thought to favour the conjecture that the same epithet ingentes, has already in this satire been applied to carved images of the gods. But so it is likewise to living men, as at the end of the fifth satire ; and the mention made by Suetonius of the tall men hired by Caligula to personate German captives, rather makes for the other interpretation, to which (it being a matter of no great consequence) I have adhered in my translation. 48, 50. So Hor. B. 2. S. III. 85. Gladiatorum dare centum Damnati populo paria, atque epulum. 51, 52. The commentators in general take exossatus in the sense of having the stones picked off,' that is, in a good state of cultivation, and this on the strength of what? why merely of one of Ovid's nonsensical conceits in which he calls stones the bones of mother earth. They cannot however adduce any passage from any author, where the term exossatus is applied in a similar way. Lucretius uses the word (B. IV. 1265) in the sense of exhausted, debilitated, quasi medulla exsucta. I therefore after much doubt and deliberation understand the passage thus: Non adeo, inquis: " I refuse (you answer) to enter on the inheritance." The word adeo, with hareditatem annexed or implied, is a law term, and may be found in Cicero's oration for Archias. Exossatus ager: "Your land (or your fortune) will soon be wholly exhausted, if you pro ceed at this rate." The poet then answers: Juxta est age si mihi nulla, &c. that is, "Come then, suppose I have no relation near me, or ready at hand, to whom I may leave my fortune, why I can go to Boville and I shall soon find some beggar there who will be glad to become my heir." What has puzzled the commentators so much is their having separated Juxta est from what follows, for which I can see no reason whatever. Such is the best sense which I can make of this obscure passage, and I feel a considerable portion of confidence that the sense which I have adopted is the true one. But to avoid obscurity in my translation, I have t indulged in a little expansion. After all, I must address my author in the words of Edipus to Tiresias, Ὡς παντ ̓ ἄγαν γ ̓ αινικτα κάσαφη λεγεις ! 55. Bovillæ is the name of a village on the Appian road, eleven miles from Rome. Clivum Virbî: This hill of Virbius was four miles from Rome on the same road. Hills were in Persius's time, as well as now, a favourite stand for beggars, the necessity under which travellers lie of going slowly up an ascent being no small advantage to the petitioners. As to the origin of the name Virbius, see Virgil's Æn. VII. 765. and his commentators. 56. Manius was a name appropriate to the most miserable order of beggars, (whence the proverb, Multi Manii Aricia) and corresponding to Mavns in Greek. This is made evident from the following epigram or rather epitaph. Μανης οὗτος άνηρ ἦν ζων ποτε· νυν δε τεθνηκως Ἰσον Δαρειῳ τῳ μεγαλῳ δυναται. 1 lived a Manius; but, since here I lie, 57. Progenies terræ. A man of obscure birth is called terræ filius. So Cic. Ep. ad. Att. says: Et huic terra filio nescio cui committere epistolam tantis de rebus non audebam. 60. This line is certainly explained aright by Koenig, and it is surprising that no commentator or translator hit upon the sense before him. "If," says Persius, "you ascend in a direct line from my grandfather to my great-grandfather, and so on, you will arrive at last at some son of earth, and thus Manius, being his brother and born of the same parent, will turn out to be nearly my greatuncle." The conceit is somewhat puerile and jejune; but I have not thought myself at liberty on that account to reject it in my translation. Juvenal has a similar joke; Malim fraterculus esse Gigantis. IV. 98. 61. Cur me in decursu lampada poscas? A proverbial allusion to the torch-races of the Greeks, the nature of which does not seem to be very accurately ascertained. According to the old scholiast, it was a custom at Athens, when young men ran these races, for him who first reached the goal to hold up a torch, and deliver it to him that came in next, who in like manner transferred it to his follower, and so on. Lucretius alludes to the same custom, when he says, Et quasi cursores, vitaï lampada tradunt. 65. Quicquid id est. So Ter. Hecyr. Act 3. sc. 5. Quicquid id est quod reliquit, profuit. 69. Unge, puer, caules. gere si caules oleo meliore, &c. So Hor. B. II. S. III. 125. Un 71. Anseris extis. The liver of a goose which had been stuffed and fattened with milk, figs, &c. and which liver in consequence swelled to an immense size, was considered a great dainty among the Romans. 73. Trama, the woof. Hence the French word Trame, and perhaps our own Trammel. 77. Cappadocia was famous for producing good slaves. Mancipiis locuples eget æris Cappadocum rex.-Hor. Plausisse, to pat upon the back. So Ovid in his story of Europa and the bull, corpora dat plaudenda manu. And Virgil, giving precepts how to train the charger, says that he must learn plausa sonitum cervicis amare. 78. This passage is imitated by Juvenal XIV. 316. to the end. 80. Chrysippe, tui put for Chrysippei, says Casaubon. Persius has a similar instance of quick transition of address, in Sat. I.— Te, Lupe! te, Mucî! this Gesner's account of the Sorites or Logic Pile of Chrysippus is : "The Sorites is a fallacious mode of arguing, founded on the uncertainty of what constitutes a heap. Thus, do three grains make a heap? No. Do four? No. &c. case of all vague words, which denote not any absolute and cer It is applicable in the tain measure, but what is only relatively much or little. Thus, Is he rich who has six hundred pounds a year ar? Is he learned who knows so and so? In like manner Horace reasons, Is that author an ancient who lived a hundred years ago? are ninety-nine years enough? are ninety-eight? In all such cases it is difficult to draw the limiting line exactly." See his note on Hor. B. 2. Ep. I. 47. where by the bye the poet applies the rationem ruentis acervi with the happiest effect. |