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THE

SIXTEEN SATIRES

OF

DECIMUS JUNIUS JUVENALIS.

The Satires of Juvenal are sometimes divided into five Books: of which Book I contains Satires i-v; Book II, Sat. vi; Book III, Sat. vii-ix; Book IV, Sat. x-xii; and Book V, Sat. xiii-xvi.

THE

SATIRES

OF

DECIMUS JUNIUS JUVENALIS.

SATIRE I.

ARGUMENT.

This Satire was probably composed subsequently to most of the others, and as a kind of Introduction; it was, apparently, written at that period of life, when the dignity derived from years and the intrepidity of conscious rectitude entitled the Poet to assume a tone of authority. He breaks silence with an impassioned complaint of the clamorous importunity of bad poets, and with the humorous resolution of paying them off in their own coin by turning writer himself, 1 sqq. After ridiculing the frivolous taste of his contemporaries in the choice of their subjects, 7. 52. he intimates his own determination to devote himself wholly to Satire; to which he declares, with all the warmth of virtuous indignation, that he is driven by the vices of the age, 19. 30. 52. 63. 79.

He then exposes the profligacy of the women, 22. 69. the luxury of upstarts, 24. the baseness of informers 32. and fortune-hunters, 37. the treachery of guardians, 45. the peculation of public officers, 47. and the general corruption of manners, 55. 73.

Kindling with his theme, he censures the general avidity for gaming, 87.

the selfish gluttony of the patricians, 94. 135. their sordid avarice, 100. 117. and the abject state of poverty and dependence in which they kept their clients and retainers, 132–146.

Finally, he makes some bitter reflections on the danger of satirizing living villainy, 150. and concludes with a determination to elude its vengeance by attacking it under the names of the dead, 170.

and reprove

In this as in every other Satire, Juvenal's great aim is to expose vice, however sanctioned by custom or countenanced by the great. G. R.

B

SEMPER ego

auditor tantum? numquamne reponam,

Vexatus toties rauci Theseide Codri?

Impune ergo mihi recitaverit ille togatas,
Hic elegos? impune diem consumserit ingens
5 Telephus? aut summi plena jam margine libri
Scriptus et in tergo, nec dum finitus Orestes?

1. The Romans were in the habit of reciting their literary productions either in private circles, or in public assemblies. The latter were held sometimes in the temple of Apollo, sometimes in spacious mansions, either hired, or lent for the purpose by a wealthy patron, who expected the attendance of his clients and dependents to swell the audience and applaud the author. cf. vii. 40. Pers. prol. 7. Hor. 1 S. iv. 73. M. I S. iii. 86. II E. ii. 67. A very picturesque passage of Pliny describes the listlessness which pervaded such meetings: lente cunctanterque veniunt, nec tamen permanent, sed ante finem recedunt; alii dissimulanter et furtim, alii simpliciter et libere; I E. xiii. G. PR. II E. xiv. R.

Reponere' is a metaphor taken from repayment of a debt incurred: possum jam repetere recessum, et scribere aliquid, quod non recitem; ne videar, quorum recitationibus adfui, non auditor fuisse, sed creditor: nam ut in cæteris rebus, ita in audiendi officio, perit gratia si reposcatur; Plin. I E. GR. It is equivalent to par pari referre, PR. as ira est cupiditas doloris reponendi; Sen. de I. i, 3. HK.

2. Horace amusingly describes the pertinacity of these declaimers, A. P. 474 sqq. PR.

The Theseid' was an epic poem, of which Theseus was the hero. In like manner we have the Odysseis of Homer, the Eneis of Virgil, the Achilleis of Statius, &c. Of this Codrus little is known; he is probably different from the Codrus mentioned iii. 203. G. He is hoarse' from constant recitation (FA. cf. vi. 515. Mart. IV. viii. 2. X. v. 4. R.) and pompous declamation. Prælegat ut tumidus rauca te voce magister; Mart. VIII. iii. 15. cf. Pers. i. 14. HK.

3. According to Lydus (de Mag. i. 40.) the uues (or Fabula) was divided into (1) Τραγωδία, and (Ι) Κωμωδία: Τραyedia was subdivided into (i) Kendára, and (ii) Пgurižrára b, according as the stories were Greek or Roman: Kapadia into (i) Пæλárab (Greek, as in Terence after Menander), (ii) ToyáraÞ (Roman,

as in Afranius, VS.), (iii) 'ArsλλÚ» ©
(farce, acted by amateurs), vi. 71. (iv)
Taßigragíad (low comedy), (v) 'Pivbwunǹ©
(burlesque tragedy), (vi) Пλarsdagía
(the actors wore the recinium, see F.)
viii. 191. and (vii) Munn (low farce,
acted by mummers). (*) From the ac-
tors wearing λευκὰς κρηπίδας. (5) From
the respective dresses, prætexta, pallium,
and toga. JS. (c) From Atella, a town
of the Osci, in Campania. F. (d) Because
shopkeepers, &c.' were the classes repre-
sented. (e) From Rhintho, one of the
authors. (f) From being acted not on a
raised stage. REU. Prætexte and Togutæ
are sometimes used as the generic terms
for Tragedy' and Comedy;' Hor. A. P.
287. cf. Virg. Æ. i. 286. PR. R.

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4. These poems consisted of hexameter aud pentameter verses alternately, which metre is hence called elegiac.' cf. Hor. A. P. 75 sqq. M. cf. Pers. i. 51. HR.

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Consumserit [Livy xxvii, 13, 3. ED.] Auditur toto sæpe poeta die; Mart. VIII. 1xx. 10. PR. Ingens, bulky, lengthy, pompous;' cf. Hor. A. P. 96 sq. R.

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5. Telephus, son of Hercules and Auge, the hero of this tedious tragedy, was a king of Mysia, who was mortally wounded by the spear of Achilles, but afterwards healed by the rust of the same weapon. Ov. Tr. V. ii. 15. PR. Vulnus et auxilium Pelias hasta tulit; Ov. R. A. 47 sq. LU.

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It was usual to leave a margin,' and not to write on the outside or back' of the parchment. LU. cf. Mart. VIII. lxii. PR. Sidon. Ap. viii. 16. GR. margo, in Ovid, is masculine. VS. Liber primarily means the inner bark of a tree;' hence

it was secondarily applied to a book made of that rind, and afterwards to any book,' whatever the materials of it might be. M. Folium experienced a corresponding succession of significations. F.

6. Scenis agitatus Orestes, Virg. Æ. iv. 471. son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, figures conspicuously in many an extant tragedy; the Choëphoro and Eumenides of Eschylus, the Electra of Sophocles, the Orestes, the Iphigenia in Tauris,

Nota magis nulli domus est sua, quam mihi lucus Martis et Æoliis vicinum rupibus antrum

Vulcani. Quid agant venti, quas torqueat umbras 10 Æacus, unde alius furtivæ devehat aurum Pelliculæ, quantas jaculetur Monychus ornos, Frontonis platani convulsaque marmora clamant Semper et assiduo ruptæ lectore columnæ. Exspectes eadem a summo minimoque poeta ! 15 Et nos ergo manum ferulæ subduximus, et nos

and the Electra of Euripides. PR. cf. Hor. A. P. 124. II S. iii. 132 sqq.

7. Hall has imitated this passage; "No man his threshold better knows, than I Brute's first arrival and his victory, St. George's sorrel and his cross of blood, Arthur's round board, or Caledonian wood; But so to fill up books, both back and side, What boots it, &c." G. Teneo melius ista quam meum nomen; Mart. IV. xxxvii. 7. OTTOY Touroud ἕκαστος αὐτῶν τῶν παίδων) ἐπιλάθοιτο τοῦ πατρὸς, ἢ τὰς Ορέστου καὶ Πυλάδου πράξεις ἀγνοήσεις· Luc. Τox. 6. R.

The grove of Mars' might be that in which Ilia gave birth to Romulus and Remus, the twin sons of Mars: VS. or any one of the numerous groves of this deity; EG. as lucus Diana is used, Hor. A. P. 16. cf. Pers. i. 70. PR.

8. The Æolian rocks,' or Vulcanian islands, were seven in number, and are now called the Lipari isles. GR. cf. Virg. Æ. i. 56 sqq. M. Luc. v. 609. R.

9. The cave of Vulcan' and the Cyclops, in Mount Etna; cf. xiii. 45. Virg. Æ. viii. 416 sqq. GR.

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Tedious descriptions of the natural agency of the Winds' may be alluded to; or fables of the loves of Boreas and Orithyia, Ov. M. vi. 238. M. R. of Zephyrus and Chloris, &c.

10. The ghosts were tortured into confession: Virg. Æ. vi. 566 sqq. M. Some divide the duties of the three judges of hell, making the office of Rhadamanthus inquisitorial, that of Minos judicial, and that of Eacus executive. PR. Others supposed that Eacus, as an European, was the judge of European shades; but that Minos and Rhadamanthus, who were natives of Asia, judged the Asiatics. Plato in extr. Gorg. et Min. R.

Jason eloped from Colchis with Medca,

and carried off the golden fleece' unknown to Æetes. GR. Argonautics were composed by Orpheus and Apollonius among the Greeks, and Valerius Flaccus among the Latins. PR. Our author, who hated the Flavian family, might be prejudiced against Flaccus, who paid them court. G.

11. Monychus, (povos'single' už hoof' PR.) the Centaur, distinguished himself in combat with the Lapithæ. cf. Ov. Met. xii. 499 sqq. V. Flac. i. 145 sqq. GRÆ. Aspera te Pholoes frangentem, Monyche, saxa; teque sub Etæo torquentem vertice vulsas, Rhace ferox, quas vix Boreas inverteret, ornos; Luc. vi. 388 sqq. R.

12. Julius Fronto, a munificent patron of literature, LU. was thrice consul, and a colleague of Trajan. His mansion and grounds were thrown open to the public. PR. G. We find the house of Maculonus, vii. 40. and that of Stella, Mart. IV. vi. 5. lent for similar rehearsals. The name of Fronto was common to many Romans. R.

'Plane-trees,' on account of their luxuriant shade, were great favourites with the ancients. cf. Plat. Phædr. p. 388. A. Cic. de Or. I. vii. 28. Prop. II. xxxii. 11 sqq. HR. R.

The marbles' were either those with which the walls were built, or inlaid; BRI. or the marble pavements, columns, and statues of Fronto's villa. M. Convulsa, clamant, and ruptæ must be taken hyperbolically, as cantu querule rumpent arbusta cicada; Virg. G. iii. 328. GRE.

14. Scribimus indocti doctique poemata passim; Hor. II E. i. 117. BRI. Martial appears to have entertained an equally mean opinion of these hackneyed subjects: IV. xlix. X. iv. G.

15. Juvenal means that he had known

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