Yet still some profit from their pains may rise: But tell me, priest, if I may be so bold, What are the gods the better for this gold? The wretch, that offers from his wealthy store These presents, bribes the powers to give him more; As maids to Venus offer baby-toys,[204] To bless the marriage-bed with girls and boys. But let us for the gods a gift prepare, Which the great man's great chargers cannot bear; A soul, where laws, both human and divine, In practice more than speculation shine; A genuine virtue, of a vigorous kind, Pure in the last recesses of the mind: When with such offerings to the gods I come, A cake, thus given, is worth a hecatomb.[205] FOOTNOTES: [195] Note I. [196] Note II. [197] Note III. [198] Note IV. [199] Note V. [200] Note VI. [201] Note VII. [202] Note VIII. [203] Note IX. [204] Note X. [205] Note XI. NOTES ON TRANSLATIONS FROM PERSIUS. SATIRE II. Note I. _Let this auspicious morning be exprest With a white stone._----P. 222. The Romans were used to mark their fortunate days, or any thing that luckily befel them, with a white stone, which they had from the island Creta, and their unfortunate with a coal. Note II. ----_Great Hercules, That once thy bounteous deity would please To guide my rake upon the chinking sound Of some vast treasure, hidden under ground._--P. 222. Hercules was thought to have the key and power of bestowing all hidden treasure. Note III. _In Tyber ducking thrice, by break of day, To wash the obscenities of night away._--P. 223. The ancients thought themselves tainted and polluted by night itself, as well as bad dreams in the night; and therefore purified themselves by washing their heads and hands every morning, which custom the Turks observe to this day. Note IV. _Fit for Ergenna's prayer and sacrifice_.--P. 223. When any one was thunderstruck, the soothsayer (who is here called Ergenna) immediately repaired to the place, to expiate the displeasure of the gods, by sacrificing two sheep. Note V. _Our superstitions with our life begin_.--P. 223. The poet laughs at the superstitious ceremonies which the old women made use of in their lustration, or purification days, when they named their children, which was done on the eighth day to females, and on the ninth to males. Note VI. _Should some of these, in visions purged from phlegm, Foretel events, or in a morning dream._--P. 225.