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Title: The Satires of Juvenal, Persius, Sulpicia, and Lucilius

Author: Juvenal
Gaius Lucilius
Persius
Sulpicia

Translator: Lewis Evans
William Gifford

Release date: December 10, 2015 [eBook #50657]
Most recently updated: October 22, 2024

Language: English

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SATIRES
OF JUVENAL, PERSIUS, SULPICIA, AND LUCILIUS ***

THE

SATIRES
OF

JUVENAL, PERSIUS,
SULPICIA, AND LUCILIUS,

Literally Translated into English Prose,

WITH NOTES, CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES, ARGUMENTS, &c.

BY

THE REV. LEWIS EVANS, M.A.,

LATE FELLOW OF WADHAM COLLEGE, OXFORD.

TO WHICH IS ADDED THE

METRICAL VERSION OF JUVENAL AND PERSIUS,

BY THE LATE

WILLIAM GIFFORD, ESQ.

NEW YORK:

HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS
FRANKLIN SQUARE.

1881.

HARPER'S
NEW CLASSICAL LIBRARY.
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CICERO ON ORATORY AND ORATORS.
CICERO'S TUSCULAN DISPUTATIONS, THE NATURE OF THE
GODS, AND THE COMMONWEALTH.
JUVENAL.
XENOPHON.
HOMER'S ILIAD.
HOMER'S ODYSSEY.
HERODOTUS.
DEMOSTHENES. 2 Vols.
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PREFACE BY THE TRANSLATOR.
While the poetical versions of Juvenal deservedly hold a very high place in
the literature of this country, it is a curious fact that there exists no single
prose translation which can stand the test of even ordinary criticism.
Whether it be that the temptation to a metrical version of a poetical writer is
too great with some, or whether the labor of faithfully representing the
genius of confessedly the most difficult writer in the Latin language has
deterred others, the fact is undeniable, that there is no prose version from
which the unclassical reader can form any adequate idea of the writings of
the greatest of Satirists.
Madan, though faithful, is utterly unintelligible to any one who has not the
Latin before him. Sheridan is far too free, in every sense of the word, to be
either a fair expositor of his original, or to suit the taste of the present day;
and without any disparagement of the labors of Sterling, Nuttall, Smart, or
Wallace, it was found impossible to adopt any one of them even as the basis
of a version which should be worthy of a place in the present series.
The accompanying translation, therefore, is entirely original; and the
translator is not aware of having copied a single line from any previous
version. How far he has succeeded in giving a faithful transcript of the
author, and in, at the same time, infusing some spark of the fire and spirit of
the original, must be for others to determine; all that he dares venture to
assert is, that he has brought to the task an enthusiastic admiration of his
author, and a careful study of many years. The same remarks apply to the
translation of Persius.
The notes are to a considerable extent original, and the English, perhaps
even the classical, reader may not be displeased at the occasional
introduction of passages from metrical versions in which the sense appeared
to be the most forcibly given.
A Chronological Table has been added, which the labors of Mr. Clinton
have enabled the Translator to present in a far more correct form than
heretofore.

The poetical version by Gifford has been annexed, as having the greatest
hold on the public favor, and as being perhaps the best, because the most
equal; though, unquestionably, in all the Satires which Dryden translated, he
has immeasurably surpassed Gifford in fire and spirit, as Hodgson has in
elegance and poetic genius, and Badham in taste, scholarship, and terse and
vigorous rendering. But Gifford is always equal, and generally faithful.
The remains of Sulpicia and Lucilius appear now for the first time in
English. Of the value of the latter, and of the propriety of appending his
Fragments to a translation of the great Roman Satirists, no scholar-like
reader of Juvenal and Horace can entertain a doubt. The recent labors of
foreign scholars have presented us with the text in a purer form than almost
any collection of Fragments of the older Latin writers. In the Arguments
prefixed to the several Books, and in the notes, will be found the essence of
the criticisms of Jan. Dousa, Van Heusde, Corpet, Schoenbeck, Schmidt,
Petermann, and especially of Gerlach, whose readings have in general been
preferred.
L. E.

CONTENTS.
PAGE
Life of Juvenal, by Gifford i
Essay on the Roman Satirists, by Gifford xii
Chronology of Juvenal, Persius, and Sulpicia xxxix
On the date of Juvenal's Satires xlix
Arguments of the Satires of Juvenal lvii
The Satires of Juvenal 1
The Satires of Persius 199
Sulpicia 269
Fragments of Lucilius 280
Juvenal in verse, by Gifford 369
Persius in verse, by Gifford 488

THE LIFE OF JUVENAL,
BY WILLIAM GIFFORD, ESQ.
Decimus Junius Juvenalis,[1] the author of the following Satires, was born at
Aquinum, an inconsiderable town of the Volsci, about the year of Christ 38.
[2]
He was either the son, or the foster-son, of 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 showed symptoms of reviving that system of favoritism
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[3] on the
influence of Paris, with considerable success, which encouraged him to
cultivate this kind of poetry: he 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 among his friends.[4]
By degrees he grew bolder; and, having made many large additions to his
first sketch, or perhaps re-cast it, produced what is now called his Seventh
Satire, which he recited to a numerous assemblage. The consequences were
such as he had probably anticipated: Paris, informed of the part which he
bore in it, was seriously offended, and complained to the emperor, who, as
the old account has it,[5] sent the author, by an easy kind of punishment, into
Egypt with a military command. To remove such a man from his court must
undoubtedly have been desirable to Domitian; and, as he was spoken of
with kindness in the same Satire, which is entirely free from political
allusions, the "facetiousness" of the punishment (though Domitian's was not

a facetious reign) renders the fact not altogether improbable. Yet, when we
consider that these reflections on Paris could scarcely have been published
before LXXXIV., and that the favorite 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 show that all his Satires
were written. But whatever punishment might have followed the complaint
of Paris,[6] it had no other effect on our author, than that of increasing his
hatred of tyranny, and turning his indignation upon the emperor himself,
whose hypocrisy, cruelty, and licentiousness, became, from that period, 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,[7] fifth, sixth,[8] and perhaps thirteenth[9]
Satires; the eighth[10] I have always looked upon as his first.
In XCV., 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 philosopher, yet, like the hare in the fable,
he might not unreasonably entertain some apprehensions for his safety, and,
with many other persons 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 afterward the world was happily relieved from
the tyranny of Domitian; and Nerva, who succeeded him, recalled the
exiles. From this time there remains little doubt of Juvenal's being at Rome,
where he continued his studies in tranquillity.
His first Satire after the death of Domitian, seems to have been what is now
called the fourth. About this time, too, he probably thought of revising and
publishing those which he had already written; and composed or completed
that introductory piece,[11] 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 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 hope, however, that 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 Juvenal's 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 patrimony which his fosterfather left him, he never diminished,
and probably never increased. It seems to have equaled 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 honor; it is solely because he can not
afford a more costly sacrifice to express his pious gratitude for the
preservation of his friend: yet "two lambs and a youthful steer" bespeak the
affluence of a philosopher; which is not belied by the entertainment
provided for his friend Persicus, in that beautiful Satire which is here called
the last 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. The life of the former might be written, from his own materials,
with all 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 course of studies.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] "Junius Juvenalis liberti locupletis incertum filius an alumnus, ad mediam
ætatem declamavit, animi magis causa, quam quod scholæ aut foro se
præpararet." 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.
[2] I have adopted Dodwell's chronology. "Sic autem (he says) se rem illam
totam habuisse censeo. Exul erat Juv. cum Satiram scriberet xv. Hoc confirmat
etiam in v. 27, scholiastes. 'De se Juv. dicit, quia in Ægypto militem tenuit, et ea
promittit se relaturum quæ ipse vidit.'" Had not Dodwell been predisposed to
believe this, he would have seen that the scholium "confirmed" nothing: for
Juvenal makes no such promise. "Proinde rixæ illi ipse adfuit quam describit."
So error is built up! How does it appear that Juvenal was present at the quarrel
which 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 his own
inspection: but this is all; and he might have heard of the quarrel at Rome, or
elsewhere. "Tempus autem ipse designavit rixæ illius cum et 'nuper'[12] illam
contigisse dicit, et quidem 'Consule Junio.' Jun. duplicem habent fasti, alium
Domit. in x. Consulatu collegam App. Junium Sabinum A.D. lxxxiv.; alium
Hadriani in suo itidem consulatu III. collegam Q. Junium Rusticum. Quo minus
prior intelligi possit, obstant illa omnia quæ in his ipsis Satiris occurrunt
Domitiani temporibus recentiora." 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!
"Posteriorem ergo intellexerit oportet. Hoc ergo anno (CXIX.) erat in exilio. Sed
vero Roma illum ejicere non potuit Trajanus, qui ab anno usque CXII. Romæ
ipse non adfuit; nec etiam ante CXVIII. quo Romam venit imperator Hadrianus.
Sic ante anni CXVIII. finem, aut CXIX. initium, mitti vix potuit in exilium
Juvenalis: erat autem cum relegaretur, octogenarius. Proinde natus fuerit vel anni
XXXVIII. fine, vel XXXIX. initio." Annal. 157-159.
I have made this copious extract from Dodwell, because it contains a summary
of the chief arguments which induced Pithæus, Henninius, Lipsius, Salmasius,
etc., to 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 Junius of the fifteenth Satire be the one who was Consul with Domitian in
84, when Juvenal, by Dodwell's own calculation, was in his 47th instead of his
80th year.
[3] "Deinde paucorum versuum satira non absurde composita in Paridem
pantomimum, poetamque Claudii Neronis" (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 Neronis, i. e. Domitian; otherwise the phrase must be
given up as an absurd interpolation), "ejus semestribus militiolis tumentem:
genus scripturæ industriose excoluit." Suet.
[4] "Et tamen diu, ne modico quidem auditorio quicquam committere ausus est."
Suet. On this Dodwell observes: "Tam longe aberant illa a Paridis ira concitanda,

si vel superstite Paride fuissent scripta, eum irritare non possent, cum nondum
emanassent in publicum," 161. He then adds that "Martial knew nothing of his
poetical studies,[13] 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 vehemence of Martial's assertions, that there was no great
cordiality between minds so very dissimilar. Some one, it seems, had accused the
epigrammatist to the satirist, not improbably, of making too free with his
thoughts and expressions. He was seriously offended; and Martial, instead of
justifying himself (whatever the charge might be), imprecates shame on his
accuser in a strain of idle rant not much above the level of a schoolboy. Lib. vii.
24.
But if he had been acquainted with his friend's poetry, he would certainly have
spoken of it. Not quite so certainly. These learned critics seem to think that
Juvenal, like the poets he ridicules, wrote nothing but trite fooleries on the
Argonauts and the Lapithæ. Were the Satires of Juvenal to be mentioned with
approbation? and, if they were, was Martial the person to do it? Martial, the most
devoted sycophant of the age, who was always begging, and sometimes
receiving, favors 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 knowledge of them with the most scrupulous care?
But when Domitian was dead, and Martial removed from Rome, when, in short,
there was no danger of speaking out, he still appears, continue they, to be
ignorant of his friend's poetic talents. I am almost ashamed to repeat what the
critics so constantly forget—that Juvenal was not only satirist, but a republican,
who looked upon Trajan as a 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 being a figurative allusion
to the times?" What inconsistencies are these!
[5] "Mox magna frequentia, magnoque successu bis ac ter auditus est; ut ea
quoque quæ prima fecerat, inferciret novis scriptis,

'Quod non dant proceres dabit histrio,' etc.
Sat. vii., 90-92.

Erat tum in delitiis aulæ histrio, multique fautorum ejus quotidie provehebantur.
Venit ergo in suspicionem quasi tempora figurate notasset; ac statim per
honorem militiolæ, quanquam octogenarius, urbe summotus, missusque ad
præfecturam cohortis in extrema parte tendentis Ægypti. Id supplicii genus
placuit, ut levi atque joculari delicto par esset. Verum intra brevissimum tempus
angore et tædio periit." Suet. Passing by the interpolations of the old
grammarians, I shall, as before, have recourse to Dodwell. "Recitavit, ni fallor,
omnia, emisitque in publicum CXVIII. (Juvenal was now fourscore!) postquam
Romam venissit Hadrianus quem ille principem à benevolo ejus in hæc studia
animo, in hac ipsa satira in qua occurrunt verba illa de Paride commendat." 161.
Salmasius supposed that the last of his Satires only were published under
Hadrian; Dodwell goes farther, and maintains that the whole, with the exception
of the 15th and 16th[14] ("si tamen vere et illa Juvenalis fuerit"), were then first
produced! "Illa in Paridem dicteria histrionem, in suum (cujus nomen non

prodidit auctor) histrionem dicta interpretabatur Hadrianus. Inde exilii causa.
Scripsit ergo in exilio Sat. XV. Sed cum 'nuper Consulem Junium' fuisse dicat,
ante annum ad minimum CXX. scribere illam non potuit Juv. Nec vero postea
scripsisse, exinde colligimus, quod 'intra brevissimum tempus' perierit." 164.
Such is the manner in which Dodwell accommodates Suetonius to his own ideas:
which seem, also, to have been those of a much higher name, Salmasius; and,
while I am now writing, to be sanctioned by the adoption of the learned Ruperti.
I never affected singularity; yet I find myself constrained to differ from them all:
but I will state my reasons. In his 7th Satire, after speaking of Quintilian, Juvenal
adds,

"Si fortuna volet, fies de rhetore consul:
Si volet hæc eadem fies de consule rhetor."

Which, taking it for a proverbial expression, I have loosely rendered, Fortune
can make kings of pedants and pedants of kings. Dodwell, however, understands
it literally. "Hæc sane cum Quintiliani causa dicat, vix est quin Q. talem
ostendant è rhetore nimirum 'nobilem, senatorium, consularem,' et quidem illis
divitiis instructum, quæ essent etiam ad censum senatorium necessariæ." 152.
Now, as Pliny, who probably died before Trajan, observes that Quintilian was a
man of moderate fortune, it follows that he must have acquired the wealth and
honors of which Juvenal speaks at a later period. Dodwell 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 Juvenal 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 intermission ("unis
continuisque recitationibus"), celebrates Quintilian, attacks the emperor, and is
immediately dispatched to Egypt! 162. Here is a great deal of business crowded
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
militates 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. 160. I
believe that both are wrong. In speaking of the satirists, Quintilian says that
Persius had justly acquired no inconsiderable degree of reputation by the little he
had written. Lib. x., c. 1. He then adds, "sunt clari hodieque, et qui olim
nominabuntur." There are 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, perhaps, did not dare to mention in a work
composed under a prince whose crimes this unnamed satirist persecuted with a
severity as unmitigated as it was just. Quintilian had no political courage. Either
from a sense of kindness or fear, he flatters Domitian almost as grossly as
Martial does: 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 likely to startle the "god of his idolatry" by celebrating the Satires of
Juvenal.

Nor do I agree with the commentators whom Dodwell has followed, in the literal
interpretation of those famous lines. "Unde igitur tot," etc. Sat. vii., v. 188-194.
Quintilian was rich, when the rest of his profession were in the utmost want.
Here then was an instance of good fortune. He was lucky; and with luck a man
may be any thing; handsome, and witty, and wise, and noble, and high-born, and
a member of the senate. Who does not see in this a satirical exaggeration?
Wisdom, beauty, and high birth luck can not give: why then should the
remainder of this passage be so strictly interpreted, and referred to the actual
history of Quintilian? The lines, "Si fortuna volet," etc., are still more lax: a
reflection thrown out at random, and expressing the greatest possible extremes
of fortune. Yet on these authorities principally (for the passage of Ausonius,[15]
written more than two centuries later, is of no great weight) has Quintilian been
advanced to consular honors; 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 different 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 imperial bounty, and was capable of senatorial honors." Yet Pliny might
not think his old master rich enough to give a fortune with his daughter adequate
to the expectations of a man of considerable rank (lib. vi., 32), though Juvenal,
writing at the same instant, might term him wealthy, in comparison of the
rhetoricians who were starving around him; and count him a peculiar favorite of
fortune. Let us bear in mind, too, that Juvenal is a satirist, and a poet: in the latter
capacity, the minute accuracy of an annalist can not be expected at his hands;
and in the former—as his object was to show the general discouragement of
literature, he could not, consistently with his plan, attribute the solitary good
fortune of Quintilian to any thing but luck.
But why was Quintilian made consul? Because, replies Dodwell (164), when
Hadrian first entered Rome he was desirous of gaining the affections of the
people; which could be done no way so effectually as by conciliating the esteem
of the literati; and he therefore conferred this extraordinary mark of favor on the
rhetorician. How did it escape this learned man, that he was likely to do himself
more injury in their opinion by the banishment of Juvenal at that same instant?
an old man of fourscore, who, by his own testimony, had spoken of him with
kindness, in a poem which did more honor to his reign than any thing produced
in it! and whose only crime was an allusion to the influence of a favorite player!
Indeed, the informers 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 Thebaid, or what 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 Egypt? 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?

[6] But why should he complain at all? Was he ashamed of being known to
possess an influence at the imperial court? Those were not very modest times,
nor is modesty, in general, the crying vice of the "quality." He was more likely to
have gloried in it. If Bareas, or Camerinus, or any of the old 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.
[7] 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 tells us that he accompanied Umbritius,
then on his way to Cumæ, out of the gates of Rome. Umbritius predicted, as
Tacitus says, the death of Galba, at which time he was looked upon as the most
skillful aruspex of the age. He could not then be a young man; yet, at quitting the
capital, he still talks of himself as in the first stage of old age, "nova canities, et
prima et recta senectus." His voluntary exile, therefore, could not possibly have
taken 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 cultos juvenes, juvenesque
lanistæ," into the Equestrian Order, that he was immoderately attached to
building, etc., circumstances much dwelt on in this Satire, and applicable to him
alone.
[8] The following line, "Dacicus et scripto radiat Germanicus auro," seems to
militate against the early date of this Satire. Catanæus and Arntzenius say that
Juvenal could not mean Domitian here, because "he did not think well enough of
him to do him such honor; whereas he was fond of commending Trajan." I see
no marks of this fondness; nor were the titles, if meant of Domitian, intended to
do him honor, but to reprove his vanity.
Whether medals were ever struck with the inscription of Dacicus and
Germanicus in honor of Domitian, I am not qualified to determine. Certain it is,
however, that he assumed both these titles; the latter, indeed, in common with
his predecessors from the time of Germ. Cæsar; and the former, in consequence
of his pretended success in the Dacian war, for which he is bitterly sneered at by
Pliny, as well as Dio. It is given to him, among others, by Martial, who dedicates
his eighth book, "Imper. Domit. Cæs. Augusto Germanico Dacico." Dodwell
appropriates (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, in particular, has all the marks of having received considerable
additions; and one of them might be the line in question.
[9] This satire has contributed as much perhaps as the seventh to persuade
Lipsius, Salmasius, and others, that Juvenal wrote his best pieces when he was

turned of fourscore.

"——Stupet hæc, qui jam post terga reliquit
Sexaginta annos, Fonteio Consule 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 59, and the fourth in 68. If we take the second,
and add any intermediate number of years between sixty and seventy, for
Calvinus had passed 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 can
not believe, as I have already observed, that this, or indeed any part of Juvenal's
works, was produced when he was trembling on the verge of ninety, as must be
the case if either of the latter periods be adopted. But he observes, "Hæc quota
pars scelerum quæ custos Gallicus urbis," etc. Now Rutilius Gallicus was
præfect of Rome from the end of 85 to 88 (Domitian succeeded his brother in
81), in 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 the author's recurring to the
times of Domitian for a name, when that of the "custos urbis" of the day would
have better answered his purpose. It is probable that Gallicus succeeded Pegasus,
who was præfect when the ridiculous farce of the turbot took place (Sat. iv.); this
would fix it to 85, the year before Fuscus, who was present at it, was sent into
Dacia.
[10] 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 Nero, and
which could scarcely have been given in such vivid colors after the original had
ceased to affect the mind. What Rome was under Domitian, may be seen in the
second Satire, and the difference, which has not been sufficiently attended to, is
striking in the extreme. I would observe too, that Juvenal speaks here of the
crimes 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 the other culprits mentioned in it
are all of them prior to that prince; nay, one of them, Capito, was tried so early
as the beginning of Nero's reign. The insertion of Marius, however (which might
be an after-thought), forms a main argument with Dodwell for the very late date
of this Satire; he observes that it had escaped Lipsius and Salmasius; and boasts
of it as "longe certissimum," etc. 156.
[11] I have often wondered at the stress which Dodwell and others lay on the
concluding lines of this Satire: "Experiar quid concedatur," etc. They fancy that
the engagement was seriously made, and religiously observed. Nothing was ever
farther from the mind of Juvenal. It is merely a poetical, or, if you will, a
satirical, flourish; since there is not a single Satire, I am well persuaded, in
which the names of many who were alive at the time are not introduced. Had
Dodwell forgotten Quintilian? or, that he had allowed one of his Satires, at least,
to be prior to this?

[12] This "nuper" is a very convenient word. Here, we see, it signifies 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.
[13] But how to this ascertained? Very easily; he calls him "fecundus Juvenalis."
Here the question is finally left; for none of the commentators suppose it
possible that the epithet can be applied to any but a rhetorician. Yet it is applied
by the same writer to a poet of no ordinary kind;

"Accipe, facundi Culicem, studiose. Maronis
Ne, nugis positis, arma virumque canas."
Lib. xiv., 185.

And, by the author himself, to one who had grown old in the art:

"————tunc seque suamque
Terpsichoren 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 epigram (lib. vii., 91) in the
commencement of that prince's reign, when it is acknowledged that Juvenal had
produced but one or two of his Satires.
[14] 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
banishment, he is driven into a very awkward supposition. "An non alio
tempore, atque alia de causa Ægyptum lustrare juvenis potuit Juvenalis? animi
nempe gratia, και της ἱστοριας χαριν, ut urbes regionis illius, populorumque
mores cognosceret?" Would it not be more simple to attribute his exile at once to
Domitian?
With respect to the 16th Satire, Dodwell, we see, hesitates to attribute it to
Juvenal; and, indeed, the old Scholiast says, that, in his time, many thought it to
be the work of 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 least
eighty-one, they say, when he wrote it, yet it begins—

"——Nam si——
Me pavidum excipiet tyronem porta secundo
Sidere," etc.

Surely, at this age, the writer resembled Priam, the tremulus miles, more than the
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. But the Satire must have been as ill-timed for the 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 be written in professed imitation of our
author's manner, about the age of Commodus. It has considerable merit, though

the first and last paragraphs are feeble and tautological; and the execution of the
whole is much inferior to the design.
[15] "Q. consularia per Clementem ornamenta sortitus, honestamenta potius
videtur quam insignia potestatis habuisse. In gratiar. act." Quintilian, then, was
not actually consul: but this is no great matter—it is of more consequence to
ascertain the Clemens by whom he was so honored. In the preface to his fourth
book, he says, "Cum vero mihi Dom. Augustus sororis suæ nepotum delegavit
curam," etc. Vespasian had a daughter, Domitilla, who married, and died long
before her father: she left a daughter, who was given to Flavius Clemens, by
whom she had two sons. These were the grandchildren of Domitian's sister, of
whom Quintilian speaks; and to their father, Clemens, according to Ausonius, he
was indebted for the show, though not the reality, of power. There is nothing
incongruous in all this; yet so possessed are Dodwell and his numerous
followers (among whom I am sorry to rank Dusaulx) of the late period at which
it happened, that they will needs have Hadrian to be meant by Domitianus
Augustus, though the detestable flattery which follows the words I have quoted
most indisputably proves it to be Domitian; and though Dodwell himself is
forced to confess that he can find no Clemens under Hadrian to whom the
passage applies: "Quis autem fuerit Clemens ille qui Q. ornamenta illa sub
Hadriano impetraverit, me sane fateor ignorare!" 165. Another circumstance
which has escaped all the commentators, and which is of considerable
importance in determining the question, remains to be noticed. At the very
period of which Dodwell treats, the boundaries of the empire were politically
contracted, while Juvenal, whenever he has occasion to speak on the subject,
invariably dwells on extending or securing them.

AN
ESSAY ON THE ROMAN SATIRISTS,
BY WILLIAM GIFFORD, ESQ.
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 among the Romans; which he
prefixed to his translation of Juvenal. What Dryden knew, he told in a
manner that renders every attempt to recount it after him equally hopeless
and vain; but his acquaintance with works of literature was not very
extensive, while his reliance on his own powers sometimes 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 humbly of his poetry, he yet speaks of his beauties and defects
in a manner which evinces a more than common acquaintance with both.
What Dryden left imperfect has been filled up in a great measure by
Dusaulx, in the preliminary discourse to his translation of Juvenal, and by
Ruperti, in his critical Essay "De diversa Satirarum Lucil. Horat. Pers. et
Juvenalis indole." With the assistance of the former of these I shall
endeavor to give a more extended view of the characteristic excellencies
and defects of the 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 candor and truth. Previously to this, however, it will be necessary 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 the first metrical compositions of the Romans, like those
of every other people, were pious effusions for favors received or expected
from the gods: of these, the earliest, according 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 harvest, and appear to have been little
more than rude praises of the tutelar divinities of the country, intermixed
with clownish jeers and sarcasms, extemporally poured out by the rustics in
some kind of measure, and indifferently directed at the audience, 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 found in the grosser 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 favor, however, had a dangerous effect on 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 populo
occentassit, carmenve condisit, quod infamiam faxit flagitiumve alteri, fuste
ferito." From this time we hear no farther complaints of the Fescennine
verses, which continued to charm the Romans; until, about a century
afterward, and during the ravages of a dreadful pestilence, the senate, as the
historians say, in order to propitiate the gods, called 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 obnoxious to its fury; and it therefore
became necessary, by novel and extraordinary amusements, to divert the
attention of the people from the melancholy objects around them.
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 accompanied by the flute. 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 the Fescennine verses for something of a more
regular kind, which now took the name of Satire.[16]
These Satires (for as yet they had but little claim to the title of dramas)
continued, without much alteration, to the year 514, when Livius
Andronicus, a Greek by birth, and a freedman of L. Salinator, who was
undoubtedly acquainted with the old comedy of his country, produced a
regular play. That it pleased can not 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 superiority 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 introduced into them, which, though
frequently indecent and always extravagant, created a greater degree of
interest than the reciprocation of gross humor 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 that he should perform an acceptable service by reviving the
ancient Satires.[17] He did not pretend to restore them to the stage, for which
indeed the new pieces were infinitely better calculated, but endeavored to
adapt them to the closet, by refining their grossness and softening their
asperity. Success justified the attempt. Satire, thus freed from action, and
formed into a poem, became a favorite pursuit, and was cultivated 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 pleasure. 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[18] of this kind
of poetry; and certainly they had 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,

the Menippean, 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 I 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 respective
works were produced.
Lucilius, to whom Horace, forgetting what he had said in another place,
attributes the invention of Satire, flourished in the interval between the
siege of Carthage 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 restrain the coarse
ebullitions of rustic malignity. Add to this, that Lucilius 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 Lælius, 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 I 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

themselves thus abridged of the liberty of satirizing the great by name,
might not improbably seek to avenge themselves by an overstrained
attachment to the works of a man who, living, as they would insinuate, in
better times, practiced 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 incessantly 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
Cæsar, and the second triumvirate, which threw the Roman world, without a
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 excuse 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 exchange the agitation and terror of successive proscriptions,
for the 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 institutions 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 favorable to the designs of the emperor;
which were to procure, by universal depravation, that submission which
Augustus sought to obtain by the blandishments of luxury and the arts.
From this gloomy and suspicious tyrant, the empire was transferred to a
profligate madman. It can scarcely be told without indignation, that when
the sword of Chærea had freed the earth from his disgraceful 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 through the
turbulent and murderous usurpations of Galba, Otho, and Vitellius; when
the accession of Vespasian and Titus gave the groaning world a temporary
respite.
To these succeeded Domitian, whose crimes form the 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 trampled upon, and, while the national rites were
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 forever; 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
frugality, 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
for the period in which he wrote. He had seen the 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.[19] 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 which he had once
opposed.[20]
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 constitutional; for he
had an easiness of temper which bordered on indolence; hence he never

rises to the dignity of a decided character. 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, amid every change, the zealous defender of virtue. Virtue,
however, abstractedly considered, has few obligations to his zeal.
But though, as an ethical writer, Horace has not many claims to the esteem
of posterity; as a critic, he is entitled to all our veneration. 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 contemporaries 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 amico
Tangit, et admissus circum præcordia ludit,
Callidus excusso populum suspendere naso."

"He, with a sly insinuating grace,
Laugh'd at his friend, and look'd 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 crowd beguiled;
But made the desperate passes when he smiled."

These beautiful lines have a defect under which Dryden's translations
frequently labor; 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."[21] His aim rather seems to be, to
keep the objects of his satire in good humor with himself, and with one
another.

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 willfulness of disposition, which prompts them to bear up against
shame, and to show how little they regard slight reproof, by becoming more
audacious in guilt. 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 and beauty—

"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, therefore, 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 concealed 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 former ease and security. Stoicism, which Cicero accuses of
having infected poetry, even in his days, and of which the professors, as
Quintilian observes, always disregarded the graces and elegancies of
composition, spread with amazing rapidity.[22] 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 somewhat
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
philosophical poet; but can not, with propriety, lay claim to the honors 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 imbibed, with all the ardor 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 miserable pretensions of pedants in prose and verse!
If this savor of the impassibility of Stoicism, it is entitled to no great praise
on the score of outraged humanity, which has stronger claims on a well-
regulated mind, than criticism, or even philosophy.
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 obscurity has been urged against him with more justice; though
this, perhaps, is not so great as it is usually represented. Casaubon could,
without question, 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 almost 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 practiced in the fullest extent; and at an age when few
have acquired a determinate character, he left behind him an established
reputation for genius, learning, and worth.
Juvenal wrote at a period still more detestable than that of Persius.
Domitian, who now governed the empire, seems to have inherited 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 πηλον αἱματι πεφυραμενον· 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.[23] 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 himself to the mode of regulating an intercourse with the great, or
to abstract disquisitions on the nature of scholastic liberty; but, disregarding
the claims of a vain urbanity, and fixing all his soul on the eternal
distinctions of moral good and evil, he labored, 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,[24] had not
yet found time to debase the minds of a people, among whom the
traditionary remains of the old manners still subsisted. The cruel but politic
Octavius scattered flowers over the paths he was secretly tracing toward
despotism: the arts of Greece, transplanted to the Capitol, flourished
beneath his auspices; and the remembrance of so many civil dissensions,
succeeding each other with increasing rapidity, excited a degree of

reverence for the author of this unprecedented tranquillity. The Romans
felicitated themselves at not lying down, as before, with an apprehension of
finding themselves included, when they awoke, in the list of proscription:
and neglected, amid the amusements of the circus and the theatre, those
civil rights of which their fathers had been so jealous.
"Profiting of these circumstances, Horace forgot 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 cultivated state of his genius (qualities
not much considered or regarded till his time[25]), were capable of
advancing him without any extraordinary effort.
"Indifferent to the future, and not daring to recall the past, he thought of
nothing but securing himself from all that could sadden the mind, and
disturb the system which he had skillfully 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 favor.
"In what I have said of Horace, my chief design has been to show that this
Proteus, who counted among his friends and admirers even those whose
conduct he censured, chose rather to capitulate than contend; that he
attached no great importance to his own rules, and adhered to his principles
no longer than they favored his views.
"Juvenal began his satiric career where the other finished, that is to say, he
did that for morals and 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 æra of independence to those degenerate Romans, who had
substituted suicide in the place of their ancient courage; and from the days
of Augustus to those of Domitian, only avenged their slavery by an epigram
or a bonmot.
"The characteristics of Juvenal were energy, passion, and indignation: 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! 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 unmeaning 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 their equals;
historians were condemned to the cross, philosophy was proscribed, and its
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 appeared as witnesses against them!
It was not possible to weep for the proscribed, for tears themselves became
the object of proscription; 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 favor.
"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 honor. It is no longer a poet like Horace, fickle, pliant, and fortified
with that indifference so falsely called philosophical, 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 the noblest heights of tragedy."
From this declamatory applause, which even La Harpe allows to be worthy
of the translator of Juvenal, the most rigid censor of our author can not
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 Persius, with whom he had
taken great, and indeed successful pains, to Horace and Juvenal, sufficiently

exposed, while he tacitly accounted for, the prejudices of 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
honor 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 honor" in those days; it was,
however, 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 have been influenced no less by humanity than prudence, in the
sacred silence which he has 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 recognizing no sovereign
but the senate, while he passes by those whose safety his applause might
endanger, has generously celebrated the ancient assertors of liberty, in
strains that Tyrtæus might have wished his own.
He is also charged with being too rhetorical in his language. The critics
have discovered that he practiced at the bar, and they will therefore have it
that his Satires smack of his profession, "redolent declamatorem."[26] That
he is luxuriant, or, if it must be so, redundant, may be safely granted; but I
doubt whether the passages which are cited for proofs of this fault, were not
reckoned among his beauties by his contemporaries. The enumeration of
deities in the thirteenth Satire is well defended by Rigaltius, who admits, at
the same time, that if the author had inserted it any where but in a Satire, he
should have accounted him a babbler; "faterer Juv. hic περιλαλον fuisse et
verborum prodigum." He appears to me equally successful, in justifying the
list of oaths in the same Satire, which Creech, it appears, had not the
courage 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 breast. 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 many places, unless
it be rather attributable to a want of taste. On some occasions, too, when he
changed or enlarged his first sketch, he forgot to strike out the unnecessary
verses: to this are owing the 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 by Jortin and others, as it
would have cost him no great pains to improve them. Why he should
voluntarily debase his poetry, it is difficult to say: if he thought that he was
imitating Horace in his laxity, his judgment must suffer considerably. The
verses of Horace 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 course of the translation, that he embraced no sect
with warmth. In a man of such lively passions, the retention with which he
speaks of them all, is to be admired. From his attachment to the writings of
Seneca, I should incline to think that he leaned toward Stoicism; 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, Persius. As a general champion for virtue, he is
commonly successful, but he sometimes misses his aim; and, in more than
one instance, confounds the nature of the several vices in his mode of
attacking them: he confounds too the very essence of virtue, which, in his
hands, has often "no 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 exalted sentiments of
virtue and sound philosophy; when they indulge in poetic recollections,
they present us with the fables of antiquity. Hence the gods are alternately,
and as the subject requires, venerable or contemptible; and this could not
but happen through the want of some acknowledged 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 clamor 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 is purity! It seems as if there 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 the sanctity which they can not but respect; and
find a secret pleasure in persuading one another that "this dreaded satirist"
was at heart no inveterate enemy to the licentiousness which he so
vehemently reprehends.

When we consider the unnatural vices at which Juvenal directs his
indignation, and reflect, at the same time, on the peculiar qualities of his
mind, we shall not find much cause, perhaps, for wonder at 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 colors 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 delicacy and
offending 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.
Whether any considerations of this or a similar nature deterred our literati
from turning these Satires into English, I can not 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, undertook it about the same time; these were Barten
Holyday and Sir Robert Stapylton. Who entered first upon the task, can not
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 published, though that of Holyday
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 rather his ill-measured prose, is
intolerable; no human patience can toil through a single page of it;[27] but
his notes 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,
judgment, and ingenuity. His notes, though numerous, are trite, and scarcely
beyond the reach of a schoolboy. 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 public was satisfied 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 candor, 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 paraphrase, 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 dress. We have
actually made him more sounding, and more elegant, than he was before in
English: and have endeavored to make him speak that kind of English,
which he would have spoken had he lived in England, and had written to
this age. If sometimes any of us (and it is but seldom) make him express the
customs and manners of his native country rather than of 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 understandings, we gave 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."[28]
This is, surely, sufficiently modest. Johnson's description of it is somewhat
more favorable: "The general character of 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 frequently 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 peculiarities; "rarò jocos," as Lipsius well
observes, "sæpius acerbos sales miscet." 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
et odit!" Where his dignity, therefore, is wanting, his wit will be imperfectly
preserved.[29]
On the whole, there is nothing in this quotation to deter succeeding writers
from attempting, at least, to supply the deficiencies of Dryden and his
fellow-laborers; 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 apprised 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 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 to amuse,
and justify, in some measure, the partiality of my benefactors.
My first object was to become as familiar as possible with my author, 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 labors, I anxiously strove to
accommodate my succeeding ones.
Dryden has 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 expense of his spirit and design, sufficient remained to alarm the
delicacy for which the sacrifice had been made. Chaucer observes with
great naiveté,

"Whoso shall tell a tale after a man,
He moste reherse as neighe as ever he can
Everich word, if it be in his charge,
All speke he never so rudely and so large."

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 this 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
infrequency of women at those social conversations, of which they now
constitute the refinement and the delight. Add to this that their mythology,
and 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 generation 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 language of the times—"hæc illis natura
est omnibus una:" and if it be considered 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!
"Legimus aliqua ne legantur," was said of old, by one of a pure and zealous
mind. Without pretending to his high motives, I have felt the influence of
his example, and in his apology must therefore hope to find my own.
Though the poet be given entire, I have endeavored to make him speak as
he would probably have spoken if he had lived among us; when, refined
with the age, he would have fulminated against impurity in terms, to which,

though delicacy might disavow them, manly decency might listen without
offense.
I have said above, that "the whole of Juvenal" is here given; this, however,
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 acquaintance with the original will be necessary to
discover these lacunæ, 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 supposed. 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 translation. 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, that I thought somewhat more attention than ordinary
was in justice due to it. It is not a chef-d'œuvre by any means; but it is a
pretty and a pleasing 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 inclination to find out more
than my author meant. The general character of this translation, if I do not
deceive myself, will be found to be plainness; and, indeed, the highest
praise to which I aspire, is that of having left the original more intelligible
to the English reader than I found it.
On numbering the lines, I find that my translation contains a few less than
Dryden's. Had it been otherwise, I should not have thought an apology
necessary, nor would it perhaps 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 that, with the trifling
exceptions already mentioned, nothing has been passed; whereas he and his
assistants overlooked whole sections, and sometimes very considerable

ones.[30] Every where, too, I have endeavored to render the transitions less
abrupt, and to obviate or disguise the difficulties which a difference of
manners, habits, etc., 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 my thoughts were fixed on Juvenal, it was usual with me, whenever I
found a passage that related to him, to impress it on my memory, or to note
it down. These, on the revision of the work for publication, were added to
such reflections as arose in my own mind, and arranged in the manner in
which they now appear. I confess that this was not an unpleasant task to me,
and I will venture to hope, that if my own suggestions fail to please, yet the
frequent recurrence of some of the most striking and beautiful passages of
ancient and modern poetry, history, etc., will render it neither unamusing
nor uninstructive to the general reader. The information insinuated into the
mind by miscellaneous collections of this nature, is much greater than is
usually imagined; and I have been frequently encouraged to proceed by
recollecting the benefits which I formerly derived from casual notices
scattered over the margin, or dropped at the bottom of a page.
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
produced are not always translated; but the English reader needs not for that
be discouraged in proceeding, 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: "Nec mihi vitio vertas, si res
quas ex lectione varia mutuabor, ipsis sæpè verbis quibus ab ipsis
auctoribus enarratæ sunt explicabo, quia præsens opus non eloquentiæ

ostentationem, sed noscendorum congeriem pollicetur," etc. Saturn., lib. i.,
c. 1.

I have now said all that occurs to me on this subject: a more pleasing one
remains. I can not, indeed, like Dryden, boast of my poetical coadjutors. No
Congreves and Creeches have abridged, while they adorned, my labors; 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. Dr. Ireland,[31] will not want to be informed
of his share 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 satisfaction. It will be seen that we sometimes differ in opinion; but as
I usually distrust my own judgment in those cases, the decision is submitted
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 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.
Nor must I overlook the friendly assistance of William Porden, Esq.,[32]
which, like that of the former gentleman, was given to me, amid the
distraction of more immediate concerns, with a readiness that enhanced the
worth of what was, in itself, highly valuable.
A paper was put into my hand by Mr. George Nicol, the promoter of every
literary work, from R. P. Knight, Esq., containing subjects for engravings
illustrative of Juvenal, and, with singular generosity, offering me the use of

his marbles, gems, etc. As these did not fall within my plan, I can only here
return 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
his son, Mr. William Nicol, he has watched the progress of this work
through the press with unwearied solicitude. During 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.

FOOTNOTES:
[16] The origin of this word is now acknowledged to be Roman. Scaliger
derived it from σατυρος (satyrus), but Casaubon, Dacier, and others, more
reasonably, from satura (fem. of satur), rich, abounding, full of variety. In this
sense it was applied to the lanx or charger, in which the various productions of
the soil were offered up to the gods; and thus came to be used for any
miscellaneous collection in general. Satura olla, a hotch-potch; saturæ leges,
laws comprehending a multitude of regulations, etc. This deduction of the name
may serve to explain, in some measure, the nature of the first Satires, which
treated of various subjects, and were full of various matters: but enough on this
trite topic.
[17] It should be observed, however, that the idea was obvious, and the work
itself highly necessary. The old Satire, amid much coarse ribaldry, frequently
attacked the 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.
[18] 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 poëtæ
Atque alii, quorum comœdia prisca virorum est;
Si quia erat dignus describi, quod malus, aut fur,
Quod mœchus foret, aut sicarius, aut alioqui
Famosus, multa cum libertate notabant.
Hinc omnis pendet Lucilius, hosce secutus,
Mutatis tantum 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
honor they claim.
And even if this be granted, the honor appears to be scarcely worth 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 απο του
σιλλαινειν, to scoff, to treat petulantly; and there is no doubt of the justness of
his derivation. These little pieces were made up of passages from various poems,
which by slight alterations were humorously or satirically applied at will. The
Satires of Ennius were probably little more; indeed, we have the express
authority of Diomedes the grammarian for it. After speaking of Lucilius, whose
writings he derives, with Horace, from the old comedy, he adds, "et olim
carmen, quod ex variis poematibus constabat, satira vocabatur; quale scripserunt
Pacuvius et Ennius." Modern critics agree in understanding "ex variis
poematibus," of various kinds of metre; but I do not see why it may not mean, as
I have rendered it, "of various poems;" unless we choose to compliment the
Romans, by supposing that what was in the Greeks a mere cento, was in them an
original composition.
It would scarcely be doing justice, however, to Ennius, to suppose that he did not
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 effort 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-races, etc., he says, this folly
of theirs is not ill exposed by one of those scurrilous writers of (Silli, or)
parodies: ου κακως τις παρεποιησε των σαπρων τουτων ποιητων·

Ἁρματα δ' αλλοτε μεν χθονι πιλνατο πουλυβοτειρῃ,
Αλλοτε δ' αεξασκε μετηορα· τοι δε θεαται
Θωκοις εν σφετεροις, ουθ' ἑστασαν, ουδ' εκαθηντο,
Χλωροι ὑπαι δειους πεφοβημενοι, ουδ' ὑπο νικες
Αλληλοισι τε κεκλομενοι, και πασι θεοισι
Χειρας ανισχοντες, μεγαλ' ευχετοωντο ἑκαστοι.
Ἡυτε περ κλαγγη γερανων πελει, ηε κολοιων,
Ἁι τ' επει ουν ζυθον τ' επιον, και αθεσπατον οινον,
Κλαγγῃ ται γε πετονται απο σταδιοιο κελευθου. κ. τ. λ.
Ad Alexand. Orat. xxxii.

[19] I doubt whether he was ever a good royalist at heart; he frequently, perhaps
unconsciously, betrays a lurking dissatisfaction; but having, as Johnson says of a
much greater man, "tasted the honey of favor," 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, and straining after
something which he never obtains. To float, like Aristippus, with the stream, is a
bad recipe for felicity; there must be some fixed principle, by which the passions
and desires may be regulated.

[20] He is careful to disclaim all participation in public affairs. He accompanies
Mæcenas in his carriage; but their chat, he wishes it to be believed, is on the
common topics of the day, the weather, amusements, etc. 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 him,
can not be denied; but then it was as to a plaything. In a word, Horace seems to
have been the "enfant gaté," of the palace, and was viewed, I believe, with more
tenderness than respect.
[21] Mr. Drummond has given this passage with equal elegance and truth:

"With greater art sly Horace gain'd his end,
But spared no failing of his smiling friend;
Sportive and pleasant round the heart he play'd,
And wrapt in jests the censure he convey'd;
With such address his willing victims seized,
That tickled fools were rallied, and were pleased."

[22] 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 difficult to show, 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 cloak. This, however, does not apply to Persius.
[23] I believe that Juvenal meant to describe himself in the following spirited
picture of Lucilius:

"Ense velut stricto quoties Lucilius ardens
Infremuit, rubet auditor, cui frigida mens est
Criminibus, tacita sudant præcordia culpa."

[24] This is an error which has been so often repeated, that it is believed. What
liberty was destroyed by the usurpation of Augustus? For more than half a
century, Rome had been a prey to ambitious chiefs, while five or six civil wars,
each more bloody than the other, had successively delivered up the franchises of
the empire to the conqueror of the day. The Gracchi first opened the career to
ambition, and wanted nothing but the means of corruption, which the East
afterward supplied, to effect what Marius, Sylla, and the two triumvirates
brought about with sufficient ease.
[25] This is a very strange observation. It looks as if Dusaulx had leaped from
the times of old Metellus to those of Augustus, without casting a glance at the
interval. The chef d'œuvres of Roman literature were in every hand, when he
supposed them 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.

[26] I have often wished that we had some of the pleadings of Juvenal. It can not
be affirmed, I think, that there is any natural connection between prose and verse
in the same mind, though it may be observed, that most of our celebrated poets
have written admirably "solutâ oratione:" yet if Juvenal's oratory bore any
resemblance to his poetry, he yielded to few of the best ornaments of the bar.
The "torrens dicendi copia" was his, 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, in his estimation,
could hardly be said to surpass him.
[27] With all my respect for the learning of the good old man, it is impossible,
now and then, to suppress a smile at his simplicity. In apologizing for his
translation, he says: "As for publishing poetry, it needs no defense; there being,
if my Lord of Verulam's judgment shall be admitted, 'a divine rapture in it!'"
[28] He evidently alludes to the versions of the second and eighth Satires by Tate
and Stepney, but principally to the latter, in which Juvenal illustrates his
argument by the practice of Smithfield and Newmarket! Indeed, Dryden himself,
though confessedly aware of its impropriety, is not altogether free from
"innovation;" he talks of the Park, and the Mall, and the Opera, and of many
other objects, familiar to the translator, but which the original writer could only
know by the spirit of prophecy.
I am sensible how difficult it is to keep the manners of different ages perfectly
distinct in a work like this: I have never knowingly confounded them, and, I
trust, not often inadvertently; yet more occasions perhaps of exercising the
reader's candor will appear, after all, than are desirable.
[29] Yet Johnson knew him well. The peculiarity of Juvenal, he says (vol. ix., p.
424), "is a mixture of gayety and stateliness, of pointed sentences, and
declamatory grandeur." A good idea of it may be formed from his own beautiful
imitation of the third Satire. His imitation of the tenth (still more beautiful as a
poem) has scarcely a trait of the author's manner—that is to say, of that "mixture
of gayety and stateliness," which, according to his own definition, constitutes the
"peculiarity of Juvenal." "The Vanity of Human Wishes" is uniformly stately and
severe, and without those light and popular strokes of sarcasm which abound so
much in his "London."
[30] In the fourteenth Satire, for example, there is an omission of fifteen lines,
and this, too, in a passage of singular importance.
[31] Sub-Dean and Prebendary of Westminster, and Vicar of Croydon, in Surrey.
[32] The architect of Eton Hall, Cheshire, a structure which even now stands
pre-eminent among the works which embellish the nation, and which future
times will contemplate with equal wonder and delight.

CHRONOLOGY OF JUVENAL, PERSIUS, AND
SULPICIA.

A.D. 14-138.
OL. A.D. A.U.C.
14 767 Death of Augustus, August 19th.
Accession of Tiberius, anno ætat. 55.
16 769 Rise of Sejanus. Cf. A.D. 31. Tac. Ann. vi. 8.
18 771 Death of Ovid and Livy. Strabo still writing.
19 772 Death of Germanicus. Jews banished from Italy (alluded
to, Sat. iii. 14; vi. 543).
200 21 774 Tiberius, on the plea of ill health, goes in the spring into
Campania.
23 776 Influence of Sejanus. Cf. Tac. Ann. iv. 6.
(Vid. Niebuhr's Lectures, vol. iii. p. 181.)
24 777 Cassius Severus, an exile in Seriphos. Tac. Ann. iv. 21.
[Cf. Sat. i. 73; vi. 563, 564; x. 170; xiii. 246.]
C. Plinius Secundus, of Verona, born.
26 779 Consulship of Cn. Lentulus Gætulicus. (Cf. ad viii. 26.)
27 780 Tiberius retires to Capreæ. Tac. Ann. iv. 67. Sat. x. 90-
95, and 72.
28 781 Agrippina, daughter of Germanicus, married to
Domitius. [Nero is the issue of this marriage, born A.D.
37.] Sat. viii. 228; vi. 615.
202 29 782 Death of Livia, mother of Tiberius.
(Cf. Niebuhr's Lectures, vol. iii. p. 180.)
31 784 Tiberius consul with Sejanus. Suet. Tib. 26, 65.
Fall of Sejanus, Oct. 18. He had been in favor now 16
years. The day of his death was consecrated to Jove. Sat.
x. 56-107. Cf. Tac. Ann. vi. 25.
32 785 Birth of Otho.
34 787 A. Persius Flaccus, born at Volaterræ in Etruria.
36 789 Death of Thrasyllus. Sat. vi. 576.
[Cf. Fast. Hellen. iii. p. 277.]
204 37 790 Death of Tiberius, in March.
Caligula succeeds, a. æt. 25.
Birth of Nero in December. He and Caligula were both
born at Antium.
38 791 Potion of Cæsonia? Sat. vi. 616, seq.

, q
[Birth of Josephus, the historian.]
39 792 Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee, deposed and banished
by Caligula, and his dominions given to Agrippa the
father of Agrippa, Berenice, and Drusilla. Sat. vi. 156.
40 793 Caligula at Lyons, on his way to the ocean, institutes the
"Certamen Græcæ Latinæque facundiæ." Suet. Calig. 20.
Sat. i. 44, "Aut Lugdunensem Rhetor dicturus ad aram."
Cf. xv. 111. Pers. Sat. vi. 43.
[M. Annæus Lucanus brought to Rome in his eighth
month.]
205 41 794 Caligula slain, Jan. 24. Claudius succeeds, a. æt. 50.
Birth of Titus, Dec. 30. [Exile of Seneca.]
Agrippa receives from Claudius Judæa and Samaria.
42 795 Deaths of Pætus and Arria.
43 796 First campaign of A. Plautius in Britain.
Influence of Narcissus (Suet. Claud. 28; Dio, lx. p. 688.
Sat. xiv. 329, "Divitiæ Narcissi Indulsit Cæsar cui
Claudius omnia"), and of Posides. Suet. u. s. Sat. xiv. 91.
[Birth of Martial.]
44 797 [Death of Agrippa, Cf. Acts xii. 21-23.]
206 45 798 [His son Agrippa at Rome intercedes for the Jews.]
46 799 Excesses of Messalina. Sat. vi. 114-132.
48 801 Death of Messalina (and C. Silius, whom she had openly
married), Tac. Ann. xi. 26; Suet. Claud. 26, 36, 39,
through the influence of Narcissus. Sat. xiv. 331; x. 329-
345.
Pallas the Arcadian, Claudius' freedman and secretary.
Sat. i. 109. Cf. an. 62.
The younger Agrippa succeeds his uncle Herod.
Remmius Palæmon, the grammarian, Quintilian's master,
flourishes. Suet. clar. Gram. 23. Sat. vi. 451, "Volvitque
Palæmonis artem;" vii. 215, "docti Palæmonis;" and l.
219.
207 49 802 Marriage of Claudius and Agrippina (widow of
Domitius, cf. an. 28). Seneca, through Agrippina's
influence, recalled from exile. (Cf. A.D. 41. Schol. ad
Sat v 109 ) Tac Ann xii 8

Sat. v. 109.) Tac. Ann. xii. 8.
Nero (a. æt. 11) placed under Seneca's care. Suet. Ner. 7.
50 803 Eighth campaign in Britain under Ostorius. Caractacus
captured. [Persius places himself under Cornutus' care.
Pers. v. 36.]
51 804 Birth of Domitian, while his father is consul suffectus.
Nero receives the Toga Virilis.
52 805 Felix, brother of Pallas, made procurator of Judæa.
208 53 806 Nero marries Octavia.
Agrippa the younger appointed to Philip's tetrarchy, and
Trachonitis, and Abilene.
54 807 Claudius poisoned by Agrippina's mushroom. Sat. v. 147,
"Boletum domino: sed qualem Claudius edit, Ante illum
uxoris post quem nil amplius edit." (Cf. Mart. Ep. xiii.
48; I. xxi. 4.) Sat. vi. 620, "Minus ergo nocens erit
Agrippinæ Boletus." The poison was procured from
Locusta. Sat. i. 71, 72.
Nero succeeds, Oct. 13, a. æt. 17.
Domitius Corbulo appointed to Armenia. Sat. iii. 251,
"Corbulo vix ferret tot vasa ingentia." Cf. Tac. Ann. xiii.
8.
55 808 Death of Britannicus, who is poisoned by Nero, through
the agency of Locusta.
58 811 Successful campaign of Corbulo in Armenia. Cf. Sat.
viii. Sabina Poppæa. Sat. vi. 462. Her husband Otho sent
into Lusitania, where he remains ten years. Cf. Tac. Ann.
xiii. 45.
The Parthian war is perhaps alluded to in Persius, Sat. v.
4. Vid. D'Achaintre in loc.
59 812 Death of Agrippina (Tac. Ann. xiv. 4; Suet. Ner. 34),
during the Quinquatrus (xiv.-x. Kal. April). Sat. viii. 215.
Consulship of L. Fonteius Capito. (Cf. an. 118.) Sat. xiii.
17, "Fonteio Consule natus."
60 813 Institution of the Neronia. "Certamen triplex
Quinquennale: Musicum, Gymnicum, Equestre."
Corbulo's successful campaign in Syria.
210 61 814 Boadicea's victory. Victory of Suetonius Paulinus.
G lb i S i [Bi h f Pli h f

Galba in Spain. [Birth of Pliny the younger, a few years
after Tacitus.]
62 815 Death of Burrus.
Sofonius Tigellinus succeeds as "Præfectus Cohortibus
Prætoriis." Cf. Tac. Ann. xiv. 57; xv. 37, 72. Sat. i. 155,
"Pone Tigellinum," etc.
Nero marries Poppæa. Death of Octavia. Tac. Ann. xiv.
60, 64.
Pallas put to death for his money. Tac. Ann. xiv. 65. Cf.
A.D. 48.
Death of Persius, in his 28th year.
64 817 Nero in the theatre. Fires at Rome. Only four regions
remaining entire. Tac. Ann. xv. 40. Persecution of
Christians (c. 44), on whom the blame of the fire was
laid, and who were punished with the "Tunica Molesta."
Sat. i. 156; viii. 235. Suet. Ner. 16.
211 65 818 Piso's conspiracy. Death of Seneca. Tac. Ann. xv. 60. Sat.
viii. 211, "Libera si dentur populo suffragia, quis tam
Perditus ut dubitet Senecam præferre Neroni." Sat. x. 15,
"Temporibus diris igitur jussuque Neronis Longinum, et
magnos Senecæ prædivitis hortos clausit," et seq.
Death of Lucan, in his 26th year. Sat. vii. 79. Tac. Ann.
xv. 70. Suet. Ner. 35.
Death of Poppæa. Tac. Ann. xvi. 6. Sat. viii. 218, "Sed
nec Electræ jugulo se polluit, aut Spartani Sanguine
conjugii."
66 819 Death of Thrasea Pætus. Tac. Ann. xvi. 21-35.
Martial comes to Rome, æt. 23.
Nero sets out for Greece: meets Vatinius ("Sutrinæ
tabernæ alumnus," Tac. Ann. xv. 34) at Beneventum. Sat.
v. 47, "Tu Beneventani Sutoris nomen habentem Siccabis
calicem nasorum quatuor."
Lubinus places the banishment of Annæus Cornutus in
this year. Cf. ad Pers. v. 5.
67 820 Death of Corbulo.
Nero in Greece, celebrates the 211th Olympiad (the
Olympiad having been deferred for him, Suet. Ner. 19-
22) and adds a musical contest Sat viii 225

22), and adds a musical contest. Sat. viii. 225,
"Gaudentis fœdo peregrina ad pulpita cantu Prostitui,
Graiæque apium meruisse coronæ."
[Jewish war committed by Nero to Vespasian.]
68 821 Nero returns to Rome. Sat. viii. 230, "Et de marmoreo
citharam suspende Colosso."
Vindex revolts and proclaims Galba. Ib. 221, "Quid enim
Verginius armis Debeat ulcisci magis aut cum Vindice
Galba."
Galba accepts the empire in April.
Death of Nero in June, in his 31st year.
[Quintilian comes to Rome with Galba, and remains 20
years.]
212 69 822 Vitellius proclaimed, Jan. 2. Tac. Hist. i. 56, 57.
Galba killed, Jan. 15, in his 73d year. Sat. vi. 559,
"Magnus civis obit et formidatus Othoni."
Otho acknowledged. Battle of Bedriacum. Death of Otho
at Brixellum in April, in his 37th year. Sat. ii. 106,
"Bedriaci in campo spolium affectare Palati."
Vitellius enters Rome in July, and is killed Dec. 21.
Vespasian proclaimed July 1st, æt. 60.
70 823 Vespasian enters Rome. Titus takes Jerusalem.
71 824 Triumph of Titus and Vespasian. They passed through
the "Porta Idumæa." Sat. viii. 160.
Temple of Peace begun. Sat. ix. 22; i. 115.
Temple of Janus closed for the sixth time.
72 825 Commagene reduced to a province. Sat. vi. 550,
"Commagenus Aruspex."
74 827 Expulsion of Philosophers by Vespasian.
75 828 Temple of Peace concluded. Suet. Vesp. 9.
76 829 Birth of Hadrian. Cf. A.D. 138.
78 831 Agricola in Britain. Tac. Agric. xviii. Sat. ii. 160.
79 832 Death of Vespasian, June 23, in his 70th year.
Titus succeeds. [Eruption of Vesuvius. Death of Pliny the
elder. Cf. Plin. vi. Epist. 16, 20.]
80 833 Fire at Rome. Temple of Isis, and Capitol, burnt.
215 81 834 Death of Titus, Sept. 13.

, p
Domitian succeeds. Sat. iv. 37, "Flavius Ultimus, et
calvo serviret Roma Neroni."
82 835 Domitian rebuilds the Capitol (Suet. Dom. 5), and
patronizes learning. Sat. vii. 1, "Et spes, et ratio
studiorum in Cæsare tantum."
83 836 Domitian's expedition against the Catti and Sarmatæ.
Three Vestal virgins punished. Sat. iv. 10, "Sanguine
adhuc vivo terram subitura Sacerdos."
84 837 Domitian takes the name of "Germanicus." Receives the
censorship for life. Sat. iv. 12; ii. 121.
Defeat of Galgacus in Britain. Sat. ii. 160, 161,
"Domitianus nobiles multos relegavit et optimates
occidit." Chron. Euseb. Cf. Sat. iv. 151, seq.
86 839 Domitian institutes the Capitoline Games. Suet. Dom. 4,
"Certamen quinquennale triplex, Musicum, Equestre,
Gymnicum." [Cf. A.D. 60.] Sat. vi. 387, "An
Capitolinam deberet Pollio quercum Sperare et fidibus
promittere." Cf. ad Sulpic. 41.
Dacian war. Sat. iv. 111, cum Schol.
[Birth of Antoninus Pius.]
217 89 842 Quintilian teaches at Rome ("Publicam Scholam et
Salarium è fisco accepit," Hieron.), Domitian's nephews,
among others. Some think Juvenal attended his lectures.
Sat. vi. 75, 280; vii. 186, 189.
90 843 Domitian expels the philosophers (cf. A.D. 74). Tac. Agr.
2. (Sat. iii. may perhaps refer to this, "omni bonâ arte in
exsilium actâ," cf. l. 21.)
Senecio put to death for writing a book in praise of
Helvidius Priscus. Cf. Sat. v. 36.
Sulpicia's Satire. [Pliny prætor in his 29th year.]
91 844 Domitian's triumphs over Dacians and Germans. [Sat. vi.
205, "Dacicus et scripto radiat Germanicus auro:" but cf.
A.D. 110.]
Cornelia, a Vestal virgin, buried alive. (Vid. Suet. Dom.
8. Plin. iv. Ep. 11. Cf. A.D. 83.) This happened after the
death of Julia. Sat. ii. 32.
218 98 846 Sarmatian war. (Sat. ii. 1.) Death of Agricola.

8 98 8 6 Sa at a wa . (Sat. . .) Deat o g co a.
Massa and Carus (i. 35, 36) referred by some to this date.
Influence of Paris. Sat. vi. 87, "Ludos Paridemque
reliquit." Sat. vii. 87, "Paridi nisi vendat Agaven;" and
90, seq.
Palfurius Sura, Armillatus, Pegasus, Vibius Crispus
Placentinus, Acilius Glabrio, Fabricius Veiento, Catullus
Messalinus, Curtius Montanus, and Crispinus flourish.
Sat. iv. 50-150; vi. 82; i. 26; xi. 34.
94 847 Lateranus consul. viii. 146, seq., "Prætor majorum
cineres atque ossa volucri Carpento rapitur pinguis
Damasippus, et ipse, Ipse rotam stringit multo
sufflamine consul;" where some read "Lateranus;" others
say Lateranus is intended by Damasippus.
This is probably the date of the event recorded in Sat. iv.,
"Illa tempora sævitiæ claras quibus abstulit Urbi
Illustresque animas impune et vindice nullo," l. 151. Cf.
Tac. Agric. 44, who says that after the death of Agricola
(A.D. 93) "Domitianus non jam per intervalla ac
spiramenta temporum sed continuo et velut uno ictu
Rempublicam exhausit," et seq.
95 848 Death of Clemens, the consul.
[Persecution of Christians. St. John at Patmos.]
Flavia Domitilla exiled to Pontia. [Cf. xiii. 246, "Aut
maris Ægæi rupem, scopulosque frequentes Exulibus
magnis."]
The fourth book of the Sylvæ of Statius written.
In the third book written A.D. 94, he mentions the close
of the Thebais. Cf. Sat. vii. 82, "Curritur ad vocem
jucundam et carmen amicæ Thebaidos, lætam fecit quum
Statius Urbem Promisitque diem."
The Thebaid had employed twelve years.
96 849 Domitian killed in September, in his 45th year. Sat. iv.
153, "Sed periit postquam cerdonibus esse timendus
Cœperat, hoc nocuit Lamiarum cæde madenti."
Nerva succeeds.
219 97 850 Nerva adopts Trajan. [Tacitus "Consul Suffectus."]
98 851 Death of Nerva, Jan. 25th, in his 63d year.

, , y
Trajan (then at Cologne) succeeds.
[Plutarch flourishes. Pliny, Præf. Ærarii Saturni.]
99 852 Trajan enters Rome.
[Martial, 10th book, 2d edition. Silius Italicus still
living.]
100 853 Consulship of M. Cornelius Fronto with Trajan. Sat. i.
12, "Frontonis platani, convulsaque marmora clamant
Semper et assiduo ruptæ lectore columnæ."
Pliny and Tacitus impeach Marius Priscus, proconsul of
Africa. Fronto Catius defends him. Cf. Plin. ii. Epist. xi.
The case was tried before Trajan in person. Cf. Sat. i. 47,
"Et hic damnatus inani Judicio; quid enim salvis infamia
nummis? Exul ab octavâ Marius bibit, et fruitur Diis
iratis." And viii. 120, "Quum tenues nuper Marius
discinxerit Afros."
Pliny's Panegyric, in his consulship.
Death of S. John.
[Martial returns to Bilbilis. Twelfth book of Epigrams.]
220 101 854 First Dacian war. "Trajanus primus aut solus etiam vires
Romanas trans Istrum propagavit," Victor, p. 319;
perhaps alluded to, Sat. viii. 169, "Syriæque tuendis
Amnibus et Rheno atque Istro."
Isæus flourishes. "Magna Isæum fama præcesserat:
major inventus est. Summa est facultas, copia, ubertas."
Plin. ii. Epist. 3. Cf. Sat. iii. 73 (with the Scholiasts),
"Sermo promptus et Isæo torrentior."
103 856 Victories in Dacia. Peace granted to Decebalus.
Trajan triumphs, and takes the name of "Dacicus." (Cf.
110.) [Pliny arrives at Bithynia.]
104 857 Second Dacian war. Trajan takes the command.
Hadrian serves. "Primæ legioni Minerviæ præpositus."
Spartian. Hadr. 3.
[Martial sends his 12th book to Rome. Vid. Ep. 18.
Pliny's letter about the Christians.]
221 105 858 Stone bridge over the Danube, by which Trajan conquers
the Dacians.
106 859 Death of Decebalus. Dacia becomes a Roman province.

p
Conquest of Arabia Petræa. 2d triumph of Trajan.
107 860 Trajan's public works. Vid. Dio, lxviii. 15, τά τε ἕλη τὰ
Πόντινα ὡδοποίησε λίθῳ. κ. τ. λ. Cf. iii. 307, "Armato
quoties tutæ custode tenentur Et Pomptina palus et
Gallinaria pinus."
110 863 This road is finished. [Plutarch's Lives.]
The coins of Trajan of this year bear the words,
"Germanicus, Dacicus." vi. 205, "Dacicus, et scripto
radiat Germanicus auro."
112 865 Hadrian Archon at Athens.
223 113 866 The column of Trajan erected (cf. Dio, lxviii. 16), to
which some think there is an allusion in the line, x. 136,
"Summo tristis captivus in arcu."
114 867 Trajan's expedition to the East, against the Armenians
and Parthians. He proceeds in the autumn through
Athens and Seleucia to Antioch.
115 868 Earthquake at Antioch, in January or February, in which
the consul, M. Vergilianus Pedo, perished. Dio, lxviii.
24, 25.
In the spring Trajan marches to Armenia. Sat. vi. 411,
"Nutare urbes, subsidere terram."
[Martyrdom of S. Ignatius.]
116 869 Trajan enters Ctesiphon, and takes the title of
"Parthicus." Sat. vi. 407, "Instantem regi Armenio
Parthoque."
224 117 870 Trajan reaches Selinus in Cilicia, and dies in August, in
his 63d year.
Hadrian, at Antioch, succeeds, in consequence of a
fictitious adoption managed by Plotina. Cf. Gibbon, vol.
i. p. 130. To this there is supposed to be an allusion in
Sat. i. 40, "Optima summi Nunc via processus vetulæ
vesica beatæ."
118 871 Hadrian comes to Rome.
This is sixty years after the consulship of Fonteius. Cf.
A.D. 59. The thirteenth Satire was therefore probably
written this year. l. 17, "Stupet hæc qui jam post terga
reliquit Sexaginta annos Fonteio consule natus " The

reliquit Sexaginta annos, Fonteio consule natus. The
common story is, that Calvinus, to whom this Satire is
addressed, was three years Juvenal's senior.
Probably the lines in Satire iii., from 60-113, are an
interpolation at a period subsequent to the first
composition of the Satire, and refer to this period.
Hadrian brought with him from Antioch to Rome many
foreigners of all professions. Cf. iii. 62, "Jampridem
Syrus in Tiberim defluxit Orontes." Among these he
particularly favored Epictetus of Hierapolis in Phrygia,
Favorinus of Arelate in Gaul, and Dionysius of Miletus.
To one of these Juvenal may refer in Sat. iii. 75,
"Quemvis hominem secum attulit ad nos Grammaticus,
Rhetor, Geometres, Pictor, Aliptes, Augur, Schœnobates,
Medicus, Magus, omnia novit, Ad summum non Maurus
erat nec Sarmata nec Thrax," et seq. Cf. Spartian.
Hadrian, c. 5, and especially c. 16, where he says, "In
summâ familiaritate Epictetum et Heliodorum,
philosophos, et grammaticos, Rhetores, musicos,
Geometras, pictores, astrologos habuit: præ cæteris
eminente Favorino," where the order is rather
remarkable. Dionysius of Miletus, moreover, was a
disciple of Isæus (cf. A.D. 101), l. 73, "Ingenium velox
audacia perdita, sermo Promptus et Isæo torrentior."
Hadrian, after a four months' consulship, proceeded to
Campania, and thence to Gaul, Germany, and Britain:
Juvenal therefore might safely publish this in the
emperor's absence.
119 872 Hadrian consul with Junius Rusticus.
This is most probably the Junius mentioned Sat. xv. 27,
"Nuper Consule Junio gesta." Cf. Salmas., Plin. Exercit.
p. 320.
120 873 Hadrian's progress through the provinces.
He builds the wall in Britain: "Compositis in Britanniâ
rebus, transgressus in Galliam." Spartian. c. 10. This may
be alluded to, Sat. ii. 160, 161. Cf. Sat. xv. 111.
[Plutarch, æt. 74.]
225 121 874 Birth of M. Aurelius.

APPENDIX, ON THE DATE OF JUVENAL'S
SATIRES.
The first Satire appears, from internal evidence, to have been written
subsequently to at least the larger portion of the other Satires. But in this, as
probably in many others, lines were interpolated here and there, at a period
long after the original composition of the main body of the Satire; the cycle
of events reproducing such a combination of circumstances, that the Satirist
could make his shafts come home with two-fold pungency. For instance, the
lines 60 et seq., which probably were in the first edition of the Satire
directed against Nero and his favorite Sporus, would tell with equal effect
against Hadrian and Antinous.
It is impossible, therefore, from any one given passage, to assign a date to
any of the Satires of Juvenal. All that can be done, is to point out the
allusion probably intended in the particular passages, and by that means fix
a date prior to which we may reasonably conclude that portion could not
have been written.
In those Satires whose subject is less complicated and extensive, a nearer
approximation may be obtained to the date of the composition; as e. g. in
the case of the second and eleventh Satires, and we may add the thirteenth
and fifteenth.
But in the first Satire, the allusions extend over so wide a period, that unless
we may suppose, as in the case just cited, that other persons are intended
under the names known to history, to whom his readers would apply
immediately the covert sarcasm, we can hardly imagine that they could all
at any one given time serve to give point to the shaft of the Satirist. Thus
Crispinus, mentioned l. 27, was made a senator by Nero, and lived probably
under Domitian also. The barber alluded to in l. 25 (if, as the commentators
suppose, Cinnamus is the person), must have lost all his wealth, and been
reduced to poverty, somewhere about A.D. 93, the date of Martial's seventh
book of Epigrams (who mentions the fact, and advises him to recur to his
old trade, Ep. VII. lxiv.). Massa and Carus (l. 35, 36) are mentioned by
Martial as apparently flourishing when he wrote his twelfth book, which

was sent to Rome A.D. 104. Again, line 49 seems to refer to the
condemnation of Marius as a recent event; but this took place in A.D. 100.
And in that same year M. Cornelius Fronto was consul with Trajan; and
may have been the proprietor of the plane-groves, mentioned l. 12. But
then, again, we hear of Julius Fronto in A.D. 129, and Hadrian's conduct
toward Antinous in that and the following year, might well have given
occasion to the 60th and following lines; and if we are right in applying line
40 to Plotina's manœuvring to secure the succession to Hadrian, it will
furnish an additional argument for supposing these passages to have been
added some time after. We may therefore offer the conjecture, that the first
Satire was written shortly after the year A.D. 100, as a preface or
introduction to the book, and that a few additions were made to it, even so
late as thirty years subsequently.
The second Satire was, in all probability, the first written. The allusion in
the first line to the Sarmatæ, may perhaps be connected with the Sarmatian
war, which took place A.D. 93, and in which Domitian engaged in person.
And this date will correspond with the other references in the Satire by
which an approximation to the time of its composition may be obtained. In
A.D. 84 Domitian received the censorship for life (l. 121), at the same time
that he was carrying on an incestuous intercourse with his own niece Julia.
This connection was continued for some years. Shortly after the death of
Julia, the Vestal virgin Cornelia was buried alive, A.D. 91. These are
alluded to as recent events (l. 29, "nuper"). Agricola, too, the conqueror of
Britain, died A.D. 93 (cf. l. 160), whose campaigns are spoken of as recent
occurrences, "modo captas Orcadas." The mention of Gracchus also
connects this with the eighth Satire, part of which at least was probably
written soon after the consulship of Lateranus in A.D. 94. We may therefore
conjecture that the Satire was composed between the years A.D. 93 and 95.
The third Satire may perhaps have been written in the reign of Domitian,
and may refer to the general departure of men of worth from Rome, when
Domitian expelled the philosophers, A.D. 90. Umbritius, who predicted the
murder of Galba, A.D. 69, might have been alive at that time; and, from his
political views, would have been a friend of Juvenal, who was a bitter
enemy of Otho. The nightly deeds of violence perpetrated by Nero would
have been still fresh in men's memories (l. 278, seq.; cf. Pers., Sat., iv., 49);
as would the judicial murder of Barea Soranus, and the arrogance of

Fabricius Veiento (l. 116, 185). Still there are other parts of the Satire that
seem to bear evidence of a later date. The name of Isæus would hardly have
been so familiar in Rome till ten years after this date, l. 74. It was not till
A.D. 107 that Trajan undertook the draining of the Pontine marshes; to
which there is most probably an allusion in l. 32 and 307; to which nothing
of importance had been done since the days of Augustus. The great influx of
foreigners into Rome, in the train of Hadrian, at a still later date, A.D. 118,
probably gave rise to the spirited episode from l. 58-125. (See Chronology.)
We may therefore consider it probable that the main body of the Satire was
written toward the close of the reign of Domitian, and received additions in
the commencement of the reign of Hadrian.
The fourth Satire in all probability describes a real event; and would have
possessed but little interest after any great lapse of time, subsequent to the
fact described. We may therefore fairly assign it to the early part of Nerva's
reign, very shortly after the death of Domitian, which is mentioned at the
close of the Satire.
The fifth Satire contains nothing by which we can determine the date. From
Juvenal's hatred of Domitian, we may suppose that l. 36 was suggested by
the condemnation of Senecio, who was put to death for writing a panegyric
on Helvidius Priscus, A.D. 90. If the Aurelia (l. 98) be the lady mentioned
by Pliny (Epist., ii., 20), this would strengthen the conjecture, as Pliny's
second book of Epistles was probably written very shortly before that date.
There is little doubt that considerable portions of the sixth Satire were
written in the reign of Trajan. 1. The lines 407-411 describe exactly the
events which took place at Antioch, in A.D. 115, when Trajan was entering
on his Armenian and Parthian campaigns. 2. The coins of Trajan of the year
A.D. 110, have the legend Dacicus and Germanicus, cf. l. 205; and although
Domitian triumphed over the Dacians and Germans, none of his extant
coins bear that inscription; the general title being Augustus Germanicus
simply. 3. Again, l. 502 describes a kind of headdress, very common on the
coins of the reigns of Trajan and Hadrian, representing Plotina the wife of
Trajan, Marciana his sister, and Sabina the wife of Hadrian, and others: and
this fashion was a very short-lived one. Beginning with the court, it
probably soon descended to the ladies of inferior rank; but like its unnatural
antitype, the towering, powdered, and plastered rolls of our own
countrywomen, in the degraded days of the two first Georges, it was too

unnatural and disfiguring to remain long in vogue with that sex, to whom
"tanta est quærendi cura decoris tanquam famæ discrimen agatur aut
animæ." 4. The subject itself also affords an additional reason for supposing
that the Satire was composed when the poet was advanced in life. The vices
of women are hardly a topic for a young writer to select; but the vigorous
manner in which he handles the lash, rather marks the state of mind of the
man who has outgrown the passions of early manhood, and from "the high
heaven of his philosophy" looks down with cold austerity on the desires,
and with bitter indignation at the vices, of those whose feelings he has long
since ceased to share. Juvenal was, as Hodgson says, "an impenetrable
bachelor," and if, as he conjectures, he was jilted in his early youth, this fact
would give additional bitterness to the rancor which in old age he would
feel toward the sex by whom his personal happiness had been embittered, as
well as the ruin of his native country precipitated. 5. If we are right in
supposing that by Heliodorus, Juvenal meant Artemidorus Capito (and the
change in the name is both simple and readily suggested), this would also
bring down the date of this Satire to Juvenal's later years, as about A.D. 122
was the time when this court-physician of Hadrian had attained his greatest
reputation. 6. In line 320, Saufeia is spoken of in similar terms to those
employed in the eleventh Satire, which was confessedly the work of his
later years. 7. Compare also the mention of Archigenes (l. 236) with the
98th line of the thirteenth Satire, written A.D. 118. 8. The allusions to the
importation of foreigners, with their exotic vices, would also refer to the
same date. See Chron., A.D. 118.
The date of the seventh Satire will depend mainly on the question, Whom
does Juvenal intend to panegyrize in his 1st line?

"Et spes et ratio studiorum in Cæsare tantum."

Gifford pronounces unhesitatingly in favor of Domitian, and his argument
is very plausible. "The Satire," he says, "would appear to have been written
in the early part of Domitian's reign; and Juvenal, by giving the emperor
'one honest line' of praise, probably meant to stimulate him to extend his
patronage. He did not think very ill of him at the time, and augured happily
for the future." Juvenal's subsequent hatred of Domitian was caused, he
thinks, by his bitter mortification at finding, in a few years, this "sole patron

of literature" changed into a ferocious and bloody persecutor of all the arts.
This opinion he supports by some references to contemporary writers, and
by the evidence of coins of Domitian existing with a head of Pallas on the
reverse, to symbolize his royal patronage of poetry and literary pursuits. But
in almost every instance Gifford errs in assigning too early a date to the
Satires; and one or two points in this clearly show that we must bring it
down to a much later period. Domitian succeeded to the throne A.D. 81,
and it could only have been in the earlier years of his reign that even his
most servile flatterers could have complimented him upon his patronage of
learning. Now, 1. It was not till about ten years after this that the actor Paris
acquired his influence and his wealth; and even allowing the very
problematical story of the banishment of Juvenal having been caused by the
offense given to the favorite by the famous lines (85-92) to be true, this
would bring it down to a time subsequent to the banishment of philosophers
from Rome; after which act Juvenal, certainly, would not have written the
first line on Domitian. 2. Again, in A.D. 90, Quintilian was teaching in a
public school at Rome, and receiving a salary from the imperial treasury; it
could hardly therefore be so early as this date that he had acquired the
fortune and estates alluded to in l. 189. 3. In l. 82, the Thebaid of Statius is
mentioned. This poem was finished A.D. 94; and though it is true that
Statius might, most probably, have publicly recited portions of it during its
progress, it would have hardly earned the great reputation implied in
Juvenal's lines, at a sufficiently early date to allow us to assign it to the first
two or three years of Domitian's reign.
I should, therefore, rather suppose that by Cæsar we are to understand
Nerva. The praise of Domitian is incompatible with Juvenal's universal
hatred and execration of him. The opening of the reign of the mild and
excellent Nerva might well inspire hopes of the revival of a taste for
literature and the arts; and I would conjecture the close of A.D. 96 as the
date of the Satire. Before the end of the year Statius was dead; but Juvenal's
words seem to imply that he was still living. Again, Matho the lawyer has
failed, and is in great poverty (l. 129), to which Martial alludes in lib. xi.,
Ep., part of which book was evidently written shortly before A.D. 97. But if
we are right in supposing the first Satire to have been written about A.D.
100, the intervening years will have given Matho ample time to retrieve his
fortune by his infamous trade of informing, and reappear as the luxurious
character described Sat., i., 32.

Of the eighth Satire, if "Lateranus" be the true reading (l. 147), or if he be
intended by "Damasippus," as I believe, we may assume the year A.D. 101
or 102 as the probable date: Lateranus had been consul A.D. 94, and in the
year A.D. 101 Trajan for the first time extended the arms of Rome beyond
the Danube. Cf. l. 169.
The plunder of his province of Africa, by Marius Priscus, was a recent event
(l. 120 "nuper"); but, as we have said above, he was impeached by Pliny
and Tacitus in the year A.D. 100. Ponticus, to whom the Satire is addressed,
may be the person to whom Martial refers in his twelfth book, which was
written A.D. 104.
There are two allusions by which we may form a conjecture as to the date
of the ninth Satire. Crepereius Pollio is mentioned as nearly in the same
circumstances of profligate poverty (l. 6, 7) as is described in the eleventh
Satire (l. 43), which was undoubtedly written in Juvenal's later years; and
he alludes (l. 117) to Saufeia, in very much the same terms in which he
speaks of her in the sixth Satire (l. 320), which we suppose to have been
written in his old age.
The internal evidence, supplied by the sustained majesty and dignified flow
of language of the tenth (as well as of the fourteenth) Satire, without taking
into consideration the philosophical nature of the subject of both, is quite
sufficient to prove that they must have been the finished productions of a
late period of a thoughtful life. We are therefore quite prepared to admit the
conjecture that the allusion in line 136 is to the column of Trajan, erected in
the year A.D. 113. The repetition of the line (226) also connects this with
the first Satire, which it probably preceded only by a short interval.
The 203d line of the eleventh Satire fixes its date to the later years of
Juvenal's life. It breathes, besides, throughout the spirit of a calm and
philosophic enjoyment of the blessings of life, that tells of declining age;
cheered by a chastened appreciation of the comforts by which it is
surrounded, but far removed from all extraneous or meretricious
excitement, and utterly abhorrent of all noisy or exuberant hilarity. An
additional argument is mentioned in the Chronology for referring it to the
date A.D. 124.
The twelfth Satire contains nothing by which we can fix its date with any
certainty. If, however, as the commentators suppose, the wife of Fuscus, in

the 45th line, be Saufeia, it will be connected with the sixth, ninth, and
eleventh Satires, and may probably be considered the work of his advanced
age.
The thirteenth Satire is fixed by line 17 to the year A.D. 118, the 60th after
the consulship of L. Fonteius Capito. This is the only Satire to which Mr.
Clinton has assigned a date.
The argument applied to the tenth Satire will apply with nearly equal force
to the fourteenth. We are therefore prepared to admit the plausibility of the
conjecture, that l. 196 refers to the progress of Hadrian through Britain,
which would fix the date to A.D. 120; a very short time previous to the
composition of the following Satire.
The event recorded in the fifteenth Satire occurred shortly after the
consulship of Junius, l. 27, "nuper consule Junio gesta." This was, in all
probability, Junius Rusticus, who was consul with Hadrian A.D. 119. The
110th line also probably refers to the influx of Greeks and other foreigners
into Rome, in the train of Hadrian (to which we have alluded in discussing
the date of the third Satire), which took place in the preceding year.
The sixteenth Satire may have either been the draft of a longer poem,
commenced in early life (as l. 3 may imply), which the poet never cared to
finish; or an outline for a more perfect composition, which he never lived to
elaborate. The mention of Fucus may connect it with the twelfth Satire. But
though there is quite enough remaining to warrant us in unhesitatingly
ascribing the authorship to Juvenal, there is too little left to enable us to
form even a probable conjecture as to the date of its composition.
It is hardly necessary to add, that, after a careful examination of the
foregoing Chronology, it must be evident to every novice in scholarship,
that the whole life of Juvenal, as usually given, is a mere myth, to which
one can not even apply, as in many legendary biographies, the epithet of
poetical.
L. E.

ARGUMENTS OF THE SATIRES OF
JUVENAL.
SATIRE I.

This Satire seems, from several incidental circumstances to have been
produced subsequently to most of them; and was probably drawn up after
the author had determined to collect and publish his works, as a kind of
Introduction.
He abruptly breaks silence with an impassioned complaint of the
importunity of bad writers, and a resolution of retaliating upon them; and
after ridiculing their frivolous taste in the choice of their subjects, declares
his own intention to devote himself to Satire. After exposing the corruption
of men, the profligacy of women, the luxury of courtiers, the baseness of
informers and fortune-hunters, the treachery of guardians, and the
peculation of officers of state, he censures the general passion for gambling,
the servile rapacity of the patricians, the avarice and gluttony of the rich,
and the miserable poverty and subjection of their dependents; and after
some bitter reflections on the danger of satirizing living villainy, concludes
with a resolution to attack it under the mask of departed names.

SATIRE II.

This Satire contains an animated attack upon the hypocrisy of the
philosophers and reformers of the day, whose ignorance, profligacy, and
impiety it exposes with just severity.
Domitian is here the object; his vices are alluded to under every different
name; and it gives us a high opinion of the intrepid spirit of the man who
could venture to circulate, even in private, so faithful a representation of
that blood-thirsty tyrant.

SATIRE III.

Umbritius, an Aruspex and friend of the author, disgusted at the prevalence
of vice and the disregard of unassuming virtue, is on the point of quitting
Rome; and when a little way from the city stops short to acquaint the poet,
who has accompanied him, with the causes of his retirement. These may be
arranged under the following heads: That Flattery and Vice are the only
thriving arts at Rome; in these, especially the first, foreigners have a
manifest superiority over the natives, and consequently engross all favor—
that the poor are universally exposed to scorn and insult—that the general
habits of extravagance render it difficult for them to subsist—that the want
of a well-regulated police subjects them to numberless miseries and
inconveniences, aggravated by the crowded state of the capital, from all
which a country life is happily free: on the tranquillity and security of
which he dilates with great beauty.

SATIRE IV.

In this Satire Juvenal indulges his honest spleen against Crispinus, already
noticed, and Domitian, the constant object of his scorn and abhorrence. The
introduction of the tyrant is excellent; the mock solemnity with which the
anecdote of the Turbot is introduced, the procession of the affrighted
counselors to the palace, and the ridiculous debate which terminates in as
ridiculous a decision, show a masterly hand. The whole concludes with an
indignant and high-spirited apostrophe.

SATIRE V.

Under pretense of advising one Trebius to abstain from the table of Virro, a
man of rank and fortune, Juvenal takes occasion to give a spirited detail of
the insults and mortifications to which the poor were subjected by the rich,
at those entertainments to which, on account of the political connection
subsisting between patrons and clients, it was sometimes thought necessary
to invite them.

SATIRE VI.

The whole of this Satire, not only the longest, but the most complete of the
author's works, is directed against the female sex. It may be distributed

under the following heads: Lust variously modified, imperiousness of
disposition, fickleness, gallantry, attachment to improper pursuits,
litigiousness, drunkenness, unnatural passions, fondness for singers,
dancers, etc.; gossiping, cruelty, ill manners; outrageous pretensions to
criticism, grammar, and philosophy; superstitious and unbounded credulity
in diviners and fortune-tellers; introducing supposititious children;
poisoning their step-sons to possess their fortunes; and, lastly, murdering
their husbands.

SATIRE VII.

This Satire contains an animated account of the general discouragement
under which literature labored at Rome. Beginning with poetry, it proceeds
through the various departments of history, law, oratory, rhetoric, and
grammar; interspersing many curious anecdotes, and enlivening each
different head with such satirical, humorous, and sentimental remarks as
naturally flow from the subject.

SATIRE VIII.

Juvenal demonstrates, in this Satire, that distinction is merely personal; that
though we may derive rank and titles from our ancestors, yet if we
degenerate from the virtues by which they obtained them, we can not be
considered truly noble. This is the main object of the Satire; which,
however, branches out into many collateral topics—the profligacy of the
young nobility; the miserable state of the provinces, which they plundered
and harassed without mercy; the contrast between the state of debasement
to which the descendants of the best families had sunk, and the opposite
virtues to be found in persons of the lowest station and humblest descent.

SATIRE IX.

The Satire consists of a dialogue between the poet and one Nævolus, a
dependent of some wealthy debauchee, who, after making him subservient
to his unnatural passions, in return starved, insulted, hated, and discarded
him. The whole object seems to be, to inculcate the grand moral lesson,
that, under any circumstances, a life of sin is a life of slavery.

SATIRE X.

The subject of this inimitable Satire is the vanity of human wishes. From
the principal events of the lives of the most illustrious characters of all ages,
the poet shows how little happiness is promoted by the attainment of what
our indistinct and limited views represent as the greatest of earthly
blessings. Of these he instances wealth, power, eloquence, military glory,
longevity, and personal accomplishments; all of which, he shows, have
proved dangerous or destructive to their respective possessors. Hence he
argues the wisdom of acquiescing in the dispensations of Heaven; and
concludes with a form of prayer, in which he points out with great force and
beauty the objects for which a rational being may presume to approach the
Almighty.

SATIRE XI.

Under the form of an invitation to his friend Persicus, Juvenal takes
occasion to enunciate many admirable maxims for the due regulation of
life. After ridiculing the miserable state to which a profligate patrician had
reduced himself by his extravagance, he introduces the picture of his own
domestic economy, which he follows by a pleasing view of the simplicity of
ancient manners, artfully contrasted with the extravagance and luxury of the
current times. After describing with great beauty the entertainment he
proposes to give his friend, he concludes with an earnest recommendation
to him to enjoy the present with content, and await the future with calmness
and moderation.

SATIRE XII.

Catullus, a valued friend of the poet, had narrowly escaped shipwreck. In a
letter of rejoicing to their common friend, Corvinus, Juvenal describes the
danger that his friend had incurred, and his own hearty and disinterested
delight at his preservation, contrasting his own sacrifices of thanksgiving at
the event, with those offered by the designing legacy-hunters, by which the
rich and childless were attempted to be insnared.

SATIRE XIII.

Calvinus had left a sum of money in the hands of a confidential person,
who, when he came to re-demand it, forswore the deposit. The indignation
and fury expressed by Calvinus at this breach of trust, reached the ears of
his friend Juvenal, who endeavors to soothe and comfort him under his loss.
The different topics of consolation follow one another naturally and
forcibly, and the horrors of a troubled conscience were perhaps never
depicted with such impressive solemnity as in this Satire.

SATIRE XIV.

The whole of this Satire is directed to the one great end of self-
improvement. By showing the dreadful facility with which children copy
the vices of their parents, the poet points out the necessity as well as the
sacred duty of giving them examples of domestic purity and virtue. After
briefly enumerating the several vices, gluttony, cruelty, debauchery, etc.,
which youth imperceptibly imbibe from their seniors, he enters more at
large into that of avarice; of which he shows the fatal and inevitable
consequences. Nothing can surpass the exquisiteness of this division of the
Satire, in which he traces the progress of that passion in the youthful mind
from the paltry tricks of saving a broken meal to the daring violation of
every principle, human and divine. Having placed the absurdity as well as
the danger of immoderate desires in every point of view, he concludes with
a solemn admonition to rest satisfied with those comforts and conveniences
which nature and wisdom require, and which a decent competence is easily
calculated to supply.

SATIRE XV.

After enumerating with great humor the animal and vegetable gods of the
Egyptians, the author directs his powerful ridicule at their sottish and
ferocious bigotry; of which he gives an atrocious and loathsome example.
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), founded not on natural instinct, but on
principles of mutual benevolence implanted by God in the breast of man,
and of man alone, does honor to the genius, good sense, and enlightened
morality of the author.

SATIRE XVI.

Under a pretense of pointing out to his friend Gallus the advantages of a
military life, Juvenal attacks with considerable spirit the exclusive
privileges which the army had acquired or usurped, to the manifest injury of
the civil part of the community.

JUVENAL'S SATIRES.
SATIRE I.

Must I always be a hearer only? Shall I never retaliate,[33] though plagued
so often with the Theseid of Codrus,[34] hoarse with reciting it? Shall one
man, then, recite[35] to me his Comedies, and another his Elegies, with
impunity? Shall huge "Telephus" waste a whole day for me, or "Orestes,"
with the margin of the manuscript full to the very edge, and written on the
back too,[36] and yet not finished, and I not retort?
No one knows his own house better than I do the grove of Mars, and
Vulcan's cave close to the Æolian rocks. The agency of the winds,[37] what
ghosts Æacus is torturing, whence another bears off the gold[38] of the
stolen fleece, what huge mountain-ashes Monychus hurls, all this the plane-
groves of Fronto,[39] and the statues shaken and the columns split by the
eternal reciter, are for ever re-echoing. You may look for the same themes
from the greatest poet and the least.
And yet I too have shirked my hand away from the rod.[40] I too have given
advice to Sylla, that he should enjoy a sound sleep by returning to a private
station.[41] When at every turn you meet so many poetasters, it were a
foolish clemency to spare paper that is sure to be wasted. Yet why I rather
choose to trace my course over that plain through which the great foster-son
of Aurunca[42] urged his steeds, I will, if you are at leisure, and with
favorable ear listen to reason, tell you. When a soft eunuch[43] marries a
wife; when Mævia[44] transfixes the Tuscan boar, and, with breasts exposed,
grasps the hunting-spears; when one man singly vies in wealth with the
whole body of patricians, under whose razor my beard, grown exuberant,
sounded while I was in my prime;[45] when Crispinus, one of the dregs of
the mob of the Nile, a born-slave of Canopus, (while his shoulder hitches up
his Tyrian cloak,)[46] airs his summer ring from his sweating fingers, and
can not support the weight of his heavier gem;—it is difficult not to write
satire. For who can be so tolerant of this iniquitous city, who so case-

hardened,[47] as to contain himself! When there comes up the bran-new
litter of Matho[48] the lawyer, filled with himself; and after him, he that
informed upon his powerful friend; and will soon plunder the nobility,
already close-shorn, of the little that remains to them; one whom even
Massa fears, whom Carus soothes with a bribe; or a Thymele suborned by
some trembling Latinus.[49] When fellows supplant you, who earn their
legacies by night-work, lifted up to heaven[50] by what is now the surest
road to the highest advancement, the lust of some ancient harridan.
Proculeius gets one poor twelfth; but Gillo has eleven twelfths. Each gets
the share proportioned to his powers. Well! let him take the purchase-
money of his blood, and be as pale as one that has trodden on a snake with
naked heel, or a rhetorician about to declaim at the altar at Lyons.[51]
Why need I tell with what indignation my parched liver boils, when here,
the plunderer of his ward (reduced by him to the vilest gains) presses on the
people with his crowds of menials, and there, he that was condemned by a
powerless sentence. (For what cares he for infamy while he retains the
plunder?) Marius,[52] though an exile, drinks from the eighth hour, and
laughs at the angry gods, while thou, O Province, victorious in the suit, art
in tears! Shall I not deem these themes worthy of the lamp of Venusium?[53]
Shall I not lash these? Why rather sing tales of Hercules or Diomede, or the
bellowing of the Labyrinth, and the sea struck by the boy Icarus, and the
winged artificer?[54] When the pander inherits the wealth of the adulterer
(since the wife has lost the right of receiving it),[55] taught to gaze at the
ceiling, and snore over his cups with well-feigned sleep. When he considers
himself privileged to expect the command of a cohort, who has squandered
his money on his stables, and has run through all his ancestors' estate, while
he flies with rapid wheel along the Flaminian road;[56] for while yet a youth,
like Automedon, he held the reins, while the great man showed himself off
to his "mistress-in-his-cloak."[57] Do you not long to fill your capacious
tablets, even in the middle of the cross-ways, when there comes borne on
the shoulders of six slaves, exposed to view on either side, with palanquin
almost uncurtained, and aping the luxurious Mæcenas, the forger, who
made himself a man of splendor and wealth by a few short lines, and a
moistened seal?[58] Next comes the powerful matron, who when her
husband thirsts, mingles the toad's-poison in the mellow wine of Cales

which she is herself about to hand him, and with skill superior even to
Locusta,[59] initiates her neighbors, too simple before, in the art of burying
their husbands, livid from the poison, in despite of infamy and the public
gaze.[60]
Dare some deed to merit scanty Gyarus[61] and the jail, if you wish to be
somebody. Honesty is commended, and starves. It is to their crimes they are
indebted for their gardens, their palaces, their tables, their fine old plate,
and the goat standing in high relief from the cup. Whom does the seducer of
his own daughter-in-law, greedy for gold, suffer to sleep? Or the unnatural
brides, or the adulterer not out of his teens?[62] If nature denies the power,
indignation would give birth to verses, such as it could produce, like mine
and Cluvienus'.
From the time that Deucalion ascended the mountain in his boat, while the
storm upheaved the sea,[63] and consulted the oracle, and the softening
stones by degrees grew warm with life, and Pyrrha displayed to the males
the virgins unrobed; all that men are engaged in, their wishes, fears, anger,
pleasures, joys, and varied pursuits, form the hotch-potch of my book.
And when was the crop of vices more abundant? When were the sails of
avarice more widely spread? When had gambling its present spirits? For
now men go to the hazard of the gaming-table not simply with their purses,
but play with their whole chest[64] staked. What fierce battles will you see
there, while the steward supplies the weapons for the contest! Is it then
mere common madness to lose a hundred sestertia, and not leave enough for
a tunic for your shivering slave![65] Which of our grandsires erected so
many villas? Which of them ever dined by himself[66] on seven courses? In
our days the diminished sportula is set outside the threshold, ready to be
seized upon by the toga-clad crowd.[67] Yet he (that dispenses it), before
giving, scans your features, and dreads lest you should come with
counterfeit pretense and under a false name. When recognized you will
receive your dole. He bids the crier summon the very Trojugenæ
themselves. For even they assail the door with us. "Give the prætor his!
Then to the tribune." But the freedman must first be served! "I was before
him!" he says. "Why should I fear or hesitate to stand up for my turn,
though I was born on the banks of Euphrates, which the soft windows[68] in
my ears would attest, though I myself were to deny the fact. But my five

shops bring me in four hundred sestertia. What does the Laticlave[69]
bestow that's worth a wish, since Corvinus keeps sheep for hire in the
Laurentine fields? I own more than Pallas[70] and the Licini. Let the
tribunes wait then!" Let Riches carry the day, and let not him give place
even to the sacrosanct magistrate, who came but the other day to this city
with chalked feet.[71] Since with us the most revered majesty is that of
riches; even though as yet, pernicious money, thou dwellest in no temple,
nor have we as yet reared altars to coin, as we worship Peace and Faith,
Victory and Virtue, and Concord, whose temple resounds with the noise of
storks returning to their nests.[72] But when a magistrate of the highest rank
reckons up at the end of the year, what the sportula brings him in, how
much it adds to his revenue, what shall the poor retainers do, who look to
this for their toga, for their shoes, their bread and fire at home? A closely-
wedged crowd of litters is clamorous for the hundred quadrantes, and his
wife, though sick or pregnant, accompanies and goes the rounds with her
husband. One practicing a crafty trick now worn threadbare, asks for his
wife though really absent, displaying in her stead an empty and closed
palanquin: "My Galla is inside," he says, "dispatch us with all speed. Why
hesitate?" "Put out your head, Galla!" "O don't disturb her! she's asleep!"
The day is portioned out with a fine routine of engagements. First the
sportula; then the Forum,[73] and Apollo[74] learned in the law; and the
triumphal statues, among which some unknown Egyptian or Arabarch has
dared set up his titles, whose image, as though sacred, one dare not venture
to defile.[75] At length, the old and wearied-out clients quit the vestibule and
give up all their hopes;[76] although their expectation of a dinner has been
full-long protracted: the poor wretches must buy their cabbage and fire.
Meanwhile their patron-lord will devour the best that the forest and ocean
can supply, and will recline in solitary state with none but himself on his
couches. For out of so many fair, and broad, and such ancient dishes, they
gorge whole patrimonies at a single course. In our days there will not be
even a parasite! Yet who could tolerate such sordid luxury! How gross must
that appetite be, which sets before itself whole boars, an animal created to
feast a whole company! Yet thy punishment is hard at hand, when distended
with food thou layest aside thy garments, and bearest to the bath the
peacock undigested! Hence sudden death, and old age without a will. The
news[77] travels to all the dinner-tables, but calls forth no grief, and thy

funeral procession advances, exulted over by disgusted friends![78] There is
nothing farther that future times can add to our immorality. Our posterity
must have the same desires, perpetrate the same acts. Every vice has
reached its climax. Then set sail! spread all your canvas! Yet here perchance
you may object, whence can talent be elicited able to cope with the subject?
Whence that blunt freedom of our ancestors, whose very name I dare not
utter, of writing whatever was dictated by their kindling soul. What matter,
whether Mucius forgive the libel, or not? But take Tigellinus for your
theme, and you will shine in that tunic, in which they blaze standing,[79]
who smoke with throat transfixed, and you will draw a broad furrow in the
middle of the sand. "Must he then, who has given[80] aconite to his three
uncles, be borne on down cushions, suspended aloft, and from thence look
down on us?" Yes! when he meets you press your finger to your lip! There
will be some informer standing by to whisper in his ear, That's he! Without
fear for the consequences you may match[81] Æneas and the fierce Rutulian.
The death of Achilles breeds ill-will in no one; or the tale of the long-sought
Hylas, who followed his pitcher. But whensoever Lucilius, fired with rage,
has brandished as it were his drawn sword, his hearer, whose conscience
chills with the remembrance of crime, grows red. His heart sweats with the
pressure of guilt concealed. Then bursts forth rage and tears! Ponder well,
therefore, these things in your mind, before you sound the signal blast. The
soldier when helmeted repents too late of the fight. I will try then what I
may be allowed to vent on those whose ashes are covered by the
Flaminian[82] or Latin road.

FOOTNOTES:

[33] Reponam, "repay in kind." A metaphor taken from the payment of debts.
[34] Codrus; a poor poet in every sense, if, as some think, he is the same as the
Codrus mentioned iii., 203.
[35] Recitaverit. For the custom of Roman writers to recite their compositions in
public, cf. Sat. vii., 40, 83; iii., 9. Plin., 1, Ep. xiii., "queritur se diem perdidisse."
Togata is a comedy on a Roman subject; Prætexta, a tragedy on the same; Elegi,
trifling love-songs.
[36] In tergo. The ancients usually wrote only on one side of the parchment:
when otherwise, the works were called "Opisthographi," and said to be written
"aversa charta."

[37] Venti; cf. xii., 23, where he uses "Poëtica tempestas" as a proverbial
expression.
[38] Aurum; probably a hit at Valerius Flaccus, his contemporary.
[39] Julius Fronto was a munificent patron of literature, thrice consul, and once
colleague of Trajan, A.D. 97. Cassiod.
[40] "Jam a grammaticis eruditi recessimus." Brit.; and so Dryden.
[41] "That to sleep soundly, he must cease to rule." Badham.
[42] Lucilius was born at Aurunca, anciently called Suessa.
[43] Spado, for the reason, vid. Sat. vi., 365.
[44] Mævia. The passion of the Roman women for fighting with wild beasts in
the amphitheatre was encouraged by Domitian, but afterward restrained by an
edict of Severus.
[45] "Who reap'd my manly chin's resounding field." Hodgson. Either Licinus,
the freedman of Augustus, is referred to (Hor., A. P., 301), or more probably
Cinnamus. Cf. Sat. x., 225. Mart., vii., Ep. 64.
[46] This is the most probable meaning, and adopted by Madan and Browne; but
there are various other interpretations: e. g., "Cumbered with his purple vest."
Badham. "With cloak of Tyrian dye, Changed oft a day for needless luxury."
Dryden. "While he gathers now, now flings his purple open." Gifford. "O'er his
back displays." Hodgson.
[47] Ferreus, "so steel'd."
[48] "Fat Matho plunged in cushions at his ease." Badham.
[49] Cf. Mart., i., v., 5, "Quâ Thymelen spectas derisoremque Latinum."
[50] Cœlum. There is probably a covert allusion here to Adrian, who gained the
empire through the partiality of Plotina, in spite of the will of her dying husband
Trajan.
[51] Lugdunensem. There was a temple erected in honor of Augustus at Lyons,
A.U.C. 744, and from the very first games were celebrated there, but the contest
here alluded to was instituted by Caligula. Cf. Suet., Calig., xx. It was a
"certamen Græcæ Latinæque facundiæ," in which the vanquished were
compelled to give prizes to the victors, and to write their praises. While those
who "maximè displicuissent" had to obliterate their own compositions with a
sponge or their tongues, unless they preferred being beaten with ferules, or
ducked in the nearest river. Caligula was at Lyons, A.D. 40, on his way to the
ocean.
[52] Marius Priscus, proconsul of Africa, was condemned for extortion, A.D.
100. Vid. Clinton in a. Pliny the Younger was his accuser, 2 Ep., xi. (Cf. Sat.
viii., 120, "Cum tenues nuper Marius discinxerit Afros.") Though condemned, he
saved his money; and was, as Gifford renders it, "by a juggling sentence damn'd
in vain." The ninth hour (three o'clock) was the earliest hour at which the
temperate dined. Cf. Mart., iv., Ep. 8, "Imperat exstructos frangere nona toros."
Cf. Hor., i., Od. i., 20.
[53] Venusium, or Venusia, the birthplace of Horace.

[54] "Vitreo daturus nomina Ponto." Hor., iv., Od. ii., 3.
[55] Jus nullum uxori. Cf. Suet., Dom., viii. "Probrosis fœminis ademit jus
capiendi legata hæreditatesque."
[56] The Flaminian road ran the whole length of the Campus Martius, and was
therefore the most conspicuous thoroughfare in Rome. It is now the Corso.
[57] Lacernatæ. The Lacerna was a male garment: the allusion is probably to
Nero and his "eunuch-love" Sporus. Vid. Suet., Nero, 28.
[58] "Signator-falso," sc. testamento. Cf. Sat. xii., 125, and Bekker's Charicles.
"Fram'd a short will and gave himself the whole." Hodgson.

"A few short lines authentic made,
By a forged seal the inheritance convey'd." Badham.

[59] Locusta. Vid. Tac., Ann., xii., 66, 67. She was employed by Agrippina to
poison Claudius, and by Nero to destroy Germanicus. On the accession of Galba
she was executed. Cf. Suet., Nero, 33.
[60]

"Reckless of whispering mobs that hover near." Badham.
"Nor heed the curse of the indignant throng." Gifford.

[61] Gyarus, a barren island in the Ægean. Vid. Tac., Ann., iii, 68, 69. "Insulam
Gyarum immitem et sine cultu hominum esse." Cf. Sat. x., 170; vi., 563.
[62] "The raw noble in his boyish gown." Hodgson. "Stripling debauchee."
Gifford. The sons of the nobility wore the toga prætexta till the age of seventeen.
[63] "While whelming torrents swell'd the floods below." Badham.
[64] Arcâ. Cf. Sat. x., 24.
[65] Reddere. Probably "to pay what has been long due."
[66] Secreto, "without their clients," opposed to the "in propatulo" of Val. Max.,
ii., 5. ἔῤῥ' ἐς κόρακας μονόφαγε. Alex.
[67] In former days the Romans entertained their clients, after the day's officium
was over, at supper, which was called "cœna recta." In later times, the clients,
instead of this, received their portion of the supper, which they carried away in a
small basket, "sportula," or a kind of portable kitchen. Cf. iii., 249. This was
again changed, and an equivalent in money (centum quadrantes, about twenty
pence English) given instead. Domitian restored the "cœna recta." Cf. Suet.,
Dom., vii.; Nero, xvi.
[68] Fenestræ. Cf. Xen., Anab., III., i., 31. Exod., xxi., 6.
[69]

"Shall I then yield, though born perchance a slave,
To the proud beggar in his laticlave?" Hodgson.

[70] Pallas, the freedman of Claudius, was enormously rich. The wealth and
splendor of Licinus is again alluded to, Sat. xiv., 305.
[71] Pedibus albis. The feet of imported slaves were marked with chalk. Cf. Sat.
vii., 16. Plin., H. N., xxxv., 17.
[72] Salutato crepitat. It refers either to the chattering of the young birds, when
the old birds who have been in quest of food return to their nests (the whole
temple being deserted by men, serves, as the Schol. says, for a nidus to birds); or,
to the noise made by the old birds striking their beaks to announce their return.
Cf. Ov., Met., vi., 97.
[73] Ordine rerum. Cf. Mart., iv., Ep. 8. The Forum is the old Forum Romanum.
[74] Apollo, i. e., the Forum Augusti on the Palatine Hill. In the court where
pleas were held stood an ivory statue of Apollo. Cf. Hor., i., Sat. ix., 78.
[75] "And none must venture to pollute the place." Hodgson. Tantum, i. e.,
tantummodo. Cf. Pers., i. Sat., 114, Sacer est locus, ite profani, Extra meiete!
[76] To all these places the client attends his patron; then, on his return, the rich
man's door is closed, and he is at liberty to return home, without any invitation
to remain to dinner.

"The day's attendance closed, and evening come,
The uninvited client hies him home." Badham.

[77] Nova. "By witty spleen increased." Gifford.
[78]

"Friends, unenrich'd, shall revel o'er your bier,
Tell the sad news, nor grace it with a tear." Hodgson.

[79] Tædâ. Cf. viii., 235, "Ausi quod libeat tunica punire molestâ." Tac., Ann.,
xv., 44, "Aut crucibus adfixi, aut flammandi, atque ubi defecisset dies, in usum
nocturni luminis urerentur." Sen., de Ira, iii., 3, "Circumdati defixis corporibus
ignes."
[80] Qui dedit, i. e., Tigellinus.
[81] Committas, a metaphor from pairing or matching gladiators in the arena.

"Achilles may in epic verse be slain,
And none of all his myrmidons complain;
Hylas may drop his pitcher, none will cry,
Not if he drown himself for company." Dryden.

[82] Flaminiâ. The laws of the xii. tables forbade all burials within the city. The
road-sides, therefore, were lined with tombs. Hence the common beginning of
epitaphs, "Siste gradum viator." The peculiar propriety of the selection of these
two roads is the fact that Domitian was buried by the Flaminian, and Paris, the
mime, Juvenal's personal enemy, by the Latin road.

SATIRE II.

I long to escape from hence beyond the Sarmatians, and the frozen sea,
whenever those fellows who pretend to be Curii and live like Bacchanals
presume to read a lecture on morality. First of all, they are utterly unlearned,
though you may find all their quarters full of busts of Chrysippus. For the
most finished scholar among them is he that has bought an image of
Aristotle or Pittacus, or bids his shelves retain originals of Cleanthes. There
is no trusting to the outside! For what street is there that does not overflow
with debauchees of demure exterior? Dost thou reprove abominations, that
art thyself the most notorious sink among catamites who pretend to follow
Socrates? Thy rough limbs indeed, and the stiff bristles on thy arms, seem
to promise a vigorous mind within; but on thy smooth behind, the surgeon
with a smile lances the swelling piles. These fellows affect a paucity of
words, and a wonderful taciturnity, and the fashion of cutting their hair
shorter than their eyebrows. There is therefore more frankness and sincerity
in Peribomius; the man that by his very look and gait makes no secret of his
depravity, I look upon as the victim of destiny. The plain-dealing of the
latter class excites our pity; their very madness pleads for our forgiveness.
Far worse are they who in Hercules' vein practice similar atrocities, and
preaching up virtue, perpetrate the foulest vice. "Shall I feel any dread for
thee, Sextus, unnatural thyself?" says the infamous Varillus. "How am I
worse than thou? Let the straight-limbed, if you please, mock the bandy-
legged; the fair European sneer at the Ethiop. But who could tolerate the
Gracchi if they railed at sedition? Who would not confound heaven with
earth, and sea with sky,[83] if a thief were odious to Verres, or a murderer to
Milo? If Clodius were to impeach adulterers, or Catiline Cethegus? If
Sylla's three pupils were to declaim against Sylla's proscriptions? Such was
the case of the adulterer recently[84] defiled by incest, such as might be
found in Greek tragedy, who then set himself to revive those bitter laws
which all might tremble at, ay, even Venus and Mars, at the same time that
Julia was relieving her fruitful womb by so many abortives,[85] and gave
birth to shapeless masses, the image of her uncle! Might not then, with all
reason and justice, even the very worst of vices look with contempt on these
counterfeit Scauri, and if censured turn and bite again?"

Lauronia could not endure some fierce reformer of this class so often
exclaiming, "Where is now the Julian law? is it slumbering?" and thus
silenced him with a sneer: "Blest days indeed! that set thee up as a censor of
morals! Rome now must needs retrieve her honor! A third Cato has dropped
from the clouds. But tell me, pray, where do you buy these perfumes that
exhale from your neck, all hairy though it be! Do not be ashamed to tell the
shopman's name. But if old laws and statutes are to be raked up,[86] before
all others the Scatinian ought to be revived. First scrutinize and look into
the conduct of the men. They commit the greater atrocities; but it is their
number protects them, and their phalanxes close serried with their shields.
There is a wonderful unanimity among these effeminates. You will not find
one single instance of such execrable conduct in our sex.[87] Tædia does not
caress Cluvia, nor Flora Catulla. Hispo acts both sex's parts, and is pale
with two-handed lust. Do we ever plead causes? Do we study civil law? or
disturb your courts with any clamor of our tongues? A few of us perhaps
may wrestle, or diet themselves on the trainer's food; but only a few. You
men, you spin wool, and carry home in women's baskets your finished
tasks. You men twist the spindle big with its fine-drawn thread more deftly
than Penelope, more nimbly than Arachne; work, such as the dirty drab
does that sits crouching on her log. Every one knows why Hister at his
death made his freedman his sole heir, while, when alive, he gave his
maiden wife[88] so many presents. She will be rich without a doubt, who
will submit to lie third in the wide bed. Get married then, and hold your
tongue, and earrings[89] will be the guerdon of your silence! And after all
this, forsooth, a heavy sentence is to be passed on us women! Censure
acquits the raven, but falls foul of the dove!"
From this rebuke so true and undeniable, the counterfeit Stoics recoiled in
confusion, For what grain of untruth was there in Lauronia's words? Yet,
what will not others do, when thou, Creticus, adoptest muslin robes, and to
the amazement of the people, inveighest in such a dress against Procula or
Pollinea?
Fabulla, thou sayest, is an adulteress. Then let her be condemned, if you
will have it so, and Carfinia also. Yet though condemned, she would not put
on such a dress as that. "But it is July, it is raging hot, I am on fire!" Then
plead stark naked![90] To be thought mad would be a less disgrace! Is that a
dress to propound laws and statutes in, in the ears of the people when

flushed with victory, with their wounds yet green, or that noble race, fresh
from their plows? What an outcry would you make, if you saw such a dress
on the person of a Judex! I ask, would such a robe be suitable even in a
witness? Creticus! the implacable, the indomitable, the champion of liberty,
is transparent! Contagion has caused this plague-spot, and will extend it to
many more, just as a whole flock perishes, in the fields from the scab of one
sheep, or pigs from mange, and the grape contracts the taint from the grape
it comes in contact with. Ere long you will venture on something more
disgraceful even than this dress. No one ever reached the climax of vice at
one step. You will by degrees enter the band of those who wear at home
long fillets round their brows, and cover their necks with jewels, and
propitiate Bona Dea with the belly of a young sow and a huge bowl of
wine; but by an inversion of the old custom women, kept far aloof, dare not
cross the threshold. The altar of the goddess is accessible to males alone.
"Withdraw, profane females!" is the cry. No minstrel here may make her
cornet sound! Such were the orgies by the secret torch-light which the
Baptæ celebrated, who used to weary out even the Athenian Cotytto.[91]
One with needle held oblique adds length to his eyebrows touched with
moistened soot, and raising the lids paints his quivering eyes. Another
drains a Priapus-shaped glass, and confines his long thick hair with a caul
of gold thread, clothed in sky-blue checks, or close-piled yellow stuffs;
while his attendant also swears by Juno, the patron deity of his master.
Another holds a mirror, the weapon wielded by the pathic Otho, "the spoil
of Auruncan Actor,"[92] in which he surveyed himself when fully armed,
before he gave the signal to engage—a thing worthy to be recorded in the
latest annals and history of the day. A mirror! fit baggage for a civil war! O
yes, forsooth! to kill old Galba shows the consummate general, to pamper
one's complexion is the consistent occupation of the first citizen of Rome;
to aspire to the empire as the prize on Bebriacum's[93] plains, and then
spread over his face a poultice applied with his fingers! Such an act as
neither the quivered Semiramis perpetrated in the Assyrian realms, or
Cleopatra flying dejected in her Actian galley. Among this crew there is
neither decency of language, nor respect for the proprieties of the table.
Here is the foul license that Cybele enjoins, the lisping speech, the aged
priest with hoary hair, like one possessed, a prodigy of boundless appetite,
open to hire. Yet why do they delay? since long ago they ought after the
Phrygian custom to have removed with their knives the superfluous flesh.

Gracchus[94] gave four hundred sestertia as his dowry, with himself, to a
bugler, or else one that blew the straight trumpet. The marriage deeds were
duly signed, the blessing invoked, a great dinner provided, the he-bride lay
in the bridegroom's arms. O nobles! is it a censor we need, or an aruspex?
You would without doubt be horrified, and deem it a prodigy of portentous
import, if a woman gave birth to a calf, or a cow to a lamb. The same
Gracchus puts on flounces, the long robe and flame-colored[95] veil, who,
when bearing the sacred shields swinging with mysterious thong, sweated
beneath the Ancilia! Oh! father of our city! whence came such heinous guilt
to the shepherds of Latium? Whence, O Gradivus, came this unnatural lust
that has tainted thy race? See! a man illustrious in birth and rank is made
over to a man! Dost thou neither shake thy helmet, nor smite the earth with
thy lance? Dost thou not even appeal to thy father Jove? Begone then! and
quit the acres of the Campus once so severe, which thou ceasest to care for!
"I have some duty-work to perform to-morrow at break of day in the
Quirinal valley." "What is the occasion?" "Why ask? my friend is going to
be married; only a few are invited!" If we only live to see it, these things
will be done in the broad light of day, and claim to be registered in the
public acts. Meanwhile, there is one grievous source of pain that clings to
these male-brides, that they are incapable of bearing, and retaining their
lords' affections by bringing them children. No! better is it that nature in
this case gives their minds no power over their bodies! They must die
barren! Vain, in their case, is fat Lyde with her medicated box; vain the
holding out their hands to the nimble Luperci.
Yet even this prodigy of crime is surpassed by the trident of Gracchus in his
gladiator's tunic,[96] when in full flight he traverses the middle of the arena.
Gracchus! more nobly born than the Manlii, and Marcelli, and Catulus' and
Paulus' race, and the Fabii, and all the spectators in the front row. Ay, even
though you add to these the very man himself, at whose expense he cast his
net as Retiarius.
That there are departed spirits, and realms beneath the earth—that Charon's
pole exists, and the foul frogs in the Stygian whirlpool—and that so many
thousand souls cross its waters in a single bark, not even boys believe, save
those as yet too young to be charged for their bath.[97] But do thou believe
them true! What does Curius feel, and the two Scipios, what Fabricius and
the shades of Camillus, what the legion cut off at Cremera, and the flower

of Roman youth slaughtered at Cannæ—so many martial spirits—what do
they feel when such a shade as this passes from us to them? They would
long to be cleansed from the pollution of the contact, could any sulphur and
pine-torches be supplied to them, or could there be a bay-tree to sprinkle
them with water.
To such a pitch of degradation are we come![98] We have, indeed, advanced
our arms beyond Juverna's shore, and the Orcades[99] recently subdued, and
the Britons content with night contracted to its briefest span. But those
abominations which are committed in the victorious people's city are
unknown to those barbarians whom we have conquered. "Yet there is a
story told of one, an Armenian Zalates, who, more effeminate than the rest
of his young countrymen, is reported to have yielded to the tribune's lust."
See the result of intercourse with Rome! He came a hostage! Here they
learn to be men! For if a longer tarry in the city be granted to these youths,
they will never lack a lover. Their plaids, and knives, and bits, and whips,
will soon be discarded. Thus it is the vices of our young nobles are aped
even at Artaxata.[100]

FOOTNOTES:

[83] Alluding to the comic exclamation, "O Cœlum, O Terra, O Maria Neptuni."
Vid. Ter., Adelph., v., i., 4. Cf. Sat. vi., 283.
[84] Nuper. The allusion is to Domitian and his niece Julia, who died from the
use of abortives (cf. Plin., iv., Epist. xi.: "Vidua abortu periit"), cir. A.D. 91.
This, therefore, fixes the date of the Satire, which was probably one of Juvenal's
earliest, and written when he was about thirty. Cf. Sat. xiii., 17.
[85] Cf. vi., 368.
[86] Vexantur. E somno excitantur, alluding to "Lex Julia Dormis?" Cf. i., 126.
[87] The whole of this ironical defense contains the bitterest satire upon the
women of Rome, as all these crimes he proves in the 6th Satire to be of every-
day occurrence.
[88] Puellæ. Cf. Sat. ix., 70, seq.
[89] Cylindros, called, vi., 459, "Elenchos." Cf. Arist., Fr., 300, ἑλικτῆρες.
[90] Nudus, i. e., in the Roman sense, without the toga.
[91] Cotytto herself, the goddess of licentiousness, was wearied with their
impurities.
[92] Actoris. Æn., xii., 94.

[93] Bebriacum, between Verona and Cremona, where the deciding battle was
fought between Otho and Vitellius.
[94] Gracchus. In the same manner Nero was married to one Pythagoras, "in
modum solennium conjugiorum denupsisset." Tac., Ann., xv., 37. He repeated
the same act with Sporus.
[95] Flammea. Vid. Tac., u. s. "Inditum imperatori flammeum, visi auspices, dos,
et genialis torus et faces nuptiales: cuncta denique spectata, quæ etiam in feminâ
nox operit."
[96] Tunicati. Vid. Sat. vi., 256; viii., 203. Movet ecce tridentem. Credamus
tunicæ, etc.
[97] Nondum ære lavantur. The fee was a quadrans: vi., 447.
[98] Traducimur. Cf. viii., 17. Squalentes traducit avos.
[99] Modo captas Orcadas. A.D. 78, Clinton, F. R. "Insulas quas Orcadas
vocant, invenit domuitque." Tac., Agric., c. x.; cf. c. xii. "Dierum spatia ultra
nostri orbis mensuram: nox clara, et extremâ Britanniæ parte brevis, ut finem
atque initium lucis exiguo discrimine internoscas."
[100] Referunt. Cf. i., 41. "Multum referens de Mæcenate supino." The fashion
is not only carried back to Armenia, but copied there. Prætextatus. Cf. i., 78.
Artaxata, the capital of Armenia, was taken by Corbulo, A.D. 58.

SATIRE III.

Although troubled at the departure of my old friend, yet I can not but
commend his intention of fixing his abode at Cumæ, now desolate, and
giving the Sibyl one citizen at least. It is the high road to Baiæ, and has a
pleasant shore; a delightful retreat. I prefer even Prochyta[101] to the
Suburra. For what have we ever looked on so wretched or so lonely, that
you would not deem it worse to be in constant dread of fires, the perpetual
falling-in of houses, and the thousand dangers of the cruel city,[102] and
poets spouting in the month of August.[103] But while his whole household
is being stowed in a single wagon, my friend Umbritius halted at the ancient
triumphal arches[104] and the moist Capena. Here, where Numa used to
make assignations with his nocturnal mistress, the grove of the once-
hallowed fountain and the temples are in our days let out to Jews, whose
whole furniture is a basket and bundle of hay.[105] For every single tree is
bid to pay a rent to the people, and the Camenæ having been ejected, the
wood is one mass of beggars. We descended into the valley of Egeria and
the grottoes, so altered from what nature made them. How much more

should we feel the influence of the presiding genius of the spring,[106] if turf
inclosed the waters with its margin of green, and no marble profaned the
native tufo. Here then Umbritius began:[107]
"Since at Rome there is no place for honest pursuits, no profit to be got by
honest toil—my fortune is less to-day than it was yesterday, and to-morrow
must again make that little less—we purpose emigrating to the spot where
Dædalus put off his wearied wings, while my gray hairs are still but few,
my old age green and erect; while something yet remains for Lachesis to
spin, and I can bear myself on my own legs, without a staff to support my
right hand. Let us leave our native land. There let Arturius and Catulus live.
Let those continue in it who turn black to white; for whom it is an easy
matter to get contracts for building temples, clearing rivers, constructing
harbors,[108] cleansing the sewers, the furnishing a funeral,[109] and under
the mistress-spear set up the slave to sale."[110]
These fellows, who in former days were horn-blowers, and constant
attendants on the municipal amphitheatres, and whose puffed cheeks were
well known through all the towns, now themselves exhibit gladiatorial
shows, and when the thumbs of the rabble are turned up, let any man be
killed to court the mob. Returned from thence, they farm the public jakes.
And why not every thing? Since these are the men whom Fortune,
whenever she is in a sportive mood, raises from the dust to the highest
pinnacle of greatness.[111]
What shall I do at Rome? I can not lie; if a book is bad, I can not praise it
and beg a copy. I know not the motions of the stars. I neither will nor can
promise a man to secure his father's death. I never inspected the entrails of a
toad.[112]
Let others understand how to bear to a bride the messages and presents of
the adulterer; no one shall be a thief by my co-operation; and therefore I go
forth, a companion to no man,[113] as though I were crippled, and a trunk
useless from its right hand being disabled.[114]
Who, now-a-days, is beloved except the confidant of crime, and he whose
raging mind[115] is boiling with things concealed, and that must never be
divulged? He that has made you the partaker of an honest secret, thinks that

he owes you nothing, and nothing will he ever pay. He will be Verres' dear
friend, who can accuse Verres at any time he pleases. Yet set not thou so
high a price on all the sands of shady Tagus,[116] and the gold rolled down
to the sea, as to lose your sleep, and to your sorrow take bribes that ought to
be spurned,[117] and be always dreaded by your powerful friend.
What class of men is now most welcome to our rich men, and whom I
would especially shun, I will soon tell you; nor shall shame prevent me.[118]
It is that the city is become Greek, Quirites, that I can not tolerate; and yet
how small the proportion even of the dregs of Greece! Syrian Orontes has
long since flowed into the Tiber, and brought with it its language, morals,
and the crooked harps with the flute-player, and its national tambourines,
and girls made to stand for hire at the Circus. Go thither, ye who fancy a
barbarian harlot with embroidered turban. That rustic of thine, Quirinus,
takes his Greek supper-cloak, and wears Greek prizes on his neck
besmeared with Ceroma.[119] One forsaking steep Sicyon, another Amydon,
a third from Andros, another from Samos, another again from Tralles, or
Alabanda,[120] swarm to Esquiliæ, and the hill called from its osiers,
destined to be the very vitals, and future lords of great houses.[121] These
have a quick wit, desperate impudence, a ready speech, more rapidly fluent
even than Isæus.[122] Tell me what you fancy he is? He has brought with
him whatever character you wish—grammarian, rhetorician, geometer,
painter, trainer,[123] soothsayer, rope-dancer, physician, wizard—he knows
every thing. Bid the hungry Greekling go to heaven! He'll go.[124] In short,
it was neither Moor, nor Sarmatian, nor Thracian, that took wings, but one
born in the heart of Athens.[125] Shall I not shun these men's purple robes?
Shall this fellow take precedence of me in signing his name, and recline
pillowed on a more honorable couch than I, though imported to Rome by
the same wind that brought the plums and figs?[126] Does it then go so
utterly for nothing, that my infancy inhaled the air of Aventine, nourished
on the Sabine berry? Why add that this nation, most deeply versed in
flattery, praises the conversation of an ignorant, the face of a hideously ugly
friend, and compares some weak fellow's crane-like neck to the brawny
shoulders of Hercules, holding Antæus far from his mother Earth: and is in
raptures at the squeaking voice,[127] not a whit superior in sound to that of
the cock as he bites the hen. We may, it is true, praise the same things, if we

choose. But they are believed. Can he be reckoned a better actor,[128] when
he takes the part of Thais, or acts the wife in the play, or Doris[129] without
her robe. It is surely a woman in reality that seems to speak, and not a man
personifying one. You would swear it was a woman, perfect in all respects.
In their country, neither Antiochus, nor Stratocles, or Demetrius and the
effeminate Hæmus, would call forth admiration. For there every man's an
actor. Do you smile? He is convulsed with a laugh far more hearty. If he
spies a tear in his friend's eye, he bursts into a flood of weeping; though in
reality he feels no grief. If at the winter solstice you ask for a little fire, he
calls for his thick coat. If you say, I am hot! he breaks into a sweat.
Therefore we are not fairly matched; he has the best of it, who can at any
time, either by night or day, assume a fictitious face; kiss his hands in
ecstasy, quite ready, to praise his patron's grossest acts; if the golden cup
has emitted a sound, when its bottom is inverted.
Besides, there is nothing that is held sacred by these fellows, or that is safe
from their lust. Neither the mistress of the house, nor your virgin daughter,
nor her suitor, unbearded as yet, nor your son, heretofore chaste. If none of
these are to be found, he assails his friend's grandmother. They aim at
learning the secrets of the house, and from that knowledge be feared.
And since we have begun to make mention of the Greeks, pass on to their
schools of philosophy, and hear the foul crime of the more dignified cloak.
[130]
It was a Stoic that killed Bareas—the informer, his personal friend—
the old man, his own pupil—bred on that shore[131] on which the pinion of
the Gorgonean horse lighted. There is no room for any Roman here, where
some Protogenes, or Diphilus, or Erimanthus reigns supreme; who, with the
common vice of his race, never shares a friend, but engrosses him entirely
to himself. For when he has infused into his patron's too ready ear one little
drop of the venom of his nature and his country, I am ejected from the door;
all my long-protracted service goes for naught. Nowhere is the loss of a
client of less account. Besides (not to flatter ourselves) what service can the
poor man render, what merit can he plead, even though he be zealous
enough to hasten in his toga[132] before break of day, when the very prætor
himself urges on his lictor, and bids him hurry on with headlong speed,
since the childless matrons have been long awake, lest his colleague[133] be
beforehand with him in paying his respects to Albina and Modia. Here, by

the side of a slave, if only rich, walks the son of the free-born;[134] for the
other gives to Calvina, or Catiena (that he may enjoy her once or twice), as
much as the tribunes in the legion receive;[135] whereas you, when the face
of a well-dressed harlot takes your fancy, hesitate to hand Chione from her
exalted seat.
Produce me at Rome a witness of as blameless integrity as the host of the
Idæan deity;[136] let Numa stand forth, or he that rescued Minerva when in
jeopardy from her temple all in flames: the question first put would be as to
his income, that about his moral character would come last of all. "How
many slaves does he keep? How many acres of public land does he occupy?
[137]
With how many and what expensive dishes is his table spread?" In
exact proportion to the sum of money a man keeps in his chest, is the credit
given to his oath. Though you were to swear by all the altars of the
Samothracian and our own gods, the poor man is believed to despise the
thunderbolts and the gods, even with the sanction of the gods themselves.
Why add that this same poor man furnishes material and grounds for
ridicule to all, if his cloak is dirty and torn, if his toga is a little soiled, and
one shoe gapes with its upper leather burst; or if more than one patch
displays the coarse fresh darning thread, where a rent has been sewn up.
Poverty, bitter though it be, has no sharper pang than this, that it makes men
ridiculous. "Let him retire, if he has any shame left, and quit the cushions of
the knights, that has not the income required by the law, and let these seats
be taken by"—the sons of pimps, in whatever brothel born![138] Here let the
son of the sleek crier applaud among the spruce youths of the gladiator, and
the scions of the fencing-school. Such is the will of the vain Otho, who
made the distinction between us.
Who was ever allowed at Rome to become a son-in-law if his estate was
inferior, and not a match for the portion of the young lady?[139] What poor
man's name appears in any will? When is he summoned to a consultation
even by an ædile? All Quirites that are poor, ought long ago to have
emigrated in a body.[140] Difficult indeed is it for those to emerge from
obscurity whose noble qualities are cramped by narrow means at home; but
at Rome, for men like these, the attempt is still more hopeless; it is only at
an exorbitant price they can get a wretched lodging, keep for their servants,
and a frugal meal.[141] A man is ashamed here to dine off pottery ware,[142]

which, were he suddenly transported to the Marsi and a Sabine board,
contented there with a coarse bowl of blue earthenware, he would no longer
deem discreditable. There is a large portion of Italy (if we allow the fact),
where no one puts on the toga, except the dead.[143] Even when the very
majesty of festival days is celebrated in a theatre reared of turf,[144] and the
well-known farce at length returns to the stage,[145] when the rustic infant
on its mother's lap is terrified at the wide mouth of the ghastly mask, there
you will see all costumes equal and alike, both orchestra and common
people. White tunics are quite sufficient as the robe of distinction for the
highest personages there, even the very ædiles. Here, in Rome, the splendor
of dress is carried beyond men's means; here, something more than is
enough, is taken occasionally from another's chest. In this fault all
participate. Here we all live with a poverty that apes our betters. Why
should I detain you? Every thing at Rome is coupled with high price. What
have you to give, that you may occasionally pay your respects to Cossus?
that Veiento may give you a passing glance, though without deigning to
open his mouth? One shaves the beard, another deposits the hair of a
favorite; the house is full of venal cakes.[146] Now learn this fact, and keep
it to work within your breast. We clients are forced to pay tribute and
increase the private income of these pampered slaves.
Who dreads, or ever did dread, the falling of a house at cool Præneste, or at
Volsinii seated among the well-wooded hills, or simple Gabii,[147] or the
heights of sloping Tibur. We, in Rome, inhabit a city propped in great
measure on a slender shore.[148] For so the steward props up the falling
walls,[149] and when he has plastered over the old and gaping crack, bids us
sleep without sense of danger while ruin hangs over our heads![150] I must
live in a place, where there are no fires, no nightly alarms. Already is
Ucalegon shouting for water, already is he removing his chattels: the third
story in the house you live in is already in a blaze. You are unconscious! For
if the alarm begin from the bottom of the stairs, he will be the last to be
burned whom a single tile protects from the rain, where the tame pigeons
lay their eggs. Codrus had a bed too small for his Procula, six little jugs the
ornament of his sideboard, and a little can besides beneath it, and a Chiron
reclining under the same marble; and a chest now grown old in the service
contained his Greek books, and opic[151] mice-gnawed poems of divine
inspiration. Codrus possessed nothing at all; who denies the fact? and yet all

that little nothing that he had, he lost. But the climax that crowns his misery
is the fact, that though he is stark naked and begging for a few scraps, no
one will lend a hand to help him to bed and board. But, if the great mansion
of Asturius has fallen, the matrons appear in weeds,[152] the senators in
mourning robes, the prætor adjourns the courts. Then it is we groan for the
accidents of the city; then we loathe the very name of fire. The fire is still
raging, and already there runs up to him one who offers to present him with
marble, and contribute toward the rebuilding. Another will present him with
naked statues of Parian marble,[153] another with a chef-d'œuvre of
Euphranor or Polycletus.[154] Some lady will contribute some ancient
ornaments of gods taken in our Asiatic victories; another, books and
cases[155] and a bust of Minerva; another, a whole bushel of silver. Persicus,
the most splendid of childless men, replaces all he has lost by things more
numerous and more valuable, and might with reason be suspected of having
himself set his own house on fire.[156]
If you can tear yourself away from the games in the circus,[157] you can buy
a capital house at Sora, or Fabrateria, or Frusino, for the price at which you
are now hiring your dark hole for one year. There you will have your little
garden, a well so shallow as to require no rope and bucket, whence with
easy draught you may water your sprouting plants. Live there, enamored of
the pitchfork, and the dresser of your trim garden,[158] from which you
could supply a feast to a hundred Pythagoreans. It is something to be able in
any spot, in any retreat whatever, to have made one's self proprietor even of
a single lizard.
Here full many a patient dies from want of sleep; but that exhaustion is
produced by the undigested food that loads the fevered stomach. For what
lodging-houses allow of sleep? None but the very wealthy can sleep at
Rome.[159] Hence is the source of the disease. The passing of wagons in the
narrow curves of the streets, and the mutual revilings of the teamdrivers[160]
brought to a stand-still, would banish sleep even from Drusus and sea-
calves.[161]
If duty calls him,[162] the rich man will be borne through the yielding
crowd, and pass rapidly over their heads on the shoulders of his tall
Liburnian, and, as he goes, will read or write, or even sleep inside his litter,

[163]
for his sedan with windows closed entices sleep. And still he will arrive
before us. In front of us, as we hurry on, a tide of human beings stops the
way; the mass that follows behind presses on our loins in dense concourse;
one man pokes me with his elbow, another with a hard pole;[164] one knocks
a beam against my head, another a ten-gallon cask. My legs are coated thick
with mud; then, anon, I am trampled upon by great heels all round me, and
the hob-nail of the soldier's caliga remains imprinted on my toe.
Do you not see with what a smoke the sportula is frequented? A hundred
guests! and each followed by his portable kitchen.[165] Even Corbulo[166]
himself could scarcely carry such a number of huge vessels, so many things
piled upon his head, which, without bending his neck, the wretched little
slave supports, and keeps fanning his fire as he runs along.[167]
Tunics that have been patched together are torn asunder again. Presently, as
the tug approaches, the long fir-tree quivers, other wagons are conveying
pine-trees; they totter from their height, and threaten ruin to the crowd. For
if that wain, that is transporting blocks of Ligustican stone, is upset, and
pours its mountain-load upon the masses below, what is there left of their
bodies? Who can find their limbs or bones? Every single carcass of the mob
is crushed to minute atoms as impalpable as their souls. While, all this
while, the family at home, in happy ignorance of their master's fate, are
washing up the dishes, and blowing up the fire with their mouths, and
making a clatter with the well-oiled strigils, and arranging the bathing
towels with the full oilflask. Such are the various occupations of the
bustling slaves. But the master himself is at this moment seated[168] on the
banks of Styx, and, being a novice, is horrified at the grim ferry-man, and
dares not hope for the boat to cross the murky stream; nor has he, poor
wretch, the obol in his mouth to hand to Charon.
Now revert to other perils of the night distinct from these. What a height it
is from the lofty roofs, from which a potsherd tumbles on your brains. How
often cracked and chipped earthenware falls from the windows! with what a
weight they dint and damage the flint pavement where they strike it! You
may well be accounted remiss and improvident against unforeseen accident,
if you go out to supper without having made your will. It is clear that there
are just so many chances of death, as there are open windows where the
inmates are awake inside, as you pass by. Pray, therefore, and bear about

with you this miserable wish, that they may be contented with throwing
down only what the broad basins have held. One that is drunk, and
quarrelsome in his cups, if he has chanced to give no one a beating, suffers
the penalty by loss of sleep; he passes such a night as Achilles bewailing the
loss, of his friend;[169] lies now on his face, then again on his back. Under
other circumstances, he can not sleep. In some persons, sleep is the result of
quarrels; but though daring from his years, and flushed with unmixed wine,
he cautiously avoids him whom a scarlet cloak, and a very long train of
attendants, with plenty of flambeaux and a bronzed candelabrum, warns
him to steer clear of. As for me, whose only attendant home[170] is the
moon, or the glimmering light of a rushlight, whose wick I husband and eke
out—he utterly despises me! Mark the prelude of this wretched fray, if fray
it can be called, where he does all the beating, and I am only beaten.[171] He
stands right in front of you, and bids you stand! Obey you must. For what
can you do, when he that gives the command is mad with drink, and at the
same time stronger than you. "Where do you come from?" he thunders out:
"With whose vinegar and beans are you blown out? What cobbler has been
feasting on chopped leek[172] or boiled sheep's head with you? Don't you
answer? Speak, or be kicked! Say where do you hang out? In what Jew's
begging-stand shall I look for you?" Whether you attempt to say a word or
retire in silence, is all one; they beat you just the same, and then, in a
passion, force you to give bail to answer for the assault. This is a poor man's
liberty! When thrashed he humbly begs, and pummeled with fisticuffs
supplicates, to be allowed to quit the spot with a few teeth left in his head.
Nor is this yet all that you have to fear, for there will not be wanting one to
rob you, when all the houses are shut up, and all the fastenings of the shops
chained, are fixed and silent.
Sometimes too a footpad does your business with his knife, whenever the
Pontine marshes and the Gallinarian wood are kept safe by an armed guard.
Consequently they all flock thence to Rome as to a great preserve.
What forge or anvil is not weighed down with chains? The greatest amount
of iron used is employed in forging fetters; so that you may well fear that
enough may not be left for plowshares, and that mattocks and hoes may run
short. Well may you call our great-grandsires[173] happy, and the ages blest

in which they lived, which, under kings and tribunes long ago, saw Rome
contented with a single jail.[174]
To these I could subjoin other reasons for leaving Rome, and more
numerous than these; but my cattle summon me to be moving, and the sun
is getting low. I must go. For long ago the muleteer gave me a hint by
shaking his whip. Farewell then, and forget me not! and whenever Rome
shall restore you to your native Aquinum, eager to refresh your strength,
then you may tear me away too from Cumæ to Helvine Ceres,[175] and your
patron deity Diana. Then, equipped with my caligæ,[176] I will visit your
chilly regions, to help you in your satires—unless they scorn my poor
assistance.

FOOTNOTES:

[101] Prochyta. An island in the Bay of Naples, now called Procida.
[102] Sævæ, "from the ceaseless alarms it causes." "Sævus est qui terret." Donat.
in Ter., Adelp., v. s. iv.
[103] Augusto. Cf. Plin., 1, Epist. xiii. "Magnum proventum poëtarum annus hic
attulit; toto mense Aprili nullus ferè dies quo non recitaret aliquis."
[104] Either those of Romulus, or the aqueduct; and "moist Capena," either from
the constant dripping of the aqueduct (hence arcus stillans), or from the springs
near it, hence called Fontinalis; now St. Sebastian's gate. It opens on the Via
Appia.
[105] Cf. vi., 542.
[106]

"O how much more devoutly should we cling
To thoughts that hover round the sacred spring!" Badham.

Read præsentius: cf. Plin., Ep. viii., 8, the description of the Clitumnus, and Ov.,
Met., iii., 155, seq.
[107] Umbritius (aruspicum in nostro ævo peritissimus, Plin., x., c. iii.) is said to
have predicted Galba's death, and probably therefore, with Juvenal, cordially
hated Otho.
[108] Portus may mean, "constructing" or "repairing" harbors; or "farming the
harbor-dues," portoria.
[109] Scipio's was performed by contract. Plin., H. N., xxxi., 3.
[110] The spear was set up in the forum to show that an auction was going on
there. Hence things so sold were said to be sold sub hastâ. Domina, implies "the

right of disposal" of all things and persons there put up. This may mean,
therefore, to buy a drove of slaves on speculation, and sell them again by
auction; or, when they have squandered their all, put themselves up to sale. So
Britann. Dryden, "For gain they sell their very head." "Salable as slaves."
Hodgson. So Browne, who reads "præbere caput domino."
[111] "From abject meanness lifts to wealth and power." Badham. Cf. vi., 608.
[112] "Though a soothsayer, I am no astrologer." "I never examined the entrails
of a toad."
[113] "Therefore (because I will lend myself to no peculation) no great man will
take me in his suite when he goes to his province." Cf. Sat. viii., 127, "Si tibi
sancta cohors comitum." This is better than, "Therefore I leave Rome alone!"
Markland proposes, extinctâ dextrâ.
[114]

"Like a dead member from the body rent,
Maim'd and unuseful to the government." Dryden.

"No man's confederate, here alone I stand,
Like the maim'd owner of a palsied hand." Badham.

"Lopp'd from the trunk, a dead, unuseful hand." Hodgson.
[115] Isa., lvii., 20.
[116] Opaci, Lubin. interprets as equivalent to turbulenti, "turbid with gold." On
this Grangæus remarks, "Apage Germani haud germanam interpretationem!
opaci enim est umbris arborum obscuri." Cf. Mart., i., Ep. 50, "Æstus serenos
aureo franges Tago obscurus umbris arborum."
[117]

"Grasp thou no boon with sadness on thy brow,
Spurn the base bribe that binds a guilty vow." Badham.

[118]

"Shame for Rome that harbors such a crew."

[119] The Roman hind, once so renowned for rough and manly virtues, now
wears the costume of effeminate Greeks: or all these Greek terms, used to show
the poet's supreme contempt, may refer to the games: the Trechedipna, not the
thin supper-robe, but the same as the Endromis. The Ceroma, an ointment made
of oil, wax, and clay, with which they bedaubed themselves.
[120] Amydon in Pœonia, Tralles in Lydia, Alabanda in Caria.
[121]

"Work themselves inward, and their patrons out." Dryden.

"Deep in their patron's heart, and fix'd as fate,
The future lords of all his vast estate." Hodgson.

[122]

"Torrents of words that might Isæus drown." Badham.

[123] Aliptes, one who anoints (ἀλείφει), and therefore trains, athletes.
[124] So Johnson.

"All sciences the hungry Monsieur knows,
And bid him go to hell—to hell he goes!"

[125] Some think there is an allusion here to a man who attempted to repeat
Icarus' experiment before Nero. Vid. Suet., Nero, 13.
[126] Cottana, "ficorum genus." Plin., xiii., 5.
[127] "As if squeezed in the passage by the narrowness of the throat."
[128] His powers of flattery show his ability of assuming a fictitious character as
much as his skill in acting.
[129] Or the "Dorian maid." They were scantily dressed. Hence the
φαινομηρίδες of Ibycus.
[130] Major abolla, seems to be a proverbial expression; it may either be the
"Stoic's cloak," which was more ample than the scanty robe of the Cynic; or "the
philosopher's cloak," which has therefore more dignity and weight with it than
the soldier's or civilian's. The allusion is to P. Egnatius Celer, the Stoic, who was
bribed to give the false testimony on which Bareas Soranus was convicted. V.
Tac., Ann., xvi., 21, seq., and 32.
[131] Ripa. Commentators are divided between Tarsus, Thebes, and Corinth.
[132] Togatus. Gifford quotes Martial, x., Ep. 10.

"Quid faciet pauper cui non licet esse clienti?
Dimisit nostras purpura vestra togas."

[133] Collega; alluding to the two prætors, "Urbanus" and "Peregrinus."
[134] Claudit latus. This is the order Britannicus takes. "Claudere latus" means
not only to accompany, as a mark of respect, but to give the inner place; to
become his "comes exterior." Horace, ii., Sat. v., 18. So Gifford, "And if they
walk beside him yield the wall."
[135]

"For one cold kiss a tribune's yearly pay." Hodgson.

i. e., forty-eight pieces of gold. Cf. Suet., Vesp., xxiii.
[136] P. Scipio Nasica (vid. Liv., xxix., 10) and L. Cæcilius Metellus. Cf. Ov.,
Fasti, vi., 437.
[137] Possidet. Vid. Niebuhr.
[138] Cf. Mart., v., Ep. 8 and 25, who speaks of one Lectius as an officious
keeper of the seats.
[139] Sat. x., 323.
[140]

"Long, long ago, in one despairing band,
The poor, self-exiled, should have left the land." Hodgson.

[141]

"A menial board and parsimonious fare." Hodgson.

[142] "Negavit." Some commentators imagine Curius Dentatus to be here
alluded to. It seems better to take it as a general remark. Read "culullo," not
"cucullo," with Browne.
[143] Cf. Mart., ix., 588.
[144] Herboso, the first permanent theatre even in Rome itself, was built by
Pompey. Cf. In gradibus sedit populus de cæspite factis. Ov., Art. Am., i., 107.
Cf. Virg., Æn., v., 286.
[145]

"In the state show repeated now for years." Hodgson.

[146] Libis. So many of these "complimentary cakes" are sent in honor of this
event, that they are actually "sold" to get rid of them.

"Good client, quickly to the mansion send
Cakes bought by thee for rascal slaves to vend." Badham.

[147] Gabii, renowned for the ease with which Sex. Tarquin duped the
inhabitants.
[148] Pronum, i. e., supinum. Hor., iii., Od. iv., 23, on a steep acclivity.
[149]

"And 'tis the village mason's daily calling,
To keep the world's metropolis from falling." Dryden.

[150]

"Then bid the tenant sleep secure from dread,
While the loose pile hangs trembling o'er his head." Gifford.

[151] Opici. Cf. vi., 455. Opicæ castigat amicæ verba; i. e., barbarous, rude,
unlearned, "the Goths of mice;" from the Opici or Osci, an Ausonian tribe on the
Liris, from whom many barbarous innovations were introduced into Roman
manners and language. "Divina" may either refer to Homer's poems, or to
Codrus' own, which in his own estimation were "divine." Cf. Sat. i., 2, "rauci
Theseide Codri."
[152] Horrida. In all public misfortunes, the Roman matrons took their part in
the common mourning, by appearing without ornaments, in weeds, and with
disheveled hair. Cf. viii., 267. Liv., ii., 7. Luc., Phars., ii., 28, seq.
[153] Candida. Cf. Plin., xxxiv., 5. The Parian marble was the whitest, hence
Virg., Æn., iii., 126, "Niveamque Paron."
[154] Polycletus. Cf. viii., 103. His master-piece was the Persian body-guard (cf.
Ælian., V. H., xiv., 8), called the "Canon." Vid. Müller's Archæol. of Art, § 120.
Euphranor the painter belonged, like Polycletus, to the Sicyonic school.
[155] Foruli or plutei, cases for holding MSS. Cf. ii., 7. Suet., Aug., xxxi.
[156] Cf. Mart., iii., Ep. 52.
[157] Circus. Cf. x., 81, duas tantum res anxius optat Panem et Circenses.
[158] Cf. Milton.

"And add to these retired leisure,
That in trim gardens takes his pleasure."

[159] i. e., "Only the very rich can afford to buy 'Insulæ,' in the quiet part of the
city, where their rest will not be broken by the noise of their neighbors, or the
street."
[160] Mandra; properly "a pen for pigs or cattle," then "a team or drove of cattle,
mules," etc.; as Martial, v., Ep. xxii., 7, "Mulorum vincere mandras." Here "the
drovers" themselves are meant.
[161] Drusum. Cf. Suet., Claud., v., "super veterem segnitiæ notam." Seals are
proverbially sluggish. Cf. Plin., ix., 13. Virg., Georg., iv., 432.
[162] Officium; attendance on the levees of the great.
[163] Cf. i., 64; v., 83; vi., 477, 351. Plin., Pan., 24.
[164] i. e., of a litter. Cf. vii., 132.

[165] Culina, "a double-celled chafing-dish, with a fire below, to keep the 'dole'
warm." The custom is still retained in Italy.
[166] Domitius Corbulo, a man of uncommon strength, appointed by Nero to
command in Armenia. Vid. Tac., Ann., xiii., 8.
[167] "The pace creates the draught."
[168] Sedet; because, being unburied, he must wait a hundred years. Cf. Virg.,
Æn., vi., 313-330.
[169] Hom., Il., xxiv., 12, "ἄλλοτε δ' αὖτε ὕπτιος ἄλλοτε δὲ πρηνής."
[170] Deducere; "the technical word for the clients' attendance on their patrons;"
so "forum attingere; in forum deduci."
[171]

"He only cudgels, and I only bear." Dryden.

[172] Sectile, or the inferior kind of leek; the better sort being called
"capitatum." Plin., xx., 6. Cf. Sat. xiv., 133, sectivi porri.
[173] The order is "Pater, avus, proavus, abavus, atavas, tritavus." He means,
therefore, eight generations back at least.
[174] Ancus Martius built the prison. Liv., i., 33. The dungeon was added by
Servius Tullius, and called from him Tullianum. The next was built by Ap.
Claudius the decemvir.
[175] Ceres was worshiped under this epithet at Aquinum. Its origin is variously
given.
[176] Caligatus may mean, "with rustic boots," so that you may not be reminded
of Rome; or "with soldier's boots," as armed for our campaign against the vices
of the city.

SATIRE IV.

Once more behold Crispinus![177] and often shall I have to call him on the
stage. A monster! without one virtue to redeem his vices—of feeble powers,
save only in his lust. It is only a widow's charms this adulterer scorns.
What matters it then in what large porticoes he wearies out his steeds—
through what vast shady groves his rides extend[178]—how many acres
close to the forum, or what palaces he has bought? No bad man is ever
happy. Least of all he that has added incest to his adultery, and lately
seduced the filleted priestess,[179] that with her life-blood still warm must
descend into the earth.

But now we have to deal with more venial acts. Yet if any other man had
committed the same, he would have come under the sentence of our
imperial censor.[180] For what would be infamous in men of worth, a Titius
or Seius, was becoming to Crispinus. What can you do when no crime can
be so foul and loathsome as the perpetrator himself? He gave six sestertia
for a mullet.[181] A thousand sesterces, forsooth! for every pound of weight,
as they allege, who exaggerate stories already beyond belief. I should
commend the act as a master-stroke of policy, if by so noble a present he
had got himself named chief heir[182] in the will of some childless old man.
A better plea still would be that he had sent it to some mistress of rank, that
rides in her close chair with its wide glasses. Nothing of the sort! He bought
it for himself! We see many things which even Apicius[183] (mean and
thrifty compared with him) never was guilty of. Did you do this in days of
yore, Crispinus, when girt about with your native papyrus?[184] What! pay
this price for fish-scales? Perchance you might have bought the fisherman
cheaper than the fish! You might have bought a whole estate for the money
in some of our provinces. In Apulia, a still larger one.[185] What kind of
luxuries, then, may we suppose were gorged by the emperor himself, when
so many sestertia, that furnished forth but a small portion, a mere side-dish
of a very ordinary dinner, were devoured by this court buffoon, now clothed
in purple. Chief of the equestrian order now is he who was wont to hawk
about the streets shads from the same borough[186] with himself.
Begin, Calliope! here may we take our seats! This is no poetic fiction; we
are dealing with facts! Relate it, Pierian maids! and grant me grace for
having called you maids.
When the last of the Flavii was mangling the world, lying at its last gasp,
and Rome was enslaved by a Nero,[187] ay, and a bald one too, an Adriatic
turbot of wonderful size fell into the net, and filled its ample folds, off the
temple of Venus which Doric Ancona[188] sustains. No less in bulk was it
than those which the ice of the Mæotis incloses, and when melted at length
by the sun's rays, discharges at the outlets of the sluggish Euxine, unwieldly
from their long sloth, and fattened by the long-protracted cold.
This prodigy of a fish the owner of the boat and nets designs for the chief
pontiff. For who would dare to put up such a fish to sale, or to buy it? Since
the shores too would be crowded with informers; these inspectors of sea-

weed, prowling in every nook, would straightway contest the point[189] with
the naked fisherman, and would not scruple to allege that the fish was a
"stray," and that having made its escape from the emperor's ponds, where it
had long reveled in plenty, ought of course to revert to its ancient lord. If we
place any faith in Palfurius or Armillatus, whatever is pre-eminently fine in
the whole sea, is the property of the exchequer, wherever it swims. So, that
it may not be utterly lost, it will be made a present of, though now sickly
autumn was giving place to winter, and sick men were already
expecting[190] their fits of ague, though the rude tempest whistled and kept
the fish fresh, yet the fisherman hurries on as though a mild south wind
were blowing. And when the lakes were near at hand, where, though in
ruins, Alba[191] still preserves the Trojan fire, and her Lesser Vesta,[192] the
wondering crowd for a short space impeded his entrance; as they made way
for him, the folding-doors flew open on ready-turning hinge. The senators,
shut out themselves, watch the dainty admitted. He stands in the royal
presence. Then he of Picenum begins, "Deign to accept what is too great for
any private kitchen: let this day be celebrated as the festival of your genius,
haste to relieve your stomach of its burden, and devour a turbot reserved to
honor your reign.[193] It insisted on being caught." What could be more
fulsome? and yet the great man's crest rose. What flattery is there that it is
not prepared to believe, when power is praised as equal to the gods. But
there was no dish of sufficient size for the fish. Therefore the senators are
summoned to a council—men whom he hated! men on whose faces sat the
paleness engendered by the wretched friendship with the great! At the loud
summons of the Liburnian slave, "Run! the emperor is already seated!" the
first to snatch up his cloak and hurry to the place was Pegasus, lately set as
bailiff over the amazed city;[194] for what else were the præfects of Rome in
those days? of whom he was the best and most conscientious dispenser of
the laws, though in those days of terror he thought all things ought to be
administered by justice unarmed. Crispus[195] came too, that facetious old
man, with high character equal to his eloquence and mild disposition. Who
could have been a more serviceable minister to one that ruled seas, and
lands, and peoples, if, under that bane and pest of mankind, he had been
allowed to reprobate his savage nature and give honest advice? But what is
more ticklish than a tyrant's ear, with whom the life even of a favorite was
at stake, though he might be talking of showers or heat, or a rainy spring?

He, therefore, never attempted to swim against the stream, nor was he a
citizen who dared give vent to the free sentiments of his soul, and devote
his life to the cause of truth: and so it was that he saw many winters and
eighty summers; safe, by such weapons, even in a court like that. Next to
him hurried Acilius, a man of the same time of life; with a youth[196] that ill
deserved so cruel a death as that which awaited him, so prematurely
inflicted by the tyrant's swords; but nobility coupled with old age, has long
since been a miracle. Consequently, for myself, I should prefer being a
younger brother of the giants.[197] It was of no avail therefore to the
wretched man, that as a naked huntsman in the amphitheatre of Alba, he
fought hand to hand with Numidian bears. For who, in our days, is not up to
the artifices of the patricians? Who would now admire that primitive
cunning of thine, Brutus? It is an easy thing to impose on a king that wears
a beard![198]. Then came Rubrius not a whit less pale, though he was no
noble, one accused of an ancient and nameless crime, and yet more lost to
shame than the pathic satirist.[199] There too is to be seen Montanus'
paunch, unwieldy from its size, and Crispus reeking with unguent though so
early in the day, more than enough to furnish forth two funerals; and
Pompeius, still more ruthless even than he at cutting men's throats by his
insinuating whisper; and he that kept his entrails only to fatten the Dacian
vultures, Fuscus, that studied the art of war in his marble palace; and the
shrewd Veiento with the deadly Catullus,[200] who raged with lust for a girl
he could not see, a monster and prodigy of guilt even in our days, the blind
flatterer, a common bridge-beggar[201] invested with this hateful power,
whose worthiest fate would be to run begging by the carriages on the road
to Aricia, and blow his fawning kisses to the chariot as it descends the hill.
No one showed more astonishment at the turbot, for he was profuse in his
wonder, turning toward the left, but unfortunately the fish lay on the other
side. This was just the way he used to praise the combat and fencing of the
Cilician gladiator, and the stage machinery, and the boys caught up by it to
the awning. Veiento is not to be outdone by him; but, like one inspired by
the maddening influence of Bellona, begins to divine. "A mighty omen this
you have received of some great and noble triumph. Some captive king
you'll take, or Arviragus will be hurled from his British car. For the monster
is a foreign one. Do you see the sharp fins bristling on his back like
spears?" In one point only Fabricius was at fault, he could not tell the

turbot's country or age. "What then is your opinion? Is it to be cut up?"
"Heaven forefend so great dishonor to the noble fish!" says Montanus. "Let
a deep dish be provided, whose thin sides may inclose its huge
circumference. Some cunning Prometheus to act on this sudden emergency
is required. Quick with the clay and potter's wheel! But henceforth, Cæsar,
let potters always attend your armies!" This opinion, worthy of the author,
carried the day. He was well versed in the old luxury of the imperial court,
and Nero's nights,[202] and a second appetite when the stomach was fired
with the Falernian.[203] No one in my day was a greater connoisseur in good
eating; he could detect at the first bite whether the oysters were natives
from Circeii, or the Lucrine rocks, or whether they came from the Rutupian
beds, and told the shore an Echinus came from at the first glance.
They rise; and the cabinet being dismissed, the great chief bids the nobles
depart whom he had dragged to the Alban height, amazed and forced to
hurry, as though he were about to announce some tidings of the Catti and
fierce Sicambri; as though from diverse parts of the world some alarming
express had arrived on hurried wing. And would that he had devoted to such
trifles as these those days of horror and cruelty, in which he removed from
the city those glorious and illustrious spirits, with none to punish or avenge
the deed! But he perished as soon as he began to be an object of alarm to
cobblers. This was what proved fatal to one that was reeking with the blood
of the Lamiæ!

FOOTNOTES:

[177] Iterum. Cf. i., 27, "Pars Niliacæ plebis, verna Canopi, Crispinus."
[178] Cf. vii., 179.
[179] The vestal escaped her punishment, through Crispinus' interest with
Domitian.
[180] Cf. Sat. ii., 29. Suet., Domit., c. 8. Plin., iv., Epist xi.
[181] Sex millibus, about £44 7s. 6d. of English money. The value of the
sestertium was reduced after the reign of Augustus. A mullet even of three
pounds' weight was esteemed a great rarity. Vid. Hor., Sat., II., ii., 33, "Mullum
laudas trilibrem."
[182] The chief heir was named in the second line of the first table. Cf. Horace,
ii., Sat. v., 53. Suet., Cæs., 83; Nero, 17.
[183] Cf. Sat. xi., 3.

[184] Papyrus. Garments were made of papyrus even in Anacreon's days. iv.,
Od. 4. It is still used for the same purpose.
[185] Land would be probably cheap in Apulia, from its barrenness, and bad air,
and the prevalence of the wind Atabulus. Cf. Hor., i., Sat. v., Montes Apulia
notos quos torret Atabulus.
[186] i. e., Alexandria. Of the various readings of this line, "pactâ mercede"
seems to be the best. Even the fish Crispinus sold were not his own, he was only
hired to sell them for others.
[187] Nero, i. e., Domitian, who was as much disgusted at his own baldness as
Cæsar.
[188] Founded by a colony of Syracusans, who fled from the tyranny of
Dionysius.
[189] Agerunt cum; perhaps, "be ready to go to law with."
[190] Sperare sometimes means to fear. Cf. Virg., Æn., iv., 419.
[191] Alba was Domitian's favorite residence. Vid. Suet., Dom., iv., 19. Plin., iv.,
Ep. xi., "Non in regiam sed in Albanam villam convocavit."
[192] The "Lesser" Vesta, compared with the splendor of her "Cultus" at Rome,
which had been established by Numa. The temples were spared at the time of the
destruction of Alba by Tullus Hostilius. Vid. Liv., i.
[193] "Sæculum" is repeatedly used in this sense by Pliny, and other writers of
this age.
[194] As though Rome had now so far lost her privileges and her liberty, as to be
no better than a country vicus, to be governed by a bailiff.
[195] Vibius Crispus Placentinus, the author of the witticism about "Domitian
and the flies." Vid. Suet., Dom., 3.
[196] Juvene. Probably a son of this M. Acilius Glabrio, who was murdered by
Domitian out of envy at the applause he received when fighting in the arena at
the emperor's own command.
[197] i. e., "Terræ filius," Pers., vi., 57, one of the meanest origin.
[198] It was 444 years before barbers were introduced into the city from Sicily.
[199] Alluding to Nero's satire on Quintianus. Vid. Tac., Ann., xv., 49.
Quintianus mollitie corporis infamis, et a Nerone probroso carmine diffamatus.
[200] Catullus Messalinus. Vid. Plin., Ep., iv., 22. Fabricius Veiento wrote some
satirical pieces, for which Nero banished him, and ordered his books to be burnt.
Vid. Tac., Ann., xiv., 50. He was probably the husband of Hippia, mentioned in
the 6th Satire, l. 82.
[201] "Pons." Cf. Sat. v., 8; xiv., 134.
[202] Cf. Suet., Nero, 27.
[203] Cf. vi., 430.

SATIRE V.

If you are not yet ashamed of your course of life,[204] and your feeling is
still the same, that you consider living at another man's table to be the chief
good; if you can put up with such things as not even Sarmentus or Galba,
contemptible as he was, would have submitted to even at the unequal[205]
board of Cæsar himself; I should be afraid to believe your evidence though
you were on oath. I know nothing more easily satisfied than the cravings of
nature. Yet even suppose this little that is needed to be wanting, is there no
quay vacant? is there no where a bridge, and a piece of mat, somewhat less
than half, to beg upon? Is the loss of a supper so great a matter? is your
craving so fierce? when, in faith, it were much more reputable[206] to shiver
there, and munch mouldy fragments of dog-biscuit. In the first place, bear
in mind, that when invited to dinner, you receive payment in full of your
long-standing account of service. The sole result of your friendship with the
great man is—a meal! This your patron sets down to your account, and, rare
though it be, still takes it into the calculation. Therefore, if after the lapse of
two months he deigns to send for his long-neglected client, only that the
third place may not be unoccupied in one couch of his triclinium[207]—"Let
us sup together," he says; the very summit of your wishes! What more can
you desire? Trebius has that for which he ought to break his rest, and hurry
away with latchet all untied, in his alarm lest the whole crowd at his
patron's levee shall have already gone their round of compliments, when the
stars are fading, or at the hour when the chill wain of sluggish Bootes
wheels slowly round.[208]
But what sort of a supper is it after all? Wine, such as wool just shorn would
not imbibe.[209] You will see the guests become frantic as the priests of
Cybele. Wranglings are the prelude of the fray: but soon you begin to hurl
cups as well in retaliation; and wipe your wounds with your napkin stained
with blood; as often as a pitched battle, begun with pitchers of Saguntine
ware, rages between you and the regiment of freedmen. The great man
himself drinks wine racked from the wood under some consul with long
hair,[210] and sips[211] the juice of the grape pressed in the Social war; never
likely, however, to send even a small glass to a friend, though sick at heart.
To-morrow, he will drink the produce of the mountains of Alba or Setia,[212]
whose country and date age has obliterated by the accumulated mould on

the ancient amphora; such wine as, with chaplets on their heads, Thrasea
and Helvidius used to drink on the birthdays of the Bruti and Cassius. Virro
himself holds capacious cups formed of the tears of the Heliades[213] and
phialæ incrusted with beryl. You are not trusted with gold: or even if it is
ever handed to you, a servant is set as a guard over you at the same time, to
count the gems and watch your sharp nails. Forgive the precaution: the
jasper so much admired there is indeed a noble one: for, like many others,
Virro transfers to his cups the gems from off his fingers, which the youth,
preferred to the jealous Hiarbas,[214] used to set on the front of his scabbard.
You will drain a cup with four noses, that bears the name of the cobbler of
Beneventum,[215] already cracked, and fit to be exchanged, as broken glass,
for brimstone.[216]
If your patron's stomach is overheated with wine and food, he calls for
water cooled by being boiled and then iced in Scythian snow.[217] Did I
complain just now that the wine set before you was not the same as Virro's?
Why, the very water you drink is different. Your cups will be handed you by
a running footman from Gætulia, or the bony hand of some Moor, so black
that you would rather not meet him at midnight, while riding through the
tombs on the steep Latin way. Before Virro himself stands the flower of
Asia, purchased at a greater sum than formed the whole revenue of the
warlike Tullus, or Ancus—and, not to detain you, the whole fortunes[218] of
all the kings of Rome. And so, when you are thirsty, look behind you for
your black Ganymede that comes from Africa. A boy that costs so many
thousands deigns not to mix wine for the poor. Nay, his very beauty and
bloom of youth justify his sneer. When does he come near you? When
would he come, even if you called him, to serve you with hot or cold water?
He scorns, forsooth, the idea of obeying an old client, and that you should
call for any thing from his hand; and that you should recline at table, while
he has to stand. Every great house is proportionably full of saucy menials.
See, too, with what grumbling another of these rascals hands you bread that
can scarce be broken; the mouldy fragments of impenetrable crust, which
would make your jaws ache, and give you no chance of a bite. But delicate
bread, as white as snow, made of the finest flower, is reserved for the great
man. Mind you keep your hands off! Maintain the respect due to the cutter
of the bread![219] Imagine, however, that you have been rather too forward;

there stands over you one ready to make you put it down. "Be so good,
audacious guest, as to help yourself from the bread-basket you have been
used to, and know the color of your own particular bread." "So then![220] it
was for this, forsooth, that I so often quitted my wife, and hurried up the
steep ascent of the bleak Esquiline, when the vernal sky rattled with the
pelting of the pitiless hail, and my great coat dripped whole showers of
rain!"
See! with how vast a body the lobster which is served to your patron fills
the dish, and with what fine asparagus it is garnished all round; with what a
tail he seems to look down in scorn on the assembled guests, when he
comes in raised on high by the hands of the tall slave. But to you is served a
common crab, scantily hedged in[221] with half an egg sliced, a meal fit only
for the dead,[222] and in a dish too small to hold it. Virro himself drowns his
fish in oil from Venafrum; but the pale cabbage set before you, poor wretch,
will stink of the lamp. For in the sauceboats you are allowed, there is served
oil such as the canoe of the Micipsæ has imported in its sharp prow; for
which reason no one at Rome would bathe in the same bath with Bocchor;
which makes the blackamoors safe even from the attacks of serpents.
Your patron will have a barbel furnished by Corsica, or the rocks of
Tauromenium, when all our own waters have been ransacked and failed;
while gluttony is raging, and the market is plying its unwearied nets in the
neighboring seas, and we do not allow the Tyrrhene fish to reach their full
growth. The provinces, therefore, have to supply our kitchen; and thence we
are furnished with what Lenas the legacy-hunter may buy, and Aurelia sell
again.[223] Virro is presented with a lamprey of the largest size from the
Sicilian whirlpool. For while Auster keeps himself close, while he seats
himself and dries his wet pinions in prison, the nets,[224] grown
venturesome, despise the dangers even of the middle of Charybdis. An eel
awaits you—first-cousin to the long snake—or a coarse pike[225] from the
Tiber, spotted from the winter's ice, a native of the bank-side, fattened on
the filth of the rushing sewer, and used to penetrate the drain even of the
middle of Suburra.
"I should like to have a word with Virro, if he would lend an attentive ear.
No one now expects from you such presents as used to be sent by Seneca to
his friends of humble station, or the munificent gifts which the bountiful

Piso or Cotta used to dispense; for in days of old the glory of giving was
esteemed a higher honor than fasces or inscriptions. All we ask is that you
would treat us at supper like fellow-citizens. Do this, and then, if you
please, be, as many now-a-days are, luxurious when alone, parsimonious to
your guests."
Before Virro himself is the liver of a huge goose; a fat capon, as big as a
goose; and a wild boar, worthy of the spear of the yellow-haired Meleager,
smokes. Then will be served up truffles, if it happen to be spring, and the
thunder, devoutly wished for by the epicure, shall augment the supper.
"Keep your corn, O Libya," says Alledius, "unyoke your oxen; provided
only you send us truffles!" Meanwhile, that no single source of vexation
may be wanting, you will see the carver[226] capering and gesticulating with
nimble knife, till he has gone through all the directions of his instructor in
the art. Nor is it in truth a matter of trifling import with what an air a leveret
or a hen is carved. You would be dragged by the heels, like Cacus[227] when
conquered by Hercules, and turned out of doors, if you were ever to attempt
to open your mouth, as though you had three names.[228] When does Virro
pass the cup to you, or take one that your lips have contaminated? Which of
you would be so rash, so lost to all sense of shame, as to say, "Drink, sir!"
to your patron lord? There are very many things which men with coats worn
threadbare dare not say. If any god, or godlike hero, kinder to you than the
fates have been, were to give you a knight's estate, what a great man would
you, small mortal, become all at once from nothing at all! What a dear
friend of Virro's! "Give this to Trebius![229] Set this before Trebius! My dear
brother, will you take some of this sweet-bread?"
O money! it is to thee he pays this honor! it is thou and he are the brothers!
But if you wish to be my lord, and my lord's lord, let no little Æneas sport
in your hall,[230] or a daughter more endearing than he. It is the barrenness
of the wife that makes a friend really agreeable and beloved. But even
suppose your Mycale should be confined, though she should even present
you three boys at a birth, he will be the very one to be delighted with the
twittering nest; will order his green stomacher[231] to be brought, and the
filberts,[232] and the begged-for penny, whenever the infant parasite shall
come to dine with him.

Before his friends whom he holds so vile will be set some very questionable
toadstools—before the great man himself, a mushroom[233]—but such an
one as Claudius ate, before that furnished by his wife, after which he ate
nothing more. Virro will order to be served to himself and his brother Virros
such noble apples, on whose fragrance alone you are allowed to revel; such
as the eternal autumn of the Phæacians produced; or such as you might
fancy purloined from the African sisters. You feast upon some shriveled
windfall, such as is munched at the ramparts by him that is armed with
buckler and helmet: and, in dread of the lash, learns to hurl his javelin from
the shaggy goat's[234] back.
You may imagine, perhaps, that Virro does all this from stinginess. No! his
very object is to vex you. For what play, what mime is better than
disappointed gluttony? All this, therefore, is done, if you don't know it, that
you may be forced to give vent to your bile by your tears, and gnash long
your compressed teeth. You fancy yourself a freeman—the great man's
welcome guest! He looks upon you as one caught by the savor of his
kitchen. Nor does he conjecture amiss. For who is so utterly destitute as
twice to bear with his insolence, if it has been his good fortune, when a boy,
to wear the Tuscan gold,[235] or even the boss, the badge of leather, that
emblem of poverty.
The hope of a good dinner deludes you. "See! sure he'll send us now a half-
eaten hare, or a slice of that wild-boar haunch.[236] Now we shall get that
capon, as he has helped himself!" Consequently you all sit in silent
expectation, with bread in hand, untouched and ready for action. And he
that uses you thus shows his wisdom—if you can submit to all these things,
then you ought to bear them. Some day or other, you will present your head
with shaven crown, to be beaten: nor hesitate to submit to the harsh lash—
well worthy of such a banquet and such a friend as this!

FOOTNOTES:

[204] Propositi. So ix., 20, flexisse videris propositum.
[205] Iniquas. From the marked difference in the treatment of the different
guests.
[206] Quum Pol sit honestius. Rupertis' conjecture.
[207] Trebius is put in the lowest place in the triclinium, the third culcitra, or
cushion, on the lowest (tertia) bed, and only because there was no one else to
occupy it.
[208] "What is the night? Almost at odds with morning, which is which."
Macbeth, Act iii., 4. Cf. Anacreon, iii., 1; Theocr., xxiv., 11. i. e., a little after
midnight.
[209] "Tonsursæ tempus inter æquinoctium vernum et solstitium, quum sudare
inceperunt oves: a quo sudore recens lana tonsa sucida appellata est. Tonsus
recentes eodem die perungunt vino et oleo." Varro, R. R., II., xi., 6.
[210] Cf. iv., 103.
[211] "Tenet," or "keeps to himself," or "holds up to the light."
[212] Setine was the favorite wine of Augustus. Alban. Cf. Hor., ii., Sat. viii., 16.
[213] Amber was fabled to be produced by the tears of the sisters of Phaeton, the
daughters of the Sun, shed for his loss, on the banks of the Eridanus, where they
were metamorphosed into poplars or alders.
[214] Cf. Virg., Æn., iv., 261.
[215] Nero, on his way to Greece, fell in at Beneventum with one Vatinius,
"Sutrinæ tabernæ alumnus," whom he took first as his buffoon, and afterward as
his confidant. Tac., Ann., xv., 34. Cf. Martial, xiv., Ep. 96.
[216] Sulphura. Cf. Mart., i., Ep. 43, Qui pallentia sulphurata fractis permutat
vitreis. Vid. x., 3, Quæ sulphurata nolit empta ramento Vatiniorum proxeneta
fractorum. Compare the "Bellarmines" of mediæval pottery and the Flemish
"Graybeards."
[217] Pruinis. "Neronis principis inventum est decoquere aquam, vitroque
demissam in nives refrigerare." Plin., xxxi., 3.
[218] Frivola; properly "goods and chattels." Cf. iii., 198.
[219] Artocopi. Cf. Xen., An., IV., iv., 21. Some read Artoptæ.
[220] This is the indignant exclamation of Trebius.
[221] Constrictus, or, "shrunk from having been so long out of the sea."
[222] Cœna; the Silicernium; served on the ninth day to appease the dead. Cf.
Plaut., Pseud., III., ii., 7; Aul., II., iv., 45.
[223] Vendat. Cf. iii., 187. Aurelia. See Plin., ii., Ep. 20.
[224] Lina. Cf. Virg., Georg., i., 142.

[225] The pike (Lupus Tiberinus) was esteemed in exact proportion to the
distance it was caught from the common sewers of Rome. Hor., ii., Sat. ii., 31.
[226] Structor. Cf. xi., 136.
[227] Cacus. Virg., Æn., viii., 264.
[228] Free Roman citizens had three names, prænomen, nomen, and cognomen.
Slaves had no prænomen. Cf. Pers., Sat. v., 76-82. He means to imply that, by
turning parasite, Trebius had virtually forfeited the privileges of a free Roman.
[229] Da Trebio. Cf. Suet., Dom., xi., "partibus de cœnâ dignatus est." Xen.,
Anab., I., ix., 26.
[230] Virg., Æn., iv., 327.
[231] Viridem thoraca. Heinrich supposes this to be a mimic piece of armor, to
be worn by children playing at soldiers.
[232] Nuces, "walnuts;" minimas nuces, nuts.
[233] Cf. Tac., Ann., xii., 66, 7, "Infusum cibo boletorum venenum;" it was
prepared by Locusta. Cf. Sat. i., 71. Martial, Ep., I., xxi., 4, "Boletum qualem
Claudius edit, edas." Cf. Suet., Nero, 33.
[234] Probably alluding to a monkey exhibited riding on a goat, and equipped as
a soldier, to amuse the Prætorian guards at their barrack gate; or, as some think,
the "recruit" himself is intended, and then Capella is taken as a proper name.
[235] The golden bulla, hollow, and in the shape of a heart, was borrowed from
the Etruscans, and at first confined to the children of nobles. It was afterward
borne, like the "tria nomina," by all who were free-born, till they were fifteen.
The poorer citizens had it made of leather, or some cheap material. Cf. xiv., 5,
hæres bullatus.
[236] Cf. Xen., Anab., I., ix., 26.

SATIRE VI.

I believe that while Saturn still was king, chastity lingered upon earth, and
was long seen there: when a chill cavern furnished a scanty dwelling, and
inclosed in one common shade the fire and household gods, the cattle, and
their owners. When a wife, bred on the mountains, prepared a rustic bed
with leaves and straw and the skins of the wild beasts their neighbors; not
like thee, Cynthia[237]—or thee whose beaming eyes the death of a sparrow
dimmed with tears—but bearing breasts from which her huge infants might
drink, not suck, and often more uncivilized even than her acorn-belching
husband. Since men lived very differently then, when the world was new,
and the sky but freshly created, who, born out of the riven oak, or moulded
out of clay, had no parents.

Many traces of primæval chastity, perhaps, or some few at least, may have
existed, even under Jove; but then it was before Jove's beard was grown;
before the Greeks were yet ready to swear by another's head; when no one
feared a thief for his cabbages or apples, but lived with garden uninclosed.
Then by degrees Astræa retired to the realms above, with chastity for her
companion, and the two sisters fled together.
To violate the marriage-bed, and laugh to scorn the genius that presides
over the nuptial couch, is an ancient and a hackneyed vice, Postumus. Every
other species of iniquity the age of iron soon produced. The silver age
witnessed the first adulterers.
And yet are you preparing your marriage covenant, and the settlement,[238]
and betrothal, in our days, and are already under the hands of the master
barber, and perhaps have already given the pledge for her finger! Well! you
used to be sane, at all events! You, Postumus, going to marry! Say, what
Tisiphone, what snakes are driving you mad? Can you submit to be the
slave of any woman, while so many halters are to be had? so long as high
and dizzy windows are open for you, and the Æmilian bridge presents itself
so near at hand? Or if, out of so many ways of quitting life, none pleases
you, do you not think your present plan better, of having a stripling to sleep
with you, who lying there, reads you no curtain lectures, exacts no little
presents from you, and never complains that you are too sparing in your
efforts to please him?
But Ursidius is delighted with the Julian law[239]—he thinks of bringing up
a darling heir, nor cares to lose the fine turtledove and bearded mullets,[240]
and all the baits for legacies in the dainties of the market. What will you
believe to be impossible, if Ursidius takes a wife? If he, of yore the most
notorious of adulterers, whom the chest of Latinus in peril of his life has so
often concealed, is now going to insert his idiot head in the nuptial halter;
nay, and more than this, is looking out for a wife possessed of the virtues of
ancient days! Haste, physicians, bore through the middle vein! What a nice
man! Fall prostrate at the threshold of Tarpeian Jove, and sacrifice to Juno a
heifer with gilded horns, if you have the rare good fortune to find a matron
with unsullied chastity. So few are there worthy to handle the fillets of
Ceres; so few, whose kisses their own fathers might not dread. Wreathe
chaplets for the door-posts, stretch thick clusters of ivy over the threshold.

Is one husband enough for Iberina? Sooner will you prevail on her to be
content with one eye. "Yet there is a great talk of a certain damsel, living at
her father's country-house!" Let her live at Gabii as she lived in the country,
or even at Fidenæ, and I grant what you say of the influence of the paternal
country-seat. Yet who will dare assert that nothing has been achieved on
mountains or in caves? Are Jupiter and Mars grown so old. In all the public
walks can a woman be pointed out to you, that is worthy of your wish. On
all their benches do the public shows hold one that you could love without
misgivings; or one you could pick out from the rest? While the effeminate
Bathyllus is acting Leda in the ballet, Tuccia can not contain herself,
Appula whines as in the feat of love, Thymele is all attention to the quick,
the gentler, and the slow; and so Thymele, rustic as she was before,
becomes a proficient in the art. But others, whenever the stage ornaments,
packed away, get a respite, and the courts alone are vocal (since the theatres
are closed and empty, and the Megalesian games come a long time after the
plebeian), in their melancholy handle the mask and thyrsus and drawers of
Accius. Urbicus provokes a laugh by his personification of Autonoe in the
Atellan farce. Ælia, being poor, is in love with him. For others, the fibula of
the comic actor is unbuckled for a large sum. Some women prevent
Chrysogonus from having voice to sing. Hispulla delights in a tragic actor.
Do you expect then that the worthy Quintilianus will be the object of their
love? You take a wife by whom Echion the harper, or Glaphyrus, or
Ambrosius the choral flute-player, will become a father. Let us erect long
lines of scaffolding along the narrow streets. Let the door-posts and the gate
be decorated with a huge bay, that beneath the canopy inlaid with tortoise-
shell,[241] thy infant, Lentulus, supposed to be sprung from a noble sire,
may be the counterpart of the Mirmillo Euryalus.
Hippia, though wife to a senator, accompanied a gladiator to Pharos and the
Nile, and the infamous walls of Lagos.[242] Even Canopus itself reprobated
the immorality of the imperial city. She, forgetful of her home, her husband,
and her sister, showed no concern for her native land, or, vile wretch as she
was, her weeping children, and, to amaze you even more, quitted the shows
and Paris. But though when a babe she had been pillowed in great luxury, in
the down of her father's mansion, and a cradle of richest workmanship, she
despised the perils of the sea. Her good name she had long before despised
—the loss of which, among the soft cushions of ladies, is very cheaply held.

Therefore with undaunted breast she faced the Tuscan waves and wide-
resounding Ionian Sea, though the sea was so often to be changed. If the
cause of the peril be reasonable and creditable, then they are alarmed—their
coward hearts are chilled with icy fear—they can not support themselves on
their trembling feet. They show a dauntless spirit in those things which they
basely dare. If it is their husband that bids them, it is a great hardship to go
on board ship. Then the bilgewater is insufferable! the skies spin round
them! She that follows her adulterer has no qualms. The one is sick all over
her husband. The other dines among the sailors and walks the quarter-deck,
and delights in handling the hard ropes. And yet what was the beauty that
inflamed, what the prime of life that captivated Hippia? What was it she
saw in him to compensate her for being nicknamed the fencer's whore? For
the darling Sergius had now begun to shave his throat; and badly wounded
in the arm to anticipate his discharge. Besides, he had many things to
disfigure his face, as for instance—he was galled with his helmet, and had a
huge wen between his nostrils, and acrid rheum forever trickling from his
eye. But then he was a gladiator! It is this that makes them beautiful as
Hyacinthus! It was this she preferred to her children and her native land, her
sister and her husband. It is the steel they are enamored of. This very same
Sergius, if discharged from the arena, would begin to be Veiento in her
eyes.
Do you feel an interest in a private house, in a Hippia's acts? Turn your eyes
to the rivals of the gods! Hear what Claudius had to endure. As soon as his
wife perceived he was asleep, this imperial harlot, that dared prefer a coarse
mattress to the royal bed, took her hood she wore by nights, quitted the
palace with but a single attendant, but with a yellow tire concealing her
black hair; entered the brothel warm with the old patchwork quilt, and the
cell vacant and appropriated to herself. Then took her stand with naked
breasts and gilded nipples, assuming the name of Lycisca, and displayed the
person of the mother of the princely Britannicus, received all comers with
caresses and asked her compliment, and submitted to often-repeated
embraces. Then when the owner dismissed his denizens, sadly she took her
leave, and (all she could do) lingered to the last before she closed her cell;
and still raging with unsatisfied desire, tired with the toil but yet unsated,
she retired with sullied cheeks defiled, and, foul from the smoke of lamps,
bore back the odor of the stews to the pillow of the emperor.

Shall I speak of the love-philters, the incantations, the poison mingled with
the food and given to the step-son? The acts which they commit, to which
they are impelled by the imperative suggestions of their sex,[243] are still
more atrocious: those they commit through lust are the least of their crimes.
"Then, how can it be that even by her husband's showing Cesennia is the
best of wives?" She brought him a thousand sestertia! that is the price at
which he calls her chaste. It is not with Venus' quiver that he grows thin, or
with her torch he burns; it is from that his fires are fed; from her dowry that
the arrows emanate. She has purchased her liberty: therefore, even in her
husband's presence, she may exchange signals, and answer her love-letters.
A rich wife, with a covetous husband, has all a widow's privileges. "Why
then does Sertorius burn with passion for Bibula?" If you sift the truth, it is
not the wife he is in love with, but the face. Let a wrinkle or two make their
appearance, and the shriveled skin grow flaccid, her teeth get black, or her
eyes smaller—"Pack up your baggage," the freedman will say, "and march.
You are become offensive. You blow your nose too frequently. March! and
be quick about it! Another is coming whose nose is not so moist."
Meanwhile she is hot and imperious, and demands of her husband
shepherds and sheep from Canusium, and elms[244] from Falernum. What a
trifle is this? Then every boy she fancies, whole droves of slaves, and
whatever she has not in her house, and her neighbor has, must be bought.
Nay, in the mid-winter month, when now the merchant Jason is shut up, and
the cottage[245] white with hoar frost detains the sailors all equipped for
their voyage, she takes huge crystalline vases,[246] and then again myrrhine
of immense size; then an adamant whose history is well known, and whose
value is enhanced by having been on Berenice's finger. This in days of yore
a barbarian king gave his incestuous love—Agrippa to his own sister!
where barefoot kings observe festal sabbaths, and a long-established
clemency grants long life to pigs.
"Is there not one, then, out of such large herds of women, that seems to you
a worthy match?" Let her be beautiful, graceful, rich, fruitful; marshal along
her porticoes her rows of ancestral statues; let her be more chaste than any
single Sabine that, with hair disheveled, brought the war to a close; be a
very phœnix upon earth, rare as a black swan; who could tolerate a wife in
whom all excellencies are concentrated! I would rather, far rather, have a
country maiden from Venusia, than you, O Cornelia, mother of the Gracchi,

if along with your exalted virtues you bring as portion of your dower a
haughty and disdainful brow, and reckon as part of your fortune the
triumphs of your house! Away, I beg, with your Hannibal and Syphax
conquered in his camp, and tramp with all your Carthage!
"Spare, I pray thee, Pæan! and thou, O goddess, lay down thine arrows! The
children are innocent. Transfix the mother herself!" So prays Amphion. Yet
Pæan bends his bow. Therefore she had to bury her herds of children,
together with their sire, while Niobe seems to herself to be more noble than
Latona's race, and moreover more fruitful even than the white sow. What
dignity of deportment, what beauty, can compensate for your wife's always
throwing her own worth in your teeth? For all the satisfaction of this rare
and chief good is destroyed, if, entirely spoilt by haughtiness of soul, it
entails more bitter than sweet. But who is so devotedly uxorious, as not to
feel a dread of her whom he praises to the skies, and hate her seven hours
out of every twelve? There are some things, trifling indeed, and yet such as
no husband can tolerate. For what can be more sickening than the fact that
no one woman considers herself beautiful, unless instead of Tuscan she has
become a little Greek—metamorphosed from a maid of Sulmo to a "maid of
Athens." Every thing is in Greek. (While surely it is more disgraceful for
our countrywomen not to know their mother tongue.) In this language they
give vent to their fears, their anger, their joys and cares, and all the inmost
workings of their soul. Nay more, they kiss à la Grecque! This in young
girls you may excuse. But must thou, forsooth, speak Greek, that hast had
the wear and tear of six and eighty years? In an old woman this language
becomes immodest, when interspersed with the wanton Ζωὴ καὶ ψυχή. You
are employing in public, expressions one might think you had just used
under the counterpane. For whose passion would not be excited by these
enticing and wanton words? It has all the force of actual touching. Yet
though you pronounce them all in more insinuating tones than even Hæmus
or Carpophorus, your face, the tell-tale of your years, makes all the feathers
droop.
If you are not likely to love her that is contracted and united to you in
lawful wedlock, there seems no single reason why you should marry, nor
why you should waste the wedding dinner and bride cakes[247] which you
must dispense, when their complimentary attendance is over, to your bridal
guests already well crammed; nor the present given for the first nuptial

night, when, in the well-stored dish, Dacicus[248] and Germanicus glitters
with its golden legend. If you are possessed of such simplicity of character
as to be enamored of your wife, and your whole soul is devoted to her
alone, then bow your head with neck prepared to bear the yoke. You will
find none that will spare a man that loves her. Though she be enamored
herself, she delights in tormenting and fleecing her lover. Consequently a
wife is far more disastrous to him that is likely to prove a kind and eligible
husband. You will never be allowed to make a present without your wife's
consent. If she opposes it, you must not sell a single thing, or buy one,
against her will. She will give away your affections. That good old friend of
many long years will be shut out from that gate that saw his first sprouting
beard.[249] While pimps and trainers have free liberty to make their own
wills, and even gladiators enjoy the same amount of privilege, you will
have your will dictated to you, and find more than one rival named as your
heirs.
"Crucify that slave." "What is the charge, to call for such a punishment?
What witness can you produce? Who gave the information? Listen! Where
man's life is at stake no deliberation can be too long." "Idiot! so a slave is a
man then! Granted he has done nothing. I will it, I insist on it! Let my will
stand instead of reason!"
Therefore she lords it over her husband:—but soon she quits these realms,
and seeks new empires and wears out her bridal veil. Then she flies back,
and seeks again the traces of the bed she scorned.[250] She leaves the doors
so recently adorned, the tapestry still hanging on the house, and the
branches still green upon the threshold. Thus the number grows: thus she
has her eight[251] husbands in five years. A notable fact to record upon her
tomb!
All chance of domestic happiness is hopeless while your wife's mother is
alive. She bids her exult in despoiling her husband to the utmost. She
teaches her how to write back nothing savoring of discourtesy or
inexperience to the missives of the seducer. She either balks or bribes your
spies; then, though your daughter is in rude health, calls in Archigenes, and
tosses off the bedclothes as too oppressive. Meanwhile the adulterer,
concealed apart, stands trembling with impatient expectation. Do you
expect, forsooth, that the mother will inculcate virtuous principles, or other

than she cherishes herself? It is right profitable too for a depraved old hag
to train her daughter to the same depravity.
There is scarcely a single cause in which a woman is not engaged in some
way in fomenting the suit. If Manilia is not defendant, she will be plaintiff.
They draw up and frame bills of indictment unassisted,[252] quite prepared
to dictate even to Celsus[253] the exordium and topics he should use.
The Tyrian Endromides[254] and the Ceroma for women who is ignorant of?
Or who has not seen the wounds of the Plastron,[255] which she dints with
unwearied foil, and attacks with her shield, and goes with precision through
her exercise? A matron most pre-eminently worthy of the trumpet of the
Floralia. Unless indeed in that breast of hers she is plotting something
deeper, and training in real earnest for the amphitheatre.[256] What modesty
can a woman show that wears a helmet, and eschews her sex, and delights
in feats of strength? And yet, in spite of all, this virago would not wish to
become a man. For how small is our pleasure compared to theirs! Yet what
a goodly array would there be, if there were an auction of your wife's
goods: belt and gauntlets[257] and crest, and the half-armor for the left leg!
Or if she shall engage in a different way of fighting,[258] you will be lucky
indeed when your young wife sells her greaves. Yet these very same women
perspire even in their muslin; whose delicate frames even a slip of sarcenet
oppresses. See! with what a noise she makes the home-thrusts taught her by
the trainer, and what a weight of helmet bows her down, how firmly she
plants herself on her haunches, in what a thick mass is the roll of clothes.
Then smile when, laying aside her arms, she takes her oblong vessel. Tell
me, ye granddaughters of Lepidus or blind Metellus, or Fabius Gurges,
what actress ever wore a dress like this? When would Asylus' wife cry Hah!
at the Plastron?
The bed in which a wife lies is the constant scene of quarrels and mutual
recriminations. There is little chance of sleep there. Then is she indeed
bitter toward her husband, fiercer than tigress robbed of her whelps; when,
conscious of her secret guilt, she counterfeits groans, or hates the servants,
or upbraids you with some rival of her own creation, with tears ever fruitful,
ever ready at their post, and only waiting her command in what way to
flow. You believe it genuine love. You, poor hedge-sparrow, plume yourself,
and kiss off the tears! Ah! what amorous lays, what letters would you read,

if you were but to examine the writing-case of that adulteress that
counterfeits jealousy so well!
But suppose her actually caught in the arms of a slave or knight. "Pray
suggest in this case some colorable excuse, Quintilian!" "We are at fault!
Let the lady herself speak!" "It was formerly agreed," she says, "that you
should do what you pleased, and that I also might have full power to gratify
myself. In spite of your outcry and confounding heaven and sea, I am
mortal." Nothing is more audacious than these women when detected. They
affect resentment, and borrow courage from their very guilt itself.
Yet should you ask whence are these unnatural prodigies, or from what
source they spring; it was their humble fortune that made the Latin women
chaste in days of yore, nor did hard toil and short nights' rest, and hands
galled and hardened[259] with the Tuscan fleece, and Hannibal close to the
city, and their husbands mounting guard at the Colline tower, suffer their
lowly roofs to be contaminated by vice. Now we are suffering all the evils
of long-continued peace. Luxury, more ruthless than war, broods over
Rome, and exacts vengeance for a conquered world. No guilt or deed of lust
is wanting, since Roman poverty has disappeared. This was the source
whence Sybaris flowed to these seven hills, and Rhodes too, and Miletus,
and Tarentum crowned with garlands, insolent and flushed with wine!
Money, the nurse of debauchery, was the first that introduced foreign
manners, and enervating riches sapped the sinews of the age with foul
luxury. For what cares Venus in her cups? All difference of head or tail is
alike to her who at very midnight devours huge oysters, when unguents
mixed with neat Falernian foam, when she drains the conch,[260] when from
her dizziness the roof seems to reel, and the table to rise up with the lights
doubled in number.[261] Go then, and knowing all this, doubt, if you can,
with what a snort of scorn Tullia snuffs up the air when she passes the
ancient altar of Chastity; or what Collatia says to her accomplice Maura.
Here they set down their litters at night, and bedew the very image of the
goddess with copious irrigations, while the chaste moon witnesses their
abominations,[262] over which, when morn returns, you pass on your way to
visit your great friends.
The secrets of Bona Dea are well known. When the pipe excites them, and
inflamed alike with the horn and wine, these Mænads of Priapus rush wildly

round, and whirl their locks and howl! Then, as their passions rise, how
burning is their lust, how frantic their words, when all power of restraining
their desires is lost! A prize is proposed, and Saufeia[263] challenges the
vilest of her sex, and bears off the prize. In these games nothing is
counterfeit, all is acted to the life; so that even the aged Priam, effete from
years, or Nestor himself, might be inflamed at the sight. Then their lust
admits of no delay. Then the woman appears in all her native depravity; and
by all alike is the shout re-echoed from the whole den—"Now is the proper
time. Let in the men!" But the adulterer still sleeps; so she bids the youth
put on a female hood, and speed to the spot. If none can be found, they have
recourse to slaves. If there is no hope of slaves, they will hire some water-
carrier to come. If this fails too, and no men can be found, she would not
hesitate to descend still lower in the scale of creation. Oh, would that our
ancient rites and public worship could at least be celebrated,
uncontaminated by such pollutions as these! But even the Moors and
Indians know what singing wench produced his wares equal in bulk to
Cæsar's two Anticatos, in a place whence even a mouse, conscious of his
sex, would flee, and every picture is veiled over that represents the other
sex. Yet, even in those days, what man despised the deity? or who had dared
to ridicule Numa's earthen bowl and black dish, and the brittle vessels from
Mount Vatican. But now what altars are there that a Clodius does not assail?
I hear the advice that my good friends of ancient days would give—"Put on
a lock! keep her in confinement!" But who is to guard the guards
themselves? Your wife is as cunning as you, and begins with them. And, in
our days, the highest and the lowest are fired with the same lust. Nor is she
that wears out the black pavement with her feet, better than she who is
borne on the shoulders of her tall Syrian slaves.
Ogulnia, in order that she may go in due state to the games, hires a dress,
and attendants, and a sedan, and pillow, and female friends; and a nurse,
and yellow-haired girl[264] to whom she may issue her commands. Yet all
that remains of her family plate, and even the very last remnants of it,[265]
she gives to well-oiled Athletes. Many women are in straitened
circumstances at home; yet none of them has the modest selfrestraint that
should accompany poverty, or limits herself within that measure which her
poverty has allotted and assigned to her. Yet men do sometimes look
forward to what may be to their interest hereafter, and, with the ant for their

instructress, some have at last felt a dread of cold and hunger. Yet woman,
in her prodigality, perceives not that her fortune is fast coming to naught;
and as though money, with vegetative power, would bloom afresh[266] from
the drained chest, and the heap from which she takes would be ever full, she
never reflects how great a sum her pleasures cost her. Some women ever
take delight in unwarlike eunuchs, and soft kisses, and the loss of all hope
of beard, that precludes the necessity of abortives. Yet the summit of their
pleasure is when this operation has been performed in the heat and prime of
manhood, and the only loss sustained is that the surgeon Heliodorus cheats
the barber of his fees. Such is his mistress' will: and, conspicuous from afar,
and attracting the eyes of all, he enters the baths, and vies even with the god
that guards our vines and gardens. Let him sleep with his mistress! But,
Postumus, suffer not the youthful Bromius to enter the lists with him.
If she takes delight in singing, the fibula of none of these fellows that sells
his voice to the prætor holds out: the instruments are forever in her hands;
the whole lyre sparkles with the jewels thickly set. She runs over the strings
with the vibrating quill,[267] with which the soft Hedymeles performed: this
she holds in her hands; with this she consoles herself, and lavishes kisses on
the plectrum, dear for its owner's sake. One of the clan of the Lamiæ,[268] a
lady of lofty rank, inquired with meal-cake and wine of Janus and Vesta,
whether Pollio might venture to hope for the oaken crown at the Capitoline
games,[269] and promise it to his lyre. What more could she do were her
husband sick? What, if the physicians had despaired of her infant son? She
stood before the altar, and thought no shame to veil her head for a harper:
and went through in due form the words prescribed,[270] and grew pale as
the lamb was opened. Tell me now, I pray, tell me, thou ancientest of gods,
father Janus! dost thou return answer to these? Great must be indeed the
leisure[271] of heaven! There can be no business there, as far as I see,
stirring among you. One woman consults you about comic actors; another
would fain commend a tragedian to your notice: the soothsayer will become
varicose.[272]
But let her rather be musical than fly through the whole city, with bold
bearing; and encounter the assemblies of men, and in her husband's
presence herself converse with generals in their scarlet cloaks,[273] with
unabashed face and breasts exposed. She too knows all that is going on in

the whole world—what the Seres[274] or Thracians are engaged in—the
secrets of the step-mother and her son—what adulterer is in love, or is in
great request. She will tell you who made the widow pregnant—in what
month it was—in what language and manner each act of love takes place.
She is the first[275] to see the comet that menaces the Armenian and Parthian
king; and she intercepts[276] at the gates the reports and freshest news. Some
she invents as well. That Niphates[277] has overwhelmed whole nations, and
that the whole country is there laid under water by a great deluge; that cities
are tottering, the earth sinking down—this she tells in every place of resort
to every one she meets.
And yet that vice is not more intolerable, than that, though earnestly
entreated,[278] she will seize upon her poor neighbors, and have them cut in
two with lashes. For if her sound slumbers are disturbed by the barking of a
dog, "Bring the clubs[279] here at once!" she cries: and orders the owner first
to be beaten with them, and then the dog. Terrible to encounter, most awful
in visage, she enters the baths by night—by night she orders her bathing
vessels and camp to be set in motion. She delights in perspiring with great
tumult; when her arms have sunk down wearied with the heavy dumb-bells;
and the sly anointer has omitted to rub down no part of her body. Her poor
wretches of guests meanwhile are overcome with drowsiness and hunger. At
last the lady comes; flushed, and thirsty enough for a whole flagon,[280]
which is placed at her feet and filled from a huge pitcher: of which a second
pint is drained before she tastes food, to make her appetite[281] quite
ravenous. Then having rinsed out her stomach, the wine returns in a cascade
on the floor—rivers gush over the marble pavement,[282] or the broad vessel
reeks of Falernian—for thus, just as when a long snake has glided into a
deep cask, she drinks and vomits. Therefore her husband turns sick; and
with eyes closed smothers his rising bile.
And yet that woman is more offensive still, who, as soon as she has taken
her place at table, praises Virgil, and excuses the suicide of Dido: matches
and compares poets together: in one scale weighs Maro in the balance, and
Homer in the other. The grammarians yield; rhetoricians are confuted; the
whole company is silenced; neither lawyer nor crier[283] can put in a word,
nor even another woman. Such a torrent of words pours forth, you would
say so many basins or bells were all being struck at once. Henceforth let no

one trouble trumpets or brazen vessels; she will be able singly to relieve the
moon when suffering[284] an eclipse. The philosopher sets a limit even to
those things which are good in themselves. For she that desires to appear
too learned and eloquent, ought to wear a tunic reaching only to the middle
of the leg, to sacrifice a pig to Sylvanus,[285] and bathe for a quadrans. Let
not the matron that shares your marriage-bed possess a set style of
eloquence, or hurl in well-rounded sentence the enthymeme curtailed[286] of
its premiss; nor be acquainted with all histories. But let there be some
things in books which she does not understand. I hate her who is forever
poring over and studying Palæmon's[287] treatise; who never violates the
rules and principles of grammar; and skilled in antiquarian lore, quotes
verses I never knew; and corrects the phrases of her friend as old-fashioned,
[288]
which men would never heed. A husband should have the privilege of
committing a solecism.
There is nothing a woman will not allow herself, nothing she holds
disgraceful, when she has encircled her neck with emeralds, and inserted
earrings of great size in her ears, stretched with their weight. Nothing is
more unbearable than a rich woman!
Meanwhile her face, shocking to look at, or ridiculous from the large
poultice, is all swollen; or is redolent of rich Poppæan unguents,[289] with
which the lips of her wretched husband are glued up. She will present
herself to her adulterer with skin washed clean. When does she choose to
appear beautiful at home? It is for the adulterers her perfumes are prepared.
It is for these she purchases all that the slender Indians send us. At length
she uncases her face and removes the first layer. She begins to be herself
again; and bathes in that milk,[290] for which she carries in her train she-
asses, even if sent an exile to Hyperborean climes. But that which is
overlaid and fomented with so many and oft-changed cosmetics, and
receives poultices of boiled and damp flour, shall we call it a face,[291] or a
sore?
It is worth while to find out exactly what their occupations and pursuits are
through the livelong day. If her husband has gone to sleep with his back
toward her, the housekeeper is half killed—the tire-women are stripped to
be whipped—the Liburnian slave is accused of having come behind his
time, and is forced to pay the penalty of another's sleep; one has rods

broken[292] about him, another bleeds from the whips, a third from the
cowhide. Some women pay a regular salary to their torturers. While he
lashes she is employed in enameling her face. She listens to her friend's
chat, or examines the broad gold of an embroidered robe. Still he lashes.
She pores over the items in her long diary.[293] Still he lashes. Until at
length, when the torturers are exhausted, "Begone!" she thunders out in
awful voice, the inquisition being now complete.
The government of her house is no more merciful than the court of a
Sicilian tyrant. For if she has made an assignation, and is anxious to be
dressed out more becomingly than usual, and is in a hurry, and has been
some time already waited for in the gardens, or rather near the chapels of
the Isiac[294] procuress; poor Psecas arranges her hair, herself with
disheveled locks and naked shoulders and naked breasts. "Why is this curl
too high?" Instantly the cowhide avenges the heinous crime of the
misplacing of a hair. What has poor Psecas done? What crime is it of the
poor girl's if your own nose has displeased you?
Another, on the left hand, draws out and combs her curls and rolls them into
a band. The aged matron assists at the council, who, having served her due
period[295] at the needle, now presides over weighing out the tasks of wool.
Her opinion will be first taken. Then those who are her inferiors in years
and skill will vote in order, as though their mistress's good name or life
were at stake. So great is the anxiety of getting beauty! Into so many tiers
she forms her curls, so many stages high she builds[296] her head; in front
you will look upon an Andromache, behind she is a dwarf—you would
imagine her another person. Excuse her, pray, if nature has assigned her but
a short back, and if, without the aid of high-heeled buskins, she looks
shorter than a Pigmy[297] maiden; and must spring lightly up on tip-toe for a
kiss. No thought meanwhile about her husband! not a word of her ruinous
expenditure! She lives as though she were merely a neighbor[298] of her
husband's, and in this respect alone is nearer to him—that she hates her
husband's friends and slaves, and makes grievous inroads on his purse.
But see! the chorus of the maddened Bellona and the mother of the gods
enters the house! and the huge eunuch (a face to be revered by his obscene
inferior) who long ago emasculated himself with a broken shell; to whom
his hoarse troop and the plebeian drummers give place, and whose cheek is

covered with his Phrygian tiara. With voice grandiloquent he bids her dread
the approach of September and the autumn blasts, unless she purifies
herself with a hecatomb of eggs, and makes a present to him of her cast-off
murrey-colored[299] robes: that whatever unforeseen or mighty peril may be
impending over her may pass into the tunics, and at once expiate the whole
year. She will break the ice and plunge into the river in the depth of winter,
or dip three times in Tiber at early dawn, and bathe her timid head in its
very eddies, and thence emerging will crawl on bleeding knees, naked and
shivering, over the whole field of the haughty king.[300] If white Io
command, she will go to the extremity of Egypt, and bring back water
fetched from scorching Meroë, to sprinkle on the temple of Isis, that rears
itself hard by the ancient sheepfold.[301] For she believes that the warning is
given her by the voice of the goddess herself. And this, forsooth, is a fit soul
and mind[302] for the gods to hold converse with by night! He therefore
gains the chief and highest honor, who, surrounded by his linen-robed flock,
[303]
and a bald-headed throng of people uttering lamentations, runs to and
fro personating the grinning Anubis. He it is that supplicates for pardon
whenever the wife does not refrain from nuptial joys on days to be observed
as sacred, and a heavy penalty is incurred from the violation of the snowy
sheeting. And the silver serpent was seen to nod his head! His are the tears,
and his the studied mumblings, that prevail on Osiris not to withhold pardon
for her fault, when bribed by a fat goose and a thin cake. When he has
withdrawn, some trembling Jewess, having quitted her basket and hay, begs
in her secret ear, the interpretess of the laws of Solyma, the potent priestess
of the tree—the trusty go-between from highest heaven![304] And she
crosses her hand with money, but sparingly enough: for Jews will sell you
any dreams you please for the minutest coin. The soothsayer of Armenia or
Commagene,[305] handling the liver of the dove still reeking, engages that
her lover shall be devoted, or promises the rich inheritance of some
childless rich man; he pries into the breasts of chickens and the entrails of a
puppy; sometimes too even of a child—he does acts of which he will
himself turn informer![306]
But their confidence in Chaldæans will be greater still: whatever the
astrologer tells them, they will believe reported straight from the fountain of
Ammon; since at Delphi the oracles are dumb, and darkness as to the future
is the punishment of the human race. However, of these he is in the highest

repute who has been often banished; by whose friendship and venal[307]
tablets it came to pass that a citizen of high rank[308] died, and one dreaded
by Otho. Hence arises confidence in his art, if both his hands have clanked
with chains, and he has been long an inmate of the camp-prison. No
astrologer that has never been condemned will have any reputation for
genius; but he that has hardly escaped with his life, and scarcely had good
fortune enough to be sent to one of the Cyclades,[309] and at length to be set
free from the confined Seriphos, he it is whom your Tanaquil[310] consults
about the death of her jaundiced mother, for which she has been long
impatient; but first, about yourself! when she may hope to follow to the
grave her sister and her uncles; whether her adulterer will survive her, for
what greater boon than this have the gods in their power to bestow?
And yet she is ignorant what the ill-omened planet of Saturn forebodes;
with what star Venus presents herself in fortunate conjunction; what is the
month for ill-luck; what seasons are assigned to profit.
Remember to shun even a casual meeting with her in whose hands you see,
like the unctuous amber,[311] their calendars well thumbed; who instead of
consulting others is now herself consulted; who when her husband is going
to join his camp or revisit his home, will refuse to accompany him if
restrained by the calculations of Thrasyllus.[312] When it is her fancy to ride
as far as the first mile-stone, the lucky hour is taken from her book; if the
corner of her eye itches when she rubs it, she calls for ointment after a due
inspection of her horoscope: though she lies sick in bed no hour appears
suited to taking food, save that which Petosiris[313] has directed. If she be of
moderate means, she will traverse the space on both sides of the pillars of
the circus, and draw lots, and present her forehead and her hand to the
fortune-teller that asks for the frequent palming. The rich will obtain
answers from some soothsayer of Phrygia or India hired for the purpose,
from some one skilled in the stars and heavens, or one advanced in years
who expiates the public places which the lightning[314] has struck. The
destiny of the plebeians is learnt in the circus, and at Tarquin's rampart.[315]
She that has no long necklace of gold to display, inquires in front of the
obelisks and the dolphin-columns,[316] whether she shall jilt the tapster and
marry the old-clothes man.

Yet these, when circumstances so require, are ready to encounter the perils
of childbirth, and endure all the irksome toils of nursing. But rarely does a
gilded bed contain a woman lying-in: so potent are the arts and drugs of her
that can insure barrenness, and for bribes kill men while yet unborn. Yet
grieve not at this, poor wretch! and with thine own hand give thy wife the
potion, whatever it be: for did she choose to bear her leaping children in her
womb, thou wouldst perchance become the sire of an Æthiop; a blackamoor
would soon be your sole heir, one whom you would not see of a morning.
[317]

I say nothing of supposititious children, and all a husband's joys and fond
hopes baffled at the dirty pools;[318] and the Pontifices and Salii selected
thence, who are to bear in their counterfeit persons the noble name of
Scauri. Fortune, that delights in mischief, takes her stand by night and
smiles upon the naked babes. All these she cherishes and fosters in her
bosom: then proffers them to the houses of the great, and prepares in secret
a rich sport for herself. These she dotes on:[319] on these she forces her
favors; and smiling, leads them on to advancement as her own foster-
children.
One fellow offers a wife magical incantations. Another sells her love
potions from Thessaly, to give her power to disturb her husband's intellects,
and punish him with the indignity of the slipper. To these it is owing that
you are reduced to dotage: hence comes that dizziness of brain, that strange
forgetfulness of things that you have but just now done. Yet even this is
endurable, if you do not go raving mad as well, like that uncle of Nero for
whom his Cæsonia infused the whole forehead of a foal new dropped. Who
will not follow where the empress leads? All things were wrapped in flames
and with joints disruptured were tottering to their fall, exactly as if Juno had
driven her spouse to madness. Therefore the mushroom[320] of Agrippina
had far less of guilt: since that stopped the breath but of a single old man,
and bade his trembling head descend to heaven,[321] and his lips that
slavered with dribbling saliva. Whereas this potion of Cæsonia[322] calls
aloud for fire and sword and tortures, and mangles in one bloody mass both
senators and knights. So potent is a mare's offspring! Such mighty ruin can
one sorceress work!

Women hate their husbands' spurious issue. No one would object to or
forbid that. But now it is thought allowable to kill even their husbands' sons
by a former marriage.
Take my warning, ye that are under age and have a large estate, keep watch
over your lives! trust not a single dish! The rich meats steam, livid with
poison of your mother's mixing. Let some one take a bite before you of
whatever she that bore you hands you; let your pedagogue, in terror of his
life, be taster of your cups.
All this is our invention! and Satire is borrowing the tragic buskin, forsooth;
and transgressing the limits prescribed by those who trod the path before us,
we are wildly declaiming in the deep-mouthed tones of Sophocles[323] a
strain of awful grandeur, unknown to the Rutulian hills and Latin sky.
Would that it were but fable! But Pontia[324] with loud voice exclaims, "I
did the deed. I avow it! and prepared for my own children the aconite,
which bears palpable evidence against me. Still[325] the act was mine!"
"What, cruelest of vipers! didst thou kill two at one meal! Two, didst thou
slay?" "Ay, seven, had there haply been seven!"
Then let us believe to be true all that tragedians say of the fierce Colchian
or of Progne. I attempt not to gainsay it. Yet they perpetrated atrocities that
were monstrous even in their days—but not for the sake of money. Less
amazement is excited even by the greatest enormities, whenever rage incites
this sex to crime, and with fury burning up their very liver, they are carried
away headlong; like rocks torn away from cliffs, from which the mountain-
height is reft away, and the side recedes from the impending mass.
I can not endure the woman that makes her calculations, and in cold blood
perpetrates a heinous crime. They sit and see Alcestis[326] on the stage
encountering death for her husband, and were a similar exchange allowed to
them, would gladly purchase a lapdog's life by the sacrifice of their
husband's! You will meet any morning with Danaides and Eriphylæ in
plenty; not a street but will possess its Clytæmnestra. This is the only
difference, that that famed daughter of Tyndarus grasped in both hands a
bungling, senseless axe.[327] But now the business is dispatched with the
insinuating venom of a toad. But yet with the steel too; if her Atrides has
been cautious enough to fortify himself with the Pontic antidotes of the
thrice-conquered[328] king.

FOOTNOTES:

[237] Cynthia is Propertius' mistress; the other is Lesbia, the mistress of
Catullus. V. Catull., Carm. iii. "Lugete O Veneres," etc.
[238] Conventum. Three law terms. Conventum, "the first overture." Pactum,
"the contract." Sponsalia, "the betrothing." Hence virgins were said to be
speratæ; pactæ; sponsæ.
[239] Lex Julia, against adultery, recently revived by Domitian.
[240] Jubis. Mullets being a bearded fish. Plin., ix., 17.
[241] Testudineo. Cf. xi., 94. The allusion is to the story told by Pliny, vii., 12, of
the consuls Lentulus and Metellus, who were observed by all present to be
wonderfully like two gladiators then exhibiting before them. Cf. Val. Max., ix.,
14.
[242] Lagi. Alexandria, the royal city of Ptolemy, son of Lagos, and his
successors.
[243] Imperio Sexûs. Cf. xv., 138, Naturæ imperio.
[244] Ulmos. Elms, to which the vines were to be "wedded," therefore put for
the vines themselves. Cf. Virg., Georg., i., 2, "Ulmisque adjungere vites." Cf.
Sat. viii., 78, Stratus humi palmes viduas desiderat ulmos. Hence Platanus
Cælebs evincet ulmos. Cf. Hor., Epod., i., 9.
[245] Casa. There is another fanciful interpretation of this passage. The casa
candida is said to mean the "white booths" so erected as to hide the picture of
the "Argonautic" expedition, at the time of the Sigillaria, a kind of fair following
the Saturnalia, when gems, etc., were exposed for sale. Cf. Suet., Nero, 28.
[246] Crystallina are most probably vessels of pure white glass, which from the
ignorance of the use of metallic oxydes were very rare among the Romans,
though they possessed the art of coloring glass with many varieties of hue.
[247] Mustacea (the Greek σησαμῆ, Arist., Pax., 869), a mixture of meal and
anise, moistened with new wine.
[248] Dacicus, i. e., gold coins of Domitian—the first from his Dacian, the
second from his German wars. It was customary to present a plate full of these to
the bride on the wedding night. Domitian assumed the title of Germanicus A.D.
84, and of Dacicus, A.D. 91.
[249]

"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." Gifford.

[250] Cf. Æsch., Ag., 411, ἰὼ λέχος καὶ στίβοι φιλάνορες.
[251] Octo. Eight divorces were allowed by law.

[252]

"They meet in private and prepare the bill,
Draw up the instructions with a lawyer's skill." Gifford.
"And teach the toothless lawyer how to bite." Dryden.

[253] Celsus. There were two famous lawyers of this name; A. Cornelius Celsus,
the well-known physician in Tiberius' reign, who wrote seven books of
Institutes, and P. Juventius Celsus, who lived under Trajan and Hadrian, and
wrote Digests and Commentaries.
[254] Endromis. Cf. iii., 103. "A thick shaggy coat," to prevent cold after the
violent exertions in the arena. Ceroma. Cf. iii., 68. The gladiator's ointment,
made of oil, wax, and clay. "Nec injecto ceromate brachia tendis." Mart., vii.,
Ep. xxxii., 9.
[255] Palus; a wooden post or figure on which young recruits used to practice
their sword exercise, armed with shields and wooden swords double the
regulation weight.
[256] Veræ. Cf. ad i., 22.
[257] Manicæ. If the proper reading is not "tunicæ" (as tunicati fuscina Gracchi,
ii., 117. Cedamus tunicæ, viii., 207), the manicæ are probably "the sleeves of the
tunic." Cf. Liv., ix., 40.
[258] Diversa. i. e., as a Retiarius instead of a Mirmillo.
[259] Duræ. "Pallade placata lanam mollite puellæ!" The process of softening
the wool hardened the hands. Ov., Fast., iii., 817.
[260] Concha, a large drinking-cup, shaped like a shell; or, not improbably,
some large shell mounted in gold for a cup, like the Nautilus of Middle Ages.
[261] Compare the well-known epigram on Pitt and Henry Dundas:

"I can't see the Speaker, Hal, can you?"
"Not see the Speaker? I see two!"

[262] Cf. Shaksp., Othello, Act iii., sc. iii. "In Venice they do let heaven see the
pranks they dare not show their husbands!"
[263] Cf. ix., 117.
[264] Amicas. Lubinus explains it, "Quas tanquam dives habeat loco
clientarum." In Greece and Italy blonde hair was as much prized as dark hair
was among northern nations. Hence Helen, Achilles, Menelaus, Meleager, etc.,
are all ξανθοὶ. The ladies, therefore, prided themselves as much as the men on
the personal beauty of their attendants. Cf. v., 56, "Flos Asiæ ante ipsum," etc.
The nutrix is the intriguing confidante who manages the amours. The flava
puella, the messenger.

"A trim girl with golden hair to slip her billets." Gifford.

[265] Novissima. Cf. xi., 42, "Post cuncta novissimus exit annulus."

"She who before had mortgaged her estate,
And pawn'd the last remaining piece of plate." Dryden.

[266] Pullulet.

"As if the source of this exhausted store
Would reproduce its everlasting ore." Hodgson.

[267] Crispo, actively, "Crispante chordas." The pecten was made of ivory. Vid.
Virg., Æn., vi., 646, seq.

"Obloquitur numeris septem discrimina vocum,
Jamque eadem digitis jam pectine pulsat eburno."
"Decks it with gems, and plays the lessons o'er,
Her loved Hedymeles has play'd before." Hodgson.

[268] Lamiarum. Cf. iv., 154.
[269] Capitolinum. This festival was instituted by Domitian (Suet., Domit., 4),
and was celebrated every fifth year in honor of Jove.
[270] Dictata. The repeating the exact formula of words (carmen) after the
officiating priest was a most important part of the sacrifice.
[271] Otia.

"Is your attention to such suppliants given?
If so, there is not much to do in heaven." Gifford.

[272] Varicosus. His legs will swell (like Cicero's and Marius's) from standing so
long praying.

"The poor Aruspex that stands there to tell
All woman asks, must find his ankles swell." Badham.

[273] Paludatis. Cf. Cic., Sext., 33.
[274] Seres. What country these inhabited is uncertain, probably Bocharia. It
was the country from which the "Sericæ vestes" or "multitia" (ii., 66) came.
[275] Instantem. Cf. Hor., iii., Od. iii., 3, "vultus instantis tyranni." Trajan made
an expedition against the Armenians and Parthians A.D. 106; and about the same
time there was an earthquake in the neighborhood of Antioch (A.D. 115), when
mountains subsided and rivers burst forth. Dio Cass., lxviii., 24. Trajan himself
narrowly escaped perishing in it. The consul, M. Verginianus Pedo, was killed.
Trajan was passing the winter there, and set out in the spring for Armenia.—
Cometem. Cf. Suet., Ner., 36, "Stella crinita quæ summis potestatibus exitium
portendere vulgo putatur."

[276] Excipit.

"Hear at the city's gate the recent tale,
Or coin a lie herself when rumors fail." Hodgson.

[277] Niphates. Properly a mountain in Armenia, from which Tigris takes its
rise, and which, in the earlier part of its course, may have borne the name of
Niphates. Lucan, iii., 245, and Sil. Ital., xiii., 765, also speak of it as a river.
Gifford thinks it is a sly hit at the lady, who converts a mountain into a river.
[278] Exorata implies that their prayers were heard, otherwise their punishment
would have been still more cruel.
[279] Fastes.

"Ho whips! she cries; and flay that cur accurst,
But flay the rascal there that owns him first!" Gifford.

[280] Œnophorum. A vessel of any size. The Urna is a determinate measure,
holding 24 sextarii, or about 3 gallons, i. e., half the amphora. Cf. xii., 45, "Urnæ
cratera capacem, et dignum sitiente Pholo, vel conjuge Fusci."
[281] Orexim; cf. iv., 67, 138. This draught was called the "Trope." Mart., xii.,
Ep. 83. Cf. Cic. pro Deiotaro, 7, "Vomunt ut edant: edunt ut vomant."
[282] Marmoribus. Cf. xi., 173, "Lacedæmonium pytismate lubricat orbem."
Hor., ii., Od. xxiv., 26, "Mero tinguet pavimentum superbum."
[283] Præco.

"Dumfounders e'en the crier, and, most strange!
No other woman can a word exchange." Hodgson.

[284] Laboranti. The ancients believed that eclipses of the moon were caused by
magic, and that loud noises broke the charm.

"Strike not your brazen kettles! She alone
Can break th' enchantment of the spell-bound moon." Hodgson.

[285] "Sylvano mulieres non licet sacrificare." Vet. Schol. Women sacrificed to
Ceres and Juno. Vid. Dennis' Etruria, ii., 65-68. Cf. Hor., ii., Ep. i., 143.—
Quadrans. Philosophers used to go to the commonest baths, either from modesty
or poverty. Seneca calls the bath "Res Quadrantaria." Cf. Hor., i., Sat. iii., 147.
Cic. pro Cœl. "Quadrantaria permutatio."
[286] Torqueat. Cf. vii., 156, "Quæ venient diversæ forte sagittæ," Quint., vi., 3,
"Jaculatio verborum." So Plato uses the term δεινὸς ἀκοντιστής, of a Spartan
orator.
[287] Palæmon. Cf. vii., 215," Docti Palæmonis." "Insignis Grammaticus."
Hieron. "Remmius Palæmon," Vicentinus, owed his first acquaintance with
literature to taking his mistress' son to school as his "custos angustæ vernula

capsæ" (x., 117). Manumitted afterward, he taught at Rome in the reigns of
Tiberius and Claudius, and "principem locum inter grammaticos tenuit." Vid.
Suet., Gram. Illust., 23, who says he kept a very profitable school, and gives
many curious instances of his vanity and luxuriousness. He was Quintilian's
master. Cf. Vet. Schol., and Clinton, Fasti Rom. in anno, A.D. 48.
[288] Opicæ. Cf. iii., 207, "Opici mures." Opizein Græci dicunt de iis qui
imperitè loquuntur. Vet. Schol.
[289] Poppæana. "Cosmetics used or invented by Poppæa Sabina," of whom
Tacitus says, "Huic mulieri cuncta alia fuere præter honestum animum," Ann.,
xiii., 45. She was of surpassing beauty and insatiable ambition: married first to
Rufus Crispinus, a knight whom she quitted for Otho. Nero became enamored of
her, and sent Otho into Lusitania, where he remained ten years. (Cf. Suet., Otho,
3. Clinton, F. R., a. 58.) Four years after he put away Octavia, banished her to
Pandataria, and forced her to make away with herself, and her head was brought
to Rome to be gazed upon by Poppæa, whom he had now married, A.D. 62. Cf.
Tac., Ann., xiv., 64. Poppæa bore him a child next year, whom he called
Augusta, but she died before she was four months old, to his excessive grief. Cf.
xv., 23. Three years after, "Poppæa mortem obiit, fortuitâ mariti iracundiâ, à quo
gravida ictu calcis adflicta est." Nero, it is remarkable, died on the same day of
the month as the unfortunate Octavia.
[290] Lacte. The old Schol. says Poppæa was banished, and took with her fifty
she-asses to furnish milk for her bath. The story of her exile is very
problematical, as Heinrich shows, and is probably only an ordinary hyperbole.
Pliny says (xxviii., 12; xi., 41) that asses' milk is supposed to make the face
tender, and delicately white, and to prevent wrinkles. "Unde Poppæa uxor
Neronis, quocunque ire contigisset secum sexcentas asellas ducebat." ὄνους
πεντακοσίας ἀρτιτόκους. Xiph., lxii., 28.
[291] Facies.

"Can it be call'd a face, so poulticed o'er?
By heavens, an ulcer it resembles more!" Hodgson.
"But tell me yet, this thing thus daub'd and oil'd,
Thus poulticed, plaster'd, baked by turns and boil'd;
Thus with pomatums, ointments, lackered o'er,
Is it a face, Ursidius, or a sore?" Gifford.

[292] Frangit. Cf. viii., 247, "Nodosam post hæc frangebat vertice vitem." The
climax here is not correctly observed, according to Horace. "Ne scuticâ dignum
horribili sectere flagello: Nam, ut ferula cædas meritum majora subire Verbera
non vereor." I., Sat. iii., 119. The scutica was probably like the "taurea:" the
"cowskin" of the American slave States.
[293] Diurnum. "The diary of the household expenses." Relegit marks the
deliberate cruelty of the lady.

"Beats while she paints her face, surveys her gown,
Casts up the day's accounts, and still beats on." Dryden.

[294] Isiacæ. Cf. ix., 22, "Fanum Isidis.... Notior Aufidio mœchus celebrare
solebas."
[295] Emerita. From the soldier who has served his time and become "emeritus."
[296] Ædificat.

"So high she builds her head, she seems to be,
View her in front, a tall Andromache;
But walk all round her, and you'll quickly find
She's not so great a personage behind!" Hodgson.

[297] Pygmæâ.

"Yet not a pigmy—were she, she'd be right
To wear the buskin and increase her height;
To gain from art what nature's stint denies,
Nor lightly to the kiss on tip-toes rise." Hodgson.

[298] Vicina.

"And save that daily she insults his friends,
Provokes his servants, and his fortune spends,
As a mere neighbor she might pass through life,
And ne'er be once mistaken for his wife." Badham.

[299] Xerampelinas. The Schol. describes this color as "inter coccinum et
muricem medius," from ξηρὸς, siccus, ἄμπελος, vitis, "the color of vine leaves in
autumn;" the "morte feuille" of French dyers.
[300] Superbi. The Campus Martius, as having belonged originally to Tarquinius
Superbus.
[301] Ovile, more commonly ovilia or septa, stood in the Campus Martius,
where the elections were held.
[302] Animam, "the moral," mentem, "the intellectual part" of the soul. Cf. Virg.,
Æn., vi., 11, "Cui mentem animamque Delius inspirat Vates." When opposed to
animus, anima is simply "the principle of vitality." "Anima, quâ vivimus; mens
qua cogitamus." Lactant. So Sat., xv., 148, "Indulsit communis conditor illis
tantum animas nobis animum quoque."

"Doubtless such kindred minds th' immortals seek,
And such the souls with whom by night they speak." Badham.

[303] Linigero. Cf. Mart., xii., Ep. xxix., 19, "Linigeri fugiunt calvi sistrataque
turba." Isis is said to have been a queen of Egypt, and to have taught her subjects
the use of linen, for which reason the inferior priests were all clothed in it. All
who were about to celebrate her sacred rites had their heads shaved. Isis married
Osiris, who was killed by his brother Typhon, and his body thrown into a well,

where Isis and her son Anubis, by the assistance of dogs, found it. Osiris was
thenceforth deified under the form of an ox, and called Apis: Anubis, under the
form of a dog. (Hence Virg., Æn., viii., 698, "Latrator Anubis.") An ox,
therefore, with particular marks (vid. Strab., xvii.; Herod., iii., 28), was kept in
great state, which Osiris was supposed to animate; but when it had reached a
certain age (non est fas eum certos vitæ excedere annos, Plin., viii., 46), it was
drowned in a well (mersum in sacerdotum fonte enecant) with much
ceremonious sorrow, and the priests, attended by an immense concourse of
people, dispersed themselves over the country, wailing and lamenting, in quest
of another with the prescribed marks (quæsituri luctu alium quem substituant; et
donec invenerint mærent, derasis etiam capitibus. Plin., ii., 3). When they had
found one, their lamentations were exchanged for songs of joy and shouts of
εὑρήκαμεν (cf. viii., 29, Exclamare libet populus quod clamat Osiri invento),
and the ox was led back to the shrine of his predecessor. These gloomy
processions lasted some days; and generally during these (or nine days at least)
women abstained from intercourse with their husbands. These rites were
introduced at Rome, the chief priest personating Anubis, and wearing a dog's
head. Hence derisor. Cf. xv., 8, "Oppida tota canem venerantur."
[304]

"Her internuntial office none deny,
Between us peccant mortals and the sky." Badham.

[305] Commagene was reduced to a province A.D. 72.
[306] Deferat.

"Or bid, at times, the human victim bleed,
And then inform against you for the deed." Hodgson.

[307] Conducenda.

"By whose hired tablet and concurring spell,
The noble Roman, Otho's terror, fell." Hodgson.

[308] Magnus civis. Cf. Suet., Otho, 4, "Spem majorem cepit ex affirmatione
Seleuci Mathematici, qui cum eum olim superstitem Neroni fore spopondisset,
tunc ultro inopinatus advenerat, imperaturum quoque brevi repromittens." Cf.
Tac., Hist., i., 22, who says one Ptolemæus promised Otho the same when with
him in Spain. Ptolemy helped to fulfill his own predictions, "Nec deerat
Ptolemæus, jam et sceleris instinctor, ad quod facillimè ab ejusmodi voto
transitur."
[309] Cyclada. Cf. i., 73, "Aude aliquid brevibus Gyaris et carcere dignum." x.,
170, "Ut Gyaræ clausus scopulis parvaque Seripho."
[310] Tanaquil. Cf. Liv., i, 34, "perita cœlestium prodigiorum mulier."

"To him thy Tanaquil applies, in doubt
How long her jaundiced mother may hold out." Gifford.

[311] Pinguia sucina. The Roman women used to hold or rub amber in their
hands for its scent. Mart., iii., Ep. lxv., 5, "redolent quod sucina trita." xi., Ep.
viii., 6, "spirant, succina virgineâ quod regelata manu." Cf. v., Ep. xxxviii., II.
(Cf. ix., 50.)

"By whom a greasy almanac is borne,
With often handling, like chafed amber worn." Dryden.

[312] Thrasyllus was the astrologer under whom Tiberius studied the "Chaldean
art" at Rhodes (Tac., Ann., vi., 20), and accompanied his patron to Rome. (Cf.
Suet., Aug., 98.) Cf. Suet., Tib., 14, 62, and Calig., 19, for a curious prediction
belied by Caligula.
[313] Petosiris, another famous astrologer and physician. Plin., ii., 23; vii., 49.
[314] Fulgura. When a place was struck by lightning, a priest was sent for to
purify it, a two-year-old sheep was then sacrificed, and the ground, hence called
bidental, fenced in.
[315] Agger. The mound to the east of Rome, thrown up by Tarquinius Superbus.
Cf. viii., 43, "ventoso conducta sub aggere texit." Hor., i., Sat. viii., 15, "Aggere
in aprico spatiari."
[316] Phalas. The Circensian games were originally consecrated to Neptunus
Equestris, or Consus. Hence the dolphins on the columns in the Circus
Maximus. The circus was divided along the middle by the Spina, at each
extremity of which stood three pillars (metæ) round which the chariots turned:
along this spine were seven movable towers or obelisks, called from their oval
form ova, or phalæ; one was taken down at the end of each course. There were
four factions in the circus, Blue, Green (xi., 196). White, and Red, xii., 114; to
which Domitian added the Golden and the Purple. Suet., Domit., 7. The egg was
the badge of the Green faction (which was the general favorite), the dolphin of
the Blue or sea party. For the form of these, see the Florentine gem in Milman's
Horace, p. 3. Böttiger has a curious theory, that the four colors symbolize the
four elements, the green being the earth. The circus was the resort of prostitutes
(iii., 65) and itinerant fortune-tellers. (Hence "fallax," Hor., i., Sat., vi., 113.) Cf.
Suet., Jul., 39, and Claud., 21.
[317] Mane. "The first thing seen" in the morning was a most important omen of
the good or bad luck of the whole day. This is well turned by Hodgson:

"The sooty embryo, had he sprung to light,
Had heir'd thy will and petrified thy sight;
Each morn with horror hadst thou turn'd away,
Lest the dark omen should o'ercloud the day."

[318] Spurcos lacus. Infants were exposed by the Milk-pillar in the Herb-market:
the low ground on which this stood, at the base of Aventine, Palatine, and

Capitoline, was often flooded and covered with stagnant pools. "Hoc ubi nunc
fora sunt udæ tenuere paludes," Ov., Fast., vi., 401. The "Velabri regio" of
Tibull., ii., v., 33.

"The beggars' bantlings spawn'd in open air,
And left by some pond-side to perish there;
From hence your Flamens, hence your Salii come,
Your Scauri chiefs and magistrates of Rome." Gifford.

[319] Mimum. Cf. iii., 40, "Quoties voluit Fortuna jocari."
[320] Boletus. Cf. v., 147. Nero used to call mushrooms "the food of the gods"
after this. Cf. Suet., Nero, 33. Tac., Ann., xii., 66, 7. Mart., i., Ep. xxi.
[321]

"That only closed the driveling dotard's eyes,
And sent his godhead downward to the skies." Dryden.

[322] Cæsonia. Cf. Suet., Calig., 50, "Creditur potionatus a Cæsonia uxore,
amatorio quidem medicamento, sed quod in furorem verterit."
[323] Grande Sophocleo.

"Are these then fictions? and would satire's rage
Sweep in Iambic pomp the tragic stage
With stately Sophocles, and sing of deeds
Strange to Rutulian skies and Latian meads?" Badham.

[324] Pontia, daughter of Titus Pontius, and wife of Drymis, poisoned her two
children, and afterward committed suicide. The fact was duly inscribed on her
tomb. Cf. Mart., vi., Ep. 75.
[325] Tamen. Heinrich proposes to read "tantum."
[326] Alcestim.

"Alcestis, lo! in love's calm courage flies
To yonder tomb where, else, Admetus dies,
While those that view the scene, a lapdog's breath
Would cheaply purchase by a husband's death." Badham.

[327] Insulsam.

"But here the difference lies—those bungling wives
With a blunt axe hack'd out their husbands' lives." Gifford.

[328] Ter victi, by Sylla, Lucullus, and Pompey. Cf. xiv., 452, "Eme quod
Mithridates Composuit si vis aliam decerpere ficum Atque alias tractare rosas."

SATIRE VII.

All our hope and inducement to study[329] rests on Cæsar[330] alone. For he
alone casts a favoring eye[331] on the Muses, who in our days are in a
forlorn state. When poets, now become famous and men of renown, would
fain try and hire a little bath at Gabii, or a public oven at Rome. While
others, again, would esteem it neither shocking nor degrading to turn public
criers: since Clio herself, if starving, would quit the vales of Aganippe, and
emigrate to courts.[332] For if not a single farthing is offered you in the
Pierian shades, be content with the name and calling of Machæra:[333] and
sooner sell what the auction duly set[334] sells to those that stand around;
wine-flagons, trivets, book-cases, chests; the "Alcyone" of Paccius, or the
"Thebes" and "Tereus" of Faustus. This is preferable to asserting before the
judge that you are a witness of what you never did see.[335] Even though
Asiatic,[336] and Cappadocian, and Bithynian knights stoop to this: fellows
whom Gallo-Græcia transports hither with chalked feet.[337] Hereafter,
however, no one will be compelled to submit to an employment derogatory
to his studies, who unites loftiness of expression to tuneful numbers, and
has chewed the bay.[338] Set vigorously to work then, young men! The
kindness[339] of the emperor is looking all around, and stimulates your
exertions, while he is seeking worthy objects of his patronage. If you think
that from any other quarter you may look for encouragement in your
pursuits, and with that view fill the parchment of your yellow[340] tablet;
call with all speed for a fagot, and make a present of all your compositions,
Telesinus, to Venus' husband:[341] or lock them up, and let the
bookworm[342] bore them through as they lie stowed away. Destroy your
pens, poor wretch! Blot out your battles that have lost you your nights' rest,
you that write sublime poetry in your narrow garret,[343] that you may come
forth worthy of an ivy-crown and meagre image. You have nothing farther
to hope for. The stingy patron of our days has learned only to admire and
praise the eloquent as boys do Juno's peacock.[344] But your prime of life is
ebbing away; that is able to bear the fatigue of the sea, the helmet, or the
spade. Then weariness creeps over the spirits: and an old age, that is indeed
learned but in rags,[345] curses itself and the Muses that it courted. Now
learn the devices of the great man you pay court to, to avoid laying out any

money upon you: quitting the temple of the Muses, and Apollo, he
composes verses himself, and only yields the palm to Homer himself on the
score of his priority by a thousand years. But if inflamed by the charms of
fame you recite your poetry, he kindly lends you a dirty mansion, and
places at your service one that has been long barred up, whose front gate
emulates those of a city in a state of siege. He knows how to place his
freedmen in seats at the farther end of the audience, and how to arrange his
clients who are to cheer you lustily.[346] None of these great lords will give
you as much as would pay for the benches,[347] or the seats that rise one
above another on the platform you have to hire; or your orchestra of chairs,
which must be returned when your recitation is over. Yet still we ply our
tasks, and draw furrows in the profitless dust, and keep turning up the sea-
shore with sterile plow. For even if you try to abandon the pursuit, the long
habit[348] of indulging in this vain-glorious trifling,[349] holds you fast in its
fetters. An inveterate itch of writing, now incurable, clings to many, and
grows old in their distempered body. But the poet that is above his fellows,
whose vein is not that of the common herd; that is wont to spin out no stale
or vulgar subject, and stamps no hackneyed verse from a die that all may
use; such an one as I can not embody in words, and can only feel in my
soul, is the offspring of a mind free from solicitude, exempt from all that
can embitter life, that courts the quiet of the woods, and loves to drink the
fountains of the Aonides. Nor can it be that poverty should sing in the
Pierian cave, or handle the thyrsus, if forced to sobriety, and lacking that
vile pelf the body needs both day and night. Well plied with food and wine
is Horace when he shouts out his Evoe![350] What scope is there for fancy,
save when our breasts are harassed by no thoughts but verse alone; and are
hurried along[351] under the influence of the lords of Cirrha and Nysa,
admitting of no divided[352] solicitude. It is the privilege of an exalted soul,
and not of one bewildered how to get enough to buy a blanket, to gaze on
chariots and horses and the forms of divinities, and in what dread shapes
Erinnys[353] appalls the Rutulian. For had Virgil lacked a slave and
comfortable lodging, all the serpents would have vanished from Alecto's
hair: his trumpet, starved to silence, would have blazed no note of terror. Is
it fair to expect that Rubrenus Lappa should not fall short of the buskin of
the ancients, while his Atreus[354] forces him to pawn his very sauceboats
and his cloak?

Poor Numitor is so unfortunate as to have nothing he can afford to send his
protégé! Yet he can find something to give Quintilla—he managed to pay
for a tame lion, that must have pounds of flesh to feed him. No doubt the
huge beast is kept at far less expense; and a poet's stomach is far more
capacious! Let Lucan recline at his ease in his gardens among his marble
statues, satisfied with fame alone. But to poor Serranus, and starving
Saleius, of what avail will glory be, however great, if it be glory only? All
flock in crowds to hear his sweet voice, and the tuneful strains of the
Thebais, when Statius[355] has gladdened the city, and fixed the day for
reciting it. So great is the charm with which he captivates their souls; such
the eager delight with which he is listened to by the multitude. But when the
very benches are broken down by the ecstasies with which his verses are
applauded, he may starve, unless he sells[356] his unpublished "Agave"[357]
to Paris. It is he that bestows on many the honors due to military service,
and encircles the fingers of poets with the ring that marks their six months'
command.[358] What nobles will not give, a player will! And dost thou,
then, still pay court to the Camerini and Bareæ, and the spacious halls of
nobles? It is "Pelopea" that makes prefects, "Philomela" tribunes. Yet envy
not the bard whom the stage maintains. Who is your Mæcenas now, or
Proculeius, or Fabius? Who will act Cotta's part again, or be a second
Lentulus? In those days talent had its meet reward: then it was profitable to
many to become pale, and abstain from wine[359] the whole of December.
Your toil, forsooth, ye writers of histories! is more profitable, it requires
more time and more oil. For regardless of all limit, it rises to the thousandth
page; and grows in bulk, expensive from the mass of paper used. This the
vast press of matter requires, and the laws of composition. Yet what is the
crop that springs from it? what the profit from the soil upturned? Who will
give an historian as much as he would a notary?[360] "But they are an idle
race, that delight in sofas and the cool shade." Well, tell me then, what do
the services rendered their fellow-citizens, and their briefs they carry about
with them in a big bundle, bring in to the lawyers? Even of themselves they
talk grandly enough, but especially when their creditor is one of their
hearers; or if one still more pressing nudges their side, that comes with his
great account-book to sue for a doubtful debt. Then the hollow bellows of
their lungs breathe forth amazing lies; they foam at the mouth till their
breast is covered. But if you like to calculate the actual harvest they reap,

set in one scale the estate of a hundred lawyers, and you may balance it on
the other side with the single fortune of Lacerna, the charioteer of the Red.
[361]

The chiefs have taken their seats![362] You, like Ajax, rise with pallid cheek,
and plead in behalf of liberty that has been called in question, before a neat-
herd[363] for a juryman! Burst your strained lungs, poor wretch! that, when
exhausted, the green palm-branches[364] may be affixed to crown your
staircase with honor! Yet what is the reward of your eloquence? A rusty
ham, or a dish of sprats; or some shriveled onions, the monthly provender
of the Africans;[365] or wine brought down the Tiber. Five bottles[366] for
pleading four times! If you have been lucky enough to get a single gold
piece,[367] even from that you must deduct the stipulated shares of the
attorneys.[368] Æmilius will get as much as the law allows;[369] although we
pleaded better than he. For he has in his court-yard a chariot of bronze with
four tall horses[370] yoked to it; and he himself, seated on his fierce charger,
brandishes aloft his bending spear, and meditates battles with his one eye
closed. So it is that Pedo gets involved, Matho fails. This is the end of
Tongillus, who usually bathes with a huge rhinoceros' horn of oil, and
annoys the baths with his draggled train; and weighs heavily in his
ponderous sedan on his sturdy Median slaves, as he presses through the
forum to bid for[371] slaves, and plate, and myrrhine vases, and villas. For it
is his foreign[372] purple with its Tyrian tissue that gets him credit. And yet
this answers their purpose. It is the purple robe that gets the lawyer custom
—his violet cloaks that attract clients. It suits their interest to live with all
the bustle and outward show of an income greater then they really have. But
prodigal Rome observes no bounds to her extravagance. If the old orators
were to come to life again, no one now would give even Cicero himself two
hundred sesterces, unless a huge ring sparkled on his finger. This is the first
point he that goes to law looks to—whether you have eight slaves, ten
attendants, a sedan to follow you, and friends in toga to go before. Paulus,
consequently, used to plead in a sardonyx, hired for the occasion: and hence
it was that Cossus' fees were higher than those of Basilus. Eloquence is a
rare quality in a threadbare coat!
When is Basilus allowed to produce in court a weeping mother? Who could
endure Basilus, however well he were to plead? Let Gaul become your

home, or better still that foster-nurse of pleaders, Africa, if you are
determined to let your tongue for hire.
Do you teach declamation? Oh what a heart of steel must Vectius have,
when his numerous class kills cruel tyrants! For all that the boy has just
conned over at his seat, he will then stand up and spout—the same stale
theme in the same sing-song. It is the reproduction of the cabbage[373] that
wears out the master's life. What is the plea to be urged: what the character
of the cause; where the main point of the case hinges; what shafts may issue
from the opposing party;—this all are anxious to know; but not one is
anxious to pay! "Pay do you ask for? why, what do I know?" The blame,
forsooth, is laid at the teacher's door, because there is not a spark of energy
in the breast of this scion of Arcadia,[374] who dins his awful Hannibal into
my ears regularly every sixth day. Whatever the theme be that is to be the
subject of his deliberation; whether he shall march at once from Cannæ on
Rome; or whether, rendered circumspect after the storms and thunderbolts,
he shall lead his cohorts, drenched with the tempest, by a circuitous route.
Bargain[375] for any sum you please, and I will at once place it in your
hands, on condition that his father should hear him his lesson as often as I
have to do it! But six or more sophists are all giving tongue at once; and,
debating in good earnest, have abandoned all fictitious declamations about
the ravisher. No more is heard of the poison infused, or the vile ungrateful
husband,[376] or the drugs that can restore the aged blind to youth. He
therefore that quits the shadowy conflicts of rhetoric for the arena of real
debate, will superannuate himself, if my advice has any weight with him,
and enter on a different path of life; that he may not lose even the paltry
sum that will purchase the miserable ticket[377] for corn. Since this is the
most splendid reward you can expect. Just inquire what Chrysogonus
receives, or Pollio, for teaching the sons of these fine gentlemen, and going
into all the details[378] of Theodorus' treatise.
The baths will cost six hundred sestertia, and the colonnade still more, in
which the great man rides whenever it rains. Is he to wait, forsooth, for fair
weather? or bespatter his horses with fresh mud? Nay, far better here! for
here the mule's hoof shines unsullied.[379] On the other side must rise a
spacious dining-room, supported on stately columns of Numidian marble,
and catch the cool[380] sun. However much the house may have cost, he will

have besides an artiste who can arrange his table scientifically; another,
who can season made-dishes. Yet amid all this lavish expenditure, two poor
sestertia will be deemed an ample remuneration for Quintilian. Nothing will
cost a father less than his son's education.
"Then where did Quintilian get the money to pay for so many estates?" Pass
by the instances of good fortune that are but rare indeed. It is good luck that
makes a man handsome and active; good luck that makes him wise, and
noble, and well-bred, and attaches the crescent[381] of the senator to his
black shoe. Good luck too that makes him the best of orators and debaters,
and, though he has a vile cold, sing well! For it makes all the difference
what planets welcome you when you first begin to utter your infant cry, and
are still red from your mother. If fortune so wills it, you will become consul
instead of rhetorician; or, if she will, instead of rhetorician, consul! What
was Ventidius[382] or Tullius aught else than a lucky planet, and the strange
potency of hidden fate? Fate, that gives kingdoms to slaves, and triumphs to
captives. Yes! Quintilian was indeed lucky, but he is a greater rarity even
than a white crow. But many a man has repented of this fruitless and barren
employment, as the sad end of Thrasymachus[383] proves, and that of
Secundus Carrinas.[384] And you, too, Athens, were witness to the poverty
of him on whom you had the heart to bestow nothing save the hemlock that
chilled[385] his life-blood!
Light be the earth, ye gods![386] and void of weight, that presses on our
grandsires' shades, and round their urn bloom fragrant crocus and eternal
spring, who maintained that a tutor should hold the place and honor of a
revered parent. Achilles sang on his paternal hills, in terror of the lash,
though now grown up; and yet in whom even then would not the tail of his
master, the harper, provoke a smile? But now Rufus[387] and others are
beaten each by their own pupils; Rufus! who so often called Cicero "the
Allobrogian!" Who casts into Enceladus'[388] lap, or that of the learned
Palæmon,[389] as much as their grammarian labors have merited! And yet
even from the wretched sum, however small (and it is smaller than the
rhetorician's pay), Acænonoëtus, his pupil's pedagogue, first takes his slice;
and then the steward who pays you deducts his fragment. Dispute it not,
Palæmon! and suffer some abatement to be made, just as the peddler does
that deals in winter rugs and snow-white sheetings.[390] Only let not all be

lost,[391] for which you have sat from the midnight hour, when no smith
would sit, nor even he that teaches how to draw out wool with the oblique
iron. Lose not your whole reward for having smelled as many lamps as
there were boys standing round you; while Horace was altogether
discolored, and the foul smut clave to the well-thumbed Maro. Yet rare too
is the pay that does not require enforcing by the Tribune's court.[392]
But do you, parents, impose severe exactions on him that is to teach your
boys; that he be perfect in the rules of grammar for each word—read all
histories[393]—know all authors as well as his own finger-ends; that if
questioned at hazard, while on his way to the Thermæ or the baths of
Phœbus, he should be able to tell the name of Anchises' nurse,[394] and the
name and native land of the step-mother of Anchemolus—tell off-hand how
many years Acestes lived—how many flagons of wine the Sicilian king
gave to the Phrygians. Require of him that he mould their youthful morals
as one models a face in wax. Require of him that he be the reverend father
of the company, and check every approach to immorality.
It is no light task to keep watch over so many boyish hands, so many little
twinkling eyes. "This," says the father, "be the object of your care!"—and
when the year comes round again, Receive for your pay as much gold[395]
as the people demand for the victorious Charioteer!

FOOTNOTES:

[329] Ratio studiorum. Cf. Tac., Ann., xi., 7, "Sublatis studiorum pretiis etiam
studia peritura."
[330] Cæsare. Which Cæsar is intended is a matter of discussion among the
commentators; whether Nero, Titus, Trajan, Hadrian, Nerva, or Domitian.
Probably the last is meant: as in the beginning of his reign he affected the
character of a patron of literature.
[331] Respexit. "To view with favor or pity," as a deity: so Virg., Ecl., i., 28,
"Libertas, quæ sera tamen respexit inertem."
[332] Atria. Either "the antechambers of rich patrons," or to "the Licinian and
other courts," near the forum, where auctions were held; the atria auctionaria of
Cicero: cf. pro Quint., 12, 25, i. in Rull., 7.
[333] Machæra, a famous Præco of his time. Lubin.
[334] Commissa. Either from the goods being "intrusted" to the auctioneer by
the owner or the magistrate; or from the parties that bid being as it were "pitted,"

commissi, against each other, like gladiators.
[335] Vidi. So xvi., 29, "Audeat ille Nescio quis, pugnos qui vidit, dicere vidi."
[336] Asiani. "Jam equites, olim servi Asiatici." Lub. The next line is in all
probability interpolated, being only a gloss. Heinrich.
[337] Nudo talo. Vid. ad i., 111. Or, it may be "barefooted" simply. Galatia in
Asia Minor, so called from the colony of Gauls who settled there, A.D. 278, at
the invitation of Nicomedes. Liv., xxxviii., 16. Cf. Paus., Phoc., xxiii. Cramer's
Asia Minor, ii., 79. Clinton, Fast. Hell. in an.

"Sent from Bithynia's realms with shoeless feet." Badham.

[338] Laurumque momordit. So δαφνηφάγοι. The chewing of the bay, as being
sacred to Apollo, was supposed to convey divine inspiration. Grang. Cf.
Lycoph., 6.
[339]

Indulgentia. "Lo! the imperial eye
Looks round attentive on each rising bard,
For worth to praise, for genius to reward." Gifford.

[340] Croceæ. Because parchment is always yellow on the side where the hair
grew. Others think the parchment itself was dyed yellow. Cf. Pers., iii., 10.
[341] Veneris marito, a burlesque phrase for "the fire."
[342] Tinea. Cf. Hor., Ep., I., xx., 12, "Tineas pasces taciturnus inertes."
[343] Cellâ. So Ben Jonson:

"I that spend half my nights and half my days
Here in a cell, to get a dark pale face,
To come forth worth the ivy or the bays,
And in this age can hope no other grace."

[344] Junonis avem.

"To praise and only praise the high-wrought strain.
As boys the bird of Juno's glittering train." Gifford.

[345] Facunda et unda.

"Till gray-haired, helpless, humbled genius see
Its fault too late, and curse Terpsichore." Badham.

[346] Comitum voces. Cf. xiii., 32, "Vocalis sportula."

[347] Anabathra, the seats rising one above another in the form of a theatre.
Subsellia, those in the body of the room. Orchestra, the hired chairs in front of
all, for his knightly guests. Holyday quaintly says no patron cared

"What the orchestra cost raised for chief friends,
And chairs recarried when the reading ends."

[348] Laqueo.

"And would we quit at length th' ambitious ill,
The noose of habit implicates us still." Badham.

[349] Vatem egregium. Cf. Hor., i., Sat. iv., 43, "Ingenium cui sit, cui mens
divinior, atque os magna sonaturum, des nominis hujus honorem." How
immeasurably finer of the two is Juvenal's description of a poet!

"But he, the bard of every age and clime,
Of genius fruitful, and of soul sublime,
Who from the glowing mint of fancy pours
No spurious metal, fused from common ores,
But gold to matchless purity refined,
And stamp'd with all the godhead in his mind:
He whom I feel, but want the power to paint,
Must boast a soul impatient of restraint,
And free from every care—a soul that loves
The Muses' haunts, clear springs and shady groves." Gifford.

Of this passage, Hodgson says, Gifford has drawn the prize in the lottery of
translation, all others must be blanks after it.
[350] Evoe! Vid. Hor., ii., Od. xix., 5. Cf. Milman's Life.
[351] Feruntur.

"Be hurried with resistless force along
By the two kindred powers of wine and song." Gifford.

[352] Duas.

"Nor wrestlings with the world will Genius own,
Destined to strive with song, and song alone." Badham.

[353] Erinnys. The splendid passage in the seventh Æneid, 445, seq., "Talibus
Alecto dictis exarsit in iras. At juveni oranti subitus tremor occupat artus:
Deriguere oculi: tot Erinnys sibilat hydris, Tantaque se facies aperit." Cf. Æn.,
ii., 602, seq.; xii., 326.
[354] Atreus. Some take Atreus to be the person who lends the money. Grangæus
interprets it, "Qui dum componit tragædiam de Atreo, ut vitam sustentare possit

pignori opponit alveolos."

"Who writes his Atreus, as his friends allege,
With half his household goods and cloak in pledge." Badham.

[355] Statius employed twelve years upon his Thebais. (Cf. xii., 811.) It was not
completed till after the Dacian war, but was written before the 1st book of the
Silvæ, the date of the 4th book of which is known to be A.D. 95. We may
therefore assume the date of the Thebais to be about 94.
[356] Vendat. Holyday quotes from Brodæus the price given to Terence for his
Eunuchus, viz., eight sestertia, about sixty-five pounds.
[357] Agave. Probably a pantomimic ballet on a tragic subject; for, as Heinrich
says, what had Paris, the mime, to do with a new tragedy? These and the
following lines are said to have been the cause of Juvenal's banishment.
[358] Semestri is said to refer to an honorary military commission, conferred on
favorites, even though not in the army, and called "Semestris tribunatus
militum." It lasted for six months only, but conferred the privilege of wearing the
equestrian ring, with perhaps others. It is alluded to in Pliny, iv., Epist. 4, who
begs of Sossius the consul in behalf of a friend, "Hunc rogo semestri tribunatu
splendidiorem facias." There are divers other interpretations, but this appears the
simplest and most probable. To confound it with the "æstivum aurum" (i., 28), is
a palpable absurdity.
[359] Vinum nescire. Cf. Hor., ii., Sat. iii., 5, "At ipsis Saturnalibus huc fugisti
Sobrius." Stat., Sylv., I., vi., 4, "Saturnus mihi compede exsolutâ, et multo
gravidus mero December."

"Then all December's revelries refuse,
And give the festive moments to the Muse." Gifford.

[360] Acta legenti. Either the "notary public," or "keeper of the public records,"
or the historian's reader, who collected facts for the author, or "any one who read
aloud the history itself."
[361] Russati. Cf. ad vi., 589. So the charioteer of "the white" was called
Albatus. Lacerna, or Lacerta, was a charioteer in the reign of Domitian, some
say of Domitian himself. One commentator takes Lacerna to be "any soldier
wearing a red cloak;" as Paludatus is "one wearing the general's cloak." Cf.
Mart., xiii., Ep. 78, "Prasinus Porphyrion."
[362] Consedere. Cf. Ov., Met., xiii., 1, "Consedere duces; et, vulgi stante
corona, Surgit ad hos clypei dominus septemplicis Ajax." Cf. ad xi., 30.
[363] Bubulco." Before some clod-pate judge thy vitals strain." Badham.
[364] Palmæ. Cf. ad ix., 85.

"So shall the verdant palm be duly tied
To the dark staircase where such powers reside." Badham.

[365] Afrorum Epimenia. Most probably alluding to the "monthly rations of
onions" allowed to African slaves, who were accustomed to plenty of them in
their own country (cf. Herod., ii., 125. Numb., xi., 5), where they grew in great
abundance. Martial, ix., Ep. xlvi., 11, enumerates "bulbi" among the presents
sent at the Saturnalia to the causidicus Sabellus.
[366] Lagenæ. Mart., u. s. "Five jars of meagre down-the-Tiber wine." Badham.
[367] Aureus. About sixteen shillings English at this time.
[368] Pragmaticorum. Cicero describes their occupation, de Orat., i., 45, "Ut
apud Græcos infimi homines, mercedula adducti, ministros se præbent judiciis
oratoribus ii qui apud illos πραγματικοὶ vocantur." Cf. c. 59. Quintil., iii., 6; xii.,
3. Mart., xii., Ep. 72. They appear afterward to have been introduced at Rome,
and are sometimes called "Tabelliones."
[369] Licet. The Lex Cincia de Muneribus, as amended by Augustus, forbade the
receipt of any fees. A law of Nero fixed the fee at 100 aurei at most. Vid. Tac.,
Ann., xi., 5 (Ruperti's note). Suet., Ner., 17. Plin., v., Ep. iv., 21.
[370] Quadrijuges. It appears to have been an extraordinary fancy with lawyers
of this age to be represented in this manner; cf. Mart., ix., Ep. lxix., 5, seq.; but
the details of the picture have puzzled the commentators. "Curvatum" is
supposed to mean that "the spear actually seems quivering in his hand," or that it
is "bent with age," or that the arm is "bent back," as if in the act of throwing. Cf.
Xen., Anab., V., ii., 12, διηγκυλωμένους. "Luscâ" may imply that the statue
imitated to the life the personal defect of Æmilius; or simply the absence of the
pupil (ὀμμάτων ἀχηνία), inseparable from statuary; or that Æmilius is
represented as closing one eye to take better aim.

"Lifts his poised javelin o'er the crowd below,
And from his blinking statue threats the blow." Hodgson.

[371] Cf. Mart., ix., Ep. 60.
[372] Stlataria. Stlata is said to be an old form of lata, as stlis for lis, stlocus for
locus. Therefore Stlataria is the same as the "Latus Clavus," according to some
commentators; or a "broad-beamed" merchant ship; and therefore means simply
"imported." Others say it is a "piratical ship," such as the Illyrians used, and the
word is then taken to imply "deceitful." Facciolati explains, it by "peregrina et
pretiosa: longè navi advecta."
[373] Crambe. The old Schol. quotes a proverb—δὶς κράμβε θάνατος, Grangæus
another, which forcibly expresses a schoolmaster's drudgery—οἰ αὐτοὶ περὶ τῶν
αὐτῶν τοῖς αὐτοῖς τὰ ἀυτά.

"Till, like hash'd cabbage, served for each repast,
The repetition kills the wretch at last." Gifford.

[374] Arcadia was celebrated for its breed of asses. Cf. Pers., Sat. iii., 9,
"Arcadiæ pecuaria rudere credas." Auson., Epigr. 76, "Asinos quoque rudere
dicas, cum vis Arcadium fingere, Marce, pecus."

[375] Stipulare.

"Get me his father but to hear his task
For one short week, I'll give you all you ask." Bad.

[376] Maritus.

"The faithless husband and abandon'd wife,
And Æson coddled to new light and life." Gifford.

[377] Tessera. The poorer Romans received every month tickets, which appear
to have been transferable, entitling them to a certain quantity of corn from the
public granaries. These tesseræ or symbola were made, Lubinus says, of wood or
lead, and distributed by the "Frumentorum Curatores." In the latter days, bread
thus distributed was called "Panis Gradilis," quia gradibus distribuebatur. The
Congiarium consisted of wine, or oil only. The Donativum was only given to
soldiers. Several of these tickets of wood and lead are preserved in the museum
at Portici.
[378] Scindens. "Præcepta ejus artis minutatim dividens." Lubin. On the
principle, perhaps, that "Qui benè dividit benè docet." Britannicus, whom
Heinrich follows, explains it by "deridet." Theodorus of Gadara was a professor
of rhetoric in the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius. Vid. Suet., Tib., 57. It was he
who so well described the character of the latter; calling him πήλον αἵματι
πεφύρμενον. Chrysogonus, in vi., 74, is a singer, and Pollio, vi., 387, a musician
(cf. Mart., iv., Ep. lxi., 9); but, as Lubinus says, the persons mentioned here are
professors of rhetoric, and probably therefore not the same.
[379] Mundæ.

"He splash his fav'rite mule in filthy roads!
With ample space at his command, to tire
The well-groom'd beast, with hoof unstain'd by mire." Badham.

[380] Algentem. They had dining-rooms facing different quarters, according to
the season of the year, with a southern aspect for the winter, and an eastern for
the summer. Cf. Plin., ii., Ep. 17. Rapiat rather seems to imply the former case.
So Badham—

"Courts the brief radiance of the winter's noon."

"Algentem" favors the other view—

"Front the cool east, when now the averted sun
Through the mid ardors of his course has run." Hodgson.

[381] Lunam. Senators wore black shoes of tanned leather: they were a kind of
short boot reaching to the middle of the leg (hence, "Nigris medium impediit

crus pellibus," Hor., I., Sat. vi., 27), with a crescent or the letter C in front,
because the original number of senators was a hundred.—Aluta, "steeped in
alum," to soften the skin.
[382] Ventidius Bassus, son of a slave; first a carman, then a muleteer; afterward
made in one year prætor and consul. Being appointed to command against the
Parthians, he was allowed a triumph; having been himself, in his youth, led as a
captive in the triumphal procession of Pompey's father. Cf. Val. Max., vi., 10.
[383] Thrasymachus of Chalcedon, the pupil of Plato and Isocrates, wrote a
treatise on Rhetoric, and set up as a teacher of it at Athens; but, meeting with no
encouragement, shut up his school and hanged himself.
[384] Secundus Carrinas is said to have been driven by poverty from Athens to
Rome; and was banished by Caligula for a declamation against tyrants. He is
mentioned, Tac., Ann., xv., 45.
[385] Gelidas. "Cicutæ refrigeratoria vis: quos enecat incipiunt algere ab
extremitatibus corporis." Plin., xxv., 13. Plat., Phædo, fin. Pers., iv., 1.
[386] Dii Majorum, etc.

"Shades of our sires! O sacred be your rest,
And lightly lie the turf upon your breast;
Flowers round your urns breathe sweets beyond compare,
And spring eternal bloom and flourish there!
Your honor'd tutors, now a slighted race,
And gave them all a parent's power and place!" Gifford.

[387] Rufus, according to the old Schol., was a native of Gaul. Grangæus calls
him Q. Curtius Rufus, and says nothing more is known of him than that he was
an eminent rhetorician. He is here represented as charging Cicero with
barbarisms or provincialisms, such as a Savoyard would use.
[388] Enceladus. Nothing is known of him.
[389] Palæmon. Vid. ad vi., 451.
[390] Cadurci. Cf. vi., 537.
[391] Non pereat.

"Yes, suffer this! while something's left to pay
Your rising, hours before the dawn of day;
When e'en the lab'ring poor their slumbers take,
And not a weaver, not a smith's awake." Gifford.

[392] Cognitione Tribuni. Not a tribune of the people, but one of the Tribuni
Ærarii, to whom the cognizance of such complaints belonged.
[393] Historias. Tiberius was exceedingly fond of propounding to grammarians,
a class of men whom he particularly affected (quod genus hominum præcipuè
appetebat), questions of this nature, to sound their "notitia historiæ usque ad
ineptias atque derisum." Cf. Suet., Tib., 70, 57.

[394] Nutricem. The names of these two persons are said to have been Casperia
and Tisiphone.
[395] Aurum. i. e., 5 aurei, the highest reward allowed to be given. The aureus,
which varied in value, was at this time worth 25 denarii; a little more than 16
shillings English. Cf. Mart., x., Ep. lxxiv., 5.

SATIRE VIII.

What is the use of pedigrees?[396] What boots it, Ponticus, to be accounted
of an ancient line, and to display the painted faces[397] of your ancestors,
and the Æmiliani standing in their cars, and the Curii diminished to one half
their bulk, and Corvinus deficient of a shoulder, and Galba that has lost his
ears and nose[4]—what profit is it to vaunt in your capacious genealogy of
Corvinus, and in many a collateral line[398] to trace dictators and masters of
the horse begrimed with smoke, if before the very faces of the Lepidi you
lead an evil life! To what purpose are the images of so many warriors, if the
dice-box rattles all night long in the presence of the Numantini:[399] if you
retire to rest at the rising of that star[400] at whose dawning those generals
set their standards and camps in motion? Why does Fabius[401] plume
himself on the Allobrogici and the "Great Altar," as one born in Hercules'
own household, if he is covetous, empty-headed, and ever so much more
effeminate than the soft lamb of Euganea.[402] If with tender limbs made
sleek by the pumice[403] of Catana he shames his rugged sires, and, a
purchaser of poison, disgraces his dishonored race by his image that ought
to be broken up.[404]
Though your long line of ancient statues adorn your ample halls on every
side, the sole and only real nobility is virtue. Be a Paulus,[405] or Cossus, or
Drusus, in moral character. Set that before the images of your ancestors. Let
that, when you are consul, take precedence of the fasces themselves. What I
claim from you first is the noble qualities of the mind. If you deserve indeed
to be accounted a man of blameless integrity, and stanch love of justice,
both in word and deed, then I recognize the real nobleman. All hail,
Gætulicus![406] or thou, Silanus,[407] or from whatever other blood
descended, a rare and illustrious citizen, thou fallest to the lot of thy
rejoicing country. Then we may exultingly shout out what the people
exclaim when Osiris is found.[408]

For who would call him noble that is unworthy of his race, and
distinguished only for his illustrious name? We call some one's dwarf,[409]
Atlas; a negro, swan; a diminutive and deformed wench, Europa. Lazy curs
scabbed[410] with inveterate mange, that lick the edges of the lamp now dry,
will get the name of Leopard, Tiger, Lion, or whatever other beast there is
on earth that roars with fiercer throat. Therefore you will take care and
begin to fear lest it is upon the same principle you are a Creticus[411] or
Camerinus.
Whom have I admonished in these words? To you my words are addressed,
Rubellius[412] Plautus! You are puffed up with your descent from the Drusi,
just as though you had yourself achieved something to deserve being
ennobled; and she that gave you birth should be of the brilliant blood of
Iulus, and not the drudge that weaves for hire beneath the shelter of the
windy rampart.[413] "You are the lower orders!" he says; "the very dregs of
our populace! Not a man of you could tell where his father was born! But I
am a Cecropid!" Long may you live![414] and long revel in the joys of such
a descent! Yet from the lowest of this common herd you will find one that is
indeed an eloquent Roman. It is he that usually pleads the cause of the
ignorant noble.[415] From the toga'd crowd will come one that can solve the
knotty points of law, and the enigmas of the statutes. He it is that in his
prime carves out his fortune with his sword, and goes to Euphrates, and the
legions that keep guard over the conquered Batavi. While you are nothing
but a Cecropid, and most like the shapeless pillar crowned with Hermes'
head. Since in no other point of difference have you the advantage save in
this—that his head is of marble,[416] and your image is endowed with life!
Tell me, descendant of the Teucri, who considers dumb animals highly bred,
unless strong and courageous? Surely it is on this score we praise the fleet
horse—to grace whose speed full many a palm glows,[417] and Victory, in
the circus hoarse with shouting, stands exulting by. He is the steed of fame,
from whatever pasture he comes, whose speed is brilliantly before the
others, and whose dust is first on the plain. But the brood of Corytha, and
Hirpinus' stock, are put up for sale if victory sit but seldom on their yoke. In
their case no regard is had to their pedigree—their dead sires win them no
favor—they are forced to change their owners for paltry prices, and draw
wagons with galled withers, if slow of foot, and only fit to turn Nepos'[418]

mill. Therefore that we may admire you, and not yours, first achieve some
noble act[419] that I may inscribe on your statue's base, besides those honors
that we pay, and ever shall pay, to those to whom you are indebted for all.
Enough has been said to the youth whom common report represents to us as
haughty and puffed up from his relationship to Nero.[420] For in that rank of
life the courtesies[421] of good breeding are commonly rare enough. But
you, Ponticus, I would not have you valued for your ancestors' renown; so
as to contribute nothing yourself to deserve the praise of posterity. It is
wretched work building on another's fame; lest the whole pile crumble into
ruins when the pillars that held it up are withdrawn. The vine that trails
along the ground,[422] sighs for its widowed elms in vain.
Prove yourself a good soldier, a faithful guardian, an incorruptible judge. If
ever you shall be summoned as a witness in a doubtful and uncertain cause,
though Phalaris himself command you to turn liar, and dictate the perjuries
with his bull placed before your eyes, deem it to be the summit of
impiety[423] to prefer existence to honor,[424] and for the sake of life to
sacrifice life's only end! He that deserves to die is dead; though he still sup
on a hundred Gauran[425] oysters, and plunge in a whole bath of the
perfumes of Cosmus.[426]
When your long-expected province shall at length receive you for its ruler,
set a bound to your passion, put a curb on your avarice. Have pity on our
allies whom we have brought to poverty. You see the very marrow drained
from the empty bones of kings. Have respect to what the laws prescribe, the
senate enjoins. Remember what great rewards await the good, with how just
a stroke ruin lighted on Capito[427] and Numitor, those pirates of the
Cilicians, when the senate fulminated its decrees against them. But what
avails their condemnation, when Pansa plunders you of all that Natta left?
Look out for an auctioneer to sell your tattered clothes, Chærippus, and then
hold your tongue! It is sheer madness to lose, when all is gone, even
Charon's fee.[428]
There were not the same lamentations of yore, nor was the wound inflicted
on our allies by pillage as great as it is now, while they were still
flourishing, and but recently conquered.[429] Then every house was full, and
a huge pile of money stood heaped up, cloaks from Sparta, purple robes

from Cos, and along with pictures by Parrhasius, and statues by Myro, the
ivory of Phidias seemed instinct with life;[430] and many a work from
Polycletus' hand in every house; few were the tables that could not show a
cup of Mentor's chasing. Then came Dolabella,[431] and then Antony, then
the sacrilegious Verres;[432] they brought home in their tall[433] ships the
spoils they dared not show, and more[434] triumphs from peace than were
ever won from war. Now our allies have but few yokes of oxen, a small
stock of brood-mares, and the patriarch[435] of the herd will be harried from
the pasture they have already taken possession of. Then the very Lares
themselves, if there is any statue worth looking at, if any little shrine still
holds its single god. For this, since it is the best they have, is the highest
prize they can seize upon.
You may perhaps despise the Rhodians unfit for war, and essenced Corinth:
and well you may! How can a resin-smeared[436] youth, and the depilated
legs of a whole nation, retaliate upon you. You must keep clear of rugged
Spain, the Gallic car,[437] and the Illyrian coast. Spare too those reapers[438]
that overstock the city, and give it leisure for the circus[439] and the stage.
Yet what rewards to repay so atrocious a crime could you carry off from
thence, since Marius[440] has so lately plundered the impoverished Africans
even of their very girdles?[441]
You must be especially cautious lest a deep injury be inflicted on those who
are bold as well as wretched. Though you may strip them of all the gold and
silver they possess, you will yet leave them shield and sword, and javelin
and helm. Plundered of all, they yet have arms to spare!
What I have just set forth is no opinion of my own. Believe that I am
reciting to you a leaf of the sibyl, that can not lie. If your retinue are men of
spotless life, if no favorite youth[442] barters your judgments for gold, if
your wife[443] is clear from all stain of guilt, and does not prepare to go
through the district courts,[444] and all the towns of your province, ready,
like a Celæno[445] with her crooked talons, to swoop upon the gold—then
you may, if you please, reckon your descent from Picus; and if high-
sounding names are your fancy, place the whole army of Titans among your
ancestors, or even Prometheus[446] himself. Adopt a founder of your line
from any book you please. But if ambition and lust hurry you away

headlong, if you break your rods[447] on the bloody backs of the allies, if
your delight is in axes blunted by the victor worn out with using them—
then the nobility of your sires themselves begins to rise[448] in judgment
against you, and hold forth a torch to blaze upon your shameful deeds.[449]
Every act of moral turpitude incurs more glaring reprobation in exact
proportion to the rank of him that commits it. Why vaunt your pedigree to
me? you, that are wont to put your name to forged deeds in the very
temples[450] which your grandsire built, before your very fathers' triumphal
statues! or, an adulterer that dares not face the day, you veil your brows
concealed beneath a Santon[451] cowl. The bloated Damasippus is whirled
in his rapid car past the ashes and bones of his ancestors—and with his own
hands, yes! though consul! with his own hands locks his wheel with the
frequent drag-chain.[452] It is, indeed, at night. But still the moon sees him!
The stars strain on him their attesting eyes.[453] When the period of his
magistracy is closed, Damasippus[454] will take whip in hand in the broad
glare of day, and never dread meeting his friend now grown old, and will be
the first to give him the coachman's salute, and untie the trusses and pour
the barley[455] before his weary steeds himself. Meantime, even while
according to Numa's ancient rites he sacrifices the woolly victim and the
stalwart bull before Jove's altar, he swears by Epona[456] alone, and the
faces daubed over the stinking stalls. But when he is pleased to repeat his
visits to the taverns open all night long, the Syrophœnician, reeking with his
assiduous perfume,[457] runs to meet him (the Syrophœnician that dwells at
the Idumæan[458] gate), with all the studied courtesy of a host, he salutes
him as "lord"[459] and "king;" and Cyane, with gown tucked up, with her
bottle for sale. One who wishes to palliate his crimes will say to me, "Well;
we did so too when we were young!" Granted. But surely you left off, and
did not indulge in your folly beyond that period. Let what you basely dare
be ever brief! There are some faults that should be shorn away with our first
beard. Make all reasonable allowance for boys. But Damasippus frequents
those debauches of the bagnios, and the painted signs,[460] when of ripe age
for war, for guarding Armenia[461] and Syria's rivers, and the Rhine or
Danube. His time of life qualifies him to guard the emperor's person. Send
then to Ostia![462] Cæsar—send! But look for your general in some great
tavern. You will find him reclining with some common cut-throat; in a

medley of sailors, and thieves, and runaway slaves; among executioners and
cheap coffin-makers,[463] and the now silent drums of the priest of Cybele,
lying drunk on his back.[464] There there is equal liberty for all—cups in
common—nor different couch for any, or table set aloof from the herd.
What would you do, Ponticus, were it your lot to have a slave of such a
character? Why surely you would dispatch him to the Lucanian or Tuscan
bridewells.[465] But you, ye Trojugenæ! find excuses for yourselves, and
what would disgrace a cobbler[466] will be becoming in a Volesus or Brutus!
What if we never produce examples so foul and shameful, that worse do not
yet remain behind! When all your wealth was squandered, Damasippus, you
let your voice for hire[467] to the stage,[468] to act the noisy Phasma[469] of
Catullus. Velox Lentulas acted Laureolus, and creditably too. In my
judgment he deserved crucifying in earnest. Nor yet can you acquit the
people themselves from blame. The brows of the people are too hardened
that sit[470] spectators of the buffooneries of the patricians, listen to the
Fabii with naked feet, and laugh at the slaps on the faces of the Mamerci.
What matters it at what price they sell their lives: they sell them at no
tyrant's compulsion,[471] [nor hesitate[472] to do it even at the games of the
prætor seated on high.] Yet imagine the gladiator's sword[473] on one side,
the stage on the other. Which is the better alternative? Has any one so
slavish a dread of death as to become the jealous lover of Thymele,[474] the
colleague of the heavy Corinthus? Yet it is nothing to be wondered at, if the
emperor turn harper, that the nobleman should turn actor. To crown all this,
what is left but the amphitheatre?[475] And this disgrace of the city you have
as well—Gracchus[476] not fighting equipped as a Mirmillo, with buckler or
falchion (for he condemns—yes, condemns and hates such an equipment).
Nor does he conceal his face beneath a helmet. See! he wields a trident.
When he has cast without effect the nets suspended from his poised right
hand, he boldly lifts his uncovered face to the spectators, and, easily to be
recognized, flees across the whole arena. We can not mistake the tunic,[477]
since the ribbon of gold reaches from his neck, and flutters in the breeze
from his high-peaked cap. Therefore the disgrace, which the Secutor had to
submit to, in being forced to fight with Gracchus, was worse than any
wound. Were the people allowed the uncontrolled exercise of their votes,
who could be found so abandoned as to hesitate to prefer Seneca[478] to

Nero? For whose punishment there should have been prepared not a single
ape[479] only, or one snake or sack.[480] "His crime is matched by that of
Orestes!"[481] But it is the motive cause that gives the quality to the act.
Since he, at the instigation of the gods themselves, was the avenger of his
father butchered in his cups. But he neither imbrued his hands in Electra's
blood, or that of his Spartan wife; he mixed no aconite for his relations.
Orestes never sang on the stage; he never wrote "Troïcs." What, blacker
crime was there for Virginius'[482] arms to avenge, or Galba leagued with
Vindex? In all his tyranny, cruel and bloody as it was, what exploit did
Nero[483] achieve? These are the works, these the accomplishments of a
high-born prince—delighting to prostitute[484] his rank by disgraceful
dancing on a foreign stage, and earn the parsley of the Grecian crown.
Array the statues of your ancestors in the trophies of your voice. At
Domitius'[485] feet lay the long train of Thyestes, or Antigone, or
Menalippe's mask, and hang your harp[486] on the colossus of marble.
What could any one find more noble than thy birth, Catiline, or thine,
Cethegus! Yet ye prepared arms to be used by night, and flames for our
houses and temples, as though ye had been the sons of the Braccati,[487] or
descendants of the Senones. Attempting what one would be justified in
punishing by the pitched shirt.[488] But the consul is on the watch[489] and
restrains your bands. He whom you sneer at as a novus[490] homo from
Arpinum, of humble birth, and but lately made a municipal knight at Rome,
disposes every where his armed guards to protect the terrified people, and
exerts himself in every quarter. Therefore the peaceful toga, within the
walls, bestowed on him such honors and renown as not even Octavius bore
away from Leucas[491] or the plains of Thessaly, with sword reeking with
unintermitted slaughter. But Rome owned him for a parent. Rome, when
unfettered,[492] hailed Cicero as father of his father-land.
Another native of Arpinum was wont to ask for his wages when wearied
with another's plow on the Volscian hills. After that, he had the knotted
vine-stick[493] broken about his head, if he lazily fortified the camp with
sluggard axe. Yet he braved the Cimbri, and the greatest perils of the state,
and alone protected the city in her alarm. And therefore when the ravens,
that had never lighted on bigger carcasses,[494] flocked to the slaughtered

heaps of Cimbrians slain, his nobly-born colleague is honored with a laurel
inferior to his.[495]
The souls of the Decii were plebeian, their very names plebeian. Yet these
are deemed by the infernal deities and mother Earth a fair equivalent for the
whole legions, and all the forces of the allies, and all the flower of Latium.
For the Decii[496] were more highly valued by them than all they died to
save!
It was one born from a slave[497] that won the robe and diadem and fasces
of Quirinus, that last of good kings! They that were for loosening the bolts
of the gates betrayed to the exiled tyrants, were the sons of the consul
himself! men from whom we might have looked for some glorious
achievement in behalf of liberty when in peril; some act that Mucius' self,
or Cocles, might admire; and the maiden that swam across[498] the Tiber,
then the limit of our empire. He that divulged to the fathers the secret
treachery was a slave,[499] afterward to be mourned for by all the Roman
matrons: while they suffer the well-earned punishment of the scourge, and
the axe,[500] then first used by Rome since she became republican.
I had rather that Thersites[501] were your sire, provided you resembled
Æacides and could wield the arms of Vulcan, than that Achilles should
beget you to be a match to Thersites.
And yet, however far you go back, however far you trace your name, you
do but derive your descent from the infamous sanctuary.[502] That first of
your ancestors, whoever he was, was either a shepherd, or else—what I
would rather not mention!

FOOTNOTES:

[396] Stemmata. "The lines connecting the descents in a pedigree," from the
garlands of flowers round the Imagines set up in the halls (v., 19) and porticoes
(vi., 163) of the nobiles; which were joined to one another by festoons, so that
the descent from father to son could be readily traced. Cf. Pers., iii., 28.
"Stemmate quod Tusco ramum millesime ducis." Of Ponticus nothing is known.
[397] Vultus. Because these Imagines were simply busts made of wax, colored.
[398] Virgâ.

"What boots it on the lineal tree to trace
Through many a branch the founders of our race." Gifford.

[399] Numantinos. Scipio Africanus the Younger got the name of Numantinus
from Numantia, which he destroyed as well as Carthage.
[400] Ortu.

"Just at the hour when those whose name you boast
Broke up the camp, and march'd th' embattled host." Hodgson.

[401] Fabius, the founder of the Fabian gens, was said to have been a son of
Hercules by Vinduna, daughter of Evander, and by virtue of this descent the
Fabii claimed the exclusive right of ministering at the altar consecrated by
Evander to Hercules. It stood in the Forum Boarium, near the Circus Flaminius,
and was called Ara Maxima. Cf. Ovid, Fast., i., 581, "Constituitque sibi quæ
Maxima dicitur, Aram, Hic ubi pars urbis de bove nomen habet." Cf. Virg., Æn.,
viii., 271, "Hanc aram luco statuit quæ Maxima semper dicetur nobis, et erit quæ
Maxima semper." Quintus Fabius Maximus Æmilianus, the consul in the year
B.C. 121, defeated the Allobroges at the junction of the Isère and the Rhone, and
killed 130,000: for which he received the name of Allobrogicus. Cf. Liv., Ep. 61.
Vell., ii., 16.
[402] Euganea, a district of Northern Italy, on the confines of the Venetian
territory.
[403] Pumice. The pumice found at Catana, now Catania, at the foot of Mount
Ætna, was used to rub the body with to make it smooth (cf. ix., 95, "Inimicus
pumice lævis." Plin., xxxvi., 21. Ovid, A. Am., i., 506, "Nec tua mordaci pumice
crura teras"), after the hairs had been got rid of by the resin. Vid. inf. 114.—
Traducit. Vid. ad xi., 31.
[404] Frangendâ. The busts of great criminals were broken by the common
executioner. Cf. x., 58, "Descendunt statuæ restemque sequuntur." Tac., Ann.,
vi., 2, "Atroces sententiæ dicebantur in effigies." Cf. Ruperti, ad Tac., Ann., ii.,
32. Suet., Domit., 23.

"He blast his wretched kindred with a bust,
For public justice to reduce to dust." Gifford.

[405] Paulus. He mentions (Sat. vii., 143) two lawyers, bearing the names of
Paulus and Cossus, who were apparently no honor to their great names. (For
Cossus, cf. inf. Gætulice.)
[406] Gætulice. Cn. Cornelius Lentulus Cossus received the name of Gætulicus
from his victory over the Gætuli, "Auspice Augusto," in his consulship with L.
Calpurnius Piso Augur. B.C. 1. Vid. Clinton, F. H., in an. Flor., iv., 12.
[407] Silanus. The son-in-law of the Emperor Claudius, who, as Tacitus says
(Ann., xvi., 7), "Claritudine generis, and modestâ juventâ præcellebat." Cf. Ann.,
xii. Suet., Claud., 27.

"Hail from whatever stock you draw your birth,
The son of Cossus, or the son of earth." Gifford.

[408] Osiri invento. Vid. ad vi., 533.
[409] Nanum cujusdam. There is probably an allusion here to Domitian's
fondness for these deformities. Cf. Domit., iv., "Per omne spectaculum ante
pedes ei stabat puerulus coccinatus, parvo portentosoque capite, cum quo
plurimum fabulabatur." Cf. Stat., Sylv., i.; vi., 57, seq.
[410] Scabie.

"That mangy larcenist of casual spoil,
From lamps extinct that licks the fetid oil." Badham.

[411] Creticus. Q. Metellus had this surname from his conquest of Crete, B.C.
67. Vell. Pat., ii., 34. Flor., iii., 7. Cf. ii., 78, "Cretice pelluces." P. Sulpicius
Camerinus was one of the triumvirs sent to Athens for Solon's laws. Cf. vii., 90.
Liv., iii., 33. Camerinus was a name of the Sulpician gens, and seems to have
been derived from the conquest of Cameria in Latium. (Cf. Facciol.) Liv., i., 38.
The name of Creticus was actually given in derision to M. Antonius, father of
the triumvir, for his disastrous failure in Crete. Vid. Plut. in Ant.
[412] Rubellius Blandus was the father, Plautus the son. Both readings are found
here. Of the latter Tacitus says (Ann., xiv., 22), "Omnium ore Rubellius Plautus
celebrabatur, cui nobilitas per matrem ex Julia familiâ." His mother Julia was
daughter of Drusus, the son of Livia, wife of Augustus. Germanicus, his mother's
brother, was father of Agrippina, mother of Nero: hence, inf. 72, "inflatum
plenumque Nerone propinquo." Cf. Virg., Æn., i., 288, "Julius a magno
demissum nomen Julo."
[413] Aggere. Cf. ad vi., 588.
[414] Vivas.

"Long may'st thou taste the secret sweets that spring
In breasts affined to so remote a king." Gifford.

[415] Nobilis indocti.

"Who help the well-born dolt in many a strait,
And plead the cause of the unletter'd great." Badham.

[416] Marmoreum.

"For 'tis no bar to kindred, that thy block
Is form'd of flesh and blood, and theirs of rock." Gifford.

[417] Fervet. "Frequenter celebratur." Lubin. Some commentators interpret it of
the eager clapping of the hands of the spectators: others, of the prize of victory.

"The palm of oft-repeated victories." Hodgson.
"Whom many a well-earned palm and trophy grace." Gifford.
"Whose easy triumph and transcendent speed,
Palm after palm proclaim." Badham.

[418] Nepos, the name of a noted miller at Rome.
[419] Aliquid. "Sometimes great." So i., 74, "Si vis esse aliquis." Hall imitates
this beautifully:

"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."

[420] Nerone. Cf. ad l. 39.
[421] Sensus communis. There are few phrases in Juvenal on which the
commentators are more divided. Some interpret it exactly in the sense of the
English words "common sense." Others, "fellow-feeling, sympathy with
mankind at large." Browne takes it to be "tact." Cf. Hor., i., Sat. iii., 66; Phædr.,
i., Fab. vii., 4. There is a long and excellent note in Gifford, who translates it
himself by "a sense of modesty," but allows that in Cicero it means "a polite
intercourse between man and man;" in Horace, "suavity of manners;" in Seneca,
"a proper regard for the decencies of life:" by others it is used for all these,
which together constitute what we call "courteousness, or good breeding." So
Quintilian, I., ii., 20. Hodgson turns it,

"For plain good sense, first blessing of the sky,
Is rarely met with in a state so high."

Badham,

"In that high estate
Plain common sense is far from common fate."

[422] Stratus humi.

"Stretch'd on the ground, the vine's weak tendrils try
To clasp the elm they dropped from, fail, and die." Gifford.

[423] Summum crede nefas. See some beautiful remarks in Coleridge's
Introduction to the Greek Poets, p. 24, 25.
[424] Pudori.

"At honor's cost a feverish span extend,
And sacrifice for life, life's only end!
Life! I profane the word: can those be said
To live, who merit death? No! they are dead." Gifford.

[425] Gaurana. Gaurus (cf. ix., 57), a mountain of Campania, near Baiæ and the
Lucrine Lake, which was famous for oysters (cf. iv., 141, "Lucrinum ad saxum
Rutupinove edita fundo Ostrea," Plin., iii., 5. Martial, v., Ep. xxxvii., 3, "Concha
Lucrini delicatior stagni"), now called "Gierro."
[426] Cosmus, a celebrated perfumer, mentioned repeatedly by Martial.
[427] Capito. Cossutianus Capito, son-in-law of Tigellinus (cf. i., 155. Tac.,
Ann., xiv., 48; xvi., 17), was accused by the Cilicians of peculation and cruelty
("maculosum fœdumque, et idem jus audaciæ in provincia ratum quod in urbe
exercuerat"), and condemned "lege repetundarum." Tac., Ann., xiii., 33. Thrasea
Pætus was the advocate of the Cilicians, and in revenge for this, when Capito
was restored to his honors by the influence of Tigellinus, he procured the death
of Thrasea. Ann., xvi., 21, 28, 33. Of Numitor nothing is known save that he
plundered these Cilicians, themselves once the most notorious of pirates. Cf.
Plat. in Pomp. Some read Tutor; a Julius Tutor is mentioned repeatedly in the
fourth book of Tac. Hist., but with no allusion to his plundering propensities.
[428] Naulum.

"Nor, though your earthly goods be sunk and lost,
Lose the poor waftage of the wandering ghost." Hodgson.

Cf. iii., 267, "Nec habet quem porrigat ore trientem." Holyday and Ruperti
interpret it, "Do not waste your little remnant in an unprofitable journey to Rome
to accuse your plunderer." Gifford says it is merely the old proverb, and renders
it, "And though you've lost the hatchet, save the haft."
[429] Modo victis. Browne explains this by tantummodo victis, i. e., only
subdued, not plundered; and so Ruperti.

[430] Vivebat. "And ivory taught by Phidias' skill to live." Gifford.
[431] Dolabella. There were three "pirates" of this name, all accused of
extortion; of whom Cicero's son-in-law, the governor of Syria, seems to have
been the worst.
[432] Verres retired from Rome and lived in luxurious and happy retirement
twenty-six years.
[433] Altis, or "deep-laden."
[434] Plures.

"More treasures from our friends in peace obtain'd,
Than from our foes in war were ever gain'd." Gifford.

[435] Pater.

"They drive the father of the herd away,
Making both stallion and his pasture prey." Dryden.

[436] Resinata. Resin dissolved in oil was used to clear the skin of superfluous
hairs. Cf. Plin., xiv., 20, "pudet confiteri maximum jam honorem (resinæ) esse in
evellendis ab virorum corporibus pilis."
[437] Gallicus axis. Cf. Cæs., B. G., i., 51. "The war chariot;" or the "climate of
Gaul," as colder than that of Rome, and breeding fiercer men. Cf. vi., 470.
"Hyperboreum axem," xiv., 42.
[438] Messoribus. These reapers are the Africans, from whom Rome derived her
principal supply of corn. Cf. v., 119. Plin., v., 4.
[439] Circo. Cf. x., 80, "duas tantum res anxius optat, Panem et Circenses." Tac.,
Hist., i., 4, "Plebs sordida ac Circo et Theatris sueta."

"From those thy gripes restrain,
Who with their sweat Rome's luxury maintain,
And send us plenty, while our wanton day
Is lavish'd at the circus or the play." Dryden.

[440] Marius. Vid. ad i., 47.
[441] Discinxerit. Cf. Virg., Æn., viii., 724, "Hic Nomadum genus et discinctos
Mulciber Afros." Sil. Ital., ii., 56, "Discinctos Libyas." Money was carried in
girdles (xiv., 296), and the Africans wore but little other clothing. For the amount
of his plunder, see Plin., ii., Ep. xi., "Cornutus, censuit septingenta millia quæ
acceperat Marius ærario inferenda."
[442] Acersecomes. Some "puer intonsus" with flowing locks like Bacchus or
Apollo. Φοῖβος ἀκερσεκόμης. Hom., Il., xx., 39. Pind., Pyth., iii., 26.
[443] Conjuge. Cf. the discussion in the senate recorded Tac., Ann., iii., 33, seq.

[444] Conventus. "Loca constituta in provinciis juri dicundo." The different
towns in the provinces where the Roman governors held their courts and heard
appeals. The courts as well as the towns were called by this name. They were
also called Fora and Jurisdictiones. Vid. Plin., III., i., 3; V., xxix., 29. Cic. in
Verr., II., v., 11. Cæs., B. G., i., 54; vi., 44.
[445] Celæno. Cf. Virg., Æn., iii., 211, "dira Celæno Harpyiæque aliæ."
[446] Promethea.

"E'en from Prometheus' self thy lineage trace,
And ransack history to adorn thy race." Hodgson.

[447] Frangis virgas.

"Rods broke on our associates' bleeding backs,
And headsmen laboring till they blunt their axe." Dryden.

[448] Incipit ipsorum.

"The lofty pride of every honor'd name
Shall rise to vindicate insulted fame,
And hold the torch to blazon forth thy shame." Hodgson.

[449] Contra te stare.

"Will to his blood oppose your daring claim,
And fire a torch to blaze upon your shame." Gifford.

[450] Temples. The sealing of wills was usually performed in temples; in the
morning, and fasting, as the canon law afterward directed.
[451] Santonico. The Santones were a people of Aquitania, between the Loire
and Garonne. Cf. Mart., xiv., Ep. 128, "Gallia Santonico vestit te bardocucullo."
[452] Sufflamine. "The introduction of the drag-chain has a local propriety:
Rome, with its seven hills, had just so many necessities for the frequent use of
the sufflamen. This necessity, from the change of the soil, exists no longer."
Badham.
[453] Testes. Cf. vi., 311, Lunà teste.
[454] Damasippus (cf. Hor., ii., Sat. iii., 16) was a name of the Licinian gens.
"Damasippus was sick," says Holyday, "of that disease which the Spartans call
horse-feeding."
[455] Hordea. Horses in Italy are fed on barley, not on oats.
[456] Eponam (cf. Aristoph., Nub., 84), the patroness of grooms. Some read
"Hipponam," which Gifford prefers, from the tameness of the epithet "solam."
Cf. Blunt's Vestiges, p. 29.

"On some rank deity, whose filthy face
We suitably o'er stinking stables place." Dryden.

[457] Amomo, an Assyrian shrub. Cf. iv., 108.
[458] Idumeæ. The gate at Rome near the Arch of Titus, through which
Vespasian and Titus entered the city in triumph after their victories in Palestine.
[459] Dominum. Cf. Mart., i., Ep. 113, "Cum te non nossem dominum regemque
vocabam." Cf. iv., Ep. 84, 5.
[460] Inscripta lintea. Perhaps "curtains, having painted on them what was for
sale within." Others say it means "embroidered with needlework;" or "towels,"
according to Calderinus, who compares Catull., xxv., 7.
[461] Armeniæ. The allusion is to Corbulo's exploits in Parthia and Armenia in
Nero's reign, A.D. 60. Cf. ad iii., 251. There were great disturbances in the same
quarters in Trajan's reign, which caused his expedition, in A.D. 114, against the
Armenians and Parthians. In A.D. 100, Marius Priscus was accused by Pliny and
Tacitus. Vid. Plin., ii., Ep. xi. Probably half way between these two dates we
may fix the writing of this Satire.
[462] Mitte Ostia. So most of the commentators interpret it. "Send your Legatus
to take the command of the troops for foreign service, waiting for embarkation at
Ostia." But if so, "ad" should be expressed, and either Tiberina added, or Ostia
made of the 1st declension. Britann., therefore, and Heinrich explain it, "Pass by
his own doors;" omitte quærere illic, "he is far away."
[463] Sandapila. The bier or open coffin, on which the poor, or those killed in
the amphitheatre, were carried to burial; hence "sandapila popularis." Suet.,
Domit., 17. Stepney (in Dryden's version) thus enumerates these worthies:

"Quacks, coffin-makers, fugitives, and sailors,
Rooks, common soldiers, hangmen, thieves, and tailors."

[464] Resupinantis. In Holyday's quaint version,

"Among great Cybel's silent drums, which lack
Their Phrygian priest, who lies drunk on his back."

[465] Ergastula. Private prisons attached to Roman farms, in which the slaves
worked in chains. The Tuscan were peculiarly severe. Vid. Dennis's Etruria, vol.
i., p. xlviii.
[466] Turpia cerdoni. Cf. iv., 13," Nam quod turpe bonis Titio Seioque decebat
Crispinum." Pers., iv., 51, "Tollat sua munera cerdo."

"And crimes that tinge with shame the cobbler's face,
Become the lords of Brutus' honor'd race." Hodgson.

[467] Locasti.

"Lets out his voice (his sole remaining boast),
And rants the nonsense of a clam'rous ghost." Hodgson.

[468] Sipario. The curtain or drop-scene in comedy, as Aulæum was in tragedy.
Donat.
[469] Phasma. Probably a translation from the Greek. Ter., Eun., pr. 9, "Idem
Menandri phasma nunc nuper dedit." Catullus is not to be confounded with C.
Valerius Catullus of Verona (the old Schol. says Q. Lutatius Catullus is meant,
and quotes xiii., 11, whom Lubinus, ad loc., calls "Urbanus Catullus") as far as
the Phasma is concerned.—Laureolus was the chief character in a play or ballet
by Val. Catullus, or Laberius, or Nævius: and was crucified on the stage, and
then torn to pieces by wild beasts. Martial (de Spect., Ep. vii.) says this was
acted to the life in the Roman amphitheatre, the part of the bandit being
performed by a real malefactor, who was crucified and torn to pieces in the
arena, "Non falsâ pendens in cruce Laureolus."

"And Lentulus acts hanging with such art,
Were I a judge, he should not feign the part." Dryden.

[470] Sedet.

"Sit with unblushing front, and calmly see
The hired patrician's low buffoonery;
Smile at the Fabii's tricks, and grin to hear
The cuffs resound from the Mamerci's ear." Gifford.

[471] Cogente Nerone. Cf. Tac., Ann., xiv., 14, who abstains from mentioning
the names of the nobles thus disgraced, out of respect for their ancestors. Cf.
Dio., lxi. Suetonius says (Nero, cap. xii.) that 400 senators and 600 knights were
thus dishonored (but Lipsius says 40 and 60 are the true numbers).
[472] Nec dubitant. No doubt a spurious line.
[473] Gladios. This is the usual interpretation. Perhaps it would be better to take
"gladios" for the death that awaits you if you refuse to comply: as iv., 96; x.,
345. So Badham:

"Place here the tyrant's sword, and there the scene;
Gods! can a Roman hesitate between!"

[474] Thymele. Cf. i., 36.
[475] Ludus. Properly, "school of gladiators."
[476] Gracchus. Cf. ii., 143.
[477] Tunicæ. Cf. ii., 143, tunicati fuscina Gracchi. Suet., Cal., 30. The Retiarii
wore a tunic only. The gold spira was the band that tied the tall conical cap of the
Salii; who wore also a gold fringe round the tunic.

[478] Seneca. There is said to be an allusion here to the plot of Subrius Flavius
to murder Nero and make Seneca emperor. It was believed that Seneca was privy
to it. Tac., Ann., xv., 65.
[479] Simia. Cf. xiii., 155, "Et deducendum corio bovis in mare cum quo
clauditur adversis innoxia simia fatis." The punishment of parricides was to be
scourged, then sewn up in a bull's hide with a serpent, an ape, a cock, and a dog,
and to be thrown into the sea. The first person thus punished was P. Malleolus,
who murdered his mother. Liv., Epit. lxviii.
[480] Culeus. Cf. Suet., Aug., 33. Nero murdered his mother Agrippina, his aunt
Domitia, both his wives, Octavia and Poppæa, his brother Britannicus, and
several other relations.
[481] Agamemnonidæ. Grangæus quotes the Greek verse current in Nero's time,
Νέρων, Ὀρέστης, Ἀλκμαίων μητροκτόνοι. Cf. Suet., Nero, 39.
[482] Virginius Rufus, who was legatus in Lower Germany, Julius Vindex,
proprætor of Gaul, and Sergius Galba, præfect of Hispania Tarraconensis,
afterward emperor, were the chiefs of the last conspiracy against Nero. In
August, A.D. 67, Nero was playing the fool in Greece; in March, 68, he heard
with terror and dismay of the revolt of Vindex, who proclaimed Galba. Dio.,
lxiii., 22.
[483] Quid Nero.

"What but such acts did Rome indignant see
Perform'd in Nero's savage tyranny?" Hodgson.

[484] Prostitui.

"To prostitute his voice for base renown,
And ravish from the Greeks a parsley crown." Gifford.

Nero was in Greece A.D. 67, into which year (though not an Olympiad) he
crowded all the games of Greece, "Certamina omnia et quæ diversissimorum
temporum sunt cogi in unum annum jussit." Suet., Ner., 23. "Romam introiit
coronam capite gerens Olympiam dextrâ manu Pythiam," c. 25.
[485] Domitius was the name both of the father and grandfather of Nero. His
father was Domitius Ahenobarbus, governor of Transalpine Gaul. Suetonius
(Nero, 6) tells us that the two pædagogi to whom his childhood was intrusted
were a saltator and a tonsor. To this perhaps his subsequent tastes may be traced.
[486] Citharam. Cf. Suet., Ner., 12, "Citharæ a judicibus ad se delatam, adoravit
ferrique ad Augusti statuam jussit."

"And on the proud Colossus of your sire,
Suspend the splendid trophy of—a lyre!" Hodgson.

"Sacras coronas in cubiculis circum lectos posuit: item statuas suas Citharædico
habitu: quâ notâ etiam nummum percussit." Suet., Ner., 25.

[487] Braccatorum. Gallia Narbonensis was called Braccata from the Braccæ,
probably "plaid," which the inhabitants wore. Plin., iii., 4. Diod., v., 30. The
Senones were a people of Gallia Lugdunensis, who sacked Rome under
Brennus; hence Minores, i. e., "as though you had been the hereditary enemies of
Rome."
[488] Tunicâ molestâ. Cf. ad i., 155, "a dress smeared with pitch and other
combustibles," and then lighted. Cf. Mart., x., Ep. xxv., 5. In some cases Nero
buried his victims up to the waist, and then set fire to their upper parts.
[489] Vigilat refers to Cicero's own words, "Jam intelliges multo me vigilare
acrius ad salutem, quam te ad pernicem reipublicæ."
[490] Novus. Cicero was the first of the Tullia gens that held a curule magistracy.
Arpinum, his birthplace, now Arpino, was a small town of the Volsci. The
Municipia had their three grades, of patricians, knights, and plebeians, as Rome
had; they lived under their own laws, but their citizens were eligible to all offices
at Rome.
[491] Leucas, i. e., "Actium." Thessaliæ, "Philippi." The words following
probably refer to the brutal cruelty of Augustus after the battle.
[492] Libera. "When Rome could utter her free unfettered sentiments" (as sup.,
"Libera si dentur populo suffragia"). Not in the spirit of servile adulation, with
which she bestowed the same title on her emperors.
[493] Vitem. The centurion's baton of office as well as instrument of punishment.
Cf. xiv., 193; Mart., x., Ep. xxvi., 1. See the story of Lucilius, nicknamed Cedo
alteram, in Tac., Ann., i., 23.
[494] Majora cadavera. Besides their fierce gray eyes (xiii., 164), the Germans
were conspicuous for their stature and red hair. "Truces et cærulei oculi, rutilæ
comæ, magnum corpora et tantum ad impetum valida." Tac., Germ., iv. "Cimbri
præ Italis ingentes." Flor., iii.,3.
[495] Lauro secundâ. A double triumph was decreed to Marius; he gave up the
second to Q. Lutatius Catulus, his noble colleague, to satisfy his soldiers, who
knew, better than Juvenal, that the nobleman's services did not fall short of those
of the plebeian. Marius afterward barbarously murdered him.
[496] Deciorum. Alluding to the three immolations of the Decii, father, son, and
grandson, in the wars with the Latins, Gauls, and Pyrrhus. All three bore the
name of Publius Decius Mus. Juvenal comes very near the formula of self-
devotion given in Liv., viii., 6, seq. "Exercitum Diis Manibus matrique terræ
deberi."
[497] Ancilla natus. Servius Tullius (Cf. vii., 199) was the sen of Ocrisia, or
Ocriculana, a captive from Corniculum. Liv., i., 39. The Trabea was a white robe
with a border and broad stripes (trabes) of purple, worn afterward by consuls
and augurs: cf. x., 35; the diadema of the ancient kings was a fillet or ribbon, not
a crown.

"And he who graced the purple which he wore,
The last good king of Rome, a bondmaid bore." Gifford.

[498] Natavit.

"And she who mock'd the javelins whistling round,
And swam the Tiber, then the empire's bound." Gifford.

[499] Servus. Livy calls him Vindicius; and derives from him the name of the
Vindicta, "the rod of manumission." Liv., ii., 7. He was mourned for at his death
by the Roman matrons publicly, as Brutus had been.
[500] Legum prima securis. Tarquinius Priscus introduced the axe and fasces
with the other regalia. The axe therefore had often fallen for the tyrants; now it
is used for the first time in defense of a legal constitution and a free republic.
[501] Thersites. Hom., Il., ii., 212.
[502] Asylo. Cf. Liv., i., 8.

SATIRE IX.

I should like to know, Nævolus,[503] why you so often meet me with
clouded brow forlorn, like Marsyas after his defeat. What have you to do
with such a face as Ravola had when detected with his Rhodope?[504] We
give a slave a box on the ear, if he licks the pastry. Why! Crepereius
Pollio[505] had not a more woe-begone face than yours; he that went about
ready to pay three times the ordinary interest, and could find none fools
enough to trust him. Where do so many wrinkles come from all of a
sudden? Why, surely before, contented with little, you used to live like a
gentleman's gentleman[506]—a witty boon-companion with your biting jest,
and sharp at repartees that savor of town-life!
Now all is the reverse; your looks are dejected; your tangled hair bristles
like a thicket;[507] there is none of that sleekness over your whole skin, such
as the Bruttian plaster of hot pitch used to give you; but your legs are
neglected and rank with a shrubbery of hair. What means this emaciated
form, like that of some old invalid parched this many a day with quartan
ague and fever that has made his limbs its home? You may detect[508] the
anguish of the mind that lurks in the sickly body—and discover its joys
also. For the face, the index of the mind, takes its complexion from each.
You seem, therefore, to have changed your course of life, and to run counter
to your former habits. For, but lately, as I well remember, you used to haunt
the temple of Isis,[509] and the statue of Ganymede in the temple of Peace,

[510]
and the secret palaces of the imported mother[511] of the gods; ay, and
Ceres too (for what temple is there in which you may not find a woman)—a
more notorious adulterer even than Aufidius, and under the rose, not
confining your attentions to the wives!
"Yes: even this way of life is profitable to many. But I never made it worth
my while: we do occasionally get greasy cloaks, that serve to save our toga,
of coarse texture and indifferent dye, the clumsy workmanship of some
French weaver's lay; or a small piece of silver of inferior metal.[512] The
Fates control the destinies of men: nay, there is fate even in those very parts
which the lap of the toga conceals from view. For if the stars are
unpropitious, your manly powers, remaining unknown, will profit you
nothing, even though the liquorish Virro has seen you stripped, and
seductive billets-doux, closely following each other, are forever assailing
you: for such a fellow as he even entices others to sin. Yet, what monster
can be worse, than one miserly as well as effeminate?"[513] "I gave you so
much, then so much, and then soon after you had more!" He reckons up and
still acts the wanton. "Let us settle our accounts! Send for the slaves with
my account-book! Reckon up five thousand sesterces in all! Then count up
your services!" Are then my duties so light, and so little against the grain?
Far less wretched will be the poor slave that digs the great man's land! But
you, forsooth, thought yourself delicate, and young, and beautiful! fit to be
a cup-bearer in heaven!
Will you ever bestow favors on a humble dependent, or be generous to one
that pays you court, when you grudge even the money you spend on your
unnatural[514] gratifications? See the fellow! to whom you are to send a
present of a green parasol and large amber[515] bowls, as often as his
birthday comes round, or rainy spring begins; or pillowed on his cushioned
sofa, he fingers presents set apart for the female Kalends![516]
Tell me, you sparrow, for whom it is you are keeping so many hills, so
many Apulian[517] farms, so many kites wearied in flying across your
pastures? Your Trifoline estate[518] enriches you with its fruitful vines; and
the hill that looks down[519] on Cumæ, and caverned Gaurus. Who seals up
more[520] casks of wine that will bear long keeping? How great a matter
would it be to present the loins of your client, worn out in your service, with

a few acres? Would yon rustic child, with his mother, and her hovel,[521] and
his playmate cur, more justly become the inheritance of your cymbal-
beating friend? "You are a most importunate beggar!" he says: But Rent
cries out to me "Beg!" My only slave calls on me to beg! loudly as
Polyphemus[522] with his one broad eye, by which the crafty Ulysses made
his escape. I shall be compelled to buy a second, for this one is not enough
for me; both must be fed. What shall I do in mid-winter? When the chill
north wind whistles in December,[523] what shall I say, pray, to my poor
slaves' naked feet and shoulders? "Courage,[524] my boys! and wait for the
grasshoppers?" But however you may dissemble and pass by all other
matters, at how much do you estimate it, that had I not been your devoted
client your wife would still remain a maid? At all events, you know all
about those services, how hard you begged, how much you promised! Often
when your young wife was eloping, I caught her in my embrace. She had
actually torn[525] the marriage contract, and was on the point of signing a
new one. It was with difficulty that I set this matter right by a whole night's
work, while you stood whimpering outside the door. I appeal to the bed as
my witness! nay, to yourself, who heard the noise, and the lady's cries! In
many a house, when the marriage bonds were growing feeble and beginning
to give way, and were almost severed, an adulterer has set all matters right.
However you may shift your ground, whatever services you may reckon
first or last, is it indeed no obligation, ungrateful and perfidious man! is it
none, that you have an infant son or daughter born to you through me? For
you bring them up as yours! and plume yourself on inserting at intervals in
the public registers[526] these evidences of your virility! Hang garlands[527]
on your doors! You are now a father! I have given you what you may cast in
slander's teeth! You have a father's privileges; through me you may inherit a
legacy, yes, the whole sum[528] left to you, not to mention some pleasant
windfall![529] Besides, many other advantages will be added to these
windfalls, if I make the number complete and add a third!"
"Your ground of complaint is just indeed, Nævolus; what does he allege in
answer?"
"He casts me off, and looks out for some other two-legged ass to serve his
turn! But remember that these secrets are intrusted to you alone; keep them
to yourself, therefore, buried in the silence of your own breast; for one of

these pumice-smoothed[530] fellows is a deadly thing if he becomes your
enemy. He that intrusted his secret to me but the other day, now is furious,
and detests me just as though I had divulged all I know. He does not
hesitate to use his dagger, to break my skull with a bludgeon, or place a
firebrand at my doors:[531] and deem it no light or contemptible matter that
to men of his wealth the price of poison is never too costly. Therefore you
must keep my secrets as religiously as the court of Mars at Athens."
"Oh! Corydon,[532] poor simple Corydon! Do you think aught that a rich
man does can be secret? Even though his slaves should hold their tongues,
his cattle will tell the tale; and his dogs, and door-posts, and marble statues!
Close the shutters, cover all the chinks with tapestry, fasten the doors,
remove every light from the chamber,[533] let each one keep his counsel, let
not a soul lie near. Yet what he does at the second cock-crow,[534] the next
tavern-keeper will know before dawn of day; and will hear as well all the
fabrications of his steward, cooks, and carvers.[535] For what charge do they
scruple to concoct against their masters, as often as they revenge
themselves for their strappings[536] by the lies they forge? Nor will there be
wanting one to hunt you out against your will in the public thoroughfares,
and pour his drunken tale into your miserable ears. Therefore ask them what
you just now begged of me! They hold their tongues! Why they would
rather blaze abroad a secret than drink as much Falernian (all the sweeter
because stolen) as Saufeia[537] used to drink, when sacrificing[538] for the
people!
"One should lead an upright life for very many reasons; but especially for
this—that you may be able to despise your servants' tongues. For bad as
your slave may be, his tongue is the worst part about him. Yet far worse still
is he that places himself in the power of those whose body and soul he
keeps together with his own bread and his own money.[539]
"Well, the advice you have just given me to enable me to laugh to scorn my
servants' tongues is very good, but too general. Now, what do you advise in
my particular case, after the loss of my time and the disappointment of my
hopes? For the short-lived bloom[540] and contracted span of a brief and
wretched life is fast fleeting away! While we are drinking,[541] and calling
for garlands, and perfumes, and women, old age steals on us unperceived!

Do not be alarmed! So long as these seven hills stand fast you will never
lack a pathic friend. Those effeminates, who scratch their heads with one
finger,[542] will flock from all quarters to these hills, in carriages and ships.
You have still another and a better hope in store. All you have to do is to
chew eringo vigorously." "Tell this to luckier wights! My Clotho and
Lachesis are well content, if I can earn a subsistence by my vile labors. Oh!
ye small Lares,[543] that call me master, whom I supplicate with a fragment
of frankincense, or meal, and a poor garland, when shall I secure[544] a sum
that may insure my old age against the beggar's mat and crutch? Twenty
thousand sesterces as interest, with good security for the principal; some
small vessels of silver not enchased, but such as Fabricius,[545] if censor,
would condemn; and two sturdy Mœsian slaves,[546] who, bearing me on
their shoulders, might bid me stand without inconvenience in the noisy
circus! Let me have besides an engraver stooping[547] over his work, and
another who may with all speed paint[548] me a row of portraits. This is
quite enough—since poor I ever shall be. A poor, wretched wish indeed!
and yet I have no hope even of this! For when dame Fortune[549] is invoked
for me, she stops her ears with wax fetched from that ship which escaped
the Sirens' songs with its deaf rower."

FOOTNOTES:

[503] Nævolus is mentioned repeatedly by Martial, and seems to have been a
lawyer, i., Ep. 98; iii., Ep. 71 and 95; iv., Ep. 84: hence perhaps the allusion to
Marsyas, whose statue stood in the Forum, opposite the Rostra, as a warning to
the litigious. Cf. Hor., i., Sat. vi., 120. Xen., Anab., I., ii., 8.
[504] Rhodope. Some well-known courtesan named after Æsop's fellow-slave in
the house of Iadmon the Samian, afterward so well known in Egypt. Herod., ii.,
134. Cf. Ælian., V. H., xiii., 33.
[505] Pollio. Cf. xi., 43, "digito mendicat Pollio nudo."
[506] Vernam equitem. The slaves born in the house were generally spoiled by
indulgence; and they frequently got the nickname of Equites, out of petulant
familiarity or fondness.
[507] Sylva.

"And every limb, once smooth'd with nicest care,
Rank with neglect, a shrubbery of hair." Gifford.

[508] Deprendas.

"Sorrow nor joy can be disguised by art,
Our foreheads blab the secrets of our heart." Dryden.

[509] Isis. Cf. vi., 489, "Aut apud Isiacæ potius sacraria lenæ."
[510] Pacis. Vespasian built the splendid temple of Peace near the Forum, A.D.
76. Dio., lxvi., 15. Suet., Vesp. 9. In it, or near it, stood the statue of Ganymede.
Others think that Ganymedes is put for the temple of Jupiter.
[511] Advectæ Matris, i. e., Cybele, called also Parens Idæa, and Numen Idæum,
because her worship was introduced into Rome from Phrygia, A.U.C. 548, after
the Sibylline books had been consulted as to the means of averting certain
prodigies. The rude and shapeless mass which represented the goddess was
lodged in the house of P. Corn. Scipio Nasica, as the most virtuous man in
Rome. Cf. Sat. iii., 137. Liv., xxix., 10. A temple was afterward erected for her
on the Palatine Hill: hence palatia. Secreta alludes to the abominable orgies
performed in her honor.
[512] Venæque secundæ. "Silver adulterated with brass below the standard; in
short, base metal."
[513] Mollis avarus.

"But oh! this wretch, this prodigy behold!
A slave at once to lechery and gold." Dryden.

[514] Morbo. Cf. Hor., i., Sat. vi., 30, "Ut si qui ægrotet quo morbo Barrus."
[515] Succina. Cf. ad vi., 573. The old Schol. explains this by "Gemmata
Dextrocheria." Grangæus thinks that it means "presents of amber," which the
Roman ladies used to rub in their hands. So Badham:

"For whom the cup of amber must be found,
Oft as the birth or festal day comes round."

[516] Fœmineis Kalendis. On the 1st of March were celebrated the Matronalia in
honor of the women who put an end to the Sabine war (bellum dirimente Sabina,
vi., 154). Cf. Ov., Fast., iii., 229. On this festival, as well as their birthdays, the
Roman ladies sat up in state to receive presents from their husbands, lovers, and
acquaintances (vid. Suet., Vesp., 19), in return for what they had given to the
men on the Saturnalia. Cf. Mart., v., Ep. lxxxiv., 10, "Scis certè puto vestra jam
venire Saturnalia Martias Kalendas." Hor., iii., Od. viii., 1, "Martiis cælebs quid
agam Kalendis."
[517] Appula. Cf. iv., 27. Milvos.

"Regions which such a tract of land embrace,
That kites are tired within the unmeasured space." Gifford.

[518] Trifolinus ager. Cf. Mart., xiii., Ep. 114, "Non sum de primo fateor,
Trifolina, Lyæo; inter vina tamen septima vitis ero." Trifoline wines were so
called from being fit to drink at the third appearance of the leaf, "quæ tertio anno
ad bibendum tempestiva forent." Plin., xiv., 6. Facc. takes it from Trifolium, a
mountain in Campania, perhaps near Capua. Plin., iv., 6.
[519] Suspectumque jugum. Either Mons Misenus (cf. Virg., Æn., vi., 234), only
three miles from Cumæ, or Vesuvius, which was famous for its wines. Mart., iv.,
Ep. 44. Virg., Georg., ii., 224. Gaurus, now Monte Barbaro, is full of volcanic
caverns. It is also called "Gierro."
[520] Plura.

"Though none drinks less, yet none more vessels fills!" Dryden.

[521] Casulis. Cf. xi., 153, "notos desiderat hædos."

"Sure yonder female with the child she bred,
The dog their playmate, and their little shed,
Had with more justice been conferr'd on me,
Than on a cymbal-beating debauchee." Gifford.

[522] Polyphemi. For the loudness of his roar, vid. Virg., Æn., iii., 672. The
meaning seems to be, "I am as badly off with but one slave as Polyphemus was
with only one eye: had he had two Ulysses would not have escaped him."
Badham takes it of the slave calling for food.

"My hungry rascal must at home be fed,
Or else, like Polypheme, he'll roar for bread!"

[523] Decembri, used here adjectively.
[524] Durate. A parody on Virg., Æn., i., 207, "Durate, et vosmet rebus servate
secundis." Cf. Suet., Cal., 45.

"Cold! never mind! a month or two, and then
The grasshoppers, my lads, will come again!" Badham.

[525] Ruperat. Cf. Tac., Ann., xi., 30, "At is redderet uxorem, rumperetque
tabulas nuptiales." There was an express clause in the marriage contract,
"liberorum procreandorum gratiâ uxorem duci."
[526] Libris actorum. Cf. Tac., Ann., iii., 3. Sat. ii., 136, "cupient et in acta
referri." These acta were public registers, in which parents were obliged to insert
the names of their children a few days after their birth. They contained, besides,
records of marriages, divorces, deaths, and other occurrences of the year, and
were therefore of great service to historians, who as some think employed
persons to read them up for them. (Cf. acta legenti vii., 104.) Servius Tullius
instituted this custom. The records were kept in the temple of Saturn.

[527] Suspende coronas. This was customary on all festive occasions, as here,
on the birth of a child; at marriages (vi., 51, "Necte coronam postibus, et densos
per limina tende corymbos"), the return of friends (cf. xii., 91, "Longos erexit
janua ramos"), or any public rejoicing (as x., 65, on the death of Sejanus, "Pone
domi lauros"). So, when advocates gained a cause, their clients adorned the
entrance of their houses with palm branches. Cf. vii., 118, "virides scalarum
gloria palmæ." Mart., vii., Ep. xxviii., 6, "excolat et geminas plurima palma
fores."
[528] Legatum omne. One of the provisions of the Lex Papia Poppæa
(introduced, at the desire of Augustus, to extend the Lex Julia de maritandis
ordinibus) was, that if a married person had no child, a tenth, and in some cases
a larger proportion, of what was bequeathed him, should fall to the exchequer.
Cf. vi., 38. It conferred also certain privileges and immunities on those who in
Rome had three children (hence jus trium liberorum) born in wedlock. Cf.
Ruperti and Lips. ad Tac., Ann., iii., 25. Cf. Ann., xv., 19. Mart., ii., Ep. xci., 6;
ix., lxvii.
[529] Caducum, probably a legacy contingent upon the condition of having
children.
[530] Pumice. Cf. viii., 16, "tenerum attritus Catanensi pumice lumbum."
[531] Valvis. Cf. xiii., 145, seq.
[532] Corydon. Cf. Virg., Ecl., ii., 69, "Ah, Corydon, Corydon, quæ te dementia
cepit!" and 56, "Rusticus es, Corydon!"
[533] Claude fenestras.

"Bolt every door, stop every cranny tight,
Close every window, put out every light;
Let not a whisper reach the listening ear,
No noise, no motion—let no soul be near." Gifford.

[534] Gallicinium was the technical name for the second military watch, Vid.
Facc.
[535] Carptores, Grangæus explains by "Escuiers trenchants." Facc. by δαιτρός
and structor.
[536] Baltea.

"For countless scourgings will the rogues be slack
In slanderous villainies to pay thee back?" Badham.

[537] Saufeia, or Laufella, is supposed to be the "conjux Fusci," mentioned xii.,
45, and Mart., iii., Ep. 72; and whose other debaucheries are mentioned vi., 320.
Cicero, knowing the propensity of his countrywomen to wine-bibbing, would
exclude them from officiating at any sacred rites (at which wine was always
used) after nightfall. The festival of the Bona Dea is the only exception he would
make. "Nocturna mulierum sacrificia ne sunto, præter olla quæ pro populo rite
fiant."

[538] Faciens; so operatur, xii., 92. Virg., Ecl., iii., 77, "Cum faciam vitulâ pro
fugibus ipse venito." So Georg., i., 339, "Sacra refer Cereri lætis operatus in
herbis." So in Greek, ῥέζειν is constantly used absolutely.

"For more stolen wine than late Saufeia boused,
When, for the people's welfare, she caroused!" Gifford.

[539] Liber.

"Yet worse than they, the man whose vicious deeds
Makes him still tremble at the rogues he feeds." Badham.

[540] Flosculus. For many exquisite parallel passages to this, see Gifford's note.
[541] Dum bibimus.

"And while thou call'st for garlands, girls, and wine,
Comes stealthy age, and bids thee all resign." Badham.

[542] Digito. Effeminate wretches, who, as Holyday says, like women, are afraid
of touching their heads with more than a finger, for fear of discomposing their
curls. Pompey had this charge brought against him by one Calvus; and cf. Plut.
in Vit., 48. Amm. Marcell., XVII., xi.
[543] Lares, cf. xii., 87. Hor., iii., Od. xxiii., 15, "Parvos coronantem marino
Rore Deos, fragilique myrto." Plin., xi., 2, "Numa instituit deos fruge colere, et
mola salsa supplicare et far torrere."
[544] Figam, a metaphor from hunting.—Tegete, cf. v., 8, "Nusquam pons et
tegetis pars."—Baculo, cf. Ter., Heaut., V., i., 58.
[545] C. Fabricius Luscinus, when censor, removed from the senate P. Cornelius
Rufinus, who had been twice consul and once dictator, for having in his
possession more than ten pounds' weight of plate. Liv., Epit., xiv. He was censor
A.U.C. 478. Cf. xi., 90, seq.
[546] Duo fortes. Persons of moderate fortune rode in their sella gestatoria, a
sedan borne by two persons. The rich had litters or palanquins, called hexaphori,
or octophori, according to the number of the lecticarii. Cf. i., 64. Mœsia, now
Bulgaria and Servia, is said to have been famous for producing these brawny
chairmen.
[547] Curvus. So Lubinus interprets it. "Cum enim laborat se incur vat." Cf.
Virg., Eccl., iii., 42, "curvus arator;" so Art. Am., ii., 670, "Curva senectus." Or
from his assiduity, "qui assiduus in opere est." Madan says, "Curvus means
crooked, that hath turnings and windings; and this latter, in a mental sense,
denotes cunning, which is often used for skillful." Cf. Exod., xxxviii., 23. The
old Schol. explains it by Anaglyptarius, "a carver in low relief."
[548] Pingit. Others read fingit, and interpret it of "plaster casts." It probably
refers to the "line of painted busts" to deck his corridor, perhaps of fictitious
ancestors. Cf. viii., 2, "Pictosque ostendere vultus majorum."

[549] Fortuna.

"For when to Fortune I prefer my prayers,
The obdurate goddess stops at once her ears;
Stops with that wax which saved Ulysses' crew,
When by the Syrens' rocks and songs they flew." Gifford.

SATIRE X.

In all the regions which extend from Gades[550] even to the farthest east and
Ganges, there are but few that can discriminate between real blessings and
those that are widely different, all the mist[551] of error being removed. For
what is there that we either fear or wish for, as reason would direct? What is
there that you enter on under such favorable auspices, that you do not
repent of your undertaking, and the accomplishment of your wish? The too
easy gods have overthrown[552] whole families by granting their owners'
prayers. Our prayers are put up for what will injure us in peace and injure
us in war. To many the copious fluency[553] of speech, and their very
eloquence, is fatal. It was owing to his strength[554] and wondrous muscle,
in which he placed his trust, that the Athlete met his death. But money
heaped up with overwhelming care, and a revenue surpassing all common
patrimonies as much as the whale of Britain[555] exceeds dolphins, causes
more to be strangled. Therefore it was, that in that reign of Terror, and at
Nero's bidding, a whole cohort[556] blockaded Longinus[557] and the
spacious gardens of the over-wealthy Seneca,[558] and laid siege to the
splendid[559] mansion of the Laterani.[560] It is but rarely that the soldier
pays his visit to a garret. Though you are conveying ever so few vessels of
unembossed silver, entering on your journey by night, you will dread the
bandit's knife and bludgeon, and tremble at the shadow of a reed as it
quivers in the moonshine.[561] The traveler with empty[562] pockets will sing
even in the robber's face.
The prayers that are generally the first put up and best known in all the
temples are, that riches,[563] that wealth may increase; that our chest may be
the largest in the whole forum.[564] But no aconite is drunk from
earthenware. It is time to dread it when you quaff jeweled cups,[565] and the
ruddy Setine blazes in the broad gold. And do you not, then, now commend

the fact, that of the two sages,[566] one used to laugh[567] whenever he had
advanced a single step from his threshold; the other, with sentiments
directly contrary, used to weep. But easy enough to any one is the stern
censure of a sneering laugh: the wonder is how the other's eyes could ever
have a sufficient supply of tears.[568] Democritus used to shake his sides
with perpetual laughter, though in the cities of those regions there were no
prætextæ, no trabeæ,[569] no fasces, no litter, no tribunal! What, had he seen
the prætor[570] standing pre-eminent in his lofty car, and raised on high in
the mid dust of the circus, dressed in the tunic of Jove, and wearing on his
shoulders the Tyrian hangings of the embroidered toga; and the circlet of a
ponderous crown,[571] so heavy that no single neck could endure the weight:
[572]
since the official, all in a sweat, supports it, and, that the consul may
not be too elated, the slave rides in the same car. Then, add the bird that
rises from his ivory sceptre: on one side the trumpeters; on the other, the
long train of attendant clients, that march before him, and the Quirites, all in
white togas, walking by his horses' heads; men whose friendship he has
won by the sportula buried deep in his chest. Even in those days he found
subject for ridicule in every place where human beings meet, whose
wisdom proves that men of the highest intellect, men that will furnish noble
examples, may be born in the country of wether-sheep, and in a foggy[573]
atmosphere. He used to laugh at the cares and also the joys of the common
herd; sometimes even at their tears: while he himself would bid Fortune,
when she frowned, "Go hang!" and point at her his finger[574] in scorn!
Superfluous therefore, or else destructive, are all those objects of our
prayers, for which we think it right to cover the knees of the gods with
waxen tablets.[575]
Power, exposed to great envy, hurls some headlong down to ruin. The long
and splendid list of their titles and honors sinks[576] into the dust. Down
come their statues,[577] and are dragged along with ropes: then the very
wheels of the chariot are smashed by the vigorous stroke of the axe, and the
legs of the innocent[578] horses are demolished. Now the fires roar! Now
that head, once worshiped[579] by the mob, glows with the bellows and the
furnace! Great Sejanus crackles! Then from that head, second only in the
whole wide world, are made pitchers, basins, frying-pans,[580] and platters!
"Crown your doors with bays![581] Lead to Jove's Capitol a huge and milk-

white ox! Sejanus is being dragged along by the hook! a glorious sight!"
Every body is delighted. "What lips he had! and what a face! If you believe
me, I never could endure this man!" "But what was the charge under which
he fell! Who was the accuser? what the information laid? By whose witness
did he prove it?" "Nothing of the sort! a wordy and lengthy epistle came
from Capreæ." "That's enough! I ask no farther. But how does the mob of
Remus behave!" "Why, follow Fortune,[582] as mobs always do, and hate
him that is condemned?" That self-same people, had Tuscan Nurscia[583]
smiled propitious on her countryman—had the old age of the emperor been
crushed while he thought all secure—would in that very hour have saluted
Sejanus as Augustus. Long ago they have thrown overboard all anxiety. For
that sovereign people that once gave away military command, consulships,
legions, and every thing, now bridles its desires, and limits its anxious
longings to two things only—bread, and the games of the circus! "I hear
that many are involved in his fall." "No doubt: the little furnace[584] is a
capacious one; I met my friend Brutidius[585] at the altar of Mars looking a
little pale!" "But I greatly fear that Ajax, being baffled,[586] will wreak
fearful vengeance, as having been inadequately defended. Let us rush
headlong; and, while he still lies on the river-bank, trample on Cæsar's foe?
But take care that our slaves witness the act! lest any of them should deny
it, and drag his master to trial with a halter round his neck!" Such were the
conversations then about Sejanus; such the smothered whispers of the
populace? Would you then have the same court paid to you that Sejanus
had? possess as much, bestow on one the highest curule honors, give
another the command of armies,[587] be esteemed the lawful guardian[588] of
the prince that lounged away[589] his days with his herd of Chaldæan
astrologers, in the rock of Capreæ that he made his palace?[590] Would you
have centuries and cohorts, and a picked body of cavalry,[591] and prætorian
bands at your beck? Why should you not covet these? Even those who have
not the will to kill a man would gladly have the power. But what brilliant or
prosperous fortune is of sufficient worth that your measure of evils should
balance your good luck? Would you rather put on the prætexta of him that is
being dragged along, or be the magistrate of Fidenæ or Gabii, and give
sentence about false weights,[592] and break up scanty measures as the
ragged ædile of the deserted Ulubræ?[593]

You acknowledge, therefore, that Sejanus did not know what ought to have
been the object of his wishes. For he that coveted excessive honors, and
prayed for excessive wealth, was but rearing up the multiplied stories of a
tower raised on high, only that the fall might be the deeper,[594] and horrible
the headlong descent of his ruin[595] once accelerated!
What overthrew the Crassi?[596] and Pompey and his sons?[597] and him that
brought Rome's haughty citizens quailing[598] beneath his lash? Surely it
was the post of highest advancement, reached by every possible device, and
prayers for greatness heard by gods who showed their malignity in granting
them! Few kings go down without slaughter and wounds to Ceres' son-in-
law. Few tyrants die a bloodless death!
He that as yet pays court to[599] Minerva, purchased by a single as, that is
followed by his little slave[600] to take charge of his diminutive satchel,
begins to long, and longs through all his quinquatrian[601] holidays, for the
eloquence and the renown of Demosthenes or Cicero. But it was through
their eloquence that both of these orators perished: the copious and
overflowing fount of talent gave over each to destruction; by talent, was his
hand and head cut off! Nor did the Rostra[602] ever reek with the blood of a
contemptible pleader.
"O fortunate Rome, whose natal day may date from me as consul!" He
might have scorned the swords of Antony,[603] had all he uttered been such
trash as this. I had rather write poems that excite only ridicule, than thee,
divine Philippic of distinguished fame! that art unrolled next to the first!
Cruel was the end that carried him off also whom Athens used to admire as
his words flowed from his lips in a torrent[604] of eloquence, and he swayed
at will the passions of the crowded theatre. With adverse gods and
inauspicious fate was he born, whom his father, blear-eyed with the grime
of the glowing mass, sent from the coal, and pincers,[605] and the sword-
forging anvil, and sooty Vulcan,[606] to the rhetorician's school!
The spoils of war, the cuirass fastened to the truncated[607] trophy, the
cheek-piece hanging from the battered helm, the car shorn of its pole, the
streamer of the captured galley,[608] and the sad captive on the triumphal
arch-top,[609] are held to be goods exceeding all human blessings. For these
each general, Roman, or Greek, or Barbarian, strains as his prize! Full

compensation for his dangers and his toils he sees in these! So much greater
is the thirst after fame than virtue. For who would embrace[610] virtue
herself, if you took away the rewards of virtue? And yet, ere now, the glory
of a few has been the ruin of their native land; that longing for renown, and
those inscriptions that are to live on the marble that guards their ashes; and
yet to burst asunder this, the mischievous strength of the barren fig-tree has
power enough. Since even to sepulchres[611] themselves are fates assigned.
Weigh[612] the remains of Hannibal! How many pounds will you find in that
most consummate general! This is the man whom not even Africa, lashed
by the Mauritanian ocean, and stretching even to the steaming Nile, and
then again to the races of the Æthiopes and their tall[613] elephants, can
contain! Spain is annexed to Carthage's domain. He bounds across the
Pyrenees. Nature opposed in vain the Alps with all their snows; he cleaves
the rocks and rives the mountains with vinegar.[614] Now he is lord of Italy!
Yet still he presses on. "Naught is achieved,"[615] he says, "unless we burst
through the gates of Rome with the soldiery of Carthage, and I plant my
standard in the heart of the Suburra!" Oh what a face![616] and worthy what
a picture! when the huge Gætulian beast bore on his back the one-eyed[617]
general! What then was the issue? Oh glory! This self-made man is
conquered, and flees with headlong haste to exile, and there, a great and
much-to-be-admired client, sits at the palace of the king, until his Bithynian
majesty[618] be pleased to wake! To that soul, that once shook the very
world's base, it is not sword, nor stone, nor javelin, that shall give the final
stroke; but, that which atoned for Cannæ, and avenged such mighty
carnage,[619] a ring! Go then, madman, and hurry over the rugged Alps, that
you may be the delight of boys, and furnish subjects for declamations![620]
One[621] world is not enough for the youth of Pella! He chafes within the
narrow limits of the universe, poor soul, as though confined in Gyarus'[622]
small rock, or scanty Seriphös. Yet when he shall have entered the city that
the brickmakers[623] fortified, he will be content with a sarcophagus![624]
Death alone discloses how very small are the puny bodies of men! Men do
believe that Athos was sailed through of yore; and all the bold assertions
that lying Greeks hazard in history—that the sea was bridged over by the
same fleets, and formed into a solid pavement for the transit of wheels. We
believe that deep rivers failed, and streams were drunk dry[625] when the

Persian dined; and all the flights of Sostratus'[626] song, when his wings are
moistened by the god of wine. And yet, in what guise did he return after
quitting Salamis, who, like a true barbarian as he was, used to vent his rage
in scourges on Corus and Eurus, that had never suffered in this sort in
Æolus' prison; and bound in gyves Ennosigæus[627] himself. It was, in fact,
an act of clemency that he did not think he deserved branding[628] also.
Would any of the gods choose to serve[629] such a man as this? But how did
he return? Why, in a single ship; through waves dyed with blood, and with
his galley retarded[630] by the shoals of corpses. Such was the penalty that
glory, for which he had so often prayed, exacted.
"Grant length of life, great Jove, and many years!" This is your only prayer
in health and sickness. But with what unremitting and grievous ills is old
age crowded! First of all, its face is hideous, loathsome, and altered from its
former self; instead of skin a hideous hide and flaccid cheeks; and see! such
wrinkles, as, where Tabraca[631] extends her shady dells, the antiquated
ape[632] scratches on her wizened jowl! There are many points of difference
in the young: this youth is handsomer than that; and he again than a third:
one is far sturdier than another. Old mens faces are all alike—limbs
tottering and voice feeble,[633] a smooth bald pate, and the second childhood
of a driveling nose; the poor wretch must mumble his bread with toothless
gums; so loathsome to his wife, his children, and even to himself, that he
would excite the disgust even of the legacy-hunter Cossus! His palate[634] is
grown dull; his relish for his food and wine[635] no more the same; the joys
of love are long ago forgotten; and in spite of all efforts to reinvigorate
them, all manly energies are hopelessly extinct. Has this depraved and
hoary lechery aught else to hope? Do we not look with just suspicion on the
lust that covets the sin but lacks the power?[636]
Now turn your eyes to the loss of another sense. For what pleasure has he in
a singer, however eminent a harper it may be; nay, even Seleucus himself;
or those whose habit it is to glitter in a cloak of gold?[637] What matters it in
what part of the wide theatre he sits, who can scarcely hear the horn-
blowers, and the general clang of trumpets? You must bawl out loud before
his ear can distinguish who it is his slave says has called, or tells him what
o'clock it is.[638] Besides, the scanty blood that flows in his chill[639] body is
warmed by fever only. Diseases of every kind dance round him in full choir.

If you were to ask their names, I could sooner tell you how many lovers
Hippia had; how many patients Themison[640] killed in one autumn; how
many allies Basilus plundered; how many wards Hirrus defrauded; how
many lovers long Maura received in the day; how many pupils Hamillus
corrupts. I could sooner run through the list of villas owned by him now,
beneath whose razor[641] my stiff beard resounded when I was in my prime.
One is weak in the shoulder; another in the loins; another in the hip.
Another has lost both eyes, and envies the one-eyed. Another's bloodless
lips receive their food from others' fingers. He that was wont to relax his
features to a smile at the sight of his dinner, now only gapes[642] like the
young swallow to whom the parent bird, herself fasting,[643] flies with full
beak. But worse than all debility of limb is that idiocy which recollects
neither the names of his slaves nor the face of the friend with whom he
supped the evening before; not even those whom he begot and brought up!
For by a heartless will he disinherits them; and all his property is made over
to Phiale:[644]—such power has the breath of her artificial mouth, that stood
for hire so many years in the brothel's dungeon.
Even though the powers of intellect retain their vigor, yet he must lead forth
the funerals of his children; must gaze upon the pyre of a beloved wife, and
the urns filled with all that remains of his brother and sisters. This is the
penalty imposed on the long-lived, that they must grow old with the death-
blow in their house forever falling fresh—in oft-recurring sorrow—in
unremitting mourning, and a suit of black.[645] The king of Pylos,[646] if you
put any faith in great Homer, was an instance of life inferior in duration
only to the crow's.[647] Happy, no doubt! was he who for so many years put
off his hour of death; and now begins to count his years on his right hand,
[648]
and has drunk so often of the new-made wine. I pray you, lend me your
ear a little space; and hear how sadly he himself complains of the decrees of
fate, and too great powers of life, when he watches the blazing beard of
Antilochus[649] in his bloom, and asks of every friend that stands near, why
it is he lingers on to this day; what crime he has committed to deserve so
long a life! Such, too, is Peleus' strain, when he mourns for Achilles
prematurely snatched from him: and that other, whose lot it was to grieve
for the shipwrecked[650] Ithacensian.

Priam would have joined the shade of Assaracus with Troy still standing,
with high solemnities, with Hector and his brothers supporting his bier on
their shoulders, amid the weeping Troades, so that Cassandra would lead off
the wail, and Polyxena[651] with mantle rent, had he but died at any time but
that, after that Paris had begun to build his audacious ships. What then did
length of days confer on him? He saw his all o'erthrown: Asia laid low by
flame and sword. Then the poor tottering warrior[652] laid down his diadem
and donned his arms, and fell before the altar of supreme Jove; like some
old ox[653] that yields his attenuated and miserable neck to his owner's
knife, long ago scorned[654] by the ungrateful plow.
That was at all events the death of a human being: but his wife who
survived him barked fiercely from the jaws of a bitch.[655]
I hasten on to our own countrymen, and pass by the king of Pontus, and
Crœsus,[656] whom the eloquent voice of the right-judging Solon bade look
at the closing scene[657] of a life however long. Banishment, and the jail,
and the marshes of Minturnæ,[658] and his bread begged in conquered
Carthage, took their rise from this. What could all nature, what could Rome,
have produced more blessed in the wide world than that citizen, had he
breathed forth his soul[659] glutted with spoils, while the captive train
followed around his chariot, in all the pomp and circumstance of war, when
he was about to alight from his Teutonic[660] car! Campania,[661] in her
foresight for Pompey, had given him a fever he should have prayed for. But
the many cities and their public prayers prevailed. Therefore his own
malignant fortune and that of Rome preserved him only that conquered he
should lose his head. Lentulus[662] escaped this torment; Cethegus paid not
this penalty, but fell unmutilated; and Catiline lay with corpse entire. The
anxious mother, when she visits Venus' temple, prays for beauty for her
boys with subdued whisper;[663] with louder voice for her girls, carrying her
fond wishes[664] even to the verge of trifling. "But why should you chide
me?" she says; "Latona[665] delights in the beauty of Diana." But,
Lucretia[666] forbids a face like hers to be the subject of your prayers:
Virginia would gladly give hers to Rutila, and receive her wen in exchange.
But, a son possessed of exquisite person keeps his parents in a constant
state of misery and alarm. So rare is the union[667] of beauty with chastity.

Though the house, austere in virtue, and emulating the Sabines of old, may
have handed down,[668] like an inheritance, purity of morals, and bounteous
Nature with benignant hand may give, besides, a chaste mind and a face
glowing with modest blood (for what greater boon can Nature bestow on a
youth? Nature, more powerful than any guardian, or any watchful care!),
still they are not allowed to attain to manhood. For the villainy of the
corrupter, prodigal in its guilt, dares to assail with tempting offers the
parents themselves. So great is their confidence in the success of bribes! No
tyrant in his cruel palace ever castrated a youth that was deformed; nor did
even Nero carry off a stripling if club-footed, or disfigured by wens, pot-
bellied, and humpbacked! Go then, and exult in the beauty of your darling
boy! Yet for whom are there greater perils in store? He will become the
adulterer of the city, and dread all the punishments[669] that angry husbands
inflict. Nor will he be more lucky than the star of Mars, even though he
never fall like Mars into the net.[670] But sometimes that bitter wrath exacts
even more than any law permits, to satisfy the husband's rage. One
dispatches the adulterer with the sword; another cuts him in two with
bloody lashes; some have the punishment of the mullet. But your
Endymion, forsooth, will of course become the lover of some lady of his
affections! But soon, when Servilia[671] has bribed him, he will serve her
whom he loves not, and will despoil her of all her ornaments. For what will
any woman refuse, to get her passions gratified? whether she be an Oppia,
or a Catulla. A depraved woman has all her morality[672] concentred there.
"But what harm does beauty do one that is chaste?" Nay, what did his
virtuous resolve avail Hippolytus, or what Bellerophon? Surely she[673]
fired at the rejection of her suit, as though treated with indignity. Nor did
Sthenobæa burn less fiercely than the Cretan; and both lashed themselves
into fury. A woman is then most ruthless, when shame sets sharper
spurs[674] to her hate. Choose what course you think should be
recommended him to whom Cæsar's wife[675] purposes to marry herself.
This most noble and most beautiful of the patrician race is hurried off, poor
wretched man, a sacrifice to the lewd eyes of Messalina. She is long since
seated with her bridal veil all ready: the nuptial bed with Tyrian hangings is
openly prepared in the gardens, and, according to the antique rites, a dowry
of a million sesterces will be given; the soothsayer[676] and the witnesses to
the settlement will be there! Do you suppose these acts are kept secret;

intrusted only to a few? She will not be married otherwise than with all
legal forms. Tell me which alternative you choose. If you refuse to comply,
you must die before nightfall.[677] If you do commit the crime, some brief
delay will be afforded you, until the thing, known to the city and the people,
[678]
shall reach the prince's ears. He will be the last to learn the disgrace of
his house! Do you meanwhile obey her behests, if you set so high a value
on a few days' existence. Whichever you hold the better and the safer
course, that white and beauteous neck must be presented[679] to the sword!
Is there then nothing for which men shall pray? If you will take advice, you
will allow the deities themselves to determine what may be expedient for
us, and suitable to our condition. For instead of pleasant things, the gods
will give us all that is most fitting. Man is dearer to them than to himself.
We, led on by the impulse of our minds, by blind and headstrong passions,
pray for wedlock, and issue by our wives; but it is known to them what our
children will prove; of what character our wife will be! Still, that you may
have somewhat to pray for, and vow to their shrines the entrails and
consecrated mincemeat[680] of the white porker, your prayer must be that
you may have a sound mind in a sound body. Pray for a bold spirit, free
from all dread of death; that reckons the closing scene of life among
Nature's kindly boons;[681] that can endure labor, whatever it be; that deems
the gnawing cares of Hercules,[682] and all his cruel toils, far preferable to
the joys of Venus, rich banquets, and the downy couch of Sardanapalus. I
show thee what thou canst confer upon thyself. The only path that surely
leads to a life of peace lies through virtue. If we have wise foresight, thou,
Fortune, hast no divinity.[683] It is we that make thee a deity, and place thy
throne in heaven![684]

FOOTNOTES:

[550] Gadibus. Gades, now Cadiz, and Ganges were the western and eastern
boundaries of the then known world.
[551] Nebulâ. Cf. Plat., Alcib., ii., τῆς ψυχῆς ἀφελόντα τὴν ἀχλύν; from which
many ideas in this Satire, particularly toward the close, are borrowed.

"As treacherous phantoms in the mist delude,
Shuns fancied ills, or chases, airy good." Johnson's imitation.

[552] Evertere. These are almost Cicero's own words. "Cupiditates non modo
singulos homines sed universas familias evertunt," de Fin., i. Cf. Shakspeare:

"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."

[553] Torrens.

"Some who the depths of eloquence have found,
In that unnavigable stream were drown'd." Dryden.

[554] Viribus. Roscommon, as Gifford says, tells his history in two lines:

"Remember Milo's end,
Wedged in the timber which he strove to rend."

Cf. Ovid, Ib., 609, "Utque Milon robur diducere fissile tentes, nec possis captas
inde referre manus."
[555] Balæna Britannica. Cf. Hor., iv., Od. xiv., 47, "Te belluosus qui remotis
obstrepit Oceanus Britannis." There is probably an allusion here to the large
sums which Seneca had out at interest in Britain, where his rigor in exacting his
demands occasioned a rebellion.
[556] Tota cohors. "Illo propinquâ vesperâ, tribunus venit, et villam globus
militum sepsit." Tac., Ann., xv., 60.
[557] Longinum. Cassius Longinus was charged with keeping among his
Imagines one of Cassius, Cæsar's murderer; and allowed an hour to die in. Suet.,
Ner., 37.
[558] Seneca. Rufus and Tigellinus charged Seneca "tanquam ingentes et
privatum suprà modum evectas opes adhuc augeret—hortorum quoque
amænitate et villarum magnificentiâ quasi Principem supergrederetur;" and
Seneca himself, in his speech to Nero, says, "Tantum honorum atque opûm in
me cumulâsti, ut nihil felicitati meæ desit." Tacit., Ann., xiv., 52, seq.
[559] Puri. Cf. ix., 141.
[560] Lateranorum. Vid. Tac., Ann., xv., 60, for the death of Plautius Lateranus.
His house was on the Cœlian Hill, on the site of the modern Lateran.
[561] Motæ ad Lunam. Cf. Hor., i., Od. xxiii., 3, "Non sine vano aurarum et
siluæ metu." Stat., Theb., vi., 158," Impulsæque noto frondes cassusque valeret
exanimare timor." Claud., Eutrop., ii., 452, "Ecce levis frondes a tergo concutit
aura: credit tela Leo: valuit pro vulnere terror."
[562] Vacuus. Cf. Ov., Nux., 43, "Sic timet insidias qui scit se ferre viator cur
timeat, tutum carpit inanis iter." Sen., Lucil., "Nudum Latro transmittit."

"While void of care the beggar trips along,
And, in the spoiler's presence, trolls his song." Gifford.

[563] Divitiæ. Vid. Cic., "Expetuntur Divitiæ ut utare; Opes ut colaris: Honores
ut lauderis." De Amicit., vi.
[564] Foro. The public treasure was in the temple of Saturn. Private individuals
had their money in strong boxes deposited in the Forum Trajani, or Forum
Augusti; in the temple of Mars "Ultor" originally; afterward in the temple of
Castor and others, probably of Pax. Cf. xiv., 259, "Æratâ multus in arcâ fiscus, et
ad vigilem ponendi Cartora nummi." Cf. Suet., Jul., x. Pliny the Younger was
once præfectus ærarii Saturni.
[565] Gemmata. Cf. v., 39, 41.—Setinum, v., 34.

"Fear the gemm'd goblet, and suspicious hold
The ruby juice that glows in cups of gold." Badham.

[566] De Sapientibus. Democritus of Abdera, and Heracleitus of Ephesus.
[567] Ridebat. Cf. Hor., ii., Ep. i., 194, "Si foret in terris rideret Democritus."
δεῖσθαι μοι δοκεῖ Ἡρακλείτου ἢ Δημοκρίτου, τοῦ μὲν γελασομένου τὴν ἄνοιαν
αὐτῶν, τοῦ δὲ τὴν ἄγνοιαν ὀδυρομένου. Luc., βι. πρ., 13, τὸν γελῶντα, τὸν
Ἀβδηρόθεν καὶ τὸν κλαίοντα τὸν ἐξ Ἐφέσου.
[568]

"The marvel this, since all the world can sneer,
What fountains fed the ever-needed tear." Badham.

[569] Trabeæ. Cf. ad viii., 259.
[570] Prætor. Juvenal has mixed up together the procession of the prætor to open
the Circensian games, and a triumphal procession. The latter proceeded through
the principal streets to the Capitol. The former, from the Capitol to the centre of
the circus. The triumphal car was in the shape of a turret, gilded, and drawn by
four white horses: it often occurs on coins. The tunica palmata, worn by generals
in their triumph, was kept in the temple of Jupiter. The toga picta was purple,
and so heavily embroidered that it may well be compared to a brocaded curtain.
Tyre was anciently called Sarra, which may be traced in its modern name Sur.

"His robe a ponderous curtain of brocade,
Inwrought and stiff by Tyrian needles' aid." Badham.

[571] Orbem. Probably an allusion to Atlas.
[572] Sufficit.

"And would have crush'd it with the massy freight,
But that a sweating slave sustain'd the weight." Dryden.

Probably the crown was not worn, but merely held by the slave at his side.

"The menial destined in his car to ride,
And cool the swelling consul's feverish pride." Hodgson.

[573] Crasso. "Bœotum in crasso jurares ære natum." Hor., ii., Ep. i., 244.
Bœotia was called the land of hogs, which so much annoyed Pindar. Vid. Ol., vi.,
152. Abdera seems to have had as bad a name. Cf. Mart., x., Ep. xxv., 3,
"Abderitanæ pectora plebis habes."
[574] Medium unguem. Hence called "Infamis digitus." Pers., ii., 33. Cf. Mart.,
ii., Ep. xxviii., 2, "digitum porrigito medium." VI., Ep. lxx., 5, "Ostendit digitum
impudicum."
[575] Incerare. They used to fasten their vows, written on wax tablets, to the
knees or thighs of the gods. When their wishes were granted, these were
replaced by the offerings they had vowed. Cf. Hom., Il., p., 514, θεῶν ἐν
γούνασι κεῖται.
[576] Mergit. Cf. Sil., viii., 285; or mergit may be used actively, as xiii., 8. Lucr.,
v., 1006. Virg., Æn., vi., 512.
[577] Statuæ. Cf. ad viii., 18. Tac., Ann., vi., 2. Plin., Pan., 52, "Juvabat illidere
solo superbissimos vultus, instare ferro, sævire securibus, ut si singulos ictus
sanguis dolorque sequeretur"—"instar ultionis videretur cernere imagines
abjectas excoctasque flammis."
[578] Immeritis.

"The driven axe destroys the conquering car,
And unoffending steeds the ruin share." Hodgson.

[579] Adoratum. Cf. Tac., Ann., iii., 72; iv., 2, "Coli per theatra et fora effigies
ejus sineret." Vid. Suet., Tib., lv., 48, "Solæ nullam Sejani imaginem inter signa
coluissent." 65, "Sejani imagines aureas coli passim videret."
[580] Sartago.

"And from the stride of those colossal legs
You buy the useful pan that fries your eggs." Badham.

Dryden reads "matellæ."
[581] Pone domi lauros. Cf. ad ix., 85.
[582] Sequitur Fortunam.

"When the king's trump, the mob are for the king." Dryden.

[583] Nurscia, Nyrtia, Nortia, or Nurtia, the Etruscan goddess of Fortune, nearly
identical with Atropos, and cognate with Minerva. The old Schol. says, "Fortuna
apud Nyrtiam colitur unde fuit Sejanus." But Tacitus tells us (Ann., iv., l; vi., 8)
that Sejanus was a native of Volsinii, now Bolsena. Outside the Florence gate of
Bolsena stands the ruin of a temple still called Tempio di Norzia. Cf. Liv., vii., 3;
Tertull., Apoll., 24, ad Nat., ii., 8; Müller's Etrusker, IV., vii., 6; Dennis's Etruria,
i., p. 258, 509.
[584] Fornacula. "A fire so fierce for one was scarcely made." Gifford.
[585] Brutidius. Tacitus speaks thus of him: "Brutidium artibus honestis
copiosum et, si rectum iter pergeret, ad clarissima quæque iturum festinatio
exstimulabat, dum æquales, dein superiores, postremo suasmet ipse spes anteire
parat." Ann., iii., 66. He had been one of the accusers of Silanus, and was
involved in Sejanus' fall. "Magna est fornacula" is well borne out by Tacitus'
account. "Cunctos qui carcere attinebantur, accusati societatis cum Sejano,
necari jubet. Jacuit immensa strages; omnis sexus omnis ætas: inlustres
ignobiles—corpora adsectabantur dum in Tiberim traherentur." Ann., vi., 19.
[586] Victus. Fierce as Ajax, when worsted in the contest for the arms of
Achilles.
[587] Exercitibus præponere. Vid. Tac., Ann., iv., 2, "Centuriones ac Tribunos
ipse deligere: neque senatorio ambitu abstinebat clientes suos honoribus aut
provinciis ornando, facili Tiberio atque ita prono ut socium laborum celebraret."
[588] Tutor.

"Arraign
Thy feeble sovereign in a guardian's strain,
Who sits amid his foul Chaldæan herd
In that august domain to Rome preferr'd." Badham.

[589] Sedentis. Cf. Suet., Tib., 43; Tac., Ann., vi., 1. Grangæus supposes this
word to have reference to the Sellaria there described. It probably only refers to
his luxury and indolence. Tiberius was with Augustus when he visited Capreæ
shortly before his death: "remisissimo ad otium et ad omnem comitatem animo.
Vicinam Capreis insulam ἀπραγοπόλιν appellabat à desidiâ secedentium illuc e
comitatu suo." Cf. c. 40. Tac., Ann., iv., 67.
[590] Augusta. The old reading was angustâ. The alteration of a single letter
converts a forceless expletive into an epithet full of picturesque and historic
truth.
[591] Egregios equites. The flower of the Roman army, the prætorian troops, of
which Sejanus was præfect.
[592] Vasa minora.

"To pound false weights and scanty measures break." Dryden.

[593] Ulubris. Cf. Hor., i., Ep. xi., 30, "Est Ulubris, animus si non tibi deficit
æquus." Another joke at the expense of the plebeian ædiles (cf. iii., 162), who
had the charge of inspecting weights and measures, markets and provisions,
roads, theatres, etc. These functionaries still exist (as Gifford says), "as ragged
and consequential" as ever, in the Italian villages, retaining their old name of
Podestà.

"Deal out the law, and curb with high decree
The tricks of trade at empty Ulubræ." Hodgson.

[594] Altior. The idea is probably borrowed from Menander, ἐπαίρεται γάρ
μεῖζον, ἵνα μεῖζον πέσῃ. So hence Horace, ii., Od. x., 10, "Celsæ graviore casu
decidunt turres." So Claudian in Rufin., i., 22, "Tolluntur in altum ut lapsu
graviore ruant;" and Shakspeare, "Raised up on high to be hurl'd down below."
[595] Ruinæ. So Milton.

"With hideous ruin and combustion down." C. Badham.

[596] Crassos. M. Licinius Crassus and his son Publius; both killed in the
Parthian war.
[597] Pompeios. Cn. Pompeius Magnus, and his two sons, Cnæus and Sextus.
[598] Domitos.

"The stubborn pride of Roman nobles broke,
And bent their haughty necks beneath his yoke." Dryd.

[599] Colit. Ov., Fast., iii., 816, "Qui benè placârit Pallada doctus erit."
[600] Vernula. This slave was called Capsarius. Suet., Ner., 36. Cf. ad vi., 451.
[601] Quinquatribus. Cf. Hor., ii., Ep. ii., 197, "Puer ut festis quinquatribus
olim." This festival originally lasted only one day; and was celebrated xiv. Kal.
April. It was so called "quia post diem quintum Idus Martias ageretur." So "post
diem sextum" was called Sexatrus; and "post diem septimum," Septimatrus.
Varro, L. L., v., 3. It was afterward extended to five days; hence the "vulgus"
supposed that to have been the origin of the name; and so Ovid takes it,
"Nominaque a junctis quinque diebus habet," Fast., iii., 809; who says it was
kept in honor of Minerva's natal day, "Causa quod est illâ nata Minerva die," l.
812. (Others say, because on that day her temple on Mount Aventine was
consecrated.) Domitian kept the festival in great state at his Alban villa. Suet.,
Domit., iv. Cicero has a punning allusion to it. Vid. Fam., xii., 25. These five
days were the schoolmasters' holidays; and on the first they received their pay, or
entrance fee, διδακτρὰ, hence called Minerval; though Horace seems to imply
they were paid every month, "Octonis referentes Idibus æra." I., Sat. vi., 75. The
lesser Quinquatrus were on the Ides of June. Ov., Fast., vi., 651, "Quinquatrus
jubeor narrare minores," called also Quinquatrus Minusculæ.
[602] Rostra. Popilius Lenas, who cut off Cicero's head and hands, carried them
to Antony, who rewarded him with a civic crown and a large sum of money, and

ordered the head to be fixed between the hands to the Rostra. (For the name, vid.
Liv., viii., 14.)
[603] Antonî gladios. Quoting Cicero's own words, "Contempsi Catilinæ
gladios, non pertimescam tuos." Phil., ii., 46.

"For me, the sorriest rhymes I'd rather claim,
Than bear the brunt of that Philippic's fame,
The second! the divine!" Badham.

[604] Torrentem. So i., 9, "Torrens dicendi copia;" iii., 74, "Isæo torrentior." At
the approach of Antipater, Demosthenes fled from Athens, and took refuge in the
temple of Poseidon at Calaureia, near Argolis; and fearing to fall into the hands
of Archias, took poison, which he carried about with him in a reed, or, as Pliny
says, in a ring, xxxiii., 1.
[605] Forcipibus. Cf. Virg., Æn., viii., 453, "Versantque tenaci forcipe massam."
Juvenal seems to have had the whole passage in his eye.
[606] Vulcano. Demosthenes' father was a μαχαιροποιός: in which capacity he
employed a large number of slaves, ἐργαστήριον ἔχων μέγα καὶ δούλους
τεχνίτας. But as he could not afford to place his son under the costly Isocrates,
he sent him to Isæus.
[607] Truncis. Virg., Æn., xi., 5.

Ingentem quercum decisis undique ramis
Constituit tumulo, fulgentiaque induit arma,
Mezenti ducis exuvias, tibi magne tropæum
Bellipotens: aptat rorantes sanguine cristas
Telaque trunca viri.

[608] Aplustre, the ἄφλαστον of the Greeks was the high peak of the galley, from
which rose the ensign.
[609] Arcu. Cf. Suet., Domit., 13, "Janos arcusque cum quadrigis et insignibus
triumphorum per regiones urbis tantos et tot exstruxit, ut cuidam Græcè
inscriptum sit, ἀρκεῖ—." Some think there is an allusion here to the column of
Trajan, erected in honor of his Dacian victories. This would bring down the date
of this Satire to after A.D. 113.
[610] Amplectitur.

"That none confess fair Virtue's genuine power,
Or woo her to their breast without a dower." Gifford.

[611] Sepulchris; from Propertius, III., ii., 19, seq. So Ausonius, "Mors etiam
saxis, nominibusque venit."

"For fate hath foreordain'd its day of doom,
Not to the tenant only, but the tomb." Badham.

[612] Expende.

"How are the mighty changed to dust! how small
The urn that holds what once was Hannibal!" Hodgson.

[613] Altos; others read alios; referring to the elephants of Africa as well as Asia.
"Elephantos fert Africa, ferunt Æthiopes et Troglodytæ: sed maximos India."
Plin., viii., 11.
[614] Aceto. Vid. Liv., xxi., 37. Polybius omits the story as fabulous. There
appears, now, no reason to doubt the fact.
[615] Actum. "Nil actum referens si quid superesset agendum."

"Peace courts his hand, but spreads her charms in vain;
'Think nothing gain'd,' he cries, 'till naught remain;
On Moscow's walls till Gothic standards fly,
And all be mine beneath the Polar sky.'" Johnson.

[616] Facies.

"Oh! for some master-hand, the lines to trace!" Gifford.

[617] Luscum. Hannibal lost one eye, while crossing the marshes, in making his
way to Etruria: "quia medendi nec locus nec tempus erat altero oculo capitur;"
he rode, Livy tells us, on his sole surviving elephant, xxii., 2.
[618] Bithyno. When accused by the Romans at Carthage, Hannibal fled to
Antiochus, king of Syria, and thence to the court of Prusias, king of Bithynia, for
whom he carried on successfully the war against Eumenes. But when Flaminius
was sent to demand his surrender, he destroyed himself with poison, which he
always carried in a ring.
[619] Sanguinis. Forty-five thousand dead were left on the field of Cannæ, with
the Consul Æmilius Paulus, eighty senators, and very many others of high rank.
[620] Declamatio. Cf. vii., 167, "Sexta quâque die miserum dirus caput Hannibal
implet." So I. 150, and i., 15.

"Go, climb the rugged Alps, ambitious fool!
To please the boys, and be a theme at school." Dryden.

[621] Unus. "Heu me miserum! quod ne uno quidem adhuc potitus sum!" is the
exclamation put into Alexander's mouth by Val. Max., viii., 14.
[622] Gyaris. Cf. i., 73; vi., 563.

[623] Figulis. Cf. Herod., i., 78. Ov., Met., iv., 27, "Ubi dicitur altam Coctilibus
muris cinxisse Semiramis urbem."
[624] Sarcophago. A stone was found at Assos, near Troy, which was said to
possess the property of consuming the flesh of bodies inclosed in it within the
space of forty days, hence called σαρκοφάγος. Plin., ii., 96; xxxvi., 17. Cf.
Henry's speech to Hotspur's body:

"Ill-weaved 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."

So Hall:

"Fond fool! six feet shall serve for all thy store,
And he that cares for most shall find no more."

And Shirley:

"How little room do we take up in death,
That, living, knew no bounds!"

And Webster's Duchess of Malfy:

"Much you had of land and rent;
Your length in clays's now competent."

So K. Henry VI.:

"And of all my lands
Is nothing left me but my body's length."

And Dryden's Antony:

"The place thou pressest on thy mother Earth
Is all thy empire now."

Cf. Æsch., S. Theb., 731. Soph., Œd. Col., 789. Shakspeare's Richard II., Act iii.,
sc. 2.
[625] Epota. Herodotus mentions the Scamander, Onochnous, Apidanus, and
Echedorus.

"Rivers, whose depth no sharp beholder sees,
Drunk at an army's dinner to the lees!" Dryden.

[626] Sostratus. Of this poet nothing is known.—Madidis, probably in the same
sense as in Sat. xv., 47, "Facilis victoria de madidis." Sil., xii., 18, "Madefacta
mero."
[627] Ennosigæum. ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐνόθειν τὴν γαῖαν. Cf. Hom., Il., vii., 455. Æolis is
an allusion to Virgil, Æn., i., 51, "Vinclis ac carcere frænat," etc.
[628] Stigmate. Herod., vii., 35.

"That shackles o'er th' earth-shaking Neptune threw,
And thought it lenient not to brand him too." Gifford.

[629] Servire Deorum. As Apollo served Admetus; Neptune, Laomedon, etc.

"Ye gods! obeyed ye such a fool as this?" Hodgson.

[630] Tardâ. Perhaps alluding to Her., viii., 118.

"A single skiff to speed his flight remains,
Th' encumbered oar scarce leaves the dreaded coast
Through purple billows and a floating host!" Johnson.

[631] Tabraca, on the coast of Tunis, now Tabarca.
[632] Simia. So Ennius, in Cic., Nat. De., i., 35, "Simia, quam similis turpissima
bestia nobis!"

"A stick-fallen cheek! that hangs below the jaw,
Such wrinkles as a skillful hand would draw
For an old grandam ape, when, with a grace,
She sits at squat, and scrubs her leathern face." Dryden.

[633] Cum voce trementia membra. Compare Hamlet's speech to Polonius, and
As you like it, Act ii., 7:

"His big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in its sound."
"The self-same palsy both in limbs and tongue." Dryden.

[634] Palato. Compare Barzillai's speech to David, 2 Sam., xix., 35, "I am this
day fourscore years old; and can I discern between good or evil? can thy servant
taste what I eat and what I drink? can I hear any more the voice of singing men
and singing women?"

[635] Vini.

"Now pall the tasteless meats, and joyless wines,
And Luxury with sighs her slave resigns." Johnson.

[636] Viribus. Shakspeare, King Henry IV., Part ii., Act ii., sc. 4, "Is it not
strange that desire should so many years outlive performance?"
[637] Auratâ. Cic. ad Heren., iv., 47, "Uti citharædus cum prodierit optimè
vestitus, pallâ inauratâ indutus, cum chlamyde purpureâ coloribus variis intextâ,
cum coronâ aureâ, magnis fulgentibus gemmis illuminatâ." Horace, A. P., 215,
"Luxuriem addidi arti Tibicen, traxitque vagus per pulpita vestem."
[638] Nuntiet horas. Slaves were employed to watch the dials in the houses of
those who had them, and report the hour: those who had no dial sent to the
Forum. Cf. Mart., viii., 67. Suet., Domit., xvi., "Sexta nuntiata est."
[639] Gelido. Virg., Æn., v., 395, "Sed enim gelidus tardante senectâ Sanguis
hebet, frigentque effœtæ in corpora vires."
[640] Themison of Laodicea in Syria, pupil of Asclepiades, was an eminent
physician of the time of Pompey the Great, and is said to have been the founder
of the "Methodic" school, as opposed to the "Empiric." Vid. Cels., Præf. Plin., N.
H., xxix., 15. Others say he lived in Augustus' time, and Hodgson thinks he may
have lived even to Juvenal's days. Cicero (de Orat., i., 14) mentions an
Asclepiades; and the names of at least three others are mentioned in later times.
[641] Quo tondente. Cf. i., 35.
[642] Hiat. Cf. Lucian, Tim., ἐμὲ περιμένουσι κεχηνότες ὥσπερ τὴν χελιδόνα
προσπετομένην τετριγότες οἰ νεοσσοί. P. 72, E., ed. Bened.
[643] Jejuna, from Hom., Il., ix., 323, ὡς δ' ὄρνις ἀπτῆσι νεοσσοῖσι προφέρῃσι
μάστακ', ἐπεί κε λάβῃσι, κακῶς δέ τέ οἱ πέλει αὐτῇ.
[644] Phialen.

"Forgets the children he begot and bred,
And makes a strumpet heiress in their stead." Gifford.

[645] Nigrâ. "And liveries of black for length of years." Dryden.
[646] Pylius. Hom., Il., i., 250, μετὰ δὲ τριτάτοισιν ἄνασσεν. So Odyss., iii., 245,
τρὶς γάρ δή μίν φασιν ἀνάξασθαι γένε' ἀνδρῶν.
[647] Cornice.

"Next to the raven's age, the Pylian king
Was longest-lived of any two-legged thing." Dryden.

[648] Dextra. This the Greeks express by ἀναπεμπάζεσθαι. They counted on the
left hand as far as a hundred, then on the right up to two hundred, and then again
on the left for the third hundred. Holyday has a most elaborate explanation of the
method.

[649] Antilochi. Cf. Hor., II., Od. ix., 14.
[650] Natantem. Cf. Hom., Od., v., 388, 399.

"So Peleus sigh'd to join his hero lost—
Laertes his on boundless billows toss'd." Hodgson.

[651] Polyxena, from Eurip., Hec., 556, λαβοῦσα πέπλους ἐξ ἄκρας ἐπωμίδος
ἔῤῥηξε.
[652] Miles tremulus. Virg., Æn., ii., 509, "Arma diu senior desueta trementibus
ævo circumdat," etc.

"A soldier half, and half a sacrifice." Dryden.

[653] Bos. Virg., Æn., v., 481, "Sternitur, exanimisque tremens procumbit humi
bos."
[654] Fastiditus.

"Disdain'd its labors, and forgotten now
All its old service at the thankless plow." Hodgson.

[655] Canino. See the close of Eurip., Hecuba. The Greeks fabled that Hecuba
was metamorphosed into a bitch, from her constant railing at them. Hence κυνὸς
σῆμα. Cf. Plaut., Menœchm., v. i.
[656] Crœsus. Cf. Herod., i., 32.
[657] Spatia, a metaphor from the "course." So Virgil has metæ ævi, metæ
mortis.
[658] Minturnarum, a town of the Aurunci near the mouth of the Liris, now
Garigliano. In the marshes in the neighborhood Marius concealed himself from
the cavalry of Sylla.
[659] Animam.

"Had he exhaled amid the pomp of war,
A warrior's soul in that Teutonic car." Badham.

[660] Teutonico, i. e., after his triumph over the Cimbri and Teutones. Cf. viii.,
251.
[661] Campania. Cf. Cic., Tus. Qu., i., 35, "Pompeius noster familiaris, cum
graviter ægrotaret Neapoli, utrum si tum esset extinctus, à bonis rebus, an à
malis discessisset? certè a miseriis, si mortem tum obiisset, in amplissimis
fortunis occidisset." Achillas and L. Septimius murdered Pompey and cut off his
head; which ἐφύλασσον Καίσαρι, ὡς ἐπὶ μεγίσταις ἀμοιβαῖς. Appian, B.C., ii.,
86
[662] P. Corn. Lentulus Sura, was strangled in prison with Cethegus. Catiline
fell in battle, near Pistoria in Etruria.

[663] Murmure. Venus was worshiped under the name of ἀφροδίτη ψίθυρος,
because all prayers were to be offered in whispers.
[664] Delicias. This is Heinrich's view. Grangæus explains it, "Ut pro ipsis vota
deliciarum plena concipiat." Britannicus, "quasi diceret, optat ut tam formosa sit,
ut eam juvenes in suos amplexus optent."
[665] Latona. Hom., Od. vi., 106, γέγηθε δέ τε φρένα Λήτω. Virg., Æn., i., 502,
Latonæ tacitum pertentant gaudia pectus.
[666] Lucretia.

"Yet Vane could tell what ills from beauty spring,
And Sedley cursed the form that pleased a king!" Johnson.

[667] Concordia. Ov., Heroid, xvi., 288, "Lis est cum forma magna pudicitiæ."

"Chaste—is no epithet to suit with fair." Dryden.

[668] Tradiderit.

"Though through the rugged house, from sire to son,
A Sabine sanctity of manners run." Gifford.

[669] Pœnas metuet. The punishment of adulterers seems to have been left to the
discretion of the injured husband rather than to have been defined by law.
[670] Laqueos. Ov., Met., iv., 176, "Extemplo graciles ex ære catenas, Retiaque
et laqueos quæ lumina fallere possint, elimat." Art. Am., ii., 561, seq. Hom.,
Odyss., viii., 266.
[671] Servilia; i. e., some one as rich and debauched as Servilia, sister of Cato
and mother of Brutus, with whom Cæsar intrigued, and lavished immense
wealth on her. Vid. Suet, Jul., 50. Her sister, the wife of Lucullus, was equally
depraved.
[672] Mores.

"In all things else, immoral, stingy, mean,
But in her lusts a conscionable quean." Dryden.

[673] Hæc, sc. Phædra, daughter of Minos, king of Crete.
[674] Stimulos.

"A woman scorn'd is pitiless as fate,
For then the dread of shame adds stings to hate." Gifford.

[675] Cæsaris uxor. The story is told in Tacitus, Ann., xi., 12, seq. "In Silium,
juventutis Romanæ pulcherrimum ita exarserat, ut Juniam Silanam nobilem
fœminam, matrimonio ejus exturbaret vacuoque adultero potiretur. Neque Silius

flagitii aut periculi nescius erat: sed certo si abnueret exitio et nonnullâ fallendi
spe, simul magnis præmiis, opperiri futura, et præsentibus frui, pro solatio
habebat." This happened A.D. 48, in the autumn, while Claudius was at Ostia. It
was with great difficulty, after all, that Narcissus prevailed on Claudius to order
Messalina's execution, cf. xiv., 331; Tac., Ann., xi., 37; and she was put to death
at last without his knowledge.
[676] Auspex. Suet., Claud. "Cum comperisset [Valeriam Messalinam] super
cætera flagitia atque dedecora, C. Silio etiam nupsisse, dote inter auspices
consignatâ, supplicio affecit." C. 26; cf. 36, 39.
[677] Lucernas. "Before the evening lamps 'tis thine to die." Badham.
[678] Nota urbi et populo. Juvenal uses almost the very words of Tacitus. "An
discidium inquit (Narcissus) tuum nôsti? Nam matrimonium Silii vidit populus
et senatus et miles: ac ni properè agis tenet urbem maritus." Ann., xi., 30.
[679] Prœbenda. Cf. Tac., Ann., xi., 38.

"Inevitable death before thee lies,
But looks more kindly through a lady's eyes!" Dryden.

[680] Tomacula, "the liver and other parts cut out of the pig minced up with the
fat." Mart., i., Ep. xlii., 9, "Quod fumantia qui tomacla raucus circumfert tepidus
coquus popinis." The other savory ingredients are given by Facciolati; the
Greeks called them τεμάχη or τεμάχια.
[681] Munera.

"A soul that can securely death defy,
And count it Nature's privilege to die." Dryden.

[682] Hercules. Alluding to the well-known "Choice of Hercules" from
Prodicus. Xen., Mem.
[683] Nullum numen. Repeated, xiv., 315.
[684] "The reasonings in this Satire," Gibbon says, "would have been clearer,
had Juvenal distinguished between wishes the accomplishment of which could
not fail to make us miserable, and those whose accomplishment might fail to
make us happy. Absolute power is of the first kind; long life of the second."

SATIRE XI.

If Atticus[685] sups extravagantly, he is considered a splendid[686] fellow: if
Rutilus does so, he is thought mad. For what is received with louder
laughter on the part of the mob, than Apicius[687] reduced to poverty?

Every club,[688] the baths, every knot of loungers, every theatre,[689] is full
of Rutilus. For while his sturdy and youthful limbs are fit to bear arms,[690]
and while he is hot in blood, he is driven[691] (not indeed forced to it, but
unchecked by the tribune) to copy out[692] the instructions and imperial
commands of the trainer of gladiators. Moreover, you see many whom their
creditor, often cheated of his money, is wont to look out for at the very
entrance of the market;[693] and whose inducement to live exists in their
palate alone. The greatest wretch among these, one who must soon fail,
since his ruin is already as clear[694] as day, sups the more extravagantly and
the more splendidly. Meanwhile they ransack all the elements for dainties;
[695]
the price never standing in the way of their gratification. If you look
more closely into it, those please the more which are bought for more.
Therefore they have no scruple[696] in borrowing a sum, soon to be
squandered, by pawning[697] their plate, or the broken[698] image of their
mother; and, with the 400[699] sesterces, seasoning an earthen[700] dish to
tickle their palate. Thus they are reduced to the hotch-potch[701] of the
gladiator.
It makes therefore all the difference who it is that procures these same
things. For in Rutilus it is luxurious extravagance. In Ventidius it takes a
praiseworthy name, and derives credit from his fortune.
I should with reason despise the man who knows how much more lofty
Atlas is than all the mountains in Libya, yet this very man knows not how
much a little purse differs from an iron-bound chest.[702] "Know thyself,"
came down from heaven:[703] a proverb to be implanted and cherished in
the memory, whether you are about to contract matrimony,[704] or wish to
be in a part of the sacred[705] senate:—(for not even Thersites[706] is a
candidate for the breast-plate of Achilles: in which Ulysses exhibited
himself in a doubtful character:[707])—or whether you take upon yourself to
defend a cause of great moment. Consult your own powers; tell yourself
who you are; whether you are a powerful orator, or like a Curtius, or a
Matho,[708] mere spouters.
One must know one's own measure, and keep it in view, in the greatest and
in most trifling matters; even when a fish is to be bought. Do not long for a
mullet,[709] when you have only a gudgeon in your purse. For what end

awaits you, as your purse[710] fails and your gluttony increases: when your
patrimony and whole fortune is squandered[711] upon your belly, what can
hold your money out at interest, your solid plate, your flocks, and lands?
By such proprietors as these, last of all[712] the ring is parted with, and
Pollio[713] begs with his finger bare. It is not the premature funeral pile, or
the grave, that is luxury's horror, but old age,[714] more to be dreaded than
death itself. These are most commonly the steps: money, borrowed at
Rome, is spent before the very owners' faces; then when some trifling
residue is left, and the lender of the money is growing pale, they give leg-
bail[715] and run to Baiæ and Ostia. For now-a-days to quit the forum[716] is
not more discreditable to you than to remove to Esquiline from hot[717]
Suburra. This is the only pain that they who flee their country feel, this their
only sorrow, to have lost the Circensian games[718] for one[719] year. Not a
drop of blood remains in their face; few attempt to detain modesty, now
become an object of ridicule and fleeing from the city.
You shall prove to-day by your own experience, Persicus, whether all these
things, which are very fine to talk about, I do not practice in my life, in my
moral conduct, and in reality: but praise vegetables,[720] while in secret I am
a glutton: in others' hearing bid my slave bring me water-gruel,[721] but
whisper "cheese-cakes" in his ear. For since you are my promised guest,
you shall find me an Evander:[722] you shall come as the Tirynthian, or the
guest, inferior indeed to him, and yet himself akin by blood to heaven: the
one sent to the skies by water,[723] the other by fire.
Now hear your bill of fare,[724] furnished by no public market.[725]
From my farm at Tibur there shall come a little kid, the fattest and tenderest
of the whole flock, ignorant of the taste of grass, that has never yet ventured
to browse even on the low twigs of the willow-bed, and that has more milk
than blood in his veins: and asparagus[726] from the mountains, which my
bailiff's wife, having laid down her spindle, gathered. Some huge eggs
besides, and still warm in their twisted hay, shall be served up together with
the hens themselves: and grapes kept a portion of the year, just as they were
when fresh upon the vines: pears from Signia[727] and Syria: and, from the
same basket, apples rivaling those of Picenum,[728] and smelling quite fresh;

that you need not be afraid of, since they have lost their autumnal moisture,
which has been dried up by cold, and the dangers to be feared from their
juice if crude. This would in times gone by have been a luxurious supper for
our senate. Curius[729] with his own hands used to cook over his little fire
pot-herbs which he had gathered in his little garden: such herbs as now the
foul digger in his heavy chain rejects with scorn, who remembers the flavor
of the vile dainties[730] of the reeking cook-shop. It was the custom formerly
to keep against festival days the flitches of the smoked swine, hanging from
the wide-barred rack, and to set bacon as a birthday treat before one's
relations, with the addition of some fresh meat, if a sacrificial victim
furnished any. Some one of the kin, with the title of "Thrice consul," that
had held command in camps, and discharged the dignity of dictator, used to
go earlier[731] than his wont to such a feast as this, bearing his spade over
his shoulder from the mountain he had been digging on. But when men
trembled at the Fabii,[732] and the stern Cato, and the Scauri and Fabricii;
[733]
and when, in fine, even his colleague stood in dread of the severe
character of the strict Censor; no one thought it was a matter of anxiety or
serious concern what kind of tortoise[734] floated in the wave of ocean,
destined to form a splendid and noble couch for the Trojugenæ. But with
side devoid of ornament, and sofas of diminutive size, the brazen front
displayed the mean head of an ass wearing a chaplet,[735] at which the
country lads laughed in wantonness.
The food then was in keeping with the master of the house and the
furniture. Then the soldier, uncivilized, and too ignorant[736] to admire the
arts of Greece, used to break up the drinking-cups, the work of some
renowned artists, which he found in his share of the booty when cities were
overthrown, that his horse might exult in trappings,[737] and his embossed
helmet might display to his enemy on the point of perishing, likenesses of
the Romulean wild beast bidden to grow tame by the destiny of the empire,
and the twin Quirini beneath the rock, and the naked image of the god
coming down[738] with buckler and spear, and impending over him.
Whatever silver he possessed glittered on his arms[739] alone. In those days,
then, they used to serve all their furmety in a dish of Tuscan earthenware:
which you may envy, if you are at all that way inclined.[740]

The majesty of temples also was more evidently near[741] to men, and a
voice[742] heard about midnight and through the midst of the city, when the
Gauls were coming from the shore of ocean, and the gods discharged the
functions of a prophet, warned us of these.
This was the care which Jupiter used to show for the affairs of Latium,
when made of earthenware,[743] and as yet profaned by no gold. Those days
saw tables made of wood grown at home and from our native trees.[744] To
these uses was the timber applied, if the east wind had chanced to lay
prostrate some old walnut-tree. But now the rich have no satisfaction in
their dinner, the turbot and the venison lose their flavor, perfumes and roses
seem to lose their smell, unless the broad circumference of the table is
supported by a huge mass of ivory, and a tall leopard with wide-gaping
jaws, made of those tusks, which the gate of Syene[745] transmits, and the
active Moors, and the Indian of duskier hue than the Moor;[746] and which
the huge beast has deposited in some Nabathæan[747] glen, as now grown
too weighty and burdensome to his head: by this their appetite[748] is
whetted: hence their stomach acquires its vigor. For a leg of a table made
only of silver is to them what an iron ring on their finger would be: I
therefore cautiously avoid a proud guest, who compares me with himself,
and looks with scorn on my paltry estate. Consequently I do not possess a
single ounce of ivory: neither my chess-board[749] nor my men are of this
material; nay, the very handles of my knives are of bone. Yet my viands
never become rank in flavor by these, nor does my pullet cut up the worse
on that account. Nor yet will you see a carver, to whom the whole carving-
school[750] ought to yield the palm, some pupil of the professor Trypherus,
at whose house the hare, with the large sow's udders,[751] and the wild boar,
and the roebuck,[752] and pheasants,[753] and the huge flamingo,[754] and the
wild goat[755] of Gætulia, all forming a most splendid supper, though made
of elm, are carved with the blunted knife, and resounds through the whole
Suburra. My little fellow, who is a novice, and uneducated all his days, does
not know how to take dexterously off a slice of roe, or the wing of a
Guinea-hen;[756] only versed in the mysteries of carving the fragments of a
small collop.[757]

My slave, who is not gayly dressed, and only clad so as to protect him from
cold, will hand you plebeian cups[758] bought for a few pence. He is no
Phrygian or Lycian, or one purchased from the slave-dealer[759] and at great
price. When you ask for any thing, ask in Latin. They have all the same
style of dress; their hair close-cropped and straight, and only combed to-day
on account of company. One is the son of a hardy shepherd, another of a
neat-herd: he sighs after his mother, whom he has not seen for a long time,
and pines for his hovel[760] and his playmate kids. A lad of ingenuous face,
and ingenuous modesty; such as those ought to be who are clothed in
brilliant purple. He shall hand you wine[761] made on those very hills from
which he himself comes, and under whose summit he has played; for the
country of the wine and the attendant is one and the same.
Gambling is disgraceful, and so is adultery, in men of moderate means. Yet
when rich men commit all those abominations, they are called jovial,
splendid fellows. Our banquet to-day will furnish far different amusements.
The author of the Iliad[762] shall be recited, and the verses of high-sounding
Mars, that render the palm doubtful. What matter is it with what voice such
noble verses are read?[763] But now having put off all your cares, lay aside
business, and allow yourself a pleasing respite, since you will have it in
your power to be idle all day long. Let there be no mention of money out at
interest. Nor if your wife is accustomed to go out at break of day and return
at night, let her stir up your bile,[764] though you hold your tongue. Divest
yourself at once of all that annoys you, at my threshold. Banish all thoughts
of home and servants, and all that is broken and wasted[765] by them—
especially forget ungrateful friends! Meantime, the spectacles of the
Megalesian towel[766] grace the Idæan solemnity: and, like one in a triumph,
the prey of horses, the prætor, sits: and, if I may say so without offense to
the immense and overgrown crowd, the circus to-day incloses the whole of
Rome;[767] and a din reaches my ears, from which I infer the success of the
green faction.[768] For should it not win, you would see this city in
mourning and amazement, as when the consuls were conquered in the
dust[769] of Cannæ. Let young men be spectators of these, in whom shouting
and bold betting, and sitting by a trim damsel is becoming. Let our skin,[770]
which is wrinkled with age, imbibe the vernal sun and avoid the toga'd
crowd. Even now, though it wants a whole hour to the sixth, you may go to

the bath with unblushing brow. You could not do this for five successive
days; because even of such a life as this there would be great weariness. It
is a more moderate use[771] that enhances pleasures.

FOOTNOTES:

[685] Atticus. Put for any man of wealth and rank. So Rutilus for the reverse. Cf.
xiv., 18.
[686] Lautus. Cf. Mart., xii., Ep. xlviii., 5.
[687] Apicius (cf. iv., 23), having spent "millies sestertium," upward of eight
hundred thousand pounds, in luxury, destroyed himself through fear of want,
though it appeared he had above eighty thousand pounds left.
[688] Convictus. Properly, like convivium, "a dinner party." Cf. i., 145, "It nova
nec tristis per cunctas fabula cœnas." Tac., Ann., xiv., 4; xiii., 14.
[689] Stationes, "locus ubi otiosi in urbe degunt, et variis sermonibus tempus
terunt." Plin., Ep. i., 13; ii, 9.
[690] Sufficiunt galeæ. Cf. vii., 32, "Defluit ætas et pelagi patiens et cassidis
atque ligonis."
[691] Cogente. Cf. viii., 167, "Quanti sua funera vendunt Quid refert? vendunt
nullo cogente Nerone. Nec dubitant celsi prætoris vendere ludis."
[692] Scripturus. Suet., Jul., 26. Gladiators had to write out the rules and words
of command of their trainers, "dictata," in order to learn them by heart. Lubinus
gives us some of these: "attolle, declina, percute, urge, cæde."
[693] Macelli. So called from μάκελλον, "an inclosure," because the markets,
before dispersed in the Forum boarium, olitorium, piscarium, cupedinis, etc.,
were collected into one building; or, from one Romanius Macellus, whose house
stood there, and was "propter latrocinia ejus publicè diruta." Vid. Donat. ad Ter.,
Eunuch., ii., sc. ii., 24, where he gives a list of the cupediarii, "cetarii, lanii,
coqui, fartores, piscatores;" or á mactando; as the French "Abattoir." Cf. Sat., v.,
95. Suet., Jul., 26. Plaut., Aul., II., viii., 3. Hor., i., Ep. xv., 31.
[694] Perlucente ruinâ. Cf. x., 107, "impulsæ præceps immane ruinæ." A
metaphor from a building on the point of falling, with the daylight streaming
through its cracks and fissures.

"Then with their prize to ruin'd walls repair,
And eat the dainty scrap on earthenware." Badham.

[695] Gustus. III., 93, "Quando omne peractum est, et jam defecit nostrum mare,
dum gula sævit, retibus assiduis penitus scrutante macello proxima." The idea is
probably from Seneca. "Quidquid avium volitat, quidquid piscium natat,
quidquid ferarum discurrit, nostris sepelitur ventribus." Contr. V. pr. The Cœna
consisted of three parts. 1. Gustus (Gustatio), or Promulsis. 2. Fercula: different
courses. 3. Mensæ Secundæ. The gustus contained dishes designed more to
excite than to satisfy hunger: vegetables, as the lactuca (Mart., xiii., 14), shell
and other fish, with piquant sauces: mulsum (Hor., ii., Sat. iv., 24. Plin., i., Ep.
15). Cf. Bekker's Gallus, p. 466, 493. Vide ad Sat. vi., 428.

[696] Difficile, i. e., "non dubitant." Vid. Schol. Not that they "have no difficulty"
in raising the money, as Crepereius Pollio found. Cf. ix., 5.
[697] Oppositis. "Ager oppositus est pignori ob decem minas." Ter., Phorm., IV.,
iii., 56.
[698] Fractâ. "Broken, that the features may not be recognized:" alluding
probably to some well-known transaction of the time.
[699] Quadringentis. Cf. Suet., Vit., 13, "Nec cuiquam minus singuli apparatus
quadringentis millibus nummûm constiterunt."
[700] Fictile. III., 168, "Fictilibus cœnare pudet."
[701] Miscellanea. "A special diet-bread to advantage the combatants at once in
breath and strength." Holyday. It is said to have been a mixture of cheese and
flour; probably a kind of macaroni. "Gladiatoria sagina." Tac., Hist., ii., 88.
Prop., IV., viii., 25.
[702] Ferratû. XIV., 259, "Æratâ multus in arcâ fiscus." X., 25. Hor., i., Sat. i.,
67.
[703] E cœlo. This precept has been assigned to Socrates, Chilo, Thales,
Cleobulus, Bias, Pythagoras. It was inscribed in gold letters over the portico of
the temple of Delphi. Hence, perhaps, the notion afterward, that it was derived
immediately from heaven.
[704] Conjugium. Cf. Æsch., Pr. V., 890. Ov., Her., ix., 32, "Si qua voles aptè
nuberè nube pari."
[705] Sacri. "The undaunted spirit," says Gifford, "which could thus designate
the senate in those days of tyranny and suspicion, deserves at least to be pointed
out."
[706] Thersites. Cf. vii., 115: x., 84; viii., 269. Juvenal is very fond of referring
to this contest.
[707] Traducebat. II., 159, "Illuc heu miseri traducimur." VIII., 17, "Squalentes
traducit avos." It means literally "to expose to public derision," a metaphor taken
from leading malefactors through the forum with their name and offense
suspended from their neck. Cf. Suet., Tit., 8. Mart., i., Ep. liv., 3, "Quæ tua
traducit manifesto carmina furto." VI., lxxvii., 5, "Rideris multoque magis
traduceris afer Quam nudus medio si spatiere foro." Grang. explains it "se risui
exponebat: nec enim arma Achillis Ulyssem decebant." Browne, "in which
Ulysses cut a doubtful figure." Others refer ancipitem to loricam; or place the
stop after Ulysses, and take ancip. with causam. Gifford omits the passage
altogether, as a tasteless interpolation of some Scholiast. Dryden turns it,

"When scarce Ulysses had a good pretense,
With all th' advantage of his eloquence."

Badham:

"Which, at the peril of a soldier's fame,
The brave Ulysses scarcely dared to claim."