Ponimus, et sectum vituli jecur, albaque porci Et qui nec Cynicos, nec Stoïca dogmata legit Si nullum in terris tam detestabile factum 120 125 to the custom, mentioned sat. x. 55. (see note there,) of fastening pieces of paper, containing vows, upon the images of the gods, and taking them off when their prayers were granted, after which they offered what they had vowed. 117. The cut liver," &c.] The liver cut out of a calf, and the cawl which covered the inwards of an hog, were usual offerings. 119. The statue of Bathyllus."] A fiddler and a player, whose statue was erected in the temple of Juno, at Samos, by the tyrant Polycrates.q. d. At this rate, I don't see that there is any difference between thy images, O Jupiter, and those that may be erected in honour of a fiddler. In this expostulatory exclamation to Jupiter, which the poet makes his friend utter with so much vehemence, there is very keen raillery against the folly and superstition that prevailed at Rome, which Juvenal held in the highest contempt. This almost reminds one of that fine sarcasm of the prophet Elijah-1 Kings xviii. 27. 120. Hear, &c.] The poet is now taking another ground to console his friend, by representing to him the frequency, not only of the same, but of much greater injuries than what he has suffered; and that he, in being ill used, is only sharing the common lot of mankind, from which he is not to think himself exempt. Hear.] Accipe-auribus understood. 121. Neither hath read.] Never hath made these his study. The Cynics.] The followers of Diogenes. Stoic doctrines.] The doctrines of Zeno and his followers, who were called Stoics, from sa, a porch where they taught. Differing, &c.] The people differed from each other in their dress, the Cynics wearing no tunic (a sort of waistcoat) under their cloaks, as the Stoics did; but both agreed in teaching the contempt of money, and of the change of fortune, 122. Epicurus.] A philosopher of Athens, a temperate and sober man, who lived on bread and water and herbs: he placed man's chief happiness in the pleasure and tranquillity of the mind. He died of the stone at Athens, aged seventy-two. His scholars afterwards sadly perverted his doctrines, by making the pleasures of the "Paper, and the cut liver of a calf, and of an hog "The white cawl? as I see, there is no difference to be reckon'd, "Between your images, and the statue of Bathyllus." Hear, what consolations on the other hand one may bring, 120 And who neither hath read the Cynics, nor the Stoic doctrines, differing From the Cynics by a tunic: nor admires Epicurus Happy in the plants of a small garden. The dubious sick may be taken care of by greater physicians, fact in all the earth so detestable, If shew no you I am silent: nor do I forbid you to beat your breast With your fists, nor to bruise your face with your open palm; Since, loss being received, the gate is to be shut, 125 body the chief good, and ran into those excesses which brought a great scandal on the sect. Suspicit-lit. looks up to. 124. Dubious sick, &c.] Those who are so ill, that their recovery is doubtful, should be committed to the care of very experienced and able physicians. So, those who are afflicted with heavy misfortunes, stand in need of the most grave and learned advice. 125. Commit your vein, &c.] A person whose cause of illness is but slight, may trust himself in the hands of a young beginner. So you, Calvinus, whose loss is but comparatively slight, have no need of Stoics, or Cynics, or of such a one as Epicurus, to console you; I am sufficient for the purpose, though I do not read or study such great philosophers. Philip. Some surgeon of no great credit or reputation; but even his apprentice might be trusted to advise bleeding, or not, in a slight disorder. So you may safely trust to my advice in your present circumstances, though I am no deep philosopher; a little common sense will serve the turn. The whole of these two last lines is allegorical; the ideas are taken from bodily disorder, but are to be transferred to the mind. 126. If you shew, &c.] Could you shew no act in all the world so vile as this which has been done towards you, I would say no more I would freely abandon you to your sorrows, as a most singularly unhappy man. 127. Nor do I, &c.] i. e. Go on, like a man frantic with grief— beat your breast-slap your face till it be black and blue. 129. Since, &c.] In a time of mourning for any great loss, it was usual to shut the doors and windows. Loss being received.] A loss of money incurred. He is here rallying his friend Calvinus.-q. d. Inasmuch as the loss of money is looked upon as the most serious of all losses, doubtless you ought to bewail your misfortune, with every circumstance of the most un feigned sorrow. Et majore domûs gemitu, majore tumultu Ploratur lachrymis amissa pecunia veris. Sed si cuncta vides simili fora plena querelâ ; 130 135 140 130. Mourning of the house, &c.] i. e. Of the family-for, to be sure, the loss of money is a greater subject of grief, and more lamented than the deaths of relations. 131. Nobody feigns, &c.] The grief for loss of money is very sincere, however feigned it usually is at funerals. 132. Content to sever, &c.] Nobody contents himself with the mere outward show of grief--such as rending the upper edge of a garment, which was an usual sign of grief. 133. Vex the eyes, &c.] To rub the eyes, in order to squeeze out a few forced tears. See TERENT. Eun. act i. sc. i. where Parmeno is describing the feigned grief of Phædria's mistress, and where this circumstance of dissimulation is finely touched : Hæc verba unâ mehercle falsâ lacrumulâ, Quam, oculos terendo misere, vix vi expresserit Restinguet, &c. So VIRG. Æn. ii. 1. 196. Captique dolis lachrymisque coacti. 134. Lost money is deplored, &c.] When we see a man deploring the loss of money, we may believe the sincerity of his tears. The poet in this, and the preceding lines on this subject, finely satirizes the avarice and selfishness of mankind, as well as their hypocrisy, and all want of real feelings, where self is not immediately concerned. 135. If you see, &c.] q. d. However I might permit you to indulge in sorrow, if no instance of such fraud and villainy had happened to any body but yourself, yet if it be every day's experience, if the courts of justice are filled with complaints of the same kind, why should you give yourself up to grief, as singularly wretched, when what has happened to you is the frequent lot of others. 136. If tablets.] i. e. Deeds or obligations written on tablets. See sat. ii. 1. 58, note. Read over, &c.] i. e. Often read over in the hearing of witnesses, as well as of the parties. By the different party.] This expression is very obscure, and does not appear to me to have been satisfactorily clucidated by And with greater mourning of the house, with a greater tumult, Money is bewailed than funerals: nobody feigns grief [130 In this case, content to sever the top of the garment, To vex the eyes with constrained moisture: But if you see all the courts filled with the like complaint, 135 140 Of a sardonyx, which is kept in ivory boxes. commentators. Some read diversa in parte, and explain it to mean, that the deeds had been read over in different places--variis in locis, says the Delphin interpretation. However, after much consideration, I rather approve of reading diversa parte, by the different (i. e. the opposite) party.-Pars means, sometimes, a side or party in contention. AINSW. In this view, it exaggerates the impudence and villainy of a man who denied his deed or obligation, seeing that his adversary, the creditor, having frequently read over the deed, could not be mistaken as to its contents, any more than the debtor, who had signified and sealed it, as well as heard it read over. 137. They say.]. e. The fraudulent debtors say, that the handwritings contained in the bonds are false and void. Supervacuus means, superfluous-serving to no purpose or useSupervacui ligni, i. e. of the inscribed wooden tablets, which are of no use, though the obligation be written on them. q. d. Notwithstanding the hand-writing appears against them, signed and sealed by themselves, and that before witnesses, yet they declare that it is all false, a mere deceit, and of no obligation whatsoever they plead, non est factum, as we say. 138. Whom their own letter convicts.] Whose own hand-writing proves it to be their own deed. -A principal gem, &c.] Their seal cut upon a sardonyx of great value, with which they sealed the deed. 139. Which is kept, &c.] Kept in splendid cases of ivory, perhaps one within another, for its greater security. By this circumstance, the poet seems to hint, that the vile practice which he mentions, was by no means confined to the lower sort of people, but had made its way among the rich and great. 140. O sweet Sir.] Delicias-hominis understood. Comp. sat. vi. 47. An ironical apostrophe to his friend. Delicia is often used to denote a darling, a minion, in which a person delights; here delicias might be rendered choice, favourite, i. e. of fortune as if exempted from the common accidents of lifeas if put or placed out of their reach. 141. How.] Why-by what means-how can you make it out? The offspring of a white hen.] The colour of white was Nos viles pulli nati infelicibus ovis ? Rem pateris modicam, et mediocri bile ferendam, 145 150 Radat inaurati femur Herculis, et faciem ipsam An dubitet, solitus totum conflare Tonantem? Et deducendum corio bovis in mare, cum quo 155 deemed lucky. This expression appears to have been proverbial in Juvenal's time to denote a man that is born to be happy and fortu nate. Some suppose the original of this saying to be the story told by Suetonius in his life of Galba, where he mentions an eagle, which soaring over the head of Livia, a little after her marriage with Augustus, let fall into her lap a white hen, with a laurel-branch in her mouth; which hen, being preserved, became so fruitful, that the place where this happened was called Villa ad Gallinas. But the poet saying nothing of fruitfulness, but of the colour only, it is rather to be supposed that Erasmus is right, in attributing this proverb to the notion which the Romans had of a white colour, that it denoted luck or happiness, as dies albi, and albo lapillo notati, and the like. 142. Unfortunate eggs.] The infelicibus ovis, put here in opposition to the white hen, seems to imply the eggs of some birds of unhappy omen, as crows, ravens, &c. figuratively to denote those who are born to be unfortunate. Sæpe sinistra cavâ prædixit ab ilice Cornix. VIRG, ecl. i. 18; and ix. 15. 143. With moderate choler, &c.] i. e. Moderate wrath, anger, resentment, when you consider how much greater injuries others suffer from greater crimes. 144. Compare.] Consider in a comparative view. 145. Hired thief.] Or cut-throat, who is hired for the horrid purpose of assassination. Burnings begun with sulphur.] Which is here put by synec. for all sort of combustible matter with which incendiaries fire houses. 146. By deceit.] In a secret manner, by artfully laying the destructive materials, so as not to be discovered till too late to prevent the mischief. Collects the first fires.] So as to prevent those who are in |