And all the offices of that estate [say, Perform; and with thy prudence guide thy fate. [nought. He drinks a swilling draught; and, lin'd within, "This nothing, sir, will bring you to your end. Thou tell'st me, I look ill; and thou look'st worse." "I've done," says the physician; "take your course." The laughing sot, like all unthinking men, Bathes and gets drunk; then bathes, and drinks again: His throat half throttled with corrupted phlegm, His heels stretch'd out, and pointing to the gate: wait. They hoist him on the bier, and deal the dole: My temperate pulse does regularly beat; I grant this true: but, still, the deadly wound Some coarse cold sallad is before thee set; Bread with the bran, perhaps, and broken meat; Fall on, and try thy appetite to eat. These are not dishes for thy dainty tooth: What, hast thou got an ulcer in thy mouth? Why stand'st thou picking? Is thy palate sore? That beet and radishes will make thee roar? Such is th' unequal temper of thy mind; Thy passions in extremes, and unconfin'd: Thy hair so bristles with unmanly fears, As fields of corn, that rise in bearded ears. And, when thy cheeks with flushing fury glow, The rage of boiling caldrons is more slow; When fed with fuel and with flames below. With foam upon thy lips and sparkling eyes, Thou say'st, and dost, in such outrageous wise; That mad Orestes, if he saw the show, Would swear thou wert the madder of the two. : THE FOURTH SATIRE OF PERSIUS. THE ARGUMENT. OUR author, living in the time of Nero, was contemporary and friend to the noble poet Lucan; both of them were sufficiently sensible, with all good men, how unskilfully he managed the commonwealth and perhaps might guess at his future tyranny, by some passages, during the latter part of his first five years; though he broke not out into his great excesses, while he was restrained by the counsels and authority of Seneca. Lucan has not spared him in the poem of his Pharsalia; for his very compliment looked asquint as well as Nero. Persius has been bolder, but with caution likewise. For here, in the person of young Alcibiades, he arraigns his ambition of meddling with state-affairs, without judgment or experience. It is probable that he | But thou art nobly born, 'tis true; go boast makes Seneca, in this satire, sustain the part of Socrates, under a borrowed name; and, withal, discovers some secret vices of Nero, concerning his lust, his drunkenness, and his effeminacy, which had not yet arrived to public notice. He also reprehends the flattery of his courtiers, who endeavoured to make all his vices pass for virtues. Covetousness was undoubtedly none of his faults; but it is here described as a veil cast over the true meaning of the poet, which was to satirize his prodigality and voluptuousness; to which he makes a transition. I find no instance in history of that emperor's being a pathic, though Persius seems to brand him with it. From the two dialogues of Plato, both called Alcibiades, the poet took the arguments of the second and third satires, but he inverted the order of them: for the third satire is taken from the first of those dialogues. The commentators, before Casaubon, were ignorant of our author's secret meaning; and thought he had only written against young noblemen in general, who were too forward in aspiring to public magistracy: but this excellent scholiast has unraveled the whole mystery; and made it apparent, that the sting of this satire was particularly aimed at Nero. WHOE'ER thou art, whose forward years are bent Our second hope, my Alcibiades, What aim'st thou at, and whither tends thy care, Hold, hold! are all thy empty wishes such? Thy pedigree, the thing thou valu'st most: Thus fares the drudge: but thou, whose life's a "But when they praise me, in the neighbourhood, When the pleas'd people take me for a god, Shall I refuse their incense? Not receive The loud applauses which the vulgar give?" If thou dost wealth, with longing eyes, behold; And bidd'st arise the lumpish pendulum: And dost in murders, rapes, and spoils, delight; THE FIFTH SATIRE OF PERSIUS. THE ARGUMENT. THE judicious Casaubon, in his proem to this satire, tells us, that Aristophanes the grammarian being asked, what poem of Archilochus's Jambics he preferred before the rest, answered, the longest. His answer may justly be applied to this fifth satire; which, being of a greater length than any of the rest, is also, by far, the most instructive: for this reason I have selected it from all the others, and inscribed it to my learned master, doctor Busby; to whom I am not only obliged myself for the best part of my own education, and that of my two sons; but have also received from him the first and truest taste of Persius. May he be pleased to find in this translation, the gratitude, or at least some small acknowledgment of his unworthy scholar, at the distance of twenty-four years, from the time when I departed from under his tuition. This satire consists of two distinct parts: the first contains the praises of the stoic philosopher Cornutus, master and tutor to our Persius. It also declares the love and piety of Persius, to his well-deserving master; and the mutual friendship which continued betwixt them, after Persius was now grown a man. As also his exhortation to young noblemen, that they would enter themselves into his institution. From whence he makes an artful transition into the second part of his subject: wherein he first complains of the sloth of scholars, and afterwards persuades them to the pursuit of their true liberty: Here our author excellently treats that paradox of the Stoics, which affirms, that only the wise or virtuous man is free; and that all vicious men are naturally slaves. And, in the illustration of this dogma, he takes up the remaining part of this inimitable satire. And why would'st thou these mighty morsels choose, Of words unchew'd, and fit to choke the Muse? 'Tis task enough for thee t' expose a Roman feast. PERSIUS. 'Tis not, indeed, my talent to engage If it sound solid, or be fill'd with wind; And, through the veil of words, thou view'st the For this a hundred voices I desire, [naked mind. To tell thee what a hundred tongues would tire; Yet never could be worthily exprest, How deeply thou art seated in my breast. When first my childish robe resign'd the charge, And left me, unconfin'd, to live at large; When now my golden bulla (hung on high To household gods) declar'd me past a boy; And my white shield proclaim'd my liberty: When, with my wild companions, I could roll From street to street, and sin without control; Just at that age, when manhood set me free, I then depos'd myself, and left the reins to thee On thy wise bosom I repos'd my head, And by my better Socrates was bred. Then thy straight rule set virtue in my sight, The crooked line reforming by the right. My reason took the bent of thy command, Was form'd and polish'd by thy skilful hand: Long summer days thy precepts I rehearse; And winter-nights were short in our converse: One was our labour, one was our repose, One frugal supper did our studies close. Sure on our birth some friendly planet shone; And, as our souls, our horoscope was one : Whether the mounting Twins did Heaven adorn, Or with the rising Balance we were born; Both have the same impressions from above; And both have Saturn's rage, repell'd by Jove. What star I know not, but some star I find, Has given thee an ascendant o'er my mind. CORNUTUS. Nature is ever various in her frame : Each has a different will; and few the same: The greedy merchants, led by lucre, run To the parch'd Indies, and the rising Sun ; From thence hot pepper and rich drugs they bear, Bartering, for spices, their Italian ware; The lazy glutton safe at home will keep, Indulge his sloth, and batten with his sleep: One bribes for high preferments in the state; A second shakes the box, and sits up late: Another shakes the bed, dissolving there, Till knots upon his gouty joint appear, And chalk is in his crippled fingers found; This is true liberty, as I believe: I grant, true freedom you have well defin'd: Hear me with patience, while thy mind I free Rots like a dodder'd oak, and piecemeal falls to Where you are sure to fail, th' attempt forbear. Yes, sure: for yesterday was once to morrow. That yesterday is gone, and nothing gain'd: And all thy fruitless days will thus be drain'd; For thou hast more to morrows yet to ask, And wilt be ever to begin thy task; Who, like the hindmost chariot-wheels, art curst, Still to be near, but ne'er to reach the first. O freedom! first delight of human kind! Not that which bondmen from their masters find, The privilege of doles: not yet t' inscribe Their names in this or t' other Roman tribe: That false enfranchisement with ease is found: Slaves are made citizens, by turning round. "How," replies one, can any be more free? Here's Dama, once a groom of low degree, Not worth a farthing, and a sot beside; So true a rogue, for lying's sake he ly'd; But, with a turn, a freeman he became; Now Marcus Dama is his worship's name. Good gods! who would refuse to lend a sum, If wealthy Marcus surety will become! Marcus is made a judge, and for a proof Of certain truth, he said, it is enough. A will is to be prov'd; put in your claim; 'Tis clear, if Marcus has subscrib'd his name. No need of public sanctions this to bind, [land, {skill Unskill'd in hellebore, if thou should'st, try To mix it, and mistake the quantity, The rules of physic would against thee cry. The high-shoe'd ploughman, should he quit the To take the pilot's rudder in his hand, Artless of stars, and of the moving sand, The gods would leave him to the waves and wind, And think all shame was lost in human kind. Tell me, my friend, from whence hadst thou the So nicely to distinguish good from ill? Or by the sound to judge of gold and brass, What piece is tinker's metal, what will pass? And what thou art to follow, what to fly, This to condemn, and that to ratify? When to be bountiful, and when to spare, But never craving, or opprest with care? The baits of gifts, and money to despise, And look on wealth with undesiring eyes? When thou can'st truly call these virtues thine, Be wise and free, by Heaven's consent, and mine, But thou, who lately, of the common strain, Wert one of us, if still thou dost retain The same ill habits, the same follies too, Gloss'd over only with a saint-like show, Then I resume the freedom which I gave, Still thou art bound to vice, and still a slave. Thou canst not wag my finger, or begin The least light motion, but it tends to sin. "How's this? Not wag thy finger?" he replies No, friend; nor fuming gums, nor sacrifice, Can ever make a madman free, or wise. Virtue and vice are never in one soul: A man is wholly wise, or wholly is a fool. A heavy bumkin, taught with daily care, Can never dance three steps with a becoming air. PERSIUS. In spite of this, my freedom still remains. CORNUTUS. Free! what, and fetter'd with so many chains? Canst thou no other master understand Than him that freed thee by the pretor's wand? Should he, who was thy lord, command thee now, When thou would'st take a lazy morning's nap; At his command th' unwilling sluggard wakes: "Why, rise, make ready, and go straight abroad: hear: Swear, fool, or starve; for the dilemma 's even: [sea; Say, would'st thou bear all this, to raise thy store Speak; wilt thou Avarice, or Pleasure, choose Nor think, when once thou hast resisted one, That all thy marks of servitude are gone: The struggling greyhound gnaws his leash in vain; lf, when 'tis broken, still he drags the chain. Says Phædra to his man, "Believe me, friend, To this uneasy love I'll put an end : Shall I run out of all? my friends disgrace, She knows her man, and, when you rant and swear, "Sir, take your course: but my advice is plain: Once freed, 'tis madness to resume your chain." Ay; there's the man, who, loos'd from lust and Less to the pretor owes, than to himself. [pelf, But write him down a slave, who, humbly proud, With presents begs preferments from the crowd; That early suppliant, who salutes the tribes, And sets the mob to scramble for his bribes: That some old dotard, sitting in the sun, On holidays may tell, that such a feat was done s In future times this will be counted rare. Thy superstition too may claim a share: When flowers are strew'd, and lamps in order And windows with illuminations grac'd, [plac'd, On Herod's day; when sparkling bowls go round, And tunnies' tails, in savoury sauce are drown'd, Thou mutter'st prayers obscene; nor dost refuse The fasts and sabbaths of the curtail'd Jews. Then a crack'd egg-shell thy sick fancy frights, Besides the childish fear of walking sprites. Of o'ergrown gelding priests thou art afraid; The timbrel, and the squintifego maid Of Isis, awe thee: lest the gods, for sin, Should, with a swelling dropsy, stuff thy skin: Unless three garlic-heads the curse avert, Eaten each morn, devoutly, next thy heart. Preach this among the brawny guards, say'st thou And see if they thy doctrine will allow; The dull fat captain, with a hound's deep throat, Would bellow out a laugh, in a base note; And prize a hundred Zenos just as much As a clipt sixpence, or a schilling Dutche THE SIXTH SATIRE OF PERSIUS. THE ARGUMENT. THIS sixth satire treats an admirable common place of moral philosophy; of the true use of riches. They certainly are intended, by the power who bestows them, as instruments and helps of living commodiously ourselves; and of administering to the wants of others, who are oppressed by fortune. There are two extremes in the opinions of men concerning them. One errour, though on the right hand, yet a great one, is, that they are no helps to a virtuous life; the other places all our happiness in the acquisition and possession of them; and this is, undoubtedly, the worse extreme. The mean betwixt these, is the opinion of the Stoics; which is, that riches may be useful to the leading a virtuous life; in case we rightly understand how to give according to right reason; and how to receive what is given us by others. The virtue of giving well, is called liberality: and it is of this virtue that Persius writes in this satire; wherein he not only shows the lawful use of riches, but also sharply inveighs against the vices which are opposed to it; and especially of those, which consist in the defects of giving or spending; or in the abuse of riches. He writes to Cesius Bassus his friend, and a poet also, inquires first of his health and studies; and afterwards informs him of his own, and where he is now resident. He gives an ac |