Punch (34.1858)

March 6, 1858.

PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

99

CAN VERY WELL SPARE.

VIRGIL v. PALMERSTON.

Both Publius Virgilius Maro and John William Temple
"Viscount Palmerston, have given a sketch of the " Civis Romanus,"
according to their notion of the qualities implied in the word. There is
matter for close and edifying comparison in the two pictures.

That of the Roman Poet occurs in the 6th book of the JEneid, where
Pius JSneas descending into the lower world under convoy of the
Sibyl, meets the shade of Anchises, who paints him a picture, by
anticipation, of the greatness of the future Rome.
Here is the "Civis Romanus" of Publius Virgilius Maro :—
" Excudent alii spirantia mollius cera,

Credo equidem, et vivos ducent de marmore vultus,
Orabunt causas melius, coelique meatus
Descnbent radio, et labentia sidera mundi.
Tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento.
Hce tibi erunt artes, pacisque itnponere morem,
Parcere subjeciis et debellare superbos."

A very stately picture, it must be owned, and one which, with a
slight permutation in the last line, has a close parallel in the " Civis
Romanus " of the late Premier. Palmerston's " Civts Romanus" it
will be seen, is in effect Virgil's—with a difference :—

" Let France in her bronzes excel us,
And such like artistic knick-knackery,

John Bull is too wise to be jealous
Of skill in such flimsy gim-crackery.
Own we can't make a statue, at auy rate,
Though we 're quite up to snuff at a mull;
Admit that our Bar is degenerate,
And our talking in Parliament dull.
Let us grant without scruple Leverrier

Out-telescopes Adams by far.
What's the odds ? The more planets the merrier,

And Neptune can't be a French Star.
Remember as " Civis Romanus,"

You Ve to rule all the world, if you can:
There's no fact of history so plain as

That your field of empire is man.
Leave the weak, though their cause be a holy one :

Back the strong, though your conscience cry nay,
Knuckle down before Lonis Napoleon,

And bully Commissioner Yeh !

A Man to be Carefully Avoided.

" Oh ! yes," exclaimed young Sharpus, at a deserted hotel in the
loneliest part of Southend, " I always make a point of travelling with a

Sack of cards—trust me for that. There's no knowing, you see, ray
oy, what may turn up in the course of one's travels."