The satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis / translated into English verse by William Gifford.

  • Juvenal
Date:
1802
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis / translated into English verse by William Gifford. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

    102/574 (page 22)
    Now for the scanty dole aloof they wait, Nay, scramble for it at the outward gate. And first the porter, trembling for his place, Walks round and round, and pries in every face: Lest, strangers to the patronage you claim, You take the largess in a borrow’d name; When recognised, you then may hope to share,— And now he bids the sons of Troy draw near, The noble sons; for these besiege the door. E’en these, and wrest their pittance from the poor! Dispatch the Praetor first,” the steward cries, “ And next the Tribune.” “ No, not so,” replies The Freedman, bustling through—“ first come, you know, “ First served; and I may claim my right, I trow— which commenced with the monai'chy, was attended with the happiest effects; and, for the space of six centuries, we find no dissentions or jea- lousies between the two parties. But as riches and pride increased, new duties were imposed on the clients ; they were harrassed with constant attendance, and mortified by neglect: in a word, they were little better than slaves. They had yet other causes of complaint; and Juvenal, who appears, from an epigram addressed to him from Spain, by his friend Martial (see Sat. xi.), to have deeply felt the degradation he describes, sometimes speaks of it with pathos, and sometimes with indignation. But of this, elsewhere. Ver. 170. Jind now he bids the sons of Troy draw near, ^c.] The old nobility of Rome affected to derive their origin from the great families of Troy. The satire here is very poignant: vain of their rank, they were care- less of their actions, and swelling with the dignity of their ancient blood, were mean enough to be found scrambling amongst the poor, for a few paltry halfpence!