The Satires of Juvenal, Persius, Sulpicia, and Lucilius
the first performer on it. Ibycus of Regium was its reputed inventor,
as Anacreon of the Barbiton: but from its mention in the book of Daniel
(iii., 5), it was probably of earlier date. A female performer on it
was called Sambucistria. An instrument of war, consisting of a platform
or drawbridge supported by ropes, to let down from a tower on the walls
of a besieged town, was called, from the similarity of shape, by the
same name. Cf. Athen., iv., 175; xiv., 633, 7. (Suidas, in voce, seems
to derive it from ἴαμβος, quasi ἰαμβύκη, because Iambic verses were
sung to it.)
[1460] _Caloni._ The slaves attached to the army were so called, from
κᾶλα "logs," either because they carried clubs, or because they were
the hewers of wood and drawers of water for the soldiers. From their
being always in the camp they acquired some military knowledge, and
hence we find them occasionally used in great emergencies. They are
sometimes confounded with Lixæ; but the latter were _not_ slaves. The
name is then applied to any coarse and common drudge. Cf. Hor., i.,
Ep. xiv., 41, "Invidet usum Lignorum tibi calo." Cf. i., Sat. ii.,
44; vi., 103. Tac., Hist., i., 49.--_Alto_ refers to the old Greek
proverb, ἄνοος ὁ μακρὸς, "Every tall man is a fool;" which Aristotle
(in Physiogn.) confirms.
[1461] _Examen._ See note on Sat. i., 6.
[1462] _Natura medendi._ Horace has the same idea, ii., Ep. i., 114,
"Navem agere ignarus navis timet; abrotonum ægro non audet nisi qui
didicit dare; quod medicorum est promittunt medici."
[1463] _Peronatus._ Cf. Juv., xiv., 186.
[1464] _Melicerta_ was the son of Ino, who leaped with him into the
sea, to save him from her husband Athamas. Neptune, at the request
of Venus, changed them into sea-deities, giving to Ino the name of
Leucothea, and to Palæmon that of Melicerta, or, according to others,
Portunus (à portu, as Neptunus, à nando). Vid. Ov., Met., iv., 523,
_seq._ Fast., vi., 545. Milton's Lycidas,
"By Leucothea's golden bands,
And her son that rules the sands."
[1465] _Frontem._ See note on Sat. i., 12. Hor., ii., Ep. i., 80,
"Clament periisse pudorem cuncti."
[1466] _In luto fixum._ From Hor., i., Ep. xvi., 63, "Quî melior servo
qui liberior sit avarus. _In triviis fixum_ cum se demittat ob assem."
The boys at Rome used to fix an as tied to a piece of string in the
mud, which they jerked away, with jeers and cries of "Etiam!" as soon
as any sordid fellow attempted to pick it up. Mercury being the god of
luck (see note on ii., 44; Hor., ii., Sat. iii., 25), Persius uses the
term "Mercurial saliva" for the miser's mouth watering at the sight of
the prize (vi., 62).--_Glutto_ expresses the gurgling sound made in the
throat at the swallowing of liquids.
[1467] _Fronte politus._ Hor., i., Ep. xvi., 45, "Introrsus turpem,
speciosum pelle decorâ."
[1468] _Vulpem._ Hor., A. P., 437, "Nunquam te fallant animi sub vulpe
latentes." Lysander's saying is well known, "Where the lion's skin does
not fit, we must don the fox's."
[1469] _Funemque reduco._ Shakspeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act ii. sc. 1.
"I would have thee gone,
And yet no farther than a wanton's bird,
Who lets it hop a little from her hand,
Like a poor prisoner in his twisted gyves,
And with a silk thread plucks it back again."
[1470] _Digitum exsere._ The Stoics held that none but a philosopher
could perform even the most trivial act, such as putting out the
finger, correctly; there being no middle point between absolute wisdom
and absolute folly: consequently it was beyond even the power of the
gods to bestow upon a fool the power of acting rightly.
[1471] _Litabis._ See note on Sat. ii., 75.
[1472] _Bathylli_, i. e., "Like the graceful Bathyllus, when acting the
part of the satyr." Juv., Sat. vi., 63. Gifford's note.
[1473] _Tot subdite rebus._ "None but the philosopher can be free,
because all men else are the slaves of _something_; of avarice, luxury,
love, ambition, or superstition." Cf. Epict., Man., xiv., 2, ὅστις
οὖν ἐλεύθερος εἶναι βούλεται, μήτε θελέτω τι, μήτε φευγέτω τι τῶν ἐπ'
ἄλλοις· εἰ δὲ μὴ, δουλεύειν ἀνάγκη. So taught the Stoics; and inspired
wisdom reads the same lesson. "Know ye not, that to whom ye yield
yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey?"
Rom., vi., 16.
[1474] _Crispinus._ This "Verna Canopi," whom Juvenal mentions so often
with bitter hatred and contempt, rose from the lowest position to
eminence under Nero, who found him a ready instrument of his lusts and
cruelties. His connection with Nero commended him to Domitian also. One
of his phases may probably have been the keeping a bath. Juv., i., 27;
iv., 1, 14, etc.
[1475] _Nervos agitat._ "A slave is no better than a puppet in the
hands of his master, who pulls the strings that set his limbs in
motion." The allusion is to the ἀγάλματα νευρόσπαστα, "images worked by
strings." Herod., ii., 48. Xen., Sympos., iv. Lucian., de Deâ Syriâ,
xvi.
[1476] _Scutica._ Vid. ad Juv., vi., 480.
[1477] _Saperdam._ From the Greek σαπέρδης (Aristot., Fr. 546), a poor
insipid kind of fish caught in the Black Sea, called κορακῖνος until it
was salted. Archestratus in Athenæus (iii., p. 117) calls it a φαῦλον
ἀκιδνὸν ἕδεσμα.
[1478] _Castoreum._ Cf. Juv., xii., 34.
[1479] _Ebenum._ Virg., Georg., ii., 115, "Sola India nigrum fert
_ebenum_: solis est _thurea_ virga Sabæis."
[1480] _Lubrica Coa._ The grape of Cos was very sweet and luscious:
a large quantity of sea-water was added to the lighter kind, called
Leuco-Coum, which gave it a very purgative quality; which, in fact,
most of the lighter wines of the ancients possessed. Vid. Cels., i.,
1. Plin., H. N., xiv., 10. Horace alludes to this property of the Coan
wine, ii., Sat. iv., 27, "Si dura morabitur aloes, Mytilus et viles
pellent obstanti aconchæ Et lapathi brevis herba, sed _albo_ non sine
_Coo_." (May not "_lubrica_ conchylia" in the next line be interpreted
in the same way, instead of its recorded meaning, "slimy?") Casaubon
explains it by λεαντικός.
[1481] _Camelo._ "Thirsty from its journey over the desert to
Alexandria from India." Vid. Plin., H. N., xii., 7, 14, 15. Jahn's
Biblical Antiquities, p. 31.
[1482] _Baro_ is no doubt the true reading, and not _varo_, which some
derive from _varum_, "an unfashioned stake" (of which _vallum_ is the
diminutive), "a log;" and hence applied to a stupid person. Baro is,
as the old Scholiast tells us rightly for once, the Gallic term for a
soldier's slave, his Calo; and, like Calo, became a term of reproach
and contumely. It afterward was used, like homo (whence _homagium_,
"homage"), to mean the king's "man," or vassal; and hence its use in
mediæval days as an heraldic title. Compare the Norman-French terms
Escuyer, Valvasseur.
[1483] _Œnophorum._ Hor., i., Sat. vi., 109, "Pueri lasanum portantes
œnophorumque." Pellis is probably a substitute for a leathern
portmanteau or valise.
[1484] _Cannabe._
"And while a broken plank supports your meat,
And a coil'd cable proves your softest seat,
Suck from squab jugs that pitchy scents exhale,
The seaman's beverage, sour at once and stale." Gifford.
[1485] _Sessilis obba._ Sessilis is properly applied to the broad back
of a stout horse, affording a good seat ("tergum sessile," Ov., Met.,
xii., 401), then to any thing resting on a broad base. Obba is a word
of Hebrew root, originally applied to a vase used for making libations
to the dead. It is the ἄμβιξ of the Greeks (cf. Athen., iv., 152), a
broad vessel tapering to the mouth, and answers to the "Caraffe" or
"Barile" of the modern Italians.
[1486] _Veientanum._ The wine-grown at Veii. The Campagna di Roma is
as notorious as ever for the mean quality of its wines. Hor., ii.,
Sat. iii., 143, "Qui Veientanum festis potare diebus Campana solitus
trullâ." Mart., i., Ep. civ., 9, "Et Veientani bibitur fax crassa
_rubelli_." ii., Ep. 53. iii., Ep. 49.
[1487] _Pice._ See Hase's Ancient Greeks, chap. i., p. 16.
[1488] _Indulge genio._ Cf. ii., 8, "Funde merum Genio."
[1489] _Dave._ This episode is taken from a scene in the Eunuchus of
Menander, from which Terence copied his play, but altered the names.
In Terence, Chærestratus becomes Phædria, Davus Parmeno, and Chrysis
Thais. There is a scene of very similar character in le Dépit Amoureux
of Molière. Horace has also copied it, but not with the graphic effect
of Persius. ii., Sat. iii., 260, "Amator exclusus qui distat, agit ubi
secum, eat an non, Quo rediturus erat non arcessitus et hæret Invisis
foribus? ne nunc, cum me vocat ultro Accedam? an potius mediter finire
dolores?" _et seq._ Lucr., iv., 1173, _seq._
[1490] _Frangam._ Literally, "make shipwreck of my reputation."
[1491] _Udas_ is variously interpreted. "Dissipated and luxurious," as
opposed to _siccis_ (Hor., i., Od. xviii., 3; iv., Od. v., 38), just
before, in the sense of "sober." So Mart., v., Ep. lxxxiv., 5, "Udus
aleator." (Juvenal uses _madidus_ in the same sense. See note on Sat.
xv., 47.) For the drunken scenes enacted at these houses, see the last
scene of the Curculio of Plautus. Or it may mean, "wet with the lover's
tears." Vid. Mart, x., Ep. lxxviii., 8. Or simply "reeking with the
wine and unguents poured over them." Cf. Lucr., iv., 1175, "Postesque
superbos _unguit_ amaracina." Cf. Ov., Fast., v. 339.
[1492] _Cum face canto._ The torch was _extinguished_ to prevent the
serenader being recognized by the passers-by. The song which lovers
sang before their mistresses' doors was called παρακλαυσίθυρον.
«Examples may be seen, Aristoph., Eccl., 960, _seq._ Plaut., Curc., sc.
ult. Theoc., iii., 23. Propert., i., El. xvi., 17, _seq._» Cf. Hor.,
iii., Od. x., and i., Od. xxv. This serenading was technically called
"occentare ostium." Plaut., Curc., I., ii., 57. Pers., IV., iv., 20.
[1493] _Depellentibus._ The ἀποτροπαῖος and ἀλεξίκακος of the Greeks.
So ἀπόλλων· quasi ἀπέλλων the Averruncus of Varro, L. L., v., 5.
[1494] _Soleâ._ Cf. ad Juv., vi., 612, "Et soleâ pulsare nates." Ter.,
Eun., Act V., vii., 4.
[1495] _Casses._ From Prop., ii., El. iii., 47.
[1496] _Quidnam igitur faciam._ These are almost the words of Terence,
"Quid igitur faciam non eam ne nunc quidem cum arcessor ultro?" etc.
Eun. I., i.
[1497] _Festuca_ is properly "light stubble," or straws such as
birds build their nests with. Colum., viii., 15. It is here used
contemptuously for the prætor's Vindicta; as in Plautus, "Quid? ea
ingenua an festuca facta è servâ libera est?" Mil., IV., i., 15; from
whom it is probably taken.
[1498] _Palpo_ is either the _nominative_ case, "a wheedler,
flatterer," πόλαξ τοῦ δήμου, or the _ablative_ from palpum, "a bait,
or lure." Plautus uses the neuter substantive twice. Amph., I., iii.,
28, "Timidam palpo percutit." Pseud., IV., i., 35, "Mihi obtrudere non
potes palpum," in the sense of the English saying, "Old birds are not
to be caught with chaff."
[1499] _Cretata ambitio._ Those who aspired to any office wore a toga
whose whiteness was artificially increased by rubbing with chalk. Hence
the word Candidatus. _Ambitio_ refers here to its primitive meaning:
the going round, _ambire_ et _prensare_, to canvass the suffrages of
the voters. This was a laborious process, and required early rising to
get through it Hence _vigila_.
[1500] _Cicer._ At the Floralia (cf. ad Juv., vi., 250), which were
exhibited by the Ædiles, it was customary for the candidates for
popularity to throw among the people tesserulæ or tallies, which
entitled the bearer to a largess of corn, pulse, etc., for these there
would be, of course, a great scramble.
[1501] _Aprici senes._ Cf. ad Juv., xi., 203.
[1502] _Herodis dies._ Persius now describes the tyranny of
superstition; and of all forms of it, there was none which both