Rufticus ille tuus fumit trechedipna, Quirine, Et ceromatico fert niceteria collo. Hic altâ Sicyone, aft hic Amydone reli&ta, Hic Andro, ille Samo, hic Trallibus, aut Alabandis, 70 Efquilias, dictumque petunt à vimine collem; Vifcera magnarum domuum, dominique futuri. 67. O Quirinus.] O Romulus, thou great founder of this now degenerate city! See note on 1. 60. That ruftic of thine.] In the days of Romulus, and under his government, the Romans were an hardy race of fhepherds and hufbandmen. See Sat. ii. 1. 74, and 127. Sat. viii. 1. 274-5. rough in their drefs, and fimple in their manners. But, alas! how changed! A Grecian dress.] Trechedipna-from reexw, to run, and devov, a fupper. A kind of garment in which they ran to other people's fuppers. AINSWw. It was certainly of Greek extraction, and, though the form and materials of it are not defcribed, yet we muft fuppofe it of the foft, effeminate, or gawdy kind, very unlike the garb and drefs of the antient ruftics of Romulus, and to speak a fad change in the manners of the people. Dryden renders the paffage thus O Romulus, and father Mars, look down! Your herdsman primitive, your homely clown, } 68. Grecian ornaments.] Niceteria-rewards for victories, as rings, collars of gold, &c. Prizes. From Gr. xn, victory. On his anointed neck.] Ceromatico collo. The ceroma (Gr. κηρωμα, from xngos, cera) was an oil tempered with wax, wherewith wreftlers anointed themselves. But what proofs of effeminacy, or depravation, doth the poet fet forth in these inftances? Ufing wreftlers oil, and wearing on the neck collars of gold, and other infignia of victory, if to be understood literally, feems but ill to agree with the poet's defign, to charge the Romans with a lofs of all former hardinefs and manlinefs: therefore we are to understand this line in an ironical fense, meaning, that, instead of wearing collars of gold as tokens of victory, and rewards of courage and activity, their niceteria were trinkets, and gewgaws, worne merely as ornaments, fuitable to the effeminacy and luxury into which, after the example of the Grecians, Syrians, &c. they were funk. By the ceroma he must alfo be understood to mean, that instead of wrestlers oil, which was a mere compound of oil and wax, their ceroma was fome curious perfumed unguent with which they anointed their per tons, That ruftic of thine, O Quirinus, affumes a Grecian drefs, And carries Grecian ornaments on his perfumed neck. One leaving high Sicyon, but another, Amydon, Seek the Efquiliæ, and the hill named from an Ofier; 70 fons, their hair particularly, merely out of luxury. See Sat. ii. 40-2. Thus Mr. Dryden His once unkem'd and horrid locks behold Stilling fweet oil, his neck enchain'd with gold: Which, bought at greater coft, becomes him less. 69. High Sicyon.] An island in the Ægean Sea, where the ground was very high. The Ægean was a part of the Mediterranean Sea, near Greece, dividing Europe from Afia. It is now called the Archipelago, and by the Turks, the White Sea. Amydon.] A city of Macedonia. 70. Andros.] An island and town of Phrygia the Leffer, fituate in the Ægean Sea. Samos.] An ifland in the Ionian Sea, weft of the bay of Corinth, now under the republic of Venice, now Cephalonie. Lydia. Tralles.] A city of Leffer Afia between Caria and Alabanda.] A city of Caria in the Leffer Afia. 71. Efquiliæ.] The Mons Efquilinus, one of the seven hills in Rome; fo called from efculus-a beech-tree, of which many grew upon it. See AINSW. The hill named, &c.] The collis viminalis, another of the feven hills on which Rome was built; fo called from a wood or grove of ofiers which grew upon it. There was an altar there to Jupiter, under the title of Jupiter Viminalis. Thefe two parts of Rome may ftand (by fynec.) for Rome itfelf: or perhaps these were parts of it where there foreigners chiefly fettled. 72. The bowels, &c.] Infinuating themfelves, by their art and fubtlety, into the intimacy of great and noble families, fo as to become their confidents and favourites, their vitals as it were, infomuch that, in time, they govern the whole: and, in fome inftances, become their heirs, and thus lords over the family poffeffions. See Sat. ii. 58, notes. The wheedling and flattering rich people, in order to become their heirs, are often mentioned in Juvenal-fuch people were called captatores. H 3 73. A Ingenium velox, audacia perdita, fermo 75 Ad fummum non Maurus erat, nec Sarmata, nec Thrax, Qui fumpfit pennas, mediis fed natus Athenis. Horum ego non fugiam conchylia? me prior ille Advectus Romam, quo pruna & coctona, vento? 80 73. A quick wit.] Ingenium velox-Ingenium is a word of many meanings; perhaps, here, joined with velox, it might be rendered, a ready invention. may. Defperate impudence.] That nothing can abafh or dif Ready fpeech.] Having words at will. 74. Ifæus.] A famous Athenian orator, preceptor of Demofthenes. Torrentior, more copious, flowing with more precipitation and fulness, more like a torrent. 74-5. Say, &c.] Now by the way, my friend, tell me what you imagine fuch a man to be-I mean of what calling or profeffion, or what do you think him qualified for ? What man, &c.] Well, I'll not puzzle you with gueffing, but at once inform you, that, in his own fingle perfon, he has brought with him every character that you can imagine: in fhort, he is a jack of all trades. As the French fay -C'est un valet a tout faire. Or, as is faid of the Jefuits-Jefuitus eft omnis homo. 76. Anointer.] Aliptes (from Gr. aqw, to anoint) he that anointed the wreftlers, and took care of them. AINSW. 77. He knows all things.] Not only what I have mentioned, but fo verfatile is his genius, that nothing can come amifs to him. There is nothing that he does not pretend to the knowledge of. 78. A hungry Greek.] The diminutive Græculus is farcaftical. q. d. Let my little Grecian be pinched with hunger, he would undertake any thing you bad him, however impoffible or improbable like another Dedalus, he would even attempt to fly into the air. 79. In fine, &c.] Ad fummum-upon the whole, be it obferved, that the Greeks of old were a dextrous people at contrivance; for the attempt at flying was fchemed by Dedalus, a A quick wit, defperate impudence, fpeech 75 Ready, and more rapid than Ifæus. Say what do you things. A hungry Greek will go into heaven, if you command. fhall he Sign? and supported by a better couch fhall he lie at table, Brought to Rome by the fame wind as plumbs and figs? native of Athens. No man of any other country has the honour of the invention 81. The splendid drefs.] Conchylia-fhell-fifh-the liquor thereof made purple, or fcarlet-colour: called alfo murex. Conchylium, by meton. fignifies the colour itself; alfo garments dyed therewith, which were very expenfive, and worne by the nobility and other great people. Shall not I fly, fugiam, avoid the very fight of fuch garments, when worne by fuch fellows as thefe, who are only able to wear them by the wealth which they have gotten, by their craft and impofition? 81-2. Sign before me?] Set his name before mine, as a witness to any deed, &c. which we may be called upon to fign. 82. Supported by a better couch, &c.] The Romans lay on couches at their convivial entertainments-thefe couches were ornamented more or lefs, some finer and handsomer than others, which were occupied according to the quality of the guests. The middle couch was efteemed the most honourable place, and fo in order from thence. Muft this vagabond Greek take place of me at table, fays Umbritius, as if he were above me in point of quality and confequence? As we fhould iay-Shall he fit above me at table? Hor. Lib. ii. Sat. viii. 1. 203. defcribes an arrangement of the company at table. 83. Brought to Rome.] Advectus-imported from a foreign country, by the fame wind, and in the fame fhip, with prunes, and little figs, from Syria Thefe were called coctona, or cottana, as fuppofed, from Heb. top little, Mart. Lib. xiii. 28. parva cottana. H4 Syria { Ufque adeò nihil eft, quòd noftra infantia cœlum 85 ga Syria peculiares habet arbores, in ficorum genere. Caricas, & minores ejus generis, quæ coctana vocant. c. 5. Plin. Lib. xiii. Juvenal means to fet forth the low origin of these people : that they, at first, were brought out of Syria to Rome, as dealers in fmall and contemptible articles. Or he may mean, that as flaves they made a part of the cargo, in one of these little trading veffels. See Sat. i. 110-11. 85. Aventinus, &c.] One of the feven hills of Rome; fo called from Avens, a river of the Sabines. AINSW. Umbritius here, with a patriotic indignation at the preference given to foreigners, afks-What! is there no privilege in having drawn our first breath in Rome? no pre-eminence in being born a citizen of the firft city in the world, the conqueror and miftrefs of all thofe countries from whence these people came ? Shall fuch fellows as these not only vie with Roman citizens, but he preferred before them? Sabine berry.] A part of Italy on the banks of the Tiber, once belonging to the Sabines, was famous for olives, here called Bacca Sabina. But we are to understand all the nutritive fruits and produce of the country in general. Pro fpecie genus. Syn. In contradiftinction to the pruna & coctoną, 1.83. 86. What!] As if he had faid-What! is all the favour and preference which these Greeks meet with, owing to their talent for flattery are they to be efteemed more than the citizens of Rome, because they are a nation of base sycophants? 87. The speech, &c.] Or difcourfe, talk, conversation, of fome ignorant, ftupid, rich patron, whofe favour is bafely courted by the most barefaced adulation. --Face of a deformed, &c.] Perfuading him that he is handfome; or that his very deformities are beauties. 88. The long neck, &c.] Compares the long crane-neck of fome |