How long Acestes flourish'd, and what store
Of generous wine, the Phrygians from him bore-
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, even Argus' self might fail,
The busy hands of schoolboys to espy,

And the lewd fires which twinkle in their eye.
All this, and more, exact; and, having found
The man you seek, say-When the year comes

round,

We'll give thee for thy twelvemonth's anxious 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 im pressive 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 topicks; 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 harassed 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 Republick; 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 sunh: he severely lashes their meanness, cowardice, and base prostitution (f 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 imagined that his examples would be more effectual, in proportion as they were more generally recognised and allowed.

* Pliny has a letter upon this 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. 24.

An expression in 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 on a very early period for the production of this Satire: and indeed the detailed history of Nero's enormities shows it to have been written while they were yet fresh in the author's mind; probably before the death of Vespasian.

SATIRE VIII.

ΤΟ PONTICUS.

V. 1-10.

"Your 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, are familiar to every reader.

Time-honour'd chiefs; if, in their sight, we give
A loose to vice, and like low villains live?
Say, what avails it, that, on either hand,
The stern Numantii, an illustrious band,
Frown from the walls, if their degenerate race
Waste the long night at dice, before their face?
If, staggering, to a drowsy bed they creep,
At that prime hour when, starting from their sleep,
Their sires the signal of the fight unfurl'd,
And drew their legions forth, and won the world?
Say, why should Fabius, of the Herculean name,
To the GREAT ALTAR, vaunt his lineal claim,

VER. 14. The stern Numantii, &c.] By the Numantii, he means Scipio Africanus, (the conqueror of Numantia,) and the immediate descendants and relatives of that great man.

VER. 21. Say, why should Fabius, &c.] The Fabian family pretended to derive their origin from Hercules; and for this reason were intrusted with the service of the altar erected to that hero in the Forum Boarium, or ox-market. This altar, which Juvenal calls magna, but which was more commonly called maxima, seems to have been regarded with great veneration: and the Fabii were, probably, not a little vain of their exclusive right to minister at it. They were very far, however, from being as tenacious of the virtues as of the privileges of their family: one of them was interdicted, for his riotous excesses, from the use of the Fabian estate, by the father of Pompey the Great; and his descendants, if we may trust our author's account of them, added to his extravagance every other vice.