Græculus esuriens in cœlum, jusseris, ibit. Ad summum non Maurus erat, nec Sarmata nec, Thrax, 80 Qui sumpsit pennas, mediis sed natus Athenis. 78. A hungry Greek.] The diminutive Græculus is sarcastical. q. d. Let my little Grecian be pinched with hunger, he would undertake any thing you bade him, however impossible or improbable; Jike another Dædalus, he would even attempt to fly into the air. 79. In fine, &c.] Ad summum; upon the whole, be it observed, that the Greeks of old were a dexterous people at contrivance; for the attempt at flying was schemed by Dædalus, a native of Athens. No man of any other country has the honour of the invention. 81. The splendid dress.] Conchylia; shell-fish ; the liquor thereof made purple, or scarlet colour: called also murex. Conchylium, by meton. signifies the colour itself; also garments dyed therewith, which were very expensive, and worn by the nobility and other great people. Shall not I fly, fugiam, avoid the very sight of such garments, when worn by such fellows as these, who are only able to wear them by the wealth which they have gotten by their craft and imposi tion? 81, 2. Sign before me.] Set his name before mine, as a witness to any deed, &c. which we may be called upon to sign. 82. Supported by a better couch, &c.] The Romans lay on couches at their convivial entertainments; these couches were ornamented more or less, some finer and handsomer than others, which were occupied according to the quality 85 90 of the guests. The middle couch was esteemed the most honourable place, Must and so in order from thence. this vagabond Greek take place of me at table, says Umbritius, as if he were above me in point of quality and consequence? As we should say, Shall he sit above me at table? HoR. lib. ii. sat. viii. 1. 20-3. describes an arrangement of the company at table. 83. Brought to Rome.] Advectus; imported from a foreign country, by the same wind, and in the same ship, with prunes, and little figs, from Syria. These were called coctona, or cottana, as supposed, from Heb. 1 little. MART. lib. xiii. 28. parva cottana. Syria peculiares habet arbores, in ficorum genere. Caricas, et minores ejus generis, quæ coctana vocant. PLIN. lib. xiii. c. 5. Juvenal means to set forth the low origin of these people; that they, at first, were brought out of Syria to Rome, as dealers in small and contemptible articles. Or he may mean, that as slaves they made a part of the cargo, in one of these little trading vessels. See sát. i. 110, 11. 85. Aventinus, &c.] One of the seven hills of Rome: so called from Avens, a river of the Sabines. AINSW. Umbritius here, with a patriotic indignation at the preference given to foreigners, asks, What! is there no privilege in having drawn our first breath in Rome? no preeminence in being born a citizen of the first city in the world, the conqueror and A hungry Greek will go into heaven, if you command. 80 In fine-he was not a Moor, nor Sarmatian, nor Thracian, Of Aventinus drew, nourished by the Sabine berry? 85 90 mistress of all those countries from whence these people came? Shall such fellows as these not only vie with Roman citizens, but be preferred before them? -Sabine berry.] A part of Italy on the banks of the Tiber, once belonging to the Sabines, was famous for olives, here called bacca Sabina. But we are to understand all the nutritive fruits and produce of the country in general. Pro specie genus. Syn. In contradistinction to the pruna et coctona, 1. 83. 86. What!] As if he had said, What! is all the favour and preference which these Greeks meet with, owing to their talent for flattery? are they to be esteemed more than the citizens of Rome, because they are a nation of base sycophants? 87. The speech, &c.] Or discourse, talk, conversation, of some ignorant, stupid, rich patron, whose favour is basely courted by the most barefaced adulation. -Face of a deformed, &c.] Persuading him that he is handsome; or that his very deformities are beauties. 88. The long neck, &c.] Compares the long crane-neck of some puny wretch, to the brawny neck and shoulders (cervicibus) of Hercules. 89. Holding, &c.] This relates to the story of Antæus, a giant of prodigious strength, who, when knocked down by Hercules, recovered himself by lying on his mother earth; Hercules therefore held him up in his left hand, between earth and heaven, and, with his right hand, dashed his brains out. 90. Admires a squeaking voice.] A squeaking, hoarse, croaking kind of utterance, as if squeezed in its passage by the narrowness of the throat; this he applauds with admiration. -Not worse, &c.] He assimilates the voice so commended, to the harsh screaming sound of a cock when he crows; or rather to the noise which he makes when he seizes the hen, on approaching to tread her, when he nips her comb in his beak, and holds her down under him. This must be alluded to by the mordetur gallina, &c. Claverius, paraph, in Juv. iv. reads the passage, -quá deterius nec Illa sonat, quum mordetur gallina marito. -worse than which neither Doth that sound, when a hen is bitten by her husband. Meaning, that voice which was so extolled with admiration by the flatterer, was as bad as the screaming which a hen makes when trodden by the cock, who seizes and bites her comb with his beak, which must be very painful, and occasion the noise which she makes. However this reading may be rather more agreeable to the fact, yet there does not seem to be sufficient authority to adopt it. Hæc eadem licet et nobis laudare: sed illis Creditur. An melior cum Thaïda sustinet, aut cum Cultam palliolo? mulier nempe ipsa videtur, 93. We may praise also.] To be sure we Romans may flatter, but without success; we shall not be believed: the Greeks are the only people in such credit as to have all they say pass for truth. 93. Whether is he better when he plays, &c.] Sustinet, sustains the part of a Thais, or courtezan, or the more decent character of a matron, or a naked sea nymph there is no saying which a Grecian actor excels most in; he speaks so like a woman, that you'd swear the very woman seems to speak, and not the actor. Persona signifies a false face, a mask, a vizor, in which the Grecian and Roman actors played their parts, and so by meton. became to signify an actor. This passage shews, that women's parts were represented by men: for which these Greeks had no occasion for any alteration of voice; they differed from women in nothing but their sex. 94. Doris, &c.] A sea nymph represented in some play. See AINSW. Doris. Palliolum was a little upper garment: the sea nymphs were usually represented naked, nullo palliolo, without the least covering over their bodies. Palliolum, dim. of pallium. 98. Yet neither will Antiochus.] This person, and the others mentioned in the next line, were all Grecian comedians; perhaps Hæmus, from the epithet molli, may be understood to have been pecu 95 100 105 liarly adapted to the performance of female characters. All these, however we may admire them at Rome, would not be at all extraordinary in the country which they came from-illic-for all the Grecians are born actors; there is therefore nothing new, or wonderful, there, in representing assumed characters, however well it is the very characteristic of the whole nation to be personating and imitative. See AINSW. Comœdus-a-um. 100. Do you laugh?] The poet here illustrates what he had said, by instances of Grecian adulation of the most servile and meanest kind. If one of their patrons happens to laugh, or even to smile, for so rideo also signifies, the parasite set up a loud horselaugh, and laughs aloud, or, as the word concutitur implies, laughs ready to split his sides, as we say. 101. He weeps, &c.] If he finds his friend in tears, he can humour this too; and can squeeze out a lamentable appearance of sorrow, but without a single grain of it. 102. If in winter-time you ask, &c.] If the weather be cold enough for the patron to order a little fire, the versatile Greek instantly improves on the matter, and puts on a great thick gown-endromidem-a sort of thick rug, used by wrestlers, and other gymnasiasts, to cover them after their exercise, lest they should cool too fast. These same things we may praise also: but to them Credit is given. or when Whether is he better when he plays Thais, The comedian acts a wife, or Doris with no Cloak dressed? truly a woman herself seems to speak, 95 It was a real woman in all respects. 99 Yet neither will Antiochus, nor admirable there will 105 We are not therefore equals: better is he, who always, and all 103. I am hot, &c.] If the patron complains of heat, the other vows that he is all over in a sweat. Shakespeare has touched this sort of character something in the way of Juvenal, Hamlet, act v. sc. ii. where he introduces the short but well-drawn character of Osrick, whom he represents as a complete temporizer with the humours of his superiors. HAM. Your bonnet to his right use—'tis for the head. OSR. I thank your lordship, 'tis very hot. HAM. No, believe me, 'tis very cold; the wind is northerly. OSR. It is indifferent cold, my lord, indeed. HAM. But yet, methinks, it is very sultry, and hot, for my complexion. OSR. Exceedingly, my lord, it is very sultry, as it were, I can't tell how. But Terence has a full length picture of one of these Grecian parasites, which he copied from Menander. See TER. Eun. the part of Gnatho throughout: than which nothing can be more exquisitely drawn, or more highly finished. This, by the way, justifies Juvenal in tracing the original of such characters from Greece. Menander lived about 350 years before Christ. Terence died about 159 years before Christ. 104. We are not therefore equals.] We VOL. I. Romans are no match for them-they far exceed any thing we can attempt in the way of flattery. -Better is he, &c.] He who can watch the countenance of another perpetually, and, night and day, as it were, practise an imitation of it, so as to coincide, on all occasions, with the particular look, humour, and disposition of others, is better calculated for the office of a sycophant, than we can pretend to be. 106. Cast from the face, &c.] This was some action of complimentary address, made use of by flatterers. He who did this, first brought the hand to his mouth, kissed his hand, then stretched it out towards the person whom he meant to salute, and thus was understood to throw, or reach forth, the kiss which he had given to his hand. To this purpose Salmasius explains the phrase, a facie jactare manus. This exactly coincides with what we call kissing the hand to one. This we see done frequently, where persons see one another at a distance in crowded public places, or are passing each other in carriages, and the like, where they cannot get near enough to speak together; and this is looked upon as a token of friendly courtesy and civility. The action is performed much in the manner above described, and is common among us. M Si bene ructavit, si rectum minxit amicus, It is so usual to look on this as a token of civility, that it is one of the first things which children, especially of the higher sort, are taught sometimes it is done with one hand, sometimes with both. According to this interpretation, we may suppose that these flatterers were very lavish of this kind of salutation towards those whose favour they courted. Bringing the hand to the mouth and kissing it, as a token of respect, is very ancient; we read of it in Job xxxi. 26, 27. as an action of even religious worship, which the idolaters paid to the host of heaven. 107. Hath belched well.] By these ridiculous instances, the poet means to shew that their adulation was of the most servile and abject kind. 108. If the golden cup, &c.] Trulla signifies a vessel, or cup, to drink with; they were made of various materials, but the rich had them of gold. When the great man had exhausted the liquor, so that the cup was turned bottom upwards before he took it from his mouth, and then smacked his lips so loud as to make a kind of echo from the bottom of the cup, (an action frequent among jovial companions,) this too was a subject of praise and commendation. This passage refers to the Grecian custom of applauding those who drank a large vessel at a draught. Perhaps such parasites looked on such actions as are above mentioned, passing before them, as marks of confidence and intimacy, according to that of Martial, 110 115 A sense like that of these lines of Martial is given to Juvenal's crepitum dedit by some commentators; but as dedit has the aurea trulla for its nominative case, the sense above given seems to be nearest the truth. Such servile flatterers as these have been the growth of all climes, the produce of all countries. See HoR. Art. Poet. 1. 428-33. 109. Moreover, &c.] In this and the two following lines, Umbritius inveighs against their monstrous and mischievous lust. 111. As yet smooth.] Sleek, smoothfaced, not yet having hair on his face. Sponsus here means a young wooer who is supposed to be paying his addresses to a daughter of the family, in order to marry her; even he can't be safe from the attempts of these vile Greeks. -Before chaste.] i. e. Before some filthy Grecian came into the family. 112. He turns the house, &c.] Aula signifies a fore-court, or an hall, belonging to a house: here it is put (by synec.) for the house itself: by catachresis for the family in the house. Resupino is a word rather of an obscene import, and here used metaphorically, for prying into the secrets of the family. See AINSW. Resupino. Holyday observes, that the scholiast reads aviam, (not aulam,) as if these fellows, sooner than fail, would attack the grandmother if there were nobody else. But though this reading gives a sense much to our poet's purpose, yet as it is not warranted by copy, as aulam is, the latter must be preferred. Amici here means, of his patron, who has admitted him into his family. 113. And thence be feared.] Lest they |