The Satires of Juvenal, Persius, Sulpicia, and Lucilius (part 2 of 7)

The Satires of Juvenal, Persius, Sulpicia, and Lucilius (part 2 of 7)

Does Rutilus[931] inculcate a merciful disposition and a character indulgent to venial faults? does he hold that the souls and bodies of our slaves[932] are formed of matter like our own and of similar elements? or does he not teach cruelty, that Rutilus, who delights in the harsh clang of stripes, and thinks no Siren's[933] song can equal the sound of whips; the Antiphates[934] and Polyphemus of his trembling household? Then is he happy indeed whenever the torturer[935] is summoned, and some poor wretch is branded with the glowing iron for stealing a couple of towels! What doctrine does he preach to his son that revels in the clank of chains, that feels a strange delight in branded slaves,[936] and the country jail? Do you expect that Larga's[937] daughter will not turn out an adulteress, who could not possibly repeat her mother's lovers so quickly, or string them together with such rapidity, as not to take breath thirty times at least? While yet a little maid she was her mother's confidante; now, at that mother's dictation[938] she fills her own little tablets, and gives them to her mother's agents to bear to lovers of her own.

Such is Nature's law.[939] The examples of vice that we witness at home[940] more surely and quickly corrupt us, when they insinuate themselves into our minds, under the sanction of those we revere. Perhaps just one or two young men may spurn these practices, whose hearts the Titan has formed with kindlier art, and moulded out of better clay.[941]

But their sire's footsteps, that they ought to shun, lead on all the rest, and the routine[942] of inveterate depravity, that has been long before their eyes, attracts them on.

Therefore refrain[943] from all that merits reprobation. One powerful motive, at least, there is to this--lest our children copy our crimes. For we are all of us too quick at learning to imitate base and depraved examples; and you may find a Catiline in every people and under every sky; but nowhere a Brutus,[944] or Brutus' uncle!

Let nothing shocking to eyes or ears approach those doors that close upon your child. Away! far, far away,[945] the pander's wenches, and the songs of the parasite[946] that riots the livelong night! The greatest reverence[947] is due to a child! If you are contemplating a disgraceful act, despise not your child's tender years, but let your infant son act as a check upon your purpose of sinning. For if, at some future time, he shall have done any thing to deserve the censor's[948] wrath, and show himself like you, not in person only and in face, but also the true son of your morals, and one who, by following your footsteps, adds deeper guilt to your crimes--then, forsooth! you will reprove and chastise him with clamorous bitterness, and then set about altering your will. Yet how dare you assume the front severe,[949] and license of a parent's speech; you, who yourself, though old, do worse than this; and the exhausted cupping-glass[950] is long ago looking out for your brainless head?

If a friend is coming to pay you a visit, your whole household is in a bustle. "Sweep the floor, display the pillars in all their brilliancy, let the dry spider come down with all her web; let one clean[951] the silver, another polish the embossed[952] plate--" the master's voice thunders out, as he stands over the work, and brandishes his whip.

You are alarmed then, wretched man, lest your entrance-hall, befouled by dogs, should offend the eye of your friend who is coming, or your corridor be spattered with mud; and yet one little slave could clean all this with half a bushel of saw-dust. And yet, will you not bestir yourself that your own son may see your house immaculate and free from foul spot or crime? It deserves our gratitude that you have presented a citizen to your country and people,[953] if you take care that he prove useful to the state--of service to her lands; useful in transacting the affairs both of war and peace. For it will be a matter of the highest moment in what pursuits and moral discipline you train him.

The stork feeds her young on snakes[954] and lizards which she has discovered in the trackless fields. They too, when fledged, go in quest of the same animals. The vulture, quitting the cattle, and dogs, and gibbets, hastens to her callow brood, and bears to them a portion of the carcass. Therefore this is the food of the vulture too when grown up, and able to feed itself and build a nest in a tree of its own.

Whereas the ministers of Jove,[955] and birds of noble blood, hunt in the forest for the hare[956] or kid. Hence is derived the quarry for their nest: hence too, when their progeny, now matured, have poised themselves on their own wings, when hunger pinches they swoop to that booty, which first they tasted when they broke the shell.

Centronius had a passion for building; and now on the embayed shore of Caieta,[957] now on the highest peak of Tibur,[958] or on Præneste's[959] hills, he reared the tall roofs of his villas, of Grecian[960] and far-fetched marbles; surpassing the temple of Fortune[961] and of Hercules as much as Posides[962] the eunuch outvied our Capitol. While, therefore, he is thus magnificently lodged, Centronius lessened his estate and impaired his wealth. And yet the sum of the portion that he left was no mean one: but all this his senseless son ran through by raising new mansions of marble more costly than his sire's.

Some whose lot it is to have a father that reveres sabbaths, worship nothing save clouds and the divinity of heaven; and think that flesh of swine, from which their sire abstained, differs in naught from that of man. Soon, too, they submit to circumcision. But, trained to look with scorn upon the laws of Rome, they study and observe and reverence all those Jewish statutes that Moses in his mystic volume handed down: never to show the road except to one that worships the same sacred rites--to conduct to the spring they are in quest of, the circumcised[963] alone. But their father is to blame for this; to whom each seventh[964] day was a day of sloth, and kept aloof from all share of life's daily duties.

All other vices, however, young men copy of their own free choice. Avarice is the only one that even against their will they are constrained to put in practice. For this vice deceives men under the guise and semblance[965] of virtue. Since it is grave in bearing--austere in look and dress. And without doubt, the miser is praised "a frugal[966] character," "a sparing man," and one that knows how to guard his own,[967] more securely than if the serpent of the Hesperides[968] or of Pontus had the keeping of them. Besides, the multitude considers the man of whom we are speaking, a splendid carver[969] of his own fortune. Since it is by such artificers as these that estates are increased. But still, increase they do by all means, fair or foul, and swell in bulk from the ceaseless anvil and ever-glowing forge.

The father, therefore, considers misers as men of happy minds,[970] since he admires wealth, and thinks no instance can be found of a poor man that is also happy; and therefore exhorts his sons to follow the same track, and apply themselves earnestly to the doctrines of the same sect. There are certain first elements[971] of all vices. These he instills into them in regular order, and constrains them to become adepts in the most paltry lucre. Presently he inculcates an insatiable thirst for gain. While he is famishing himself, he pinches his servants'[972] stomachs with the scantiest allowance.[973] For he never endures to consume the whole of the blue fragments of mouldy[974] bread, but saves, even in the middle of September,[975] the mince[976] of yesterday;[977] and puts by till to-morrow's dinner the summer bean,[978] with a piece of stockfish and half a stinking shad:[979] and, after he has counted them, locks up the shreds of chopped leek.[980] A beggar from a bridge[981] would decline an invitation to such a meal as this! But to what end is money scraped together at the expense of such self-torture? Since it is undoubted madness,[982] palpable insanity, to live a beggar's life, simply that you may die rich.

Meanwhile, though the sack swells, full to the very brim, the love of money grows[983] as fast as the money itself grows. And he that has the less, the less he covets. Therefore you are looking out for a second villa, since one estate is not enough for you, and it is your fancy to extend[984] your territories; and your neighbor's corn-land seems to you more spacious and fertile than your own; therefore you treat for the purchase of this too, with all its woods and its hill that whitens with its dense olive-grove. But if their owner will not be prevailed upon to part with them at any price, then at night, your lean oxen and cattle with weary necks, half-starved, will be turned into his corn-fields while still green, and not quit it for their own homes before the whole crop[985] has found its way into their ruthless[986] stomachs--so closely cropped that you would fancy it had been mown. You could hardly tell how many have to complain of similar treatment, and how many estates wrongs like this have brought to the hammer. "But what says the world? What the trumpet of slanderous fame?--"

"What harm does this do me?"[987] he says; "I had rather have a lupin's pod, than that the whole village neighborhood[988] should praise me, if I am at the same time to reap the scanty crops of a diminutive estate."

You will then, forsooth, be free from all disease[989] and all infirmity, and escape sorrow and care; and a lengthened span of life will hereafter be your lot with happier destiny, if you individually own as much arable land as the whole Roman people used to plow under king Tatius. And after that, to men broken down with years, that had seen the hard service of the Punic wars, and faced the fierce Pyrrhus and the Molossian swords, scarce two acres[990] a man were bestowed at length as compensation for countless wounds. Yet that reward for all their blood and toil never appeared to any less than their deserts--or did their country's faith appear scant or thankless. Such a little glebe as this used to satisfy the father himself and all his cottage troop: where lay his pregnant wife, and four children played--one a little slave,[991] the other three free-born. But for their grown-up brothers[992] when they returned from the trench or furrow, there was another and more copious supper prepared, and the big pots smoked with vegetables. Such a plot of ground in our days is not enough for a garden.

It is from this source commonly arise the motives to crime. Nor has any vice of the mind of man mingled more poisons or oftener dealt[993] the assassin's knife, than the fierce lust for wealth unlimited. For he that covets to grow rich,[994] would also grow rich speedily. But what respect for laws, what fear or shame is ever found in the breast of the miser hasting to be rich? "Live contented with these cottages, my lads, and these hills of ours!" So said, in days of yore, the Marsian and Hernican and Vestine sire--"Let us earn our bread, sufficient for our tables, with the plow. Of this the rustic deities[995] approve; by whose aid and intervention, since the boon of the kindly corn-blade, it is man's fortune to loathe the oaks he fed upon before. Naught that is forbidden will he desire to do who is not ashamed of wearing the high country boots[996] in frosty weather, and keeps off the east winds by inverted skins. The foreign purple, unknown to us before, leads on to crime and impiety of every kind."

Such were the precepts that these fine old fellows gave to their children! But now, after the close of autumn, even at midnight[997] the father with loud voice rouses his drowsy son:

"Come, boy, get your tablets and write! Come, wake up! Draw indictments! get up the rubricated statutes[998] of our fathers--or else draw up a petition for a centurion's post. But be sure Lælius observe your hair untouched by a comb, and your nostrils well covered with hair,[999] and your good brawny shoulders. Sack the Numidian's hovels,[1000] and the forts of the Brigantes,[1001] that your sixtieth year may bestow on you the eagle that will make you rich. Or, if you shrink from enduring the long-protracted labors of the camp, and the sound of bugles and trumpets makes your heart faint, then buy something that you may dispose of for more than half as much again as it cost you; and never let disgust at any trade that must be banished beyond the other bank of Tiber, enter your head, nor think that any difference can be drawn between perfumes or leather. The smell of gain is good[1002] from any thing whatever! Let this sentiment of the poet[1003] be forever on your tongue--worthy of the gods, and even great Jove himself!--'No one asks how you get it, but have it you must.' This maxim old crones impress on boys before they can run alone. This all girls learn before their A B C."

Any parent whatever inculcating such lessons as these I would thus address: Tell me, most empty-headed of men! who bids you be in such a hurry? I engage your pupil shall better your instruction. Don't be alarmed! You will be outdone; just as Ajax outstripped Telamon, and Achilles excelled Peleus.[1004] Spare their tender years![1005] The bane of vice matured has not yet filled the marrow of their bones! As soon as he begins to trim a beard, and apply the long razor's edge, he will be a false witness--will sell his perjuries at a trifling sum, laying his hand[1006] on Ceres' altar and foot. Look upon your daughter-in-law as already buried, if she has entered your family with a dowry that must entail death on her.[1007] With what a gripe will she be strangled in her sleep! For all that you suppose must be gotten by sea and land, a shorter road[1008] will bestow on him! Atrocious crime involves no labor! "I never recommended this," you will hereafter say, "nor counseled such an act." Yet the cause and source of this depravity of heart rests at your doors; for he that inculcated a love for great wealth, and by his sinister lessons trained up his sons to avarice,[1009] does give full license, and gives the free rein[1010] to the chariot's course; then if you try to check it, it can not be restrained, but, laughing you to scorn, is hurried on, and leaves even the goal far behind. No one holds it enough to sin just so much as you allow him, but men grant themselves a more enlarged indulgence.

When you say to your son, "The man is a fool that gives any thing to his friend,[1011] or relieves the burden[1012] of his neighbor's poverty," you are, in fact, teaching him to rob and cheat, and get riches by any crime, of which as great a love exists in you as was that of their country in the breast of the Decii;[1013] as much, if Greece speaks truth, as Menæceus[1014] loved Thebes! in whose furrows[1015] legions with their bucklers spring from the serpent's teeth, and at once engage in horrid war, as though a trumpeter had arisen along with them. Therefore you will see that fire[1016] of which you yourself supplied the sparks, raging far and wide, and spreading universal destruction. Nor will you yourself escape, poor wretch! but with loud roar the lion-pupil[1017] in his den will mangle his trembling master.

Your horoscope is well known to the astrologers.[1018] Yes! but it is a tedious business to wait for the slow-spinning[1019] distaffs. You will be cut off long before your thread[1020] is spun out. You are long ago standing in his way, and are a drag upon his wishes. Long since your slow and stag-like[1021] age is irksome to the youth. Send for Archigenes[1022] at once! and buy what Mithridates[1023] compounded, if you would pluck another fig, or handle this year's roses. You must possess yourself of that drug which every father, and every king, should swallow before every meal.

I now present to you an especial gratification, to which you can find no match on any stage, or on the platform of the sumptuous prætor. If you only become spectator at what risk to life the additions to fortune are procured, the ample store in the brass-bound[1024] chest, the gold to be deposited in watchful Castor's[1025] temple; since Mars the avenger has lost helmet and all, and could not even protect his own property. You may give up, therefore, the games of Flora,[1026] of Ceres,[1027] and of Cybele,[1028] such far superior sport is the real business of life!

Do bodies projected from the petaurum,[1029] or they that come down the tight-rope, furnish better entertainment than you, who take up your constant abode in your Corycian[1030] bark, ever to be tossed up and down by Corus and by Auster? the desperate merchant of vile and stinking wares! You, who delight in importing the rich[1031] raisin from the shores of ancient Crete, and wine-flasks[1032]--Jove's own fellow-countrymen! Yet he that plants his foot with hazardous tread by that perilous barter earns his bread, and makes the rope ward off both cold and hunger. You run your desperate risk, for a thousand talents and a hundred villas. Behold the harbor! the sea swarming with tall ships! more than one half the world is now at sea. Wherever the hope of gain invites, a fleet will come; nor only bound over the Carpathian and Gætulian seas, but leaving Calpe[1033] far behind, hear Phœbus hissing in the Herculean main. A noble recompense indeed for all this toil! that you return home thence with well-stretched purse; and exulting in your swelled money-bags,[1034] brag of having seen Ocean's monsters,[1035] and young mermen!

A different madness distracts different minds. One, while in his sister's arms, is terrified at the features and torches of the Eumenides.[1036] Another, when he lashes the bull[1037], believes it is Agamemnon or Ulysses roars. What though he spare his tunic or his cloak, that man requires a keeper,[1038] who loads his ship with a cargo up to the very bulwarks, and has but a plank[1039] between himself and the wave. While the motive cause to all this hardship and this fearful risk, is silver cut up into petty legends and minute portraits. Clouds and lightning oppose his voyage. "All hands unmoor!" exclaims the owner of the corn and pepper he has bought up. "This lowering sky, that bank of sable clouds portends no ill! It is but summer lightning!"

Unhappy wretch! perchance that selfsame night he will be borne down, overwhelmed with shivering timbers and the surge, and clutch his purse with his left hand and his teeth. And he, to whose covetous desires[1040] but lately not all the gold sufficed which Tagus[1041] or Pactolus[1042] rolls down in its ruddy sand, must now be content with a few rags to cover his nakedness, and a scanty morsel, while as a "poor shipwrecked mariner" he begs for pence, and maintains himself by his painting of the storm.[1043]

Yet, what is earned by hardships great as these, involves still greater care and fear to keep. Wretched, indeed, is the guardianship[1044] of a large fortune.

Licinus,[1045] rolling in wealth, bids his whole regiment of slaves mount guard with leathern buckets[1046] all in rows; in dread alarm for his amber, and his statues, and his Phrygian marble,[1047] and his ivory, and massive tortoise-shell.

The tub of the naked Cynic[1048] does not catch fire! If you smash it, another home will be built by to-morrow, or else the same will stand, if soldered with a little lead. Alexander felt, when he saw in that tub its great inhabitant, how much more really happy was he who coveted nothing, than he who aimed at gaining to himself the whole world; doomed to suffer perils equivalent to the exploits he achieved.

Had we but foresight, thou, Fortune, wouldst have no divinity.[1049] It is we that make thee a goddess! Yet if any one were to consult me what proportion of income is sufficient, I will tell you. Just as much as thirst and hunger[1050] and cold require; as much as satisfied you, Epicurus,[1051] in your little garden! as much as the home of Socrates contained before. Nature never gives one lesson, and philosophy another. Do I seem to bind you down to too strict examples? Then throw in something to suit our present manners. Make up the sum[1052] which Otho's law thinks worthy of the Fourteen Rows.

If this make you contract your brows, and put out your lip, then take two knights' estate, make it the three Four-hundred![1053] If I have not yet filled your lap, but still it gapes for more, then neither Crœsus' wealth nor the realms of Persia will ever satisfy you. No! nor even Narcissus'[1054] wealth! on whom Claudius Cæsar lavished all, and whose behest he obeyed, when bidden even to kill his wife.

FOOTNOTES:

[922] Fuscinus. Nothing is known of him.Return to passage

"Fuscinus, those ill deeds that sully fame, And lay such blots upon an honest name, In blood once tainted, like a current run From the lewd father to the lewder son." Dryden.

[923] Alea, i., 89. Cf. Propert., IV., viii., 45, "Me quoque per talos Venerem quærente secundos, Semper damnosi subsiluere Canes." The Romans used four dice in throwing, which were thrown on a table with a rim (alveolus or abacus), out of a dice-box made of horn, box-wood, or ivory. This fritillus was a kind of cup, narrower at the top than below. When made in the form of a tower, with graduated intervals, it was called pyrgus, turricula, or phimus.Return to passage

[924] Ludit.Return to passage

"Repeats in miniature the darling vice; Shakes the low box, and cogs the little dice." Gifford.

[925] Tubera. Cf. v., 116, seq. Mart., Ep. xiii., 50.Return to passage

[926] Boletum. Cf. v., 147. Mart., Ep. xiii., 48.Return to passage

[927] Ficedulas. Mr. Metcalfe translates "snipes." Cf. Mart., Ep. xiii., 49, "Cum me ficus alat, cum pascar dulcibus uvis, Cur potius nomen non dedit uva mihi?"Return to passage

[928] Gula, i., 140.Return to passage

[929] Septimus. Plin., vii., 16, "Editis infantibus primores dentes septimo gignuntur mense: iidem anno septimo decidunt, aliique sufficiuntur."Return to passage

[930] Barbatos. Pers., iv., 1, "Barbatum hoc crede magistrum dicere sorbitio tollit quem dira cicutæ." Cic., Fin., iv., "Barba sylvosa et pulchre alita, quamvis res ipsa sit exterior et fortuita, inter hominis eruditi insignia recensetur."Return to passage

[931] Rutilus. Used probably indefinitely, as in Sat. xi., 2, "Si Rutilus, demens." Rutilus was a surname of the Marcian, Virginian, and Nantian clans.Return to passage

[932] Servorum. Gifford quotes an apposite passage from Macrobius, i., 2, "Tibi autem unde in servos tantum et tam immane fastidium? Quasi non ex iisdem tibi constent et alantur elementis, eumdemque spiritum ab eodem principe carpant!"Return to passage

[933] Sirena. Cf. ix., 150.Return to passage

[934] Antiphates, king of the cannibal Læstrygones. Hom., Odys., x., 114, seq. Ovid, Met., xiv., 233, seq.Return to passage

[935] Tortore. vi., 480, "Sunt quæ tortoribus annua præstent."Return to passage

"Knows no delight, save when the torturer's hand Stamps for low theft the agonizing brand." Gifford.

[936] Ergastula. Cf. ad viii., 180. Put here, as in vi., 151, for the slaves themselves. As 15 freemen were said to constitute a state, and 15 slaves a familia, so "quindecim vincti" form one Ergastulum. It properly means the Bridewell, where they were set to "travaux forcis." Liv., ii., 23; vii., 4. The country prisons were generally under-ground dungeons. Branding on the forehead was a common punishment. Thieves had the word "Fur" burnt in; hence called "literati homines," "homines trium literarum." Plaut., Aul., II., iv., 46. Cicero calls one "compunctum notis, stigmatiam," Off., ii., 7. So "Inscripti vultus," Plin., xviii., 3. "Inscripti," Martial, Ep. viii, 79. Cf. Plin., Paneg., 35. Sat. x., 183. Plaut., Cas., II., vi., 49.Return to passage

[937] Largæ. Cf. vi., 239, "Scilicet expectas ut tradat mater honestos atque alios mores quam quos habet?" x., 220, "Promptius expediam quot amaverit Hippia mæchos."Return to passage

[938] Dictante. vi., 223, "Illa docet missis a corruptore tabellis, nil rude, nil simplex rescribere."Return to passage

[939] Exempla. From Cic, Ep., iv., 3, "Quod exemplo fit, id etiam jure fieri putant."Return to passage

[940] Exempla domestica.Return to passage

"Thus Nature bids our home's examples win The passive mind to imitative sin, And vice, unquestion'd, makes its easy way, Sanction'd by those our earliest thoughts obey." Badham.

[941] Luto. Callim., fr. 133, εἴ σε Προμηθεὺς ἔπλασε καὶ πηλοῦ μὴ 'ξ ἑτέρου γέγονας. Ovid, Met, i., 80, "Sive recens tellus seductaque nuper ab alto æthere cognati retinebat semina cœli; Quam satus Iapeto mixtam fluvialibus undis finxit in effigiem moderantûm cuncta Deorum." Cf. Sat. vi., 13, "Compositive luto nullos habuere parentes."Return to passage

[942] Orbita, from orbis; "the track of a wheel." So by the same metaphor the "routine," or course of life.Return to passage

[943] Abstineas.Return to passage

"O cease from sin! should other reasons fail Lest our own frailties make our children frail." Badham.

[944] Brutus was the son of Servilia, the sister of Cato of Utica (cf. x., 319). So Sen., Ep. 97, "Omne tempus Clodios, non omne Catones fert."Return to passage

[945] Procul hinc. The formula at religious solemnities. Cf. ii., 89. Ov., Met., vii., 255, "Hinc procul Æsonidem, procul hinc jubet ire ministros, et monet arcanis oculos removere profanos."Return to passage

[946] Parasiti. Cf. i., 139.Return to passage

[947] Reverentia.Return to passage

"His child's unsullied purity demands The deepest reverence at a parent's hands." Badham.

[948] Censoris. Henninius' reading and punctuation is followed here.Return to passage

"Oh yet reflect! For should he e'er provoke, In riper age, the Law's avenging stroke (Since not alone in person and in face, But morals, he will prove your son, and trace, Nay pass your vicious footsteps), you will rail, And name another heir, should threatening fail!" Gifford.

[949] Cerebro. Plin., ix., 37, "Cerebrum est velut arx sensuum: hic mentis est regimen."Return to passage

[950] Cucurbita. Properly a kind of gourd, κολοκύνθη thence from its shape, and perhaps too from its use, applied to a cupping-glass. These were made of horn, brass, and afterward of glass. The Greeks, from the same cause, called it σικύα, or κύαθος (cf. Schol. ad Arist., Lys., 444). It is called ventosa from the rarefication of the air in the operation, and was applied to relieve the head. Hence cucurbitæ caput is used for a fool. Cf. Appul., Met., I, "Nos cucurbitæ caput non habemus, ut pro te moriamur!"Return to passage

[951] Lavet. Browne says, "Who washes silver plate?" and prefers the reading "leve." "But might not his patellæ be of silver?" iii., 261, "Domus intereà secura patellas jam lavat."Return to passage

[952] Aspera. Cf. i., 76, "Argentum vetus et stantem extrà pocula caprum." v., 38, "Inæquales beryllo phialas." Virg., Æn., ix., 266, "Argento perfecta atque aspera signis pocula." Ovid., Met., v., 81, "Altis exstantem signis cratera." xii., 235, "Signis exstantibus asper Antiquus crater." xiii., 700, "Hactenus antiquo signis fulgentibus ære, Summus inaurato crater erat asper acantho."Return to passage

"'Sweep the dry cobwebs down!' the master cries, Whips in his hand, and fury in his eyes: 'Let not a spot the clouded columns stain, Scour you the figured silver; you the plain!'" Gifford.

[953] Patriæ populoque, an ancient formula. Cf. Liv., v., 41. So Horace joins them, "Hoc fonte derivata clades in patriam populumque fluxit," iii., Od. vi., 20 (vid. Orell. in loc.). Ovid, Met., xv., 572, "Seu lætum est, patriæ lætum, populoque Quirini."Return to passage

"Thy grateful land shall say 'tis nobly done, If thou bring'st up to public use thy son; Fit for the various tasks allotted men, A warlike chief, a prudent citizen." Hodgson.

[954] Serpente. Pliny (H. N., x., 23) alludes to the same circumstance with regard to storks. "Illis in Thessaliâ tantus honos serpentum exitio habitus est, ut ciconiam occidere capitale sit, eadem legibus pœna, quâ in homicidas."Return to passage

"Her progeny the stork with serpents feeds, And finds them lizards in the devious meads: The little storklings, when their wings are grown, Look out for snakes and lizards of their own." Badham.

[955] Famulæ Jovis. Æsch., Prom. V., 1057, Διὸς πτηνὸς κύων, δαφοινὸς ἀετός. Hor., iv., Od. iv., 1, "Qualem ministrum fulminis alitem," etc.Return to passage

[956] Leporem. Virg., Æn., ix., 563, seq., "Qualis ubi aut leporem aut candenti corpora cycnum Sustulit alta petens pedibus Jovis armiger uncis."Return to passage

"While Jove's own eagle, bird of noble blood, Scours the wide champaign for untainted food, Bears the swift hare, or swifter fawn away, And feeds her nestlings with the generous prey." Gifford.

[957] Caietæ, now "Mola di Gaeta," called from Æneas's nurse. Virg., Æn., vii., 1, "Tu quoque littoribus nostris, Æneia nutrix, Æternam moriens famam Caieta dedisti. Et nunc servat honos sedem tuus."Return to passage

[958] Tibur, now "Tivoli," on the Anio, built on a steep acclivity. Hence "supinum," Hor., iii., Od. iv., 23. Cf. iii., 192, "aut proni Tiburis arce."Return to passage

[959] Præneste, now "Palestrina," said to have been founded by Cæculus, son of Vulcan. Vid. Virg., Æn., vii., 678.Return to passage

[960] Græcis. Cf. Stat. Sylv., III., i., 5, "Sed nitidos postes Graiisque effulta metallis culmina." The green marble of Tænarus was very highly prized. Vid. Plin., H. N. xxxvi., 7. Prop., III., ii., 9, "Quod non Tænariis domus est mihi fulta columnis." Tibull., III., iii., 13, "Quidve domus prodest Phrygiis innixa columnis, Tænare sive tuis, sive Caryste tuis." Among other foreign marbles, Pliny mentions the Egyptian, Naxian, Armenian, Parian, Chian, Sicyonian, Synnadic, Numidian. Augustus introduced the use of marble in public buildings, and many edifices of his time were constructed of solid marble. All the columns of the temple of Mars Ultor are of marble. (Vid. Niebuhr's Lectures, vol. iii., p. 299. Sat. xi., 182, "Longis Numidarum fulta columnis." Hor., ii., Od. xviii., 4, "Columnas ultimâ recisas Africâ." Lucian, Hipp., p. 507, ed. Bened.) But the more general use of it did not begin till the reign of Nero, when Greek architecture became prevalent.Return to passage

[961] Fortunæ. The temple of Fortune at Præneste was erected by Augustus. Hence she was called Dea Prænestina, and the oracles delivered there "Sortes Prænestinæ." Suet., Tib., 63. Propert., II., xxxii., 3. Cf. Ov., Fast., vi., 62. (From Stat. Sylv., I., iii., 80, "Quod ni templa darent alias Tirynthia sortes, et Prænestinæ poterant migrare Sorores," it appears that at Præneste, as at Antium, there were two Fortunes worshiped as sister-goddesses. Cf. Suet., Calig., 57. Mart., v., Ep. i., 3. Orell. ad Hor., i., Od. xxxv., 1.) The temple of Hercules at Tibur was built by Marcius Philippus, step-father of Augustus. Cf. Suet., Aug., 29. Prop., II., xxxii., 5.Return to passage

[962] Posides. Vid. Suet., Claud., 28, "Libertorum præcipuè suspexit Posiden spadonem quem etiam, Britannico triumpho, inter militares viros hastâ purâ donavit." Like Claudius' other freedmen, he amassed immense wealth.Return to passage

[963] Verpos. Some of the commentators waste a great amount of zeal, and no little knowledge, to show us that these lines prove Juvenal to have been in utter ignorance of the Mosaic law. I presume Juvenal means to tell us what the Jews did, not what the Jewish law taught; which had they followed, they would not have been in Rome for Juvenal to write about. These lines, in fact, instead of contradicting Josephus, confirm his account of the state of his countrymen, and are another valuable testimony to prove that they "had made the word of God of none effect through their traditions." What should we say of Messrs. Johnson, Malone, and Steevens, were they to gravely demonstrate that Shakspeare wrote in ignorance of the tenets of Judaism when he introduces Shylock coveting Signor Antonio's "pound of flesh?"Return to passage

[964] Septima. Cf. Tac., His., v., 4, "Septimo die otium placuisse ferunt; quia is finem laborum tulerit; dein blandiente inertiâ, septimum quoque annum ignaviæ datum."Return to passage

[965] Specie. Hor., A. P., 25, "Decipimur specie recti." Pers., v., 105, "Et veri speciem dignoscere calles."Return to passage

"For this grave vice, assuming Virtue's guise, Seems Virtue's self to superficial eyes." Gifford.

[966] Frugi. Hor., i., Sat. iii., 49, "Parcius hic vivit, frugi dicatur."Return to passage

[967] Tutela. Hor., A. P., 169, "Vel quod Quærit, et inventis miser abstinet ac timet uti," and l. 325-333.Return to passage

[968] Hesperidum. Vid. Ov., Met., iv., 627, seq. Virg., Æn., iv., 480, seq. Athen., iii., p. 82, ed. Dindorf.Return to passage

[969] Artificem.Return to passage

"And reasoning from the fortune he has made, Hail him a perfect master of his trade." Gifford.

[970] Animi. Hor., i., Ep. xv., 45, "Vos sapere et solos aio bene vivere quorum Conspicitur nitidis fundata pecunia villis."Return to passage

[971] Elementa.Return to passage

"Vice boasts its elements, like other arts: These he inculcates first; anon imparts The petty tricks of saving: last inspires Of endless wealth th' insatiable desires." Gifford.

[972] Servorum. Juvenal had evidently Theophrastus' αἰσχροκερδὴς in his eye: τὰ δὲ καταλειπόμενα ἀπὸ τῆς τραπέζης ἡμίση τῶν ῥαφανίδων ἀπογράφεσθαι, ἵνα οἱ διακονοῦντες παῖδες μὴ λάβωσι.Return to passage

[973] Modio iniquo. Cf. Theophr., Char., 80 (π. αίσχροκερδ.), φειδωνίῳ μέτρῳ τὸν πύνδακα ἐγκεκρουσμένῳ μετρεῖν αὐτὸς τοῖς ἔνδον τὰ ἐπιτήδεια σφόδρα ἀποψῶν.Return to passage

[974] Mucida. v., 68, "Solidæ jam mucida frusta farinæ."Return to passage

[975] Septembri. The hottest and most unhealthy month in Rome. Cf. vi., 517. Hor., i., Ep. xvi., 16.Return to passage

[976] Minutal. The μυττωτὸς and περίκομμα of Aristophanes. Martial describes one, lib. xi., Ep. xxxi. Cf. Apic, iv., 3.Return to passage

[977] Hesternum. So Θοίνην ἕωλον. Athen., vii., 2. Mart., i., Ep. civ., 7, "Deque decem plures semper servantur olivæ, explicat et cœnas unica mensa duas."Return to passage

[978] Conchem. iii., 293, "Cujus conche tumes."Return to passage

[979] Lacerti. Mart., x., Ep. 48, "Secta coronabunt rutatos ova lacertos." xii., Ep. 19. Celsus, ii., 18, mentions the Lacertus among the fish "ex quibus salsamenta fiunt, et quorum cibus gravissimus est." The Silurus was a common and coarse Egyptian fish, sent over salted to Rome. Cf. iv., 33.Return to passage

[980] Porri. iii., 294, "Quis tecum sectile porrum." Cf. Plin., H.N., xix., 6.Return to passage

[981] Ponte. Cf. iv., 116, "Cæcus adulator dirusque a ponte satelles." v., 8, "Nulla crepido vacat? nusquam pons et tegetis pars dimidia brevior?" Mart., x., Ep. v., 3, "Erret per urbem pontis exsul et clivi, interque raucos ultimus rogatores oret caninas panis improbi buccas." Ovid, Ibis, 420, "Quique tenent pontem."Return to passage

[982] Phrenesis. Hor., ii., Sat. iii., 82, "Danda est Hellebori multo pars maxima avaris: Nescio an Anticyram ratio illis destinet omnem." So Cicero, de Senec., 65, "Avaritia vero senilis quid sibi velit, non intelligo: potest enim esse quidquam absurdius, quam quo minus viæ restat eò plus viatici quærere?"Return to passage

[983] Crescit. So Ovid, Fast., i., 211, "Creverunt et opes, et opum furiosa cupido et cum possideant plurima plura volunt. Quærere ut absumant, absumta requirere certant: atque ipsæ vitiis sunt alimenta vices."Return to passage

[984] Proferre. Liv., i., 33. Virg., Æn., vi., 796. Hor., ii., Od. xviii., 17. ii., Sat. vi., 8, "O si angulus ille proximus accedat qui nunc denormat agellum."Return to passage

[985] Novalia. Put here for the crops on any good land. Plin., H. N., xviii., 19, "Novale est quod alternis annis seritur." Cf. Virg., Georg., i., 71, "Alternis idem tonsas cessare novales et segnem patiere situ durescere campum," with Martyn's note. Varro, de L. L., iv., 4, "Ager restibilis, qui restituitur ac reseritur quotquot annis; Contrà qui intermittitur, à novando novalis est ager." It means properly land recently cleared. "Ager novus cui nunc primum immissum est aratrum (virgin soil), cum antea aut sylva esset, aut terra nunquam proscissa et culta in segetem." Facc. Then it is used for any cultivated land. Virg., Ecl., i., 71. Stat., Theb., iii., 644, 5.Return to passage

[986] Sævos. So Hor., ii., Sat. vii., 5, "Quæ prima iratum ventrem placaverit esca."Return to passage

"Turn in by night thy cattle, starved and lean, Amid his growing crops of waving green; Nor lead them forth till all the field be bare, As if a thousand sickles had been there." Badham.

[987] Quid nocet hoc? Cf. i., 48, "Quid enim salvis infamia nummis!" Hor., i., Sat. i., 63, "Ut quidam memoratur Athenis, Sordidus ac dives populi contemnere voces sic solitus: Populus me sibilat, at mihi plaudo Ipse domi, simul ac nummos contemplor in arcâ."Return to passage

[988] Vicinia. Hor., ii., Sat. v., 106, "Egregiè factum laudet vicinia."Return to passage

[989] Morbis. Cf. Hor., i., Sat. i., 80, "At si condoluit tentatum frigore corpus, aut alius casus lecto te affixit; habes qui assideat, fomenta paret, medicum roget ut te suscitet ac reddat natis carisque propinquis."Return to passage

"What! canst thou thus bid mortal sickness cease? Thus from life's lightest cares compel release? Though twenty plowshares turn thy vast domain, Shalt thou live longer unchastised by pain?" Badham.

[990] Jugera bina. Liv., vi., 16, "Satricum coloniam deduci jussit; bina jugera et semisses agri assignati." c., 36, "Auderentne postulare, ut quum bina jugera agri plebi dividerentur, ipsis plus quingenta jugera habere liceret?" The colonists sent to occupy the conquered country received, as their allotment of the land taken from the enemy, two acres apiece. The jugerum was nearly five eighths of an English acre, i. e., 2 roods, 19 perches, and a fraction. The semissis is the same as the actus quadratus. Cf. Varro, R. R., i., 10. Plin., H. N., xviii., 2.Return to passage

[991] Vernula. Cf. x., 117, "Quem sequitur custos angustæ vernula capsæ." The verna (οἰκοτραφὴς) was so called, "qui in villis vere natus, quod tempus duce natura feturæ est." Fest. Others say that it became a term of reproach from having been first given to those who were born in the Ver Sacrum. Cf. Fest, s. v. Mamertini. Strabo, v., p. 404. Liv., xxxiv., 44. Just., xxiv., 4. These home-born slaves, though more despised from having been born in a state of servitude, were treated with great fondness and indulgence. Sen., Prov., i., f., "Cogita filiorum nos modestia delèctari, vernularum licentia: illos tristiori disciplinâ contineri; horum ali audaciam."Return to passage

[992] Domini. Cf. Plaut., Capt. Pr., 18, "Licet non hæredes sint, domini sunt."Return to passage

[993] Grassatur. iii., 305, "Interdum et ferro subitus grassator agit rem."Return to passage

[994] Cito vult fieri. Cf. Menand., οὐδεὶς ἐπλούτησε ταχέως δίκαιος ὤν. Prov., xxviii., 20, "He that maketh haste to be rich, shall not be innocent."Return to passage

"What law restrains, what scruples shall prevent The desperate man on swift possessions bent?" Badham.

[995] Numina ruris. Cf. Virg., Georg., i., 7, "Liber et alma Ceres vestro si munere tellus Chaoniam pingui glandem mutavit aristâ." So Fast., i., 671, "Placentur matres frugum Tellusque Ceresque Farre suo gravidæ, visceribusque suis. Consortes operum, per quas correcta vetustas, Quernaque glans victa est utiliore cibo." iv., 399, "Postmodo glans nata est bene erat jam glande reperta, duraque magnificas quercus habebat opes. Prima Ceres homini ad meliora alimenta vocato mutavit glandes utiliore cibo." So Sat., vi., 10, "Et sæpe horridior glandem ructante marito." Sulp., 16, "Non aliter primo quàm cum surreximus ævo, Glandibus et puræ rursus procumbere lymphæ."Return to passage

[996] Perone. Virg., Æn., vii., 690, "Crudus tegit altera pero." The pero was a rustic boot, reaching to the middle of the leg, made of untanned leather. Cf. Pers., v., 102, "Navem si poscat sibi peronatus arator Luciferi rudis."Return to passage

"No guilty wish the simple plowman knows, High-booted tramping through his country snows; Clad in his shaggy cloak against the wind, Rough his attire and undebauch'd his mind: The foreign purple, better still unknown, Makes all the sins of all the world our own." Hodgson.

[997] Media de nocte. Cf. Arist., Nub., 8, seq.Return to passage

[998] Rubras. Cf. Pers., v., 90, "Excepto si quid Masuri rubrica vetavit." Ov., Trist., I., i., 7, "Nec titulus minio nec cedro charta notetur." Mart., iii., Ep. ii., "Et te purpura delicata velet, et cocco rubeat superbus index." In ordinary books, the titles and headings of the chapters were written in red letters. But in law-books the text was in red letter, and the commentaries and glosses in black.Return to passage

[999] Pilosas. ii., 11, "Hispida membra quidem et duræ per brachia setæ promittunt atrocem animum." Combs were usually made of box-wood. Ov., Fast., vi., 229, "Non mihi detonsos crines depectere buxo." Mart., xiv., Ep. xxv., 2, "Quid faciet nullos hic inventura capillos, multifido buxus quæ tibi dente datur."Return to passage

[1000] Attegias, a word of Arabic origin. The Magalia of Virgil, Æn., i., 425; iv., 259, and Mapalia of Silius Italicus, ii., 437, seq., xvii., 88. Virg., Georg., iii., 340. Low round hovels, sometimes on wheels like the huts of the Scythian nomadæ, called from their shape "Cohortes rotundæ," "hen-coops." Cat. ap. Fest. They are described by Sallust (Bell. Jug., 20) as "Ædificia Numidarum agrestium, oblonga, incurvis lateribus tecta, quasi navium carinæ;" and by Hieron. as "furnorum similes." Probably when fixed they were called Magalia; whence the name of the ancient part of Carthage, from the Punic "Mager." When locomotive, Mapalia. Livy says that when Masinissa fled before Syphax to Mount Balbus, "familiæ aliquot cum mapalibus pecoribusque suis persecuti sunt regem."

[1001] The Brigantes were the most ancient and most powerful of the British nations, extending from sea to sea over the counties of York, Durham, Lancaster, Westmoreland, and Cumberland. Tac., Agric., 17. The famous Cartismandua was their queen, with whom Caractacus took refuge. Tac., Ann., xii., 32, 6. Hist., iii., 45. Hadrian was in Britain, A.D. 121, when his Foss was constructed.

[1002] Lucri bonus est odor. Alluding to Vespasian's answer to Titus. Vid. Suet., Vesp., 23, "Reprehendenti filio Tito, quod etiam urinæ vectigal commentus esset, pecuniam ex primâ pensione admovit ad nares, sciscitans, num odore offenderetur; et illo negante, atqui, inquit ex lotio est." Martial alludes to the fact of offensive trades being banished to the other side of the Tiber. VI., xciii., 4, "Non detracta cani Transtiberina cutis." I., Ep. xlii., 3; cix., 2.

[1003] Poetæ. Ennius is said to have taken this sentiment from the Bellerophon of Euripides. Horace has also imitated it; i., Ep. i., 65, "Rem facias; rem si possis rectè, si non quôcumque modo rem." Cf. Seneca, Epist. 115, "Non quare et unde; quid habeas tantum rogant." (No sentiment of the kind is to be found in the fragments of either.)

"No! though compell'd beyond the Tiber's flood To move your tan-yard, swear the smell is good, Myrrh, cassia, frankincense; and wisely think That what is lucrative can never stink." Hodgson.

[1004] Peleus. Thetis was given in marriage to Peleus, because it had been foretold that she should give birth to a son who should be greater than his father; and therefore Jupiter was obliged to forego his passion for her. Vid. Æsch., Prom. Vinct., 886, seq. Pind., Isthm., viii., 67. Nonnus, Dionys., xxxiii., 356.

[1005] Parcendum teneris. Parodied from Virg., Georg., ii., 363, "Ac dum prima novis adolescit frondibus ætas, parcendum teneris."

[1006] Tangens. In swearing, the Romans laid their hands on the altars consecrated to the gods to whose deity they appealed. Vid. Virg., Æn., pass. Hor., ii., Ep. i., 16. Cf. Sat. xiii., 89, "Atque ideo intrepide quæcunque altaria tangunt." Sil, iii., 82, "Tangat Elissæas palmas puerilibus aras." Liv., xxi., 1, "Annibalem annorum ferme novem, altaribus admotum tactis sacris jurejurando adactum, se quum primum posset, hostem fore populo Romano."

[1007] Mortiferâ. Cf. Pers., ii., 13, "Acri bile tumet. Nerio jam tertia conditur uxor."

"If Fate should help him to a dowried wife, Her doom is fix'd, and brief her span of life: Sound in her sleep, while murderous fingers grasp Her slender throat, hark to the victim's gasp!" Badham.

[1008] Brevior via. So Tacitus (Ann., iii., 66), speaking of Brutidius (cf. Sat. x., 83), says, "Festinatio exstimulabat, dum æquales, dein superiores, postremò suasmet ipse spes anteire parat: quod multos etiam bonos pessum dedit qui, spretis quæ tarda cum securitate, præmatura vel cum exitio properarent."

[1009] The line "Et qui per fraudes patrimonia conduplicare" is now generally allowed to be an interpolation.

[1010] Effundit habenas. So Virg., Georg., i., 512, "Ut cum carceribus sese effudere quadrigæ addunt in spatia, et frustra retinacula tendens Fertur equis auriga, neque audit currus habenas." Æn., v., 818; xii., 499. Ov., Am., III., iv., 15. Cf. Shaksp., King Henry V., Act iii., sc. 3, "What rein can hold licentious wickedness, when down the hill he holds his fierce career?"

"With base advice to poison youthful hearts, And teach them sordid, money-getting arts, Is to release the horses from the rein, And let them whirl the chariot o'er the plain: Forward they gallop from the lessening goal, Deaf to the voice of impotent control." Hodgson.

[1011] Donet amico. Hor., i., Sat. ii., 4, "Contra hic, ne prodigus esse Dicatur metuens, inopi dare nolit amico."

[1012] Levet. Cf. Isa., lviii., 6, "To loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke." Gal., vi., 2.

[1013] Deciorum. Cf. ad viii., 254. Græcia vera. Cf. x., 174, "Quidquid Græcia mendax audet."

[1014] Menæceus. So called because he chose rather to "remain at home," and save his country from the Argive besiegers by self-sacrifice, than to escape, as his father urged, to Dodona. See the end of the Phœnissæ of Euripides, and the story of the pomegranates that grew on his grave, in Pausanias, ix., cap. xxv., 1. Cf. Cic., T. Qu., i., 48, and the end of the tenth book of Statius' Thebais.

[1015] Sulcis. Ov., Met., iii., 1-130. Virg., Georg., ii., 141, "Satis immanis dentibus hydri, nec galeis densisque virum seges horruit hastis."

[1016] Ignem. Pind., Pyth., iii., 66, πολλὰν τ' ὄρει πῦρ ἐξ ἑνὸς σπέρματος ἐνθορὸν ἀΐστωσεν ὕλαν.

[1017] Leo alumnus. There is said to be an allusion to a real incident which occurred under Domitian. Cf. Mart., Ep., de Spect., x., "Læserat ingrato leo perfidus ore magistrum ausus tam notas contemerare manus: sed dignas tanto persolvit crimine pœnas; et qui non tulerat verbera tela tulit." Æsch., Ag., 717, 34.

[1018] Mathematicis. Suet., Calig., 57; Otho, 4. Cf. Sat. iii., 43; vi., 553, 562. Among these famous astrologers the names of Thrasyllus, Sulla, Theogenes, Scribonius, and Seleucus are preserved. The calculations necessary for casting these nativities are called "numeri Thrasylli," "Chaldaicæ rationes," "numeri Babylonii." Hor., i., Od. xi., 2. Cic., de Div., ii., 47. Ov., Ibis, 209, seq.

[1019] Grave. Cf. Strat., Ep. lxxii., 4, φεῦ μοίρης τε κακῆς καὶ πατρὸς ἀθανάτου.

[1020] Stamine. Cf. iii., 27, "Dum superest Lachesi quod torqueat." x., 251, "De legibus ipse queratur Fatorum et nimio de stamine."

[1021] Cervina. Cf. x., 247, "Exemplum vitæ fuit a cornice secundæ." The crow is said to live for nine generations of men. The old Scholiast says the stag lives for nine hundred years. Vid. Anthol. Gr., ii., 9, ἡ φάος ἀθρήσασ' ἐλάφου πλέον ἡ χερὶ λαιᾷ γῆρας ἀριθμεῖσθαι δεύτερον ἀρξαμένη. In the caldron prepared by Medea to renovate Æson, we find, "vivacisque jecur cervi quibus insuper addit ora caputque novem cornicis sæcula passæ." Auson., Idyll., xviii., 3, "Hos novies superat vivendo garrula cornix, et quater egreditur cornicis sæcula cervus."

[1022] Archigenem. vi., 236; xiii., 98.

[1023] Mithridates. vi., 660, "Sed tamen et ferro si prægustarit Atrides Pontica ter victi cautus medicamina regis." x., 273, "Regem transeo Ponti." Cf. Plin., xxiii., 24; xxv., 11. Mart., v., Ep. 76, "Profecit poto Mithridates sæpe veneno, Toxica ne possent sæva nocere sibi." This composition (Synthesis) is described by Serenus Sammonicus, the physician, and consists of ludicrously simple ingredients. xxx., 578. Cf. Plin., xxiii., 8.

[1024] Ærata. Cf. xi., 26, "Quantum ferratâ distet ab arcâ Sacculus."

[1025] Vigilem Castora. So called, Grangæus says, "quod ante Castoris templum erant militum excubiæ." The temple of Mars Ultor, with its columns of marble, was built by Augustus. Suet., Aug., 29. To which Ovid alludes, Fast., v., 549, "Fallor an arma sonant? non fallimur, arma sonabant: Mars venit, et veniens bellica signa dedit. Ultor ad ipse suos cœlo descendit honores, Templaque in Augusto conspicienda foro."

[1026] Floræ. Cf. vi., 250. Ov., Fast., v., 183-330. The Floralia were first sanctioned by the government A.U.C. 514, in the consulship of Centho and Tuditanus, the year Livius began to exhibit. They were celebrated on the last day of April and the first and second of May. The lowest courtesans appeared on the stage and performed obscene dances. Cf. Lactant., i., 20. Pers., v., 178.

[1027] Cereris. The Ludi Circenses in honor of Ceres (vid. Tac., Ann., xv., 53, 74, Ruperti's note) consisted of horse-racing, and were celebrated the day before the ides of April. Ov., Fast., iv., 389, seq. They were instituted by C. Memmius when Curule Ædile, and were a patrician festival. Gell., ii., 24.

[1028] Cybeles. Cf. vi., 69; xi., 191.

[1029] Petauro. The exact nature of this feat of agility is not determined by the commentators. The word is derived from αὖρα and πέτομαι, and therefore seems to imply some machine for propelling persons through the air, which a line in Lucilius seems to confirm, "Sicuti mechanici cum alto exsiluere petauro." Fr. incert. xli. So Manilius, v., 434, "Corpora quæ valido saliunt excussa petauro, alternosque cient motus: elatus et ille nunc jacet atque hujus casu suspenditur ille, membraque per flammas orbesque emissa flagrantes." Mart., ii., Ep. 86, "Quid si per graciles vias petauri Invitum jubeas subire Ladam." XI., xxi., 3, "Quam rota transmisso toties intacta petauro." Holiday gives a drawing in which it resembles an oscillum or swing. Facciolati describes it as "genus ludi, quo homines per aërem rotarum pulsu jactantur."

[1030] Corycus was the northwestern headland of Crete, with an island of the same name lying off it. «There were two other towns of the same name, in Lydia and Cilicia, both infested with pirates; the latter gave its name to the famous Corycian cave. Pind., Pyth., i. Æsch., P. V., 350.»

[1031] Municipes. The Κρῆτες ἀεὶ ψεῦσται boasted, says Callimachus, that Crete was not only the birthplace, but also the burial-place of Jove. Cf. iv., 33, "Jam princeps equitum magnâ qui voce solebat vendere municipes pacta mercede siluros." So Martial calls Cumæan pottery-ware, "testa municeps Sibyllæ," xiv., Ep. cxiv., and Tyrian cloaks, "Cadmi municipes lacernas." Cf. Aristoph., Ach., 333, where Dicæopolis producing his coal-basket says, ὁ λάρκος δημότης ὁδ' ἐστ' ἐμός. Crete was famous for this "passum," a kind of rich raisin wine, which it appears from Athenæus the Roman ladies were allowed to drink. Lib. x., p. 440, e. Grangæus calls it "Malvoisie."

[1032] Lagenas. Cf. vii., 121.

[1033] Calpe, now Gibraltar. It is said to have been Epicurus' notion, that the sun, when setting in the ocean, hissed like red-hot iron plunged in water. Cf. Stat. Sylv., II., vii., 27, "Felix hen nimis et beata tellus, quæ pronos Hyperionis meatus summis oceani vides in undis stridoremque rotæ cadentis audis."

[1034] Aluta. Cf. vii., 192, "Appositam nigræ lunam subtexit alutæ," where it is used for the shoe-leather, as Mart., xii., Ep. 25, and ii., 29. Ov., A. A., iii., 271. It is a leathern apron in Mart., vii., Ep. 25, and a leathern sail in Cæs., B. Gall., III., xiii. Here it is a leathern money-bag. It takes its name from the alumen used in the process of tanning.

[1035] Oceani monstra. So Tacitus, Ann., ii., 24, "Ut quis ex longinquo revenerat, miracula narrabant, vim turbinum et inauditas volucres, monstra maris, ambiguas hominum et belluarum formas; visa sive ex metu credita."

[1036] Eumenidum. Eurip., Orest., 254, seq. Æsch., Eumen. Hor., ii., Sat. iii., 132, seq.

[1037] Bove percusso. Soph., Aj. Cf. ad vii., 115; x., 84.

[1038] Curatoris. The Laws of the xii. tables directed that "Si furiosus essit, agnatorum gentiliumque in eo pecuniâque ejus potestas esto." Tab., v., 7. Cf. Hor., i., Ep. i., 102, "Nec medici credis nec curatoris egere à prætore dati." ii., Sat. iii., 217, "Interdicto huic omne adimat jus prætor."

[1039] Tabulâ. Cf. xii., 57, "Dolato confisus ligno, digitis a morte remotus quatuor aut septem, si sit latissima tæda."

"Who loads his bark till it can scarcely swim, And leaves thin planks betwixt the waves and him! A little legend and a figure small Stamp'd on a scrap of gold, the cause of all!" Badham.

[1040] Cujus votis.

"Lo! where that wretched man half naked stands, To whom of rich Pactolus all the sands Were naught but yesterday! his nature fed On painted storms that earn compassion's bread." Badham.

[1041] Tagus. Cf. iii., 55, "Omnis arena Tagi quodque in mare volvitur aurum." Mart., i., Ep. l., 15; x., Ep. xcvi., "Auriferumque Tagum sitiam." Ov., Met., ii., 251, "Quodque suo Tagus amne vehit fluit ignibus aurum."

[1042] The Pactolus flows into the Hermus a little above Magnesia ad Sepylum. Its sands were said to have been changed into gold by Midas' bathing in its waters, hence called εὔχρυσος by Sophocles. Philoct., 391. It flows under the walls of Sardis, and is closely connected by the poets with the name and wealth of Crœsus. The real fact being, that the gold ore was washed down from Mount Tmolus; which Strabo says had ceased to be the case in his time: lib. xiii., c. 4. Cf. Virg., Æn., x., 141, "Ubi pinguia culta exercentque vivi Pactolusque irrigat auro." Senec., Phœn., 604, "Et quà trahens opulenta Pactolus vada inundat auro rura." Athen., v. It is still called Bagouli.

[1043] Picta tempestate. Cf. ad xii., 27.

"Poor shipwreck'd sailor! tell thy tale and show The sign-post daubing of thy watery woe." Hodgson.

[1044] Custodia.

"First got with guile, and then preserved with dread." Spenser.

[1045] Licinus. Cf. ad i., 109, "Ego possideo plus Pallante et Licinis."

[1046] Hamis. Hama, "a leathern bucket," from the ἅμη of Plutarch. Augustus instituted seven Cohortes Vigilum, who paraded the city at night under the command of their Præfectus, equipped with "hamæ" and "dolabræ" to prevent fires. Cf. Plin., x., Ep. 42, who, giving Trajan an account of a great fire at Nicomedia in his province, says, "Nullus in publico sipho, nulla hama, nullum denique instrumentum ad incendia compescenda." Tac., Ann., xv., 43, "Jam aqua privatorum licentia intercepta, quo largior, et pluribus locis in publicum flueret, custodes, et subsidia reprimendis ignibus in propatulo quisque haberet: nec communione parietum, sed propriis quæque muris ambirentur." (Ubi vid. Ruperti's note.) These custodes were called "Castellarii." Gruter. Cf. Sat. iii., 197, seq.

[1047] Phrygiaque columnâ. Cf. ad lin. 89.

[1048] Dolia nudi Cynici. Cf. ad xiii., 122. The story is told by Plutarch, Vit. Alex. Cf. Diog. Laert., VI., ii., 6. It is said that Diogenes died at Corinth, the same day Alexander died at Babylon. Cf. x., 171.

"The naked cynic mocks such anxious cares, His earthen tub no conflagration fears: If crack'd or broken, he procures a new; Or, coarsely soldering, makes the old one do." Gifford.

[1049] Nullum numen. Cf. x., 365.

"Where prudence dwells, there Fortune is unknown, By man a goddess made, by man alone." Badham.

[1050] Sitis atque fames. Hor., i., Sat. i., 73, "Nescis quo valeat nummus quem præbeat usum? Panis ematur, olus, vini Sextarius; adde Queis humana sibi doleat natura negatis."

[1051] Epicure. Cf. xiii., 122, "Non Epicurum suspicit exigui lætum plantaribus horti."

"As much as made wise Epicurus blest, Who in small gardens spacious realms possess'd: This is what nature's wants may well suffice; He that would more is covetous, not wise." Dryden.

[1052] Summam. Cf. iii., 154, "De pulvino surgat equestri Cujus res legi non sufficit." Plin., xxxii., 2, "Tiberio imperante constitutem ne quis in equestri ordine censeretur, nisi cui ingenuo ipsi, patri, avoque paterno sestertia quadringenta census fuisset." Cf. i., 105; iii., 159, "Sic libitum vano qui nos distinxit Othoni."

[1053] Tertia Quadringenta. Suet., Aug., 41, "Senatorum Censum ampliavit, ac pro Octingentorum millium summâ, duodecies sestertio taxavit, supplevitque non habentibus."

[1054] Narcissi. Of his wealth Dio says (lx., p. 688), μέγιστον τῶν τότε ἀνθρώπων ἐδυνήθη μυριάδας τε γὰρ πλείους μυρίων εἷχε. Narcissus and his other freedmen, Posides, Felix, Polybius, etc., exercised unlimited control over the idiotic Claudius, but Pallas and Narcissus were his chief favorites, "Quos decreto quoque senatus, non præmiis modo ingentibus, sed et quæstoriis prætoriisque ornamentis ornari libenter passus est:" and so much did they abuse his kindness, that when he was once complaining of the low state of his exchequer, it was said, "abundaturum si à duobus libertis in consortium reciperetur." Claudius would have certainly pardoned Messalina, had it not been for Narcissus. "Nec enim Claudius Messalinam interfecisset, nisi properâsset index, delator adulterii, et quodammodo imperator cædis Narcissus." See the whole account, Tac., Ann., xi., 26-38. Suet., Claud., 26, seq. On the accession of Nero, Narcissus was compelled by Agrippina to commit suicide. Cf. ad x., 330.

"No! nor his heaps, whom doting Claudius gave Power over all, and made himself a slave; From whom the dictates of command he drew, And, urged to slay his wife, obedient slew." Hodgson.

SATIRE XV.

Who knows not, O Volusius[1055] of Bithynia, the sort of monsters Egypt,[1056] in her infatuation, worships? One part venerates the crocodile:[1057] another trembles before an Ibis gorged with serpents. The image of a sacred monkey glitters in gold, where the magic chords sound from Memnon[1058] broken in half, and ancient Thebes lies buried in ruins, with her hundred gates. In one place they venerate sea-fish, in another river-fish; there, whole towns worship a dog;[1059] no one Diana. It is an impious act to violate or break with the teeth a leek or an onion.[1060] O holy nations! whose gods grow for them in their gardens![1061] Every table abstains from animals that have wool: it is a crime there to kill a kid. But human flesh is lawful food.

Were Ulysses[1062] to relate at supper such a deed as this to the amazed Alcinous, he would perhaps have excited the ridicule or anger of some, as a lying babbler.[1063] "Does no one hurl this fellow into the sea, that deserves indeed a savage Charybdis and a real one[1064] too, for inventing[1065] his huge Læstrygones[1066] and Cyclops. For I would far more readily believe in Scylla, or the Cyanean rocks that clash together,[1067] and the skins filled with stormy winds; or that Elpenor, struck with the light touch of Circe's wand, grunted in company with his messmates turned to hogs. Does he suppose the heads of the Phæacians so void[1068] of brains?"

So might any one with reason have argued, who was not yet drunk,[1069] and had taken but a scanty draught[1070] of the potent wine from the Corcyræan[1071] bowl; for the Ithacan[1072] told his adventures alone, with none to attest his veracity. We are about to relate events, wondrous indeed, but achieved only lately, while Junius[1073] was consul, above the walls of sultry Coptos.[1074] We shall recount the crime of a whole people, deeds more atrocious than any tragedy could furnish. For from the days of Pyrrha,[1075] though you turn over every tragic theme,[1076] in none is a whole people[1077] made the perpetrators of the guilt. Here, then, an instance which even in our own days ruthless barbarism[1078] produced. There is an inveterate and long-standing grudge,[1079] a deathless hatred and a rankling wound that knows no cure, burning fiercely still between Ombos[1080] and Tentyra, two neighboring peoples. On both sides the principal rancor arises from the fact that each place hates its neighbor's gods,[1081] and believes those only ought to be held as deities which itself worships. But at a festive period of one of those peoples, the chiefs and leaders of their enemies determined that the opportunity must be seized, to prevent their enjoying their day of mirth and cheerfulness, and the delights of a grand dinner, when their tables were spread near the temples and cross-ways, and the couch that knows not sleep, since occasionally even the seventh day's sun finds it still there, spread without intermission of either night or day.[1082] Savage,[1083] in truth, is Egypt! But in luxury, so far as I myself remarked, even the barbarous mob does not fall short of the infamous Canopus.[1084]

Besides, victory is easily gained over men reeking[1085] with wine, stammering[1086] and reeling. On one side there was a crew of fellows dancing to a black piper; perfumes, such as they were; and flowers, and garlands in plenty round their brows. On the other side was ranged fasting hate. But, with minds inflamed, they begin first of all to give vent to railings[1087] in words.

This was the signal-blast[1088] of the fray. Then with shouts from both sides, the conflict begins; and in lieu of weapons,[1089] the unarmed hand rages.

Few cheeks were without a wound. Scarcely one, if any, had a whole nose out of the whole line of combatants. Now you might see, through all the hosts engaged, mutilated faces,[1090] features not to be recognized, bones showing ghastly beneath the lacerated cheek, fists dripping with blood from their enemies' eyes. But still the combatants themselves consider they are only in sport, and engaged in a childish[1091] encounter, because they do not trample any corpses under foot. What, forsooth, is the object of so many thousands mixing in the fray, if no life is to be sacrificed? The attack, therefore, is more vigorous; and now with arms inclined along the ground they begin to hurl stones[1092] they have picked up--Sedition's[1093] own peculiar weapons.

Yet not such stones as Ajax[1094] or as Turnus[1095] hurled; nor of the weight of that with which Tydides[1096] hit Æneas' thigh; but such as right hands far different to theirs, and produced in our age, have power to project. For even in Homer's[1097] lifetime men were beginning to degenerate. Earth now gives birth to weak and puny mortals.[1098] Therefore every god that looks down on them sneers and hates them!

After this digression[1099] let us resume our story. When they had been re-enforced by subsidies, one of the parties is emboldened to draw the sword, and renew the battle with deadly-aiming[1100] arrows. Then they who inhabit Tentyra,[1101] bordering on the shady palms, press upon their foes, who all in rapid flight leave their backs exposed. Here one of them, in excess of terror urging his headlong course, falls[1102] and is caught. Forthwith the victorious crowd having cut him up into numberless bits and fragments, in order that one dead man might furnish a morsel for many, eat him completely up, having gnawed his very bones. They neither cooked him in a seething caldron, nor on a spit. So wearisome[1103] and tedious did they think it to wait for a fire, that they were even content with the carcass raw. Yet at this we should rejoice, that they profaned not the deity of fire which Prometheus[1104] stole from highest heaven and gave to earth. I congratulate[1105] the element! and you too, I ween, are glad.[1106] But he that could bear to chew a human corpse, never tasted a sweeter[1107] morsel than this flesh. For in a deed of such horrid atrocity, pause not to inquire or doubt whether it was the first maw alone that felt the horrid delight! Nay! he that came up last,[1108] when the whole body was now devoured, by drawing his fingers along the ground, got a taste of the blood!

The Vascones,[1109] as report says, protracted their lives by the use of such nutriment as this. But the case is very different. There we have the bitter hate of fortune! the last extremity of war, the very climax of despair, the awful destitution[1110] of a long-protracted siege. For the instance of such food of which we are now speaking, ought to call forth our pity.[1111] Since it was only after they had exhausted herbs of all kinds,[1112] and every animal to which the gnawings of an empty stomach drove them, and while their enemies themselves commiserated their pale and emaciated features and wasted limbs, they in their ravenous famine tore in pieces others' limbs, ready to devour even their own! What man, or what god even, would refuse his pardon to brave men[1113] suffering such fierce extremities? men, whom the very spirits of those whose bodies they fed on, could have forgiven! The precepts of Zeno teach us a better lesson. For he thinks that some things only, and not all, ought to be done to preserve life.[1114] But whence could a Cantabrian learn the Stoics' doctrines? especially in the days of old Metellus. Now the whole world has the Grecian and our Athens.

Eloquent Gaul[1115] has taught the Britons[1116] to become pleaders; and even Thule[1117] talks of hiring a rhetorician.

Yet that noble people whom we have mentioned, and their equal in courage and fidelity, their more than equal in calamity, Saguntum,[1118] has some excuse to plead for such a deed as this! Whereas Egypt is more barbarous even than the altar of Mæotis. Since that Tauric[1119] inventress of the impious rite (if you hold as worthy of credit all that poets sing) only sacrifices men; the victim has nothing further or worse to fear than the sacrificial knife. But what calamity was it drove these to crime? What extremity of hunger, or hostile arms that bristled round their ramparts, that forced these to dare a prodigy of guilt so execrable? What greater enormity[1120] than this could they commit, when the land of Memphis was parched with drought to provoke the wrath[1121] of Nile when unwilling to rise?

Neither the formidable Cimbri, nor Britons, nor fierce Sarmatians or savage Agathyrsi, ever raged with such frantic brutality, as did this weak and worthless rabble, that wont to spread their puny sails in pinnaces of earthenware,[1122] and ply the scanty paddles of their painted pottery-canoe. You could not invent a punishment adequate to the guilt, or a torture bad enough for a people in whose breasts "anger" and "hunger" are convertible terms.

Nature confesses that she has bestowed on the human race hearts of softest mould, in that she has given us tears.[1123] Of all our feeling this is the noblest part. She bids us therefore bewail the misfortunes of a friend in distress, and the squalid appearance of one accused, or an orphan[1124] summoning to justice the guardian who has defrauded him. Whose girl-like hair throws doubt[1125] upon the sex of those cheeks bedewed with tears!

It is at nature's dictate that we mourn when we meet the funeral of a virgin of marriageable years, or see an infant[1126] laid in the ground, too young for the funeral pyre. For what good man, who that is worthy of the mystic torch,[1127] such an one as Ceres' priest would have him be, ever deems the ills of others[1128] matter that concerns not himself?

This it is that distinguishes us from the brute herd. And therefore we alone, endued with that venerable distinction of reason[1129] and a capacity for divine things, with an aptitude for the practice as well as the reception of all arts and sciences, have received, transmitted to us from heaven's high citadel,[1130] a moral sense, which brutes prone[1131] and stooping toward earth, are lacking in. In the beginning of the world, the common Creator of all vouchsafed to them only the principle of vitality; to us he gave souls[1132] also, that an instinct of affection reciprocally shared, might urge us to seek for, and to give, assistance; to unite in one people, those before widely-scattered;[1133] to emerge from the ancient wood, and abandon the forests[1134] where our fathers dwelt; to build houses, to join another's dwelling to our own homes, that the confidence mutually engendered by a neighbor's threshold might add security[1135] to our slumbers; to cover with our arms a fellow-citizen[1136] when fallen or staggering from a ghastly wound; to sound the battle-signal from a common clarion; to be defended by the same ramparts, and closed in by the key of a common portal.

But now the unanimity[1137] of serpents is greater than ours. The wild beast of similar genus spares his kindred[1138] spots. When did ever lion, though stronger, deprive his fellow-lion of life? In what wood did ever boar perish by the tusks of a boar[1139] larger than himself? The tigress of India[1140] maintains unbroken harmony with each tigress that ravens. Bears, savage to others, are yet at peace among themselves. But for man![1141] he is not content with forging on the ruthless anvil the death-dealing steel! While his progenitors, those primæval smiths, that wont to hammer out naught save rakes and hoes, and wearied out with mattocks and plowshares, knew not the art of manufacturing swords.[1142] Here we behold a people whose brutal passion is not glutted with simple murder, but deem[1143] their fellows' breasts and arms and faces a kind of natural food.

What then would Pythagoras[1144] exclaim; whither would he not flee, could he be witness in our days to such atrocities as these! He that abstained from all that was endued with life as from man himself; and did not even indulge his appetite with every kind of pulse.

FOOTNOTES:

[1055] Volusius is unknown. Some suppose him to be the same person as the Bithynicus to whom Plutarch wrote a treatise on Friendship.

[1056] Ægyptus. So Cicero, "Ægyptiorum morem quis ignorat? Quorum imbutæ mentes pravitatis erroribus, quamvis carnificinam prius subierint quam ibin aut aspidem aut felem aut canem aut crocodilum violent; quorum etiam imprudentes si quidquam fecerint, pœnam nullam recusent." Tusc. Qu., v., 27. Cf. Athen., vol. ii., p. 650, Dind.

[1057] Crocodilon. Vid. Herod., ii., 69.--Ibin. Cic., de Nat. Deor., i., 36.

[1058] Memnone. His statue stood in the temple of Serapis at Thebes. Plin., xxvi., 7. Strabo, xvii., c. 1, τὰ ἄνω μέρη τὰ ἀπο τῆς καθέδρας πέπτωκε σεισμοῦ γεννηθέντος. He says the ψόφος comes from "the lower part remaining on the base." Cf. 1. 56, "Vultus dimidios." Sat. viii., 4, "Et Curios jam dimidios." iii., 219, "Mediamque Minervam." Cf. Clinton, Fasti Romani, in A.D. 130.

[1059] Canem. Cf. Lucan, viii., 832, "Semideosque canes." The allusion is to the worship of Anubis, cf. vi., 533.

[1060] Porrum.

"And it is dangerous here to violate an onion, or to stain The sanctity of leeks with teeth profane." Gifford.

[1061] Hortis.

"Ye pious nations, in whose gardens rise A constant crop of earth-sprung deities!" Badham.

[1062] Ulyxes. Vid. Hom., Odyss., ix., 106, seq.; x., 80, seq.

[1063] Aretalogus. "Parasitus, et circulator philosophus." A discourser on virtue who frequented feasts; hence, one who tells pleasing tales, a romancer. The philosopher at last degenerated into the buffoon. Cicero uses "Ethologus" in nearly the same sense, cf. de Orat., ii., 59, cum not. Harles. Suet., Aug., 74, "Acroamata et histriones, aut etiam triviales ex Circo ludios, interponebat, ac frequentius aretalogos." Salmas., ad Flav. Vopisc., 42. Lucian, de Ver. Hist., i., 709, B. Shaksp., Othello, Act i., sc. 3.

[1064] Verâ. Cf. viii., 188, "Judice me dignus verâ cruce."

[1065] Fingentem, i. e., "that they fed on human victims."

[1066] Læstrygones. Their fabulous seat was Formiæ, now "Mola," whither they were led from Sicily by Lamus, their leader. Hor., iii., Od. xvii., 1; xvi., 34. Horn., Odyss., x., 81.

[1067] Concurrentia saxa. These rocks were at the northern entrance of the Thracian Bosphorus, now the Channel of Constantinople; and were fabled to have floated and crushed all vessels that passed the straits, till Minerva guided the ship Argo through in safety and fixed them forever. They were hence called συμπληγάδες, συνδρομάδες, πλαγκταὶ, and κυάνεαι, from the deep blue of the surrounding water. Homer places them near Sicily. Odyss., xii., 61; xxiii., 327. Pind., Pyth., iv., 370. Cf. Herod., iv., 85. Eur., Med., 2; Androm., 794. Theoc., Idyll., xiii., 22. Ov., Her., xii., 121. "Compressos utinam Symplegades elisissent," Trist., I., x., 34. They are now called "Pavorane."

[1068] Vacui. Cf. xiv., 57, "Vacuumque cerebro jampridem caput." Cf. Virg., Æn., i., 567, "Non obtusa adeo gestamus pectora Pœni."

"But men to eat men human faith surpasses, This traveler takes us islanders for asses." Dryden.

[1069] Nondum ebrius.

"So might some sober hearer well have said, Ere Corcyræan stingo turned his head." Hodgson.

[1070] Temetum, an old word of doubtful etymology: from it is derived "temulentus" and "abstemius" (cf. Hor., ii., Ep. 163), and the phrase "Temeti timor" for a parasite.

[1071] Corcyræâ. The Phæacians were luxurious fellows, as Horace implies: "Pinguis ut inde domum possim Phæaxque reverti." i., Ep., xv., 24.

[1072] Ithacus. So x., 257; xiv., 287.

[1073] Junio. Salmasius supposes this Junius to be Q. Junius Rusticus, or Rusticius, consul with Hadrian, A.U.C. 872, A.D. 119. (Plin., Exerc., p. 320.) Others refer it to an Appius Junius Sabinus, consul with Domitian, A.U.C. 835, A.D. 82. But the name of Domitian's colleague was Titus Flavius; and no person of the name of Junius appears in the lists of consuls till Rusticus. Some read Junco, or Vinco, to avoid the synizesis; but neither of these names occur. See Life.

[1074] Copti, now Kypt or Koft, about twelve miles from Tentyra, thirty from Thebes, and one hundred and twenty from Syene, where Juvenal was stationed. Ptolemy Philadelphus connected it by a road with Berenice.

[1075] Pyrrha. Cf. i., 84.

[1076] Syrmata. Properly the "long sweeping train of tragedy." Vid. Hor., A. P., 278, "Personæ pallæque repertor honestæ." Sat., viii., 229, "Longum tu pone Thyestæ Syrma vel Antigones vel personam Menalippes." So Milton, Il Pens., "Sometimes let gorgeous tragedy in sceptred pall come sweeping by." Cf. Mart., xii., Ep. xcv., 3, 4; iv., Ep. xlix., 8.

[1077] Populus. i. e., "Tragedy only relates the atrocious crimes of individuals: from the days of the Deluge, you can find no instance of wickedness extending to a whole nation."

[1078] Feritas. Aristotle enumerates as one of the characteristics of θηριότης, τὸ χαίρειν κρέασιν ἀνθρώπων.

[1079] Simultas is properly "the jealousy or rivalry of two persons candidates for the same office," from simulo, synom. with æmulari; or from simul. Vid. Doederlein, iii., 72.

[1080] Ombos, now "Koum-Ombou," lies on the right bank of the Nile, not far from Syene, and consequently a hundred miles at least from Tentyra. To avoid the difficulty, therefore, in the word "finitimos," Salmasius would read "Coptos," this place being only twelve miles distant; but all the best editions have Ombos. Tentyra, now "Denderah," lies on the left bank of the river, and is well known from the famous discoveries in its Temple by Napoleon's savans. The Tentyrites, as Strabo tells us (xvii., p. 460; cf. Plin., H. N., viii., 25), differed from the rest of their countrymen in their hatred and persecution of the crocodile, πάντα τρόπον ἀνιχνεύουσι καὶ διαφθείρουσιν αὐτούς, being the only Egyptians who dared attack or face them; and hence when some crocodiles were conveyed to Rome for exhibition, some Tentyrite keepers accompanied them, and displayed some curious feats of courage and dexterity. Aphrodite was their patron deity. The men of Coptos, Ombos, and Arsinoë, on the other hand, paid the crocodile the highest reverence; considering it an honor to have their children devoured by them; and crucified kites out of spite to the Tentyrites, who adored them. These religious differences are said by Diodorus (ii., 4) to have been fostered by the policy of the ancient kings, to prevent the conspiracies which might have resulted from the cordial union and coalition of the various nomes.

[1081] Alterius populi, i. e., the Tentyrites. Cf. l. 73, seq.

[1082] Pervigili. Cf. viii., 158, "Sed quum pervigiles placet instaurare popinas."

"The board, where oft their wakeful revels last Till seven returning days and nights are past." Hodgson.

[1083] Horrida. So viii., 116, "Horrida vitanda est Hispania." ix., 12, "Horrida siccæ sylva comæ." vi., 10, "Et sæpe horridior glandem ructante marito."

"For savage as the country is, it vies In luxury, if I may trust my eyes, With dissolute Canopus." Gifford.

[1084] Canopus. Cf. i., 26. Said to have been built by Menelaus, and named after his pilot. It lies on the Bay of Aboukir, not far from Alexandria, and was notorious for its luxury and debauchery, carried on principally in the temple of Serapis. Cf. vi., 84, "Prodigia et mores Urbis damnante Canopo." Sen., Epist. 51. Propert., iii., El. xi., 39. These lines prove that Juvenal was, at some time of his life, in Egypt; but whether he traveled thither in early life to gratify his curiosity, or, as the common story goes, was banished there in his old age to appease the wrath of Paris, is doubtful. The latter story is inconsistent with chronology, history, and probability.

[1085] Madidis. So vi., 207, "Atque coronatum et petulans madidumque Tarentum." βεβρεγμένος, ὑπομεθύων. Hesych., Sil., xii., 18, "Molli luxu madefacta meroque Illecebris somni torpentia membra fluebant." Cf. Plaut., Truc., IV., iv., 2, "Si alia membra vino madeant." Most., I., iv., 7, "Ecquid tibi videor madere?" Tibull., II., i., 29, "Non festâ luce madere est rubor, errantes et male ferre pedes:" and II., ii., 8.

[1086] Blæsis. Cf. Mart., x., Ep. 65. So Virgil (Georg., ii., 94) speaks of the vine as "Tentatura pedes olim vincturaque linguam." Propert., II., xxxiv., 22. Sen., Epist., 83.

[1087] Jurgia. So v., 26, "Jurgia proludunt." iii., 288, "Miseræ cognosce proœmia rixæ." Tac., Hist., i., 64, "Jurgia primum: mox rixa inter Batavos et legionarios."

[1088] Tuba. Cf. i., 169, and Virg., Æn., xi., 424. The whole of the following passage may be compared with Virg., Æn., vii., 505-527.

[1089] Vice teli. Ov., Met., xii., 381, "Sævique vicem præstantia teli."

[1090] Vultus dimidios. viii., 4, "Curios jam dimidios, humeroque minorem Corvinum et Galbam auriculis nasoque carentem."

"Then might you see, amid the desperate fray, Features disfigured, noses torn away; Hands, where the gore of mangled eyes yet reeks, And jaw-bones starting through the cloven cheeks." Gifford.

[1091] Pueriles. Virg., Æn., v., 584-602.

"But hitherto both parties think the fray But mockery of war, mere children's play! And scandal think it t' have none slain outright, Between two hosts that for religion fight." Dryden.

[1092] Saxa.

"Stones, the base rabble's home-artillery." Hodgson.

[1093] Seditioni. Henninius' correction for seditione. For "domestica" in this sense, cf. Sat. ix., 17. So Virg., Æn., i., 150, "Jamque faces et saxa volant, furor arma ministrat." vii., 507, "Quod cuique repertum rimanti telum ira facit."

[1094] Ajax. Hom., Il., vii., 268, δεύτερος αὖτ' Αἴας πολὺ μείζονα λᾶαν ἀείρας ἦκ' ἐπιδινήσας ἐπέρεισε δὲ ἶν' ἀπέλεθρον.

[1095] Turnus. Virg., Æn., xii., 896, "Saxum circumspicit ingens: saxum antiquum ingens, campo quod forte jacebat Limes agro positus, litem ut discerneret arvis. Vix illud lecti bis sex cervice subirent, Qualia nunc hominûm producit corpora tellus." Cf. Hom., Il., xxi., 405.

[1096] Tydides. Il., v., 802, ὁ δὲ χερμάδιον λάβε χειρὶ Τυδείδης μέγα ἔργον ὃ οὐ δύο γ' ἄνδρε φέροιεν οἷοι νῦν βροτοί εἰσ' ὁ δέ μιν ῥέα πάλλε καὶ οἶος.

[1097] Homero. Il., i., 271, κείνοισι δ' ἂν οὔτις τῶν οἵ νῦν βροτοί εἰσιν ἐπιχθόνιοι μαχέοιτο.

[1098] Malos homines. Cf. Herod., i., 68. Plin., vii., 16. Lucretius, ii., 1149, "Jamque adeo fracta est ætas, effœtaque tellus Vix animalia parva creat, quæ cuncta creavit sæcla." Sen., de Ben., I., c. x., "Hoc majores nostri questi sunt, hoc nos querimur, hoc posteri nostri querentur, eversos esse mores, regnare nequitiam, in deterius res humanas labi." Hor., iii., Od. vi., 46, "Ætas parentum, pejor avis, tulit nos nequiores, mox daturos Progeniem vitiosiorem."

[1099] Diverticulo. Properly "a cross-road," then "a place to which we turn aside from the high road; halting or refreshing place." Cf. Liv., ix., 17.

[1100] Infestis. So Virg., Æn., v., 582, "Convertêre vias, _infesta_que tela tulere." 691, "Vel tu quod superest infesto fulmine morti, Si mereor dimitte." x., 877, "Infestâ subit obvius hastâ." Liv., ii., 19, "Tarquinius Superbus quanquam jam ætate et viribus gravior, equum infestus admisit."

[1101] Tentyra. Cf. ad l. 35. Salmasius proposes to read here "Pampæ" (the name of a small town) for Palmæ on account of the difficulty stated above; and supposes this to be Juvenal's way of distinguishing Tentyra: but Pampa is a much smaller place than Tentyra; and no one would describe London, as Browne observes, as "London near Chelsea." He imagines also that Juvenal is describing an affray that took place between the people of Cynopolis and Oxyrynchis about this time, mentioned by Plutarch (de Isid. et Osirid.), and that he has changed the names for the sake of the metre. Heinrich leaves the difficulty unsolved. Browne supposes two places of the name of Tentyra.

[1102] Labitur. Gifford compares Hesiod., Herc. Scut., 251, Δῆριν ἔχον περὶ πιπτόντων· πᾶσαι δ' ἄρ ἵεντο αἷμα μέλαν πιέειν· ὃν δὲ πρῶτον μεμάποιεν κείμενον ἢ πίπτοντα νεούτατον, ἀμφὶ μὲν αὐτῷ βάλλ' ὄνυχας μεγάλους.

[1103] Longum.

"'T had been lost time to dress him; keen desire Supplies the want of kettle, spit, and fire." Dryden.

[1104] Prometheus. Vid. Hesiod., Op. et Di., 49, seq. Theog., 564. Æsch., P. Vinct., 109. Hor., i., Od. iii., 27. Cic., Tusc. Qu., II., x., 23. Mart., xiv., Ep. 80.

[1105] Gratulor. So Ov., Met., x., 305, "Gentibus Ismariis et nostro gratulor orbi, gratulor huic terræ, quod abest regionibus illis, Quæ tantum genuere nefas."

[1106] Te exsultare. Juvenal's friend Volusius is supposed to have had a leaning toward the doctrine of the fire-worshipers. At least this is the puerile way in which most of the commentators endeavor to escape the difficulty.

[1107] Libentius.

"But he who tasted first the human food, Swore never flesh was so divinely good." Hodgson.

[1108] Ultimus.

"And the last comer, of his dues bereft, Sucks from the bloodstain'd soil some flavor left." Badham.

[1109] Vascones. Sil. Ital., x., 15. The Vascones lived in the northeast of Spain, near the Pyrenees, in parts of Navarre, Aragon, and old Castile. They and the Cantabri were the most warlike people of Hispania Tarrocensis. Their southern boundary was the Iberus (Ebro). Their chief cities were Calagurris Nassica (now Calahorra in New Castile), on the right bank of the Iberus; and Pompelon (now Pampeluna), at the foot of the Pyrenees, said to have been founded by Cn. Pompeius Magnus, vid. Plin., III., iii., 4. It is doubtful which of these two cities held out in the manner alluded to in the text. Sertorius was assasinated B.C. 72, and the Vascones, whose faith was pledged to him, sooner than submit to Pompey and Metellus, suffered the most horrible extremities, even devouring their wives and children. Cf. Liv., Epit. xciii. Flor., III., xxxii. Val. Max., VII., vi. Plut. in v. Sert. The Vascones afterward crossed the Pyrenees into Aquitania, and their name is still preserved in the province of Gascogne.

[1110] Egestas.

"When frowning war against them stood array'd With the dire famine of a long blockade." Hodgson.

[1111] Miserabile. ii., 18, "Horum simplicitas miserabilis."

[1112] Post omnes herbas.

"For after every root and herb were gone, And every aliment to hunger known; When their lean frames and cheeks of sallow hue Struck e'en the foe with pity at the view; And all were ready their own flesh to tear, They first adventured on this horrid fare." Gifford.

[1113] Viribus. The abstract used for the concrete. Another reading is, Urbibus, referring to Calagurris and Saguntus. Valesius proposed to read "Ventribus," which Orellius receives.

[1114] Quædam pro vita. Cf. Arist., Eth., iii., 1, Ἔνια δ' ἴσως οὐκ ἔστιν ἀναγκασθῆναι ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον ἀποθνητέον, παθόντα τὰ δεινότατα. Plin., xxviii., 1, "Vitam quidem non adeo expetendam censemus ut quoquo modo protrahenda sit." Sen., Ep. 72, "Non omni pretio vita emenda est."

[1115] Gallia. Cf. ad i., 44. Suet., Cal., xx., "Caligula instituit in Gallia, Lugduni, certamen Græcæ Latinæque facundiæ." Quintil., x., 1. Sat., vii., 148, "Accipiat te Gallia, vel potius nutricula causidicorum Africa, si placuit mercedem ponere linguæ."

[1116] Britannos. Tac., Agric., xxi, "Ingenia Britannorum studiis Gallorum anteferre: ut qui modo linguam Romanam abnuebant, eloquentiam concupiscerent."

[1117] Thule. Used generally for the northernmost region of the earth. Its position shifted with the advance of their geographical knowledge; hence it is used for Sweden, Norway, Shetland, or Iceland. Virg., Georg., i., 30, "Tibi serviat ultima Thule."

[1118] Saguntus, now "Mur Viedro" in Valencia, is memorable for its obstinate resistance to Hannibal, during a siege of eight months (described Liv., xxi., 5-15). Their fidelity to Rome was as famous as that of the Vascones to Sertorius; but their fate was more disastrous; as Hannibal took Saguntus and razed it to the ground, after they had endured the most horrible extremities, whereas the siege of Calagurris was raised. Cf. ad v., 29.

[1119] Taurica. The Tauri, who lived in the peninsula called from them Taurica Chersonesus (now Crimea), on the Palus Mæotis, used to sacrifice shipwrecked strangers on the altar of Diana; of which barbarous custom Thoas their king is said to have been the inventor. Ov., Trist., IV., iv., 93; Ib., 386, "Thoanteæ Taurica sacra Deæ." Pont., I., ii., 80: III., ii., 59. Plin., H. N., IV., xii., 26. On this story is founded the Iphigenia in Tauris of Euripides, and from this was derived the custom of scourging boys at the altar of Artemis Orthias in Sparta.

[1120] Gravius cultro.

"There the pale victim only fears the knife, But thy fell zeal asks something more than life." Hodgson.

[1121] Invidiam facerent. Cf. Ov., Art. Am., i., 647, "Dicitur Ægyptos caruisse juvantibus arva Imbribus, atque annos sicca fuisse novem. Cum Thracius Busirin adit, monstratque piari Hospitis effuso sanguine posse Jovem. Illi Busiris, Fies Jovis hostia primus, Inquit et Ægypto tu dabis hospes opem." It is to this story Juvenal probably alludes. But invidiam facere means also "to bring into odium and unpopularity" (cf. Ov., Met., iv., 547), and so Gifford understands it. "What more effectual means could these cannibals devise to incense the god and provoke him to withhold his fertilizing waters, thereby bringing him into unpopularity." Cf. Lucan, ii., 36, "Nullis defuit aris Invidiam factura parens," with the note of Cortius.

[1122] Fictilibus phaselis. Evidently taken from Virg., Georg., iv., 287, "Nam quâ Pellæi gens fortunata Canopi Accolit effuso stagnantem flumine Nilum Et circum pictis vehitur sua rura phaselis." The deficiency of timber in Egypt forced the inhabitants to adopt any expedient as a substitute. Strabo (lib. xvii.) mentions these vessels of pottery-ware, varnished over to make them water-tight. Phaselus is properly the long Egyptian kidney bean, from which the boats derived their name, from their long and narrow form. From their speed they were much used by pirates, and seem to have been of the same build as the Myoparones mentioned by Cicero in Verrem, ii., 3. Cf. Catull., iv., 1, "Phaselus ille quem videtis hospites Ait fuisse navium celerrimus." Mart., x., Ep. xxx., 12, "Viva sed quies Ponti Pictam phaselon adjuvante fert aurâ." Cf. Lucan, v., 518. Hor., iii., Od. ii., 29. Virg., Georg., i., 277. Arist., Pax, 1144.

"Or through the tranquil water's easy swell, Work the short paddles of their painted shell." Hodgson.

[1123] Lacrymas. So the Greek proverb, ἀγαθοὶ δ' ἀριδάκρυες ἄνδρες.

[1124] Pupillum. Cf. i., 45, "Quum populum gregibus comitum premit hic spoliator Pupilli prostantis," x., 222, "Quot Basilus socios, quot circumscripserit Hirrus pupillos."

[1125] Incerta. Hor., ii., Od. v., "Quem si puellarum insereres choro Miré sagaces falleret hospites Discrimen obscurum solutis Crinibus ambiguoque vultu."

"So soft his tresses, filled with trickling pearl, You'd doubt his sex, and take him for a girl." Dryden.

[1126] Minor igne rogi. Infants under forty days old were not burned, but buried; and the place was called "Suggrundarium." Vid. Facc. in voc. Cf. Plin., H. N., vii., 16.

[1127] Arcana. Hor., iii., Od. ii., 26, "Vetabo qui Cereris sacrum vulgârit arcanæ, sub îsdem sit trabibus fragilemve mecum solvat phaselon." Cf. Sat. vi., 50, "Paucæ adeo Cereris vittas contingere dignæ." None were admitted to initiation in the greater mysteries without a strict inquiry into their moral character; as none but the chastest matrons were allowed to be priestesses of Ceres. For the origin of the use of the torch in the sacred processions of Ceres, see Ovid, Fast., iv., 493, seq.

[1128] Aliena. From Ter., Heaut., I., i., 25, "Homo sum; humani nihil à me alienum puto." Cf. Cic., Off., i., 9.

[1129] Sortiti ingenium. Cf. Cic., Nat. Deor., ii., 56, "Sunt enim homines non ut incolæ atque habitatores, sed quasi spectatores superarum rerum atque cœlestium, quarum spectaculum ad nullum aliud genus animantium pertinet."

[1130] Cœlesti. Virg., Æn., vi., 730, "Igneus est ollis vigor et cœlestis origo." Hor., ii., Sat. ii., 79, "Divinæ particulam auræ."

[1131] Prona. Ov., Met., i., 84, "Pronaque cum spectent animalia cætera terram, Os homini sublime dedit, cœlumque tueri jussit et erectos ad sidera tollere vultus." Sall., Bell. Cat., init., "Omnes homines qui sese student præstare cæteris animalibus quæ Natura prona et ventri obedientia finxit."

[1132] Animam. i., 83. Cf. ad vi., 531.

"To brutes our Maker, when the globe was new, Lent only life: to men, a spirit too. That mutual kindness in our hearts might burn, The good which others did us, to return: That scattered thousands might together come, Leave their old woods, and seek a general home." Hodgson.

[1133] Dispersos. Cic., Tusc. Qu., v., 2, "Tu dissipatos homines in societatem vitæ convocâsti; tu eos inter se primo domiciliis, deinde conjugiis, tum literarum et vocum communione junxisti." Hor., i., Sat. iii., 104, "Dehinc absistere bello: oppida cœperunt munire et ponere leges." Ar. Poet., 391, "Sylvestres homines sacer interpresque deorum Cædibus et victu fœdo deterruit Orpheus."

[1134] Sylvas. Ov., Met., i., 121, "Tum primum subiere domos. Domus antra fuerunt, et densi frutices, et vinctæ cortice virgæ." Lucr., v., 953, "Sed nemora atque cavos montes sylvasque colebant, Et frutices inter condebant squalida membra."

[1135] Collata fiducia.

"Thus more securely through the night to rest, And add new courage to our neighbor's breast." Hodgson.

[1136] Civem. Hence the proud inscription on the civic crown, OB. CIVES. SERVATOS.

[1137] Concordia. Plin., H. N., vii., in., "Cætera animantia in suo genere probè degunt; congregari videmus, et stare contra dissimilia: Leonum feritas inter se non dimicat: serpentum morsus non petit serpentes; nec maris quidem belluæ nisi in diversa genera sæviunt. At Hercule, homini plurima ex homine sunt mala." Hor., Epod., vii., 11, "Neque hic lupis mos nec fuit leonibus, nunquam nisi in dispar feris." "Homo homini lupus." Prov. Rom.

[1138] Cognatis.

"His kindred spots the very pard will spare." Badham.

[1139] Dentibus apri.

"Nor from his larger tusks the forest boar Commission takes his brother swine to gore." Dryd.

[1140] Indica tigris. Plin., H. N., vin., 18, "Tigris Indica fera velocitatis tremendæ est, quæ vacuum reperiens cubile fertur præceps odore vestigans," et seq.

"In league of Friendship tigers roam the plain, And bears with bears perpetual peace maintain." Gifford.

[1141] Ast homini.

"But man, fell man, is not content to make The deadly sword for murder's impious sake, Though ancient smiths knew only to produce Spades, rakes, and mattocks for the rustic's use; And guiltless anvils in those ancient times Were not subservient to the soldier's crimes." Hodgson.

[1142] Gladios. Virg., Georg., ii., 538.

"Aureus hanc vitam in terris Saturnus agebat. Necdum etiam audierant inflari classica, necdum Impositos duris crepitare incudibus enses."

[1143]

"Ev'n this is trifling. We have seen a rage Too fierce for murder only to assuage; Seen a whole state their victim piecemeal tear, And count each quivering limb delicious fare!" Gifford.

[1144] Pythagoras. iii., 228, "Culti villicus horti unde epulum possis centum dare Pythagoreis." Holding the doctrine of the Metempsychosis, Pythagoras was averse to shedding the blood of any animal. Various reasons are assigned for his abstaining from beans; from their shape--from their turning to blood if exposed to moonshine, etc. Diog. Laert. says (lib. viii. cap. i.), τῶν δὲ κυάμων ἀπηγόρευεν ἔχεσθαι διὰ τὸ πνευματώδεις ὄντας μᾶλλον μετέχειν τοῦ ψυχικοῦ--καὶ τὰς καθύπνους φαντασίας λείας καὶ ἀταράχους ἀποτελεῖν. In which view Cicero seems to concur: De Div., ii., 119, "Pythagoras et Plato, quo in somnis certiora videamus, præparatos quodam cultu atque victu proficisci ad dormiendum jubent: Faba quidem Pythagorei utique abstinuere, quasi vero eo cibo mens non venter infletur." Cf. Ov., Met., xv., 60, seq. See Browne's Vulgar Errors, book i., chap. iv. (Bohn's Antiquarian Library): "When (Pythagoras) enjoined his disciples an abstinence from beans, ... he had no other intention than to dissuade men from magistracy, or undertaking the public offices of the state; for by beans was the magistrate elected in some parts of Greece; and after his days, we read in Thucydides of the Council of the Bean in Athens. It hath been thought by some an injunction only of continency."

SATIRE XVI.

Who could possibly enumerate, Gallus,[1145] all the advantages that attend military service when fortunate? For if I could but enter the camp with lucky omen, then may its gate welcome me, a timid and raw recruit, under the influence of some auspicious planet. For one hour of benignant Fate is of more avail than even if Venus'[1146] self should give me a letter of recommendation to Mars, or his mother Juno, that delights in Samos' sandy shore.[1147]

Let us treat, in the first place, of advantages in which all share; of which not the least important is this, that no civilian[1148] must dare to strike you. Nay, even though he be himself the party beaten,[1149] he must dissemble his wrath, and not dare to show the prætor[1150] the teeth he has had knocked out, and the black bruises on his face with its livid swellings, and all that is left of his eye, which the physician can give him no hopes of saving. If he wish to get redress for this, a Bardiac[1151] judge is assigned him--the soldier's boot, and stalwart calves that throng the capacious benches of the camp, the old martial law and the precedent of Camillus[1152] being strictly observed, "that no soldier shall be sued outside the trenches, or at a distance from the standards."

Of course, where a soldier is concerned, the decision of the centurion will needs be most equitable;[1153] nor shall I lack my just revenge, provided only the ground of the complaint I lay be just and fair.

Yet the whole cohort is your sworn enemy; and all the maniples, with wonderful unanimity, obstruct the course of justice. Full well will they take care that the redress you get shall be more grievous than the injury itself. It will be an act, therefore, worthy of even the long-tongued Vagellius' mulish heart,[1154] while you have still a pair of legs to provoke the ire of so many buskins, so many thousand hob-nails![1155]

For who can go so far from Rome? Besides, who will be such a Pylades[1156] as to venture beyond the rampart of the camp? So let us dry up our tears forthwith, and not trouble our friends, who will be sure to excuse themselves. When the judge calls on you, "Produce your witness,"[1157] let the man, whoever he may be, that saw the cuffs, have the courage to stand forth and say, "I saw[1158] the act," and I will hold him worthy of the beard,[1159] and worthy of the long hair of our ancestors. You could with greater ease suborn a false witness against a civilian,[1160] than one who would speak the truth against the fortune and the dignity of the man-at-arms.

Now let us observe other prizes and other solid advantages of the military life. If some rascally neighbor has defrauded me of a portion of the valley of my paternal fields, or encroached on my land, and removed the consecrated stone from the boundary that separates our estates, that stone which my pulse has yearly[1161] honored with the meal-cake derived from ancient days, or if my debtor persists in refusing repayment of the sum I lent him, asserting that the deed is invalid and the signature a forgery: I shall have to wait a whole year occupied with the causes of the whole nation, before my case comes on. But even then I must put up with a thousand tedious delays, a thousand difficulties. So many times the benches only are prepared; then, when the eloquent Cæditius[1162] is laying aside his cloak, and Fuscus must retire for a little, though all prepared, we must break up; and battle in the tediously-protracted arena of the court. But in the case of those who wear armor, and buckle on the belt, whatever time suits them is fixed for the hearing of their cause, nor is their fortune frittered away by the slow drag-chain[1163] of the law.

Besides, it is only to soldiers that the privilege is granted, of making their wills while their fathers are still alive.[1164] For it has been determined that all that has been earned by the hard toil of military service should not be incorporated with that sum of which the father holds the entire disposal. And so it is, that while Coranus follows the standards and earns his daily pay, his father, though tottering on the edge of the grave, pays court to his son that he may make him his heir.

His duties regularly discharged procure the soldier advancement; and yield to every honest exertion[1165] its justly merited guerdon.[1166] For doubtless it appears to be the interest of the general himself, that he that proves himself brave should also be most distinguished for good fortune, that all may glory in their trappings,[1167] all in their golden chains.

FOOTNOTES:

[1145] Gallus. Of this friend of Juvenal, as of Volusius in the last Satire, nothing is known. He is perhaps the same person whose name occurs so frequently in Martial.

[1146] Veneris. For her influence over Mars, vid. Lucret., i., 32.

[1147] Samia arenâ. Cf. Virg., Æn., i., 15, "Quam Juno fertur terris magis omnibus unam Posthabitâ coluisse Samo." Herod., ii., 148; iii., 60. Paus., VII., iv., 4. Athen., xiv., 655; xv., 672. The famous temple of Juno was said to have been built by the Leleges, the first inhabitants of the island: her statue, which was of wood, was the workmanship of Smilis, a contemporary of Dædalus. Juno is said to have here given birth to Mars, alone. Ov., Fast., v., 229. Samos was the native country of the peacock, hence sacred to Juno. Cf. vii., 32.

[1148] Togatus. The toga, the robe of peace, as the Sagum is that of war. (So 33, "paganum.") Cf. Juv., viii., 240; x., 8, "Nocitura toga nocitura petuntur Militia." So "Cedant arma togæ."

[1149] Pulsetur. Cf. iii., 300.

[1150] Prætori.

"Tremble before the Prætor's seat to show His livid features, swoll'n with many a blow: His eyes closed up, no sight remaining there, Left by the honest doctor in despair." Hodgson.

[1151] Bardiacus. On the sense of this passage all the commentators are agreed, though they arrive at it by different routes--"Your judge will be some coarse, brutal, uncivilized soldier; who cares nothing for the feelings of the toga'd citizen, or for the principles of justice." Marius is said to have had a body-guard of slaves, who flocked to him, chiefly Illyrian; whom he called his "Bardiæi." Pliny calls them "Vardæi," and Strabo ἀρδιαῖοι. (Cf. Plut., in vit. Mar. Plin., iii., 32. Strabo, vii., 5.) Bardiacus (or Bardaicus) may therefore be taken absolutely, or with judex, or with calceus. If taken alone, then cucullus is said to be understood, as Mart., xiv., 128, "Gallia Santonico vestit te Bardocucullo." i., Ep. liv., 5; xiv., 139; IV., iv., 5. This "cowl" was made of goats' hair. If taken with calceus, it would imply some such kind of shoe as the "Udo" in Ep. xiv., 140.

[1152] Camillo. This law was passed by Camillus, while dictator, during the siege of Veii; to prevent his soldiers absenting themselves from the camp, on the plea of civil business. It led, of course, in time to the grossest abuses.

[1153] Justissima.

"Oh! righteous court, where generals preside, And regimental rogues are justly tried!" Hodgson.

[1154] Mulino. Perhaps Stapylton's is the best translation of this epithet of the declaimer in a hopeless cause. He calls him "a desperate ass." Others read "Mutinensi."

[1155] Caligas. iii., 247, "Plantâ mox undique magnâ calcor, et in digito clavus mihi militis hæret" (and 322, "Adjutor gelidos veniam caligatus in agros"). This was one of the tender recollections Umbritius had when leaving Rome. The caliga, being a thick sole with no upper leather, bound to the foot with thongs, and studded underneath with iron nails, would be a fearful thing to encounter on one's shins or toes. (Justin says, "Antiochus' soldiers were shod with gold; treading that under foot for which men fight with iron.")

[1156] Pylades.

"And where's the Pylades, the faithful friend, That shall thy journey to the camp attend? Be wise in time! See those tremendous shoes! Nor ask a service which e'en fools refuse." Badham.

[1157] Da testem. Cf. iii., 137.

[1158] Vidi. Cf. vii., 13, "Quam si dicas sub judice Vidi, quod non vidisti."

[1159] Barba. Cf. ad iv., 103. Barbers were introduced from Sicily to Rome by P. Ticinius Mæna, A.U.C. 454. Scipio Africanus is said to have been the first Roman who shaved daily. Cf. Plin., vii., 95. Hor., i., Od. xii., 41, "Incomptis Curium capillis." ii., Od. xv., 11, "Intonsi Catonis," Tib., II., i., 84, "Intonsis avis."

[1160] Paganum. Cf. ad I., 8. It appears that under the emperors husbandmen were exempt from military service, in order that the land might not fall out of cultivation. The "paganus," therefore, is opposed to the "armatus" here, and by Pliny, Epist. x., 18, "Et milites et pagani." Epist. vii., 25, "Ut in castris, sic etiam in literis nostris (sunt), plures culto pagano quos cinctos et armatos, diligentius scrutatus invenies." Pagus is derived from the Doric παγά, because villages were originally formed round springs of water. Cf. Hooker's Eccl. Pol., lib. v., c. 80.

"With much more ease false witnesses you'll find To swear away the life of some poor hind, Than get the true ones all they know to own Against a soldier's fortune and renown." Hodgson.

[1161] Puls annua. Cf. Dionys. Hal., ii., 9, θεούς τε γὰρ ἡγοῦνται τοὺς τέρμονας, καὶ θύουσιν αὐτοῖς ἔτι τῶν μὲν ἐμψύχων οὐδὲν· οὐ γὰρ ὅσιον αἰμάττειν τοὺς λίθους· πελάνους δὲ Δήμητρος, καὶ ἄλλας τινὰς καρπῶν ἀπαρχάς. "For they hold the boundary stones to be gods; and sacrifice to them nothing that has life, because it would be impious to stain the stones with blood; but they offer wheaten cakes, and other first-fruits of their crops." The divisions of land were maintained by investing the stones which served as landmarks with a religious character: the removal of these, therefore, added the crime of sacrilege to that of dishonesty, and brought down on the heathen the curse invoked in the purer system of theology, "Cursed be he that removeth his neighbor's landmark." Deut., xxvii., 17. To these rude stones, afterward sculptured (like the Hermæ) into the form of the god Terminus above, the rustics went in solemn procession annually, and offered the produce of the soil; flowers and fruits, and the never-failing wine, and "mola salsa." Numa is said by Plutarch to have introduced the custom into Italy, and one of his anathemas is still preserved: "Qui terminum exarasit, ipsus et boves sacrei sunto." Cf. Blunt's Vestiges, p. 204. Hom., Il., xxi., 405. Virg., Æn., xii., 896.

[1162] Cæditio. xiii., 197, "Pœna sævior illis quas et Cæditius gravis invenit et Rhadamanthus." But it is very doubtful whether the same person is intended here, as also whether Fuscus is the same whose wife's drinking propensities are hinted at, xii., 45, "dignum sitiente Pholo, vel conjuge Fusci." (Pliny has an Epistle to Corn. Fuscus, vii., 9.) He is probably the Aurelius Fuscus to whom Martial wrote, vii., Ep. 28.

[1163] Sufflamine.

"Nor are their wealth and patience worn away By the slow drag-chain of the law's delay." Gifford.

[1164] Testandi vivo patre. Under ordinary circumstances the power of a father over his son was absolute, extending even to life and death, and terminating only at the decease of one of the parties. Hence "peculium" is put for the sum of money that a father allows a son, or a master a slave, to have at his own disposal. But even this permission was revocable. A soldier, who was sui juris, was allowed to name an heir in the presence of three or four witnesses, and if he fell, this "nuda voluntas testatoris" was valid. This privilege was extended by Julius Cæsar to those who were "in potestate patris." "Liberam testandi factionem concessit, D. Julius Cæsar: sed ea concessio temporalis erat: postea vero D. Titus dedit: post hoc Domitianus: postea Divis Nerva plenissimam indulgentiam in milites contulit: eamque et Trajanus secutus est." "Julius Cæsar granted them the free power of making a will; but this was only a temporary privilege. It was renewed by Titus and Domitian. Nerva afterward bestowed on them full powers, which were continued to them by Trajan." Vid. Ulpian, 23, § 10. The old Schol., however, says this privilege was confined to the "peculium Castrense;" but he is probably mistaken.

[1165] Labor. Ruperti suggests "favor," to avoid the harshness of the phrase "labor reddit sua dona labori." Browne reads reddi.

[1166] Dona. Cf. Sil., xv., 254, "Tum merita æquantur donis et præmia Virtus sanguine parta capit: Phaleris hic pectora fulget: Hic torque aurato circumdat bellica colla."

[1167] Phaleris. Cf. ad xi., 103, "Ut phaleris gauderet equus." Siccius Dentatus is said to have had 25 phaleræ, 83 torques, 18 hastæ puræ, 160 bracelets, 14 civic, 8 golden, 3 mural, and 1 obsidional crown. Plin., VII., xxviii., 9; xxxiii., 2.

Here the Satire terminates abruptly. The conclusion is too tame to be such as Juvenal would have left it, even were the whole subject thoroughly worked up. It is probably an unfinished draught. The commentators are nearly equally balanced as to its being the work of Juvenal or not; but one or two of the touches are too masterly to be by any other hand.

PERSIUS.