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JUVENAL.

THE

ELEVENTH SATYR.

By Mr. WILLIAM CONGREVE.

The ARGUMENT.

The Defign of this Satyr is to expofe and reprehend all manner of Intemperance and Debauchery; but more particularly touches that exorbitant Luxury ufed by the Romans, in their Feafting. The Poet draws the Occafion from an Invitation, which he bere makes to bis Friend, to Dine with him; very artfully preparing him, with what he was to expect from his Treat, by beginning the Satyr with a particular Invective against the Vanity and Folly of fome Perfons, who having but mean Fortunes in the World, attempted to live up to the height of Men of great Eftates and Quality. He fhews us, the miferable End of fuch Spend-thrifts and Gluttons; with the Manner and Courses, which they took to bring themselves to it; advifing Men to live within Bounds, and to proportion their Inclinations to the Extent of their Fortune. He

gives his Friend a Bill of Fare, of the Entertainment he has provided for him; and from thence takes occafion to reflect upon the Temperance and Frugality of the Greatest Men, in former Ages: To which he opposes the Riot and Intemperance of the prefent; attributing to the latter a visible Remifnefs, in the Care of Heaven over the Roman State. He inftances fome lewd Practices at their Feafts, and by the by, touches the Nobility, with making Vice and Debauchery the chiefeft of their Pleafures. He concludes with a repeated Invita tion to bis Friend; advising him (in one particu lar fomewhat freely) to a neglect of all Cares and Difquiets, for the prefent; and a moderate use of Pleafures, for the future.

F

I Noble Atticus make plenteous Feafts,

And with luxurious Food indulge his Guests,
His Wealth and Quality fupport the Treat;
In him nor is it Luxury, but State.

2

But when poor Rutilus spends all his Worth,
In hopes of fetting one good Dinner forth;
'Tis down-right Madness; for what greater efts,
Than Begging Gluttons, or than Beggars Feafts?
But Rutilus is fo notorious grown,

That he's the Common Theme of all the Town.
A Man, in his full Tide of Youthful Blood,
Able for Arms, and for his Country's good;

1 The Name of a very emi-fhameful Degree of Poverty. nent Person in Rame: But here This likewife is here made use it is meant to fignify any one of, as a Common Name to all of great Wealth and Quality. Beggarly Gluttons, fuch whose a One who by his own ex-unreasonable Appetites remain travagant Gluttony, was at after their Eftates are confulength reduc'd to the most med.

Urg'a

Urg'd 3 by no Pow'r, reftrain'd by no Advice,
But following his own inglorious Choice,
Mongft common Fencers, Practises the Trade:
That End debafing, for which Arms were made;
Arms, which to Man ne'er-dying Fame afford!
But his Difgrace is owing to his Sword.
Many there are of the fame 4 wretched Kind,
Whom their despairing Creditors may find
Lurking in Shambles; where with borrow'd Coin
They buy choice Meats, and in cheap Plenty dine:
Such, whofe fole Blifs is Eating; who can give
But that one Brutal Reason why they live.
And yet what's more ridiculous: Of these
The poorest Wretch, is ftill moft hard to please;
And he, whofe thin tranfparent Rags declare
How much his tatter'd Fortune wants Repair,
Wou'd ranfack ev'ry Element, for Choice
Of ev'ry Fish and Fowl, at any Price ;
If brought from far, if very dear has cost,
It has a Flavour then, which pleafes moft,
And he devours it with a greater Guft.

In Riot thus, while Money lafts, he lives,
And that exhausted, ftill new Pledges gives;

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3 Sometimes Persons were | Rutilus) apply'd himself to compell'd, by the Tyranny of that wretched State. Kero, to practise the Trade of Fencing, and to Fight upon the Stage, for his inhuman Diverfion; otherwife, feldom any but common Slaves or condemn'd Malefactors were fo employ'd: Which made it the greater Reflection on any Perfon, who either voluntarily, or forced by his own Extravagance, for a Livelihood (like

Reftrain'd by no Advice. Hinting, that though he was not compell'd to fuch a PraAice of Fencing; yet it was a Shame that he was fuffer'd to undertake it, and not advised, or commanded by the Magiftracy, to the contrary. 4 Viz. Reduced to Poverty by Riotous living.

Till forc'd of meer Neceffity, to eat,

He comes to pawn his Dish to buy his Meat;
Nothing of Silver or of Gold he fpares,
Not what his Mother's facred Image bears;
The broken Relick he with speed devours,
As he wou'd all the rest of's Ancestors,
If wrought in Gold, or if expos'd to Sale,
They'd pay the Price of one Luxuricus Meal.
Thus certain Ruin treads upon his Heels,
The Stings of Hunger, foon, and Want he feels;
And thus is he reduc'd at length, to serve
Fencers, for miferable Scraps, or starve.

Imagine now, you fee afplendid Feast:
The Question is, at whofe Expence 'tis drest.
In great Ventidius, we the Bounty prize;
In Rutilus, the Vanity despise.

Strange Ignorance! That the fame Man, who knows
How far yond' Mount above this Mole-hill shows,
Shou'd not perceive a difference as great,

Between fmall Incomes and a vast Estate!

From Heav'n, to Mankind, sure, that Rule was sent,
Of Know thy Self, and by fome God was meant
No be our never-erring Pilot here,

Through all the various Courses, which we steer.
Therfites 7, tho' the most prefumptuous Greek,
Yet durft not for Achilles' Armour speak;

Whea

s Broken, or defaced; that [accompany'd the Grecian Arit might not be discover'd to be my to the Siege of Troy; where his Mother's Picture, when ex- he took a Privilege often to pos'd to Sale. rail and fnarle at the Commanders.

6 A noble Roman, who liv'd hofpitably.

7 An Impudent, Deform'd Ill-Tongu'd Fellow (as Homer describes him, Iliad 2.) who

Some relate, that at laft Achilles, for his Sawcinefs, kill'd him with a Blow of his Fift. Therefore we are not to understand Juvenal,

here,

When scarce 8 Ulyffes had a good pretence,
With all th' advantage of his Eloquence.
Who-e'er attempts weak Caufes to fupport,
Ought to be very fure, he's able for't;
And not mistake ftrong Lungs and Impudence,
For Harmony of Words, and Force of Senfe:
Fools only make Attempts beyond their Skill;
A Wife Man's Pow'r's the Limit of his Will.
If Fortune has a Niggard been to thee,
Devote thy felf to Thrift, not Luxury:
And wifely make that kind of Food thy Choice,
To which Neceffity confines thy Price.
Well may they fear fome miferable End,
Whom Gluttony and Want, at once, attend;
Whose large voracious Throats have swallow'd All,
Both Land and Stock, Int'reft and Principal:
Well may they fear, at length, vile 9 Pollio's Fate,
Who fold his very Ring, to purchase Meat;
And tho' a Knight, 'mongst common Slaves now ftands
Begging an Alms, with undistinguisht Hands.
Sure fudden Death to fuch fhou'd welcome be,
On whom, each added Year heaps Mifery,
Scorn, Poverty, Reproach, and Infamy.

here, as relating a matter of
Fact; but Therfites is us'd here,
to fignify any body of the fame
kind: As before, Atticus and
Rutilus. The Meaning is, that
fuch as he ought not (neither
would he, had he been pre-
fent) have prefumed to oppofe
Ajax and Vlyffes in contend-
ing for Achilles his Armour.
See his Character admirably
improv'd by Mr. Dryden, in
his Tragedy of Truth found too
late.

8 The most Eloquent of all the Grecian Princes. After Achilles's Death, Ajax a fam'd Grecian Warrior pretended to his Armour; Ulysses oppofed him, before a Council of War, and by his admirable Eloquence obtain'd the Prize. Ov. Met. 13.

9 Brought to that pass, by his Gluttony; that he was forced to fell his Ring, the Mark of Honour and Distinction worn by Roman Knights.

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