The Satires of Juvenal, Persius, Sulpicia, and Lucilius
Spades, rakes, and mattocks for the rustic's use;
And guiltless anvils in those ancient times
Were not subservient to the soldier's crimes." Hodgson.
[1142] _Gladios._ Virg., Georg., ii., 538.
"Aureus hanc vitam in terris Saturnus agebat.
Necdum etiam audierant inflari classica, necdum
Impositos duris crepitare incudibus enses."
[1143]
"Ev'n this is trifling. We have seen a rage
Too fierce for murder only to assuage;
Seen a whole state their victim piecemeal tear,
And count each quivering limb delicious fare!" Gifford.
[1144] _Pythagoras._ iii., 228, "Culti villicus horti unde epulum
possis centum dare Pythagoreis." Holding the doctrine of the
Metempsychosis, Pythagoras was averse to shedding the blood of any
animal. Various reasons are assigned for his abstaining from beans;
from their shape--from their turning to blood if exposed to moonshine,
etc. Diog. Laert. says (lib. viii. cap. i.), τῶν δὲ κυάμων ἀπηγόρευεν
ἔχεσθαι διὰ τὸ πνευματώδεις ὄντας μᾶλλον μετέχειν τοῦ ψυχικοῦ--καὶ τὰς
καθύπνους φαντασίας λείας καὶ ἀταράχους ἀποτελεῖν. In which view Cicero
seems to concur: De Div., ii., 119, "Pythagoras et Plato, quo in somnis
certiora videamus, præparatos quodam cultu atque victu proficisci ad
dormiendum jubent: Faba quidem Pythagorei utique abstinuere, quasi
vero eo cibo mens non venter infletur." Cf. Ov., Met., xv., 60, _seq._
See Browne's Vulgar Errors, book i., chap. iv. (Bohn's Antiquarian
Library): "When (Pythagoras) enjoined his disciples an abstinence
from _beans_, ... he had no other intention than to dissuade men from
magistracy, or undertaking the public offices of the state; for by
beans was the magistrate elected in some parts of Greece; and after his
days, we read in Thucydides of the Council of the Bean in Athens. It
hath been thought by some an injunction only of continency."
SATIRE XVI.
Who could possibly enumerate, Gallus,[1145] all the advantages that
attend military service when fortunate? For if I could but enter the
camp with lucky omen, then may its gate welcome me, a timid and raw
recruit, under the influence of some auspicious planet. For one hour of
benignant Fate is of more avail than even if Venus'[1146] self should
give me a letter of recommendation to Mars, or his mother Juno, that
delights in Samos' sandy shore.[1147]
Let us treat, in the first place, of advantages in which all share; of
which not the least important is this, that no civilian[1148] must dare
to strike you. Nay, even though he be himself the party beaten,[1149]
he must dissemble his wrath, and not dare to show the prætor[1150]
the teeth he has had knocked out, and the black bruises on his face
with its livid swellings, and all that is left of his eye, which the
physician can give him no hopes of saving. If he wish to get redress
for this, a Bardiac[1151] judge is assigned him--the soldier's boot,
and stalwart calves that throng the capacious benches of the camp, the
old martial law and the precedent of Camillus[1152] being strictly
observed, "that no soldier shall be sued outside the trenches, or at a
distance from the standards."
Of course, where a _soldier_ is concerned, the decision of the
centurion will needs be most equitable;[1153] nor shall I lack my just
revenge, provided only the ground of the complaint I lay be just and
fair.
Yet the whole cohort is your sworn enemy; and all the maniples, with
wonderful unanimity, obstruct the course of justice. Full well will
they take care that the redress you get shall be more grievous than
the injury itself. It will be an act, therefore, worthy of even the
long-tongued Vagellius' mulish heart,[1154] while you have still a
pair of legs to provoke the ire of so many buskins, so many thousand
hob-nails![1155]
For who can go so far from Rome? Besides, who will be such a
Pylades[1156] as to venture beyond the rampart of the camp? So let us
dry up our tears forthwith, and not trouble our friends, who will be
sure to excuse themselves. When the judge calls on you, "Produce your
witness,"[1157] let the man, whoever he may be, that saw the cuffs,
have the courage to stand forth and say, "I saw[1158] the act," and I
will hold him worthy of the beard,[1159] and worthy of the long hair
of our ancestors. You could with greater ease suborn a _false_ witness
against a civilian,[1160] than one who would speak the truth against
the fortune and the dignity of the man-at-arms.
Now let us observe other prizes and other solid advantages of the
military life. If some rascally neighbor has defrauded me of a portion
of the valley of my paternal fields, or encroached on my land, and
removed the consecrated stone from the boundary that separates our
estates, that stone which my pulse has yearly[1161] honored with
the meal-cake derived from ancient days, or if my debtor persists in
refusing repayment of the sum I lent him, asserting that the deed is
invalid and the signature a forgery: I shall have to wait a whole year
occupied with the causes of the whole nation, before my case comes on.
But even then I must put up with a thousand tedious delays, a thousand
difficulties. So many times the benches only are prepared; then, when
the eloquent Cæditius[1162] is laying aside his cloak, and Fuscus
must retire for a little, though all prepared, we must break up; and
battle in the tediously-protracted arena of the court. But in the case
of those who wear armor, and buckle on the belt, whatever time suits
_them_ is fixed for the hearing of their cause, nor is their fortune
frittered away by the slow drag-chain[1163] of the law.
Besides, it is only to soldiers that the privilege is granted, of
making their wills while their fathers are still alive.[1164] For it
has been determined that all that has been earned by the hard toil of
military service should not be incorporated with that sum of which the
father holds the entire disposal. And so it is, that while Coranus
follows the standards and earns his daily pay, his father, though
tottering on the edge of the grave, pays court to his son that he may
make him his heir.
His duties regularly discharged procure the soldier advancement; and
yield to every honest exertion[1165] its justly merited guerdon.[1166]
For doubtless it appears to be the interest of the general himself,
that he that proves himself _brave_ should also be most distinguished
for good fortune, that all may glory in their trappings,[1167] all in
their golden chains.
FOOTNOTES:
[1145] _Gallus._ Of this friend of Juvenal, as of Volusius in the last
Satire, nothing is known. He is perhaps the same person whose name
occurs so frequently in Martial.
[1146] _Veneris._ For her influence over Mars, vid. Lucret., i., 32.
[1147] _Samia arenâ._ Cf. Virg., Æn., i., 15, "Quam Juno fertur terris
magis omnibus unam Posthabitâ coluisse Samo." Herod., ii., 148; iii.,
60. Paus., VII., iv., 4. Athen., xiv., 655; xv., 672. The famous
temple of Juno was said to have been built by the Leleges, the first
inhabitants of the island: her statue, which was of wood, was the
workmanship of Smilis, a contemporary of Dædalus. Juno is said to have
here given birth to Mars, alone. Ov., Fast., v., 229. Samos was the
native country of the peacock, hence sacred to Juno. Cf. vii., 32.
[1148] _Togatus._ The toga, the robe of peace, as the Sagum is that of
war. (So 33, "paganum.") Cf. Juv., viii., 240; x., 8, "Nocitura toga
nocitura petuntur Militia." So "Cedant arma togæ."
[1149] _Pulsetur._ Cf. iii., 300.
[1150] _Prætori._
"Tremble before the Prætor's seat to show
His livid features, swoll'n with many a blow:
His eyes closed up, no sight remaining there,
Left by the honest doctor in despair." Hodgson.
[1151] _Bardiacus._ On the _sense_ of this passage all the commentators
are agreed, though they arrive at it by different routes--"Your judge
will be some coarse, brutal, uncivilized soldier; who cares nothing for
the feelings of the toga'd citizen, or for the principles of justice."
Marius is said to have had a body-guard of slaves, who flocked to
him, chiefly Illyrian; whom he called his "Bardiæi." Pliny calls
them "Vardæi," and Strabo ἀρδιαῖοι. (Cf. Plut., in vit. Mar. Plin.,
iii., 32. Strabo, vii., 5.) Bardiacus (or Bardaicus) may therefore
be taken absolutely, or with judex, or with calceus. If taken alone,
then _cucullus_ is said to be understood, as Mart., xiv., 128, "Gallia
Santonico vestit te Bardocucullo." i., Ep. liv., 5; xiv., 139; IV.,
iv., 5. This "cowl" was made of goats' hair. If taken with calceus, it
would imply some such kind of shoe as the "Udo" in Ep. xiv., 140.
[1152] _Camillo._ This law was passed by Camillus, while dictator,
during the siege of Veii; to prevent his soldiers absenting themselves
from the camp, on the plea of civil business. It led, of course, in
time to the grossest abuses.
[1153] _Justissima._
"Oh! righteous court, where generals preside,
And regimental rogues are justly tried!" Hodgson.
[1154] _Mulino._ Perhaps Stapylton's is the best translation of this
epithet of the declaimer in a hopeless cause. He calls him "a desperate
ass." Others read "Mutinensi."
[1155] _Caligas._ iii., 247, "Plantâ mox undique magnâ calcor, et in
digito clavus mihi militis hæret" (and 322, "Adjutor gelidos veniam
caligatus in agros"). This was one of the _tender_ recollections
Umbritius had when leaving Rome. The caliga, being a thick sole with no
upper leather, bound to the foot with thongs, and studded underneath
with iron nails, would be a fearful thing to encounter on one's shins
or toes. (Justin says, "Antiochus' soldiers were shod with gold;
treading that under foot for which men fight with iron.")
[1156] _Pylades._
"And where's the Pylades, the faithful friend,
That shall thy journey to the camp attend?
Be wise in time! See those tremendous shoes!
Nor ask a service which e'en fools refuse." Badham.
[1157] _Da testem._ Cf. iii., 137.
[1158] _Vidi._ Cf. vii., 13, "Quam si dicas sub judice Vidi, quod non
vidisti."
[1159] _Barba._ Cf. ad iv., 103. Barbers were introduced from Sicily to
Rome by P. Ticinius Mæna, A.U.C. 454. Scipio Africanus is said to have
been the first Roman who shaved daily. Cf. Plin., vii., 95. Hor., i.,
Od. xii., 41, "Incomptis Curium capillis." ii., Od. xv., 11, "Intonsi
Catonis," Tib., II., i., 84, "Intonsis avis."
[1160] _Paganum._ Cf. ad I., 8. It appears that under the emperors
husbandmen were exempt from military service, in order that the land
might not fall out of cultivation. The "paganus," therefore, is opposed
to the "armatus" here, and by Pliny, Epist. x., 18, "Et milites et
pagani." Epist. vii., 25, "Ut in castris, sic etiam in literis nostris
(sunt), plures culto pagano quos cinctos et armatos, diligentius
scrutatus invenies." Pagus is derived from the Doric παγά, because
villages were originally formed round springs of water. Cf. Hooker's
Eccl. Pol., lib. v., c. 80.
"With much more ease false witnesses you'll find
To swear away the life of some poor hind,
Than get the true ones all they know to own
Against a soldier's fortune and renown." Hodgson.
[1161] _Puls annua._ Cf. Dionys. Hal., ii., 9, θεούς τε γὰρ ἡγοῦνται
τοὺς τέρμονας, καὶ θύουσιν αὐτοῖς ἔτι τῶν μὲν ἐμψύχων οὐδὲν· οὐ γὰρ
ὅσιον αἰμάττειν τοὺς λίθους· πελάνους δὲ Δήμητρος, καὶ ἄλλας τινὰς
καρπῶν ἀπαρχάς. "For they hold the boundary stones to be gods; and
sacrifice to them nothing that has life, because it would be impious
to stain the stones with blood; but they offer wheaten cakes, and
other first-fruits of their crops." The divisions of land were
maintained by investing the stones which served as landmarks with a
religious character: the removal of these, therefore, added the crime