SATIRE II.
_Bad men, when they avoid certain vices, fall into their opposite
extremes._
The tribes of female flute-players, quacks, vagrants, mimics,
blackguards; all this set is sorrowful and dejected on account of the
death of the singer Tigellius; for he was liberal [toward them]. On the
other hand, this man, dreading to be called a spendthrift, will not give
a poor friend wherewithal to keep off cold and pinching hunger. If you
ask him why he wickedly consumes the noble estate of his grandfather and
father in tasteless gluttony, buying with borrowed money all sorts of
dainties; he answers, because he is unwilling to be reckoned sordid, or
of a mean spirit: he is praised by some, condemned by others. Fufidius,
wealthy in lands, wealthy in money put out at interest, is afraid of
having the character of a rake and spendthrift. This fellow deducts 5
per cent. Interest from the principal [at the time of lending]; and, the
more desperate in his circumstances any one is, the more severely be
pinches him: he hunts out the names of young fellows that have just put
on the toga virilis under rigid fathers. Who does not cry out, O
sovereign Jupiter! when he has heard [of such knavery]? But [you will
say, perhaps,] this man expends upon himself in proportion to his gain.
You can hardly believe how little a friend he is to himself: insomuch
that the father, whom Terence's comedy introduces as living miserable
after he had caused his son to run away from him, did not torment
himself worse than he. Now if any one should ask, "To what does this
matter tend?" To this: while fools shun [one sort of] vices, they fall
upon their opposite extremes. Malthinus walks with his garments trailing
upon the ground; there is another droll fellow who [goes] with them
tucked up even to his middle; Rufillus smells like perfume itself,
Gorgonius like a he-goat. There is no mean. There are some who would not
keep company with a lady, unless her modest garment perfectly conceal
her feet. Another, again, will only have such as take their station in a
filthy brothel. When a certain noted spark came out of a stew, the
divine Cato [greeted] him with this sentence: "Proceed (says he) in your
virtuous course. For, when once foul lust has inflamed the veins, it is
right for young fellows to come hither, in comparison of their meddling
with other men's wives." I should not be willing to be commended on such
terms, says Cupiennius, an admirer of the silken vail.
Ye, that do not wish well to the proceedings of adulterers, it is worth
your while to hear how they are hampered on all sides; and that their
pleasure, which happens to them but seldom, is interrupted with a great
deal of pain, and often in the midst of very great dangers. One has
thrown himself headlong from the top of a house; another has been
whipped almost to death: a third, in his flight, has fallen into a
merciless gang of thieves: another has paid a fine, [to avoid] corporal
[punishment]: the lowest servants have treated another with the vilest
indignities. Moreover, this misfortune happened to a certain person, he
entirely lost his manhood. Every body said, it was with justice: Galba
denied it.
But how much safer is the traffic among [women] of the second rate! I
mean the freed-women: after which Sallustius is not less mad, than he
who commits adultery. But if he had a mind to be good and generous, as
far as his estate and reason would direct him, and as far as a man might
be liberal with moderation; he would give a sufficiency, not what would
bring upon himself ruin and infamy. However, he hugs himself in this one
[consideration]; this he delights in, this he extols: "I meddle with no
matron." Just as Marsaeus, the lover of Origo, he who gives his paternal
estate and seat to an actress, says, "I never meddle with other men's
wives." But you have with actresses, you have with common strumpets:
whence your reputation derives a greater perdition, than your estate.
What, is it abundantly sufficient to avoid the person, and not the
[vice] which is universally noxious? To lose one's good name, to
squander a father's effects, is in all cases an evil. What is the
difference [then, with regard to yourself,] whether you sin with the
person of a matron, a maiden, or a prostitute?
Villius, the son-in-law of Sylla (by this title alone he was misled),
suffered [for his commerce] with Fausta, an adequate and more than
adequate punishment, by being drubbed and stabbed, while he was shut
out, that Longarenus might enjoy her within. Suppose this [young man's]
mind had addressed him in the words of his appetite, perceiving such
evil consequences: "What would you have? Did I ever, when my ardor was
at the highest, demand a woman descended from a great consul, and
covered with robes of quality?" What could he answer? Why, "the girl was
sprung from an illustrious father." But how much better things, and how
different from this, does nature, abounding in stores of her own,
recommend; if you would only make a proper use of them, and not confound
what is to be avoided with that which is desirable! Do you think it is
of no consequence, whether your distresses arise from your own fault or
from [a real deficiency] of things? Wherefore, that you may not repent
[when it is too late], put a stop to your pursuit after matrons; whence
more trouble is derived, than you can obtain of enjoyment from success.
Nor has [this particular matron], amid her pearls and emeralds, a softer
thigh, or-limbs mere delicate than yours, Cerinthus; nay, the
prostitutes are frequently preferable. Add to this, that [the
prostitute] bears about her merchandize without any varnish, and openly
shows what she has to dispose of; nor, if she has aught more comely than
ordinary, does she boast and make an ostentation of it, while she is
industrious to conceal that which is offensive. This is the custom with
men of fortune: when they buy horses, they inspect them covered: that,
if a beautiful forehand (as often) be supported by a tender hoof, it may
not take in the buyer, eager for the bargain, because the back is
handsome, the head little, and the neck stately. This they do
judiciously. Do not you, [therefore, in the same manner] contemplate the
perfections of each [fair one's] person with the eyes of Lynceus; but be
blinder than Hypsaea, when you survey such parts as are deformed. [You
may cry out,] "O what a leg! O, what delicate arms!" But [you suppress]
that she is low-hipped, short-waisted, with a long nose, and a splay
foot. A man can see nothing but the face of a matron, who carefully
conceals her other charms, unless it be a Catia. But if you will seek
after forbidden charms (for the [circumstance of their being forbidden]
makes you mad after them), surrounded as they are with a fortification,
many obstacles will then be in your way: such as guardians, the sedan,
dressers, parasites, the long robe hanging down to the ankles, and
covered with an upper garment; a multiplicity of circumstances, which
will hinder you from having a fair view. The other throws no obstacle in
your way; through the silken vest you may discern her, almost as well as
if she was naked; that she has neither a bad leg, nor a disagreeable
foot, you may survey her form perfectly with your eye. Or would you
choose to have a trick put upon you, and your money extorted, before the
goods are shown you? [But perhaps you will sing to me these verses out
of Callimachus.] As the huntsman pursues the hare in the deep snow, but
disdains to touch it when it is placed before him: thus sings the rake,
and applies it to himself; my love is like to this, for it passes over
an easy prey, and pursues what flies from it. Do you hope that grief,
and uneasiness, and bitter anxieties, will be expelled from your breast
by such verses as these? Would It not be more profitable to inquire what
boundary nature has affixed to the appetites, what she can patiently do
without, and what she would lament the deprivation of, and to separate
what is solid from what is vain? What! when thirst parches your jaws,
are you solicitous for golden cups to drink out of? What! when you are
hungry, do you despise everything but peacock and turbot? When your
passions are inflamed, and a common gratification is at hand, would you
rather be consumed with desire than possess it? I would not: for I love
such pleasures as are of easiest attainment. But she whose language is,
"By and by," "But for a small matter more," "If my husband should be out
of the way." [is only] for petit-maitres: and for himself, Philodemus
says, he chooses her, who neither stands for a great price, nor delays
to come when she is ordered. Let her be fair, and straight, and so far
decent as not to appear desirous of seeming fairer than nature has made
her. When I am in the company of such an one, she is my Ilia and
Aegeria; I give her any name. Nor am I apprehensive, while I am in her
company, lest her husband should return from the country: the door
should be broken open; the dog should bark; the house, shaken, should
resound on all sides with a great noise; the woman, pale [with fear],
should bound away from me; lest the maid, conscious [of guilt], should
cry out, she is undone; lest she should be in apprehension for her
limbs, the detected wife for her portion, I for myself: lest I must run
away with my clothes all loose, and bare-footed, for fear my money, or
my person, or, finally my character should be demolished. It is a
dreadful thing to be caught; I could prove this, even if Fabius were the
judge.
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