(so that the school-time is passed in a state of h labour and sorrow,) arises mostly from the crabbed and difficult methods of instruction, which are too often imposed upon them; and that therefore all attempts to reduce the number of the difficulties, which, like so many thorns, are laid in their way, and to render the paths of instruction pleasant and easy, will encourage and invite their attention, even to the study of the most difficult authors, among the foremost of which we may rank Juvenal and Persius. Should the present publication be found to answer this end, not only to school-boys, but to those also who would be glad to recover such a competent knowledge of the Latin tongue, as to encourage the renewal of their acquaintance with the Classics, (whose writings so richly contribute to ornament the higher and more polished walks in life, and which none but the ignorant and tasteless can undervalue,) it will afford the Editor an additional satisfaction. Still more, if it prove useful to foreigners; such I mean as are acquainted with the Latin, and wish to be helped in their study of the English language, which is now so much cultivated in many parts of Europe. k The religious reader will observe, that God, who "in "times past suffered all the nations (wavra тa edm, i. e. "all the heathen) to walk in their own ways, nevertheless " left not himself without witness," not only by the outward manifestations of his power and goodness, in the works of creation and providence', but by men also, who, in their several generations, have so far shewn the work of the law written in their hearts", as to bear testimony against the un 66 h"The books that we learn at school are generally laid aside, with this preju dice, that they were the labours as well as the sorrows of our childhood and edu"cation; but they are among the best of books: the Greek and Roman authors "have a spirit in them, a force both of thought and expression, that later ages have "not been able to imitate." Bp. BURNET, Past. Care, cap. vii. 1 Quod enim munus reipublica afferre majus, meliusve possumus, quam si docemus atque erudimus juventutem? Cic. de Divin, lib. ii. 2. k See WHITBY on Acts xiv. 16. m See Rom. ii. 15. 1 Comp. Rom. i. 19, 20. with Acts xiv. 17. righteousness of the world in which they lived. Hence we find the great apostle of the Gentiles, Acts xvii. 28. quoting a passage from his countryman, Aratus of Cilicia, against idolatry, or imagining there be gods made with hands. We find the same apostle" reproving the vices of lying and gluttony in the Cretans, by a quotation from the Cretan poet Epimenides, whom he calls "a prophet of their own," for they accounted their poets writers of divine oracles. Let this teach us to distinguish between the use and abuse of classical knowledge, when it tends to inform the judgment, to refine the manners, and to embellish the conversation; when it keeps a due subordination to that which is divine, makes us truly thankful of the superior light of God's infallible word, and teaches us how little can be truly known by the wisest of men, without a divine revelation; then it has its use: still more, if it awakens in us a jealousy over ourselves, that we duly improve the superior light with which we are blessed, lest the very heathen rise in judgment against us. If, on the contrary, it tends to make us proud, vain, and conceited, to rest in its attainments as the summit of wisdom and knowledge; if it contributes to harden the mind against superior information, or fills it with that sour pedantry which leads to the contempt of others; then I will readily allow, that all our learning is but "splendid ignorance and pompous folly." 66 n Tit. i. 12. • 1 Cor. i. 20, 21. P Luke xii. 47, 48. DECIMI JUNII JUVENALIS AQUINATIS SATIRE. SATIRA I. ARGUMENT. JUVENAL begins this satire with giving some humourous reasons for his writing: such as hearing, so often, many ill poets rehearse their works, and intending to repay them in kind. Next he informs us, why he addicts himself to satire, rather than to other poetry, and gives a summary and general view of the reigning vices and follies of his time. He SEMPER ego auditor tantum ? nunquamne reponam, Satires.] Or satyrs. Concerning this word, see CHAMBERS's Dictionary. the poet by their applauses. See sat. vii. 1. 40-4. Persius, prolog. 1. 7. and note. HoR. lib. i. sat. iv. 1. 73, 4. Line 1. Only a hearer.] Juvenal complains of the irksome recitals, which the -Repay.] Reponam here is used scribbling poets were continually making metaphorically; it alludes to the borrowof their vile compositions, and of which ing and repayment of money. When a he was a hearer, at the public assemblies, man repaid money which he had borwhere they read them over. It is to be rowed, he was said to replace it-repoobserved, that, sometimes, the Romans nere. So our poet, looking npon himmade private recitals of their poetry, self as indebted to the reciters of their among their particular friends. They compositions for the trouble which also had public recitals, either in the they had given him, speaks as if he intemple of Apollo, or in spacious houses, tended to repay them in kind, by writwhich were either hired, or lent, for the ing and reciting his verses, as they had purpose by some rich and great man, done theirs. Sat. vii. 1. 40-4. PERwho was highly honoured for this, and SIUS, prolog. 1. 7. Hor. lib. i. sat. iv. who got his clients and dependents to- 1. 73, 4. gether on the occasion, in order to increase the audience, and to encourage 2. Theseis.] A poem, of which Theseus was the subject. |