For otherwise he could not sleep: To SOME 285 A QUARREL CAUSES SLEEP: but tho' wicked from years 290 For what can you do, when a madman compels, and he The stronger? "Whence come you," he exclaims, "with ' "whose vinegar, 294 "With whose bean, swell you? What cobler with you "Sliced leek, and a boiled sheep's head, hath eaten? "Do you answer me nothing?either tell, or take a kick : "Tell where you abide-in what begging-place shall I seek "you ?" If you should attempt to say any thing, or retire silent, It amounts to the same: they equally strike: then, angry, they of your company, as well as your entertainment. 294. Sliced leek.] Sectilis signifies any thing that is or may be easily cut asunder. But see sat. xiv. 1. 133, note. -A boiled sheep's head.] Vervex particularly signifies a wether sheep. Labra, the lips, put here, by synec. for all the flesh about the jaws. 295. A kick.] Calx properly signifies the heel-but by meton. a spurn or kick with the heel. 296. Where do you abide.] Consisto signifies to abide, stay, or keep in one place-here I suppose it to allude to taking a constant stand, as beggars do, in order to beg: as if the assailant, in order to provoke the man more, whom he is wanting to quarrel with, meant to treat him as insolently as possible, and should say, Pray let me know where you take your stand for begging?" This idea seems countenanced by the " " rest of the line. -In what begging-place, &c.] Proseucha properly signifies a place of prayer, (from the Gr. goruda,) in the porches of which beggars used to 300 take their stand. Hence by met. a place where beggars stand to ask alms of them who pass by. 298. They equally strike.] After having said every thing to insult and provoke you, in hopes of your giving the first blow, you get nothing by not answering; for their determination is to beat you; therefore either way, whether you answer, or whether you are silent, the event will be just the same-it will be all one. Then angry, &c.] Then, in a vio lent passion, is if they had been beaten by you, instead of your being beaten by them-away they go, swear the peace against you, and make you give bail, as the aggressor, for the assault. 299. This is the liberty, &c.] So that, after our boasted freedom, a poor man at Rome is in a fine situation-all the liberty which he has is, to ask, if beaten, and to supplicate earnestly, if bruised unmercifully with fisty-cuffs, that he may return home, from the place where he was so used, without having all his teeth beat out of his head-and perhaps he is to be prosecuted, and ruined at law, as the aggressor. Ut liceat paucis cum dentibus inde reverti. Nec tamen hoc tantum metuas; nam qui spoliet te Fixa catenatæ siluit compago tabernæ. Sic inde huc omnes tanquam ad vivaria corrunt. Hic alias poteram, et plures subnectere causas : 304. The chained shop.] Taberna has many significations; it denotes any house made of boards, a tradesman's shop, or warehouse; also an inn or tavern. By the preceding domibus he means private houses. Here, therefore, we may understand tabernæ to denote the shops and taverns, which last were probably kept open longer than private houses or shops; yet even these are supposed to be fastened up, and all silent and quiet within. This marks the lateness of the hour, when the horrid burglar is awake and abroad, and when there is not wanting a robber to destroy the security of the sleeping inhabitants. Compago signifies a joining, or closure, as of planks, or boards, with which the taberna was built-fixa compago denotes the fixed and firm manner in which they were compacted or fastened together-Inductâ etiam per singulos asseres grandi catenâ-Vet. Schol.-" with a "great chain introduced through every plank"-in order to keep them from 305 310 315 being torn asunder, and thus the building broken open by robbers. The word siluit, here, shews that the building is put for the inhabitants within. Meton. The noise and hurry of the day was over, and they were all retired to rest. 305. The sudden footpad.] Grassator means an assailant of any kind, such as highwaymen, footpads, &c. One of these may leap on a sudden from his lurking-place upon you, and do your business by stabbing you. Or perhaps the poet may here allude to what is very common in Italy at this day, namely assassins, who suddenly attack and stab people in the streets late at night. 307. Pontinian marsh.] Strabo describes this as in Campania, a champain country of Italy, in the kingdom of Naples; and Suet. says, that Julius Cæsar had determined to dry up this marsh; it was a noted harbour for thieves. -Gallinarian pine.] i. e. Wood, by synec. This was situated near the bay of Cuma, and was another receptacle of robbers. When these places were so infested with thieves, as to make the environs dangerous for the inhabitants, as well as for travellers, a guard was sent there to protect them, and to apprehend the offenders; when this was the case, the rogues fled to Rome, where they thought That he > return thence with a few of his teeth. may Yet neither may you fear this only: for one who will rob you will not Be wanting, the houses being shut up, after, every where, every Fixed fastening of the chained shop hath been silent: And sometimes the sudden footpad with a sword does your business, As often as, with an armed guard, are kept safe Both the Pontinian marsh, and the Gallinarian pine; In what furnace, on what anvil are not heavy chains? 305 The greatest quantity of iron (is used) in fetters, so that you may fear, lest 310 The ploughshare may fail, lest hoes and spades may be wanting: To these I could subjoin other and more causes, themselves secure; and then these places were rendered safe. 308. As to vivaries.] Vivaria are places where wild creatures live, and are protected, as deer in a park, fish in a stewpond, &c. The poet may mean here, that they are not only protected in Rome, but easily find subsistence, like creatures in vivaries. See sat. iv. 1. 51. What Rome was to the thieves, when driven out of their lurking places in the country, that London is to the thieves of our time. This must be the case of all great cities. 309. In what furnace, &c.] In this, and the two following lines, the poet, in a very humourous hyperbole, describes the numbers of thieves to be so great, and to threaten such a consumption iron in making fetters for them, as to leave some apprehensions of there being none left to make ploughshares, and other implements of husbandry. of 312. Our great-grandfathers, &c.] i. e. Our ancestors of old time-proavorum atavos-old grandsires, or ancestors indefinitely. 313. Kings and tribunes.] After the expulsion of the kings, tribunes, with 315 consular authority, governed the republic. 314. With one prison.] Which was built in the forum, or market-place, at Rome, by Ancus Martius, the fourth king. Robberies, and the other offences above mentioned, were then so rare, that this one gaol was sufficient to contain all the offenders. 315. And more causes.] i. e. For my leaving Rome. 316. My cattle call.] Summon me away. It is to be supposed, that the carriage, as soon as the loading was finished, (see 1. 10.) had set forward, had overtaken Umbritius, and had been some time waiting for him to proceed. 316. The sun inclines.] From the meridian towards its setting. -Inclinare meridiem. Sentis. HoR. lib. iii. od. xxviii. 1. 5. 317. The muleteer.] Or driver of the mules, which drew the carriage containing the goods, (see 1. 10.) had long. since given a hint, by the motion of his whip, that it was time to be gone. This Umbritius, being deeply engaged in his discourse, had not adverted to till now. Innuit: ergo vale nostri memor; et quoties te Me quoque ad Helvinam Cererem, vestramque Dianam 320 318. Mindful of me.] An usual way of taking leave. See HoR. lib. iii. ode xxvii. 1. 14. Et memor nostri Galatea vivas. 319. Hastening to be refreshed.] The poets, and other studious persons, were very desirous of retiring into the country from the noise and hurry of Rome, in order to be refreshed with quiet and repose. HOR. lib. i. epist. xviii. 1. 104. See also that most beautiful passage, O Rus, &c. lib. ii. sat. vi. 1. 60—2. -Your Aquinum.] A town in the Latin way, famous for having been the birthplace of Juvenal, and to which, at times, he retired. 320. Helvine Ceres.] Helvinam Cererem-Helvinus is used by Pliny to de note a sort of flesh-colour, AINSW. Something perhaps approaching the yellowish colour of corn. Also a pale redcolour-Helvus. Arnsw. But we may understand Ceres to be called Helvinus or Elvinus, which was near Aquinum. Near the fons Helvinus was a temple of |