His art who to aspiring Otho fold;
And fure fucceffion to the crown foretold.
For his esteem is in his exile plac'd;

725

The more believ'd, the more he was difgrac'd.
No aftrologic wizard honour gains,
Who has not oft been banish'd, or in chains.
He gets renown, who, to the halter near,
But narrowly escapes, and buys it dear.

730

From him your wife enquires the planets' will,

When the black jaundice fhall her mother kill: Her fifter's and her uncle's end, would know : But, firft, confults his art, when you fhall go. And, what's the greatest gift that heav'n can give,

735

If, after her, th' adulterer fhall live.
She neither knows nor cares to know the reft;
If Mars and Saturn fhall the world infeft;
Or Jove and Venus with their friendly rays,
Will interpofe, and bring us better days.

740

Beware the woman too, and fhun her fight, Who in these studies does herself delight. By whom a greafy almanack is born, With often handling, like chaft amber, worn:

Ver. 723. Otho fucceeded Galba in the empire; which was foretold him by an aftrologer.

Ver. 738. Mars and Saturn are the two unfortunate planets; Jupiter and Venus, the two fortunate,

745

Not now confulting, but confulted, fhe
Of the twelve houses, and their lords, is free.
She, if the scheme a fatal journey show,
Stays fafe at home, but lets her husband go.
If but a mile fhe travel out of town,
The planetary hour must first be known,
And lucky moment; if her eye but akes
Or itches, its decumbiture fhe takes.
No nourishment receives in her disease,
But what the stars and Ptolemy shall please.
The middle fort, who have not much to

fpare,

To chiromancers' cheaper art repair,

A

750

755

Who clap the pretty palm, to make the lines. more fair.

But the rich matron, who has more to give, Her anfwers from the Brachman will receive: Skill'd in the globe and fphere, he gravely stands,

760

And, with his compass, measures seas and lands.
The poorest of the fex, have ftill an itch
To know their fortunes, equal to the rich.
The dairy-maid enquires, if she shall take
The trufty taylor, and the cook forfake.

Ver. 754.

tian.

765

Ptolemy] A famous aftrologer, an Egyp

Ver. 759. The Brachmans are Indian philofophers, who remain to this day; and hold, after Pythagoras, the translation of fouls from one body to another.

Yet thefe, though poor, the pain of childbed bear;

And, without nurfes, their own infants rear:
You feldom hear of the rich mantle, spread
For the babe, born in the great lady's bed.
Such is the pow'r of herbs; fuch arts they use
To make them barren, or their fruit to lofe. 771
But thou, whatever flops she will have bought,
Be thankful, and fupply the deadly draught:
Help her to make man-flaughter; let her bleed,
And never want for favin at her need.
For, if fhe holds till her nine months be run,
Thou mayft be father to an Ethiop's fon.
A boy, who ready gotten to thy hands,
By law is to inherit all thy lands:

One of that hue, that should he cross the
His omen would difcolour all the day.

775

way,

781

I pafs the foundling by, a race unknown, At doors expos'd, whom matrons make their

own:

And into noble families advance

A nameless iffue, the blind work of chance. 785

Ver. 777.

to an Ethiop's fon.] His meaning is, help her to any kind of flops, which may caufe her to mifcarry; for fear the may be brought to bed of a blackmoor, which thou, being her husband, art bound to father; and that bastard may by law, inherit thy eftate.

Ver. 781. His omen &c.] The Romans thought it ominous to fee a blackmoor in the morning, if he were the firft man they

met.

Indulgent Fortune does her care employ,
And, fmiling, broods upon the naked boy:
Her garment spreads, and laps him in the fold,
And covers, with her wings, from nightly cold:
Gives him her bleffing; puts him in a way; 790
Sets up the farce, and laughs at her own play.
Him the promotes; fhe favours him alone,
And makes provision for him as her own.

795

The craving wife, the force of magic tries, And philters for th' unable husband buys : The potion works not on the part defign'd; But turns his brains, and stupifies his mind. The fotted moon-calf gapes, and staring on, Sees his own bus'nefs by another done: A long oblivion, a benumming frost, Constrains his head; and yesterday is loft: Some nimbler juice would make him foam and

rave,

Like that Cæfonia to her Caius gave:
Who, plucking from the forehead of the fole
His mother's love, infus'd it in the bowl:
The boiling blood ran hiffing in his veins,
Till the mad vapour mounted to his brains.
The Thund'rer was not half fo much on fire,
When Juno's girdle kindled his defire.

800

805

Ver. 803. Cæfonia, wife to Caius Caligula, the great tyrant: 'tis faid fhe gave him a love-potion, which flying up into his head, distracted him; and was the occafion of his committing fo many acts of cruelty.

Ver. 808. The Thund'rer &c.] The ftory is in Homer; where

What woman will not use the pois'ning trade, 810
When Cæfar's wife the precedent has made?
Let Agrippina's mushroom be forgot,
Giv'n to a flav'ring, old, unuseful fot;
That only clos'd the driveling dotard's eyes,
And fent his godhead downward to the skies. 815
But this fierce potion calls for fire and fword;
Nor fpares the commons, when it ftrikes the
lord:

So many mischiefs were in one combin'd;
So much one fingle pois'ner coft mankind.

825

If ftepdames feek their fons-in-law to kill, 820
'Tis venial trefpafs; let them have their will:
But let the child, entrusted to the care
Of his own mother, of her bread beware:
Beware the food fhe reaches with her hand;
The morfel is intended for thy land.
Thy tutor be thy tafter, ere thou eat;
There's poifon in thy drink, and in thy meat.
You think this feign'd; the fatire in a rage
Struts in the bufkins of the tragic stage,
Forgets his bus'nefs is to laugh and bite;
And will of deaths and dire revenges write.

830

Juno borrowed the girdle of Venus, called Ceftos; to make Jupiter in love with her, while the Grecians and Trojans were fighting, that he might not help the latter.

Ver. 812. Agrippina was the mother of the tyrant Nero, who poifoned her husband Claudius, that Nero might fucceed, who was her fon, and not Britannicus, who was the fon of Claudius, by a former wife.