: 139. Tot bellorum animæ; 'so many warlike souls.'-Quoties hinc i. e. when the spirit of such a wretch, as has been described, leaves the world and arrives among these venerable shades, they would consider themselves contaminated. 141. Sulfura cum tædis: sulphur and torches, made of the wood of the unctuous pine tree, were used in purifications.-Humida laurus: the Romans also used a laurel-branch, dipped in water, with which they sprinkled the persons or things to be purified. 142. Illuc: i. e. eò turpitudinis flagitiorumque. 143. Juverna: 'Ireland.' 144. Orcadas: 'the Orcades,' now 'Orkney islands,' to the north of Scotland, were added to the Roman empire by the emperor Claudius.-Minimâ . . . Britannos: in Britain, at the summer solstice, the nights are very short; scarce any in the most northern parts. 145. Sed quæ. vicimus: the abominations, which are committed at Rome, are not to be found amongst the people whom we have conquered. SATIRE III. Umbricius, an Aruspex, and a friend of Juvenal, disgusted at the prevalence of vice, and total disregard of unassuming virtue, is introduced on the point of quitting Rome for Cumæ. The poet accompanies him some little way from the city, when the honest exile, no longer able to suppress his indignation, acquaints him with the causes of his retirement. What he says may be arranged under the following heads,that Flattery and Vice are the only thriving arts at Rome; that in these, particularly the first, foreigners have a manifest superiority over the natives, and consequently engross all favor; that the poor are universally exposed to scorn and insult; that the general habits of extravagance render it difficult for them to subsist; and that a crowded capital subjects them to numberless inconveniences unknown in the country: he then again adverts to the peculiar sufferings of the poorer citizens from the want of a well regulated police; these he illustrates by a variety of examples, and concludes in a strain of pathos and beauty, which winds up the whole with singular effect. This Satire is imitated by Smollet in his description of London and Bath, &c. 1. Digressu veteris . . . amici: 'at the departure of an old friend; i. e. Umbricius. 2. Vacuis... Cumis: Cuma, a maritime city of Campania, not far from Puteoli, and famous for the cave and shrine of the Cumaan Sibyl. The poet calls it empty (vacuis) in comparison with the populousness of Rome. 3. Unum Sibylla: Umbricius was now about bestowing himself as a citizen to Cume, in taking up his residence there. 4. Janua Baiarum: passengers from Rome to Baiæ (a delightful city of Campania, celebrated for its warm springs, and frequented by the nobility of Rome, many of whom had villas there for their summer residence) were obliged to pass through Cuma: they went in on one side and came out on the other, as through a gate.-Gratum... secessús: the shore from Cuma to Baie was exceedingly pleasant and calculated for the most agreeable retirement. Baie forms part of the bay of Naples. 5. Prochytam: a small rugged island in the Tyrrhenian sea, near the Cape of Misenum, rugged and desert.-Subura: 'Rome;' Subura was one of the principal streets of Rome, but frequented by the vulgar. 6. Nam quid... poëtas: i. e. what place in the world is there so wretched and desert, that it would not be better to live there than at Rome? 7. Lapsus tectorum: "falling of houses,' owing to the little care taken of old and ruinous buildings. 10. Tota domus: i. e. his family and furniture. Juvenal insinuates the poverty and frugality of his friend Umbricius, whose entire household furniture was packed up in a single wagon. 11. Substitit: we must imagine that Umbricius, attended by Juvenal, walked out before the wagon, and having gone to a certain distance, stood still to wait the arrival of the vehicle. Here he tells the poet his various reasons for leaving Rome, which are so many strokes of the keenest satire upon the vices and follies of its inhabitants.-Veteres arcus: the ancient triumphal arches of Romulus; or those erected to the memory of the Horatii; or more probably the old arches of the aqueduct might here be meant, and hence the epithet madidam.-Mali lamque Capenam: Capena porta was one of the gates of the city that led to Capua: it was also called Fontinalis from the aqueduct near it. 12. Hic in a grove near the gate Capena.-Numa: Pompilius, the successor of Romulus.—Nocturnæ . . . amicæ : Numa, the more strongly to recommend his laws and instil into the Romans a reverence for religion, persuaded them that he made nightly appointments with the goddess Egeria (whom Juvenal humorously calls his nocturnal mistress, as if describing an intrigue), and that from her mouth he received his whole form of government. In the grove where they met was a temple sacred to the Muses and to this goddess, whose fountain watered the grove; for it is. fabled that she wept herself into a fountain from grief at the death of Numa. The fountain, grove, and temple were let out at a yearly rent to the Jews, who together with the Christians were banished from the city by Domitian. 13. Delubra: the difference between templum and delubrum is, that the former is sacred to one god only; the latter includes under one roof shrines and altars to many divinities. 14. Cophinus... supellex: the Jews were so poor at this time, that their only furniture was a basket and hay. In these baskets, formed of osiers, they carried their provisions, and made use of wisps of hay, to stow them the better, and prevent the contents from falling through the interstices: or fænum may mean the 'hay' with which the Jews fed their cattle; or it may mean, and this is most probably the right meaning, the hay and straw of which their beds were made, and upon which they rested in the wood. In Sat. VI. 426, the Jews are said (cophino fœnoque relicto), leaving their baskets and their straw-beds behind, to resort to Rome to beg, and tell fortunes. 15. Omnis... arbor: the grove being let out to the Jews, every tree may be said to bring in a rent to the avaricious people.Mendicat silva: 'the wood begs; i. e. 'the Jews, the inhabitants of the wood.' 17. Vallem Egeria: 'the vale of Egeria,' the Aricinian grove, where the goddess was worshipped. 18. Dissimiles veris: unlike natural caves,' as being now profaned with artificial ornaments and robbed of their natural simplicity. 19. Numen aqua: i. e. fons sacer; every fountain was supposed to have a particular divinity, who presided over its waters.Viridi... tophum : if, in place of having the water enclosed with marble and other ornaments, it were adorned with its natural (ingenuum) border of never-dying grass, and rude sand stone (tophum). 21. Hic here, where they stopped, Umbricius addresses our poet. 22. Nulla... laborum: 'no profit nor encouragement for industry.' 23. Res est: 'my property is less to-day than it was yesterday.'-Eadem . . . deteret . . . aliquid: this same poor pittance will decrease to-morrow,-will be wearing away something from the little that is left to-day.-Deteret : i. e. minuet.—Propriè res familiaris deteritur, non deterit.-A metaphor taken from the action of the file. 24. Illuc... alas : i. e. to Cuma, where Daedalus alighted after his flight from Crete. 26. Prima et recta: fresh and upright; while old age appears in its first stage; the ancients supposed that old age commenced about the forty-sixth year. 27. Dum... torqueat: while Lachesis has remaining some portion of my vital thread to spin.'-The Parca or Destinies were three, Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos; the first held the distaff, the second drew out and spun the thread, which the last cut off, when finished. 29. Artorius... et Catulus: these were two informers, who, 120 ow life, had raised themselves to affluent circumy all kinds of meanness and villany. uis... facile est: either on account of their acquired or their cunning, or their mean flatteries. We are to stand publicans and farmers of the revenue; men who Ad undertake any thing for gain.-Edem: temples, theatres, &c. the building or repairing of which they contracted for.-Flumina: this may mean fisheries, by hiring which they monopolized them, so as to distress others, and enrich themselves; or the carriage of goods upon the rivers, for which a toll was paid; or the cleaning of the beds of rivers, for which they contracted.-Portus: harbors to be repaired; or port duties, which were farmed to them to the great public prejudice; or the ports themselves, which brought them in much gain, for the station of ships. 32. Siccandam eluviem: 'common sewers to be cleaned and emptied.'-Busta: the places where dead bodies were burned. 33. Et... hasta: these fellows sometimes were sellers of slaves, which they purchased, and then sold at auction.-Domina hasta: a spear was the ensign of power, and signified that an auction was held by legal authority, when set up in the forum: the poet calls it dominâ, as presiding over the sale, ruling the disposal of the persons or things sold. 34. Hi cornicines: Artorius and Catulus, not long before, were horn blowers to some strolling company of gladiators, stage-players, or the like.-Municipalis arena: municipium was a town corporate, which had laws of its own, and yet enjoyed the privileges and freedom of Rome.-These persons are called the constant attendants on a municipal theatre, by way of contempt, because none but first rate performers appeared at Rome. 35. Nota... bucca: blowers on the horn or trumpet were sometimes called buccinatores, from the great distension of the cheeks in the action of blowing. This by constant use left a swollen appearance on the cheeks, for which these fellows were well known in the country towns. 36. Munera nunc edunt: now exhibit public shows of gladiators.'-Verso... pollice: this alludes to a usage at the fights of the gladiators: if the people supposed, that a gladiator was conquered either through cowardice or want of skill, they turned their thumbs up (verso), a sign that he should be put to death: if they wished him to be spared, they turned their thumbs down (premere). 37. Populariter: at the wish of the people, and to obtain their applause. Inde: 'thence,' i. e. from the plays and shows of the gladiators. 38. Quum...jocari: the poet considers the advancement of such men as a freak of Fortune, exercised through mere caprice and wantonness, without any regard to desert or worth. 42, Poscere; ask for a loan, or gift of a copy.'-Motus astro rum ignoro: 'I know nothing of astrology or fortune-telling,' which are in high repute. 43. Funus... possum: alluding to the want of natural affection in certain profligate young men, who were in the habit of consulting astrologers about the time, when the death of a rich father might be expected. 44. Ranarum... inspexi: though a soothsayer (aruspex), 'I have never inspected the entrails of frogs or toads, in quest of poison.'-Rana is a general word for all kinds of frogs or toads. 47. Ideo: 'for these reasons, I depart from Rome, accompanied by no one; for I know none to whom I can attach myself as a companion, so universally corrupt have all men become.-Tanquam... dextræ: 'as if maimed of a limb, and as the useless body of a withered right-hand.'-Others understand it by hypallage, A withered right-hand, useless to the body.' 6 49. Diligitur: esteemed' at Rome.-Conscius: sc. scelerum occultorum.-Cui: this word in this line may be considered as a dissyllable. 51. Nil... honesti: the man who imparts to you the secret of an honest transaction, never thinks himself indebted to you for concealing it; but the villain, who makes you privy to his crimes, will ever bribe and fawn on you, that you may not divulge them. 54. Opaci...Tagi: Tagus is a river of Spain, which discharges itself into the ocean near Lisbon, in Portugal. It was anciently said to have golden sands. It is called opaci, dark or shady, from the thick shade of the trees on its banks: or it may denote a dusky turbid appearance in the water. 56. Ponenda: for deponenda; which ought to be rejected.' 57. Tristis: 'full of anxiety.'-Et... amico: while the powerful friend, who bribes you, dreads lest you should divulge his secrets, it is but natural, that you should be in continual fear, lest he take your life to rid himself of danger. 58. Gens: i. e. Græca. 60. Quirites: this was a name of the Sabines, from the city Cures, or from quiris, a spear used by them. It was afterwards a general name for the Romans. The name Quirinus was first given to Romulus. 61. Græcam urbem: i. e. the city of Rome, now almost overrun with vagabond Greeks.Quota... Achei what portion of the dregs are the Achæans?' i. e. what are the Greeks to the number of other foreigners? 62. Syrus... Orontes: i. e. Rome has long since been inundated with Syrians. Orontes was the largest river of Syria. 63. Linguam: 'the Syrian language.'-Chordas obliquas: i. e. sackbuts, harps and other instruments of Eastern origin, in which the strings were placed obliquely. 64. Gentilia tympana: national timbrels,' or 'tamborines.' 65. Circum: the Circus maximus, which is probably meant here, was an immense building, built by Tarquinius Priscus, but |