capacity of an auctioneer, or (what he was himself) a tax-gatherer. Nor (had that been the case) should I have complained. On this account the more praise is due to him, and from me a greater degree of gratitude. As long as I am in my senses, I can never be ashamed of such a father as this; and therefore shall not apologize for my birth, in the manner that numbers do, by denying it to be a fault of theirs. My language and way of thinking are remotely different from such persons. For if nature was to make us, from a certain term of years to go over our past time again, and suffer us to choose other parents, such as every man for ostentation's sake would wish for himself, I, content with my own, would not assume those that are honoured with the ensigns and seats of state; for this I should seem a madman in the opinion of the mob, but in yours, I hope, a man of sense; because I would be unwilling to sustain a troublesome burden, being by no means used to it. For I must then immediately set about acquiring a larger fortune, and more people must be complimented; and this and that companion must always be taken along, that I could neither take a jaunt into the country, nor a journey by myself; more domestics and more horses must be fed; coaches too must be drawn in train. Now, if I please, I can go as far as Tarentum on my bob-tailed mule, whose loins the portmanteau galls with its weight, as does the awkward horseman his shoulders. Yet for all this, no one can lay to my charge such sordidness as he may, Tullius, to you, when five slaves follow you, a prætor along the Tiburtian Way, carrying a travelling kitchen, and a vessel* of wine. Thus I live more comfortably, O illustrious senator, than you, and than thousands of others. Wherever I have a fancy, I walk by myself; I inquire into the price of herbs and bread: I traverse the tricking Circus,t and the Forum often in the evening: I stand listening amongst the for tune-tellers: thence I take myself home to a plate of onions, pulse and pancakes. My supper is served up by three slaves; and a white stone slab supports two cups and a tumbler; near them stands a homely ewer and a cruet, with a little bowl, all earthenware from Campania. Then I go to rest; by no means concerned because I must rise in the morning, and pay a visit to the statue of Marsyas, who absolutely disclaims that he is able to bear the look of the younger Novius. I lie a-bed to the fourth hour; after that I take a ramble, or write or read what may amuse me in my privacy. I am anointed with oil, but not with such as the nasty niggard Natta is, when he robs the lamps. But when the sun, become more violent, has reminded me to go to bathe, I escape the hour of his scorching influence. Having dined in a temperate manner, just enough to

* In order to prevent the expense of stopping at the inns + The resort of the cheating augurs and fortune-tellers.

The statue of Marsyas the satyr, who contended with Apollo, and was flayed for his presumption, was erected in the Forum, opposite the seat of the Magistrates; and the poet pleasantly goes on to say, it stood in such an attitude as showed his indignation to behold a man, who had been a slave, now sitting among the magistrates of Rome. The satyr, in his resentment at such a sight, forgets the pain of his being flayed alive. This was likewise the usual place of bankers.

hinder me from having an empty stomach during the rest of the day, I trifle in my own house. This is the life of those who are free from wretched and burdensome ambition; with such things as these, I comfort myself in a way to live more delightfully than if my grandfather had been a quæstor, and father and uncle too.

SATIRE VII.

He humorously describes a squabble betwixt Rupilius

:

and Persius.

In what manner the mongrel Persiust revenged the filth and venom of Rupilius, surnamed King, is, I think, known to all the blind and barbers in Rome. This Persius, being a man of fortune, had a very great deal of business at Clazomene, and, into the bargain, certain troublesome litigations with King; a hardened fellow, and one who was able to exceed even King in virulence; confident, blustering, and of such a bitterness of speech, that he would outstrip the Sisennæ and Barri,§ if ever so well equipped || for the purpose.

But I return to King. After nothing could be settled betwixt them; for people amongst whom adverse war breaks out are proportionably vexa

* The Quæstorship was a place of great honour and profit. † Persius was a Greek, by his father, and an Italian by his mother.

A city of the Lesser Asia.

Sisennæ and Barri were infamous in all respects, but

especially for virulence of speech.

Il On white horses: a proverbial expression: White horses were deemed the swiftest.

tious, on the same account as they are brave Thus, between Hector, the son of Priam, and the high-spirited Achilles, the rage was of so capital a nature, that only the final destruction of one of them could determine it; and this on no other account than that valour in each of them was consummate. If discord sets two cowards to work, or if an engagement happens between two that are not of a match, as that* of Diomede and the Lycian Glacus; the worse man will walk off, buying his peace, by sending presents. When Brutus held, as prætor, the fertile Asia, this notable pair, Rupilius and Persius encountered, in such a manner that the gladiator Bacchius was never better matched with Bithus. Impetuous they hurry to the cause; each of them a fine sight.

Persius first opens his case; and is laughed at by all the assembly; he extols Brutus, and extols the guard; he styles Brutus the sun of Asia, and his attendants he styles salutary stars, all except King; that he, he says, came like that dog, the constellation hateful to husbandmen; in short, he poured along like a wintry flood, where the axe seldom comes.

Then, upon his running on in so smart and fluent a manner, the Prænestine king directs some witticisms, squeezed from the vineyard, himself a hardy vine-dresser, never defeated, to whom the passenger had often been obliged to yield, bawling cuckow with roaring voice.

But the Grecian Persius, as soon as he had been well sprinkled with Italian vinegar, bellows out, O Brutus, by the great Gods I conjure you, who art accustomed to take off kings,* why do you not despatch this King? Believe me, this is a piece of work which of right belongs to you.

SATIRE VIII.

Priapus complains that the Esquilian mount is infested with the incantations of sorceresses.

FORMERLY I was the trunk of a wild fig-tree, a useless log: when the artificer, in doubt whether he should make a stool or a Priapust of me, determined at last that I should be a God. Henceforward I became a God, the greatest terror of thieves and birds; for my right hand restrains thieves, and a bloody-looking pole is stretched out from my frightful middle: but a reed, fixed upon the crown of my head, terrifies the mischievous birds, and hinders them from setting in these new gardens. Before this, the fellow-slave bore dead corpses, thrown out of their narrow cells, to this place, in order to be deposited in paltry coffins. This place stood a common sepulchre for the miserable mob, for the buffoon Pantolabus, and Nomentanus the rake. Here a column assigned a thousand feet of ground in front, and three hundred towards the fields; that the burial-place should not descend to the heirs of the estate. Now one may live in the Esquiliæ, since it is