Adult'rers are with dangers round befet; Born under Mars, they cannot 'scape the net; And from revengeful husbands oft have try'd Worfe handling, than fevereft laws provide: One ftabs; one flashes; one, with cruel art, Makes Colon fuffer for the peccant part.

But your Endymion, your smooth, smock'd-
fac'd boy,

Unrivall'd, fhall a beauteous dame enjoy:
Not fo: one more falacious, rich, and old,
Outbids, and buys her pleasure for her gold:

Now he must moil, and drudge, for one he loaths:

She keeps him high, in equipage and clothes: pawns her jewels, and her rich attire,

She

And thinks the workman worthy of his hire:
In all things else immoral, ftingy, mean;
But, in her lufts, a confcionable quean.

She may be handfom, yet be chafte, you
fay;

Good obfervator, not fo faft away:

Did it not coft the modeft youth his life,

Who fhunn'd th' embraces of his father's wife?

And was not t'other ftrippling forced to fly,
Who coldly did his patron's queen deny;
And pleaded laws of hofpitality?

་་

The ladies charg'd 'em home, and turn'd the tale; With fhame they redden'd, and with spight grew. pale.

'Tis dang'rous to deny the longing dame;
She lofes pity, who has lost her fhame.

Now 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 drest:
The portion paid, and ev'ry rite express'd,
Which in a Roman marriage, is profest.
'Tis no ftol'n wedding, this, rejecting awe,
She scorns to marry, but in form of law:
In this moot cafe, your judgment: to refufe
Is prefent death, befides the night you lofe:
you confent, 'tis hardly worth your pain;
A day or two of anxious life you gain:

If

Till loud reports thro all the town have past, And reach the prince: for cuckolds hear the

laft.

Indulge thy pleasure, youth, and take thy fwing; For not to take is but the felf-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 wifh, for fear of wishing ill? Receive my counsel, 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 ourfelves but half fo well! We, blindly by our headstrong paffions led, Are hot for action, and defire to wed; 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 sustain The load of life, and exercis'd in pain : Guiltless of hate, and proof against desire; 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,
Thyself may freely on thyself bestow:
Fortune was never worthipp'd by the wife;
But, fet aloft by fools, ufurps the skies.

THE

SIXTEENTH SATIRE

OF

JUVENAL,

THE ARGUMENT.

The poet in this fatire, proves, that the condition of a foldier is much better than that of a countryman: first, because a country-man, however affronted, provoked, and struck himself, dares not ftrike 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 alfo affured to have a speedy bearing, and quick dispatch: whereas, the townfman 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 also privileged to make a will, and to give away his 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 Ju