Of the mind, and a breast imbrued with generous honestyThese give me, that I may bring to the temples, and I will sacrifice with meal. offering. Comp. VIRG. Æn. v. 1. 745; and HOR. lib. iii. ode xxiii. 1. 17, &c. Lito not only signifies to sacrifice, but, by that sacrifice, to obtain what is sought for. Tum Jupiter faciat ut semper 75 PLAUT. in Persa. Persius, in this Satire, in the person of a Stoic preceptor, upbraids the young men with sloth, and with neglect of the study of philosophy. He shews the sad consequences which will attend them throughout life, if they do not apply themselves early to the knowledge of virtue. NEMPE hæc assidue? Jam clarum mane fenestras Line 1. "What-these things con"stantly?"] The poet here introduces a philosopher, rousing the pupils under his care from their sloth, and chiding them for lying so late in bed. What," says he, "is this to be every day's "practice?" "Already the clear morning," &c.] q. d. You ought to be up and at your studies by break of day; but here you are lounging in bed at full day-light, which is now shining in at the windows of your bed-room. 2. "Extends with light," &c.] Makes them appear wider, say some. But Casaubon treats this as a foolish interpretation. He says, that this is an "Hypallage. "Not that the chinks are extended, or "dilated, quod quidem inepte scribunt, but the light is extended, the sun "transmitting its rays through the chinks "of the lattices." Dr. Sheridan says" this image (angustas extendit lumine rimas) very "beautifully expresses the widening of "a chink by the admission of light." But I do not understand how the light can be said to widen a chink, if we take the word widen in its usual sense, of making any thing wider than it was. Perhaps we may understand the verb extendit, here, as extending to view-i. e. making visible the interstices of the lattices, which, in the dark, are imperceptible to the sight, but when the morning enters become apparent. It should seem, from this passage, that the fenestræ of the Romans were lattice windows. But the best way is to abide by experience, which is in favour of the first explanation; for when the bright sun shines through any chink or crack, there is a dazzling which makes the chink or crack appear wider than it really is. Of the first glass windows, see Jortin, Rem. vol. iv. p. 196. 3. "We snore."] Stertimus-i. e. stertitis. The poet represents the philosopher speaking in the first person, but it is to be understood in the second-"We "students," says he, as if he included SATIRE III. ARGUMENT. The title of this Satire, in some ancient manuscripts, was, "The Reproach of Idleness;" though in others it is inscribed," Against the Luxury and Vices of the Rich ;”—in both of which the poet pursues his intention, but principally in the former. "WHAT-these things constantly? Already the clear "morning enters "The windows, and extends with light the narrow chinks. "We snore, what to digest untamed Falernan 66 Might suffice: the line is already touched with the fifth shadow. himself, but meaning, no doubt, those to whom he spake. Comp. sat. i. 1. 13. -"To digest untamed," &c.] Instead of rising to study, we (i. e. ye young men) are sleeping, as long as would suffice to get rid of the fumes of wine, and make a man sober, though he went to bed ever so drunk. 1 To digest."] Despumare-metaph. taken from new wine, or any other fermenting liquor, which rises in froth or scum the taking off this scum or froth was the way to make the liquor clear, and to quiet its working. Thus the Falernan, which was apt, when too much was drunk of it, to ferment in the stomach, was quieted and digested by sleep. The epithet indomitum refers to this fermenting quality of the wine. Perhaps the master here alludes to the irregularities of these students, who, instead of going to bed at a reasonable VOL. II. hour and sober, sat up late drinking, and went to bed with their stomachs full of Falernan wine. 4. "The line is already touched," &c.] Hypallage; for quinta linea jam tangitur umbra, i. e. the fifth line, the line or stroke which marks the fifth hour, is touched with the shadow of the gnomon on the sun-dial. The ancient Romans divided the natural day into twelve parts. Sun-rising was called the first hour; the third after sun-rising answers to our nine o'clock; the sixth hour was noon; the ninth answers to our three o'clock P. M. and the twelfth was the setting of the sun, which we call six o'clock P. M. The fifth hour, then, among the Romans, answers to our eleven o'clock A. M. The students slept till eleven-near half the day. 2 K 5 En, quid agis? siccas insana canicula messes Finditur, Arcadia pecuaria rudere credas. Jam liber, et bicolor positis membrana capillis, O miser, inque dies ultra miser! huccine rerum 5. "Lo! what do you?"] What are you at why don't you get up? "The mad dog-star."] Canicula-a constellation, which was supposed to arise in the midst of summer, when the sun entered Leo; with us the dogdays. This is reckoned the hottest time in the year; and the ancients had a notion, that the influence of the dog-star occasioned many disorders among the human species, but especially madness in dogs. Jam Procyon furit, Et stella vesani Leonis, Sole dies referente siccos. 10 15 7. Fellow students.] This seems to be the meaning of comites in this place. Quick," &c.] Let some of the servants come immediately, and bring my clothes, that I may get up. 8. "Is there nobody," &c.] Does nobody hear me call? -Vitreous bile swells.] He falls into a violent passion at nobody's answering. Horace speaks of splendida bilis, clear bile-i. e. furious-in opposition to the atra bilis, black bile, which produces melancholy. This is probably the meaning of vitrea, glassy, in this place. 9. "I am split."] Says the youth, HOR. ode xxix. lib. iii. 1. 18-20. with calling so loud for somebody to Rabiosi tempora signi. HOR. sat. vi. lib. i. 1. 126. РОРЕ. The dog-star rages. 6. "Long since is ripening."] They supposed that the intense heat, at that time of the year, was occasioned by the dog-star, which rose with the sun, and forwarded the ripening of the corn. The poets followed this vulgar error, which sprang from the rising of the dogstar when the sun entered into Leo; but this star is not the cause of greater heat, which is, in truth, only the effect of the particular situation of the sun at that come to me "That you'd believe," &c.] You may well say you are ready to split, for you make such a noise, that one would think that all the asses in Arcadia were braying together, answers the philosopher. Eclipsis. Arcadia, a midland country of Peloponnesus, very good for pasture, and famous for a large breed of asses. See Juv. sat. vii. 1. 160, note. 10. Now a book.] At last he gets out of bed, dresses himself, and takes up a book. -Two-coloured parchment.] The students used to write their notes on parchment: the inside, on which they wrote, was white: the other side, being the outer side of the skin, on which the wool or hair grew, was of a yellow cast. See Juv. sat. vii. 1. 23, note. -The hairs, &c.] The hairs, or wool, which grew on the skin, were scraped off, and the parchment smoothed, by rubbing it with a pumice-stone. 5 "Lo! what do you? the mad dog-star the dry harvests "Long since is ripening, and all the flock is under the "spreading elm." Says one of the fellow-students-" Is it true? Is it so? Quick let somebody "Come hither-Is there nobody?"-vitreous bile swells. "I am split;"—"that you'd believe the cattle of Arcadia to bray." Now a book, and two-coloured parchment, the hairs being laid aside, 10 And there comes into his hand paper, and a knotty reed. Then he complains that a thick moisture hangs from the pen: That the black cuttle-fish vanishes with water infused : He complains that the pipe doubles the diluted drops. "O wretch! and every day more a wretch! to this pass 15 "Are we come? but why do you not rather, likethe tender dove, "And like the children of nobles, require to eat pap, "And angry at the nurse, refuse her to sing lullaby?" 11. Paper.] Charta signifies any material to write upon. The ancients made it of various things, as leaves, bark of trees, &c. and the Egyptians of the flag of the river Nile, which was called papyrus-hence the word paper. Charta Pergamena, i. e. apud Pergamum inventa (PLIN. Ep. xiii. 12.) signifies the parchment or vellum which they wrote upon, and which was sometimes indifferently called charta, or membrana. Comp. HOR. Sat. x. lib. i. 1. 4; and sat. iii. lib. ii. 1. 2. But chartæ here seems to mean paper of some sort, different from the membrana, 1. 10. The lazy student now takes pen, ink, and paper, in order to write. -A knotty reed.] A pen made of a reed, which was hollow, like a pipe, and grew full of knots, at intervals, on the stalk. 12. He complains, &c.] That his ink is so thick that it hangs to the nib of his pen. 13. Cuttle-fish, &c.] This fish dis. charges a black liquor, which the ancients used as ink. -Vanishes with water, &c.] He first complained that his ink was too thick: on pouring water into it, to make it thinner; he now complains that it is too thin, and the water has caused all the blackness to vanish away. 14. The pipe.] i. e. The pen made of the reed. -Doubles the diluted drops.] Now the ink is so diluted, that it comes too fast from the pen, and blots his paper. All these are so many excuses for his unwillingness to write. 15. "O wretch!" &c.] The philosopher, hearing his lazy pupil contrive so many trivial excuses for idleness, exclaims-" O wretch, O wretched young "man, who art likely to be more "wretched every day you live!" 16. "Are we come," &c.] Are all my hopes of you, as well as those of your parents, who put you under my care, come to this! "Why do you not rather."] Than occasion all this expence and trouble about your education. "The tender dove."] These birds were remarkably tender when youngthe old ones feed them with the halfdigested food of their own stomachs. 17. "Children of nobles."] And of other great men, which are delicately nursed. -"Require a eat pap."] Pappare is to eat pap as children. Minutus-a-um, signifies any thing lessened, or made smaller. Here it denotes meat put into a mother's or nurse's mouth, there chewed small, and then given to the child--as the dove to her young. Comp. the late note on 1. 16. 18. "Angry at the nurse."] The word |