I think it not finish'd. And if it be well obferv'd you will find he intended an Invective against a Standing Array.

WHAT vaft Prerogatives, my Gallus, are

Accruing to the mighty Man of War?

For, if into a lucky Camp I light,

Tho' raw in Arms, and yet afraid to Fight,
Befriend me, my good Stars, and all goes right.
One happy Hour is to a Soldier better,

Than Mother Juno's Recommending Letter,
Or Venus, when to Mars the wou'd prefer
My Suit, and own the Kindness done to Her.
See what our common Privileges are:

As, firft, no fawcy Citizen fhall dare

To ftrike a Soldier, nor when ftruck, refent
The Wrong, for fear of farther Punishment:
Not tho' his Teeth are beaten out, his Eyes
Hang by a ftring, in Bumbs his Forehead rife,
Shall he prefume to mention his Disgrace,
Or beg amends for his demolish'd Face.
A Booted Judge fhall fit to try his Caufe,
Not by the Statute, but by Martial Laws;
Which old Camillus order'd, to confine
The Brawls of Soldiers to the Trench and Line:
A wife Provifion; and from thence 'tis clear,
That Officers a Soldier's Caufe fhou'd hear:
And taking Cognizance of Wrongs receiv'd,
An honeft Man may hope to be reliev'd.

1 Juno was Mother to Mars | them from the Gauls,) made the God of War: Venus was his Miftrefs.

2 Camillus (who being first Banished, by his ungrateful Country-men the Ramans, afterwards return'd, and freed

a Law, which prohibited the Soldiers from Quarrelling. without the Camp, left upon that Pretence they might hap pen to be abfent, when they ought to be on Duty,

So

So far 'tis well: But with a gen'ral Cry,
The Regiment will rife in Mutiny,
The Freedom of their Fellow-Rogue demand,
And, if refus'd, will threaten to Disband.
Withdraw thy Action, and depart in Peace;
The Remedy is worse than the Disease:
This Cause is worthy 3 him, who in the Hall
Wou'd for his Fee, and for his Client, bawl:

But wouldst thou, Friend, who haft two Legs alone,
(Which, Heav'n be prais'd, thou yet may'ft call thy own,)
Wou'dft thou to run the Gantlet these expofe

To a whole Company of 4 Hob-nail'd Shoes?
Sure the Good-breeding of wife Citizens

}

Shou'd teach 'em more Good-nature to their Shins.
Befides, whom canft thou think fo much thy Friend,
Who dares appear thy Bufinefs to defend?
Dry up thy Tears, and pocket up th'Abuse,
Nor put thy Friend to make a bad Excufe:
The Judge cries out, Your Evidence produce.
Will he, who faw the Soldier's Mutton-Fift,
And faw thee maul'd, appear within the Lift,
To witness Truth? When I fee one fo brave,
The Dead, think I, are rifen from the Grave;
And with their long Spade Beards, and matted Hair,
Our honeft Ancestors are come to take the Air.
Against a Clown, with more Security,
A Witness may be brought to fwear a Lye,
Than, tho' his Evidence be full and fair,
To vouch a Truth against a Man of War.

3 This Caufe is worthy him, &c. the Poet names a Moder nefe Lawyer whom he calls Vagellius: who was fo impudent that he would plead any Caufe, right or wrong, with

out Shame or Fear.

4 Hob-nail'd Shoes. The Ro man Soldiers wore Plates of. Iron under their Shoes, or ftuck them with Nails; as Country Men do now.

More

More Benefits remain, and claim'd as Rights,
Which are a standing Army's Perquifites.
If any Rogue vexatious Suits advance
Against me for my known Inheritance,
Enter by Violence my Fruitful Grounds,

Or take the facred Land-Mark from my Bounds,
Those Bounds, which with Poffeffion and with Pray'r,,
And offer'd Cakes, have been my annual Care:
Or if my Debtors do not keep their Day,
Deny their Hands, and then refuse to pay;
I muft with Patience all the Terms attend,
Among the common Caufes that depend,
'Till mine is call'd; and that long look'd-for Day
Is ftill encumber'd with fome new Delay:
Perhaps the Cloth of State is only spread,
Some of the Quorum may be fick a-bed;
That Judge is hot, and doffs his Gown, while this.
O'er Night was bowfie, and goes out to pifs :
So many Rubs appear, the time is gone
For hearing, and the tedious Suit goes on:
But Buff and Belt-Men never know thefe Cares,
No Time, nor Trick of Law, their Action Bars:
Their Cause they to an easier Iffue put;
They will be heard, or they lug out, and cut.
Another Branch of their Revenue ftill
Remains, beyond their boundless Right to kill,
Their 7 Father yet alive, impowr'd to make a Will.

s Land-Marks were used by the Romans, almoft in the fame manner as now: And as we go once a Year in Proceffion, about the Bounds of Parishes, and renew them, fo they offer'd Cakes upon the Stone, or Land-Mark.

6. The Courts of Judicature

}

For,

were hung, and spread, as with us; but fpread only before the Hundred Judges were to fit, and judge Publick Causes, which were called by Lot.

7 The Roman Soldiers had the Privilege of making a Will, in their Father's Life

For, what their Prowess gain'd, the Law declares
Is to themselves alone, and to their Heirs:
No Share of that goes back to the Begetter,
But if the Son fights well, and plunders better,
Like ftout Coranus, his old fhaking Sire
Does a Remembrance in his Will defire:
Inquifitive of Fights, and longs in vain
To find him in the Number of the Slain :
But ftill he lives, and rifing by the War,
Enjoys his Gains, and has enough to fpare:
For 'tis a Noble General's prudent Part
To cherifh Valour, and reward Defert:

Let him be dawb'd with Lace, live high, and Whore;
Sometimes be Lowfie, but be never Poor.

time, of what they had pur-pleas'd: Therefore, fays the chas'd in the Wars, as being Poet, Coranus, ( a Soldier Con no part of their Patrimony: temporary with Juvenal, who By this Will they had Power had rais'd his Fortune by the of excluding their own Pa-Wars) was courted by his rents, and giving the Eftate, own Father to make him his fa gotten, to whom they Heir.

THE