This shall be writ to fright the fry away,
Who draw their little baubles when they play.
Yet old Lucilius 14 never fear'd the times,
But lash'd the city, and dissected crimes:
Mutius and Lupus both by name he brought;
He mouth'd them, and between his grinders caught.
Unlike in method, with conceal'd design,
Did crafty Horace his low numbers join;
And, with a sly insinuating grace,

Laugh'd at his friend, and look'd him in the face:
Would raise a blush, where secret vice he found;
And tickle, while he gently probed the wound.
With seeming innocence the crowd beguiled;
But made the desperate passes when he smiled.
Could he do this; and is my Muse control'd
By servile awe? born free, and not be bold?
At least, I'll dig a hole within the ground:
And to the trusty earth commit the sound:
The reeds shall tell you what the poet fears,
'King Midas 15 has a snout and asses' ears,'
This mean conceit, this darling mystery,
Which thou think'st nothing, friend, thou shalt
not buy;

14 Yet old Lucilius,' &c. Lucilius wrote long before Horace; who imitates his manner of satire, but far excels him in the design.

15 The story is vulgar, that Midas, king of Phrygia, was made judge betwixt Apollo and Pan, who was the best musician: he gave the prize to Pan; and Apollo in revenge gave him asses' ears. He wore his hair long to hide them; but his barber discovering them, and not daring to divulge the secret, dug a hole in the ground, and whispered into it. The place was marsby; and when the reeds grew up, they repeated the words which were spoken by the barber. By Midas the poet meant Nero.

Nor will I change for all the flashy wit
That flattering Labeo in his Iliads writ.

Thou, if there be a thou in this base town, Who dares, with angry Eupolis, to frown; He who, with bold Cratinus, is inspired With zeal, and equal indignation fired: Who at enormous villany turns pale, And steers against it with a full blown sail, Like Aristophanes; let him but smile

On this my honest work, though writ in homely style;

And if two lines or three in all the vein
Appear less drossy, read those lines again :
May they perform their author's just intent;
Glow in thy ears, and in thy breast ferment.
But from the reading of my book and me,
Be far, ye foes of virtuous poverty:
Who fortune's fault 17 upon the poor can throw,
Point at the tatter'd coat, and ragged shoe;
Lay nature's failings to their charge, and jeer
The dim weak eyesight, when the mind is clear;
When thou thyself, thus insolent in state,
Art but, perhaps, some country magistrate,
Whose power extends no further than to speak
Big on the bench, and scanty weights to break.
Him, also, for my censor I disdain,

Who thinks all science as all virtue vain;

16 Eupolis and Cratinus, as also Aristophanes, mentioned afterwards, were all Athenian poets; who wrote that sort of comedy which was called the Old Comedy,' where the people were named who were satirized by those authors.

17 The people of Rome, in the time of Persius, were apt to scorn the Grecian philosophers, particularly the Cynics and Stoics, who were the poorest of them.

VOL. II.

L

Who counts geometry, and numbers, toys;
And with his foot 18, the sacred dust destroys:
Whose pleasure is to see a strumpet tear
A cynic's beard, and lug him by the hair.
Such, all the morning, to the pleadings run;
But when the business of the day is done,

On dice, and drink, and drabs, they spend their afternoon.

18 Arithmetic and geometry were taught on floors, which were strewed with dust or sand; in which the numbers and diagrams were made and drawn, which they might strike out again.

PERSIUS.

SATIRE II.

BY MR. DRYDEN,

The Argument.

This Satire contains a most grave and philosophical argument concerning prayers and wishes. Undoubtedly it gave occasion to Juvenal's tenth Satire, and both of them had their original from one of Plato's dialogues, called 'The Second Alcibiades.' Our author has introduced it with great mastery of art, by taking his rise from the birthday of his friend; on which occasions prayers were made, and sacrifices offered by the native. Persius, commending the purity of his friend's vows, descends to the impious and immoral requests of others. The Satire is divided into three parts: the first is the exordium to Macrinus, which the poet confines within the compass of four verses: the second relates to the matter of the prayers and vows, and an enumeration of those things, wherein men commonly sinned against right reason, and offended in their requests: the third part consists in showing the repugnances of those prayers and wishes to those of other men, and inconsistencies with themselves. He shows the original of these vows, and sharply inveighs against them and lastly, not only corrects the false opinion of mankind concerning them, but gives the true doctrine of all addresses made to Heaven; and how they may be made acceptable to the powers above, in excellent precepts, and more worthy of a Christian than a heathen.

:

DEDICATED TO HIS FRIEND PLOTIUS MACRINUS,

On his Birthday.

LET this auspicious morning be express'd
With a white stone 1, distinguish'd from the rest:
White as thy fame, and as thy honour clear;
And let new joys attend on thy new-added year.
Indulge thy genius, and o'erflow thy soul,
Till thy wit sparkle like the cheerful bowl.
Pray; for thy prayers the test of Heaven will bear;
Nor need'st thou take the gods aside to hear:
While others, e'en the mighty men of Rome,
Big swell'd with mischief, to the temples come;
And in low murmurs, and with costly smoke,
Heaven's help, to prosper their black vows, invoke.
So boldly to the gods mankind reveal

What from each other they, for shame, conceal.
Give me good fame, ye powers, and make me just!
Thus much the rogue to public ears will trust:
In private then-when wilt thou, mighty Jove,
My wealthy uncle from this world remove?
Or-O thou thunderer's son, great Hercules?!
That once thy bounteous deity would please
To guide my rake, upon the chinking sound
Of some vast treasure, hidden under ground!
O were my pupil fairly knock'd on the' head:
I should possess the' estate, if he were dead!
He's so far gone with rickets, and with evil,
That one small dose will send him to the devil.

'The Romans were used to mark their fortunate days, or any thing that luckily befell them, with a white stone, which they had from the island Creta; and their unfortunate, with a coal.

2 Hercules was thought to have the key and power of bestowing all hidden treasure.