Stretches itself, and is tossed from his long cap. If free suffrages were allowed the people, who is so 210 The crime of Orestès was equal; but the cause makes the thing 215 Of a father slain in the midst of his cups: but he neither Did he mix. Orestes never sang upon the stage: Never wrote Troïcs: for what ought Virginius with his arms 220 215. The cause makes, &c.] The occasion and the motive from which Orestes acted were very different from that of Nero, and therefore make a great difference as to the act itself. 216. Was the avenger, &c.] Orestes killed his mother Clytemnestra, because she, with her paramour Ægysthus, had murdered his father Agamemnon; therefore Orestes might be looked upon as a minister of divine justice, to execute the vengeance of the gods, and to act, as it were, by their command. 217. In the midst of his cups.] Homer-Odyss. d. and is of Juvenal's opinion, that Agamemnon was slain at a banquet, when he little expected such treatment. Homer, as well as Juvenal, justifies this revenge, as being undertaken by the advice of the gods. 218. Throat of Electra.] Orestes did not kill his sister Electra, as Nero did his brother Britannicus. HoR. lib. ii. sat iii. 1. 137-40. 219. Spartan wedlock.] He did not kill his wife Hermione, the daughter of Menelaus king of Sparta, as Nero murdered his wives Octavia, Antonia, and Poppaa. Poison for none, &c.] As Nero did for his brother Britannicus, and for his aunt Domitia. 220. Never sang, &c.] Orestes, (see sat. i. 1. 5, note,] mad as he was, never sang upon the stage, as Nero did, who not only sang upon the theatre among the ordinary comedians, but took a journey to Greece, on purpose to try his skill among the most famous artists, from whom he bore away the garland, and returned to Rome in triumph, as if he had conquered a province. 221. Never wrote Troics.] Nero had also the vanity of being thought a good poet, and made verses on the destruction of Troy, called Troica; and, it is reported, that he set Rome on fire, in order to realize the scene better. It is also said, that he placed himself, dressed in a theatrical habit, on an eminence in Rome, and sang a part of his Troica to his harp, during the conflagration. What ought Virginius, &c.] Nero's monstrous frolicks and Debuit ulcisci magis, aut cum Vindice Galba? Quis, Catilina, tuis natalibus, atque Cethegi 225 230 cruelties could not but make the people weary of his government. Virginius Rufus, his lieutenant-general in Gaul, by the assistance of Junius Vindex, (a nobleman of that country,) soon persuaded the armies under his command to fall from their allegiance, and solicited Sergius Galba, lieutenant-general in Spain, to do the like, by offer ing him the empire in favour of mankind, which he at last accepted, upon intimation that Nero had issued secret orders to dispatch him, and marched, with all the forces he could gather, towards Rome. Nero, not being in a condition to oppose such troops, fell into despair, and endeavoured to make his escape; he put himself in disguise, and crept, with four attendants only, to a poor cottage, where, perceiving he was pursued, as a sacrifice to public vengeance, and fearing to fall into the hands of the people, with much ado he resolved to stab himself. 223. What did Nero, &c.] What, among all his acts of cruelty and tyranny, has he ever done worthy a prince ?what has he achiev. ed by them?—or, indeed, what beside these can be said of him. 224. These are the works, &c.] If you ask me, says an answerer, I will tell you all that can be said of him ;-viz. That it was his delight to prostitute the dignity of a prince, to the meanness of a com. mon fiddler, by exposing himself on the public stages of Greecethat, instead of glorying in real crowns of triumph, his ambition was to get a garland of parsley (the reward of the best fiddler) in the Nemæan games, from the Grecian music-masters.-These games were celebrated to the memory of Archemorus, the young son of Ly. curgus. 227. "Let the statues," &c.] As such were your exploits, O Nero, and you have no other trophies wherewith to ornament the statues of your ancestors, let the parsley-crown, which you won by sing. ing, be placed before them. Insigne—plur. insignia--signifies all marks and tokens of honour, such as crowns, robes, &c. 228. "Of Domitius."] Thy grandfather and father, both of which were named Domitius. His father was Caius Domitius Ahenobar. bus, consul, and afterwards governor of Transalpine Gaul; he was slain in the war with Pompey. Rather avenge, or Galba with Vindex? What did Nero in a tyranny so savage and bloody? 225 These are the works, and these the arts of a noble prince, Rejoicing, with shameless song, on foreign stages to be Prostituted, and to have deserved the parsley of a Grecian crown. "Let the statues of your ancestors have the tokens of your voice, "Before the feet of Domitius do thou place the long garment "Of Thyestes; or of Antigone; or the mask of Menalippe ; "And suspend an harp from a marble colossus." 230 Who, Catiline, will find out any thing more noble than your birth, Or than that of Cethegus? but yet, nocturnal Arms, and flames, for the houses and temples ye prepared, As sons of the Gauls, or the posterity of the Senones, 229. "Of Thyestes; or of Antigone."] i. e. The dress which you wore when you played in the tragedies so called. Syrma, a long garment which tragic players used. "The mask of Menalippe."] The mask which you wore when you acted the part of Menalippe, the sister of Antiope, queen of the Amazons, in the comedy of Euripides, written on her story. She was taken captive by Hercules, and given Theseus to wife. 230. "Suspend an harp," &c.] Nero, according to Pliny, erected a colossal statue of Augustus, one hundred and ten feet high, (according to Suetonius, one hundred and twenty). Suetonius, de Ner. ii. 10. says, that Nero honoured highly a harp that was given him by the judges, (in his contest with the Grecian musicians,) and commanded it to be carried to the statue of Augustus. This the poet alludes to in this place. The apostrophe to Nero, in the above four lines, is conceived with much humour, and at the same time with due severity-these are greatly heightened by the ironical use of the word insignia, 1. 227. 231. Catiline.] The conspirator, whose plots and contrivances were found out and defeated by Cicero. He was so debauched and profligate, that his name is frequently used to denote the vilest of men.So Juvenal, sat. xiv. 41, 2. Catilinam Quocunque in populo videas, quocunque sub axe, Yet he was well born. 232. Cethegus.] Caius, one of the conspirators with Catiline, a man of senatorial dignity. 232-3. Nocturnal arms.] Meditated the destruction of the people of Rome by night, and armed yourselves accordingly, with torches, and other instruments of mischief. 234. Sons of the Gauls.] Braccatorum.-The Gauls were called Braccati, from the breeches, or trowsers, which the people of Narbonne and Provence used to wear. See sat. ii. 169, note. Ausi quod liceat tunicâ punire molestâ : 235 240 Nominis et tituli, quantum non Leucade, quantum Cædibus assiduis gladio. Sed Roma parentem, Roma patrem patriæ Ciceronem libera dixit. 245 234. Senones.] A people of the ancient race of the Celte, inha biting the Lionnois in Gaul. These people, under Brennus their general, sacked and burnt Rome, and besieged the capitol, but, by the conduct and valour of the dictator Camillus, were defeated. 235. A pitched coat.] Tunica molesta. This was a coat, or gar ment, bedaubed and interwoven with pitch and other combustibles, and put on criminals, who were chained to a post, and thus burnt alive. See AINSW. Molestus. This instrument of torture was expressed by the phrase tunica molesta. The emperor Nero, after charging the Christians with setting Rome on fire, publicly tortured and slew them on the stages in the day-time, and at night put tunica molesta on their bodies, and lighted them up, by way of torches, in the night time. Comp. sat. i. 1, 155, note 2. 236. The consul.] Cicero was then consul. Restrains your banners.] Under which many wicked and desperate men had inlisted: but the fury of their arms was restrained by the vigilance of the consul, who watched all their motions. 237. New man.] The Romans gave this name to those who were the first dignified persons of their family, and who themselves were of obscure birth. Catiline, in derision, urged this name in contempt against Cicero. Arpinum.] An ancient town of the Volsci in Italy, famous for being the birth-place of Tully. Arpinas signifies one of Arpinum. Ignoble.] Of mean extraction. 238. A municipal knight.] Municipalis signified one who belonged to a town free of the city of Rome; this was the case with Tully, who was born at Arpinum, and had been, soon after his coming to Rome, admitted into the equestrian order. Catiline called him there. fore municipalis eques, in contempt. -Helmeted.] Armed.-Synec. like galeatus, sat. i. 169; and caligatus, sat. iii. 322, Attempting what it would be right to punish with a pitched coat: 235 But the consul is vigilant, and restrains your banners. This new man of Arpinum, ignoble, and lately at Rome A municipal knight, puts every where an helmeted Safeguard for the astonished people, and labours every where. With continual slaughters: but Rome, the parent, 245 239. Astonished people.] Who were dreadfully terrified by the designs and attempts of the conspirators. Labours every where.] Bestirs himself in all quarters, for the security of the city. I take-in omni gente-in this place, to mean something like ubique gentium, which signifies every where, in what part of the world soever. And indeed Tully not only shewed his activity within the city, but he disposed guards and spies throughout all Italy, as well as among every tribe of the Roman people-finding out, by the Allobroges, and others, the designs of the traitors. 240. The gown.] His robe of office; but here, by metonym. his prudence and wise counsels. Toga here is opposed to gladio, 1. 243. 241. Octavius.] Cæsar, afterwards called Augustus. Leucas. A promontory of Epirus, called also Leucate, near which Octavius Cæsar defeated Antony and Cleopatra, in a bloody naval battle. 242. Fields of Thessaly, &c.] Philippi, in Thessalia, where he defeated Brutus and Cassius. 244. Rome set free.] Delivered and set free from the dangers that threatened it, and restored to its laws and liberties, which for a while had been suspended by the public troubles. emperors; but Father of his country.] This honourable title was given to Cicero, after the defeat of Catiline's conspiracy. He was the first who bore it. It was afterwards given to some of the much more from flattery, than because they deserved it. 245. Another Arpinian.] C. Marius, who also came from Arpinum, was a poor ploughman there, who hired himself out to plough the ground of others. Of the Volsci. Arpinum was an ancient city in the country of the Volsci, now called Arpino, between Tuscany to the west, and Campania to the east. |