That general history with our own, they blend,
And have all authors at their finger's end:
That they may still inform you, should you meet,
And ask them at the bath, or in the street,
Who nurs'd Anchises; from what country came
Archim'rus' step-mother, and what her name;
How long Acestes flourish'd, and, in short,
With how much wine Æneas left his court.
Make it a point too, that, like ductile clay,
They mould the tender mind, and, day by day,
Bring out the form of virtue; that they prove
A father to the youths, in care and love;
And watch that no obscenities prevail.-

And trust me, friend, e'en Argus' self might fail,

VER. 371. Who nurs'd Anchises; &c.] This absurd curiosity about things which, Seneca well observes, it is more profitable to be ignorant of than to know, was but too common among the ancients. A. Gellius, in one of his best chapters, (lib. xiv. cap. vi.) gives us many pleasant instances of it, to which the learned translator has added more. Diogenes, I have somewhere read, used to reprove the grammarians, because they were solicitous to know what evils Ulysses suffered, while they were negligent of their own: the censure of Juvenal, however, falls rather on those who exacted such miserable minutia of them; in particular, he seems to allude to an anecdote recorded of Tiberius, (Suetonius, §. LXX.) who used to harrass these poor men, by inquiring who was Hecuba's mother, what the Sirens used to sing, &c. &c.

It is impossible to suppress a smile at the perverse industry of the more modern critics, in hunting out what Juvenal represents as puzzling those of his own time. The nurse of Anchises, and the step-mother of Archimorus, are now no longer secrets.

M m

The busy hands of school-boys to espy,

And the lewd fires that twinkle in their eye.

Yes, make all this a point; and, having found
The man you seek, say—when the year comes round,
We'll give thee for thy twelve-month's toil and pains,
As much—as in an hour a fencer gains!

SATIRE VIII.

Argument.

In this Satire, in which Juvenal puts on a most serious and impressive air, he demonstrates that distinction is merely personal; that though we may derive rank, and titles from our ancestors, yet if we degenerate from the virtues by which they obtained them, we cannot be considered as truly noble. This is the great object of the Satire: it branches out, however, into many collateral topics; the first of which is, the profligacy of the young nobility; from this, he passes, by an easy transition, to the miserable state of the provinces, which were usually placed under their management, and which they plundered and harrassed without mercy. This part of his Satire is treated with a freedom of thought, and an elevation of language, worthy of the best times of the Republic: and from this, he returns once more to the main subject of the Satire, the state of debasement into which the descendants of the first families had voluntarily sunk: he severely lashes their meanness, cowardice, and base prostitution of every kind; vices which he sets in the strongest light, by contrasting them with the opposite virtues, to be found in persons of the lowest station, and the humblest descent.

Considered as a whole, this is a very fine performance. If we are inclined to examine it with severity, we may perhaps discover a triteness in the instances produced towards the conclusion. Cicero and Marius are somewhat too hacknied, to give zest to a subject like this; but perhaps the poet was willing to sacrifice novelty to notoriety; and fancied his examples would be more effectual in proportion as they were more generally recognized and allowed.

An expression in line fifty-one of the original (domitique Batavi) has been supposed to allude to Domitian. As it appears from Tacitus, Silius

Italicus, and Suetonius, that he was really engaged in an expedition against those people in his youth, I am induced to embrace this opinion. In this case, I should fix I should fix on a very early period for the production of this Satire and indeed the detailed history of Nero's enormities shews it to have been written while they were yet fresh in the author's mind; probably before the death of Vespasian.

Pliny has a letter upon this very subject, which is every way worthy of him. The reader who turns to it, must not expect to find the force and dignity of Juvenal, though he will meet with much of his good sense and humanity. It is that to his friend Maximus. Lib. VIII. Epist xxiv.

If the works of Epicharmus were extant in our Author's time, he might, as it should seem from what has reached us, have found some hints for this Satire in one of his comedies.

SATIRE VIII.

TO PONTICUS.

YOUR

v. 1-10.

OUR ancient house!" no more.-I cannot see

The wondrous merits of a pedigree:

No, Ponticus ;-nor of a proud display
Of smoaky ancestors, in wax or clay;
Æmilius mounted on his car sublime,
Curius, half wasted by the teeth of time,
Corvinus dwindled to a shapeless bust,
And high-born Galba crumbling into dust.

What boots it, on the LINEAL TREE to trace,
Through many a branch, the founders of our race,

VER. 3. No, Ponticus;-&c.] Of the young nobleman to whom this Satire is addressed, nothing is known but the name: as Juvenal took an interest in his conduct, he had probably some sparks of worth. We do not find that he afterwards distinguished himself; let us hope, then, that his virtues were greater than his talents, and that, if he did not add to his family honours, the poet's admonitions prevented him, at least, from tarnishing, or contemning them.

The illustrious names which follow, and history can boast of none more truly so, are familiar to every reader.