147.multum celer] See S. i. 3. 57.
155.Agedum, sume hoc ptisanarium oryzae.] On ‘agedum,’ see S. i. 4. 38. ‘Ptisanarium’ is a diminutive of ‘ptisana,’ and means a little broth. Rice was imported from Egypt.
157.furtis pereamque rapinis?] See note on S. i. 3. 122, and above, v. 130. The wretched man, when he hears the price of his food, conjures up the notion that everybody is conspiring to rob and plunder him.
158.Quisnam igitur sanus?] These questions and answers are all carried on by Stertinius himself. ‘Stultus et insanus’ means ‘he is a fool, and therefore mad’; not ‘he is a fool, and moreover he is mad,’ since folly and madness have already been declared to be identical.
161.Craterum dixisse putato] Craterus was an eminent physician of that day. Cicero speaks of him with confidence as attending the daughter of Atticus during her illness,B. C.45. He is mentioned by Persius many years afterwards as representing the profession (S. iii. 65). ‘Cardiacus,’ according to Celsus’s definition, is “nothing else than excessive weakness of the body, which, from the stomach having lost its tone, is wasted with immoderate sweating.”
163.morbo tentantur acuto.] This whole verse is repeated, Epp. i. 6. 28. ‘Morbus acutus,’ ‘an acute disease,’ is opposed to ‘longus,’ ‘a chronic disease.’
165.porcum Laribus:] C. iii. 23. 4. ‘Let him offer a thanksgiving to his Lares who have protected him from those vices.’
168.Servius Oppidius] This person is unknown, except from this passage. He lived at Canusium, a town of Apulia (see S. v. 5. 91, n.). Horace says he was rich even with two farms, according to the standard of incomes in the old times. As to the form ‘divisse,’ see S. 1. 5. 79. This story serves to connect the subject of avarice with that of ambition, which is the next form of madness and profligacy which follows.
171.talos, — nucesque] The ‘talus’ was the knuckle bone of some animal, generally a sheep, the Greek name for which was ἀστράγαλος. The manner of playing with it was the same among the Greeks and the Romans, and the same bones are still used by boys in England. The ancients used them in games of skill and of chance; for the latter purpose they were marked as dice, and thrown usually from a box called ‘fritillus,’ ‘phimus,’ etc. (See S. ii. 7. 17, n.) Boys had also games of various kinds with nuts, as they have now. Suetonius relates that Augustus used to amuse himself by playing with little boys at these games. Oppidius observed that his son Aulus carried about his bones and his nuts in a careless way in a loose fold of his toga, ready to give them away to any of his companions, or to lose them at play; while Tiberius always counted his carefully and hid them away, carrying a serious face wherever he went; and from these early signs of character he foresaw that one would prove a spendthrift, and the other a miser. As to Nomentanus, see S. i. 1. 102, n.; and on Cicuta, see above, v. 69.
178.coërcet.] Keeps within bounds, defines, limits.
179.Gloria] See S. i. 6. 23.
181.is intestabilis et sacer esto.] A person who was ‘intestabilis,’ as the word implies, could not appear as a witness before a magistrate, and so lost virtually much of his capacity for private rights. ‘Sacer’ was one condemned for some great crime, who might be put to death by anybody, without charge of murder. Thus Oppidius imprecates a curse upon his sons, if they should ever aspire so high as to the office of an ædile or a prætor.
182.In cicere atque faba] As if his sons were already seeking votes, he says to each of them (for ‘tu’ must be so understood), ‘So you would throw away your money in distributing largesses to the people (such as the ædiles were wont to give), in order that you may strut about in the Circus, and have a bronze statue voted you,—that is to say, that you may be loaded with the same honors as the great Agrippa, like a fox aping a lion.’ It was customary for the ædiles to distribute grain, or vegetables of the sort mentioned, to the common people, at the festival of the Floralia. See Persius (v. 177).
183.Latus — spatiere] This is explained in the note on Epod. iv. 7. As to ‘aëneus,’ see C. iii. 3. 65, n. The form of expression ‘aëneus ut stes’ is like that in C. iv. 1. 19: “Albanos prope te lacus Ponet marmoream”; and Virg. (Ecl. vii. 35):
“Nunc te marmoreum pro tempore fecimus; at tuSi fetura gregem suppleverit aureus esto.”
The same way of speaking is common in Greek. Such statues as are here supposed were usually erected in the Forum, and one had probably been lately placed there in honor of Agrippa. It may be observed that Oppidius plainly means the first part of his address, from ‘In cicere,’ etc., to apply to the careless, extravagant Aulus, while the simile of the fox and lion is only applicable to Tiberius, who, if he spends his money, will look for a substantial return for it, in such honors and rewards as he saw Agrippa had won.
185.quos fert Aqrippa] Agrippa, after he had been prætor and consul, undertook the ædileship, which was the lowest of the curule offices, inB. C.33, to gratify Augustus. His munificence was very great in the erection ofpublic buildings and the celebration of games on a splendid scale, and in large donations to the people.
186.Astuta ingenuum] This appears to be nothing but a suitable illustration invented by Horace. It is obvious enough, and we need not suppose it a proverb or a current fable of Æsop or any one else.
187.Ne quis humasse velit] This scene is taken from the remonstrance of Ulysses with Agamemnon, in the Ajax of Sophocles (v. 1328, sqq.), after Ajax has destroyed himself. ‘Veto’ usually governs the infinitive mood. Once more, as here, Horace uses it with ‘ne’ and the subjunctive (Epp. ii. 1. 239), and once with the subjunctive, but without ‘ne’ (C. iii. 2. 26). Tibullus has ‘veto’ with ‘ut’: “Illius ut verbis sis mihi lenta veto” (ii. 6. 36). ‘Atrida’ is the later form of the vocative. The Greek ‘Atride’ is used in Epp. i. 7. 43. ‘Cur’ is awkwardly placed, as it is in S. 7. 104. The connection with what precedes lies in the extravagant and imperious conduct of the king, as illustrating the excesses of pride, and proving that madness is found in high places and in the heart of kings. Stertinius, it must be remembered, is exposing the folly of ambition. The dialogue is supposed to be between Agamemnon and one of his soldiers, in view of the unburied corpse of Ajax. ‘I am a king,’ (‘I am one of the common sort, and dare ask no more!’ interposes the soldier humbly,)—‘and moreover the thing is just that I command.’ There is a good deal of irony here. The justice of the command is secondary to the will of the despot, and his subject is ready, with instinctive awe, to admit that it is so; but the tyrant condescends to justify his act; and the man of low degree, not without trembling and doubt and astonishment at such condescension, ventures to ask that his reason may be enlightened a little, in order that he may learn to acquiesce willingly. Stephens quotes a Greek proverb, μωρῷ καὶ βασιλεῖ νόμος ἄγραφος, ‘Fools and kings are governed by an unwritten law.’ Compare Juvenal, “Sic volo sic jubeo; stat pro ratione voluntas” (vi. 223).
191.Di tibi dent capta classem deducere Troja!] This is a version of the words of Chryses to the king (Il. i. 18):
ὑμῖν μὲν θεοὶ δοῖεν Ὀλύμπια δώματ᾽ ἔχοντεςἐκπέρσαι Πριάμοιο πόλιν, εὖ δ᾽ οἴκαδ᾽ ἱκέσθαι.
‘Consulere’ is used humorously, as if the person addressed was a jurisconsultus. On ‘respondere,’ see C. S. 55, n.
194.Putescit] The two forms ‘putrescere’ and ‘putescere’ are in use, but there is no difference of meaning in them. ‘Putrescat’ is used above (v. 119).
195.Gaudeat ut populus Priami Priamusque] Comp. Il. i. 255: ἦ κεν γηθήσαι Πρίαμος Πριάμοιό τε παῖδες.
197.Mille ovium] “‘Mille’ in the singular is commonly an adjective; in the plural, perhaps always a substantive.” An exception to the latter part of this rule occurs above (S. i. 6. 111). ‘Morti dedit’ is exactly equivalent to our ‘put to death.’ ‘Do’ means ‘to put’; so its compounds ‘abdo,’ ‘to put away’; ‘addo,’ ‘to put to’; ‘condo,’ ‘to put together’; ‘dedo,’ ‘to put down’ (one’s arms); ‘dido,’ ‘to put asunder or distribute’; ‘edo,’ ‘to put forth’; ‘indo,’ ‘to put on’; ‘trado,’ ‘to put across, to hand over,’ etc.
198.mecum se occidere clamans.] See Soph. Aj. 42:
τί δῆτα ποίμναις τήνδ᾽ ἐπεμπίπτει βάσιν;δοκῶν ἐν ὑμῖν χεῖρα χραίνεσθαι φόνῳ.
199.dulcem Aulide natam] Iphigenia, the daughter of Agamemnon, was brought to the altar to be sacrificed to Artemis, when the Greek fleet was detained in the port of Aulis, in Eubœa, on its way to Troy. But the goddess carried her off to be her priestess in Tauri.
200.spargisque mola caput,] This is the ‘mola salsa,’ the meal and salt with which the head of the victim was sprinkled. (See C. iii. 23. 20, n.)
201.Quorsum? — Insanus] ‘Quorsum?’ expresses a sudden and angry interruption of the king, astonished at the man’s boldness, while he, being warm, goes on without heeding Agamemnon’s anger, ‘for mad as he was, what did Ajax do?’
203.Uxore et gnato;] Tecmessa and Eurysaces.
204.Non ille] ‘Non’ must not be separated from ‘ille.’ The meaning is ‘not even he,’ οὐδ᾽ ἐκεῖνος. So in C. iii. 21. 9:
“Non ille quanquam Socraticis madetSermonibus te negliget horridus.”
205.adverso litore] The shore is called adverse because they wanted to get away from it, and could not. Properly the winds were adverse, not the coast. But the transfer of the epithet from the wind to the shore is in accordance with a common usage.
207.Meo, sed non furiosus.] This is a very polite reply, considering the provocation. The colloquy ends here. Horace, we may presume, had something before him to suggest what must appear to us a rather unnatural and far fetched scene.
208.Qui species alias veris] ‘He who shall entertain fancies foreign to the truth, and mixed up together by the confusion of his own wickedness, will be accounted mad.’
211.cum occidit desipit agnos:] This is an irregular collocation of words; but it is not mended by the commas by which ‘desipit’ is usually preceded and followed.
214.Si quis lectica] The ‘lectica’ of the Romans and φορεῖον of the Greeks were introduced from Asia, and differed very slightly from the palanquins in which, from time immemorial, the Asiatics have been carried.
217.interdicto huic omne adimat jus] The law of the XII. Tables assigned the charge of persons who were ‘furiosi’ to their relations in the male line, ‘agnati,’ and the prætor in later times chose the person who should act as ‘curator’ to the insane person. The same law applied to ‘prodigi,’ notorious spendthrifts. (See below, Epp. i. 1. 102, sq.) The story of Sophocles brought before an Athenian jury by his sons, and reading the celebrated chorus in his Œdipus Coloneus to prove his sanity, is told by Cicero in his treatise on Old Age, c. 7. ‘Omne jus’ means every legal right.
221.hic summa est insania;] ‘Insania’ signifies unsoundness of mind generally; ‘furor,’ the same, accompanied with violence. Horace’s climax of madmen is the fool, the man of crime, and the ambitious the worst of all.
222.vitrea] This probably means the glitter of fame.
223.Hunc circumtonuit] This verse, which has a grand Epic tone, Orelli thinks may be taken from Ennius. But Horace may have written it himself. He resorts occasionally to travesty to heighten the force of his satire. The worst stage of insanity is represented by one whom Bellona (the goddess of war) hovers round, with a trumpet of thunder and her bloody scourge, and urges on to madness. The Bellonarii, her priests, cut their own flesh to offer the blood in sacrifice.
224.Nunc age] He now passes on to the third kind of madness, profligate extravagance.
225.Vincet enim stultos ratio] See S. i. 3. 115, n. As to ‘talenta,’ see S. 7. 89.
228.Tusci turba impia vici,] The Vicus Tuscus was a street south of the Forum, and is said to have received its name from a body of fugitives from Porsena’s army, who were hospitably entertained by the Romans, and allowed to occupy this street. It appears to have been filled with shops, some apparently of the better sort.
229.Cum scurris fartor,] ‘Fartores’ were persons whose business was tofatten fowls. The ‘scurrae,’ ‘parasites,’ were sent for to help to consume all this quantity of provisions, and to entertain the new heir.
cum Velabro] The Velabrum is said to have derived its name from the verb ‘vehere,’ because the ground was originally a swamp traversed by boats. It was the name of that part of the city which lay between Mons Capitolinus and Mons Aventinus, from the Tiber to the Circus Maximus. Here, too, there appears to have been a collection of shops of the better sort.
omne macellum,] There were in earlier times different markets for the sale of different provisions, as the ‘forum boarium’ for oxen, ‘olitorium’ for vegetables, ‘piscarium’ and ‘piscatorium’ for fish, ‘cupedinis’ for delicacies, etc. These were afterwards (the time is uncertain) all transferred to one large market, on the site of the ‘forum cupedinis,’ on the north side of the Sacra Via, not far from the Forum Romanum. This market was called Macellum, the diminutive form of ‘maceria,’ the wall with which it was surrounded.
232.vel nunc pete vel cras.] This seems to mean ‘whenever you please.’
233.aequus:] This is ironical. The young man, affecting to be just, shows a wanton extravagance towards the most profligate persons.
234.In nive Lucana] It appears from this passage and S. 8. 6, that Lucanian boars were particularly prized. Martial mentions an Etrurian boar as a great present he had received. Horace, in the next Satire (ver. 40), recommends the Umbrian boar above the Laurentian, or those found in the marshy land on the coast of Latium, in the neighborhood of Laurentum, about sixteen miles from the mouth of the Tiber. The same cause that gave the Umbrian boar its superiority would give value to the Lucanian: both were fed upon the acorns and chestnuts of the Apennines, which are still considered in Italy the best food for hogs, wild and tame. The boar was usually served up whole, at large tables, and formed the principal dish. The ‘ocrea’ was a leather garter that came up to the knee and round the calf like the soldier’s greaves, and was called from them.
235.verris.] ‘Verrere’ is a word used for fishing: ‘to sweep the waters.’ See note on S. 4. 37.
237.tibi decies:] ‘Decies centena millia sestertium’: ten hundred thousand sestertii, not much under nine thousand pounds. (See S. i. 3. 15.)
239.Filius Aesopi] Æsopus, the actor, amassed great wealth. The name of his son who inherited it was Clodius, which was the father’s name, given him perhaps as a freedman of some one belonging to the Clodia gens. Cæcilia Metella was the wife of P. Cornelius Lentulus Spinther, and was divorced by himB. C.45, in consequence of her intrigues, chiefly with Dolabella, Cicero’s son in law, of whose profligacy Æsop’s son appears to have been a partner. The mad freak of Clodius is also (as is better known) related of Cleopatra. Æsopus, the actor, was not less extravagant than his son, see below, v. 245, n.
243.Quinti progenies Arri,] Of the father enough has been said above (ver. 86, n.). Of the sons nothing is known.
245.Luscinias] The second syllable is long; the third coalesces with the last (see i. 7. 30, n). A dish of nightingales would cost a large sum and afford little meat. Pliny mentions that Æsopus, the actor (see above, v. 239, n.), on one occasion had a dish of singing and talking birds, each of which cost 6,000 sestertii, and the whole dish 100,000, on which Pliny remarks, the man was worthy of his son, who melted the pearl and drank it.—‘Impenso’ is nowhere else used absolutely for ‘impenso pretio,’ which is a common expression for a high price.
246.Sanin creta, an carbone notandi?] The distinction of days by white and black marks has been mentioned, C. i. 36. 10, n. Horace here applies them to the distinction of character. The meaning of the sentence is, ‘Arethey as men of sound mind to be marked with a white mark, or (as unsound) with a black?’ ‘Sanin’ is a contraction of ‘sanine.’ ‘Quorsum abeant?’ ‘what is to become of them? are they to be marked, &c.?’
248.Ludere par impar,] A game fit only for children, in which one person guessed whether the number of things another person held in his hand was odd or even. The Greeks had the same game, and called it ἀρτιάζειν. Stertinius goes on to speak of the man of pleasure, whose madness is no less than that of the covetous, the ambitious, or the spendthrift. With the last he is closely allied.
250.ratio esse evincet] See above, v. 225. He says, “If reason convinces you that all these symptoms of madness are no worse than whining after women, is it not better to repent and lay aside such things?”
251.trimus Quale prius] Such a game as you used to play at formerly, when you were but three years old.
254.Mutatus Polemon?] Polemon was a youth given to pleasures and bad company. Passing the Academy with a garland on his head, and with a band of riotous companions, while Xenocrates was lecturing, he burst into the school, but was so struck with what he heard, that, having gone in a thoughtless profligate, he came out serious and quite converted. He succeeded Xenocrates at the head of the Academy (B. C.315). Xenocrates himself, whose purity of life and sobriety of character are referred to in the word ‘impransi,’ became the head of the Platonic school on the resignation of Speusippus (B. C.339). He was the disciple of Plato, and accompanied him on his travels.
255.Fasciolas, cubital, focalia,] These are all articles of dress, worn only by women, or by men who took great care of their person. ‘Fasciola’ was a bandage for the legs, ‘cubital’ a sleeve for the arm, ‘focale’ a bandage for the throat. ‘Impransus’ stands for ‘sobrius,’ because it was not usual for abstemious men to take the midday meal (‘prandium’). ‘Furtim’ is a happy touch of Horace’s. It expresses the shame of the young man, and his instinctive reverence for the philosopher and the place he was in, better than many sentences could have done. ‘Correptus’ means ‘arrested, conscience-smitten.’
258.Porrigis irato puero] The caprices of a spoilt child are no worse than those of lovers squabbling and making it up again.
259.Sume, catelle!] Such diminutives were expressions of endearment. There is a collection of such in a scene of Plautus (Asin. iii. 3. 76):
“Dic igitur me passerculum, gallinam, coturnicem,Agnellum, haedillum me tuum dic esse vel vitellum”;
and ver. 103:
“Dic igitur me anaticulam, columbam, vel catellum,Hirundinem, monedulam, passerculum putillum.”
260.agit ubi secum] With such a scene as this the Eunuchus of Terence opens, and a good deal is taken word for word from that scene. The lover’s indecision is represented elsewhere, in Epod. xi. 19, sqq.
270.nihilo plus explicet] ‘Explico’ signifies to gain a point or serve a purpose. There is a like use of this word in Cæsar (B. G. viii. 4): “Explicandae rei frumentariae causa.” It is also used in a peculiar sense in C. iv. 9. 44, where see note.
272.Picenis excerpens semina pomis] The orchards of Picenum, the district that lay between the country of the Sabines and the Hadriatic, appear to have been celebrated. In the next Satire (ver. 70) Picenian apples are said to be superior to those of Tibur, and they are mentioned many years later by Juvenal (xi. 74). The sport here alluded to is thus explained. Lovers were wont to take the pips of apples between their finger and thumb and shoot them up to the ceiling, and if they struck it, their wish would be accomplished. Some such games are common in our own nurseries.
273.si cameram percusti] ‘Camera,’ which is from the Greek καμάρα, and is sometimes spelt with an ‘a,’ was an arched ceiling, as ‘lacunar’ was flat. The latter was so called from panels with raised sides, and so having each the appearance of a ‘lacus’ or shallow reservoir, into which the ceiling was sometimes divided. It was common in rich houses for the ceiling to be richly ornamented. See C. ii. 18. 2. ‘Laquear’ is another form of ‘lacunar.’ Horace also uses the expression ‘laqueata tecta’ (C. ii. 16. 12), which is found in other writers.
penes te es?] This seems to correspond to the Greek ἐν ἑαυτῷ εἶναι, for a man in his right mind, or it may mean to ask if the man is ‘suo jure,’ which one who was ‘furiosus’ would not be.
274.cum balba feris] ‘You strike your lisping words against your old palate’ which means that he talks in a silly, childish way.
275.Adde cruorem Stultitiae] But childish nonsense is not the worst of this madness. Add bloodshed to folly and run into the most violent excesses of passion, and you will not do more than such lusts commonly lead to. Such is the Stoic’s meaning. ‘Ignem gladio scrutare’ is a translation of a Greek saying, πῦρ μαχαίρᾳ σκαλεύειν, ‘to stir the fire with the sword,’ which is attributed to Pythagoras. To stir the fire of lust with the sword, is to stir up strife and bloodshed in the indulgence of your lusts.
276.Modo, inquam, Hellade percussa] ‘To take a late instance,’ seems to be the meaning of ‘modo’. The story here referred to was probably well known at the time, but of the actors in it we know nothing.
278.Cerritus fuit, an commotae] ‘Cerritus’ means ‘mad,’ but its derivation is uncertain. ‘Commotus’ is used for different degrees of mental excitement. See v. 209, where the meaning is the same as here. Agrippina, who was of a hasty temper, is called ‘commotior’ by Tacitus (Ann. i. 33). ‘Cognata vocabula’ means words which may differ in sound, but are one in sense.
281.Libertinus erat,] The next folly noticed is superstition. Stertinius tells, by way of illustration, a story of an old ‘libertinus,’ who went from shrine to shrine erected in the ‘compita,’ spots where two or more streets met, praying to the Lares Compitales (for whom altars were built in such places, see above, v. 26, n.) that they would grant him immortality. This he did early in the morning, quite sober, and with hands washed, as became a serious worshipper. Now this man was sound in hearing and sight, but, says Stertinius, if his former master had ever wanted to part with him, in putting him up for sale he would have cautioned purchasers that he was not in his right mind, unless he wanted to get into an action to rescind the bargain on the ground of fraud. It was necessary for a person selling a slave to inform the buyer of any bodily or mental defect in him. To wash the hands and feet before offering prayer or sacrifice was a custom with the Greeks and Romans. Hector says (Il. vi. 266):
Χερσὶ δ᾽ ἀνίπτοισιν Διῒ λείβειν αἴθοπα οἶνονἍζομαι.
283.surpite] See C. i. 36. 8.
287.in gente Meneni.] Of Menenius nothing is known. ‘Meneniae stultitiae’ or ‘ineptiae’ is spoken of as a proverb.
289.cubantis,] See note on S. i. 9. 18. ‘Illo die’ may mean ‘die Jovis.’ The Jews fasted on Thursdays and Mondays (“I fast twice in the week,” Luke xvii. 12), in commemoration, it is said, of the ascent of Moses into the Mount on the fifth day of the week, and of his return on the second. The practices of the Jews were the best illustrations of superstition in the eyes of Horace and men of the world, and their fast is here perhaps alluded to. See note on S. i. 9. 69. On special occasions fasts were ordered at Rome. The vow made by the mother for her sick child is, that, if he recovers, he shallstand naked in the Tiber, to wash away his sins. This is intended to represent another foreign superstition, as the Romans held it, that of bathing the body in token of the purifying of the soul.
295.Quone malo] See S. i. 10. 21 on ‘quone.’ ‘Timor deorum’ is equivalent to δεισιδαιμονία in its usual sense of superstition. ‘Deorum metus’ expresses a right fear or reverence of the gods. But the distinction was not invariably observed.
296.sapientum octavus,] That is, he might take his place with the seven wise men of Greece.
297.ne compellarer inultus.] ‘Compellare’ is sometimes used absolutely and in a bad sense, that is to abuse, as here.
299.Respicere ignoto] This refers to Æsop’s fable of the two wallets, which is told, with its moral, in five lines by Phædrus (iv. 10):
“Peras imposuit Jupiter nobis duas:Propriis repletam vitiis post tergum dedit,Alienis ante pectus suspendit gravem.Hac re videre nostra mala non possumus;Alii simul delinquunt, censores sumus.”
300.sic vendas omnia pluris,] On ‘sic’ see C. i. 3. 1, n. ‘Pluris’ is simply put for ‘magno.’ Horace quietly hints to Damasippus that he had better leave off philosophy and return to his trade, in which he wishes him all success.
303.Agave] How she and the other Mænads tore her son Pentheus to pieces for intruding upon the orgies, is related at length by Ovid. (Met. iii. 701, sqq.)
308.Aedificas, hoc est,] ‘You are building, which is as much as to say, you, who are a dwarf two feet high, are aping the airs of a giant; and yet you laugh at Turbo (a gladiator of great courage, but small stature), swelling with a spirit too big for his little body.’ Horace may have been making some additions to his Sabine house, and about this time Mæcenas built his large house on the Esquiliæ. (See S. i. 8, Introduction.)
312.verum est] δίκαιόν ἐστι; ‘is it right?’ Compare Cæsar, B. G. iv. 8: “Neque verum esse qui suos fines tueri non potuerint alienos occupare.” See also Livy iii. 40.
313.Tantum dissimilem] A similar construction occurs immediately below (ver. 317), ‘tantum magna.’ ‘Multum similis’ (S. ii. 5. 92), ‘multum dissimilis’ (Epp. i. 10. 3), are like phrases. ‘Tanto’ is the dative governed by ‘certare.’
314.Absentis ranae] This fable is told by Phædrus (i. 24).
318.Major dimidio. Num tanto?] ‘Greater by half,’ is a way of speaking which must not be taken literally. By ‘num tanto’ the frog means to ask whether the calf was so much bigger than her natural size as, by puffing, she had made herself. ‘Is it so much bigger?’ she says, blowing herself out to proportions much greater than her own.
320.abludit] This word occurs nowhere else. It means to be out of harmony with.
322.sanus] See A. P. 296: “Excludit sanos Helicone poëtas Democritus.” There is not much consistency in Damasippus urging Horace to write at the beginning of the Satire, and calling him mad for doing so at the end of it.
323.horrendam rabiem.] This charge against himself need not be taken seriously. We have no reason to believe Horace was an ill-tempered man. He laments the facility of his temper on one occasion. (S. i. 9. 11.) But he says he is irritable. (Epp. i. 20. 25.)
Cultum majorem censu.] ‘Your living beyond your income.’ Horace tries to stop him, but the man goes on with one instance of his folly after another.
324.Teneas, — tuis te.] ‘Mind your own business.’
326.O major tandem] The scene winds up with a pretended deprecation of the severe truths of Damasippus, to whom the poet submits as the greater madman of the two, and humbles himself before him accordingly.
SATIRE IV.
ThisSatire is an essay on good living, put in the form of precepts delivered to Horace at second hand by one Catius, who professes to have received them from some sage more learned in the art, whom he does not name. Horace meets him accidentally, as he is hurrying away from the Professor’s lecture, to think over what he had learnt, and to store it in his mind. Catius recites what he has heard, from memory or from notes, and enters without preface upon the question of the first course. The Professor may be supposed to have carried his hearers through an entire dinner, “ab ovo usque ad mala” (see S. i. 3. 6, n.). Catius only gives the heads of the lecture and one or two of the sage’s reflections. The precepts he delivers inflame Horace with a desire to see and hear the great man himself, and he prays Catius to introduce him. It may be that Horace had some third person in his eye, but we have no means of knowing who it was. If it be so, there were those, no doubt, who would understand the allusion at the time. As to the man Catius himself, he appears to have been a well known follower of the Epicurean school, but he must have been dead many years before this Satire was written. Probably, therefore, Horace only introduces his name as a handle for ridiculing the Epicureans.
1.Unde et quo Catius?] On Catius, see Introduction. On the formula, see S. i. 9. 62, n.
2.Ponere signa] The ancients practiced methods for helping the memory. The first ‘memoria technica’ was said by tradition to have been invented by Simonides of Ceos. ‘Signa’ were more technically called ‘imagines,’ objects which the person arranged so that his mind’s eye could rest upon them, and thus assist his memory. ‘Ponere signa’ seems also to have been commonly used in this sense.
3.Anytique reum] Anytus was one of the three (Meletus and Lycon were his associates) who got up and conducted the prosecution of Socrates.
4.tempore laevo] See above, S. ii. 1. 18: “Nisi dextro tempore Flacci Verba,” etc.
6.Quod si] Horace apologizes for interrupting and detaining him; but, he says, if he should thereby forget any part of his lesson for a moment, he will presently recover it, he has such a wonderful memory, either by nature or art, or both.
11.celabitur auctor.] See Introduction.
12.Longa quibus facies ovis erit] On ‘ova,’ see S. i. 3. 6, n. ‘Succus’ here is equivalent to ‘sapor.’ Why Horace should make Catius say that long eggs were more white than round ones, or what is gained by the whiteness of an egg, or by its containing a male rather than a female chicken, is not clear. He puts any nonsense, it appears, into the man’s mouth. ‘Ponere’ is to put upon the table, as ‘posito pavone’ (S. ii. 2. 23). The notion that from long eggs cocks were hatched, and from round, hens, appears to have been a vulgar error. ‘Callosa’ signifies ‘tough,’ and belongs in sense, though not in construction, to the yolk.
15.Caule suburbano] Artificial streams and fishponds were commonly introduced into the gardens of rich people. Hence Catius says the vegetablesgrown in the suburbs were not so pleasant as those grown in the country on drier soil; meaning that they were insipid, from the quantity of water they imbibed.
17.vespertinus subito te oppresserit] On ‘vespertinus,’ see Epod. xvi. 51; ‘opprimere’ is to overtake or come upon one suddenly.
18.malum responset] ‘Responsare’ is used by Horace several times in the sense of resistance. See below, S. 7. 85: “Responsare cupidinibus, contemnere honores”; and Epp. i. 1. 68. ‘Malum responset’ means ‘it disagrees with.’
19.vivam mixto mersare Falerno;] ‘Mixto’ means mixed with water.
20.Pratensibus optima fungis] He says the ‘fungi’ that grew in the open meadows were more to be trusted than others,—that is, those which grew in the shade. Truffles and different kinds of mushrooms were much eaten by the Romans, as they are still by the Italians. Of the latter there were and are great varieties. The mushroom most highly esteemed was the boletus, which was cultivated in gardens, and kept for the eating of the rich. But all such fungi had to be chosen with great care. Even the boletus served to carry off an emperor.
24.Aufidius] This may be M. Aufidius, who was remarkable as having been the first at Rome who bred and fattened peacocks for sale, and derived a large profit (as much as 600,000 sesterces a year) from that trade. As to the composition of ‘mulsum,’ see note on S. ii. 2. 15, n. Falernian wine, which Horace appears to have esteemed next to Cæcuban, is here called ‘forte,’ and elsewhere ‘severum’ and ‘ardens’ (C. i. 27. 9; ii. 11. 19). It was a very strong spirituous wine, and required long keeping to become mellow.
27.morabitur] This may have been a medical word for costiveness. ‘Mitulus,’ the limpet, was an inferior sort of shell-fish. The Greeks called it τελλίνη or ξιφύδριον. The ‘lapathus’ is mentioned above as a purgative (Epod. ii. 57, n.). ‘Brevis’ refers to the size of the plant.
30.Lubrica nascentes implent] That shell-fish were best at the time of the new moon, appears to have been generally believed among the ancients. They had many fancies respecting the influence of the moon on various objects, in which, however, modern ignorance and superstition have perhaps surpassed them. But in respect to shell-fish, modern observation is in conformity with that of the ancients.
32.Murice Baiano] This shell-fish, from which a purple dye was obtained, was found, it seems, in great abundance at Baiæ. It would seem not to have been as useful for the table as for its dye. The ‘peloris,’ which was found in the Lacus Lucrinus, close to Baiæ, appears to have been an insipid fish, though Catius says it is better than the murex. The rival oyster-beds were in the Lacus Lucrinus and at Circeii, the opposite point of the bay which is terminated by the promontory of that name, in Latium, and the promontory of Misenum, in Campania. Catius gives the preference to the oysters of Circeii, which Pliny also says were unsurpassed (xxxii. 21). See note on Epod. ii. 49. The best oysters, however, were found at Brundisium on the other coast, whence the spawn was carried to stock the beds on the coast of Campania and Latium.
34.Pectinibus patulis] The shell-fish called ‘pecten,’ it seems, was found in greatest perfection at Tarentum. From the epithet ‘patulis’ it must have been one of the bivalved sort.
molle Tarentum.] The degenerate character of the Tarentines, which gained their city the epithets ‘molle,’ ‘imbelle’ (Epp. i. 7. 45), dates from the death of Archytas, about the middle of the fourth centuryB. C.Among other symptoms of this degeneracy, it is recorded that their calendar contained more festivals than there were days in the year. For full two hundred years(some make it much more) before the above period, they had flourished, above all the colonies of Magna Græcia, in arms and commerce.
36.exacta] For this meaning of ‘exigere,’ ‘to investigate,’ see Forcell. under ‘exigo’ and ‘exactus.’
37.cara pisces avertere mensa] ‘Mensa’ means the fishmonger’s board, which is called dear, instead of the fish exposed on it. ‘Avertere’ is ‘to carry off.’ Compare Virgil (Aen. x. 78): “Arva aliena jugo premere atque avertere praedas.” It is commonly used with ‘praeda,’ as in Cæsar, B. C. iii. 59: “Praedam omnem domum avertebant.” It may be applied humorously in this sense here, the man making a booty of the fish he loved. On ‘pisces patinarii’ (‘quibus jus est aptius’) and ‘assi,’ see note on S. i. 3. 81.
39.Languidus in cubitum] Catius says it is of no use for a man to buy expensive fish, if he does not know how to dress them; that is, which should be served up with sauce, and which, when fried, will tempt the guest, after he has laid himself down tired of eating, to raise himself on his elbow, and begin eating again.
41.Curvat aper] On ‘aper,’ see above, S. 3. 234.
43.Vinea submittit] He says, without much sense, as it would seem, that the flesh of wild deer fed in vineyards is not always eatable. The ‘caprea’ was a mountain goat, chamois, or some one of the deer kind. ‘Submittit’ is equivalent to ‘suppeditat,’ ‘supplies.’ See C. iv. 4. 63: “Monstrumve submisere Colchi.”
44.Fecundae leporis] ‘Lepus’ is of common gender. A modern epicure would not choose the shoulder of a hare as the most delicate part. It is so distinguished again, S. 8. 89.
51.Massica si caelo suppones] The wine in the amphora required clearing, before it could be drunk. One way of effecting this appears to have been exposing the vessel for some time to the open air, which process also took off some of its strength. Catius mentions the yolk of pigeons’ eggs as another means of precipitating the lees of the wine. White of egg was a more usual agent. Pliny mentions sulphur; several insoluble materials, such as pounded shells, gypsum, chalk, milk, etc., were used for the same purpose. But the commonest way was to strain the wine either through a ‘saccus,’ a bag of fine linen (which was apt to hurt the flavour), or through a metal sieve, ‘colum,’ these being in the hot weather filled with snow.
53.odor nervis inimicus;] This means what we call thebouquet, which helped the wine in its intoxicating effects upon the brain. With the inferior wines various aromatics were frequently introduced, for the purpose of giving them an agreeable perfume.
58.Tostis marcentem squillis] When the guest gets surfeited, or drinks so much he cannot digest any more, his appetite is to be tempted with fried shrimps and snails, of which the best sort came from the coast of Africa, and were called ‘Solitanae,’ the derivation of which name is uncertain; also with bacon and sausages. The lettuce, Catius says, ought not to be taken for this purpose, because it does not settle on the stomach when it is irritated. ‘Lactuca’ was commonly eaten at the ‘gustatorium,’ as an incentive to the appetite. Catius says the cloyed stomach would rather (‘malit’) have any coarse dish, brought in from the cook-shop, to stimulate it, than lettuce after drinking wine, which was a different thing from taking it before dinner.
61.Flagitat immorsus refici:] ‘Immorsus’ agrees with ‘stomachus,’ and signifies stimulated, ‘pervulsus,’ as “qualia lassum pervellunt stomachum” (S. 8. 9).
62.immundis fervent allata popinis.] The ‘popinae’ were the lowest sort of eating houses, where meat was cooked and usually eaten on the premises, but sometimes sent out. They were the same as the Greek καπηλεῖα. Theywere a lower sort of ‘cauponae’ (see S. i. 5. 2, n.). Their keepers, ‘popae,’ were, as might be expected, usually persons of no credit. The shops were dirty, and the company very low. Compare Epp. i. 14. 21. There were great numbers of these shops about the city. They were also called ‘thermopolia,’ because there the Romans drank hot spiced wine and water, ‘calda.’
63.duplicis pernoscere juris] Catius goes on to describe the sauces, of which there are two kinds; one which he calls simple, but which was not entirely so, being made of sweet olive-oil mixed with rich wine and ‘muria,’ which is but ‘garum,’ made from certain shell-fish (S. 8. 53). There was a composite sauce which was made up of the above boiled with chopped herbs, with a sprinkling of saffron, and, when it had stood to cool, the finest olive-oil of Venafrum (C. ii. 6. 16, n.).
66.Byzantia putuit orca.] The ‘thynnus’ from which the best ‘garum’ was made was found best in the neighborhood of Byzantium (Pliny ix. 20). ‘Orca’ is a jar used for preserving sauces and pickles. As to the form ‘putuit,’ see S. 3. 194, n. The ‘crocus’ of Mons Corycus in Cilicia appears to have been most celebrated. ‘Stetit’ means ‘has ceased to boil.’
69.Venafranae] See C. ii. 6. 16, n.
70.Picenis cedunt pomis Tiburtia] The apples of Tibur and Picenum have been referred to before (C. i. 7. 14; S. ii. 3. 272).
71.Venucula convenit ollis:] It is not known whence this grape derives its name. The word is variously spelt. Grapes were dried and preserved in jars for the winter. For drying in this way, Catius says the grape of the Alban hills is best. His opinion is not supported by any extant authority, as it is in the other instance.
73.Hanc ego cum malis,] Catius says he was the first to introduce Albanian raisins at the second course, and likewise ‘faex’ and ‘allec,’ two pickles, or two names for the same, being the lees of the ‘muria’ (v. 63, n.). Catius also claims the merit of introducing little dishes containing a mixture of salt and white pepper. The object of all this, as well as the pickles, was to promote thirst, and add to the pleasure of drinking after dinner. White pepper is milder than black. It is made by blanching the finer grains of the black, and taking off the rind. The ancients must have got their pepper from the East Indies. The best is grown on the Malabar coast.
75.Incretum] This comes from ‘incerno,’ ‘to sift,’ or ‘incernendo spargere’ (Forcell.), ‘to scatter with a sieve’ or ‘incerniculum.’ It therefore means that the pepper was sprinkled over the salt. ‘Catillus’ is a diminutive form of ‘catinus.’
76.millia terna macello] 3,000 sesterces (upwards of £26) for a dish of fish is a large sum, but not perhaps exaggerated. Larger sums were given for dainties. As to ‘macellum,’ see S. 3. 229, n. By ‘vagos pisces’ he means that it is a shame to confine in a narrow compass animals that have had the freedom and range of the seas. The liberty of the bird is expressed by the same epithet in C. iv. 4. 2.
79.calicem] The slave handing a drinking cup (‘calix’) to a guest, just after he had been gathering and licking up the remains of the dishes, would leave the marks of his fingers upon it, and this would turn the stomachs of the company, who would also be disgusted if they saw dirt upon the ‘cratera’ in which the wine and the water were mixed. The ‘calix’ was the same as the Greek κύλιξ. Its shapes and sizes and materials all varied very much. There were wooden and earthen-ware ‘calices,’ and others of common glass, and others of greater value of colored glass; but those that were most valued of all were the ‘crystallina,’ of a pure and highly transparent crystal glass. The colored glass cups came principally from Alexandria. The Romans were curious in collecting old vessels for their table (‘veteres craterae’), as observed before (S. 3. 21, n.).
81.Vilibus in scopis,] ‘Scopae’ were besoms for sweeping the floors, walls, and furniture of a room, usually made of the branches of the wild myrtle or tamarisk. The palm seems also to have been used. ‘Mappae’ here mean towels or dusters to clean the furniture and walls. ‘Scobe’ is sawdust, with which the floors were strewed. It was sometimes highly scented.
83.Ten lapides varios] ‘Tene?’ is it for such as you? ‘Tene decet?’ The floors in the houses of the rich were laid with slabs of marble and mosaic-work, and marble slabs were also introduced in the walls, though paintings were more common. ‘Torus’ meant properly a round pillow, as is shown by its root ‘ter’ (which appears in ‘tornus,’ ‘torqueo,’ etc.; see C. i. 1. 28, n.), and ‘toralia’ probably means coverings for the cushions, which were put over the rich ‘stragulae vestes’ (see last Satire, v. 118, n.), as we put chintz coverings over our furniture when it is not in use, or on ordinary occasions. Inviting his friend Torquatus to dinner, Horace tells him he will take care “ne turpe toral, ne sordida mappa Corruget nares.” (Epp. i. 5. 22.)
85.Oblitum quanto] Catius says that the neglect of those matters which cost little money and attention is more reprehensible than the absence of furniture, which the rich only can afford. The case he supposes is that of a man who combines dirt with finery, slovenliness with ostentation.
88.Docte Cati,] Catius, having brought his discourse to an end with an exhortation upon decency and order, Horace entreats him, wherever it is he goes to get such lessons he will take him with him, that he may drink wisdom at the fountain-head. Catius, he says, no doubt repeats accurately what he has heard, but such precepts would be more highly commended by the aspect, bearing, voice, etc. of the teacher himself.
94.fontes ut adire remotos] Horace here parodies Lucretius (i. 926): “Juvat integros accedere fontes atque haurire.”
SATIRE V.
Inthis Satire, which has a good deal of humor in it, Horace takes up the practice of will-hunting, of which, as of many other degrading vices that afterwards pervaded Roman society, he saw only the beginning. Describing the rage for making money in Epp. i. 1. 77, he says:
“Pars hominum gestit conducere publica: sunt quiCrustis et pomis viduas venentur avarasExcipiantque senes quos in vivaria mittant.”
The practice was sufficiently common in Cicero’s time, and Pliny connects it with the growth of wealth, and the time when money began to be the instrument of ambition and the measure of respectability; that is, he dates its birth from the decline of the Republic.
Homer (Odyss. xi.) makes Ulysses go down to Hades and there meet Teiresias, the Theban prophet, who tells him of the hardships that awaited him in his journey home, where however in the end he is destined to arrive. Horace supposes a continuation of the interview, and makes Ulysses ask the soothsayer how he is to repair his fortunes when he gets home, and finds his property wasted by his wife’s suitors, as the prophet told him it would be (see note on v. 6). Teiresias, though he implies that the cunning Ulysses would be at no loss in such a matter if he once got home, gives him his advice, which is to lay himself out for pleasing old men and women of fortune, and getting named in their wills, for which he lays down a few ordinary rules: of these, a persevering and coarse servility is the chief. Ulysses appears in as low a character as he can,—an apt disciple, ready to be the shadow of a slave, and to prostitute his chaste Penelope if need be. TheUlysses of all poets after Homer is a contemptible personage, and it must be said in favor of Horace that Penelope, whose character in the Odyssey is feminine and pure, is by later writers represented as less chaste than Homer has drawn her. Those who only know her as the virtuous wife and mother, will not easily forgive the coarse allusions to her in this Satire.
3.Quid rides?] These words are spoken by Ulysses. Teiresias may be supposed to smile at Ulysses for asking advice in a matter in which his own craftiness would help him better than any counsel he could receive. The prophet’s answer means, that, when he gets back to his home, his wits will soon teach him how to repair his fortune. ‘Jamne’ means, ‘what, now I have told you that you will get home?’
6.te vate,] See Hom. Odyss. xi. 110. The dialogue is supposed to be a continuation of that which Homer relates, and takes place in Hades. See Introduction.
7.apotheca] See C. iii. 8. 11, n.
9.missis ambagibus,] The ‘ambages’ were Ulysses’ fine words about birth and merit, and Teiresias perhaps means, ‘Since you will have my advice, let us waste no words, but begin.’
10.Turdus] This bird, the fieldfare, if well fattened, was considered a great delicacy by the Romans. In Epp. i. 15. 40, the glutton Mænius pronounces that there is nothing better than one of these birds, “obeso nil melius turdo”; and the host at Beneventum produced a dish of them in honor of his visitors, but they were poor things, and he did not know how to dress them (S. i. 5. 72). The fieldfare is still reckoned a delicate bird. ‘Privum’ means for your own private eating.
14.Ante Larem] The first fruits were offered to the Lares. See Tibull. i. 1. 13:
“Et quodcunque mihi pomum novus educat annusLibatum agricolae ponitur ante deo.”
No divinity was dearer to a Roman than his Lares, whose images stood in his hall, who reminded him of his departed ancestors, and whom he invoked and sacrificed to every day at his meals (see C. iv. 5. 34).
15.sine gente,] Suppose him to be a ‘libertinus,’ and in former days to have run away from his master, in which case he would be branded on the forehead, and the shame of attending him would be greater. He would also be ‘sine gente,’ that is, he would belong to no ‘gens,’ if he were a freedman or the descendant of a freedman.
17.Tu comes exterior] Teiresias advises that, if the rich man should call upon him to attend him when he walks abroad, he should never refuse to go, taking the least honorable place, which was by his patron’s side, and usually between him and the road. The expressions ‘tegere latus,’ ‘claudere latus,’ were common, and meant to take that side which was most exposed.
18.Utne tegam] This is a short way of saying ‘hortarisne me ut tegam?’ ‘Damae’ is used generally as a common name of slaves (see S. i. 6. 38). ‘Spurcus’ is a word Lucilius used, as in that verse quoted by Cicero (Tusc. ii. 17), “Ergo hoc poterit ‘Samnis spurcus homo vita illa dignus locoque?’”
20.hoc] When Teiresias tells him he must be content to be poor, or do as he bids him, Ulysses consents to the degradation rather than incur the poverty, and makes a merit of doing so: he will bear the disgrace with his usual magnanimity. The hero’s language is a parody of that which Homer puts into his mouth (Odyss. xx. 18):
τέτλαθι δὴ, κραδίη· καὶ κύντερον ἄλλο ποτ᾽ ἔτλης.
And v. 223:
ἤδη γὰρ μάλα πόλλ᾽ ἔπαθον καὶ πόλλ᾽ ἐμόγησαΚύμασι καὶ πολέμῳ· μετὰ καὶ τόδε τοῖσι γενέσθω.
22.Divitias aerisque ruam] ‘Ruere’ is ‘to get together.’ Virgil uses the word in a similar sense (Georg. i. 105), “cumulosque ruunt male pinguis arenae.”
27.olim,] See C. ii. 10. 17, n. On ‘ultro,’ C. iv. 4. 51; on ‘vocet in jus,’ S. i. 9. 74, n.
32.Quinte, puta, aut Publi,] These names would be given a slave at his manumission.
38.Pelliculam curare jube;] This diminutive is frequently used without any particular force. The expression is like that in Ep. i. 2. 29:
“In cute curanda plus aequo operata juventus”;
and 4. 15:
“Me pinguem et nitidum bene curata cute vises,Cum ridere voles Epicuri de grege porcum.”
‘Corpus curare’ is a common phrase, and Horace has “genium curare” (C. iii. 17. 15, n.).
— fi cognitor; ipse] ‘Cognitor’ means an attorney, one who is authorized to appear for another, either in maintaining or defending an action. He was appointed by and looked upon as the principal, and he was liable as such. The obsequiousness of the will-hunter was not to be deterred by such a responsibility. Horace says: “Become his cognitor, and let him go home, while you yourself persevere, and hold out for him, whatever the weather may be.”
39.seu rubra Canicula] He means in the height of summer or the depth of winter. The 41st verse, with the substitution of Furius for Juppiter is taken from Bibaculus; respecting whom, see S. i. 10. 36, n. Whether the other expressions are so, or whether they are only a parody of his style, or taken from some other poet, we cannot tell. The epithet ‘rubra’ for the dog-star, and ‘infantes’ as an ornamental epithet to express the speechlessness of the statues, are sufficiently absurd, and the hyperbole is not in good taste; there is vulgarity likewise in ‘conspuet.’ ‘Omaso’ signifies tripe, a vulgar dish even among the Romans. (See Epp. i. 15. 34.)
44.Plures adnabunt thunni] The tunny-fish is found in large shoals at particular seasons on either shore of the Mediterranean, into which it comes from the Atlantic to deposit its spawn. Vast quantities were and still are caught and salted. ‘Cetaria’ were artificial preserves, into which the fish were attracted and then taken. Salting-houses were built hard by. ‘Thunni’ here is put for the rich fools who would be caught by the servility of the fortune-hunter.
46.sublatus] This sense of ‘tollere,’ to educate, bring up, is said to be taken from the practice of fathers taking up in their arms immediately after their birth such of their children as they wished to be reared, while the others they left to be exposed. See Terence (Heaut. iv. 1. 13):
“So.Meministin’ me esse gravidam, et mihi te maximo opere edicereSi puellam parerem nolle tolli?”“Ch.Scio quid feceris,Sustulisti.”
It is not to be supposed that the exposure of children, or infanticide in any form, was lawful at Rome; but it is probable that it was practiced to some extent even in late times.
47.Caelibis] ‘Caelebs’ is applied to a widower as well as a bachelor. ‘Nudare’ Horace uses in this sense of ‘exposing’ in S. 8. 73.
48.ut et scribare secundus Heres] Wills were not necessarily written, though latterly they generally were so, and in that case it was usually on tablets of wax; hence below (v. 54) ‘cera’ is used as synonymous with ‘tabula.’ When a man made his will, he commonly named a ‘secundus heres,’ or more than one, who would succeed to the ‘hereditas,’ if the first‘heres’ or ‘heredes’ refused it, or had become disqualified, or had failed to express his or their intention of accepting it within a time named in the will. These were called ‘substituti.’ He might also, if he pleased, make provision, in the case of naming his children his ‘heredes,’ that, if they died ‘impuberes,’ another person or persons named by him should get the ‘hereditas.’ This was called ‘pupillaris substitutio,’ and may be referred to by Horace in this place. ‘Vacua hereditas’ was a common legal term for an ‘hereditas’ made void by any of the above reasons, or any other.
49.puerum egerit Orco,] There is a little mock pathos in this. ‘Ago,’ with the dative, is not a prose construction. See C. i. 24. 18: “Nigro compulerit gregi.”
53.ut limis rapias] ‘Oculis’ is understood after ‘limis,’ ‘with eye askance.’ The advice given is, that, if the testator should give the man his will to read, he should affect indifference and put it from him, taking care first to get a side-glance at its contents, and see if his name appears in the next line after the testator’s. A will was commonly written on three pages, which were called severally ‘prima,’ ‘secunda,’ and ‘ima cera,’ ‘cera’ being equivalent to ‘tabula,’ the will being usually written on wax tablets. The testator’s name appeared in the first line of the first page, and after his came those of the ‘heredes.’ In the last page appeared the names of all but the ‘primi heredes,’ (that is, the ‘legatarii’ and ‘substituti,’ see note on v. 48,) together with the general provisions of the will. ‘Solus heres’ would be called ‘heres ex asse’; if there were several ‘heredes,’ they would be ‘heres ex dodrante,’ ‘ex quadrante,’ etc., according to the proportion of the estate devised to each, which was described by the different divisions of the as.
55.Plerumque recoctus Scriba ex quinqueviro] ‘Plerumque’ is used by Horace in the sense of ‘interdum’ here and elsewhere. (See A. P. v. 14 and 95.) The ‘scribae,’ of whom an example occurs above (S. i. 5. 35), were clerks in public offices. These places were often got by purchase, and the ‘scriba’ received public pay. Nevertheless the ‘quinqueviri’ appear from this passage to have ranked lower than the ‘scribae.’ They were officers appointed to relieve the other magistrates at night of the charge of the city. These were the permanent ‘quinqueviri’; but extraordinary commissions of five were often appointed for various purposes. (See Dict. Antt.) ‘Recoctus’ seems to mean that he had been a ‘quinquevir’ and was now a ‘scriba,’ the ‘re’ in ‘recoctus’ having no particular force. Teiresias means to say that Coranus, who had got into a situation in which he had acquired a good deal of money and some knowledge of business, was too wide awake to be caught in the snare, saw through the attentions of the fortune-hunter, and laughed at him. The ‘corvus hians’ is perhaps taken from Æsop’s fable of the fox and crow, copied by Phædrus (i. 13).
57.Captator] This word, and ‘captare’ above (v. 23), are commonly used for legacy-hunters. We know nothing more of the actors in this story, Nasica and Coranus, but it appears likely they were living persons, and the case well known.
58.Num furis?] Ulysses does not understand him, and asks if he is frenzied, as prophets were when inspired.
59.aut erit aut non:] This is a pompous way of stating a truism, put, by way of keeping up the humor of the scene, into the prophet’s mouth.
62.juvenis] See C. i. 2. 41, n. By his adoption into the Julia gens, Augustus claimed direct descent from Æneas. The Romans attached much importance to the legend which derived their origin from the Trojans. See C. iii. 3, Introduction. On ‘genus,’ see C. i. 3. 27, n.
64.forti nubet procera Corano] These epithets and the whole opening of the speech are mock-heroic, and adapted to the character of the speaker. Nasica owed money to Coranus, and gave him his handsome daughter byway of discharging the debt and getting an interest in his son-in-law’s will. Coranus understands him, and begs him to read his will. He coquets with the proposal just as Teiresias advises his hearer to do, but allows his modesty to be overcome, and on reading it through in silence finds no legacy left to himself or his family. As to ‘plorare,’ see S. i. 10. 91.
65.metuentis reddere soldum.] On ‘metuo,’ see C. ii. 2. 7. He had neither power nor will to pay. ‘Solidum’ means the entire debt, including principal and interest. The contracted form is used before (S. i. 2. 111).
67.orabit;] The rich man is maliciously bent on seeing the disappointment of his father-in-law.
73.vincit longe prius] ‘It is better by a great deal first to take the head by storm.’
77.tam frugi] ‘Discreet’ is the nearest English word perhaps corresponding to ‘frugi,’ and σώφρων in Greek.
79.magnum donandi parca] The suitors are once only mentioned as offering presents to Penelope, and their value was not great. (Odyss. xviii. 290, sqq.) They were offered in consequence of the taunts of Penelope herself. It is likely Horace had this passage in mind.
80.studiosa culinae.] This corresponds with Homer’s description. See, among other places, Odyss. ii. 55.
84.anus improba Thebis] ‘Improba’ means ‘sly,’ which we too call ‘wicked.’ See S. i. 9. 73.
87.Scilicet elabi si posset] ‘Of course it was to see whether she could escape from him when dead,’ or ‘in hopes that she might.’ We are to suppose she had made it a condition in her will, that, if he did not carry her without letting her drop, he was to forfeit the inheritance. It is a strange story, perhaps taken from some mimus or farce. ‘Scilicet’ is in reality a verb, and signifies ‘you may know,’ ‘you may be sure.’
89.neve — abundes.] ‘Don’t overdo it.’
90.ultro; Non etiam sileas.] ‘Garrulus ultro’ means one who speaks much before he is spoken to. On ‘ultro’ see C. iv. 4. 51, n. It is a difficult word to translate, and seems awkwardly placed here. As to ‘non’ for ‘ne,’ compare Epp. i. 18. 72; and A. P. 460.
91.Davus sis comicus] Horace has introduced a Davus in this respectful attitude in S. 7 of this book: ‘Jamdudum auscultans et cupiens tibi dicere servus Pauca reformido.’
92.Stes capite obstipo.] ‘Obstipo’ means stiff, unbending, or bent downwards, with the eyes fixed on the ground. As to ‘multum similis,’ see S. i. 3. 57, n.
93.Obsequio grassare;] ‘Grassor’ is a frequentative form of ‘gradior,’ and signifies to go on, advance. The expression in the text is like ‘grassari dolo’ (Tac. Hist. iv. 16), and other like phrases. Livy and Tacitus use the word often.
95.aurem substringe loquaci.] ‘Stringo’ means to grasp in the hand; ‘aurem substringe’ therefore may mean to hold up the ear, as we commonly do when we wish to catch every word that is said. He was to pay the strictest attention to the old man, let him be as garrulous as he would.
96.donec Ohe jam!] If he is fond of flattery, ply him with it till even he is forced to cry, ‘Hold, enough!’ and blow him up with your fulsome breath like a bladder. Though the old man might say he had had enough, he was not to be taken at his word, but plied still harder, for he never could have too much. ‘Importunus’ is one who does not easily rest, is not soon satisfied. The expression ‘Ohe jam satis’ is common. See S. i. 5. 12.
100.Et certum vigilans,] Compare Ovid, Heroid. x. 9:
“Incertum vigilans, a somno languida, moviThesea pressuras semisupina manus”;
‘Certum vigilans’ means ‘wide awake,’ not confusedly, as those who are half asleep.
— Quartae sit partis] The ‘heres’ of one fourth of the property would be ‘ex quadrante’ or ‘ex teruncio.’ (See note on v. 53, above.) The formula in wills was such as this: “Sola mihi uxor heres esto,” “Sempronius ex parte dimidia heres esto.”
101.Dama] See v. 18, n. He is to throw in now and then (‘sparge subinde’) a whine for the dear man that is gone, and squeeze out a tear if he possibly can.
102.Unde mihi tam fortem] This abrupt and elliptical way of speaking occurs again below (S. 7. 116): “Unde mihi lapidem? Quorsum est opus? Unde sagittas?” ‘Parabo’ may be understood, or some such word.
103.est] This is equivalent to ἔξεστι.
105.Permissam arbitrio] A sum of money was generally named in the will for the funeral expenses. Sometimes they appear to have been left expressly to the judgment and liberality of the ‘heres’ or ‘heredes,’ as here. But if no mention was made of this subject in the will, or if a man died intestate, those who succeeded to the property were bound to provide all that was decent for his interment. As to ‘funus,’ see note on S. i. 6. 43. See C. i. 9. 9: “Permitte divis caetera.”
108.seu fundi sive domus sit Emptor,] ‘Fundus’ is a landed estate together with the buildings upon it. ‘Domus,’ therefore, which is opposed to ‘fundus’ here, and in Epp. i. 2. 47, may mean a town-house. The advice is, that if one of the man’s ‘coheredes,’ who is old, and by a bad cough shows he is near his end, expresses a wish to have an estate or house which forms part of his share, he should declare himself delighted to make it over to him for a nominal price, a single ‘sestertius.’ This would be a bold game, but he might hope that such generosity on his part would be remembered in the sick man’s will.
109.addicere.] This is a legal term used in selling, “and signifies the declaration of him who sells as to the transfer of the thing to the buyer.” (Long, Verr. ii. 2. 32.) It was used in private bargains as here, and at public auctions it was the word used for declaring who was the purchaser.
SATIRE VI.
Inthis Satire, Horace dwells upon the inconveniences of a town life and the delights of the country, the former as connected with the importunity of people asking for his influence with Mæcenas, or for information upon public affairs of which he knows nothing, though they will not believe it. The subject is illustrated by the story of a town and a country mouse. The town mouse visits the country mouse, and, taunting him with his seclusion, tempts him to accompany him to town, and then entertains him at a rich man’s table. But the servants, coming in suddenly at daybreak, frighten them both out of their wits, and the country mouse goes home again, resolving to keep to his own quiet hole in the fields, and try the town no more.
1.non ita magnus,] Compare with these lines C. iii. 16. 29, sqq. ‘Modus’ is used for any quantity.
2.jugis aquae fons] ‘Jugis’ belongs to ‘aquae.’ It signifies running water, and a good spring of this would be of great value to the property.
3.super his] ‘Besides these.’ In this sense, ‘super’ usually governs the accusative. ‘Super’ is used absolutely in this sense of ‘more,’ as in Epod. i. 31. “Satis superque me benignitas tua Ditavit,” which passage may becompared with what follows: “auctius atque Di melius fecere.” ‘Bene est’ occurs in C. iii. 16. 43, and is familiar in the formulaS. V. B. E. V.(si vales bene est; valeo), which the Romans prefixed to their letters.
5.Maia nate,] Respecting Mercury, the god of luck and gain, the protector of poets, and of Horace in particular, see S. ii. 3. 68; C. ii. 7. 13; ii. 17. 29. ‘Proprius’ signifies ‘permanent,’ see S. 2. 129, n. As to the form ‘faxim,’ see S. ii. 3. 38, n.
7.vitio culpave] ‘Culpa’ is often used by the law-writers in the sense of ‘negligence.’ ‘Vitium’ appears to mean a defect of the nature, ‘culpa’ of the conduct.
8.Si veneror stultus nihil horum:] As to ‘veneror,’ ‘to pray for,’ see C. S. 49. This passage has been imitated by Persius (S. ii. 9). ‘Denormare’ is ‘to disfigure,’ ‘norma’ being the rule by which carpenters or masons keep their work straight. ‘Mercenarius’ is a free laborer who works for pay.