The Satires of Juvenal, Persius, Sulpicia, and Lucilius
passion is not glutted with simple murder, but deem[1143] their
fellows' breasts and arms and faces a kind of natural food.
What then would Pythagoras[1144] exclaim; whither would he not flee,
could he be witness in our days to such atrocities as these! He that
abstained from all that was endued with life as from man himself; and
did not even indulge his appetite with every kind of pulse.
FOOTNOTES:
[1055] _Volusius_ is unknown. Some suppose him to be the same person as
the Bithynicus to whom Plutarch wrote a treatise on Friendship.
[1056] _Ægyptus._ So Cicero, "Ægyptiorum morem quis ignorat? Quorum
imbutæ mentes pravitatis erroribus, quamvis carnificinam prius
subierint quam ibin aut aspidem aut felem aut canem aut crocodilum
violent; quorum etiam imprudentes si quidquam fecerint, pœnam nullam
recusent." Tusc. Qu., v., 27. Cf. Athen., vol. ii., p. 650, Dind.
[1057] _Crocodilon._ Vid. Herod., ii., 69.--_Ibin._ Cic., de Nat.
Deor., i., 36.
[1058] _Memnone._ His statue stood in the temple of Serapis at Thebes.
Plin., xxvi., 7. Strabo, xvii., c. 1, τὰ ἄνω μέρη τὰ ἀπο τῆς καθέδρας
πέπτωκε σεισμοῦ γεννηθέντος. He says the ψόφος comes from "the lower
part remaining on the base." Cf. 1. 56, "Vultus dimidios." Sat. viii.,
4, "Et Curios jam dimidios." iii., 219, "Mediamque Minervam." Cf.
Clinton, Fasti Romani, in A.D. 130.
[1059] _Canem._ Cf. Lucan, viii., 832, "Semideosque canes." The
allusion is to the worship of Anubis, cf. vi., 533.
[1060] _Porrum._
"And it is dangerous here to violate an onion, or to stain
The sanctity of leeks with teeth profane." Gifford.
[1061] _Hortis._
"Ye pious nations, in whose gardens rise
A constant crop of earth-sprung deities!" Badham.
[1062] _Ulyxes._ Vid. Hom., Odyss., ix., 106, _seq._; x., 80, _seq._
[1063] _Aretalogus._ "Parasitus, et circulator philosophus." A
discourser on _virtue_ who frequented feasts; hence, one who tells
pleasing tales, a romancer. The philosopher at last degenerated into
the buffoon. Cicero uses "Ethologus" in nearly the same sense, cf.
de Orat., ii., 59, cum not. Harles. Suet., Aug., 74, "Acroamata et
histriones, aut etiam triviales ex Circo ludios, interponebat, ac
frequentius aretalogos." Salmas., ad Flav. Vopisc., 42. Lucian, de Ver.
Hist., i., 709, B. Shaksp., Othello, Act i., sc. 3.
[1064] _Verâ._ Cf. viii., 188, "Judice me dignus _verâ_ cruce."
[1065] _Fingentem_, i. e., "that they fed on _human_ victims."
[1066] _Læstrygones._ Their fabulous seat was Formiæ, now "Mola,"
whither they were led from Sicily by Lamus, their leader. Hor., iii.,
Od. xvii., 1; xvi., 34. Horn., Odyss., x., 81.
[1067] _Concurrentia saxa._ These rocks were at the northern entrance
of the Thracian Bosphorus, now the Channel of Constantinople; and were
fabled to have floated and crushed all vessels that passed the straits,
till Minerva guided the ship Argo through in safety and fixed them
forever. They were hence called συμπληγάδες, συνδρομάδες, πλαγκταὶ, and
κυάνεαι, from the deep blue of the surrounding water. Homer places them
near Sicily. Odyss., xii., 61; xxiii., 327. Pind., Pyth., iv., 370. Cf.
Herod., iv., 85. Eur., Med., 2; Androm., 794. Theoc., Idyll., xiii.,
22. Ov., Her., xii., 121. "Compressos utinam Symplegades elisissent,"
Trist., I., x., 34. They are now called "Pavorane."
[1068] _Vacui._ Cf. xiv., 57, "Vacuumque cerebro jampridem caput." Cf.
Virg., Æn., i., 567, "Non obtusa adeo gestamus pectora Pœni."
"But men to eat men human faith surpasses,
This traveler takes us islanders for asses." Dryden.
[1069] _Nondum ebrius._
"So might some sober hearer well have said,
Ere Corcyræan stingo turned his head." Hodgson.
[1070] _Temetum_, an old word of doubtful etymology: from it is derived
"temulentus" and "abstemius" (cf. Hor., ii., Ep. 163), and the phrase
"Temeti timor" for a parasite.
[1071] _Corcyræâ._ The Phæacians were luxurious fellows, as Horace
implies: "Pinguis ut inde domum possim Phæaxque reverti." i., Ep., xv.,
24.
[1072] _Ithacus._ So x., 257; xiv., 287.
[1073] _Junio._ Salmasius supposes this Junius to be Q. Junius
Rusticus, or Rusticius, consul with Hadrian, A.U.C. 872, A.D. 119.
(Plin., Exerc., p. 320.) Others refer it to an Appius Junius Sabinus,
consul with Domitian, A.U.C. 835, A.D. 82. But the name of Domitian's
colleague was _Titus Flavius_; and no person of the name of Junius
appears in the lists of consuls till Rusticus. Some read Junco, or
Vinco, to avoid the synizesis; but neither of these names occur. See
Life.
[1074] _Copti_, now Kypt or Koft, about twelve miles from Tentyra,
thirty from Thebes, and one hundred and twenty from Syene, where
Juvenal was stationed. Ptolemy Philadelphus connected it by a road with
Berenice.
[1075] _Pyrrha._ Cf. i., 84.
[1076] _Syrmata._ Properly the "long sweeping train of tragedy."
Vid. Hor., A. P., 278, "Personæ pallæque repertor honestæ." Sat.,
viii., 229, "Longum tu pone Thyestæ Syrma vel Antigones vel personam
Menalippes." So Milton, Il Pens., "Sometimes let gorgeous tragedy in
sceptred pall come sweeping by." Cf. Mart., xii., Ep. xcv., 3, 4; iv.,
Ep. xlix., 8.
[1077] _Populus._ i. e., "Tragedy only relates the atrocious crimes of
_individuals_: from the days of the Deluge, you can find no instance of
wickedness extending to _a whole nation_."
[1078] _Feritas._ Aristotle enumerates as one of the characteristics of
θηριότης, τὸ χαίρειν κρέασιν ἀνθρώπων.
[1079] _Simultas_ is properly "the jealousy or rivalry of two persons
candidates for the same office," from _simulo_, synom. with æmulari; or
from _simul_. Vid. Doederlein, iii., 72.
[1080] _Ombos_, now "Koum-Ombou," lies on the right bank of the Nile,
not far from Syene, and consequently a hundred miles at least from
Tentyra. To avoid the difficulty, therefore, in the word "finitimos,"
Salmasius would read "Coptos," this place being only twelve miles
distant; but all the best editions have Ombos. Tentyra, now "Denderah,"
lies on the left bank of the river, and is well known from the famous
discoveries in its Temple by Napoleon's savans. The Tentyrites, as
Strabo tells us (xvii., p. 460; cf. Plin., H. N., viii., 25), differed
from the rest of their countrymen in their hatred and persecution of
the crocodile, πάντα τρόπον ἀνιχνεύουσι καὶ διαφθείρουσιν αὐτούς,
being the only Egyptians who dared attack or face them; and hence when
some crocodiles were conveyed to Rome for exhibition, some Tentyrite
keepers accompanied them, and displayed some curious feats of courage
and dexterity. Aphrodite was their patron deity. The men of Coptos,
Ombos, and Arsinoë, on the other hand, paid the crocodile the highest
reverence; considering it an honor to have their children devoured by
them; and crucified kites out of spite to the Tentyrites, who adored
them. These religious differences are said by Diodorus (ii., 4) to
have been fostered by the policy of the ancient kings, to prevent the
conspiracies which might have resulted from the cordial union and
coalition of the various nomes.
[1081] _Alterius populi_, i. e., the Tentyrites. Cf. l. 73, _seq._
[1082] _Pervigili._ Cf. viii., 158, "Sed quum pervigiles placet
instaurare popinas."
"The board, where oft their wakeful revels last
Till seven returning days and nights are past." Hodgson.
[1083] _Horrida._ So viii., 116, "Horrida vitanda est Hispania." ix.,
12, "Horrida siccæ sylva comæ." vi., 10, "Et sæpe horridior glandem
ructante marito."
"For savage as the country is, it vies
In luxury, if I may trust my eyes,
With dissolute Canopus." Gifford.
[1084] _Canopus._ Cf. i., 26. Said to have been built by Menelaus, and
named after his pilot. It lies on the Bay of Aboukir, not far from
Alexandria, and was notorious for its luxury and debauchery, carried on
principally in the temple of Serapis. Cf. vi., 84, "Prodigia et mores
Urbis damnante Canopo." Sen., Epist. 51. Propert., iii., El. xi., 39.
These lines prove that Juvenal was, _at some time of his life_, in
Egypt; but whether he traveled thither in early life to gratify his
curiosity, or, as the common story goes, was banished there in his old
age to appease the wrath of Paris, is doubtful. The latter story is
inconsistent with chronology, history, and probability.
[1085] _Madidis._ So vi., 207, "Atque coronatum et petulans madidumque
Tarentum." βεβρεγμένος, ὑπομεθύων. Hesych., Sil., xii., 18, "Molli luxu
madefacta meroque Illecebris somni torpentia membra fluebant." Cf.
Plaut., Truc., IV., iv., 2, "Si alia membra vino madeant." Most., I.,
iv., 7, "Ecquid tibi videor madere?" Tibull., II., i., 29, "Non festâ
luce madere est rubor, errantes et male ferre pedes:" and II., ii., 8.
[1086] _Blæsis._ Cf. Mart., x., Ep. 65. So Virgil (Georg., ii., 94)
speaks of the vine as "Tentatura pedes olim vincturaque linguam."
Propert., II., xxxiv., 22. Sen., Epist., 83.
[1087] _Jurgia._ So v., 26, "Jurgia proludunt." iii., 288, "Miseræ
cognosce proœmia rixæ." Tac., Hist., i., 64, "Jurgia primum: mox rixa
inter Batavos et legionarios."
[1088] _Tuba._ Cf. i., 169, and Virg., Æn., xi., 424. The whole of the
following passage may be compared with Virg., Æn., vii., 505-527.
[1089] _Vice teli._ Ov., Met., xii., 381, "Sævique _vicem_ præstantia
_teli_."
[1090] _Vultus dimidios._ viii., 4, "Curios jam dimidios, humeroque
minorem Corvinum et Galbam auriculis nasoque carentem."
"Then might you see, amid the desperate fray,
Features disfigured, noses torn away;
Hands, where the gore of mangled eyes yet reeks,
And jaw-bones starting through the cloven cheeks." Gifford.
[1091] _Pueriles._ Virg., Æn., v., 584-602.
"But hitherto both parties think the fray
But mockery of war, mere children's play!
And scandal think it t' have none slain outright,
Between two hosts that for religion fight." Dryden.
[1092] _Saxa._
"Stones, the base rabble's home-artillery." Hodgson.
[1093] _Seditioni._ Henninius' correction for _seditione_. For
"domestica" in this sense, cf. Sat. ix., 17. So Virg., Æn., i., 150,
"Jamque faces et saxa volant, furor arma ministrat." vii., 507, "Quod
cuique repertum rimanti telum ira facit."
[1094] _Ajax._ Hom., Il., vii., 268, δεύτερος αὖτ' Αἴας πολὺ μείζονα
λᾶαν ἀείρας ἦκ' ἐπιδινήσας ἐπέρεισε δὲ ἶν' ἀπέλεθρον.
[1095] _Turnus._ Virg., Æn., xii., 896, "Saxum circumspicit ingens:
saxum antiquum ingens, campo quod forte jacebat Limes agro positus,
litem ut discerneret arvis. Vix illud lecti bis sex cervice subirent,
Qualia nunc hominûm producit corpora tellus." Cf. Hom., Il., xxi., 405.
[1096] _Tydides._ Il., v., 802, ὁ δὲ χερμάδιον λάβε χειρὶ Τυδείδης μέγα
ἔργον ὃ οὐ δύο γ' ἄνδρε φέροιεν οἷοι νῦν βροτοί εἰσ' ὁ δέ μιν ῥέα πάλλε
καὶ οἶος.
[1097] _Homero._ Il., i., 271, κείνοισι δ' ἂν οὔτις τῶν οἵ νῦν βροτοί
εἰσιν ἐπιχθόνιοι μαχέοιτο.
[1098] _Malos homines._ Cf. Herod., i., 68. Plin., vii., 16. Lucretius,
ii., 1149, "Jamque adeo fracta est ætas, effœtaque tellus Vix animalia
parva creat, quæ cuncta creavit sæcla." Sen., de Ben., I., c. x.,
"Hoc majores nostri questi sunt, hoc nos querimur, hoc posteri nostri
querentur, eversos esse mores, regnare nequitiam, in deterius res
humanas labi." Hor., iii., Od. vi., 46, "Ætas parentum, pejor avis,
tulit nos nequiores, mox daturos Progeniem vitiosiorem."
[1099] _Diverticulo._ Properly "a cross-road," then "a place to which
we turn aside from the high road; halting or refreshing place." Cf.
Liv., ix., 17.
[1100] _Infestis._ So Virg., Æn., v., 582, "Convertêre vias,
_infesta_que tela tulere." 691, "Vel tu quod superest _infesto_ fulmine
morti, Si mereor dimitte." x., 877, "_Infestâ_ subit obvius hastâ."
Liv., ii., 19, "Tarquinius Superbus quanquam jam ætate et viribus
gravior, equum _infestus_ admisit."