master of Athens. Tully was murther'd by M. Antony's order, in return for those invectives he had made against him.

6 The Latin of this couplet is a famous verse of Tully's, in which he sets out the happiness of his own consulship, famous for the vanity and the ill poetry of it; for Tully, as he had a good deal of the one, so he had no great share of the other.

7 The orations of Tully against M. Antony were styl'd by him Philippics, in imitation of Demosthenes, who had given that name before to those he made against Philip of Macedon.

8 This is a mock account of a Roman triumph. 9 Babylon, where Alexander died.

10 Xerxes is represented in history after a very romantic manner: affecting fame beyond measure, and doing the most extravagant things to compass it. Mount Athos made a prodigious promontory in the rean Sea; he is said to have cut a channel thro' it, and to have sail'd round it. He made a bridge of boats over the Hellespont, where it was three miles broad; and order'd a whipping for the winds and seas, because they had once cross'd his designs; as we have a very solemn account of it in Herodotus. But, after all these vain boasts, he was shamefully beaten by Themistocles at Salamis; and return'd home, leaving most of his fleet behind him.

11 Mercury, who was a god of the lowest size, and employ'd always in errands between heaven and hell; and mortals us'd him accordingly: for his statues were anciently plac'd where roads met, with directions on the fingers of 'em, pointing out the several ways to travelers.

12 Nestor, King of Pylus; who was three hundred years old, according to Homer's account; at least as he is understood by his expositors.

13 The ancients counted by their fingers. Their left hands serv'd 'em till they came up to an hundred. After that they us'd their right, to express all greater numbers.

14 The Fates were three sisters, which had all some peculiar business assign'd 'em by the poets, in relation to the lives of men. The first held the distaff, the second spun the thread, and the third cut it.

15 Whilst Troy was sacking by the Greeks, old King Priam is said to have buckled on his armor to oppose 'em; which he had no sooner done, but he was met by Pyrrhus, and slain before the altar of Jupiter, in his own palace; as we have the story finely told in Virgil's second Eneid.

16 Hecuba, his queen, escap'd the swords of the Grecians, and outliv'd him. It seems she behav'd herself so fiercely and uneasily to her husband's murtherers while she liv'd, that the poets thought fit to turn her into a bitch when she died.

17 Mithridates, after he had disputed the empire of the world for forty years together, with the Romans, was at last depriv'd of life and empire by Pompey the Great.

18 Crasus, in the midst of his prosperity,

making his boast to Solon how happy he was, receiv'd this answer from the wise man that no one could pronounce himself happy, till he saw what his end should be. The truth of this Croesus found, when he was put in chains by Cyrus, and condemn'd to die.

19 Pompey, in the midst of his glory, fell into a dangerous fit of sickness at Naples. A great many cities then made public supplications for him. He recover'd; was beaten at Pharsalia; fled to Ptolemy, King of Egypt; and, instead of receiving protection at his court, had his head struck off by his order, to please Cæsar. 20 Cethegus was one that conspir'd with Catiline, and was put to death by the Senate. 21 Catiline died fighting.

22 Virginia was kill'd by her own father, to prevent her being expos'd to the lust of Appius Claudius, who had ill designs upon her. The story at large is in Livy's third book; and 't is a remarkable one, as it gave occasion to the putting down the power of the Decemviri, of whom Appius was one.

23 Hippolytus, the son of Theseus, was lov'd by his mother-in-law, Phædria; but he not complying with her, she procur'd his death.

24 Bellerophon, the son of King Glaucus, residing some time at the court of Poetus, King of the Argives, the queen, Sthenobæa, fell in love with him; but he refusing her, she turn'd the accusation upon him, and he narrowly scap'd Poetus's vengeance.

25 Messalina, wife to the Emperor Claudius, infamous for her lewdness. She set her eyes upon C. Silius, a fine youth; forc'd him to quit his own wife, and marry her, with all the formalities of a wedding, whilst Claudius Cæsar was sacrificing at Hostia. Upon his return, he put both Silius and her to death.

THE SIXTEENTH SATIRE OF JUVENAL

THE ARGUMENT

The poet in this satire proves that the condition of a soldier is much better than that of a countryman: first, because a countryman, however affronted, provok'd, and struck himself, dares not strike a soldier who is only to be judg'd by a court-martial; and, by the law of Camillus, which obliges him not to quarrel without the trenches, he is also assur'd to have a speedy hearing and quick dispatch: whereas, the townsman or peasant is delay'd in his suit by frivolous pretenses, and not sure of justice when he is heard in the court. The soldier is also privileg'd to make a will, and to give away his estate, which he got in war. to whom he pleases, without consideration of parentage or relations, which is denied to all other Romans. This satire was written by Juvenal when he

was a commander in Egypt: 't is certainly his, tho' I think it not finish'd. And, if it be well observ'd, you will find he intended an invective against a standing army.

WHAT vast prerogatives, my Gallus, are
Accruing to the mighty man of war!
For, if into a lucky camp I light,

Tho' raw in arms, and yet afraid to fight, Befriend me, my good stars, and all goes right:

One happy hour is to a soldier better,
Than Mother Juno's recommending let-
ter,

Or Venus, when to Mars she would prefer
My suit, and own the kindness done to her.
See what our common privileges are:
As, first, no saucy citizen shall dare
To strike a soldier, nor, when struck, re-

sent

1Ο

The wrong, for fear of farther punish

ment:

Not tho' his teeth are beaten out, his eyes Hang by a string, in bumps his forehead

rise,

Shall he presume to mention his disgrace,
Or beg amends for his demolish'd face.
A booted judge shall sit to try his cause,
Not by the statute, but by martial laws,
Which old Camillus order'd, to confine zo
The brawls of soldiers to the trench and
line:

A wise provision; and from thence 't is clear,

That officers a soldier's cause should hear;
And, taking cognizance of wrongs receiv'd,
An honest man may hope to be reliev'd.
So far 't is well: but with a general cry,
The regiment will rise in mutiny,
The freedom of their fellow-rogue demand,
And, if refus'd, will threaten to disband.
Withdraw thy action, and depart in peace;
The remedy is worse than the disease;
This cause is worthy him, who in the hall
Would for his fee, and for his client, bawl:
But wouldst thou, friend, who hast two legs
alone,

31

(Which, Heav'n be prais'd, thou yet mayst call thy own,)

Wouldst thou to run the gauntlet these expose

To a whole company of hobnail'd shoes? Sure the good breeding of wise citizens Should teach 'em more good nature to their shins,

bounds,

60

Those bounds which, with procession and with pray'r,

And offer'd cakes, have been my annual care; 5

Or if my debtors do not keep their day,
Deny their hands, and then refuse to pay;
I must with patience all the terms attend,
Among the common causes that depend,
Till mine is call'd; and that long-look'd-for
day

Is still encumber'd with some new delay.
Perhaps the cloth of state is only spread,"
Some of the quorum may be sick abed; 70
That judge is hot, and doffs his gown, while
this

O'ernight was bowsy, and goes out to piss:
So many rubs appear, the time is gone
For hearing, and the tedious suit goes on;
But buff and beltmen never know these
cares,

No time, nor trick of law, their action bars:
Their cause they to an easier issue put;
They will be heard, or they lug out, and
cut,

Their father yet alive, impow'r'd to make a will."

For, what their prowess gain'd, the law declares,

Is to themselves alone, and to their heirs: No share of that goes back to the begetter,

But if the son fights well, and plunders better,

Like stout Coranus, his old shaking sire
Does a remembrance in his will desire;
Inquisitive of fights, and longs in vain
To find him in the number of the slain;
But still he lives, and, rising by the war,
Enjoys his gains, and has enough to

1 Juno was mother to Mars, the God of War; Venus was his mistress.

2 Camillus, who, being first banish'd by his ungrateful countrymen the Romans, afterwards return'd, and freed them from the Gauls, made a law which prohibited the soldiers from quarreling without the camp, lest upon that pretense they might happen to be absent when they ought to be on duty.

3 This cause is worthy him, &c. The poet names a Modenese lawyer, whom he calls Vagellius, who was so impudent that he would plead any cause, right or wrong, without shame or fear.

4 Hobnail'd shoes. The Roman soldiers wore plates of iron under their shoes, or stuck them with nails, as countrymen do now,

5 Landmarks were us'd by the Romans almost in the same manner as now; and as we go once a year in procession about the bounds of parishes, and renew them, so they offer'd cakes upon the stone, or landmark.

6 The courts of judicature were hung, and spread, as with us; but spread only before the hundred judges were to sit and judge public causes, which were call'd by lot,

7 The Roman soldiers had the privilege of making a will, in their father's lifetime, of what they had purchas'd in the wars, as being no part of their patrimony, By this will they had power of excluding their own parents, and giving the estate so gotten to whom they pleas'd. Therefore, says the poet, Coranus (a soldier

contemporary with Juvenal, who had rais'd his fortune by the wars) was courted by his own father to make him his heir,

THE FIRST SATIRE OF PERSIUS

ARGUMENT OF THE PROLOGUE TO THE FIRST SATIRE

The design of the author was to conceal his name and quality. He liv'd in the dangerous times of the tyrant Nero, and aims particularly at him in most of his satires. For which reason, tho' he was a Roman knight, and of a plentiful fortune, he would appear in this Prologue but a beggarly poet, who writes for bread. After this, he breaks into the business of the First Satire; which is chiefly to decry the poetry then in fashion, and the impudence of those who were endeavoring to pass their stuff upon the world.

Or with a voice endued the chatt'ring pie? 'T was witty want, fierce hunger to ap

pease;

Want taught their masters, and their masters these.

Let gain, that gilded bait, be hung on high;

The hungry witlings have it in their eye: Pies, crows, and daws, poetic presents

bring;

You say they squeak, but they will swear they sing.

THE FIRST SATIRE

IN DIALOGUE

BETWIXT THE POET AND HIS FRIEND OR

MONITOR

THE ARGUMENT

I need not repeat that the chief aim of the author is against bad poets in this satire. But I must add that he includes also bad orators, who began at that time (as Petronius in the beginning of his book tells us) to enervate manly eloquence by tropes and figures, ill plac'd, and worse applied. Amongst the poets, Persius covertly strikes at Nero, some of whose verses he recites with scorn and indignation. He also takes notice of the noblemen and their abominable poetry, who, in the luxury of their fortune, set up for wits and judges. The satire is in dialogue, betwixt the author and his friend or monitor; who dissuades him from this dangerous attempt of exposing great men. But Persius, who is of a free spirit, and has not forgotten that Rome was once a commonwealth, breaks thro' all those difficulties, and boldly arraigns the false judgment of the age in which he lives, The reader may observe that our poet was a Stoic philosopher; and that all his moral sentences, both here and in all the rest of his satires, are drawn from the dogmas of that sect.

PERSIUS. HOW anxious are our cares, and yet how vain

The bent of our desires!

FRIEND. Thy spleen contain; For none will read thy satires.

PER. This to me? FRIEND. None; or what's next to none, but two or three. 'Tis hard, I grant.

PER.

'Tis nothing; I can bear That paltry scribblers have the public ear: That this vast universal fool, the Town, Should cry up Labeo's stuff,' and cry me down.

They damn themselves; nor will my Muse descend

To clap with such, who fools and knaves commend:

10

Their smiles and censures are to me the same;

I care not what they praise, or what they blame.

In full assemblies let the crowd prevail:
I weigh no merit by the common scale.

The conscience is the test of ev'ry mind; "Seek not thyself, without thyself, to find." But where 's that Roman ? Somewhat I would say,

But fear-let Fear, for once, to Truth give way.

Truth lends the Stoic courage: when I look On human acts, and read in Nature's book, From the first pastimes of our infant age, To elder cares, and man's severer page; 22 When stern as tutors, and as uncles hard, We lash the pupil, and defraud the ward: Then, then I say or would say, if I

durst

That's he whose wondrous poem is become
A lecture for the noble youth of Rome!
Who, by their fathers, is at feasts renown'd;
And often quoted when the bowls go round."
Full gorg'd and flush'd, they wantonly re-
hearse,

And add to wine the luxury of verse.
One, clad in purple, not to lose his time,
Eats, and recites some lamentable rhyme:
Some senseless Phyllis, in a broken note, 70
Snuffling at nose, or croaking in his throat.
Then graciously the mellow audience nod;
Is not th' immortal author made a god?
Are not his manes blest, such praise to have?
Lies not the turf more lightly on his grave?
And roses (while his loud applause they
sing)

Stand ready from his sepulcher to spring?
All these, you cry, but light objections

are;

Mere malice, and you drive the jest too far. For does there breathe a man who can reject

4

80

A general fame, and his own lines neglect?
In cedar tablets worthy to appear,
That need not fish, or frankincense to
fear?

Thou, whom I make the adverse part to bear,

Be answer'd thus. - If I by chance succeed In what I write, (and that's a chance indeed,)

Know, I am not so stupid, or so hard, Not to feel praise, or fame's deserv'd reward:

But this I cannot grant, that thy applause Is my work's ultimate, or only cause. Prudence can ne'er propose so mean a prize;

90

For mark what vanity within it lies.
Like Labeo's Iliads, in whose verse is found
Nothing but trifling care, and empty sound:
Such little elegies as nobles write,
Who would be poets, in Apollo's spite.
Them and their woful works the Muse de-
fies:

Products of citron beds, and golden canopies.

To give thee all thy due, thou hast the heart

To make a supper, with a fine dessert; 100 And to thy threadbare friend, a cast old suit impart.

Thus brib'd, thou thus bespeak'st him: "Tell me, friend,

(For I love truth, nor can plain speech offend,)

What says the world of me and of my Muse?"