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Now 7 Silius wants thy counfel, gives advice;
Wed Cæfar's wife, or die; the choice is nice.
Her comet-eyes fhe darts on ev'ry grace;
And takes a fatal liking to his face.
Adorn'd with bridal pomp fhe fits in ftate;
The public notaries and Arufpex wait:
The genial bed is in the garden dreft:
The portion paid, and ev'ry rite exprefs'd,
Which in a Roman marriage is profeft.
"Tis no ftol'n wedding, this, rejecting awe,
She fcorns to marry, but in form of law :
In this moot cafe, your judgment to refufe
Is prefent death, befides the night you lofe :
If you confent, 'tis hardly worth your pain;
A day or two of anxious life you gain :
Till loud reports thro' all the town have paft,
And reach the prince: for cuckolds hear the laft.
Indulge thy pleasure, youth, and take thy swing;
For not to take is but the self-fame thing:
Inevitable death before thee lies;

But looks more kindly thro' a lady's eyes.
What then remains? Are we depriv'd of will,
Muft we not wish, for fear of wishing ill?
Receive my counfel, and fecurely move;
Intruft thy fortune to the Pow'rs above.
Leave them to manage for thee, and to grant
What their unerring wisdom fees thee want:
In goodness as in greatness they excel;
Ah that we lov'd ourselves but half fo well!
We, blindly by our headstrong paffions led,
Are hot for action, and defire to wed;

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7 Meffalina, wife to the emperor Claudius, infamous for her lewdnefs. She fet her eyes upon C. Silius, a fine youth; forced him to quit his own wife, and marry her with all the formalities of a wedding, whilft Claudius Cæfar was facrificing at Hoftia. Upon his return, he put both Silius and her to death.

Then

Then with for heirs: but to the Gods alone

Our future offspring, and our wives, are known;
Th' audacious ftrumpet, and ungracious fon.
Yet not to rob the priests of pious gain,
That altars be not wholly built in vain ;
Forgive the Gods the reft, and stand confin'd
To health of body, and content of mind;
A foul, that can fecurely death defy,
And count it nature's privilege to die;
Serene and manly, harden'd to fuftain
The load of life, and exercis'd in pain :
Guiltless of hate, and proof against defire;
That all things weighs, and nothing can admire
That dares prefer the toils of Hercules
To dalliance, banquet, and ignoble ease.

The path to peace is virtue: what I show,
Thyfelf may freely on thyself bestow :
Fortune was never worship'd by the wife;
But, fet aloft by fools, ufurps the fkies.

}

THE

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The poet in this fatire, proves, that the condition of a foldier is much better than that of a country-man: first, because a country-man, however affronted, provoked, and ftruck himfelf, dares not frike 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, he is also affured to have afpeedy bearing, and quick dispatch: whereas the townsman 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 bis 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 Juvenal, when he was a commander in Egypt: it is certainly his, though I think it not finished. And if it be well observed, you will find be intended an invective against a standing

army.

WH

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 fhe would prefer
My fuit, and own the kindness done to her.

}

I Juno was mother to Mars the god of war: Venus was his mistress.

See

See what our common privileges are:
As, first, no faucy citizen fhall dare
To ftrike a foldier, nor when ftruck, refent
The wrong, for fear of farther punishment:
Not tho' his teeth are beaten out, his eyes
Hang by a ftring, in bumps his forehead rife,
Shall he prefume to mention his difgrace,
Or beg amends for his demolish'd face.
A booted judge shall fit to try his cause,
Not by the ftatute, but by martial laws;
Which old 2 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 caufe fhould hear:
And taking cognizance of wrongs receiv'd,
An honeft man may hope to be reliev'd.
So far 'tis well: but with a gen❜ral cry,
The regiment will rife in mutiny,
The freedom of their fellow-rogue demand,
And, if refus'd, will threaten to difband.
Withdraw thy action, and depart in peace;
The remedy is worse than the disease:
This caufe is worthy 3 him, who in the hall
Would for his fee, and for his client, bawl:

But would't thou, friend, who hast two legs alone,
(Which, heav'n be prais'd, thou yet mayft call thy own)
Wouldst thou to run the gantlet these expose

To a whole company of 4 hob-nail'd shoes ?

2 Camillus (who being first banished, by his ungrateful countrymen the Romans, afterwards returned, and freed them from the Gauls,) made a law which prohibited the foldiers from quarrelling without the camp, left upon that pretence they might happen to be abfent, when they ought to be on duty.

3 This caufe is worthy him, &c. The poet names a Modenese lawyer whom he calls Vagellius: who was fo impudent that he would plead any caufe, right or wrong, without fhame or fear.

4

Hob-nail'd fhoes. The Roman foldiers wore plates of iron under

their fhoes, or ftuck them with nails; as countrymen do now.

Sure

Sure the good-breeding of wife citizens

}

Should teach 'em more good-nature to their fhins.
Befides whom canft thou think fo 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 rifen from the grave;
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 witnefs 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 flanding army's perquifites.
If 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 pray'r,
And 5 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 fome new delay :

5 Land-marks were ufed by the Romans almoft in the fame manner as now: And as we go once a year in proceffion, about the bounds of parishes, and renew them, fo they offered cakes upon the ftone, or land-mark.

Perhaps

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