Dixeris hæc inter varicosos centuriones: Continuò crassum ridet Vulfenius ingens, Et centum Græcos curto centusse licetur. SATIRA VI. AD CESIUM BASSUM. ADMOVIT jam bruma foco te, Basse, Sabino? 15 Curvus ob id minui senio, aut cœnare sine uncto Et signum in vapidâ naso tetigisse lagenâ. Discrepet his alius. Geminos, horoscope, varo Producis genio. Solis natalibus est qui Tingat olus siccum muriâ vafer in calice emptâ, 20 Ipse sacrum irrorans patinæ piper: hic bona dente Grandia magnanimus peragit puer. Utar ego, utar; Nec tenuem solers turdarum nôsse salivam. Messe tenus propriâ vive, et granaria, fas est, 25 Emole. Quid metuas? occa, et seges altera in herbâ est. Ast vocat officium: trabe ruptâ Bruttia saxa Prêndit amicus inops, remque omnem surdaque vota 6 30 10 པ་ 190 Ossa inodora dabit, seu spirent cinnama surdum, 35 Tune bona incolumis minuas?' Et Bestius urget Doctores Graios: 'Ita fit, postquam sapere Urbi 40 45 50 Cum pipere et palmis venit vestrum hoc maris expers : 55 60 66 'Quid reliquum est ?' Reliquum? nunc nunc impensiùs unge, Unge, puer, caules. Mihi festâ luce coquatur Urtica, et fissâ fumosum sinciput aure? * * * * * 70 Vende animam lucro mercare, atque excute solers Omne latus mundi, ne sit præstantior alter NOTES ΤΟ THE SATIRES OF JUVENAL DECIMUS JUNIUS JUVENAL was born at Aquinum, a town of the Volsci, about the thirty-eighth (or, more probably, the forty-second) year of the Christian era. It is uncertain whether he was the son or the foster-son of a rich freedman, who gave him a liberal education. From the time of his birth, until he had attained about the age of forty, nothing more is known of him than that his attention was devoted to the study of eloquence, and to declamation, more indeed for his own amusement and improvement, than from any intention to devote himself to a public life. About this time he applied himself to the study of poetry, and commenced satirizing the predominant vices of the day. Against Paris, a pantomime dancer, and favorite of the Emperor Domitian, Juvenal seems to have directed the first shafts of satire in consequence of this attack, he was banished into Egypt, having been ordered to repair thither, as commander of a company of troops, where, soon after, he died, in about the eightieth year of his age. SATIRE I. In the beginning of this Satire, the poet gives a humorous account of the reasons which induced him to commence writing:that, his patience having been entirely exhausted by the rehearsals of wretched poets, he could refrain no longer,but intended to repay them in kind. He afterwards informs us why he devotes himself to Satire in preference to any other kind of poetry, to which he declares he is driven by the vices of the age, of which he gives a summary and general view. Finally, after expressing his indignation, that the liberty of speech, employed by the ancient Satirists, was no longer enjoyed, he makes some bitter reflections on the danger of satirizing living villany, and professes to treat of the dead, personating, under their names, certain living charac ters. 1. Semper... tantùm: 'shall I be ever a hearer only ?"—ego used emphatically. It was customary among the ancients to recite their works privately, among their particular friends; or publicly, either in the temple of Apollo, or in the spacious houses of some rich and great man.-Reponam: a metaphor taken from the repayment of money. 2. Rauci... Codri: with the Theseis of hoarse Codrus.'— Theseïde : i. e. recitatione Theseïdis; a poem or tragedy which described the actions of Theseus, the author of which was Codrus, a poor and mean poet, who is here supposed to have made himself hoarse by frequently reading his poem. 3. Togatas: 'comedies; there were three different kinds of comedy, each denominated from the dress of the persons represented: Togata, so called from the toga, a gown worn by the common people, which exhibited the actions of the lower sort :-Prætextata, so called from the prætexta, a white robe, ornamented with purple, and worn by magistrates and nobles, which described the actions of this class:-Palliata, from the pallium, an upper garment, worn by the Greeks, and in which the actors were habited, when the manners and actions of the Greeks were represented. 4. Elegos: these were short poems on mournful subjects generally, written in hexameter and pentameter verses alternately. 5. Telephus: some tedious play on the subject of Telephus, son of Hercules and Auge, and king of Mysia, who was wounded by the spear of Achilles, but afterwards healed by its rust.—Aut . . . Orestes: or shall the tragedy of Orestes, the margin of the whole book being already full, and written on the back too, but not yet finished, waste the whole day?' 6 7. Lucus Martis: the grove of Mars; that is, as some understand it, the history of Romulus and Remus, whom Rhea Silvia Dore in a grove sacred to Mars, near Alba:-this and the other subjects mentioned were so continually dinned into his ears, that the places were as familiar as his own house. 8. Eoliis... rupibus: to the north of Sicily are seven rocky islands, which were called the Eolian or Vulcanian (now the Lipari) islands. To Hiera, one of these, (now Vulcano,) Juvenal probably refers; and by antrum Vulcani et Cyclopum, Etna is meant. 9. Quid... columnæ: the construction is, Platani Frontonis, convulsaque marmora, et columnæ rupta assiduo lectore, semper clamant quid venti agant, &c.- Quid ... venti: this either alludes to some tedious poetical treatise on the nature of the winds, or to some play on the amours of Boreas and Orithyia, the daughter of Erechtheus, king of Athens. 10. Unde... pellicula: i. e. Jason, who, by the assistance of Medea, stole the golden fleece from Colchis. 11. Monychus a general name for the Centaurs, because they are described as having hoofs (ovvs) not cleft (óvos). In the battle with the Lapithæ, they plucked up trees by the roots, and flung them like darts at the enemy. It alludes here to some poem on this subject. 12. Frontonis platani: Fronto, a noble Roman, famous for his learning, who was in the habit of lending his porticoes to the poets of his times to recite their verses: these porticoes were shaded with plane trees, supported by marble pillars, and adorned with statues.-Convulsaque. clamant: 'the convulsed marble reëchoes:' this relates either to the statues almost shaken from their pedestals with the noise; or to the marble inlaid in the walls; or to the pavement, which seemed likely to be torn asunder by the continual bawling. ... 13. Assiduo... columna: the pillars split by the incessant recitations of the poets.' 14. Exspectes...poëta: sc. ut carmina et scribant et recitent. 15. Et... subduximus: the meaning is; and I, for this reason (ergò, i. e. ut eadem a me exspectes, ut carmina aliquando scribere possem atque recitare; et quia insanabile scribendi cacoëthes carmina nunc tenet tot homines), have frequented the schools of grammarians and rhetoricians.-Manum ferulæ subduximus: the following is the best interpretation of this clause; et nos in disciplinâ ludimagistri fuimus, et, manum ferulæ præbere coacti, illam metuentes sæpe subduximus. Id facete dictum pro: scholas frequentavi. Et... dormiret: in the schools, discussions and declamations on various subjects were introduced; one of these discussions, while Juvenal was at school, was "whether Sylla should take the dictatorship, or live in ease and quiet as a private man ?" He had maintained the latter proposition. 18. Peritura... charta: 'paper that will be wasted' by others, if I do not use it. 19. Cur... edam: the construction is, tamen, si vacat, et placidi admittitis rationem, edam cur libeat decurrere hoc campo potiùs, per quem magnus, &c.-Decurrere: a metaphor, taken from chariot racing, and applied here to the writing of Satire. 20. Aurunca: Aurunca, an ancient city of Latium, in Italy, was the birthplace of the great Roman satir st, Lucilius. 21. Admittitis: admitto literally signifies to admit,' but it is sometimes used with auribus understood, and then it signifies 'to hearken, to attend.' 22. Quum tener... Satiram non, scribere: the construction is, difficile est non scribere Satiram, quum tener spado, &c.-Mavia... aprum: Mavia put here for any immodest woman; in the time of Domitian, some women had the impudence to appear in the amphitheatre, and there perform the part of gladiators.-Tuscan boars were considered the fiercest. 25. Quo... sonabat: the person alluded to is supposed to have 10 |