The Satires of Juvenal, Persius, Sulpicia, and Lucilius
[794] _Prælata Lavino._ Virg. Æn. i. 267, seq. Liv. i. 1, 3. Tibull.
II. v. 49.
[795] _Scrofa._ Virg. Æn. iii. 390, "Littoreis ingens inventa sub
ilicibus sus, Triginta capitum fœtus enixa jacebit, Alba solo recubans,
albi circum ubera nati. Is locus urbis erit, requies ea certa
laborum,"--and viii., 43.
[796] _Moles._ This massive work was designed and begun by Julius
Cæsar, executed by Claudius, and repaired by Trajan. It is said to have
employed thirty thousand men for eleven years. Suetonius thus describes
it (Claud., c. 20): "Portum Ostiæ exstruxit circumducto dextrâ
sinistrâque brachis, et ad introitum profundo jam solo mole objectâ,
quam quò stabilius fundaret, navem ante demersit, quâ magnus obeliscus,
ex Ægypto fuerat advectus; congestisque pilis superposuit altissimam
turrim in exemplum Alexandrini Phari, ut ad nocturnos ignes cursum
navigia dirigerent." (Cf. vi., 83. The Pharos of Alexandria was built
by Sostratus, and accounted one of the seven wonders of the world.)
"Enter the moles, that running out so wide
Clasp in their giant arms the billowy tide,
That leave afar diminishing the land,
More wondrous than the works of nature's hand." Hodgson.
[797] _Vertice raso._ It was the custom in storms at sea to vow the
hair to some god, generally Neptune: and hence slaves, when manumitted,
shaved their heads, "quod tempestatem servitutis videbantur effugere,
ut naufragis liberati solent." Cf. Pers., iii., 106, "Hesterni capite
inducto subiere Quirites." Hodgson has an excellent note on the
"mystical attributes" of hair.
[798] _Linguis animisque faventes._ Cic., de Div., i., 102, "Omnibus
rebus agendis, Quod bonum, faustum, felix, fortunatumque esset,
præfabantur: rebusque divinis, quæ publicè fierent, ut faverent
linguis imperabant: inque feriis imperandis ut litibus et jurgiis se
abstinerent." Cf. Hor., iii., Od. i., 2, "Favete linguis." Virg., Æn.,
v., 71, "Ore favete omnes." Hor., Od., III., xiv., 11; Tibull., II.,
ii., 2, "Quisquis ades linguâ, vir, mulierque fave." So εὐφημεῖν; cf.
Eurip., Hec., 528, _seq._
[799] _Sacro quod præstat_; i. e., the sacrifices mentioned in the
beginning of the Satire, viz., to Juno, Pallas, and Tarpeian Jove, and
therefore more important than those to the Lares.
[800] _Placabo._ Cf. Hor., i., Od. 36, 1. Orell.
[801] _Nostrum_, i. e., his own Lar familiaris. Cf. ix., 137, "O Parvi
nostrique Lares." For the worship of these Lares, Junones, and Genius,
see Dennis's Etruria, vol. i., p. lv.
[802] _Erexit janua ramos._ Cf. ad ix., 85.
[803] _Operatur festa._ Perhaps read with Lipsius, "operitur festa,"
"in festive-guise is covered with." Virgil, however, uses "operatus"
similarly. Georg., i., 339, "Sacra refer Cereri lætis operatus in
herbis." Cf. ad ix., 117.
"All savors here of joy: luxuriant bay
O'ershades my portal, while the taper's ray
Anticipates the feast and chides the tardy day." Gifford.
[804] _Gallita._ Tacitus (Hist., i., 73) speaks of a Gallita
Crispilina, or, as some read, Calvia Crispinilla, as a "magistra
libidinum Neronis," and as "potens _pecuniâ et orbitate_, quæ bonis
malisque temporibus juxtà valent." Paccius Africanus is mentioned also
Hist., iv., 41.
[805] _Tabellis._ Cf. ad x., 55, "Propter quæ fas est genua incerare
deorum."
[806] _Hecatomben._ The hecatomb properly consisted of oxen, 100
being sacrificed simultaneously on 100 different altars. But sheep
or other victims were also offered. The poor sometimes vowed an ὠῶν
ἑκατόμβη. Emperors are said to have sacrificed 100 lions or eagles.
Suetonius says, that above 160,000 victims were slaughtered in honor of
Caligula's entering the city. Calig., c. 14.
[807] _Nostris ducibus._ Curius Dentatus was the first to lead
elephants in triumph. Metellus, after his victory over Asdrubal,
exhibited two hundred and four. Plin., viii., 6. L. Scipio,
father-in-law to Pompey, employed thirty in battle against Cæsar. The
Romans first saw elephants in the Tarentine war, against Pyrrhus; and
as they were first encountered in Lucania, they gave the elephant the
name of "Bos Lucas." So Hannibal. See x., 158, "Gætula ducem portaret
bellua luscum."
[808] _Ister Pacuvius._ Cf. ii., 58.
[809] _Iphigenia._ Cf. Æsch., Ag., 39, seq., and the exquisite lines
in Lucretius, i., 85-102; but Juvenal seems to have had Ovid's lines
in his head, Met., xii., 28, _seq._, "Postquam pietatem publica causa,
Rexque patrem vicit, castumque datura cruorem Flentibus ante aram
stetit Iphigenia ministris: Victa dea est, nubemque oculis objecit, et
inter Officium turbamque sacri, vocesque precantum, Supposita fertur
mutâsse _Mycenida cervâ_."
[810] _Mille._ στόλον Ἀργείων χιλιοναύτην. Æsch., Ag., 44.
[811] _Libitinam._ Properly an epithet of Venus (the goddess who
presides over _deaths_ as well as births), in whose temple all things
belonging to funerals were sold. Cf. Plut., Qu. Rom., 23. Servius
Tullius enacted that a sestertius should be deposited in the temple
of Venus Libitina for every person that died, in order to ascertain
the number of deaths. Dion. Halic., iv., 79. Cf. Liv., xl., 19; xli.,
21. Suet., Ner., 39, "triginta funerum millia in rationem Libitinæ
venerunt." Hor., iii., Od. xxx., 6; ii., Sat. vi., 19.
[812] _Nassa_ is properly an "osier weel," κύρτη for catching fish.
Plin., xxi., 18, 59.
[813] _Solo._ Cf. i., 68, "Exiguis tabulis;" ii., 58, "Solo tabulas
impleverit Hister Liberto;" vi., 601, "Impleret tabulas."
"What are a thousand vessels to a will!
Yes! every blank Pacuvius' name shall fill." Hodgson.
[814] _Nestora._ Cf. Hom., Il., i., 250; Od., iii., 245. Mart., vi.,
Ep. lxx., 12, "Ætatem Priami Nestorisque." X., xxiv., 11. Cf. ad x.,
246.
[815] _Rapuit Nero._ Vid. Tac., Ann., xv., 42, Brotier's note.
Suetonius (Nero, c. 32), after many instances of his rapacity, subjoins
the following: "Nulli delegavit officium ut non adjiceret Scis quid
mihi opus sit:" et "Hoc agamus ne quis quidquam habeat." "Ultimot
emplis compluribus dona detraxit."
[816] _Nec amet._
"Nor ever be, nor ever find, a friend!" Dryden.
SATIRE XIII.
Every act that is perpetrated, that will furnish a precedent for crime,
is loathsome[817] even to the author himself. This is the punishment
that first lights upon him, that by the verdict[818] of his own breast
no guilty man is acquitted; though the corrupt influence of the prætor
may have made his cause prevail, by the urn[819] being tampered with.
What think you, Calvinus,[820] is the opinion of all men touching the
recent villainy, and the charge you bring of breach of trust? But it is
your good fortune not to have so slender an income, that the weight of
a trifling loss can plunge you into ruin; nor is what you are suffering
from an unfrequent occurrence. This is a case well known to many--worn
threadbare--drawn from the middle of fortune's heap.[821]
Let us, then, lay aside all excessive complaints. A _man's_ grief
ought not to blaze forth beyond the proper bounds, nor exceed the
loss sustained. Whereas _you_ can scarcely bear even the very least
diminutive particle of misfortune, however trifling, boiling with rage
in your very bowels because your friend does not restore to you the
deposit he swore to return. Can _he_ be amazed at this, that has left
threescore years behind him, born when Fonteius was consul?[822] Have
you gained[823] nothing by such long experience of the world? Noble
indeed are the precepts which philosophy, that triumphs over fortune,
lays down in her books of sacred wisdom. Yet we deem those happy too
who, with daily life[824] for their instructress, have learned to
endure with patience the inconveniences of life, and not shake off the
yoke.[825]
What day is there so holy that is not profaned by bringing to light
theft, treachery, fraud--filthy lucre got by crime of every dye, and
money won by stabbing or by poison?[826] Since rare indeed are the
good! their number is scarce so many as the gates of Thebes,[827] or
the mouths of fertilizing Nile. We are now passing through the ninth
age of the world: an era far worse than the days of Iron; for whose
villainy not even Nature herself can find a name, and has no metal[828]
base enough to call it by. Yet we call heaven and earth to witness,
with a shout as loud as that with which the Sportula,[829] that gives
them tongues, makes his clients applaud Fæsidius as he pleads. Tell
me, thou man of many years, and yet more fit to bear the boss[830]
of childhood, dost thou not know the charms that belong to another's
money? Knowest thou not what a laugh thy simplicity would raise in the
common herd, for expecting that no man should forswear himself, but
should believe some deity is[831] really present in the temples and
at the altars red with blood? In days of old the aborigines perhaps
used to live after this fashion: before Saturn in his flight laid
down his diadem, and adopted the rustic sickle: in the days when Juno
was a little maid; and Jupiter as yet in a private[832] station in
the caves of Ida: no banquetings of the celestials above the clouds,
no Trojan boy or beauteous wife of Hercules as cup-bearer; or Vulcan
(but not till he had drained the nectar) wiping[833] his arms begrimed
with his forge in Lipara. Then each godship dined alone; nor was the
crowd of deities so great[834] as it is now-a-days: and the heavens,
content with a few divinities, pressed on the wretched Atlas with less
grievous weight. No one had as yet received as his share the gloomy
empire of the deep: nor was there the grim[835] Pluto with his Sicilian
bride, nor Ixion's wheel, nor the Furies, nor Sisyphus' stone, nor the
punishment of the black vulture,[836] but the shades passed jocund days
with no infernal king.
In that age villainy was a prodigy! They used to hold it as a heinous
sin, that naught but death could expiate, if a young man had not risen
up to pay honor to an old one,[837] or a boy to one whose beard was
grown; even though he himself gloated over more strawberries at home,
or a bigger pile of acorns.[838]
So just a claim to deference had even four years' priority; so much
on a par with venerated old age was the first dawn of youth! Now, if
a friend should not deny the deposit[839] intrusted to him, if he
should give back the old leathern purse with all its rusty[840] coin
untouched, it is a prodigy of honesty, equivalent to a miracle,[841]
fit to be entered among the marvels in the Tuscan records,[842] and
that ought to be expiated by a lamb crowned for sacrifice.[843] If I
see a man above the common herd, of real probity, I look upon him as
a prodigy equal to a child born half man, half brute;[844] or a shoal
of fish turned up by the astonished[845] plow; or a mule[846] with
foal! in trepidation as great as though the storm-cloud had rained
stones;[847] or a swarm of bees[848] had settled in long cluster from
some temple's top; as though a river had flowed into the ocean with
unnatural eddies,[849] and rushing impetuous with a stream of milk.
Do you complain of being defrauded of _ten_ sestertia by impious
fraud? What if another has lost in the same way two hundred, deposited
without a witness![850] and a third a still larger sum than that, such
as the corner of his capacious strong-box could hardly contain! So
easy and so natural is it to despise the gods above,[851] that witness
all, if no mortal man attest the same! See with how bold a voice he
denies it! What unshaken firmness in the face he puts on! He swears by
the sun's rays, by the thunderbolts of Tarpeian Jove, the glaive of
Mars, the darts of the prophet-god of Cirrha,[852] by the arrows and
quiver of the Virgin Huntress, and by thy trident, O Neptune, father
of the Ægæan! He adds the bow of Hercules, Minerva's spear, and all