In some opprobrious den of shame, combined "There is a method in man's wickedness, "Which I must do-I shall come to't at last." And Gresset applies it very happily to the singular depravity of the unfortunate Ver-Vert: "Il démentit les célébres maximes "Où nous lisons, qu'on ne vient aux grands crimes "Profès d'abord, et sans noviciat." VER. 122. that vile herd, &c.] We have here a piece of private history, which, from the silence of contemporary authors, cannot now be fully understood. Every one has heard of the GOOD GODDESS, whose mysterious rites were performed with an extraordinary appearance of sanctity, by women only; and it would seem that a number of men, in those days of irreligion, had formed themselves into a society for the sole purpose of burlesquing them: 66 'Atque utinam ritus veteres, et publica saltem "His intacta malis agerentur sacra” but the memory of my readers will supply them with an instance, where rites more sacred, and mysteries more divine, were polluted-quin velut occultum pereat scelus! To make the ridicule more complete, the ancient society adopted as much of the established ceremony as possible; the object of worship, and the sacrifices, were the same; and as the women, for the sake of greater secrecy and security, met in the house of the Consul or Præfect, so these assembled in a private room, (domi,) desecrated, perhaps, for the purpose ;-but here the resemblance ceased, and all beyond was profanation and horrour. The commentators, however, maintain that Juvenal alludes Who twine gay fillets round the forehead; deck to a college or brotherhood founded by Domitian at Alba, in honour of Minerva, to whom (on account of his superiour wisdom and virtue, I suppose) he imagined himself to be related.* But this appears to be altogether improbable, from Suetonius's account of the institution: Celebrabat et in Albano quotannis Quinquatria Minerva, cui collegium instituerat; ex quo sorte ducti magisterio fungerentur, ederentque eximias venationes et scenicos ludos, superque oratorum ac poetarum certamina. There are no features of similarity. Add too, that Statius (in a poem to his wife) boasts of having obtained three prizes in these contests; and he was not a man likely to be connected with a band of catamites and atheists. The "large bowl of wine," magno cratere, is not mentioned without reason: the women usually indulged to excess, at the rites of the Bona Dea; this part of the ceremony, therefore, was not likely to escape imitation. VER. 129. "Far hence," &c.] Ite profana. This is meant as an impious burlesque of the usual adjuration, at the commence * Domitian was not singular in this idea, for it would be easy to name other princes, who prided themselves on some remote kind of consanguinity with Minerva. The last on record, I believe, is Catherine II. who, as I have frequently heard from one that knew her well, could not be more effectually flattered than by being reminded how much she resembled this goddess, as she appears on the coins of Attica! There is no accounting for family prejudices; otherwise, I should think she might have been still more gratified, by being told that she was like Diana. -At Athens thus, involv'd in thickest gloom, With tiring-pins, these spread the sooty dye, Arch the full brow, and tinge the trembling eye; ment of the more solemn mysteries, for the uninitiated to withdraw. VER. 132. Cotytto's priests, &c.] Cotytto was the goddess of impurity. Milton has followed Juvenal, in his Comus, with great spirit and beauty: "Dark-veil'd Cotytto, to whom the secret flame VER. 135. With tiring-pins, these spread the sooty dye, &c.] We are now admitted into the interior of this society, and behold the members at their several employments. These are well imagined and strongly painted: and if the mention of Otho had not unfortunately brought Domitian to the author's recollection, and occasioned a long digression for the sole purpose of attacking one who was probably dear to that prince, I know not where we should have found a higher-coloured picture, than that of the detestable group before us. The custom of darkening and extending the arch of the eye seems to have been derived from the East, where it prevailed from the earliest ages. It is said of Jezebel, (2 Kings, c. ix. v. 30,) that she "painted her face and tired her head, and looked out of the window." The margin of the Bible more correctly reads, "she put her eyes in paint," that is, says Bishop Patrick, in stibium, (or antimony, the word employed by Juvenal's commentators,) "which made the eyes look black, and was accounted beautiful; and also dilated the eyebrows, and Those bind their flowing locks in cawls of gold, Swill from huge glasses of immodest mould, made the eyes appear big; which in some countries was also thought amiable." Britannicus seems to agree with the text of our translators. Per oculos, says he, intellige genas, quæ inficiebantur; while the Septuagint renders the Hebrew, xas Iekabeλ ήκουσε, και εςιβισατο τους οφθαλμους αυτής. To effect this, an impalpable violet-coloured powder was taken up with the sharp point of a steel or silver needle, and applied to the inner surface of the lids; this was supposed to give the eye a brilliant humidity, a lascivious lustre, altogether irresistible. From the East the practice travelled to Greece, where we have frequent allusions to it. Anacreon desires the painter to give his mistress such an eye, that the portrait may resemble the original: Εχετω δ', όπως ΕΚΕΙΝΗ, Το λεληθότως συνέφουν, Βλεφαρων δ' ίτυν κελαινην. In Rome too, the custom seems to have been pretty general among the ladies, before the period at which we are arrived: for Ovid mentions it among many other notable receipts for increasing the power of their charms. Only, instead of antimony, (the Grecian pigment,) the Romans used burnt coal: Nec pudor est oculos tenui signasse favilla: indeed, they used something stranger still; the soot which collected round the mouth of their lamps;―raritatem, says Pliny, superciliorum emendant cum fungis lucernarum, et fuligine quæ est in rostris earum. This is the composition in the text. Holyday says that "the balls of their very eyes were coloured :" In this case trementes will not have the idea of lustful, (his word,) but, quivering from the tenderness of the application: but this learned man was misled, by too literal a translation of his authorities as the art to which he alludes, seems altogether impracticable. However this may be, the custom continued to prevail even in the decline of the empire, though it was zea Light, filmy robes of azure net-work wear; lously combated by some of the fathers. Naumachius, among much excellent advice which he gives the young women of his time, warns them not to blacken their eyes-Holyday was not aware of this passage; it seems, however, to favour his interpretation: Μη δε μελαινε τεοισιν ὑπο βλεφάροισιν όπωπας. VER. 138. Swill from huge glasses of immodest mould, &c.] This vice is represented by the fabulist (at least it would seem so from the remains of a little apologue, which have come down to us) as introduced in the days of Prometheus. The vice, as Shakspeare says, is "of good kindred," though not quite so highly descended: but it was not unusual with the ancients, when they could not satisfactorily account for the introduction of any abomination, to refer it to the "unwiser son of Japhet.” A tacit acquiescence, as it appears to me, in the Scripture doctrine of original depravation. On the line before us, it will be sufficient to remark, that it strongly characterises the profligacy of those wretches, who not only assumed the dress and manners of women; but ostentatiously imitated the most abandoned part of them, in their unnatural propensities. VER. 140. And, by their Juno, hark! the attendants swear!] Generally speaking, men swore by the male, and women by the female deities; there are exceptions to be found, no doubt, but Juno was always considered as exclusively belonging to the latter. For a nian, therefore, to swear by her, was the extreme of effeminacy and irreligion; and this probably was what chiefly recommended it to this worshipful fraternity. But this is not all: the corruption had reached the attendants; and they, who were only allowed to swear by the genius of their master, keep pace with him in effeminacy and impiety, and already invoke his Juno! |