Pensilibus plumis, atque illinc despiciat nos? Cum veniet contra, digito compesce labellum; 145 150 155 reclining in his superb litter, and looking down upon us from above? Be silent, as soon as he appears; separate not your lips. He will regard you as an accuser, if you but say, this is he, and your destruction is sealed. Be advised: choose a safe subject: slay the fierce Turnus under the sword of Æneas; you may smite Achilles without shocking any one, or send Hercules in quest of his beloved Hylas, who followed the cruse into the well. Never did Lucilius draw the sword of satire for a furious onset upon vice, but the startled conscience of the hearer betrayed his guilt: he trembled under the sense of his secret crimes. Hence hatred and revenge. Make therefore serious reflections with yourself, before you commence the engagement: when you have buckled on your helmet, you repent too late; you can no longer retire with honour. Well, sense of deduces, explaining the passage thus: You expose yourself to certain punishment, without even the consolation of knowing that your satire has effected any good you misapply your labour as much as if you employed your self in ploughing the sea-shore. : 146. Accusator erit, &c. An ellipsis of ejus is here made by some commentators, who interpret the passage: He will become the accuser of any one who shall but say, &c. 149. Hylas. Son of a king of the Dryopes in Greece. He followed Hercules in the Argonautic expedition. Going one day to fetch water, he let the pitcher fall into the well, and, in trying to recover it, was drowned. His death was much lamented by Hercules, who long sought him in vain. 155. Experiar, &c. Under pretence of speaking of the dead, Quorum Flaminiâ tegitur cinis, atque Latinâ. if it be so dangerous to attack the living, let us rake up the ashes of the dead: we shall see what can be said of those who lie in the Flaminian and the Latin way. we shall find him lashing the vices of the living characters of his time, whom it would have been dangerous to attack openly. the city. Ib. Latina. The Latin way ran in a south easterly direction, and joined the Appian at CasiIt was also called Auso num. 156. Tegitur cinis. By a law of the twelve tables, it was for- nia via. bidden to bury any one within SATYRA III. ARGUMENT. The poet represents his friend Umbritius, an eminent haruspex, and a man of great probity, as about to retire from Rome, and fix his abode at Cumæ. The reasons which Umbritius assigns for his determination are a severe satire on the manners of the time. QUAMVIS digressu veteris confusus amici, However distressed at the departure from Rome of my old friend Umbritius, I cannot disapprove his intention of flying from the miseries of this over-peopled city, to the peace and tranquillity of Cumæ, and thus placing an additional citizen under the protection of the sibyl. This town is in the vicinity of Baiæ, and borders on that delightful retreat. The most rude and barren spot in such a region, even the little island Prochyta, is, in my estimation, a more agreeable residence than Suburra, or any other of the populous and 2. Cume, was a maritime city of Campania, celebrated for the cave and a chapel of the sibyl. 3. Sibylla, from otov (Eolic for Eov) of God, and Bovλn, counsel. The sibyls were prophetic women, of whom several are enumerated by the mythologists. The most eminent was she under whose guidance Æne as descended to the infernal regions, as related by Virgil in the 6th Æn.; and who afterwards sold to Tarquin the celebrated sibylline books. 4. Baia, a town of Campania, much frequented for its medicinal springs, as well as for the beauty of its situation, and the salubrity of the air. Nam quid tam miserum, et tam solum vidimus, ut non Deterius credas horrere incendia, lapsus Tectorum assiduos, ac mille pericula sævæ 10 15 splendid streets of Rome. I know not any place, however miserable and deserted, which does not offer a less unpleasant abode. For what can be worse than the state of terror in which we live? the fires, the falling of houses, and the thousand dangers to which we are continually exposed; not to mention the impertinence of poets, who compel you to listen to their tedious recitations in the heats of August. While my friend's furniture was in packing, the entire of which a single waggon was sufficient to contain, he halted at the old dripping arches of the aqueducts, in the vicinity of the city gate which leads to Capua, where Numa used to keep his nightly assignation with that reputable goddess Egeria. These places are no longer the haunts of the gods, but of the Jews, who having been banished the city by Domitian for imputed villanies, are accommodated with a settlement in the holy places, and the grove of the sacred fountain. They are poor and miserable—a basket and some hay compose all their household furniture-yet they pay for their accommodation; and every tree whose branches afford them a shelter, is a source of profit to the Roman people therefore the muses have been ejected, and the wood is consecrated to the beggars! 12. Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome, in order to give greater anthority to his laws, wished to persuade his subjects that they were dictated to him by the nymph Ægeria, with whom he pretended to hold nightly conferences. 16. Ejectis camanis. Numa had consecrated the grove to the Muses. In vallem Ægeriæ descendimus, et speluncas Dissimiles veris. Quanto præstantius esset Numen aquæ, viridi si margine clauderet undas Herba, nec ingenuum violarent marmora tophum ? 20 Hic tunc Umbritius: Quando artibus, inquit, honestis Nullus in urbe locus, nulla emolumenta laborum, Res hodie minor est, here quàm fuit, atque eadem cras Deteret exiguis aliquid, proponimus illuc Ire, fatigatas ubi Dædalus exuit alas, Dum nova canities, dum prima, et recta senectus, Dum superest Lachesi quod torqueat, et pedibus me Porto meis, nullo dextram subeunte bacillo. Cedamus patriâ: vivant Arturius istic, 25 Et Catulus; maneant qui nigra in candida vertunt, 30 How We descend into the valley of Ægeria, and the grottoes ornamented with so much art as to resemble nothing in nature. much more graceful had been the naiad of the stream, if the grassy turf formed a verdant margin to her waters, and no marble violated the simplicity of her abode ! Here Umbritius breaks silence, and proceeds to explain his motives for quitting Rome. There is no room in the city, says he, for men of honest occupations, no profit to be derived from laborious industry; your property is less to day than it was yesterday, and will be still further diminished by the necessary expenditure of to-morrow. I therefore propose to change the scene, and seek repose in Cumæ, after the example of Dædalus, who there stripped off his weary wings. I think it better to retire, while I still retain some little vigour, while my head is but partly grey, and I am not yet bent down with years; while some of my thread of life remains under the hands of destiny, and I am able to support myself on my feet, without assistance from crutch or staff. Let us go, my friend, and leave our native land to the villains and informers who alone have now a chance of thriving there. Let Arturius and Catulus remain, and all who like them can affirm that black is white; to whom no 25. Fatigatas, wearied in his long flight from Crete to Cumæ. 27. Lachesi. The fates were Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos. |