Et patere inde aliquid decrescere, non aliter, quam 220 225 230 235 it by way of poundage, or perquisite, to himself. Frangit.-metaph. from breaking something that was entire. 219. Yield, Palæmon, &c.] Submit to these abatements, and be glad to have something, though less than your due, as it fares with tradesmen who are willing to abate something in their price, rather than not sell their goods. See AINSW. Institor. 222. Let it not be lost, &c.] Only take care to have something for your trouble; let not all your pains, which you have taken, be thrown away, in rising at midnight to teach your boys; a fatigue that no common mechanic would undergo. 224. To draw out wool, &c.] To comb wool, which they did, as we find by this passage, with a card having crooked teeth made of iron, like those now in use. 225. To have smelt, &c.] Let it not be for nothing that you have been half poisoned with the stink of as many lamps as you have boys standing round you to say their lessons before it is light, and therefore are each of them with a lamp in his hand to read by. 226, 7. Horace all discolour'd.] With the oil of the lamps, which the boys, through carelessness, let drop on their books. 227. Black Virgil.] Made black with the smoke of the lamps, which the boys held close to their books, when they were reading and construing their les sons. 228. Yet pay is rare, which, &c.] Though little is left of the pay to the_grammarian, after all the deductions above mentioned, yet it is very rare that they get any thing at all, unless they go to law for it. The tribune here means the judge who tried civil causes. 229. But impose ye, &c.] Though the poor grammarian labours under all these difficulties, be sure, you that send your sons to them, to impose all the task upon them that ye can make no abatement in his qualifications: expect that he knows every rule of grammar. 231. Read histories, &c.] That he should be a good historian: that he should know all authors at his fingers' ends, ad unguem, as the saying is. 233. The hot baths.] There were thermæ, hot baths, in Rome, as well as cold baths, balnea; to the former they went to sweat, in the other they washed, And suffer something to decrease from thence, not otherwise than 220 A dealer in winter-rug, and white blanket. You have sat, in which no smith, in which nobody would sit, As boys were standing, when all discolour'd was Yet pay is rare which may not want the cognizance Of the Tribune.-But impose ye cruel laws, 225 That the rule of words should be clear to the preceptor: 230 That he should read histories, should know all authors As well as his own nails and fingers; that, by chance, being ask'd While he is going to the hot baths, or the baths of Phœbus, he should tell The nurse of Anchises, the name and country of the step-mother Of Archemorus: should tell how many years Acestes lived: 235 How many urns of wine the Sicilian presented to the Phrygians. Require, that he should form the tender manners as with his thumb, As if one makes a face with wax: require, that he should be Even a father of his flock, lest they should play base tricks, Now this poor grammarian was expected to be ready to answer any questions which were asked him, by people whom he met with, when he went either to the one or the other. 233. Phœbus.] The name of some bath-keeper. 234. The nurse of Anchises.] The poet here, perhaps, means to ridicule the absurd curiosity of Tiberius, who used to be often teasing the grammarians with silly and unedifying questions; as, Who was Hecuba's mother? What was the name of Achilles when dressed in woman's clothes? What the Sirens sung? and the like. See Suet. in TIBERIO, cap. lxx. Such foolish questions might be asked the grammarian, when he met with people at the baths; and he was bound to answer them, under peril of being accounted an ignoramus. Caieta, the nurse of Æneas, is mentioned, Æn. vii. 1, 2; but there is no mention of the nurse of Anchises: perhaps Juvenal means to ridicule the igno rance of the querist, as mistaking Anchises for Æneas. 234, 5. Of the step-mother of Archemorus.] For Anchemolus, (see Æn. x. 1. 389.) who seems here meant ; but perhaps the querist may be supposed to call it Archemorus. 235. Acestes.] Æn. i. 199; and Æn. v. 73. 236. The Sicilian.] Meaning Acestes, who was king of Sicily, of his giving wine to the Trojans. See n. i. 199, 200. 237. Require.] Exigite, exact-that, beside his teaching your children, (and, in order to that, he be perfectly learned,) he also should watch over their morals, and form them with as much nicety, care, and exactness, as if he were moulding a face in wax with his fingers. Ducat-metaph. taken from statuaries. Comp. Virg. Æn. vi. 1. 848. 239. A father of his flock.] Require also, that he should be as anxious, and as careful as his scholars, as if he were their father. —Lest they should play, &c.] Lest they Ne faciant vicibus. Non est leve tot puerorum Observare manus, oculosque in fine trementes. Hæc, inquit, cures; sed cum se verterit annus, Accipe, victori populus quod postulat, aurum. should fall into lewd and bad practices among themselves. This is the substance of this, and the two following lines, which had better, as some other passages in Juvenal, be paraphrased than translated. 242. When the year, &c.] When the year comes round-at the end of the year. 243. Accept a piece of gold.] Aurum. The Roman aureus (according to Ainsw. Val. and Proportion of Roman coins) was about 11. 9d. of our money: but, 240 whatever the precise value of the aurum mentioned here might be, the poet evidently means to say, that the grammarian does not get more for a whole year's labour in teaching, and watching over a boy's morals, than a victorious fencer, or sword-player, gets by a single battle won upon the stage, viz. about 41. (or rather about 51.) of our money, which Marshal, after Vet. Schol. says, was the stated sum, and which was not to be exceeded. 243. Which the people require.] When And corrupt each other: it is no light matter to watch 240 Accept a piece of gold, which the people require for a conqueror. a fencer, or gladiator, came off victorious, the Roman people required the quinque aurei to be given to him by the prætor, tribune, or other person, who gave and presided at the show. This passage is, by some, referred to MART. lib. x. epigr. 74. where he mentions one Scorpus, a famous charioteer, who, by being victor in a chariot-race, carried off, in one hour's time, fifteen sacks full of gold. But this does not seem to agree with what Juvenal says of the gains of the poor grammarian, which the poet evidently supposes to be no more than the perquisite of a common gladiator that had come off conqueror: even this was five times as much as a lawyer got by a cause. Comp. 1. 122. Thus Juvenal concludes this Satire, having fully accomplished his purpose; which was to shew, by many instances, the shameful neglect of learning and science, as well as of the professors of them, which then prevailed among the nobility of Rome. SATIRA VIII. ARGUMENT. In this Satire the Poet proves, that true nobility does not consist in statues and pedigrees, but in honourable and good actions. And, in opposition to persons nobly born, who are a disgrace STEMMATA quid faciunt? quid prodest, Pontice, longo Line 1. What do pedigrees?] i. e. Of what use or service are they, merely considered in themselves? -Ponticus.] There was a famous heroic poet of this name, much acquainted with Propertius and Ovid: but the person here mentioned, to whom this Satire is addressed, was probably some man of quality, highly elevated by family pride, but whose manners disgraced his birth. 2. By a long descent.] Longo sanguine, a descent through a long train of ances tors of noble blood. -Painted countenance, &c.] It was customary among the Romans to have their houses furnished with family pictures, images, &c. and it was no small part of the pride of the nobility. 3, 4, 5. The Emilii-Curii-Corvi 5 10 |