ther than that common Observation of the several Ages in which thefe Authors flourish'd. When Horace writ his Satyrs, the Monarchy of his Cafar was in its newnefs, and the Government but just made easy to the conquer'd People. They cou'd not poffibly have forgotten the Ufurpation of that Prince upon their Freedom, nor the violent Methods which he had us'd, in the compaffing that vaft Defign: They yet remember'd his Profcriptions, and the Slaughter of fo many noble Romans their Defenders. Amongst the reft, that horrible Action of his, when he forc'd Livia from the Arms of her Husband, who was constrain'd to fee her marry'd, as Dion relates the Story, and, big with Child as fhe was, convey'd to the Bed of his infulting. Rival. The fame Dion Caffius gives us another Inftance of the Crime before mention'd: That Cormelius Sifenna, being reproach'd in full Senate, with the licencious Conduct of his Wife, return'd this Anfwer; That he had marry'd her by the Counsel of Auguftus: Intimating, fays my Author, that Auguftus had oblig'd him to that Marriage, that he might, under that Covert, have the more free Accefs unto her. His Adulteries were ftill before their Eyes, but they must be patient, where they had not Power. In other things that Emperor was moderate enough: Propriety was generally fecur'd; and the People entertain'd with publick Shows, and Donatives, to make them more eafily digeft their loft Liberty. But Auguftus, who was confcious to himself, of fo many Crimes which he had committed, thought in the first Place to provide for his own Reputation, by making an Edict against Lampoons and Satyrs, and the Authors of thofe defamatory Writings, which my Author Tacitus, from the Law-Term, calls famofos libellos.

In the first Book of his Annals, he gives the following Account of it, in these Words: Primus Auguftus cognitionem de famofis libellis fpecie legis ejus, tractavit; commotus Caffii Severi libidine, quâ viros foeminafque inluftres, procacibus fcriptis diffamaverat. Thus in English: Augustus was the arft, 'who under the Colour of that Law took Cogni'fance of Lampoons; being provok'd to it, by the Petulancy of Caffius Severus, who had defam'd ma'ny illuftrious Perfons of both Sexes, in his Writings.' The Law to which Tacitus refers, was Lex lafæ Majeftatis ; commonly call'd, for the fake of Brevity, Majeftas; or, as we fay, High Treafon: He means not that this Law had not been Enacted formerly: For it had been made by the Decemviri, and was infcrib'd amongit the reft in the Twelve Tables; to prevent the Afperfion of the Roman Majefty, either of the People themselves, or their Religion, or their Magiftrates; and the Infringement of it was Capital; that is, the Offender was whipt to Death, with the Fafces, which were born before their chief Officers of Rome. But Auguftus was the first, who reftor'd that intermitted Law; By the Words, Under Colour of that Law, he infinuates that Auguftus caus'd it to be executed, on pretence of thofe Libels, which were written by Caffius Severus, againft the Nobility: But, in truth, to fave himself from fuch defamatory Verfes. Suetonius likewife makes mention of it thus: Sparfos de fe in Curia famofos libellos, nec expavit, & magna curâ redarguit. Ac ne requifitis quidem Auctoribus, id modo cenfuit, cognofcendum poft bac, de iis qui libellos aut carmina ad infamiam cujufpiam fub alieno nomine edant. Auguftus was not afraid of Libels, fays that Author: Yet he took all care imaginable to have them anfwer'd; and then decreed,

that

that for the time to come, the Authors of them fhou'd be punish'd. But Aurelius makes it yet more clear, according to my Senfe, that this Emperor for his own fake durft not permit them: Fecit id Auguftus in fpeciem; & quafi gratificaretur Populo Romano, & Primoribus urbis ; fed revera ut fibi confuleret: Nam habuit in animo, comprimere nimiam quorundam procacitatem in loquendo, à quâ nec ipfe exemptus fuit. Nam fuo nomine compefcere erat invidiofum, fub alieno facile & utile. Ergò fpecie legis tractavit, quafi Populi Romani Majeftas infamaretur. This, I think, is a fufficient Comment on that Paffage of Tacitus; I will add only by the way, that the whole Family of the Cæfars, and all their Relations, were included in the Law; becaufe the Majesty of the Romans in the time of the Empire was wholly in that Houfe: Omnia Cafar erat: They were all accounted facred who belong'd to him. As for Caffius Severus, he was contemporary with Horace; and was the fame Poet against whom he writes in his Epodes, under this Title, In Caffiam Severum Maledicum Poetam ; Perhaps intending to kill two Crows, according to our Proverb, with one Stone; and revenge both himself and his Emperor together.

From hence I may reasonably conclude, That Auguftus, who was not altogether fo good as he was wife, had fome By-refpect in the enacting of this Law: For to do any thing for nothing, was not his Maxim. Horace, as he was a Courtier, comply'd with the Intereft of his Mafter; and avoiding the lafhing of greater Crimes, confin'd himfelf to the ridiculing of petty Vices and common Follies; excepting only fome referv'd Cafes, in his Odes and Epodes, of his own particular QuarFels; which either with Permiffion of the Magiftrate,

ftrate, or without it, every Man will revenge, tho' Í fay not that he fhould: for prior læfit, is a good Excufe in the Civil Law, if Christianity had not taught us to forgive. However, he was not the proper Man to arraign great Vices, at least if the Stories which we hear of him are true, that he practifed fome, which I will not here mention, out of Honour to him. It was not for a Clodius to accufe Adulterers, especially when Auguftus was of that Number: So that tho' his Age was not exempted from the worst of Villanies, there was no Freedom left to reprehend them, by reafon of the Edict. And our Poet was not fit to reprefent them in an odious Character, because himself was dipt in the fame Actions. Upon this Account, without farther infifting on the different Tempers of Juvenal and Horace, I conclude, that the Subjects which Horace chofe for Satyr, are of a lower Nature than thofe of which Juvenal has written.

Thus I have treated, in a new Method, the Comparison betwixt Horace, Juvenal, and Perfius; fomewhat of their particular Manner belonging to all of them is yet remaining to be confidered. Perfius was Grave, and particularly opposed his Gravity to Lewdnefs, which was the predominant Vice in Nero's Court, at the time when he publish'd his Satyrs, which was before that Emperor fell into the Excefs of Cruelty. Horace was a mild Admonisher, a Court-Satyrift, fit for the gentle Times of Auguftus, and more fit, for the Reasons which I have already given. Juvenal was as proper for his Times, as they for theirs: His was an Age that deferv'd a more fevere Chastifement; Vices were more grofs and open, more flagitious, more encourag'd by the Example of a Ty

rant,

rant, and more protected by his Authority. There fore, wherefoever Juvenal mentions Nero, he means Domitian, whom he dares not attack in his own Perfon, but fcourges him by Proxy. Heinfius urges in praife of Horace, that according to the ancient Art and Law of Satyr, it fhou'd be nearer to Comedy than to Tragedy; not declaiming against Vice, but only laughing at it. Neither Perfius nor Juvenal were ignorant of this, for they had both ftudied Horace. And the thing it felf is plainly true. But as they had read Horace, they had likewife read Lucilius, of whom Perfius fays, fecuit Urbem; &genuinum fregit in illis; meaning Mutius and Lupus: And Juvenal alfo mentions him in thefe Words: Enfe velut ftricto, quoties Lucilius ardens Infremuit, &c. So that they thought the Imitation of Lucilius was more proper to their purpose than that of Horace. They changed Satyr, fays Holiday; but they chang'd it for the better: For the Bufinefs being to reform great Vices, Chastisement goes farther than Admonition; whereas a perpetual Grinn, like that of Horace, does rather anger than amend a Man.

Thus far that Learned Critick, Barten Holiday, whofe Interpretation and Illuftrations of Juvenal are as excellent, as the Verfe of his Tranflation and his English are lame and pitiful. For 'tis not enough to give us the Meaning of a Poet, which I acknowledge him to have performed moft faithfully; but he muft alfo imitate his Genius, and his Numbers, as far as the English will come up to the Elegance of the Original. In few Words, 'tis only for a Poet to tranflate a Poet. Holiday and Stapylton had not enough confidered this, when they attempted Juvenal: But I forbear Reflections; only I beg leave to take notice of this Sentence,

where