Have infpected to carry a married woman what an adul terer fends, 45 What he commits to charge, let others know: nobody, I affifting, Shall be a thief; and therefore I go forth a companion to none, as Maimed, and the useless body of an extinct right-hand. Who now is loved, unless conscious, and whofe fervent Mind boils with things hidden, and ever to remain in filence? 50 He thinks he owes you nothing, nothing will he bestow, Hence, æftuans, fignifies-boiling with any paffion, when applied to the mind. Animo æftuante reditum ad vada retulit. Catull. See AINSW. See If. lvii. 20. Or we may give the words another turn, as defcriptive of the torment and uneafiness of mind which these men must feel, in having become acquainted with the moft flagitious crimes in others, by affifting them, or partaking with them in the commiffion of them, and which, for their own fakes, they dare not reveal, as well as from the fear of those by whom they are in trusted. Who now is lov'd but he who loves the times, DRYDEN. 51. He thinks he orves you nothing, &c.] Nobody will think himself obliged to you for concealing honeft and fair tranfactions, or think it incumbent on him to buy your filence by con ferring favours on you. 53. Verres.] See Sat. ii. 26, note. Juvenal mentions him here, as an example of what he has been faying. Most probably, under the name of Verres, the poet means fome characters then living, who made much of those who had them in their power by being acquainted with their fecret villainies, and who at any time could have ruined them by a discovery. 545. Shady Tagus.] A river of Spain, which difcharges itself into the ocean near Lisbon, in Portugal. It was antiently said to have golden fands. It was called Opacus, dark, ob fcure, Omnis arena Tagi, quodque in mare volvitur aurum, 55 Triftis, & à magno femper timearis amico. Et quos præcipuè fugiam, properabo fateri ; Nec pudor obftabit. Non poffum ferre, Quirites, Græcam urbem: quamvis quota portio fæcis Achææ ? 60 fcure, or fhady, from the thick fhade of the trees on its banks. Æftus ferenos aureo franges Tago Obfcurus umbris arborum. MART. Lib. vi. Epigr. 50. Or opacus may denote a dufky turbid appearance in the water. 56. That you should want fleep, &c.] O thou, whoe'er thou art, that may be folicited to fuch criminal fecrefy by the rich and great, reflect on the misery of fuch flagitious confidence, and prefer the repofe of a quiet and easy confcience, to all the golden fands of Tagus, to all the treasures which it can roll into the fea! These would make you but ill amends for fleepless nights, when kept awake by guilt and fear. Accept rewards to be rejected.] i. e. Which ought to be rejected-by way of hufh-money, which, fo far, poor wretch, from making you happy, will fill you with fhame and forrow, and which, therefore, are to be looked upon as abominable, and to be utterly refused, and laid afide. Ponenda, lit.—to be laid down-but here it has the fenfe of abominanda-refpuendarejicienda, abneganda. See Hor. Lib. iii. Od. ii. 1. 19. 57. Feared, &c.] The great man who profeffes himself your friend, and wlio has heaped his favours upon you in order to bribe you to filence, will be perpetually betraying a dread of you, left you should discover him. The confequence of which, you may have reafon to apprehend, may be his ridding himself of his fears by ridding the world of you, left you fhould prove like others-magni delator amici. See Sat. i. 33. but whether the great man betrays this fear or not, you may be certain he will be conftantly poffeffed with it; and a much greater proof of this you cannot have, than the pains he takes to buy your filence. When he grows weary of this method, you know what you may expect. Alas! can all the treasures of the whole earth make it worth your while to be in fuch a fituation! Comp. 1. 113. 58. What nation, &c.] Umbritius proceeds in his reafons for retiring from Rome. Having complained of the sad state of the times, infomuch that no honeft man could thrive there : he now Tagus the whole fand be, and the gold which is rolled into the fea, 55 That you should want fleep, and should accept rewards to be rejected, Sorrowful, and be always feared by a great friend. What nation is now moft acceptable to our rich men, Nor shall shame hinder. O Romans, I cannot bear 60 A Grecian city: tho' what is the portion of Achæan dregs? now attacks the introduction of Grecians and other foreigners, the fondness of the rich and great towards them, and the fordid arts by which they raised themselves. 60. Nor fhall fhame hinder.] In fhort, I'll speak my mind without referve, my modefty fhall not ftand in my way. O Romans] Quirites-This antiently was a name for the Sabines, from the city Cures, or from quiris, a fort of spear used by them but after their union with the Romans this pellation was used for the Roman people in general. The name Quirinus was first given to Romulus. See Sat. ii. 133. ap Probably the poet ufed the word Quirites here, as reminding them of their antient fimplicity of manners and drefs, by way of contraft to their prefent corruption and effeminacy in both; owing, very much, to their fondness for the Greeks and other foreigners, for fome time paft introduced among them. 61. A Grecian city.] Meaning Rome-now fo transformed from what it once was, by the rage which the great people had for the language, manners, drefs, &c. of thofe Greeks whom they invited and entertained, that, as the inferior people are fond of imitating their fuperiors, it was not unlikely that the transformation might become general throughout the whole city: no longer Roman but Grecian. Umbritius could not bear the thought. Tho' what is the portion, &c.] Though, by the way, if we confider the multitudes of other foreigners, with which the city now abounds, what, as to numbers, is the portion of Greeks they are comparatively few. See Sat. xiii. 157. Hæc quota pars fcelerum, &c. What part is this (i. e. how fmall a part or portion) of the crimes, &c. -Achæan dregs.] Achæa, or Achaia, fignifies the whole country of Greece, antiently called Danaë, whence the Greeks are called Danaï. AINSW. Dregs-metaph. taken from the foul, turbid, filthy fediment which wine depofits at the bottom H of Jampridem Syrus in Tiberim defluxit Orontes, 65 of the cafk. A fit emblem of thefe vile Greeks, as though they were the filth and refufe of all Greece. Sometimes the word Achæa, or Achaia, is to be understood in a more co.fined fenfe, and denotes only fome of that part of Greece called Peloponnefus, or Pelop's ifland, now the Morea, antiently divided into Arcadia, and Achaia, of which Corinth was the capital: the inhabitants of this city were proverbially lewd and wicked-ogivae was a ufual phrafe to express doing acts of effeminacy, lewdnefs, and debauchery - what then muft the dregs of Corinth, and its environs, have been? See 1 Cor. vi. 9-11, former part. 62. Syrian Orontes.] Orontes was the greatest river of Syria, a large country of Afia. Umbritius had faid (at 1.61.) that the portion of Grecians was fmall in comparifon; he now proceeds to explain himself, by mentioning the inundation of Syrians, and other Afiatic ftrangers, who had for fome time been flocking to Rome: thefe were in fuch numbers from Syria, and they had fo introduced their eaftern manners, mufic, &c. that one would fancy one's felf on the banks of the Orontes, inflead of the Tiber. The river Orontes is here put for the people who inhabited the tract of country through which it ran. Meton. So the Tiber for the city of Rome, which stood on its banks. -Has florved.] Metaph. This well expreffes the idea of the numbers, as well as the mischiefs they brought with them, which were now overwhelming the city of Rome, and utterly deftroying the morals of the people. 63. With the piper.] Tibicen fignifies a player on a flute, or pipe. A minftrel. They brought eaftern musicians, as well as mufical inftruments. The flute was an inftrument whofe foft found tended to mollify and enervate the mind. 63-4. Harps oblique.] Chordas, literally ftrings: here it fignifies the inftruments, which, being in a crooked form, the frings muft of courfe be obliquely placed. 64. National timbrels.] Tabours, or little drums, in form of a hoop, with parchment diftended over it, and bits of brass fixed to it to make a jingling noise; which the eastern people made ufe of, as they do to this day, at their feasts and dancings, and which they beat with the fingers. 64-5. With itself hath brought.] As a river, when it breaks its bounds, carries along with it fomething from all the different Some while fince, Syrian Orontes has flow'd into the Tiber, And its language, and manners, and, with the piper, harps Oblique, alfo its national timbrels, with itself Hath brought, and girls bidden.to expofe themselves for hiring at the Circus.65 Go ye, who like a Barbarian strumpet with a painted mitre. different foils through which it paffes, and rolls along what it may meet within its way; fo the torrent of Afiatics has brought with it, from Syria to Rome, the language, morals, drefs, mufic, and all the enervating and effeminate vices of the several eaftern provinces from whence it came. 65. And girls bidden to expofe, &c.] Profto, in this connection, as applied to harlots, means to be common, and ready to be hired of all comers for money. For this purpose, the owners of these Afiatic female flaves ordered them to attend at the Circus, where they might pick up gallants, and fo made a gain of their proftitution. Or perhaps, they had ftews in the cells and vaults which were under the great Circus, where they exercised their lewdness. See Holyday on the place, note f. The word juffas may, perhaps, apply to thefe proftitutes, as expreffive of their fituation, as being at every body's command. Thus Ov. Lib. i. Eleg. 10. Stat meretrix certo cuivis mercabilis ære, Et miferas juffo corpore quærit opes. Circus.] There were feveral circi in Rome, which were places fet apart for the celebration of several games: they were generally oblong, or almost in the shape of a bow, having a wall quite round, with ranges of feats for the convenience of fpectators. The Circus Maximus, which is probably meant here, was an immenfe building; it was firft built by Tarquinius Prifcus, but beautified and adorned by fucceeding princes, and enlarged to fuch a prodigious extent, as to be able to contain, in their proper feats, two hundred and fixty thousand fpectators. See Kennet, Ant. Part ii. Book i. c. 4. 66. Go ye, &c.] Umbritius may be fuppofed to have uttered this with no fmall indignation. -Strumpet.] Lupa literally fignifies a fhe wolf-but an appellation fitly beftowed on common whores or bawds, whofe profeffion led them to fupport themselves by preying at large on all they could get into their clutches. Hence a brothel was called lupanar. The Romans called all foreigners barbarians. A painted mitre.] A fort of turban, worne by the Syrian women as a part of their head-drefs, ornamented with painted linen. H 2 67. O |