12.amico Hercule!] Though Hercules was especially a Grecian hero, and was in no way connected historically with the Romans, he was held by them in high esteem. He was associated with Mercury in various ways, among others as the god of gain, as he is here. There are representations of the two gods in one, which combined form is called Ἑρμηρακλῆς, and appears to have been very common. The notion seems to be that of combining strength and cunning.
13.quod adest] See C. iii. 29. 32: “Quod adest memento Componere aequus.” It is an adaptation of the Greek τὸ παρóν. ‘Gratum juvat’ may either mean ‘satisfies me, for I am grateful,’ or ‘is welcome and satisfies me.’
16.in montes et in arcem] See C. iii. 4. 21. By ‘arcem’ he means his house on the Sabine hills. (See C. ii. 7. 21.)
17.Quid prius illustrem] ‘What subject should I take in preference to this’? that is, the country to which he retires. On ‘pedestri,’ see C. ii. 12. 9, n.
18.plumbeus Auster] The south-wind is so called, as depressing the energies and spirits. The epithet is very expressive, ‘the leaden south.’ Compare C. ii. 14. 15; iii. 23. 8; Epp. i. 7. 5. Auster and Notus are not distinguished by the poets. They are invariably represented as bringing heavy rains. “Quid cogitet humidus Auster” (Georg. i. 462).
19.Libitinae quaestus acerbae.] The goddess Libitina was one of the oldest Roman divinities. She presided over funerals and all things pertaining to the dead. There were kept in her temple all manner of things required at funerals, where the undertakers (hence called Libitinarii) might purchase or hire them. Also a register of funerals was kept in the temple, and when they were registered a fee was paid. From both the above sources the temple would derive increased revenues in a season of great mortality. Horace twice uses the name of Libitina as equivalent to Mors. See C. iii. 30. 6, and Epp. ii. 1. 49; and Juvenal does the same (S. iv. 122): “Nam si Libitinam evaserit aeger Delebit Tabulas.”
20.Matutine pater,] Janus was a Latin divinity, and one of the oldest. As he presided over the opening year, so he did also over the beginning of every month and of every day. Sacrifices were offered to him on the first of every month, as well as of his own (January), and prayer in the morning of every day. Hence he is called ‘Matutinus pater’, and hence he is confounded with the Sun. ‘Pater’ was the title by which he was commonly addressed, and the two words were sometimes joined thus ‘Januspater.’ See Epp. i. 16. 59. He was worshipped before the other gods, because he was the medium through whom men got access to the others (Ovid, Fast. i. 171). ‘Jane’ is put in the vocative case by a sort of attraction. (See C. ii. 20. 6, n.) ‘Audire,’ in the sense of ‘appellari,’ ἀκούειν, occurs again in S.7. 101; Epp. i. 7. 37, and 16. 17. The word is not commonly used in this sense except with ‘bene’ or ‘male.’
21.Unde] ‘From whom’ (C. i. 12. 17).
23.sponsorem me rapis.] ‘Sponsor’ was one who became security for another under the form of contract called ‘verborum obligatio,’ the contract taking place by question and answer, ‘ex interrogatione et responsione.’ One asked the other, “Dari spondes?” and he answered, “Spondeo.” The principals were called ‘stipulator,’ he who asked the question; and ‘promissor,’ he who answered. The sponsor was said ‘intercedere,’ and to him the same question was put, to which he returned the same answer. This explains ‘respondeat’ in v. 24, and “quod mi obsit clare certumque locuto,” v. 27. He answers “spondeo” in a clear, distinct voice, and becomes liable, possibly to his great detriment. The words, ‘Eja, ne prior,’ etc., Horace means for Janus, to whom he attributes the prompting of his zeal.
26.Interiore diem gyro trahit,] The notion is that of the heavenly bodies moving round a centre, in a series of orbits of which the diameters gradually diminish, and in the winter solstice traversing the innermost and shortest circle.
29.improbus urget Iratis precibus;] ‘Improbus’ means here ‘hot-tempered,’ and ‘precibus’ curses, as in Epod. v. 86. ‘Tu pulses’ is an angry way of speaking, ‘Are you the man to knock down everything in your way?’ as in the next Satire (v. 40). There is sarcasm in ‘memori,’ as if he was not likely to forget his duty to the great man. He says he feels an inward pleasure at the testimony thus borne to his intimacy with Mæcenas. ‘Si recurras’ means in the hopes of getting back, to see if you can get back. See S. 5. 87, n.
32.atras — Esquilias] See S. i. 8, Introduction. The former character of the place is expressed by ‘atras,’ gloomy. He says, that as soon as he gets near Mæcenas’s house he begins to remember a hundred different commissions entrusted to him by his acquaintance. They flit about him like a swarm of gnats, or anything else that is teasing.
35.Roscius orabat] Roscius may be anybody. It appears he had pressed Horace to meet him next day at the Puteal Libonis. This was some sort of building in the Forum Romanum, erected by one of the Scribonia gens, and therefore called ‘Scribonianum.’ The place or its neighbourhood was the resort of money lenders. It was probably an enclosed place, open at the top, and took its name from the stone enclosures built round wells, ‘putei.’ What Roscius wanted with Horace at this place is not certain. It is said that near the ‘puteal’ the prætor held his court, and that he wanted Horace to attend as his sponsor. But the prætor’s court did not open till the third hour.
36.De re communi scribae] The ‘scribae’ were classed in ‘decuriae,’ and were a numerous body. They formed a guild or company, and though they were employed in different branches of the public service, they had interests in common, and must have held meetings to discuss questions that concerned their body. As Horace had belonged to them, and was now known to have a good deal of influence, they wished him to attend their meeting on some particular occasion; so at least he puts it.
38.Imprimat his cura] While Augustus was absent in and after his last war with Antonius, Mæcenas, at first singly and afterwards in conjunction with M. Agrippa, was deputed to exercise those powers, in the city and in Italy, which Augustus himself would have exercised if he had been there (see Epod. 1, Introduction). The ‘tabellae’ of the text may have been a ‘diploma,’ so called from its consisting of two leaves, by which privileges of some sort were to be granted. ‘Signum’ expressed any work sculptured or engraved. Here it signifies a seal, which was usually set in the form of aring. The practice of kings delivering their rings to those whom they deputed to represent their own authority, is of the highest antiquity. Pharaoh delivered his ring to Joseph, and Ahasuerus to Mordecai.
40.Septimus octavo propior] Horace was introduced to Mæcenas about the beginning of the yearB. C.38, and this Satire was writtenB. C.30.
42.quem tollere rheda] ‘Rheda’ is the name for a travelling carriage. The shape probably varied, but it appears to have gone upon four wheels, and to have been, sometimes at least, of capacious size, since Juvenal mentions a whole family travelling in one ‘rheda’ (S. iii. 10). The only other four-wheeled carriage we read of, is the ‘petorritum,’ mentioned above (S. i. 6. 104, n.). There were public ‘rhedae’ on the great roads, for the benefit of travellers, and Horace and his friends performed part of their journey to Brundisium in these conveyances (S. i. 5. 86), and it appears from his language, ‘hinc rapimur,’ that they went pretty fast.
44.Thrax est Gallina Syro par?] ‘Thraces,’ ‘secutores,’ and ‘retiarii,’ were three different kinds of gladiators. The first had their name from being armed like the Thracians, with a short sword and round shield, from which they were sometimes called ‘parmularii.’ Gallina was one of these, Syrus was probably one of another sort. Mæcenas is supposed to ask Horace, among other trifling questions, whether he has seen the famous gladiators, and which is the better of the two.
45.mordent:] ‘Mordere’ is said of both heat and cold. See Epp. i. 8. 5. ‘Rimosa’ does not occur in any such sense as this elsewhere. We use ‘leaky’ in the same way.
48.noster.] This is a familiar way of expressing ‘myself.’ As to the construction of the next sentence, see S. i. 1. 45. ‘Luserat’ refers to ball-play. ‘Fortunae filius’ was a conventional phrase. Sophocles uses it (Oed. Tyr. 1080), ἐγὼ δ᾽ ἐμαυτὸν παῖδα τῆς τύχης νέμων.
50.Frigidus a Rostris] Suppose some bad news has been published in the Forum and been circulated in the streets. The ‘rostra,’ which Niebuhr (i. 406, n.) describes as “a stage of considerable length, with steps at each end of it,” originally separated the comitium, where the patricians met, from the space where the plebeian assemblies were held, which was properly the Forum, though that name was popularly applied to the whole. Here persons of all ranks met, and from this centre reports would naturally take their rise, and then get disseminated in the city. The ‘rostra’ had its plural name from the beaks of vessels taken from the people of Antium (Liv. viii. 14), with which the stage was ornamented. As to the ‘compita,’ see note on S. ii. 3. 25.
53.Dacis] The Daci helped M. Antonius at Actium,B. C.31, and the following year M. Crassus was sent against them.
55.Triquetra] The veterans who fought at Actium, having been sent back to Italy, were discontented, and broke out into mutiny because they had no reward. Augustus came from Asia to quell this mutiny, and gave money to some of the soldiers, and to others he distributed lands in those parts that had been favorable to Antonius. ‘Triquetra’ signifies triangular, and is a name for the island of Sicily, called also Trinacria, from its three promontories. Cæsar describes Britain also as “insula triquetra” (B. G. v. 13).
57.unum Scilicet — mortalem] The Greeks use εἷς ἀνήρ in this way, to express a superlative.
62.Ducere] ‘To quaff the cup of oblivion.’ See C. iii. 3. 34, n., Epod. 14. 3., and Aen. vi. 714.
63.faba Pythagorae cognata] The popular notion was, that Pythagoras had taught his disciples to abstain, as from meat, so from beans, which class of vegetables he connected somehow or other with the human species, in his doctrine of metempsychosis. They were therefore forbidden fare to his disciples,under the fanciful notion that in eating them they might be devouring their own flesh and blood. Hence the expression ‘cognata,’ and this is the allusion in Epp. i. 12. 21: “seu porrum et caepe trucidas.” As to Horace’s vegetable meals, see S. i. 6. 115.
66.Ante Larem proprium] See note on Epod. ii. 66. ‘Libatis dapibus’ means that the master and his friends (‘meique’) dined lightly, and left the greater part of the dishes to his slaves. The master, in this instance, as well as his slaves, dined in the ‘atrium,’ where the images of the Lares were placed. ‘Libare’ is to touch lightly. See Aen. v. 91: “inter pateras et levia pocula serpens Libavitque dapes.” The distribution of the remains of the dinner to the slaves was a matter of course.
69.Legibus insanis,] See S. 2. 123, n. One of the strictest laws of a banquet directed by a presiding symposiarch, would have reference to the regulation of the quantity of wine to be drunk by each guest at each round. Horace’s notion of liberty here is to be able to drink as much or as little as he pleased, which is expressed by ‘inaequales calices.’
70.uvescit] ‘Uvescere’ does not occur elsewhere, but it corresponds with Horace’s word ‘uvidus,’ C. ii. 19. 18, and iv. 5. 39.
72.Nec male necne Lepos saltet;] Lepos was a ‘pantomimus’ who was so named from the grace with which he performed his part, as the name implies. The business of the ‘mimi,’ as of the ‘mimae,’ was to recite poetry, as well as to act parts in the farces that bore the same name (S. i. 10. 6, n.). The word ‘saltare’ was applied to all pantomimic acting, and the motion of the limbs in dumb show. See S. i. 5. 63, where Messius calls upon Sarmentus to act Polyphemus,—“Pastorem saltaret uti Cyclopa rogabat,” where ‘saltaret’ is equivalent to ‘movetur’ in “Nunc Satyrum nunc pastorem Cyclopa movetur” (Epp. ii. 2. 125).
75.usus rectumne] Cicero makes Lælius indignantly deny the doctrine that makes utility the foundation of friendship, and he says, with much truth and delicacy, “non enim tam utilitas parta per amicum quam amici amor ipse delectat” (Lael. c. xiv.). There is more in the same strain in c. viii., where he makes virtue the basis of friendship.
76.natura boni summumque] This subject is discussed at large in Cicero’s treatise ‘De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum,’ and was a commonplace in Horace’s day, as it has been in all ages. ‘Summum’ represents the Greek τέλος, ‘the end proposed’.
77.Cervius] This was an old neighbor of Horace’s. There is not the smallest clew to his history or to that of Arellius, who, however, must have been a rich man and careful about his money.
79.Olim] ‘Once upon a time’: a common way of beginning a story that does not profess to be true.
82.attentus] This is a common word for what we should call ‘close.’ See Epp. i. 7. 91; ii. 1. 172. ‘Ut tamen’ means ‘ita tamen ut.’ Compare S. 7. 4.
84.nec longae invidit avenae,] This construction is Greek: φθονεῖν τινί τινος. The Latin construction is with the accusative and dative, as S. i. 6. 49; Epp. i. 14. 41. The ‘avena’ here is the cultivated oat, and ‘longae’ describes the size of its grain. The wild-oat Virgil distinguishes from this by the epithet ‘sterilis’ (G. i. 153), and couples it with the ‘lolium,’ or tare, with which the host on this occasion satisfied himself.
87.male] This goes with ‘tangentis,’ and is equivalent to ‘vix.’
89.Esset ador] See C. iv. 4. 41, n.
93.mihi crede,] These words are parenthetical, as Ovid (Am. ii. 2. 9): “Si sapis, o custos, odium, mihi crede, mereri Desine.” The language that follows is very like that of Hercules in the Alcestis of Euripides (782, sqq.):
βροτοῖς ἅπασι κατθανεῖν ὀφείλεται,κοὔκ ἐστι θνητῶν ὅστις ἐξεπίσταταιτὴν αὔριον μέλλουσαν εἰ βιώσεται. ——ταῦτ᾽ οὖν ἀκούσας καὶ μαθὼν ἐμοῦ πάραεὔφραινε σαυτὸν, πῖνε, τὸν καθ᾽ ἡμέρανβίον λογίζου σὸν, τὰ δ᾽ ἄλλα τῆς τύχης.
98.pepulere] This is used absolutely in the sense of ‘movere.’
100.nocturni] See C. i. 2. 45, n.
103.canderet vestis eburnos,] On the ‘stragula vestis,’ see S. 3. 118, n. The sides of the couches were sometimes veneered with ivory. Fire is said ‘candere,’ and the flaming drapery of the bed is here described by the same word, which is not applied in this sense elsewhere. ‘Fercula’ was the name for the different courses, of which the ‘coena’ usually consisted of three, called ‘prima,’ ‘secunda,’ ‘tertia coena.’ The word, like ‘feretrum,’ contains the root ‘fer’ of ‘fero,’ and so its first meaning may have been the tray or dish on which the viands were brought. It here means the viands themselves; ‘many courses were left,’ would mean nothing. ‘Procul’ signifies ‘hard by,’ as in Epp. i. 7. 32. The remains of the evening’s ‘coena’ had been collected and put into baskets, and left in the ‘triclinium’ till the morning, and the purple coverings were still exposed, waiting till the servants should cover them (S. 4. 84, n.).
107.veluti succintus] ‘Like one tucked up,’ as the slaves when on duty. (See S. i. 5. 5, n.) The duties of the ‘structor’ are those the host is here represented as performing. It was his province to arrange the dishes, and see that they were properly served up. He runs about, puts one course after another on the table (‘continuatque dapes’), and tastes the dishes, to see if they are properly seasoned. ‘Praegustatores’ were regularly employed only at the tables of the emperors. The custom was imitated from Eastern courts. (See Xenoph. Cyrop. i. 8. 9.)
112.Valvarum strepitus] The servants, coming in early to clean the room, interrupt the banqueters, and rouse the watch-dogs, whose barking terrifies them still further. There was a dog, or more than one, kept in most houses, in the ‘cella ostiarii,’ the porter’s chamber at the side of the ‘ostium.’ ‘Conclave’ is the general term for any chamber or suit of chambers under one lock or bolt. As to Molossis, see Epod. vi. 5.
SATIRE VII.
Thesubstance of this Satire Horace puts into the mouth of his slave Davus, giving him liberty to express himself as he pleases, on the day of the Saturnalia, when much license was granted to slaves in particular. Davus takes advantage of the permission given him to abuse his master, and to taunt the rich with a slavery (to their passions and to the world) harder and more stupid than his own. He also taunts Horace with his instability and weakness of purpose, which part of the Satire is the most natural and amusing (see note on v. 23). The rest contains a great deal that is disagreeable, and much that is commonplace. It may perhaps represent the habit of talking trash, under the name of philosophy, which those who pretended to be of the Stoic school had established, and the humor would be more perceptible to a Roman of the day than it is now.
1.Jamdudum ausculto] We may suppose Horace has been talking to a friend upon subjects that have attracted his slave’s attention, and give rise tothe points he argues. Or he may have been giving Davus some good advice, and he offers him a homily in return, recommending him to practise what he preaches.
3.Mancipium] This word, which properly signifies the act of taking possession, ‘manu capiendo,’ is applied here to the ‘res mancipi,’ the object of ‘mancipium,’ which, in this instance, is a slave. It is so used in Epp. i. 6. 39. As to ‘frugi,’ see S. 5. 77, n.
4.Ut vitale putes.] ‘That you need not think him too good to live’ (S. 6. 82). As to the Saturnalia, see S. 3. 5, n. The month of December was dedicated to Saturnus. Horace speaks of the license of that festival being a custom handed down from their ancestors. The time of its institution is quite unknown.
6.Pars hominum] Davus avails himself, without preface, of his master’s permission, and begins to moralize on the instability of some men, who never know their own minds. This character he applies to his master in v. 23, sqq.
9.Cum tribus annellis,] This is mentioned as a large number. In later times the Romans wore a great profusion of rings on both hands. At this time they were only worn on the left, because they were more likely to be injured, and to be in the way, on the right hand. Priscus was a senator, and therefore entitled to wear a gold ring, which privilege did not descend, at this time, below the equestrian order. In later times it was conferred upon all manner of persons by the emperors. Those who were not entitled to wear rings of gold had them of iron, according to the most ancient practice; and such of the Romans of higher condition as adhered to the simplicity of earlier days continued to wear iron.
Priscus, as a senator, was entitled to go abroad with the ‘latus clavus,’ which he would do sometimes; while at others he would appear only as an ‘eques,’ with the ‘angustus clavus.’ He was rich enough to live in a fine house, and did so; but would from caprice go and take an obscure lodging, such as a poor man might be ashamed of. He put on first one character and then another: now a man about town, and now talking of going to Athens as a philosopher. He was just such an unstable person as Tigellius is described to be in S. i. 3. 18: “Nil fuit unquam Sic impar sibi.” He was “everything by turns, and nothing long.”
14.Vertumnis, quotquot sunt, natus iniquis.] Vertumnus, as his name indicates, was the god who represented change. Horace says Priscus was born when Vertumnus was angry (see S. 3. 8, n., “Iratis natus paries dis atque poëtis”), and he strengthens it by saying, ‘all the Vertumni that are to be found’; as if every image of the god were a separate divinity, and all were angry together, when this fickle man was born.
15.Scurra Volanerius,] Nothing is known of this person. He had the gout, which Horace says he richly deserved, and was so given to gambling (which was illegal, see C. iii. 24. 58, n.), that, when he could not handle the dice-box himself, he hired a boy to do it for him. ‘Phimus’ was the Greek word for what the Romans called ‘fritillus.’ From the shape it was also called ‘turricula’ or ‘pyrgus’ (πύργος). As to ‘talos,’ see S. 3. 171, n. They were not always thrown from a box, but sometimes with the hand.
19.levius miser ac prior illo,] ‘Levius miser’ is an unusual expression. ‘Prior illo’ means better off than that man who is always changing his character, one moment appearing strict, another loose, in his principles and conduct. The superiority of the man who is consistent in vice lies in his indifference to virtue, and the quietness of his conscience arising from that cause. In that sense he is better off, and less miserable, than the other.
21.Non dices hodie,] ‘Hodie’ is equivalent to ‘statim,’ ‘this moment.’ ‘Furcifer’ means a slave who for some slight offence was obliged to go about with a ‘furca’ round his neck, a sort of collar shaped like a V, in which thehands also were inserted. The master begins to see that Davus is aiming a stroke at him, and is getting angry.
23.antiquae plebis,] ‘Plebs’ has not its distinctive meaning in this place. (See C. iii. 14. 1, n.) Horace is no doubt touching his own infirmity here. He was fond of praising the simplicity of the olden time, but he was not the man to extricate himself from the degenerate habits of his own day (‘nequicquam coeno cupiens evellere plantam,’ which is taken from the Greek proverb ἐκτὸς πηλοῦ πόδα ἔχειν). He had been but lately, perhaps, writing the praises of a country life, and sighing for his farm (in the last Satire); but when there, we may believe he felt dull enough, and missed the society and elegances of the city. Whatever his ordinary fare may have been, he had no objection to the tables of the rich, and was proud to be invited to the Esquiliæ. There is much humor in this part of the Satire. He is supposed to be congratulating himself upon being suffered to dine quietly at home, when he gets an unexpected invitation from Mæcenas to a late dinner. He immediately shouts for his lantern, scolds the servants if they keep him waiting a moment, and runs off as fast as he can, leaving in the lurch some persons to whom he had promised a dinner, and who go away disappointed and muttering abuse.
33.sub lumina prima] ‘Immediately after the lighting of the lamps.’ (See Epod. ii. 44, n.) The ordinary dinner-hour was earlier (see C. i. 1. 20, n.), but Mæcenas’s occupations protracted his ‘solidus dies,’ at the end of which he was glad enough, no doubt, to get a cheerful companion, like Horace, to dine with him. ‘Blatero’ is to bawl, or more commonly to babble and talk nonsense. ‘Mulvius’ may be anybody, one of the numerous tribe of parasites. ‘Non referenda precati,’ uttering curses which the servants heard, but must not repeat. See last Satire, v. 30, “iratis precibus.”
37.dixerit ille,] Mulvius may be supposed to mutter this, as Horace goes off and leaves him without his expected dinner. ‘Nasum nidore supinor,’ ‘I snuff up my nose at the smell of a good dinner.’ ‘Nidor’ means ‘nidor culinae,’ as in Juv. v. 162: “Captum te nidore suae putat ille culinae.”
39.si quid vis adde popino.] ‘Popino’ is not a common word. It means an idle, dissolute fellow, a frequenter of ‘popinae,’ cook shops. (See above, S. 4. 62, n.)
40.Tu — ultro Insectere] ‘Are you the man to come forward and attack?’ that is, to be the first to do it. See S. 6. 30, and C. iv. 4. 51, n.
42.Quid, si me] Davus goes on in his own person. Five hundred drachmæ, reckoning the drachma and the denarius as nearly the same value (about 8½d.), which was the case about this time, amounts to 17l.15s.of English money, and this was a small price, only given for inferior slaves. The price varied very widely, according to the beauty of the slaves (of either sex), which enhanced their value more than anything else, or according to their education, or skill in handicrafts, &c.
43.Aufer Me — terrere;] Literally, ‘Away with that frightening me.’ (See Epp. i. 7. 27, n.) It expresses alarm and haste, for Davus sees his master frowning, and lifting his hand to strike him.
45.Crispini docuit me janitor] About Crispinus, see S. i. 1. 120, n. Davus professes to have obtained at second hand, from the slave of this Stoic philosopher, the arguments he is going to propound. They are put generally, and he uses his own name; but the pronoun ‘te’ means any one. The ‘janitor,’ who was also called ‘ostiarius,’ kept the door of the house. He had a room on each side of the ‘ostium,’ which was a space between the outer and inner door. Crispinus’s janitor may be supposed to have overheard what his master had said, from time to time, to his friends, while sitting in the ‘atrium’ into which the inner door opened.
76.minor,] ἥσσων, a slave to (C. ii. 11. 11, n.).
quem ter vindicta quaterque] ‘Vindicta’ is used for the ‘festuca,’ or rod, laid upon the shoulder of a slave by the prætor, in the act of giving him his freedom. Davus says that manumission, repeated over and over again (though that involves an absurdity), could not deliver his master, as he called himself, from the bondage he was under to the world.
78.Adde super dictis] ‘Dictis’ is governed by ‘adde,’ and ‘super’ is used absolutely.
79.vicarius] The property a slave might accumulate was called his ‘peculium,’ and among the rest he might have a ‘vicarius,’ a slave to do his duty or help him in it. He was held to be ‘quasi dominus’ in relation to his ‘vicarius.’ What Davus says is, whether you choose to call the slave’s slave his ‘vicarius,’ or substitute, as your law does, or his fellow-slave (as strictly speaking he is, for, except by sufferance, a slave can hold no property independent of his master), what is my relation to you? I am your slave; you are the slave of your passions, which will pull you about as the strings pull a puppet (which the Greeks called νευρόσπαστον). The ancients carried their mechanical skill in the construction of automaton figures further, perhaps, than it has been carried since. Artists in this line were common among the Greeks, and were called νευρόσπασται, αὐτοματουργοί. It appears from Herodotus (ii. 48) that ἀγάλματα νευρόσπαστα, as he calls them, were in use among the Egyptians.
83.sibi qui imperiosus,] ‘He who has control over himself.’ Before Horace, no writer uses this word with a case after it.
85.Responsare cupidinibus,] ‘Responso’ is repeated in Epp. i. 1. 68. “Fortunae responsare superbae.” It seems to mean, to reply to on equal terms, and so to be a match for, and to overcome. The construction of the adjective and infinitive is common in the Odes, but not in the Satires or Epistles. See C. i. 1. 16, n.
86.in se ipso totus, teres, atque rotundus,] ‘In himself entire, smoothed, and rounded,’ that is, perfect as a sphere, and, as the next line explains, like a beautiful statue whose graces are all in itself, which is perfectly finished and polished. This is elsewhere expressed by ‘ad unguem factus homo’ (S. i. 5. 32, n.), the difference in the mode of expression being, that here it is meant there are no inequalities on the surface on which anything at all can rest. The other expression has been explained in its place. ‘In se ipso totus,’ means one who wants nothing from without to set him off, and whose resources, as well as his graces, are all in himself. The mud through which he passes as he goes through the world does not adhere to him (‘externi ne quid valeat per leve morari’); circumstances, prosperous or the reverse, do not affect his character; and, in all her assaults upon his happiness, Fortune proves but feeble, not being able to make any impression upon it. ‘Mancus’ means lame in the hand, as ‘claudus’ does in the foot. ‘Teres’ is explained in a note on C. i. 1. 28. ‘Rotundus’ is taken from the heavens, which Plato (Tim. p. 33) says the Deity σφαιροειδὲς ἐτορνεύσατο, as being most after his own image.
89.Quinque talenta] The Attic drachma of this period was worth about the same as the Roman denarius, nearly 8½d.(See above, v. 43, n.) The mina was equal to 100 drachmæ, and a talent to 60 minæ. It was worth therefore about 212l., and five talents 1,060l.The caprice of the man’s mistress is described as before, S. 3. 260, sqq.
92.Non quis;] This is the second person of ‘queo.’
95.Pausiaca torpes, insane, tabella,] Pausias was a native of Sicyon, one of the most celebrated schools of art, where there was a large collection of his pictures. Many were sold by the Sicyonian government, to pay their debts, and most of these found their way to Rome. His pictures were chiefly small, ‘tabellae,’ and among the most celebrated was the portrait of hismistress Glycera as a flower girl, Στεφανηπλόκος. He flourished about the middle of the fourth centuryB. C.‘Torpes’ is a like expression to that in S. i. 4. 28, “stupet Albius aere”, and 6. 17, “Qui stupet in titulis et imaginibus.”
96.Fulvi Rutubaeque Aut Pacideiani] These are all names of gladiators, as we may gather from the context. Pliny tells us it was the practice, when shows of gladiators were exhibited, for the exhibitor to set forth a picture of the games, to inform the public, such as we see now of conjurors, circus, and the like; and these are what Davus alludes to. They were done, no doubt, roughly, as he describes. Cicero mentions repeatedly a gladiator named Pacideianus. Horace may have taken the name for any gladiator in consequence of the celebrity of this man. ‘Contento poplite’ represents the attitude of the gladiators. The Scholiasts raise a doubt upon the point, thinking the words may apply to the spectator stretching himself on tiptoe to get a nearer view.
101.callidus audis,] See S. 6. 20, n., and 3. 23: “Callidus huic signo ponebam millia centum.”
103.coenis responsat opimis] ‘Responsat’ seems here to have the sense of ‘corresponds to,’ as ‘responsura’ in S. 8. 66. What Davus says amounts to this: ‘I am good for nothing, because I am attracted by a cake just hot from the oven; you, forsooth, are virtuous and noble, because you feast upon good things.’ So the same opposition appears in these lines as in the two before. ‘Libum’ was a coarse sort of cake made of pounded cheese, eggs, and flour, all mixed together and baked. There was another sort used in sacrifice, concerning which see Epp. i. 10. 10, n.
105.Qui tu impunitior] Persius has copied this way of speaking (v. 129):
“Sed si intus et in jecore aegroNascuntur domini, qui tu impunitior exisAtque hic quem ad strigiles scutica et metus egit herilis?”
110.Furtiva mutat strigili:] As to the construction with ‘muto,’ see C. i. 17. 2. The ‘strigil,’ which the Greeks called στλεγγίς, was a scraper of bone or metal, of a curved form and with a sharp edge, with which the skin was scraped after bathing, or exercise in the gymnasium.
112.Non horam tecum esse potes,] To a man who has no resources in himself, or is afraid of his own conscience or his own thoughts, and resorts to amusements or other means of distraction to divert his mind, these words apply. ‘Tecum habita,’ inhabit your own breast, make that your home, is a like expression of Persius, S. iv. 52.
113.fugitivus et erro,] ‘Fugitivus’ was a slave who ran away outright; ‘erro’ was an idle fellow, who skulked out of the way, to escape work or to amuse himself. There was the same distinction in the army between ‘desertor’ and ‘emansor.’ A ‘fugitivus’ was branded on the forehead, and hence he was termed ‘literatus,’ ‘notatus,’ ‘inscriptus,’ ‘stigmosus’; ‘stigma’ being the word to express the mark thus given. See above, S. 5. 15, n.
116.Unde mihi lapidem?] See above, S. 5. 102, n. Horace is supposed to get angry beyond endurance at this home-thrust of his slave, and calls out for a stone, arrows, anything, to throw at his head. The man is bewildered with fear, and thinks his master has gone mad, unless, which was as good, he was making verses. He is, or affects to be, unconscious of the license he has given himself, and the force of the truths he has been telling.
118.accedes opera agro nona] This means, ‘I will send you away to work with the other slaves (of whom therefore he appears to have had eight), at my farm.’ It was a common punishment, as it is now in slave countries, for a slave to be turned out of the ‘familia urbana,’ into the ‘familia rustica,’ and set to work in the fields. See Terence (Phorm. ii. 1. 19), where Geta looks forward to being punished in the above manner:—
“Molendum est in pistrino, vapulandum, habendae compedes,Opus ruri faciundum.”
SATIRE VIII.
ThisSatire represents a dinner given by a rich, vulgar man to Mæcenas and five of his friends. There is not so much to distinguish it in the way of humor as the subject admitted of. Few subjects present more scope for facetious satire than the airs of low-born men, lately become rich, aping the ways of the fashionable world, and making wealth their one passport into what is called good society. This is a very slight sketch, and some of the force even of this is perhaps lost through our ignorance of little points of etiquette and culinary refinements observed by the Romans of that day.
The host’s name is Nasidienus Rufus. Who he was, it is impossible to say.
Instead of telling the story himself, though it is probable from the tone of the Satire that he writes from a scene he had witnessed, Horace puts it into the mouth of his friend Fundanius, the comic writer mentioned in S. i. 10. 42, where see note.
1.Nasidieni] See Introduction. The third and fourth syllables coalesce. ‘Beati’ means wealthy and favored of fortune. See C. i. 4. 14, n.
2.here] ‘Heri’ is a dative form, ‘here’ an ablative, so we have ‘mani’ and ‘mane’ in the morning, ‘vesperi’ and ‘vespere’ in the evening. The termination in ‘i’ is the older of the two and it would seem as if the usage of the word was in a state of transition at this time.
3.De medio potare die.] Nasidienus dined early, to make the most of his feast. But ‘medio die’ need not be taken quite literally. The ‘prandium’ was usually taken at noon. The dinner-hour was later. (See C. i. 1. 20, n.) Busy men, as we saw in S. 7. 33, sat down by candle-light. ‘De medio die’ is like ‘de nocte’ in Epp. i. 2. 32, ‘media de luce,’ Epp. i. 14. 34. ‘De’ means ‘after,’ that is ‘de medio die’ means ‘after midday’; but it must note proximity to midday, or it would have no meaning at all.
4.fuerit melius.] See S. 6. 4, n. ‘I never was better off in my life.’ He says this ironically, or with reference to the amusement he had got from the vulgarity of Nasidienus.
Da, si grave non est,] There is a like use of ‘dare’ in Virgil (Ecl. i. 19), “sed tamen iste Deus qui sit da, Tityre, nobis.” Terence also uses it: “Nunc quam ob rem has partes didicerim paucis dabo” (Heaut. Prol. 10). From the meaning of this word, ‘to put,’ this application of it is easily derived.
5.iratum ventrem placaverit] Compare S. 2. 18: “Latrantem stomachum.” Both passages put together suggest the idea of a sop thrown to an angry dog to keep him quiet. Perhaps that notion, or something of the sort, suggested this line.
6.Lucanus aper;] See S. 3. 234; 4. 42, n. No mention is made of a ‘promulsis’ (S. i. 3. 6, n.), and the things of which it was usually in a great measure composed were sent up in the same dish with the boar, which was generally served whole, and was the chief dish, ‘caput coenae.’ Turnips, lettuces, radishes, parsnips, with pickles and sauces of various descriptions (see S. 4. 73, n.), generally formed part of the ‘gustus’ or ‘promulsis’ which preceded the ‘fercula,’ or courses of which the regular ‘coena’ consisted. The boar was killed, the host (called ‘coenae pater’ with a sort of mock respect) informed his guests, when the south wind was not at its worst,meaning, perhaps, that when this wind (‘scirocco’) was blowing hard, the meat would soon spoil, if he had any meaning at all. But it was probably some notion of his own.
10.His ubi sublatis] The narrator is inclined to make a short business of the viands, but he is brought back to them afterwards. The meat being removed, (and though he only mentions one course here, we may gather from what comes presently that there was no lack of dishes, and therefore, probably, there were the usual courses,) a slave, with his clothes well tucked up, ‘succinctus’ (see S. 6. 107, n.), came and wiped the table with a handsome purple towel, and another gathered up whatever had fallen or had been thrown on the floor, which at the same time he strewed with saw-dust, perhaps scented (see S. ii. 4. 81). ‘Gausape, -is’ (other forms of which are ‘gausapa,’ ‘gausape, -es,’ ‘gausapum’) was a woollen cloth of foreign manufacture. The table was of maple wood (see S. 2. 4, n.).
13.ut Attica virgo] When the litter is cleared away and the table wiped, two slaves, one from the East and named after his native river, the other a Greek, walk in with two amphoræ, one of Cæcuban, the other of Chian wine. They are represented as coming in in a solemn and stately manner, like the κανηφόροι who carried the baskets in procession at the festival of Ceres. See S. i. 3. 11, n.
15.Chium maris expers.] Salt-water was mixed with the sweet wines imported from the Greek isles. Whether Horace refers to this practice, and means that the wine had not been prepared, and was of inferior quality, or whether he means that this pretended Chian had in fact never crossed the seas, but had been concocted at home, is doubted. Orelli and most of the commentators adopt the first opinion, after the Scholiasts. I am more inclined to the latter. Compare Persius (vi. 39):
“Postquam sapere urbiCum pipere et palmis venit nostrum hoc maris expers,”
where he means a learning bred not in Greece, but at home.
18.Divitias miseras!] This exclamation is drawn from Horace by his friend’s description. It was money that had brought the man out of his proper obscurity, and caused him all the petty shifts and anxieties that wait upon the position he tried to maintain.
19.pulchre fuerit] See above, v. 4, “Nunquam In vita fuerit melius.” As to Fundanius, see Introduction. ‘Laboro’ is an amusing exaggeration, ‘I am in pain to know.’
20.Summus ego] The company consisted, as was usual, of nine persons, who reclined on three couches. These were arranged so as to form three sides of a square, with the table in the middle, the fourth end being open, as shown in the accompanying diagram.
On each couch were three persons. On the ‘summus,’ Fundanius says he himself, Viscus, and Varius reclined. On the ‘medius lectus’ were Mæcenas and the two uninvited friends he brought with him, Servilius Balatro, and Vibidius. On the middle seat of the ‘imus lectus’ lay Nasidienus, above him Nomentanus, who acted as nomenclator (see Epp. i. 6. 50, n.), and below him Porcius, another of his parasites. The place of honour was the corner-seat of the ‘medius lectus,’ and next to that, on the first seat of the ‘imus,’ was usually the place of the host. But it appears that Nasidienus resigned that place to Nomentanus, probably because he supposed him better able to entertain his guests than himself. The host usually reserved the ‘imus lectus’ for himself and his family. If they were not present, their places were usually occupied by dependents of the host (parasites), who filled up the table, and helped to flatter the host and entertain the company. This explains Epp. i. 18. 10, “imi Derisor lecti.” Sometimes these places were occupied by ‘umbrae,’ brought by the invited guests. By ‘summus ego’Fundanius means that he occupied the farthest seat on the ‘summus lectus.’ The slaves in helping the wine began from this point, and went round till they came to the ‘imus,’ or third place in the ‘imus lectus.’
Reclining Couches Showing Imus, Medius Lectus, Summus
Viscus Thurinus] See S. i. 9. 22, n.; 10. 83, n. He appears to have been a native of Thurii, in Lucania, which was made a Latin colony (B. C.195), and received the name of Copiæ. But its old name, given at its foundation by the Athenians (B. C.444), continued to be used as well as the new. Viscus was highly esteemed by Horace. As to Varius, see S. i. 5. 40, n. Nothing whatever is known of Servilius Balatro or Vibidius. The second syllable of Servilius appears from inscriptions to be long; the third, therefore, coalesces with the last. Mæcenas had taken them with him as ‘umbrae,’ which means persons taken by guests without special invitation from the host. See Epp. i. 5. 28, n.
23.super ipsum,] This means on the seat above the host (see note on v. 20). As to Nomentanus, see S. i. 1. 102. Porcius seems to have been a notorious parasite. Here he seems to be occupied chiefly about filling his own belly, while the host and his other parasite are looking after the guests and doing the honours of the table.
24.obsorbere placentas;] ‘Placentæ’ were cakes, usually sweetened with honey. See Epp. i. 10. 11.
25.Nomentanus ad hoc, qui] ‘Nomentanus was there for this purpose, that he might —.’ His business was that of nomenclator, to direct the attention of the guests to any dainties they might have overlooked, and to explain to them the mystery of each dish; for, as Fundanius says, the commonest viands were so dressed up with sauces that they could hardly be recognized, or new sorts of dishes were put on the table, such as the entrails of different fish, turbot and plaice, for instance.
26.Indice monstraret digito:] ‘Indice digito’ is the forefinger: the middlefinger was called ‘famosus.’ This name is given to it as the finger of scorn. The third finger was called ‘medicus’ or ‘medicinalis,’ for the same reason probably that got it the name ‘annularis,’ its supposed anatomical connection with the heart. By ‘cetera turba’ Fundanius means the uninitiated, Mæcenas and his party.
29.Ut vel continuo patuit,] The nature and importance of the duties of Nomentanus were shown on that occasion, when he handed Fundanius a dainty he had never tasted before, or perhaps heard of, and yet these gentlemen knew what good living was.
passeris] ‘Passer’ was a flat fish, and is generally supposed to be the plaice.
31.melimela] These were a sweet sort of rosy apple. The derivation of the name sufficiently marks their flavour. That they had a higher colour when gathered at the wane of the moon, is an invention of the nomenclator. His reasoning on the subject was so abstruse, that Fundanius does not pretend to be able to recollect it.
34.Nos nisi damnose bibimus] See Terence (Heaut. v. 4. 9):—
“Ch.At ego si me metuis mores cave esse in te istos sentiam.Cl.Quos?Ch.Si scire vis ego dicam: gerro, iners, fraus, helluo, Ganeo, damnosus.”
Vibidius means, that if this stupid dinner is to be the death of them, they had better have their revenge beforehand and drink ruinously of the host’s wine: if they do not, they will die unavenged. ‘Moriemur inulti’ is borrowed from the Epic style. See Aen. ii. 670; iv. 659.
35.Vertere pallor Tum parochi faciem] Fundanius gives two reasons why the host turned pale when he heard his guests call for larger cups: because when men have drank well they give a loose rein to their tongues, and because wine spoils the palate by destroying the delicacy of its taste. He might probably have added a third, for it seems that in the midst of his ostentation the man was a niggard. As to ‘parochi,’ see S. i. 5. 46. The host is so called as the man “qui praebet aquam” (S. i. 4. 88).
39.Invertunt Allifanis vinaria tota] Allifae was a town of Samnium. From the text we are led to suppose that cups were made there. ‘Vinaria’ is properly an adjective, and agrees with ‘vasa’ understood. It means here the ‘lagena’ or ‘amphora,’ which differed in shape, but not in use. Both were vessels either of clay, or sometimes latterly of glass, in which the wine was kept. Their contents were usually poured into a ‘crater’ for the purpose of being mixed with water. These persons helped themselves from the ‘lagena,’ and all followed their example, except the master and his two parasites (see above, v. 20). There was no ‘magister bibendi,’ and the guests drank as they pleased.
42.squillas inter muraena natantes] As to ‘squillas,’ see S. ii. 4. 58. ‘Muraena’ was a lamprey, and accounted a great delicacy by the Romans, who appear to have sometimes kept them tame. They were brought chiefly from the coast of Sicily. The prawns were swimming in sauce, the composition of which the host goes on to describe himself, as a matter of too much consequence to be left to the explanation of his nomenclator. The materials were Venafrian olive-oil (C. ii. 6. 16, n.); ‘garum,’ a sauce made of the entrails and blood of fish, and here made from the scomber, perhaps the mackerel, caught in greatest abundance off the coast of Spain; some Italian wine added while it was making, and some Chian when it was made; white pepper (see above, 4. 74, n.), and vinegar made from sour Lesbian wine (C. i. 17. 21). Of the other ingredients Nasidienus boasts of having invented two himself; one was the ‘eruca,’ which we call the rocket, and the ‘inula campana,’ ‘elecampane,’ a plant that grows in meadows and damp ground. It is used medicinally as a bitter. The last ingredient was the ‘echinus,’ a pricklyshell-fish, thrown in without being washed, for the benefit of its saline qualities; for which addition to the sauce he gives credit to one Curtillus, whoever he may have been. The superiority of the ‘echinus’ to ‘muria’ (see S. ii. 4. 65, n.) is here said to consist in the fact of the former coming fresh from the sea, and furnishing a more perfect brine.
54.aulaea] See C. iii. 29. 15, n. The host’s dissertation was brought to a sudden close by the falling of the tapestry from the ceiling, bringing down among the dishes an immense cloud of dust. The guests fancy the house is coming down, but when they find the extent of the damage, they recover themselves (‘erigimur’). Rufus (Nasidienus) was so disturbed by this untoward accident, that he put down his head and began to shed tears. Nomentanus comforts him with an apostrophe to Fortune, complaining of her caprices, the solemn hypocrisy of which makes Varius laugh so immoderately, that he is obliged to stuff his napkin into his mouth to check himself. Balatro, who has a sneer always ready (μυκτηρίζων, see S. i. 6. 5), begins a long sympathetic and flattering speech, with which Nasidienus is highly pleased and comforted under his misfortune. A brilliant thought suddenly strikes him, and he calls for his shoes and goes out, on which the guests begin to titter and to whisper to one another, not wishing to give offence, or to speak out before the parasites and the slaves (54-78).
72.agaso.] This was a groom or mule-driver, or otherwise connected with the stables. Balatro intends a sneer at the establishment, the out-door slaves being had in to wait at table and swell the number of attendants.
77.Et soleas poscit.] See S. i. 3. 127. The sandals were taken off before they sat down to dinner, for which therefore ‘soleas demere, deponere,’ were common expressions, as ‘soleas poscere’ was for getting up. The Greeks had the same custom and the same way of expressing themselves.
78.Stridere secreta] In this line an attempt seems to have been made to convey the notion of whispering by the sound of thesrepeated.
83.Ridetur fictis rerum] They pretend to be laughing at something else when Nasidienus comes in. As to ‘fictis rerum’ see C. iv. 12. 19, n. ‘Balatrone secundo’ means that Balatro played δευτεραγωνιστής, who supported the principal actor, but was not so prominent. (See Epp. i. 18. 14.) Balatro was a wit and sarcastic. He supplied jokes and the others laughed.
86.Mazonomo] This was a large round dish, properly one from which grain (μάζα) was distributed.
87.Membra gruis] Cranes became a fashionable dish with the Romans, but not till after this time, when storks were preferred (see S. 2. 50, n.).
88.jecur anseris albae] The liver of a white goose fattened on figs, the legs of a hare served up separately, as being (according to the host) better flavoured when dressed without the loins, blackbirds burnt in roasting, and wood-pigeons with the hinder parts, which were most sought after, removed (perhaps from the ignorance of the host, who thought novelty was the best recommendation of his dishes),—these composed the last ‘ferculum,’ brought in as special delicacies to make up for the late catastrophe. But the officiousness of the host destroyed the relish of his dishes, such as they were, and the guests took their revenge by tasting nothing that he put before them, and presently taking their leave.
95.Canidia afflasset] Here is this woman again, the last time we meet with her. See Epodes iii., v., and xvii., and S. i. 8.