and upon his face, he defired him to exhibit Polyphemus's dance; that he had no occafion for a mafque, or the tragic bufkins. Cicirrus retorted largely to these : he asked, whether he had consecrated his chain to the houfhold Gods, according to his vow: tho' he was a fcribe, he told him, his mistress's property in him was not the less on that account. Laftly, he asked, how he ever came to run away; fuch a lank, meagre fellow, for whom * a pound of corn a-day would be more than fufficient. In short, we were fo diverted, that we continued that fupper to an unusual length. From hence we proceeded straight on for Beneventum; where the bustling landlord almost burnt himfelf, in roasting fome lean thrushes for the fire falling through the old kitchen floor, the fpreading flame made a great progrefs towards the highest part of the roof. Then you might have feen the hungry guests and frighten'd flaves fnatching their fupper out of the flames, and every body endeavouring to extinguish the fire. After this Apulia began to discover to me her † well-known mountains, which the Atabulus scorches with his blafts: and through which we fhould never have crept, unless the neighbouring village of Trivicus had received us, but not without a smoke that brought tears in our eyes; occafioned by a hearth's burning fome green boughs with the leaves upon them. Here, like a great fool as I was, I wait till midnight for a deceitful mistress: fleep, however, overcomes me, whilst meditating love and difagreeable dreams make me afhamed of myself and every thing about me. From hence we were bowled away in chaifes twentyfour miles, intending to stop at a little town, which By the laws of the twelve tables, flaves are allowed a pound of corn a day each. + Apulia was Horace's native country. Signis perfacile eft. venit viliffima rerum Inde Rubos feffi pervenimus; utpote longum Dum flamma fine, thura liquefcere limine facro 90 95 100 Non cgo. namque Deos didici fecurum agere ævum; Brundufium longæ finis chartaeque viæque eft. SATYRA one cannot name in a * verfe, but is easily enough known by defcription. For water is fold here, though it is the worst in the world; but their bread is exceeding fine, infomuch that the wary traveller is used to carry it willingly on his fhoulders; for the bread at Canufium is gritty; a pitcher of water is worth no more than it is here; which place was formerly built by the valiant Diomedes. Here Varius departs dejected from his weeping friends. From hence we came to Rubi very much fatigued; because we made a long journey, and it was ftill render'd more troublesome by the rains. Next day the weather was better, but the road worfe, even to the very walls of Barium that abound in fish. In the next place Egnatia, which feems to have been built on troubled waters, gave us occafion for jefts and laughter; for they wanted to perfuade us, that at this facred portal the incenfe melted without the help of fire. The Jew Apella may believe this, not I. For I learned from Epicurus that the Gods dwell in a state of tranquillity; nor, if nature effect any wonder, that the anxious Gods fend it from the high canopy of the hea vens. Brundufium ends both my long journey and my paper. * Æquotaticum was the town, whofe name cannot ftand in a hexameter verfe. + There are two meanings in the original iratis lymphis, &c. The firft jays, the town was built in despite of the waters, as if they were offended at its being built. The fecond, that its inhabitants were vifionaries, lunatics, LYMPHATICI, Francis.----But there is a third interpretation, which seems more plausible, viz. that the water was very bad at this place. Or, the circumcifed Jew. AD SATYRA VI. MECENATE M. De vera nobilitate. ON, quia, Macenas, Lydorum quidquid Etrufcus Incoluit fines, nemo generofior eft te; Nec quod avus tibi maternus fuit atque paternus, Olim qui magnis (a) legionibus imperitarint; Ut plerique folent, nafo fufpendis adunco Ignotos, ut me libertino patre natum : Cum referre negas, quali fit quifque parente Natus, dum ingenuus. perfuades hoc tibi vere, Ante poteftatem Tulli, atque ignobile regnum, Multos fæpe viros nullis majoribus ortos 10 Et vixiffe probos, amplis et honoribus auctos: Qui ftupet in titulis et imaginibus. quid oportet (a) Legionibus imperitarent. (b) Regno pulfus fuit. (c) Longe lateque remotos. Quam Mæcenas, neither, tho', of all the * Lydians that ever inhabited the Tuscan territories, no one is of a nobler family than yourself: neither tho' you have ancestor's both on father and mother's fide, that in times past have had the command of great armies; do you, as the generality are wont, tofs up your nose at obfcure people, fuch as me, who had only a freed-man for my father: fince you deny that it is of any confequence, of what parents any man is born, fo that he be a man of merit. You perfuade yourself with great truth, that before the dominion of Tullius, and the reign of one born a flave, frequently numbers of men defcended from ancestors of no rank, have both lived with the reputation of men of merit, and have been distinguished by the greatest honours: while on the other hand Lævinus, the defcendant of that famous Valerius, by whofe means Tarquinius Superbus fled, being expelled from his kingdom, was not a farthing more esteemed on account of his family, even in the judgment of the people, whofe difpofition you are perfectly acquainted with; and who frequently foolishly bestow honours on the unworthy, and are, out of their ftupidity, flaves to a name; who are ftruck with admiration by infcriptions and statues. What then is fitting for us to do, who are far, very far removed from the vulgar in our Sentiments? For grant it, that the people had rather confer a dignity on Lævinus, than on Decius, *There is a tradition that the Lydians under Tyrrhenus, the son of Hercules, came into Italy, and poffeffed themselves of Tuscany. + Ignoble, because Servius Tullius was the fon of a female captive. |