And do you
not, then, now commend the fact, that of the two sages,[566] one
used to laugh[567] whenever he had advanced a single step from his
threshold; the other, with sentiments directly contrary, used to weep.
not, then, now commend the fact, that of the two sages,[566] one
used to laugh[567] whenever he had advanced a single step from his
threshold; the other, with sentiments directly contrary, used to weep.
Satires
, iii.
, 3.
Sat.
ii.
, 136,
"cupient et in acta referri. " These acta were public registers, in
which parents were obliged to insert the names of their children a few
days after their birth. They contained, besides, records of marriages,
divorces, deaths, and other occurrences of the year, and were therefore
of great service to historians, who as some think employed persons to
read them up for them. (Cf. acta legenti vii. , 104. ) Servius Tullius
instituted this custom. The records were kept in the temple of Saturn.
[527] _Suspende coronas. _ This was customary on all festive occasions,
as here, on the birth of a child; at marriages (vi. , 51, "Necte coronam
postibus, et densos per limina tende corymbos"), the return of friends
(cf. xii. , 91, "Longos erexit janua ramos"), or any public rejoicing
(as x. , 65, on the death of Sejanus, "Pone domi lauros"). So, when
advocates gained a cause, their clients adorned the entrance of their
houses with palm branches. Cf. vii. , 118, "virides scalarum gloria
palmæ. " Mart. , vii. , Ep. xxviii. , 6, "excolat et geminas plurima palma
fores. "
[528] _Legatum omne. _ One of the provisions of the Lex Papia Poppæa
(introduced, at the desire of Augustus, to extend the Lex Julia de
maritandis ordinibus) was, that if a married person had no child, a
tenth, and in some cases a larger proportion, of what was bequeathed
him, should fall to the exchequer. Cf. vi. , 38. It conferred also
certain privileges and immunities on those who in Rome had three
children (hence jus trium liberorum) born in wedlock. Cf. Ruperti and
Lips. ad Tac. , Ann. , iii. , 25. Cf. Ann. , xv. , 19. Mart. , ii. , Ep. xci. ,
6; ix. , lxvii.
[529] _Caducum_, probably a legacy contingent upon the condition of
having children.
[530] _Pumice. _ Cf. viii. , 16, "tenerum attritus Catanensi pumice
lumbum. "
[531] _Valvis. _ Cf. xiii. , 145, _seq. _
[532] _Corydon. _ Cf. Virg. , Ecl. , ii. , 69, "Ah, Corydon, Corydon, quæ
te dementia cepit! " and 56, "Rusticus es, Corydon! "
[533] _Claude fenestras. _
"Bolt every door, stop every cranny tight,
Close every window, put out every light;
Let not a whisper reach the listening ear,
No noise, no motion--let no soul be near. " Gifford.
[534] _Gallicinium_ was the technical name for the second military
watch, Vid. Facc.
[535] _Carptores_, Grangæus explains by "Escuiers trenchants. " Facc. by
δαιτρός and structor.
[536] _Baltea. _
"For countless scourgings will the rogues be slack
In slanderous villainies to pay thee back? " Badham.
[537] _Saufeia_, or Laufella, is supposed to be the "conjux Fusci,"
mentioned xii. , 45, and Mart. , iii. , Ep. 72; and whose other
debaucheries are mentioned vi. , 320. Cicero, knowing the propensity of
his countrywomen to wine-bibbing, would exclude them from officiating
at any sacred rites (at which wine was always used) after nightfall.
The festival of the Bona Dea is the only exception he would make.
"Nocturna mulierum sacrificia ne sunto, præter olla quæ pro populo rite
fiant. "
[538] _Faciens_; so _operatur_, xii. , 92. Virg. , Ecl. , iii. , 77,
"Cum _faciam_ vitulâ pro fugibus ipse venito. " So Georg. , i. , 339,
"Sacra refer Cereri lætis operatus in herbis. " So in Greek, ῥέζειν is
constantly used absolutely.
"For more stolen wine than late Saufeia boused,
When, for the people's welfare, she caroused! " Gifford.
[539] _Liber. _
"Yet worse than they, the man whose vicious deeds
Makes him still tremble at the rogues he feeds. " Badham.
[540] _Flosculus. _ For many exquisite parallel passages to this, see
Gifford's note.
[541] _Dum bibimus. _
"And while thou call'st for garlands, girls, and wine,
Comes stealthy age, and bids thee all resign. " Badham.
[542] _Digito. _ Effeminate wretches, who, as Holyday says, like women,
are afraid of touching their heads with more than a finger, for fear of
discomposing their curls. Pompey had this charge brought against him by
one Calvus; and cf. Plut. in Vit. , 48. Amm. Marcell. , XVII. , xi.
[543] _Lares_, cf. xii. , 87. Hor. , iii. , Od. xxiii. , 15, "Parvos
coronantem marino Rore Deos, fragilique myrto. " Plin. , xi. , 2, "Numa
instituit deos fruge colere, et mola salsa supplicare et far torrere. "
[544] _Figam_, a metaphor from hunting. --_Tegete_, cf. v. , 8, "Nusquam
pons et tegetis pars. "--_Baculo_, cf. Ter. , Heaut. , V. , i. , 58.
[545] C. Fabricius Luscinus, when censor, removed from the senate P.
Cornelius Rufinus, who had been twice consul and once dictator, for
having in his possession more than ten pounds' weight of plate. Liv. ,
Epit. , xiv. He was censor A. U. C. 478. Cf. xi. , 90, _seq. _
[546] _Duo fortes. _ Persons of moderate fortune rode in their _sella
gestatoria_, a sedan borne by two persons. The rich had litters or
palanquins, called hexaphori, or octophori, according to the number of
the lecticarii. Cf. i. , 64. Mœsia, now Bulgaria and Servia, is said to
have been famous for producing these brawny chairmen.
[547] _Curvus. _ So Lubinus interprets it. "Cum enim laborat se incur
vat. " Cf. Virg. , Eccl. , iii. , 42, "curvus arator;" so Art. Am. , ii. ,
670, "Curva senectus. " Or from his assiduity, "qui assiduus in opere
est. " Madan says, "Curvus means crooked, that hath turnings and
windings; and this latter, in a mental sense, denotes cunning, which
is often used for _skillful_. " Cf. Exod. , xxxviii. , 23. The old Schol.
explains it by Anaglyptarius, "a carver in low relief. "
[548] _Pingit. _ Others read _fingit_, and interpret it of "plaster
casts. " It probably refers to the "line of painted busts" to deck his
corridor, perhaps of fictitious ancestors. Cf. viii. , 2, "Pictosque
ostendere vultus majorum. "
[549] _Fortuna. _
"For when to Fortune I prefer my prayers,
The obdurate goddess stops at once her ears;
Stops with that wax which saved Ulysses' crew,
When by the Syrens' rocks and songs they flew. " Gifford.
SATIRE X.
In all the regions which extend from Gades[550] even to the farthest
east and Ganges, there are but few that can discriminate between real
blessings and those that are widely different, all the mist[551] of
error being removed. For what is there that we either fear or wish for,
as reason would direct? What is there that you enter on under such
favorable auspices, that you do not repent of your undertaking, and the
accomplishment of your wish? The too easy gods have overthrown[552]
whole families by granting their owners' prayers. Our prayers are put
up for what will injure us in peace and injure us in war. To many the
copious fluency[553] of speech, and their very eloquence, is fatal. It
was owing to his strength[554] and wondrous muscle, in which he placed
his trust, that the Athlete met his death. But money heaped up with
overwhelming care, and a revenue surpassing all common patrimonies as
much as the whale of Britain[555] exceeds dolphins, causes more to
be strangled. Therefore it was, that in that reign of Terror, and at
Nero's bidding, a whole cohort[556] blockaded Longinus[557] and the
spacious gardens of the over-wealthy Seneca,[558] and laid siege to the
splendid[559] mansion of the Laterani. [560] It is but rarely that the
soldier pays his visit to a garret. Though you are conveying ever so
few vessels of unembossed silver, entering on your journey by night,
you will dread the bandit's knife and bludgeon, and tremble at the
shadow of a reed as it quivers in the moonshine. [561] The traveler with
empty[562] pockets will sing even in the robber's face.
The prayers that are generally the first put up and best known in all
the temples are, that riches,[563] that wealth may increase; that our
chest may be the largest in the whole forum. [564] But no aconite is
drunk from earthenware. It is time to dread it when you quaff jeweled
cups,[565] and the ruddy Setine blazes in the broad gold.
And do you
not, then, now commend the fact, that of the two sages,[566] one
used to laugh[567] whenever he had advanced a single step from his
threshold; the other, with sentiments directly contrary, used to weep.
But easy enough to any one is the stern censure of a sneering laugh:
the wonder is how the other's eyes could ever have a sufficient supply
of tears. [568] Democritus used to shake his sides with perpetual
laughter, though in the cities of those regions there were no prætextæ,
no trabeæ,[569] no fasces, no litter, no tribunal! What, had he seen
the prætor[570] standing pre-eminent in his lofty car, and raised on
high in the mid dust of the circus, dressed in the tunic of Jove, and
wearing on his shoulders the Tyrian hangings of the embroidered toga;
and the circlet of a ponderous crown,[571] so heavy that no single
neck could endure the weight:[572] since the official, all in a sweat,
supports it, and, that the consul may not be too elated, the slave
rides in the same car. Then, add the bird that rises from his ivory
sceptre: on one side the trumpeters; on the other, the long train of
attendant clients, that march before him, and the Quirites, all in
white togas, walking by his horses' heads; men whose friendship he has
won by the sportula buried deep in his chest. Even in those days _he_
found subject for ridicule in every place where human beings meet,
whose wisdom proves that men of the highest intellect, men that will
furnish noble examples, may be born in the country of wether-sheep,
and in a foggy[573] atmosphere. He used to laugh at the cares and
also the joys of the common herd; sometimes even at their tears:
while he himself would bid Fortune, when she frowned, "Go hang! " and
point at her his finger[574] in scorn! Superfluous therefore, or else
destructive, are all those objects of our prayers, for which we think
it right to cover the knees of the gods with waxen tablets. [575]
Power, exposed to great envy, hurls some headlong down to ruin. The
long and splendid list of their titles and honors sinks[576] into the
dust. Down come their statues,[577] and are dragged along with ropes:
then the very wheels of the chariot are smashed by the vigorous stroke
of the axe, and the legs of the innocent[578] horses are demolished.
Now the fires roar! Now that head, once worshiped[579] by the mob,
glows with the bellows and the furnace! Great Sejanus crackles! Then
from that head, second only in the whole wide world, are made pitchers,
basins, frying-pans,[580] and platters! "Crown your doors with
bays! [581] Lead to Jove's Capitol a huge and milk-white ox! Sejanus
is being dragged along by the hook! a glorious sight! " Every body is
delighted. "What lips he had! and what a face! If you believe me, I
never could endure this man! " "But what was the charge under which he
fell! Who was the accuser? what the information laid? By whose witness
did he prove it? " "Nothing of the sort! a wordy and lengthy epistle
came from Capreæ. " "That's enough! I ask no farther. But how does the
mob of Remus behave! " "Why, follow Fortune,[582] as mobs always do,
and hate him that is condemned? " That self-same people, had Tuscan
Nurscia[583] smiled propitious on her countryman--had the old age of
the emperor been crushed while he thought all secure--would in that
very hour have saluted Sejanus as Augustus. Long ago they have thrown
overboard all anxiety. For that sovereign people that once gave away
military command, consulships, legions, and every thing, now bridles
its desires, and limits its anxious longings to two things only--bread,
and the games of the circus! "I hear that many are involved in his
fall. " "No doubt: the little furnace[584] is a capacious one; I met
my friend Brutidius[585] at the altar of Mars looking a little pale! "
"But I greatly fear that Ajax, being baffled,[586] will wreak fearful
vengeance, as having been inadequately defended. Let us rush headlong;
and, while he still lies on the river-bank, trample on Cæsar's foe?
But take care that our slaves witness the act! lest any of them should
deny it, and drag his master to trial with a halter round his neck! "
Such were the conversations then about Sejanus; such the smothered
whispers of the populace? Would _you_ then have the same court paid to
you that Sejanus had? possess as much, bestow on one the highest curule
honors, give another the command of armies,[587] be esteemed the lawful
guardian[588] of the prince that lounged away[589] his days with his
herd of Chaldæan astrologers, in the rock of Capreæ that he made his
palace? [590] Would you have centuries and cohorts, and a picked body
of cavalry,[591] and prætorian bands at your beck? Why should you not
covet these? Even those who have not the _will_ to kill a man would
gladly have the _power_. But what brilliant or prosperous fortune is of
sufficient worth that your measure of evils should balance your good
luck? Would you rather put on the prætexta of him that is being dragged
along, or be the magistrate of Fidenæ or Gabii, and give sentence about
false weights,[592] and break up scanty measures as the ragged ædile of
the deserted Ulubræ? [593]
You acknowledge, therefore, that Sejanus did not know what ought to
have been the object of his wishes. For he that coveted excessive
honors, and prayed for excessive wealth, was but rearing up the
multiplied stories of a tower raised on high, only that the fall might
be the deeper,[594] and horrible the headlong descent of his ruin[595]
once accelerated!
What overthrew the Crassi? [596] and Pompey and his sons? [597] and
him that brought Rome's haughty citizens quailing[598] beneath his
lash? Surely it was the post of highest advancement, reached by every
possible device, and prayers for greatness heard by gods who showed
their malignity in granting them! Few kings go down without slaughter
and wounds to Ceres' son-in-law. Few tyrants die a bloodless death!
He that as yet pays court to[599] Minerva, purchased by a single
_as_, that is followed by his little slave[600] to take charge of
his diminutive satchel, begins to long, and longs through all his
quinquatrian[601] holidays, for the eloquence and the renown of
Demosthenes or Cicero. But it was through their eloquence that both of
these orators perished: the copious and overflowing fount of talent
gave over each to destruction; by talent, was his hand and head cut
off! Nor did the Rostra[602] ever reek with the blood of a contemptible
pleader.
"O fortunate Rome, whose natal day may date from me as consul! " He
might have scorned the swords of Antony,[603] had all he uttered
been such trash as this. I had rather write poems that excite only
ridicule, than thee, divine Philippic of distinguished fame! that art
unrolled next to the first! Cruel was the end that carried him off
also whom Athens used to admire as his words flowed from his lips in a
torrent[604] of eloquence, and he swayed at will the passions of the
crowded theatre. With adverse gods and inauspicious fate was he born,
whom his father, blear-eyed with the grime of the glowing mass, sent
from the coal, and pincers,[605] and the sword-forging anvil, and sooty
Vulcan,[606] to the rhetorician's school!
The spoils of war, the cuirass fastened to the truncated[607] trophy,
the cheek-piece hanging from the battered helm, the car shorn of its
pole, the streamer of the captured galley,[608] and the sad captive on
the triumphal arch-top,[609] are held to be goods exceeding all human
blessings. For these each general, Roman, or Greek, or Barbarian,
strains as his prize! Full compensation for his dangers and his toils
he sees in these! So much greater is the thirst after fame than virtue.
For who would embrace[610] virtue herself, if you took away the rewards
of virtue? And yet, ere now, the glory of a few has been the ruin of
their native land; that longing for renown, and those inscriptions that
are to live on the marble that guards their ashes; and yet to burst
asunder this, the mischievous strength of the barren fig-tree has power
enough. Since even to sepulchres[611] themselves are fates assigned.
Weigh[612] the remains of Hannibal! How many pounds will you find in
that most consummate general! This is the man whom not even Africa,
lashed by the Mauritanian ocean, and stretching even to the steaming
Nile, and then again to the races of the Æthiopes and their tall[613]
elephants, can contain! Spain is annexed to Carthage's domain. He
bounds across the Pyrenees. Nature opposed in vain the Alps with
all their snows; he cleaves the rocks and rives the mountains with
vinegar. [614] Now he is lord of Italy! Yet still he presses on. "Naught
is achieved,"[615] he says, "unless we burst through the gates of Rome
with the soldiery of Carthage, and I plant my standard in the heart
of the Suburra! " Oh what a face! [616] and worthy what a picture! when
the huge Gætulian beast bore on his back the one-eyed[617] general!
What then was the issue? Oh glory! This self-made man is conquered,
and flees with headlong haste to exile, and there, a great and
much-to-be-admired client, sits at the palace of the king, until his
Bithynian majesty[618] be pleased to wake! To that soul, that once
shook the very world's base, it is not sword, nor stone, nor javelin,
that shall give the final stroke; but, that which atoned for Cannæ, and
avenged such mighty carnage,[619] a ring! Go then, madman, and hurry
over the rugged Alps, that you may be the delight of boys, and furnish
subjects for declamations! [620]
One[621] world is not enough for the youth of Pella! He chafes within
the narrow limits of the universe, poor soul, as though confined in
Gyarus'[622] small rock, or scanty Seriphös. Yet when he shall have
entered the city that the brickmakers[623] fortified, he will be
content with a sarcophagus! [624] Death alone discloses how very small
are the puny bodies of men! Men do believe that Athos was sailed
through of yore; and all the bold assertions that lying Greeks hazard
in history--that the sea was bridged over by the same fleets, and
formed into a solid pavement for the transit of wheels. We believe that
deep rivers failed, and streams were drunk dry[625] when the Persian
dined; and all the flights of Sostratus'[626] song, when his wings are
moistened by the god of wine. And yet, in what guise did _he_ return
after quitting Salamis, who, like a true barbarian as he was, used to
vent his rage in scourges on Corus and Eurus, that had never suffered
in this sort in Æolus' prison; and bound in gyves Ennosigæus[627]
himself. It was, in fact, an act of clemency that he did not think he
deserved branding[628] also. Would any of the gods choose to serve[629]
such a man as this? But how did he return? Why, in a single ship;
through waves dyed with blood, and with his galley retarded[630] by the
shoals of corpses. Such was the penalty that glory, for which he had so
often prayed, exacted.
"Grant length of life, great Jove, and many years! " This is your only
prayer in health and sickness. But with what unremitting and grievous
ills is old age crowded! First of all, its face is hideous, loathsome,
and altered from its former self; instead of skin a hideous hide and
flaccid cheeks; and see! such wrinkles, as, where Tabraca[631] extends
her shady dells, the antiquated ape[632] scratches on her wizened
jowl! There are many points of difference in the young: this youth is
handsomer than that; and he again than a third: one is far sturdier
than another. Old mens faces are all alike--limbs tottering and
voice feeble,[633] a smooth bald pate, and the second childhood of a
driveling nose; the poor wretch must mumble his bread with toothless
gums; so loathsome to his wife, his children, and even to himself,
that he would excite the disgust even of the legacy-hunter Cossus! His
palate[634] is grown dull; his relish for his food and wine[635] no
more the same; the joys of love are long ago forgotten; and in spite
of all efforts to reinvigorate them, all manly energies are hopelessly
extinct. Has this depraved and hoary lechery aught else to hope? Do we
not look with just suspicion on the lust that covets the sin but lacks
the power? [636]
Now turn your eyes to the loss of another sense. For what pleasure
has he in a singer, however eminent a harper it may be; nay, even
Seleucus himself; or those whose habit it is to glitter in a cloak
of gold? [637] What matters it in what part of the wide theatre he
sits, who can scarcely hear the horn-blowers, and the general clang
of trumpets? You must bawl out loud before his ear can distinguish
who it is his slave says has called, or tells him what o'clock it
is. [638] Besides, the scanty blood that flows in his chill[639] body
is warmed by fever only. Diseases of every kind dance round him in
full choir. If you were to ask their names, I could sooner tell you
how many lovers Hippia had; how many patients Themison[640] killed in
one autumn; how many allies Basilus plundered; how many wards Hirrus
defrauded; how many lovers long Maura received in the day; how many
pupils Hamillus corrupts. I could sooner run through the list of villas
owned by him now, beneath whose razor[641] my stiff beard resounded
when I was in my prime. One is weak in the shoulder; another in the
loins; another in the hip. Another has lost both eyes, and envies the
one-eyed. Another's bloodless lips receive their food from others'
fingers. He that was wont to relax his features to a smile at the sight
of his dinner, now only gapes[642] like the young swallow to whom the
parent bird, herself fasting,[643] flies with full beak. But worse
than all debility of limb is that idiocy which recollects neither the
names of his slaves nor the face of the friend with whom he supped the
evening before; not even those whom he begot and brought up! For by a
heartless will he disinherits them; and all his property is made over
to Phiale:[644]--such power has the breath of her artificial mouth,
that stood for hire so many years in the brothel's dungeon.
Even though the powers of intellect retain their vigor, yet he must
lead forth the funerals of his children; must gaze upon the pyre of
a beloved wife, and the urns filled with all that remains of his
brother and sisters. This is the penalty imposed on the long-lived,
that they must grow old with the death-blow in their house forever
falling fresh--in oft-recurring sorrow--in unremitting mourning, and
a suit of black. [645] The king of Pylos,[646] if you put any faith
in great Homer, was an instance of life inferior in duration only
to the crow's. [647] Happy, no doubt! was he who for so many years
put off his hour of death; and now begins to count his years on his
right hand,[648] and has drunk so often of the new-made wine. I pray
you, lend me your ear a little space; and hear how sadly he himself
complains of the decrees of fate, and too great powers of life, when
he watches the blazing beard of Antilochus[649] in his bloom, and
asks of every friend that stands near, why it is he lingers on to
this day; what crime he has committed to deserve so long a life!
Such, too, is Peleus' strain, when he mourns for Achilles prematurely
snatched from him: and that other, whose lot it was to grieve for the
shipwrecked[650] Ithacensian.
Priam would have joined the shade of Assaracus with Troy still
standing, with high solemnities, with Hector and his brothers
supporting his bier on their shoulders, amid the weeping Troades, so
that Cassandra would lead off the wail, and Polyxena[651] with mantle
rent, had he but died at any time but that, after that Paris had begun
to build his audacious ships. What then did length of days confer on
him? He saw his all o'erthrown: Asia laid low by flame and sword. Then
the poor tottering warrior[652] laid down his diadem and donned his
arms, and fell before the altar of supreme Jove; like some old ox[653]
that yields his attenuated and miserable neck to his owner's knife,
long ago scorned[654] by the ungrateful plow.
That was at all events the death of a human being: but his wife who
survived him barked fiercely from the jaws of a bitch. [655]
I hasten on to our own countrymen, and pass by the king of Pontus, and
Crœsus,[656] whom the eloquent voice of the right-judging Solon bade
look at the closing scene[657] of a life however long. Banishment,
and the jail, and the marshes of Minturnæ,[658] and his bread begged
in conquered Carthage, took their rise from this. What could all
nature, what could Rome, have produced more blessed in the wide world
than that citizen, had he breathed forth his soul[659] glutted with
spoils, while the captive train followed around his chariot, in all
the pomp and circumstance of war, when he was about to alight from his
Teutonic[660] car! Campania,[661] in her foresight for Pompey, had
given him a fever he should have prayed for. But the many cities and
their public prayers prevailed. Therefore his own malignant fortune
and that of Rome preserved him only that conquered he should lose
his head. Lentulus[662] escaped this torment; Cethegus paid not this
penalty, but fell unmutilated; and Catiline lay with corpse entire.
The anxious mother, when she visits Venus' temple, prays for beauty
for her boys with subdued whisper;[663] with louder voice for her
girls, carrying her fond wishes[664] even to the verge of trifling.
"But why should you chide me? " she says; "Latona[665] delights in the
beauty of Diana. " But, Lucretia[666] forbids a face like hers to be the
subject of your prayers: Virginia would gladly give hers to Rutila,
and receive her wen in exchange. But, a son possessed of exquisite
person keeps his parents in a constant state of misery and alarm. So
rare is the union[667] of beauty with chastity. Though the house,
austere in virtue, and emulating the Sabines of old, may have handed
down,[668] like an inheritance, purity of morals, and bounteous Nature
with benignant hand may give, besides, a chaste mind and a face glowing
with modest blood (for what greater boon can Nature bestow on a youth?
Nature, more powerful than any guardian, or any watchful care! ), still
they are not allowed to attain to manhood. For the villainy of the
corrupter, prodigal in its guilt, dares to assail with tempting offers
the parents themselves. So great is their confidence in the success of
bribes! No tyrant in his cruel palace ever castrated a youth that was
deformed; nor did even Nero carry off a stripling if club-footed, or
disfigured by wens, pot-bellied, and humpbacked! Go then, and exult in
the beauty of your darling boy! Yet for whom are there greater perils
in store? He will become the adulterer of the city, and dread all the
punishments[669] that angry husbands inflict. Nor will he be more
lucky than the star of Mars, even though he never fall like Mars into
the net. [670] But sometimes that bitter wrath exacts even more than
any law permits, to satisfy the husband's rage. One dispatches the
adulterer with the sword; another cuts him in two with bloody lashes;
some have the punishment of the mullet. But your Endymion, forsooth,
will of course become the lover of some lady of his affections! But
soon, when Servilia[671] has bribed him, he will serve her whom he
loves not, and will despoil her of all her ornaments. For what will any
woman refuse, to get her passions gratified? whether she be an Oppia,
or a Catulla. A depraved woman has all her morality[672] concentred
there. "But what harm does beauty do one that is chaste? " Nay, what
did his virtuous resolve avail Hippolytus, or what Bellerophon? Surely
she[673] fired at the rejection of her suit, as though treated with
indignity. Nor did Sthenobæa burn less fiercely than the Cretan; and
both lashed themselves into fury. A woman is then most ruthless, when
shame sets sharper spurs[674] to her hate. Choose what course you
think should be recommended him to whom Cæsar's wife[675] purposes to
marry herself. This most noble and most beautiful of the patrician
race is hurried off, poor wretched man, a sacrifice to the lewd eyes
of Messalina. She is long since seated with her bridal veil all ready:
the nuptial bed with Tyrian hangings is openly prepared in the gardens,
and, according to the antique rites, a dowry of a million sesterces
will be given; the soothsayer[676] and the witnesses to the settlement
will be there! Do you suppose these acts are kept secret; intrusted
only to a few? She will not be married otherwise than with all legal
forms. Tell me which alternative you choose. If you refuse to comply,
you must die before nightfall. [677] If you _do_ commit the crime, some
brief delay will be afforded you, until the thing, known to the city
and the people,[678] shall reach the prince's ears. He will be the last
to learn the disgrace of his house! Do you meanwhile obey her behests,
if you set so high a value on a few days' existence. Whichever you hold
the better and the safer course, that white and beauteous neck must be
presented[679] to the sword!
Is there then nothing for which men shall pray? If you will take
advice, you will allow the deities themselves to determine what may
be expedient for us, and suitable to our condition. For instead of
pleasant things, the gods will give us all that is most fitting. Man
is dearer to them than to himself. We, led on by the impulse of our
minds, by blind and headstrong passions, pray for wedlock, and issue
by our wives; but it is known to them what our children will prove;
of what character our wife will be! Still, that you may have somewhat
to pray for, and vow to their shrines the entrails and consecrated
mincemeat[680] of the white porker, your prayer must be that you may
have a sound mind in a sound body. Pray for a bold spirit, free from
all dread of death; that reckons the closing scene of life among
Nature's kindly boons;[681] that can endure labor, whatever it be; that
deems the gnawing cares of Hercules,[682] and all his cruel toils, far
preferable to the joys of Venus, rich banquets, and the downy couch of
Sardanapalus. I show thee what thou canst confer upon thyself. The only
path that surely leads to a life of peace lies through virtue. If _we_
have wise foresight, _thou_, Fortune, hast no divinity. [683] It is we
that make thee a deity, and place thy throne in heaven! [684]
FOOTNOTES:
[550] _Gadibus. _ Gades, now Cadiz, and Ganges were the western and
eastern boundaries of the then known world.
[551] _Nebulâ. _ Cf.
"cupient et in acta referri. " These acta were public registers, in
which parents were obliged to insert the names of their children a few
days after their birth. They contained, besides, records of marriages,
divorces, deaths, and other occurrences of the year, and were therefore
of great service to historians, who as some think employed persons to
read them up for them. (Cf. acta legenti vii. , 104. ) Servius Tullius
instituted this custom. The records were kept in the temple of Saturn.
[527] _Suspende coronas. _ This was customary on all festive occasions,
as here, on the birth of a child; at marriages (vi. , 51, "Necte coronam
postibus, et densos per limina tende corymbos"), the return of friends
(cf. xii. , 91, "Longos erexit janua ramos"), or any public rejoicing
(as x. , 65, on the death of Sejanus, "Pone domi lauros"). So, when
advocates gained a cause, their clients adorned the entrance of their
houses with palm branches. Cf. vii. , 118, "virides scalarum gloria
palmæ. " Mart. , vii. , Ep. xxviii. , 6, "excolat et geminas plurima palma
fores. "
[528] _Legatum omne. _ One of the provisions of the Lex Papia Poppæa
(introduced, at the desire of Augustus, to extend the Lex Julia de
maritandis ordinibus) was, that if a married person had no child, a
tenth, and in some cases a larger proportion, of what was bequeathed
him, should fall to the exchequer. Cf. vi. , 38. It conferred also
certain privileges and immunities on those who in Rome had three
children (hence jus trium liberorum) born in wedlock. Cf. Ruperti and
Lips. ad Tac. , Ann. , iii. , 25. Cf. Ann. , xv. , 19. Mart. , ii. , Ep. xci. ,
6; ix. , lxvii.
[529] _Caducum_, probably a legacy contingent upon the condition of
having children.
[530] _Pumice. _ Cf. viii. , 16, "tenerum attritus Catanensi pumice
lumbum. "
[531] _Valvis. _ Cf. xiii. , 145, _seq. _
[532] _Corydon. _ Cf. Virg. , Ecl. , ii. , 69, "Ah, Corydon, Corydon, quæ
te dementia cepit! " and 56, "Rusticus es, Corydon! "
[533] _Claude fenestras. _
"Bolt every door, stop every cranny tight,
Close every window, put out every light;
Let not a whisper reach the listening ear,
No noise, no motion--let no soul be near. " Gifford.
[534] _Gallicinium_ was the technical name for the second military
watch, Vid. Facc.
[535] _Carptores_, Grangæus explains by "Escuiers trenchants. " Facc. by
δαιτρός and structor.
[536] _Baltea. _
"For countless scourgings will the rogues be slack
In slanderous villainies to pay thee back? " Badham.
[537] _Saufeia_, or Laufella, is supposed to be the "conjux Fusci,"
mentioned xii. , 45, and Mart. , iii. , Ep. 72; and whose other
debaucheries are mentioned vi. , 320. Cicero, knowing the propensity of
his countrywomen to wine-bibbing, would exclude them from officiating
at any sacred rites (at which wine was always used) after nightfall.
The festival of the Bona Dea is the only exception he would make.
"Nocturna mulierum sacrificia ne sunto, præter olla quæ pro populo rite
fiant. "
[538] _Faciens_; so _operatur_, xii. , 92. Virg. , Ecl. , iii. , 77,
"Cum _faciam_ vitulâ pro fugibus ipse venito. " So Georg. , i. , 339,
"Sacra refer Cereri lætis operatus in herbis. " So in Greek, ῥέζειν is
constantly used absolutely.
"For more stolen wine than late Saufeia boused,
When, for the people's welfare, she caroused! " Gifford.
[539] _Liber. _
"Yet worse than they, the man whose vicious deeds
Makes him still tremble at the rogues he feeds. " Badham.
[540] _Flosculus. _ For many exquisite parallel passages to this, see
Gifford's note.
[541] _Dum bibimus. _
"And while thou call'st for garlands, girls, and wine,
Comes stealthy age, and bids thee all resign. " Badham.
[542] _Digito. _ Effeminate wretches, who, as Holyday says, like women,
are afraid of touching their heads with more than a finger, for fear of
discomposing their curls. Pompey had this charge brought against him by
one Calvus; and cf. Plut. in Vit. , 48. Amm. Marcell. , XVII. , xi.
[543] _Lares_, cf. xii. , 87. Hor. , iii. , Od. xxiii. , 15, "Parvos
coronantem marino Rore Deos, fragilique myrto. " Plin. , xi. , 2, "Numa
instituit deos fruge colere, et mola salsa supplicare et far torrere. "
[544] _Figam_, a metaphor from hunting. --_Tegete_, cf. v. , 8, "Nusquam
pons et tegetis pars. "--_Baculo_, cf. Ter. , Heaut. , V. , i. , 58.
[545] C. Fabricius Luscinus, when censor, removed from the senate P.
Cornelius Rufinus, who had been twice consul and once dictator, for
having in his possession more than ten pounds' weight of plate. Liv. ,
Epit. , xiv. He was censor A. U. C. 478. Cf. xi. , 90, _seq. _
[546] _Duo fortes. _ Persons of moderate fortune rode in their _sella
gestatoria_, a sedan borne by two persons. The rich had litters or
palanquins, called hexaphori, or octophori, according to the number of
the lecticarii. Cf. i. , 64. Mœsia, now Bulgaria and Servia, is said to
have been famous for producing these brawny chairmen.
[547] _Curvus. _ So Lubinus interprets it. "Cum enim laborat se incur
vat. " Cf. Virg. , Eccl. , iii. , 42, "curvus arator;" so Art. Am. , ii. ,
670, "Curva senectus. " Or from his assiduity, "qui assiduus in opere
est. " Madan says, "Curvus means crooked, that hath turnings and
windings; and this latter, in a mental sense, denotes cunning, which
is often used for _skillful_. " Cf. Exod. , xxxviii. , 23. The old Schol.
explains it by Anaglyptarius, "a carver in low relief. "
[548] _Pingit. _ Others read _fingit_, and interpret it of "plaster
casts. " It probably refers to the "line of painted busts" to deck his
corridor, perhaps of fictitious ancestors. Cf. viii. , 2, "Pictosque
ostendere vultus majorum. "
[549] _Fortuna. _
"For when to Fortune I prefer my prayers,
The obdurate goddess stops at once her ears;
Stops with that wax which saved Ulysses' crew,
When by the Syrens' rocks and songs they flew. " Gifford.
SATIRE X.
In all the regions which extend from Gades[550] even to the farthest
east and Ganges, there are but few that can discriminate between real
blessings and those that are widely different, all the mist[551] of
error being removed. For what is there that we either fear or wish for,
as reason would direct? What is there that you enter on under such
favorable auspices, that you do not repent of your undertaking, and the
accomplishment of your wish? The too easy gods have overthrown[552]
whole families by granting their owners' prayers. Our prayers are put
up for what will injure us in peace and injure us in war. To many the
copious fluency[553] of speech, and their very eloquence, is fatal. It
was owing to his strength[554] and wondrous muscle, in which he placed
his trust, that the Athlete met his death. But money heaped up with
overwhelming care, and a revenue surpassing all common patrimonies as
much as the whale of Britain[555] exceeds dolphins, causes more to
be strangled. Therefore it was, that in that reign of Terror, and at
Nero's bidding, a whole cohort[556] blockaded Longinus[557] and the
spacious gardens of the over-wealthy Seneca,[558] and laid siege to the
splendid[559] mansion of the Laterani. [560] It is but rarely that the
soldier pays his visit to a garret. Though you are conveying ever so
few vessels of unembossed silver, entering on your journey by night,
you will dread the bandit's knife and bludgeon, and tremble at the
shadow of a reed as it quivers in the moonshine. [561] The traveler with
empty[562] pockets will sing even in the robber's face.
The prayers that are generally the first put up and best known in all
the temples are, that riches,[563] that wealth may increase; that our
chest may be the largest in the whole forum. [564] But no aconite is
drunk from earthenware. It is time to dread it when you quaff jeweled
cups,[565] and the ruddy Setine blazes in the broad gold.
And do you
not, then, now commend the fact, that of the two sages,[566] one
used to laugh[567] whenever he had advanced a single step from his
threshold; the other, with sentiments directly contrary, used to weep.
But easy enough to any one is the stern censure of a sneering laugh:
the wonder is how the other's eyes could ever have a sufficient supply
of tears. [568] Democritus used to shake his sides with perpetual
laughter, though in the cities of those regions there were no prætextæ,
no trabeæ,[569] no fasces, no litter, no tribunal! What, had he seen
the prætor[570] standing pre-eminent in his lofty car, and raised on
high in the mid dust of the circus, dressed in the tunic of Jove, and
wearing on his shoulders the Tyrian hangings of the embroidered toga;
and the circlet of a ponderous crown,[571] so heavy that no single
neck could endure the weight:[572] since the official, all in a sweat,
supports it, and, that the consul may not be too elated, the slave
rides in the same car. Then, add the bird that rises from his ivory
sceptre: on one side the trumpeters; on the other, the long train of
attendant clients, that march before him, and the Quirites, all in
white togas, walking by his horses' heads; men whose friendship he has
won by the sportula buried deep in his chest. Even in those days _he_
found subject for ridicule in every place where human beings meet,
whose wisdom proves that men of the highest intellect, men that will
furnish noble examples, may be born in the country of wether-sheep,
and in a foggy[573] atmosphere. He used to laugh at the cares and
also the joys of the common herd; sometimes even at their tears:
while he himself would bid Fortune, when she frowned, "Go hang! " and
point at her his finger[574] in scorn! Superfluous therefore, or else
destructive, are all those objects of our prayers, for which we think
it right to cover the knees of the gods with waxen tablets. [575]
Power, exposed to great envy, hurls some headlong down to ruin. The
long and splendid list of their titles and honors sinks[576] into the
dust. Down come their statues,[577] and are dragged along with ropes:
then the very wheels of the chariot are smashed by the vigorous stroke
of the axe, and the legs of the innocent[578] horses are demolished.
Now the fires roar! Now that head, once worshiped[579] by the mob,
glows with the bellows and the furnace! Great Sejanus crackles! Then
from that head, second only in the whole wide world, are made pitchers,
basins, frying-pans,[580] and platters! "Crown your doors with
bays! [581] Lead to Jove's Capitol a huge and milk-white ox! Sejanus
is being dragged along by the hook! a glorious sight! " Every body is
delighted. "What lips he had! and what a face! If you believe me, I
never could endure this man! " "But what was the charge under which he
fell! Who was the accuser? what the information laid? By whose witness
did he prove it? " "Nothing of the sort! a wordy and lengthy epistle
came from Capreæ. " "That's enough! I ask no farther. But how does the
mob of Remus behave! " "Why, follow Fortune,[582] as mobs always do,
and hate him that is condemned? " That self-same people, had Tuscan
Nurscia[583] smiled propitious on her countryman--had the old age of
the emperor been crushed while he thought all secure--would in that
very hour have saluted Sejanus as Augustus. Long ago they have thrown
overboard all anxiety. For that sovereign people that once gave away
military command, consulships, legions, and every thing, now bridles
its desires, and limits its anxious longings to two things only--bread,
and the games of the circus! "I hear that many are involved in his
fall. " "No doubt: the little furnace[584] is a capacious one; I met
my friend Brutidius[585] at the altar of Mars looking a little pale! "
"But I greatly fear that Ajax, being baffled,[586] will wreak fearful
vengeance, as having been inadequately defended. Let us rush headlong;
and, while he still lies on the river-bank, trample on Cæsar's foe?
But take care that our slaves witness the act! lest any of them should
deny it, and drag his master to trial with a halter round his neck! "
Such were the conversations then about Sejanus; such the smothered
whispers of the populace? Would _you_ then have the same court paid to
you that Sejanus had? possess as much, bestow on one the highest curule
honors, give another the command of armies,[587] be esteemed the lawful
guardian[588] of the prince that lounged away[589] his days with his
herd of Chaldæan astrologers, in the rock of Capreæ that he made his
palace? [590] Would you have centuries and cohorts, and a picked body
of cavalry,[591] and prætorian bands at your beck? Why should you not
covet these? Even those who have not the _will_ to kill a man would
gladly have the _power_. But what brilliant or prosperous fortune is of
sufficient worth that your measure of evils should balance your good
luck? Would you rather put on the prætexta of him that is being dragged
along, or be the magistrate of Fidenæ or Gabii, and give sentence about
false weights,[592] and break up scanty measures as the ragged ædile of
the deserted Ulubræ? [593]
You acknowledge, therefore, that Sejanus did not know what ought to
have been the object of his wishes. For he that coveted excessive
honors, and prayed for excessive wealth, was but rearing up the
multiplied stories of a tower raised on high, only that the fall might
be the deeper,[594] and horrible the headlong descent of his ruin[595]
once accelerated!
What overthrew the Crassi? [596] and Pompey and his sons? [597] and
him that brought Rome's haughty citizens quailing[598] beneath his
lash? Surely it was the post of highest advancement, reached by every
possible device, and prayers for greatness heard by gods who showed
their malignity in granting them! Few kings go down without slaughter
and wounds to Ceres' son-in-law. Few tyrants die a bloodless death!
He that as yet pays court to[599] Minerva, purchased by a single
_as_, that is followed by his little slave[600] to take charge of
his diminutive satchel, begins to long, and longs through all his
quinquatrian[601] holidays, for the eloquence and the renown of
Demosthenes or Cicero. But it was through their eloquence that both of
these orators perished: the copious and overflowing fount of talent
gave over each to destruction; by talent, was his hand and head cut
off! Nor did the Rostra[602] ever reek with the blood of a contemptible
pleader.
"O fortunate Rome, whose natal day may date from me as consul! " He
might have scorned the swords of Antony,[603] had all he uttered
been such trash as this. I had rather write poems that excite only
ridicule, than thee, divine Philippic of distinguished fame! that art
unrolled next to the first! Cruel was the end that carried him off
also whom Athens used to admire as his words flowed from his lips in a
torrent[604] of eloquence, and he swayed at will the passions of the
crowded theatre. With adverse gods and inauspicious fate was he born,
whom his father, blear-eyed with the grime of the glowing mass, sent
from the coal, and pincers,[605] and the sword-forging anvil, and sooty
Vulcan,[606] to the rhetorician's school!
The spoils of war, the cuirass fastened to the truncated[607] trophy,
the cheek-piece hanging from the battered helm, the car shorn of its
pole, the streamer of the captured galley,[608] and the sad captive on
the triumphal arch-top,[609] are held to be goods exceeding all human
blessings. For these each general, Roman, or Greek, or Barbarian,
strains as his prize! Full compensation for his dangers and his toils
he sees in these! So much greater is the thirst after fame than virtue.
For who would embrace[610] virtue herself, if you took away the rewards
of virtue? And yet, ere now, the glory of a few has been the ruin of
their native land; that longing for renown, and those inscriptions that
are to live on the marble that guards their ashes; and yet to burst
asunder this, the mischievous strength of the barren fig-tree has power
enough. Since even to sepulchres[611] themselves are fates assigned.
Weigh[612] the remains of Hannibal! How many pounds will you find in
that most consummate general! This is the man whom not even Africa,
lashed by the Mauritanian ocean, and stretching even to the steaming
Nile, and then again to the races of the Æthiopes and their tall[613]
elephants, can contain! Spain is annexed to Carthage's domain. He
bounds across the Pyrenees. Nature opposed in vain the Alps with
all their snows; he cleaves the rocks and rives the mountains with
vinegar. [614] Now he is lord of Italy! Yet still he presses on. "Naught
is achieved,"[615] he says, "unless we burst through the gates of Rome
with the soldiery of Carthage, and I plant my standard in the heart
of the Suburra! " Oh what a face! [616] and worthy what a picture! when
the huge Gætulian beast bore on his back the one-eyed[617] general!
What then was the issue? Oh glory! This self-made man is conquered,
and flees with headlong haste to exile, and there, a great and
much-to-be-admired client, sits at the palace of the king, until his
Bithynian majesty[618] be pleased to wake! To that soul, that once
shook the very world's base, it is not sword, nor stone, nor javelin,
that shall give the final stroke; but, that which atoned for Cannæ, and
avenged such mighty carnage,[619] a ring! Go then, madman, and hurry
over the rugged Alps, that you may be the delight of boys, and furnish
subjects for declamations! [620]
One[621] world is not enough for the youth of Pella! He chafes within
the narrow limits of the universe, poor soul, as though confined in
Gyarus'[622] small rock, or scanty Seriphös. Yet when he shall have
entered the city that the brickmakers[623] fortified, he will be
content with a sarcophagus! [624] Death alone discloses how very small
are the puny bodies of men! Men do believe that Athos was sailed
through of yore; and all the bold assertions that lying Greeks hazard
in history--that the sea was bridged over by the same fleets, and
formed into a solid pavement for the transit of wheels. We believe that
deep rivers failed, and streams were drunk dry[625] when the Persian
dined; and all the flights of Sostratus'[626] song, when his wings are
moistened by the god of wine. And yet, in what guise did _he_ return
after quitting Salamis, who, like a true barbarian as he was, used to
vent his rage in scourges on Corus and Eurus, that had never suffered
in this sort in Æolus' prison; and bound in gyves Ennosigæus[627]
himself. It was, in fact, an act of clemency that he did not think he
deserved branding[628] also. Would any of the gods choose to serve[629]
such a man as this? But how did he return? Why, in a single ship;
through waves dyed with blood, and with his galley retarded[630] by the
shoals of corpses. Such was the penalty that glory, for which he had so
often prayed, exacted.
"Grant length of life, great Jove, and many years! " This is your only
prayer in health and sickness. But with what unremitting and grievous
ills is old age crowded! First of all, its face is hideous, loathsome,
and altered from its former self; instead of skin a hideous hide and
flaccid cheeks; and see! such wrinkles, as, where Tabraca[631] extends
her shady dells, the antiquated ape[632] scratches on her wizened
jowl! There are many points of difference in the young: this youth is
handsomer than that; and he again than a third: one is far sturdier
than another. Old mens faces are all alike--limbs tottering and
voice feeble,[633] a smooth bald pate, and the second childhood of a
driveling nose; the poor wretch must mumble his bread with toothless
gums; so loathsome to his wife, his children, and even to himself,
that he would excite the disgust even of the legacy-hunter Cossus! His
palate[634] is grown dull; his relish for his food and wine[635] no
more the same; the joys of love are long ago forgotten; and in spite
of all efforts to reinvigorate them, all manly energies are hopelessly
extinct. Has this depraved and hoary lechery aught else to hope? Do we
not look with just suspicion on the lust that covets the sin but lacks
the power? [636]
Now turn your eyes to the loss of another sense. For what pleasure
has he in a singer, however eminent a harper it may be; nay, even
Seleucus himself; or those whose habit it is to glitter in a cloak
of gold? [637] What matters it in what part of the wide theatre he
sits, who can scarcely hear the horn-blowers, and the general clang
of trumpets? You must bawl out loud before his ear can distinguish
who it is his slave says has called, or tells him what o'clock it
is. [638] Besides, the scanty blood that flows in his chill[639] body
is warmed by fever only. Diseases of every kind dance round him in
full choir. If you were to ask their names, I could sooner tell you
how many lovers Hippia had; how many patients Themison[640] killed in
one autumn; how many allies Basilus plundered; how many wards Hirrus
defrauded; how many lovers long Maura received in the day; how many
pupils Hamillus corrupts. I could sooner run through the list of villas
owned by him now, beneath whose razor[641] my stiff beard resounded
when I was in my prime. One is weak in the shoulder; another in the
loins; another in the hip. Another has lost both eyes, and envies the
one-eyed. Another's bloodless lips receive their food from others'
fingers. He that was wont to relax his features to a smile at the sight
of his dinner, now only gapes[642] like the young swallow to whom the
parent bird, herself fasting,[643] flies with full beak. But worse
than all debility of limb is that idiocy which recollects neither the
names of his slaves nor the face of the friend with whom he supped the
evening before; not even those whom he begot and brought up! For by a
heartless will he disinherits them; and all his property is made over
to Phiale:[644]--such power has the breath of her artificial mouth,
that stood for hire so many years in the brothel's dungeon.
Even though the powers of intellect retain their vigor, yet he must
lead forth the funerals of his children; must gaze upon the pyre of
a beloved wife, and the urns filled with all that remains of his
brother and sisters. This is the penalty imposed on the long-lived,
that they must grow old with the death-blow in their house forever
falling fresh--in oft-recurring sorrow--in unremitting mourning, and
a suit of black. [645] The king of Pylos,[646] if you put any faith
in great Homer, was an instance of life inferior in duration only
to the crow's. [647] Happy, no doubt! was he who for so many years
put off his hour of death; and now begins to count his years on his
right hand,[648] and has drunk so often of the new-made wine. I pray
you, lend me your ear a little space; and hear how sadly he himself
complains of the decrees of fate, and too great powers of life, when
he watches the blazing beard of Antilochus[649] in his bloom, and
asks of every friend that stands near, why it is he lingers on to
this day; what crime he has committed to deserve so long a life!
Such, too, is Peleus' strain, when he mourns for Achilles prematurely
snatched from him: and that other, whose lot it was to grieve for the
shipwrecked[650] Ithacensian.
Priam would have joined the shade of Assaracus with Troy still
standing, with high solemnities, with Hector and his brothers
supporting his bier on their shoulders, amid the weeping Troades, so
that Cassandra would lead off the wail, and Polyxena[651] with mantle
rent, had he but died at any time but that, after that Paris had begun
to build his audacious ships. What then did length of days confer on
him? He saw his all o'erthrown: Asia laid low by flame and sword. Then
the poor tottering warrior[652] laid down his diadem and donned his
arms, and fell before the altar of supreme Jove; like some old ox[653]
that yields his attenuated and miserable neck to his owner's knife,
long ago scorned[654] by the ungrateful plow.
That was at all events the death of a human being: but his wife who
survived him barked fiercely from the jaws of a bitch. [655]
I hasten on to our own countrymen, and pass by the king of Pontus, and
Crœsus,[656] whom the eloquent voice of the right-judging Solon bade
look at the closing scene[657] of a life however long. Banishment,
and the jail, and the marshes of Minturnæ,[658] and his bread begged
in conquered Carthage, took their rise from this. What could all
nature, what could Rome, have produced more blessed in the wide world
than that citizen, had he breathed forth his soul[659] glutted with
spoils, while the captive train followed around his chariot, in all
the pomp and circumstance of war, when he was about to alight from his
Teutonic[660] car! Campania,[661] in her foresight for Pompey, had
given him a fever he should have prayed for. But the many cities and
their public prayers prevailed. Therefore his own malignant fortune
and that of Rome preserved him only that conquered he should lose
his head. Lentulus[662] escaped this torment; Cethegus paid not this
penalty, but fell unmutilated; and Catiline lay with corpse entire.
The anxious mother, when she visits Venus' temple, prays for beauty
for her boys with subdued whisper;[663] with louder voice for her
girls, carrying her fond wishes[664] even to the verge of trifling.
"But why should you chide me? " she says; "Latona[665] delights in the
beauty of Diana. " But, Lucretia[666] forbids a face like hers to be the
subject of your prayers: Virginia would gladly give hers to Rutila,
and receive her wen in exchange. But, a son possessed of exquisite
person keeps his parents in a constant state of misery and alarm. So
rare is the union[667] of beauty with chastity. Though the house,
austere in virtue, and emulating the Sabines of old, may have handed
down,[668] like an inheritance, purity of morals, and bounteous Nature
with benignant hand may give, besides, a chaste mind and a face glowing
with modest blood (for what greater boon can Nature bestow on a youth?
Nature, more powerful than any guardian, or any watchful care! ), still
they are not allowed to attain to manhood. For the villainy of the
corrupter, prodigal in its guilt, dares to assail with tempting offers
the parents themselves. So great is their confidence in the success of
bribes! No tyrant in his cruel palace ever castrated a youth that was
deformed; nor did even Nero carry off a stripling if club-footed, or
disfigured by wens, pot-bellied, and humpbacked! Go then, and exult in
the beauty of your darling boy! Yet for whom are there greater perils
in store? He will become the adulterer of the city, and dread all the
punishments[669] that angry husbands inflict. Nor will he be more
lucky than the star of Mars, even though he never fall like Mars into
the net. [670] But sometimes that bitter wrath exacts even more than
any law permits, to satisfy the husband's rage. One dispatches the
adulterer with the sword; another cuts him in two with bloody lashes;
some have the punishment of the mullet. But your Endymion, forsooth,
will of course become the lover of some lady of his affections! But
soon, when Servilia[671] has bribed him, he will serve her whom he
loves not, and will despoil her of all her ornaments. For what will any
woman refuse, to get her passions gratified? whether she be an Oppia,
or a Catulla. A depraved woman has all her morality[672] concentred
there. "But what harm does beauty do one that is chaste? " Nay, what
did his virtuous resolve avail Hippolytus, or what Bellerophon? Surely
she[673] fired at the rejection of her suit, as though treated with
indignity. Nor did Sthenobæa burn less fiercely than the Cretan; and
both lashed themselves into fury. A woman is then most ruthless, when
shame sets sharper spurs[674] to her hate. Choose what course you
think should be recommended him to whom Cæsar's wife[675] purposes to
marry herself. This most noble and most beautiful of the patrician
race is hurried off, poor wretched man, a sacrifice to the lewd eyes
of Messalina. She is long since seated with her bridal veil all ready:
the nuptial bed with Tyrian hangings is openly prepared in the gardens,
and, according to the antique rites, a dowry of a million sesterces
will be given; the soothsayer[676] and the witnesses to the settlement
will be there! Do you suppose these acts are kept secret; intrusted
only to a few? She will not be married otherwise than with all legal
forms. Tell me which alternative you choose. If you refuse to comply,
you must die before nightfall. [677] If you _do_ commit the crime, some
brief delay will be afforded you, until the thing, known to the city
and the people,[678] shall reach the prince's ears. He will be the last
to learn the disgrace of his house! Do you meanwhile obey her behests,
if you set so high a value on a few days' existence. Whichever you hold
the better and the safer course, that white and beauteous neck must be
presented[679] to the sword!
Is there then nothing for which men shall pray? If you will take
advice, you will allow the deities themselves to determine what may
be expedient for us, and suitable to our condition. For instead of
pleasant things, the gods will give us all that is most fitting. Man
is dearer to them than to himself. We, led on by the impulse of our
minds, by blind and headstrong passions, pray for wedlock, and issue
by our wives; but it is known to them what our children will prove;
of what character our wife will be! Still, that you may have somewhat
to pray for, and vow to their shrines the entrails and consecrated
mincemeat[680] of the white porker, your prayer must be that you may
have a sound mind in a sound body. Pray for a bold spirit, free from
all dread of death; that reckons the closing scene of life among
Nature's kindly boons;[681] that can endure labor, whatever it be; that
deems the gnawing cares of Hercules,[682] and all his cruel toils, far
preferable to the joys of Venus, rich banquets, and the downy couch of
Sardanapalus. I show thee what thou canst confer upon thyself. The only
path that surely leads to a life of peace lies through virtue. If _we_
have wise foresight, _thou_, Fortune, hast no divinity. [683] It is we
that make thee a deity, and place thy throne in heaven! [684]
FOOTNOTES:
[550] _Gadibus. _ Gades, now Cadiz, and Ganges were the western and
eastern boundaries of the then known world.
[551] _Nebulâ. _ Cf.
