He bears into the bath; whence want of breath, No age can go beyond us; future times Then fatire fpread thy fails; take all the winds can blow. } No matter if the great forgave or not: fee; } 9 Against bold Turnus, &c. A poet may fafely write an heroick poem, fuch as that of Virgil, who defcribes the duel of Turnus and neas; or of Homer who writes of Achilles and Hector; or the death of Hylas the Catamite of Hercules; who stooping for water, dropt his pitcher, and fell into the well after it, But it is dangerous to write fatire like Lucilius. Achilles may in epic verse be flain, THE THE THIRD SATIRE. O F JUVEN A L. THE ARGUMENT. The ftory of this fatire fpeaks itself. Umbritius, the fuppofed friend of Juvenal, and himself a poet, is leaving Rome, and retiring to Cuma. Our author accompanies him out of town. Before they take leave of each other, Umbritius tells his friend the reafons which oblige him to lead a private life, in an obfcure place. He complains that an honest man cannot get his bread at Rome. That none but flatterers make their fortunes there: that Grecians and other foreigners raife themselves by thofe fordid arts which he defcribes, and against which he bitterly inveighs. He reckons up the feveral inconveniencies which arife from a city life; and the many dangers which attend it. Upbraids the noblemen with covetousness, for not rewarding good poets; and arraigns the government for ftarving them. The great art of this fatire is particularly Jhown in common places; and drawing in as many vices, as could naturally fall into the compass of it. G 'Riev'd tho' I am an ancient friend to lose, I In quiet Cumæ fixing his repofe : Where, far from noify Rome fecure he lives, And one more citizen to Sybil gives. 1 Cumæ, a small city in Campania, near Puteoli, or Puzzolo, as it is called. The habitation of the Cumaan Sybil. The The road to 2 Baja, and that foft recess Which all the Gods with all their bounty bless, And Rome on fire beheld by its own blazing light? Yet fuch our av'rice is, that ev'ry tree Pays for his head; nor fleep itself is free : } The marble caves, and aquæducts we view ; 2 Baiæ; another little town in Campania, near the sea: a pleafant place. 3 Prochyta: A fmall barren island belonging to the kingdom of Naples. 4 In dog-days, The poets in Juvenal's time, used to rehearse their poetry in Auguft. Numa. The fecond king of Rome; who made their laws and inftituted their religion. 6 Nymph Egeria, a nymph or goddess, with whom Numa feigned to converfe by night; and to be inftructed by her in modelling his fuperftitions. How How much more beauteous had the fountain been Where chrystal ftreams thro' living turff had run, Then thus Umbritius (with an angry frown, And looking back on this degen'rate town,) Since noble arts in Rome have no support, And ragged virtue not a friend at court, No profit rifes from th' ungrateful stage, My poverty encreafing with my age, 'Tis time to give my just disdain a vent, And, curfing, leave fo bafe a government. Where 7 Dedalus his borrow'd wings laid by, To that obfcure retreat I chufe to fly: While yet few furrows on my face are seen, While I walk upright, an old age is green, And 8 Lachefis has fomewhat left to spin. Now, now 'tis time to quit this curfed place, And hide from villains my too honeft face: Here let 9 Arturius live, and fuch as he; Such manners will with fuch a town agree. Knaves who in full affemblies have the knack Of turning truth to lies, and white to black; Can hire large houfes, and opprefs the poor By farm'd excife; can cleanse the common-fhoar; And rent the fishery; can bear the dead; And teach their eyes diffembled tears to shed, All this for gain; for gain they fell their very head. Thefe fellows (fee what fortune's power can do) Were once the minstrels of a country fhow: Follow'd the prizes thro' each paltry town, By trumpet-cheeks and bloated faces known. 7 Where Dedalus, &c. Meaning at Cumæ. } } 8 Lachefis; one of the three deftinies, whofe office was to fpin the life of every man; as it was of Clotho to hold the diftaff, and Atropos to cut the thread. 9 Arturius. Any debauched wicked fellow who gains by the times. But |