Euripides which are yet remaining, there is one of
thefe fatiriques, which is called the Cyclops; in which
we may
fee the nature of those poems, and from thence
conclude what likeness they have to the Roman fatire.
The story of this Cyclops, whofe name was Poly-
phemus, fo famous in the Grecian fables, was, that
Ulyffes, who, with his company, was driven on the
coast of Sicily, where thofe Cyclops inhabited, coming
to ask relief from Silenus, and the fatyrs, who were
herdsmen to that one-ey'd giant, was kindly received
by them, and entertained; till, being perceived by
Polyphemus, they were made prisoners against the rites
of hofpitality, for which Ulyffes eloquently pleaded;
were afterwards put down in the den, and fome of
. them devoured; after which, Ulyffes, having made
him drunk, when he was asleep, thrust a great fire-
brand into his eye; and fo revenging his dead fol-
lowers, escaped with the remaining party of the living:
and Silenus, and the fatyrs, were freed from their fer-
vitude under Polyphemus, and remitted to their first
liberty of attending and accompanying their patron
Bacchus.

This was the fubject of the tragedy; which being one of those that end with a happy event, is therefore by Ariftotle judged below the other fort, whofe fuccefs is unfortunate. Notwithstanding which, the fatyrs, who were part of the " dramatis perfonæ,” as well as the whole chorus, were properly introduced into the nature of the poem, which is mixed of farce and tragedy. The adventure of Ulyffes was to entertain

the

.

the judging part of the audience, and the uncouth perfons of Silenus, and the fatyrs, to divert the common people with their grofs railleries.

Your Lordship has perceived by this time, that this fatyric tragedy, and the Roman fatire, have little refemblances in any other features. The very kinds are different: for what has a pastoral tragedy to do with a paper of verfes fatirically written? The character and raillery of the fatyrs, is the only thing that could pretend to a likeness: were Scaliger and Heinfius alive to maintain their opinion. And the first 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 definition of the Greek fatiric poem, from Cafaubon, before I leave this fubject. The fatiric, fays he, is a dramatic poem, annexed to a tragedy; having a chorus, which confifts of fatyrs: the perfons represented in it, are illustrious men the action of it is great; the ftyle is partly ferious, and partly jocular; and the event of the action most commonly is happy.

The Grecians, besides these satiric tragedies, had another kind of poem, which they called Silli; which were more of kin to the Roman fatire: thofe Silli were indeed invective poems, but of a different fpecies from the Roman poems of Ennius, Pacuvius, Lucilius, Horace, and the rest of their fucceffors. They were fo called, fays Cafaubon in one place, from Silenus, the fofter-father to Bacchus; but in another place, bethink

ing himself better, he derives their name and rỸ σiλAaiver, from their fcoffing and petulancy. From fome fragments of the Silli, written by Timon, we may find, that they were Satiric Poems, full of parodies; that is, of verfes patched up from great Poets, and turned into another fenfe 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 sense, they are made the relation of a wedding-night; and the act of confummation fulfomely described in the very words of the most modeft amongst all Poets. Of the fame manner are our fongs, which are turned 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 Tragic Poets; but he applies them fatirically to fome customs and kinds of philofophy, which he arraigns. But the Romans not using any of thefe parodies in their fatires; fometimes, indeed, repeating verfes of other men, as Perfius cites fome of Nero's ; but not turning them into another meaning, the Silli cannot be fuppofed to be the original of Roman fatire. To thefe Silli, confifting of parodies, we may properly add the fatires which were written against particular perfons; fuch as were the iambiques of Archilochus againft Lycambes, which Horace undoubtedly imitated in fome of his odes and epodes, 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 fatire, rather than the VOL. VII.

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timber

timber-tree, they are not a general extension, as reaching only to fome individual perfon. And Horace feems to have purged himself from those fplenetic reflections in thofe odes and epodes, before he undertook the noble work of fatires, which were properly fo called.

Thus, my Lord, I have at length difengaged myfelf from thofe antiquities of Greece; and have proved, I hope, from the beft Critics, that the Roman fatire was not borrowed from thence, but of their own manufacture: I am now almost gotten into my depth; at least by the help of Dacier I am swimming towards it. Not that I will promise 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 recourfe 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 has faid the fame thing before him, fpeaking of his predeceffor in that sort of Poetry, Et Græcis intacti carminis author." Nothing can be clearer than the opinion of the Poet, and the Orator, both the best Critics of the two best ages of the Roman empire, than that fatire was wholly of Latin growth, and not tranfplanted from Athens to Rome. Yet, as I have faid, Scaliger the father, according to his cuftom; that is, infolently enough, contradicts them both; and gives no better reason, than the derivation of Satyrus from cad, fala

citas ;

citas; and fo, from the letchery of those fauns, thinks he has fufficiently proved, that fatire is derived 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 mentioned, is as pitiful: that the fatyrs carried platters and canisters full of fruit, in their hands. If they had entered empty-handed, had they been ever the lefs fatyrs? Or were the fruits and flowers, which they offered, any thing of kin to fatire? Or any argument that this Poem was originally Grecian? Cafaubon judged better, and his opinion is grounded on fure authority, that fatire was derived from fatura, a Roman word, which fignifics full, and abundant, and full also of variety, in which nothing is wanting in its due perfection. It is 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 fatur, comes fatura, or fatyra, according to the new fpelling; as optumus and maxumus are now fpelled optimus and maximus. 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 filled with all forts of fruits, which were offered to the gods at their feftivals, as the premices, or firft-gatherings. Thefe offerings of feveral forts thus mingled, it is true, were not known to the Grecians, who called them wanάptor duciar, a facrifice of all forts of fruits;