If his friend hath belched well, or rightly made water; They will know the secrets of the family, and thence be feared. And an old man his disciple, nourished on that bank, should reveal and publish the secrets which they become possessed of. See before, 1. 50-7. Farnaby, in his note on this place, mentions an Italian proverb, which is much to the purpose. Servo d'altrui si fà, chi dice il suo secreto a chi no'l sa. "He makes himself the servant of "another, who tells his secret to one "that knows it not." 114. And because mentioned, &c.] q. d. And, by the way, as I have begun to mention the Greeks. -Pass over, &c.] Transi, imp. of transeo, to pass over or through; also to omit, or say nothing of; to pass a thing by, or over. Each of these senses is espoused by different commentators. Those who are for the former sense, make the passage mean thus: " Talking of Greeks, let us pass through their schools, so as to "see and observe what is going forward "there." 66 The others make the sense to be, "Omit saying any thing of the schools; "bad as they may be, they are not "worth mentioning, in comparison of "certain other worse things.' 115 tion, and for the instruction of their disciples. See AINSW. Gymnasium. 115. A deed.] Fascinus, in a bad sense, means a foul act, a villainous deed, a scandalous action. -Greater abolla.] Abolla was a sort of cloak, worn by soldiers, and also by philosophers. The abolla of the soldiers was less than the other, and called minor abolla; that of the philosopher, being larger, was called major abolla. Juvenal also uses the word abolla (sat. iv. 76.) for a senator's robe. Here, by meton. it denotes the philosopher himself. 116. Stoic.] One of the straitest sects of philosophers among the Greeks. See AINSW. Stoici-orum, -Killed, &c.] By accusing him of some crime for which he was put to death. This was a practice much encouraged by the emperors Nero and Domitian, and by which many made their fortunes. See note on sat. i. 32, 3. 66 -Bareas.] The fact is thus related by Tacitus, Ann. vi. " P. Egnatius (the "Stoic above mentioned) circumvented by false testimony Bareas Soranus, "his friend and disciple, under Nero." 117. His disciple.] To whom he owed protection. -Nourished on that bank, &c.] By this periphrasis we are to understand, that this Stoic was originally bred at Tarsus, in Cilicia, a province of ancient Greece, which was built by Perseus, on the banks of the river Cydnus, on the spot where his horse Pegasus dropped a feather out of his wing. He called the city Tagaos, which signifies a wing, from this event. Ad quam Gorgonei delapsa est penna caballi. Limine summoveor: perierunt tempora longi Servitii: nusquam minor est jactura clientis. 118. Gorgoneam.] The winged horse Pegasus was so called, because he was supposed to have sprung from the blood of the gorgon Medusa, after Perseus had cut her head off. 119. For any Roman.] We Romans are so undermined and supplanted by the arts of these Greek sycophants, that we have no chance left us of succeeding with great men. 120. Some Protogenes.] The name of a famous and cruel persecutor of the people under Caligula. See Ant. Univ. Hist. vol. xiv. p. 302. -Diphilus.] A filthy favourite and minion of Domitian. -Erimanthus.] From gis, strife, and μαντίς, a prophet, i. e. a foreteller of strife. This name denotes some notorious informer. The sense of this passage seems to be, "There is now no room for us "Romans to hope for favour and pre"ferment, where nothing but Greeks are "in power and favour, and these such "wretches as are the willing and obse"quious instruments of cruelty, lust, " and persecution.” 121. Vice of his nation.] (See before, 1. 86.) That mean and wicked art of engrossing all favour to themselves. —Never shares a friend.] With any body else. 122. He alone hath him.] Engages and keeps him wholly to himself. -He has dropped, &c.] Stillavit; hath insinuated by gentle and almost imperceptible degrees. -Into his easy eur.] i. e. Into the ear of the great man, who easily listens to all he says. 120 125 130 123. The poison of his nature.] Born, as it were, with the malicious propensity of advancing themselves by injuring others. And of his country.] Greece, the very characteristic of which is this sort of selfishness. 124. I am removed, &c.] No longer admitted within my patron's or friend's doors. 125. Past and gone.] Perierunt; lit. have perished. My long and faithful services are all thrown away, forgotten, perished out of remembrance, and are as if they had never been. -No where, &c.] There is no part of the world where an old client and friend is more readily cast off, and more easily dismissed, than they are at Rome: or where this is done with less ceremony, or felt with less regret. Look round the world, what country will appear, Where friends are left with greater ease DRYDEN. than here? The word jactura signifies any loss or damage: but its proper meaning is, loss by shipwreck, casting goods overboard in a storm. The old friends and clients of great men, at Rome, were just as readily and effectually parted with. 126. What is the office.] Officium, business, employment, service. -That I may not flatter, &c.] q. d. Not to speak too highly in our own commendation, or as over-rating ourselves and our services. 126, 7. What the merit, &c.] What does the poor client deserve for the assiduous and punctual execution of his office towards his patron. 127. If a client.] So togatus signifies At which a feather of the Gorgonean horse dropped down. 120 Who, from the vice of his nation, never shares a friend; The merit of a poor man here, if a client takes care by night 130 here. It was usual for great men, on these occasions, to have a number of their dependents and clients to attend them those who went before were called anteambulones; those who followed, clientes togati, from the toga, or gown, worn by the common people. : -Takes care.] Makes it his constant business, 127, 8. By night to run.] To post away after his patron before day-break to the early levees of the rich. These early salutations or visits were commonly made with a view to get something from those to whom they were paid; such as persons of great fortune who had no children, rich widows who were childless, and the like. He who attended earliest, was reckoned to shew the greatest respect, and supposed himself to stand fairest in the good graces, and, perhaps, as a legatee in the wills of such persons as he visited and complimented. The word currere implies the haste which they made to get first. 128. The Prator drives on, &c.] The Prætor was the chief magistrate of the city. He was preceded by officers called lictors, of which there were twelve, who carried the insignia of the Prætor's office, viz. an axe tied up in a bundle of rods, as emblems of the punishment of greater crimes by the former, and of smaller crimes by the latter. The lictors were so called from the axe and rods bound or tied (ligati) together. lector, from lego, to read. So 129. The childless, &c.] Orbus signifies a child that has lost its parents, parents that are bereaved of their children, women who have lost their husbands without issue, &c. this last (as appears from the next line) seems to be the sense of it here. These ladies were very fond of being addressed and complimented at their levees by the flattering visitors who attended there, and were ready very soon in the morning, even up before daylight, for their reception. The Prætor drives on his attendants as fast as he can, lest he should not be there first, or should disoblige the ladies by making them wait. The childless matrons are long since And for affronts the tardy visits take. 130. Lest first his colleague.] Another reason for the Prætor's being in such a hurry, was to prevent his colleague in office from being there before him. It is to be observed, that, though at Divitis hic servi claudit latus ingenuorum Ut semel atque iterum super illam palpitet: at tu Da testem Romæ tam sanctum, quam fuit hospes 135 140 first there was but one Prætor, called Prætor Urbanus, yet, as many foreigners and strangers settled at Rome, another Prætor was appointed to judge causes between them, and called Prætor Peregrinus. Juvenal gives us to understand, that, on such occasions, both were equally mean and mercenary. 130. Albina or Modia.] Two rich and childless old widows, to whom these profligate fellows paid their court, in hopes of inheriting their wealth. This passage, from 1. 126 to 130, inclusive, relates to what Umbritius had just said about the very easy manner in which the great men at Rome got rid of their poor clients, notwithstanding their long and faithful services: q. d. “ I don't "mean to boast, or to rate our services "too high; but yet, as in the instance "here given, and in many others which "might be mentioned, when what we 66 do, and what we deserve, are compared "together, and both with the ungrateful "return we meet with, in being turned "off to make room for the Grecian pa"rasites, surely this will be allowed me "as another good reason for my departure from Rome." 66 131. Here.] At Rome. -The son of a rich slave, &c.] A person of mean and servile extraction, whose father, originally a slave, got his freedom, and by some means or other acquired great wealth. The sons of such were called libertini. -Closes the side.] Walks close to his side in a familiar manner: perhaps, as we say, arm in arm, thus making himself his equal and intimate, 131, 2. The free-born.] Of good ex traction; a gentleman of liberal birth, of a good family; such were called inge nui. The poet seems alike to blame the insolence of these upstarts, who aimed at a freedom and intimacy with their betters; and the meanness of young men of family, who stooped to intimacies with such low people. 132. Another.] Of these low-born people, inheriting riches from his father. -Tribunes.] He means the Tribuni Militum, of which there were six to each legion, which consisted of ten regiments or cohorts. See sat. i. 1. 58. n. 133. Presents to Calvina, or Catiena.] He scruples not to give as much as the pay of a tribune amounts to, to purchase the favours of these women; who probably were courtezans of notorious characters, but held their price very high. 134. But thou.] q. d. But thou, my friend Juvenal, and such prudent and frugal people as thou art, if thou art taken with the pretty face of some harlot, whose price is high, thou dost hesitate upon it, and hast doubts upon thy mind concerning the expediency of lavishing away large sums for such a purpose. 135. Well-dressed.] Vestitus means not only apparelled, but decked and ornamented. AINSW. Some are for understanding vestiti, here, as synonymous with togati, to express a low strumpet, (see sat. ii. 1. 70. and note,) but I find no authority for such a meaning of the word vestitus. 136. Chione.] Some stately courtezan of Rome, often spoken of by Martial. See lib. i. epigr. 35, 6. et al. called from Gr. xi, snow. So Here, the son of a rich slave closes the side of the Free-born: but another, as much as in a legion Tribunes That once and again he may enjoy her: but thou, 134 When the face of a well-dressed harlot pleases thee, hesitatest, And doubtest to lead forth Chione from her high chair. Produce a witness at Rome, as just as was the host Of the Idean deity: let even Numa come forth, or he who Preserved trembling Minerva from the burning temple: 139 Immediately as to income, concerning morals will be the last 136. Her high chair.] Sella signifies a sedan chair, borne aloft on men's shoulders: which, from the epithet alta, I take to be meant in this place-q. d. While these upstart fellow's care not what sums they throw away upon their whores, and refrain from no expence, that they may carry their point, their betters are more prudent, and grudge to lavish away so much expence upon their vices, though the finest, best-dressed, and most sumptuously attended woman in Rome were the object in question. -To lead forth.] Deducere; to hand her out of her sedan, and to attend her into her house. Many other senses are given of this passage, as may be seen in Holyday, and in other commentators; but the above seems to me best to apply to the poet's satire on the insolent extravagance of these low-born upstarts, by putting it in opposition to the more decent prudence and frugality of their betters. Dryden writes as follows: But you, poor sinner, tho' you love the And like the whore, demur upon the price: beur To lend an hand, and help her from the chair. As to translating (as some have done) vestiti by the word masked, it is totally incongruous with the rest of the sentence; for how can a face, with a mask on, be supposed to please, as it must be concealed from view? Besides, it is not said vestita facies, but facies vestiti scorti. However, it seems not very probable, that the poet only means to say, that the man hesitated, and doubted about coming up to the price of Chione, because he was so poor that he had it not to give her, as some would insinuate ; for a man can hardly hesitate, or doubt, whether he shall do a thing that it is out of his power to do. 137. Produce a witness.] Umbritius here proceeds to fresh matter of complaint against the corruption of the times, insomuch that the truth of a man's testimony was estimated, not according to the goodness of his character, but according to the measure of his property. 137, 8. The host of the Idean deity.] Scipio Nasica, adjudged by the senate to be one of the best of men. He received into his house an image of the goddess Cybele, where he kept it until a temple was built for it. She had various names from the various places where she was worshipped, as Phrygia, Idæa, &c. Ida was a high hill in Phrygia, near Troy, sacred to Cybele. See VIRG. Æn. x. 252. 138. Numa.] See before, notes on 1. 12. He was a virtuous and religious prince. 139. Preserved trembling Minerva.] Lucius Metellus, the high priest, preserved the palladium, or sacred image of Minerva, out of the temple of Vesta, where it stood trembling, as it were, for its safety when that temple was on fire. Metellus lost his eyes by the flames. 140. Immediately as to income, &c.] q. d. Though a man had all their sanctity, yet would he not gain credit to his testimony on the score of his integrity, but in proportion to the largeness of his income; this is the first and immediate object of enquiry. As to his moral character, that is the last thing they ask after. |