2 • The direful Wreck Ulyfes scarce survives ! • Ul;les at his Country scarce arrives, • Strangers bis Guides !--Nor there thy Labours end; New Pces arise, domestic Ills attend ! “There foul Adulterers to thy Queen resort, • And lordly Gluttons riot in thy Court.' BROOME. It appears by the 62d Verse; Tempore, quo juvenis, &c. that this Satire could not be written before the Year of Rome 734, at which time Auguftus recovered the Roman Eagles from ?brzätes King of rarthia. Augustus was then in his forty-third Year. Seu rubra canicula findet Furiu, tj. rnas cuâ nive conspuet Alpes.] Junius and Bintley observe, tliat infantes fatuas here mean ne-w-rude Statues, most probably of Wood, which are very apt to fplit with exceflive Heat. Both Heat and Cold will competinies have the same Effect on Statues of Stone. Dacier fays, that the Phrase infanı Statues is ridiculous. True: And, if it had not been fo, it would not have answered Horace's Purpole, which was to ridicule it. The Editor in ufum Drifh: ii exclaims, Dura sanè diciii ! Bentley, on the other hand, says it is Horace's own Phrase, and an elegant one. So widely do these learned Critics differ ! The Poet, whose Line is here parodied, was Marcus Furius Bibaculus, contenporary with Cicero. He described in Verse the Wars with Gaul. Speaking of the Winter, he says, Jupiter hybcrnas caná nive conspuit Alpes. Jove on the wintry Alps spits hoary Snow. Horace humorously puts the asthmatic Poet in the Place of his Jupiter. 3 quicquid dican, aut erit-aut non.] The Critics puzzle themselves about the Meaning of theic Words. But Eintley thinks it is very clear, that Horace, wino was an Epicuréan, intended by putting these Words into the mouth of Tiresias, and making him utter them with so much Pomp, to ridicule the Art of Divination, or Prophecy. 4 - forti nubet frocera Corano Filia Naficæ.] We know no more of the History here related than we have from Horace. Nevertheless, it will not be disficult to divine it, by examining closely the Poet's Words and Meaning. This then I take to be the Story. Coranuswas an old Man, very covetous and profligate, who had lent Money to Nafica. Nafica, who dreaded nothing so much as the paying of his Debts, resolved to serve Coranus in his Debaucheries, and to give him his Daughter; in Expectation that, by facrificing thus her Honour, he should gain his good Graces, and that when the old Man died, he would not only pay the Debi he owed him, but also make him his Geir. Coranus availeil himself of the Complaisance of this infamous Father. He caressed the Daughter; and, after this shameful Commerce, instead of acknowledging the Fai: vour the Father had done him, he played him this Trick. He made his Will, and gave it him to read. Nafica thought he should have found in it the Recompence he expected. But Coranus had left him nothing, but Tears and Despair. Nubere does not always signify a Marriage, but often a criminal Commerce, in Catullus and others. DACIER. Sanadon allows the foregoing Conjecture to be very probable. A Story of the same kind lately happened at London. Two old Misers, each of them worth a Plumb, had a Female Relation worth fourscore thousand Pounds, who was turned of fixty, and unmarried. She happened to fall in Love with a Barber's Apprentice, who was worth nothing, and gave him great Encouragement. Upon this, , the two Brothers contrived this Echeme to break off the Match. They both of them waited upon her; and the eldest thus addrelled her : "Coulin Lucretia, we are credibly informed, that you intend to marry Tom Razor. “We are amazed that you can think of degrading yourself by such a Match. You may act, co be iure, as you please : But mark the Consequence. My Brother and • I are both old; we have no Thonghts of marrying, • and intend to make you our Heir. But if you take this brath 1 2 6 « rash Step, we will not leave you a Shilling. This Speech had the desired Effect. She discarded the Barber, not long after died, and left her whole Fortune between the Brothers. 5 Venit enim magnum donandi parca juventus.) I know not how Horace can be cleared from the Charge of making Tirefias contradict himself in this Passage; for he tells Ulyses in Homer, that the Suitors of Penelope solicit her by Presents; but he says here, that they do not succeed, because they are not generous enough to take that Method. Nor does the Poet seem here to have a proper Regard to Decency and Decorum. Tiresias, a venerable Prophet, who is called up from the Elysian Fields, would perfuade Ulises to be Pimp to his own Wife. Ulysses, who is proposed by Homer as a Model of Virtue, listens to his Instructions, without any Sign of Indignation or Displeasure : And whether he will or will not comply with them, is at last left doubtful. But, according to Dacier, we must believe all this to be decent. • Nothing, says he, can be more ingenious • than the Turn Horace has given to this Satire; nor more happy than his Choice of the Actors he intro• duces.' On ne sauroit rien imaginer de plus ingénieux que le tour qu'il donne à cette Satire ; ni de plus heureux, que le choix des Acteurs qu'il introduit. And, in another Place, he affures us, that 'the Conduct of Ulydes is natural, and • worthy of his Character.' 6 fed me Imperiosa trabit Proferpina.) This Fiction is founded on a pbysical Truth. Proserpine here represents the Night: And when the Night retires, and gives place to Day, she carries the Shades with her. Virgil alludes to this in the fifth Book of his Æneid, where the Soul of Anchises breaks off the Discourse with Æneas in these Words; Tarquet medios nox humida cursus; And Phæbus' panting Coursers on me breathe. For the Romans, like us, reckoned the Day from Midnight. DACIER. We Ver. 738. II. Shakespeare has made a fine Use of it in his Hamlet : BerNARDO. HORATIO, MARCELLUS. * The Ghot of Hamlet's Father. VOL IIT, SATIRE a By Mr. FAWKES, Vicar of Orpington, in Kent. A Comparison of the Cares and Troubles of a Town Life with the Ease and Pleasure of a Country one. OFT has this been my Wilh's utmost Bound, To cultivate 1 a little Tract of Ground, Where a neat Dwelling in a Garden stood, A living Fountain, and a waving Wood. All this and more the gracious Gods have sent ; Thanks for their Bounties, and I rest content; Nor aught befide, 2 O Son of Maia, crave, But 3 Leisure to enjoy the Gifts you gave. If I by Fraud ne'er made my Fortune more, Nor lessen'd by Extravagance my Store ; If thus I ne'er preferr'd my foolish Prayer ; « Oh for that Nook of Land that lies so fair; That little Spot, to make my Meadow square ! , . Oh would propitious Fortune, of her Pleasure, • Direct me to some hidden Hoard of Treasure ! • As once she bless'd the Peasant mean and poor, • Who bought those Acres which he plow'd 6 before, [ [Ore. S For 4 Hercules benign turn’d up the golden |
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