Obrázky na stránke
PDF
ePub

SATIRE VI.

HAS winter made you move yet to your Sabine fireside, dear Bassus? are your lyre and its strings and the austere quill that runs over them yet in force? Marvellous artist as you are at setting to music the primitive antiquities of our language, the manly utterance of the Latian harp, and then showing yourself excellent in your old age at wakening young loves and frolicking over the chords with a virtuous touch. As for me, the Ligurian coast is giving me the benefit of its warmth, and the sea is wintering just

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]

love-lyrics suiting not only the lightness of youth but the gravity of old age.

6. egregius is the reading of a few of the best MSS., approved by Bentley on Hor. I Od. 1. 5.

lusisse, like 'iocos,' with a reference to love (Hor. 2 Ep. 2. 214), as well as to composition (Virg. E. I. 10). A poet is said to do the deed he writes about, Virg. E. 9. 19: [comp. Thuc. I 5 οἱ παλαιοὶ τῶν ποιητῶν τὰς πύστεις τῶν καταπλεόντων . . ἐρωτῶντες.]

lusisse senes, in the sense of 'amavisse senili more,' like 'senem pallere' I. 124.

mihi. The Scholiast says Persius' mother married a second time in Liguria, so he would naturally reside there.

[ocr errors]

Ligus ora, like femina Ligus' Tac. Hist. 2. 13.

[ocr errors]

7. Et lacus aestivis intepet Umber aquis' Prop. 5. I. 124. 'Est ubi plus tepeant hiemes' Hor. I Ep. 10. 15. Tepidas brumas 2 Od. 6. 17.

hibernat, like Horace's 'hiemat' (2 S. 2. 17), where however sharp wintry weather is meant. [The expression' aquis hiemantibus' is remarked upon by Sen. Ep. 114. 19 as used by Sallust.]

meum, not merely my residence,' but suiting me,' ' kind to me.'

dant scopuli et multa litus se valle receptat.
'Lunai portum, est operae, cognoscite, cives!'
cor iubet hoc Enni, postquam destertuit esse
Maconides Quintus pavone ex Pythagoreo.

Hic ego securus vulgi et quid praeparet auster
infelix pecori, securus et angulus ille
vicini nostro quia pinguior, etsi adeo omnes
ditescant orti peioribus, usque recusem

curvus ob id minui senio aut cenare sine uncto, et signum in vapida naso tetigisse lagoena. discrepet his alius! geminos, horoscope, varo producis genio, solis natalibus est qui

11. quintes. . et.

8. dant.. latus, as in Virg. Aen. 1. 105 ='obiiciunt latus,' the sea being sheltered by the rocks forming the port.

valle forsinu,' as if the scene were inland. Abl. of manner.

se.. receptat, as in Virg. G. 1. 336, the freq. here perhaps marking the numerous bends. Jahn.

9. A line from Ennius, Ann. 16.(Vahlen.) est operae, parenthetical, like fas est' v. 25, venit Hesperus' Virg. E. 10. 77.

[ocr errors]

opera, for opportunity or working time, especially in the gen., which seems to be partitive. 'Operae ubi mihi erit, ad te venero' Plaut. Truc. 4. 4, 30.

[ocr errors]

cognoscite, not 'cognoscere,' is the reading of the best MSS. Cognoscere,' of listening to a narrative, as in Juv. 3. 288.

cives (as Jahn says), is a mark of the (simple) gravity of the old man. So his epitaph, 'Adspicite, O cives, senis Enni imaginis formam.'

10. cor. Ennius used to say that he had three hearts, because he understood Greek, Latin, and Oscan. Gell. 17. 17. 1, referred to by Plautius. The heart was often spoken of as the seat of the understanding: comp. Cic. Tusc. 1. 9, where Ennius is quoted as using cordatus' for wise.

Curis acuens mortalia corda ' Virg.

G. 1. 123.

cor.. Enni, periph., like Virtus Scipiadae' Hor. 2 S. 1. 72.

13. agulus.

10

15

destertuit, found elsewhere? For Ennius' dreams, compare on Prol. 2 foll.

II. From Cic. Ac. pr. 2. 16 and Lucr. 1. 120 foll., it would appear that Ennius did not pretend to have been changed into Homer, but only to have seen him in a vision. Britannicus however on Prol. 3 and here refers to Porphyrio for the statement that Ennius said at the beginning of his annals that Homer's spirit had passed into him in sleep. Homer's revelations however turned on the doctrine of metempsychosis, he having been a peacock in one stage of the process (note on Prol. 2), and so Persius represents Ennius as having been himself Homer and peacock, just as in Prol. 3 he uses the word 'memini,' as if it were Ennius' word about his own recollection, when it was really used of Homer's. Thus in Hor. 2 S. 5. 41 Furius is confounded with his own Jupiter.

Quintus is explained by the Scholiast as if it were a numeral-the stages being a peacock, Euphorbus, Homer, Pythagoras, Ennius. Persius might very well have intended a pun; but then we should rather have had 'a' than 'ex,' as in alter ab illo,' 'a love tertius Aiax,' even if this gradation of transformations were established. Should Quintus be taken with Maeonides, as if it were a double name, Ennius and Homer in one, Homer with a Roman praenomen? The names were sometimes reversed in poetry,

as I like it to do, where the sides of the cliffs present a vast barrier, and the shore retires into a deep bay. 'Acquaint yourselves with the haven of Luna, now's your time, good people all!' so says Ennius' brain, when he had been roused from dreaming himself Maeonides Quintus developed out of Pythagoras' peacock.

While I live here, without a care for the vulgar or for what mischief the south wind may be brewing for the cattle, without a care either because that nook of my neighbour's is better land than mine, even if all my inferiors in birth should grow rich over my head, I would stick to my resolution, seeing no reason why I should lose my height and my bulk with premature old age, or dine without something savoury, or poke my nose into the seal of a bottle of flat wine. Another man may take a different view; aye, good horoscope, you sometimes give birth to twins whose star is strangely different. You will find a man who on his birthday, of all days in

[blocks in formation]

12. securus, with gen., Virg. Aen. I. 350.

quid, etc. 'Quid cogitet humidus Auster' Virg. G. 1. 462. For the double construction, see 3. 51.

13. 'Arboribusque satisque Notus pecorique sinister' Virg. G. I. 444, 'nocentem Corporibus.. Austrum' Hor. 2 Od. 14. 15, 'plumbeus Auster' 2 S. 6. 18.

infelix, with dat., Virg. G. 2. 239. securus put before et for the sake of emphasis. Aeneas ignarus abest.. ignarus et absit' Virg. Aen. 10. 85.

angulus. O si angulus ille Proximus accedat' Hor. 2 S. 6. 8. 'ille terrarum mihi praeter omnes Angulus ridet 2 Od. 6. 13.

14. adeo, emphatic.

Though not

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

unctum, 'a dainty,' as in Hor. 1 Ep. 17. 12, A. P. 422 (compare 1 Ep. 15. 44 ubi quid melius contingit et unctius').

17. 'Signo laeso non insanire lagoenae' Hor. 2 Ep. 2. 134.

naso tetigisse. Scrutinizing the state of the seal so closely that he can touch it with his nose, and so learn by the smell that it is good for nothing. A condensed picture, ' more Persii.'

18. 'Another man may differ from these tastes of mine if he likes-inIdeed twin brothers do not always think alike.'

geminos; sentiment from Hor. 2 Ep. 2. 183 foll.

horoscope, Manil. 3. 190, 200. varo.. genio may either be a genius with two aspects, the same genius presiding over both, or a genius differing from the genius of the other, just as

varus' in its literal sense is an epithet both of a bowlegged man and of the legs themselves.

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

tinguat holus siccum muria vafer in calice empta, ipse sacrum inrorans patinae piper; hic bona dente grandia magnanimus peragit puer. utar ego, utar, nec rhombos ideo libertis ponere lautus,

nec tenuis sollers turdarum nosse salivas.

Messe tenus propria vive et granaria, fas est,

emole; quid metuis? occa, et seges altera in herba est.
'Ast vocat officium; trabe rupta Bruttia saxa
prendit amicus inops, remque omnem surdaque vota
condidit Ionio; iacet ipse in litore et una
ingentes de puppe dei, iamque obvia mergis
costa ratis lacerae.' nunc et de caespite vivo
frange aliquid, largire inopi, ne pictus oberret
caerulea in tabula. sed cenam funeris heres

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small]
[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]
[merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

sollers. 5. 37.

turdarum, fem. for the sake of variety, or perhaps, as the Scholiast says, because epicures could distinguish the gender of thrushes as well as their breeding by the taste. Thrushes were great delicacies, Hor. 2 S. 5. 10, 1 Ep. 15. 41.

saliva, for 'sapor,' effect for cause. 'Sua cuique vino saliva' Plin. 23. I. 22.

25-40. 'Live up to your means. You want to be able to help your friends? Very well, then sell something the emergency will justify you. Your heir will resent this, and visit it on you by giving you a mean funeral, and morose censors will say it all comes of foreign philosophy. Will this trouble you in your grave?'

the year, sprinkles his dry vegetables with brine, like a knowing dog as he is, bought in a cup and shakes the precious pepper over his plate with his own hand, while here you have a fine spirited young fellow gobbling through an immense estate. Enjoyment, enjoyment for me, not that I go to the expense of serving up turbots for my freedmen or am a connoisseur in the delicate juices of hen thrushes.

Grind out

Live up to the produce of your own estate each year. your granaries: you may, without fear, you have only to harrow, and a new crop is already in the blade. 'Aye, but there are claims on me, a shipwrecked friend is clinging forlornly to the Bruttian cliffs; all his means and his prayers are drowned in the deep Ionian waters; he is now lying on the beach, and with him the huge gods from his vessel's stern, and the ribs of the wreck which are beginning to invite the cormorants.' Now, then, break a bit of turf from your landed capital, and be generous to the poor man, that he may not have to go about with his picture on a board of sea-green. But your heir will neglect your funeral feast in revenge

[ocr errors][merged small]

granaria. 5. 110.

=

26. emolere granaria, a strong expression. 'Grind out your granaries'have all your store ground up for use.

in herba est, is already in the blade.' 'Luxuriem segetum tenera depascit in herba' Virg. G. 1. 112 'adhuc tua messis in herba est' Ov. Her. 17. 263.

27. A supposed objection- if I spend my income, how shall I be able to serve a friend in an emergency?'

vocat officium. Juv. 3. 239. Here officium' is relative duty, as in Cicero's treatise.

trabe rupta. 1. 89 note. • Fractis trabibus' Juv. 14. 296.

28. prendit. 'Prensantemque uncis manibus capita aspera montis' Virg. Aen. 6. 360. Casaubon.

surda, unheard.' 'Istius tibi sit surda sine arte lyra' Prop. 4. 5. 58, ⚫ surdo verbere caedit' Juv. 13. 194.

29. condidit vota, as vows are said 'cadere.'

[ocr errors]

30. Paintings, not images, of the gods. Aurato fulgebat Apolline puppis ' Virg. Aen. 10. 171.

dei shows that there were sometimes more than one, and so Hor. I Od. 14. 10 'Non di (integri) quos iterum pressa voces malo.' The mention of the gods seems merely ornamental, not indicative, as Turnebus ap. Stocker thinks, of the shipwrecked man's piety.

mergis. Jahn compares Hor. Epod. 10. 21 Opima quod si praeda curvo litore Porrecta mergos iuveris.'

31. costa, of a ship. Plin. 13. 9. 19, also Virg. Aen. 2. 16, where the language is from shipbuilding.

lacerae. 'At laceras etiam puppes furiosa refeci' Ov. Her. 2. 45.

caespite vivo, of turf growing. Hor. I Od. 13. 19, Ov. M. 4. 300. Here for the mass of landed property, from which something is to be sacrificed, with reference to the phrase 'de vivo detrahere' or 'resecare,' to deduct from the capital. Dat de lucro: nihil detrahit de vivo' Cic. Fl. 37.

32. pictus. 1. 89 note.

33. caerulea, as it would be a seapiece, doubtless with a daub of green all

over.

in tabula with 'pictus.'

cenam funeris, the funeral banquet,' given to the friends of the deceased, and sometimes to the public (Suet. Caes. 26) distinguished from the scanty meal left on the tomb for the dead, feralis cena' Juv. 5. 85, or 'novemdialis.' Jahn.

« PredošláPokračovať »