IV. AS DEPICTED BY THE POETS. JUVENAL, In his Seventh Satire, draws the following picture of the Roman lawyers, their fees, their state, and their revelries : the translation is by Charles Dryden, son of "glorious John: " "Next show me the well-lung'd Civilian's gain, Who bears in triumph an artillery train Of chancery libels; opens first the cause, Twitch'd by the sleeve, he mouths it more and more, For four times talking, if one piece thou take, Though some plead better, with more law than he; He shows his statues, too, where plac'd on high The ginnett [jenett?], underneath him, seems to fly; His aiming figure meditates a fight. With arts like these, rich Matteo, when he speaks, He then depicts a needy attorney: "Tongillus, very poor, has yet an itch Of gaining wealth by feigning to be rich; Nor can I wonder at such tricks as these: Not Tully now could get ten groats by pleading, HORACE, in the Fifth Satire of the second book, has a humorous dialogue between Ulysses and Tiresias, in which the latter gives the former some useful hints about earning an easy living, by being appointed the beneficiary of rich old men, of which I offer the following translation: In truth I've told you, and tell you again, Though one or two escape by biting off the bait, In every suit that's at the bar contested, rich and childish rogue should supplicate The law against the good, be thou his advocate; Despise the man of purer cause and life, If he has a son at home or fruitful wife. "Quintus," or "Publius " (prefixes charms will lend And guide through legal quirks precarious; Than cheat a nut's worth, or your cause despise. By summer or by winter, heat or cold, whene'er Or Alps are spued upon with snow by greasy Furius.' "Do you not see," says one, jogging his neighbor, "How sharp he is, how lavish of his labor?" By such acute inventions you shall clients fleece: More tunnies swimming in, your fish-ponds shall increase. If any affluent man an ailing son shall rear Lest too much complaisance should make your plot appear, And if the boy should die by casualty, Whoever offers you his will t' peruse, Seem to decline the parchment, and refuse; But if you're quick, you'll catch, with sidelong squint, From the first page a pretty certain hint Of what's in th' second clause - if you take all, Or only are co-heir with several. I Furius, in a poem on the Gallic war, had said, “Jupiter hibernas cana nive conspuet Alpes." A lawyer, bailiff-born and old, will sometimes cheat PETRONIUS ARBITER. I find that this author has a good deal to say about law and lawyers. "Cerberus, forensis erat causidicus," has been thus translated: "Sure Cerberus a lawyer first must be, Whose clam'rous mouth would open for a fee; Instead of coin, the growling puppy's fee." In his First Satire, one of the characters, having had his coat stolen, is advised to resort to law to recover it: "Law bears the name, but money has the power: The cause is bad whene'er the client's poor. Those strict-life'd men that seem above our world, So judgment, like our other wares, is sold; And the grave knight that nods upon the laws, But he is afraid of the law, and is "clear for buying it, though we know it to be our own, and rather recover the treasure with a little money than embroil ourselves in an uncertain suit.” CHAUCER. Chaucer described a lawyer as one of the Canterbury Pilgrims: "A Sergeant of the Lawe, ware and wise, Ther was also, ful riche of excellence. By patent, and by pleine commissioun; Girt with a seint 5 of silk, with barres smale. What a vivid description! especially the touch, "seemed busier than he was." 1 Parvis, church portico. 2 Such. 3 Opinions, 4 Find flaw. 5 Girdle. |