Satire X
In all the regions which extend from Gades550 even to the farthest east and Ganges, there are but few that can discriminate between real blessings and those that are widely different, all the mist551 of error being removed. For what is there that we either fear or wish for, as reason would direct? What is there that you enter on under such favorable auspices, that you do not repent of your undertaking, and the accomplishment of your wish? The too easy gods have overthrown552 whole families by granting their owners’ prayers. Our prayers are put up for what will injure us in peace and injure us in war. To many the copious fluency553 of speech, and their very eloquence, is fatal. It was owing to his strength554 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 Britain555 exceeds dolphins, causes more to be strangled. Therefore it was, that in that reign of Terror, and at Nero’s bidding, a whole cohort556 blockaded Longinus557 and the spacious gardens of the over-wealthy Seneca,558 and laid siege to the splendid559 mansion of the Laterani.560 It is but rarely that the soldier pays his visit to a garret. Though you are conveying ever so few vessels of unembossed silver, entering on your journey by night, you will dread the bandit’s knife and bludgeon, and tremble at the shadow of a reed as it quivers in the moonshine.561 The traveler with empty562 pockets will sing even in the robber’s face.
The prayers that are generally the first put up and best known in all the temples are, that riches,563 that wealth may increase; that our chest may be the largest in the whole forum.564 But no aconite is drunk from earthenware. It is time to dread it when you quaff jeweled cups,565 and the ruddy Setine blazes in the broad gold. And do you not, then, now commend the fact, that of the two sages,566 one used to laugh567 whenever he had advanced a single step from his threshold; the other, with sentiments directly contrary, used to weep. But easy enough to any one is the stern censure of a sneering laugh: the wonder is how the other’s eyes could ever have a sufficient supply of tears.568 Democritus used to shake his sides with perpetual laughter, though in the cities of those regions there were no prætextæ, no trabeæ,569 no fasces, no litter, no tribunal! What, had he seen the prætor570 standing pre-eminent in his lofty car, and raised on high in the mid dust of the circus, dressed in the tunic of Jove, and wearing on his shoulders the Tyrian hangings of the embroidered toga; and the circlet of a ponderous crown,571 so heavy that no single neck could endure the weight:572 since the official, all in a sweat, supports it, and, that the consul may not be too elated, the slave rides in the same car. Then, add the bird that rises from his ivory sceptre: on one side the trumpeters; on the other, the long train of attendant clients, that march before him, and the Quirites, all in white togas, walking by his horses’ heads; men whose friendship he has won by the sportula buried deep in his chest. Even in those days he found subject for ridicule in every place where human beings meet, whose wisdom proves that men of the highest intellect, men that will furnish noble examples, may be born in the country of wether-sheep, and in a foggy573 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 finger574 in scorn! Superfluous therefore, or else destructive, are all those objects of our prayers, for which we think it right to cover the knees of the gods with waxen tablets.575
Power, exposed to great envy, hurls some headlong down to ruin. The long and splendid list of their titles and honors sinks576 into the dust. Down come their statues,577 and are dragged along with ropes: then the very wheels of the chariot are smashed by the vigorous stroke of the axe, and the legs of the innocent578 horses are demolished. Now the fires roar! Now that head, once worshiped579 by the mob, glows with the bellows and the furnace! Great Sejanus crackles! Then from that head, second only in the whole wide world, are made pitchers, basins, frying-pans,580 and platters! “Crown your doors with bays!581 Lead to Jove’s Capitol a huge and milk-white ox! Sejanus is being dragged along by the hook! a glorious sight!” Every body is delighted. “What lips he had! and what a face! If you believe me, I never could endure this man!” “But what was the charge under which he fell! Who was the accuser? what the information laid? By whose witness did he prove it?” “Nothing of the sort! a wordy and lengthy epistle came from Capreæ.” “That’s enough! I ask no farther. But how does the mob of Remus behave!” “Why, follow Fortune,582 as mobs always do, and hate him that is condemned?” That self-same people, had Tuscan Nurscia583 smiled propitious on her countryman—had the old age of the emperor been crushed while he thought all secure—would in that very hour have saluted Sejanus as Augustus. Long ago they have thrown overboard all anxiety. For that sovereign people that once gave away military command, consulships, legions, and every thing, now bridles its desires, and limits its anxious longings to two things only—bread, and the games of the circus! “I hear that many are involved in his fall.” “No doubt: the little furnace584 is a capacious one; I met my friend Brutidius585 at the altar of Mars looking a little pale!” “But I greatly fear that Ajax, being baffled,586 will wreak fearful vengeance, as having been inadequately defended. Let us rush headlong; and, while he still lies on the river-bank, trample on Cæsar’s foe? But take care that our slaves witness the act! lest any of them should deny it, and drag his master to trial with a halter round his neck!” Such were the conversations then about Sejanus; such the smothered whispers of the populace? Would you then have the same court paid to you that Sejanus had? possess as much, bestow on one the highest curule honors, give another the command of armies,587 be esteemed the lawful guardian588 of the prince that lounged away589 his days with his herd of Chaldæan astrologers, in the rock of Capreæ that he made his palace?590 Would you have centuries and cohorts, and a picked body of cavalry,591 and prætorian bands at your beck? Why should you not covet these? Even those who have not the will to kill a man would gladly have the power. But what brilliant or prosperous fortune is of sufficient worth that your measure of evils should balance your good luck? Would you rather put on the prætexta of him that is being dragged along, or be the magistrate of Fidenæ or Gabii, and give sentence about false weights,592 and break up scanty measures as the ragged ædile of the deserted Ulubræ?593
You acknowledge, therefore, that Sejanus did not know what ought to have been the object of his wishes. For he that coveted excessive honors, and prayed for excessive wealth, was but rearing up the multiplied stories of a tower raised on high, only that the fall might be the deeper,594 and horrible the headlong descent of his ruin595 once accelerated!
What overthrew the Crassi?596 and Pompey and his sons?597 and him that brought Rome’s haughty citizens quailing598 beneath his lash? Surely it was the post of highest advancement, reached by every possible device, and prayers for greatness heard by gods who showed their malignity in granting them! Few kings go down without slaughter and wounds to Ceres’ son-in-law. Few tyrants die a bloodless death!
He that as yet pays court to599 Minerva, purchased by a single as, that is followed by his little slave600 to take charge of his diminutive satchel, begins to long, and longs through all his quinquatrian601 holidays, for the eloquence and the renown of Demosthenes or Cicero. But it was through their eloquence that both of these orators perished: the copious and overflowing fount of talent gave over each to destruction; by talent, was his hand and head cut off! Nor did the Rostra602 ever reek with the blood of a contemptible pleader.
“O fortunate Rome, whose natal day may date from me as consul!” He might have scorned the swords of Antony,603 had all he uttered been such trash as this. I had rather write poems that excite only ridicule, than thee, divine Philippic of distinguished fame! that art unrolled next to the first! Cruel was the end that carried him off also whom Athens used to admire as his words flowed from his lips in a torrent604 of eloquence, and he swayed at will the passions of the crowded theatre. With adverse gods and inauspicious fate was he born, whom his father, blear-eyed with the grime of the glowing mass, sent from the coal, and pincers,605 and the sword-forging anvil, and sooty Vulcan,606 to the rhetorician’s school!
The spoils of war, the cuirass fastened to the truncated607 trophy, the cheek-piece hanging from the battered helm, the car shorn of its pole, the streamer of the captured galley,608 and the sad captive on the triumphal arch-top,609 are held to be goods exceeding all human blessings. For these each general, Roman, or Greek, or Barbarian, strains as his prize! Full compensation for his dangers and his toils he sees in these! So much greater is the thirst after fame than virtue. For who would embrace610 virtue herself, if you took away the rewards of virtue? And yet, ere now, the glory of a few has been the ruin of their native land; that longing for renown, and those inscriptions that are to live on the marble that guards their ashes; and yet to burst asunder this, the mischievous strength of the barren fig-tree has power enough. Since even to sepulchres611 themselves are fates assigned. Weigh612 the remains of Hannibal! How many pounds will you find in that most consummate general! This is the man whom not even Africa, lashed by the Mauritanian ocean, and stretching even to the steaming Nile, and then again to the races of the Æthiopes and their tall613 elephants, can contain! Spain is annexed to Carthage’s domain. He bounds across the Pyrenees. Nature opposed in vain the Alps with all their snows; he cleaves the rocks and rives the mountains with vinegar.614 Now he is lord of Italy! Yet still he presses on. “Naught is achieved,”615 he says, “unless we burst through the gates of Rome with the soldiery of Carthage, and I plant my standard in the heart of the Suburra!” Oh what a face!616 and worthy what a picture! when the huge Gætulian beast bore on his back the one-eyed617 general! What then was the issue? Oh glory! This self-made man is conquered, and flees with headlong haste to exile, and there, a great and much-to-be-admired client, sits at the palace of the king, until his Bithynian majesty618 be pleased to wake! To that soul, that once shook the very world’s base, it is not sword, nor stone, nor javelin, that shall give the final stroke; but, that which atoned for Cannæ, and avenged such mighty carnage,619 a ring! Go then, madman, and hurry over the rugged Alps, that you may be the delight of boys, and furnish subjects for declamations!620
One621 world is not enough for the youth of Pella! He chafes within the narrow limits of the universe, poor soul, as though confined in Gyarus’622 small rock, or scanty Seriphös. Yet when he shall have entered the city that the brickmakers623 fortified, he will be content with a sarcophagus!624 Death alone discloses how very small are the puny bodies of men! Men do believe that Athos was sailed through of yore; and all the bold assertions that lying Greeks hazard in history—that the sea was bridged over by the same fleets, and formed into a solid pavement for the transit of wheels. We believe that deep rivers failed, and streams were drunk dry625 when the Persian dined; and all the flights of Sostratus’626 song, when his wings are moistened by the god of wine. And yet, in what guise did he return after quitting Salamis, who, like a true barbarian as he was, used to vent his rage in scourges on Corus and Eurus, that had never suffered in this sort in Æolus’ prison; and bound in gyves Ennosigæus627 himself. It was, in fact, an act of clemency that he did not think he deserved branding628 also. Would any of the gods choose to serve629 such a man as this? But how did he return? Why, in a single ship; through waves dyed with blood, and with his galley retarded630 by the shoals of corpses. Such was the penalty that glory, for which he had so often prayed, exacted.
“Grant length of life, great Jove, and many years!” This is your only prayer in health and sickness. But with what unremitting and grievous ills is old age crowded! First of all, its face is hideous, loathsome, and altered from its former self; instead of skin a hideous hide and flaccid cheeks; and see! such wrinkles, as, where Tabraca631 extends her shady dells, the antiquated ape632 scratches on her wizened jowl! There are many points of difference in the young: this youth is handsomer than that; and he again than a third: one is far sturdier than another. Old mens faces are all alike—limbs tottering and voice feeble,633 a smooth bald pate, and the second childhood of a driveling nose; the poor wretch must mumble his bread with toothless gums; so loathsome to his wife, his children, and even to himself, that he would excite the disgust even of the legacy-hunter Cossus! His palate634 is grown dull; his relish for his food and wine635 no more the same; the joys of love are long ago forgotten; and in spite of all efforts to reinvigorate them, all manly energies are hopelessly extinct. Has this depraved and hoary lechery aught else to hope? Do we not look with just suspicion on the lust that covets the sin but lacks the power?636
Now turn your eyes to the loss of another sense. For what pleasure has he in a singer, however eminent a harper it may be; nay, even Seleucus himself; or those whose habit it is to glitter in a cloak of gold?637 What matters it in what part of the wide theatre he sits, who can scarcely hear the horn-blowers, and the general clang of trumpets? You must bawl out loud before his ear can distinguish who it is his slave says has called, or tells him what o’clock it is.638 Besides, the scanty blood that flows in his chill639 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 Themison640 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 razor641 my stiff beard resounded when I was in my prime. One is weak in the shoulder; another in the loins; another in the hip. Another has lost both eyes, and envies the one-eyed. Another’s bloodless lips receive their food from others’ fingers. He that was wont to relax his features to a smile at the sight of his dinner, now only gapes642 like the young swallow to whom the parent bird, herself fasting,643 flies with full beak. But worse than all debility of limb is that idiocy which recollects neither the names of his slaves nor the face of the friend with whom he supped the evening before; not even those whom he begot and brought up! For by a heartless will he disinherits them; and all his property is made over to Phiale:644—such power has the breath of her artificial mouth, that stood for hire so many years in the brothel’s dungeon.
Even though the powers of intellect retain their vigor, yet he must lead forth the funerals of his children; must gaze upon the pyre of a beloved wife, and the urns filled with all that remains of his brother and sisters. This is the penalty imposed on the long-lived, that they must grow old with the death-blow in their house forever falling fresh—in oft-recurring sorrow—in unremitting mourning, and a suit of black.645 The king of Pylos,646 if you put any faith in great Homer, was an instance of life inferior in duration only to the crow’s.647 Happy, no doubt! was he who for so many years put off his hour of death; and now begins to count his years on his right hand,648 and has drunk so often of the new-made wine. I pray you, lend me your ear a little space; and hear how sadly he himself complains of the decrees of fate, and too great powers of life, when he watches the blazing beard of Antilochus649 in his bloom, and asks of every friend that stands near, why it is he lingers on to this day; what crime he has committed to deserve so long a life! Such, too, is Peleus’ strain, when he mourns for Achilles prematurely snatched from him: and that other, whose lot it was to grieve for the shipwrecked650 Ithacensian.
Priam would have joined the shade of Assaracus with Troy still standing, with high solemnities, with Hector and his brothers supporting his bier on their shoulders, amid the weeping Troades, so that Cassandra would lead off the wail, and Polyxena651 with mantle rent, had he but died at any time but that, after that Paris had begun to build his audacious ships. What then did length of days confer on him? He saw his all o’erthrown: Asia laid low by flame and sword. Then the poor tottering warrior652 laid down his diadem and donned his arms, and fell before the altar of supreme Jove; like some old ox653 that yields his attenuated and miserable neck to his owner’s knife, long ago scorned654 by the ungrateful plow.
That was at all events the death of a human being: but his wife who survived him barked fiercely from the jaws of a bitch.655
I hasten on to our own countrymen, and pass by the king of Pontus, and Crœsus,656 whom the eloquent voice of the right-judging Solon bade look at the closing scene657 of a life however long. Banishment, and the jail, and the marshes of Minturnæ,658 and his bread begged in conquered Carthage, took their rise from this. What could all nature, what could Rome, have produced more blessed in the wide world than that citizen, had he breathed forth his soul659 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 Teutonic660 car! Campania,661 in her foresight for Pompey, had given him a fever he should have prayed for. But the many cities and their public prayers prevailed. Therefore his own malignant fortune and that of Rome preserved him only that conquered he should lose his head. Lentulus662 escaped this torment; Cethegus paid not this penalty, but fell unmutilated; and Catiline lay with corpse entire. The anxious mother, when she visits Venus’ temple, prays for beauty for her boys with subdued whisper;663 with louder voice for her girls, carrying her fond wishes664 even to the verge of trifling. “But why should you chide me?” she says; “Latona665 delights in the beauty of Diana.” But, Lucretia666 forbids a face like hers to be the subject of your prayers: Virginia would gladly give hers to Rutila, and receive her wen in exchange. But, a son possessed of exquisite person keeps his parents in a constant state of misery and alarm. So rare is the union667 of beauty with chastity. Though the house, austere in virtue, and emulating the Sabines of old, may have handed down,668 like an inheritance, purity of morals, and bounteous Nature with benignant hand may give, besides, a chaste mind and a face glowing with modest blood (for what greater boon can Nature bestow on a youth? Nature, more powerful than any guardian, or any watchful care!), still they are not allowed to attain to manhood. For the villainy of the corrupter, prodigal in its guilt, dares to assail with tempting offers the parents themselves. So great is their confidence in the success of bribes! No tyrant in his cruel palace ever castrated a youth that was deformed; nor did even Nero carry off a stripling if club-footed, or disfigured by wens, pot-bellied, and humpbacked! Go then, and exult in the beauty of your darling boy! Yet for whom are there greater perils in store? He will become the adulterer of the city, and dread all the punishments669 that angry husbands inflict. Nor will he be more lucky than the star of Mars, even though he never fall like Mars into the net.670 But sometimes that bitter wrath exacts even more than any law permits, to satisfy the husband’s rage. One dispatches the adulterer with the sword; another cuts him in two with bloody lashes; some have the punishment of the mullet. But your Endymion, forsooth, will of course become the lover of some lady of his affections! But soon, when Servilia671 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 morality672 concentred there. “But what harm does beauty do one that is chaste?” Nay, what did his virtuous resolve avail Hippolytus, or what Bellerophon? Surely she673 fired at the rejection of her suit, as though treated with indignity. Nor did Sthenobæa burn less fiercely than the Cretan; and both lashed themselves into fury. A woman is then most ruthless, when shame sets sharper spurs674 to her hate. Choose what course you think should be recommended him to whom Cæsar’s wife675 purposes to marry herself. This most noble and most beautiful of the patrician race is hurried off, poor wretched man, a sacrifice to the lewd eyes of Messalina. She is long since seated with her bridal veil all ready: the nuptial bed with Tyrian hangings is openly prepared in the gardens, and, according to the antique rites, a dowry of a million sesterces will be given; the soothsayer676 and the witnesses to the settlement will be there! Do you suppose these acts are kept secret; intrusted only to a few? She will not be married otherwise than with all legal forms. Tell me which alternative you choose. If you refuse to comply, you must die before nightfall.677 If you do commit the crime, some brief delay will be afforded you, until the thing, known to the city and the people,678 shall reach the prince’s ears. He will be the last to learn the disgrace of his house! Do you meanwhile obey her behests, if you set so high a value on a few days’ existence. Whichever you hold the better and the safer course, that white and beauteous neck must be presented679 to the sword!
Is there then nothing for which men shall pray? If you will take advice, you will allow the deities themselves to determine what may be expedient for us, and suitable to our condition. For instead of pleasant things, the gods will give us all that is most fitting. Man is dearer to them than to himself. We, led on by the impulse of our minds, by blind and headstrong passions, pray for wedlock, and issue by our wives; but it is known to them what our children will prove; of what character our wife will be! Still, that you may have somewhat to pray for, and vow to their shrines the entrails and consecrated mincemeat680 of the white porker, your prayer must be that you may have a sound mind in a sound body. Pray for a bold spirit, free from all dread of death; that reckons the closing scene of life among Nature’s kindly boons;681 that can endure labor, whatever it be; that deems the gnawing cares of Hercules,682 and all his cruel toils, far preferable to the joys of Venus, rich banquets, and the downy couch of Sardanapalus. I show thee what thou canst confer upon thyself. The only path that surely leads to a life of peace lies through virtue. If we have wise foresight, thou, Fortune, hast no divinity.683 It is we that make thee a deity, and place thy throne in heaven!684
Footnotes
550 Gadibus. Gades, now Cadiz, and Ganges were the western and eastern boundaries of the then known world.
551 Nebulâ. Cf. Plat., Alcib., ii., τῆς ψυχῆς ἀφελόντα τὴν ἀχλύν; from which many ideas in this Satire, particularly toward the close, are borrowed.
“As treacherous phantoms in the mist delude,
Shuns fancied ills, or chases, airy good.” Johnson’s imitation.
552 Evertere. These are almost Cicero’s own words. “Cupiditates non modo singulos homines sed universas familias evertunt,” de Fin., i. Cf. Shakspeare:
“We, ignorant of ourselves,
Beg often our own harms, which the wise powers
Deny us for our good: so find we profit
By losing of our prayers.”
553 Torrens.
“Some who the depths of eloquence have found,
In that unnavigable stream were drown’d.” Dryden.
554 Viribus. Roscommon, as Gifford says, tells his history in two lines:
“Remember Milo’s end,
Wedged in the timber which he strove to rend.”
Cf. Ovid, Ib., 609, “Utque Milon robur diducere fissile tentes, nec possis captas inde referre manus.”
555 Balæna Britannica. Cf. Hor., iv., Od. xiv., 47, “Te belluosus qui remotis obstrepit Oceanus Britannis.” There is probably an allusion here to the large sums which Seneca had out at interest in Britain, where his rigor in exacting his demands occasioned a rebellion.
556 Tota cohors. “Illo propinquâ vesperâ, tribunus venit, et villam globus militum sepsit.” Tac., Ann., xv., 60.
557 Longinum. Cassius Longinus was charged with keeping among his Imagines one of Cassius, Cæsar’s murderer; and allowed an hour to die in. Suet., Ner., 37.
558 Seneca. Rufus and Tigellinus charged Seneca “tanquam ingentes et privatum suprà modum evectas opes adhuc augeret—hortorum quoque amænitate et villarum magnificentiâ quasi Principem supergrederetur;” and Seneca himself, in his speech to Nero, says, “Tantum honorum atque opûm in me cumulâsti, ut nihil felicitati meæ desit.” Tacit., Ann., xiv., 52, seq.
559 Puri. Cf. ix., 141.
560 Lateranorum. Vid. Tac., Ann., xv., 60, for the death of Plautius Lateranus. His house was on the Cœlian Hill, on the site of the modern Lateran.
561 Motæ ad Lunam. Cf. Hor., i., Od. xxiii., 3, “Non sine vano aurarum et siluæ metu.” Stat., Theb., vi., 158,” Impulsæque noto frondes cassusque valeret exanimare timor.” Claud., Eutrop., ii., 452, “Ecce levis frondes a tergo concutit aura: credit tela Leo: valuit pro vulnere terror.”
562 Vacuus. Cf. Ov., Nux., 43, “Sic timet insidias qui scit se ferre viator cur timeat, tutum carpit inanis iter.” Sen., Lucil., “Nudum Latro transmittit.”
“While void of care the beggar trips along,
And, in the spoiler’s presence, trolls his song.” Gifford.
563 Divitiæ. Vid. Cic., “Expetuntur Divitiæ ut utare; Opes ut colaris: Honores ut lauderis.” De Amicit., vi.
564 Foro. The public treasure was in the temple of Saturn. Private individuals had their money in strong boxes deposited in the Forum Trajani, or Forum Augusti; in the temple of Mars “Ultor” originally; afterward in the temple of Castor and others, probably of Pax. Cf. xiv., 259, “Æratâ multus in arcâ fiscus, et ad vigilem ponendi Cartora nummi.” Cf. Suet., Jul., x. Pliny the Younger was once præfectus ærarii Saturni.
565 Gemmata. Cf. v., 39, 41.—Setinum, v., 34.
“Fear the gemm’d goblet, and suspicious hold
The ruby juice that glows in cups of gold.” Badham.
566 De Sapientibus. Democritus of Abdera, and Heracleitus of Ephesus.
567 Ridebat. Cf. Hor., ii., Ep. i., 194, “Si foret in terris rideret Democritus.” δεῖσθαι μοι δοκεῖ Ἡρακλείτου ἢ Δημοκρίτου, τοῦ μὲν γελασομένου τὴν ἄνοιαν αὐτῶν, τοῦ δὲ τὴν ἄγνοιαν ὀδυρομένου. Luc., βι. πρ., 13, τὸν γελῶντα, τὸν Ἀβδηρόθεν καὶ τὸν κλαίοντα τὸν ἐξ Ἐφέσου.
568 “The marvel this, since all the world can sneer,
What fountains fed the ever-needed tear.” Badham.
569 Trabeæ. Cf. ad viii., 259.
570 Prætor. Juvenal has mixed up together the procession of the prætor to open the Circensian games, and a triumphal procession. The latter proceeded through the principal streets to the Capitol. The former, from the Capitol to the centre of the circus. The triumphal car was in the shape of a turret, gilded, and drawn by four white horses: it often occurs on coins. The tunica palmata, worn by generals in their triumph, was kept in the temple of Jupiter. The toga picta was purple, and so heavily embroidered that it may well be compared to a brocaded curtain. Tyre was anciently called Sarra, which may be traced in its modern name Sur.
“His robe a ponderous curtain of brocade,
Inwrought and stiff by Tyrian needles’ aid.” Badham.
571 Orbem. Probably an allusion to Atlas.
572 Sufficit.
“And would have crush’d it with the massy freight,
But that a sweating slave sustain’d the weight.” Dryden.
Probably the crown was not worn, but merely held by the slave at his side.
“The menial destined in his car to ride,
And cool the swelling consul’s feverish pride.” Hodgson.
573 Crasso. “Bœotum in crasso jurares ære natum.” Hor., ii., Ep. i., 244. Bœotia was called the land of hogs, which so much annoyed Pindar. Vid. Ol., vi., 152. Abdera seems to have had as bad a name. Cf. Mart., x., Ep. xxv., 3, “Abderitanæ pectora plebis habes.”
574 Medium unguem. Hence called “Infamis digitus.” Pers., ii., 33. Cf. Mart., ii., Ep. xxviii., 2, “digitum porrigito medium.” VI., Ep. lxx., 5, “Ostendit digitum impudicum.”
575 Incerare. They used to fasten their vows, written on wax tablets, to the knees or thighs of the gods. When their wishes were granted, these were replaced by the offerings they had vowed. Cf. Hom., Il., p., 514, θεῶν ἐν γούνασι κεῖται.
576 Mergit. Cf. Sil., viii., 285; or mergit may be used actively, as xiii., 8. Lucr., v., 1006. Virg., Æn., vi., 512.
577 Statuæ. Cf. ad viii., 18. Tac., Ann., vi., 2. Plin., Pan., 52, “Juvabat illidere solo superbissimos vultus, instare ferro, sævire securibus, ut si singulos ictus sanguis dolorque sequeretur”—“instar ultionis videretur cernere imagines abjectas excoctasque flammis.”
578 Immeritis.
“The driven axe destroys the conquering car,
And unoffending steeds the ruin share.” Hodgson.
579 Adoratum. Cf. Tac., Ann., iii., 72; iv., 2, “Coli per theatra et fora effigies ejus sineret.” Vid. Suet., Tib., lv., 48, “Solæ nullam Sejani imaginem inter signa coluissent.” 65, “Sejani imagines aureas coli passim videret.”
580 Sartago.
“And from the stride of those colossal legs
You buy the useful pan that fries your eggs.” Badham.
Dryden reads “matellæ.”
581 Pone domi lauros. Cf. ad ix., 85.
582 Sequitur Fortunam.
“When the king’s trump, the mob are for the king.” Dryden.
583 Nurscia, Nyrtia, Nortia, or Nurtia, the Etruscan goddess of Fortune, nearly identical with Atropos, and cognate with Minerva. The old Schol. says, “Fortuna apud Nyrtiam colitur unde fuit Sejanus.” But Tacitus tells us (Ann., iv., l; vi., 8) that Sejanus was a native of Volsinii, now Bolsena. Outside the Florence gate of Bolsena stands the ruin of a temple still called Tempio di Norzia. Cf. Liv., vii., 3; Tertull., Apoll., 24, ad Nat., ii., 8; Müller’s Etrusker, IV., vii., 6; Dennis’s Etruria, i., p. 258, 509.
584 Fornacula. “A fire so fierce for one was scarcely made.” Gifford.
585 Brutidius. Tacitus speaks thus of him: “Brutidium artibus honestis copiosum et, si rectum iter pergeret, ad clarissima quæque iturum festinatio exstimulabat, dum æquales, dein superiores, postremo suasmet ipse spes anteire parat.” Ann., iii., 66. He had been one of the accusers of Silanus, and was involved in Sejanus’ fall. “Magna est fornacula” is well borne out by Tacitus’ account. “Cunctos qui carcere attinebantur, accusati societatis cum Sejano, necari jubet. Jacuit immensa strages; omnis sexus omnis ætas: inlustres ignobiles—corpora adsectabantur dum in Tiberim traherentur.” Ann., vi., 19.
586 Victus. Fierce as Ajax, when worsted in the contest for the arms of Achilles.
587 Exercitibus præponere. Vid. Tac., Ann., iv., 2, “Centuriones ac Tribunos ipse deligere: neque senatorio ambitu abstinebat clientes suos honoribus aut provinciis ornando, facili Tiberio atque ita prono ut socium laborum celebraret.”
588 Tutor.
“Arraign
Thy feeble sovereign in a guardian’s strain,
Who sits amid his foul Chaldæan herd
In that august domain to Rome preferr’d.” Badham.
589 Sedentis. Cf. Suet., Tib., 43; Tac., Ann., vi., 1. Grangæus supposes this word to have reference to the Sellaria there described. It probably only refers to his luxury and indolence. Tiberius was with Augustus when he visited Capreæ shortly before his death: “remisissimo ad otium et ad omnem comitatem animo. Vicinam Capreis insulam ἀπραγοπόλιν appellabat à desidiâ secedentium illuc e comitatu suo.” Cf. c. 40. Tac., Ann., iv., 67.
590 Augusta. The old reading was angustâ. The alteration of a single letter converts a forceless expletive into an epithet full of picturesque and historic truth.
591 Egregios equites. The flower of the Roman army, the prætorian troops, of which Sejanus was præfect.
592 Vasa minora.
“To pound false weights and scanty measures break.” Dryden.
593 Ulubris. Cf. Hor., i., Ep. xi., 30, “Est Ulubris, animus si non tibi deficit æquus.” Another joke at the expense of the plebeian ædiles (cf. iii., 162), who had the charge of inspecting weights and measures, markets and provisions, roads, theatres, etc. These functionaries still exist (as Gifford says), “as ragged and consequential” as ever, in the Italian villages, retaining their old name of Podestà.
“Deal out the law, and curb with high decree
The tricks of trade at empty Ulubræ.” Hodgson.
594 Altior. The idea is probably borrowed from Menander, ἐπαίρεται γάρ μεῖζον, ἵνα μεῖζον πέσῃ. So hence Horace, ii., Od. x., 10, “Celsæ graviore casu decidunt turres.” So Claudian in Rufin., i., 22, “Tolluntur in altum ut lapsu graviore ruant;” and Shakspeare, “Raised up on high to be hurl’d down below.”
595 Ruinæ. So Milton.
“With hideous ruin and combustion down.” C. Badham.
596 Crassos. M. Licinius Crassus and his son Publius; both killed in the Parthian war.
597 Pompeios. Cn. Pompeius Magnus, and his two sons, Cnæus and Sextus.
598 Domitos.
“The stubborn pride of Roman nobles broke,
And bent their haughty necks beneath his yoke.” Dryd.
599 Colit. Ov., Fast., iii., 816, “Qui benè placârit Pallada doctus erit.”
600 Vernula. This slave was called Capsarius. Suet., Ner., 36. Cf. ad vi., 451.
601 Quinquatribus. Cf. Hor., ii., Ep. ii., 197, “Puer ut festis quinquatribus olim.” This festival originally lasted only one day; and was celebrated xiv. Kal. April. It was so called “quia post diem quintum Idus Martias ageretur.” So “post diem sextum” was called Sexatrus; and “post diem septimum,” Septimatrus. Varro, L. L., v., 3. It was afterward extended to five days; hence the “vulgus” supposed that to have been the origin of the name; and so Ovid takes it, “Nominaque a junctis quinque diebus habet,” Fast., iii., 809; who says it was kept in honor of Minerva’s natal day, “Causa quod est illâ nata Minerva die,” l. 812. (Others say, because on that day her temple on Mount Aventine was consecrated.) Domitian kept the festival in great state at his Alban villa. Suet., Domit., iv. Cicero has a punning allusion to it. Vid. Fam., xii., 25. These five days were the schoolmasters’ holidays; and on the first they received their pay, or entrance fee, διδακτρὰ, hence called Minerval; though Horace seems to imply they were paid every month, “Octonis referentes Idibus æra.” I., Sat. vi., 75. The lesser Quinquatrus were on the Ides of June. Ov., Fast., vi., 651, “Quinquatrus jubeor narrare minores,” called also Quinquatrus Minusculæ.
602 Rostra. Popilius Lenas, who cut off Cicero’s head and hands, carried them to Antony, who rewarded him with a civic crown and a large sum of money, and ordered the head to be fixed between the hands to the Rostra. (For the name, vid. Liv., viii., 14.)
603 Antonî gladios. Quoting Cicero’s own words, “Contempsi Catilinæ gladios, non pertimescam tuos.” Phil., ii., 46.
“For me, the sorriest rhymes I’d rather claim,
Than bear the brunt of that Philippic’s fame,
The second! the divine!” Badham.
604 Torrentem. So i., 9, “Torrens dicendi copia;” iii., 74, “Isæo torrentior.” At the approach of Antipater, Demosthenes fled from Athens, and took refuge in the temple of Poseidon at Calaureia, near Argolis; and fearing to fall into the hands of Archias, took poison, which he carried about with him in a reed, or, as Pliny says, in a ring, xxxiii., 1.
605 Forcipibus. Cf. Virg., Æn., viii., 453, “Versantque tenaci forcipe massam.” Juvenal seems to have had the whole passage in his eye.
606 Vulcano. Demosthenes’ father was a μαχαιροποιός: in which capacity he employed a large number of slaves, ἐργαστήριον ἔχων μέγα καὶ δούλους τεχνίτας. But as he could not afford to place his son under the costly Isocrates, he sent him to Isæus.
607 Truncis. Virg., Æn., xi., 5.
Ingentem quercum decisis undique ramis
Constituit tumulo, fulgentiaque induit arma,
Mezenti ducis exuvias, tibi magne tropæum
Bellipotens: aptat rorantes sanguine cristas
Telaque trunca viri.
608 Aplustre, the ἄφλαστον of the Greeks was the high peak of the galley, from which rose the ensign.
609 Arcu. Cf. Suet., Domit., 13, “Janos arcusque cum quadrigis et insignibus triumphorum per regiones urbis tantos et tot exstruxit, ut cuidam Græcè inscriptum sit, ἀρκεῖ—.” Some think there is an allusion here to the column of Trajan, erected in honor of his Dacian victories. This would bring down the date of this Satire to after A.D. 113.
610 Amplectitur.
“That none confess fair Virtue’s genuine power,
Or woo her to their breast without a dower.” Gifford.
611 Sepulchris; from Propertius, III., ii., 19, seq. So Ausonius, “Mors etiam saxis, nominibusque venit.”
“For fate hath foreordain’d its day of doom,
Not to the tenant only, but the tomb.” Badham.
612 Expende.
“How are the mighty changed to dust! how small
The urn that holds what once was Hannibal!” Hodgson.
613 Altos; others read alios; referring to the elephants of Africa as well as Asia. “Elephantos fert Africa, ferunt Æthiopes et Troglodytæ: sed maximos India.” Plin., viii., 11.
614 Aceto. Vid. Liv., xxi., 37. Polybius omits the story as fabulous. There appears, now, no reason to doubt the fact.
615 Actum. “Nil actum referens si quid superesset agendum.”
“Peace courts his hand, but spreads her charms in vain;
‘Think nothing gain’d,’ he cries, ‘till naught remain;
On Moscow’s walls till Gothic standards fly,
And all be mine beneath the Polar sky.’” Johnson.
616 Facies.
“Oh! for some master-hand, the lines to trace!” Gifford.
617 Luscum. Hannibal lost one eye, while crossing the marshes, in making his way to Etruria: “quia medendi nec locus nec tempus erat altero oculo capitur;” he rode, Livy tells us, on his sole surviving elephant, xxii., 2.
618 Bithyno. When accused by the Romans at Carthage, Hannibal fled to Antiochus, king of Syria, and thence to the court of Prusias, king of Bithynia, for whom he carried on successfully the war against Eumenes. But when Flaminius was sent to demand his surrender, he destroyed himself with poison, which he always carried in a ring.
619 Sanguinis. Forty-five thousand dead were left on the field of Cannæ, with the Consul Æmilius Paulus, eighty senators, and very many others of high rank.
620 Declamatio. Cf. vii., 167, “Sexta quâque die miserum dirus caput Hannibal implet.” So I. 150, and i., 15.
“Go, climb the rugged Alps, ambitious fool!
To please the boys, and be a theme at school.” Dryden.
621 Unus. “Heu me miserum! quod ne uno quidem adhuc potitus sum!” is the exclamation put into Alexander’s mouth by Val. Max., viii., 14.
622 Gyaris. Cf. i., 73; vi., 563.
623 Figulis. Cf. Herod., i., 78. Ov., Met., iv., 27, “Ubi dicitur altam Coctilibus muris cinxisse Semiramis urbem.”
624 Sarcophago. A stone was found at Assos, near Troy, which was said to possess the property of consuming the flesh of bodies inclosed in it within the space of forty days, hence called σαρκοφάγος. Plin., ii., 96; xxxvi., 17. Cf. Henry’s speech to Hotspur’s body:
“Ill-weaved ambition, how much art thou shrunk!
When that this body did contain a spirit,
A kingdom for it was too small a bound:
But now, two paces of the vilest earth
Is room enough.”
So Hall:
“Fond fool! six feet shall serve for all thy store,
And he that cares for most shall find no more.”
And Shirley:
“How little room do we take up in death,
That, living, knew no bounds!”
And Webster’s Duchess of Malfy:
“Much you had of land and rent;
Your length in clays’s now competent.”
So K. Henry VI.:
“And of all my lands
Is nothing left me but my body’s length.”
And Dryden’s Antony:
“The place thou pressest on thy mother Earth
Is all thy empire now.”
Cf. Æsch., S. Theb., 731. Soph., Œd. Col., 789. Shakspeare’s Richard II., Act iii., sc. 2.
625 Epota. Herodotus mentions the Scamander, Onochnous, Apidanus, and Echedorus.
“Rivers, whose depth no sharp beholder sees,
Drunk at an army’s dinner to the lees!” Dryden.
626 Sostratus. Of this poet nothing is known.—Madidis, probably in the same sense as in Sat. xv., 47, “Facilis victoria de madidis.” Sil., xii., 18, “Madefacta mero.”
627 Ennosigæum. ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐνόθειν τὴν γαῖαν. Cf. Hom., Il., vii., 455. Æolis is an allusion to Virgil, Æn., i., 51, “Vinclis ac carcere frænat,” etc.
628 Stigmate. Herod., vii., 35.
“That shackles o’er th’ earth-shaking Neptune threw,
And thought it lenient not to brand him too.” Gifford.
629 Servire Deorum. As Apollo served Admetus; Neptune, Laomedon, etc.
“Ye gods! obeyed ye such a fool as this?” Hodgson.
630 Tardâ. Perhaps alluding to Her., viii., 118.
“A single skiff to speed his flight remains,
Th’ encumbered oar scarce leaves the dreaded coast
Through purple billows and a floating host!” Johnson.
631 Tabraca, on the coast of Tunis, now Tabarca.
632 Simia. So Ennius, in Cic., Nat. De., i., 35, “Simia, quam similis turpissima bestia nobis!”
“A stick-fallen cheek! that hangs below the jaw,
Such wrinkles as a skillful hand would draw
For an old grandam ape, when, with a grace,
She sits at squat, and scrubs her leathern face.” Dryden.
633 Cum voce trementia membra. Compare Hamlet’s speech to Polonius, and As you like it, Act ii., 7:
“His big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in its sound.”
“The self-same palsy both in limbs and tongue.” Dryden.
634 Palato. Compare Barzillai’s speech to David, 2 Sam., xix., 35, “I am this day fourscore years old; and can I discern between good or evil? can thy servant taste what I eat and what I drink? can I hear any more the voice of singing men and singing women?”
635 Vini.
“Now pall the tasteless meats, and joyless wines,
And Luxury with sighs her slave resigns.” Johnson.
636 Viribus. Shakspeare, King Henry IV., Part ii., Act ii., sc. 4, “Is it not strange that desire should so many years outlive performance?”
637 Auratâ. Cic. ad Heren., iv., 47, “Uti citharædus cum prodierit optimè vestitus, pallâ inauratâ indutus, cum chlamyde purpureâ coloribus variis intextâ, cum coronâ aureâ, magnis fulgentibus gemmis illuminatâ.” Horace, A. P., 215, “Luxuriem addidi arti Tibicen, traxitque vagus per pulpita vestem.”
638 Nuntiet horas. Slaves were employed to watch the dials in the houses of those who had them, and report the hour: those who had no dial sent to the Forum. Cf. Mart., viii., 67. Suet., Domit., xvi., “Sexta nuntiata est.”
639 Gelido. Virg., Æn., v., 395, “Sed enim gelidus tardante senectâ Sanguis hebet, frigentque effœtæ in corpora vires.”
640 Themison of Laodicea in Syria, pupil of Asclepiades, was an eminent physician of the time of Pompey the Great, and is said to have been the founder of the “Methodic” school, as opposed to the “Empiric.” Vid. Cels., Præf. Plin., N. H., xxix., 15. Others say he lived in Augustus’ time, and Hodgson thinks he may have lived even to Juvenal’s days. Cicero (de Orat., i., 14) mentions an Asclepiades; and the names of at least three others are mentioned in later times.
641 Quo tondente. Cf. i., 35.
642 Hiat. Cf. Lucian, Tim., ἐμὲ περιμένουσι κεχηνότες ὥσπερ τὴν χελιδόνα προσπετομένην τετριγότες οἰ νεοσσοί. P. 72, E., ed. Bened.
643 Jejuna, from Hom., Il., ix., 323, ὡς δ’ ὄρνις ἀπτῆσι νεοσσοῖσι προφέρῃσι μάστακ’, ἐπεί κε λάβῃσι, κακῶς δέ τέ οἱ πέλει αὐτῇ.
644 Phialen.
“Forgets the children he begot and bred,
And makes a strumpet heiress in their stead.” Gifford.
645 Nigrâ. “And liveries of black for length of years.” Dryden.
646 Pylius. Hom., Il., i., 250, μετὰ δὲ τριτάτοισιν ἄνασσεν. So Odyss., iii., 245, τρὶς γάρ δή μίν φασιν ἀνάξασθαι γένε’ ἀνδρῶν.
647 Cornice.
“Next to the raven’s age, the Pylian king
Was longest-lived of any two-legged thing.” Dryden.
648 Dextra. This the Greeks express by ἀναπεμπάζεσθαι. They counted on the left hand as far as a hundred, then on the right up to two hundred, and then again on the left for the third hundred. Holyday has a most elaborate explanation of the method.
649 Antilochi. Cf. Hor., II., Od. ix., 14.
650 Natantem. Cf. Hom., Od., v., 388, 399.
“So Peleus sigh’d to join his hero lost—
Laertes his on boundless billows toss’d.” Hodgson.
651 Polyxena, from Eurip., Hec., 556, λαβοῦσα πέπλους ἐξ ἄκρας ἐπωμίδος ἔῤῥηξε.
652 Miles tremulus. Virg., Æn., ii., 509, “Arma diu senior desueta trementibus ævo circumdat,” etc.
“A soldier half, and half a sacrifice.” Dryden.
653 Bos. Virg., Æn., v., 481, “Sternitur, exanimisque tremens procumbit humi bos.”
654 Fastiditus.
“Disdain’d its labors, and forgotten now
All its old service at the thankless plow.” Hodgson.
655 Canino. See the close of Eurip., Hecuba. The Greeks fabled that Hecuba was metamorphosed into a bitch, from her constant railing at them. Hence κυνὸς σῆμα. Cf. Plaut., Menœchm., v. i.
656 Crœsus. Cf. Herod., i., 32.
657 Spatia, a metaphor from the “course.” So Virgil has metæ ævi, metæ mortis.
658 Minturnarum, a town of the Aurunci near the mouth of the Liris, now Garigliano. In the marshes in the neighborhood Marius concealed himself from the cavalry of Sylla.
659 Animam.
“Had he exhaled amid the pomp of war,
A warrior’s soul in that Teutonic car.” Badham.
660 Teutonico, i. e., after his triumph over the Cimbri and Teutones. Cf. viii., 251.
661 Campania. Cf. Cic., Tus. Qu., i., 35, “Pompeius noster familiaris, cum graviter ægrotaret Neapoli, utrum si tum esset extinctus, à bonis rebus, an à malis discessisset? certè a miseriis, si mortem tum obiisset, in amplissimis fortunis occidisset.” Achillas and L. Septimius murdered Pompey and cut off his head; which ἐφύλασσον Καίσαρι, ὡς ἐπὶ μεγίσταις ἀμοιβαῖς. Appian, B.C., ii., 86
662 P. Corn. Lentulus Sura, was strangled in prison with Cethegus. Catiline fell in battle, near Pistoria in Etruria.
663 Murmure. Venus was worshiped under the name of ἀφροδίτη ψίθυρος, because all prayers were to be offered in whispers.
664 Delicias. This is Heinrich’s view. Grangæus explains it, “Ut pro ipsis vota deliciarum plena concipiat.” Britannicus, “quasi diceret, optat ut tam formosa sit, ut eam juvenes in suos amplexus optent.”
665 Latona. Hom., Od. vi., 106, γέγηθε δέ τε φρένα Λήτω. Virg., Æn., i., 502, Latonæ tacitum pertentant gaudia pectus.
666 Lucretia.
“Yet Vane could tell what ills from beauty spring,
And Sedley cursed the form that pleased a king!” Johnson.
667 Concordia. Ov., Heroid, xvi., 288, “Lis est cum forma magna pudicitiæ.”
“Chaste—is no epithet to suit with fair.” Dryden.
668 Tradiderit.
“Though through the rugged house, from sire to son,
A Sabine sanctity of manners run.” Gifford.
669 Pœnas metuet. The punishment of adulterers seems to have been left to the discretion of the injured husband rather than to have been defined by law.
670 Laqueos. Ov., Met., iv., 176, “Extemplo graciles ex ære catenas, Retiaque et laqueos quæ lumina fallere possint, elimat.” Art. Am., ii., 561, seq. Hom., Odyss., viii., 266.
671 Servilia; i. e., some one as rich and debauched as Servilia, sister of Cato and mother of Brutus, with whom Cæsar intrigued, and lavished immense wealth on her. Vid. Suet, Jul., 50. Her sister, the wife of Lucullus, was equally depraved.
672 Mores.
“In all things else, immoral, stingy, mean,
But in her lusts a conscionable quean.” Dryden.
673 Hæc, sc. Phædra, daughter of Minos, king of Crete.
674 Stimulos.
“A woman scorn’d is pitiless as fate,
For then the dread of shame adds stings to hate.” Gifford.
675 Cæsaris uxor. The story is told in Tacitus, Ann., xi., 12, seq. “In Silium, juventutis Romanæ pulcherrimum ita exarserat, ut Juniam Silanam nobilem fœminam, matrimonio ejus exturbaret vacuoque adultero potiretur. Neque Silius flagitii aut periculi nescius erat: sed certo si abnueret exitio et nonnullâ fallendi spe, simul magnis præmiis, opperiri futura, et præsentibus frui, pro solatio habebat.” This happened A.D. 48, in the autumn, while Claudius was at Ostia. It was with great difficulty, after all, that Narcissus prevailed on Claudius to order Messalina’s execution, cf. xiv., 331; Tac., Ann., xi., 37; and she was put to death at last without his knowledge.
676 Auspex. Suet., Claud. “Cum comperisset [Valeriam Messalinam] super cætera flagitia atque dedecora, C. Silio etiam nupsisse, dote inter auspices consignatâ, supplicio affecit.” C. 26; cf. 36, 39.
677 Lucernas. “Before the evening lamps ’tis thine to die.” Badham.
678 Nota urbi et populo. Juvenal uses almost the very words of Tacitus. “An discidium inquit (Narcissus) tuum nôsti? Nam matrimonium Silii vidit populus et senatus et miles: ac ni properè agis tenet urbem maritus.” Ann., xi., 30.
679 Prœbenda. Cf. Tac., Ann., xi., 38.
“Inevitable death before thee lies,
But looks more kindly through a lady’s eyes!” Dryden.
680 Tomacula, “the liver and other parts cut out of the pig minced up with the fat.” Mart., i., Ep. xlii., 9, “Quod fumantia qui tomacla raucus circumfert tepidus coquus popinis.” The other savory ingredients are given by Facciolati; the Greeks called them τεμάχη or τεμάχια.
681 Munera.
“A soul that can securely death defy,
And count it Nature’s privilege to die.” Dryden.
682 Hercules. Alluding to the well-known “Choice of Hercules” from Prodicus. Xen., Mem.
683 Nullum numen. Repeated, xiv., 315.
684 “The reasonings in this Satire,” Gibbon says, “would have been clearer, had Juvenal distinguished between wishes the accomplishment of which could not fail to make us miserable, and those whose accomplishment might fail to make us happy. Absolute power is of the first kind; long life of the second.”