Page images
PDF
EPUB

shell-fish, thrown in without being washed, for the benefit of its saline qualities; for which addition to the sauce he gives credit to one Curtillus, whoever he may have been. The superiority of the 'echinus' to 'muria' (see S. ii. 4. 65, n.) is here said to consist in the fact of the former coming fresh from the sea, and furnishing a more perfect brine.

54. aulaea] See C. iii. 29. 15, n. The host's dissertation was brought to a sudden close by the falling of the tapestry from the ceiling, bringing down among the dishes an immense cloud of dust. The guests fancy the house is coming down, but when they find the extent of the damage, they recover themselves ('erigimur'). Rufus (Nasidienus) was so disturbed by this untoward accident, that he put down his head and began to shed tears. Nomentanus comforts him with an apostrophe to Fortune, complaining of her caprices, the solemn hypocrisy of which makes Varius laugh so immoderately, that he is obliged to stuff his napkin into his mouth to check himself. Balatro, who has a sneer always ready (μvкTηpiwv, see S. i. 6. 5), begins a long sympathetic and flattering speech, with which Nasidienus is highly pleased and comforted under his misfortune. A brilliant thought suddenly strikes him, and he calls for his shoes and goes out, on which the guests begin to titter and to whisper to one another, not wishing to give offence, or to speak out before the parasites and the slaves (54 -78).

72. agaso.] This was a groom or mule-driver, or otherwise connected with the stables. Balatro intends a sneer at the establishment, the out-door slaves being had in to wait at table and swell the number of attendants.

77. Et soleas poscit.] See S. i. 3. 127. The sandals were taken off before they sat down to dinner, for which therefore 'soleas demere, deponere,' were common expressions, as 'soleas poscere' was for getting up. The Greeks had the same custom and the same way of expressing themselves.

78. Stridere secreta] In this line an attempt seems to have been made to convey the notion of whispering by the sound of the s repeated.

83. Ridetur fictis rerum] They pretend to be laughing at something else when Nasidienus comes in. As to 'fictis rerum,' see C. iv. 12. 19, n. 'Balatrone secundo' means that Balatro played devrepaywnoτns, who supported the principal actor, but was not so prominent. (See Epp. i. 18. 14.) Balatro was a wit and sarcastic. He supplied jokes and the others laughed.

86. Mazonomo] This was a large round dish, properly one from which grain (páca) was distributed.

87. Membra gruis] Cranes became a fashionable dish with the Romans, but not till after this time, when storks were preferred (see S. 2. 50, n.).

88. jecur anseris albue] The liver of a white goose fattened on figs, the legs of a hare served up separately, as being (according to the host) better flavored when dressed without the loins, blackbirds burnt in roasting, and wood-pigeons with the hinder parts, which were most sought after, removed (perhaps from the ignorance of the host, who thought novelty was the best recommendation of his dishes), these composed the last 'ferculum,' brought in as special delicacies to make up for the late catastrophe. But the officiousness of the host destroyed the relish of his dishes, such as they were, and the guests took their revenge by tasting nothing that he put before them, and presently taking their leave.

95. Canidia afflasset] Here is this woman again, the last time we meet with her. See Epodes iii., v., and xvii., and S. i. 8.

EPISTLES. BOOK I.

EPISTLE I.

SOME time after Horace had published his three books of Odes, and had, as it appears, laid aside that sort of writing, it seems that Mæcenas, and probably his other friends, begged him to return to it. That is the obvious meaning of the remonstrance with which the Epistle opens. He expresses an earnest wish to retire into privacy, to abandon poetry, and to devote himself to the study of philosophy and virtue, which he recommends as the only true wisdom.

1. Prima dicte mihi,] This is an affectionate way of speaking. It has no particular reference to anything Horace had written. It is like Virgil's address to Pollio (Ec. viii. 11): A te principium, tibi desinet "; or Nestor's to Agamemnon (Il. ix. 96);

Ατρείδη κύδιστε, ἄναξ ἀνδρῶν ̓Αγάμεμνον,

Εν σοὶ μὲν λήξω, σέο δ' ἄρξομαι.

2. Spectatum satis et donatum jam rude] When gladiators received their discharge, they were presented by the 'lanista,' or the 'editor spectaculorum,' who owned or hired them, with a 'rudis,' which was a blunt wooden instrument, some say a sword, others a cudgel. The name may have belonged to any weapon used in the 'praelusio," or sham fight that generally preceded the real battle with sharp swords. The gladiators thus discharged were called 'rudiarii,' and, if they were freemen, 'exauctorati.' 'Spectatum' is a technical term. Tickets, with the letters SP upon them, were given to gladiators who had distinguished themselves. Ludus' means the place where the training took place, and the gladiators were kept. (See A. P. 32, n.)

4. Veianius armis Herculis ad postem] Veianius was a 'rudiarius,' and when he was discharged, he hung up his weapons in the temple of Hercules, just as the man is made to hang up the arms of love in the temple of Venus, when they had ceased to profit him, in C. iii. 26. 3; or as the slave hung up his chain to the Lares (see S. i. 5. 65, n), to whom also boys dedicated their 'bulla' when they assumed the 'toga virilis'; and, generally, those who gave up any trade or calling dedicated the instruments with which they had followed it to the gods, and to that god, in particular, under whose patronage they had placed themselves. Hercules would naturally be chosen by a gladiator, or by a soldier.

6. Ne populum extrema] The gladiatorial shows at this time were exhibited in the Circus. The arena was separated from the seats, which went round the building, by a wall called the podium,' near which a gladiator would station himself to appeal to the compassion of the people, at whose request it usually was that they got their freedom and the 'rudis.' We learn from Juvenal, that the persons of highest condition sat by the podium,' and to their influence the appeal would be more immediately made. Veianius, Horace says, retired into the country to escape the temptation to engage himself again, and to place himself in the position he had so often occupied, of a suppliant for the people's favor. When they liked a man, they were not easily persuaded to ask for his discharge.

7. Est mihi purgatam] He has a voice within him, he says, the office of

[ocr errors]

which is to whisper in his attentive ear the precept that follows, the idea of which is taken from Ennius, who takes it from the Circus. His words in Cicero de Senect. (c. 5) are:

"Sicut fortis equus spatio qui saepe supremo Vicit Olympia, nunc senio confectu' quiescit." 'Purgatam aurem' means an ear purged from all that could obstruct the entrance of the truth.

9. ilia ducat.] Ilia trahere' and 'ducere' are ordinary expressions for 'panting; they mean to contract the flanks, as is done in the act of recovering the breath. The reverse is 'ilia tendere.' See Virg. Georg. iii. 536, "imaque longo Ilia singultu tendunt." 'Ilia ducere' here means to become broken-winded.

10. et versus et cetera ludicra pono,] He did not keep his word, for he wrote much of the fourth Book of Odes, and the Carmen Saeculare, after this; so that he says of himself (Epp. ii. 1. 111):

"

Ipse ego qui nullos me affirmo scribere versus
Invenior Parthis mendacior."

'Ludicra' means the follies of light poetry, jokes, amours, &c.
2. 55.

See Epp. ii.

13. quo lare tuter,] This is equivalent to 'qua in domo,' respecting which see C. i. 29. 14, n.; and as to jurare in verba,' see note on Epod xv. 4. The metaphor is taken from the oath of the gladiator (auctoramentum'), by which he bound himself to the 'lanista' to whom he hired himself, which was a very stringent oath indeed.

16. Quo me cunque rapit] Horace says he follows no school and knows no master, but, like a traveller always changing his abode, he follows the breeze that carries him hither and thither, just as his temper happens to be, or his judgment chances to be influenced; "tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine," as St. Paul says, using the same sort of language.

16. Nunc agilis fio] That is, he agrees with the Stoics, whose virtue was essentially a Roman virtue (see C. S. 58, n), and lay in action. With them, the perfection of virtue was the perfection of happiness, utility, wealth, power (see below, v. 106, n.).

18. Nunc in Aristippi] After holding for a time to the rigid school of virtue and the Stoics, he insensibly went over to the lax doctrines of the Cyrenaics, whose founder was Aristippus of Cyrene, one of the least worthy disciples of Socrates. He held that every man should control circumstances, and not be controlled by them. Hence he did not hesitate to expose himself to the greatest temptations. An instance of his indifference in another way is given above (S. ii. 3. 100). See Epp. 17. 23.

19. Et mihi res 'I try to bend circumstances to myself, not myself to circumstances.' But Aristippus departed from his own theory, when he departed from the rule of his teacher, and took money from his pupils. He was the first of the Socratics that did so, and Xenophon is supposed to refer to him when he says that some of the disciples of Socrates got for nothing a little of his wisdom, and sold it at a high price to others (Mem. i. 2, § 60). Those that took money from their disciples, Socrates said, sold themselves into slavery, and he must therefore have held this opinion of Aristippus (Ib. 6). His dialogue with Socrates (in Xen. Mem. ii. 1) throws light upon his opinions as here stated by Horace. The word 'subjungere' is taken from putting the neck of beasts of burden under the yoke.

21. ut piger annus Pupillis] Every boy who had lost his father was under a tutor or guardian in respect of his property, while the care of his person belonged to his mother, or, in the case of her death, to his nearest relation, provided he was not a 'pupillus' himself. This lasted till the age of puber

ty (fourteen). The boy was a 'pupillus,' not in relation to his mother, but to his tutor. Thus 'tutela' and 'custodia' were different things. Tutela' was a technical term, 'custodia' was not.

25. locupletibus aeque,] Aeque' is repeated, though not wanted, just as 'inter' is repeated in S. i. 7, and elsewhere (see note). The Greek writers used ópoíws in the same way.

27. Restat ut his] Horace says he is impatient, till he shall have reached the perfection of active virtue and wisdom. But as he has not done so, it only remains that he shall regulate and comfort his mind with such elemen- * tary knowledge of truth as he possesses, and be content with that; for, if he cannot reach perfection, he may make some steps towards it. His' means that which he has at his command.

28. Non possis oculo] The keen sight of Lynceus, one of the Argonauts, who, as the story goes, could from Lilybæum count the number of vessels in a fleet coming out of the harbor of Carthage, has been proverbial in all ages. 30. invicti membra Glyconis,] This person is said to have been an athlete of prodigious strength.

31. Nodosa-prohibere cheragra.] The gout in the hand is called 'nodosa' from its twisting the joints of the fingers (S. ii. 7. 15). As to the construction of prohibere,' see C. i. 27. 4.

32. Est quadam prodire tenus] Horace is probably indulging a little irony at the expense of the philosophers, in the implied comparison of their perceptions and powers with those of Lynceus and Glycon, and in the humble tone he takes towards them. Tenus,' as a general rule, takes the ablative of the singular, and is so used in the compound words 'hactenus,' 'eatenus,' &c. The form quadamtenus' is used occasionally by Pliny; and the feminine gender appears in all the combinations oftenus' with pronouns. 34. Sunt verba et voces] Compare Euripides (Hippol. 478):

εἰσὶν δ ̓ ἐπῳδαὶ καὶ λόγοι θελκτήριοι·

φανήσεταί τι τῆσδε φάρμακον νόσου.

Philosophy, Horace says, has remedies for every disease of the mind. The remedies he means are the precepts of the wise, to be derived from books (37). He also calls them 'piacula' (36), which is equivalent to 'medicamenta,' because, disease being attributed to the wrath of the gods, that which should remove their wrath ('piaculum') was the means of removing disease. 'Ter' is used by way of keeping up the religious notion (that number being common in all religious ceremonies, see C. i. 28. 36, n.): 'pure' is used in the same connection. The book must be read with a pure mind, as the body must be washed before sacrifice or libation can be offered. By 'libello' I understand Horace to mean any book that instructs the mind in virtue.

41. Virtus est vitium fugere] If you cannot all at once attain perfection, you may at least begin to learn, and the first step towards virtue is to put away vice. What follows is an illustration of this. You see what trouble you take to escape from poverty, which you count the worst of all evils; but if you will only give heed to instruction, you shall learn well to care about it. This is the sense. As to repulsa,' see C. iii. 2. 17. He who would secure an election, must have a command of money.

[ocr errors]

44. capitisque labore.] Caput' is here put for the whole body. We do not use it so, but for the seat of intelligence, which the Romans placed in the heart, not in the brain. On 'per saxa, per ignes,' see C. iv. 14. 24; S. ii.

3. 56.

47. Ne cures ea] 'In order that you may cease to care for those things which you now so foolishly admire and long for, will you not learn and listen, and trust the experience of a better man than yourself?' As to this position of 'ne,' see C. iv. 9. 1.

49. Quis circum pagos] These were boxers, who went about the streets and the country villages, and fought for the amusement of the inhabitants, and for what they could pick up. Coronari Olympia' is a Greek way of speaking. Horace says, What boxer who goes about the country towns exhibiting, would despise the Olympic prizes, if he had a hope, still more a promise, that he should be crowned without a struggle? By this he means, men strive after happiness in the shape of riches, &c.; but if they will learn wisdom, that shall give them all they can desire, without trouble or pain. The world may judge otherwise, he proceeds to say, and make wealth the standard of worth; but the world is not to be listened to, it is foolish and inconsistent. 'Sine pulvere' seems to be taken from the Greek ȧkovití, and means without a struggle.

54. Janus summus ab imo] See S. ii. 3. 18. 'Perdocet' means it persists in teaching, it enforces. Horace breaks out into the praises of virtue, and says, that, as gold is more precious than silver, virtue is more precious than gold; whereas, from one end of the Forum to the other, the opposite doctrine is insisted upon, and old and young go there to learn it, as boys go to school, and repeat it as schoolboys repeat their tasks dictated to them by the master. Verse 56 is repeated from S. i. 6. 74. As to 'dictata,' see S. i. 10. 75, n.

58. Sed quadringentis sex septem] Suppose you lack six or seven thousand out of 400,000 sesterces (which make an equestrian property), whatever your genius, character, eloquence, and uprightness may be, you are put down for one of the common sort, and will not be allowed, under Otho's law, to sit in the front rows.' (See Epod. iv. 15, n.) 'Plebs' is not used in its regular sense, but contemptuously, 'a common fellow.' The equestrian order consisted of all citizens who had the above income and were not senators; for when a man became a senator, he ceased to be an 'eques.'

59. At pueri ludentes, Rex eris, aiunt,] See note on C. i. 36. 8. At Athens, it appears, the boys had a game, at which they who threw or caught the ball best were called kings, while they who were beaten were called asses. Some such game must have been in use among the Roman boys, and their kingmaking had become a proverb. The world may despise you, he says, because you are poor, but, according to the boys' rule, which makes the best man king, you shall be a king if you do well. As to 'murus aëneus,' see C. iii. 3. 65, n. For the different senses in which Horace uses 'nenia,' see Epod. xvii. 29, n. Here it signifies a sort of song of triumph.

64. Et maribus Curiis et decantata Camillis?] On this plural, see S. i. 7. 8. The persons referred to are M. Curius Dentatus, the conqueror of Pyrrhus, and M. Furius Camillus, the man who saved Rome from the Gauls. The contempt of money displayed by Curius is especially related by Cicero (De Senect. c. 16), in terms which account for Horace's selecting him for an illustration here. The boys' strain was ever in the mouths of these noble soldiers, giving honor to none but the worthy. Mares' is used in this sense in A. P. 402. We use 'masculine' in the same way.

[ocr errors]

67. lacrimosa poëmata Pupi,] Pupius appears to have been a writer of tragedies, which Horace says were pathetic, but he says it with some contempt. We know nothing more of him than this. 'Lacrimosa' is used ironically. As to 'responsare,' see S. ii. 7. 85. 'Praesens' means stands

by you and urges you on, and teaches you to meet the insults of fortune with an independent heart and erect bearing. 'Aptat' is explained by pectus praeceptis format amicis" (Epp. ii. 1. 128), which province belongs, Horace says, to the poet.

[ocr errors]

71. Non ut porticibus sic judiciis] As to 'porticus,' see S. i. 4. 134. He has said that the world are not fit guides, and he goes on to prove this by the inconsistencies of men, both rich and poor (71-93). He says, if people ask

« PreviousContinue »