Full of himself: and after him the secret accuser of a great friend, 35 And who is soon about to seize from the devoured nobility When they can remove you, who earn last wills By night, and whom the lust of some rich old woman (The best way of the highest success now-a-days) lifts heaven. up into 40 Proculeius has a small pittance, Gillo has a large share: Every one takes his portion, as heir, according to the favour he procures : Well let him receive the reward of his blood, and become as Pale, as one who hath pressed with his naked heels a snake, Or as a rhetorician, who is about to declaim at the altar of Lyons. 44 What shall I say?-With how great anger my dry liver burns, When here a spoiler of his pupil exposed to hire presses on the people With flocks of attendants? and here condemned by a frivolous Judgment, (for what is infamy when money is safe?) parts of any other thing divided into twelve. 42. Of his blood.] i. e. Of the ruin of his health and constitution, by these abominable practices. 43. Pressed a snake.] By treading on it. See VIRG. En. ii. 1. 379, 80. 44. The altar of Lyons.] The emperor Caligula instituted, at this place, games, wherein orators and rhetoricians were to contend for a prize. Those, whose performances were not approved, were to wipe them out with a spunge, or to lick them out with their tongue: or else to be punished with ferules, or thrown into the sea. 45. What shall I say?] Q. D. How shall I find words to express the indignation which I feel? —My dry liver burns.] The ancients considered the liver as the seat of the irascible and concupiscible affections. So Hon, lib. i. od. xiii. 1. 4. says, Difficili bile tumet jecur-to express his resentment and jealousy, at hearing his mistress commend a rival. Again, lib. iv. od. i. l. 12. Si torrere jecur quæris idoneum-by which he means, kindling the passion of love VOL. 1. within the breast. Our poet here means to express the workings of anger and resentment within him, at seeing so many examples of vice and folly around him, and particularly in those instances which he is now going to mention. 46. A spoiler of his pupil, &c.] The tutelage of young men, who had lost their parents, was committed to guardians, who were to take care of their estates and education. Here one is represent ed as spoliator-a spoiler-i. e. a plunderer or pillager of his ward as to his affairs, and then making money of his person, by hiring him out for the vilest purposes. Hence he says, Prostamis pupilli. -Presses on the people.] Grown rich by the spoils of his ward, he is supposed to be carried, in a litter, along the streets, with such a crowd of attendants, as to incommode other passengers. 47-8. By a frivolous judgment] Inania judicio because, though inflicted on Marius, it was of no service to the injured province; for, instead of restoring to it the treasures of which it had been plundered, part of these, to a vast D Exul ab octavâ Marius bibit, et fruitur Dîs amount, were put into the public treasury. As for Marius himself, he lived in as much festivity as if nothing had hap pened, as the next two verses inform us. 49. The exile Marius.] Marius Priscus, proconsul of Africa, who, for pillaging the province of vast sums of money, was condemned to be banished. -From the eighth hour.] Began his carousals from two o'clock in the afternoon, which was reckoned an instance of dissoluteness and lu ury, it being an hour sooner than it was customary to sit down to meals. See note on sat. xi. 1. 204. and on Persius, sat. iii. 1. 4. 49-50. He enjoys the angry gods.] Though Marius had incurred the anger of the gods by his crimes, yet, regardless of this, he enjoyed himself in a state of the highest jollity and festivity. -Vanquishing province, &c.] Victrix was used as a forensic term, to denote one who had got the better in a law-suit. The province of Africa had sued Marius, and had carried the cause against him, but had still reason to deplore her losses: for though Marius was sentenced to pay an immense fine, which came out of what he had pillaged, yet this was put into the public treasury, and no part of it given to the Africans; and, besides this, Marius had reserved sufficient to maintain himself in a luxurious manner. See above, note on i. 47, 8. 51. Worthy the Venusinian lamp?] i. e. The pen of Horace himself?. This charming writer was born at Venusium, a city of Apulia. When the poets wrote by night, they made use of a lamp. 52. Shall I not agitate, &c.] Agitem implies pursuing, as hunters do wild 50 55 60 beasts-hunting-chasing. So inveighing against by satire, driving such vices as he mentions out of their lurking places, and hunting them down, as it were, in order to destroy them. -But why rather Heracleans ?] Juvenal here anticipates the supposed objections of some, who might, perhaps, advise him to employ his talents on some fabulous and more poetical subjects such as the labours of Hercules, &c. "Why should I prefer these (as if he "had said) when so many subjects in "real life occur, to exercise my pen in a more useful way?" 53. Or Diomedeans.] i. e. Verses on the exploits of Diomed, a king of Thrace, who fed his horses with man's flesh. Hercules slew him, and threw him to be devoured by his own horses. --The lowing of the labyrinth.] The story of the Minotaur, the monster kept in the labyrinth of Crete, who was half a bull, and slain by Theseus. See AINSW. Minotaurus. 54. The sea stricken by a boy.] The story of Icarus, who, flying too near the sun, melted the wax by which his wings were fastened together, and fell into the sea; from him called Icarian. See HoR. lib. iv. od. ii. 1. 2—4. ---The flying artificer.] Dædalus, who invented and made wings for himself at his son Icarus, with which they Bled from Crete. See AINSW. Dada. lus. 55. The buwd.] The husband, who turns bawd by prostituting his wife for gain, and thus receives the goods of the adulterer as the price of her chastity. 56. There is no right to the wife.] Doruitian made a law to forbid the use of The exile Marius drinks from the eighth hour, and enjoys the Angry gods? but thou, vanquishing province, lamentest! 50 Shall I not believe these things worthy the Venusinian lamp? Shall I not agitate these (subjects?)—but why rather Heracleans, Or Diomedeans, or the lowing of the labyrinth, And the sea stricken by a boy, and the flying artificer? When the bawd can take the goods of the adulterer, (if of taking 55 There is no right to the wife,) taught to look upon the ceiling, Taught also at a cup to snore with a vigilant nose. When he can think it right to hope for the charge of a cohort, 59 Who hath given his estate to stables, and lacks all litters (see note, 1. 32.) to adulterous wives, and to deprive them of taking legacies or inheritances by will. This was evaded, by making their husbands panders to their lewdness, and so causing the legacies to be given to them. --Taught to look upon the ceiling.] As inobservant of his wife's infamy then transacting before him-this he was well skilled in. See Hor, lib. iii. od. vi. I, 25-32. 57. At a cup, &c.] Another device was to set a large cup on the table, which the husband was to be supposed to have emptied of the liquor which it had contained, and to be nodding over it, as if in a drunken sleep. --To snore with a vigilant nose.] Snoring is an evidence that a man is fast asleep; therefore the husband knew well how to exhibit this proof, by snoring aloud, which is a peculiar symptom of a drunken sleep. The poet uses the epithet vigilanti here very humourously, to denote, that though the man seemed to be fast asleep by his snoring, yet his nose seemed to be awake by the noise it made. So PLAUT. in Milite. An dormit Sceledrus intus? Non naso Nam eo magno magnum clamat. Our Farquhar, in the description which he makes Mrs. Sullen give of her drunken husband, represents her as mentioning a like particular: "My whole night's comfort is the "tunable serenade of that wakeful night"ingale-his nose." 58. A cohort.] A company of foot in a regiment, or legion, which consisted of ten cohorts. 59. Hath given his estate to stables.] i. e. Has squandered away all his patrimony in breeding and keeping horses. Præsepe sometimes means, a cell, stews, or brothel. Perhaps this may be the sense here, and the poet may mean, that this spendthrift had lavished his fortune on the stews, in lewdness and debauchery. 59-60. Lacks all the income, &c.] Has spent the family estate. 60. While he flies, &c.] The person here meant is far from certain. Commenta. tors differ much in their conjecture on the subject. Britannicus gives the matter up. "This passage," says he, "is "one of those concerning which we are " yet to seek." But whether Cornelius Fuscus be meant, who when a boy was charioteer to Nero, as Automedon was to Achilles, and who, after wasting his substance in riotous living, was made commander of a regiment; or Tigillinus, an infamous favourite of Nero's, be here designed, swered to the description here given, is whose character is supposed to have annot certain; one or other seems to be meant. The poet is mentioning various subjects as highly proper for satire; Flaminiam puer Automedon nam lora tenebat, Ipse lacernatæ cum se jactaret amicæ. Nonne libet medio ceras implere capaces Quadrivio cum jam sextâ cervice feratur (Hinc atque inde patens, ac nudâ pene cathedrâ, Et multum referens de Mæcenate supino) Signator falso, qui se lautum, atque beatum Exiguis tabulis, et gemmâ fecerat udâ? Occurrit matrona potens, quæ molle Calenum Porrectura viro miscet sitiente rubetam, Instituitque rudes melior Locusta propinquas, Per famam et populum, nigros efferre maritos. Aude aliquid brevibus Gyaris, et carcere dignum, and, among others, some favourite at court, who, after spending all his pater. nal estate in riot, extravagance, and debauchery, was made a commander in the army, and exhibited his chariot, driving full speed over the Flaminian way, which led to the emperor's villa; and all this, because, when a boy, he had been Nero's charioteer, or, as the poet humourously calls him, his Automedon, and used to drive out Nero and his minion Sporus, whom Nero castrated, to make him, as much as he could, resemble a woman, and whom he used as a mistress, and afterwards took as a wife, and appeared publicly in his cha riot with him, openly caressing, and making love, as he passed along. The poet humourously speaks of Sporus in the feminine gender. As the lacerna was principally a man's garment, by lacernatæ amica, the poet may be understood as if he had called Sporus, Nero's male-mistress, being habited like a man, and caressed as a woman. The above appears to me a probable explanation of this obscure and difficult passage. Holiday gives it a different turn, as may be seen by his annotation on this place. I do not presume to be positive, but will say with Britannicus, Sed quam in ambiguo sit, de quo poe "tą potissimum intelligat, unusquisque, "si neutrum horum probabile visum fue"rit, quod ad loci explanationem faciat, "excogitet." 61. The Flaminian way.] A road made by Caius Flaminius, colleague of Lepi. dus, from Rome to Ariminum. 62. When he boasted himself.] Jactare se alicui signifies to recommend, to in 65 70 sinuate one's self into the favour or good graces of another; as when a man is courting his mistress. By ipse, accord. ing to the above interpretation of this passage, we must understand the emperor Nero. 63. Capacious waren tablets.] These are here called ceras; sometimes they are called ceratæ tabellæ, because they were thin pieces of wood, covered over with wax, on which the ancients wrote with the point of a sharp instrument, called stylus, (see HoR. lib. i. sat. x. 1. 72.) it had a blunt end to rub out with. They made up pocket-books with these. 64. Cross-way.] Juvenal means, that a man might please himself by filling a large book with the objects of satire which he meets in passing along the street. Quadrivium properly means a place where four ways meet, and where there are usually most people passing→→ a proper stand for observation, -On a sixth neck.] i, e. In a litter carried by six slaves, who bare the poles on the shoulder, and leaning against the side of the neck. These were called hexaphori, from Gr. i, six, and igw, to bear or carry. See Sat. vii. I. 141. n. 65. Exposed, &c.] Carried openly to and fro, here and there, through the public streets, having no shame for what he had done to enrich himself. 66. The supine Macenas.] By this it appears, that Maecenas was given to la ziness and effeminacy. See sat. xii. 1. 39. Horace calls him Malthinus, from paddanos, which denotes softness and effeminacy. See HoR. lib. i. sat. ii. l. 25, 67. A signer, &c.] Signator signifies a sealer or signer of contracts or wills, The Flaminian way: for the boy Automedon was holding the reins, When he boasted himself to his cloaked mistress, Doth it not like one to fill capacious waxen tablets in the middle of a Cross-way-when now can be carried on a sixth neck A signer to what is false; who himself splendid and happy A potent matron occurs, who soft Calenian wine 65 About to reach forth, her husband thirsting, mixes a toad, 70 And, a better Locusta, instructs her rude neighbours, Through fame and the people, to bring forth their black husbands. Dare something worthy the narrow Gyaræ, or a prison, Here it means a species of cheat, who imposed false wills and testaments on the heirs of the deceased, supposed to be made in their own favour, or in favour of others with whom they shared the spoil. See sat. x. 1. 336. and note. Some suppose this to be particularly meant of Tigellinus, a favourite of Nero's, who poisoned three uncles, and, by forging their wills, made himself heir to all they had. 68. By small tables.] Short testaments, contained in a few words. Comp. note on l. 63. ——A wet gem.] i. c. A seal, which was cut on some precious stone, worn in a ring on the finger, and occasionally made use of to seal deeds or wills-this they wetted to prevent the wax sticking to it. This was formerly known among our forefathers by the name of a sealring. 69. A potent matron occurs.] Another subject of satire the poet here adverts to, namely, women who poison their husbands, and this with impunity. The particular person here alluded to, under the description of matrona potens, was, probably, Agrippina, the wife of Claudius, who poisoned her husband, that she might make her son Nero emperor. -Occurs.] Meets you in the public street, and thus occurs to the observation of the satirist, Comp. l. 63, 4. 69. Calenian wine.] Calenum was a city in the kingdom of Naples, famous for a soft kind of wine. 70. About to reach forth.] Porrectura the husband is supposed to be so thirsty, as not to examine the contents of the draught; of this she avails herself, by reaching to him some Calenian wine, with poison in it, which was extracted from a toad. 71. A better Locusta.] This Locusta was a vile woman, skilful in preparing poisons. She helped Nero to poison Britannicus, the son of Claudius and Messalina; and Agrippina to dispatch Claudius. The woman alluded to by Juvenal, 1. 69. he here styles, melior Locusta, a better Locusta, i. e. more skilled in poisoning than even Locusta herself. Her rude neighbours.] i. e. Unacquainted, and unskilled before, in this diabolical art. 72. Through fame and the people.] Setting all reputation and public report at defiance; not caring what people should say. -To bring forth.] For burial-which efferre peculiarly means. See TER. And, act. i. sc. i. 1. 90. 72. Black husbands.] Their corpses turned putrid and black, with the effects of the poison. 73. Dure.] i. e. Attempt-presumebe not afraid-to commit. --Something.] Some atrocious crime, worthy of exile, or imprisonment. --The narrow Gyare.] Gyaras was an island in the Agean sea, small, barren, and desolate, to which criminals were banished. |