the palms of my hands: And he said unto me, O Daniel, a man greatly
beloved, understand the words that I speak unto thee, and stand
upright: for unto thee am I now sent. And, when he had spoken this word
unto me, I stood trembling. Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for
from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and
to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come
for thy words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me
one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came
to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia. Now I am
come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter
days: for yet the vision is for many days. And when he had spoken such
words unto me, I set my face toward the ground, and I became dumb. And,
behold, one like the similitude of the sons of men touched my lips:
then I opened my mouth, and spake, and said unto him that stood before
me, O my lord, by the vision my sorrows are turned upon me, and I have
retained no strength. For how can the servant of this my lord talk with
this my lord? for, as for me, straightway there remained no strength
in me, neither is there breath left in me. Then there came again and
touched me one like the appearance of a man, and he strengthened
me. And said, O man greatly beloved, fear not; peace be unto thee,
be strong, yea, be strong. And, when he had spoken unto me, I was
strengthened, and said, Let my lord speak; for thou hast strengthened
me. Then said he, knowest thou wherefore I come unto thee? and now will
I return to fight with the prince of Persia: and when I am gone forth,
lo, the prince of Grecia shall come. But I will shew thee that which is
noted in the scripture of truth: and there is none that holdeth with me
in these things, but Michael your prince."--Dan. x. 5-21.
It may, however, be doubted, whether any poetical use could be made of
the guardian angels here mentioned; since our ideas of their powers are
too obscure and indefinite to afford any scope for description.
[19] In the beginning of the 12th chapter, as well as in the passage
quoted, Michael is distinguished as "the great prince which standeth up
for the children of Daniel's people."
[20] I shall imitate my predecessor, Mr Malone, in presenting the
reader with Spanheim's summary of the notes of distinction between the
Greek satirical drama, and the satirical poetry of the Romans.
"La premiére différence, qui est içi à remarquer et dont on ne peut
disconvenir, c'est que les Satyres ou poëmes satyriques des Grecs,
etoient des piéces dramatiques, ou de théatre; ce qu'on ne peut point
dire des Satires Romaines, prises dans tous ces trois genres, dont
je viens de parler, et auxquelles on a appliqué ce mot. Il y auroit
peut-être plus de sujet d'en douter, à l'égard de ces premiéres Satires
des anciens Romains, dont il a été fait mention, et dont il ne nous
est rien resté, si les passages de deux auteurs Latins et de T. Live
entre autres, qui en parlent, ne marquoient en termes exprès, qu'elles
avoient précedé parmi eux les piéces dramatiques, et etoient en effet
d'une autre espéce. D'ou vient aussi, que les Latins, quand ils font
mention de la poësie Grecque, et d'ailleurs se contentent de donner
aux premiéres ce nom de _poëme_, comme Ciceron le donne aux Satires de
Varron, et d'autres un nom pareil à celles de Lucilius ou d'Horace.
"La seconde différence entre les poëmes satyriques des Grecs, et les
Satires des Latins, vient de ce qu'il y a même quelque diversité dans
le nom, laquelle ne paroit pas autrement dans les langues vulgaires.
C'est qu'en effet les Grecs donnoient aux leurs le nom de Satyrus ou
Satiri, de Satyriques, de piéces Satyriques, par rapport, s'entend,
aux Satyres, ces hostes de bois, et ces compagnons de Baccus, qui y
jouoient leur rôle: et d'ou vient aussi, qu'Horace, comme nous avons
déja vû, les appelle _agrestes Satyros_, et ceux, qui en étoient les
auteurs, du nom de _Satyrorum Scriptor._ Au lieu que les Romains ont
dit _Satira_ ou _Satura_ de ces poëmes, auxquels ils en ont appliqué et
restraint le nom; que leurs auteurs et leurs grammairiens donnent une
autre origine, et une autre signification de ce mot, comme celle d'un
mélange de plusieurs fruits de la terre, ou bien de plusieurs mets dans
un plat; delà celle d'un mélange de plusieurs loix comprises dans une,
ou enfin la signification d'un poëme mêlé de plusieurs choses.
"La troisiéme différence entre ces mêmes Satires et les piéces
satyriques des Grecs est, qu'en effet l'introduction des Silénes et
des Satyres, qui composoient les choeurs de ces derniéres, etoient
tellement de leur essence, que sans eux elles ne pouvoient plus porter
le nom de _Satyres_. Tellement qu'Horace, parlant entre autres de
la nature de ces Satyres ou poëmes satyriques des Grecs, s'arrête
a montrer, en quelle maniére on y doit faire parler Siléne, ou les
Satyres; ce qu'on leur doit faire éviter ou observer. Ce qu'l n'auroit
pas fait avec tant de soin, s'il avoit cru, que la présence des Satyres
ne fut pas de la nature et de l'essence, comme je viens de dire, de ces
sortes de piéces, qui en portoient le nom.
"C'est à quoi on peut ajouter l'action de ces mêmes Satyres, et qui
etoient propres aux piéces, qui en portoient le nom. C'est qu'en effet
les danses etoient si fort de leur essence, que non seulement Aristote,
comme nous avons déja veu, joint ensemble la _poësie satyrique et
faite pour la danse_; mais qu'un autre auteur Grec [_Lucianus_ #peri
orchêseôs#] parle nommément des trois différentes sortes de danses
attachés au théatre, _la tragique, la comique, et la satyrique_.
D'où vient aussi, comme il le remarque ailleurs, que les Satires en
prirent le nom de _Sicynnistes_; c'est à dire d'une sorte de danse, qui
leur etoit particuliére, comme on peut voir entre autres de ce qu'en
dit Siléne dans le Cyclope, à la veuë des Satyres; et ainsi d'ou on
peut assés comprendre la force de l'épithéte de _saltantes Satyros_,
que Virgile leur donne en quelque endroit; ou de ce qu'Horace,
dans sa premiére Ode, parle des danses des Nymphes et des Satyres,
_Nympharumque leues cum Satyris chori_. Tout cela, comme chacun
voit, n'avoit aucun raport avec les Satires Romaines, et il n'est pas
nécessaire, d'en dire davantage, pour le faire entendre.
"La quatriéme différence resulte des sujets assés divers des uns et des
autres. Les Satyres des Grecs, comme il a déja été remarqué, et qu'on
peut juger par les titres, qui nous en restent, prenoient d'ordinaire,
non seulement des sujets connus, mais fabuleux; ce qui fait dire
là-dessus à Horace, _ex noto carmen fictum sequar_; des heros, par
exemple, ou des demi-dieux des siécles passés, à quoi le même poëte
venoit de faire allusion. Les Satires Romaines, comme leurs auteurs en
parlent eux-mêmes, et qu'ils le pratiquent, s'attachoient á reprendre
les vices ou les erreurs de leur siécle et de leur patrie; à y jouer
des particuliers de Rome, un Mutius entre autres, et un Lupus, avec
Lucilius; un Milonius et un Nomentanus, avec Horace; un Crispinus et un
Locustus, avec Juvenal; c'est à dire des gens, qui nous seroient peu
connus aujourdhui, sans la mention, qu'ils ont trouvé à propos d'en
faire dans leurs satires.
"La cinquiéme différence paroit encore dans la maniére, de laquelle
les uns et les autres traitent leurs sujets, et dans le but principal,
qu'ils s'y proposent. Celui de la poësie satyrique des Grecs, etoit de
tourner en ridicule des actions sérieuses, comme l'enseigne le même
Horace, _vertere seria ludo_; de travêstir pour ce sujet leurs dieux ou
leurs héros, d'en changer le caractére, selon le besoin; de faire par
exemple d'un Achille un homme mol, suivant qu'un autre poëte Latin y
fait allusion, _Nec nocet autori, qui mollem fecit Achillem_. C'étoit
en un mot leur but principal, de rire et de plaisanter; et d'ou vient
non seulement le mot de _Risus_, comme il a déja été remarqué, qu'on a
appliqué à ces sortes d'ouvrages, mais aussi ceux en Grec de _jeux_,
ou même de jouëts, et de _joci_ en Latin, comme fait encore Horace,
où il parle de l'auteur tragique, qui parmi les Grecs fut le premier,
qui composa de ces piéces satyriques, et suivant qu'il dit, _incolumi
gravitate jocum tentavit_. Nons pouvons même comprendre de ce qu'il
ajoute dans la suite et des epithétes, que d'autres leur donnent de ris
obscénes, que cette gravité, avec laquelle on avoit d'abord temperé
ces sortes d'ouvrages, en fut bannie dans la suite; que les régles de
la pudeur n'y furent guéres observées; et qu'on en fit des spectacles
assés conformes à l'humeur et à la conduite de tels acteurs que des
satires petulans ou _protervi_, comme Horace les appelle sur ce même
sujet. Et c'est à quoi contribuerent d'ailleurs leurs danses et leurs
postures, dont il à été parlé, de même que celles des pantomimes
parmi les Romains. Au lieu que les Satires Romaines, temoin celles
qui nous restent, et á qui d'ailleurs ce nom est demeuré comme propre
et attaché, avoient moins pour but de plaisanter que d'exciter ou de
l'indignation, ou de la haine, _facit indignatio versum_, ou du
mépris; qu'elles s'attachent plus à reprendre et à mordre, qu'à faire
rire ou à folâtrer. D'ou vient aussi le nom de _poëme medisant_, que
les grammairiens leur donnent, ou celui de _vers mordans_, comme en
parle Ovide dans un passage, où je trouve qu'il se défend de n'avoir
point écrit de Satyres.
_Non ego mordaci distrinxi carmine quemquam,
Nec meus ullius crimina versus habet._
"Je ne touche pas enfin la différence, qu'on pourroit encore alléguer
de la composition diverse des unes et des autres; les Satires Romaines,
dont il est ici proprement question et qui ont été conservées
jusques à nous, ayant été écrites en vers héroiques, et les poëmes
satyriques des Grecs en vers jambiques. Ce qui devroit néanmoins être
d'autant plus remarqué, qu'Horace ne trouve point d'autre différence
entre l'inventeur des Satires Romaines et les auteurs de l'ancienne
comédie, comme Cratinus et Eupolis, si non que les Satires du premier
étoient écrites dans un autre genre de vers."--See Baron SPANHEIM'S
Dissertation, _Sur les_ Cesars _de_ Julien, _et en général sur les
ouvrages satyriques des Anciens_, prefixed to his translation of
Julian's work, Amsterdam, 1728, 4to. and Malone's "Dryden," Vol. IV. p.
130.
[21] Horace, in the beginning of the Fourth Satire of his First Book,
introduces Lucilius as imitating the ancient Greek comedians:
_Hinc omnis pendet Lucilius, hosce secutus,
Mutatis tantum pedibus numerisque; facetus,
Emunctæ naris, durus componere versus.
Nam fuit hoc vitiosus: in hora sæpe ducentos,
Ut magnum, versus dictabat stans pede in uno.
Cum flueret lutulentus, erat quod tollere velles;
Garrulus, atque piger scribendi ferre laborem;
Scribendi recte; nam ut multum, non moror._--
Towards the end of the Tenth Satire, the poet resumes the subject, and
vindicates his character of Lucilius against those who had accused him
of too much severity towards the ancient satirist; and again accuses
him of carelessness, though he acknowledges his superiority to the more
ancient models:
----_fuerit Lucilius, inquam,
Comis et urbanus; fuerit limatior idem,
Quam rudis, et Græcis intacti carminis auctor,
Quamque poetarum seniorum turba: Sed ille,
Si foret hoc nostrum fato dilatus in ævum,
Detereret sibi multa: recideret omne, quod ultra
Perfectum traheretur: et in versu faciendo
Sæpe caput scaberet, vivos et roderet ungues._
[22] The original runs thus: "_Et tamen in illis veteribus nostris
quæ Menippum imitati, non interpretati, quadam hilaritate
conspersimus, multa admis admista ex intima philosophia, multa dicta
dialectice, quæ quo facilius minus docti intelligerent jucunditate
quadam ad legendum invitati; in laudationibus, in iis ipsis
antiquitatum proæmiis, philosophice scribere voluimus si modo
consecuti sumus_."--Academic lib. iii. sect. 2. The sense of the last
clause seems to be, that Varro had attempted, even in panegyrics, and
studied imitations of the ancient satirists, to write philosophically,
although he modestly affects to doubt of his having been able to
accomplish his purpose.
[23] This pretended continuation of Petronius Arbiter was published at
Paris in 1693, and proved to be a forgery by one Nodot, a Frenchman.
[24] Perhaps the Satires of Raübner.
[25] From this classification we may infer, that Dryden's idea of
a Varronian satire was, that, instead of being merely didactic, it
comprehended a fable or series of imaginary and ludicrous incidents,
in which the author engaged the objects of his satire. Such being his
definition, it is surprising he should have forgotten Hudibras, the
best satire of this kind that perhaps ever was written; but this he
afterwards apologizes for, as a slip of an old man's memory.
[26] _Horatii Persiique Satyras Isaacus Casaubonus et Daniel Heinsius
certatim laudibus extulere, ac Persium ille suum tantopere
adornavit, ut nihil Horatio, nihil Juvenali præter indignationem
reliquisse videatur; hic verò Horatium curiosè considerando tam
admirabilem esse docuit, ut plerisque jam in Persio nimia Stoici
supercilii morositas jure displiceat. Juvenalis ingenium ambo
quidem certè laudaverunt, sic tamen ut in eo sæpe etiam Rhetoricæ
arrogantiæ quasi lasciviam, ac denique declamationem potiùs quàm
Satyram esse pronunciaverunt._
[27] North has left the following account of this great lawyer's
prejudices. "He was an upright judge, if taken within himself; and when
he appeared, as he often did, and really was, partial, his inclination
or prejudice, insensibly to himself, drew his judgment aside. His bias
lay strangely for, and against, characters and denominations; and
sometimes, the very habits of persons. If one party was a courtier,
and well dressed, and the other a sort of puritan, with a black cap
and plain clothes, he insensibly thought the justice of the cause with
the latter. If the dissenting, or anti-court party was at the back of
a cause, he was very seldom impartial; and the loyalists had always a
great disadvantage before him. And he ever sat hard upon his lordship,
in his practice, in causes of that nature, as may be observed in the
cases of Cuts and Pickering, just before, and of Soams and Bernardiston
elsewhere, related. It is said he was once caught. A courtier, who had
a cause to be tried before him, got one to go to him, as from the king,
to speak for favour to his adversary, and so carried his point; for the
Chief Justice could not think any person to be in the right, that came
so unduly recommended." _Life of Lord Keeper Guilford_, p. 61.
[28] Casaubon published an edition of "Persius," with notes, and a
commentary. Francesco Stelluti's version was published at Rome in 1630.
[29] This is a strange mistake in an author, who translated Persius
entirely, and great part of Juvenal. The satires of Persius were
written during the reign of Nero, and those of Juvenal in that of
Domitian. This error is the more extraordinary, as Dryden mentions, a
little lower, the very emperors under whom these poets flourished.
[30] David Wedderburn of Aberdeen, whose edition of "Persius," with a
commentary, was published in 8vo. at Amsterdam, 1664.
[31] Persius died in his 30th year, in the 8th year of Nero's reign.
Lucan died before he was twenty-seven.
[32] Casaubon's edition is accompanied, "_Cum Persiana Horatii
imitatione_."
[33] A Stoic philosopher to whom Persius addresses his 5th Satire.
[34] The famous Gilbert Burnet, the Buzzard of our author's "Hind and
Panther," but for whom he seems now disposed to entertain some respect.
[35] Dryden alludes to the beautiful description which Horace has given
of his father's paternal and watchful affection in the 6th Satire of
the 1st Book. Wycherley, the friend for whom he wishes a father of
equal tenderness, after having been gayest of the gay, applauded by
theatres, and the object of a monarch's jealousy, was finally thrown
into jail for debt, and lay there seven long years, his father refusing
him any assistance. And, although in 1697, he was probably at liberty,
for King James had interposed in his favour and paid a great part of
his debts, he continued to labour under pecuniary embarrassments untill
his father's death and even after he had succeeded to his entailed
property.
[36] The abuse of personal satires, or lampoons, as they were called,
was carried to a prodigious extent in the days of Dryden, when
every man of fashion was obliged to write verses; and those who had
neither poetry nor wit, had recourse to ribaldry and libelling. Some
observations on these lampoons may be found prefixed to the Epistle to
Julian, among the pieces ascribed to Dryden.
[37] Wycherley, author of the witty comedy so called.
[38] The precise dates of Juvenal's birth and death are disputed; but
it is certain he flourished under Domitian, famous for his cruelty
against men and insects. Juvenal was banished by the tyrant, in
consequence of reflecting upon the actor Paris. He is generally said
to have died of grief; but Lepsius contends, that he survived even the
accession of Hadrian.
[39] The learned Barten Holyday was born at Oxford, in the end of the
16th century. Wood says, he was second to none for his poetry and
sublime fancy, and brings in witness his "smooth translation of rough
Persius," made before he was twenty years of age. He wrote a play
called "Technogamia, or the Marriage of the Arts," which was acted at
Christ Church College, before James I., and, though extremely dull
and pedantic, was ill received by his Majesty. Holyday's version of
Juvenal was not published till after his death, when, in 1673, it was
inscribed to the dean and canons of Christ Church. As he had adopted
the desperate resolution of comprising every Latin line within an
English one, the modern reader has often reason to complain, with the
embarrassed gentleman in the "Critic," that the interpreter is the
harder to be understood of the two.
[40] Sir Robert Stapylton, a gentleman of an ancient family in
Yorkshire, who followed the fortune of Charles I. in the civil war,
besides several plays and poems, published a version of Juvenal, under
the title of "The manners of Men described in sixteen Satires by
Juvenal." There are two editions, the first published in 1647, and the
last and most perfect in 1660. Sir Robert Stapylton died in 1669. His
verse is as harsh and uncouth as that of Holyday, who indeed charged
him with plagiary; though one would have thought the nature of the
commodity would have set theft at defiance.
[41] I presume, this celebrated finisher of the law, who bequeathed
his name to his successors in office, was a contemporary of our poet.
In the time of the rebellion, that operator was called Gregory, and
is supposed, with some probability, to have beheaded Charles I. See
the evidence for the prisoner in Hulet's trial after the Restoration.
_State Trials_, Vol. II. p. 388.
[42] This is a strange averment, considering the "Reflections upon
Absalom and Achitophel, by a Person of Honour," in composing and
publishing which, the Duke of Buckingham, our author's Zimri, shewed
much resentment and very little wit. See Vol. IX. p. 272.
[43]
_Persius exclamat, Per magnos, Brute, deos te
Oro, qui regis consueris tollere, cur non
Hunc Regem jugulas? Operum hoc mihi crede tuorum est._
HOR. Satire 8. Lib. I.
[44] This gentleman, who was as great a gambler as a punster, regaled
with his quibbles the minor class of the frequenters of Will's
coffee-house, who, having neither wit enough to entitle them to mix
with the critics who associated with Dryden, and were called _The Witty
Club_, or gravity enough to discuss politics with those who formed the
Grave Club, were content to laugh heartily at the puns and conundrums
of Captain Swan.
[45] Mr Lewis Maidwell, the author of a comedy called "The Generous
Enemies," represented by the Duke's company 1680. In the prologue, as
Mr Malone informs us, there is an allusion to Rochester's mean assault
on Dryden:
Who dares be witty now, and with just rage
Disturb the vice and follies of the age?
With knaves and fools, satire's a dangerous fault;
They will not let you rub their sores with salt:
Else _Rose street ambuscades_ shall break your head,
And life in verse shall lay the poet dead.
It is only farther known of this gentleman, that he was a friend of
Shadwell, who gave him the epilogue for his comedy, and that he taught
a private school.
[46] The Roman exclamation of high contentment at a recitation, like
our _bravo! bravissimo!_
[47] Dryden, in his Epistle to Sir George Etherege, has shewn, however,
how completely he was master even of a measure he despised.
[48] Scarron's _Virgile Travesti_.
[49] Sir George Mackenzie of Rosehaugh was lord advocate for Scotland,
during the reigns of Charles II. and his successor. His works are
voluminous, and upon various subjects, but chiefly historical and
juridical. He left, however, one poem called "Cælia's Country-house,"
and some essays on moral subjects. The memory of Sir George Mackenzie
is not in high estimation as a lawyer, and his having been the agent of
the crown, during the cruel persecution of the fanatical Cameronians,
renders him still execrated among the common people of Scotland. But he
was an accomplished scholar, of lively talents, and ready elocution,
and very well deserved the appellation of a "noble wit of Scotland."
[50] In illustration of Holyday's miserable success in his desperate
attempt, we need only take the lines with which he opens:
Shall I be still an auditor, and ne'er
Repay that have so often had mine eare
Vexed with hoarse Codrus Theseads? shall one sweat
While his gownd comique sceane he does repeat,
Another while his elegies soft strain
The reader? and shall not I vex them again?
Shall mighty Telephus be unrequited,
That spends a day in being all recited?
Or volume-swoln Orestes, that does fill
The margin of an ample booke; yet still,
As if the book were mad too, is extended
Upon the very back, nor yet is ended.
THE
FIRST SATIRE
OF
JUVENAL.
THE ARGUMENT.
_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._