Who inhabit Tentyra near the shady palm-tree. Here one slips down, hastening his course with too much Might suffice) the victorious rabble ate all up, the bones 80 I think thou must exult in this circumstance as well as myself. The introduction of these reflections, in the close of his mock-heroic account of the battle, makes very much for supposing that he speaks ironically here, as where he introduces Turnus, Ajax, and Diomede, 1. 65, 6. 87. He, who bore, &c.] The man who could endure to bite, and champ between his teeth, human flesh, did it, no doubt, with as much relish as he would eat any thing else, especially as his appetite was sharpened by the malice which he bare the Ombites. 89. Ask not, nor doubt, &c.] You need not question or doubt whether people, capable of committing so horrible a wickedness as this, to glut their revenge, had a delight in it; and whether those who were present at the beginning of the meal, and so had their first share of the flesh, felt a pleasure in devouring it. 90, 1. He who stood.] He, whoever he was, that stood farthest off, perhaps not being able to get through the crowd to the spot where the flesh was devoured, till the whole was consumed 91. His fingers, &c.] He observing 90 some of the blood on the ground, scraped it up with his fingers, and then sucked them with great satisfaction, as affording him, at least, a taste of his enemy's blood. This must stand as a sufficient reason, against all doubt, that the eaters of the carcase had the highest pleasure in so doing-1. 89, 90. 93. The Vascons.] A people of Spain, inhabiting between the river Ebro and the Pyrenean mountains. They were besieged by Metellus and Pompey, and reduced to such necessity, that the living were forced to eat the dead, but were at last relieved by Sertorius, a general of Marius's party. -As the report is.] As the story goes, as we say. -Using such aliments.] Eating human carcases. 94. Prolong'd their lives.] Which otherwise must have been lost in the straitness of the siege, which occasioned a severe famine. -Different.] But this was a very different thing from feeding on human flesh, as the Tentyrites did, out of choice, and out of revenge on their enemies. 95. Envy of Fortune.] The poor Vascons were under the frowns of Fortune; Extremi, longæ dira obsidionis egestas. Hujus enim, quod nunc agitur, miserabile debet 100 Pallorem, ac maciem, et tenues miserantibus artus,) Et sua: quisnam hominum veniam dare, quisve Deorum Viribus abnuerit dira atque immania passis; Et quibus ipsorum poterant ignoscere manes, 105 Quorum corporibus vescebantur? melius nos Nunc totus Graias, nostrasque habet orbis Athenas. they experienced the malice of that fickle goddess. See sat. iii. 1. 39, 40; and sat. vi. 1. 604. and Hor. lib. i. ode xxxiv. 1. 14, et seq. and ode xxxv. per tot. 95. Utmost of wars.] The utmost distress which war could occasion. 95, 6. Extreme misfortunes.] The very last symptoms of desperation. 96. Dire want, &c.] See above, note on 1. 93, 4. 97. Which is now in question.] i. e. The matter which I am now treating, viz. the Vascons eating human flesh. 97, 8. Ought to be lamented, &c.] Is not to be looked upon as a crime, but as a most lamentable instance of such a thing. 98. As the nation, &c.] The Vascons just mentioned above. 99. After all herbs, &c.] After they had consumed all sorts of herbs, and of beasts, and whatsoever else the cravings of their hungry stomachs had driven them to devour. 100. The very enemies, &c.] Their condition was so desperate, and their famished looks and appearance so shocking, as to move even their enemies to pity them. See Ps. cvi. 46. 101. Their slender limbs.] The very flesh wasted from their bones. 102. Tore for hunger, &c.] They tore, 110 through stress of hunger, the limbs of those that had died, and were almost ready to serve themselves in the same manner. See Deut. xxviii. 53-7. 103. Who of men, &c.] All this was excusable from the dire necessity of their situation, therefore they ought to be forgiven, not only by men, but by the gods themselves. 104. Forces.] Viribus—i. e. men who had suffered so much by exerting all the force of their strength and courage to defend their city against their besiegers. 105. Whom the manes, &c.] Who could think of condemning a people under such circumstances of distress, when the ghosts which once inhabited the bodies which they devoured must be supposed to forgive them. 107. The precepts of Zeno, &c.] He was the founder of the Stoics; and taught, that though some things might be done to preserve life (pro vita), yet not every thing; indeed, not any thing that was unbecoming or dishonest. 108. A Cantabrian.] The Vascons were a people of the Cantabrians, in the south-east of Spain. 108, 9. Whence a Stoic.] How should such a barbarous and ignorant people know any thing about Zeno-whence could a poor Vascon be made a Stoic? Misfortunes, the dire want of a long siege. For the example of this food, which is now in question, ought To be lamented: as the nation, which I just now mentioned, After all herbs, after all animals, whatever 99 The fury of an empty belly urged, (the very enemies themselves The precepts of Zeno admonish; he thinks not all things, some Are to be done for life. But a Cantabrian whence A Stoic-especially in the age of old Metellus? Now the whole world has the Grecian, and our Athens: 110 Eloquent Gaul taught the British lawyers Thule now speaks of hiring a rhetorician. Yet that people whom we have spoken of were noble: and equal In valour and fidelity, but greater in slaughter, Saguntus, 111. Eloquent Gaul, &c.] See sat. i. 1. 44, note; and sat. vii. 147, 8. Some of the Gallic orators came over to Britain, and taught eloquence. 112. Thule. To determine exactly, among so many different opinions as are given about the part of the world here meant by Thule, is not very easy: some say it means Iceland, others Schetland. It is certain that it was the farthest northern part known to the Romans. VIRG. Georg. i. 1. 30, calls it ultima Thule. Ainsworth calls it an island the most remote in the northern parts, either known to the Romans, or described by VOL. II. the poets. The idea of such a remote and desolate part of the earth sending for a rhetorician to refine their speech, throws an air of banter on what he has been saying, from 1. 107, about Zeno's precepts, &c. as if, in such a case of necessity as that of the Vascons, precepts of learning and philosophy could countervail the calls of nature, sinking under the extremity of hunger. 113. That people whom, &c.] The Vascons. -Were noble.] In their persevering and steady resistance, to the very last, in the defence of their besieged city. 113, 14. Equal in valour and fidelity, &c.] Saguntus was a city of Spain beyond the river Ebro, a most faithful ally to the Romans; for when they had holden out against Hannibal, and were almost famished, rather than submit, they chose to burn themselves, their wives, and children, which was the cause of the second Punic war. Virtus here signifies military courage. The Saguntines equalled the Vascons in the noble defence which they made, and exceeded them in the slaughter of themselves and families, rather than submit to the enemy. 2 A Tale quid excusat. Mootide sævior arâ 115. Excuses, &c.] Such a thing as eating the flesh of dead men may stand excused, if excited by such distress as the Saguntines were in, especially when compared with the slaughter made upon themselves, and all that were dearest to them. --Egypt is more cruel.] i. e. The Tentyrites, a people of Egypt, whose cruelty we have been relating. 115, 16. Maotic altar.] An altar near the lake Mæotis, sacred to Diana, where they sacrificed strangers-which horrid cruelty continued till the coming of Pylades and Orestes. 116. Tauric inventress.] Diana Taurica, so called from her being worshipped by the people of Taurica, where this altar was; and therefore the poet calls her the inventress of these cruel rites, wherein strangers were sacrificed. Or Taurica may mean the country itself, which is called the inventress, &c. because Thoas, king of Chersonesus Taurica, was the inventor of this horrid barbarity. He was slain by Orestes, who went thither to fetch away his sister. 117. What verses deliver.] You may, after the history which I have given you of the Tentyrites, believe any thing that the poets have written on the subject of cruelty. He alludes to EURIP. Trag. Iphig. in Tauris. 118. Nothing beyond.] Men are here killed in sacrifice, but nothing is further done, such as devouring their dead bodies, and the like: therefore the victim has nothing to fear, after having his throat cut. 120. Impelled these.] i. e. These Tentyrites-what has driven them to such 115 120 125 excess of barbarity? what calamitous circumstances have happened to force them into such savageness? -So great hunger.] Can they plead the necessities of famine, like the besieged Vascons? --And arms.] The power of an enemy's arms, to which they must either submit or die, like the Saguntines? 120, 1. Hostile to a rampart.] That are levelled at the rampart, or trench, which surrounds the besieged, with a determination to destroy, and are calculated for that purpose. 121. Have compelled them.] Like the poor people above spoken of. -So detestable a monstrous thing.] As to eat a dead human body, pick the very bones, and lick the blood from off the ground. 122. Other displeasure, &c.] The river Nile overflowed Egypt at a certain time of the year, and fertilized the country. If this did not happen, the Egyptians used to do some horrid act of cruelty, thinking thereby to provoke the river to overflow the country. This was taken from the example first set by Busiris, who slew a man in sacrifice; but it was the very man himself who proposed the expedient. We have the story in OVID, de Art. Am. Dicitur Ægyptus caruisse juvantibus arva Imbribus, atque annos sicca fuisse novem. Quum Thrasilus Busirin adit, monstrat- Hospitis effuso sanguine posse Jovem. Inquit, ut Ægypto tu dabis hospes aquam. By this we see that an human sacrifice Excuses something like this. Egypt is more cruel than the Mæotic Altar: for that Tauric inventress of a wicked Rite (as now you may believe what verses deliver, 115 Or more grievous, does the victim fear, than a knife. But what calamity Impelled these? what so great hunger, and arms hostile 120 To a rampart, have compelled them, so detestable a monstrous thing To attempt? could they have done other displeasure, the land was offered to placate Jupiter; this was the first intention, in order to obtain an overflowing of the Nile. In after times the Egyptians lost sight of this, and exercised acts of cruelty, thinking, by this, to irritate the Nile, and to make it overflow the whole country. Solebant accolæ immani quadam crudelitate illum ad inundationem irritare. See MARSHALL, and BRITAN. in loc. Or did the miscreants try this conjuring spell, In time of drought to make the Nile to swell? TATE. Having given the opinions of others on this passage, I now must give my own; for doing acts of cruelty, in order to obtain a benefit from the river, which they might suppose to be already angry with them, from its withholding its water, appears to me very strange. I should think the poet's meaning to be, that these Egyptians, the Tentyrites, had, without any necessity compelling them to it, without any excuse to extenuate their crime, been guilty of so monstrous a wickedness, that they could not have found out any other so likely to provoke the Nile to withhold its waters in a time of drought, and to bring a famine upon the country, by thus increasing the Nile's unwillingness to help them. So a late translator-" What worse "impiety could they commit, to provoke "the Nile to stay within its banks when 125 "the country of Egypt is chapt with "drought?" And HOLYDAY: By what fact Could they have more made their kind To rise, and their parch'd Memphian 122, 3. Land of Memphis.] The city of Memphis (now Grand Cairo) was the grand metropolis of that part of Egypt, and therefore gave its name to it. The Nile there divided, and intersected the land in various places, so as to resemble the form of a delta; that part of Egypt was therefore called the Delta. 124. Cimbri.] See sat. viii. 1. 249, note. The poet calls them terribiles, not only from their hardy valour, but, probably, from the destruction and havoc which they had made of several of the Roman armies. -Britons.] A hardy warlike people of Germany, Tacit. 125. Fierce Sauromatæ.] See sat. ii. 1. 1, note. -Agathyrsi.] A people of Sarmatia ; they were named after Agathyrsus, a son of Hercules. The poet means to say, that the Tentyrites raged with a fierceness and cruelty, with which these great, mighty, and warlike nations never did. 126. Weak and useless vulgar.] A contemptible and worthless rabble. |
