GLASGOW: PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS BY ROBERT MACLEHOSE AND CO.
[1]The scheme of this old national metre, which depends on accent and not on quantity, may be seen from the two examples given below. Various forms are found, but one of the commonest types is identical with the rhythm of the nursery rhyme,
‘The queen was in the parlour, eating bread and honey.’
‘The queen was in the parlour, eating bread and honey.’
[2]‘I have heard that a Roman poet is languishing in prison with head on hand’—probably a metaphor from a pillar (but the sense is far from certain).
[3]Utica was besieged by Scipio from 204 to 202B.C.
[4]In thefabula togataortabernariathe surroundings of the comedy were Roman, in thefabula palliataGreek, as in Plautus’ plays.Togatain a wider sense included tragedy as well as comedy.
[5]This term means the construction of a new play by uniting two old ones.
[6]The references are to the revised edition of Ritschl.
[7]A species of burlesque tragedy, called after its inventor Rhinthon, who flourishedB.C.300.
[8]R.H.ii. p. 431 trans.
[9]This shows that the ancient (rough alphabetical) order has been departed from. Some grammarian of the fifth century altered the position of the play on account of the reference to it inEpid.213-5 (quoted above).
[10]I.e. the ‘Patruus’ written by the old Roman (lit., ‘son of the porridge-eater’).
[11]These games were celebrated in April. Plays were exhibited also at theLudi Romani(September) and theLudi Plebei(November).
[12]Much of the information on this head is taken from J. Brix’s edition of theTrinummus. Leipzig, 1888.
[13]This is shown in the universal classical usage ofbenĕ,malĕ, etc.
[14]The references are to Vahlen’s edition.
[15]Thus the original name of Beneventum was Maleventum, i.e.ΜαλόϜεντα, accusative ofΜαλόϜεις; cf. Agrigentum fromἈκράγας, and Tarentum fromΤάρας.
[16]Euhemerus of Messana, who wrote about the end of the fourth centuryB.C., tried in this work to show that the worship of the gods arose from the worship of deified kings and heroes.
[17]The Oscan form ofPacuvi.
[18]The termdoctusrefers to his knowledge of the Greek laws of artistic composition.
[19]After Ambivius’ name appears in most of the didascaliae ‘L. Hatilius Praenestinus.’ Probably this person was an actor at some later productions, and his name has in this way crept into theMSS.
[20]Tibiaewere calledparesorimparesaccording as they were or were not of the same length and key.Duae dextraewere two pipes both playing the treble.Tibiae Sarranae, from Sarra, the old Latin name for Tyre, were a special form oftibiae pares.
[21]Mediocritas=τὸ μέσον, the intermediate style betweenτὸ ἁδρόν, ‘the florid’ (ubertas), andτὸ ἰσχνόν, ‘the simple’ (gracilitas). See W. Peterson’s note on Quint. x. 1, 44.
[22]For the omission of names, cf. iv. 12 (Jordan), ‘dictatorem Karthaginiensium magister equitum monuit’ (of Hannibal and Maharbal).
[23]This means that Lucilius would represent the nom. plu. by-eiand the gen. sing, by-i.
[24]Thefabula Atellanawas a species of farce adopted by the Romans from the Oscan town of Atella in Campania. See Livy, vii. 2, for this and the early history of the Roman drama.
[25]Q. Hortensius Hortalus (B.C.114-50), Cicero’s rival as an orator, and author ofAnnales(Vell. ii. 16, 3), aRhetoric(Quint. ii. 1, 11), and love poems (OvidTr.ii. 441).
[26]According toad Att.ii. 1, 3 (if genuine), Cicero intended to publish speeches 9-11 in a collection of ‘orationes consulares’ (‘Hoc totumσῶμαcurabo ut habeas’).
[27]R.H.iv. 311 (note).
[28]Q. Asconius Pedianus (A.D.3-88), probably a native of Padua, author of a commentary on Cicero’s speeches. The extant part is onPro Cornelio de maiestate,In toga candida,In Pisonem,Pro Scauro, andPro Milone. The commentary on the Verrines and Divinatio, which deals almost exclusively with the language, is spurious: the true Asconius confines himself to the subject-matter.
[29]The Epicurean philosophy was expounded in the writings of C. Amafinius, Rabirius, and T. Catius, whose opinions and literary style were alike distasteful to Cicero (Ac.i. 5;ad. Fam.xv. 19, 2).
[30]F. Ritschl,Opuscula, iii., p. 525.
[31]L. Schwabe,Quaest. Catull., p. 296. B. Schmidt, however (ed. of Catullus, p. 57), thinks that theChronicaare not referred to here.
[32]A life of Lucretius has been recently discovered by J. Masson (Journal of Philology, xxiii. 46), which was written by Girolamo Borgia in 1502. It givesB.C.95-51 as the poet’s dates. Several new points were supposed to lend it a claim to authority, such as the statement that he was ‘matre natus diu sterili.’ This, however, has been shown to rest on a wrong reading of Q. Serenus Sammonicus’Liber Medicinalis, xxxii., in a passage dealing with the barrenness of women, ‘hoc poterit magni quartus [liber] monstrare Lucreti,’ wherepartus, the reading of the oldest edition, was used. This, and other considerations, show that thevitadoes not rest on any ancient sources, beyond those which are still extant.
[33]Memmius wrote love poems (Ovid,Tr.ii. 433).