The Satires of Juvenal, Persius, Sulpicia, and Lucilius
whether the Roman stock would better be upheld[1583] by prosperity
or adversity. By adversity, doubtless; for when the love of country
urges them to defend[1584] themselves by arms, and their wife held
prisoner together with their household gods, they combine[1585] just
like wasps (a bristling band, with weapons all unsheathed along their
yellow bodies), when their home and citadel is assailed. But when
care-dispelling peace has returned, forgetful of labor, commons and
fathers together lie buried in lethargic sleep. A long-protracted and
destructive peace[1586] has therefore been the ruin of the sons of
Romulus.[1587]
Thus our tale comes to a close. Henceforth, kind Muse, without whom
life is no pleasure to me, I pray thee warn them that, like the Lydian
of yore, when Smyrna fell,[1588] so now also they may be ready to
emigrate; or else, in line, whatever thou wishest. This only I beseech
thee, goddess! Present not in a pleasing light to Calenus[1589] the
walls of Rome and the Sabines.
Thus much I spake. Then the goddess deigns to reply in few words, and
begins:
"Lay aside thy just fears, my votary. See, the extremity of hate is
menacing him, and by our mouth shall he perish! For we haunt the laurel
groves of Numa,[1590] and the self-same springs, and, with Egeria
for our companion,[1591] deride all vain essays. Live on! Farewell!
Its destined fame awaits the grief that does thee honor. Such is the
promise of the Muses' choir, and of Apollo[1592] that presides over
Rome."
FOOTNOTES:
[1553] _Musa._ Although about to indite a Satire, Sulpicia declares
her intention of not imitating the Hendecasyllabics of Phalæcus, the
Iambics of Archilochus, or the Scazontics of Hipponax, but of writing
in the good old Heroic metre. She therefore invokes the aid of Calliope.
[1554] _Frequentas._ "Celebrare" is often used in the sense of
"crowding in large numbers to a place;" so here, conversely,
frequentare is used in the sense of "frequently celebrating."
[1555] _Detexere_ is properly to "finish off one's weaving." Vid. Hyg.,
Fab., 126, "Cum telam detexuero nubam." Plaut., Ps. I., iv., 7, "Neque
ad detexundam telam certos terminos habes."
[1556] _Penetrale_ is applied to the inmost and most sacred recesses;
hence the "Penetrales Dii." Cic., Nat. D., ii., 27. Senec., Œdip., 265.
So "penetrale sacrificium."--_Retractans_, in the sense of going over
again with a view to corrections and additions. So Plin., v. Ep., 8,
"Egi graves causas; has destino retractare." Senec., Ep., 46, "De libro
tuo plura scribam cum illum retractavero."
[1557] _Phalæco._ Phalæcus is said by Diomedes (iii., 509) and
Terentianus (p. 2440) to have been the inventor of the Hendecasyllabic
metre, which consists of five feet; the first a Spondee or Iamb.,
the second a Dactyl, and the three last Trochees. Many of Catullus's
pieces are in this metre. E. g. "Lugete O Veneres, Cupidinesque." Vid.
Hermann, Elem. Doctr. Metr., p. 264.
[1558] _Iambo._ The Iambic metre was peculiarly adapted to Satire.
Hence its probable etymology from ἰάπτω, jacio; and hence the epithet
_criminosi_ applied to these verses by Horace (i., Od. xvi., 2),
and _truces_ by Catullus (xxxvi., 5). Archilochus, the Parian, who
flourished in the eighth century B.C. (Cic., Tusc. Q., i., 1; Bähr, ad
Herod., i., 12), is said to have been the inventor of the metre, and to
have employed it against Lycambes, who had promised him his daughter
Neobule, but afterward retracted. Cf. Hor., A. P., 79, "Archilochum
proprio rabies armavit Iambo." i., Ep. xix., 23, "Parios ego primus
Iambos Ostendi Latio numeros animosque secutus Archilochi non res et
agentia verba Lycamben." The allusion in the next line is to Hipponax,
who flourished cir. B.C. 540; Ol. lx. He was a native of Ephesus; but
being expelled from his native country by the tyrant Athenagoras,
he settled at Clazomenæ, now the Isle of St. John. The common story
is, that he was so hideously ugly, that the sculptors Bupalus and
Athenis caricatured him. And to avenge this insult, Hipponax altered
the Iambic of Archilochus into a more bitter form by making the last
foot a spondee, which gave the verse a kind of halting rhythm, and was
hence called Scazontic, from σκάζω· or Choliambic, from χῶλος, "lame."
Diomed., iii., 503. «A specimen may be seen in Martial's bitter epigram
against Cato. i., Ep. I, "Cur in Theatrum Cato severe venisti?"» In
this metre he so bitterly satirized them that they hanged themselves,
as Lycambes had done, in consequence of the ridicule of Archilochus.
Hence Horace, vi., Epod. 13, "Qualis Lycambæ spretus infido gener Aut
acer hostis Bupalo." Pliny (H. N., xxxvi., 5) treats the whole story as
mythical. Cf. Mart., i., Ep. 97, for some good specimens, and Catull.,
xxxix. Another form of Choliambic verse is the substitution of an
Antibacchius for the final Iamb.: e. g., "Remitte pallium mihi quod
involasti." Catull., xxv. Two of Hipponax's verses may be seen, Strabo,
lib. xiv., c. 1.
[1559] _Cætera._ From the high compliment paid to her chastity and
poetical powers by Martial, it is probable that Sulpicia had composed
many poems before the present Satire. From the metre Martial chooses
for his complimentary effusion, and from the testimony of the old
Scholiast, it is probable these verses were in Hendecasyllabics; or at
all events in some lyrical metre. There was a poetess named Cornificia
in the time of Augustus, who wrote some good Epigrams. She was the
sister of Cornificius, the reputed enemy of Virgil (vid. Clinton, F.
H., in ann. B.C. 41), but as she was not a _lyrical_ poetess, Sulpicia
claims the palm to herself.
[1560] _Constanter._ The subject is too serious and solemn for lyrical
poetry; she therefore employs the dignity of Heroic verse. So Juvenal,
iv., 34, "Incipe Calliope--non est _cantandum_, res vera agitur,
narrate puellæ Pierides."
[1561] _Descende._ Cf. Hor., iii., Od. iv., 1, "_Descende_ cœlo et
_dic_ age tibiâ Regina longum _Calliope_ melos." Calliope, as the Muse
of _Heroic_ poetry, holds the chief place. (Cf. Auson., Id. xx., 7,
"Carmina Calliope libris Heroïca mandat.") Hence "Princeps." So Hesiod,
Theog., 79, Καλλιόπη θ' ἣ δὲ προφερεστάτη ἐστὶν ἁπασέων. Dionys., Hymn,
i., 6, Μουσῶν προκαθηγέτι τερπνῶν. The poets assign different provinces
to the different Muses. According to some, Calliope is the Muse of
Amatory poetry.
[1562] _Ille._ So Virg., Æn., ii., 779, "Aut _ille_ sinit regnator
Olympi."
[1563] _Patria Sæcula._ The age of Saturn, when men lived in primæval
barbarism, and all cultivation and refinement was unknown. Compare the
first twelve lines of Juvenal's sixth Satire. Ov., Met., i., 113.
[1564] _Procumbere._ Cf. ad Prol. Pers., i.
[1565] _Glandibus._ Ov., Met., i., 106, "Et quæ deciderant patula Jovis
arbore glandes." Lucret., v., 937, "Glandiferas inter curabant corpora
quercus." Virg., Georg., i., 8, 148. Ov., Am., III., x., 9. Juv., vi.,
10. Sulpicia had probably in view the passage in Horace, i., Sat. iii.,
99," Cum _prorepserunt primis_ animalia _terris, Mutum_ et turpe pecus
_glandem_ atque cubilia propter," etc.
[1566] _Exturbat._ A technical phrase, "eject." Cf. Cic. pro Rosc., 8,
"Nudum ejicit domo atque focis patriis, Diisque penatibus præcipitem
_exturbat_." Plaut., Trin., IV., iii., 77. Ov., Met., xv., 175. Tac.,
Ann., xi., 12.
[1567] _Remuli_: the other readings are Remi, and Romi. Cf. Juv., x.,
73, "Turba Remi." Alumnus is properly a "foundling." Cf. Plin., x.
Epist., 71, 72.
[1568] _Agitata._ As though the wars carried on within the peninsula of
Italy had served only to train the Romans in that military discipline
by which they were to subjugate the world. This universal dominion
having been attained, Rome rested from her labors, like the conqueror
left alone in his glory, in the Grecian games; and having no more
enemies against whom she could turn her arms, had sheathed her sword
and applied herself to the arts of Peace. This seems the most probable
interpretation. Dusa proposes to read Cætera _quæ_, for Cætera_que_,
and to place the line as a parenthesis after _socialibus armis_: but
with the sense given in the text, the substitution is unnecessary.
He supposes also Victor to apply to a _horse_ that has grown old in
the contests of the circus; the allusion would surely be more simple
to a conqueror in the Pentathlon. The reading _exiit_ is followed in
preference to _exilit_ or _exigit_.
[1569] _Graia inventa._ So Livy dates the first introduction of a
fondness for the products of Greek art from the taking of Syracuse by
Marcellus: lib. xxv., 48, "Inde primum initium mirandi Græcarum artium
opera." Cf. xxxiv., 4. Hor., ii., Epist. i., 156, "Græcia capta ferum
victorem cepit et artes intulit agresti Latio."
[1570] _Molli ratione._ Virg., Æn., vi., 852, "Hæ tibi erunt artes:
pacisque imponere morem, Parcere subjectis et debellare superbos."
[1571] _Aut frustra._ An anacoluthon, as the old Scholiast remarks;
stabat evidently referring to Roma. Cf. 1. 50, "An magis adversis
_staret_."
[1572] _Diespiter_, i. e., Diei pater. Macrob., Sat., i., 15. Hor.,
iii., Od. ii., 29.
[1573] _Imperium._ Virg., Æn., i., 279. It is in Jupiter's speech to
_Venus_, not to Juno, that the line occurs.
[1574] _Res Romanas imperat inter._ A line untranslatable as it
stands. Various remedies have been proposed--rex for res, temperat for
imperat, impar for inter, Romanos for Romanas. Rex being, like dominus,
generally used in a _bad_ sense by the Romans, rex Romanos imperat
inter would imply the excessive oppression of Domitian's tyranny. Dusa
suggests _rex Romanis temperat inter_ (taking interrex as one word
divided by tmesis), and supposes Sulpicia meant to assert, that as his
reign was to be so briefly brought to a close, he could only be looked
upon in the light of an Interrex.
[1575] _Hominum._ As though the Greeks alone deserved the name of men,
and the praise of humanity and refinement.
[1576] _Galli._ Alluding to the old legend of Brennus casting his
sword into the scale, with the words "Væ victis!" in answer to the
remonstrance of the tribune Q. Sulpicius. Liv., v., 48, 9. "Ensibus"
is preferred to the old reading, "Lancibus." Capitolinus was properly
the agnomen of M. Manlius. Camillus is probably so called here from his
appointing the collegium to celebrate the Ludi Capitolini, in honor of
Jupiter for his preserving the Capitol. Vid. Liv., v., 50. May there
not be a bitter sarcasm in the epithet? It was only four years before
he expelled the philosophers, that Domitian instituted the Capitoline
games. Suet., Vit., 4. (Vid. Chronology.)
[1577] _Palare dicuntur._ Wernsdorf adopts this reading; but it
is perhaps the only instance of the _active_ form of palare: and
_dicuntur_ is very weak.
[1578] _Rhodio._ The old readings were "Rhoido," which is
unintelligible, and that of the old Scholiast, "Rudio," who refers it
to Ennius, born at Rudiæ in Calabria. (Cf. ad Pers., vi., 10.) The
_Rhodian_ is Panætius; he was sprung from distinguished ancestors, many
of whom had served the office of general. He studied under Crates,
Diogenes, and Antipater of Tarsus. The date of his birth and death are
unknown. He was probably introduced by Diogenes to Scipio, who sent for
him from Athens to accompany him in his embassy to Egypt, B.C. 143. His
famous treatise De Officiis was the groundwork of Cicero's book; who
says that he was in every way worthy of the intimate friendship with
which he was honored by Scipio and Lælius. Cic., de Fin., iv., 9; Or.,
i., 11; De Off., pass. Hor., i., Od. xxix., 14. The title of his book
is περὶ τοῦ καθήκοντος. He also wrote De Providentia, De Magistratibus.
[1579] _Bello secundo_, i. e., the Second Punic War (from B.C.
218-201), a period pre-eminently rich in great men. Not to mention