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VErse 2. Theseis.] A Heroick Poem (writ in imitation of Virgils Aeneis, but not by so good a Hand) magnifying The∣seus that built Athens, for encountring with Monsters, kil∣ling of Giants, and such Herculean Knight-errantry, as had been fathered upon the valour of his Youth, by fabulous Antiquity: For, the first Hi∣storians described valiant Persons, as the old Geographers did the unknown parts of the World, fancying impossibilities in Nature, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Shoars without waters, or guarded by wilde Beasts; as Plutarch observes in his preamble to the Life of Theseus. The Author of this Latine Poem was Codrus; you have an account of him Sat. 3.
Shorter then's Dwarf-wife, Codrus had a Bed. Item, six little Juggs on's Cupboard's head. Item, beneath it stood a two-ear'd Pot By Chiron's Herball. Lastly he had got A Chest with some Greek Authors▪ where the fierce Barbarous Mice gnaw'd never-dying Verse.
To this Miserable Inventory of his Goods, might well have been an∣nexed the Schedule of this pittifull Poem, wherewith he had so often tormented the Eare of Juvenal.
Verse 4. Huge Telephus.] The Tragicomedy of Telephus, base Son to Hercules, by Auge the Daughter of Alaeus▪ from whose eyes, when she could no longer conceal the shame within her, it put him into such a fu∣ry, that he resolved never to see her more. In pursuance of this resoluti∣on, he committed her to a Master of a Ship, commanding him to set her ashoar in some far distant Country, where her dishonour could not have arrived: but his private instructions were, that when he had her at Sea, he should drown her. Before she came aboard him, in a Forest of Mysia, she fell in labour, and was delivered of a Boy, that by the Midwife was conveyed away, and hid among the bushes. Fortune having thus rescu∣ed the Child, Beauty pleaded in behalf of the Mother; and so far the Master's cruel heart was melted, that he landed her in Caria, and there sold her to Theutrantes, who in a short time raised her from his Slave to be his Queen. Mean time some Mysian Shepheards, driving their flocks through the Forest, saw a Hind (singled from the Heard) that never of∣fered to stir till they came up to her, where they found her giving suck to a new-born Babe, which they took up and carried home to one of their Wives. The news of the Child's strange preservation flying through the Kingdome of Mysia, came to the King's ear, who sent for the Infant, and was so taken with his beauty, that he eased the Shepheards of their care, and bred him up as his own. In short, the King being Childless, upon his death-bed, adopted this Child of fortune, to whom he then gave his Crown, as he had formerly given him the name of Telephus in memory
of his Nurse the Hinde. Telephus succeeding to the Kingdome, was cour∣ted by the Greeks, in their march to Troy, for a passage through his Do∣minions; which he denying, and with an Army of his own endeavou∣ring to give a stop to theirs, he was by Achilles wounded in the left thigh with a Spear; and when all the art of Chiurgery failed to give him ease, the Oracle being consulted, answered, that no humane help would save his life, unless he could receive it from the hand that woun∣ded him: whereupon he reconciled himself to Achilles, who, it seems, made the first experiment of the weapon-salve upon Telephus, healing his wound (saith Pliny) with the rust of the Spear that made it.
Ovid. Telephus aeterna consumptus tabe perisset, Si non quae nocuit dextra tulisset opem. Consum'd for ever Telephus had dy'd, Had not the wounding hand the Cure apply'd.
Others say that Achilles did this cure by virtue of certain herbs taught him by his Singing-master the Centaur. Chiron.
Claud. Sanus Achilleis remeavit Telephus herbis, Cujus pertulerat vires; & sensit in uno Lethalem placidam{que} manum: medicamen ab hoste Contigit, & pepulit quos fecerat ipse dolores. Achilles, that gave Telephus his wound, Cur'd him with herbes: from one hand death he found And life: his Enemy his Surgeon prov'd, And he that caus'd the pain, the pain remov'd.
Here was plot enough to make a Play, like the Thanks in Terence that were to be sent to Thais, more than Great, Huge.
Verse 5. Orestes] The Tragedy of Orestes, Son to Agamemnon, and Clytemnestra, that having murdered the King her Husband, to make way for her second marriage with Aegistus; her next resolution was (in order to a settlement) to take the life of her young Son Orestes. But she was prevented in this designe by the vigilant care of her Daughter, Prin∣cesse Electra, by whom her Brother, with his Governour, was privately sent to his Uncle by the Father, Strophius, Prince of the Phocians; in whose Court Orestes was educated with the Prince's Son Pylades, inse∣parable Friend and Companion to him in all the sad changes of his for∣tune. When for some years he had remained with his Uncle, Orestes sickned & dyed, as the world was made believe: the colourable Ceremo∣nies of his Funeral being over, Embassadors from the Prince were sent to Aegistus and Clytemnestra, to condole (that was to congratulate) for the death of Orestes, who (attended by his Cousin Pylades) went him∣self in their train disguised, shrinking his shoulders to disguise his height; and being admitted to the presence of his Mother and Father in law, Orestes slew them both in revenge of his own Fathers murder. With the horror of this committed matricide, he fell distracted, imagining that his Mothers ghost, with a guard of Furies, haunted him. He likewise slew Pyrrhus, the Son of Achilles in the Temple of Apollo, for ravishing his Betrothed, the fair Herimone, the Daughter of Hellen by Menelaus: and wandered with Pylades into Taurica Chersonesus; where the barba∣rous Custome of the Europaean Sarmatians was, to offer up to Diana the blood of Strangers, especially Graecians, which of all the World they hated. The King of the Country Thoas, receiving intelligence that one of the Stranger-Princes was Orestes, commanded that he, as the better man, should be sacrifized: but no discovery could be made which of the two
was he; for Pylades took upon him the name of Orestes, and Orestes owned himself; their friendship being so strict, as they refused not to die for one another. Cicero de Amicitia. These bloody Rites were superintended by the Lady Iphiginia, one that before the Trojan War, (when the Grecian Fleet lay winde-bound, for Agamemnon's offence of killing a Stag in Aulis) was brought thither to appease the wrath of Di∣ana as a Sacrifice: but the goddesse pittying her innocence sent a Hinde to supply her place at the Altar, and conveyed away the Princess to be her Priestesse in Taurica; where she now coming to the knowledge of her Brother Orestes, saved his life by joyning with him to kill Thoas King of Taurica; from whence they fled into Italy, carrying along the Image of Diana hid in a Faggot; and therefore called Fascilides by the Romans, and adored by that Title in the Aricine Wood, where the figure was left by these Wanderers. Lastly, Orestes being told that he should finde rest, and be dispossessed of the Furies in Arcadia, directed his course thither; and there died, bit by a Viper. His body was afterwards digged up by command from the Oracle, and found to be be ten foot and a half high. Pliny lib. 7.
Verse 8. The Grove of Mars,] Several Groves were consecrated to Mars, one in Pontus, another at Athens, a third in Alba, where the Wolf gave suck to the Twins of Mars, Romulus and Rhemus. This last, I conceive, my Author means, as a subject on which his Country∣men, the Romans, used to exercise their Muses.
Verse 8. Vulcan's Grotto near to the Aeolian Rocks.] By Vulcan's Grotto is meant the concave of the burning Mountain Aetna, where Vul∣can the god of fire hammered out Thunderbolts, as the old World was made believe; when the truth of Histories was wrapt up in Fables by the
wisedome of the Ancients. Right against Aetna lie the 7. Liparen Islands, Liparis, Tremessa, Ericusa, Phenicusa, Evonyma, Hiera, and Strongyle, the greatest of the seven; where Aeolus reigned, that was believed to be god of the Windes, and blew from his Aeolian Rocks, as the Bellowes to Vulcan's great Forge in Aetna; who had likewise a little Forge in Hiera, the least of these 7. Islands, called the Vulcanian Isle, and his Liparen Work-house, Sat. 13.
—But Vulcan powr'd Nectar himself, and his own fingers scowr'd, Foul'd in his Liparen Work-house.—The cause why this Isle was dedicated to Vulcan, was, from a little sto∣nie Hill therein, continually vomiting up fire.
Verse 10. What Souls Judg Aeacus torments.] The three Infernal Judges were Rhadamantus, Minos, and Aeacus: The first commissioned to hear the Charge, and judge of matter of fact. Virg. Aeneid. lib. 5.
Gnosius haec Rhadamantus habet durissima regna, Castigat{que}, audit{que} dolos, subigit{que} fateri. Here strictest Rhadamant the Gnosian reignes, Hears Crimes, makes Souls confess and suffer pains.The second pronounced Sentence. Horace.
Cum semel occideris, & de te splendida Minos Fecerit arbitria No sooner shalt thou die, and Minos pass Clear sentence on thee.The third saw Judgment executed; as in the words here commented upon.
What Souls Judg Aeacus torments.
Verse. 11. Who stole the Golden Fleece.] The Theef was Jason: his
Fable Ovid gives you; the History of the Fleece, Justin lib. 24. Phry∣xus Prince of Thebes, after the death of his Mother Queen Ino, when he durst no longer trust his life to the madness of his Father Athamas, and the malice of his Step-mother Mephele, committed himself to the mercy of the Sea, and desperately attempted to pass the Pontick Straits upon the back of the Golden-Ram, his Sister Helle riding behinde him: but she, poor Lady, frighted with the roaring of the waves, let goe her hold, and was drowned in that narrow Sea, afterwards called Hellespont. Phryxus himself came safe to Aeta King of Cholcos, where he sacrificed the gol∣den-Ram to Jupiter; some say to Mars. The Ram swifter then he stemd the Straits, flew up to heaven, and was made a Star, retaining his former figure. The Golden-fleece hung up in the Temple, until Medea char∣med the Guards for Jason to steal both it and her.
Verse 11. What Ash-trees Centaurs fling.] Ixion had issue the Centaurs by the cloud, which he imagined to be Juno: by his own Wife he had Pirithous Prince of the Lapiths, married to Hippodame, the Daughter of Oenomaus, King of Elis. At this Wedding the Centaures having drunk hard, nothing would content them but the Bride; attempting to carry her away by force, they were fought with, and defeated by the Lapiths, under the command of Piriibous, assisted by his Friend (that afterwards went with him down to Hell) Theseus. In the fight the Cen∣taur Rhetus pluckt up by the rootes, and flung at the Lapiths, such wilde Ash-trees as Boreas in a storm could hardly blow down. The expression is Lucans: The battel Ovid most rarely describes.
Verse. 12. Julius Fronto.] A Tribune, by Galba discharged out of the City Cohorts, Tacit. lib. 16. After this exauctoration Fronto lived in Rome most nobly, his House and Gardens being free for all that would
read their works, as well for meanest Poetasters, Codrus and Cluvienus, as for the noblest Poets, Juvenal, Statius: and Martial, that in an Epigram to Fronto stiles him,
Clarum militiae Fronto togae{que} decus. Fronto thou Ornament of warre and peace.
Verse 13. We have counsel'd Sylla to lay down the Sword.] To advise Sylla that he should lay down his Commission for Dictator or supreme Ma∣gistrate, was a Theam or Exercise as common in the Rhetorick Schools, when the Scholars were to learn the point of perswasion, as it was for their Master to make them deliberate for Hannibal, Sat. 7.
After the fatal day at Cannae won, If he directly should to Rome march on; Or, to get's weather-beaten forces out Of stormes and lightning, wisely wheel about.
A hard task it would be for the best Rhetorician living, to perswade Sylla, if he were now alive (for that was the case) to resigne the sove∣reign power, unless he were such an Orator as could bring arguments to raise the love of Pleasure above that of Ambition and Revenge: to all which Sylla was passionately given, as you will finde in this Summary of his life. Sylla or Sulla was nobly born; but till the time of his Questorship, he much dishonored the Patrician Family, from which he was descen∣ded, with drinking, wenching, and acting in private among Stage-play∣ers, his wit making him an excellent Comedian; for it was quick and sharp, as you may note from his animadversion upon the letter writ him by Caphis the Phocian, advising him not to meddle with the sacred trea∣sure of Delphos, because he was told for certain that the God was heard to strike his Lute in the Sanctuary. To this Sylla answered, That he
wondered Caphis understood the god no better; for one that is really sad will have no minde to play Tunes: and therefore Caphis should not fear to receive that which Apollo parted with so merrily. But Sylla was not hap∣pier in his jests, then he was in serious concerns; wherein he had been without a Parallel, if his Cruelty had not blemish'd his Fortune. He fet∣tered King Jugurth, defeated Marius, destroyed the Government of Cinna, proscribed Sulpitius; and commanded that Sulpitius his Slave, for betray∣ing of his Master, should have his neck broken from the Tarpeian rock. He beat Mithrydates out of all Europe, and Euboea, confining him within the limits of his hereditary Kingdome of Pontus. At the walls of Rome, neer to the Collin Gate, he fought a battel, where the number of the slain was said to be 80000. Then he entred the City, where he gave quar∣ter to 4000 men; and when they had delivered up their weapons, orde∣red them to be put to the sword, he himself (as Seneca reports) then sit∣ing in Senate within the Temple of Bellona; where the Lords being frighted with the shrieks of the dying men, he cryed, To the business of the day, these (my Lords) are a few seditious Rogues slain by my com∣mand. He likewise put to death of his own party above 9000. In his first Roll of Proscription he writ down 80000 names: in his second List 5000. By his order M. Marius, Brother to C. Marius, had his eyes dig'd out, and was then cut to pieces limb by limb: He also slew Carinates Praetor to Marius. In short, he made not only Rome, but all Italy, a Slaughter-house. He did ill valiantly: and was cautious enough to se∣cure himself He knew no fear of Heaven; had no Faith; no Mercy. Four Marian Legions confiding in his false promise, and imploring the pitty that never dwelt in him, were slain to a man. Five thousand Praenestines, that had his word for their indemnity, he caused to be slain
and cast into the fields, denying burial to their bodies. He drew his sword against women. He commanded mens heads to be brought him only to make sport withall. The ashes of Marius were dis-urned by his barbarity. From the time that he resigned the Dictator-ship, until the very hour of his death, he recreated himself with Players, Fools and Fidlers. The day before his death, hearing that Granius the Praetor de∣ferred the payment of his vast debts in expectation of Sylla's death, he sent for the Praetor to his Chamber, and there, after he had Rogu'd and Rascal'd him, commanded him to be strangled: But the fury wherewith he ranted, put his body into so violent an agitation, that his Impost∣hume (the bed of his lowsie disease) broke; and all that night strugling for life in his own blood, next morning he gave up the Ghost. His E∣pitaph writ by his own hand was to this effect.
Here lies Sylla, the greatest Friend, and the heaviest Enemy.
Plutarch.
Verse 22. Lucilius.] The first Latine Poet that writ Satyrs, born at Aurunca in Italy, a Town famous for Satyrists, Lenius, Silius and Turnus being all three Auruncanes; whereof the last was a Person of great qua∣lity, and gracious with the two Vespasian Caesars, Titus and Domitian. In the six and fourtieth year of his age Lucilius died at Naples, and was buried at the publick charge.
Verse 26. Bare-brested Maevia foyls the Tuscan Boar.] This may with great reason have the second place among the motives that prevai∣led with Juvenal to write Satyrs, and is as much against nature as the first. What a prodigious sight it was for the Romans, in their great Show-place, the Circus, to see a Woman fight with a Boar, and of all Italian Boars the Tuscan Boar was the wildest: But, it seems, Maevia was a fier∣cer Creature: and no doubt but Rome would have been astonished, if
such a Prize had been played in King Numa's dayes; when a woman but coming into the Senate-house to plead in her own Cause, they sent to the Oracle to know, what it portended to the State. Plutarch in the life of Numa.
Verse 28. That with his Sissers.] Cynnamus the Barber, whose For∣tunes were raised by his Mistresses, to the quality of a Roman Knight, with a vast Estate, as Juvenal tells us, Sat. 10.
Sooner might my Arithmatick avow, How many Mannors he is Lord of now: That when my youthfull beard was grown too grave, Correction with his nimble Sissers gave.He was at last forced to flye from Rome into Sicily. Martial.
Qui Tonsor fueras tota notissimus urbe: Et posthac Dominae munere factus eques. Sicanias Vrbes, Aetnaea{que} regna petisti Cynname, cum fugeres tristia Jura Fori. Qua nunc arte graves tolerabis inutilis annos? Quid facit infaelix & fugitiva quies? Non Rhetor, non Grammaticus Ludive Magister, Non Cynnicus, non tu Stoicus esse potes, Vendere nec vocem Siculis plausum{que} Theatris: Quod superest? iterum Cynname Tonsor eris. All Rome knew thee a Barber; and then made Knight-Cynnamus, for which thy Mistress paid. Thy next trick was the Forum to beguile, And flye from Justice into Aetna's Isle.
What Art shall now thy useless age maintain? What can, unhappy fugitive, Quiet gain? No Rhetorician can be made of thee, No Pedant, Cynnick, Stoick canst thou be; Nor Actor in Cicilian Playes; what then? Cynnamus, ev'n turn Barber once agen.
Verse 31.
—The Canopian Slave. Crispinus flaunts it in his Tyrian Cloak]Crispinus, Freed-man to Nero, was born in Aegypt, at Canopus the lewdest Town in all that Kingdome, and he as lewd a Knave as ever came from thence, but a man of a most insatiable pride and curiosity. See the beginning of Sat. 4. Of his Cloak thus Martial,
Nescit cui dederit Tyriam Crispinus abollam, Dum mutat cultus induitur{que} togam: Quisquis habes humeris sua munera redde precamur: Non hoc Crispinus te sed abolla rogat. Non quicun{que} capit saturatas murice vestes, Nec nisi deliciis convenit iste color. Si te praeda juvat faedi{que} insania lucri, Quo possis melius fallere sume togam Who had's Cloak Crispine knew not, but 'twas gon When he chang'd habits and his Gown put on. Prythee, good Friend, restore his Tyrian riches: This not Crispinus, but his Cloak beseeches. Purple of Tyre is not for every wear, Great persons only in such Cloaks appear.
If thou beest theevish, take a Gown, that over Thy knavery thou may'st have a better Cover.
Verse 40.
—Fill'd with's own bulk, in his new Sedan Matho the Lawyer comes.—]From a poor Advocate Matho grew so rich an Informer, that he went in his Sedan, and filled it, he was so fat with taking his ease: of whom Martial
Declamas in febre Mathon, hanc esse phrenesim Si nescis, non es sanus amice Mathon. Declamas aeger, declamas hemitriteus, Si sudare aliter non potes, est ratio. Magna tamen res est: erras, cum viscera febris Exurit, res est magna tacere Mathon. Matho in's Ague pleads; a Frenzie 'tis, Th'art mad, Friend Matho, if thou know'st not this. Plead in a double Tertian? put the case Thou could'st not sweat else thou might'st talk apace; 'Twill doe me good: No, better hold thy peace In hot fits, Matho, lest thou melt thy grease.
Verse. 41.
—And then the man That's great Friend peach'd.—]This arch Rogue some think to be Cassius, Tutor and Impeacher of Silanus. Tacitus lib. 13. But an old Commentator affirmes the man to be Heliodorus the Stoick, Nero's Informer-General. This grand Knave might well be cal∣led Prince of Informers, unto whom the petty Informers, the Players, Massa, Carus, and Latinus, were such obedient Subjects, that the two first presented him their wealth, & the last his wife: yet were these Players Va∣lets of the Chamber to Nero, and such as he much delighted in. Bebius
Massa is remembred by Tacitus at the death of Piso. Pliny saith, That by Carus a Libel was given to Domitian Caesar, that would (if the Em∣peror had lived) have cost Pliny his life. As for Latinus, he was put to death by Claudius, for being Pander to his Empresse Messalina.
Verse 48. Leaves Proculeius one ounce, Gill eleven.] The Civil Law accounts the whole Estate as a Pound, or As. An absolute Heir is called Haeres ex asse. The first named in a VVill, Haeres primae Cerae; A Lega∣tee, Haeres in ima Cera. The twelfth part of a Pound or As, is an Ounce: so that he who is Heir to eleven Ounces, carrieth away eleven parts of the Estate; and he that is Heir to an Ounce, only one poor part.
Verse 53.
—As the Rhetor, that in his sad strife Speaks at the Barre in Lyons—] Sueton.At Lyons in France Caligula instituted Exercises for Rhetoricians: the Victors had an Imperial donative: the conditions of the vanquished were, That they should satisfie the Victors either by writing of their praises, or with a summe of money, or lick out the Orations they themselves had written, or be beaten with Ferula's, or drowned in the next river, at the discretion of the Judges. No marvel then if the poor Orators looked as pale as consumptive Wenchers.
Verse 60. Marius.] Marius Priscus Proconsul of Africa, accused and prosecuted by the Africans for poling of their Country, was banish∣ed and condemned by Cornutus in the summe of 7000 nummi or sestertii: but this small summe (not ten pound more then Crispinus paid for his Mullet) was paid in to the Exchequer: the Province lost the charges of the Suit wherein they overthrew him; and the vast remainder of the money which he had extorted from them, enabled him in his ba∣nishment to live more riotously then he had done in Rome; for there
he eat at their ninth hour, which is our three of the clock in the after∣noon; but in his exile he drank from their eighth hour, which is our two of the clock in the afternoon, being the time when the Romans bathed to prepare their bodies for dinner; and so Marius by his banish∣ment clearly got an hour of earlier riot. And though his own Country Gods were offended, it seems the forrein Gods were better pleased.
Verse 64. Hercules.] Son to Jupiter by Alcmena. The twelve La∣bors imposed upon him by Juno, was a subject much handled by the Romançe Poets. Panyasis writ the Heraculea, fourteen books of Her∣cules.
Verse 65. Diomed.] The tale of Diomed is this: In a duel with Ae∣neas he wounded Venus, that assisted his Antagonist her Son; and to re∣venge her self of him, she sent her other Son Cupid to his wife Aegialia, that struck her in love with Sthenelus; who set on by his Mistress, lay in ambush for her Husband as he returned from the siege of Troy, routed him, his men flying to the Sea side; where, their legs not being able to carry them farther, they found wings, and were transformed into birds. See Lycophron and Solinus.
Verse 66. Labyrinth.] Thus runs the Fable of the Labyrinth. Pasi∣phae, Wife to Minos King of the Cretans, was taken with a preternatu∣rall and nefarious love to a Bull; and by the art of Daedalus, she was in∣closed in a Cow of wood; so attaining her desire, she conceived and brought forth the Minotaur, half Man half Bull. The Instruments of her wickedness being discovered by Minos, he shut up Daedalus with his Son Icarus in that very Labyrinth made by his Master Builder Daedalus: But he got out with another invention of Wings, and flew to Cumae in Italy, where he laid them down. Sat. 3. But his Son Icarus flying too
high, the wax that fastned on his Wings, was melted by the Sun, and the Boy drowned in the Sea.
Verse 68. When that which Law lets not the Wife injoy.] Domitian Cae∣sar made a Law, that Adulteresses should be uncapable of inheriting and of using close Chairs or Sedans. Sueton.
Verse 72. Waking nose.] The Pimp to his own Wife counterfeited sleep so artificially, that with snoring he made such a noise, as if his nose had been awake.
Verse 73. To be Captain of the Guard he stands.] Fuscus (afterwards Generall against the Dacians) had consumed all the Estate left him by his noble Progenitors, with keeping a Stable of Chariot-horses to fol∣low the Court from Rome to Caesars Country-house, whether he him∣self used to drive his Chariot along the Flaminian way, where the Sta∣tues and Urnes of his Ancestors stood in his sight, which might well have deterred him from spending prodigally the fortunes they had left him, acquired by their Noble Industry. But, it seems, that which flat∣tered him to this expence, was a hope that Caesar would make him Prae∣fect or Captain of his Praetorian Guards.
Verse 76. Automedon] was Coachman to Achilles. It appears that Fuscus, besides his expectation to be Captain of the Guard, had a natu∣rall inclination to be a Chariotier; for, when he was the Boy Autome∣don, that is, before he was able to drive the horses like a man, he used to sit with the Chariot-driver, and to hold the rains, to show his affection to that Art, and withall to commend himself to his young Mistresses that were so much taken with Chariotiers.
Verse 80. Forger of a Will.] The Author means Tigellinus, that poy∣soned three of his Uncles (as you may read towards the end of this
Satyr) and forged Wills, wherein he made himself Heir to them all.
Verse 83. Maecenas.] That great Patron of the Poets Maecenas, was known to be likewise so great a Voluptuary, that Juvenal never useth his name but in this sense, as here, and Sat. 12.
Purple for soft Maecenases to weare.
Verse 87. Locusta.] One of Nero's Court-Instruments, that being chid for dallying with Britannicus, gave him a dose that wrought so nim∣bly, he dyed before the boll could be taken from his hand.
Verse 89. Gyarus.] The least Island of the Cyclades, to which the Ro∣mans banished highest offendors.
Verse 96. Loose young Gallants.] The Praetextati, or young Nobility of Rome, that wore the Praetexta or Gown bordered with Purple, of which they were divested before they could be arraigned by Law.
Verse 98. Cluvienus.] Such another pittifull Poet as Codrus was.
Verse 99. Since Deucalion] That is since the World began again after Deucalion's Flood; when he landing upon the top of the Moun∣tain Parnassus, consulted the Oracle of Themis about the restoration of Mankinde, and was answered, It might be done by him and his Wife Pyrrha, if they would cast stones over their shoulders, which should be mollified into flesh and blood, and inanimated with a rational Soul; and (if we believe the Greek Historians or Fabulists) they did so, and it succeeded accordingly; to which Juvenal adds, that Pyrrha put the Males and Females together.
Verse 113. Villa's.] Country-houses.
Verse 115. The Sportula.] When the Romans were grown so proud in their Luxury, that a great man scorned to admit his Friends to his Table; instead of a Supper they were entertained by a Porter at the Gate,
with the Sportula, a little Basket that held 100 farthings, as in this place: but sometimes the Sportula was enlarged, and the Porter treated the Guests with variety of meats. Vid. Sat. 3.
See'st not what smoak the Sportula breaths out.
Verse 119. Our Trojan Lords.] The Romans derived themselves from Trojan Aeneas.
Verse 121. The Praetor.] The Praetor Urbanus was an Officer in the nature of our L. chief Justice, attended by the Lictor, or Officer of Death, that carried on his shoulder an Axe within a bundle of rods, signifying the different punishments of petty and capital offenders; those being on∣ly whipt, these beheaded. To the Urbanus or great Praetor were added at last 17. Praetors more, whereof two were Praetores Fidei Commissarii, in the nature of Lord Chancellors or Keepers. Fenest. de mag. Rom. c. 10.
Verse. 121. The Tribune.] The Tribunes of the People, from the number of two in their first Institution, came afterward to be ten. These were Protectors of the Commonalty; they sate at the dore of the Senate; they were the Grand-jury to inform the Lords: No Act could pass un∣less they subscribed it with the letter T. but they themselves had not au∣thority to make an Act at first; yet in processe of time they usurped such a power. Pomp. Laet. Stadius in Flor. Pigh. Rosin.
Verse. 122. The Freed-man.] Was an Infranchised Slave; and this might be Crispinus by his taking place of the Praetor and Tribune, or it might be any other Infranchised Slave, that was a Native of Capadocia, Mesapotamia, Assyria, or Arabia; for the river Euphrates runs through all these Countries.
Verse 127. A Roman Knight.] The Census Equestris, or that E∣state which made the Eques Romanus, (a dignity answering that of
Knight with us) was 400 sestertia, about 3125 l. of our money. A Freed-man worth so much might claim the Priviledges of a Knight, and a Knight that had less could not sit upon the Benches and Cushions at a Play by Otho's Law. Sat. 3.
Vers. 128. Corvinus.] One of the noble Family of the Corvini, but grown so wretchedly poor, that he was inforced to serve a Shepheard, and keep his Flocks near to the Town of Laurentum in his own native Country.
Verse 130. Pallas.] He was the wealthy Freed-man of Claudius Cae∣sar, that suffered him, together with Narcissus his fellow Freed-man, to have, not only great Estates conferred by Decree of Senate upon them, but likewise the Dignities of Quaestor and Praetor; and let them extort and monopolize so much, that when he complained of the emptiness of his Exchequer, one answered, It would be full enough if his two Freed-men might refund. See Sueton and Tacitus.
Verse 131. The Licini.] Licinus, Caesars Freedman, was by Augustus made Governor of Gaule, which he pillaged, and so got a masse of wealth. It seems there were more Freed-men of that name, because it is put in the plural number.
Verse 134. Chalkie Feet.] A Slave that from forein parts was brought to Rome to be sold in the Market, had his feet marked with Chalk. So Pliny and Tibullus.
Verse 139. Concord, where the Storks nest creaks.] The Stork built in the Temple of Concord, erected by the Senate in the Forum. App. lib. 1. and therefore when the old Stork returned to feed her young ones, they would be sure to salute her with a creaking noise. If it were not for the word creaking, I should have inclined to Politian's opinion, that in his Miscel∣lanies interprets this to be a nest of Quails, the Embleme of Concord.
Verse. 142. Clients.] A Client had relation to some Noble man as his Patron. The Patron was obliged in honour to protect his Client; the Client, besides his attendance in publick, was bound by Law to con∣tribute towards his Patrons assesments and Daughters marriages. If any Client could be proved unfaithfull to his Patron, to have informed, made oath, or given his vote against him, or for his Enemy, he was for such disloyalty devoted to the Infernall Gods, and not only accursed by the Priest, but out-lawed by the Criminal Judge; so that it was lawfull for any man to kill him. Lazius de Repub. Rom. lib. 12. c. 3.
Verse 153. The Forum.] The great Roman Piazza, where the Courts of Justice sate, to which the Client, after he had complemented his Friends at the Sportula, waited upon his Patron. Martial
Prima salutantes at{que} altera continet hora, Exercet raucos tertia causidicos. The first hour and the second we salute, And in the third hoarse Advocates dispute.
Verse 154. The learned in the Law, Apollo.] The reason of this ex∣pression was occasioned by the Library of Civil-law-books, made by Augustus Caesar, in the Temple of Apollo-Pallatine▪ where the Judges also heard Causes, as appears by Horace's delivery from the prating Fel∣low that was arrested and carried before the Judge sitting in that Tem∣ple. Horace
Sic me servavit Apollo. Thus Apollo saved me.
Verse 156. Aegyptian and Arabarch.] Crispinus the Aegyptian, that by his Master was priviledged to have triumphal Titles, Ornaments and a Statue, in the pedestall or basis whereof was engraven the style of Ara∣barch, which Crispinus might conceive the Reader would take to be
Arabian Prince. Some take Arabarch for a Customer in Aegypt, that re∣ceived toll for Cattle brought thither out of Arabia; but Juvenal seems to use the Word for an Arch-rogue.
Verse 161. A Supper.] The Supper which the Patron was ordered by Domitian Caesar to bestow upon his Clients, was called Caena recta, a plain Supper, to distinguish it from the Patrons Caena dubia, or Supper of varieties, such as puzled the Guests to know where they should be∣gin. But at this time the Sportula was not by Domitian reduced to the Caena recta, of which Martial
Centum miselli jam valete quadrantes. Poor hundred Farthings now farewell.
Verse 171. Whole Boars.] The first that brought in fashion the having of a Boar served up whole to his Table was Servilius Tullus. Pliny.
Verse 174. Crude Peacock.] Peacocks flesh never putrifieth. St. Au∣gustine. Then well it might be raw upon a Gluttons stomach, when he bathed before his next meal. Hortentius the Augur, was the first that brought this meat in request at Rome.
Verse 177. Angry Friends.] Neer relations must needs be vext at the death of a Friend, by gluttony so surprized, as not to have time to make a Will. Yet even they could not but laugh at such a Comicall disaster, though they lost their Legacies by it.
Verse 186. Mutius.] A great Knave but a poor man; so that when the Auruncane Satyrist, Lucilius, published his knavery, he had not a purse to see Advocates in a cause of Defamation: but if Tigellinus, the Emperor's Favourite, had been the man so defamed, he would have fol∣lowed the Law, which was, Ne licet carmen fieri ad alterius injuriam. Cicer. lib. 4. Tusc. Be it unlawfull for any man to make verse to the injury
of another. And in favour of so eminent a Courtier, Juvenal thinks it probable that the Judg would have sentenced the Offender to die as cru∣el a death as was inflicted upon Christians; of which barbarous cruelty read Tacitus lib. 15. Yet that very Judge might in his conscience know that Tigellinus was a thousand times the greater Villain. M. Tigellinus Ophonius poysoned three of his Fathers Brothers, and forging their Wills came to a vast Estate most villanously. Probus.
Verse 189. Like those.] Christians, of whose living bodies Nero made bonfires, using them as he had done Rome, with the firing where∣of, he charged them. Note that Juvenal, speaking here of the Christi∣ans Martyrdomes, writes nothing disparageable to the Religion it self, as he doth to that of the Jewes in Sat. 3. and 14. from whence it may with reason be inferred, that because he scofs not at Christianity, he re∣verenced it.
Verse 195. Aeneas.] Anchises his Son, that when Troy was fired, took his Father upon his shoulders, carried him through the flames, and brought him safe to Drepa••um, a Town in Sicily, where the old man dy∣ed, that in his youth begot this Pious Son upon the Goddesse Venus at the Trojan river Simois. Virgil Aeneid. 1. He was King of the Latins, and reigned eleven years after the death of Latinus, in the right of his Wife Lavinia, Daughter and Heir to King Latinus; and the Widow of Tur∣nus slain by his hand. Aeneid 12. Eutropius. In his voyage from Troy to Italy, he lost his Wife Creusa, buried his Father (as you heard before) in Sicily, but never touched upon the Coast of Africa; and therefore could not have seen Dido, if she had been then living. After a tedious passage at Sea, he landed safe with his Sonne Ascanius in Italy; there conquered and settled: and from him Julius Caesar derived himself.
Verse. 196. Turnus.] Generall of the Rutilians in their warre against Aeneas, with whom he fought single, and was very angry with Juno that she would not let him stay to end the Combat. See Virgil Aeneid. lib. 6.
Verse 197. Achilles.] Son to Peleus and Thetis, that in his Infancy washed him in the Stygian water, whereby he was made invulne∣rable in any part of his body but only the foot, by which his Mother held him when he was dipt. His Tutor was Chiron the Centaur, of whom he learned Horsmanship, Musick, and Physick. His Mother un∣derstanding by the Oracle, that he should perish in the Trojan Expedi∣tion, concealed him in a womans habit in the Court of King Lycomedes, where he got the Kings Daughter Deidamia with child of Pyrrhus. At last discovered by the subtilty of Ulysses, he was drawn into the war, be∣cause Troy could not be taken by the Graecians until they had the assi∣stance of Achilles. To prevent the Fate which Thetis knew him to be in danger of, she prevailed with Vulcan to make him armes that were im∣penitrable. After he had shewn much valour in the war, he was in such a rage with Agamemnon for taking from him his beloved Prisoner, fair Briseis, that he resolved (notwithstanding all the Prayers and importu∣nities of his Countrymen) never more to draw his Sword against the Trojans: But hearing that Hector had slain Patroclus, his fury for the death of that Friend made him forget his rage against his ene∣my, King Agamemnon, and dispensing with his solemn resolution, he fought again more furiously then ever, slew Hector, and in his Friends revenge tyed the dead body to his Chariot, and drag'd it three times a∣bout the walls of Troy; at last sold it to King Priam. Finally, when he was to be married to Polixena in the Temple of Apollo, Paris, Hector's ef∣feminate Brother, to prevent his Sisters marriage, concealed himself be∣hinde
the Image of the God, and with an arrow hit Achilles in the heel, where he was only capable of a wound. See Pliny, Homer, and Gellius.
Verse 198. Hylas.] A most delicate Boy, Favorite to Hercules, that having slain his Father Theodamant, fell in love with the Boy; and in his voyage with the Argonauts to Colchos, when his Oare was broken and he forced to land, that he might get another in the Mysian Woods; the day being extremely hot, he sent Hylas with a pitcher for water to the ri∣ver Ascanius▪ but the bank being so high above water that he could not stand and fill his Pitcher, the Boy lay down upon his breast and hung o∣ver the stream, running with such a violence, that from his hand it car∣ried away the Pitcher, which he suddenly striving to recover, the Pit∣cher and Hylas were both drowned together. This occasioned the Fable that the Nymphs had ravished Hylas. But Hercules, when he heard no more news of the Boy, was so madded, that leaving the Argonauts, he searched Mysia for him, calling aloud upon his name. Virg.
Vt Littus Hyla Hyla omne sonaret. That all the Shoar with Hylas Hylas rung.
Verse 206. Latin and Flaminian way.] High-wayes from Rome full of dead-mens Monuments. The Flaminian way, Arc and Forum were so called from the Consul Flaminius, that fighting Hannibal was slain at Thrasimene, where his body was by Hannibal searched for amongst the dead, but not found. Livi. lib. 22. The Latin way, formerly called the Ferentian way, the Ausonian by Martial, not farre from the Latin Port, fell into the via Appia, that reached as far as Capua.