And a grey throat shewing him. When the seventh year 10 Has passed over the boy, all his teeth not as yet renewed, Tho' you should place a thousand bearded masters there, Here as many, he would desire always to sup with a Sumptuous preparation, and not to degenerate from a great kitchen. Does Rutilus teach a meek mind and manners, kind to small errors, 15 19 And the souls of slaves, and their bodies, does he think Delight? Do you expect that the daughter of Larga should not be souls are made up of the same elements as ours, who are their masters? Does he suppose them to be of the same flesh and blood, and to have reasonable souls as well as himself? Sat. vi. 221. 18. Or does he teach to be cruel.] Instead of setting an example of meekness, gentleness, and forbearance, does he not teach his children to be savage and cruel, by the treatment which he gives his slaves. 18, 19. In the bitter sound of stripes.] He takes a pleasure in hearing the sound of those bitter stripes, with which he punishes his slaves. 19. Compares no Siren, &c.] The song of a Siren would not, in his opinion, be so delightful to his ears, as the crack of the whips on his slaves' backs. 20. The Antiphates and Polyphemus, &c.] Antiphates was a king of savage people near Formiæ, in Italy, who were eaters of man's flesh. Polyphemus the Cyclops lived on the same diet. See VIRG. Æn. iii. 620, et seq. Rutilus is here likened to these two monsters of cruelty, insomuch as that he was the terror of the whole family, which is the sense of laris in this place. 21. Then happy.] It was a matter of joy to him. -As often as any onc.] i. e. Of his slaves. 25 -The tormentor, &c.] Comp. sat. vi. 479, and note. 22. Is burnt, &c.] Burnt with an hot iron on his flesh, for some petty theft, as of two towels or napkins. These the Romans wiped with after bathing. 23. What can he advise, &c.] What can a man, who is himself so barbarous, as to be affected with the highest pleasure at hearing the rattling of fetters, when put on the legs or bodies of his slaves what can such a father persuade his son to, whom he has taught so ill by his example? In 24. Branded slaves-a rustic prison.] Ergastulum-lit. signifies a workhouse, a house of correction, where they confined and punished their slaves, and made them work. Sometimes (as here, and sat. vi. 150.) it means a slave. scriptus-a-um, signifies marked, branded; inscripta ergastula, branded slaves; comp. 1. 22, note. g. d. Whom the sight of slaves branded with hot irons, kept in a workhouse in the country, where they are in fetters (1. 23.) and which is therefore to be looked on as a country-gaol, affects with wonderful delight. We may suppose the ergastula something like our bridewells. 25. Larga.] Some famous lady of that day; here put for all such characters. Filia, quæ nunquam maternos dicere mœchos Corrumpunt vitiorum exempla domestica, magnis Forsitan hæc spernant juvenes, quibus arte benignâ, Sed reliquos fugienda patrum vestigia ducunt; 25. Should not be, &c.] When she has the constant bad example of her mother before her eyes. Comp. sat. vi. 239, 240. 26. Who never, &c.] Who could never repeat the names of all her mother's gallants, though she uttered them as fast as possibly she could, without often taking breath before she got to the end of the list, so great was the number. Comp. sat. x. 223, 4. 28. Privy, &c.] She was a witness of all her mother's lewd proceedings, and was privy to them; which is the meaning of conscia in this place. See sat. iii. 1. 49. 29. Now.] i. e. Now she is grown something bigger, she does as her mother did. -She dictating.] The mother instructing, and dictating what she shall say. -Little tablets.] Cerna signifies wax, but as they wrote on thin wooden tablets smeared over with wax, ceras, per met. means the tablets or letters themselves. See sat. i. 1. 63. Some understand by ceras pusillas, small tablets, as best adapted to the size of her hand, and more proper for her age, than large ones. As the boy (1. 5.) had a little dice-box to teach her gaming, so this girl begins with a little ta 350 35 40 blet, in order to initiate her into the science of intrigue. But, perhaps, by pusillas ceras the poet means what the French would call petits billets-doux. 30. She fills.] i. e. Fills with writing. -The same pimps, &c.] Cinædus is a word of detestable meaning; but here cinædis seems to denote pimps, or people who go between the parties in an intrigue. The daughter employs the same messengers that her mother did, to carry her little love-letters. 31. So nature commands, &c.] Thus nature orders it, and therefore it naturally happens, that examples of vice, set by those of our own family, corrupt the soonest. 32. When they possess minds, &c.] When they insinuate themselves into the mind, under the influence of those who have a right to exercise authority over us. See AINSW. Auctor, No. 6. 33. One or two.] Unus et alter---here and there one, as we say, may be found as exceptions, and who may reject, with due contempt, their parents' vices, but then they must be differently formed from the generality. 34. By a benign art, &c.] Prometheus, one of the Titans, was feigned by the poets, to have formed men of clay, and An adulteress, who never could say over her mother's gallants, So quickly, nor could join them together with so much speed, As that she must not take breath thirty times? privy to her mother Was the virgin: now, she dictating, little tablets She fills, and gives them to the same pimps to carry to the gallant. 30 So nature commands; more swiftly and speedily do domestic 35 But the footsteps of their fathers which are to be avoided, lead the rest, And the path of old wickedness, long shewn, draws them. Abstain therefore from things which are to be condemned: for of this at least There is one pow'rful reason, lest those who are begotten by us Should follow our crimes; for in imitating base and wicked 40 Things we are all docile; and a Catiline You may see among every people, in every clime : But neither will Brutus, nor uncle of Brutus, be any where. Nothing filthy, to be said, or seen, should touch these thresholds, put life into them by fire stolen from heaven. The poet here says, that, if one or two young men are found who reject their father's bad example, it must be owing to the peculiar favour of Prometheus, who, by a kind exertion of his art, formed their bodies, and particularly the parts about the heart (præcordia), of better materials than those which he employed in the formation of others. 36. Footsteps, &c.] As for the common run of young men, they are led, by the bad example of their fathers, to tread in their fathers' steps, which ought to be avoided. 37. Path of old wickedness, &c.] And the beaten track of wickedness, constantly before their eyes, draws them into the same crimes. 38. Abstain therefore, &c.] Refrain therefore from ill actions; at least we should do this, if not for our own sakes, yet for the sake of our children, that they may not be led to follow our vicious examples, and to commit the same crimes which they have seen in us. 40. In imitating, &c.] Such is the condition of human nature, that we are all more prone to evil than to good, and, for this reason, we are easily taught to imitate the vices of others. 41. A Catiline, &c.] See sat. viii. 231. Vicious characters are easily to be met with, go where you may. 43. Brutus.] M. Brutus, one of the most virtuous of the Romans, and the great assertor of public liberty. -Uncle of Brutus.] Cato of Utica, who was the brother of Servilia, the mother of Brutus, a man of severe virtue. So prone is human nature to evil, so inclined to follow bad example, that a virtuous character, like Brutus or Cato, is hardly to be found any where, while profligate and debauched characters, like Catiline, abound all the world over; this would not be so much the case, if pa rents were more careful about the examples which they set their children. 44. Filthy.] Indecent, obscene. -Should touch, &c.] Should approach those doors, where there are children, lest they be corrupted. Therefore 45 Intra quæ puer est. Procul hinc, procul inde puellæ Lenonum, et cantus pernoctantis parasiti. Maxima debetur puero reverentia. Si quid Turpe paras, ne tu pueri contempseris annos : Nam si quid dignum Censoris fecerit irâ, 50 (Quandoquidem similem tibi se non corpore tantum, Nec vultu dederit, morum quoque filius,) et cum 45. Far from hence, &c.] Hence far away, begone; a form of speech made use of at religious solemnities, in order to hinder the approach of the profane. SO HORACE, lib. iii. ode i. l. 1, when he calls himself musarum sacerdos, says, Odi profanum vulgus et arceo. VIRG. En. vi. 258, 9, makes the Sibyl say: -Procul, O procul este profani 45, 6. Girls of bawds.] The common prostitutes, who are kept by common panders, or pimps, for lewd purposes. 46. The nightly parasite.] Pernoctans signifies tarrying, or sitting up all night. The parasites, who frequently attended at the tables of great men, used to divert them with lewd and obscene songs, and for this purpose would sit up all night long. 47. Greatest reverence, &c.] People should keep the strictest guard over their words and actions, in the presence of boys; they cannot be under too much awe, nor shew too great a reverence for decency, when in their presence. 48. You go about, &c.] If you intend, or purpose, or set about, to do what is wrong, don't say, "There's nobody here "but my young son, I don't mind him, "and he is too young to mind me:”rather say, "My little boy is here, I 55 60 "will not hurt his mind by making him "a witness of what I purposed to do, "therefore I will not do it before "him." 50. Of the censor.] The censor of good manners, or morum judex, was an officer of considerable power in Rome, before whom offenders against the peace and good manners were carried and censured. Sat. iv. 1. 12. q. d. Now, if, in after times, your son should be taken before the censor, for some crime cognizable and punishable by him. 52. Shew himself, &c.] (For he will exhibit a likeness to his father, not in person, or face only, but in his moral behaviour and conduct; therefore, if you set him a bad example, you must not wonder that he follows it, and appears his father's own son in mind as well as in body.) 53. Offend the worse, &c.] And it is most probable, that following your steps has made him do worse than he otherwise would. 54. You will, &c.] You will call him to a severe account. Nimirum here is to be understood like our English-forsooth. -And chastise, &c.] You will be very loud and bitter in your reproaches of his bad conduct, and even have thoughts of 46 Within which is a boy. Far from hence, from thence the girls For if he shall do any thing worthy the anger of the censor, 50 Clamour, and after these, will prepare to change your will. 55 60 "Let one wipe the smooth silver, another the rough vessels:" disinheriting him, by changing your last will. See sat. ii. 58, tabulas. 56. Whence, &c.] With what confidence can you assume the countenance and authority of a father, so as freely to use the liberty of parental reproof? We may suppose sumas to be understood in this line. 57. When, &c.] When you, at an advanced age, do worse than the youth with whom you are so angry. -This head, &c.] When that brainless head of yours may, for some time, have wanted the cupping-glass to set it right-i. e. when you have for a long time been acting as if you were mad. 58. Ventose cupping-glass.] Cucurbita signifies a gourd, which, when divided in half, and scooped hollow, might, perhaps, among the ancients, be used as a cupping instrument. In after times they made their cupping instruments of brass, or horn, (as now they are made of glass,) and applied them to the head to relieve pains there, but particularly to mad people. The epithet ventosa, which signifies windy, full of wind, alludes to the nature of their operation, which is performed by rarifying the air which is within them, by the application of fire, on which the blood is forced from the scarified skin into the cupping-glass, by the pressure of the outward air; so that VOL. II. the air may be called the chief agent in this operation. The operation of cupping on the head in phrensies is very ancient. 59. A guest, &c.] When you expect a friend to make you a visit, you set all hands to work, in order to prepare your house for his reception. 60. " Sweep the pavement," &c.] "Sweep" (say you to your servants) "the floors clean- wipe the dust from "all the pillars." The Roman floors were either laid with stone, or made of a sort of mortar, or stucco, composed of shells reduced to powder, and mixed in a due consistency with water; this, when dry, was very hard and smooth. Hence, Britannicus observes, pavimentum was called ostraceum, or testaceum.-These floors are common in Italy to this day. The Romans were very fond of pillars in their buildings, particularly in their rooms of state and entertainment. See sat. vii. 182, 3. The architraves, and other ornamental parts of pillars, are very apt to gather dust. 61. "Dry spider," &c.] The spiders, which have been there so long as to be dead and dried up, sweep them, and all their cobwebs, down. 62." Smooth silver:"] The unwrought plate, which is polished and smooth. S |