SATIRA II. INTRODUCTION. THIS satire is levelled at those persons in the upper ranks of society (and particularly it would seem at the Emperor Domitian) who, pretending a stoical virtue and crying out against vice and calling up stringent old laws against it, were themselves practising the worst vices in secret, and giving to the age a character which never had been equalled, and could never be surpassed, for debauchery of the filthiest kind. The Commentators have generally supposed the Satire to be aimed at the professional philosophers of the day. "The poet in this Satyr inveighs against the Hypocrisie of the Philosophers and Priests of his time," is Tate's account of the argument. What his notions of a Roman priest may have been it is hard to say, but he writes: "When hypocrites read lectures, and a sot, Tho' surfeit-gorged and reeking from the Stews, Heinrich, in a dissertation of much sagacity, has shown that Juvenal's meaning is very different from this, and the scope of the poem more wide and important. The vices and hypocrisy of Domitian were imitated by the respectable people, and at these he aims his invectives. From the word 'nuper' in v. 29, it has been inferred that the satire was written soon after the events there referred to, which took place A.D. 83. 'Nuper' admits a good deal of latitude, as it often does in Cicero, but it is reasonable to suppose that Juvenal wrote while the matter was pretty fresh; and as the satire clearly has reference to the time of Domitian, that it was written before his reign was over. Domitian was assassinated in September, A. D. 96. It is not very likely that he gave it much publicity while the tyrant was alive. For indignant power there is none of the poems that excels this. The nature of the subjects however renders it almost unreadable, and nothing but the honesty of the writer could make the task of editing it endurable. Whoever would judge of the difference between the spirit of true indignation and that of a weak or impure mind in dealing with such painful subjects, should compare Juvenal with his translator Tate, who has taken from the satire the best recommendation it has, which is the virtue of the author. If the psalm-translator and poet-laureate was a man of purity, he has done himself injustice. The other translators have executed their task better in this respect. ARGUMENT. dare talk of morals, No faith is in their What, you reprove I would gladly run to the utmost North when canting hypocrites mere ignorant fellows, though they fill their shelves with busts. outside. The whole town is teeming with these solemn villains. vice, the foulest of all foul pretenders! They affect few words, and silence, and cropped hair; more honest far is Peribomius, who makes no secret of his sin. I leave him to his destiny; I pity him. But they are worst who with fine words attack such vices. "I am no worse than you,” says Varillus the degraded. Let the straightlimbed laugh at the bandy-legged, the fair at the blackamoor. For who would tolerate the Gracchi complaining of sedition, nor exclaim if Verres should affect to hate a thief, Milo a murderer, Clodius an adulterer, Catiline Cethegus, or Sulla's pupils carp at his proscription? But such was he who, while his fatal incest was in the doing, and while his niece was spawning her abortions, restored the bitterest laws against adultery. The most corrupt may therefore well despise these moralists, and turn the tables on them, as Lauronia did when she heard one cry for the Julian law: "O happy times (cried she) with such a bulwark for its morals! Let the town blush, another Cato is come down from heaven! But whence, pray, this perfumery? If you must call old laws up from their rest, you'd better summon the Scantinian first. Look at the men, for they are worse than we, but their compact array and numbers save them; the lewd will hang together: among us nought so detestable is found. Say, do we meddle with the forum and the laws? A few, and but a few, are seen in the arena. But you will sit and spin and do our women's work better, yea than the best of us. We all know who was Hister's heir, and by what complaisance his wife got rich; and others may do likewise. And yet we are condemned; and censure spares the raven to hunt down the dove." These Stoics fled confused before the truth of her rebuke. V. 65. What will not others do when you put on those clothes of gauze and go and preach before admiring crowds against the female sinners, Creticus? They would at least put on a decent toga if it came to that. "But it is so hot," say you: why then go naked; madness is less disgraceful. Look at the dress in which, had you lived then, our hardy ancestors had seen you in the rostra. Would you not cry out, "Heaven and earth!" if you saw a judex so attired? How would a witness look in clothes like these? And yet you, stern unbending Stoic, go transparent ! V. 78. The infection has spread, and will farther spread, like murrain among sheep, or scurf in pigs, or contagious rot from grape to grape. You will go on to something worse than this. The height of wickedness is reached by slow degrees. Soon we shall see you among those who mock the rites of Bona Dea, driving out the women, and keeping up such orgies as the Baptae tire Cotytto with. They wear long garlands on their heads and jewels on their neck, and sacrifice, and pour libations. Here one paints his eyebrows and makes his eyes look languishing: another drinks from an obscene glass with his long locks tied up in a net of gold, with a handsome tunic, while his slave swears by his master's Juno! Another holds a mirror to his face such as vile Otho carried when he went to the wars; a novel piece of furniture for a camp! Of course it is a great man's part to kill a tyrant-and to mind his skin; to aim at empires-and to smooth his face. Semiramis and Cleopatra did not so. Here is no reverence for the table, none; but Cybele's foul licence and the languishing voice, a fanatic high priest with his white hair, rare glutton he and master of his art. Long since they should have cut their useless parts, as the Phrygian priests are wont. V. 117. Gracchus his portion brought to a trumpeter: the marriage deeds were signed; the blessing spoken; the feast prepared; the new bride lay upon his husband's bosom. Ye nobles! need we the censor or the haruspex here? What if a woman calved or a cow lambed? you'd shudder more and count them greater monsters. The priest of Mars who sweated with the ancilia puts on a bridal dress! Gradivus, whence this shame to Latin shepherds? whence have thy sons this itch? A man of birth and wealth marries a man, and yet thy wrath is still! quit then the plain which thou dost so neglect. "I must be up betimes, and do my duty by the Quirinal." "What duty?” "What duty! why my friend will take a husband-the marriage will be private." But soon there'll be no privacy, they'll want to put it in the news. And yet they must die barren (this torments them), in spite of herbs and the Lupercus' blows. V. 143. But this is less than noble gladiators, who scour the arena, better born than all the fine folk who look on by the podium, yea than the great man too who gives the games. The fables about manes, Styx, and Charon's boat we leave to babes. But only think them true, and what would all those mighty spirits say when such a shade came down! They'd cry for lustral water, sulphur, pine, and laurel. V. 159. So changed are we, alas! Our arms are carried to the furthest North, but those barbarians do not what their conquerors do. Yet one, Armenian Zalates, more soft than all the rest, indulged the tribune's lust. See what bad company does! he came to us a hostage. 'Tis here we fashion men. Let children stay with us, and they will find a lover. They'll throw away their breeches and their sports, and carry back foul habits to their home. ULTRA Sauromatas fugere hinc libet et glacialem 1. Ultra Sauromatas] It is enough for this place to say, that Sarmatia represented Poland, and the Russian empire in Europe and part of Asia, from the Vistula to the Volga and from the Euxine to the Northern Ocean, including regions unexplored by the ancients, countries of fable, to which, according to Pindar (Pyth. x. 40)— ναυσὶ δ ̓ οὔτε πεζὸς ἰὼν ἂν εὕροις See note on Horace, C. ii. 20. 16: 'Hyperboreosque campos.' 2. aliquid de moribus audent] 'Audere' is here used as we might say, 'venture any thing on morals,' i. e. have the boldness to say any thing about morals. 3. Qui Curios simulant] 'Who affect the Curii.' On this plural see last Satire, v. 109, n. Horace has "Et maribus Curiis et decantata Camillis" (Epp. i. 1. 64), where, as here, the person referred to is M. Curius Dentatus, the conqueror of Pyrrhus, and the type of honesty in all after ages among the Romans; a pattern of the good old times (see note on the above passage of Horace). Martial (i. 25) has the following epigram on a lately-married man, which, besides this place, illustrates vv. 8 and 9 (see notes): "Adspicis incomptis illum, Deciane, capillis, Cujus et ipse times triste supercilium; Qui loquitur Curios assertoresque Camillos? Nolito fronti credere; nupsit heri." So he says to one Chrestus (ix. 28): "Curios Camillos Quintios Numas Ancos Loqueris." 4. Indocti primum,] In the first place they are ignorant fellows, though they profess a great acquaintance with authors; but with all their show you cannot trust their outsides; within they are full of abomina. 5 tion, and overrun the town with their lewdness.' 'Primum' has no 'deinde' after it, and does not require it. It is not uncommonly used to introduce a subject. Ruperti makes a deinde' at frontis nulla fides (8), a 'praeterea' at 'hispida membra quidem' (11), and a 'denique' at 'rarus sermo illis' (14.) The 'frons,' or outside show, on which no dependence is to be placed, is their affectation of studious habits and learning. -quanquam plena omnia gypso Chrysippi] Though you will find all parts of his house full of busts of Chrysippus (the reputed founder of the Stoic philosophy, though third in descent from Zeno-see note on Hor. S. i. 3. 125), made of gypsum,' of which casts were commonly made. It was usual to see busts of this sort in libraries, both public and private-see note on Hor. S. i. 4. 21: "Beatus Fannius ultro Delatis capsis et imagine." 6. Si quis Aristotelem] 'Similem' means a good likeness. So Martial uses the word in an epigram on Issa, a little dog of Publius (i. 110): "Hanc ne lux rapiat suprema totam 7. Et jubet archetypos] Cleanthes was the teacher of Chrysippus and disciple of Zeno, and was born at Assos, about the year B.C. 300. Pittacus, one of the seven wise men, was born at Mitylene, about B.C. 650. Pluteus' was a shelf fixed to the wall for books or other things to stand upon. See Pers. i. 106, n. The translators say that Cleanthes' busts are set to guard the books. It is the shelves that are ordered to hold the busts. For 'pluteum' has been substi Frontis nulla fides. Quis enim non vicus abundat tuted, in two of the old editions (Nürnberg, 1497, and Ascensius of Paris, 1498), 'puteum,' probably through inadvertence. But the word has been taken up by commentators (Valesius, Graevius, Heinsius, are mentioned by Ruperti) and a new sense given to the passage. Cleanthes is reported to have earned the means of living by drawing water; and he is said to have been called in consequence φρεάντλης. Wherefore these critics have supposed Juvenal to have meant that these men set up images of Cleanthes to guard their wells, puteum servare.' More consideration has been given to this suggestion than it deserves. Archetypos' is usually rendered 'original.' τὸ ἀρχέτυπον, τὸ πρωτότυπον signify the model or pattern from which copies are taken. Archetypum' was the same; but the word is not found as early as Augustus. Prototypia' occurs in the Codex Theodos. (see Forcell.), in the same sense. The adjective archetypus' is found only here and in Martial vii. 11, where he says to his friend, Aulus Pudens, who had asked him for a copy of his poems corrected with his own hand: "O quam me nimium probas amasque Quivis archetypas habere nugas ?" See also xii. 69: "Sic tanquam tabulas scyphosque, Paulle, Omnes archetypos habes amicos." 8. Frontis nulla fides.] Some of the oldest editions and four of the MSS. quoted by Achaintre, have fronti,' which Ruperti adopts. Most of the editions, and all the other MSS. appear to have the genitive. The difference is not important. Fronti nulla fides' would mean there is no trust to be put in the outside;' 'frontis,' that the outside has nothing trustworthy in it; in the one case fides' is 'faith,' in the other that on which faith is exercised. The expression of the brow represents as much as any part of the face the working of the mind, and frons' appears with every epithet that expresses character and feeling. But the face may be tutored and expression assumed, and the lewdest villain may wear the most modest brow. μὴ κρίνετε κατ' ὄψιν, ἀλλὰ τὴν δικαίαν κρίσιν κρίνατε, is the divine command. 10 'Tristibus' is 9. Tristibus obscoenis?] here grave,' 'serious.' Horace opposes it to 'jocosus,' S. i. 10. 11: Et sermone opus est modo tristi saepe jocoso." The two adjectives are not commonly joined together. Obscoenus' signifies that which is common or unclean. It is said to contain the Greek Kowds, which is doubtful. It is applied to things, persons, words, &c., of ill omen; but also as here, and as we use it, to the lewd.—' quum sis :' ́although you are.' Quintilian (Inst. xii. 3. fin.) throws light upon the subject of this Satire, when (writing in Domitian's time) he speaks of inen " pigritiae arrogantioris, qui subito fronte conficta immissaque barba veluti despexissent oratoria praecepta,paulum aliquid sederunt in scholis philosophorum, ut deinde, in publico tristes, domi dissoluti, captarent auctoritatem contemtu ceterorum. Philosophia enim (he adds) simulari potest, eloquentia non potest." 10. Inter Socraticos] The commentators and translators, old and modern, are divided as to the meaning of Socraticos.' The sense is the same as in fictos Seauros' (v. 34, n.); these men carried on their vile practices under the disguise of moralists. The Socratics they would affect to imitate were Antisthenes and the Cynics. They are called Stoics below, v. 65 (see Int.). Others, like the Scholiast, suppose that Juvenal adopted the libel against Socrates, which made him as bad in that respect as they. Of Socrates personally Juvenal speaks with respect (xiii. 185, sq.). Sotadicos' has been suggested as an emendation, derived from one Sotades, who, according to Athenaeus and others, was the first who practised this abomination. But no MSS. support the word; nor have any editors, I believe, adopted it, though it has always been thought necessary to notice it. 12. atrocem animum:] A bold, manly mind.' 'Atrox' commonly has the meaning of a dogged courage, as in Horace, C. ii. 1. 23: "Et cuncta terrarum subacta Praeter atrocem animum Catonis." Rarus sermo illis et magna libido tacendi 66 Clunem agitant. "Ego te ceventem, Sexte, verebor ?" 14. Rarus sermo illis] Many will be reminded of Gratiano's description in the Merchant of Venice (Act i. sc. 1): "There are a sort of men whose visages says: which is all an expansion of what Solomon "Even a fool when he holdeth his peace is counted wise; and he that shutteth his lips a man of understanding' (Prov. xvii. 28). 15. brevior coma.] Their short-clipped hair was another affectation of wisdom, following, it is said, the fashion of the Stoics. See Pers. iii. 54: "detonsa juventus Invigilat." Britannicus quotes in Latin what he says is a Greek proverb: "nullus comatus qui idem cinoedus non sit." But the Stoics had a bad name in this matter; and yet Lucian (Hermotimus c. 18, quoted by Ruperti, and referred to by Turnebus, Adv. 1. xv. c. 17) speaks of them as ev xp κουρίας τοὺς πλείστους, most of them with their hair clipped down to the skin. Ruperti has a long note upon supercilium,' which is not worth attending to. 16. Peribomius:] The Scholiast says he was an Archigallus,' or chief among the priests of the Galatian Cybele' (Hor. S. i. 2. 121, n.), but followed an infamous trade. Ruperti supposes the name to be taken from βωμός. περιβώμιος is used in the Septuagint translation for a sacred grove (2 Kings xxiii. 4, and elsewhere). Peribonius' is the reading of M. and many other MSS. This man made no conceal ment of his trade, but showed it in his gait 15 20 and face, and as he was at any rate more honest, Juvenal lets him alone, and charges him (by which he means his wickedness) on the fates, supposing him to be mad, 0e0BAaBhs, as Heinrich says. Imputare' is a word used in accounts, for putting to a person's credit, as acceptum referre,' or (as expensum referre') to his debit. To 'impute' a thing to any one is to lay it to his charge. The openness (simplicitas') of such persons, and their blind madness, he says, may excite compassion and get them some indulgence. Heinecke justly reproves Ruperti for substituting 'quem' for 'qui,' as if morbum was the object of imputo.' 'Morbum' means his vice, mentis morbum' as Horace has it (S. ii. 3. 80). 19. qui talia verbis Herculis invadunt] "Who attack such vices with big words, stout, terrible language, such as Hercules might use.' There is no allusion to the language of disdain with which Hercules rejected the addresses of Pleasure in Prodicus' story. Ruperti has taken this notion up from Britannicus, who tells the whole story. But Heinrich thinks Hercules is mentioned because the Cynics professed to imitate him in dress and voice. 21. Sexte,] The Scholiast says this was some senator, which is not improbable. The name Varillus is varied in some MSS. but is so written in most. 22. quo deterior te?] So Davus addresses his master (Hor. S. ii. 7. 40): "Tu, cum sis quod ego et fortassis nequior, ultro Insectere velut melior verbisque deeoris Obvolvas vitium? Quid, si me stultior ipso," &c. 23. Loripedem rectus derideat,] Loripes' is the same ας ἱμαντόπους. Pliny (vii. 2) speaks of a tribe among the Indians who were "anguium modo loripedes." See |