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In which a wife lies: there is little sleep there.

Then she is grievous to her husband, then worse than a bereaved

tigress,

When, conscious of an hidden fact, she feigns groans,

270

Or hates the servants, or, a mistress being pretended, she weeps With ever fruitful tears, and always ready

In their station, and waiting for her,

In what manner she may command them to flow: you think (it) love

You then, O hedge-sparrow, please yourself, and suck up the

tears

:

275

With your lips what writings and what letters would you read If the desks of the jealous strumpet were opened!

But she lies in the embraces of a slave, or of a knight; "Tell, "Tell us, I pray, here, Quintilian, some colour."

"We stick fast:"-" say yourself:" " formerly it was agreed," says she,

"That you should do what you would; and I also might

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280

Indulge myself: though you should clamour, and confound "The sea with heaven, I am a woman." Nothing is more bold Than they are when discovered; they assume anger and courage from their crime.

Do you ask-whence these monstrous things, or from what source?

285

278. She lies in the embraces, &c.] Suppose her actually caught in the very act.

279. Tell us, Quintilian, some colour.] O thou great master of language and oratory, tell us, if you can, some colour of an excuse for such behaviour. See sat. vii. 155.

280. We stick fast.] Even Quintilian himself is at a loss. "We orators (Quintilian is suppposed to answer) have nothing to say " in excuse for such a fact."

Say yourself.] Though none other could attempt to excuse or palliate such actions, yet women have impudence and presence of mind enough to find some method of answering"So pray, madam, let us hear what you can say for yourself."

283. I am a woman.] Homo sum.-Homo is a name common to us both, and so are the frailties of human nature; hence, having agreed mutually to do as we liked, you have no right to complain.-Though you should bawl your heart out, and turn the world topsy-turvy, I can say no more. Comp. sat. ii. 25, and note.

284. Anger.] To resent reproofs.

Courage.] To defend what they have done.

So that, though, while undiscovered, they may affect a decent appearance, yet, when once discovered, they keep no measureş with decency, either as to temper or behaviour.

285. Do you ask whence, &c.] The poet is now about to trace

Præstabat castas humilis fortuna Latinas
Quondam, nec vitiis contingi parva sinebat
Tecta labor, somnique breves, et vellere Tusco
Vexatæ, duræque manus, ac proximus urbi
Hannibal, et stantes Collinâ in turre mariti.
Nunc patimur longæ pacis mala: sævior armis
Luxuria incubuit, victumque ulciscitur orbem.
Nullum crimen abest, facinusque libidinis, ex quo
Paupertas Romana perît: hinc fluxit ad istos

290

Et Sybaris colles, hinc et Rhodos, atque Miletos,

295

Atque coronatum, et petulans, madidumque Tarentum.

Prima peregrinos obscoena pecunia mores

Intulit, et turpi fregerunt secula luxu

Divitiæ molles. Quid enim Venus ebria curat?
Inguinis et capitis quæ sint discrimina, nescit ;
Grandia quæ mediis jam noctibus ostrea mordet,

300

the vice and profligacy of the Roman women to their true source -viz. the banishment of poverty, labour, and industry, and the introduction of riches, idleness, and luxury. So the prophet Ezek. xvi. 49, concerning the profligacy of the Jewish women. 288. Short of sleep.] Up early and down late, as we say.

The Tuscan fleece.] The wool which came from Tuscany, which was manufactured at Rome by the women.

289. Hannibal very near the city, &c.] This great Carthaginian general marched his army so nigh to Rome, that he encamped it within three miles of the city, which obliged the citizens to keep constant guard.

290. The Colline tower.] One of the gates of Rome was on an hill, and therefore called Porta Collina-here was probably some tower, or other fortification, which, when an enemy was near, was garrisoned by the Roman people, some of which were constantly on duty. This made them sober and diligent.

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292. Hath invaded us.] Incubuit. So HOR. lib. i. Od. iii. 1. 30, 1.

Nova febrium terris incubuit cohors.

Avenges the conquer'd world.] Luxury, by destroying the manners of the Romans, plunged them into miseries, which might be truly said to revenge the triumphs of the Roman arms over the rest of the world.

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293. No crime is absent, &c.] The banishment of poverty occasioned also the banishment of that hardiness, plainness, and sim. plicity of living, for which the ancient Romans were remarkable; and this was the occasion of their introducing the vices of many of those countries which they had conquered, till every species of profligacy and lewdness overspread the city. Sat. ix. 131—3. As it follows

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294-5. Hence flowed to these hills, &c.] i. e. The seven hills of Rome, on which the city was built here put for the city itself, or rather for the people.

An humble fortune rendered the Latin women chaste
Formerly, nor did labour suffer their small houses

To be touched with vices; short of sleep, and with the Tuscan fleece

Their hands chafed and hard, and Hannibal very near the city, And their husbands standing in the Colline tow'r.

290

Now we suffer the evils of a long peace: more cruel than arms,
Luxury hath invaded us, and avenges the conquer'd world.
No crime is absent, or foul deed of lust, since

Roman poverty was lost. Hence flow'd to these

Hills, Sybaris, hence Rhodes too, and hence Miletus,
And the crowned, and petulant, and drunken Tarentum.
Filthy money foreign manuers first

Brought in, and soft riches weakened the ages with

Base luxury. For what does a drunken woman regard?

295

She knows not the difference between her top and bottom. 300 She who eats large oysters at midnights,

295. Sybaris.] A city of Calabria, so addicted to pleasure and effeminacy, as to become proverbial.

Rhodes-Miletus (or Malta).] Were equally famous for lewdness and debauchery. See sat. iii. 69–71; and sat. viii. I. 113, 296. Tarentum.] A city of Calabria.

Crowned.] Alluding to the garlands and chaplets of flowers

which they put on at their feasts.

Petulant.] The poet here alludes, not only to the insolence with which they refused to restore some goods of the Romans, which they had seized in their port, but also to their having sprinkled urine on one of the embassadors which the Romans sent to demand them.

Drunken.] This may either allude to their excessive drinking, for sometimes madidus signifies drunk; or to their wetting or moistening their hair with costly ointments. See HoR. ode iii. lib. ii. 1. 13, et al. This piece of luxury, Juvenal here seems to insinuate, was adopted by the Romans from the people of Tarentum, and was one of the delicacies of the Romans at their feasts and convivial meetings

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297. Filthy money.] Obscoena pecunia-so called, because of its defilement of the minds of the people, by inviting them to luxury, and of the obscene and vile purposes to which it is applied.

298 Soft riches.] Molles divitiæ--because the introducers of softness and effeminacy of all kinds.

299, Aedrunken woman.] Lit. a drunken Venus—q. d. a woman adding drunkenness to lewdness.

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300. She knows not, &c.] Whether she stands on her head or her heels, as the saying is..

23019 Who eats large oysters.] Which were reckoned incentives to lewd practices.

Cum perfusa mero spumant unguenta Falerno,
Cum bibitur conchâ, cum jam vertigine tectum
Ambulat, et geminis exurgit mensa lucernis.
I nunc, et dubita quâ sorbeat aëra sannâ
Tullia; quid dicat notæ Collacia Mauræ ;
Maura Pudicitiæ veterem cum præterit aram.
Noctibus hic ponunt lecticas, micturiunt hic;
Effigiemque Deæ longis siphonibus implent;
Inque vices equitant, ac lunâ teste moventur :
Inde domos abeunt. Tu calcas, luce reversâ,
Conjugis urinam, magnos visurus amicos.

Nota Bonæ secreta Deæ, cum tibia lumbos
Incitat; et cornu pariter, vinoque feruntur
Attonitæ, crinemque rotant, ululantque Priapi
Mænades: ô quantus tunc illis mentibus ardor
Concubitus! quæ vox saltante libidine! quantus
Ille meri veteris per crura madentia torrens !
Lenonum ancillas positâ Laufella coronâ
Provocat, et tollit pendentis præmia coxæ :

305

310

315

320

302. When ointments mixed, &c.] To such a pitch of luxury were they grown, that they mixed these ointments with their wine, to give it a perfume. See 1. 155, and 1. 418.

Foam.] From the fermentation caused by the mixture. 303. Drinks out of a shell.] The shell in which the perfume was kept. So concha is sometimes to be understood.-See HoR. lib. ii. ode vii. 1. 22, 3.

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Or it may mean, here, some large shell, of which was made (or which was used as) a drinking-cup: but the first sense seems to agree best with the preceding line.

304. Walks round, &c.] When a person is drunk, the house, and every thing in it, seems to turn round.

With double candles.] The table seems to move upward, and` each candle appears double.

305. Go now.] After what you have heard, go and doubt, if you can, of the truth of what follows.

With what a scoff, &c.] With what an impudent scoff she turns up her nose, in contempt of the goddess, mentioned 1. 307-9.

306. What Collacia may say, &c.] What a filthy dialogue passes between the impudent Collacia and her confidant Maura. These two, and Tullia above mentioned, were probably well-known strumpets in that day.

307. The old altar, &c.] Chastity had an altar, and was long worshipped as a goddess, but now despised and affronted by the beastly discourses and actions of these women.

308. Here they put their sedans, &c.] When they went on these nightly expeditions, they ordered their chairs to be set down here for the purpose. See sat. i. 1. 32, and note; and this sat. 1. 91, note. 310. The moon being witness.] Diana, the goddess of chastity, in

When ointments, mixed with Falernan wine, foam,

305

When she drinks out of a shell, when now, with a whirl, the house
Walks round, and the table rises up with double candles.
Go now, and doubt with what a scoff Tullia sups up
The air; what Collacia may say to her acquaintance Maura,
When Maura passes by the old altar of Chastity.

Here they put down their sedans o' nights, here they stain
And defile the image of the goddess, and each other,
With their impurities, the moon being witness.

310

Thence they go away home. You tread, when the light returns, In the urine of your wife, as you go to see your great friends. The secrets of the good goddess are known, when the pipe the loins

Incites; and also with the horn, and with wine, the Mænads of
Priapus

Are driven, astonished, and toss their hair and howl.
O what unchaste desires in their minds are raised!

What a voice do they utter forth! how great

A torrent of filthiness flows all about them.

315

Laufella proposes a prize among the most impudent strumpets, And, in the impure contention, obtains the victory:

320

heaven was called Phoebe, the moon, the sister of Phœbus, or the sun. So that this circumstance greatly heightens and aggravates their crimes, and shews their utter contempt of all modesty and chastity. 312. Of your wife.] This is argumentum ad hominem, to make Ursidius the less eager to marry.

To see your great friends.] People went early in the morning to the levees of their patrons. See sat. iii. 127—30, and sat. v. 76-9.

313. The secrets of the good goddess.] Secreta-the secret rites -i. e. the profanation and abuse of them by these women; these are now notorious. See before, sat. ii. l. 86, and note.

313-14. The pipe-horn-] These rites were observed with music and dancing, which, among these abandoned women, served to excite the horrid lewdness mentioned afterwards. See sat. ii. 1. 90.

314. Manads of Priapus.] Mænades Priapi.-The Mænades were women sacrificers to Bacchus; called Mænades, from the Gr. μanoμal, to be mad-for so they appeared by their gestures and actions. Thus, these women, from their horrid acts of lewdness, might well be called the Mænades, or mad votaries of the obscene Priapus.

With wine, &c.] All these circumstances were observable in the Mænades, in their frantic worship of Bacchus.

316. O what unchaste desires, &c.] This, and the following lines, down to 1. 333, exhibit a scene of lewdness, over which I have drawn the veil of paraphrase, in the words principally of a late ingenious translator.

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