The Satires of Juvenal, Persius, Sulpicia, and Lucilius
use with our ancestors, which raised no improper ideas, though they
would not, and indeed could not, at this time be tolerated. With the
Greeks and Romans it was still worse: their dress, which left many
parts of the body exposed, gave a boldness to their language, which
was not perhaps lessened by the infrequency of women at those social
conversations, of which they now constitute the refinement and the
delight. Add to this that their mythology, and sacred rites, which took
their rise in very remote periods, abounded in the undisguised phrases
of a rude and simple age, and being religiously handed down from
generation to generation, gave a currency to many terms, which offered
no violence to modesty, though abstractedly considered by people of a
different language and manners, they appear pregnant with turpitude and
guilt.
When we observe this licentiousness (for I should wrong many of
the ancient writers to call it libertinism) in the pages of their
historians and philosophers, we may be pretty confident that it raised
no blush on the cheek of their readers. It was the language of the
times--"hæc illis natura est omnibus una:" and if it be considered
as venial in those, surely a little farther indulgence will not be
misapplied to the satirist, whose object is the exposure of what the
former have only to notice.
Thus much may suffice for Juvenal: but shame and sorrow on the head of
him who presumes to transfer his grossness into the vernacular tongues!
"Legimus aliqua ne legantur," was said of old, by one of a pure and
zealous mind. Without pretending to his high motives, I have felt the
influence of his example, and in his apology must therefore hope to
find my own. Though the poet be given entire, I have endeavored to make
him speak as he would probably have spoken if he had lived among us;
when, refined with the age, he would have fulminated against impurity
in terms, to which, though delicacy might disavow them, manly decency
might listen without offense.
I have said above, that "the whole of Juvenal" is here given; this,
however, must be understood with a few restrictions. Where vice, of
whatever nature, formed the immediate object of reprobation, it has
not been spared in the translation; but I have sometimes taken the
liberty of omitting an exceptionable line, when it had no apparent
connection with the subject of the Satire. Some acquaintance with the
original will be necessary to discover these lacunæ, which do not, in
all, amount to half a page: for the rest, I have no apologies to make.
Here are no allusions, covert or open, to the follies and vices of
modern times; nor has the dignity of the original been prostituted, in
a single instance, to the gratification of private spleen.
I have attempted to follow, as far as I judged it feasible, the style
of my author, which is more various than is usually supposed. It is not
necessary to descend to particulars; but my meaning will be understood
by those who carefully compare the original of the thirteenth and
fourteenth Satires with the translation. In the twelfth, and in that
alone, I have perhaps raised it a little; but it really appears so
contemptible a performance in the doggerel of Dryden's coadjutor,
that I thought somewhat more attention than ordinary was in justice
due to it. It is not a chef-d'œuvre by any means; but it is a pretty
and a pleasing little poem, deserving more notice than it has usually
received.
I could have been sagacious and obscure on many occasions, with very
little difficulty; but I strenuously combated every inclination to
find out more than my author meant. The general character of this
translation, if I do not deceive myself, will be found to be plainness;
and, indeed, the highest praise to which I aspire, is that of having
left the original more intelligible to the English reader than I found
it.
On numbering the lines, I find that my translation contains a few
less than Dryden's. Had it been otherwise, I should not have thought
an apology necessary, nor would it perhaps appear extraordinary,
when it is considered that I have introduced an infinite number of
circumstances from the text, which he thought himself justified in
omitting; and that, with the trifling exceptions already mentioned,
nothing has been passed; whereas he and his assistants overlooked whole
sections, and sometimes very considerable ones.[30] Every where, too, I
have endeavored to render the transitions less abrupt, and to obviate
or disguise the difficulties which a difference of manners, habits,
etc., necessarily creates: all this calls for an additional number of
lines; which the English reader, at least, will seldom have occasion to
regret.
Of the "borrowed learning of notes," which Dryden says he avoided as
much as possible, I have amply availed myself. During the long period
in which my thoughts were fixed on Juvenal, it was usual with me,
whenever I found a passage that related to him, to impress it on my
memory, or to note it down. These, on the revision of the work for
publication, were added to such reflections as arose in my own mind,
and arranged in the manner in which they now appear. I confess that
this was not an unpleasant task to me, and I will venture to hope,
that if my own suggestions fail to please, yet the frequent recurrence
of some of the most striking and beautiful passages of ancient and
modern poetry, history, etc., will render it neither unamusing nor
uninstructive to the general reader. The information insinuated into
the mind by miscellaneous collections of this nature, is much greater
than is usually imagined; and I have been frequently encouraged to
proceed by recollecting the benefits which I formerly derived from
casual notices scattered over the margin, or dropped at the bottom of a
page.
In this compilation, I proceeded on no regular plan, farther than
considering what, if I had been a mere English reader, I should wish
to have had explained: it is therefore extremely probable, as every
rule of this nature must be imperfect, that I have frequently erred;
have spoken where I should be silent and been prolix where I should
be brief: on the whole, however, I chose to offend on the safer side;
and to leave nothing unsaid, at the hazard of sometimes saying too
much. Tedious, perhaps, I may be; but, I trust, not dull; and with
this negative commendation I must be satisfied. The passages produced
are not always translated; but the English reader needs not for that
be discouraged in proceeding, as he will frequently find sufficient in
the context to give him a general idea of the meaning. In many places
I have copied the words, together with the sentiments of the writer;
for this, if it call for an apology, I shall take that of Macrobius,
who had somewhat more occasion for it than I shall be found to have:
"Nec mihi vitio vertas, si res quas ex lectione varia mutuabor, ipsis
sæpè verbis quibus ab ipsis auctoribus enarratæ sunt explicabo, quia
præsens opus non eloquentiæ ostentationem, sed noscendorum congeriem
pollicetur," etc. Saturn., lib. i., c. 1.
* * * * *
I have now said all that occurs to me on this subject: a more pleasing
one remains. I can not, indeed, like Dryden, boast of my poetical
coadjutors. No Congreves and Creeches have abridged, while they
adorned, my labors; yet have I not been without assistance, and of the
most valuable kind.
Whoever is acquainted with the habits of intimacy in which I have
lived from early youth with the Rev. Dr. Ireland,[31] will not want
to be informed of his share in the following pages. To those who are
not, it is proper to say, that besides the passages in which he is
introduced by name, every other part of the work has been submitted to
his inspection. Nor would his affectionate anxiety for the reputation
of his friend suffer any part of the translation to appear, without
undergoing the strictest revision. His uncommon accuracy, judgment, and
learning have been uniformly exerted on it, not less, I am confident,
to the advantage of the reader, than to my own satisfaction. It will be
seen that we sometimes differ in opinion; but as I usually distrust my
own judgment in those cases, the decision is submitted to the reader.
I have also to express my obligations to Abraham Moore, Esq., barrister
at law, a gentleman whose taste and learning are well known to be
only surpassed by his readiness to oblige: of which I have the most
convincing proofs; since the hours dedicated to the following sheets
(which I lament that he only saw in their progress through the press)
were snatched from avocations as urgent as they were important.
Nor must I overlook the friendly assistance of William Porden,
Esq.,[32] which, like that of the former gentleman, was given to me,
amid the distraction of more immediate concerns, with a readiness that
enhanced the worth of what was, in itself, highly valuable.
A paper was put into my hand by Mr. George Nicol, the promoter of
every literary work, from R. P. Knight, Esq., containing subjects for
engravings illustrative of Juvenal, and, with singular generosity,
offering me the use of his marbles, gems, etc. As these did not fall
within my plan, I can only here return him my thanks for a kindness
as extraordinary as it was unexpected. But I have other and greater
obligations to Mr. Nicol. In conjunction with his son, Mr. William
Nicol, he has watched the progress of this work through the press with
unwearied solicitude. During my occasional absences from town, the
correction of it (for which, indeed, the state of my eyes renders me
at all times rather unfit) rested almost solely on him; and it is but
justice to add, that his habitual accuracy in this ungrateful employ is
not the only quality to which I am bound to confess my obligations.
FOOTNOTES:
[16] The origin of this word is now acknowledged to be Roman. Scaliger
derived it from σατυρος (_satyrus_), but Casaubon, Dacier, and others,
more reasonably, from _satura_ (fem. of _satur_), rich, abounding, full
of variety. In this sense it was applied to the lanx or charger, in
which the various productions of the soil were offered up to the gods;
and thus came to be used for any miscellaneous collection in general.
_Satura olla_, a hotch-potch; _saturæ leges_, laws comprehending a
multitude of regulations, etc. This deduction of the name may serve
to explain, in some measure, the nature of the first Satires, which
treated of various subjects, and were full of various matters: but
enough on this trite topic.
[17] It should be observed, however, that the idea was obvious, and
the work itself highly necessary. The old Satire, amid much coarse
ribaldry, frequently attacked the follies and vices of the day. This
could not be done by the comedy which superseded it, and which, by
a strange perversity of taste, was never rendered national. Its
customs, manners, nay, its very plots, were Grecian; and scarcely more
applicable to the Romans than to us.
[18] To extend this to Lucilius, as is sometimes done, is absurd, since
he evidently had in view the old comedy of the Greeks, of which his
Satires, according to Horace, were rigid imitations:
"Eupolis atque Cratinus, Aristophanesque poëtæ
Atque alii, quorum comœdia prisca virorum est;
Si quia erat dignus describi, quod malus, aut fur,
Quod mœchus foret, aut sicarius, aut alioqui
Famosus, multa cum libertate notabant.
HINC omnis pendet Lucilius, hosce secutus,
Mutatis tantum pedibus, numerisque."
Here the matter would seem to be at once determined by a very competent
judge. Strip the old Greek comedy of its action, and change the metre
from Iambic to Heroic, and you have the Roman Satire! It is evident