Part 7

41. #an#: when used alone is more or less rhetorical, and is intended to force a conclusion involved in the foregoing; 'What?' 'So then?' G., 459; A., 71, 2, _b_. Persius's use of it is instructive: v. 87; 2, 19. 26; 3, 19. 27. 61; 5, 83. 125. 163. 164; 6, 51. 63. --#velle meruisse#: See G., 275, 2; A., 53, 11, _d_, for the tense of _meruisse_. The Perf. after _velle_ is legal rather than Greek. Comp. v. 91, _qui me volet #incurvasse# querela_. So Hor. (Sat. 2, 3, 187), mimicking the legal tone: _ne quis #humasse velit# Aiacem, Atrida, vetas? cur?_ Other Perf. Infinitives with varying motives are found: 1, 132; 2, 66; 4, 7. 17; 5, 24. 33; 6, 4. 6. 17. 77.

42. #os populi#: 'popular applause,' 'a place in the mouths of men' (Conington). Comp. the phrase _in ore esse_. --#cedro digna#: Cedar oil was used to preserve manuscripts. _Speramus carmina fingi | posse linenda cedro_, Hor., A. P., 331-2.

43. #nec scombros nec tus#: The fear of the mackerel is a stroke of Catullus, 95, 8, which Milton imitates, Ep., 10: _gaudete scombri_. Comp. Mart., 4, 86, 8. For _tus_, comp. Hor., Ep., 2, 1, 269: _deferar in vicum vendentem #tus# et odores | et piper et quicquid chartis amicitur ineptis_. The modern equivalent is the grocer or the pastry-cook.

44-62. The poet gives up his dramatizing and speaks in his own person. 'I am not indifferent to fame, but I reject a standard which approves such stuff as Labeo's, such ditties as "persons of quality" dictate after dinner, a standard which makes a hot dish the test of poetic fervor, and covers a multitude of poetic sins with a cast-off cloak. If you had eyes in the back of your head, you would see that all this praise is for value received.'

44. #dicere feci#: G., 527, R. 1; A., 70, 2.

45. #non ego#: 'I do not decline your praise-- no, not I.' G., 447; A., 76, 3, _d_. Comp. 2, 3; 3, 78; and Hor., Ep., 1, 19, 37, _#non ego# ventosae plebis suffragia venor_. --#si forte quid aptius exit#: 'if I chance to turn out (off) a rather neat piece of work.' _Exit_ may mean 'to leave the shop' (_ex officina exire_, Cic., Parad., pr. 5), or 'to leave the potter's wheel,' as _urceus exit_, Hor., A. P., 22 (Jahn). Conington translates 'hatch' on account of _rara avis_. +Kakon ôon+. The passage is imitated by Quint., 12, 10, 26.

46. #quando#: gives the reason for his saying _si forte_. There is no necessity of writing _quanquam_, but the translation 'although' is not unnatural, as causative particles are often adversative. Comp. _cum_ and Gr. +epei+. --#rara avis#: proverbial as in the famous line of Juv., 6, 165.

47. #laudari metuam#: So Hor., _metuens audiri_, Ep., 1, 16, 60; _metuit tangi_, Od., 3, 11, 10. In prose the construction is less common with _metuo_ than with _vereor_. G., 552, R. 1; M., 376, Obs. --#cornea#: 'of horn.' The metaphorical use seems to be novel. Comp. Hom., Od., 19, 211: +ophthalmoi d' hôs ei #kera# hestasan êe sidêros+. --#fibra#: 'heart.' See 5, 29.

48. #recti finemque extremumque#: 'the ultimate standard.' Conington renders 'be-all and end-all.'

49. #euge, belle#: like _decenter_ (v. 84), are current expressions of approbation at public readings. _Euge_, 'bravo!' _belle_, 'well said!' _decenter_, 'pretty fair!' Martial gives us a list of popular comments (2, 27, 3-4): _Effecte! graviter! st! nequiter! euge! beate! | hoc volui!_ --#excute#: a favorite word with Persius as with Seneca, Ep., 13, 8; 16, 7; 22, 10; 26, 3; De Ira, 3, 36 (Jahn). The metaphor is taken from shaking clothes in order to get out any thing that may be concealed in them-- Gr., +ekseiein+. We should say 'analyze.'

50. #quid non intus habet#: The figure is kept up. 'What is not covered up in that beggarly rag of a _#belle#_'? --#non# = _nonne_. G., 445 and R.; A., 71, 1. --#Atti#: See v. 4. --#Ilias ebria#: Comp. _ebrius sermo_, Sen., Ep., 19, 9.

51. #veratro#: white hellebore (_album multum terribilius nigro_, Plin., II. N., 25, 5, 21), a strong emetic, which students took 'to quicken their wits.' The modern _veratrum_ is a different drug. --#elegidia#: contemptuous, 'bits of elegies' on such themes as Phyllis and Hypsipyle. _E._ a Greek word not in Greek lexicons, like _poetridas_, Prol., 13. --#crudi#: with their dinners undigested and their brains muddled.

52. #dictarunt#: 'extemporize.' --#lectis#: 'sofas.' The ancients wrote in a recumbent posture far more frequently than we do.

53. #citreis#: 'of citron wood,' 'wood of the thyia' (_Thyia articulata_, African Arbor Vitae, Plin., 15, 29). The fabulous cost of tables of this material is well known. Cic., Verr., 4, 17, 37. --#scis#: 'you know how.' _Scire_ in this sense is related to _posse_, as Fr. _savoir_ to _pouvoir_, a traditional distinction. --#calidum#: 'hot-and-hot' (Pretor). --#ponere#: 1. 'serve up;' 2. 'cause to serve up,' 'treat to.' _Heri non tam bonum #posui# et multo honestiores cenabant_, Petron., 34. --#sumen#: a dainty dish in the eyes of Greek and Roman. Comp. _vulva nil pulchrius ampla_, Hor., Ep., 1, 15, 41; Plut., Sanit. Praec., 124F; Alciphr., Ep., 1, 20; and the joke in Alexis, fr. 188 (3, 473 Mein.).

54. #comitem horridulum trita donare lacerna#: This is the kind of patronage that galled Lucian (De Merced. Cond., 37), who mentions the paltry present of an +ephestridion athlion hê chitônion huposathron+. On the word _comitem_, see 3, 7. _Horridulum comitem_, 'shivering beggar of a companion,' 'poor devil in your suite.' For the custom, comp. Hor., Ep., 1, 19, 37: _Non ego ventosae plebis suffragia venor | impensis #cenarum# et #tritae# munere #vestis#_.

56. #qui pote?# _Pote_ is an archaism for _potis_. Both _potis_ and _pote_ are used as predicates without regard to number and gender. --#vis dicam#: G., 546, R. 3; A., 70, 3, _f_, R. _Vis_ does not wait for an answer. See 6, 63. --#nugaris#: 'you are a twaddler' (Conington). --#calve#: Persius calls up his _vetulus_ (v. 22) again, and gives him a huge 'bombard' of a belly. Nero had a _venter proiectus_, and some editors fancy that Nero's person is aimed at here, and Nero's poetry in the verses that follow. See Introd., xxxvi.

57. #aqualiculus#: (said properly to mean 'a pig's stomach') 'paunch,' 'cloak-bag of guts,' Shaksp. --#protenso sesquipede#: Comp. the Greek proverb: +pacheia gastêr lepton ou tiktei noon+. Even M. Martha is forced to say: _Le trait n'est ni spirituel ni poli_ (_Moralistes Romains_, p. 147). For the justification, see v. 128. Jahn (1843) reads _propenso_.

58. #Iane#: Janus, who sees both ways, is secure from being laughed at behind his back. --#ciconia pinsit# = _pinsendo ludit_. The fingers of the mocker imitate the clapping of the stork's bill. _Pinsit_, 'pounds,' because the _ciconia levat ac deprimit rostrum dum clangit_, Isidor., Orig., 20, 15, 3. 'Pecks at' is not correct; 'claps' is nearer. What seems to be meant is mock applause.

59. #auriculas#: The imitation of ass's ears by the hands belongs to universal culture. --#imitari mobilis# = _ad imitandum m._ G., 424, R. 4; A., 57, 8, _f._ --#albas#: on account of the white lining. Ov., Met., 11, 176: _aures-- villis #albentibus# implet_.

60. #linguae#: The thrusting out of the tongue in derision is as common now as it was then. --#canis Apula#: Apulia was the +dipsion Argos+ of Italy. _Siticulosae Apuliae_, Hor., Epod., 3, 16. --#tantae#: So Jahn and Herm. 'Tongues big enough to represent the thirst of an Apulian hound' (Pretor). Jahn compares for the construction, Luc., 1, 259: _quantum rura silent, tanta quies_. Conington considers _tantum_ 'much neater,' and makes _quantum sitiat = quantum sitiens protendat_, 'a length of tongue protruded like an Apulian dog in the dog-days.'

61. #vos, o patricius sanguis#: Hor., A. P., 291: _vos, o | Pompilius sanguis_. The Nom. for the Vocative in solemn address. G., 194, R. 3; A., 53, _a._ --#fas est# = _fatum est_, 'it is ordained.'

62. #occipiti#: Notice the exceptional Abl. in _i_. Comp. Auson., Epigr., 12, 8: _#occipiti# calvo es_, and _capiti_, v. 83. --#posticae#: chiefly of the back part of a building: 'back-stairs' (Conington). --#occurrite#: 'turn round and face' (Conington and Pretor). --#sannae#: 'flout,' 'gibe,' 'fleer,' +môkos+.

63-82. Persius takes up the thread which Janus had rudely snapt: 'We have heard the bounden praise of dependants. What does the town say? Why, they admire the smooth flow of the verse, the grand style. If they find these requisites, little do they care about theme or order of development; the 'prentice hand that bungles an eclogue, undertakes an epic-- nay, jumbles eclogue and epic-- Bravo, poet! all the same. Another mania is the passion for the old poets, a Pacuvian revival. What is to be expected when all this bubble-and-squeak language is the daily food of our children and the dear delight of lecture-halls?'

63. #Quis# = _qui_. G., 105; A., 21, 1, _a._ --#quis enim#: _Enim_, like +gar+; 'why, what else?' 'of course.' G., 500; A., 43, 3, _d._

64. #nunc demum#: as if something marvellous had been accomplished. --#severos#: 'captious, critical.'

65. #effundat#: 'suffers to glide smoothly,' a harsh expression. --#iunctura#: The image is that of the joining of pieces of marble, as in an _opus tessellatum_. Comp. Lucil., fr. inc., 10, 33 (L. M.): _quam lepide +lexeis+ conpostae, ut tesserulae, omnes | arte pavimenti atque emblemati' vermiculati_. The poet is compared with an artisan, not with an artist. He knows how to fit the pieces together so perfectly as to present a continuous smooth surface to the pressure of the most exacting nail. Comp. v. 92. --#tendere versum#: 'to lay off a verse,' as a carpenter lays off his work. The propriety of the word _tendere_ is heightened, if we remember that the hexameter was called the _versus longus_.

66. Carpenter-like, the versewright stretches his ruddled line (_rubrica_), sights it (_oculo derigit uno_), and springs it. The modern carpenter uses chalk instead of ruddle, but the red pencil may be regarded as a survival of color. For references, see Rost's Passow, s.v. +stathmê+. For the spelling _derigat_, remember that _dirigere_ is 'to point in different directions;' _derigere_ 'in one.' --#ac si derigat#: On the sequence, see G., 604; A., 61, 1, R.

67. #sive#: seldom used alone; here for _vel si_. --#in mores, in luxum, in prandia regum#: a kind of anticlimax. _In_ does not necessarily, though it does naturally, denote hostility. The _prandium_ was originally a very simple meal. The Stoic model is set up in Seneca, Ep. 83, 6: _Panis deinde siccus et sine mensa prandium, post quod non sunt lavandae manus._ The _manger sur le pouce_ became in time the _déjeuner à la fourchette_ (_calidum prandium_, Plaut., Poen., 3, 5, 14), and then the _déjeuner dinatoire_ (_prandia cenis ingesta_, Sen., N. Q., 4, 13, 6). _Regum_, 'grandees,' 'nabobs,' belongs to _prandia_ alone.

68. #res grandis#: 'sublimities.'

69. #heroas#: used as an adjective. --#sensus#: 'sentiments.' --#adferre#: 'parade,' 'bring on parade.' On the Inf., see 3, 64.

70. #nugari graece#: 'dabble in Greek verses,' a phase of fashionable education, no more peculiar to Nero than to Horace (Sat. 1, 10, 31). --#ponere lucum#: 'put before our eyes,' 'paint,' 'describe.' _Lucus_, a favorite poetic theme. Jahn thinks of the grove in which Mars and Rhea Silvia met, Juv., 1, 7. Perhaps young poets tried their skill on groves, as young draughtsmen on trees.

71. #artifices#: With _artifices ponere_ comp. _artifex sequi_, Prol., 11. --#rus saturum#: 'lush, teeming country.' --#corbes-- focus-- porci#: all 'properties' of country life.

72. #fumosa Palilia faeno#: The festival called _Palilia_, in honor of Pales (from the same radical as _pa-sco_), was celebrated on the anniversary of the founding of Rome, April 21st. It was a day reeking (_fumosa_) with bonfires of hay (_faenum_), over which the peasants leaped, doubtless 'to appease the evil spirit by a pretended sacrifice' (Pretor). The dictionaries will furnish the _loci classici_. The other form, _Parilia_, is due to 'dissimilation.' Comp. _meridies_ for _medidies_.

73. #unde#: 'the source of;' loosely used to show connection. --#Remus#: not unfrequently takes the place of his longer brother, whose oblique cases do not fit well into dactylic verse. So _turba Remi_, Juv., 10, 73; _reddat signa Remi_, Prop., 4, 6, 80; and the other examples in Freund. --#sulco#: '_with_' and '_in_ the furrow.' See Prol., v., 1. --#terens#: 'wearing bright' (Conington), 'furbishing.' König compares: _#sulco attritus# splendescere vomer_, Verg., Georg., 1, 46. --#dentalia#: 'share-beams,' Verg., Georg., 1, 171, with Conington's note. --#Quinti#: Cincinnatus, Liv., 3, 26.

74. #cum dictatorem induit#: So Jahn (1843). Decidedly the easiest reading, but the best in connection with _terens_. In his ed. of 1868, Jahn reads _quem dictatorem_. Hermann objects to the expression, and insists on _dictaturam_, appealing in his preface to Plin., H. N., 18, 3, 20, for _dictaturam_ in the sense of _vestem dictatoriam_. Surely, to 'robe dictator' and to 'robe with the dictatorship' are not far apart, and the former is the more striking expression. --#trepida#: 'flurried.' See v. 20. --#ante boves#: is supposed to give local coloring, and to bring before us the 'slow, bovine gaze' of the astonished cattle.

75. #tua aratra#: Poetic plural. --#euge poeta#: Here the applause comes in. Mr. Pretor considers the words from _corbes_ to _tulit_ 'a quotation, perhaps from one of Nero's poems.'

76. #est nunc#: Persius attacks the _antiquarii_ in imitation of Horace. The older Latin poets have long been restored to their rights. Accius and Pacuvius hardly need defenders. Hermann makes the sentence interrogative. --#Brisaei#: 'Bacchic.' _Brisaeus_ was an epithet of Bacchus, transferred to the poet of Bacchus, who was perhaps too devoted a worshipper of the god. There was a famous saying of Cratinus, who was in like manner called +taurophagos+, a surname of Bacchus: +hudôr de pinôn ouden an tekoi sophon+, fr. 186 (2, 119 Mein.). Comp. Hor., Ep., 1, 19, 1. --#venosus#: For the figure, comp. Tac., Dial. 21. The 'standing out of the veins' refers not so much to the 'shrinking of the flesh in old age' (Conington), as to the scrawniness of the person. So Tacit. uses _durus et siccus_ of Asinius Pollio (l.c.), Gr. +ischnos+. 'Angular,' 'hard-lined,' is about what is meant. Others prefer 'thick-veined,' 'turgid.' --#liber#: of a play, Quint., 1, 10, 18; Prop., 4 (3), 21, 28 (Jahn). --#Acci#: also written _Atti_ (584-650? A.U.C.). Cicero calls him _gravis et ingeniosus poeta, summus poeta_ (pr. Planc., 24, 59; Sest., 56, 120); Hor., _altus_ (Ep., 2, 1, 56); Ov., _animosi oris_ (Am., 1, 15, 19). Pacuvius said that the compositions of Accius were _sonora quidem et grandia sed duriora paulum et acerbiora_.

77. #Pacuvius#: nephew of Ennius (534-622 A.U.C.). His great model was Sophocles. --#verrucosa#: 'warty,' intended to be a climax of ugliness. --#moretur#: 'fascinates,' 'enthralls.' _Fabula-- valdius oblectat populum meliusque #moratur#_, Hor., A. P., 321.

78. #Antiopa#: imitated from a lost play of Euripides. The fragments have been collected by Ribbeck, _Tr. Lat. Reliq._, p. 62; comp. p. 278. Antiope, as the mother of Amphion and Zethus, and the victim of Dirce, is famous in literature and in art (the _Toro Farnese_). --#aerumnis cor luctificabile fulta#: 'who props her dolorific heart on teen' (Gifford). Jahn defends the conception as truly poetical, apart from the obsolete language. 'The only stay of her sad heart is sorrow.' The words are doubtless taken from the play itself, of course in different order. _Aerumna_ was out of date as early as the time of Quintilian (8, 3, 26), who protests against the use of it. As to _luctificabile_, if we go by the fragments, it is Accius, rather than Pacuvius, that indulges in such formations as _horrificabilis_, _aspernabilis_, _tabificabilis_, _execrabilis_, _evocabilis_.

79. #lippos#: of the eyes of the mind. Comp. 2, 72.

80. #sartago#: literally 'a frying-pan,' 'hubble-bubble' (Conington), 'gallimaufry,' 'galimatias,' 'olio' (Gifford), 'olla podrida.'

81. #dedecus#: The language is disgraced and degraded by this mixture of old and new. Persius would not have enjoyed Tennyson's resuscitations. See Introd., xxiv. --#in quo#: 'at which.'

82. #trossulus#: an old name of the Roman knights, of disputed origin. It was afterward used in derision. Jahn compares the German _Junker_. --#exsultat#: +anapêda+, 'jumps up in delight.' --#per subsellia#: Jahn understands the 'benches' or 'forms' in court; others, perhaps more correctly, the seats in the lecture-hall. There is a climax. First, private teaching; next, public lectures; thirdly, practical life, to which we come in the following verse. --#levis#: the position is emphatic, 'the smug, womanish creature.' _Levis_ is _levigatus_. Ancient literature is full of allusions to this effeminate +paratilsis+.

83. #nilne#: stronger than _nonne_, 'not a blush of shame.' --#capiti#: rarer Ablative in _i_. Neue gives examples (_Formenlehre_, 1, 242). The simple Abl. is found with _pellere_, even in prose, and the Dative, which some prefer, would be forced. --#cano#: See note on v. 9.

84. #quin optes#: G., 551; A., 65, 1, _b._ --#tepidum#: 'lukewarm,' _decenter_ being faint praise. 'In good taste' (Conington). Gr. +prepontôs+.

85. #'Fur es'#: The accuser puts his point plainly enough; in three letters, as the Romans would say. --#ait#: Comp. v. 40. --#Pedio#: Jahn thinks it likely that this Pedius is not Horace's man (Sat., 1, 10, 28), but one Pedius Blaesus, condemned under Nero, Tac., Ann., 14, 18; Hist., 1, 77. Persius knew more about Horace than about the _causes célèbres_ of his own day. --#rasis antithetis#: commonly rendered 'polished antitheses.' With _radere_ comp. the Gr. +diesmileumenai phrontides+, Alexis, fr. 215 (3, 483 Mein.). But the figure may possibly be taken from the careful removal of overweight in either scale of the balance. The antitheses are scraped down to an exact equipoise.

86. #doctas figuras#: _Doctus_, Scaliger's correction, which requires, moreover, a period at _figuras_, is unnecessary. _Doctas figuras_, like _artes doctae_, _dicta docta_, _doli docti_. _Figurae_, +schêmata+, embraces 'tropes.' --#posuisse# = _quod posuerit_. G., 533; A., 70, 5, _b._

87. #an#: 'what?' 'can it be that?' --#Romule#: bitter, like _Titi_, _Romulidae_, _trossulus_. Comp. Catull., 29, 5. 9. --#ceves#: 'Wag the tail' keeps within bounds of possible translation.

88. #men moveat?# So _#men moveat# cimex Pantilius_, Hor., Sat., 1, 10, 78. The sentiment is that of the well-worn _si vis me flere, dolendum est | primum ipsi tibi_, Hor., A. P., 102. _Moveat_ sc. _Pedius_. --#quippe#: is often ironical, 'good sooth.' --#protulerim#: The Perf. Subj. in a sentence involving total negation.

89. #cantas#? 'you sing, do you?' --#fracta te in trabe pictum#: Shipwrecked men appealed to charity by carrying about pictures of the disaster which had overtaken them. Comp. 6, 32. _Si #fractis# enatat exspes | navibus, aere dato qui pingitur_, Hor., A. P., 20, and Juv., 14, 302. _Trabe_ is the wrecked vessel as it appears in the picture, although it is possible that the painting may have been put on a broken plank of the ship, in order to heighten the pathos. So Jahn.

90. #ex umero#: We say 'on the shoulder,' from a different point of view. G., 388, R. 2. --#nocte paratum#: 'got up overnight.'

91. #plorabit#: an imperative future. --#volet#: Observe the greater exactness of the Latin expression. G., 624; A., 27, 2. --#incurvasse#: See v. 42, and add Liv., 28, 41, 5; 30, 14, 6; 40, 10, 5, and the _S. C. de Bacanalibus_ (passim).

92-106. 'But,' rejoins the impersonal personage, whom Persius always has at hand, 'we have made great advances in art. Contrast this verse and that verse with the roughness of the Aeneid!'-- 'The Aeneid rough? Well, what is smooth? [_He gives a specimen of fashionable poetry._] If we had an inch of our sires' backbone, such drivel would be impossible. And as for art-- it is as easy as spitting.'

I have followed the distribution as presented in Hermann. Jahn gives vv. 96, 97 to Persius, 98-102 to the interlocutor, the rest to Persius. It is impossible to discuss all the arrangements that have been suggested for this passage.

92. #decor#: Gr. +charis+. --#iunctura#: is used as in v. 64, of 'smoothness,' 'harmonious sequence,' the even surface without a break. See Quint., 9, 4, 33. All the specimen verses that follow avoid mechanically the offences against _iunctura_ that Quintilian enumerates, and do not avail themselves of the license which he accords to a _grata neglegentia_. There is no elision, no synaloepha, in any of them. As these fashionable verses have been held up to derision by the satirist, commentators have been busy in hunting out defects, and translators have vied with each other in absurd renderings. But Jahn has wisely warned us against an over-curious search into the supposed faults of these verses, which Vossius pronounced superior to any thing in the compositions of the critic himself. It is enough for us to know that to the ear of Persius the lines lacked masculine vigor. The multiplication of diaereses, the length of the words, the careful avoidance of elision, the dainty half-rhyme of _bombis_ and _corymbis_, the jingle of _ablatura_ and _flexura_, may be cited as confirmations of the view of Persius, but, with the exception of the desperate verse 95, the diction is in keeping with the theme. If _adsonat Echo_ is not ridiculous in Ovid (Met., 3, 505), it is not ridiculous here; and one surely needs to be told that _reparabilis_ is not a happy adjective for Echo, who is always 'paying back' and making good.

93. #cludere versum#: like _concludere versum_ (Hor., Sat., 1, 4, 40), is 'round a verse' (Conington), rather than 'close a line.' --#didicit#: What is the subject? 'Our man,' 'our poet,' the lover of _decor et iunctura_? So most commentators. Heinr. makes _Attis_ the subject. The personification of _iunctura_ would not be too harsh for Persius. --#Berecyntius Attis#: It suffices to refer to Catull., 63. Berecyntus, a mountain in Phrygia.

94. #Nerea#: god of the sea, the water. In modern Gr. +neron+ is 'water.' The use, which Conington calls 'grotesque,' is almost as 'grotesque' as _Vulcanus_ for 'fire.' The scholiast thinks of Arion's dolphin. Bacchus's dolphin is as likely.

95. #sic costam longo subduximus Appennino#: With the close of the verse, comp. Ov., 2, 226: _Aeriaeque Alpes et nubifer Appenninus_; and Haupt's note. 'We filched a rib from the long Apennine.' The interpretations are all unsatisfactory. The scholiast sees in the removal of the rib from the mountain a metaphor for the removal of a syllable from the hexameter. The only point worthy of notice in this remark is the emphasis laid on the spondaic verse. The _Graece nugari soliti_ doubtless used spondaic verses more freely than the model Latin poets (comp. Catull., 64). Some understand the words to refer to a forced march (_putavi tam pauca milia #subripi# posse_, Sen., Ep., 53, 1); others to the device attributed to Hannibal in crossing the Alps (_montem rumpit aceto_, Juv., 10, 153). It is all idle guess-work, without a context; but, guess for guess, the expression would suit a 'Titanomachia,' and the rib might answer for a weapon, as once a jaw-bone did. The jingle of the verse is like Verg., Aen., 3, 549: _cornua #velatarum# obvertimus #antennarum#_, quoted by the scholiast.