concerning his luft, his drunkenness, and his effeminacy, which had not yet arrived to public notice. He alfo reprehends the fiattery of his courtiers, who endeavoured to make all his vices pass for virtues. Covetousness was undoubtedly none of his faults; but it is here defcribed as a veil caft over the true meaning of the poet, which was to fatirize his prodigality and voluptuousness; to which he makes a tranfition. I find no inftance in hiftory of that emperor's being a Pathique, though Perfius feems to brand him with it. From the two dialogues of Plato, both called ALCIBIADES, the poet took the arguments of the Second and third fatires, but he inverted the order of them: for the third fatire is taken from the first of thofe dialogues,

The commentators before Cafaubon, were ignorant of our author's fecret meaning; and thought he had only written against young noblemen in general, who were too forward in aspiring to public magistracy: but this excellent fcholiaft has unravelled the whole mystery; and made it apparent, that the fting of this fatire was particularly aimed

at Nero.

WHOE'ER thou art, whofe forward years

are bent

On ftate-affairs, to guide the government;
Hear, firft, what Socrates of old has faid
To the lov'd youth, whom he, at Athens, bred.

Ver. 3. Socrates, whom the oracle of Delphos praised, as

Tell me, thou pupil to great Pericles, Our fecond hope, my Alcibiades,

5

What are the grounds, from whence thou doft

prepare

To undertake, fo young, fo vaft a care? Perhaps thy wit: (a chance not often heard, That parts and prudence fhould prevent the beard :)

"Tis feldom feen, that fenators fo young

10

Know when to speak, and when to hold their tongue.

15

Sure thou art born to fome peculiar fate;
When the mad people rise against the state,
To look them into duty and command
An awful filence with thy lifted hand.
Then to bespeak 'em thus: Athenians, know
Against right reason all your counfels go;
This is not fair; nor profitable that;
Nor t'other question proper for debate.
But thou, no doubt, can'ft fet the business
right,

And give each argument its proper weight:

20

the wifeft man of his age, lived in the time of the Peloponnefian war. He, finding the uncertainty of natural philofophy, applied himself wholly to the moral. He was mafter to Xeno

phon and Plato, and to many of the Athenian young noblemen; amongst the reft, to Alcibiades, the moft lovely youth then living; afterwards a famous captain, whofe life is written by Plu tarch.

Ver. 5. Pericles was tutor, or rather overfeer of the will of Clinias, father to Alcibiades. While Pericles lived, who was a wife man, and an excellent orator, as well as a great general, the Athenians had the better of the war.

Know'ft, with an equal hand, to hold the fcale:

Seeft where the reasons pinch, and where they fail,

And where exceptions o'er the general rule

prevail.

And, taught by inspiration, in a trice,

25

Can't punish crimes, and brand offending vice. Leave, leave to fathom fuch high points as

thefe,

30

Nor be ambitious, e'er thy time, to please:
Unfeasonably wife, till age, and cares,
Have form'd thy foul, to manage great affairs.
Thy face, thy fhape, thy outfide, are but

vain ;

Thou haft not ftrength fuch labours to fuftain:

Drink hellebore, my boy, drink deep, and purge thy brain.

What aim'ft thou at, and whither tends

thy care,

In what thy utmost good? Delicious fare;
And, then, to fun thyself in open air.

35

Ver. 27. Can't punish crimes, &c.] That is, by death. When the judges would condemn a malefactor, they caft their votes into an urn, as, according to the modern cuftom, a ballottingbox. If the fuffrages were marked with they fignified the fen tence of death to the offender, as being the first letter of ☺ávalos, which in English is death.

Ver. 34. Drink hellebore, &c.] The poet would fay, that fuch an ignorant young man, as he here defcribes, is fitter to be governed himself, than to govern others. He therefore advifes him to drink hellebore, which purges the brain.

Hold, hold; are all thy empty wishes fuch? A good old woman would have faid as much. But thou art nobly born: 'tis true; go boast 40 Thy pedigree, the thing thou valuest moft: Befides thou art a beau: what's that, my child? A fop well dreft, extravagant, and wild: She, that cries herbs, has lefs impertinence ; And, in her calling, more of common fense. 45 None, none defcends into himself, to find The fecret imperfections of his mind : But every one is eagle-eyed, to fee Another's faults, and his deformity.

Say, doft thou know Vectidius? Who, the

wretch

50

Whofe lands beyond the Sabines largely stretch; Cover the country, that a failing kite

Can fcarce o'er fly 'em, in a day and night;

Him doft thou mean, who, fpight of all his ftore,

Is ever craving, and will ftill be poor?

55

Who cheats for half-pence, and who doffs his

coat,

To fave a farthing in a ferry-boat?

Ever a glutton, at another's coft,

But in whofe kitchen dwells perpetual frost?

Ver. 50. Say, doft thou know Vectidius? &c.] The name of Vectidius is here ufed appellatively to fignify any rich covetous man; though perhaps there might be a man of that name then living. I have tranflated this paffage paraphraftically, and loofely and leave it for thofe to look on, who are not unlike the picture.

61

Who eats and drinks with his domeftic flaves;
A verier hind than any of his knaves?
Born with the curfe and anger of the gods,
And that indulgent genius he defrauds?
At harveft-home, and on the fheering-day,
When he fhould thanks to Pan and Pales
pay,
And better Ceres; trembling to approach 66
The little barrel, which he fears to broach:
He 'fays the wimble, often draws it back,
And deals to thirsty fervants but a smack.
To a fhort meal he makes a tedious grace,
Before the barley-pudding comes in place:
Then, bids fall on; himself, for faving charges,
A peel'd flic'd onion eats, and tipples verjuice.
Thus fares the drudge: but thou, whofe
life's a dream

70

75

Of lazy pleafures, tak'ft a worfe extream.
'Tis all thy business, business how to fhun;
To bask thy naked body in the fun ;
Suppling thy ftiffen'd joints with fragrant oil:
Then, in thy fpacious garden, walk a while,
To fuck the moisture up, and soak it in : 80
And this, thou think'ft, but vainly think'ft, un-
feen.

Ver. 65. When he should thanks &c.] Pan the god of fhepherds, and Pales the goddess prefiding over rural affairs, whom Virgil invocates in the beginning of his fecond Georgic. I give the epithet of better to Ceres, because the firft taught the use of corn for bread, as the poets tell us; men, in the first rude ages, feeding only on acorns, or maft, inftead of bread.