Brows of Monarchs bear The good old Sluggard but began to snore When from his side up rose th' Imperial Whore She who preferr'd the Pleasures of the Night To Pomps that are but impotent delight Strode from the Palace with an eager pace To cope with a more Masculine Embrace Muffl'd she march'd like Iuno in a â—lowd Of all her Train but one poor Weneh allow'd One whom in Secret Service she cou'd trust The Rival and Companion of her Lust. To the known Brothel-house she takes her way And for a nasty Room gives double pay That Room in which the rankest Harlot lay Prepar'd for fight expectingly she lies With heaving Breasts and with desiring Eyes Still as one drops another takes his place And baffled still succeeds to like disgrace At length when friendly darkness is expir'd And every Strumpet from her Cell retir'd She lags behind and lingring at the Gate With a repining Sigh submits to Fate All Filth without and all a Fire within Tir'd with the Toyl unsated with the Sin Old Caesar's Bed the modest Matron seeks The steam of Lamps still hanging on her Cheeks In Ropy Smut thus foul and thus bedight She brings him back the Product of the Night Now should I sing what Poisons they provide With all their Trumpery of Charms beside And all their Arts of Death it would be known Lust is the smallest Sin the Sex can own Caesinia still they say is guiltless found Of every Vice by her own Lord Renown'd And well she may she brought ten thousand Pound She brought him wherewithal to be call'd chaste His Tongue is ty'd in Golden Fetters fast He Sighs Adores and Courts her every Hour Who wou'd not do as much for such a Dower She writes Love-Letters to the Youth in Grace Nay tipâ— the wink before the Cuckold's Face And might do more Her Portion makes it good Wealth has the Priviledge of Widow-hood These Truths with his Example you disprove Who with his Wife is monstrously in Love But know him better for I heard him Swear 'T is not that She 's his Wife but that She 's Fair. Let her but have three Wrinkles in her Face Let her Eyes Lessen and her Skin unbrace Soon you will hear the Saucy Steward say Pack up with all your Trinkets and away You grow Offensive both at Bed and Board Your Betters must be had to please my Lord. Mean time She 's absolute upon the Throne And knowing time is Precious loses none She must have Flocks of Sheep with Wool more Fine Than Silk and Vinyards of the Noblest Wine Whole Droves of Pages for her Train she Craves And sweeps the Prisons for attending Slaves In short whatever in her Eyes can come Or others have abroad she wants at home When Winter shuts the Seas and fleecy Snows Make Houses white she to the Merchant goes Rich Crystals of the Rock She takes up there Huge Agat Vases and old China Ware Then Beâ—enice's Ring her Finger proves More Precious made by her incestuous Loves And infamously Dear A Brother's Bribe Ev'n Gods Annointed and of Iudah's Tribe Where barefoot they approach the Sacred Shrine And think it only Sin to Feed on Swine But is none worthy to be made a Wife In all this Town Suppose her free from strife Rich Fair and Fruitful of Unblemish'd Life Chast as the Sabines whose prevailing Charms Dismiss'd their Husbands and their Brothers Arms. Grant her besides of Noble Blood that ran In Ancient Veins e're Heraldry began Suppose all these and take a Poet's word A Black Swan is not half so Rare a Bird. A Wife so hung with Virtues such a freight What Mortal Shoulders cou'd support the weight Some Country Girl scarce to a Curtsey bred Wou'd I much rather than Cornelia Wed If Supercilious Haughty Proud and Vain She brought her Father's Triumphs in her Train Away with all your Carthaginian State Let vanquish'd Hannibal without Doors wait Too burly and too big to pass my narrow Gate Oh Paean cries Amphion bend thy Bow Against my Wife and let my Children go But sullen Paean shoots at Sons and Mothers too His Niobe and all his Boys he lost Ev'n her who did her num'rous Offspring boast As Fair and Fruitful as the Sow that carry'd The Thirty Pigs at one large Litter Farrow'd What Beauty or what Chastisty can bear So great a Price if stately and severe She still insults and you must still adore Grant that the Hony's much the â—all is more Upbraided with the Virtues she displays Sev'n Hours in Twelve you loath the Wife you Praise Some Faults tho small intolerable grow For what so Nauâ—eous and Affected too As those that think they due Perfection want Who have not learnt to Lisp the Greciâ—n Cant In Greece their whole Accomplishments they seek Their Fashion Breeding Language must be Greek But Raw in all that does to Rome belong They scorn to cultivate their Mother Tongue In Greek they flatter all their Fears they speak Tell all their Secrets nay they Scold in Greek Ev'n in the Feat of Love they use that Tongue Such Affectations may become the Young But thou Old Hag of Threescore Years and Three Is shewing of thy Parts in Greek for thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All those tender words The Momentary trembling Bliss affords The kind soft Murmurs of the private Sheets Are Bawdy while thou speak'st in publick Streets Those words have Fingers and their force is such They raise the Dead and mount him with a touch But all Provocatives from thee are vain No blandishment the slacken'd Nerve can strain If then thy Lawful Spouse thou canst not love What reason shou'd thy Mind to Marriage move Why all the Charges of the Nuptial Feast Wine and Deserts and Sweet-meats to digest Th' indoweing Gold that buys the dear Delight Giv'n for thy first and only happy Night If thou art thus Uxoriously inclin'd To bear thy Bondage with a willing mind Prepare thy Neck and put it in the Yoke But for no mercy from thy Woman look For tho perhaps she loves with equal Fires To Absolute Dominion she aspires Joys in the Spoils and Triumphs o'er thy Purse The better Husband makes the Wife the worse Nothing is thine to give or fell or buy All Offices of Ancient Friendship dye Nor hast thou leave to make a Legacy By thy Imperious Wife thou art bereâ—t A Priviledge to Pimps and Panders left Thy Testament's her Will Where she prefers Her Ruffians Drudges and Adultere's Adopting all thy Rivals for thy Heirs Go drag that Slave to Death your Reason why Shou'd the poor Innocent be doom'd to Dye What proofs for when Man's Life is in debate The Judge can ne're too long deliberate Call'st thou that Slave a Man the Wife replies Prov'd or unprov'd the Crime the Villian Dies I have the Soveraign Pow'r to save or kill And give no other Reason but my Will Thus the She-Tyrant Reigns till pleas'd
requires a lashing Line Who squeez'd a Toad into her Husband's Wine So well the fashionable Med'cine thrives That now 't is Practis'd ev'n by Country Wives Poys'ning without regard of Fame or Fear And spotted Corps are frequent on the Bier Wou'dst thou to Honours and Preferments climb Be bold in Mischief dare some mighty Crime Which Dungeons Death or Banishment deserves For Virtue is but dryly Prais'd and Sterves Great Men to great Crimes owe their Plate Embost Fair Palaces and Furniture of Cost And high Commands A Sneaking Sin is lost Who can behold that rank Old Letcher keep His Son 's Corrupted Wife and hope to sleep Or that Male-Harlot or that unfledg'd Boy Eager to Sin before he can enjoy If Nature cou'd not Anger would indite Such woeful stuff as I or S ll write Count from the time since Old Deucalion's Boat Rais'd by the Flood did on Parnaâ—â—us Float And scarcely Mooring on the Cliff implor'd An Oracle how Man might be restor'd When soften'd Stones and Vital Breath ensu'd And Virgins Naked were by Lovers View'd What ever since that Golden Age was done What Humane Kind desires and what they shun Rage Passions Pleasures Impotence of Will Shall this Satyrical Collection fill What age so large a Crop of Vices bore Or when was Avarice extended more When were the Dice with more Profusion thrown The well fill'd Fob not empty'd now alone But Gamesters for whole Patrimonies play The Steward brings the Deeds which must convey The lost Estate What more than Madness reigns When one short sitting many Hundreds Drains And not enough is left him to supply Board-Wages or a Footman's Livery What Age so many Summer-Seats did see Or which of our Forefathers far'd so well As on seven Dishes at a private Meal Clients of Old were Feasted now a poor Divided Dole is dealt at th' outward Door Which by the Hungry Rout is soon dispatch'd The Paltry Largess too severely watch'd E're given and every Face observ'd with Care That no intruding Guest Usurp a share Known you Receive The Cryer calls aloud Our Old Nobility of Trojan Blood Who gape among the Croud for their precarious Food The Praetors and the Tribunes Voice is heard The Freedman justles and will be preferr'd First come first serv'd he Cries and I in spight Of your Great Lordships will Maintain my Right Tho born a Slave tho my torn Ears are bor'd 'T is not the Birth 't is Mony makes the Lord. The Rents of Five fair Houses I receive What greater Honours can the Purple give The Poor Patrician is reduc'd to keep In Melancholly Walks a Grazier's Sheep Not Pallas nor Licinius had my Treasure Then let the Sacred Tribunes wait my leasure Once a Poor Rogue 't is true I trod the Street And trudg'd to Rome upon my Naked Feet Gold is the greatest God though yet we see No Temples rais'd to Mony 's Majesty No Altars fuming to her Pow'r Divine Such as to Valour Peace and Virtue Shine And Faith and Concord where the Stork on high Seems to Salute her Infant Progeny Presaging Pious Love with her Auspicious Cry But since our Knights and Senators account To what their sordid begging Vails amount Judge what a wretched share the Poor attends Whose whole Subsistence on those Alms depends Their Houshold-Fire their Rayment and their Food Prevented by those Harpies when a wood Of Litters thick besiege the Donor's Gate And begging Lords and teeming Ladies wait The promis'd Dole Nay some have learn'd the trick To beg for absent persons feign them sick Close mew'd in their Sedans for fear of air And for their Wives produce an empty Chair This is my Spouse Dispatch her with her share 'T is Galla Let her Ladyship but peep No Sir 't is pity to disturb her sleep Such fine Employments our whole days divide The Salutations of the Morning-tide Call up the Sun those ended to the Hall We wait the Patron hear the Lawyers baul Then to the Statues where amidst the Race Of Conqu'ring Rome some Arab shews his Face Inscrib'd with Titles and profanes the place Fit to be piss'd against and somewhat more The Great Man home conducted shuts his door Old Clients weary'd out with fruitless care Dismiss their hopes of eating and despair Though much against the grain forc'd to retire Buy Roots for Supper and provide a Fire Mean time his Lordship lolls within at ease Pamp'ring his Paunch with Foreign Rarities Both Sea and Land are ransack'd for the Feast And his own Gut the sole invited Guest Such Plate such Tables Dishes dress'd so well That whole Estates are swallow'd at a Meal Ev'n Parasites are banish'd from his Board At once a sordid and luxurious Lord Prodigious Throat for which whole Boars are drest A Creature form'd to furnish out a Feast But present Punishment pursues his Maw When surfeited and swell'd the Peacock raw He bears into the Bath whence want of Breath Repletions Apoplex intestate Death His Fate makes Table-talk divulg'd with scorn And he a Jeast into his Grave is born No Age can go beyond us Future Times Can add no farther to the present Crimes Our Sons but the same things can wish and do Vice is at stand and at the highest flow Then Satyr spread thy Sails take all the winds can blow Some may perhaps demand what Muse can yield Sufficient strength for such a spacious Field From whence can be deriv'd so large a Vein Bold Truths to speak and spoken to maintain When God-like Freedom is so far bereft The Noble Mind that scarce the Name is left E're Scandalum Magnatum was begot No matter if the Great forgave or not But if that honest licence now you take If into Rogues Omnipotent you rake Death is your Doom impail'd upon a Stake Smear'd o're with Wax and set on fire to light The Streets and make a dreadful blaze by night Shall They who drench'd three Uncles in a draught Of poys'nous Juice be then in Triumph brought Make Lanes among the People where they go And mounted high on downy Chariots throw Disdainful glances on the Crowd below Be silent and beware if such you see 'T is Defamation but to say That 's He Againt bold Turnus the Great Trojan Arm Amidst their strokes the Poet gets no harm Achilles may in Epique Verse be slain And none of all his Myrmidons complain Hylas may drop his Pitcher none will cry Not if he drown himself for company But when Lucilius brandishes his Pen And flashes in the face of Guilty Men A cold Sweat stands in drops on ev'ry part And Rage succeeds to Tears Revenge to Smart Muse be advis'd 't is past consid'ring time When enter'd once the dangerous Lists of Rhime Since none the Living-Villains dare implead Arraign them in the Persons of the Dead The End of the First Satyr EXPLANATORY NOTES ON THE FIRST SATYR COdrus or it may be Cordus a bad Poet who wrote the Life and Actions
instruct him how to bear it and thence takes occasion to speak of the Vileness and Villany of his Times He begins with the Condition of the wicked Man and tells him i. That the Sinner must needs hate himself and ii That he will be hated by all Mankind iii. He puts Corvinus in mind that he hath a good Estate and that this Loss will not break him iv and v. That a great many have suffer'd the like Misfortunes that Cheats were common his Loss but little and therefore not to be resented with so violent a Passion Hence vi He expatiates on the Vileness of the Times And vii compares his Age with the Golden One which he tediously describes viii He continues his Reflections on the generaâ— Wickedness of the Times ix Makes some Observations on the Confidence of some Sinners And x. Endeavours to give some account of this He observes that some are Atheists xi Others believe a God but fancy the Money they get by their Perjury will do them more good than the Punishments he inflicts will do them harm At least xii that God is Merciful they may be pardonâ— d or scape in the Crowd of Sinners since some are forgiven and all do not meet with Punishments equal to their Deserts xiii He Corrects his Friend for his Atheistical Passion and rude Accusations of Providence And xiv advises him to be more Cool and consider That xv such Cheats are common and he hath suffer'd no more than other Men And xvi that every Day he may meet with greater Crimes which require his Concernment That xvii his Passion is Idle and Fruitless because Revenge which is the only end of Passion will do him no good it will not retrieve his Loss and besides is an Argument of a Base Mind and Mean Temper Then coming closer to his Point he tells him xviii The Wicked are severely punisht by their own Consciences xix Vengeance waits upon them And xx describes the Miserable Life and Terrible Death of the Wicked Man And xxi closes all with observing that few Men stop at their first Sin but go on till their Crimes provoke Providence And therefore xxii Corvinus need not fear but this Perjur'd Friend of his would do so too and then be should see some remarkable Iudgment fall â—pon him THE THIRTEENTH SATYR I. Hâ— that commiâ—s a Sin shall quickly find The pressing Guilt lie heavy on his Mind Tho' Bribes or Favour shall assert his Cause Pronounce him 〈◊〉 and elu'de the Laâ—s None quits himself his own impartial Thought Will 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 will record the Fault II. This first the Wicked fâ—els Then publick Hate Pursues the 〈◊〉 and proves the Villain 's Fate III. But more Corvinus thy Estate can bear A greater Loss and not implore thy 〈◊〉 Thy 〈◊〉 sufficient and thy Wealth too great To feel the Damage of a Potty Cheat. IV. Nor are such Losses to the World unknown A rare Example and thy Chance alone Most feel them and in Fortune's Lâ—ttâ—ry liâ—s A heap of Blanks like this for one small Prize V. Abate thy Passion nor too much complain Grief shou'd be forc'd and it becomes a Man To let it rise no higher than his Pain But you too weak the slightest loss to bear Too delicate the common Fate to 〈◊〉 Are on the Freâ— of Passion Boil and Rage Bacause in so Debaucht and Vile an Age Thy Friend and Old Acquaintance dares disown The Gold you lent him and forswear the Loan What start at this When Sixty Years have spread Their gray Experience o're thy hoary Head Is this the All observing Age cou'd Gain Or hast Thou known the World so long in vain Let Stoicks Ethicks haughty Rules advance To combat Fortune and to conquer Chance Yet Happy those tho' not so Learn'd are thought Whom Life instructs who by Experience taught For new to come from past Misfortunes look Nor shake the â—oke which galls the more 't is shook VI. What Day 's so Sacred but its Rest's profan'd By violent Robbers or by Murders stain'd Here hir'd Assassins for their Gain invade And treacherous Poys'ner urge their Fatal Trade Good Men are scarce the Iâ—st are thinly sown They thrive but ill nor can they last when grown And shou'd we count them and our Store compile Yet 〈◊〉 more Gates wou'd shew more Mouths the Nile Worse than the Iron Age and wretched Times Roul on and Vse hath so improv'd our Crimes That baffled Nature knows not how to frame A Metal base enough to give the Age a Name Yet you exclaim as loud as those that Praise For Scraps and Coach-hire a Young Noble's Plays You thunder and as Passion rouls along Call Heaven and Earth to witness to your Wrong Gray-headed Infant and in vain grown Old Art Thou to learn that in Another's Gold Lie Charms resistless That all laugh to find Unthinking Plainness so o're-spread thy Mind That Thou could'st seriously perswade the Crowd To keep their Oaths and to believe a God VII This They cou'd do whilst Saturn fill'd the Throne E're Iuno burnisht or Young Iove was grown E're private He left Ida's close retreat Or made Rebellion by Example great And whilst his Hoary Sire to Latium fled Usurp'd his Empire and defil'd his Bed Whilst Gods din'd singly and few Feasts above No Beauteous Hebe mixt the Wine with Love No Phrygian Boy But Vulean stain'd the Pole With Sooty Hands and fill'd the sparing Bowl E're Gods grew numerous and the Heavenly Crowd Prest wretched Atlas with a lighter load E're Chance unenvy'd Neptune's Lot confin'd To rule the Ocean and oppose the Wind E're Proserpine with Pluto shar'd the Throne E're Furies lasht or Ghosts had learn'd to Groan But free from Punishment as free from Sin The Shades liv'd jolly and without a King Then Vice was rare â—'en Rudeness kept in awe Felt all the rigour of avenging Law And had not Men the Hoary Heads rever'd Or Boys paid Reverence when a Man appear'd Both must have dy'd tho' Richer Skins they wore And saw more heaps of 〈◊〉 in their store Four years Advance did such Respect engage And Youth was Reverenc'd then like sacred Age. VIII Now if one Honest Man I chance to view Contemning Interest and to Virtue true I rank him with the Prodigies of Fame With Plough'd-up Fishes and with Icy Flame With Things which start from Nature's common Rules With Bearded Infants and with Teâ—ming Mules As much amaz'd at the prodigious sign As if I saw Bees cluster'd on a Shrine A Shower of Stones or Rivers chang'd to Blood Roul wond'rous Waves or urge a Milky Flood IX A little Sum you Mourn whilst Most have met With twice the Loss and by as Vile a Cheat By treacherous Friends and secret Trust betray'd Some are undone Nor are the Gods our Aid Those Conscious Powers we can with â—ase comtemn If hid from Men we trust our Crimes with them Observe the Wretch who hath his Faith forsook How clear his Voice
Torment than a Guilty Mind Which Day and Night doth dreadfully accuse Condemns the Wretch and still the Charge renews XIX A trusted Spartan was inclin'd to Cheat The Coin lookt lovely and the Bag was great Secret the Trust and with an Oath defend The Prize and baffle his deluded Friend But weak in Sin and of the Godâ— afraid And 〈◊〉 well vers'd in the forswearing Trade He goes to Delphos humbly begs advice And thus the Priestess by Command replies Expect sure Vengeance by the Gods decreed To punish Thoughts not yet improv'd to Deed. At this he started and forbore to swear Not out of Conscience of the Sin but Fear Yet Plagues enâ—u'd and the contagious Sin Destroy'd himself and ruin'd all his Kin. Thus suffer'd He for the imperfect Will To sin and bare Design of doing ill For he that but conceives a Crime in thought Contracts the danger of an Actual Fault Then what must he expect that still proceeds To fiâ—â—â—h Sin and work up Thoughts to Deeds XX. Perpetual Anguish fills his anxious Breast Not stopt by Business nor compos'd by Rest No Musick chears him and no Feasts can please He sits like discontented Damocles When by the sportive Tyrant wisely shown The dangerous Pleasures of a flatter'd Throne Sleep flies the Wretch or when his Care 's opprâ—st And his toss'd Lambs are weary'd into rest Then Dreams invade the injur'd Gods appear All arm'd with Thunder and awake his Fear What frights him most in a Gigantick size Thy sacred Image flashes in his Eyes These shake his Soul and as they boldly press Bring out his Crimes and force him to confess This Wretch will start at every flash that flies Grow pale at the first murmur of the Skies E're Clouds are form'd and Thunder roars afraid And Epicurus can afford no aid His Notions fail And the destructive Flame Commission'd falls not thrown by Chance but Aim One Clap is past and now the Skies are clear A short reprieve but to increase his Fear Whilst Arms Divine revenging Crimes below Are gathering up to give the greater Blow But if a Fever fires his sulphurous Blood In ev'ry Fit he feels the Hand of God And Heaven-born Flame Then drown'd in deep Despair He dares not offer one repenting Prayer Nor vow one Victim to preserve his Breath Amaz'd he lies and sadly looks for Death For how can Hope with desperate Guilt agree And the worst Beast is worthier Life than He. XXI He that once Sins like him that slides on Ice Goes swiftly down the slippery ways of Vice Tho' Conscience checks Him yet those rubs gone o're He slides on smoothly and looks back no more What Sinners finish where they first begin And with one Crime content their Lust to Sin Nature that rude and in her first Essay Stood boggling at the roughness of the way Us'd to the Road unknowing to return Goes boldly on and loves the Path when worn XXII Fear not but pleas'd with this successful Bait Thy Perjur'd Friend will quickly tempt his Fate He will go on until his Crimes provoke The Arm Divine to strike the Fatal Stroke Then thou shalt see him plung'd when least he fears At once accounting for his deep Arrears Sent to those narrow Isles which throng'd we see With mighty Exiles once secure as He Drawn to the Gallows or condemn'd to Chains Then thou shalt triâ—mph in the Villain 's pains Enjoy his Groans and with a grateful Mind Confess that Heaven is neither Deaf nor Blind The End of the Thirteenth Satyr EXPLANATORY NOTES ON THE THIRTEENTH SATYR SOme Read Extemplo quodcunque malum c. Thebes had but seven Gates and the River Nile but seven Mouths That is were of better Quality and had more Wealth Skins and Acorns being the primitive Cloaths and Food according to the Poets If a swarm of Bees pitcht upon a Temple it was lookt upon as an Omen of some very great Mischief Thyestes was treated with a Haâ—h made of his own Son Isis. An Aegyptian Goddess suppos'd to be much concern'd in inflicting Diseases and Maladies on Mankind Ladas An Excellent Footman who wan the Prize in the Olympian Games Stentor A famous Crier in the Grecian Army whose single voice was as loud as that of fifty Men together Homer says that Mars being wounded by Diomedes made as great an out-cry as ten thousand Men shouting to the Battel Bathyllus A Fidler and a Player But put here for any idle Scoundrel or insignificant Fellow A Surgeon of no great Credit and Reputation The Villain that kill'd his Father was to be put into a Bag with a Dog a Cock a Serpent and an Ape and thrown into the Sea Philosophers of great Credit and Worth Damocles having very much extoll'd the Happiness of Kings in the presence of Dionysius King of Syracuse Dionysius invited him to Dinner plac'd him in a rich Throne and gave him a very splendid Entertainment but just over his Head hung a Sword by a Hair with the point downward A Philosopher who thought all things were by Chance THE FOURTEENTH SATYR OF JUVENAL Translated into ENGLISH VERSE BY Mr. IOHN DRYDEN Junior ARGUMENT OF THE Fourteenth Satyr Since Domestick Examples easily corrupt our Youth the Poet prudently exhorts all Parents that they themselves should abstain from evil practices Amongst which 〈◊〉 chiâ—fly poinâ—s at Dice and Gamâ—ng Taâ—erns Drunkenness and Cruelty which they exercis'd upon their Slaves Lest after their pernicious Example their Sons should copy them in their Vices and become Gamesters Drunkards and Tyrants Lestrigons and Canibals to their Servants For if the Father says Juvenal love the Box and Dice the Boy will be given to an itâ—hing Elbow Neither is it to be expected that the Daughter of Larga the Aduâ—â—ress shou'd 〈◊〉 more contineut than her Mother Since we are all by Nature more apt to receive ill impressions than good and are besides more pliant in our Infancy and Youth than when we grow up to riper years Thus we are more apt to imitate a Catiline than a Brutus or the Uncle of Brutus Cato Ulicensis For these Reasons he is instant with all 〈◊〉 that they permit not their Children to bear lascivious words and that they Banish Pimps Whores and Parasites from their Houses If they are careful says the Poet when they make an invitation to their Friends that all things shall be clean and set in order much more it is their Duty to their Children that nothing appear corrupt or undecent in their Family Storks and Vultures because they are fed by the Old Ones with Snakes and Carrion naturally and without instruction feed on the same uncleanly Diet. But the Generous Eaglet who is taught by her Parent to fly at Hares and sowse on Kids disdains afterwards to pursue a more ignoble Game Thus the Son of Centronius was prone to the Vice of raising Stately Structures beyond his Fortune because his Father had ruin'd himself by Building He whose Father is a Jew is Naturally prone
Thorow-fares which were their Bridges of which there were many over the River Tyber in Rome Field viz. The Field of Mars or Campus Martius which was the greatest part of the Roman Empire when in its Infancy under Romulus and Tatius the Sabine his Copartner admitted for the sake of the Fair Ladies he brought along with him Pyrrhus King of the Epirots a formidable Enemy to the Romans tho' at last overcome by ' em He Dy'd a very little Death as 't is the Fate of some Heroes being Martyr'd by the fall of a Tyle from a House Wars against the Carthaginians Marsus a thrifty Husbandman from whom the Marsi were so call'd a laborious People some 15 Miles distant from Rome Mankind fed on Acorns till Ceres the Goddess of Corn instructed them to sow Grain Some General Officer in the Roman Army Not that the Shrine was secur'd by the care of the God Castor for Iuvenal knew their Gods cou'd have no such thing as Care but it was lin'd with a strong Guard of Souldiers who had an Eye to their God as well as their Moneys lest he should be stoln or unrigg'd as Mars was Our Poet calls him watchful Castor jearingly Libyan and Carpathian Gale The first a South-west the latter as we term it at Sea a strong Levant Orestes said to be haunted by Furies for Killing his Mother Clytemnestra the Wife of Agamemnon Ajax the Son of Telamon who ran mad because Agamemnon gave the Armour of Achilles from him to Vlysses But the mistaking Agamemnon or his Brother Menelaus for Oxen or Oxen for them was not so gross for they were both famously Horn'd And if Report says true Ajax need not have spar'd Vlysses since Penelope knew which of her Suitors cou'd shoot best in her Husband's Bow Tagus a River in Spain said to be full of Gold Sand. This Tagus has lost his good Qualities time out of mind or the Spaniard has coyn'd it dry for now they fetch their Gold from the Indies and then other Nations fetch it from them Some noted Rich Man in Rome Naked Cynick Diogenes a snarling Dog-Philosopher for there have been Dog-Philosophers as well as Poets in Doggrel Socrates and Epicurus two Wise Philosophers contented with the bare Necessaries of Life The first of these was esteem'd the best Moral Philosopher the latter the best Natural Roscian Law so call'd from Roscius Otho Tribune of the People who made a Law that none shou'd fit in the 14 first Seats of the Theatre unless they were worth 4 Hundred Sestertiums per annum that is above 3 Thousand pounds of our Moneys and these were esteem'd Noblemen ipso facto Claudius the 5th Caesar who had no better luck in a Wife than his Predecessors Iulius and Augustus and most of the Great Men in History THE FIFTEENTH SATYR OF JUVENAL Translated into ENGLISH VERSE BY Mr. TATE ARGUMENT OF THE Fifteenth Satyr In this Satyr against the Superstition and Cruelty of the Egyptians 't is probable our Author had his Old Friend Crispinus who was of that Country in his Eye and to whom he had paid his Respects more than once before The Scene is now remov'd from Rome which shews our Author a profest Enemy of Vice wheresoever he meets with it But if by the Change of Place his Subject and Performance in this Satyr be as some think more Barren than in his others the People being obscure and mean Rabble whose Barbarous Fact he relates We find in it however sprinklings of the same Moral Sentiments and Reflections that Adorn the rest THE FIFTEENTH SATYR HOW Egypt mad wìth Superstition grown Makes Gods of Monsters but too well is known One Sect Devotion to Nile's Serpent pays Others to Ibis that on Serpents preys Where Thebes thy Hundred Gates lie unrepair'd And where maim'd Memnon's Magick Harp is heard Where These are Mouldring lest the Soâ—s combine With Pious Care a Monkey to Enshrine Fish-Gods you 'll meet with Fins and Scales o're grown Diana's Dogs ador'd in ev'ry Town Her Dogs have Temples but the Goddess none 'T is Mortal Sin an Onion to devour Each Clove of Garlick is a Sacred Pow'r Religious Nations sure and Blest Abodes Where ev'ry Orchard is o're-run with Gods To Kill is Murder Sacrilege to Eat A Kid or Lamb Man's Flesh is lawful Meat Of such a Practise when Vlysses told What think you Cou'd Aâ—inous Guests with-hold From Scorn or Rage Shall we cries one permit This lewd Roâ—ancer and his Bantring Wit Nor on Charybdis Rock beat out his Brains Or send him to the Cyclops whom he feigns Of Scylla's Dogs and stranger Flams than these Cyanâ—'s Rocks that justle in the Seas Of Winds in Bags for Mirths sake let him tell And of his Mates turn'd Swine by Circe ' s spelâ— But Men to Eat Men Humane Faith supasses This Trav'ler takes us Islanders for Asses Thus the incred'lous Phaeac having yet Drank but one Round reply'd in sober Fret Nor without Reason truly since the Board For Proof o' th' Fact had but Vlysses Word What I relate's more strange and ev'n exceeds All Registers of Purple Tyrants Deeds Portentous Mischiefs They but singly Act A Multitude conspir'd to this more horrid Fact Prepare I say to hear of such a Crime As Tragick Poets since the Birth of Time Ne're feign'd a thronging Audience to Amaze But true and perpetrated in our Days Ombus and Tentyr Neighb'ring Towns of late Broke into Out-rage of deep-fester'd Hate A Grutch in both time out of Mind begun And mutually bequeath'd from Sire to Son Religious spight and Pious Spleen bred first This Quarrel which so long the Bigâ—ts Nurst Each calls the others God a Senseless Stock His own Divine tho from the self-same Block One Carver fram'd them diff'ring but in Shape A Serpent this resembling that an Ape The Tentyrites to execute their Crime Think none so proper as a Sacred Time Which call'd to Ombites forth to Publick Rites Sev'n Days they spent in Feasts sev'n sleepless Nights For Scoundrel as these Wretched Ombites be Canopus they exceed in Luxury Them Rev'ling thus the Tentyrites invade By giddy Heads and stagg'ring Legs betray'd Strange odds where Crop-Sick Drunkards must engage A Hungry Foe and Arm'd with sober Rage At first both Parties in Reproaches Jar And make their Tongues the Trumpets of the War Words break no Bones and in a Railing Fray Women and Priests can be as stout as They. Words serve but to enflame our War-like Lists Who wanting Weapons clutch their Horny Fists Yet thus make shift t' exchange such Furious Blows Scarce one escapes with more than half a Nose Some stand their Ground with half their Visage gone But with the Remnant of a Face Fight on Such Transform'd Spectacles of Horror grow That not a Mother her owâ— Son wou'd know One Eye remaining for the other spies Which now on Earth a trampled Gelly lies Yet hitherto both Parties think the Fraâ— But Mockery of War meer
lookt upon as an Omen of some very great Mischief 5 Thyestes was treated with a Haâ—h made of his own Son 6 An Aegyptian Goddess suppos'd to be much concern'd in inflicting Diseases and Maladies on Mankind 7 An Excellent Footman who wan the Prize in the Olympian Games 8 A famous Crier in the Grecian Army whose single voice was as loud as that of fifty Men together 9 Homer says that Mars being wounded by Diomedes made as great an out-cry as ten thousand Men shouting to the Battel 10 A Fidler and a Player But put here for any idle Scoundrel or insignificant Fellow 11 A Surgeon of no great Credit and Reputation 12 The Villain that kill'd his Father was to be put into a Bag with a Dog a Cock a Serpent and an Ape and thrown into the Sea 13 Philosophers of great Credit and Worth 14 Damocles having very much extoll'd the Happiness of Kings in the presence of Dionysius King of Syracuse Dionysius invited him to Dinner plac'd him in a rich Throne and gave him a very splendid Entertainment but just over his Head hung a Sword by a Hair with the point downward 15 A Philosopher who thought all things were by Chance 1 RVtilus some Person in the Poets time noted for his Cruelty 2 Polyphemus a Famous Giant with one Eye and a Cannibal 3 Antiphates a King of the Lestrygons who were all Men-Eaters I doubt not but the Laestrigons who were a People of Italy learnt this Diet of King Saturn when he hid himself among 'em and gave this Example by making a Meals-meat of his own Children 4 By this Lord is still meant the same Cruel Ratilus 5 Suppos'd Bath-Rubbers The Romans were great Bathers 6 Country Goals where they kept their working Slaves in great numbers 7 Larga a fictitious Name for some very common Buttock 8 Cato of Vtica a Roman Patriot who slew himself rather than he wou'd submit to Iulius Caesar. 9 Catiline a Plotter against the Common-wealth of Rome 10 Paraâ—ite a Greek Word among the Romans used for a Flatterer and Feast-Hunter This sort of Creature theâ— slighted in those days and us'd very scurvily terming such a one an Vâ—bra that is a shadow and Apparition c. 11 This Censor of good Manners was an Officer of confiderable Power in Rome in some respects not unlike our Midnight Magistrate but not altogether so saucy 12 The Old Romans were careful to breed up their Sons so that afterwards they might be useful to their Country in Peace or War or ploughing the Ground Vtilis agris as Iuvenal has it An Exercise that wou'd break the Hearts of our Modern Beaux 13 The Eagle so call'd for the great Service he did Iupiter in bringing Ganymede a Lovely Boy on his Back to him 14 Centronius a Famous Extravagant Architect who with his Son who took after him built away all his Estate and had so many Palaces at last that he was too poor to live in any of ' em The Palace of the Eunuch Posides As in Virg. Iam proximus ardet Vcalegon 15 Iuvenal tho' he was wise enough to laugh at his own Country Gods yet had not or wou'd not have a right Notion of the True Deity which makes him ridicule the Iews manner of Worship 16 This Dragon was Guardian of the Golden Fleece which hung in the Temple of Mars at Cholchos and hereby hangs a Tale or a long Story of Iason and Medea with which I will not trouble you 17 Beggars took their Stations then as they do now in the greatest Thorow-fares which were their Bridges of which there were many over the River Tyber in Rome 18 The Field of Mars or Campus Martius which was the greatest part of the Roman Empire when in its Infancy under Romulus and Tatius the Sabine his Copartner admitted for the sake of the Fair Ladies he brought along with him 19 Pyrrhus King of the Epirots a formidable Enemy to the Romans tho' at last overcome by ' em He Dy'd a very little Death as 't is the Fate of some Heroes being Martyr'd by the fall of a Tyle from a House 20 Wars against the Carthaginians 21 Marsus a thrifty Husbandman from whom the Marsi were so call'd a laborious People some 15 Miles distant from Rome 22 Mankind fed on Acorns till Ceres the Goddess of Corn instructed them to sow Grain 23 Some General Officer in the Roman Army 24 Not that the Shrine was secur'd by the care of the God Castor for Iuvenal knew their Gods cou'd have no such thing as Care but it was lin'd with a strong Guard of Souldiers who had an Eye to their God as well as their Moneys lest he should be stoln or unrigg'd as Mars was Our Poet calls him watchful Castor jearingly 25 The first a South-west the latter as we term it at Sea a strong Levant 25 The first a South-west the latter as we term it at Sea a strong Levant 26 Orestes said to be haunted by Furies for Killing his Mother Clytemnestra the Wife of Agamemnon 27 Ajax the Son of Telamon who ran mad because Agamemnon gave the Armour of Achilles from him to Vlysses But the mistaking Agamemnon or his Brother Menelaus for Oxen or Oxen for them was not so gross for they were both famously Horn'd And if Report says true Ajax need not have spar'd Vlysses since Penelope knew which of her Suitors cou'd shoot best in her Husband's Bow 28 Tagus a River in Spain said to be full of Gold Sand. This Tagus has lost his good Qualities time out of mind or the Spaniard has coyn'd it dry for now they fetch their Gold from the Indies and then other Nations fetch it from them 29 Some noted Rich Man in Rome 30 Diogenes a snarling Dog-Philosopher for there have been Dog-Philosophers as well as Poets in Doggrel 31 Socrates and Epicurus two Wise Philosophers contented with the bare Necessaries of Life The first of these was esteem'd the best Moral Philosopher the latter the best Natural 32 Roscian Law so call'd from Roscius Otho Tribune of the People who made a Law that none shou'd fit in the 14 first Seats of the Theatre unless they were worth 4 Hundred Sestertiums per annum that is above 3 Thousand pounds of our Moneys and these were esteem'd Noblemen ipso facto 33 Claudius the 5th Caesar who had no better luck in a Wife than his Predecessors Iulius and Augustus and most of the Great Men in History 1 THE Crocodile 2 A sort of Bird in those Parts that is a great destroyer of Serpents 3 Thebes in Baeotia had seven Gates this in Egypt an Hundred and therefore call'd Hecatompylus 4 This Colossus or Marble Statue of Memnon held a Harp in its Hand which utter'd Musical sounds when struck by the Beams of the rising Sun which Strabo tells us that he both saw and heard but confesses he is not able to Assign the Cause He