You should add, at whose expence he then threw the net. Not even boys believe, unless those not as yet washed for money: But think thou that they are true: What thinks Curius, and both The Scipios? what Fabricius, and the ghost of Camillus? 154 What the legion of Cremera, and the youth consumed at Cannæ, So many warlike souls? as often as from hence to them such A shade arrives, they would desire to be purified, if there could be given Sulphur with pines, and if there were a wet laurel. Thither, alas! we wretches are conveyed! our arms, indeed, beyond 155 The shores of Juverna we have advanced, and the lately captured rased Numantia and Carthage. Hence VIRG. Ea. vi. 842, 3. -Geminos duo fulmina belli Scipiadas, cladem Libya.-Fabricius.] C. Luscinius the consul, who conquered Pyrrhus. -Camillus.] A noble Roman; he, though banished, saved Rome from its final ruin by the Gauls. The Romans voted him an equestrian statue in the Forum, an honour never before conferred on a Roman citizen. 155. The legion of Cremera.] Meaning the 300 Fabii, who, with their slaves and friends, marched against the Veientes, who, after many battles, surrounding them by an ambuscade, killed the 300 near Cremera, a river of Tuscany, except one, from whom came afterwards the famous Fabius mentioned by VIRG. Æn. vi. 845, 6. -The youth consumed, &c.] Cannæ arum. A village of Apulia in the kingdom of Naples, where Hannibal defeated the Romans, and killed above 40,000. Among these such a number of the young nobility, knights, and others of rank, that Hannibal sent to Carthage three bushels of rings in token of his victory. There was such a carnage of the Romans, that Hannibal is said, at last, to have stopped his soldiers, crying out," Parce ferro." 156. So many warlike souls.] Slain in battle, fighting for their country. VIRG. Æn. vi. 660. places such in elysium. By mentioning the above great men, Juvenal means, that they were examples not only of the belief of a future state, which influenced them in the achieve. ment of great and worthy deeds during their lives, but that now they experienced the certainty of it, in the enjoyment of its rewards. 156. As often as from hence, &c.] When the spirit of such a miscreant, as I have before described, goes from hence, leaves this world, and arrives among the venerable shades of these great and virtuous men, they would look upon themselves as defiled by such a one coming among them; they would call for lustrations, that they might purify themselves from the pollution which such company would bring with it. 157. If there could be given.] i. e. If they could come at materials for purification in the place where they are. 158. Sulphur with pines.] Fumes of sulphur, thrown on a lighted torch made of the wood of the unctuous pine-tree, were used among the Romans as purifying. See AINSW. Teda, No. 3. Pliny says of sulphur," Habet et in "religionibus locum ad expiandas suf"fitu domos." Lib. xxxv. c. 15. Awet laurel.] They used also a laurel-branch dipped in water, and sprinkling with it things or persons which they would purify. 159. Thither, alas! &c.] We wretched mortals all must die, and be carried into that world of spirits, where happiness or misery will be our doom. 160. Juverna.] Al. Juberna, hod. Hibernia, Ireland. It is thought by Cam Orcadas, ac minimâ contentos nocte Britannos. den, that the Romans did not conquer Ireland; this passage of Juvenal seems to imply the contrary. The poet might speak here at large, as a stranger to these parts, but according to the report of the triumphing Romans, who sometimes took discoveries for conquests, and thought those overcome, who were neighbours to those whom they overcame. 161. Orcades.] A number of small islands in the north of Scotland, added to the Roman empire by the emperor Claudius. Hod. the Orkneys. -The Britons content, &c.] At the summer solstice the nights are very short; there is scarce any in the most northern parts of Britain. 162. The things which, &c.] The abominations which are committed in Rome, are not to be found among the conquered people, at least not till they learn them by coming to Rome; instances, indeed, may be found of this, as may appear by what follows. 164. Zelates.] An Armenian youth, sent as an hostage from Armenia. -More soft, &c.] More effeminate; made so, by being corrupted at an earlier period of life than was usual among the Roman youths. Ephebus signifies a youth or lad from about fourteen to seventeen. Then they put on the toga virilis, and were reckoned men. The word is compounded of x, at, and en, puberty. 165. To have yielded himself.] For the horrid purpose of unnatural lust. 165 170 -A burning tribune.] VIRG. ecl. ii. 1. has used the verb ardeo in the same hor. rid sense. The tribune is not named, but some think the emperor Caligula to be hinted at, who, as Suetonius relates, used some who came as hostages, from far countries, in this detestable manner. 166. See what commerce may do.] Commercia here signifies intercourse, correspondence, converse together. Mark the effects of bad intercourse. The poet seems to mean what St. Paul expresses, 1 Cor. xv. 33. "Evil communications corrupt good manners." 66 -He had come an hostage.] Obses quia quasi pignus obsidetur, i. e. because kept, guarded, as a pledge. An hostage was given as a security or pledge, for the performance of something by one people to another, either in war or peace, and was peculiarly under the protection and care of those who received him. This youth had been sent to Rome from Artaxata, the capital of Armenia, a country of Asia, and was debauched by the tribune who had the custody of him. This breach of trust aggravates the crime. 167. Here they become men.] Here, at Rome, they soon lose their simplicity and innocence of manners, and though young in years, are soon old in wickedness, from the corruptions which they meet with. The word homo is of the common gender, and signifies both man Orcades, and the Britons content with very little night. But the things which now are done in the city of the conquering people, Those whom we have conquered do not: and yet one Armenian, Zelates, more soft than all our striplings, is said To have yielded himself to a burning tribune. 165 See what commerce may do: he had come an hostage. and woman; and it is not improbable, but that Juvenal uses the word homines here, as intimating, that these youths were soon to be regarded as of either sex. 167. If a longer stay, &c.] If they are permitted to stay a longer time at Rome, after their release as hostages, and are at large in the city, they will never want occasions of temptation to the worst of vices at every turn they will meet with those who will spare no pains to corrupt them. : 169. Trowsers.] Braccæ; a sort of trowsers or breeches, worn by the Armenians, Gauls, Persians, Medes, and others. Here by synec. put for the whole dress of the country from which they came. Knives.] Cultelli; little knives; dim. from culter. This should seem to mean some adjunct to the Armenian dress; not improbably the small daggers, or poignards, which the Easterns wore tucked in their girdles, or sashes, of their under vestments; such are seen in the East to this day. -Bridles, whip.] With which they managed, and drove on their horses, in their warlike exercises, and in the chace. will all be laid aside; they will adopt the dress and manners, the effeminacy and debauchery of the Roman nobility, which they will carry home with them when they return to their own capital. See 1. 166, note. 170. Prætextate manners.] See sat. i. 78, note. Rome's noble crimes. Holyday. As we should express it, the fashionable vices of the great. The persons who wore the prætexta, were magistrates, priests, and noblemen's children till the age of seventeen. -Artaxata.] The chief city of Armenia the Greater, (situate on the river Araxes,) built by Artaxias, whom the Armenians made their king. It was taken by Pompey, who spared both the city and the inhabitants: but, in Nero's reign, Corbulo, the commander in chief of the Roman forces in the East, having forced Tiridates, king of Armenia, to yield up Artaxata, levelled it with the ground. See Ant. Univ. Hist. vol. ix. 484. This city is called Artaxata-orum, plur. or Artaxata-æ, sing. See AINSW. It is probable that the poet mentions Artaxata, on account of the fact which is recorded, 1. 164, 5; but he may be understood, by this instance, to mean, that every country and people would become corrupt, as they had less or more to do with Rome. SATIRA III. ARGUMENT. Juvenal introduces Umbritius, an old friend of his, taking his departure from Rome, and going to settle in a country retirement at Cuma. He accompanies Umbritius out of town; and, before they take leave of each other, Umbritius tells his friend Juvenal the reasons which had induced QUAMVIS digressu veteris confusus amici, Secessûs. Ego vel Prochytam præpono Suburræ. Line 2. Cuma.] An ancient city of Campania near the sea. Some think it had its name from xvuara, waves: the waves, in rough weather, dashing against the walls of it. Others think it was so called from its being built by the Cumai of Asia. PLIN. iii. 4. Juvenal calls it empty in comparison with the populousness of Rome: it was now, probably, much decayed, and but thinly inhabited: on this account it might be looked upon as a place of leisure, quiet, and retirement; all which may be understood by the word vacuis. 3. The Sibyl.] Quasi olov Bovan, Dei consilium. AINSW. The Sibyls were women, supposed to be inspired with a spirit of prophecy. Authors are not agreed as to the number of them; but the most famous was the Cumæan, so called from having her residence at 5 10 Cuma. Umbritius was now going to bestow, donare, one citizen on this abode of the Sibyl, by taking up his residence there. See Virg. Æn. vi. 1. 10. et seq. 4. The gate of Baia.] Passengers from Rome to Baia were to pass through Cumæ; they went in on one side, and came out on the other, as through a gate. -Baia.] A delightful city of Campa-, nia, of which HOR. lib. i. epist. i. 1. 83. Nullus in orbe sinus Buiis prælucet amanis. Here were fine warm springs and baths, both pleasant and healthful: on which account it was much resorted to by the nobility and gentry of Rome, many of whom had villas there for their summer residence. It forms part of the bay of Naples. SATIRE III. ARGUMENT. him to retire from Rome: each of which is replete with the keenest satire on its vicious inhabitants. Thus the Poet carries on his design of inveighing against the vices and disorders which reigned in that city. THO' troubled at the departure of an old friend, 4. A grateful shore.] Gratum: grateful, here, must be understood in the sense of agreeable, pleasant. The whole shore, from Cuma to Baia, was delightfully pleasant, and calculated for the most agreeable retirement. See the latter part of the last note. 5. Prochyta.] A small rugged island in the Tyrrhenian sea, desert and barren. Suburra.] A street in Rome, much frequented, but chiefly by the vulgar, and by women of ill fame. Hence MART. vi. 66.. Famæ non nimium bonæ puella, Quales in mediâ sedent Suburrâ. 6. For what so wretched, &c.] Solitary and miserable as any place may be, yet it is better to be there than at Rome, where you have so many dangers and inconveniences to apprehend. 7. Fires.] House-burnings, to which populous cities, from many various causes, are continually liable. 8. Falling of houses.] Owing to the VOL. I. little care taken of old and ruinous buildings. Propertius speaks of the two foregoing dangers. Præterea domibus flammam, domibusque ruinam. 8, 9. The fell city.] That habitation of daily cruelty and mischief. 9. And poets reciting.] Juvenal very humourously introduces this circumstance among the calamities and incon veniences of living at Rome, that even in the month of August, the hottest season of the year, when most people had retired into the country, so that one might hope to enjoy some little quiet, even then you were to be teazed to death, by the constant din of the scribbling poets reciting their wretched compositions, and forcing you to hear them. Comp. sat. i. 1. 1-14. where our poet expresses his peculiar aversion to this. 10. His whole house, &c.] While all his household furniture and goods were packing up together in one waggon, (as K |