quenter of the houses of the great *. He probably cultivated the friendship of Seneca, to whose moral and religious code he seems to have subscribed, professing the Stoic principles, and speaking with general reverence for the Deity, but with contempt for the popular superstition. The sixteen satires of Juvenal are written with considerable spirit, and abound with fine moral reflections, and passages of declamatory eloquence, worked up with peculiar force. His indignant satire displayed the corruption of heathen manners, so as fully to demonstrate that the Romans were given over to a reprobate mind; and he appears to have been one of those witnesses who at different times proclaimed the precepts of a moral law, and seconded the suggestions of conscience. The broad and offensive descriptions which he gives of the abominations which prevailed, might have had some effect in exciting a sense of shame in those who were not utterly lost in depravity; but these licentious pictures are revolting to the mind of a Christian; and Cæsar Scaliger considered the satires as unfit to be read, declaring, * Lib. xii. Epig. 18. al. 17. “Se vel juberc, vel optare, toto opere absti"nere virum probum *.” Traditionary accounts, consistent with truth, break in upon us in every heathen work. Juvenal alludes to the circumstance of the first man being formed of clay, without the intervention of parents, at a time when perjury and robbery were unknown, and when the goddess Astrea, with her two sisters, Chastity and Faith, dwelt in person amongst ment. He describes the deterioration of successive ages, and the excesses of human corruption, but does not shew any acquaintance with its origin. He alludes to a perverted account of the deluge. He mentions the laws of Moses, but as delivered in a secret volume; alluding perhaps to its having been kept first in the ark §, and secondly in the tabernacle; and if any imitations of the sacred writings are to be found in his satires, they are so slight as not to afford any argument for comparison. He makes, however, some statements, with re Poetices 98. † Sat. vi. I. 1-20. Sat. i. 1. 81, 82. Deut. x. 5. xxxi. 24. 26. Sat. x. 1. 210. 215. compare with 2 Sam. xix. 34, 35. spect both to the Jews and Christians, which deserve consideration. It appears from Juvenal, that persons of eminent rank in Judea, and the customs which prevailed in that country, were subjects of popular attention at Rome in his time, and that confused and inaccurate accounts were received concerning them. He represents the Jews, whom he calls "the chil"dren of men that reverence the sabbath," as adoring nothing but clouds, and the skies," (the Deity of Heaven)*; as "abhorring, like "their forefathers, swines flesh as much as that "of the human body; and as being circum"cised." He states that being accustomed to despise the Roman laws, they learnt thoroughly "whatever precepts Moses delivered, (such as), not to point out the road except "to those who respected the same rites, and to lead those only who were circumcised to "the fountains for which they enquired +." "Their forefathers," says the satirist, "were to "be blamed for this, who devoted every se 66 Sat. xiv. 1. 96, 97. See Numb. x. 34. Aristophanes brought the same charge against Socrates. Sat. xiv. 1. 98. See also Sat, vi. 1. 159. Compare with. Levit. ix. 7. Dion. Cass. lib. xxxvii. 17. Sat. xiv. 1. 100. "venth day to idleness, excluding it from the "concerns of life." It is scarcely necessary to observe, that Juvenal, in the contemptuous asperity of his satire, misrepresents the instruction of the Jewish legislator, when he describes it as forbidding courtesy to strangers; though it is possible the Jews of his time might shew a resentment against the Romans for the treatment they experienced from them, and might interpret too rigorously the laws which were designed to secure them from any idolatrous connection with the nations with whom they had intercourse, forgetting that charitable regard to strangers which the precepts of Moses expressly enjoined. In describing the capricious and expensive taste of the Roman women, Juvenal mentions, as an object of request, "a precious gem given by Agrippa to his incestuous "sister Berenice §, in the country where kings observed their solemn sabbaths bare 66 66 * Sat. xiv. 1. 104. + Deut. vii. Exod. xxii. 21. xxiii. 9. Lev. xix. 18. 34. Deut. x. 18, 19. xxxiv. 17. 22. Giffard's translat. note to 14 Sat. 1. 145. § Acts xxv. 13. "footed*, and where ancient forbearance 66 spared the long-lived swine." In the former passage he alludes to the custom established amongst the Jews, of officiating at the sacrifices with bare feet; a custom grounded probably on the divine direction given to Moses to put off his shoes from his feet, when he trod on the ground hallowed by the divine presence §. Juvenal, after marking with striking and characteristic effect, the various superstitions which prevailed at Rome, represents the "Jewess trembling with age, whispering her "secrets for lucre in the ear; professing her"self able to interpret the laws of Jerusalem, 66 high priestess of the (sacred) tree, and the "faithful messenger of heaven ||; describing her in a character similar to that in which the gipsies now appear, as receiving a small piece of money for a reward, and as selling whatever dreams might be required. In another place he represents certain Jews, whose whole possessions were a basket * L. 14 and 96. Exod. iii. 5. Josh. v. 14. |