Hederæ sequaces. Ipse semipaganus note. 8. Who has expedited, &c.] Expedivit lit. hastened.-q. d. Who has made a parrot so ready at speaking the word Xaigs. This, like salve, ave, or the like, was a salutation among the ancients at meeting or parting: this they taught their parrots, or magpies, who used to utter them, as ours are frequently taught to speak some similar common word. See MART. lib. xiv. ep. 73-6. 9. Taught magpies, &c.] The magpie, 10 as we daily see, is another bird which is often taught to speak. 11. The belly. i. e. Hunger, which is the teacher of this, as of many other arts-the giver of genius and capacityskilful and cunning to follow after the most difficult attainments from which it can hope for relief to its cravings. -Cunning.] Artifex-icis. adj. See AINSW. -Denied words.] This hunger is a great artist in this way, of teaching birds to utter human language, which naturally is denied them. The birds are, in a manner, starved into this kind of erudition, the masters of them keeping them very sharp, and rewarding them with a bit of food, when they shew a compliance with their endeavours, from time to time. On this principle we have, in our day, seen wonderful things, quite foreign to the nature Touch softly. I, half a clown, Bring my verse to the consecrated repositories of the poets. Who has expedited to a parrot his xaige? And taught magpies to attempt our words? A master of art, and a liberal bestower of genius, But if the hope of deceitful money should glitter, You may imagine to sing Pegaseian melody. of the animals, taught to horses, dogs, and even to swine. The poet means, that as parrots and magpies are starved into learning to speak, which by nature is denied them, so the scribblers, which he here intends to satirize, are driven into writing verses, by their poverty and necessity, without any natural genius or talents whatso ever. 12. If the hope, &c.] These poor poets, who are without all natural genius, and would therefore never think of writing; yet, such is their poverty, that if they can once encourage themselves to hope for a little money by writing, they will instantly set about it. 12. Deceitful money.] Money may, on many accounts, deserve the epithet here given it. But here, in particular, it is 10 so called, from its deceiving these' scribblers into doing what they are not fit for, and by doing of which they expose themselves to the utmost contempt and derision. 13. Raven-poets, &c.] Once let the gilded bait come in view, you will hear such a recital of poetry, as would make you think that ravens and magpies were turned poets and poetesses, and had been taught to receive their performances. 14. Pegaseian melody.] They would do this with so much effrontery, that instead of the wretched stuff which they produced, you would think they were reciting something really poetical and sublime, as if they had drunk of Hippocrene itself, (see above, note on 1. 1.) or had mounted and soared aloft on the winged Pegasus. SATIRA I. ARGUMENT. This Satire opens in form of a dialogue between Persius and a friend. We may suppose Persius to be just seated in his study, and beginning to vent his indignation in satire. An acquaintance comes in, and, on hearing the first line, dissuades the poet from an undertaking so dangerous; advising him, if he must write, to accommodate his vein to the taste of the times, and to write like other people. Persius acknowledges, that this would be the means of gaining applause; but adds, that the approbation of such patrons as this compliance would recommend him to was a thing not to be desired. PERSIUS. MONITOR. P. O Curas hominum! ô quantum est in rebus inane ! M. Vel duo, vel nemo; turpe et miserabile. P. Quare? Prætulerint? nugæ !-Non, si quid turbida Roma Line 1. O the cares, &c.] Persius is supposed to be reading this line, the first of the Satire which he had composed, when his friend is entering and overhears it. Comp. Eccl. i. 2-14. 2. Who will read these?] Says his friend to him-i. e. Who, as the present taste at Rome is, will trouble themselves to read a work which begins with such serious reflections? Your very first line will disgust them-they like nothing but trifles. oath among the Romans. 5 -Nobody?] Says Persius-Do you literally mean what you say? 3. Perhaps two, &c.] It may be, replies the friend, that here and there a few readers may be found; but I rather think that even this will not be the case: I grant this to be very hard, after the pains which you have bestowed, and very shameful. Wherefore?] Wherefore do you call it a miserable, or a shameful thing, not to have my writings read? Are you afraid that I should be uneasy at seeing my performances thrown aside, and those of a vile scribbler preferred? 4. Polydamus and the Troiads, &c.] The SATIRE I. ARGUMENT. He After this, he exposes the wretched taste which then prevailed in Rome, both in verse and prose, and shews what sad stuff the nobles wrote themselves, and encouraged in others. laments that he dares not speak out, as Lucilius and Horace did-but it is no very difficult matter to perceive that he frequently aims at the emperor Nero. He concludes, with a contempt of all blockheads, and says, that the only readers, whose applause he courts, must be men of virtue and sense. PERSIUS. MONITOR. P. O The cares of men! O how much vanity is there in things! M. Who will read these? P. Do you say that to me? M. Nobody, truly. P. Nobody? M. Perhaps two, perhaps nobody; it is a shameful and lamentable thing. P. Wherefore? Lest Polydamas and the Troiads should prefer Labeo poet dares not speak out, therefore designs Nero and the Romans, under the feigned name of Polydamas and the Trojans, in allusion to Hector's fearing the reproaches of Polydamas (the sonin-law of Priam, and who is said to have betrayed Troy to the Greeks) and of the Trojan men and women, if he retired within the walls of Troy. See Il. . 1. 100-5. -Labeo.] A wretched poet, who made a miserable translation of Homer's Iliad. He was a court-poet, and a minion of Nero. VOL. II. 5. Trifles.] So far from its being the miserable thing which you imagine, I look on it as ridiculous and trifling, nor do I trouble my head about it. -If turbid Rome, &c.] Metaph. from waters, which, by being disturbed, are muddy, thick, turbid, as we say. If the people of Rome, says the poet, turbid, i. e. muddy, not clear in their judgment, having their minds vexed and disturbed too with what is written against them, disparage any work, and speak lightly of it, through anger and prejudice, I desire you will not agree with 2 E Elevet, accedas: examenve improbum in istâ Nam Romæ quis non-? Ah, si fas dicere! Sed fas them in what they say, or accede to their opinion. The word elevet is metaphorical, and alludes to scales, where that which is lightest is raised up, and signifies undervaluing, disparaging, or, as we say, making light of any thing. 6. Nor correct, &c.] Examen properly signifies the tongue, needle, or beam of a balance, which always inclines toward the side where the weight preponderates-where this does not act truly, and in due proportion, it shews that the balance is false: how false it is, and, of course, how it may be properly judged of and corrected, may be seen, by weighing the same thing in a true scale, or by a true balance; this will exactly discover the deficiency. The poet, alluding to this, advises his friend not to attempt correcting one false balance by another: he means, that, if any thing should be amiss, which the people in general find fault with, yet it is not to be weighed or considered according to their opinion, which, like a false balance, is erroneous; much less to be corrected by their standard of judg ment. 7. Seek not thyself, &c.] i. e. Judge for yourself, by your own conscience and opinion, not by what other people say. The more exact meaning of this Stoical maxim seems to be-You can judge of yourself better by what passes within you, than by the opinions of others; so, go not out of yourself, in order to draw just and true conclusions concerning yourself. The Stoics maintained, that a wise man should not make other people's opinions, but his own reason, his rule of action. The conscience is the test of ev'ry mind; Seek not thyself, without thyself, to find. DRYDEN. The poet seems to urge this sentiment upon his friend, in order to guard him against such an attention to popular 10 opinion, as might lead him to assent to it, contrary to his own opinion, judgment, and conscience. In this view it answers to what he has before said : -Non, si quid turbida Roma Elevet, accedos. L. 5, 6. 8. Who does not-?] i. e. Who does not leave his own judgment and conscience out of the question, and suffer himself to be led away by popular opinion? This is an aposiopesis: but I think the nam refers us to the preceding sentence to make out the sense. This view of it furnishes a farther argument against trusting the opinions of others, since even they don't judge for themselves. 8. Ah! if I might say!] i. e. Alas! if I were but at liberty to speak out plainly. -But I may, &c.] Persius lived in the reign of Nero, a dangerous period for the writers of satire: he was therefore, as he hints in the preceding line, afraid to speak out: but yet he will not quite refrain: the objects of satire were too many, and too gross, for him to be silent, and therefore he determines to attack them. 9. When I have beheld greyness.] When I have turned my eyes on the grey hairs of old age. -Our grave way of life,] Vivere, here, for vita, a Græcism-these often occur in Persius. When I behold, says the poet, the gravity and austerity with which we appear to live. 10. Whatever we do, &c.] The manner in which people employ themselves, as soon as they have left their playthings, and are become men. Nuces, lit. nuts-and tali, little square stones, or bones with four sides were the usual playthings of children. The nuces were little balls of ivory, or round stones. See FRANCIS' Hor. lib. ii. sat. iii. l. 172. Hence nucibus relictis sig |