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 SIXTH SATYR.

To Caesius Bassus, a Lyrick Poet.

HAS Winter caus'd thee, Friend, to change thy Seat, And seek, in 1 1.1 Sabine Air, a warm retreat? Say, do'st thou yet the Roman Harp command? Do the Strings Answer to thy Noble hand? Great Master of the Muse, inspir'd to Sing The Beauties of the first Created Spring; The Pedigree of Nature to rehearse; And sound the Maker's Work, in equal Verse: Now, 2 1.2 sporting on thy Lyre, the Loves of Youth, Now Virtuous Age, and venerable Truth:Line 10 Expressing justly, Sapho's wanton Art Of Odes; and Pindar's more Majestick part••

For me, my warmer Constitution wants More cold, than our Ligurian Winter grants; And, therefore, to my Native Shores retir'd, I view the Coast old Ennius once admir'd; Where Clifts on either side their points display; And, after, opening in an ampler way, Afford the pleasing Prospect of the Bay.

'Tis worth your while, O Romans, to regardLine 20 The Port of Luna; says our Learned Bard: Who, in 3 1.3 a Drunken Dream, beheld his Soul The Fifth within the Transmigrating roul: Which first a Peacock, then Euphorbus was, Then Homer next, and next Pythagoras; And last of all the Line did into Enniu•• pass.

Secure and free from Business of the State; And more secure of what the vulgar Prate, Here I enjoy my private Thoughts; nor care What Rots for Sheep the Southern Winds prepare:Line 30 Survey the Neighb'ring Fields, and not repine, When I behold a larger Crop than mine: To see a Beggar's Brat in Riches flow, Adds not a Wrinckle to my even Brow; Nor, envious at the sight, will I forbear My plentious Bowl, nor bate my bounteous Cheer. Nor yet unseal the Dregs of Wine that st••nk Of Cask; nor in a nasty Flaggon Drink; Let others stuff their Guts with homely fare; For Men of diff'rent Inclinations are,Line 40 Tho born, perhaps, beneath one co••••on Stat. In minds and manners Twins oppos'd ••e ••ee In the same Sign, almost the same Degree: One, Frugal, on his Birth-Day fears to dine: Does at a Penny's co••t in Herbs repine, And hardly dares to dip his Fingers in the Brine.

Prepar'd as Priest of his own Rites, to stand, He sprinkles Pepper with a sparing hand. His Jolly Brother, opposite in sence, Laughs at his Thrift; and lavish of Expence,Line 50 Quaffs, Crams, and Guttles, in his own defence.

For me, I'le use my own; and take my share; Yet will not Turbots for my Slaves prepare: Nor be so nice in taste my self, to know If what I swallow be a Thrush or no. Live on thy Annual Income! Spend thy store; And freely grind, from thy full Threshing-Floor; Next Harvest promises as much or more.

Thus I wou'd live: But Friendship's holy Band, And Offices of kindness hold my hand:Line 60 My 4 1.4 Friend is Shipwreck'd on the Brutian S••rand. His Riches in ••h' Ioni•••• Main are lost: And he himself stands shiv'ring on the Coast; Where, destitute of help, forlorn, and bare, He wearies the Deaf Gods with Fruitless Pray'••. Their Images, the Relicks of the W••ack, Torn from the Naked Poop, are tided back, By the wild Waves, and ••udely thrown ashore, Lye impotent: Nor can themselves restore. The Vessel sticks and shews her open'd ••ide,Line 70 And on her shatte••'d Mast the Mews in Triumph ride.

From 5 1.5 thy new hope and from thy growing store, Now lend Assistance, and relieve the Poor. Come; do a Noble Act of Charity: A Pittance of thy Land will set him free. Let him not bear the Badges of a Wrack Nor 6 1.6 beg with a blue Table on his back Nor tell me, that thy frowning Heir will say, 'Tis mine that Wealth thou squander'st thus away; What is't to thee, if he neglect thy Urn;Line 80 Or 7 1.7 without Spices lets thy Body burn? If Odours to thy Ashes he refuse, Or buys Corrupted Cassia from the Iews? All these, the wiser Bestius will reply, Are empty Pomp, and Deadmen's Luxury: We never knew this vain Expence, before Th'effeminated Grecians brought it o're: Now Toys and Trifles from their Athens come: And Dates and Pepper have unsinnew'd Rome. Our sweating Hinds their Sallads, now, defile;Line 90 Infecting homely Herbs with fragrant Oyl. But, to thy Fortune be not thou a Slave; For what hast thou to fear beyond the Grave? And thou who gap'st for my Estate, draw near; For I wou'd whisper somewhat in thy Ear. Hear'st thou the News, my Friend? th'Express is come With Laurell'd Letters from the Camp to Rome: Caesar 8 1.8 Salutes the Queen and Senate thus; My Arms are, on the Rhine, Victorious.

From Mourning Altars sweep the Du••t away:Line 100 Cease Fasting, and proclaim a Fat Thanksgiving Day. The 9 1.9 goodly Empress, Jollily inclin'd, Is, to the welcome Bearer, wond'rous kind: And, setting her Goodhousewifry aside, Prepares for all the Pageantry of Pride. The 10 1.10 Captive Germans, of Gygantick size, Are ranck'd in order, and are clad in frize: The Spoils of Kings, and Conquer'd Camps we boast, Their Arms in Trophies hang, on the Triumphal post.

Now, for so many Glorious Actions done,Line 110 In Foreign parts, and mighty Battels won; For Peace at Home, and for the publick Wealth I mean to Crown a Bowl, to Caesar's Health: Besides, in Gratitude for such high matters▪ Know 11 1.11 I have vow'd two hundred Gladiators. Say, woud'st thou hinder me from this Expence? I Disinherit thee if thou dar'st take Offence. Yet more a publick Largess I design Of Oyl, and Pyes to make the People dine: Controul me not for fear I change my Will;Line 120

And yet methinks I hear thee grumbling still, You give as if you were the Persian King; Your Land does no such large Revenues bring. Well; on my Terms thou wilt not be my Heir, If thou car'st little, less shall be my care:

Were none of all my Father's Sisters lest; Nay were I of my Mother's Kin bereft; None by an Uncle's, or a Grandam's side, Yet I cou'd some adopted Heir provide. I need but take my Journey half a dayLine 130 From haughty Rome, and at Aricea stay; Where Fortune throws poor M••••ius in my way. Him will I chuse: What him, of humble Birth, Obscure, a Foundling, and a Son of Earth? Obscure! Why prithee what am I? I know•• My Father, Grandsire, and great Grandsire too: If farther I derive my Pedigree, I can but guess beyond the fourth degree. The rest of my forgotten Ancestors, Were Sons of Earth, like him, or Sons of Whores.Line 140

Yet why shou'd'st thou, old covetous Wretch, aspir•• To be my Heir, who might'st have been my Sire? In Nature's Race, shou'd'st thou demand of me My 12 1.12 Torch, when I in course run after thee? Think I approach thee, like the God of Gain•• With Wings on Head, and Heels, as Poets ••eign: Thy mod'rate Forune from my Guift receive: Now fairly take it, or as fairly leave: But take it as it is, and a••k no more: What, when thou hast embezel'd all thy store?Line 150 Where••s all thy Father left? 'Tis true, I grant, Some I have mortgag'd, to supply my want:

The Legacies of Tadius too are flown: All spent, and on the self same Errand gone. How little then to my poor share will fall? Little indeed, but yet that little's all.

Nor tell me, in a dying Father's tone, Be careful still of the main chance, my Son; Put out the Principal, in ••rusty hands: Live of the Use; and never dip thy Lands:Line 160 But yet what's left for me? What's left, my Friend, Ask that again, and all the rest I spend. Is not my Fortune at my own Command? Pour Oyl; and pour it with a plenteous hand, Upon my Sallads, Boy: Shall I be fed With sodden Nettles, and a sing'd Sow's head? Tis Holyday; provide me better Cheer: Tis Holyday, and shall be round the Year. Shall I my Houshold Gods, and Genius, cheat, To make him rich, who grudges me my Meat?Line 107 That he may loll at ease; and pamper'd high, When I am laid, may feed on Giblet Pye? And when his throbbing Lust extends the Vein, Have wherewithall his Whores to entertain? Shall I in homespun Cloath be clad, that he His Paunch in triumph may before him see.

Go Miser, go; for Lucre sell thy Soul; Truck Wares for Wares, and trudge from Pole to Pole:

That Men may say, when thou art dead and gone, See what a vast Estate he left his Son!Line 180 How large a Family of Brawny Knaves, Well fed, and fat as 13 1.13 Capadocian Slaves! Encrease thy Wealth, and double all thy Store; Tis done: Now double that, and swell the score; To ev'ry thousand add ten thousand more. Then say, 14 1.14 Chrysippus, thou who wou'd'st confine Thy Heap, where I shall put an end to mine.

The End of the Sixth Satyr.

Notes

• 1 1.1

  All the Studious, and particular∣ly the Poets, about the end of August, began to set themselves on Work: Refraining from Writing, during the Heats of the Summer. They wrote by Night; and sate up the greatest part of it. For which Reason the Product of their Studies, was call'd their Elucubrations; or Nightly Labours. They who had Country Seats retir'd to them, while they Studied: As Persius did to his, which was near the Port of the Moon in Etruria; and Bassus to his, which was in the Country of the Sabines, nearer Rome.
• 2 1.2

  This proves Caesius Bassus to have been a Lyrick Poet: 'Tis said of him, that by an Eruption of the Flameing Mountain Vesuvius, near which the greatest part of his For∣tune lay, he was Burnt himself, together with all his Writings.
• 3 1.3

  I call it a Drunken Dream of En∣nius; not that my Author in this place gives me any encouragement for the Epithete; but because Horace, and all who mention Ennius, say he was an Excessive Drinker of Wine. In a Dream, or Vision, call you it which you please, he thought it was reveal'd to him, that the Soul of Pithagoras was Transmigrated into him: As Pithagoras, before him believ'd, that himself had been Euphorbus in the Wars of Troy. Commentators differ in placing the order of this Soul, and who had it first. I have here given it to the Peacock; because it looks more ac∣cording to the Order of Nature, that it shou'd lodge, in a Creature of an Inferiour Species; and so by Gradation rise to the informing of a Man. And Persius favours me, by saying that Ennius was the Fifth from the Pithagorean Peacock.
• 4 1.4

  Perhaps this is only a fine Tran∣sition of the Poet, to introduce the business of the Satyr; and not, that any such Accident had happen'd to one of the Friends of Persius. But•• however, this is the most Poetical Description of any in our Author: And since he and Lucan were so great Friends, I know not but Lucan might help him, in two or three of these Verses, which seem to be written in his stile; certain it is, that besides this Description of a Ship∣wreck, and two Lines more, which are at the End of the Second S••tyr, our Poet has written nothing Elegantly. I will therefore Transcribe both the passages, to justifie my Opinion. The following are the last Verses saving one of the Second Satyr.

  Compositum jus, fasque animi; sanctosque recessus Mentis, & incoctu•• generoso pectus honesto:

  The others are those in this present Satyr, which are subjoyn'd.

  —trabe ruptâ. Bruttia Saxa Prendit Amicus inops: Remque omnem, surdaque vota Co••didit Ionio: Iacet ipse in Littore; & ••nà Ingentes de puppe Dei: Iamque obvia Mergis Costa ratis lacerae.—
• 5 1.5

  The Latin is, Nunc & de Cespite vivo, frange aliquid. Casaubon only opposes the Cespes vivus, which word for word, is the living Turf, to the Harvest or Annual Income: I suppose the Poet rather means, sell a piece of Land already Sown; and give the Money of it to my Friend who has lo••t all by Shipwreck: That is, do not stay till thou hast Reap'd: but help him immediately, as his Wants require.
• 6 1.6

  Holiday Translates it a Green Ta∣ble: The sence is the same; for the Table was painted of the Sea Co∣lour; which the Shipwreck'd Person carried on his back•• expressing his Losses thereby, to excite the Charity of the Spectators.
• 7 1.7

  The Bodies of the Rich before they were burnt, were Imbalm'd with Spices; or rather Spices were put into the Urn, with the Relicks of the Ashes. Our Author here Names Cinnamun•• and Cassia, which Cassia, was sophisticated with Cherry Gum: And pro∣bably enough by the Iews; who Adulterate all things which they sell. But whether the Ancients were acquainted with the Spices of the Mo∣lucca Islands, Ceylon, and other parts of the Indies; or whether their Pepper and Cinnamon, &c. were the same with ours, is another Question. As for Nutmegs, and Mace, 'tis plain, that the Latin Names of them are Modern.
• 8 1.8

  The Caesar here mention'd is Caius Caligula; who affected to Triumph over the Germans, whom he never Conquer'd; as he did over the Britains. And accordingly sent Letters wrapt about with Laurels, to the Senate, and the Empress Caesonia, whom I here cal•• Queen; though I know that name was not us'd amongst the Romans: But the word Empress wou'd not stand in that Verse: For which Rea∣son I Adjourn'd it to another. The Dust which was to be swept away from the Altars, was either the A••hes which were left there; after the last Sacrifice for Victory; or might perhaps mean the Dust or Ashes, which were left on the Altars, si••ce some former Defeat of the Romans, by the Germans: After which overthrow, the Altars had been neglected.
• 9 1.9

  Caesonia Wife to Caius Caligula, who afterwards, in the Reign of Claudius, was propos'd, but ineffectually, to be Marry'd to him; after he had Executed Messallina, for Adultery.
• 10 1.10

  He means only such, as were to pass for Germans, in the Triumph:•• Large Body'd Men, as they are still; whom the Empress Cloath'd New, with Course Garments; for the greater Ostentation of the Victory.
• 11 1.11

  A hundred pair of Gladiators, were beyond the Purse of a private Man to give: There∣fore this is only a threatning to his Heir, that he cou'd do what he pleas'd with his Estate.
• 12 1.12

  Why shou'd'st thou, who art an Old Fellow, hope to out-live me, and be my Heir, who am much Younger? He who was first, in the Course, or Race, de∣liver'd the Torch, which he carried, to him who was Second.
• 13 1.13

  Who were Famous, for their Lustiness; and being, as we call it, in good likeing. They were set on a Stall when they were expos'd to Sale; to shew the good Habit of their Body; and made to play Tricks before the Buyers, to shew their Activity and Strength.
• 14 1.14

  Chrysippus the Stoick, invented a kind of Argument, consisting of more than three Propositions; which is call'd Sorites; or a heap. But as Chrysippus cou'd never bring his Proposi∣tions to a certain stint: So neither can a Covetous Man, bring his Craving Desires to any certain Measure of Riches, beyond which, he cou'd not wish for any more.