45 Virtus eft, vitium fugere; & fapientia prima, 50 Virtus 41. Virtus eft, vitium fugere.] This Definition is a little softened in the Tranflation, for indeed our Flight from Vice is only a negative Virtue ; yet, with Regard to the World in general, we should be contented to efteem Mankind as virtuous, if they be not really vicious. In the fame Manner we may compute in our Accounts of Wisdom and Folly. 45. Curris mercator ad Indos] Before the Reduction of Ægypt, and Arabia, the Paffage to India was unknown to the Romans. Strabo tells us, that while Ælius Gallus governed Ægypt, in the Year 727, a Fleet of twenty-fix Merchantmen fet fail from the Red Sea, for India. The Romans, attentive to their Interefts; flattered by an immense Profit arifing from this Trade, and allured by the rich and beautiful Merchandise, which it brought home, applied themselves earnestly to this Commerce, from whence the Poet reproaches them with exceffive Covetoufness. SAN. 47. Ne cures ea, &c.] The Conftruction, which hath fome Difficulty, fhould be formed in this manner: Non vis difcere & audire,& meliori credere, ne cures, id eft, contemnas ea, qua ftulte miraris & optas. BOND. 49. Quis circùm pagos.] The Man, who for trivial and uncertain Profit, exposes himself to great and real Dangers, is here compared to a Gladiator, who defperately hazards his Life on a Countryftage for worthlefs Applaufe, and an inconfiderable Prize. But his Folly appears in a ftronger Light, if he might have Hopes, cui fpes, and even an Affurance, conditio, of gaining the Crown at the Olym Even in our Flight from Vice fome Virtue lies, A little Fortune, and the foul Disgrace, To the calm Lectures of fome wiser Friend, What ftroling Gladiator would engage Silver to Gold, we own, must yield the Prize, A 6 pic Games, without Danger or Labour, fine pulvere. This This laft is a figurative Expreffion taken from the Sand, with which the Stage was covered. Thus, in the moral World, we purfue, with Difficulty and Danger, the Crown, which Wisdom offers to us, without Hazard or Expence. 50. Magna coronari Olympia.] Horace, in Imitation of Pindar, calls the Olympic Games, magna, great, because they were the most famous of all that were celebrated in Greece. Caronari Olym pia may be confidered, as a Greek Phrafe, or we may underftand inter, or ad. Vincere Olympia is found in Ennius, and Qui Pythia, Ifthmia, Nemea, Olympia vicit, in Feftus. TORR 0 53. O cives, quærenda pecunia.] The Poet fuppofes Wisdom, in Perfon, crying out, that Virtue is preferable to Money; but Folly, and her Croud of Votaries, are better heard, when they declare, that when we have made our Fortune, we may then endeavour to be virtuous. DAC. Virtus poft nummos: hæc Janus fummus ab imo Plebs eris. At pueri ludentes: Rex eris, aiunt, 54. Janus fummus ab imo.] The Latins fometimes gave the Name of Fanus to thofe grand Arcades, which croffed their Streets, like triumphal Arches, and under which they walked. They had many of this Kind in the different Streets of Rome, but we are exprefsly told by Livy, that there were three in the Forum. Forum porticibus tabernifque claudendum, & Janos tres faciendos locavere. Here the Bankers, Merchants, and Ufurers, had their Shops. SAN. 55. Prodocet.] We do not find this Word in any other Author. Some Editions read perdecet. 56. Eft animus tibi.] The Line, Lævo fufpenfi loculos, tabulamque lacerto, which in the common Editions appears next toJuvenes dictata fenefque, is juftly fufpected by Mr. Cuningham, and thrown out of the Text by Mr. Sanadon. Horace hath already ufed it, and with much Propriety, in the fixth Satire of the first Book. It is there fpoken of Schoolboys, who carry their Satchels on their Arms to School; but cannot justly be applied to Bankers, or Merchants in their Shops. The Word dictata probably occafioned the Miftake, which does not neceffarily fignify, the Precepts dictated by Mafters to their Scholars. The Poet would only fay, that old People received these Maxims from their Fathers, which are repeated by them to their Children. Another Alteration, equally manifeft, is in the Tranfpofition of the Lines in this Sentence, by putting Eft animus tibi before fed quadringentis. They are here restored to their proper Place, according to the neceffary Senfe of the Paffage, on the Authority of four Manufcripts and two late Editions. Sed, defint, and eft, instead of fi, defunt, and #f, are all equally well fupported, This Maxim echoes through the Banker's Street, While Young and Old, the pleafing Strain repeat: For though you boast a larger Fund of Sense, Untainted Morals, Honour, Eloquence, Yet want a little of the Sum, that buys The titled Honour, and you ne'er shall rife Above the Croud: yet Boys, at play, proclaim, IF you do well, be Monarch of the Game. Be this thy brazen Bulwark of Defence, Still to preserve thy conscious Innocence, Nor e'er turn pale with Guilt. But prithee tell, Shall Otho's Law the Children's Song excel? The Sons of ancient Rome first fung the Strain, Which bids the Wife, the Brave, the Virtuous reign. My Friend, get Money; get a large Eitate, By honeft Means; but get, at any Rate, That 58. Plebs eris.] Horace here fpeaks according to the Law of Rofcius Otho, by which a Roman Knight was to be poffeffed of four hundred thousand Sefterces (about 3125 7. of our Money) and a Senator, of eight hundred thousand. Auguftus afterwards raised the Sum to twelve hundred thousand. A Sefterce is here computed at one Penny, Half-penny, Farthing, Half-farthing of our Money. At pueri ludentes.] We cannot juftly fay what this Game was. Torrentius, with much Probability, conjectures, that it was the Urania of the Greeks, in which a Ball was thrown into the Air, and the Boy, who ftruck it ofteneft before it fell to the Ground, was called King of the Game. Nothing is more proper, fays Mr. Dacier, to confound the Politics of Men, than the reafoning of Children in their Sports. It hath been used by Socrates with much Addrefs; but to fhew the Force and Wisdom of this kind of Reasoning in its strongest Light, our Saviour hath not difdained to use it in that beautiful Paffage in the eleventh Chapter of St. Matthew, where he rebukes the Perverfeness of the Jews by a Comparison taken from Children, fitting in the Market, and calling unto their Fellows, faying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced: We have mourned unto you, and e have not lamented, Ut propiùs fpectes lacrymofa poemata Pupî: Liberum & erectum præfens hortatur & aptat ? Refpondit, referam: Quia me veftigia terrent 70 Bellua multorum eft capitum; nam quid fequar, aut quem? Pars hominum geftit conducere publica: funt qui 75 Multis 66. Lacrymofa poemata Pupi.] Mr. Dacier understands this Epithet in a fatirical, ironical Senfe; piteous, lamentable Tragedies. But an Epitaph, written by Pupius himself, will vindicate the Character of his Plays. Flebunt amici & bene noti mortem meam, Nam populus, me vivo, lacrymatus eft fatis. 68. Præfens kortatur & aptat.] Aptat te refponfare fortunæ ; aptat te certamini cum fortuna. This Reading appears in more than ten Manuscripts. A wife and faithful Friend is not contented to exhort us to Virtue, hortatur, but forms and fashions us to the Practice of it, aptat. The Word præfens, marks the Vigilance and Affiduity of a Friend, who never leaves us, and is always ready to affift us. CRUQ. SAN 70. Nen, ut porticibus, &c.] A wife Man, in whatever Country, is a good Citizen and a good Subject: He obferves the Laws and Duties of Society, which Reafon prescribes ; but his Manner of Thinking depends not on the Air he breathes; the Perfons, with whom he converfes, nor the Ufages established in any particular Country. Horace, among the Crouds of Rome, like Reynard among the Beafts of the Foreft, cbferves the different Roads, that are taken by Mankind in their Purfuit of Riches and Employments, to which they facrificed their Repofe, their Honour, and their Confcience; Then wifely concludes, in Oppofition to the vulgar Opinion, that Virtue alone can render us truly happy. SAN. |