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Shall I not believe these things worthy the Venufinian lamp? Shall I not agitate thefe (fubjects?)-but why rather Heracleans,

Ör Diomedeans, or the lowing of the labyrinth,

And the fea ftricken by a boy, and the flying artificer? When the bawd can take the goods of the adulterer (if of taking 55

There is no right to the wife) taught to look upon the ceiling, Taught also at a cup to fnore with a vigilant nose.

ing too near the fun, melted the wax by which his wings were faftened together; and fell into the fea; from him called Icarian. See HOR. Lib. 4. Od. ii. 1. 2-4.

The flying artificer.] Dædalus-who invented and made wings for himself and his fon Icarus, with which they fled from Crete. See AINSW. Dædalus.

55. The Bard.] The husband-who turns bawd by prostituting his wife for gain, and thus receives the goods of the adulterer, as the price of her chastity.

56. There is no right to the wife.] Domitian made a law to forbid the use of litters (fee note, 1. 32.) to adulterous wives, and to deprive them of taking legacies or inheritances by will. This was evaded, by making their husbands panders to their lewdness, and fo caufing the legacies to be given to them.

Taught to look upon the ceiling.] As inobfervant of his wife's infamy then tranfacting before him-this he was well fkilled in. See HoR. Lib. 3. Ode vi. 1. 25-32.

57. At a cup, &c.] Another device was, to fet a large cup on the table, which the hufband was to be fuppofed to have emptied of the liquor which it had contained, and to be nodding over it, as if in a druken fleep.

To fnore with vigilant nofe.] Snoring is an evidence that a man is fast afleep, therefore, the husband knew well how to exhibit this proof, by fnoring aloud, which is a peculiar fymptom of a drunken fleep. The poet ufes the epithet Vigilanti, here, very humouroufly, to denote, that though the man feemed to be faft afleep by his fnoring, yet his nofe feemed to be awake by the noise it made. So PLAUT. in Milite.

An dormit Sceledrus intùs? Non nafo quidem,
Nam eo magno magnum clamat.

Is Sceledrus afleep within ?

Why, truly, not with his nofe; for with that large inftrument he makes noife enough.

Our

Cum fas effe putet curam fperare cohortis,

Qui bona donavit præfepibus, & caret omni
Majorum cenfu, dum pervolat axe citato
Flaminiam puer Automedon nam lora tenebat,
Ipfe lacernatæ cum fe jactaret amicæ.

Nonne libet medio ceras implere capaces
Quadrivio-cum jam fextâ cervice feratur

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Our Farquhar, in the defcription which he makes Mrs. Sullen give of her drunken husband, reprefents her as mentioning a like particular

My whole night's comfort is the tuneable ferenade of that "wakeful nightingale-his nofe."

58. A cohort.] A company of foot in a regiment, or legion, which confifted of ten cohorts.

59. Has given his eftate to ftables.] i. e. Has fquandered away all his patrimony in breeding and keeping horfes. Præfepe, fometimes means a cell, ftews, or brothel. Perhaps, this may be the fenfe here, and the poet may mean, that, this spendthrift had lavished his fortune on the ftews, in lewdness and debauchery.

59-60. Lacks all the income, &c.] Has fpent the family eftate. 60. While he flies, &c.] The perfon, here meant, is far from certain. Commentators differ much in their conjecture on the fubject. Britannicus gives the matter up. This paf

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fage (fays he) is one of thofe, concerning which we are yet "to feek."

But whether Cornelius Fufcus, be meant, who when a boy was charioteer to Nero, as Automedon was to Achilles, and who, after wafling his fubftance in riotous living, was made commander of a regiment-Or Tigillinus, an infamous favourite of Nero's, be here defigned, whofe character is supposed to have answered to the defcription here given, is not certain-one or other feems to be meant.-The poet is mentioning various fubjects, as highly proper for fatyr; and, among others, fome favourite at court, who, after fpending all his paternal estate in riot, extravagance, and debauchery, was made a commander in the army, and exhibited his chariot, driving full speed over the Flaminian way, which led to the emperor's villa; and all this, because, when a boy, he had been Nero's charioteer, or, as the poet humouroufly calls him, his Automedon, and used to drive out Nero and his minion Sporus, whom Nero caftrated, to make him, as much as he could, refemble a woman, and whom he used as a miftrefs, and afterwards took as a wife, and appeared publicly in his chariot with him, openly careffing, and making love, as he paffed along.

The

When he can think it right to hope for the charge of a

cohort,

Who hath given his eftate to ftables, and lacks all

The income of his ancestors, while he flies, with fwift axle,

over

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The Flaminian way: for the boy Automedon was holding the reins,

When he boafted himself to his cloaked mistress.

Doth it not like one to fill capacious waxen tablets in the middle of a

Cross-way-when now can be carried on a fixth neck

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The poet humouroufly speaks of Sporus, in the feminine gender. As the lacerna was principally a man's garment, by lacernatæ amicæ, the poet may be understood, as if he had called Sporus, Nero's male-miftrefs-being habited like a man, and careffed as a woman.

The above appears to me a probable explanation of this obfcure and difficult paffage. Holiday gives it a different turn, as may be seen by his annotation on this place. I do not prefume to be pofitive, but will fay with Britannicus" Sed quum in ambiguo fit, de quo poeta potiffimùm intelligat, unufquifque, fi neutrum horum probabile vifum fuerit, quod "ad loci explanationem faciat, excogitet."

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61. The Flaminian way.] A road made by Caius Flaminius, colleague of Lepidus, from Rome to Ariminum.

62. When he boafted himself.] Jactare fe alicui-fignifies to recommend, to infinuate one's felf into the favour, or good graces of another—as when a man is courting his mistress. By ipfe, according to the above interpretation of this paffage, we muft understand the emperor Nero.

63. Capacious waxen tablets.] These are here called ceras, fometimes they are called ceratæ tabella-because they were thin pieces of wood, covered over with wax, on which the ancients wrote with the point of a fharp inftrument, called Stylus (fee HoR. Lib. 1. Sat. x. 1. 72.): it had a blunt end to rub out with. They made up pocket-books with thefe.

64. Cross-way.] Juvenal means, that a man might please himfelf, by filling a large book with the objects of fatire which he meets in paffing along the ftreet. Quadrivium properly means a place where four ways meet, and where there are ufually most people paffing a proper ftand for obfervation.

On a fixth neck. i. e. In a litter carried by fix
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flaves,

65.

(Hinc atque inde patens, ac nudâ penè cathedrâ,
Et multùm referens de Mæcenate fupino)
Signator falfo, qui fe lautum, atque beatum
Exiguis tabulis, & gemmâ fecerat udâ?
Occurrit matrona potens, quæ molle Calenum'
Porrectura viro mifcet fitiente rubetam,
Inftituitque rudes melior Locufta propinquas,
Per famam, & populum nigros efferre maritos.
Aude aliquid brevibus Gyaris, & carcere dignum,
Si vis effe aliquis: PROBITAS LAUDATUR, ET ALGET.

flaves, who bare the poles on the fhoulder, and leaning against the fide of the neck.

65. Expofed, &c.] Carried openly to and fro, here and there, through the public ftreets, having no fhame for what he had done to enrich himself.

66. The fupine Macenas.] By this it appears, that Mæcenas was given to laziness and effeminacy. See Sat. xii. 1. 39.

Horace calls him Malthinus-from Maλlanos, which denotes foftnefs and effeminacy. See HoR. Lib. i. Sat. ii. 1. 25.

67. A figner, &c.] Signator fignifies a fealer or figner of contracts or wills. Here it means a fpecies of cheat, who impofed falfe wills and teftaments on the heirs of the deceased, fuppofed to be made in their own favour, or in favour of others with whom they fhared the spoil. See Sat. x. 1. 336. and note. Some fuppofe this to be particularly meant of Tigellinus, a favourite of Nero's, who poifoned three uncles, and, by forging their wills, made himself heir to all they had.

68. By fmall tables.] Short teftaments, contained in a few words. Comp. note on 1. 63.

A wet gem.] i. e. A feal, which was cut on fome precious ftone, worn in a ring on the finger, and occafionally made ufe of to feal deeds or wills-this they wetted, to prevent the wax fticking to it. This was formerly known among our forefathers, by the name of a feal-ring.

69. A potent matron occurs.] Another fubject of fatire the poet here adverts to, namely-women who poifon their hufbands, and this with impunity. The particular perfon, here alluded to, under the defcription of matrona potens, was, probably, Agrippina, the wife of Claudius, who poifoned her husband, that the might make her fon Nero emperor.

Occurs.] Meets you in the public street, and thus occurs to the observation of the fatirift. Comp. 1.63-4. 69. Calenian

(Here and there exposed, and in almost a naked chair, 65 And much resembling the fupine Mæcenas)

A figner to what is false; who himself splendid and happy
Has made, with small tables, and with a wet gem?
A potent matron occurs, who foft Calenian wine.
About to reach forth, her husband thirsting, mixes a toad, 70
And, a better Locufta, inftructs her rude neighbours,
Through fame and the people, to bring forth their black
husbands.

Dare fomething worthy the narrow Gyaræ, or a prison,
If you would be fomebody. PROBITY IS PRAISED AND

STARVES WITH COLD.

69. Calenian wine.] Calenum was a city in the kingdom of Naples, famous for a soft kind of wine.

70. About to reach forth.] Porrectura-the husband is fup. pofed to be fo thirsty, as not to examine the contents of the draught; of this fhe avails herself, by reaching to him fome Calenian wine, with poifon in it which was extracted from a toad.

71. A better Locufta.] This Locufta was a vile woman, skilful in preparing poifons. She helped Nero to poifon Britannicus, the fon of Claudius and Meffalina; and Agrippina to dispatch Claudius. The woman alluded to by Juvenal (1. 69.) he here ftyles-melior Locufta-a better Locufta-i. e, more skilled in poisoning than even Locufta herself.

Her rude neighbours.] i. e. Unacquainted-and unkilled before, in this diabolical art.

72. Through fame and the people.] Setting all reputation and public report at defiance: not caring what people fhould fay.

means.

To bring forth.] For burial-which efferre peculiarly
See Ter. And. A&t. i. Sc. i. 1. 90.

Black bufbands.] Their corpies turned putrid and black, with the effects of the poison.

73. Dare.] i. e. Attempt-prefume-be not afraid-to commit.

Something.] Some atrocious crime, worthy of exile, or imprisonment.

The narrow Gyara.] Gyaras was an island in the Egean fea, fmall, barren, and defolate-to which criminals were banished.

74. If you would be fomebody.] i. e. If you would make your

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felf

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