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But neither Thieves nor Beafts of Prey,
Which here of old in Ambush lay,
Such Tumults in my Breaft excite,
As thofe vile Hags, who here delight
Diftraction in the Mind to raise
By venom'd Drugs and magic Lays.
Nor can I thefe destroy or chase,
But when at Night her comely Face
Bright Cynthia rears, with Shrieks and Groans
They gather baneful Herbs and Bones.
These Eyes Canidia's Form have seen,
Stalking with pale terrific Mien,
In fable Robe upgirt; her Hair,
Difhevell'd, flow'd; her Feet were bare;

Her Sifter Sagana was there :

Their Screams re-echo'd all around,

While with their Nails they scoop'd the Ground,
And, with their Teeth, in Pieces tore
A 2 fable Lamb; the reeking Gore
Diftill'd into the Trench; a Spell,
To call the 3 fhadowy Ghosts from Hell,
And faithful 4 Anfwers to compell!

Thither they brought two Images,
Of Wool was one; the other lefs,
Of Wax; the Woollen, large and tall,
Severely fcourg'd the Waxen fmall;
Which, dreading Death by horrid Pain,
Suppliant for Pity pray'd in vain.

}

This Beldam calls on Hecaté,

And That on dire Tifiphoné.

5 Snakes too and Hell-hounds might be feen;
To fhun which Sight, with modest Mien,
The Moon, retiring, made a Gloom,
Skulking behind a fpacious Tomb.

May Ravens mute upon my Head,
And Julius, and fuch Scoundrels, fspread
Their Ordure round me, if I lye !
But Time would fail me, fhould I try
Each Prank to tell; how, fhrill or hoarse,
The Hags and Spectres held Difcourfe ;
Or how the Fangs of fpeckled Snake,
And a 6 Wolf's Beard, by Stealth, they take,
And bury; how a magic Blaze

On the small waxen Image preys ;
Or how, to their eternal Dread,
I wreak'd my Vengeance on their Head.
Loud as a Bladder bursts asunder,

I rattled my pofterior Thunder.
Strait to the Town they fled away ;
What Mirth must rise at such Dismay !
Her borrow'd Teeth Canidia loft,

And Sagana no more could boast

Her Tower of Hair; from off their Arms

Th' enchanted Bracelets dropp'd; the Charms.
And Spells lay fruitlefs on the Ground;
Their Herbs were scatter'd all around.

NOTES.

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Macenas had made Gardens on the Efquilian Hill, which was before uninhabited and unhealthy, on Account of the Graves with which it was filled, and the Bones which covered it. Horace is glad of an Occafion to speak of these Gardens, and of the Pleasure they gave the Public. At the fame Time, it gives him an Opportunity of inveighing against the Witches Canidia and Sagana, and of defcribing their Pranks every Night in that Place.

But this is not his only End: His principal Design is to mock the idle Superftition of the Romans, and their Bigotry for Idols, whom they adored as true Gods. He treats this Subject with great Wit and Delicacy. For he does not attack thefe Idols like a dry Philofopher, who deduces his Principles from the first Causes, and by a long Detail of Reafoning, but like a philofophic Courtier, who knows, that in Cafes of this Nature Ridicule is more prevalent than the clofeft Syllogifms. DACIER.

Perhaps the Reasoning which Dacier here makes Use of might be turned against the Superftition of the Papists, if we put Images for Idols. And, if his Argument be just, it will hold in favour of the Irony and ftrong Railleries, employed by Tillotson, and other Proteftant Divines, against their Abfurdities.

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Canidia and Sagana are the fame of whom he speaks in Book V. Ode 5. Canidia walks with her Robe tucked up, her Feet bare, and her Hair dishevelled: As Ovid describes Medea;

Egreditur telis veftes induta recintas,

Nuda pedem, nudos humeros infusa capillis.

her Ancles bare,

Her Garments closely girt, and loose her Hair. The only Difference is, that Medea wears her Robe loose: But it may be faid, that Canidia only tucked it up to walk more conveniently. DACIER.

2 Pullam agnam.] They always offered black Victims to the infernal Gods. Thus Medea, in Ovid:

cultras

3

Conjecit.

cultros in guttura velleris atri

ut inde

Manes elicerent.] There was nothing of which the Ghofts were fo fond as Blood. Ulyffes, in Homer, is obliged to draw his Sword to keep off the Ghofts, and to hinder them from drinking the Blood which he had poured into the Trench for Tirefias. They could neither foretell future Events, nor answer Questions, 'till they had first . tafted this Blood.

We fee clearly, by this Paffage, that the Manes are nothing but the Souls of the Deceased.

4

animas refponfa daturas.] The Enchantments by which the Ghofts were raifed, in order to know from them what should happen, were in Ufe long before Homer. We fee, in the first Book of Samuel, that Saul confults the Witch of Endor, who, by her Enchantments, calls up the Ghoft of Samuel. And Saul lived at least three hundred and fifty Years before Homer, as it would be easy to prove. DACIER.

5 Serpentes atque videres

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Infernas errare canes.] The Serpents proclaimed the Approach of Tifiphoné, and the Hell-bounds that of Hecaté. Thus Virgil, on the like Occafion:

vifaque canes ululare per umbram,

Adventante Dea.

Æn. VI. 257.

And howling Dogs in glimmering Light advance,
Ere Hecat came.

6

DRYDEN.

lupi barbam varia cum dente colubræ.] Inftead of hiding in the Ground a Wolf's Beard and a Snake's Tooth, as here in Horace, Shakespear's Witches, in Macbeth, are fuppofed to throw into their enchanted Cauldron, among other Ingredients, a Wolf's Tooth and a Snake's Fillet. See Act IV. Scene I.

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Modernized by WILLIAM COW PER, Efq;
The Defcription of an IMPERTINENT.
SAuntering along the Street, one Day,
On Trifles mufing by the Way,

Up fteps a free familiar Wight,
(I fcarcely knew the Man by Sight)
"Carlos, (he cry'd,) your Hand, my Dear!
"Gad! I rejoice to meet you here ;
"Pray Heaven I fee you well!"--- So, so,
E'en well enough as Times now go;
The fame good Wifhes, Sir, to you!'
Finding he ftill pursu'd me close,

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Sir, you have Business, I fuppofe ;

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My Bufinefs, Sir, is quickly done,
"'Tis but to make my Merit known ;--
"Sir, I have read”- - O learned Sir!
You, and your Reading, I revere.'
Then, sweating with Anxiety,
And fadly longing to be free,

Gods! how I fcamper'd, fcuffled for't,
Ran, halted, ran again, stopp'd short,
Beckon'd my Boy, and pull'd him near,
And whisper'd---nothing in his Ear.

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Teas'd with his loose unjointed Chat--"What Street is this? Whofe Houfe is that?" O Harlow!

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