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An Ethiopian, a swan: a little and deformed wench,
Europa: to slow dogs, and with an old mange
Smooth, and licking the mouths of a dry lamp,

The name of lion, leopard, tiger shall belong; and if there be yet

Any thing on earth that rages more violently.

beware,

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Therefore

And dread, lest thou should'st thus be Creticus, or Camerinus. Whom have I admonished by these things? with thee is

my discourse,

Rubellius Plautus: you swell with the high blood of the Drusi, as if

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You yourself had done something, for which you should be noble; That she should have conceived you, who shines with the blood of Iülus,

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Not she who, being hired, has woven under the windy mount. "Ye are low," say you, "the last part of our common people; "Of whom none can shew the country of his parent: "But I am a Cecropian."-May you live-and long enjoy the happiness

Of this origin: yet, from the lowest of the people, an eloquent Roman

You will find: this is used to defend the causes of an Unlearned nobleman: there will come from the gowned people Another, who can untie the knots of right, and the riddles of the laws.

This youth seeks the Euphrates, and of conquer'd Batavus

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Custodes aquilas, armis industrius: at tu

Nil nisi Cecropides, truncoque simillimus Hermæ :
Nullo quippe alio vincis discrimine, quam quod
Illi marmoreum caput est, tua vivit imago.
Dic mihi, Teucrorum proles, animalia muta
Quis generosa putet, nisi fortia? nempe volucrem
Sic laudamus equum, facilis cui plurima palma
Fervet, et exultat rauco victoria circo.

Nobilis hic, quocunque venit de gramine, cujus
Clara fuga ante alios, et primus in æquore pulvis.
Sed venale pecus Corythæ, posteritas et
Hirpini, si rara jugo victoria sedit.

Nil ibi majoruni respectus, gratia nulla

Umbrarum dominos pretiis mutare jubentur

Exiguis, tritoque trahunt epirhedia collo
Segnipedes, dignique molam versare Nepotis.
Ergo ut miremur te, non tua, primum aliquid da,
Quod possim titulis incidere præter honores,
Quos illis damus, et dedimus, quibus omnia debes.
Hæc satis ad juvenem, quem nobis fama superbum

52. The guardian eagles.] The eagles mean the Roman troops, which had the figures of eagles on their standards, and were set to keep the newly conquered Batavi from revolting.

Another of the common people distinguishes himself as a useful person to his country, by joining the troops that were sent on this occasion.

53. But a Cecropian.] As for you, when you have called yourself a Cecropian, you have no more to say; and this most properly belongs to you, from your resemblance to one of the Hermæ at Athens, that is made of marble; so, in point of insensibility, are you that has neither hands nor feet; no more have you, in point of usefulness, to your country, yourself, or to any body else.

-A mutilated Herma.] Herma-æ signifies a statue of Hermes, or Mercury. Mercury was called Hermes, from Gr. gunow, to interpret; because he was the supposed inventor of speech, by which men interpret their thoughts to each other. See HoR. lib. i. ode x. 1.

1-3.

It was a piece of religion at Athens, to have a figure of Mercury fixed up against their houses, of a cubic form, without hands or feet; this was called

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Herma. The poet, therefore, humourously compares this Rubellius Plautus, who boasted of his descent from Cecrops, and therefore called himself a Cecropian, to the useless figures of Mercury, which were set up at Athens, or, perhaps, to the posts on which they stood. In this sense he might call himself Cecropian.

54. You excel.] You have no preference before him in point of utility to your country, or in any thing else, than that you are a living statue, and he a dead one.

56. Thou offspring of the Trojans.] Meaning Rub. Plautus, who, though he boasted himself of being descended from Cecrops the first king of Athens, and who is supposed to have lived before Deucalion's flood, yet likewise might boast, that he was also descended from ancestors, who derived their blood, in later times, from the Trojans who first settled in Italy.

Some think that we may read this, ye Trojans, meaning the chief people of Rome in general, who prided themselves on their descent from the Trojans, and to whom he may be supposed to address himself. Comp. sat. i. 100. where he calls them Trojugenas. But see l. 71,post.

The guardian eagles, industrious in arms; but thou

Art nothing but a Cecropian, and most like to a mutilated

Herma;

For you excel from no other difference, than that

He has a marble head, your image lives.

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Tell me, thou offspring of the Trojans, who thinks dumb animals
Noble, unless strong? for thus a swift

Horse we praise, for whom many a kind hand
Glows, and victory exults in the hoarse circus.

He is noble, from whatever pasture he comes, whose flight 60
Is famous before the others, and whose dust is first on the plain.
But the cattle of Corytha are set to sale, and the posterity of
Hirpinus, if rare victory sits on their yoke.
There is no respect of ancestors, no favour

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Of shades; they are commanded to change their masters
For small prices, and draw waggons with a worn neck,
Slow of foot, and worthy to turn the mill of Nepos.
Therefore that we may admire you, not yours, first shew
something,

Which I may inscribe among your titles besides your honours,
Which we give, and have given, to them to whom you owe all.
These things are enough to the youth, whom fame delivers

to us

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57. Strong.] Fortia-vigorous, courageous, fit for the purposes for which they are wanted.

58. Many a kind hand, &c.] They used to clap their hands, in token of applause, at the public shows and sports.

59. The hoarse circus.] i. e. The people in the circus, hoarse with their applauding acclamations.

60. From whatever pasture.] Lit. grass -q. d. wherever bred.

61. Whose dust is first, &c.] Who keeps before the others, so that the first dust must be raised by him.

62. The cattle of Corytha.] The breed, or stock, of a famous mare, so called, are sold.

63. Hirpinus.] A famous horse, so called from the place, where he was bred, being a hill in the country of the Sabines.

-If rare victory, &c.] If they seldom win in the chariot race.

65. Of shades.] No regard to the ghosts of their departed ancestors.

-To change their masters, &c.] Their present master disposes of them very

VOL. I.

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Tradit, et inflatum, plenumque Nerone propinquo.
Rarus enim ferme sensus communis in illâ

Fortunâ.

Sed te censeri laude tuorum,

Pontice, noluerim, sic ut nihil ipse futuræ

Laudis agas: MISERUM EST ALIENÆ INCUMBERE FAMÆ,
Ne collapsa ruant subductis tecta columnis.
Stratus humi palmes viduas desiderat ulmos.

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Esto bonus miles, tutor bonus, arbiter idem
Integer: ambiguæ si quando citabere testis
Incertæque rei, Phalaris licet imperet ut sis
Falsus, et admoto dictet perjuria tauro,

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SUMMUM CREDE NEFAS ANIMAM PRÆFERRE PUDORI,

Et propter vitam vivendi perdere causas.

Dignus morte perit, cœnet licet ostrea centum

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Gaurana, et Cosmi toto mergatur aheno.
Expectata diu tandem provincia cum te
Rectorem accipiet, pone iræ fræna, modumque
Pone et avaritiæ: miserere inopum sociorum.
Ossa vides regum vacuis exhausta medullis.

72. His kinsman Nero.] His relationship to Nero. Comp. note on 1. 40.

73. Rare, &c.] Very seldom found in such a situation of life.

75. Ponticus, &c.] See 1. 1. of this Sat. and note.

The poet tells the person to whom he addressed this Satire, that he should be sorry to have him esteemed merely on account of his ancestors.

76. Nothing of future praise.] That he should do nothing himself, in order to raise his own character in times to

come.

77. Lest the house fallen, &c.] Metaph. i. e. lest, like a building which tumbles into ruins, when the pillars which support it are removed, so you, if you have no other support to your character, than what your ancestors have done, if this be once put out of the question, should fall into contempt.

78. The vine, &c.] If you owe the support of your fame entirely to that of others, let that be removed, and you will be like a vine which wants the support of an elm to keep it from crawling along the ground.

They used to fasten up their vines, by tying them to the trunks of elm trees. See sat. vi. 149. VIRG. Georg. i. 1. 2.

If by any accident the vines broke

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from the trees, and lay upon the ground, they called the trees viduas ulmos, alluding to their having lost their embraces of the vine, as a widow those of her husband when he dies.

79. A good soldier.] Serve your country in the army.

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-A faithful tutor.] Quasi tuitor-a trusty guardian to some minor, having the charge of his person and affairs, till he comes of age to manage for himself.

79, 80. An uncorrupted umpire.] When called upon to decide a cause by your arbitration, distinguish yourself by the utmost impartiality.

80. A witness, &c.] If called upon as a witness in some dark and difficult matter, let your testimony be true, fair, and unbiassed.

81. Phalaris, &c.] One of the most cruel of all the Sicilian tyrants; he had a brazen bull, in which he inclosed people, and burnt them to death.

Though this tyrant were to bring his bull, and threaten to put you to death, by burning you alive, if you would not speak falsely, yet let not even this make you deviate from the truth.

83. The highest impiety, &c.] Esteem it a crime of the deepest dye to value your life, so as to preserve it in a dis

Proud, and puffed up, and full of his kinsman Nero.
For common sense is, for the most part, rare in that
Condition. But to have thee esteemed from the praise of your
ancestors,

Ponticus, I should be unwilling, so as that yourself should do 75
Nothing of future praise: 'TIS MISERABLE то REST ON
ANOTHER'S FAME,

Lest the house fallen, by the pillars being taken away, should tumble into ruins.

The vine strow'd on the ground wants the widow'd elms.
Be you a good soldier, a faithful tutor, an uncorrupted 79
Umpire also if you are summoned as a witness in a doubtful
And uncertain thing, tho' Phalaris shou'd command that you
Shou'd be false, and should dictate perjuries with the bull

brought to you,

BELIEVE IT THE HIGHEST IMPIETY TO PREFER LIFE TO RE

PUTATION,

And, for the sake of life, to lose the causes of living.

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He perishes worthy of death, tho' he should sup on an hundred Gaurane oysters, and should be immersed in the whole cal

dron of Cosmus.

When at length the province, long expected, shall receive you
Governor, put checks to anger, and measure also
Put to covetousness: pity the poor associates.

You see the bones of kings exhausted, with empty marrow. 90

honourable way, at the expence of your reputation and honour. Pudor-fame, reputation. AINSW,

84. To lose, &c.] i. e. The only causes which make life valuable, the purposes for which it was ordained, and for which it should be desirable, honour, truth, and surviving fame.

85. He perishes, &c.] Such a wretch, who would prefer his safety to his innocence, deserves to perish utterly, and, when he dies, to have his memory perish with him, however sumptuously he may

have lived.

86. Gaurane oysters.] Lucrine oysters, taken about the port at Baiæ, near the mountain Gaurus, in Campania.

Immersed, &c.] The Romans gave particular names to particular perfumed ointments; sometimes they named them after the country from whence they came, sometimes (as probably here) after the name of the confectioner, or perfumer, who prepared them. They had an unguentum Cosmianum, so called from one Cosmus, who, by boiling various

aromatics together, produced his famous ointment. The poet here means, that, if the person spoken of were not to anoint himself, as others, but could afford to purchase, and dip himself in a whole kettle full at once of this rare perfume, yet his name would deservedly rot with his carcase. It is not living sumptuously, but living well, that gives reputation after death.

87. The province, &c.] He now advises Ponticus as to his behaviour towards the people he is to govern, when in possession of the government of one of the conquered provinces, which he had long expected.

88. Put checks, &c.] Froena-literally, bridles. d. Bridle your anger, keep your passion within proper bounds.

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89. Put to covetousness.] Restrain your avarice, set bounds to your desires.

-The poor associates.] The poor people who have been reduced by conquest, and now become the allies of the Ro

mans.

90. The bones of kings, &c.] i. e. You

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