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Saturnumque gravem nostro Jove frangimus una.
Nescio quod certe est, quod me tibi temperat, astrum.
Mille hominum species, et rerum discolor usus :
Velle suum, cuique est ; nec voto vivitur uno.
Mercibus hic Italis mutat, sub sole recenti,
Rugosum piper, et pallentis grana cumini :
Hic, satur, irriguo mavult turgescere somno;
Hic campo indulget: hunc alea decoquit: ille
In Venerem putret. Sed cum lapidosa chiragra
Fregerit articulos, veteris ramalia fagi;
Tunc crassos transisse dies, lucemque palustrem,
Et sibi jam seri vitam ingemuêre relictam.

At te nocturnis juvat impallescere chartis,
Cultor enim juvenum, purgatas inseris aures

50. Break, &c.] Frangere and temperare were used by the astrologers, when the malignant aspect of one star was corrected, and its influence prevented, by the power of some other propitious and benign planet.

Hence that astrological axiom-Quicquid ligat Saturnus, solvit Jupiter.

The planet Saturn was reckoned to have a malign aspect; the planet Jupiter a mild and favourable one, and to counteract the former.

-Te Jovis impio
Tutela Saturno, refulgens
Eripuit.

HOR. Ode xvii. lib. ii. 1. 22-4. 51. I know not, &c.] I won't take upon me to be certain what star it was; but that it proceeds from the influence of some friendly star or other, which presided at our natal hour, that we are one in heart and sentiment, I am very clear.

Tempero literally signifies to temper, mix or mingle together.

52. There are a thousand species, &c.] i. e. Different kinds of men, as to their dispositions and pursuits.

-Different use, &c.] Discolor-literally, of a different colour. Their use of what they possess differs as much as one colour from another: some, (as it follows in the next lines,) from avarice, trade to increase their store; others, through luxury and extravagance, squander it away.

53. Has his will.] Velle, i. e. voluntas. Vivitur, impers. See sat. iii. 20,

note.

50

55

60

54. The recent sun.] In the east, where the sun first appears.

55. Changes, &c.] Sails to the East Indies, where he barters the produce of Italy for the produce of the East.

-Wrinkled pepper.] When the pepper is gathered, and dried in the sun, the coat or outside shrivels up into wrinkles.

-Pale cumin.] The seed of an herb, which being infused in wine, or other liquor, causes a paleness in those who drink it: it comes from Ethiopia. Probably it stands here for any Oriental aromatics.

HOR. epist. xix. lib. i. 1. 17, 18, speaks of his imitators:

Quod si
Pallerem casu, biberent exsangue cumi-

num.

56. Sated.] Satur-that has his belly full-glutted with eating and drinking.

-Swell up.] With fat.

So

-Moist sleep.] Irriguus signifies wet, moist, watered; also, that watereth. Here, metaph. from watering plants, by which they increase and grow. sleep is to those who eat much, and sleep much; it makes them grow, and increase in bulk.

57. Indulges in the field.] In the sports and exercises of the Campus Martius. Or perhaps field-sports may be understood. Comp. HoR. ode i. 1. 3—6, and 1. 25-8.

-The die consumes.] Is ruined by gaming. Decoquit.-metaph. from boiling away liquors over a fire. So the gamester, by continual play, consumes

his substance.

And we together break grievous Saturn with our Jupiter. 50
I know not what star it is certainly which tempers me with you.
There are a thousand species of men, and a different use of
things:

Every one has his will, nor do they live with one wish.
This man, for Italian merchandizes under the recent sun,
Changes the wrinkled pepper, and grains of pale cumin: 55
Another, sated, had rather swell up with moist sleep:
Another indulges in the field; another the die consumes; another
Is rotten for Venus: but when the stony gout
Has broken his joints, the branches of the old beech,

Then, that their gross days have passed away, and the gloomy light,

And they have late bewailed the life now left to them.

But it delights you to grow pale with nightly papers, For a cultivator of youths, you sow their purged ears

58. For Venus.] i. e. Ruins his health -is in a manner rotten-by continual acts of lewdness and debauchery. Putris means also wanton, lascivious. Omnes in Damalim putres deponent ocu

los.

HOR. lib. i. ode xxxvi. l. 17, 18. -The stony gout.] So called from its breeding chalk-stones in the joints, when long afflicted with it.

59. Broken his joints.] Destroyed the use of them as much as if they had been broken, and are so to all appearance.

-The branches, &c.] Ramalia-seared or dead boughs cut from a tree, which may be looked upon, from their withered and useless appearance, as very strong emblems of a gouty man's limbs, the joints of which are useless, and the flesh withered away-(see sat. i. 97.)-so that they appear like the dead branches of an old decayed beech-tree.

60. Gross days.] Crassos-the days which they have spent in gross sensuality, as well as in thick mental darkness and

error.

-Gloomy light.] Palustrem-metaph. from the fogs which arise in marshes and fenny places, which obscure the light, and involve those who live in it, or near them, in unwholesome mists. Such is the situation of those whose way of life is not only attended with ignorance and error, but with injury to their health, and with ruin of their comfort.

61. Late bewailed.] Too late for re

medy.

60

The life now left, &c.] They not only bemoan themselves, at the recollection of their past misspent life, but the portion of life which now remains, being embittered by remorse, pain, and disease, becomes a grief and burthen.

62. Grow pale, &c.] Your delight, O Cornutus, is to pass the time, when others sleep, in hard study, which brings a 'paleness on your countenance. See sat. i. I. 124; and sat. iii. l. 85.

63. A cultivator of youths.] Cultormetaph. from colo, to till or cultivate the ground.

d. As the husbandman tills or cultivates the ground, and prepares it to receive seed, and to bring forth fruit-so do you, Cornutus, prepare youthful minds to receive and bring forth wisdom.

-You sow their purged ears.] The metaphor is still carried on; as the husbandman casts the seed into the ground which he has prepared and cleaned, by tillage, from weeds-so do you sow the doctrines of moral philosophy, which were taught by Cleanthes, the disciple and successor of Zeno, in the ears of your pupils, after having purged away those errors, falsehoods, and prejudices, with which they were at first possessed, by your wise and well-applied instruction. You first teach them to avoid vice and error, and then to embrace and follow truth and virtue.

Fruge Cleantheâ. Petite hinc, juvenesque senesque,
Finem animo certum, miserisque viatica canis.

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65

Cras hoc fiet.' Idem cras fiet. 'Quid! quasi magnum Nempe diem donas?' Sed cum lux altera venit,

Jam cras hesternum consumpsimus: ecce aliud cras
Egerit hos annos, et semper paulum erit ultra:
Nam quamvis prope te, quamvis temone sub uno,
Vertentem sese frustra sectabere canthum,
Cum rota posterior curras, et in axe secundo.
Libertate opus est: non hâc, quâ, ut quisque Velinâ
Publius emeruit, scabiosum tesserulâ far

Virtus est vitium fugere, et sapientia consequence?

prima

Stultitia caruisse.

HOR. lib. i. epist. i. 1. 41, 2. 64. Hence seek, &c.] Persius here invites both young and old to seek for wisdom from the Stoic philosophy, as taught by his friend and preceptor Cornutus; that, thereby, they might find some certain and fixed end, to which their views might be directed, and no longer fluctuate in the uncertainty of

error.

Certum voto pete finem.

HOR. Epist. lib. i. ep. ii. 1. 56. 65. Stores, &c.] Viatica, literally, are stores, provisions, things necessary for a journey; as money, victuals, &c.

The poet here advises their learning philosophy, that their minds might be furnished with what would suffice to support them through the journey of life, and more particularly through the latter part of it, when under the miseries and infirmities of old age.

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70

68." Yesterday's to-morrow."] But, rejoins Persius, when another day comes, remember that yesterday, which was the morrow of the day before it, and which you wished to be allowed you, is passed and gone.

-"Behold another to-morrow."] This day, which is the morrow of yesterday, is now arrived, and is, with all the past morrows, exhausting and consuming these years of ours; and thus the time you ask for will always be put off, and stand a little beyond the morrow you fix upon.

70. Altho' near you," &c.] The poet, in allusion to the hind-wheel of a carriage, which is near to, and follows the fore-wheel, but never can overtake it, gives the young man to understand, that, though to-day is nearly connected with to-morrow, in point of time, yet it can't overtake it, the morrow will always keep on from day to day, and it can never be overtaken-thus shewing, that procrastinated time will always fly on, and keep out of his reach; however near he may be to it, all his resolutions to overtake it will be in vain.

66. "To-morrow," &c.] Persius here introduces some idle young man, as if saying, "To be sure you advise very rightly, but give me a little time-to- -" Under one beam."] Temo signifies "morrow (q. d. some time hence) I will the beam of the wain, or the draughtapply myself to the studies which you tree, whereon the yoke hangeth. Some"recommend." times, by synec. the whole carriage. -"The same will be done to-morrow."]q. d. Our days may be considered as When to-morrow comes, answers Per the wheels by which our lives roll on ; sius, the same thing will be done; that each day, as well as another, is joined is, you will want to defer it for a day to the space allotted us, like wheels to the same chariot.

more.

66. "What," &c.] What! replies the procrastinator, won't you allow me another day before I begin?-what! do you make such a mighty matter of giving me a day, as if that were of so great

71. The felly."] Canthus properly signifies the iron wherewith the wheel is bound, or shod, on the outward circle, called the felly-here, by synec. the wheel itself.

With Cleanthean corn.

Hence seek, ye young and old,

grey hairs.

A certain end to the mind, and stores for miserable "To-morrow this shall be done"- "the same will be done

66 to-morrow"____ "what!

66

"As a great thing truly do you give a day?"-" but when "another day comes,

"We have already spent yesterday's to-morrow. Behold an"other to-morrow

70

"Has spent these years, and will always be a little beyond: "For altho' near you, altho' under one beam, "You will in vain follow the felly turning itself, "When you, the hinder wheel, do run, and on the second axle." There is need of liberty: not this, by which every Publius in the Velinan tribe,

As soon as he has been discharged, mouldy corn with his tally

72. "The second axle."] Axis-the axle-tree on which the wheel is fixed, and about which it turns-the second, i. e. the hinder.-q. d. You will, like the hinder-wheel of a carriage, which can never overtake the fore-wheel, be still following the time before you, but will never overtake it; therefore defer not till to-morrow, what you should do to-day. The whole of the metaphor, 1. 70-2, is very fine, and well expressed. See Hor. lib. ii. ode xviii. I. 15, 16.

I must confess that I cannot dismiss this part of my task, without mentioning that beautiful description of the slipping away of time, unperceived and unimproved, which we find in Shakespeare:

"To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to

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Not this.] Not merely outward liberty, or liberty of the body, such as is conferred on slaves at their manumission.

By which.] See 1. 74, note 2.

-Every Publius.] The slaves had no prænomen; but when they had their freedom given them, they assumed one

so, for instance, a slave that was called Licinius, would add the name of his master to his own, and call himself, if his master's name were Publius, Publius Licinius-they also added the name of the tribe into which they were received and enrolled; suppose the Velinan, then the freed-man would style himself Publius Licinius Velina-thus he was distinguished from slaves.

74. Been discharged.] e. From slavery-made free. Emeruit-metaph. from soldiers, who for some meritorious service were sent home, and discharged from going to war. Als from gladiators, who for their valour and dexterity at the theatre obtained their dismission from their perilous occupation, and were donati rude, presented with a rod, or wand, in token of their discharge and release. HoR. epist. i. lib. i. 1. 2. Juv. sat. vi. 113. These were styled Emeriti.

So slaves were often made free, on account of their past services, as having deserved this favour-this is signified by emeruit here.

-Mouldy corn, &c.] Those who are thus admitted to freedom, and enrolled

Possidet. Heu steriles veri, quibus una Quiritem Vertigo facit !-Hic Dama est, non tressis agaso; Vappa, et lippus, et in tenui farragine mendax : Verterit hunc dominus, momento turbinis exit. Marcus Dama.Papa! Marco spondente, recusas Credere tu nummos?-Marco sub judice palles? -Marcus dixit: ita est.-Assigna, Marce, tabellas.Hæc mera libertas! Hoc nobis pilea donant!

'An quisquam est alius liber, nisi ducere vitam

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'Cui licet, ut voluit? licet, ut volo, vivere: non sum 'Liberior Bruto!' Mendose colligis, inquit Stoicus hic, aurem mordaci lotus aceto:

85

Hoc reliquum accipio; licet illud, et, ut volo, tolle.

in one of the tribes, were entitled to all public doles and donations, on producing a little ticket or tally, which was given them on their manumission. The corn laid up in the public magazines was not of the best sort, and was frequently damaged with keeping.

The name of the person and of the tribe, which he belonged to, was inscribed on the ticket, by which he was known to be a citizen. See Juv. sat. vii. 1. 174, note.

75. Alas! ye barren, &c.] The poet speaks with commiseration, of their ignorance, and total barrenness, with respect to truth and real wisdom, who could imagine that a man should be called free, because he was emancipated from bodily slavery.

-One turn.] Vertigo (from vertere, to turn). This was one of the ceremonies of making a slave free: he was carried before the prætor, who turned him round upon his heel, and said-Hunc esse liberum volo.

So Plautus, Menæchm. Liber esto, ito quo voles. Thus he became Quiris, a Roman citizen. See Juv. sat. iii. 1. 60,

note.

76. Here is Dama.] For instance, says the poet, here is the slave Dama.

A groom not worth, &c.] Agaso, an horse-keeper, a groom that looks after his master's horses. Non tressis (qu. tres asses) a poor, paltry fellow, worth hardly three farthings if one were to purchase him. They bought their slaves.

77. A scoundrel.] Vappa signifies wine that is palled, that has lost its strength, therefore called vapid.-Hence

a stupid, senseless fellow; or a scoundrel, a good-for-nothing fellow.

Blear-eyed.] Perhaps from debauchery and drunkenness. See sat. ii. 1. 72, note.

-A liar in a little corn.] That will cheat his master, and defraud his horses of their slender allowance, and then lie to conceal his pretty knavery. Farrago is a mixture of several gainsMesceline.

78. If his master, &c.] Let his master but turn him upon his heel. See note above, 1. 75.

-Movement of a top.] In one turn of a top, which is very swift when it is spinning-i. e. as we say, in the twinkling of an eye. This allusion to the turning of a top, very humourously agrees with the verterit.

-He comes forth, &c.] He that went before the prætor plain Dama, now comes out from him with a noble prænomen, and calls himself Marcus Dama.

79. Wonderful!] What a surprising change! or papæ may introduce the following irony, where a person is supposed to hesitate about lending money, for which Marcus offers to become surety. Papæ-How strange! that you should scruple it, when so respectable a person as Marcus offers his bond, and engages for the payment!

80. Are you pale?] Do you fear lest you should not have justice done you, where so worthy a person is advanced to the magistracy?

81. Marcus said it, &c.] Marcus gives his testimony, and who can contradict so just and upright a witness-what he says must be true.

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