Scinduntur tunicæ sarta: modo longa coruscat Quid superest de corporibus? quis membra, quis ossa Hæc inter pueros varie properantur; at ille 255 260 under the provisions, by the current of air which he excited in hastening on with his load. These processions Umbritius seems to reckon among other causes of the street being crowded, and made disagreeable and inconvenient for passengers. 254. Botched coats are torn.] Some refer this to the old botched clothes of these poor slaves-but I should rather imagine, that Umbritius here introduces a new circumstance, which relates to the poor in general, whose garments being old, and only hanging together by being botched and mended, are rent and torn off their backs, in getting through the crowd, by the violence of the press, which is increased by the number of masters and servants, who are hurrying along with the contents of the sportula. A long fir-tree.] Another inconvenience arises from the passing of timber-carriages among the people in the streets. SENECA, epist. xl. Longo vehiculorum ordine, pinus aut abies deferebatur vicis intrementibus. Brandishes.] Corusco signifies to brandish or shake; also neut. to be shaken, to wave to and fro-which must be the case of a long stick of timber, of the ends especially, on a carriage. This may be very dangerous if approached too near. 255. The waggon coming.] Moving on its way-sarracum signifies a waggon, or wain, for the purpose of carrying timber. 256. They nod on high.] These trees being placed high on the carriages, and lying out beyond them at each end, tremble aloft, and threaten the destruction of the people. 257. But if the axle, &c.] i. e. If the stone-carriage has overturned, by the breaking of the axle-tree. Ligustian stones.] Which were hewn, in vast masses, in Liguria, from the quarries of the Apennine mountains. 258. The overturned mountain. Hyperbole, denoting the immensity of the block of stone. Upon the crowd.] Agmen denotes a troop or company; also a number of people walking together, as in a crowded street. 259. What remains, &c.] If such an immense mass should, in its fall, light upon any of the people, it must grind them to atoms: no trace of a human body, its limbs, or bones could be found. 261. In the manner of the soul.] i. e. The particles which com Botched coats are torn.-Now a long fir-tree brandishes, Carts carry, they nod on high, and threaten the people. 255 Hath fallen down, and hath poured forth the overturned mountain the crowd, upon What remains of their bodies? who finds members-who Bones? every carcase of the vulgar, ground to powder, perishes 260 In the manner of the soul. Mean while, the family secure now washes The dishes, and raises up a little fire with the cheek, and makes a sound with anointed Scrapers, and puts together the napkins with a full cruise. These things among the servants are variously hastened: but he posed the body could no more be found, than could the soul which is immaterial; both would seem to have vanished away, and disappeared together. 261. Mean while.] Interea-q. d. While the slave is gone to bring home the provisions, and is crushed to pieces, by the fall of a stone-carriage, in his way. See l. 264, 5. The family.] The servants of the family (Comp. 1. 261.) safe at home, and knowing nothing of what had happened, set about preparing for supper. 262. The dishes.] Patella signifies any sort of dish, to hold meat. -One washes and prepares the dishes which are to hold the meat when it arrives. Raises up a little fire, &c.] Another, in order to prepare the fire for warming the water for bathing before supper, blows it with his mouth. Hence it is said-buccâ foculum excitat-alluding to the distension of the cheeks in the act of blowing. 262-3. With anointed scrapers.] Strigil-denotes an instrument for scraping the body after bathing-It had some oil put on it, to make it slide with less friction over the skin. Scrapers were made of gold, silver, iron, or the like, which, when gathered up, or thrown down together, made a clattering sound. 263. Puts together the napkins.] Lintea-linen napkins, or towels, made use of to dry the body after bathing: these he folds and lays in order. A full cruise.] Gutto-a sort of oil-cruet, with a long and narrow neck, which poured the oil, drop by drop, on the body after bathing, and then it was rubbed all over it." 264. These things among the servants, &c.] Each servant, in his department, made all the haste he could, to get things ready against should arrive. the supper But he.] Ille-i. e. The servulus infelix, (which we read of, 1. 253.) in his way home with his load of provisions, is killed by the fall of a block of stone upon hin. Jam sedet in ripâ, tetrumque novitius horret Ebrius, ac petulans, qui nullum forte cecidit, 265 270 275 265. Sits on the bank.] Of the river Styx.-By this account of the deceased, it is very clear, that Juvenal was no Epicurean, believing the soul to perish with the body, which some have wrongly inferred, from what he says, 1. 261, more animæ. Comp. sat. ii. 1. 149-59. -A novice.] Just newly arrived, and now first beholding such a scene. 265-6. The black ferryman.] Porthmea-from Gr. wogueus, a ferryman, one who ferries people over the water. Charon, the fabled ferryman of hell, is here meant. 266. Nor does he hope for the boat, &c.] Alnus properly signifies an alder-tree; but as the wood of this tree was used in making boats, it therefore-by met.-signifies a boat. As the poor deceased had died a violent death, and such a one as dissipated all the parts of his body, so as that they could not be collected for burial, he could not pass over the river Styx, but must remain on its banks an hundred years, which was held to be the case of all unburied bodies. See VIRG. Æn. vi. 325-29. 365, 6. and HOR. lib. i. ode xxviii. 35, 6. This situation was reckoned to be very unhappy. 267. Nor hath he a farthing, &c.] The triens was a very small piece of money-the third part of the As, which was about three farthings of our money. It was a custom among the Greeks, to put • a piece of money into the mouth of a dead which was supposed to be given to Charon, as his fare, for the passage in his boat, over the river Styx. This unhappy man, being killed in the manner he was, could not have this done for him. person, Though Juvenal certainly believed a future state of rewards and punishments, (see sat. ii. 1. 153.) yet he certainly means here, as he does elsewhere, to ridicule the idle and foolish superstitions, which the Romans had adopted from the Greeks, upon those subjects, as well as on many others relative to their received mythology. 268. Now consider, &c.] Umbritius still pursues his discourse, and adds fresh reasons for his departure from Rome: which, like Now sits on the bank, and, a novice, dreads the black 265 Ferryman; nor does he hope for the boat of the muddy gulph, Wretch [that he is]-nor hath he a farthing which he can reach forth from his mouth. Now consider other, and different dangers of the night: What space from high roofs, from whence the brain A potsherd strikes, as oftén as from the windows cracked and broken Vessels fall, with what weight they mark and wound The stricken flint: you may be accounted idle, You go intestate; there are as many fates as, in that 270 Night, there are watchful windows open, while you pass by. 275 Therefore you should desire, and carry with you a miserable wish, That they may be content to pour forth broad basons. One drunken and petulant, who haply hath killed nobody, the former, already given, arise from the dangers which the inhabitants, the poorer sort especially, are exposed to, in walking the streets by night. These he sets forth with much humour. 268. Other, and different dangers.] Besides those already mentioned, 1. 196-202. 269. What space from high roofs.] How high the houses are, and, consequently, what a long way any thing has to fall, from the upper windows into the street, upon people's heads that are passing by; and therefore must come with the greater force; insomuch that pieces of broken earthen ware, coming from such a height, make a mark in the flint pavement below, and, of course, must dash out the brains of the unfortunate passenger on whose head they may happen to alight. 272. Idle.] Ignavus-indolent-negligent of your affairs. q. d. A man who goes out to supper, and who has to walk home through the streets at night, may be reckoned very indolent, and careless of his affairs, as well as very improvident, if he does not make his will before he sets out. 274. As many fates.] As many chances of being knocked on the head, as there are open windows, and people watching to throw down their broken crockery into the street, as you pass along. 276. Therefore you should desire, &c.] As the best thing which you can expect, that the people at the windows would content themselves with emptying the nastiness which is in their pots upon you, and not throw down the pots themselves. Pelvis is a large bason, or vessel, wherein they washed their feet, or put to more filthy uses. 278. One drunken, &c.] Umbritius, among the nightly dangers of Rome, recounts that which arises from meeting drunken rakes in their cups. Drunken and petulant.] We may imagine him in his way from Dat pœnas, noctem patitur lugentis amicum porrum 280 285 290 some tavern, very much in liquor, and very saucy and quarrelsome, hoping to pick a quarrel, that he may have the pleasure of beating somebody before he gets home-to fail of this, is a punishment to him. 279. The night of Pelides.] The poet humourously compares the uneasiness of one of these young fellows, on missing a quarrel, to the disquiet of Achilles (the son of Peleus) on the loss of his friend Patroclus; and almost translates the description which Homer gives of that hero's restlessness on the occasion, Il. a. 1. 10, 11. Αλλοτ' επι πλευρας κατακείμενος, άλλοτε δ' αυτε Υπτιος, αλλοτε δε πρηνης. Nunc lateri incumbens, iterum post paulo supinus So the poet describes this rakehelly youth, as tossing and tumbling in his bed, first on his face, then on his back (supinus)—thus endeavouring to amuse the restlessness of his mind, under the disappointment of having met with nobody to quarrel with and beat—thus wearying himself, as it were, into sleep. 281-2. To some a quarrel, &c.] This reminds one of Prov. iv. 16. "For they (the wicked and evil men, ver. 14.) sleep not, except "they have done mischief, and their sleep is taken away unless they 66 cause some to fall." 282. Wicked from years.] Improbus also signifies lewd, rash, violent, presumptuous.-Though he be all these, owing to his young time of life, and heated also with liquor, yet he takes care whom he assaults. 283. A scarlet cloak.] Instead of attacking, he will avoid rich man or noble, whom he full well knows from his dress, as well any as from the number of lights and attendants which The lana was a sort of cloak usually worn by soldiers; but accompany him, |