The Satires of Juvenal, Persius, Sulpicia, and Lucilius
note in Gifford, who translates it himself by "a sense of modesty,"
but allows that in Cicero it means "a polite intercourse between man
and man;" in Horace, "suavity of manners;" in Seneca, "a proper regard
for the decencies of life:" by others it is used for all these, which
together constitute what we call "courteousness, or good breeding." So
Quintilian, I., ii., 20. Hodgson turns it,
"For plain good sense, first blessing of the sky,
Is rarely met with in a state so high."
Badham,
"In that high estate
Plain common sense is far from common fate."
[422] _Stratus humi._
"Stretch'd on the ground, the vine's weak tendrils try
To clasp the elm they dropped from, fail, and die." Gifford.
[423] _Summum crede nefas._ See some beautiful remarks in Coleridge's
Introduction to the Greek Poets, p. 24, 25.
[424] _Pudori._
"At honor's cost a feverish span extend,
And sacrifice for life, life's only end!
Life! I profane the word: can those be said
To live, who merit death? No! they are dead." Gifford.
[425] _Gaurana._ Gaurus (cf. ix., 57), a mountain of Campania, near
Baiæ and the Lucrine Lake, which was famous for oysters (cf. iv., 141,
"Lucrinum ad saxum Rutupinove edita fundo Ostrea," Plin., iii., 5.
Martial, v., Ep. xxxvii., 3, "Concha Lucrini delicatior stagni"), now
called "Gierro."
[426] _Cosmus_, a celebrated perfumer, mentioned repeatedly by Martial.
[427] _Capito._ Cossutianus Capito, son-in-law of Tigellinus (cf. i.,
155. Tac., Ann., xiv., 48; xvi., 17), was accused by the Cilicians
of peculation and cruelty ("maculosum fœdumque, et idem jus audaciæ
in provincia ratum quod in urbe exercuerat"), and condemned "lege
repetundarum." Tac., Ann., xiii., 33. Thrasea Pætus was the advocate
of the Cilicians, and in revenge for this, when Capito was restored
to his honors by the influence of Tigellinus, he procured the death
of Thrasea. Ann., xvi., 21, 28, 33. Of Numitor nothing is known save
that he plundered these Cilicians, themselves once the most notorious
of pirates. Cf. Plat. in Pomp. Some read Tutor; a Julius Tutor is
mentioned repeatedly in the fourth book of Tac. Hist., but with no
allusion to his plundering propensities.
[428] _Naulum._
"Nor, though your earthly goods be sunk and lost,
Lose the poor waftage of the wandering ghost." Hodgson.
Cf. iii., 267, "Nec habet quem porrigat ore trientem." Holyday
and Ruperti interpret it, "Do not waste your little remnant in an
unprofitable journey to Rome to accuse your plunderer." Gifford says it
is merely the old proverb, and renders it, "And though you've lost the
hatchet, save the haft."
[429] _Modo victis._ Browne explains this by _tantummodo victis_, i.
e., only subdued, not plundered; and so Ruperti.
[430] _Vivebat._ "And ivory taught by Phidias' skill to live." Gifford.
[431] _Dolabella._ There were three "pirates" of this name, all accused
of extortion; of whom Cicero's son-in-law, the governor of Syria, seems
to have been the worst.
[432] _Verres_ retired from Rome and lived in luxurious and happy
retirement twenty-six years.
[433] _Altis_, or "deep-laden."
[434] _Plures._
"More treasures from our friends in peace obtain'd,
Than from our foes in war were ever gain'd." Gifford.
[435] _Pater._
"They drive the father of the herd away,
Making both stallion and his pasture prey." Dryden.
[436] _Resinata._ Resin dissolved in oil was used to clear the skin of
superfluous hairs. Cf. Plin., xiv., 20, "pudet confiteri maximum jam
honorem (resinæ) esse in evellendis ab virorum corporibus pilis."
[437] _Gallicus axis._ Cf. Cæs., B. G., i., 51. "The war chariot;"
or the "climate of Gaul," as colder than that of Rome, and breeding
fiercer men. Cf. vi., 470. "Hyperboreum axem," xiv., 42.
[438] _Messoribus._ These reapers are the _Africans_, from whom Rome
derived her principal supply of corn. Cf. v., 119. Plin., v., 4.
[439] _Circo._ Cf. x., 80, "duas tantum res anxius optat, Panem et
Circenses." Tac., Hist., i., 4, "Plebs sordida ac Circo et Theatris
sueta."
"From those thy gripes restrain,
Who with their sweat Rome's luxury maintain,
And send us plenty, while our wanton day
Is lavish'd at the circus or the play." Dryden.
[440] _Marius._ Vid. ad i., 47.
[441] _Discinxerit._ Cf. Virg., Æn., viii., 724, "Hic Nomadum genus et
discinctos Mulciber Afros." Sil. Ital., ii., 56, "Discinctos Libyas."
Money was carried in girdles (xiv., 296), and the Africans wore but
little other clothing. For the amount of his plunder, see Plin., ii.,
Ep. xi., "Cornutus, censuit septingenta millia quæ acceperat Marius
ærario inferenda."
[442] _Acersecomes._ Some "puer intonsus" with flowing locks like
Bacchus or Apollo. Φοῖβος ἀκερσεκόμης. Hom., Il., xx., 39. Pind.,
Pyth., iii., 26.
[443] _Conjuge._ Cf. the discussion in the senate recorded Tac., Ann.,
iii., 33, _seq._
[444] _Conventus._ "Loca constituta in provinciis juri dicundo." The
different towns in the provinces where the Roman governors held their
courts and heard appeals. The _courts_ as well as the _towns_ were
called by this name. They were also called Fora and Jurisdictiones.
Vid. Plin., III., i., 3; V., xxix., 29. Cic. in Verr., II., v., 11.
Cæs., B. G., i., 54; vi., 44.
[445] _Celæno._ Cf. Virg., Æn., iii., 211, "dira Celæno Harpyiæque
aliæ."
[446] _Promethea._
"E'en from Prometheus' self thy lineage trace,
And ransack history to adorn thy race." Hodgson.
[447] _Frangis virgas._
"Rods broke on our associates' bleeding backs,
And headsmen laboring till they blunt their axe." Dryden.
[448] _Incipit ipsorum._
"The lofty pride of every honor'd name
Shall rise to vindicate insulted fame,
And hold the torch to blazon forth thy shame." Hodgson.
[449] _Contra te stare._
"Will to his blood oppose your daring claim,
And fire a torch to blaze upon your shame." Gifford.
[450] _Temples._ The sealing of wills was usually performed in temples;
in the morning, and fasting, as the canon law afterward directed.
[451] _Santonico._ The Santones were a people of Aquitania, between the
Loire and Garonne. Cf. Mart., xiv., Ep. 128, "Gallia Santonico vestit
te bardocucullo."
[452] _Sufflamine._ "The introduction of the drag-chain has a local
propriety: Rome, with its seven hills, had just so many necessities for
the frequent use of the sufflamen. This necessity, from the change of
the soil, exists no longer." Badham.
[453] _Testes._ Cf. vi., 311, Lunà teste.
[454] _Damasippus_ (cf. Hor., ii., Sat. iii., 16) was a name of the
Licinian gens. "Damasippus was sick," says Holyday, "of that disease
which the Spartans call horse-feeding."
[455] _Hordea._ Horses in Italy are fed on barley, not on oats.
[456] _Eponam_ (cf. Aristoph., Nub., 84), the patroness of grooms.
Some read "Hipponam," which Gifford prefers, from the tameness of the
epithet "solam." Cf. Blunt's Vestiges, p. 29.
"On some rank deity, whose filthy face
We suitably o'er stinking stables place." Dryden.
[457] _Amomo_, an Assyrian shrub. Cf. iv., 108.
[458] _Idumeæ._ The gate at Rome near the Arch of Titus, through which
Vespasian and Titus entered the city in triumph after their victories
in Palestine.
[459] _Dominum._ Cf. Mart., i., Ep. 113, "Cum te non nossem dominum
regemque vocabam." Cf. iv., Ep. 84, 5.
[460] _Inscripta lintea._ Perhaps "curtains, having painted on them
what was for sale within." Others say it means "embroidered with
needlework;" or "towels," according to Calderinus, who compares
Catull., xxv., 7.
[461] _Armeniæ._ The allusion is to Corbulo's exploits in Parthia and
Armenia in Nero's reign, A.D. 60. Cf. ad iii., 251. There were great
disturbances in the same quarters in Trajan's reign, which caused his
expedition, in A.D. 114, against the Armenians and Parthians. In A.D.
100, Marius Priscus was accused by Pliny and Tacitus. Vid. Plin.,
ii., Ep. xi. Probably half way between these two dates we may fix the
writing of this Satire.
[462] _Mitte Ostia._ So most of the commentators interpret it. "Send
your Legatus to take the command of the troops for foreign service,
waiting for embarkation at Ostia." But if so, "ad" should be expressed,
and either Tiberina added, or Ostia made of the 1st declension.
Britann., therefore, and Heinrich explain it, "Pass by his own doors;"
omitte quærere illic, "he is far away."
[463] _Sandapila._ The bier or open coffin, on which the poor, or those
killed in the amphitheatre, were carried to burial; hence "sandapila
popularis." Suet., Domit., 17. Stepney (in Dryden's version) thus
enumerates these worthies:
"Quacks, coffin-makers, fugitives, and sailors,
Rooks, common soldiers, hangmen, thieves, and tailors."
[464] _Resupinantis._ In Holyday's quaint version,
"Among great Cybel's silent drums, which lack
Their Phrygian priest, who lies drunk on his back."
[465] _Ergastula._ Private prisons attached to Roman farms, in which
the slaves worked in chains. The Tuscan were peculiarly severe. Vid.
Dennis's Etruria, vol. i., p. xlviii.
[466] _Turpia cerdoni._ Cf. iv., 13," Nam quod turpe bonis Titio
Seioque decebat Crispinum." Pers., iv., 51, "Tollat sua munera cerdo."
"And crimes that tinge with shame the cobbler's face,
Become the lords of Brutus' honor'd race." Hodgson.
[467] _Locasti._
"Lets out his voice (his sole remaining boast),
And rants the nonsense of a clam'rous ghost." Hodgson.
[468] _Sipario._ The curtain or drop-scene in _comedy_, as _Aulæum_ was
in _tragedy_. Donat.
[469] _Phasma._ Probably a translation from the Greek. Ter., Eun.,
pr. 9, "Idem Menandri phasma nunc nuper dedit." Catullus is not to
be confounded with C. Valerius Catullus of Verona (the old Schol.
says Q. Lutatius Catullus is meant, and quotes xiii., 11, whom
Lubinus, ad loc., calls "Urbanus Catullus") as far as the Phasma is
concerned.--_Laureolus_ was the chief character in a play or ballet by
Val. Catullus, or Laberius, or Nævius: and was crucified on the stage,
and then torn to pieces by wild beasts. Martial (de Spect., Ep. vii.)
says this was acted _to the life_ in the Roman amphitheatre, the part
of the bandit being performed by a real malefactor, who was crucified
and torn to pieces in the arena, "Non falsâ pendens in cruce Laureolus."
"And Lentulus _acts_ hanging with such art,
Were I a judge, he should not _feign_ the part." Dryden.
[470] _Sedet._
"Sit with unblushing front, and calmly see
The hired patrician's low buffoonery;
Smile at the Fabii's tricks, and grin to hear
The cuffs resound from the Mamerci's ear." Gifford.
[471] _Cogente Nerone._ Cf. Tac., Ann., xiv., 14, who abstains from
mentioning the _names_ of the nobles thus disgraced, out of respect for
their ancestors. Cf. Dio., lxi. Suetonius says (Nero, cap. xii.) that
400 senators and 600 knights were thus dishonored (but Lipsius says 40
and 60 are the true numbers).
[472] _Nec dubitant._ No doubt a spurious line.
[473] _Gladios._ This is the usual interpretation. Perhaps it would be
better to take "gladios" for the _death_ that awaits you if you refuse
to comply: as iv., 96; x., 345. So Badham:
"Place here the tyrant's sword, and there the scene;
Gods! can a Roman hesitate between!"
[474] _Thymele._ Cf. i., 36.
[475] _Ludus._ Properly, "school of gladiators."
[476] _Gracchus._ Cf. ii., 143.
[477] _Tunicæ._ Cf. ii., 143, tunicati fuscina Gracchi. Suet., Cal.,
30. The Retiarii wore a tunic only. The gold spira was the band that
tied the tall conical cap of the Salii; who wore also a gold fringe
round the tunic.
[478] _Seneca._ There is said to be an allusion here to the plot of