518 Her comet-eyes she darts on ev'ry grace, Is present death, besides the night you lose: If you consent, 't is hardly worth your pain; And reach the prince; for cuckolds hear the last. 550 To health of body, and content of mind: That dares prefer the toils of Hercules The path to peace is virtue: what I show, Thyself may freely on thyself bestow: Fortune was never worship'd by the wise; But, set aloft by fools, usurps the skies. 561 EXPLANATORY NOTES ON THE TENTH SATIRE 1 Milo, of Crotona; who, for a trial of his strength, going to rend an oak, perish'd in the attempt, for his arms were caught in the trunk of it, and he was devour'd by wild beasts. 2 Sejanus was Tiberius's first favorite; and, while he continued so, had the highest marks of honor bestow'd on him: statues and triumphal chariots were everywhere erected to him. But, as soon as he fell into disgrace with the emperor, these were all immediately dismounted, and the senate and common people insulted over him as meanly as they had fawn'd on him before. 3 The island of Capres, which lies about a league out at sea from the Campanian shore, was the scene of Tiberius's pleasures in the latter part of his reign. There he liv'd, for some years, with diviners, soothsayers, and worse company; and from thence dispatch'd all his orders to the senate. 4 Julius Cæsar, who got the better of Pompey, that was styl'd "the Great." 5 Demosthenes and Tully both died for their oratory: Demosthenes gave himself poison, to avoid being carried to Antipater, one of Alexander's captains, who had then made himself 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 gean 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 Cræsus, 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 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, Or Venus, when to Mars she would prefer sent ΤΟ Shall he presume to mention his disgrace, A wise provision; and from thence 't is clear, That officers a soldier's cause should hear; 3 31 (Which, Heav'n be prais'd, thou yet mayst call thy own,) Wouldst thou to run the gauntlet these The judge cries out: "Your evidence produce." Will he, who saw the soldier's mutton fist, And saw thee maul'd, appear within the list, To witness truth? When I see one so brave, The dead, think I, are risen from the grave; And with their long spade beards and matted hair, Our honest ancestors are come to take the air. Against a clown, with more security, More benefits remain, and claim'd as cares, No time, nor trick of law, their action barsTM Their cause they to an easier issue put; They will be heard, or they lug out, and cut. 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. 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. "T is 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: 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 |