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THE 
 
 SATIRES OF JUVENAL 
 
 LITERALLY TRANSLATED, 
 WITH EXPLANATORY NOTES, 
 
 BY THE 
 
 Rev. lewis EVANS, M.A. 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY 
 
 EDWAKD BROOKS, Jr. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA 
 
 DAVID McKAY, PUBLISHER 
 
 604-8 South Washington Square 
 
Copyright, 1896, by David McEjly. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 In the following pages will be found a translation of The 
 Satires of Juvenal. A " Satire " is a ridiculing speech or 
 essay, and the origin of this term is interesting and 
 worthy of notice. The word ' ' satire ' ' is derived from the 
 Latin satura, meaning rich, abounding, full of variety. 
 Satura was a term applied to the vessel in which the va- 
 rious productions of the soil were offered up to the gods, 
 and thus came to be used for any miscellaneous collection 
 of things. The writings of the early Eoman Satirists 
 necessarily treated of many different subjects and were full 
 of various matters. It was therefore natural to apply the 
 term Satirce to them. By this application, however, the 
 word lost its miscellaneous signification and gradually 
 came to be used as signifying a writing which contained 
 criticism in the garb of ridicule. 
 
 Decimus Junius Juvenalis, the author of the following 
 Satires, was born about 42 A.D., in the reign of the 
 Emperor Claudius. The place of his birth was Aquinum, 
 a small town in the territory of the Volsci. Who his 
 father was is not known, but it is supposed that he was 
 a freedman of considerable wealth, who gave his son a 
 
 (V) 
 
vi 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 liberal education and procured for him the advantages of 
 association with the eminent and distinguished men of 
 the time. 
 
 The materials for a biography of Juvenal are meagre 
 and unsatisfactory, the poet himself having been peculiarly 
 reticent in respect to events relating to his life. About all 
 that is known of him until he reached the age of forty is 
 that he spent much time in perfecting himself in the art 
 of declamation, not so much with the intention of fitting 
 himself for the profession of an advocate, as to conform to 
 the custom of the age and for his own amusement. 
 
 About the age of forty, Juvenal seems to have discovered 
 his true bent. Domitian, who had succeeded his prede- 
 cessor Titus, was in a fair way to revive that system of fa- 
 voritism which had threatened the empire with destruction 
 under Claudius. The object of the emperor's favor was 
 Paris, a young pantomime dancer. Against him were 
 hurled the first shafts of that satire which was destined to 
 make the masters of the world tremble on their thrones and 
 strike at the root of the most powerful vices of the age. 
 
 A few lines were composed on Paris, which were not 
 read in public on account of th^ fear of informers, with 
 which the reign swarmed, but were quietly circulated 
 among the author's friends. These verses having met 
 with much commendation, Juvenal was induced to add to 
 and perhaps entirely re-write the original sketch. 
 
 This composition as revised is now known as the 
 Seventh Satire, and was read in public before a numerous 
 assemblage. Paris, on being informed of this, was greatly 
 incensed and complained to the emperor, who, according 
 to some authorities, punished Juvenal by sending him to 
 
INTRODUCTION, 
 
 vii 
 
 - Egypt with a military command. Other authorities con- 
 tend, that inasmuch as shortly after the pubhcation of 
 these verses, the favorite Paris was disgraced and put to 
 death, it is not likely that the banishment of Juvenal ever 
 took place. 
 
 Certain it is, however, that Juvenal was in Egypt. In 
 95 A. D. Domitian exiled all the philosophers from Italy 
 with many circumstances of cruelty. Juvenal, while 
 strictly speaking, not a philosopher, at all events thought 
 it prudent to withdraw from Italy, and it is quite possible 
 that his visit to Egypt is rightly attributed to this period 
 of his life. 
 
 Two years later Domitian died, and was succeeded by 
 Nerva, who recalled the exiled philosophers. From this 
 time on it is almost certain that Juvenal was in Rome de- 
 voting himself to literary composition, until he died, 
 which was about the year 125 A.D. 
 
 The most celebrated of the Roman writers of Satire 
 were Lucilius, Horace, Persius and Juvenal, who flour- 
 ished in the order named, and of these there can be little 
 doubt that Juvenal possesses the greatest claims to dis- 
 tinction, though whether this is due to the superior 
 quality of his writings, or to the time at which he wrote, 
 is a point on which authorities differ. 
 
 Certain it is that J uvenal wrote at a time well calcu- 
 lated to make him effective as a Satirist. The Emperor 
 Domitian, during whose reign the first Satire was written, 
 seems to have inherited and combined in one human 
 being all the vices of his predecessors. Superior to Tibe- 
 rius in hypocrisy, more bloody than the cruel Caligula, 
 and the equal of Claudius in sottishness, he well merited 
 
viii 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the opprobrious appellation of a "lump of clay kneaded 
 up with blood. " The follies and vices of Eome were per- 
 haps never greater than at this time, and gave abundant 
 opportunity for the exercise of the powers of the Sat- 
 irists. 
 
 A comparison of the writings of these Satirists does 
 not, however, prove that Juvenal's title to superiority is 
 entirely based upon the chance of his having written in 
 the reign of Domitian. 
 
 Of Lucilius too little remains to enable us to form an 
 accurate opinion of the merits of his writings. His style, 
 however, seems to bear upon it the impress of strength 
 rather than delicacy of expression, and his criticisms in 
 many instances seem harsh and violent. 
 
 Horace was gay and lively in his censures, and was un- 
 doubtedly well fitted for the period of which he wrote. 
 One of his chief charms is his frank communicativeness, 
 and the way in which he seems to take his reader into his 
 confidence. His writings, however, lack that energy and 
 force of expression which characterize the Satires of 
 Juvenal. 
 
 Persius was not originally a writer of Satire, and it is 
 possible that he mistook his talents when he applied him- 
 self to this kind of writing. As a moral and philosophi- 
 cal poet, he is entitled to great distinction. In his Satires, 
 however, there is a noticeable lack of that knowledge of 
 human nature with which the writings of both Horace 
 and Juvenal are so replete. 
 
 Juvenal's Satires are characterized by energy of expres- 
 sion, great passion and indignation. His great aim was 
 to strike terror to the hearts of the vicious, and to uproot 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ix 
 
 vice from the hold which it had obtained in the empire. 
 That greater success did not attend his efforts is due to 
 the fact that the times demanded the severity of the exe- 
 cutioner rather than the censor. One of the greatest 
 charms of Juvenal, and possibly that which has been 
 largely instrumental in obtaining for him the title of the 
 greatest of the Roman Satirists, is that in depicting 
 character and in terms of expression he is essentially 
 modern. 
 
 To the charge of indecency, which is sometimes brought 
 against him, it may be said that there are other Latin 
 authors who are equally guilty in this respect, and that 
 Juvenal wrote with the purpose of denouncing vices and 
 indecencies of conduct such as had probably never been 
 known or thought of by other writers. 
 1« 
 
JUVENAL'S SATIRES. 
 
 SATIRE I. 
 
 ARGUMENT, 
 
 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 Sat- 
 ire. After exposing the corruption of men, the profligacy of women, 
 the luxury of courtiers, the baseness of informers and fortune-hun- 
 ters, the treachery of guardians, and the peculation of officers of 
 state, he censures the general passion for gambling, the servile ra- 
 pacity 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. 
 
 Must I always be a hearer only ? Shall I never retaliate, ^ 
 though plagued so often with the Theseid of Codrus, ^ hoarse 
 with reciting it f Shall one man, then, recite^ to me his Come- 
 dies, and another his Elegies, with impunity? Shall huge 
 
 1 Eeponam, '* repay in kind." A metaphor taken from the payment 
 of debts. 
 
 2 Codrus : a poor poet in every sense, if, as some think, he is the 
 same as the Codrus mentioned iii., 203. 
 
 ^ Eecitaverit. For the custom of Roman writers to recite their com- 
 positions in public, cf Sat. vii., 40, 83 ; iii., 9. Plin., 1, Ep. xiii., que- 
 ritur se diem perdidisse." Togata is a comedy on a Roman subject; 
 Prsetexta, a tragedy on the same ; Elegi, trifling love-songs. 
 
12 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 **Telephus" waste a whole day for me, or Orestes," with 
 the margin of the manuscript full to the very edge, and writ- 
 ten on the back too,^ and yet not finished, and I not retort? 
 
 No one knows his own house better than I do the grove of 
 Jlars, and Vulcan's cave close to the ^olian rocks. The 
 agency of the winds, what ghosts ^acus is torturing, 
 whence another bears off the gold^ of the stolen fleece, what 
 huge mountain -ashes Monychus hurls, all this the plane- 
 groves of Fronto,'^ 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.^ 
 I too have given advice to Sylla, that he should enjoy a 
 sound sleep by returning to a private station.* 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' urged his steeds, I 
 will, if you are at leisure, and with favorable ear listen to 
 reason, tell you. When a soft eunuch® marries a wife; 
 when Maevia® transfixes the Tuscan boar, and, with breasts 
 exposed, grasps the hunting-spears ; when one man singly 
 
 1 In iergo. The ancients usually wrote only on one side of the 
 parchment : when otherwise, the works were called " Opisthographi," 
 and said to be written " a versa charta." 
 
 2 Venti; cf. xii., 23, where he uses " Poetica tempestas" as a pro- 
 verbial expression. 
 
 3 Aurum; probably a hit at Valerius Flaccus, his contemporary. 
 
 4 Julius Pronto was a munificent patron of literature, thrice consul, ' 
 and once colleague of Trajan, a.d. 97. Cassiod. 
 
 5 "Jam agrammaticis eruditi recessimus." Brit.; and so Dryden. 
 « " That to sleep soundly, he must cease to rule." Badham. 
 
 7 Lucilius was born at Aurunca, anciently called Suessa. 
 
 8 Spado, for the reason, vid. Sat. vi., 365, 
 
 0 Msevia. The passion of the Roman women for fighting with wild 
 beasts in the amphitheatre was encouraged by Domitian, but after* 
 ward restrained by an edict of Severus. 
 
SATIRE I. 
 
 13 
 
 vies in wealth with the whole body of patricians, under 
 whose razor my beard, grown exuberant, sounded while I 
 was in my prime ;^ when Crispinus, one of the dregs of the 
 mob of the Nile, a born-slave of Canopus, (while his shoul- 
 der hitches up his Tyrian cloak, )^ 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-har- 
 dened,^ as to contain himself! When there comes up the 
 bran-new litter of Matho* 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.^ When fellows supplant you, 
 who earn their legacies by night-work, lifted up to heaven® 
 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 pur- 
 chase-money of his blood, and be as pale as one that has 
 
 1 "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. 
 
 2 This is the most probable meaning, and adopted by Madan and 
 Browne; but there are various other interpretations: e.^;., " Cum- 
 bered with his purple vest." Badham. " With cloak of Tyrian dye. 
 Changed oft a da;^ for needless luxury." Dryden. " While he gathers 
 now, now flings his purple open." Gifford. " O'er his back displays.* 
 Hodgson. 
 
 3 Ferreus, " so steel' d." 
 
 * " Fat Matho plunged in cushions at his ease." Badham. 
 
 5 Cf. Mart., i., v., 5, "Qua Thymelen spectas derisoremque La- 
 tinum " 
 
 6 Ccdum. 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. 
 
14 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 trodden on a snake with naked heel, or a rhetorician about 
 to declaim at the altar at Lyons. ^ 
 
 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 power- 
 less sentence. (For what cares he for infamy while he re- 
 tains the plunder?) Marius,^ 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?^ 
 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 ?* When 
 the pander inherits the wealth of the adulterer (since the 
 wife has lost the right of receiving it),^ taught to gaze at the 
 ceiling, and snore over his cups with well-feigned sleep. 
 When he considers himself privileged to expect the com- 
 mand of a cohort, who has squandered his money on his 
 
 1 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. 
 8uet., Calig., xx. It was a " certamen Grseese Latinaeque facundiae," 
 in which the vanquished were compelled to give prizes to the victors, 
 and to write their praises. While those who " maxime displicuis- 
 sent " had to obliterate their own compositions w-ith 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. 
 
 2 Marius Priscus, proconsul of Africa, was condemned for extor- 
 tion, a.d. 100. Vid. Clinton in a. Plinythe 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 Gif- 
 ford 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, •'Imperatexstructosfrangerenonatoros." 
 Cf. Hor., i.,Od. i..20. 
 
 ^ Venudum, or Venusia, the birth-place of Horace. 
 ^ " Vitreo daturus nomina Ponto." Hor., iv., Od. ii., 3. 
 5 Jus nullum uxori. Cf. Suet., Dom., viii. " Probrosis foeminis 
 ademit jus capiendi legata haereditatesque. " 
 
SATIRE I. 
 
 15 
 
 stables, and has run through all his ancestors' estate, while 
 he flies with rapid wheel along the Flaminian road ;^ for 
 while yet a youth, like Automedon, he held the reins, while 
 the great man showed himself off to his ^ ' mistress-in-his 
 cloak. "2 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 Maecenas, the forger, who made himself a man 
 of splendor and wealth by a few short lines, and a moistened 
 seal?^ Next comes the powerful matron, who when her 
 husband thirsts, mingles the toad's-poison in the mellow 
 wine of Cales w^hich she is herself about to hand him, and 
 with skill superior even to Locusta,* 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. ^ 
 
 Dare some deed to merit scanty Gyarus^ 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 
 
 1 The Flaminian road ran the whole length of the Campus Martins, 
 and was therefore the most conspicuous thoroughfare in Rome. It 
 is now the Corso. 
 
 2 Lacernatx. The Lacerna was a male garment ; the allusion is 
 probably to Nero and his " eunuch-love " Sporus . Vid. Suet., Nero, 28. 
 
 3 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. 
 ^ Locusta. Vid. Tac., Ann., xii., 66,67. She was employed by Agrip- 
 pina to poison Claudius, and by Nero to destroy Germanicus. On the 
 accession of Galba she was executed. Cf. Suet., Nero, 33. 
 ^ " Reckless of whispering mobs that hover near." Badham. 
 
 " Nor heed the curse of the indignant throng." Gifford. 
 6 Gyarus, a barren island in the JEgesLU. Vid. Tac, Ann., iii., 68, 69, 
 "Insulam Gyarum immitem et sine cultu hominum esse." Cf. Sat. 
 X., 170 ; vi., 563. 
 
JUVENAL. 
 
 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 7^ If nature denies the power, indigna- 
 tion 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,^ and consulted 
 the oracle, and the softening stones by degrees grew warm 
 ^ with life, and Pyrrha displayed to the males the virgins un- 
 robed ; all that men are engaged in, their wishes, fears, an- 
 ger, 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^ staked. What fierce battles will you 
 see there, while the steward supplies the weapons for the con- 
 test ! Is it then mere common madness to lose a hundred 
 sestertia, and not leave enough for a tunic for your shivering 
 slave!* Which of our grandsires erected so many villas? 
 Which of them ever dined by himself^ on seven courses ? In 
 our days the diminished sportula is set outside the threshold, 
 ready to be seized upon by the toga-clad crowd. ^ Yet he 
 
 1 " The raw noble in his boyish gown." Hodgson. ** Stripling de- 
 bauchee." Gifford. The sons of the nobility wore the toga praetexta 
 till the age of seventeen. 
 
 2 " While whelming torrents swell'd the floods below." Badham. 
 
 3 Arcd. Cf. Sat. x., 24. 
 
 * Reddere. Probably *'to pay what has been long due." 
 
 & Secreto, " without their clients," opposed to the " in propatulo " of 
 Val. Max., ii., 5. >jpp e? /cbpaxa? iJiOv6<j)ay€. Alex. 
 
 6 In former days the Romans entertained their clients, after the 
 day's ofhciam was over, at supper, which was called coena recta." 
 In later times, the clients, instead of this, received their portion of 
 the supper, which they carried away in a small basket, "sportula," 
 
SATIRE I. 
 
 17 
 
 (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 Trojugenje them- 
 selves. For even they assail the door with us. ' ' Ciive the 
 praetor his ! Then to the tribune." But the freedmen 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^ 
 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^ bestow that's worth a wish, since 
 Corvinus keeps sheep for hire in the Laurentine fields ? I 
 own more than Pallas^ and the Licini. Let the tribunes 
 wait then !" Let Eiches 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. * 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 .ana 
 Faith, Victory and Virtue, and Concord, whose temple re- 
 sounds with the noise of storks returning to their nests. 5 
 
 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 *' ccena recta." 
 Cf. Snet., Dom., vii. ; Nero, xvi. 
 
 1 Fenestrse. Cf. Xen., Anab., III., i., 31. Exob., xxi., 6. 
 
 2 "Shall I then yield, though born perchance a slave, 
 
 To the proud beggar in his laticlave?" Hodgson. 
 
 3 Pallas, the freedman of Claudius, was enormously rich. The 
 wealth and splendor of Licinus is again alluded to, Sat. xiv., 305. 
 
 ^ Fedibus albis. The feet of imported slaves were marked with 
 chalk. Cf. Sat. vii., 16. Plin., H. N., xxxv., 17. 
 
 5 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. 
 
i8 ' JUVENAL. 
 
 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 thread- 
 bare, asks for his wife though really absent, displaying in 
 her stead an empty and closed palanquin : " My Galla is in- 
 side," he says, dispatch us with all speed. Why hesi- 
 tate?" ''Put out your head, Galla!" ''O don't disturb 
 her ! she's asleep ! " 
 
 The day is portioned out with a fine routine of engage- 
 ments. First the sportula ; then the Forum, ^ and Apollo 
 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.^ At length, "the old and wearied-out clients quit 
 the vestibule and give up all their hopes ;* 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 
 
 1 Ordine rerum. Cf. Mart, iv., Ep. 8. The Forum is the old Forum 
 Romanum. 
 
 2 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. 
 
 3 "And none must venture to pollute the place." Hodgson. Tan- 
 tum, i.e., tantummodo. Cf. Pers., i. Sat., 114, Sacer est locus, ite pro- 
 fani, Extra meiete ! 
 
 4 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. 
 
SATIRE I. 19 
 
 but himself on his couches. For out of so many fair, and 
 broad, and such ancient dishes, they gorge whole patri- 
 monies 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 ^ travels to all the dinner-tables, 
 but calls forth no grief, and thy funeral procession advances, 
 exulted over by disgusted friends 1^ There is nothing far- 
 ther that future times can add to our immorality. Our pos- 
 terity 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 Mucins forgive 
 the libel, or not ? But take Tigellinus for your theme, and 
 ^^o\l will shine in that tunic, in which they blaze standing,* 
 who smoke with throat transfixed, and you will draw a broad 
 furrow in the middle of the sand. ^' Must he then, who has 
 given* aconite to his three uncles, be borne on down cush- 
 ions, suspended aloft, and from thence look down on us?" 
 Yes ! when he meets you press your finger to your lip ! 
 
 1 Nova. " By witty spleen increased." Gifford. 
 
 2 "Friends, unenrich'd, shall revel o'er your bier, 
 
 Tell the sad news, nor grace with a tear." Hodgson. 
 
 3 Taeda. Cf. viii., 235, *'Ausi quod libeat tunica punire molesta." 
 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." 
 
 4 Qui dedit. i.e. , Tigellinus. 
 
20 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 There will be some informer standing by to whisper in his 
 ear, That's he ! Without fear for the consequences you may 
 match^ JEneas and the fierce Kutulian . The death of Achilles 
 breeds ill-will in no one ; or the tale of the long-sought Hy- 
 las, 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 tp 
 vent on those whose ashes are covered by the Flaminian^ or 
 Latin road. 
 
 SATIRE II. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 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 dif- 
 ferent 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. 
 
 I LONG to escape from hence beyond the Sarmatians, and 
 the frozen sea, whenever those fellows who pretend to be 
 
 1 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. 
 
 2 Flaminid. The laws of the xii. tables forbade all burials within 
 the city. The road-sides, therefore, were lined with tombs. Hence 
 
SATIRE II. 
 
 21 
 
 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 out- 
 side ! For what street is there that does not overflow with 
 debauchees of demure exterior ? Dost thou reprove abom- 
 ination, that art thyself the most notorious sink among cata- 
 mites who pretend to follow Socrates ? Thy rough limbs in- 
 deed, and the stiff bristles on thy arms, seem to promise a 
 vigorous mind within ; but on thy smooth behind, the sur- 
 geon 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 Peri- 
 bomius ; 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 con- 
 found heaven with earth, and sea with sky,^ if a thief were 
 
 the common beginning of epitaphs, " Siste gradum viator." The pe- 
 culiar propriety of the selection of these two roads is the fact that 
 Domitian was buried by the Flaminian, and Paris, the mime, Juve- 
 nal's personal enemy, by the liatin road. 
 
 1 Alluding to the comic exclamation, " O Coelum, O Terra, 0 Maria 
 Neptuni." Vid. Ter., Adelph,, v., i., 4. Cf. Sat. vi., 283. 
 
22 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 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^ defiled by in- 
 cest, 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, 2 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 
 S30 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 ! Eome 
 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,^ 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 
 
 ^ JSuper. The allusion is to Domitian and his niece Julia, who dijsd 
 from the use of abortives (cf. Plln., 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. 
 
 2 Cf. vi., 368. 
 
 3 Vexantur. E somno excitantur, alluding to '* Lex Julia Dormis? " 
 Cf. i., 126. 
 
SATIRE II. 
 
 gex Taedia does not caress Clu via, 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^ so many pre- 
 sents. 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^ 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 
 condernned, 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!" 
 
 ^ 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. 
 
 2 Puellx. Cf. Sat. ix., 70, seq. 
 
 3 Cylindros, called, vi., 459, "Elenchos." Cf. Arist., Fr., 309, eAt<c- 
 
24 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 Then plead stark naked !^ 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 ! Con- 
 tagion 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 inverson of the old custom womeUj 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 Baptae cele- 
 brated, who used to weary out even the Athenian Cotytto.^ 
 One with the needle held oblique adds length to his eye- 
 brows 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 
 
 1 Nudus, i.e., in the Roman sense, without the toga. 
 
 2 Cotytto herself, the goddess of licentiousness, was wearied with 
 their impurities. 
 
SATIRE II. 
 
 25 
 
 deity of his master. Another holds a mirror, the weapon 
 wielded by the pathic Otho, ''the spoil of Auruncan Ac- 
 tor,"^ in which he surveyed himself when fully armed, be- 
 fore he gave the signal to engage — a thing worthy to be re- 
 corded 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 com- 
 plexion is the consistent occupation of the first citizen of 
 Home ; to aspire to the empire as the prize on Bebriacum's^ 
 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 de- 
 jected 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'^ gave four hundred sestertia as his dowry, with 
 himself, to a bugler, or else one that blew the straight trum- 
 pet. The marriage deeds were duly signed, the blessing in- 
 voked, a great dinner provided, the he-bride lay in the bride- 
 groom'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 
 
 1 Actoris. Mn., xii., 94. 
 
 2 Bebriacum, between Verona and Cremona, where the deciding 
 battle was fought between Otho and Vitellius. 
 
 ^ Gracchus. In the same manner Nero was married to one Pytha- 
 goras, " in modum solennium conjugiorum denupsisset." Tac, 
 Ann., XV., 37. He repeated the same act with Sporus. 
 
 2 
 
26 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 flounces, the long robe ahd flame-colored^ 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 hel- 
 met, 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, ^ 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. 
 
 1 Flammea. Vid. Tac, u. s. *' Inditum imperatori flammeum visi, 
 auspices, dos, et genialis torus et faces nuptiales : cuncta denique 
 spectata, quae etiam in femina nox operit." 
 
 2 Tunicati. Vid. Sat. vi., 256; viii., 203. Movet ecce tridentem- 
 Credamus tunicae, etc. 
 
SATIRE II. 
 
 27 
 
 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.^ 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 Cannae — 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 !^ We have, 
 indeed, advanced our arms beyond Juverna's shore, and the 
 Orcades^ recently subdued, and the Britons content with 
 night contracted to its briefest span. But those abomina- 
 tions 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 re- 
 sult of intercourse with Rome ! He came a hostage ! Here 
 they learn to be men/ For if a longer tarry in the city be 
 
 ^ Nondum sere lavantur. The fee was a quadrans : vi., 447. 
 2 Traducimur. Cf. viii., 17. Squalentes traducit avos. 
 i 3 Modo capias Orcadas. a.d. 78, Clinton, F. R. *' Insulas quas Or- 
 cadas vocant, invenit domuitque." Tac, Agric, c. x. ; cf. c. xii. 
 " Dierum spatia ultra nostri orbis mensuram : nox elara, et extreme 
 Britannise parte brevis, ut finem atque initium lucis exiguo discrimine 
 ' internoscas." 
 
28 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 granted to these youths, they will never lack a lover. Their 
 plaids, and knives, and bits, and whips, will soon be dis- 
 carded. Thus it is the vices of our young nobles are aped 
 even at Artaxata.^ 
 
 SATIRE III. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 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 sub- 
 sist—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 hap- 
 pily free : on the tranquillity and security of which he dilates with 
 great beauty. 
 
 Although troubled at the departure of my old friend, 
 yet I can not but commend his intention of fixing his abode 
 at Cumse, now desolate, and giving the Sibyl one citizen at 
 least. It is the high road to Baise, and has a pleasant shore ; 
 a delightful retreat. I prefer even Prochyta^ to the Sub- 
 urra. 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 
 
 1 Referunt. Cf. i., 41. " Multum referens de Maecenate supino." The 
 fashion is not only carried back to Armenia, but copied there. Prx- 
 textatus. Cf. i., 78. Artaxata, the capital of Armenia, was taken by 
 Corbulo, A.D. 58. 
 
 2 Prochyta. An island in the bay of Naples, now called Procida. 
 
SATIRE III. 
 
 29 
 
 thousand dangers of the cruel city,^ and poets spouting in 
 the month of August. ^ But while his whole household is 
 being stowed in a single wagon, my friend Umbritius halted 
 at the ancient triumphal arches^ and the moist Capena. 
 Here, where Numa used to make assignations with his noc- 
 turnal 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.* For every single 
 tree is bid to pay a rent to the people, and the Camenae hav- 
 ing 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,^ if turf inclosed the waters with its margin of green, 
 and no marble profaned the native tufo. Here then Um- 
 britius began :^ 
 
 * ' Since at Eome 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 Daedalus 
 put off his wearied wings, while my gray hairs are still but 
 few, my old age green and erect ; while something yet re- 
 
 1 Ssevae, " from the ceaseless alarms it causes." Ssevusestqui terret.*^ 
 Donat. in Ter., Adelp., v. s. iv. 
 
 2 Augusto. Cf. Plin., 1, Epist. xiii. " Magnum proventum poetarum 
 annus hie attulit ; toto mense Aprili nuUus fere dies quo non recita- 
 ret aliquis." 
 
 3 Either those of Romulus, or the aqueduct ; and moist Capena," 
 either from the constant dripping of the aqueduct (hence arcus stil- 
 lans), or from the springs near it, hence called Fontinalis ; now St. 
 Sebastian's gate. It opens on the Via Appia. 
 
 * Cf. vi.,542. 
 
 ^ *' O how much more devoutly should we cling 
 
 To thoughts that hover round the sacred spring !" Badham. 
 Read praesentius : cf. Plin., Ep. viii., 8, the description of the Clitum- 
 nus, and Ov., Met., iii., 155, seq. 
 
 ® Umbritius (aruspicum in nostro sevo peritissimus, Plin., x., c. iii.) 
 is, said to have predicted Galba's death, and probably therefore, with 
 Juvenal, cordially hated Otho. 
 
30 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 mains 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, clear- 
 ing rivers, constructing harbors,^ cleansing the sewers, the 
 furnishing a funeral,'^ and under the mistress-spear set up 
 the slave to sale."^ 
 
 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 pub- 
 lic 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.* 
 
 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.^ 
 Let others understand how to bear to a bride the messages 
 
 1 Partus may mean, "constructing" or "repairing" harbors; ot 
 ** farming the harbor-dues," portoria. 
 
 2 Scipio's was performed by contract. Plin., H. N., xxxi., 3. 
 
 3 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 hastd. 
 Bomina 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. Dry- 
 den, "For gain they sell their very head." "Salable as slaves." 
 Hodgson. So Browne, who reads " priebere caput domino." 
 
 ^ "From abject meanness lifts to wealth and power." Badham. 
 Cf. vi., 608, 
 
 5 " Though a soothsayer, I am no astrologer." " I never examined 
 the entrails of a toad.'' 
 
SATIRE III. 
 
 31 
 
 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/ as though I were crippled, and a trunk useless from 
 its right hand being disabled.^ 
 
 Who, now-a-days, is beloved except the confidant of 
 (Crime, and he whose raging mind^ 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,* and the gold rolled down to the sea, as to 
 lose your sleep, and to your sorrow take bribes that ought 
 to be spumed,^ 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.® 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 
 
 1 " 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, extincta 
 dextra. 
 
 2 "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. 
 
 3 Isa., lvii.,20. 
 
 4 Opaci, Lubin interprets as equivalent to turbulenti, " turbid with 
 ^old." On this Grangseus remarks, *' Apage Germani haud germanam 
 interpretationem ! opaci enim est umbris arborum obscuri." Cf. 
 Mart., i., Ep. 50, " ^stus serenos aureo franges Tago obscurus uwbrw 
 arborum.^' 
 
 5 "Grasp thou no boon with sadness on thy brow, 
 
 Spurn the base bribe that binds a guilty vow." Badham. 
 ^ " Shame for Rome that harbors such a crew." 
 
32 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 language, morals, and the crooked harps with the fiate- 
 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, Qui- 
 rinus, takes his Greek supper-cloak, and wears Greek prizes, 
 on his neck besmeared with Ceroma.^ One forsaking steepj 
 Sicyon, another Amydon, a third from Andros, another from 
 Samos, another again from Tralles, or Alabanda,^ swarm to 
 Esquilise, and the hill called from its osiers, destined to be 
 the very vitals, and future lords of great houses.^ These 
 have a quick wit, desperate impudence, a ready speech, 
 more rapidly fluent even than Isaeus.'^ Tell me what you 
 fancy he is ? He has brought with him whatever character 
 you wish — grammarian, rhetorician, geometer, painter, 
 trainer,^ soothsayer, rope-dancer, physician, wizard — he 
 knows every thing. Bid the hungry Greekling go to heaven! 
 He'll go.^ In short, it was neither Moor, nor Sarmatian, 
 nor Thracian, that took wings, but one born in the heart of 
 Athens.^ 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 
 
 ^ 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. 
 
 2 Amydon in Poeonia, Tralles in Lydia, Alabanda in Caria. 
 
 3 " 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. 
 
 4 M Torrents of words that might Isaeus drown." Badham. 
 
 6 Aliptes, one who anoints (aA€i'</)ei), and therefore trains, athletes. 
 « So Johnson. " All sciences the hungry Monsieur knows, 
 
 And bid him go to hell — to hell he goes ! " 
 
 7 Some think there is an allusion here to a man who attempted to 
 repeat Icarus' experiment before Nero. Vid. Suet., Nero, 13. 
 
SATIRE III. 
 
 33 
 
 and figs ?^ Does it then go so utterly for nothing, that my 
 infancy inhaled the air of Aventine, nourished on the Sa- 
 bine 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, hold- 
 ing Antaeus far from his mother Earth : and is in raptures 
 at the squeaking voice ^ 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, ^ when he takes the part of Thais, 
 or acts the wife in the play, or Doris* 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 Haemus, 
 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 fel- 
 lows, or that is safe from their lust. Neither the mistress 
 
 1 Cottana, " ficorum genus." Plin., xiii., 5. 
 
 2 " As if squeezed in the passage by the narrowness of the throat." 
 
 3 His powers of flattery show his ability of assuming a fictitious 
 character as much as his skill in acting. 
 
 4 Or the " Dorian maid." They were scantily dressed. Hence the 
 
 ^aLV0fJt.r]pL8e<; of IbyCUS. 
 
 2* 
 
\ 
 
 34 JUVENAL. 
 
 of the house, nor your virgin daughter, nor her suitor, un- 
 bearded 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. ^ It was a Stoic that killed 
 Bareas — the informer, his personal friend — the old man, his 
 own pupil — bred on that shore^ 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^ before break of day, 
 when the very prcetor himself urges on his lictor, and bids 
 him hurry on with headlong speed, since the childless ma- 
 trons have been long awake, lest his colleague* be before- 
 
 ^ 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 allu- 
 sion 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. 
 
 - Eipa. Commentators are divided between Tarsus, Thebes, and 
 Corinth. 
 
 3 Togatus. Gifford quotes Martial, x., Ep. 10. 
 
 ** Quid faciet pauper cui non licet esse clienti? 
 Dimisit nostras purpura vestra togas." 
 ^ Oollega; alluding to the two praetors, "Urbanus" and " Peri- 
 grinus." 
 
SATIRE III. 
 
 35 
 
 hand 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 ;^ 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 ;2 whereas you, when the face of a well- 
 dressed harlot takes your fancy, hesitate to hand Chione 
 from her exalted seat. 
 
 Produce me at Kome a witness of as blameless integrity as 
 the host of the Idaean deity ;^ 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 ?* 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 thunder-bolts and the gods, even with the sanc- 
 tion 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 
 
 1 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." 
 
 2 " For one cold kiss a tribune's yearly pay." Hodgson. 
 i.e., forty-eight pieces of gold. Cf. Suet., Vesp., xxiii. 
 
 3 P. Scipio Nasica (vid. Liv. xxix., 10) and L. Caecilius Metellus. 
 Cf. Ov., Fasti, vi., 437. 
 
 * Possidet. Vid. Niebuhr. 
 
36 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 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 what- 
 ever brothel born ! Here let the son of the sleek crier^ ap- 
 plaud 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? What poor man's name appears in any will? 
 When is he summoned to a consultation even by an aedile ? 
 All Quirites that are poor, ought long ago to have emigrated 
 in a body.^ 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 at- 
 tempt 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. ^ A man is ashamed here to dine off pot- 
 tery ware, ^ 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.' Even when the 
 very majesty of festival days is celebrated in a theatre reared 
 of turf,' and the well-known farce at length returns to the 
 
 1 Cf. Mart., v., Ep. 8 and 25, who speaks of one Lectins as an offi- 
 cious keeper of the seats. 
 
 2 Sat. X., 323. 
 
 3 " Long, long ago, in one despairing band, 
 
 The poor, self-exiled, should have left the land." Hodgson. 
 
 -* "A menial board and parsimonious fare." Hodgson. 
 
 s 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. 
 
 « Cf. Mart., ix., 588. 
 
 7 Herboso, the first permanent theatre even in Rome itself, was built 
 
SATIRE III. 
 
 37 
 
 stage/ 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 sediles. Here, 
 in Rome, the splendor of dress is carried beyond men's 
 means ; here, something more than is enough, is taken occa- 
 sionally 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 you^ 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. ^ 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 Prsenesta, or at Volsinii seated among the well-wooded 
 hills, or simple Gabii,^ or the heights of sloping Tibur. We, 
 in Rome, inhabit a city propped in great measure on a slen- 
 der shore.* For so the steward props up the falling walls, ^ 
 and when he has plastered over the old and gaping crack, 
 bids us sleep without sense of danger while ruin hangs over 
 
 bv Pompey. Cf. In gradibus sedit populus de caespite factis. Or., 
 Art. Am., i., 107. Cf. Virg., .^n., v., 286. 
 
 1 " In the state show repeated now for years." Hodgson. 
 
 2 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. 
 
 3 Gabii, renowned for the ease with which Sex. Tarquin duped the 
 inhabitants. 
 
 * Pronum, i.e., supinum. Hor., iii.. Od. iv., 23, on a steep acclivity. 
 & " And 'tis the village mason's daily calling, 
 
 To keep the world's metropolis from falling." Dry den. 
 
38 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 our heads !' 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 uncon- 
 scious ! 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. Co- 
 drus 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^ 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 cli- 
 max 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 man- 
 sion of Asturius has fallen, the matrons appear in weeds, ^ the 
 senators in mourning robes, the praetor 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,* 
 
 1 " Then bid the tenant sleep secure from dread, 
 
 While the loose pile hangs trembling o'er his head." Gifford. 
 
 ^ Opici. Cf. vi., 455. Opicse castigat amicse 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 Codriy 
 
 ^ Horrida. In all public misfortunes, the Roman matrons took 
 their part in the common mourning, by appearing without orna- 
 ments, in weeds, and with disheveled hair. Cf. viii., 267, Li v., ii., 
 7. Luc, Phars. , ii., 28, seq. 
 
 ^ Candida. Cf. Plin., xxxiv., 5. The Parian marble was the whit- 
 est, hence Virg. ^En., iii., 126, " Niveamque Paron." 
 
SATIRE III. 
 
 39 
 
 another with a chef-d'oeuvre of Euphranor or Polycletus.^ 
 Some lady will contribute some ancient ornaments of gods 
 taken in our Asiatic victories ; another, books and cases^ and 
 a bust of Minerva ; another, a whole bushel of silver. Per- 
 sicus, 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.^ 
 
 If you can tear yourself away from the games in the cir- 
 cus,* 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,^ 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.® 
 
 1 Polycletus. Cf. viii., 103. His master-piece was the Persian body- 
 guard (of. jElian., V. H., xiv., 8), called the " Canon." Vid Miiller's 
 Archseol. of Art. g 120. Euphranor the painter belonged, like Poly- 
 cletus, to the Sicy'onic school. 
 
 2 Foruli or plutei, cases for holding MSS. Cf. ii., 7. Suet., Aug., 
 
 ^^^^Cf. Mart., iii„ Ep. 52. 
 
 4 Circus. Cf. X., 81, duas tantum res anxius optat Panem et Cir- 
 censes. 
 
 » Cf. Milton. " And add to these retired leisure, 
 
 That in trim gardens takes his pleasure." 
 
 6 I.e., Only the very rich can afford to buy ' Insulae,' in the quiet 
 part of the city, where their rest will not be broken by the noise of 
 their neighbors, or the street." 
 
40 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 Hence is the source of the disease. The passing of wagons 
 in the narrow curves of the streets, and the mutual revilings 
 of the team-drivers^ brought to a stand-still, would banish 
 sleep even from Drusus and sea-calves. ^ 
 
 If duty calls him,^ 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,* for his sedan with win- 
 dows 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, an- 
 other with a hard pole f 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 re- 
 mains imprinted on my toe. 
 
 Do you not see with what a smoke the sportula is fre- 
 quented ? A hundred guests ! and each followed by his 
 portable kitchen.* Even Corbulo' 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. ^ 
 
 1 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. 
 
 2 Drimim. Cf. Suet., Claud., v., "super veterem segnltise notam." 
 Seals are proverbially sluggish. Cf. Plin., ix., 13. Virg., Georg., 
 iv., 432. 
 
 3 Officium ; attendance on the levees of the great. 
 
 4 Cf. i., 64 ; v., 83 ; vi., 477, 351. Plin., Pan., 24. 
 
 5 I.e., of a litter. Cf. vii.. 132. 
 
 6 Ouiina/' a double-celled chafing-dish, with a fire below, to keep 
 the ' dole ' warm." The custom is still retained in Italy. 
 
 7 Domitius Corbulo, a man of uncommon strength, appointed by 
 Nero to command in Armenia. Vid. Tac, Ann., xiii., 8. 
 
 » " The pace creates the draught." 
 
SATIRE III. 
 
 41 
 
 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 mas- 
 ter'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 
 oil-flask. Such are the various occupations of the bustling 
 slaves. But the master himself is at this moment seated^ 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 pot- 
 sherd 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 improvi- 
 dent 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 
 
 1 Sedet; because, being unburied, he must wait a hundred years. 
 Cf. Virg., Mii., Yi., 313-330. 
 
42 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 they may be contented with throwing down only what the 
 broad basins have held. One that is drunk, and quarrel- 
 some 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 ;^ 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 scar- 
 let 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'^ is the moon, 
 or the glimmering light of a rushlight, whose wick I hus- 
 band and eke out — he utterly despises me ! Mark the pre- 
 lude of this wretched fray, if fray it can be called, where he 
 does ail the beating, and I am only beaten.* 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* 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 
 
 ^ Horn., II., XXiv., 12, " aWore 5' ai/re virrto? aAAore 5e nprjvrjq. 
 
 2 Deducere ; " the technical word tor the clients' attendance on 
 their patrons ;" so " forum attingere ; in forum deduci." 
 " He only cudgels, and I only bear." Dryden. 
 ^ Sectile or the inferior kind of leek ; the better sort being called 
 oapitatum." Plin., xx., 6. Cf. Sat. xiv., 133, sectivi porri. 
 
SATIRE III. 
 
 43 
 
 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^ happy, and 
 the ages blest in which they lived, which, under kings and 
 tribunes long ago, saw Kome contented with a single jail.^ 
 
 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 Cumse to Hel- 
 vine Ceres,^ and your patron deity Diana. Then, equipped 
 with my caligse,'^ I will visit your chilly regions, to help you 
 in your satires — unless they scorn my poor assistance. 
 
 1 The order is "Pater, avus, proavus, abavus, atavus, tritavus." 
 He means, therefore, eight generations back at least. 
 
 2 Ancus Martins built the prison. Liv.,i.,33. The dungeon was 
 added by Servius Tullius, and called from him TuUianum. The next 
 was built by Ap. Claudius the decemvir. 
 
 2 Ceres was worshiped under this epithet at Aquinum. Its origin 
 is variously given. 
 
 ^ Caligatus may mean, " with rustic boots," so that you may not be 
 reminded of Rome ; or " with soldier's boots," as armed for our cam- 
 paign against the vices of the city. 
 
44 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 SATIRE IV. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 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 Turbotis introduced, the 
 procession of the affrighted counselors to the palace, and the ridicu- 
 lous debate which terminates in as ridiculous a decision, show a 
 masterly hand. The whole concludes with an indignant and high- 
 spirited apostrophe. 
 
 Once more behold Crispinus !^ 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^ — 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,^ 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. * For what would 
 be infamous in men of worth, a Titius or Seius, was becom- 
 ing 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.^ A thousand sesterces, forsooth ! 
 
 1 Iterum. Cf. i., 27, " Pars Niliacae plebis, verna Canopi, Crispinus." 
 2Cf. vii.,179. 
 
 3 The vestal escaped her punishment, through Crispinus' interest 
 with Domitian. 
 ^ Cf. Sat. ii., 29. Suet., Domit.. c. 8. Plin., iv., Epist. xi. 
 5 Sex miUibus, about £44 7* 6d. of English money. The value of the 
 
SATIRE IV. 
 
 45 
 
 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^ 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 him- 
 self ! We see many things which even Apicius^ (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 ?^ What ! pay this price for fish-scales ? Per- 
 chance 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.* 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^ 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, 
 
 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." 
 
 1 The chief heir was named in the second line of the first table. 
 Cf. Horace, ii., Sat. v., 53. Suet., Cses., 83 ; Nero, 17. 
 
 2 Cf. Sat., xi., 3. 
 
 3 Papyrus. Garments were made of papyrus even in Anacreon's 
 days. iv.. Od. 4. It is still used for the same purpose. 
 
 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 torrent Atabulus. 
 
 5 I.e., Alexandria. Of the various readings of this line, "pacta mer- 
 cede" seems to be the best. Even the fish Crispinus sold were not his 
 own, he was only hired to sell them for others. 
 
46 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 When the last of the Flavii was mangling the world, lying 
 at its last gasp, and Rome was enslaved by a Nero,^ ay, and 
 a bald one too, an Adriatic tiirbot of wonderful size fell into 
 the net, and filled its ample folds, off the temple of Venus 
 which Doric Ancona^ sustains. No less in bulk was it than 
 those which the ice of the Mjeotis incloses, and when melted 
 at length by the sun's rays, discharges at the outlets of the 
 sluggish Euxine, unwieldy from their long sloth, and fat- 
 tened by the long-protracted cold. 
 
 This prodigy of a fish the owner of the boat and nets de- 
 signs 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* 
 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 ex- 
 chequer, wherever it swims. So, that it may not be utterly 
 losj:, it will be made a present of, though now sickly autumn 
 was giving place to winter, and sick men were already ex- 
 pecting* 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* still pre- 
 
 1 Nero, i.e., Domitian, who was as much disgusted at his own bald- 
 ness as Caesar. 
 
 2 Founded by a colony of Syracusans, who fled from the tyranny 
 of Dionysius. 
 
 3 Agerunt cum ; perhaps, " be ready to go to law with." 
 
 4 Sperare sometimes meaiLs to fear. Cf. Virg., ^n., iv., 419. 
 
 s Alba was Domitian's favorite residence. Vid. Suet., Dom., iv., 
 19. Plin., iv., Ep. xi., " Non in regiam sed in Albanam villam con- 
 vocavit." 
 
SATIRE IV. 
 
 47 
 
 serves the Trojan fire, and her Lesser Vesta, ^ 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. ^ 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 pale- 
 ness 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 f for what else were the prsefects of 
 Rome in those days ? of whom he was the best and most con- 
 scientious dispenser of the laws, though in those days of 
 terror he thought all things ought to be administered by 
 justice unarmed. Crispus* came too, that facetious old man, 
 with high character equal to his eloquence and mild dis- 
 
 1 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. 
 
 2 " Sseeulum " is repeatedly used in this sense by Pliny, and other 
 writers of this age. 
 
 3 As though Rome had now so far lost her privileges and her lib- 
 erty, as to be no better than a country vicus, to be governed by a bai- 
 liff. 
 
 Vibius Crispus Placentinus, the author of the witticism about 
 " Domitian and the flies." Vid. Suet., Dom., 3. 
 
48 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 position. 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^ that ill deserved so 
 cruel a death as that which awaited him, so prematurely in- 
 flicted by the tyrant's swords ; but nobility coupled with old 
 age, has long since been a miracle. Consequently, for my- 
 self, I should prefer being a younger brother of the giants. ^ 
 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 !^ 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.* There too is to be 
 seen Montanus' paunch, unwieldy from its size, and Crispus 
 
 . 1 Juvene. Probably a son of this M. Acilius Glabrio, who was mur- 
 ' dered by Domitian out of envy at the applause he received when 
 
 fighting in the arena at the emperor's own command. 
 
 2 I.e., " Terrse filius," Pers., vi., 57, one of the meanest origin. 
 < 3 xt was 444 years before barbers were introduced into the city from 
 
 Sicily. 
 
 Alluding to Nero's satire on Quintianus. Vid. Tac, Ann., xv., 
 49. Quintianus moUitie corporis infamis, et a Nerone probroso car- 
 mine diffamatus. 
 
SATIRE IV. 
 
 49 
 
 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,^ 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^ 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 brist- 
 ling 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 Prome- 
 
 1 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, 1. 82. 
 
 2 " Pons." Cf. Sat. v., 8 ; xiv., 134. 
 
 3 
 
50 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 theus to act on this sudden emergency is required. Quick 
 with the clay and potter's wheel ! But henceforth, Caesar, 
 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,^ 
 and a second appetite when the stomach was fired with the 
 Falernian.^ 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 ob- 
 ject of alarm to cobblers. This was what proved fatal to one 
 that was reeking with the blood of the Lamiae ! 
 
 1 Cf. Suet., Nero, 27. 
 
 2 Cf. vi., 430. 
 
SATIRE V. 
 
 51 
 
 SATIRE V. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 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. 
 
 If you are not yet ashamed of your course of life/ 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, con- 
 temptible as he was, would have submitted to even at the 
 unequaP board of Caesar himself ; I should be afraid to be- 
 lieve 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^ 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 ac- 
 count, and, rare though it be, still takes it into the calcula- 
 tion. Therefore, if after the lapse of two months he deigns 
 
 1 Propositi. So ix., 20, flexisse videris propositum. 
 
 2 Iniquas. From the marked difference in the treatment of the 
 different guests. 
 
 3 Quum Pol sit honestius. Rupertis' conjecture. 
 
52 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 to send for his long-neglected client, only that the third 
 place may not be unoccupied in one couch of his triclinium^ 
 — 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 com- 
 pliments, when the stars are fading, or at the hour when the 
 chill wain of sluggish Bootes wheels slowly round. ^ 
 
 But what sort of a supper is it after all? Wine, such as 
 wool just shorn would not imbibe.^ 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 regi- 
 ment of freedmen. The great man himself drinks wine 
 racked from the wood under some consul with long hair,* 
 and sips^ 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 pro- 
 duce of the mountains of Alba or Setia,* whose country and 
 date age has obliterated by the accumulated mould on the 
 
 1 Trebius is put in the lowest place in the triclinium, the third cul- 
 citra.or cushion, on the lowest (tertia) bed, and only because there 
 was no one else to occupy it. 
 
 2 "What is the night? Almost at odds with morning, which is 
 which." Macbeth, Act iii., 4. Cf. Anacreon, iil., 1 ; Theocr.. xxiv., 
 11. I.e., a little after midnight. 
 
 3 " Tonsurae tempus inter aequinoctium vernum et solstitium, quum 
 sudare inceperunt oves : a quo sudore recens lana tonsa sucida ap- 
 pellata est. Tonsas recentes eodem die perungunt vino et oleo." 
 Varro, R. R., II., xi., 6. 
 
 4 Cf. iv.. 103. 
 
 5 " Tenet," or *' keeps to himself/' or " holds up to the light." 
 
 6 Setine was the favorite wine of Augustus. Alhan. Cf, Hor., ii., 
 Sat. viii., 16. 
 
SATIRE V. 
 
 53 
 
 ancient amphora ; such wine as, with chaplets on their 
 heads, Thrasea and Helvidius used to drink on the birth- 
 days of the Bruti and Cassius. Virro himself holds capa- 
 cious cups formed of the tears of the Heliades^ and phialse 
 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 fin- 
 gers, which the youth, preferred to the jealous Hiarbas,^ 
 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,^ already cracked, and fit to be exchanged, as 
 broken glass, for brimstone.* 
 
 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.^ 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 Gsetulia, 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 
 
 1 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. 
 
 2 Cf. Virg., ^n., iv., 261. 
 
 3 Nero, on his way to Greece, fell in at Beneventum with one Va- 
 tinius, " Sutrinse tabernae alumnus," whom he took first as his buf- 
 foon, and afterward as his confidant. Tac., Ann., xv., 34. Cf. Mar- 
 tial, xiv., Ep. 96. 
 
 ^ Sulphura. Cf. Mart., i., Ep. 43, Qui pallentia sulphurata fractis 
 permutat vitreis. Vid. x.,3, Quae sulphurata nolit empta ramento 
 Vatiniorum proxeneta fractorum. Compare the " Bellarmines " of 
 mediaeval pottery and the Flemish " Gray beards." 
 
 » Prulnis. " Neronis principis inventum est decoquere aquam, vi- 
 troque demissam in nives refrigerare." Plin., xxxi., 3. 
 
54 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 way. Before Virro himself stands the flower of Asia, pur- 
 chased at a greater sum than formed the whole revenue of 
 the warlike Tullus, or Ancus— and, not to detain you, the 
 whole fortunes^ of all the kings of Eome. 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 propor- 
 tionably 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 flour, is reserved 
 for the great man. Mind you keep your hands off ! Main- 
 tain the respect due to the cutter of the bread 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 !^ 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 ! 
 
 1 Frivola; properly " goods and chattels." Cf. iii., 198. 
 
 2 Artocopi. Cf. Xen., An., IV., iv., 21. Some read Artoptae. 
 
 3 This is the indignant exclamation of Trebius. 
 
SATIRE V. 
 
 55 
 
 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^ with half an egg 
 sliced, a meal fit only for the dead,^ and in a dish too small 
 to hold it. Virro himself drowns his fish in oil from Vena- 
 fruni ; but the pale cabbage set before you, poor wretch, will 
 stink of the lamp. For in the sauce-boats you are allowed, 
 there is served oil such as the canoe of the Micipsae has im- 
 ported 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. ^ 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,* 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^ from the Tiber, spotted 
 
 1 Constrictus, or, " shrunk from having been so long out of the sea." 
 
 2 Coena; the Silicernium ; served on the ninth day to appease the 
 dead. Cf. Plaut., Pseud., III., ii., 7 : Aul., II., iv., 45. 
 
 s Vendat. Cf. iii., 187. Aurelia. See Plin., ii., Ep. 20. i 
 
 4 Lina. Cf. Virg., Georg., i., 142. 
 
 5 The pike (Lupus Tiberinus) was esteemed in exact proportion ta 
 the distance it was caught from the common sewers of Rome. Hor., 
 ii.,Sat. ii., 31. 
 
JUVENAL. 
 
 from the winter's ice, a native of the bank-side, fattened on 
 tlie 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 thun- 
 der, devoutly wished for by the epicure, shall augment the 
 supper. ''Keep your corn, O Libya," says Alledius, ''un- 
 yoke your oxen ; provided only you send us truffles !" 
 Meanwhile, that no single source of vexation may be want- 
 ing, you will see the carver^ 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^ when con- 
 quered by Hercules, and turned out of doors, if you were 
 ever to attempt to open your mouth, as though you had 
 three names. When does Virro pass the cup to you, or take 
 
 1 Structor. Cf. xi., 136. 
 
 2 Cacus. Virg., ^n., viii. 264. 
 
 3 Free Roman citizens had three names, prsenomen, nomen, and 
 cognomen. Slaves had no prsenomen. Cf. Pers., Sat. v., 76-82. He 
 means to imply that, by turning parasite, Trebius had virtually for- 
 feited the privileges of a free Roman. 
 
SATIRE V. 
 
 57 
 
 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 god-like 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 Tre- 
 bius !^ Set this before Trebius ! My dear brother, will you 
 take some of this sweet-bread ?' ' 
 
 0 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 JEneas sport in your hall, 2 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^ to be brought, and the filberts,* 
 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^— but such an one as Claudius ate, before that 
 furnished by his wife, after which he ate nothing more. 
 Yirro will order to be served to himself and his brother 
 
 1 Da Trebio. Cf. Suet., Dom., xi., " partibus de coen^ dignatus est." 
 Xen., Anab., I., ix., 26. 
 
 2 Virg., ^n.. iv., 327. 
 
 3 Viridem thoraca. Heinrich supposes this to be a mimic piece of 
 armor, to be worn by children playing at soldiers. 
 
 4 Nuces, " walnuts ;" minimas nuces, nuts. 
 
 5 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. 
 
 3* 
 
58 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 Virros such noble apples, on whose fragrance alone you are 
 allowed to revel ; such as the eternal autumn of the Phsea- 
 cians 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^ 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 donH 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 con- 
 jecture 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,^ 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.^ 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 
 
 ^ Probably alluding to a monkey exhibited riding on a goat, and 
 equipped as a soldier, to amuse the Praetorian guards at their barrack 
 gate; or, as some think, the " recruit " himself is intended, and then 
 Capella is taken as a proper name. 
 
 2 The golden bulla, hollow, and in the shape of a heart, was bor- 
 rowed from the Etruscans, and at first confined to the children of no- 
 bles. 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, haeres bullatus. 
 
 3 Cf. Xen., Anab., I., ix., 26. 
 
SATIRE VI. 
 
 59 
 
 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 ! 
 
 SATIRE VI. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 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 hus- 
 bands. 
 
 I BELIEVE that while Saturn still was king, chastity lin- 
 gered upon earth, and was long seen there : when a chill 
 cavern furnished a scanty dwelling, and inclosed in one com- 
 mon 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^ — 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 differ- 
 ently then, when the world was new, and the sky but freshly 
 
 ^ (7t/n^/?ia is Propertius' mistress ; the other is Lesbia, the mistress 
 of Catullus. V. CatuU., Carm. iii. " Lugete O Veneres," etc. 
 
6o 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 created, who, born out of the riven oak, or moulded out of 
 clay, had no parents. 
 
 Many traces of primaeval 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 un- 
 inclosed. Then by degrees Astrsea 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,^ 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 yEmilian 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 ? 
 
 Conventum, Three law terms. Conventum, " the first overture." 
 Pactum, "the contract." Sponsalia, "the betrothing." Hence vir- 
 gins were said to be speratse ; pactse ; sponsse. 
 
SATIRE VI. 
 
 6i 
 
 But Ursidius is delighted with the Julian law^ — he thinks 
 of bringing up a darling heir, nor cares to lose the fine tur- 
 tle-dove and bearded mullets,^ 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 Tar- 
 peian Jove, and sacrifice to Juno a heifer with gilded horns, 
 if you have the rare good fortune to find a matron with un- 
 sullied 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 cer- 
 tain damsel, living at her father's country-house Let 
 her live at Gabii as she lived in the country, or even at 
 Fidense, and I grant what you say of the influence of the 
 paternal country-seat. Yet who will dare assert that noth- 
 ing 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 
 
 1 Lex Julia, against adultery, recently revived by Domitian. 
 JuMs. Mullets being a bearded fish. Plin., ix., 17. 
 
62 JUYENAT.. 
 
 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 plebian), 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, 
 ^lia, 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,^ 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. 
 Even Canopus itself reprobated the immorality of the im- 
 perial 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 
 
 1 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. 
 
 2 Lagi. Alexandria, the royal city of Ptolemy, son of Lag^os, and 
 his successors. 
 
SATIRE VI. 
 
 63 
 
 of her father's mansion, aad a cradle of richest workman- 
 ship, 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 credit- 
 able, then they are alarmed — their coward hearts are chilled 
 with icy fear — they cannot 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 hand- 
 ling the hard ropes. And yet what was the beauty that in- 
 flamed, 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 dis- 
 charged 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 
 
64 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 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 patch-work 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 Bri- 
 tannicus, received all comers with caresses and asked her com- 
 pliment, 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,^ 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 f 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. 
 
 1 Imperio Sexus. Cf. xv., 138, Naturae imperio. 
 
SATIRE VI. 
 
 65 
 
 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 yo\ir nose too frequently. March ! and be quick about 
 it ! Another is coming whose nose is not so moist." Mean- 
 while she is hot and imperious, and demands of her husband 
 shepherds and sheep from Canusium, and elms^ from Fa- 
 lernum. What a trifle is this? Then every boy she fan- 
 cies, 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^ white with hoar frost de- 
 tains the sailors all equipped for their voyage, she takes huge 
 crystalline vases, ^ 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 bare-foot 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 
 
 1 Ulmos. Elms, to which the vines were to be " wedded," therefore 
 put for the vines themselves. Cf, Virg., Georg., i., 2, " Ulmisque ad- 
 jungere vites." Cf. Sat. viii., 78, Stratus humi palmes viduas desid- 
 erat ulmos. Hence Platanus Coelebs evincet ulmos. Cf. Hor., Epod., 
 i., 9. 
 
 2 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. 
 
 3 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. 
 
66 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 women, that seems to you a worthy match?" Let her be 
 beautiful, graceful, rich, fruitful ; marshal along her porti- 
 coes 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 phoenix upon earth, rare as a 
 black swan ; who could tolerate a wife in whom all excel- 
 lencies 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 disdain- 
 ful brow, and reckon as part of your fortune the triumphs of 
 jour house ! Away, I beg, with your Hannibal and Syphax 
 conquered in his camp, and tramp with all your Carthage ! 
 
 ''Spare, I pray thee, Paean! and thou, O goddess, lay 
 down thine arrows ! The children are innocent. Transfix 
 the mother herself !" So prays Amphion. Yet Paean 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 throw- 
 ing 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 in- 
 deed, and yet such as no husband can tolerate. For what 
 can be more sickening than the fact that no one woman con- 
 siders 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 
 
SATIRE VI. 
 
 67 
 
 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 a 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 Zwr? Kal xpvxf\. You are employing in public, ex- 
 pressions 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 Haemus 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 wed- 
 ding dinner and bride cakes^ 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^ and 
 Germanicus glitters with its golden legend. If you are pos- 
 sessed 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 
 
 1 Mustacea (the Greek a-r^aafxri. Arist., Pax., 869), a mixture of meal 
 and anise, moistened with new wine. 
 
 2 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 as- 
 sumed the title of Germanicus a.d. 84, and of Dacicus, a.d. 91. 
 
68 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 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. ^ 
 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.^ 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^ 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 mis- 
 
 1 " 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." Giflford. 
 
 2 Cf. i^^SCh., Ag., 411, lu) Ae'^os Koi (TTtjSot </)iAavopes. 
 
 3 Ocio. Eight divorces were allowed by law. 
 
SATIRE VI. 
 
 69 
 
 sives of the seducer. She either balks or bribes your spies ; 
 then, though your daughter is in rude health, calls in Archi- 
 genes, and tosses off the bedclothes as too oppressive. Mean- 
 while 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 Manilla is 
 not defendant, she will be plaintiff. They draw up and 
 frame bills of indictment unassisted, ^ quite prepared to dic- 
 tate even to Celsus^ the exordium and topics he should use. 
 
 The Tyrian Endromides^ and the Ceroma for women who 
 is ignorant of ? Or who has not seen the wounds of the 
 Plastron, * which she dints with unwearied foil, and attacks 
 with her shield, and goes with precision through her exer- 
 cise ? 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.^ 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 
 
 1 " 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. 
 
 2 Celsus. There were two famous lawyers of this name ; A. Corne- 
 lius 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. 
 
 3 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 cero- 
 mate brachia tendis." Mart., vii., Ep. xxxii., 9. 
 
 ^ Palus ; a wooden post or figure on which young recruits used to 
 practice their sword exercise, armed with shields alid wooden swords 
 double the regulation weight. 
 
 5 Veras. Cf. ad i., 22, 
 
70 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 wish to become a man. For how small is our pleasure com- 
 pared to theirs ! Yet what a goodly array would there be, 
 if there were an auction of your wife's goods : belt and 
 gauntlets^ and crest, and the half -armor for the left leg ! 
 Or if she shall engage in a different way of fighting,^ 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 Fa- 
 bius 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 quar- 
 rels 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 ser- 
 vants, 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 let- 
 ters 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, 
 
 ^ Manicx. If the proper reading is not " iwm'ca? " (as tunicati fus- 
 cina Gracchi, ii., 117. Cedamus tunicse, viii., 207), the manicae are 
 probably " the sleeves of the tunic." Cf. Liv., ix., 40. 
 
 *^ Biversa. I.e., as a Retiarius instead of a Mirmillo. 
 
SATIRE VI. 
 
 71 
 
 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 con- 
 founding 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 it- 
 self. 
 
 Yet should you ask whence are these unnatural prodigies, 
 or from what source they spring ; it was their humble for- 
 tune that made the Latin women chaste in days of yore, nor 
 did hard toil and short nights' rest, and hands galled and 
 hardened^ 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 intro- 
 duced 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, ^ 
 when from her dizziness the roof seems to reel, and the table 
 
 1 Durx. " Pallade placata lanam mollite puellse !" The process of 
 softening the wool hardened the hands. Ov., Fast., iii., 817. 
 
 2 Concha, a large drinking-cup, shaped like a shell ; or, not improb- 
 ably, some large shell mounted in gold for a cup, like the Nautilus of 
 Middle Ages. 
 
72 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 to rise up with the lights doubled in number.^ 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 be- 
 dew the very image of the goddess with copious irrigations, 
 while the chaste moon witnesses their abominations,^ 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 Maenads 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 re- 
 straining their desires is lost ! A prize is proposed, and 
 Saufeia^ 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 
 
 1 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 !" 
 
 2 Cf. Bhaksp., Othello, Act iii., sc. iii. "In Venice they do let 
 heaven see the pranks they dare not show their husbands !" 
 
 3 Cf. ix., 117. 
 
SATIRE VI. 
 
 73 
 
 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 Caesar'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 pil- 
 low, and female friends, and a nurse, and yellow-haired 
 girP to whom she may issue her commands. Yet all that 
 remains of her family plate, and even the very last rem- 
 nants of it,^ she gives to well-oiled Athletes. Many women 
 are in straitened circumstances at home ; yet none of them 
 
 1 Arnicas. 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 ^av0ol. The ladies, therefore, prided 
 themselves as much as the men on the personal beauty of their at- 
 tendants. Cf. v., 56, " Flos Asiae ante ipsum," etc. The nutrix is the 
 intriguing confidante who manages the amours. The jiava puellay 
 the messenger. 
 
 " A trim girl with golden hair to slip her billets." Gifford, 
 
 2 Novissima. Cf. xi., 42, *' Post cuncta novissimus exit annulus." 
 " She who before had mortgaged her estate, 
 
 A.nd pawn'd the last remaining piece of plate." Dryden. 
 
 4 
 
74 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 has the modest self-restraint 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 
 ;he ant for their instructress, some have at last felt a dread 
 of cold and hunger. Yet woman, in her prodigality, per- 
 ceives not that her fortune is fast coming to naught ; and as 
 though money, with vegetative power, would bloom afresh^ 
 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 un- 
 w^arlike 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, con- 
 spicuous 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, Pos- 
 tumus, 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 praetor holds out : the in- 
 struments are forever in her hands ; the whole lyre sparkles 
 with the jewels thickly set. She runs over the strings with 
 the vibrating quill, ^ with which the soft Hedymeles per- 
 
 ^ Pullulet " As if the source of this exhausted store 
 
 Would reproduce its everlasting ore. ' ' Hodgson . 
 2 Crispo, actively, " Crispante chordas." The pecten was made of 
 ivory. Vid. Virg., ^n., vi., 646, seq.. 
 
 " Obloquitur numeris septem discrimina vocum, 
 
 J am que eadem digitis jam pectine pulsat eburno.^' 
 " Decks it with gems, and plays the lessons o'er, 
 Her loved Hedymeles has play'd before." Hodgson. 
 
SATIRE VI. 
 
 75 
 
 formed : 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 Lamise,^ a lady erf 
 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, ^ 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/^ 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* of heaven ! There can be no business 
 there, as far as I see, stirring among you. One woman con- 
 sults you about comic actors ; another would fain commend 
 a tragedian to your notice : the soothsayer will become vari- 
 cose.^ 
 
 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,^ with unabashed face and 
 breasts exposed. She too knows all that is going on in the 
 whole world — what the Seres"^ or Thracians are engaged in — 
 
 1 Lamiarum. Cf. iv., 154. 
 
 2 Capitolinum. This festival was instituted by Domitian (Suet., Do- 
 mit., 4), and was celebrated every fifth year in honor of Jove. 
 
 3 Dictata. The repeating the exact formula of words (carmen) after 
 the officiating priest was a most important part of the sacrifice. 
 
 4 Otia. " Is your attention to such suppliants given? 
 
 If so, there is not much to do in heaven." Gifford. 
 
 5 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. 
 
 6 Paludatis. Cf. Cic, Sext., 33. 
 
 ^ Seres. What country these inhabited is uncertain, probably Bo* 
 
76 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 the secrets of the step-mother and her son — what adulterer 
 is in love, or in great request. She will tell you who made 
 the widow pregnant — in what month it was — in what lan- 
 guage and manner each act of love takes place. She is the 
 first^ to see the comet that menaces the Armenian and Par- 
 thian king ; and she intercepts^ at the gates the reports and 
 freshest news. Some she invents as well. That Niphates^ 
 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,* 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^ here at once !" she cries : and orders the ^ 
 owner first to be beaten with them, and then the dog. Terri- 
 ble to encounter, most awful in visage, she enters the baths 
 by night — by night she orders her bathing vessels and camp 
 
 charia. It was the country from which the "Sericae vestes" or 
 "multitia" (ii., 66) came. 
 
 1 Instantem. Cf. Hor., iii., Od. iii., 3, "vultus instantis tyranni." 
 Trajan made an expedition against the Armenians and Partians a.d. 
 106 ; and about the same time there was an earthquake in the neigh- 
 borhood of Antioch (a.d, 115), when mountains subsided and rivers 
 burst forth. Dio Cass., Ixviii., 24. Trajan himself narrowly escaped 
 perishing in it. The consul, M. Verginianus Pedo, was killed. Tra- 
 jan was passing the winter there, and set out in the spring for Ar- 
 menia.— Cowe^ew. Cf. Suet., Ner., 36, "Stella crinita quae summis 
 potestatibus exitium portendere vulgo putatur." 
 
 2 Excipit. " Hear at the city's gate the recent tale. 
 
 Or coin a lie herself when rumors fail." Hodgson. 
 
 3 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. Gififord thinks it is a sly hit at the lady, 
 who converts a mountain into a river. 
 
 4 Exorata implies that their prayers were heard, otherwise their 
 punishment would have been still more cruel. 
 
 5 Pastes. " Ho whips! she cries; and flay that cur accurst, 
 
 But flay ihe rascal there that owns him first !" Gifford, 
 
SATIRE VI. 
 
 77 
 
 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, 1 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^ quite ravenous. Then having 
 rinsed out her stomach, the wine returns in a cascade on the 
 floor — rivers gush over the marble pavement,^ 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. There- 
 fore 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 ex- 
 cuses the suicide of Dido : matches and compares poets to- 
 gether : in one scale weighs Maro in the balance, and Ho- 
 mer in the other. The grammarians yield ; rhetoricians 
 are confuted ; the whole company is silenced ; neither law- 
 yer nor crier* 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 
 
 1 CEnophorum. A vessel of any size. The Urna is a determinate 
 measure, holding 24 sextarii, or about 3 gallons, i.e., half the am- 
 phora. Cf. xii., 45, " Urnte cratera capacem, et dignum sitiente Pholo. 
 vel coDjuge Fusci." 
 
 2 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." 
 
 3 Marmoribus. Cf. xi., 173, *' Lacedsemonium pytismate lubricat or- 
 bem." Hor., ii., Od, xxiv., 26, '"Mero tinguet pavimentum super- 
 bum." 
 
 4 Prseco. 
 
 " Dumfounders e'en the crier, and, most strange ! 
 No other woman can a word exchange." Hodgson. 
 
78 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 let no one trouble trumpets or brazen vessels ; slie will be 
 able singly to relieve the moon when sufferingi 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,^ 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' 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 Palsemon's* 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, 5 which 
 men would never heed. A husband should have the privi- 
 lege of committing a solecism. 
 
 1 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. 
 
 2 " %^mno mulieres non licet sacrificare." Vet. Schol. Women 
 sacrificed to Ceres and Juno. Vid. Dennis' Etruria, ii., 65-68. Cf. 
 Hor., ii., Ep. i., \4^^.— Quadrans. Philosophers used to go to the com- 
 monest baths, either from modesty or poverty. Seneca calls the bath 
 " Res Quadrantaria." Cf. Hor., i., Sat. iii,, 147. Cic. pro Coel. 
 
 Quadrantaria permutatio." 
 
 3 Torqueat. Cf. vii., 156, ''Quae venient diversse forte sagittse." 
 Quint., vi., 3, " Jaculatio verborum." So Plato uses the term Seti^b? 
 a.Kovri.(TTri<;, of a Spartan orator. 
 
 4 Palsemon. Cf. vii., 215, "Docti Palsemonis." "Insignis Gramma- 
 ticus." Hieron. "Remmius Palsemon, Vicentinus, owed his first 
 acquaintance with literature to taking his mistress' son to school 
 as his " custos angustse vernula capsse" (x., 117). Manumitted after- 
 ward, he taught at Rome in the reigns of Tiberius and Claudius, and 
 "principem locum inter grammaticos tenuit." Vid. Suet., Gram. 
 lUust., 23, who says he kept a very profitable school, and gives many 
 curious instances of his vanity and luxuriousness. He was Quintil- 
 ian's master. Cf. Vet. Schol., and Clinton, Fasti Rom. in anno, a.d. 
 48. 
 
 5 Opicse. Cf. iii., 207, " Opici mures." Opizein Grseci dicunt de iis 
 qui imperite ioquuntur. Vet. Schol. 
 
SATIRE VI. 
 
 79 
 
 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 
 Poppaean unguents, ^ 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,^ for which she 
 carries in her train she- asses, even if sent an exile to Hy- 
 perborean climes. But that which is overlaid and fomented 
 with so many and oft-changed cosmetics, and receives poul- 
 
 1 Poppseana. Cosmetics used or invented by Poppsea Sabina," of 
 whom Tacitus says, " Huic mulieri cuncta alia fuere prseter hones- 
 tum animum," Ann., xiii., 45. She was of surpassing beauty and in- 
 satiable 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 brouglit to Pome to be gazed upon by Poppsea, whom 
 he had now married, a.d. 62. Cf Tac, Ann,, xiv., 64. Poppaea 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, " Poppsea mortem obiit, fortuita mariti iracundia, a quo 
 gravida ictu calcis adflicta est." Nero, it is remarkable, died on the 
 same day of the month as the unfortunate Octavia. 
 
 2 Lacte. The old Schol. says Foppxa was banished, and took with 
 her fifty she-asses to furnish milk for her bath. The story of her ex- 
 ile 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 Poppsea uxor Neronis, quocunque ire con- 
 tigisset secum sexcentas asellas ducebat." dvov; Trewra^coo-ias aprtTo- 
 *:ovs. Xiph , lxii.,28. 
 
8o 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 tices of b^nled and damp flour, shall we call it a face,i or a 
 sore? 
 
 It is worth while to find out exactly what their occupa- 
 tions and pursuits are through the livelong day. If her hus- 
 band has gone to sleep with his back toward her, the house- 
 keeper 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^ 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 
 Still he lashes. Until at length, when the torturers are ex- 
 hausted, ^'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 as- 
 signation, 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 
 
 1 Fades. 
 
 " 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?" Giflford. 
 
 2 Frangit. Cf, viii., 247, " Nodosam post hsec frangebat vertice 
 vitem." The climax here is not correctly observed, according to 
 Horace. " Nc scutica dignum horribili sectere flagello : Nam, ut 
 ferula cffidas meritum majora subire Verbera non vereor." I., Sat. 
 ili., 119. The scutica was probably like the " taurea :" the cowskin " 
 of the American slave States. 
 
 3 Diurnum. ''The diary of the household expenses." Meiegit 
 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. 
 
SATIRE VI. 
 
 81 
 
 Isiac^ 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'-^ 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 mis- 
 tress'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^ 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* 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^ of her husband's, and in this 
 
 ^ Isiacas. Cf. ix.,22, Fanumlsidis . . . Notior AuMio moechus 
 celebrare solebas." 
 
 2 Emerita. From the soldier who has served his time and become 
 " emeritus." 
 
 3 jEdificat. 
 
 "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. 
 * Pygmxd. 
 
 " 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. 
 5 Vicina. 
 
 And save that daily she insults his friends, 
 4* 
 
82 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 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 grandilo- 
 quent 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^ 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 dav/n, 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.^ If white lo command, she will go to the ex- 
 tremity of Egypt, and bring back water fetched from scorch- 
 ing Meroe, to sprinkle on the temple of Isis, that rears it- 
 self hard by the ancient sheepfold.^ 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* for the gods to 
 
 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. 
 
 1 Xerampelinas. The Schol. describes this color as ' ' inter coccinum 
 et muricem medius," from ^Tjpb?, siccus, a/u-TreXo?, vitis, " the color of , 
 vine leaves in autumn ; " the " morte feuille " of French dyers. 
 
 2 Superbi. The Campus Martins, as having belonged originally to 
 Tarquinius Superbus. 
 
 ^ Ovile, more commonly ovilia or septa, stood in the Campus Mar- 
 tius, where the elections were held. 
 
 Animam, "the moral," mentem, "the intellectual part "of the 
 soul. Cf. Virg., ^n., vi., II, " Cui mentem animamque Delius in- 
 spirat Vates." When opposed to animus, anima is simply *' the prin- 
 
SATIRE VI. 
 
 83 
 
 hold converse with by night ! He therefore gains the chief 
 and highest honor, who, surrounded by his linen-robed 
 flock, ^ and a bald-headed throng of people uttering lamenta- 
 tions, 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 bas- 
 ket and hay, begs in her secret ear, the interpretess of the 
 
 ciple of vitality." " Anima, qua 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. 
 1 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 v^hich reason the in- 
 ferior priests vv^ere 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., ^n., 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 vitse 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 (quse- 
 situri luctu alium quem substituant ; et donee invenerint mserent, 
 derasis etiam capitibus. Plin., ii., 3). When they had found one, 
 their lamentations were exchanged for songs of joy and shouts of evpi?- 
 Ka^^€v (cf. viii., 29, Exclamare libet populus quod clamai Osiri in- 
 vento), 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 
 
 riest personating Anubis, and wearing a dog's head. Hence devisor. 
 
 f. XV., 8, " Oppida tota canem venerantur." 
 
84 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 laws of Solyma, the potent priestess of the tree — the trusty 
 go-between from highest heaven !^ 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,^ handling the liver 
 of the dove still reeking, engages that her lover shall be de- 
 voted, or promises the rich inheritance of some childless 
 rich man ; he pries into the breasts of chickens and the en- 
 trails of a puppy ; sometimes too even of a child — he does 
 acts of which he will himself turn informer !^ 
 
 But their confidence in Chaldseans 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* tablets it came to pass that a 
 citizen of high rank^ 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 es- 
 caped with his life, and scarcely had good fortune enough 
 
 1 *' Her internuntial office none deny. 
 
 Between us peccant mortals and the sky." Badham. 
 
 2 Commagene was reduced to a province a.d. 72. 
 
 3 Beferat. " Or bid. at times, the human victim bleed, 
 
 And then inform against you for the deed." Hodgson. 
 
 4 Conducenda. 
 
 *' By whose hired tablet and concurring spell, 
 The noble Roman, Otho's terror, fell." Hodgson. 
 
 5 Magnus civls. Cf. Suet., Otho, 4, " Spem majorem cepit ex affirma- 
 tione Seleuci Mathematici, qui cum eum olim superstitem Neronl fore 
 spopondisset, tunc ultro inopinatus advenerat, imperaturum quoque 
 brevi repromittens." Cf. Tac, Hist., i., 22, who says one Ptolemseus 
 promised Otho the same when with him in Spain. Ptolemy helped 
 to fulfill his own prediction, " Nec Deerat Ptolemseus, jam et sceleris 
 instinctor, ad quod facillim^ ab ejusmodi voto tiansitur." 
 
SATIRE VI. 
 
 85 
 
 to be sent to one of the Cyelades,^ and at length to be set 
 free from the confined Seriphos, he it is whom your Tana- 
 quil2 consults about the death of her jaundiced mother, for 
 which she has been long impatient ; but first, about your- 
 self ! when she may hope to follow to the grave her sister 
 and her uncles ; w^hether 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, ^ 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 re- 
 strained by the calculations of Thrasyllus.* 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 
 
 1 Cyclada. Cf. i., 73, " Aude aliquid brevibus Gyaris et carcere dig- 
 num." X., 170, " Ut Gyarae clausus scopulis parvaque Seripho." 
 
 2 Tanaquil. Cf. Liv., i.,34, " perita coelestium prodigiorum mulier." 
 
 '* To him thy Tanaquil applies, in doubt 
 How long her jaundiced mother may hold out." Gifford. 
 
 3 Pinguia sucina. The Roman women used to hold or rub amber 
 in their hands for its scent. Mart., iii., Ep. Ixv., 5, " redolent quod 
 sucina trita." Xi., Ep. viii., 6, "spirant, succina virginea quod 
 regelata manu." Cf. v., Ep. xxxviii., 11. (Cf. ix., 50.) 
 
 " By whom a greasy almanac is borne. 
 With often handling, like chafed amber worn." Dryden. 
 
 4 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 Ca- 
 lig., 19, for a curious prediction belied by Caligula. 
 
86 JUVENAL. 
 
 suited to taking food, save that which Petosiris^ 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 pur- 
 pose, from some one skilled in the stars and heavens, or one 
 advanced in years who expiates the public places which the 
 lightning^ has struck. The destiny of the plebeians is learnt 
 in the circus, and at Tarquin's rampart.^ She that has no 
 long necklace of gold to display, inquires in front of the 
 obelisks and the dolphin-columns,* whether she shall jilt 
 the tapster and marry the old-clothes man. 
 
 Yet these, when circumstances so require, are ready to en- 
 counter 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 un- 
 
 1 Petosiris, another famous astrologer and physician. Plin., ii., 
 23 ; vii., 49. 
 
 2 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. 
 
 3 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." 
 
 4 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 (metse) 
 round which the chariots turned: along this spine were seven 
 movable towers or obelisks, called from their oval form ova, or 
 phalse ; 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. 
 Bottinger has a curious theory, that the four colors symbolize the 
 four elements, the green being the earth. The circus was the rCvSort 
 of prostitutes (iii., 65) and itinerant fortune-tellers. (Hence " faUcLX," 
 Hor., i., Sat., vi., 113.) Cf Suet., Jul., 39, and Claud., 21. 
 
SATIRE VI. 
 
 87 
 
 born. 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 ^Ethiop ; a blacka- 
 moor would soon be your sole heir, one whom you would 
 not see of a morning/ 
 
 I say nothing of supposititious children, and all a hus- 
 band's joys and fond hopes baffled at the dirty pools ;2 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 i-^ 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 
 
 1 Mane. "The first thing seen" in the morning was a most im- 
 portant 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." 
 
 2 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 udse 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." Giflford. 
 s Mimum. Cf. iii., 40, " Quoties voluii Fortuna jocari." 
 
88 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 done. Yet even this is endurable, if you do not go raving 
 mad as well, like that uncle of Nero for whom his Csesonia 
 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 totter- 
 ing to their fall, exactly as if Juno had driven her spouse to 
 madness. Therefore the mushroom^ 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,^ 
 and his lips that slavered with dribbling saliva. Whereas 
 this potion of Csesonia^ 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 or forbid that. But now it is thought allow- 
 able to kill even their husbands' sons by a former mar- 
 riage. 
 
 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 pre- 
 scribed by those who trod the path before us, we are wildly 
 
 1 Boletus. Cf. v., 147. Nero used to call mushrooms " the food of the 
 ^ods" after this. Cf. Suet., Nero, 33. Tac, Ann., xii.,66, 7. Mart., 
 1,, Ep. xxi. 
 
 2 That only closed the driveling dotard's eyes, 
 
 And sent his godhead downward to the skies." Dryden. 
 
 3 Cxsonia. Cf. Suet., Calig., 50, " Creditur potionatus a Csesonia ux- 
 ore,amatorio quidem medicamento, sed quod in furorem verterit." 
 
SATIRE VI. 
 
 89 
 
 declaiming in the deep-mouthed tones of Sophocles^ a strain 
 of awful grandeur, unknown to Kutulian hills and Latin 
 sky. Would that it were but fable ! But Pontia"^ with loud 
 voice exclaimed, I did the deed. I avow it ! and prepared 
 for my own children the aconite, which bears palpable evi- 
 dence against me. StilP the act was mine!" "What, 
 crudest of vipers ! didst thou kill two at one meal ! Two, 
 didst thou slay?' ' ' ' Ay, seven, had there haply been seven I' ' 
 
 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, when- 
 ever 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* on the stage encountering death for her 
 husband, and were a similar exchange allowed to them, would 
 gladly purchase a lap-dog's life by the sacrifice of their hus- 
 band's ! You will meet any morning with Danaides and 
 Eriphylse in plenty ; not a street but will possess its Clyta?m- 
 
 1 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. 
 
 2 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. 
 
 2 Tamen. Heinrich proposes to read " tantum." 
 4 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, 
 
JUVENAL. 
 
 nestra. This is the only difference, that that famed daugh- 
 ter of Tyndarus grasped in both hands a bungling, senseless 
 axe.^ But now the business is dispatched with the insinuat- 
 ing 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^ king. 
 
 SATIRE VIL 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 This Satire contains an animated account of the general discourage- 
 ment 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 anec- 
 dotes, and enlivening each different head with such satirical, hu- 
 morous, and sentimental remarks as naturally flow from the sub- 
 ject. 
 
 All our hope and inducement to study^ rests on Caesar* 
 alone. For he alone casts a favoring eye^ 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, 
 
 1 Tnsulsam. 
 
 " But here the difference lies— those bungling wives 
 With a blunt axe hack'd out their husbands' lives." Giffbrd. 
 
 2 Ter victi, by Sylla, Lucullus, and Pompey. Cf. xiv., 452, Erne 
 quod Mithridates Composuit si vis aliam decerpere ficum, Atque alias 
 tractare rosas." 
 
 3 Ratio studiorum. Cf. Tac, Ann., xi., 7, " Sublatis studiorum pretiis 
 etiam studia peritura." 
 
 ^ Csesare. Which Csesar 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. 
 
 5 Rcspexit. "To view with favor or pity," as a deity : so Virg.,Ecl., 
 i., 28, Libertas, quae sera tamen respexit inertem." 
 
SATIRE VII. 
 
 9^ 
 
 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.^ For if not 
 a single farthing is offered you in the Pierian shades, be con- 
 tent with the name and calling of Machsera :^ and sooner sell 
 what the auction duly set^ 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 wit- 
 ness of what you never did see.* Even though Asiatic,^ and 
 Cappadocian, and Bithynian knights stoop to this : fellows 
 whom Gallo-Grsecia transports hither with chalked feet.® 
 Hereafter, however, no one will be compelled to submit to 
 an employment derogatory to his studies, who unites lofti- 
 ness of expression to tuneful numbers, and has chewed the 
 bay.^ Set vigorously to work then, young men ! The kind- 
 ness^ of the emperor is looking all around, and stimulates 
 your exertions, while he is seeking worthy objects of his pat- 
 
 1 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 : of. pro Quint., 12, 25, i. in Hull., 7. 
 
 2 Machsera, a famous Prseco of his time. Lubin. 
 
 3 Commissa. Either from the goods being " intrusted " to the auc- 
 tioneer by the owner or the magistrate ; or from the parties that bid 
 being as it were " pitted," commissi, against each other, like gladiators. 
 
 4 Vidi. So xvi., 29, " Audeat ille Nescio quis, pugnos qui vidit, di- 
 cere vidi." 
 
 ^ Asiani. "Jam equites, olim servi Asiatici." Lub. The next line 
 is in all probability interpolated, being only a gloss. Heinrich. 
 
 6 Nudo talo. Vid. ad i., 111. Or, it may be "barefooted" simply. 
 Galatia in Asia Minor, so called from the colony of Gauls who set- 
 tled there, a.d. 278, at the invitation of Nicomedes. Liv., xxxviii., 
 16. Cf. Pans., Phoc, xxiii. Cramer's Asia Minor, ii., 79. Clinton, 
 Fast. Hell, in an. 
 
 '* Sent from Bithynia's realms with shoeless feet." Badham. 
 
 7 Laurumque momordit. So 8a<l)vri<l)a.yoi. The chewing of the bay, as 
 being sacred to Apollo, was supposed to convey divine inspiration. 
 Grang. Cf. Lycoph., 6. 
 
 8 Indvlgentia. " Lo ! the imperial eye 
 
 Looks round attentive on each rising bard, 
 
 For worth to praise, for genius to reward." Gifford. 
 
92 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 ronage. 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^ tablet ; call with all 
 speed for a fagot, and make a present of all your composi- 
 tions, Telesinus, to Venus' husband -} or lock them up, and 
 let the bookworm^ 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,* 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.^ 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,® 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 com- 
 poses 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, 
 
 1 Crocese. Because parchment is always yellow on the side where 
 the hair grew. Others think the parchment itself was dyed yellow. 
 Cf. Pers., iii., 10. 
 
 2 Veneriis marito, a burlesque phrase for the fire." 
 
 3 Tinea. Cf. Hor., Ep., I., xx., 12, "Tineas pasces taciturnus in- 
 
 * Celld- So Ben Johnson : 
 
 " 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." 
 5 Junonis avem. 
 
 " To praise and only praise the high- wrought strain. 
 As boys the bird of Juno's glittering train." Gifford. 
 ® Facunda et unda. 
 
 " Till gray-haired, helpless, humbled genius see 
 Its fault too late, and curse Terpsichore." Badham. 
 
SATIRE VII. 
 
 93 
 
 he kindly lends you a dirty mansion, and places at yenr ser- 
 vice one that has been long barred up, whose front gate emu- 
 lates those of a city in a state of siege. He knows how to 
 place bis freedmen in seats at the farther end of the audi- 
 
 f nce, and how to arrange his clients who are to cheer you 
 ustily. ^ None of these great lords will give you as much as 
 would pay for the benches,^ 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^ of indulging in this vain-glorious trifling,* 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 
 
 1 Comitum voces. Cf. xiii., 32, Vocalis sportula." 
 
 2 Anahathra, the seats rising one above another in the form of a 
 theatre. SubsellicL, 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." 
 
 3 Laqueo. " And would we quit at length th' ambitious ill, 
 
 The noose of habit implicates us still." Badham. 
 
 4 Vatem egregium. Cf. Hor., i.. Sat. iv., 43, " Ingenium cui sit, cui 
 mens divinior, atque os magna sonaturum, des nominis hujus hono- 
 rem." 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, Gifibrd has drawn the prize in the lot* 
 tery of translation, all others must be blanks after it. 
 
9^ 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 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 !^ What scope is there 
 for fancy, save when our breasts are harassed by no thoughts 
 but verse alone ; and are hurried along^ under the influence 
 of the lords of Cirrha and Nysa, admitting of no divided^ 
 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* appals the Rutuiian. For had 
 Virgil lacked a slave and comfortable lodging, all the ser- 
 pents 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 Kubrenus Lappa should not fall short 
 of the buskin of the ancients, while his Atreus^ forces him to 
 pawn his very sauceboats and his cloak ? 
 
 1 Evoe! Vid, Hor., ii., Od. xix., 5. Cf. Milman's Life. 
 
 2 Feruntur. 
 
 " Be hurried with resistless force along 
 By the two kindred powers of wine and song." Gifford. 
 
 3 Duas. '* Nor wrestlings with the world will Genius own, 
 
 Destined to strive with song, and song alone." Badham. 
 
 ^ Erinnys. The splendid passage in the seventh ^neid, 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. ^n., ii., 602, seq. ; xii., 326. 
 
 5 Atreus. Some take Atreus to be the person who lends the money. 
 Grangseus interprets it, Qui dum componit tragsediam 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. 
 
SATIRE VII. 
 
 95 
 
 Poor Numitor is so unfortunate as to have nothing he can 
 afford to send his protege ! 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 gar- 
 dens 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 Statins^ 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^ his un- 
 published Agave ''^ 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.* What nobles will not give, a player will ! And 
 
 1 Statins 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 Silvae, 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. 
 
 2 Vendat Holy day quotes from Brodseus the price given to Terence 
 for his Eunuchus, viz., eight sestertia, about sixty-five pounds. 
 
 3 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 Ju- 
 venal's banishment. 
 
 4 Semestri is said to refer to an honorary military commission, con- 
 ferred on favorites, even though not in the army, and called "Se- 
 mestris tribunatus militum." It lasted for six months only, but con- 
 ferred 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 " sestivum aurum " (i., 28), is a palpable absurdity. 
 
 I 
 
96 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 dost tbou, then, still pay court to the Camerini and Bareae, 
 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 Maecenas 
 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^ the whole of December. 
 
 Your toil, forsooth, ye writers of histories ! is more pro- 
 fitable, 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 ? W^ho will give an historian as much as 
 he would a notary ?2 ' ' But they are an idle race, that de- 
 light in sofas and the cool shade. ^' W^ell, 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 
 
 1 Vinum nescire. Cf. Hor., ii., Sat. iii., 5, "At ipsis Saturnalibus 
 hue fugisti Sobrius." Stat., Sylv., I., vi., 4, "Saturnus mihi com- 
 j>Qde exsoluta, et multo gravidus mero December." 
 
 " Then all December's revelries refuse. 
 And give the festive moments to the Muse." Gifford. 
 
 2 Acta legeriti. Either the " notary public," or " keeper of the pub- 
 lic records." or the historian's reader, who collected facts for the au- 
 thor, or " any one who read aloud the history itself." 
 
SATIRE VII. 
 
 97 
 
 hundred lawyers, and you may balance it on the other side 
 with the single fortune of Lacerna, the charioteer of the 
 
 The chiefs have taken their seats !^ You, like Ajax, rise 
 with pallid cheek, and plead in behalf of liberty that has 
 been called in question, before a neat-herd^ for a juryman ! 
 Burst your strained lungs, poor wretch ! that, when ex- 
 hausted, the green palm-branches* 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 f 
 or wine brought down the Tiber. Five bottles^ for pleading 
 four times ! If you have been lucky enough to get a single 
 gold piece^, even from that you must deduct the stipulated 
 shares of the attorneys. ^ ^milius will get as much as the law 
 
 1 Eussati. 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 Palu- 
 datus is " one wearing the general's cloak." Cf. Mart., xiii., Ep. 78, 
 " Prasinus Porphyrion." 
 
 - Consedere. Cf. Ov., Met., xiii., 1, " Consedere duces; et, vulgi 
 stante corona, Surgit ad hos clypei dominus septemplicis Ajax;" Cf. 
 ad xi., 30. 
 
 3 Bubulco. " Before some clod-pate judge thy vitals strain." Bad- 
 ham. 
 
 4 Palmse. Cf. ad ix., 85. 
 
 " So shall the verdant palm be duly tied 
 To the dark staircase where such powers reside." Badham. 
 
 5 Afrorum Epimenia. Most probably alluding to the "monthly ra- 
 tions 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. 
 
 ^ Lagense. Mart., u. s. "Five jars of meagre down-the-Tiber 
 wine." Badham. 
 
 Aureus. About sixteen shillings English at this time. 
 8 Pragmatico7'um. Cicero describes their occupation, de Orat., i.. 
 45, " Ut apud Grsecos infimi homines, mercedula adducti, ministros 
 se prsebent judiciis oratoribus ii qui apud illos itpayixaTtKot 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." 
 
 Red. I 
 
 5 
 
98 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 allows ;i although we pleaded better than he. For he has 
 in his court-yard a chariot of bronze with four tall horses^ 
 yoked to it; and he himself, seated on his fierce charger, 
 brandishes aloft his bending spear, and meditates battle 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 se- 
 dan on his sturdy Median slaves, as he presses through the 
 forum to bid for^ slaves, and plate, and myrrhine vases, and 
 villas. For it is his foreign* 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 
 than 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 him- 
 
 1 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 niost. Vid. Tac, Ann., xi., 5 (Ruperti's note). Suet., Ner., 
 17. P]in., v., Ep. iv., 21. 
 
 2 Quadrijuges. It appears to have been an extraordinary fancy 
 with lawyers of this age to be represented in this manner ; cf. Mart., 
 ix., Ep. Ixix., 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, fitr^y/cvAwjaevovs. " Luscd " may imply that the statue 
 imitated to the life the personal defect of ^milius; or simply the 
 absence of the pupil {bixixdruiv dx'^'^''^)^ inseparable from statuary ; or 
 that ^milius is represented as closing one eye to take better aim. 
 
 " Lifts his poised javelin o'er the crowd below, 
 And from his blmking statue threats the blow." Hodgson. 
 
 3 Cf. Mart, ix., Ep. 60. 
 
 4 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 Cla- 
 vus," according to some commentators; or a "broad-beamed" mer- 
 chant 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 : longe nayi advecta." 
 
SATIRE VII. 
 
 99 
 
 self 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 thread- 
 bare coat ! 
 
 When is Basilus allowed to produce in court a weeping 
 mother ? Who could endure Basilus, however well he w^ere 
 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^ 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,^ who 
 dins his awful Hannibal into my ears regularly every sixth 
 day. Whatever the theme be that is to be the subject of his 
 
 1 Crambe. The old Schol. quotes a proverb— 51? Kpa.fx^y\ ^avarog, 
 Orangseus another, which forcibly expresses a schoolmaster's drudg- 
 ery — oi auTOt Trepi rdv avTutv TOiq avTolg to. avrd. 
 
 " Till, like hash'd cabbage, served for each repast, 
 The repetition kills the wretch at last." Giflford. 
 
 2 Arcadia was celebrated for its breed of asses. Cf. Pers., Sat. ili., 
 "Arcadise pecuaria rudere credas." Auson., Epigr. 76, "Asinos 
 
 quoque rudere dicas, cum vis Arcadium fingere, Marce, pecus." 
 
 ♦ 
 
lOO 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 deliberation ; whether he shall march at once from Cannae 
 on Kome ; or whether, rendered circumspect after the storms 
 and thunderbolts, he shall lead his cohorts, drenched with 
 the tempest, by a circuitous route. Bargain^ for any sum 
 you please, and I will at once place it in your hands, on con- 
 dition 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 aban- 
 doned all fictitious declamations about the ravisher. No 
 more is heard of the poison infused, or the vile ungrateful 
 husband, 2 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^ 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 de- 
 tails* of Theodorus' treatise. 
 
 ^ Stipulare. Get me his father but to hear his task 
 
 For one short week, I'll give you all you ask." Bad. 
 
 2 Mauritus. *' The faithless husband and abandon'd wife, 
 
 And ^son coddled to new light and life." Gififord. 
 
 3 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 tesserae or symbola were 
 made, Lubinus says, of wood or lead, and distributed by the Fru- 
 mentorum Curatores." In the latter days, bread thus distributed was 
 called " Panis Gradilis," quia gradibus distribuebatur. The Congia- 
 rium 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. 
 
 4 Scindens. " Prsecepta ejus artis minutatim dividens." Lubin. On 
 the principle perhaps, that " Qui bene dividit bene docet." Britan- 
 nicus, 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 nriXov aVan Tr€(})vpiJi€vov. Chrys- 
 ogonus, in vi., 74, is a singer, and Pollio, vi., 387, a musician (cf. 
 
SATIRE VII. 
 
 lOI 
 
 The baths will cost six hundred sestertia, and the colon- 
 nade 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.^ On the other side must 
 rise a spacious dining-room, supported on stately columns 
 of Numidian mailjle, and catch the cooP 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 expendi- 
 ture, two poor sestertia will be deemed an ample remunera- 
 tion 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 hand- 
 some and active ; good luck that makes him wise, and noble, 
 and well-bred, and attaches the crescent^ 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 
 
 Mart., iv., Ep. Ixi., 9); but, as Lubinus says, the persons mentioned 
 here are professors of rhetoric, and p/robably therefore not the same. 
 
 1 Munax. 
 
 " 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. 
 
 2 Algentem. They had dining-rooms facing different quarters, ac- 
 cording to the season of the year, with a southern aspect for the 
 winter, and an eastern for the summer. Cf. Plin., ii., Ep. 17. Eapiat 
 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. 
 
 3 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 
 ctescent or the letter C in front, because the original number of 
 senators was a hundred— Aluia, "steeped in alum," to soften the 
 skin. 
 
102 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 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^ or Tullius 
 aught else than a lucky planet, and the strange potency of 
 hidden fate ? Fate, that gives kingdoms to slaves, and tri- 
 umphs 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^ proves, and that of Secun- 
 dus Carrinas.^ And you, too, Athens, were witness to the 
 poverty of him on whom you had the heart to bestow noth- 
 ing save the hemlock that chilled* his life-blood ! 
 
 Light be the earth, ye gods !^ 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 
 
 1 Ventidius Bassus, son of a slave ; first a carman, then a muleteer ; 
 afterward made in one year praetor 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 proces- 
 sion of Pompey's father. Cf. Val, Max., vi., 10. 
 
 2 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. 
 
 3 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. 
 
 4 Oelidas. " Cicutse refrigeratoria vis : quos enecat incipiunt algere 
 ab extremitatibus corporis." Plin., xxv., 13. Plat., Phsedo, fin. 
 Pers., iv., 1. 
 
 5 Bii 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 !" GiflFord. 
 
SATIRE VII. 
 
 103 
 
 now grown up ; and yet in whom even then would not the tail 
 of his master, the harper, provoke a smile ? But now Rufus^ 
 and others are beaten each by their own pupils ; Rufus ! 
 who so often called Cicero ''the Allobrogian !" Who casts 
 into Enceladus'2 lap, or that of the learned Palaemon,'^ 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), Acse nonoetus, his pupil's 
 pedagogue, first takes his slice ; and then the steward who 
 pays you deducts his fragment. Dispute it not, Palsemon ! 
 and suffer some abatement to be made, just as the peddler 
 does that deals in winter rugs and snow-white sheetings.* 
 Only let not all be lost,'' 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 re- 
 quire enforcing by the Tribune's court. ^ 
 
 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^ — know all authors 
 
 ^ Evfus, according to the old Schol., was a native of Gaul. Gran- 
 gseus calls him Q, Curtius Rufus, and says nothing more is known of 
 him than that he was an eminent rhetorician. He is here repre- 
 sented as charging Cicero with barbarisms or provincialisms, such as 
 a Savoyard would use. 
 
 2 Enceladus. Nothing is known of him. 
 
 3 Palsemon. Vid. ad vi., 451. ^ Cadurci. Cf. vi., 537. 
 & Nonpereai. 
 
 "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. 
 
 6 Cognitione Trihuni, Not a tribune of the people, but one of the 
 Tribuni ^Erarii, to whom the cognizance of such complaints belonged. 
 
 7 Historias. Tiberius was exceedingly fond of propounding to 
 
I04 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 as well as his own finger-ends ; that if questioned at hazard, 
 while on his way to the Thermae or the baths of Phoebus, he 
 should be able to tell the name of Anchises' nurse\ 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 rev- 
 erend 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^ as 
 the people demand for the victorious Charioteer ! 
 
 grammarians, a class of men whom he particularly affected (quod 
 genus hominum prsecipue appetebat), questions of this nature, to 
 sound their " notitia historiae usque ad ineptias atque derisum." Cf. 
 Suet., Tib., 70, 57. 
 
 1 Nutricem. The names of these two persons are said to have been 
 Casperia and Tisiphone. 
 
 2 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. Ixxiv., 5. 
 
SATIRE VIII. 
 
 105 
 
 SATIRE VIII. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 Juvenal demonstrates, in this Satire, that distinction is merely per- 
 sonal ; that though we may derive rank and titles from our ances- 
 tors, yet if we degenerate from the virtues by which they obtained 
 them, we can not be considered truly noble. This is the main ob- 
 ject of the Satire ; which, however, branches out into many col- 
 lateral topics— the profligacy of the young nobility ; the miserable 
 state of the provinces, which they plundered and harassed with- 
 out 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. 
 
 What is the use of pedigrees?^ What boots it, Pontic us, 
 to be accounted of an ancient line, and to display the painted 
 faces^ of your ancestors, and the ^miliani 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^ — what profit is it to vaunt in your capacious 
 genealogy of Corvinus, and in many a collateral line* 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 :* 
 
 1 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 nobles; 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. 
 
 2 ViUtus. Because these Imagines were simply busts made of wax, 
 colored. 
 
 3 Virgd. 
 
 " V^hat boots it on the lineal tree to trace 
 Through many a branch the founders of our race." Giflford. 
 
 4 Numantinos. Scipio Africanus the Younger got the name of Nu- 
 mantinus from Numantia, which he destroyed as well as Carthage. 
 
 5* 
 
io6 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 if you retire to rest at the rising of that star^ at whose 
 dawning those generals set their standards and camps in 
 motion ? Why does Fabius^ plume himself on the Allobro- 
 gici 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."^ If 
 with tender limbs made sleek by the pumice* of Catana he 
 shames his rugged sires, and, a purchaser of poison, dis- 
 graces his dishonored race by his image that ought to be 
 broken up.^ 
 
 Though your long line of ancient statues adorn your am- 
 ple halls on every side, the sole and only real nobility is 
 virtue. Be a Paulus,® or Cossus, or Drusus, in moral char- 
 
 1 Ortu. 
 
 " Just at the hour when those whose name you boast 
 Broke up the camp, and march'd th' embattled host." Hodgson. 
 
 2 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, " Constituique sibi quae Maxima dicitur^ 
 Aram, Hie ubi pars urbis de bove nomen habet." Cf. Virg., ^n., 
 
 viii. , 271, " Hanc aram luco statuit quae Maxima semper dicetur no« 
 bis, et erit quse Maxima semper." Quintus Fabius Maximus Emilia- 
 nus, the consul in the year b.c. 121, defeated the Allobroges at the 
 junction of the Isere and the Rhone, and killed 130,000 : for which 
 he received the name of Allobrogicus. Cf. Liv., Ep. 61. Veil., ii., 16, 
 
 3 Euganea, a district of Northern Italy, on the confines of the Vene- 
 tian territory. 
 
 4 Pumice. The pumice found at Catana, now Catania, at the foot 
 of Mount ^tna, was used to rub the body with to make it smooth (cf. 
 
 ix. ,95, "Inimicus pumice Isevis." 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., lU—Traducit Vid. ad xi., 
 31. 
 
 5 Frangendd. The busts of great criminals were broken by the com- 
 mon executioner. Cf. x., 58, " Descendunt statute restemque sequun- 
 tur." Tac, Ann., vi., 2, "Atroces sententise dicebantur in effigies." 
 C£ Ruperti, ad Tac, Ann., ii., 32. Suet., Domit., 23. 
 
 "He blast his wretched kindred with a bust. 
 For public Justice to reduce to dust." Gififord. 
 ^ 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. Gsetulice.) 
 
SATIRE VIII. 
 
 107 
 
 acter. Set that before the images of your ancestors. Let 
 that, when your are consul, take precedence of the fasces 
 themselves. What I claim from you first is the noble quali- 
 ties of the mind. If you deserve indeed to be accounted a 
 man of blameless integrity, and stanch love of justice, both 
 in worS and deed, then I recognize the real nobleman. All 
 hail, Gsetulicus !i or thou, Silanus,^ 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. ^ 
 
 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/ Atlas ; a negro, swan ; a diminutive 
 and deformed wench, Europa. Lazy curs scabbed^ with in- 
 veterate 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. There- 
 fore you will take care and begin to fear lest it is upon the 
 same principle you are a Creticus^ or Camerinus. 
 
 1 Oastulice. Cn. Cornelius Lentulus Cossus received the name of 
 Gsetulicus from his victory over the Gsetuli, " Auspice Augusto," in 
 his consulship with L. Calpurnius Piso Augur. B.C. 1. Vid. Clinton, 
 F. H., inan. Flor., iv., 12. 
 
 2 Silanus. The son-in-law of the Emperor Claudius, who, as Taci- 
 tus says (Ann., xvi., 7), "Claritudine generis, and modesta juventa 
 praecellebat." Cf. Ann., xii. Suet., Claud., 27, 
 
 " Hail from whatever stock you draw your birth, 
 The son of Cossus, or the son of earth." Gilford. 
 
 3 Osiri invento. Vid. ad vi., 533. 
 
 4 Namum cujusdam. There is probably an allusion here to Domi- 
 tian's fondness for these deformities. Cf. Domit., iv., "Per omne 
 spectaculum ante pedes ei stabat puerulus coccinatus, pravo porten- 
 tosoque capite, cum quo plurimum fabulabatur." Cf. Stat., i. ; vi,, 57, 
 seq, 
 
 6 Scobie. "That mangy larcenist of casual spoil. 
 
 From lamps extinct that licks the fetid oil." Badham. 
 
 6 Creticus. Q. Metellus had this surname from his conquest of 
 Crete, B.C. 67. Veil. 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., 38. Camerinus was 
 a name of the Sulpician gens, and seems to have been derived from 
 
io8 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 Whom have I admonished in these words ? To you my 
 words are addressed, Rubellius^ Plaiitus ! 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 lulus, and not the drudge that weaves for hire beneath 
 the shelter of the windy rampart.^ You are the lower or- 
 ders ! 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 !^ 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 
 Koman. It is he that usually pleads the cause of the igno- 
 rant noble." From the toga'd crowd will come one that can 
 solve the knotty points of law, and the enigmas of the stat- 
 utes. 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 
 
 the conquest of Cameria in Latium. (Cf. Facciol.) Liv., i., 38. The 
 nailie of Creiicus was actually given in derision to M. Antonius, 
 father of the triumvir, for his disastrous failure in Crete. Vid. Plut. 
 in Ant. 
 
 1 RiLbellius Bland us was the father, Plautus the son. Both read- 
 ings are found here. Of the latter Tacitus says (Ann., xiv., 22), *' Om- 
 nium ore Rubellius Plautus celebrabatur, cut nohilitas per matrem ex 
 Julia familid." His mother Julia was daughter of Drusus, the son of 
 Llvia, wife of Augustus. Germanicus, his mother's brother, was 
 father of Agrippina, mother of Nero: hence, inf. 72, inflatum ple- 
 numque Nerone propinquo." Cf. Virg., Mn., i., 288, " Julius a magno 
 demissum nomen Julo." 
 
 ^ Aggere. Cf. ad vi. , 588. 
 
 3 Vivas. Long may'st thou taste the secret sweets that spring 
 
 In breasts affined to so remote a king." Gifford. 
 
 4 Nobilis indocti. 
 
 " Wh6 help the well-born dolt in many a strait, 
 And plead the cause of the unletter'd great." Badham. 
 
SATIRE VIII. 
 
 109 
 
 marble/ 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, ^ 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'^ mill. Therefore that 
 we may admire you, and not yours, first achieve some noble 
 act* 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 relation- 
 ship to Nero.^ For in that rank of life the courtesies^ of 
 
 1 Marmoreum. 
 
 " For 'tis no bar to kindred, that thy block 
 Is form'd of flesh and blood, and theirs of rock." Gifford. 
 ^ 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. 
 
 3 Nepos, the name of a noted miller at Rome. 
 
 4 Aliquid. "Sometimes greaV 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 the^ are thine, 
 More than his life, or lands, or golden line." 
 ^ Nerone. Cf. ad 1. 39. 
 
 « Sensus communis. There are few phrases in Juvenal on which the 
 
no 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 good breeding are commonly rare enough* But you, Ponti- 
 cus, I would not have you valued for your ancestors' re- 
 nown ; so as to contribute nothing yourself to deserve the 
 praise of posterity. It is wretched work building on an- 
 other'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,^ sighs for its widowed elms in vain. 
 
 Prove yourself a good soldier, a faithful guardian, an in- 
 corruptible 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 sum- 
 mit of impiety 2 to prefer existence to honor, ^ and for the 
 sake of life to sacrifice life's only end ! He that deserves to 
 die 18 dead, though he still sup on a hundred Gauran* 
 
 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 ; Phsedr., 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 in- 
 tercourse between man and man;" in Horace, "suavity of man- 
 ners;" 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. Hodg- 
 son 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." 
 
 1 Stratus humi. 
 
 " Stretch'd on the ground, the vine's weak tendrils try 
 To clasp the elm they dropped from, fail, and die." Gifford. 
 
 2 Summum crede nefas. See some beautiful remarks in Coleridge's 
 Introduction to the Greek Poets, p. 24, 25. 
 
 3 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. 
 
 4 Gaurana. Gaurus (cf. ix., 57), a mountain of Campania, near 
 Baise and the Lucrine Lake, which was famous for oysters Ccf. iv.» 
 
SATIRE VIII. Ill 
 
 oysters, and plunge in a whole bath of the perfumes of 
 Cosmus. 1 
 
 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 pre- 
 scribe, the senate enjoins. Remember what great rewards 
 await the good, with how just a stroke ruin lighted on Capito^ 
 and Numitor, thos^ pirates of the Cilicians, when the senate 
 fulminated its decrees against them. But what avails their 
 condemnation, when Pansa plunders you of all that iSTatta 
 left ? Look out for an auctioneer to sell your tattered clothes, 
 Chserippus, and then hold your tongue ! It is sheer mad- 
 ness to lose, when all is gone, even Charon's fee.^ 
 
 There were not the same lamentations of yore, nor was 
 the wound inflicted on our allies by pillage as great as it is 
 now, w^hile they w^ere still flourishing, and but recently con- 
 
 141, " Lucrinum ad saxum Rutupinove edita fundo Ostrea," Plin., 
 iii..5. Martial, v., Ep. xxxvii., 3, " Concha Lucrini delicatior stag- 
 ni now called '* Gierro." 
 
 1 Cosmus, a celebrated perfumer, mentioned repeatedly by Martial. 
 
 2 Capito. Cossutianus Capito, son-in-law of Tigellinus (cf. i., 155. 
 Tac, Ann., xiv., 48; xvi., 17), was accused by the Cilicians of pecula- 
 tion and cruelty ("maculosum foedumque, et idem jus audacise in 
 provincia ratum quod in urbe exercuerat "), and condemned "lege 
 repetundarum." Tac, Ann., xiii., 33. Thrasea Psetus was the advo- 
 cate of the Cilicians, and in revenge for this, when Capito was re- 
 stored 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. 
 
 ^ 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 unprofit- 
 able 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." 
 
112 
 
 }UVENAL. 
 
 quered.^ 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 f 
 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, ^ and then Antony, then the 
 sacrilegious Verres they brought home in their tall^ ships 
 the spoils they dared not show, and more^ 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'' 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 Ehodians unfit for war, and 
 essenced Corinth : and well you may ! How can a resin- 
 smeared® youth, and the depilated legs of a whole nation, 
 retaliate upon you. You must keep clear of rugged Spain, 
 the Gallic car,^ and the Illyrian coast. Spare too those 
 
 1 Modo victis. Browne explains this by tantummodo vidis, i.e., only 
 subdued, not plundered ; and so Ruperti. 
 
 2 Vivebat. " And ivory taught by Phidias' skill to live." GiflFord. 
 
 3 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. 
 
 4 Verres retired from Rome and lived in luxurious and happy re- 
 tirement twenty-six years. 
 
 5 Altis,OT "deep-laden." 
 
 6 Plures. 
 
 More treasures from our friends in peace obtain'd, 
 Than from our foes in war were ever gain'd." Gifford. 
 
 7 Pater. " They drive the father of the herd away. 
 
 Making both stallion and his pasture prey." Dryden. 
 
 8 Resinata. Resin dissolved in oil was used to clear the skin of 
 superfluous hairs. Of. Plin., xiv., 20, "pudet confiteri maximum 
 jam honorem (resinse) esse in evellendis ab virorum corporibus 
 pilis." 
 
 ® Gallicus axis. Cf. Caes., B. G., i., 51. "The war chariot ;" or the 
 
SATIRE VIII. 113 
 
 reapers^ that overstock the city, and give it leisure for the 
 circus^ and the stage. Yet what rewards to repay so atro- 
 cious a crime could you carry off from thence, since Marius^ 
 has so lately plundered the impoverished Africans even of 
 their very girdles 
 
 You must be especially cautious lest a deep injury be in- 
 flicted 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. Be- 
 lieve 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^ barters your judgments for gold, if yourwife^ is clear 
 from all stain of guilt, and does not prepare to go through 
 the district courts,' and all the towns of your province, 
 
 " climate of Gaul," as colder than that of Rome, and breeding fiercer 
 men. Cf. vi., 470. "Hyperboreum axem," xiv., 42. 
 
 1 Messoribus. These reapers are the Africans, from whom Rome de- 
 rived her principal supply of corn. Cf. v.,119. Plin., v., 4. 
 
 2 Circo. Cf. X., 80, "duas tantum res anxius optat, Panem et Cir- 
 censes." 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. 
 
 3 Marius. Vid. ad i., 47. 
 
 4 Discinxerit. Cf Virg., ^n., viii., 724, "Hie 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 quae acceperat Marius 
 serario inferenda." 
 
 ^ Acersecomes. Some "puer intonsus" with flowing locks like 
 Bacchus or Apollo, ^ol^oq aK€p<T€K6ixr)<s. Hom., II., xx., 39. Pind., 
 Pyth., iii., 26. 
 
 6 Conjuge. Cf. the discussion in the senate recorded Tac, Ann., 
 iii. , 33, seq. 
 
 7 Convenius. "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 tovms were 
 called by this name. They were also called Fora and Jurisdictiones. 
 
114 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 ready, like a Celseno' 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 ances- 
 tors, or even Prometheus^ 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^ 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* in judgment against 
 you, and hold forth a torch to blaze upon your shameful 
 deeds. ^ Every act of moral turpitude incurs more glaring 
 reprobation in exact proportion to the rank of him that com- 
 mits it. Why vaunt your pedigree to me? you, that are 
 wont to put your name to forged deeds in the very temples^ 
 which your grandsire built, before your very fathers' trium- 
 phal statues ! or, an adulterer that dares not face the day, 
 you veil your brows concealed beneath a Santon'' cowl. The 
 bloated Damasippus is whirled in his rapid car past the 
 
 Vid. Plin., III., i., 3 ; V., xxix., 29. Cic. in Verr., II., v., 11. Caes., 
 B. G., i., 54; vi.,44. 
 
 1 Celaeno. Cf. Virg., ^n., iii., 211, " dira Celseno Harpyiseque alise." 
 
 2 Promethea. 
 
 " E'en from Prometheus' self thy lineage trace, 
 And ransack history to adorn thy race." Hodgson. 
 
 3 Frangis virgas. 
 
 " Rods broke on our associates' bleeding backs, 
 And headsmen laboring till they blunt their axe." Dryden. 
 
 4 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. 
 
 5 Contra te stare. 
 
 Will to his blood oppose your daring claim. 
 
 And fire a torch to blaze upon your shame." Giflford. 
 
 6 Temples. The sealing of wills was usually performed in temples; 
 in the morning, and fasting, as the canon law afterward directed. 
 
 Santonico. The Santones were a people of Aquitania, between 
 the Loire and Garonne. Cf. Mart., xiv., Ep. 128, " Gallia Santonico 
 vestit te bardocucuUo." 
 
SATIRE VIII. 
 
 "5 
 
 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, i It is, indeed, at night. But 
 still the moon sees him ! The stars strain on him their at- 
 testing eyes. 2 When the period of his magistracy is closed, 
 Damasippus^ 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* before his weary steeds him- 
 self. 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^ 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 Syro- 
 phoenician, reeking with his assiduous perfume,^ runs to 
 meet him (the Syrophoenician that dwells at the Idumsean''^ 
 gate), with all the studied courtesy of a host, he salutes him 
 as lord 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 
 
 1 Sufflamine. " The introduction of the drag-chain has a local pro- 
 priety : 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. 
 
 2 Testes. Cf. vi., 311, Luna teste. 
 
 3 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. 
 
 4 Hordea. Horses in Italy are fed on barley, not on oats. 
 
 5 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. 
 
 6 Amomo, an Assyrian shrub. Cf iv., 308. \ 
 
 7 Idumse. The gate at Rome near the Arch of Titus, through which 
 Vespasian and Titus entered the city in triumph after their victories 
 in Palestine. 
 
 8 Dominnm. Cf. Mart., I., Ep. 113, " Cum te non nossem dominum. 
 regemque vocabam." Cf. iv., Ep. 84, 5. 
 
Ii6 JUVENAL. 
 
 young Granted. But surely you left off, and did not in- 
 dulge 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 al- 
 lowance for boys. But Damasippus frequents those de- 
 bauches of the bagnios, and the painted signs, ^ when of ripe 
 age for war, for guarding Armenia^ 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 !^ Cfesar — 
 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 run-away slaves ; 
 among executioners and cheap cofiin-makers, * and the now 
 silent drums of the priest of Cybele, lying drunk on his 
 back. 5 There there is equal liberty for all — cups in common 
 — nor different couch for any, or table set aloof from the 
 
 1 Inscripta lintea. Perhaps "curtains, having painted on them what 
 was for sale within." Others say it means "embroidered with needle- 
 work ;" or " towels," according to Calderinus, who campares Catull., 
 XXV., 7. 
 
 2 Armenix. The allusion is to Corbulo's exploits in Partha and Ar- 
 menia in Nero's reign, a.d. 60. Cf. ad iii., 251. There were great dis- 
 turbances 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. 
 
 3 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 ex- 
 pressed, and either Tibernia added, or Ostia made of the 1st declen- 
 sion. Britann., therefore, and Heinrich explain it, " Pass by his own 
 doors ;" omitte quserere illic, "he is far away." 
 
 4 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." 
 ^ Eesupinaniis. In Holyday's quaint version, 
 
 "Among great Cybel's silent drums, which lack 
 Their Phrygian priest, who lies drunk on his back." 
 
SATIRE VIII. 
 
 117 
 
 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.^ But 
 you, ye Trojugense ! find excuses for yourselves, and what 
 would disgrace a cobbler^ 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^ to the stage,* to act the noisy Phasma^ of Catullus. 
 Velox Lentulus 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^ spectators of the 
 buffooneries of the patricians, listen to the Fabii with naked 
 
 1 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. 
 
 2 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. 
 
 3 Locasti. " Lets out his voice (his sole remaining boast), 
 
 And rants the nonsense of a clam'rous ghost." Hodgson. 
 
 4 Sipario. The curtain or drop-scene in comedy, as Aulseum was in 
 tragedy. Donat. 
 
 5 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 Lubi- 
 nus, ad loc, calls " Urbanus Catullus") as far as the Phasma is eon- 
 cerned.— Laureolus was the chief character in a play or ballet by Val. 
 Catullus, or Laberius, or Nsevius : 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 falsa pendens in cruce Laureolus." 
 
 " And Lentulus acts hanging with such art. 
 Were I a judge, he should not feign the part." Dryden. 
 * 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 
 
ii8 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 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,^ [nor hesitate^ to do it 
 even at the games of the praetor seated on high.] Yet 
 imagine the gladiator's sword^ 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,* 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 ?^ And this disgrace of the city 
 you have as well — Gracchus® not fighting equipped as a Mir- 
 millo, with buckler or falchion (for he condemns — yes, con- 
 demns 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,' since the ribbon of 
 gold reaches from his neck, and flutters in the breeze from 
 his high-peaked cap. Therefore the disgrace, which the 
 
 1 Cogente Nerone. Cf. Tac, Ann., xiv., 14, who abstains from men- 
 tioning the names of the nobles thus disgraced, out of respect for their 
 ancestors. Cf. Dio., Ixi. Suetonius says (Nero, cap. xii.) that 400 sena- 
 tors and 600 knights were thus dishonored (but Lipsius says 40 and 
 60 are the true numbers). 
 
 2 JV'ec dubitant. No doubt a spurious line. 
 
 3 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 ! " 
 
 4 Thym.ele. Cf. i., 36. 
 
 ^ Ludus. Properly, " school of gladiators." 
 
 6 Gracchus, Cf. ii., 143. 
 
 7 Tunicx. 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. 
 
SATIRE VIII. 
 
 119 
 
 Secutor had to submit to, in being forced to fight with Grac- 
 chus, 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^ to Nero ? For 
 whose punishment there should have been prepared not a 
 single ape^ only, or one snake or sack.^ ''His crime is 
 matched by that of Orestes ? " But it is the motive cause 
 that gives the quality to the act. Since he, at the instiga- 
 tion 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 ''Troics." What blacker crime was there 
 for Virginius'^ arms to avenge, or Galba leagued with Vin- 
 dex ? In all his tyranny, cruel and bloody as it was, what 
 exploit did Nero^ achieve ? These are the works, these the 
 accomplishments of a high-born prince — delighting to pros- 
 titute' his rank by disgraceful dancing on a foreign stage^ 
 
 1 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. 
 
 2 Simia. Cf. xiii., 155, " Et deducendum corio bovis in mare cum 
 quo clauditur adversis innoxia simia fatis." The punishment of par- 
 ricides was to be scourged, then sewn up in a bull's hide with a ser- 
 pent, 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. Ixviii. 
 
 3 Culeus. Cf. Suet., Aug., 33. Nero murdered his mother Agrippina, 
 his aunt Domitia, both his wives, Octavia and Poppaea, his brother 
 Britannicus, and several other relations. 
 
 4 Agamemnoidse, Grangseus quotes the Greek verse current in 
 Nero's time. Nepoor, 'Opeo-TTj?, 'WKixaitav fjLTjTpoKTovoL. Cf. Suet., Nero, 39. 
 
 5 Virginius Rufus, who was legatus in Lower Germany, Julius Vin- 
 dex, propraetor of Gaul, and Sergius Galba, prsefect of Hispania Tar- 
 raconensis, 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., Ixiii., 22. 
 
 6 Quid Nero. ** What but such acts did Rome indignant see 
 
 Perform'd in Nero's savage tyranny ? " Hodgson. 
 ^ Prostitui. " To prostitute his voice for base renown. 
 
 And ravish from the Greeks a parsley crown." Giffbrd, 
 
I20 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 and earn the parsley of the Grecian crown. Array the 
 statues of your ancestors in the trophies of your voice. At 
 Domitius'^ feet lay the long train of Thyestes, or Antigone, 
 or Menalippe's mask, and hang your harp^ on the colossus 
 of marble. 
 
 What could any one find more noble than thy birth, Cati- 
 line, 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,^ or descendants of the 
 Senones. Attempting what one would be justified in pun- 
 ishing by the pitched shirt.* But the consul is on the 
 watch^ and restrains your bands. He whom you sneer at as 
 a novus^ homo from Arpinum, of humble birth, and but 
 
 Nero was in Greece a.d. 67, into which year (though not an Olympiad) 
 he crowded all the games of Greece, " Certamina omnia et quae di- 
 versissimorum temporum sunt cogi in unum annum jussit." Suet., 
 Ner., 23. " Romam introiit coronam capite gerens Olympiam dextra 
 manu Pythiam," c. 25. 
 
 1 Domitius was the name both of the father and grandfather of 
 Nero. His father was Domitius Ahenobarbus, governor of Transal- 
 pine Gaul. Suetonius (Nero, 6) tells us that the two psedagogi to 
 whom his childhood was intrusted were a saltator and a toiisor. To 
 this perhaps his subsequent tastes may be traced. 
 
 2 Citharam. Cf. Suet., Ner., 12, " Citharse 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 
 Citharaedico habitu: qua nota etiam nummum percussit." Suet., 
 Ner., 25. 
 
 ^ Braccatorum. Gallia Narbonensis was called Braccata from the 
 Braccae, 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." 
 
 4 Tunica molestd. 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. 
 
 ^ Vigilat refers to Cicero's own words, "Jam intelliges multo me 
 vigilare acrius ad salutem, quam te ad pernicem reipublicae." 
 
 6 NovKi^. 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. 
 
SATIRE VIII. 
 
 121 
 
 lately made a municipal knight at Kome, 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^ or the 
 plains of Thessaly, with sword reeking with unintermitted 
 slaughter. But Rome owned him for a parent. Rome, 
 when unfettered, 2 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^ 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,* 
 flocked to the slaughtered heaps of Cimbrians slain, his 
 nobly-born colleague is honored with a laurel inferior to his.^ 
 
 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. 
 
 1 Leucas, ue., *' Actium," Thessalias, "Philippi." The words fol- 
 lowing probably refer to the brutal cruelty of Augustus after the 
 battle. 
 
 2 Libera. "When Rome could utter her free unfettered senti- 
 ments" (as sup., " Libera si dentur populo suffragia"). Not in the 
 spirit of servile adulation, with which she bestowed the same title 
 on her emperors. 
 
 3 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. 
 
 4 Major a cadaver a. Besides their fierce gray eyes (xiii., 164), the 
 Grermans were conspicuous for their stature and red hair. Truces 
 etcserulei oculi, rutilse comae, magnum corpora et tantum ad impetum 
 valida." Tac, Germ., iv. " Cimbri prse Italis ingentes." Flor., iii., 3. 
 
 5 Lauro secundd. 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 plebian. Marius afterward barbar- 
 ously murdered him. 
 
 6 
 
122 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 For the Decii^ were more highly valued by them than all 
 they died to save ! 
 
 It was one born from a slave^ that won the robe and dia- 
 dem 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 achieve- 
 ment in behalf of liberty when in peril ; some act that 
 Mucins' self, or Codes, might admire ; and the maiden that 
 swam across^ the Tiber, then the limit of our empire. He 
 that divulged to the fathers the secret treachery was a slave,* 
 afterward to be mourned for by all the Koman matrons : 
 while they suffer the well-earned punishment of the scourge, 
 and the axe,^ then first used by Kome since she became re- 
 publican. 
 
 I had rather that Thersites^ were your sire, provided you 
 resembled ^scides and could wield the arms of Vulcan, than 
 that Achilles should beget you to be a match to Thersites. 
 
 1 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. " Exer- 
 citum Diis Manibus matrique terrse deberi." 
 
 2 Ancilla natus. Servius Tullius (Cf. vii., 199) was the son of Ocrisia, 
 or Ocriculana, a captive from Corniculum. Liv., i., 39. The Trebea 
 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 JUlet or ribbon, not a crown. 
 
 " And he who graced the purple which he wore, 
 The last good king of Rome, a bondmaid bore." Gifford. 
 
 3 Natavit. 
 
 " And she who mock'd the javelins whistling round, 
 And swam the Tiber, then the empire's bound." Giflford. 
 
 ^ 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. 
 
 5 Legum prima securis. Tarquinius Priscus introduced the axe and 
 fasces with the other regalia. The axe therefore had often fallen for 
 the tyra7ds; now it is used for the first time in defense of a legal con- 
 stitution and a, free republic. 
 
 ^ Tfier sites. Hom., IL, ii., 212. 
 
SATIRE IX. 
 
 123 
 
 And yet, however far you go back, however far you trace 
 your name, you do but derive your descent from the infamous 
 sanctuary. 1 That first of your ancestors, whoever he was, 
 was either a shepherd, or else — what I would rather not 
 mention ! 
 
 SATIRE IX. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 The Satire consists of a dialogue between the poet and one Naevolus, 
 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 incul- 
 cate the grand moral lesson, that, under any circumstances, a life 
 of sin is a life of slavery. 
 
 I SHOULD like to know, Naevolus,^ 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 Ehodope ?^ We give a slave a box on the 
 ear, if he licks the pastry. Why ! Crepereius Pollio* 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 
 
 ^ Asylo. Cf. Liv., i., 8. 
 
 2 Nsevolus is mentioned repeatedly by Martial, and seems to have 
 been a lawyer, i., Ep. 98 ; iii., Ep. 71 and 95 ; iv., Ep. 84 : hence per- 
 haps the allusion to Marsyas, whose statue stood in the Forum, oppo- 
 site the Rostra, as a warning to the litigious. Cf. Hor., i., Sat. vi., 120.. 
 Xen., Anab., I., ii., 8. 
 
 ^ Ehodope. Some well-known courtesan named after ^sop's fellow- 
 «lave in the house of ladmon the Samian, afterward so well knowii 
 in Egypt. Herod., ii., 134. Cf ^lian., V. H., xiii., 33. 
 
 ^ PoUio. Cf. xi., 43, digito mendicat Pollio nudo." 
 
124 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 with little, you used to live like a gentleman's gentleman^ — 
 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 f 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^ 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,* and the statue of Ganymede in the temple 
 of Peace, ^ and the secret palaces of the imported mother^ of 
 
 1 Vernam equitem. The slaves bom in the house were generally 
 spoiled by indulgence ; and they frequently got the nickname of 
 Equites, out of petulant familiarity or fondness. 
 
 ^ Sylva. 
 
 " And every limb, once smooth'd with nicest care, 
 Rank with neglect, a shrubbery of hair." Gifibrd. 
 
 3 Deprendas. 
 
 Sorrow nor joy can be disguised by art. 
 
 Our foreheads blab the secrets of our heart." Dryden. 
 
 4 Isis. Cf. vi., 489, " Aut apud Isiacse potius sacraria lense." 
 
 5 Pacts. Vespasian built the splendid temple of Peace near the 
 Forum, a.d. 76. Dio., Ixvi., 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. 
 
 6 Advectse Matris, i.e., Cybele, called also Parens Idsea, and Numen 
 Idaeum, 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., 1^^7. 
 Li v., xxix., 10. A temple was afterward erected for her on the Pala- 
 tine Hill : hence palatia. Secreta alludes to the abominable orgies 
 performed in her honor. 
 
SATIRE IX. 
 
 125 
 
 the gods ; ay, and Ceres too (for what temple is there in 
 which you may not find a woman) — a more notorious adul- 
 terer 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. ^ 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 ?^ ^ ' 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 
 
 1 Venseqzie secundx. "Silver adulterated wHh brass below tbe 
 standard; in short, base metAl." 
 
 2 Mollis avarus. " But oh ! this wretch, this prodigy behold ! 
 
 A slave at once to lechery and gold." Dryden. 
 
126 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 the money you spend on your unnatural^ gratifications? 
 See the fellow ! to whom you are to send a present of a 
 green parasol and large amber^ bowls, as often as his birth- 
 day comes round, or rainy spring begins ; or pillowed on his 
 cushioned sofa, he fingers presents set apart for the female 
 Kalends Tell me, you sparrow, for whom it is you are 
 keeping so many hills, so many Apulian* farms, so many 
 kites wearied in flying across your pastures ? Your Trifoline 
 estate^ enriches you with its fruitful vines ; and the hill that 
 looks down^ on Cumse, and caverned Gaurus. Who seals 
 up more"^ casks of wine that will bear long keeping ? How 
 great a matter would it be to present the loins of your client, 
 
 1 Morbo. Cf. Hor., i., Sat. vi., 30, "Ut si qui segrotet quo morbo 
 Barrus." 
 
 2 Succina. Cf. ad vi., 573. The old Schol. explains this by "Gem- 
 mata Dextrccheria." Grangseus 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." 
 
 3 Fsemineis Kalendis. On the 1st of March were celebrated the Ma- 
 tronalia in honor of the women who put an end to the Sabine war 
 (bellum dirimente Sabine, 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. Ixxxiv., 10, "Scis certe puto 
 vestra jam venire Saturnalia Martias Kalendas." Hor., iii., Od. viii., 
 1, ''Martiis cselebs quid agam Kalendis." 
 
 * Appula. Cf. iv., 27. Milvos. 
 " Regions which such a tract of land embrace, 
 That kites are tired within the unmeasured space." Gififord. 
 
 5 Trifolinus ager. Cf. Mart., xiii., Ep. 114, " Non sum de primo 
 fateor, Trifolina, Lyseo ; inter vina tamen septima vitis ero." Trifo- 
 line wines were so called from being fit to drink at the third appear- 
 ance of the leaf, "quse tertio anno ad bibendum tempestiva forent." 
 Plin., xiv., 6. Face, takes it from Trifolium, a mountain in Campa- 
 nia, perhaps near Capua. Plin.. iv., 6. 
 
 ^ Suspectumque jugurn. Either Mons Misenus (cf. Virg., ^En., vi., 
 234), only three miles from Cumse, 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 "Gi- 
 erro." 
 
 7 Plurn. 
 
 " Though none drinks less, yet none more vessels fills ! " Dryden. 
 
SATIRE IX. 
 
 127 
 
 worn out in your service, with a few acres? Would yon 
 rustic child, with his mother, and her hovel, ^ and his play- 
 mate cur, more justly become the inheritance of your cym- 
 bal-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^ 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,^ what 
 shall I say, pray, to my poor slaves' naked feet and shoul- 
 ders ? ' ' Courage,* my boys! and wait for the grasshoppers ? ' ^ 
 But however you may dissemble and pass by all other mat- 
 ters, 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^ the marriage contract, and was on the 
 point of signing a new one. It was with difficulty that I set 
 
 1 Casulis. Cf. xi., 153, "notes desiderat hsedos." 
 
 '* 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. 
 
 2 Polyphemi. For'the loudness of his roar, vid. Virg., ^n., iii. . 672. 
 The meaning seems to be, " I am as badly oflf 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! " 
 
 3 Decembri, used here adjectively. 
 
 * Durate. A parody on Virg., ^n., 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. 
 5 Ruperat. Cf. Tac, Ann., xi., 80, " At is redderet uxorem, rumpe- 
 retque tabulas niiptiales." There was an express clause in the mar- 
 riage contract, " liberorum procreandorum gratia uxorem duci." 
 
128 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 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. How- 
 ever you may shift your ground, whatever services you may 
 reckon first or last, is it indeed no obligation, ungrateful and 
 perfidious Dian ! 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^ these evidences of your virility. Hang 
 garlands^ 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^ left to you, not to mention some pleas- 
 
 1 Libris actor um. 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. 
 
 2 Saspende 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 
 palmse." Mart., vii., Ep. xxviii., 6, ''excolat et geminas plurima 
 palm a fores." 
 
 3 Legatum omne. One of the provisions of the Lex Papia Poppfea 
 (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 cer- 
 tain 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., Ixvii. 
 
SATIRE IX. 
 
 129 
 
 ant windfall !^ 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, Naevolus ; 
 what does he allege in answer ?' ' 
 
 j " 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^ 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 :^ and deem it no light or contemptible matter 
 that to men of his wealth the prite of poison is never too 
 costly. Therefore you must keep my secrets as religiously as 
 the court of Mars at Athens.^' 
 
 "Oh! Corydon,* poor simple Cory don ! 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,^ let each 
 one keep his counsel, let not a soul lie near. Yet what he 
 
 1 Cadiicum, probably a legacy contingent upon the condition of 
 having children. 
 
 2 Pumice. Cf. viii., 16, ''tenerum attritus Catanensi pumice lum- 
 bum." 
 
 3 Valvis. Cf. xiii. 145, seq. 
 
 4 Corydo7i. Cf. Virg., Eel., ii., 69, "Ah, Corydon, Corydon, quae te 
 dementia cepit !" and 56, " Rusticus es, Corydon !" 
 
 5 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." Giflford. 
 
 6* 
 
13© 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 does at the second cock-crow,^ the next tavern-keeper will 
 know before dawn of day ; and will hear as well all the fab- 
 rications of his steward, cooks, and carv^ers.^ For what 
 charge do they scruple to concoct against their masters, as 
 often as they revenge themselves for their strappings^ 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 se- 
 cret than drink as much Falernian (all the sweeter because 
 stolen) as Saufeia* used to drink, when sacrificing^ 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. ^ 
 
 1 GaUicinium was the technical name for the second military watch, 
 Vid. Face. 
 
 2 Carptores, Grangseus explains by " Escuiers trench ants." Face, 
 by SatTpo? and structor. 
 
 3 Baltea. " For countless scourgings will the rogues be slack 
 
 In slanderous villainies to pay thee back ?" Badham. 
 ^ Saufeia, or Laufella, is supposed to be the " conjux Fusci," men- 
 tioned xii., 45, and Mart., iii., Ep. 72; and whose other debaucheries 
 are mentioned vi., 320. Cicero, knowing the propensity of his coun- 
 try-women 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 prseter olla quae pro populo 
 rite fiant." 
 
 5 Faciens; so operatur, xii., 92. Virg., Eel., iii., 77, *• Cum faciam 
 vitula pro fugibus ipse venito." So Georg., i., 339, " Sacra refer Cereri 
 laetis operatis in herbis." So in Greek, pe^etv is constantly used abso- 
 lutely. 
 
 *' For more stolen wine than late Saufeia boused, 
 When, for the people's welfare, she caroused !" Gifford. 
 
 6 Liber. " Yet worse than they, the man whose vicious deeds 
 
 Makes him still tremble at the rogues he feeds." Bad. 
 
SATIRE IX. 
 
 Well, the advice you have just given me to enable me to 
 laugh to scorn mv 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^ and contracted span of 
 a brief and wretched life is fast fleeting away ! While we 
 are drinking,''^ 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,^ 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 
 Clotlio and Lachesis are well content, if I can earn a sub- 
 sistence by my vile labors. Oh ! ye small Lares,* that call 
 me master, whom I supplicate with a fragment of frankin- 
 cense, or meal, and a poor garland, when shall I secure^ 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,^ if censor, would con- 
 
 Flosculus. For many exquisite parallel passages to this, see Gif- 
 ford's note. 
 
 2 Dum bibimus, 
 
 " And while thou call'st for garlands, girls, and wine, 
 Comes stealthy age, and bids thee all resign." Badham. 
 
 3 Digito. Eflfeminate wretches, who, as Holydays 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. 
 
 ^ 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." 
 
 5 Figam, a metaphor from hunting. — Tegete, cf. v., 8, " Nusquam 
 pons et tegetis pars."— i?acwto, cf. Ter., Heaut., V., i., 58. 
 
 6 C. Fabricius Luscinus, when censor, removed from the senate P. 
 Cornelius Rufinus, who had been twice consul and once dictator, for 
 
132 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 demn ; and two sturdy Moesian slaves,^ who, bearing me on 
 their shoulders, might bid me stand without inconvenience 
 in the noisy circus ! Let me have besides an engraver 
 stooping^ over his work, and another who may with all 
 speed paint^ 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^ is invoked for me, she stops her ears with wax 
 fetched from that ship which escaped the Sirens' songs with 
 its deaf rower.. 
 
 having in his possession more than ten pounds' weight of plate. 
 Liv., Epit., xiv. He was censor a. u.c. 478. Cf. xi., 90, seg, 
 
 ^ Duo fortes. Persons of moderate fortune rode in their sella gesta- 
 toria, a sedan borne by two persons. The rich had litters or palan- 
 quins, called hexaphori, or oetophori, according to the number of 
 the lecticarii. Cf. i., 64. Moesia, now Bulgaria and Servia, is said to 
 have been famous for producing these brawny chairmen. 
 
 2 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 skillfull Cf. Exod., xxxviii., 23. The old Schol. ex- 
 plains it by Anaglyptarius, "a carver in low relief." 
 
 3 Pingit. Others reeid Jingit, 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 vul- 
 tus majorum." 
 
 4 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. 
 
 / 
 
 133 
 
 SATIRE X. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 The subject of this inimitable Satire is the vanity of human wishes. 
 From the principal events of the lives of the most illustrious char- 
 acters of all ages, the poet shows how little happiness is promoted 
 by the attainment of what our indistinct and limited views repre- 
 sent 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 con- 
 cludes with a form of prayer, in which he points out with great 
 force and beauty the objects for which a rational being may pre- 
 sume to approach the Almighty. 
 
 In all the regions Avhich extend from Gades^ even to the 
 farthest east and Ganges, there are but few^ that can dis- 
 criminate between real blessings and those that are widely 
 different, all the mist^ 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 aus- 
 pices, that you do not repent of your undertaking, and the 
 accomplishment of your wish ? The too easy gods have over- 
 thrown^ whole families by granting their owners' prayers. 
 Our prayers are put up for what will injure us in peace and 
 
 1 Gadibus. Gades, now Cadiz, and Ganges were the western and 
 eastern boundaries of the then known w^orld. 
 
 2 Nebula. Cf. Plat., Alcib., ii., t^? ^vxv^ a<j>€\6vTa rrfv ax\vv ; 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. 
 
 3 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." 
 
134 JUVENAL. 
 
 injure us in war. To many the copious fluency^ of speech, 
 and their very eloquence, is fatal. It was owing to his 
 strength^ 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"^ ex- 
 ceeds dolphins, causes more to be strangled. Therefore it 
 was, that in that reign of Terror, and at Nero's bidding, a 
 whole cohorf* blockaded Longinus^ and the spacious gardens 
 of the over-wealthy Seneca,^ and laid siege to the splendid^ 
 mansion of the Laterani.^ 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 jour- 
 ney by night, you will dread the bandit's knife and blud- 
 geon, and tremble at the shadow of a reed as it quivers in 
 
 1 Torrens. 
 
 " Some who the depths of eloquence have found, 
 In that unnavigable stream were drown'd." Dryden. 
 
 2 Virihus. Roscommon, as GifFord says, tells his history in two 
 lines ; 
 
 " Remember Mile's end, 
 Wedged in the timber which he strove to rend." 
 Cf Ovid, lb., 609, " Utque Milon robur diducere fissile tentes, necpos- 
 sis captas inde referre manus." 
 
 ^ Balaena Britannica. Cf Hor., iv., Od. xiv.. 47, " Te helluosus 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. 
 
 4 Tota cohors. "Illo propinqua vespera, tribunus venit, et villam 
 globus militum sepsit." Tac, Ann., xv., 60. 
 
 5 Longinum. Cassius Longinus was charged with keeping among 
 his Imagines one of Cassius, Csesar's murderer ; and allowed an hour 
 to die in. Suet., Ner., 37. 
 
 ^ Seneca. Rufus and Tigellinus charged Seneca ' ' tanquam ingentes 
 et privatum supra modum evectas opes adhuc augeret— hortorum 
 quoque amgenitate et villarum magnificentia quasi Principem super- 
 grederetur ;" and Seneca himself, in his speech to Nero, says, " Tan- 
 tum honorum atque opum in me cumulasti, ut nihil felicitati mese 
 desit." Tacit., Ann., xiv., 52, seq. 
 
 7 Puri. Cf ix., 141. 
 
 8 Lateranorum.. Vid. Tac, Ann., xv., 60, for the death of Plautius 
 Lateranus. His house was on the Coelian Hill, on the site of the 
 modern Lateran. 
 
SATIRE X. 
 
 135 
 
 the moonshine.^ The traveler with empty^ 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,^ that wealth may 
 increase ; that our chest may be the largest in the whole 
 forum.* But no aconite is drunk from earthenware. It is 
 time to dread it when you quaff jeweled cups,^ and the ruddy 
 Setine blazes in the broad gold. And do you not, then, now 
 commend the fact, that of the two sages, ^ one used to laugh' 
 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 sneer- 
 ing laugh : the wonder is how the other's eyes could ever 
 have a sufficient supply of tears. ^ Democritus used to shake 
 
 1 Motx ad Lunam. Cf. Hor., i., Od. xxiii., 3, *' Non sine vano aura- 
 rum et siluse metu." Stat., Theb., vi., 158, " Impulsaeque noto frondes 
 cassusque valeret exanimare timor." Claud., Eutrop., ii., 452, " Ecce 
 levis frondes a tergo concutit aura : credit tela Leo : valuit pro vul- 
 nere terror." 
 
 2 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. 
 
 3 Divitise. Vid. Cic, '• Expetuntur Divitise ut utare ; Opes ut colaris : 
 Honores ut lauderis." De Amicit., vi. 
 
 4 Foro. The public treasure was in the temple of Saturn. Private 
 individuals had their money in str6ng boxes deposited in the Forum 
 Trajani, or Forum Augusti; in the temple of Mars **Ultor" origi- 
 nally ; afterward in the temple of Castor and others, probably of Pax. 
 Cf. xiv., 259, " -^rata multus in arc4 fiscus, et ad vigilem ponendi 
 Cartora nummi." Cf. Suet., Jul., x. Pliny the Younger was once 
 praefectus serarii Saturni. 
 
 5 Oemmata. Cf. v., 89, il.—Setinum, v., 34. 
 
 "Fear the gemm'd goblet, and suspicious hold 
 The ruby juice that glows in cups of gold." Badham. 
 « De Sapientibus. Democritusof Abdera, andHeracleitusofEphesus. 
 
 7 Ridebat. Cf. Hor., ii., Ep. i., 194, " Si foret in terris rideret Demo- 
 critus." dciadai [XOL 6ok£T ^HpaKXeirov n ArjfiOKpLTOv^TOV fxev yeXacofxevov 
 TTjv avoiav avrcov, rov Se rhv ayvoiav dSvpofxevov. LuC, /St. 7rp., 13, tov 
 yeXwpraj tov ' A^6rip6$£v Kai tov KKaiovTa tov £| 'E0eo-oi^. 
 
 8 " The marvel this, since all the world can sneer, 
 
 What fountains fed the ever-needed tear." Badham. 
 
136 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 his sides with perpetual laughter, though in the cities of 
 those regions there were no prsetextse, no trabese,^ no fasces, 
 no litter, no tribunal ! What, had he seen the praetor^ 
 standing pre-eminent in his loftv car, and raised on high in 
 the mid dust of the circus, dressed in the tunic of J ove, and 
 wearing on his shoulders the Tyrian hangings of the em- 
 broidered toga ; and the circlet of a ponderous crown, 3 so 
 heavy that no single neck could endure the weight 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^ 
 
 1 Trahex. Cf. ad viii., 259. 
 
 2 Prxtor. Juvenal has mixed up together the procession of the 
 praetor 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 tri- 
 umphal 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. 
 
 3 Orhem. Probably an allusion to Atlas. 
 
 4 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, 
 s Crasso. "Boeotum in crmvso jurares aere natum." Hor., ii., Ep. 1. 
 
SATIRE X. 
 
 137 
 
 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^ in scorn ! Super- 
 fluous 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. ^ 
 
 Power, exposed to great envy, hurls some headlong down 
 to ruin. The long and splendid list of their titles and 
 honors sinks^ into the dust. Down come their statues,^ and 
 are dragged along with ropes : then the weary wheels of the 
 chariot are smashed by the vigorous stroke of the axe, and 
 the legs of the innocent^ horses are demolished. Now the 
 fires roar ! Now that head, once worshiped* 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,^ and 
 
 244. Boeotia was called the land of fogs, which so much annoyed 
 Pindar. Vid. OL, vi., 152. Abdera seems to have had as bad a name. 
 Cf. Mart., X., Ep. xxv., 3, "Abderitanse pectora plebis habes." 
 
 1 Medium unguem. Hence called "Infamis digitus." Pers., ii., 33. 
 Cf. Mart., ii. Ep., xxviii., 2, "digitum porrigito medium." VI., Ep. 
 Ixx., 5, " Ostendit digitum impudicum." 
 
 2 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., II., 
 p., 514, d^eojv ev yovvaaL Ketrai. 
 
 8 Mergit. Cf. Sil., viii., 285; or mergit may be used actively, as xiii., 
 8. Lucr., v., 1006. Virg., ^n., vi., 512. 
 
 4 Statuse. Cf. ad vii„ 18. Tac, Ann., vi., 2. Plin., Pan., 52, " Ju- 
 vabat illidere solo superbissimos vultus, instare ferro, sasvire securibus, 
 ut si singulos ictus sanguis dolorque sequeretur " — " instar ultionis 
 videretur cernere imagines abjectas excoctasque flammis." 
 
 5 Immeritis. *' The driven axe destroys the conquering car, 
 
 And unoffending steeds the ruin share." Hodgson. 
 
 ^ Adoratum. Cf. Tac, Ann., iii., 72; iv., 2, "Coli per theatra et fora 
 effigies ejus sineret. Vid. Suet., Tib., Iv., 48, " Solse nullam Sejani 
 imaginem inter signa coluissent." 65, " Sejani imagines aureas coli 
 passim videret." 
 
 "> Sartago. 
 
 "And from the stride of those colossal legs 
 You buy the useful pan that fries your eggs." Badham. 
 Dryden reads " matellse." 
 
138 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 platters 1 Crown your doors with bays !^ Lead to Jove's 
 Oapitol a huge and milk-white ox ! Sejanus is being dragged 
 along by the hook ! a glorious sight !" Every body is de- 
 lighted. ^'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 Caprese." "That's enough! I ask no farther. 
 But how does the mob of Kemus behave ! " " Why, follow 
 Fortune,^ as mobs always do, and hate him that is con- 
 demned?" That self -same people, had Tuscan Nurscia"^ 
 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 com- 
 mand, 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* is a 
 capacious one ; I met my friend Brutidius^ at the altar of 
 
 1 Pone domi lauros. Cf. ad ix., 85. 
 
 2 Sequitur Fortunam. 
 
 " When the king's trump, the mob are for tht; king." Dryden. 
 
 3 Nurscia, Nyrtia, Nortia, or Nurtia, the Etruscan goddess of For- 
 tune, nearly identical with Atropos, and cognate with Minerva. The 
 oldSchol. says, " Fortuna apud Nyrtiam colitur unde fuit Sejanus." 
 But Tacitus tells us (Ann , iv., 1 ; 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; Miiller's Etrusker, IV., vii., 6; 
 Dennis's Etruria, i., p. 258, 509. 
 
 ^Fornacula. " A fire so fierce for one was scarcely made." Giflford. 
 
 5 Brutidius. Tacitus speaks thus of him : " Brutidiuni artibus. 
 honestis copiosum et, si rectum iter pergeret, ad clarissima quaeque 
 iturum festinatio exstimulabat, dum sequales, dein superiores, pos- 
 tremo suasraet ipse spes anteire parat." Ann., iii., 66. He had been 
 one of the accusers of Silanus, and was involved in Sejanus' falL 
 
SATIRE X. 
 
 139 
 
 Mars looking a little pale ! " ''But I greatly fear that Ajax, 
 being baffled, ^ will wreak fearful vengeance, as having been 
 inadequately defended. Let us rush headlong ; and, while 
 he still lies on the river-bank, trample on Caesar'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 Seja- 
 nus had ? possess as much, bestow on one the highest curule 
 honors, give another the command of armies,^ be esteemed 
 the lawful guardian^ of the prince that lounged away* his 
 days with his herd of Chaldean astrologers, in the rock of 
 Caprese that he made his palace ?^ Would you have centu- 
 ries and cohorts, and a picked body of cavalry,^ and prae- 
 torian bands at your beck ? Why should you not covet 
 
 "Magna est fornacula" is well borne out by Tacitus' account. 
 "Cunctos qui carcere attinebantur, accusati societatis cum Sejano, 
 necarijubet. Jacuit immensa strages; omnis sexus omnis setas : in- 
 lustres ignobiles— corpora adsectabantur dum in Tiberim traheren- 
 tur." Ann., vi., 19. 
 
 1 Victus. Fierce as Ajax, when worsted in the contest for the arms 
 of Achilles. 
 
 2 Exercit bus prseponere. V^id. 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." 
 
 3 Tvior. "Arraign 
 
 Thy feeble sovereign in a guardian's strain, 
 Who sits amid his foul Chaldsean herd 
 In that august domain to Rome preferr'd." Badham. 
 * Sedentis. Cf. Suet., Tib., 43; Tac, Ann., vi., 1. Grangseus sup- 
 j,oses 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 Caprese shortly before his death : " re- 
 misissimo ad otium et ad omnem comitatem animo. Vicinam Ca- 
 preis insulam aTrpayoiroKiv appellabat a desidia secedentium illuc e 
 comitatu suo." Cf. c. 40. Tac, Ann., iv., 67. 
 
 ^ Augusta. The old reading was angusta, The alteration of a sin- 
 gle letter converts a forceless expletive into an epithet full of pictur- 
 esque and historic truth. 
 
 5 Egregios equites. The flower of the Roman army, the praetorian 
 troops, of which Sejanus was praefect. 
 
I40 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 these ? Even those who have not the idll 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 praetexta of him that is being dragged along, or be the 
 magistrate of Fiden^e or Gabii, and give sentence about false 
 weights,^ and break up scanty measures as the ragged sedile 
 of the deserted Ulubrae ?^ 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 multi- 
 plied stories of a tower raised on high, only that the fall 
 might be the deeper,^ and horrible the headlong descent of 
 his ruin* once accelerated ! 
 
 What overthrew the Crassi ?^ and Pompey and his sons?* 
 and him that brought Rome's haughty citizens quailing' be- 
 neath his lash ? Surely it was the post of highest advance- 
 ment, reached by every possible device, and prayers for 
 
 1 Vasa minora. 
 
 " To pound false weights and scanty measures break." Dryden. 
 
 2 Ulubris. Cf. Hor., i., Ep. xi., 30, " Est Ulubris, animus si non tibi 
 deficit sequus." Another joke at the expense of the plebeian aediles 
 (cf. iii. , 162), who had the charge of inspecting weights and meas- 
 ures, markets and provisions, roads, theatres, etc. These function- 
 aries still exist (as Gifford says), "as ragged and consequential" as 
 ever, in the Italian villages, retaining their old name of Podesta. 
 
 " Deal out the law, and curb with high decree 
 The tricks of trade at empty Ulubrse." Hodgson. 
 
 3 Altior. The idea is probably borrowed from Menander, eTratperat 
 •yap jaet^ov, 'iva /nei^ov TreVT]. So hence Horace. ii., Od. X., 10, "Celsae 
 graviore casu decidunt turres." So Claudian in Rufin, i.,22, *'Tol- 
 luntur in altum ut lapsu graviore ruant ; " and Shakspeare, ** Raised 
 up on high to be hurl'd down below." 
 
 * Ruinx. So Milton. '* With hideous ruin and combustion down." 
 
 C. Badham. 
 
 5 Crassos. M. Licinius Crassus and his son Publius ; both killed in 
 the Parthian war. 
 
 6 Pompeios. Cn. Pompeius Magnus, and his two sons, Cnseus and 
 Sextus. 
 
 7 Dc/mitos. 
 
 " The stubborn pride of Roman nobles broke. 
 And bent their haughty necks beneath his yoke." Dryden. 
 
SATIRE X. 
 
 141 
 
 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 I 
 
 He that as yet pays court to^ Minerva, purchased by a 
 single as, that is followed by his little slave'^ to take charge 
 of his diminutive satchel, begins to long, and longs through 
 all his quinquatrian^ 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 destruc- 
 tion ; by talent was his hand and head cut off ! Nor did 
 the Rostra* ever reek with the blood of a contemptible 
 pleader. 
 
 fortunate Kome, whose natal day may date from me 
 
 1 Colit. Ov., Fast., iii., 816, "Qui ben^ placarit Pallada doctus 
 erit." 
 
 2 Vernula. This slave was called Capsarius. Suet., Ner., 36. Cf. 
 ad vi., 451. 
 
 3 Quinquatrihus. Cf. Hor., ii., Ep. ii., 197, " Puer ut festis quinqua- 
 tribus olim." This festival originally lasted only OTie 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 "val- 
 gus" 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 ilia nata Minerva die," 1. 812. (Others say, 
 because on that day her temple on Mount Aventine was conse- 
 crated.) 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, StSa/crpa, hence 
 called Minerval; though Horace seems to imply they were paid 
 every month, "Octonis referentes Idibus sera." I., Sat. vi., 75. The 
 lesser Quinquatrus were on the Ides of June. Ov., Fast., vi., 651, 
 "Quinquatrus jubeor narrare minores," called also Quinquatrus 
 Minusculase. 
 
 4 Rostra. Popilius Lenas, who cut ofi" Cicero's head and hands, car- 
 ried 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.) 
 
142 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 as consul ! " He might have scorned the swords of Antony,^ 
 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'^ 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,^ 
 and the sword-forging anvil, and sooty Vulcan,* to the 
 rhetorician's school ! 
 
 The spoils of war, the cuirass fastened to the truncated^ 
 trophy, the check-piece hanging from the battered helm, the 
 car shorn of its pole, the streamer of the captured galley,^ 
 and the sad captive on the triumphal arch- top,'' are held to 
 
 1 Antonz Gladios. Quoting Cicero's own words, "Contempsi Cati- 
 linse gladios, non pertimescam tuos." Phil., ii., 46. 
 
 *' For me, the sorriest rhymes I'd rather claim. 
 Than bear the brunt of that Phillippic's fame, 
 The second! the divine ! " Badham. 
 
 2 Torrentem. So i., 9, " Torrens dicendi copia ; " iii., 74, Isseo tor- 
 rentior." 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., i. 
 
 3 Forcipibus. Cf Virg., ^n., viii., 453, *' Versantque tenaci forcipe 
 massam." Juvenal seems to have had the whole passage in his eye. 
 
 ^ Vulcano. Demosthenes' father was a /aaxatpoTroto? ; in which ca- 
 pacity he employed a large number of slaves, ipyaari^pLov ix^^v ixexa 
 Kal SovAovs Tex^tTa?. But as he could not afford to place his son under 
 the costly Isocrates, he sent him to Isseus. 
 
 5 Truncis. Virg. ^n., xi., 5. 
 
 Ingentem quercum decisis undique ramis 
 Constituit tumulo, fulgentiaque induit arma, 
 Mezenti ducis cxuvias, tibi magne tropxum 
 Bellipotens : aptat rorantes sanguine cristas 
 Telaque trunca viri, 
 
 6 Aplustre, the a^Aao-xoj/ ot the Greeks was the high peak of the gal- 
 ley, from which rose the ensign. 
 
 7 Arcu. Cf. Suet., Domit., 13, Janos arcusque cum quadrigis et 
 insignibus triumphorum per regiones urbis tantos et tot exstruxit,ut 
 
SATIRE X. 
 
 143 
 
 be goods exceeding all human blessings. For these each 
 general, Koman, or Greek, or Barbarian, strains as his prize ! 
 Full compensation fox his dangers and his toils he sees in 
 these ! So much greater is the thirst after fame than virtue. 
 For who would embrace^ 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 re- 
 nown, 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^ themselves are fates assigned. 
 Weighs 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 ^thiopes and their talP 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.^ Now he is lord of Italy ! Yet still he presses 
 
 cuidam Grsec^ inscriptum sit, apx-et— Some think there is an allu- 
 sion 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. 
 
 1 Amplectitur. " That none confess fair Virtue's genuine power, 
 
 Or woo her to their breast without a dower." 
 
 Gifford. 
 
 2 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. 
 
 3 Expende. " How are the mighty changed to dust ! how small 
 
 The urn that holds what once was Hannibal !" 
 
 Hodgson. 
 
 * Altos; others read alios; referring to the elephants of Africa as 
 well SLS Asia. "Elephantos fert Africa, ferunt ^thiopes et Troglo- 
 dytae : sed maximos India." Plin., viii., 11. 
 
 ^ Aceto. Vid. Liv., xxi.. 37. Polybius omits the story as fabulous. 
 There appears, now, no reason to doubt the fact. 
 
144 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 on. Naught is achieved,"' 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 l'^ and worthy what a picture ! when the huge 
 Gaetulian beast bore on his back the one-eyed^ general ! 
 What then was the issue ? Oh glory ! This self-made man 
 is conquered, and flees with head-long haste to exile, and 
 there, a great and much-to-be-admired client, sits at the pal- 
 ace of the king, until his Bithynian majesty* 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 Cannae, and avenged 
 such mighty carnage,^ a ring! Go then, madman, and 
 hurry over the rugged Alps, that you may be the delight of 
 boys, and furnish subjects for declamations !^ 
 
 One*^ world is not enough for the youth of Pella ! He 
 
 1 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 beheath the polar sky.' " Johnson. 
 
 2 Fades. 
 
 " Oh ! for some master-hand, the lines to trace." Gifford. 
 
 3 iMscum. Hannibal lost one ey^, while crossing the marshes, in 
 making his way to Etruria; "quiamedendi nec locus nec tempus 
 erat altero oculo capitur ;" he rode, Livy tells us, on his sole surviv- 
 ing elephant, xxii., 2. 
 
 4 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 sur- 
 render, he destroyed himself with poison, which he always carried 
 in a ring. 
 
 5 Sanguinis. Forty-flve thousand dead were left on the field of 
 Cannse, with the Consul ^Emilius Paulus, eighty senators, and very 
 many others of high rank. 
 
 6 Declamatio. Cf. vii., 167, " Sextaquaque die miserum dirus caput 
 Hannibal implet." So 1. 150, and i., 15. 
 
 "Go climb the rugged Alps, ambitious fool! 
 To please the boys, and be a theme at school." Dryden. 
 Unus. " Heu me miserum ! quod ne uno quidem adhuc potitus 
 sum!" is the exclamation put into Alexander's mouth by Val., 
 Max., viii., 14. 
 
SATIRE X. 
 
 145 
 
 chafes within the narrow limits of the universe, poor soul, as 
 though confined in Gyarus'l small rock, or scanty Seriphos. 
 Yet when he shall have entered the city that the brick- 
 makers^ fortified, he will be content with a sarcophagus 
 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 waters failed, and streams were druuk 
 dry* when the Persian dined ; and that all the flights of Sos- 
 tratus'^ song, when his wings are moistened by the god of 
 
 1 Gyaris. Cf. i., 73; vi., 563. 
 
 2 Piaulis. Cf. Herod., i„ 78. Ov., Met., iv., 27, " Ubi dicitur altam 
 Coctilibus muris cinxisse Semiramis urbem." 
 
 3 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 (TapKo(l)dyo^. 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. ^sch., S. Theb., 731. Soph., CEd. Col., 789. Shakspeare's Rich- 
 ard II., Act. iii., sc. 2. 
 
 4 Epota. Herodotus mentions the Scamander, Onochnous, Apida- 
 nus, and Echedorus. 
 
 " Rivers, whose depth no sharp beholder sees. 
 Drunk at an army's dinner to the lees ! " Dryden. 
 
 5 Sostratus. Of this poet nothing is 'known.— Madidis, probably in 
 the same sense as in Sat. xv., 47, " Facilis victoria de madidia." Sil. 
 xii., 18, " Madefacta mero." 
 
 7 
 
146 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 wine. And yet, in what guise did he return after quitting 
 Salamis, who, like true barbarian as he was, used to vent 
 his rage in scourges on Corns and Eurus, that had never suf- 
 fered in this sort in Coins' prison ; and bound in gyves 
 Ennosigseus^ himself. It was, in fact, an act of clemency 
 that he did not think he deserved branding^ also. Would 
 any of the gods chose to serve-^ 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* 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 grevious 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^ extends her shady 
 dells, the antiquated ape^ 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 
 
 1 Ennosigseum. anh tov evoeecv TTju Talav. Cf. Hom., II., vii., 455. 
 j^olis is an allusion to Virgil, ^n., i., 51, " Vinclis ac carcare fraenat," 
 
 2 Stigmate. Herod., vii., 35. 
 
 That shackles o'er th' earth-shaking Neptune threw, 
 And thought it lenient not to brand him too." Gifford 
 
 3 Servire Decorum. As Apollo served Admetus : Neptune, Laome- 
 don, etc. 
 
 "Ye gods! obeyed ye such a fool as this ? " Hodgson. 
 * Tardd. 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. 
 
 5 Tabraca, on the coast of Tunis, now Tabarca. 
 
 6 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. 
 
SATIRE X. 
 
 147 
 
 sturdier than another. Old men's faces are all alike — limbs 
 tottering and voice feeble/ 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 ex- 
 cite the disgust even of the legacy-hunter Cossus ! His 
 palate^ is grown dull ; his relish for his food and wine^ no 
 more the same ; the joys of love are long ago forgotten ; and 
 in spite of all efforts to reinvigorate them, all manly ener- 
 gies are hopelessly extinct. Has this depraved and hoary 
 lechery aught else to hope? Do we not look with just sus~ 
 picion on the lust that covets the sin but lacks the power ?* 
 
 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 ?^ What matters it in what 
 part of the wide theatre he sits, who can scai*cely 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.^ 
 
 1 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. 
 
 2 Potato. 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 ?" 
 
 Vini. 
 
 " Now pall the tasteless meats, and joyless wines. 
 And Luxury with sighs her slave resigns." Johnson. 
 
 4 Viribus. Shakspeare, King Henry IV., Part ii., Act ii., sc. 4, "Is 
 it not strange that desire should so many years outlive performance?" 
 
 5 Auratd. Cic. ad Keren., iv., 47, "Uti citharsedus cum prodierit 
 optime vestitus, palla inauratd indutus, cum chlamyde purpurea 
 coloribus variis intexta, cum corona aurea, magnis fulgentibus gem- 
 mis illuminata." Horace, A. P., 215, " Luxuriem addidi arti Tibicen, 
 traxitque vagus per pulpita vestem." 
 
 6 Nuntiet horas. Slaves were employed to watch the dials in the 
 
148 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 Besides, the scanty blood that flows in his chilP 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^ 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^ 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 other's fin- 
 gers. He that was wont to relax his features to a smile at 
 the sight of his dinner, now only gapes* like the young 
 swallow to whom the parent bird, herself fasting, ^ 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 heart- 
 less will he disinherits them ; and all his property is made 
 
 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." 
 
 1 Qelido Virg., ^n., v., 395, " Sed enim gelidus tardante senecta 
 Sanguis he bet, frigentque effoetse in corpore vires." 
 
 2 Themison of Laodicea in Syria, pupil of Asclepiades, was an emi- 
 nent physician of the time of Pompey the Great, and is said to have 
 been the founder of the " Methodic" school, as opposed to the " Em- 
 piric." Vid. Cels., Prsef. 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. 
 
 ^ Quotondente. Cf. i.,35. 
 
 * Hiat Cf. Lucian, Tim., efxe Trepiixevovai Kcxrjvore^ loanep rriv x^" 
 \i66va Trpoa"n-8roijievr]v rerpiydreT 01 veoffaot, P. 72, E., ed. Bened. 
 
 & Jejuna, from Hom., II., ix.,323, (5' opviS" a-rrrfjai vcvaaoia-i Trpo- 
 ((>€pT}(Ti fida-raKj errsi kc Xd^rja-i, KaKoiT Je re ol irsXei aitrfj. 
 
SATIRE X. 
 
 149 
 
 ttver to Phiale :^ — such power has the breath of her artificial 
 mouth, that stood for hire so many years in the brothePs 
 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-recur- 
 ring sorrow — in unremitting mourning, and a suit of black.* 
 The king of Pylos,^ if you put any faith in great Homer, 
 was an instance of life inferior in duration only to the crow's.* 
 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,^ 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^ 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 Archilles prematurely 
 snatched from him : and that other, whose lot it was to 
 grieve for the shipwrecked"^ Ithacensian. 
 
 1 Phlalen. 
 
 " Forgets the children he begot and bred, 
 And makes a strumpet heiress in their stead." Gifford. 
 
 2 Nigra. ''And liveries of black for length of years." Dryden. 
 
 3 Pylius. Horn., IL, i,, 250, /if ra 6i Tpirdroicnv avaccsv. So Odyss., 
 iii., 245, rpiS" yap Sfj fjLLv (paa-iv avd^aaOai ycve dv^pcov. 
 
 * Cornice. " Next to the raven's age, the Pylian king 
 
 Was longest-lived of any two-legged thing." Dryden. 
 
 5 Dextra. This the Greeks express by avairefnTd^ea-eaL. 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. Holy- 
 day has a most elaborate explanation of the method. 
 
 6 Antilochi. Cf. Hor., II., Od. ix., 14. 
 
 7 Natantem, Cf. Horn., Od., v., 388, 399. 
 
JUVENAL. 
 
 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^ with mantle rent, had he but died at any 
 time but that, after that Paris had begun to build his auda- 
 cious 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'-^ laid down his dia- 
 dem and donned his arms, and fell before the altar of su- 
 preme Jove ; like some old ox^ that yields his attenuated 
 and miserable neck to his owner's knife, long ago scorned* 
 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. 5 
 
 1 hasten on to our own countrymen, and pass by the king 
 of Pontus, and Croesus,^ whom the eloquent voice of the 
 right-judging Solon bade look at the closing scene'' of a life 
 however long. Banishment, and the jail, and the marshes 
 of Minturnse,' and his bread begged in conquered Carthage, 
 
 "So Peleus sigh'd to join his hero lost- 
 Laertes his on boundless billows toss'd." Hodgson. 
 ^ Polyxena, from Eurip., Hec, 556, \o^ovaa TrsTrAovr aKpar stto)- 
 
 2 Miles tremtUus. Virg., ^n., ii,, 509, "Arma diu senior desueta 
 trementibus sevo circumdat," etc. 
 
 , "A soldier half, and half a sacrifice." Dryden. 
 
 3 Bos. Virg. ^n., v., 481, **Sternitur, exanimisque tremens pro- 
 cumbit humi bos." 
 
 ^ Fastiditus. 
 
 " Disdain'd its labors, and forgotten now 
 All its old service at the thankless plow." Hodgson. 
 
 5 Canino. See the close of Eurip., Hecuba. The Greeks fabled that 
 Hecuba was metamorphosed into a bitch , from her constant railing 
 at them. Hence vwh^ a^ixa. Cf. Plaut., Menoechm., v. i. 
 
 6 Crcesus. Cf. Herod., i., 32. 
 
 7 Spatia, a metaphor from the " course." So Virgil has metae aevi, 
 metse mortis. 
 
 8 Minturnarum, a town of the Aurunci near the mouth of the Liris 
 
SATIRE X. 
 
 took their rise from this. What could all nature, what could 
 Borne, have produced more blessed in the wide world than 
 that citizen, had he breathed forth his soul^ 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^ car ! Campania,'^ in her fore- 
 sight 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* 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;^ 
 with louder voice for her girls, carrying her fond wishes® 
 even to the verge of trifling. ^ ' But why should you chide 
 me? " she says ; Latona^ delights in the beauty of Diana." 
 
 now Garigliano. In the marshes in the neighborhood Marius con- 
 cealed himself from the cavalry of Sylla. 
 
 1 Animam. 
 
 " Had he exhaled amid the pomp of war, 
 A warrior's soul in that Teutonic car." Badham. 
 
 2 Teutonico, i.e., after his triumph over the Cimbri and Teutones. 
 Cf. viii., 251. 
 
 3 Campania, Cf Cic, Tus. Qu., i., 35, "Pompeius noster familiaris, 
 cum graviter segrotaret Neapoli, utrum si tum esset extinctus, a bonis 
 rebus, an a malis discessisset? certe a miseriis, si mortem tum obiis- 
 set, in amplissimis fortunis occidisset." Achillas and L. Septimius 
 murdered Pompey and cut off his head ; which tipvyaaaov Kato-apt, 
 cor £7ri pLeyiaraiS' apLOi^aXS'. Appian, B.C., ii., 86. 
 
 4 P. Corn. Lentulus Sura, was strangled in prison with Cethegus, 
 Catiline fell in battle, near Pistoria in Etruria. 
 
 5 Murmure. Venus was worshiped under the name of acppoSCrrj 
 xpiBvpog, because all prayers were to be offered in whispers. 
 
 6 Delieias. This is Heinrich's view. Grangaeus explains it, "Utpro 
 ipsis vota deliciarum plena concipiat." Britannicus. *' quasi diceret, 
 optat ut tam formosa sit, ut earn juvenes in suos amplexus optent." 
 
 7 Latona. Hom., Od. vi., 106, ykynOe 6e re cppspa Ai-'/rw. Virg., JEn., 
 i., 502, Latonae tacitum pertentant gaudia pectus. 
 
152 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 Eut, Lucretia^ 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 mis- 
 ery and alarm. So rare is the union^ of beauty with chastity. 
 Though the house, austere in virtue, and emulating the Sa- 
 bines of old, may have handed down,^ 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 man- 
 hood. For the villainy of the corrupter, prodigal in its 
 guilt, dares to assail with tempting offers the parents them- 
 selves. 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* 
 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.^ But sometimes that bitter wrath exacts even 
 
 1 Lucretia. 
 
 " Yet Vane could tell what ills from beauty spring, 
 And Sedley cursed the form that pleased a king ! " Johnson. 
 
 2 Concordia. Ov.,.Heioid, xvi., 288, *' Lis est cum forma magna pu- 
 dicitise. 
 
 *' Chaste— is no epithet to suit with fair." Dry den. 
 
 3 Tradiderit. " Though through the rugged house, from sire to son, 
 
 A Sabine sanctity of manners run. ' ' Gifford. 
 ^ Poenas 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. 
 
 ^ Laqueos. Ov., Met., iv., 176, "Extemplo graciles ex sere catenas, 
 Retiaque et laqueos quae lumina fallere possint, elimat." Art. Am., 
 ii., 561, seq. Hom., Odyss., viii., 266. 
 
SATIRE X. 
 
 153 
 
 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^ 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'-^ 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^ fired at the rejection of her suit, as though 
 treated with indignity. Nor did Sthenobsea burn less fiercely 
 than the Cretan ; and both lashed themselves into fury. A 
 woman is then most ruthless, when shame sets sharper spurs* 
 to her hate. Choose what course you think should be re- 
 commended him to whom Caesar's wife^ proposes to marry 
 herself. This most noble and most beautiful of the patri- 
 cian race is hurried off, poor wretched man, a sacrifice to 
 
 1 Servilia ; i.e., some one as rich and debauched as Servilia, sister 
 of Cato and mother of Brutus, with whom Caesar intrigued, and lav- 
 ished immense wealth on her. Vid. Suet., Jul., 50. Her sister, the 
 wife of Lucullus, was equally depraved. 
 
 2 Mores. " In all things else, immoral, stingy, mean, 
 
 But in her lusts a conscionable quean." Dryden. 
 
 3 Hxc, sc. Phaedra, daughter of Minos, king of Crete. 
 ^ Stimulos. " A woman scorn'd is pitiless as fate, 
 
 For then the dread of shame adds stings to hate." 
 
 Gifford. 
 
 5 Csesaris uxor. The story is told in Tacitus, Ann., xi., 12, seq. " In 
 Silium, juventutis Romanse pulcherrimum ita exarserat, ut Juniam 
 Silanam nobilem foeminam, matrimonio ejus exturbaret vacuoque 
 adultero potiretur. Neque Silius flagitii aut periculi nescius erat : sed 
 certo si abnueret exitio et nonnulla fallendi spe, simul magnis praemiis. 
 opperiri futura, et praesentibus frui, pro solatio habebat." This hap- 
 pened 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. 
 
 7* 
 
154 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 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^ 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.^ If you do commit the crime, some brief delay 
 will be afforded you, until the thing, known to the city and 
 the people,^ 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'^ to 
 the sword ! 
 
 Is there then nothing for which men shall pray ? If you 
 will take advice, you will allow the deities themselves to de- 
 termine 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 
 
 1 Auspex. Suet., Claud. " Cum comperisset [Valeriam Messalinam] 
 super csetera flagitia atque dedecora, C. Silio etiam nupsisse, dote inter 
 auspices consignatd, supplicio, affecit." C. 26; cf. 36, 39. 
 
 2 Lucernas. " Before the evening lamps 'tis thine to die." Badham. 
 
 3 Nota urbi et populo. Juvenal uses almost the very words of Taci- 
 tus. "An discidium inquit (Narcissus) tuum nosti? Nam matri- 
 monium Silii vidit populus et senatus et miles : ac ni propere agis 
 tenet urbem maritus." Ann., xi., 30. 
 
 4 Frsebenda. Cf. Tac , Ann. , xi., 38. 
 
 " Inevitable death before thee lies, 
 But looks more kindly through a lady's eyes ! " Dryden, 
 
SATIRE X. 
 
 155 
 
 may have somewhat to pray for, and vow to their shrines 
 the entrails and consecrated mincemeat^ 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 
 jkindly boons ;^ that can endure labor, whatever it be ; that 
 deems the gnawing cares of Hercules,'^ 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 fore- 
 sight, thoitj Fortune, hast no divinity.** It is we that make 
 thee a deity, and place thy throne in heaven !^ 
 
 1 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 ingre- 
 dients are given by Facciolati; the Greeks called them refiaxv or 
 
 2 Munera, " A soul that can securely death defy, 
 
 And count it Nature's privilege to die." Dryden. 
 
 3 Hercules. Alluding to the well-known '•Choice of Hercules" 
 from Prodicus. Xen., Mem. 
 
 4 Nullum numen. Repeated, xiv., 315. 
 
 5 " The reasonings in this Satire," Gibbon says, "would have been 
 clearer, had Juvenal distinguished between wishes the accomplish- 
 ment 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." 
 
JUVENAL. 
 
 SATIRE XI. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 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 fol- 
 lows by a pleasing view of the simplicity of ancient manners, art- 
 fully 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 recom- 
 mendation to him to enjoy the present with content, and await the 
 'future with calmness and moderation. 
 
 If Atticus^ sups extravagantly, he is considered a splen- 
 did^ fellow : if Kutilus does so, he is thought mad. For 
 what is received with louder laughter on the part of the 
 mob, than Apicius^ reduced to poverty ? 
 
 Every club,* the baths, every knot of loungers, every 
 theatre,^ is full of Rutilus. For while his sturdy and youth- 
 ful limbs are fit to bear arms,^ and while he is hot in blood, 
 he is driven^ (not indeed forced to it, but unchecked by the 
 tribune) to copy out^ the instructions and imperial com- 
 
 1 Atiicus. Put for any man of wealth and rank. So Rutilus for the 
 reverse. Cf. xiv., 18. 
 
 2 Lautus. Cf. Mart., xii., Ep. xlviii., 5. 
 
 3 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 thou- 
 sand pounds left. 
 
 4 Convicfus. Properly, like convivium, "a dinner party." Cf. i., 
 145; " It nova nec tristis per cunctas fabula ccenas." Tac, Ann., xiv., 
 4 ; xiii., 14. 
 
 5 Stationes, " locus ubi otiosi in urbe degunt, et variis sermonibus 
 tempus terunt." Plin., Ep. i., 13 ; ii., 9. 
 
 « Sufficiunt galeas. Cf. vii., 32, " Defluit setas et pelagi patienset cas- 
 sidis atque ligonis." 
 
 7 Cogente. Cf. viii., 167, "Quanta sua funera vendunt Quid refert? 
 vendunt nullo cogente Nerone. Nec dubitant celsi prsetoris vendere 
 ludis." 
 
 8 Scripturus. Suet., Jul., 26. Gladiators had to write out the rules 
 
SATIRE XI. 
 
 157 
 
 mands of the trainer of gladiators. Morever, you see many 
 whom their creditor, often cheated of his money, is wont to 
 look out for at the very entrance of the market ;^ and whose 
 inducement to live exists in their palate alone. The great- 
 est wretch among these, one who must soon fail, since his 
 ruin is already as clear'^ as day, sups the more extravagantly 
 and the more splendidly. Meanwhile they ransack all the 
 elements for dainties f 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. There- 
 fore they have no sc. uple* in borrowing a sum, soon to be 
 squandered, by pawning^ their plate, or the broken^ image 
 
 and words of command of their trainers, "dictata," in orderto learn 
 them by heart, Lubinus gives us some of these : " attolle, declina, 
 percute, urge, csede." 
 
 1 3IacellL So called from fxaKeWov, "an inclosure," because the 
 markets, before dispersed in the Forum boarium, olitorium, pis- 
 carium, cupedinis, etc., were collected into one building; or, from 
 one Romanius Macellus, whose house stood there, and was "propter 
 latrocinia ejus publice diruta." Vid. Donat. ad Ter., Eunuch., ii., 
 sc. ii., 24, where he gives a list of the cupediarii, " cetarii,lanii, coqui, 
 fartores, piscatores ;" or ^ mactando : as the French "Abattoir." Cf. 
 Sat., v., 95. Suet., Jul., 26. Plaut., Aul.. II., viii., 3. Hor., i., Ep. xv., 81. 
 
 Perlucente mind. Cf. x., 107, " impulsse prseceps immane ruinse." 
 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. 
 
 2 Gustus. III., 93, " Quando omne peractum est, et jam defecit nos- 
 trum mare, dum gula ssevit, 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 Ccena consisted of three 
 parts. 1. Gustus (Gustatio), or Promulsis. 2, Fercula : different 
 courses. 3. Mensse Secundse. 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. 
 
 4 Difficile, t.e.,"non dubitant." Vid. Schol. Not that they "have 
 no difficulty " in raising the money, as Crepereius Pollio found. Cf. 
 ix., 5. 
 
 ^ Oppositis. " Ager oppositus est pignori ob decem minas." Ter., 
 Phorm., IV., iii., 56. 
 
 6 Frartd. * Broken, that the features may not be recognized :" al- 
 luding probably to some well-known transaction of the time. 
 
158 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 of their mother ; and with the 400^ sesterces, seasoning an 
 earthen^ dish to tickle their palate. Thus they are reduced 
 to the hotchpotch^ of the gladiator. 
 
 It makes therefore all the difference who it is that pro- 
 cures these same things. For in Kutilus it is luxurious ex- 
 travagance. 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.* Know thyself,'' came down 
 from heaven :^ a proverb to be implanted and cherished in 
 the memory, whether you are about to contract matrimony,^ 
 or wish to be in a part of the sacred"^ senate : — (for not even 
 Thersites^ is a candidate for the breast-plate of Achilles : in 
 which Ulysses exhibited himself in a doubtful character :^) 
 
 1 Quadnngentis. Cf. Suet., Vit., 13, **Nec cuiquam minus singuli 
 apparatus quadringentis millibus nummtim constiterunt." 
 
 2 Fictile. III., 168, Fictilibus coenare pudet." 
 
 3 Miscellanea. " A special diet-bread to advantage the combatants 
 at once in breath and strength." Hohjday. It is said to have been a 
 mixture of cheese and flour ; probably a kind of macaroni. " Gladia- 
 toria sagina." Tac, Hist., ii.. 88. Prop., IV., viii., 25. 
 
 4 Ferratu. XIV., 259, " ^rata multus in area fiscus." X., 25. Hor., 
 i., Sat. i., 67. 
 
 5 E ccelo. This precept has been assigned to Socrates, Chile, Thales, 
 Cleobulus, Bias, Pythagoras. It was inscribed in gold letters over the 
 portico of the temple of Delphi. Hence, perhaps, the notion after- 
 ward, that it was derived immediately from heaven. 
 
 6 Conjugium. Cf. iEsch., Pr. V.. 890. Ov., Her., ix., 32, " Si qua vo- 
 los apte nubere nube pari." 
 
 7 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." 
 
 8 Thersites. Cf. vii., 115: x.,84; viii., 269. Juvenal is very fond of 
 referring to this contest. 
 
 9 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, " Quae tua traducit manifesto car- 
 mina furto." VI.. Ixxvii., 5, " Rideris multoque magis traduceris 
 afer Quam nudus medio si spatiere foro." Grang. explains it " se 
 
SATIRE XI. 
 
 159 
 
 — or whether yon 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 Cur- 
 tias, or a Matho,i 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,''^ when you 
 have only a gudgeon in your purse. For what end awaits 
 you, as your purse^ fails and your gluttony increases ; when 
 your patrimony and whole fortune is squandered* 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 alP the ring is parted 
 with, and Pollio^ begs with his finger bare. It is not the 
 
 risui exponebat: nee enim arma Achillis Ulyssem decebant,'* 
 Browne, " in which Ulysses cut a doubtful figure." Others refer an- 
 cipitem to loricam ; or place the stop after Ulysses, and take ancip. 
 with causam. Giiford omits the passage altogether, as a tasteless in- 
 terpolation 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." 
 Hodgson : " Thersites never could that armor bear, 
 
 W^hich e'en Ulysses hesitates to wear." 
 Britann. suggests that it may mean " his enemies doubted if he were 
 really Achilles or no." Facciol. : *' in a doubtful frame of mind as to 
 whether they would become him or not." 
 
 1 Matho. Cf. i., 39 ; vii., 129. Mart., iv., Ep. 80, 81. For Curtius 
 Montanus, see Tac, Ann., xvi., 48. Hist., iv., 42. 
 
 2 Mullum. Gifford always renders this by " sur-mullet " [** mugilis " 
 being properly the mullet, of which Holyday gives a drawing, ad x., 
 317] ; Mr. Metcalfe, by " the sea-barbel." Cf. ad iv., 15. 
 
 " Nor doubt thy throat of mullets to amerce, 
 While scarce a gudgeon lingers in thy purse." Badham. 
 
 3 Crumend. Properly *' a bag or reticule to hang on the arm ; " a 
 satchel to be hung over a boy's shoulder: then a purse suspended 
 from the girdle, like the " gypciere " of the Middle Ages : 
 
 " If thy throat widen as thy pockets shrink." Gifford. 
 Mersis. 
 
 " That deep abyss which every kind can hold, 
 Land, cattle, contract, houses, silver, gold." Badham. 
 Novissimus. VI., 356, " Levibus athletis vasa novissima donat." 
 * PoUio. Probably the Crepereius Pollio mentioned Sat. ix., 6, who 
 
l6o 
 
 JUVENAL, 
 
 premature funeral pile, or the grave, that is luxury's horror, 
 but old age,^ 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-baiP and run to Baiae and Ostia. For nowa- 
 days to quit the forum^ is not more discreditable to you than 
 to remove to Esquiline from hot* Suburra. This is the only 
 pain that they who flee their country feel, this their only 
 sorrow, to have lost the Circensian games^ for one^ year. 
 Kot a drop of blood remains in their face ; few attempt to 
 detain modesty, now become an object of ridicule and flee- 
 ing from the city. 
 
 You shall prove to-day by your own experience, Persi- 
 cus, 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, while in secret I am 
 a glutton : in others' hearing bid my slave bring me water- 
 could get no one to lend him money, though " triplicem usuram 
 prsestare paratus." 
 
 1 Senectus; exemplified in the story of Apicius above. 
 
 " Decrepit age far more than death they fear; 
 Nor thirst nor hunger haunt the silent bier." Hodgson. 
 
 2 Qui vertere solum. Cic. pro Csec, 34, " Qui volunt pcenam aliquam 
 subterfugere aut calamitatem, solum vertunt, hoc est sedem ac locum 
 mutant." Browne conjectures the meaning to be, They who have 
 parted with their property by mortgage, and so changed its owner." 
 
 3 Cedereforo is evidently explained, "to give one's creditors the 
 slip" — "to run away from justice"— "to abscond from 'Change" — 
 *' to become bankrupt." 
 
 4 Ferventi. 
 
 Lest Rome should grow too warm, from Rome they run." Dryden, 
 
 5 Circensihus. Cf. iii., 223, "Si potes avelli Circensibus." vi., 87, 
 utque magis stupeas ludos Paridemque reliquit." viii., 118, "Circo 
 
 scenseque vacantem." x., 80, " duas tantum res anxius optat Panem 
 et Circenses." All these passages show the infatuation of the Romans 
 for these games. Cf. Plin., Ep. ix., 6. Tac, Hist., i., 4; Ann., i., 2. 
 
 6 Uno. It is not implied that they had the privilege of returning at 
 the end of a year, by a sort of a statute of limitations, but only that 
 the loss of the games even for that short period was a greater afflic- 
 tion than the forfeiture of all other privileges. 
 
 7 Siliquas, from Hor. ii., Ep. i.. 123, " Vivit siliquis et panesecundo." 
 
SATIRE XI. 
 
 i6r 
 
 gruel/ but whisper ''cheese-cakes" in his ear. For since 
 you are my promised guest, you shall find me an Evander 
 you shall come as the Tirynthian, or the guest, inferior in- 
 deed to him, and yet himself akin by blood to heaven : the 
 one sent to the skies by water, ^ the other by fire. 
 
 Now hear your bill of fare,* furnished by no public mar- 
 ket. ^ 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^ from the mountains, 
 which my bailifl'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 them- 
 selves : and grapes kept a portion of the year, just as they 
 were when fresh upon the vines : pears from Signia"^ and 
 
 1 Pultes. A mixture of coarse meal and water, seasoned with salt 
 and cheese ; sometimes with an egg or honey added. It was long the 
 food of the primitive Romans, according to Pliny, xviii. , 8, seq. It 
 probably resembled the macaroni, or " polenta," of the poor Italians 
 of the present day. Cf. Pers., iii., 55, " Juventus siliquis et grandi 
 pasta polenta." 
 
 2 Evandrum. The allusion is to Virg,, ^n., viii., 100, seq. ; 228, 359, 
 seq. 
 
 Come ; and while fancy brings past times to view, 
 I'll think myself the king — the hero, you !" Gifford. 
 
 3 Alter aquis. .Eneas, drowned in the Numicius. Hercules, burned 
 on Mount CEta. 
 
 4 FeraUa. Cf. ad 14. 
 
 5 Macellis. Virg., Georg., iv., 133, " Papibus mensas onerabat inemp- 
 tis." Cf. Hor., ii., Sat. ii., 150, seq. The next 16 lines are imitated 
 from Mart., x., Ep. 48. Gifford says, " Martial has imitated this bill of 
 fare in Lib. x,, 48." But his 10th Book was written a.d. 99 ; and from 
 line 203, it is evident this Satire was written in Juvenal's old age, and 
 therefore, in all probability, twenty years later. 
 
 6 Asparagi, called "corruda," Cato de R. R., 6. The wild asparagus 
 is still very common on the Italian hills. Cf Mart., Ep. xiii., 21, " In- 
 culti asparagi." See Sir William Hooker's note on Badham's version. 
 
 7 Signia, now " Segni " m Latium. Cf. Plin., xv . 15. — Syrium. The 
 "Bergamot" pears are said to have been imported from Syria. Cf. 
 Mart., v.. Ep. Ixxviii., 13, " Et nomen pyra qua? ferunt Syrorum." 
 Virg., Georg., ii., 88. '* Crustumiis Syriisqne pyris." Columella (lib. v., 
 c. 10) calls them " Tarentina," because brought from Syria to Taren- 
 tum. Others say they are the same as the Falernian. 
 
JUVENAL. 
 
 Syria : and, from the same basket, apples rivaling those of 
 Picenum,^ 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'^ 
 with his own hands used to cook over his little fire pot-herbs 
 which he had gathered in his little gardeja : such herbs as 
 now the foul digger in his heavy chain rejects with scorn, 
 who remembers the flavor of the vile dainties^ of the reek- 
 ing 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* than his wont to such a feast as this, bearing his 
 spade over his shoulder from the mountain he had been dig- 
 
 1 Picenis. Hor., ii., Sat. iv., 70, "Picenis cedimt pomis Tiburtia 
 succo, Nam facie prsestant." And iii., 272. " Picenis excerpens semina 
 pomis." These apples were to be also from his Tiburtine farm : the 
 banks of the Anio being famous for its orchards. Hor., i., Od. vii., 
 14, " Prseceps Anio ac Tiburni lucus et uda mobilibus pomaria vivis." 
 Propert., IV., vii., 81, "Pomosis Anio qua spumifer incubat arvis." 
 Apples formed a very prominent part of the mensse secundse : hence 
 the proverb, "Ab ovo usque ad mala." Cf. Mart., x., 48, fin., "Saturis 
 mitia pomo dabo." Cf. Sat. v., 150, seq., where apples "qualia per- 
 petuus Phseacum Autumnus habebat " form the conclusion of Virro's 
 dinner. Cf Mart., iii., Ep. 50. 
 
 2 Curius was found by the Samnite embassadors preparing his dish 
 of turnips over the fire with his own hands. Cic, de Sen., xvi. 
 
 " Senates more rich than Rome's first senates were. 
 In days of yore desired no better fare." Badham. 
 
 3 Vulva " Nul vulva pulchrius ampla." Hor., i., Ep. xv., 41, For 
 a description of this loathsome dainty, vid. Plin., xi., 37, 84. Cf. 
 Mart., Ep. xiii., 56. 
 
 4 Maturius. 
 
 "For feasts like these would quit the mountain's soil, 
 And snatch an hour from customary toil." Badham. 
 
SATIRE XI. 
 
 163 
 
 ging on. But when men trembled at the Fabii,^ and the 
 stern Cato, and the Scauri and Fabricii ;2 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^ floated in the wave 
 of ocean, destined to form a splendid and noble couch for 
 the Trojugenae. But with side devoid of ornament, and 
 sofas of diminutive size, the brazen front displayed the 
 mean head of an ass wearing a chaplet,* at which the coun- 
 try 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'' 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,® and his embossed 
 helmet might display to his enemy on the point of perish- 
 ing, likenesses of the Komulean wild beast bidden to grow 
 tame by the destiny of the empire, and the twin Quirini be- 
 
 1 Fdbios. Q. Fabius Maximus Rullianus, censor a.u.c. 449, obliged 
 his colleague, P. Decius, to allow him to administer his office with 
 all its pristine severity. 
 
 2 Fahricios. Cf. ad ix., 142. 
 
 3 Testudo. Cf. vi., 80, "Testudineo conopeo ; " xiv., 308, " ebore et 
 lata testudine." 
 
 " Which future times were destined to employ, 
 To build rare couches for the sons of Troy." Badham. 
 
 4 Vile coronati. Henninius suggests vite. The ass, by browsing on 
 the vine, and thereby rendering it more luxuriant, is said to have 
 first given men the idea of pruning the tendrils. Cf. Paus., ii., 38. 
 Hyg., F., 274. The ass is always found, too, in connection with 
 Silenus. 
 
 6 Nesdus. 
 
 " Till at the soldier's foot her treasures lay, 
 Who knew not half the riches of his prey." Hodgson. 
 6 Phaleris: xvi., 60. Florus says Phalerse were introduced from 
 Etruria together with curule chairs, trabae, prsetextse, etc. Vid Liv., 
 xxxix., 31. Plin., vi., 28, 9, says Siccius Dentatus had 25 phalerae and 
 83 torques. Sii., xv., 254. Cf. Virg., ^n., ix., 359. Suet., Aug., 25; 
 l^ei-,33. 
 
JUVENAL. 
 
 neath the rock, and the naked image di the god coming 
 down^ with buckler and spear, and impending over him. 
 Whatever silver he possessed glittered on his arms^^ 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.^ 
 
 The majesty of temples also was more evidently near* to 
 men, and a voice^ 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 af- 
 fairs of Latium, when made of earthenware,^ and as yet pro- 
 faned by no gold. Those days saw tables made of wood 
 grown at home and from our native trees. To these uses 
 
 1 Venieniis. Supposed to be a representation of Mars hovering in 
 the air, and just about to alight by the sleeping Rhea Sylvia, The 
 god is armed, because the conventional manner of representing him 
 was by the distinction of his "framea" and *'clypeus." See Addi- 
 son's note in Gifford. 
 
 2 In armis. 
 
 Then all their wealth was on their armor spent, 
 
 And war engross' d the pride of ornament.' Hodgson. 
 
 2 Lividulus. 
 
 ** Yet justly worth your envy, were your breast 
 But with one spark of noble spleen possess'd." Gififord. 
 
 4 Prseseniior. Of. iii., 18, "Quanto prsescntius esset Numen aquae." 
 Virg., Ec, i., 42, " Nee tam prsesentes alibi cognoscere Divos." Georg., 
 1., 10, "Prsesentia Numina Fauni." Hor., iii., Od. v., 2, ''Praesens Di- 
 vus habebitur Augustus." 
 
 & Vox. " M. Caedicius de plebe nunciavit tribunis, se in Nova Via, 
 ubi nunc sacellum est, supra aedem Vestae vocem noctis silentio au- 
 disse clariorem humana quae magistratibus dici juberet 'Gallos ad- 
 ventare.'" " Invisitato atque inaudito hoste ab oceano terrarumque 
 ultimis oris helium ciente." Liv., v., 32,3, 7,50. Cic, de Div., ii., 
 "At paullo post audita vox est monentis ut providerent ne a Gallis 
 Roma caperetur ; ex eo Aio loquenti aram in nova vi^ consecratam." 
 Cf. Plut., in Vit. Camill. 
 
 6 Fictilis. Cf. Sen., Ep. 31, " Cogita illos quum propitii essent fictiles 
 fuisse." 
 
 7 Arbore. Cf. Mart., xiv., Ep. xc, " Non sum crispa quidem nec 
 sylvae filia Maurae. oed norunt lautas et mea ligna dapes." Cf. Sat. i., 
 75, 137 ; iv., 132. The extravagance of the Romans on their tables is 
 
SATIRE XI. 
 
 165 
 
 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, un- 
 ' less 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 Hransmits, 
 and the active Moors, and the Indian of duskier hue than 
 the Moor ;^ and which the huge beast has deposited in some 
 Kabathsean^ glen, as now grown too weighty and burdensome 
 to his head : by this their appetite* is whetted : honce 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 com- 
 pares me with himself, and looks with scorn on my paltry 
 
 almost incredible. Pliny says that Cicero himself, who accuses Ver- 
 res of stealing a Citrea mensa from Diodorus (in Verr., iv., 17), gave a 
 million of sesterces for one which was in existence in his time. A 
 " Senatoris Census" was a price given. These tables were not pro- 
 vided with several feet, but rested on an ivory column (sometimes 
 carved into the figure of animals), hence called monopodia. They 
 were called " Orbes," not from being round, but because they were 
 massive plates of wood cut olf the stem in its whole diameter. The 
 wood of the citrus was most preferred. This is not the citron-tree, 
 which never attains to this bulk, but a tree found in Mauritania, 
 called the thyse cypressides. Plin., xiii., 16. Those cut near the root 
 were most valued from the wood being variegated : hence "Tigrinse. 
 pantherinae, pavonum caudae oculos imitantes." The mensae were 
 formerly square, but were afterward round to suit the new fashion 
 of the Sigma couch. The Romans also understood the art of veneer- 
 ing tables and other furniture with the citrus wood and tortoise- 
 shell. 
 
 1 Porta Syenes. Syene, now " Assouan," is situated near the rapids, 
 just on the confines of Ethiopia. It was a station for a Roman garri- 
 son, and the place to which Juvenal is said to have been banished. 
 Some think the island Elephantine is here meant. Cf. ad x., 150, 
 "aliosque Elephantos." 
 
 2 Mauro. Ab a^iavpo';, vel /aavpo?, " obscurus." Cf. Lucan., iv., 678, 
 " Concolor Indo Maurus." 
 
 s Nabathcfo. The Nabathsei, in Arabia Petrsea, took their name 
 from '"Nebaioth, first-born of Ishmael," Gen., xxv., 13. Elephants 
 are said to shed their tusks every two years. 
 
 * Orexis, VI., 428. FiVes. Henninius' suggestion. Cf. ad 1., 14. 
 
i66 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 estate. Consequently I do not possess a single ounce of 
 ivory ; neither niy chess-board^ nor my men are of this ma- 
 terial ; 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- schooP ought 
 to yield the palm, some pupil of the professor Trypherus, at 
 whose house the hare, with the large sow's udders,^ and the 
 wild boar, and the roebuck,* and pheasants,^ and the huge 
 flamingo,^ and the wild goat'' of Gsetulia, 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 
 
 1 Tessellae. Holyday explains this by ' chess-board," from the re- 
 semblance of the squares to the tesselated pavements. But it is a die, 
 properly ; of which shape the separate tesserae were. Mart., xiv., 17, 
 *' Hie mihi bis seno numeratur tessera puncto: Calculus hie gemino 
 discolor hoste perit. Cf Ep. 14. Cicero considers this game to be one 
 of the legitimate amusements of old age. " Nobis senibus, ex lusioni- 
 bus multis, talos relinquant et tesseras," de Sen., xvi. '* Old Mucins 
 Scsevola, the lawyer, was a great proficient at it. It was called Lu- 
 dus duodecim scriptorum, from the lines dividing the alveolus. On 
 these the two armies, white and black, each consisting of fifteen men, 
 or calculi, were placed ; and alternately moved, according to the 
 chances of the dice, tesserse." Vid. Gibbon, chap, xxxi. 
 
 2 Pergula. Literally " the stall outside a shop where articles are 
 displayed for sale." Here used for the teachers of the art of carving 
 who exhibited at these stalls. Suet., Aug., 94, speaks of a pergula 
 Mathematici." Pergula, "a perga, quia extra parietem pergit." 
 Face. 
 
 3 Sumine. Cf Mart., Ep. xiii., 44, " vivo lacte papilla tumet." 
 
 ^ Pygargus. " Caprae sylvestris genus, ab albis clunium pilis.'* 
 Face. \Cf. Plin., viii., 53, 79, "Damse et pygargi et Strepsicerotes." 
 The " spring-bok " of the Cape. 
 
 5 Scythicse. The pheasant (opvt? <|)a<navb9, or 4>a(7ta»'t>c6s, Arist., Av., 
 68) takes its name from the Phasis, a river in Colchis, on the confines 
 of Scythia, at the mouth of which these birds congregate in large 
 flocks. Vid. Athen., ix,, 37, seq. 
 
 ^ Phcenicopterus. Arist., Av., 273. Cf. Mart, xiii., 71, " Dat mihi 
 penna rubens nomen." Cf. iii., Ep. Iviii., 14. Suetonius mentions 
 "linguas phoenicopterum " among the delicacies of the " Coena ad- 
 venticia " given by his brother to Vitellius, in Vit., c. 13. 
 
 7 Caprex. Cf. Mart., Ep. xiii., 99. 
 
SATIRE XI. 
 
 roe, or the wing of a Guinea-hen ;^ only versed in the mys- 
 teries of carving the fragments of a small collop.^ 
 
 My slave, who is not gayly dressed, and only clad so as to 
 protect him from cold, will hand you plebeian cups^ bought 
 for a few pence. He is no Phrygian or Lycian, or one pur- 
 chased from the slave-dealer* 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 hoveP 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^ 
 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 
 
 1 Afra avis. Hot., Epod., ii., 53, Non Afra avis descendat in ven- 
 trem meum non attagen lonicus." The /u-eAeaypi? of the Greeks. 
 Varro, R.R., III., ix., 18. 
 
 2 Ofellas, the diminutive of Offa. "A cutlet or chop," generally ap- 
 plied to the coarser kind of meat. Cf. Mart., xii., 48, " Me meus ad 
 subitas invitet amicus ofellas : Hsec mihi quam possum reddere 
 ccBna placet." Some read furtis for frustis: which imputation against 
 the character of the little slave Gifford indignantly rejects. 
 
 ^ Plebeios calices, cf ad vi., 155; v., 46, made of glass, which was now 
 very common at Rome. Vid.Mart., Ep. xii., 74 ; xiv., 94, seq., and es- 
 pecially the Epigram on Mamurra, ix., 60. Strabo speaks of them as 
 sold commonly in Rome in his own time for a xaA>cou<; each (not quite 
 a farthing), lib. xvi., p. 368, T. Cf. Bekker's Gallus, p. 303. 
 
 ^ Mango, cf Pers., vi., 76, seq., from manu ago, because they made 
 up their goods for sale, or from fxdyyavov, "a trick." Cf Aristoph., 
 Plut, 310. Bekker's Gallus, the Excursus on "the Slaves." 
 
 5 Casiilam. Cf. ix., 59, "Ruslicus infans, cum matre et casulis et 
 conlusore catello." 
 
 " Sighs for his little cottage, and would fain 
 Meet his old playfellows the goats again." Gifford. 
 
 6 Vina. Cf. vii., 96, **Vinum Tiber! devectum." Mart., x.,48, 19,, 
 " De Nomentana vinum sine fsece lagena." 
 
i68 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 abominations, they are called jovial, splendid fellows. Our 
 banquet to-day will furnish far different amusements. The 
 author of the Iliad^ 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 V 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,*^ 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* bj 
 them — especially forget ungrateful friends ! Meantime, the 
 spectacles of the Megalesian toweP grace the Idsean solemnity: 
 and, like one in a triumph, the prey of horses, the praetor, 
 sits : and, if I may say so without offense to the immense 
 and overgrown crowd, the circus to-day incloses the whole of 
 E-ome f and a din reaches my ears, from which I infer the 
 
 1 Iliados. " The tale of Ilium, or that rival lay 
 
 Which holds in deep suspense the dubious bay." Bad. 
 
 2 Legantur. Cf. Corn. Nep., vit. Attici, " Nemo in convivio ejus aliud 
 acroama audivit quam A nagnosten ; quod nos q uidem j ucundissimum 
 arbitramur. Neque unquam sine aliqua lectione apud eum coena- 
 tum est, ut non minus animo quam ventre convivse delectarentur," 
 c. xvi. ( 'f. Mart. , iii. , Ep. 50, who complains of Ligurinus inviting him 
 to have his own productions read to him. 
 
 ^ Bilem. " Let no dire images to-day be brought 
 
 To wake the hell of matrimonial thought." Hodgson. 
 ^ Peril. Cf. Hor., ii., Ep. i., 121, " Detrimenta, fugas servorum, in- 
 cendia ridet." 
 
 5 Mappse. Holyday gives the following account of the origin of this 
 ^ custom. "Nero on a time, sitting alone at dinner, when the shows 
 ' were eagerly expected, caused his towel with which he had wiped 
 ' his hands to be presently cast out at the window, for a sign of his 
 
 speedy coming. Whereupon it was in after times the usual sign at 
 the beginning of these shows." For the mappa see Bekker's Gallus, 
 p. 476.— Prxda, because " ruined by the expense ;" or Prxdo, from his 
 " unjust decisions ;" or Perda, from the " number of horses damaged." 
 
 6 Totam Romarn. See (Mbbon, chap, xxxi., for the eagerness with 
 ivhich all ranks flocked to these games. 
 
SATIRE XI. 
 
 169 
 
 success of the green faction.^ For should it not win, you 
 would see this city in mourning and amazement, as when 
 the consuls were conquered in the dust^ of Cannae. Let 
 young men be spectators of these, in whom shouting and 
 bold betting, and sitting by a trim damsel is becoming. Let 
 our skin, 3 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 suc- 
 cessive days ; because even of such a life as this there would 
 be great weariness. It is a more moderate use* that en- 
 hances pleasures. 
 
 1 Viridis panni. Of. ad vi., 590. Plin., Ep. ix., 6, " Si aut velocitate 
 equorum. aut hominum arte traberentur, esset ratio nonnulla. Nunc 
 favent parmo .• pannum amant," et seq. Mart., x., Ep. xlviii., 23, " De 
 Prasino conviva meus, venetoque loquatur." XIV., 131, " Siveneto 
 Prasiiiove faves quid coccina sumis?" 
 
 2 Pulvere is not without its force. Hannibal is said to have plowed 
 up the land near Camise, that the wind which daily rose and blew in 
 that direction might carry the dust into the eyes of the Romans. 
 " Ventus ( Vulturnmn incolse regionis vocant) adversus Romania coor- 
 tus, tiiulto pulvere in ipsa ora volvendo, prospectum ademit." Liv., 
 xxii., 46 and 43. Cf. Sat. ii.. 155 ; x., 165. 
 
 ^ CiiticiUa. Pers., iv., 18, " Assiduo curata cuticula sole.'' 33, " Et 
 figas in cute solem." V., 179. " Aprici meminisse senes." Mart., x., 
 Ep. xii., 7, "Totos avida cute combibe soles." I., Ep. 78, "Sole uti- 
 tur Charinus." Plin., Ep. iii., 1, "Ubi bora balinei nuntiata est (cf. 
 ad Sat. X., 216), est autem hieme nona, sestate octava, in sole, si caret 
 vento. ambulat nudus." Cicero mentions " apricatio " as one of the 
 solaces of old age. De Sen., c. xvi. 
 
 " While we, my friend, whose skin grows old and dry. 
 Court the warm sunbeam of an April sky." Badham. 
 ^ Rarior usus. 
 
 " Our very sports by repetition tire, 
 But rare delight breeds ever new desire." Hodgson. 
 
 8 
 
170 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 SATIRE XII. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 Catullus, a valued friend of the poet, had narrowly escaped ship-i 
 wreck. 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, contrast- 
 ing his own sacrifices of thanksgiving at the event, with those of- 
 fered by the designing legacy-hunters, by which the rich and 
 childless were attempted to be insnared. 
 
 This day, Corvinus, is a more joyful one to me than even 
 my own birthday ;^ in which the festal altar of turf^ awaits 
 the animals promised to the gods. 
 
 To the queen of the gods we sacrifice a snow-white^ lamb : 
 a similar fleece shall be given to her that combated the 
 Mauritanian Gorgon.* But the victim reserved for Tar- 
 peian Jupiter, shakes, in his wantonness, his long-stretched^ 
 rope, and brandishes his forehead. Since he is a sturdy 
 calf ; ripe for the temple and the altar, and ready to be 
 sprinkled with wine ; ashamed any longer to drain his 
 
 1 Natali. The birthday was sacred to the " Genius " to whom they 
 offered wine, incense and flowers : abstaining from "bloody" sacri- 
 fices, " ne die qua ipsi lucem accepissent aliis demerent," Hor., ii., 
 Ep. 144. " Floribus et vino Genium memorem brevis avi," Pers , ii., 
 3. " Funde merum Genio," Censorin., de D. N., 3. Virg., Eel. iii., 76. 
 Compare Hor., Od., IV., xi., where he celebrates the birthday of Mae- 
 cenas as " sanctior poene natali proprio.'' Cf. Dennis's Etruria, vol. 
 ii., p. 65. 
 
 2 Caespes. Hor., Od., III., viii., 3, "Positusque carbo in csespite 
 vivo." Tac, Ann., i., 18. 
 
 3 Niveam. A white victim was offered to the Dii Superi : a black 
 one to the Inferi. Cf. Virg., ^^^n., iv., 60, " Junoni ante omnes, Ii>sa 
 tenens dextra pateram pulcherrima Dido Candentis vaccse media in- 
 ter cornua fundit." Tibull., I., ii., 61, " Concidit ad magicos hostia 
 pulla deos." Hor., i., Sat. viii., 27, " Pullam divellere mordicus 
 agnam." 
 
 ^ Gorgone. Cf. Vir., ^n., viii., 435, scg.; ii., 616. 
 
 ^ Extensum. It was esteemed a very bad omen if the victim did 
 not go willingly to the sacrifice. It was always led, therefore, with 
 a long slack rope. 
 
SATIRE XII. 
 
 171 
 
 mother's^ teats, and butts the oaks with his sprouting hom.^ 
 Had I an ample fortune, and equal to my wishes, a bull fat- 
 ter than Hispulla,^ and slow-paced from his very bulk, 
 should be led to sacrifice, and one not fed in a neighboring 
 pasture ; but his blood should flow, giving evidence of the 
 rich pastures of Clitumnus,'^ and with a neck that must be 
 struck by a ministering priest of great strength, to do honor 
 to the return of my friend who is still trembling, and has re- 
 cently endured great horrors, and wonders to find himself 
 safe. 
 
 For besides the dangers of the sea, and the stroke of the 
 lightning which he escaped, thick darkness obscured the sky 
 in one huge cloud, and a sudden thunder-bolt struck the 
 yard-arms, while every one fancied he was struck by it, and 
 at once, amazed, thought that no shipwreck could be com- 
 pared in horror with a ship on fire.^ For all things hap- 
 
 1 Matris. Cf. Hor., iv., Od. ii., 54, Me tener solvet vitulus, reiicta 
 matre." 
 
 2 Nascenti. Hor., iii., Od. xiii., 4, " Cui frons turgida cornibus Pri- 
 mis et Venerem, et prselia destinat." 
 
 " He flies his mother's teat with playful scorn, 
 And butts the oak-trees with his growing horn." Hodgson. 
 
 3 Hispulla. Cf. vi., 74, " Hispnlla tragsedo gaudet." (This was the 
 name of the aunt of Pliny the Younger's wife, iv., Ep. 19 ; viii., 1],) 
 
 *' Huge as Hispulla : scarcely to be slain 
 But by the stoutest servant of the train." Badham. 
 * CUtumnuswas a small river in Umbria flowing into the Tinia, now 
 Topino," near Mevania, now "Timia." The Tinia discharges it- 
 self into the Tiber near Perusia. Pliny (viii., Ep. 8) gives a beautiful 
 description ofits source, now called " La Vene," in a letter which is, 
 as Giff"ord says, a model of elegance and taste. Its waters were sup- 
 posed to give a milk-white color to the cattle who drank of them. 
 Virg., Georg., ii,. 146, "Hinc albi, Clitumne, greges, et maxima tau- 
 rusvictima." Propert., II., xix., 25, "Qua formosa suo Clitumnus 
 flumina luco Integit et niveos abluit unda boves," Sil., iv.,547, " Cli- 
 tumnus in arvis Candentes gelido perfundit flumine tauros." Clau- 
 dian., vi.. Cons. Hon., 506. 
 
 5 Ignis. Grang?eus interprets this of the meteoric fires seen in the 
 Mediterranean, which, when seen single, were supposed to be fatal. 
 Plin., ii., 37, " Graves cum solitarii venerunt raergentesque navigia, 
 et si in carinse ima deciderint, exurentes." These fires, when double^ 
 were hailed as a happy omen, as the stars of Castor and Pollux. 
 " Fratres Helense lucida sidera," Hor., I., Od. iii., 2; cf. xii., 27. The 
 
172 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 pen so, and with such horrors accompanying, when a storm 
 arises in poetry.^ 
 
 Now here follows another sort of danger. Hear, and pity 
 him a second time ; although the rest is all of the same de- 
 scription. Yet it is a very dreadful part, and one well 
 known to many, as full many a temple testifies with its vo° 
 tive picture. (Who does not know that painters'-^ are main- 
 tained by Isis ?) A similar fortune befell our friend Catul- 
 lus also : when the hold was half full of water, and when the 
 waves heaved up each side alternately of the laboring ship, 
 and the skill of the hoary pilot could render no service, he 
 began to compound with the winds by throwing overboard, 
 imitating the beaver who makes a eunuch^ of himself, hop- 
 ing to get off by the sacrifice of his testicles ; so well does 
 
 French call it Le feu St. Elme," said to be a corruption of" He- 
 lena." The Italian sailors call them " St. Peter and St. Nicholas." 
 But these only appear at the close of a storm. Cf. Hor., ii., seq., and 
 Blunt's Vestiges, p. 37. 
 
 1 Poetica tempestas. 
 
 " So loud the thunder, such the whirlwind's sweep, 
 As when the poet lashes up the deep." Hodgson. 
 
 2 Pictores. So Hor., i., Od. v., 13, " Me tabula sacer votiva paries in- 
 dicat noida suspendisse potenti vestimenta maris Deo." It seems to 
 have been the custom for persons in peril of shipwreck not only to 
 vow pictures of their perilous condition to some deity in case they es- 
 caped, but also to have a painting of it made to carry about with 
 them to excite commiseration as they begged. Cf. xiv., 302, '^Nau- 
 fragus assem dum rogat et picta se tempestate tuetur." Pers., i., 89, 
 
 Quum fracta te in trabe pictum ex humero portes." VI., 32, Lar- 
 gire inopi, ne pictus oberret cserulea in tabula." Hor., A. P., 20, 
 "Fractis enatat exspes navibus, sere dato qui pingitur." Phsed., 
 IV., xxi., 24. Some think that this picture was afterward dedicated, 
 but this is an error. 
 
 ^ Castora. Ov., Nux., 165, "Sic ubi detracta est a te tibi causa peri- 
 cli Quod superest tutum, Pontice Castor, habes ! " The story of the 
 beaver is told Plin., viii., 30; xxxvii., 6, and is repeated by Silius, in 
 a passage copied from Ovid and Juvenal. " Fluminei veluti depren- 
 sus gurgitis undis, Avulsa parte inguinibus eausdque pericli, Enatat 
 intento prsedse fiber avius hoste," xv., 485. But it is an error. The 
 sebaceous matter called castoreum (Pers., v., 135), is secreted by two 
 glands near the root of the tail. (Vid. Martyn's Georgics, i., 59, 
 *' Virosaque Pontus Castorea," and Browne's Vulgar Errors, lib.iii., 
 4.) Pliny, viii,, 3, tells a similar story of the elephant, " Circumventi 
 a venantibus dentes impactos arbori frangunt, prxddque se redinmnt.'' 
 
SATIRE XII. 
 
 lie know their medicinal properties. Throw overboard 
 all that belongs to me, the whole of it ! " cried Catullus, 
 eager to throw over even his most beautiful things — a robe 
 of purple fit even for luxurious Maecenases, and others 
 whose very fleece the quality of the generous pasture has 
 tinged, moreover the exquisite water with its hidden prop- 
 erties, and the atmosphere of Baetica^ contributes to enhance 
 its beauty. He did not hesitate to cast overboard even his 
 plate, salvers the workmanship of Parthenius, a bowP that 
 would hold three gallons, and worthy of Pholus when 
 thirsty, or even the wife of Fuscus.^ Add to these bas- 
 caudse,^ and a thousand chargers, a quantity of embletic 
 work, out of which the cunning purchaser of Olynthus^ had 
 drunk. But what other man in these days, or in what quar- 
 ter of the globe, has the courage to prefer his life to his 
 
 1 Bseticus. The province of Bsetica (Andalusia) takes its name from 
 the Bsetis, or Guadalquiver," the waters of which were said to 
 give a ruddy golden tinge to the fleeces of the sheep that drank it. 
 Martial alludes to it repeatedly. "Non est lana mihi mendax, nee 
 mutor aeno. Si placeant Tyriae me mea tinxit ovis," xiv., Ep. 133. 
 Cf. v., 37; viii., 28. " Vellera nativo pallentubi flava metallo," ix., 
 62. " Aurea qui nitidis vellera tingis aquis," xii., 99. 
 
 " Away went garments of that innate stain 
 That wool imbibes on Guadalquiver's plain, 
 From native herbs and babbling fountains nigh, 
 To aid the powers of Andalusia's sky." Badham. 
 
 2 Urnx. Vid. ad vi., 426. Pholus was one of the Centaurs. Virg., 
 G^org., ii., 455. Cf. Stat., Thebaid., ii., 564, seg., "Qualis in adversos 
 Lapithas erexit inanem Magnanimus cratera Pholus," etc. 
 
 3 Conjuge Fasci. Vid. ad ix., 117. 
 
 4 Bascaudas. The Celtic word " Basgawd " is said to be the root of 
 the English word ''basket." Vid. Latham's English language, p, 98. 
 These were probably vessels surrounded with basket or rush work. 
 Mart., xiv., Ep. 99, "Barbara de pictis veni bascauda Britannis; sed 
 me jam mavolt dicere Roma suam." 
 
 ^ Olynthi, Philip of Macedon bribed Lasthenes and Eurycrates to 
 betray Olynthus to him, Pliny (xxxiii., 5) says he used to sleep with 
 a gold cup under his pillow. Once, when told that the route to a ^ 
 castle he was going to attack was impracticable, he asked whether 
 " an ass laden with gold could not possibly reach it." Plut., Apophth., 
 ii.,p. 178. 
 
 " A store 
 
 Of precious cups, high chased in golden ore ; 
 
 Cups that adorn d the crafty Philip's state, 
 
 And bought his entrance at th' Olynthian gate," Hodgson. 
 
174 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 money, and his safety to his property? Some men do not 
 make fortunes for the sake of living, but, blinded by avarice, 
 live for the sake of money-getting. The greatest part even 
 of necessaries is thrown overboard ; but not even do these 
 sacrifices relieve the ship — then, in the urgency of the 
 peril, it came to such a pitch that he yielded his mast to the 
 hatchet, and rights himself at last, though in a crippled 
 state. Since this is the last resource in danger we apply, to 
 make the ship lighter. 
 
 Go now, and commit your life to the mercy of the winds ; 
 trusting to a hewn plank, with but four digits^ between you 
 and death, or seven at most, if the deal is of the thickest. 
 And then together with your provision-baskets and bread 
 and wide-bellied flagon, ^ look well that you lay in hatchets.^ 
 to be brought into use in storms. 
 
 But when the sea subsided into calm, and the state of affairs 
 was more propitious to the mariner, and his destiny pre- 
 vailed over Eurus and the sea, when now the cheerful Parcse 
 draw kindlier tasks with benign hand, and spin white wool,* 
 and what wind there is, is not much stronger than a mod- 
 erate breeze, the wretched bark, with a poor make-shift, ran 
 before it, with the sailors' clothes spread out, and with its 
 only sail that remained : when now the south wind subsided, 
 
 1 Digitis. Cf. xiv., 289, " Tabula distinguitur unda." Ovid, Amor., 
 ii., xi., 25, Navita sollicitus qua ventos horret iniquos ; Et prope tarn 
 letum quam prope cernit aquam." 
 
 " Trust to a little plank 'twixt death and thee, 
 And by four inches 'scape eternity." Hodgson. 
 
 2 Ventre-lagense. " A gorbellied flagon." Shakespeare. 
 
 3 Secures. " His biscuit and his bread the sailor brings 
 
 On board : 'tis well. But hatchets are the things." 
 • Badham. 
 
 4 Staminis albi. The "white" or "black" threads of the Parcae 
 were supposed to symbolize the good or bad fortune of the mortal 
 whose yarn Clotho was spinning. Mart., iv., Ep, 73, " Ultima vol- 
 ventes orabat pensa sorores, Ut traherent parva stamina pulla mora." 
 VI., Ep. 58, "Si mihi lanificse ducunt non pulla sorores Stamina." 
 Hor., ii., Od. iii., 16, " Sororum fila trium patiuntur atra." 
 
SATIRE XII. 175 
 
 together with the sun hope of life returned. Then the tall 
 peak beloved by lulus, and preferred as a home by him to 
 Lavinium/ his step-mother's seat, comes in sight; to which 
 the white so w^ gave its name — (an udder that excited the 
 astonishment of the gladdened Phrygians) — illustrious from 
 what had never been seen before, thirty paps. At length he 
 enters the moles, ^ built through the waters inclosed within 
 them, and the Pharos of Tuscany, and the arms extending 
 back, which jut out into the middle of the sea, and leave 
 Italy far behind. You would not bestow such admiration 
 on the harbor which nature formed : but with damaged 
 bark, the master steers for the inner smooth waters of the 
 safe haven, which even a pinnace of Baise could cross ; and 
 there with shaven crowns* the sailors, now relieved from 
 anxiety, delight to recount their perils that form the sub- 
 ject of their prating. 
 
 1 Prselata Lavino. Virg., .^n., i., 267, seq, Liy., i., i, 3. TibuU., II., 
 v., 49 
 
 2 Scrofa. Virg., ^n., iii., 390, "Littoreis ingens inventa sub ilici- 
 bus sus, Triginta capitum foetus enixa jacebit, Alba solo recubans, 
 albi circum ubera nati. Is locus urbis erit, requies ea certa laborum ;" 
 and viii., 43. 
 
 ^ Moles. This massive work was designed and begun by Julius 
 Caesar, executed by Claudius, and repaired by Trajan. It is said to 
 have employed thirty thousand men for eleven years, Suetonius 
 thus describes it (Claud., c. 20): "Portum Ostiae exstruxit circum- 
 ducto dextra smistraque brachis, et ad introitum profundo jam solo 
 mole objecta, quam quo stabilius fundaret, navem ante demersit, qua 
 magnus obeliscus, ex ^gypto fuerat advectus; congestisque pilis 
 superposuit altissimam turrim in exemplum Alexandrini Phari, ut 
 ad nocturnos ignes cursum navigia dirigerent." (Cf. vi., 83. The 
 Pharos of Alexandria was built by Sostratus, and accounted one of 
 the seven wonders of the world.) 
 
 " Enter the moles, that running out so wide 
 Clasp in their giant arms the billowy tide, 
 That leave afar diminishing the land. 
 
 More wondrous than the works of nature's hand." Hodgson. 
 4 Vertice raso. It was the custom in storms at sea to vow the hair 
 to some god, generally Neptune: and hence slaves, when manu- 
 mitted, shaved their heads, '* quod tempestatem servitutis videbantur 
 effugere, ut naufragis liberati solent." Cf. Pers., iii., 106, "Hesterni 
 capite inducto subiere Quirites." Hodgson has an excellent note on 
 the "mystical attributes " of hair. 
 
176 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 Go then, boys, favoring with tongues and minds, ^ and place 
 garlands in the temples, and meal on the sacrificial knives, 
 and decorate the soft hearths and green turf-altar. I will 
 follow shortly, and the sacrifice which is most important* 
 having been duly performed, I will then return home, where 
 my little images, shining in frail wax, shall receive their 
 slender chaplets. Here I will propitiate^ my own Jove, ' 
 and offer incense to my hereditary Lares,* and will display 
 all colors of the violet. All things are gay ; my gateway 
 has set up long branches,^ and celebrates the festivities^ with 
 lamps lighted in the morning. 
 
 Nor let these things be suspected by you, Corvinus. Ca- 
 tullus, for whose safe return I erect so many altars, has three 
 little heirs. You may wait long enough for a man that 
 would expend even a sick hen at the point of death for so 
 unprofitable a friend. But even this is too great an outlay. 
 Not even a quail will ever be sacrificed in behalf of one who 
 
 ^ Lmguis animisque faventes. Cic, de Div., i., 102, "Omnibus rebus 
 agendis, Quod bonum, faustum, felix, fortunatumque esset, prsefa- 
 bantur ; rebusque divinis, quae publice fierent, ut faverent Unguis 
 imperabant : inque feriis imperandis ut litibus et jurgiis se abstine- 
 rent." Cf. Hor., iii., Od. i., 2, "Favete Unguis." Virg., ^n.,v., 71, 
 "Ore favete omnes." Hor., Od., III., xiv., 11 ; TibuU., II., ii., 2, " Quis- 
 quis ades Ungua, vir, muUerque fave." So €V(f)r)^elv, cf. Eurip., Hec, 
 528, seq. 
 
 2 Sacro quod prssstat; i.e., the sacrifices mentioned in the beginning 
 of the Satire, viz., to Juno, PaUas, and Tarpeian Jove, and therefore 
 more important than those to the Lares. 
 
 3 Flacabo. Cf. Hor., i., Od. 36, 1. OreU. 
 
 4 Nostrum, i.e., his own Lar famiUaris. Cf. ix., 137, " O Parvi nos- 
 trique Lares." For the worship of these Lares, Junones, and Genius, 
 see Dennis's Etruria, vol. i., p. Iv. 
 
 5 Erexit janua ramos. Cf. ad ix., 85. 
 
 6 Operatur festa. Perhaps read with Lipsius, "operitur festa," " in 
 festive-guise is covered with." Virgil, however, uses "operatus" 
 similarly. Georg., i., 389, "Sacra refer Cereri Isetis operatus in 
 herbis." Cfadix.,117. 
 
 " AU savors here of joy : luxuriant bay 
 O'ershades my portal, while the taper's ray 
 Anticipates the feast and chides the tardy day." Giflford. 
 
SATIRE XIL 
 
 177 
 
 is a father. If rich Gallita^ and Paccius, who have no chil- 
 dren, begin to feel the approach of fever, every temple- 
 porch is covered with votive tablets,^ affixed according to 
 due custom. There are some who would even promise a 
 hecatomb^ of oxen. Since elephants are not to be bought 
 here or in Latium, nor is there any where in our climate 
 such a large beast generated ; but, fetched from the dusky 
 nation, they are fed in the Rutulian forests, and the field of 
 Turnus, as the herd of Caesar, prepared to serve no private 
 individual, since their ancestors used to obey Tyrian Hanni- 
 bal, and our own generals,* and the Molossian king, and to 
 bear on their backs cohorts — no mean portion of the war — 
 and a tower that went into battle. It is no fault, conse- 
 quently, of Novius, or of Ister Pacuvius,^ that that ivory is 
 not led to the altars, and falls a sacred victim before the 
 Lares of Gallita, worthy of such great gods, and those that 
 court their favor ! One of these two fellows, if you would 
 give him license to perform the sacrifice, would vow the 
 tallest or all the most beautiful persons among his flock of 
 slaves, or place sacrificial fillets on his boys and the brows 
 
 1 Gallita. Tacitus (Hist., i., 73) speaks of a Gallita Crispilina, or, as 
 some read, Calvia Crispinilla, as a"inagistra libidinum Neronis," 
 and as " potens pecunid et orbitate, quae bonis malisque temporibus 
 juxta valent . ' ' Paccius Africanus is mentioned also Hist. , iv, , 41 . 
 
 2 Tabellis. Cf. ad x., 55, " Propter quae fas est genua incerare deo- 
 rum." 
 
 3 Hecatomben. The hecatomb properly consisted of oxen, 100 being 
 sacrificed simultaneously on 100 different altars. But sheep or other 
 victims were also offered. The poor sometimes vowed an oiojv eKarofx^r). 
 Emperors are said to have sacrificed 100 lions or eagles. Suetonius 
 says, that above 160,000 victims were slaughtered in honor of Cali- 
 gula's entering the city. Calig., c. 14. 
 
 4 Nostris ducibus. Curius Dentatus was the first to lead elephants 
 in triumph. Metellus, after his victory over Asdrubal, exhibited two 
 hundred and four. Plin.. viii. , 6. L. Scipio, father-in-law to Pom- 
 pey, employed thirty in battle against Caesar. The Romans first saw 
 elephants in the Tarentine war, against Pyrrhus ; and as they were 
 first encountered in Lucania, they gave the elephant the name of 
 "Bos Lucas." So Hannibal. See x., 158, "Gaetula ducem portaret 
 bellua luscum." 
 
 & Ister Pacuvius. Cf. ii., 58. 
 
 8* 
 
178 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 of his female slaves. And if he has any Iphigenia* at home 
 of marriageable age, he will offer her at the altars, though 
 he can not hope for the furtive substitution of the Jiind of 
 the tragic poets. I commend my fellow -citizen, and do not 
 compare a thousand^ ships to a will ; for if the sick man 
 shall escape Libitina,^ he will cancel his former will, en- 
 tangled in the meshes of the act,* after a service so truly 
 wonderful : and perhaps in one short line will give his all to 
 Pacuvius as sole^ heir. Proudly will he strut over his de- 
 feated rivals. You see, therefore, what a great recompense 
 the slaughtered Mycenian maid earns. 
 
 Long live Pacuvius, I pray, even to the full age of Nes- 
 tor.® Let him own as much as ever Nero plundered,"^ let 
 him pile his gold mountains high, and let him love no one,* 
 and be loved by none. 
 
 1 Jphigenia. Cf. ^sch., Ag., 39, seq., and the exquisite lines in Lu- 
 cretius, i., 85-102 ; but Juvenal seems to have had Ovid's lines in his 
 head. Met., xii., 28, seq., " Postquam pietatem publica causa, Rexque 
 patrem vicit, castumque datura cmorem Flentibus ante aram stetit 
 Iphigenia ministris : Victa dea est, nubemque oculis objecit, et inter 
 Officium turbamque sacri, vocesque precantum, Supposita fertur mu- 
 tasse Mycenida cervd. 
 
 2 Mille. ar6\ov ' Apyeioiv x^^^ovavrriv, JEseh., Ag., 44. 
 
 3 Libitinam . Properly an epithet of Venus (the goddess who pre- 
 sides over deaths as well as births), iu whose temple all things belong-- 
 ing to funerals were sold. Cf. Plut., Qu. Rom., 23. Servius TuUius 
 enacted that a sestertius should be deposited in the temple of Venus 
 Libitina for every person that died, in order to ascertain the number 
 of deaths. Dion. Halic, iv., 79. Cf. Liv., xl., 19; xli., 21. Suet., 
 Ner., 39, " triginta funerum millia in ratiohem Libitinse venerunt." 
 Hor., iii., Od. xxx., 6; ii., Sat. vi., 19. 
 
 4 Nassa is properly an " osier weel," /fvpri], for catching fish. Plin., 
 xxi., 18, 59. 
 
 & Solo. Cf. i., 68, " Exiguistabulis ;" ii., 58, " Solotabulas impleverit 
 Hister Liberto ;" vi., 601, " Impleret tabulas." 
 " What are a thousand vessels to a will ! 
 Yes! every blank Pacuvius' name shall fill." Hodgson. 
 
 6 Nestora. Cf. Hom., XL, i., 250 ; Od., iii., 245. Mart., vi., Ep. Ixx., 
 12, " ^tatem Priami Nestorisque." X., xxiv., 11. Cf. ad x., 246. 
 
 7 Rapuit Nero. Vid. Tac, Ann., xv.,42, Brotier's note. Suetonius 
 (Nero, c. 32), after many instances of his rapacity, subjoins the fol- 
 lowing : Nulli delegavit officium ut non adjiceret Scis quid mihi 
 opus sit:" et "Hoc agamus ne quis quidquam habeat." "Ultimot 
 emplis compluribus dona detraxit." 
 
 * Nec amet. " Nor ever be, nor ever find, a friend !" Dry den. 
 
SATIRE XIIL 
 
 179 
 
 SATIRE XIII. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 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 hor- 
 rors of a troubled conscience were perhaps never depicted with 
 such impressive solemnity as in this Satire. 
 
 Every act that is perpetrated, that will furnish a prece- 
 dent for crime, is loathsome^ even to the author himself. 
 This is the punishment that first lights upon him, that by 
 the verdict'^ of his own breast no guilty man is acquitted ; 
 though the corrupt influence of the praetor may have made 
 his cause prevail, by the urn^ being tampered with. What 
 think you, Calvinus,* is the opinion of all men touching 
 the recent villainy, and the charge you bring of breach of 
 trust ? But it is your good fortune not to have so slender an 
 
 1 Displicet. 
 
 " To none their crime the wished-for pleasure yields ; 
 'Tis the first scourge that angry justice wields." Badham. 
 
 2 TJltio. 
 
 " Avenging conscience first the sword shall draw. 
 And self-conviction baffle quibbling law." Hodgson. 
 
 3 TJrna. From the "Judices Selecti" (a kind of jurymen chosen 
 annually for the purpose), the Praetor Crbanus, who sat as chief judge, 
 chose by lot about fifty to act as his assessors. To each of these were 
 given three tablets: one inscribed with the letter A. for "absolvo," 
 one with the letter C. for " condemno," and the third with the letters 
 N. L. for "non liquet," /.e.,"not proven." After the case had been 
 heard and the judices had consulted together privately, they re- 
 turned into court, and each judex dropped one of these tablets into 
 an urn provided for the purpose, which was afterward brought to the 
 praetor, who counted the number and gave sentence according to the 
 majority of votes. In all these various steps, there was plenty of 
 opportunity for the "gratia" of a corrupt praetor to influence the 
 " fallax urna." 
 
 4 Calvinus. Martial mentions an indifferent poet of the name of 
 Calvinus Umber, vii., Ep. 90. 
 
i8o 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 income, that the weight of a trifling loss can plunge you 
 into ruin ; nor is what you are suffering from an unfrequent 
 occurrence. This is a case well known to many — worn 
 threadbare— drawn from the middle of fortune's heap.^ 
 
 Let us, then, lay aside all excessive complaints. A man^s 
 grief ought not to blaze forth beyond the proper bounds, nor 
 exceed the loss sustained. Whereas you can scarcely bear 
 even the very least diminutive particle of misfortune, how- 
 ever trifling, boiling with rage in your very bowels because 
 your friend does not restore to you the deposit he swore to 
 return. Can he be amazed at this, that has left threescore 
 years behind him, born when Fonteius was consul P Have 
 you gained^ nothing by such long experience of the world? 
 Noble indeed are the precepts which philosophy, that tri- 
 umphs over fortune, lays down in her books of sacred wis- 
 dom. Yet we deem those happy too who, with daily life* 
 for their instructress, have learned to endure with patience 
 the inconveniences of life, and not shake off the yoke.^ 
 
 What day is there so holy that is not profaned by bringing 
 to light theft, treachery, fraud — filthy lucre got by crime of 
 every dye, and money won by stabbing or by poison ?^ Since 
 
 1 Acervo. One that from casual heaps without design 
 
 Fortune drew forth, and bade the lot be thine." Badh. 
 
 2 Fonteio consule. Clinton. (F. R., a.d. 118) considers that the con- 
 sulship meant is that of L. Fonteius Capito, a.d. 59, which would 
 bring the reference in this Satire to a.d. 119, the third year of Ha- 
 drian. There was also a Fonteius Capito consul with Junius Rufus, 
 A.D. 67, and another, a.d. 11. [The Fonteius Capito mentioned Hor., 
 i., Sat. v., 32, is of course far too early.] 
 
 3 Froficis. " Say, hast thou naught imbibed, no maxims sage, 
 
 From the long use of profitable age?" Hodgson. 
 * Vitse. So Milton. " To know 
 
 That which before us lies in daily life^ 
 Is the prime wisdom." 
 6 Jaciarejugum. A metaphor from restive oxen. Cf. vi., 208. " Sum- 
 mitte caput cervice parata Ferre jugum." ^Esch., Persae, 190, seq. 
 " And happy those whom life itself can train 
 To bear with dignity life's various pain." Badham . 
 6 Pyxide. Properly a cofifer or casket of " box-wood," -nviiq. Ct 
 
SATIRE XIII. 
 
 i8i 
 
 rare indeed are the good ! their number is scarce so many as 
 the gates of Thebes,^ or the mouths of fertilizing Nile. We 
 are now passing through the ninth age of the world : an era 
 far worse than the days of Iron ; for whose villainy not even 
 Nature herself can find a name, and has no metaP base 
 enough to call it by. Yet we call heaven and earth to wit- 
 ness, with a shout as loud as that with which the Sportula,* 
 that gives them tongues, makes his clients applaud Faesidius 
 as he pleads. Tell me, thou man of many years, and yet 
 more fit to bear the boss* of childhood, dost thou not know 
 the charms that belong to another's money ? Knowest thou 
 not what a laugh thy simplicity would raise in the common 
 herd, for expecting that no man should forswear himself, but 
 should believe some deity is^ really present in the temples and 
 at the altars red with blood ? In days of old the aborigines 
 perhaps used to live after this fashion : before Saturn in his 
 flight laid down his diadem, and adopted the rustic sickle : 
 
 Sat. ii., 141, " Condita pyxide Lyde." Suet., Ner., 47, *' Veneno a Lo- 
 custsi sumpto. et in auream pyxidem condito." 
 
 ^ Thebarum. Egyptian Tliebes had one hundred gates ; hence 
 e^aTOjaTTvAot. Cadineian Thebes had seven. Vid. Horn., II., A., 406. 
 ^sch, S. Th., e7rTa7ru/.o9 ©X|8>?. The latter is meant. The mouths of 
 the Nile being also seven, viz., Canopic, Bolbitine, Sebennytic, Phat- 
 nitic, Mendesian, Tanitic, and Pelusiac. Hence Virg., ^n., vi., 801, 
 " Septem gemini trepida ostia Nili." Ov., Met., v., 187, *' Septemplice 
 Nilo." XV., 753, " Perque papyriferi septemflua flumina Nili." 
 
 2 Metallo. 
 
 " That baffled Nature knows not how to frame 
 A metal base enough to give the age a name." Dryden. 
 ^ Sportula. Vid. ad i., 118. Cf. x., 46, " Defossa in loculis quos 
 sportula fecit amicos." Mart., vi., Ep, 48. Hor., i., Epist. xix., 37. 
 Plin., ii., Ep. 14, "Laudicseni sequuntur: In media Basilica sportulae 
 dantur palam ut in triclinio : tanti constat ut sis disertissimus : hoc 
 pretio subsellia implentur, hoc infiniti clamores commoventur." 
 
 4 Build. Cf. v., 165, seq.; xiv., 5. Pers., v., 31, " Bullaque succinctis 
 Laribus donata pependit. Plut. in Quaest. Rom., yepcjv rts* enl 
 X^cvaafxiio Trpodyerai rraiSiKdv ivaipdyLevoT nepiStpaiov o KaXovcri ^ovWav^ 
 ** O man of many years that still should'st wear 
 The trinket round the neck thy childhood bare !" Badham. 
 ^ Esse. Cf. ii., 149, seq., " Esse aliquos Manes et subterranea regna, 
 . . . Nec pueri credunt nisi qui nondum sere lavantur." Cf Ov., 
 Amor., III., iii., 1. 
 
I82 JUVENAL. 
 
 in the days when Juno was a little maid ; and Jupiter as 
 yet in a private^ station in the caves of Ida : no banquetings 
 of the celestials above the clouds, no Trojan boy or beaute- 
 ous wife of Hercules as cup-bearer ; or Vulcan (but not till 
 he had drained the nectar) wiping^ his arms begrimed with 
 his forge in Lipara. Then each godship dined alone ; nor 
 was the crowd of deities so great^ as it is nowadays : and 
 the heavens, content with a few divinities, pressed on the 
 wretched Atlas with less grievous weight. No one had as 
 yet received as his share the gloomy empire of the deep : 
 nor was there the grim Pluto* with his Sicilian bride, nor 
 Ixion's wheel, nor the Furies, nor Sisyphus' stone, nor the 
 punishment of the black vulture,^ but the shades passed 
 jocund days with no infernal king. 
 
 In that age villainy was a prodigy ! They used to hold it 
 as a heinous sin, that naught but death could expiate, if a 
 young man had not risen up to pay honor to an old one,^ or a 
 
 1 Privatus. This is commonly rendered by "concealed, seques- 
 tered," alluding to Jupiter's being hidden by his mother Rhea to save 
 him from " Saturn's maw." But it surely means before he succeeded 
 his father as king, and this is the invariable sense of " privatus " in 
 Juvenal. Cf. i., 16, *' Privatus ut altum dormiret." iv., 65, "Accipe 
 Privatis majora focis." vi., 114, "Quid privata domus, quid fecerit 
 Hippia, curas." xii., 107, " Csesaris armentum, nulli servire paratum 
 Privato." 
 
 " Tergens. This appears to be the best and simplest interpretation 
 of this " much-vexed " passage, and is the sense in which Lucian 
 (frequently the best commentator on Juvenal) takes it. Vid. Deor., 
 Dial, v., 4. 
 
 3 Talis. More properly, " composed of such divinities." The allu- 
 sion being in all probability to the now frequent apotheosis of the 
 most worthless and despicable of the emperors. 
 
 4 Torvus. The Homeric afxelXixoT. Cf. Hom., 11., 1., 158, 'Ai'Srjs- 
 d/jisiXiXoTy rjS' dSdnaaroS' TovvcKa Kai t£ ^poroXai ^cdv exOia-roT dirdv- 
 
 TOiV. 
 
 5 Vulturis atri. Cf. ^schylus, Pr. V., 1020. Virg., ^n.. vi., 595, 
 i " Rostroque immanis vultur obunco, Immortale jecur tondens, 
 
 foecundaque poenis viscera, rimaturque epulis habitatque sub alto 
 pectore, nee fibris requies datur ulla renatis." 
 
 " Wheels, furies, vultures, quite unheard of things, 
 And the gay ghosts were strangers yet to kings !" Badham. 
 
 6 Vetulo. Cf. Ov., Fast., v., 57, neq,, which passage Juvenal seems to 
 have had in his mind. 
 
SATIRE XIII. 
 
 183 
 
 U 7 to one whose beard was grown ; even though he himself 
 gii:>ated over more strawberries at home, or a bigger pile of 
 acorns.^ 
 
 So just a claim to deference had even four years' priority ; 
 so much on a par with venerated old age was the first down 
 of youth ! Now, if a friend should not deny the deposit^ in- 
 trusted to him, if he should give back the old leathern purse 
 with all its rusty* coin untouched, it is a prodigy of honesty, 
 equivalent to a miracle,* fit to be entered among the marvels 
 in the Tuscan records,^ and that ought to be expiated by a 
 lamb crowned for sacrifice.^ If I see a man above the com- 
 mon herd, of real probity, I look upon him as a prodigy equal 
 to a child born half man, half brute or a shoal of fish turned 
 up by the astonished^ plow ; or a mule^ with foal ! in trepi- 
 
 1 Glandis. Cf. Sat., vi., init. 
 
 2 Bepositum. Terent., Phorm., I.,ii., 5, "Prsesertim ut nunc sunt 
 mores : adeo res redit ; Si quis quid reddit, magna habenda 'st 
 gratia." 
 
 3 JErugo, the rust of brass; robigo, of iron; but, 1. 148, used for the 
 oxydizing of gold or silver. Follis, cf., xiv., 281. 
 
 4 Prodigiosa, ii., 103. 
 
 5 Tuscis libellis. Vid. Dennis' Etruria, vol. i., p. Ivii. The marvel- 
 ous events of the year were registered by the Etruscan soothsayers 
 in their records, tliat, if they portended the displeasure of the gods, 
 they might be duly expiated. Various names are given by ancient 
 writers to these sacred or ritual books: Libri Etrusci; Chartse Etru- 
 scse ; Scripta Etrusca ; Etruscse disciplinse libri ; libri fatales, ritu- 
 ales, haruspicini, fulgurales; libri Tagetici; sacra Tagetica; sacra 
 Acherontica ; libra Acherontici. The author of these works on Etrus- 
 can discipline was supposed to be Tages; and the names of some 
 writers on the same subject are given, probably commentators on 
 Tages, e.g., Tarquitius, Csecina, Aquila. Labeo, Begoe. Umbricius. 
 Cf. Cic, de Div., i., 12, 13, 44 ; ii., 23. Liv., v., 15. Macrob., Saturn., 
 iii., 7; v. 19. Serv. ad Virg., ^n., i., 42: ill., 537; viii., 398. Plin., 
 ii., 85. Festus, s. v. Rituales. 
 
 6 Sanctum. Cf. iii., 137 ; viii., 24. 
 
 7 Bimemhri, or "with double limbs." All these prodigies are com, 
 mon enough in Livy. 
 
 8 Miranti is quite Juvenalian, and better than the common reading 
 "Mirandis," or the suggestion *' liranti." 
 
 9 Mulx. Cf. Cic, de Div., ii., 28, " Si quod raro fit, id portentum pu- 
 tandum est sapientem esse portentum est ; ssepius enim mulam pe- 
 derisse arbitror, quam sapientem fuisse." 
 
JUVENAL. 
 
 dation as great as though the storm-cloud had rained stones ;^ 
 or a swarm of bees^ had settled in long cluster from some 
 temple's top ; as though a river had flowed into the ocean 
 with unnatural eddies,^ and rushing impetuous with a 
 stream of milk. 
 
 Do you complain of being defrauded of ten sestertia by im- 
 pious fraud ? What if another has lost in the same way two 
 hundred, deposited without a witness !* and a third a still 
 larger sum than that, such as the corner of his capacious 
 strong-box could hardly contain ! So easy and so natural is 
 it to despise the gods above, ^ that witness all, if no mortal 
 man attest the same ! See with how bold a voice he denies 
 it ! What unshaken firmness in the face he puts on ! He 
 swears by the sun's rays, by the thunderbolts of Tarpeian 
 Jove, the glaive of Mars, the darts of the prophet-god of 
 Cirrha,^ by the arrows and quiver of the Virgin Huntress, 
 and by thy trident, O Neptune, father of the jEgsean ! He 
 adds the bow of Hercules, Minerva's spear, and all the 
 weapons that the arsenals of heaven hold."' But if he be a 
 
 ^ Lapides. Cf. Liv., xxxix., 37. This prodigy was one of the 
 causes of consulting the sacred books, which led to the introduction 
 of the worship of Bona Dea to Rome. Cf. ad ix., 37. Liv., xxii., 1., 
 *' Prseneste ardentes lapides coelo cecidesse." 
 
 2 Apium. Cf. Liv., xxiv., 10. Tac, Ann., xii., 64, "Fastigo Capi- 
 tolii examen apium iusedit: biformes hominem partus." Plin., 
 xi., 17. 
 
 ^ Gurgitibus. Liv., xix., 44, "Flumen Amiterni cruentum flux- 
 isse." Virg., Georg., i., 485, Aut puteis manare cruor cessavit." 
 
 4 Arcana. " Fidei alterius tacite commissa sine ullis testibus." Lu- 
 bin. Another interpretation is, "that, having lost it, he held his 
 tongue, and complained to no one." 
 
 5 Superos. 
 
 " Those conscious powers we can with ease contemn, 
 If, hid from men, we trust our crimes with them." Dryden. 
 
 6 Cirrhssi, from Cirrha, in Phocis, near the foot of Mount Parnassus, 
 the port of Delhi. Cf. vii., 64, "Dominis Cirrhse Nysseque feruntur 
 Pectora." 
 
 7 Spicvla, probably from Tibull., I., iv., 21. 
 
 " Nec jurare time. Veneris perjuria venti 
 Irrita per terras et freta summa ferunt. 
 Perque suas impune sinit Dictynna sagittas 
 Affirmes, crines perque Minerva suos." 
 
SATIRE XIII. 185 
 
 father also, he says, am ready to eat my wretched son's 
 head boiled, swimming in vinegar from Pharos. ' ' ^ 
 
 There are some who refer all things to the accidents of for- 
 tune, ^ and believe the universe moves on with r^one to guide 
 its course ; while nature brings round the revolutions of 
 days and years. And therefore, without a tremor, are ready 
 to lay their hands^ on any altar. Another does indeed dread 
 that punishment will follow crime ; he thinks the gods do 
 exist. Still he perjures himself, and reasons thus with hinf- 
 self : Let Isis* pass whatever sentence she pleases upon my 
 body, and strike my eyes with her angry Sistrum, provided 
 only that when blind I may retain the money I disown. 
 Are consumption, or ulcerous sores, or a leg shriveled 
 to half its bulk, such mighty matters? If Ladas^ be 
 poor, let him not hesitate to wish for gout that waits on 
 wealth, if he is not mad enough to require Anticyra^ or 
 
 1 Phario. The vinegar of Egypt was more celebrated than its wine. 
 Cf. Mart, xiii., Ep. 122. Ath., ii., 26. 
 
 2 Fortunas. See this idea beautifully carried out in Claudian's in- 
 vective against Rufinus, lib. i., 1-24. Such was Horace's religion. 
 
 Credat Judeeus Apella, Non ego : nanique deos didici securum 
 agere sevum ; nec si quid miri faciat Natura deos id tristes ex alto 
 coeli demittere tecto." I., Sat., v. 100. Not so Cicero. " Intelligamus 
 nihil horum esse fortuitumJ' De Nat. Deo^,, ii., 128, 
 
 3 Tangunt. Cf. xiv., 218, " Vendet perjuria summa exigue et Cere- 
 ris tangens aramq. pedemq." 
 
 4 Isis. Cf. vi., 526. Lucan., viii., 831, " Nos in templa tuam Ro- 
 mana accepimus Isim Semideosque canes, et sistra jubentia luctus et 
 quern tu plangens hominem testaris Osirin." Blindness, the most 
 common of Egyptian diseases, was supposed to be the peculiar inflic- 
 tion of Isis. Cf. Ovid, ex Pont., i., 51, " Vidi ego linigerse numen 
 violasse fatentem Isidis Isiacos ante sedere focos. Alter ob huic si- 
 milem privatus lumine culpam, clamabat media se meruisse via." 
 Pers., v., 186, "Tunc grandes Galli et cum sistro lusca sacerdos." 
 Sistrum a o-eiw. 
 
 5 Ladas. A famous runner at Olympia, in the days of Alexander 
 the Great. Cf. Mart., x., Ep. 100, " Habeas licebit alterum pedem 
 Ladse, Inepte, frustra crure ligneo curres; " and ii., 86, Catull., iv., 
 24, " Non si Pegaseo ferar volatu, Non Ladas si ego, pennipesve Per- 
 seus." 
 
 6 Anticyrd, in Phocis, famous for hellebore, supposed to be of great 
 efficacy in cases of insanity : hence Hor., ii., Sat. iii., 83, Nesc^(7 .-^n 
 Anticyram ratio illis destinet omnem." 166, " naviget Anycyra«u.*' 
 
i86 
 
 JUVENAL, 
 
 Archigenes.^ For what avails the honor of his nimble feet, or 
 the hungry branch of Pisa's olive ? All-powerful though it be. 
 that anger of the gods, yet surely it is slow-paced ! If, there- 
 fore, they set themselves to punish all the guilty, when will 
 they come to me ? Besides, I may perchance discover that 
 the deity may be appeased by prayers ! It is not unusual with 
 him to pardon^ such perjuries as these. Many commit the 
 same crimes with results widely different. One man re- 
 ceives crucifixion^ as the reward of his villainy ; another, a 
 regal crown ! " 
 
 Thus they harden their minds, agitated by terror inspired 
 by some heinous crime. Then, when you summon him to 
 swear on the sacred shrine, he will go first !* Nay, he is 
 quite ready to drag you there himself, and worry you to put 
 him to this test. For when a wicked cause is backed by im- 
 pudence, it is believed by many to be the confidences of in- 
 nocence. He acts as good a farce as the runaway slave, the 
 
 Pers. iv., 16, Anticyras melior sorbere meracas." Its Greek name is 
 'AfTiKtppa. Strabo, ix., 3. The quantity therefore in Latin follows 
 the Greek accent. The Phocian Anticyra produced the best helle- 
 bore ; but it was also found at Anticyra on the Maliac Gulf, near 
 CEta. Some think there was a third town of the same name. Hence 
 '•Tribus Anticyris caput insanabile." Hor., A. P., 300. 
 
 1 Archigene. Cf. vi., 236 ; xiv., 252. 
 
 2 Ignoscere. " Contemnere pauper creditur atque deos diis ignos- 
 centibus ipsis," iii., 145. So Plautus : 
 
 " Atque hoc scelesti illi in animum inducunt suum. 
 Jovem se placare posse donis hostiis, 
 Et operam et sumptum perdunt : ideo fit, quia 
 Nihil ei acceptum est a perjuris supplicii." 
 
 3 Crucem. Badham quotes an Italian epigram, which says that 
 ^' the successful adventurer gets crosses hung on him, the unsuccessful 
 gets hung on the cross.'' 
 
 " Some made by villainy, and some undone. 
 And this ascend a scaffold, that a throne." Gifford. 
 * Praecedit. 
 
 " Dare him to swear, he with a cheerful face 
 Flies to the shrine, and bids thee mend thy pace : 
 He urges, goes before thee, shows the way, 
 Nay, pulls thee on, and chides thy dull delay." Dryden. 
 5 Fiducia, > 
 
 " For desperate boldness is the rogue's defense, 
 And sways the court like honest confidence." Hodgson. 
 
SATIRE XIII. 
 
 buffoon in Catullus'^ Vision ! You, poor wretch, cry out so 
 as to exceed Stentor^ or, rather, as loudly as Gradivus' in 
 Homer: '^Hearest thou* this, great Jove, and openest not 
 thy lips, when thou oughtest surely to give vent to some 
 word, even though formed of marble or of brass ? Or, why 
 then do we place on thy glowing altar the pious^ frankin- 
 cense from the wrapper undone, and the liver of a calf cut 
 up, and the white caul of a hog ?^ As far as I see, there is 
 no difference to be made between your image and the statue 
 of Vagellius 
 
 Now listen to what consolation on the other hand he can 
 offer, who has neither studied the Cynics, nor the doctrines 
 of the Stoics, that differ from the Cynics only by a tunic, ^ 
 and pays no veneration to Epicurus,^ that delighted in the 
 
 1 Catulli. Cf. ad viii., 186. Urbani some take as a proper name. 
 Others in the same sense as Sat. vii., 11. Catull., xxii., 2, 9. 
 
 2 Stentora. Hom., II., v., 785, Y.TtvTopa(pa\K€6(po>vov, 8g roaov avSfi- 
 aaax' oaov aWoi irevrriKOvra. 
 
 3 Gradivus. li., 128. Hom., II., v., 859, daaov t twEaX'^oi ewiaxov 
 n ScKOLXi-^oi avepeg — s^paxs. 
 
 ^ Audis. Cf. ii., 130, " Nec galeam quassas nec terram cuspide pul- 
 sas, nec quereris patri?'' Virg., ^n., iv., 206, " Jupiter Omnipotens ! 
 Adspieis haec? an te, genitor, quum fulmina torques, nequicquam 
 horremus? csecique in nubibus ignes terrificant animos et inania 
 murmura miscent? " Both passages are ludicrously parodied in the 
 beginning of Lucian's Timon. 
 
 5 Thura. So Mart., iii., Ep. ii., 5, "Thuris piperisque cucullus." 
 Ovid, Heroid., xi.,4. Virgil applies the epithet pia to the " Vitta," 
 ^n., iv., 637, and to " Far," v., 745. 
 
 6 Porci. Cf. X., 355, " Exta, et candiduli divina tomacula porci." 
 
 7 Vagellius. Perhaps the "desperate ass" mentioned xvi., 23. Some 
 read Bathylli. 
 
 8 Tunica. The Stoics wore tunics under their gowns, the Cynics 
 waistcoats only, or a kind of pallium, doubled when necessary. Hor., 
 i., Ep. xvii., 25, " Contra, quern duplici panno patientia ve at." Dio- 
 genes pro pallio et tunica contentus erat una abolla ex viii panno 
 confecta, qua dupliciter amiciebatur. Cynicorum hunc habitum 
 ideo vocabant SmrXoX^a. Hi igitur ^xt-rctiveT quidem sed SiirXodparoi, 
 Orell., ad loc. Cf. Diog. Laert., VI., ii., iii., 22, rpi^oiva SnrXdjcras 
 irpuiTOT. 
 
 9 EpicuTum. Cf. xiv., 319, Quantum Epicure tibi parvis suffecit in 
 hostis." Pliny says, xix., 4, he was the first who introduced the cus- 
 tom of having a garden to his town house. Prop., III., xxi., 26, 
 
JUVENAL. 
 
 plants of his diminutive garden. Let patients whose cases 
 are desperate be tended by more skillful physicians ; you 
 may trust your vein even to Philippus' apprentice. If you 
 can show me no act so heinous in the whole wide world, 
 then, I hold my tongue ; nor forbid you to beat your breast 
 with your fists, nor thump your face with open palm. For, 
 since you really have sustained loss, your doors must be 
 closed ; and money is bewailed with louder lamentations 
 from the household, and with greater tumult,^ than deaths. 
 No one, in such a case, counterfeits sorrow ; or is content 
 with merely stripping^ down the top of his garment, and 
 vexing his eyes for forced rheum. ^ The loss of money is 
 deplored with genuine tears. 
 
 But if you see all the courts filled with similar complaints, 
 if, after the deeds have been read ten times over, and each 
 time in a different quarter,* though their own handwriting, ^ 
 and their principal signet-ring,^ that is kept so carefully in 
 its ivory casket, convicts them, they call the signature a for- 
 
 *' Hortis docte Epicure, tuis." Stat. Sylv., I., iii., 94. "The garden of 
 Epicurus,'' says GifFord, "was a school of temperance; and would 
 have afforded little gratification, and still less sanction, to those sen- 
 sualists of our day, who, in turning hogs, flatter themselves that they 
 are becoming Epicureans." 
 1 Tumultu. 
 
 " And louder sobs and hoarser tumults spread 
 For ravish'd pence, than friends or kinsmen dead." Hodgson. 
 2- Deducere. Ov., Met., vi.,403, "Dicitur unus flesse Pelops hume- 
 rumque suas ad pectora postquam deduxit vestes, ostendisse." 
 
 3 Humore coacto. Ter., Eun., I., i., 21, "Hsec verba una mehercle 
 falsa lacrymula Quam oculos terendo misere vix vi expresserit Res- 
 tinguet." Virg., ^n., ii., 196, " captique dolis lacrymisque coactis." 
 
 4 Diversa parte. Others interpret it as being " read by the opposite 
 party ;" as vii., 156* " quae veniant diversa parte sagittse." 
 
 ^ Vana supervacui, repeated xvi., 41 
 
 6 Sardonychus. Pliny says the sardonyx was the principal gem em- 
 ployed for seals, " quoniam sola prope gemmarum scalpta ceram non 
 aufert. ' ' xxxvii. , 6. 
 
 " If rogues deny their bond (though ten times o'er 
 Perused by careful witnesses before), 
 Whose well-known hand proclaims the glaring lie. 
 Whose master-signet proves the perjury." Hodgson. 
 
SATIRE XIII. 
 
 gery and the deed not valid ; do you think that you, my fine 
 fellow, are to be placed without the common pale? What 
 makes you the chick of a white hen, while we are a worthless 
 brood, hatched from unlucky eggs ? What you suffer is a 
 trifle ; a thing to be endured with moderate choler, if you but 
 turn your eyes to crimes of blacker dye. Compare with it 
 the hired assassin, fires that originate from the sulphur of 
 incendiaries,^ when your outer gate is the first part that 
 catches fire. Compare those who carry off the ancient tem- 
 ple's massive cups,^ incrusted with venerable rust — the gifts 
 of nations ; or, crowns^ deposited there by some king of 
 ancient days. If these are not to be had, there comes 
 some sacrilegious wretch that strikes at meaner prey ; who 
 will scrape the thigh of Hercules incased in gold, and Nep- 
 tune's face itself, and strip off from Castor his leaf -gold. 
 Will he, forsooth, hesitate, that is wont to melt down whole the 
 Thunderer* himself? Compare, too, the compounders and 
 venders of poisons ;^ or him that ought to be launched into 
 the sea in an ox's hide,^ with whom the ape,*^ herself inno- 
 cent, is shut up, through her unlucky stars. How small a 
 
 1 Incendia. Of. ix., 98, "Sumere ferrum, Fuste aperire caput, can- 
 delam apponere valvis, non dubitat." 
 
 2 Grandia pocula. Alluding perhaps to some of Nero's sacrilegious 
 spoliations. Suet., Ner., 32, 38. It was customary for kings and na- 
 tions allied with Rome to send crowns and other valuable offerings 
 to the temple of Capitoline Jove and others. 
 
 3 Coronas. " Gifts of great nations, crowns of pious kings ! 
 
 Goblets, to which undated tarnish clings ! " Badham. 
 
 4 Tonantem. Vid. Dennis's Etruria, vol. i., p. li. Cf. Suet., Nero, 
 32, fin. Milman's Horace, p. 66. 
 
 "Is much respect for Castor to be felt 
 By those whose crucibles whole Thunderers melt? " Badh. 
 & Mercatoremque veneni. Shakspeare, Rom. and Jul., 
 " And if a man did need a poison now, 
 Whose sale is present death in Mantua, 
 Here lives a caitiff wretch would sell it him." 
 
 6 Corio. Browne seems to understand this of "a leathern canoe or 
 coracle," but? 
 
 7 Simia. Cf. ad viii., 214, "Cujus supplicio non debeat una parari 
 simia nec serpens unus nec culeus unus," 
 
190 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 portion is this of the crimes which Gfillieiis,^ the city's 
 guardian, listens to from break of day to the setting of the 
 sun ! Would you study the morals of the human race, one 
 house is quite enough. Spend but a few days there, and 
 when you come out thence, call yourself, if you dare, a 
 miserable man ! 
 
 Who is astonished at a goitred throat^ on the Alps ? or / 
 who, in Meroe,^ at the mother's breast bigger than her 
 chubby infant? Who is amazed at the German's* fierce 
 gray eyes, or his flaxen hair with moistened ringlets twisted 
 into horns ? Simply because, in these cases, one and all are 
 alike by nature. 
 
 1 GaUicus. Statius has a poem (Sylv,, I., iv.), " Soteria pro Rutilio 
 Gallico." "Quern penes intrepidae mitis custodia Romse." This 
 book was probably written, cir. a.d. 94, after the Thebais. This Rut. 
 GaUicus Valens was prsefectus urbis and chief magistrate of police 
 for Domitian ; probably succeeding Pegasus (Sat. iv., 77), who was 
 appointed by Vespasian. For the o^ce, see Tac, Ann., vi., 10, se^. It 
 was in existence even under Romulus, and continued through the 
 republic. Augustus, by Maecenas' advice, greatly increased its 
 authority and importance. Its jurisdiction was now extended to a 
 circuit of one hundred miles Outside the city walls. The prsefectus 
 decided in all causes between masters and slaves, patrons and clients, 
 guardians and wards; had the inspection of the mint, the regulation 
 of the markets, and the superintendence of public amusements. 
 
 2 Guttur. This affection has been attributed, ever since the days of 
 Vitruvius, to the drinking the mountain water, "^qjaicolis in Al- 
 pibus est genus aquae quam qui bibunt af&ciuntur iumidis guttur ibus," 
 viii., 3. 
 
 3 Mero'e, yi., 52S, in Ethiopia, is the largest island formed by the 
 Nile, with a city of the same name, which was the capital of a king- 
 dom. Strab., i., 75. Herod., ii., 29. It is now"Atbar," and forms 
 part of Sennaar and Abyssinia. 
 
 4 Germani. Cf. ad viii., 2b2.—Flavam. Galen says the Germans 
 should be called Trvppol rather than ^av<|)ot. So Mart., xiv., Ep. 176, 
 " Rufus Batavus." Sil., iii., 608, " Auricomus Batavus."— Tor^^^e^i^m. 
 Cf. Tac, Germ., 38, '* Insigne gentis obliquare crinem nodoque sub- 
 stringere : horrentem capillum retro sequuntur ac ssepe in solo ver- 
 tice religant: in altitudinem quandam et terrorem adituri bella 
 compti, ut hostium oculis ornantur." Mart., Spe., iii., *' Crinibus in 
 nodum tortis venere Sigambri." They moistened their hair with a 
 kind of soft soap. Plin., xxviii., 12. Mart., xiv., 26, " Caustica Teu 
 tonicos accendit spuma capillos." VIII., xxxiii., 20, " Fortior et tor- 
 tos servat vesica capillos, et mutat Latias spuma Batava comas." 
 
SATIRE XIII. 
 
 igi 
 
 The pigrayi warrior in his puny panoply charges the 
 swooping birds of Thrace, and the cloud that resounds with 
 the clang of cranes. Soon, no match for his foe, he i& 
 snatched away by the curved talons, and borne off through 
 the sky by the fierce crane. If you were to see this in our 
 country, you would be convulsed with laughter : but there, 
 though battles of this kind are sights of every day, no one 
 even smiles, where the whole regiment is not more than a 
 foot high. 
 
 And is there, then, to be no punishment at all for this 
 perjured wretch and his atrocious villainy?" 
 
 Well, suppose him hurried away at once, loaded with 
 double irons, and put to death in any way our wrath dictates 
 (and what could revenge wish for more?), still your loss re- 
 mains the same, your deposit will not be refunded! ^^But 
 the least drop of blood from his mangled body will give me 
 a consolation that might well be envied. Revenge is a bless- 
 ing, sweeter than life itself ! " Yes ! so fools think, whose 
 breasts you may see burning with anger for trivial causes, 
 sometimes for none at all. How small soever the occasion be, 
 it is matter enough for their wrath. Chrysippus^ will not 
 hold the same language, nor the gentle spirit of Thales, or 
 
 1 Pygmseus. Cf. Stat. Sylv., I., vi., 57, from which it appears that 
 Domitian exhibited a spectacle of pigmy gladiators. " Hie audax 
 subit ordo pumilonum— edunt vulnera conseruntque dextras et mor- 
 tem sibi (qua manu !) minantur. Ridet Mars pater et cruenta vir- 
 tus. Casuraeque vagis grues rapinis mirantur pumilos ferociores." 
 
 " When clouds of Thracian birds obscure the sky, 
 To arms! To arms! the desperate Pigmies cry*: 
 But soon defeated in th' unequal fray, 
 Disorder'd flee : while pouncing on their prey 
 The victor cranes descend, and clamoring, bear 
 The wriggling manikins aloft in air." Giiford. 
 
 2 Chrysippus the Stoic, disciple of Cleanthes and Zeno, a native of 
 Tarsus or Soli, dvfip sixpvrjg iv Traprl fxepci. Vid. Diog. Laert. in Vit., 
 who says he " was so renowned a logician, that had the gods used 
 logic they would have used that of Chrysippus." VII., vii. , 2. 
 
192 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 that old man that lived by swee». Hymettus'^ hill, who, even 
 amid those cruel bonds, would not have given his accuser 
 one drop of the hemlock^ he received at his hands ! 
 
 Philosophy, blessed^ power ! strips us by degrees of full 
 many a vice and every error ! She is the first to teach us 
 what is right. Since revenge is ever the pleasure of a pal- 
 try spirit, a weak and abject mind ! Draw this conclusion 
 at once from the fact, that no one delights in revenge more 
 than a woman ! 
 
 Yet, why should you deem those to have escaped scot-free 
 whom their mind,* laden with a sense of guilt, keeps in con- 
 stant terror, and lashes with a viewless thong ! Conscience, 
 as their tormentor, brandishing a scourge unseen by human 
 eyes ! Nay ! awful indeed is their punishment, and far 
 more terrible even than those which the sanguinary Caedi- 
 tius^ invents, or Rhadamanthus ! in bearing night and day 
 in one's own breast a witness against one's self. 
 
 The Pythian priestess gave answer to a certain Spartan,^ 
 
 1 Hymetto. As though the hill sympathized with the sweetness of 
 Socrates' mind. Cf. Plato in Phsed. and Apol. Hor., ii., Od. vi., 14, 
 **Ubinon Hymetto mella decedunt," "And still its honey'd fruits 
 Hymettus yields." Byron. 
 
 2 Cicutse. Cf. vii., 206. Pers., iv., 2. 
 
 3 Felix. " Divine Philosophy ! by whose pure light 
 
 We first distinguish, then pursue the right, 
 
 Thy power the breast from every error frees, 
 
 And weeds out all its vices by degrees ; 
 
 Illumined by thy beam, Revenge we find 
 
 The abject pleasure of an abject mind, 
 
 And hence so dear to poor, weak womankind ! " Gifford. 
 
 4 Conscia mens. Cf. Sen., Ep. 97, "Prima et maxima peccantium 
 poena est peccassps ; Secundse vero poense sunt timere semper et expave- 
 scere etsecuritati diftidere et fatendum est mala facinora conscientia 
 flagellariet plurimum illic tormentorum esse," etc. Cf.^^sch., Eumen., 
 150,5i'7rd (pptvaq vno \o^6v irdpeari ixaariKropog Sa'l'ov Safxiov ^apv k. t, X. 
 
 5 Cseditius. An agent of Nero's cruelty, according to some ; a san- 
 guinary judge of Vitellius' days, according to Lubinus. Probably a 
 different person from the Cseditius mentioned xvi., 46. Rhadaman- 
 thus. Cf. Virg., Mn., vi. 566, "Gnossius hsec Rhadamanthus h^bet 
 durissima regna, castigatque auditque doles, subgitque fateri," etc. 
 
 6 Spartano. The story is told Herod., vi.. 86. A Milesian intrusted 
 
SATIRE XIII. 
 
 193 
 
 that in time to come he should not go unpunished, because 
 he hesitated as to retaining a deposit, and supporting his 
 villainy bv an oath. For he inquired what was the opinion 
 of the deity, and whether Apollo counseled him to the act. 
 
 He did restore it therefore; but through fear,^ not from 
 principle. And yet he proved that every word that issued 
 from the shrine was worthy of the temple, and but too true : 
 being exterminated together with all his progeny and house, 
 and, though derived from a wide-spreading clan, with all his 
 kin ! Such is the penalty which the mere wish to sin in- 
 curs. For he that meditates within his breast a crime that 
 finds not even vent in words, has all the guilt of the act ! 
 
 What then if he has achieved his purpose ? A respiteless 
 anxiety is his : that ceases not, even at his hours of meals ; 
 while his jaws are parched as though with fever, and the food 
 he loathes swells^ between his teeth. All wines* the miserable 
 wretch spits out ; old Alban wine,^ of high-prized antiquity, 
 
 a, sum of money to Glaucus a Spartan, who, when the Milesian's sons 
 claimed it, denied all knowledge of it, and went to Delphi to learn 
 whether he could safely retain it ; but, terrified at the answer of the 
 oracle, he sent for the Milesians aud restored the money. Leotychi- 
 des relates the story to the Athenians, and leaves them to draw the 
 inference froiji the fact he subjoins: FXavKov vvv ovre n a-rrhyovov 
 kavLv ovSev, ovr^ iffrir} ovSsfxir] vofjLi^Ojxhri eXvai T\avKOv^ eKTSTpiTrraC re 
 irpoppi^og Ik "ZTrdprris. 
 
 1 Metu. " Scared at this warning, he who sought to try 
 
 If haply heaven might wink at perjury, 
 
 Alive to fear, though still to virtue dead, 
 
 Gave back the treasure to preserve his head." Hodgson. 
 
 2 Taciturn. Cf. King John, Act iv., 
 
 " The deed which both our tongues held vile to name ! " 
 Of. i., 167, "tacltd sudant prsecordia culpa." 
 
 *'Thas, but intended mischief, stay'd in time, 
 Had all the moral guilt of finished crime." Badham. 
 
 3 Crescente, Ov., Heriod., xvi., 226, Orescit et invito lentus in ore 
 cibus." 
 
 * Sed Vina. Read perhaps " Setina," as v. 33. 
 
 5 Albani: Cf. v., 33, " Cras bibet Albanis aliquid de montibus." 
 Hor., iv., Od. xi., 1, " Est mihi nonum superantis annum plenus Al- 
 bani cadus. " Mart., xiii., 109, "Hoc de Caesareis Mitis Vindemla 
 €ellis misit luleo quae sibi monte placet." 
 
 9 
 
194 JUVENAL. 
 
 I disgusts him. Set better before him ! and thickly-crowding 
 j wrinkles furrow his brow, as though called forth by sour^ 
 Falernian. At night, if anxious care has granted him per- 
 chance a slumber however brief, and his limbs, that have 
 been tossing2 Qyer the whole bed, at length are at rest, im- 
 mediately he sees in dreams the temple and the altar of the 
 deity he has insulted ; and, what weighs upon his soul with 
 especial terrors,^ he sees thee ! Thy awful* form, of more^ 
 than human bulk, confounds the trembling wretch, and 
 wrings confession^ from him. 
 
 These are the men that tremble and grow pale at every 
 lightning-flash ; and, when it thunders,' are half dead with 
 terror at the very first rumbling^ of heaven ; as though not 
 i)j mere chance, or by the raging violence of winds, but in 
 wrath and vengeance the fire-bolt lights^ upon the earth 
 
 1 Velut acri. Or perhaps, " as though the rich Falernian were sour 
 instead of mellow." 
 
 " The rich Falernian changes into gall." Hodgson. 
 
 2 Versata. Cf. iii., 279. Horn., II., xxiv., 10, seq. Sen., de Tranq, 
 An., 2, " versant se et hoc atque illo modo componunt donee quietem 
 lassitudine inveniant." Propert, I., xiv., 21, " Et miserum toto juve- 
 nem versare cubili.'' 
 
 3 Sudoribus. Cf. i., 167, " /Swdan^ prsecordia culpa." Cf. Ov., Her. 
 vii., 65. 
 
 4 Major. Virg. ^n., il., 773, "Nota major imago." Suet., Claud., 
 i., species mulieris humand amplior. 
 
 5 Amplior. Tac. Ann., xi., 21, "oblata ei species muliebris ultra 
 modum humanum." Suet., Aug., 94. 
 
 6 Cogitque fateri. The idea is probably from Lucret., v., 1157, 
 ** Quippe ubi se multei per somnia ssepe loquenteis, Aut morbo deli- 
 ranteis protraxe ferantur Et celata diu in medium peccata dedisse." 
 
 7 Quum tonat. Suet., Calig., 51, " Nam qui deos tantopere contem- 
 neret, ad minima tonitrua et fulgura connivere, caput obvolvere: ad 
 vero majora proripere se e strato, sub lectumque condere, solebat." 
 
 8 Murmure. Lucret., v., 1218, " Quoi non conrepunt membra pavore 
 Fulminis horribili quom plaga torrida tellus Contremit et magnum 
 percurrunt murmura ccelum? Non populei gentesque tremunt." 
 
 9 Cadat. " Quseque cadent in te fulmina missa putes." Ov. Her., 
 vii., 72. Pind., Nem., vi., 90, ^olkotov cyxos. Hor., i., Od., iii., 40, 
 *' Iracunda Jovem ponere fulmina." 
 
 " Where'er the lightning strikes, the ftash is thought 
 Judicial fire, with heaven's high vengeance fraught." Bad. 
 ^0 Vindicet. 
 
 " Oh ! 'tis not chance, they cry; this hideous crash 
 
SATIRE XIII. 
 
 195 
 
 That last storm wrought no ill ! Therefore the next is 
 feared with heavier presage, as though but deferred by the 
 brief respite of this calm. 
 
 Moreover, if they begin to suffer pain in the side, with 
 wakeful fever, they believe the disease is sent to their bodies 
 from the deity, in vengeance. These they hold to be the 
 stones and javelins of the gods ! 
 
 They dare not vow the bleating sheep to the shrine, or 
 promise even a cock's^ comb to their Lares. For what hope 
 is vouchsafed to the guilty sick 7^ or what victim is not more 
 worthy of life ? The character of bad men is for the most 
 part fickle and variable. ^ While they are engaged in the 
 guilty act they have resolution enough, and to spare. When 
 their foul deeds are perpetrated, then at length they begin to 
 feel what is right and wrong. 
 
 Yet Nature* ever reverts to her depraved courses, fixed and 
 immutable. For who ever prescribed to himself a limit to 
 his sins ? or ever recovered the blush^ of ingenuous shame 
 once banished from his brow now hardened ? What mortal 
 man is there whom you ever saw contented with a single 
 crime ? This false friend of ours will get his foot entangled 
 in the noose, and endure the hook of the gloomy dungeon ; 
 
 Is not the war of winds, nor this dread flash 
 
 The encounter of dark clouds, but blasting fire, 
 
 Charged with the wrath of heaven's insulted sire !" Gifford. 
 
 1 Gain. Cf. xii., 89, 96. Plin., x., 21, 56. Plat., Phsed., 66. 
 
 2 jEgris. " Can pardoning heaven on guilty sickness smile ? 
 
 Or is there victim than itself more vile?" Badham. 
 
 2 Mobilis. Sen., Ep. 47, " Hoc habent inter csetera, boni mores, pla- 
 cent sibi ac permanent : levis est malitia, ssepe mutatur, non in me- 
 lius, sed in aliud." 
 
 4 Natura. Hot., i., Ep. x., 24, *' Naturam expellas furcatamen usque 
 recurret." 
 
 s Ruhorem. Mart., xi., Ep. xxvii., 7, "Aut cum perfricuit frontem 
 posuitque pudorem." 
 
 " Vice once indulged, what rogues could e'er restrain? 
 Or what bronzed cheek has learn'd to blush again?" Hodgson, 
 
196 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 or some crag^ in the ^Egean Sea, or the rocks that Rwarm 
 with exiles of rank. You will exult in the bitter punish- 
 ment of the hated name ; and at length with joy confess^ 
 that no one of the gods is either deaf or a Tiresias.^ 
 
 SATIRE XIV. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 The whole of this Satire is directed to the one great end of self-im- 
 provement. 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 sur- 
 pass 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. 
 
 There are very many things, Fuscinus,* that both deserve 
 a had name, and fix a lasting spot on a fortune otherwise 
 splendid, which parents themselves point the way to, and 
 
 1 Rupem. Cf. i., 73, "aliquid brevibus Gyaris et carcere dignum." 
 vi., 563. 
 
 " Or hurried off to join the wretched train 
 Of exiled great ones in the ^gean main." Gifford. 
 
 2 Fatebere. Cf. Psalm Iviii., 9, 10. 
 
 3 Tiresiam. Soph., CEd. T. Ovid, Met., iii., 322, seq. 
 ^ Fuscinus. Nothing is known of him. 
 
 " Fuscinus, those ill deeds that sully fame. 
 And lay such blots upon an honest name, 
 In blood once tainted, like a current run 
 From the lewd father to the lewder son." Dryden. 
 
SATIRE XIV. 
 
 197 
 
 inculcate upon their children. If destructive gambling^ de- 
 lights the sire, the heir while yet a child plays^ too ; and 
 shakes the selfsame weapons in his own little dice-box. Nor 
 will that youth allow any of his kin to form better hopes of 
 him who has learned to peel truffles,^ to season a mushroom/ 
 and drown beccaficas^ swimming in the same sauce, his 
 gourmand sire with his hoary gluttony^ showing him the 
 way. When his seventh'^ year has passed over the boy's head, 
 and all his second teeth are not yet come, though you range 
 a thousand bearded^ philosophers on one side of him, and as 
 many on the other, still he will be ever longing to dine in 
 sumptuous style, and not degenerate from his sire's luxuri- 
 ous kitchen. 
 
 Does Rutilus^ inculcate a merciful disposition and a char- 
 acter indulgent to venial faults ? does he hold that the souls 
 and bodies of our slaves^^ are formed of matter like our own 
 
 1 Alea, i., 89. Cf. Propert., IV., viii., 45, " Me quoque per talos Ve- 
 nerem quserente secundos, Semper damnosi subsiluere Canes." The 
 Romans used four dice in throwing, which were thrown on a table 
 with a rim (alveolus or abacus), out of a dice-box made of horn, box- 
 wood, or ivory. This fritillus was a kind of cup, narrower at the top 
 than below. When made in the form of a tower, with graduated in- 
 tervals, it was called pyrgus, turricula, or phimus. 
 
 2 Ludit. " Repeats in minature the darling vice ; 
 
 Shakes the low box, and cogs the little dice." Gifford. 
 
 3 Tuhera. Cf. v., 116, seq. Mart., Ep. xiii., 50. 
 
 4 Boletum. Cf. v., 147. Mart., Ep. xiii., 48. 
 
 * Ficedulas. Mr. Metcalfe translates "snipes." Cf. Mart., Ep. xiii., 
 49, " Cum me ficus alat, cum pascar dulcibus uvis, Cur potius nomen 
 non dedit uva mihi ? " 
 
 6 Gula, i., 140. 
 
 7 Septimus. Plin., vii., 16, " Editis infantibus primores dentes sep- 
 timo gignuntur mense : iidem anno septimo decidunt, aliique suf- 
 ficiuntur." 
 
 8 Barbatos. Pers., iv., 1, "Barbatum hoc crede magistrum dicere 
 , sorbitio tollit quem dira cicutse." Cic, Fin., iv., "Barba sylvosa et 
 
 pulchre alita, quamvis res ipsa sit exterior et fortuita, inter hominis 
 eruditi insignio recensetur." 
 
 9 Rutilus. Used probably indefinitely, as in Sat. xi., 2, " Si Rutilus, 
 demens." Rutilus was a surname of the Marcian, Virginian, and 
 Nantian clans. 
 
 10 Servorum. Gififord quotes an apposite passage from Macrobius, i., 
 
198 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 and of similar elements ? or does he not teach cruelty, that 
 Rutilus, who delights in the harsh clang of stripes, and 
 thinks no Siren's^ song can equal the sound of whips ; the 
 Antiphates^ and Polyphemus of his trembling household ? 
 Then is he happy indeed whenever the torturer^ is sum- 
 moned, and some poor wretch is branded with the glowing 
 iron for stealing a couple of towels ! What doctrine does he 
 preach to his son that revels in the clank of chains, that 
 feels a strange delight in branded slaves,* and the country 
 jail? Do you expect that Larga's^ daughter will not turn 
 out an adulteress, who could not possibly repeat her 
 mother's lovers so quickly, or string them together with 
 such rapidity, as not to take breath thirty times at least? 
 While yet a little maid she was her mother's confidante; 
 now, at that mother's dictation^ she fills her own little tab- 
 lets, and gives them to her mother's agents to bear to lovers 
 of her own. 
 
 2, **Tibiautem unde in servos tantum et tarn immane fastidium? 
 Quasi non ex iisdem tibi constent et alantur elementis, eumdemque 
 spiritum ab eodem principe carpant ! " 
 
 1 Sirena. Cf. ix., 150. 
 
 2 Antip hates, king of the cannibal Laestrygones. Horn., Odys., x., 
 114, seq. Ovid, Met., xiv., 233, seq. 
 
 3 Tortore. Vi., 480, " Sunt quae tortoribus annua praestent." 
 
 " Knows no delight, save when the torturer's hand 
 Stamps for low theft the agonizing brand." GiflFord. 
 
 4 Ergastula. Cf. ad viii., 180. Put here, as in vi., 151, for the slaves 
 themselves. As 15 freemen were said to constitute a state, and 15 
 slaves a famUia, so " quindedm vincti " form one Ergastulum. It prop- 
 erly means the Bridewell, where they were set to " travaux forcis." 
 Liv., ii., 23; vii., 4. The country prisons were generally under- 
 ground dungeons. Branding on the forehead was a common punish- 
 ment. Thieves had the word " Fur" burnt in ; hence called " liter- 
 ati homines," "homines trium literarum." Plant., Aul., II., iv., 46. 
 Cicero calls one "compunctum notis, stigmatiam," Off.,.ii-.7. So 
 "Inscripti vultus," Plin., xviii., 3. "Inscripti," Martial, Ep. viii., 
 79. Cf. Plin., Paneg., 35. Sat. x., 183. Plaut., Cas., II., vi., 49. 
 
 5 Largx. Cf. vi., 239, " Scilicet expectas ut tradat mater honestos 
 atque alios mores quam quos habet? " x., 220, " Promptius expediam 
 quotamaverit Hippia maechos." 
 
 ^ Dictante. vi., 223, "Ilia docet missis a corruptore tabellis, nil 
 rude, nil simplex rescribere." 
 
SATIRE XIV. 
 
 199 
 
 Such is Nature^ s law.^ The examples of vice that we wit- 
 ness at home^ more surely and quickly corrupt us, when they 
 insinuate themselves into our minds, under the sanction of 
 those we revere. Perhaps just one or two young men may 
 spurn these practices, whose hearts the Titan has formed 
 with kindlier art, and moulded out of better clay.^ 
 
 But their sire's footsteps, that they ought to shun, lead on 
 all the rest , and the routine* of inveterate depravity, that 
 has been long before their eyes, attracts them on. 
 
 Therefore refrain^ from all that merits reprobation. One 
 powerful motive, at least, there is to this — lest our children 
 copy our crimes. For we are all of us too quick at learn- 
 ing to imitate base and depraved examples ; and you may 
 find a Catiline in every people and under every sky ; but 
 nowhere a Brutus,^ or Brutus' uncle ! 
 
 Let nothing shocking to eyes or ears approach those doors 
 that close upon your child. Away ! far, far away,'' the pan- 
 der's wenches, and the songs of the parasite^ that riots the 
 
 1 Exempla. From Cic, Ep., iv., 3, "Quod exemplo fit, id etiamjure 
 fieri putant." 
 
 2 Exempla domestica. 
 
 " Tlius Nature bids our home's examples win 
 The passive mind to imitative sin, 
 And vice, unquestion'd, makes its easy way, 
 Sanction'd by those our earliest thoughts obey." Badham. 
 ^ Luto. Callim,, fr. 133, el ae llponrtOevT £7r\aae Kai TrjjiXov [xf] erepov 
 yeyovaT, Ovid, Met., 1., 80, "Sive recens tellus seductaque nuperab 
 alto sethere cognati retinebat semina coeli ; Quam satus lapeto mix- 
 tam fluvialibus undis finxitin efifigiem moderantum cuncta Deorum." 
 Cf. Sat. vi., 13, " Compositive luto nuUos habuere parentes." 
 
 * Orbita, from orbis; "the track of a wheel." So by the same meta- 
 phor the "routine,'' or course of life. 
 ^ Abstineas. " O cease from sin ! should other reasons fail 
 
 Lest our own frailties make our children frail." 
 
 Badham. 
 
 6 Brutus was the son of Servilia, the sister of Cato of Utica (cf. x.. 
 319). So Sen., Ep. 97, '* Omne tempus Clodios, non omne Catones fert." 
 
 7 Procul hinc. The formula at religious solemnities. Cf. ii., 89. Ov., 
 Met., vii., 255, " Hinc procul ^sonidem, procul hinc jubet ire minis- 
 tros, et monet arcanis oculos removere profanos." 
 
 8 Parasiti. Cf. i., 139. 
 
200 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 livelong night ! The greatest reverence^ is due to a child ! 
 If you are contemplating a disgraceful act, despise not your 
 child's tender years, but let your infant son act as a check 
 upon your purpose of sinning. For if, at some future time, 
 he shall have done any thing to deserve the censor' s^ wrath, 
 and show himself like you, not in person only and in face, 
 but also the true son of your morals, and one who, by fol- 
 lowing your footsteps, adds deeper guilt to your crimes — 
 then, forsooth ! you will reprove and chastise him with 
 clamorous bitterness, and then set about altering your will. 
 Yet how dare you assume the front severe,^ and license of a 
 parent's speech ; you, who yourself, though old, do worse 
 than this ; and the exhausted cupping-glass"^ is long ago 
 looking out for your brainless head ? 
 
 If a friend is coming to pay you a visit, your whole house- 
 hold is in a bustle. Sweep the floor, display the pillars in 
 all their brilliancy, let the dry spider come down with all her 
 web ; let one clean^ the silver, another polish the embossed^ 
 
 ^ Eeverentia. " His child's unsullied purity demands. 
 
 The deepest reverence at a parent's hands." Badham. 
 
 2 Censoris. Henninius' reading and punctuation is followed here. 
 
 "Oh yet reflect ! For should he e'er provoke, 
 In riper age, the Law's avenging stroke 
 (Since not alone in person and in face, 
 But morals, he will prove your son, and trace, 
 Nay pass your vicious footsteps), you will rail. 
 And name another heir, should threatening fail !" Gifford. 
 
 3 Cerebro. Plin., ix., 37, "Cerebrum est velut arx sensuum : hie 
 mentis est regimen." 
 
 4 Cucurbita. Properly a kind of gourd, Ko^cKvven; thence from its 
 shape, and perhaps too from its use, applied to a cupping-glass. These 
 were made of horn, brass, and afterward of glass. The Greeks, from 
 the same cause, called it aiKva, or KvaQos- (cf Schol. ad Arist., Lys.. 
 444). It is called ventosa from the rarefication of the air in the opera- 
 tion, and was applied to relieve the head. Hence cucurbitx caput is 
 used for a fool. Cf. Appul., Met.. 1, " Nos cucurbitae caput non habe- 
 mus, ut pro te moriamur !" 
 
 5 Lavet. Browne says, " Who washes silver plate ?" and prefers the 
 reading '*leve." But might not his patellx be of silver?" iii., 261, 
 *' Domus interea secura patellas jam lavat." 
 
 ^ Aspera. Cf. i., 76, " Argentum vetus et stantem extra pocula ca- 
 
SATIRE XIV. 
 
 20 1 
 
 plate — the master's voice thunders out, as he stands over 
 the work, and brandishes his whip. 
 
 You are alarmed then, wretched man, lest your entrance- 
 hall, befouled by dogs, should offend the eye of your friend 
 who is coming, or your corridor be spattered with mud ; and 
 yet one little slave could clean all this with half a bushel of 
 saw-dust. And yet, will you not bestir yourself that your 
 own son may see your house immaculate and free from foul 
 spot or crime ? It deserves our gratitude that you have pre- 
 sented a citizen to your country and people, ^ if you take care 
 that he prove useful to the state — of service to her lands ; 
 useful in transacting the affairs both of war and peace. For 
 it will be a matter of the highest moment in what pursuits 
 and moral discipline you train him. 
 
 The stork feeds her young on snakes^ and lizards which 
 she has discovered in the trackless fields. They too, when 
 fledged, go in quest of the same animals. The vulture, 
 
 prum." v., 38, ''Insequales beryllo phialas. " Virg., ^n., ix., 26^, 
 "Argento perfecta atque aspera signis pocula." Ovid., Met., v., 81, 
 " Altis exstantem signis cratera." xii., 235, *' Signis exstantibus asper 
 Antiquus crater." xiii., 700, " Hactenus antique signis fulgentibus 
 sere, Summus inaurato crater erat asper acantho." 
 
 " ' Sweep the dry cobwebs down !" the master cries, 
 Whips in his hand, and fury in his eyes : 
 * Let not a spot the clouded columns stain, 
 Scour you the figured silver ; you the plain !' " Gififord. 
 
 1 Patriae populoque, an ancient formula. Cf Liv., v., 41. So Horace 
 joins them, "Hoc fonte derivata clades in patriam Dopulumque 
 fluxit," iii., Od. vi., 20 (vid. Orell. in loc). Ovid, Met., xv., 572, "Seu 
 Isetum est, patriae Isetum, populoque Quirini." 
 
 "Thy grateful land shall say 'tis nobly done. 
 If thou bring'st up to public use thy son ; 
 Fit for the various tasks allotted men, 
 A warlike chief, a prudent citizen." Hodgson. 
 
 2 Serpente. Pliny (H. N., x., 23) alludes to the same circumstance 
 with regard to storks. " Illis in Thessalia tantus honos serpentum 
 exitio habitus est, ut ciconiam occidere capitale sit, eadem legibus 
 poena qua in homicidas." 
 
 " Her progeny the stork with serpents feeds, 
 And finds them lizards in the devious meads : 
 The little storklings, when their wings are grown, 
 Look out for snakes and lizards of their own." Badham. 
 
 9* 
 
i02 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 quitting the cattle, and dogs, and gibbets, hastens to hei 
 callow brood, and bears to them a portion of the carcass. 
 Therefore this is the food of the vulture too when grown up, 
 and able to feed itself and build a nest in a tree of its own. 
 
 Whereas the ministers of Jove,^ and birds of noble blood, 
 hunt in the forest for the hare^ or kid. Hence is derived 
 the quarry for their nest : hence too, when their progeny, 
 now matured, have poised themselves on their own wings, 
 when hunger pinches they swoop to that booty, which first 
 they tasted when they broke the shell. 
 
 Centronius has a passion for building ; and now on the 
 embayed shore of the Caieta,^ now on the highest peak of 
 Tibur,'^ or on Prseneste's hills^ he reared the tall roofs of his 
 villas, of Grecian^ and far-fetched marbles ; surpassing the 
 
 1 Famulx Jovis. ^sch., Prom. V.,1057, Atb? TrTr}vo<; Kviov, 8a<i>oLvoq 
 dero?. Hor., iv., Od. iv., 1, Qualem ministrum fulminis alitem," etc. 
 
 2 Leporem. Virg., JEn., ix., 563, seq., " Qualis ubi aut leporem aut 
 candenti corpore cycnum Sustulit alta petens pedibus Jovis armiger 
 uncis." 
 
 " While Jove's own eagle, bird of noble blood, • 
 Scours the wide champaign for untainted food, 
 Bears the swift hare, or swifter fawn away, 
 And feeds her nestlings with the generous prey/' Gifford. 
 
 3 CaieUe, now ''Mola di Gseta," called from ^neas's nurse. Virg., 
 ^n., vii.,1, " Tu quoque littoribus nostris, ^Eneia nutrix ^ternam 
 moriens famam Caieta dedisti. Et nunc servat honos sedem tuus." 
 
 4 Tibur, now "Tivoli," on the Anio, built on a steep acclivity. 
 Hence "supinum," Hor. iii., Od. iv., 23. Cf. iii., 192, "aut proni Ti- 
 buris arce." 
 
 ^ Prxneste, now " Palestrina,' ' said to have been founded by Csecu- 
 lus, son of Vulcan. Vid, Virg., ^n., vii., 678. 
 
 6 Grxcis. Cf Stat., Sylv., III., i., 5, "Sed nitidos postes Graiisque 
 efFulta metallis culmina." The green marble of Taenarus was very 
 higly prized. Vid. Plin., H. N. xxxvi., 7. Prop., III. ii., 9, *' Quod 
 non Tsenariis domus est mihi fulta columnis." Tibull., III., iii., 13, 
 " Quidve domus prodest Phrygiis innixa columnis, Tsenare sive tuis, 
 sive Caryste tuis." Among other foreign marbles, Pliny mentions 
 the Egyptian, Naxian, Armenian, Parian, Chian, Sicyonian, Synna- 
 die, Numidian. Augustus introduced the use of marble in public 
 buildings, and many edifices of his time were constructed of solid 
 marble. All the columns of the temple of Mars Ultor are of marble. 
 (Vid. Niebuhr's Lectures, vol. iii., p. 299. Sat. xi., 182, "LongisNu- 
 midarum fulta columnis." Hor., ii., Od. xviii.,4, " Columnas ultima 
 recisas Africa." Lucian, Hipp., p. 507, ed. Bened.) But the more 
 
SATIRE XIV. 
 
 203 
 
 temple of Fortune^ and of Hercules as much as Posides^ 
 the eunuch outvied our Capitol. While, therefore, he is thus 
 magnificently lodged, Centronius lessened his estate and 
 impaired his wealth. And yet the sum of the portion that 
 he left was no mean one : but all this his senseless son ran 
 through by raising new mansions of marble more costly than 
 his sire's. 
 
 Some whose lot it is to have a father that reveres sab- 
 baths, worship nothing save clouds and the divinity of 
 heaven ; and think that flesh of swine, from which their sire 
 abstained, differs in naught from that of man. Soon, too, 
 they submit to circumcision. But, trained to look with 
 scorn upon the laws of Rome, they study and observe and 
 reverence all those Jewish statutes that Moses in his mystic 
 volume handed down ; never to show the road except to one 
 that worships the same sacred rites — to conduct to the 
 spring they are in quest of, the circumcised^ alone. But 
 
 general use of it did not begin till the reign of Nero, when Greek 
 architecture became prevalent. 
 
 1 Fortunse. The temple of Fortune at Prseneste was erected by Au- 
 gustus. Hence she was called Dea Praenestina, and the oracles deliv- 
 ered there " Sortes Prsenestinse." Suet., Tib., 63. Propert., II., xxxii., 
 3. Cf Ov., Fast., vi., 62. (From Stat. Sylv., I., iii., 80, " Quod ni tem- 
 pla darent alias Tirynthia sortes, et Prsenestinae poterant migrare 
 Sorores," it appears that at Prseneste, as at Antium, there were two 
 Fortunes worshiped as sister-goddesses. Cf. Suet., Calig.,57. Mart., 
 v., Ep. i., 3. Orell. ad Hor., i., Od. xxxv., 1.) The temple of Her- 
 cules at Tibur was built by Marcius Phillippus, step-father of Au- 
 gustus. Cf. Suet., Aug., 29. Prop., II., xxxii., 5. 
 
 2 Posides. Vid. Suet., Claud., 28, "Libertorum prsecipue suspexit 
 Posiden spadonem quem etiam, Britannico triumph o, inter militares 
 viros hasta pura donavit." Like Clandius' other freedmen, he 
 amassed immense wealth. 
 
 3 Verpos. Some of the commentators waste a great amount of zeal, 
 and no little knowledge, to show us that these lines prove Juvenal to 
 have been in utter ignorance of the Mosaic law. I presume Juvenal 
 means to tell us what the Jews did, not what the Jewish law taught; 
 which had they followed, they would not have been in Rome for 
 Juvenal to write about. These lines, in fact, instead of contradict- 
 ing Josephus, confirm his account of the state of his countrymen, and 
 are another valuable testimony to prove that they ''had made the 
 word of God of none efifect through their traditions." What should 
 
204 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 their father is to blame for this ; to whom each seventh' day 
 was a day of sloth, and kept aloof from all share of life's 
 daily duties. 
 
 All other vices, however, young men copy of their own 
 free choice. Avarice is the only one that even against their 
 will they are constrained to put in practice. For this vice 
 deceives men under the guise and semblance^ of virtue. 
 Since it is grave in bearing— austere in look and dress. And 
 without doubt, the miser is praised ^'a frugaP character, 
 
 a sparing man," and one that knows how to guard his 
 own,* more securely than if the serpent of the Hesperides^ or 
 of Pontus had the keeping of them. Besides, the multitude 
 considers the man of whom we are speaking, a splendid 
 carver^ of his own fortune. Since it is by such artificers as 
 these that estates are increased. But still, increase they do 
 by all means, fair or foul, and swell in bulk from the cease- 
 less anvil and ever-glowing forge. 
 
 The father, therefore, considers misers as men of happy 
 minds,' since he admires wealth, and thinks no instance can 
 be found of 2i poor man that is also happy; and therefore ex- 
 
 we say of Messrs. Johnson, Malone, and Steevens, were they to 
 gravely demonstrate that Shakspeare wrote in ignorance of the tenets 
 of Judaism when he introduces Shylock coveting Signor Antonio's 
 "pound of flesh?" 
 
 1 Sepiima. Cf Tac, His.,v., 4, "Septimo die otium placuisse ferunt ; 
 quia is finem laborum tulerit; dein blandiente inertia, septimum 
 quoque annum ignaviae datum." 
 
 2 Specie. Hor., A. P., 25, "Decipimur specie recti." Pers., v., 105, 
 *' Et veri speciem dignoscere calles." 
 
 " For this grave vice, assuming Virtue's guise, 
 Seems Virtue's self to superficial eyes." Giflford. 
 
 3 Frugi. Hor., i.. Sat., iii., 49, "Parcius hie vivit, frugi dicatur." 
 
 4 Tutela. Hor., A. P., 169, " Vel quod Quserit, et inventis miser ab- 
 stinet ac timet uti," and 1. 325-333. 
 
 5 Hesperidum. Vid. Ov., Met., iv., 627, seq. Virg., ^n., iv.,480, seq. 
 Athen., iii., p. 82, ed. Dindorf 
 
 6 Artiflcem. *' And reasoning from the fortune he has made, 
 
 Hail him a perfect master of his trade." Gifford. 
 
 7 Animi. Hor., i., Ep. xv., 45, " Vos sapere et solos aio bene vivere 
 quorum Conspicitur nitidis fundata pecunia villis." 
 
SATIRE XIV. 
 
 205 
 
 horts his sons to follow the same track, and apply themselves 
 earnestly to the doctrines of the same sect. There are certain 
 first elements^ of all vices. These he instills into them in 
 regular order, and constrains them to become adepts in the 
 most paltry lucre. Presently he inculcates an insatiable thirst 
 for gain. While he is famishing himself, he pinches his ser- 
 vants'^ stomachs with the scantiest allowance.^ For he never 
 endures to consume the whole of the blue fragments of mouldy* 
 bread, but saves, even in the middle of September,^ the 
 mince® of yesterday;^ and puts by till to-morrow's dinner 
 the summer bean,^ with a piece of stockfish and half a stink- 
 ing shad :^ and, after he has counted them, locks up the 
 shreds of chopped leek. '^^ A beggar from the bridge^^ would 
 
 1 Elemenia. " Vice boasts its elements, like other arts : 
 
 These he inculcates first ; anon imparts 
 The petty tricks of saving : last inspires 
 Of endless wealth th' insatiable desires." Giflford. 
 
 2 Servorum. Juvenal had evidently Theophratus' aiaxpoKcpdrjg in 
 his eye : ra 6e KaraXuiroixeva d-rrd Tr\g TpaTrk^r}g yjfAiar) riop pa(pavi6cov 
 dTroypd(f)£c0ai. 'iva 01 SiaKOvovrcg -rraiSeg fif) Kd^oiai. 
 
 3 Modio iniquo. Cf. Theophr,, Char., 30 (tt. aiaxpoKepS.) (p£i6o}v(ci> 
 litrpu) rdv nvvSaKa eyKCKpovcfievco fxsrpeiv avrdg roTg €v6ov tol e-mrriSsia 
 
 C(p66pa OLTTOXpiOV. 
 
 ^ Mucida. v., 68, " Solidae jam mucida frusta farinse." 
 
 6 Septembri. The hottest and most unhealthy month in Rome. Cf. 
 vi., 517. Hor., i., Ep. xvi., 16. 
 
 6 Minutal. The fj.vTToiTO'; and irepLKoixixa of Aristophanes. Martial 
 describes one, lib. xi., Ep. xxxi. Cf. Apic, iv.^ 3. 
 
 " Hesternum. So eoivrjv ewAov. Athen., vii., 2. Mart., i., Ep. civ., 
 7, "Deque decem plures semper servantur olivae, explicat et coenas 
 unica mensa duas." 
 
 8 Conchem. iii., 293, " Cujus conche tumes." 
 
 ^ Lacerti. Mart., x., Ep. 48, "Secta coronabunt rutatos ova lacer- 
 tos." xii., Ep. 19. Celsus, ii., 18, mentions the Lacertus among the 
 fish " ex quibus salsamenta fiunt, et quorum cibus gravissimus est." 
 The SUurus was a common and coarse Egyptian fish, sent over salted 
 to Rome. Cf. iv.,33. 
 
 10 Porri. iii., 294, "Quis tecum sectile porrum." Cf. Plin., H. N., 
 xix., 6. 
 
 11 Ponte. Cf. iv., 116, " Csecus adulator dirusque a ponte satelles." 
 v., 8, ** Nulla crepido vacat? nusquam pons et tegetis pars dimidia 
 brevior ?" Mart. , x., Ep. v. , 3, " Erret per urbem pontis exsul et clivi, 
 interque raucos ultimus rogatores oret caninas panis improbi buc- 
 cas." Ovid, Ibis, 420, " Quique tenent pontem." 
 
206 JUv^ENAL. 
 
 decline an invitation to such a meal as this ! But to what 
 end is money scraped together at the expense of such self- 
 torture ? Since it is undoubted madness,^ palpable insanity, 
 to live a beggar's life, simply that you may die rich. 
 
 Meanwhile, though the sack swells, full to the very brim, 
 the love of money grows^ as fast as the money itself grows. 
 And he that has the less, the less ne covets. Therefore you 
 are looking out for a second villa, since one estate is not 
 enough for you, and it is your fancy to extend^ your terri- 
 tories ; and your neighbor's corn-land seems to you more 
 spacious and fertile than your own ; therefore you treat for 
 the purchase of this too, with all its woods and its hill that 
 whitens with its dense olive-grove. But if their owner will 
 not be prevailed upon to part with them at any price, then 
 at night, your lean oxen and cattle with weary necks, half- 
 starved, will be turned into his corn-fields while still green, 
 and not quit it for their own homes before the whole crop"* 
 has found its way into their ruthless^ stomachs— so closely 
 
 1 Phrenesis. Hor., ii., Sat. iii., 82, " Danda est Hellebori multo pars 
 maxima avaris: Nescio an Anticyram ratio illis destinet omnem." 
 So Cicero, de Senec, 65, " Avaritia vero senilis quid sibi velit, non 
 intelligo : potest enim esse quidquam absurdius, quam quo minus 
 vise restat eo plus viatici queerere?" 
 
 2 Crescit. So Ovid, Fast., i., 211, *' Crevemnt et opes, et opum furi- 
 osa cupido et cum possideant plurima plura volunt. Quserere ut ab- 
 sumant, absumta requirere certant : atque ipsse vitiis sunt alimenta 
 vices." 
 
 3 Proferre. Liv., i., 33. Virg., ^n., vi., 796. Hor., ii., Od. xviii., 
 17. ii.. Sat. vi., 8, ** O si angulus ille proximus accedat qui nunc de- 
 normat agellum." 
 
 4 Novalia. Put here for the crops on any good land. Plin., H. N., 
 xviii., 19, " Novale est quod alternisannisseritur." Cf. Virg., Georg., 
 i.,71, "Alternis idem tonsas cessare novales et segnem patiere situ 
 durescere campum," with Martyn's note. Varro, de L. L., iv., 4, 
 ** Ager restibilis, qui restituitur ac reseritur quotquot annis ; Contra 
 qui intermittitur, a novando novalis est ager." It means properly 
 land recently cleared. "Ager novus cui nunc primum immissum est 
 aratrum {virgin soil), cum antea aut sylva esset, aut terra nunquam 
 proscissa et culta in segetem." Face. Then it is used for any culti- 
 vated land. Virg., Eel., i., 71. Stat., Theb., iii., 644, 5. 
 
 ^ Saevos. So Hor.,ii-> Sat. vii., 5, " Quae prima iratum ventrem placa- 
 verit esca." 
 
SATIRE XIV. 
 
 2D7 
 
 cropped that you would fancy it had been mown. You could 
 hardly tell how many have to complain of similar treatment, 
 and how many estates wrongs like cbis have brought to the 
 hammer. ' ' But what says the world ? What the trumpet 
 of slanderous fame? — " 
 
 "What harm does this do me ?''^ he says ; "I had rather * 
 have a lupin's pod, than that the whole village neighbor- 
 hood^ should praise me, if I am at the same time to reap the 
 scanty crops of a diminutive estate. ' ^ 
 
 You Tvill then, forsooth, be free from all disease^ and all 
 
 infirmity, and escape sorrow and care ; and a lengthened 
 
 span of life will hereafter be your lot with happier destiny, 
 
 if you individually own as much arable land as the whole 
 
 Roman people used to plow under king Tatius. And after 
 
 that, to men broken down with years, that had seen the 
 
 hard service of the Punic wars, and faced the fierce Pyrrhus 
 
 and the Molossian swords, scarce two acres* a man were be- 
 
 " Turn in by night tiiy cattle, starved and lean, 
 Amid his growing crops of waving green ; 
 Nor lead them forth till all the field be bare, 
 As if a thousand sickles had been there." Badham. 
 
 1 Quid nocet hoc f Cf. i., 48, "Quid enim salvis infamia nummis!" 
 Hor., i., Sat. i., 63, " Ut quidam memoratur Athenis, Sordidus ac dives 
 populi contemnere voces sic solitus : Populus me sibilat, at mihi 
 plaudo Ipse domi, simul ac nummos contemplor in area." 
 
 2 Vicinia. Hor., ii., Sat. v., 106, " Egregie factum laudet vicinia." 
 
 3 Morbis. Cf. Hor., i., Sat. i., 80, "At si condoluit tentatum frigore 
 corpus, aut alius casus lecto te affixit ; habes qui assideat, fomenta 
 paret, medicum roget ut te suscitet ac reddat natis carisque propin- 
 quis." 
 
 " What ! canst thou thus bid mortal sickness cease ? 
 Thus from life's lightest cares compel release ? 
 Though twenty plowshares turn thy vast domain, 
 Shalt thou live longer unchastised by pain? " Badham, 
 
 4 Jugera bina. Li v., vi., 16, " Satricum coloniam deduci jussit ; bina 
 jugera et semisses agri assignati." c, 36, " Auderentne postulare, ut 
 quum bina jugera agri plebi dividerentur, ipsis plus quingenta ju- 
 gera habere liceret?" The colonists sent to occupy the conquered 
 country received, as their allotment of the land taken from the 
 enemy, two acres apiece. The jugerum was nearly five eighths of an 
 English acre, i.e., 2 roods, 19 perches, and a fraction. The semissis is 
 the same as the actus quadratus. Cf. Varro, R.R.,i., 10. Plin., H. 
 N., xviii., 2. 
 
2o8 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 stowed at length as compensation for countless wounds. Yet 
 that reward for all their blood and toil never appeared to 
 any less than their deserts — or did their country's faith ap- 
 pear scant or thankless. Such a little glebe as this used to 
 satisfy the father himself and all his cottage troop : where 
 lay his pregnant wife, and four children played — one a little 
 slave, ^ the other three freeborn. But for their grown-up 
 brothers^ when they returned from the trench or furrow, 
 there was another and more copious supper prepared, and 
 the big pots smoked with vegetables. Such a plot of ground 
 in our days is not enough for a garden. 
 
 It is from this source commonly arise the motives to crime. 
 Nor has any vice of the mind of man mingled more poisons 
 or oftener dealt^ the assassin's knife, than the fierce lust for 
 wealth unlimited. For he that covets to grow rich,* would 
 also grow rich speedily. But what respect for laws, what 
 fear or shame is ever found in the breast of the miser hast- 
 ing to be rich ? ' ' Live contented with these cottages, my 
 lads, and these hills of ours ! " So said, in days of yore, the 
 Marsian and Hernican and Vestine sire — ^'Let us earn our 
 bread, sufl&cient for our tables, with the plow. Of this the 
 
 1 Vernula. Cf. x., 117, " Quern sequitur custos angustse vernula cap- 
 sse." The verna (olKOTpa(j)r)<;) was so called, " qui in villis vere natus, 
 quod tempus duce natura feturae est." Fest. Others say that it be- 
 came a term of reproach from having been first given to those who 
 were born in the Ver Sacrum. Cf. Fest., s. v. Mamertini. Strabo, v., 
 p. 404. Liv., xxxiv., 44. Just., xxiv., 4. These home-born slaves, 
 though more despised from having been born in a state of servitude, 
 were treated with great fondness and indulgence. Sen., Prov., i., f., 
 *' Cogita filiorum nos modestia delectari, vernularum licentia : illos 
 
 ^ tristiori disciplina contineri ; horum ali audaciam." 
 
 2 Domini. Cf. Plant., Capt. Pr., 18, Licet non haeredes sint, domini 
 sunt." 
 
 3 Grassatur. iii., 305, " Interdum et ferro subitus grassator agit 
 rem." 
 
 4 OUo vult fieri. Cf. Menand., ovdu^ e-n-Xovrrjae rax^ojg SlKaiog ajp. 
 Prov., xxviii., 20, " He that maketh haste to be rich, shall not be in- 
 nocent." 
 
 *' What law restrains, what scruples shall prevent 
 The desperate man on swift possessions bent? " Badham. 
 
SATIRE XIV. 
 
 209 
 
 rustic deities' approve ; by whose aid and intervention, since 
 the boon of the kindly corn-blade, it is man's fortune to 
 loathe the oaks he fed upon before. Naught that is forbid- 
 den will he desire to do who is not ashamed of wearing the 
 high country boots^ in frosty weather, and keeps off the east 
 winds by inverted skins. The foreign purple, unknown to us 
 before, leads on to crime and impiety of every kind." 
 
 Such were the precepts that these fine old fellows gave to 
 their children ! But now, after the close of autumn, even at 
 midnight^ the father with loud voice rouses his drowsy son : 
 ^'Come, boy, get your tablets and write ! Come, wake up ! 
 Draw indictments ! get up the rubricated statutes* of our 
 fathers — or else draw up a petition for a centurion's post. 
 But be sure Lselius observe your hair untouched by a comb, 
 and your nostrils well covered with hair,^ and your good 
 
 1 Numina ruris. Cf. Virg., Georg., i., 7, ** Liber et alma Ceres vestro 
 si munere tellus Chaoniam pingui glandem mutavit arista." So 
 Fast., i., 671, ** Placentur matres frugum Tellusque Ceresque Farre 
 suo gravidse, visceribusque suis. Consortes operum. per quas cor- 
 recta vetustas, Quernaque glans victa est utiliore cibo." iv., 399, 
 "Postmodo glans nata est bene erat jam glande reperta, duraque 
 magnificas quercus habebat opes. Prima Ceres homini ad meliora 
 alimenta vocato mutavit glandes utiliore cibo." So Sat., vi., 10, " Et 
 ssepe horridior glandem ructante marito." Sulp., 16, " Non aliler 
 primo quam cum surreximus sevo, Glandibus et purse rursus procum- 
 bere lymphse " 
 
 2 Perone. Virg., ^n., vii., 609, Crudus tegit altera pero." The 
 pero was a rustic boot, reaching to the middle of the leg, made of un- 
 tanned leather. Cf. Pers., v., 102, " Navem si poscat sibi peronatus 
 arator Luciferi rudis." 
 
 ** No guilty wish the simple plowman knows. 
 High-booted tramping through his country snows ; 
 Clad in his shaggy cloak against the wind. 
 Rough his attire and undebauch'd his mind : 
 The foreign purple, better still unknown. 
 Makes all the sins of all the world our own." Hodgson. 
 
 3 Media de node. Cf. Arist., Nub., 8, seq. 
 
 * Rubras. Cf. Pers. v,, 90, "Excepto si quid Masuri rubrica ve- 
 tavit." Ov., Trist., I., i., 7, "Nee titulus minio nee cedro charta no- 
 tetur." Mart,, iii., Ep. ii.. "Et te purpura delicata velet, et cocco 
 rubeat superbus index." In ordinary books, the titles and headings 
 of the chapters were written in red letters. But in la^w-books the 
 text was in red letter, and the commentaries and glosses in blax^k. 
 
 ^ Pilosas. ii., 11, "Hispida membra quidem et durae per brachia 
 
210 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 brawny shoulders. Sack the Numidian's hovels,^ and the 
 forts of the Brigantes,^ that your sixtieth year may bestow 
 on you the eagle that will make you rich. Or, if you shrink 
 from enduring the long-protracted labors of the camp, and 
 the sound of bugles and trumpets makes your heart faint, 
 then buy something that you may dispose of for more than 
 half as much again as it cost you ; and never let disgust at 
 any trade that must be banished beyond the other bank of 
 Tiber, enter your head, nor think that any difference can be 
 drawn between perfumes or leather. The smell of gain is 
 good^ from any thing whatever I Let this sentiment of the 
 poet* be forever on your tongue — worthy of the gods, and 
 
 >^ setae promittunt atrocem animum." Combs were usually made of 
 boxwood. Ov., Fast., vi,, 229, "Nonmihi detonsos crines depectere 
 buxo." Mart,, xiv., Ep. xxv., 2, "Quid faciet nullos hie inventura 
 capillos. multifido buxus quae tibi dente datur." 
 
 1 Attegias, a word of Arabic origin. The Magalia of Virgil, ^En., i., 
 425; iv., 259, and Mapalia of Silius Italicus, ii.. 437, seq., xvii.. 88. 
 Virg., Georg., iii., 340. Low round hovels, sometimes on wheels like 
 the huts of the Scythian nomadae, called from their shape " Cohortes 
 rotundae," "hen-coops." Cat. ap. Fest. They are described by Sal- 
 lust (Bell. Jug., 20) as "jEdificia Numidarum'agrestium, oblonga, in- 
 curvis lateribus tecta, quasi navium carinae ; " and by Hieron. as 
 "furnorum similes." Probably when jfixed they were called Maga- 
 lia; whence the name of the ancient part of Carthage, from the Pu- 
 nic ' Mager." When locomotive, MsipsilisL. Livy says that when Ma- 
 sinissa fled before Syphax to Mount Balbus, " familise aliquot cum 
 mapalibus pecoribusoue suis persecuti sunt regem." 
 
 2 The Brigantes were the most ancient and most powerful of the 
 British nations, extending from sea to sea over the counties of York, 
 Durham, Lancaster. Westmoreland and Cumberland. Tac, Agric, 
 17. The famous Cartismandua was their queen, with whom Carac- 
 tacus took refuge. Tac, Ann., xii., 32, 6. Hist., iii., 45. Hadrian 
 was in Britain, a.d. 121, when his Foss was constructed. 
 
 ^ Lucri bonus est odor. Alluding to Vespasian's answer to Titus. 
 Vid. Suet., Vesp., 23, " Reprehendenti filio Tito, quod etiam urinae 
 vectigal commentus esset, pecuniam ex prima pensione admovit ad 
 nares, sciscitans, num odore offfenderetur; et illo negante, atqui, in- 
 quit ex lotio est." Martial alludes to the fact of offensive trades be- 
 ing banished to the other side of the Tiber. VI , xciii., 4, " Non de- 
 tracta cani Transtiberna cutis." I., Ep. xlii., 3 ; cix., 2. 
 
 ^ Poetx. Ennius is said to have taken this sentiment from the 
 Bellerophon of Euripides. Horace has also imitated it; i., Ep. i., 65, 
 "Rem facias; rem si possis recte, si non quocumque modo rem.'' 
 Cf. Seneca, Epist., 115, "Non quare et unde; quid habeas tantum 
 
SATIRE XIV. 
 
 211 
 
 even great Jove himself ! — ^No one asks how you get it, but 
 have it you must/ This maxim old crones impress on boys 
 before they can run alone. This all girls learn before their 
 ABC.'^ 
 
 Any parent whatever inculcating such lessons as these I 
 would thus address : Tell me, most empty-headed of men ! 
 who bids you be in such a hurry? I engage your pupil 
 shall better your instruction. Don't be alarmed ! You will 
 be outdone ; just as Ajax outstripped Telamon, and Achilles 
 excelled Peleus. ^ Spare their tender years !^ The bane of 
 vice matured has not yet filled the marrow of their bones ! 
 As soon as he begins to trim a beard, and apply the long ra- 
 zor's edge, he will be a false witness — will sell his perjuries 
 at a trifling sum, laying his hand^ on Ceres' altar and foot. 
 Look upon your daughter-in-law as already buried, if she 
 has entered your family with a dowry that must entail death 
 on her.* With what a gripe will she be strangled in her 
 
 rogant." (No sentiment of the kind is to be found in the fragments 
 of eitlier.) 
 
 "No! though compelled beyond the Tiber's flood, 
 To move your tan-yard, swear the smell is good, 
 Myrrh, cassia, frankincense ; and wisely think 
 That what is lucrative can never stink." Hodgson. 
 
 1 Peleus. Thetis was given in marriage to Peleus, because it had 
 been foretold that she should give birth to a son who should be greater 
 than his father; and therefore Jupiter was obliged to forego his pas- 
 sion for her. Vid. yEsch., Prom. Vinct., 886, seq. Pind., Isthm., viii., 
 67. Nonnus, Dionys., xxxiii., 356. 
 
 2 Parcendumteneris. Parodied from Virg„Georg., ii., 363, "Acdum 
 prima novis adolescit frondibus setas, parcendum teneris." 
 
 3 Tangens. In swearing, the Romans laid their hands on the altars 
 consecrated to the gods to whose deity they appealed. Vid. Virg., 
 ^n., pass. Hor.,ii., Ep. i., 16. Cf. Sat, xiii., 89, "Atque ideo intre- 
 pide qusecunque altaria tangunt." Sil. iii., 82, *'Tangat Elissseas 
 palmas puerilibus aras." Liv., xxi., 1, " Annibalem annorum ferme 
 novem, altaribus admotum tactis sacris jurejurando adactum, se 
 quum primum posset, hostem fore populo Romano." 
 
 * Mortiferd. Cf. Pers., ii., 13, " Acri bile tumet. Nerio jam tertia 
 conditur uxor." 
 
 " If Fate should help Kim to a dowried wife, 
 Her doom is fix'd, and brief her span of life : 
 Sound in her sleep, while murderous fingers grasp 
 Her slender throat, hark to the victim's gasp ! " Badham. 
 
212 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 sleep ! For all that yoti suppose must be gotten by sea and 
 landj a shorter road^ will bestow on him ! Atrocious crime 
 involves no labor ! ''I never recommended this," you will 
 hereafter say, ^' nor counseled such an act." Yet the cause 
 and source of this depravity of heart rests at your doors ; for 
 he that inculcated a love for great wealth, and by his sinis- 
 ter lessons trained up his sons to avarice,^ does give full 
 license, and gives the free rein^ to the chariot's course ; then 
 if you try to check it, it can not be restrained, but, laughing 
 you to scorn, is hurried on, and leaves even the goal far be- 
 hind. No one holds it enough to sin just so much as you 
 allow him, but men grant themselves a more enlarged in- 
 dulgence. 
 
 When you say to your son, ' ' The man is a fool that gives 
 any thing to his friend,* or relieves the burden^ of his neigh- 
 bor's poverty," you are, in fact, teaching him to rob and 
 cheat, and get riches by any crime, of which as great a love 
 exists in you as was that of their country in the breast of 
 
 1 Brevior via. So Tacitus (Ann., iii., 66), speaking of Brutidius (of. 
 Sat. X., 83), says, *' Festinatio exstimulabat, dum sequales, dein superi- 
 ores, postremo suasmet ipse spes anteire parat : quod multos etiam 
 bonos pessum dedit qui, stpreiis quae tarda cum securitate, prsematura 
 vel cum exitio properarent." 
 
 2 The line ** Et qui per fraudes patrimonia conduplicare " is now 
 generally allowed to be an interpolation. 
 
 3 Effundit hahenas. So Virg., Georg., i., 512, " Ut cum carceribus 
 sese effudere quadrigae addunt in spatia, et frustra retinacula tendens 
 Fertur equis auriga, neque audit currus habenas." ^n., v., 818 ; xii., 
 499. Ov., Am., III., iv.. 15. Cf. Shaksp., King Henry V., Act iii., sc. 
 3, " What rein can hold licentious wickedness, when down the hill 
 he holds his fierce career? " 
 
 " With base advice to poison youthful hearts, 
 And teach them sordid, money-getting arts, 
 Is to release the horses from the rein, 
 And let them whirl the chariot o'er the plain: 
 Forward they gallop from the lessening goal, 
 Deaf to the voice of impotent control," Hodgson. 
 
 4 Donet amico. Hor., i.. Sat. ii., 4, " Contra hie, ne prodigus esse Di- 
 catur metuens, inopi dare nolit amico." 
 
 5 Level. Cf. Isa., Iviii., 6, "To loose the bands of wickedness, to 
 undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye 
 break every yoke." Gal., vi., 
 
SATIRE XIV. 
 
 213 
 
 the Decii ;^ as much, if Greece speaks truth, as Menaeceus^ 
 loved Thebes ! in whose furrows^ legions with their buck- 
 lers spring from the serpent's teeth, and at once engage in 
 horrid war, as though a trumpeter had arisen along with 
 them. Therefore you will see that fire* of which you your- 
 self supplied the sparks, raging far and wide, and spreading 
 universal destruction. Nor will you yourself escape, poor 
 wretch I but with loud roar the lion-pupil^ in his den will 
 mangle his trembling master. 
 
 Your horoscope is well known to the astrologers.^ Yes ! 
 but it is a tedious business to wait for the slow -spinning"^ 
 distaffs. You will be cut off long before your thread® is spun 
 out. You are long ago standing in his way, and are a drag 
 upon his wishes. Long since your slow and stag-like^ age is 
 
 1 Deciorum. Cf. ad viii., 254. Grxcia vera. Cf. x., 174, *' Quidquid 
 Grsecia mendax audet." 
 
 2 Menxceus. So called because he chose rather to " remain at 
 home," and save his country from the Argive besiegers by self-sacri- 
 fice, than to escape, as his father urged, to Dodona. See the end of 
 the Phoenissse of Euripides, and the story of the pomegranates that 
 grew on his grave, in Pausanias, ix., cap. xxv., 1. Cf. Cic, T. Qu., i., 
 48, and the end of the tenth book of Statins' Thebais. 
 
 3 Suleis. Ov., Met., iii., 1-130. Virg., Georg., ii., 141, Satis immanis 
 dentibus hydri, nec galeis densisque virum seges horruit hastis." 
 
 4 Ignem. Pind., Pyth., iii., 66, noXXav r opei nvp tvog CTrepfxaros 
 kvOopov aiarr(x)(xev vXav^ 
 
 & Leo alumnus. There is said to be an allusion to a real incident 
 which occurred under Domitian. Cf. Mart., Ep., de Spect., x., *' Lse- 
 serat ingrato leo perfidus ore magistrum ausus tarn notas contemerare 
 mantis: sed dignas tanto persolvit crimine poenas ; et qui non tulerat 
 verberatela tulit." ^sch., Ag., 717, 34. 
 
 6 Mathematicis. Suet., Calig., 57 ; Otho, 4. Cf. Sat. iii,, 43 ; vi., 556, 
 562. Among these famous astrologers the names of Thrasyllus, Sulla, 
 Theogenes, Scribonius, and Seleucus are preserved. The calculations 
 necessary for casting these nativities are called '* numeri Thrasylli," 
 " Chaldaicae rationes," " numeri Babylonii." Hor., i., Od. xi., 2. Cic, 
 de Div., ii., 47. Ov., Ibis., 209, seq. 
 
 7 Grave. Cf. Strat., Ep. Ixxii., 4, (pev [xoiprig te KaKfjg Kal rrarpdi 
 dOavdrov. 
 
 8 Stamine. Cf. iii., 27, " Dum superest Lachesi quod torqueat." x., 
 251, " De legibus ipse queratur Fatorum et nimio de stamine." 
 
 ^ Cervina. Cf. x., 247, " Exemplum vitae fuit a cornice secundae." 
 The crow is said to live for nine generations of men. The old Scho- 
 
214 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 irksome to the youth. Send for Archigenes^ at once ! and 
 buy what Mithridates^ compounded, if you would pluck 
 another fig, or handle this year' s roses. You must possess 
 yourself of that drug which every father, and every king, 
 should swallow before every meal. 
 
 I now present to you an especial gratification, to which 
 you can find no match on any stage, or on the platform of 
 the sumptuous praetor. If you only become spectator at 
 what risk to life the additions to fortune are procured, the 
 ample store in the brass-bound^ chest, the gold to be de- 
 posited in watchful Castor's* temple ; since Mars the avenger 
 has lost helmet and all, and could not even protect his own 
 property. You may give up, therefore, the games of Flora, ^ 
 
 liast says the stag lives for nine hundred years. Vid. Anthol. Gr., ii., 9, 
 
 7] (pdog dBprjc-aa cXa^ov ttXsov r} x^P^ \aid Xfjpag dpidixeiaOai Sevrepov 
 dplapihr]. In the caldron prepared by Medea to renovate ^Eson, we 
 find, " vivacisque jecur cervi quibus insuper addit ora caputque no- 
 vem cornicis ssecula passse." Auson., Idyll., xviii., 3, "Hos novies 
 superat vivendo garrula cornix, et quater 'egreditur cornicis ssecula 
 cervus." 
 
 1 Archigenem. vi., 236 ; xiii., 98. 
 
 2 Mithridates. vi. , 660, " Sed tamen et ferro si prsegustarit Atrides 
 Pontica ter victi cautus medicamina regis." x., 273 " Kegem transeo 
 Ponti." Cf. Plin., xxiii., 24 ; xxv., 11. Mart., v., Ep. 76, "Profecit 
 poto Mithridates ssepe veneno, Toxica ne possent sseva nocere sibi." 
 This composition (Synthesis) is described by Serenus Sammonicus, 
 the physician, and consists of ludicrously simple ingredients, xxx., 
 578. Cf. Plin., xxiii., 8. 
 
 ^ jErata. Cf. xi., 26, " Quantum ferrata distet ab area Sacculus." 
 
 4 Vigilem Castora. So called, Grangaeus says, " quod ante Castoris 
 templum erant militum excubiae." The temple of Mars Ultor, with 
 its columns of marble, was built by Augustus. Suet., Aug,, 29. To 
 which Ovid alludes. Fast., v., 549, " Fallor an arma sonant ? non falli- 
 mur, arma sonabant; Mars venit, et veniens bellica signa dedit. 
 Ultor ad ipse sues coelo descendit honores, Templaque in Augusto 
 conspicienda foro." 
 
 5 Florse. Cf. vi., 250. Ov., Fast., v., 183-330. The Floralia were 
 first sanctioned by the government a.u.c. 514, in the consulship of 
 Centho and Tuditanus, the year Livius began to exhibit. They were 
 celebrated on the last day of April and the first and second of May. 
 The lowest courtesans appeared on the stage and performed obscene 
 dances. Cf. Lactant., i., 20. Pers., v., 178. 
 
SATIRE XIV. 215 
 
 of Ceres, ^ and of Cybele,^ such far superior sport is the real 
 business of life ! 
 
 Do bodies projected from the petaurum,^ or they that come 
 down the tight-rope, furnish better entertainment than you, 
 who take up your constant abode in your Corycian* bark, ^ 
 ever to be tossed up and down by Corns and by Auster ? the 
 desperate merchant of vile and stinking wares ! You, who 
 delight in importing the rich^ raisin from the shores of an- 
 cient Crete, and wine-flasks^ — Jove's own fellow-countrymen ! 
 Yet he that plants his foot with hazardous tread by that 
 perilous barter earns his bread, and makes the rope ward off 
 
 1 Cereris. The Ludi Circenses in honor of Ceres (vid. Tac, Ann., 
 XV., 53, 74, Ruperti's note) consisted of horse-racing, and were cele- 
 brated the day before the ides of April. Ov., Fast., iv., 389,seQ. They 
 were instituted by C. Memmius when Curule vEdile, and were a 
 patrician festival. Gell., ii., 24. 
 
 2 Cybeles. Cf. vi., 69: xi., 191. 
 
 3 Petauro. The exact nature of this feat of agility is not determined 
 by the commentators. The word is derived from avpa and TreVo/aat, 
 and therefore seems to imply some machine for propelling persons 
 through the air, which a line in Lucilius seems to confirm, " Sicuti 
 mechanici cum alto exsiluere petauro." Fr. incert. xli. SoManilius, 
 v., 434, " Corpora quae valido saliunt excussa petauro, alternosque 
 cientmotus: elatus et ille uuncjacet atque hujus casu suspenditur 
 ille, membraque per flammas orbesque emissa flagrantes." Mart., 
 ii., Ep. 86, "Quid si per graciles vias petauri Invitum jubeas subire 
 Ladam." XL, xxi., 3, " Quam rota transmisso toties intacta petauro.'' 
 Holyday gives a drawing in which it resembles an oscillum or swing. 
 Facciolati describes it as " genus ludi, quo homines per aerem rotarum 
 pulsum jactantur." 
 
 ^ Corycus was the northwestern headland of Crete, with an island 
 of the same name lying off it. [There were two other towns of the 
 same name, in Lydia and Cilicia, both infested with pirates ; the lat- 
 ter gave its name to the famous Corycian cave. Find., Pyth,, i. 
 ^sch., P. v., 350.] 
 
 5 Municipes. The Kp^T6? ael i/zeuo-rat boasted, says Callimachus, that ' 
 Crete was not only the birthplace, but also the burial-place of Jove. 
 Cf iv., 33, "Jam princeps equitum magna qui voce solebat vendere 
 municipes pacta mercedes siluros." So Martial calls Cumsean pot- 
 tery-ware, "testa municeps Sibyllse," xiv., Ep. cxiv., and Tyrian 
 cloaks, " Cadmi municipes lacernas." Cf. Aristoph., Ach., 833, where 
 Dicseopolis producing his coal-basket says, 6 \dpKoq 617/1x6x17? 66' eor' 
 €ix6q. Crete was famous for this " passum," a kind of rich raisin wine, 
 which it appears from Athenaaus the Roman ladies were allowed to 
 drink. Liv. x., p. 440, e. Grangseus calls it " Malvoisie." 
 
 ^ -Lagenas. Cf . vii . , 121. 
 
2l6 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 both cold and hunger. You run your desperate risk, for a 
 thousand talents and a hundred villas. Behold the harbor ! 
 the sea swarming with tall ships ! more than one half the 
 world is now at sea. Wherever the hope of gain invites, a fleet 
 will come ; nor only bound over the Carpathian and Gsetulian 
 seas, but leaving Calpe^ far behind, hear Phoebus hissing 
 in the Herculean main. A noble recompense indeed for 
 all this toil ! that you return home thence with well- 
 stretched purse ; and exulting in your swelled money-bags,^ 
 brag of having seen Ocean's monsters,^ and young mermen ! 
 
 A different madness distracts different minds. One, 
 while in his sister's arms, is terrified at the features and 
 torches of the Eumenides.* Another, when he lashes the 
 bull,^ believes it is Agamemnon or Ulysses roars. What 
 though he spare his tunic or his cloak, that man requires a 
 keeper,^ who loads his ship with a cargo up to the very bul- 
 warks, and has but a plank^ between himself and the wave. 
 
 1 Calpe, now Gibraltar. It is said to have been Epicurus' notion, 
 that the sun, when setting in the ocean, hissed like red-hot iron 
 plunged in water. Cf. Stat. Sylv., II., vii., 27, "Felix heu nimis et 
 beata tellus, quae pronos Hyperionis meatus summis oceani vides in 
 undis stridoremque rotse cadentis audis." 
 
 2 Aluta. Cf. vii., 192, "Appositam nigrse lunam subtexit alutse," 
 where it is used for the shoe-leather, as Mart., xii., Ep. 25, and ii., 29. 
 Ov., A. A., iii., 271. It is a leathern apron in Mart., vii , Ep. 25, and a 
 leathern sail in Cses., B. Gall., III., xiii. Here it is a leathern money- 
 bag. It takes its name from the alumen used in the process of tan- 
 ning. 
 
 3 Oceani monstra. So Tacitus, Ann., iii 24, "Ut quis ex longinquo 
 revenerat, miracula narrabant, vim turbinum et inauditas volucres, 
 monstra maris, ambiguas hominum et belluarum formas ; visa sive 
 ex metu credita." 
 
 4 Eumenidum. Eurip., Orest., 254, seq. ^seh., Eumen. Hor., ii., 
 Sat. iii., 132, seq. 
 
 6 Bovepercusso. Soph., Aj. Cf. ad vii., 115 ; x., 84. 
 
 « Curaioris. The Laws of the xii. tables directed that ** Si furiosus 
 essit, agnatorum gentiliumque in eo pecuniaque ejus potestas esto." 
 Tab., v., 7. Cf. Hor., i., Ep. i., 102, "Nec medici credis nec curatoris 
 egere a prsetore dati." ii., Sat. iii., 217, " Interdicto huic omne adimat 
 jus praetor." 
 
 7 Tabuld, Cf. xii., 57, "Dolato confisus ligno, digitas a morte re- 
 aaotus quatuor aut septem, si sit latissima tseda." 
 
SATIRE XIV. 
 
 217 
 
 While the motive cause to all this hardship and this fearful 
 risk, is silver cut up into petty legends and minute por- 
 traits. Clouds and lightning oppose his voyage. *'A11 
 hands unmoor ! exclaims the owner of the corn and pep- 
 per he has bought up. '*This lowering sky, that bank of 
 sable clouds portends no ill ! It is but summer lightning ! 
 
 Unhappy wretch ! perchance that selfsame night he will be 
 borne down, overwhelmed with shivering timbers and the 
 surge, and clutch his purse with his left hand and his teeth. 
 And he, to whose covetous desires^ but lately not all the 
 gold sufficed which Tagus^ or Pactolus^ rolls down in its 
 tuddy sand, must now be content with a few rags to cover > 
 his nakedness, and a scanty morsel, while as a ''poor ship- 
 wrecked mariner he begs for pence, and maintains himself 
 by his painting of the storm.* 
 
 Yet, what is earned by hardships great as these, involves 
 
 " Who loads his bark till it can scarcely swim, 
 And leaves thin planks betwixt the waves and him ! 
 A little legend and a figure small 
 
 Stamp'd on a scrap of gold, the cause of all ! " Badham. 
 
 1 Cuju8Votis. 
 
 " Lo! where that wretched man half naked stands, 
 To whom of rich Pactolus all the sands 
 Were naught but yesterday! his nature fed 
 On painted storms that earned compassion's bread." Badham. 
 
 2 Tagus. Cf. iii., 55, " Omnis arena Tagi quodque in mare volvitur 
 aurum." Mart., i., Ep. 1., 15 ; x., Ep. xcvi., " Auriferumque Tagum si- 
 tiam." Ov., Met, ii., 251, "Quodque suo Tagus amne vehit fluit ig- 
 nibus aurum." 
 
 3 The Pactolus flows into the Hermus a little above Magnesia ad Se- 
 pylum. Its sands were said to have been changed into gold by 
 Midas' bathing in its waters, hence called evxp^o'fx; by Sophocles. 
 Philoct., 391. It flows under the walls of Sardis, and is closely con- 
 nected by the poets with the name and wealth of Croesus. The real 
 fact being, that the gold ore was washed down from Mount Tmolus ; 
 which Strabo says had ceased to be the case in his time : lib. xiii., c 
 4. Cf. Virg., ^n., x., 141, "Ubi pinguia culta exercentque vivi Pac- 
 tolusque irrigat auro." Senec, Phoen., 604, "Et qua trahens opu- 
 lenta Pactolus vada inundat auro rura." Athen., v. It is still called 
 Bagouli. 
 
 4 Ficia f£mpestate. Cf. ad xii., 27. 
 
 " Poor ahipwreck'd sailor ! tell thy tale and show 
 The sign-post daubing of thy watery woe." Hodgson. 
 
 10 
 
2l8 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 still greater care and fear to keep. Wretched, indeed, is the . 
 guardianship^ of a large fortune. 
 
 Licinus,2 rolling in wealth, bids his whole regiment of 
 slaves mount guard with leathern buckets^ all in rows ; in 
 dread alarm for his amber, and his statues, and his Phrygian 
 marble,* and his ivory, and massive tortoise-shell. 
 
 The tub of the naked Cynic* does not catch fire ! If you 
 smash it, another home will be built by to-morrow, or else 
 the same will stand, if soldered with a little lead. Alexan- 
 der felt, when he saw in that tub its great inhabitant, how 
 much more really happy was he who coveted nothing, than 
 he who aimed at gaining to himself the whole world ; 
 doomed to suffer perils equivalent to the exploits he 
 achieved. 
 
 Had we but foresight, thou. Fortune, wouldst have no 
 divinity.^ It is ive that make thee a goddess ! Yet if any 
 
 1 Custodia. 
 
 " First got with guile, and then preserved with dread." Spenser. 
 
 2 Licinus. Cf. ad i., 109, " Ego possideo plus Pallante et Licinis." 
 
 3 Hamis. Hama, " a leathern bucket," from the atx-rj of Plutarch. 
 Augustus instituted seven Cohortes Vi^ilum, who paraded the city 
 at night under the command of their Prsefectus, equipped with 
 *'hamae" and "dolabrse " to prevent fires. Cf. Plin., x., Ep. 42, who, 
 giving Trajan an account of a great fire at Nicomedia in his pro- 
 vince, says, " Nullus in publico sipho, nulla hama, nullum denique 
 instrumentum ad incendia compescenda." Tac, Ann., xv., 43, 
 " Jam aqua privatorum licentia intercepta, quo largior, et pluribus 
 locis in publicum flueret, custodes, et subsidia reprimendis ignibus 
 in propatulo quisque haberet : nec communione parietum, sed pro- 
 priis quaeque muris ambirentur." (Ubi vid. Ruperti's note.) These 
 custodes were called " Castellarii." Gruter. Cf. Sat. iii. , 197, seq. 
 
 4 Phrygiaque columnd. Cf. ad lin. 89. 
 
 & Dolia nudi Cynici. Cf. ad xiii., 122. The story is told by Plutarch, 
 Vit. Alex. Cf. Diog. Laert., VI., ii.,6. It is said that Diogenes died 
 at Corinth, the same day Alexander died at Babylon. Cf. x,, 171. 
 
 " The naked cynic mocks such anxious cares, ^ 
 His earthen tub no conflagration fears : 
 If crack'd or broken, he procures a new ; 
 Or, coarsely soldering, m'akes the old one do." Giflford. 
 Nullum numen. Cf. x,, 365. 
 " Where prudence dwells, there Fortune is unknown, 
 By man a goddess made, by man alone." Badham. 
 
SATIRE XIV. 
 
 219 
 
 one were to consult me what proportion of income is suf- 
 ficient, I will tell you. Just as much as thirst and hunger^ 
 and cold require ; as much as satisfied you, Epicurus, ^ in 
 your little garden ! as much as the home of Socrates con- 
 tained before. J^ature never gives one lesson, and philoso- 
 phy another. Do I seem to bind you down to too strict ex- 
 amples? Then throw in something to suit our present 
 manners. Make up the sum^ which Otho's law thinks 
 worthy of the Fourteen Rows. 
 
 If this make you contract your brows, and put out your 
 lip, then take two knights' estate, make it the three Four- 
 hundred !* If I have not yet filled your lap, but still it 
 gapes for more, then neither Croesus' wealth nor the realms 
 of Persia will ever satisfy you. No ! nor even Narcissus'* 
 wealth ! on whom Claudius Csesar lavished all, and whose 
 behest he obeyed, when bidden even to kill his wife. 
 
 1 Sitis atque fames. Hor., i., Sat. i., 73, " Nescis quo valeat nummus 
 quern prsebeat usum ? Panis ematur, olus, vini Sextarius ; adde 
 Queis humana sibi doleat natura negatis." 
 
 2 Epicure. Cf. xiii., 122, "Non Epicurum suspicit exigui laetum 
 plantaribus horti.'' 
 
 " As much as made wise Epicurus blest, 
 Who in small gardens spacious realms possess'd : 
 This is what nature's wants may well suffice ; 
 He that would more is covetous, not wise." Dryden. 
 
 3 Summam. Cf. iii., 154, "De pulvino surgat equestri Cujus res legi 
 non sufficit." Plin., xxxii., 2, "Tiberio imperante constitutem ne 
 quis in equestri ordine conseretur, nisi cui ingenuo ipsi,patri, avoque 
 paterno sestertia quadringenta census fuisset." Cf. i., 105; iii., 159, 
 " Sic libitum vano qui nos distinxit Othoni." 
 
 ^ Tertia Quadringenta. Suet., Aug., 41, " Senatorum Censum amplia- 
 vit, ac pro Octingentorum millium summa, duodecies sestertio taxa- 
 vit, supplevitque non habentibus." 
 
 & Narcissi. Of his wealth Dio says (Ix., p. 688), /ueytoroi/ rcJj^ rdre 
 avBp(x)Tr(i3V eSwrjOn fxvpidSa re yap n^eiovg fxvpicjv elx^* Narcissus and 
 his other freedmen, Posides, Felix, Polybius, etc., exercised un- 
 limited control over the idiotic Claudius, but Pallas and Narcissus 
 were his chief favorites, " Quos decreto quoque senatus, non prsemiis 
 modo ingentibus, sed et qusestoriis prsetoriisque ornamentis ornari 
 libenter passus est : " and so much did they abuse his kindness, that 
 when he was once complaining of the low state of his exchequer, it 
 was said, " abundaturum si a duobus libertis in consortium recipere- 
 
220 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 SATIRE XV. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 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 enlight- 
 ened morality of the author. 
 
 Who knows not, O Volusius^ of Bithynia, the sort of 
 monsters Egypt, ^ in her infatuation, worships? One part 
 venerates the crocodile :^ another trembles before an Ibis 
 gorged with serpents. The image of a sacred monkey glit- 
 ters in gold, where the magic chords sound from Memnon* 
 
 tur . ' ' Claudius would have certainly pardoned Messalina, had it not 
 been for Narcissus. " Nec enim Claudius Messalinam interfecisset, 
 nisi properasset index, delator adulterii, et quodammodo imperatpr 
 csedis Narcissus." See the whole account, Tac, Ann., xi., 26-38. 
 Suet., Claud., 26, sen. On the accession of Nero, Narcissus was com- 
 pelled by Agrippina to commit suicide. Cf. ad x., 330. 
 " No ! nor his heaps, whom doting Claudius gave 
 Power over all, and made himself a slave ; 
 From whom the dictates of command he drew, 
 And, urged to slay his wife, obedient slew." Hodgson. 
 
 1 Volusius is unknown. Some suppose him to be the same person 
 as the Bithynicus to whom Plutarch wrote a treatise on Friendship. 
 
 2 jEgyptus. So Cicero, "^gyptiorum morem quis ignorat? Quo- 
 rum imbutae mentes pravitatis erroribus, quamvis carnificinam prius 
 subierint quam ibin aut aspidem aut felem aut canem aut crocodi- 
 lum violent ; quorum etiam imprudentes si quidquam fecerint, poe- 
 nam nullam recusent." Tusc. Qn., v., 27. Cf. Athen., vol. ii., p. 650, 
 Dind. 
 
 3 Orocodilon, Vid. Herod., ii., 69.— 75m. Cic, de Nat. Deor., i., 36. 
 
 4 Memnone. His statue stood in the temple of Serapis at Thebes. 
 Plin., xxvi., 7. Strabo, XVii., C. 1, ra avw fxeprj ra airo rnS" KaOeSpaT 
 7reiTT0)K£ aeifffiov yevvrjBkvToS'. He says the xp6(f)0T Comes from *' the 
 lower part- remaining on the base." Cf. 1. 56, "Vultus dimidios." 
 Sat. viii.,4, " Et Curios jam dimidios." iii.,219, " Mediamque Miner- 
 vam." Cf. Clinton, Fasti Romani, in a.d. 130. 
 
SATIRE XV. 
 
 221 
 
 broken in half, and ancient Thebes lies buried in ruins, with 
 her hundred gates. In one place they venerate sea-fish, in 
 another river-fish ; there, whole towns worship a dog ;^ no 
 one Diana. It is an impious act to violate or break with the 
 teeth a leek or an onion. 2 O holy nations ! whose gods grow 
 for them in their gardens !^ Every table abstains from ani- 
 mals that have wool : it is a crime there to kill a kid. But 
 human flesh is lawful food. 
 
 Were Ulysses^ to relate at supper such a deed as this to 
 the amazed Alcinous, he would perhaps have excited the 
 ridicule or anger of some, as a lying babbler. ^ *'Does no 
 one hurl this fellow into the sea, that deserves indeed a 
 savage Charybdis and a real one^ too, for inventing^ his huge 
 Lsestrygones^ and Cyclops. For I would far more readily 
 believe in Scylla, or the Cyanean rocks that clash together,^ 
 
 ^ Canem. Cf. Lucan,viii., 832, "Semideosque canes." The allusion 
 is to the worship of Anubis, cf. vi., 533, 
 
 2 Porrum. " And it is dangerous here to violate an onion, or to stain 
 
 The sanctity of leeks with teeth profane." Giflford. 
 
 3 Hortis. " Ye pious nations, in whose gardens rise 
 
 A constant crop of earth-sprung deities !" Badham. 
 
 4 Ulyxes. Vid. Horn., Odyss., ix., 106. seq. ; x., 80, seq. 
 
 5 Aretalogus. "Parasitus, et circulator philosophus." A discourser 
 on virtue who frequented feasts ; hence, one who tells pleasing tales, 
 a romancer. The philosopher at last degenerated into the buffoon. 
 Cicero uses " Ethologus " in nearly the same sense, cf. de Orat., ii., 
 59, cum not. Harles. Suet., Aug.. 74, " Acroamata et histriones, aut 
 etiam triviales ex Circo ludios, interponebat, ac frequentius aretalo- 
 gos." Salmas., ad Flav. Vopisc, 42. Lucian, de Ver. Hist., i., 709, B. 
 Shaksp., Othello, A?t i., sc. 3. 
 
 6 Vera. Cf. viii., 188, " Judice me dignus verd cruce." 
 • Fingentem, i.e., " that they fed on human victims." 
 
 8 Lxstrygones. Their fabulous seat was Formise, now " Mola," 
 whither they were led from Sicily by Lamus, their leader. Hor., iii., 
 Od. xvii., 1 ; xvi., 34. Hom., Odyss., x., 81. 
 
 9 Concurrentia saxa. These rocks were at the northern entrance of 
 the Thracian Bosphorus, now the Channel of Constantinople ; and 
 were fabled to have floated and crushed all vessels that passed the 
 straits, till Minerva guided the ship Argo through in safety and fixed 
 them forever. They were hence called avixTr^rjydSeT, awSpoixdSeT^ 
 irXayKral, and Kvdveai, from the deep blue of the surrounding water. 
 Homer places them near Sicily. Odyss., xii., 61 ; xxiii., 327. Find., 
 
 10* 
 
222 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 and the skins filled with stormy winds ; or that Elpenor, 
 struck with the light touch of Circe's wand, grunted in 
 company with his messmates turned to hogs. Does he sup- 
 pose the heads of the Phseacians so void^ of brains?'' 
 
 So might any one with reason have argued, who was not 
 yet drunk, ^ and had taken but a scanty draught^ of the 
 potent wine from the Corcyrsean* bowl ; for the Ithacan^ told 
 his adventures alone, with none to attest his veracity. We 
 are about to relate events, wondrous indeed, but achieved 
 only lately, while Junius^ was consul, above the walls of 
 sultry Coptos. We shall recount the crime of a whole people, 
 deeds more atrocious than any tragedy could furnish. For 
 from the days of Pyrrha,^ though you turn over every tragic 
 
 Pyth., iv., 370. Cf. Herod., iv., 85. Eur., Med., 2 ; Androm., 794, 
 Theoc, Idyll., xiii., 22. Ov., Her., xii., 121. " Compressos utinam 
 Symplegades elisissent," Trist., I., x., 34. They are now called ** Pa- 
 vorane." 
 
 1 Vacui, Cf. xiv., 57, "Vacuumquecerebrojampridem caput." Cf. 
 Virg., ^n., i., 567, " Non obtusa adeo gestamus pectora Poeni." 
 
 " But men to eat men human faith surpasses, 
 This traveler takes us islanders for asses.'' Dryden. 
 
 2 Nondum ebrius. 
 
 " So might some sober hearer well have said, 
 Ere Corcyrsean stingo turned his head," Hodgson. 
 
 3 Temetum, an old word of doubtful etymology : from it is derived 
 " temulentus " and *' abstemius " (cf. Hor., ii., Ep. 163), and the phrase 
 
 Temeii timer" for a parasite. 
 
 * Corcyrmd. The Phseacians were luxurious fellows, as Horace im- 
 plies : " Pinguis ut inde domum possim Phseaxque reverti." i., Ep., 
 XV., 24. 
 
 5 Ithacus. So X., 257; xiv., 287. 
 
 6 Junio. Salmasius supposes this Junius to be Q. Junius Rusticus, 
 or Rusticius, consul with Hadrian, A.u.c. 872, a.d. 119. (Plin.,Exerc., 
 p. 320.) Others refer it to an Appius Junius Sabinus, consul with 
 Domitian, a.u.c. 835, a.d. 82. But the name of Domitian's colleague 
 was Titits Flavins; and no person of the name of Junius appears in 
 the lists of consuls till Rusticus. Some read Junco, or Vinco, to avoid 
 the synizesis ; but neither of these names occur. See Life. 
 
 7 Coptiy now Kypt or Koft, about twelve miles from Tentyra, thirty 
 from Thebes, and one hundred and twenty from Syene, where Juve- 
 nal was stationed. Ptolemy Philadelphus connected it by a road 
 with Berenice. 
 
 8 Pyrrha. Cf. i., 84. 
 
SATIRE XV. 
 
 223 
 
 theme, ^ in none is a whole people^ made the perpetrators of 
 the guih. Here, then, an instance which even in our own 
 days ruthless barbarism^ produced. There is an inveterate 
 and long-standing grudge,* a deathless hatred and a rank- 
 ling wound that knows no cure, burning fiercely still between 
 Ombos^ and Tentyra, two neighboring peoples. On both, 
 sides the principal rancor arises from the fact that each 
 place hates its neighbor's gods,^ and believes those only 
 ought to be held as deities which itself worships. But at a 
 festive period of one of those peoples, the chiefs and leaders 
 
 1 Syrmata. Properly the " long sweeping train of tragedy." Vid. 
 Hor., A. P., 278, " Personae pallseque repertor honestse." Sat., viii., 
 229, " Longum tu pone Thyestse Syrma vel Antigones vel personam 
 Menalippes." So Milton, II Pens., "Sometimes let gorgeous tragedy 
 in sceptred pall come sweeping by." Cf. Mart., xii., £p. xcv., 3, 4 ; 
 iv., Ep. xlix., 8. 
 
 2 Populus. i.e., "Tragedy only relates the atrocious crimes of in- 
 dividuals .• from the days of the Deluge, you can find no instance of 
 wickedness extending to a whole nation.'' 
 
 ^ Feritas. Aristotle enumerates as one of the characteristics of 
 Brjpidrrigj to :\;atp£ti/ Kpkaaiv avQpdjiriov. 
 
 ^ Simultas is properly " the jealousy or rivalry of two persons can- 
 didates for the same office," from simulo, synom. with semulari ; or 
 from simul. Vid. Doederlein, iii., 72. 
 
 5 Ombos, now " Koum-Ombou," lies on the right bank of the Nile, 
 not far from Syene, and consequently a hundred miles at least from 
 Tentyra. To avoid the difficulty, therefore, in the word " finitimos," 
 Salmasius would read " Coptos," this place being only twelve miles 
 distant ; but all the best editions have Ombos. Tentyra, now " Den- 
 derah," lies on the left bank of the river, and is well known from the 
 famous discoveries in its Temple by Napoleon's savans. The Tenty- 
 rites, as Strabo tells us (xvii., p. 460; cf. Plin., H. N., viii., 25), differed 
 from the rest of their countrymen in their hatred and persecution of 
 the crocodile, Ttavra rporrov avtxvevovai Kal SiacpOeipovaiv avrov^^ 
 being the only Egyptians who dared attack or face them ; and hence 
 when some crocodiles were conveyed to Rome for exhibition, some 
 Tentyrite keepers accompanied them, and displayed some curious 
 feats of courage and dexterity. Aphrodite was their patron deity. 
 The men of Coptos, Ombos, and Arsinoe, on the other hand, paid the 
 crocodile the highest reverence; considering it an honor to have 
 their children devoured by them ; and crucified kites out of spite to 
 the Tentyrites, who adored them. These religious differences are 
 said by Diodorus (ii., 4) to have been fostered by the policy of the 
 ancient kings, to prevent the conspiracies which might have resulted 
 from the cordial union and coalition of the various nomes. 
 
 ^ AUerius populi, i.e., the Tentyrites. Cf. 1. 73, seg. 
 
224 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 of their enemies determined that the opportunity must be 
 seized, to prevent their enjoying their day of mirth and 
 cheerfulness, and the delights of a grand dinner, when their 
 tables were spread near the temples and cross ways, and the 
 couch that knows not sleep, since occasionally even the sev- 
 enth day's sun finds it still there, spread without intermis- 
 sion of either night or day.i Savage, ^ in truth, is Egypt! 
 But in luxury, so far as I myself remarked, even the bar- 
 barous mob does not fall short of the infamous Canopus.^ 
 
 Besides, victory is easily gained over men reeking* with 
 wine, stammering^ and reeling. On one side there was a 
 crew of fellows dancing to a black piper ; perfumes, such as 
 they were ; and flowers, and garlands in plenty round their 
 brows. On the other side was ranged fasting hate. But 
 
 1 Pervigili. Cf. viii., 158, " Sed quum pervigiles placet instaurare 
 popinas." 
 
 " The board, where oft their wakeful revels last 
 Till seven returning days and nights are past." Hodgson. 
 
 2 Horrida. So viii., 116, " Horrida vitanda est Hispania." ix., 12, 
 *'Horrida siccse sylva comae." vi., 10, " Et saepe horridior glandem 
 ructante marito." 
 
 " For savage as the country is, it vies 
 In luxury, if I may trust my eyes, 
 With dissolute Canopus." Gifford. 
 
 3 Canopus. Cf. i., 26. Said to have been built by Menelaus, and 
 named after his pilot. It lies on the Bay of Aboukir, not far from 
 Alexandria, and was notorious for its luxury and debauchery, car- 
 ried on principally in the temple of Serapis. Cf, vi., 84, " Prodi^ia et 
 mores Urbis damnaute Canopo." Sen., Epist. 51. Propert., iii., El. 
 xi., 39. These lines prove that Juvenal was, at some time of his life, in 
 Egypt; but whether he traveled thither in early life to gratify his 
 curiosity, or, as the common story goes, was banished there in his old 
 age to appease the wrath of Paris, is doubtful. The latter story is in- 
 consistent with chronology, history, and probability. 
 
 4 Madidis. So vi., 207, " Atque coronatum et petulans madidumque 
 Tarentum." ^e/Speyixepog virofxeBvcou. Hesych., Sil., xii., 18, " Molli 
 luxu madefacta meroque Illecebris somni torpentia membra flue- 
 bant." Cf. Plant., True, IV., iv., 2, " Si alia membra vino madeant." 
 Most., I., iv., 7, ''Ecquid tibi videor madere?" TibuU., II., i.,29, 
 **Non festa luce madere est rubor, errantes et male ferre pedes:" 
 and II., ii., 8. 
 
 5 Blaesis. Cf. Mart., x.. Ep. 65. So Virgil (Georg., ii.,94) speaks of 
 the vine as " Tentatura pedes olim vincturaque linguam." Propert., 
 II., xxxiv., 22. Sen., Epist., 83. 
 
SATIRE XV. 
 
 225 
 
 with minds inflamed, they begin first of all to give vent to 
 railings^ in words. 
 
 This was the signal-blast^ of the fray. Then with shouts 
 from both sides, the conflict begins ; and in lieu of weap- 
 ons,^ the unarmed hand rages. 
 
 Few cheeks were without a wound. Scarcely one, if any, ' 
 had a whole nose out of the whole line of combatants. Now 
 you might see, through all the hosts engaged, mutilated 
 faces, * features not to be recognized, bones showing ghastly 
 beneath the lacerated cheek, fists dripping with blood from 
 their enemies^ eyes. But still the combatants themselves 
 consider they are only in sport, and engaged in a childish^ 
 encounter, because they do not trample any corpses under 
 foot. What, forsooth, is the object df so many thousands 
 mixing in the fray, if no life is to be sacrificed ? The at- 
 tack, therefore, is more vigorous ; and now with arms in- 
 clined along the ground they begin to hurl stones^ they 
 have picked up — Sedition's"' own peculiar weapons. 
 
 ^ Jurgia. So v., 26, "Jurgia proludunt." iii., 288, "Miserae cog- 
 nosce prooemia rixse." Tac, Hist., i., 64, "Jurgia primum : mox rixa 
 inter Batavos et legionarios." 
 
 2 Tuba. Cf. i.. 169, and Virg., .^:n., xi., 424, The whole of the fol- 
 lowing passage may be compared with Virg., ^n., vii., 505-527. 
 
 3 Vice tell. Ov., Met., xii., 381, " Ssevique vicem prsestantia teli.'' 
 
 * VuUus dimidios, viii., 4, " Curios jam dimidios, humeroque mino- 
 rem Corvinum et Galbam auriculis nasoque carentem." 
 " Then might you see, amid the desperate fray, 
 Features disfigured, noses torn away ; 
 ^ Hands, where the gore of mangled eyes yet reeks, 
 
 And jaw-bones starting through the cloven cheeks." Giflford. 
 
 6 Pueriles. Virg., Mn., v., 584-602. 
 
 But hitherto both parties think the fray 
 But mockery of war, mere children's play ! 
 And scandal think it t' have none slain outright, 
 Between two hosts that for religion fight." Dryden. 
 . ^ Saxa. "Stones, the base rabble's home-artillery." Hodgson. 
 
 7 Seditioni. Henninius' correction for seditione. For "domestica" 
 in this sense, cf. Sat. ix., 17. So Virg., ^n.. i., 150, " Jamque faces et 
 saxa volant, furor arma ministrat." vii., 507, " Quod cuique repertum 
 rimanti telum ira facit." 
 
 10* 
 
226 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 Yet not such stones as Ajax^ or as Turnus^ hurled ; nor 
 of the weight of that with which Tydides^ hit JEneas^ 
 thigh ; but such as right hands far different to theirs, and 
 produced in our age, have power to project. For even in 
 Homer's* lifetime men were beginning to degenerate. Earth 
 now gives birth to weak and puny mortals.^ Therefore 
 every god that looks down on them sneers and hates them ! 
 
 After this digression^ let us resume our story. When they 
 had been re-inforced by subsidies, one of the parties is em- 
 boldened to draw the sword, and renew the battle with deadly- 
 aiming'' arrows. Then they who inhabit Tentyra,^ bordering 
 
 ^ Ajax. Horn., II., vii., 268, hvrepog avr^ Ataj ttoXv nei<^ova 'Xdav 
 aeipag r}K^ e-rrtSivfiaag STrepeiae Se iv (nriXeBpov. 
 
 2 Turnus. Virg., Mn., xi., 896, " Saxum circumspicit ingens : saxum 
 antiquum ingens, campo quod forte jacebat Limes agro positus, 
 litem ut discerneret arvis. Vix illud lecti bis sex cervice subirent, 
 Qualia nunc hominUm producit corpora tellus." Cf. Hom., II., xxi., 
 405. 
 
 3 Tydides. II., v.. 302, 6 ^« X£p/-ta(5to»/ Xa/Se x^ipt ^v6ei6ns pLtya spyov 
 S ov 6vo y' avSps (pkpotev oToi vvv ^poroi Eia^ b 6i [iiv pea ndWe Kai oTog. 
 
 4 Homero. II., i., 271, Keivoiai 6^ av ovTig tcov o'l vvv ^poroi eiaiv 
 i-rnxOovtoi pLax^oiTO. 
 
 5 Malos homines. Cf. Herod., i., 68. Plin., vii., 16. Lucretius, ii., 
 1149, "Jamque adeo fracta est setas, effoetaque tellus Vix animalia 
 parva creat, quae cuncta creavit ssecla." Sen., de Ben., I., c. x., " Hoc 
 majores nostri questi sunt, hoc nos querimur, hoc posteri nostri que- 
 rentur, eversos esse mores, regnare nequitiam, in deterius res hu- 
 manas labi." Hor., iii., Od. vi.. 46, "^tas parentum, pejor avis, tu- 
 lit nos nequiores, mox daturos Progeniem vitiosiorem." 
 
 6 Diverticulo. Properly a "cross-road," then "a place to which we 
 turn aside from the high road; halting or refreshing place." Cf. 
 Liv., ix., 17. 
 
 7 Infestis. So Virg., ^n., v., 582, Convert^re vias, infesta que tela 
 tulere." 691, ** Vel tu quod superest infesto fulmine morti, Si mereor 
 dimitte." x., 877, ^' Infestd subit obvius hasta;" Liv., ii., 19, "Tar- 
 quinius Superbus quanquam jam setate et viribus gravior, equum in- 
 festus admisit." 
 
 8 Tentyra. Cf, ad 1. 35. Salmasius proposes to read here Pampse" 
 (the name of a small town) for Palmse, on account of the difficulty 
 stated above ; and supposes this to be Juvenal's way of distinguish- 
 ing Tentyra ; but Pampa is a much smaller place than Tentyra ; and 
 no one would describe London, as Browne observes, as "London 
 near Chelsea." He imagines also that Juvenal is describing an 
 affray that took place between the people of Cynopolis and Oxyryn- 
 chis about this time, mentioned by Plutarch (de Isid. et Osirid.), and 
 
SATIRE XV. 
 
 227 
 
 on the shady palms, press upon their foes, who all in rapid 
 flight leave their backs exposed. Here one of them, in excess 
 of terror urging his headlong course, falls^ and is caught. 
 Forthwith the victorious crowd having cut him up into 
 numberless bits and fragments, in order that one dead man 
 might furnish a morsel for many, eat him completely up, 
 having gnawed his very bones. They neither cooked him 
 in a seething caldron, nor on a spit. So wearisome^ and 
 tedious did they think it to wait for a fire, that they were 
 even content with the carcass raw. Yet at this we should 
 rejoice, that they profaned not the deity of fire which Pro- 
 metheus^ stole from highest heaven and gave to earth. I 
 congratulate* the element ! and you too, I ween, are glad.^ 
 But he that could bear to chew a human corpse, never tasted 
 a sweeter^ morsel than this flesh. For in a deed of such 
 horrid atrocity, pause not to inquire or doubt whether it 
 was the first maw alone that felt the horrid delight ! Nay ! 
 he that came up last,' when the whole body was now de- 
 
 that he has changed the names for the sake of the metre. Heinrich 
 leaves the difficulty unsolved. Browne supposes two places of the 
 name of Tentyra. 
 
 1 Ldbitur. Gifford compares Hesiod., Here. Scut., 251, ^npiv Ixov 
 TTcpi TrmrdvTOiv' irdn-ai 6 ap "ievto aipa pi\av Trieeiv* Sv Se npcSrov pCfxd- 
 Touv KEipLEvov t] TrLTTTOvra vEOVTUTOv, oLpQl pEV avTO) /SaXX' dvvxag pEydovs. 
 
 2 Longum. " 'T had been lost time to dress him ; keen desire 
 
 Supplies the want of kettle, spit, and fire." Dryden. 
 
 3 Prometheus. Vid. Hesiod., Op. et T>\.,4Q,seq. Theog., 564. .^sch., 
 P. Vinct., 109. Hor., 1., Od. iii., 27. Cic, Tuse. Qu., II., x., 23. Mart., 
 xiv., Ep. 80. 
 
 4 Gratulor. So Ov. , Met., x., 306, " Gentibus Ismariis et nostro gratu- 
 lor orbi, gratulor huic terrse, quod abest regionibus illis, Quae tantum 
 genuere nefas." 
 
 5 Te exsultare. Juvenal's friend Volusius is supposed to have had a 
 leaning toward the doctrine of the fire-worshipers. At least this is 
 the puerile way in which most of the commentators endeavor to 
 escape the difficulty. 
 
 ® Libentius. " But he who tasted first the human food, 
 
 Swore never flesh was so divinely good," Hodgson. 
 7 Ultimus. " And the last comer, of his dues bereft, 
 
 Sucks from the bloodstain'd soil some flavor left." 
 
 Badham, 
 
228 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 voured, by drawing his fingers along the ground, got a taste 
 of the blood ! 
 
 The Vascones,^ as report says, protracted their lives by 
 the use of such nutriment as this. But the case is very 
 different. There we have the bitter hate of fortune ! the last 
 extremity of war, the very climax of despair, the awful 
 destitution^ of a long-protracted siege. For the instance of 
 such food of which we are now speaking, ought to call forth 
 our pity.^ Since it was only after they had exhausted herbs 
 of all kinds,* and every animal to which the gnawings of an 
 empty stomach drove them, and while their enemies them- 
 selves commiserated their pale and emaciated features and 
 wasted limbs, they in their ravenous famine tore in pieces 
 others' limbs, ready to devour even their own ! What man, 
 or what god even,^ would refuse his pardon to brave men^ 
 
 1 Vascones. Sil. Ital., x., 15. The Vascones lived in the northeast 
 of Spain, near the Pyrenees, in parts of Navarre, Aragon, and old 
 Castile. They and the Cantabri were the most warlike people of His- 
 pania Tarrocensis. Their southern boundary was the Ibenis (Ebro). 
 Their chief cities were Calagurris Nassica (now Calahorra in New 
 Castile), on the right bank of the Iberus; and Pompeion (now Pam- 
 peluna), at the foot of the Pyrenees, said to have been founded by 
 Cn. Pompeius Magnus, vid. Plin., III., iii., 4. It is doubtful which of 
 these two cities held out in the manner alluded to in the text. Ser- 
 torius was assassinated b.c. 72, and the Vascones, whose faith was 
 pledged to him, sooner than submit to Pompey and Metellus, suffered 
 the most horrible extremities, even devouring their wives and chil- 
 dren. Cf. Liv.. Epit., xciii. Flor., III., xxxii. Val. Max., VII., vi. 
 Plut. in V. Sert. The Vascones afterward crossed the Pyrenees into 
 Aquitania, and their name is still preserved in the province of Gas- 
 cogne. 
 
 2 Egestas. "When frowning war against them stood array 'd 
 
 With the dire famine of a long blockade." Hodgson. 
 
 3 Miserabile. ii., 18, " Horum simplicitas miserabilis." 
 
 4 Post omnes herbas. 
 
 *• For after every root and herb were gone, 
 And ever^ aliment to hunger known ; 
 When their lean frames and cheeks of sallow hue 
 Struck e'en the foe with pity at the view ; 
 And all were ready their own flesh to tear, 
 They first adventured on this horrid fare." Gifford. 
 
 5 Virihus. The abstract used for the concrete. Another reading is, 
 Urbibus, referring to Calagurris and Saguntus. Va'esius proposed to 
 read " Ventribus," which Orellius receives. 
 
SATIRE XV. 
 
 229 
 
 suffering such fierce extremities ? men, whom the very spirits 
 of those whose bodies they fed on, could have forgiven ! 
 The precepts of Zeno teach us a better lesson. For he thinks 
 that some things only, and not ally ought to be done to pre- 
 serve life.i But whence could a Cantabrian learn the Stoics' 
 doctrines ? especially in the days of old Metellus. Now the 
 whole world has the Grecian and our Athens. 
 
 Eloquent GauP has taught the Britons^ to become plead- 
 ers ; and even Thule* talks of hiring a rhetorician. 
 
 Yet that noble people whom we have mentioned, and 
 their equal in courage and fidelity, their more than equal in 
 calamity, Saguntum,^ has some excuse to plead for such a 
 d 3ed as this ! Whereas Egypt is more barbarous even than 
 the altar of Maeotis. Since that Tauric® inventress of the 
 
 1 Quxdam pro vitd. Cf. Arist., Eth., iii., 1, 'Ei/ta 6' laojT ovk eanv 
 avayKaaOiivai aWa [xdWov aizoQvririov^ iraQdvra ra Ssivorara. Plin., 
 xxviii., 1, " Vitam quidem non adeo expetendam censemus ut quo- 
 quo modo protrahenda sit." Sen., Ep. 72, "Non omni pretio vita 
 
 emenda est." 
 
 2 Gallia. Cf. ad i., 44. Suet., Cal., xx., " Caligula instituit in Gal- 
 lia, Lugduui, certamen Graecse Latinaeque facundiae," Quintil., x., 
 1. Sat., vii., 148, " Accipiat te Gallia, vel potius nutricula causidico- 
 rum Africa, si placuit mercedem ponere linguae." 
 
 3 Britannos. Tac, Agric, xxi,, "Ingenia Britannorum studiis Gal- 
 lonim anteferre: ut qui modo linguam Romanam abnuebant, elo- 
 quentiam concupiscerent." 
 
 Thule. Used generally for the northernmost region of the earth. 
 Its position shifted with the advance of their geographical knowl- 
 edge : hence it is used for Sweden, Norway, Shetland, or Iceland. 
 Virg.,Georg., i., 30, "Tibi serviat ultima Thule." 
 
 5 Saguntus, now "Mur Viedro" in Valencia, is memorable for its 
 obstinate resistance to Hannibal, during a siege of eight months (de- 
 scribed Liv., xxi., 5-15). Their fidelity to Rome was as famous as 
 that of the Vascones to Sertorius ; but their fate was more disastrous ; 
 as Hannibal took Saguntus and razed it to the ground, after they had 
 endured the most horrible extremities, whereas the siege of Calagur- 
 ris was raised. Cf. ad v., 29. 
 
 6 Taurica. The Tauri, who lived in the peninsula called from 
 them Taurica Chersonesus (now Crimea), on the Palus Maeotis, used 
 to sacrifice shipwrecked strangers on the altar of Diana ; of which 
 barbarous custom Thoas their king is said to have been the inventor. 
 Ov., Trist., IV., iv., 93; lb., 386, "Thoanteae Taurica sacra Deae." 
 Pont., I., ii., 80 : III., ii., 59. Plin., H. N., IV., xii., 26. On this story 
 
 11 
 
230 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 impious rite (if you hold as worthy of credit all that poets 
 sing) only sacrifices men ; the victim has nothing further or 
 worse to fear than the sacrificial knife. But what calamity 
 was it drove these to crime ? What extremity of hunger, or 
 hostile arms that bristled round their ramparts, that forced' 
 these to dare a prodigy of guilt so execrable ? What greater 
 enormity^ than this could they commit, when the land of 
 Memphis was parched with drought to provoke the wrath^ 
 of Nile when unwilling to rise ? 
 
 Neither the formidable Cimbri, nor Britons, nor fierce 
 Sarmatians or savage Agathyrsi, ever raged with such fran- 
 tic brutality, as did this weak and worthless rabble, that 
 wont to spread their puny sails in pinnaces of earthenware, 
 
 is founded the Iphigenia in Tauris of Euripides, and from this was 
 derived the custom of scourging boys at the altar of Artemis Orthias 
 in Sparta. 
 
 1 Gravius cultro. 
 
 '* There the pale victim only fears the knife, 
 But thy fell zeal asks something more than life." Hodgson. 
 
 2 Invidiam facerent. Cf. Ov., Art. Am., i., 647, " Dicitur ^gyptos ca- 
 ruisse juvantibus arva Imbribus, atque annos sicca fuisse novem. 
 Cum Thracius Busirin adit, monstratque piari Hospitis eflfuso san- 
 guine posse Jovem. Illi Busiris, Fies Jovis hostia primus, Inquit et 
 ^gypto tu dabis hospes opem," It is to this story Juvenal probably 
 alludes. But invidiam facere me&ns also "to bring into odium and 
 unpopularity" (cf. Ov., Met., iv., 547), and so Gifford understands 
 it. " What more effectual means could these cannibals devise to in- 
 cense the god and provoke him to withhold his fertilizing waters, 
 thereby bringing him into unpopularity," Cf. Lucan, ii., 36, " Nul- 
 lis defuit aris Invidiam factura parens," with the note of Cortius. 
 
 3 Fictilibus phaselis. Evidently taken from Virg., Georg., iv., 287, 
 " Nam qua Pellsei gens fortunata Canopi Accolit eff*uso stagnantem 
 flumine Nilum Et circum pictis vehitur sua rura phaselis.'' The de- 
 ficiency of timber in Egypt forced the inhabitants to adopt any expe- 
 dient as a substitute. Strabo (lib. xvii.) mentions these vessels of 
 pottery-ware, varnished over to make them water-tight. Phaselus is 
 properly the long Egyptian kidney bean, from which the boats de- 
 rived their name, from their long and narrow form. From their 
 speed they were much used by pirates, and seem to have been of 
 the same build as the Myoparones mentioned by Cicero in Verrem, 
 ii., 3. Cf. CatulL, iv., 1, "Phaselus ille quem videtis hospites Ait 
 fuisse navium celerrimus." Mart., x., Ep. xxx., 12, " Viva sed quies 
 Ponti Pictam phaselon adjuvante fert aura." Cf. Lucan, v., 518. 
 Hor., iii., Od. ii., 29. Virg., Georg., i., 277. Arist., Pax, 1144. 
 
 " Or through the tranquil water s easy swell, 
 Work the short paddles of their painted shell." Hodgson. 
 
SATIRE XV. 
 
 231 
 
 and ply the scanty paddles of their painted pottery-canoe. 
 You could not invent a punishment adequate to the guilt, 
 or a torture bad enough for a people in whose breasts ' ' an- 
 ger" and " hunger^' are convertible terms. 
 
 Nature confesses that she has bestowed on the human 
 race hearts of softest mould, in that she has given us tears. ^ 
 Of all our feeling this is the noblest part. She bids us 
 therefore bewail the misfortunes of a friend in distress, and 
 the squalid appearance of one accused, or an orphan^ sum- 
 moning to justice the guardian who has defrauded him. 
 Whose girl-like hair throws doubt^ upon the sex of those 
 cheeks bedewed with tears ! 
 
 It is at nature^ s dictate that we mourn when we meet the 
 funeral of a virgin of marriageable years, or see an infant* 
 laid in the ground, too young for the funeral pyre. For 
 what good man, who that is worthy of the mystic torch, ^ 
 such an one as Ceres^ priest would have him be, ever deems 
 the ills of others^ matter that concerns not himself? 
 
 This it is that distinguishes us from the brute herd. And 
 
 1 Lacrymas. So the Greek proverb, ayaeol 6' apiSaKpveg avSpeg. 
 
 2 Pupillum. Cf. i., 45, " Quum popuTum gregibus comitum premit 
 hie spoliator Pupilli prostantis," x., 222, Quot Basilus vsocios, quot 
 circumscripserit Hirrus pupillos." 
 
 3 Incerta. Hor., ii., Od. v., "Quein si puellarum insereres chore 
 Mire sagaces falleret hospites Discrimen obscurum solutis Crinibus 
 ambiguoque vultu." 
 
 " So soft his tresses, filled with trickling pearl, 
 You'd doubt his sex, and take him for a girl." Dryden. 
 
 4 Minor igne rogi. Infants under forty days old were not burned, 
 but buried ; and the place was called " Suggrundarium." Vid. Face, 
 in voc. Cf. Plin., H. N., vii., 16. 
 
 5 Arcana. Hor., iii., Od. ii., 26, "Vetabo qui Cereris sacrum vul- 
 garit arcanx, sub isdem sit trabibus fragilemve mecum solvat phase- 
 Ion." Cf. Sat. vi., 50, " PauciB adeo Cereris vittas contingere dignae." 
 None were admitted to initiation in the greater mysteries without a 
 strict inquiry into their moral character ; as none but the chastest 
 matrons were allowed to be priestesses of Ceres. For the origin of 
 the use of the torch in the sacred processions of Ceres, see 07id, 
 Fast., iv., 493, seq. 
 
 •5 AHena. From Ter., Heaut., I., i., 25, "Homo sum ; humani nihil 
 a me alienum puto." Cf. Cic, Off., i., 9. 
 
232 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 therefore we alone, endued with that venerable distinction 
 of reason^ and a capacity for divine things, with an aptitude 
 for the practice as well as the reception of all arts and sci- 
 ences, have received, transmitted to us from heaven's high 
 citadel,'^ a moral sense, which brutes prone^ and stooping 
 toward earth, are lacking in. In the beginning of the world, 
 the common Creator of all vouchsafed to them only the prin- 
 ciple of vitality ; to us he gave souls* also, that an instinct of 
 affection reciprocally shared, might urge us to seek for, and 
 to give, assistance ; to unite in one people, those before 
 widely-scattered f to emerge from the ancient wood, and 
 abandon the forests^ where our fathers dwelt ; to build 
 houses, to join another's dwelling to our own homes, that 
 the confidence mutually engendered by a neighbor's thresh- 
 
 1 Sortiti ingenium. Cf. Cic, Nat. Deor., ii., 56, " Sunt enim homines 
 non ut incolse atque habitatores, sed quasi spectatores superarum 
 rerum atque coelestium, quarum spectaculum ad nullum aliud genus 
 animantium pertinet." 
 
 2 Ccdesti. Virg., ^n., vi., 730, **Igneus est ollis vigor et coelestis 
 origo." Hor., ii., Sat, ii., 79, " Divinse particulam aurse." 
 
 3 Frona. Ov., Met., i., 84, " Pronaque cum spectent animalia csetera 
 terram, Os homini sublime dedit, coelumque tueri jussit et erectos ad 
 sidera tollere vultus." Sail., Bell. Cat, init., "Omnee homines qui 
 sese student praestare cseteris animalibus quae Natura prona et ventri 
 obedientia finxit." 
 
 4 Animam. i., 83. Cf. ad vi., 531. 
 
 To brutes our Maker, when the globe was new, 
 
 Lent only life : to men, a spirit too. 
 
 That mutual kindness in our hearts might bum, 
 
 The good which others did us, to return : 
 
 That scattered thousands might together come, 
 
 Leave their old woods, and seek a general home." Hodgson. 
 
 5 JDispersos. Cic, Tusc. Qu., v., 2, " Tu dissipatos homines in socie- 
 tatem vitse convocasti ; tu eos inter se primo domiciliis, deinde con- 
 jugiis, tum literarum et vocum communione junxisti." Hor., i., Sat. 
 iii., 104, " Dehinc absistere bello: oppida coeperunt munire et ponere 
 leges." Ar. Poet., 391, " Sylvestres homines sacer interpresque deorum 
 Csedibus et victu fcedo deterruit Orpheus." 
 
 ^ Sylvas. Ov., Met., i., 121, "Tum primum subiere domos. Domus 
 antra fuerunt, et densi frutices, et vinctae cortice virgse." Lucr., v,, 
 953, " Sed nemora atque cavos montes sylvasque Golebant, Et frutices 
 inter eondebant squalida membra." 
 
SATIRE XV. 
 
 233 
 
 old might add securityi to our slumbers ; to cover with our 
 arms a fellow-citizen"^ when fallen or staggering from a 
 ghastly wound ; to sound the battle -signal from a common 
 clarion ; to be defended by the same ramparts, and closed 
 ' in by the key of a common portal. 
 
 But now the unanimity^ of serpents is greater than ours. 
 The wild beast of similar genus spares his kindred* spots. 
 When did ever lion, though stronger, deprive his fellow-lion 
 of life ? In what wood did ever boar perish by the tusks of a 
 boar^ larger than himself ? The tigress of India^ maintains 
 unbroken harmony with each tigress that ravens. Bears, 
 savage to others, are yet at peace among themselves. But 
 for man V he is not content with forging on the ruthless 
 anvil the death-dealing steel ! While his progenitors, those 
 primaeval smiths, that wont to hammer out naught save 
 rakes and hoes, and wearied out with mattocks and plow- 
 
 1 Collata fiducia. 
 
 " Thus more securely through the night to rest, 
 And add new courage to our neighbor's breast." Hodgson. 
 
 2 Civem. Hence the proud inscription on the civic crown, OB. 
 GIVES. SERVATOS. 
 
 3 Concordia. Plin., H. N., vii., in., " Csetera animantia in suo genere 
 probe degunt; congregari videmus, et stare contra dissimilia : Leo- 
 num feritas inter se non dimicat : serpentum morsus non petit ser- 
 pentes ; nec maris quidem belluse nisi in diversa genera saeviunt. At 
 Hercule, homini plurima ex homine sunt mala." Hor., Epod., vii., 
 11, " Neque hie lupis mos nec fuit leonibus, nunquam nisi in dispar 
 feris." " Homo homini lupus." Prov. Rom. 
 
 4 Cognatis. ' ' His kindred spots the very pard will spare. ' * Badham. 
 
 5 Dentihus apri. Nor from his larger tusks the forest boar 
 
 Commission takes his brother swine to gore." Dryd. 
 
 6 Indica tigris. Plin., H. N., viii., 18, " Tigris Indica fera velocitatis 
 tremendse est, quae vacuum reperiens cubile fertur praeceps odore 
 vestigans," et seq. 
 
 " In league of Friendship tigers roam the plain. 
 And bears with bears perpetual peace maintain." Gifford. 
 
 7 Ast homini. 
 
 " But man, fell man, is not content to make 
 The deadly sword for murder's impious sake, 
 Though ancient smiths knew only to produce 
 Spades, rakes, and mattocks for the rustic's use ; 
 And guiltless anvils in those ancient times 
 Were not subservient to the soldier's crimes." Hodgson. 
 
 11* 
 
234 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 shares, knew not the art of manufacturing swords, i Here 
 we behold a people whose brutal passion is not glutted with 
 simple murder, but deem"^ their fellows' breasts and arms 
 and faces a kind of natural food. 
 
 What then would Pythagoras^ exclaim ; whither would he 
 not flee, could he be witness in our days to such atrocities 
 as these ! He that abstained from all that was endued with 
 life as from man himself ; and did not even indulge his ap- 
 petite with every kind of pulse. 
 
 Gladios. Virg., Georg., ii., 538. • 
 " Aureus hanc vitam in terris Saturnus agebat. 
 Necdum etiam audierant inflari classica, necdum 
 Impositos duris crepitare incudibus enses." 
 2 Ev'n this is trifling. We have seen a rage 
 Too fierce for murder only to assuage ; 
 Seen a whole state their victim piecemeal tear, 
 And count each quivering limb delicious fare ! " Gifford. 
 2 Pythagoras, iii., 228, " Culti villicus horti unde epulum possis cen- 
 tum dare Pythagoreis." Holding the doctrine of the Metempsycho- 
 sis, Pythagoras was averse to shedding the blood of any animal. 
 Various reasons are assigned for his abstaining from beans ; from 
 their shape— from their turning to blood if exposed to moonshine, 
 etc. Diog. Laert. says (lib. vlii. cap i), rCjv 6e Kvdfic^v dTrriyopsvev 
 k'X^ffBai Sid TO TVEv^aruiSeig ovraS //aXXof fxerexciv rov xpvxiKov — Kai rag 
 KaOvTTPOvs (pavraaiag Xeiag Kal drapdxovg dnoTeXeXv. In which view Ci- 
 cero seems to concur: De Div., ii., 119, "Pythagoras et Plato, quo in 
 somnis certiora videamus. prseparatos quodam cultu atque victu 
 proficisci ad dormiendum jubent: Faba quidem Pythagorei utique 
 abstinuere, quasi vero eo cibo mens non venter infletur." Cf. Ov., 
 Met., XV., 60, seq. See Browne's Vulgar Errors, book i., chap. iv. 
 (Bohn's Antiquarian Library): "When (Pythagoras) enjoined his 
 disciples an absence from heans, .... he had no other intention 
 than to dissuade men from magistracy, or undertaking the public 
 offices of the state ; for by beans was the magistrate elected in some 
 parts of Greece ; and after his days, we read in Thucydides of the 
 Council of the Bean in Athens. It hath been thought by some an 
 injunction only of continency." 
 
SATIRE XVI. 
 
 235 
 
 SATIRE XVI. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 Under a pretense of pointing out to his friend Gallus the advantages 
 of a military life, Juvenal attacks with considerable spirit the ex- 
 clusive privileges which the army had acquired or usurped, to the 
 manifest injury of the civil part of the community. 
 
 Who could possibly enumerate, Gallus,^ all the advan- 
 tages that attend military service when fortunate ? For if I 
 could but enter the camp with lucky omen, then may its 
 gate welcome me, a timid and raw recruit, under the influ- 
 ence of some auspicious planet. For one hour of benignant 
 Fate is of more avail than even if Venus''^ self should give 
 me a letter of recommendation to Mars, or his mother Juno, 
 that delights in Samos' sandy shore. ^ 
 
 Let us treat, in the first place, of advantages in which all 
 share ; of which not the least important is this, that no ci- 
 vilian* must dare to strike you. Nay, even though he be 
 himself the party beaten, 5 he must dissemble his wrath, and 
 
 1 Gallus. Of this friend of Juvenal, as of Volusius in the last Sa- 
 tire, nothing is known. He is perhaps the same person whose name 
 occurs so frequently in Martial. 
 
 2 Veneris. For her influence over Mars, vid. Lucret., i., 32. 
 
 3 Samia arend. Cf. Virg., JEn., i., 15, *'Quam Juno fertur terris 
 magis omnibus unam Posthabita coluisse Samo." Herod., ii., 148 ; 
 iii.,60. Paus., VII., iv., 4. Athen., xiv., 655 ; xv., 672. The famous 
 temple of Juno was said to have been built by the Leleges, the first 
 inhabitants of the island : her statue, which was of wood, was the 
 workmanship of Smilis, a contemporary of Daedalus. Juno is said 
 to have here given birth to Mars, alone. Ov., Fast., v., 229. Samos 
 was the native country of the peacock, hence sacred to Juno. Cf. 
 vii., 32. 
 
 ^ Togatus. The toga, the robe of peace, as the Sagum is that of war. 
 (So 33, "paganum.") Cf. Juv., viii., 240; x., 8, *'Nocitura toga noci- 
 tura petuntur Militia." So " Cedant arma togae." 
 
 ^ Fulsetur. Cf. iii.,300. 
 
236 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 not dare to show the praetor^ the teeth he has had knocked 
 out, and the black bruises on his face with its livid swell- 
 ings, and all that is left of his eye, which the physician can 
 give him no hopes of saving. If he wish to get redress for 
 this, a Bardiac^ judge is assigned him — the soldier's boot, 
 and stalwart calves that throng the capacious benches of the 
 camp, the old martial law and the precedent of Camillus^ 
 being strictly observed, ' ^ that no soldier shall be sued out- 
 side the trenches, or at a distance from the standards. 
 
 Of course, where a soldier is concerned, the decision of the 
 centurion will needs be most equitable nor shall I lack my 
 Just revenge, provided only the ground of the complaint I 
 lay be just and fair. 
 
 Yet the whole cohort is your sworn enemy ; and all the 
 maniples, with wonderful unanimity, obstruct the course of 
 justice. Full well will they take care that the redress you 
 get shall be more grievous than the injury itself. It will be 
 an act, therefore, worthy of even the long-tongued Vagel- 
 
 1 Prsstori. " Tremble before the Praetor's seat to show, 
 
 His livid features, swoll'n with many a blow : 
 His eyes closed up, no sight remaining there. 
 Left by the honest doctor in despair." Hodgson. 
 
 2 Bardiacus. On the sense of this passage all the commentators are 
 agreed, though they arrive at it by different routes — " Your judge 
 will be some coarse, brutal, uncivilized soldier; who cares nothing 
 for the feelings of the toga'd citizen, or for the principles of justice." 
 Marius is said to have had a body-guard of slaves, who flocked to 
 him, chiefly Hlyrian; whom he called his " Bardisei." Pliny calls 
 them " Vardsei," and Strabo dpStaiot. (Cf. Plut., in vit. Mar. Plin., 
 iii., 32. Strabo, vii., 5.) Bardiacus (or Bardaicus) may therefore be 
 taken absolutely, or with judex, or with calceus. If taken alone, 
 then cucullus is said to be understood, as Mart., xiv., 128, " Gallia 
 Santonico vestit te Bardocucullo." i., Ep. liv., 5; xiv., 139; IV., iv.. 
 5. This cowl " was made of goats' hair. If taken with calceus, it 
 would imply some such kind of shoe as the " Udo " in Ep. xiv., 140. 
 
 3 Camillo. This law was passed by Camillus, while dictator, dur- 
 ing the siege of Veil ; to prevent his soldiers absenting themselves 
 from the camp, on the plea of civil business. It led, of course, in 
 time to the grossest abuses. 
 
 Justissima. 
 
 Oh! righteous court, where generals preside. 
 
 And regimental rogues are justly tried ! " Hodgson. 
 
SATIRE XVI. 
 
 237 
 
 lius' mulish heart, ^ while you have still a pair of legs to 
 provoke the ire of so many buskins, so many thousand hob- 
 nails For who can go so far from Rome ? Besides, who 
 will be such a Pylades^ as to venture beyond the rampart of 
 the camp ? So let us dry up our tears forthwith, and not 
 trouble our friends, who will be sure to excuse themselves. , 
 When the judge calls on you, Produce your witness,"* let 
 the man, whoever he may be, that saw the cuffs, have the 
 courage to stand forth and say, I saw^ the act," and I will 
 hold him worthy of the beard, ^ and worthy of the long hair 
 of our ancestors. Yon could with greater ease suborn sl false 
 witness against a civilian,'^ than one who would speak the 
 
 1 Mulino. Perhaps Stapylton's is the best translation of this epi- 
 thet of the declaimer in a hopeless cause. He calls him ** a desper- 
 ate ass." Others read " Mutinensi." 
 
 2 Caligas. iii., 247, "Planta mox undique magn^ calcor, et in 
 digito clavus mihi militis hseret " (and 322, " Adjutor gelidos veniam 
 caligatus in agros "). This was one of the tender recollections Um- 
 britius had when leaving Rome. The caliga, being a thick sole with 
 no upper leather, bound to the foot with thongs, and studded under- 
 neath with iron nails, would be a fearful thing to encounter on 
 one's shins or toes. (Justin says, "Antiochus' soldiers were shod 
 with gold ; treading that under foot for which men fight with 
 iron.") 
 
 3 Pylades. 
 
 " And Where's the Pylades, the faithful friend, 
 That shall thy journey to the camp attend ? 
 Be wise in time ! See those tremendous shoes ! 
 Nor ask a service which e'en fools refuse." Badham. 
 * Datesiem. Cf. iii., 137. 
 
 5 Vidi. Cf. vii., 13, " Quam si dicas sub judice Vidi, quod non vi- 
 disti." 
 
 6 Barbd. Cf. ad iv., 103. Barbers were introduced from Sicily to 
 Rome by P. Ticinius Msena, a.u.c. 454. Scipio Africanus is said to 
 have been the first Roman who shaved daily. Cf. Plin., vii., 95. 
 Hor., i., Od., xii., 41, "Incomptis Curium capillis." ii., Od. xv., 11, 
 " Intonsi Catonis." Tib., II., 1., 34, " Intonsis avis." 
 
 7 Paganum. Cf. ad 1. 8. It appears that under the emperors hus- 
 bandmen were exempt from military service in order that the land 
 might not fall out of cultivation. The " paganus," therefore, is op- 
 posed to the '* armatus " here, and by Pliny, Epist. x., 18, " Et milites 
 et pagani." Epist. vii., 25, " Ut in castris, sic etiam in Uteris nostris 
 (sunt), plures culto pagano quos cinctos et armatos, diligentius scru- 
 tatus invenies." Pagus is derived from the Doric Trayd, because vil- 
 lages were originally formed round springs of water. Cf. Hooker's 
 Eccl. Pol., lib. v., c. 80. 
 
238 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 truth against the fortune and the dignity of the man-at- 
 arms. 
 
 Now let us observe other prizes and other solid advan- 
 tages of the military life. If some rascally neighbor has de- 
 ^ frauded me of a portion of the valley of my paternal fields, 
 or encroached on my land, and removed the consecrated 
 stone from the boundary that separates our estates, that 
 stone which my pulse has yearly^ honored with the meal- 
 cake derived from ancient days, or if my debtor persists in 
 refusing repayment of the sum I lent him, asserting that the 
 deed is invalid and the signature a forgery : I shall have to 
 wait a whole year occupied with the causes of the whole 
 nation, before my case comes on. But even then I must put 
 up with a thousand tedious delays, a thousand difficulties. 
 So many times the benches only are prepared ; then, when 
 the eloquent Cseditius^ is laying aside his cloak, and Fuscus 
 
 " With much more ease false witnesses you'll find 
 To swear away the life of some poor hind, 
 Than get the true ones all they know to own 
 Against a soldier's fortune and renown." Hodgson. 
 
 1 Puis annua. Cf. Dionys. Hal., ii., 9, ^eovT te yap nyovvrai rovT 
 repfiovaT^ Kai Srvovaiv avroiT eri rcov ^iv ifixpvx^v ovSev' ov yap '6<tiov 
 alfidrretv rovS" TreKavovT 61 Kfijir^TpoT^ KaX aWaT tlvolT Kapiroiv 
 drrapxas: For they hold the boundary stones to be gods ; and sac- 
 rifice to them nothing that has life, because it would be impious to 
 stain the stones with blood ; but they offer wheaten cakes, and other 
 first-fruits of their crops." The divisions of land were maintained by 
 investing the stones which served as landmarks with a religious 
 character : the removal of these, therefore, added the crime of sacri- 
 lege to that of dishonesty, and brought down on the heathen the 
 curse invoked in the purer system of theology, " Cursed be he that 
 removeth his neighbor's landmark." Deut., xxvii., 17. To these 
 rude stones, afterward sculptured (like the Hermae) into the form of 
 
 ' the god Terminus above, the rustics went in solemn procession an- 
 nually, and offered the produce of the soil ; flowers and fruits, and 
 the never-failing wine, and " mola salsa." Numa is said by Plutarch 
 to have introduced the custom into Italy, and one of his anathemas 
 is still preserved : **Qui terminum exarasit, ipsus et boves sacrei 
 sunto." Cf. Blunt's Vestiges, p. 204. Hom., II., xxi., 405. Virg., ^n., 
 xii., 896 
 
 2 Cxditio. xiii., 197, "Poena ssevior illis quas et Cseditius gravis in- 
 venit et Rhadamanthus." But it is very doubtful whether the same 
 
SATIRE XVI. 
 
 239 
 
 must retire for a little, though all prepared, we must break 
 up ; and battle in the tediously-protracted arena of the 
 court. But in the case of those who wear armor, and buckle 
 on the belt, whatever time suits them is fixed for the hearing 
 of their ca-use, nor is their fortune frittered away by the slow 
 drag-chain^ of the law. 
 
 Besides, it is only to soldiers that the privilege is granted, 
 of making their wills while their fathers are still alive. ^ For 
 it has been determined that all that has been earned by the 
 hard toil of military service should not be incorporated with 
 that sum of which the father holds the entire disposal. And 
 so it is, that while Coranus follows the standards and earns 
 his daily pay, his father, though tottering on the edge of the 
 grave, pays court to his son that he may make him his heir. 
 
 His duties regularly discharged procure the soldier ad- 
 vancement ; and yield to every honest exertion^ its justly 
 
 person is intended here, as also whether Fuscus is the same whose 
 wife's drinking propensities are hinted at, xii., 45, "dignum sitiente 
 Pholo, vel conjuge Fusci." (Pliny has an Epistle to Corn. Fuscus, 
 vii., 9.) He is probably the Aurelius Fuscus to whom Martial wrote, 
 vii., Ep. 28. 
 
 1 Sufflamine. " Nor are their wealth and patience worn away 
 
 By the slow drag-chain of the law's delay." Gifford. 
 
 2 Tedandi vivo patre. Under ordinary circumstances tlie power of 
 a father over his son was absolute , extending even to life and death, 
 and terminating only at the decease of one of the parties. Hence 
 " peculium " is put for the sum of money that a father allows a son, 
 or a master a slave, to have at his own disposal. But even this per- 
 mission was revocable. A soldier, who was sui juris, was allowed to 
 name an heir in the presence of three or four witnesses, and if he 
 fell, this " nuda voluntas testatoris " was valid. This privilege was 
 extended by Julius Csesar to those who were " in potestate patris." 
 
 Liberam testandi factionem concessit, D. Julius Csesar: sed ea con- 
 cessio temporalis erat: postea vero D. Titus dedit : post hoc Domi- 
 tianus : postea Divis Nerva plenissimam indulgentiam in milites 
 contulit: eamque et Trajanus secutus est." "Julius Caesar granted 
 them the free power of making a will; but this was only a temporary 
 
 Erivilege. It was renewed by Titus and Domitian. Nerva afterward 
 estowed on them full powers, which were continued to them by 
 Trajan." Vid. Ulnian, 23, § 10. The old Schol., however, says this 
 privilege was confined to the "peculium Castrense ;" but he is prob- 
 ably mistaken. 
 
 2 Labor. Ruperti suggests " favor," to avoid the harshness of the 
 phrase labor reddit sua dona labori'' Browne reads reddi. 
 
240 JUVENAL. 
 
 merited guerdon.^ For doubtless it appears to be the interest 
 of the general himself, that he that proves himself brave 
 should also be most distinguished for good fortune, that all 
 may glory in their trappings, ^ all in their golden chains. 
 
 f 1 Dona. Cf. Sil., xv., 254, "Turn merita sequantur donis et praemia 
 Virtus sanguine parta cap it : Phaleris hie pectora fulget : Hie torque 
 aurato circumdat bellica colla." 
 
 ^Phaleris. Cf. ad xi., 103, Ut phaleris gaud eret equus." Siccius 
 Dentatus is said to have had 25 phalerae, 83 torques, 18 hastse purse, 
 160 bracelets, 14 civic, 8 golden, 3 mural, and 1 obsidional crown. 
 Plin., VII., xxviii., 9 ; xxxiii., 2. 
 
 Here the satire terminates abruptly. The conclusion is too tame to 
 be such as Juvenal would have left it, even were the whole subject 
 thoroughly worked up. It is probably an unfinished draught. The 
 commentators are nearly equally balanced as to its being the work 
 of Juvenal or not ; but one or two of the touches are too masterly to 
 be by any other hand. 
 
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