Ut cum carceribus missos rapit ungula currus ; 115 120 SATIRA II. Improbos, dum vitia quædam declinant, in contraria AMBUBAIARUM collegia, pharmacopolæ, 5 Mendici, mimæ, balatrones; hoc genus omne Sub patribus duris tironum. Maxime, quis non, 10 chariot, dismissed from the place of starting; the charioteer presses upon those horses which outstrip his own, despising him that is left behind coming on among the last. Hence it is, that we rarely find a man, who can truly say he has lived happy, and content with his past life can retire from the world, like a satisfied guest. But what I have said at present is sufficient: nor will I add one word more, lest you should suspect that I have plundered the scrutoire of the blear-eyed Crispinus *. SATIRE II. Bad men, when they avoid certain vices, fall into their opposite extremes. THE tribes of minstrels, quacks, strollers, mimics, blackguards; all this set is sorrowful and dejected on account of the death of the singer Tigellius: for he was liberal towards them. On the other hand, this man, dreading to be called a spendthrift, will not give a poor friend even wherewithal to keep off cold and pinching hunger. But if you ask him, why he wickedly consumes the noble estate of his grandfather and father in tasteless gluttony, buying with borrowed money all sorts of dainties; he answers, because he is unwilling to be reckoned sordid, or a man of a mean spirit: for this he is praised by some, and condemned by others. Fufidius, wealthy in land, wealthy in money put out at interest, is afraid of having the character of a rake and spendthrift. This fellow deducts 5 per cent. interest from the principal at the time of lending; and, the more desperate in his circumstances any one is, the more severely he pinches him: he hunts out the names of young fellows, that have just put on the toga virilis † under rigid fathers. Who does not cry out, O sovereign Jupiter! when he has heard of such knavery? But you will say per A voluminous scribbler. · The Roman youths put on the toga virilis, or manly gown, at abouz seventeen. Pro quæstu sumtum facit. Hic? vix credere possis Quàm sibi non sit amicus; ita ut pater ille, Terentî 20 Fabula quem miserum gnato vixisse fugato Inducit, non se pejus cruciaverit atque hic. 25. Si quis nunc quærat, ' Quò res haec pertinet?' Illuc: Nil medium est. Sunt qui nolint tetigisse, nisi illas, Contrà, alius nullam, nisi olenti in fornice stantem. 30 Nam simul ac venas inflavit tetra* libido; 35 40 Audire est operæ pretium, procedere rectè Qui mœchis non vultis, ut omni parte laborent ; Utque illis multo corrupta dolore voluptas, Atque hæc rara, cadat dura inter sæpe perîcla. Hic se præcipitem tecto dedit: ille flagellis Ad mortem cæsus: fugiens hic decidit acrem Prædonum in turbam: dedit hic pro corpore num mos: Hunc perminxerunt calones: quin etiam illud 45 50 Non minùs insanit, quàm qui mœchatur. At hic si, Quà res, quà ratio suaderet, quáque modestè Munifico esse licet, vellet bonus atque benignus Esse; daret quantum satis esset, nec sibi damno *Tenta. Anon. haps, this man expends upon himself in proportion to his immense gain. What he? You can hardly believe how little a friend he is to himself: insomuch that the father *, whom Terence's comedy introduces as living miserable after he had caused his son to run away from him, did not torment himself worse than he. Now, if any one should ask, "To what purpose does this matter tend?" I answer, to this; namely, while fools shun one sort of vices, they fall upon their opposite extremes. Malthinus walks with his garments trailing upon the ground; there is another droll fellow, who goes with them tucked up even to his middle: Rufillus smells like perfume itself, but Gorgonius like a he-goat. In fine, there is no mean observed. There are some who would not for the world keep company with a lady, unless her modest garment perfectly conceal her feet. + Another, again, will only have such as take their station in a stinking brothel. When a certain noted spark came out of a bawdy-house, the divine Cato greeted him with this sentence; "Proceed (says he) in your virtuous course. For, when once foul lust has inflamed the veins, it is right for young fellows to come hither, in comparison of their having to do with other men's wives." I should not be willing to be commended on such terms, says Cupiennius, an admirer of the silken veil. Ye, that do not wish well to the proceedings of adulterers, it is worth your while to hear how they are hampered on all sides; and that their pleasure, which happens to them but seldom, is interrupted with a great deal of pain, and often in the midst of very great dangers. One has thrown himself headlong from the top of a house: another has been whipped almost to death a third, in his flight, has fallen into a merciless gang of thieves: another has paid a fine, to avoid corporal punishment: the lowest servants have treated another with the vilest indignities: moreover, this misfortune happened to a certain person, he entirely lost his manhood. Every body said, it was with justice: but Galba denied it. But how much safer is the traffic among women of the second rate! I mean the freed-women: after which Sallustius is not less mad, than he who commits adultery. But if he had a mind to be good and generous to them, as far only as his estate and reason would direct him, and as far as a man might be liberal with moderation; he would give a sufficiency, not what would bring upon himself at once ruin and infamy. How Menedemus, in the Heautontimorumenos. Horatium in quibusdam nolim interpretari. Quint. B 55 Dedecorique foret. Verùm hoc se amplectitur uno; 60 Verùm est cum mimis, est cum meretricibus: unde 65 70 Villius in Faustâ Sullæ gener (hoc miser uno Nomine deceptus) pœnas dedit usque superque Quàm satis est, pugnis cæsus, ferroque petitus, Exclusus fore, cùm Longarenus foret intùs. Huic si, mutonis verbis, mala tanta videnti * Diceret hæc animus: Quid vis tibi? Nunquid ego à te Magno prognatum deposco consule cunnum, Velatumque stolâ, mea cùm conferbuit ira ?" Quid responderet? Magno patre nata puella est. At quanto meliora monet, pugnantiaque istis Dives opis natura suæ, tu si modò rectè Dispensare velis, ac non fugienda petendis Immiscere! Tuo vitio, rerumne labores, Nil referre putas? Quare, ne pœniteat te, Desine matronas sectarier: unde laboris Plus haurire mali est, quàm ex re decerpere fructus. Nec magis huic inter niveos viridesque lapillos (Sit licet hoc, Cerinthe, tuum) tenerum est femur, aut crus 75 80 Rectius; atque etiam meliùs persæpe togatæ. Videntis. |