Discrepet his alius. Geminos, Horoscope, varo Messe tenus propriâ vive; et granaria (fas est) Emole; quid metuas? occa, et seges altera in herbâ est. 'At vocat officium. Trabe ruptâ, Bruttia saxa • Prendit amicus inops: remque omnem, surdaque vota, 'Condidit Ionio: jacet ipse in littore, et una 18. Another may differ, &c.] However such may be my way of thinking, yet as there are Mille hominum species, et rerum discolor usus- See sat. v. 52. it is certain that others may differ from me in sentiments, with regard to these matters. O Horoscope.] Horoscopus here signifies the star that had the ascendant, and presided at one's nativity. q. d. Whatever astrologers may say, two persons, even twins, born under the same horoscope, are frequently seen to be produced with a different genius, or natural inclination. 19. There is, who, &c.] Of these twins, one of them shall be covetous and close, the other prodigal. One of them will grudge himself almost the common comforts of life. -On his birth-day.] This was usually observed as a time of feasting, and making entertainments for their friends. See Juv. sat. xi. 1. 83—5; and v. 1. 36, 7. 20. Wily.] Vafer-cunning, crafty. -Dip his dry herbs.] Olus -eris-any garden herbs for food-probably what we call a sallad. Instead of pouring oil, or other good dressing, over the whole, he, in order to have no waste, craftily contrived to dress no more than he ate, by dipping the herbs, as he took them up to eat, into a small cup of pickle: of this he had no store by him, but bought a little for the occasion. Muria was a kind of sauce, or pickle, made of the liquor of the tunny-fish—a very vile and cheap sauce. 20 25 Dispatches a great estate.] i. e. Makes an end of a large estate, by spending it profusely upon his gluttony and luxury. -I will use, &c.] For my part, says Persius, I will use what I have; I say use, not abuse it, either by avarice on the one hand, or by prodigality on the other. 23. Not therefore splendid, &c.] Not so sumptuous and costly, as to treat my freedmen, when they come to see me, with turbot for dinner-ideo, i. e. merely because I would appear splendid. 24. Nor wise to know, &c.] Nor yet indulge myself in gluttony, or cultivate a fine delicate palate, so as to be able to distinguish the small difference between one thrush and another. These birds, which we commonly translate thrushes, were in great repute Another may differ in these things: twins, O Horoscope, with a various Genius you produce. There is, who, only on his birth-day, With his tooth dispatches a great estate. I will use, I will use: Live up to your own harvest: and your granaries (it is right) Grind out. What can you fear?-Harrow-and another crop is in the blade. 26 "But duty calls. With broken ship, the Bruttian rocks "A poor friend takes hold of, and all his substance, and his "unheard vows : "He has buried in the Ionian himself lies on the shore, and "together [with him] as dainties. Some pretended to so nice a taste, as to be able to distinguish whether the bird they were eating was of the male or female kind, the juices of the latter being reckoned most relishing. I will use what I have, says Persius, but then it shall be in a rational moderate way; not running into needless extravagance, for fear of being reckoned covetous, or setting up for a connoisseur in eating, for fear of not being respected as a man of a delicate taste. 25. Your own harvest.] Equal your expences to your income. 26. Grind out.] Don't hoard, but live on what you have-use it all. Fas est -q. d. You may do it, and ought to do it. -What can you fear?] You have nothing to be afraid of; the next harvest will replace what you spend. Comp. Matt. vi. 34. -Harrow.] Occo is to harrow, to break the clods in a ploughed field, that the ground may lie even, and cover the grain. Here, by synec. it stands for all the operations of husbandry.-q. d. Plough, sow, harrow your land, and you may expect another crop.-Herba is the blade of any corn, which, when first it appears, is green, and looks like grass. "First the blade, then the ear, then "the full corn in the ear." Mark iv. 28. VOL. II. Persius was for Horace's auream mediocritatem (ode x. lib. ii. 1. 5—8.), neither for hoarding out of avarice, nor for exceeding out of profuseness. 27. But duty calls."] Aye, says a miser, all this is very well; but I may be called upon to serve a friend, and how can I be prepared for this if I spend my whole annual income? -" With broken ship."] Methinks, says the miser, who is supposing a case of a distressed friend methinks I see him ship-wrecked, and cast away on the Bruttian rocks, and seizing hold on a point of the rock to save himself. See Eneid vi. 360. Prensantemque uncis manibus capita aspera montis. Brutium, or Bruttium, was a promontory of Italy, near Rhegium, hod. Reggio, not far from Sicily, nigh to which there were dangerous rocks. 28. "His unheard vows."] Surdus means not only deaf, but also that which is not heard, It was usual for persons in distress at sea to make vows to some god, in order for their deliverance, that they would, if preserved, make such or such offerings on their arriving safe on shore. But, alas! the poor man's freight, and all the vows that be made, were all gone together to the bottom of the Ionian sea. The sea between Sicily and Crete was anciently so called. 2 T 6 Ingentes de puppe dei; jamque obvia mergis, 6 Negliget, iratus quod rem curtaveris: urnæ 'Ossa inodora dabit: seu spirent cinnama surdum, 'Seu ceraso peccent Casiæ, nescire paratus. Tune bona incolumis minuas?-Sed Bestius urget 'Doctores Graios: ita fit, postquam sapere urbi, 30. "The great gods from the stern."] The ancients had large figures of deities, which were fixed at the stern of the ship, and were regarded as tutelar gods. Aurato fulgebat Apolline puppis. VIRG. Æn. x. 171. The violence of the waves is supposed to have broken these off from the vessel, and thrown them on shore, whither also the man is supposed to have swum, and where he now lay. -"Sea-gulls."] Mergus is the name of several sea-birds, from their swimming and diving in the sea. Ainsworth says it particularly means the cormorant. The ribs of the ship were now torn open, and exposed to the birds of prey which haunted the sea, who might devour the dead bodies, or any provisions which were left on board. 31. The live turf, &c.] q. d. Now, upon such an occasion as this (which, however, is not so likely to happen to an individual of your acquaintance, as in the prospect of it, to be a pretence for not freely and hospitably spending the whole annual produce of your land) you may relieve your ruined friend by a sale of part of your land, supposing that you have none of the fruits of it left to help him with. Sell a piece of your land already sown, on which the blade is now springing up, and give the money to your friend who has lost his all; that is, do not stay till you have reaped, but help him immediately as his wants require. Cespes is a turf, a sod, or clod of earth, with the grass or other produce, as corn, &c. growing upon it; hence called vivus, living. So HoR. lib. i. ode xix. 1. 13. Hic vivum mihi cespitem, &c. And lib. iii. ode viii. 1. 3, 4. -Positusque carbo in Cespite vivo. Comp. Juv. sat. xii. 1. 2. 30 35 Hele cespite vivo is to be understood of the land itself, with the corn growing upon it. The image is taken from the idea of a man's taking up a sod, breaking off a piece of it, and giving it to another. 32, 3. Lest painted, &c.] See sat. i. 1. 89, note. The table, or plank, on which the story of the distress was painted, represented the sea, and therefore appeared of a seagreen colour. Hence Persius says, Сærulea tabula. 33." Your funeral supper," &c.] Prolepsis. Persius, who well knew the workings of avarice within the human mind, and how many excuses it would be making, in order to avoid the force of what he has been saying, here anticipates an objection, which might be made to what he last said, about selling part of one's estate, in order to relieve a shipwrecked friend. But perhaps you will say, that if you sell part of your land, and thus diminish the inheritance, your heir will be offended, and resent his having less than he expected, by not affording you a decent funeral. Horace says, epist. ii. lib. ii. 1. 191, 2. Nec metuam quid de me judicet hæres, Quod non plura datis invenerat-. It was usual at the funerals of rich people to make sumptuous entertainments, the splendour of which depended on the heir of the deceased, at whose expence they were given. These cœnæ ferales, or cœnæ funeris, were three-fold. 1st, A banquet was put on the funeral. pile, and burnt with the corpse. See Eneid vi. 222-5. 2dly, A grand supper was given to the friends and relations of the family. Cic. de Leg. lib. ii. "The great gods from the stern: and now obvious to the sea"gulls 30 "Are the sides of the torn ship."-Now even from the live turf Break something; bestow it on the poor man, lest he should wander about Painted in a cærulean table. "But your funeral supper your heir "Will neglect, angry that you have diminished your substance: "To the urn "He will give my unperfumed bones: whether cinnamons may "breathe insipidly, 35 "Or Casias offend with cherry-gum, prepared to be ignorant. "Safe can you diminish your goods?"-But Bestius urges The Grecian teachers: "So it is, after to the city, 3dly, A dish of provisions was deposited at the sepulchre. Ponitur exigua feralis cœna patellá. See Juv. sat. v. 1. 85, and note. This last was supposed to appease their manes. 35. " My unperfumed bones."] After the bodies of the rich were burnt on the funeral pile, the ashes containing their bones were usually gathered together, and put into an urn with sweet spices. "Whether cinnamons," &c.] Persius here names cinnamon and Casia, the latter of which he supposes to be sophisticated, for the sake of cheapness, with cherry-gum, or gum from the cherry-tree. The cinnamon, if true and genuine, is a fine aromatic; but the expression, spirent surdum, breathe insipidly-(surdum, Græcism, for surde-or, perhaps, odorem may be understood)-looks as if the cinnamon, as well as the Casia, were supposed to be adulterated, and mixed with some ingredient which spoiled its odour. The heir is supposed to lay out as little as he well could on the deceased. 36." Prepared to be ignorant."] i. e. Determined beforehand not to trouble his head about the matter-the worse the spices, the less the cost. 37. "Safe diminish," &c.] Therefore can you, while alive and well, having no sickness or loss of your own-all which are meant by incolumis-subtract from your estate, and thus disoblige your heir? Some suppose these to be the words of the heir, remonstrating against the old man's spending his money, and so diminishing the patrimony which he was to leave behind him: but I rather -But Bestius, &c.] The name of some covetous fellow, a legacy-hunter, who is represented very angry that philosophers have taught generosity, by which the sums which they expect may be lessened during the testator's life, and that from Greece has also been derived the custom of expensive funerals, which affect the estate after the testator's death. 37, 8. Urges the Grecian teachers.] i. e. Rails, inveighs against the philosophers, who brought philosophy first from Greece, and taught a liberal bestowing of our goods on the necessities of others, Cum pipere et palmis, venit nostrum hoc, maris expers, "Fœnisecæ crasso vitiarunt unguine pultes.' Hæc cinere ulterior metuas? At tu, meus hæres Quisquis eris, paulum a turbâ seductior, audi: O bone, num ignoras? missa est a Cæsare laurus, Insignem ob cladem Germanæ pubis; et aris Frigidus excutitur cinis ac jam postibus arma, Jam chlamydas regum, jam lutea gausapa captis, -"This our wisdom.] Nostrum sapere, Gr. for nostra sapientia-like vivere triste, for tristis vita, sat. i. 1. 9. "Void of manliness."] A poor effeminate thing, void of that noble plainness and hardiness of our ancestors, who never thought of leading so lazy and in dolent a life as the philosophers, or of laying out extravagant sums in spices, and burning aromatics on funeral piles, or putting costly spices into urns. The poet uses marem strepitum for a strong manly sound, 1. 4. of this Satire. This, among other senses given of this difficult phrase-maris expersseems mostly adopted by commentators. But as Persius evidently applies the words-maris expers-from Hor. lib. ii. sat. viii. 1. 15, it may perhaps be supposed that he meant they should be understood in a like sense. Fundanius is giving Horace an account of a great entertainment which he had been at, and, among other particulars, mentions the wines : -Procedit fuscus Hydaspes Cacula vina ferens; Alcon, Chium maris expers. " 40 15 "Alcon carried had not a drop of water in it, would have us understand, that "this wine had never crossed the seas, "and that it was an Italian wine, which "Nasidienus (the master of the feast) "recommended for Chian." LAMB. This seems to be a good interpretation of Horace's maris expers, and, therefore, as analogous thereto, we may understand it, in this passage of Persius, in a like sense to denote that the philosophy, which Bestius calls nostrum hoc sapere," this same wisdom of ours," and which came from Greece originally, is now no longer to be looked upon as foreign, but as the growth of Italy, seeing that that, and the luxurious manners which came from the same quarter, have taken place of the ancient simplicity and frugality of our forefathers. "And so it comes to pass (ita fit, 1. 38.) "that we are to give away our substance "to others, and that a vast expence is "to attend our funerals, and that even "a common rustic can't eat his pudding "without a rich sauce." But see Casaubon in loc. 40. "The mowers," &c.] The common rustics have been corrupted with Grecian luxury, and now The ploughmen truly could no longer eat, Without rich oils to spoil their whole some meat. Bestius is very right in saying, that at Rome came from Greece; but he the philosophy which the Stoics taught would not have railed at the philosophers, if they had not taught principles entirely opposite to his selfishness and avarice; nor would he have found fault with the introduction of what made funerals expensive, had he not carried his thoughts of parsimony beyond the grave, and dreaded the expence he must be put to in burying those whom |