Page images
PDF
EPUB

NOTE S.

Horace has given us, in this Satire, an admirable Lecture in Recommendation of Frugality and Temperance, and againft Luxury and Extravagance, under the Character of Ofellus, who was ejected from his Patrimony in the District of Mantua or Cremona, after the Battle of Philippi, when the Lands in thofe Parts were distributed among the Veterans by Odavius Cælar. He was now the Tenant of Umbrenus, to whom his Eftate had been affigned.

He has shown the fatal Confequences of Luxury and Extravagance, fuch as Lofs of Health, Fortune, and Character, and defcribed the wretched State of the Perfon fo reduced; who can neither help himself, nor find any one to pity or relieve him. The Speech of Ofellus to his Sons, as he was labouring with them in the Field, exhibits an amiable Picture of the Simplicity of Manners in the old Times.

I

Pila velox.] The Ancients had four Sorts of Balls. 1. The Follis, or Balloon, which they ftruck with their Arms, guarded with a wooden Bracer. If the Balloon was little, they used only their Fifts. 2. The Pila trigonalis, which was like our Tennis Ball. To play with this, three Perfons ftood in a Triangle, ftriking it round from one to the other. He that firft let it fall was the Lofer. 3. Paganica, a Ball ftuffed with Feathers. 4. Harpaftum, a harder kind of Ball, which they played with, dividing into two Companies, and ftriving to throw it through one anothers Goals, which was the conquering Caft. DUNSTER.

This lalt feems to have been like our Cricket.

2 In most of the printed Editions, this Line here follows,

Fejunus flamachus rarò vulgaria temnit.

A fafting Stomach feldom difdains fimple Fare.' But it evidently interrupts the Connection; and is therefore rejected by Sanadon, as an Interpolation from the Margin.

3 Ferre&um magno magnum fpe&tare catino.]

This Line, by the Slowness of the Syllables, where four Spondees follow one another, well expreffes the enormous Bulk of the Fish for which the Clutton prayed. The Romans in their Entertainments were very fond of great Dishes. Sylla had one of maffy Silver of one hundred Pounds Weight. They proceeded at laft to fuch a Height of Extravagance, that, at the Time of Claudius, Drufillanus Rotundus had a Difh which weighed above five hundred Pounds. And Vitellius had one of that prodigious Size, that it was called Minerva's Buckler.

4

cum rapula plenus

Atque acidas mavult inulas.]

Radish and Elicampane. Though the latter was naturally an Enemy to the Stomach, the Romans pickled and preferved it in fuch a Manner, that it became both agreeable to the Tafte, and very wholefome. DaCIER.

5 Galloni præconis erat acipenfere menfa

Infamis.]

Gallonius was fo infamous for his Gluttony, that his Name became a Proverb.

6 Feftos albatus celebret.] The Romans always wore white Robes on Holidays or Feflivals. The Difference between the toga alba and taga candida was this; the first was the natural Colour of the Wool, the other an artificial White.

7 The Reader will not be difpleafed to hear the Sentiment of the Son of Sirach on the fame Subject with our Author: A very little is fufficient for a Man wellnurtured; and he lieth not puffing and blowing.

Sound Sleep cometh of moderate Eating: He rifeth early, and his Wits are with him: But the Pain of Watching (or Wakefulness) and Choler, and the Pangs of the Belly, are with an infatiable Man.' Ecclefiaft. xxxi. ver. 19 and 20.

There is fcarce any applauded moral Maxim in the ancient Philofophers, but the fame Thought may be found to Advantage in the Book of Ecclefiafticus. It were to be wifhed it could be admitted into our Canon, instead of Solomon's Song.

[blocks in formation]

8 Mr. Pope has happily imitated this Paffage in his humorous Way:

The Soul fubfides, and wickedly inclines

To feem- but mortal, ev'n in found Divines.

But he has miftaken the Senfe of Horace in the following
Lines:

On Morning Wings how active springs the Mind,
That leaves the Load of Yesterday behind!

Horace, in Recommendation of Temperance, fays, that the Man, who fnatches a light Supper, awakes with his Faculties lively in the Morning: But, according to Mr. Pope, this is the Confequence of a Debauch; for what other Senfe can be put on the Words, leaving the Load of Yefterday behind? If we confult Horace and Experi. ence, they both affure us, that this Load will not be left behind, but attends us the next Day:

corpus onuftum

Hefternis vitiis animum quoque prægravat una. That Dryden by the Word Load understood a Debauch, is evident from a Paffage in his Tranflation of the firft Iliad, where (indecently enough, and without any Authority from his Mafter Homer) he makes Jupiter go to Bed drunk:

Drunken at last, and drowfy they depart.

He here fpeaks of the fubordinate Gods, with Apollo and the Mufes: But (not content with that) he adds;

9

The thundering God,

Ev'n he withdrew to Reft, and had his Load,

tenuatum corpus.] i. e, His Body emaciated by too clofe Application, by bard Labour, or Diftempers. Ofellus allows but three Things which should make us treat ourfelves more delicately than ordinary, viz. Festivals, Weakneffes occafioned by Distempers or Labour, and the Infirmities of Age. But under the Name of Festivals all extraordinary Occafions are comprifed, fuch as a Birth or Wedding Day, the Vifit of a Friend, &c. DACIER.

10

cur, improbe, care

Non aliquid patriæ tanto emotiris acervo?} Horace remembered, and hints with juft Indignation at thofe luxurious Parricians of his old Party, who when

they

they had agreed to establish a Fund in the Cause of Freedom, under the Conduct of Brutus, could never be perfuaded to withdraw from their expenfive Pleasures what was fufficient for the Support of fo great a Cause. WARBURTON.

11 Horace might have feen Ofellus at Rome, for he lived there from his ninth or tenth, to his twentieth or twenty-first Year, when he went to dibens, to profecute his Studies. DACIER.

12 Quam nunc accifis.] Mr. Pope has condescended to give us a low Pun here, to have a Fling at the Excife;

In South-Sea Days not happier, when furmis'd

The Lord of Thousands, than if now excis'd. To be fure, he had his Reafons for it; and it probably anfwered his Purpose at that Juncture.

Taffo feems to have had Ofellus in his Eye, when he wrote the Episode of Erminia and the Shepherd on the Banks of Jordan in Book VII. of his Jerufalem Delivered, which has been tranflated by Mrs. Rowe, and of late moft elegantly (as indeed is the whole Work) by Mr. Hoole.

13 Mr. Pope's Imitation here excells the Original :
Fis true, no Turbots dignify my Boards,
But Gudgeons, Flounders, what my Thames affords :
To Hounflow Heath I point, and Banfted Down ;
Thence comes your Mutton; and thefe Chicks my own:
From yon' old Walnut tree a Shower fhall fall;
And Grapes, long-lingering on my only Wall;
And Figs, from Standard and Espalier, join

14 Ac venerata Ceres.] Ceres, the Daughter of Saturn and Ops, first taught Men to till the Ground and fow Corn. The Reader may fee this Fable explained at large by M. le Glerc, in his Biblioth. Univers. Tom. VI.

15 There is a pretty Epigram in Lucian, where we find just the fame Thought.

Loquitur ager. (The Field speaks.)

I was of Achæmenides the Field,

But by Menippus' Name I now am known;
Each thought me his: But I Obedience yiekt

To Fortune's Nod, and am her Slave alone.

The

[ocr errors]

The SAME SATIRE Imitated..

By Mr. J. DUNCOM EE.

GIVE Ear, my Friends, while prudent I reveal
The heart-felt Pleafures of a temp'rate Meal;
But read not this on Birth-days, juft releas'd
From Court, or Manfion-houfe, or College-feaft,
Where Lords, and Aldermen, and Scholars join
In the loud Praife of Turbot, Soup, and Wine;
But fafting come, nor heed though Beadles call,
Or Mayors themselves invite you to the Hall,
Behind each Chair where powder'd Gentry wait,.
And every thing is French-except the Plate :.
In Riot's Caufe then unretain'd, unfee'd,
For Truth and Reafon you may boldly plead:
No Judge, when brib'd or penfion'd, can be free,,
Like Pratt can argue, or like Yorke decree.

Thy Votaries, Health, pursue thee at the Dawn,,
O'er the steep Mountain, or the dewy Lawn,
With pliant Arms the yielding Lake divide,
Or on swift Skaits o'er frozen Rivers glide;
At Angelo's the fiery Courfer rein,

Or fcour, in rival Race, Newmarket's Plain.
But if, a Stranger to the rural Shade,
Soft-train'd in Town, of Cold, of Air, afraid,
You deem thefe Labours too robuft, refort
To yon fmooth-fhaven Green, or fhelter'd Court,

At

« PreviousContinue »