SATIRE III.

FOOTNOTES:[83]Alluding to the comic exclamation, "O Cœlum, O Terra, O Maria Neptuni." Vid. Ter., Adelph., v., i., 4. Cf. Sat. vi., 283.[84]Nuper.The allusion is to Domitian and his niece Julia, who died from the use of abortives (cf. Plin., iv., Epist. xi.: "Vidua abortu periit"), cir.A.D.91. This, therefore, fixes the date of the Satire, which was probably one of Juvenal's earliest, and written when he was about thirty. Cf. Sat. xiii., 17.[85]Cf. vi., 368.[86]Vexantur.E somno excitantur, alluding to "Lex Julia Dormis?" Cf. i., 126.[87]The whole of this ironical defense contains the bitterest satire upon the women of Rome, as all these crimes he proves in the 6th Satire to be of every-day occurrence.[88]Puellæ.Cf. Sat. ix., 70,seq.[89]Cylindros, called, vi., 459, "Elenchos." Cf. Arist., Fr., 300, ἑλικτῆρες.[90]Nudus, i. e., in the Roman sense, without the toga.[91]Cotyttoherself, the goddess of licentiousness, was wearied with their impurities.[92]Actoris.Æn., xii., 94.[93]Bebriacum, between Verona and Cremona, where the deciding battle was fought between Otho and Vitellius.[94]Gracchus.In the same manner Nero was married to one Pythagoras, "in modum solennium conjugiorum denupsisset." Tac., Ann., xv., 37. He repeated the same act with Sporus.[95]Flammea.Vid. Tac., u. s. "Inditum imperatori flammeum, visi auspices, dos, et genialis torus et faces nuptiales: cuncta denique spectata, quæ etiam in feminâ nox operit."[96]Tunicati.Vid. Sat. vi., 256; viii., 203. Movet ecce tridentem. Credamus tunicæ, etc.[97]Nondum ære lavantur.The fee was a quadrans: vi., 447.[98]Traducimur.Cf. viii., 17. Squalentes traducit avos.[99]Modo captas Orcadas.A.D.78, Clinton, F. R. "Insulas quas Orcadas vocant, invenit domuitque." Tac., Agric., c. x.; cf. c. xii. "Dierum spatia ultra nostri orbis mensuram:noxclara, et extremâ Britanniæ partebrevis, ut finem atque initium lucis exiguo discrimine internoscas."[100]Referunt.Cf. i., 41. "Multumreferensde Mæcenate supino." The fashion is not onlycarriedback to Armenia, butcopiedthere.Prætextatus.Cf. i., 78.Artaxata, the capital of Armenia, was taken by Corbulo,A.D.58.

[83]Alluding to the comic exclamation, "O Cœlum, O Terra, O Maria Neptuni." Vid. Ter., Adelph., v., i., 4. Cf. Sat. vi., 283.

[84]Nuper.The allusion is to Domitian and his niece Julia, who died from the use of abortives (cf. Plin., iv., Epist. xi.: "Vidua abortu periit"), cir.A.D.91. This, therefore, fixes the date of the Satire, which was probably one of Juvenal's earliest, and written when he was about thirty. Cf. Sat. xiii., 17.

[85]Cf. vi., 368.

[86]Vexantur.E somno excitantur, alluding to "Lex Julia Dormis?" Cf. i., 126.

[87]The whole of this ironical defense contains the bitterest satire upon the women of Rome, as all these crimes he proves in the 6th Satire to be of every-day occurrence.

[88]Puellæ.Cf. Sat. ix., 70,seq.

[89]Cylindros, called, vi., 459, "Elenchos." Cf. Arist., Fr., 300, ἑλικτῆρες.

[90]Nudus, i. e., in the Roman sense, without the toga.

[91]Cotyttoherself, the goddess of licentiousness, was wearied with their impurities.

[92]Actoris.Æn., xii., 94.

[93]Bebriacum, between Verona and Cremona, where the deciding battle was fought between Otho and Vitellius.

[94]Gracchus.In the same manner Nero was married to one Pythagoras, "in modum solennium conjugiorum denupsisset." Tac., Ann., xv., 37. He repeated the same act with Sporus.

[95]Flammea.Vid. Tac., u. s. "Inditum imperatori flammeum, visi auspices, dos, et genialis torus et faces nuptiales: cuncta denique spectata, quæ etiam in feminâ nox operit."

[96]Tunicati.Vid. Sat. vi., 256; viii., 203. Movet ecce tridentem. Credamus tunicæ, etc.

[97]Nondum ære lavantur.The fee was a quadrans: vi., 447.

[98]Traducimur.Cf. viii., 17. Squalentes traducit avos.

[99]Modo captas Orcadas.A.D.78, Clinton, F. R. "Insulas quas Orcadas vocant, invenit domuitque." Tac., Agric., c. x.; cf. c. xii. "Dierum spatia ultra nostri orbis mensuram:noxclara, et extremâ Britanniæ partebrevis, ut finem atque initium lucis exiguo discrimine internoscas."

[100]Referunt.Cf. i., 41. "Multumreferensde Mæcenate supino." The fashion is not onlycarriedback to Armenia, butcopiedthere.Prætextatus.Cf. i., 78.Artaxata, the capital of Armenia, was taken by Corbulo,A.D.58.

Although troubled at the departure of my old friend, yet I can not but commend his intention of fixing his abode at Cumæ, now desolate, and giving the Sibyl one citizen at least. It is the high road to Baiæ, and has a pleasant shore; a delightful retreat. I prefer even Prochyta[101]to the Suburra. For what have we ever looked on so wretched or so lonely, that you would not deem it worse to be in constant dread of fires, the perpetual falling-in of houses, and the thousand dangers of the cruel city,[102]and poets spouting in the month of August.[103]But while his whole household is being stowed in a single wagon, my friend Umbritius halted at the ancient triumphal arches[104]and the moist Capena. Here, where Numa used to make assignations with his nocturnal mistress, the grove of the once-hallowed fountain and the temples are in our days let out to Jews, whose whole furniture is a basket and bundle of hay.[105]For every single tree is bid to pay a rent to the people, and the Camenæ having been ejected, the wood is one mass of beggars. We descended into the valley of Egeria and the grottoes, so altered from what nature made them. How much more should we feel the influence of the presiding genius of the spring,[106]if turf inclosed the waters with its margin of green, and no marble profaned the native tufo. Here then Umbritius began:[107]

"Since at Rome there is no place for honest pursuits, no profit to be got by honest toil—my fortune is less to-day than it was yesterday, and to-morrow must again make that little less—we purpose emigrating to the spot where Dædalus put off his wearied wings, while my gray hairs are still but few, my old age green and erect; while something yet remains for Lachesis to spin, and I can bear myself on my own legs, without a staff to support my right hand. Let us leave our native land. There let Arturius and Catulus live. Let those continue in it who turn black to white; for whom it is an easy matter to get contracts for building temples, clearing rivers, constructing harbors,[108]cleansing the sewers, the furnishing a funeral,[109]and under the mistress-spear set up the slave to sale."[110]

These fellows, who in former days were horn-blowers, and constant attendants on the municipal amphitheatres, and whose puffed cheeks were well known through all the towns, now themselves exhibit gladiatorial shows, and when the thumbs of the rabble are turned up, let any man be killed to court the mob. Returned from thence, they farm the public jakes.

And why not every thing? Since these are the men whom Fortune, whenever she is in a sportive mood, raises from the dust to the highest pinnacle of greatness.[111]

What shallIdo at Rome? I can not lie; if a book is bad, I can not praise it and beg a copy. I know not the motions of the stars. I neither will nor can promise a man to secure his father's death. I never inspected the entrails of a toad.[112]

Let others understand how to bear to a bride the messages and presents of the adulterer; no one shall be a thief by my co-operation; and therefore I go forth, a companion to no man,[113]as though I were crippled, and a trunk useless from its right hand being disabled.[114]

Who, now-a-days, is beloved except the confidant of crime, and he whose raging mind[115]is boiling with things concealed, and that must never be divulged? He that has made you the partaker of an honest secret, thinks that he owes you nothing, and nothing will he ever pay. He will be Verres' dear friend, who can accuse Verres at any time he pleases. Yet set not thou so high a price on all the sands of shady Tagus,[116]and the gold rolled down to the sea, as to lose your sleep, and to your sorrow take bribes that ought to be spurned,[117]and be always dreaded by your powerful friend.

What class of men is now most welcome to our rich men, and whom I would especially shun, I will soon tell you; nor shall shame prevent me.[118]It is that the city is become Greek, Quirites, that I can not tolerate; and yet how small the proportion even of the dregs of Greece! Syrian Orontes has long since flowed into the Tiber, and brought with it its language, morals, and the crooked harps with the flute-player, and its national tambourines, and girls made to stand for hire at the Circus. Go thither, ye who fancy a barbarian harlot with embroidered turban. That rustic of thine, Quirinus, takes his Greek supper-cloak, and wears Greek prizes on hisneck besmeared with Ceroma.[119]One forsaking steep Sicyon, another Amydon, a third from Andros, another from Samos, another again from Tralles, or Alabanda,[120]swarm to Esquiliæ, and the hill called from its osiers, destined to be the very vitals, and future lords of great houses.[121]These have a quick wit, desperate impudence, a ready speech, more rapidly fluent even than Isæus.[122]Tell me what you fancy he is? He has brought with him whatever character you wish—grammarian, rhetorician, geometer, painter, trainer,[123]soothsayer, rope-dancer, physician, wizard—he knows every thing. Bid the hungry Greekling go to heaven! He'll go.[124]In short, it was neither Moor, nor Sarmatian, nor Thracian, that took wings, but one born in the heart of Athens.[125]Shall I not shun these men's purple robes? Shall this fellow take precedence of me in signing his name, and recline pillowed on a more honorable couch than I, though imported to Rome by the same wind that brought the plums and figs?[126]Does it then go so utterly for nothing, that my infancy inhaled the air of Aventine, nourished on the Sabine berry? Why add that this nation, most deeply versed in flattery, praises the conversation of an ignorant, the face of a hideously ugly friend, and compares some weak fellow's crane-like neck to the brawny shoulders of Hercules, holding Antæus far from his mother Earth: and is in raptures at the squeaking voice,[127]not a whit superior in sound to that of the cock as he bites the hen. We may, it is true, praise the same things, if we choose. Buttheyare believed. Can he be reckoned a better actor,[128]when he takes the part of Thais, or acts the wife in the play, or Doris[129]without her robe. It is surely a woman in reality that seems to speak, and not a man personifying one. You would swear it was a woman, perfect in all respects. In their country, neither Antiochus, nor Stratocles, or Demetrius and the effeminate Hæmus, would call forth admiration. For there every man's an actor. Do you smile? He is convulsed with a laugh far more hearty. If he spies a tear in his friend's eye, he bursts into a flood of weeping; though in reality he feels no grief. If at the winter solstice you ask for a little fire, he calls for his thick coat. If you say, I am hot! he breaks into a sweat. Therefore we are not fairly matched; he has the best of it, who can at any time, either by night or day, assume a fictitious face; kiss his hands in ecstasy, quite ready, to praise his patron's grossest acts; if the golden cup has emitted a sound, when its bottom is inverted.

Besides, there is nothing that is held sacred by these fellows, or that is safe from their lust. Neither the mistress of the house, nor your virgin daughter, nor her suitor, unbearded as yet, nor your son, heretofore chaste. If none of these are to be found, he assails his friend's grandmother. They aim at learning the secrets of the house, and from that knowledge be feared.

And since we have begun to make mention of the Greeks, pass on to their schools of philosophy, and hear the foul crime of the more dignified cloak.[130]It was a Stoic that killed Bareas—the informer, his personal friend—the old man, his own pupil—bred on that shore[131]on which the pinion of the Gorgonean horse lighted. There is no room for any Roman here, where some Protogenes, or Diphilus, or Erimanthusreigns supreme; who, with the common vice of his race, never shares a friend, but engrosses him entirely to himself. For when he has infused into his patron's too ready ear one little drop of the venom of his nature and his country, I am ejected from the door; all my long-protracted service goes for naught. Nowhere is the loss of a client of less account. Besides (not to flatter ourselves) what service can thepoor manrender, what merit canheplead, even though he be zealous enough to hasten in his toga[132]before break of day, when the veryprætorhimself urges on his lictor, and bids him hurry on with headlong speed, since the childless matrons have been long awake, lest his colleague[133]be beforehand with him in paying his respects to Albina and Modia. Here, by the side of a slave, if only rich, walks the son of the free-born;[134]for the other gives to Calvina, or Catiena (that he may enjoy her once or twice), as much as the tribunes in the legion receive;[135]whereas you, when the face of a well-dressed harlot takes your fancy, hesitate to hand Chione from her exalted seat.

Produce me at Rome a witness of as blameless integrity as the host of the Idæan deity;[136]let Numa stand forth, or he that rescued Minerva when in jeopardy from her temple all in flames: the question first put would be as to his income, that about his moral character would come last of all. "How many slaves does he keep? How many acres of public land does he occupy?[137]With how many and what expensive dishes is his table spread?" In exact proportion to the sum of money a man keeps in his chest, is the credit given to his oath. Though you were to swear by all the altars of the Samothracianand our own gods, the poor man is believed to despise the thunderbolts and the gods, even with the sanction of the gods themselves. Why add that this same poor man furnishes material and grounds for ridicule to all, if his cloak is dirty and torn, if his toga is a little soiled, and one shoe gapes with its upper leather burst; or if more than one patch displays the coarse fresh darning thread, where a rent has been sewn up. Poverty, bitter though it be, has no sharper pang than this, that it makes men ridiculous. "Let him retire, if he has any shame left, and quit the cushions of the knights, that has not the income required by the law, and let these seats be taken by"—the sons of pimps, in whatever brothel born![138]Here let the son of the sleek crier applaud among the spruce youths of the gladiator, and the scions of the fencing-school. Such is the will of the vain Otho, who made the distinction between us.

Who was ever allowed at Rome to become a son-in-law if his estate was inferior, and not a match for the portion of the young lady?[139]Whatpoorman's name appears in any will? When is he summoned to a consultation even by an ædile? All Quirites that are poor, ought long ago to have emigrated in a body.[140]Difficult indeed is it for those to emerge from obscurity whose noble qualities are cramped by narrow means at home; but at Rome, for men like these, the attempt is still more hopeless; it is only at an exorbitant price they can get a wretched lodging, keep for their servants, and a frugal meal.[141]A man is ashamed here to dine off pottery ware,[142]which, were he suddenly transported to the Marsi and a Sabine board, contented there with a coarse bowl of blue earthenware, he would no longer deem discreditable. There is a large portion of Italy (if we allow the fact), where no one puts on the toga, except the dead.[143]Even when the verymajesty of festival days is celebrated in a theatre reared of turf,[144]and the well-known farce at length returns to the stage,[145]when the rustic infant on its mother's lap is terrified at the wide mouth of the ghastly mask,thereyou will see all costumes equal and alike, both orchestra and common people. White tunics are quite sufficient as the robe of distinction for the highest personages there, even the very ædiles. Here, in Rome, the splendor of dress is carried beyond men's means; here, something more than is enough, is taken occasionally from another's chest. In this fault all participate. Here we all live with a poverty that apes our betters. Why should I detain you? Every thing at Rome is coupled with high price. What have you to give, that you may occasionally pay your respects to Cossus? that Veiento may give you a passing glance, though without deigning to open his mouth? One shaves the beard, another deposits the hair of a favorite; the house is full of venal cakes.[146]Now learn this fact, and keep it to work within your breast. We clients are forced to pay tribute and increase the private income of these pampered slaves.

Who dreads, or ever did dread, the falling of a house at cool Præneste, or at Volsinii seated among the well-wooded hills, or simple Gabii,[147]or the heights of sloping Tibur. We, in Rome, inhabit a city propped in great measure on a slender shore.[148]For so the steward props up the falling walls,[149]and when he has plastered over the old and gaping crack, bids us sleep without sense of danger while ruin hangs over our heads![150]I must live in a place, where there are no fires, nonightly alarms. Already is Ucalegon shouting for water, already is he removing his chattels: the third story in the house you live in is already in a blaze. You are unconscious! For if the alarm begin from the bottom of the stairs, he will be the last to be burned whom a single tile protects from the rain, where the tame pigeons lay their eggs. Codrus had a bed too small for his Procula, six little jugs the ornament of his sideboard, and a little can besides beneath it, and a Chiron reclining under the same marble; and a chest now grown old in the service contained his Greek books, and opic[151]mice-gnawed poems of divine inspiration. Codrus possessed nothing at all; who denies the fact? and yet all that little nothing that he had, he lost. But the climax that crowns his misery is the fact, that though he is stark naked and begging for a few scraps, no one will lend a hand to help him to bed and board. But, if the great mansion of Asturius has fallen, the matrons appear in weeds,[152]the senators in mourning robes, the prætor adjourns the courts. Then it is we groan for the accidents of the city; then we loathe the very name of fire. The fire is still raging, and already there runs up to him one who offers to present him with marble, and contribute toward the rebuilding. Another will present him with naked statues of Parian marble,[153]another with a chef-d'œuvre of Euphranor or Polycletus.[154]Some lady will contribute some ancient ornaments of gods taken in our Asiatic victories; another, books and cases[155]and a bust of Minerva; another, a whole bushel of silver. Persicus, themost splendid of childless men, replaces all he has lost by things more numerous and more valuable, and might with reason be suspected of having himself set his own house on fire.[156]

If you can tear yourself away from the games in the circus,[157]you can buy a capital house at Sora, or Fabrateria, or Frusino, for the price at which you are now hiring your dark hole for one year. There you will have your little garden, a well so shallow as to require no rope and bucket, whence with easy draught you may water your sprouting plants. Live there, enamored of the pitchfork, and the dresser of your trim garden,[158]from which you could supply a feast to a hundred Pythagoreans. It is something to be able in any spot, in any retreat whatever, to have made one's self proprietor even of a single lizard.

Here full many a patient dies from want of sleep; but that exhaustion is produced by the undigested food that loads the fevered stomach. For what lodging-houses allow of sleep? None but the very wealthy can sleep at Rome.[159]Hence is the source of the disease. The passing of wagons in the narrow curves of the streets, and the mutual revilings of the teamdrivers[160]brought to a stand-still, would banish sleep even from Drusus and sea-calves.[161]

If duty calls him,[162]the rich man will be borne through the yielding crowd, and pass rapidly over their heads on the shoulders of his tall Liburnian, and, as he goes, will read or write, or even sleep inside his litter,[163]for his sedan with windows closed entices sleep. And still he will arrive before us. In front of us, as we hurry on, a tide of human beings stops the way; the mass that follows behind presses on our loinsin dense concourse; one man pokes me with his elbow, another with a hard pole;[164]one knocks a beam against my head, another a ten-gallon cask. My legs are coated thick with mud; then, anon, I am trampled upon by great heels all round me, and the hob-nail of the soldier's caliga remains imprinted on my toe.

Do you not see with what a smoke the sportula is frequented? A hundred guests! and each followed by his portable kitchen.[165]Even Corbulo[166]himself could scarcely carry such a number of huge vessels, so many things piled upon his head, which, without bending his neck, the wretched little slave supports, and keeps fanning his fire as he runs along.[167]

Tunics that have been patched together are torn asunder again. Presently, as the tug approaches, the long fir-tree quivers, other wagons are conveying pine-trees; they totter from their height, and threaten ruin to the crowd. For if that wain, that is transporting blocks of Ligustican stone, is upset, and pours its mountain-load upon the masses below, what is there left of their bodies? Who can find their limbs or bones? Every single carcass of the mob is crushed to minute atoms as impalpable as their souls. While, all this while, the family at home, in happy ignorance of their master's fate, are washing up the dishes, and blowing up the fire with their mouths, and making a clatter with the well-oiled strigils, and arranging the bathing towels with the full oilflask. Such are the various occupations of the bustling slaves. But the master himself is at this moment seated[168]on the banks of Styx, and, being a novice, is horrified at the grim ferry-man, and dares not hope for the boat to cross the murky stream; nor has he, poor wretch, the obol in his mouth to hand to Charon.

Now revert to other perils of the night distinct from these. What a height it is from the lofty roofs, from which a potsherd tumbles on your brains. How often cracked and chippedearthenware falls from the windows! with what a weight they dint and damage the flint pavement where they strike it! You may well be accounted remiss and improvident against unforeseen accident, if you go out to supper without having made your will. It is clear that there are just so many chances of death, as there are open windows where the inmates are awake inside, as you pass by. Pray, therefore, and bear about with you this miserable wish, that they may be contented with throwing down only what the broad basins have held. One that is drunk, and quarrelsome in his cups, if he has chanced to give no one a beating, suffers the penalty by loss of sleep; he passes such a night as Achilles bewailing the loss, of his friend;[169]lies now on his face, then again on his back. Under other circumstances, he can not sleep. In some persons, sleep is the result of quarrels; but though daring from his years, and flushed with unmixed wine, he cautiously avoids him whom a scarlet cloak, and a very long train of attendants, with plenty of flambeaux and a bronzed candelabrum, warns him to steer clear of. As for me, whose only attendant home[170]is the moon, or the glimmering light of a rushlight, whose wick I husband and eke out—he utterly despises me! Mark the prelude of this wretched fray, if fray it can be called, where he does all the beating, and I am only beaten.[171]He stands right in front of you, and bids you stand! Obey you must. For what can you do, when he that gives the command is mad with drink, and at the same time stronger than you. "Where do you come from?" he thunders out: "With whose vinegar and beans are you blown out? What cobbler has been feasting on chopped leek[172]or boiled sheep's head with you? Don't you answer? Speak, or be kicked! Say where do you hang out? In what Jew's begging-stand shall I look for you?" Whether you attempt to say a word or retire in silence, is all one; they beat you just the same, and then, in a passion, force you to give bail to answer for the assault. This is a poor man's liberty! When thrashedhe humbly begs, and pummeled with fisticuffs supplicates, to be allowed to quit the spot with a few teeth left in his head. Nor is this yet all that you have to fear, for there will not be wanting one to rob you, when all the houses are shut up, and all the fastenings of the shops chained, are fixed and silent.

Sometimes too a footpad does your business with his knife, whenever the Pontine marshes and the Gallinarian wood are kept safe by an armed guard. Consequently they all flock thence to Rome as to a great preserve.

What forge or anvil is not weighed down with chains? The greatest amount of iron used is employed in forging fetters; so that you may well fear that enough may not be left for plowshares, and that mattocks and hoes may run short. Well may you call our great-grandsires[173]happy, and the ages blest in which they lived, which, under kings and tribunes long ago, saw Rome contented with a single jail.[174]

To these I could subjoin other reasons for leaving Rome, and more numerous than these; but my cattle summon me to be moving, and the sun is getting low. I must go. For long ago the muleteer gave me a hint by shaking his whip. Farewell then, and forget me not! and whenever Rome shall restore you to your native Aquinum, eager to refresh your strength, then you may tear me away too from Cumæ to Helvine Ceres,[175]and your patron deity Diana. Then, equipped with my caligæ,[176]I will visit your chilly regions, to help you in your satires—unless they scorn my poor assistance.

FOOTNOTES:[101]Prochyta.An island in the Bay of Naples, now called Procida.[102]Sævæ, "from the ceaseless alarms it causes." "Sævus est quiterret." Donat. in Ter., Adelp., v. s. iv.[103]Augusto.Cf. Plin., 1, Epist. xiii. "Magnum proventum poëtarum annus hic attulit; toto mense Aprili nullus ferè dies quo non recitaret aliquis."[104]Either those of Romulus, or the aqueduct; and "moist Capena," either from the constant dripping of the aqueduct (hence arcus stillans), or from the springs near it, hence called Fontinalis; now St. Sebastian's gate. It opens on the Via Appia.[105]Cf. vi., 542.[106]"O how much more devoutly should we clingTo thoughts that hover round the sacred spring!" Badham.Read præsentius: cf. Plin., Ep. viii., 8, the description of the Clitumnus, and Ov., Met., iii., 155,seq.[107]Umbritius (aruspicum in nostro ævo peritissimus, Plin., x., c. iii.) is said to have predicted Galba's death, and probably therefore, with Juvenal, cordially hated Otho.[108]Portusmay mean, "constructing" or "repairing" harbors; or "farming the harbor-dues," portoria.[109]Scipio's was performed by contract. Plin., H. N., xxxi., 3.[110]The spear was set up in the forum to show that an auction was going on there. Hence things so sold were said to be soldsub hastâ.Domina, implies "the right of disposal" of all things and persons there put up. This may mean, therefore, to buy a drove of slaves on speculation, and sell them again by auction; or, when they have squandered their all, put themselves up to sale. So Britann. Dryden, "For gain they sell their very head." "Salable as slaves." Hodgson. So Browne, who reads "præbere caput domino."[111]"From abject meanness lifts to wealth and power." Badham. Cf. vi., 608.[112]"Though a soothsayer, I am no astrologer." "I never examined the entrails ofa toad."[113]"Therefore (because I will lend myself to no peculation) no great man will take me in his suite when he goes to his province." Cf. Sat. viii., 127, "Si tibi sancta cohors comitum." This is better than, "Therefore I leave Rome alone!" Markland proposes, extinctâ dextrâ.[114]"Like a dead member from the body rent,Maim'd and unuseful to the government." Dryden."No man's confederate, here alone I stand,Like the maim'd owner of a palsied hand." Badham."Lopp'd from the trunk, a dead, unuseful hand." Hodgson.[115]Isa., lvii., 20.[116]Opaci, Lubin. interprets as equivalent to turbulenti, "turbid with gold." On this Grangæus remarks, "Apage Germani haud germanam interpretationem!opacienim est umbris arborum obscuri." Cf. Mart., i., Ep. 50, "Æstus serenos aureo franges Tagoobscurus umbris arborum."[117]"Grasp thou no boon with sadness on thy brow,Spurn the base bribe that binds a guilty vow." Badham.[118]"Shame for Rome that harbors such a crew."[119]The Roman hind, once so renowned for rough and manly virtues, now wears the costume of effeminate Greeks: or all these Greek terms, used to show the poet's supreme contempt, may refer to the games: the Trechedipna, not the thin supper-robe, but the same as the Endromis. The Ceroma, an ointment made of oil, wax, and clay, with which they bedaubed themselves.[120]Amydon in Pœonia, Tralles in Lydia, Alabanda in Caria.[121]"Work themselves inward, and their patrons out." Dryden."Deep in their patron's heart, and fix'd as fate,The future lords of all his vast estate." Hodgson.[122]"Torrents of words that might Isæus drown." Badham.[123]Aliptes, one who anoints (ἀλείφει), and therefore trains, athletes.[124]So Johnson."All sciences the hungry Monsieur knows,And bid him go to hell—to hell he goes!"[125]Some think there is an allusion here to a man who attempted to repeat Icarus' experiment before Nero. Vid. Suet., Nero, 13.[126]Cottana, "ficorum genus." Plin., xiii., 5.[127]"As if squeezed in the passage by the narrowness of the throat."[128]His powers of flattery show his ability of assuming a fictitious character as much as his skill in acting.[129]Or the "Dorian maid." They were scantily dressed. Hence the φαινομηρίδες of Ibycus.[130]Major abolla, seems to be a proverbial expression; it may either be the "Stoic's cloak," which was moreamplethan the scanty robe of the Cynic; or "thephilosopher'scloak," which has therefore more dignity and weight with it than the soldier's or civilian's. The allusion is to P. Egnatius Celer, the Stoic, who was bribed to give the false testimony on which Bareas Soranus was convicted. V. Tac., Ann., xvi., 21, seq., and 32.[131]Ripa.Commentators are divided between Tarsus, Thebes, and Corinth.[132]Togatus.Gifford quotes Martial, x., Ep. 10."Quid faciet pauper cui non licet esse clienti?Dimisit nostras purpura vestra togas."[133]Collega; alluding to the two prætors, "Urbanus" and "Peregrinus."[134]Claudit latus.This is the order Britannicus takes. "Claudere latus" means not only to accompany, as a mark of respect, but to give the inner place; to become his "comes exterior." Horace, ii., Sat. v., 18. So Gifford, "And if they walk beside him yield the wall."[135]"For one cold kiss a tribune's yearly pay." Hodgson.i. e., forty-eight pieces of gold. Cf. Suet., Vesp., xxiii.[136]P. Scipio Nasica (vid. Liv., xxix., 10) and L. Cæcilius Metellus. Cf. Ov., Fasti, vi., 437.[137]Possidet. Vid. Niebuhr.[138]Cf. Mart., v., Ep. 8 and 25, who speaks of one Lectius as an officious keeper of the seats.[139]Sat. x., 323.[140]"Long, long ago, in one despairing band,The poor, self-exiled, should have left the land." Hodgson.[141]"A menial board and parsimonious fare." Hodgson.[142]"Negavit." Some commentators imagine Curius Dentatus to be here alluded to. It seems better to take it as ageneralremark. Read "culullo," not "cucullo," with Browne.[143]Cf. Mart., ix., 588.[144]Herboso, the first permanent theatre even in Rome itself, was built by Pompey. Cf. In gradibus sedit populus de cæspite factis. Ov., Art. Am., i., 107. Cf. Virg., Æn., v., 286.[145]"In the state show repeated now for years." Hodgson.[146]Libis.So many of these "complimentary cakes" are sent in honor of this event, that they are actually "sold" to get rid of them."Good client, quickly to the mansion sendCakes bought by thee for rascal slaves to vend." Badham.[147]Gabii, renowned for the ease with which Sex. Tarquin duped the inhabitants.[148]Pronum, i. e., supinum. Hor., iii., Od. iv., 23, on a steep acclivity.[149]"And 'tis the village mason's daily calling,To keep the world's metropolis from falling." Dryden.[150]"Then bid the tenant sleep secure from dread,While the loose pile hangs trembling o'er his head." Gifford.[151]Opici.Cf. vi., 455. Opicæ castigat amicæ verba; i. e., barbarous, rude, unlearned, "the Goths of mice;" from the Opici or Osci, an Ausonian tribe on the Liris, from whom many barbarous innovations were introduced into Roman manners and language. "Divina" may either refer to Homer's poems, or to Codrus' own, which in his own estimation were "divine." Cf. Sat. i., 2, "rauci TheseideCodri."[152]Horrida.In all public misfortunes, the Roman matrons took their part in the common mourning, by appearing without ornaments, in weeds, and with disheveled hair. Cf. viii., 267. Liv., ii., 7. Luc., Phars., ii., 28,seq.[153]Candida.Cf. Plin., xxxiv., 5. The Parian marble was the whitest, hence Virg., Æn., iii., 126, "Niveamque Paron."[154]Polycletus.Cf. viii., 103. His master-piece was the Persian body-guard (cf. Ælian., V. H., xiv., 8), called the "Canon." Vid. Müller's Archæol. of Art, § 120. Euphranor the painter belonged, like Polycletus, to the Sicyonic school.[155]Foruliorplutei, cases for holding MSS. Cf. ii., 7. Suet., Aug., xxxi.[156]Cf. Mart., iii., Ep. 52.[157]Circus.Cf. x., 81, duas tantum res anxius optat Panem et Circenses.[158]Cf. Milton."And add to these retired leisure,That in trim gardens takes his pleasure."[159]i. e., "Only the very rich can afford to buy 'Insulæ,' in the quiet part of the city, where their rest will not be broken by the noise of their neighbors, or the street."[160]Mandra; properly "a pen for pigs or cattle," then "a team or drove of cattle, mules," etc.; as Martial, v., Ep. xxii., 7, "Mulorum vincere mandras." Here "the drovers" themselves are meant.[161]Drusum.Cf. Suet., Claud., v., "super veterem segnitiæ notam." Seals are proverbially sluggish. Cf. Plin., ix., 13. Virg., Georg., iv., 432.[162]Officium; attendance on the levees of the great.[163]Cf. i., 64; v., 83; vi., 477, 351. Plin., Pan., 24.[164]i. e., of a litter. Cf. vii., 132.[165]Culina, "a double-celled chafing-dish, with a fire below, to keep the 'dole' warm." The custom is still retained in Italy.[166]Domitius Corbulo, a man of uncommon strength, appointed by Nero to command in Armenia. Vid. Tac., Ann., xiii., 8.[167]"The pace creates the draught."[168]Sedet; because, being unburied, he must wait a hundred years. Cf. Virg., Æn., vi., 313-330.[169]Hom., Il., xxiv., 12, "ἄλλοτε δ' αὖτε ὕπτιος ἄλλοτε δὲ πρηνής."[170]Deducere; "the technical word for the clients' attendance on their patrons;" so "forum attingere; in forum deduci."[171]"He only cudgels, and I only bear." Dryden.[172]Sectile, or the inferior kind of leek; the better sort being called "capitatum." Plin., xx., 6. Cf. Sat. xiv., 133, sectivi porri.[173]The order is "Pater, avus, proavus, abavus, atavas, tritavus." He means, therefore, eight generations back at least.[174]Ancus Martius built the prison. Liv., i., 33. The dungeon was added by Servius Tullius, and called from him Tullianum. The next was built by Ap. Claudius the decemvir.[175]Cereswas worshiped under this epithet at Aquinum. Its origin is variously given.[176]Caligatusmay mean, "with rustic boots," so that you may not be reminded of Rome; or "with soldier's boots," as armed for our campaign against the vices of the city.

[101]Prochyta.An island in the Bay of Naples, now called Procida.

[102]Sævæ, "from the ceaseless alarms it causes." "Sævus est quiterret." Donat. in Ter., Adelp., v. s. iv.

[103]Augusto.Cf. Plin., 1, Epist. xiii. "Magnum proventum poëtarum annus hic attulit; toto mense Aprili nullus ferè dies quo non recitaret aliquis."

[104]Either those of Romulus, or the aqueduct; and "moist Capena," either from the constant dripping of the aqueduct (hence arcus stillans), or from the springs near it, hence called Fontinalis; now St. Sebastian's gate. It opens on the Via Appia.

[105]Cf. vi., 542.

[106]"O how much more devoutly should we clingTo thoughts that hover round the sacred spring!" Badham.Read præsentius: cf. Plin., Ep. viii., 8, the description of the Clitumnus, and Ov., Met., iii., 155,seq.

[106]

"O how much more devoutly should we clingTo thoughts that hover round the sacred spring!" Badham.

Read præsentius: cf. Plin., Ep. viii., 8, the description of the Clitumnus, and Ov., Met., iii., 155,seq.

[107]Umbritius (aruspicum in nostro ævo peritissimus, Plin., x., c. iii.) is said to have predicted Galba's death, and probably therefore, with Juvenal, cordially hated Otho.

[108]Portusmay mean, "constructing" or "repairing" harbors; or "farming the harbor-dues," portoria.

[109]Scipio's was performed by contract. Plin., H. N., xxxi., 3.

[110]The spear was set up in the forum to show that an auction was going on there. Hence things so sold were said to be soldsub hastâ.Domina, implies "the right of disposal" of all things and persons there put up. This may mean, therefore, to buy a drove of slaves on speculation, and sell them again by auction; or, when they have squandered their all, put themselves up to sale. So Britann. Dryden, "For gain they sell their very head." "Salable as slaves." Hodgson. So Browne, who reads "præbere caput domino."

[111]"From abject meanness lifts to wealth and power." Badham. Cf. vi., 608.

[112]"Though a soothsayer, I am no astrologer." "I never examined the entrails ofa toad."

[113]"Therefore (because I will lend myself to no peculation) no great man will take me in his suite when he goes to his province." Cf. Sat. viii., 127, "Si tibi sancta cohors comitum." This is better than, "Therefore I leave Rome alone!" Markland proposes, extinctâ dextrâ.

[114]"Like a dead member from the body rent,Maim'd and unuseful to the government." Dryden."No man's confederate, here alone I stand,Like the maim'd owner of a palsied hand." Badham."Lopp'd from the trunk, a dead, unuseful hand." Hodgson.

[114]

"Like a dead member from the body rent,Maim'd and unuseful to the government." Dryden.

"No man's confederate, here alone I stand,Like the maim'd owner of a palsied hand." Badham.

"Lopp'd from the trunk, a dead, unuseful hand." Hodgson.

[115]Isa., lvii., 20.

[116]Opaci, Lubin. interprets as equivalent to turbulenti, "turbid with gold." On this Grangæus remarks, "Apage Germani haud germanam interpretationem!opacienim est umbris arborum obscuri." Cf. Mart., i., Ep. 50, "Æstus serenos aureo franges Tagoobscurus umbris arborum."

[117]"Grasp thou no boon with sadness on thy brow,Spurn the base bribe that binds a guilty vow." Badham.

[117]

"Grasp thou no boon with sadness on thy brow,Spurn the base bribe that binds a guilty vow." Badham.

[118]"Shame for Rome that harbors such a crew."

[118]

"Shame for Rome that harbors such a crew."

[119]The Roman hind, once so renowned for rough and manly virtues, now wears the costume of effeminate Greeks: or all these Greek terms, used to show the poet's supreme contempt, may refer to the games: the Trechedipna, not the thin supper-robe, but the same as the Endromis. The Ceroma, an ointment made of oil, wax, and clay, with which they bedaubed themselves.

[120]Amydon in Pœonia, Tralles in Lydia, Alabanda in Caria.

[121]"Work themselves inward, and their patrons out." Dryden."Deep in their patron's heart, and fix'd as fate,The future lords of all his vast estate." Hodgson.

[121]

"Work themselves inward, and their patrons out." Dryden.

"Deep in their patron's heart, and fix'd as fate,The future lords of all his vast estate." Hodgson.

[122]"Torrents of words that might Isæus drown." Badham.

[122]

"Torrents of words that might Isæus drown." Badham.

[123]Aliptes, one who anoints (ἀλείφει), and therefore trains, athletes.

[124]So Johnson."All sciences the hungry Monsieur knows,And bid him go to hell—to hell he goes!"

[124]So Johnson.

"All sciences the hungry Monsieur knows,And bid him go to hell—to hell he goes!"

[125]Some think there is an allusion here to a man who attempted to repeat Icarus' experiment before Nero. Vid. Suet., Nero, 13.

[126]Cottana, "ficorum genus." Plin., xiii., 5.

[127]"As if squeezed in the passage by the narrowness of the throat."

[128]His powers of flattery show his ability of assuming a fictitious character as much as his skill in acting.

[129]Or the "Dorian maid." They were scantily dressed. Hence the φαινομηρίδες of Ibycus.

[130]Major abolla, seems to be a proverbial expression; it may either be the "Stoic's cloak," which was moreamplethan the scanty robe of the Cynic; or "thephilosopher'scloak," which has therefore more dignity and weight with it than the soldier's or civilian's. The allusion is to P. Egnatius Celer, the Stoic, who was bribed to give the false testimony on which Bareas Soranus was convicted. V. Tac., Ann., xvi., 21, seq., and 32.

[131]Ripa.Commentators are divided between Tarsus, Thebes, and Corinth.

[132]Togatus.Gifford quotes Martial, x., Ep. 10."Quid faciet pauper cui non licet esse clienti?Dimisit nostras purpura vestra togas."

[132]Togatus.Gifford quotes Martial, x., Ep. 10.

"Quid faciet pauper cui non licet esse clienti?Dimisit nostras purpura vestra togas."

[133]Collega; alluding to the two prætors, "Urbanus" and "Peregrinus."

[134]Claudit latus.This is the order Britannicus takes. "Claudere latus" means not only to accompany, as a mark of respect, but to give the inner place; to become his "comes exterior." Horace, ii., Sat. v., 18. So Gifford, "And if they walk beside him yield the wall."

[135]"For one cold kiss a tribune's yearly pay." Hodgson.i. e., forty-eight pieces of gold. Cf. Suet., Vesp., xxiii.

[135]

"For one cold kiss a tribune's yearly pay." Hodgson.

i. e., forty-eight pieces of gold. Cf. Suet., Vesp., xxiii.

[136]P. Scipio Nasica (vid. Liv., xxix., 10) and L. Cæcilius Metellus. Cf. Ov., Fasti, vi., 437.

[137]Possidet. Vid. Niebuhr.

[138]Cf. Mart., v., Ep. 8 and 25, who speaks of one Lectius as an officious keeper of the seats.

[139]Sat. x., 323.

[140]"Long, long ago, in one despairing band,The poor, self-exiled, should have left the land." Hodgson.

[140]

"Long, long ago, in one despairing band,The poor, self-exiled, should have left the land." Hodgson.

[141]"A menial board and parsimonious fare." Hodgson.

[141]

"A menial board and parsimonious fare." Hodgson.

[142]"Negavit." Some commentators imagine Curius Dentatus to be here alluded to. It seems better to take it as ageneralremark. Read "culullo," not "cucullo," with Browne.

[143]Cf. Mart., ix., 588.

[144]Herboso, the first permanent theatre even in Rome itself, was built by Pompey. Cf. In gradibus sedit populus de cæspite factis. Ov., Art. Am., i., 107. Cf. Virg., Æn., v., 286.

[145]"In the state show repeated now for years." Hodgson.

[145]

"In the state show repeated now for years." Hodgson.

[146]Libis.So many of these "complimentary cakes" are sent in honor of this event, that they are actually "sold" to get rid of them."Good client, quickly to the mansion sendCakes bought by thee for rascal slaves to vend." Badham.

[146]Libis.So many of these "complimentary cakes" are sent in honor of this event, that they are actually "sold" to get rid of them.

"Good client, quickly to the mansion sendCakes bought by thee for rascal slaves to vend." Badham.

[147]Gabii, renowned for the ease with which Sex. Tarquin duped the inhabitants.

[148]Pronum, i. e., supinum. Hor., iii., Od. iv., 23, on a steep acclivity.

[149]"And 'tis the village mason's daily calling,To keep the world's metropolis from falling." Dryden.

[149]

"And 'tis the village mason's daily calling,To keep the world's metropolis from falling." Dryden.

[150]"Then bid the tenant sleep secure from dread,While the loose pile hangs trembling o'er his head." Gifford.

[150]

"Then bid the tenant sleep secure from dread,While the loose pile hangs trembling o'er his head." Gifford.

[151]Opici.Cf. vi., 455. Opicæ castigat amicæ verba; i. e., barbarous, rude, unlearned, "the Goths of mice;" from the Opici or Osci, an Ausonian tribe on the Liris, from whom many barbarous innovations were introduced into Roman manners and language. "Divina" may either refer to Homer's poems, or to Codrus' own, which in his own estimation were "divine." Cf. Sat. i., 2, "rauci TheseideCodri."

[152]Horrida.In all public misfortunes, the Roman matrons took their part in the common mourning, by appearing without ornaments, in weeds, and with disheveled hair. Cf. viii., 267. Liv., ii., 7. Luc., Phars., ii., 28,seq.

[153]Candida.Cf. Plin., xxxiv., 5. The Parian marble was the whitest, hence Virg., Æn., iii., 126, "Niveamque Paron."

[154]Polycletus.Cf. viii., 103. His master-piece was the Persian body-guard (cf. Ælian., V. H., xiv., 8), called the "Canon." Vid. Müller's Archæol. of Art, § 120. Euphranor the painter belonged, like Polycletus, to the Sicyonic school.

[155]Foruliorplutei, cases for holding MSS. Cf. ii., 7. Suet., Aug., xxxi.

[156]Cf. Mart., iii., Ep. 52.

[157]Circus.Cf. x., 81, duas tantum res anxius optat Panem et Circenses.

[158]Cf. Milton."And add to these retired leisure,That in trim gardens takes his pleasure."

[158]Cf. Milton.

"And add to these retired leisure,That in trim gardens takes his pleasure."

[159]i. e., "Only the very rich can afford to buy 'Insulæ,' in the quiet part of the city, where their rest will not be broken by the noise of their neighbors, or the street."

[160]Mandra; properly "a pen for pigs or cattle," then "a team or drove of cattle, mules," etc.; as Martial, v., Ep. xxii., 7, "Mulorum vincere mandras." Here "the drovers" themselves are meant.

[161]Drusum.Cf. Suet., Claud., v., "super veterem segnitiæ notam." Seals are proverbially sluggish. Cf. Plin., ix., 13. Virg., Georg., iv., 432.

[162]Officium; attendance on the levees of the great.

[163]Cf. i., 64; v., 83; vi., 477, 351. Plin., Pan., 24.

[164]i. e., of a litter. Cf. vii., 132.

[165]Culina, "a double-celled chafing-dish, with a fire below, to keep the 'dole' warm." The custom is still retained in Italy.

[166]Domitius Corbulo, a man of uncommon strength, appointed by Nero to command in Armenia. Vid. Tac., Ann., xiii., 8.

[167]"The pace creates the draught."

[168]Sedet; because, being unburied, he must wait a hundred years. Cf. Virg., Æn., vi., 313-330.

[169]Hom., Il., xxiv., 12, "ἄλλοτε δ' αὖτε ὕπτιος ἄλλοτε δὲ πρηνής."

[170]Deducere; "the technical word for the clients' attendance on their patrons;" so "forum attingere; in forum deduci."

[171]"He only cudgels, and I only bear." Dryden.

[171]

"He only cudgels, and I only bear." Dryden.

[172]Sectile, or the inferior kind of leek; the better sort being called "capitatum." Plin., xx., 6. Cf. Sat. xiv., 133, sectivi porri.

[173]The order is "Pater, avus, proavus, abavus, atavas, tritavus." He means, therefore, eight generations back at least.

[174]Ancus Martius built the prison. Liv., i., 33. The dungeon was added by Servius Tullius, and called from him Tullianum. The next was built by Ap. Claudius the decemvir.

[175]Cereswas worshiped under this epithet at Aquinum. Its origin is variously given.

[176]Caligatusmay mean, "with rustic boots," so that you may not be reminded of Rome; or "with soldier's boots," as armed for our campaign against the vices of the city.

Once more behold Crispinus![177]and often shall I have to call him on the stage. A monster! without one virtue to redeem his vices—of feeble powers, save only in his lust. It is only a widow's charms this adulterer scorns.

What matters it then in what large porticoes he wearies out his steeds—through what vast shady groves his rides extend[178]—how many acres close to the forum, or what palaces he has bought? No bad man is ever happy. Least of all he that has added incest to his adultery, and lately seduced the filleted priestess,[179]that with her life-blood still warm must descend into the earth.

But now we have to deal with more venial acts. Yet if any other man had committed the same, he would have come under the sentence of our imperial censor.[180]For what would be infamous in men of worth, a Titius or Seius, was becoming to Crispinus. What can you do when no crime can be so foul and loathsome as the perpetrator himself? He gave six sestertia for a mullet.[181]A thousand sesterces, forsooth! for every pound of weight, as they allege, who exaggerate stories already beyond belief. I should commend the act as a master-stroke of policy, if by so noble a present he had got himself named chief heir[182]in the will of some childless old man. A better plea still would be that he had sent it to some mistress of rank, that rides in her close chair with its wide glasses. Nothing of the sort! He bought it for himself! We see many things which even Apicius[183](mean and thrifty compared with him) never was guilty of. Did you do this indays of yore, Crispinus, when girt about with your native papyrus?[184]What! pay this price for fish-scales? Perchance you might have bought the fisherman cheaper than the fish! You might have bought a whole estate for the money in some of our provinces. In Apulia, a still larger one.[185]What kind of luxuries, then, may we suppose were gorged by the emperor himself, when so many sestertia, that furnished forth but a small portion, a mere side-dish of a very ordinary dinner, were devoured by this court buffoon, now clothed in purple. Chief of the equestrian order now is he who was wont to hawk about the streets shads from the same borough[186]with himself.

Begin, Calliope! here may we take our seats! This is no poetic fiction; we are dealing withfacts! Relate it, Pierian maids! and grant me grace for having called youmaids.

When the last of the Flavii was mangling the world, lying at its last gasp, and Rome was enslaved by a Nero,[187]ay, and abaldone too, an Adriatic turbot of wonderful size fell into the net, and filled its ample folds, off the temple of Venus which Doric Ancona[188]sustains. No less in bulk was it than those which the ice of the Mæotis incloses, and when melted at length by the sun's rays, discharges at the outlets of the sluggish Euxine, unwieldly from their long sloth, and fattened by the long-protracted cold.

This prodigy of a fish the owner of the boat and nets designs for the chief pontiff. For who would dare to put up such a fish to sale, or to buy it? Since the shores too would be crowded with informers; these inspectors of sea-weed, prowling in every nook, would straightway contest the point[189]with the naked fisherman, and would not scruple to allege that thefish was a "stray," and that having made its escape from the emperor's ponds, where it had long reveled in plenty, ought of course to revert to its ancient lord. If we place any faith in Palfurius or Armillatus, whatever is pre-eminently fine in the whole sea, is the property of the exchequer, wherever it swims. So, that it may not be utterly lost, it will be made a present of, though now sickly autumn was giving place to winter, and sick men were already expecting[190]their fits of ague, though the rude tempest whistled and kept the fish fresh, yet the fisherman hurries on as though a mild south wind were blowing. And when the lakes were near at hand, where, though in ruins, Alba[191]still preserves the Trojan fire, and her Lesser Vesta,[192]the wondering crowd for a short space impeded his entrance; as they made way for him, the folding-doors flew open on ready-turning hinge. The senators, shut out themselves, watch the dainty admitted. He stands in the royal presence. Then he of Picenum begins, "Deign to accept what is too great for any private kitchen: let this day be celebrated as the festival of your genius, haste to relieve your stomach of its burden, and devour a turbot reserved to honor your reign.[193]It insisted on being caught." What could be more fulsome? and yet the great man's crest rose. What flattery is there that it is not prepared to believe, when power is praised as equal to the gods. But there was no dish of sufficient size for the fish. Therefore the senators are summoned to a council—men whom he hated! men on whose faces sat the paleness engendered by the wretched friendship with the great! At the loud summons of the Liburnian slave, "Run! the emperor is already seated!" the first to snatch up his cloak and hurry to the place was Pegasus, lately set as bailiff over the amazed city;[194]for what else were the præfects of Rome in those days? of whom he was the best and most conscientiousdispenser of the laws, though in those days of terror he thought all things ought to be administered by justice unarmed. Crispus[195]came too, that facetious old man, with high character equal to his eloquence and mild disposition. Who could have been a more serviceable minister to one that ruled seas, and lands, and peoples, if, under that bane and pest of mankind, he had been allowed to reprobate his savage nature and give honest advice? But what is more ticklish than a tyrant's ear, with whom the life even of a favorite was at stake, though he might be talking of showers or heat, or a rainy spring? He, therefore, never attempted to swim against the stream, nor was he a citizen who dared give vent to the free sentiments of his soul, and devote his life to the cause of truth: and so it was that he saw many winters and eighty summers; safe, by such weapons, even in a court like that. Next to him hurried Acilius, a man of the same time of life; with a youth[196]that ill deserved so cruel a death as that which awaited him, so prematurely inflicted by the tyrant's swords; but nobility coupled with old age, has long since been a miracle. Consequently, for myself, I should prefer being a younger brother of the giants.[197]It was of no avail therefore to the wretched man, that as a naked huntsman in the amphitheatre of Alba, he fought hand to hand with Numidian bears. For who, in our days, is not up to the artifices of the patricians? Who would now admire that primitive cunning of thine, Brutus? It is an easy thing to impose on a king that wears a beard![198]. Then came Rubrius not a whit less pale, though he was no noble, one accused of an ancient and nameless crime, and yet more lost to shame than the pathic satirist.[199]There too is to be seen Montanus' paunch, unwieldy from its size, and Crispus reeking with unguent though so early in the day, more than enough to furnish forth two funerals;and Pompeius, still more ruthless even than he at cutting men's throats by his insinuating whisper; and he that kept his entrails only to fatten the Dacian vultures, Fuscus, that studied the art of war in his marble palace; and the shrewd Veiento with the deadly Catullus,[200]who raged with lust for a girl he could not see, a monster and prodigy of guilt even in our days, the blind flatterer, a common bridge-beggar[201]invested with this hateful power, whose worthiest fate would be to run begging by the carriages on the road to Aricia, and blow his fawning kisses to the chariot as it descends the hill. No one showed more astonishment at the turbot, for he was profuse in his wonder, turning toward the left, but unfortunately the fish lay on the other side. This was just the way he used to praise the combat and fencing of the Cilician gladiator, and the stage machinery, and the boys caught up by it to the awning. Veiento is not to be outdone by him; but, like one inspired by the maddening influence of Bellona, begins to divine. "A mighty omen this you have received of some great and noble triumph. Some captive king you'll take, or Arviragus will be hurled from his British car. For the monster is a foreign one. Do you see the sharp fins bristling on his back like spears?" In one point only Fabricius was at fault, he could not tell the turbot's country or age. "What then is your opinion? Is it to be cut up?" "Heaven forefend so great dishonor to the noble fish!" says Montanus. "Let a deep dish be provided, whose thin sides may inclose its huge circumference. Some cunning Prometheus to act on this sudden emergency is required. Quick with the clay and potter's wheel! But henceforth, Cæsar, let potters always attend your armies!" This opinion, worthy of the author, carried the day. He was well versed in the old luxury of the imperial court, and Nero's nights,[202]and a second appetite when the stomach was fired with the Falernian.[203]No one in my day was a greater connoisseur in good eating; he could detect at the first bite whether the oysters were natives from Circeii,or the Lucrine rocks, or whether they came from the Rutupian beds, and told the shore an Echinus came from at the first glance.

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