Hic elegos? impune diem consumpserit ingens Nota magis nulli domus est sua, quam mihi lucus Vulcani. Quid agant venti; quas torqueat umbras 4. Elegies.] These were little poems on mournful subjects, and consisted of hexameter and pentameter verses alternately. We must despair of knowing the first elegiac poet, since Horace says, Art. Poet. 1. 77, 8. Quis tamen exiguos elegos emiserit auctor, By whom invented critics yet contend, Elegies were at first mournful, yet afterwards they were composed on cheerful subjects. Hor. ib. 1. 75, 76. Versibus impariter junctis querimonia primum, Post etiam inclusa est voti sententia com- Unequal measures first were tun'd to flow, move, In sounds of pleasure, and the joys of love. FRANCIS. --Bulky Telephus.] Some prolix and tedious play, written on the subject of Telephus, king of Mysia, who was mortally wounded by the spear of Achilles, but afterwards healed by the rust of the same spear. OVID, Trist. v.. 2. 15. -Waste a day.] In hearing it read over, which took up a whole day. 5. Or Orestes.] Another play on the story of Orestes, the son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. He slew his own mother, and Egysthus, her adulterer, who had murdered his father. This too, by the description of it in this line and the next, must have been a very long and tedious performance. It was usual to 5 10 15 leave a margin, but this was all filled from top to bottom-it was unusual to write on the outside, or back, of the parchment; but this author had filled the whole outside, as well as the inside. 5. Of the whole book.] Or, of the whole of the book. Liber primarily signifies the inward bark or rind of a tree; hence a book or work written, at first made of barks of trees, afterwards of paper and parchment. Summus is derived from supremus; hence summum-i, the top, the whole, the sum. Romulus and Remus, whom Ilia, other8. The grove of Mars] The history of wise called Rhea Sylvia, brought forth in a grove sacred to Mars at Alba: hence Romulus was called Sylvius; also, the son of Mars. This, and the other sub jects mentioned, were so dinned perpetually into his ears, that the places described were as familiar to him as his own house. The den of Vulcan.] The history of the Cyclops and Vulcan, the scene of which was laid in Vulcan's den. See VIRO. En. viii. I. 416—22. 9. The Eolian rocks.] On the north of Sicily are seven rocky islands, which were called Eolian, or Vulcanian; one of which was called Hiera, or sacred, as dedicated to Vulcan. From the frequent breaking forth of fire and sulphur out of the earth of these islands, particularly in Hiera, Vulcan was supposed to keep his shop and forge there. Here also Eolus was supposed to confine and preside over the winds. Hence these islands are called Æolian. See VIRG. Æn. i. l. 55—67. -What the winds can do.] This probably alludes to some tedious poetical Another his elegies? shall bulky Telephus waste a day With impunity? or Orestes-the margin of the whole book already full, And written on the back too, nor as yet finished? 5 No man's house is better known to him, than to me The grove of Mars, and the den of Vulcan near The Eolian rocks: what the winds can do: what ghosts acus may be tormenting: from whence another could convey the gold 10 Of the stolen fleece: how great wild-ash trees Monychus could throw: The plane-trees of Fronto, and the convuls'd marbles complain Always, and the columns broken with the continual reader: You may expect the same things from the highest and from the least poet. And I therefore have withdrawn my hand from the ferule; and I treatises, on the nature and operations of the winds. Or, perhaps, to some play, or poem, on the amours of Boreas and Orithya, the daughter of Erectheus, king of Athens. 10. Eucus may be tormenting.] Eacus was one of the fabled judges of hell, who with his two assessors, Minos and Rhadamantbus, were supposed to torture the ghosts into a confession of their crimes. See VinG. En. vi. l. 566–69. From whence another, &c.] Alluding to the story of Jason, who stole the golden fleece from Colchis. 11. Monychus.] This alludes to some play, or poem, which had been written on the battle of the Centaurs and Lapithæ. The word Monychus is derived from the Greek povos, solus, and vu, ungula, and is expressive of an horse's hoof, which is whole and entire, not cleft or divided. The Centaurs were fabled to be half men and half horses; so that by Mony chus we are to understand one of the Centaurs, of such prodigious strength, as to make use of large trees for weapons, which he threw, or darted at his enemies. 12. The plane-trees of Fronto.] Julius Fronto, a noble and learned man, at whose house the poets recited their works, before they were read, or performed in public. His house was planted round with plane-trees, for the sake of their shade, 15 -The convuls'd marbles.] This may refer to the marble statues which were in Fronto's hall, and were almost shaken off their pedestals by the din and noise that were made; or to the marble with which the walls were built, or inlaid; or to the marble pavement; all which appeared as if likely to be shaken out of their places by the incessant noise of these bawling reciters of their works. 13. The columns broken.] The marble pillars too were in the same situation of danger, from the incessant noise of these people. The poet means to express the wearisomeness of the continual repetition of the same things over and over again, and to censure the manner, as well as the matter, of these irksome repetitions ; which were attended with such loud and vehement vociferation, that even the trees about Fronto's house, as well as the marble within it, had reason to apprehend demolition. This hyperbole is humourous, and well applied to the subject. 14. You may expect the same things, &c.] i. e. The same subjects, treated by the worst poets, as by the best. Here he satirizes the impudence and presumption of these scribblers, who, without genius or abilities, had ventured to write, and expose their verses to the public ear; and this, on subjects which had been treated by men of a superior cast. 15. Therefore.] i. e. In order to qua. Consilium dedimus Syllæ, privatus ut altum lify myself as a writer and declaimer. His meaning seems to be, that as all, whether good or bad, wrote poems, why should not he, who had had an education in learning, write as well as they. 15. Have withdrawn my hand, &c.] The ferule was an instrument of punishment, as at this day, with which schoolmasters corrected their scholars, by striking them with it over the palm of the hand the boy watched the stroke, and, if possible, withdrew his hand from it. Juvenal means to say, that he had been at school, to learn the arts of poetry and oratory, and had made declamations, of one of which the subject was, "Whether Sylla should take the dicta "torship, or live in ease and quiet as a "private man?" He maintained the lat ter proposition. 18. Paper that will perish.] i. e. That will be destroyed by others, who will write upon it if I do not; therefore there is no reason why I should forbear to make use of it. 19. In the very field.] A metaphor, taken from the chariot-races in the Campus Martius. 20. The great pupil of Aurunca, &c.] Lucilius, the first and most famous Roman satirist, born at Aurunca, an ancient city of Latium, in Italy. 20 25 30 how it is that I can think of taking the same ground as that great satirist "Lucilius; and why I should rather "choose this way of writing, when he so "excelled in it, as to be before all "others not only in point of time, but "of ability in that kind of writing?" 21. Hearken to my reason.] Literally, the verb admitto signifies to admit: but it is sometimes used with auribus understood, and then it denotes attending, or hearkening, to something; this I sup pose to be the sense of it in this place, as it follows the si vacat. 22. Mavia.] The name of some wo, man, who had the impudence to fight in the Circus with a Tuscan boar. The Tuscan boars were reckoned the fiercest. 23. With a naked breast.] In imitation of an Amazon. Under the name of Mævia, the poet probably means to reprove all the ladies at Rome who exposed themselves in the pursuit of masculine exercises, which were so shamefully contrary to all female delicacy. 24. The patricians.] The nobles of Rome. They were the descendants of such as were created senators in the time of Romulus. Of these there were, originally, only one hundred-afterwarde more were added to them. 25. Who clipping, &c.] The person here meant is supposed to be Licinius, He means, Perhaps you will ask, the freedman and barber of Augustus, Have given counsel to Sylla, that, a private man, soundly so many Poets you may meet, to spare paper, that will perish. But why it should please me rather to run along in the very field, 19 Through which the great pupil of Aurunca drave his horses, reason. 24 When a delicate eunuch can marry a wife: Mævia can stick Crispinus, his shoulder recalling the Tyrian cloaks, Can ventilate the summer-gold on his sweating fingers, It is difficult not to write satire. For who can so endure 30 or perhaps Cinnamus. See sat. 1. 1. 225, 6. -Sounded.] Alluding to the sound of clipping the beard with scissars. Q. D. who with his scissars clipped my beard, when I was a young man, and first came under the barber's hands. 26. Part of the commonalty of the Nile.] One of the lowest of the Egyptians who had come as slaves to Rome. --Canopus.] A city of Egypt, ad. dicted to all manner of effeminacy and debauchery; famous for a temple of Serapis, a god of the Egyptians. This city was built by Menelaus, in memory of his pilot, Canopus, who died there, and was afterwards canonized. See sat. xv. 1.46. 27. Crispinus.] He, from a slave, had been made master of the horse to Nero. –His shoulder recalling.] Revocan te-The Romans used to fasten their cloaks round the neck with a loop, but in hot weather, perhaps, usually went with them loose. As Juvenal is now speaking of the summer season, (as appears by the next line,) he describes the houlder as recalling, or endeavouring to hoist up and replace the cloak, which, from not being fastened by a loop to the neck, was often slipping away, and slid ing downwards from the shoulders. -Tyrian cloaks.] i. e. Dyed with Tyrian purple, which was very expensive. By this he marks the extravagance and luxury of these upstarts. 28. Ventilate the summer-gold, &c.] The Romans were arrived at such an height of luxury, that they had rings for the winter, and others for the summer, which they wore according to the season. Ventilo signifies, to wave any thing to and fro in the air. Crispinus is described as wearing a summer ring, and cooling it by, perhaps, taking it off, and by waving it to and fro in the air with his hand-which motion might likewise contribute to the slipping back of the cloak. 31. So insensible.] Ferreus literally signifies any thing made of iron, and is therefore used here, figuratively, to de note hardness or insensibility. 32. The new litter.] The lectica was a sort of sedan, with a bed or couch in it, wherein the grandees were carried by their servants: probably something like the palanquins in the East. This was a piece of luxury which the rich indulged in. Plena ipso: et post hunc magni delator amici, Quod superest: quem Massa timet: quem munere palpat 35 Cum te summoveant qui testamenta merentur -Lawyer Matho.] He had been an advocate, but had amassed a large fortune by turning informer. The emperor Domitian gave so much encouragement to such people, that many made their fortunes by secret informations; insomuch that nobody was safe, however innocent; even one informer was afraid of another. See below, l. 35, 6, and notes. 33. Full of himself.] Now grown bulky and fat. By this expression, the poet may hint at the self-importance of this upstart fellow. The secret accuser of a great friend.] This was probably Marcus Regulus, (mentioned by Pliny in his Epistles,) a most infamous informer, who occasioned, by his secret informations, the deaths of many of the nobility in the time of Domitian. Some think that the great friend here mentioned was some great man, an intimate of Domitian's; for this emperor spared not even his greatest and most intimate friends, on receiving secret in formations against them. But, by the poet's manner of expression, it should rather seem, that the person meant was some great man, who had been a friend to Regulus, and whom Regulus had basely betrayed. 34. From the devoured nobility.] i. e. Destroyed through secret accusations, or pillaged by informers for hush-money. 35. Whom Massa fears.] Babius Mas 40 45 sa, an eminent informer; but so much more eminent was M. Regulus, above mentioned, in this way, that he was dreaded even by Massa, lest he should inform against him. 36. Carus sooths.] This was another of the same infamous profession, who bribed Regulus, to avoid some secret accusation. -Thymele.] The wife of Latinus the famous mimic; she was sent privately by her husband and prostituted to Regulus, in order to avoid some informa tion which Latinus dreaded, and trembled under the apprehension of. 37. Can remove you.] i. e. Set you aside, supplant you in the good graces of testators. --Who earn last wills, &c.] Who procure wills to be made in their favour. The poet here satirizes the lewd and indecent practices of certain rich old women at Rome, who kept men for their criminal pleasures, and then, at their death, left them their heirs, in preference to all others. 39. The best way, &c.] By this the poet means to expose and condemn these monstrous indecencies. -Into heaven.] i. e. Into the highest state of affluence. 40. Proculeius Gillo.] Two noted paramours of these old ladies. -A small pittance-a large share.] Unciola, literally signifies a little ounce, one part in twelve. Deunx, a pound lacking an ounce, eleven ounces, eleven |