PERSIUS

THE

FOURTH SATYR.

By Mr. DRYDEN.

The ARGUMENT

Our Author, living in the time of Nero, was Contemporary and Friend to the Noble Poet Lucan; both of them were fufficiently fenfible, with all good Men, how unskilfully be manag'd the Commonwealth: and perhaps might guess at his future Tyranny, by fome Paffages, during the latter part of his first five Years; tho' he broke not out into his great Exceffes, while he was reftrain'd by the Counfels and Authority of Seneca. Lucan has not fpar'd him in the Poem of his Pharfalia; for his very Complement look'd afquint as well as Nero. Perfius has been bolder, but with Caution likewife. For here, in the Perfon of young Alcibiades, he arraigns his Ambition of m ddling with State Affairs, without Judgment or Experience. 'Tis probable that he makes Seneca, in this Satyr, fuftain the Part of Socra N2

tes,

tes, under a borrow'd Name. And, withal, difcovers fome fecret Vices of Nero, concerning his Luft, his Drunkenness, and his Effeminacy, which had not yet arrived to publick Notice. He allo reprehends the Flattery of his Courtiers, who endeavour'd to make all his Vices pafs for Virtues. Covetousness was undoubtedly none of his Faults; but it is here defcribed as a Veil caft over the true Meaning of the Poet, which was to Satyrize his Prodigality and Voluptuousness; to which be makes a Transition. I find no Inftance in Hiftory, of that Emperor's being a Pathique, tho' Perfius feems to brand him with it. From the two Dialogues of Plato, both called Alcibiades, the Poet took the Arguments of the Second and Third Satyr, but he inverted the Order of them: For the Third Satyr is taken from the First of thofe Dialogues.

The Commentators before Cafaubon, were ignorant of our Author's fecret Meaning; and thought he had only written against young Noblemen in general, who were too forward in afpiring to Publick Magiftracy: But this excellent Scholiaft has unravell'd the whole Mystery; and made it apparent, that the Sting of this Satyr was particularly aim'd at Nero."

Hoe'er thou art, whofe forward Years are bent
On Sate Affairs, to guide the Government;

Hear, firft, what Socrates of old has faid
To the lov'd Youth, whom he at Athens bred.

I Socrates, whom the Oracle of Delphos praised, as the wifeft Man of his Age, liv'd in the

Tell

[ time of the Peloponnesian War. He, finding the uncertainty of Natural Philofophy, apply'd

himfelf

Tell me, thou Pupil to great

Our fecond Hope, my Alcibiades,

Pericles,

What are the Grounds, from whence thou doft prepare To undertake, fo young, so vaft a Care?

Perhaps thy Wit: (A Chance not often heard,

That Parts and Prudence fhou'd prevent the Beard:)
'Tis feldom feen, that Senators fo young,

Know when to speak, and when to hold their Tongue.
Sure thou art born to fome peculiar Fate;
When the mad People rife against the State,
To look them into Duty: and command
An awful Silence with thy lifted Hand.
Then to bespeak 'em thus: Athenians, know
Against right Reafon all your Counfels go;
This is not fair; nor profitable that;
Nor t'other Question proper for Debate.
But thou, no doubt, can't set the Bus'ness right,
And give each Argument its proper weight:
Know'ft, with an equal hand, to hold the Scale:
Seeft where the Reasons pinch, and where they fail,
And where Exceptions o'er the general Rule prevail.
And, taught by Infpiration, in a trice,

Can't

punish Crimes, and brand offending Vice.

himself wholly to the Moral. He was Mafter to Xenophon and Plato; and to many of the Athenian young Noblemen; among the reft, to Atcibiades, the most lovely Youth then living; afterwards a famous Captain, whofe Life is .written by Plutarch.

Leave,

While Pericles liv'd, who was a wife Man, and an excellent Orator, as well as a great General, the Athenians had the better of the War.

3 Can't punish Crimes, &c That is, by Death. When the Judge would condemn a Malefactor, they caft their Votes 2 Pericles was Tutor, or ra- into an Urn, as according to ther Overfeer of the Will of the Modern Cuftom, a BalClinias, Father. to Alcibiades. | lotting-Box. If the Suffrages

Leave, leave to fathom fuch high Points as these,
Nor be ambitious, ere thy time, to please:
Unfeafonably Wife, 'till Age, and Cares,

Have form'd thy Soul, to manage great Affairs.
Thy Face, thy Shape, thy Outfide, are but vain;
Thou hast not Strength fuch Labours to sustain:
Drink 4 Hellebore, my Boy, drink deep and purge thy
Brain.

What aim'ft thou at, and whither tends thy Care,
In what thy utmost Good? Delicious Fare ;
And, then, to Sun thy felf in open Air.

Hold, hold; are all thy empty Wishes fuch?
A good old Woman wou'd have faid as much.
But thou art Nobly born; 'tis true; go boast
Thy Pedigree, the thing thou valu'ft moft:
Befides thou art a Beau: What's that, my Child?
A Fop well dreft, extravagant, and wild:
She, that cries Herbs, has lefs Impertinence;
And, in her Calling, more of common Sense.
None, none descends into himself, to find
The fecret Imperfections of his Mind:
But ev'ry one is Eagle-ey'd, to fee
Another's Faults, and his Deformity:

Say, doft thou know 5 Vectidius? Who, the Wretch
Whofe Lands beyond the Sabines largely stretch;

were mark'd with, they fignify'd the Sentence of Death to the Offender; as being the firft Letter of ava, which in English is Death.

4 Drink Hellebore, &c. The Poet wou'd fay, that fuch an ignorant Young Man, as he here describes, is fitter to be

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govern'd himself, than to govern others: He therefore advifes him to drink Hellebore, which purges the Brain.

s Say, dost thou know Veĉidius, &c. The Name of Vettidius is here us'd appellatively to fignify any rich covetous Man; tho' perhaps there might be a Man of that

Name