Obrázky na stránke
PDF
ePub

Silanus, quocunque alio de sanguine rarus
Civis, et egregius patriæ contingis ovanti.
Exclamare libet, populus quod clamat Osiri
Invento: quis enim generosum dixerit hunc, qui
Indignus genere, et præclaro nomine tantum
Insignis? nanum cujusdam Atlanta vocamus:
Æthiopem cygnum: parvam extortamque puellam,
Europen canibus pigris, scabieque vetustâ
Lævibus, et siccæ lambentibus ora lucernæ.
Nomen erit pardus, tigris, leo; si quid adhuc est
Quod fremat in terris violentius. Ergo cavebis,
Et metues, ne tu sic Creticus, aut Camerinus.

His ego quem monui? tecum est mihi sermo, Rubelli
Plaute: tumes alto Drusorum sanguine, tanquam
Feceris ipse aliquid, propter quod nobilis esses;
Ut te conciperet, quæ sanguine fulget Iüli,
Non quæ ventoso conducta sub aggere texit.
Vos humiles, inquis, vulgi pars ultima nostri,

30

35

40

country will rejoice that such a man has fallen to its lot-and exclaim, as the Egyptians did, when they found Osiris.

29. Osiris, &c.] The chief deity of Egypt, which the Egypti ans worshipped under the form of a bull, or ox. This said bull was supposed to be inhabited by Osiris: but they used, once in a few years, to put this bull to death, and then go, with their priests, howling, and making lamentations, in search of another Osiris, or Apis, with the same exact marks as the former had; which, when they had found, they shouted for joy, and with loud acclamations, called out -Evgnxaper! 'Eugnaus! we have found him! we have found him! Συγχαίρωμεν ! let us rejoice together !

31. An illustrious name.] Ör title, derived from some great and illustrious ancestor.

32. The dwarf of some one.] The people of quality used to keep dwarfs for their amusement.

Atlas.] A high hill in Mauritania, so high that the poets make a person of it, and feign that he was the brother of Prometheus, and turned into this mountain by Perseus, at the sight of the gorgon's head. From its height it was fabled to support the celestial globe. See VIRG. Æn. iv. I. 481, 2.

33. An Ethiopian-a swan.] i. e. Black white.

34. Europa.] The beautiful daughter of Agenor, king of the Phoenicians, whom Jupiter in the form of a bull carried into Crete. From her the quarter of the globe, called Europe, is said to take its See HoR. lib. iii. ode xxvii. 1. 75, 6.

pame.

--

Slow dogs.] Slow hounds that are unfit for the chase. 35. Smooth.] Having all their hair eaten off by the mange.

Licking the mouths, &c.] So hungry and starved as to lick the stinking oil off the edges of lamps. Giving the titles of nobility, and calling those noble who are, by their evil manners, and had

Osiris

Silanus, from whatever other blood, a rare, and
Choice citizen, thou befallest thy triumphing country.
We may exclaim, what the people call out to
When found.-But who would call him noble, who is
Unworthy his race, and for an illustrious name only
Remarkable? We call the dwarf of some one-Atlas :
An Æthiopian--a swan: a little and deformed wench—
Europa to slow dogs, and with an old mange
Smooth, and licking the mouths of a dry lamp,

30

35

The name of lion, leopard, tiger shall belong : and if there be yet Any thing on earth that rages more violently. Therefore beware, And dread, lest thou shouldst thus be Creticus, or Camerinus. Whom have I admonished by these things? with thee is my dis

course,

40

Rubellius Plautus: you swell with the high blood of the Drusi, as if You yourself had done something, from which you should be noble; That she should have conceived you, who shines with the blood of Iülus,

Not she who, being hired, has woven under the windy mount. "Ye are low," say you," the last part of our common people;

actions, a disgrace to their families, is calling a dwarf-a giant ;-a blackmoor-a fine white swan ;-a crooked deformed wench--Eu. ropa:--we may as well call a pack of mangy, worthless hounds— tigers, leopards, and lions; or by the name of nobler beasts, if nobler can be found.

37. Beware, &c.] Cavebis-metues-lit. you will be cautious, and will fear, lest the world flatter you with the mock titles of Creticus and Camerinus in the same way. See sat. ii. 1. 67.

Publ. Sulpitius Camerinus was an illustrious and virtuous Roman, who was sent by the senate, with Posthumius and Manlius, to Athens, to copy the laws of Solon, as well as those of other cities.

39. By these things.] By what I have been saying.

40. Rubellius Plautus.] Some read Plancus, others Blandus; but Plautus seems to be right. Rubellius Blandus was his father, who married Julia the daughter of Drusus, son of Livia, wife of Augustus. Of the Drusi.] You are very proud of descent on your mother's side. Compare the preceding note.

your

41. Done something, &c.] As if you yourself had done something to make you illustrious, and deserving the honour of a mother of the Julian line.

43. Not she, &c.] Instead of being the son of some poor creature who knitted stockings for her bread under the town-wall. The ag ger, here mentioned, is the mount raised by Tarquin, for the defence of the city, a place much resorted to by low people. See sat. vi. 587 It was much exposed to the weather.

Some read sub aere, i. e. sub dio-in the open air.

44. The last part, &c.] The very dregs of our plebeians.

[blocks in formation]

Quorum nemo queat patriam monstrare parentis:
Ast ego Cecropides. Vivas, et originis hujus
Gaudia longa feras: tamen imâ ex plebe Quiritem
Facundum invenies: solet hic defendere causas
Nobilis indocti veniet de plebe togatâ,
Qui juris modos, et legum ænigmata, solvat.
Hic petit Euphraten juvenis, domitique Batavi
Custodes aquilas, armis industrius: at tu

Nil nisi Cecropides, truncoque simillimus Hermæ:
Nullo quippe alio vincis discrimine, quam quod
Illi marmoreum caput est, tua vivit imago.
Die mihi, Teucrorum proles, animalia muta
Quis generosa putet, nisi fortia? nempe volucrem

45

50

55

45. Of whom none, &c.] Of such obscure parentage, as to be unable to trace out the birth place of your parents.

46. I am a Cecropian.] Descended from Cecrops, the first king of Athens.

This is an insolent speech, which some proud noble is supposed to make, in scorn and derision of those whom he thought his inferiors.

May you live, &c.] Sir, I wish you much joy of your noble descent. Ironically spoken.-Viva! as the Italians say.

47. Yet from the lowest, &c.] Much as you despise them, there have been men of the highest talents and abilities from among them -some who have defended the causes of ignorant nobles, when they themselves could not have defended them.

49. The gowned people.] i. e. The common people, called togati, from the gowns which they wore. See sat. i. 1. 3, and note.

50. Who can untie, &c.] Some great and eminent lawyer, able to solve all the difficulties, and unfold all the perplexities of jurispru

dence.

51. Seeks the Euphrates, &c.] Another goes into the East, and distinguishes himself as a soldier.

Conquer'd Batavus.] The Batavi, or Hollanders, conquered. by Domitian when a youth.

52. The guardian eagles.] The eagles mean the Roman troops, which had the figures of eagles on their standards, and were set to keep the newly conquered Batavi from revolting.

Another of the common people distinguishes himself as a useful person to his country, by joining the troops that were sent on this occasion.

53. But a Cecropian.] As for you, when you have called your. self a Cecropian, you have no more to say--and this most properly belongs to you, from your resemblance to one of the Hermæ at Athens, that is made of marble; so, in point of insensibility, are you :--that has neither hands nor feet; no more have you, in point of usefulness, to your country, yourself, or to any body else.

"Of whom none can shew the country of his parent:

45

"But I am a Cecropian."-May you live-and long enjoy the happiness

Of this origin yet, from the lowest of the people, an eloquent Roman
You will find: this is used to defend the causes of an
Unlearned nobleman: there will come from the gowned people
Another, who can untie the knots of right, and the riddles of the
laws.

This youth seeks the Euphrates, and of conquer'd Batavus

The guardian eagles, industrious in arms; but thou

50

Art nothing but a Cecropian, and most like to a mutilated Herma;
For you excel from no other difference, than that
He has a marble head, your image lives.

Tell me, thou offspring of the Trojans, who thinks dumb animals
Noble, unless strong? for thus a swift

55

53. A mutilated Herma.] Herma-x--signifies a statue of Hermes, or Mercury.-Mercury was called Hermes, from Gr. quavevci, to interpret; because he was the supposed inventor of speech, by which men interpret their thoughts to each other. See HoR. lib. i. ode x. l. 1-3.

It was a piece of religion at Athens, to have a figure of Mercury fixed up against their houses, of a cubic form, without hands or feet; this was called Herma. The poet, therefore, humorously compares this Rubellius Plautus, who boasted of his descent from Cecrops, and therefore called himself a Cecropian, to the useless figures of Mercury, which were set up at Athens, or, perhaps, to the posts on which they stood. In this sense he might call himself Cecropian.

54. Fou excel.] You have no preference before him in point of utility to your country, or in any thing else, than that you are a living statue, and he a dead one.

56. Thou offspring of the Trojans.] Meaning Rub. Plautus, who though he boasted himself of being descended from Cecrops the first king of Athens, and who is supposed to have lived before Deucalion's flood, yet likewise might boast, that he was also descended from ancestors, who derived their blood, in latter times, from the Trojans who first settled in Italy.

Some think that we may read this, ye Trojans-meaning the chief people of Rome in general, who prided themselves on their descent from the Trojans, and to whom he may be supposed to address himself. Comp. sat. i. 100, where he calls them Trojugenas. But see 1. 71, post.

57. Strong.] Fortia--vigorous, courageous, fit for the purposes for which they are wanted.

Sic laudamus equum, facilis cui plurima palma
Fervet, et exultat rauco victoria circo.

Nobilis hic, quocunque venit de gramine, cujus
Clara fuga ante alios, et primus in æquore pulvis.
Sed venale pecus Corythæ, posteritas et
Hirpini, si rara jugo victoria sedit.
Nil ibi majorum respectus, gratia nulla
Umbrarum dominos pretiis mutare jubentur
Exiguis, tritoque trahunt epirhedia collo
Segnipedes, dignique molam versare Nepotis.

Ergo ut miremur te, non tua, primum aliquid da,
Quod possim titulis incidere præter honores,

60

65

Quos illis damus, et dedimus, quibus omnia debes.

70

Hæc satis ad juvenem, quem nobis fama superbum
Tradit, et inflatum, plenumque Nerone propinquo,
Rarus enim ferme sensus communis in illâ
Fortunâ. Sed te censeri laude tuorum,

Pontice, noluerim, sic ut nihil ipse futuræ

75

Laudis agas: MISERUM EST ALIENÆ INCUMBERE FAMÆ,
Ne collapsa ruant subductis tecta columnis.

Stratus humi palmes viduas desiderat ulmos.

58. Many a kind hand, &c.] They used to clap their hands, in token of applause, at the public shows and sports.

59. The hoarse circus.] i. e. The people in the circus, hoarse with their applauding acclamations.

60. From whatever pasture.] Lit. grass-q. d. wherever bred. 61. Whose dust is first, &c.] Who keeps before the others, so that the first dust must be raised by him.

62. The Cattle of Corytha.] The breed, or stock, of a famous mare, so called, are sold.

63. Hirpinus.] A famous horse, so called from the place where he was bred, being a hill in the country of the Sabines.

If rare victory, &c.] If they seldom win in the chariot race. 65. Of shades.] No regard to the ghosts of their departed ancestors. To change their masters, &c.] Their present master disposes of them very cheaply to others.

66. With a worn neck.] They are put into teams, and the hair is all worn off their necks, which are galled with the harness with which they are fastened to the carriage. See Epirhedium. AINSW. 67. Of Nepos.] The name of some miller, who ground corn in horse-mills.

68. Admire you, not yours, &c.] That we may admire you personally for your own sake, and not merely for your family, or fortune, or title.

Shew something, &c.] Give us some proof, by some noble

« PredošláPokračovať »