No Hoc satius, quam si dicas sub judice, Vidi, Altera quos nudo traducit Gallia talo. 15 21 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 25 How poets are treated. Spes nulla ulterior: didicit nam dives avarus 30 35 Accipe nunc artes, ne quid tibi conferat iste cra] Statues of eminent literary 99 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.' 42.] This carries out the idea of "ferrata," 1. 40. The door is 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 :— tion of the theatre. See note last "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. 66 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. 66 55 60 65 See qui nihil acerbi patitur." 60. thyrsum.] Properly the pole borne in Bacchic festivities. 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. 66 66 ib. sana] i. e. "non ebria." But moesta is also read. 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 mountain in Thrace, to which Bacchus was carried on his birth, and brought up by the nymphs. a Magnae mentis opus, nec de lodice paranda 75 Hospitium, caderent omnes a crinibus hydri : 70 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. Šat. v. 88. 74. Numitor] One of these wealthy patrons. "Infelix" is of course ironical,-" poor man." 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.' 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." Esurit, intactam Paridi nisi vendat Agaven. rinos Et Bareas, tu nobilium 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." 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 magna atria curas ?_ 90 tares' were permanent officers, who commanded in turns, and were especially charged with the maintenance of discipline in the legions. As is usual with government situations, 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, instead 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. 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. |