EPIGRAMS, &c. MARTIAL SPECTAC. LIB. EPIG. II. TO VESPASIAN.* WHERE yon fublime Coloffus braves the skies, And vaft machines+ with felf-mov'd stages rife, The tyrant Nero having demolished almost one-third of Rome, to erect his "Golden Palace" as he called it, (confifting of porticos near a mile in extent, a coloffal ftatue of himself 120 feet high; lakes, parks, and woods, ftocked with wild and tame beasts of every kind) the Emperors Vefpafian and Titus destroyed it, and built the magnificent amphitheatre, which still remains; put the head of Apollo on the Coloffus in the place of Nero's, Where the wide lake its flagnant waters spread, See! publick baths erected, where before Wafte lawns ufurp'd the manfions of the poor: Nero's, and erected porticos and publick baths for the use of the people.If the unhappy Louis XVI. had followed his own inclination, and, on his acceffion to the throne, had effected fome more important popular acts, he might probably have saved himfelf and his country from the present diftracted fituation. † Some wooden machines for the use of the amphitheathre, I believe, to amuse the populace. ON THE DEATH OF JAMES COLLINGS, Esq. FEB. 1788, AT BATH. IMITATED FROM MARTIAL, B. i. EP. 40. Is there a man, like those distinguish'd few Of ftricteft honour and to virtue dear, Who form'd no wish, but all mankind might hear :* Such was the man, whofe loss his friends deplore: Such Collings was-+but is, alas! no more.‡ * Alluding to the secret prayers of the hypocrites. HOR. †The word Difpeream is too familiar for this occafion-but may be excufed in the following imitation. This character was brought to the author's memory, by the recent death of the worthy Mr. Hoare, to whom it is strictly applicable. MARTIAL, BOOK i. EP. 40. IMITATED. IMPROMPTU HAVE you not seen, to Dover pofting down, My curious friend, about ten miles from town, If to the right you haply caft your eyes, A fplendid villa's front majestick rise? Where, 'midft the verdant lawn, pavilions gay, * One, a beautiful antique marble urn, brought from Rome, with its pedestal 10 or 12 feet high. † Difpeream, fi non &c. BOOK ii. EP. 7. DECLAMAS BELLE', &c. MODERNIZED. YES, you're a pretty preacher, fir, we know it, A pretty critick, and tell fortunes+ too; Bellas hiftorias. † Bellus es aftrologus. Magnus es Ardelio. Aulóral. |