We, vile chickens hatched from unfortunate eggs? 145 You suffer a moderate matter, and to be borne with moderate choler, ་་ Of the people, or crowns placed by an ancient king. If these are not there, there stands forth one less sacrilegious, who 150 155 the house from getting out, and those who are without from getting in, to afford any assistance. It is not improbable that the poet here glances at the monstrous act of Nero, who sat Rome on fire. 147. Large cups, &c.] Who are guilty of sacrilege, in stealing the sacred vessels which have been for ages in some antique temple, and which are venerable from the rust which they have contracted by time. 148-9. The gifts of the people.] Rich and magnificent offerings, given to some shrine by a whole people together, in honour of the god that presided there. 149. Crowns placed, &c.] As by Romulus and other kings, whose crowns, in honour of their memory, were hung up in the temples of the gods. 150. If these are not there.] If it so happen that there be no such valuable relics as these now mentioned, yet some petty sacrilegious thief will deface and rob the statues of the gods. 151. Scrape the thigh, &c.] To get a little gold from it. 151-2. Face of Neptune.] Some image of Neptune, the beard whereof was of gold. 152. Draw of the leaf gold, &c.] Peel it off, in order to steal it, from the image of Castor:-there were great treasures in his temple. See sat. xiv. 1. 260. 153. Will he hesitate.] At such comparatively small matters as these, who could steal a whole statue of Jupiter, and then melt it down-and who can make a practice of such a thing? A man who accustoms himself to greater crimes, can't be supposed to hesitate about committing less. 154. Contrivers, and the merchant of poison.] Those who make, and those who sell poisonous compositions, for the purposes of sorcery and witchcraft, or for killing persons in a secret and clandes tine manner. See HoR. sat. ix. lib. i. 31; and epod. ix. 1..61. 155. Launched into the sea, &c.] Parricides were put into a sack made of an ox's hide, together with an ape, a cock, a serpent, and a dog, and thrown into the sea. See sat. viii, 214. The fate of Clauditur adversis innoxia simia fatis. Hæc quota pars scelerum, quæ custos Gallicus urbis Humani generis mores tibi nâsse volenti Sufficit una domus ; paucos consume dies, et Dicere te miserum, postquam illinc veneris aude. Pygmæus parvis currit bellator in armis : 160 165 170 these poor innocent animals is very cruel, they having done no wrong.-Deducendum. Met. See VIRG. G. i. 255. 157. Keeper of the city.] Rutilius Gallicus was appointed, under Domitian, præfectus urbis, who had cognizance of capital of fences, and sat every day on criminal causes. 158. From the morning.] Lucifero.-The planet Venus, when seen at day-break, is called Lucifer-i. e. the bringer of light. See sat. viii. 12. Nascere præque diem veniens age Lucifer almum VIRG. ecl. viii. l. 17. It is not to be supposed that the præfectus urbis literally sat from morning to night every day, but that he was continually, as the phrase among us imports, hearing causes, in which the most atrocious crimes were discovered and punished. 160. One house suffices.] q. d. If you desire to be let into a true history of human wickedness, an attendance at the house of Gallicus alone will be sufficient for your purpose. Spend a few days, &c.] Attend there for a few days, and when you come away, dare, if you can, to call yourself unhappy, after hearing what you have heard at the house of Gallicus. Domus is a very general word, and need not to be restricted here to signify the private house of the judge, but may be understood of the court or place where he sat to hear causes. 162. Swoln throat, &c.] The inhabitants about the Alps have generally great swellings about their throats, occasioned, as some suppose, by drinking snow water. The French call these protu berances on the outside of the throat-goitres. 163. Meroe.] An island surrounded by the Nile-See sat. vi. 527.--The women of this island are said to have breasts of an enor mous size. Our poet is hardly to be understood literally. 164. Blue eyes, &c.] Tacit. de Mor. Germ. says, that the Ger With whom an harmless ape, by adverse fates, is shut up. How small a part this of the crimes, which Gallicus, the keeper of the city, Hears from the morning, until the light goes down? To you who are willing to know the manners of the human race One house suffices; spend a few days, and dare 160 To call yourself miserable, after you come from thence. Who wonders at a swoln throat in the Alps? or who In Meroë at a breast bigger than a fat infant? Who has been amazed at the blue eyes of a German, his yellow 165 At the sudden birds of the Thracians, and the sonorous cloud, Soon unequal to the enemy, and seized, thro' the air, with crooked 170 mans have truces et cæruleos oculos, et comas rutilas-fierce and blue eyes, and red hair. 165. Twisting his curls.] Cornu-lit. an horn; but is used in many senses to express things that bear a resemblance to an horn--as here the Germans twisted their hair in such a manner, as that the curls stood up and looked like horns. A wet lock.] Cirrus signifies a curled lock of hair.—The Germans used to wet their locks with ointment of some kind, perhaps that they might the more easily take, and remain in, the shape in which the fashion was to put them-something like our use of pomatum; or the ointment which they used might be some perfume. Comp. HoR. lib. ii. ode vii. 1. 7, 8. 166. Because, &c.] Nobody would be surprised at seeing a German as above mentioned, and for this reason, because all the Germans do the same, it is the one universal fashion among them.--Natura sometimes signifies, a way or method. 167. Sudden birds, &c.] A flight of cranes coming unexpectedly from Strymon, a river of Thrace. Strymoniæ grues.-See VIRG. G. i. 120; Æn. x. 265. Sonorous cloud.] The cranes are birds of passage, and fly in great numbers when they change their climate, which they were supposed to do when the winter set in in Thrace; they made a great noise as they flew. See Æn. x. 265, 6. 168. Pygmaan warrior, &c.] The Pygmies (from yun, the fist, or a measure of space from the elbow to the hand-a cubit) were a race of people in Thrace, which were said to be only three inches high. AINSW. Juvenal says; a foot, 1. 173. They were said always to be at war with the cranes. Little arms.] His diminutive weapons. 169. The enemy.] The cranes. 171. In our nations, &c.] In our part of the world, if an in Quanquam eadem assidue spectentur prælia, ridet 175 280 185 stance of this sort were to happen, it would appear highly ridiculous; to see a little man fighting a crane, and then flown away with in the talons of the bird, would make you shake your sides with laughter, from the singularity of such a sight. 172. The same battles, &c.] In that part of the world, there being no singularity or novelty in the matter, though the same thing happens constantly, nobody is seen to laugh, however ridiculous it be to see an army of people, not one of which is above a foot may high. The poet means to infer from all this, that it is the singularity and novelty of events which make them wondered at: hence his friend Calvinus is so amazed and grieved that he should be defrauded, looking upon it as peculiar to him; whereas, if he would look at what is going forward in the world, particularly in courts of civil and criminal judicature, he would see nothing to be surprised at, with respect to his own case, any more than he would be surprised, if he went among the Germans, to see blue eyes, and red hair, or locks curled and wetted with some ointment, seeing they all appear alike. Or if he were to go among the Pygmies, he would see nobody laugh at their battles with the cranes, which are constantly happening, and at the diminutive size of the Pigmy warriors, which is alike in all. 174. "No punishment," &c.] Well, but, says Calvinus, though you observe that I am not to be surprised at what I have met with, because it is so frequent, is such a matter to be entirely unnoticed, and such an offender not to be punished? "A perjured head."] A perjured person.-Capitis, per synec. stands here for the whole man. So HoR. lib. i. ode xxiv. 1. 2. Tam chari capitis. 175. Wicked fraud."] In taking my money to keep for me, and then denying that he ever had it. "Suppose," &c.] Juvenal answers-suppose the man who Tho' the same battles may be seen constantly, nobody Laughs, when the whole cohort is not higher than one foot. "Shall there be no punishment of a perjured head, "And of wicked fraud?" "Suppose this man dragg'd away with 175 "A weightier chain immediately, and to be kill'd (what would anger "have more?) "At our will: yet that loss remains, nor will ever "The deposit be safe to you :" " but from his maimed body 180 185 has injured you hurried instantly away to prison, and loaded with fetters heavier than ordinary-graviore catena. 176. "Be kill'd," &c.] Be put to death by all the tortures we could invent-(and the most bitter anger could desire no more)— what then? 177. "That loss."] i. e. Which you complain of. "Remains." Is still the same. 178. "The deposit," &c.] The money which you deposited in his hands would not be the safer-i. e. at all the more secure. 179. "The least blood," &c.] True, replies Calvinus, but I should enjoy my revenge-the least drop of blood from his mangled body would give me such comfort as to be enviable; for revenge affords a pleasure sweeter than life itself. 181. "Truly this," &c.] Truly, says Juvenal, ignorant and foolish people think so. q. d. This is the sentiment of one who is void of all knowledge of true philosophy-indocti. Whose breasts, &c.] Præcordia signifies, literally, the parts about the heart, which is supposed to be the seat of the passions and affections; here it may stand for the passions themselves, which, says the poet, are set on fire, sometimes for no cause at all, sometimes from the most trivial causes, in silly people. 183. However small, &c.] Any trifling thing is, sufficient to put them into a passion-but it is not so with the wise. 184. Chrysippus will not say, &c.] A famous Stoic philosopher, scholar to Zeno, who taught the government of the passions to be chief good. a 185. Thales.] A Milesian, one of the seven wise men of Greece. He held that injuries were to be contemned, and was not himself easily provoked to anger. The old man.] Socrates, Neighbour to sweet Hymettus.] Hymettus, a mountain in Attica, famous for excellent honey, hence called dulcis Hymettus. See HoR. lib. i. ode vi. 1. 14, 15. This mountain was not far |
