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.

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    V. I—4* WHAT ! while with one eternal mouthing hoarse, Codrus persists on my vex’d ear to force His Theseid, must I, to my fate resign’d, Hear, only hear, and never pay in kind? Ver. 1. What! while with one eternal mouthing hoarse^ Before the in- vention of printing, authors had no shorter road to fame than public rehearsals. To procure full audiences for these, they had recourse to interest, solicitations, and, in case they were rich enough, to bribes. This is mentioned as one of the plagues of Rome, so early as the time of Horace—auditum scripta relictis omnibus officiis; and Suetonius relates of Augustus, that he attended them with great patience and good humour. But the race of scribblers was prodigiously multiplied in Juvenal’s days, and con- sequently, the grievance of following their rehearsals was more deeply felt. Pliny, good man! says he sacrificed months to them : our author, if we may judge from his manner, had sacrificed more. It appears, however, from a very picturesque passage in Pliny’s letter to S. Senecio, that the general listlessness with which they were attended, was exceedingly great. After repeated invitations and delays, when the rehearser has now taken his station, and spread his book before him, and is on the point of beginning, turn demum,” says Pliny, “ ac tunc quoque lente, cunctanterque veniunt, nec tamen permanent, sed antejinem recedunt; alii dissimulanter etfurtim, alii simpliciter - et liberl.” Ep. xiii. lib. i. Ver. 2. Codrus, <Sfc.] Holyday supposes this to be the person who is mentioned again in the third Satire; and of whose goods and chattels so