Chapter X: Prologue: TO (2)

_The commentators before Casaubon were ignorant of our author's
secret meaning; and thought he had only written against
young noblemen in general, who were too forward in aspiring
to public magistracy; but this excellent scholiast has
unravelled the whole mystery, and made it apparent, that
the sting of the satire was particularly aimed at Nero._

Whoe'er thou art, whose forward years are bent
On state affairs, to guide the government;
Hear first what Socrates[220] of old has said
To the loved youth, whom he at Athens bred.
Tell me, thou pupil to great Pericles,
Our second hope, my Alcibiades,[221]
What are the grounds from whence thou dost prepare
To undertake, so young, so vast a care?
Perhaps thy wit; (a chance not often heard,
That parts and prudence should prevent the beard;)
'Tis seldom seen, that senators so young
Know when to speak, and when to hold their tongue.
Sure thou art born to some peculiar fate,
When the mad people rise against the state,
To look them into duty, and command
An awful silence with thy lifted hand;
Then to bespeak them thus:--Athenians, know
Against right reason all your counsels go;
This is not fair, nor profitable that,
Nor t'other question proper for debate.--
But thou, no doubt, can'st set the business right,
And give each argument its proper weight;
Know'st, with an equal hand, to hold the scale; }
Seest where the reasons pinch, and where they fail, }
And where exceptions o'er the general rule prevail; }
And, taught by inspiration, in a trice,
Can'st punish crimes,[222] and brand offending vice.
Leave, leave to fathom such high points as these,
Nor be ambitious, e'er thy time, to please,
Unseasonably wise; till age and cares
Have formed thy soul to manage great affairs.
Thy face, thy shape, thy outside, are but vain; }
Thou hast not strength such labours to sustain; }
Drink hellebore,[223] my boy; drink deep, and purge thy brain. }
What aim'st thou at, and whither tends thy care, }
In what thy utmost good? Delicious fare; }
And then, to sun thyself in open air. }
Hold, hold; are all thy empty wishes such?
A good old woman would have said as much.
But thou art nobly born: 'tis true; go boast
Thy pedigree, the thing thou valuest most:
Besides, thou art a beau; what's that, my child?
A fop, well drest, extravagant, and wild:
She that cries herbs, has less impertinence,
And in her calling more of common sense.
None, none descends into himself, to find
The secret imperfections of his mind;
But every one is eagle-eyed, to see
Another's faults, and his deformity.
Say, dost thou know Vectidius?[224]--Who? the wretch
Whose lands beyond the Sabines largely stretch;
Cover the country, that a sailing kite
Can scarce o'er fly them in a day and night;
Him dost thou mean, who, spite of all his store,
Is ever craving, and will still be poor?
Who cheats for half-pence, and who doffs his coat,
To save a farthing in a ferry-boat?
Ever a glutton at another's cost,
But in whose kitchen dwells perpetual frost?
Who eats and drinks with his domestic slaves,
A verier hind than any of his knaves?
Born with the curse and anger of the gods,
And that indulgent genius he defrauds?
At harvest-home, and on the shearing-day,
When he should thanks to Pan and Pales pay,
And better Ceres,[225] trembling to approach
The little barrel, which he fears to broach;
He 'says the wimble, often draws it back,
And deals to thirsty servants but a smack.
To a short meal he makes a tedious grace,
Before the barley-pudding comes in place:
Then bids fall on; himself, for saving charges,
A peeled sliced onion eats, and tipples verjuice.--
Thus fares the drudge: but thou, whose life's a dream
Of lazy pleasures, takest a worse extreme.
'Tis all thy business, business how to shun;
To bask thy naked body in the sun;
Suppling thy stiffened joints with fragrant oil:
Then, in thy spacious garden walk a while,
To suck the moisture up, and soak it in;
And this, thou think'st, but vainly think'st, unseen.
But know, thou art observed; and there are those,
Who, if they durst, would all thy secret sins expose;
The depilation of thy modest part; }
Thy catamite, the darling of thy heart, }
His engine-hand, and every lewder art, }
When, prone to bear, and patient to receive,
Thou tak'st the pleasure which thou canst not give.
With odorous oil thy head and hair are sleek,
And then thou kemb'st the tuzzes on thy cheek;
Of these thy barbers take a costly care,
While thy salt tail is overgrown with hair.
Not all thy pincers, nor unmanly arts,
Can smooth the roughness of thy shameful parts.
Not five, the strongest that the Circus breeds,[226]
From the rank soil can root those wicked weeds,
Though suppled first with soap, to ease thy pain;
The stubborn fern springs up, and sprouts again.
Thus others we with defamations wound,
While they stab us, and so the jest goes round.
Vain are thy hopes, to 'scape censorious eyes;
Truth will appear through all the thin disguise:
Thou hast an ulcer which no leach can heal,
Though thy broad shoulder-belt the wound conceal.
Say thou art sound and hale in every part,
We know, we know thee rotten at thy heart.
We know thee sullen, impotent, and proud:
Nor canst thou cheat thy nerve, who cheat'st the crowd.--
But when they praise me in the neighbourhood,
When the pleased people take me for a god,
Shall I refuse their incense? Not receive
The loud applauses which the vulgar give?--
If thou dost wealth with longing eyes behold,
And greedily art gaping after gold;
If some alluring girl, in gliding by, }
Shall tip the wink, with a lascivious eye, }
And thou, with a consenting glance, reply; }
If thou thy own solicitor become,
And bidst arise the lumpish pendulum;
If thy lewd lust provokes an empty storm,
And prompts to more than nature can perform;
If, with thy guards, thou scour'st the streets by night,
And dost in murders, rapes, and spoils delight;[227]
Please not thyself, the flattering crowd to hear,
'Tis fulsome stuff to feed thy itching ear.
Reject the nauseous praises of the times;
Give thy base poets back their cobled rhimes:
Survey thy soul, not what thou dost appear,
But what thou art, and find the beggar there.[228]

FOOTNOTES:

[219] The compliment, at the opening of the Pharsalia, has been thought sarcastic. It certainly sounds so in modern ears: if Nero could only attain empire by civil war, as the gods by that of the giants, then says the poet,

----_Scelera ipsa nefasque
Hac mercede placent_.----

[220] Note I.

[221] Note II.

[222] Note III.

[223] Note IV.

[224] Note V.

[225] Note VI.

[226] Note VII.

[227] Note VIII.

[228] Note IX.

NOTES

ON

TRANSLATIONS FROM PERSIUS.

SATIRE IV.

Note I.

_Socrates._--P. 243.

Socrates, whom the oracle of Delphos praised as the wisest man of his age, lived in the time of the Peloponnesian war. He, finding the uncertainty of natural philosophy, applied himself wholly to the moral. He was master to Xenophon and Plato, and to many of the Athenian young noblemen; amongst the rest to Alcibiades, the most lovely youth then living; afterwards a famous captain, whose life is written by Plutarch.

Note II.

_Tell me, thou pupil to great Pericles,
Our second hope, my Alcibiades._--P. 243.

Pericles was tutor, or rather overseer, of the will of Clinias, father to Alcibiades. While Pericles lived, who was a wise man, and an excellent orator, as well as a great general, the Athenians had the better of the war.

Note III.

_Can'st punish crimes._--P. 244.

That is, by death. When the judges would condemn a malefactor, they cast their votes into an urn; as, according to the modern custom, a balloting-box. If the suffrages were marked with #Theta#, they signified the sentence of death to the offender; as being the first letter of #Thanatos#, which, in English, is death.

Note IV.

_Drink hellebore._--P. 244.

The poet would say, that such an ignorant young man, as he here describes, is fitter to be governed himself than to govern others. He therefore advises him to drink hellebore, which purges the brain.

Note V.

_Say, dost thou know Vectidius?_--P. 245.

The name of Vectidius is here used appellatively, to signify any rich covetous man, though perhaps there might be a man of that name then living. I have translated this passage paraphrastically, and loosely; and leave it for those to look on, who are not unlike the picture.

Note VI.

_When he should thanks to Pan and Pales pay,
And better Ceres._--P. 245.

Pan, the god of shepherds, and Pales, the goddess presiding over rural affairs; whom Virgil invocates in the beginning of his second Georgic. I give the epithet of _better_ to Ceres, because she first taught the use of corn for bread, as the poets tell us; men, in the first rude ages, feeding only on acorns, or mast, instead of bread.

Note VII.

_Not five, the strongest that the Circus breeds._--P. 246.

The learned Holyday (who has made us amends for his bad poetry in this and the rest of these satires, with his excellent illustrations), here tells us, from good authority, that the number five does not allude to the five fingers of one man, but to five strong men, such as were skilful in the five robust exercises then in practice at Rome, and were performed in the circus, or public place ordained for them. These five he reckons up in this manner: 1. The Cæstus, or Whirlbatts, described by Virgil in his fifth Æneid; and this was the most dangerous of all the rest. The 2d was the foot-race. The 3d, the discus; like the throwing a weighty ball; a sport now used in Cornwall, and other parts of England; we may see it daily practised in Red-Lyon Fields. The 4th, was the Saltus, or Leaping; and the 5th, wrestling naked, and besmeared with oil. They who practised in these five manly exercises were called #Pentathloi#.

Note VIII.

_If, with thy guards, thou scour'st the streets by night,
And dost in murders, rapes, and spoils, delight._--P. 247.

Persius durst not have been so bold with Nero as I dare now; and therefore there is only an intimation of that in him which I publicly speak: I mean, of Nero's walking the streets by night in disguise, and committing all sorts of outrages, for which he was sometimes well beaten.

Note IX.

_Not what thou dost appear,
But what thou art, and find the beggar there._--P. 247.

Look into thyself, and examine thy own conscience; there thou shalt find, that, how wealthy soever thou appearest to the world, yet thou art but a beggar; because thou art destitute of all virtues, which are the riches of the soul. This also was a paradox of the Stoic school.

THE

FIFTH SATIRE

OF

PERSIUS.

INSCRIBED TO

THE REV. DR BUSBY.

THE SPEAKERS

PERSIUS AND CORNUTUS.

THE ARGUMENT.

_The judicious Casaubon, in his proem to this Satire, tells
us, that Aristophanes, the grammarian, being asked, what
poem of Archilochus' Iambics he preferred before the rest;
answered, the longest. His answer may justly be applied
to this Fifth Satire; which, being of a greater length
than any of the rest, is also by far the most instructive.
For this reason I have selected it from all the others,
and inscribed it to my learned master, Dr Busby; to whom
I am not only obliged myself for the best part of my own
education, and that of my two sons; but have also received
from him the first and truest taste of Persius. May he be
pleased to find, in this translation, the gratitude, or at
least some small acknowledgment, of his unworthy scholar,
at the distance of forty-two years from the time when I
departed from under his tuition. This Satire consists of
two distinct parts: The first contains the praises of
the stoic philosopher, Cornutus, master and tutor to our
Persius; it also declares the love and piety of Persius to
his well-deserving master; and the mutual friendship which
continued betwixt them, after Persius was now grown a man;
as also his exhortation to young noblemen, that they would
enter themselves into his institution. From hence he makes
an artful transition into the second part of his subject;
wherein he first complains of the sloth of scholars, and
afterwards persuades them to the pursuit of their true
liberty. Here our author excellently treats that paradox of
the Stoics, which affirms, that the wise or virtuous man is
only free, and that all vicious men are naturally slaves;
and, in the illustration of this dogma, he takes up the
remaining part of this inimitable Satire._

PERSIUS.

Of ancient use to poets it belongs,
To wish themselves an hundred mouths and tongues:
Whether to the well-lunged tragedian's rage
They recommend their labours of the stage,
Or sing the Parthian, when transfixed he lies,
Wrenching the Roman javelin from his thighs.

CORNUTUS.

And why would'st thou these mighty morsels chuse,
Of words unchewed, and fit to choke the muse?
Let fustian poets with their stuff begone,
And suck the mists that hang o'er Helicon;
When Progne,[229] or Thyestes'[230] feast they write;
And, for the mouthing actor, verse indite.
Thou neither like a bellows swell'st thy face,
As if thou wert to blow the burning mass
Of melting ore; nor canst thou strain thy throat,
Or murmur in an undistinguished note,
Like rolling thunder, till it breaks the cloud,
And rattling nonsense is discharged aloud.
Soft elocution does thy style renown,
And the sweet accents of the peaceful gown:
Gentle or sharp, according to thy choice,
To laugh at follies, or to lash at vice.
Hence draw thy theme, and to the stage permit
Raw-head and bloody-bones, and hands and feet,
Ragouts for Tereus or Thyestes drest;
'Tis task enough for thee t' expose a Roman feast.

PERSIUS.

'Tis not, indeed, my talent to engage
In lofty trifles, or to swell my page
With wind and noise; but freely to impart,
As to a friend, the secrets of my heart,
And, in familiar speech, to let thee know
How much I love thee, and how much I owe.
Knock on my heart; for thou hast skill to find }
If it sound solid, or be filled with wind; }
And, through the veil of words, thou view'st the naked mind. }
For this a hundred voices I desire,
To tell thee what an hundred tongues would tire,
Yet never could be worthily exprest,--
How deeply thou art seated in my breast.
When first my childish robe[231] resigned the charge,
And left me, unconfined, to live at large;
When now my golden bulla (hung on high }
To household gods) declared me past a boy, }
And my white shield proclaimed my liberty;[232] }
When, with my wild companions, I could roll
From street to street, and sin without controul;
Just at that age, when manhood set me free,
I then deposed myself, and left the reins to thee;
On thy wise bosom I reposed my head,
And by my better Socrates was bred.[233]
Then thy straight rule set virtue in my sight,
The crooked line reforming by the right.
My reason took the bent of thy command,
Was formed and polished by thy skilful hand;
Long summer-days thy precepts I rehearse,
And winter-nights were short in our converse;
One was our labour, one was our repose,
One frugal supper did our studies close.
Sure on our birth some friendly planet shone;
And, as our souls, our horoscope[234] was one:
Whether the mounting Twins[235] did heaven adorn,
Or with the rising Balance[236] we were born;
Both have the same impressions from above.
And both have Saturn's rage, repelled by Jove.[237]
What star I know not, but some star, I find,
Has given thee an ascendant o'er my mind.

CORNUTUS.

Nature is ever various in her frame;
Each has a different will, and few the same.
The greedy merchants, led by lucre, run
To the parched Indies, and the rising sun;
From thence hot pepper and rich drugs they bear,
Bartering for spices their Italian ware;
The lazy glutton, safe at home, will keep,
Indulge his sloth, and batten with his sleep:
One bribes for high preferments in the state;
A second shakes the box, and sits up late;
Another shakes the bed, dissolving there,
Till knots upon his gouty joints appear,
And chalk is in his crippled fingers found;
Rots, like a doddered oak, and piecemeal falls to ground;
Then his lewd follies he would late repent,
And his past years, that in a mist were spent.

PERSIUS.

But thou art pale in nightly studies grown,
To make the Stoic institutes thy own:[238]
Thou long, with studious care, hast tilled our youth,
And sown our well-purged ears with wholesome truth.
From thee both old and young with profit learn }
The bounds of good and evil to discern. }

CORNUTUS.

Unhappy he who does this work adjourn, }
And to to-morrow would the search delay;
His lazy morrow will be like to-day.

PERSIUS.

But is one day of ease too much to borrow?

CORNUTUS.

Yes, sure; for yesterday was once to-morrow.
That yesterday is gone, and nothing gained,
And all thy fruitless days will thus be drained;
For thou hast more to-morrows yet to ask,
And wilt be ever to begin thy task;
Who, like the hindmost chariot-wheels, art curst,
Still to be near, but ne'er to reach the first.
O freedom, first delight of human kind!
Not that which bondmen from their masters find,
The privilege of doles;[239] nor yet to inscribe
Their names in this or t'other Roman tribe;[240]
That false enfranchisement with ease is found,
Slaves are made citizens by turning round.[241]
How, replies one, can any be more free?
Here's Dama, once a groom of low degree,
Not worth a farthing, and a sot beside,
So true a rogue, for lying's sake he lied;
But, with a turn, a freeman he became,
Now Marcus Dama is his worship's name.[242]
Good gods! who would refuse to lend a sum,
If wealthy Marcus surety will become!
Marcus is made a judge, and for a proof
Of certain truth, "He said it," is enough.
A will is to be proved;--put in your claim;--
'Tis clear, if Marcus has subscribed his name.[243]
This is true liberty, as I believe; }
What farther can we from our caps receive, }
Than as we please without controul to live?[244] }
Not more to noble Brutus[245] could belong.
Hold, says the Stoic, your assumption's wrong:
I grant true freedom you have well defined: }
But, living as you list, and to your mind, }
Are loosely tacked, and must be left behind.-- }
What! since the prætor did my fetters loose,
And left me freely at my own dispose,
May I not live without controul or awe,
Excepting still the letter of the law?--[246]
Hear me with patience, while thy mind I free
From those fond notions of false liberty:
'Tis not the prætor's province to bestow }
True freedom; nor to teach mankind to know }
What to ourselves, or to our friends, we owe. }
He could not set thee free from cares and strife,
Nor give the reins to a lewd vicious life:
As well he for an ass a harp might string,
Which is against the reason of the thing;
For reason still is whispering in your ear,
Where you are sure to fail, the attempt forbear.
No need of public sanctions this to bind, }
Which nature has implanted in the mind,-- }
Not to pursue the work, to which we're not designed. }
Unskilled in hellebore, if thou should'st try }
To mix it, and mistake the quantity, }
The rules of physic would against thee cry. }
The high-shoe'd ploughman, should he quit the land, }
To take the pilot's rudder in his hand, }
Artless of stars, and of the moving sand, }
No need of public sanctions this to bind, }
Which nature has implanted in the mind,-- }
Not to pursue the work, to which we're not designed. }
Unskilled in hellebore, if thou should'st try }
To mix it, and mistake the quantity, }
The rules of physic would against thee cry. }
The high-shoe'd ploughman, should he quit the land, }
To take the pilot's rudder in his hand, }
Artless of stars, and of the moving sand, }
The gods would leave him to the waves and wind,
And think all shame was lost in human kind.
Tell me, my friend, from whence had'st thou the skill,
So nicely to distinguish good from ill?
Or by the sound to judge of gold and brass,
What piece is tinkers' metal, what will pass?
And what thou art to follow, what to fly,
This to condemn, and that to ratify?
When to be bountiful, and when to spare,
But never craving, or oppressed with care?
The baits of gifts, and money to despise,
And look on wealth with undesiring eyes?
When thou canst truly call these virtues thine,
Be wise and free, by heaven's consent and mine.
But thou, who lately of the common strain
Wert one of us, if still thou dost retain
The same ill habits, the same follies too,
Glossed over only with a saint-like show,
Then I resume the freedom which I gave;
Still thou art bound to vice, and still a slave.
Thou canst not wag thy finger, or begin
"The least light motion, but it tends to sin."
How's this? Not wag my finger, he replies? }
No, friend; nor fuming gums, nor sacrifice, }
Can ever make a madman free, or wise. }
"Virtue and vice are never in one soul;
A man is wholly wise, or wholly is a fool."[247]
A heavy bumpkin, taught with daily care,
Can never dance three steps with a becoming air.

PERSIUS.

In spite of this, my freedom still remains.

CORNUTUS.

Free! what, and fettered with so many chains?
Canst thou no other master understand
Than him that freed thee by the prætor's wand?[248]
Should he, who was thy lord, command thee now,
With a harsh voice, and supercilious brow,
To servile duties, thou would'st fear no more;
The gallows and the whip are out of door.
But if thy passions lord it in thy breast,
Art thou not still a slave, and still opprest?
Whether alone, or in thy harlot's lap,
When thou would'st take a lazy morning's nap,
Up, up, says Avarice;--thou snor'st again,
Stretchest thy limbs, and yawn'st, but all in vain;
The tyrant Lucre no denial takes;
At his command the unwilling sluggard wakes.
What must I do? he cries:--What? says his lord;
Why rise, make ready, and go straight aboard;
With fish, from Euxine seas, thy vessel freight;
Flax, castor, Coan wines, the precious weight
Of pepper, and Sabæan incense, take, }
With thy own hands, from the tired camel's back, }
And with post haste thy running markets make. }
Be sure to turn the penny; lie and swear,
'Tis wholesome sin:--but Jove, thou say'st, will hear:--
Swear, fool, or starve; for the dilemma's even:
A tradesman thou, and hope to go to heaven!
Resolved for sea, the slaves thy baggage pack,
Each saddled with his burden on his back;
Nothing retards thy voyage now, unless
Thy other lord forbids, Voluptuousness:
And he may ask this civil question,--Friend,
What dost thou make a shipboard? to what end?
Art thou of Bethlem's noble college free,
Stark, staring mad, that thou would'st tempt the sea?
Cubbed in a cabin, on a mattress laid,
On a brown george, with lousy swobbers fed,
Dead wine, that stinks of the borrachio, sup
From a foul jack,[249] or greasy maple-cup?
Say, would'st thou bear all this, to raise thy store
From six i'the hundred, to six hundred more?
Indulge, and to thy genius freely give;
For, not to live at ease, is not to live;
Death stalks behind thee, and each flying hour
Does some loose remnant of thy life devour.
Live, while thou liv'st; for death will make us all
A name, a nothing but an old wife's tale.
Speak; wilt thou Avarice, or Pleasure, chuse
To be thy lord? Take one, and one refuse.
But both by turns the rule of thee will have,
And thou betwixt them both wilt be a slave.
Nor think when once thou hast resisted one,
That all thy marks of servitude are gone:
The struggling grey-hound gnaws his leash in vain;
If, when 'tis broken, still he drags the chain.
Says Phædria to his man,[250] Believe me, friend,
To this uneasy love I'll put an end:
Shall I run out of all? My friends' disgrace,
And be the first lewd unthrift of my race?
Shall I the neighbours nightly rest invade
At her deaf doors, with some vile serenade?--
Well hast thou freed thyself, his man replies,
Go, thank the gods, and offer sacrifice.--
Ah, says the youth, if we unkindly part,
Will not the poor fond creature break her heart?--
Weak soul! and blindly to destruction led!
She break her heart! she'll sooner break your head.
She knows her man, and when you rant and swear,
Can draw you to her with a single hair.--
But shall I not return? Now, when she sues!
Shall I my own and her desires refuse?--
Sir, take your course; but my advice is plain:
Once freed, 'tis madness to resume your chain.
Ay; there's the man, who, loosed from lust and pelf,
Less to the prætor owes than to himself.
But write him down a slave, who, humbly proud,
With presents begs preferments from the crowd;[251]
That early suppliant, who salutes the tribes,
And sets the mob to scramble for his bribes,
That some old dotard, sitting in the sun,
On holidays may tell, that such a feat was done:
In future times this will be counted rare.
Thy superstition too may claim a share:
When flowers are strewed, and lamps in order placed,
And windows with illuminations graced,
On Herod's day;[252] when sparkling bowls go round,
And tunny's tails in savoury sauce are drowned,
Thou mutter'st prayers obscene; nor dost refuse
The fasts and sabbaths of the curtailed Jews.
Then a cracked egg-shell thy sick fancy frights,[253]
Besides the childish fear of walking sprites.
Of o'ergrown gelding priests thou art afraid;
The timbrel, and the squintifego maid
Of Isis, awe thee; lest the gods for sin,
Should with a swelling dropsy stuff thy skin:
Unless three garlic heads the curse avert,
Eaten each morn devoutly next thy heart.
Preach this among the brawny guards, say'st thou,
And see if they thy doctrine will allow:
The dull, fat captain, with a hound's deep throat,
Would bellow out a laugh in a bass note,
And prize a hundred Zeno's just as much
As a clipt sixpence, or a schilling Dutch.

FOOTNOTES:

[229] Note I.

[230] Note II.

[231] Note III.

[232] Note IV.

[233] Note V.

[234] Note VI.

[235] Gemini.

[236] Libra.

[237] Note VII.

[238] Note VIII.

[239] Note IX.

[240] Note X.

[241] Note XI.

[242] Note XII.

[243] Note XIII.

[244] Note XIV.

[245] Note XV.

[246] Note XVI.

[247] Note XVII.

[248] Note XVIII.

[249] A leathern pitcher, called a black jack, used by our homely ancestors for quaffing their ale. E.

[250] Note XIX.

[251] Note XX.

[252] Note XXI.

[253] Note XXII.

NOTES

ON

TRANSLATIONS FROM PERSIUS.

SATIRE V.

Note I.

_Progne._--P. 252.

Progne was wife to Tereus, king of Thracia. Tereus fell in love with Philomela, sister to Progne, ravished her, and cut out her tongue; in revenge of which, Progne killed Itys, her own son by Tereus, and served him up at a feast, to be eaten by his father.

Note II.

_Thyestes._--P. 252.

Thyestes and Atreus were brothers, both kings. Atreus, to revenge himself of his unnatural brother, killed the sons of Thyestes, and invited him to eat them.

Note III.

_When first my childish robe resigned the charge._--P. 253.

By the childish robe, is meant the Proetexta, or first gowns which the Roman children of quality wore. These were welted with purple; and on those welts were fastened the bullæ, or little bells; which, when they came to the age of puberty, were hung up, and consecrated to the Lares, or Household Gods.

Note IV.

_And my white shield proclaimed my liberty._--P. 253.

The first shields which the Roman youths wore were white, and without any impress or device on them, to shew they had yet achieved nothing in the wars.

Note V.

_And by my better Socrates was bred._--P. 253.

Socrates, by the oracle, was declared to be the wisest of mankind: he instructed many of the Athenian young noblemen in morality, and amongst the rest Alcibiades.

Note VI.

_Sure on our birth some friendly planet shone;
And, as our souls, our horoscope was one._--P. 254.

Astrologers divide the heaven into twelve parts, according to the number of the twelve signs of the zodiac. The sign, or constellation, which rises in the east at the birth of any man, is called the Ascendant: Persius therefore judges, that Cornutus and he had the same, or a like nativity.

Note VII.

_And both have Saturn's rage, repelled by Jove._--P. 254.

Astrologers have an axiom, that whatsoever Saturn ties is loosed by Jupiter. They account Saturn to be a planet of a malevolent nature, and Jupiter of a propitious influence.

Note VIII.

_The Stoic institutes._--P. 255.

Zeno was the great master of the Stoic philosophy; and Cleanthes was second to him in reputation. Cornutus, who was master or tutor to Persius, was of the same school.

Note IX.

_Not that which bondmen from their masters find,
The privilege of doles._--P. 255.

When a slave was made free, he had the privilege of a Roman born, which was to have a share in the donatives, or doles of bread, &c. which were distributed by the magistrates among the people.

Note X.

----_Nor yet to inscribe
Their names in this or t'other Roman tribe._--P. 255.

The Roman people was distributed into several tribes. He who was made free was enrolled into some one of them; and thereupon enjoyed the common privileges of a Roman citizen.

Note XI.

_Slaves are made citizens by turning round._--P. 255.

The master, who intended to enfranchize a slave, carried him before the city prætor, and turned him round, using these words, "I will that this man be free."

Note XII.

_Now Marcus Dama is his worship's name._--P. 256.

Slaves had only one name before their freedom; after it they were admitted to a prænomen, like our christened names: so Dama is now called Marcus Dama.

Note XIII.

_A will is to be proved;--put in your claim;--
'Tis clear, if Marcus has subscribed his name._--P. 256.

At the proof of a testament, the magistrates were to subscribe their names, as allowing the legality of the will.

Note XIV.

_What farther can we from our caps receive,
Than as we please without controul to live._--P. 256.

Slaves, when they were set free, had a cap given them, in sign of their liberty.

Note XV.

_Noble Brutus._--P. 256.

Brutus freed the Roman people from the tyranny of the Tarquins, and changed the form of the government into a glorious commonwealth.

Note XVI.

_Excepting still the letter of the law._--P. 256.

The text of the Roman laws was written in red letters, which was called the Rubric; translated here, in more general words, "The letter of the law."

Note XVII.

_Virtue and vice are never in one soul;
A man is wholly wise, or wholly is a fool._--P. 257.

The Stoics held this paradox, that any one vice, or notorious folly, which they called madness, hindered a man from being virtuous; that a man was of a piece, without a mixture, either wholly vicious, or good; one virtue or vice, according to them, including all the rest.

Note XVIII.

----_Him that freed thee by the prætor's wand._--P. 258.

The prætor held a wand in his hand, with which he softly struck the slave on the head, when he declared him free.

Note XIX.

----_Says Phædria to his man._--P. 259.

This alludes to the play of Terence, called "The Eunuch;" which was excellently imitated of late in English, by Sir Charles Sedley.[254] In the first scene of that comedy, Phædria was introduced with his man, Pamphilus, discoursing, whether he should leave his mistress Thais, or return to her, now that she had invited him.

Note XX.

_But write him down a slave, who, humbly proud,
With presents begs preferments from the crowd._--P. 260.

He who sued for any office amongst the Romans, was called a candidate, because he wore a white gown; and sometimes chalked it, to make it appear whiter. He rose early, and went to the levees of those who headed the people; saluted also the tribes severally, when they were gathered together to chuse their magistrates; and distributed a largess amongst them, to engage them for their voices; much resembling our elections of Parliamentmen.

Note XXI.

----_On Herod's day._--P. 260.

The commentators are divided what Herod this was, whom our author mentions; whether Herod the Great, whose birth-day might possibly be celebrated, after his death, by the Herodians, a sect amongst the Jews, who thought him their Messiah; or Herod Agrippa, living in the author's time, and after it. The latter seems the more probable opinion.

Note XXII.

_Then a cracked egg-shell thy sick fancy frights._--P. 260.

The ancients had a superstition, contrary to ours, concerning egg-shells: they thought, that if an egg-shell were cracked, or a hole bored in the bottom of it, they were subject to the power of sorcery. We as vainly break the bottom of an egg-shell, and cross it when we have eaten the egg, lest some hag should make use of it in bewitching us, or sailing over the sea in it, if it were whole. The rest of the priests of Isis, and her one-eyed or squinting priestess, is more largely treated in the sixth satire of Juvenal, where the superstitions of women are related.

FOOTNOTES:

[254] In the play called "Bellamira, or the Mistress."

THE

SIXTH SATIRE

OF

PERSIUS.

TO

CÆSIUS BASSUS,

A LYRIC POET.

THE ARGUMENT.

_This Sixth Satire treats an admirable common-place of moral
philosophy, of the true use of riches. They are certainly
intended by the Power who bestows them, as instruments
and helps of living commodiously ourselves; and of
administering to the wants of others, who are oppressed
by fortune. There are two extremes in the opinions of men
concerning them. One error, though on the right hand,
yet a great one, is, that they are no helps to a virtuous
life; the other places all our happiness in the acquisition
and possession of them; and this is undoubtedly the worse
extreme. The mean betwixt these, is the opinion of the
Stoics, which is, that riches may be useful to the leading
a virtuous life; in case we rightly understand how to give
according to right reason, and how to receive what is
given us by others. The virtue of giving well, is called
liberality; and it is of this virtue that Persius writes
in this satire, wherein he not only shows the lawful use
of riches, but also sharply inveighs against the vices
which are opposed to it; and especially of those, which
consist in the defects of giving, or spending, or in the
abuse of riches. He writes to Cæsius Bassus, his friend,
and a poet also. Enquires first of his health and studies;
and afterwards informs him of his own, and where he is
now resident. He gives an account of himself, that he is
endeavouring, by little and little, to wear off his vices;
and, particularly, that he is combating ambition, and the
desire of wealth. He dwells upon the latter vice; and being
sensible, that few men either desire, or use, riches as
they ought, he endeavours to convince them of their folly,
which is the main design of the whole satire._

Has winter caused thee, friend, to change thy seat,[255]
And seek in Sabine air a warm retreat?
Say, dost thou yet the Roman harp command?
Do the strings answer to thy noble hand?
Great master of the muse, inspired to sing
The beauties of the first created spring;
The pedigree of nature to rehearse,
And sound the Maker's work, in equal verse;
Now sporting on thy lyre the loves of youth,[256]
Now virtuous age, and venerable truth;
Expressing justly Sappho's wanton art
Of odes, and Pindar's more majestic part.
For me, my warmer constitution wants
More cold, than our Ligurian winter grants;
And therefore to my native shores retired,
I view the coast old Ennius once admired;
Where clifts on either side their points display, }
And, after opening in an ampler way, }
Afford the pleasing prospect of the bay. }
'Tis worth your while, O Romans, to regard
The port of Luna, says our learned bard;
Who in a drunken dream beheld his soul
The fifth within the transmigrating roll;[257]
Which first a peacock, then Euphorbus was, }
Then Homer next, and next Pythagoras; }
And, last of all the line, did into Ennius pass. }
Secure and free from business of the state,
And more secure of what the vulgar prate,
Here I enjoy my private thoughts, nor care
What rots for sheep the southern winds prepare;
Survey the neighbouring fields, and not repine,
When I behold a larger crop than mine:
To see a beggar's brat in riches flow,
Adds not a wrinkle to my even brow;
Nor, envious at the sight, will I forbear
My plenteous bowl, nor bate my bounteous cheer;
Nor yet unseal the dregs of wine that stink
Of cask, nor in a nasty flaggon drink;
Let others stuff their guts with homely fare, }
For men of different inclinations are, }
Though born perhaps beneath one common star. }
In minds and manners twins opposed we see
In the same sign, almost the same degree:
One, frugal, on his birth-day fears to dine, }
Does at a penny's cost in herbs repine, }
And hardly dares to dip his fingers in the brine; }
Prepared as priest of his own rites to stand,
He sprinkles pepper with a sparing hand.
His jolly brother, opposite in sense, }
Laughs at his thrift; and, lavish of expence, }
Quaffs, crams, and guttles, in his own defence. }
For me, I'll use my own, and take my share,
Yet will not turbots for my slaves prepare;
Nor be so nice in taste myself to know
If what I swallow be a thrush, or no.
Live on thy annual income, spend thy store, }
And freely grind from thy full threshing floor; }
Next harvest promises as much, or more. }
Thus I would live; but friendship's holy band, }
And offices of kindness, hold my hand: }
My friend is shipwrecked on the Brutian strand,[258] }
His riches in the Ionian main are lost,
And he himself stands shivering on the coast;
Where, destitute of help, forlorn and bare,
He wearies the deaf gods with fruitless prayer.
Their images, the relics of the wreck,
Torn from the naked poop, are tided back
By the wild waves, and, rudely thrown ashore,
Lie impotent, nor can themselves restore;
The vessel sticks, and shews her opened side,
And on her shattered mast the mews in triumph ride.
From thy new hope, and from thy growing store,
Now lend assistance, and relieve the poor;[259]
Come, do a noble act of charity,
A pittance of thy land will set him free.
Let him not bear the badges of a wreck,
Nor beg with a blue table on his back;[260]
Nor tell me, that thy frowning heir will say,
'Tis mine that wealth thou squander'st thus away:
What is't to thee, if he neglect thy urn?
Or without spices lets thy body burn?[261]
If odours to thy ashes he refuse,
Or buys corrupted cassia from the Jews?
All these, the wiser Bestius will reply,
Are empty pomp, and dead-men's luxury:
We never knew this vain expence before
The effeminated Grecians brought it o'er:
Now toys and trifles from their Athens come,
And dates and pepper have unsinewed Rome.
Our sweating hinds their sallads now defile,
Infecting homely herbs with fragrant oil.
But to thy fortune be not thou a slave;
For what hast thou to fear beyond the grave?
And thou, who gap'st for my estate, draw near;
For I would whisper somewhat in thy ear.
Hear'st thou the news, my friend? the express is come,
With laurelled letters, from the camp to Rome:
Cæsar salutes the queen and senate thus:--
My arms are on the Rhine victorious.[262]
From mourning altars sweep the dust away,
Cease fasting, and proclaim a fat thanksgiving-day.
The goodly empress,[263] jollily inclined,
Is to the welcome bearer wonderous kind;
And, setting her good housewifery aside,
Prepares for all the pageantry of pride.
The captive Germans, of gigantic size,[264]
Are ranked in order, and are clad in frize:
The spoils of kings, and conquered camps we boast,
Their arms in trophies hang on the triumphal post.
Now for so many glorious actions done
In foreign parts, and mighty battles won;
For peace at home, and for the public wealth,
I mean to crown a bowl to Cæsar's health.
Besides, in gratitude for such high matters,
Know I have vowed two hundred gladiators.[265]
Say, would'st thou hinder me from this expence?
I disinherit thee, if thou dar'st take offence.
Yet more, a public largess I design
Of oil and pies, to make the people dine;
Controul me not, for fear I change my will.
And yet methinks I hear thee grumbling still,--
You give as if you were the Persian king;
Your land does not so large revenues bring.
Well, on my terms thou wilt not be my heir?
If thou car'st little, less shall be my care.
Were none of all my father's sisters left;
Nay, were I of my mother's kin bereft;
None by an uncle's or a grandame's side,
Yet I could some adopted heir provide.
I need but take my journey half a day }
From haughty Rome, and at Aricia stay, }
Where fortune throws poor Manius in my way. }
Him will I choose:--What him, of humble birth,
Obscure, a foundling, and a son of earth--
Obscure! Why, pr'ythee, what am I? I know
My father, grandsire, and great-grandsire too:
If farther I derive my pedigree,
I can but guess beyond the fourth degree.
The rest of my forgotten ancestors
Were sons of earth, like him, or sons of whores.
Yet why should'st thou, old covetous wretch, aspire
To be my heir, who might'st have been my sire?
In nature's race, should'st thou demand of me
My torch, when I in course run after thee?[266]
Think I approach thee, like the god of gain,
With wings on head and heels, as poets feign:
Thy moderate fortune from my gift receive;
Now fairly take it, or as fairly leave.
But take it as it is, and ask no more--
What, when thou hast embezzled all thy store?
Where's all thy father left?--'Tis true, I grant,
Some I have mortgaged to supply my want:
The legacies of Tadius too are flown,
All spent, and on the self-same errand gone.--
How little then to my poor share will fall!--
Little indeed; but yet that little's all.
Nor tell me, in a dying father's tone,--
Be careful still of the main chance, my son;
Put out thy principal in trusty hands,
Live on the use, and never dip thy lands:
But yet what's left for me?--What's left, my friend!
Ask that again, and all the rest I spend.
Is not my fortune at my own command?
Pour oil, and pour it with a plenteous hand
Upon my sallads, boy: shall I be fed
With sodden nettles, and a singed sow's head?
'Tis holiday, provide me better cheer;
'Tis holiday, and shall be round the year.
Shall I my household gods and genius cheat,
To make him rich, who grudges me my meat,
That he may loll at ease, and, pampered high,
When I am laid, may feed on giblet-pie,
And, when his throbbing lust extends the vein,
Have wherewithal his whores to entertain?
Shall I in homespun cloth be clad, that he
His paunch in triumph may before him see?
Go, miser, go; for lucre sell thy soul;
Truck wares for wares, and trudge from pole to pole,
That men may say, when thou art dead and gone,
See what a vast estate he left his son!
How large a family of brawny knaves,
Well fed, and fat as Cappadocian slaves![267]
Increase thy wealth, and double all thy store; }
'Tis done; now double that, and swell the score; }
To every thousand add ten thousand more. }
Then say, Chrysippus,[268] thou who would'st confine
Thy heap, where I shall put an end to mine.

FOOTNOTES:

[255] Note I.

[256] Note II.

[257] Note III.

[258] Note IV.

[259] Note V.

[260] Note VI.

[261] Note VII.

[262] Note VIII.

[263] Note IX.

[264] Note X.

[265] Note XI.

[266] Note XII.

[267] Note XIII.

[268] Note XIV.

NOTES

ON

TRANSLATIONS FROM PERSIUS.

SATIRE VI.

Note I.

_Has winter caused thee, friend, to change thy seat,
And seek in Sabine air a warm retreat._--P. 268.

All the studious, and particularly the poets, about the end of August, began to set themselves on work, refraining from writing during the heats of the summer. They wrote by night, and sat up the greatest part of it; for which reason the product of their studies was called their elucubrations, or nightly labours. They who had country-seats retired to them while they studied, as Persius did to his, which was near the port of the Moon in Etruria; and Bassus to his, which was in the country of the Sabines, nearer Rome.

Note II.

_Now sporting on thy lyre the loves of youth._--P. 268.

This proves Cæsius Bassus to have been a lyric poet. It is said of him, that by an eruption of the flaming mountain Vesuvius, near which the greatest part of his fortune lay, he was burnt himself, together with all his writings.

Note III.

_Who in a drunken dream beheld his soul
The fifth within the transmigrating roll._--P. 269.

I call it a drunken dream of Ennius; not that my author, in this place, gives me any encouragement for the epithet, but because Horace, and all who mention Ennius, say he was an excessive drinker of wine. In a dream, or vision, call you it which you please, he thought it was revealed to him, that the soul of Pythagoras was transmigrated into him; as Pythagoras before him believed, that himself had been Euphorbus in the wars of Troy. Commentators differ in placing the order of this soul, and who had it first. I have here given it to the peacock; because it looks more according to the order of nature, that it should lodge in a creature of an inferior species, and so by gradation rise to the informing of a man. And Persius favours me, by saying, that Ennius was the fifth from the Pythagorean peacock.

Note IV.

_My friend is shipwrecked on the Brutian strand._--P. 270.

Perhaps this is only a fine transition of the poet, to introduce the business of the satire; and not that any such accident had happened to one of the friends of Persius. But, however, this is the most poetical description of any in our author; and since he and Lucan were so great friends, I know not but Lucan might help him in two or three of these verses, which seem to be written in his style; certain it is, that besides this description of a shipwreck, and two lines more, which are at the end of the second satire, our poet has written nothing elegantly. I will, therefore, transcribe both the passages, to justify my opinion. The following are the last verses, saving one, of the second satire:

_Compositum jus, fasque animi; sanctosque recessus
Mentis, et incoctum generoso pectus honesto._

The others are those in this present satire, which are subjoined:

----_trabe rupta, Bruttia Saxa
Prendit amicus inops, remque omnem, surdaque vota
Condidit Ionio: jacet ipse in littore; et una
Ingentes de puppe Dei: jamque obvia mergis
Costa ratis laceræ._----

Note V.

_From thy new hope, and from thy growing store,
Now lend assistance, and relieve the poor._--P. 270.

The Latin is, _Nunc et de cespite vivo, frange aliquid_. Casaubon only opposes the _cespes vivus_, which, word for word, is the living turf, to the harvest, or annual income; I suppose the poet rather means, sell a piece of land already sown, and give the money of it to my friend, who has lost all by shipwreck; that is, do not stay till thou hast reaped, but help him immediately, as his wants require.

Note VI.

_Nor beg with a blue table on his back._--P. 270.

Holyday translates it a green table: the sense is the same; for the table was painted of the sea-colour, which the shipwrecked person carried on his back, expressing his losses, thereby to excite the charity of the spectators.

Note VII.

_Or without spices lets thy body burn._--P. 270.

The bodies of the rich, before they were burnt, were embalmed with spices; or rather spices were put into the urn with the relics of the ashes. Our author here names cinnamum and cassia, which cassia was sophisticated with cherry-gum, and probably enough by the Jews, who adulterate all things which they sell. But whether the ancients were acquainted with the spices of the Molucca Islands, Ceylon, and other parts of the Indies, or whether their pepper and cinnamon, &c. were the same with ours, is another question. As for nutmegs and mace, it is plain that the Latin names for them are modern.

Note VIII.

_Cæsar salutes the queen and senate thus:--
My arms are on the Rhine victorious._--P. 271.

The Cæsar, here mentioned, is Caius Caligula, who affected to triumph over the Germans, whom he never conquered, as he did over the Britons; and accordingly sent letters, wrapt about with laurels, to the senate and the Empress Cæsonia, whom I here call queen; though I know that name was not used amongst the Romans; but the word empress would not stand in that verse, for which reason I adjourned it to another. The dust, which was to be swept away from the altars, was either the ashes which were left there after the last sacrifice for victory, or might perhaps mean the dust or ashes which were left on the altars since some former defeat of the Romans by the Germans; after which overthrow, the altars had been neglected.

Note IX.

_The goodly empress._--P. 271.

Cæsonia, wife to Caius Caligula, who afterwards, in the reign of Claudius, was proposed, but ineffectually, to be married to him, after he had executed Messalina for adultery.

Note X.

_The captive Germans, of gigantic size,
Are ranked in order, and are clad in frize._--P. 271.

He means only such as were to pass for Germans in the triumph, large-bodied men, as they are still, whom the empress clothed new with coarse garments, for the greater ostentation of the victory.

Note XI.

_Know, I have vowed two hundred gladiators._--P. 271.

A hundred pair of gladiators were beyond the purse of a private man to give; therefore this is only a threatening to his heir, that he could do what he pleased with his estate.

Note XII.

----_Shouldst thou demand of me
My torch, when I in course run after thee._--P. 272.

Why shouldst thou, who art an old fellow, hope to outlive me, and be my heir, who am much younger? He who was first in the course or race, delivered the torch, which he carried, to him who was second.

Note XIII.

_Well fed, and fat as Cappadocian slaves._--P. 273.

Who were famous for their lustiness, and being, as we call it, in good liking. They were set on a stall when they were exposed to sale, to show the good habit of their body; and made to play tricks before the buyers, to show their activity and strength.

Note XIV.

_Then say, Chrysippus._--P. 273.

Chrysippus, the Stoic, invented a kind of argument, consisting of more than three propositions, which is called _sorites_, or a heap. But as Chrysippus could never bring his propositions to a certain stint, so neither can a covetous man bring his craving desires to any certain measure of riches, beyond which he could not wish for any more.

THE

WORKS OF VIRGIL,

TRANSLATED

INTO ENGLISH VERSE.

WORKS OF VIRGIL.