Deterior tamen hic, qui liber non erit, illis N. Idcirco, ut possim linguam contemnere servi, Nunc mihi quid suades post damnum temporis, et spes 125 135 P. Ne trepida: nunquam pathicus tibi deerit amicus, 130 Stantibus et salvis hic collibus: undique ad illos Conveniunt, et carpentis et navibus, omnes Qui digito scalpunt uno caput: altera major Spes superest, tu tantum erucis imprime dentem. N. Hæc exempla para felicibus: at mea Clotho E Lachesis gaudent, si pascitur inguine venter. O parvi, nostrique Lares, quos thure minuto, Aut farre, et tenui soleo exornare coronâ, Quando ego figam aliquid, quo sit mihi tuta senectus A tegete et baculo? viginti millia fœnus, Pignoribus positis? argenti vascula puri, 121. He is worse, &c.] The tattling of servants about the master's secrets is bad enough; but worse still is that master, who, by delivering himself up to the practice of secret vices, puts himself into the power of his servants, and lives under a perpetual bondage, for fear they should discover what they know of him. 122. Whose lives, &c.] i. e. Whom he maintains and nourishes. -Corn.] Far signifies all manner of corn, meal, or flour; and here may stand for the food in general which the slaves ate, and for which the master paid, as for their clothes and other necessaries. 123. Næv. Therefore, &c.] The poet represents Nævolus as confessing the goodness of his advice in general, but wants to know what is to be done in his particular case, who is growing old under loss of time and disappoint ment. 126. The hasty little flower, &c.] See Is. xl. 6, 7. James i. 10, 11. 1 Pet. i. 24. 128. Chaplets, ointments, &c.] In the midst of all our festival mirth. See HoR. lib. ii. ode vii. 1. 6—8. 140 Wisd. ii. 1-9. 130. Fear not, &c.] The poet, in his answer to what Nævolus had said, aggravates, if possible, his satire on the lascivious Romans, by representing Rome as the common rendezvous of the lewd and effeminate from all parts; not only of Italy, but of regions beyond the seas: the former are represented as coming in vehicles by land; the latter, in ships by sea. 131. These hills.] Rome was built on seven hills, which here are put for Rome itself. 132. There come.] Conveniunt-come together, convene, meet. 133. Who scratch, &c.] By this periphrasis are described those unnatural wretches, who dressed their heads like women; and who, if they wanted to scratch them, gently introduced one finger only, for fear of discomposing their hair. This phrase was proverbial, to denote such characters. 133, 4. Greater hope, &c.] Fear not, Nævolus, of meeting with a pathic friend, more generous than Virro, among these strangers; only qualify thyself for their pleasures by stimulating food. Yet he is worse, who shall not be free, than those PORTION OF A MISERABLE LIFE, HASTENS TO PASS AWAY: 130 We call for, old age, unperceived, creeps upon us. And Lachesis rejoice, if I barely live by my vices. 135 140 When shall I fix any thing, by which old age may be secure to me 135. Prepare, &c.] i. e. Tell these things to happier men than I am; for my part, my destinies would have me contented with a very little, glad if I can pick up enough to keep me from starving. 135, 6. Clotho-Lachesis.] These, with Atropos, are the names of the three fates, or destinies, which the poets feigned to preside over the lives and deaths of mankind. 137. Little Lares, &c.] The Lares, or household gods, were small images, placed on the hearth near the fire-side, and were supposed to be the protectors of the house and family; they were crowned with small chaplets, and cakes made of pounded frankincense, meal, and VOL. I. the like, were offered to them. See HOR. lib. iii. ode xxiii. ad fin. It was the custom to fix with wax their vows to the knees of these images, in order to have them granted. See sat. x. 55, and note. Therefore Nævolus is supposed to say, When shall I fix any thing-that is, present a petition, from a favourable answer to which I may be secured, in my old age, from rags, and begging with a crutch? Teges is literally a coarse rug; and baculum, a stick or walking staff. 140. Twenty thousand interest.] When shall I be so rich as to receive annually twenty thousand sesterces, that is, twenty sestertiums (about 1561. 5s.) for interest on money lent? The numeral nouns viginti millia must be understood to apply to sestertii, here; for applying them to sestertia, would make a sum too enormous to agree with the rest of what Navolus is wishing for. 141. Pledges set down.] i. e. With good and sufficient sureties, set or written down in the bond, to secure the principal. 2 R Sed quæ Fabricius censor notet; et duo fortes Quæ Siculos cantus effugit remige surdo. 145 150 142. Fabricius.] It is said of C. Fabricius, that when he was censor, he accused Corn. Ruffinus of prodigality, and removed him from the senate, because he found, in his house, silver vessels of ten pounds weight, esteeming it as a notorious example of luxury. Ñævolus is wishing for vascula, small vessels of pure silver, but not so small as to be below the notice of Fabricius. 143. Herd of the Masi.] For Masia, see AINSW. The Moesians were remarkably robust, and therefore in great request at Rome, as chairmen or carriers of the sedans and litters in which the fine people rode along the streets. See sat. i. 1. 64, and note. -Shoulders.] Cervix-lit. means the hinder part of the neck-the neck-and sometimes, as we may suppose here, the shoulders. AINSW. Nævolus, among other things, is wishing to afford two stout Mosians, who, by putting their shoulders under him, might carry him through the crowds at the circus, to some safe and convenient situation, where he could enjoy the diversion, at his ease and quiet, amid all the tumult and uproar of the place. Where on their brawny shoulders mounted high, While the brave youth their various I would the thrones of emperors defy. 144. May command,] Jubeant-may command, or order-implying the superior strength and power of these fellows, who could so make their way, as to place their master wherever they chose. 145. Skilful engraver.] Curvus signifies crooked, that hath turnings and windings; and this latter, in a mental sense, denotes cunning, which we often find used for skilful, in our older English. See Exod. xxxviii. 23, and several other places of our translation of the Bible. Some are for understanding curvus, as descriptive of the bending or stooping attidude, in which the engraver works at his business. 146. Quickly paint, &c.] An artist, who can soon paint a number of portraits, which I may hang about my But which the censor Fabricius would note-and two strong ones From the herd of the Mosi, who, with shoulders placed [under me] May command me to stand secure in the noisy circus?— Which escaped the Sicilian songs, with a deaf rower. house, as pictures of some great men who were my ancestors. Comp. sat. viii. 1. 2, and note. 146. These things will suffice, &c.] All this would just serve to make me as rich and happy as I could wish. Here I think this part of the subject comes to a period. Nævolus then recollects himself; his evil destiny occurs to his mind, and he breaks out in an exclamation on the vanity and misery of his wishes, since poverty and want are the only lot which he can expect. This seems to unite the four last lines, with the utmost consistency and propriety. 147. A wretched wish, &c.] Since (quando) I am doomed to poverty by my destinies, (comp. 1. 135, and note,) my wretched wishes, and all my hopes, are vain, and I cannot expect even what I have now been wishing for, much less any thing farther. 149. She affixes wax, &c.] i. e. Fortune is deaf to all petitions on my behalf. This is expressed by an allusion to the story of Ulysses, who, when sailing by Sicily, and being forewarned of the dan 150 ger of listening to the Sirens on the coast, stopped his mariners' ears with wax, and so sailed by them securely. He commanded that he himself should be tied to the main-mast. HOMER, Odyss. xii. Thus end the complaints of this miserable wretch! The poet has, under the character of Nævolus, strongly marked the odiousness of vice, and has set forth the bitter consequences which attend those who look for happiness and prosperity in the ways of wickedness, that they will fail in their expectations, and, at last, be consigned to the sad refuge of unavailing petitions for deliverance from that state of irremediable want and misery, into which they have plunged themselves, and which they find, too late, to be the sad but just recompence of their obstinate perseverance in evildoing. We may see this alarming and awful subject adequately treated in the sublime words of heavenly wisdom, Prov. i. 24-31. |