Haec ego non agitem? Sed quid magis Heracleas Et mare percussum puero fabrumque volantem, Persius and Juvenal as the representative of Roman satire. Lucilius was more in Juvenal's way, and he mentions him below (v. 165) with respect. No one should be misled by the Scholiast's note: "Lucernam dicit quia Satyrici ad omnium vitia quasi lucernam admovent, et ut adurant et ut ostendant crimina." 'Lucerna' only means what we mean when we speak of the 'midnight òil.' 52. Sed quid magis Heracleas] 'Agitem' must be repeated, but in a different sense. He asks why he should rather write on such hackneyed subjects as the labours of Hercules, the wanderings of Diomed, the adventures of Theseus, Icarus, and Daedalus, than attack the vices of the day? Jahn punctuates differently and badly, Sed quid magis? Heracleas,' &c. 55. Quum leno accipiat moechi bona,] This man connives at his wife's intrigues at his own table, like the man Galba, mentioned below (S. v. 4), and gets her paramour to make him his 'heres,' which the woman could not be under the 'lex Voconia,' if the man's census exceeded a certain amount. (Savigny, Ueber die Lex Voconia. Vermischt. Schrift. vol. i.) Accipiat bona' Heinrich understands to mean that he was made 'heres ex asse,' heir of the man's whole estate. (See Long's Cicero, vol. i. p. 121 sqq., for a full discussion of the 'lex Voconia.') Suetonius (c. 8) says that Domitian took away from women of loose character 'lecticae usum, jusque capiendi legata hereditatesque;' but these must be women. notorious and convicted, whereas Juvenal is attacking the vices of private society, as Heinrich observes. As to lacunar,' see Hor. S. ii. 3. 272, n. *..55 60 Ipse miser vidi cum me dormire putares Sobrius apposito crimina vestra mero.' The Scoliast Acron quotes this verse on Hor. C. iii. 6. 29: "Sed jussa coram non sine conscio Surgit marito.' 58. Quum fas esse pulet] "When that man thinks he has a right to look for a tribune's place who, while yet a boy, wasted his substance on his stables, and lost his patrimony with flying on swift coach down the Flaminian road: for he was Automedon and held the reins while the great man made himself pleasant to his man-mistress." This person may have been some favourite of Domitian's, who had been made, or hoped to be made, a 'tribunus militum' (see xvi. 20, n.). The Scholium on 'praesepibus' is "Neronem tangit ;" but this seems to belong to 'ipse,' which is often used independently for the great man' (S. v. 86, n.), and is here opposed to Automedon, as Achilles to his charioteer. Madvig (Opusc. i. 36) denies that there is any allusion to Nero, and says that 'ipse' is plainly the driver. There may be two opinions on the subject; but after much reflection I have adopted the other with Heinrich. 'Lacerna' is a man's cloak, and lacernatae ' means that the amica' was a man. men are recorded as having been formally married to Nero, named Sporus and Pythagoras (Sueton. c. 28, and Tacitus, Anh. xv. 37). Jactaret' may be 'showed himself off,' or something of that sort. Madvig finds great difficulty in this interpretation. Τπο 63. Nonne libet ceras implere capaces] "Does not one feel inclined to take out one's tablets, and fill pages, even while the scene is passing under his eyes in the middle of the street?" The 'tabulae,' waxed wooden tab 57. vigilanti stertere naso?] So Ovid says lets, of the Romans, are fully described in (Amor. i. 5. 13): Dict. Antiqq. The pages were called Quadrivio, quum jam sexta cervice feratur, simply 'cerae.' 'Quadrivia' were the 64. sexta cervice feratur,] This thief was carried in a cathedra,' borne by six slaves, 'hexaphoron;' the sides were thrown open, by the drawing back of the curtains by which they were usually closed in. This represents the impudence of the man, who ought to have been ashamed to show his face, and his laziness, in which he is said to look very much like Maecenas. The character of Maecenas, in this respect, is mentioned in my note on Hor. S. i. 2. 25, "Maltinus tunicis demissis ambulat," where authorities are quoted. See also below, S. xii. 39. Multum referens de Maecenate' is, literally, representing much of Maecenas.' So Virgil has " Invalidique patrum referunt jejunia nati" (G. iii. 127). 'Supino' means no more than lying lazily on his back. The 'cathedra' was so constructed that the person half reclined and half sat. In the 'lectica' he lay at full length; and in the 'sella' he sat upright, as on an arm chair. 'Cathedrae' were chiefly used by women, and were considered effeminate carriages for men. "Cujus apud molles minima est jactura cathedras" (vi.91). Its shape and furniture are described in ix. 52: "Strata positus longaque cathedra." They were all carried by a single pole in front, and another behind, resting on the bearers' shoulders. The Indian tonjon' represents the sella,' and in some instances the cathedra.' 65 70 names on the outside of it (see Dict. Ant. 'Gemma uda' is a seal moistened before the impression was made. 'Lautus' is 'fine;' and 'beatus,' 'well to do' (see Hor. C. i. 4. 14, n.). 69. molle Calenum] The wine of Cales (Calvi) in Campania was among the best in Horace's time. It seems to have been one of the milder wines, from this epithet. This woman, who is represented as a person of family (Ruperti says Agrippina is meant, which Madvig (i. 40) rightly denies), Juvenal says, when she was going to hand her husband some wine, mixed poison with it; and being well skilled in such matters, taught her simpler neighbours how to get rid of their husbands in the same way, and to carry them out to their burial without any regard to the notoriety of the murder and the crowds that collected to see the funeral. Rubeta' is a poisonous sort of toad (see below, vi. 659). Nigros' expresses the effect of the poison on the dead body. The woman is called 'Locusta,' after her who poisoned Claudius by the direction of Agrippina, and Britannicus by the order of Nero. See Tacitus, Ann. xii. 66; xiii. 15. See also Suetonius (Nero, c. 33), who says she was handsomely rewarded for the latter of these murders. She was put to death by Galba, Nero's successor. The Scholiast on this place calls her 'Lucusta,' in one version of his text; and Jahn adops that form. Valla's Scholiast says that Nero employed her to teach him her art, and many young women besides, "ut et illum doceret et plures puellas ;" and Suetonius says, he gave her "impunitatem (she had been convicted of witchcraft) praediaque ampla, sed et discipulos." Scholiast quotes two corrupt lines from Turnus, the satiric poet, thus amended by Valla: "Ex quo Caesareas soboles Locusta cecidit Horrendum, curas dum liberat atra Neronis." The Per famam et populum nigros efferre maritos. 72. Per famam et populum] This forms one subject, in the midst of the whispers or talking of the citizens. It seems, therefore, that the corpse was carried out with the face exposed. 73. brevibus Gyaris] This was a small barren island (still called Giura) in the Aegean, one of the Cyclades, to which a few of the worst sort of criminals were transported in the time of the empire. When it was proposed that Silanus should be sent thither, Tiberius to shew his clemency chose another place of banishment for him, saying that Gyara (or Gyarus) "insulam immitem et sine cultu hominum esse" (Tac. Ann. ii. 69). It was ill supplied with water (‘egena aquae:' Ib. iv. 30); and it was little better than death to be sent there. See vi. 563; x. 170. 'Brevibus' is equivalent to 'parvis.' 74. Probitas laudatur et alget.] These words are often quoted and imitated. Gifford quotes from Massinger's Fatal Dowry (Act ii. sc. 1): "In this partial, avaricious age, What price bears honour? virtue? long ago It was but praised and freezed: but now-adays "Tis colder far, and has nor love nor praise." John of Salisbury (Policr. iii. 9) quotes these 75. praetoria,] Fine houses fit for an 75 emperor (x. 161). As to the Roman tables and their vessels of silver and bronze, see Hor. S. i. 4. 28, n.; ii. 2. 4, n. 76. stantem extra pocula caprum.] The Scholiast quotes Martial (viii. 51.9): "Stat caper Aeolio Thebani vellere Phrixi Cultus." Grangaeus asks, not with his usual judgment, whether 'stantem' means "pedibus erectis ut solent pascere caprae, an eminentem?" It means standing out in bold relief, as in Ovid (Met. xii. 235): "Forte fuit juxta signis extantibus asper Antiquus crater." Stare' is occasionally used in this sense absolutely, as in Hor. C. i. 9. 1: “Vides ut alta stet nive candidum Soracte," 'see you how white Soracte with deep snow stands out' (see note). Such figures on cups, &c., when they were moveable, were called 'emblemata,' after the Greek. The Latin name seems to have been 'crustae.' On the ancient Greek vessels they were very handsome and curious. Verres laid his hands upon many. Cicero calls them 'scyphos sigillatos,' cups with signa,' or carved figures, upon them (in Verr. ii. 4. 14. See Long's note). The art, though continued till the latter years of the Roman republic, was suddenly dropped, as Pliny says (H. N. xxxiii. 12). The latest artist of the kind whom he mentions, and whom he calls a 'crustarius,' of note, was named Teucer, no doubt a Greek. 78. praetextatus adulter?] Heinrich and Madvig take this for a boy paramour, who has learnt his lesson of vice before he has put on the 'toga virilis.' It may be so. Compare ii. 170: “Sic praetextatos referunt Artaxata mores." There is more force in this than in taking the words for a senator, or others who wore the 'toga praetexta,' concerning which, see Dict. Ant., and Hor. S. i. 5. 34, n. As to 'sponsae,' see iii. 111, n. These 79. facit indignatio versum,] words also are used by John of Salisbury, whose quotations are always well chosen (Curial. iii. 13): "Disposueram tamen silere de mollibus qui sicut ignominiosi ita sunt et 80 Qualemcunque potest: quales ego vel Cluvienus. videntur innominabiles. Silentium indicit was 80. Cluvienus.] It is impossible to say who is meant by this name. The Scholiast throws no light upon it. He only says it "delirus poeta vel indoctus." 81. Ex quo Deucalion,] Horace has this phrase (C. iii. 3. 21): "Ex quo destituit Deos Mercede pacta Laomedon." Juvenal says that the passions of mankind, such as they have been ever since the flood, are the subjects he has chosen for his pen. The story of Deucalion and Pyrrha, and how men and women sprung up from the stones they threw behind them, is told at length by Ovid (Met. i. 260 sqq.). The mountain on which the ark landed is said by Ovid, and was generally supposed, to be Parnassus; and the divinity whose oracle Deucalion consulted, Themis. Sortes,' for the answer of an oracle, is taken from the Italian practice, particularly in the temples of Fortuna, whose responses were delivered by lots (Cic. Div. ii. 41. 56), wooden tablets with different inscriptions shaken out of a box ('sitella,' 'cista,'' urna,' 'arca'), and not by word of mouth, as the Greek oracles were delivered. Virgil has 'Lyciae sortes' twice over (Aen. iv. 346. 377). Sortes poscere' is an unusual phrase. 'Poscere' is stronger than 'petere,' which is more commonly used. Poscere divos' is not analogous. That is to ask a favour of the gods, as "Quid dedicatum poscit Apollinem Vates?" (Hor. C. i. 31. 1.) 83. caluerunt mollia saxa,] This seems to be taken from Ovid's description (1. c.): “Saxa (quis hoc credat? nisi sit pro teste vetustas?) Ponere duritiem coepere suumque rigorem, Mollirique mora mollitaque ducere for mam. 86. discursus,] Forcellini interprets this by "discursationes, conatus, labores, ad opes aut dignitates adipiscer.das," and quotes Pliny (Epp. viii. 23), “quo discursu aedilitatem petiit." It seems to signify generally the distractions of a busy life. Farrago,' which is derived from far,' is properly a mixture of various grains given to cattle (Georg. iii. 205). Here it means a medley of miscellaneous topics. Persius uses it in a different sense (v. 77, see note). 'Libelli' might mean a volume of satires or this present satire only, as in Horace (S. i. 10. 92), “I puer atque meo citus haec subscribe libello," where I think 'libellus' means the satire; but many commentators take it for the book (see Intr.). 88. Major avaritiae patuit sinus?] 'Sinus' means the fold of the toga over the breast within which the purse (crumena) usually hung. A large purse would require a large sinus.' Ŏvid has (Am. i. 10. 18): "Quo pretium condat non habet ille sinum." So Heinrich takes it. The old commentators differ. Grangaeus takes it this way. Britannicus explains it from the bellying of a sail with a fair wind; and Owen translates thus, "And when did vice with growth so rank prevail? Or avarice wanton in so fair a gale?" Holyday, "When open lay to avarice a larger haven?" Mr. Mayor says, "When did the gulf of avarice yawn wider?" comparing the passage quoted by Forcellini from Seneca (Oed. 582), "Subito dehiscit terra et immenso sinu Laxata patuit." I have no doubt the first explanation is right. "When 88. alea quando Hos animos?] has the gambling spirit run so higa?" (Owen.) This is a pretty literal translation. "When had gambling such spirit as it has now (hos animos)?" Ruperti's explanation of hos' as "tot animos sc. cepit, occupavit" (i.e. when did gambling seize upon so many minds?) is very bad. Heinecke is no better, who takes hos animos' for 'hos Hos animos? Neque enim loculis comitantibus itur Romanos,' or proposes 'potius' to change 'hos' into 'haec,' and to explain it thus: "Quando alea haec, i.e. talis, ut nunc est; talis aleae cupiditas animos, homines, sc. cepit." 'Habuit' is easily supplied, as the Scholiast suggests. The verb is often omitted in such questions where there is indignation, as below (vi. 641): "Tune duos una, saevissima vipera, coena? Tune duos? Septem, si septem forte fuis sent." Juvenal says elsewhere (xiv. init.) that fathers taught their young children to game. The 'alea' was always 'vetita legibus' (Hor. C. iii. 24. 58), but never checked from the declining times of the republic. Augustus (Vit. c. 70, 71), Caligula (c. 41), Claudius (c. 33), and Domitian (c. 21), are all put down as gamblers by Suetonius; and Claudius wrote a treatise on the subject. Compare S. viii. 10: "Effigies quo Tot bellatorum, si luditur alea pernox Ante Numantinos?" 89. Neque enim loculis comitantibus] He says men do not now go to the gaming table with their purse and play for the contents of that, but stake their chest, containing all the ready money they had. 'Tabula is the board on which the dice were thrown. As to neque enim,' see Key's Lat. Gr. 1449: "Enim' must commonly be translated by the English conjunction 'for,' but at times retains what was probably its earlier signification, 'indeed,' as in 'enim vero,' indeed, indeed; neque enim,' nor indeed; 'et enim,' and indeed, &c.; as, 'Quid tute tecum? Nihil enim (Plaut.). What are you saying to yourself? Nothing, I assure you.' For ad casum' one MS. of the fifteenth century quoted by Ruperti, and two editions of the same century, Calderini and the Leipzig, have 'ad causam.' M. has that word in the text, with 'casum' in the margin. Causam' has no meaning. 91. dispensatore videbis Armigero!] 'Dispensator' was the cash-keeper, called also 'procurator' and calculator,' who formed one of the establishment in all rich houses. He is called armigero' because he furnished the sinews of this warfare, the : 90 money: "Utpote qui ludenti domino nummos subministret " (Britannicus). Grangacus says the 'arma' in 'armigero' are the dice, as below (xiv. 5), "parvoque eadem movet arma fritillo." This is wrong, I think. 92. Simplexne furor sestertia centum] The Greeks would say ἁπλῆ μανία, madness and nothing more. Heinrich explains it "non simplex furor, sed duplex vel triplex," which may be right, though I prefer the other. Taking the sestertium' at the value in our money of 71. 16s. 3d., a hundred 'sestertia' would be 7811.58. The Romans did not understand high play if this was enough to make a satirist angry but the more than madness lay in the selfishness of the man who (as Heinrich explains it) after losing all his money stakes his slave's jacket, and losing that also, never restores it. The commentators compare Persius (i. 54), "Scis comitem horridulum trita donare lacerna:" but 'reddere' means here to restore, and is never equivalent to the simple form 'dare.' 94. Quis totidem erexit villas,] This reminds us of Horace's complaint more than a century earlier (C. ii. 15): "Jam pauca aratro jugera regiae Non ita Romuli Auspiciis veterumque norma.' See Lipsius, De Mag. Rom. lib. iii. c. 14. As to 'fercula,' see Hor. S. ii. 6. 104, n. 'Secreto' only means 'by himself,' as Virg. Aen. viii. 670, secretosque pios." A couple of courses was enough for the old Romans according to Servius on Aen. i. 729. "For some ages the Roman nobility commonly used nothing but 'far' and 'puls,' and if a marriage or other joyful feast fell out, they thought it a mighty thing if they added a few small fishes and a few pounds of pork" (Lipsius, De Magn. Rom. iv. 5). Suetonius gives Augustus credit for moderation and good taste combined, because his custom was ordinarily to have but three courses, and at his finest dinners only six (c. 74). Various sumptuary laws regulating |