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No

Hoc satius, quam si dicas sub judice, Vidi,
Quod non vidisti, faciant equites Asiani
Quamquam, et Cappadoces faciant equitesque Bi-
thyni,

15.

21

Altera quos nudo traducit Gallia talo. Nemo tamen studiis indignum ferre laborem Cogetur posthac, nectit quicumque canoris Eloquium vocale modis, laurumque momordit. Hoc agite, o juvenes : circumspicit et stimulat vos Materiamque sibi Ducis indulgentia quaerit. Si qua aliunde putas rerum exspectanda tuarum chance in Praesidia, atque ideo croceae membrana tabellae quarter. Impletur; lignorum aliquid posce ocius et, quae Componis, dona Veneris, Thelesine, marito, Aut claude et positos tinea pertunde libellos. Frange miser calamos, vigilataque proelia dele, Qui facis in parva sublimia carmina cella, Ut dignus venias hederis et imagine macra.

any other

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25

ib. nudo talo] See Sat. i. 111, and note there.

ib. traducit] "sends over;" lit. transports.

18. posthac] "Now literature has an imperial patron."

20. Hoc agite] "Be industrious." 'Hoc agere,' or 'id agere,' is an idiom of constant occurrence in this sense. Literally it would be, "Do this (i. e. whatever you are doing) and nothing else;" from which it passes naturally into the above meaning.

23. ideo] "with that object."

ib. croceae-tabellae] The "membrana" was one of the materials on

which books were written. See note on Sat. i. 5, 6. Its back was usually stained with saffron, as it was not intended to be written on; see the

same note.

25. Ven.-marito] Vulcan; i. e. the fire.

26. tinea] abl. of the instrument. 27. vigilataque proelia] The descriptions of battles over which you have sat up a whole night.

29. dignus-hederis et imag. ma

H

How poets are treated.

Spes nulla ulterior: didicit nam dives avarus 30
Tantum admirari, tantum laudare disertos,
Ut pueri Junonis avem. Sed defluit aetas
Et pelagi patiens et cassidis atque ligonis.
Taedia tunc subeunt animos, tunc seque suamque
Terpsichoren odit facunda et nuda senectus.

35

Accipe nunc artes, ne quid tibi conferat iste
Quem colis, et Musarum et Apollinis aede relicta.
Ipse facit versus, atque uni cedit Homero
Propter mille annos. At, si dulcedine famae
Succensus recites, maculosas commodat aedes,
Ac longe ferrata domus servire jubetur,

In
qua sollicitas imitatur janua portas.
Scit dare libertos extrema in parte sedentes

cra] Statues of eminent literary
men were placed in the library on
the Palatine, adjoining the temple
of Apollo. See note on Sat. iv. 31,
and cf. Hor. Ep. i. 3. 17, "Scripta,
Palatinus quaecunque recepit Apol-
lo." The statues were crowned with
ivy; see Persius, Prolog. 5, 6, “Il-
lis relinquo, quorum imagines lam-
bunt Haederae sequaces.'" Macra
imagine" is used because the poet
represented was lean himself.

66

30-32.] "For patrons now-adays admire literature much as children do a peacock's tail;" i. e. have no critical taste for it.

32. sed] "meanwhile,"

33. pelagi-cassidis-ligon.] Occupations that would bring you money. 'Cassidis," i. e. military

service.

66

36, 37.] "I should like you just to hear the shifts by which now-adays a patron ("iste, quem colis") excuses himself from giving you any thing."

36, 37. iste-relicta] "Your tutelary deity." The patron has to be worshipped now-a-days, not Apollo and the Muses.

38, 39.]"For instance. The patron ("ipse") is a poet himself; Homer's equal, only the latter lived first. How can you expect him to give you any thing?"

40

39-47.]" All he will do for you, is to lend you an empty room to recite in ;-he won't pay for the hire of the benches."

40. maculosas] "mangy." Another reading is "Maculonus."

ib. commodat] See note on Sat. i. 1—12.

41. longe] In some out-of-the-way part of the town.

ib. ferrata] "unoccupied ;" lit. chained; i. e. locked up.

41. servire jubetur] "is put at your disposal."

66

42.] This carries out the idea of ferrata," 1. 40. The door chained up, like the town gates during a siege ("sollicitae").

43-47.]" He will provide ("scit dare") what costs him nothing,-a packed audience of his own clients. But neither he, nor any other of these patrons ("regum :" cf. Sat. v. 14) will give you the cost of the necessary preparations." "Subsellia:" the benches of the audience, arranged in tiers, in a semicircle, like the seats of a theatre. See note on Sat. iii. 154. "Anabathra:" the steps to the tiers. "Orchestra:" the level space enclosed by the semicircular tiers of benches. The poet stood in the front of the "orchestra" to recite, and the élite of the audience had seats there, also in imita

45

50

Ordinis, et magnas comitum disponere voces:—
Nemo dabit regum, quanti subsellia constent,
Et quae conducto pendent anabathra tigillo,
Quaeque reportandis posita est orchestra cathedris.
Nos tamen hoc agimus, tenuique in pulvere sulcos
Ducimus, et litus sterili versamus aratro.
Nam si discedas, laqueo tenet ambitiosi
Consuetudo mali, tenet insanabile multos
Scribendi cacoethes, et aegro in corde senescit.
Sed vatem egregium, cui non sit publica vena,
Qui nihil expositum soleat deducere, nec qui
Communi feriat carmen triviale moneta,
Hunc, qualem nequeo monstrare et sentio tantum,
Anxietate carens animus facit, omnis acerbi
Impatiens, cupidus silvarum aptusque bibendis
Fontibus Aonidum. Neque enim cantare sub antro
Pierio thyrsumve potest contingere sana
Paupertas atque aeris inops, quo nocte dieque
Corpus eget. Satur est, quum dicit Horatius Euoe!
Quis locus ingenio, nisi quum se carmine solo
Vexant et dominis Cirrhae Nysaeque feruntur
Pectora nostra, duas non admittentia curas ?

tion of the theatre. See note last
cited. It will be observed that the

99.66

relatives, " quae," quae," with the
subsequent words in 1. 46, 47, have
the force of epithets. The translation
will thus be, "the steps supported
("quae pendent") on hired planking,
and the orchestra arranged ("posita")
with its borrowed chairs;" lit. chairs
which have to be returned.
sita" is "arranged," or "set;" i. e.
having the chairs set upon it.

"Po

48. hoc agimus] See note on 1. 20. "And yet we work (at literature), and persist in ploughing the rock.'

50. si] "even if."

53. cui-vena] "whose (poetic) vein is not jobbed;" i. e. who has one of his own, not borrowed.

55. communi-moneta] "nor coins his hackneyed lay at the mint of commonplace." "Triviale:" "what you may find in every cross-way.' 57, 58. omnis-impatiens] i. e.

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"qui nihil acerbi patitur."

55

60

65

60. thyrsum.] Properly the pole borne in Bacchic festivities. See note on Sat. vi. 70. The touch of this was supposed to cause vououaouós, as Horace, Od. ii. 19. 8, Parce, gravi metuende thyrso.' Here it is used for poetical inspiration.

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ib. sana] i. e. "non ebria." But "moesta is also read.

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62. quum dicit-Euoe] i. e. when he wrote his "Ode to Bacchus." See 1. 5. 7 of the Ode last cited, "Euoe! recenti mens trepidat metu Euoe! parce, Liber.' 64. feruntur] are carried cap

tive."

66

ib. dominis Cirrhae Nysaeque] i. e. Apollo and Bacchus. "Cirrha" was the port of Delphi. "Nysa" was a mountain in Thrace, to which Bacchus was carried on his birth, and brought up by the nymphs.

70

75

Magnae mentis opus, nec de lodice paranda
Adtonitae, currus et equos faciesque deorum
Adspicere, et qualis Rutulum confundat Erinnys.
Nam si Virgilio puer et tolerabile desit
Hospitium, caderent omnes a crinibus hydri:
Surda nihil gemeret grave buccina. Poscimus, ut sit
Non minor antiquo Rubrenus Lappa cothurno,
Cujus et alveolos et laenam pignerat Atreus.
Non habet infelix Numitor, quod mittat amico:
Quintillae quod donet, habet; nec defuit illi,
Unde emeret multa pascendum carne leonem
Jam domitum. Constat leviori bellua sumtu
Nimirum, et capiunt plus intestina poetae.
Contentus fama jaceat Lucanus in hortis
Marmoreis: at Serrano tenuique Saleio
Gloria quantalibet quid erit, si gloria tantum est ?
Curritur ad vocem jucundam et carmen amicae
Thebaidos, laetam quum fecit Statius urbem
Promisitque diem: tanta dulcedine captos
Afficit ille animos, tantaque libidine vulgi
Auditur; sed, quum fregit subsellia versu,

68.] See Virg. Aen. xii. 845. 853. 865. 866, "Dicuntur geminae pestes cognomine Dirae... Harum unam celerem demisit ab aethere summo Jupiter... Turni se pestis in ora Fertque refertque sonans, clypeumque everberat alis."

69. puer] "slave."

70, 71.]"his descriptions would lose all their force."

72. coth.] See note on Sat. vi. 506. ib. Rubr. Lapp.] A tragic poet, not otherwise known,

73.] "Whose "Atreus" (an uncompleted tragedy) stands in pawn for his crockery and cloak." For "alveolos," cf. Sat. v. 88.

74. Numitor] One of these wealthy patrons. "Infelix" is of course ironical,-"poor man.

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75. Quintillae] his mistress. 75-77. nec defuit-domitum] "In fact, he did scrape together enough to buy a tame lion, who eats as much meat as a dozen men."

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77, 78.] Ironicè.

80

85

79. Lucanus] i. e. a poet who is well off. Lucan's father, L. Annaeus, held a government situation, in which he amassed a large fortune.

80. Serrano-Saleio] Indigent poets. Serranus is mentioned as such by Martial, Ep. iv. 37. 3,

66

(debet) decies Sabinus, alterumque Serranus." For "Saleius," see Tacit. de Orat. 9, "Quis Saleium nostrum deducit, aut salutat, aut prosequitur?... Laudavimus nuper, ut

.eximiam Vespasiani liberalitatem, quod quingenta sestertia Basso (i. e. Saleio) donasset."

83-87.] It would appear from this that Statius wrote tragedies, but they have not been preserved. His only extant works are the Thebais (by which he is best known), the Silvae, and an unfinished fragment, the Achilleis.

84. diem] scil. "for reciting."
86. fregit subsellia versu] i. e. by

Esurit, intactam Paridi nisi vendat Agaven.
Ille et militiae multis largitur honorem, et
Semestri vatum digitos circumligat auro:-
Quod non dant proceres, dabit histrio. Tu Came-
rinos

Et Bareas, tu nobilium magna atria curas ?—

the applause which it elicited. The phrase is commonly taken as an hyperbole. Cf. Sat. i. 12, 13, where a similar exaggeration is used of the reciter himself. But perhaps, like Addison's trunk-maker, the audience vented their enthusiasm on the benches.

87.] "Unless Paris purchases his last new tragedy, the Agave." For "Paris," see Sat. vi. 87, and note; also note on 1. 92 post. For "Agaven," see note on Sat. vi. 72. The piece is not now extant. "Intactam is literally "virgin."

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Theatrical performances took place at the public games. See note on Sat. vi. 67. Originally, the latter were under the charge of the aediles; see note on Sat. iii. 162. Under the empire, however, the aedileship having declined in importance as the games advanced, their management was transferred to the praetor. The latter, therefore, properly had the selection of the pieces for performance; but the wishes of a leading actor like Paris would of course be attended to.

88-92.] "In fact, a court favourite (like Paris) is the only person to whom poets can really look for patronage.

88, 89. militiae-larg. honorem, semestri auro] i. e. "confers the appointment of military tribune." These were the tribuni militares,' of whom there were four (afterwards increased to six) in each legion. They must not be confounded with the "tribuni militum cum consulari potestati," who occur in the earlier books of Livy. These latter were a temporary substitute for the Consulate, and existed only from B.C. 444-367. The tribuni mili

90

tares' were permanent officers, who
commanded in turns, and were es-
pecially charged with the mainte-
nance of discipline in the legions.
As is usual with government situa-
tions, the appointment was in great
request under the empire. Cf. Sat.
i. 58; x. 94. To gratify as many
applicants as possible, it was now
conferred for six months only, in-
stead of a year as formerly. Hence
it is here called "semestri auro ;”-
'auro' being the 'aureo annulo,' which
the tribunes wore. The duties of
the office were probably discharged
by deputy; so that it became a
mere sinecure, and would seem from
this passage to have been bestowed
on successful authors, in lieu of a
money payment.

90-92.] The life of Juvenal, ascribed to Suetonius, states that this passage led to the poet's banishment. Domitian, it is said, resented it as an attack on his favourite Paris, and sent him into honourable exile in Egypt, under pretence of a military command. The banishment itself very likely occurred, but it could hardly be in consequence of this passage. The Satire was probably not written before the time of Hadrian. And, even if written in Domitian's reign, it speaks highly of his patronage of literature: see the opening lines: nor is the present passage necessarily meant as offensive to Paris. Juvenal returned from his exile after Domitian's assassination.

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90, 91. Camerinos Bareas] Noble families; used generally for the aristocracy of the period. The Camerini' belonged to the Sulpicia gens. For Bareas,' see Sat. iii. 116.

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