That dares prefer the toils of Hercules
To dalliance, banquet, and ignoble ease.
The path to peace is virtue: what I show,
Thyself may freely on thyself beftow:
Fortune was never worthipp'd by the wife;
But, fet aloft by fools, ufurps the skies.
THE ARGUMENT.
The poet in this satire, proves, that the condition of a foldier is much better than that of a countryman: first, because a country-man, however affronted, provoked, and ftruck himself, dares not Strike a foldier; who is only to be judged by a court-martial: and by the law of Camillus, which obliges him not to quarrel without the trenches, be is alfo affured to have a speedy hearing, and quick dispatch: whereas, the townfman or peafant is delayed in his fuit by frivolous pretences, and not fure of justice when he is heard in the court. The foldier is alfo privileged to make a will, and to give away his eftate, which he got in war, to whom he pleases, without confideration of parentage, or relations; which is denied to all other Romans. This fatire was written by Ju
venal, when he was a commander in Ægypt: it is certainly his, tho I think it not finished. And if it be well obferved, you will find he intended an invective against a standing army.
HAT vaft prerogatives, my Gallus, are
Accruing to the mighty man of war!
For, if into a lucky camp I light,
Tho raw in arms, and yet afraid to fight,
Befriend me, my good stars, and all
goes right:
One happy hour is to a'foldier better,
Than mother Juno's recommending letter,
Or Venus, when to Mars the would prefer
My fuit, and own the kindness done to her.
See what our common privileges are:
As, firft, no faucy citizen fhall dare
To strike a foldier, nor when struck, refent
The wrong, for fear of farther punishment:
Not tho his teeth are beaten out, his eyes
Hang by a string, in bumps his forehead rife,
Shall he prefume to mention his disgrace,
Or beg amends for his demolish'd face.
A booted judge fhall fit to try his cause,
Not by the ftatute, but by martial laws;
Which old Camillus order'd, to confine
The brawls of foldiers to the trench and line:
A wife provifion; and from thence 'tis clear,
That officers a foldier's cause should hear:
And taking cognizance of wrongs receiv'd,
An honest man may hope to be reliev’d.
So far 'tis well: but with a gen'ral cry,
The regiment will rise in mutiny,
The freedom of their fellow-rogue demand,
And, if refus'd, will threaten to disband.
Withdraw thy action, and depart in peace;
The remedy is worse than the disease:
This caufe is worthy him, who in the hall
Would for his fee, and for his client, bawl:
But wouldst thou, friend, who haft two legs alone, (Which, heav'n be prais'd, thou yet mayft call thy own)
Wouldst thou to run the gantlet these expofe
To a whole company of hob-nail'd fhoes?
Sure the good-breeding of wife citizens
Should teach 'em more good-nature to theif shins.
Befides whom canft thou think so much thy friend,
Who dares appear thy bufinefs to defend?
Dry up thy tears and pocket up th' abuse,
Nor put thy friend to make a bad excufe:
The judge cries out, Your evidence produce.
Will he, who faw the foldier's mutton-fift,
And faw thee maul'd, appear within the lift,
To witnefs truth? When I fee one fo brave,
The dead, think I, are risen from the
And with their long fpade beards, and matted hair,
Our honeft ancestors are come to take the air.
Against a clown, with more fecurity,
A witness may be brought to fwear a lye,
Than, tho his evidence be full and fair,
To vouch a truth against a man of war.
More benefits remain, and claim'd as rights,
Which are a standing army's perquifites.
any rogue vexatious fuits advance
Against me for my known inheritance,
Enter by violence my fruitful grounds,
Or take the facred land-mark from my bounds, Those bounds, which with poffeffion and with
And offer'd cakes, have been my
annual care:
Or if my debtors do not keep their day,
Deny their hands, and then refuse to pay;
I muft with patience all the terms attend,
Among the common caufes that depend,
Till mine is call'd; and that long look'd-for day
Is ftill encumber'd with some new delay :
Perhaps the cloth of ftate is only fpread,
Some of the quorum may be fick a-bed;
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