SATIRE XIII.

FOOTNOTES:[772]Natali.The birthday was sacred to the "Genius" to whom they offered wine, incense, and flowers: abstaining from "bloody" sacrifices, "ne die quâ ipsi lucem accepissent aliis demerent," Hor., ii., Ep. 144. "Floribus et vino Genium memorem brevis avi," Pers., ii., 3. "Funde merum Genio," Censorin., de D. N., 3. Virg., Ecl. iii., 76. Compare Hor., Od., IV., xi., where he celebrates the birthday of Mæcenas as "sanctior pœnenatali proprio." Cf. Dennis's Etruria, vol. ii., p. 65.[773]Cæspes.Hor., Od., III., viii., 3, "Positusque carbo in cæspite vivo." Tac., Ann., i. 18.[774]Niveam.A white victim was offered to the Dii Superi: a black one to the Inferi. Cf. Virg., Æn., iv., 60,"Junoniante omnes, Ipsa tenens dextrâ pateram pulcherrima DidoCandentisvaccæ media inter cornua fundit." Tibull., I., ii., 61, "Concidit ad magicos hostiapulladeos." Hor., i., Sat. viii., 27," Pullam divellere mordicus agnam."[775]Gorgone.Cf. Vir., Æn., viii., 435,seq.; ii., 616.[776]Extensum.It was esteemed a very bad omen if the victim did not go willingly to the sacrifice. It was always led, therefore, with a long slack rope.[777]Matris.Cf. Hor., iv., Od. ii., 54, "Me tener solvet vitulus, relicta matre."[778]Nascenti.Hor., iii., Od. xiii., 4, "Cui frons turgida cornibus Primis et Venerem, et prælia destinat.""He flies his mother's teat with playful scorn,And butts the oak-trees with his growing horn." Hodgson.[779]Hispulla.Cf. vi., 74, "Hispulla tragædo gaudet." (This was the name of the aunt of Pliny the Younger's wife, iv., Ep. 19; viii., 11.)"Huge as Hispulla: scarcely to be slainBut by the stoutest servant of the train." Badham.[780]Clitumnuswas a small river in Umbria flowing into the Tinia, now "Topino," near Mevania, now "Timia." The Tinia discharges itself into the Tiber near Perusia. Pliny (viii., Ep. 8) gives a beautiful description of its source, now called "La Vene," in a letter which is, as Gifford says, a model of elegance and taste. Its waters were supposed to give a milk-white color to the cattle who drank of them. Virg., Georg., ii., 146, "Hinc albi, Clitumne, greges, et maxima taurus victima." Propert., II., xix., 25, "Quà formosa suo Clitumnus flumina luco Integit et niveos abluit unda boves." Sil., iv., 547, "Clitumnus in arvis Candentes gelido perfundit flumine tauros." Claudian., vi., Cons. Hon., 506.[781]Ignis.Grangæus interprets this of the meteoric fires seen in the Mediterranean, which, when seen single, were supposed to be fatal. Plin., ii., 37, "Graves cum solitarii venerunt mergentesque navigia, et si in carinæ ima deciderint, exurentes." These fires, whendouble, were hailed as a happy omen, as the stars of Castor and Pollux. "Fratres Helenæ lucida sidera," Hor., I., Od. iii., 2; cf. xii., 27. The French call it "Le feu St. Elme," said to be a corruption of "Helena." The Italian sailors call them "St. Peter and St. Nicholas." But these only appear at thecloseof a storm. Cf. Hor., ii.,seq., and Blunt's Vestiges, p. 37.[782]Poetica tempestas."So loud the thunder, such the whirlwind's sweep,As when the poet lashes up the deep." Hodgson.[783]Pictores.So Hor., i., Od. v., 13, "Me tabulâ sacer votivâ paries indicat noida suspendisse potenti vestimenta maris Deo." It seems to have been the custom for persons in peril of shipwreck not only to vow pictures of their perilous condition to some deity in case they escaped, but also to have a painting of it made to carry about with them to excite commiseration as they begged. Cf. xiv., 302, "Naufragus assem dum rogat et pictâ se tempestate tuetur." Pers., i., 89, "Quum fractâ te in trabe pictum ex humero portes." VI., 32, "Largire inopi, ne pictus oberret cæruleâ in tabulâ." Hor., A. P., 20, "Fractis enatat exspes navibus, ære dato qui pingitur." Phæd., IV., xxi., 24. Some think thatthispicture wasafterwarddedicated, but this is an error.[784]Castora.Ov., Nux., 165, "Sic ubi detracta est a te tibi causa pericli Quod superest tutum, Pontice Castor, habes!" This story of the beaver is told Plin., viii., 30; xxxvii., 6, and is repeated by Silius, in a passage copied from Ovid and Juvenal. "Fluminei veluti deprensus gurgitis undis, Avulsâ parteinguinibus causâque pericli, Enatat intento prædæ fiber avius hoste," xv., 485. But it is an error. The sebaceous matter called castoreum (Pers., v., 135), is secreted by two glands near the root of the tail. (Vid. Martyn's Georgics, i., 59, "Virosaque Pontus Castorea," and Browne's Vulgar Errors, lib. iii., 4.) Pliny, viii., 3, tells a similar story of the elephant, "Circumventi a venantibus dentes impactos arbori frangunt,prædâque se redimunt."[785]Bæticus.The province of Bætica (Andalusia) takes its name from the Bætis, or "Guadalquivir," the waters of which were said to give a ruddy golden tinge to the fleeces of the sheep that drank it. Martial alludes to it repeatedly. "Non est lana mihi mendax, nec mutor aëno. Si placeant Tyriæ me mea tinxit ovis," xiv., Ep. 133. Cf. v., 37; viii., 28. "Vellera nativo pallent ubi flava metallo," ix., 62. "Aurea qui nitidis vellera tingis aquis," xii., 99."Away went garments of that innate stainThat wool imbibes on Guadalquiver's plain,From native herbs and babbling fountains nigh,To aid the powers of Andalusia's sky." Badham.[786]Urnæ.Vid. ad vi., 426. Pholus was one of the Centaurs. Virg., Georg., ii., 455. Cf. Stat., Thebaid., ii., 564,seq., "Qualis in adversos Lapithas erexit inanem Magnanimus cratera Pholus," etc.[787]Conjuge Fusci.Vid. ad ix., 117.[788]Bascaudas.The Celtic word "Basgawd" is said to be the root of the English word "basket." Vid. Latham's English language, p. 98. These were probably vessels surrounded with basket or rush work. Mart., xiv., Ep. 99. "Barbara de pictis veni bascauda Britannis; sed me jam mavolt dicere Roma suam."[789]Olynthi.Philip of Macedon bribed Lasthenes and Eurycrates to betray Olynthus to him. Pliny (xxxiii., 5) says he used to sleep with a gold cup under his pillow. Once, when told that the route to a castle he was going to attack was impracticable, he asked whether "an ass laden with gold could not possibly reach it." Plut., Apophth., ii., p. 178."A storeOf precious cups, high chased in golden ore;Cups that adorn'd the crafty Philip's state,And bought his entrance at th' Olynthian gate." Hodgson.[790]Digitis.Cf. xiv, 289, "Tabulâ distinguitur undâ." Ovid. Amor. ii. xi. 25, "Navita sollicitus qua ventos horret iniquos; Et prope tam letum quam prope cernit aquam.""Trust to a little plank 'twixt death and thee,And by four inches 'scape eternity." Hodgson.[791]Ventre-lagenæ."A gorbellied flagon." Shakspeare.[792]Secures."His biscuit and his bread the sailor bringsOn board: 'tis well. But hatchets are the things." Badh.[793]Staminis albi.The "white" or "black" threads of the Parcæ were supposed to symbolize the good or bad fortune of the mortal whose yarn Clotho was spinning. Mart. iv. Ep. 73, "Ultima volventes oraba pensa sorores, Ut traherent parva stamina pulla morâ." VI. Ep. 58, "Si mihi lanificæ ducunt non pulla sorores Stamina." Hor. ii. Od. iii. 16, "Sororum fila trium patiuntur atra."[794]Prælata Lavino.Virg. Æn. i. 267, seq. Liv. i. 1, 3. Tibull. II. v. 49.[795]Scrofa.Virg. Æn. iii. 390, "Littoreis ingens inventa sub ilicibus sus, Triginta capitum fœtus enixa jacebit, Alba solo recubans, albi circum ubera nati. Is locus urbis erit, requies ea certa laborum,"—and viii., 43.[796]Moles.This massive work was designed and begun by Julius Cæsar, executed by Claudius, and repaired by Trajan. It is said to have employed thirty thousand men for eleven years. Suetonius thus describes it (Claud., c. 20): "Portum Ostiæ exstruxit circumducto dextrâ sinistrâque brachis, et ad introitum profundo jam solo mole objectâ, quam quò stabilius fundaret, navem ante demersit, quâ magnus obeliscus, ex Ægypto fuerat advectus; congestisque pilis superposuit altissimam turrim in exemplum Alexandrini Phari, ut ad nocturnos ignes cursum navigia dirigerent." (Cf. vi., 83. The Pharos of Alexandria was built by Sostratus, and accounted one of the seven wonders of the world.)"Enter the moles, that running out so wideClasp in their giant arms the billowy tide,That leave afar diminishing the land,More wondrous than the works of nature's hand." Hodgson.[797]Vertice raso.It was the custom in storms at sea to vow the hair to some god, generally Neptune: and hence slaves, when manumitted, shaved their heads, "quod tempestatem servitutis videbantur effugere, ut naufragis liberati solent." Cf. Pers., iii., 106, "Hesterni capite inducto subiere Quirites." Hodgson has an excellent note on the "mystical attributes" of hair.[798]Linguis animisque faventes.Cic., de Div., i., 102, "Omnibus rebus agendis, Quod bonum, faustum, felix, fortunatumque esset, præfabantur: rebusque divinis, quæ publicè fierent, ut faverent linguis imperabant: inque feriis imperandis ut litibus et jurgiis se abstinerent." Cf. Hor., iii., Od. i., 2, "Favete linguis." Virg., Æn., v., 71, "Ore favete omnes." Hor., Od., III., xiv., 11; Tibull., II., ii., 2, "Quisquis ades linguâ, vir, mulierque fave." So εὐφημεῖν; cf. Eurip., Hec., 528,seq.[799]Sacro quod præstat; i. e., the sacrifices mentioned in the beginning of the Satire, viz., to Juno, Pallas, and Tarpeian Jove, and therefore more important than those to the Lares.[800]Placabo.Cf. Hor., i., Od. 36, 1. Orell.[801]Nostrum, i. e., his own Lar familiaris. Cf. ix., 137, "O Parvi nostrique Lares." For the worship of these Lares, Junones, and Genius, see Dennis's Etruria, vol. i., p. lv.[802]Erexit janua ramos.Cf. ad ix., 85.[803]Operatur festa.Perhaps read with Lipsius, "operitur festa," "in festive-guise is covered with." Virgil, however, uses "operatus" similarly. Georg., i., 339, "Sacra refer Cereri lætis operatus in herbis." Cf. ad ix., 117."All savors here of joy: luxuriant bayO'ershades my portal, while the taper's rayAnticipates the feast and chides the tardy day." Gifford.[804]Gallita.Tacitus (Hist., i., 73) speaks of a Gallita Crispilina, or, as some read, Calvia Crispinilla, as a "magistra libidinum Neronis," and as "potenspecuniâ et orbitate, quæ bonis malisque temporibus juxtà valent." Paccius Africanus is mentioned also Hist., iv., 41.[805]Tabellis.Cf. ad x., 55, "Propter quæ fas est genua incerare deorum."[806]Hecatomben.The hecatomb properly consisted of oxen, 100 being sacrificed simultaneously on 100 different altars. But sheep or other victims were also offered. The poor sometimes vowed an ὠῶν ἑκατόμβη. Emperors are said to have sacrificed 100 lions or eagles. Suetonius says, that above 160,000 victims were slaughtered in honor of Caligula's entering the city. Calig., c. 14.[807]Nostris ducibus.Curius Dentatus was the first to lead elephants in triumph. Metellus, after his victory over Asdrubal, exhibited two hundred and four. Plin., viii., 6. L. Scipio, father-in-law to Pompey, employed thirty in battle against Cæsar. The Romans first saw elephants in the Tarentine war, against Pyrrhus; and as they were first encountered in Lucania, they gave the elephant the name of "Bos Lucas." So Hannibal. See x., 158, "Gætula ducem portaret bellua luscum."[808]Ister Pacuvius.Cf. ii., 58.[809]Iphigenia.Cf. Æsch., Ag., 39, seq., and the exquisite lines in Lucretius, i., 85-102; but Juvenal seems to have had Ovid's lines in his head, Met., xii., 28,seq., "Postquam pietatem publica causa, Rexque patrem vicit, castumque datura cruorem Flentibus ante aram stetit Iphigenia ministris: Victa dea est, nubemque oculis objecit, et inter Officium turbamque sacri, vocesque precantum, Supposita fertur mutâsseMycenida cervâ."[810]Mille.στόλον Ἀργείων χιλιοναύτην. Æsch., Ag., 44.[811]Libitinam.Properly an epithet of Venus (the goddess who presides overdeathsas well as births), in whose temple all things belonging to funerals were sold. Cf. Plut., Qu. Rom., 23. Servius Tullius enacted that a sestertius should be deposited in the temple of Venus Libitina for every person that died, in order to ascertain the number of deaths. Dion. Halic., iv., 79. Cf. Liv., xl., 19; xli., 21. Suet., Ner., 39, "triginta funerum millia in rationem Libitinæ venerunt." Hor., iii., Od. xxx., 6; ii., Sat. vi., 19.[812]Nassais properly an "osier weel," κύρτη for catching fish. Plin., xxi., 18, 59.[813]Solo.Cf. i., 68, "Exiguis tabulis;" ii., 58, "Solo tabulas impleverit Hister Liberto;" vi., 601, "Impleret tabulas.""What are a thousand vessels to a will!Yes! every blank Pacuvius' name shall fill." Hodgson.[814]Nestora.Cf. Hom., Il., i., 250; Od., iii., 245. Mart., vi., Ep. lxx., 12, "Ætatem Priami Nestorisque." X., xxiv., 11. Cf. ad x., 246.[815]Rapuit Nero.Vid. Tac., Ann., xv., 42, Brotier's note. Suetonius (Nero, c. 32), after many instances of his rapacity, subjoins the following: "Nulli delegavit officium ut non adjiceret Scis quid mihi opus sit:" et "Hoc agamus ne quis quidquam habeat." "Ultimot emplis compluribus dona detraxit."[816]Nec amet."Nor ever be, nor ever find, a friend!" Dryden.

[772]Natali.The birthday was sacred to the "Genius" to whom they offered wine, incense, and flowers: abstaining from "bloody" sacrifices, "ne die quâ ipsi lucem accepissent aliis demerent," Hor., ii., Ep. 144. "Floribus et vino Genium memorem brevis avi," Pers., ii., 3. "Funde merum Genio," Censorin., de D. N., 3. Virg., Ecl. iii., 76. Compare Hor., Od., IV., xi., where he celebrates the birthday of Mæcenas as "sanctior pœnenatali proprio." Cf. Dennis's Etruria, vol. ii., p. 65.

[773]Cæspes.Hor., Od., III., viii., 3, "Positusque carbo in cæspite vivo." Tac., Ann., i. 18.

[774]Niveam.A white victim was offered to the Dii Superi: a black one to the Inferi. Cf. Virg., Æn., iv., 60,"Junoniante omnes, Ipsa tenens dextrâ pateram pulcherrima DidoCandentisvaccæ media inter cornua fundit." Tibull., I., ii., 61, "Concidit ad magicos hostiapulladeos." Hor., i., Sat. viii., 27," Pullam divellere mordicus agnam."

[775]Gorgone.Cf. Vir., Æn., viii., 435,seq.; ii., 616.

[776]Extensum.It was esteemed a very bad omen if the victim did not go willingly to the sacrifice. It was always led, therefore, with a long slack rope.

[777]Matris.Cf. Hor., iv., Od. ii., 54, "Me tener solvet vitulus, relicta matre."

[778]Nascenti.Hor., iii., Od. xiii., 4, "Cui frons turgida cornibus Primis et Venerem, et prælia destinat.""He flies his mother's teat with playful scorn,And butts the oak-trees with his growing horn." Hodgson.

[778]Nascenti.Hor., iii., Od. xiii., 4, "Cui frons turgida cornibus Primis et Venerem, et prælia destinat."

"He flies his mother's teat with playful scorn,And butts the oak-trees with his growing horn." Hodgson.

[779]Hispulla.Cf. vi., 74, "Hispulla tragædo gaudet." (This was the name of the aunt of Pliny the Younger's wife, iv., Ep. 19; viii., 11.)"Huge as Hispulla: scarcely to be slainBut by the stoutest servant of the train." Badham.

[779]Hispulla.Cf. vi., 74, "Hispulla tragædo gaudet." (This was the name of the aunt of Pliny the Younger's wife, iv., Ep. 19; viii., 11.)

"Huge as Hispulla: scarcely to be slainBut by the stoutest servant of the train." Badham.

[780]Clitumnuswas a small river in Umbria flowing into the Tinia, now "Topino," near Mevania, now "Timia." The Tinia discharges itself into the Tiber near Perusia. Pliny (viii., Ep. 8) gives a beautiful description of its source, now called "La Vene," in a letter which is, as Gifford says, a model of elegance and taste. Its waters were supposed to give a milk-white color to the cattle who drank of them. Virg., Georg., ii., 146, "Hinc albi, Clitumne, greges, et maxima taurus victima." Propert., II., xix., 25, "Quà formosa suo Clitumnus flumina luco Integit et niveos abluit unda boves." Sil., iv., 547, "Clitumnus in arvis Candentes gelido perfundit flumine tauros." Claudian., vi., Cons. Hon., 506.

[781]Ignis.Grangæus interprets this of the meteoric fires seen in the Mediterranean, which, when seen single, were supposed to be fatal. Plin., ii., 37, "Graves cum solitarii venerunt mergentesque navigia, et si in carinæ ima deciderint, exurentes." These fires, whendouble, were hailed as a happy omen, as the stars of Castor and Pollux. "Fratres Helenæ lucida sidera," Hor., I., Od. iii., 2; cf. xii., 27. The French call it "Le feu St. Elme," said to be a corruption of "Helena." The Italian sailors call them "St. Peter and St. Nicholas." But these only appear at thecloseof a storm. Cf. Hor., ii.,seq., and Blunt's Vestiges, p. 37.

[782]Poetica tempestas."So loud the thunder, such the whirlwind's sweep,As when the poet lashes up the deep." Hodgson.

[782]Poetica tempestas.

"So loud the thunder, such the whirlwind's sweep,As when the poet lashes up the deep." Hodgson.

[783]Pictores.So Hor., i., Od. v., 13, "Me tabulâ sacer votivâ paries indicat noida suspendisse potenti vestimenta maris Deo." It seems to have been the custom for persons in peril of shipwreck not only to vow pictures of their perilous condition to some deity in case they escaped, but also to have a painting of it made to carry about with them to excite commiseration as they begged. Cf. xiv., 302, "Naufragus assem dum rogat et pictâ se tempestate tuetur." Pers., i., 89, "Quum fractâ te in trabe pictum ex humero portes." VI., 32, "Largire inopi, ne pictus oberret cæruleâ in tabulâ." Hor., A. P., 20, "Fractis enatat exspes navibus, ære dato qui pingitur." Phæd., IV., xxi., 24. Some think thatthispicture wasafterwarddedicated, but this is an error.

[784]Castora.Ov., Nux., 165, "Sic ubi detracta est a te tibi causa pericli Quod superest tutum, Pontice Castor, habes!" This story of the beaver is told Plin., viii., 30; xxxvii., 6, and is repeated by Silius, in a passage copied from Ovid and Juvenal. "Fluminei veluti deprensus gurgitis undis, Avulsâ parteinguinibus causâque pericli, Enatat intento prædæ fiber avius hoste," xv., 485. But it is an error. The sebaceous matter called castoreum (Pers., v., 135), is secreted by two glands near the root of the tail. (Vid. Martyn's Georgics, i., 59, "Virosaque Pontus Castorea," and Browne's Vulgar Errors, lib. iii., 4.) Pliny, viii., 3, tells a similar story of the elephant, "Circumventi a venantibus dentes impactos arbori frangunt,prædâque se redimunt."

[785]Bæticus.The province of Bætica (Andalusia) takes its name from the Bætis, or "Guadalquivir," the waters of which were said to give a ruddy golden tinge to the fleeces of the sheep that drank it. Martial alludes to it repeatedly. "Non est lana mihi mendax, nec mutor aëno. Si placeant Tyriæ me mea tinxit ovis," xiv., Ep. 133. Cf. v., 37; viii., 28. "Vellera nativo pallent ubi flava metallo," ix., 62. "Aurea qui nitidis vellera tingis aquis," xii., 99."Away went garments of that innate stainThat wool imbibes on Guadalquiver's plain,From native herbs and babbling fountains nigh,To aid the powers of Andalusia's sky." Badham.

"Away went garments of that innate stainThat wool imbibes on Guadalquiver's plain,From native herbs and babbling fountains nigh,To aid the powers of Andalusia's sky." Badham.

[786]Urnæ.Vid. ad vi., 426. Pholus was one of the Centaurs. Virg., Georg., ii., 455. Cf. Stat., Thebaid., ii., 564,seq., "Qualis in adversos Lapithas erexit inanem Magnanimus cratera Pholus," etc.

[787]Conjuge Fusci.Vid. ad ix., 117.

[788]Bascaudas.The Celtic word "Basgawd" is said to be the root of the English word "basket." Vid. Latham's English language, p. 98. These were probably vessels surrounded with basket or rush work. Mart., xiv., Ep. 99. "Barbara de pictis veni bascauda Britannis; sed me jam mavolt dicere Roma suam."

[789]Olynthi.Philip of Macedon bribed Lasthenes and Eurycrates to betray Olynthus to him. Pliny (xxxiii., 5) says he used to sleep with a gold cup under his pillow. Once, when told that the route to a castle he was going to attack was impracticable, he asked whether "an ass laden with gold could not possibly reach it." Plut., Apophth., ii., p. 178."A storeOf precious cups, high chased in golden ore;Cups that adorn'd the crafty Philip's state,And bought his entrance at th' Olynthian gate." Hodgson.

"A storeOf precious cups, high chased in golden ore;Cups that adorn'd the crafty Philip's state,And bought his entrance at th' Olynthian gate." Hodgson.

[790]Digitis.Cf. xiv, 289, "Tabulâ distinguitur undâ." Ovid. Amor. ii. xi. 25, "Navita sollicitus qua ventos horret iniquos; Et prope tam letum quam prope cernit aquam.""Trust to a little plank 'twixt death and thee,And by four inches 'scape eternity." Hodgson.

[790]Digitis.Cf. xiv, 289, "Tabulâ distinguitur undâ." Ovid. Amor. ii. xi. 25, "Navita sollicitus qua ventos horret iniquos; Et prope tam letum quam prope cernit aquam."

"Trust to a little plank 'twixt death and thee,And by four inches 'scape eternity." Hodgson.

[791]Ventre-lagenæ."A gorbellied flagon." Shakspeare.

[792]Secures."His biscuit and his bread the sailor bringsOn board: 'tis well. But hatchets are the things." Badh.

[792]Secures.

"His biscuit and his bread the sailor bringsOn board: 'tis well. But hatchets are the things." Badh.

[793]Staminis albi.The "white" or "black" threads of the Parcæ were supposed to symbolize the good or bad fortune of the mortal whose yarn Clotho was spinning. Mart. iv. Ep. 73, "Ultima volventes oraba pensa sorores, Ut traherent parva stamina pulla morâ." VI. Ep. 58, "Si mihi lanificæ ducunt non pulla sorores Stamina." Hor. ii. Od. iii. 16, "Sororum fila trium patiuntur atra."

[794]Prælata Lavino.Virg. Æn. i. 267, seq. Liv. i. 1, 3. Tibull. II. v. 49.

[795]Scrofa.Virg. Æn. iii. 390, "Littoreis ingens inventa sub ilicibus sus, Triginta capitum fœtus enixa jacebit, Alba solo recubans, albi circum ubera nati. Is locus urbis erit, requies ea certa laborum,"—and viii., 43.

[796]Moles.This massive work was designed and begun by Julius Cæsar, executed by Claudius, and repaired by Trajan. It is said to have employed thirty thousand men for eleven years. Suetonius thus describes it (Claud., c. 20): "Portum Ostiæ exstruxit circumducto dextrâ sinistrâque brachis, et ad introitum profundo jam solo mole objectâ, quam quò stabilius fundaret, navem ante demersit, quâ magnus obeliscus, ex Ægypto fuerat advectus; congestisque pilis superposuit altissimam turrim in exemplum Alexandrini Phari, ut ad nocturnos ignes cursum navigia dirigerent." (Cf. vi., 83. The Pharos of Alexandria was built by Sostratus, and accounted one of the seven wonders of the world.)"Enter the moles, that running out so wideClasp in their giant arms the billowy tide,That leave afar diminishing the land,More wondrous than the works of nature's hand." Hodgson.

"Enter the moles, that running out so wideClasp in their giant arms the billowy tide,That leave afar diminishing the land,More wondrous than the works of nature's hand." Hodgson.

[797]Vertice raso.It was the custom in storms at sea to vow the hair to some god, generally Neptune: and hence slaves, when manumitted, shaved their heads, "quod tempestatem servitutis videbantur effugere, ut naufragis liberati solent." Cf. Pers., iii., 106, "Hesterni capite inducto subiere Quirites." Hodgson has an excellent note on the "mystical attributes" of hair.

[798]Linguis animisque faventes.Cic., de Div., i., 102, "Omnibus rebus agendis, Quod bonum, faustum, felix, fortunatumque esset, præfabantur: rebusque divinis, quæ publicè fierent, ut faverent linguis imperabant: inque feriis imperandis ut litibus et jurgiis se abstinerent." Cf. Hor., iii., Od. i., 2, "Favete linguis." Virg., Æn., v., 71, "Ore favete omnes." Hor., Od., III., xiv., 11; Tibull., II., ii., 2, "Quisquis ades linguâ, vir, mulierque fave." So εὐφημεῖν; cf. Eurip., Hec., 528,seq.

[799]Sacro quod præstat; i. e., the sacrifices mentioned in the beginning of the Satire, viz., to Juno, Pallas, and Tarpeian Jove, and therefore more important than those to the Lares.

[800]Placabo.Cf. Hor., i., Od. 36, 1. Orell.

[801]Nostrum, i. e., his own Lar familiaris. Cf. ix., 137, "O Parvi nostrique Lares." For the worship of these Lares, Junones, and Genius, see Dennis's Etruria, vol. i., p. lv.

[802]Erexit janua ramos.Cf. ad ix., 85.

[803]Operatur festa.Perhaps read with Lipsius, "operitur festa," "in festive-guise is covered with." Virgil, however, uses "operatus" similarly. Georg., i., 339, "Sacra refer Cereri lætis operatus in herbis." Cf. ad ix., 117."All savors here of joy: luxuriant bayO'ershades my portal, while the taper's rayAnticipates the feast and chides the tardy day." Gifford.

"All savors here of joy: luxuriant bayO'ershades my portal, while the taper's rayAnticipates the feast and chides the tardy day." Gifford.

[804]Gallita.Tacitus (Hist., i., 73) speaks of a Gallita Crispilina, or, as some read, Calvia Crispinilla, as a "magistra libidinum Neronis," and as "potenspecuniâ et orbitate, quæ bonis malisque temporibus juxtà valent." Paccius Africanus is mentioned also Hist., iv., 41.

[805]Tabellis.Cf. ad x., 55, "Propter quæ fas est genua incerare deorum."

[806]Hecatomben.The hecatomb properly consisted of oxen, 100 being sacrificed simultaneously on 100 different altars. But sheep or other victims were also offered. The poor sometimes vowed an ὠῶν ἑκατόμβη. Emperors are said to have sacrificed 100 lions or eagles. Suetonius says, that above 160,000 victims were slaughtered in honor of Caligula's entering the city. Calig., c. 14.

[807]Nostris ducibus.Curius Dentatus was the first to lead elephants in triumph. Metellus, after his victory over Asdrubal, exhibited two hundred and four. Plin., viii., 6. L. Scipio, father-in-law to Pompey, employed thirty in battle against Cæsar. The Romans first saw elephants in the Tarentine war, against Pyrrhus; and as they were first encountered in Lucania, they gave the elephant the name of "Bos Lucas." So Hannibal. See x., 158, "Gætula ducem portaret bellua luscum."

[808]Ister Pacuvius.Cf. ii., 58.

[809]Iphigenia.Cf. Æsch., Ag., 39, seq., and the exquisite lines in Lucretius, i., 85-102; but Juvenal seems to have had Ovid's lines in his head, Met., xii., 28,seq., "Postquam pietatem publica causa, Rexque patrem vicit, castumque datura cruorem Flentibus ante aram stetit Iphigenia ministris: Victa dea est, nubemque oculis objecit, et inter Officium turbamque sacri, vocesque precantum, Supposita fertur mutâsseMycenida cervâ."

[810]Mille.στόλον Ἀργείων χιλιοναύτην. Æsch., Ag., 44.

[811]Libitinam.Properly an epithet of Venus (the goddess who presides overdeathsas well as births), in whose temple all things belonging to funerals were sold. Cf. Plut., Qu. Rom., 23. Servius Tullius enacted that a sestertius should be deposited in the temple of Venus Libitina for every person that died, in order to ascertain the number of deaths. Dion. Halic., iv., 79. Cf. Liv., xl., 19; xli., 21. Suet., Ner., 39, "triginta funerum millia in rationem Libitinæ venerunt." Hor., iii., Od. xxx., 6; ii., Sat. vi., 19.

[812]Nassais properly an "osier weel," κύρτη for catching fish. Plin., xxi., 18, 59.

[813]Solo.Cf. i., 68, "Exiguis tabulis;" ii., 58, "Solo tabulas impleverit Hister Liberto;" vi., 601, "Impleret tabulas.""What are a thousand vessels to a will!Yes! every blank Pacuvius' name shall fill." Hodgson.

[813]Solo.Cf. i., 68, "Exiguis tabulis;" ii., 58, "Solo tabulas impleverit Hister Liberto;" vi., 601, "Impleret tabulas."

"What are a thousand vessels to a will!Yes! every blank Pacuvius' name shall fill." Hodgson.

[814]Nestora.Cf. Hom., Il., i., 250; Od., iii., 245. Mart., vi., Ep. lxx., 12, "Ætatem Priami Nestorisque." X., xxiv., 11. Cf. ad x., 246.

[815]Rapuit Nero.Vid. Tac., Ann., xv., 42, Brotier's note. Suetonius (Nero, c. 32), after many instances of his rapacity, subjoins the following: "Nulli delegavit officium ut non adjiceret Scis quid mihi opus sit:" et "Hoc agamus ne quis quidquam habeat." "Ultimot emplis compluribus dona detraxit."

[816]Nec amet."Nor ever be, nor ever find, a friend!" Dryden.

[816]Nec amet.

"Nor ever be, nor ever find, a friend!" Dryden.

Every act that is perpetrated, that will furnish a precedent for crime, is loathsome[817]even to the author himself. This is the punishment that first lights upon him, that by the verdict[818]of his own breast no guilty man is acquitted; though the corrupt influence of the prætor may have made his cause prevail, by the urn[819]being tampered with. What think you,Calvinus,[820]is the opinion of all men touching the recent villainy, and the charge you bring of breach of trust? But it is your good fortune not to have so slender an income, that the weight of a trifling loss can plunge you into ruin; nor is what you are suffering from an unfrequent occurrence. This is a case well known to many—worn threadbare—drawn from the middle of fortune's heap.[821]

Let us, then, lay aside all excessive complaints. Aman'sgrief ought not to blaze forth beyond the proper bounds, nor exceed the loss sustained. Whereasyoucan scarcely bear even the very least diminutive particle of misfortune, however trifling, boiling with rage in your very bowels because your friend does not restore to you the deposit he swore to return. Canhebe amazed at this, that has left threescore years behind him, born when Fonteius was consul?[822]Have you gained[823]nothing by such long experience of the world? Noble indeed are the precepts which philosophy, that triumphs over fortune, lays down in her books of sacred wisdom. Yet we deem those happy too who, with daily life[824]for their instructress, have learned to endure with patience the inconveniences of life, and not shake off the yoke.[825]

What day is there so holy that is not profaned by bringing to light theft, treachery, fraud—filthy lucre got by crime of every dye, and money won by stabbing or by poison?[826]Since rare indeed are the good! their number is scarce so many as the gates of Thebes,[827]or the mouths of fertilizing Nile. We are now passing through the ninth age of the world: an era far worse than the days of Iron; for whose villainy not even Nature herself can find a name, and has no metal[828]base enough to call it by. Yet we call heaven and earth to witness, with a shout as loud as that with which the Sportula,[829]that gives them tongues, makes his clients applaud Fæsidius as he pleads. Tell me, thou man of many years, and yet more fit to bear the boss[830]of childhood, dost thou not know the charms that belong to another's money? Knowest thou not what a laugh thy simplicity would raise in the common herd, for expecting that no man should forswear himself, but should believe some deity is[831]really present in the temples and at the altars red with blood? In days of old the aborigines perhaps used to liveafter this fashion: before Saturn in his flight laid down his diadem, and adopted the rustic sickle: in the days when Juno was a little maid; and Jupiter as yet in a private[832]station in the caves of Ida: no banquetings of the celestials above the clouds, no Trojan boy or beauteous wife of Hercules as cup-bearer; or Vulcan (but not till he had drained the nectar) wiping[833]his arms begrimed with his forge in Lipara. Then each godship dined alone; nor was the crowd of deities so great[834]as it is now-a-days: and the heavens, content with a few divinities, pressed on the wretched Atlas with less grievous weight. No one had as yet received as his share the gloomy empire of the deep: nor was there the grim[835]Pluto with his Sicilian bride, nor Ixion's wheel, nor the Furies, nor Sisyphus' stone, nor the punishment of the black vulture,[836]but the shades passed jocund days with no infernal king.

In that age villainy was a prodigy! They used to hold it as a heinous sin, that naught but death could expiate, if a young man had not risen up to pay honor to an old one,[837]or a boy to one whose beard was grown; even though he himselfgloated over more strawberries at home, or a bigger pile of acorns.[838]

So just a claim to deference had even four years' priority; so much on a par with venerated old age was the first dawn of youth! Now, if a friend should not deny the deposit[839]intrusted to him, if he should give back the old leathern purse with all its rusty[840]coin untouched, it is a prodigy of honesty, equivalent to a miracle,[841]fit to be entered among the marvels in the Tuscan records,[842]and that ought to be expiated by a lamb crowned for sacrifice.[843]If I see a man above the common herd, of real probity, I look upon him as a prodigy equal to a child born half man, half brute;[844]or a shoal of fish turned up by the astonished[845]plow; or a mule[846]with foal! in trepidation as great as though the storm-cloud had rained stones;[847]or a swarm of bees[848]had settled in long cluster from some temple's top; as though a river had flowed into the ocean with unnatural eddies,[849]and rushing impetuous with a stream of milk.

Do you complain of being defrauded oftensestertia by impious fraud? What if another has lost in the same way two hundred, deposited without a witness![850]and a third a still larger sum than that, such as the corner of his capacious strong-box could hardly contain! So easy and so natural is it to despise the gods above,[851]that witness all, if no mortal man attest the same! See with how bold a voice he denies it! What unshaken firmness in the face he puts on! He swears by the sun's rays, by the thunderbolts of Tarpeian Jove, the glaive of Mars, the darts of the prophet-god of Cirrha,[852]by the arrows and quiver of the Virgin Huntress, and by thy trident, O Neptune, father of the Ægæan! He adds the bow of Hercules, Minerva's spear, and all the weapons that the arsenals of heaven hold.[853]But if he be a father also, he says, "I am ready to eat my wretched son's head boiled, swimming in vinegar from Pharos."[854]

There are some who refer all things to the accidents of fortune,[855]and believe the universe moves on with none to guideits course; while nature brings round the revolutions of days and years. And therefore, without a tremor, are ready to lay their hands[856]on any altar. Another does indeed dread that punishment will follow crime; he thinks the godsdoexist. Still he perjures himself, and reasons thus with himself: "Let Isis[857]pass whatever sentence she pleases upon my body, and strike my eyes with her angry Sistrum, provided only that when blind I may retain the money I disown. Are consumption, or ulcerous sores, or a leg shriveled to half its bulk, such mighty matters? If Ladas[858]be poor, let him not hesitate to wish for gout that waits on wealth, if he is not mad enough to require Anticyra[859]or Archigenes.[860]For what avails the honor of his nimble feet, or the hungry branch of Pisa's olive? All-powerful though it be, that anger of the gods, yet surely it is slow-paced! If, therefore, they set themselves to punish all the guilty, when will they come to me? Besides, I may perchance discover that the deity may be appeased by prayers!"It is not unusual with him to pardon[861]such perjuries as these. Many commit the same crimes with results widely different. One man receives crucifixion[862]as the reward of his villainy; another, a regal crown!"

Thus they harden their minds, agitated by terror inspired by some heinous crime. Then, when you summon him to swear on the sacred shrine, he will go first![863]Nay, he is quite ready to drag you there himself, and worry you to put him to this test. For when a wicked cause is backed by impudence, it is believed by many to be the confidence[864]of innocence. He acts as good a farce as the runaway slave, the buffoon in Catullus'[865]Vision! You, poor wretch, cry out so as to exceed Stentor,[866]or, rather, as loudly as Gradivus[867]in Homer: "Hearest thou[868]this, great Jove, and openest not thy lips, when thou oughtest surely to give vent to some word, eventhough formed of marble or of brass? Or, why then do we place on thy glowing altar the pious[869]frankincense from the wrapper undone, and the liver of a calf cut up, and the white caul of a hog?[870]As far as I see, there is no difference to be made between your image and the statue of Vagellius!"[871]

Now listen to what consolation on the other hand he can offer, who has neither studied the Cynics, nor the doctrines of the Stoics, that differ from the Cynics only by a tunic,[872]and pays no veneration to Epicurus,[873]that delighted in the plants of his diminutive garden. Let patients whose cases are desperate be tended by more skillful physicians; you may trustyourvein even to Philippus' apprentice. If you can show me no act so heinous in the whole wide world, then, I hold my tongue; nor forbid you to beat your breast with your fists, nor thump your face with open palm. For, since you reallyhavesustained loss, your doors must be closed; and money is bewailed with louder lamentations from the household, and with greater tumult,[874]than deaths. No one, in such a case, counterfeits sorrow; or is content with merely stripping[875]down the top of his garment, and vexing his eyes for forced rheum.[876]The loss of money is deplored with genuine tears.

But if you see all the courts filled with similar complaints, if, after the deeds have been read ten times over, and each time in a different quarter,[877]though their own handwriting,[878]and their principal signet-ring,[879]that is kept so carefully in its ivory casket, convicts them, they call the signature a forgery and the deed not valid; do you think that you, my fine fellow, are to be placed without the common pale? What makesyouthe chick of a white hen, while we are a worthless brood, hatched from unlucky eggs? What you suffer is a trifle; a thing to be endured with moderate choler, if you but turn your eyes to crimes of blacker dye. Compare with it the hired assassin, fires that originate from the sulphur of incendiaries,[880]when youroutergate is the first part that catches fire. Compare those who carry off the ancient temple's massive cups,[881]incrusted with venerable rust—the gifts of nations; or, crowns[882]deposited there by some king of ancient days. If these are not to be had, there comes some sacrilegious wretch that strikes at meaner prey; who will scrape the thigh of Hercules incased in gold, and Neptune's face itself, and strip off from Castor his leaf-gold. Will he, forsooth, hesitate, that is wont to melt down whole the Thunderer[883]himself? Compare, too, the compounders and venders of poisons;[884]or him that ought to be launched into the sea in an ox's hide,[885]with whom the ape,[886]herself innocent, is shut up, through her unlucky stars. How small a portion is this of the crimes which Gallicus,[887]the city's guardian, listens to from break of day to the setting of the sun! Would you study the morals of the human race, one house is quite enough. Spend but a few days there, and when you come out thence, call yourself, if you dare, a miserable man!

Who is astonished at a goitred throat[888]on the Alps? or who, in Meroë,[889]at the mother's breast bigger than her chubby infant? Who is amazed at the German's[890]fierce gray eyes,or his flaxen hair with moistened ringlets twisted into horns? Simply because, in these cases, one and all are alike by nature.

The pigmy[891]warrior in his puny panoply charges the swooping birds of Thrace, and the cloud that resounds with the clang of cranes. Soon, no match for his foe, he is snatched away by the curved talons, and borne off through the sky by the fierce crane. If you were to see this in our country, you would be convulsed with laughter: but there, though battles of this kind are sights of every day, no one even smiles, where the whole regiment is not more than a foot high.

"And is there, then, to be no punishment at all for this perjured wretch and his atrocious villainy?"

Well, suppose him hurried away at once, loaded with double irons, and put to death in any way our wrath dictates (and what could revenge wish for more?) still your loss remains the same, your deposit will not be refunded! "But the least drop of blood from his mangled body will give me a consolation that might well be envied. Revenge is a blessing, sweeter than life itself!" Yes! so fools think, whose breasts you may see burning with anger for trivial causes, sometimes for none at all. How small soever the occasion be, it is matter enough for their wrath. Chrysippus[892]will not holdthe same language, nor the gentle spirit of Thales, or that old man that lived by sweet Hymettus'[893]hill, who, even amid those cruel bonds, would not have given his accuser one drop of the hemlock[894]he received at his hands!

Philosophy, blessed[895]power! strips us by degrees of full many a vice and every error! She is the first to teach us what is right. Since revenge is ever the pleasure of a paltry spirit, a weak and abject mind! Draw this conclusionat oncefrom the fact, that no one delights in revenge more than a woman!

Yet, why should you deem those to have escaped scot-free whom their mind,[896]laden with a sense of guilt, keeps in constant terror, and lashes with a viewless thong! Conscience, as their tormentor, brandishing a scourge unseen by human eyes! Nay! awful indeed is their punishment, and far more terrible even than those which the sanguinary Cæditius[897]invents, or Rhadamanthus! in bearing night and day in one's own breast a witness against one's self.

The Pythian priestess gave answer to a certain Spartan,[898]that in time to come he should not go unpunished, because he hesitated as to retaining a deposit, and supporting his villainy by an oath. For he inquired what was the opinion of the deity, and whether Apollo counseled him to the act.

He did restore it therefore; but through fear,[899]not from principle. And yet he proved that every word that issued from the shrine was worthy of the temple, and but too true: being exterminated together with all his progeny and house, and, though derived from a wide-spreading clan, with all his kin! Such is the penalty which the mere wish to sin incurs. For he that meditates within his breast a crime that finds not even vent in words,[900]has all the guilt of the act!

What then if he has achieved his purpose? A respiteless anxiety is his: that ceases not, even at his hours of meals: while his jaws are parched as though with fever, and the food he loathes swells[901]between his teeth. All wines[902]the miserable wretch spits out; old Alban wine,[903]of high-prized antiquity, disgusts him. Set better before him! and thickly-crowding wrinkles furrow his brow, as though called forth by sour[904]Falernian. At night, if anxious care has granted him perchance a slumber however brief, and his limbs, that have been tossing[905]over the whole bed, at length are at rest, immediately he sees in dreams the temple and the altar of the deity he has insulted; and, what weighs upon his soul with especial terrors,[906]he sees thee! Thy awful[907]form, of more[908]than human bulk, confounds the trembling wretch, and wrings confession[909]from him.

These are the men that tremble and grow pale at every lightning-flash; and, when it thunders,[910]are half dead with terror at the very first rumbling[911]of heaven; as though not by mere chance, or by the raging violence of winds, but in wrath and vengeance the fire-bolt lights[912]upon the earth![913]That last storm wrought no ill! Therefore the next is feared with heavier presage, as though but deferred by the brief respite of this calm.

Moreover, if they begin to suffer pain in the side, withwakeful fever, they believe the disease is sent to their bodies from the deity, in vengeance. These they hold to be the stones and javelins of the gods!

They dare not vow the bleating sheep to the shrine, or promise even a cock's[914]comb to their Lares. For what hope is vouchsafed to the guilty sick?[915]or what victim is not more worthy of life? The character of bad men is for the most part fickle and variable.[916]While they are engaged in the guilty act they have resolution enough, and to spare. When their foul deeds are perpetrated, then at length they begin to feel what is right and wrong.

Yet Nature[917]ever reverts to her depraved courses, fixed and immutable. For who ever prescribed to himself a limit to his sins? or ever recovered the blush[918]of ingenuous shame once banished from his brow now hardened? What mortal man is there whom you ever saw contented with a single crime? This false friend of ours will get his foot entangled in the noose, and endure the hook of the gloomy dungeon; or some crag[919]in the Ægean Sea, or the rocks that swarm with exiles of rank. You will exult in the bitter punishment of the hated name; and at length with joy confess[920]that no one of the gods is either deaf or a Tiresias.[921]

Back to Index Next