Sed jam serpentum major concordia: parcit Produxisse parum est; cum rastra et sarcula tantum 159. Concord of serpents, &c.] These venomous creatures do not hurt their own species; they agree better than men now do with each other. 160. Spares his kindred spots.] The leopard recognizes the leopard, and avoids hurting him, whom he sees, by his spots, to be related to the same species with himself. 165. But, &c.] The poet having, in several instances, shewn the harmony and agreement which subsist among the most fierce and savage beasts, now proceeds to apply this to his main argument in this place, which is to prove, that the concord between these creatures is greater than is to be found among the human race towards each other; and indeed, that man towards man is now so savage, as to fabricate weapons for their mutual destruction, and this without any remorse or concern. 166. To have produced, &c.] Lit. to have lengthened out deadly iron, &c. i. e. by drawing it out, with hammering it on the anvil, into the length of a sword, a deadly weapon, and most fatal: the poet therefore calls the anvil on which it is made impious, as being instrumental to 160 165 170 the forming of this mischievous weapon. -Is little.] Is to be looked upon as a trifle, in comparison of what mankind are now capable of. See 1. 161-71. -Whereas.] Cum--although, albeit. -Being accustomed, &c.] The first smiths set up their trade only to forge instruments of husbandry, and made nothing else. Coquere signifies, here, to heat in the fire. AINSW. 167. Tired with mattocks, &c.] They wearied themselves daily in making hoes or mattocks, or ploughshares, for tillage. 168. Knew not how, &c.] So far from hammering iron into swords, they did not even know how to set about it. 169. We see people, &c.] Meaning the savage Tentyrites before mentioned, who ate human flesh, and looked upon it as a species of ordinary food. 172. Pythagoras.] The famous philosopher, who left his country Samos, then under the tyrant Polycrates, and travelled over India, through Egypt, in search of knowledge. He forbad the eating of animals on account of the transmigration of souls; he would not allow himself to eat all sorts of vegetables, but abstained from beans, which he is sup But now the concord of serpents is greater: a similar 160 The Indian tyger observes a perpetual peace with a fierce Tyger: there is agreement with savage bears among themselves. But for a man the deadly sword from the impious anvil 165 To have produced is little; whereas, being accustomed only to heat Rakes and spades, and tired with mattocks and the ploughshare, The first smiths knew not how to beat out swords. We see people, to whose anger it does not suffice To have killed any one; but the breasts, the arms, the face,170 They believed to be a kind of food. What therefore would he have said, Or whither would he not have fled, if now Pythagoras could have seen These monstrous things? who abstain'd from all animals, as from A man, and did not indulge every kind of pulse to his belly. posed to have learnt from the Egyptian priests, when he was in that country, who abstained from beans, and thought it unlawful to sow or look upon them. HERODOT. Euterpe. What, says the poet, would Pythagoras have said, if he had seen these Egyptians, these Tentyrites, tearing and devouring human flesh? to what part of the earth would not he have flown, to have avoided such a sight? who, so far from holding it lawful to eat human flesh, would not eat the flesh of any animal any more than he would have eaten the flesh of a man, nor would he indulge his appetite with every kind of vegetable. The reason of this strange piece of superstition, of abstinence from beans, is not known; many causes have been assigned for it, which are full as absurd as the thing itself. The reader may find many of these collected in Holyday, note 14, on this Satire. See also ANT. Univ. Hist. vol. i. p. 53. According to the story of his life, written by Jamblichus, we may suppose that neither Pythagoras, nor any of his followers, would ever reveal the cause of abstinence from beans. It seems that Dionysius the tyrant, the younger, desiring to know the secret, caused two Pythagoreans to be brought before him, a man and his wife, who being asked, "why the Pythagoreans would not eat "beans? ""I will sooner die (said the "man) than reveal it."-This, though threatened with tortures, he persisted in, and was, with indignation, sent away. The wife was then called upon, and being asked the same question, and threatened also with tortures, she, rather than reveal it, bit out her tongue, and spit it in the tyrant's face. Of Pythagoras, see Ovid, Met. lib. xv. 1. 60, et seq. SATIRA XVI. ARGUMENT. This Satire is supposed to have been written by Juvenal while he commanded in Egypt, (see sat. xv. l. 45, note 2.); he sets forth, ironically, the advantages and privileges of the soldiery, and how happy they are beyond others whom he mentions. Many have thought that this Satire was not written by Juvenal; but I think that the weight of evidence seems against that Quis numerare queat felicis præmia, Galle, : Commoda tractemus primum communia, quorum Haud minimum illud erit, ne te pulsare togatus Line 1. Gallus.] Who this was does not appear; some friend, doubtless, of Juvenal, to whom he addresses this Satire. -Can number, &c.] i. e. Can reckon up the advantages and emoluments arising from a military life? 2. Now since.] The subject of the Satire is proposed, 1. 1, though not entered upon till 1.7. The intermediate lines, beginning at Nam si, &c. 1. 2, to the end of 1. 6, are digressional, and humorously introduce the poet, now eighty years old, and forced into the service as a punishment, wishing to enter into the army with a lucky planet, as a soldier of fortune: the cheerfulness with which he seems to bear his misfortune must have afforded no small disappointment to his enemies. 5 I have rendered the Nam si, as marking the transition to the poet's wish for himself. See AINSW. Nam, No. 5, 6; and Si, No. 2. -Prosperous camps, &c.] Where people make their fortunes. 3. Let the door.] Let my first entrance be attended with the good omen of some favourable star. It was a great notion among the Romans, that their good or ill fortune depended on the situation of the stars, at certain times, and on certain occasions. Sat. vii. 1. 194, note. -A fearful beginner.] Tyro signifies a fresh-water soldier, a young beginner, a novice ; these are usually fearful at first, being unused to the fatigues and hazards of war. SATIRE XVI. ARGUMENT. opinion, and that there are many passages so exactly in the style of Juvenal, as to afford the strongest internal evidence that it was written by him. It may be granted not to be a finished piece, like the rest; but if we only regard it as a draught or design of a larger work, it is a valuable hint on the oppression and inconveniences of a military government. WHO, O Gallus, can number the advantages of the happy 5 Let us first treat common advantages: of which that will Hardly be the least, that a gownsman to strike you It is to be remembered, that Juvenal, who had passed his life in the study of letters, and in writing, was sent away from Rome into Egypt, under pretence of giving him a military command, but indeed to exile him, for having satirized Paris the player, a minion of Domitian. See sat. vii. 1. 92, note. This was in a very advanced stage of our poet's life; therefore, though an old man, he might properly call himself a young soldier, unskilled and fearful. 4. An hour of kind fate, &c.] One lucky hour under the influence of some friendly planet. See HOR. lib. ii. ode xvii. 1. 17, et seq. 5. Epistle of Venus, &c.] Than if Venus, the mistress of the god of war, were to write him a recommendatory letter in my favour, and this to be seconded by another from his mother Juno, here meant by genitrix. The poet, in this place, is again sneering at the mythology of his country. Comp. sat. xiii. I. 40-7. 6. Delights in the Samian sand.] Juno was worshipped at Samos, a sandy island in the Icarian sea, where she was educated and married to Jupiter; she was said to have å great delight in this island. See Æn. i. 1. 19, 20. 7. Let us first treat common advantages.] The poet now enters on his subject; and begins, first, with those privileges of the military, which are common to all of them, from the highest to the lowest. 8. A gownsman.] Any common Roman, called togatus from wearing a gown; as a soldier is called armatus, from wearing arms-1. 34, post. Audeat immo etsi pulsetur, dissimilet, nec Tota cohors tamen est inimica, omnesque manipli 9. May not dare.] No common man dare strike you if you are a soldier. -Tho' he.] Though he should be ever so beaten by you. -Let him dissemble.] Let him conceal it; let him counterfeit, and pretend, that he came by the marks, which the soldier's blows have left, some other way. 10. Nor dare to shew, &c.] Though the soldier has knocked the man's teeth out of his head, yet let not the man dare to complain to the superior officer, or shew his mangled mouth. -Prætor.] The prætor militaris was the general, or commander-in-chief. See AINSW. Prætor. 11. Black bump, &c.] His face beat black and blue, as we say, and full of lumps and swellings. 12. And eyes left, &c.] His eyes left in such a condition, as to make it impossible for the surgeon to promise a recovery of them. 13. A Bardiac judge.] Bardiacus, or Bardaicus, a military judge, something like our judge-advocate in the army, who had the sole cognizance of all military causes, and of such as arose within the camp: so called from bardi, an ancient people of Gaul, who wore a particular sort of dress, that was adopted by the Romans, and used by the military. This judge, being of the army, wore this dress, and therefore is called Bardiacus, which signifies, of the country of Gaul, or dressed like Gauls. AINSW. 10 15 20 -Willing to punish, &c.] If a man will venture to complain, he will be referred to the tribunal of the military judge. 14. A shoe, &c.] Calceus signifies any shoe, but probably means here a particular shoe worn by soldiers, which, like those of our rustics, was filled with nails at the bottom. See sat. iii. 247, 8, note. -Large buskins.] These seem to have been the upper parts of the caliga, as the lower were the calcei, or shoes; for the caliga being a sort of harness for the foot and leg, the lower part, or calceus, covered the foot, the upper part, or sura, reached up to the calf of the leg: they were like our half boots, and in the front had the figure of a lion, or some fierce beast. -At the great benches.] The benches on which the superior magistrates sat were called tribunalia, those on which the lower magistrates sat were called subsellia; so that the epithet magna, here, is probably ironical. The poet means, that the complainant is referred to a military judge, who takes his seat on the bench in his military habit. 15. Laws of camps.] These complaints were not tried by the civil laws and institutions, but by the old military laws. -The custom of Camillus.] L. Furius Camillus, during the ten years' siege of Veii, a city of Tuscany, famous for the slaughter of the Fabii there, made a law, |