SATIRE IX.

JUVENAL, NÆVOLUS.

v. 1-10.

Juv. STILL drooping, Nævolus! Do, prithee, say What means this show of grief from day to day, This copy of flay'd Marsyas? what dost thou With such a rueful face, and such a brow,

As Ravola wore, when caught-Not so cast down Look'd Pollio, when, of late, he search'd the town, And, proffering treble use, from friend to friend, Found none so foolish, or so mad, to lend!

But seriously, for thine's a serious case, Whence came those sudden wrinkles in thy face?

VER. 3. This copy of flay'd Marsyas ?] The story of Marsyas, who was overcome by Apollo in a musical contest, and afterwards flayed alive by him for his presumption, is known to every schoolboy. Juvenal here alludes to a very celebrated statue of this baffled champion, which stood in the Forum, so that the comparison must have been sufficiently striking.

VER. 6. Pollio, &c.] We find this liberal-hearted gentleman again in the eleventh Satire; but his circumstances do not seem to have improved in the interval, for he is there reduced to pawn his last article of value for a dinner.

I knew thee once, a gay, light-hearted slave,
Contented with the little fortune gave;
A sprightly guest, of every table free,
And famed for modish wit and repartee.
Now all's revers'd: dejected is thy mien,
Thy locks are like a tangled thicket seen;
And every limb, once smooth'd with nicest care,
Rank with neglect, a shrubbery of hair!

[look,

What dost thou with that dull, dead, wither'd Like some old debauchee, long ague shook?

All is not well within; for still we find
The face the unerring index of the mind,
And as THIS feels or fancies joys or woes,

THAT pales with sorrow, or with rapture glows.
What must I think? too sure, the scene is changed,
And thou from thy old course of life estranged:
For late, as I remember, at all haunts
Where dames of fashion flock to hire gallants,
At Isis and at Ganimede's abodes,

At Cybele's, dread mother of the gods,

VER. 11. I knew thee once, a gay, light-hearted slave, &c.] In the original it is, vernam equitem, an expression which might be rendered a slave-born knight, but which even thus would convey but little meaning to the English reader. The Romans frequently gave the slaves born in their houses, (who were generally spoiled by indulgence,) out of petulant familiarity or fondness, the name of equites-just as our ancestors gave the title of sir to their domestick priests and chaplains. It is to this caprice of the Romans, that Milton alludes, in his dispute with Salmasius: he calls him, in the Defensio, mancipium equestre, eques ergastularius, &c. I have not found this noticed by his editors.

VER. 29. At Isis and at Ganimede's abodes,

At Cybele's, &c.] This enumeration of temples consecrated to the purposes of debauchery, presents a frightful picture of the state of morals at Rome. It must be confessed, indeed,

Nay, at chaste Ceres, (for at shame they spurn,
And even her temples now to brothels turn,)
None was so famed: the favourites of the town,
Baffled alike in business and renown,

Murmuring retired; wives, daughters, were thy

own,

And, if the truth MusT come, not they alone. [yet,
NAV. Right: and to some this trade has answer'd
But not to me; for what is all I get?

A drugget cloak, to save my gown from rain, 7
Coarse in its texture, dingy in its grain,
And a few pieces of the "second vein!"

that the name of some of those deities does not suggest the idea of much purity in their votaries: we need not, therefore, be greatly surprised at the use which was made of the temple of Ganimede, or of Cybele, or of Isis, who, as Ovid says, had made many women what she herself was to Jupiter: but that Ceres, the patroness of chastity, whose hallowed fillets it was unlawful for any suspected person to bind, or even to touch, that her temple should be prostituted to the same shameful purposes, sufficiently proves that the city must now have been in the last stage of depravity.

This horrible desecration could not escape the notice of the first Christians, who speak of it with an indignant freedom not unworthy of Juvenal himself. Ubi autem, says Minucius Felix, magis a sacerdotibus, quam inter aras et delubra conducuntur stupra, tractantur lenocinia, adulteria meditantur? frequentius denique in ædituorum cellulis, quam in ipsis lupanaribus flagrans libido defungitur! And Tertullian, whom he seems to have had in view, Cæterum si adjiciam, quæ non minus conscientia omnium recognoscent, in templis adulteria componi, inter aras lenocinia tractari, in ipsis plerumque ædituorum et sacerdotum tabernaculis, sub iisdem rittis, et apicibus, et purpuris, thure flagrante, libidinem expungi, &c.

VER. 41.

of the "second vein !"] Venæque secundæ, i. e. says Grangæus, quod nostri non amplius argentum vocant, sed billon. Silver adulterated with brass below the standard; base metal, in short.

FATE GOVERNS ALL. Fate, with full sway, presides
Even o'er those parts which modest nature hides;
And little, if her genial influence fail,

Will vigour stead, or boundless powers avail.
Though Virro, gloating on your naked charms,
Foam with desire, and woo you to his arms
With many a soothing, many a flattering phrase-
For your curs'd pathicks have such winning ways!
But mark this prodigy, this mass impure
Of lust and avarice! "Let us, friend, be sure :
"I've given thee this, and this;—now count the

sums,

[comes (He counts, and woos the while,) "look, love! it "To five sestertia, five! now, look again, "And see how much it overpays thy pain." What!' overpays?' Is it then nothing, pray, To rake into the filth of yesterday ?

But you, forsooth, are fair, and form'd for love,
And worthy of the cup and couch of Jove!—
Will you relieve a client, you, who grudge
A doit to feed the miserable drudge
That toils in your disease!-see, see, my friend,
The blooming youth, to whom we presents send

VER. 42. FATE GOVERNS ALL.] Etiam, says Farnaby, pleasantly enough, etiam σrwing cinædus iste scarabæus ! He does so; and it is in character. I see no reason, therefore, to give these reflections, as some do, to Juvenal.

VER. 49. For your curs'd pathicks &c.] This verse, in the original, is parodied from a line in the Odyssey-autos yap #PERNETαι andpa odpos; which had, before this, been imitated, as Rigaltius observes, in the following epigram:

Μαγνης Ηράκλειτος εμοι έποθος· ετι σιδηρον

Πετρώ, πνευμα 8 εμον καλλοί εφελκόμενος.

Upon the Female Calends, or the day
Which gave him birth; in what a lady-way
He takes our favours, as he sits in state,
And sees adoring crowds besiege his gate!
Insatiate sparrow! whom do your domains,
Your numerous hills await, your numerous plains;
Regions, which such a tract of land embrace,
That kites are tired within the unmeasured space?
For you the purple vine luxuriant glows
On Trifoline's plain, and on Misenus' brows;
And hollow Gaurus, from his fruitful hills,
Your spacious vaults with generous nectar fills.
What were it then, a few poor roods to grant
To one so worn with letchery and want?
Sure yonder female, with the child she bred,
The dog their playmate, and their little shed,
Had with more justice been conferr'd on me,
Than on a cymbal-beating debauchee!
"I'm troublesome;" you say, when I apply,
"And give, give, give! is my eternal cry.'
But house-rent due, solicits to be sped,
But my sole slave, importunate for bread,
Follows me, clamouring in as loud a tone
As Polyphemus, when his prey was flown.

It

VER. 64. Upon the Female Calends, &c.] He speaks of the Matronalia, a festival instituted in honour of the women, for their meritorious exertions in putting an end to the Sabine war. fell upon the first of March, which, therefore, Juvenal elegantly calls the Female Calends. On this day, as well as on their birthday, the ladies sat at home in great solemnity, and received from their husbands, admirers, and friends, such presents as were peculiarly adapted to their sex. The satire here is obvious.

VER. 86.

clamouring in as loud a tone