Obrázky na stránke
PDF
ePub

140

Nec fufferre queat majoris pondera gemmæ:

Difficile eft Satiram non fcribere. Nam quis iniquæ 30
Tam patiens urbis, tam ferreus, ut teneat fe?
Caufidici nova cùm veniat lectica Mathonis
Plena ipfo : & poft hunc magni delator amici,
Et citò rapturus de nobilitate comesâ

Quod fupereft: quem Maffa timet: quem munere palpat 35
Carus; & a trepido Thymele fummiffa Latino :

*Cum te fummoveant, qui teftamenta merentur
(Noctibus, in cœlum quos evehit optima fummi
Nunc via proceffus, vetulæ vefica beatæ.)

to the feafon. Ventilo fignifies-to wave any thing to and fro
in the air.

Crifpinus is defcribed as wearing a fummer-ring, and cooling it, by, perhaps, taking it off, and by waving it to and fro in the air with his hand-which motion might likewise contribute to the flipping back of the cloak.

31. So infenfible.] Ferreus-literally fignifies, any thing made of iron, and is therefore used here, figuratively, to denote hardness or infenfibility.

32. The new litter.] The lectica was a fort of fedan, with a bed or couch in it, wherein the grandees were carried by their fervants probably fomething like the palanquins in the Eaft. This was a piece of luxury which the rich indulged in.

Lawyer Matho.] He had been an advocate, but had amaffed a large fortune by turning informer. The emperor Domitian gave fo much encouragement to fuch people, that' many made their fortunes by fecret informations; infomuch that nobody was fafe, however innocent; even one informer was afraid of another. See below, 1. 35-6, and notes.

33. Full of himfelf.] Now grown bulky and fat-By this expreffion, the poet may hint at the felf-importance of this upftart fellow.

-- The fecret accufer of a great friend.] This was probably Marcus Regulus (mentioned by Pliny in his Epiftles) a moit infamous informer, who occafioned, by his fecret informations, the deaths of many of the nobility in the time of Domitian.

Some think, that the great friend here mentioned, was fome great man, an intimate of Domitian's; for this emperor fpared not even his greatest and most intimate friends, on receiving fecret informations against them.

But,

Nor can he bear the weight of a larger gem;

[ocr errors]

It is difficult not to write fatire. For who can fo endure 30 The wicked city-who is fo infenfible, as to contain himself? When the new litter of lawyer Matho comes

Full of himself; and after him the fecret accufer of a great friend,

And who is foon about to feize from the devoured nobility What remains: whom Maffa fears: whom with a gift 35 Carus fooths, and Thymèle fent privately from trembling Latinus.

When they can remove you, who earn last wills

By night, and whom the luft of some rich old woman (The best way of the highest fuccefs now-a-days) lifts up into heaven.

But, by the poet's manner of expreffion, it should rather seem, that, the perfon meant, was fome great man, who had been a friend to Matho, and whom Matho had bafely betrayed.

34. From the devoured nobility.] i. e. Deftroyed through fecret accufations, or pillaged by informers for hufh-money.

35. Whom Maffa fears.] Babius Maffa, an eminent informer; but fo much more eminent was M. Regulus, above mentioned, in this way, that he was dreaded even by Maffa, left he should inform against him.

36. Carus fooths.] This was another of the fame infamous profeffion, who bribed Regulus, to avoid fome fecret accufation.

Thymele.] The wife of Latinus the famous mimic; fhe was fent privately by her husband and prostituted to Regulus, in order to avoid fome information which Latinus dreaded, and trembled under the apprehenfion of.

37. Can remove you.] i. e. Set you afide, fupplant you in the good graces of Teftators.

Who earn laft wills, &c.] Who procure wills to be made in their favour.-The poet here fatirizes the lewd and indecent practices of certain rich old women at Rome, who kept men for their criminal pleasures, and then, at their death, left them their heirs, in preference to all others.

39. The best way, &c.] By this the poet means to expofe and condemn thefe monftrous indecencies.

Into heaven.] i. e. Into the highest ftate of affluence.

i

40. Proculeius

Unciolam Proculeius habet, fed Gillo deuncem:
Partes quifque fuas, ad menfuram inguinis hæres ;
Accipiat fanè mercedem fanguinis, & fic
Palleat, ut nudis preffit qui calcibus anguem,
Aut Lugdunenfem rhetor dicturus ad aram.

40

Quid referam quantâ ficcum jecur ardeat irâ,
Cum populum gregibus comitum premat hic fpoliator
Pupilli proftantis? & hic damnatus inani

Judicio (quid enim falvis infamia nummis ?)
Exul ab octavâ Marius bibit, & fruitur Dîs
Iratis at tu victrix provincia ploras!

45

50

40. Proculeius-Gillo.] Two noted paramours of thefe old Jadies.

Afmall pittance-a large bare.] Unciola, literally fignifies, a little ounce, one part in twelve.-Deunx-a pound lacking an ounce-eleven ounces-eleven parts of any other thing divided into twelve.

42. Of his blood.] i. e. Of the ruin of his health and conftitution, by these abominable practices.

43. Preffed a fnake.] By treading on it. See Virg. Æn. 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. Thofe, whofe performances were not approved, were to wipe them out with a fpunge, or to lick them out with their tongue: or else to be punished with ferules, or thrown into the fea.

45. What shall I fay ?] Q.D.-How fhall I find words to exprefs the indignation which I feel?

My dry liver burns.] The antients confidered the liver, as the feat of the irafcible and concupifcible affections. So Hor. Lib. 1. Od. xiii. 1. 4. fays.

Difficili bile tumet jecur-to exprefs his refentment and jealoufy, at hearing his miftrefs commend a rival.

Again, Lib. 4. Od.i. 1. 12. Si torrere jecur quæris idoneumby which he means-kindling the paffion of love within the breast.

Our poet here means to exprefs the workings of anger and refentment within him, at feeing fo many examples of vice and folly around him, and, particularly, in thofe inftances which he is now going to mention.

46. Afpoiler of his pupil, &c.] The tutelage of young men, who had loft their parents, was committed to guardians, who

were

Proculeius has a fmall pittance, Gillo has a large fhare: 40 Every one takes his portion, as heir, according to the fa

vour he procures :

Well let him receive the reward of his blood, and become as. Pale, as one who hath preffed with his naked heels a fnake, Or as a rhetorician, who is about to declaim at the altar of Lyons.

What shall I say?-With how great anger my dry liver

burns,

45

When here a fpoiler, of his pupil exposed to hire, preffes on

the people

With flocks of companions? and here, condemned by a frivolous

Judgment (for what is infamy when money is fafe)

The exile Marius drinks from the eighth hour, and enjoys the Angry gods? but thou, vanquishing province, lamenteft! 50

were to take care of their eftates and education. Here one is reprefented, as fpoliator-a fpoiler-i. e. a plunderer or pillager of his ward as to his affairs, and then making money of his perfon, by hiring him out, for the vileft purposes. Hence, he fays-Proftantis pupilli.

-Preffes on the people.] Grown rich by the fpoils of his. ward, he is fuppofed to be carried, in a litter, along the streets, with fuch a crowd of attendants, as to incommode other paffengers.

49. The exile Marius.] Marius Prifcus, proconful of Africa, who, for pillaging the province of vaft fums of money, was condemned to be banished.

47-8. By a frivolous judgment.] Inani judicio-because, though inflicted on Marius, it was of no fervice to the injured province; for, inftead of reftoring to it the treasures, of which it had been plundered, part of thefe, to a vast amount, were put into the public treafury. As for Marius himfelf, he lived in as uch feftivity as if nothing had happened, as the next two verfes inform us.

49. From the eighth hour.] Began his caroufals from two o'clock in the afternoon, which was reckoned an inftance of dif foluteness and luxury, it being an hour fooner than it was cuftomary to fit down to meals. See note on Sat. xi. 1. 204, and on Perfius, Sat. iii, 1. 4.

49-50. He enjoys the angry gods.] Though Marius had in

curred

Hæc ego non credam Venufinâ digna lucernâ?
Hæc ego non agitem? fed quid magis Heracleas,
Aut Diomedeas, aut mugitum labyrinthi,
Et mare percuffum puero, fabrumque volantem?
Cum leno accipiat mochi bona, fi capiendi
Jus nullum uxori, doctus fpectare lacunar,
Doctus & ad calicem vigilanti ftertere naso :

55

curred the anger of the gods by his crimes, yet, regardless of this, he enjoyed himself in a ftate of the higheft jollity and festivity.

:

Vanquishing province, &c.] Victrix-was used as a forenfic term, to denote one who had got the better in a lawfuit. The province of Africa had fued Marius, and had cars ried the cause against him, but had still reason to deplore her loffes for though Marius was fentenced 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, befides this, Marius had referved fufficient to maintain himself in a luxurious manner. See above note on 1. 47-8.

51. Worthy the Venufinian lamp?] i. e. The pen of Horace himfelf? This charming writer was born at Venufium, a city of Apulia. When the poets wrote by night they made ufe of a lamp.

52. Shall I not agitate, &c.] Agitem-implies pursuing, as hunters do wild beafts-hunting-chafing.-So inveighing against by Satire, driving fuch vices as he mentions out of their lurking places, and hunting them down, as it were, in order to deftroy them.

But why rather Heracleans.] Juvenal here anticipates the fuppofed objections of fome, who might, perhaps, advife him to employ his talents on fome fabulous, and more poetical fubjects-Such as the labours of Hercules, &c.-" Why fhould "I prefer thefe (as if he had faid) when fo many fubjects in real life occur, to exercife my pen in a more ufeful "way ?"

53. Or Diomedeans.] i. e. Verfes on the exploits of Diomede, a king of Thrace, who fed his horfes with man's flesh. Hercules flew him, and threw him to be devoured by his own horfes.

The lowing of the labyrinth.] The ftory of the Minotaur, the monster kept in the labyrinth of Crete, who was half a bull, and flain by Thefeus. See AINSW. Minotaurus. 54. The fea ftricken by a boy.] The ftory of Icarus, who fly

« PredošláPokračovať »