Dead wine, that stinks of the borrachio, fup
From a foul jack, or greafy maple-cup?
Say, would'st thou bear all this, to raise thy ftore
From fix i' th' hundred, to fix hundred more?
Indulge, and to thy genius freely give;

For, not to live at eafe, is not to live;
Death stalks behind thee, and each flying hour
Does fome loofe remnant of thy life devour.
Live, while thou liv'ft; for death will make us all
A name, a nothing but an old wife's tale.

Speak; wilt thou Avarice, or Pleasure, chufe
To be thy lord? Take one, and one refuse.
But both, by turns, the rule of thee will have;
And thou, betwixt them both, wilt be a flave.

Nor think, when once thou haft refifted one,
That all thy marks of fervitude are gone:
The struggling greyhound gnaws his leash in vain;
If, when 'tis broken, still he drags the chain.

Says Phædra to his man, Believe me, friend,
To this uneafy love I'll put an end:
Shall I run out of all? my friends difgrace,
And be the first lewd unthrift of my race?
Shall I the neighbours nightly rest invade
At her deaf doors, with fome vile ferenade ?
Well haft thou freed thy felf, his man replies,
Go, thank the Gods, and offer facrifice.
Ah, fays the youth, if we unkindly part,
Will not the poor fond creature break her heart?
Weak foul! and blindly to destruction led!

She break her heart! fhe 'Il fooner break your head.

VOL. VII.

A a

She

She knows her man, and, when you rant and swear,
Can draw you to her, with a fingle hair.

But fhall I not return? Now, when the fues!
Shall I my own, and her defires refuse?

Sir, take your courfe: but my advice is plain :
Once freed, 'tis madness to refume your chain,

Ay; there's the man, who, loos'd from luft and pelf,
Lefs to the prætor owes, than to himself.
But write him down a flave, who, humbly proud,
With presents begs preferments from the crowd;
That early fuppliant, who falutes the tribes,
And fets the mob to scramble for his bribes:
That fome old dotard, fitting in the fun,

On holidays may tell, that fuch a feat was done :
In future times this will be counted rare..

Thy fuperftition too may claim a fhare:

When flowers are strew'd, and lamps in order plac'd,
And windows with illuminations grac❜d,
On Herod's day; when sparkling bowls go round,
And tunnies tails in favoury fauce are drown'd,
Thou mutter't prayers obscene; nor dost refuse
The fafts and fabbaths of the curtail'd Jews.
Then a crack'd egg-fhell thy fick fancy frights,
Befides the childish fear of walking sprights.
Of o'ergrown gelding priests thou art afraid ;
The timbrel, and the fquintifego maid
Of Ifis, awe thee: left the Gods, for fin,
Should, with a fwelling dropfy, stuff thy skin:
Unless three garlick-heads the curse avert,
Eaten each morn, devoutly, next thy heart.

Preach

Preach this among the brawny guards, fay'ft thou, And fee if they thy doctrine will allow :

The dull fat captain, with a hound's deep throat,
Would bellow out a laugh, in a base note;
And prize a hundred Zeno's just as much
As a clipt fixpence, or a fchilling Dutch.

THE

SIXTH SATIRE

O F

PERSIUS.

ARGUMENT.

THIS fixth fatire treats an admirable common-place of moral philofophy; of the true ufe of riches. They certainly are intended, by the power who beftows them, as inftruments and helps of living commodiously ourselves; and of adminiftering to the wants of others, who are oppressed by fortune. There are two extremes in the opinions of men concerning them. One error, though on the right hand, yet a great one, is, that they are no helps to a virtuous life; the other places all our happinefs in the acquifition and poffeffion of them; and this is, undoubtedly, the worse extreme. The mean betwixt these, is the opinion of the Stoicks; which is, that riches may be useful to the leading

a vir

a virtuous life; in cafe we rightly understand how to give according to right reafon; and how to receive what is given us by others. The virtue of giving well, is called liberality and it is of this virtue that Perfius writes in this fatire; wherein he not only fhews the lawful use of riches, but also fharply inveighs against the vices which are oppofed to it; and especially of those, which confift in the defects of giving or spending; or in the abuse of riches. He writes to Cæfius Baffus his friend, and a poet alfo. Enquires first of his health and studies; and afterwards informs him of his own, and where he is now refident. He gives an account of himself, that he is endeavouring, by little and little, to wear off his vices; and particularly, that he is combating ambition, and the defire of wealth. He dwells upon the latter vice: and, being fenfible that few men either defire or use riches as they ought, he endeavours to convince them of their folly; which is the main defign of the whole fatire.

THE SIXTH SATIR E.

TO CESIUS BASSUS, A LYRIC POET.

HA

AS winter caus'd thee, friend, to change thy feat, And feek in Sabine air a warm retreat? Say, doft thou yet the Roman harp command? Do the ftrings answer to thy noble hand?

A a 3

Great