The Poet gives us first a kind of humorous reason for his writing: that being provoked by hearing so many ill poets rehearse their works, he does himself justice on them, by giving them as bad as they bring. But since no man will rank himself with ill writers, it is easy to conclude, that if such wretches could draw an audience, he thought it no hard matter to excel them, and gain a greater esteem with the public. Next, he informs us more openly, why he rather addicts himself to satire than any other kind of poetry. And here he discovers, that it is not so much his indignation to ill poets as to ill men, which has prompted him to write. He, therefore, gives us a summary and general view of the vices and follies reigning in his time. So that this first satire is the natural ground-work of all the rest. Herein he confines himself to no one subject, but strikes indifferently at all men in his way. In every following satire he has chosen some particular moral which he would inculcate; and lashes some particular vice or folly, (an art with which our lampooners are not much acquainted). But our poet being desirous to reform his own age, and not daring to attempt it by an overt-act of naming living persons, inveighs only against those who were infamous in the times immediately preceding his, whereby he not only gives a fair warning to great men, that their memory lies at the mercy of future poets and historians, but also, with a finer stroke of his pen, brands even the living, and personates them under dead men's names.
I have avoided, as much as I could possibly, the borrowed learning of marginal notes and illustrations, and for that reason have translated this satire somewhat largely; and freely own, (if it be a fault,) that I have likewise omitted most of the proper names, because I thought they would not much edify the reader. To conclude, if in two or three places I have deserted all the commentators, it is because I thought they first deserted my author, or at least have left him in so much obscurity, that too much room is left for guessing.
[51] Codrus, or it may be Cordus, a bad poet, who wrote the life and actions of Theseus.—[This and almost all the following notes are taken from Dryden's first edition. Those which are supplied by the present Editor, are distinguished by the letter E.]
[52] The name of a tragedy.
[53] Another tragedy.
[54] Some commentators take this grove to be a place where poets were used to repeat their works to the people; but more probably, both this and Vulcan's grott, or cave, and the rest of the places and names here mentioned, are only meant for the common places of Homer in his Iliads and Odyssies.
[55] That is, the best and the worst poets.
[56] This was one of the themes given in the schools of rhetoricians, in the deliberative kind; whether Sylla should lay down the supreme power of dictatorship, or still keep it?
[57] Lucilius, the first satirist of the Romans, who wrote long before Horace.
[58] Mævia, a name put for any impudent or mannish woman.
[59] Juvenal's barber, now grown wealthy.
[60] Crispinus, an Egyptian slave; now, by his riches, transformed into a nobleman.
[61] The Romans were grown so effeminate in Juvenal's time, that they wore light rings in the summer, and heavier in the winter.
[62] Matho, a famous lawyer, mentioned in other places by Juvenal and Martial.
[63] Lyons, a city in France, where annual sacrifices and games were made in honour of Augustus Cæsar.
[64] Here the poet complains, that the governors of provinces being accused for their unjust exactions, though they were condemned at their trials, yet got off by bribery.
[65] Horace, who wrote satires; it is more noble, says our author, to imitate him in that way, than to write the labours of Hercules, the sufferings of Diomedes and his followers, or the flight of Dædalus, who made the Labyrinth, and the death of his son Icarus.
[66] Nero married Sporus, an eunuch; though it may be, the poet meant Nero's mistress in man's apparel.
[67] Mecænas is often taxed by Seneca and others for his effeminacy.
[68] The meaning is, that the very consideration of such a crime will hinder a virtuous man from taking his repose.
[69] Shadwell, our author's old enemy.—E.
[70] Deucalion and Pyrrha, when the world was drowned, escaped to the top of Mount Parnassus, and were commanded to restore mankind, by throwing stones over their heads; the stones he threw became men, and those she threw became women.
[71] The ears of all slaves were bored, as a mark of their servitude; which custom is still usual in the East Indies, and in other parts, even for whole nations, who bore prodigious holes in their ears, and wear vast weights at them.
[72] Pallus, a slave freed by Claudius Cæsar, and raised by his favour to great riches. Licinius was another wealthy freedman belonging to Augustus.
[73] Perhaps the storks were used to build on the top of the temple dedicated to Concord.
[74] He calls the Roman knights, &c. harpies, or devourers. In those days, the rich made doles intended for the poor; but the great were either so covetous, or so needy, that they came in their litters to demand their shares of the largess; and thereby prevented, and consequently starved, the poor.
[75] The meaning is, that noblemen would cause empty litters to be carried to the giver's door, pretending their wives were within them. "'Tis Galla," that is, my wife; the next words, "Let her ladyship but peep," are of the servant who distributes the dole; "Let me see her, that I may be sure she is within the litter." The husband answers, "She is asleep, and to open the litter would disturb her rest."
[76] The poet here tells you how the idle passed their time; in going first to the levees of the great; then to the hall, that is, to the temple of Apollo, to hear the lawyers plead; then to the market-place of Augustus, where the statues of the famous Romans were set in ranks on pedestals; amongst which statues were seen those of foreigners, such as Arabs, &c. who, for no desert, but only on account of their wealth or favour, were placed amongst the noblest.
[77] A poet may safely write an heroic poem, such as that of Virgil, who describes the duel of Turnus and Æneas; or of Homer, who writes of Achilles and Hector; or the death of Hylas, the catamite of Hercules, who, stooping for water, dropt his pitcher, and fell into the well after it: but it is dangerous to write satire, like Lucilius.
THE ARGUMENT.
The story of this satire speaks itself. Umbritius, the supposed friend of Juvenal, and himself a poet, is leaving Rome, and retiring to Cumæ. Our author accompanies him out of town. Before they take leave of each other, Umbritius tells his friend the reasons which oblige him to lead a private life, in an obscure place. He complains, that an honest man cannot get his bread at Rome; that none but flatterers make their fortunes there; that Grecians, and other foreigners, raise themselves by those sordid arts which he describes, and against which he bitterly inveighs. He reckons up the several inconveniences which arise from a city life, and the many dangers which attend it; upbraids the noblemen with covetousness, for not rewarding good poets; and arraigns the government for starving them. The great art of this satire is particularly shown in common-places; and drawing in as many vices, as could naturally fall into the compass of it.