Part 18

175. #festuca#: is generally explained as a synonyme for _vindicta_. Others refer it to the practice of throwing stubble on the manumitted slave, Plut., De Sera Num. Vind., p. 550 (Conington). --#ineptus#: 'as if a lictor could make a man truly free!' (Jahn).

176-179. Ambition's Slave.

176. #palpo#: literally 'patter, stroker,' 'softsawder-man,' i.e., electioneerer. Another of the _verba togae_. See note on 1, 12. _Palpo_ is explained by Io. Sarisberiensis (ap. Jahn) as 'one who feels his way with the people;' but this is not so simple nor so much in accordance with the use of _palpare_. --#ducit hiantem#: Comp. Hor., Sat., 1, 2, 88: _emptorem inducat #hiantem#_, where Bentley reads _ducat_ on account of this passage. Also Verg., Georg., 2, 508: _hunc plausus #hiantem#-- | corripuit_, and Solon, 13, 36 (Bergk), #+#chaskontes# kouphais elpisi terpometha+.

177. #cretata# = _candidata_. Togas were chalked then, as belts are pipe-clayed now. The candidate naturally put on his best. 'My Lady Canvass in holiday attire, in spotless white.' --#vigila#: 'Be up early,' in the same sense as our phrase, 'You must get up early to do this or that.' There is no special reference to the morning _salutatio_. --#cicer#: Comp. Hor., Sat., 2, 3, 182: _in #cicere# atque faba bona tu perdasque lupinis, | latus ut in circo spatiere et aeneus ut stes_. The vetch was a vulgar vegetable.

178. #nostra#: _nobis aedilibus celebrata_ (Jahn). On the ironical First Person, see 3, 3. --#Floralia#: See the Dictionaries.

179. #aprici# = _apricantes_. See 4, 18. 19. To 'love to live i' th' sun' (Shaksp.) is common to the feebleness of age and the luxury of youth, 4, 33. --#quid pulchrius#: Snatch of the old men's chat (Hermann). Ironical comment of Persius (Jahn). The former is more in Persius's manner.

#at#: An abrupt transition to the Thraldom of Superstition (180-188). Whether the slave of superstition is identical with the slave of ambition or not is not certain-- probably not.

180. #Herodis--dies#: Probably Herod's birthday, celebrated by the sect of the Herodians. Persius takes Herod as the most familiar Jewish personage to indicate Jewish superstition. On the spread of Judaism in the Roman Empire, see Friedländer, _Sittengesch._, 3, 489. --#uncta fenestra#: The 'window' is 'greasy' from the oil-lamps.

181. #lucernae#: Those who wish illustrations for what they can see with their own eyes, may consult Friedländer, l.c. 1, 292. The lights remind one of the Feast of Tabernacles.

182. #violas#: Comp. Juv., 12, 90: _omnis #violae# iactabo colores_. The violet may be our violet or the pansy (_viola bicolor_). --#rubrumque amplexa catinum#: The tunny is so large that it embraces the dish, and is not embraced by it. Comp. Hor., Sat., 2, 4, 77: _angustoque vagos piscis urgere #catino#_. _Rubrum_, the common color of pottery.

183. #cauda thynni#: The tunny has a large tail, hence some such adjective as 'taily' is desiderated. Comp. note on 6, 10. --#natat#: Makes fun of the fish's swimming in the circumstances. --#tumet#: 'bulges.' The big belly of the jar looks as if it were 'swollen' with wine.

184. #labra movet tacitus#: Comp. Hor., Ep., 1, 16, 60: _#labra movet#, metuens audiri_ (of a prayer to Laverna). A recondite allusion to the secret prayer of the Jews is unlikely. --#recutita sabbata# = _recutitorum sabbata_. Comp. Ov., Rem. Am., 219, 220: _nec te peregrina morentur | #sabbata#_. --#palles# = _pallidus times_. G., 329, R. 1; A., 52, 1, _a_. Comp. our English 'blanch' or 'blench.'

185. #tum#: As soon as the man has got over his Jewish fright he is assailed by other superstitions. --#lemures#: 'hobgoblins.' See note on 2, 3. Comp. Hor., Ep., 2, 2, 208: _somnia, terrores magicos, miracula, sagas, | #nocturnos lemures#, portentaque Thessala rides?_ --#ovoque pericula rupto#: The Schol. refers these words to the Gr. +ôoskopikê+ (Jahn). 'The priests used to put eggs on the fire, and observe whether the moisture came out from the side or the top, the bursting of the egg being considered a very dangerous sign.' So Conington, after the Scholiast. _Lemures_ and _pericula_ have no strict grammatical connection. Some supply _timentur_ out of _palles_, others connect with _incussere_ by Zeugma.

186. #grandes galli#: Juvenal's _ingens | semivir_ (6, 512). The peculiar worship of Cybelé had long been familiar to the Romans. --#sistro#: The +seistron+, or 'timbrel,' was peculiar to the service of Isis, which had been imported more recently. On its significance, see Plut., De Isid. et Osir., p. 376. The vibratory theory of life, with its perpetual sensuous unrest, is no novelty, as some of its eloquent advocates seem to think. --#lusca#: Why _lusca_? The priestess is supposed to have been struck blind by Isis, who visited offenders in that way. Comp. Ov., Ep. ex P., 1, 1, 53, and Juv., 13, 93: _Isis et irato feriat mea lumina sistro_. One homely explanation is that the priestess, being one-eyed, had betaken herself to religion in despair of a husband! (Schol.)

187. #incussere#: Gr. Aorist. Comp. 3, 101. The expression, 'strike the gods into you,' after the analogy of _incutere metum, terrorem_, is the other side of Vergil's famous _magnum si pectore postit | #excussisse deum#_ (Aen., 6, 78). --#inflantis#: 'who have a way of swelling.' Compare the use of _depellentibus_ for _depulsoribus_, v. 167. See G., 439.

188. #praedictum#: 'prescribed.' --#alli#: The superstitious usage here referred to has not yet been paralleled.

189-91. Last scene of all. Horse-laughter of the muscular military.

189. #Dixeris--ridet# = _si dixeris-- ridet_. Comp. v. 78. --#varicosos#: Comp. Juv., 6, 397: _#varicosus# fiet haruspex_ (from long-standing). Varicose veins would naturally be common with men who were as much on their legs as the soldiers of that day. But as _varicare_ means to stand or walk, as if one had _varices_, 'to straddle' (Quint., 11, 3, 125), and as _v[-a]ricus_ means 'straddling' (Ov., A. A., 3, 304), it seems better to translate _varicosos_ 'straddling' here, always remembering the origin. With the change of quantity, comp. _v[)a]cillo_ and _v[-a]cillo (vaccillo)_, Lachm., _Lucret._, p. 37. --#centurionum#: See note on 3, 77.

190. #crassum ridet#: Comp. _subrisit molle_, 3, 110. --#Pulfennius#: Jahn's last. The name is variously written. Notice a similar trouble about a _hircosus centurio_ in Caes., B. G., 5. 44, once Pulfio, now Pulio. Heinrich recognizes a fellow-countryman in _Vulfennius_ (Wulfen). --#ingens#: Comp. _#torosa# inventus_, 3, 86; _caloni #alto#_, 5, 95.

191. #Graecos#: Comp. _doctores Graios_, 6, 38. --#curto#: 'clipped.' --#licetur#: A similar notion is worked out with admirable humor in Lucian's Vitarum Auctio.

CRITICAL APPENDIX.

SATURA V.

3. #maesto#: moesto, J{a}., H. --8. #Prognes#: Procnes, #H. --9. cenanda#: coenanda, J{a}., #H. --13. scloppo#: stloppo, J{a}., #H. --17. dicis#: dicas, J{a}., H. --19. #bullatis#: pullatis, J{a}.; ampullatis _proposuit_ J. --24. #dinoscere#: dignoscere, J{a}. --35. #deducit#: J{a}., H.; diducit, J{w}. --38. #apposita#: J{a}., H.; adpos., J{w}. --58. #cheragra#: chiragra, J{a}. --66. #'cras hoc fiet.' Idem cras fiet#: cras hoc fiet idem-- Cras fiet? H. --68. #consumpsimus#: consumsimus, J{a}. --71. #cantum#: canthum, J{a}., H. --76. #tressis#: J{a}., H.; tresis, J{w}. --82. #pillea#: pilea, J{a}., H. --102. #navem#: navim, J{a}. --105. #speciem dinoscere#: specimen dignoscere, J{a}. --110. #astringas#: adstringas, J{a}. --112. #glutto#: gluto, J{a}. --117. #sub#: J{a}., H.; in, J{w}. --119. #exsere#: J{a}., H.; exere, J{w}. --122. #cetera#: caetera, J{a}. --123. #tris#: tres, H. --#satyrum#: satyri, J{a}. --127. #'cessas nugator:'# J{a}.; cessas nugator, J{w}., H. _Vid. Comment._ --131. #erilis#: herilis, J{a}., H. --132. #heia#: eia, J{a}. --135. #hebenum#: ebenum, J{a}., H. --136. #ex#: e, J{a}. --#camelo#: J{a}., H.; camello, J{w}. --138. #varo#: J{a}.; baro, J{w}., H. --142. #ni#: nisi, J{a}., H. --145. #exstinxerit#: J{a}., H.; extinxerit, J{w}. --146. #transilias#: transsilias, J{a}. --147. #cena#: coena, J{a}., H. --148. #exalet#: exhalet, J{a}., H. --149. #nummi#: J{a}.; nummos, J{w}., H. --150. #pergant avidos sudare#: J{a}.; peragant avido sudore, J{w}., H. --155. #huncine#: hunccine, J{a}., H. --159. #et tamen#: ac tamen, J{a}.; ast tamen, H. --163. #adrodens#: abrodens, J{a}. --165. #obscenum#: obscoenum, J{a}. --172. #nec nunc#: ne nunc, J{a}. --#arcessat#: accersar, H.; arcessor _al_. --174. #exieras#: exieris _al_. --#nec nunc#: ne nunc, J{a}. --190. #Pulfennius#: Fulfennius, J{a}.

* * * * *

SATURA VI.

Admovit iam bruma foco te, Basse, Sabino? iamne lyra et tetrico vivunt tibi pectine chordae? mire opifex numeris veterum primordia vocum atque marem strepitum fidis intendisse Latinae, mox iuvenes agitare iocis et pollice honesto 5 egregius lusisse senes. mihi nunc Ligus ora intepet hibernatque meum mare, qua latus ingens dant scopuli et multa litus se valle receptat. Lunai portum, est operae, cognoscite, cives! cor iubet hoc Enni, postquam destertuit esse 10 Maeonides, Quintus pavone ex Pythagoreo. hic ego securus vulgi et quid praeparet auster infelix pecori, securus et angulus ille vicini nostro quia pinguior, etsi adeo omnes ditescant orti peioribus, usque recusem 15 curvus ob id minui senio aut cenare sine uncto, et signum in vapida naso tetigisse lagoena. discrepet his alius! geminos, horoscope, varo producis genio. solis natalibus est qui tingat holus siccum muria vafer in calice empta, 20 ipse sacrum inrorans patinae piper; hic bona dente grandia magnanimus peragit puer. utar ego, utar, nec rhombos ideo libertis ponere lautus, nec tenuis sollers turdarum nosse salivas. messe tenus propria vive et granaria, fas est, 25 emole; quid metuis? occa, et seges altera in herba est. ast vocat officium: trabe rupta Bruttia saxa prendit amicus inops, remque omnem surdaque vota condidit Ionio; iacet ipse in litore et una ingentes de puppe dii, iamque obvia mergis 30 costa ratis lacerae. nunc et de caespite vivo frange aliquid, largire inopi, ne pictus oberret caerulea in tabula. 'Sed cenam funeris heres negleget, iratus quod rem curtaveris; urnae ossa inodora dabit, seu spirent cinnama surdum, 35 seu ceraso peccent casiae, nescire paratus. tune bona incolumis minuas? et Bestius urguet doctores Graios: _Ita fit, postquam sapere urbi_ _cum pipere et palmis venit nostrum hoc maris expers;_ _fenisecae crasso vitiarunt unguine pultes._' 40 Haec cinere ulterior metuas? At tu, meus heres quisquis eris, paulum a turba seductior audi. o bone, num ignoras? missa est a Caesare laurus insignem ob cladem Germanae pubis, et aris frigidus excutitur cinis, ac iam postibus arma, 45 iam chlamydes regum, iam lutea gausapa captis essedaque ingentesque locat Caesonia Rhenos. dis igitur genioque ducis centum paria ob res egregie gestas induco; quis vetat? aude. vae, nisi conives! oleum artocreasque popello 50 largior; an prohibes? dic clare! 'Non adeo,' inquis 'exossatus ager iuxta est.' Age, si mihi nulla iam reliqua ex amitis, patruelis nulla, proneptis nulla manet patrui, sterilis matertera vixit, deque avia nihilum superest, accedo Bovillas 55 clivumque ad Virbi, praesto est mihi Manius heres. 'Progenies terrae?' Quaere ex me, quis mihi quartus sit pater: haud prompte, dicam tamen; adde etiam unum, unum etiam: terrae est iam filius, et mihi ritu Manius hic generis prope maior avunculus exit. 60 qui prior es, cur me in decursu lampada poscis? sum tibi Mercurius; venio deus huc ego ut ille pingitur; an renuis? vin tu gaudere relictis? 'Dest aliquid summae.' Minui mihi; sed tibi totum est, quidquid id est. ubi sit, fuge quaerere, quod mihi quondam 65 legarat Tadius, neu dicta repone paterna: _Faenoris accedat merces; hinc exime sumptus._ _quid reliquum est?_ Reliquum? nunc, nunc inpensius ungue, ungue, puer, caules! mihi festa luce coquetur urtica et fissa fumosum sinciput aure, 70 ut tuus iste nepos olim satur anseris extis, cum morosa vago singultiet inguine vena, patriciae inmeiat vulvae? mihi trama figurae sit reliqua, ast illi tremat omento popa venter? vende animam lucro, mercare atque excute sollers 75 omne latus mundi, nec sit praestantior alter Cappadocas rigida pinguis plausisse castata: rem duplica. 'Feci; iam triplex, iam mihi quarto, iam deciens redit in rugam: depunge, ubi sistam.' Inventus, Chrysippe, tui finitor acervi. 80

NOTES.

SIXTH SATIRE.

The Sixth Satire is addressed to Caesius Bassus, a friend of Persius. The theme of it is the Proper Use of the Goods of this Life, which takes the personal form of a vindication of the poet's course in preferring moderate enjoyment to mean parsimony or grasping avarice.

ARGUMENT.-- Are you by this time snugly ensconced by your Sabine fire? And _do_ the chords of your lyre wake to life at your vigorous touch? O cunning craftsman! in whose song the noble tongue of our sires is set to manly music, while young and old alike feel the play of your sportive wit, which in all its sport never forgets the gentleman (1-6).

While you are yonder, I am in my dear Liguria, where the coast is warm, the sea is wintry but kindly, the rocks bar out the storm, and the shore retreats far inland.

'Luna's port-- 'tis well worth while, good people, to know it.'

This was a saying of Ennius, as he woke up in his senses from his Pythagorean dreams and became plain Quintus, instead of the 'blind old man of Scio's rocky isle,' and a wise saying of that hearty old cock it was (7-11).

Well, here I am, caring nothing for the rabble rout, caring nothing what an ill wind may be getting up for my flock. My neighbor may have a better patch of ground, men of lower birth may be growing rich over me. I will not fret myself into a crooked old man for that, nor dine without a bit of something nice, nor nose out a swindle in the imperfect seal of a flagon of flat wine (12-17).

How men differ in such matters! The very same horoscope may bring forth rights and lefts. Here is one that even on his birthday allows himself only the scantiest and meanest fare. Here is another that eats up, like a spirited lad as he is, a vast estate. For my part, 'Enjoyment, enjoyment,' is my motto, although I do not intend to treat my freedmen to turbots, and do not understand the difference between cock-ortolan and hen-ortolan after they are cooked (18-24).

Now this is the way to live, I take it. Up to your harvest, up to the last grain of your garners. What are you afraid of? It is a mere matter of harrowing, and lo! another crop is there (25, 26).

But you say, Mr. Critic, 'There are claims on one. A friend is shipwrecked, the poor fellow is utterly ruined. One must do something for him.'

Well and good! Sell a piece of land, give the proceeds to the needy friend, and keep him from begging up and down with a pictorial appeal to the benevolent (27-33).

Ay, but what of the heir? _He_ will dock the funeral meats, if _you_ dock the estate. One, sure, would not be stenchful when one's dead, and your bones will not be perfumed, or the perfumes will be stale or adulterated. One can not expect to diminish one's property without paying for it. Why, I heard Bestius say of your Greek teachers, from whom you learned this precious wisdom of yours, that ever since this new doctrine came to town the very haymakers have been spoiling their good, wholesome fare by rancid grease.

Well, what of all this-- the heir's neglect and Bestius's fault-finding-- would you fear _them_ beyond the grave? (34-41).

But come, my heir, let us dismiss the critic, and have a quiet chat together. Consider the claims on me. Here comes a glorious piece of news from the Emperor. The Germans have been defeated with great slaughter. A grand triumph is preparing. This is no time to hold back. I am going to bring out a hundred pairs of gladiators in honor of the occasion. Forbid it, if you dare. If you don't like that, I am going to give largess to the people-- none of your vile vetches, but oil and pasties. Do you object? Out with it (42-51).

What do you say? 'My farm is hardly worth having after that.' Well, if you don't want it, I can get some of the women to take it; and if there is none of them left, I can go to the next village, and Hodge will accept. 'A son of earth?' you say; 'a nobody?' Pshaw! If you come to that, I can just remember who my great-great-grandfather was. Two generations further back and I come to a son of earth, a nobody, and Hodge is a relation-- a distant relation, but still a relation-- a kind of great-great-uncle. Believe me, the Lord No Zoo is father of us all (52-60).

You are an impatient heir, I must say. Why can't you wait for my shoes until I take them off? I am the God of Fortune to you, just as he is painted in the pictures, with a purse in his hand. Will you take what I leave, and be glad to get it? It falls short; I know it does. But if I have lessened it, it is for myself that I have lessened it, and what is left is all yours. Don't stop to ask about that old legacy, and serve up a stale dish of fatherly advice. I know how fathers talk. 'Credit yourself by the interest. Debit yourself by the expenses. What is the remainder?' Remainder? Fudge! Souse the cabbage, boy. Don't spare the oil. Am I to dine off cow-heel and turnips on a holiday, that your graceless grandson may stuff himself with _pâté de foie gras_, and indulge himself in aristocratic connections? Am I to go through the eye of a cambric needle that he may have a priestly paunch? (61-74).

Furthermore, if you are not content with the little that I can leave you, sell your life for gain. Try every trade. Try every nook and corner of the earth. Go to Cappadocia, for instance, where you can make something by dealing in slaves, and become an adept in that dainty business. Double your capital. 'I have done so. Nay, I have trebled it, quadrupled it, decupled it. Tell me where to draw the line.' Tell you where to draw the line? Why, Chrysippus himself could not find the limit between wealth and poverty. A dollar more does not make a man rich, a dollar less does not make him poor. Where is the turning-point? And yet this man talks as if the turning-point had been found! (75-80.)

The Sixth Satire is the most obscure and unsatisfactory of the poems of Persius, and baffled interpreters have taken refuge in the hypothesis that the Satire is incomplete. The roughness of the metre and the harshness of the transitions favor this view; but parts are wrought out with all the minuteness of detail that is characteristic of our author's style, and some of the highest authorities, such as Jahn, consider the Satire complete. The close, as Mr. Pretor remarks, is exactly in Persius's manner, and we must look elsewhere in the Satire for the breaks-- if breaks there be.

1-11. Are you spending the winter on your Sabine farm, Bassus, and have you resumed your poetry? I am in my Ligurian resort, so praised by Ennius.

1. #iam#: in the question implies uncertainty, 'actually?' 'so?' --#bruma# = _brevuma_ = _brevissuma_ (_dies_), 'the shortest day,' 'winter-solstice,' 'midwinter.' --#foco#: contrast between the _fireside_ of the land of the Sabines and the open-air _warmth_ of Liguria. --#Basse#: 'Caesius Bassus, one of the intimate friends of Persius, was deputed by Cornutus to edit his Satires after his death. He is classed with Horace, as a lyric poet, by Quintilian (10, 1, 96), who, however, thinks him inferior to some of his own contemporaries, and he is probably the same with the author of a treatise on Metres, which is referred to by various grammarians, and still exists in an interpolated epitome, but different from Gabius or Gavius Bassus, who wrote works on the origin and signification of words and on the gods. Bassus was killed, according to the Scholiast, in the famous eruption of Vesuvius' (Conington, after Jahn). See also v. 5. --#Sabino#: The simplicity of the Sabines has already been noted (see 1, 20), and Jahn thinks that the life about the fireside (Verg., Georg., 2, 532) is an indication of the primitive tastes of Bassus and his family. _Sabino_ also prepares the way for _tetrico_ (below). Comp. _#tetrica# ac tristis disciplina #Sabinorum#_, Liv., 1, 18 (quoted by Jahn).

2. #tetrico#: 'austere.' --#vivunt#: Persius was thinking of Horace's _vivuntque commissi calores | Aeoliae fidibus puellae_, Od., 4, 9, 11. 12. _Iam vivunt_, 'wake to life' (Pretor), where 'wake' represents _iam_. See note on 5, 33.

3. #mire#: is an Adjective or an Adverb, according as _opifex_ is a Substantive or an Adjective. --#opifex#: Commentators supply _es_, but the Nom. can be used in characteristic exclamation. See G., 340, R. 1, and comp. 1, 5. With _opifex intendisse_ comp. Prol., 11, and _egregius lusispe_ below. For the Perf., see 1, 41, note. --#veterum primordia vocum#: Perhaps 'the racy richness of our early tongue.' Lucr. (4, 531) uses _primordia vocum_ of the beginnings of articulate sound, as Quint., 1, 9, 1, uses _dicendi primordia_ of instruction in the rudimentary preparation for rhetoric. Bassus, as the whole context shows, affected to belong to the _antiquiores homines_, and imitated the diction of an earlier time. Persius belongs to a different school of art, and his friendship makes him guarded. Jahn understands a grammatical poem, of which Lucilius furnishes a familiar example in his Ninth Book (see L. Müller's _Lucilius_, p. 221), but, as Pretor remarks, _numeris-- marem strepitum fidis intendisse Latinae_ indicates lyric poetry.

4. #marem strepitum#: like +arrên phthongos+. Comp. Hor., A. P., 402: _mares animos_. --#fidis Latinae#: Stress is to be laid on _Latinae_. Persius himself is intensely Latin in his vocabulary. --#intendisse#: 'Verg., Aen., 9, 774, speaks of stringing the numbers on the chords; Persius goes further [and fares worse], and talks of stringing sounds on the numbers' (Conington).

5. #mox#: points to another side of Bassus's poetry, the non-lyrical, probably satires, for one _Bassus in satyris_, mentioned by Fulgentius (ap. Jahn), is most likely our man, despite Jahn's objections. --#iocis#: Heinrich, _ex coni_. The passage is a very difficult one. The interpretation turns on the two words, _iocos_ (or _iocis_), _senes_ (or _senex_), as the reading _egregios_ for _egregius_ may be discarded.

(1.) Jahn reads in both editions (1843 and 1868) _iocos_ and _senes_.

(2.) Hermann's _senex_, the reading of Montepess., was enthusiastically advocated by Hermann himself.

(3.) Heinrich's _iocis_ has the merit of making a perfectly clear sense, and is accepted by Mr. Pretor.

(1.) If we read _iocos_ with the MSS., _iuvenes_ must be considered an Adjective, and _iuvenes iocos_ = _iuvenilis iocos_. This almost compels us to make _senes_ an Adjective also, and the following translation may be given: 'Rare genius for carrying on the frolics of youth [in song], and for giving play with virtuous skill to the jests of the aged.'

(2.) Hermann's reading labors under the difficulty of requiring us to understand _senex_ of Bassus, who was not an old man at the time; but compare the note on _praegrandi sene_, 1, 124. Notice also the want of balance in the absolute _lusisse_. 'Then showing yourself excellent in your old age at wakening young loves and frolicking over the chords with a virtuous touch' (Conington). _Iocus_ is often used of love. Comp. Catull., 8, 6: _ibi illa multa tum #iocosa# fiebant_.