Omnis enim populo mercedem pendere jussa est Res hodie minor est, here quam fuit, atque eadem cras Ire, fatigatas ubi Dædalus exuit alas: Dum nova canities, dum prima, et recta senectus, 15 20 25 which is used several times in the New Testament to denote a provision-basket, made use of among the Jews. See Matt. xiv. 20. Matt. xvi. 9, 10. Mark vi. 43. Mark viii. 19, 20. Luke ix. 17. Joh. vi. 13. 15. To pay a rent.] The grove being let out to the Jews, every tree, as it were, might be said to bring in a rent to the people at Rome. The poet seems to mention this, as a proof of the public avarice, created by the public extravagance, which led them to hire out these sacred places, for what they could get, by letting them to the poor Jews, who could only pay for them out of what they got by begging. 16. The wood begs, &c.] i. e. The Jews, who were now the inhabitants of the wood, (meton.) were all beggars; nothing else was to be seen in those once sacred abodes of the muses, who were now banished. 17. We descend, &c.] Umbritius and Juvenal sauntered on, till they came to that part of the grove which was called the vale of Egeria, so called, probably, from the fountain, into which she was changed, running there. 17-18. And into caves unlike the true.] These caves, in their primitive state, were as nature formed them, but had been profaned with artificial ornaments, which had destroyed their native beauty and simplicity. 18. How much better.] How much more suitably situated. 19. The deity of the water.] Each fountain was supposed to have a nymph, or naiad, belonging to it, who presided over it as the goddess of the water-Ægeria may be supposed to be here meant. If, with a green margin, &c.] If, instead of ornamenting the banks with artificial borders made of marble, they had been left in their natural state, simple and unadorned by human art, having no other margin but the native turf, and the rude stone (tophum) which was the genuine produce of the soil. These were once consecrated in honour of the fountain-nymph, but had now been violated and destroyed, in order to make way for artificial ornaments of marble, which Roman luxury and extravagance had put in their place. For every tree is commanded to pay a rent to the people: 15 We descend into the vale of Ægeria, and into caves 20 The deity of the water, if, with a green margin, the grass inclosed to-morrow, Will diminish something from the little we propose thither 25 21. Here then Umbritius.] Juvenal and his friend Umbritius, being arrived at this spot, at the profanation of which they were both equally scandalized, Umbritius there began to inveigh against the city of Rome, from which he was now about to depart, and spake as follows. Honest arts.] Liberal arts and sciences, such as poetry, and other literary pursuits, which are honourable. Comp. sat. vii. 1–6. Honestis artibus, in contradistinction to the dishonest and shameful methods of employment, which received countenance and encou ragement from the great and opulent. Umbritius was himself a poet. See this sat. 1. 321, 2. 22. No emoluments of labour.] Nothing to be gotten by all the pains of honest industry. 23. One's substance, &c.] Instead of increasing what I have, I find it daily decrease; as I can get nothing to replace what I spend, by all the pains I can take. And the same, to-morrow, &c.] This same poor pittance of mine, will to-morrow be wearing away something from the little that is left of it to-day and so I must find myself growing poorer from day to day. Deteret is a metaphorical expression, taken from the action of the file, which gradually wears away and diminishes the bodies to which it is applied. So the necessary expenses of Umbritius and his family were wearing away his substance, in that expensive place, which he determines to leave, for a more private and cheaper part of the country. 24. We propose.] i. e. I and my family propose-or proponimus for propono. Synec. 25-6. Thither to go.] i. e. To Cuma, where Dædalus alighted after his flight from Crete. 26. Greyness is new.] While grey hairs, newly appearing, warn me that old age is coming upon me. Fresh and upright.] While old age in its first stage appears, and I am not yet so far advanced as to be bent double, but am able to hold myself upright. The ancients supposed old age first to commence about the 46th year. Cic. de Senectute. Thilosophers Dum superest Lachesi quod torqueat, et pedibus me Et Catulus: maneant qui nigra in candida vertunt, - 30 (says Holyday) divide man's life according to its several stages.First: infantia to three or four years of age.-Secondly: pueritia, thence to ten. From ten to eighteen, pubertas. Thence to twentyfive, adolescentia. Then juventus, from twenty-five to thirty-five or forty. Thence to fifty, ætas virilis. Then came senectus prima et recta till sixty-five; and then ultima et decrepita till death. 27. While there remains to Lachesis, &c.] One of the three destinies; she was supposed to spin the thread of human life. The Parcæ, or poetical fates or destinies, were Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos. The first held the distaff-the second drew out, and spun the thread, which the last cut off when finished. And on my feet, &c.] While I can stand on my own legs, and walk without the help of a staff. 29. Let us leave, &c.] Let me, and all that belongs to me, take an everlasting farewell of that detested city, which, though my native place, I am heartily tired of, as none but knaves are fit to live. there. 29-30. Arturius and Catulus.] Two knaves, who, from very low life, had raised themselves to large and affluent circumstances. Umbritius seems to introduce them as examples, to prove that such people found more encouragement in Rome, than the professors of the liberal arts could hope for. See before, 1. 21, note 2. 30. Let those stay, &c.] He means those, who by craft and subtlety could utterly invert and change the appearances of things, making virtue appear as vice, and vice as virtue-falsehood as truth, and truth as falsehood.-Such were Arturius and Catulus. 31. To hire a building.] The word ædem, here being joined with other things of public concern, such as rivers, ports, &c. seems to imply their hiring some public buildings, of which they made money; and it should seem, from these lines, that the several branches of the public revenue and expenditure, were farmed out to certain contractors, who were answerable to the ædiles, and to the other magistrates, for the due execution of their contracts. Juvenal here seems to point at the temples, theatres, and other public buildings, which were thus farmed out to these people, who, from the wealth which they had acquired, and of course from their responsibility, could easily procure such contracts, by which they made an immense and exorbitant profit. dis-is-signifies any kind of edifice. AINSW. Omne ædeficium ædis dicitur. Rivers.] Fisheries perhaps, by hiring which, they monopo, While there remains to Lachesis what she may spin, and on my feet Myself I carry, no staff sustaining my hand, Let us leave our native soil: let Arturius live there, 30 lized them, so as to distress others, and enrich themselves—or the carriage of goods upon the rivers, for which a toll was paid-or, by flumina, may here be meant, the beds of the rivers, hired out to be cleaned and cleared at the public expense. 31. Ports.] Where goods were exported and imported; these they rented, and thus became farmers of the public revenue, to the great grievance of those who were to pay the duties, and to the great emolument of themselves, who were sure to make the most of their bargain. 32. A sewer to be dried.] Eluvies signifies a sink or commonsewer; which is usual in great cities, to carry off the water and filth that would otherwise incommode the houses and streets. From eluo, to wash out, wash away. These contractors undertook the opening and clearing these from the stoppages to which they were liable, and by which, if not cleansed, the city would have been in many parts overflowed. There was nothing so mean and filthy, that these two men would not have undertaken for the sake of gain. Here we find them scavengers. A corpse, &c.] Busta were places where dead bodies were burned-also graves and sepulchres. AINSW. Bustum from ustum. Sometimes these people hired or farmed funerals, contracting for the expense at such a price. In this too they found their account, 33. And to expose, &c.] These fellows sometimes were mangones, sellers of slaves, which they purchased, and then sold by auction. See PERS. vi. 76, 7. The mistress-spear.] Domina hasta. It is difficult to render these two substantives literally into English, unless we join them, as we frequently do some of our own-as in master-key, queen-bee, &c. We read of the hasta decemviralis which was fixed before the courts of justice. So of the hasta centumviralis, also fixed there. A spear was also fixed in the forum where there was an auction, and was a sign of it: all things sold there were placed near it, and were said to be sold-under the spear. Hence (by meton.) hasta is used, by Cicero and others, to signify an auction, or public sale of goods. The word domina seems to imply, the power of disposal of the property in persons and things sold there, the possession and do. minion over which were settled by this mode of sale, in the several Quondam hi cornicines, et municipalis arenæ 35 40 purchasers. So that the spear, or auction, might properly be called domina, as ruling the disposal of persons and things. 34. These, in time past, horn-blowers.] Such was formerly the occupation of these people; they had travelled about the country, from town to town, with little paltry shows of gladiators, fencers, wrestlers, stage-players, and the like, sounding horns to call the people together-like our trumpeters to a puppet-show. Municipal theatre.] Municipium signifies a city or towncorporate, which had the privileges and freedom of Rome, and at the same time governed by laws of its own, like our corporations. Municipalis denotes any thing belonging to such a town. Most of these had arenæ, or theatres, where strolling companies of gladiators, &c. (like our strolling players,) used to exhibit. They were attended by horn-blowers and trumpeters, who sounded during the performance. 35. Cheeks known, &c.] Blowers on the horn, or trumpet, were sometimes called buccinatores, from the great distension of the cheeks in the action of blowing. This, by constant use, left a swollen appearance on the cheeks, for which these fellows were well known in all the country towns. Perhaps bucca is here put for buccinæ, the horns, trumpets, and such wind instruments as these fellows strolled with about the country. See AINSW. Bucca, No. 3. 36. Now set forth public shows.] Muñera, so called because given to the people at the expense of him who set them forth. These fellows, who had themselves been in the mean condition above described, now are so magnificent, as to treat the people with public shows of gladiators at the Roman theatre. The people's thumb, &c.] This alludes to a barbarous usage at fights of gladiators, where, if the people thought he that was overcome behaved like a coward, without courage or art, they made a sign for the vanquisher to put him to death, by clenching the hand, and holding or turning the thumb upward. If the thumb were turned downward, it was a signal to spare his life. 37. Whom they will, &c.] These fellows, by treating the people with shows, had grown so popular, and had such influence among the vulgar, that it was entirely in their power to direct the spectators, as to the signal for life or death, so that they either killed or |