The Satires of Juvenal, Persius, Sulpicia, and Lucilius
the ruin of a temple still called Tempio di Norzia. Cf. Liv., vii., 3;
Tertull., Apoll., 24, ad Nat., ii., 8; Müller's Etrusker, IV., vii., 6;
Dennis's Etruria, i., p. 258, 509.
[584] _Fornacula._ "A fire so fierce for one was scarcely made."
Gifford.
[585] _Brutidius._ Tacitus speaks thus of him: "Brutidium artibus
honestis copiosum et, si rectum iter pergeret, ad clarissima quæque
iturum festinatio exstimulabat, dum æquales, dein superiores, postremo
suasmet ipse spes anteire parat." Ann., iii., 66. He had been one of
the accusers of Silanus, and was involved in Sejanus' fall. "Magna est
fornacula" is well borne out by Tacitus' account. "Cunctos qui carcere
attinebantur, accusati societatis cum Sejano, necari jubet. _Jacuit
immensa strages_; omnis sexus omnis ætas: inlustres ignobiles--corpora
adsectabantur dum in Tiberim traherentur." Ann., vi., 19.
[586] _Victus._ Fierce as Ajax, when worsted in the contest for the
arms of Achilles.
[587] _Exercitibus præponere._ Vid. Tac., Ann., iv., 2, "Centuriones ac
Tribunos ipse deligere: neque senatorio ambitu abstinebat clientes suos
honoribus aut provinciis ornando, facili Tiberio atque ita prono ut
socium laborum celebraret."
[588] _Tutor._
"Arraign
Thy feeble sovereign in a guardian's strain,
Who sits amid his foul Chaldæan herd
In that august domain to Rome preferr'd." Badham.
[589] _Sedentis._ Cf. Suet., Tib., 43; Tac., Ann., vi., 1. Grangæus
supposes this word to have reference to the Sellaria there described.
It probably only refers to his luxury and indolence. Tiberius was with
Augustus when he visited Capreæ shortly before his death: "remisissimo
ad otium et ad omnem comitatem animo. Vicinam Capreis insulam
ἀπραγοπόλιν appellabat à desidiâ secedentium illuc e comitatu suo." Cf.
c. 40. Tac., Ann., iv., 67.
[590] _Augusta._ The old reading was angustâ. The alteration of a
single letter converts a forceless expletive into an epithet full of
picturesque and historic truth.
[591] _Egregios equites._ The flower of the Roman army, the prætorian
troops, of which Sejanus was præfect.
[592] _Vasa minora._
"To pound false weights and scanty measures break." Dryden.
[593] _Ulubris._ Cf. Hor., i., Ep. xi., 30, "Est Ulubris, animus si non
tibi deficit æquus." Another joke at the expense of the plebeian ædiles
(cf. iii., 162), who had the charge of inspecting weights and measures,
markets and provisions, roads, theatres, etc. These functionaries still
exist (as Gifford says), "as ragged and consequential" as ever, in the
Italian villages, retaining their old name of Podestà.
"Deal out the law, and curb with high decree
The tricks of trade at empty Ulubræ." Hodgson.
[594] _Altior._ The idea is probably borrowed from Menander, ἐπαίρεται
γὰρ μεῖζον, ἵνα μεῖζον πέσῃ. So hence Horace, ii., Od. x., 10, "Celsæ
graviore casu decidunt turres." So Claudian in Rufin., i., 22,
"Tolluntur in altum ut lapsu graviore ruant;" and Shakspeare, "Raised
up on high to be hurl'd down below."
[595] _Ruinæ._ So Milton.
"With hideous _ruin_ and combustion down." C. Badham.
[596] _Crassos._ M. Licinius Crassus and his son Publius; both killed
in the Parthian war.
[597] _Pompeios._ Cn. Pompeius Magnus, and his two sons, Cnæus and
Sextus.
[598] _Domitos._
"The stubborn pride of Roman nobles broke,
And bent their haughty necks beneath his yoke." Dryd.
[599] _Colit._ Ov., Fast., iii., 816, "Qui benè placârit Pallada doctus
erit."
[600] _Vernula._ This slave was called Capsarius. Suet., Ner., 36. Cf.
ad vi., 451.
[601] _Quinquatribus._ Cf. Hor., ii., Ep. ii., 197, "Puer ut festis
quinquatribus olim." This festival originally lasted only _one_ day;
and was celebrated xiv. Kal. April. It was so called "quia _post diem
quintum_ Idus Martias ageretur." So "post diem sextum" was called
Sexatrus; and "post diem septimum," Septimatrus. Varro, L. L., v.,
3. It was afterward _extended_ to five days; hence the "vulgus"
supposed that to have been the origin of the name; and so Ovid takes
it, "Nominaque a junctis quinque diebus habet," Fast., iii., 809; who
says it was kept in honor of Minerva's natal day, "Causa quod est
illâ nata Minerva die," l. 812. (Others say, because on that day her
temple on Mount Aventine was consecrated.) Domitian kept the festival
in great state at his Alban villa. Suet., Domit., iv. Cicero has a
punning allusion to it. Vid. Fam., xii., 25. These five days were the
schoolmasters' holidays; and on the first they received their pay, or
entrance fee, διδακτρὰ, hence called Minerval; though Horace seems to
imply they were paid every month, "Octonis referentes Idibus æra." I.,
Sat. vi., 75. The lesser Quinquatrus were on the Ides of June. Ov.,
Fast., vi., 651, "Quinquatrus jubeor narrare minores," called also
Quinquatrus Minusculæ.
[602] _Rostra._ Popilius Lenas, who cut off Cicero's head and hands,
carried them to Antony, who rewarded him with a civic crown and a large
sum of money, and ordered the head to be fixed between the hands to the
Rostra. (For the _name_, vid. Liv., viii., 14.)
[603] _Antonî gladios._ Quoting Cicero's own words, "Contempsi Catilinæ
gladios, non pertimescam tuos." Phil., ii., 46.
"For me, the sorriest rhymes I'd rather claim,
Than bear the brunt of that Philippic's fame,
The second! the divine!" Badham.
[604] _Torrentem._ So i., 9, "Torrens dicendi copia;" iii., 74, "Isæo
torrentior." At the approach of Antipater, Demosthenes fled from
Athens, and took refuge in the temple of Poseidon at Calaureia, near
Argolis; and fearing to fall into the hands of Archias, took poison,
which he carried about with him in a reed, or, as Pliny says, in a
ring, xxxiii., 1.
[605] _Forcipibus._ Cf. Virg., Æn., viii., 453, "Versantque tenaci
forcipe massam." Juvenal seems to have had the whole passage in his eye.
[606] _Vulcano._ Demosthenes' father was a μαχαιροποιός: in which
capacity he employed a large number of slaves, ἐργαστήριον ἔχων μέγα
καὶ δούλους τεχνίτας. But as he could not afford to place his son under
the costly Isocrates, he sent him to Isæus.
[607] _Truncis._ Virg., Æn., xi., 5.
Ingentem quercum decisis undique ramis
Constituit tumulo, fulgentiaque induit arma,
Mezenti ducis _exuvias_, tibi magne _tropæum_
Bellipotens: aptat rorantes sanguine cristas
Telaque _trunca_ viri.
[608] _Aplustre_, the ἄφλαστον of the Greeks was the high peak of the
galley, from which rose the ensign.
[609] _Arcu._ Cf. Suet., Domit., 13, "Janos arcusque cum quadrigis et
insignibus triumphorum per regiones urbis tantos et tot exstruxit, ut
cuidam Græcè inscriptum sit, ἀρκεῖ—." Some think there is an allusion
here to the column of Trajan, erected in honor of his Dacian victories.
This would bring down the date of this Satire to after A.D. 113.
[610] _Amplectitur._
"That none confess fair Virtue's genuine power,
Or woo her to their breast without a dower." Gifford.
[611] _Sepulchris_; from Propertius, III., ii., 19, _seq._ So Ausonius,
"Mors etiam saxis, nominibusque venit."
"For fate hath foreordain'd its day of doom,
Not to the tenant only, but the tomb." Badham.
[612] _Expende._
"How are the mighty changed to dust! how small
The urn that holds what once was Hannibal!" Hodgson.
[613] _Altos_; others read _alios_; referring to the elephants of
_Africa_ as well as _Asia_. "Elephantos fert Africa, ferunt Æthiopes et
Troglodytæ: sed maximos India." Plin., viii., 11.
[614] _Aceto._ Vid. Liv., xxi., 37. Polybius omits the story as
fabulous. There appears, now, no reason to doubt the fact.
[615] Actum. "Nil actum referens si quid superesset agendum."
"Peace courts his hand, but spreads her charms in vain;
'Think nothing gain'd,' he cries, 'till naught remain;
On Moscow's walls till Gothic standards fly,
And all be mine beneath the Polar sky.'" Johnson.
[616] _Facies._
"Oh! for some master-hand, the lines to trace!" Gifford.
[617] _Luscum._ Hannibal lost one eye, while crossing the marshes, in
making his way to Etruria: "quia medendi nec locus nec tempus erat
altero oculo capitur;" he rode, Livy tells us, on his sole surviving
elephant, xxii., 2.
[618] _Bithyno._ When accused by the Romans at Carthage, Hannibal
fled to Antiochus, king of Syria, and thence to the court of Prusias,
king of Bithynia, for whom he carried on successfully the war against
Eumenes. But when Flaminius was sent to demand his surrender, he
destroyed himself with poison, which he always carried in a ring.
[619] _Sanguinis._ Forty-five thousand dead were left on the field of
Cannæ, with the Consul Æmilius Paulus, eighty senators, and very many
others of high rank.
[620] _Declamatio._ Cf. vii., 167, "Sexta quâque die miserum dirus
caput Hannibal implet." So I. 150, and i., 15.
"Go, climb the rugged Alps, ambitious fool!
To please the boys, and be a theme at school." Dryden.
[621] _Unus._ "Heu me miserum! quod ne uno quidem adhuc potitus sum!"
is the exclamation put into Alexander's mouth by Val. Max., viii., 14.
[622] _Gyaris._ Cf. i., 73; vi., 563.
[623] _Figulis._ Cf. Herod., i., 78. Ov., Met., iv., 27, "Ubi dicitur
altam Coctilibus muris cinxisse Semiramis urbem."
[624] _Sarcophago._ A stone was found at Assos, near Troy, which was
said to possess the property of consuming the flesh of bodies inclosed
in it within the space of forty days, hence called σαρκοφάγος. Plin.,
ii., 96; xxxvi., 17. Cf. Henry's speech to Hotspur's body:
"Ill-weaved ambition, how much art thou shrunk!
When that this body did contain a spirit,
A kingdom for it was too small a bound:
But now, two paces of the vilest earth
Is room enough."
So Hall:
"Fond fool! six feet shall serve for all thy store,
And he that cares for most shall find no more."
And Shirley:
"How little room do we take up in death,
That, living, knew no bounds!"
And Webster's Duchess of Malfy:
"Much you had of land and rent;
Your length in clays's now competent."
So K. Henry VI.:
"And of all my lands
Is nothing left me but my body's length."
And Dryden's Antony:
"The place thou pressest on thy mother Earth
Is all thy empire now."
Cf. Æsch., S. Theb., 731. Soph., Œd. Col., 789. Shakspeare's Richard
II., Act iii., sc. 2.
[625] _Epota._ Herodotus mentions the Scamander, Onochnous, Apidanus,
and Echedorus.
"Rivers, whose depth no sharp beholder sees,
Drunk at an army's dinner to the lees!" Dryden.
[626] _Sostratus._ Of this poet nothing is known.--_Madidis_, probably
in the same sense as in Sat. xv., 47, "Facilis victoria de madidis."
Sil., xii., 18, "Madefacta mero."
[627] _Ennosigæum._ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐνόθειν τὴν γαῖαν. Cf. Hom., Il., vii.,
455. _Æolis_ is an allusion to Virgil, Æn., i., 51, "Vinclis ac carcere
frænat," etc.
[628] _Stigmate._ Herod., vii., 35.
"That shackles o'er th' earth-shaking Neptune threw,
And thought it lenient not to brand him too." Gifford.
[629] _Servire Deorum._ As Apollo served Admetus; Neptune, Laomedon,
etc.
"Ye gods! obeyed ye such a fool as this?" Hodgson.
[630] _Tardâ._ Perhaps alluding to Her., viii., 118.
"A single skiff to speed his flight remains,
Th' encumbered oar scarce leaves the dreaded coast
Through purple billows and a floating host!" Johnson.
[631] _Tabraca_, on the coast of Tunis, now Tabarca.
[632] _Simia._ So Ennius, in Cic., Nat. De., i., 35, "Simia, quam
similis turpissima bestia nobis!"
"A stick-fallen cheek! that hangs below the jaw,
Such wrinkles as a skillful hand would draw
For an old grandam ape, when, with a grace,