The satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis translated into English verse by Mr. Dryden and several other eminent hands ; together with the satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus, made English by Mr. Dryden ; with explanatory notes at the end of each satire ; to which is prefix'd a discourse concerning the original and progress of satire ... by Mr. Dryden.

THE TWELFTH SATYR.

THis Day's, this joyful Day's Solemnity Does with my Birth-Days more than equal vi••▪ Of Grassy Turves the rural Altars rear'd, Expect the Firstlings of the Flock, and Heard; To Royal 1 1.1 Iuno, and the War-like Maid, Shall in a Lamb to each my Vows be paid; A Steer, of the first Head in the whole Drove, Reserve we Sacred to 2 1.2 Tarpeian Iove: Forward he bounds his Rope's extended length, With pushing front; proud since he try'd his strength,Line 10 And budding Horns against an adverse Oak; Fit for the Altar, and the Fatal Stroke. Were but my Fortunes equal to my Mind, My bounteous Love more Nobly had design'd, A Bull high fed shou'd fall the Sacrifice; One of 3 1.3 Hispulla's huge prodigious size: Not one of those our Neighb'ring Pastures feed, But of 4 1.4 Clitumnus whitest, Sacred breed; The lively tincture of whose gushing Blood Shou'd clearly prove the Richness of his Food:Line 20

A Neck so strong, so large, as wou'd demand The speeding blow of some 5 1.5 uncommon hand.

This for my Friend, or more I wou'd perform; Who, danger free, still trembles at the Storm, Presenting Forms so hideous to his sight, As safety scarce allays the wild affright.

First from a Cloud, that Heaven all o'recast, With glance so swift the subtle Lightning past As split the Sail-Yards; trembling, and half Dead Each thought the blow was level'd at his Head:Line 30 The flaming Shrouds so dreadful did appear, All judg'd a wreck cou'd no proportion bear. So Fancy paints, so does the Poet write, When he wou'd work a Tempest to the height. This danger past, a second does succeed; Again with pity, and attention heed: No less this second, tho' of diff'rent kind; Such as, in 6 1.6 Isis Temple, you may find On votive Tablets, to the Life pourtray'd; Where Painters are employ'd, and earn their Bread.Line 40 What Painters in their liveli'st Draughts express, May be a Copy of my Friend's distress. For now a Sea into the Hold was got; Wave upon Wave another Sea had wrought, And nigh o're-set the Stern on either side: The Hoary Pilot his best skill appl'yd;

But useless all when he despairing found, Catullus then did with the Winds compound. Just as the 7 1.7 Beaver, that wise thinking Brute, Who, when hard hunted on a close pursuit,Line 50 Bites off his Stones, the cause of all the strife, And pays 'em down a Ransom for his Life. Over with all, he Cries, with all that's mine; Without reserve I freely all resign. Rich Garments, Purple dy'd in Grain, go o're; No soft 8 1.8 Mecaenas ever choicer wore: And others of that Fleece, that never dy'd, Or stain'd by Art, is Rich in Nature's Pride; Such, as its Tincture from the Soil does bear▪ By noble Springs improv'd, and 9 1.9 Boetick Air.Line 60 Nor stopt he so, but over went his Plate Made by 10 1.10 Parthenius, follow'd by a great And Massy Goblet, a two Gallon draught, Might set a thirsty Centaur when he quaft, Or drench the Wife of 11 1.11 Fuscus: Add to these Baskets of 12 1.12 Brittain, Rarities of Greece, A set of Plate most artfully imbost, No less a Bribe than what 13 1.13 Olynthus cost. Shew me the Man, that other he, wou'd dare His very Life and Soul to Gold prefer:Line 70 Now Money serves not Life's most Noble Ends, But slavish Life imperious Wealth attends. Thus most of the Ship's Freight went over Board, Yet all this Wast cou'd small Relief afford;

So fierce the Storm▪ Necessity at last Does loudly call to ease her of her Mast: Hard is the Case, and Dang'rous the Distress, When what we wou'd preserve, we must make less. Go now, go trust the Wind's uncertain breath, Remov'd four Fingers from approaching Death;Line 80 Or seven at most, when thickest is the board: Go with Provision, Bisket, Brandy stor'd; But if you reasonably hope to speed, You must produce your Ax in time of need. Now when the Sea grew Calm, the Winds were laid, And the pleas'd 16 1.14 Parcae spun a whiter Thread; When Fate propitious sent a gentle Gale; The shatter'd Vessel, with one wretched Sail, Beside what Gowns and Coats her Crew cou'd lend To help her on her Course, did homeward bend:Line 90 The South-Wind less'ning still, the Sun appears; And into lively Hope converts their fears: And now, in prospect sweet, his chearful light The 17 1.15 Alban Cliffs confesses to their sight; Where Alba's Pile Iulus founding rear'd, When to Lavinium he that Seat preferr'd; And call'd it Alba, from the white Sow nam'd, That for her Thirty Sucking Pigs was fam'd. At last within the mighty Mole she gets, Our 18 1.16 Tuscan Pharos, that the mid Sea meetsLine 100 With its imbrace, and leaves the Land behind: A Work so wond'rous Nature ne're design'd.

Through it the joyful Steers-Man clears his way, And comes to Anchor in its inmost Bay; Where smallest Vessels ride▪ and are secur'd, And the 19 1.17 Shorn Saylors boast what they endur'd.

Go then, my Boys, the Sacred Rites prepare; With awful silence and attention hear: With Bran the Knives, with Flow'rs the Altars dress▪ And in your Diligence your Zeal express.Line 110 I'll follow streight, and, having paid my Vows, Thence home again, where Chaplets wreath the brows Of all my little Wa••••n D••iti••s; And Incense shall Domestick Iove appease: My shining Houshold Gods shall revel there▪ And all the Colours of the Violet wear. All's right; my P••rtal shines with verdant Bays▪ And Consecrated 〈◊〉〈◊〉 early blaze.

Suspect me 〈◊〉〈◊〉, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of Design, Far 〈…〉〈…〉 from any Thought of mine:Line 120 My Altars 〈◊〉〈◊〉 not for so ••ase an end, Catullus, tho' a Father, is my Friend, And his three Children 〈◊〉〈◊〉 a Foreign Claim. Who on a Friend so hopeless, such a Name As Father, wou'd a 〈◊〉〈◊〉 He•• bestow? Or on such 〈…〉〈…〉 a Quail forego? If 20 1.18 Paccius or 〈…〉〈…〉 a Vei••, The Temples streigh•• are 〈◊〉〈◊〉 with a Train

Of fawning Rascals, utt'ring each his Pray'r; Nothing's too precious for a Life so dear:Line 130 A Hecatomb is scarce enough to bleed: And but an Elephant's no common Breed, Nor seen, nor known in Italy, before They were Transported from the Africk Shore; Since which, in the Ru••ilian Forrest rear'd, They range at large, great Caesar's Royal Heard▪ As once they learnt King Pyrr••us to obey; And with Submission to our Consuls sway, Or Tyrian Hannibal's, part of the War In Turrets on their Backs they us'd to bear:Line 140 Cou'd Novius or 21 1.19 Pacuvius but procure These Iv'ry 22 1.20 Portents, Death shou'd seal 'em sure A Victim for Gallita; nothing less The greatness of their Friendship can express. Pacuvius, were he not by Law withstood, Wou'd manifest his own in Humane Blood; The best, the loveliest Slaves of either Sex, To serve his Complement, shou'd yield their Necks: Nay to that height the wicked Rogue proceeds, His 23 1.21 Iphigenia, his Daughter, bleedsLine 150 If need require; tho he was sure to find No Dext'rous slight to change her for a Hind. My Fellow Citizen I must commend, For what's a Fleet to a bequeathing Friend? For, if he chance to scape this dismal bout, The former Legatees are blotted out;

Upon Pacuvius all must be conferr'd; So great a Merit claims no less Reward: Pacuvius struts it, and triumphant goes In the dejected Crowd of Rival Foes:Line 160 You see the Fruit of his projecting Brain, In off'ring up his Daughter to his Gain.

As great as 24 1.22 Nero's Plunder be his Store; High, Mountain high, be pil'd the shining Ore; Then may he Life to 25 1.23 Nestor's Age extend, Nor ever be, nor ever find a Friend.

The End of the Twelfth Satyr.

Notes

• 1 1.1

  The Queen of the Gods; so call'd by the Poets, as being Wife to Iupiter, who was the Supream Deity of the Greeks and Romans. By the Warlike Maid, is meant Pallas or Minerva, the Goddess of Learning and War. They had their peculiar Sacrifices appointed them in the Rituals or Books of Ceremonies of the Anti∣ents: White Bulls were offered to Iupiter; white Cows to Iuno and Minerva. The Poet, tho' not able to undergo the Charge of so great a Sacrifice, yet willing to shew his Devotion, and pay his Vow for his Friend's safe arrival, proportionable to his Estate, offers to Iuno an Ewe∣lamb, another to Minerva, and to Iupiter a young Bullock.
• 2 1.2

  On Mount Capitol, otherwise call'd the Tarpeian Hill, from the Ves••al Virgin Tarpeia that betray'd it to the Sabines, Iupiter had a Temple, whence he was Nam'd Tarpeian and Capito∣line.
• 3 1.3

  A Fat sensual Lady, noted as infamous for keeping a Player. Sat. 6.
• 4 1.4

  〈◊〉〈◊〉 A River that divides Tuscany and Vmbria, whose Water, as Pliny relates, makes the Cows, that drink of it, calve their young White: Whence the Romans, as Virgil and Claudian observe, were plen∣tifully furnisht with Sacrifices for Iupiter Capitoline.
• 5 1.5

  The grandis minister of Iuvenal, some inter∣pret in a sense referring to the Quality of the Person, as if the Chief Pontif, and not one of the Popa's, or ordinary Officers, was to give the blow: But as it is unseemly to make the Chief Pontif descend to so mean an Office; so it is more probable the Poet meant not the Dig∣nity, but the size and strength of the Person.
• 6 1.6

  The Aegyptian Goddess, lookt upon by Merchants and Seamen as their Patroness; to whom they made their Vows in their extremity. The Custom was for those that escap'd to hang up on the Walls of her Temple the Picture of a Wreck or Storm, which was call'd a Votive Table; and her Votaries, it seems, were so numerous, that she was forc'd to employ a whole Company of Painters in her Service.
• 7 1.7

  A proper Simile, and good Moral allusion, but the Ground is wholly fabulous; and has experimentally been prov'd so by Sestius a Physitian, as it stands related by Pliny. Dr. Brown, in his Book of Vulgar Errors, says, that the Testicles, properly so call'd, are ••eat∣ed inwardly upon the Loins; and therefore it were not only a fruitless attempt, but an impossible Act, to castrate it self: And might be an hazardous Practice of Art, if at all attempted by others.
• 8 1.8

  Augustus his great Favourite; and Patron to Virgil and Horace. Iuvenal here taxes him of being over soft and delicate; which Horace has done too, tho' covertly, and under another Name.
• 9 1.9

  In Boetick Spain (now Andaluzia and the best part of Granada) the Sheeps Fleeces are naturally of a colour betwixt Red and Black, resembling the Purple Dye, which the Antients imputed to the goodness of the Air and the Soil: And they put a great value on it, as we do now on the Spanish Wool for its fineness.
• 10 1.10

  A great Master in the Art of Graving.
• 11 1.11

  Fuscus was a Judge, mention'd in the last Satyr, noted by Martial for a Drunkard; as his Wife is here by Iu∣venal in the good Company of Pholus the Centaur.
• 12 1.12

  Baskets of Brittain, Bascauda, the British word for a Basket, was by the Romans made Latin. They so much fancied the Baskets of our Island, that they would claim the Invention to themselves. Mart. Lib. 14.

  Barbara de Pictis veni Bascauda Britannis, Sed me jam mavult dicere Roma suam.

  From British Picts the barb'rous Basket came, But now Rome gladly wou'd th' invention claim.
• 13 1.13

  A strong fortify'd City of Thrace, not to be taken by a Storm or Siege. Philip of Macedon made a considerable Present of Plate to Lasthenes, who was intrusted with the Government of it by the Athenians; and he, being corrupted with so great a Bribe, treacherously surrender'd it to Philip.
• 16 1.14

  The Destinies; they were three Sisters, Clotho, La∣chesis and Atropos perpetually employ'd in Spinning: If the Thread, they Spun, was White; it was a sign of Life and Prosperity: If Black; of Death and Adversity.
• 17 1.15

  Near them was built Alba Longa by Ascanius, who left his Step-Mother Lavinia, in the City of Lavinium, built by his Fa∣ther Aeneas, and call'd by her Name. Ascanius call'd his own City Longa from the long Form of it, and Alba from the White Sow with Thirty Pigs Sucking her, that was seen by the Trojans, a little after their Landing; and where the City was built according to the Command of the Oracle. Virg.
• 18 1.16

  Pharos was a Port in Aegypt famous for its Watch-Tower, wherein were plac'd Lights for the benefit and direction of Saylers by Night: Iuvenal calls the Port of Ostia, where Tiber disburthens its self into the Sea, the Tuscan Pharos: It was design'd by Augustus after the Model of that in Aegypt: Claudius Caesar, as Suetonius says, carried on, and finisht the Mole, with vast labour and charges▪ having for eleven years together kept 30000 Men at work upon it. It was afterward repair'd by Trajan.
• 19 1.17

  It was a Custom among the Ancients, when in Distress at Sea, to invoke the aid of some God or other, with a solemn Vow of cutting off their Hair, and offering it to him, as an acknow∣ledgment to whose assistance they ow'd their safety. To this St Paul probably alludes. Act. 27. 34. There shall not an Hair of your Head perish: As if he had said; they shou'd not need to vow their Hair; for without such a Vow, and the performance of it, they shou'd all escape.
• 20 1.18

  Two rich Men, both of them Childless; which made the Heraedipetae or Legacy-Hunters present them, and ply them with Gift upon Gift; in hopes to be considered in their Will. Ta∣citus makes mention of them both: The first he calls African; the o∣ther Cruspilina.
• 21 1.19

  Two crafty designing Knaves, visiters of the Sick Gallita or Paccius.
• 22 1.20

  Elephants so call'd from their stupendious bigness; and Ivory Teeth.
• 23 1.21

  The Story in short is this. The Graecian Fleet ly∣ing Wind-bound at Aulis, the Oracle was consulted, and Answer re∣turn'd; no Wind could be had for their purpose, unless Agamemnon, Commander in chief in the Expedition, would offer up his Daughter Iphigenia to appease Diana's anger, that was offended with the Greeks for killing an Hind Consecrated to her. Agamemnon, for the publick good, brings his Daughter to the Altar; but the Goddess, relenting, con∣vey'd her away to the Taurick Chersonese, and substituted an Hind in her place. The application of this to Pacuvius is obvious enough.
• 24 1.22

  The prodigious Sums he extorted from the Provinces by unreasonable Taxes, Confiscations, &c. are almost incre∣dible. He gave no Office without this charge: Thou knowest what I want, let us make it our business, that no body may have any thing.
• 25 1.23

  Grown now to a Proverb: Who liv'd, as Homer says, to compleat the third Age of Man. The word Age is an equivo∣cal Term, and diversly taken by many; but if we take it in its full ex∣tent, as it comprehends an hundred years, it will serve very well Iu∣venal's purpose.