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Or what is it? with what reward hast thou bought the ears
Of the gods? with lungs, and with greasy entrails?

30.

Lo! a grandmother, or an aunt fearing the gods, from the cradle Takes a boy, and his forehead and his wet lips,

With infamous finger, and with purifying spittle, she before-hand Expiates, skilled to inhibit destructive eyes.

Then shakes him in her hands, and her slender hope, with suppliant wish,

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She now sends into the fields of Licinius, now into the houses of Crassus.

• May a king and queen wish this boy their son-in-law; may the girls Seize him; whatever he shall have trodden upon, may it become a

rose !

servative. Thus in Petronius-" Mox turbatum sputo pulverem, "anus medio sustulit digito, frontemque repugnantis signat."

33. She before-hand.] i. e. Before she begins her prayers for the

child.

34. Expiates.] See above, note on 1. 32, ad fin.

Skilled to inhibit, &c.] Skilful to hinder the fascination of bewitching eyes. Uro signifies, lit. to burn; also to injure or destroy. VIRG. G. ii. 1. 196.-One sort of witchcraft was supposed to operate by the influence of the eye. VIRG. ecl. iii. 103.

35. Then shakes him, &c.] Lifts him up, and dandles him to and fro, as if to present him to the gods.

Her slender hope.] The little tender infant.

With suppliant wish.] Or prayer.--Having finished her su perstitious rites of lustration, she now offers her wishes and prayers for the infant.

36. She now sends, &c.] Mittit is a law term, and taken from the pretor's putting a person in possession of an estate which was recovered at law.--Here it denotes the old woman's wishing, and, in desire, putting the child in possession of great riches, having her eye on the possessions of Crassus and Licinius, the former of which (says Plutarch) purchased so many houses, that, at one time or other, the greatest part of Rome came into his hands. Licinius was a young slave of so saving a temper, that he let out the offals of his meat for interest, and kept a register of debtors. Afterwards he was made a collector in Gaul, where he acquired (as Persius expresses it, sat. iv. 1. 56, quantum non milvus oberret)" more lands "than a kite could fly over."

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37. King and queen wish,' &c.] May he be so opulent as that even crowned heads may covet an alliance with him as a son-in-law. 37-8. Girls seize him.'] May he be so beautiful and comely, that the girls may all fall in love with him, and contend who shall first seize him for her own.

38. Shall have trodden upon,' &c.] This foolish, extravagant hyperbole well represents the vanity and folly of these old women, in their wishes for the children.

Ast ego nutrici non mando vota: negato,
Jupiter, hæc illi, quamvis te albata rogarit.

Poscis, opem nervis, corpusque fidele senectæ :
Esto, age: sed grandes patinæ, tucetaque crassa
Annuere his superos vetuere, Jovemque morantur.

Rem struere exoptas, caso bove; Mercuriumque Arcessis fibrâ: da fortunare penates !

Da pecus, et gregibus fœtum !'-Quo, pessime, pacto, Tot tibi cum in flammis junicum omenta liquescant?

Et tamen hic extis, et opimo vincere farto

Intendit : "

: 'jam crescit ager, jam crescit ovile;

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39. But to a nurse, &c.] For my part, says Persius, I shall never leave it to my nurse to pray for my child.

39-40. Deny, O Jupiter, &c.] If she should ever pray thus for a child of mine, I beseech thee, O Jupiter, to deny such petitions as these, however solemnly she may offer them.

40. Tho' cloth'd in white.] Though arrayed in sacrificial garments. The ancients, when they sacrificed and offered to the gods, were clothed with white garments, as emblems of innocence and purity.

41. You ask strength, &c.] Another prays for strength of nerves, and that his body may not fail him when he comes to be old.

42. Be it so go on.] I see no harm in this, says Persius; you ask nothing but what may be reasonably desired, therefore I don't. find fault with your praying for these things-go on with your petitions.

Great dishes.] But, while you are praying for strength of body, and for an healthy old age, you are destroying your health, and laying in for a diseased old age, by your gluttony and luxury.

Sausages.] Tuceta-a kind of meat made of pork or beef chopped, or other stuff, mingled with suet.

43. Have forbidden, &c.] While you are praying one way, and living another, you yourself hinder the gods from granting your wishes.

Hinder Jove.] Prevent his giving you health and strength, by your own destroying both.

The poet here ridicules those inconsistent people, who pray for health and strength of body, and yet live in such a manner as to impair both. Nothing but a youth of temperance is likely to ensure an old age of health. This is finely touched by the masterly pen of our Shakespeare:

Tho' I look old, yet I am strong and lusty:
For in my youth I never did apply

Hot and rebellious liquors in my blood;
Nor did not with unbashful forehead woo
The means of weakness and debility;
Therefore my age is as a lusty winter,
Frosty, but kindly.

As you like it, act ii. sc. iii.

But to a nurse I do not commit prayers: deny,

O Jupiter, these to her, tho' cloth'd in white she should ask.

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You ask strength for your nerves, and a body faithful to old age: Be it so go on : but great dishes, and fat sausages, Have forbidden the gods to assent to these, and hinder Jove.

You wish heartily to raise a fortune, an ox being slain, and Mercury You invite with inwards-" grant the household gods to make me "prosperous!

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"Give cattle, and offspring to my flocks!"-Wretch, by what

means,

When the cawls of so many young heifers can melt for you in flames? And yet this man to prevail with bowels, and with a rich pudding Intends: "Now the field increases, now the sheep-fold—

44. You wish, &c.] Another is endeavouring to advance his fortune by offering costly sacrifices, little thinking that these are dminishing what he wants to augment.

Ox being slain.] i. e. In sacrifice-in order to render the god propitious; but you don't recollect that by this you have an ox the less.

Mercury.] The god of gain.

45. You invite.] Arcessis-send for, as it were-invite to favour you.

fice.

With inwards.] Extis-the entrails of beasts offered in sacri

"The household gods," &c.] "Grant, O Mercury," say you, "that my domestic affairs may prosper!" See AINSW. Penates. 46. "Give cattle," &c.] Grant me a number of cattle, and let all flocks be fruitful, and increase!

my

be?

Wretch, by what means?] How, thou silliest of men, can this

47. When the cawls of so many, &c.] When you are every day preventing all this, by sacrificing your female beasts before they are old enough to breed, and thus, in a two-fold manner, destroying your stock?

wards.

The cawls.] Omentum is the cawl or fat that covers the in

Melt in flames.] Being put on the fire on the altar.
For you.] In hopes to obtain what you want.

48. Yet this man, &c.] Thinks he shall overcome the gods with the multitude of sacrifices which he offers-this is his intention. With bowels.] The inwards of beasts offered in sacrifice. -A rich pudding.] They offered a sort of pudding, or cake, made of bran, wine, and honey.

49. "Now the field increases.] Says he-fancying his land is better for what he has been doing.

"Now the sheep-fold."]" Now methinks my sheep breed

"better."

VOL. II.

1

Jam dabitur, jam jam:' donec deceptus, et exspes, Nequicquam fundo suspiret nummus in imo.

Si tibi crateras argenti, incusaque pingui Auro dona feram, sudes; et pectore lævo Excutias guttas: lætari prætrepidum cor. Hinc illud subiit, auro sacras quod ovato Perducis facies. Nam, fratres inter ahenos, Somnia pituitâ qui purgatissima mittunt, Præcipui sunto; sitque illis aurea barba.

Aurum vasa Numæ, Saturniaque impulit æra : Vestalesque urnas, et Tuscum fictile mutat.

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50." Now it shall be given," c.]" Methinks I alread ysee my *wishes fulfilled-every thing will be given me that I asked for.' "Now presently."]" I shall not be able to wait much lon

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ger.'

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Till deceived, and hopeless.] Till, at length, he finds his error, and that, by hoping to increase his fortune by the multitude of his sacrifices, he has only just so far diminished it-he has nothing left but one poor solitary sesterce at the bottom of his purse, or chest: which, finding itself deceived, and hopeless of any accession to it, sighs, as it were, in vain, for the loss of its companions, which have been so foolishly spent and thrown away.

The Roman nummus, when mentioned as a piece of money, was the same with the sestertius, about one penny three farthings. The prosopopeia here is very humourous.

52. If to thee cups, &c.] Men are apt to think the gods like them-, selves, pleased with rich and costly gifts to such the poet now speaks.

If, saith Persius, I should make you a present of a fine piece of silver plate, or of some costly vessel of the finest gold—

53. You would sweat.] You would be so pleased and overjoyed, you would break into a sweat with agitation.

that

side.

Left breast.] They supposed the heart to lie on the left

54. Shake out drops.] i. e. You would weep, or shed tears. Lachrymas excutere, to force tears. TER. Heaut. act i. sc. i. 1. 115. --Tears of joy would drop, as it were, from your very heart. Lachrymor præ gaudio. TER.--Some understand lævo here in the sense of foolish, silly; as in VIRG. ecl. i. 16. Casaub.

-Your over-trembling heart, &c.] Palpitating with unusual motion, from the suddenness and emotion of your surprise and joy, would be delighted.

55. That takes place.] The notion or sentiment takes place in your mind, that, because you are so overjoyed at receiving a rich and sumptuous present of silver or gold, therefore the gods must be so too--judging of them by yourself.

Gold carried in triumph, &c.] Hence, with the gold taken as a spoil from an enemy, and adorning the triumph of the con

"Now it shall be given, now presently:" till deceived, and hope

less,

In vain the nummus will sigh in the lowest bottom.

If to thee cups of silver, and gifts wrought with rich gold
I should bring, you would sweat, and from your left breast
Shake out drops-your over-trembling heart would rejoice.
Hence that takes place, that with gold carried in triumph you
Overlay the sacred faces. For, among the brazen brothers,
Let those who send dreams most purged from phlegm,
Be the chief, and let them have a golden beard.

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Gold has driven away the vessels of Numa, and the Saturnian brass, And changes the vestal urns, and the Tuscan earthen-ware.

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queror, by being carried with him in his ovation, you overlay the images of the gods-thus complimenting the gods with what has been taken from your fellow mortals by rapine and plunder.

56. The brazen brothers.] There stood in the porch of the Palatine Apollo fifty brazen statues of the fifty sons of Ægyptus, the brother of Danaus, who, having fifty sons, married them to the fifty daughters of Danaus, and, by their father's order, they all slew their husbands in the night of their marriage, except Hypermnestra, who saved Lynceus. See HoR. lib. iii. ode xi. 1. 30, &c.

These were believed to have great power of giving answers to their inquirers, in dreams of the night, relative to cures of disorders,

57. Most purged, &c.] Most clear and true, as most defecated and uninfluenced by the gross humours of the body.

58. Be the chief] Let these be had in honour above the rest q. d. Bestow most on those from whom you expect most.

A golden beard.] This alludes to the image of Esculapius, in the temple of Epidaurum, which was supposed to reveal remedies for disorders in dreams. This image had a golden beard, which Dionysius the tyrant of Syracuse took away, saying jestingly, that, "as the father of Esculapius, Apollo, had no beard, it was not right " for the son to have one.'

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This communicating, through dreams, such remedies as were adapted to the cure of the several disorders of the inquirers, was at first accounted the province of Apollo and Esculapius only; but, on the breaking out of Egyptian superstition, Isis and Osiris were allowed to have the same power, as were also the fifty sons of Ægyptus, here called the brazen brothers, from their statues of brass. 59. Driven away, &c.] Has quite expelled from the temples the plain and simple vessels made use of in the days of Numa, the first founder of our religious rites. See Juv. sat. xi. 1. 115, 16. The brazen vessels which were in use

The Saturnian brass.] when Saturn reigned in Italy.

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60. Changes the vestal urns.] The pitchers, pots, and other vessels, which the vestal virgins used in celebrating the rites of Vesta,

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