The Satires of Juvenal, Persius, Sulpicia, and Lucilius
into helpless ruin. (Fr. inc. 50.) Nor are the evils of luxury
less baleful. (Fr. 19-21.)
All this discussion, in the previous conference, had been nugatory
on account of the absence of Jupiter, and the divisions that had
arisen among the gods themselves. In this debate Neptune had
taken a very considerable part, since we hear that, discussing
some very abstruse and difficult point, he said it could not be
cleared up, even though Orcus were to permit Carneades himself
to revisit earth. (Fr. 8.) Apollo also was probably one of the
speakers, and expressed a particular dislike to his cognomen of
"the Beautiful." (Fr. inc. 145.) Perhaps all the gods but Jove
(Fr. 3) had been present; but as they could not agree, the whole
matter was referred to Jupiter; who, expressing his vexation that
he was not present at the first meeting, blames some and praises
others. (Fr. 55, inc.)
The cause of his absence was probably the same as that described
(Iliad, xiv., 307-327) by Homer: which passage Lucilius probably
meant to ridicule. (Fr. 15.) The result of the deliberation is a
determination on the part of the gods that the only way to save
the Roman state is by requiring the expiatory sacrifice of the
most flagitious and impious among the citizens: and the three
fixed upon are P. Cornelius Lentulus Lupus, L. Papirius Carbo,
and C. Hostilius Tubulus.
(To this book may perhaps also be referred Fr. inc. 2, 46, 61, 63.)
This book must have been published subsequently to the death of
Carneades, which took place the same year as that of Scipio, B.C.
129, twenty-six years after his embassy to Rome.
1 ... held counsel about the affairs of men--
2 I could have wished, could it so have happened.... I could have
wished, at that council of yours before which you mention, I
could have wished, Celestials, to have been present at your
previous council!
3 ... that there is none of us, but without exception is styled
"Best Father of Gods," as Father Neptune, Liber, Saturn, Father
Mars, Janus, Father Quirinus.[1600]
4 Had Tubulus, Lucius, Lupus, or Carbo, that son of Neptune,
believed that there were gods, would he have been so perjured
and impious?[1601]
5 ... in what way it might be possible to preserve longer the
people and city of Rome.
6 ... though many months and days ... yet wicked men would not
admire this age and time.
7 When he had spoken these words he paused--
8 Not even though Orcus should send back Carneades
himself....[1602]
9 ... made ædile by a Satura; who from law may loose....[1603]
10 ... against whom, should the whole people conspire, they would
be scarce a match for him--
11 ... they might, however, discharge their duty and defend the
walls.
12 ... might put it off, if not longer, at least to this one
lustrum.[1604]
13 I will bring them to supper; and first of all will give each
of them, as they arrive, the bellies of thunny and heads of
acharne.[1605]
14 ...
15 ... so that I could compare «the embraces» of Leda daughter of
Thestius, and the spouse of Ixion.[1606]
16 These things we have sent, written to thee, Lucius Ælius![1607]
17 ... to creep on, as an evil gangrene, or ulcer, might.
18 A countenance too, like.... death, jaundice, poison.
19 ... to hate the infamous, vile, and disgraceful cook's
shop.[1608]
20 prætextæ and tunics, and all that foul handiwork of the
Lydians.[1609]
21 Velvets and double piles, soft with their thick naps.[1610]
22 ... that, like an angry cur, speaks plainer than a man.
23 ... the common herd stupidly look for a knot in a bulrush.[1611]
24 ... and legions serve for pay.
25 ... quote prodigies, elephants.
26 ... ladles and ewers.[1612]
27 Vulture.[1613]
28 ... like a fool, you came to dance among the Pathics.
29 Oh the cares of men! Oh how much vanity is there in human
affairs![1614]
FOOTNOTES:
[1599] Book I. Some of the commentators suppose that the thirty Satires
of Lucilius were divided into two books, and that the first of these
_books_, and not the first Satire only, was dedicated to Ælius Stilo.
[1600] _Fr._ 3. "Every god that is worshiped by man must needs in all
solemn rites and invocations be styled 'Father;' not only for honor's,
but also for reason's sake. Since he is both more ancient than man,
and provides man with life and health and food, as a father doth."
Lactant., Inst. Div., iv., 3.
[1601] _Tubulus._ C. Hostilius Tubulus was elected prætor B.C. 210
(Liv., xxvii., 6), and was prætor peregrinus next year. (Cf. Fr. inc.
97.) He became infamous from his openly receiving bribes, so that the
next year, on the motion of the tribune P. Scævola, he was impeached
by Cnæus Servilius Cæpio the consul, B.C. 203. P. Cornelius Lentulus
_Lupus_ first appears as one of the persons sent to Rome, to announce
the victory over Perseus. (Liv., xliv., 45.) He afterward served the
offices of curule ædile (Fr. 9), and censor (Fr. 12). He was consul
B.C. 156. Carbo is L. Papirius Carbo, the friend of C. Gracchus. We
learn from Aulus Gellius (xv., 21), that "Son of Neptune" was applied
to men of the fiercest and most blood-thirsty dispositions, who seemed
to have so little _humanity_ about them, that they might have been
sprung from the _sea_.
[1602] _Carneades_ (cf. Diog. Laert., IV., ix.) of Cyrene, disciple
of Chrysippus, and founder of the new Academy, was celebrated for his
great acuteness of intellect, which he displayed to great advantage
when he came as embassador from Athens to Rome, B.C. 155.
[1603] _Ædilem_ refers to Lupus, who was made curule ædile with L.
Valerius Flaccus, A.U.C. 591 (B.C. 163), and exhibited the Ludi
Megalenses the year Terence's Heauton Timorumenos was produced. A law
was called Satura which contained several enactments under one bill;
hence, according to Diomedes, Satire derives its name from the variety
of its subjects.
A person was said to be _legibus solutus_ who was freed from the
obligation of any _one_ law; afterward the emperors were so styled,
as being above _all_ laws; but at first there was some reservation,
as we find Augustus praying to be freed from the obligation of the
Voconian law. (In the year B.C. 199, C. Valerius Flaccus was created
curule ædile together with C. Cornelius Cethegus. Being flamen dialis,
and therefore not allowed to take an oath, he prayed, "ut legibus
solveretur." The consuls, by a decree of the senate, got the tribunes
to obtain a plebis-scitum, that his brother Lucius, the prætor elect,
might be allowed to take the oath for him. Liv., xxxi., 50.)
[1604] Fr. 12 refers also to Lupus, for he was censor A.U.C. 607, with
L. Marcius Censorinus.
[1605] _Priva._ Cf. Liv., xxx., 43, "Ut privos lapides silices,
privasque verbenas secum ferrent." The acharne was a fish known to the
Greeks, the best being caught off Ænos in Thrace. Athenæus mentions the
ἄχαρνος together with θύννου κεφάλαιον, "thunny-heads" (vii., p. 620,
D), in a passage from the Cyclopes of Callias. Ennius also (ap. Apul.
Apolog.) has "calvaria pinguia acharnæ."
[1606] Mercer suggests "coitum" as the missing word, which Gerlach
adopts. Cf. Hom., Il., xiv., 317, οὐδ' ὁπότ' ἠρασάμην Ἰξιονίης ἀλόχοιο.
The lady's name was Dia, daughter of Deioneus. _Contendere_, "to
compare." Cf. vii., Fr. 6.
[1607] L. Ælius Stilo (vid. arg.) was a Roman knight, a native of
Lanuvium, and was called Stilo, "quod orationes nobilissimo cuique
scribere solebat." He had also the nickname of Præconinus, because
his father had exercised the office of præco. He was a distinguished
grammarian, and a friend of the learned and great; and, it is said,
accompanied Q. Metellus Numidicus into banishment. Vid. Suet., de Gram.
Ill., II., iii. Ernest Clav. Cic.
[1608] Cf. Juv., viii., 172, "Mitte sed in magnâ legatum quære popina;"
and 1. 158; xi., 81, "Qui meminit calidæ sapiat quid vulva popinæ."
[1609] _Prætextæ._ Cf. Pers., v., 30, "custos purpura."
[1610] _Psilœ_, from ψιλὸς, "rasus," with its nap shorn like our modern
velvet (villus, hence vélours). _Amphitapæ_, from ἀμφί and τάπης, a
thick brocaded dress, like a rich carpet, soft on both sides.
[1611] _Nodum in scirpo facere_, or _quærere_, "to make a difficulty
where there is none." Cf. Ter., And., v., 4, 38. Enn. ap. Fest.,
"Quæritur in scirpo soliti quod dicere nodus." Plaut., Men., II., i.,
22. The modern Italian is equally expressive, "_Cercar l'osso nel
fico_."
[1612] ἀρύταινα, from ἀρύτω, "any vessel for drawing up water."
[1613] _Vulturius_ is the _older_ Latin form for _vultur_, which
is found in the days of Virgil. (In Plaut., Curc., II., iii., 77,
"Vulturios quatuor" is a bad throw at dice, like the "damnosa Canicula"
of Persius, iii., 49, and is said to be called so for the same reason,
because vultures devour, i. e., ruin men.)
[1614] Cf. Pers., i., 1.
BOOK II.
ARGUMENT.
On the subject of this book the commentators differ: some supposing
that it was directed against luxury and effeminacy. But the
avarice and licentiousness of the times form a considerable
portion of the writings of Lucilius, and there are very few of
his Satires in which these are not incidentally glanced at.
From the sixth Fragment, which after all is a very obscure one,
Ellendt supposed it was written to expose Æmilius Scaurus. Corpet
maintains that it contained the description of a sanguinary
brawl, in which many persons were engaged; that one person
was taken up for dead, his house purified (Fr. 22), and all
preparations made for his funeral, when some one saw another
lying in his bier. Fr. 1. It is quite clear that Fr. 14, 24,
and perhaps 2, refer to luxury; if by Manlius, in the second
Fragment, is intended Cn. Manlius Vulso. (Vid. note.)
1 ... whom, when Hortensius and Posthumius had seen, the rest,
too, saw that he was not on his bier, and that another was
lying there.
2 Hostilius ... against the plague and ruin which that halting
Manlius, too, «introduced among» us.[1615]
3 ... which were all removed in two hours, when the sun set, and
was enveloped in darkness.[1616]
4 ... that he, having been ill-treated, attacked the other's
jaws, and beat the breath out of him.
5 Now for the name: next I will tell you what I have got out of
the witnesses, by questioning.[1617]
6 ... which I charm and wrest and elicit from Æmilius.[1618]
7 I say not. Even though he conquer, let him go like a vagabond
into exile, and roam an outlaw.[1619]
8 The prætor is now your friend; but if Gentilis die this year,
he will be mine--[1620]
9 ... if he has left on his posteriors the mark of a thick and
large-headed snake.[1621]
10 Of a rough-actioned, sorry, slow-paced jade--[1622]
11 ... that unclean, shameless, plundering fellow.[1623]
12 Sleeved tunics of gold tissue, scarfs, drawers, turbans.[1624]
13 What say you? Why was it done? What is that guess of yours?
14 ... who may now ruin you, Nomentanus, you rascal, in every
thing else!
15 So surrounded was I with all the cakes.[1625]
16 ... to penetrate the hairy purse.[1626]
17 ... for a man scarce alive and a mere shadow.[1627]
18 ... as skilled in law.
19 ... he would lead these herds--
20 ... for what need has he of the amulet and image attached to
him, in order to devour fat bacon and make rich dishes by
stealth.[1628]
21 ... her that shows light by night.[1629]