Yet ftill he reaches, firft, the public place:
The preafe before him ftops the client's pace.
The crowd that follows crufh his panting fides,
And trip his heels; he walks not, but he rides.
One elbows him, one juftles in the fhole:
A rafter breaks his head, or chairman's pole :
Stocking'd with loads of fat town-dirt he goes;
And fome rogue-foldier, with his hob-nail'd shoes,
Indents his legs behind in bloody rows.
See with what smoke our doles we celebrate :
A hundred guests, invited, walk in state:
A hundred hungry flaves, with their Dutch kitchens wait.
Huge pans the wretches on their head muft bear,
Which scarce 9 gigantic Corbulo could rear :
Yet they must walk upright beneath the load;
Nay, run, and running blow the fparkling flames abroad.
Their coats, from botching newly brought, are torn.
Unwieldy timber-trees in waggons borne,
Stretch'd at their length, beyond their carriage lie;
That nod, and threaten ruin from on high.
For, fhould their axel break, its overthrow
Would crush, and pound to duft, the crowd below:
Nor friends their friends, nor fires their fons could know:.
Nor limbs, nor bones, nor carcass would remain :
But a mash'd heap, a hotchpotch of the flain,
One vast destruction; not the foul alone,
But bodies, like the foul, invifibly are flown.
Mean time, unknowing of their fellows fate,
The fervants wafh the platter, fcour the plate,
Then blow the fire, with puffing cheeks, and lay
The rubbers, and the bathing-fheets difplay:
And oil them firft; and each is handy in his way.
9 Gigantick Corbulo. Corbulo was a famous general in Nero's time who conquered Armenia, and was afterwards put to death by that tyrant, when he was in Greece, in reward of his great fervices. His ftature was not only tall, above the ordinary fize: but he was also proportionably strong.
But he, for whom this busy care they take,
Poor ghoft, is wand'ring by the Stygian lake:
Affrighted with the ferryman's grim face;
New to the horrors of that uncouth place;
His paffage begs with unregarded pray'r :
And wants two farthings to discharge his fare.
Return we to the dangers of the night;
And, firft, behold our houfes dreadful height:
From whence come broken potsherds tumbling down;
And leaky ware, from garret-windows thrown :
Well may they break our heads, that mark the flinty
'Tis want of sense to sup abroad too late;
Unless thou firft has fettled thy estate.
As many fates attend thy steps to meet,
As there are waking windows in the street.
Blefs the good Gods, and think thy chance is rare
To have a piss-pot only for thy fhare.
The fcouring drunkard, if he does not fight
Before his bed-time, takes no reft that night.
Paffing the tedious hours in greater pain
Than 2 ftern Achilles, when his friend was flain:
'Tis fo ridic'lous, but fo true withal,
A bully cannot fleep without a braul:
Yet tho' his youthful blood be fir'd with wine,
He wants not wit the danger to decline:
Is cautious to avoid the coach and fix,
And on the laquies will no quarrel fix.
His train of flambeaux, and embroider'd coat,
May privilege my lord to walk fecure on foot.
But me, who must by moon-light homeward bend,
Or lighted only with a candle's end,
The ferryman's, &c. Charon the ferry-man of hell, whofe fare.. was a half-penny for every foul.
2 Stern Achilles. The friend of Achilles was Patroclus, who was flain by Hector.
Poor me he fights, if that be fighting, where
He only cudgels, and I only bear.
He ftands, and bids me ftand: I must abide ;
For he's the ftronger, and is drunk befide.
Where did you whet your knife to-night, he cries,
And shred the leeks that in your ftomach rife?
Whose windy beans have ftuft your guts, and where
Have your black thumbs been dipt in vinegar?
With what companion-cobler have you fed,
On old ox-cheeks, or he-goats tougher head?
What, are you dumb? Quick, with your answer,quick,
Before my foot falutes you with a kick.
Say, in what nafty cellar under ground,
Or what church-porch, your roguefhip may be found?
Anfwer, or answer not, 'tis all the fame :
He lays me on, and makes me bear the blame,
Before the bar, for beating him you come;
This is a poor man's liberty in Rome.
You beg his pardon; happy to retreat
With fome remaining teeth, to chew your meat,
Nor is this all; for when retir'd, you think
To fleep fecurely; when the candles wink,
When ev'ry door with iron chains is barr'd,
And roaring taverns are no longer heard;
The ruffian robbers by no juftice aw'd,
And unpaid cut-throat foldiers, are abroad,
Thofe venal fouls, who harden'd in each ill,
To fave complaints and profecution, kill,
Chas'd from their woods and bogs, the padders come
To this vaft city, as their native home:
To live at cafe, and fafely kulk in Rome.
The forge in fetters only is employ'd;
Our iron mines exhausted and destroy'd
In fhackles; for these villains fcarce allow
Goads for the teams, and plough-fhares for the piough.
Oh happy ages of our ancestors,
Beneath 3 the kings and tribunitial powers!
One jail did all their criminals restrain ;
Which now the walls of Rome can scarce contain.
More I could fay, more causes I could show
For my departure; but the fun is low:
The waggoner grows weary of my stay;
And whips his horfes forwards on their way.
Farewel; and when like me o'erwhelm'd with care,
You to your own 4 Aquinum shall repair,
To take a mouthful of fweet country air,
Be mindful of your friend; and fend me word,
What joys your fountains and cool fhades afford:
Then, to affift your fatires, I will come;
And add new venom when you write of Rome.
3 Beneath the kings, &c. Rome was originally ruled by kings: till for the rape of Lucretia, Tarquin the Proud was expelled. After which it was governed by two confuls, yearly chofen; but they oppreffing the people, the commoners mutinied, and procured tribunes to be created, who defended their privileges, and often oppofed the confular authority, and the fenate.
4 Aquinum was the birth-place of Juvenal.
JUVENA L.
THE ARGUMENT.
This fatire, of almost double length to any of the reft, is a bitter invective against the fair fex. 'Tis indeed, a common place, from whence all the moderns have notoriously ftolen their fharpeft railleries. In his other fatires, the poet has only glanced on fome particular women, and generally fcourged the men. But this he referved wholly for the ladies. How they had offended him I know not: but upon the whole matter he is not to be excused for imputing to all, the vices of fome few among ft them. Neither was it generously done of him, to attack the weakest as well as the fairest part of the creation: neither do I know what moral he could reasonably draw from it. It could not be to avoid the whole fex, if all had been true which he alledges against them: for that had been to put an end to human kind. And to bid us beware of their artifices, is a kind of filent acknowledgment, that they have more wit than men which turns the fatire upon us, and particularly upon the poet; who thereby makes a compliment, where he meant a libel. If he intended only to exercise bis wit, he has forfeited his judgment, by making the one half of his readers his mortal enemies: and among ft the men, all the happy lovers, by their own experience, will difprove his accufations. The whole world must allow this to be the wittiest of his fatires; and truly he had need of all his parts, to maintain with so much violence, so unjust a charge. I am fatisfied he will bring but few over to his opinion: and on that confideration chiefly I ventured
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