Delphi Complete Works of Juvena

by Decimus Iunius Iuvenalis Juvenal

  sic animum dirae trepidum formidine culpae

  confirmat, tunc te sacra ad delubra uocantem

  praecedit, trahere immo ultro ac uexare paratus.

  nam cum magna malae superest audacia causae,

  creditur a multis fiducia. mimum agit ille, 110

  urbani qualem fugitiuus scurra Catulli:

  tu miser exclamas, ut Stentora uincere possis,

  uel potius quantum Gradiuus Homericus, ‘audis,

  Iuppiter, haec nec labra moues, cum mittere uocem

  debueris uel marmoreus uel aeneus? aut cur 115

  in carbone tuo charta pia tura soluta

  ponimus et sectum uituli iecur albaque porci

  omenta? ut uideo, nullum discrimen habendum est

  effigies inter uestras statuamque Vagelli.’

  [106] That is how they reassure their minds when in terror for some deadly guilt. If you summon them then to the holy shrine, they will be there before you; nay, they will themselves drag you thither, and dare you to the proof; for when a bad cause is well backed by a bold face, the man gets credit for self-confidence. Such a one plays a part, like the runaway buffoon of the witty Catullus, but you, poor wretch, may shout so as to out-do Stentor, or rather as loudly as the Mars of Homer, “Do you hear all this, O Jupiter, with lip unmoved, when you ought to have been making yourself heard, whether you be made of marble or of bronze? Else why do I open my packet of holy incense, and place it on your blazing altar? Why offer slices of a calf’s liver or the fat of a white pig? So far as I can see, there is nothing to choose between your images and the statue of Vagellius!”

  accipe quae contra ualeat solacia ferre 120

  et qui nec Cynicos nec Stoica dogmata legit

  a Cynicis tunica distantia, non Epicurum

  suspicit exigui laetum plantaribus horti.

  curentur dubii medicis maioribus aegri:

  tu uenam uel discipulo committe Philippi. 125

  si nullum in terris tam detestabile factum

  ostendis, taceo, nec pugnis caedere pectus

  te ueto nec plana faciem contundere palma,

  quandoquidem accepto claudenda est ianua damno,

  et maiore domus gemitu, maiore tumultu 130

  planguntur nummi quam funera; nemo dolorem

  fingit in hoc casu, uestem diducere summam

  contentus, uexare oculos umore coacto:

  ploratur lacrimis amissa pecunia ueris.

  [120] And now hear what consolations can be offered on the other side by one who has not embraced the doctrines either of the Cynics, or of the Stoics — who only differ from the Cynics by a shirt — nor yet reverenced Epicurus, so proud of the herbs in his tiny garden. Let doubtful maladies be tended by doctors of repute; your veins may be entrusted to a disciple of Philippus. If in all the world you cannot show me so abominable a crime, I hold my peace; I will not forbid you to smite your breast with your fists, or to pummel your face with open palm, seeing that after so great a loss you must close your doors, and that a household bewails the loss of money with louder lamentations than a death. In such a misfortune no grief is simulated; no one is content to rend the top of his garment, or to squeeze forced moisture from his eyes; unfeigned are the tears which lament the loss of wealth.

  sed si cuncta uides simili fora plena querella, 135

  si deciens lectis diuersa parte tabellis

  uana superuacui dicunt chirographa ligni,

  arguit ipsorum quos littera gemmaque princeps

  sardonychum, loculis quae custoditur eburnis,

  ten, o delicias, extra communia censes 140

  ponendum, quia tu gallinae filius albae,

  nos uiles pulli nati infelicibus ouis?

  rem pateris modicam et mediocri bile ferendam,

  si flectas oculos maiora ad crimina. confer

  conductum latronem, incendia sulpure coepta 145

  atque dolo, primos cum ianua colligit ignes;

  confer et hos, ueteris qui tollunt grandia templi

  pocula adorandae robiginis et populorum

  dona uel antiquo positas a rege coronas;

  haec ibi si non sunt, minor exstat sacrilegus qui 150

  radat inaurati femur Herculis et faciem ipsam

  Neptuni, qui bratteolam de Castore ducat;

  [an dubitet solitus totum conflare Tonantem?]

  confer et artifices mercatoremque ueneni

  et deducendum corio bouis in mare, cum quo 155

  clauditur aduersis innoxia simia fatis.

  haec quota pars scelerum, quae custos Gallicus urbis

  usque a lucifero donec lux occidat audit?

  humani generis mores tibi nosse uolenti

  sufficit una domus; paucos consume dies et 160

  dicere te miserum, postquam illinc ueneris, aude.

  quis tumidum guttur miratur in Alpibus aut quis

  in Meroe crasso maiorem infante mamillam?

  caerula quis stupuit Germani lumina, flauam

  caesariem et madido torquentem cornua cirro? 165

  [nempe quod haec illis natura est omnibus una.]

  ad subitas Thracum uolucres nubemque sonoram

  Pygmaeus paruis currit bellator in armis,

  mox inpar hosti raptusque per aera curuis

  unguibus a saeua fertur grue. si uideas hoc 170

  gentibus in nostris, risu quatiare; sed illic,

  quamquam eadem adsidue spectentur proelia, ridet

  nemo, ubi tota cohors pede non est altior uno.

  [135] But if you see every court beset with complaints like to yours; if after a bond has been read over ten times by the opposing party, they declare the document to be waste paper, though convicted by their own handwriting, and. by the signet ring, most choice of sardonyx stones, kept in an ivory case — do you, my fine fellow, suppose that you are to be placed outside the common lot, because you were born of a white hen, while we are common chickens, hatched out of unlucky eggs? Your loss is a modest one, to be endured with a moderate amount of choler, if you cast an eye on grosser wrongs. Compare with your case the hired robber, or the fire purposely started by sulphur, the flame bursting out at your front door; think too of those who carry off from ancient temples splendid cups of venerable antiquity, that were the gift of nations, or crowns dedicated by some ancient monarch! If such things are not to be had, a petty desecrator will be found to scrape off the gilding from the thigh of Hercules, or from the very face of Neptune, or to strip Castor of his beaten gold. And why should he hesitate, when he has been used to melt down an entire Thunderer? Compare too the manufacturers and sellers of poison, and the man who should be cast into the sea inside an ox’s hide, with whom a luckless destiny encloses a harmless ape. What a mere fraction these of the crimes which Gallicus, the guardian of our city, has to listen to from dawn to eve! If you would know what mankind is like, that one court-house will suffice; spend a few days in it, and when you come out, dare to call yourself unfortunate. Who marvels at a swollen throat in the Alps? or in Meroe at a woman’s breast bigger than her sturdy babe? Who is amazed to see a German with blue eyes and yellow hair, twisting his greasy curls into a horn? We marvel not, clearly because this one nature is common to them all. The Pygmy warrior marches forth in his tiny arms to encounter the sudden swoop and clamorous cloud of Thracian birds; but soon, no match for his foe, he is snatched up by the savage crane and borne in his crooked talons through the air. If you saw this in our own country, you would shake with laughter; but in that land, where the whole host is only one foot high, though like battles are witnessed every day, no one laughs!

  ‘nullane peiuri capitis fraudisque nefandae

  poena erit?’ abreptum crede hunc grauiore catena 175

  protinus et nostro (quid plus uelit ira?) necari

  arbitrio: manet illa tamen iactura nec umquam

  depositum tibi sospes erit, sed corpore trunco

  inuidiosa dabit minimus solacia sanguis.

  ‘at uindicta bonum uita iucundius ipsa.’ 180

 
nempe hoc indocti, quorum praecordia nullis

  interdum aut leuibus uideas flagrantia causis.

  [quantulacumque adeo est occasio sufficit irae.]

  Chrysippus non dicet idem nec mite Thaletis

  ingenium dulcique senex uicinus Hymetto, 185

  qui partem acceptae saeua inter uincla cicutae

  accusatori nollet dare. [plurima felix

  paulatim uitia atque errores exuit, omnes

  prima docens rectum, sapientia.] quippe minuti

  semper et infirmi est animi exiguique uoluptas 190

  ultio. continuo sic collige, quod uindicta

  nemo magis gaudet quam femina.

  [174] “What? Is there to be no punishment for that perjured soul and his impious fraud?” Well, suppose him to have been hurried off in heavy chains, and slain (what more could anger ask?) at our good pleasure; yet your loss still remains, your deposit will not be saved; and the smallest drop of blood from that headless body will bring you hatred along with your consolation. “O! but vengeance is good, sweeter than life itself.” Yes; so say the ignorant, whose passionate hearts you may see ablaze at the slightest cause, sometimes for no cause at all; any occasion, indeed, however small it be, suffices for their wrath. But so will not Chrysippus say, or the gentle Thales, or the old man who dwelt near sweet Hymettus, who would have given to his accuser no drop of the hemlock-draught which was administered to him in that cruel bondage. Benign Philosophy, by degrees, strips from us most of our vices, and all our mistakes; it is she that first teaches us the right. For vengeance is always the delight of a little, weak, and petty mind; of which you may straightway draw proof from this — that no one so rejoices in vengeance as a woman.

  cur tamen hos tu

  euasisse putes, quos diri conscia facti

  mens habet attonitos et surdo uerbere caedit

  occultum quatiente animo tortore flagellum? 195

  poena autem uehemens ac multo saeuior illis

  quas et Caedicius grauis inuenit et Rhadamanthus,

  nocte dieque suum gestare in pectore testem.

  Spartano cuidam respondit Pythia uates

  haut inpunitum quondam fore quod dubitaret 200

  depositum retinere et fraudem iure tueri

  iurando. quaerebat enim quae numinis esset

  mens et an hoc illi facinus suaderet Apollo.

  reddidit ergo metu, non moribus, et tamen omnem

  uocem adyti dignam templo ueramque probauit 205

  extinctus tota pariter cum prole domoque

  et quamuis longa deductis gente propinquis.

  has patitur poenas peccandi sola uoluntas.

  nam scelus intra se tacitum qui cogitat ullum

  facti crimen habet. cedo si conata peregit. 210

  [192] But why should you suppose that a man escapes punishment whose mind is ever kept in terror by the consciousness of an evil deed which lashes him with unheard blows, his own soul ever shaking over him the unseen whip of torture? It is a grievous punishment, more cruel far than any devised by the stern Caedicius or by Rhadamanthus, to carry in one’s breast by night and by day one’s own accusing witness. The Pythian prophetess once made answer to a Spartan that it would not pass unpunished in after time that he had thought of keeping back a sum entrusted to him supporting the wrong by perjury; for he asked what was the mind of the Deity, and whether Apollo counselled him to do the deed. He therefore restored the money, through fear, and not from honesty; nevertheless he found all the words of the Oracle to be true and worthy of the shrine, being destroyed with his whole race and family and relations, however far removed. Such are the penalties endured by the mere wish to sin; for he who secretly meditates a crime within his breast has all the guiltiness of the deed.

  perpetua anxietas nec mensae tempore cessat

  faucibus ut morbo siccis interque molares

  difficili crescente cibo, sed uina misellus

  expuit, Albani ueteris pretiosa senectus

  displicet; ostendas melius, densissima ruga 215

  cogitur in frontem uelut acri ducta Falerno.

  nocte breuem si forte indulsit cura soporem

  et toto uersata toro iam membra quiescunt,

  continuo templum et uiolati numinis aras

  et, quod praecipuis mentem sudoribus urguet, 220

  te uidet in somnis; tua sacra et maior imago

  humana turbat pauidum cogitque fateri.

  hi sunt qui trepidant et ad omnia fulgura pallent,

  cum tonat, exanimes primo quoque murmure caeli,

  non quasi fortuitus nec uentorum rabie sed 225

  iratus cadat in terras et iudicet ignis.

  illa nihil nocuit, cura grauiore timetur

  proxima tempestas uelut hoc dilata sereno.

  praeterea lateris uigili cum febre dolorem

  si coepere pati, missum ad sua corpora morbum 230

  infesto credunt a numine; saxa deorum

  haec et tela putant. pecudem spondere sacello

  balantem et Laribus cristam promittere galli

  non audent; quid enim sperare nocentibus aegris

  concessum? uel quae non dignior hostia uita? 235

  [mobilis et uaria est ferme natura malorum.]

  cum scelus admittunt, superest constantia; quod fas

  atque nefas tandem incipiunt sentire peractis

  criminibus. tamen ad mores natura recurrit

  damnatos fixa et mutari nescia. nam quis 240

  peccandi finem posuit sibi? quando recepit

  eiectum semel attrita de fronte ruborem?

  quisnam hominum est quem tu contentum uideris uno

  flagitio? dabit in laqueum uestigia noster

  perfidus et nigri patietur carceris uncum 245

  aut maris Aegaei rupem scopulosque frequentes

  exulibus magnis. poena gaudebis amara

  nominis inuisi tandemque fatebere laetus

  nec surdum nec Teresian quemquam esse deorum.

  [210] What then if the purposed deed be done? His disquiet never ceases, not even at the festal board; his throat is as dry as in a fever; he can scarcely take his food, it swells between his teeth; he spits out the wine, poor wretch; he cannot abide the choicest old Albanian, and if you bring out something finer still, wrinkles gather upon his brow as though it had been puckered up by some Falernian turned sour. In the night, if his troubles grant him a short slumber, and his limbs, after tossing upon the bed, are sinking into repose, he straightway beholds the temple and the altar of the God whom he has outraged; and what weighs with chiefest terror on his soul, he sees you in his dreams; your awful form, larger than life, frightens his quaking heart and wrings confession from him. These are the men who tremble and grow pale at every lightning-flash; when it thunders, they quail at the first rumbling in the heavens; not as though it were an affair of chance or brought about by the raging of the winds, but as though the flame had fallen in wrath and as a judgment upon the earth. If one storm pass harmless by, they look more anxiously for the next, as though this calm were only a reprieve. If, again, they suffer from pains in the side, with a fever that robs them of their sleep, they believe that the sickness has been inflicted on them by the offended Deity: these they deem to be the missiles, these the arrows of the Gods. They dare not vow a bleating victim to a shrine, or offer a crested cock to the Lares; for what hope is permitted to the guilty sick? What victim is not more worthy of life than they? Inconstant and shifty, for the most part, is the nature of bad men. In committing a crime, they have courage enough and to spare; they only begin to feel what is right and what wrong when it has been committed. Yet nature, firm and changeless, returns to the ways which it has condemned. For who ever fixed a term to his own offending? When did a hardened brow ever recover the banished blush? What man have you ever seen that was satisfied with one act of villainy? Our scoundrel will yet put his feet into the snare; he will have to endure the dark prison-house and the staple, or one of those crags in the Aegaean sea that are crowded with our noble exiles. You
will exult over the stern punishment of a hated name, and at length admit with joy that none of the Gods is deaf or like unto Tiresias.

  Satire 14. No Teaching like that of Example

  Plurima sunt, Fuscine, et fama digna sinistra

  [et quod maiorum uitia sequiturque minores] 1a

  et nitidis maculam haesuram figentia rebus,

  quae monstrant ipsi pueris traduntque parentes.

  si damnosa senem iuuat alea, ludit et heres

  bullatus paruoque eadem mouet arma fritillo. 5

  nec melius de se cuiquam sperare propinquo

  concedet iuuenis, qui radere tubera terrae,

  boletum condire et eodem iure natantis

  mergere ficedulas didicit nebulone parente

  et cana monstrante gula. cum septimus annus 10

  transierit puerum, nondum omni dente renato,

  barbatos licet admoueas mille inde magistros,

  hinc totidem, cupiet lauto cenare paratu

  semper et a magna non degenerare culina.

  [1] There are many things of ill repute, friend Fuscinus, — things that would affix a lasting stain to the brightest of lives, — which parents themselves point out and hand on to their sons. If the aged father delights in ruinous play, his heir too gambles in his teens, and rattles the selfsame weapons in a tiny dice-box. If a youth has learnt from the hoary gluttony of a spendthrift father to peel truffles, to preserve mushrooms, and to souse beccaficoes in their own juice, none of his relatives need expect better things of him when he grows up. As soon as he has passed his seventh year, before he has cut all his second teeth, though you put a thousand bearded preceptors on his right hand, and as many on his left, he will always long to fare sumptuously, and not fall below the high standard of his cookery.

  mitem animum et mores modicis erroribus aequos 15

  praecipit atque animas seruorum et corpora nostra

  materia constare putat paribusque elementis,

  an saeuire docet Rutilus, qui gaudet acerbo