The Satires of Juvenal, Persius, Sulpicia, and Lucilius
gods. The bays were worn by himself and his soldiers till the triumph
was over. (Branches of bay were set up before the gate of Augustus,
by a decree of the senate, as being the perpetual conqueror of his
enemies. Cf. Ov., Trist., III., i., 39.) These letters were very rare
under the emperors, vid. Tac., Agric., xviii., except those sent by the
emperors themselves. Mart., vii., Ep. v., 3, "Invidet hosti Roma suo
veniat laurea multa licet." Caligula's mock expedition into Germany
(A.D. 40) is well known. The account given by Suetonius tallies exactly
with the words of Persius. "Conversus hinc ad curam triumphi præter
captivos ac transfugas barbaros, _Galliarum_ quoque _procerissimum
quemque_ et ut ipse dicebat ἀξιοθριαμβευτον legit ac seposuit ad
pompam; coegitque non tantum _rutilare et submittere comam_, sed et
sermonem Germanicum addiscere et nomina barbarica ferre." Vid. Domit.,
c. xlvii. Cf. Tac., German., xxxvii. (Virg., Æn., vii., 183. Mart.,
viii., Ep. xxxiii., 20.)
[1535] _Exossatus ager._ Among the Romans it was esteemed a great
disgrace for a legatee to refuse to administer to the estate of the
testator. Persius says, "even though you refuse to act as my heir, I
shall have no great difficulty in finding some one who will. Though
I have spent large sums in largesses to the mob, and in honor of the
emperor, I have still a field left near the city, which many would
gladly take." Such is unquestionably the drift of the passage; but
"exossatus" is variously explained. It literally means that from which
the bones have been taken: vid. Plaut., Aul., II., ix., 2, "Murænam
exdorsua, atque omnia exossata fac sient." Amph., I., i., 163. So
Lucr., iv., 1267. Ter., Ad., III., iv., 14. As stones are "the bones of
the earth" (Ov., Met., i., 393, "Lapides in corpore terræ ossa reor"),
it may mean "thoroughly cleared from stones;" or, as Casaubon says, so
thoroughly exhausted by constant cropping, that the land is reduced to
its very bones (as Juv., viii., 90, "Ossa vides regum vacuis exhausta
medullis"). "Yet even this field, bad as it is, some terræ filius may
be found to take." _Juxta_ is generally explained "near Rome," and
therefore parted with _last_. D'Achaintre takes it with exossatus in
the sense of "almost."
[1536] _Bovillæ_, a village on the Via Appia, no great distance
from Rome; hence called _Suburbanæ_, by Ovid (Fast., iii., 667) and
Propertius (IV., i., 33). Here Clodius was killed by Milo. Like Aricia,
it was infested by beggars. (Cf. Juv., iv., 117, "Dignus Aricinos qui
mendicaret ad axes.") Hence the proverb "Multi Manii Ariciæ."
[1537] _Virbii clivum_, a hill near Aricia, by the wood sacred to Diana
Nemorensis. It took its name from Hippolytus, son of Theseus, who was
worshiped here under the name of Virbius (bis vir) as having been
restored by Æsculapius to life. Cf. Ov., Met., xv., 543. Virg., Æn.,
vii., 760-782. There was also a hill within the walls of Rome called by
this name (cf. Liv., i., 48, where, however, Gronovius reads Orbii),
near the Vicus Sceleratus.
[1538] _Lampada._ The allusion is to the Torch-race λαμπαδηφόρια at
Athens. There were three festivals of this kind, according to Suidas,
the Panathenæan, Hephæstian, and Promethean. In the latter they ran
from the altar of Prometheus through the Ceramicus to the city. The
object of the runners in these races was to carry a lighted torch to
the end of their courses. But the manner of the running is a disputed
point among the commentators. Some say three competitors started
together, and he that carried his torch unextinguished to the goal
was victorious. Others say the runners were stationed at different
intervals, and the first who started gave up his torch at the first
station to another, who took up the running, and in turn delivering
it to a third; and to this the words of Lucretius seem to refer, ii.,
77, "Inque brevi spatio mutantur sæcla animantúm Et quasi cursores
vitaï lampada tradunt." Others again think that several competitors
started, but one only bore a torch, which, when wearied, he delivered
to some better-winded rival; which view is supported by Varro, R.
R., iii., 16, "In palæstra qui tædas ardentes accipit, celerior est
in cursu continuo quam ille qui tradit: propterea quod defatigatus
cursor dat integro facem." Cic., Heren., 4. The explanations of this
line consequently are almost as various. Prate, the Delphin editor,
supposes that Persius' heir was a man farther advanced in years than
Persius himself. Gifford explains it, "You are in full health, and have
every prospect of outstripping me in the career of life; do not then
prematurely take from me the chance of extending my days a little. Do
not call for the torch before I have given up the race:" and sees in it
a pathetic conviction of Persius' own mind, that his health was fast
failing, and that a fatal termination of the contest was inevitable and
not far remote. D'Achaintre thinks, with Casaubon, that "qui prior es"
means, "You are my nearer heir than the imaginary Manius, why therefore
do you disturb yourself? Receive my inheritance, as all legacies should
be received, i. e., as unexpected gifts of fortune; as treasures found
on the road, of which Mercurius is the supposed giver. I am then your
Mercury. Imagine me to be your god of luck, coming, as he is painted,
with a purse in my hand." Cf. Hor., ii., Sat. iii., 68.
[1539] _Dicta paterna._ Not "the precepts of my father," because
Persius' father was dead; but such as fathers give, inculcating lessons
of thrift and money-getting; as Hor., i., Ep. i., 53, "Virtus post
nummos--hæc recinunt juvenes dictata senesque." Cf. Juv., xiv., 122.
[1540] _Vago._ Cf. Varr. ap. Non., i., 223, "Spatale eviravit omnes
Venerivaga pueros."
[1541] _Trama_ is the "warp," according to some interpretations, the
"woof," according to others. The metaphor is simply from the fact, that
when the nap is worn off the cloth turns threadbare; and implies here
one so worn down that his bones almost show through his skin.
[1542] _Popa venter._ With paunch so fat that he looks like a "popa,"
"the sacrificing priest," who had good opportunities of growing fat
from the number of victims he got a share of; and therefore, like our
butchers, grew gross and corpulent. Popa is also put for the female
who _sold_ victims for sacrifice, and probably had as many chances of
growing fat. The idea of the passage is borrowed from Hor., ii., Sat.
iii., 122.
[1543] _Plausisse_, either in the sense of jactâsse, "to praise their
good qualities," or, "to clap them with the hand, to show what good
condition they are in." Cf. Ov., Met., ii., 866, "Modo pectora præbet
virgineâ plaudenda manu." Others read "pavisse," "clausisse," and
"pausasse." (Cf. Sen., Epist. lxxx., 9.)
[1544] _Catasta_, from κατάστασις, "a wooden platform on which slaves
were exposed to sale," in order that purchasers might have full
opportunity of inspecting and examining them. These were sometimes in
the forum, sometimes in the houses of the Mangones. Cf. Mart., ix.,
Ep. lx., 5, "Sed quos arcanæ servant tabulata Catastæ." Plin., H. N.,
xxxv., 17. Tib., II., iii., 59, "Regnum ipse tenet quem sæpe coëgit
Barbara gypsatos ferre catasta pedes." Persius recommends his miserly
friend to condescend to any low trade, even that of a slave-dealer,
to get money. Cappadocia was a great emporium for slaves. Cic., Post.
Red., "Cappadocem modo abreptum de grege venalium diceres." Hor.,
i., Ep. vi., 39, "Mancipiis locuples eget æris Cappadocum rex." The
royal property, consisting chiefly in slaves, was kept in different
fortresses throughout the country. The whole nation might be said to be
addicted to servitude; for when they were offered a free constitution
by the Romans, they declined the favor, and preferred receiving a
master from the hand of their allies. Strabo, xii., p. 540. After the
conquest of Pontus, Rome and Italy were filled with Cappadocian slaves,
many of whom were excellent bakers and confectioners. Vid. Plutarch v.
Lucullus. Athen., i, p. 20; iii., 112, 3. Cramer, Asia Minor, ii., p.
121. Mart., vi., Ep. lxvii., 4.
[1545] _Depunge._ A metaphor from the graduated arm of the steelyard.
Cf. v., 100, "Certo compescere puncto nescius examen." The end of the
fourteenth Satire of Juvenal, and of the fifteenth Epistle of Seneca,
may be compared with the conclusion of this Satire. "Congeratur in te
quidquid multi locupletes possederunt: Ultra privatum pecuniæ modum
fortuna te provehat, auro tegat, purpurâ vestiat, ... majora cupere
ab his disces. Naturalia desideria finita sunt: ex falsâ opinione
nascentia ubi desinant non habent. Nullus enim terminus falso est."
Sen., Ep. xvi., 7, 8; xxxix., 5; ii., 5.
[1546] _Chrysippi._ This refers to the σωρειτικὴ ἀπορία of the Stoics,
of which Chrysippus, the disciple of Zeno or Cleanthes, was said to
have been the inventor. The Sorites consisted of an indefinite number
of syllogisms, according to Chrysippus; to attempt to limit which,
or to bound the insatiable desires of the miser, would be equally
impossible. It takes its name from σῶρος, acerbus, "a heap:" "he that
could assign this limit, could also affirm with precision how many
grains of corn just make a _heap_; so that were but one grain taken
away, the remainder would be _no heap_." Cf. Cic., Ac. Qu., II.,
xxviii. Diog. Laert., VII., vii. Hor., i., Ep. ii., 4. Juv., ii., 5;
xiii., 184. Of the seven hundred and fifty books said to have been
written by Chrysippus, and enumerated by Diogenes Laertius, not one
fragment remains. His logic was so highly thought of, that it was
said "that, had the gods used logic, they would have used that of
Chrysippus."
SULPICIA.
INTRODUCTION.
The occasion of the following Satire is generally known as "the
expulsion of the philosophers from Rome by Domitian." As the same thing
took place under Vespasian also, it becomes worth while to inquire who
are the persons intended to be included under this designation; and in
what manner the fears of the two emperors could be so worked upon as
to pass a sweeping sentence of banishment against persons apparently
so helpless and so little formidable as the peaceful cultivators
of philosophy. It seems not improbable then that the fears both of
Vespasian and Domitian were of a _personal_ as well as of a political
nature. We find that in both cases the "Mathematici" are coupled
with the "Philosophi." Now these persons were no more nor less than
pretenders to the science of judicial astrology «cf. Juv., iii., 43;
vi., 562; xiv., 248; Suet., Cal., 57; Tit., 9; Otho, 4; Gell., i.,
9»; and to what an extent those who were believed to possess this
knowledge were dreaded in those days of gross superstition, may be
easily inferred by merely looking into Juvenal's sixth and Persius'
fifth Satire. Besides the baleful effects of incantations, which were
sources of terror even in Horace's days, the mere possession by another
of the nativity of a person whose death might be an object of desire to
the bearer, was supposed, at the time of which we are now speaking, to
be a sufficient ground of serious alarm. We are not surprised therefore
to find it recorded as an instance of great generosity on the part of
Vespasian, that on one occasion he pardoned one Metius Pomposianus,
although he was informed that he had in his possession a "Genesis
Imperatoria;" or that the possession of a similar document with regard
to Domitian cost the owner his life. (Cf. Suet., Vesp., 14; Domit.,
10.) With regard to the philosophers, it appears that the followers
of the Stoic school were those against whom the edict was especially
directed. Not only did the tenets of this school inculcate that
independence of thought and manners most directly at variance with the