Linquebat, comite ancillâ non amplius unâ ; Et cellam vacuam, atque e suam: tunc nuda papillis 1.20 Excepit blanda intrantes, atque æra poposcit : 125 Mox lenone suas jam dimittente puellas, Tristis abit; sed, quod potuit, tamen ultima cellam Clausit, adhuc ardens rigidæ tentigine vulvæ, Et lassata viris, nondum satiata recessit: Obscurisque genis turpis, fumoque lucernæ 130 Hippomanes, carmenque loquar, coctumque venenum, 118. Nocturnal hoods.] Nocturnos cucullos, a sort of hood, with which the women used to cover their heads when it rained. Messalina made use of something of this kind to disguise herself, when on her nightly expeditions. 120. A yellow peruke.] What the galerus was, is not very easy to define; but it seems (on this occasion at least) to have been something of the peruke kind, and made with hair of a different colour from the empress's, the better to disguise her. 121. Warm with an old patched quilt.] It is probable, that the only piece of furniture in the cell was an old patched quilt, or rug, on which she laid herself down. Or this may be understood to mean, that the stew was warm from the frequent concourse of lewd people there; and that Messalina carried with her some old tattered and patched garment, in which she had disguised herself, that she might not be known in her way thither. See AINSW. Cento. 122. Which was her's.] As hired and occupied by her, for her lewd purposes. 123. Lycisca.] The most famous courtezan of those times, whose name was 135 chalked over the chamber-door, where Messalina entertained her gallants. 124. Thy belly, &c.] i. e. The belly which bare thee. Britannicus was the son of Claudius and Messalina. 131. To the pillow.] To the royal bed. Thus returning to her husband's bed, defiled with the reck and stench of the brothel. 132. Philtres and charms.] Hippomanes, (from ros, equus, and pavoμa, insanio,) according to Virgil, signifies something which comes from mares, sup. posed to be of a poisonous nature, and used as an ingredient in venefic potions, mixed with certain herbs, and attended with spells, or words of incantation. Hinc demum hippomanes vero quod nomine dicunt Pastores, lentum distillat ab inguine vi rus: Hippomanes quod sæpe malæ legere no vercæ, Miscueruntque herbas, et non innoxia verba. Georg. iii. 1. 280-3. By the account of this, in the third line of the above quotation, we may understand it, in this passage of Juvenal, to denote a part of a poisonous mixture which step-mothers administered to destroy their husband's sons, that their own might inherit. Left him, attended by not more than one maid-servant, 120 She enter'd the brothel warm with an old patched quilt, And shews thy belly, O noble Britannicus. Kind she received the comers in, and asked for money: 125 Presently, the bawd now dismissing his girls, She went away sad: but (which she could) she nevertheless Last shut up her cell, still burning with desire, And she retired, weary, but not satiated with men: And filthy with soiled cheeks, and with the smoke of the lamp But why is Cesennia the best (of wives) her husband being witness? 135 She gave twice five hundred, for so much he calls her chaste. But the hippomanes seems to be of two sorts, for another is mentioned, Æn. iv. 1. 515, 16. Quæritur et nascentis equi de fronte revulsus, Et matri præreptus amor— This was supposed to be a lump of flesh that grows in the forehead of a foal newly dropped, which the mare presently devours, else she loses all affection for her offspring, and denies it suck. See AINSW. Hippomanes, No. 3. Hence Virgil calls it matris amor. This notion gave rise to the vulgar opinion of its efficacy in love-potions, or philtres, to procure love. In this view of the word, it may denote some love-potions, which the woman administered to provoke unlawful love. The word carmen denotes a spell, or charm, which they made use of for the same purpose. Carmen, sing. for carmine, plur. synecdoche. -Poison boiled.] This signifies the most deadly and quickest poison, as boiling extracts the strength of the ingredients much more than a cold infusion. 133. A son-in-law.] To put him out of the way, in order to make room for a son of their own. See 1.628. 134. The empire of the sex, &c.] i. e. That which governs, has the dominion over it. See imperium used in a like sense. VIRG. En. i. l. 142. q. d. What they do from lust is less mischievous than what they do from anger, hatred, malice, and other evil principles that govern their actions, and may be said to rule the sex in general. 135. Cesennia.] The poet is here shewing the power which women_got over their husbands, by bringing them large fortunes; insomuch that, let the conduct of such women be what it might, the husbands would gloss it over in the best manner they could; not from any good opinion, or from any real love which they bare them, but the largeness of their fortunes, which they retained in their own disposal, purchased this. 136. She gave twice five hundred.] i. e. She brought a large fortune of one thousand sestertia, which was sufficient to bribe the husband into a commendation of her chastity, though she had it not. See sat. i. 1. 106. and note; and sat. ii. 1. 117. and note. Nec Veneris pharetris macer est, aut lampade fervet : Si verum excutias, facies, non uxor amatur. 66 Collige sarcinulas," dicet libertus, "et exi; "Jam gravis es nobis, et sæpe emungeris; exi "Ocyus, et propera; sicco venit altera naso.' Interea calet, et regnat, poscitque maritum Pastores, et ovem Canusinam, ulmosque Falernas. Quantulum in hoc? pueros omnes, ergastula tota, Quodque domi non est, et habet vicinus, ematur. Mense quidem brumæ, cum jam mercator Iason Clausus, et armatis obstat casa candida nautis, Grandia tolluntur crystallina, maxima rursus 137. Lean, &c.] He never pined for love. Pharetris-lit. quivers. -The lamp.] Or torch of Cupid, or of Hymen. 138. From thence the torches burn, &c.] He glows with no other flame than what is lighted up from the love of her money; nor is he wounded with any other arrows than those with which her large fortune has struck him. 139. Liberty is bought.] The wife buys with her large fortune the privilege of doing as she pleases, while the husband sells his liberty, so as not to dare to restrain her, even in her amours. -Tho' she nod.] Innuat-give a hint by some motion or nod of her head, or make signs to a lover, even before her husband's face. 140. Write an answer, &c.] Pen an answer to a billet-doux in the very presence of her husband. Comp. sat. i. 55—7. -She is a widow.] She is to be considered as such, and as responsible to nobody but to herself. A miser.] For he is too anxious about her money to venture disobliging her by contradiction. 142. The face, not the wife, &c.] The poet is still satirizing the female sex. Having shewn that some women were only attended to for the sake of their money, he here lets us see that others had no other inducement than exterior 140 145 150 beauty. While this lasted, they were admired and favoured, as well as indulged in a kind of sovereignty over the husband; but when their beauty decayed, they were repudiated, turned out of doors, and others taken in their room. 145. The freedman, &c.]" Pack up your alls," says the husband, now emancipated from his bondage to her beauty, by her loss of it. 146. You often wipe your nose.] From the rheum which distills from it-one symptom of old age. 147. Another coming, &c.] Young and handsome, to supply your place, who has not your infirmities. 148. In the mean time, &c.] i. e. In the days of her youth and beauty. She is hot. She glows, as it were, with the rage of dominion over her busband, which she exercises-regnat. 148. Demands of her husband, &c.] In short, her husband must supply her with every thing she chooses to fancy. 149. Canusian sheep.] Canusium, a town of Apulia, upon the river Aufidus ; it afforded the best sheep, and the finest wool in Italy, which nature had tinged with a cast of red. -Falernan elms.] The vines of Falernum used to grow round the elms; therefore elms here denote the vines, and so the wine itself-metonym. See VIRG. Georg. i. 1. 2. Nor is he lean from the shafts of Venus, nor does he glow with the lamp ; From thence torches burn; arrows come from her dowry. Liberty is bought: tho' she nod before (her husband) and Write an answer, she is a widow, who, rich, hath married a miser. 140 Why doth Sertorius burn with the desire of Bibula; If you examine the truth, the face, not the wife, is beloved. Let three wrinkles come on, and her dry skin relax itself, Let her teeth become black, and her eyes less "Collect together your bundles, the freedman will say, and 66 go forth: 145 "You are now troublesome to us, and often wipe your nose, 66 go forth 66 Quickly and make haste-another is coming with a dry "nose. In the mean time she is hot, and reigns, and demands of her husband Shepherds, and Canusian sheep, and Falernan elms. How little (is there) in this? all boys, whole workhouses, 150 And what is not at home, and her neighbour has, must be bought. Indeed, in the month of winter, when now the merchant Jason Is shut up, and the white house hinders the armed sailors, Great crystals are taken up, and again large (vessels) 150. All boys.] All sorts of beautiful boys must be purchased to wait upon her. Whole workhouses.] Ergastula were places where slaves were set to work; here the word seems to denote the slaves themselves, numbers of which (whole workhouses-full) must be purchased to please the lady's fancy. See AINSW. Ergastulum, No. 2. 151. And her neighbour has.] Whatsoever she has not, and her neighbour has, must be purchased. 152. The month of winter.] Brumaqu. brevissima-the shortest day in the year, mid-winter-the winter solstice; this happens on the twenty-first of December; so that mensis brumæ means December. By synecdoche-winter. The merchant Jason.] This is a fictitious name for a merchant who goes through the dangers of the seas in all climates for the sake of gain. Alluding to Jason's dangerous enterprise after the Myrrhina, deinde adamas notissimus, et Berenices Nullane de tantis gregibus tibi digna videtur? 155 160 (Rara avis in terris, nigroque simillima cygno :) Quis feret uxorem, cui constant omnia ? malo, 165 Malo Venusinam, quam te, Cornelia, mater 154. Are taken up.] Tolluntur. How, from this word, many translators and commentators have inferred, that this extravagant and termagant woman sent her husband over the seas, to fetch these things, at a time of year when they have just been told (1. 152, 3.) that the merchants and sailors did not venture to sea, I cannot say; but by tolluntur, I am inclined to understand, with Mr. Dryden, that these things were taken up, as we say, on the credit of the husband, who was to pay for them. When winter shuts the seas, and fleecy 170 So MARTIAL, lib. xiv. ep. cxiii. Convenit, et melior fit sapor inde mero. 155. Berenice, &c.] Eldest daughter of Herod Agrippa, king of Judæa, a woman of infamous lewdness. She was first married to Herod, king of Chalcis, her uncle, and afterwards suspected of incest with her brother Agrippa. See ANT. Un. Hist. vol. x. p. 6. note e. 156. Mude more precious.] The circumstance of Berenice's being supposed to have received this diamond ring from her brother, and having worn it on her finger, is here hinted at, as increasing its Make houses white, she to the merchant value in the estimation of this lewd and goes: snows a Rich crystals of the rock she takes up there, &c. &c. DRYDEN. This is what is called in French, enlever de chez le marchand. Some have observed, that during the Saturnalia, feast which was observed at Rome, with great festivity, for seven days in the month of December, there was a sort of fair held in the porches of some of the public baths, where the merchants made up shops, or booths, and sold toys and baubles. Vet. Schol. See Sigellaria. AINSW. "Tolluntur crystallina.] i. e. Ex mer"catoris officina elevantur a Bibula, sol"vente eo marito Sertorio." GRANG. 154, 5. Vessels of myrrh.] Bowls to drink out of, made of myrrh, which was supposed to give a fine taste to the wine. extravagant woman. -A barbarian.] The Romans, as well as the Greeks, were accustomed to call all people but themselves, barbarians. 158. Their festival-sabbaths barefoot.] Meaning in Judæa, and alluding to Agrippa and his sister's performing the sacred rites of sacrificing at Jerusalem without any covering on their feet. This was customary, in some parts of the Jewish ritual, to all the Jews, in imitation of Moses at the bush, (see Exod. iii. 5, et seq.) and is practised, on particular days, in the Jewish synagogues to this very time. JOSEPH. Bel. Jud. lib. ii. says of Berenice, "Queen Berenice, "that she might pay her vows for the recovery of her health, came to Jeru"salem, and, when the victims were "slain according to custom, with her |