Meanwhile, filthy to behold, and to be laugh'd at, her face 460 Swells with much paste, or breathes fat Poppaan, And hence the lips of her miserable husband are glued together. To an adulterer she will come with a wash'd skin: when is she Willing to seem handsome at home? perfumes are prepared for her Gallants: for these is bought whatever the slender Indians send hither. 465 At length she opens her countenance, and lays by her first coverings: She begins to be known, and is cherish'd with that milk, On account of which she leads forth with her she-asses her attendants, If an exile she be sent to the Hyperborean axis. But that which is cover'd over, and cherish'd with so many changed Medicaments, and receives cakes of baked and wet flour, It is worth while, to know exactly, for a whole 470 Day, what they do, and how they employ themselves. If at night The husband hath lain turned away, the housekeeper is undone, the tire-women Strip, the Liburnan is said to have come late, And to be punish'd for another's sleep 475 Is compell'd: one breaks ferules, another reddens with the whip, 472. A face, or an ulcer.] Because the look of it, when these cakes or poultices are upon it, is so like that of a sore, which is treated with poultices of bread and milk, in order to assuage and cleanse it, that it may as well be taken for the one as the other. 475. Turned away.] Turns his back towards her, and goes to sleep. See below, 1. 477. -The housekeeper.] Libraria, a weigher of wool or flax, (from libra, a balance,) a sort of housekeeper, whose office it was to weigh out and deliver the tasks of wool to the other servants for spinning. Is undone.] Ruined, turned out of doors, after being cruelly lashed. -The tire-women.] Cosmeta, from Gr. norμaw, to adorn, were persons who helped to dress their mistresses, and who had the care of their ornaments, clothes, &c. something like our valets de chambre, or lady's women. 476. Strip.] Ponunt tunicas-put down their clothes from their backs to be flogged. -The Liburuan, &c.] One of her slaves, who carried her litter. These chairmen, as we should call them, were usually from Liburnia, and were remarkably tall and stout. See sat. iii. 1. 240. The lady, in her rage, does not spare her own chairmen; these she taxes with coming after their time, and punishes. 477. For another's sleep.] Because her husband turned his back to her, and fell asleep. See above, 1. 475. 478. Ferules] Rods, sticks, or ferules made of a flat piece of wood, wherewith children and slaves were corrected. One poor fellow has one of these broken over his shoulders. -Reddens with the whip.] Is whipped till his back is bloody. Hic scuticâ sunt quæ totoribus annua præstant. 480 485 Ornari; et properat, jamque expectatur in hortis, Aut apud Isiacæ potius sacraria lenæ ; Componit crinem laceratis ipsa capillis Nuda humeros Psecas infelix, nudisque mamillis. 490 Altior hic quare cincinnus? taurea punit Quid Psecas admisit? quænam est hic culpa puellæ, 479. The thong.] Scutica, a terrible instrument of punishment, made of leathern thongs, though not (according to HOR. Sat. lib. i. sat. iii. 119.) so severe as the flagellum. Horace also mentions the ferula (1. 120.) as the mildest of the three. -Tormentors.] Hire people by the year, who, like executioners, put in execution the cruel orders of their employers. 480. He beats, &c.] One of these tormentors, hired for this purpose, lashes the poor slaves, while madam is employed in her usual course of adorning her person, or conversing with company, or looking at some fine clothes. 482. And as he beats, &c.] The fellow still lays on, while she, very unconcernedly, looks over the family accounts. 483. He beats, &c.] Still the beating goes forward, till the beaters are quite tired. 66 Go," &c.] Then she turns the poor sufferers out of doors, in the most haughty manner. Be gone, now," says she," the examination is over; all "accounts are now settled between us. Cognitio signifies the examination of things, in order to a discovery, as accounts, and the like. Cognitio also signifies trial, or hearing of a cause. If we are to understand the word in this sense, then she may be 495 supposed to say, in a taunting manner, "Be gone, you have had your trial; the "cause is over." 485. Than a Sicilian court.] Where the most cruel tyrants presided; such as Phalaris, Dionysius, &c. See HoR. lib. i. epist. ii. 1. 58, 9. 486. An assignation.] Constituit-has appointed-i. e. to meet a gallant. See sat. iii. 12. and note. 487. In the gardens.] Of Lucullus-a famous place for pleasant walks, and where assignations were made. 488. At the temple.] Sacraria-places where things sacred to the goddess were kept, which had been transferred from Egypt to Rome. The bawd Isis.] Or the Isiacan bawd; for her temple was the scene of all manner of lewdness, and attended constantly by pimps, bawds, and the like. See sat. ix. 1. 22. 489. Unhappy Psecas.] Juvenal gives to the waiting-maid the name of one of chaste Diana's nymphs, who attended on the person of the goddess, and assisted at her toilet in the grotto of the vale Gargaphie. OVID, Met. lib. iii. 1. 155-172. This is very humourous, if we consider the character of the lady spoken of, who is attended at her toilet by her filles de chambre, who have each, like Diana's nymphs, a several office in adorning her person, while all these Another with the thong: there are some who pay tormentors by the year. He beats, and she, by the bye, daubs her face; listens to her friends, 480 Or contemplates the broad gold of an embroider'd garment: And as he beats, she reads over the transactions of a long journal: And still he beats, till the beaters being tir'd-" Go," (She horridly thunders out,)" now the examination is finish'd." The government of the house is not milder than a Sicilian court: 485 For if she has made an assignation, and wishes more becomingly than usual To be dressed, and is in a hurry, and now waited for in the gardens, Or rather at the temple of the bawd Isis, Unhappy Psecas arranges her hair, herself with torn locks, Naked to the shoulders, and with naked breasts. 490 "Why is this curl higher?"-The bull's hide immediately punishes The crime and fault of a curled lock. What has Psecas committed? what is here the fault of the girl, If your nose has displeased you? Another extends The left side, and combs the locks, and rolls them into a circle. A matron is in council, and who, put to the wool, 496 492. The crime, &c.] The poet humourously satirizes the monstrous absurdity of punishing servants severely for such trifles as setting a curl either too high or too low, as if it were a serious crime a foul deed (facinus) worthy stripes. 494. If your nose, &c.] If you happen to have a deformity in your featuresfor instance, a long and ugly nose-is the poor girl, who waits on you, to blame for this? are you to vent your displeasure upon her? 495. The left side.] Another maidservant dresses a different side of the lady's head, combs out the locks, and turns them into rings. Extendit expresses the action of drawing or stretching out the hair with one hand, while the other passes the comb along it. 497. A matron, &c.] She then calls a council upon the subject of her dressfirst, an old woman, who has been set to the wool, (i. e. to spin,) being too old for 2 B Xx Emeritâ quæ cessat acu: sententia prima Ecce furentis Bellonæ, matrisque Deûm chorus intrat, et ingens Mollia qui ruptâ secuit genitalia testâ: Jampridem cui rauca cohors, cui tympana cedunt her former occupation of handling dex- 500. Of so great importance, &c.] One 501. She presses, &c.] She crowds such a quantity of rows and stories of curls upon her towering head. 502. Andromache.] Wife of Hector, who is described by Ovid as very large and tall. 500 505 510 515 in some measure excuse her, if she happen to be a little woman, short-waisted, and, when she has not high shoes on, seeming, in point of stature, shorter than a pigmy, insomuch that she is forced to spring up on tip-toe for a kiss; I say, if such be the case, one ought to excuse her dressing her head so high, in order to make the most of her person. Thus he ridicules little women who meant to disguise their stature, either by wearing high-heeled shoes, or by curling their hair, and setting it up as high as they could. Cothurnus signifies a sort of buskin, worn by actors in tragedies, with a high heel to it, that they might seem the taller. 505. Pygmean.] See sat. xiii. 1. 168. and note. 507, 8. No mention of damages.] Never takes any notice of the expences she is putting her husband to, and the damage she is doing to his affairs by her extravagance, and to his comfort and reputation, by her conduct. 508. As the neighbour, &c.] Is upon no other footing with her husband, than if he were an ordinary acquaint ance. 509. In this only nearer, &c.] The only difference she makes between her hus and art Ceases from the discharged crisping-pin: her opinion 500 She presses with so many rows, and still builds with so many joinings, Her high head, that you will see Andromache in front: Behind she is less: you'd believe her another. Excuse her if She be allotted a short space of small waist, and seem shorter Than a Pygmean virgin, help'd by no high-soled shoes, 505 And arises to kisses light with an erect foot. In the mean while no concern for her husband, no mention made Of damages: she lives as the neighbour of her husband : -Behold of mad 510 Bellona, and of the mother of the gods, a chorus enters, and a great Half-man, a reverend face with little manhood, Who has cut his tender genitals with a broken shell: To whom, now long, an hoarse troop-to whom the plebeian tabours Yield, and his cheek is clothed with a Phrygian turbant: 515 band and an ordinary neighbour is, that she hates his friends, detests his servants, and ruins his fortune. Gravis rationibus may mean, grievous in her expences. 510. Behold.] The poet now ridicules the superstition of women, and the knavery of their priests; and introduces a procession of the priests of Bellona, and of Cybele. 511. Bellona.] The sister of Marsshe had a temple at Rome. Her priests were called Bellonarii; they cut their arms and legs with swords, and ran about as if they were mad, for which reason, perhaps, the people thought them in spired. Thus the priests of Baal, 1 Kings xviii. 28. -The mother of the gods.] Cybele, whose priests were the Corybantes; they also danced about the streets with drums, tabours, and the like, in a wild and frantic manner. -A chorus enters.] A pack of these |