Nobilis Euryalum mirmillonem exprimat infans. Si ratio est, et honesta, timent: pavidoque gelantur would have a gladiator for their father. Exprimat-pourtray-re semble. 82. Hippia.] Was the wife of Fabricius Veiento, a man of senatorial dignity in the time of Domitian. See sat. iii. 185. sat. iv. 113. She left her husband, and went away with Sergius, the gladiator, into Egypt. 83. Pharos. A small island at the mouth of the Nile, where there was a lighthouse to guide the ships in the night. Famous.] Famosa, infamous, as we speak, for all manner of luxury and debauchery. ----- Lagus.] i. e. Alexandria; so called from Ptolemy, the son of Lagus, who succeeded Alexandria, from which son of Lagus came the kingdom of Lagida, which was overthrown, after many years, on the death of Cleopatra. 84. Canopus condemning.] Even the city of Canopus, bad as it was, condemned, as prodigious and unusual, the manners of the ci-` tizens at Rome. 87. The games, and Paris.] As if leaving her husband, children, &c. were not so extraordinary as leaving the theatres, and Paris, ahandsome young actor, who was probably no small favourite of hers. This is a fine stroke of the poet, and exhibits a strong idea of the profligacy of such a woman's mind. 88. In great riches.] In the midst of a profusion of wealth. Paternal down.] Pluma signifies a small or soft feather—so, what we call down. The poet is here describing the tender, as well ás costly manner, in which Hippia was brought up from a child; and, among other particulars, he here alludes to the soft and downy bed on which she used to lie at her father's house. Notwithstanding which, when the gratification of her lust was in question, she could The noble infant may express the sword-player Euryalus. Left, and, to astonish you the more, the games, and Paris. 85 And, when a little one, she had slept in an embroider'd cradle, The sea was so often to be changed. If there be a just And honest cause of danger, they fear: and are frozen with ti morous 95 Breast, nor can they stand on their trembling feet : not only forget all this, but bid defiance to the boisterous sea, and contemn all its dangers and inconveniences. 91. Among fine ladies.] Molles cathedras-literally soft or easy chairs, in which the fine ladies used to be carried-a sort of covered sedan. Here used metonymically, for the ladies themselves. See sat. i. 65.-Or by cathedras, here, may be meant the stratæ cathedræ, or soft chairs, or couches, on which the fine ladies reposed themselves. Meton. for the ladies. See sat. ix. 52, and note. 92. The Tyrrhene waves, &c.] The mare Tyrrhenum means that part of the Mediterranean sea which washes the southern part of Italy. The Ionian.] Ionia was a country of Asia the Lesser, so called along the coast of the Archipelago; the sea which washed this coast was called Ionium mare- -the Ionian sea. 93. With a constant mind.] Was quite firm in the midst of all the dangers which she underwent, and unmoved at the raging of the waves. 94. The sea was so often to be changed.] i. e. She was to sail over so many different seas between Rome and Egypt. 87. In things that, &c.] Juvenal here lashes the sex very severely; he represents women as bold and daring in the pursuits of their vices -timorous and fearful of every thing where duty calls them. See sat. viii. 165. 99. The sink, &c.] Sentina-the hold or part of the ship where : Quæ mœchum sequitur, stomacho valet: illa maritum 100 105 110 Hoc pueris, patriæque, hoc prætulit illa sorori, Atque viro: ferrum est, quod amant: hic Sergius idem Acceptâ rude cœpisset Veiento videri. Quid privata domus, quid fecerit Hippia curas? Respice rivales Divorum: Claudius audi -115 Que tulerit: dormire virum cum senserat uxor, the pump is fixed, and where the bulge-water gathers together and putrifies. 99. The top air, &c.] Summus aër-the sky seems to run round over her head, and makes her giddy. All this can be complained of, as well as sea-sickness, and its effects, if with her husband: but if with a gallant, nothing of this is thought of. 103. She on fire, &c.] But let us consider a little the object of this lady's 'amorous flame what sort of person it was that she was so violently fond of. 104. To be called an actress.] Ludia-properly signifies an actress, or woman who dances, or the like, upon the stage: it seeins the feminine of ludius, which signifies a stage-player, or dancer, sword-player, &c.-Ludia, here, is used by Juvenal as denoting a stage-player's wife-which, Hippia, by going away with Sergius the gladiator, subjected herself to be taken for. 105. Sergy.] Sergiolus-the diminutive of Sergius, is used here in derision and contempt, as satirizing her fondness for such a fellow, whom probably she might wantonly call her little Sergius, when in an amorous mood. To shave his throat.] i. e. Under his chin. The young men used to keep their beards till the age of twenty-one; then they were shaved. Here the poet means, that Sergius was an old fellow; and when he says" he had already begun to shave"-he is to be understood ironically, not as meaning literally that Sergius now first begun this, but as having done it a great many years before. 106. Rest to his cut arm.] He had been crippled in one of his arms, by cuts received in prize-fighting, which could not add much to the beauty of his figure. 107. Deformities in his face.] The poet in this, and the two following lines, sets forth the paramour of this lady in a most forbidding light, as to his person, the better to satirize the taste of the women She that follows an adulterer, is well at her stomach: she be spews Her husband: this dines among the sailors and wanders About the ship, and delights to handle the hard cables. But with what a form was she on fire? with what youth was 100 Hippia taken ?-What did she see, for the sake of which to be called an actress She endured? for Sergy to shave his throat already had Beside many deformities in his face; as, galled With his helmet, and in the midst of his nostrils a great This she preferr'd to her children, her country, her sister, 105 110 And her husband: it is the sword they love: but this very Sergius, The wand accepted, had begun to seem Veiento. Care you what a private family, what Hippia has done? 115 Claudius has suffered : the wife, when she had perceived her husband asleep, towards stage performers; as if their being on the stage was a sufficient recommendation to the favour of the sex, however forbidding their appearance might otherwise be. 107-8. Galled with his helmet.] Which, by often rubbing and wearing the skin off his forehead, had left a scarred and disagreeable` appearance. 108. Midst of his nostrils, &c.] Some large tumour, from repeated blows on the part. 109. The sharp evil, &c.] A sharp humour, which was continually distilling from his eyes-blear-eyed, as we call it—which fretted and disfigured the skin of the face. 110. Hyacinths.] Hyacinthus was a beautiful boy, beloved by Apollo and Zephyrus: he was killed by a quoit, and changed into a flower. See AINSW. 113. The wand accepted.] The rudis was a rod, or wand, given to sword-players, in token of their release, or discharge, from that exercise. Had begun to seem Veiento.] But this very Sergius, for whom this lady sacrificed so much, had he received his dismission, and ceased to be a sword-player, and left the stage, she would have cared no more for, than she did for her husband Veiento.-Sergius would have seemed just as indifferent in her eyes. 114. A private family.] What happens in private families, or is done by private individuals, such as Hippia, is, comparatively, hardly worth notice, when we look higher. 115. The rivals of the gods.] The very emperors themselves are served as ill as private husbands are. 116. Claudius.] Caesar, the successor of Caligula. (Ausa Palatino tegetem præferre cubili, 120 Et cellam vacuam, atque suam: tunc nuda papillis Constitit auratis, titulum mentita Lyciscæ, Ostenditque tuum, generose Britannice, ventrem. Excepit blanda intrantes, atque æra poposcit: 125 Mox lenone suas jam dimittente puellas, Tristis abit; sed, quod potuit, tamen ultima cellam Hippomanes, carmenque loquar, coctumque venenum, 130 116. The wife, &c.] Messalina, who, as here related, took the opportunity, when her husband was asleep, to go to the common stews, like a prostitute. 117. The august harlot.] Augustus was an imperial title, which the poet sarcastically applies to this lewd empress-hence it may be rendered, the imperial harlot. A coarse rug.] See note on l. 121. 118. The bed of state.] Palatino cubili-literally the Palatinian bed-i. e. the bed of her husband in the royal palace, which was on Mount Palatine. Nocturnal hoods.] Nocturnos cucullos-a sort of hood, with which the women used to cover their heads when it rained. Messalina made use of something of this kind to disguise herself, when on her nightly expeditions. 120. A yellow peruke.] What the galerus was, is not very easy to define; but it seems (on this occasion at least) to have been something of the peruke kind, and made with hair of a different colour from the empress's, the better to disguise her. 121. Warm with an old patched quilt.] It is probable, that the only piece of furniture in the cell was an old patched quilt, or rug, on which she laid herself down.-Or this may be understood to mean, that the stew was warm from the frequent concourse of lewd people there; and that Messalina carried with her some old tattered and patched garment, in which she had disguised herself, that she might not be known in her way thither. See AINSW. Cento. 122. Which was her's.] As hired and occupied by her, for her lewd purposes. 123. Lycisca.] The most famous courtezan of those times, whose name was chalked over the chamber-door, where Messalina entertained her gallants. 124. Thy belly, &c.] i. e. The belly which bare thee.-Britannicus was the son of Claudius and Messalina. |