Pacing in pomp,
with cloak of Tyrian dye,
Chang'd oft a day for needlefs luxury;
And finding oft occafion to be fan'd,
Ambitious to produce his lady-hand;
Charg'd with light fummer-rings his fingers
fweat,
Unable to fupport a gem of weight:
Such fulfom objects meeting every where,
"Tis hard to write, but harder to forbear.
To view fo lewd a town, and to refrain,
What hoops of iron could my fpleen contain !
When pleading Matho, borne abroad for air, 46
With his fat paunch fills his new-fashioned
chair,
And after him the wretch in pomp convey'd,
Whofe evidence his lord and friend betray'd,
And but the wifh'd occafion does attend
From the poor nobles the laft fpoils to rend,
Whom ev'n fpies dread as their fuperior fiend,.
And bribe with prefents; or, when presents
fail,
They fend their prostituted wives for bail:
When night-performance holds the place of me-
And brawn and back the next of kin disherit;
Ver. 40. Charg'd with light fummer-rings &c.] The Romans were grown fo effeminate in Juvenal's time, that they wore light rings in the fummer, and heavier in the winter.
Ver: 46. Matho,] A famous lawyer, mentioned in other places by Juvenal and Martial.
For fuch good parts are in preferment's way,
The rich old madam never fails to pay
Her legacies, by nature's standard giv'n,
One gains an ounce, another gains eleven: 60
A dear-bought bargain, all things duly weigh'd,
For which their thrice concocted blood is paid.
With looks as wan, as he who in the brake
At unawares has trod upon a fnake;
Or play'd at Lyons a declaiming prize,
For which the vanquish'd rhetorician dies.
What indignation boils within
my veins,
When perjur'd guardians, proud with impi-
ous gains,
Choak up the streets, too narrow for their trains!
Whose wards by want betray'd, to crimes are
Too foul to name, too fulfom to be read!
When he who pill'd his province fcapes the laws,
And keeps his money, though he loft his caufe:
His fine begg'd off, contemns his infamy,
Can rife at twelve, and get him drunk ere
Enjoys his exile, and, condemn'd in vain, Leaves thee, prevailing province, to complain !
at Lyons] A city in France, where annual facrifices and games were made in honour of Auguftus Cæfar.
Ver. 77. prevailing province, &c.] Here the poet complains that the governors of provinces being accused for their unjuft exactions, though they were condemned at their trials, yet got off by bribery.
Such villanies rous'd Horace into wrath:
And 'tis more noble to pursue his path,
Than an old tale of Diomede to repeat,
Or lab'ring after Hercules to fweat,
Or wand'ring in the winding maze of Crete;
Or with the winged fmith aloft to fly,
Or flutt'ring perish with his foolish boy.
With what impatience muft the Muse behold The wife, by her procuring husband fold? For though the law makes null th' adulterer's deed
Of lands to her, the cuckold may fucceed;
Who his taught eyes up to the cieling throws,
And fleeps all over but his wakeful nose.
When he dares hope a colonel's command,
Whofe courfers kept, ran out his father's land;
Who, yet a ftripling, Nero's chariot drove,
Whirl'd o'er the streets, while his vain master
ftrove
With boasted art to please his eunuch-love. 95
Would it not make a modeft author dare
To draw his table-book within the fquare,
Ver. 78. Horace] Who wrote fatires: 'tis more noble, fays our author, to imitate him in that way, than to write the labours of Hercules, the fufferings of Diomedes and his followers, or the flight of Dedalus who made the labyrinth, and the death of his fon Icarus.
his eunuch-love.] Nero married Sporus, an eunuch; though it may be the poet meant Nero's mistress in man's apparel.
And fill with notes, when lolling at his ease,
Mecænas-like, the happy rogue he fees
Born by fix weary'd flaves in open view, 100
Who cancell'd an old will, and forg'd a new ;
Made wealthy at the small expence of signin g
With a wet feal, and a fresh interlining?
The lady, next, requires a lashing line,
Who fqueez'd a toad into her husband's wine:
So well the fashionable med'cine thrives,
That now 'tis practis'd ev'n by country wives:
Pois'ning, without regard of fame or fear:
And spotted corps are frequent on the bier.
Wouldft thou to honours and preferments
climb?
Be bold in mischief, dare fome mighty crime, Which dungeons, death, or banishment deferves:
For virtue is but drily prais'd, and fterves. Great men, to great crimes, owe their plate emboft,
Fair palaces, and furniture of coft;
And high commands: a sneaking fin is loft.
Who can behold that rank old letcher keep
His fon's corrupted wife, and hope to fleep?
Ver. 99. Mecanas-like,] Mecænas is often tax'd by Seneca and others, for his effeminacy.
Ver. 118. and hope to fleep?] The meaning is, that the very confideration of fuch a crime, will hinder a virtuous man from taking his repose.
Or that male-harlot, or that unfledg'd boy,
Eager to fin, before he can enjoy ?
If nature could not, anger would indite
Such woeful ftuff as I or Shadwell write.
Count from the time, fince old Deucalion's
boat,
Rais'd by the flood, did on Parnaffus float;
And scarcely mooring on the cliff, implor'd 125
An oracle how man might be restor❜d;
When foften'd ftones and vital breath enfu'd,
And virgins naked were by lovers view'd ;
What ever fince that Golden Age was done,
What human kind defires, and what they fhun,
Rage, paffions, pleasures, impotence of will, 131
Shall this fatirical collection fill.
What age fo large a crop of vices bore,
Or when was avarice extended more?
When were the dice with more profufion thrown?
The well-fill'd fob not empty'd now alone, 136
But gamefters for whole patrimonies play;
The steward brings the deeds which must con-
The loft eftate: what more than madness reigns, When one short fitting many hundreds drains,
Ver. 123. Deucalion and Pyrrha, when the world was drowned, efcaped to the top of mount Parnaffus; and were commanded to restore mankind by throwing ftones over their heads: The ftones he threw became men, and those the threw became
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