Ad Phialen: tantum artificis valet halitus oris, from inheriting his estate, i. e. he disinherits them. 237. Are carried.] Are disposed of, conveyed by the will. 238. To Phiale.] See above, 1. 236. note the first. -So much avails, &c.] Such an old dotard as this may be easily persuaded to any thing by an artful strumpet; so great an ascendancy does she acquire over him by her artful and insinuating tongue. 239. Prison of a brothel.] Fornix, lit. an arch or vault in houses; also, meton. a stew or brothel, because these were in vaults or wells under ground. AINSW. Hence, from the darkness and filthiness of their situation, as well as from the confinement of the wretched inhabitants therein, who stood ready for every comer, Juvenal represents Phiale as having stood in carcere fornicis, which is describing her as a common prosti tute. n. 1. 240 245 250 sepulturæ. Albinov. ad Liviam. Fu"nera ducuntur Romana per oppida "Drusi." -The pile.] The funeral pile, on which the body was reduced to ashes. 242. Urns fill'd, &c.] i. e. With their bones and ashes, which it was customary to preserve in pots (after being gathered from the funeral pile) called urns. HOR. lib. i. sat. ii. 1. 30. alluding to the filth of these dungeons, says, Contra alius nullam nisi olenti in for- lot of long-lived people, as it must be nice stantem. See Juv. sat. vi. l. 130, 1. Carcer signifies also a starting-place at the chariot-races; hence, by metonym. a beginning in this sense it may mean the entrance of a brothel, where the harlots presented themselves to the view of the passers-by. Comp. sat. iii, 1. 65. 243. This pain, &c.] This is the sad their fate to out-live many of their friends. 243, 4. Slaughter of the family, &c.] Some part or other of which is conti nually dropping off. 244. Many sorrows.] i. e. Bewailings of the death of friends. 245. Black habit.] By this we find, To Phiale so much avails the breath of an artful mouth, Are to be attended, the pile to be seen of a beloved This pain is given to long-livers, so that, the slaughter 240 Of the family being continually renewed, in many sorrows, and in Happy, no doubt, who thro' so many ages had deferr'd 250 Of the fates, and of too much thread, when he saw the beard of Brave Antilochus burning: he demands of every friend Which is present, why he should last till these times that the wearing of mourning for the loss of relations is very ancient, and that black was the colour which the ancients used on such occasions. See sat. iii. 1. 213. 246. Pylian king.] Nestor, the king of Pylos, in Peloponnesus, who, according to Homer, is said to have lived three hundred years. 247. Second from a crow.] Cornix sig. nifies a crow, or rook. This species of bird is fabled to live nine times the age of a man. Nestor (says the poet) stands second to this long-lived bird. 249. With the right.] The ancients used to count their numbers with their fingers; all under one hundred was counted on the left hand, all above on the right. 250. So often drank, &c.] Mustum sig. nifies new wine. The vintage, when this was made, was in the autumn; so that the poet here means to observe that Nestor lived for many returns of this season. -Attend.] The poet calls for attention to what he is going to prove, by various examples, namely, that happiness does not consist in long life. 251, 2. Laws of the futes.] The ancients believed all things, even the gods themselves, to be governed by the fates. Old men, who were from various causes afflicted, might be apt to complain of their destiny, and Nestor among the rest. 252. Of too much thread.] The fates were supposed to be three sisters, who had all some peculiar business assigned them by the poets, in relation to the lives of men. One held the distaff, another spun the thread, and the third cut it. q. d. How might he complain that the thread of his life was too long! 253. Antilochus.] The son of Nestor, slain, according to Homer, by Memnon, at the siege of Troy; according to Ovid, by Hector. His beard burning, i. e. on the funeral pile. This mention of the beard implies, that he was now grown to man's estate. 253. He demands, &c.] The poct here very naturally describes the workings and effects of grief, in the afflicted old man, who is now tempted to think, that his great age was granted him as a punishment for some greater crime than he could recollect to have committed, as he was permitted to live to see so sad an event as the death of his brave and beloved son. He is therefore represented as inquiring of his friends what could be the cause of his being reserved for such an affliction. Quod facinus dignum tam longo admiserit ævo. 256. Peleus.] The father of Achilles, slain by Paris, who shot him in the heel in the temple of Apollo, the only part where he was vulnerable. His father Peleus had to lament his untimely death. 257. Another.] Laertes, a prince of Ithaca, father of Ulysses. He, during his son's absence, and wanderings over the seas, wearied himself with daily labour in husbandry, having no other attendant than an old maid-servant, who brought him food: during this period his constant petition to Jupiter was, he might die. that -Swimming Ithacus.] Ulysses was called Ithacus, from Ithaca, a country of Ionia where he reigned. After the destruction of Troy, he suffered many toils and hardships, for ten years together, before his return home. The word natantem perhaps alludes to his shipwreck near the island of Calypso, where he was forced to swim to save his life; or perhaps it may allude, in general, to the length of time he passed in sailing on the sea. 258. Troy being safe.] i. e. Had Troy stood, and remained in safety. -Priam.] The last king of Troy, who lived to see the city besieged by the Greeks for ten years together, and at length taken. 258, 9. Shades of Assaracus, &c.] Had joined his ancestors' ghosts, or shades, in the infernal regions; i. c. had died 255 260 265 270 in peace, and had been buried with the splendid funeral rites belonging to his rank. See VIRG. En. i. 288; and AINSW. Assaracus. 259. Hector carrying, &c.] Among the ancients, the corpse of the parent was carried forth to the funeral pile by the sons of the deceased. If Troy had remained in quiet, Priam's son Hector had not been slain by Achilles, but had survived his father, and have, as the custom was, been one of his bearers to the fu neral pile. 260. The rest of the shoulders, &c.] Reliquis cervicibus-for cervicibus reliquorum, &c. Hypallage. According to Homer, Priam had fifty sons and twelve daughters; the former of which would have assisted Hector in carrying their father's corpse. Pliny says, (lib. vil c. 44.) Quintus Metellus Macedonicus, a quatuor filiis illatus est rogo. Priam was slain in the siege by Pyrrhus, the son of Achilles, and most of his children were destroyed. See Æn. ii. 501-54. 261. As soon as, &c.] This was the signal for the funeral procession to move forward towards the pile. -Cassandra, &c.] She was the daughter of Priam and Hecuba. It was customary to hire women to mourn at burials, who went before the corpse to lament the dead; the chief of them who began the ceremony was called præfica, (a præficio, planctuum princeps. AINSW.) What crime he had committed worthy so long life. 255 The very same does Peleus, while he mourns Achilles snatch'd away, And another, to whom it was permitted to lament the swimming Ithacus. Troy being safe, Priam had come to the shades Of Assaracus with great solemnities, Hector carrying 259 The corpse, and the rest of the shoulders of his brethren, among What therefore did long life advantage him? he saw all things arms, And fell before the altar of high Jove, as an old ox, The part must here most naturally have been taken by Cassandra, Priam's daughter, who would, doubtless, have put herself at the head of the mourning women. See 2 Chron. xxxv. 25. After the taking of Troy, she fell to the share of Agamemnon. She was married to Chorobus, and debauched by Ajax Oileus, in the temple of Minerva, See En. i. 44. and ii. 1. 403-7. 262. Polyxena, &c.] The daughter also of Priam, who gave her in marriage to Achilles; but he, coming into the temple of Apollo to perform the nuptial rites, was there treacherously slain by Paris. She was afterwards sacrificed at the tomb of Achilles. See before, 1. 256, note. -Rent garment.] Rending the garments, in token of grief, was very ancient. 263. Being extinct.] i. e. If he had died. -At another time, &c.] i. e. Before Paris prepared to sail into Greece, in order to ravish Helen from her husband Menelaus. Had this been the case, Priam would have been borne to the grave by his sons, and his funeral solem nized by the public lamentations of his daughters. 264. Daring ships.] So called from the daring design they were employed VOL. II. 270 in; the execution of which occasioned the Trojan war, and the destruction of the country by the Greeks. 265. What therefore, &c.] The poet here applies this instance of old king Priam to his main argument against wishing to live to old age, seeing with how many sorrows it may be accompanied. 266. Asia falling.] See VIRG. Æn. iii. 1. 1. By Asia is here meant the Lesser Asia, containing the Greater and Lesser Phrygia, the kingdom of Priam. 267. Trembling soldier.] Priam, now trembling, and almost worn out by age. -Diadem being laid aside.] Having laid aside all ensigns of royalty. -Bone arms.] In defence of his country. See En. ii. 507-558. where these parts of Priam's history are described. 268. Fell before the altar.] Of Jupiter Herceus, erected by Priam in an open court belonging to the palace: hither he fled for succour and protection, but was slain by Pyrrhus. Æn. ii. 501, 2. 270. Ungrateful plough.] Prosopopeia. The plough is here represented as ungrateful, as forgetting the labours of the old worn-out ox, and despising him as now useless. Some understand aratro for agricola-meton. F Exitus ille utcumque hominis: sed torva canino Formam optat modico pueris, majore puellis 275 280 285 271. Exit of a man.] He died, however, like a man-this was not the case of his wife. -Fierce wife, &c.] i. e. Hecuba, wife of Priam, who, after the sacking of Troy, railed so against the Greeks, that she is feigned to have been turned into a bitch. OVID. Met. lib. xiii. 1. 567-9. 273. To our own.] To mention instances and examples among our own people. -The king of Pontus.] Mithridates, who maintained a long war with the Romans, but was at last routed by Pompey. He would have shortened his days by poison, but had so fortified himself by an antidote, invented by him, and which still bears his name, that none would operate upon him. See sat. vi. 1. 660, and note. 274. Crasus, whom, &c.] Cræsus was the last king of Lydia, so rich, that Cræsi divitiæ was a proverbial saying. He asked Solon (one of the wise men of Greece, and lawgiver of the Athenians) who was the happiest man? The philosopher told him, "no man could be said "to be happy before death." This, afterwards, Croesus found to be true; for, being taken prisoner by Cyrus, and ordered to be burned, he cried out, "So "lon! Solon! Solon!" Cyrus asked the reason of this, and was told what Solon had said; whereupon, considering it might be his own case, he spared his life, and treated him with much respect. Respicere—to consider-mind-regard. 276. Marshes of Minturnæ, &c.] Caius Marius being overcome in the civil war by Sylla, was forced to skulk in the marshes of Minturnæ, a city by the river Liris, where he was found, taken, and imprisoned; he then escaped into Africa, where he lived in exile, and begged his bread in the streets of Carthage, which had been conquered by the Ro |