 But how return'd he, say? this soul of fire. 
 This fierce barbarian, whose impatient ire 
 Severer chastisement to Eurus gave, 
 Than e'er he sufFer'd in the ^Eolian cave ; 
 Chain'd Neptune, and was wond'rous clement found. 
 For that he branded not the slave he bound ! — 
 But how did he return? his navy lost. 
 In a small bark he tied the fatal coast. 
 And fbrc'd a dreadful passage through the flood, 
 Choak'd with his slaughter'd troops, and red with blood. 
 So Xerxes sped ; so speed the conquering race ; 
 They catch at glory, and they clasp disgrace ! 
 
 " Life! length of life 1" for this, with earnest cries. 
 Or sick or well, we supplicate the skies. 
 Pernicious prayer! for mark, what ills attend 
 Still on the old, as to the grave they bend : 
 A ghastly visage to themselves unknown, 
 For a smooth skin, a hide with scurf o'ergrown, 
 And such a flabby cheek as an old ape. 
 In Tabraca's thick woods, might haply scrape. 
 
 Ver. 261. In a small bark, 5fc.] So Justin. Erat res spectacuh digna et 
 (LStimatioite sortis humane, rerum varietate miranda, in exigtio latcntcm vidire 
 navigio, quern paulo ante vix aquor omne capiebut,^c. Lib. 11. cap. xiii.
 
 344 SATIRE X, JUVENAL, v. 274— 275. 
 
 In youth a thousand different features strike ; 
 All have their charms, but have not charms alike : 
 
 Ver. 270. A ghastlif visage, S^'cJ] In this striking description of old age, 
 
 Juvenal seems to have thought of a passage in Crates, thus admirably rendered 
 
 by Mr. Cumberland : 
 
 " Hard choice for man to die — or else to be 
 
 " That tottering, wretched, wrinkled, thing you see. 
 
 " Age then we all prefer ; for age we pray, 
 
 '•' And travel on to life's last lingering day ; 
 
 " Then sinking slowly down from worse to worse, 
 
 " Find heaven's extorted boon our greatest curse." 
 
 But indeed the idea is sufficiently obvious, and has had good things said on 
 
 it in every age; here is one of them, 
 
 " Some comfort 
 
 " We have in dropping early — we expire, 
 
 " And not without men's pity ; to live still, 
 
 " Have their good wishes : thus, too, we prevent 
 
 " The loathsome misery of age, beguile 
 
 " The gout and rheum, that in lag hours attend 
 
 *' For grey approachers." — Two Noble Kinsmen. 
 
 Again, 
 
 " For as our age increases, so vexations, 
 
 " Gxiefs of the mind, pains of the feeble body, 
 
 " Rheums, coughs, catarrhs — we're but our living coffins ; 
 
 " Besides, the fair soul's old too." Wife for a Month. 
 
 And Spenser, in a stanza of surpassing beauty, 
 
 " O why do wretched men so much desire 
 
 " To draw their days unto the utmost date, 
 
 " And do not rather wish them soon expire ; 
 
 " Knowing the miseries of their estate, 
 
 " And thousand perils which them still awate, 
 
 " Tossing them like a boat amid the mayne: 
 
 *' That every hour they knock at Deathe's gate; 
 
 " And he that happiest seems, and least in payne, 
 
 " Yet is as nigh his end, as he that most doth playne."
 
 SATIRE X, JUVENAL. V. 076—293. 345 
 
 While age presents one universal face — 
 A faultering voice, a weak and trembling pace, 
 An ever-dropping nose, a forehead bare, 
 And toothless gums to mump his wretched fare. 
 He grows, poor wretch, (now, in the dregs of life,) 
 So loathsome to himself, his child, his wife, 
 That those who hop'd the legacy to share, 
 And flatter'd long, disgusted disappear. 
 The sluggish palate duH'd, the feast no more 
 Excites the same sensations as of yore; 
 Taste, feeling, all, a universal blot. 
 And e'en the rites of love remeniber'd not; 
 Or if — through the long night he feebly strives, 
 To raise a flame where not a spark survives ; 
 While Venus marks the effort with distrust, 
 And hates the gray decrepitude of lust- 
 But lo I another loss : the warbling quire, 
 In him no sentiments of joy inspire ; 
 
 Vee. 273. In Tabraca, ^c] " A city in the maritime part of Lybia/' tiic 
 scholiast says," near which is a thick wood abounding in apes." It is proliabiy 
 tlic modern Tunis. Strabo quotes an entertaining^ passage from Posidonius, 
 respecting the vast number of those animals which he saw there, and with whose 
 gambols he was entertained in his voyage along the Lybian coast. 
 Ver. 280. He grozcspoor wretch, now in the dregs of life, 
 
 So loathsome, Sfc."] This is illustrated by a pretty quatrain in 
 the Anthologia: 
 
 Av wfji^fi^9'» fjitupov IV ocyfc(rii/ ^(Jf©^ flip's, 
 
 E(? O^U TpiTfflTOCi THTO TO Xt^TTOfAiMOV' 
 
 r»paf 7rp£(rSiiTrif yiyverai o^v^oX^. 
 
 Yy
 
 346 SATIRE X. JUVENAL, v. 294—315. 
 
 The sweetest airs escape him ; and the lute. 
 
 That thrills the general ear, to him is mute. 
 
 He sits, perhaps, too distant : bring him near ; 
 
 Alas! 'tis still the same : he scarce can hear 
 
 The deep-ton'd horn, the trumpet's clanging sound, 
 
 And the loud blast that shakes the benches round. 
 
 E'en at his ear his boy, to tell the hour, 
 
 Or who's arriv'd, must shout with all his power. 
 
 Add that a fever scarce can warm his veins, 
 And thaw the little blood which yet remains ; 
 That ills of every kind, and every name, 
 Rush in, and seize the unresisting frame. 
 Ask you how many? I could sooner say 
 How many drudges Hippia kept in pay, 
 How many wards by Irus were undone, 
 How many patients kill'd by Themison ; 
 How many men by Maura over-toil'd, 
 How many provinces by Basil spoil'd, 
 How many boys by Hirrus : in a word, 
 How many villas call my quondam barber lord ! 
 
 These their shrunk shoulders, those their hams bemoan ; 
 This hath no eyes, and envies that with one ; 
 
 Ver. 304. That ills of every kind, and evert/ name, 
 
 Rush in, (S)C.] So Plautus, but more soberly, 
 
 " ut aetas mala merx, mala est tergo ! 
 
 " Nam res plurimas pessumas, cum advenit, affert, 
 " Quas si autumem omneis, nimis longus sermo sit." 
 
 Mencech. A. v. 5. ii.
 
 SATIRE X. JUVENAL. V. 31C— 343. 347 
 
 This a sad spectacle of pity stands, 
 Helpless and weak, and fed by others' hands; 
 While that, accustom'd, at the sight of food, 
 To stretch his jaws, gapes like the callow brood 
 Of Progne, when from bill to bill she flies, 
 Hungry herself, distributing supplies. 
 
 But other ills, and worse, succeed to those : 
 His limbs long since were gone; his memory goes. 
 Poor driveller ! he forgets his servants quite, 
 Forgets, at morn, with whom he supp'd at night; 
 Forgets the children he begot and bred ; 
 And makes a strumpet heiress in their stead : 
 So much avails it the rank arts to use, 
 Gain'd by long practice in the loathsome stews ! 
 
 But grant his senses unimpair'd remain ; 
 Still woes on woes succeed, a dreadful train ! 
 He sees his sons, his daughters, all expire, 
 Sees his lov'd consort on the funeral pyre, 
 Sees brothers, sisters, friends, to ashes turn. 
 And all he lov'd, or lov'd him, in an urn. 
 Lo here, the dreadful fine we ever pay, 
 For life protracted to a distant day ! 
 To see our house by sickness, pain, pursued, 
 And scenes of death incessantly renew'd : 
 In sable weeds to waste the joyless years, 
 And drop at last mid solitude and tears. 
 
 The Pylian's (if we credit Homer's page) 
 Was only second to the raven's age.
 
 SIS SATIRE X. JUVENAL, v. 344—355. 
 
 " O happy, sure, beyond the common rate, 
 
 " Who warded off" so long the stroke of late! 
 
 " Who told his years by centuries, who so oft 
 
 " Ouaft'd the new must I O happy, sure" — ^But, soft ; 
 
 This happy man of destiny complain'd, 
 
 Curs'd his gray hairs, and every god arraign'd ; 
 
 What time he lit the pyre, with streaming eyes, 
 
 And round his son saw the dark flames arise. 
 
 '■' Tell me," he cried, with wild, distracted air, 
 
 " Ye faithful friends, who these sad duties share, 
 
 " What monstrous crimes have rouz'd the Almighty's hate, 
 
 ^' That thus, in vengeance, he protracts my date ?" 
 
 Ver. 346. Who told his years by centuries, — ] Sues jam dextrd computat aniios, 
 now told his years on his right hand. The .ancients liad a way of numbering 
 with their fingers ; they reckoned on the left hand as far as a hundred, and 
 " all above," says Madan, " on tlie right." This is not coiTect; for after a 
 certain number, on which the critics are not agreed, they returned to the left. 
 Nestor, we see, was got on the right hand; but I find mention made of an 
 old lady, (in the Anthologia,) who had travelled back to the left, and con- 
 sequently far surpassed him in j-ears: 
 
 'H ■sroXiv) xpoTccipoKri KcTurJaf ij, n z7oXv[av^(^ 
 
 Fpaia, St' nil Nfrwp bx £ti Zupic^vrtcr^' 
 H ^«@^ ixS'pri<TiX(f fXa^s zrXiov, r j^sp i Xaan 
 
 Holyday has a very long note on this subject, which he illustrates by a 
 curious table; shewing the different inflections of the fingers, and positions of 
 the hands, necessary to produce the requisite numbers. As a whole it is tedious, 
 but it may be consulted witli great advantage. 
 
 Ver. 350. What time he lit the pyre, ^jc.] Our author had Propertius in 
 view here : he has, however, improved upon him : 
 
 " Non ille Antilochi vidisset corpus humati: 
 
 " Diceret aut, O Mors, cur milii sera venisr" Lib. 11. 13.
 
 SATIRE X. JUVENAL. V. 356—383. 349 
 
 So Peleus question'd heaven, Laertes so ; 
 {Their hoary heads bow'd to the grave with woCr) 
 While one bewail'd his son, at Ihum slain, 
 One his, long wandering o'er the faithless main. 
 
 While Troy yet flourish'd, had her sovereign died, 
 With what solemnity, what funeral pride, 
 Had he descended, every duty paid, 
 To old Assaracus' illustrious shade ! — 
 Hector himself, bedew'd with many a tear. 
 Had join'd his brothers to support the bier; 
 Long trains of Trojan dames, in sable vests, 
 Follow'd Polyxena, and beat their breasts. 
 And rent their garments, as the funeral cry, 
 By wild Cassandra led, had pierc'd the sky; 
 Had he but fall'n, ere his adulterous boy 
 Spread his bold sails, and left the shores of Troy. 
 
 But what did lengtheu'd life avail the sire? 
 To see his realm laid waste by sword and fire. 
 Then too, too late, the feeble soldier tried 
 Unequal arms, and Hung his crown aside ; 
 Totter'd the murderer of his son to meet. 
 And fell, without an effort, at his feet. 
 Like a lean ox, that, old and useless now, 
 Is led to slaughter from the ungrateful plow. 
 Yet, happier than the partner of his cares. 
 He died, at least, a man, while, chang'd with years, 
 She, in a brute, retain'd her ancient lore, 
 And bark'd and howl'd, at those she curs'd before.
 
 350 SATIRE X. JUVENAL, v. 384—391. 
 
 Enough of these : I hasten to supply 
 The rest from Rome ; and pass in silence by, 
 The fall of Mitliridates, sad event ; 
 And Croesus, whom " that old man eloquent" 
 Wisely forbad in fortune to confide. 
 Or take the name of happy till he died. 
 
 That Marius, exll'd from liis native plains. 
 Was hid in fens, discover d, bound in chains ; 
 
 Ver. 382. She, in a brute, <^t.] Non tiiscis, <S)C. 
 
 Me. Haik ye my mistress ! do you know why Greece 
 Feign'd Hecuba was turn'd into a bitch i 
 Worn. Not I, indeed. 
 Me. I'll tell you then ; because 
 She rail'd and rav'd at every one she met. 
 As you do now, — and therefore was she called. 
 And rightly call'd, a bitch. Menac. A. v. Sc. i. 
 
 Ver. 387. "that old man eloquent"^ Solon. The story to 
 
 which Juvenal alludes is to be found in Herodotus. It had already furnished 
 Ovid with some tine lines: 
 
 " scilicet ultima semper 
 
 " Expectanda dies homiui, dicique beatus 
 " Ante obitum nemo supremaque funera debet." 
 Ver. 390. That Marius exiled, iicl The particulars in the text, are copied 
 from Paterculus. The example, indeed, is less happily chosen than that of 
 Sejanus; for though the mutability of fortune in his case was singular and ex- 
 treme, yet his end was fortunate. Lucan has noticed it in his best manner; 
 '' Ille fiiit vitae Mario modus, omnia passo 
 " Quae pejor fortuna potest, atquc omnibus uso 
 " Quae melior, measoque, homini quid fata parai'ent." 
 Stapylton says that " the (Minturnian) fens in which Marius lay hid, were 
 in Switzerland !" For this accurate piece of topography, he was indebted to 
 the old scholiast. The spot, however, lies on the right hand of the Ferry of 
 the Gargiliano, as you go from Rome to Naples.
 
 SATIRE X. JUVENAL. V. 392— 405. 351 
 
 That, bursting these, to Aftica he fled, 
 
 And, through the realms he conquer'd, begg'd his bread, 
 
 Arose from age, from treacherous age alone: 
 
 For what had Rome or earth so happy known. 
 
 Had he, in that blest moment, ceas'd to live, 
 
 When, grac'd with all that victory could give, 
 
 " Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war," 
 
 He first alighted from his Cimbric car! 
 
 Campania, prescient of her Pompey's fate, 
 Sent a kind fever to arrest his date : 
 When lo! a thousand suppliant altars rise, 
 And public vows obtain him of the skies. 
 Ill done ! that head, thus rescued from the grave, 
 Fell mangled by a vile Egyptian slave — 
 
 Veb. 400. Campania, prescient of her Pompey's fate, ^c] This too, is to be 
 found in Paterculus ; but Juvenal was more immediately indebted for it, as 
 well as for the story of Priam in a former page, to that storehouse of ethical 
 and moral wisdom, the Tusculan Questions. There tlie two examples follow 
 each other, and we shall see that our author has not only adopted the circum- 
 stances, but the words of Cicero. Priamum autem tanta progLiiic orbaliim, 
 cum in aram confiigisset, hosliUs manits interemit. Hie si vivis Jiliis, ineolumi 
 regno, occidisset, utrum tandem d bonis, an u malis discessissel'^ turn profccto 
 videretur a bonis. &ic. He then subjoins, Pompeio nostra familiari, cum gra- 
 viter ecgrotaret Neapoli, S(c. utrum igitur, si turn esset extinctus, a bonis rebus, 
 an d malis discessisset? certe a miseris. Qui si mortem turn obiisset, in amplissimis 
 fortunis occidisset; is propagatione vita quot, quantas, quain incredibiles hausit 
 calamilates ? 
 
 Veb. 405. Fell mangled, by, 4fc.] The strange notion of the ancients, tliat 
 their wounds and mutilations followed them lo the other world, filled ilicm 
 willi inexpressible horror at the idea of being dismembered in this. Suetonius
 
 } 
 
 352 SATIRE X. JUVENAL, v. 406— 426. 
 
 Cetliegus knew no punishment so dire, 
 No pain; unmaini'd did Lentulus expire, 
 And Catiline, though vanquish'd, sunk entire. 
 
 Whene'er the fane of Venus meets her eye, 
 The anxious mother breathes a secret sigh, 
 For handsome boys; but asks, with bolder prayer. 
 That all her girls be exquisitely fair! 
 " Why not?" she cries, " Latona, in the sight 
 " Of Dian's beauty, took unblam'd delight." 
 True; but Lucretia curs'd her fatal charms^ 
 When spent with struggling in a Tarquin's arms ; 
 And poor Virginia would have chang'd her face, 
 For Rutila's, the scandal of her race. 
 
 " But boys may still be fair." No, they destroy 
 Their parents' peace, and murder all their joy ; 
 For rarely are those jarring blessings join'd, 
 A beauteous body, and a virtuous mind. 
 Though the strict house like ancient Sabines live. 
 And every hour some moral precept give. 
 Besides, should Nature, in her kindest mood, 
 Confer th' ingenuous flush of modest blood, 
 
 tells us, that the last and most earnest request of the wretched Nero to his few 
 followers was, that his head might not be severed from his body, but that he 
 might be burnt entire, totus cretnaretur. Nero, 49. 
 
 Ver. 413. Latona, in the sight 
 
 Of Dian's beauty, took unblam'd delight, "^ An allusion to Homer, 
 ■ yiyn^i Si ti (pfiva. A«tw. x. t. »,
 
 SATIRE X. JUVENAL. V. 427— 434. 353 
 
 The disposition chaste as unsunn'd snow ; 
 And what can nature more than these bestow, 
 These, which no art, no care, can give? e'en then, 
 They cannot hope, they must not, to be men. 
 Smit with their charms, the imps of hell appear, 
 And pour their proffers in a parent's ear, 
 For prostitution, — infamously bold. 
 And trusting to the almighty power of gold : 
 
 Ver. 429. e'en then 
 
 Tliei/ cannot hope, they must not, to be >nen.] It is to the praise 
 of Domitian, (alas ! for Trajan,) tliat mutilatioa of boys was prohibited during 
 his reign. 
 
 Nunc, says Statius very finely, 
 
 " nunc frangere sexum 
 
 " Atque hominem mutilare nefas, gavisaque solo3 
 " Quos genuit, Natura videt 1" 
 Some of Martial's best epigrams are on this subjecti tlie following line* 
 bear a close resemblance to the text : 
 
 " Non puer avari sectus arte mangonis 
 " Virilitatis damna moerct ereplae : 
 *' Nee quam superbus computet stipem leno, 
 " Dat prostituto misera mater infanti." Lib. ix. 7. 
 
 As do these, 
 
 " Jam cunae Icnonis erant, ut ab ubere raptus 
 
 " Sordida vagitu posceret aera puer. 
 " Immatuia dabant infandas corpora poenas, 8cc." 
 I have given credit, with Amm. Marcell. and others, to Domitian for this 
 humane and salutary restriction. Xiphilinus, however, will not allow this 
 solitary sprig to decorate iiis brows; he says that he did it to insult tlie memory 
 ^f his brother, whom, as well as his father, he had a perverse pleasure in coun- 
 teracting on all occasions. K«» Jta raro, xoazTcp xxi a,\j}^ Eapi>8 tih©' muttxit 
 ipuv, ofjiu;, nruSn x«i o Tit^ kt^vbu^ zrcpi ra; txro/Aia; £(77rs<J«>t£i, x-srr,yoj>iu(ri}t fvi 
 inuvn vQpn, jj-nhtia, in iv th twv 'tujjixiuv o-p'jQ tKTtfAVKT^iK, Lib. lxvu. ^. 3.
 
 354 SATIRE X. JUVENAL, v. 435—454. 
 
 While youths, in shape and air less form'd to please, 
 No tyrants mutilate, no Neros seize. 
 
 Go now, and triumph in your beauteous boy, 
 Your Ganimede; whom other ills annoy. 
 And other dangers wait : his charms once known, 
 He stands profess'd, the favourite of the town ; 
 And dreads, incessant dreads, on every hand, 
 The fierce revenge a husband's wrongs demand : 
 For sure detection follows soon or late ; 
 Born under Mars, he cannot 'scape his fate. 
 Oft on the adulterer too, the furious spouse 
 Inflicts worse evils than the law allows ; 
 By blows, stripes, gashes some are robb'd of breath. 
 And others by the mullet rack'd to death. 
 
 " But my Endymion will more lucky prove, 
 " And serve a beauteous mistress, all for love." 
 No ; he will soon to ugliness be sold. 
 And serve a toothless grandam, all for gold. 
 Servilia will not miss him; jewels, clothes. 
 All, all she sells, and all on him bestows; 
 
 Ver. 445. Oft on the adulterer too, the furious spouse 
 
 Inflicts worse evils, ^c] See many instances of this in Val. 
 Maximus, lib. vi. i,]. With respect to the punishment mentioned in the next 
 line, (the being clystcied,as Holyda^' oddly expresses it, with a mullet,) it was 
 allowed by no written law; but seems to liave been an old and approved 
 method of gratifying private vengeance. 
 
 One of the commentators (Isidorus) thinks the fish was selected for this 
 singular purpose, on account of its anti-venereal properties ; but he confoundj 
 the mugilis with the mullus; two very distinct things.
 
 SATIRE X. JUVENAL. V, 455 — 472. S55 
 
 For women nought to the dear youth deny, 
 Or think his favours can be bought too high : 
 When love's the word, tlie naked sex appear, 
 And every woman is a spendthrift here. 
 
 " But if my son with virtue be endued, 
 ** What harm will beauty do him?" nay, what good? 
 What slew Hippolitus of old, and chas'd 
 Bellerophon h-om home, belied, disgrac'd. 
 But charms like those you fatally require, 
 And chastity, that spurn'd each loose desire? 
 Then, then did Phaedra redden, then her pride 
 Took fire, to be so stedfastly denied ; 
 Then, then did Sthenobcea glow with shame, 
 And both burst Ibrth with unexampled flame. 
 A woman scorn'd, is pitiless as fate. 
 For then the dread of shame adds stings to hate. 
 
 But Silius comes; — now be thy judgment tried; 
 Shall he accept, or not, the proffer'd bride, 
 
 Ver. 4GI . What slew Hippolitus of old, and chas'd 
 
 Bellerophon from home, 8fc.'\ The adventures of Hippolitus and 
 Bellerophon are well known. They were accused of incontinence, by the 
 women whose inordinate passions they refused to gratify at tlie expense of 
 their duly ; and sacrificed to the fatal credulitj' of the husbands of the disap- 
 pointed fair ones. It is very probable, tiial both the stories are founded on the 
 Scripture account of Joseph and Potiphar's wife. 
 
 Wer. 47 1. But Silius comes; — ^c] Tacitus agrees with Juvenal. "The graces 
 of the form and manners of this young man (Cains Silius) were highly cele- 
 brated. That Messalina might enjoy her favourite without a rival, she obliged 
 liim to repudiate his wife Junia Silaua, a lady of noble birth. Silius was neither
 
 S56 SATIRE X. JUVENAL, v, 473— 48». 
 
 And marry Caesar's wife? hard point in trutli: 
 
 Lo, this most noble, this most beauteous youth, 
 
 Is hurried off, a helpless sacrifice 
 
 To the lew'd glance of Messalina's eyes ! 
 
 Now bring the victim : in the nuptial vest 
 
 Already see the impatient empress drest, 
 
 The genial couch prepar'd, th' accustom'd sum 
 
 Told out, the augurs and the notaries come. 
 
 " But why all these?" you think, perhaps, the rite 
 
 Were better, known to few, and kept from sight : 
 
 blind to tlie magnitude of the crime of marrying tlie empress, nor to the danger 
 of not complying. On the whole, however, he resolved to hazard the future 
 consequences, and enjoy the present moment." jiim. xi. 12. 
 
 Ver. 477. in the nuptial vest 
 
 Already see the impatient empress drest, ^ Here is no exaggera- 
 tion: all passed precisely as our author descrihes it. The folly and enormity 
 of the transaction seem to have struck Suetonius, and 3'et more Tacitus, with 
 astonishment. — " That a Consul elect, and the wife of an emperor, on a day 
 appointed, should dare to affront the public eye, and sign a contract with ex- 
 press provision for the issue of an unlawful marriage, will hardly gain credit 
 with posterity: still less, that the empress should hear the ceremony pro- 
 nounced by the augurs, and in her turn, repeat the words ; that she should 
 join in a sacrifice to the gods, take her place at the nuptial banquet, exchange 
 caresses, &c. But the facts here related, are well attested by writers at that 
 period, and by grave and elderly men, who lived at the time, and were in- 
 formed of every circumstance." Tacit Ann. xi. 27- 
 
 The observation in v. 489, for he the last, &c. dedecus ille domiis sciet iil- 
 timiis, is an allusion to the sottish stupidity of Claudius, who was with great 
 difficulty persuaded to credit the report of Messalina's infamy, after it had beea 
 long notorious to ail the world ; and with greater still, induced to issue tb« 
 final orders for her punishment.
 
 \ 
 
 SATIRE X. JUVENAL. V. 483—495. 357 
 
 Not so the lady ; she abhors a flaw, 
 
 And wisely calls for every form of law. 
 
 But what shall Silius do? refuse to wed? 
 
 That instant, see him number'd with the dead. 
 
 Consent? he lives but till the scandal, clear 
 
 To town and country, reach the emperor's ear; 
 
 For he besure, the last, his house's shame will hear. 
 
 Then let him, if a day's precarious life 
 
 Be worth his study, make the fair his wife ; 
 
 For wed or not, poor youth! 'tis still the same, 
 
 And still the axe must mangle that fine frame. 
 
 Say then, must man, depriv'd all power of choice. 
 Ne'er raise to Heaven the supplicating voice ? 
 
 Ver. 494. Say then, must man, Sic] We are now drawing towards tlie end- 
 of this divine Satire, wliich finishes in a manner highly worthy of the grave 
 and solemn dignity with which it has been hitherto conducted. As the author 
 has so clearly proved, that those ideal advantages which we commonly make 
 the subject of our petitions, are too often dangerous and destructive; the con- 
 clusion, that we should leave the granting or withholding of them to an un.i- 
 erring and gracious providence, is at once rational and pious. 
 Chaucer has some pleasing lines on the subject : 
 
 " Alas ! why pleynin men so in commune 
 
 " Of purveyance of God, or of Fortune, 
 
 " That givL'th them full oftc in many a gise, 
 
 " Well better than theniselvin can devise!" Kiiis/U's Talc. 
 
 And Spenser, 
 
 " In vain, said then old Melibee, doe men 
 
 " The heavens of their fortune's fault accuse; 
 
 " Since thev know best, what is the best i'or them- 
 
 " For they to each such fortune doe diffuse 
 
 ■•O"
 
 358 SATIRE X. JUVENAL, v. 49C~511. 
 
 Not so ; but to the gods his fortunes trust : 
 Their thoughts are wise, their dispensations just. 
 What best may profit or delight they know, ' 
 
 And real good, for fancied bhss bestow ; 
 With eyes of pity they our fraihies scan ; 
 More dear to them, than to himself, is man. 
 By blind desire, by headlong passion driven, 
 For wife, and heirs we daily weary Heaven; 
 Yet still 'tis Heaven's prerogative to know, 
 If heirs, or wife, will bring us weal or woe. 
 
 But, that thou may'st (for still 'tis good to prove 
 Thy humble hope) ask something from above ; 
 Thy pious offerings to the temples bear, 
 And, while the altars blaze, be this thy prayer. 
 
 O THOU, who see'st the wants of human kind, 
 Grant me all health of body, health of mind; 
 
 " As they do know each can most aptly use. 
 " Sith not that which men covet most is best, 
 " Nor that thing worst, which men doe most refuse." 
 Ver. 506. But, that thou mayst (for still 'tis good to prove 
 
 Thy humble hope) ask, <Sfc.] " Though the deity is inchned/'says 
 Owen, " by his own benignity to bless his creatures, yet he expects the out- 
 ward expressions of devotion from the rational part of them." This is certainly 
 what Juvenal means to inculcate : hence his earnest recommendation of a due 
 regard to the public and ceremonial part of religion. 
 
 It is lamentable to see Dryden turning a solemn admonition to pay those 
 external marks of respect which all dependant beings owe to the Creator, 
 into one of those trite and senseless sneers against the priesthood, which were 
 the scandal of his own times, and are the disgrace of ours !
 
 SATIRE X. JUVENAL. V. 512—523. 359 
 
 A soul prepar'd to meet the frowns of fate^ 
 And look undaunted on a future state ; 
 That reckons death a blessing, yet can bear 
 Existence nobly, with its weight of care ; 
 That anger and desire alike restrains, 
 And counts Alcides' toils and cruel pains, 
 Superior to the feasts, the wanton sport. 
 And morbid softness of the Assyrian court. 
 
 This, thou to give thyself may'st well suffice: — 
 The only path to peace through virtue lies. 
 O Fortune, Fortune ! all thy boasted powers 
 Would shrink to nothing, were but prudence ours : 
 
 Ver, 522. O Fortune, Fortune! all thy boasted powers 
 Would shrink to nothing, ^c] So Tasso, 
 
 " . — sovente avvien che'l saggio e'l forte 
 
 " rabbro a se stesso e di beate sorte." 
 Thus rendered by Fairfax, in his admirable translation, with an eye, perhaps, 
 to our author: 
 
 " They make their fortunes, who are stout and wise, 
 
 " Wit rules the heavens, discretion guides the skies." 
 And Beaumont : 
 
 " Go on, I say ! 
 
 " Valiant and wise rule heaven, and all the great 
 
 " Aspects attend them." Bonduca. 
 
 Spenser passim : 
 
 " Since then in each man's self, said Callidore, 
 
 " It is to fashion his own life's estate, &c. gtc." 
 And Higgins more at large : 
 
 " 'Tis said a wise man all mishaps withstands ; 
 
 " For though by storms we borne to mischiefs arc.
 
 $60 SATIRE X. JUVENAL, v. 524—525. 
 
 But man, fond man, exalts thee to the spheres, 
 And clothes thee in the attributes he i'ears ! 
 
 " Yet grace and prudence bayle our careful bands; 
 " Each man, they say, his fate hath in his hands, 
 " And what he marres, or makes to leese, or save, 
 " Of good or ill, is ev'n self doe, self have." Mirr. of Magist. 
 The exclamation in a preceding line, (520) has been thought to savour of 
 the sufficiency of Stoicism, but without reason; since, it must, in fairness, be 
 restricted to the independance of the wise and virtuous man on fortune. 
 Wisdom, and virtue, indeed, Juvenal thought, with the rest of the heathea 
 world, men could attain by their own exertions ; but there were some at Rome, 
 as Madan finely observes, at that time, who could have taught him, that, 
 
 EVERY GOOD GIFT, AND EVERY PERFECT GIFT, IS FROM ABOVE; ANO 
 COMETH DOWN FROM THE FATHER OF LIGHTS. 
 
 I cannot conclude without noticing an observation of Mr, Gibbon on thi» 
 Satire. After bestowing great, and indeed just praise on its design and exe- 
 cution, he adds: " A propos des dieux,je rcmarque cette indecision, S{c. I 
 remark in Juvenal that want of decision with respect to the gods, which ia 
 so common amongst the ancients. This moment nothing can be more pious, 
 more philosophical, than his resignation and his faith; the next, our own 
 wisdom is sufficient for us, and prudence alone supplies the place of all the 
 divinities." And tliis was written by a eneerer at Revelation ! I am not he 
 *' that judgeth another man's servant," but methinks, if one rose from the dead, 
 he could not evince the superiority of the pious and humble believer, over 
 the bewildered yet confident infidel, by stronger arguments than are her« 
 .adduced by this extraordinary man, who had eyes and saw not !
 
 SATIRE XL 
 
 Silrgiinicnt. 
 
 This Salhe consists principally of an invitation to Persicus, the poet's 
 friend, to spend the day with him ; but it is made the vehicle of much 
 valuable information, and much amusing description. 
 
 It begins with a severe invective against a person of the Equestrian 
 Order, (here called Rulilus,) who had wasted his property in riot and 
 profusion ; andjrom wliose reduced and miserable stale, Juvenal lakes 
 occasion to draw many admirable maxims for the due regulation of life. 
 These introduce, rvith sufficient propriety, the little picture of his own 
 domestic economy ; wliich is followed by a most pleasing view of the 
 simplicity of ancient manners, artfully contrasted with the extravagance 
 and luxury of the current times. He then enters at length into the par- 
 ticulars oj his purposed entertainment, and concludes with a spirited 
 description oj the scandalous excesses practised at the tables of the great, 
 and an earnest recommendation to his friend, to enjoy the present with 
 content, and to await thej'uture with calmness and moderation. 
 
 I should imagine this to be one of Juvenal's last works. It has all 
 the characteristics of age : the laudator temporis acti, is ever foremost 
 in the scene ; and 1 please myselj jyith thi)iking that time had " mellowed 
 and improved" the social jeelings of the author. Here is indeed much 
 to be seen oj those strong, dark, and elevated passions, which distinguish 
 his earlier writings ; but softer and more amiable sentiments have their 
 turn; and the narrative old man appears as a warmjriend, a generous 
 landlord, and a most kind and ajfeclionale master ofajamilj-. 
 
 I do not like his guest. He is a morose and suspicious character : 
 
 3A
 
 362 ARGUMENT. 
 
 sufficiently imhappj^, it seems, in his domestic concerns ; but careful about 
 many things, which Juvenal seems to think he had better dismiss from 
 his thoughts. 
 
 This Satire has abvays been my favourite. A predilection which I 
 probably received from the friend, and patron of my youth; who was 
 so much pleased with it, that he undertook to translate it for this work. 
 He had proceeded, however, but a very little way, when he returned it 
 to me, witli an observation that it was " above his strength." His death 
 followed immediately after. Had he lived, I should probably have sup- 
 pressed the lines ; now, it seems to me a duty to insert them : I have, 
 however, taken great pains to assimilate them to the rest.
 
 SATIRE XI. 
 
 TO PERSICUS. 
 
 V. 1 — 10. 
 
 IF Atlicus in sumptuous fare deliglit, 
 'Tis taste; if Rutilus, 'tis madness quite; 
 And what diverts the sneering rabble more 
 Than an Apicius, miserably poor? 
 
 In every company, go where you will, 
 Bath, forum, theatre, the talk is still 
 Of Rutilus : for, wiiile he now might wield, 
 With firm and vigorous ann, the spear and shield, 
 While youthful blood runs high, (though not compell'd, 
 As by the tribune erst, yet not withheld,) 
 
 Ver. 4. Than an Apicius, &;cl] Apicius (see Sat. iv. v. 32,) was, says Sta- 
 pylton, " so exquisite a glutton, that he wrote a book of cookery ; and so rich, 
 that he made ail his experiments at his own cost." Nothing, in life, Iiowever, 
 " became him, hitc the leaving of it;" for, after spending near eight hundred 
 thousand pounds in luxurious living, he poisoned himself, while he had yet 
 four-score thousand pounds left, for fear of wanting a meal ! 
 
 Ver. 9- (though not coiripelPd, 
 
 As by the tribune erst, yet not withheld,)] Juvenal had already ob- 
 served, in the eighth Satire, that young men of family and fortune entered the
 
 364 SATIRE XI. JUVENAL, v. II — 2S. 
 
 He cultivates the gladiator's trade, 
 And learns th' imperious language of the blade. 
 What swarms we'see of this degenerate kind ! 
 Spendthrifts, whom, when their creditors would find, 
 To shambles and to fish-stalls they repair, 
 Sure, though deceiv'd at home, to meet them there. 
 Of these, the man whose ruin draws most near. 
 Whose fate to all but to himself is clear, 
 Lives best, as if in haste to be undone, 
 And in the jaws of bankruptcy feasts on. 
 Meanwhile, ere yet the last supply be spent, 
 They search for dainties every element, 
 Aw'd by no price ; nay, making this their boast, 
 And still preferring those which cost them most. 
 Such prodigals will pawn, with tiioughtless ease, 
 Their ancient plate, a desperate sum to raise. 
 Or melt their mother's statue, to prepare 
 Yet one treat more, though but in earthen ware. 
 
 lists, not, as formerly, by the compulsion of the reigning tyrant ; but from a 
 principle of depravity. Here he goes further, and insinuates that it is not suf- 
 ficient for the magistrates not to compel men to disgrace themselves; they 
 ought, as guardians of the public honour, to do more ; to supply the deficiency 
 of the laws, and prohibit so scandalous a prostitution. 
 
 What he calls tlie imperious language of the blade, is thought to be the 
 terms used in the schools of the gladiators, such as percute, urge, cade, Sfc. 
 
 Ver. 27. Or melt their mother's statue, Sfc.] Malris imagine fractA ; " frac- 
 tured," Lubin says, that it might not be known by the pawn-broker. Calderinus 
 thinks there is an allusion here to some well-known stoiy, which is probable
 
 SATIRE XI. JUVENAL. V. 29—46. 365 
 
 Then to the fencer's mess they come, of course, 
 And mount the scaffold, as a last resource. 
 
 I hate not sumptuous boards ; I only scan, 
 When such are spread, the motive, and the man ; 
 Here the profusion damns the beggar's name, 
 There gives the noble, just and lasting fame, 
 Here seems the effect of gluttony, and there, 
 01 liberal taste, and hospitable care. 
 Whip me the fool who knows how Atlas soars 
 O'er every hill on Mauritania's shores, 
 Yet sees no difference 'twixt the chest's large hoards, 
 And the poor pittance a small purse affords .' 
 
 Heaven sent us, " know thyself," to be imprest, 
 In lasting characters, on every breast, 
 And still revolv'd; whether to wed we choose, 
 Or to the sacred senate point our views. 
 So when Pelides' armour lay the prize 
 Of highest worth, Thersites dar'd not rise; 
 
 enough. The " mess," mentioned in a subsequent line, was a particular kind 
 of food, to which gladiators were restricted some time before they were brought 
 out to engage. The commentators suppose it to be a mixture of cheese and 
 flour; this seems also to be Hoiyday's opinion, who terms it " a special diet- 
 bread to advantage the combatants at once in breath and strength." See 
 Sat. II V. 80 
 
 Ver. 41. Heaven sent us, KNOW TiiYszijV, Sfc.'] This sacred maxim Fh.jS'i 
 (rtaujou, has been attributed to several of the ancients; to I'ylliagoras, to 
 Thales, and to Chilo. Be whose it may, however, it was deemed of such 
 importance as to be inscribed, in gold letters, over the portico of the temple 
 at Delphi. From hence, perhaps, came the notion, in afler times, that it was
 
 366 SATIRE XI. JUVENAL, v. 47— 5S. 
 
 And wisely ; when Ulysses trembling stood, 
 Shrunk as he spoke, and doubted as he view'd. — 
 Thou too wjjo burn'st, in some important cause, 
 To vindicate thy injur'd country's laws, 
 Knock at thy breast ; examine well and see, 
 First what and who thou art : search if thou be, 
 An orator of force, of skill profound, 
 Or a mere Matho, emptiness and sound? 
 Yes, know thyself; in great concerns and small. 
 Let this be all thy care, for this is all : 
 
 immediately derived from heaven: no improbable conjecture, ifwe consider that 
 it is the foundation of all knowledge; and little favourable to that over-weening 
 self-love, which the wisest of the heathens cherished, amidst all their pro- 
 fessions of iuunility. 
 
 The comic poets, to w hom nothing was sacred, have, of course, made free 
 with this; Menander pleasantly observes. 
 
 Kola ttoAA' «p' i^tv s xxXu? tipriiJievov 
 
 To rNflGI SATTON, ^pvcrtjAUTipov yap m 
 
 To rNnei tots aaaots. 
 
 Away wilh that fam'd sentence know thyself, 
 'Tis not well put; know others, to my thinking. 
 Is a more apt and profitable maxim. 
 Ver. 54. Or a mere M/ttho, emptiness and sound?] For Matho, see Sat. i. 
 Y. 30, and vii. v. 205. Oar author is not to be deterred, by the altered fortunes 
 of the man, from sneering at him en passant. It is, probable, however, that 
 Matho might not feel much hurt at a reflection on his unfitness for a pro- 
 fession which he had long since abandoned, to avoid starving; especially, 
 after his success in his new occupation. 
 
 The character Juvenal gives of ^latho is confirmed by Martial, who speaks 
 of him (lib. iv. 80,) as so pertinacious a bawler, that one almost wonders how 
 ke failed.
 
 SATIRE XI. JUVENAL. V. 51—74- 367 
 
 Nor, when thy purse will scarce a gudgeon buy, 
 Let thy inlemperate taste for turbots sigh ! 
 O think what end awaits thee, timely think, 
 If thy maw widen as thy pockets shrink, 
 Thy maw, of all thy fother's thrift could save, 
 Flocks, herds, and fields, the insatiable grave ! 
 And now, when nought remains a meal to bring. 
 (The last poor shift) oR' goes the knightly ring. 
 And sad Sir Pollio savoury scraps demands, 
 With bated voice, and undistinguish'd hands. 
 No fate is premature, no death severe 
 To such as these : — age, age, alone they fear. 
 Thus they proceed : they borrow, and apace, 
 Waste what they raise before the lender's face: 
 Then, while they yet some wretched remnant hold. 
 And the pale usurer trembles for his gold. 
 Wisely they sicken for the country air, 
 And flock to Baiae, Ostia, heaven knows where. — 
 
 Ver. 64. off goes the knightly ring,'] Martial is very witty on 
 
 this " iviiightly ring." A person, whom he chooses to allacl< under the name of 
 Zoilus, had been raised from astate of servitude to knighthood, (no uncommon 
 circumstance in those times,) and was determined to make the ring, the badge 
 of his new honour, conspicuous enough: 
 
 " Zoile, quid tota gcmmam praecingere libr& 
 
 " Te juvat, et miserum perdere sardonycha? 
 " Annuius iste tuis fuerat mod6cruribus aptus; 
 
 " Non eadcm digitis pondera convcniunt. Lib. xi. S8. 
 
 Might not something hke this have been the case with another Zoilus (Cris- 
 pinus?) If so, he might well be unable to bear " a ring of greater weight." 
 See p. 11.
 
 368 SATIRE XI. JUVENAL, v. 75—92. 
 
 For now 'tis held (so rife the evil's grown) 
 
 No greater shame for debt to quit the town, 
 
 Than from the hot Suburra to remove, 
 
 In dog-days, to the Esquilian shades above. 
 
 One pang alone, what time they leave behind 
 
 Friends, country, every thing, distracts their mind, 
 
 One pang alone, for twelve long months to lose, 
 
 Oh insupportable ! the public shews. 
 
 Where sleeps the modest blood ! in all our veins. 
 
 No conscious drop, to form a blush, remains ; 
 
 Shame, from the town, scorn'd, baffled, hastes away, 
 
 And few, alas ! solicit her to stay. 
 
 Enough: to day my Persicus shall see, 
 Whether my precepts with my life agree ; 
 Whether with counterfeit reserve I prize 
 The spare repast, a glutton in disguise : 
 Bawl for coarse pottage, that my friends may hear. 
 But whisper " sweet-meats," in my servant's ear. 
 
 Ver. 91. Bawl for coarse pottage , (Sfc] I can find no better term than this 
 for puis. It was a mixture of coarse meal and water, seasoned with salt, and 
 sometimes enriched with an egg. Our hasty-pudding comes pretty near it; 
 but hasty-pudding, unfortunately, is rather of an anti-poetic cast. Pliny the 
 Elder says, it was long the food of the ancient Romans, pw/fe mom pane vixisse 
 longo tempore Romanos manifestum; and their descendants, the poor of Italy, 
 still consume vast quantities of it, under the name oi polenta, or macaroni,* a 
 
 * Mr. Ireland says, that the Italians make a distinction between those two 
 articles; that what they call polenta, is made of Turkish wheat, grano Turco; 
 while an inferior sort, called grano dura, or hard grain, is employed in th« 
 making of macaroni.
 
 SATIRE XI. JUVENAL. V. 93—108. 369 
 
 For since, by promise, you are now my guest. 
 Know, I invite you to no sumptuous feast, 
 But to such simple fare as long, long since, 
 The good Evander bade the Trojan prince. 
 Come then, my friend, you will not, sure, despise 
 The food that pleas'd the offspring of the skies . 
 Come; and while fancy brings past times to view, 
 ril think myself the king, the hero you. 
 
 Take now your Bill of Fare : my frugal board 
 Is with no puichas'd delicacies stor'd. 
 But dishes all my own. From Tibur's stock, 
 A kid shall come, the fattest of the flock, 
 The tenderest too, and yet too young to browse 
 The thistle's shoots, t!ie willow's watry boughs, 
 With more of milk than blood; and pullets drest 
 With eggs yet warm and reeking from the nest ; 
 
 little improved, indeed, by the addition of rasped cheese, and its never-failing 
 attendant — oil ! 
 
 Ver. 103. From Tihurs stock 
 
 A kid shall come, &;c.'] Martial has imitated this hill of fare in 
 several places, but more particularly in lib. x. xlviii. His entertainment, how- 
 ever, is more varied, and his guests arc more numerous. I am not certain that 
 I should not have preferred sitting down with the epigrammatist: the season- 
 ing of his treat is mightily pleasant: — 
 
 " Accedenl sine felle joci, nee man^ timenda 
 
 " Libertas, et nil quod tacuisse velis. 
 " De Prasino conviva meus, Venetoque loquatur ; 
 " Nee facient queraquam pocula nostra reum." 
 This is better than listening to Homer and Virgil; (v, 272,) which is no bad 
 thing neither. 
 
 3 B
 
 3?0 sATiPxE XI. JUVENAL, v. 109— 130. 
 
 And sperage wild, which, from the mountain's side, 
 
 My housemaid left her spindle to provide ; 
 
 And grapes long kept, yet pulpy still, and fair, 
 
 And the rich Signian, and the Syrian pear. 
 
 And apples, that in flavour and in smell, 
 
 The boasted Picene equal, or excel; 
 
 Nor need you fear, my friend, their liberal use, 
 
 For age has mellow'd and improv'd their juice. 
 
 How homely this ! yet once this homely fare, 
 
 Our senate deem'd it luxury to share ; 
 
 When the good Curius thought it no disgrace. 
 
 O'er a few sticks his little pot to place. 
 
 With roots, which now the squalid wretch disdains, 
 
 Who digs the live-long day in cumbrous chains. 
 
 And who remembers still, with fond regret. 
 
 The savoury relish of a season'd teat. 
 
 Time was, when on the rack a man would lay 
 The well-dried flitch against a solemn day. 
 And think his friends when met, with decent mirth, 
 To celebrate the hour which gave him birth, 
 On this, and what the sacrifice had spar'd, 
 (For then the gods were thought of,) well had far'd. 
 
 Ver. 1 19. When the good Curius, S^cJ] This good old man is the constant 
 theme of our author's praise. He was a pattern of frugality, when all were 
 frugal; an incorruptible statesman, and a great and successful commander: 
 but the particular allusion in this place, is to the well-known anecdote of his 
 being lound by the Samnite embassadors, sitting by a small fire, and preparing 
 a dish of turnips for his supper, with his owu hands.
 
 SATIRE XI. JUVENAL. V. 131—148. 371 
 
 Some kinsman, who had tliree times consul been, 
 
 And general and dictator, from the scene 
 
 Of business now retir'd, would gaily haste, 
 
 Before the wonted hour, to such repast. 
 
 Shouldering the spade, that, with no common toil, 
 
 Had tam'd the genius of the mountain soil. 
 
 Yes, when the world was fill'd with Rome's just fame, 
 
 And Romans trembled at the Fabian name. 
 
 The Scauran, and Fabrician ; when they saw 
 
 Stern censors keep their stern colleagues in awe. 
 
 No virtuous hero deem'd it his concern. 
 
 Or worth a moment's serious pain, to learn 
 
 What land, what sea, the fairest tortoise bred, 
 
 Whose clouded shell might best adorn his bed : — 
 
 His bed was small, and did no signs impart, 
 
 Or of the painter's, or the graver's art. 
 
 Save where the front, cheaply inlaid with brass, 
 
 Show'd the rude features of a vine-crown'd ass; 
 
 Ver. 147. Save where the front, chtapltf inlaid with brass, 
 Show'd the rude features of a vine-crown'd ass;} 
 
 " =• parvis frons aerea lectis 
 
 " Vite coronati caput ostendebat aselli 
 " Ad quod, 8cc. 
 All the commentators tliat I have seen, suppose this ass's head to be hung 
 out in the fields, and the beds, or rather couches, of those rustics, to be so 
 placed as to afford them a sight of it as they sat at meat ! what gratification 
 they could possibly derive from such a spectacle, " these deponents do not 
 say." 
 There was, indeed, as Britannicus observes, from Columella, a very ancient
 
 372 SATIRE XI. JUVENAL, v. 149— 150. 
 
 An uncouth brute, round which his children play'd, 
 And laugh'd, and jested, at the face it made. 
 
 notion among the country people, that the skeleton of an ass's head placed on 
 the boundary of their lands, had a marvellous effect in averting blights, &.C. and^ 
 as we further learn from Palladius, in fertilizing the particular spots to which it 
 was directed : item equee caharia, velpotius asinee; credebantur enim sua pra- 
 sentia fccatndarc qua spectant. On the authority of this passage, Scioppius 
 wishes to read coronnta caput asella. ; but the text is undoubtedly right, as 
 it stands, and all the curious research of Britannicus and others on the subject, 
 is little or nothing to the purpose. It is evident from the plain and obvious 
 construction of the words, that this ass's head, either cast, or engraved in brass, 
 was fixed upon the couches, not detached from them ; and that it had nothing 
 to do with any rural superstition whatever. But what then is the sense of the 
 passage? This ; for which we are indebted to the extensive reading of Ferrarius. 
 He quotes Hyginus. Antiqid autem nostri in hctis tricUniaribus infulcris 
 capita asellorum vite alligatd (would not one swear that Juvenal alluded to 
 this very passage ?) habuerunt ; sigriijicaiites ******* * suaritatem invenisse. 
 Fab. cclxxiv. A few words have dropt out through the carelessness of the 
 copyists, but the sense is clear enough. The ass, by browsing on the vine, was 
 supposed to have taught mankind the art of improving its virtues by pruning, 
 8cc. Indeed, this idea was common enough, for Pausanias, long after Hyginus, 
 speaks of the same story, as current among the Nauplians, /. e. u; (o oi-®^ )fwj- 
 (pxyuv ccfjLTTiXx xXrifjioc,, a^^onulifov £? to /acXMh a.-urt^riv£ tok xocpTrou. Lib. II. We 
 all know the ass was a favourite of Silenus ; (and, for a much better reason than 
 Ovid gives, extremely disagreeable to Priapus,) his head, therefore, crowned 
 with clusters of grapes, was cast in brass, and fixed upon the front of their 
 couches, as a provocative to hilarity and good fellowship. As the old Romans 
 had made no extraordinary progress in any of the fine arts, we may easily 
 suppose that the workmanship of these ornaments excited no great envy in 
 the breasts of the Myros, and Lysippuses of the day. It was this, which pro- 
 voked the risibility of the unlucky {/ascivi) boys of the family, and not a few 
 dry bones perched on a post, which could have little to interest, and less to 
 amuse them.
 
 SATIRE XI. JUVENAL. V. 151— 1C4. 373 
 
 Briefly, his house, his furniture, his food, 
 Were uniformly plain, and simply good. 
 
 Then the rough soldier, yet untaught by Greece 
 To hang enraptur'd o'er a finish'd piece, 
 If haply, midst the congregated spoils, 
 Proofs of his power, and guerdons of his toils, 
 Some antique cup of master-hands were found, 
 Would dash the glittering bauble on the ground ; 
 That in new forms the molten fragments drest, 
 Might blaze illustrious on his courser's chest. 
 Or, beaming from his awful helmet, show 
 The rise of Rome to the devoted foe ; 
 The mighty Father, with his shield and spear, 
 Hovering, enamour'd, o'er the sleeping fair. 
 
 Ver. 163. The mighty father, <S|-c.] I haw fnllowed Mr. Addison's inter- 
 pretation of this passage. " The Roman soldiers," he says, " used to bear on 
 their helmets the first history of Romulus, who was begot by the God of War, 
 and suckled by a wolf. The figure of the god was made as if descending on 
 the priestess Ilia. The occasion required his body should be naked; tlie 
 sculptor, however, to distinguish him from the rest of the gods, gave liim what 
 the medallists call, his proper attributes, a spear in one hand, and a shield in 
 the other. As he was represented descending, his figure appeared suspended 
 in the air over the vestal virgin." Travels, p. 184. This he illustrates by an 
 engraving of a coin struck in the reign of Antoninus Pius. I am no 
 medallist, and can therefore say nothing as to the genuineness of the coin: 
 it certainly gives a very good explanation of the passage; indeed, it appears 
 to be a mere copy of it. After all, I will not afiirm it to be the true one, as it 
 does not correspond with the more ancient ideas on the subject. Ovid says. 
 Mars was unarmed when he saw the priestess, and so does TibuHus.
 
 374 SATIRE XI. JUVENAL, v. 1G5— 176. 
 
 And the fierce wolf, at heav'n's command grown mild, 
 And playful at her dugs each wondrous child. 
 Thus, all the wealth those simple times could boast, 
 Small wealth ! their horses and their arms engrost ; 
 All else was homely, and their frugal fare, 
 Cook'd without art, and serv'd in earthen ware; 
 Yet justly worth thy envy, were thy breast 
 But with one spark of noble spleen possest ; 
 Then, then the Majesty of Temples show'd 
 More glorious, honour'd with a present god : — 
 Then solemn sounds, heard from the sacred walls 
 At midnight's solemn hour, told of the Gauls 
 
 Ver. 175. Then solemn sounds, Sfc.'] This alludes to a circumstance recorded 
 by the writers of Roman history. M. Caeditius, as he was passing by one of 
 the temples in the dead of night, heard a loud and alarming voice from the 
 sanctuary, distinctly cry, "The Gauls are at hand !" commanding him at the 
 same time, to repeat what he had heard to the Senate. Liv. lib. v. 32. Plutarch 
 tells the same story, in the life of Camillus. 
 
 The elder Pliny has a curious passage on the subject of the following lines. 
 Ha enim turn effigies deum erant laudatissimce ; nee panitet nos illorum, qui tales 
 coluere. Aurum enim et argent um rte dis quidem conjiciebant : durant etiam- 
 num plerisque in locis talia simulacra, * * * * sanctiora auro, certh innocentiora. 
 Lib. XXXIV. We have seen, (p. 84,) that the statue of Cybeie was still more 
 rude and artless than that mentioned in the text; and the true principle, I 
 believe, of the adoration which was anciently paid to those unfinished masses 
 of stone, as well as to the first shapeless blocks which were set up in the 
 temples, was the profound reverence entertained for the gods ; which did not 
 suffer the artists to invest them too closely with a determinate form. In pro- 
 cess of time, they grew bolder: and it is an observable thing in the history of 
 sculpture, that the moat admired statues of the deities were produced in the
 
 SATIRE XI. JUVENAL. V. 177—192. 375 
 
 Advancing from the main; while, prompt to save, 
 Stood Jove, the prophet of the signs he gave. 
 Yet, when he thus reveal'd the will of fate, 
 And watch'd attentive o'er the Latian state. 
 His shrine, his statue, rose of humble mold, 
 Of artless form, and vmprofan'd with gold. 
 
 Those good old times no foreign tables sought ; 
 From their own woods the walnut tree was brought, 
 When withering limbs declar'd its pith unsound, 
 Or winds uptore and stretch'd it on the ground. 
 But now, such strange caprice has seiz'd the great, 
 They find no pleasure in the costliest treat ; 
 From ven'son and from turbot turn their eyes, 
 At flowers and unguents feel their gorge arise, 
 Unless wide-yawning panthers, tow'ring high, — 
 (Enormous pedestals of ivory, 
 
 age of scepticism, or infidelity. This applies no less to the Greeks than the 
 Romans; with respect to the latter, while they were sincere believers in their 
 mythology, they had not a god tolerably executed. Yet observe, says Seneca, 
 how propitious they then were : cogita,deos quum propitii essent,_fictilesfuisse! 
 Vee. 191- Unless wide 1/awning panthers tow'ring high, — 
 
 The spacious orbs support.'] " Orbis, super quern canies in mensa 
 minutim concidere solemus,ne corrurnpatur mappa." Steph. Thesau. It appears 
 from this, that Stephens took orbs for plates, on which meat is cut ! This ex- 
 planation, strange as it is, is still more strangely supported : 
 " Tu Lyhicos Indis suspendis dentibus orbes : 
 
 " Fulcitur test& fagiiia mensa mihi. Mart. lib. u. 43. 
 
 How could this learned man overlook the sense of so plain a passage ? You, 
 saj's Martial to Candidus, place your Lybian orbs on ivory feet, whereas my 
 beechen table is propped up by an empty barrel! The orbs of Candidus are
 
 376 SATIRE XI. JUVENAL, v. 193—194. 
 
 From teeth the .Ethiopian reahn supplies, 
 Or Indian ; or from those of larger size, 
 
 precisely those of the text, citron wood brought from the Mediterranean coast 
 of Africa, where this tree abounded: and indeed Varro calls it Lyhissa citrus. 
 I have already spoken, (p. 26,) of the estimation in which such tables were 
 held : but this fancy was not peculiar to the times of JuvenaL Cicero accuses 
 Verres of stealing a most valuable one from a Sicilian, Tu maximam et pul- 
 cherrimam citream mensam a Q. Lutatio Diodoro abstuUsti. In Verr. iv. 17. 
 And Seneca was reproached, according to Xiphilinus, with having five hundred 
 of them in his possession. The quantity is beyond question exaggerated; but 
 it is certain, that the wealthy Romans had numbers of them at the same time : 
 Indeed, it could not well be otherwise, as, at their entertainments, one of them 
 was usually set before every guest. The glutton in the first Satire, (v. 226,) 
 was not, perhaps, the only one who swallowed down a fortune at a single 
 table, ttm'i comedil patrimonia mensa. 
 
 Cowley, in his description of David's flight to Nob, mentions the feast made 
 for him by the high priest; and, among other articles of luxury, introduces 
 this. It affords a specimen of that perverted wit, which may be almost con- 
 sidered as the distinguishing characteristic of his poetry. Conceits, as Johnson 
 observes, are all the Davideis supplies. 
 
 "■ In midst a table of rich iv'ry stands, 
 
 " By three fierce tigers, and three lions borne, 
 
 " Which grin, and fearfully the place adorn : 
 
 " Widely they gape, and to the e^'e they roar, 
 
 " As if they hungered for the meat they bore," 
 In a note he says, " these kind of ivory tables borne up with the images of 
 beasts, were much in esteem among the ancients. The Romans had them, as 
 well as all other instruments of luxury, from the Asiatics. Thus Juvenal," &c. 
 The extravagance of the Romans, indeed, knew no bounds in this article; 
 their tables, however, as I have just observed, were not (as Cowley thinks) of 
 ivory, but of citron and other precious woods: it was the feet only that were 
 formed of this substance. 
 
 Whether Dryden, or rather Congreve, had been dipping into the Davidei*
 
 SATIRE XI. JUVENAL. V. 195-— 210. 377 
 
 Which, now too old, too heavy for the head, 
 
 The beasts in Nabathean forests shed) 
 
 The spacious orbs support : then they can feed, 
 
 And their late orts are delicate indeed ! 
 
 For silver feet excite in them such scorn, 
 
 As iron rings, upon the finger worn. 
 
 For this, my friend, the haughty guest I shun, 
 
 Who, measuring my expenses by his own, 
 
 Remarks the difference with a scornful leer. 
 
 And slights my humble house, and homely cheer. 
 
 Look not to me for ivory ; 1 have none — 
 
 My chess-board and my men are all of bone ; 
 
 Nay, my knife-hafts ; yet, Persicus, for this 
 
 My pullets neither cut nor taste amiss. 
 
 You'll find no carver here from yonder school, 
 Profoundly tutor'd to dissect by rule ; 
 
 during the translation of this passage, I cannot tell ; but he has given it with 
 a conundrum^ nolunwortiiy of Cowley in his happiest moments: 
 
 " An iv'ry table is a certain whet; 
 
 " You would not think how heartily he'll eat, 
 
 " As if new vigour to his teeth were sent, 
 
 " By sympathy from those o'the elephant." 
 Ver. 20g. Youlljind no carver litre, ^c] The skilful carving of meat wa3 
 a matter of so much importance at Rome, that it was taught hy professors of 
 the science. The one honoured with our author's notice was named Trypherus ; 
 Doctor Trypherus, he calls him, whose learned instructions were dispensed in 
 the Suburra, or Strand of the city : " for such masters did puiposoly choose," 
 says Holyday, " the most public places, thereby to be the more taken notice ot, 
 and so to get custom." The wooden delicacies on which the scholars practised 
 
 3C
 
 37S SATIRE XX. JUVENAL, v. 211— 224. 
 
 Strange school •' where wooden birds, beasts, fishes, point 
 
 The nice anatomy of every joint ; 
 
 And dull, bknit tools, severing the mimic treat. 
 
 Clatter around, and deafen all the street. 
 
 My simple lad, whose skill will just suffice 
 
 To broil a steak in the plain country guise. 
 
 Knows no such art; humbly content to serve, 
 
 And bring, the dishes which he cannot carve. 
 
 Another lad (for I have two to-day) 
 
 Clad, like the first, in home-spun russet gray, 
 
 Shall fill our earthen bowls ; no Phrygian he, 
 
 No pamper'd attribute of luxury, 
 
 But a rude rustic :— when you want him, speak; 
 
 But speak in Latin, for he knows no Greek. 
 
 are enumerated below : they were, doubtless^ representations of the most rare 
 and esteemed articles of food ; and the scientific dissection of them was, there- 
 fore, a point of prodigious consequence : 
 
 " Sumine cum magno lepus, atque aper, alque pygargus, 
 " Et Scythicae volucres, et phoenicopterus ingens, 
 " Et Getulus oryx. 
 Which Holyday literally renders, 
 
 " Large sow teats; the hare, boar, the white-breech too, 
 " The Scythian pheasant, the huge-crimson wing, 
 " And the Getulian goat." 
 This conveys but little imformation to the English reader, and I have scarce 
 any thing to add to it. The phoenicopterus is the flamingo ; the pygargus, and 
 oryx, are probably dillerenl species of the gazel, or antelope kind. Sparman 
 takes the former to be the Spring-bok, (or bounding-goat) which is common, he 
 says, at the Cape, where it is accounted excellent food. Pennant calls it the 
 white antelope.
 
 SATIRE XI. JUVENAL. V. 225—232. 379 
 
 Both go alike, with shorty straight hair undrest, 
 And only spruc'd to-day, to grace our feast; 
 And both were born on my estate, and one 
 Is my rough shepherd's, one my neatherd's son. 
 Poor youth ! he mourns, with many an artless tear, 
 His long, long absence from his mother dear; 
 Sighs for his little cottage, and would fain 
 Meet his old play-fellows, the goats, again. 
 
 Ver. 20,9. Poor youth ! he mourns, ^c] It is impossible to read thse lines, 
 without being impressed with the most favourable opinion of the writer. How 
 could Gibbon say his character was devoid of sweetness and sensibility ! Do 
 not both appear in every word he utters of his rural pages ? The young neat- 
 herd, (who seems to be his favourite,) is mentioned by him, not only with the 
 warmth of a kind master, but with the tenderness of an affectionate parent. Can 
 a man so susceptible of the generous affections, be said to want sensibility ? — 
 but tlie poor youths have been as ill-treated by the translators, as their master 
 by the critics. Holyday makes the first a thief: 
 
 " ■ — — — — though he's rude, 
 
 " To steal a morsel he's with skill endued," 
 Dryden is still more injurious, 
 
 " On me attends a raw unskilful lad, 
 " At once my carver, and my Ganimede." 
 Certainly, the lad was no " carver;" and, if by Ganimede (a very improper 
 word) be meant cup-bearer, he misconceives his author, who expressly gives 
 that office to the second boy. 
 
 It would seem from v. 268, that Juvenal superintended their education. Otie 
 of the boys could read Homer; the other (v. 224) knew no language but his 
 own. These remarks, are of little importance; indeed of none, except to the 
 writer, who, by long dwelling on a subject, becomes interested in a thousand 
 trifles, which provoke, and perhaps justly, the impatience, or risibility of the 
 general reader. We all know and feel this ; yet habit is too powerful for 
 judgment, — tenet iusanabile. —
 
 380. SATIRE XI. JUVENAL, v. 233 — 242- 
 
 His look belies his birth ; ingenuous grace 
 • Beams from his eye, and flushes in his face ; 
 Charming suffusion ! that would well become, 
 And well adorn (.he noblest blood of Rome. — 
 This stripling, this, shall bring thee wine which grew 
 On hills where first the breath of life he drew ; 
 On Tibur's hills, beneath whose well-known shade, 
 The rural cup-bearer in childhood play'd. 
 
 But you, perhaps, expect a wanton throng 
 Of Gaditanian girls, with dance and song. 
 
 Ver. 241. But you, perhaps, expect, (Sfc] The Romans were now arrived at 
 such a pitch of hcentiouseness^ that they had dancing girls to attend their 
 feasts fioni all parts of the world. Those from Gaditania (the south of Spain) 
 seem to have been most in request : their stile of dancing is described by 
 Martial (lib. v. 79^) with a force and spirit which are not exceeded by any thing 
 in the text : 
 
 " Nee de Gadibus improbis puellae, 
 " Vibrabunt sine fine prurientes 
 " Lascivos docili tremore lumbos." 
 The dance alluded to^ is neither more nor less than the Fandango ; which still 
 forms the delight of all ranks in Spain ; and which, though somewhat chastised 
 in the neighbourhood of the capital, exhibits at this day, in the remote pro- 
 vinces, a perfect counterpart (actors and spectators) of the too free but faith- 
 ful representation before us. 
 
 In a subsequent line, Juvenal mentions the testarum crepitus, the clicking of 
 /the castanets, which accompanies this dance : on this the critics have trifled 
 egregiously. The testa, in short, were small oblong pieces of polished wood 
 or bone, which the dancers held between their fingers, and clashed in measure, 
 with inconceivable agility, and address. Holyday, who was in Spain, says he 
 heard nothing but the snapping of lingers : he was then unfortunate; I have 
 heard them often. The Spaniards of the present day are very curious in the
 
 sATTRE XI. JUVENAL. V. 243 — 263. 381 
 
 round.* 
 
 To kindle loose desire; girls, that now bound 
 
 Aloff, with active grace, now on the ground, 
 
 With quivering limbs ahght ; while peals of praise go 
 
 Lo; wives, beside their husbands plac'd, behold 
 
 What could not in their ears, for shame, be told; 
 
 (Expedients of the rich, tiie blood to fire, 
 
 And wake the dying embers of desire:) 
 
 " Behold?" O, heavens! they view with keener gust 
 
 These strong provocatives of jaded lust, 
 
 Feel at each gesture, sound, their passions rise, 
 
 And draw in pleasure both at ears and eyes I 
 
 Such vicious fancies are too great for me. 
 Let him the wanton dance unblushing see, 
 And hear th' immodest terms which, in the stews, 
 The veriest strumpet scarce would deign to use, 
 Whose drunken spawlings roll, tumultuous, o'er 
 The proud expansion of a marble floor; 
 For there the world a large allowance make. 
 And spare the folly for the fortune's sake. 
 Gaming, adultery, with a small estate, 
 Are damning crimes ; but venial with a great ; 
 
 choice of their castanets ; some have been showed me that cost five and twenty 
 or thirty dollars a pair; theae were made of the beautifully variegated woods 
 of South America. 
 
 Vek. 262. Gaming, adultery, ^c] Thus Beaumont: 
 " In lords a wildness is a noble trick, 
 " And cherish'd in them, and all men must love it." 
 
 Maid in the Mill.
 
 382 SATIRE XI. JUVENAL, v. 264—273. 
 
 Nay more than venial ; witty, gallant, brave, 
 And such wild tricks " as gentlemen should have." 
 
 My feast, to-day, shall other sports afford : 
 Hush'd as we sit around the frugal board, 
 Great Homer shall his deep-ton'd thunder roll, 
 And mighty Maro elevate the soul ; 
 Maro, who, warm'd with all the poet's fire, 
 Disputes the palm of victory with his sire. 
 Nor fear my rustic clerks ; read as they will, 
 The bard, the bard will rise superior still ! 
 
 And Monsieur Parolles. " So please your majesty, my master is an honourable 
 gentleman; tricks he hath in him which gentlemen have !" 
 
 The late Lord Orford seems to have been somewhat of Parolle's way of 
 thinking. Of the Duke of Wharton, he says, " he comforted all the dull by 
 throwing away the brightest profusion of parts, on scrapes and debaucheries, 
 which mix graces with a great character, but never compose one !" No, I'll be 
 
 sworn 
 
 " Sed vos Trojugenae, vobis ignoscitis, et quae 
 "Turpia cerdoni, Volusos Brutosque decebunt!" 
 
 Ver. 267. as we sit around the frugal board. 
 
 Great Homer, (Sjc] This practice was not uncommon among 
 old republicans : it had, indeed, lost somewhat of its frequency in Juvenal's 
 days ; but there were not wanting, in any period, virtuous characters who pre- 
 ferred this rational and instructive method of passing tlieir time at table, to 
 all the blandisimients of dancing-girls, and all the noisy butfoouery of pipers, 
 tumblers, &c. The entertainments of Atticus were alwaj's seasoned with these 
 mental recreations; and C. Nepos, his friend and guest, speaks of them with 
 the warmest approbation. Nemo in convivio ejus aliud acroama audivit, quam 
 anagiiosten : quod 7ios quidem jucundissimum arbitramur. Neque unquaui sine 
 aliqud kctione apud eum caiuitum eat, ut non minus animo quam ventre con- 
 vivce delcctareniur.
 
 SATIRE XI. JUVENAL. V. 274—289- 383 
 
 Come then, my friend ; an hour to pleasure spare, 
 And quit awhile thy business and thy care; 
 The day is all thy own : come, and forget 
 Bonds, interest, all ; the credit and the debt ; 
 Nay, e'en thy wife; though, with the dawning light, 
 She left thy couch, and late return'd at night ; 
 Though loose her hair, disorder'd her attire^ 
 Her eye yet glistening, and her cheek on fire. 
 O come, and at my threshold leave behind. 
 House, servants, every thing that wounds thy mind; 
 And, what the generous spirit most offends, 
 O, more than all leave there, ungrateful friends. 
 And see ! the napkin hung aloft, proclaims 
 The opening of the Megalesian games ; 
 And the proud praetor, in triumphal state. 
 Sits perch'd aloft, the arbiter of fate. 
 
 Ver. 28G. And see! the towel, hung aloft, ^c] The origin of the custom 
 is thus related by Hoiyday, from Cassiodorus : " Nero, on a time, silting 
 alone at dinner, when the shews were eagerly expected, caused the towel, with 
 which he hud wiped his hands, to be cast out at the window, for a sign of his 
 speedy coming; whereupon it was afterwards the usual sign for (the beginning 
 of) those shows." This is, at best, but a veiy doubtful story; but the circum- 
 stance is of no great moment. The towel {mappa) was hung out at the house 
 of the prrclor. 
 
 Tiic expression in the next line, j9r«(/o caballorum, I have left as I found 
 it ; not being satisfied with any of the explanations, or pretended emendations 
 of it, which I have seen, nor able to propose any thing better myself. If it do 
 not relate lo some well-known anecdote of the times, T consitlcr it as an 
 irremediable corruption.
 
 384 SATIRE XI. JUVENAL, v. 290 — 293. 
 
 Ere this all Rome (il 'tis, for once, allow'd 
 
 To say all Rome, of so immense a crowd) 
 
 Is cramm'd within the Cirque — hark! shouts arise — 
 
 From these I guess the Green has won the prize ; 
 
 Ver. 290. Ere this all Rome, iSc] The fondness, or rather passion of the 
 Romans, for the amusements of the Circus, is forcibly depicted by Amm. Mar- 
 cellinus. Quod est studiorum omnium maximum, ab ortu Incis ad vesperam sole 
 fatiscunt vel pluviis, per minutias aurigarum equorumque prmcipua, vel delicta 
 scrutautes. Et est admodum mirum videre plebem innumeram, meiitibus ardore 
 quodam infuso, cum dimicationum curaliiim eveiitn pciide ntem. Lib. xiv. 6. 
 Gibbon, who had considered tliis passage well, formed on it the very accurate 
 and animated account which follows. " The impatient crowd r ushed at the 
 dawn of day to secure their places ; and there were many who passed a sleep- 
 less and anxious night in the adjoining porticos. From the morning to the 
 evening, careless of the sun, or of the rain, the spectators, who sometimes 
 amounted to the number of 100,000, remained in eager attention, their eyes 
 fixed on the charioteers, their minds agitated with hope and fear, for the suc- 
 cess of the colour which they favoured : and the happiness of Rome appeared 
 to hang on the event of a race." 
 
 Though this be meant for a picture of a later period, it is precisely that of 
 our author's time ; as we learn from Seneca, Martial, Pliny, &.c. The last- 
 named has a letter, (lib. ix. 6,) which is worth consulting, as it illustrates the 
 subject of the following note. 
 
 Ver. 292. hark! shouts arise — 
 
 From these, ^c] While Juvenal is still writing to his friend, he 
 is suddenly interrupted by the boisterous joy of the Circus : from this he con- 
 jectures, with a bitter sarcasm on the base adulation of the people, that the 
 Green, (the court parly,) had won the race. 
 
 As the date of this Satire cannot be precisely ascertained, it is not easy to 
 say into how many parties the charioteers were divided at this lime. Originally 
 there seem to have been four; the Prasina, or green, the Russata or red, the 
 Albata or white, and the Venetu or blue; but others were afterwards added: 
 all of wiiose ])«rts, as Ilolyday says, " the Romans most factiously and
 
 iATiKE XI. JUVENAL. V. 293— 300. 385 
 
 For had it lost, all joy had been supprest, 
 And grief and horror seiz'd the astonish'd breast; 
 As when dire Carthage fbrc'd our arms to yield, 
 And pour'd our noblest blood on Cannae's field. 
 
 Thither let youth, whom it befits, repair^ 
 And seat themselves beside some tavouritc fair, 
 And clamour, and bet deep; while our shrunk skin, 
 Scap'd from the gown, the vernal ray drinks in 
 
 foolishly did take, sometimes even to great dissention." Caligula, and, if I 
 recollect right, Nero, (both admirable judges of true merit,) honoured the 
 Green with tlieir patronage; nay, the former, Suetonius says, was so madly 
 attached to it, that he could not live out of the stables of the party. From a 
 line in the seventh Sathe, parte alia solum Russati pone Lacerta, I should 
 conjecture that Domitian favoured the Red :* the Green, we see, had now 
 resumed its popularity, which was so great, that if it had been conquered, not 
 (as Holyday strangely understands si chjiceret,) if the " shews should cease," 
 the whole city would have been confounded as at the news of the slaughter of 
 Cannae. " A strange expression of a strange vanity, that a like sorrow should 
 affect a people for so unlike a cause." 
 
 Ver. 306. Scap'd from the gown, .Sc] The busy gown ; so Holyday, and 
 with his usual accuracy, renders effugiatque togam ;\ tiiough it appears, from 
 his notes, that he was not fully aware of the force of the passage. The toga, 
 as I have already observed, (Satire in. v. 360,) was the dress of ceremony. 
 Clients put it on, when they attended their patron's levee, when they followed 
 
 • This however, must have been in the early part othis reign; for it ap- 
 pears from Dio that he added two, (to |u« •)(fw^v, to h ufyvpHv., Suet, says 
 purpurcus, U(jih. 7- which is right, for the xpyupisv, was in use beiorc, ovof**o-jif, 
 Trpoo-xaTfriifrf, lii). Ixvii. 4,) the golden anil the silver to tin; t'onner tour; ami it 
 is reasonable to conjecture that he favoured his own colours. I'liey never, I 
 helieve, became popular. 
 
 f Madan has the strangest idea here that ever entered mortal head. By 
 toga, he says, " Juvenal nuans the Uomans now crowding to the Circus: let 
 
 3i)
 
 586 SATIRE XI. JUVENAL, v. 301—302. 
 
 At every pore : the time permits us now, 
 
 To bathe an hour ere noon, with fearless brow. — 
 
 him to the forum, when they went to receive the sportuia ; in u word, it was 
 little better than the badge of their servitude; and as such, probably regarded 
 with no great complacency. It is for this reason that Juvenal seizes the op- 
 portunity, while all ranks and orders of people are thronging to the Circus, of 
 advising his friend to indulge with him, in the decent relaxations which a tem- 
 porary freedom from all attendance on the great, so happily allowed them. 
 
 Martial, who had retired to Bilbilis, in Spain, soon after the accession of 
 Trajan, (dispirited, perhaps, at the coldness with which he was received, on 
 account of his flattery of Domitian and his minions;) addresses a little poem 
 from thence to his frier.d ; which sets the misery of this attendance in the 
 strongest light: 
 
 " Dum tu forsitan inquietus erras 
 " Clamos§., Juvenalis, in Suburra, 
 " Aut collem domina: teris DiantB: 
 " Dum per limina te potentiurum, 
 " Sudatrix toga ventilat, vagumque 
 
 " Major Ccelius, et minor fatigant." Lib. xii. xviii. 
 
 We feel for the poet, especially when we recollect his strong sense -of in- 
 dependence, and are tempted to wish that he too had retired from this state 
 of slavery: indeed, it is not easy to conjecture why he did not, as he bad a 
 small estate alTibur, and probably some hereditary property at Aquinum. He 
 doubtless sacrificed much to the menial pleasures, which were only to be 
 found in perfection in the capital ; and indeed a mind like his, inquisitive, 
 vigorous, and profoundly retlective, does not appoiir altogether suited to re- 
 tirement. I may mistake, but I sometimes think I discover striking traits of 
 similarity between our author, and Dr. Samuel Johnson. 
 
 us therefore keep out of their way." To avoid being thrown down perhaps, 
 and trampled upon ! 
 
 I observe that Congreve lays the poet and his friend, on " beds of roses." 
 The Mcgulesian games were held in tlie beginning of April; rather too early 
 a season for roses, even in the genial chmate of Italy.
 
 SATIRE XI. JUVENAL. V. ,qo3— 306. 387 
 
 Indulge for once, the novelty may please; 
 
 Yet thou Avould'st sicken, friend, of five such days: 
 
 For frequent repetitions quickly cloy; 
 
 And temperance only gives a zest to joy. 
 
 Ver. 305. Yet thou would'st sicken, friend, of Jive such da^s ;] How beautifully 
 is this thought illustrated by Shakspeare ! The words too, are selected with 
 a felicity, of which poetry furnishes but few examples: 
 
 " All violent delights have violent ends, 
 
 " And in their triumphs die; the sweetest honey, 
 
 " Is loathsome in its own deliciousness, 
 
 " And in the taste, confounds the appetite."
 
 SATIRE XII. 
 
 %tgximmu 
 
 This is the shortest of Juvenal' s pieces, which have come dorvn to us; 
 and certainly is not one of the most important, though it is fy- no means 
 wanting in good passages, some of much mond force, and many of an 
 affectionate and pathetic lendencj-. 
 
 Its subject is soon told : Catullus, for whom he had conceived a friend- 
 ship of the liveliest kind, had narrowly escaped shipwreck ; and the poet, 
 whose joy knows no bounds on the occasion, (no great proof of his being 
 deficient in the " social affections,"] addresses an exulting letter to their 
 common frie}ul, Corvinus ; in which, after acquainting him that he was 
 then about to sacrifice the victims he had vowed for the safety of Catullus, 
 he describes his danger and escape. He then gives a most beautiful 
 picture of the private part of the solemnity, and of t fie various marks of 
 gralulation which his house exhibits. 
 
 So far we see nothing but the pious and grateful friend. The satirist 
 now takes his turn : he recollects that sacrifices are vorved by others, for 
 the preservation of their acquaintance ; this leads him to speak with manly 
 confidence of his own disinterestedness, which he considers as almost 
 singular ; and which he oj)poses, with equal spirit and success, to the base 
 and designing promises of the heredifjela, or legacy -hunters, ly whom the 
 sick-beds of the rich and childless were constantly surrounded.
 
 SATIRE XII. 
 
 TO CORVINUS. 
 
 V. 1 — 16. 
 
 JNoT with such joy, Corvinus, I survey 
 The hour that gave me birth, as this blest day; 
 This day, on which the festive turf demands 
 The promis'd victims at my wilhng hands, 
 
 A snow-white Iamb to Juno I decree, 
 Another to Minerva ; and to thee, 
 Tarpeian Jove ! a steer, which h-om afar, 
 Shakes his long rope, and meditates the war. 
 'Tis a fierce animal, that proudly scorns 
 The dug, since first he tried his budding horns 
 Against an oak ; high mettled, and, in fine, 
 Fit for the altar, and the sprinkled wine. 
 
 O, were my power but equal to my love, 
 A nobler sacrifice my joy sliould prove ! 
 A bull high-fed, and boasting in his veins 
 The pasture of Clitumnus' distant plains, 
 
 Ver. 16. of Clitumnus', ^c] Tlie waters of Clitumnus (a river on the 
 confines of Tuscany) were supposed to possess the faculty of making the cattle
 
 .•^92 SATIRE xij. JUVENAL. V, 17—30. 
 
 F'atter than (at Hispulla, and as slow 
 
 With bulk, should fall beneath no common blow ; 
 
 Fall for my friend, who now, from danger free, 
 
 Revolves the recent perils of the sea; 
 
 Shrinks at the roaring waves, the howling winds, 
 
 And scarce believes the safety which he finds. 
 
 For not the gods' inevitable fire, 
 The surging billosvs that to heaven aspire, 
 Alone perdition threat ; black clouds arise, 
 And blot out all the splendour of the skies; 
 Loud and more loud the thunder's voice is heard, 
 And sulphurous fires flash dreadful on the yard. — 
 Then shrunk the crew, and, fix'd in wild amaze. 
 Saw the rent sails burst into sudden blaze ; 
 While shipwreck, late so dreadful, now appear'd 
 A refuge from the flames, more hoped than fear'd. 
 Horror on horror! earth, and sea, and skies 
 Convuls'd, as when poetic tempests rise. 
 
 But lo, another danger! list again, 
 And pity, though 'tis of the self-same strain ; 
 
 which drank of tliem, white: and, as this was the colour most pleasing to 
 Jupiter^ his altars were usually supplied with victims from its banks. It does 
 not appear that Juvenal believed this idle tale, which is also laughed at by 
 Addison, who has collected, from what Sterne calls his " satchel of school- 
 books," a variety of passages on the subject. One, however, which would have 
 given him infinitely more information than all the rest, escaped his notice: it 
 is that exquisite description in Pliny's letter to his friend Romanus, (lib. 
 VIII. epist. viii.) a perfect model, as it seems to me, of simplicity, elegance, and 
 taste.
 
 SATIRE xir. JUVENAL, v. 37— 40. 393 
 
 And known too well ; as Isis' temples show, 
 
 By many a pictui'd scene of votive woe; 
 
 Isis, by whom the painters now are fed. 
 
 Since their own gods no longer yield them bread ! 
 
 Ver. 39. Isis', ^T.] The hatred our author bears this exotic divinity, breaks 
 out in contemptuous sneers at his countrymen, for their mad confidence in 
 Jier. And, indeed, it does seem a little singular, that a goddess, whose genuine 
 worshippers at home hdd the sea, and every tiling connected with it, in ab- 
 horrence, should be fixed upon at Rome for the tutelar deit}- of that element; 
 and have her temples crowded with votive tablets. Anciently they were hung 
 up to Neptune ; and in this there was some propriety ; — but it was not only 
 on his prerogatives she trenched, baton those of Apollo, Esculapius, Sec. 
 
 " Nunc, Dea, nunc succurre mihi; nam jkdssc mederi 
 
 " Picta doeet templis miiita tabclla tuis." Cahtl. i. 3. 
 
 The unbounded attachment of the women to her, seems to have finally 
 seduced the men; and this strange divinity, (whose temples were little better 
 than marts of debauchery,) was suffered to usurp by rapid degrees, the attributes 
 of almost ever}' other god. 
 
 The " tablets," which men in danger of shipwreck vowed to Isis^ and which 
 they procured to be painted, and hung up in her temple, contained a repre- 
 sentation of their perils and escape. Had this been the worst, there would 
 ■have been little reason to regret the universality of her worship ; for the temples 
 of the Roman gods contained tablets of a much less innoxious nature, 
 Propertius, even while he confesses that they were abandoned to spiders, 
 appears to derive some satisfaction from reflecting, that the webs of those 
 insects covered the impure paintings which disgraced their walls. He pa- 
 thetically describes the prevalence, as well as the dreadful effects, of this 
 j)rofanation : 
 
 " Quae manu.s obscoenas depinxit prima tabcllas, 
 " Et jiosuit casta turpia visa domo ; 
 
 " Ilia puellannu ingenuos corrupit occllos, 
 " Ncquitiacque sua2 noluit esse ludcs. —
 
 394 SATIRE XII. JUVENAL, v. 41 — 50. 
 
 This now befell Catullus : for a sea, 
 
 Upsurging, pour'cl tremendous o'er the lee, 
 
 And fill'd the hold ; while, (oss'd by wave and wind, 
 
 To right and left, by turns, the ship inclin'd : 
 
 Then, while my friend observ'd, with drooping heart. 
 
 The storm prevailing o'er the pilot's art. 
 
 He wisely hasten'd to compound the strife, 
 
 And gave his treasure to preserve his life. 
 
 The beaver thus to scape his hunter tries. 
 
 And leaves behind the medicated prize, 
 
 Happy to purchase with his dearest blood, 
 
 A timely refuge in the well-known flood. 
 
 " Away with all that's mine," he cries, " away !" — 
 And plunges in the deep, without delay, 
 Purples which soft Miecenases might wear, 
 Crimsons deep-tinctur'd in the Baetic air, 
 
 " Sed non immerito velavit ara?nea fanum 
 "■ Et mala desertos occupat herba deos !" 
 The vagabond and profligate priests of Isis were not the least zealous in fol- 
 lowing this practice; and we may be certain, that the walls of her sanctuary 
 exhibited other designs than shattered ships, and limbs and bodies variousl^'^ 
 aifected. 
 
 Ver. 49. The beaver thus, 5|C.] This, as every one knows, is an idle fancy ; 
 it makes, however, a very good illustration in our author's hands : and I observe 
 it is used precisely in the same manner, in a letter which Sapor is said to have 
 sent to Constantius. Hocque btstias factitare : qua: cum advertant cur max i- 
 mopere capiantur, illud propria sponte amittunt, ut vivere deinde possiiit im- 
 pavida Amm. Marcel, lib. xvii. 5.
 
 SATIRE XII. JUVENAL. V. 57—60. 39; 
 
 Where herbs and springs of" secret virtues, stain 
 The flocks at ked, with Nature's richest grain. 
 Nor these alone : basicets horn Britain biougiit, 
 Rich silver chargers by Parthenius wrought, 
 
 Ver. 57. Where kerbs and springs, &;c.'] Tliere is not, perhaps, much more 
 foundation for this fact, than for that mentioned in the last note ; the belief 
 of it, however, was very general : and this is sufficient for the poet. 
 
 Martial frequently speaks of this singular property of the air and water of 
 Baetica, (Andalusia,) in staining the fleeces of the sheep kept there, with a 
 bright yellow or golden hue : and Virgil, long before him, had mentioned this 
 faculty of communicating colours to the " flocks at feed," as one of the bless- 
 ings of that golden period, which was to commence with the arrival of 3'oung 
 Pollio at man's estate. 
 
 " Ipse sed in pratis aries jam suave rubenti, &,c." 
 The truth of this was not ascertained, because the youth, whoever he was, 
 died too soon; but as nature is invariable, methinks the wool of Andalusia 
 should be as rich in native grain as ever — perhaps it is so. Seriously, how- 
 ever, the Spanish shepherds do not trust to this; they stain the fleeces of their 
 sheep at present, with a kind of ochre: probably they always did, and this, 
 after all, may be the secret. 
 
 Ver. 59. basketsfrom Britain brought,'] These baskets (almost 
 
 the only manufacture of our simple ancestors) seem to have excited the ad- 
 miration, indeed, I might say the envy, of the Romans, by the neatness of 
 the workmanship. It is curious to observe how greatly the most savage nations 
 excel in this kind of rush-work. Vaillant speaks highly of some baskets which 
 he found among the people of Caffraria ; and our navigators have brought 
 from the new-discovered isles, specimens of art in this branch, which our ex- 
 pertcst basket-makers would strive in vain to equal. It is some little compli- 
 ment to our forefathers, that their conquerors adopted the name with the 
 article. Bascaurfa is .Tuvenal's term: — making allowance for the Roman or- 
 thography, here is a word which has continued perhaps unchanged in sound, 
 for more than two thousand veai s.
 
 S96 SATIRE XII. JUVENAL, v. 61— G^^ 
 
 A huge two-handed goblet, which might strain 
 A Pholus, or a Fuscus' wife, to drain ; 
 
 Ver. 62. A Pholus, or a Fttscus' wife, S)X.'] Pholus was an honest, free- 
 hearted Centaur; a little given to drink, it must be confessed, but not more 
 so than his company; since it appears that his guest drained the goblet, as 
 well as himself: 
 
 riiin/ £'ZB-»(rj^OjU.£v^, TO pa, 01 zs-ccpe^rixe OoA©^ )t£pa(r«5 . 
 Adod, as Mungo says, 'twas a tamper ! 
 
 " Fuscus' wife," indeed, might have tossed off such a vessel; for the Roman 
 writers take frequent notice of the immoderate love of the women for wine; 
 see p. 317. Not to multiply instances, I shall content myself with a passage 
 from Plautus. It is very humorous, and so ardent withall, thai I doubt 
 whether the most brain-sick lover ever poured out such genuine strains of 
 rapture to his goddess, as the bibulous old lady before us, lavishes on her darling 
 liquor : 
 
 " Flos veteris vini meis naribus objectus est. 
 
 " Ejus amor cupidam me hue prolicit per tenebras : 
 
 " Ubi, ubi est? prope me est. Evax! habeo. Salve auime mi, 
 
 " Liberi lepos; ut veteris vetusti cupida sum ! 
 
 "■ Nam omnium unguenlum odor pra; tuo, nautea est. 
 
 "■ Tu mihi stacte, tu cinnamomum, tu rosa, 
 
 " Tu crocinum et casia es, tu bdellium : nam ubi 
 
 " Tu profusus, ibi ego mc pervcliin sepullam! Curciil, A. i. S. ii. 
 Thornton's version of this passage does it so little justice, that I have ventured 
 to translate it anew : 
 
 Huh ! huh ! the flower, the sweet flower of old wine. 
 
 Salutes my no>trils; and my passion for it. 
 
 Hurries me, darkling, hhher: where, O where. 
 
 Is the dear object r sure 'tis near. — Ye gods ! 
 
 Ye gracious gods! I have't. Soul of my soul ! 
 
 Life of my Bacchus! how I doat upon 
 
 Thy ripe old age ! the fragrance of all spices.
 
 SATIRE XII. JUVENAL. V. 6'3 — 73. 397 
 
 Follow'd by numerous dishes, lieaps of plate, 
 Plain, and enchas'd, which serv'd, of ancient date, 
 The wily chapman of the Olynthian state. 
 But shew me yet another, who has sense 
 And spirit to redeem, at this expense. 
 His menac'd days. You cannot : none conceive, 
 Wealth now to life subservient ; but believe 
 E'en life the slave, the abject slave, design'd 
 Of wealth; — so gross is avarice, and so blind! 
 
 Now had the deep devour'd their dearest store. 
 Nor seems their safety nearer than before : — 
 
 Is puddic, fillii, to thine. Thou, thou, to me. 
 Art roses, saffron, spikenard, cinnamon. 
 Frankincense, oil of myrrh! where thou art found. 
 There would I live and die, and there be buried I 
 
 Veu. 65. The wilif chapman, S^c.'] This was Pliilip of Maccdon, who is said, 
 by Demosthenes, to have persuaded the governor of Olynlluis, (a strong town 
 at the foot of Mount Athos,) to deliver it up to liim for a bribe. It is not 
 necessary to understand Juvenal literally, it is suflicicnt that the plate thrown 
 over-board by Catullus was extremely valuable: and yet, if we consider how 
 very earnest the Romans were to get into their possession every thing rich, or 
 rare, that Greece afforded; it will not appear very improbable that Catullus 
 should really have in his possession dishes. See. which once belonged to the 
 Macedonian king. 
 
 Veu. (j(j. Bui shew me yet another, <?)T.] This is a very strange passage, to 
 say no worse of it. Bcntley observes, in his notes on Horace, that tiie two 
 last lines, noit propter vitam, &c. arc the insertion of some meddling copyist. 
 The poetry indeed is wretched enough, but the sense of them is full as good as 
 that of the two preceding ones, to which he docs not object. I wish I had the 
 least authority for omitting the whole ; but I see the old scholiast had it in his 
 ropy.
 
 398 SATIRE XII. JUVENAL, v. 74—91. 
 
 The last resource alone was unexplor'd — 
 
 To cut the mast and rigging by the board ; 
 
 Haply the vessel so might steadier ride 
 
 O'er the vex'd surface of the raging tide. 
 
 Dire threats th' impending blow, when, thus distrest, 
 
 We sacrifice a part to save the rest. 
 
 Go now, fond man, the faithless ocean brave. 
 
 Commit thy fortunes to the wind and wave ; 
 
 Trust to a plank, and draw precarious breath, 
 
 At most seven inches from the jaws of death! 
 
 Go ; but forget not, with thy wine and cake, 
 
 The needful axe against a storm to take. 
 
 But now the winds were hush'd ; the wearied main 
 Was sunk to rest, a calm unruffled plain; 
 For fate, superior to the tempest's power. 
 Averted from my friend the mortal hour; 
 A whiter thread the chearful Sisters spun, 
 And lo ! with favouring hands their spindles run. 
 
 Ver. 83. At most, seven inches, ^c] Ritterhusius strcDuously maintains that 
 Juvenal look tliis from the Sc^'thian Anacharsis ! The thought, however, does 
 uot seem to surpass the acknowledged extent of our author's own powers; 
 and, such as it is, prohahly occurred to the first poor savage who crossed a 
 brook on a log. 
 
 There is a passage in one of Seneca's letters, that pleases me much better 
 than this modicum of wisdom, which, to say the truth, the poets had worn 
 thread-bare long before our author picked it up. Erras, si navigationetantum 
 existimas minimum esse, quo a morie vita diducilur ; in omid loco tcque teaue 
 intervallum est.
 
 SATIRE xii, JUVENAL. V. 92—102. 399 
 
 Mild as the breeze of eve, a rising gale 
 Rippled the wave, and fill'd their only sail ; 
 Others the crew supplied of garments join'd, 
 And spread to catch each vagrant breath of wind ; 
 By aids like these, slow o'er the deep impell'd, 
 The shatter'd bark her course for Ostia held; 
 While the glad sun uprose, supremely bright, 
 And hope return'd with the returning light. 
 
 At length the mount where, from Lavinum mov'd, 
 liilus built the city which he lov'd, 
 Burst on the view ; (auspicious heights ! Avhose name, 
 From a white sow and thirty sucklings came.) 
 
 Ver. 103. From a zehite sow, ^c] See p. 183. The lines which follow, 
 contain a description of the Mole and port of Ostia, at the mouth of the Tiber. 
 Addison, who visited the ruins,* says they gave him no idea of the original 
 plan: it was, however, a very magnificent one. This gentleman has an en- 
 graving from a medal struck by Nero, which, according to him, represents the 
 port as it formerly stood, and " agrees wonderfully with the description before 
 us." Ital. Trav. 174. I sec no such agreement. The Pharos of Juvenal is, in 
 the print, a colossal statue : this Mr. Addison, whose reading, I fancy, was 
 not very extensive, thinks to be correct. If he had looked into Dio,who is sut- 
 ficiently explicit on the subject ; or indeed into Suetonius, who agrees with 
 him in almost every particular, he would have found his error. Portiim Ostue 
 cxtruxit, circtimducto dcitru si/iistraqiie brucldo, et ad iiitroilum prof undo jam 
 
 * My curiosity led me also to Ostia, and I walked between the piers, now 
 covered with grass. The land has gained much on the west as well as the east 
 const of Italy ; the bottom of the old harbour, on which you now walk, is tiiere- 
 fore much raised : yet the arms are still so high above it, as to intercept the 
 view of the adjoining country. Tlie extremities of tiie old arms towards llie 
 sea must iiave fallen in; for, in their present state, they are i)ut short, and u 
 sandy coasi stretches out far beyond them.
 
 400 SATIRE XII. JUVENAL. V. 104—115- 
 
 And now, the port they gain ; tlic tower, whose ray 
 
 Guides the poor wand'rer o'er the watery way, 
 
 And the huge mole, whose arms a sea embrace, 
 
 And stretching, an immeasurable space. 
 
 Far into Ocean's bosom, leave the coast. 
 
 Till, in the distance, Italy is lost! 
 
 Less wonderful the bays which Nature forms, 
 
 And less secure against assailins; storms. 
 
 Here rides the wave- worn bark, devoid of fear; 
 
 For Baian skiffs might ply with safety here. 
 
 The joyful crew, with shaven crowns, relate 
 
 Their timely rescue from the jaws of fiite ; 
 
 solo mole ohjecta ; quam quo stahiliusfundaret, iiavem ante demersit, qua magnus 
 obcliscus ex JEgx/pto fuerut advectus, congesthque pilis superposuit altiasimani 
 turrim in exemplum Akxandrini Phari, nt ad nocturnos igiies cursum navigia 
 diriserent. Claud. 20. 
 
 Dio gives a verj' rational account of the motives which induced Claudius to 
 execute this stupendous work ; which seems to have been highl}' necessary for 
 insuring the regular supply of Rome, 
 
 Veu. 114. Tltejoijful crezc, with shaven crozrm, tSc] It was anciently sup- 
 posed that the gods would accept hfe for life ; in other words, that the voluntary 
 devotement of one person, would preserve another from the fate which hung 
 over him : for it should be observed, that absolute forgiveness was never deemed 
 an attribute of the heathen divinities. 
 
 As the world grew older it grew more foolish : the gods, it was now imagined, 
 might be shuffled off with somewhat less than full payment; and this per- 
 suasion gave rise to a thousand absurdities, such as the maiming and wounding 
 still practised in barbarous countries, the sacrifice of some personal beauty, the 
 vowing of hecatombs, and I know not what. The hair was a " personal 
 beauty :" it was cherished with uncommon care and aflcction, and therefore 
 not thought unworthy to bo tendered in a calamity like this, as a kind of vicarial
 
 SATIRE XII. JUVENAL. V. 116—136. 401 
 
 On every ill a pomp of words bestow, 
 And dwell delighted on the tale of woe. 
 
 Go then, my boys ; but let no boding strain 
 The sacred silence of your rites profane — 
 With meal the knives, with wreaths the temples grace, 
 And round the living turf your fillets place : 
 That done. III speed, myself, your toil to share, 
 And finish what remains, with pious care. 
 Then, hastening home, where chaplets of sweet flow'rs 
 Bedeck my Lares, dear domestic powers ! 
 I'll offer incense there, and at the shrine 
 Of highest Jove, my father's god, and mine; 
 There will I scatter every sweet that blows, 
 And every tint the various violet knows. 
 All savours here of joy : luxuriant bay 
 O'ershades my porta., and the taper's ray 
 Anticipates the feast, and chides the tardy day. 
 
 Nor think, Corvinus, interest fires my breast: 
 Catullus, for whose sake my house is drest, 
 Has three sweet boys, who all such hopes destroy, 
 And nobler views excite my boundless joy. 
 
 oftering for life. This I believe to be the true history of these vows; for 
 as to what the critics, and Holyday amongst the number, say that they 
 alluded to the manner of manumitting the slave, by shaving his head, to 
 shew he " had escaped the tempest of servitude." I hold it little better than 
 trifling. 
 
 Ver. 131. the tapers ray, &;c.\ " It seems extraordinary," says 
 
 my learned friend Mr. Drummond, " that Persius should sneer at the Jews 
 
 3F 
 
 I
 
 402 SATIRE XII. JUVENAL. V. 137—144. 
 
 Yet who besides, on such a barren friend, 
 
 Would waste a pining chicken? Who would spend 
 
 So vast a treasure where no hopes prevail, 
 
 Or for a father sacrifice a quail ? 
 
 But should the symptoms of a slight disease, 
 
 The childless Paccius, or Gallita seize, 
 
 Legions of flatterers to the fanes repair, 
 
 And hang, in rows, their votive tablets there. 
 
 for lighting lamps at their festivals, as a similar practice was common to the 
 Romans. Even upon occasions of domestic rejoicing, the doors of the house 
 were hung with laurels, and illuminated with lamps. Juvenal, in a beautiful 
 Satire, thus expresses himself: 
 
 " longos erexit janua lauros 
 
 " Et matutinis operitur festa lucernis." 
 
 It appears from Tertullian, that the Christians* soon adopted this practiced 
 sed luceant, inqiiit (Christies) opera vestra. At nunc lucent taberna et janua 
 nostra : pluresjam invenies Ethnicorum fores sine lucernis quam Ckristianorum." 
 Sat. of Per. 170. 
 
 I had written a great deal on this custom, before I perceived that my note 
 was swelling to an essay; ibi omnrs, &c. Briefly, I am convinced that this 
 solemn lighting of lamps was the primal indication of idolatry; the first 
 profane ceremony which took place when men fell from woishipping the 
 Father of Light, to the adoration of the noblest material object, the sun ; of 
 which those artificial fires were the most obvious symbol. The institution itself, 
 that of the Festival of Lamps, shows the universality of this specious wor- 
 ship; as it would not be easy to point out a region, in which it has not, at 
 
 * But who were tlrose Christians ? Men converted from Paganism. They did 
 not, as the note seems to suppose, " adopt this practice;" but, after they 
 became followers of the Gospel, continued tlie ancient customs of their 
 Heathenism. The great struggle of the fathers was to induce the converts to 
 abandon those ceremonies, which for some ages were carried on in conjunction 
 with the new profession of Christianity. 
 
 i
 
 SATIRE XII. JUVENAL. V. 145—166 403 
 
 Nay, some with vows of hecatombs will come — 
 
 For yet no elephants are sold at Rome ; 
 
 The breed, to Latium and to us unknown, 
 
 Is only found beneath the burning zone : 
 
 Thence to our shores, by swarthy Moors convey'd, 
 
 They roam at large through the Rutulian shade, 
 
 Kept for the imperial pleasure, envied fate ! 
 
 And sacred from the subject, and the state: 
 
 Though their progenitors, in days of yore. 
 
 Did worthy service, and to battle bore 
 
 Whole cohorts ; taught the general's voice to know, 
 
 And rush, themselves an army, on the foe. 
 
 But what avails their worth! could gold obtain 
 
 So rare a creature, worth might plead in vain. 
 
 Novius, without delay, their blood would shed, 
 
 To raise his Paccius from affliction's bed ; 
 
 An offering sacred to the great design. 
 
 And worthy of the votaries, and the shrine ! 
 
 Pacuvius, did our laws the crime allow. 
 
 The fairest of his numerous slaves would vow ; 
 
 The blooming boy, the love-inspiring maid. 
 
 With garlands crown, and to the temple lead; 
 
 one period or other, prevailed. It extends even now (though the origin and 
 object of it have been forgotten for ages,) over more than half the habitable 
 globe. 
 
 The transition of this illumination, from a mark of veneration to a simple 
 type of joy and festivity, is neither singular, nor difticult to explain ; but 1 
 must have done with the subject.
 
 404 SATIRE xn. JUVENAL, v. 167— 184. 
 
 Nay, seize his Iphigene, prepar'd to wed, 
 And drag her to the altar from tiie bed, 
 Though hopeless, like the Grecian prince, to find, 
 In happy hour, the substituted hind. 
 
 And who shall say my countryman does ill? 
 A thousand ships are trifling to a Will ! 
 For Paccius, should the fates his health restore. 
 May cancel every item fram'd before, 
 (Won by his friend's vast merits, and beset. 
 On all sides, by the inextricable net,) 
 And in one line convey plate, jewels, gold. 
 Lands, every thing to him, " to have and hold." 
 With victory crown'd Pacuvius struts along. 
 And smiles contemptuous on the baffled throng. 
 Then counts his gains, and deems himself o'er paid, 
 For the cheap murder of one wretched maid. 
 
 Health to the man ! and may he thus get more 
 Than Nero plunder'd ; heap his shining ore 
 
 Ver. 167. iVcy seize his Iphigene, ^c] Of this trite fact, the Enghsh reader, to 
 save the trouble of turning to his school-books, may take the following account 
 from Holyday. " The Grecians having killed a hind consecrated to Diana, 
 were by the offended goddess a long time detained at the haven of Aulis with 
 a contrary wind. Whereupon consulting the Oracle, and being told that, to 
 pacific the goddess, they must sacrifice Aganiem'non's daughter, Iphigenia; 
 her parents, by the deceit or eloquence of Ulysses, were persuaded to consent 
 that she should be sacrificed. But when the time came, Diana conveyed her 
 away unto the Tauric Chersonese ; placing in her stead a hind for a ready 
 sacrifice."
 
 SATIRE xn. JUVENAL, v, 1S5 — 186. 405 
 
 High, mountain high : in years a Nestor prove, 
 And, loving none, ne'er know another's love ! 
 
 Ver. 184. Than Nero plunder'd ; <Sfe.] The rapacity of tliis tyrant (see p. 
 324,) was proverbial. The sums he extorted from the provinces under various 
 pretences exceed all belief, and almost all arithmetic. He gave no office, 
 says Suetonius, without the addition of this special charge : scis quidmihi opus 
 sit ; et hoc agamus, ne qiiis quicquam habeat. You know what I want ; let us 
 manage in such a manner, that nobody else may have any thing.
 
 SATIRE XIII. 
 
 311rgiimcitt. 
 
 GalvinuS (at setting out on a journey, we may suppose) had left a 
 sum of money in the liands of a confidential person : no uncommon thing 
 in those dajs, nhen there were no public banks. This person, when he 
 came to redemand it, forswore the deposit. The indigtialion and furjr 
 expressed by Calvinus at this breach of trust, seem to have reached the 
 ears of his friend Juvenal, iyIio endeavours to soothe and comfort him 
 under his loss. 
 
 Such is the simple foundation on which the beautiful structure before 
 us is raised .' It is needless to analyse it, for the different topics of con- 
 solation and advice follow one another so naturally, that it would only 
 be to recapitulate in less forcible language n'hat is already rendeicd, loo 
 clear for doubt, and too intelligible for illustration. 
 
 Juvenal is here almost a Christian. I saf almost : for though his 
 ignorance of " that light which was come into the world," did not enable 
 him to number among the dreadful consequences of impenitent guilt, the 
 certain punishment of the life to come ; yet on every other topic that can 
 alarm or terrijy the sinner, lie is energetic and uufnl bejond example. 
 Perhaps the horrors of a troubled conscience were never depicted with 
 such impressive solemnity as in this Satire. 
 
 Bishop Burnet recommended thi Tenth Satire to his Clergy, in his 
 Paitoral Tetters ; the present would have been more to his purpose. It 
 is not, indeed, so poetic, so fervid, so majestical as that ; but, on the other 
 hand, it enters more into the common business oj life. All cannot be 
 statesmen and kings ; but all may be injured by treachery, and all 
 have need to be reminded, that guilt sometimes finds its punishment on this 
 side the grave.'
 
 SATIRE XIII. 
 
 TO CALVINUS. 
 
 V. 1— C. 
 
 jViAN, wretched man, whene'er he stoops to sin, 
 
 Feels, with the act, a strong remorse within; 
 
 'Tis the first vengeance: Conscience tries the cause, 
 
 And vindicates the violated laws ; 
 
 Though the brib'd Praetor at their judgment spurn, 
 
 And falsify the verdict of the Urn. 
 
 Ver. 5. Though the brib'd Prator, (fjc] This can only be understood by 
 a reference to the judicial forms of the Romans. In criminal causes, the 
 Praetor Urbanus, who sat as chief judge, put into an urn the names of his as- 
 sessors, (a kind of jurymen, who, to the amount of some hundreds, were annually 
 chosen for this purpose,) from which he drew out the number prescribed by 
 law, usually about fifty, who sat by him at the trial. When the pleadings were 
 over, they retired, and deliberated on what had passed. On their return, they 
 had each three waxen tablets put into their hands, one of which was marked 
 with the letter C. for condemno, guilty; anotlicr with the letter A. for absolvo, 
 not guilty; and the third with the letters N. L. for non liquet, I am doubtful. 
 One of these tablets each person dropt privately into the urn, whicli was then 
 brought to the Prajtor, who took them out, and pronounced sentence according 
 to tlie decision of the majority. 
 
 In this last transaction, a perverse or corrupt judge had an opportunity of 
 juggling, which the history of those times proves he did not always let slip. It 
 is to tliis Juvenal alludes. 
 
 3 G
 
 410 sATiuK xui. JUVENAL. V. 7—20. 
 
 What says the world, not always, hiend, unjust, 
 Of this late injury, this breach of trust? 
 I'hat thy estate so small a loss can bear, 
 And tiiiit the evil, now no longer rare, 
 ' Is one of that inevitable set, 
 Which man is born to suffer and foro;et. 
 Then moderate thy grief; 'tis mean to show 
 An anguish, disproportion^ to the blow. 
 But thouj so new to crosses, as to feel 
 The slightest portion of the slightest ill, 
 Tremblest with rage, because a friend forswears 
 The sacred pledge entrusted to his cares. — 
 What, thou, Calvinus, bear so weak a mind, 
 Thou, who hast left full three-score years behind? 
 
 Ver. 7. JVkat soj/s the world, «5|C.] Quid sentire pittas, <^f. I understand 
 ihis passage differently from all the translators: they suppose it alludes to the 
 general indignation of the people at the fraud practised on Calvinus ; thus 
 Creech, 
 
 "■ public hate 
 
 " Pursues the cheat, and proves the villains fate ;" 
 misled, perhaps, by the sed, which immediately follows; but sed is not always 
 a disjunclive ; in this place, for example, I take it to be rather an intensive con- 
 junctive, if the expression may be allowed ; they not only say what is usually 
 said on such occasions, hut they add, that thy estate, &c. 
 
 Juvenal surely could not mean to produce one of his strongest arguments 
 in the outset: he proceeds on a different plan, and, before he enters on the 
 guilt of the offender, endeavours to moderate the passionate transports of his 
 friend. For the rest; he seems almost to have translated Menander in the 
 latter part of this paragraph :
 
 SATIRE XIII. JUVENAL. V. ^'1— 1-'. 411 
 
 Heavens ! have tliey taught thee nothing, nothing, hiend; 
 And art thou grown gray-headed to no end ? 
 
 Wisdom, I know, contains a powerful charm, 
 To vanquish fortune, or, at least, disarm : 
 Yet happy they who, wise without the rules, 
 Without the studied maxims of the schools, 
 Have learn'd, by old experience, to submit, 
 And lightly bear the yoke they cannot quit. 
 
 What day so sacred, which no guilt profanes, 
 No fraud, no rapine, nor no murder stains? 
 What hour, in which no dark assassins prowl, 
 Nor point the sword for hire, nor drug the bowl ? 
 And why? the good are fewI " the valued hie," 
 In number, scarce exceeds the mouths of Nile. 
 For NOW an age is come, that teems with crimes, 
 Beyond all precedent of former times ; 
 An age so bad, that Nature cannot frame 
 A metal base enough to give it name. 
 Yet thou, indignant at a paltry cheat, 
 Call'st heaven and earth to witness the deceit. 
 With cries as deaf'ning as the shout that breaks 
 From the brib'd audience, when Faesidius speaks. 
 
 Ver- 33. The good are few ! &c.] Lucian expatiates with much plea- 
 santry on this scarcity of virtuous characters. He calls a good man XP^i*x 
 i-j(rvjptTOv, and, as he sarcastically adds, irpo -iroXXi iiiXcXctTr^ ix. m Cia* oirc^ aS' i 
 AuyxEU? «v t^iupoi pa(5'iaj, afAxvpov aru x«i juixfoi/ ov. 
 
 Ver. 41. thesfwuts that breaks 
 
 From the brib'd audience when Fasidius /qu-alcs.'] I know nothing 
 of this oi-alor, this Fajsidius, who is attacked with a stroke of oblique satire, for 
 purchasing such vilicmeut applause by bribes. The practice, however, was
 
 412 SATIRE XIII. JUVENAL, v. 43— 56. 
 
 Gray-headed infant ! art thou to be told 
 What loves, what graces, deck another's gold? 
 Art thou to learn, to what loud bursts of mirth, 
 Thy primitive simplicity gives birth; 
 When thou stepp'st forth, and with a serious air, 
 Forwarn'st the crowd from perjury to forbear; 
 Requir'st them to believe in things divine, 
 And that a god inhabits every shrine? 
 
 Idle old man ! there was, indeed, a time, 
 When the rude natives of this happy clime 
 Cherish'd such dreams: 'twas ere the king of heaven, 
 To change his sceptre for a scythe was driven ; 
 Ere Juno yet the sweets of love had tried. 
 Or Jove advanc'd beyond the caves of Ide : 
 
 neither new nor singular, though il was undoubtedly carried to an unusual 
 height in our author's time. I have already estimated the dole (p. 21,) at 
 about twenty-pence of our money; and this appears to be the customary fee 
 for a morning's shouting : for Pliny writes, that two of his servants were seduced 
 away from him, to shout for that sum : — but the whole passage is so apposite 
 to the line before us, and presents so curious a picture of the practice alluded 
 to, that I shall give it entire. Nunc refraciis pudoris el reverentice claustris, 
 omnia patent omnibus. Ncc inducuntur sed irrumpunt, Sequuntur auditores 
 actcribus similis, conduct i ct redempti mancipes : convenitur in media basilica, 
 ubi tarn palam sportula; quani in triclinia dautur. Ileri duo nomenclatores mei 
 (Jiabcitt sane (Ztatcm eorum qui nuper togas sumpscruut) ternis denariis ad lau- 
 damlum trakebantur ; ta/tti constat, ut sis disertissimus ! Lib. ii. Ep. xiv. 
 
 Ver. 54. To change his sceptre, Sfc.'] Orig. his diadem, i. e- says Causaubon, 
 fascia Candida, a white fillet. I think it is Died. Siculus, who tells us that 
 Bacchus invented the diadem for the cure of the head-ach: I hope he found 
 it answer. Very few of those who have tried it since liis time, I believe, have 
 experienced much relief from it.
 
 SATIRE XIII, JUVENAL. V. 57— 72. 41:-) 
 
 'Twas when no gods iiidulg'd in sumptuous feasts. 
 
 No Ganimede, no Hebe, serv'd the guests ; 
 
 No Vulcan, with his sooty labours foul, 
 
 Limp'd round, officious, with the nectar'd bowl ; 
 
 But each in private din'd : 'twas when the throng 
 
 Of godlings (now beyond the scope of song) 
 
 Burden'd the courts of heaven with swarms less great, 
 
 And press'd poor Atlas with a lighter weight. 
 
 Ere Neptune's lot the watry world obtain'd, 
 
 Ere Dis and his Sicilian consort reigu'd : 
 
 Ere Tityus and his ravening bird were known, 
 
 Ixion's wheel, or Sisyphus's stone : 
 
 While yet the shades confess'd no tyrant's power,. 
 
 And all below was one Elysian bower ! 
 
 Vice was a phoenix in tliat blissful time, 
 Believ'd, but never seen; and 'twas a crime, 
 
 Veu. Gl. 'twas tijhen the throng 
 
 Uf godlings, <^c-.] Tliecoiumcntators observe, that Juvenal sneers 
 ill this place, at the monstrous polytheism of the Romans. Of this there can 
 be no doubt; and, indeed, he seldom misses an opportunity of so doing: here 
 however, he had a farther and more important end in view; for his Satire is 
 directly levelled at the frequent apotheoses of the Caesars, in which the base 
 and abject herd of Rome contentedly acquiesced. 
 
 The deifying of such characters, and of a multitude of imaginary beings 
 little less odious and contemptible, is alleged by implication, as the prime 
 cause of the increased depravity of the times. To have spoken plainer would 
 have been unsafe; to have left the subject untoiichedj unlike our author: I 
 believe, indeed, he did not escape with impunity even for this; for it was 
 written when Alias was more " pressed" than ever.
 
 tl4 SATIRE xni. JUVENAL, v. 73— 76. 
 
 Worthy of death, (such awe did years engage,) 
 If manhood rose not up to reverend age, 
 And youth to manhood; though a larger hoard 
 Of hips and acorns grac'd the stripHng's board, 
 
 Ver. 74. If manhood rose not up to reverend age, <^c.] All profane and 
 sacred history supports Juvenal in his assertion respecting the reverence 
 anciently paid to old age. It was synonymous with power : it continued so, 
 while men led a pastoral life ; nor did they know any other judge or leader 
 than the aged, till a thirst for rapine spread amongst them, and wisdom and 
 justice were compelled to give way to activity, strength, and brutal ferocity. 
 
 Solomon, by a beautiful figure, calls a virtuous old age " a crown of dignit}':" 
 and even so early as the days of Moses, we find this attention to age the sub- 
 ject of a positive command. " Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and 
 honour the face of an old man." Levit. xix. v, 32. 
 
 I am much pleased with the following fragment of Tyrtajus : 
 r«£a(rxwi< S' ocfoto'i fAnxupezrci, sh tjj x\jIoii 
 
 Hxvtk; S' iv S'uKcicrtv ofAu^ viot nSi xo]' auTo> 
 Eixstr' £X )(topii\i 5 oirt zixXcctoripoi. 
 Nor less with this of Phocylides : 
 
 AiSiiiy^ui TsoXiox.poTX(piii, hv-wj Si yifmo'iv 
 EJpjij ycon yepxtau zruuluiu' ytviYi S" a.rxXxvrov 
 
 Tlpi(T^\JV 0[/.nXlXX TJXTp©' KTClti TljtACtKTJ yspOCipi. 
 
 And even among our author's countrymen, long after the golden period of 
 M-hich he speaks, age was no less venerated, than venerable. Tims Ovid : 
 " Turn senior juvenum, non indignantibus ipsis, 
 
 " Ibat, et interior si comes unus erat. 
 " Verba quis auderet coram sene digna rubore 
 
 " Dicere ? censuram longa senecta dabat." Fast. lib. v. 
 
 Among our poets, I know not where to find a more beautiful passage on the 
 subject than this, which is evidently taken from the text : 
 
 " Colax. It is an impious age. There was a timcy 
 " And pity 'tis so good a time had wings 
 " To fly awaj', when reverence was paid
 
 SATIRK XIII. JUVENAL. V. 77— 86. 415 
 
 Then, then, was age so venerable thought, 
 That every clay increase of honour brought ; 
 And children, in the springing down, rever'd 
 The sacred promise of a hoary beard. 
 Now, if a friend, miraculously just, 
 Restore the entrusted coin, with all its rust, 
 'Tis deem'd a portent, worthy to appear 
 Amongst the wonders of the calendar ; 
 A prodigy of faith, which threats the state, 
 And a ewe-Iamb alone can expiate ! — 
 
 " To the gray head : 'twas held a sacrilege 
 
 " Not expiable, lo deny respect 
 
 " To one ofyears and gravity." Muse^ Looking Glass. 
 
 1 cannot coiichide tliis note, long as it already is, without the following ap- 
 posite passage from Ben Jonson : 
 
 " Knowell. When I was yoting, he lived not in the stews, 
 
 " Durst have conceiv'd a scorn, and utter'd it 
 
 " On a grey head : age was authority 
 
 "■ Against a giber, and a man had then, 
 
 " A certain reverence paid unto his years, 
 
 " That had none dne unto his life : so much 
 
 " The sanctity of some prevail'd for others. 
 
 " But now they all arc fallen; youth from their fear, 
 
 " And age from that which bred it, good example." 
 Thai slrain I heard teas of a higher mood : this is, indeed, what Dryden calls 
 " invading the ancients like a monarch :" it is not a theft, but a victory. 
 
 Ver. 84. Amongst the rconders of the calendar;'] Thiiscis digna libcllif. 
 These books, in which, amongst other things, all the marvellous events of the 
 years were treasured up, seem to have been something like our almanacks. 
 They arc called Tuscan, either because they were still compiled by people 
 from that country, or because the old Komans, a race equally ignorant and 
 credulous, first learnt from them the juggling arts of soothsaying and divination.
 
 41G sATiuE XIII. JUVENAL, v. 87—94. 
 
 If such a man I see, of ancient worth, 
 
 I straight compare him to a monstrous birth, 
 
 To pregnant mules, to fish, now found in air. 
 
 And now upturn'd beneath the wond'ring share : 
 
 Anxious and trembling for the woe to come, 
 
 As if a "shower of stones had flill'n on Rome ; 
 
 As if a swarm of bees, together clung, 
 
 Down from the Capitol, thick-clustering, hung; 
 
 Vee. 90. the wond'ring share :'\ " Henninius," says Doctor 
 
 Jortin, " has given in the text mirandis," Lubin says we nuist read mi rant is, 
 iiot miranti, Gataker conjectures, (God knows why,) liranti. These honest 
 men were all disposed to feed upon acorns ; while other copies had miranti, 
 which was very well explained by Britannicus, sub arato miranti, ut rei inanima 
 dederit scnsum. Miranti arato is just such anotlier expression as iratro sistro, 
 esuriens ramus oUvtz, S;c. 
 
 Ver, 93. ^s if a sTcarm of bees, ^c] This is said by Tacitus to have really 
 happened inthereiga of Claudius. (Ann.lib. xii. 64.) But the Roman history 
 is full of such prodigies. The soothsayers alwa3's considered it as portentous 
 of calamity; and it is pleasant to see with what grave arguments tlie elder 
 Pliny refutes their errors. Apes ostenta faciunl, (he believed they were 
 oxa'xnons) privata et publica : itva dependente in domibus templisve, sccph expiata 
 magnis eventibus. Sedere in ore infantis Platonis, tunc etiam suavitatem illam 
 prccdulcis eloquii portendentes. Sedere in castris Drusi Imp. cum prosperiml 
 pugnatumapud Jrbalonemest ; haudquaquam Ilaruspiciim coiijcctura,qui dirum 
 id ostentum cxistimant. Lib. xi. 17. 
 
 If we wish to know why the swarming of bees should be so alarming, Slar- 
 cellinus will inform us. In domo Barbationis examen apes fccire perspicuum : 
 supcrque hoc ei prodigiorwn gnaros consulenti, discrimen magnum portcndi re- 
 iponsum est, conjectura scil. tali, quod ha volucres post composilas sedcs, opcsque 
 congcstas,fumo pelluntur et turbulento sonitu cymbalorum ! Lib. xvni, 3. 
 
 Nothing can be clearer! it may, however, be worth while to add, for the 
 sake of tlie credulous, that Barbatio and his family fell sacrifices to the accident, 
 which their simplicity alone erected into a prodigy.
 
 SATIRE XIII. JUVENAL. V. 95— 11(3. 417 
 
 Or Tiber, swoll'n to madness, burst away, 
 And roH'd a milky deluge to the sea. 
 
 And dost thou at a trivial loss repine ! 
 What if" another, by a friend like thine, 
 Has lost ten times as much ? another yet, 
 Twice, three times that, perhaps his whole estate — 
 For 'tis so common, in this age of frauds. 
 And costs so little to contemn the gods, 
 That, can we but elude man's searching eyes. 
 We laugh to scorn the witness of the skies. 
 Mark, with how bold a voice, how fix'd a brow, 
 The villain dares his treachery disavow ! 
 " By the all-hallow'd flame that lights the skies, 
 " By Jove's own bolts, I had it not," he cries, 
 " By the wing'd shaft that laid the Centaur low, 
 *' By Dian's arrows, by Apollo's bow, 
 '* By the dread lance that Mars delights to rear, 
 " By Neptune's trident, by Minerva's spear, 
 " By all, the Armories of heaven, contain — 
 *' Nay, ir I had — proceeds the impious strain, 
 " I'll sacrifice my only son, though dear, 
 " And eat him sous'd in Pharian vinegar." 
 
 Ver. 97. And dost thou at a trivial loss repine!] The sum of which Cal- 
 vinus had been defrauded, and about which he makes such a clamour, was 
 only ten thousand sesterces; about eigiity pounds sterling ! Lei us hope (for 
 his credit) that the crime of violated friendship afflicted liim more deeply than 
 the loss of his money. 
 
 3H
 
 418 SATIRE xui. JUVENAL, v. 117— 128. 
 
 There are, who tliink that chance is all in all, 
 That no first cause directs th' eternal ball : 
 But that brute Nature, in her blind career, 
 Varies the seasons, and brings round the year: 
 These rush to every shrine with equal ease. 
 And, owning none, swear by what Power you please. 
 
 Others believe, and but believe, a god. 
 And think that punishment may Follow fraud; 
 Yet these forswear; and, reasoning on the deed, 
 Thus reconcile their actions to their creed : 
 " Let Isis storm, if to revenge inclin'd, 
 " And with her angry sistrum strike me blind, 
 
 Ver. 117. There are who think, ^c] The old scholiast has a veiy just ob- 
 servation on this passage. Dicit qiiam ob caiisam homines perjurint, cum dicant 
 quod non diis agimur, sed fort una casibus. Quid ergo dii nocebunt la:u, si 
 fortuna disjjonente vita hominum rcgitur'^ 
 
 It would be wellj methinks, if the dreamers on virtuous communities of 
 atheists, would seriously meditate on such passages as these. I should pay 
 the most moral unbeliever of the present day, no small compliment, I fancy, 
 if I allowed him to rank with Juvenal in virtue: yet Juvenal could see that 
 this was insufficient to controul the vicious propensities of mankind; which 
 can only be held in order by the solemn conviction that there is an eye 
 which marks their ways; an overseer who, in the sublime language of Calli- 
 machus, is seated^ 
 
 A>£(>»)? cv TtloXiiirtui/, fisroij/i^ ol re Jixw* 
 Axov usro OTcoXit}?, ol r CjUra'aAw iSui/xcriu. 
 Ver. 127. Let Isis storm, if to revenge inclind, 
 
 And with her angry siUrum strike me blind,'] There is a pro- 
 priety in this punishment, which has escaped the notice of the commeutators. 
 Blindness is a disease more frequent in Kgypt than elsewhere: its infliction.
 
 SATIRE XIII, JUVENAL. V. 129—130. 419 
 
 '• So, with my eyes, she ravish not my ore, 
 " But let me keep the pledge which I forswore, 
 " Are putrid sores, phtiiisic that no one kills, 
 " And crippled limbs, forsooth, such mighty ills ! 
 *' Ladas, for a rich pair of gouty shanks, 
 " ^f not stark mad, would give his legs, with thanks; 
 " For what do these procure him? mere renowuj 
 " And the starv'd honour of an olive crown. 
 
 therefore, is rightly assigned to an Egyptian deity. Travellers still speak with 
 astonishment of the numerous hospitals for the blind, to be found in every 
 part of that country. The evil is probably occasioned in great measure, by 
 the nitrous quality' of their air, and by those dreadful typhous or whirlwinds, 
 ■which sweep before them an impalpable sand, so hot that it pierces the laciiry- 
 mal gland like a flake of flying fire. And, indeed, when no wind prevails, if 
 the eye be extended over the smooth and arid plains which lie at a certain 
 distance from the Nile, while the sun is at any great elevation, it is constantly 
 afiected by a tremulous motion in the air, just as if it were looking at the 
 fiercest flame. 
 
 The maladies that follow, the phthisis and the vomicae putres, are also un- 
 usually prevalent in Egypt. 
 
 Ver, 133, Ladas for a rich pair, tSr.] This Ladas was a celebrated runner 
 of antiquity. Solinus thus speaks of him: priinam jjaimam vdocilatia Ladas 
 quidam adept us est, qui ita supra cavum pulverem cursitavit, ut arenis ptndcn- 
 iibus nulla indicia reliiiqueret vestigiorum. But this is not the only wonderful 
 •tory told of him. Juvenal, however, seems to have had ia view a Greek 
 epigram on a statue of this man by the celebrated Myro : 
 
 " .Such as when flying with the whirlwinds haste, 
 " In your foot's point your eager soul you plac'd, 
 " Such, Ladas, here by Myro's skill you breathe, 
 " Ardent through all your frame, for Pisa's wreath." 
 We now see where our author found his esuriciis risaec ramua olivet.
 
 420 SATIRE XIII. JUVENAL. V. 137—156, 
 
 " But grant the wrath of heaven be gieat; 'tis slow, 
 *' And clays, and months, and years, precede the blow 
 " If then, to punish all, the gods decree, 
 " When, in their vengeance, will they come to me? 
 " But I, perhaps, their anger may appease, 
 " For they are wont to pardon faults like these : , 
 
 " At worst, there's hope; for every age and clime 
 " See different fates attend the self-same crime ; 
 " Some made by villainy, and some undone, 
 " And this ascend a scaffold, that a throne." 
 
 These sophistries, to fix awhile suffice 
 Their minds, yet shuddering at the thoughts of vice: 
 And thus confirm'd, at the first word they come, 
 Nay, run before thee, to the sacred dome; 
 Chide thy slow pace, drag thee, amaz'd, along. 
 And play the raving Phasma to the throng. 
 (For impudence the vulgar suffrage draws, 
 And seems th' assurance of a righteous cause.) 
 While thou, poor wretch ! suspected by the crowd. 
 Like Stentor, or like Mars, exclaim'st aloud : 
 
 Ver. 152. And play the raving Phasma, ^c] The allusion is supposed to- 
 be to a character in the farce of that name, of which some account has been 
 already given (p. 287.) It may be, for all is conjectural here^ that the slave, 
 (Laureolus), like the perjured villains in the text, endeavoured to free himself 
 from the charge of fraud, by the most clamorous and vehement protestations 
 of innocence; — whence the expression, clamosum phasma. 
 
 Ver. 156. Like Stentor or like Mars, cxclaiin'st aloud:] In this pleasant 
 hyperbole, Juvenal indulges himself witli a good-iiumoured smile at Homer,
 
 SATIRE XIII. JUVENAL. V. 157— 172. 421 
 
 "Jove! Jove! will nought thy indignation rouze? 
 " Can'st tlioLi, in silence, hear these faithless vows ; 
 " When all thy fury, on the slaves accurst, 
 " From lips of marble, or of brass, should burst I 
 " If not, why burn we incense at thy shrine, 
 " Why heap thy altars with the fat of swine, 
 " When we might ask redress, for aught I see, 
 " As wisely of Bathyllus, as of thee!" 
 
 Rash man ! but take what med'cine I, e'en I, 
 Can to a malady like this apply; 
 1, who no knowledge of the schools possess, 
 Cynic, or Stoic, (differing but in dress,) 
 Who read not Epicurus, nor admire 
 The tranquil precepts of the frugal sire : 
 A desperate case needs able hands, but thine 
 May yield, thank heaven! to Philip's boy's, or mine. 
 
 who represents Stentor (or rather Juno under his appearance) shouting as 
 loud as fifty, and Mars as nine or ten thousand, men in tiie heat of battle, 
 
 Ver. \6s. Ci/nic, or Stoic, (differing but in dress,)} Salinasius (in Jul. Ca- 
 pitol ) says that the Cynics wore no tunic under tlieir cloak, which the Stoics 
 did. This, then, our author sarcastically remarks, was the only material dis- 
 tinction between the two sects: for as to the difference of opinion, he seems 
 to tliink it unworthy of notice! The truth of the matter is, that although he 
 every where treats the founders of the different schools with a certain portion 
 of respect, yet he had too much good sense not to see, that the frivolous and 
 idle contests of their followers, (a vagabond, disputatious, and profligate horde, 
 that swarmed at lionie about that time,) merited iiothing but couLcnipt. For 
 Epicurus, see Sat. xiv.
 
 422 SATIRE XIII. JUVENAL. V. 173—194. 
 
 If no example of such guilt be found, 
 Then rend thy hoary hair, thy bosom wound, 
 And shut thy gates, and bid thy house disclose, 
 In clamorous agony, the woe of woes; 
 Thy cause is just; — sincerer grief attends 
 The loss of money, than the loss of friends: 
 There none dissemble, none, with scenic skill, 
 Affect a sorrow which they do not feel ; 
 Content in squalid garments to appear, 
 And vex their lids for one hard-gotten tear : 
 No, genuine drops fall copious fiom their eyes, 
 And their breasts labour with unbidden sighs. 
 But when thou see'st each court of justice throng'd, 
 With crowds, like thee, by bare-fac'd treachery wrong'd, 
 See'st men invalidate their bonds, and plead 
 Against the obligations, ten times read, 
 Though their own hand and seal, in every eye 
 Flash broad conviction, and evince the lie; 
 Shalt thou alone from fortune's power be free, 
 And think the lot of all revers'd for thee? 
 And why? — -from a white hen 'twas thine to spring, 
 While we were foster'd by an unblest wing ! 
 
 Ver. 193. from a white hen, ^iC-] " Alba gallirue Jilius, Sta- 
 
 pylton says, sonne of a white hen, was a Roman proverb amounting to as much 
 as ours of, wrapt in's mother's smock." This is certainly the explanation. I 
 have looked into the commentators for the origin of so singular an expression, 
 without being able to find any thing satisfactory. Erasmus, who is sometimes 
 successful enough in his conjectures, has little to the purpose here, except the
 
 SATIRE XIII. JUVENAL, V. 195—214. 4i?3 
 
 Pause from thy grief awhile, and view the crimes 
 That stain the records of these dreadiiil times: 
 His fault will then seem venial, and, compar'd 
 With what's around thee, scarcely worth regard. 
 What's he, poor knave ! to those who rob for hire, 
 Who kindle, and then aid, the midnight fire ? 
 Say, what to those who, from the hoary shrine. 
 Tear the huge vessels age hath stamp'd divine. 
 Offerings of price, by grateful nations given, 
 And crowns inscrib'd, by pious kings, to heaven? 
 Or, impious in detail, not finding these, 
 Who scrape the gilded thighs of Hercules, 
 Strip Neptune of his silver beard, and peel 
 The plate of Leda's sons, from head to heel ? 
 (What will they not, who, with irreverence dire. 
 Steal, and melt down the thunderer entire!) 
 Or what to those who, with pernicious craft, 
 Mingle and set to sale the deadly draught ; 
 Or those, who in a raw ox hide are bound, 
 And, with an ill-starr'd ape, poor sufferer ! drown'd ? 
 
 ▼ery obvious remark, that wfiite was a lucky colour. Columella observes that 
 white hens are not fruUful. Upon which Curio remarks that it is wonderful 
 how the proverb (chick of a white hen,) should have come to signify fortunate 
 and happ\'. It is so : unless we suppose, for want of a bolter solution, tliat 
 it was the rarity, and not the felicity of the object, which liic old adage had 
 in view. 
 
 Ver. 214. ^nd with an ill-starfd ape, &c.] Patricides were sewed up 
 ■in a hide, together witli an ape, a dog, a cock, and a viper, and flung into 
 the nearest river. Livy says, tlie first who undciweiit this puuishnicnt was
 
 424 SATIRE XIII, JUVENAL, v. 215 — 224. 
 
 " Monstrous!" — yet monstrous as the list appears, 
 Tis nought to what the Praefect daily hears, 
 From breaking dawn to sun-set. Wouldst thou know 
 The genuine state of morals ? That will show, 
 That single court. Stay but a little there, 
 And then complain, then murmur, if thou dare ! 
 Say, whom do goitres on the Alps surprise? 
 In Meroe, whom the breast's enormous size? 
 Whom locks, in Germany, of golden hue. 
 And spiral curls, and eyes of sapphire blue ? 
 
 P. Malleolus, convicted of murdering his mother. It is not easy to account for 
 the singular choice of animals : the viper, indeed, as being anciently sup- 
 posed to eat its way into the world through the intrails of its dam, was not 
 unaptly selected : but what had the rest done ! Cicero gives several reasons 
 for drowning the parricide, which are all unsatisfactory, and therefore not worth 
 repeating. Juvenal seems to pity the poor ape ; and there is reason in that. 
 
 One of the translators fancies that the animals were fixed on " from a per- 
 suasion that, by deliberately preying on the flesh of the criminal, they pro- 
 longed his punishment." This is a most luminous idea. We all know how 
 deliberately drowning animals feed on flesh, especially if, as in the present 
 case, most of them happen not to be carnivorous. 
 
 Ver. 221. Sai/ whom do goitres, ^c] These goitres are prettily pointed 
 out by Shakspearc, to whose knowledge they had not long been familiar: 
 
 " VVhen we were boys, 
 
 " Who would believe that there were mountaineers 
 
 " Dew-lapp'd like bulls, whose throats had hanging at them 
 
 " Wallets of flesh ! people, which now we find, 
 
 " Each putter out of one for five, will bring us 
 
 " Good warrant of." Tempest. 
 
 Ver. 224. and eyes of sapphire blue'?] The people of the 
 
 south seem to have regarded, as a phenomenon, those blue eyes, which with 
 Hs are so common, and, indeed, so characteristic of beauty, as to form an
 
 SATIRE XIII. JUVENAL. V. 225 — 232. 425 
 
 None: for the prodigy, amongst them shar'd, 
 Becomes mere nature, and escapes regard. 
 When clouds of Thracian birds obscure the sky, 
 To arms! to arms ! the desperate Pigmies cry : 
 But soon, defeated in th' unequal fray, 
 Disorder'd flee ; while, pouncing on their prey, 
 The victor cranes descend, and clamouring bear 
 The wriggling mannikins aloft in air. 
 
 indispensable requisite of every Daphne of Grub-street. Tacitus, howevei, 
 from whom Juvenal perhaps borrowed the expression, adds an epithet to 
 ceEfulcan, which makes me doubt the common interpretation. Tlie Germans, 
 he says, (De Mor. Ger. 4,) have truces tt cdnriilei oeuli, fierce lively blue eyes. 
 With us, this colour is always indicative of a soft, voluptuous languor. What 
 then, if we have hitherto mistaken the sense, and instead of blue, should have 
 said sea-gre^n ! This is not an uncommon colour, especially in the noi'lh. I 
 have seen many Norwegian seamen with eyes of this hue, which were inva- 
 riably quick, keen, and glancing. 
 
 Shakspcare, whom nothing escaped, has put an admirable description of 
 them into the mouth of .Juliet's nurse: 
 
 " O he's a lovely man ! an eagle, madam, 
 
 " Hath not so green, so quick, so fair an eye, 
 
 " As Paris hath." 
 Steevcns, who had some glimpse of the meaning of this word, refers to an 
 apposite passage in the Two ^oble Kinsmen. It is in Emilia's address to 
 Diana: 
 
 " Oh vouchsafe 
 
 " With that thy rare green eye, which never yet 
 
 " Beheld things maculate, &c. 
 Our old writers, we see, understood the expression ; of which their modem 
 editors are lamentably ignorant. Stewart would change green here into sheen ; 
 as Ilanmer actually does, in the quotation from Shakspeare, into keen; while 
 Malone absurdly attempts to explain it by a burlesque passage in the Midf 
 
 summer Iviight's Dream ! 
 
 ai
 
 426 SATIRE XIII. JUVENAL, v. 233 — 240. 
 
 Here, did our climes to such a scene give birth. 
 We all should burst with agonies of mirth ; 
 There, unsurpris'd, they view the frequent fight, 
 Nor smile at armies scarce a foot in height. 
 
 " Shall then no ill the perjur'd head attend, 
 " No punishment o'ertake this faithless friend?" 
 Suppose him seiz'd, abandon'd to thy will, 
 (What more would rage?) to torture, or to kill; 
 
 Ver. 233. Here, did our climes to such a scene give birth, <S)C.] The facetious 
 DomitiaD,whom we have seen, in the first Satire, amusing himself with bring- 
 ing women and dwarfs into the hsts, seems, if I rightly understand Statins, to 
 have treated himself with a spectacle of this kind : 
 
 " Hie audax subit ordo pumilonum ; 
 
 " Edunt vulnera, conseruntque dextras, 
 
 " Et mortem sibi (qua manu !) minantur : 
 
 " Ridet Mars pater, et cruenta Virtus !" 
 While these little creatures were fighting, a number of cranes appear to have 
 been let loose about them: the}' did not, indeed, venture to attack them, for, 
 as the poet, who was a spectator of the circumstance, adds, tliey were alarmed 
 at the increased ferocity of these European pygmies: 
 
 " Casuraeque vagis grues rapinis 
 
 " Miranlur pumilos ferociores!" 
 What Juvenal might have thought of such a scene I know not, but Statius 
 appears to have been highly diverted with it. Such were the contemptible 
 amusements of this gloomy tyrant in his retirement ! 
 
 I must not forget a weighty objection of the grave Lubin, to the veracity 
 of our author in this little narrative. Juvenal says that the cranes soar away 
 with the pygmies in their crooked talons, curvis unguibus : how can this be, 
 asks Lubin, when cranes have no crooked talons ? Quomodo hoc a grue fieri 
 possit, qua quidem curvos ungues non hahet? In truth, I cannot tell. I have, 
 however, done what I could for my author, and kept the obnoxious word out 
 of sight.
 
 SATIRE xni. JUVENAL, v. 241— 265. 427 
 
 Yet still thy loss, thy injury, would remain, 
 And draw no retribution from his pain. 
 " True; but methinks the smallest drop of blood, 
 '* Squeez'd from his mangled limbs, would do me good : 
 " Revenge, they say, and I believe their words, 
 " A pleasure sweeter far than life affords." 
 Who say? the fools, whose passions, prone to ire. 
 At slightest causes, or at none, take fire; 
 Whose boiling breasts, at every turn, o'erflovv 
 With rancorous gall : Chrysippus said not so, 
 Nor Thales, to our frailties clement still. 
 Nor that old man by sweet Hymettus' hill, 
 Who drank the poison with unruffled soul, 
 And dying, from his foes withheld the bowl. 
 Divine philosophy ! by whose pure light 
 We first distinguish, then pursue the right. 
 Thy power the breast from every error frees, 
 And weeds out all its vices by degrees : — 
 Illumin'd by thy beam, revenge, we find. 
 The abject pleasure of an abject mind j 
 And hence so often seen in poor, weak, woman-kind. 
 But tell me; why must those be thought to scape, 
 Whom guilt, array 'd in every dreadful shape. 
 
 I 
 
 Ver. 252. Nor that old man by meet Hj/mtltus' hill,'] This is a charming 
 designation of Socrates by the place of his residence. Hymettus' hill was not 
 far from Athens: Juvenal calls it the sweet Hymettus, because it was much 
 celebrated for the richness of its honey.
 
 42% SATIRE XIII, JUVENAL, v. 264—275- 
 
 Still urges, and whom conscience, ne'er asleep, 
 Wounds with incessant strokes, not loud but deep. 
 While the vex'd mind, her own tormentor, plies 
 A scorpion scourge, unmark'd by human eyes I 
 Trust me, no punishment the poets feign, 
 Can match the fierce, th' unutterable pain. 
 He feels, who night and day, devoid of rest. 
 Carries his own accuser in his breast, 
 
 A Spartan once the oracle besought, 
 To solve a scruple which perplex'd his thought. 
 And plainly tell him, if he might forswear 
 A purse of gold, instrusted to his care. 
 
 Ver. 266. While the vex'd mind,i;c.'\ I have already observed that I love to 
 meet with our old writers in the traces oF Juvenal He was evidently a 
 favourite with them ; and I consider the predilection as no slight indication of 
 their taste and spirit. The following is a pretty close rendering of the text : 
 
 " There's no punishment 
 
 " Like that to bear the witness in one's breast 
 " Of perpetrated evils, when the mind 
 " Beats it with silent stripes." Microcosmus. 
 
 Ver. 272. ji Spartan once, <3fc.] This is taken from Herodotus. To save 
 the reader the trouble of turning to him, I shall briefly give the story. A 
 Milesian had intrusted a, sum of money to one Glaucus, a Spartan. After a 
 time, the sons of the Milesian came to redemand it. Glaucus affirmed that 
 he had no recollection of the circumstance, and sent them away. As soon as 
 they were gone, he hastened to Delphi, to inquire, as Juvenal says, whether 
 he might safely forswear himself? The priestess answered, as in the text, but 
 somewhat more at large ; and the terrified Spartan sent for tlie young Milesians, 
 and restored the money. 
 This story is appositely told to the Athenians by Leutichydes, a Spartan
 
 SATIRE xrii. JUVENAL, v. 276— 2S8. 429 
 
 Shuddering, the Pythia answer'd — " Waverer, no: 
 " Nor shah tliou, for the doubt, unpunish'd go." 
 With that, he hasten 'd (o restore the trust; 
 But fear alone, not virtue, made him just: 
 Hence lie soon prov'd the oracle divine, 
 And all the answer worthy of the shrine; 
 For plagues pursu'd his race without delay, 
 And swept them from tiie earth, like dust, away. 
 By such dire sufferings did the wretch attone 
 Tiie crime of meditated fraud alone! 
 For, in the eye of heaven, a wicked deed 
 Devis'd, is done; how, then, if he proceed 
 To perfect his device, how will th' offender speed? 
 
 \ 
 
 prince, who concludes thus: " at the present day no decendant of Glaucus, 
 nor any traces of his family, are lo be found ; they are utterly extirpated from 
 Sparta." Beloe's Herod. The original is very strong. FAauxa mi/ sts ti x-sro- 
 yovov fr< sSiv, {fin aStfj-in uoiAi^o^ivn tii/ai FAauita' txTfTpi^Tai t< T7pofipi^(^ ik 
 Swa/iTrif. Erato. 86. 
 
 Ver. 286. For, in the eye of heaven, a wicked deed 
 
 Dcvisd, is done.] I did not call the reader's attention from the 
 last paragraph but one ; though I trust it did not escape him, that neither 
 Thales, nor Chrysippus, no, nor his great master Zeno, ever taught, or even 
 conceived doctrines of such pure, such sublime morality, as are there delivered: 
 doctrines, in short, which the light of nature alone was incapable of discover- 
 ing; and which the author undoubtedly derived from that" true light" which 
 now began to glimmer through the Roman world, and by which many sincere 
 lovers of truth and virtue already began to direct their ways, while they were 
 yet unconscious of the medium through which they received the illumination. 
 With respect to the passage before us, it is not heathenism. It is not to be 
 found in the precepts of their gravest teachers : and elevated as the morality 
 of our author confessedly is, it is difficult to imagine it could soar so far above
 
 430 SATIRE XIII. JUVENAL, v. 289—300. 
 
 O, then perpetual fears his peace destroy^ 
 And rob the social hour of all its joy: 
 At table seated, with parch'd mouth he chaws 
 The loitering food, which heaves beneath his jaws ; 
 Spits out the produce of the Albanian hill, 
 Mellow'd by age; you bring him mellower still, 
 And lo ! such wrinkles on his biow appear, 
 As if you brought Falernian vinegar. 
 
 At night, should sleep his harrass'd limbs compose, 
 And steal him, one short moment, from his woes. 
 Then dreams invade ; sudden, before his eyes. 
 The violated fane and altar rise ; 
 And, what disturbs him most, thy awful shade, 
 In more than mortal majesty array'd, 
 Frowns on the wretch, alarms his treacherous rest. 
 And wrings the dreadful secret from his breast. 
 
 These, these, are they who tremble and turn pale. 
 At the first mutterings of the hollow gale, 
 
 the ethics of his time, without the assistance of which I have spoken. What 
 is more, this was the peculiar boast of Christianity. It was the vantage ground, 
 on which its first professors stood, and proclaimed aloud the superiority of their 
 faith. Vo& (says Minucius FeUx) i. e. jE^A«ic/, see/era admissa punitis; apud 
 nos et cogitare peccare est : vos conscios timetis, nos conscientiam, &jc. For v, 
 293, see p. 140. 
 Veb. S04. And wrings the dreadful secret from his breast,'] Thus Tibullus: 
 
 " Ipse deus somno domitos emittere vocem 
 
 " Jussit, et invitos facta tegenda loqui." 
 How much better is this, than the gloomy and unsatisfactory ideas of Lucretius 
 upon the subject ; who, while he confesses the effect, endeavours to ridicule 
 the cause ; aad with the most palpable impressions of terror on his own mind^
 
 SATIRE XIII. JUVENAL. V. 307— 3iG. 431 
 
 Who sink with terror at the transient glare 
 Of meteors, ghtncing through the turbid air. 
 This is not chance, they cry; this iiideous crash 
 Is not the war of winds ; nor this dread flash, 
 Th' encounter of dark clouds ; but blasting fire, 
 Charg'd with the wrath of heav'n's insulted sire. 
 That clap, at a safe distance, dies away ; 
 Shuddering, they wait the next, with more dismay, 
 As if the short reprieve were only sent, 
 To add new horrors to their punishment. 
 
 «d)surdly hopes to succeed in reasoning his followers out of their well-grounded 
 
 apprehensions : 
 
 " Etsi faliit enim divum genus, liumanumque, 
 " Perpetuo tanien id fore clam diffidere rebus; 
 " Quippe ubi se multi per soinnia ssepe loquentes, 
 " Aut morbo delirantes procraxe ferantur 
 
 " Et celata diu in medium peccata dedisse," Lib. v. 
 
 In the lines which immediately follow, I think it very probable that our 
 
 author had again Lucretius in his thoughts : 
 
 " Prffiterea cui non animus formidine divum 
 " Contrahitur? cui non conrcpunt membra pavore, 
 " Fulminis horribili cum piaga torrida telhis 
 " Contremit, ct magnum pcrcununt murmura coelum? 
 " Non populi, gentesque tremenl ? regesque superbi 
 " Conripiunt divum perculsi membra timore, 
 " Ne quod ob admissum fnedc dictumve superb^ 
 " Poenarum grave sit solvendi tempus adactnm I" Lib. v. 1'217. 
 These are noble lines; and, indeed, though I feci, and have often expressed 
 
 a contempt of this author's philosophical, yet I venerate his poetical, talents. 
 
 The book which I have quoted, for example, is an unrivalled composition. 
 
 In pathos, in energy, in richness of language, in full and genuine sublimity, 
 
 it leaves every thing, I think, in the Latin language, very far beneath it.
 
 432 SATIRE XIII. JUVENAL, v. 317—332. 
 
 Yet more ; when the first symptoms of disease. 
 When feverish heats their restless members seize, 
 They think the plague by wrath divine bestow'd, 
 And feel, in every pang, th' avenging God. 
 Rack'd at the thought, in hopeless grief they lie. 
 And dare not tempt the mercy of the sky; 
 For what can such expect ! Avhat victim slay, 
 That is not worthier far to live, than they I 
 With what a rapid change of fancy roll 
 The varying passions of the sinners' soul ! 
 Bold to offend, they scarce commit th' offence, 
 Ere their minds labour with an innate sense 
 Of right and wrong; — -not long, for nature still. 
 Incapable of change, and fix'd in ill, 
 Recurs to her old habits: never yet 
 Could sinner to his sin a period set. — 
 
 Ver. 323. For what can such expect, 4rc.] An important truth, of whicb 
 many of the ancients were well persuaded. IIws, says the virtuous Xenophon, 
 V &£ot; S'ucrojw.Ev jj^ew?, zransvlei epyx affiEji; and Piautus: 
 
 " Atque hocscelesti illi in animum inducunt suum, 
 " Jovem se placare posse donis hostiis, 
 " Et operam etsumptum perdunt: ideo fit, quia 
 " Nihil ei acceptum est a perjuris supplicii." 
 
 Ver. 301. never yet 
 
 Cotfld sinner to his sin a period set. — ] The Christian can hardly 
 wish for a more decisive inference in favour of the Gospel than is afforded by 
 this passage. Heathenism could offer no sufficient inducement to repentance ; 
 and therefore the mind once engaged in sin, was for ever enslaved to it ; and 
 in the just representation of the Apostle, " worked out all iniquity with 
 greediness." From what a dreadful scene of determined vice and impenitence
 
 SATIRE XIII. JUVENAL. V. 333— 346. 4M 
 
 When did the flush of modest blood inflame 
 The cheek, once harden'd to the sense of shame? 
 Or when th' offender, since the birth of time, 
 Retire, contented with a single crime? 
 
 And this false friend of ours, shall still pursue 
 His dangerous course, till vengeance, long since due, 
 O'ertake his guilt; then shalt thou see him cust, 
 In chains, midst tortures, to expire his last ; 
 Or hurried off to join the wretched train, 
 Of exil'd great ones, in the /Egean main. 
 This thou siialt see; and, while thy voice applauds 
 The dreadful justice of the offended gods, 
 Reform thy creed, and, with an humbled mind. 
 Confess that Heaven is neither deaf nor blind. 
 
 has the Christian world been rescued bj' the acceptance of the doctrine of re- 
 mission of sins through the agency of a mediator ! Those who would admit 
 the morality of the Gospel without its doctrinal points, should think again of 
 this ! It is observable that Juvenal, who had been certainly benefited by the 
 precepts of Christianity, was uninfluenced by its faith : but this was for a time 
 the case of Heathenism at lai'ge. The world was silently improved by the 
 spreading influence of the Gospel; till at length the conviction of its divinity 
 becanie too strong to be suppressed ; and what began in the humbler admi- 
 ration of moral purity, ended in the dignity of faith. 
 
 3 K
 
 SATIRE XIV 
 
 3trgunicnt. 
 
 The subjects of this Satire are of the most important kind, and the poet, 
 as ij fully aivare oj it, has treated them in his best manner. Ittaoue 
 of his works does he take a loftier flight ; in none is he more vigoroiis 
 a)id energetic ; in none more clear and precise in his stjle, more original 
 in his conceptions, more happj' in his illustrations, nor more powerful 
 tind commandinz in his general deductions. 
 
 The lyhole is directed to the one great end of self improvement. By- 
 shewing the dreadjulfacilitf rvith n'hicli children cop)- the vices of theit 
 parents, he points ont the necessity, cis well as the sacred dnlj ; of giving 
 them examples oJ domestic puritj'- and virtue. 
 
 Ajter brieflj- enumerating the several vices, glutlonj'-, crueltj-, de- 
 bauchery, &c. whichj'Outh imperceptibly imbibe from their seniors ; he 
 enters more at large into that of avarice ; of which he sheivs the fatal and 
 inevitable consecpiences. JVothing can surpass the excjuisiteness of this 
 division of the Satire, in which he traces the progress oj that passion in 
 the mind, from the pallrj- tricks of saving a broken meal, to the daring 
 violation of every principle human and divine. 
 
 Having placed the absurditj-, as well as the perplexilj and danger of 
 immoderate desires in every possible point oj view, the piece concludes 
 with a solemn admonition to be satisjied with those comforts and con- 
 veniences which nature and wisdom require, and which a decent competence 
 is easily calculated to supply. Beyond this, desire is infinite : a gulf 
 which nothing can f II, an ocean irithou/ soundings and without shores!
 
 SATIRE XIV. 
 
 TO FUSCINUS. 
 
 V. 1—9. 
 
 I Es, there are faults, Fiiscinus, that disgrace 
 TJ)e noblest qualities of birth and place, 
 Which, like infectious blood, transmitted run 
 In one eternal stream from sire to son. 
 Thus, if the senior game, the hopeful boy 
 Will grasp his little dice-box, and enjoy, 
 Like him, the rattle of the darling toy. 
 
 Nor does that stripling fairer hopes inspire, 
 Who, tutor'd by the epicure his sire, 
 
 \ 
 
 Ver. 9. WJio, tutor d by the epicure his sire, 
 
 Graif-headed prodigal ! knoros, 8jX ] This is appositely applied by 
 old Knowell. Speaking of the education he gave his son, he says, 
 
 " neitiicr have I 
 
 " Drest snails or mushrooms curiously before him ; 
 
 " Perfum'd ray sauces, and taught him to make 'em, 
 
 " Preceding still, with my gray gluttony, 
 
 " At all the ord'narics, and only tcar'd 
 
 " His palate should degenerate, not his manners." 
 Quimliian reprobates, no less strongh' than Juvenal, that early gluttony in
 
 438 SATIRE xrv. JUVENAL, v. 10 — 23- 
 
 Gray-headed prodigal ! knows, witli nice care, 
 
 The mushroom and the truffle to prepare, 
 
 And in the savoury sauce, voluptuous whim! 
 
 To souse the beccaHcos till they swim. — 
 
 For take him, thus to early luxury bred, 
 
 Ere twice four springs have blossom'd o'er his head, 
 
 And let ten thousand teachers, hoar with age, 
 
 Inculcate temperance from the Stoic page : 
 
 His wish will still be found, in state to dine, 
 
 And keep the kitchen's honour from decline. 
 
 Does Rutilus inspire a generous mind, 
 Prone to forgive, and to slight errors blind ; 
 Inspire the liberal thought that slaves have powers, 
 Sense, feeling, every thing, as fine as ours ; 
 
 which the children of his time were indulged : " we form their palate," says 
 he, " before their tongue;" ante palatum eorum quant os instituiinus. 
 
 In looking at this passage, in Professor Spalding, I observed that the very 
 learned editor has been induced, probably by his recollection of Juvenal, to 
 give a meaning to his author's expression, which it will not bear. " Quid noii 
 adultus concupiscet, qui inpurpuris repserit? Nondum pri?na verba exprimit, et 
 jam eoccuminlelligityjam coucht/Uum poacit !" Lib. i. Coccum, he would read, 
 or rather interpret coquum, and understand conchyUmn not of the colour, but 
 of the fish which produced it. This is specious; but when the obvious mean- 
 ing of the words is so pertinent, why should we meddle with the text ? Where 
 does it appear that the shell-fish which produced the purple dye, was ever 
 eaten at Rome ? l>esides, the word purpuris determines the sense. The child, 
 whose swaddling clothes were of purple, was brought to distinguish and call 
 for the most costly colours, (the bright, and the ferruginous or dark-red 
 purple,) before he could speak distinctly! An instance of absurd and per- 
 nicious indulgence, which well deserved the lash of the satirist, and which it 
 is rather singular that Juvenal should have overlooked.
 
 SATIRE xiv. JUVENAL. V. ii— ij. 439 
 
 Or fury? Rutilus, who hears the thong, 
 
 With far more pleasure than the Syren's song : 
 
 Who, the stern tyrant of his small domain, 
 
 The Polyphemus ol his trembling train, 
 
 Knows no clehght, save when the torturer's hand 
 
 Stamps, for low theft, the agonising brand. — 
 
 O, what but rage can fill the striphng's breast, 
 
 Who sees ills savage sire then only blest, 
 
 When his stretch'd ears chink in the wretches' cries, 
 
 And racks and prisons fill his vengeful eyes ! 
 
 Dost thou expect a girl, horn Larga sprung. 
 Should e'er prove virtuous; when her little tongue 
 Ne'er told so fast her dam's adulterous train. 
 But that she stopt and breath'd, and stopt again? 
 Even from her tender years, unnatural trust! 
 The child was privy to the mother's lust; 
 Now, ripe for man, with her own hand, she writes 
 The billet-doux the ancient bawd indites, 
 Employs the self-same pimps, and hopes ere long, 
 To share the visits of the wanton throng. 
 
 Ver. 22. lliat slaves have powers, &c.] One of tlie best 
 
 chapters in Macrobius is on the subject of slavery. In one |iart of il, lie has 
 a direct allusion to this passage. Tibi autem unde in servos tantum et tarn im- 
 maiiej'a.ilifliiim? quasi non ex iisdcm tibi et const etit et a/uiititr element i<i, eiin- 
 demque spiritiim ab eodem priiieipe earpaut ! lis tu cogitare eus, qiiosjiis tiutn 
 vocas, iisdem semiiiibus ortos, eodemfnii ctelo, teque vivere atque mori? Lib i. ii. 
 Thes>e last expressions are taken from Seneca, who is, indeed, a magazine of 
 good things, to which, by the way, our author, as well as Macrobius, was fond 
 enough of applying.
 
 440 SATIRE XIV. JUVENAL, v. 44—63- 
 
 ' So Nature prompts : drawn by her secret tie, 
 We view a parent's deeds with reverent eye; 
 Take, with pernicious haste, the example take, 
 And love the sin for tlie dear sinner's sake. 
 One youth perhaps, form'd of superior clay. 
 And animated by a purer ray, 
 May dare to spurn proximity of blood, 
 And in despite of nature, to be good; 
 One youth : — the rest the beaten pathway tread. 
 And blindly follow where their fathers lead. 
 Pernicious guides! this reason should suffice. 
 To make you shun the dangerous route of vice, 
 This powerful reason ; lest your race pursue, 
 The guilty track too plainly mark'd by you ! 
 For youth is t'acile, and its yielding will. 
 Receives, with fatal ease, th' imprint of ill : 
 Hence Catilines in every soil abound, 
 While Catos, Brutuses, are rarely found. 
 
 O friend ! far from the walls where children dwell, 
 Every immodest sight and sound repel j 
 
 Ver. 62. Ofriend ! iSjc] Fully sensible of the vast importance of his maxims, 
 Juvenal delivers them in this place with a kind of religious solemnity. That they 
 were highly necessary, may be learned from Quintilian, who wrote about the 
 same time. Gaudemus (i. e. parentes) si quid jilius licenlius dixerit ; verba nee 
 jikxandrinis quidem perniittcnda ddiciis, risii tt osculo excipimus, ncc minim : 
 nos docuimus, €X nobis audierunt, nostras arnicas, nostros concnbinos vident, omite 
 convivium obscanis canticis strepit ; Jit ex lis consuetudo, deinde natnra. Disciint 
 hac miseri antequam sciunt vitia esse: inde soluti acjluaites, non accipiunt ex
 
 SATIRE XIV, JUVENAL. V. 64— S3. 441 
 
 The place is sacred. Far, far hence, remove, 
 Ye venal votaries of illicit love ! 
 Ye dangerous knaves, who pander to be fed. 
 And sell yourselves to infamy for bread ! 
 Reverence to children, as to heaven, is due : 
 When thou vvould'st, then, some darling sin pursue, 
 Think that thy infant offspring eyes the deed ; 
 And let the thought abate thy guilty speed. 
 Back from the headlong steep thy steps entice, 
 And check thee, tottering on the verge of vice. 
 O yet reflect ; for should he e'er provoke, 
 As sure he will, the law's avenging stroke, 
 (Since not in person and in face alone. 
 But e'en in morals, he will prove thy son,) 
 Oh! thou wilt then, forsooth, with anger flame. 
 And threaten^ from thy Will, to dash his name. 
 Audacious ! with what front dost thou aspire, 
 To exercise the license of a sire ? 
 When all, with rising indignation, see 
 The youth, in turpitude, surpass'd by thee, 
 
 scholis mala ista, scdin scholas affcrunt. Lib. i. How strong, yet how aflecling 
 a picture ! 
 
 But does it suit the fathers of a former age only ? Have we none at present 
 who labour, with a perversity truly diabolical, to assimilate the morals of their 
 sons to their own ? Can the acquaintance of my reader furnish him with no 
 parent who encourages his child to lisp indecencies, who forms his infant 
 tongue to ribaldry, who accustoms him to spectacles of impurity, till what 
 was habit becomes nature ; who initiates him in debaucheries before the boy 
 
 3L
 
 442 SATIRE XIV. JUVENAL, v. 84— 105. 
 
 By thee, old fool, whose windy, brainlesss head, 
 Long since requir'd the cupping-glass's aid ! 
 
 Ls there a guest expected ? all is haste, 
 All hurry in the house, from first to last. 
 " Up, up, ye slaves !" th' impatient master cries. 
 Whips in his hand, and fury in his eyes ; 
 " Up, up, ye loiterers ! ope the saloon doors, 
 " Furbish the clouded columns, scour the floors, 
 " Sweep the dry cobwebs from the ceiling; clean, 
 " You, sir, the figur'd silver; you, the plain." 
 
 inconsistent wretch! make you this coil, 
 Lest your front-hall or gallery, daub'd with soil, 
 (Which yet a little sand removes) offend 
 
 The prying eye of an indifferent friend? 
 And do you stir not, that your son may see. 
 Your house from moral filth, from vices, free! 
 
 True, you have given a citizen to Rome ; 
 And she shall thank you, if the youth become, 
 By your o'er-ruling care, or soon or late, 
 A useful member of the parent state : 
 For all depends on you ; the stamp he'll take. 
 From the strong impress which at first you make, 
 
 is sensible of their heinousness, and who finally dismisses him from his arms, 
 to corrupt the seminaries of learning, and amaze his tutors with a professor of 
 licentiousness just escaped from the bib, and go-cart! 
 
 1 trust there is no such person : — if there be, let him profit by the morality 
 of an unenlightened heathen, and retrace his steps with prudence and dis- 
 patch: so Juvenal will not have wiitten in vain.
 
 SATiitE XIV. JUVENAL. V. 106—125. 443 
 
 And prove, as vice or virtue was your aim, 
 His country's glory, or his country's shame. 
 
 The stork, witli newts and serpents from the wood. 
 And pathless wild, supports her callow brood; 
 And the fledg'd storklings, when to wing they take, 
 Seek the same reptiles through the devious brake. 
 The vulture snufFs from far the tainted gale. 
 And hurrying where the putrid scents exhale, 
 From gibbets and from graves the carcass tears, 
 And to her young the loathsome dainty bears ; 
 Her young, grown vigorous, hasten from the nest, 
 And gorge on carrion with the parent's zest. 
 While Jove's own eagle, bird of noble blood, 
 Scours the wide champaign for untainted food, 
 Sweeps the swift hare, or swifter fawn, away. 
 And feeds her nestlings with the generous prey ; 
 Her nestlings hence, when from the rock they spring, 
 And pinch'd by hunger, to the quarry wing, 
 Stoop only to the game they tasted first, 
 When, from the parent shell, they, clamorous, burst. 
 
 Ver. 119. Scours the wide champaign for itntaintedfood, t-Sc-] This is a. 
 vulgar prejudice. Buflbn, who has too many errors of this kind, asserts, that 
 the eagle, though famishing, will not toueh carrion. Quelqu' affame qu'ilsoit, 
 ilne sejette jamais sur les cadavres : and the editors of the " History of British 
 Birds," unwarily follow him ! Twas never well for truth, sjncc naturalists took 
 poets for their guides. The fact is, that the eagle is hardly more delicate in 
 the choice of his food than the vulture. Alas, for the credit of the feathered 
 king !
 
 444 SATIRE XIV. JUVENAL, v. 126 — 141. 
 
 Centronius plann'd and built, and built and plann'd; 
 And now along Gajeta's winding strand, 
 And now amid Praeneste's hills, and now 
 On lofty Tibur's solitary brow^ 
 He rear'd prodigious piles, with marble brought 
 From distant realms, and exquisitely wrought : 
 Prodigious piles! that tower'd o'er Fortune's shrine, 
 As gelt Posides towers, O Jove ! o'er thine. 
 While thus Centronius crowded seat on seat. 
 He spent his cash, and mortgag'd his estate; 
 Yet left enough his family to content: 
 Which his mad son to the last farthing spent, 
 While, building on, he strove, with fond desire, 
 To top the stately structures of his sire. 
 
 Sprung from a father who the sabbath fears. 
 There is, who nought but clouds and skies reveres ; 
 
 Ver. 133. Ut spado Posides.'] " By the word spado" Mr. Gibbon says, 
 " the Romans very forcibly expressed their abhorrence" (rather, their con- 
 tempt) "of that mutilated condition: the Greeii appellation of eunuch, which 
 insensibly prevailed, had a milder sound, and a more ambiguous sense." 
 
 With respect to Posides, he was one of the freedmen of Claudius, who pros- 
 tituted some of the most honourable rewards of military merit in his favour : 
 thus Suet. Libertorum prcccipne suspexit Posidem spadoiicm, {J uvenaVs words,) 
 j?/em etiam Britannico trittmpho inter militares viros hasta pura donavit. 
 Claud. 28. Posides, like most of this emperor's favourites, amassed vast 
 wealth, which he lavished in building. 
 
 Ver. 141. who nought hut clouds and skies reveres; ^c] This 
 
 popular error, with regard to the Jews, arose from their having no visible re- 
 presentation of the deity. When Pompey using, says Tacitus, the license of
 
 SATIRE XIV. JUVENAL. V. 142—145. 445 
 
 And shuns the taste (by old tradition led) 
 Of swine's flesh, and of man's, with equal dread — 
 This first ; the prepuce next he lays aside ; 
 And, taught the Roman Ritual to deride, 
 
 victory, first entered the temple of Jerusalem, the report was, that he found 
 no statue there! nulla inttts detim effigie, S^c. Hist. v. 9. This confounded the 
 gross conceptions of the Romans, and the}' instantly concluded that the Jews, 
 whose adorations they had noticed, worshipped nothing but " clouds and 
 skies:" for whether we read with Henninius, azli numen, or with Scaliger and 
 others, cali lumen, the sense is still the same, and can only mean the material 
 or visible heaven. 
 
 " The world" saith the Apostle, "by wisdom knew not God." A trutli which 
 should sink deep into our minds. Hear how sublimely Tacitus describes the 
 God of the Jews. Judxi mente sola, unumque numen intelUgunt : profanos, 
 qui deum imagines mortalibus materiis in species hominum effirigant. Sum mum 
 
 ILLUD ET ETERNUM, NEQUE MUTABILE, NEOUE INTERRITURUM ! But did 
 
 this " immutable, and incomprehensible, this omnipotent, and everlasting 
 God," satisfy or fill the historians mind ? No, he carelessly turned from a 
 Being whom " wisdom alone" could not conceive, as a visionary creation of 
 the Jews, and humbled himself before the impure and brutal idols of his owa 
 country ! 
 
 Dio, too, speaks of the God of the Jews in lofty and energetic language. 
 'Ei/a St (0£oi() nv* Krj^upwj a-fSiKrt' aiT' oiya.X[jix ahv cv auroij ztoti toi? Iipoo-oAujwoif 
 t<ryoii' ocpfTiToy it Sn x«i ociiSti ccij\ou i/ofAi^ovri; cmxt, ■cjtpKTO'OTOiloc jcv^'puTruv 5pr\(T' 
 xfuao-i. Lib. xxxvu. 17. But did Dio comprehend what he thus sublimely 
 describes, or acknowledge the superior understanding of the Jews in-worship- 
 ing this " ineffable and invisible" Being, instead of the stocks and stones 
 before which he himself bowed down? Neither: he dismisses the former 
 from his thoughts, and continues to insult and revile the latter as a weak and 
 credulous nation ! 
 
 Thus, then, " the world by wisdom knew not God:" his attributes, though 
 repeated by the wisest of the heathens after the Jews, conveyed no ideas to 
 their minds. It is to Revelation only, that we are indebted for just and rational 
 conceptions on the subject: and if the theisls of modern times have more
 
 446 SATIRE XIV. JUVENAL, v. 146— 149. 
 
 Clings to the Jewish, and observes with awe, 
 
 All Moses wrote in his mysterious law : 
 
 And therefore, to the circiimcis'd alone, 
 
 Will point the road, or make the fountain known ; 
 
 distinct and adequate notions of the Divine Being, than Tacitus and Die; 
 it is still to the manifestations which he has been pleased to make of himself, 
 that they ewe them, however prejudice or pride may operate to prevent the 
 acknowled gement. 
 
 Ver. 148. And therefore, to the circumcis'd alone, SfcJ] " The letter of 
 these laws, says Gibbon, (Vol. I. p. 537,) with a sneer truly worthy of tlie 
 disciple of Voltaire, is not to be found in the present volume of Moses." But 
 is the spirit of it ? On the contrary, does not the " volume of Moses" inculcate 
 justice and humanity to strangers, by the most forcible and pathetic appeals 
 to the feelings of the people ! " Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor op- 
 press him ; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. Exod. xxii. Again. 
 Thou shalt not oppress a stranger ; for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing 
 j'e were strangers in the land of Egypt, Exod. xxxiii. Indeed, one of the 
 most striking features in the " volume of Moses," is the anxious concern it takes 
 in the protection of the stranger. If a sheaf of wheat be ibrgotlen in the field, 
 it is not to be fetched; it is for the stranger: if the olives do not drop at the 
 first beating, the trees are not to be touched again ; the fruit is for the stranger : 
 if the vines be not cleared at first, they are not to be gleaned ; the grapes are 
 for the stranger, &c. &c. (Deut. xxiv. v. 17 — 22;) and, indeed, the stranger 
 is invariably connected by Moses, with the two most interesting objects of 
 human kindness, the fatherless and the widow. O, " but" continues Mr. 
 Gibbon, " the wise, the humane Maimonides openly teaches," &c. Of what 
 consequence is it to Moses what a Spanish Jew of the twelfth century teaches ! 
 If Mr. Gibbon's object had been truth, he would have consulted Moses him- 
 self, for the sense of his " volume," which, however secret and mysterious it 
 might be to Juvenal, was plain and open to him : but misrepresentation was 
 his aim, as it materially furthered his darling design of attacking Christianity 
 through the sides of Judaism. 
 
 The word " present" is almost of too contemptible a nature for a caviller of the
 
 SATIRE XIV. JUVENAL. V. 150—155. 447 
 
 Aping his bigot sire, who whii'd away, 
 In thriftless indolence, every sev'nth day ! 
 But youth, so prone to follow other ills, 
 Are driven to avarice against their wills ; 
 For this grave vice, array'd in virtue's guise, 
 Seems virtue's self, to superficial eyes. 
 
 lowest kind. Mr. Gibbon certainly did not believe that the " volume" we now 
 have, was different from that which existed in Juvenal's time ; but he chose 
 to sacrifice his reason to his prejudice. Surely, of all bigots, sceptics and 
 atheists are the most blind and intolerant! 
 
 With respect to our author, wlio was confessedly as ignorant of the laws, as 
 of the practises of the Jews, all that he says amounts to nothing more than the 
 old charges against them, which had been refuted a thousand and a thousand 
 times. Even while he was writing, Josephus had noticed and repelled them. 
 M»i>u£in Si x«i TJ6? o^af T5K aywairt, v.x\ fAr\ ytXunx ^puj/sviss xvron; tfATroSt^itv, 
 x.r.a.. Anliq. Lib. iv. c. viii. § 31. And again, more strongly: tb; « 
 Traptpys irpofnoira? av«ju,iyi'U(r3'a» T«if (7i;mS'£i«i? ax i^iXr\<yi' t«X^« Si Trpottprntv^ 
 m t<f\iv « [AtrxSo<ni a,vxyKXiX' araffi wxpiyjiu toij SsofACvoii wup, vSup, rpo(pr,i/, ooisf 
 (fpxiTuv, X. T. X. Contra. App. 11. 28. Moses certainly discouraged all un- 
 necessary familiarities with such as were not sincerely attached to us. But he 
 mentioned at the same time many things in which we must participate with 
 others: he commanded us, for example, to supply those that asked us with 
 fire, water, food, to shew the way, 8tc. &c. 
 
 Long as this note is, I have yet a word to add. The Pagans talked of Moses, 
 but knew him only through the corrupt sects into which, in its latter age, 
 Judaism was divided. From this circumstance alone, in ray opinion, came 
 all that abuse of the Hebrew system, with which the Greek and Roman writers 
 abound, and which has been either ignorantly or wilfully continued to our 
 time, by Voltaire, Gibbon, and others. About the age of Juvenal indeed, the 
 Jews had somewhat receded from their ancient integrity, in favour of the 
 Pagans : the interested prudence of the Pharisees had tried to smooth the way 
 for an intercommunity of sacrifice in the temple; and Phiio and Josephus 
 had manifested a certain laxity in their writings, which might have tended to
 
 448 SATIRE XIV. JUVENAL, v. 156—165. 
 
 The miser hence, a frugal man, they name, 
 Hence too, they boldly follow with acclaim, 
 The griping wretch, who strictlier guards his store, 
 Than if the Hesperian dragon kept the door. 
 Add that the vulgar, still a slave to gold, 
 The worthy, in the wealthy man, behold ; 
 And, reasoning from the fortune he has made. 
 Hail him, a perfect master of his trade: 
 And true it is, that masters such as these. 
 Raise vast estates ; no matter by what ways, 
 
 soften the asperity of the heathen woild towards them. But neither the 
 genuine humanity which^ as I have already observed, characterises the law of 
 Moses, nor tlie corrupt accommodations of tlie later Jews, were at all regarded. 
 The Roman government indeed, had on various occasions shewn some degree 
 of respect to the worship and manners of the Jews: but the whole race was 
 incessantly followed by the unmitigated odium of the Roman people. And 
 what gave an apparent authority to their hatred, was the ungracious and for- 
 bidding spirit of some of those sects ; whose singularity had pointed them out 
 to the particulai" notice of the age. From these Juvenal draws his false, and 
 exaggerated picture : he talks of Moses, not with any real knowledge, but 
 with those impressions which had been made on him, in common with the 
 rest of mankind, by the gloomy bigotry and fanatic austerity of the Essenians, 
 Therapeutians, Zealots, &c. 
 
 It is to be lamented that the unsociable and wayward dispositions of those 
 wrong-headed sectaries, prevented them from communicating to the people 
 around them, a portion of their history, polity, laws, 8cc. especially, as they 
 could not be uninform'd of the absurd fables propagated concerning them. 
 Tacitus derives the Jews from Crete, because he finds a mount Ida there, from 
 whence he thinks they were originally called Idaeos, which their barbarous 
 pronunciation, it seems, changed into Judajos! Such is the deplorable igno- 
 rance of the most judicious of the Roman historians ! The Greeks are equally 
 uninformed.
 
 in view. 3 
 
 SATIRE XIV. JUVENAL. V. 166—186. 449 
 
 But raise tiiey do, with brows in sweat still died, 
 
 ^Vilh forge still glowing, and with sledge still plied. 
 
 The father, by the love of wealth possest, 
 
 Sure that the covetous alone are blest, 
 
 And that, nor past, nor present times e'er knew 
 
 A poor man happy ; bids his son pursue 
 
 The route they take, and keep that thriving sect 
 
 Vice boasts its ABC, like other arts ; 
 These he inculcates hrst: anon, imparts 
 The petty tricks of saving; last inspires. 
 Of endless wealtli, the insatiable desires. 
 Hungry himself, his hungry slaves he cheats. 
 With scanty measures, and unfaithful weights ; 
 And sees them lessen, with apparent dread, 
 The musty fragments of his vinnew'd bread. 
 In dog-days, when the sun, with fervent power, 
 Corrupts the freshest meat from hour to hour^ 
 He saves the last night's hash, sets by a dish 
 Of sodden beans, and scraps of summer fish, 
 And half a stinking shad, and a few strings 
 Of a chopp'd leek, counted like sacred things, 
 
 Ver. 178. JVHIi scanli/ measures, Sfc.^ The Rom.ins weighed, or measured, 
 out the food of their slaves. The ordinary allowance. Holiday says, was 
 " about a quart ot" bread-corn lor a day." The distribution seems to have 
 been monthly. 
 
 Ver. 183. sets bj/ a dish, S;c.'] In the conclusion of 
 
 this admirable picture of sordid avarice, Juvenal h.idTlieoplirastus in his mind : 
 rcc ii xxroc^iiTTOiJiivx xtto rn rpoizri^r; t)jw.i(ru rwk pxfaiviSuv KTsroyfioiipiiT^xi, ik« ol 
 
 3 M
 
 ^50 SATIRE XIV. JUVENAL, y. 187—203. 
 
 And seal'd with caution; though the sight and smell, 
 Would a starv'd beggar from the mess repel. 
 
 But why this curs'd avidity of gain, 
 This mass collected with such toil and pain? 
 Since 'tis the veriest madness to live poor, 
 To die with bags and coffers running o'er. 
 Besides, while thus the streams of affluence roll, 
 They nurse th' eternal dropsy of the soul. 
 For thirst of wealth, still grows with wealth increas'd. 
 And they desire it less, who have it least. 
 Now swell his wants: one manor is too small, 
 Another must be bought, house, lands, and all ; 
 Still "■ cribb'd, confin'd," he spurns the narrow bounds, 
 And turns an eye on every neighbour's grounds: 
 There all allures ; his crops seem but a foil, 
 To the full produce of their happier soil. 
 " And that I'll buy," he cries, " and this sweet grove, 
 " And those hoar hills the fattening olives love!" 
 Then, if the owner to no price will yield, 
 Resolv'd to keep the hereditary field. 
 Whole droves of oxen, starv'd to this intent, 
 Amongst his springing corn, by night, are sent, 
 
 Ver. 193. Besides, while thus the streams, S)C.'] So Ovid, very beautifully : 
 " Creverunt et opes, et opiim furiosa cupido, 
 
 " Et cum possideant plurima^ plura voluiit ; 
 " Quacrere ut absuinant, absumpta requirere certant, 
 
 " Atque ipsae vitiis sunt alimcnta vices. 
 " Sic quibus intumuit sufFusa venter ab unda 
 
 " Quo suut plus potse, plus sitiunlur aquae." Fasi^ lib. i. 21 1.
 
 SATIRE XIV. JUVENAL. V. 209—235- 451 
 
 To revel there, till not a blade be seen, 
 
 And the field look like a close-shaven green. 
 
 " Monstrous 1" yet I should vainly strive to tell, 
 
 What numbers, tricks like these, have forc'd to sell. 
 
 But what says Fame the while? her hundred tongues. 
 Have surely lash'd the author of such wrongs — 
 " And what care I?" he cries. " I value more, 
 " Th' addition of a bean-husk to my store, 
 " Than all the country's praise; if curs'd by fate, 
 " With the mean produce of a small estate." 
 'Tis well! disease, forsooth, thy couch will flee. 
 And sorrow, and care; yes, tliou, be sure, wilt see 
 Long years of happiness, till now unknown, 
 If as much ground pertains to thee alone, 
 As, under our first kings, Rome call'd her own ! 
 
 Since then, the veteran, wiiose brave breast was gor'd 
 With the fierce Pyrrhic, or Molossian sword, 
 Hardly receiv'd, for all his service past. 
 And all his wounds, two acres at the last. 
 The meed of toil and blood I yet never thought 
 His country thankless, or his pains ill bought. 
 For then this trifling glebe, improv'd with care. 
 Largely supplied with plain and wholesome fare, 
 The good old man, the wife in child-bed laid, 
 And four hale boys that round the cottage play'd, 
 Three free-born, one a slave: while, on the board, 
 Huge porringers, with wholesome pottage stor'd,
 
 452 SATIRE XIV. JUVENAL, v. 236—245. 
 
 SmokVl for their elder brothers, who were now, 
 
 Hungry and tir'd, expected from the plough. 
 
 Now such a pahry spot, so chang'd the times, 
 
 ^Vould scarce afford a garden : hence our crimes ! 
 
 For not a vice that taints the human soul^ 
 
 More frequent points the sword, or drugs the bowl, 
 
 Than the dire lust of an " untam'd estate;" 
 
 For he who covets wealth, disdains to wait : — 
 
 Law threatens, conscience calls ; both, both he spurns, 
 
 And this he silences, and that o'erturns ; 
 
 Ver. 240. For he who covets wealth, disclaim to tcait : — ^] 
 
 " nam dives qui fieri vult, 
 
 " Et cit6 vult fieri." 
 
 This, Mr. Owen says, is a literal translation of an axiom of the Gospel ; they 
 that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare. It is so ; but even this 
 might be taken from a heathen poet : 
 
 OuJijf iirXar-naiv t«j^£wj, ^tx«(©J wi/. Menan. 
 
 Not to multiply quotations, however, I would observe, once for all, that the 
 ancients held that the good grew rich by slow and imperceptible degrees ; the 
 wicked rapidly, and, as it were, at once. The first, say the commentators, 
 because if the good were to grow wealthy too suddenly, they might be sus- 
 pected of cultivating virtue not for herself, but for what she brought them ; 
 the second, for a reason w hich I shall not transcribe on account of its \Yant of 
 charity. 
 
 The ancients have conveyed this opinion, (as they have most of those which 
 relate to the conduct of life,) in a very pretty apologue. "When I am sent to 
 any one by Jupiter (sajs Plutus) I halt so that he usually grows old before I 
 arrive." " That is hardly true, (replies Mercury,) for I have seen those who 
 had not a groat yesterday, wallowing in riches to day." " You say right, 
 (rejoins Plutus,) but I was not sent lo those people by Jupiter, but by Dis!"
 
 SATIRE XIV. JUVENAL. V. 246—261. -453 
 
 Fear, shame — he bears down all, while, with loose rein, 
 He pours along the alluring paths of gain. 
 
 " Let us, my sons, contented with our lot, 
 " Enjoy in peace our hillock, and our cot; 
 (The good old Marsian to his children said,) 
 " And, horn our labour, seek our daily bread. 
 " So shall we please the rural Powers, whose care, 
 " And kindly influence, taught us to prepare 
 " The golden grain, what time we raug'd the wood, 
 " A savage race, for acorns, savage food ! 
 " The poor who, with inverted skins, defy 
 *' The lowering tempest^ and the freezing sky, 
 " AVho, without shame, without reluctance, go, 
 " Li clouted brogues, through mire and drifted snow, 
 " Ne'er think of ill : 'tis purple, boys, alone, 
 " Which leads to every crime, purple, to us unknown." 
 
 Veu. QJ7. " The poor zcho, wilk inverted skins, defy, cSc] Cicero makes an 
 admirable use of liiis sentiment in his oration lor Sox. Roscius. Q«u in re 
 prtclereo illud, quod inihi maximo argumento adhujus innocenliam poterat esse, 
 in hac horrida incultaque vita istiusmodi malejicia gig/ii tion solere. In iirbe 
 luxuries crealur : ex luxuria existat avaritia, nccesse est : ex avaritia erumpat 
 audacia ; inde omnia scclera. — I ila aittem hae rustica, ijuam tu agreslern incas, 
 parsimonia, diligcnlia:,justili(E, magistra est. Pro. R. 27- And, indeed, the 
 villagers of those days seem to have been a simple, and uncorrupt order of men : 
 Maximi pius qiustus consequitiir, says Cato, de lie Rust. 7ninimeque maid co- 
 gitantcs, qui in agricultura occnpati sunt. It was reserved for these monster- 
 breeding times to see public evil produced by tljc plough, and the patriaichal 
 and innocent pursuit of agriculture converted into the means ofliceuliousncss, 
 aud the aanoyauce of cveiy civil and religious CBtablishment.
 
 454 SATIRE XIV. JUVENAL, v. 262— 27G. 
 
 Thus to their children spoke the sires of yore • 
 Now, autumn's sickly heats are scarcely o'er, 
 Ere, while deep midnight yet involves the skies, 
 Th' impatient father shakes his son, and cries, 
 " What, ho,, boy, wake ! up ; > picas, rejoinders, draw ; 
 " Turn o'er the muisty rubric of the law: 
 " Up, up, and study ; or, with brief in hand, 
 " Petition Laelius for a small command, 
 " A captain's; Laslius loves a spreading chest, 
 ■•' Broad shoulders, tangled locks, and hairy breast. 
 '• Up, and to battle! crush the Britons, Moors, 
 '^ That, if kind Fortune life and limb secures, 
 " At sixty, a rich Eaglfe nTay be yours. 
 
 " But iifthe trumpets, sounding to the figlit, 
 " And the long labours of the camp affright, 
 
 Ver. 275. At sixty a rich Eagle, ^c] The eagle, or chief standa7d of the 
 Legion, was conimilted to the charge of the first centurion. " Tliis station," 
 says Ken net, " was not only honourable, but very profitable too, for the pri- 
 mipilus (first centurion) had a special stipend allowed him, probably as much 
 as a knight's estate, {locuphtam aquilam,) and when he left that charge, was- 
 Teputed equal to the ineiubers of the Equestrian Order." 
 
 Dryden translates the passage thus^ 
 
 " d\nd when in service your best da^-s are spent, 
 " Perhaps you may command a regiment;" 
 Which is accurate enough. For as the centurion answered to a captain, so 
 did the primipilas to a general, in a modern army. A legion, not to be too 
 nice, consisted of six thousand men, divided into three battalions, which were 
 again subdivided into sixty companies. Every company had a centurion at 
 ,its head, and every ten a primipilus. This was a post, therefore, of great im- 
 portance, and very capable of tempting tlie cupidity of an avaricious father.
 
 SATIRE XIV. JUVENAL. V. 277 — 2^4i AM 
 
 " Go,4rafiic — look for wares of readiest vent, 
 " Which promise to repay you cent, per cent. 
 " Buy these, no matter what; the stuff is* good, 
 " 7'hough not ailow'd on this side Tiber's flood; 
 " Hides, unguents, mark me, boy, are equal things, 
 " And gain smells sweet from whatsoe'er it springs. 
 " This golden sentence, which the powers of heaven, 
 " Which Jove himself might glory to have given, 
 
 Vee. 288. And gain smells sweet from whatsoe'er it springs, S^c.'] This good 
 man may be thought to have borrowed his precious apothegm from Orestes: 
 
 Aoxw [Acv aSiv pr/^K (rvv xipSst Kdycov. 
 He alludes however to the answer given by Vespasian to Titus, who had re- 
 monstrated with him on the sordid nature of his tax on urine. The emperor 
 very gravely held a piece of money to his nose, and asked him how it smelt. 
 " Not bad at all," said Titus : " and yet," replied Vespasian, " this came from 
 the very tax you reprobate." 
 
 But we shall lose much of the humour of the emperor's answer, as is justly 
 observed in the History of Inventions, if we do not advert to the custom of 
 the ancients in trying the purity of their money by the smell. Thus Arrian 
 in Epict. I. 20. 'O a.pyjpoyi/ui/.(t!v -nrpoa-jyiWTai xtxlx Sax.i(/.oi,<ria,v th i/Ojai(r,uaT(^ 
 T») oa-ipflaa-ia x. t. as. And habit, and indeed, nccessit}-, (for they wore not 
 far advanced in chemistry,) had given them an acuteness of perception in 
 these matters, of which we can scarcely have an idea. I much question whether 
 the precaution of a Scapha would be necessary at this time to deceive tiir 
 keenest-scented lover : 
 
 " Scap. Cape igitur speculum — 
 " Linteum cape, atque extcrge tibi manus. 
 " Phil. Quid ita, obsecro ? 
 
 " Scap. Ul speculum tenuisti, metuo ne oleant arp;entum manus. 
 " Ne usquam argcnlum tc acccpissc suspicctur I'hiloiachcs." 
 
 Moslel. A. I. 6'f. iii. 
 The golden sentence mentioned in the next line, is taken from Ennius. It 
 is inUoduced with admirable gravity and effect.
 
 456 SATIRE XIV. JUVENAL, v. 285— 312. 
 
 •• Will never, never from your thoughts, I trust, — ■ 
 
 " None care from whence it comes, but come it must.' 
 
 This, when the lisping race a larthing ask, 
 
 Old women set them, as a previous task, 
 
 The wondrous apothegm all haste to get. 
 
 And learn it sooner than their Alphabet. 
 
 But why this haste? Without thy care, vain fool } 
 The pupil will, ere long, the tutor school : 
 Sleep then, in peace; secure to be outdone. 
 Like Telamon, or Peleus, by thy son. 
 Be but indulgent to his tender years : — 
 The seeds of vice, sown by thy fostering cares. 
 Have scarce taken root ; but they will rise at length, 
 " Grow with his growth, and strengthen with his strength." 
 Then, when tlie firstlings of his youth are paid. 
 And his rough chin requires the razor's aid, 
 Then he will swear, then to the altar come. 
 And sell deep perjuries for a paltry sum 1 
 Yes, count thy step-daughter already dead. 
 If, with an ample dower, she mount his bed ; 
 Lo ! scarcely laid, his murderous fingers creep. 
 And close her eyes in everlasting sleep. 
 For that unbounded wealth which, with much pain. 
 Thou thought'st would be acquir'd by land and maln> 
 He gets a readier way ; the skill's not great. 
 The toil not much, to make a knave complete. 
 But thou wilt say hereafter, " I am I'ree; 
 " He never learn'd those practices of me."
 
 SATIRE XIV. JUVENAL. V. 314— 335. 457 
 
 Yes, all of thee ; — for he who, madly blind, 
 Imbues with avarice his children's mind, 
 Fires with the thirst of riches, and applauds 
 The attempt to double their estate by frauds, 
 Unconscious, flings the headlong wheels the rein, 
 Which he may wish to stop, but wish in vain ; 
 Deaf to his voice, with growing speed they roll, 
 Smoak down the steep, and spurn the distant goal. 
 None sin by rule ; none heed the charge precise. 
 Thus, and no farther, may ye step in vice ; 
 But leap the bounds prescrib'd, and, with free pace, 
 Scour far and wide the interdicted space. 
 So, when thou tell'st the youth, that fools alone, 
 Regard a friend's distresses as their own, 
 Thou bidd'st him, in effect, rob, plunder, seize, 
 And gather riches by the worst of ways ; 
 Riches, whose love is on thy soul imprest. 
 Deep as their country's on the Decii's breast; 
 Or Thebes on his, who sought an early grave, 
 If Greece say true, her sacred walls to save. 
 Thebes, where, impregn'd with serpents' teeth, the earth 
 Pour'd forth a marshall'd host, prodigious birth ! 
 
 Ver. 331. Deep as their country's on the Decii's breast ; Sfc,'] For the Decii 
 see Satire vui. The person alluded lo immediately after, is Menoeceus, son 
 of Creon, King of Thebes. He had learnt from Tiresias thai the city, which 
 was then closely besieged, could not be taken if he would devote himself to a 
 voluntary death ; which he readily did. All this, and more, is finely told by 
 Statius. 
 
 Juvenal never forgets the verbiage and vanity of the Greeks ; which he 
 pleasantly imitates and ridicules in the succeeding lines. 
 
 3 N
 
 458 SATIRE XIV. JUVENAL, v. 336—353- 
 
 Horrent with arms, that fought with headlong rage, 
 
 Nor ask'd the trumpet's signal, to engage. 
 
 But mark the end ! the fire, deriv'd at first 
 
 From a small sparkle, by thy lolly must, 
 
 Rais'd to a flame, on all around it preys. 
 
 And wraps thee in the universal blaze. 
 
 So the young lion rent, with hideous roar, 
 
 His keeper's trembling limbs, and drank his gore. 
 
 " Tut ! I am safe," thou cry'st ; '• Chaldsean seers 
 Have rais'd my scheme, and promis'd length of years." 
 But has thy son subscrib'd? will he await 
 The lingering distaff of decrepid Fate? 
 No — his impatience will the work confound. 
 And snap the vital thread ere half unwound. 
 Already, see ! thy stag-like age annoys 
 His prospects, and procrastinates his joys. 
 Fly then, and bid Archigenes prepare 
 An antidote, if life be worth thy care ; 
 
 Ver. 342. So the young lion, ^c] This alludes to a real incident, which 
 took place under Domitian, and is tlius related by Martial : 
 " Lteseral ingiato leo perfidus ore magistruin, 
 
 " Ausus tarn notas contenierare man us : 
 " Sad dignas tanlo persolvit criniine poenas, 
 
 " Et qui non tulerat verbera, tela tulit." De Spect. x. 
 
 From the mention of verbera, sa^- the crilicsj it appears that the keeper had 
 wantonly irritated the natural ferocity of the animal. This renders the appli- 
 cation infinitely more striking. 
 
 Ver. 352. Fly then, and bid Jrchigenes prepare, Sfc."] Archigenes is fre- 
 quently mentioned by Juvenal. The scholiast says he Mas " a very celebrated 
 physician of his own times, who practised at Rome." It appears from Galen, 
 that he was u native of Syria.
 
 SATIRE xrv. JUVENAL, v. 354—363. 459 
 
 If thou would'st see another autumn close, 
 And phick another fig, another rose, 
 Take mithridate, rash man, before thy meat, 
 A father thou, and unprotected eat ! 
 
 Come, my Fuscinus, come with me, and view 
 A scene more comic than the stage e'er knew. 
 Lol with what toil, what danger, wealth is sought, 
 And to the fane of watchful Castor brought ; 
 Since Mars the Avenger slumber'd to his cost. 
 And, with his helmet, all his credit lost ! 
 
 Vee. 361. And to the fane of watchful Castor h-ought.} E^'^ yxf, says an 
 old scholiast on Thucydides, waXaioKTa; ^v/autx £^ toi? lepoi? t«/*i£Diiv. It was 
 ancientl)» the custom to depositc their money in the temples for the gods to 
 keep. This was judicious enough ; some unJucliy wiglit, however, might have 
 asked, with our author on another occasion — But who shall keep the keepers? 
 for it appears that both gods and money were sometimes swept away together! 
 
 The public treasure was laid up at Rome in the temple of Saturn, because, 
 (says Macrobius,) when Saturn reigned in Italy, robbery was unknown there; 
 which, I dare say, it was : and, indeed, the money continued there pretty safe, 
 unless from the clutches of such mighty robbers as Julius Csesav, as a good 
 guard was constantly stationed at the doors. 
 
 Individuals kept their money in the temple of Mars, which stood in the 
 Forum of Augustus, hence our author says, in his tenth Satire, 
 
 " ut maxima loto 
 
 " Nostra sit area Foro." 
 
 After the misfortune which befel this poor god, they removed it to the temple 
 of Castor and Pollux, it seems : here they were less secure than before. Rlars 
 was only stript of his armour, but these luckless beings, whose vigilance 
 Juvenal notices, were absolutely f\ayed—bracteolam de Castore ducat ! 
 
 I should imagine, that the temple of Peace succeeded to the credit of Castor 
 and Pollux; for when that truly magnificent structure was destroyed by fire, 
 in the reign of Conmiodus, treasures to an enormous amount perished in the 
 conflagration.
 
 460 SATIRE XIV. JUVENAL, v. 364—381. 
 
 Ouit then the stage ; the farce of life supplies, 
 
 A sight more sportive, in the sage's eyes. 
 
 For vs^ho amuses most ? — the man who springs 
 
 Light through the hoop, and on the tight-rope swings ; 
 
 Or he who, to a fragile bark confin'd. 
 
 Dwells on the deep, the sport of every wind? 
 
 Fool-hardy wretch ! scrambling lor every bale 
 
 Of stinking merchandize, expos'd to sale; 
 
 And proud to Crete, for ropy wine, to rove, 
 
 And jars, the fellow-citizens of Jove! 
 
 That skips along the rope with wavering tread, 
 
 Dangerous dexterity ! which brings him bread ; 
 
 This ventures life for wealth too great to spend. 
 
 Farm join'd to farm, and villas without end. 
 
 Lo! every harbour throng'd, and every bay. 
 
 And more than half mankind upon the sea: 
 
 For where he hears the attractive voice of gain. 
 
 The merchant hurries, and defies the main. — 
 
 Ver. 372. And proud to Crete, ^-c] Crete, the commentators gravely teli 
 MS, was the native country of Jove, who was born and nursed on mount Ida! 
 the bitter sarcasm of Juvenal totally escapes them. But Crete was not only 
 the birth, but the burying, place of that deity, whose tomb the people of the 
 island pretended to shew. Callinmchus, indeed, seems inclined to deprive 
 them of their claims in both instances. The first he disputes rather faintly; 
 but for the second, he rebukes them with a solemnity that borders on tiie 
 sublime. " The Cretans, and the Arcadians boast of having given thee birth," 
 says he to Jupiter: 
 
 TTOTtpOl) iraTf/), £lJ/£U(r«l/TO ; 
 
 KpjiTtj iriHTmxvTO, I.\j J' n ^Mti' KTCi yap xui.
 
 SATIRE XIV. JUVENAL. V. 382—401. 461 
 
 Nor will he only range the Lybian shore ; 
 But, shooting Calpe, other worlds explore; 
 See Phoebus, sinking in the Atlantic, lave 
 His fiery car, and hear the hissing wave. 
 And all for what? O glorious end! to come, 
 After such toils, with purse replenish'd, home, 
 And, with a traveller's privilege, to boast 
 Of unknown monsters on an unknown coast. 
 
 How madness shews itself in different forms ! 
 Orestes, safe within his sister's arms, 
 Sees, in idea, the pale Furies rise. 
 And wave their bloody torches in his eyes : 
 While Ajax strikes an ox, and, at the blow, 
 Believes he hears great Agamemnon low; 
 And surely he, (though haply he forbear. 
 His keepers and his clothes, like these, to tear,) 
 Is just as mad, who, to the water's brim, 
 Loads his frail bark ; an inch twixt death and him ! 
 When all this risk is but to swell his store 
 With a few coins, a few gold pieces more. 
 
 Ver. 401. Concisum argent um in titulosfaciesqueminulas.'] This, which is 
 merely a periphrasis for coined money, is thus rendered b}' Dryden: 
 " But silver makes him all this toil wiibracCj 
 " Silver with titles stampt, and a dull monarcii's face." 
 
 1 slioiild not have noticed this, if his example had not seduced the last 
 translator ; whose book being designed for schools, should carefully avoid those 
 srratuitous and illiberal reflections. 
 
 I must observe here, that the notes subjoined to this Satire by young Dryden,. 
 are ignorant, petulant, and licentious to the last degree. His fallier. should; 
 have flung them into the fire.
 
 462 SATIRE XIV. JUVENAL, v. 402— 421. 
 
 Heaven lowers, and frequent, through the mutternig air, 
 The nimble lightning glares, or seems to glare : 
 " Weigh! weigh!" the impatient man of traffic cries, 
 " These gathering clouds, this rack that dims the skies, 
 " Are but the pageants of a sultry day ; 
 " A thunder shower, that frowns, and melts away." 
 Deluded wretch ! dash'd on some barbarous coast, 
 This night, this hour perhaps, his bark is lost ; 
 While he still strives, though whelm'd beneath the wave, 
 With teeth, or hand, his darling purse to save. 
 Thus he, whose wishes erst^ not all the gold 
 Down the rich Tagus and Pactolus roU'd, 
 Sufficed, now bounds them to one poor request, 
 A scanty morsel, and a tatter'd vest ; 
 And shews, where tears, where supplications fail, 
 A daubing of his melancholy tale! 
 
 Wealth, by such hardship's earn'd, requires more pain, 
 More care to keep it, than at first to gain ; 
 Whate'er my miseries, make me not, kind fate, 
 The sleepless Argus of a vast estate ! 
 
 Vee. 416. And shews, tchere tears, where supplications, fail, 
 A tlanlnng, <^c.] Thus Persius : 
 
 " te fracta in trabe pictura 
 
 " Ex humero portes." 
 
 But Phoedrus had said the same before him, in tlie shipwreck of Simonides: 
 
 " — ■ Ca^teri tabuhmi suam 
 
 " Portant, logantes victuni." 
 They carried about a coarse painting of their misfortune, to move pity, per- 
 haps, in countries where their language was not understood.
 
 SATIRE XIV, JUVENAL. V. 422— 441. 463 
 
 The slaves of Licinus, a numerous band» 
 Watch through tlie night, with buckets in their hand, 
 While their rich master trembhng lies, afraid, 
 Lest fire, his ivory, amber, gold, invade. 
 The naked Cynic mocks such anxious cares, 
 His earthen tub no conflagration fears ; 
 If crack'd, or broke, he soon procures a new, 
 Or, coarsely soldering, makes the old one do.— 
 E'en Philip's son, when, in the little cell, 
 Content he saw the mighty master dwell, 
 Own'd, with a sigh, that he who nought desir'd. 
 Was happier far than he who worlds requir'd, 
 And whose ambition certain dangers brought, 
 As vast, as boundless, as the object sought. 
 Fortune, advanc'd to heaven by fools alone, 
 Would lose, were prudence ours, her shadowy throne. 
 " What call I, then, enough?" What will allord 
 A decent habit, and a frugal board ; 
 What Socrates, of old, sufficient thought. 
 And Epicurus : these, by Nature taught, 
 
 Ver. 430. EvenPhi/ip's sott,wken, in the little cell, ^c] This circumstance 
 >n Alexander's history is alluded to by Butler^wilh his usual felicity of humour: 
 " The whole world was not half so wide, 
 " To Alexander, when he cry'd, 
 " Because he had but out- to subdue; 
 " As was a paltry, narrow tub, to 
 " Diogenes, who ne'er was said, 
 " For ought that I could ever read, 
 " To whine, put finger i' th' eye, and sob, 
 " Because he'd ne'er another tub."
 
 464 SATIRE XIV. JUVENAL, v. 442—451. 
 
 Squar'd, by her simple rules, their blameless life — 
 
 Nature and Wisdom never are at strife. 
 
 Thou think'st, perhaps, these rigid means too scant. 
 
 And that I ground philosophy on want ; 
 
 Take then, (for I will be indulgent now, 
 
 And something for the change of times allow,) 
 
 As much as Otho for a knight requires : — 
 
 If this, unequal to thy wild desires, 
 
 Contract thy brow ; enlarge the sum, and take 
 
 As much as two, — as much as three, will make. 
 
 Vee. 441. And Epicurus, S^c.~\ No one could hold the theological tenets 
 of Epicurus in greater contempt and abhorrence than Juvenal, and yet 
 he never omits an opportunity of doing justice to the simplicity of his life. 
 This is the more laudable, as few have lain under greater obloquy, (from the 
 dissipated lives of his followers,) than this philosopher, who, to say the least of 
 him, was no ordinary man He has been represented as wallowing in sensuality! 
 He placed, it must be confessed, the chief good in pleasure: but he meant by 
 it, that calm and soothing delight which arises from a life spent in the con- 
 templation of virtue. Diodes says that he was a perfect example of conti- 
 nence and simplicity ; and Juvenal loves to dwell on his frugality — parvis 
 stiffecit in horlia. In a word, the garden of Epicurus was a school of tempe- 
 rance : and would have afforded little gratification, and still less sanction, to 
 those sensualists of our day, wiio, in turning hogs, fancy they are becoming 
 Epicuieans ! 
 
 After saying thus much of the man, it is but just to add a word respecting 
 his doctrines. With regard to the beauty of temperance and sobriety; and 
 the strong necessity of restraining the tumultuous and disorderly passions, 
 Epicurus may be listened to with advantage; but on the higher and more im- 
 portant subjects of life, there is not a more false and destructive system on 
 earth than his; nor one so likely to make mankind worse by imitation. 
 Perhaps he is the only philosopher, who never had one follower like to him- 
 self. Decipit exemplar viliis imitabile. All his imitators have been vicious, 
 and the world has been ruined by his virtues.
 
 SATIRE XIV. JUVENAL. V. MG— 459. 465 
 
 If yet, in spite of this prodigious store, 
 Thy craving bosom yawn, unliU'd, for more, 
 Then all the wealth of Lydia's king, iricreas'd 
 By all the treasures of the gorgeous East, 
 Will not content thee ; no, nor all the gold 
 Of that proud slave whose mandate Rome controll'd, 
 Who sway'd the emperor, and whose fatal word 
 Plung'd in tlie empress' breast the lingering sword. 
 
 Ver. 458. JVho sway d the emperor, ^c] The state of dependance in which 
 this moon-calf (Claudius) was kept by his freednien, is sarcastically alluded 
 to by Seneca, in a passage of exquisite humour: exca/idtscit Claudius: quid 
 diceret nemo inlelUgebat. Ilk autem fcbrim duci jubchat, illo geslu soluta 
 manus, quo decullare homines so It bat. Jusserat illi collum prcecidi; putares 
 omnes illius esse libertos, adeo illam nemo curabat." Apokol. 
 
 Ver. 458. atid zchose fatal word, 
 
 Plung'd, 6)C.'\ Tills is atjreeable to history. Narcissus, the person 
 here meant, thouj^h iiifcriour in rank to Pallas, was the chief adviser, Tacitus 
 says, in the whole aflair. 
 
 But this is not all, for when Claudius appeared irresolute, and shewed marks 
 of returning fondness for jNIessalina, Narcissus gave the orders for her death, 
 without consulting him: fearful of her resentment, if she recovered her in- 
 fluence, he would not even permit her to be heard. Such was the end of 
 Messalina ! Her two accusers were not much more fortunate. Pallas 
 perished by the sword of Nero, as wc have already seen, Satire i. Narcissus 
 preserved his influence during tiie life of Claudius, but on the accession of Nero, 
 Agrippina, whose designs he had endeavoured to thwart, threw him into prison ; 
 and, by a detestable refinement in cruelty, compelled \um, tiirough mere 
 want of sustenance, to put an end to his life. A strange catastrophe for one 
 wJio had seen the resources of the Koman world at his feet! 
 
 30
 
 SATIRE XV. 
 
 In this Satire, which tyas written after tlu Author s return from Egypt, 
 iu directs his ridicule at the sottish and ferocious bigotry of the Egyp- 
 tians. The enumeration of their animal and vegetable gods, is a fine 
 specimen of dignified humour ; and though he may be thought to treat 
 the actors in the horrid transaction, which makes the chief subject of his 
 poem, with too indiscriminate a severity, yet it should be considered 
 that he had, for many justifiable causes, long regarded the country and 
 the countrymen of Crispinus, witli contempt and aversion: neither of 
 which, we may presume, was much diminished, by a nearer vieyv of 
 both. 
 
 The conclusion of the Satire, which is a just and beautiful description 
 of the origin of civil society, (infinitely superior to any thing that 
 Lucretius or Horace has delivered on the subject.) does honour to the 
 genius, good sense, and enlightened morality, I had almost said, piety, 
 of tlie Author. It is not founded in natural instinct, but on principles 
 of mutual benevolence, implanted, not by JVature, as Mr. Gibbon care- 
 lessly or perversely asserts, but by Nature's God, in the breast of 
 7nan, and of haj^ alone.
 
 SATIRE XV 
 
 TO VOLUSIUS BITHYMCUS. 
 
 V. 1—6. 
 
 Who knows not to wliat monstrous gods, my friend, 
 
 The mad inhabitants of Egypt bend? 
 
 While These the ibis piously inshrine, 
 
 Those think the crocodile alone divine ; 
 
 Others, where Thebes' vast ruins strew the ground, 
 
 And shatter'd Memnon yields a magic sound, 
 
 Ver. G. Jnd shatter'd Memmott, ^c] " The gigantic statue of Memmou, 
 in his temple of Tiiebes, had a lyre in his bands, which, many credible writers 
 assure us, sounded when the rising sun shone upon it." Darmii. What 
 credible writer says this < An old scholiast on Juvenal, indeed, mentions it; 
 but he is totally unworthy of belief. 
 
 The history of this wonderful statue seems to be simply this : Herodotus, 
 when he went into Egypt, was shewn the fragments of a Colossus, thrown 
 down some years before by Cambyscs, This he calls Memnon, but says not 
 a syllable respecting its emitting a vocal sound: whicli appears to have been 
 an after-thought of the priests of Thebes.* 
 
 The upper part of this statue has been covered by the sand for ages : it is 
 
 * Savary observes witii a simplicity that excites a smile: " Herodotus is the 
 first who speaks of tlic statue of Mommon, and indeed, it is but a word he saj's 
 of it, because, when he was in Eijypt, it had not been long mutilated ! Since 
 his time, a crowd of travellers have dwell upon it with enthusiasm !" Lett, sur 
 I'Egypte, Vol. m. p. 175.
 
 470 SATIRE XV. JUVENAL, v. 7—10. 
 
 Set up a glittering brute of uncouth shape, 
 And bow before the image of an ape ! 
 Thousands regard the hound with holy fear, 
 Not one Diana : and 'tis dangerous here, 
 
 that which yet remains on its pedestal, which performs the wonders mentioned 
 by so many travellers, who have perpetuated their credulity on the spot, by 
 inscribing their names on the stone. One man, indeed, of high respectability, 
 bears a kind of testimony to the common report of a sound proceeding, not 
 from the harp of Memnon, for there never was any such thing, but from the 
 statue. Strabo says he heard a sound, but wlielher it came from the Colossus 
 itself^ or the base, or from some one of the numerous slanders by, he could not 
 tell. " Indeed," adds he, " one would be inclined to suppose almost any 
 thing, rather than to beliere atones, however disposed, capable of producing 
 a sound." Germanicus too, according to Tacitus, (Ann. ii. 6l,) was indulged 
 with the same favour. If he listened with patience to the nonsense first read 
 to him by the priests, he was not unworthy of it. 
 
 In a word, the whole appears to have been a trick not ill-adapted to such a 
 place as Egypt, where men went, and still go, with a face of gaping wonder- 
 ment, predisposed to swallow the grossest absurdities. The sound, (for some 
 sound I suppose there was,) I am inclined to think, with De Pauw, proceeded 
 from an excavation near the plinth, the sides of which might be struck, at a 
 concerted moment, with a bar of sonorous metal. Even Savary, who saw 
 nothing but prodigies in Egypt, treats this foolish affair as an artifice of the 
 priests. So much for the harp of Memnon ! which, though miserably out of 
 its place in a work of philosophy, does very well in a poetic description : 
 " As Memnon's marble harp, renown'd of old 
 " By fabling Nilus, to the quivering touch 
 " Of Titan's ray, with each repulsive string 
 " Consenting, sounded through the warbling air 
 " Unbidden strains." Akcn&ide. 
 
 " But," says Dr. Darwin, who seems to have no objection to believe any 
 miracle, provided it be not in Scripture, " the truncated statue is said, for 
 many centuries, to have saluted the rising sua with cheerful tones, and the 
 setting sun with melancholy ones." This gross and palpable invention of one
 
 sATinE XV. JUVENAL, v. il — 12. 4>i 
 
 To violate an onion, or to stain 
 
 The sanctity of leelcs, with tooth profane. 
 
 Philostratus, (ihe scorn of every man of sense,) was scarce worth notice ; the 
 Doctor, however, thinks otlierwise, he speculates profoundly upon it; and 
 observes, among other things, that the sun's light possesses a mechanical 
 impulse : a tmism, it seems, which would have been proved by Mr. Michel, 
 if the experiments had not totally failed ! 
 
 I recommend this whole passage, (Botanic Garden, note ix.) to the curious. 
 It contains such marvellous discoveries ; and such ingenious and economical 
 proposals for opening the glasses of melons and cucumber beds, as have not 
 been equalled, since the never-to-be-forgotten plan of constructing parish 
 sun-dials with eight-and-forty pounders ! 
 
 Ver. W. To violate an onion, Sfc.'] Yet Herodotus was told of the immense 
 quantity of onions consumed by the workmen who were employed on the 
 pyramids. How shall we reconcile this ? In the book of Numbers, the children 
 of Israel, now wandering in the Desert, regret, among other articles of luxury, 
 the onions with which they were liberally supplied in Egypt. Were they then, 
 the constructors of them ? This is a subject for an essay, not a marginal note. 
 One thing, however, I cannot avoid saying: the race of men who inhabited 
 Egypt when Herodotus visited that country, do not appear to be the descen- 
 dants of those who produced the massy structures which encumber, rather 
 than embellish it. Nay, I am tempted to think that they were not even th6 
 progeny of those for whom they were raised ; a people, superior in every re- 
 spect to the timid and boastful horde, (the aborigines of the country,) whicK 
 the historian found there, and which, with little variation, has continued t6 
 our times. One reason, and indeed a principal one, for this supposition, is 
 the profound ignorance of the natives respecting the purport of their sacred 
 edifices, rites, &c. which, if ever known to them, could not possibly have been 
 so totally obliterated from their minds as it appears to be. Not many years 
 had elapsed between the invasion of Cambyses, and the visit of Herodotus ; 
 yet the origin of the pyramids, temples, statues. Sec. were no better known to 
 the priests of that period, than to the imans, and Coptic cenobites of the 
 present day. Could this have been the case, if their predecessors had pos- 
 sessed any information ia the time of the Persian monarch ? Certainly not. 
 It is worse than trifling, therefore, to attempt, as many of the commentators
 
 -472 SATIRE XV. JUVENAL, v. 13— Iff. 
 
 O holy nations I Sacro-sanct abodes ! 
 Where every garden propagates its gods ! 
 From mutton they abstain, and think it ill, 
 The blood of lambkins or of kids to spill ; 
 
 do, to account for the practises Juvenal found amongst this people, which 
 if they understood ill, he understood much worse. I do not think indeed it 
 will ever he found in Egypt. A ray of light, however, is breaking upon us from 
 anotlier quarter; I mean India: there, at no very distant period perhaps, if 
 the present learned race of investigators continue their researches, will a clue 
 be found, to guide us through the hitherto inextricable maze of Egyptian 
 history. 
 
 Meanwhile, the Egyptians have been fortunate. As few or none of their 
 visitants understood their language ; and as to those few, they could not ex- 
 plain what they did not know; all their absurd and bestial superstitions have 
 been gratuitously supposed to be pregnant with sound sense, and a pure and 
 enlightened system of morality. OvStv, says Plutarch, yap ocKoyoi/, aJ's [Jt,•JB^ui£g, 
 gSc JuTo SiKriSonfAonx; , jc. t. », " The Egyptians have inserted nothing into 
 their worship without a reason, nothing merely fabulous, nothing super- 
 stitious," O lone! " (as many suppose;) but their institutions have either 
 respect to morals or to something useful in hfe; and many of them bear a 
 beautiful resemblance of some fact in history, of some appearance of nature, 
 «toi/ TO -ut^i xpo/n/*u8," &,c. And the very ingenious translator of the Hymn to 
 Cere^^: " The Egyptian priests threw an awful and ambiguous veil over their 
 religious rites, and having enjoined silence and secrecj' as indispensable terms 
 of initiation, gave an air of pomp and solemnity to institutions that were 
 trifling, and doctrines that were absurd." 
 
 This is too much. The Egyptians of profane history were neither a wise, 
 nor a moral people : nor did their priests give an air of pomp and solemnity 
 to their religious rites, which, on the contrary were sottish, ludicrous, and 
 obscene. To talk therefore, as some do, of their being the teachers of the old 
 •world is truly ridiculous. What could Py tliagoras learn from a nation, whose 
 knowledge is not proved in a single instance ? What did Herodotus learn? 
 Milesian tales. 'What Plato ? To sell oil, perhaps: — in short, it is time to 
 have done with, the prejudices of childhood, and to think for ourselves.
 
 SATIRE XV. JUVENAL. V. 17— 3S. 4T3 
 
 But human flesh — O! that is lawful fare, 
 And you may eat it without scandal there. 
 
 When, at th' amazed Alcinous' board, of old, 
 Ulysses of so strange an action told. 
 He mov'd of some the mirth, of more the gall, 
 And for a lying vagrant pass'd with all : 
 " Will no one seize this knave, and, for his pains, 
 " On some true Scylla dash him ; — while he feigns 
 " Monsters unheard of since the world began, 
 " Cyclops and Laestrigons, who feed on man ! 
 " For I should less demur at Scylla's train, 
 " At rocks that float and jostle in the main, 
 " At bladders fill'd with storms, at men, in fine, 
 " By magic chang'd, and driven to grunt with swine, 
 " Than at his cannibals. — The fellow lies, 
 " As if he thought Phasacians not o'er wise." 
 
 Thus one, a little sob'rer than the rest, 
 Observ'd, and rightly, of their travell'd guest, 
 Who spoke of prodigies till then unknown; 
 And brought no attestation but his own. 
 — And I, too, have my wonders: I can tell> 
 Of what, in Junius' consulship, befel, 
 
 Ver. 19. When at the amaz'd Alcinom' hoard, ^c] All the wonders re- 
 corded in the subsequent lines, and more, are to be found in the tenth book 
 of the Odyssey, to which the reader, if they are not familiar to him, should 
 have recourse : they form perhaps, the most bewitching narrative that ever 
 came from the tongue of man. 
 
 Ver. 38. Of what, in Junittt' consulship, ire] For Junius see the Life oJ 
 Juvenal. 
 
 3 P
 
 } 
 
 474 SATIRE XV. JUVENAL, v. 39—53. 
 
 Near Coptus' walls; tell of a nation stain'd 
 
 With deeper guilt than tragedy e'er feign'd ; 
 
 For search all buskin'd strains from Pyrrha's time, 
 
 No poet will be found, to charge a crime 
 
 On a whole people ; take then, what the stage 
 
 Yet never dar'd ; a scene of barbarous rage, 
 
 Collectively perfbrm'd, and in our age ! 
 
 Between two neighbouring towns, a deadly hate, 
 Sprung from a sacred grudge of ancient date, 
 Yet flames ; a hate no lenients can assuage. 
 No time subdue, a rooted, rancorous, rage I 
 Blind bigotry, at first, the evil wrought; 
 For each despis'd the other's gods, each thought 
 Its own the true, the genuine, in a word, 
 The only deities to be ador'd. 
 
 Ver. 50. Blind bigotry, ^c] The Ombites worshipped the crocodile, the 
 Tentyrites the ibis, whose respective claims to superiority are not yet settled: 
 Ihold them both to be very excellent gods, and, as Lucian, says, «Aii3-«f agio* 
 T8 upccvn, but do not feel inclined to fight or to dispute for either. 
 
 The singularity here is, that the critics will not allow Juvenal to know his 
 pwn meaning. De Pauw seems to think, (I say, seems, for it is not always 
 easy to discover his real meaning,) that this was not a religious war. It is 
 owing to the corrupt text of Juvenal, he says " that the false opinion pre- 
 vailed of the Ombites having fought with the Tentyrites for a crocodile.* 
 These two towns were near a hundred miles distant, and therefore not likely 
 
 * But why must the inhabitants of the two capitals be the people who 
 fought ? Each of them had a considerable district lying around it, and the 
 borderers, therefore, inigiit not be veiy remote neighbours. Even if this be 
 disallowed, a voyage of fourscore miles up the Nile is no very tedious, or dif- 
 ficult matter. Superstitious frenzy has frc<iucntiy impelled its votaries to more 
 laborious undertakings.
 
 SATIRE XV. JUVENAL. V. 54—63. 475 
 
 And now the Ombite festival drew near : 
 When the prime Tent'rites, envious of their cheer, 
 Resolv'd to seize tiie occasion, to annoy 
 Their feast, and spoil the sacred week of joy. 
 It came: the hour the thoughtless Ombites greet, 
 And crowd the porches, crowd the public street, 
 With tables richly spread; where, night and day, 
 Plung'd in the abyss of gluttony they lay: 
 (For savage as the country is, it vies, 
 In luxury, if I may trust mv eyes, 
 
 to have great interests to promote such vain pretexts. The dispute really 
 took place between the Tentyrites and the inhabitants of Coptus, and was 
 occasioned solely by a jealousy of trade !" 
 
 This is a little hard upon .Tuvenal : though we grant that he (or his tran- 
 scribers) might have written Onibos for Coptos, still he could not well have 
 mistaken the motives of the fray. 
 
 Bruce, who seems to have read our author, as he read " Peter Paez," and 
 indeed every other writer, as far as I have followed him, i. e. " rapidly, and 
 looking for things only whore they ought to be;" has another fancy. " It is 
 remarkable (Vol. I. p. 142,) these two parties were anthropophagi as late as 
 Juvenal's time; yet no author speaks of this extraordinary fact! which cannot 
 be called in question, as he was an eye witness, and resided at Syene. A 
 chain was stretched across the Nile, and as the Ombites and Tentyrites could 
 only meet on that river, cither one or the other possessing it, could hinder his 
 adversary from coming nearer him. As the chain is in the llarnionthic 
 nome, as well as the capital oi" the Ombi, I suppose it to be the barriqr of this 
 last state, to hinder those of Dendera from coming up to eat thkm!" 
 
 As Bruce is very generally read, it is not amiss to notice liis errors. I am 
 not hostile to liis fame ; though a careless render, he was a curious observer; 
 •nnd though a mere pretender to literature, a most indefatigable, enterpriziug, 
 and sagacious traveller.
 
 4)6 SATIRE XV. JUVENAL. V. 64—85. 
 
 With dissolute Canopus.) Six were past, 
 
 Six days of riot, and the seventh and last, 
 
 Rose on the feast. And now the Tent' rites thouglit, 
 
 A cheap, a bloodless victory, might be bought. 
 
 O'er such a helpless crew ; nor thought they wrong : 
 
 For, could the event be doubtful ? where a throng 
 
 Of drunken revellers, stammering, reeling-ripe, 
 
 And capering to a sooty minstrel's pipe, 
 
 Coarse unguents, chuplets, flowers, on this side fight : 
 
 On thatj keen hatred and deliberate spite ! 
 
 At first both sides, though eager to engage, 
 With taunts and jeers, the heralds of their rage, 
 Blow up their mutual fury; and anon. 
 Kindled to madness, with loud shouts rush on; 
 Deal, though unarm'd, their vengeance blindly round. 
 And, with clench'd fists, print many a ghastly wound. 
 Then might you see, amid the desperate fray. 
 Features disfigured, noses torn away, 
 Hands, where the gore of mangled eyes yet reeks. 
 And jaw-bones starting through the cloven cheeks ! 
 
 But this is sport, they think, mere children's play. 
 As yet beneath their feet no bodies lay ; 
 
 Ver. 73. On that kten haired, ^c] Holydajj supposes that the Tentyrites 
 envied the good cheer of the Ombites; and therefore feil on them with such 
 fury. But inde in the text, is opposed to hinc. Each word is placed at the 
 he.id of the muster-roll of the respective armies. This personification of the 
 combatants, is spirited and pleasant in the original; but necessarily loses much 
 of its effect in the translation.
 
 SATIRE XV. JUVENAL. V. 8C— 99. 477 
 
 (And why, forsooth, should two such armies fight 
 The cause of heaven, if none be slain outright?) 
 Rous'd at the thought, more fiercely they engage. 
 With stones, the weapons of intestine rage: 
 Yet not precisely such, to tell you true, 
 As Turnus, or as Ajax whilom threw ; 
 Nor quite so large as that two-handed stone, 
 VA'hich bruis'd J^neas on the huckle-bone ; 
 But such as men, in our degenerate days. 
 Ah ! how unlike to theirs, make shift to raise. 
 E'en in his time, Maeonides could trace 
 Some dimunition of the human race; 
 Now earth, grown old and frigid, rears with pain, 
 A pigmy brood, a weak and wicked train; 
 
 Ver. 95. Ah! /tow unlike to theirs, mahe shift to raise."] " There prevailed," 
 says Dr. Johnson in his life of Millon, " an opinion in his time, that the world 
 was in its decay, and that we have the misfortune to be produced in the de- 
 crepitude of nature." The Doctor probably meant to confine his observation 
 to this country only : the opinion, however, was universal, and prevailed nianj 
 thousand vears before Milton was born; and seems derived from a natural 
 predilection in the aged for the companions of their youth; or perhaps from 
 an unconscious recurrence to the longevity of the antediluvian world. " Few 
 ajid evil," says the patriarch, with pathetic simplicity, " few and evil have 
 been the days of the years of my life, and have not attained to the days of the 
 years of the life of my fathers, in the days of their pilgrimage." 
 
 Homer seems to place the maximum of human strength and activity at the 
 period of the Trojan war, when Nestor had already observed a decline of both. 
 Where it really should be placed, we shall never know, though we all agree, 
 !is we advance in years, that it must be thrown back a little. As for Juvenal, 
 he is pleased to be facetious, as usual. 1 am ghul, however, that while Jie wa*
 
 47S SATIRE XV. JUVENAL, v, loo— 115. 
 
 Which every god, who marks their passions vile, 
 Regards with laughter, though he loaths the while. 
 
 But to our combatants. With arm'd supplies 
 Inforc'd, the Tent'rites leel their courage rise, 
 And wave their swords, and, kindling at the sight, 
 Rush on, and M'ith fell rage renew the fight. 
 The Ombites flee ; they follow : — in the rear, 
 A luckless wretch, confounded by his fear, 
 Trips, and falls headlong : with loud yelling cries, 
 The pack rush in, and seize him as he lies. 
 
 And now the conquerors, none to disappoint 
 Of the dire banquet, tear him joint by joint. 
 And dole him round; the bones yet warm they gnaw, 
 And champ the flesh that heaves beneath their jaw. 
 They want no cook to dress it — 'twould be long, 
 And appetite is keen, and rage is strong. 
 
 indulging a smile at Homer's expense, he did not overlook Virgil, who, in 
 copying him, manifests a lamentable deficiency of taste. These are the 
 passages : 
 
 — — ■ Aj«f TToAu fj.n(Tovx Xa.(x.v xupcci 
 
 Hx* iiriSivtiiyots . -"• H. 
 
 TuSiiSri;, fisyx epyov, o h ivo y avipi ^ipoitv^ 
 
 Oioi UVV (ipOTOt tK7t. IL t- 
 
 " saxum circumspicit ingens : — 
 
 " Vix illiid lecti bis sex cervice subirent, 
 
 " Qualia nunc hominum producit corpora tellus." ^n. xii. 
 
 I do not know how it is; but, generally speaking, Virgil's heroes have 
 always appeared to me less striking, in their qualilios both of body and of mind, 
 than Homer's ; yet they perform greater feats upon occasion.
 
 SATIRE XV. JUVENAL. V. 116—127. 479 
 
 And here, Volusius, I rejoice at least, • 
 
 That fire was unprofan'd by this curs'd feast, 
 
 Fire, rapt fi-om heaven ! and you, I think, will join 
 
 Your greetings to the element, with mine. 
 
 But least you doubt, if those who came in time, 
 
 First at the bloody banquet, and the crime, 
 
 Relish'd the treat; know those who came the last, 
 
 And when the rest had finish'd the repast, 
 
 Stoop'd down, and scraping where the wretch had lain, 
 
 With savage pleasure lick'd the gory plain. 
 
 The Vascons once (the story yet is ri(e) 
 With such dire aliment sustain'd their life; 
 
 Ver. 116. ^nd here Voluaiiis, <S)C.] I cannot see the purport of this apos- 
 trophe to Volusius. It is not, indeed, unusual with our aullior, when lie is 
 ridiculing one species of superstition, to manifest something like tenderness 
 for another; but even this caprice could not influence him here; for the 
 Romans cared little for fire, and the Egyptians, I believe, still less. 
 
 The mysteries of Mitlira were neither unknown, nor unpracticed at Rome, 
 when Juvenal wrote: if his friend was attached to those, a compliment might 
 be intended ; though, even in that case, the introduction of Piometheus would 
 shew a want of judgment. 1 can think of nothing to the purpose. 
 
 Ver. 125. 27ic f'ascons once, ^c] The Vascons were a people in the north- 
 east of Spain, who took part with Sertorius, and stood a long and severe siege 
 from Cn. Pompey, and Melellus. Holyday says that Sertorius compelled 
 these two chiefs to raise the siege, after their capital had been reduced to a 
 slate of the most dreadful necessity; but Val. Max. (lib. vii. 6,) who also 
 mentions the calamities of the besieged, speaks of tiiat general as already 
 dead. //o;«ffi (the HumanUnes) Irucem pcrtiuaciam in consimilifacinorc Cali- 
 guritaiiorum execrabilis impietas supergrcssa est ; qui, (jiio persevcraiitiits iiiter- 
 empti Sertorii cincrihus Jidem prestarent, (quia nullum jam aliud in iirOe 
 corum supcrerat animal,) ad usum ncfuricv dapis vcrtcrunt.
 
 4So SATIRE XIV. JUVENAL, v. 158— 151. 
 
 But then the cause was different : Fortune there, 
 Prov'd adverse. They had borne the extremes of war, 
 The rage of famine, the still-watchful foe, 
 And all the ills beleagur'd cities know. 
 (And nothing less, should prompt mankind to use 
 Such desperate means.) This then was their excuse. 
 For after every root and herb were gone, 
 And every creature yet to hunger known ; 
 When their lean frames, and cheeks of sallow hue, 
 Struck e'en the foe with pity at the view, 
 And all were ready their own flesh to tear. 
 They first adventur'd on this horrid fare. 
 And surely every god would pity grant. 
 To men so worn by wretchedness and want, 
 And e'en the very ghosts of those they ate, 
 Absolve them, mindful of their dreadful state. 
 True, we are wiser; and, by Zeno taught. 
 Know life itself may be too dearly bought; 
 But how should this be to the Vascon known, 
 And in an age so distant from our own ? 
 Now, thanks to Greece and Rome, in wisdom's robe, 
 The bearded tribes rush forth, and seize the globe : 
 Already learned Gaul aspires to teach 
 Your British orators the art of speech; 
 
 Ver. 150. Already learned Gaul, Sjc.'] Could any one suppose that a writer 
 of eminence would seriously fix on a passage like this, to prove the migration 
 of oratory from France to Britain ? Yet this is done by La Bletterie, in his 
 observations on the life of Agricola ! — and the Frenchman seems to derive no
 
 SATIRE XV. JUVENAL. V. 152—167. 481 
 
 And Thule, blessings on her ! seems to say, 
 She'll hire a good grammarian, cost what may. 
 The Vascons then, who thus prolong'd their breath, 
 And the Saguntines, true, like them, to death, 
 Like them, too, brave, but by worse ills subdued, 
 Had some small plea for this unnatural food. 
 
 Diana first, (and let us doubt no more. 
 The barbarous rites we disbeliev'd of yore,) 
 Rear'd her dread altar near the Tauric flood, 
 And ask'd the sacrifice of human blood : 
 Yet there, the victim only lost his life, 
 And fear'd no cruelty beyond the knife. 
 Far, far more savage, Egypt's frantic train ; 
 They butcher first, and then devour the slain. 
 But say, what cause impell'd them to proceed. 
 What siege, what famine, lo this monstrous deed? 
 
 little vanity from the circumstance. Certainly, " if two men ride rpon sa 
 horse, one must ride behind :" and yet I doubt whether Gaul, with all her 
 boasted pre-eminence, passed in Juvenal's mind lor a much more enlightened 
 spot than Britain. The fact is, that he laughs at both. 
 
 But apropos of La Bletterie. How would his patriotic triumph have in- 
 creased, if it had luckily occurred to him that, near a thousand years after 
 our author's time, " learned Gaul" had still the advantage of Britain ! One of 
 Abclard's correspondents, (about the middle of the twelfth century,) compli- 
 ments him upon the general resort to his lectures ; and adds, as the most 
 extraordinary event of all, that even Britain purposed sending her brute beasts 
 to be instructed by him — rcmota Brifmiia sua animalia (rudieiida dexlinnhat ! 
 
 Ver. 155. yhid the S(fgi(iiliin:<!, i^c] baguntum was destroyed by Ihinnibal, 
 after one of the most dreadful sieges on record. Juvenal speaks of its fidelity 
 
 20.
 
 482 SATIRE XV. JUVENAL, v. 168 — 171. 
 
 What could they more, had Nile refus'd to rise, 
 And the soil gap'd with ever-glowing skies. 
 What could they more, the guilty flood to shame. 
 And heap opprobrium on his hateful name ! 
 
 to the Romans, so does Valerius Maximus, and in a way which shews that he 
 felt it. After observing that the citizens made a flaming pyre of their most 
 valuable effects, on which they voluntarily threw themselves, and were con- 
 sumed ; he adds Crediderim tunc Ipsam Fidem, kumana negotia speculantem, 
 mcestiim gessisse vultum ; perseverantissimiim sui cultum iniqua fortuna judicio, 
 tarn (icerbo exitit damnatnm cernentcm. Lib vi. Ex. xi. 
 
 Veu. i68. What could they more, the guilty flood to shatne,"] 
 
 " anne aliam (terra Meraphitide sicca) 
 
 " Invidiam fecerent nolenti surgere Nilo ?" 
 " None of the commentators," Dr. Jortin observes, " at least none of those 
 whom Henninius hath published, understand the sense of this phrase." The 
 same may be said of the translators ; Holyday, always learned, seldom in- 
 correct, thus renders it : 
 
 " by what fact 
 
 " Could they have more made their kind Nilus slow 
 " To rise, and their parch'd Memphian land o'erflow i" 
 
 Stapylton, 
 
 " For which methinks their Memphian Nile should grow 
 " Into a rage, and cease to overflow." 
 
 Dryden follows Britannicus : 
 
 " Or did the miscreants try this conjuring spell, 
 " In lime of drought to make the Nile to swell ?" 
 
 It is the more extraordinary that the meaning should have been so generally 
 
 mistaken, as it is completely ascertained by a passage in Ovid : 
 " Utque parum juBtae nimiumque in pellice saeva?, 
 " Invidiam fecere Deaj." Met. lib. iv. 546. 
 
 They excited the public odium against the goddess for her excessive cruelty ; 
 
 this is the precise sense of the phrase in Juvenal ; and this I have endeavoured 
 
 to express iu the translation.
 
 SATIRE XV. JUVENAL. V. 172— 192. 483 
 
 I 
 
 Lol what the fierce inhabitant of Thrace, 
 Or Scythia, never clar'd, done by a race 
 Of worthless dastards; placing all their pride, 
 In shoving painted pans from side to side, 
 With twelve-inch oars, and sails a hand-breadth wide. 
 What racks, what tortures, can the indignant mind 
 Suggest for miscreants of this abject kind, 
 Whom spite impell'd such horrors to pursue, 
 As famine, in its deadliest form, ne'er knew ! 
 
 Nature, who gave us tears, by that alone, 
 Proclaims she made the feelino; heart our own : 
 And 'tis our noblest sense. For thus we fly 
 To wipe the drops from sorrowing friendship's eye. 
 Sorrowing ourselves ; to wail the prisoner's state, 
 And sympathize in the wrong'd orphan's fate, 
 Compell'd his treacherous guardian to accuse, 
 While many a shower his blooming cheek bedews, 
 And through his scatter'd tresses, wet with tears, 
 A doubtful face, or boy's, or girl's appears. 
 Thus too, we heave a sigh, when some bright maid 
 Is, ere her spousals, to the grave convey'd ; 
 
 Ver. 175. painted pans, ^c] pictce testa. Boats made of clay 
 
 hardened in tlie fire, and varnished, so as to he water-tight. Grangreus is 
 puzzled to know how they could possihiy float. He might easily iiave made 
 the experiment. They floated verj* well down the tranquil current of the Nile; 
 and Straho tells us that lie saw many of them on their passage from Upper to 
 Lower Egypt. The only circumstance worth mentioning in lliis phice, is the 
 miserable sliifts to wliicii this nation was reduced iiy its absolute want of
 
 484 SATIRE XV. JUVENAL, v. 193—214. 
 
 Some babe — by fate's inexorable doom, 
 Just shewn on earth, and hurried to the tomb. 
 
 For who, that to the purity aspires, 
 Which Ceres, for her secret rites, requires, 
 Feels not for others' woes ? This marks our birth ; 
 Our great distinction from the beasts of earth : 
 And therefore, in our bosom only, springs 
 True knowledge, capable of heavenly things; 
 And therefore, are we apt for every art. 
 That fires the genius, or expands the heart. — 
 This, from above, this sense to brutes unknown. 
 We draw, and feel exclusively our own: 
 For r^om the first, the Universal Sire 
 Willi SENSUAL LIFE alouc, did them inspire. 
 Us, with a REASONING soul: — that mutual love 
 Might prompt to give the aid we hop'd to prove ; 
 ^^'oo to one spot the scatter'd hordes of men, 
 From their old forest, and paternal den ; 
 Rear the fair dome, extend the social line, 
 And, to our mansion, that of others join. 
 Join too our faith, our confidence to theirs, 
 And sleep, relying on the general cares : 
 
 timber. Even under the Greeks, when they enjoyed a transient gleam of pros- 
 perity, tiieir iiiLeinai communications were carried on in canoes that would 
 disgrace the New Zealandcrs. The Ptolemies, indeed, had vessels of a con- 
 siderable size in the Mediterranean, but these came, as they still do, irom 
 Cyprus, Rhodes, &c.
 
 SATIRE XV. JUVENAL. V. 215—238. 485 
 
 In war, that each to each support might lend, 
 When wounded, succour, and when fall'n, defend ; 
 At the same trumpet's clangor rush to arms, 
 By the same walls be shelter'd horn alarms, 
 Near the same gate the foe's incursions stay, 
 And trust our safety to one common key. 
 — But serpents now more amity maintain: 
 E'en leopards from their kindred spots abstain ; 
 No Hon diinks a weaker lion's gore. 
 No boar expires beneath a stronger boar ; 
 Tigers with tigers join'd in peace we see. 
 And savage bears with savage bears agree: 
 But man, vile man, flesh'd in the dreadful trade, 
 Forges without remorse the murderous blade. 
 On that curs'd anvil, where primaeval skill, 
 As yet untaught a brother's blood to spill, 
 Wrought only what rude nature would allow, 
 Goads for the ox, and coulters for the plough. 
 
 E'en this is trifling; we have seen a rage. 
 Too fierce for murder only to assuage ; 
 Seen a whole state their victim piecemeal tear, 
 And count each quivering limb delicious fare. 
 
 O ! had the Samian view'd an act so dread. 
 What would the sage have thought, and whither fled? 
 
 Ver. 222. E'en leopards from their kindred spots abstain, SjC."] " This is 
 prettily said, but without truth : since the male beasts of every kind fight 
 together, when hunger or lust stimulates them; and act, in this respect, just 
 as if tliey were men." Jortin. Crit, llera. And this too is prettily said.
 
 486 
 
 SATIRE XV. JUVENAL. V, 239—241. 
 
 He who the flesh of animals declin'd, 
 As piously as man's ; and could not find 
 A will to feed on pulse of every kind ! 
 
 Ver. 240. 
 
 and could notjind, 
 
 A zcill to feed on pulse of every kind!] Juvenal alludes to the 
 popular story of Pythagoras forbidding his followers the use of beans. 
 
 I do not intend to enter into the various conjectures of the learned respect- 
 ing the origin of this singular, and superstitious piece*f abstinence: no two 
 of them agree together, and all seem equally vague awd unsiitisfactory. For 
 myself, when I consider many parts of this man's character, as it is to be col- 
 lected from a variety of writers, and find him, in mathematics, in astronomj^, 
 in theology, many centuries beyond his age, I am almost tempted to regard 
 these tales, respecting his veneration or abhorrence for this or that particular 
 kind of pulse, as the invention of later times. Instead, therefore, of wasting 
 our ingenuity on endless conjectures, we should do better, perhaps, to call 
 to mind the history of the golden tooth, and be previously certified of the 
 existence of the fact ! 
 
 ■**<■ 
 
 fiinted by W.Buliner antl Cc* 
 Clcvcboti-iow, St. Jamcj's, 
 
 >
 
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