unquam, Invidiam facerent nolenti surgere Nilo? Quæ lachrymas dedit; hæc nostri pars optima sensûs. Dicitur Ægyptus caruisse juvantibus arva Ill Busiris: fies Jovis hostia primus, Inquit, et Ægypto tu dabis hospes aquam. 125 130 By this we see that an human sacrifice was offered to placate Jupiter; this was the first intention, in order to obtain an overflowing of the Nile. In after times the Egyptians lost sight of this, and exer cised acts of cruelty, thinking, by this, to irritate the Nile, and to make it overflow the whole country. Solebant occolæ immani quadam crudelitate illum ad inundationem irritare. See MARSALL, and BRITAN. in loc. TATE. Or did the miscreants try this conjuring spell, In time of drought to make the Nile to swell Having given the opinions of others on this passage, I now must give my own; for doing acts of cruelty, in order to obtain a benefit from the river, which they might suppose to be already angry with them, from its withholding its water, appears to be very strange. I should think the poet's meaning to be, that these Egyptians, the Tentyrites, had, without any necessity compelling them to it, without any excuse to extenuate their crime, been guilty of so monstrous a wickedness, that they could not have found out any other so likely to provoke the Nile to withhold its waters in a time of drought, and to bring a famine upon the country, by thus increasing the Nile's unwillingness to help them. So a late translator-" What worse impiety could they commit, "to provoke the Nile to stay within its banks when the country of "Egypt is chapt with drought? And HOLYDAY: By what fact Could they have more made their kind Nilus slow To rise, and their parch'd Memphian land o'erflow? 122-3. Land of Memphis.] The city of Memphis (now Grand Cairo) was the grand metropolis of that part of Egypt, and therefore gave its name to it. The Nile there divided, and intersected the land in various places, so as to resemble the form of a delta; that part of Egypt was therefore called the Delta. Of Memphis being dry, to the Nile unwilling to rise? With which neither the terrible Cimbri, nor the Britons ever, 125 130 Most tender hearts Nature confesses herself to give to human kind, Who has given tears, this best part of our sense. She commands, therefore, to bewail the misfortune of a mourning [friend; 124. Cimbri.] See sat. viii. 1. 249, note. The poet calls them terribiles, not only from their hardy valour, but, probably, from the destruction and havock which they had made of several of the Roman armies. Britons.] A hardy warlike people of Germany. Tacit. 125. Fierce Sauromata.] See sat. ii. 1. 1, note. Agathyrsi.] A people of Sarmatia: they were named after Agathyrsus, a son of Hercules. The poet means to say, that the Tentyrites raged with a fierceness and cruelty, with which these great, mighty, and warlike nations never did. 126. Weak and useless vulgar.] A contemptible and worthless rabble. 127. Accustomed to spread, &c.] They made vessels of burnt clay, in which they sailed upon the Nile a fishing. 128. The short oars &c.] They painted their little earthen boats, by way of ornament, and rowed them with short oars. The poet mentions these circumstances of their boats, to shew the contemptibleness and vanity of these Ægyptians. 129. Find a penalty, &c.] In short, the baseness and wickedness of the Tentyrites exceeds all power of finding any punishment or torture adequate to their deserts. 130. In whose mind, &c.] They make no distinctions in their mind, between the necessity which has forced others to eat human flesh, and doing this themselves from a mere principle of anger and malice. 132. Nature confesses, &c.] From the evidence of what we feel within ourselves, we may gather, as from the confession of a fact, the truth of it, that nature has furnished us with hearts susceptible of the tenderest feelings. 133. Has given tears.] Those outward symptoms of sorrow and compassion, which are given to no other creature. This best part, &c.] Because by flowing in pity and commiseration, they bespeak the most amiable qualities of the mind. 134. She commands, therefore, &c.] To sympathize with our friends in their griefs may be called a dictate of nature. See Rom xii. 15. Squaloremque rei; pupillum ad jura vocantem 135 Circumscriptorem, cujus manantia fletu Ora puellares faciunt incerta capilli. Naturæ imperio gemimus, cum funus adultæ Virginis occurrit, vel terrâ clauditur infans, Et minor igne rogi. Quis enim bonus, aut face dignus Ulla aliena sibi credat mala? separat hoc nos 140 145 135. Squalid appearance, &c.] It was customary for persons arranged in a court of judicature to appear in rags and dirtiness, in order to move the compassion of the judges. But as squalor signifies, sometimes, "the sorrowful and mourning estate of those that "are arraigned or accused," this idea of the word may be here meant at least inclusively. See AINSW. Squalor, No. 3. 136. His defrauder.] i. e. His guardian, who was left in trust with his person and estate during his minority, and has cheated and defrauded him. Circumscriptor means a cozener, a cheater, one that circumvents or over-reaches another. Girl-like hairs, &c.] The tenderness, youth, and innocence of the poor orphan-his hair, like that of a girl, long and hanging loose, and dishevelled; his smooth and delicate face, wet with the tears flowing from his eyes, and his appearance altogether, is such, as to render it almost uncertain to the beholders of which sex the sufferer is, who is thus obliged to cite his iniquitous guardian into a court of justice, in order to obtain redress. See sat. x. l. 222, note on Hirrus. 138.-9. An adult virgin, &c.] When we meet the funeral of e beautiful young woman, snatched away by the hand of death in all the bloom of youth, nature bids us mourn-we can't resist its impulse. This circumstance, here introduced by our poet, reminds one of an exquisitely fine and tender passage on a like event. Hamlet, act v. sc. i. where the Queen says of the deceased Ophelia, who had been prematurely snatched away by death: "Sweets, to thee sweet, farewell! [Scattering flowers. I hop'd thou would'st have been my Hamlet's wife; "I thought thy bride-bed to have deck'd, sweet maid, "And not t'have strew'd thy grave.” See TER. And. act. i. sc. i. 1. 77-109. 139. An infant is shut up, &c.] The law forbad burning the bodies of infants that died before they had lived forty days or (according to some) before seven months old, when they had teeth. They used to bury them in a place which was called Suggrundarium. See AINSW. And the squalid appearance of a criminal; an orphan calling to the laws His defrauder, whose girl-like hairs make his By command of nature we groan, when the funeral of an adult 135 [thy 140 And less than the fire of the pile. For what good man, or wor. 145 140. Less than the fire, &c.] i. e. Too little to be burnt on a funeral pile. See the last note. 140-1. Worthy the secret torch.] i. e. Worthy to be initiated into, or to be present at, the sacred rites, which were celebrated in honour of the goddess Ceres. These rites were celebrated by night; the worshippers carried lamps, or lighted torches, in their hands, in memory of Ceres, who, by fire-light, had sought after her daughter Proserpine, when she was stolen by Pluto out of Sicily. Ceres is fabled to have lighted those fires, which have burned ever since, on the top of mount Ætna. 141. Such as the priest of Ceres, &c.] None were admitted to the Eleusinian mysteries (for so the rites of Ceres were called, from Eleusis, a town in Attica, built by Triptolemus, who, being instructed by Ceres, taught the people to sow corn) but those, who by the priest were pronounced chaste and good, free from any notorious crime. 142. Thinks any evils, &c.] q. d. There is no real good man who can think himself unconcerned in the misfortunes of others, be they what they may his language will be like this in Terence. Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto. HEAUT. act i. sc. i. 1. 25. This separates us, &c.] i. e. This distinguishes men from brutes, who know nothing of this. 143. And therefore.] i. e. For this very end and purpose, that we may sympathize with others. 144. A venerable disposition.] A disposition and inclination to partake in others' sorrows, is deserving the highest esteem and reverence, and this has fallen to the lot of mankind alone. -Capable of divine things.] A capacity to apprehend divine things is the property of man alone. This is a very great truth; but, alas! how sad an use the wise men of this world made of this gloriously-distinguished faculty, may be seen-Rom. i. 21, 22, et seq. 145. Apt for exercising, &c.] The invention, understanding, and VOL. II. Sensum a cœlesti demissum traximus arce, Cujus egent prona, et terrem spectantia. Mundi Tantum animas; nobis animum quoque, mutuus ut nos 150 155 exercise of the arts, whether mechanical, or others, are also peculiar to man. 146. We have drawn.] Traximus-i. e. we have derived, as we should say. Sense.] Moral sense, reason. Sent down.] Demissum-let down. Traximus demissum seems to be metaphorical, taken from the idea of a cord, or chain, let down from on high, which a person below takes hold of, and draws down to himself. 146. From the cœlestial top.] Arx signifies the top, peak, or ridge of any thing, as of a rock, mountain, or hill; also a palace, temple, or tower, often built on high. See sat. xiv. 1. 86-8. ven, or the residence of the gods, is called arx cœli. Nos tua progenies, cœli quibus annuis arcem. 147. Which.] i. e. Which moral sense. Hence hea Æn. i. 254. Prone things, &c.] Beasts, called prona, from their inclining, with the face stooping downward to the earth; whereas man is erect, and looks upward. Here seems to be an imitation of OVID, Met. lib. i. 1. 84-7. Pronaque cum spectent animalia cætera terram, So Sallust. Omnes homines quise se student præstare cæteris ani. malibus, &c. que natura prona, et ventri obedientia finxit. Bell. Catil. ad init. 148. The common builder, &c.] i. e. Common nature, for Juvenal ascended no higher--the God of nature he knew not. Compare 1. 132-4. See Acts xvii. 23-9. To them.] i. e. To the brute creation. 149. Only souls.] Animas-a principle of mere animal life ; which is called the spirit of a beast, Eccl. iii. 21. To us a mind also.] To us human beings nature has not only given a principle of animal life, but also a rational mind, by which we reflect, and judge, and reason. The anima, or soul, is |