'Tis venial trespass--let them have their will; But let the child, entrusted to the care Of his own mother, of her bread beware; Beware the food she reaches with her hand,-- The morsel is intended for thy land. Thy tutor be thy taster, ere thou eat; There's poison in thy drink and in thy meat. You think this feigned; the satire, in a rage, Struts in the buskins of the tragic stage; Forgets his business is to laugh and bite, And will of deaths and dire revenges write. Would it were all a fable that you read! But Drymon's wife[140] pleads guilty to the deed. I, she confesses, in the fact was caught, Two sons dispatching at one deadly draught. What, two! two sons, thou viper, in one day! Yes, seven, she cries, if seven were in my way. Medea's legend is no more a lie, Our age adds credit to antiquity. Great ills, we grant, in former times did reign, And murders then were done, but not for gain. Less admiration to great crimes is due, Which they through wrath, or through revenge pursue; For, weak of reason, impotent of will, The sex is hurried headlong into ill; And like a cliff, from its foundations torn By raging earthquakes, into seas is borne. But those are fiends, who crimes from thought begin, And, cool in mischief, meditate the sin. They read the example of a pious wife, Redeeming, with her own, her husband's life; Yet if the laws did that exchange afford, Would save their lap-dog sooner than their lord. Where'er you walk the Belides[141] you meet, And Clytemnestras grow in every street; But here's the difference,--Agamemnon's wife Was a gross butcher with a bloody knife; But murder now is to perfection grown, And subtle poisons are employed alone; Unless some antidote prevents their arts, And lines with balsam all the nobler parts. In such a case, reserved for such a need, Rather than fail, the dagger does the deed. FOOTNOTES: [107] When Jove had driven his father into banishment, the Silver Age began, according to the poets. [108] The poet makes Justice and Chastity sisters; and says, that they fled to heaven together, and left earth for ever. [109] When the Roman women were forbidden to bed with their husbands. [110] She fled to Egypt, which wondered at the enormity of her crime. [111] He tells the famous story of Messalina, wife to the Emperor Claudius. [112] His meaning is, that a wife, who brings a large dowry, may do what she pleases, and has all the privileges of a widow. [113] A ring of great price, which Herod Agrippa gave to his sister Berenice. He was king of the Jews, but tributary to the Romans. [114] Cornelia was mother to the Gracchi, of the family of the Cornelii, from whence Scipio the African was descended, who triumphed over Hannibal.