Who now is lov'd, but he who loves the times,
Conscious of dose intrigues, and dipt in crimes f
Labouring with secrets which his bosom bonv
Yet never must to public light return ?
They get reward alone who can betray :
For koepiag honest counsels none will pay*
He who can Verres, when he will, accuse.
The purse of Verres may at pleasure use s
But let not all the gold which Tagus hidtt,
And pays the sea in tributary tides.
Be bribe sufficient to corrupt the breast ;
Or violate with dreams thy peaceful rest
Great men with jealous eyes the friend behoM,
Whose secrecy they purchase with their gold.
1 haste to tell thee, nor shall shame oppose
What confidence our wealthy Romans chose !
And whom I most abhor : to speak my mind,
I bate, in Rome, a Grecian town to find:
To see the scum of Greece, transplanted here,-
Received like gods, is what T cannot bear.
Nor Greeks alode, but Sjrrians here abound,
Obscene Orontes, diving under ground,
Conveys his wealth to Tyber's hungry ihoret,
And fattens Italy with foreign whores :
Hither their crooked harps and customs comeJ
All find receipt in hospitable Rome.
The baibaroushariots crowd the public place:
Go, fools, and purchase an unclean «"^''.**®v,
The painted mitre court, and the more psinted
face.
Old Romulus, and father Mars, look down,
. Your herdsman primitive, your homely cloo,
Is tumM a beau in a loose tawdry gown.
His once unkemmM and horrid locks bchoW
StUliDg tweet oU t hianeok eochaia'd with |Wf
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5QI
Aprafthe fa r» t gnen {aVf«ry dress;
lIHiich, bought at «^aterooBt, becomes him lest.
Keantime they wisely leave their native laud,
From ^ycion, Samos and from Ahband,
Aod Amydon, to Rometh(*y swann in shoals:
80 sweet and eas\' is the frain from fools.
Foot refugees at first, i)»-y purchase here :
And, soon i» denizened, they domineer.
Grow to the great, a flattering servile rout :
Work themfielves inward, and their patrons out
Qnick-witted, brazen fac*d, with fluent tongues,
Patient of labours, and dissembling wrongs.
Siddle me this, and gu«s« him if you can.
Who bears a nation in a single man }
A cook, a conjurer, a rhetorii*ian,
A painter, pedant, a geometrician,
A dancer on the ropes, and a physician.
All things the hungry Greek HKactly knows:
And bid him go to HeaVen, to Heaven be goes.
Id short, no Scythian, Moor, or I'hracian bom,
Bat in that town which arms and artn adorn,
Sha^l he be plac'd above me at the board.
In purple cIoth*d, and lolling like a lord ?
Shall he before me sign, whom t' other day
A smallcraft vessel hither did convey;
Where stow*d with pnmes, and rotten figs, he lay?
How little is the privilege become
Of being bom a citizen of Rome !
The Greeks get all by fulsome flatteries;
A most peculiar stroke they have at lies.
Thpy make a wit of their insipid friend ;
His blobber-lip and beetle -brows commend ;
His long crane-neck aod narrow shoulders praise;
YouM think they were describing Hercules.
A creaking voice for a clear treble goes ;
Though harsher than a cock that treads and crows.
We can as srossly praise ; but, to our grief.
No flattery but from Orecians gains belief
Besides these qualities* we most agree
They mimic better on t'le sta^ than we:
The wife, the whore, the shepherdess, they play.
In snch a free, and such a graceful way.
That we believe a very woman 9hown,
Aod &ncy something onderaeath the {fown.
But not Anttoch'is, nor Stratocles,
Oar ears and ravishM eyes can only please :
The nation is compot'd of snch as these.
All (3re«H3e is one comedian : laugh, and they
Return it louder than an ass can bray :
Grieve, and they grieve; if yon weep silently.
There seems a silent t>cho in the^ eye :
They canrfot moura like you, but they can cry.
Call for a fire, their winter clothes they take:
Begin but yon to shiver, and they shake:
In frost and snow, if you complain of heat.
They rob th' lAisweating brow, and swear they
sweat.
We live not on the square with snch at these,
Snch are our bettors, who can better please :
Who day and night are like a looking glass;
Still ready to reflect their patron's fiice.
The panegyric hand, and lifted eye.
Prepared fmr some new piece of flattery*
£v'n nastiaess, occanons will alibrd ;
Th^ praise a belching, or well-pissing lord.
Besides, there's nothing saered, nothing free
From bold attempts of tlieir rank letcbery.
Through the whole family their laboors ran ;
The danghter is debaoch*d, the wife is won :
llor 'ioBpct tk« bddegrooiBy or the blpoming soiv
If none they find for their lewd piirpQf«4i^
I'hey with the walls and very floors commit.
They search the sennets of the bouse, and io
An worshiped there, and fear*d for what they kntnw
And, now we talk of Orecinns, cast a view
On what. In schools, their men of morale do;
A rigid stoic his own pupil slew :
A friend against a friend of his own doth,
Tum'd evidence, and murder'd on his oath.
What room is left for Romans in a town
Where Orecians mie, and cloket control tlie govaf
Some Diphiltis, or some Protog«>nes,
Look sharply out, oar senators to seize :
Engross them wholly, by thpir native art.
And fear'd no rivals in their bubbl<.'s heart :
One drop of poison in my patron's ear,
One slight suggestion of a ^useless fear,
Infus'd with cunning, serves to min me;
Disgrac'd, and banish'd from the family.
In vain forgotten services I boast ;
My long dependance in an hour is lost :
IxM>k round the world, what country will appear.
Where friends are left with greater ease than here ?
At Rome (nor think me partial to the poor)
AH ofllces of ours are out of door :
In vain we rise, and to the levees ran ;
My lord himself is up, before, and gone: ^
The pretor bids bis lictors mend their pace.
Lest his col league oautrip him in the race :
The childish matrons are, long since, awake t
And, for aflfronts, the tandy visits take.
Tis frequt^nt, here, to see a free-born ton
On the left band of a rich hireling ran;
Because the wealthy rog\ie can throw away.
For half a brace of boats, a tribuoe's pay :
But you, poor sinner, though you love the vic^
And, like the whore, demor upon the price;
And, frighted with the wicked sum, fbitear
To lend a hand, and help her firom the chair.
Produce a witness of Qnblemith*d lUe^
Holy as Noma, or as Numa's wife,
Or him who bid th' nnhallow'd flames retire.
And snatch'd the tremblinc? goddess from the fift !
The question is not put, bow fsr extends
His piety, but what he yt«rly spends :
Quick to the business ; bow he \ive§, and eats|
How largt^ly gives ; how splendidly be treats t
How many thousand acres f(M his sheep.
What are his rents, what servants does be keep ?
Th' account is 'soon cast up; the jodges rate
Our credit in the court by our estate.
Swear by our gods, or those the Greek* adort.
Thou art as sure forsworn, as thou art poor s
The poor must gain their bread by peijury ;
Ani ev*n the gods^ that, other meant deny.
In co".science must absolve them, when they ly«b
Add, that the rich have still a gibe in storpi
And will be monstrous witty on the poor :
Pof the torn surtout and the tatter'd vest.
The i^rotch and all his wardrobe are a jest :
The greasy gown, sullyM with often turniof ,
Giv. s a good hint, to say, " The man's in moorB*
Or if the shoe be ript, or patrhes put, [ing :t
*' He's wounded ! see the plaister on his tooL^
Want is the scora of every wealthy fool ;
And wit in rags is tura'd to ridicule.
" Park hence, and from the oover'd benchai rite«'^
(The master of the cereoiooies cries)
"This is no olace for yon, whose maU Cilst^
Is not tlM valii^ oi the settled nrte ^
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The sQuiMsf tnppy fMudks; Ae |^and!ar*s fteir.
Are piivHpged to lit m triumph there,
To clap the frvtt, and rule the theatre.
Up to the gaileries, fur :$hame, retrt at ; [»*«*•"
Fur, by the Roscian law, the pO'T caa claim no
Whoever brought to bis rich daughter's bed
The man, that poIlM bitt twel ve-pi nee for hts head ?
Who ever nam'd a poor man for his heir.
Or call'd him to assist the judging chair ?
The poor were wise, who, by the rich opprett,
Withdrew, and soughC a sacred place of rest.
Once they did weH, to free themselves from soom ,
But had done better never to return.
Rarely they rise by virtue's aid, who lie
plunged in the depth of helpless poverty.
4t Rome 'tis worse ; where house-rent by the yemt,
And servants* bellies cq^t so devilish dear ;
And tavern-bills run high for hungry cheer.
To drink or eat in earthen- ware we scorn,
Which cheaply country-cupboards does adorn :
And coarse Mne hoods on holidays are worn.
Sktma distant parts of Italy are known,
Where none but only dead men wear a gown :
On theatres of turf, in homely state.
Old plays they act, old feasts they celebrate :
The same rude song returns upon the crowd.
And, by tradition, is for wit aliowM.
The mimic yearly gives the same delights j
And in the mother's arms the clownish infant
Theh" habits (undtstinguishM by degree) [frights.
Are plain alike -, the same simplicity,
Both on the stage, and in the pit, you see.
In his white cloak the magistrate appears ;
The country-bumkin the same livery wears.
But here, attirM, beyond our purse we go.
For useless ornament and flaunting show :
We take on trust, in purple robes to shine ;
And, poor, are yet ambitions to be fi.ie.
This i«t a common vice, though all things here
Are sold, and sold unconscionably dear.
What will you give that Cossus may but view
Your face, and in tlie crowd dislinguish you ;
IVIay take your incense like a gr.icious god,
And answer only with a civil nod ?
To please our patrons, in this vrcious age.
We make our entrance by the favourite page:
Shave bis first down, and when he pulls his hair.
The consecrated locks to temples bear:
Pay tributary cracknels, which he sells.
And, with our offerings, help to raise his vails.
Who fears in cmmtry-towns a house's fall.
Or to be caught betwixt a riven wall ?
But we inhabit a weak city here ;
Which buttresses and props but scarcely bear:
And 'tis the village-mason's daily calling.
Tb keep the world's met ro})olis from falling.
To cleanse the gtitters, and th(- oh inks to dose;
And, fur one night, secure his lord's repose.
At Cum» we can sleep quite round the year.
Nor falls, nor 6res, nor nightly dangers fear ;
While rolling flames from Homan turrets fly.
And the pale citizens for buv keu cry.
Thy neighl>our has remov'd his wretched store
( Few hand? will rid the lumber of the poor).
Thy own thinl story smokes, while thou, supine.
Art drench'd in fumes of umiigcsted wine.
For if the lowest floors already bum.
Cock-loft and garrets soon will take the turn ;
Where thy tame pisreons next the tiles were bred,
Which, in their nests unsafe, are timely fled.
DHYDEirS TRANSLATIONS.
Codrus hadbutoaobad, MdMMttfM/ *
That bis ahort wife't short legs hiM»gdanfliug oat:
His cupboftrd's head vix eart^n pitchers grao'd, -
Beneath them was his trusty taukatd plac'd :
And, to support this aoMe plate, there lay
A bending Chiron Oast fioiB hooeec clay :
His few Greek books a rotten chest oootaio'd ;
WhoM covers much of nouldioees oomplaia'di
Where miee and rats devoar'd poetic braai;
And with heroic verse luxtvrioosly vera fe^ â–
'Tit true, poor Codrus aothing bad to boast.
And yet poor Codrus all that nothing lost :
Begg'd naked through the streets of wealthy Rontf;
And found not one to foed, or take him 1
But if the palace of Artvrius burn,
.The nobles change their clothes, th«
moorft ;
The city-pretor will no pleadings bear |
The very name of fine we hate and fsar :
And look aghast, as if the Gauls were bersb
While yet it bums, th' officious natioa flies,
Some to condole, ami some to bring supplies I
One sends him marble to rebuild, aad ouo
With naked statnes of the Parian stone.
The work of Polyclete, that seeiB to live ;
While others images fbr altais give j
One books and skreens, and Pallas to the hfe||i|r
Another bags of gold, and he gives best*
Childless Arturius, vastly rich before,
Thits by his losses mnltipHes his store:
Suspected for accomplioe to the firo.
That burnt his palace but to build it higher*
But, could you be content to bid Hdieu
To the dear play-house, and the players too :
Sweet country-seats are purchas'd every whete.
With lands and gardens, at less price than hers
You hire a darksome dog-lH>le by the year.
A small convenience decently prepared,
A shallow well that rises in your yard.
That spreads his easy crystal streams around^
And waters all the pretty spot of groaad.
There, bve the fork, thy garden cultivate,
And give thy frugal friends a Pythagorean trest:
'lis somewhat to be lord of some small ground
In which a lizard may, at least, tarn romid*
'Tis frequent, here, fbr want of sleep to die)
Which fumes of undigested {basts deny ;
And, with imperfect heat, io laogmid stanadtt
fry.
What house secure from noise the poor can keep,
When ev'n the rich can scarce aflbrd to slespi
So dear it eosts to purchase rest in Rome j
And hence the sources of diseases Cftnse.
The drover who his fellow-drover meets
In narrow passages of winding streets ;
The waggoners that curse their standing teams,
Would wake ev'n drowsy Drusius from his dreams.
And yet the wealthy will not brook delay.
But sweep above our heads, and make tlicir way i
fn lofty litters borne, and read and write.
Or sleep at ease : the shutten make it night*
Vet still he reaches first the public place-:
The press before him stops the client's pao«i
1'iie crowd that follows crush his panting sides.
And trip his heels ; he walks not, but be ride^
One elbows him, one jpstles in the shea! :
A rafter breaks his head, or chairman's pole:
Stocking'd with loads of fat town-dirt be goes ;
And some rogue-soldier, with his holMwII'd ibom.
Indents his legs bphind in Uoodj i
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8ee witkwhat —ib? our dolag we celebrate:
A hundred guesU, invked, walk in state : [wait
A hundred hungry tUves^ with their Ihitch kitchens,
iiuge pans ibe wretches on their heady mwit bear.
Which scapce gigantic CerhiUo could rear :
Yet they mast walk upright beneath the load :
Kay, run, and luaning Mow Ibe qtarkliag flames
abroad:
Their coats, from botching newly bought, are torn.
Unwieldy tiraber^trees in wt^g^on^ home,
Stretch'd at their length, beyond their carriage lie;
That nod, and threaten ruin from on high.
For, should their axle break, its overthrow
Would crush, and pound to dust, the crowd below :
^or firieuds their friends, nor sires tbeir sons could
know:
Nor limbs, nor bones, nor carcase would remain :
But a masb'd heap, a hotchpotch of the slain.
One vast destruction ; not the soul alone,
But bodies, like the soul, viubly are flown.
Meantime, unknowing of their fellows' fate.
The servants wash the platter, scour the plate.
Then blow the fire, with puffing cheeks, and lay
The rubbers, and the bathing sheets dispby ;
And oil them first ; and each is handy in his way.
But he, for whom this busy care they take,
Poor ghost ! is wandering by the Stygian lake s
Affrighted with the ferryman's grim face ;
Kew to the horrount of that uncouth place ;
His passage begs with unregarded prayer :
Antl wanti two farthings to discharge his fare.
Return we to the dangers of the night ;
And, first, behold our houses' dreadful height :
I'rom whence come broken potsherds tumbling
down ;
And leaky ware, from garret-windows thrown :
Well may they break our heads, and mark the
flinty stone.
'Tis want of sense to sup abroad too late ;
Unless thou first hast settled thy estate.
Ai many fates attend thy steps to meet.
As there are waking windows in the street
Bless the g(yxl gods, and think thy chance is rare
To have a pisspot only for thy share.
The scouring drunkard, if he does not fight
Before his bed-time, takes no rest that||ight s
Passing the tedious hours in greater pain
Than stem Achilles, when his friend was slain.
*Tis so ridiculous, but so true withal,
A bully cannot sleep without a brawl :
Yet, though his youthful blood be fir'd with wipe.
He wants not wit the danger to decline :
Is cautious to avoid the coach and six.
And on the lacquies will no quarrel fix.
His train of flambeaux, and embroidered cqat.
May privilege my lord to walk secure on foot
But me, who must by moonlight homeward bepd.
Or lighted only with a candle's end.
Poor me he fights, if that be fighting, where
He only cudgels, and 1 only bear.
He stands, and bids me stand : I must abide ;
For he's the stronger, and is drunk beside, [cries,
** Where did you whet your knife to night," he
" And shred the leeks that in your stomach rise ?
Whose windy beans have stuft your guts, and where
Have your black thumbs been dipt in vinegar ?
With what companion cobbler have you fed.
On old ox-cheeks, or he-goat's tougher head ?
What, are you dumb ? Quick with your answer,
2^ve my foot salutes you with » kick* [^uick,
Say, ID what nasty ctllar wader ground, [fbnn^ ?**
Or what church-porch, your rogueship may be
Answer, or an^er not, tis all the same:
He lays me on, and makes me bear the Mama
Before the bar, for beating him you come^
This is a poor man's liberty in Rome.
You beg his pardon j happy to retreat
With some remaraing teeth, to chew yoor mealL
Nor is tliis all ; for when retired, you think
To sleep securely j when the candles wink,
When every door with iron-chains is barr'd.
And roaring taverns are no longer heard ;
The ruffian -robbers by no justice aw'd.
And unpaid cut-throat soldiers, are abroad.
Those venal souls, who, harden'd in each ill.
To save complamts and persecution, kilt
Chas'd from their woods and bogs, the padders come
To this vast city, as tbeir hative home ;
To live at ease, and safely sknlk in Rome.
The forge in fetters only is eknplojr'd.;
Our iron-mines exhausted and destroy'd
In shackles ; for these villains scarce allow
Goads for thf teams, and plough-shares for the
Oh, happy ages of our ancestors, f plough.
Beneath the kings and tribunitial powers !
One jail did all their criminals restrain ; .
Which now the walls of Rome can scarce contain.
More I could say, more causes I could sUow
For my departure; but the Sun is low :
The waggoner grows weary of my stay ;
And whips his horses forwards on their way.
Farewell; and when, like me, o'erwhelm'd with
You to your own Aquinum shall repair, [care.
To take a mouthful of sweet country-air,
Be mindful of your friend; and scad me word.
What joys your fountains and cool shades afibrd:
Then, to assist your satires, I will come ;
And add new venom when you write of Rome.
THE SIXTH SATIRB OP
JUVENAL.
TUB ARGUMENT.
This satire, of almost double length to any of the
rest, is a bitter invective against the fair sex.
It is, indeed, a common-place, from whence all
the moderns have notoriously stolen their
sharpest railleries. In his other satires, the
poet has only glanced on some particular wo-
men, and generally scourged the mt-n. But
this he reserved wholly for the ladies. How
they had offended him, I know not : but upon
the whole matter, ho is not to be excused for
imputing to all, the vices of some few amongst
them. Neither was it generously done of him,
to attack the weakest as well as the fairest part
of the creation : neither do I know what moral
he coiild reasonably draw from it. It could not
be to avpid the whole sex, if all bad been true
which he alleges against them : for that had
been to put an end to human-kind. And to bid
us beware of iheir artifices, is a kind of silent
acknowledgment, that they have more wit than
men : which turns the satire upon us, and par-
ticularly upon the poet; who thereby makes a
compUmi'Qt, where he meaut a libel. If he iiN
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604
DRYDEN'S translations!
tended only to exercise his wit, be has forfeited
his jiidgmeat, by making the one half of bit
readers his mortal enemirs: aud, amongst the
n^i, all the happy loyers, by their own expe-
rt* iice, will disprove bis accusations. The whole
world must allow this to be the wittiest of his
latires; and truly he had need of all his parts.
to mainuin with so much violence so unjurt a
charge I am satisfied be will brmg but few
over to his opinion : and on that consideration
chiefly I ventured to translate him. Though
there wanted not another reason, which was.
that no one else would undertake it : at least,
sir C. S. who could have done more right to
the author, after a long delay, at length abso-
luicly refused 80 ungrateful an employment:
and every one will grant, that the work must
have been impeifect and lame, if it had ap-
peared without one of the principal members
belonging to it Let the poet therefore bear the
blame of his own invention ; and let me satisfy
the worM, that I am not of his opinion. What-
ever his Roman ladies were, th^ EnglisJi are
free from all bis iropuUtions. They will read
vith wonder and abhorrence the vices of an
age, which was the most infamous of any on
.record. They will bless themselves when they
behold thoae examples, related of Oomitian s
time: they will give back to antiquity those
monsters it produced : and believe with reason,
that the species of those women is extinguished j
or at least, that they were never here propa-
gated. 1 may safely thertfore proceed to the
argument of a satire, which is no way relating
to them: and first observe, that my author
makes their lust the most heroic of their vices :
the rest are in a manner but digression. He
skims them over ; but he dwells on this : when
he seems to have taken bis last leave of it, on
the sudden he returns to it : it is one branch of
it in Hippia, another in Messalina, but lust is
the main bo<ly of the tree. He begins with this
text in the first line, and Ukes it up with inter-
missions to the end of the chapter. Every vice
is a loader, but that's a ten. The fillers, or
intermediate parts, are their revenge; their
contrivances of secTit crimps ; their arts to hide
them ; their wit to excuse them ; end their im-
pudence to own them, when they can no longer
be kept secret. Then the persons to whom they
are most addicted ; and on whom they com-
monly bcstoA the last favours : as stage-; layers,
fiddlers, singing-hoys, and fencers. These who
pass for chast<; amongst them, are not really
80 i but only, for their vast dowrit-s, are rather
tuffercd than h»ved by their own husbands.
That they are iniperioiis, domineering, seolding
wives: set up for learning and criticism in
poetry; but are false judges. Love to spoak
Greek (which was then the fashionable tongue,
as the French is now uith us). That they plead
causes at the bar, and play prizes at tlie bear-
garden. That they are gossips and news-
mongers : wrangle with their neighbtmrs abroad,
and boat their .ser\ants at home. That they
lie in for new faces once a month, are sluttish
with their husbands in private; and paint and
dress iu public for their lovi r.-*. That they deal
with Jews, diviners, and fortune-tellers: loain
the arts of miacarrying, and barrennc:>s. liuy
children, and p rod u ee Umb fer tbdr ovn.
Murder their husbands^ tooi, if they ftaod it
their way to his estats ; and make their adal-
terers his heirs. From hence the poet proceeds
to show the occasion of all these vioes, their
original, and how they were introduced in
Rome, by peaee, wealth, and laxnry. * In con*
elusion, If we will take the w«>nl of oar ma«
licioas author, bad women are the general fUnd*
•ing rule : and the good, but some few czos^
tions to it.
In Saturn's reign, at Nature's early birth,
11iere was that thing cali'd Chastity on Earth ;
When in a narrow cave, their common shade,
The sheep, the shepherds, and their g«>ds were laidi
When reeds and leaves, and hides of beasts wert
spread
By mountain-housewives for their homely bed.
And mossy pillows rais'd, for the rude husband's
Unlike the niceness of oor modem dames [bead.
(Afiected nymphs with new-affected names) :
The Cynthias and the Lesbias of our years.
Who for a sparrow's death dissolve in tears.
Those first unpolish'd matrons, big and bold.
Gave suck to infants of gigantic mould ;
Hough as their savage lords who rang'd the wood,
And, fat with acorns, belch'd their windy food.
For when the world was buxom, fresh, and
young.
Her sons were undebauchM, and therefore strong;
And whether bom in kindly beds of earth,
Or struggling from the teeming oaks to birth^