The Satires of Juvenal, Persius, Sulpicia, and Lucilius
Verres of stealing a Citrea mensa from Diodorus (in Verr., iv., 17),
gave a million of sesterces for one which was in existence in his
time. A "Senatoris Census" was a price given. These tables were not
provided with several feet, but rested on an ivory column (sometimes
carved into the figure of animals), hence called monopodia. They were
called "Orbes," not from being _round_, but because they were massive
plates of wood cut off the stem in its whole diameter. The wood of the
_citrus_ was most preferred. This is not the _citron_-tree, which never
attains to this bulk, but a tree found in Mauritania, called the thyæ
cypressides. Plin., xiii., 16. Those cut near the root were most valued
from the wood being variegated: hence "Tigrinæ, pantherinæ, pavonum
caudæ oculos imitantes." The mensæ were formerly square, but were
afterward round to suit the new fashion of the Sigma couch. The Romans
also understood the art of veneering tables and other furniture with
the citrus wood and tortoise-shell.
[745] _Porta Syenes._ Syene, now "Assouan," is situated near the
rapids, just on the confines of Ethiopia. It was a station for a Roman
garrison, and the place to which Juvenal is said to have been banished.
Some think the island Elephantine is here meant. Cf. ad x., 150,
"aliosque Elephantos."
[746] _Mauro._ Ab ἀμαυρός, vel μαυρός, "obscurus." Cf. Lucan., iv.,
678, "Concolor Indo Maurus."
[747] _Nabathæo._ The Nabathæi, in Arabia Petræa, took their name from
"Nebaioth, first-born of Ishmael," Gen., xxv., 13. Elephants are said
to shed their tusks every two years.
[748] _Orexis._ VI., 428. _Vires._ Henninius' suggestion. Cf. ad l. 14.
[749] _Tessellæ._ Holyday explains this by "chess-board," from the
resemblance of the squares to the tesselated pavements. But it is a
die, properly; of which shape the separate tesseræ were. Mart., xiv.,
17, "Hic mihi bis seno numeratur tessera puncto: Calculus hic gemino
discolor hoste perit." Cf. Ep. 14. Cicero considers this game to be one
of the legitimate amusements of old age. "Nobis senibus, ex lusionibus
multis, talos relinquant et _tesseras_," de Sen., xvi. "Old Mucius
Scævola, the lawyer, was a great proficient at it. It was called Ludus
duodecim scriptorum, from the lines dividing the alveolus. On these
the two armies, white and black, each consisting of fifteen men, or
calculi, were placed; and alternately moved, according to the chances
of the dice, _tesseræ_." Vid. Gibbon, chap. xxxi.
[750] _Pergula._ Literally "the stall outside a shop where articles are
displayed for sale." Here used for the teachers of the art of carving
who exhibited at these stalls. Suet., Aug., 94, speaks of a "pergula
Mathematici." Pergula, "à perga, quia extrà parietem pergit." Facc.
[751] _Sumine._ Cf. Mart., Ep. xiii., 44, "vivo lacte papilla tumet."
[752] _Pygargus._ "Capræ sylvestris genus, ab albis clunium pilis."
Facc. Cf. Plin., viii., 53, 79, "Damæ et pygargi et Strepsicerotes."
The "spring-bok" of the Cape.
[753] _Scythicæ._ The pheasant (ὄρνις φασιανὸς or φασιανικός, Arist.,
Av., 68) takes its name from the Phasis, a river in Colchis, on the
confines of Scythia, at the mouth of which these birds congregate in
large flocks. Vid. Athen., ix., 37, _seq._
[754] _Phœnicopterus._ Arist., Av., 273. Cf. Mart., xiii., 71, "Dat
mihi penna rubens nomen." Cf. iii., Ep. lviii., 14. Suetonius mentions
"linguas phœnicopterûm" among the delicacies of the "Cœna adventicia"
given by his brother to Vitellius, in Vit., c. 13.
[755] _Capreæ._ Cf. Mart., Ep. xiii., 99.
[756] _Afra avis._ Hor., Epod., ii., 53, "Non Afra avis descendat in
ventrem meum non attagen Ionicus." The μελεαγρίς of the Greeks. Varro,
R. R., III., ix., 18.
[757] _Offelæ_, the diminutive of Offa. "A cutlet or chop," generally
applied to the coarser kind of meat. Cf. Mart., xii., 48, "Me meus
ad subitas invitet amicus ofellas: Hæc mihi quam possum reddere cœna
placet." Some read _furtis_ for _frustis_: which imputation against the
character of the little slave Gifford indignantly rejects.
[758] _Plebeios calices_, cf. ad vi., 155; v., 46, made of glass,
which was now very common at Rome. Vid. Mart., Ep. xii., 74; xiv., 94,
_seq._, and especially the Epigram on Mamurra, ix., 60. Strabo speaks
of them as sold commonly in Rome in his own time for a χαλκοῦς each
(not quite a farthing), lib. xvi., p. 368, T. Cf. Bekker's Gallus, p.
303.
[759] _Mango_, cf. Pers., vi., 76, _seq._, from _manu ago_, because
they made up their goods for sale, or from μάγγανον, "a trick." Cf.
Aristoph., Plut., 310. Bekker's Gallus, the Excursus on "the Slaves."
[760] _Casulam._ Cf. ix., 59, "Rusticus infans, cum matre et casulis et
conlusore catello."
"Sighs for his little cottage, and would fain
Meet his old playfellows the goats again." Gifford.
[761] _Vina._ Cf. vii., 96, "Vinum Tiberi devectum." Mart., x., 48, 19,
"De Nomentana vinum sine fæce lagenâ."
[762] _Iliados._
"The tale of Ilium, or that rival lay
Which holds in deep suspense the dubious bay." Bad.
[763] _Legantur._ Cf. Corn. Nep., vit. Attici, "Nemo in convivio ejus
aliud acroama audivit quam Anagnosten: quod nos quidem jucundissimum
arbitramur. Neque unquam sine aliquâ lectione apud eum cœnatum est, ut
non minus animo quam ventre convivæ delectarentur," c. xvi. Cf. Mart.,
iii., Ep. 50, who complains of Ligurinus inviting him to have his own
productions read to him.
[764] _Bilem._
"Let no dire images to-day be brought
To wake the hell of matrimonial thought." Hodgson.
[765] _Perit._ Cf. Hor., ii., Ep. i., 121, "Detrimenta, fugas servorum,
incendia ridet."
[766] _Mappæ._ Holyday gives the following account of the origin of
this custom. "Nero on a time, sitting alone at dinner, when the shows
were eagerly expected, caused his towel with which he had wiped his
hands to be presently cast out at the window, for a sign of his speedy
coming. Whereupon it was in after times the usual sign at the beginning
of these shows." For the mappa see Bekker's Gallus, p. 476.--_Præda_,
because "ruined by the expense;" or _Prædo_, from his "unjust
decisions;" or _Perda_, from the "number of horses damaged."
[767] _Totam Romam._ See Gibbon, chap. xxxi., for the eagerness with
which all ranks flocked to these games.
[768] _Viridis panni._ Cf. ad vi., 590. Plin., Ep. ix., 6, "Si aut
velocitate equorum, aut hominum arte traherentur, esset ratio nonnulla.
Nunc favent _panno_: _pannum_ amant," _et seq._ Mart., x., Ep. xlviii.,
23, "De Prasino conviva meus, venetoque loquatur." XIV., 131, "Si
veneto Prasinove faves quid coccina sumis?"
[769] _Pulvere_ is not without its force. Hannibal is said to have
plowed up the land near Cannæ, that the wind which daily rose and blew
in that direction might carry the dust into the eyes of the Romans.
"Ventus (_Vulturnum_ incolæ regionis vocant) adversus Romanis coortus,
_multo pulvere_ in ipsa ora volvendo, prospectum ademit." Liv., xxii.,
46 and 43. Cf. Sat, ii., 155; x., 165.
[770] _Cuticula._ Pers., iv., 18, "Assiduo curata cuticula sole." 33,
"Et figas in cute solem." V., 179, "Aprici meminisse senes." Mart.,
x., Ep. xii., 7, "Totos avidâ cute combibe soles." I., Ep. 78, "Sole
utitur Charinus." Plin., Ep. iii., 1, "Ubi hora balinei nuntiata est
(cf. ad Sat. x., 216), est autem hieme nona, æstate octava, in sole, si
caret vento, ambulat nudus." Cicero mentions "apricatio" as one of the
solaces of old age. De Sen., c. xvi.
"While we, my friend, whose skin grows old and dry,
Court the warm sunbeam of an April sky." Badham.
[771] _Rarior usus._
"Our very sports by repetition tire,
But rare delight breeds ever new desire." Hodgson.
SATIRE XII.
This day, Corvinus, is a more joyful one to me than even my own
birthday;[772] in which the festal altar of turf[773] awaits the
animals promised to the gods.
To the queen of the gods we sacrifice a snow-white[774] lamb: a
similar fleece shall be given to her that combated the Mauritanian
Gorgon.[775] But the victim reserved for Tarpeian Jupiter, shakes,
in his wantonness, his long-stretched[776] rope, and brandishes his
forehead. Since he is a sturdy calf; ripe for the temple and the altar,
and ready to be sprinkled with wine; ashamed any longer to drain his
mother's[777] teats, and butts the oaks with his sprouting horn.[778]
Had I an ample fortune, and equal to my wishes, a bull fatter than
Hispulla,[779] and slow-paced from his very bulk, should be led to
sacrifice, and one not fed in a neighboring pasture; but his blood
should flow, giving evidence of the rich pastures of Clitumnus,[780]
and with a neck that must be struck by a ministering priest of
great strength, to do honor to the return of my friend who is still
trembling, and has recently endured great horrors, and wonders to find
himself safe.
For besides the dangers of the sea, and the stroke of the lightning
which he escaped, thick darkness obscured the sky in one huge cloud,
and a sudden thunder-bolt struck the yard-arms, while every one fancied
he was struck by it, and at once, amazed, thought that no shipwreck
could be compared in horror with a ship on fire.[781] For all things
happen so, and with such horrors accompanying, when a storm arises in
poetry.[782]
Now here follows another sort of danger. Hear, and pity him a second
time; although the rest is all of the same description. Yet it is
a very dreadful part, and one well known to many, as full many a
temple testifies with its votive picture. (Who does not know that
painters[783] are maintained by Isis?) A similar fortune befell our
friend Catullus also: when the hold was half full of water, and when
the waves heaved up each side alternately of the laboring ship, and
the skill of the hoary pilot could render no service, he began to
compound with the winds by throwing overboard, imitating the beaver
who makes a eunuch[784] of himself, hoping to get off by the sacrifice
of his testicles; so well does he know their medicinal properties.
"Throw overboard all that belongs to me, the whole of it!" cried
Catullus, eager to throw over even his most beautiful things--a robe
of purple fit even for luxurious Mæcenases, and others whose very
fleece the quality of the generous pasture has tinged, moreover the
exquisite water with its hidden properties, and the atmosphere of
Bætica[785] contributes to enhance its beauty. He did not hesitate to
cast overboard even his plate, salvers the workmanship of Parthenius,
a bowl[786] that would hold three gallons, and worthy of Pholus when
thirsty, or even the wife of Fuscus.[787] Add to these bascaudæ,[788]
and a thousand chargers, a quantity of embletic work, out of which the
cunning purchaser of Olynthus[789] had drunk. But what other man in
these days, or in what quarter of the globe, has the courage to prefer
his life to his money, and his safety to his property? Some men do not
make fortunes for the sake of living, but, blinded by avarice, live
for the sake of money-getting. The greatest part even of necessaries
is thrown overboard: but not even do these sacrifices relieve the
ship--then, in the urgency of the peril, it came to such a pitch that
he yielded his mast to the hatchet, and rights himself at last, though
in a crippled state. Since this is the last resource in danger we
apply, to make the ship lighter.
Go now, and commit your life to the mercy of the winds; trusting to a
hewn plank, with but four digits[790] between you and death, or seven
at most, if the deal is of the thickest. And then together with your
provision-baskets and bread and wide-bellied flagon,[791] look well
that you lay in hatchets,[792] to be brought into use in storms.
But when the sea subsided into calm, and the state of affairs was more