10 So many wrinkles? certainly, content with a little, you acted A fourth day parches, and a fever, long since familiar? 24 An adulterer; more known than Aufidius, you used to frequent, And (which not to mention) to intrigue even with the very husbands. NEV. And this kind of life is useful to many, but I have no A cheerful, gay, and healthy look, bespeaks joy and peace. Sorrow nor joy can be disguis'd by art; Our foreheads blab the secrets of our heart. HARVEY. 20. From thence.] From the mind. q. d. The countenance assumes the appearance of sorrow or joy, from the state of the mind. -Turned, &c.] By thy sad and miserable appearance, I do suppose that some turn or change has happened, and that your former way of life is quite altered. 22. The temple of Isis.] See sat. vi. 1. 488, and note. The Ganymede, &c.] The statue of Ganymede, in the temple of Peace, was also a place of rendezvous for all manner of lewd and debauched persons. 23. Cybele.] Is described in the text by the phrase advectæ matris, because the image of this mother of the gods, as she was called, was brought to Rome from Phrygia. See sat. iii. 1. 138. and note. 24. Ceres.] In former times the temple of Ceres was not to be approached but by chaste and modest women; but as vice and lewdness increased, all reverence for sacred places decreased, and now even the temple of Ceres (see sat. vi. 1. 50, and note) was the resort of the impure of all denominations. 25. Aufidius.] Some most notorious debauchee. It is but lately, says Juvenal, that you used to haunt all these famous abodes of lewdness and prostitution, and so to play your part, as to render yourself more noted than any body else; how comes it, Nævolus, that I perceive such a wonderful change in your looks and behaviour? 27. This kind of life, &c.] Here Nævolus begins his answer to Juvenal's inquiries, and accounts for the shabby and miserable appearance which he made, by shewing what poor wages such wretches worked for, unless highly favoured by their stars. Inde operæ pretium : pingues aliquando lacernas, Sollicitent: Αὐτὸς γὰρ ἐφέλκεται ἄνδρα κίναιδος. Quod tamen ulterius monstrum, quam mollis avarus? 30 35 40 45 28. Coarse, &c.] Pingues here means coarse, made of the wool as it came off the sheep's back, full of grease and filth; not washed and combed, like that of which the finer cloths were made. -Garments.] Lacernas here signifies cloaks to keep off the rain and wind in bad weather; they were like our great coats) put over the other garments, to keep them dry; hence he calls them, in the next line, munimenta togæ, defences of the gown, or upper garment. 30. The slay, &c.] A weaver's slay is that part of the loom which is drawn with force against the threads of the woof, to drive them close together, and to consolidate them with the warp. The cloth here described had had very little pains taken in the making of it, and therefore was very coarse and bad. This sort of cloth was made in Gaul, and from thence carried to Rome, probably for the cheap and ordinary wear of the common people. 31. Thin money.] Light, not of due weight. -The second vein.] In mines there are finer and coarser veins of silver; the former, less mixed with other bodies; the latter, more: hence this is called silver, venæ secundæ, or of the second vein, being less pure, and, of course, less valuable than the other of this the smaller and less valuable coins were made. 32. The fates, &c.] By putting this dogma of the Stoics into the mouth of Nævolus, the poet artfully insinuates, that many professors of stoicism, with all its austerities, practised the vice which, in this Satire, is so stigmatized. See sat. ii. l. 8-15, and notes; also sat. ii. 1. 65, and note. 35. Virro.] We often meet with this name in sat. v. and if the same person be here meant, he was not only a very rich man, but a sensualist of the basest and most unnatural sort. I should think it most probable, that here, as in many other places, Juvenal, though he makes use of a particular name, yet means to express the whole tribe of delinquents in the same way. -Tho' Virro himself should, &c.] The poet proceeds in his ridicule of the Stoicidæ, (as he calls them, sat. ii. 1. 65.) 30 Reward of my pains from thence. Sometimes coarse garments, Tho' Virro himself should view you with the utmost 35 But what monster can be beyond an effeminate miser ?— "These things I bestowed, then those I gave, soon you re"ceived more." He computes, and sins on-" Let a reckoning be made, let "the slaves "Come with the ledger :-number five sestertiums 40 "In every thing"- "then let my labours be reckon'd— "Is it an easy and ready matter to engage in so much filth, "And to rake into the recesses of the most horrid abomina ❝tion ? “The slave that digs the field will be less miserable.— "But truly you are delicate, and thought yourself young, "And beautiful, and worthy heaven and the cup. 45 "Will ye ever be kind to an humble attendant, to one who "makes supposing them to make their doctrine of fatalism subservient even to their enormous vices. 36. Numerous letters.] Densæ tabellæ. See sat. i. 120, note on densissima; and sat. ii. 50, note on tabulas. 39." These things," &c.] Here Nævolus represents Virro as upbraiding him for demanding a recompence, and computing what Nævolus had received of him from time to time. 40. "Let a reckoning," &c.]" Let an account be stated between us, says Virro; let one of the slaves come with my account-book, tabulæ-i. e. accepti et expensi, my ledger-book, or journal, where my daily accounts are kept, and you'll find that you have had of me, reckoning every thing, (omnibus in rebus, comp. 1. 39.) five sestertia (about 401. 7s. 1d.) surely I owe you nothing!" See AINSW. Tabula, No. 5. 42. " My labours."] Labores, pains, drudgery; now, reckon these," says Nævolus, "on the other side of the ac "count." 43. "Is it an easy," &c.] Here the poet, in language too gross for literal translation, but well suited to his purpose, exposes the unnatural and horrid filthiness of that detestable vice, which it is the business of this Satire to lash, and to condemn, in the severest and most indignant terms. 46. "Delicate," &c.] q. d. Perhaps you will represent yourself as so engaging, that I ought not to have expected any thing for ministering to your plea sures. 47." Heaven and the cup."] Alluding to the story of Ganymede, the fabled minion of Jupiter, snatched up by Jupiter from mount Ida, and carried to heaven, where he was made cup-bearer to the gods instead of Hebe. See sat. xiii. 43, 4. All this is ironical, and contains a most bitter sarcasm on Virro, now old and infirm, and almost worn out in vice. 48. "An attendant."] A follower, an Cultori, jam nec morbo donare parati? En cui tu viridem umbellam, cui succina mittas Dic, passer, hanger-on, as the poor clients were, to If you are so sparing of your liberality towards those who minister to your pleasures, you (vos, i. e. such as you) will hardly be generous to those who want your charity. 49." On your disease."] Morbus, in a mental sense, denotes any odd humour, unreasonable passion, or vice, which may well be styled a disease of the mind. See sat. ii. 1. 17. and 1. 50. 50. Behold him, &c.] The sarcasm on Virro still continues. See this beautiful Ganymede, to whom you are expected to make presents on his birth-day, such as a green umbrella to keep off the sun from spoiling his complexion, and amber toys and gewgaws, which women are so fond of. It was usual, among the Romans, to make presents on birthdays. 51. Moist spring.] The birth of Venus was celebrated on the calends of March, (our March 1.) They then celebrated the Matronalia, when the Roman ladies, dressed up, sat in chairs, or reclined on couches, and received presents from their admirers. This was imitated by the effeminate Virro. 50 55 60 52. Placed.] Seated, or reclined, like the women. -Strowed and long.] Longa cathedra, from its form, seems to denote a couch, on which a person can recline at length; these, among the fine ladies, were usually strowed, or spread, with carpets and other ornaments, such as fine-wrought and easy pillows, &c. 53. Handles.] Fingers them, as we say. I read tractat—not tractas-which last seems not to answer the cui, 1. 50, or, indeed, to make sense. See BRITAN. in loc. 54. Sparrow.] It is said that sparrows are the most salacious of all birds; hence he gives this name to Virro. A bitter sarcasm. 54, 5. Appulian farms.] Appulia was reckoned the most fertile part of Italy; though mountainous and barren near the sea-coast, See sat. iv. 26, 7. 55. So many kites, &c.] He represents Virro's estate to be so large as to tire the kites in flying over it. See PERSIUS, sat. iv. 1. 26. 56. Trifoline field.] A part of Campania, famous for producing vast quantities of grass called trefoil, and some of the finest vines. -Fills you.] Implet. This well expresses the vast supply of wine. 57. Seen aloft, &c.] Mount Misen us, so called from Misenus, the companion and trumpeter of Æneas, (see En. wi. 234-6.) now Capo Miseno; it hangs, "His court, who are now not ready to bestow on your disease?" Behold him to whom you must send a green umbrella, to whom great 50 Pieces of amber, as often as his birth-day returns, or the moist spring Begins placed on a chair, both strowed and long, He handles secret gifts in the feminine calends. Say, sparrow, for whom so many mountains, so many Appulian And the hill seen aloft at Cumæ, and empty Gaurus. How much had it been to present the loins of an exhausted client Should become the legacy of a friend beating the cymbals ? "You are impudent when you ask," says he. "calls out, "But rent as it were, over the city of Cuma, as if it threatened to fall upon it. It was famous for good vines. 57. Empty Gaurus.] A mountain of Campania, near Puteoli. Some think that the poet gives it the epithet inanis, void or empty, on account of the void parts of it, which were occasioned by numerous caverns or hollows. Hence Holyday rendered inanis Gaurus, hollow Gaurus. This also was famous for its wine. 58. Stops up, &c.] Lino signifies, literally, to besmear, or daub, and is applied to the manner of stopping up the bungs or mouths of their wine vessels with pitch or plaister, in order to keep the air from the liquor. See HoR. od. xx. lib. i. l. 1—3. -Likely to live.] i. e. To be very sparingly bestowed, and so to endure to a great age. Mustum signifies new wine, as it comes from the press to the cask. 59. How much, &c.] After mentioning the large estate of Virro, Nævolus represents it as no great matter for him to bestow a few acres on an old slave, worn out in his service. ➡The loins.] This insinuates the horrid services which Nævolus had performed. VOL. I. 60. Is it better, &c.] The little sketch of rustic simplicity, in these two lines, is very pretty. 62. A friend beating the cymbals.] By this periphrasis is meant one of the Galli, or priests of Cybele. See sat. vi. I. 510-15. sat. viii. 1. 176. and PERSIUS, sat. v. I. 186. They were eunuchs, and most impure in their practices. Nævolus uses the word amici here, in order to denote the infamous and intimate connection which Virro had with one of these. Would it be better, says he, to leave a small farm, and its little appurtenances, to one of those lewd priests, that are living in sloth and plenty, than to me, your poor drudge, who have been worn out in your service? 63." You are impudent," &c.] In vain does Nævolus plead his services, in vain does he argue the case, that he may get some reward for them. Instead of this, Virro abuses him, and calls him an impudent fellow, for asking any thing more than he has already had. -"But rent," &c.] q. d. You may call me what you please for asking, but my necessities force me to be thus importunate. I have rent to pay, a slave to maintain, and soon must have another; these things bid me beg on. 2 Q |