"With pepper and dates, came this our wisdom void of manli 66 ness, "The mowers have vitiated their puddings with thick oil." 40 "Do you fear these things beyond your ashes?-But thou, my heir, 66 "Whoever thou shalt be, a little more retired from the crowd, "hear. "O good man, are you ignorant? A laurel is sent from Cæsar "On account of the famous slaughter of the German youth, "and from the altars "The cold ashes are shaken off; and now, to the posts, arms, 45 "Now the garments of kings, now sorry mantles on the captives, he expected to be heir to; and even the luxury which had been imported from Greece would not have troubled him, but as it cost money to gratify it. 40." Their puddings."] Puls -tis-a kind of meat which the ancients used, made of meal, water, honey, or cheese and eggs; a sort of hasty-puddinghere put for any rustic, homely fare. The word vitiarunt well intimates the meaning of the selfish Bestius, which was to express his entity to every thing that looked like expence. 41. " Beyond your ashes."] Beyond the grave, as we say-Do you, miserable wretch, concern yourself about what your heir says of you, or in what manner your funeral is conducted? "But thou, my heir," &c.] Persius here, coincidently with the subject he is now entering upon, represents, in a supposed conversation in private with the person who might be his heir, the right a man has to spend his fortune as he pleases, without standing in awe of those who come after him: and first, to be liberal and munificent on all public occasions of rejoicing; next, to live handsomely and comfortably, and not starve himself that his successor may live in luxury. 42. "Retired from the crowd."] Secretam garrit in aurem. sat. v. 1. 96. Step aside a little, if you please, that I may deal the more freely with you, and listen to me. 43. "O good man."] q. d. Hark ye, my good friend, and heir that is to be "Are you ignorant?"] Have not you heard the news? A laure! is sent," &c.] Caius Caligula affected to triumph over the Germans, whom he never conquered, as he did over the Britons; and sent letters to Rome, wrapt about with laurels, to the senate, and to the empress Cæsonia his wife. 45. "The cold ashes."] The ashes which were to be swept off the altars were either those that were left there after the last sacrifice for victory, or might, perhaps, mean the ashes which were left on the altars since some former defeat of the Romans by the Germans; after which overthrow the altars had been neglected. DRYDEN. "And now.' c."] i. e. On the receipt of this good news. 45. "To the posts, arms."] Persius here enumerates the preparations for a triumph; such as fixing to the doors or columns of the temples the arms taken from the enemy. Thus VIRG. Æn. vii. 183-6. Multaque, præterea sacris in postibus Essedaque ingentesque locat Cæsonia Rhenos. "Casonia."] Wife to Caius Caligula, who afterwards, in the reign of Claudius, was proposed to be married to him, after he had executed the empress Messalina for adultery, but he would not have her. See her character, ANT. Univ. Hist. vol. xiv. p. 297. She was a most lewd and abandoned woman. See Juv. sat. vi. 1. 613--16. 48. To the gods, therefore."] By way of thanksgiving. "The genius of the general."] Of the emperor Caligula-see sat. iii. 1. 3, note who protected and prospered him. -"An hundred pair."] i. e. Of gladiators. These were beyond the purse of any private man to give; therefore this must be looked upon as a threatening to his heir, that he would do as he pleased with his estate. On public occasions of triumph, all manner of costly shews and games were exhibited, in honour of the gods, to whose auspices the victory was supposed to be owing; also in honour of 50 55 the conqueror; therefore Persius adds, ob res egregie gestas. 49. "I produce."] Induco signifies to introduce-to bring in-to bring forth, or produce. AINSW. Who forbids?"] Who puts a negative on my intention? -"Dare."] Will you, who are to be my heir, contradict this? do if you dare. 50." Woe! unless you connive."] Conniveo is to wink with your eyes. Met. to wink at a matter, to take no notice, to make as if he did not see it. Woe be to you, says Persius, if you offer to take notice, or to object to what I purpose doing on this occasion. "Oil and pasties to the people."] Moreover I intend to bestow a dole upon the common people-popello (see sat. iv. 15.)-in order to enable them to celebrate the victory. Oil was a favourite sauce for their victuals. See 1. 40, and note. Artocrea (from agros, bread, and xgias, flesh) a pie, or pasty of flesh. AINSW. 51. Do you hinder?"] Says he to his supposed heir; do you find fault with this bounty of mine, would you prevent it? -"Speak plainly."] Come, speak out. -"Your field hard by," &c.] Perhaps you will say, that my estate near Rome, though its vicinity to the city makes it the more valuable, yet is not fertile and enough to afford all this. Exossatus, cleared of the stones, called the bones of the earth, Ov. Met. . 193. to which Persius perhaps alludes. Here it is supposed to mean cleared of the stones i. e. cultivated to such a degree, as to be rich and fertile enough to produce what would be answerable to such an expence. The above is the leading sense given by some of the best commentators to "And chariots, and huge Germans, Cæsonia places. "To the gods, therefore, and to the genius of the general, an "hundred pair, "On account of things eminently achieved, I produce: Who "forbids ?-Dare "Woe! unless you connive-Oil and pasties to the people 50 "I bestow do you hinder?-speak plainly."--" Your field "hard by, 66 Say you, is not so fertile"-" Go to, if none to me "Now were left of my aunts, no cousin-german, no niece's "daughter "Remains; the aunt of my uncle has lived barren, 54 "And nothing remains from my grandmother: I go to Bovillæ, this difficult passage; but I cannot say that it satisfies me. I see no authority, from any thing that precedes or follows, to construe juxta-nigh the city, and hence make juxta equivalent to subur banus: nor is the taking est from juxta, and transferring it to exossatus or ager, as done above, the natural method of the syntax. I would therefore place the words in their natural order in which they are to be construed-Non adeo, inquis, juxta est exossatus ager. The Delph. interpret. says, Non ita, ais, prope est ager sine ossibus. Exosso -are-is to take out the bones of an animal; to bone it, as we say. Congrum istum maximum in aqua finito ludere paulisper, ubi ego venero, exossabitur. Ter. Adelph. Ager is a field, land, ground---hence, a manor with the demesnes, an estate in land. Hence, by Metaph. exossatus ager may mean, here, an estate that has been weakened, diminished by extravagance of great expence, having what gave it its value and consequence taken out of it. In this view I think we may suppose the poet as representing his heir's answer to be "An estate that has been exhausted "and weakened-exossatus, boned as it "were, by such expence as you propose, " is not so near-non adeo juxta est"i. e. so near my heart, so much an ob"ject of my concern, as to make it worth my while to interfere about it, or attempt to hinder this last expence of your dole to the mob, when the first "of the hundred pair of gladiators, 1. 66 " 48, will bone it-i. c. diminish its sub"stance and value, sufficiently to render me very unconcerned as to being your "heir." We often use the word near, to express what concerns us. This appears to me to be the most eligible construction of the words, as well as most naturally to introduce what follows. 52. "Go to"] Says Persius-very well, take your own way-think as you please, I am not in the least fear of finding an heir, though I should not have a relation left in the world. 53. "My aunts."] Amita is the aunt by the father's side-the father's sister. -"Cousin-german."] Patruelis-a father's brother's son or daughter. "Niece's daughter."] So proneptis signifies. 54. "The aunt of my uncle."] Matertera-matris soror-an aunt by the mother's side. -"Lived barren."] Had no chil dren. 55."Grandmother."] Avia, the wife of the avus, or grandfather. Persius means, that if he had no relation, either near or distant, he should find an heir who would be glad of his estate. "I go to Bovilla."] A town in the Appian way, about eleven miles from Rome, so called from an ox which broke loose from an altar, and was there taken it was near Aricia, a noted place for beggars, the highway being very public. Dignus Aricinos qui mendicaret ad axes. See Juv. sat. iv. 1. 117. Clivumque ad Virbi; præsto est mihi Manius hæres. 60 Deest aliquid summæ.' Minui mihi: sed tibi totum est, Quicquid id est. Ubi sit, fuge quærere, quod mihi quondam 65 Legârat Tadius, neu dicta repone paterna : 6 Fonoris accedat merces; hinc exime sumptus.' • Quid reliquum est?' reliquum? Nunc, nunc impensius unge, 56. "The hill of Virbius."] An hill about four miles from Rome; so called from Hippolytus, who was named Virbius, and worshipped there, on account of his living twice-inter viros bis. See Æn. vii. 761-77. This hill, too, was always filled with beggars, who took their stands by the road-side. -"Manius is ready," &c.] Manius is the name of some beggar, and so put for any; the first which he met with would immediately be glad to be his heir. Præsto-ready at hand. 57." An offspring of earth"-] What, says the other, would you take such a low base-born fellow as that, whose family nobody knows any thing about, a mere son of earth, to be your heir? Inquire of me," &c.] As for that, replies Persius, if you were to ask me who was my great grandfather's father, who stood in the fourth degree from my father, I could not very readily inform you. But go a step higher, add one, and then add another, I could give you no account at all; I then must come to a son of earth, nobody knows who, but somebody that, like the rest of mankind, sprung from the earth. Empedocles, and some other philosophers, held that mankind originally sprang from the earth. 59, 60." By the course of kindred," &c.] Perhaps, in this way of reckoning, as the earth is our common mother, Manius may appear to be my relation, my great uncle for ought I know, or not very far from it; for as children of one common parent, we must be re lated. 61. "You who are before," &c.] This line is allegorical, and alludes to a festival at Athens, instituted in honour of Vulcan, or of Prometheus, where a race was run by young men with lighted torches in their hands, and they strove who could arrive first at the end of the race without extinguishing his torch. If the foremost in the race tired as he was running, he gave up the race, and delivered his torch to the second; the second, if he tired, delivered it to the third, and so on, till the race was over. The victory was his who carried the torch lighted to the end of the race. Now, says Persius, to his presumptive heir, who appears to be more advanced in life, why do you, who are before me in the race of life, i. e. are older than I am, want what I have before the course is over, i. e. before I die, since, in the course of nature, the oldest may die first? I ought therefore to expect your estate instead of your expecting mine. It is the first in the torch-race that, if be fails, gives the torch to the second, not the second to the first. See Answ. Lampas, ad fin. 62. I am to thee Mercury."] Do not look on me as thy nearest kinsman, on thyself as my certain heir, and on my estate as what ought to come to you by right; but rather look on me as the god Mercury, who is the bestower of unlooked-for and fortuitous gain. 62, 3." As he is painted."] Mercury, as the god of fortuitous gain, was painted with a bag of money in his hand. Hercules was the god of hidden treasures, "And to the hill of Virbius; Manius is ready at hand to be 66 my heir". 56 "An offspring of earth"-" Inquire of me, who my fourth "father May be, I should nevertheless not readily say. Add also one, Again one; he is now a son of earth: and to me, by the course "Of kindred, this Manius comes forth almost my great uncle. "You who are before, why do you require from me the torch "in the race? 61 "I am to thee Mercury: I a god come hither, as he "Is painted. Do you refuse?-Will you rejoice in what is left? "There is wanting something of the sum:" "I have dimi "nished it for myself, "But you have the whole, whatever that is: avoid to ask where "that is which 65 "Tadius formerly left me, nor lay down paternal sayings"Let the gains of usury accede; hence take out your expence.' "What is the residue ?"" the residue !-Now-now-more "expensively anoint, See sat. ii. 1. 11, and note. Mercury presided over open gain and traffic, and all unexpected advantages arising there from. 63. "Do you refuse?"] Are not you willing to look me upon in this light, and to accept what may leave, as merely adventitious. which my friend Tadius left me, or to bring me to an account concerning that, or any thing else. 66." Paternal sayings."] Nor think of laying down to me, as a rule, the lesson that old covetous fathers inculcate to their sons, whom they wish to make as sordid as themselves. Perhaps repone may here be rightly translated retort Rejectâ præda, quam præsens Mercurius (comp. Juv. sat. i. 1. 1, and note)-q. d. Don't cast this in my teeth. fert? -An magis excors HOR. lib. ii. sat. iii. 1. 67, 8. “Will you rejoice in what is left?"]q. Will you thankfully and joyfully take what I leave? 64. "There is wanting something," &c.] But methinks you grumble, and find fault that a part of the estate has been spent. -“Diminished it for myself."] Well, suppose my estate to be less than it was, I, that had the right so to do, spent the part of it that is gone upon myself and my own concerns. 65. "But you have the whole," &c.] But you have all at my decease, whatever that all may be; you could have no right to any part while I was alive; so that you have no right to complain, when what I leave comes whole and entire to 67." Let the gains of usury," &c.] d. “Put your money out to usury, and "live upon the interest which you "make, reserving the principal entire:" let me hear none of this, says Persius, as if I were bound to live on the interest of what I have, that the principal may come to you. 68." What is the residue?"] Well, but though I may not call you to an account about your expences, yet let me ask you how much, after all, may be left for me to inherit. -" The residue!"] Says Persius, with indignation; since you can ask such a question, as if you meant to bind me down to leave you a certain sum, you shall have nothing, I'll spend away as fast as I can. Now, now more expensively," &c.] Here," says Persius, " slave, bring me oil, pour it more profusely over my 2 U |