The hour that gave me birth, as this blest day;
This day, on which the festive turf demands
The promis'd victims at my willing hands.
A snow-white lamb to Juno I decree,
Another to Minerva; and to thee,
Tarpeian Jove! a steer, which from afar,
Shakes his long rope, and meditates the war.
'Tis a fierce animal, that proudly scorns
The dug, since first he tried his budding horns
Against an oak; high mettled, and, in fine,
Fit for the altar, and the sprinkled wine.

O, were my power but equal to my love,
A nobler sacrifice my joy should prove!
A bull high-fed, and boasting in his veins
The pasture of Clitumnus' distant plains,

VER. 16. of Clitumnus', &c.] The waters of Clitumnus (a river on the confines of Tuscany) were supposed to possess the faculty of making the cattle

Fatter than fat Hispulla, and as slow

With bulk, should fall beneath no common blow;
Fall for my friend, who now, from danger free,
Revolves the recent perils of the sea;

Shrinks at the roaring waves, the howling winds,
And scarce believes the safety which he finds.
For not the gods' inevitable fire,

The surging billows that to heaven aspire,
Alone perdition threat; black clouds arise,
And blot out all the splendour of the skies;
Loud and more loud the thunder's voice is heard,
And sulphurous fires flash dreadful on the yard.—
Then shrunk the crew, and, fix'd in wild amaze,
Saw the rent sails burst into sudden blaze;
While shipwreck, late so dreadful, now appear'd
A refuge from the flames, more hoped than fear'd.
Horror on horror! earth, and sea, and skies
Convuls'd, as when poetic tempests rise.

But lo, another danger! list again,

And pity, though 'tis of the self-same strain;

which drank of them, white: and, as this was the colour most pleasing to Jupiter, his altars were usually supplied with victims from its banks. It does not appear that Juvenal believed this idle tale, which is also laughed at by Addison, who has collected, from what Sterne calls his " satchel of schoolbooks," a variety of passages on the subject. One, however, which would have given him infinitely more information than all the rest, escaped his notice: it is that exquisite description in Pliny's letter to his friend Romanus, (lib. VIII. epist. viii.) a perfect model, as it seems to me, of simplicity, elegance, and

taste.

And known too well; as Isis' temples show,

By many a pictur'd scene of votive woe;

Isis, by whom the painters now are fed,

Since their own gods no longer yield them bread!

VER. 39. Isis', &c.] The hatred our author bears this exotic divinity, breaks out in contemptuous sneers at his countrymen, for their mad confidence in her. And, indeed, it does seem a little singular, that a goddess, whose genuine worshippers at home held the sea, and every thing connected with it, in abhorrence, should be fixed upon at Rome for the tutelar deity of that element; and have her temples crowded with votive tablets. Anciently they were hung up to Neptune; and in this there was some propriety:—but it was not only on his prerogatives she trenched, but on those of Apollo, Esculapius, &c. "Nunc, Dea, nunc succurre mihi; nam posse mederi "Picta docet templis multa tabella tuis."

Catul. 1. 3.

The unbounded attachment of the women to her, seems to have finally seduced the men; and this strange divinity, (whose temples were little better than marts of debauchery,) was suffered to usurp by rapid degrees, the attributes of almost every other god.

The "tablets," which men in danger of shipwreck vowed to Isis, and which they procured to be painted, and hung up in her temple, contained a reprcsentation of their perils and escape. Had this been the worst, there would have been little reason to regret the universality of her worship; for the temples of the Roman gods contained tablets of a much less innoxious nature. Propertius, even while he confesses that they were abandoned to spiders, appears to derive some satisfaction from reflecting, that the webs of those insects covered the impure paintings which disgraced their walls. He pathetically describes the prevalence, as well as the dreadful effects, of this profanation:

"Quæ manus obscoenas depinxit prima tabellas,

"Et posuit castâ turpia visa domo ;

"Illa puellarum ingenuos corrupit ocellos,

This now befell Catullus: for a sea,

Upsurging, pour'd tremendous o'er the lee,

And fill'd the hold; while, toss'd by wave and wind,
To right and left, by turns, the ship inclin'd:
Then, while my friend observ'd, with drooping heart,
The storm prevailing o'er the pilot's art,

He wisely hasten'd to compound the strife,
And
gave
his treasure to preserve his life.
The beaver thus to scape his hunter tries,
And leaves behind the medicated prize,
Happy to purchase with his dearest blood,
A timely refuge in the well-known flood.

Away with all that's mine," he cries, "away!

And plunges in the deep, without delay,

Purples which soft Mæcenases might wear,
Crimsons deep-tinctur'd in the Bætic air,

"Sed non immerito velavit arænea fanum

"Et mala desertos occupat herba deos!"

The vagabond and profligate priests of Isis were not the least zealous in following this practice; and we may be certain, that the walls of her sanctuary exhibited other designs than shattered ships, and limbs and bodies variously affected.

VER. 49. The beaver thus, &c.] This, as every one knows, is an idle fancy; it makes, however, a very good illustration in our author's hands: and I observe it is used precisely in the same manner, in a letter which Sapor is said to have sent to Constantius. Hocque bestias factitare: quæ cum advertant cur maximopere capiantur, illud propriâ sponte amittunt, ut vivere deinde possint impavida Amm. Marcel. lib. xvII. 5.