Majorum primus quisquis fuit ille tuorum, whoever he was, must necessarily have been either some poor shepherd, or . shall I say it? Hush! Let us be silent. SATYRA X. ARGUMENT. The poet shews the vanity of human wishes, and the pernicious consequences which often flow from their gratification. He concludes with a short advice on this subject. OMNIBUS in terris, quæ sunt á Gadibus usque Evertêre domos totas, optantibus ipsis, Among all the inhabitants of the earth, from Cadiz to the Indies, how few are to be found capable of forming a sane judgment of what is truly good, or truly evil! How few can penetrate that mist of error which circumscribes all our views! For, in truth, which of our fears or desires originates in reason? What wish do you form, however apparently advantageous or agreeable, which you may not afterwards find cause to retract, and to regret the 1. Gades, an island in the southern extremity of Spain, near the straits of Gibraltar, or the Fretum Gaditanum. It is now called Cadiz, or Cales. Ganges, a very great river of India, rising in Mount Imaüs, and falling into the Sinus Gan geticus, or Bay of Bengal. 7. Dextro pede. Omens occurring on the right, were considered favourable; those on the left, unfavourable. It was a bad omen if one began a journey with the left foot, or stumbled at setting out. Dî faciles. Nocitura togâ, nocitura petuntur Et sua mortifera est facundia. Viribus ille 10 Confisus periit, admirandisque lacertis. Sed plures nimiâ congesta pecunia curâ 15 pains by which you have purchased its accomplishment? The gods, by an excess of complaisance, have often overwhelmed whole families. Our prayers in peace, our aspirations in war, are often addressed to heaven for nothing but calamities. How many have destroyed themselves by their eloquence? A Milo of Croton counted on his prodigious strength; and this was the very quality that caused his ruin. The greater number tie the noose for themselves by the treasures which their anxious cares and labours have amassed. They blindly toil to exceed other men in wealth, as much as a whale in size exceeds the dolphins; and their success insures their destruction. Remember the dreadful times when Nero exercised his cruelties: a whole regiment investing by his command the houses of Longinus and Seneca, assassinated the owners: on what ground? they were enormously rich: this was their crime. Plautius Lateranus, though consul elect, met a similar fate he 10. Viribus ille, &c. Milo of Croton was able to knock down a bull with a blow of his fist, or to carry one on his shoulders an entire furlong. He once cleft a tree with his hands, which afterwards closing, held his arms, so that he was devoured by wild beasts. 16. Longinus (Cassius) was a lawyer, and blind the charge alleged against him was, that he had among the images of his ancestors, one of that Cassius who murdered Cæsar. He was allowed but one hour to prepare for death. Seneca (Annæus) the tutor of Nero, and author of several much admired moral pieces, as well as some tragedies. He was ordered by Nero to put himself to death, under suspicion of being concerned in Piso's conspiracy. 17. Lateranus (Plautius) also an accomplice in Piso's conspiracy. Pauca licèt portes argenti vascula puri, Nocte iter ingressus, gladium contumque timebis, 20 Et motæ ad lunam trepidabis arundinis umbram. Cantabit vacuus coram latrone viator. Prima ferè vota, et cunctis notissima templis, Divitiæ ut crescant, ut opes; ut maxima toto Nostra sit arca foro: sed nulla aconita bibuntur Jamne igitur laudas, quòd de sapientibus alter 25 30 was poniarded that his splendid palace might be plundered. The assassin rarely mounts to the attic story-there is nothing there to pillage. Do you carry out with you by night a few small vases of silver? carved or not, you are in a continual tremor; the dagger or the club flits before your affrighted imagination, and you recoil at the shadow of a reed which the slightest wind agitates in the moonlight. The traveller who has nothing to lose, laughs at the robber, and sings as he pursues his way. What is the object of the first and most earnest prayer in every temple? Riches. Great gods, they cry, multiply our gains; of all the coffers deposited in Trajan's place, let mine be the largest and best filled. Infatuated! is poison mixed in the simple earthen cup? No, the drugged bowl is that which is adorned with gold and gems, and sparkles with the delicious wine of Setia. ? Do you not, then, applaud the wisdom of Democritus and Heraclitus, who never set foot beyond the threshold of their doors, without finding occasion, the one to laugh, and the other to weep The crimes and the follies of mankind afforded ample subject. It was easy, you will say, to laugh, and sarcastic censure may be passed unceasingly by any one; the wonder is, whence tears could 27. Setia, a town of Campa nia. 30. Heraclitus was a native of Ephesus, in Ionia, about 500 B. C.; Democritus, of Abdera, in Thrace, 300 B. C. See their history in Lempriere's Classical Dictionary. K Perpetuo risu pulmonem agitare solebat 35 40 45 Demo have been supplied to answer all the demand for them. critus found enough to shake his sides with perpetual laughter, though in his town of Abdera he certainly could never have seen those pompous trappings, those fasces, litters, and tribunals which suppply us with diversion. What if he had seen the prætor elevated in his lofty car in the dust of the circus, issuing his important orders about the public shows? if he had seen him, for such a purpose, arrayed in the tunic of Jove, bearing on his shoulders an enormous mantle of all sorts of colours; and loaded with a crown so heavy that head of man can scarcely support it without bending? Why, the attendant who holds it over the consul's head in the triumphal procession, sweats under the weight; for it is necessary that a slave should thus ride in the same chariot with the consul, to remind him from time to time that he is not a god. Let us finish the triumphal picture by the addition of the bird perched on the end of the ivory stick, the braying of the horns, the innumerable crowd of officers, slaves, and clients; and, above all, the Roman citizens in their white clothes at his wheels; for this is the 35. Prætexta, (from præ and texere, to weave,) a robe with a border of purple, called laticlave, worn by the nobility and magis trates. 38. Tunica Jovis, borrowed for the occasion from the temple of Jupiter. Ib. Sarrana. Tyre was originally called Sarra; it exported the most valued purple. |