he was the person intended by the Satirist. In every age men who feel disturbed at the reigning vices will speak out; and when they do, their words will last long and be effective. Satire takes deep hold on the human mind. In the worst of times there is a hatred to vice in the public mind. Widows and orphans are more numerous than misers or hard-hearted landlords, and their resentments to the latter never die. It is easier to blame than to praise, and the science of pulling down was more readily pursued than that of building up the characters of contemporaries. The satirists have received more honor than the eulogists, whose task has been hardest. Juvenal, in the opinion of most scholars, has claims to an equality with Plutarch; but the philosopher will not consider the satirist as great a man as the biographer.

We must pass the minor Latin poets with the single exception of one extract from Claudian.

THE OLD MAN OF VERONA.

Blest is the man who, in his father's fields,
Has past an age of quiet. The same roof,
That screen'd his cradle, yields a shelter now
To his gray hairs. He leans upon a staff,
Where, as a child, he crept along the ground;
And, in one cottage, he has number'd o'er
A length of years. Him Fortune has not drawn
Into her whirl of strange vicissitudes;
Nor has he drunk, with ever-changing home,
From unknown rivers. Never on the deep,
A merchant, has he trembled at the storm;
Nor, as a soldier, started at the blare

Of trumpets; nor endured the noisy strife
Of the hoarse-clamouring bar: of the great world
Simply unconscious. To the neighboring town
A stranger, he enjoys the free expanse
Of open heaven. The old man marks his year,
Not by the names of Consuls, but computes
Time by his various crops: by apples notes
The autumn; by the blooming flower the spring.
From the same field he sees his daily sun
Go down, and lift again its reddening orb;
And, by his own contracted universe,
The rustic measures the vast light of day.
He well remembers that broad massive oak,
An acorn; and has seen the grove grow old,
Coeval with himself. Verona seems
To him more distant than the swarthy Ind:
He deems the lake Benacus like the shores
Of the red gulph. But his a vigor hale,
And unabated: he has now outlived

Three ages: though a grandsire, green in years,
With firm and sinewy arms. The traveller
May roam to farthest Spain: he more has known
Of earthly space; the old man more of life.

Every one in early life in reading ancient history is troubled to know what measure of credit should be given to the ancient oracles and mysteries, concerning which there are so many marvellous tales to be found; and we may as well dispose of this subject here as at any other time or place. Rollin's ancient history, a book much read among us, often mentions the responses of the oracles of antiquity. The writer was a pious, excellent man, but was fond of the marvellous

and not a little inclined to superstition. He believed that wicked spirits were sometimes permitted by an all-wise Providence to reside in these caves or inner shrines to deceive mankind by indirectly shadowing forth things to come. Other historians have spoken of the magicians, soothsayers, and astrologers, as having great confidence in their supernatural knowledge.

The first account we have of these wise men is that given by Moses, in his interview with Pharaoh. They were soon convinced that they could not struggle with the servants of the Lord, and yielded after a few trials of their skill. These magicians were scientific men who soon discovered the natural from the miraculous.

The whole worship of Isis was full of mysteries, and these wise men alone had the key to them. Tombs, temples, and all public buildings, and all the arts and sciences, were full of mysteries to the common people. It was the same in Persia and Assyria as in Egypt. The wise men were advisers of the king, and he supported them in ease and dignity. They were called in to interpret the hand writing on the wall, but could not read it.

When the Greeks made themselves masters of the learning of Egypt and Babylon they found these mysteries of no small importance to themselves. They kept up the same air of secrecy, and devoted them to religious purposes. The oracle of Delphos having by accident established a reputation for correct prophecies, continued it, by art, for religious, but more often for political purposes. The Pythia, in every age, was a shrewd woman, who knew what was wanted, and who it was that inquired of her for knowledge; and her

answers were made accordingly. The Egyptians and the Greeks were well acquainted with acoustics, and sounds were managed for their mysterious responses. That they understood the science of sound, witness the ear of Dionysius. This trick has been played off in our times, by "the invisible lady," whom most of us remember. The mysteries of Isis, and the Eleusinian mysteries were kept up by subterranean caverns, so constructed as to throw strange images before the eyes of the initiate by means of moveable lights, and by tubes conveying strange sounds, when they were in darkness, to frighten them. Every one can tell how busy the imagination is when we are a little alarmed for our safety. These strange sounds, persons accompanying those about to be initated, were allowed to hear, and sometimes they saw flashes of strange lights. There can be no douht but that some of these ceremonies were awfully imposing. The higher orders unquestionably understood the whole thing, but the lower did not. There was an exoteric and an esoteric meaning to all their ceremonies. From the whole concurrent testimony of ancient history, we must believe that the Eleusinian mysteries were used for good purposes, for there is not an instance on record that the honor of an initiation was ever obtained by a very bad man. The hierophants,-the higher priests of the order, were always exemplary in their morals, and became sanctified in the eyes of the people. The high-priesthood of this order in Greece was continued in one family,-the Eumolpidæ, for ages. In this they resembled both the Egyptians and the Jews.

The Eleusinian mysteries in Rome took another form, and were called the rites of Bona Dea; but she

was the same Ceres that was worshipped in Greece. All the distinguished Roman authors speak of these rites, and in terms of profound respect. Horace denounces the wretch who should attempt to reveal the secrets of these rites; Virgil mentions these mysteries with great respect; and Cicero alludes to them with a greater reverence than either of the poets we have named. Both the Greeks and Romans punished any insult offered to these mysteries with the most persevering vindictiveness. Alcibiades was charged with insulting these religious rights; and although the proof of his offence was quite doubtful, yet he suffered for it for years in exile and misery; and it must be allowed that he was the most popular man of his age.

These mysteries were continued until some time after the days of Constantine, when they were prohi→ bited. Sad stories have been conjured up to give importance to the Egyptian mysteries, but no one has attempted to throw any dark shade over those of Greece or Rome. The philosopher will readily believe that there was nothing supernatural in any of their mysteries; and all may set it down as a fact, that among themselves, I speak of those initiated,-they never pretended to any thing like a commerce with the inhabitants of the invisible world. They unquestionably often assumed to possess wondrous powers and great secrets; but this was only a means of keeping knowledge from becoming too common; and this was an error which lasted for ages, even down to our times.

Viewed by the light of a clear understanding, I be→ lieve all the marvellous deeds of the magicians, the astrologers, the soothsayers, the Pithia, and the whole tribe of these mystery-dealing beings, vanish into