Quid, si nunquam adeo fœdis, adeoque pudendis : reverenced, on account of the noble acts of some who had borne it. Junius Brutus was the first consul after the expul sion of the kings; Domitius Jun. Brutus was one of the conspirators against Jul. Cæsar: these were the chiefs of a noble family in Rome, who bore the name of Brutus. The poet here observes, that the Roman nobility were got to such a state of shameless profligacy, that they gloried in actions and practices, which a low mechanic would have been ashamed of, and which would have disgraced even a cobler. 183. If we never, &c.] q. d. What will you say, if after the examples which I have produced, so infamous and shameful, there should remain yet worse? 185. Damasippus.] See his character, 1. 147-180. At last he is supposed to have ruined himself, and to go upon the stage. 186. The stage.] Siparium, properly, is the curtain of a theatre: here, by synec. it denotes the theatre itself. 185 190 195 188. Worthy, &c.] Richly deserving to be crucified in earnest, for condescending to so mean a thing as to turn actor upon a public stage. -I being judge.] In my opinion; in my judgment. 189. The very people.] Even the commonalty who attend at these exhibitions. -The front of this people, &c.] The spectators are still, if possible, more inexcusable, who can impudently sit and divert themselves with such a prostitution of nobility. 190. Buffooneries.] Triscurria, from tris (Gr. rgs) three times, and scurra, a buffoon; the threefold buffooneries of persons acting so out of character. -Patricians.] Noblemen of the highest rank. 191. Barefooted Fabii.] Planipes-an actor or mimic, that acted without shoes, or on the plain ground. A fine piece of diversion, for the spectators to behold a man, descended from one of the first families, acting so low a part! 192. Of the Mamerci.] A great family in Rome, descended from Mamercus Æmilius, who, when dictator, subdued the rebels at Fidena. A curious entertainment, truly, to see a descendant of this family suffering kicks, and slaps on the face, like a merry-andrew, on a public stage, for the diversion of the people! What, if we never use so foul, and so shameful Examples, that worse can not remain ? 184 Thy riches consumed, thy voice, Damasippus, thou hast hired to The stage, that thou mightest act the noisy Phasma of Catullus. Velox Lentulus also acted well Laureolus, 190 Worthy, I being judge, a real cross. Nor yet can you Is a mimic: after these things, what will there be but a play? and there 192. Sell their deaths, &c.] i. e. Expose their persons to be put to death. q. d. No matter for what price these nobles run the hazard of their lives; they do it voluntarily, therefore nobody will pity them if they be killed. He now proceeds to satirize the noble gladiators. 193. No Nero compelling, &c.] Alluding to the cruelty of Nero, who commanded four hundred senators, and six hundred knights, to fight in the amphitheatre: these were excusable, for they could not help it; but this was not the case with those the poet is here writing of, who, of their own accord, exposed their lives upon the stage for hire, like common gladiators; which we may understand by vendunt. 194. Nor doubt, &c.] They make no scruple to engage in the shows of gladiators given by the prætor, who sat on high, exalted in a car, to direct and superintend the whole. See sat. x. 1. 36. They hire themselves, as it were, for this purpose. 195. Imagine the swords, &c.] Suppose you were to choose, put the lists for sword-playing on one hand, the stage on the other, which should you think best which would you choose? 196. Has any one, &c.] Has any one known the fear of death so much, as not to risk his life in a combat, rather than to play the fool as an actor. We are to understand the poet here to say, that it is more shameful to act upon the stage, than to fight as a gladiator, though at the hazard of life; for who would not detest to play the part of the cuckold Latinus, the jealous husband of Thymele, or be a fellow-actor with that stupid fellow Corinthus, a low mimic and buffoon. 197. Thymele.] See sat. i. 1. 36, and note. 198. Prince a harper.] No wonder a nobleman, born under the reign of Nero, who turned actor and harper himself, should be influenced by and follow the example of the emperor. The poet is here shewing the mischief which accrues from the evil example of princes. So before, sat. vi. 616. 199. After these things, &c.] After this, what can you expect, but that it should become a general fashion, and that nothing should be found, in the polite world, but acting plays and prizefighting. Ludus signifies both. -There.] i. e. In that manner of employment, so unworthy the nobility of Rome, you have Gracchus, &c. Some read illud, agreeing with dedecus-q. d. You have Gracchus, that disgrace, &c. Dedecus urbis habes nec mirmillonis in armis, 200 205 210 Par Agamemnonidæ crimen; sed causa facit rem 200. The disgrace, &c.] A severe rebuke of Gracchus, a nobleman of one of the greatest families in Rome, who de based himself, to the scandal of even the city itself, in fighting upon the stage. Juvenal censures him for three enormities at once. 1st. For his baseness, in such a condescension. 2dly. For his impudence, in not choosing an habit which might have disguised him. 3dly. For his cowardice in running away, and meanly shewing himself to the people to obtain their favour. -Gracchus.] See sat. ii. 143, &c. -Mirmillo. There were two sorts of gladiators among the Romans, which had different names according to the arms and habit which they appeared in. One fought with a sword, or falchion, shaped like a scythe (falce) in his right hand, a target on his left arm, and an helmet on his head he was called Mirmillo, (from uvgμos, an ant, which is covered with scales like armour. See AINSW.) or Secutor: the other wore a short coat without sleeves, called tunica; a hat on his head; he carried in his right-hand a javelin, forked like a trident, called fuscina; on his left arm a net, in which he endeavoured to catch his adversary, and from thence was called Retiarius. Sat. ii. 1. 143, note. Now Gracchus did not take the arms of the Mirmillo, which would have co 215 vered him from being so easily known, but took the habit of the Retiarius, and impudently exposed his person to the knowledge of the beholders. 203. A trident.] The fuscina. See note on 1. 200. 204. After the nets, &c.] It was the play of the Retiarius to throw his net over the Mirmillo, and so, confining him, to have him in his power; to this end he took the best aim he could, balancing the net as exactly as possible, that it might cover his mark. But Gracchus missed it, and then fled to escape his antagonist. 205. The scaffolds.] Spectacula-the scaffolds on which the spectators sat to behold the shows. Spectaculum sometimes signifies a beholder. AINSW. No. 4. 206. Acknowledged, &c.] Be known by the spectators, that, seeing who he was, they might not make the signal for his being put to death, as a bad and cowardly gladiator. See sat. iii. 1. 36, note 2. -Arena.] Literally signifies sand; but, by metonymy, the part of the amphitheatre where the gladiators fought, because strewed with sand, to keep them from slipping, and to drink up the blood. See sat. ii. 1. 144. 207. Trust to his tunic.] The Retiarius wore a sort of coat without sleeves, called tunica-hence Gracchus is called tunicatus. Sat. ii. 143. His was so rich and magnificent, as plainly to shew what You have the disgrace of the city Gracchus, neither in the arms of a Mirmillo, 200 Nor fighting with the shield, or held-up scythe, (Forhecondemns such habits, but he condemns and hates them,) Nor hides his forehead with an helmet: behold he moves a trident, After the nets, hanging from his balanced right-hand, He has cast in vain, his countenance naked to the scaffolds 205 If free suffrages were allowed the people, who is so 210 214 The crime of Orestes was equal; but the cause makes the thing "His coat and hat-band shew his quality." STEPNEY. 208. Stretches itself, &c.] Being untied, hangs down on each side of his face-porrigat de faucibus-loosely from the hat, or cap, which, having an high crown, appeared of a considerable length from the base to the top-longo galero. Is tossed.] Blown to and fro by the air, in his running from the Mirmillo. 209. The Secutor.] Or follower. The Mirmillo was so called from his following the Retiarius to kill him, after the latter had missed with his net, unless his life were begged. -An heavier ignominy, &c.] The gladiator who fought with so inexperienced and cowardly a fugitive, got more dishonour in fighting with him, though he overcame him, than if he had himself received a wound from a brave and ex VOL. I. perienced antagonist. 211. If free suffrages, &c.] If the people were allowed to give their votes freely. See sat. x. 77-81. 212. Seneca to Nero.] Lucius Seneca, uncle to Lucan the poet, and appointed tutor to Nero by Agrippina, who recalled him from banishment. He was an orator, poet, philosopher, and historian. He was put to death by Nero.q. d. Who is so lost to all sense of virtue, who so abandoned, as even doubt whether he should prefer Seneca to Nero ? to 213. For what punishment.] i. e. For Nero's. 213, 14. Not one ape, &c.] A parricide, by the Roman law, was sewn up in a sack, with a cock, a serpent, an ape, and a dog, and thrown into the sea. The poet means, that Nero's many parricides deserved more than one death. 215. Of Orestes.] Agamemnonida, the son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. -Crime equal.] He slew his mother, and therefore was a parricide as well as Nero, who slew his mother Agrippina, by whose means he got the empire. -The cause makes, &c.] The occasion and the motive from which Orestes acted were very different from that of Nero, and therefore make a great difference as to the act itself. 20 Dissimilem: quippe ille Deis auctoribus ultor 216. Was the avenger, &c.] Orestes killed his mother Clytemnestra, because she, with her paramour Ægisthus, had murdered his father Agamemnon; therefore Orestes might be looked upon as a minister of divine justice, to execute the vengeance of the gods, and to act, as it were, by their command. 217. In the midst of his cups.] Homer -Odyss. d. and a.-is of Juvenal's opinion, that Agamemnon was slain at a banquet, when he little expected such treatment. Homer, as well as Juvenal, justifies this revenge, as being undertaken by the advice of the gods. 218. Throat of Electra.] Orestes did not kill his sister Electra, as Nero did his brother Britannicus. HoR. lib. ii. sat. iii. 1. 137-40. 219. Spartan wedlock.] He did not kill his wife Hermione, the daughter of Menelaus king of Sparta, as Nero murdered his wives Octavia, Antonia, and Poppaa. -Poison for none, &c.] As Nero did for his brother Britannicus, and for his aunt Domitia. 220. Never sung, &c.] Orestes, (see sat. i. 1. 5, note,) mad as he was, never. sang upon the stage, as Nero did, who not only sang upon the theatre among the ordinary comedians, but took a journey to Greece, on purpose to try his skill among the most famous artists, from whom he bore away the garland, 220 225 230 and returned to Rome in triumph, as if he had conquered a province. 221. Never wrote Troics.] Nero had also the vanity of being thought a good poet, and made verses on the destruction of Troy, called Troica; and, it is reported, that he set Rome on fire, in order to realize the scene better. It is also said, that he placed himself, dressed in a theatrical habit, on an eminence in Rome, and sang a part of his Troica to his harp, during the conflagration. -What ought Virginius, &c.] Nero's monstrous frolicks and cruelties could not but make the people weary of his government. Virginius Rufus, his lieutenant-general in Gaul, by the assistance of Junius Vindex, (a nobleman of that country,) soon persuaded the armies under his command to fall from their allegiance, and solicited Sergius Galba, lieutenant-general in Spain, to do the like, by offering him the empire in favour of mankind, which he at last accepted, upon intimation that Nero had issued secret orders to dispatch him, and marched, with all the forces he could gather, towards Rome. Nero, not being in a condition to oppose such troops, fell into despair, and endeavoured to make his escape; he put himself in disguise, and crept, with four attendants only, to a poor cottage, where, perceiving he was pursued, as a sacrifice to public vengeance, and fearing to fall |