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SATIRE XV.

ARGUMENT.

people, for no other crime than a difference of opinion in religious

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MARSHALL, in his note on line 36, thus expresses himself—" Hinc si“multas et odium utrique populo oriebantur, nempe ex diversitate religionum, quæ in mundo etiam Christiano, Di boni! quantas straexcitavit !"

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The attentive reader of this Satire will find a lively exhibition of those principles which actuate bigots of all religions, zealots of all persuasions; and which, as far as they are permitted, will always act uniformly against the peace and happiness of mankind. He may amuse himself with allegorizing the Ombites and Tentyrites into emblems of blind zeal and party rage, which no other bounds than want of power have kept from desolating the earth.

WHO knows not, Bithynian Volusius, what monstrous things

Mad Ægypt can worship? this part adores a crocodile ;
That fears an Ibis saturated with serpents.

A golden image of a sacred monkey shines,

Where the magic chords resound from the half Memnon,

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3. An Ibis.] A certain bird, which is a great destroyer of serpents. See AINSW.

4. A golden image, &c.] In another part of Egypt, viz. at Thebes, they worship the image of a monkey made of gold. Cercopithecus is derived from the Gr. xigxos, a tail, and axos, an ape.The difference between the ape and the monkey is, that the ape has no tail; the monkey has, and usually a very long one.

5. Magic chords, &c.] At Thebes, in Ægypt, there was a colossal statue of Memnon, a king of Æthiopia, who was slain by Achilles at the siege of Troy: this statue was made of hard marble, and with such art, that a lute, which was in its hand, would itself give a musical sound when the beams of the sun came upon it.

Cambyses, king of Persia, ruined the city, and caused the statue to be broken about the middle, imagining the sound to proceed from some contrivance within, but nothing was found. From this time the music was thought to be magical. Strabo says, that he and others heard the music about one in the afternoon, but confesses he could not understand the cause.

Atque vetus Thebe centum jacet obruta portis.
Illic cæruleos, hic piscem fluminis, illic
Oppida tota canem venerantur, nemo Dianam.
Porrum et cæpe nefas violare, aut frangere morsu.
O sanctas gentes, quibus hæc nascuntur in hortis
Numina lanatis animalibus abstinet omnis
Mensa nefas illic fœtum jugulare capellæ ;
Carnibus hunianis vesci licet. Attonito cum
Tale super cœnam facinus narraret Ulysses
Alcinoo, bilem aut risum fortasse quibusdam
Moverat, ut mendax aretalogus: in mare nemo
Hunc abicit, sævâ dignum verâque Charybdi,
Fingentem immanes Læstrygonas atque Cyclopas?
Nam citius Scyllam, vel concurrentia saxa

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6. Hundred gates.] At Thebes, in Egypt, there was an hundred gates; the city from thence was called Hecatompolis. This city was destroyed by Cambyses, who conquered Egypt. It was originally built by Busiris, the fabled son of Neptune. See sat. xiii. 127, and note.

7. Sea-fish.] Coeruleos-because taken out of the sea, which by reflecting the blue sky, appears of an azure or sky-blue colour. So VIRG. En. iii. 208.

Adnixi torquent spumas, et cœrula verrunt-i. e. æquora,

8. Worship a dog.] They worship their good Anubis under this form. See sat. vi. 533, note,

Nobody Diana.] They worship the hound, but not the huntress. Juvenal seems to mistake here, for Herodotus observes that Diana was worshipped in that country under the name of Bubastis; which adoration, under another name, might occasion this mistake. But see AINSW. Bubastis.

9. A sin to violate a leck, &c.] "Perhaps our poet here goes a little beyond the strict truth, to heighten the ridicule, though there might be possibly some foundation for such an opinion, from the scrupulous abstinence of some of that nation from particular vegetables, as lentils, beans and onions, the latter of which the priests abominated, as some pretend, because Dictys, who had been brought up by Isis, was drowned in seeking after them; or rather, because onions alone, of all plants, thrive when the moon is in the wane." Sec. ANT. Univ. Hist. vol. i. p. 484.-For the religion of Egypt, sce also ib. p. 467, et seq.; and Abr. of Hutchinson, p. 122.

10. O holy nations, &c.] Meaning the various parts of Egypt, whose worship of leeks and onions he has just mentioned. This sarcasm is very natural after what he has said.

11. Every table, &c.] i. e. They never eat sheep, or lambs. 12. Offspring of a she-goat.] i. e. A kid.

The hatred of the Egyptians to the Israelites, both as shepherds. and as Hebrews, is supposed to have arisen from the latter killing and sacrificing these beasts, which were held sacred and worshipped

And ancient Thebes lies overthrown with its hundred gates.
There sea-fish, here a fish of the river; there

Whole towns worship a dog, nobody Diana.

It is a sin to violate a leek or onion, or to break them with a bite.

O holy nations, for whom are born in gardens

These deities! Every table abstains from animals bearing

Wool: it is there unlawful to kill the offspring of a she-goat,
But lawful to be fed with human flesh. When Ulysses
Was telling, at supper, such a deed to the astonish’d
Alcinous, perhaps, in some, he moved anger or

Laughter, as a lying babbler." Into the sea does nobody
"Throw this fellow, worthy of a cruel and true Charybdis,

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Feigning huge Læstrygonians, and Cyclops?

"For sooner Scylla, or the concurring rocks

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in Egypt. See Gen. xliii. 32; and xlvi. 34. See ANT. Un. Hist. vol. iii p. 333, b.

13. Human flesh.] DIOD. lib. ii. c. 4. says, that in a time of famine in Egypt, when the Egyptians were sorely pressed with hunger, they spared their sacred animals, and ate the flesh of men.

13-14. When Ulysses was telling, &c.] Ulysses, arriving at the island of Phæacia, or Corcyra (now Corfu), was entertained by Alcinous the king, to whom he related his travels.

15--16. Anger or laughter.] He recited such monstrous incredibilities, that no doubt he excited the spleen of some of the and the laughter of others.

company,

16. Lying Babbler] Aretalogus (from ager and λoyos) signifies a talkative philosopher, who diverted great men at their tables by discourses on virtue. From hence this word has been frequently used for a talkative person, a jester, a buffoon.

Into the sea, &c.] The poet supposes one of the company, who heard the strange tales of Ulysses, when at the court of Alcinous, expressing himself as in an amaze, that nobody should take him and throw him into the sea for his strange lies. Abicit--i. e. abjicit.

17. Worthy of a true Charybdis.] He has told such a romance about a feigned whirlpool, which he calls Charybdis, in the Straits of Sicily, that he certainly deserves a real one for his pains.

18. Feigning huge Lastrygonians.] A rude and savage people near Formiæ, in Italy; they were like giants, and devoured men.--See Odyss. x.

Cyclops.] These were represented as man-eaters. See Odyss.. Also VIRG. En. iii. 616, et seq.

19. Sooner Scylla, &c.] I can sooner believe his tales about Scylla, (the daughter of Phorcys, the father of the Gorgons,) who is said to be changed into a dangerous rock in the midway between Italy and Sicily. See VIRG. ecl. v. 74—7.

Concurring rocks, &c.] Called Cyaneæ, otherwise Symplegade, two rocks at a small distance from the Thracian Bosphorus,

Cyanes, plenos et tempestatibus utres
Crediderim, aut tenui percussum verbere Circes,
Et cum remigibus grunnisse Elpenora porcis.
Tam vacui capitis populum Phæaca putavit?
Sic aliquis merito nondum ebrius, et minimum qui
De Corcyræâ temetum duxerat urnâ:
Solus enim hoc Ithacus nullo sub teste canebat.
Nos miranda quidem, sed nuper consule Junio
Gesta, super calidæ referemus mœnia Copti;
Nos vulgi scelus, et cunctis graviora cothurnis :
Nam scelus, a Pyrrhâ quanquam omnia syrmata volvas,

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so close to one another, that they seem at a distance to be one as one passeth by, he would think they dash against each other: they were therefore called Symplegada, from Gr. vv and now, to strike together.

20. "Bags full of tempests."] When Ulysses arrived at the island of Eolus, that king of the winds enclosed the adverse ones in leathern bags, and hung them up in Ulysses's ship, leaving at liberty the west wind, which was favourable. But the companions of Ulysses untied the bags, being curious to know what they contained, and let out the adverse winds; immediately a tempest is raised, which drives the ship back to the Æolian isles, to the great displeasure of Æolus, who rejects Ulysses and his companions. They then sail to the Læstrygons, where they lose eleven ships, and, with one only remaining, proceed to the island of Circe. See Odyss. x. ad init.

21. "Wand of Circe."'] She was said to be the daughter of Sol and Perseis; she was a sorceress. She poisoned her husband, the king of the Scythians, that she might reign alone; for which, being expelled her kingdom, she went into Italy, and dwelt in a promontory called the Cape of Circe, whither Ulysses and his companions were driven (see the last note ad fin.) many of whom, by a touch of her magic wand, she turned into swine; at last, on entreaty, she restored then to their former shapes.

22. "Elpenor.] One of Ulysses' companions.

"Swine rowers."] The crew of the ship, who rowed her, were turned into swine, and grunted like that animal. In those days the ships were rowed with oars, as well as driven by sails.

23. Has he thought," &c.] Has this Ulysses so mean on opinion of the Phracians, as to imagine them so empty-headed, so void of understanding, that they should receive such a pack of incredible stories, of bags, of tempests, &c. &c.? But even these are more probable, and sooner to be believed, than what he relates of the Læstrygons and Cyclops, as if they were man-eaters; this shocks all belief.

24. Thus deservedly, &c.] The above reflections would be very just, and proper for any one to make, unless he had drunk away his senses, and was incapable of distinguishing truth from falsehood.

25. Strong wine] Temetum, a word signifying strong wine,

"Of Cyane, and bags full of tempests

“Would I have believed, or, struck by the slender wand of Circe, "Elpenor with his swine-rowers to have grunted.

"Has he thought the Phæacian people are so empty-headed?"

Thus deservedly any one, not as yet drunk, and who a very little
Strong wine from a Corcyræan urn had drawn:
For Ulysses related this without any witness.

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We will relate wonderful things, and lately done (Junius being Consul) upon the walls of warm Coptus ;

We the wickedness of the vulgar, and more grievous than all buskins: For wickedness, tho' you should turn over all the tragedies

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from Gr. To μedu, vinum; whence μvonw, to be drunk. So from temetum comes temulentus, drunken. See HOR. Epist. lib. ii. epist. ii. l. 163.

25. Corcyræan urn.] Corcyra, an island in the Ionian sea, on the coast of Albania, anciently called Phæacia. So that the poet means the wine of that country, made by the Phracians, who were famous for luxury. The urn signifies the vessel (or hogshead, as we call it) out of which they drew the wine, in order to drink it.

26. Ulysses related this, &c.] He told these stories entirely on his own credit, having no witness present to avouch the truth of what he said, therefore he might reasonably be disbelieved.

Related.] Canebat. The word cano, when it signifies to relate or report, particularly applies to things uttered by poets, who do not always stick to truth, but indulge their fancies in strange improbabilities: it is therefore here well applied to Ulysses, when telling such stories to Alcinous.

Why Ulysses was called Ithacus, see sat. x. 257, note 2.

27. We will relate, &c.] I shall now relate something very astonishing, not merely on my own authority, but which can be attested, as lately and publicly transacted,

27-8. Junius being consul.] Some consule Vinco, others Junco ; but no such name of a consul appears as Vincus, or Juncus. Junius Sabinus was consul with Domitian, an, U. C. 836, N. C. 84. The poet dates the time of his facts for the greater certainty. 28. Upon the walls. &c.] i. e. At Coptus-in the city.

Warm Coptus.] A metropolitan city of Egypt near the Nile, over which the sun at noon is vertical; therefore Juvenal calls it warm or hot. He names the place, as well as the time, where the things happened which he is going to relate.

29. The vulgar.] I am not going to tell facts which relate to my. self, or to any single individual, but what was committed by a whole people.

Than all buskins.] More grievous than is to be found in any tragedy. Cothurnus, the buskin worn by the actors of tragedy, is often, as here, used to denote tragedy itself, by meton. See sat. vi. 633-5, note.

30. For wickedness, &c.] i. 7. Though you should turn over all

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