And from revengeful husbands oft' have try'd
Worse handling, than severest laws provide :
One stabs; one slashes; one with cruel art,
Makes Colon suffer for the peccant part.
But your Endymion, your smooth, smock-fac'd Unrival'd, shall a beauteous dame enjoy; Not so: one more sallacious, rich, and old, Outbids, and buys her pleasure for her gold; Now he must moil, and drudge, for one he loaths; She keeps him high, in equipage and clothes: She pawns her jewels, and her rich attire, And thinks the workman worthy of his hire: In all things else immoral, stingy, mean; But, in her lusts, a conscionable queen.
She may be handsome, yet be chaste, you say; Good observator, not so fast away:
Did it not cost the modest youth his life,
Who shunn'd th' embraces of his father's wife?
And was not t' other strippling forc❜d to fly,
Who coldly did his patron's queen deny ;
And pleaded laws of hospitality?
The ladies charg'd them home, and turn'd the tale,
With shame they redden'd, and with spight grew
'Tis dangerous to deny the longing dame; [pale.
She loses pity, who has lost her shame.
Now Silus wants thy counsel, gives advice;
Wed Cæsar's wife, or die; the choice is nice.
Her comet-eyes she darts on every grace;
And takes a fatal liking to his face.
Adorn'd with bridal pomp she sits in state;
The public notaries and Aruspex wait:
The genial bed is in the garden drest:
The portion paid, and every rite express'd,
Which in a Roman marriage is profest.
'Tis no stol'n wedding, these, rejecting awe,
She scorns to marry, but in form of law:
In this moot case, your judgment; to refuse,
Is present death, besides the night you lose :
If you consent, 'tis hardly worth your pain;
A day or two of anxious life you gain:
Till loud reports thro' all the town have past,
And reach the prince: for cuckolds hear the last.
Indulge thy pleasure, youth, and take thy swing;
For not to take is but the self-same thing:
Inevitable death before thee lies;
But looks more kindly thro' a lady's eyes.
What then remains? Are we depriv'd of will,
Must we not wish, for fear of wishing ill?
Receive my counsel, and securely move;
Intrust thy fortune to the powers above.
Leave them to manage for thee, and to grant
What their unerring wisdom sees.thee want:
In goodness, as in greatness, they excel;
Ah, that we lov'd ourselves but half so well!
We, blindly by our headstrong passions led,
Are hot for action, and desire to wed;
Then wish for heirs: but to the gods alone
Our future offspring, and our wives, are known;
Th' audacious strumpet, and ungracious son.
Yet not to rob the priests of pious gain,
That altars be not wholly built in vain;
Forgive the gods the rest, and stand confin'd
To health of body, and content of mind:
A soul, that can securely death defy,
And count it Nature's privilege to die;
Serene and manly, harden'd to sustain
The load of life, and exercis'd in pain:
Guiltless of hate, and proof against desire ;
That all things weighs, and nothing can admire:
That dares prefer the toils of Hercules
To dalliance, banquet, and ignoble ease.
The path to peace is Virtue: what I show,
Thyself may freely on thyself bestow :
Fortune was never worshipp'd by the wise;
But, set aloft by fools, usurps the skies.
THE Poet, in this satire, proves, that the condition of a soldier is much better than that of a country-man: first, because a country-man, however affronted, provoked, and struck himself, dares not strike a soldier; who is only to be judged by a court-martial: and by the law of Camillus, which obliges him not to quarrel without the trenches, he is also assured to have a speedy hearing, and quick dispatch: whereas, the townsman or peasant is delayed in his suit by frivolous pretences, and not sure of justice when he is heard in the court: The soldier is also privileged to make a will, and to give away his estate, which he got in the war, to whom he pleases, without consideration of parentage, or relations; which is denied to all other Romans. This satire was written by Juvenal, when he was a commander in Ægypt; it is certainly his, though! think it not finished. And if it be well observed, you will find he intended an invective against a standing army.
HAT vast prerogatives, my Gallus, are Accruing to the mighty man of war!
For, if into a lucky camp I light,
Tho' raw in arms, and yet afraid to fight,
Befriend me, my good stars, and all goes right.)
One happy hour is to a soldier better,
Than mother Juno's recommending letter,
Or Venus, when to Mars she would prefer
My suit, and own the kindness done to her.
See what our common privileges are:
As, first, no saucy citizen should dare
To strike a soldier, nor, when struck, resent
The wrongs for fear of farther punishment:
Not tho' his teeth are beaten out, his eyes
Hang by a string, in bumps his forehead rise,
Shall he presume to mention his disgrace,
Or beg amends for his demolish'd face.
A booted judge shall sit to try his cause,
Not by the statute, but by martial laws;
Which old Camillus order'd, to confine
The brawls of soldiers to the trench and line:
A wise provision; and from thence 'tis clear,
That officers a soldier's cause should hear:
And, taking cognizance of wrongs receiv'd,
An honest man may hope to be reliev'd.
So far 'tis well: but with a general cry,
The regiment will rise in mutiny,
The freedom of their fellow-rogue demand,
And, if refus'd, will threaten to disband.
Withdraw thy action, and depart in peace;
The remedy is worse than the disease:
This cause is worthy him, who in the hall
Would for his fee, and for his client, bawl:
But would'st thou, friend, who hast two legs alone,
(Which, heaven be prais'd, thou yet mayst call thy
own)
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