The lines are from Lucan, i. 181, describing the evils that preceded the Civil War. The phrase `avidumque in tempore foenus' is curious, and some have hazarded the conjecture 'in tempora,' which seems more easy of construction. We might, perhaps, translate it, `and griping interest, that meets the demand for time.' Certainly Swift's paraphrase can hardly be got out of the words; and the poetical version of Nicholas Rowe—
| `And usury still watching for its day'— |