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Grande operæ pretium est, ut tenso folle reverti
Inde domum possis tumidaque superbus aluta
Oceani monstra et juvenes vidisse marinos.
Non unus mentes agitat furor. Ille sororis
285 In manibus vultu Eumenidum terretur et igni:
Hic bove percusso mugire Agamemnona credit
Aut Ithacum. Parcat tunicis licet atque lacernis,
Curatoris eget, qui navem mercibus implet

Ad summum latus et tabula distinguitur unda;
290 Quum sit causa mali tanti et discriminis hujus
Concisum argentum in titulos faciesque minutas.
Occurrunt nubes et fulgura. "Solvite funem!"
Frumenti dominus clamat piperisque coemti;
"Nil color hic coeli, nil fascia nigra minatur ;
295 Estivum tonat." Infelix hac forsitan ipsa

Atlantic, it hissed like red-hot iron plunged in water. RH. felix heu nimis et beata tellus, quæ pronos Hyperionis meatus summis Oceani vides in undis, stridoremque rota candentis audis; Stat. S. II. vii. 27. Th. i. 158. (B.) PR. cf. Cleomed. ii. 1. V. Flac. ii. 36 sq. (BU.) R.

281. Folle; xiii. 61. R.

282. Aluta here means a purse of tanned leather. SCH. cf. vii. 192. R.

283. Monstra natantia; Hor. I Od. iii. 18. (MI.) Plin. ix. 6. PR.

Juvenes marinos; Tritons.' VS. Plin. ix. 5. (HA.) SCH. Cic. de N. D. i. 79. Paus. ix. a. med. PR. Arist. H. A. ii. p. 232 sqq. (JS.) ut quis e longinquo revenerat, miracula narrabant, vim turbinum et inauditas volucres, monstra maris, ambiguas hominum et beluarum formas; Tac. A. ii. 24. R. such as mermaids were feigned to be; Hor. A. P. 4. M.

284. Cf. Hor. II S. iii. 77 sqq. Cels. iii. 18. PR.

SA.

HA.

'Orestes in the arms of Electra.' SA. ΟΡ. ὦ Φοῖβ', ἀποκτενοῦσί μ' αἱ κυνώπιδες, γοργῶπες, ἑνέρων ἱέριαι, δειναὶ θεαί. οὔτοι μεθήσω χεῖρα δ' ἐμπλέξασ' ἐμὴν σχήσω σε πηδάν δυστυχῆ πηδήματα. ΟΡ. μέθες· μί' οὖσα τῶν ἐμῶν Εριννύων, μέσον με ὀχμάζεις, ὡς βάλης εἰς Τάρταρον· [Should not the order of these lines be? 254 sq. 260 sq. 258 sq. 256 sq.] Eur. Or. 254 sqq. PR. Juvenal probably had this passage in his view. R. cf. Hor.II S.iii.132 sqq.

285. The Furies' haunted him in consequence of his having slain his mother

Clytemnestra. They were called Eumenides by antiphrasis. PR. They were the daughters of Acheron and Nox. M.

286. Ajax became insane after the arms of Achilles were awarded to Ulysses; and in his madness committed great havoc among the herds and flocks of the Greeks, mistaking them for his enemies. FA. Soph. Aj. PR. vii. 115, note. x. 84. R. cf. Hor. II S. iii. 187 sqq.

287. Ithacus; x. 257. M. xv. 26. for Ithacius or Ithacensis, the possessive: as in xv. 23. 115. 122. Sil. i. 14. 252. xvi. 180. R.

288. A man, though he may not be raving mad, cannot be considered in his right mind, whom neque fervidus æstus dimoveat lucro, neque hiems, ignis, mare, ferrum; to whom, in short, nil obstat; Hor. I S. i. 38 sqq. A lunatic had guardians assigned him by the prætor: interdicto huic omne adimat jus prætor, et ad sanos abeat tutela propinquos; Id. II S. iii. 217 sq. PR. curatoris eget a prætore dati; Id. I Ep. i. 102 sq.

289. Cf. xii. 57 sqq. FA.

291. A periphrasis for money. LU. Plin. xxxiii. 3. PR. Cato p. 69. (JS.) R. 292. Throw off the halser!' Virg. Æ. v. 773. (HY.) R.

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Nocte cadet fractis trabibus fluctuque premetur Obrutus et zonam læva morsuque tenebit. Sed cujus votis modo non suffecerat aurum, Quod Tagus et rutila volvit Pactolus arena, 300 Frigida sufficient velantes inguina panni

305

Exiguusque cibus, mersa rate naufragus assem
Dum rogat et picta se tempestate tuetur.
Tantis parta malis cura majore metuque
Servantur. Misera est magni custodia census.
Dispositis prædives hamis vigilare cohortem
Servorum noctu Licinus jubet, attonitus pro
Electro signisque suis Phrygiaque columna
Atque ebore et lata testudine. Dolia nudi

296. Hac ipsa hora; x. 76. R. Qgov! ταύτῃ τῇ νυκτὶ τὴν ψυχήν σου ἀπαιτοῦσιν ἀπὸ σοῦ ἃ δὲ ἡτοίμασας, τίνι ἔσται; st Luke xii. 20.

297. The ancients carried their money in their girdles. St Matthew x. 9. zona se aureorum plena circumdedit; Suet. Vit. 16. PR. Liv. xxxiii. 29. Gell. xv. 12. R. Hor. II Ep. ii. 40. Plautus calls a cut-purse' sector zonarius: M. Trin. IV. ii. 20. Phædr. IV. xxi. 11.

His avarice is strongly marked by his holding the purse in his hand and teeth both, thereby almost disabling himself from swimming. rò xgurínv ödeños xaì ὄνυξι καὶ πάση μηχανῇ ἐφύλαττον Luc. D. M. xi. 4. R.

299. The one a river of Portugal, the other of Lydia, both famed for their golden sands. LU. (1) The Taio.' Plin. iv. 22. Mart. I. 1. X. xcvi. Ov. M. ii. 251. (2) The Sarabat.' Plin. v. 29. Her. v. 101. Hor. Ep. xv. 20. PR. M.

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302. Those, who had escaped from shipwreck or any other imminent calamity, used to carry about a painting of the occurrence to excite compassion and obtain alms from the charitable. Besides saving a world of words, this appeal to the eyes of the benevolent was found more effectually to touch their hearts than any application through the more indirect channel of their ears. The picture, when it had served its purpose, was dedicated to some patron god, along with the clothes in which the person had escaped, if any; but in case of shipwreck, persons disencumber themselves of raiment, as

much as may be. xii. 27 sqq. Pers. i. 88 sqq. vi. 32. Strab. viii. p. 360. Hor. A. P. 20 sqq. Tib. I. iii. 27. (HY.) Hor. I Od. v. 13 sqq. (MI.) R. LU. cf. also Mart. XII. lvii. 12. GR. naufragi tabulam suam portant, rogantes victum; Phædr. IV. xxi. 24 sq. the language of the shipwrecked mariners might not, perhaps, be understood by those on whose coasts they were thrown. G.

303. Cf. 135. R.

305. Hāmi hooks;' hǎma' leathern water-buckets.' sive globosi corporis, atque utero nimium quæ vasta tumescit, (cucur bita,) ventre leges medio: sobolem dabit illa capacem Narycia picis, aut Actæi mellis Hymetti, aut habilem lymphis hamulam; Bacchove lagenam; Col. x. 385 sqq. T. SA. BRO. Cato de R. R. Nicomediae vastissimum incendium multas domos absumsit... nullus usquam sipo, nulla hama, nullum denique instrumentum ad incendia compescenda; Plin. Ep. x. 42. PR. cf. Tac. A. xv. 43. H. iii. 54. (LI.) Hist. Aug. p. 497. (CAS.) R.

Vigilare; Hor. I S. i. 76 sqq. PR.

306. Licinus; i. 109. VS. Sen. Ep. 119 sq. Dio liv. Suet. Aug. 67. Sidon. Ep. v. 7. R.

307. Electro: cf. v. 38.

Synnas (or Synnada), in Phrygia, was famous for its marble. Tib. III. iii. 13. (HY. BK.) Ov. F. iii. 529. (H.) Plin. xxxv. 1. Capit. Gord. iii. 32. R.

308. Cf. xi. 123. 95. PR.

These casks' or tubs' were not of wood but of baked clay. Plin. xxxv. 12. D. Laert. vi. 2. p. 137. (MEN.) R.

Non ardent Cynici: si fregeris, altera fiet

310 Cras domus aut eadem plumbo commissa manebit.
Sensit Alexander, testa quum vidit in illa

Magnum habitatorem, quanto felicior hic, qui
Nil cuperet, quam qui totum sibi posceret orbem,
Passurus gestis æquanda pericula rebus.

315 Nullum numen habes, si sit prudentia: nos te,
Nos facimus, Fortuna, Deam. Mensura tamen quæ
Sufficiat census, si quis me consulat, edam :
In quantum sitis atque fames et frigora poscunt,
Quantum, Epicure, tibi parvis suffecit in hortis,
320 Quantum Socratici ceperunt ante penates.
Numquam aliud Natura, aliud Sapientia dicit.

Acribus exemplis videor te claudere: misce
Ergo aliquid nostris de moribus; effice summam,
Bis septem ordinibus quam lex dignatur Othonis.
325 Hæc quoque si rugam trahit extenditque labellum;

309. Of Diogenes.' VS. cf. xiii. 122, note. Pers. i. 133. PR. The Cynics used to leave one arm and shoulder bare, their cloak being thrown over the other.

SA.

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310. Put together with solder.' LI. 311. 'ET Kearsím narouμívy air (i. e. Diogenes) ̓Αλέξανδρος ἐπιστάς φησιν Αἴτησόν με 8 θέλεις.” καὶ ὃς " Μικρὸν εἶπιν ἀπὸ τοῦ ἡλίου μετάστηθι.” πρὸς τοῦτο λέγεται τὸν ̓Αλέξανδρον οὕτω διατεθῆναι καὶ θαυμάσαι καταφρονηθέντα τὴν ὑπεροψίαν καὶ τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ ἀνδρὸς, ὥστε τῶν περὶ αὐτὸν ὡς ἀπήεσαν, διαγε· λώντων καὶ σκωπτώντων, “ ̓Αλλὰ μὴν ἐγὼ εἶπεν, " εἰ μὴ ̓Αλέξανδρος ήμην, Διογένης ἂν ἤμην Plut. V. Al. t. i. p. 671. D. Laert. VI. ii. 6. PR. This is alluded to by Butler with his usual humour: "The whole world was not half so wide To Alexander, when he cried Because he had but one to subdue, As was a narrow paltry tub to Diogenes; who is not said (For ought that ever I could read) To whine, put fing'r i' th' eye, and sob, Because h' had ne'er another tub;" Hud. I. iii. 1021 sqq. G. cf. Apul. Ap. i. R.

313. Cf. x. 168. SCH.

315. Cf. x. 365 sq. LU.

317. Edam; i. 21.

riches give us let us first enquire; Meat, drink, and clothes-what more? meat, clothes, and fire;" Pope Eth. Ep. iii. 81 sq. "Having food and raiment let us be therewith content;" I Tim. vi. 8. M.

In quantum: cf. Anacr. iii. 25. (BX.) Plin. Ep. x. 75. Ov. M. xi. 7. V. Pat. i. 9. (RK.) R.

319. Epicurus. xiii. 122 sq, notes. PR. 320. Socratici penates for Socrates; who, owing to his temperance and abstemiousness, is said to have been the only Athenian who entirely escaped when the plague visited that city. D. Laert. LU. Pers. iv. 2 sqq. PR.

321. Virtus secundum naturam est, vitia inimica et infesta sunt; Sen. Ep. 50. PR. si ad naturam vives, numquam eris pauper; si ad opinionem, numquam dives; ib. 16. R. cf. Pope Eth. Ep. iii. 25 sq. M.

322. Περιέρχεσθαί σε καὶ συνελαύνειν ἐς rvé Luc. Hermot. 63. R.

324. Notes on iii. 154. LU. i. 105. Plin. xxxii. 2. V. Pat. ii. 32. (RK.) Suet. Ner. 11. (TO.) Mart. V. xxxix. R.

Dignatur. It was the money and not the man, that the law of Otho conferred the distinction upon. R.

325. If this make you frown and

318. Cf. Hor. I S. i. 73 sqq. "What pout,' M. as a spoilt child.

Sume duos Equites, fac tertia quadringenta.
Si nondum implevi gremium, si panditur ultra :
Nec Crosi fortuna umquam nec Persica regna
Sufficient animo nec divitiæ Narcissi,

330 Indulsit Cæsar cui Claudius omnia, cujus
Paruit imperiis, uxorem occidere jussus.

326. Cf. Pers. vi. 75-80.

The third four hundred :' 1200 sestertia were a senator's estate. Suet. Aug. 41. Dio lv. Plut. V. Anton. R.

327. Cf. vi. 215. "Good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom;" St Luke vi. 38. Isaiah lxv. 6 sq. M. "Wherewith the mower filleth not his hand, nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom," Psalm cxxix. 7. "The lot is cast into the lap?" Prov. xvi. 33. 328. Crasus; x. 274. PR.

The kings of Persia (especially Darius and Xerxes, cf. Justin, LU.) and those of Parthia were celebrated for their opulence. M. R.

329. Claudius was entirely under the management of his freedmen. His prime favourites were Posides, Felix, Harpocras, Polybius, suspexit ante omnes Narcissum ab epistolis et Pallantem a rationibus: quos decreto quoque senatus non præmiis modo ingentibus, sed et quæstoriis prætoriisque ornamentis ornari libenter passus est: tantum præterea acquirere et rapere, ut, querente eo quondam de fisci exiguitate, non absurde sit dictum" abundaturum, si a duobus libertis in consortium reciperetur;" Suet. Claud. 28. Nágxiocos μiyiTOV TÄY τότε ἀνθρώπων δυνηθείς· μυριάδας τε γὰρ πλείους μυρίων εἶχε, καὶ προσεῖχον αὐτῷ πόλεις καὶ βασιλεῖς κ. τ. λ. Dio Ix. p. 688. c. Plin. xxxiii. 10. FLO. PR. R.

330. The state of dependence in which this moon-calf was kept by these minions

is sarcastically alluded to by Seneca, in a passage of exquisite humour : excandescit Claudius: quid diceret nemo intelligebat. ille autem febrim duci jubebat, illo gestu solutæ manus, quo decollare homines solebat. jusserat illi collum præcidi; putares omnes illius esse libertos, adeo illum nemo curabat; Apokol. G.

331. Mirum inter hæc silentium Claudii; nempe cum indefensa conjux exitio daretur : omnia liberto obediebant ... ac ni cædem ejus Narcissus properavisset, verterat pernicies in accusatorem. et cum imperatoris languescere iram, amorem redire audisset, prorupit Narcissus denuntiatque centurionibus et tribuno, qui aderant, exsequi cædem, &c. Tac. xi. 26-38. and again; nec enim Claudius Messalinum uxorem, qui nupsit Silio, interfecisset, nisi properasset index, delator adulterii, et quodammodo imperator cædis Narcissus. cf. x. 330 sqq. PR. Suet. Cl. 26. 29. 39. Tac. xi. 12. R. The two accusers of the profligate empress were not more fortunate. Narcissus preserved his influence during the life of Claudius, but on the accession of Nero, Agrippina, whose designs he had endeavoured to thwart, threw him into prison; and by a detestable refinement in cruelty compelled him, through mere want of sustenance, to put an end to his own life. A strange, catastrophe for one who had seen the resources of the Roman world at his feet. For Pallas, see i. 109. G.

SATIRE XV.

ARGUMENT.

In this Satire, which was written after the author's return from Egypt, he directs his ridicule at the sottish and ferocious bigotry of the natives. The enumeration of their animal and vegetable gods is a fine specimen of dignified humour; 1-13. and though he may be thought to treat the actors in the horrid transaction, which makes the chief subject of his poem, with too indiscriminate a severity, yet it should be considered that he had, for many justifiable causes, long regarded the country and the countrymen of Crispinus with aversion: which was not much diminished, we may presume, by a nearer view of both. G.

When he asserts, in general terms, the cannibalism of these ferocious enthusiasts, 13. he is fully aware of the scepticism of those who hear such stories for the first time; 13-26. but he gives an example which had actually occurred recently, in the religious feuds of the Tentyrites and Coptites. 27-97. Not but what instances were on record of men eating one another when driven to desperation and pressed by extreme famine; 93-114. and barbarians had been known to sacrifice their fellow-creatures, but not to devour them. 115-128. R.

The conclusion of the Satire, which is a just and beautiful description of the origin of civil society, 147-158. (infinitely superior to any thing Lucretius or Horace has delivered on the subject,) does honour to the genius, good sense, and enlightened morality, (I had almost said, piety,) of the author. It is not founded in natural instinct, but on principles of mutual benevolence, 131 sqq. implanted, not by Nature, 132. (as Gibbon carelessly or perversely makes the author assert,) but by Nature's God, 147 sqq. in the breast of man, and of man alone. 142 sqq. G.

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