such a filly verse of Tully then of the best Oration that e're he made namely his second Philippick against Antonie for this unhappily cost him his life though I may add Juvenal himself ventur'd far enough in his libertie of Satyre against this Rule of his own Wisdome 27. At whose curbe the full Theater retir'd Es pleni moder artem fraena Theatrum Theatrum has been here commonly taken for an Assembly of Auditors but the Learned Heraldus in his Adversar lib. 2. cap. 16. accurately and largely endeavours to shew that it ought to be taken properly for the Theater it self that being the place among the Grerks where usually the People met and heard their Oratours concerning the weighty affairs of the Commonwealth To this purpose he alleges Diodorus Siculus Plutarch Isocrates Heliodorus and that of St. Luke Act. 19. vers 29. where in the tumult it is said that the People rushed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into the Theater This exposition is follow'd by Lubin and Autumnus which last proves it farther our of Tacitus and Justin but without any mention of Heraldus to whose observation I may only add this that both these Opinions put together do indeed make-up a perfect exposition For to take the Theater properly will not admit a right sense it being unfit to say the Theater retir'd again to take the word only for an Assembly without reference to the Theater is to neglect that point of Antiquitie which necessarily here presents it self But to take it figuratively for the Assemblie in the Theater does both reconcile the Interpreters and fully clear the place 28. From Coal tongs anvile upon which he made Good swords A carbone foreipibus gladiosque parante Incude That Demosthenes his Father was a Cutler or one that made Swords Juvenal here affirms and by way of disgrace Demosthenes was therefore called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by AEschines yet Theopompus in Plutarch as Brodoeus notes in his Miscellan lib. 4. cap. 26. acknowledges that he was both an honest and a wealthy man And Demosthenes himself in his Oration 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 over which great number of Servants some of his freed-men or his atriensis had the oversight and charge as Brodaeus thinks Which I note to shew both what warrant Juvenal had for his speech that he might not be thought to speak enviously of so brave a man as also in what sense it is to be understood And this Orator also the Poet here makes another example of humane misery who after all his glory of Eloquence when the Macedonian had overcome the Athenians and to spare the City requir'd Demosthenes to be deliver'd to him that he might be punish'd was glad so to escape crueltie to poison himself IUDAEA Juv. Sat. X. Illust 29. HANNIBAL Carthaginensis Juven Sat. X. Ill. 30. 31. Which Sostratus does chaunt with moistned wings madidis cantat quae Sostratus ulis The Poet having touched upon the vanity of Alexander the Great born at Pella in Macedonia and his death by poison at Babylon in the height of his Conquests adds the Lot and folly of Xerxes who as he says sail'd about Mount Athos as the old world thought and digg'd a chanel through it as some have it of a mile and an half in length and so broad that two ships might meet and safely pass by one another Besides the Poet Sostratus relates that he did other strange things namely that he scourged the Winds Corus the North-West and Eurus the East-wind for throwing-down his ship-bridge almost a mile in length on which he drove chariots over the Sea between Europe and Asia Yet this was inferiour to Caligula's bridge of ships between Baiae and the piles at Puteâ—li above three miles and an half in length as Sueton relates in his life cap. 19. See Satyre 3. Illust 1. The said Sostratus adds that Xerxes ridiculously cast fetters into the Sea and so shackled Neptune-Ennosigaeus so called because his waves beat-upon and shaked the Land or as Ammianus Marcellinus lib. 17. gives the reason out of Anaximander because of the Earthquakes attributed to Neptune the waters or great showers getting into the rifts of the parch'd Earth together with the Air. likewise there inclosed causing terible vapours as he describes it The same mad Xerxes commanded them to give the Sea 300. Strokes with a scourge and to box it not without a frantick execration And whereas our Poet says it was well that he did not Stigmalize it as they used fugitive servants when they were brought back again that is burn them with a mark that so they might be known and shamed Herodotus lib. 7. says that he caused this also to be done In which expression those words concerning the Poet Sostratus madidis alis are somewhat differently understood Rigaltius expounding them by sudanribus axillis and so anciently the Scholiast saying Madidis ideo quia omnes qui cum sollicitudine recitant necesse est ut alae cis Sudent Sic Horatius sudor ad imos Manabat talos But this acception of alae for axillae here does not prevail and it seems somewhat affected and remote to take it so for though Sostratus might take pains in his poetical descriptions of Xerxes his Expedition yet to express his study or supposed recitation by his sweating under the arm pits seems an overplus Others though they give no reason of their refusing that exposition understand 〈◊〉 better I think whiles figuraâ—â—â—â—â—â— of his poetical wings that is his wit moistned with wine by which he chaunted-out lofty phansies 32. Hoc recto vuliu solum hoc pallidus optas The Scholiast and Lubin understand by recto vuliu laeto tristi and omni vitae tempore I rather think it expresses a countenance directed to the God to whom they pray'd and so signifies that when they pray'd for long life they did it confidently that is without blushing thinking That to be bot afair request as being but their desire to worship the Gods here on earth as long as they might according to which sense I render it with face direct 33. In Tabracha's large shades Tabraca is a City in Africa propria as Ortelius describes it now call'd the Kingdome of Tunis on the Mediterranean near which was a Wood wherein was great store of Apes as Strabo notes lib. 17. Posidonius says he relates that as he sail'd from Cadiz towards Italie He touch'd on the Lybian shoar at a place full of Apes some whereof were in trees some sitting some with their young ones by them and long dugges hanging-down some bald some broken-bellied as he pleasantly describes it out of Posidonius Surely we may add 't was cither Tabracha or another Tabracha 34. Though Seleucus 't were Or such as use th' embroyder'd cloak to wear Sitve Seleucus Aut quibus aurata mos est fulgere lacerna In the description here of old men the Poet says that whereas in young men there is great variety
never any had been seen before and accordingly building a City called it from the colour of the Sow Alba a glad fight as the Poet calls it to the Phrygians who till now expected a resting place And here that of Messala Corvinus may be observed Troia vulgò Italice latineque Scrofa vel sus dicitur that Troy was in Latin the same with sus But to proceed this place the terrified Sea-men first discovering got afterwards into the entrance of the Ostian haven which two sides artificial or forced Mounts or ridges like two arms ran so far into the Tyrrbene Sea that they seem'd in their compass almost to enclose it and as it were to leave Italy behind them In which haven there was also a Pharos or Watch-tower built in imitation of that famous one in Aegypt and for the like use to give notice to Sea-men in the night by a lanthorn hang'd up of the nearness of the shoar The works of which haven whose art exceeded the works of natural havens were perform'd at several times by three Emperors Augustus Claudius and Trajan And into the innermost part of this haven says our Poet these Sea-men got at last a place so calm that it is as safe as a quiet lake so calm that even a Baian boat which is used commonly to quiet waters such as are those in the Lucrine lake in Campania neer Baiae as says Britannicus may lie there without danger 7. With shaven pate Vertice raso Anciently they accounted it ominous to cut their bair when they were to go to Sea that being their last vow in a tempest To which according to some St. Paul seems to allude Act. 27.34 There shall not an hair of your head perish 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cadet fall as if he should have said They should not need to vow their hair according to the custome in great extremity for without such a vow and so without the performance of it they should all escape Hence likewise it was that they which were made free were shaved before they did put on the cap of Liberty because they had escaped the tempest of servitude as Nonius Marcellus relates it See also to this effect Jac. Dur. Casellius in his Varior lib. 2. cap. 9. Thus Sea-men likewise acknowledged themselves preserv'd to Liberty which by the tempest they accounted themselves to have lost and for the like reason such also were shaven as being accused were yet upon trial acquitted 8. Assist with Tongue and Zeal Linguis animisque faventes He quickens his servants to make ready for his performance of thanks the altars of the Deities more particularly he bids them assist with tongue and mind favete linguis being not to speak but a form used by way of preparative at Sacrifices that at the time of performance all that were present with the Sacrificer might be silent Hence therefore is that of Virgil Aeneid 7. Hinc fida silentia sacris according to which Horace likewise uses the words Carm. lib. 3. Od. 1. Favete linguis carmina non prius Audits Musarum sacerdos Virginibus puerisque canto in which case Silence in the assistants was a necessary favour See Alexander ab Alex. lib. 4. cap. 17. and Tiraquell on which last Colerus says Favere linguis est cum silentio audire audientiam dare Vnde apud Comicos Favorem popull interpretatur silentium audientiam populi Wherefore this former used here by our Author may not be understood of Prayer by word but of Silence and Devotion 9. Where slender crowns shall twine 'Bout my small waxen Gods which though frail shine Graciles uhi parva coronas Accipiunt fragili simulachra nitentia cera Amongst other preparations Juvenal bids his servants according to the custome to adorn the gates of the Temples with chaplets of flowers and to besprinkle the knives wherewith the beast was to be dressed with meal farre anciently called mola which some call a cake making it ex tosto farre mixt with water and salt as Britannicus expresses it According to which description we must then suppose that it being a cake it was afterwards broken again into crums the manner being to sprinkle with it the Fire the knives and the head of the Sacrifice Festus Pompcius lib. 11. describes it only by farre and sale and it is convenient enough to conceive it to have been only meal water and salt and so the word mola seems only to imply that it was grownd or had passed the mill The Poet next bids his servants dress the soft flames that is made with incense says the Scholiast or recentes and teneros as Briâ—â—â—nious thinks because the fire was raised on an Altar of turves whose grass was tender though the first exposition seems more intimate and so neerer to the truth The Poet then adds that He will follow and when he has perform'd his best that is his publick sacrifice quod prastat for this Reading yields a better sense than the other restat which some offer he says that he will then go home to offer incense and strew violets by way of joy and honour unto his Lares which he describes by terming them fragili simulachra nitentia cera By which it is usually understood that they were stames of wax but Rutgersius in his Var. Lection lib. 5. cap. 5. would here take cera as in that former passage Sat. 10. Genua incerare Deorum and says that the Scholiast indeed is in this place ambiguous But it may seem inconvenient to understand here that custome since probably such scraps of wax by which they were fastned could afford but little decency and less lustre And whereas he adds that he never read that the Lares were made of wax I think the exception not sufficient there being no need to express that particularity of the Lares it being usual to make statues of wax especially such as were not exposed to the injury of weather of which sort the Lares here mentioned were For though they were worshipped also publickly in compitis yet these were at his own house as he implies in those words Inde domum repetam graciles ubi c. Besides it is very convenient to suppose them to have been of wax specially if we consider the manner of trimming of them according to that of Persius Sat. 5. Artificemque tuo ducis sub pollice vultum and that also of Juvenal Sat. 7. Exigite ut mores teneros ceu pollice ducat Vt si quis cera vultum facit Which implies that they did in the forming of their waxen statues smooth them with the thumb so that both in respect of the matter and the art the Poet might aptly here call them Simulachra nitentia cera Concerning graciles coronas see Sat. 9. Illustrat 12. 10. Our Gate branch'd high with bayes envites To joy and is adorn'd with early Lights Longos erexit janua lauros Et matutinis operitur festa lucernis The Poet here expresses his joy by two
conversation was with Men though their crimes were hellish and in the language of Rome he speaks unto them Creticus therefore in this place most probably signifies as it does in another place of Juvenal who in Sat. 8. vers 90. says to a Moble Roman by way of advise and under this name ne sic tu Creticus aut Camerinus deserve not thou to be ironically call'd Creticus or Camerinus and thus he uses these two words in a like kind that is as the names of Noble persons By some here is understood Julius Creticus a great Lawier in the time of the Caesars but we may more safely and generally take it for any that were descended of this familie the familie of Metellus noble as much by Vertue as by blood who for his conquest of Creet had the honour in his name and was call'd Creticus as Scipio was call'd Africanus Thus a few verses before in the same 8th Satyre Juvenal calls another Nobleman for a like reason Getulicus in those words salve Getulice he being of the famous familie of Him that had gotten that name from his conquest of the Getulians So here he speaks of Creticus as of Metellus aggravating the levitie and filthiness of wearing transparent and so immodest apparel from the Nobleness of his Person as if he should say Wilt Thou do this that should'st remember that thy Ancestor was a noble warrior severely detesting such effeminacy This seems the least constrain'd exposition and for advantage I add the Name Metellus to enlighten the epithet and the sense 16. Shee 'll ne're wear such a gown Talent Non sumet damnata togam Toga the Gown was properly the Man's garment as stola was the Woman's especially in the latter time of the Roman Commonwealth Yet the obscurer sort of Women also and maid-servants and dishonest Women cheifly those that were convicted of adultery were enjoined publickly to wear the gown as Manutius de Quaesitis per Epist lib. 3. Epist 1. shews out of Porphyrio upon that of Horace Sat. 2. lib. 1. quid inter Est in matronâ ancillâ peccesve togatâ opposing Matrona and Togata He brings this also of Juvenal as an allusion to that marvailing at Servius and Nonius Marcellus for delivering the contrary and thinking that they speak only of the most ancient times of the Roman Commonwealth Indeed Tully implies as much for His times as Manutius notes Philip. 2. Sumpsisti virilem togam quam statiâ—â— mullebrem reddidisti primo vulgare scortum certa flagitii â—â—erces nec ea parva 17. But July 's Fire I Boil Sed Julius ardet Aestuâ— These words are an objection supposed and presently answer'd by the Poet. 18. The Good Goddesse's chast shrine Atque bonam tenerâ placant c. As the Goddess Cotytto was worshipp'd at Athens the first King whereof was Cecrops by her Preists the Baptae so called because they were washed in hot water before they were admitted to her filthy Sacrifices call'd Orgia from the furious raptures wherewith her preists were thought to be inspir'd and as to add opportunitie to leudness these Rites were celebrated by night a time fitter for sleep then for service so at Rome the Goddess Bona or the Good Goddess was worshipp'd by Women who were usually summon'd to such service by the noise of a horn or the like instrument men being excluded In imitation whereof some filthy Men perform'd by night and stealth such sacrifices to the same Goddess excluding Women but not pleasure To these Juvenal here alludes saying that they which first would not blush to wear wanton Apparel would at the next degree be partakers of those odious Rites and wear Women's apparel and not only be thus unmanly in their Attire but worse in their Behaviour 19. By Juno swears The Poet here saith Politian in his Observations reprehends Men for Swearing after the manner of Women by Juno whereas they should more properly have sworn per Genium Seneca implies the reason of this Epist 110. speaking of former times Singulis enim Genium Junonem dedêâ—unt Which words Dempster de Juramento lib. 1. cap. 8. p. 145. mends thus lege aut Genium scilicet viris aut Junonem foeminis but before Him Lipsius on that Epistle mended them so Where we may farther note that some Oaths were observ'd to have been peculiar to Men as to swear by Jupiter Hercules Fides Genius Others to Women as Aedepol Mecastor and by Juno for so Lubin delivers out of Politian Yet I find Valentinus Acidalius an accurate Critick in his Annotations on Plautus his Asinaria cap. 10. making Aedepol a common Oath to Men and Women M. OTHO CAESAR AVG. TR. P. IMP. 21. Vastly they feast Nay This so Rare a Bride c. The Poet having expressed the portion which this execrable Gracchus brought to his dear Cornet-winder namely 400. sestertia 3125 l. proceeds saying as the common copies here have it Ingens coena sedet gremio jacuit c. In which passage Lubin takes coena sedet for convivae sedent which is but a hard acception and whereas he once thought with Lipsius as he says in his Epist Quast p. 133. that it should be read Sed gremio in English as much as Nay even to bed went this bride and so to be an aggravation yet he tells us that now he likes of the other Reading Coena sedet expounding sedet by posita and parata est making this phrase or manner of speech peculiar to Juvenal who as he alleges speaks on this fashion also in that of the first Satyre nunc sportula primo Limine parva seder He might have taken that other instance also from our Author Sat. 8. vers 63. Rara juâ—o victoria sedit But I approve not of his change of opinion for these reasons first it is a new expression to say coena sedet for coenantes and Lubin is fain to say that it is peculiar to Juvenal Secondly his proof out of Juvenal and the other of the like form which I allege do not advantage his exposition of coena by coenantes nay they rather make it the more harsh because then it should be coenantes sedent mensâ which if expounded like the other juga victoria sedit the guests would be placed as well upon the table as at it Thirdly though the learned Pithaeus in the text of Juvenal reads coena sedet yet in his Var. Lection on this place he gives this note An potius distinguendum fuit ingens Coena sedet gremio jacuit c. and then adds out of Aâ—uleius Accumbit ad summum thorum maritus Psychen greâ—io suo complexus intending it as a like sense whereby it appears that he disliked the insolency of the phrase coena sedet and sought to avoid it by the varietie of Reading according to which coena cannot be the word that must agree with sedet but either the Bride-groom or Gracchus the new Bride or both of them that so it may answer to
hir'd for one year Some Gardens There A shallow well that needs No rope but the young Plants willingly feeds There love thy fork be there thy Garden dress'd Then ten times ten Pythagoreans Feast o 'T is somewhat to be Lord of some small ground Though but a Lizard can therein turn round Here want of sleep the sick does often kill But undigested meat begot this ill Clogging the burning stomack For who can Sleep for the noise of shops but the Rich man That bribes for 't Thus they sicken when Carts p meet Or stand in narrow turnings of a street The railing Carriers sore perplex'd do make Ev'n Drusus q and our heavy Sea-calves wake If business calls a rich one the rout shuns His train above their heads his large couch runs VVhiles he within reads writes or sleeps for keep His litter-window shut 36 and he can sleep Yet makes more speed then we Run we Before A wave resists Behind a Troop does goat Our loins an Elbow here or poal does rub My side my head feels There a beam or tub Durt fats my thighs a clown treads on me and A Souldier leaves his Boot-nail in my hand 37 Seest not with what a Smoâ—k we celebrate Our Doal 38 A Hundred ghuests On each does wait His Kitchin Gorbulo would be half dead Should he so many huge pans bear on 's head As a small wretch sustains nor yet must tire But upright go nay run to fan the fire His patch'd coat 's torn for hast A long Firre quakes Sometimes as the Cart joggs or a Pine shakes Aloft whose nodding threats the whole street fears For if an axle cracks that hither bears Ligurian stones and casts upon the rout His mountain-load what then can be found out Of their crush'd bodies where a Limb a Bone Their Corps Invisible as their soul is gone Mean while the house which none of this does know The dishes wash and with a fill'd cheek blow The small fire the oil'd Cleansers sound 39 with skill They sold the Bath-cloaths and the oile-horn 40 fill Thus do the Servants order ev'ry thing At home when he that should the Supper bring Poor Novice on the Stygian bank does quake At ugly Charon not account does make To pass the foul gulf since in 's mouth he can Not find the farthing for the ferriman 41 Now view Night-dangers and the dreadful height Of our house-tops whence on one's brain does light Some earthen ware that leaks some pot-sheard thrown Out at a window It 's weight marks the stone It breaks the flinty pavement 'T were the worst Neglect of Chance to sup abroad and first Not make thy Will So many Deaths thee meet As there are watchful windows in each street VVith this Base prayer then this only go That on thy Pate they only urine throw Besides your drunken gallant if he fight VVith no body 42 with torment wakes all night Nay like Achilles for Patroclus cries And now upon his face now upwards lies Some only in this method sleep a fray Makes them rest well or else they watch till day Yet such a Knave though hot with Youth and Wine Has so much drunken wit as to decline The Purple Roab which a long tram defends And with broad lights and brazen Lamps attends Me whom the Moon leads or a Candle's end Whose wick I temper least too fast it spend He slights The Proems of a fight I 'le show If that's Fight where Thou Giv'st I Bear the blow One meets thee bids thee stand thou must obey What help His rage and strength will make thee stay Wheace come ye Cries he With whose Vineger And unshal'd bean d' ye swell What Coblers were At the boâ—ld Sheep's lips and cut Leeks 43 unfold Your mind or with your guts my heel grows bold Where is your station At what Temple-door May a man find you begging 44 Now if more Or less thou would'st Replie or if Depart Silent all 's one They 'l beat thee then with Art Complain and bind thee o're to answer 's 45 All A poor man's Libertie is but to fall Prostrate though buffered and to entreat They 'l leave him a few teeth to eat his meat Nor mayst thou fear This danger only but A Their may spoil thee too when doors are shut When shops are bar'd and chain'd and all 's grown still Sometimes a Villane's sodain blade does Kill To make Dispatch when once the Pontine Moor 46 And Gallinarian Pines take to secure Those parts strong guard for then those parts they shun And all like Deer to a Park do hither run What Forge what Anvil makes not heavy Chains VVhat Ir'n we spend in shackels The whole veins You 'd fear would fail and none be left to make A neédful Plow-share Martock or a Rake Happy were our great Grandsires Grandsires Times VVhen under Kings and Tribunes for all Crimes One Jail serv'd Rome More Reasons could I show But my Teem waits me and the Sun grows low 47 I must begon the Carter calls away And jerk'd his whip to signifie my stay VVherefore fatewel and not forgetful be VVhen Rome to thy sweet Aquine hastens thee From Cumae to draw me to your Divine Helvinian Ceres 48 and Diana's shrine And if thy Satyres blush not to give room To your cold fields a Booted Aid 49 I 'le come NOTES on JUVENAL Sat. III. a THat Suburra was the Cheapside of Rome the Comparison makes out For Vmbritius now choosing a retirement prefers the most private one such as was Prochyta a little Island before the most populous Suburra Though perhaps not the Number only but the Quality of its Inhabitants offended the good man For a Multitude of Whores lived there Fame non nimium bonae puella Quales in media sedent Suburra Mart. with whom and Herace Suburrana signifies a whore The Learned out of Festus derive it à Succurrendo because the Court of Guards was their kept which relieved the watch when the Gabines beseiged that part of the Town Whose Inhabitant Unto Festus's time were call'd Tribus Succurrana and not Suburrana and this Justifies the Etymologie against Varro L. 4. L. L. b Lucus Fons Aricinus which Numa Consecrated to the Muses without the Porta Capena the Triumphal or South-Gate of the City through which from this Fountain water was conveyed to Rome and therefore 't is well call'd Madida Capena and fitly render'd Conduit-Gate 'T is of it Ovid speaks in his Fasti Egeria est quae praebet Aquas Dea grata Camoenae Illa Numae Conjux Consiliumque fuit Where Camoenae is the same with Capena Scribit enim Asconius extra hanc Portam Lucum Aedem Camoenaruuâ— esse Propterea Camoena à nonnullis est appellata nunc vero Porta Sti Sebastiani Marl. Ant. Rom. Topogr L. 1. c. 8. And Egeria is said to be grata Camoenae because it requited it's kindness in letting out her Votaries by sending in at it the supply's of fresh water Or else Grata by Reason
Edulis acriora Lepticis pleniora Lucensibus sicciora Coryphantenis teneriora Istricis candidiora Circeiensibus See Columna who speaks more largely 27. With rushing wing Praecipiti pinnâ or penna Some think this an allusion to a custome of sending letters by pigeons mentioned by Pliny lib. 10. others to the manner of postes as Dion relates who woar a feather on their heads to give notice of their hast The Scholiost thinks it to implie the Consul's manner of sending news to Rome the Good as he says being express'd on the letter by a Bay the bad by a feather His words are Siâ—â—ictâ—riae nunciabanour lauruâ— in â—pisteta fiebatâ—â—y Siâ—â—em aliquâ—d adversâ— pinâ—â— fieâ—â—â— For which last word Autumnus has adhibebatur and Pithaus guesses it should be serebaâ—ur but Dempster on Rosinus lib. 10. cap. 29. more easily mends it thinking it should be sigebâ—tar Indeed concerning the bay-brandâ— Salmath on Paâ—cirellus lib. 1. Tit. 42. speaks more plainly Solebant Imperatives Romant re bene gâ—sta literas laâ—ro revincteâ— mittere adding the reason out of Pliny at ipsâ— aspectâ— earunâ— boâ—â—â—â—â—â—ien â—â—â—tenderetur But the least constrain'd sense in this which I use taking epistola practpitâ— peâ—â—â—d by an ordinary figure for a letter of ill news which usually is swift-wingd Of Laureate letters see also Persius Sar. 6. Illustrat 5. 28. Imbrued in Lamian blood Lamiarum cade madenti The Lamian familie was most noble being sprung from Kings which by the testimonie of Hower in his Odyss raign'd at Cajâ—ta Of which familie was Aelius Lamia whose wife Domitia Longina Domitian took away as Sueton relates in his life cap. 1. and afterwards put him to death as also diverse other eminent persons Sueton shews in the 20th chapter of the life of the said Domitian And here we may note that when the Poet speaks of the death fo Domitian saying Sed periit postquà m cerdonibus esse timendus Coperat that he was slain when he began to be terrible to the meaner sort even to Coblens some understand by Cerdoâ—â—s the Christians thinking the poet after the manner of the Gentiles to call them so by way fo contempt But methinks this exposition shews more sagacitie then certainty and therefore I rather follow the Scholiast others understanding the word according to the common acception as most probably it is used again by Juvenal Sat. 8. in that passage qua Turpia cerdoni Volusos Brutosque decabant SATYRE V. ARGUMENT The Poet here strives to diswade Vile Trebius from his Table-trade Shews that though Povertie's some Curse To be a Parasite is worse Presents his Patrone Virro's Cheer Which bought with Libertie is Dear Yet with Great Virro he does joine Rather in Table then in Wine Or Cups or Water Servants Bread Fish Oile Flesh Mushrooms Fruit But fed With couz'ning Hope or Grief at least Injoys a Famine at a Feast IF 1 at thy Resolution thou dost yet Not blush but on another's trencher set Thy heart and bliss if tamely thou dost that Digest which nor a Sarmentus suffer'd 2 at Gaesars's proud Table nor vile a Galba e're Indur'd I 'd scarce believe thee should'st thou Swear b Mere Hunger's wondrous Thristy But yet grant Thy empty belly needful food did want Is no Shoar Bridge or more then half-fall'n shed Void Dost so prize another's Flout and Bread His starving Table With more Honest Need Thou might'st quake there and on c base Dog-branâ—fecd Besides Count thus when once he thee invites All former Service fully he requites The fruit of his Grand Favour 's Vi't'alls which Though rare he reckons reckons though he 's d Rich. If then after two Months neglect wee 'll grace A Client though to fill 3 a third void place Saying Let 's sup together straight thou dost Injoy thy Wishes What seek'st more Now must Trebius break his sleep now 4 half-dress'd run Least the Saluting Rout their Round have don When day-spring dimmes the Stars 5 or bout the Pole The slow Bootes his cold Wain does rowle Yet see the Cheer Thy wine-dregs moist Wool can't Indure they make a Guest turn e Corybant Ill words begin then Cups flie when a slash Mads thee and a stain'd Napkin wipes the gash For when your Lords Freed-men and you fall-out With Saguntine stone-pots a Battle 's fought His Wine was in some 6 long-hair'd Consul's days Laid in and a choice grape His cup does praise Trod-out in our Confed'rates War to 's Friend Though heart-sick not a cup of This hee 'l send To-morrow from th' Albane or Setine hills His bowl with wanton choice and wine he fills Whose Country and Inscription are defac'd With Age the VVine by th' hoary Vessels grac'd Such Thraseas and Helvidius with f flow'rs crown'd Drank on the Birth-dayes of the two renown'd Bruti and Cassius Bowls to Virro come Of Amber such th' Heliades wept and some All rough with pointed Berylls Gold they do Not set by Thee or set a keeper too To tell the Gems and see sharp nails forbear Blame him not A fair Jasper glisters there For Virro as now many from his rings Unto his Goblets sparkling Jewels brings The youth yet who Iarbas fierce out-sway'd VVith such instarr'd the hilts of his stour Blade The Beneventane Cobler's glass to Thee They bring fow'r-nos'd and crack'd 7 that begs to be Exchang'd for Brimstone-matches If much meat Or wine thy Patron 's stomack over-heat VVater decoct they fetch more cold then e're VVas Scythian Frost Did I complain you were Not serv'd with the same wine why see you have Not the same VVater Some Getulian slave A Foot-boy or some Black Moor 's bony hand Brings Thee Thy Cup whom so ungently tann'd Thou wouldst not meet at mid-night shouldst thou ride In the steep Latine way by a Tomb's side On Him does wait the Flow'r of Asia who Cost more then stout Tullus and Ancus too VVere worth in brief then th' Utensils of all Our Kings Look back then when for wine thou'dst call On a Getulian Ganymede To fill To beggers a Boy bought so dear wants skill Yet such a Face and Age do well agree VVith such disdain VVhen comes he then to Thee Though call'd 8 with his hot water and his cold Indeed he scorns to wait upon an old Client that Thou should'st call for things and lie At ease as 't were in state and He stand by Ev'ry great house is full of such proud slaves See too how one that sets the bread behaves Himself with growling bread which hardly can Be broken musty crusts the which a man May with his jaw-tooth rather gnaw then cat But for thy Lord 's set snow-white tender wheat Keep back your fingets pray 9 and in awe stand Of the dread Butler Yet suppose thy hand More sawcy such thy sawciness were vain There 's one will make thee lay it down again From your own Basket will you not be fed Bold guest and learn the colour of your bread Th' art pierc'd and groan'st thus Wast
recited which their superstitious fear imposed upon themselves Which necessarie considerations those learned Criticks might have used Wherefore to speak clearly I think that according to Brodaus if his opinion be proved true these worshippers might sometimes offer such water secondly that according to Servius sometimes they did offer simulata pro veris and that sometimes they did as our Poet here with indignation wonders-at fetch it themselves from the confines of Aegypt even from Meroë in Aethiopia such Aegypto as the Geographers call it an Iland in Nilus now called Gueguere and in which was a City of the same name Meroë the most Northern part of which Iland being about 16. degrees of North-latitude well might the Poet say that the waters of it were hot 61. That acts Anubis c. Qui plangentis populi currit derisor Anubis Anubis was the Son of Osyris and Isis all which were by the Aegyptians whom they taught such useful knowledge worshipped as Deities Osyris under the name of Apis and Serapis in the form of an One with some special marks but by custome drowning the beast after a certain number of years in a sacred fountain as the fable has it they went howling about till they found another crying-out in their joy as mad as their sorrow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to which the Poet alludes Sat. 8. in those words Exclamare libet populus quod clamat Osyri Invento Now at these fooleries the Priest did carry about the Image of Anubis whom they worshipp'd in the form of a Dog because as Diodorus Siculus says he gave the Dog for his Arms which Anubis as the Poet adds or the Priest that carried him did but jeer at the people which went about with him So that I take derisor Anubis not as Autumnus does saying derisor Antistes quia irrider deum so making Anubis the genitive case as if the Priest did jeer at the God but by an Apposition I take derisor Anubis for the same person And this is clear from the other words populi plangentis so that the order is Anubis derisor populi plangentis Where likewise I cannot approve Britannicus expounding populi plangentis thus id est reliquorum sacerdotum as if the chief Priest floured at the inferior priests it being likely that they understood the profitable imposture as well as himself But the most easie sense as I conceive it is that the Priest which carried the god amongst the other shaved Priests in linnen-dress jeer'd at the people And here I may mention Pignorius his conceit who in his Mensae Isiacae exposit Thinks that it were far more happy if the old Copies had it so to read dersor insteed of derisor for so in another place he is call'd Latrator Anubis alluding to the form in which he was worshipped Which for a phansie being without copie seems very pretty though if admitted without the courtesie of a figure and that he were indeed popul◠derosor the people might well howle but rather for themselves then for Osyris But to check this phansie in earnest Anubis was not represented as a dog for any qualitie of biting the people but from his supposed vigilance more particularly in guarding the bodies of Osyris and Isis Retaining then the copies which have derisor amongst the causes of such derision that which follows is by some reckon'd for one that the Priests perswaded these dames they had need of a pardon if during the feast of Isis which lasted nine days as Britannicus notes out of Propertius they abstain'd not even from the Marriage-Right 62. When th' injur'd bed Violato Cadarco Some copies have Caduceo and so understand it of Mercury the same with Anubis and here supposed to be offended thus with others Isacius Pontanus on Macrobius his Saturn lib. 1. cap. 20. upon this passage of Juvenal Yet this reading is against the generalitie of Copies and the nature of the word Caduceus the first syllable whereof is long and so not sutable in this place as Britannicus heretofore observ'd Besides the word cadurcus is not only in this place used by Juvenal but also in the next Satyre in that verse Institor hibernae tegetis niveique cadurci and to omit some unclean interpretations signifies a tent and as some have it a bedsteed as others the covering in effect the bed but figuratively the persons that are said prophane it and which therefore fear'd punishment and therefore does most aptly in this sense follow the precedent verse The word it self cadurcus is thought to come from Cadurci a people in France where Cahors now is and where anciently they made the finest and whitest bed-ticks 63. Gently the silver-Sernent seems to nod Et movisse caput visa est argentea serpens In the Temple of Isis there was placed a silver-Serpent as Pignorius in his Mensae Isiacae Expos fol. 14. and others observe Concerning which point of Aegyptian Theologie Macrohius Saturn lib. 1. cap. 20. says that in the Temple of Serapis there was an Image with three heads the middlemost like a Lion the right side head like a fawning dog and the left-side head like a ravenous Wolf about all which a Serpent wrapt himself bringing his head under the right hand of the god By which three heads says he Time was signified by the Middlemost like a Lion Time Present as being full of vigour and business by the left-side head the devouring wolf Time Past in which the remembrance of things is swallow'd-up by the right-side head like a fawning Dog Time to come which flatters us with Hope To which pleasing exposition unhappily he adds nothing concerning the Serpent though mention'd by himself only in general he says Tempora autem cui nisi proprio famularentur anctori Which may be appliable to the Serpent which by his incompassing of all times may signifie Eternity compared with which Time is but as a short parenthesis in a long line Or we may not unfitly understand Providence by it which with a quick and strong eye beholds all times past present and to come which is but sutable to the proverbial excellency of the Serpent's sight 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Serpents eye being a receiv'd expression of a Man of clear understanding Lastly the Serpent's Laying of his head under the right hand of the god may not unfitly implie the sublimitie and truth of its guid Concerning movisse caput some expound it as if it implyed the Anger of the god as that he shook his head at their offences in a sense not unlike that in the second Satyre where it is said to Mars Nec galeam quassas But methinks there needs no such fierceness here in the word movisse only it shews the power in the successe of the Priest who for offences though great according to their belief did notwithstanding procure the deity to give a sign of reconciliation So that the brief contexture is Ille petit veniam Et movisse caput visa est
which is both false and absurd because against the principal intent of the Poet but being applied to the breast by saying That was but small is truly Satyrical expressing the narrow size even of an Emperor's breast but the vast Rage and sury Flaming thence according to which sense as if he had said Magna est fornacula nostra I render it T is sure our small Furnace breaths lilames that is our Emperor's breast though but of the size of another man's is outragiously hot I may add here that whereas the Person speaking here adds a farther reason of his Fear to wit that his friend Brutidius look'd pale as he met him at Mars his Altar Lubin notes upon the words ad Martis Vlteris scilicet as if he would intimate That to be a farther Cause of his fear which methinks is too nice for no doubt he looked pale before he met him there 20. I 'me afraid our great Ajax o'recome revenge will take as ill Guarded Quam times victus ne poenas exigat Ajax Vi male defensus Britannicus understands this as spoken of Brutidius that is I fear loast my friend Brutidius like Ajax when he was overcome will kill himself and so escape worse torture as some in the raign of Tiberixs did But the Scholiast and so the most understand it of Jiberius who as he that speaks here fears will become as outragous upon occasion of this impudent treason of ignoble Sejanus pretending also that he has been no better defended by his subjects in this his danger then Ajax was in his cause wherein he fail'd and that therefore he will fall upon man and beast like disdainful and raging Ajax And this exposition I the rather choose first because the other exposition does not in part agree to Ajax for though Brutidius might as he did kill himself yet Ajux did it not to scape a worse torment Secondly because I conceive it more natural in a great and sodain fear for a man to forget the danger of Others and provide for himself and so the person here speaking should seem for a time more sollicitous for Himself then for Brutidius And indeed thus congruously and presently it follows Curramus Pracipites calcemus Caesaris hostem let us with all speed do some act whereby we Our selves may be beyond all suspicion of confederacy and one most eminent act of this kind he thinks to be to trample on the carcass of Sejanus whiles he yet lies on the banke of Tiber Dum jacet in ripa Where we may observe as we did before on this Satyre Illustrat 16. that there was some space between the Scale Gemonia and the River a high praecipice over a River being not properly called ripa which is as it is commonly thought so called from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ictus and therefore low that the water may beat against it Lubin therefore speaks distinctly whiles he says in ripa Sub scalis Gemoniis insepultus making the banke a distinct and lower place then the Scalea Gemoniae 21. With 's Chaldie-Heard retir'd To Caprea his Court. Rock Augusta Caprearum in rupe sedentis Cum grege Chaldao The Poet here sportingly askes a Roman if he would now choose such a Lot as the Best of Sejanus to have also the worst of him and so whether he would at Sejanus his price be as it were Protector to the Aged Emperor who ignominiously retir'd with a rout of Chaldaans that is Diviners and such leud Impostors to whom he was mainly addicted unto the obscure lland Caprea called at this day by Mariners Capri and here by the Poet Augusta rupes lying in the Tyrrhene Sea near Surrenium on the South East side of the Entrance of the Bay before Naples But here we must take notice that some read angusta rupe which though it were true it being but a small or narrow rock yet augusta is the more Satyrical his Imperial or Court-Rock the Poet so terming it because Tiberius had remov'd his Court thither where he did live in all impuritie Concerning grex Chaldam see Drusius his Notes p. 89. on Sulpitius Severus lib. 1. and also his Observations which he there cites lib. 8. cap. 12. 22. And Pratâ—rian Campe. Et castra domestica The Pratâ—rian Guard appointed for the safety of the Prince's person over which Sejanus had the Command and was the first as the Scholiast says that placed them juxia aggerem id est Diocletianas he means Thermas The Castra Praetoria are by Rosinus lib. 1. cap. 13. placed extra vetus pomaerium at the North-East part of Rome beyound the wall of the City and so presented by Bertellius in his map of Old Rome Britamicus makes these souldiers and egregios equites here mention'd to be the same adding that the Romans call'd these more especially Stratiotâ—â— or the men of war 23. Or Rule at Gabii and Fidenea bear An Fidenarum Gabiorumque esse potestas Were it not better says he to be a poor Magistrate at some obscure Town or but a Market-Clark where one might have freedome and safery then to dwell in Honour and Danger where it may be observ'd that the word Potestas properly signifying Magistracy is here used for the Magistrare himself as likewise by Pliny lib. 9. cap. 8. Injuria potestatum inhospitales 24. To Ceres Son-in-Law c. Ad generum Cereris c. Few Princes there are says the Poet he means unjust ones as he expounds it by adding tyranni who attain to Kingdomes by fraud or blood that without blood descend to the grave or Lower to Pluto who married Proserpina the daughter of Ceres as it is in the fable Many such passages the high-spirited Romans did oft let fall in their writings even in the times of the Empire having still a remembrance of their old Libertie and a quick sense of the encroachment made upon them by the power of their own Citizens now become their Emperors 25. He craves all Pallas Feast days without shame Whose young three farthings wit can yet scarce prate On whom a keeper and small satchel waite Totis Quinquatribus optat Quisquis adhuc vno partam colit asse Minervam Quem sequitur custos angusta vernula capsa He shews how that old and young have vain and dangerous desires and that even boyes but newly put to School and attended on by other boys which carry their satchels for them though they have scarce gotten more then three-farthings-worth of learning will yet at the Quinquatria a Fivedays-feast instituted to the honour of Minerva the Patroness of wit earnestly pray to be as famous for Eloquence as Tully or Demosthenes In which point some things are needful to be clear'd The name Quinquatria some think to come from quinque and ater this seast being kept for five days after the Ides of March the next day after which was accounted dies ater or an unlucky day yet this feast strictly began neither on the Ides not on the day immediately following the Ides
sayes he such spendthrifts usually fly from Rome to Baia or Ostia Sea towns whence if pursued they may by ship fly their Countrey also having with their estate lost likewise all shame Modesty being as ready to forsake Rome no body striving to retain her as ever Justice and Chastity were to forsake the Earth of which see Sat. 6. in the beginning Only saies he one vexation attends these wanton fugitives that they must alas for a whole year lose the pleasure of the Circensian Games By which last passage though it may seem ambiguous the Poet intends not that when they fled for their terrifying debts they should return after one year their danger being perpetually the sames but by way of jeer implies their daintiness which was not able forsooth without great trouble of mind to indure an absence from such pleasure though but for a year and how much less then an unwilling and perpetual banishment Which doubt I thought very necessary to point our and a little dear it being omitted by the Interpreters And here we may take notice that some copies have not Ostia but ostrea as if the spendthrift went to a new and greater gluttony but this seems less probable both in respect of the plenty of Rome that could have yielded that provision as also in respect of their urgent want The most receiv'd reading then is Ostia but whereas some tell us that it was a Town near Baiae we may to preserve our selves from such mistake take notice that Ostia is at the mouth of the Tiber about 12 miles from Rome not as Lubin says 3 miles but the Baiae is in Campania about 10 miles from Naples towards Rome which two Cities Rome and Naples being 125 miles asunder though we would allow the distance from Naples to Puzzolo which is 6 miles and from Puzzolo to Baiae which is but the length of Caligulas bridge not full 4 miles and all the distance from Rome to Ostia which yet cannot be requir'd we must needs grant the distance between Ostia and Baiae to be above an hundred miles See Cherubinus Stella in his Poste per diverse parti del mundo fol. 9. under the title Poste da Roma a Napoli 4. Then grapes long kept yet fresh as on the Vine Et servatae Parte anni quales fuerant in vitibuâ—â—vâ—â— Juvenal inviting his friend Persicus to a Countrey entertainment tells him in Allusion to Virgil Aeneid 8. that he will welcome him with plain cheer as Evander did Hercules who was brought up at Tiryniha a City of the Argives or as he entertained Aeneas who though he was less renown'd than Hereules yet was high-born contingens vâ—â—tice â—â—lum being the son of a Goddess Venus though at last he was drown'd as the other Hercules was burn'd Nor will I deal hypocritically sâ—â—es our Poet for I use not in my private life to hid my Cook if any body by chance be present corâ—â—n aliis to provide course victuals as pultes exâ—sâ—rina gruel or the like sed in aure placentas but in his ear or secretly bid him buy me dainties In which passage some would have it sed in are placentas which me-thinks were to lose the just opposition between coram aliis and in aure though for a phanfie that Reading is pretry Unfeignedly saies the Poet thou shalt have plain cheer such as mine own field yields me at Tibur now called Tivoli 150 stadia that is almost 19 miles from Rome North and by East Thy dishes saies he shall be did and a hen besides a salad which shall be gathered by my Villica or Baily's wife which orders my Countrey affairs whereby he implies himself to have had a convenient estate Some fruit also saies he thou shalt have as apples pears and grapes long kept and yet fresh which implied device of keeping grapes was effected as Varro teacheth us de Re Rustica lib. 1. cap. 58. concerning the Aminean and Apician grape most conveniently by putting them in pots and likewise by keeping them in new wine Some sort of grapes they likewise kept by hanging of them up such was the duracine or hard-skinn'd grape likewise the Scantian and some again add the Apician also according to which several waies of keeping them they called some â—vâ—s â—llares others pensiles as 〈◊〉 it annicus notes Apicius in his Epimeles his first book in the Chapter intituled Vva us diu ferventur teaches us to take river-water and boyl it to a third part then having put the water and grapes into a Pot to pitch it close up and set it in some cool place out of the Sun whereby when one would use them one may take them out green There likewise he tells us that they may be kept without hurt if they be cover'd in barley Nor is our age ignorant of some such devices as may be seen by H. Platt in his ingenious and delightful experiments of the Art of Preserving where Number 64. he saies thus Clusters of grapes barging upon lines within a close press will last till Easter If they shrink you may plump them up with a little warm water before you eat them Some use to dip the ends of the stalks first in pitch some cut a branch off the line with every cluster placing an apple at each end of the branch now and then renewing those apples as they rot and after hanging them within a Press or Cupboard which would stand in such a place as I suppose where the grapes might not freeze for otherwise you must be forced now and then to make a gentle fire in the room or else the grapes will rot and perish The same Author in the same work number 62. shews how to have grapes growing all the year saying Put a Vine-stalk through a basket of Earth in December which is likely to bear grapes that year and when the grapes are ripe cut off the stalk under the basket for by this time it has taken root keep the basket in a warm place and the grapes will continue fresh and fair a long time upon the Vine Palladius likewise De Re Rustica lib. 12. Tit. 12. shews how to keep them upon the Vine till the Spring Now if the Reader would know how long the grapes here mentioned in our Author at his supposed feast had been kept though not after this last manner upon the vine yet fresh as if upon the vine it is apparent that they had been kept a quarter of a year for as Lubin notes this invitation of Persicus was Vt ex sequentibus liquet in hyeme vel eriam post sub initium veris. Which as I conceive he speaks from that which presently follows concerning the apples which he tells him he should have and which as he saies he needed not to fear their raw or Autumn-juice being dried up by the Winter 's cold implying that they had been kept from the time of the Vintage which was as Varro saies De Re Rustica lib. 1. cap. 34.
dis-esteem'd by the Romans Ebut taken for Elephas Nassa the Ordinary Reading and Interpretation of it approved Juv. 12. Ill. 1 2. As when Poetick tempests rise si quando poëticasurgit Tempestas Some here read Pontica and so understand such horrible Tempests as arise in the Euxine Sea which Reading yeilds a good sense yet Poëtica is the most received as being both ancient approved and expounded by the Scholiast besides it is singularly Satyrical for which considerable motives I retain it The Poet further implies the manner of men in danger of Shipwrack who were wont in their extremity to vow a Table or Picture expressing their danger unto the Temple of Neptune though afterwards in imitation of the Aegyptian superstition unto Isis who as Pignorius notes in his Mens Isiac Expos f. 5. was held to be the Patroness of Seamen and Commandress of the Winds and such Pictures are here called Tabellae votiva Now even in such distress says our Poet was dear Catullus the lower yet capacious part of the ship the Hold or Howle as the Seamen call it being fill'd with water and Alternum puppis latus evertentibus undis Arboris incertae the waves throwing the ship sometimes on the one side sometimes on the other to speak vulgarly or rather being ready to overset the ship puppis properly the sterne or sterage arboris incertae made but of unsure or dangerous plaâ—ks In which description I render puppis rather by the sterne then by the ship the first acception being more agreeable to the description here intended as may appear from the two kinds of troublesome motion of a ship The one whereof is in respect of her Length according to which sometimes the one end as the fore-castle sometimes the other as the Sterne is mounted-up by the waves and this is called the Heaving and Setting of a Ship the other is in respect of her breadth that is from side to side the Sea sometimes laying the Ship almost on the one side and sometimes on the other and this is called as a long continuance at Sea many years since taught me the Rowling of the Ship Which last motion being here intended as is plain from the words latus evertentibus undis and also being more notoriously discerned in the stern by reason of the height I therefore render puppis by the stern which being built highest for pleasure and direction containing in it commonly above the Captain 's cabbin cabbins for the Master and his mates is in the rowling of the ship most troubled and therefore well might it be suspected to be as the Poet speaks arboris incerta of plank scarce sure enough against greatest danger Juv. Sat. XII Illust. 3. 4. But so hold who else to prefer Life before his Gold Quis audet Argento praferre caput Some think rather the contrary of this speech to be truth but methinks it may with a gentle interpretation stand easily free from exception the Poet intending only an aggravation of the Coveteousness of men in His times And is it not usual with many in their sickness by an unwarrantable hope of escape without the Charge of Physick basely to cast themselves away And do not many likewise in Sea-storms in hope to save both life and goods loose both And though it be farther urged that this howsoever could be no cause of Commendation to Catullus because he did but that which even a beast the Beaver does without reason as the Poet acknowledges yet it must be granted that things in some respect a like may in another respect as of their motive mainly differ For so that which is meerly natural in a beast as to drink no more then enough is in man a vertue as done by the wisdome of reason Besides whereas again a little after some reprehend our Poet for saying navem mindrem facere for exonerare as they expound it the Poet speaks it not of casting out the goods but of cutting-down the mast ut malum ferro submitteret 0 Which is but more remotely to be expounded by exonerare that being properly a burden or weight not which is a part of the ship but of the carriage Though in a remote sense as I said the mast may accidentally be called so when by the violence of wind and wave it is too much driven on either side 5. And now a white thread spun Et staminis albi lanificae The Poet after his expression of a storm says Let any he now so hardy as to go yet to Sea committing his life to a few dressed planks of pine-tree that is a ship and so be but a few fingers breadth the thickness of the planks remov'd from the wave and consequently from death let him lay in his penurious provision his bag or net for his bread with his gorbellied flaggon but let him be sure to take an axe with him too to cut-down his mast upon occasion But at last says the Poet proceeding in his relation the weather grew calme and the fatal sisters began to spin a white thread wherein he implies the Opinion of the Ancients who thought that when the Parcae intended long life unto a man they spun him a white thread as when they intended his death a black according to that of Martial lib. 6. epig. 58. Si mibi lanificae ducunt non pulla sorores Stamina In this passage there is yet some farther doubt about these words tempora postquam Prospera vectoris some understanding by vector Catullus our Poet's friend but it may seem more congruous to take it for the Ship-man or Pilot that brings the Ship into harbour and that in the close of this passage is called magister in these words sed trunca puppe magister interiora petit Baiana pervia Cymba Tuti stagna sinus 6. A knowl nam'd from the matchless Sow so white with thirty teats Conspicitur sublimis apex cui candida nomen Scrofa dedit The Poet here shews how Catullus his Ship the weather being grown gentler came safe into the haven at Ostia in the mouth of the River Tiber which description including many varieties it will for the younger Reader be somewhat necessary to clear it in the several parts of it He says then that at last they discovered the high Mount neer which was built Alba Longa by Julus Ascanius who having before dwelt at Lavinum built by Aeneas and called so from his second wife Lavinia the daughter of Latinus his first wife the mother of Ascanius being called Creusa increasing in people departed thence after his father's death leaving Lavinum to his mother in Law and built Alba commonly called Longa from the long form of it but Alba upon this occasion The Oracle having told the Phrygians as it is in Virgil Aeneid 3. that when they should find by a river side an huge sow that should bring forth thirty pigs at one litter they should build a City in that place they finding this rare or matchless beast like unto which
Sylla and Marius went not under the names of the Nobility and the People yet we may remember that Sylla was of the ancient family of the Scipio's and Marius of very mean birth so that Sylla's actions might in Juvenal's guess seem to aim at Tyranny as the actions of Marius at Liberty Next we may take notice that Sertorius was of the Marian party and so Juvenal as one giving his judgement of actions though of ancient time seems to account Marius and His friends to have been of the two sides the truer Romans and accordingly these Vascons which took part with Sertorius When as then Florus in the words above cited says that Calaguris and the other Cities were reduced in Romanam sidem to the Roman allegiance he speaks after the common manner of Historians it being to the allegiance of the Roman City in title but in effect and in Juvenal's judgement to the Syllan Faction As for some smaller doubts in this passage we may take notice that one Manuscript has here antiqui â—tate metalli but this will not bear a trial since antiquim metallum as it must imply a better metal so a better age than that wherein these Vascons were thus distressed which must be acknowledged to have been but a part of the Iron-Age Secondly by the plenty of Learning and the French Instruction of the Britans our Author seems amongst other things to intimate the exercises perform'd at Lions and mentioned Sat. 1. Thirdly we must with him distinguish between the Britans and the Britons the first being the people of our own Countrey Britany the last the Britons being the Inhabitants of Bretaigne in the North west of France Lastly we may take notice of their earthen ships if we may so call them which in those times of less experience the Aegyptians did use the possibility of which we may proportionally understand by a less experience whiles we see earthen vessels either empty or full swim in a little water and that fresh also which is of less strength They had also anciently boats made of twigs covered with lead See Dr. Hackwit's learned Apol. lib. 3. cap. 9. Sect. 4. 12. Or when a Babe's interr'd as for the fire Top young Vel terrâ— clauditur infans Et minor igue regi The Poet here implies the custome of the Ancients in burying not burning the bodies of Infants which died before they had Teeth as Pliny notes lib. 7. and that is as he adds not till the 7th moneth and the graves of such infants they called Suggrundiaria as I have noted before Sat. 1. Illustrat 51. Which Roman Custome it seems did extend sometimes as far as the Roman Empire as may appear from Joan Baptista Suarez de Salazar in his Antiguedades Gaditanas lib. 1. cap. 4. p. 294. c. Where describing Cadiz he tells us that there are vaults wrought in stone under ground 14 foot in length in bredth and depth 7 foot and that within in the sides there are open pots and at the bottom or floor of the vaults there are coals and bones of a large stature and round about there are some small vessels with inscriptions And in some of the pots he says there are small bones without any sign of ashes or coals and then presents a description of the Suggrundarium See also of this point Pedro de Medina in his vvork De Grandez as de Espana cap. 30. in the description of Cadiz 13. The vvild beast vvill spare one like spotted Parcit Cognatis maculis fera There is no good man says the Poet but must acknovvledge himself subject to the calamities of life and therefore should compassionate others in their distress if he vvill be truly a good man such an one as 〈◊〉 vvorthy of Ceres her secret torch that is such an one as vvill presume to be present at her sacred Rites all leud persons being by the voice of a Crier forbidden to approach unto her Sacra vvhich vvere by Matrons perform'd in the Night vvith Lights in remembrance that Ceres did in like â—â—â—ner seek after Proserpina Indeed says he that vve should be tender hearted nature has fram'd us making us to exceed beasts by giving to Them a soul as Philosophy calls it but to us a Mind the margin of one Manuscript Corpus-Christi aptly having this note Anima est quâ vivimus animou quâ— sapimus superior scilicet pars animae Ausonius Pâ—â—â—â— also shews the same from other Authorities Yet even beasts says he do now exceed us in these instructions of nature Men being unnatural one towards another as these Tentyrites were but even a wild beast being tender towards another wild beast Yet Brodaeus in his Miscell lib. 3.28 reckons up divers creatures that prey upon their own kind as the hippopotamus a beast that lives in Niâ—â—â— Sows She cats the Swan the spawning Tunâ—ie-fish the Polypus a fish of many feet and the wild asse This he does in refutation of Juvenal and that passage in Horace Neque hic lupis mos nec fuit leâ—â—â—â—â— nunquam nisi in dispar seris Yet Brodaens adds Hâ—rum tamen fides sit penes authores but what needed he then to have troubled himself with a seeming refutation 14. Nor could his belly some course Pulse obtain Et ventri indulsit non omne legumen That Pythagoras abstain'd from Flesh and Beans has been a general and receiv'd tradition the reason of the first proceeding as is thought from his fond belief of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or passage of the soul of man in death into other creatures and consequently from a fear of cruelty in feeding on them the reason of the last his abstaining from beans passing as a secret amongst his followers as may appear by a story in the life of Pythagoras written by Jamblichus cap. 31. Vitio there relates that Dimâ—â—siâ—â— the Tyrant the younger having a great appetite to know this secret caused a couple of this Sect to be brought before him one Myllias a Crâ—tâ—nian and his wife Timycha a Lacedamonian but the man being asked the reason made answer that the Pythagoraeans indeed did choose to die rather than to eat beans and I said he will rather dye than reveal the reason Whereupon says the Author he being with indignation sent away the woman now destitute of the company and encouragement of her husband threatned also with tortures to declare the reason was tried with the same question but being it seems more Pythagoraean than Woman she bit out her tongue and spit it in the face of the Tyrant I Howsoever after-times are not altogether ignorant of the mysterie the same Jamblichus cap. 24. in general tells us that it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for many sacred and natural causes concerning the soul But Diogenes Laertius in the life of Pythagoras descends to particulars alledging Aristotle and saying that such abstinence from beans as he conjectured was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. sive quod pudendis similes sint sive quod inferni