Now had my friend, impatient to depart,
Consign'd his little all to one poor cart-
For this, without the town he chose to wait;
But stopt a moment at the Conduit-gate.

Here Numa erst his nightly visits paid,

And held high converse with the Egerian maid: Now the once-hallow'd fountain, grove, and fane, Are let to Jews, a wretched, wandering train,

He follows the rest, in his rendering of the passage above

"Che a far s'en vada alla Sibilla il dono

"D'un nuovo cittadin."

VER. 20. Here Numa erst, &c.] We lately (Sat. 11.) had occasion to notice one of the pious frauds of this good king; here is another not less pure in its nature, and not less salutary in its effect.

Livy tells us, that, just without the walls of Rome, there was a little grove, watered by a perennial spring, which rose in the middle of it. To this, Num2, who had probably contracted, in the privacy of his former life, a love of solitude, which followed him to the throne, used frequently to retire: and here he seems, soon after his accession, to have conceived the design of turning his darling propensity to the advantage of his new subjects. For this purpose, he gave out, that, in this lonely recess, he met the goddess Egeria, who furnished him from time to time with the statutes to be observed by the city. A rude and uninformed race of warriors listened with awe to the dictates of Heaven: and Numa had the secret satisfaction of seeing his institutions not merely received, but revered.

Whose wealth is but a basket stuff'd with hay :-
For every tree is forced a tax to pay;

And the sweet Nine are banish'd, that the place
May raise an income from this beggar'd race!

Thence down the vale we slowly wind, and view The Egerian grots-ah! how unlike the true! Nymph of the spring! more graced thy haunts had been, More honour'd, if an edge of living green,

VER. 24. Whose wealth is but a basket stuff'd with bay ;-] The commentators, not content with the obvious meaning of this passage, have laboured to find a mystery in it. Britannicus, in his observations on the Sixth Satire, (where the same words are again used,) says, the hay served them to lie on. This is rational enough; but how, rejoins Holyday, could they carry about sufficient for such a purpose? He, therefore, inclines to think, with Lyranus, that the hay was not so much a mark of their poverty, as of their servitude in Egypt, which, it seems, they gloried in obtruding upon the notice of the Romans: by way of contrasting it, I suppose, with their present flourishing and happy situation! It may look like trifling to reply, that in this case, they should rather have carried straw: but the truth is, there is no room for refinement on the subject. The poet merely intended to censure the irreligion and avarice of his countrymen. The former, in assigning the sacred groves to this depised race (pars dispectissima servientium) who, being driven from the city by Domitian, were glad to take up their abode in the nearest place which promised them a shelter and the latter, in exacting the rent from them, though all their wealth was a basket, in which, perhaps, they carried what they begged, and a little hay, which either served for provender for their beasts, (asses) or for themselves to lay their heads on at night.

:

One of Juvenal's most judicious translators observes, that it is, "improbable the Jews should pay tribute (why tribute? is it not mercedem, rent?) for their cold lodging in a grove." Yet this is expressly asserted by this author, omnis enim, populo! &c. He will therefore, have it (and he is far from being singu

Thy bubbling fount had circumscribed alone,
And marble ne'er profan'd the native stone.

Umbritius here his sullen silence broke,
And turn'd on Rome, indignant, as he spoke.
Since Virtue droops, he cried, without regard,
And honest toil scarce hopes a poor reward;
Since every morrow sees my means decay,
And still makes less the little of to-day;
I hasten there, where, all his labours past,
The flying artist found repose at last :-

iar) that Juvenal alludes to the tribute which every Jew was obliged to pay to the Temple, and which, after its destruction, Vespasian transferred to the Capitol. Such an idea is altogether inconsistent with the spirit of the passage. The obnoxious nature of the demand (in Juvenal's mind) was for the use of the groves themselves, and every other supposition weakens the force of his satire.

VER. 30. Nymph of the spring! &c.] We have here a pleasing instance of the good taste of Juvenal :-but he was an enthusiastic admirer of nature, and the little views of the country with which he indulges as from time to time, are painted con amore (as they say), and from the heart.

It is but justice, however, to add, that he is indebted for some of the finest touches in the picture before us, to a most exquisite description of a fount and grotto, by Ovid.

While something yet of health and strength remains,
While yet my steps no bending staff sustains,
While few gray hairs upon my head are seen,

And my old age is vigorous still, and green;
Here let me bid my native soil farewell—
THERE may Arturius and his colleague dwell
Unblushing villains, who in truth's despite,
Can white to black transform, and black to white,
Build temples, furnish funerals, auctions hold,
Farm rivers, ports, and scour the drains for gold:

These once were trumpeters, and up and down Follow'd the prizes, through each country town ; Where their puff'd cheeks were known to ev'ry clown. Now they give SHEWS themselves; and save, or kill As the rude rabble hint their sovereign will;

VER. 55. Now they give SHEWS, &c.] i. e. munera; exhibitions of gladiators: "They once served the players, (so Mr. Ireland thinks it should be, and not prize-fighters, as I have rendered it,) now they affect to be great men, and hire gladiators to amuse the people."

When an ancient custom can be rendered with precision, it is always right to do that justice to the original; when it cannot, it is better, perhaps, to give its general sense, than to descend to particulars, in which every thing is disputed, and nothing concluded:

Whom thus they court; then as their avarice wakes, Run from the bloody scene, to...farm the jakes!

literally means, from an affectation of popularity they put to death whomsoever the people, by a turn of their thumbs, condemn. Verso pollice, and converso pollice, are known to be signals of contempt, by which the spectators adjudged to death the vanquished combatant. How these were expressed,-whether by holding up a hand clenched, with the thumb bent backward, or by what other method, cannot now be determined. Nor is it of much consequence; the sense of the passage is given in the translation, and the reader who wishes for further remarks on it, may consult Dacier and others, who have written professedly on the subject.

When I observed, that the vanquished was adjudged to death converso pollice, I should have added, that he was sometimes preserved compresso pollice. I wish I could have said frequently: but he who considers how great a tendency the sight of reiterated murder has to harden the mind, will not believe that there were many proofs of compassion exhibited. If we look for them any where, it must be amongst the Vestal Virgins, whose service was unbloody, and who must, therefore have had a little of the "milk of human kindness" in them. Hear now Prudentius :

"O tenerum mitemque animum! consurgit ad ictus :
"Et, quoties victor ferrum jugulo inserit, illa
"Delicias ait esse suas! pectusque jacentis
"Virgo modesta jubet converso pollice rumpí;
"Ne lateat pars ulla animæ vitalibus imis,

"Altius impresso dum palpitat ense secutor !"

Now I have mentioned these sports (for so they were called!) it may not be amiss to add a few words on the dreadful waste of mankind occasioned by them. No war, no pestilence, ever swept off such multitudes of the human race. Lipsius asserts, that in some months, twenty or thirty thousand were slaughtered in Europe alone; and his calculation does not appear at all exaggerated. We blame, says he, the cruelty of Nero and Caligula, who probably put to death some hundreds of men in the course of their reigns; while we say nothing of many private citizens, who frequently butchered a thousand in a day!