This was the Subject of the Tragedy, which being one of thofe that end with a happy Event, is therefore by Aristotle judg'd below the other fort, whofe Success is unfortunate. Notwithstanding which, the Satires, who were part of the Dramatis Perfone, as well as the whole Chorus, were properly introduc'd into the Nature of the Poem, which is mix'd of Farce and Tragedy. The Adventure of Ulyffes was to entertain the Judging Part of the Audience, and the uncouth Perfons of Silenus, and the Satires, to divert the Common People with their grofs Railleries.

Your Lordship has perceiv'd, by this time, that this Satirique Tragedy, and the Roman Satyr, have little refemblances in any other Features. The very Kinds are different: For what has a Paftoral Tragedy to do with a Paper of Verses fatyrically written? The Character and Raillery of the Satires, is the only thing that cou'd pretend to a likenefs: Were Scaliger and Heinfius alive to maintain their Opinion. And the firft Farces of the Romans, which were the Rudiments of their Poetry, were written before they had any Communication with the Greeks; or, indeed, any Knowledge of that People.

And here it will be proper to give the Defini tion of the Greek Satirique Poem from Cafaubon, before I leave this Subject. The Satirique, fays he, is a Dramatique Poem, annex'd to a Tragedy; having a Chorus, which confifts of Satires: The Perfons reprefented in it, are illuftrious Men: The Action of it is great; the Style is partly ferious, and partly jocular; and the Event of the Action most commonly is happy.

The Grecians, befides thefe Satirique Tragedies, had another kind of Poem, which they call'd Silli;

which were more of kin to the Roman Satyr: Thofe Silli were indeed invective Poems, but of a different Species from the Roman Poems of Ennius, Pacuvius, Lucilius, Horace, and the reft of their Succeffors. They were fo call'd, fays Cafanbon in one Place, from Silenus, the Fofter-Father of Bacchus; but in another Place, bethinking himfelf better, he derives their Name ST σnaivew, from their Scoffing and Petulency. From fome Fragments of the Silli, written by Timon, we may find, that they were Satirique Poems, full of Parodies; that is, of Verfes patch'd up from great Poets, and turn'd into another Senfe than their Author intended them. Such among the Romans is the famous Cento of Aufonius; where the Words are Virgil's But by applying them to another Senfe, they are made the Relation of a Wedding-Night; and the Act of Confummation fulfomly defcrib'd in the very Words of the moft Modeft amongst all Poets. Of the fame manner are our Songs, which are turn'd into Burlesque; and the serious Words of the Author perverted into a ridiculous Meaning. Thus in Timon's Silli the Words are generally thofe of Homer, and the Tragique Poets; but he applies them Satirically, to fome Customs and Kinds of Philofophy, which he arraigns. But the Romans not ufing any of thefe Parodies in their Satyrs; fometimes, indeed, repeating Verses of other Men, as Perfius cites fome of Nero's; but not turning them into another Meaning, the Silli cannot be fuppos'd to be the Original of Roman Satyr. To thefe Silli, confifting of Parodies, we may properly add the Satyrs which were written against particular Perfons; fuch as were the lambiques of Archilocus against Lycambes, which Horace undoubtedly imitated in some of his Odes and Epodes,

whose

whofe Titles bear a fufficient Witness of it: I might also name the Invective of Ovid against Ibis; and many others: But thefe are the Under-Wood of Satyr, rather than the Timber-Trees: They are not a general Extenfion, as reaching only to fome individual Perfon. And Horace feems to have purg'd himself from thofe fplenetick Reflections in thole Odes and Epodes, before he undertook the Noble Work of Satyrs; which were properly fo

call'd.

Thus, my Lord, I have at length difengag'd my felf from those Antiquities of Greece; and have prov'd, I hope, from the beft Critiques, that the Roman Satyr was not borrow'd from thence, but of their own Manufacture: I am now almost gotten into my depth; at least by the help of Dacier I am fwimming towards it. Not that I will promife always to follow him, any more than he follows Cafaubon; but to keep him in my Eye, as my best and trueft Guide; and where I think he may poffibly mislead me, there to have Recourse to my own Lights, as I expect that others fhould do by me.

Quintilian fays, in plain Words, Satira quidem tota, noftra eft: And Horace had faid the fame thing before him, fpeaking of his Predeceffor in that fort of Poetry, Et Græcis intacti Carminis Author. Nothing can be clearer than the Opinion of the Poet, and the Orator, both the beft Critiques of the two beft Ages of the Roman Empire, than that Satyr was wholly of Latin Growth; and not transplanted from Athens to Rome. Yet, as I have faid, Scaliger the Father, according to his Custom, that is, infolently enough, contradicts them both; and gives no better Reafon, than the Derivation of Satyrus from ráde Salacitus; and fo from the Letchery

Letchery of thofe Fauns, thinks he has fufficiently prov'd, that Satyr is deriv'd from them. As if Wantonnefs and Lubricity were effential to that fort of Poem, which ought to be avoided in it. His other Allegation, which I have already mention'd, is as pitiful: That the Satires carry'd Platters and Canisters full of Fruit, in their Hands. If they had enter'd empty-handed, had they been ever the lefs Satires? Or were the Fruits and Flowers, which they offer'd, any thing of kin to Satyr? Or any Argument that this Poem was originally Grecian? Cafaubon judg'd better, and his Opinion is grounded on fure Authority; that Satyr was deriv'd from Satura, a Roman Word, which fignifies Full, and Abundant, and full alfo of Variety, in which nothing is wanting in its due Perfection. 'Tis thus, fays Dacier, that we lay a full Colour, when the Wool has taken the whole Tincture, and drunk in as much of the Dye as it can receive. According to this Derivation, from Satur comes Satura, or Satyra, according to the new Spelling; as optumus and maxumus are now fpell'd optimus and maximas. Satura, as I have formerly noted, is an Adjective, and relates to the Word Lanx, which is understood. And this Lanx, in English a Charger, or large Platter, was yearly fill'd with all forts of Fruits, which were offer'd to the Gods at their Festivals, as the Premices, or Firft-Gatherings. Thefe Offerings of feveral Sorts thus mingled, 'tis true, were not unknown to the Grecians, who call'd them warnaçaòv Duoiar a Sacrifice of all forts of Fruits; and wavepuiar, when they offer'd all kinds of Grain. Virgil has mentioned thefe Sacrifices in his Georgiques.

Lancibus & pandis, fumantia reddimus Exta. And in another Place, Lancefque & liba feremus :

That

That is, we offer the fmoaking Entrails in great Platters; and we will offer the Chargers and the Cakes.

This Word Satura has been afterwards apply'd to many other forts of Mixtures; as Feftus calls it a kind of Olla, or hotch-potch, made of feveral forts of Meats. Laws were alfo call'd Leges Sature; when they were of feveral Heads and Titles; like our tack'd Bills of Parliament. And per Saturam legem ferre, in the Roman Senate, was to carry a Law without telling the Senators,

counting Voices when they were in hafte. Saluft ufes the Word per Saturam Sententias exquirere ; when the Majority was vifibly on one fide. From hence it might probably be conjectur'd, that the Difcourfes or Satyrs of Ennius, Lucilius, and Horace, as we now call them, took their Name; becaufe they are full of various Matters, and are alfo written on various Subjects, as Porphyrius fays. But Dacier affirms, that it is not immediately from thence that these Satyrs are fo call'd: For that Name had been us'd formerly for other things, which bore a nearer refemblance to thofe Difcourfes of Horace. In explaining of which, (continues Dacier) a Method is to be purfu'd, of which Cafaubon himself has never thought, and which will put all things into fo clear a Light, that no farther room will be left for the leaft Difpute.

During the space of almost four hundred Years, fince the Building of their City, the Romans had never known any Entertainments of the State: Chance and Jollity first found out those Verses which they call'd Saturnian, and Fefcennine: Or rather Human Nature, which is inclin'd to Poetry, first produc'd them, rude and barbarous, and unpolifh'd, as all other Operations of the Soul are in