An Account of a wrangling Quarrel between PERSIUS and RUPILIUS KING.

HOW

OW Perfius on Rupilius King,
Profcrib'd by Cæfar, dar'd to fling

His own rank Venom, I fuppofe

*

Each paltry Quack and Barber knows.
Perfius had long to Clazomene
Profufely dealt; as long had been
In wrangling Suits with King engag'd;
Was bold and arrogant; and rag'd
So loud, that not to fuch a Pitch
Could 2 Barrus or 3 Sifenna reach.

In vain had many Attempts been try’d
To make their choleric Blood fubfide.
At length on Afia's wealthy Shore
When Brutus held Prætorian Power,
Our Champions met; fo match'd, as brought
4 Bacchius and Bithus to our Thought.
5 When Warriors fight of equal Fame,
Death only can decide their Claim.
For, fpite of Reason, each Pretence
Is juftify'd by Infolence.

*The Reading of Bentley is here followed, Omnibus & medicis notum & tonforibus esse.

Hector

Hector and Peleus' Son contended,

And but with Life their Contest ended.
But when two, ftruck with Coward Dread,
Or (6 Glaucus-like with Diomed)
When Chiefs of Strength unequal meet,
The weakest buys a fafe Retreat.

Into the Hall with lowering Mien
They rufh'd; fuch Objects ne'er were fecn.
Perfius unfolds the Cause; much Sport
Enfues; with Laughter rings the Court.
He loads with many an Eulogy
Brutus, and all his Army: He
Is Afia's 7 SUN; his Chiefs, he fays,
Are STARS of most propitious Rays:
Save King; he, Terror to the Swain,
Like the fierce DOG-STAR burns the Plain.
Swift roll'd his Speech; as, through a Wood,
Refiftless rolls a wintry Flood.

Th' Italian then with equal Glee
Reply'd, in foul-mouth'd Ribaldry;
Such as in Vineyards reigns among
The Gatherers, whofe opprobrious Tongue
Is fure to hoot each Paffer-by,

8

With Cuckow, Cuckow, as they fly.

Language fo coarse at length inflames
Perfius' Refentment---He exclaims,
O Brutus, by each Power above
I beg, that, for thy Country's Love,

Thou, to whofe Sires fuch Glory fprings "From banishing the Race of Kings, < Wilt now, like them, deliver Rome, And let a Rope be this KING'S Doom.'

NOTE S.

Publius Rupilius Rex being profcribed by Octavius Cæfar in the Triumvirate, made his Escape, and took Refuge in the Camp of Brutus. He was born at Prænefte in Italy. Perfius was defcended from a Grecian Father and a Roman Mother.

Horace here presents us with a Dialogue well fupported between these two Perfons in the mock Heroic Style. Perhaps it might be defigned as a Parody on fome of the fcoffing Scenes in the Iliad. It feems to have been our Author's first poetical Effay, and was probably written in the Year of Rome 712, a little before the Battle of Philippi.

1 Clazomenis.] Clazomene was a City of Leffer Afia, in Ionia. It was fituated on the Coaft of the Ægéan Sea, between Smyrna and the land of Chios. It had been called Gryne; hence Apollo was called Grynaus, from a celebrated Temple erected to him there. It was the Birth-place of the Philofopher Anaxagoras. See Strabo, Book XIV.

2, 3 Sifennas, Barros.] Barrus and Sifenna were two Senators of wrangling Memory. For the Character of Barrus, fee the Notes on the foregoing Satire.

4 cum Bitho Bacchius.] Bacchius and Bithus were two Gladiators in the keign of Auguftus, who never failed to kill all thofe with whom they fought. At length being matched against each other, both fell on the Spot.

5 The Tranflator has tranfposed a few Lines here. A Parenthesis of nine Lines, uncouthly placed, breaks the Senfe, and disfigures the Original.

Cum Lycio Glauco.] This alludes to that Paffage in the fixth Iliad where Glaucus changed his Armour of Gold for Diomed's of Brass.

προς Τυδείδην Διομηδεα τευχε αμείβε,
Χρυσεα χαλκείων, εκατομβοί εννεαβοίων.
For Diomed's Brafs Arms, of mean Device,
For which nine Oxen paid (a vulgar Price)
He gave his own, of Gold, divinely wrought,
A hundred Beeves the fhining Purchase bought.

POPE.

7 Solem Afia.] Nothing is more common than these fwelling Tropes in modern Tragedies. They delight the Players, and generally gain a Clap from the Galleries.

8- Cucullum.] This was a Term of Reproach commonly applied to the Grape-gatherers in Vintage-time, denoting a Loon, or an idle worthlefs Fellow. Per

haps,' fays Dacier, because the Cuckow is a lazy Bird, who will not be at the Pains of hatching her own Eggs, 'but drops them in the Nests of other Birds-Semperque 'parit in alienis nidis.'

A Custom not unlike this prevails among us, viz. the People on Shore crying out to the Bargemen, as the WeftCountry Barges are paffing by, Ba! Ba! to upbraid them with being Sheep-ftealers.

The ingenious Mr. Warton, fpeaking of the first Lines of this Satire, juftly obferves, that here even the courtly 'Horace finks into mean and farcical Abuse.' ADVENTURER, N° 133.

The Pun, with which it closes, would not be expected by a Modern in any Writer above the Rank of Jo. Miller.

SATIRE VIII.

PRIAPUS's Complaint against the Witches,
who infefted the Efquilian Hill.
Fold, a Fig-tree (usclefs Wood!)
Was I; when long the Joiner ftood
Debating, if to make of Me.

A Joint-ftool, or a Deity :

At length the latter he preferr'd;
Hence (Terror to each Thief and Bird)
Priapus' threatening Form I wear;
The Club that in my Hand I bear,
And my red Stake the Robbers dread;
While the Reed, waving on my Head,
From Birds this new-made Garden frees,
Though Fruits hang tempting on the Trees..
Of old, the Carcaffes of Knaves,
Buffoons and Rakes, their Fellow-Slaves.
Bore hither in a paltry Cheft;

Each in a narrow Cell to rest.

That Stone a Witness has remain'd
The Field one thousand Feet contain'd
In Front; three hundred in the Rear;
Sequefter'd from the lawful Heir.

Now we may range th' Efquilian Grove,
And o'er the Hill enraptur'd rove,
Where, with Concern, we lately view'di
The Ground with Bones unfeemly frew'd.

But