From hence we came to Rubi very much fatigued; because we made a long journey, and it was rendered still more troublesome by the rains. Next day the weather was better, but the road worse, even to the very walls of Barium, that abounds in fish. In the next place Egnatia, which seems to have been built on troubled waters, gave us occasion for jests and laughter; for they wanted to persuade us, that at this sacred portal the incense melted without the help of fire. The Jew Apellat may believe this; not I. For I have learned from Epicurus, that the Gods dwell in a state of tranquillity; nor, if nature effect any wonder, that the anxious Gods send it from the high canopy of the heavens.

Brundusium ends both my long journey and my

paper.

SATIRE VI.

TO MÆCENAS.

Of true nobility.

O MECENAS, though of all the Lydians that ever inhabited the Tuscan territories, no one is of

* There are two meanings in the original, iratis lymphis, &c. The first says, the town was built in despite of the waters, as if they were offended at its being built. The second, that its inhabitants were visionaries, lunatics, LYMPHATICI. Francis.-But there is a third interpretation, which seems more plausible, viz., that the water was very bad at this place.

† Or, the circumcised Jew.

There is a tradition, that the Lydians under Tyrrhenus, the son of Hercules, came into Italy, and possessed themselves of Tuscany.

a nobler family than yourself; and though you have ancestors both on father and mother's side, that in times past have had the command of great armies, yet you do not, as the generality are wont, toss up your nose at obscure people, such as me, who had only a freedman for my father; since you deny that it is of any consequence of what parents any man is born, so that he be a man of merit. You persuade yourself, with great truth, that before the dominion of Tullius, and the reign* of one born a slave, frequently numbers of men, descended from ancestors of no rank, have both lived with the reputation of men of merit, and have been distinguished by the greatest honours; while, on the other hand, Lævinus, the descendant of that famous Valerius, by whose means Tarquinius Superbus. fled, being expelled from his kingdom, was not a farthing more esteemed on account of his family, even in the judgment of the people, whose disposition you are perfectly acquainted with, and who frequently foolishly bestow honours on the unworthy, and are, out of their stupidity, slaves to a name: who are struck with admiration by inscriptions and statues. What then is it fitting for us to do, who are far, very far, removed from the vulgar in our sentiments? For grant it, that the people had rather confer a dignity on Lævinus than on Decius, who is a new man ;t and the censor Appius would expel me the senate-house, because I was not sprung from a sire of distinction; and

* Ignoble, because Servius Tullius was the son of a female. captive.

Novus homo, literally a new man, was a term of reproach for an obscure person, or one that was the first great man of his family.

that too deservedly, inasmuch as I rested not content in my own condition. But yet glory captivates in her dazzling car the obscure, as closely fettered as those of nobler birth. What would it profit you, O Tullius, to resume the robe that you were forced to lay aside, and become a tribune again? Envy increased upon you, which had been less, if you had remained in a private station. For when any crazy fellow has once laced the middle of his leg with the sable buskins, and hath let flow the purple robe from his breast, he immediately hears: "Who is this man? Whose son is he?" Just as if there be any one who labours under the same distemper as Barrus does, and is ambitious of being reckoned handsome, let him go where he will, he excites a curiosity amongst the girls of inquiring into particulars; as, what sort of face, leg, what sort of foot, teeth, hair, he has. Thus he, who engages to his fellow-citizens to take care of the city, the empire and Italy, and the sanctuaries of the gods, forces every mortal to be solicitous, and to interrogate from what sire he is descended, or whether he is base by the obscurity of his mother. What, do you, the son of a Syrus,* a Dama, or a Dionysius, dare to cast down the citizens of Rome from the Tarpeian rock, or deliver them up to Cadmus the executioner? But, you may say, my colleague Novius sits below me one degree: for he is only what my father was. And therefore do you esteem yourself a Paulus or a Messala? But he (Novius), if two hundred carriages and three funerals were to meet in the

*Names of slaves.

forum, could make noise enough to drown all their horns and trumpets: this kind of merit at least has its weight with us.

Now I return to myself, who am descended from a freedman; whom everybody nibbles at as being descended from a freedman. Now they do it, because, Mæcenas, I am a constant guest of yours; but formerly they did it, because a Roman legion was under my command, as being then a military tribune. This latter case is different from the former; for, though any person perhaps might justly envy me that post of honour, yet could he not do so with regard to your being my friend; especially as you are very cautious to admit only such as are worthy of your esteem, and are far from having any sinister ambitious views in soliciting it. I cannot reckon myself a lucky fellow, on this account, viz: that it was by accident that I got you for my friend; for no kind of accident threw me in your way. That best of men, Virgil, long ago, and after him Varius, told what I When first I came into your presence, I spoke only a few words in a broken manner; (for childish bashfulness hindered me from speaking more;) I did not pretend to tell you that I was the issue of an illustrious father: I did not pretend that I rode about the country (or, about my country estate) on a Satureiant horse, but plainly tell what I really was: You answer, as your custom is, a few words: I depart; and you re-invite me

- was.

Had such a strength of voice. Noise is so apt to take with the vulgar; and thus he was raised, by no other merit, to honours in the state.

Satureium, or Saturum, was a town or district in Calabria, near Tarentum, famous for the breed of horses.

after the ninth month, and command me to be in the number of your friends. I esteem it a singular honour that I pleased you, who distinguish probity from baseness, not by the illustriousness of a father, but by the purity of heart, and the manner of living.

But if my disposition be culpable for a few faults, and those small ones, and is otherwise perfect; as if you should condemn moles scattered over a beautiful skin; if no one can justly lay to my charge avarice, nor sordidness, nor impure pursuits; if, in fine, to speak in my own praise, Î live undefiled and innocent, and dear to my friends; my father was the cause of all this, who, though a poor man, on a lean farm, was unwilling to send me to a country school, under the pedant Flavius, where great boys, sprung from great centurions, having their satchels and copy-book swung over their left arm, went with money in their hands the very day it was due; but had the spirit to bring me, as yet a child, to Rome, to be taught those arts which any Roman knight and senator can teach his own children. That if any person had considered my dress, and the slaves that attended me in so populous a city, he would have concluded that those expenses were supplied to me out of some great hereditary estate. He himself, of all others, the most faithful guardian, was constantly about every one of my preceptors. But why should I multiply words? he preserved me chaste, (which is the first honour of virtue,) not only from every actual guilt, but likewise from every foul imputation: nor was he afraid lest any should turn it to his reproach, if I should come to follow a business attended with small profits, in