From thence hot pepper, and rich drugs they bear,
Bart'ring for spices their Italian ware ;
The lazy glutton safe at home will keep,
Indulge his floth, and batten with his fleep:
One bribes for high preferments in the state ;
A second takes the box, and sits up

late :
Another makes the bed, diffolving there,
Till knots upon his gouty joints appear,
And chalk is in his crippled fingers found;
Rots like a doddard oak, and piecemeal falls to ground;
Then his lewd follies he would late repent;
And his past years, that in a mift were spent.

PERSIU s.
But thou art pale, in nightly studies, grown,
To make the. I ftoick institutes thy own :
Thou long with ftudious care haft tillid our youth,
And rown our well-purg'd ears with wholsome truth.
From thee both old and young, with profit learn
The bounds of good and evil to discern.

CORNUT US.
Unhappy he who does this work adjourn,
And to 10-morrow would the search delay :
His lazy morrow will be like to-day.

PERSIUs.
But is one day of eale too much to borrow?

CORNUT U S.
Yes, sure : for yesterday was once to-morrow.
That yefterday is gone, and nothing gaind:
And all thy fruitless days will thus be drain’d;
For thou hast more to-morrows yet to ask,
And wilt be ever to begin thy task ;
Who, like the hindmost chariot-wheels, art curft,
Still to be near, but ne'er to reach the first.

I Zcno was the great master of the stoick philofophy; and Cleanthes was second to him in reputation : Cornutus, who was mafter os tuor to Perfius, was of ihe same school.

331 O freedom ! first delight of human kind! Not that which bondmen from their masters find, The 2 privilege of doles : not yet t’inscribe Their names in 3 this or t’other Roman tribe: That falle enfranchisement with ease is found: Slaves are 4 madu citizens by turning round. How, replies one, can any be more free? Here's Dama, once a groom of low degree, Not worth a farthing, and a lot beside; So true a rogue, for lying's fake he ly'd : But, with a turn, a freeman he became; Now 5 Marcus Dama is his worship's name. Good Gods! who would refuse to lend a sum, If wealthy Marcus furety will become! Marcus is made a judge, and for a proof. Of certain truth, He said it, is enough. A will is to be prov’d; put in your claim; 'Tis clear, if 6 Marcus has fubscrib'd his name. This is 7 true liberty, as I believe; What can we farther from our caps receive, Than as we please without controul to live ? Not more to 8 noble Brutus could belong. Hold, says the Stoick, your affumption's wrong:

} }

}

I grant true freedom you have well defin'd:
Bat, living as you lift, and to your mind,
And loosely tack’d, all must be left behind,
What since the prætor did my fetters loose,
And left me freely at my own dispose,
May I not live without controul and awe,
Excepting still the 9 letter of the law ?

Hear me with patience while thy mind I free
From those fond notions of false liberty :
'Tis not the prætor's province to bestow
True freedom ; nor to teach mankind to know
What to ourselves, or to our friends we owe.
He cou'd not set thee free from cares and strife,
Nor give the reins to a lewd vicious life:
As well he for an ass a harp might Atring,
Which is against the reason of the thing;
For reason ftill is whisp'ting in your ear,
Where you are sure to fail, th' attempt

forbear.
No need of public sanctions this to bind,
Which nature has implanted in the mind:
Not to pursue the work, to which we're not design'd.

Unkill'd in hellebore, it thou shouldst try To mix it, and mistake the quantity, The rules of physic wou'd against thee cry. The high-shoo'd ploughman, shou'd he quit the land, To take the pilot's rudder in his hand, Artless of ftars, and of the moving fand, The Gods wou'd leave him to the waves and wind, And think all shame was lost in human kind.

Tell me, my friend, from whence hadft thou the skill, So nicely to distinguish good from ill? Os by the found to judge of gold and brass, What piece is tinkers metal, what will pass ?

}

9 The text of the Roman laws, was written in red letters, which las called the rubrick ; translated here, in more general words, • The letter of the law.”

And

And what thou art to follow, what to fly,
This to condemn, and that to ratify ?
When to be bountiful, and when to spare,
But never craving, or oppress’d with care ?
The baits of gifts, and money to despise,
And look on wealth with undefiring eyes?
When thou can'ít truly call these virtues thine,
Be wise and free, by heaven's consent, and mine,

But thou, who lately of the common strain,
Wert one of us, if still thou dost retain
The same ill habits, the same foilies too,
Glofs'd over only with a saint-like show,
Then I resume the freedom which I

gave,
Still thou art bound to vice, and still a slave.
Thou can'ft not wag thy finger, or begin
“ The least light motion, but it tends to fin.”

How's this ? Not wag my finger, he replies ?
No, friend ; nor fuming gums, nor sacrifice,
Can ever make a madman free, or wise,
6. Virtue and i vice are never in one foul :
“ A man is wholly wise, or wholly is a fool.”
A heavy bumpkin, taught with daily care,
Can never dance three steps with a becoming air.

PERSIUS.
In spight of this, my freedom ftill remains.

CORNUTU S.
Free! what, and fetter'd with so many chains ?
Canft thou no other master understand
Than 2 him that freed thee by the prætor's wand ?
Should he, who was thy lord, command thee now,
With a harth voice, and supercilious brow,

}

To servile duties, thou would it fear no more ;
The gallows and the whip are out of door.
But if thy passions lord it in thy breaft,
Art thou not still a slave, and still opprest ?
Whether alone, or in thy harlot’s lap,
When thou wouldft take a lazy morning's nap;
Up, up, says Avarice ; thou snor'it again,
Stretchest thy limbs, and yawn'ft, but all in vain ;
The tyrant Lucre no denial takes ;
At his command th’unwilling sluggard wakes :
What must I do? he cries : What ? says his lord :
Why rise, make ready, and go ftreight aboard :
With fish, from Euxine seas, thy vessel freight;
Flax, castor, Coan wines, the precious weight
Of pepper, and Sabæan incense, take
With thy own hands, from the tir'd camel's back:
And with post-hafte thy running markets make.
Be sure to turn the penny ; lye and swear ;
'Tis wholsome fin : but Jove, thou fay'it, will hear:
Swear, fool, or ftarve; for the dilemma's even :
A tradesman thou! and hope to go to heav'n?

Resolv'd for sea, the slaves thy baggage pack,
Each faddled with his burden on his back :
Nothing retards thy voyage, now, unless
Thy other lord forbids, Voluptuousness :
And he may ask this civil question : Friend,
What doft thou make a shipboard ? to what end?
Art thou of Bethlem's noble college free?
Stark, staring mad, that thou wouldft tempt the sea ?
Cubb'd in a cabbin, on a mattress laid,
On a brown george, with lowfy swobbers fed,
Dead wine, that stinks of the borrachio, fup
From a foul jack, or greasy maple-cup?
Say, wouldst thou bear all this, to raise thy store
From fix i'th' hundred, to fix hundred more?
Indulge, and to thy genius freely give;
For, not to live at ease, is not to live ;