Suppofe, what frugal Nature wou'd fuffice,
Suppofe that wanting, Hunger is not nice..
Is no Bridge vacant, no convenient Seat,

Where thou may'st cringe, and gnaw thy broken Meat,
And with a Matt, and Crutch, and ty'd-up Leg,
More honestly and honourably Beg?

First, if he please to say, Sit down, and smile,
Behold the full Reward of all thy Toil!
All thy old Services are largely paid,

And thou a proud and happy Man art made.
See! of thy boafted Friendship fee the Fruits!
And these too he upbraids, and thefe imputes.
If after two cold Months thy Lord think fit
His poor, neglected Clients to admit,

And fay, Sup with me, thou haft thy defire,
Be thankful, Mortal, and no more require.
Thus Bleft, muft 3 Trebius to his Levees run,
When the Stars languifh near the rifing Sun;
Break off fweet Slumbers, drowfie, and undrest,
To fhew his Zeal, and to prevent the rest;
Run to prevent the fawning humble Train,
While flow 4 Bores drives his frozen Wain.
Perhaps the gen'rous Entertainment may
For all the Stare and dear Attendance pay.
For him is kept a Liquor more Divine,
You Spunges must be drunk with Lees of Wine,
Drunk for your Patron's Pleasure and his Jeft;
Then raving like a 5 Corybas poffeft,

Thou and the Freed men firft begin to jarr;
From mutual Jeers, the Prelude to the War,
Thou and thy Fellow-Parafites engage,
And Battel with a Troop of Servants wage:
Then Glaffes and Saguntine Pitchers fly,
And broken Pates difcolour'd Napkins dye.
While happy he, ftretch'd on his Couch, fupine
Looks on with Scorn, and drinks old gen'rous Wine,
Preft from the Grape, when Warlike Rome was free,
But kindly, never fends one Glafs to thee.
Perhaps to morrow he may change his Wine,
And drink old fparkling Alban, or 6 Setine,

Whofe Title, and whofe Age, with Mould o'ergrown
The good old Cask for ever keeps unknown:
Such 7 bold Helvidius drank, and Thrafea crown'd
With Garlands, when the flowing Bowl went round
On Brutus' Birth-day: And to raise Delight,
To please at once the Tafte, and charm the Sight,
He in bright Amber drinks, or brighter Gold,
And Cups with fhining Berils fet does hold.
Thou art not fuffer'd or to Touch or Tafte;
And if thou dar'ft, a Guard on thee is plac'd
To watch the Gems. This may perhaps furprize,
But, Sir, you'll pardon, they are Stones of Price.

6 From Setia a Town of Campania, renown'd for the bert Wines.

7 Thrafea and Helvidius his Sons-in-Law, Men of great Virtue, Conftancy, and Zeal for the Liberty of their Country; they were both opprefs'd by Nero, Thrafea put to Death, and Helvidius banished: Tacitus has related at large the Charge and Accufation ofThrafea, with what Bravery be re

ceiv'd the Order by which he was commanded to die, and being allow'd his Choice, open'd his Veins with thefe words: Libemus Jovi Liberatori, Annal. Lib. 16. They are faid here to have folemnly obferved the Birth days of Brutus and Caffius, the Deliverers of their Country; which may perhaps be true, tho' it be not objecedamong many things of this kind in Tacitus.

For

For Virro does, as many do of late,

Gems from his Fingers to his Cups tranflate,
Which the bold 8 Youth to Dido's Love preferr'd,
Wore on the Scabbard of his shining Sword.
Thou may'st at distance gaze, and figh in vain,
A crack'd black Pot's referv'd for thee to drain.
If his Blood boil, and th' adventitious Fire
Rais'd by high Meats, and higher Wines, require
To temper and allay the burning leat,
Waters are brought, which by Decoction get
New coolness, fuch plain Nature does not know,
Not Ice fo cool, nor Hyperboean Snow.

Did I complain but now, and justly too,
That the fame Wine is not allow'd to you ?

Another Water's reach'd

you, when you call, From Hands of Moorish Footmen, lean and tall; The grim Attendance he affigns t'affright

Rather than wait; Rogues who wou'd fcare by Night,
If met among the Tombs; the ghaftly Slaves

Look as if newly started from their Graves.
Before himself the Flower of Afia ftands,
To watch his Looks, and to receive Commands.
A 9 Boy of fuch a Price as had undone

Old Roman Kings, and drain'd the Treasure of a Crown.
If thou or any of thy Tribe want Wine,
Look back, and give thy Ganymedes the fign.
The lovely Boy, and bought at fuch a rate,
Is much too handfom, and too proud to wait
On the defpis'd and poor: Will he descend
To give a Glafs to a declining Friend?

An Allufion to that of Virgil defcribing Eneas Stellatus, Jafpide fulva Enfis erat.

The Romans mightily af

fected to be ferv'd by beauti ful Boys,whom they bought at vaft rates. Martial, &c.

D 4

No:

}

No: his good Mien, his Youth, and blooming Face
Tempt him to think, that with a better Grace
Eimfelf might fit, and thou fupply his Place.
Behold there yet remains, which must be born,
Proud Servants' more infufferable Scorn.

With what Difdain another gave thee Bread!
The meaneft Wretches are with better fed:
Th' impenetrable Cruft thy Teeth defies,
And petrify'd with Age fecurely lies,

Fard, mouldy, black: If thou prefume t'invade,
With facrilegious Hands, thy Patron's Bread,
There ftands a Servant ready to chastise
Your Infolence, and teach you to be wife.
Will you, a bold Intruder, never learn

To know your Basket, and your Bread difcern?
'Tis juft, ye Gods! and what I well deferve;
Why did not I more honourably starve?
Did I for this abandon Wife and Bed?
For this, alas! by vain Ambition led,
Thro' cold 10 Efquilia run fo oft, and tear
The Storms and Fury of the Vernal Air,

And then with Cloak wet thro' attend, and dropping Hair?
See! by the talleft Servant born on high,

A Sturgeon fills the largest Difh and Eye!

With how much Pomp he's plac'd upon the Board!
With what a Tail and Breast falutes his Lord!
With what Expence and Art, how richly dreft!
Garnish'd with 'Sparagus, himelf a Feaft!
Thou art to one fmall difmal Difh confin'd,
A Crab ill dreft, and of the vileft kind.

He on his own Fish pours the noblest Oil,
The product of 12 Venatrum's happy Soil.
That to your marcid dying Herbs affign'd,
By the rank Smell and Tafte betrays its Kind,
By Moors imported, and for Lamps alone defign'd.
Well rubb'd with this, when 13 Boccar comes to Town,
He makes the Theatres and Baths his own,
All round from him, as from th' infected, run;
The pois'nous Stink even their own Serpents fhun.
Behold a Mullet ev'n from Corfu. brought!
Or near the Rocks of 14 Taurominium caught.
Since our own Seas no longer can fupply,
Exhaufted by our boundless Luxury:
The fecret Deep can no Protection give,
No Tyrrhene Fish is fuffer'd now to live
To his juft growth. The Provinces from far
Furnish our Kitchins, and revenge our War.
Baits for the Rich and Childless they supply;
Aurelia thence muft fell, and 15 Lenas buy.

The largest Lamprey which their Seas afford,
Is made a Sacrifice to Virro's Board.

When Aufter to th' Æolian Caves retires

With dropping Wings, and murm'ring there refpires,
Rafh daring Nets, in hope of fuch a Prize,
Caribdis, and the treacherous Deep despise.
An Eel for you remains, in 15 Tyber bred,
With fouleft Mud, and the rank Ordure fed,

12 A Town in Campania, fa- | Romans call'd Haredipeta, who

mous for the best Oil.

13 The Name of a King of Mauritania; but here must be understood as the Name of any noble Moor.

14 A Town of Sicily.
Is One of those whom the

courted and prefented the Rich and Childless, in hope to become their Heirs.

16 The Fish of Tyber were for his Reason thought the worft in Italy,