"Let us be together," says he.-It is the sum of your wishes what more Do 20 25 many stars. Frigida, cold-because of their proximity to the north pole, which, from thence, is called Arcticus polus. See AINSW. 23. Slow Bootes:] Sive est Arctophylax, sive est piger ille Boötes. Plaustra vehunt. Ovid. MARTIAL. The epithet piger, so often applied to Bootes, may relate to the slowness of his motion round the north pole, his circuit being very small; or in reference to the slowness with which the neat-herd drives his ox-wain. VIRG. Ecl. x. 1. 19. Tardi venêre bubulci. See OVID. Met. lib. i. fab. i. l. 176, 7. Turn themselves round.] Not that they ever stand still, but they, and therefore their motion, can only be perceived in the nighttime. This constellation appearing always above the horizon, is said by the poets never to descend into the sea. Juvenal means, that Trebius would be forced out of his bed at break of day—stellis dubiis-see note on . 22. Or, perhaps, at that time, when Bootes, with his wain, would be to light him—i, e. while it was yet night: "When Charles's wain is seen to roll 24. What sort, &c.] After all the pains which you may have taken to attend this great man's levee, in order to ingratiate yourself with him, and after the great honour which you think is done you by his invitation to supper-pray how are you treated? what kind of entertainment does he give you? -Wine, &c.] Wine that is so poor, that it is not fit to soak wool, in order to prepare it for receiving the dye, or good enough to scour the grease out of new-shorn wool. See AINSW. Succidus. 25. A Corybant.] The Corybantes were priests of Cybele, and who danced about in a wild and frantic manner. So this wine was so heady, and had such an effect on the guests who drank it, as to make them frantic, and turn them, as it were, into priests of Cybele, whose mad and strange gestures they imitated, 26. They begin brawls.] Or brawls begin.-Proludo (from pro and ludo) is to flourish, as fencers do, before they begin to play in Saucius, et rnbrâ deterges vulnera mappâ: Quale coronati Thrasea, Helvidiusque bibebant, 30 good earnest-to begin, to commence. Brawls, or strifes of words, are begun by way of preludes to blows. 27. With a red napkin.] Stained with the blood of the combatants. See HOR. lib. i. Od. xxvii. 28. Troop of freedmen.] The liberti were those, who, of slaves," or bondmen, were made free: the great people had numbers of these about them, and they were very insolent and quarrelsome on these occasions. 29. Saguntine pot.] Saguntum was a city of Spain, famous for its earthen ware. This city was famous for holding out against Hannibal; rather than submit, they burnt themselves, their wives, and children. Pugnam committere, is a military term for engaging in fight, 30. He.] Ipse-the patron himself. What was racked.] Diffusum-poured, racked, or filled out, from the wine-vat into the cask. When the consul, &c.] Capillato consule-In old time, when the consuls wore long hair. AINSW. See sat. iv. 103. 31. Social wars. The civil war, or the war of the allies, sometimes called the Marsian war, (of which, see ANT. Univ. Hist. vol. xiii, p. 34.) which broke out ninety years before Christ.-So that this wine must have been very old when this satire was written, 32. Cholicky.] Cardiaco (a nagdia, cor.)-sick at heart-also one that is griped, or had a violent pain in the stomach. Good old wine is recommended by Celsus, as highly useful in such a complaint. Pliny says, lib. xxiii, c. 1. Cardiacorum morbo unicam spem in vino esse certum est. But so selfish is this great man supposed to be, that he would not spare so much as a single cup of it to save one's life. 33. From the Alban mountains.] The Alban hills bore a pleasant grape, and the vines have not yet degenerated, for the vino Albano is still in great esteem. 34. The Setine.] Setia, the city which gave name to these hills, lies not far from Terracina, in Campania. 35. Thick Mouldiness.] Multa-lit. much. See AINSW. Multus, No. 2. Wounded, and wipe wounds with a red napkin. How often, between you and a troop of freedmen, Does the battle glow, which is fought with a Saguntine pot? He drinks what was racked off when the consul wore long hair, 30 Has blotted out, by the thick mouldiness of the old cask. 35 On the birth-day of the Bruti and Cassius. Virro himself Casks which are long kept in cellars contract a mouldiness, which so overspreads the outside, as to conceal every mark and character which may have been impressed on them—as where the wine grew, and the name (titulum) by which it is distinguished. 36. Thraseus-Helvidius.] Thraseas was son-in-law to Helvidius. They were both patriots, and opposers of Nero's tyranny. Thraseas bled to death by the command of Nero-Helvidius was banished. Crowned.] The Romans in their carousals, on festival-days, wore crowns or garlands of flowers upon their heads. See HoR. lib. ii. od. vii. l. 7, 8. and 23-5. 37. Of the Bruti, &c.] In commemoration of Junius, and of Decius Brutus: the former of which expelled Tarquin the Proud; the latter delivered his country from the power of Julius Cæsar, by assassinating him in the senate-house. Cassius was also one of the conspirators and assassins of Cæsar. These men acted from a love of liberty, and therefore were remembered, especially in after-times of tyranny and oppression, with the highest honour. The best of wine was brought forth on the occasion. Virro.] The master of the feast-perhaps a fictitious name. 38. Pieces of the Heliades.] Drinking cups made of large pieces of amber. The Heliades (from nλies, the sun) were the daughters of Phoebus and Clymene, who, bewailing their Phaeton, were turned into poplar-trees of whose tears came amber, which distilled continually from their branches. See Ov. Met. lib. i. fab. ii. and iii. Inde fluunt lachrymæ: stillataque sole rigescunt De ramis electra novis: quæ lucidus amnis Excipit; et nuribus mittit gestanda Latinis. FAB. iii. Holds. Tenet-holds them in his hands when he drinks. Cups.] Phiala-means a gold cup, or beaker, to drink out of. Sometimes drinking cups, or vessels, made of glass. See AINSW. Beryl.] A sort of precious stone, cut into pieces, which were inlaid in drinking cups, here said to be inæquales, from the inequality or roughness of the outward surface, owing to the protube rances of the pieces of beryl with which it was inlaid. Virro tenet phialas: tibi non committitur aurum; Si stomachus domini fervet vinove cibove, 39. Gold is not committed.] You are looked upon in too despicable a light, to be intrusted with any thing made of gold. But if this should happen, you will be narrowly watched, as if you were suspected to be capable of stealing it. 41. Who may count, &c.] To see that none are missing. Sharp nails.] Lest you should make use of them to pick out the precious stones with which the gold cup may be inlaid. 42. A bright jasper, &c.] Præclara, very bright or clear-is commended by all that see it, for its transparency and beauty, as well as for its size, therefore you must not take it ill that Virro is so watchful over it. The jasper is a precious stone of a green colour; when large it was very valuable. 43. Virro (as many, &c.] The poet here censures the vanity and folly of the nobles, who took the gems out of their rings to ornament their drinking-cups-this, by the ut multi, seems to have been growing into a fashion. 44. Such as, in the front, &c.] Alluding to VIRG. Æn. iv. I. 261, 2. Ensis erat. Atque illi stellatus Iäspide fulvâ Virro had set in his cups such precious stones, as Æneas, whom Dido preferred as a suitor to Hiarbas, king of Getulia, had his sword decked with; among the rest, that sort of jasper, which though not yellow throughout, was sprinkled with drops of gold, which sparkled like stars, something like the appearance of the spots in the lapis lazuli. By the frons vagine, we may understand the hilt of the sword, and upper part of the scabbard; for Virgil says ensis, and Juvenal, vaginæ. 47. The Beneventane cobbler, &c.] We read in Plaut. of nasiterna, a vessel with three handles; here one is mentioned of four handles, nasorum quatuor.-Perhaps it had four ears, or spouts, which Unequal to you gold is not committed : Or if at any time it be given, a guard is fixed there, gems to his cups Who may count the gems, and observe your sharp nails : If the stomach of the master is hot with wine, or meat, Boiled [water] is sought, colder than Getic hoar-frosts. 40 45 50 Was I just now complaining that not the same wines were set before you? You drink other water. To you the cups a Getulian stood out like noses. The cobbler of Beneventum was named Vatinius, and was remarkable for a large nose, as well as for being a drunkard. Vilia sutoris calicem monumenta Vatini Accipe, sed nasus longior ille fuit. MART. lib. xiv. epigr. 96. Hence those glass cups which had four noses, handles, or spouts, which resembled so many large noses, were called calices Vatiniani: as also because they were such as he used to drink out of. 48. Shattered.] So cracked as hardly to be fit for use. Sulphur for the broken glass.] It was the custom at Rome to change away broken glass for brimstone matches. Qui pallentia sulfurata fractis And lib. x. epigr. 3. Mart. lib. i. epigr. 42, Quæ sulfurato nolit empta ramento, Vatiniorum proxeneta fractorum, &c. 49. If the stomach of the master.] i. e. Of the master of the feast the patron. If he finds any unusual heat in his stomach from what he eats or drinks. Comp. sat. iii. I. 233, 4. 50. Boiled water, &c.] Decocta.--It was an invention of Nero's to have water boiled, and then set in a glass vessel to cool, in heaps of snow, which the Romans had the art of preserving in caverns and places, like our ice-houses, in order to cool their liquors in the summer-time. Getic, &c.] The Getes were neighbours to the Scythians; their country was very cold, and their frosts exceedingly severe. 52. Other water.] While the master of the house regaled himself with this iced-water, his meaner guests had only common water to drink. 53-4. A Getulian lackey.] Not one of those delicate domestics, described 1. 56, but a low servant, a foot-boy mere runner of er |