When he who pilled his province 'scapes the laws, } With what impatience must the muse behold The wife, by her procuring husband sold? For though the law makes null the adulterer's deed Of lands to her, the cuckold may succeed, Who his taught eyes up to the cieling throws, And sleeps all over but his wakeful nose. When he dares hope a colonel's command, Whose coursers kept, ran out his father's land; Who yet a stripling, Nero's chariot drove, Whirled o'er the streets, while his vain master strove With boasted art to please his eunuch love Would it not make a modest author dare To draw his tabie-book within the square, * Here the poet complains, that the governors of provinces being accused for their unjust exactions, though they were condemned at their trials, yet got off by bribery. + Horace, who wrote satires; it is more noble, says our author, to imitate him in that way, than to write the labours of Hercules, the sufferings of Diomedes and his followers, or the flight of Dædalus, who made the Labyrinth, and the death of his son Ica rus. Nero married Sporus, an eunuch; though it may be, the poet meant Nero's mistress in man's apparel. * And fill with notes, when, lolling at his ease, And high commands; a sneaking sin is lost. If nature could not, anger would indite Count from the time, since old 'Deucalion's boat, Raised by the flood, did on Parnassus float, § * Mecenas is often taxed by Seneca and others for his effeminacy. The meaning is that the very consideration of such a crime will hinder a virtuous man from taking his repose. Shadwell, our author's old enemy.-E. Deucalion and Pyrrha, when the world was drowned, escaped to the top of Mount Parnassus, and were commanded to restore mankind, by throwing stones over their heads; the stones he threw became men, and those she threw became women, And, scarcely mooring on the cliff, implored What age so large a crop of vices bore, When were the dice with more profusion thrown? What age so many summer-seats did see? Who gape among the crowd for their precarious food. The prætor's and the tribune's voice is heard; The freedman jostles, and will be preferred; First come, first served, he cries; and I, in spite Of your great lordships, will maintain my right; Though born a slave, though my torn ears are bored,* Presaging pious love with her auspicious cry. But since our knights and senators account, To what their sordid begging vails amount, Judge what a wretched share the poor attends, Whose whole subsistence on those alms depends! Their household fire, their raiment, and their food, Prevented by those harpies; § when a wood * The ears of all slaves were bored, as a mark of their servitude; which custom is still usual in the East Indies, and in other parts, even for whole nations, who bore prodigious holes in their ears, and wear vast weights at them. + Pallus, a slave freed by Claudius Cæsar, and raised by his favour to great riches. Licinius was another wealthy freedman belonging to Augustus. Perhaps the storks were used to build on the top of the temple dedicated to Concord. § He calls the Roman knights, &c. harpies, or devourers. In those days, the rich made doles intended for the poor; but the great were either so covetous, or so needy, that they came in their litters to demand their shares of the largess; and thereby prevented, and consequently starved, the poor. Of litters thick besiege the donor's gate, * Such fine employments our whole days divide: The salutations of the morning tide Call up the sun; those ended, to the hall We wait the patron, hear the lawyers bawl; Then to the statues; where amidst the race Of conquering Rome, some Arab shows his face, Inscribed with titles, and profanes the place; † Fit to be pissed against, and somewhat more. The great man, home conducted, shuts his door. Old clients, wearied out with fruitless care, Dismiss their hopes of eating, and despair; Though much against the grain, forced to retire, Buy roots for supper, and provide a fire. } * The meaning is, that noblemen would cause empty litters to be carried to the giver's door, pretending their wives were within them. ""Tis Galla," that is, my wife; the next words, "Let her ladyship but peep," are of the servant who distributes the dole; "Let me see her, that I may be sure she is within the litter." The husband answers, "She is asleep, and to open the litter would disturb her rest." The poet here tells you how the idle passed their time; in going first to the levees of the great; then to the hall, that is, to the temple of Apollo, to hear the lawyers plead; then to the market-place of Augustus, where the statues of the famous Romans were set in ranks on pedestals; amongst which statues were seen those of foreigners, such as Arabs, &c. who, for no desert, but only on account of their wealth or favour, were placed amongst the noblest. |