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Pale lamp of night; or candle's paler beam,
Whose wick I husband to the last extreme,

Me he attacks: hear how the quarrel rose;

If that be deem'd a quarrel, where, heaven knows,
He only gives, and I receive, the blows!
Across my path he strides, and bids me stand,
I bow, obsequious to the dread command;
What else remains where rage, inflam'd by wine,
Is back'd by strength, superior far to mine?
"Whose lees," he cries, "have swell'd your bloated
maw ?

"Where did you, rogue, to-night your bean-husks gnaw?

"And with what cobler club, to wag your cheeks

On dainty sheep's-head porridge, and chopp'd leeks? "What! no reply? speak, or be sure to feel "The immediate greeting of my wrathful heel"Your name? your station? At what temple door

poor

"Crouch ye, collecting farthings for the ?"
Whether I strive to sooth him, or retire,

I'm beaten, just the same; then, full of ire,
He drags me to the bar, transfers the fault,
And impudently sues me for the assault.

Such law, such liberty, enjoy the poor!
Compell'd though wrong'd, forgiveness to implore,

Tear me from Cuma; I will come, and share
Your bleak abode, arm'd at all points for war,
War, (if you deign my service to engage,)
Just war with you, against an impious age.

Càligatus, I have translated, “armed at all points:" that is, says Holyday, like a prepared soldier; which is the sense given to it by the whole body of commentators without exception. Mr. Ireland, however, differs from us all; and this is what he says. "You have fallen, I see, into the opinion of Britannicus: Umbritius ergo habitu militari ostendit se venturum ad Juv. ut proinde mirum videri non debeat ipsis satiris, si non satis idoneus auditor visus fuerit, quum babitu non poetico sed militari venerit. There is no idea of any thing military about Umbritius; notwithstanding his shoes. Caliga was the name of a country shoe, as distinguished from a town shoe; and was not appropriated to the soldiers, though worn by them in common with the peasantry, on account of its cheapness. Umbritius is therefore made to persevere in his preference of the country, by telling his friend that he will visit him in his country shoes, determined never more to wear town shoes, in other words, never to see Rome again. In this sense, the last line of the Satire agrees with the general drift of it, and keeps up the notion with which it began."

SATIRE IV.

Argument.

IN this Satire, which was probably written under Nerva, Juvenal indulges his honest spleen against two most distinguished culprits, Crispinus, already noticed in his first Satire, and Domitian the constant object of his scorn and abhorrence.

Considered as a whole, this is not a very capital performance; yet no particular division of it is without merit: its principal defect seems to be in the sudden transition from the shocking enormities of Crispinus to his gluttony and extravagance. Even this, inartificial as it certainly is, appears in some degree necessary to the completion of his design-the introduction of Domitian.

The whole of this part is excellent. The mock solemnity with which the anecdote of the turbot is introduced, the procession of the affrighted counsellors to the palace, and the ridiculous debate which terminates in as ridiculous a decision, shew a masterly hand and though the mere reader may be tempted to cry out with Desdemona, "O most lame and impotent conclusion!" yet the critic will acquit the poet of any great want of judgment, since he most probably gives the circumstances as he found them.

What is more peculiarly his own, is the striking picture of the state of the empire under the suspicious, and gloomy tyranny of Domitian; which he boldly dashes out by briefly, but ingeniously, touching on the character and conduct of the chief courtiers, as

they pass in review before him:-nor should we overlook the indignant and high-spirited apostrophe with which he concludes the Satire; an apostrophe, which under some of the emperors would be fatal, and under none of them without danger.

SATIRE IV.

v. 1-8.

ONCE more my voice (and oft shall I renew
Th' alarming strain) calls forth to public view
Crispinus; monster! in whose tainted heart
Not one atoning virtue claims a part:
Diseased, emaciate, weak in all but lust,
And whom the widow's sweets alone disgust.
Avails it then, in what long colonades

He tires his mules? through what extensive glades

VER. 3. Crispinus; monster ! &c.] Crispinus has been already noticed in the notes to the first Satire. All that needs be added of him here is, that he continued in great favour during the whole reign of Domitian, and amassed immense riches; which he squandered in the gratification of the most vicious passions.

I am by no means satisfied with the usual explanations of the sixth line : "ostendit illum jucundiora tantum sectari adulteria, nam qui viduas sequebantur, id lucri gratia faciebant." I rather think the author means to insinuate that Crispinus would not indulge his lust, unless he could add to it a crime of some peculiar heinousness. To corrupt virgin innocence, to invade the sanctity of the marriage bed, was his delight: intrigues with widows had too little turpitude in them to gratify his singular depravity.

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