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worse.

600

Tantum artes hujus, tantum medicamina possunt, Quae steriles facit atque homines in ventre necandos Conducit. Gaude, infelix, atque ipse bibendum Porrige, quidquid erit: nam si distendere vellet Et vexare uterum pueris salientibus, esses Aethiopis fortasse pater; mox decolor heres Impleret tabulas, numquam tibi mane videndus. Transeo suppositos et gaudia votaque saepe Ad Spurcos decepta lacus, atque inde petitos Pontifices, Salios, Scaurorum nomina falso Corpore laturos. Stat Fortuna improba noctu, Arridens nudis infantibus. Hos fovet omnes Involvitque sinu; domibus nunc porrigit altis Secretumque sibi mimum parat. Hos amat, his se Ingerit, atque suos ridens producit alumnos. Hic magicos affert cantus, hic Thessala vendit who prac- Philtra, quibus valeat mentem vexare mariti, 611 Et solea pulsare nates.

The wife

tises

charms

of the wealthy, a birth is rare indeed. Whenever they can, they procure an abortion ("homines-conducit ").

596. steriles] sub. "feminas." 597-601.] Addressed to the husband. "Do not prevent them. Better have that, than have a child which is some one's else."

598,599. nam-salientibus] Transl. "For if your wife had a disposition to become enceinte."

600. Aethiopis] i. e. some slave of your own.

601. tabulas] your will. Sat. i. 68 and note.

ib. numquam-videndus] "whom you had safest not meet in the forenoon." Omens were especially drawn from what was met at the commencement of any thing, as of the day, the journey, &c. This ill-favoured halfcaste would have been the worst of

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Quod desipis, inde est ;

supposed fathers.

606

603. ad lacus] "tricked;" i. e. excited by a trickery practised at the Spurci lacus. The pool thus named was in the vegetable market ('forum olitorium'), near the columna lactaria.' At the latter, foundlings were exposed, and fed with milk. Women who were childless occasionally passed off one of these foundlings as their own.

603 605.] "and children fetched thence to become pontifices and Salii, and bear the names of our leading families." For". 'pontifices note on Sat. iv. 46. For "Salii" see note on Sat. ii. 126. 'Scauri," used for any illustrious house.

66

see

608. mimum] 'a farce.' See on Sat. i. 3.

609. ingerit] "forces herself upon." 610-626.] Description of the love-charms practised by wives upon their husbands. "One

610, 611. Hic-philtra]
dealer supplies incantations; another,
love-potions."

611. valeat] scil. the wife.
612. solea-nates] Transl. "and

on her husband.

The poi

soner.

615

Inde animi caligo et magna oblivio rerum,
Quas modo gessisti. Tamen hoc tolerabile, si non
Et furere incipias, ut avunculus ille Neronis,
Cui totam tremuli frontem Caesonia pulli
Infudit. Quae non faciet, quod Principis uxor?
Ardebant cuncta et fracta compage ruebant,
Non aliter, quam si fecisset Juno maritum
Insanum. Minus ergo nocens erit Agrippinae 620
Boletus siquidem unius praecordia pressit
Ille senis, tremulumque caput descendere jussit
In coelum, et longam manantia labra salivam.
Haec poscit ferrum atque ignes, haec potio torquet:
Haec lacerat mixtos Equitum cum sanguine Patres.
Tanti partus equae, tanti una venefica constat ! 626
Oderunt natos de pellice ;-nemo repugnet,
Nemo vetet. Jam jam privignum occidere fas est.
Vos ego, pupilli, moneo, quis amplior est res,

make him her humble slave." We say, "comb his hair."

612. desipis] addressed to the husband.

ib. inde] From these love-spells. 615. avunculus - Neronis] i. e. Caligula. Caesonia (1. 616) was his wife, and secured his constancy by love-potions, which were thought to have unsettled his intellect.

616. frontem-pulli] i. e. (by an hyperbole) the Hippomanes; see 1. 133 above. This was an alleged excrescence on a foal's forehead, which drove the dam mad if she smelt it; hence the name 'hippomanes.' The dam accordingly tore off the substance and swallowed it. She was often, however, anticipated, as it was collected for use in lovecharms. Cf. Virg. Aen. iv. 515, "nascentis equi de fronte revulsus Et matri praereptus amor."

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618. ardebunt-ruebant] From the frantic conduct of Caligula in his derangement, occasioned by Caesonia's potions. See note on 1. 615. Cuncta," i. e." the whole empire." 620, 621. Agripp. boletus] See note on Sat. v. 147.

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66

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621-623.] "Since that only put an end to one old man." 621. pressit] stopped." 622, 623. tremulum caput;-longam-salivam] Claudius is similarly described by Suetonius; "spumante rictu; caput semper tremulum." Claud. 30.

ib. descendere in coelum] To receive apotheosis. See note on 1. 115. The descendere is of course highly ironical.

624, 625.] "Whereas Caligula's poison ('haec,' see note on 1. 615) led to his practising every kind of cruelty." Caligula's thirst for blood was as insatiable as Marat's. It was embodied in his well-known wish, "Utinam populus Romanus unam cervicem haberet !" Suet. Cal. 30.

627-630.] "One could not object, perhaps, if they only poisoned their husband's illegitimate children (natos de pellice), or, as things go, his child by a former marriage (privignum). The mischief is that, now-a-days, they poison their own."

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629. pupilli] A woman was incapacitated from being guardian

630

635

Custodite animas, et nulli credite mensae.
Livida materno fervent adipata veneno.
Mordeat ante aliquis, quidquid porrexerit illa,
Quae peperit: timidus praegustet pocula pappas.
Fingimus haec, altum satira sumente cothurnum,
Scilicet, et, finem egressi legemque priorum,
Grande Sophocleo carmen bacchamur hiatu,
Montibus ignotum Rutulis coeloque Latino?
Nos utinam vani! Sed clamat Pontia, Feci,
Confiteor, puerisque meis aconita paravi,
Quae deprensa patent : facinus tantum ipsa peregi!
Tune duos una saevissima vipera coena ?
Tune duos? Septem, si septem forte fuissent.
Credamus tragicis, quidquid de Colchide torva
Dicitur et Procne: nil contra conor: et illae
Grandia monstra suis audebant temporibus; sed
Non propter numos. Minor admiratio summis 616
Debetur monstris, quoties facit ira nocentem
Hunc sexum, et rabie jecur incendente feruntur
Praecipites; ut saxa jugis abrupta, quibus mons
Subtrahitur, clivoque latus pendente recedit.
Illam ego non tulerim, quae computat, et scelus
ingens

Sana facit. Spectant subeuntem fata mariti

('tutor'). Where a minor was possessed of property, the tutela' was given to the nearest agnati,' the mother retaining the care of the infant's person. Cf. Hor. Ep. i. 1. 21, 22, ut piger annus Pupillis, quos dura premit custodia matris."

633. pappas] A child's term of endearment to the raidaywyos, or children's attendant.

634-638.] Addressed to an incredulous reader. "You think this is all poetical fiction. I wish it were. Look at that affair of Pontia."

634. cothurnum] See note on 1. 506 above.

635. priorum] My predecessors in satire.

636, 637.]"Depict some crime of the Greek tragedy (such, e. g. as

641

650

those of 1. 643), not the real life of Rome."

638. Pontia] She destroyed her own children by poison, in Nero's reign. So Martial ii. 34, "O mater, qua nec Pontia deterior."

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643-652.] One can quite believe now what tragedy tells of Medea and Procne. In fact, I must not pretend to equal these; they were real achievements, considering the period. The only point in which they do not quite come up to us, is that they were not perpetrated for money." Medea is called "Colchis," from her birth place. For Procne, see note on Sat. vii. 92.

649, 650.] "As rocks broken away from the heights, by which the mountain is reduced, and the side recedes with nodding cliff." The

Alcestim, et similis si permutatio detur,

:

Morte viri cupiant animam servare catellae.
Occurrent multae tibi Belides atque Eriphylae 655
Mane Clytemnestram nullus non vicus habebit.
Hoc tantum refert, quod Tyndaris illa bipennem
Insulsam et fatuam laeva dextraque tenebat.
At nunc res agitur tenui pulmone rubetae ;
Sed tamen et ferro, si praegustaret Atridęs
Pontica ter victi cautus medicamina regis.

comparison of the "feruntur praeci-
pites" is confined to the clause' ut
saxa jugis abrupta.' The following
words, "quibus-recedit.' merely
amplify the "abrupta." The conse-
quences of the rocks breaking away
are that the mountain loses part of
its substance, the line of cliff is
thrown further back, and the side
becomes disrupted. Or the ante-
cedent to "quibus" may be "ju-
gis:"-" from which the mountain
(supporting mass below) is imper-
ceptibly withdrawn."

652-661.] "So much for the way they treat their children. As to their husbands' lives, they are not worth an hour's purchase. Alcestis died to save her husband; our wives, if they were permitted a similar exchange. would sacrifice us to save a pet spaniel."

652. spectant] "See exhibited on the stage.

655. Belides] The Danaides; so called from their grandfather Belus. They were married to the fifty sons of Aegyptus, and murdered them in one night, with the exception of Hypermnestra, who spared her husband Lynceus. The story is well known from Horace: "scelus atque notas Virginum poenas," Od. iii. 11.

25-52.

ib. Eriphylae] The sister of Adrastus, and wife of Amphiaraus, one of the "Seven against Thebes." He was a prophet, and foresaw the failure of the expedition. He was

660

unable to escape, however, as he had promised on his marriage to abide by his wife's judgment on any point in which his own opinion differed from that of Adrastus. In the present case, she had been bribed by Polynices with a necklace to advocate the war. Jupiter opened a chasm in the earth which swallowed Amphiaraus, and he became immortal.

656. mane]

64

any morning." 657-661.] "The only difference is, that heroine (Clytemnestra) used the axe, while ours adopt the less rude agency of poison. Unless indeed their husbands take antidotes, in which case they will follow the precedent."

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659. tenui-rubetae] i. e. by poison. See 'rubeta' in Lat. Dict. 660. Atrides] i. e. the husband. 661. Pontica-regis] The Pontic drugs of the thrice-conquered king.' In other words, the drugs (antidotes against poison) of the thrice-conquered king of Pontus. Mithridates is meant. On his first accession he was threatened with numerous conspiracies, and as a precaution against them, resorted to the use of antidotes. Cf. Sat. xiv. 254, 255. His constitution in this way became practically poison-proof. In fact, he could not even poison himself, as he tried to do on his final overthrow. He is called "ter victi" here, because successively defeated by Sylla, Lucullus, and Pompey, in the three Mithridatic wars.

SATIRA VII.

THE PROSPECTS OF LITERATURE.

An imperial pa

tron.

5

Et
spes
et ratio studiorum in Caesare tantum :
Solus enim tristes hac tempestate Camenas
Respexit, quum jam celebres notique poetae
Balneolum Gabiis, Romae conducere furnos
Tentarent, nec foedum alii nec turpe putarent
Praecones fieri, quum, desertis Aganippes
Vallibus, esuriens migraret in atria Clio.
Nam si Pieria quadrans tibi nullus in arca
Ostendatur, ames nomen victumque Machaerae,
Et vendas potius, commissa quod auctio vendit 10
Stantibus, oenophorum, tripodas, armaria, cistas,
Alcyonem Paccî, Thebas et Terea Fausti.

1. Caesare] Perhaps Domitian. See note on Sat. vi. 387. It is uncertain, however. See note on 1. 92.

4. conducere (hire) balneolum furnos] i. e. turn bath-keepers or bakers.

6, 7. Aganippes vallibus] See their topography in Macleane ad loc.

7. atria] The 'atria auctionaria' of Cicero (de Leg. Agr. i. 3).

8. quadrans] See Smith's Dict. Antiq. voc. as.'

ib. Pieria-in arca] In the poet's strong-box. See Sat. i. 90 and note. 9. ames] "acquiesce in ;" like the Gr. στέργειν.

ib. Machaerae] Some leading

auctioneer of the day.
10. commissa-auctio] A sale
"bonorum commissorum;" of "for-
feited property."

11. armaria] Fixed presses for books. We must not think of the arrangements of a modern library. The books were manuscript rolls; see note on Sat. i. 5, 6. They were kept either in these presses, or in moveable cases (capsae,' or scrinia"). "Cistas "here is very likely used for scrinia;' cf. Sat. iii. 206; but it may mean boxes for any purpose.

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12. Pacci Fausti] Inferior dramatic poets. Alcyonem,' &c., are the names of their plays.

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