And to expose a venal head under the mistress-spear. Kill whom they will, as the people please: thence returned 36 40 Of the stars I am ignorant of: the funeral of a father to promise If the thumb were turned downward, it was a signal to spare his life. 37. Whom they will, &c.] These fellows, by treating the people with shows, had grown so popular, and had such influence among the vulgar, that it was entirely in their power to direct the spectators, as to the signal for life or death, so that they either killed or saved, by directing the pleasure of the people. See AINSW. Populariter, No. 2. 37. Thence returned, &c.] Their advancement to wealth did not alter their mean pursuits; after returning from the splendour of the theatre, they contract for emptying bog-houses of their soil and filfth. Such were called at Rome, foricarii and latrinarii; with us, night men. 38. Why not all things?] Why hire they not the town, not every thing, Since such as they have fortune in a string? DRYDEN. 39. Such, as, from low estate.] The poet here reckons the advancement of such low people to the height of opulence, as the sport of fortune, as one of those frolics which she exercises out of mere caprice and wantonness, without any regard to desert. See HOR. lib. i. ode xxxiv. 1. 14-16. and lib. iii. ode xxix. 1. 49-52. 40. Fortune.] Had a temple and was worshipped as a goddess. The higher she raised up such wretches, the more conspicuously contemptible she might be said to make them, and seemed to joke, or divert herself, at their expence. See sat. x. 366. 41. I know not to lie.] Dissemble, cant, flatter, say what I do not mean, seem to approve what I dislike, and praise what in my judgment I condemn. What then should I do at Rome, where this is one of the only means of ad vancement? 42. Ask for.] It was a common practice of low flatterers to commend the writings of rich authors, however bad, in order to ingratiate themselves with them, and be invited to their houses: they also asked, as the greatest favour, for the loan or gift of a copy, which highly flattered the composers. This may be meant by poscere, in this place. See Hor. Art. Poet. 1. 419-37. Martial has an epigram on this subject. Epigr. xlviii. lib. vi. Quod tam grande ooows clamat tibi turba togata, Non, tu, Pomponi, cana diserta tua est. rabble, 'Tis not thee they commend-but the cheer at thy table. 42, 3. Motions of the stars, &c.] I have no pretensions to skill in astrology. 43. The funeral of a father, &c.] He hereby hints at the profligacy and want of natural affection in the young men who wished the death of their fathers, and even consulted astrologers about the time when it might happen; which said pretended diviners cozened the youths out of their money, by pretending to find out the certainty of such events by the motions or situations of the planets. This, says Umbritius, I neither can nor will do. Nec volo, nec possum: ranarum viscera nunquam 44. The entrails of toads.] Rana is a general word for all kinds of frogs and toads. The language here is metaphorical, and alludes to augurs inspecting the entrails of the beasts slain in sacrifice, on the view of which, they drew their good or ill omens. Out of the bowels of toads, poisons, charms, and spells, were supposed to be extracted. Comp. sat. i. 70. sat. vi. 658. Umbritius seems to say, "I never "foretold the death of fathers, or of "other rich relations; nor searched for "poison, that my predictions might be "made good by the secret administra"tion of it." Comp. sat. vi. 563-7. 45. To carry to u married woman.] I never was pimp, or go-between, in carrying on adulterous intrigues, by secretly conveying love-letters, presents, or any of those matters which gallants give in charge to their confidents. 1 leave this to others. 46. I assisting, &c.] No villainy will ever be committed by my advice or assistance. 47. I go forth, &c.] For these reasons I depart from Rome, quite alone, for I know none to whom I can attach my. self as a companion, so universally corrupt are the people. 48. Maimed.] Like a maimed limb, which can be of no service in any employment: just as unfit am I for any employment which is now going forward in Rome. —A useless body, &c.] As the body, when the right-hand, or any other limb 45 50 55 that once belonged to it, is lost and gone, is no longer able to maintain itself by laborious employment; so I, having no inclination or talents to undergo the drudgery of vice of any kind, can never thrive at Rome. Some copies read, extincta dextra; abl. abs. the right-hand being lost. The sense amounts to the same. 49. Unless conscious.] Who now has any favour, attention, or regard shewn him, but he who is conscious, privy to, acquainted with, the wicked secrets of others? 49, 50. Fervent mind boils, &c.] Is in a ferment, agitated between telling and concealing what has been committed to its confidence. The words fervens and æstuat are, in this view, metaphorical, and taken from the raging and boiling of the sea, when agitated by a stormy wind. Fervet vertigine pontus. Ov. Met. xi. 549. So, æstuare semper fretum. CURT. iv. 9. AINSW. Estuo, No. 4. Hence æstuans signifies boiling with any passion, when applied to the mind. Animo æstuante reditum ad vade retulit. Catull. See AINSW. See Is. Ivii. 20. Or we may give the words another turn, as descriptive of the torment and uneasiness of mind which these men must feel, in having become acquainted with the most flagitious crimes in others, by assisting them, or partaking with them in the commission of them, and which, for their own sakes, they dare not reveal, as well as from the fear of those by whom they are intrusted. I neither will, nor can: the entrails of toads I never Have inspected to carry a married woman what an adulterer sends, 45 What he commits to charge, let others know: nobody, I as sisting, Shall be a thief; and therefore I go forth a companion to none, as 49 Maimed, and the useless body of an extinct right-hand. He will be dear to Verres, who Verres, at any time he will, Tagus the whole sand be, and the gold which is rolled into the sea, That 55 you should want sleep, and should accept rewards to be rejected, Sorrowful, and be always feared by a great friend. Who now is lov'd but he who loves the times, Conscious of close intrigues, and dipp'd in crimes: Lab'ring with secrets which his bosom burn, Yet never must to public light return. DRYDEN. 51. He thinks he owes you nothing, &c.] Nobody will think himself obliged to you for concealing honest and fair transactions, or think it incumbent on him to buy your silence by conferring favours on you. 53. Verres.] See sat. ii. 26. note. Juvenal mentions him here as an example of what he has been saying. Most probably, under the name of Verres, the poet means some characters then living, who made much of those who had them in their power by being acquainted with their secret villanies, and who, at any time, could have ruined them by a discovery. 54, 5. Shady Tagus.] A river of Spain, which discharges itself into the ocean near Lisbon, in Portugal. It was anciently said to have golden sands. It was call ed opacus, dark, obscure, or shady, from the thick shade of the trees on its banks. Estus serenos aureo franges Tago Obscurus umbris arborum. VOL. I. MART. lib. i. epigr. 50. Or opacus may denote a dusky turbidappearance in the water. 56. That you should want sleep, &c.] O thou, whoe'er thou art, that may be solicited to such criminal secresy by the. rich and great, reflect on the misery of such flagitious confidence, and prefer the repose of a quiet and easy conscience, to all the golden sands of Tagus, to all the treasures which it can roll into the sea! These would make you but ill amends for sleepless nights, when kept awake by guilt and fear. -Accept rewards to be rejected.] i. e. Which ought to be rejected-by way of hush-money, which, so far, poor wretch, from making you happy, will fill you with shame and sorrow, and which, therefore, are to be looked upon as abominable, and to be utterly refused, and laid aside. Ponenda; lit. to be laid down; but here it has the sense of abominanda respuenda rejicienda -abneganda. See HoR. lib. iii. od. ii. 1. 19. 57. Feared, &c.] The great man who professes himself your friend, and who has heaped his favours upon you in order to bribe you to silence, will be perpetually betraying a dread of you, lest you should discover him. The consequence of which, you may have reason to apprehend, may be his ridding him L Quæ nunc divitibus gens acceptissima nostris, Et quos præcipue fugiam, properabo fateri; Nec pudor obstabit. Non possum ferre, Quirites, self of his fears by ridding the world of you, lest you should prove like others magni delator amici. See sat. i. 33. But whether the great man betrays this fear or not, you may be certain he will be constantly possessed with it; and a much greater proof of this you cannot have, than the pains he takes to buy your silence. When he grows weary of this method, you know what you may expect. Alas! can all the treasures of the whole earth make it worth your while to be in such a situation! Comp. 1. 113. 58. What nation, &c.] Umbritius proceeds in his reasons for retiring from Rome. Having complained of the sad state of the times, insomuch that no honest man could thrive there, he now attacks the introduction of Grecians and other foreigners, the fondness of the rich and great towards them, and the sordid arts by which they raised themselves. 60. Nor shall shame hinder.] In short, I'll speak my mind without reserve, my modesty shall not stand in my way. -O Romans.] Quirites-this anciently was a name for the Sabines, from the city Cures, or from quiris, a sort of spear used by them: but after their union with the Romans, this appellation was used for the Roman people in general. The name Quirinus was first given to Romulus. See sat. ii. 133. Probably the poet used the word Quirites here, as reminding them of their ancient simplicity of manners and dress, by way of contrast to their present corruption and effeminacy in both; owing very much to their fondness of the Greeks and other foreigners, for some time past introduced among them. 61. A Grecian city.] Meaning Rome -now so transformed from what it once was, by the rage which the great people had for the language, manners, 60 65 dress, &c. of those Greeks whom they invited and entertained, that, as the inferior people are fond of imitating their superiors, it was not unlikely that the transformation might become general throughout the whole city: no longer Roman, but Grecian. Umbritius could not bear the thought. -Tho' what is the portion, &c.] Though, by the way, if we consider the multitudes of other foreigners, with which the city now abounds, what, as to numbers, is the portion of Greeks? they are comparatively few. See sat. xiii. 157. Hæc quota pars scelerum, &c. What part is this (i. e. how small a part or portion) of the crimes, &c. Achæan dregs.] Achæa, or Achaia, signifies the whole country of Greece, anciently called Danaë, whence the Greeks are called Danaï. AINSW. Dregs-metaph. taken from the foul, turbid, filthy sediment which wine deposits at the bottom of the cask. A fit emblem of these vile Greeks, as though they were the filth and refuse of all Greece, Sometimes the word Achæa, or Achaia, is to be understood in a more confined sense, and denotes only some of that part of Greece called Peloponnesus, or Pelops' island, now the Morea, anciently divided into Arcadia, and Achaia, of which Corinth was the capital: the inhabitants of this city were proverbially lewd and wicked: nogirdau was a usual phrase to express doing acts of effeminacy, lewdness, and debauchery-what then must the dregs of Corinth and its environs have been? See 1 Cor. vi. 9-11, former part. 62. Syrian Orontes.] Orontes was the greatest river of Syria, a large country of Asia. Umbritius had said (at 1. 61.) that the portion of Grecians was small in comparison; he now proceeds to ex 1 What nation is now most acceptable to our rich men, And whom I would particularly avoid, I will hasten to confess; -Nor shall shame hinder. O Romans, I cannot bear 60 A Grecian city: tho' what is the portion of Achæan dregs? Some while since Syrian Orontes has flow'd into the Tiber, And its language, and manners, and, with the piper, harps Oblique, also its national timbrels, with itself Hath brought, and girls bidden to expose themselves for hiring at the Circus. 65 Go ye, who like a Barbarian strumpet with a painted mitre. plain himself, by mentioning the inundation of Syrians, and other Asiatic strangers, who had for some time been flocking to Rome: these were in such numbers from Syria, and they had so introduced their eastern manners, music, &c. that one would fancy one's self on the banks of the Orontes, instead of the Tiber. The river Orontes is here put for the people who inhabited the tract of country through which it ran. Meton. So the Tiber for the city of Rome, which stood on its banks. 62. Has flow'd.] Metaph. This well expresses the idea of the numbers, as well as the mischiefs they brought with them, which were now overwhelming the city of Rome, and utterly destroying the morals of the people. 63. With the piper.] Tibicen signifies a player on a flute, or pipe. A minstrel. They brought eastern musicians, as well as musical instruments. The flute was an instrument whose soft sound tended to mollify and enervate the mind. 63, 4. Harps oblique.] Chordas, literally strings: here it signifies the instruments, which, being in a crooked form, the strings must of course be obliquely placed. 64. National timbrels.] Tabours, or little drums, in form of a hoop, with parchment distended over it, and bits of brass fixed to it to make a jingling noise; which the eastern people made use of, as they do to this day, at their feasts and dancings, and which they beat with the fingers. 64, 5. With itself hath brought.] As a river, when it breaks its bounds, carries along with it something from all the different soils through which it passes, and rolls along what it may meet with in its way; so the torrent of Asiatics has brought with it, from Syria to Rome, the language, morals, dress, music, and all the enervating and effeminate vices of the several eastern provinces from whence it came. 65. And girls bidden to expose, &c.] Prosto, in this connexion, as applied to harlots, means to be common, and ready to be hired of all comers for money. For this purpose, the owners of these Asiatic female slaves ordered them to attend at the Circus, where they might pick up gallants, and so made a gain of their prostitution. Or perhaps they had stews in the cells and vaults which were under the great Circus, where they exercised their lewdness. See Holyday on the place, note f. The word jussas may, perhaps, apply to these prostitutes, as expressive of their situation, as being at every body's command. Thus Ov. lib. i. eleg. 10. Stat meretrix certo cuivis mercabilis ære, Et miseras jusso corpore quærit opes. 65. Circus.] There were several circi in Rome, which were places set apart for the celebration of several games: they were generally oblong, or almost in the shape of a bow, having a wall quite round, with ranges of seats for the convenience of spectators. The Circus maximus, which is probably meant here, was an immense building; it was first built by Tarquinius Priscus, but beautified and adorned by succeeding princes, and enlarged to such a prodigious extent, as to be able to contain, in their proper seats, two hundred and sixty thousand spectators. See KENNETT, Ant. part ii. book i. c. 4. 66. Go ye, &c.] Umbritius may be supposed to have uttered this with no small indignation. |