The Satires of Juvenal, Persius, Sulpicia, and Lucilius
[355] _Statius_ employed twelve years upon his Thebais. (Cf. xii.,
811.) It was not completed till _after_ the Dacian war, but was written
_before_ the 1st book of the Silvæ, the date of the 4th book of which
is known to be A.D. 95. We may therefore assume the date of the Thebais
to be about 94.
[356] _Vendat._ Holyday quotes from Brodæus the price given to Terence
for his Eunuchus, viz., eight sestertia, about sixty-five pounds.
[357] _Agave._ Probably a pantomimic ballet on a tragic subject; for,
as Heinrich says, what had Paris, the mime, to do with a _new tragedy_?
These and the following lines are said to have been the cause of
Juvenal's banishment.
[358] _Semestri_ is said to refer to an honorary military commission,
conferred on favorites, even though not in the army, and called
"Semestris tribunatus militum." It lasted for six months only, but
conferred the privilege of wearing the equestrian ring, with perhaps
others. It is alluded to in Pliny, iv., Epist. 4, who begs of Sossius
the consul in behalf of a friend, "Hunc rogo semestri tribunatu
splendidiorem facias." There are divers other interpretations, but
this appears the simplest and most probable. To confound it with the
"æstivum aurum" (i., 28), is a palpable absurdity.
[359] _Vinum nescire._ Cf. Hor., ii., Sat. iii., 5, "At ipsis
Saturnalibus huc fugisti Sobrius." Stat., Sylv., I., vi., 4, "Saturnus
mihi compede exsolutâ, et multo gravidus mero December."
"Then all December's revelries refuse,
And give the festive moments to the Muse." Gifford.
[360] _Acta legenti._ Either the "notary public," or "keeper of the
public records," or the historian's reader, who collected facts for the
author, or "any one who read aloud the history itself."
[361] _Russati._ Cf. ad vi., 589. So the charioteer of "the white" was
called Albatus. Lacerna, or Lacerta, was a charioteer in the reign of
Domitian, some say of Domitian himself. One commentator takes Lacerna
to be "any soldier wearing a red cloak;" as Paludatus is "one wearing
the general's cloak." Cf. Mart., xiii., Ep. 78, "Prasinus Porphyrion."
[362] _Consedere._ Cf. Ov., Met., xiii., 1, "Consedere duces; et, vulgi
stante corona, Surgit ad hos clypei dominus septemplicis Ajax." Cf. ad
xi., 30.
[363] _Bubulco._" Before some clod-pate judge thy vitals strain."
Badham.
[364] _Palmæ._ Cf. ad ix., 85.
"So shall the verdant palm be duly tied
To the dark staircase where such powers reside." Badham.
[365] _Afrorum Epimenia._ Most probably alluding to the "monthly
rations of onions" allowed to African slaves, who were accustomed to
plenty of them in their own country (cf. Herod., ii., 125. Numb., xi.,
5), where they grew in great abundance. Martial, ix., Ep. xlvi., 11,
enumerates "bulbi" among the presents sent at the Saturnalia to the
causidicus Sabellus.
[366] _Lagenæ._ Mart., _u. s._ "Five jars of meagre down-the-Tiber
wine." Badham.
[367] _Aureus._ About sixteen shillings English at this time.
[368] _Pragmaticorum._ Cicero describes their occupation, de Orat., i.,
45, "Ut apud Græcos infimi homines, mercedula adducti, ministros se
præbent judiciis oratoribus ii qui apud illos πραγματικοὶ vocantur."
Cf. c. 59. Quintil., iii., 6; xii., 3. Mart., xii., Ep. 72. They appear
afterward to have been introduced at Rome, and are sometimes called
"Tabelliones."
[369] _Licet._ The Lex Cincia de Muneribus, as amended by Augustus,
forbade the receipt of any fees. A law of Nero fixed the fee at 100
aurei at most. Vid. Tac., Ann., xi., 5 (Ruperti's note). Suet., Ner.,
17. Plin., v., Ep. iv., 21.
[370] _Quadrijuges._ It appears to have been an extraordinary fancy
with lawyers of this age to be represented in this manner; cf. Mart.,
ix., Ep. lxix., 5, _seq._; but the details of the picture have puzzled
the commentators. "Curvatum" is supposed to mean that "the spear
actually seems quivering in his hand," or that it is "bent with age,"
or that the _arm_ is "bent back," as if in the act of throwing. Cf.
Xen., Anab., V., ii., 12, διηγκυλωμένους. "_Luscâ_" may imply that the
statue imitated to the life the personal defect of Æmilius; or simply
the absence of the pupil (ὀμμάτων ἀχηνία), inseparable from statuary;
or that Æmilius is represented as closing one eye to take better aim.
"Lifts his poised javelin o'er the crowd below,
And from his blinking statue threats the blow." Hodgson.
[371] Cf. Mart., ix., Ep. 60.
[372] _Stlataria._ _Stlata_ is said to be an old form of _lata_, as
_stlis_ for _lis_, _stlocus_ for _locus_. Therefore Stlataria is the
same as the "Latus Clavus," according to some commentators; or a
"broad-beamed" merchant ship; and therefore means simply "imported."
Others say it is a "piratical ship," such as the Illyrians used, and
the word is then taken to imply "deceitful." Facciolati explains, it by
"peregrina et pretiosa: longè navi advecta."
[373] _Crambe._ The old Schol. quotes a proverb--δὶς κράμβε θάνατος,
Grangæus another, which forcibly expresses a schoolmaster's
drudgery--οἰ αὐτοὶ περὶ τῶν αὐτῶν τοῖς αὐτοῖς τὰ ἀυτά.
"Till, like hash'd cabbage, served for each repast,
The repetition kills the wretch at last." Gifford.
[374] Arcadia was celebrated for its breed of asses. Cf. Pers., Sat.
iii., 9, "Arcadiæ pecuaria rudere credas." Auson., Epigr. 76, "Asinos
quoque rudere dicas, cum vis Arcadium fingere, Marce, pecus."
[375] _Stipulare._
"Get me his father but to hear his task
For one short week, I'll give you all you ask." Bad.
[376] _Maritus._
"The faithless husband and abandon'd wife,
And Æson coddled to new light and life." Gifford.
[377] _Tessera._ The poorer Romans received every month tickets,
which appear to have been transferable, entitling them to a certain
quantity of corn from the public granaries. These tesseræ or symbola
were made, Lubinus says, of wood or lead, and distributed by the
"Frumentorum Curatores." In the latter days, bread thus distributed was
called "Panis Gradilis," quia gradibus distribuebatur. The Congiarium
consisted of wine, or oil only. The Donativum was only given to
soldiers. Several of these tickets of wood and lead are preserved in
the museum at Portici.
[378] _Scindens._ "Præcepta ejus artis minutatim dividens." Lubin.
On the principle, perhaps, that "Qui benè dividit benè docet."
Britannicus, whom Heinrich follows, explains it by "deridet." Theodorus
of Gadara was a professor of rhetoric in the reigns of Augustus and
Tiberius. Vid. Suet., Tib., 57. It was he who so well described
the character of the latter; calling him πήλον αἵματι πεφύρμενον.
Chrysogonus, in vi., 74, is a singer, and Pollio, vi., 387, a musician
(cf. Mart., iv., Ep. lxi., 9); but, as Lubinus says, the persons
mentioned here are professors of rhetoric, and probably therefore not
the same.
[379] _Mundæ._
"He splash his fav'rite mule in filthy roads!
With ample space at his command, to tire
The well-groom'd beast, with hoof unstain'd by mire." Badham.
[380] _Algentem._ They had dining-rooms facing different quarters,
according to the season of the year, with a southern aspect for the
winter, and an eastern for the summer. Cf. Plin., ii., Ep. 17. _Rapiat_
rather seems to imply the former case. So Badham--
"Courts the brief radiance of the winter's noon."
"Algentem" favors the other view--
"Front the cool east, when now the averted sun
Through the mid ardors of his course has run." Hodgson.
[381] _Lunam._ Senators wore _black_ shoes of tanned leather: they
were a kind of short boot reaching to the middle of the leg (hence,
"Nigris medium impediit crus pellibus," Hor., I., Sat. vi., 27), with
a crescent or the letter C in front, because the original number of
senators was a hundred.--_Aluta_, "steeped in alum," to soften the skin.
[382] _Ventidius Bassus_, son of a slave; first a carman, then a
muleteer; afterward made in one year prætor and consul. Being appointed
to command against the Parthians, he was allowed a triumph; having been
himself, in his youth, led as a captive in the triumphal procession of
Pompey's father. Cf. Val. Max., vi., 10.
[383] _Thrasymachus_ of Chalcedon, the pupil of Plato and Isocrates,
wrote a treatise on Rhetoric, and set up as a teacher of it at Athens;
but, meeting with no encouragement, shut up his school and hanged
himself.
[384] _Secundus Carrinas_ is said to have been driven by poverty from
Athens to Rome; and was banished by Caligula for a declamation against
tyrants. He is mentioned, Tac., Ann., xv., 45.
[385] _Gelidas._ "Cicutæ refrigeratoria vis: quos enecat incipiunt
algere ab extremitatibus corporis." Plin., xxv., 13. Plat., Phædo, fin.
Pers., iv., 1.
[386] _Dii Majorum_, etc.
"Shades of our sires! O sacred be your rest,
And lightly lie the turf upon your breast;
Flowers round your urns breathe sweets beyond compare,
And spring eternal bloom and flourish there!
Your honor'd tutors, now a slighted race,
And gave them all a parent's power and place!" Gifford.
[387] _Rufus_, according to the old Schol., was a native of Gaul.
Grangæus calls him Q. Curtius Rufus, and says nothing more is known of
him than that he was an eminent rhetorician. He is here represented as
charging Cicero with barbarisms or provincialisms, such as a Savoyard
would use.
[388] _Enceladus._ Nothing is known of him.
[389] _Palæmon._ Vid. ad vi., 451.
[390] _Cadurci._ Cf. vi., 537.
[391] _Non pereat._
"Yes, suffer this! while something's left to pay
Your rising, hours before the dawn of day;
When e'en the lab'ring poor their slumbers take,
And not a weaver, not a smith's awake." Gifford.
[392] _Cognitione Tribuni._ Not a tribune of the people, but one of the
Tribuni Ærarii, to whom the cognizance of such complaints belonged.
[393] _Historias._ Tiberius was exceedingly fond of propounding to
grammarians, a class of men whom he particularly affected (quod genus
hominum præcipuè appetebat), questions of this nature, to sound their
"notitia historiæ usque ad ineptias atque derisum." Cf. Suet., Tib.,
70, 57.
[394] _Nutricem._ The names of these two persons are said to have been
Casperia and Tisiphone.
[395] _Aurum._ i. e., 5 aurei, the highest reward allowed to be given.
The aureus, which varied in value, was at this time worth 25 denarii; a
little more than 16 shillings English. Cf. Mart., x., Ep. lxxiv., 5.
SATIRE VIII.
What is the use of pedigrees?[396] What boots it, Ponticus, to be
accounted of an ancient line, and to display the painted faces[397]
of your ancestors, and the Æmiliani standing in their cars, and the
Curii diminished to one half their bulk, and Corvinus deficient of a
shoulder, and Galba that has lost his ears and nose[4]--what profit
is it to vaunt in your capacious genealogy of Corvinus, and in many
a collateral line[398] to trace dictators and masters of the horse
begrimed with smoke, if before the very faces of the Lepidi you lead an
evil life! To what purpose are the images of so many warriors, if the
dice-box rattles all night long in the presence of the Numantini:[399]
if you retire to rest at the rising of that star[400] at whose dawning
those generals set their standards and camps in motion? Why does
Fabius[401] plume himself on the Allobrogici and the "Great Altar," as
one born in Hercules' own household, if he is covetous, empty-headed,
and ever so much more effeminate than the soft lamb of Euganea.[402] If
with tender limbs made sleek by the pumice[403] of Catana he shames his
rugged sires, and, a purchaser of poison, disgraces his dishonored race
by his image that ought to be broken up.[404]
Though your long line of ancient statues adorn your ample halls
on every side, the sole and only real nobility is virtue. Be a