Heavens! what a subject for the historic page, Or in the Assyrian, or the Egyptian queen, No reverence for the table here is found; tol; then stole away to the camp, to bribe the soldiers, and left the poor old man to be stabbed by his partizans, who remained behind. As to his march against Vitellius, it was but a march-for he quitted the field before the action, pretending that he could not bear the sight of citizens destroying each other!as if, adds Dio, he had not destroyed every body that stood between himself and the empire, ώσπερ ε της τε ύπατος καὶ του Καίσαρα, τον τε αυτοκράτορα εν auly In Pun Purevoas. Lib. LXIV. c. x. The only thing to be commended in him was his death. Plutarch says he lived full as badly as Nero, but died better: and Dio states this more strongly still, κακιςα γε μην ανθρωπων ζήσας, καλλιςα απέθανε, καὶ κακεργότατα την αρχην αρίσασας, αριςα αυτης απηλλαγη. VER. 159. No reverence for the table here is found, &c.] Among many absurd, and many impious, tenets of the ancient theology, there are some to be found of excellent tendency, and not undeserving of imitation. Such, for instance, as the reverent attention with which they regarded their tables, at which the gods were constantly supposed to be invisible guests: They lisp, they squeal, and the rank language use "Ante focos olim longis considere scamnis Ovid. Fast. This pleasing idea originated in the infancy of the world, when both profane and sacred history assure us, that celestial intelligences, "on errands of supernal goodness bent," did not disdain to sit and eat with men. in that noble burst of poetry which concludes his Peleus and Thetis, "Præsentes namque ante domus invisere castas Sæpius, et sese mortali ostendere cœtu "Calicolæ, nondum spreta pietate, solebant." Thus Catullus, Whatever may be thought of this persuasion, the consequences of it were highly beneficial for from hence arose that universal hospitality, in countries, and in times confessedly barbarous. From hence, too, that inviolable sanctity attached to the character of a poor man, and a stranger, who, for aught his entertainer knew, might be a superior being in disguise. Such, at least, was the prevailing doctrine in the days of Homer: 8 μοι θεμις ες, εδ' ει κακίων σε εν ελθοι Ξεινον ατιμησαι προς γαρ Διος εισιν ἀπωντες Ξείνοι τε, πίωκοι τε And to this the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews alludes. "Be not forgetful to entertain strangers; for thereby some have entertained Angels unawares." c. xiii. v. 2. The same thought, too, is prettily touched by Massinger's Angelo. Some wild enthusiast, silver'd o'er with age, Of most insatiate maw, is named the priest, With gentle eyes, for in such habits, often While the table was regarded as sacred, pov T Xpua, no light discourse was permitted there: hence we find the most grave and important conversations of the ancient philosophers to have taken place at it: conversations which began with a pious libation to the presiding power "though unseen," and which tended to the increase of wisdom and virtue. With reason, therefore, does Juvenal launch his indignation at this execrable society, who, not content with burlesquing the rites, profaned the wholesome customs, of their ancestors, and instead of the images of the Gods, (by the apposition of which they were used to consecrate it) placed upon the polluted table the instruments of impurity and vice! VER. 162. Of Cybele's lewd votaries, &c.] He alludes to the obscene buffooneries with which the feast of this mother of the gods was celebrated; and which were so gross, that one who knew them well assures us, the parents of the actors in them were ashamed to be present at the rehearsals which took place at home, previous to the celebration of the festival. The Galli mentioned a few lines below, were the priests of Cybele: effeminate, debauched, and irreligious wretches, differing in nothing but their being eunuchs from this respectable set. It is not without cause, therefore, that Juvenal wonders why the latter preserve so trifling a mark of distinction; the abolition of which would completely assimilate them to their worthy prototypes. Gracchus admir'd a trumpeter, or fife, The lusty priest whose limbs dissolv'd in sweat, What time he danced beneath th' Ancilia's weight, VER. 170. Gracchus admir'd, &c.] Whether this horrid transaction really happened, as Juvenal relates it, cannot now be told, as none of his contemporaries speak of it: certain it is, that Nero had set the example, and, as our author well observes, quis non faciet quod princeps? That I may not be obliged, as Tacitus says, to return to so disgusting a subject, (ne sæpius eadem prodigentia narranda sit) I will give his account of it. "At the feast of Tigellinus, the Emperor personated a woman, and was given in marriage to one of his favourites called Pythagoras. The augurs assisted at the ceremony, the portion was paid, the genial couch prepared, the nuptial torches lighted up, and all which in a natural marriage is covered with darkness, freely exposed to the view of the people." Ann. xv. 38. VER. 176. And do we now, O Peers! a Censor need, Or an Aruspex ?] The first, says Holyday, purified the city from offences, by punishment; the second from monstrous births, prodigies, &c. by sacrifices and expiations. It was the service of these that was now wanted. Now lays the ensigns of his god aside, And takes the modest vestment of a bride! VER. 180. The lusty priest, &c.] It appears from this, that Gracchus was of a noble family, (indeed it is said so just below,) for such only were admitted into the college of the Salii, or priests of Mars, who had the care of the Ancilia. They were twelve in number, and were so called from the extravagance of their gestures in their annual procession through the city. Plutarch gives a description of their dress, &c. which is very picturesque in the original.— Τας ιερας πέλτας αναλαβωσιν εν τῳ Μαρτίῳ μηνι, φοινικώς μεν ενδεδυμένοι χιτωνίσκες, μίτραις δε χαλκαις ὑπεζωσμένοι πλατείαις, καὶ κρανη χαλκᾶ φορώντες, εγχειριδίοις δε μικροις τα όπλα κρέοντες• Κίνονται δε επ ιτε πως ελιγμες τινας, καὶ μεταβολας εν ρυθμῷ ταχα εχοντι καὶ πυκνοτητα μετα ρωμης καὶ κεφοτητα αποδίδοντες. Vit. Num. With respect to the Ancile, it was a circular, or oblong shield, which, in the days of Numa, fell from Heaven, and was looked upon as the Palladium of the city. To prevent its being stolen, as that of Troy had been, the good king ordered eleven more to be made as like it as possible, and delivered them into the keeping of twelve of the most respectable families of Rome. It was these which were carried about the street in such boisterous solemnity. When we consider the disposition of the Romans, we shall be almost tempted to excuse the salutary fraud of Numa. In giving them a pledge of security from above, he evidently sought to check that suspicious ferocity, which induced them to see their safety in nothing but incessant warfare, and the depression of their neighbours. Nor was the experiment a new one: these ayahuaтa SOTET were frequent in the old world :-witness the statue of Pallas at Troy, of Cybele in Phrygia, of Diana in Taurus, of Minerva at Athens, &c. &c. Though in some cases, these well-meant deceptions seem to have answered the purpose of their employers, yet are they forever to be deplored, as having, in later days, taught men to use them, with little variation, in the fancied support of a cause which wants no such aids. |