ARGUMENT OF THE ELEVENTH SATIRE

JUVENAL is inviting Persicus to dinner; he begins by ridiculing and condemning the gluttony and extravagance of those who spend their all in riotous living and are reduced to bankruptcy in consequence; "know thyself"- know how far to go, and where to stop-should be the principle of the prudent man's life. His own practice agrees with his precept: Persicus will find a simple and homely meal, such as the rude forefathers of Rome might have eaten in the days when luxury had not yet put virtue to flight; he will be served by modest boys from the country, not by pampered Eastern slaves; Homer and Virgil, not a wanton ballet, shall amuse him after dinner. Only let him put off all care before he comes. The satire is in fact a series of reflections upon past and present modes of life, a comparison between the proverbial innocence and vigour of early Rome and the enervated atmosphere of Juvenal's time, together with an attractive picture of Juvenal's own style of life.

ATTICUS eximie si coenat, lautus habetur ;

Si Rutilus, demens. Quid enim majore cachinno

Excipitur vulgi, quam pauper Apicius? Omnis
Convictus, thermae, stationes, omne theatrum

De Rutilo. Nam dum valida ac juvenilia membra
Sufficiunt galeae dumque ardet sanguine, fertur

(Non cogente quidem, sed nec prohibente tribuno,)
Scripturus leges et regia verba lanistae.

Multos porro vides, quos saepe elusus ad ipsum
Creditor introitum solet expectare macelli

Et quibus in solo vivendi causa palato est.
Egregius coenat meliusque miserrimus horum
Et cito casurus jam perlucente ruina.
Interea gustus elementa per omnia quaerunt,
Nunquam animo pretiis obstantibus. Interius si
Attendas, magis illa juvant, quae pluris emuntur.
Ergo haud difficile est perituram arcessere summam,
Lancibus oppositis vel matris imagine fracta,
Et quadringentis nummis condire gulosum

Fictile. Sic veniunt ad miscellanea ludi.

Refert ergo, quis haec eadem paret: in Rutilo nam

ΙΟ

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IF Atticus in sumptuous fare delight,
'Tis taste: if Rutilus, 'tis madness quite :
And what diverts the sneering rabble more
Than an Apicius miserably poor?

In every company, go where you will,
Bath, forum, theatre, the talk is still

Of Rutilus !-While fit (they cry) to wield,
With firm and vigorous arm, the spear, and shield,
While his full veins beat high with youthful blood,
Forced by no tribune-yet by none withstood,
He cultivates the gladiator's trade,

And learns the imperious language of the blade.
What swarms we see of this degenerate kind!
Swarms whom their creditors can only find,
At flesh and fish-stalls :-thither they repair,
Sure, though deceived at home, to catch them there.
These live but for their palate; and, of these,
The most distress'd, (while Ruin hastes to seize
The crumbling mansion and disparting wall,)
Spread richer feasts, and riot as they fall!-
Meanwhile, ere yet the last supply be spent,
They search for dainties every element,
Awed by no price; nay, making this their boast,
And still preferring that which costs them most,
Joyous, and reckless of to-morrow's fate,

To raise a desperate sum, they pledge their plate,
Or mother's fractured image; to prepare
Yet one treat more, though but in earthen ware!
Then to the fencer's mess they come, of course,
And mount the scaffold as a last resource.

No foe to sumptuous boards, I only scan, When such are spread, the motives, and the man,

Luxuria est, in Ventidio laudabile nomen

Sumit et a censu famam trahit. Illum ego jure
Despiciam, qui scit, quanto sublimior Atlas

Omnibus in Libya sit montibus, hic tamen idem
Ignoret, quantem ferrata distet ab arca

Sacculus.

Ecoelo descendit Γνῶθι σεαυτὸν,

Figendum et memori tractandum pectore, sive
Conjugium quaeras, vel sacri in parte Senatus
Esse velis (nec enim loricam poscit Achillis
Thersites, in qua se traducebat Ulixes
Ancipitem), seu tu magno discrimine causam
Protegere affectas; te consule, dic tibi, qui sis,
Orator vehemens, an Curtius et Matho buccae.
Noscenda est mensura sui spectandaque rebus
In summis minimisque; etiam quum piscis emetur,
Ne mullum cupias, quum sit tibi gobio tantum

In loculis. Quis enim te, deficiente crumena
Et crescente gula, manet exitus, aere paterno
Ac rebus mersis in ventrem, fenoris atque
Argenti gravis et pecorum agrorumque capacem?
Talibus a dominis post cuncta novissimus exit
Annulus, et digito mendicat Pollio nudo.

Non praematuri cineres, nec funus acerbum

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