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ball; a sport now used in Cornwall, and other parts of England; we may see it daily practised in Red-Lyon Fields. The 4th, was the Saltus, or Leaping; and the 5th, wrestling naked, and besmeared with oil. They who practised in these five manly exercises were called Πένταθλοι.

Note VIII.

If, with thy guards, thou scour'st the streets by night, And dost in murders, rapes, and spoils, delight.---P. 247. Persius durst not have been so bold with Nero as I dare now; and therefore there is only an intimation of that in him which I publicly speak: I mean, of Nero's walking the streets by night in disguise, and committing all sorts of outrages, for which he was sometimes well beaten.

Note IX.

Not what thou dost appear,

But what thou art, and find the beggar there.---P. 247. Look into thyself, and examine thy own conscience; there thou shalt find, that, how wealthy soever thou appearest to the world, yet thou art but a beggar; because thou art destitute of all virtues, which are the riches of the soul. This also was a paradox of the Stoic school,

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The judicious Casaubon, in his proem to this Satire, tells us, that Aristophanes, the grammarian, being asked, what poem of Archilochus Iambics he preferred before the rest; answered, the longest. His answer may justly be applied to this Fifth Satire ; which, being of a greater length than any of the rest, is also by far the most instructive. For this reason I have selected it from all the others, and inscribed it to my learned master, Dr Busby; to whom I am not only obliged myself for the best part of my own education, and that of my two sons; but have also received from him the first and truest taste of Persius. May he be pleased to find, in this translation, the gratitude, or at least some small acknowledgment, of his unworthy scholar, at the distance of fortytwo years from the time when I departed from under his tui

tion.

2

This Satire consists of two distinct parts: The first contains the praises of the stoic philosopher, Cornutus, master and tutor to our Persius; it also declares the love and piety of Persius to his well-deserving master; and the mutual friendship which continued betwixt them, after Persius was now grown a man; as also his exhortation to young noblemen, that they would enter themselves into his institution. From hence he makes an artful transition into the second part of his subject; wherein he first complains of the sloth of scholars, and afterwards persuades them to the pursuit of their true liberty. Here our author excellently treats that paradox of the Stoics, which affirms, that the wise or virtuous man is only free, and that all vicious men are naturally slaves; and, in the illustration of this dogma, he takes up the remaining part of this inimitable Satire.

PERSIUS.

OF ancient use to poets it belongs,

To wish themselves an hundred mouths and tongues:
Whether to the well-lunged tragedian's rage
They recommend their labours of the stage,
Or sing the Parthian, when transfixed he lies,
Wrenching the Roman javelin from his thighs.

CORNUTUS.

And why would'st thou these mighty morsels chuse, Of words unchewed, and fit to choke the muse? Let fustian poets with their stuff begone, And suck the mists that hang o'er Helicon; When Progne,* or Thyestes' † feast they write; And, for the mouthing actor, verse indite. Thou neither like a bellows swell'st thy face, As if thou wert to blow the burning mass Of melting ore; nor canst thou strain thy throat, Or murmur in an undistinguished note, Like rolling thunder, till it breaks the cloud, And rattling nonsense is discharged aloud.

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Soft elocution does thy style renown,
And the sweet accents of the peaceful gown:
Gentle or sharp, according to thy choice,
To laugh at follies, or to lash at vice.

Hence draw thy theme, and to the stage permit Raw-head and bloody-bones, and hands and feet, Ragouts for Tereus or Thyestes drest;

'Tis task enough for thee t' expose a Roman feast.

PERSIUS.

"Tis not, indeed, my talent to engage In lofty trifles, or to swell my page With wind and noise; but freely to impart, As to a friend, the secrets of my heart, And, in familiar speech, to let thee know How much I love thee, and how much I owe. Knock on my heart; for thou hast skill to find If it sound solid, or be filled with wind; And, through the veil of words, thou view'st the naked mind.

For this a hundred voices I desire,

the

To tell thee what an hundred tongues would tire,
Yet never could be worthily exprest,-

How deeply thou art seated in my breast.
When first my childish robe* resigned the charge,
And left me, unconfined, to live at large;
When now my golden bulla (hung on high
To household gods) declared me past a boy,
And my white shield proclaimed my liberty; †
When, with my wild companions, I could roll
From street to street, and sin without controul;
Just at that age, when manhood set me free,
I then deposed myself, and left the reins to thee;
On thy wise bosom I reposed my head,

And by my better Socrates was bred.

* Note III.

+ Note IV.

‡ Note V.

Then thy straight rule set virtue in my sight,
The crooked line reforming by the right.
My reason took the bent of thy command,
Was formed and polished by thy skilful hand;
Long summer-days thy precepts I rehearse,
And winter-nights were short in our converse;
One was our labour, one was our repose,
One frugal supper did our studies close.

Sure on our birth some friendly planet shone;
And, as our souls, our horoscope* was one:
Whether the mounting Twins † did heaven adorn,
Or with the rising Balance + we were born;
Both have the same impressions from above.
And both have Saturn's rage, repelled by Jove. §
What star I know not, but some star, I find,
Has given thee an ascendant o'er my mind.

CORNUTUS.

Nature is ever various in her frame; Each has a different will, and few the same. The greedy merchants, led by lucre, run To the parched Indies, and the rising sun; From thence hot pepper and rich drugs they bear, Bartering for spices their Italian ware; The lazy glutton, safe at home, will keep, Indulge his sloth, and batten with his sleep: One bribes for high preferments in the state; A second shakes the box, and sits up late; Another shakes the bed, dissolving there, Till knots upon his gouty joints appear, And chalk is in his crippled fingers found; Rots, like a doddered oak, and piecemeal falls to ground;

Then his lewd follies he would late repent,

And his past years, that in a mist were spent.

* Note VI. + Gemini. + Libra. § Note VII.

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