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An Fidenarum Gabiorumque esse potestas,
Et de mensura jus dicere, vasa minora
Frangere, pannosus vacuis aedilis Ulubris?
Ergo quid optandum foret, ignorasse fateris
Sejanum: nam qui nimios optabat honores
Et nimias poscebat opes, numerosa parabat
Excelsae turris tabulata, unde altior esset
Casus et impulsae praeceps immane ruinae.
Quid Crassos, quid Pompeios evertit? et illum,
Ad sua qui domitos deduxit flagra Quirites?

and under the later empire the
'equites,' as a civil body, sank into
complete insignificance.

(4) The castra domestica, i. e. the Praetorian guard. Originally this consisted of one cohort only, and formed the body-guard of the consul or praetor (the terms being then identical) when on actual service. It was accordingly termed the 'praetoria cohors." Augustus increased the number of cohorts in the guard to nine, and formed them into a separate force, part of which was always stationed in the capital. By the advice of Sejanus, Tiberius collected the whole force in Rome, and stationed it in a permanent camp near the 'agger' of Servius Tullius; hence the phrase here "castra domestica." The number of cohorts was afterwards raised by Vitellius to sixteen. The term for the guard under the empire was 'praetoriani,' or 'praetoriae cohortes, and their commander was praefectus praetoris.' The post was one of great influence, and was held by Sejanus himself. See note on 1. 63 above. The reference in this passage, however, is not so much to the appointment to this post as to the influence acquired by having the guard itself at the minister's disposition. See the earlier part of this note.

96. et, qui] "even those who." 97, 98.1"But can any prosperity compensate for a reverse of equal magnitude ?" Ut-par sit men:""that you should have to

sura:

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undergo"

66

100

105

99. hujus] scil. of Sejanus. For praetextam" see note on Sat. i. 77, 78.

100. potestas] "A magistrate;"a familiar instance of the use of the abstract' for the concrete." The first sense of the word is "constituted authority." From this it comes to mean specifically "a magistracy," and hence "the person invested with it." It has formed the Italian podesta,' which in the same way means a magistrate." 'Fiden. Gabiorum:' see note on Sat. vi. 56.

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101. vasa minora] "short measures." To break these was one of the aedile's duties.

102. Ulubris] A town of the same class as Gabii. See Hor. Ep. i. 11. 30: "Quod petis hic est, Est Ulubris, animus si te non deficit aequus." The" aedile" in a countrytown would be little more than a police-serjeant, and, at Ulubrae, probably ragged enough. Hence pannosus" here.

"

105-107.] So Hor. Od. ii. 10. 10, "celsae graviore casu Decidunt turres.' Praeceps' is used as a substantive," downfall." Cf. Sat. i. 149.

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108. Crassos-Pompeios] Plurals used for singulars. By " Crassos" is meant Licinius Crassus, the (so-called) triumvir, who was defeated and killed by the Parthians at the battle of Carrhae, B.C. 55. For the fate of Pompey see 1. 285, 286, and note.

109, 110. illum-Quirites] i. e. Julius Caesar.

Elo

Summus nempe locus, nulla non arte petitus, 110
Magnaque numinibus vota exaudita malignis.
Ad generum Cereris sine caede et vulnere pauci
Descendunt reges, et sicca morte tyranni.

Eloquium ac famam Demosthenis aut Ciceronis quence. Incipit optare, et totis Quinquatribus optat,

115

119

Quisquis adhuc uno partam colit asse Minervam,
Quem sequitur custos angustae vernula capsae.
Eloquio sed uterque perît orator: utrumque
Largus et exundans leto dedit ingenii fons.
Ingenio manus est et cervix caesa; nec umquam
Sanguine causidici maduerunt rostra pusilli.
O fortunatam natam me consule Romam!
Antoni gladios potuit contemnere, si sic
Omnia dixisset. Ridenda poemata malo,

112. generum Cereris] Pluto, 120-126.] The fate of Cicero. who wedded her daughter Proserpine.

113. sicca morte] i. e. incruenta.' "Et" has the effect of repeating the "pauci descendunt" from the preceding clause.

115. Quinquatribus] The festival of Minerva at Rome bore this name. It was so called from the "quinque dies" of the festival, which was kept on the 19th March, and four following days; or more probably because the 19th was the fifth day after the Ides. The rhetoric master's fee (Sat. vii. 157) was paid at this festival; and it would of course be a suitable time to petition for the special gifts of the goddess.

116. quisquis-Minervam] i. e. "the merest lad who still pays but anas' for his schooling."

117. custos-capsae] the " capsarius;" a small slave, who attended the pupil to school, carrying his books. The latter were rolled up and put in a case ("capsa "), from which the name was derived. See note on Sat. i. 5, 6. The slave would usually be one of the petted vernae,' or slaves born in the house; see on Sat. ix. 10. "Vernula" is nom. to "sequitur," and custos" in apposition to it.

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120. manus caesa] Cicero was one of the earliest victims to the proscription' commenced by the triumvirs, Antony, Lepidus, and Augustus. See note on Sat. ii. 28. His twelve Philippics against Antony, although models of eloquence (see 1. 125, 126), naturally excited the animosity of their object. Cicero was at his Tusculan villa when the list of the "proscribed ". was made out. He attempted to escape by sea, but was compelled by stress of weather to land at Formiae, where he was overtaken by the executioners. His head and hands were cut off, and nailed to the 'rostra' in the Fo

rum.

121. pusilli] inferior.

122.] The line here quoted is from a poem of Cicero's, "De meis temporibus."

122-124.1 "Had Cicero been as bad an orator as he was poet, he would have escaped assassination." Cicero's poetry was severely handled by ancient writers. Sec Quintilian, ix. 4. 41, where this unhappy line, "O fortunatam natam," &c., is cited to enforce the warning," Videndum ne syllabae verbi prioris ultimae sint primae sequentis." So too Martial, Ep. 2. 89. 3, 4, "Carmina quod

Military fame.

Quam te conspicuae, divina Philippica, famae, 125
Volveris a prima quae proxima.
Saevus et illum
Exitus eripuit, quem mirabantur Athenae
Torrentem, et pleni moderantem frena theatri.
Dis ille adversis genitus fatoque sinistro,
Quem pater, ardentis massae fuligine lippus,
A carbone et forcipibus, gladiosque parante
Incude, et luteo Vulcano ad rhetora misit.

130

Bellorum exuviae, truncis affixa tropaeis
Lorica, et fracta de casside buccula pendens,
Et curtum temone jugum, victaeque triremis 135
Aplustre, et summo tristis captivus in arcu,
Humanis majora bonis creduntur: ad haec se
Romanus Graiusque ac barbarus endoperator

scribis Musis et Apolline nullo
Laudari debes; hoc Ciceronis ha-
bes." His own cotemporaries were
equally hard upon his poetical at-
tempts, and made Cicero very an-
gry. See Cic. in Pison. 29 extr. 30:
Scire cupio, quid tandem isto in
versu reprehendas, cedant arma
togae ?'
At in altero illo,
inquit, haeres, Concedat laurea
linguae,' &c. This line, "Cedant
arma togae,"
""concedat laurea lin-
guae," is also from the poem "De
meis temporibus."

126. volveris-proxima] The well-known Philippica secunda. It is the most masterly of all the speeches against Antony. See note on 1. 120 above. For "volveris" see note on Sat. i. 5, 6.

126-132.] The fate of Demosthenes. After the death of Alexander, Demosthenes succeeded in forming a general confederacy under the Athenians against the Macedonian power. After the battle of Cranon however (B.C. 322) the alliance fell to pieces, and Antipater marched against Athens, and demanded the surrender of Demosthenes. The latter had fled to the temple of Poseidon at Calauria; but finding that he was to be given up to Antipater, destroyed himself by poison; the "saevus-exitus" of I.

126, 127.
128. theatri] After the theatre of
Dionysus was built, B.C. 340, the
KKλnoia was held there instead of
in the Pnyx. But perhaps "thea-
trum" is used only in its secondary
meaning of "an assembly." So
Cic. de Divin. i. 28: "magnificen-
tissimum senatus-consultum fre-
quentissimo theatro incredibili cla-
more et plausu comprobatum."

130-132.] The father of Demosthenes was a sword-cutler.

133. truncis] (adjective) "headless." The "tropaeum' was originally formed on the field of battle, by pollarding a tree, and suspending the spoils from it. So Virg. Aen. xi. 5-8: "Ingentem quercum decisis undique ramis Constituit tumulo fulgentiaque induit arma, Mezentî ducis exuvias, tibi, magne, tropaeum, Armipotens.' The shape thus given was always retained by the "tropaeum."

135. curtum temone] i. e. ' carens.' "Docked of."

136. arcu] scil. 'triumphali :' such as that of Titus at Rome.

ib. tristis captivus] The bas-relief on the upper part of the arch represented the victor treading the defeated army under foot.

138. endoperator] Sat. iv. 29, and

note.

139

Erexit: causas discriminis atque laboris
Inde habuit.-(Tanto major famae sitis est, quam
Virtutis; quis enim virtutem amplectitur ipsam,
Praemia si tollas ?)-Patriam tamen obruit olim
Gloria paucorum, et laudis titulique cupido,
Haesuri saxis cinerum custodibus, ad quae
Discutienda valent sterilis mala robora ficus;
Quandoquidem data sunt ipsis quoque fata se-
pulcris.

145

151

Expende Hannibalem: quot libras in duce summo
Invenies? Hic est, quem non capit Africa, Mauro
Percussa Oceano, Niloque admota tepenti,
Rursus ad Aethiopum populos, altosque elephantos.
Additur imperiis Hispania: Pyrenaeum
Transilit. Opposuit natura Alpemque nivemque :
Diducit scopulos, et montem rumpit aceto.
Jam tenet Italiam: tamen ultra pergere tendit.
Actum, inquit, nihil est, nisi Poeno milite portas
Frangimus, et media vexillum pono Subura.
O qualis facies et quali digna tabella,
Quum Gaetula ducem portaret belua luscum!
Exitus ergo quis est ? O gloria! vincitur idem

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aceto putrefaciunt."

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156

156. Subura] Sat. iii. 5, and note. 157, 158.] See Livy xxii. 2 fin., Ipse Hannibal, aeger oculis ex verna primum intemperie variante calores frigoraque, elephanto vectustandem altero oculo capitur." The elephanto' is the "Gaetula belua” here.

159-166.] After the defeat of Zama, Hannibal's influence gradually declined at Carthage. Finding that he would be given up to the Romans, Hannibal fled to the court of Antiochus, who gave him the command of a naval force. After the defeat of Antiochus at Magnesia, B.C. 190, the Romans demanded the surrender of Hannibal as one of the conditions of peace. He escaped, however, to the court of Prusias, king of Bithynia (the "Bithyno tyranno of 1. 161, 162), where he passed some years in security. The

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Nempe, et in exsilium praeceps abit, atque ibi

magnus

Mirandusque cliens sedet ad praetoria regis,
Donec Bithyno libeat vigilare tyranno.
Finem animae, quae res humanas miscuit olim,
Non gladii, non saxa dabunt, non tela, sed ille
Cannarum vindex ac tanti sanguinis ultor,
Annulus. I, demens, et saevas curre per Alpes,
Ut pueris placeas et declamatio fias!
Unus Pellaeo juveni non sufficit orbis:
Aestuat infelix angusto limite mundi,

160

165

Ut Gyarae clausus scopulis parvaque Seripho. 170
Quum tamen a figulis munitam intraverit urbem,
Sarcophago contentus erit. Mors sola fatetur,
Quantula sint hominum corpuscula. Creditur olim
Velificatus Athos, et quidquid Graecia mendax
Audet in historia: constratum classibus îsdem 175

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170. ut] "As if he had been." ib. Gyarae-Seripho] See Sat. i. 73; vi. 564, and notes.

171. a figulis munitam] i. e. Babylon. The wall was built of clay dug from the moat, and made into bricks on the spot. See Herod. i. 179.

172.] Alexander's death at Babylon from a debauch is well known.

174. velificatus Athos] See Herod. vii. 122, o MED VAUTIKOS στρατός. διεξέπλωσε τὴν διώρυχα τὴν ἐν τῷ ̓Αθῳ γενομένην. See the digging of the trench described cap. 22, 23.

175, 176.] See Herod. vii. 35, 36, πεντηκοντέρους καὶ τριήρεας συνθέντες, ἀγκύρας κατῆκαν περιμИkeas' ταῦτα δὲ ποιήσαντες, KaTÉTEIvov ik yns тà örλa. ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἐγεφυρώθη ὁ πόρος, κορμούς ξύλων έπετίθεσαν καθύπερθε τῶν ὅπλων τοῦ τόνου OETES δὲ, ὕλην ἐπεφόρησαν κόσμῳ δὲ θέντες καὶ τὴν ὕλην, γῆν ἐπεφόρησαν· διέβη δὲ ὁ στρατὸς ἐν ἑπτὰ ἡμέρῃσι καὶ ἐν ἑπτὰ εὐφρόνησι.

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