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They were much admired by the ancients, and have been abundantly quoted by Grammarians, by Fathers of the Church, and mediaeval writers. If certain passages are less familiar to modern ears than their fitness for quotation might lead us to expect, it is from the difficulties of the poetry, which have deterred men of our day from reading it as it deserves. The subject of the first Satire which deals with the vicious poetical taste of the day, and has many quotations from, or imitations of, the verses of contemporary writers, would be more interesting and intelligible when it was first published than it is to us, and this Satire alone would create a large demand for the volume. The Epistle to Macrinus comes more home to ourselves as dealing with the worship of God, the selfish or worldly abuse of which is common to all ages. The introduction I have prefixed to the third Satire may perhaps lead some to read it with curiosity, and they will not be disappointed. The more I read it, the more I admire it. Self-ignorance is a large subject which might be better handled than it is in the fourth Satire, and the folly of running after and hoarding money to be squandered by one's heirs is not done as much justice to in the sixth as it probably would have been if the poet had finished it. The fifth is generally considered the best in the book, though I myself prefer the third. In the fifth there is that tribute to the goodness of Cornutus which proves the goodness of the writer and the gracefulness with which he could write. It also shows more of the philosophical school in which Persius had been trained, without however introducing any thing more new than the Stoic doctrine that the only free man is the sage, with which Cicero and Horace had before made their readers familiar. There are more imitations of Horace in this Satire than in any other.

A writer of satire may be 'ferus et violens' with his pen, and yet

very amiable in manners, as the Grammarian describes Persius to have been. He may also in those days have been chaste and modest, and yet have used language for the exposure of vice which now cannot be used, or even read without discomfort. There is nothing in Persius' style to contradict the pleasing description given of him by his biographer, which probably was quite true. More than one gem now in existence has been supposed to represent the handsome features attributed to Persius, but they may be any body, and we must be content with the Grammarian's testimony to his beauty.

5 Quintilian (x. 1. 94) says, "Multum et verae gloriae, quamvis uno libro, Persius meruit." Martial (iv. 29) says,

"Saepius in libro numeratur Persius uno

Quam levis in tota Marsus Amazonide."

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From Dryden's translation of Juv. S. iii. 203, it might be inferred that 'lectus' was a sleeping-bed. But for that, it would hardly be necessary to tell the reader Juvenal means a lectus tricliniaris.'

On Juvenal S. vii. 79 it should have been observed, that the age at which the poet Lucan is said to have been put to death, namely, twenty-six, cannot be right, if it be true that he was of the same age as Persius, as stated in his life. Persius was born at the end of A.D. 34, and Lucan was put to death A.D. 65; he must therefore have been about thirty years of age.

To the note on Juvenal S. vii. 111 might have been added, if I had seen it in time, an anecdote told by the late Lord Cockburn (Memoirs, p. 136), which, as it may amuse the reader and illustrates my opinion of Juvenal's meaning, I add here. Speaking of the Scotch advocate George Fergusson (Lord Hermand), he says, "His eagerness made him froth and splutter so much in his argumentation, that there is a story to the effect that, when he was once pleading in the House of Lords, the Duke of Gloucester, who was about fifty feet from the bar, and always attended when Mr. George Fergusson, the Scotch counsel,' was to speak, rose and said with pretended gravity, I shall be much obliged to the learned gentleman if he will be so good as to refrain from spitting in my face.'"

As to the date of S. viii. (Juvenal), and the force of nuper' in v. 120, the reader is referred to the Life, wherein the dates of the several Satires, so far as they can be conjectured, are more fully discussed than in the Introductions.

There are several places in which former or subsequent notes should have been referred to. These omissions the reader will be able in great measure to correct by means of the Index.

D. JUNII JUVENALIS

SATIRARUM

LIBER PRIMUS.

SATIRA I.

INTRODUCTION.

THIS satire, for reasons stated in v. 47, could not have been written before A.D. 100, and was probably not written long after that date. Heinrich, whose judgment I have a great respect for, says it is not so much a satire as a preface or introduction to a volume of satires. It is certainly a satire as severe as any in the book. Juvenal had probably written others before it, but I do not see enough in this poem to entitle it to be called a preface. He says all the passions of men from the flood downwards are the hodge-podge of his book-" nostri farrago libelli" (v. 86)—and he has touched upon a good many of them in this satire, which may be the 'libellus' he means. If not, he must have been intending to publish a collection, for 'libellus' must mean something definite, either one poem or a collection. He begins with supposing himself persuaded by some person not to write, as Horace pretends with Trebatius (S. ii. 1). But the times are such, he says, that he cannot help it; and while there are so many indifferent poets spouting their lines every where, he may as well write as others. He then goes into a detail of some of the vile features of society: among which are the voluntary degradation of women; their lewdness; the preferment of slaves and informers; the impunity of robbers, and forgers, and murderers; men selling the honour of their wives; women poisoning their husbands; incest and adultery undisguised; avarice, gambling, extravagance, gluttony; the contempt and neglect of the poor by the rich; magistrates degraded into beggars. The burst about the poets and their recitations is only a way of introducing humourously the graver matters that follow. A good deal of what was recited was no doubt bad enough; but Juvenal's quarrel was not with his literary brethren, whose cause he takes up, as well as their recitations, in the seventh satire. They have in reality nothing to do with the satire as such, though Juvenal pretends they have. The arguments prefixed to the MSS. treat this satire as a preface to the rest. Ruperti, on the other hand, thinks it was written before all the others, and Dryden that it is "the natural groundwork of all the rest;" for "herein he confines himself to no one subject, but strikes indifferently at all men in his way: in every following satire he has chosen some particular moral which he would inculcate, and lashes some particular vice or folly." I see no proofs one way or the other. It might have been written first or last for any evidence I can find in the poem itself, irrespective of the sign of the date noticed above, which puts it later perhaps than

some.

ARGUMENT.

Am I always to be a listener, and shall I never pay these poets back in their own coin? I know all their subjects by heart; all of them, bad and good, handle the same, till the

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very marble is split with their noise. I too have been to school; I too have learnt to declaim; and if paper must be wasted, why should not I write too?

V. 19. My reason for following in Horace's steps is this-when eunuchs are marrying wives, and women are exhibiting in the arena, when a barber is challenging with his wealth all the nobility, and slaves are clad in purple and affecting their summer rings, it is impossible to abstain from satire. Who can restrain himself when fat Matho comes by in his litter, and the great informer after him, the terror of all little informers; when you are thrust from your rights by wretches who get your inheritance by satisfying an old woman's lewdness? Is it not enough to make one's blood boil to see the robber treading on people's heels with his crowd of sycophants, while his ward is left to prostitution? and Marius going off into exile to enjoy himself with the spoils of his province? What does he care for infamy if he keeps his plunder? Are these not fit themes for the Muse of Venusia? What have I to do with the old hackneyed topics when wretches are found to wink at their wives' ir trigues, and take the property of the adulterer which the law will not give to the woman: when a spendthrift expects to be promoted to high places for the skill with which he handles the reins while the great man lounges with his minion behind? Does not one feel inclined to take out one's tablets in the very street when the forger comes lounging along in his open litter, and the great lady meets him who has drugged her husband's wine and has taught her young neighbours shamelessly to do the same? You must be a bold miscreant if you want to be somebody. Honesty is praised and left to starve. To crime men owe all their fine gardens, and houses, and furniture. Who can sleep for the incest and adultery that is going on? If nature refuses, indignation draws the pen, though it be but such as mine or Cluvienus'.

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V. 80. All the passions of men from the deluge to this day are the motley subjects of my book. When was the harvest of vice more abundant? when did avarice so fill its bags? When had the die such spirit, as now when men play not for the contents of their purse but of their chest? Look at the hotness of the encounter! A hundred sestertia lost and the poor shivering slave without a tunic, is not this something more than madness? Which of our ancestors ever built such villas, or dined by himself off seven courses? Now-a-days the poor client has to scramble for a paltry dole grudgingly and cautiously given, and from this he is elbowed by some great pauper who must have his share first: or else some well-to-do freedman cries, "I came first, and must be first served; I am rich too, and riches are better than rank." And of course the claim must be allowed; the rich slave before the poor magistrate; for though money has not yet had a temple and altars, her majesty is above all others sacred. But if our high officers are not above reckoning upon the sportula, what will their followers do who get all they have from this source? Crowds of litters come up for the dole, and all kind of fraud goes on.

V. 127. The first event of this day is this sportula: then they sally forth to the forum, with its statues of heroes, among whom some paltry Arabarch has got himself set up. In the afternoon they come home; and at the porch the hungry clients take leave of their patron and their long-cherished hope of a dinner, and retire to buy their bit of cabbage, while the great man sits down to the fat of the land and the sea, and eats up a whole fortune off a single table. Who can endure this beastly selfishness? What a belly that sits down to a whole boar by itself! But the penalty follows quick when you go down to bathe with your meat crude upon your stomach-sudden death and intestacy, the gossip of every dinner-table, and the delight of your angry friends. V. 147. Our sons can add nothing to our vices, which have climbed to the highest point, so set your sails, my Muse, and bear down upon the enemy. "But where is your talent for such great themes? where are you to get your liberty of speech? Mucius may have pardoned his satirist, but mark down a Tigellinus and you will share the

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Christians' fate." "Is the murderer then to ride on high and to look down upon us?" Aye, when he meets you shut your lips, or the informer's finger will be upon you. You may write of Aeneas, and Achilles, and Hylas as much as you please. When Lucilius draws his weapon and rushes on to the attack every hearer with sore conscience blushes, and this is why they are angry; so you had better think of this before you put on your armour, for after that it will be too late." "Well then I must try what I can do with those who are sleeping by the Flaminian and the Latin roads."

SEMPER ego auditor tantum? nunquamne reponam,
Vexatus toties rauci Theseide Codri?

Impune ergo mihi recitaverit ille togatas,
Hic elegos? impune diem consumserit ingens
Telephus, aut summi plena jam margine libri
Scriptus et in tergo, nec dum finitus, Orestes?

1. Semper ego auditor tantum ?] See Introduction. In the time of Augustus it had become common for all sorts of writers, but particularly poets, to recite their productions in public places, baths, colonnades, and so forth; or to get their friends and acquaintance together to hear them in private houses or rooms hired for the purpose. The practice was adopted by literary men of character as well as the inferior sort; the example having been first set, as is said, by Asinius Pollio, the friend and patron of Horace and others. Horace refers to it familiarly, and many of the authorities are quoted on S. i. 4. 73. It was considered a nuisance in his day; and the last of his poems ends with a stroke at these reciters:

"Indoctum doctumque fugat recitator acer

bus;

rudo."

Quem vero arripuit tenet occiditque legendo, Non missura cutem nisi plena cruoris hi(A: P. fin.) Pliny the younger, writing about the time of this satire, speaks with a good deal of indulgence of the practice, and regrets that the reciters are not encouraged by larger audiences. He says he attended them all and made friends with them (Epp. i. 13).

2. Theseide Codri?] The Scholiast writes Cordi, and P. has the same. Servius on Virg. xi. 458, as well as all the other MSS., has Codri. Cordus is a Roman name. Codrus is used below, S. iii. 203. 208, and is so written in the same MS., except that a later hand has introduced Cordus. Codrus is used by Martial, ii. 57; v. 26, and by Virgil, Ecl. v. 113; vii. 26. It is in every case, as here, a fictitious name; though Servius on the latter place says, "Codrus poëta ejusdem temporis fuit ut Valgius in Elegis suis refert." Cordus is said to have been the Roman name

3.5

of Horace's Iarbitas (Epp. i. 19. 15). The story of Theseus furnished subjects for epic poems and tragedies, and this may have been either, probably an epic, as comedy, elegy, and tragedy come after.

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3. Impune ergo mihi] Impune' reminds us of Horace's "Obturem patulas impune legentibus aures (Epp. ii. 2. 105), and "nobilium Scriptorum auditor et ultor (Epp. i. 19. 39). He paid his friends in their own coin. This is expressed in 'reponam,' which means 'to repay.' Pliny, in the epistle quoted above, has a good-humoured sentence which illustrates this: "Possum jam repetere secessum et scribere aliquid quod non recitem, ne videar quorum recitationibus affui non auditor fuisse sed creditor. Nam ut ceteris in rebus ita in audiendi officio perit gratia si reposcatur." "Togatae' were comedies with Roman plots and characters, as opposed to 'palliatae,' which were Grecian. See Hor. Epp. ii. 1. 57, n.; and as to 'elegos' see A. P. 75, n. Heinrich adopts from one MS. 'cantaverit' for 'recitaverit,' which appears in every other MS. and edition. Juvenal uses cantat' below, x. 178, and might have used it here.

4. ingens Telephus,] Telephus, king of Mysia, was a son of Hercules, and a fertile subject for tragedy. (See Hor. A. P. 96, n.) His strength is said to have approached that of his father, and no doubt was magnified by the poets Juvenal refers to. Ingens' Ruperti, Heinrich, and others refer to the length of the poem; others to the prowess of the man. The point is doubtful.

5. summi plena jam margine libri] This is meant to show the length of the poem. The back of the papyrus, or parchment (membrana), was not usually written upon, but stained; whence Juvenal speaks below of "croceae membrana tabellae", (vii. 23).

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