The Tyrant Lucre no Denial takes;
At his Command th' unwilling Sluggard wakes:
What must I do? he cries: What? fays his Lord;
Why rife, make ready, and go ftreight aboard:
With Fish, from Euxine Seas, thy Veffel freight;
Flax, Caftor, Coan Wines, the precious Weight
Of Pepper, and Sabaan Incenfe, take

With thy own Hands, from the tir'd Camel's Back:
And with Post-hafte thy running Markets make.
Be fure to turn the Penny; lye and swear;

'Tis wholefom Sin: But Fove, thou fay'ft, will hear;
Swear, Fool, or ftarve; for the Dilemma's even:
A Tradesman thou! and hope to go to Heav'n?
Refolv'd for Sea, the Slaves thy Baggage pack,
Each faddied with his Burden on his Back:
Nothing retards thy Voyage, now, unless
Thy other Lord forbids, Voluptuousness:
And he may ask this civil Queftion: Friend,
What doft thou make a Shipboard? to what end?
Art thou of Bethlem's Noble College free?

Stark, ftaring mad, that thou wou'dft tempt the Sea??
Cubb'd in a Cabbin, on a Mattress laid,

On a brown George, with lowlie Swobbers fed,
Dead Wine that stinks of the Borracchio, fup
From a foul Jack, or greafie Maple-Cup?
Say wou'dft thou bear all this, to raise thy Store
From Six i'th' Hundred, to Six Hundred more?:
Indulge, and to thy Genius freely give;
For, not to live at eafe, is not to live;
Death ftalks behind thee, and each flying Hour
Does fome loofe Remnant of thy Life devour.
Live, while thou liv'ft; for Death will make us all
A Name, a Nothing but an Old Wife's Tale.
Speak; wilt thou Avarice, or Pleasure, chufe
To be thy Lord? Take one, and one refuse,

Bu

}

But both, by turns, the Rule of thee will have;
And thou, betwixt 'em both, wilt be a Slave.

Nor think when once thou haft refifted one,
That all thy Marks of Servitude are gone:
The ftrugling Greyhound gnaws his Leash in vain ;
If, when 'tis broken, ftill he drags the Chain.

Says Phadra to his Man, Believe me, Friend,
To this uneafy Love I'll put an end :

Shall I run out of all? My Friends disgrace,
And be the first lewd Unthrift of my Race?
Shall I the Neighbours nightly Reft invade
At her deaf Doors, with fome vile Serenade?
Well haft thou freed thy felf, his Man replies,
Go, thank the Gods, and offer Sacrifice.
Ah, fays the Youth, if we unkindly part,
Will not the poor fond Creature break her Heart?
Weak Soul! and blindly to Destruction led!

She break her Heart! fhe'll fooner break your Head,
She knows her Man, and when you rant and fwear
Can draw you to her, with a fingle Hair:
But fhall I not return? Now, when the fues?
Shall I my own, and her Defires refuse?

Sir, take your Course: But my Advice is plain :
Once freed, 'tis Madness to refume your Chain.

Ay; there's the Man, who loos'd from Luft and Pelf, Lefs to the Prætor owes, than to himself.

But write him down a Slave, who, humbly proud,
With Presents begs Preferments from the Crowd;

21 This alludes to the Play of Terence, call'd the Eunuch; which was excellently imitated of late in English, by Sir Charles Sidley: In the firft Scene_of_that Comedy, Phe

dra was introduc'd with his Man Pamphilius, difcourfing, whether he fhou'd leave his Mistress Thais, or return to her, now that he had invited him.

That

22

That early Suppliant who falutes the Tribes,

And fets the Mob to fcramble for his Bribes:
That fome old Dotard, fitting in the Sun,
On Holy-days may tell, that such a Feat was done :
In future times this will be counted rare.

Thy Superftition too may claim a Share:

When Flow'rs are ftrew'd, and Lamps in order plac'd,
And Windows with Illuminations grac'd,

On 23 Herod's Day; when fparkling Bowls go round,
And Tunny's Tails in favoury Sauce are drown'd,
Thou mutter'ft Pray'rs obfcene; nor do'st refufe
The Fafts and Sabbaths of the curtail'd Jews.
Then a crack'd 24 Egg-fhell thy fick Fancy frights,
Befides the Childish Fear of walking Sprights.

22 He who fued for any Office amongst the Romans, was call'd a Candidate, because he wore a white Gown; and fome- 24 The Ancients had a Sutimes chalk'd it, to make it perftition, contrary to ours, appear whiter. He rofe car- concerning Egg-fhells: They ly, and went to the Levees of thought that if an Egg-fhell those who headed the People: were crack'd, or a hole bor'd Saluted alfo the Tribes feve-in the Bottom of it, they were rally, when they were gather'd | subject to the Power of Sorcetogether, to chufe their Ma- ry: We as vainly break the giftrates; and diftributed a Bottom of an Egg-fell, and Largefs amongst them, to en-crofs it, when we have eaten gage them for their Voices: the Egg, left fome Hagg hou'd Much refembling our Electi- make use of it, in bewitching ons of Parliament-Men. us, or failing over the Sea in it, if it were whole.

[living in the Author's time, and after it. The latter feems the more probable Opinion.

23 The Commentators are divided, what Herod this was whom our Author mentions; whether Herod the Great, whofe Birth-day might be Celebrated, after his Death, by the Herodians, a Sect among the Jews, who thought him their Meffiah; or Herod Agrippa,

The reft of the Priests of Ifis, and her one-ey'd, or fquinting Priestess, is more largely treated in the fixth Satyr of Juvenal, where the Superftitions of Women are related,

of

Of o'er-grown Guelding Priests thou art afraid;
The Timbrel and the Squintifego Maid
Offis, awe thee: left the Gods, for Sin,
Shou'd, with a fwelling Dropfy, ftuff thy Skin:
Unless three Garlick Heads the Curfe avert,
Eaten each Morn, devoutly, next thy Heart.

Preach this among the brawny Guards, say'ft thou,
And fee if they thy Doctrine will allow:

The dull fat Captain, with a Hound's deep Throat,
Wou'd bellow out a Laugh, in a Bafe-Note;
And prize a hundred Zeno's juft as much
As a clipt Sixpence, or a Schilling Dutch,

PER

PERSIUS

THE

SIXTH SATYR.

By Mr. DRYDEN.

The ARGUMENT.

This Sixth Satyr treats an admirable Common-place of Moral Philofophy; Ofthe true Ufe of Riches. They are certainly intended by the Power who bestows them, as Inftruments and Helps of living commodiously our felves; and of adminiftring to the Wants of others, who are oppress'd by Fortune. There are two Extreams in the Opinions of Men concerning them. One Error, tho' 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 acquifition and poffeffion of them; and this is, undoubtedly, the worfe Extream. The Mean be twixt thefe, is the Opinion of the Stoicks; which is, That Riches may be useful to the leading a virtuous Life in cafe 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,