"To the little temple, and to promise the comb of a cock "to the Lares "They dare not; for what is allowed the guilty sick "To hope for? or what victim is not more worthy of life? 235 "The nature of wicked men is, for the most part, fickle, and "changeable; "When they commit wickedness, there remains constancy: "what is right "And what wrong, at length they begin to perceive, their 66 "crimes 'Being finish'd: but nature recurs to its damned "Morals, fix'd, and not knowing to be changed. For who 240 "Hath laid down to himself an end of sinning? when recover'd Modesty once cast off from his worn forehead? "Who is there of 66 245 whom you men, have seen content with one "Base action? our perfidious wretch will get his feet into "A snare, and will suffer the hook of a dark prison, "Or a rock of the Ægean sea, and the rocks frequent "To great exiles. You will rejoice in the bitter punishment "Of his hated name, and, at length, glad will confess, that 66 no one of polished surface remains; so a wicked man, by frequent and continual crimes, grows hardened against all impressions of shame, of which the forehead is often represented as the seat. See Jer. iii. 3. latter part. 243. Who is there," &c.] Who ever contented himself with sinning but once, and stopped at the first fact? 244. "Our perfidious wretch," &c.] Noster perfidus, says Juvenal, meaning the villain who had cheated Calvinus, and then perjured himself. As if the poet had said, Don't be so uneasy, Calvinus, at the loss of your money, or so anxious about revenging yourself upon the wretch who has perjured you; have a little patience, he won't stop here, he'll go on from bad to worse, till you will find him sufficiently punished, and yourself amply avenged. 244, 5. "Into a snare."] He'll do something or other which will send him to gaol, and load him with fetters. Or he will walk into a snare (comp. Job, xviii. 8-10.) and be entangled in his own devices. 245. "Suffer the hook," &c.] The uncus was a drag, or hook, by which the bodies of malefactors were dragged about the streets after execution. See sat. x. 1. 66. But, by this line, it should seem as if some instrument of this sort was made use of, either for torture, or closer confinement in the dungeon. 246. "Rock of the Egean sea."] Or, if he should escape the gallows, that he will be banished to some rocky, barren island in the Ægean sea, where he will lead a miserable life. Perhaps the island Seriphus is here meant. See sat. vi. 563. "The rocks frequent," &c.] The rocky islands of the Cylades, (see sat. vi. 562, note,) to which numbers were banished, and frequently, either by the tyranny of the emperor, or through their own crimes, persons of high rank. 247. "You will rejoice," &c.] You, Calvinus, will at last triumph over the villain that has wronged you, when you see the bitter sufferings, which await him, fall upon him. 248. "His hated name."] Which will not be mentioned, but with the utmost detestation and abhorrrence. —“At length-confess."] However, in time past, you may have doubted of it, you will in the end joyfully own Nec surdum, nec Tiresiam quenquam esse Deorum. 248, 9. "That no one of the gods," &c.] Whose province it is to punish crimes, is either deaf, so as not to hear such perjury, or blind, so as not to see every circumstance of such a transaction, and to punish it accordingly. Comp. 1. 112-19. 249. "Tiresias."] A blind soothsayer "The gods is either deaf, or a Tiresias." of Thebes, fabled to be stricken blind by Juno, for his decision in a dispute between her and her husband, in favour of the latter, who in requital gave him the gift of prophecy. SATIRA XIV. ARGUMENT. This Satire is levelled at the bad examples which parents set their children, and shews the serious consequences of such examples, in helping to contaminate the morals of the rising generation, as we are apt, by nature, rather to receive ill impressions than good, and are, besides, more pliant in our PLURIMA sunt, Fuscine, et fama digna sinistra, Line 1. Fuscinus.] A friend of Juvenal's, to whom this Satire is addressed. -Worthy of unfavourable report.] Which deserve to be ill spoken of, to be esteemed scandalous. The word sinistra here is metaphorical, taken from the Roman superstition, with regard to any thing of the ominous kind, which appeared on the left hand; they reckoned it unlucky and unfavourable. See sat. x. 1. 129. where the word is applied, as here, in a metaphorical sense. 2. Fixing a stain, &c.] A metaphor, taken from the idea of clean and neat garments being soiled or spotted, with filth thrown upon them, the marks of which are not easily got out. So these things of evil report fix a spot, or stain, on the most splendid character, rank, or fortune--all which, probably, the poet means by nitidis rebus. 5 3. Which parents, &c.] The things worthy of evil report, which are afterwards particularized, are matters which parents exhibit to their children by example, and deliver to them by precept. Comp. 1. 9. 4. If the destructive die pleases, &c.] If the father be fond of playing at dice. -Wearing the bulla, &c.] His son, when a mere child, will imitate his example. For the bulla, see sat. xiii. 1. 33, note. 5. The same weapons, &c.] Arma, literally, denotes all kinds of warlike arms and armour; and, by met. all manner of tools and implements, for all arts, mysteries, occupations, and diversions. AINSW. The word is peculiarly proper to express dice, and other implements of From hence he descends esteems to be of worse vices which he mentions younger than in our riper years. to a satire on avarice, which he example than any other of the before; and concludes with limiting our desires within reasonable bounds. THERE are many things, Fuscinus, worthy of unfavourable report, And fixing a stain which will stick upon splendid things, Which parents themselves shew, and deliver to their children. If the destructive die pleases the old man, the heir wearing the bulla Will play too, and moves the same weapons in his little dice-box. 5 Nor does the youth allow any relation to hope better of him, gaming, wherewith the gamesters attack each other, each with an intent to ruin and destroy the opponent. See sat. i. 92, note. -Little dice-box.] Master, being too young to play with a large dice-box, not being able to shake and manage it, has a small one made for him, that he may begin the science as early as possible. See AINSW. Fritillus. 6. Nor does the youth allow, &c.] The poet, having mentioned the bringing up children to be gamesters, here proceeds to those who are early initiated into the science of gluttony. Such give very little room to their family to hope that they will turn out better than the former. 7. To peel the funguses of the earth.] Tuber (from tumeo, to swell or puff up) signifies what we call a puff, which grows in the ground like a mushroom-a toadstool. But I apprehend that any of the fungous productions of the earth may be signified by tuber; and, in this place, we are to understand, perhaps, truffles, or some other food of the kind, which were reckoned delicious. Sat. v. 1. 116, note. -To peel.] Or scrape off the coat, or skin, with which they are covered. 8. A mushroom.] The boletus was reckoned the best sort of mushroom. Comp. sat. v. 1. 147. See AINSW. Condio. 9. Beccaficos.] Ficedulas-little birds |