SATIRE XV. ARGUMENT. death on thousands of innocent people, for no other crime than a difference of opinion in religious matters. MARSHALL, in his note on line 36, thus expresses himself"Hinc simultas et odium utrique populo oriebantur, nempe "ex diversitate religionum, quae in mundo etiam Christiano, "Di boni! quantas strages excitavit !" The attentive reader of this Satire will find a lively exhibition of those principles which actuate bigots of all religions, zealots of all persuasions; and which, as far as they are permitted, will always act uniformly against the peace and happiness of mankind. He may amuse himself with allegorizing the Ombites and Tentyrites into emblems of blind zeal and party rage, which no other bounds than want of power have kept from desolating the earth. WHO knows not, Bithynian Volusius, what monstrous things A golden image of a sacred monkey shines, Where the magic chords resound from the half Memnon, a great destroyer of serpents. AINSW. 5 See Memnon, a king of Ethiopia, who was slain by Achilles at the siege of Troy: this statue was made of hard marble, and with such art, that a lute, which was in its hand, would itself give a mu sical sound when the beams of the sun came upon it. 4. A golden image, &c.] In another part of Egypt, viz. at Thebes, they worship the image of a monkey made of gold. Cercopithecus is derived from the Gr. xgxos, a tail, and winxos, an ape. The difference between the ape and the monkey is, that the ape has no tail; the monkey has, and usually a very long one. 5. Magic chords, &c.] At Thebes, in Egypt, there was a colossal statue of Cambyses, king of Persia, ruined the city, and caused the statue to be broken about the middle, imagining the sound to proceed from some contrivance within, but nothing was found. From this time the music was thought to be magical. : Atque vetus Thebe centum jacet obruta portis. Strabo says, that he and others heard the music about one in the afternoon, but confesses he could not understand the cause. 6. Hundred gates.] At Thebes, in Egypt, there was an hundred gates; the city from thence was called Hecatompolis. This city was destroyed by Cambyses, who conquered Egypt. It was originally built by Busiris, the fabled son of Neptune. See sat. xiii. 1. 27, and note. 7. Sea-fish.] Coeruleos-because taken out of the sea, which, by reflecting the blue sky, appears of an azure or sky-blue colour. So VIRG. En. iii. 208. Adnixi torquent spumas, et cærula verrunt-i. e. æquora. See 8. Worship a dog.] They worship their god Anubis under this form. sat. vi. 533, note. -Nobody Diana.] They worship the hound, but not the huntress. Juvenal seems to mistake here, for Herodotus observes that Diana was worshipped in that country under the name of Bubastis; which adoration, under another name, might occasion this mistake. But see AINSW. Bubastis. 9. A sin to violate a leck, &c.] "Perhaps our poet here goes a little beyond the strict truth, to heighten the ridicule, though there might be possibly some foundation for such an opinion, from the scrupulous abstinence of some of that nation from particular vegetables, as len 10 15 20 tils, beans, and onions, the latter of which the priests abominated, as some pretend, because Dictys, who had been brought up by Isis, was drowned in seeking after them; or rather, because onions alone, of all plants, thrive when the moon is in the wane." See ANT. Univ. Hist. vol. i. p. 484. For the religion of Egypt, see also ib. p. 467, et seq.; and Abr. of Hutchinson, p. 122. 10. O holy nations, &c.] Meaning the various parts of Egypt, whose worship of leeks and onions he has just mentioned. This sarcasm is very natural after what he has said. 11. Every table, &c.] i. e. They never eat sheep, or lambs. 12. Offspring of a she-goat.] i.c. A kid. The hatred of the Egyptians to the Israelites, both as shepherds and as Hebrews, is supposed to have arisen from the latter killing and sacrificing these beasts, which were held sacred and worshipped in Egypt. See Gen. xliii. 32; and xlvi. 34. See ANT. Un. Hist. vol. iii. p. 333, b. 13. Human flesh.] Drop. lib. ii. c. 4. says, that in a time of famine in Egypt, when the Egyptians were sorely pressed with hunger, they spared their sacred animals, and ate the flesh of men. 13, 14. When Ulysses was telling, &c.] Ulysses, arriving at the island of Phæ acia, or Corcyra (now Corfu), was entertained by Alcinous the king, to whom he related his travels, And ancient Thebes lies overthrown with its hundred gates. It is a sin to violate a leek or onion, or to break them with a bite. 10 These deities! Every table abstains from animals bearing Laughter, as a lying babbler.—“Into the sea does nobody 15 20 "Would I have believed, or, struck by the slender wand of "Circe, 15, 16. Anger or laughter.] He recited such monstrous incredibilities, that no doubt he excited the spleen of some of the company, and the laughter of others. 16. Lying babbler.] Aretalogus (from arn and Loyos) signifies a talkative philosopher, who diverted great men at their tables by discourses on virtue. From hence this word has been frequently used for a talkative person, a jester, a buffoon. -Into the sea, &c.] The poet supposes one of the company, who heard the strange tales of Ulysses, when at the court of Alcinous, expressing himself as in an amaze, that nobody should take him and throw him into the sea for his strange lies. Abicit-i. e. abjicit. 17. Worthy of a true Charybdis.] He has told such a romance about a feigned whirlpool, which he calls Charybdis, in the Straits of Sicily, that he certainly deserves a real one for his pains. 18. Feigning huge Læstrygonians.] A rude and savage people near Formiæ, in Italy; they were like giants, and devoured men. See Odyss. *. -Cyclops.] These were represented as man-eaters. See Odyss.. Also VIRG. En. iii. 616, et seq. 19. Sooner Scylla, &c.] I can sooner believe his tales about Scylla, (the daughter of Phorcys, the father of the Gorgons,) who is said to be changed into a dangerous rock in the midway between Italy and Sicily. See VIRG. ecl. v. 74-7. -Concurring rocks, &c.] Called Cyaneæ, otherwise Symplegadæ, two rocks at a small distance from the Thracian Bosphorus, so close to one another, that they seem at a distance to be one; and, as one passeth by, he would think they dash against each other: they were therefore called Symplegadæ, from Gr. evv and wλnoow, to strike together. 20." Bags full of tempests."] When Ulysses arrived at the island of Eolus, that king of the winds inclosed the adverse ones in leathern bags, and hung them up in Ulysses's ship, leaving at liberty the west wind, which was favourable. But the companions of Ulysses untied the bags, being curious to know what they contained, and let out the adverse winds; immediately a tempest is raised, which drives the ship back to the Eolian isles, to the great displeasure of Eolus, who rejects Ülysses and his companions. They then sail to the Læstrygons, where they lose eleven ships, and, with one only remaining, proceed to the island of Circe. See Odyss. x. ad init. 21. Wand of Circe."] She was said to be the daughter of Sol and Perseis ; she was a sorceress. She poisoned her husband, the king of the Scythians, that she might reign alone; for which, being Et cum remigibus grunpisse Elpenora porcis. Solus enim hoc Ithacus nullo sub teste canebat. Nam scelus, a Pyrrhâ quanquam omnia syrmata volvas, Nullus apud Tragicos populus facit. Accipe nostro Dira quod exemplum feritas produxerit ævo. Inter finitimos vetus atque antiqua simultas, Immortale odium, et nunquam sanabile vulnus Ardet adhuc Ombos et Tentyra. Summus utrinque Inde furor vulgo, quod numina vicinorum expelled her kingdom, she went into Italy, and dwelt in a promontory called the Cape of Circe, whither Ulysses and his companions were driven, (see the last note, ad fin.) many of whom, by a touch of her magic wand, she turned into swine; at last, on entreaty, she restored them to their former shapes. 22." Elpenor."] One of Ulysses' companions. -"Swine-rowers."] The crew of the ship, who rowed her, were turned into swine, and grunted like that animal. In those days the ships were rowed with oars, as well as driven by sails. 23. "Has he thought," &c.] Has this Ulysses so mean an opinion of the Phæacians, as to imagine them so emptyheaded, so void of understanding, that they should receive such a pack of incredible stories, of bags, of tempests, &c. &c.? But even these are more probable, and sooner to be believed, than what he relates of the Læstrygons and Cyclops, as if they were man-eaters; this shocks all belief. 24. Thus deservedly, &c.] The above reflections would be very just, and proper for any one to make, unless he had drunk away his senses, and was incapable of distinguishing truth from falsehood. 25. Strong wine.] Temetum, a word signifying strong wine, from Gr. To pilu, vinum; whence μilure, to be drunk, So from temetum comes temulentus, drunken. See HOR. Epist. lib. ii. epist. ii. 1. 163. 25 30 35 25. Corcyræan urn.] Corcyra, an island in the Ionian sea, on the coast of Albania, anciently called Phæacia. So that the poet means the wine of that country, made by the Phæacians, who were famous for luxury. The urn signifies the vessel (or hogshead, as we call it) out of which they drew the wine, in order to drink it. 26. Ulysses related this, &c.] He told these stories entirely on his own credit, having no witness present to avouch the truth of what he said, therefore he might reasonably be disbelieved. -Related.] Canebat.-The word cano, when it signifies to relate or report, particularly applies to things uttered by poets, who do not always stick to truth, but indulge their fancies in strange improbabilities: it is therefore here well applied to Ulysses, when telling such stories to Alcinous. Why Ulysses was called Ithacus, see sat. x. 257, note 2. 27. We will relate, &c.] I shall now relate something very astonishing, not merely on my own authority, but which can be attested, as lately and publicly transacted. 27, 8. Junius being consul.] Some consule Vinco, others Junco; but no such name of a consul appears as Vincus, or Juncus. Junius Sabinus was consul with Domitian, an. U. C. 836, N. C. 84. The poet dates the time of his facts for the greater certainty. "Elpenor with his swine-rowers to have grunted. "Has he thought the Phæacian people are so empty headed?" 25 We will relate wonderful things, and lately done (Junius being Consul) upon the walls of warm Coptus; We the wickedness of the vulgar, and more grievous than all buskins: For wickedness, tho' you should turn over all the tragedies 30 What an example dire cruelty has produced in our time. 35 The highest fury in the vulgar, because the deities of their neighbours 28. Upon the walls, &c.] i. e. At Coptus-in the city. -Warm Coptus.] A metropolitan city of Egypt near the Nile, over which the sun at noon is vertical; therefore Juvenal calls it warm, or hot. He names the place, as well as the time, where the things happened which he is going to relate. 29. The vulgar.] I am not going to tell facts which relate to myself, or to any single individual, but what was committed by a whole people. -Than all buskins.] More grievous than is to be found in any tragedy. Cothurnus, the buskin worn by the actors of tragedy, is often, as here, used to denote tragedy itself, by meton. See sat. vi. 633-5, note. 30. For wickedness, &c.] i. e. Though you should turn over all the tragedies which have been written since the days of Deucalion and Pyrrha, when mankind were restored after the flood, you will find no poet representing a piece of barbarity, as the act of a whole people at once, as in the instance I am going to relate. -All the tragedies.] Syrmata were long garments used by actors in tragedy. Here by metonym. (like cothurnis in the preceding line,) put for tragedies. VOL. II. 31, 2. Hear what an example.] Now attend, and I will tell you my story, in which you will find an example which was the effect of the most savage barbarity, perpetrated in our days, not merely by an individual, but by a whole nation together. 33. Ancient grudge, &c.] Here the poet begins his narrative of the quarrels between the Ombites and the Tentyrites, two people of Egypt, who were neighbours, and who hated one another mortally, on account of their difference in religion. 35. On both sides.] They were, on each side, equally inveterate in their malice to each other. The word Tentyra, in this line, is in the accusative plur. and so afterwards, 1. 76. 36. The vulgar.] This rage of one people against the other spread itself not only among the chiefs, (1. 39.) but among the common people on both sides. -Because the deities, &c.] The Ombites abominated the objects of the Tentyrites' worship, and those of the Ombites were equally detested by the Tentyrites; neither allowing that there were any gods worthy of worship but their own. Their quarrel was on the score of Ꮓ |