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En, quid agis? siccas insana canicula messes

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Jamdudum coquit, et patulâ pecus omne sub ulmo est.
Unus ait comitum, Verumne? Itane? Ocius adsit
Huc aliquis. Nemon'?' Turgescit vitrea bilis:

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Finditur, Arcadia pecuaria rudere credas.

Jam liber, et bicolor positis membrana capillis,
Inque manus chartæ, nodosaque venit arundo.
Tum queritur, crassus calamo quod pendeat humor;
Nigra quod infusâ vanescat sepia lymphâ:
Dilutas, queritur, geminet quod fistula guttas.

O miser, inque dies ultra miser! huccine rerum
Venimus? at cur non potius, teneroque columbo
Et similis regum pueris, pappare minutum
Poscis; et iratus mamma, lallare recusas?

5. "Lo! what do you?"] What are you at why don't you get up?

-"The mad dog-star."] Canicula-a constellation, which was supposed to arise in the midst of summer, when the sun entered Leo; with us the dogdays. This is reckoned the hottest time in the year; and the ancients had a notion, that the influence of the dog-star occasioned many disorders among the human species, but especially madness in dogs.

Jam Procyon furit,

Et stella vesani Leonis,

Sole dies referente siccos.

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7. Fellow students.] This seems to be the meaning of comites in this place.

-"Quick," &c.] Let some of the servants come immediately, and bring my clothes, that I may get up.

8. "Is there nobody," &c.] Does nobody hear me call?

-Vitreous bile swells.] He falls into a violent passion at nobody's answering.

Horace speaks of splendida bilis, clear bile-i. e. furious-in opposition to the atra bilis, black bile, which produces melancholy. This is probably the meaning of vitrea, glassy, in this place.

9. "I am split."] Says the youth, HOR. ode xxix. lib. iii. 1. 18-20. with calling so loud for somebody to

Rabiosi tempora signi.

HOR. Sat. vi. lib. i. l. 126.

POPE.

The dog-star rages. 6." Long since is ripening."] They supposed that the intense heat, at that time of the year, was occasioned by the dog-star, which rose with the sun, and forwarded the ripening of the corn. The poets followed this vulgar error, which sprang from the rising of the dogstar when the sun entered into Leo; but this star is not the cause of greater heat, which is, in truth, only the effect of the particular situation of the sun at that

season.

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come to me

-"That you'd believe," &c.] You may well say you are ready to split, for you make such a noise, that one would think that all the asses in Arcadia were braying together, answers the philosopher. Eclipsis. Arcadia, a midland country of Peloponnesus, very good for pasture, and famous for a large breed of asses. See Juv. sat. vii. l. 160, note.

10. Now a book.] At last he gets out of bed, dresses himself, and takes up a book.

-Two-coloured purchment.] The students used to write their notes on parchment: the inside, on which they wrote, was white: the other side, being the outer side of the skin, on which the wool or hair grew, was of a yellow cast. See Juv. sat. vii. 1. 23, note.

-The hairs, &c.] The hairs, or wool, which grew on the skin, were scraped off, and the parchment smoothed, by rubbing it with a pumice-stone.

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"Lo! what do you? the mad dog-star the dry harvests $5 Long since is ripening, and all the flock is under the "spreading elm."

Says one of the fellow-students-" Is it true? Is it so? Quick let somebody

"Come hither-Is there nobody ?"-vitreous bile swells. "I am split;"-"that you'd believe the cattle of Arcadia to bray." Now a book, and two-coloured parchment, the hairs being laid aside,

10 And there comes into his hand paper, and a knotty reed. Then he complains that a thick moisture hangs from the pen: That the black cuttle-fish vanishes with water infused: He complains that the pipe doubles the diluted drops.

"O wretch! and every day more a wretch! to this pass 15 "Are we come? but why do you not rather, likethe tender dove, "And like the children of nobles, require to eat pap, "And angry at the nurse, refuse her to sing lullaby?"

11. Paper.] Charta signifies any material to write upon. The ancients made it of various things, as leaves, bark of trees, &c. and the Egyptians of the flag of the river Nile, which was called papyrus-hence the word paper. Charta Pergamena, i. e. apud Pergamum inventa (PLIN. Ep. xiii. 12.) signifies the parchment or vellum which they wrote upon, and which was sometimes indifferently called charta, or membrana. Comp. HOR. Sat. x. lib. i. 1. 4; and sat. iii. lib. ii. l. 2.

But charte here seems to mean paper of some sort, different from the membrana, 1. 10.

The lazy student now takes pen, ink, and paper, in order to write.

-A knotty reed.] A pen made of a reed, which was hollow, like a pipe, and grew full of knots, at intervals, on the stalk.

12. He complains, &c.] That his ink is so thick that it hangs to the nib of his pen.

13. Cuttle-fish, &c.] This fish dis. charges a black liquor, which the an. cients used as ink.

-Vanishes with water, &c.] He first complained that his ink was too thick: on pouring water into it, to make it thinner; he now complains that it is too thin, and the water has caused all the black ness to vanish away.

14. The pipe.] i. e. The pen made of

the reed.

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-Doubles the diluted drops.] Now the ink is so diluted, that it comes too fast from the pen, and blots his paper. All these are so many excuses for his unwillingness to write.

15. "O wretch!" &c.] The philosopher, hearing his lazy pupil contrive so many trivial excuses for idleness, exclaims-" O wretch, O wretched young "man, who art likely to be more "wretched every day you live!"

16. " Are we come," &c.] Are all my hopes of you, as well as those of your parents, who put you under my care, come to this!

Why do you not rather."] Than occasion all this expence and trouble about your education.

"The tender dove."] These birds were remarkably tender when youngthe old ones feed them with the halfdigested food of their own stomachs.

17." Children of nobles."] And of other great men, which are delicately nursed.

-"Require a eat pap."] Pappare is to eat pap as children. Minutus-a-um, signifies any thing lessened, or made smaller. Here it denotes meat put into a mother's or nurse's mouth, there chewed small, and then given to the child-as the dove to her young. Comp. the late note on 1. 16.

18. "Angry at the nurse."] The word

'An tali studeam calamo ?' Cui verba? Quid istas Succinis ambages? Tibi luditur: effluis amens. Contemnêre. Sonat vitium percussa, maligne Respondet, viridi non cocta fidelia limo.

Udum et molle lutum es; nunc, nunc properandus, et acri
Fingendus sine fine rotâ. Sed rure paterno

Est tibi far modicum; purum, et sine labe, salinum.
Quid metuas? cultrixque foci secura patella est.
Hoc satis? An deceat pulmonem rumpere ventis,
Stemmate quod Tusco ramum millesime ducis ;

mammæ here refers to the mother or nurse, which the children call mamma, as they called the father tata.

This well describes the fractiousness of an humoured and spoiled'child, which, because it has not immediately what it wants, flies into a passion with its nurse when she attempts to sing it to sleep, and will not suffer her to do it. See AINSW. Lallo.

The philosopher sharply reproves his idle pupil. Rather, says he, than come to school, you should have stayed in the nursery, and have shewn your childish perverseness there rather than here.

19. "Can I study with such a pen?"] The youth still persists in his frivolous excuses, totally unimpressed by all that his master has said " Blame the pen, "don't blame me-can any mortal write "with such a pen?"

-" Whom dost thou deceive?"] I should suppose, that cui verba is here elliptical, and that das, or existimas dare, is to be understood. Verba dare is to cheat or deceive; and here the philosopher is representing his pupil, who is framing trivial excuses for his unwillingness to study, as a self-deceiver-tibi luditur, saith he, in the next line.

19, 20. "Those shifts."] Ambagesshifts, prevaricating, shuffling excuses.

20. "Repeat."] Succinis.-The verb succino signifies to sing after another, to follow one another in singing or saying-here properly used, as expressing the repetition of his foolish excuses, which followed one another, or which he might be said to repeat one after the other.

-"'Tis you are beguiled."] Luditur here is used impersonally; as concurritur, HoR. sat. i. lib. i. 1. 7.

-"Thoughtless you run out."] Amens

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foolish, silly, out of one's wits (from a priv. and mens)-so, unthinking, without thought. You run out-effluis— metaph. from a bad vessel, out of which the liquor leaks. You, foolish and unthinking as you are, are wasting your time and opportunity of improvement, little thinking, that, like the liquor from a leaky vessel, they are insensibly passing away from you-your very life is gliding away, and you heed it not.

21. "You'll be despised."] By all sober, thinking people.

-"A pot," &c.] Any vessel, made of clay that is not well tempered-viridi limo, which is apt to chap and crack in the fire-non cocta, not baked as it ought to be-will answer badly, when sounded by the finger, and will proclaim, by its cracked and imperfect sound, its defects.

Thus will it be with you, none will ever converse with you, or put you to the proof, but you will soon make them sensible of your deficiency in wisdom and learning, and be the object of their contempt.

23. "Wet and soft clay."] The poet still continues the metaphor.

As wet and soft clay will take any impression, or be moulded into any shape, so may you; you are young, your understanding flexible, and impressible by in

struction

-idoneus arti

Cuilibet: argilla quidvis imitaberis udá. HOR. epist. ii. lib. ii. 1. 7, 8. -"Hasten'd."] Now, now you are young, you are to lose no time, but immediately to be begun with.

24. "Formed incessantly," &c.] The metaphor still continues. As the wheel of the potter turns, without stopping, till the piece of work is finished, so ought

"Can I study with such a pen ?" "Whom dost thou de

"ceive? Why those

"Shifts do you repeat? "Tis you are beguiled: thoughtless 66 you run out.

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"You'll be despised. A pot, the clay being green, not baked,

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"Badly, being struck, it sounds its fault.

"You are wet and soft clay; now, now you are to be hasten'd, "And to be formed incessantly with a brisk wheel. But in your paternal estate

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"You have a moderate quantity of corn, and a salt-cellar pure "and without spot.

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"What can you fear? and you have a dish a secure worship66 per of the hearth."

"Is this enough? Or may it become you to break your lungs " with wind,

"Because you, a thousandth, derive a branch from a Tuscan "stock;

it to be with you; you ought to be taught incessantly, till your mind is formed to what it is intended, and this with strict discipline, here meant by acri

rota.

24." Paternal estate," &c.] But perhaps you will say, "Where is the occasion for all this?-I am a man of fortune, " and have a sufficient income to live in independency; therefore why all this "trouble about learning?"

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25." Moderate quantity," &c.] Far signifies all manner of corn which the land produces; here, by metonym. the land itself-far modicum, a moderate estate, a competency.

-"A salt cellar without spot."] The ancients had a superstition about salt, and always placed the salt-cellar first on the table, which was thought to consecrate it if the salt was forgotten, it was looked on as a bad omen. The saltcellar was of silver, and descended from

father to son see HoR. ode xvi. lib. ii. 1. 13, 14.-But here the salinum, per synec. seems to stand for all the plate which this young man is supposed to have inherited from his father, which he calls purum and sine labe, either from the pureness of the silver, or from the care and neatness with which it was kept, or from the honest and fair means by which the father had obtained that and all the rest of his possessions.

26. "What can you fear?]-Say you who are possessed of so much property?

-"You have a dish," &c.] Patellaa sort of deep dish, with broad brims, used to put portions of meat in that were given as sacrifice.

Before eating, they cut off some part of the meat, which was first put into a pan, then into the fire, as an offering to the Lares, which stood on the hearth, and were supposed the guardians of both house and land, and to secure both from harm: hence the poet says-cultrix secura.

q. d. You have not only a competent estate in lands and goods, but daily worship the guardian gods, who will therefore protect both-what need you fear?

27. "Is this enough?"] To make you happy.

"May it become you."] Having reason, as you may think, to boast of your pedigree, can you think it meet

"To break your lungs," &c.] To swell up with pride, till you are ready to burst, like a man that draws too much air at once into his lungs.

28. "A thousandth, derive," &c.] Mil. lesime, for tu millesimus, antiptosis; like trabeate, for tu trabeatus, in the next line-because you can prove yourself a branch of some Tuscan family, a thousand off from the common stock.-The Tuscans were accounted of most ancient nobility, Horace observes this, in most

Censoremve tuum vel quod trabeate salutas?
Ad populum phaleras: ego te intus, et in cute, novi.
Non pudet ad morem discincti vivere Nattæ ?
Sed stupet hic vitio; et fibris increvit opimum
Pingue: caret culpâ: nescit quid perdat: et alto
Demersus, summâ rursus non bullit in undâ.
Magne pater divûm, sævos punire tyrannos
Haud aliâ ratione velis, cum dira libido
Moverit ingenium, ferventi tincta veneno:
• Virtutem videant, intabescantque relictâ.'
Anne magis Siculi gemuerunt æra juvenci;
Et magis, auratis pendens laquearibus, ensis
Purpureas subter cervices terruit, 'imus,

of his compliments to Mæcenas, who was derived from the old kings of Tuscany. See ode i. lib. i. 1. 1, et al. freq.

29. "Censor," &c.] The Roman knights, attired in the robe called trabea, were summoned to appear before the censor (see AINSW. Censor), and to salute him in passing by, as their names were called over. They led their horses in their hand.

Are you to boast, says the philosopher to his pupil, because the censor is your relation (tuum), and that when you pass in procession before him, with your knight's robe on, you may claim kindred with him?

30. "Trappings to the people"] q. d. These are for the ignorant vulgar to admire. The ornaments of your dress you may exhibit to the mob; they will be pleased with such gewgaws, and respect you accordingly.

The word phaleræ-arum, signifies trappings, or ornaments, for horses; also a sort of ornament worn by the knights: but these no more ennobled the man, than those did the horse.

-"I know you intimately," &c.] Inside and out, as we say; therefore you can't deceive me.

31. "Does it not shame you," &c.] Do you feel no shame at your way of life, you that are boasting of your birth, fortune, and quality, and yet leading the life of a low profligate mechanic?

Natta signifies one of a sorry, mean occupation, a dirty mechanic. But here the poet means somebody of this name, or at least who deserves it by his profli

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gate and worthless character. See HoR. sat. vi. lib. i. I. 124; and Juv. sat. viii. 1. 95.

32. " He is stupified with vice."] He has not all his faculties clear, and capable of discernment, as you have, therefore is more excusable than you are. By long contracted habits of vice he has stupified himself.

"Fat hath increased," &c.] Pingue, for pinguedo. These words are, I con ceive, to be taken in a moral sense; and by fibris, the inwards or entrails, is to be understood the mind and understanding, the judgment and conscience, the inward man, which, like a body overwhelmed with fat, are rendered torpid, dull, and stupid, so as to have no sense and feeling of the nature of evil remaining. See Ps. cxix. 70, former part.

33. "He is not to blame."] i. e. Comparatively. See Juv. sat. ii. 1. 15—19.

-"He knows not," &c.] He is insensible of the sad consequences of vice, such as the loss of reputation, and of the comforts of a virtuous life. He has neither judgment to guide him, nor conscience to reprove him.

34. "Overwhelmed."] Sunk into the very depths of vice, like one sunk to the bottom of the sea.

-“ Bubble again," &c.] i. e. He does not emerge, rise up again. Metaph. from divers, who plunge to the bottom of the water, and, when they rise again, make a bubbling of the surface as they approach the top.

Therefore, O young man, beware of imitating, by thine idleness and mis

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