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SATIRE II.

ARGUMENT.

In the course of this Satire, which seems to have given occasion to the Tenth Satire of Juvenal, Persius mentions the impious and hurtful requests which men make, as well as the bad means which they employ to have their wishes fulfilled. The whole of this Satire is very grave, weighty, and instructive; and, like that of Juvenal, contains sentiments, more like a Christian than an heathen.

Bishop Burnet says, that "this Satire may well pass for one "of the best lectures in divinity."

TO PLOTIUS MACRINUS.

THIS day, Macrinus, number with a better stone,
Which, white, adds to thee sliding years.

Pour out wine to your genius. You do not ask with merce

nary prayer,

Which you cannot commit unless to remote gods;

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would not take away life on the day which they received it. They supposed a genius not only to preside at their birth, but to attend and protect them constantly through their life; therefore, on other days, they sacrificed beasts to their genii. Hence HoR. lib. ii. ode xvii. 1. 14-16.

-Cras genium mero Curabis, et porco bimestri, Cum famulis operum solutis. The libation of wine on their birthday was attended also with strewing flowers. The former was an emblem of cheerfulness and festivity: the latter, from their soon fading, of the frailty and shortness of human life.

HOR. epist. i. lib. ii. l. 143, 4. Tellurem porco, Sylvanum lucte piabant,

Floribus et vido genium, memorem brevis

ævi.

3. Mercenary prayer.] Emaci, from emo, to buy-i. e. with a prayer, with which, as with a bribe, or reward, you were to purchase what you pray for.

4. Which you cannot commit, &c.] Which you must offer to the gods in secret, and as if the gods were taken aside, that nobody but themselves should hear what you say to them.

Committere, here, has the sense of→→ to intrust, to impart.

At bona pars procerum tacitâ libabit acerrâ.

Haud cuivis promptum est, murmurque humilesque susurros Tollere de templis, et aperto vivere voto.

Mens bona, fama, fides;' hæc clare, et ut audiat hospes.

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Illa sibi introrsum, et sub linguâ immurmurat, 'O si
Ebullît patrui præclarum funus !—et, O si

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Sub rastro crepet argenti mihi seria, dextro

Hercule!-Pupillumve utinam, quem proximus hæres

Impello, expungam! namque est scabiosus, et acri
Bile tumet-Nerio jam tertia ducitur uxor.'
Hæc sancte ut poscas, Tiberino in gurgite mergis
Mane caput, bis, terque; et noctem flumine
purgas.
Heus age, responde; minimum est quod scire laboro :

5. A good part.] A great many, a large portion.

So HOR. lib. i. sat. i. 1. 61. Bona pars hominum; a good many, as we say.

5. Tacit censer.] Acerra properly sig. nifies the vessel, or pan, in which the incense is burnt in sacrifice: they said their prayers as the smoke of the incense ascended; but these nobles spake so low, as not to be heard by others, so that the incense seemed silently to ascend, unaccompanied with any words of prayer. This seems to be the meaning of tacita libabit acerra. In short, their petitions were of such a nature, that they cared not to utter them loud enough for other people to hear them; they themselves were ashamed of them.

6. It is not easy, &c.] As times go, people are not very ready to utter their wishes and prayers publicly, and to remove from the temples of the gods those inward murmurs and low whispers in which their impious petitions are delivered.

7. And to live, &c.] i. e. To make it their practice to utter their vows and prayers openly, in the sight and hearing of all.

8. A good, mind, reputation,' &c.] These things, which are laudable and commendable, and to be desired by virtuous people, these they will ask for with a clear and audible voice, so that any stander-by may hear them perfectly. 9. Those, &c.] i. e. Those things that follow (which are impious and scandalous) and which he does not care should be heard by others, he mutters inwardly.

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-Under his tongue.] Keeps them within his mouth, fearing to let them pass his lips.

10. The pompous funeral."] One prays for the death of a rich uncle."

-Bubble up.'] i. e. Appear in all its pomp. Ebullit, for ebullierit-metaph. from water when boiling up, which swells, as it were, and runs over.

11. A pot of silver,' &c.] Another prays that he may find a vessel of hidden treasure, as he is raking his field. See HoR. lib. ii. sat. vi. 1. 10.

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Hercules,' &c.] He was supposed to preside over hidden treasures.

12. Or my ward, &c.] If it were not to be his lot to have his avarice gratified by finding hidden treasure, yet, says this covetous suppliant, "I have a rich or

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phan under my care, to whom I am "heir at law, O that I could but put him "out of the way!" Expungam-blot him out.

13. Impel.'] A metaph. taken from one wave driving on another, and succeeding in its place.

He is scabby,' &c.] Here is an instance of the petitioner's hypocrisy-he pretends not to wish his pupil's death, that he might inherit his estate, but out of compassion to an unhealthy young man; pretends to wish him dead, that he may be released from his sufferings, from his scrophulous disorders.

14. A third wife,' &c.] Another prays for the death of his wife, that he may be possessed of all she has, and that he may get a fresh fortune by marrying again. He thinks it very hard that he can't get rid of one, when Ne

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But a good part of our nobles will offer with tacit censer. It is not easy to every one, their murmur, and low whispers To remove from the temples, and to live with open prayer. 'A good mind, reputation, fidelity;' these clearly, that a stranger may hear.

Those inwardly to himself and under his tongue he mutters'O if

The pompous funeral of my uncle might bubble up? O if 10 • Under my rake a pot of silver might chink, Hercules being ' propitious

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To me! or my ward, whom I the next heir

Impel, I wish I could expunge! for he is scabby, and with sharp

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'Bile he swells. A third wife is already married by Nerius.' That you may ask these things holily, in the river Tiber you dip

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Your head in the morning two or three times, and purge the night with the stream.

Consider, mind, answer, (it is a small thing which I labour to know,)

rius, the usurer, has been so lucky as to bury two, and is now possessed of a third. On the death of the wife, her fortune went to the husband; even what the father had settled out of his estate, if his daughter survived him.

15. That you may ask, &c.] That the gods may be propitious, and give a favourable answer to your prayers, you leave no rite or ceremony unobserved, to sanctify your person, and render yourself acceptable.

-In the river Tiber, &c.] It was a custom among the ancients, when they had vows or prayers to make, or to go about any thing of the religious or sacred kind, to purify themselves by washing in running water.

Attrectare nefas, donec me fiumine vivo Abluero- See Æn. ii. 1. 719, 20. Hence the Romans washed in the river Tiber-sometimes the head, sometimes the hands, sometimes the whole body.

-You dip.] Or put under water. Those who were to sacrifice to the infernal gods only sprinkled themselves with water; but the sacrifices to the heavenly deities plunged themselves into the river, and put their heads under wa

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gaudet.

VIRG. ecl. viii. 1. 73-5; and note there, 75. Delph. See G. i. 345.

-Purge the night, &c.] After nocturnal pollution they washed. Comp. Deut. xxiii. 10, 11. The ancients thought themselves polluted by the night itself, as well as by bad dreams in the night, and therefore purified themselves by washing their hands and heads every morning, which custom the Turks observe to this day.

17. Consider, mind, &c.] The poet, having stated the impiety of these worshippers, now remonstrates with them

De Jove quid sentis?-Estne ut præponere cures
Hunc Cuiquam!-Cuinam? vis Staio? an, scilicet, hæres ?
Quis potior judex? puerisve quis aptior orbis?
Hoc igitur, quo tu Jovis aurem impellere tentas,
Dic agedum Staio. Proh Jupiter! O bone, clamet,
Jupiter!-At sese non clamet Jupiter ipse?
Ignovisse putas, quia, cum tonat, ocyus ilex
Sulfure discutitur sacro, quam tuque domusque?
An, quia non fibris ovium, Ergennâque jubente,
Triste jaces lucis, evitandumque bidental,
Idcirco stolidam præbet tibi vellere barbam
Jupiter? Aut quidnam est, quâ tu mercede deorum
Emeris auriculas? pulmone, et lactibus unctis?

Ecce avia, aut metuens divûm matertera, cunis
Exemit puerum, frontemque, atque uda labella,
Infami digito, et lustralibus ante salivis

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19. To whom-] Do you prefer him? -Will you to Staius?] Will you prefer him to Staius?

-Do you doubt, &c.] Do you hesitate in determining? which is the best judge, or the best guardian of orphans, Jupiter or Staius? From this it appears, that this Staius was some notorious wretch, who had behaved ill in both these capacities.

22. Say it to Staius.] As you must allow Staius not comparable to Jupiter, but, on the contrary, a very vile and wicked man, I would have you, that you may judge the better of the nature of your petitions, propose to Staius what you have proposed to Jupiter-how would Staius receive it?

-O Jupiter! &c. would he cry.] Even Staius, bad as he is, would be shocked and astonished, and call on Jupiter for vengeance on your head.

23. And may not Jupiter, &c.] Think you that Jupiter then may not, with

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26. Bowels of sheep.] Offered in sacrifice by way of expiation.

-Ergenna.] Ergennas was the name of some famous soothsayer, whose office it was to divine, by inspecting the entrails of the sacrifices.

27. A sad bidental.] When any person was struck dead by lightning, immediately the priest (aliquis senior qui publica fulgura condit, Juv. sat. vi. l. 586.) came and buried the body, enclosed the place, and erecting there an altar, sacrificed two two-year-old sheep (bidentes)

hence the word bidental is applied by authors, indifferently, to the sacrifice, to the place, or (as here) to the person.

In the groves.] Or woods, where the oak was rent with lightning, and where you remained unhurt. Comp. 1. 24, 5.

28. Jupiter offer you, &c.] Because you have hitherto escaped, do you imagine that you are at full liberty to insult Jupiter as you please, and this with impunity, and even with the divine permission and approbation?

Plucking or pulling a person by the beard was one of the highest marks of

What think you of Jove? is he, that you would care to prefer Him to any one? to whom? will you to Staius? what!-do you doubt?

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Who is the better judge? who the fittest for orphan children? This, therefore, with which you try to persuade the ear of Jove, Come, say it to Staius: O Jupiter! O good Jupiter! would he cry:

And may not Jupiter cry out upon himself?

Do

you think him to have forgiven, because, when he thunders, the oak sooner

Is thrown down, by the sacred sulphur, than both you, and your house?

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Or because, with the bowels of sheep, Ergenna commanding, You do not lie a sad, and to-be-avoided bidental, in the groves, Therefore does Jupiter offer you his foolish beard to pluck? Or what is it? with what reward hast thou bought the ears Of the gods? with lungs, and with greasy entrails?

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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 beforehand

contempt and insult that could be of fered-see sat. i. . 133, note; for the beard was cherished and respected as a mark of gravity and wisdom-see Juv. sat. xiv. 12, note; and Juv. vi. 1. 15, 16. 29. Or what is it?] i. e. What hast thou done, that thou art in such high favour with the gods?

-With what reward, &c.] With what bride hast thou purchased the divine attention?

30. With lungs.] Contemptuously put here, per meton. for any of the larger intestines of beasts offered in sacrifice.

—And with greasy entrails.] Lactes signifies the small guts, through which the meat passeth first out of the stomach: perhaps so called from the lacteals, or small vessels, the mouths of which open into them to receive the chyle, which is of a white or milky colour. The poet says, unctis lactibus, because they are surrounded with fat.

The poet mentions these too in a sneering way, as if he had said, "What! "do you think that you have corrupted "the gods with lungs and guts ?"

31. Lo! a grandmother, &c.] The poet now proceeds to expose the folly of those

prayers which old women make for childreň.

-An aunt.] Matertera-quasi mater altera-the mother's sister, the aunt on the mother's side, as amita is on the father's side.

-Fearing the gods.] Metuens divûmsuperstitious; for all superstition proceeds from fear and terror; it is therefore that superstitious people are called in Greek δεισιδαιμονες, from δείδω, to fear, and day, a dæmon, a god. See Acts xvii. 22.

32. His forehead, &c.] Persius here ridicules the foolish and superstitious rites which women observed on these occasions.

First, after having taken the infant out of the cradle, they, before they began their prayers, wetted the middle finger with spittle, with which they anointed the forehead and lips of the child, by way of expiation, and preservative against magic.

-Wet lips. i. e. Of the child, which are usually wet with drivel from the inouth.

33. Infamous finger.] The middle finger, called infamis, from its being made

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