The Satires of Juvenal, Persius, Sulpicia, and Lucilius
mark these distances. Nonius explains _commodum_ by _integrum_, totum,
"complete."
[1633] Gronovius supposes the harbor intended to be the Portus
Alburnus. Varges says it is Pompeii, which was a little distance from
the sea. Gerlach takes it to be Salernum itself: "and there you are at
Salernum!"
[1634] This high-sounding line is supposed to be a parody of some of
the "sesquipedalia verba" of Ennius. The place meant is Puteoli, now
Pozzuoli, so called either from the mephitic smell of the water, or
from the quantity of wells there. It became the great emporium of
commerce, as Delos had been before, and hence was called Delos Minor.
It was a Greek colony, and was called Dicæarcheia, from the strict
justice with which its government was administered, or from the name of
its founder. Plin., III., v., 9. Stat. Sylv., II., ii., 96, 110. Sil.
Ital., viii., 534; xiii., 385.
[1635] _Longe_ pro _logitudine_. Cf. Hor., i., Sat. v., 25, "_Millia_
tum pransi _tria repimus_." What Horace says of his slow journey to
Terracina, Lucilius had said of his tedious ascent to Setia. See next
Fr.
[1636] _Susque deque_ is properly applied to a thing "about which you
are so indifferent that you do not care whether it is _up or down_."
Cic., Att., xiv., 6, "de Octavio susque deque." Compare the Greek
ἀδιαφορεῖ. A. Gell., xvi., 9. So "susque deque ferre," i. e., æquo
animo, "to bear patiently."
_Illud opus._ Virg., Æn., vi., 129, "Hoc opus hic labor est," _Setia_,
now Sezza, near the Pomptine marshes, on the Campanian hills. From its
high position, Martial gives it the epithet "pendula:" xiii., Ep. 112,
"Pendula Pomptinos quæ spectat Setia campos." The country round was a
famous wine district. Cf. Plin., iii., 5, 5; xiv., 6, 8. Mart., vi.,
86. Juv., v., 34; x., 27; xiii., 213. αἰγίλιποι. The Schol. on Hom.,
Il., ix., 15, explains this as "a cliff so high that even goats forsake
it." Cf., Æsch., Supp., 794. But it more probably comes from λίπτομαι,
than λείπομαι, therefore "eagerly sought by goats." Cf. Mart., xiii.,
Ep. 99.
[1637] _Labosum_ for laboriosum.
[1638] _Quartarius_, "quia partem _quartam_ questûs capiebant." "The
mule-drivers were so called, because they received one fourth of the
hire." Of course, as the animals were not their own, they were not very
careful how they drove them; and hence might run foul of the cippi,
which were either tomb-stones by the side of the road, or stones set
to mark the boundaries of land. Cf. Juv., Sat. i., 171. Pers., i., 37.
Hor., i., Sat. viii., 12.
[1639] Hor., i., Sat. vi., 105, "Mantica cui lumbos onere ulceret atque
eques armos." _Canterius_ (more correctly Cantherius), "a gelding."
[1640] The Promontory of Minerva, now P. di Campanella, is the
southernmost extremity of the Bay of Naples, a short distance from the
island of Capri.
[1641] The _Portus Alburnus_ is the mouth of the river Silarus (now
Selo), which separates Lucania from the district of the Picentini.
The Mons Alburnus (now Alburno), from which it takes its name, stands
near the junction of the Tanager (now Negro) with the Silarus. Virgil
mentions this district as abounding in the gad-fly. Georg., iii., 146.
[1642] _Palinurum_ (still called Capo Palinuro) is in Lucania, not far
from the town of Velia, at the north of the Laus sinus, or Golfo di
Policastra.
[1643] _Messana_, the ancient Zancle, still gives its name to the
strait between it and Rhegium. The geological fact from which the
latter derives its name (Rhegium, or ῥήγνυμι), is described, Virg.,
Æn., iii., 414, _seq._ _Lipara_ (now Lipari) is the principal of the
Æolian or Vulcanian Islands.
_Phacelitis_, from φάκελος, "a fagot." When Orestes made his escape
with Pylades and Iphigenia from Taurica, he carried away with him the
image of Artemis, inclosed for the purpose of concealment in a bundle
of sticks. Hence her name, Phacelitis, or, according to the Latin form,
Facelitis. This image he carried, according to one legend, to Aricia,
near which was the grove of Diana Nemorensis; or, as others say, to
Syracuse, where he built a temple and established her Cultus. Cf. Sil.
Ital., xiv., 260.
[1644] _Carchesium_ is, according to some, "the upper part of the
Levantine sail," or "the lower part of the mast." Others explain it as
"the cross-trees or _tops_ of the mast, to which the sailors ascended
to look out." Or it is "the hollow bowl-shaped top or truck of the
mast, through which the halyards work." Hence its use as applied to a
drinking-cup. (Virg., Georg., iv., 380. Athen., xi., c. 49. Müller's
Archæol. of Art, § 299.) Catull., Pel. et Thet., 236. Liv., Andron. Fr.
incert, 1, "Florem antlabant Liberi ex carchesiis."
[1645] _Degrumor._ Properly, "to mark out two lines crossing each
other exactly at right angles." There was a point in the camp near the
Prætorium, called Groma, at which four lines converged, which divided
the camp into four equal portions.
[1646] Hor., i, Epist. ii, 29.
[1647] _Purpura_ is properly the shell-fish from which the famous dye
came. (_Ostrum_, cognate with _ostrea_.) The _Peloris_ was a common
kind of shell-fish, caught probably off Cape Pelorum, whence its name.
Cf. Plin., xxxii, 9, 31. Hor., ii., Sat. iv., 32, "Muria Baiano melior
Lucrina peloris." Mart., vi., Ep. xi., 5, "Tu Lucrina voras: me pascit
aquosa Peloris." x., Ep. xxxvii., 9.
[1648] _Cernuus_ is applied to one "who falls on his face." "In eam
partem quâ _cernimus_." Virg., Æn., x., 894.
[1649] _Brocchus ovat Lanius._ The reading of Junius (cf. Virg.,
Æn., x., 500), probably part of the description of the street brawl.
_Brocchus_ is applied to one "with projecting mouth and teeth, like the
jowl of a bull-dog."
[1650] _Abundans._ Ter., Phorm., I., iii., 11, "Amore abundas Antipho."
This line either refers to an actual exhibition of gladiators, in
Campania perhaps, or Lucilius applies the language of the arena to the
street-fight. The Scholiast on Juvenal (iii., 158, ed. Jahn) says,
the helmets of the gladiators were adorned with peacocks' _feathers_;
others think the upper part of the _helmet_ was so called, which the
Samnis wore, and hence his opponent was denominated Pinnirapus.
[1651] _Depôstus_, "despaired of." So Virg., Æn., xii., 395, "Ille ut
depositi proferret fata parentis."
[1652] _Strictura_ is either "the mass of iron, generally in a glowing
state, ready to be forged," or "the sparks that fly from the iron
while it is being hammered." The line probably refers to Lipara, or
one of the Vulcanian isles, where the Cyclops had their workshop. (Cf.
Fr. 13.) Virgil uses the word also in describing the Cyclops, viii.,
420, "Striduntque cavernis _Stricturæ_ Chalybum et fornacibus ignis
anhelat." Pers., ii., 66, "_Stringere_ venas _ferventis massæ_."
[1653] _Fundus_ seems to be here used almost like _funditus_; or it may
mean "our firm solid basis."
[1654] _Ad incita_, from "in" and "cieo." A metaphor from chess,
or some game resembling it (latrunculi or calculi), when one party
has lost so many men that he has none more to move; or only in such
a position that by the laws of the game they _can not be moved_
(checkmated). The usual phrase is _ad incitas_. Lucilius is the only
writer who uses the form _ad incita_.
[1655] Syrus was a common name for a slave, from his country, as Davus,
"the Dacian," Geta, "the Goth," etc. Cf. Juv., viii., 159, "Obvius
assiduo Syrophœnix udus amomo currit Idumeæ Syrophœnix incola portæ."
BOOK IV.
ARGUMENT.
The Scholiast, on the third Satire of Persius, tells us that the
subject of that Satire, which is directed against the luxury and
vices of the rich, was borrowed from the fourth book of Lucilius.
In all probability the _form_ of the Satire is not the same; as
the dialogue between the severe censor and his pupils approaches
too near the Greek form, to have suited the taste of Lucilius.
No doubt there is a much closer imitation in the second Satire
of Horace's second book, which also was confessedly composed
upon this model; where the plain and rustic simplicity of Ofella
takes the place of the grave and sententious philosophy of the
more dignified Lælius. The first six Fragments are evidently to
be referred to Lælius; expatiating on the praises of frugality,
and exhibiting, by examples, the hollowness of all the pleasures
of luxury and gluttony. We have then allusions to a combat of
gladiators; and several references to women, and to the impetuous
and restless anxieties attendant upon the passion of love; which
are inconsistent with the character of Lælius, and were therefore
put into the mouth of some other speaker.
To the first part of the Satire we may probably refer the Fragments
192, 193, 132, 133, incert.
1 * * * *
At which that wise Lælius used to give vent to railings;
addressing the Epicures of our order--[1656]
2 "Oh thou glutton, Publius Gallonius! a miserable man thou art!"
he says. "Thou hast never in all thy life supped well, though
all thou hast thou squanderest on that lobster and gigantic
sturgeon!"[1657]
3 If you ask me, we enjoy food well cooked, and seasoned and
pleasing conversation--[1658]
4 ... because you prefer sumptuous living, and dainties to
wholesome food--
5 ... to devise besides what each wished to be brought to him;
one was attracted by sow's udder, and a dish of fatlings,
another by a Tiber pike caught between the two bridges--[1659]
6 ... let there be wine poured from a full.... with the hollow of
the hand for a siphon; from which the snow has abated naught,
or the wine-strainer robbed--[1660]
7 ... there was Æserninus, a Samnite, at the games exhibited by
the Flacci, a filthy fellow, worthy of such a life, and such
a station. He is matched with Pacideianus, who was by far the
very best gladiator since the world began--[1661]
8 I will kill him, and conquer, said he, if you ask that: But so
I think it will be; I will smite him on the face before I plant
my sword in the stomach and lungs of Furius. I hate the man!
I fight in a rage! nor is there any farther delay than till
some one fits a sword to my right hand; with such passion, and
hatred of the man, am I transported with anger.[1662]
9 ... although he himself was a good Samnite in the games, and
with the wooden swords, rough enough for any one....[1663]
10 But if no woman can be of so hardy a body, yet she may remain
juicy, with soft arms, and the open hand may rest on her breast
full of milk--[1664]
11 † Tisiphone devoured unguent from his lungs and fat; Erinnys
most sacred of Eumenides bore off what was extracted.[1665]
12 ... pursues him, not expecting, leaps upon his head, and having
encircled him, champs him all up and devours him--[1666]
13 ... remains fixed in the hinder part with vertebræ and joints,
as with us the ankle and knee.
14 These carry before them huge fishes, for a present, thirty in
number--
15 ... that you might not be able to shake out the door-peg with
your hand, and even by yourself force out the bar with a
wedge.[1667]
16 He is longer than a crane--
17 To scour the fields ... the whelps and young of wild beasts.
18 ... and when he is such a handsome man, and a youth worthy of
you.
19 ... he places under this, he adds four props with nails.[1668]
20 ... who eats himself, devours me--
21 I was drunk and bloated.
FOOTNOTES:
[1656] _Lapathus_ is the "sorrel," which, it appears, the Romans
cultivated in their gardens with great care. It was called, in its wild