A hog, Sylvanus, sacrifice to thee, And bathe in public for the farthing fee?— VER. 663. O, never may the partner of my bed, &c.] In the WIFE, by Sir Thomas Overbury, there is a stanza on this subject, which, whatever may be thought of this poetry, is not deficient in good sense : How superior is this (I do not mean in poetry, but in just and liberal thinking) to the following: Σοφην δε μισων Μη γαρ γ' εμοις δόμοις Είη φρόνεσα πλείον, η γυαικα χρηνα Το γαρ πανέργον μαλλον εντίκτει Κύπρις Εν ταις σοφαίσιν. VER. 670. O'er ber Palamon, &c.] For Palamon, See Sat. v11. Eurip. Hip. All modes of speech, regardless of the sense, To me unknown; and, by the book, amends Which I scarce mark'd: 'tis well; but let me make Her faults, these make all lawful in her eye. Bloated, and foul, and plaister'd to the ears VER. 681. Pearls of enormous size;] Magnos elenchos. It is not easy to say what these were: the scholiast calls them uniones, margaritas oblongas; the modern commentators, oval, oblong, and pear-shaped pearls. Holyday quaintly translates the word, eye-checking, because, as he says, sλyx sometimes signifies to check, or reprehend! I incline to think that elenchus did not signify a single pearl for the ear, but a drop, formed of several; for that such were worn and admired in Juvenal's time, may be readily proved. The following passage in Seneca, de Beneficiis, seems to me much to the purpose; Video uniones non singulos singulis auribus comparatos; (jam enim exercitatæ aures oneri ferendo sunt ;) junguntur inter se, et insuper alii bini suppanguntur. Non satis muliebris insania viros subjecerat, nisi, bina, ac terna patrimonia singulis auribus pependissent ! With viscous pastes :-the husband looks askew, Still to the adulterer, sweet and clean she goes, And thinks it loss of leisure to be drest. For him she breathes of nard, for him alone, She makes the sweets of Araby her own; VER. 687. With vicous pastes, &c.] Ariosto had this passage in his thoughts, when he wrote the following lines: "Se sapesse Ercolan dove la labbia "Pon quando bacia Lidia, avria più a schivo "Non sà che 'l liscio è fatto col salivo "Delle Giudee" but the old bard grows quite abominable as he proceeds. VER. 689. Still to the adulterer, &c.] Le Grange fancies that Juvenal had Lucilius in view in this place: 46 Quom tecum est, quidvis satis est; visuri alieni Sat. xv. This is not unlikely but I believe the more immediate subject of his imitation, was the following passage of Tibullus, Lib. 1. El. ix. 67. "Tune putas illam pro te disponere crines, "Aut tenues denso pectere dente comas? "Ista hæc persuadet facies, auroque lacertos "Vinciat, et Tyrio prodeat apta sinu ? For him, at length, she ventures to uncase VER. 696. "Non tibi, sed juveni cuidam vult bella videri; · scales the rough-cast from her face,] Thus, too, Tibellus, "Et faciem, dempta pelle, referre novam." Scaliger, speaking of this renewing of faces, has a most ungallant observation. I thought, says he, nostro tempore tantum boc incepisse; sed, quantum video, non minus illæ veteres lupa insaniebant, quam bæ nostræ ætatis. VER. 698. Washes with asses' milk, &c.] For this refinement in luxury, as well as for the "viscous paste" mentioned above, the Roman ladies were indebted to the younger Poppaa, the mistress, and finally the wife, of Nero; who avenged the cause of two husbands, whom she had abandoned, by a kick which occasioned her death. Poppaa," Stapylton says, "was so careful to preserve her beauty, that, when she went into banishment, she carried fifteen" (the scholiast says fifty) "she-asses along with her, for their milk to wash in." I will not vouch for the truth of this anecdote; but that Poppea was profusely extravagant, in every thing which related to her person, is undoubted. Here is Xiphilinus's account: Η δε Σαβίνη αυτη έτως ὑπερετρύφησεν, ώστε τας τε ημίονες τας αγέσας αυτην επι χρυσα οπαρτία ὑποδειςθαι, καὶ ονες πεντακοσίας αρτίτοκες καθ' ἡμεραν αμελγεςθαι, & Tw Y¤haxтI AUTWY Yuntai, Lib. 1.X11. 28. Here we find that she had not fifteen, as Stapylton, or fifty, as the scholiast, says; but five hundred she-asses in her suite! Apropos of the scholiast. He has furnished Reimarus with a notable opportunity of displaying his critical sagacity. Nugatur S. aut certè miserè corruptus Asses, which, exiled to the Pole, the fair, 'Tis worth a little labour, to survey Our wives more near, and trace 'em through the day. Scribe est, quinquagintas asinas Poppæam secuta esse "missam in exilium." quingentas, cum Dione, et Plinio; et missam in solium, quod est vas balneare. To exchange an error for an absurdity is too much. Certainly, the scholiast was no great critic; yet Reimarus must excuse me, if I still believe him incapable of saying that fifty asses followed Poppea into the bathing-tub! |