Delphi Complete Works of Juvena

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Delphi Complete Works of Juvena Page 27

by Decimus Iunius Iuvenalis Juvenal


  quadringenta dedit Gracchus sestertia dotem

  cornicini, siue hic recto cantauerat aere;

  signatae tabulae, dictum ‘feliciter,’ ingens

  cena sedet, gremio iacuit noua nupta mariti. 120

  o proceres, censore opus est an haruspice nobis?

  scilicet horreres maioraque monstra putares,

  si mulier uitulum uel si bos ederet agnum?

  segmenta et longos habitus et flammea sumit

  arcano qui sacra ferens nutantia loro 125

  [117] Gracchus has presented to a cornet player — or perhaps it was a player on the straight horn — a dowry of four hundred thousand sesterces. The contract has been signed; the benedictions have been pronounced; the banqueters are seated, the new made bride is reclining on the bosom of her husband. O ye nobles of Rome! is it a soothsayer that we need, or a Censor? Would you be more aghast, would you deem it a greater portent, if a woman gave birth to a calf, or an ox to a lamb? The man who is now arraying himself in the flounces and train and veil of a bride once carried the quivering shields of Mars by the sacred thongs and sweated under the sacred burden!

  sudauit clipeis ancilibus. o pater urbis,

  unde nefas tantum Latiis pastoribus? unde

  haec tetigit, Gradiue, tuos urtica nepotes?

  traditur ecce uiro clarus genere atque opibus uir,

  nec galeam quassas nec terram cuspide pulsas 130

  nec quereris patri. uade ergo et cede seueri

  [126] O Father of our city, whence came such wickedness among thy Latin shepherds? How did such a lust possess thy grandchildren, O Gradivus? Behold! Here you have a man of high birth and wealth being handed over in marriage to a man, and yet neither shakest thy helmet, nor smitest the earth with thy spear, nor yet protestest to thy Father? Away with thee then; begone from that broad Martial Plain which thou hast forgotten!

  iugeribus campi, quem neglegis. ‘officium cras

  primo sole mihi peragendum in ualle Quirini.’

  quae causa officii? ‘quid quaeris? nubit amicus

  nec multos adhibet.’ liceat modo uiuere, fient, 135

  fient ista palam, cupient et in acta referri.

  interea tormentum ingens nubentibus haeret

  quod nequeant parere et partu retinere maritos.

  sed melius, quod nil animis in corpora iuris

  natura indulget: steriles moriuntur, et illis 140

  turgida non prodest condita pyxide Lyde,

  nec prodest agili palmas praebere luperco.

  [132] “I have a ceremony to attend,” quoth one, “at dawn to-morrow, in the Quirinal valley.” “What is the occasion?” “No need to ask: a friend is taking to himself a husband; quite a small affair.” Yes, and if we only live long enough, we shall see these things done openly: people will wish to see them reported among the news of the day. Meanwhile these would-be brides have one great trouble: they can bear no children wherewith to keep the affection of their husbands; well has nature done in granting to their desires no power over their bodies. They die infertile; naught avails them the medicine-chest of the bloated Lyde, or to hold out their hands to the blows of the swift-footed Luperci!

  uicit et hoc monstrum tunicati fuscina Gracchi,

  lustrauitque fuga mediam gladiator harenam

  et Capitolinis generosior et Marcellis 145

  et Catuli Paulique minoribus et Fabiis et

  omnibus ad podium spectantibus, his licet ipsum

  admoueas cuius tunc munere retia misit.

  [143] Greater still the portent when Gracchus, clad in a tunic, played the gladiator, and fled, trident in hand, across the arena — Gracchus, a man of nobler birth than the Capitolini, or the Marcelli, or the descendents of Catulus or Paulus, or the Fabii: nobler than all the spectators in the podium; not excepting him who gave the show at which that net was flung.

  esse aliquos manes et subterranea regna,

  Cocytum et Stygio ranas in gurgite nigras, 150

  atque una transire uadum tot milia cumba

  nec pueri credunt, nisi qui nondum aere lauantur.

  sed tu uera puta: Curius quid sentit et ambo

  Scipiadae, quid Fabricius manesque Camilli,

  quid Cremerae legio et Cannis consumpta iuuentus, 155

  tot bellorum animae, quotiens hinc talis ad illos

  umbra uenit? cuperent lustrari, si qua darentur

  sulpura cum taedis et si foret umida laurus.

  illic heu miseri traducimur. arma quidem ultra

  litora Iuuernae promouimus et modo captas 160

  Orcadas ac minima contentos nocte Britannos,

  sed quae nunc populi fiunt uictoris in urbe

  non faciunt illi quos uicimus. et tamen unus

  Armenius Zalaces cunctis narratur ephebis

  mollior ardenti sese indulsisse tribuno. 165

  aspice quid faciant commercia: uenerat obses,

  hic fiunt homines. nam si mora longior urbem

  indulsit pueris, non umquam derit amator.

  mittentur bracae, cultelli, frena, flagellum:

  sic praetextatos referunt Artaxata mores. 170

  [149] That there are such things as Manes, and kingdoms below ground, and punt-poles, and Stygian pools black with frogs, and all those thousands crossing over in a single bark — these things not even boys believe, except such as have not yet had their penny bath. But just imagine them to be true — what would Curius and the two Scipios think? or Fabricius and the spirit of Camillus? What would the legion that fought at the Cremera think, or the young manhood that fell at Cannae; what would all those gallant hearts feel when a shade of this sort came down to them from here? They would wish to be purified; if only sulphur and torches and damp laurel-branches were to be had. Such is the degradation to which we have come! Our arms indeed we have pushed beyond Juverna’s shores, to the new-conquered Orcades and the short-nighted Britons; but the things which we do in our victorious city will never be done by the men whom we have conquered. And yet they say that one Zalaces, an Armenian more effeminate than any of our youth, has yielded to the ardour of a Tribune! Just see what evil communications do! He came as a hostage: but here boys are turned into men. Give them a long sojourn in our city, and lovers will never fail them. They will throw away their trousers and their knives, their bridles and their whips, and carry back to Artaxata the manners of our Roman youth.

  Satire 3. Quid Romae Faciam?

  Quamvis digressu veteris confusus amici

  laudo tamen, vacuis quod sedem figere Cumis

  destinet atque unum civem donare Sibyllae.

  ianua Baiarum est et gratum litus amoeni

  secessus. ego vel Prochytam praepono Suburae; 5

  nam quid tam miserum, tam solum vidimus, ut non

  deterius credas horrere incendia, lapsus

  tectorum adsiduos ac mille pericula saevae

  urbis et Augusto recitantes mense poetas?

  [1] Though put out by the departure of my old friend, I commend his purpose to fix his home at Cumae, and to present one citizen to the Sibyl. That is the gate of Baiae, a sweet retreat upon a pleasant shore; I myself would prefer even Prochyta to the Saburra! For where has one ever seen a place so dismal and so lonely that one would not deem it worse to live in perpetual dread of fires and falling houses, and the thousand perils of this terrible city, and poets spouting in the month of August!

  Sed dum tota domus raeda componitur una, 10

  substitit ad veteres arcus madidamque Capenam.

  hic, ubi nocturnae Numa constituebat amicae

  (nunc sacri fontis nemus et delubra locantur

  Iudaeis, quorum cophinus fenumque supellex;

  omnis enim populo mercedem pendere iussa est 15

  arbor et eiectis mendicat silva Camenis),

  in vallem Egeriae descendimus et speluncas

  dissimiles veris. quanto praesentius esset

  numen aquis, viridi si margine cluderet undas

  herba nec ingenuum violarent marmora tofum. 20
/>   [10] But while all his goods and chattels were being packed upon a single wagon, my friend halted at the dripping archway of the old Porta Capena. Here Numa held his nightly assignations with his mistress; but now the holy fount and grove and shrine are let out to Jews, who possess a basket and a truss of hay for all their furnishings. For as every tree nowadays has to pay toll to the people, the Muses have been ejected, and the wood has to go a-begging. We go down to the Valley of Egeria, and into the caves so unlike to nature: how much more near to us would be the spirit of the fountain if its waters were fringed by a green border of grass, and there were no marble to outrage the native tufa!

  Hic tunc Umbricius ‘quando artibus’ inquit ‘honestis

  nullus in urbe locus, nulla emolumenta laborum,

  res hodie minor est here quam fuit atque eadem cras

  deteret exiguis aliquid, proponimus illuc

  ire, fatigatas ubi Daedalus exuit alas, 25

  dum nova canities, dum prima et recta senectus,

  dum superest Lachesi quod torqueat et pedibus me

  porto meis nullo dextram subeunte bacillo.

  cedamus patria. vivant Artorius istic

  et Catulus, maneant qui nigrum in candida vertunt, 30

  quis facile est aedem conducere, flumina, portus,

  siccandam eluviem, portandum ad busta cadaver,

  et praebere caput domina venale sub hasta.

  quondam hi cornicines et municipalis harenae

  perpetui comites notaeque per oppida buccae 35

  munera nunc edunt et, verso pollice vulgus

  cum iubet, occidunt populariter; inde reversi

  conducunt foricas, et cur non omnia? cum sint

  quales ex humili magna ad fastigia rerum

  extollit quotiens voluit Fortuna iocari. 40

  [21] Here spoke Umbritius:—” Since there is no room,” quoth he, “for honest callings in this city, no reward for labour; since my means are less to-day than they were yesterday, and to-morrow will rub off something from the little that is left, I purpose to go to the place where Daedalus put off his weary wings while my white hairs are recent, while my old age is erect and fresh, while Lachesis has something left to spin, and I can support myself on my own feet without slipping a staff beneath my hand. Farewell my country! Let Artorius live there, and Catulus; let those remain who turn black into white, to whom it comes easy to take contracts for temples, rivers or harbours, for cleansing drains, or carrying corpses to the pyre, or to put up slaves for sale under the authority of the spear. These men once were horn-blowers, who went the round of every provincial show, and whose puffed-out cheeks were known in every village; to-day they hold shows of their own, and win applause by slaying with a turn of the thumb whomsoever the mob bids them slay; from that they go back to contract for cesspools, and why not for any kind of thing, seeing that they are of the kind that Fortune raises from the gutter to the mighty places of earth whenever she wishes to enjoy a laugh?

  Quid Romae faciam? mentiri nescio; librum,

  si malus est, nequeo laudare et poscere; motus

  astrorum ignoro; funus promittere patris

  nec volo nec possum; ranarum viscera numquam

  inspexi; ferre ad nuptam quae mittit adulter, 45

  quae mandat, norunt alii; me nemo ministro

  fur erit, atque ideo nulli comes exeo tamquam

  mancus et extinctae corpus non utile dextrae.

  quis nunc diligitur nisi conscius et cui fervens

  aestuat occultis animus semperque tacendis? 50

  nil tibi se debere putat, nil conferet umquam,

  participem qui te secreti fecit honesti.

  carus erit Verri qui Verrem tempore quo vult

  accusare potest. tanti tibi non sit opaci

  omnis harena Tagi quodque in mare volvitur aurum, 55

  ut somno careas ponendaque praemia sumas

  tristis et a magno semper timearis amico.

  [41] What can I do at Rome? I cannot lie; if a book is bad, I cannot praise it, and beg for a copy; I am ignorant of the movements of the stars; I cannot, and will not, promise to a man his father’s death; I have never examined the entrails of a frog; I must leave it to others to carry to a bride the presents and messages of a paramour. No man will get my help in robbery, and therefore no governor will take me on his staff: I am treated as a maimed and useless trunk that has lost the power of its hands. What man wins favour nowadays unless he be an accomplice — one whose soul seethes and burns with secrets that must never be disclosed? No one who has imparted to you an innocent secret thinks he owes you anything, or will ever bestow on you a favour; the man whom Verres loves is the man who can impeach Verres at any moment that he chooses. Ah! Let not all the sands of the shaded Tagus, and the gold which it rolls into the sea, be so precious in your eyes that you should lose your sleep, and accept gifts, to your sorrow, which you must one day lay down, and be for ever a terror to your mighty friend!

  Quae nunc divitibus gens acceptissima nostris

  et quos praecipue fugiam, properabo fateri,

  nec pudor obstabit. non possum ferre, Quirites, 60

  Graecam urbem. quamvis quota portio faecis Achaei?

  iam pridem Syrus in Tiberim defluxit Orontes

  et linguam et mores et cum tibicine chordas

  obliquas nec non gentilia tympana secum

  vexit et ad circum iussas prostare puellas. 65

  ite, quibus grata est picta lupa barbara mitra.

  rusticus ille tuus sumit trechedipna, Quirine,

  et ceromatico fert niceteria collo.

  hic alta Sicyone, ast hic Amydone relicta,

  hic Andro, ille Samo, hic Trallibus aut Alabandis, 70

  Esquilias dictumque petunt a vimine collem,

  viscera magnarum domuum dominique futuri.

  ingenium velox, audacia perdita, sermo

  promptus et Isaeo torrentior: ede quid illum

  esse putes. quemvis hominem secum attulit ad nos: 75

  grammaticus, rhetor, geometres, pictor, aliptes,

  augur, schoenobates, medicus, magus, omnia novit

  Graeculus esuriens: in caelum iusseris ibit.

  in summa non Maurus erat neque Sarmata nec Thrax

  qui sumpsit pinnas, mediis sed natus Athenis. 80

  [58] “And now let me speak at once of the race which is most dear to our rich men, and which I avoid above all others; no shyness shall stand in my way. I cannot abide, Quirites, a Rome of Greeks; and yet what fraction of our dregs comes from Greece? The Syrian Orontes has long since poured into the Tiber, bringing with it its lingo and its manners, its flutes and its slanting harp-strings: bringing too the timbrels of the breed, and the trulls who are bidden ply their trade at the Circus. Out upon you, all ye that delight in foreign strumpets with painted headdresses! Your country clown, Quirinus, now trips to dinner in Greek-fangled slippers, and wears niceterian ornaments upon a ceromatic neck! One comes from lofty Sicyon, another from Amydon or Andros, others from Samos, Tralles or Alabanda; all making for the Esquiline, or for the hill that takes its name from osier-beds; all ready to worm their way into the houses of the great and become their masters. Quick of wit and of unbounded impudence, they are as ready of speech as Isaeus, and more torrential. Say, what do you think that fellow there to be? He has brought with him any character you please; grammarian, orator, geometrician; painter, trainer, or rope-dancer; augur, doctor or astrologer: —

  ‘All sciences a fasting monsieur knows,

  And bid him go to Hell, to Hell he goes!’

  In fine, the man who took to himself wings was not a Moor, nor a Sarmatian, nor a Thracian, but one born in the very heart of Athens!

  horum ego non fugiam conchylia? me prior ille

  signabit fultusque toro meliore recumbet,

  advectus Romam quo pruna et cottana vento?

  usque adeo nihil est quod nostra infantia caelum

  hausit Aventini baca nutrita Sabina? 85

  [81] “Must I not make my escape
from purple-clad gentry like these? Is a man to sign his name before me, and recline upon a couch above mine, who has been wafted to Rome by the wind which brings us our damsons and our figs? Is it to go so utterly for nothing that as a babe I drank in the air of the Aventine, and was nurtured on the Sabine berry?

  Quid quod adulandi gens prudentissima laudat

  sermonem indocti, faciem deformis amici,

  et longum invalidi collum cervicibus aequat

  Herculis Antaeum procul a tellure tenentis,

  miratur vocem angustam, qua deterius nec 90

  ille sonat quo mordetur gallina marito?

  haec eadem licet et nobis laudare, sed illis

  creditur. an melior cum Thaida sustinet aut cum

  uxorem comoedus agit vel Dorida nullo

  cultam palliolo? mulier nempe ipsa videtur, 95

  non persona, loqui: vacua et plana omnia dicas

  infra ventriculum et tenui distantia rima.

  nec tamen Antiochus nec erit mirabilis illic

 

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