every new recruit for citizenship enlisting in the Veline tribe to get a quota of spoiled corn for his ticket. What an unproductive soil for truth, where a single twirl makes a citizen of Rome! Look at Dama here, a stable-slave for whom you would not give twopence, blear-eyed from low tippling, and ready to tell a lie about a slight feed of corn; suppose his master to give him a turn,-presto, by the mere act of twirling he is turned out Marcus Dama. Prodigious! What, Marcus surety, and you refuse to lend money? Marcus judge, and you feel uneasy? Marcus has given his word, it is so. Pray, Marcus, witness this document. This is freedom pure and simple; this is what caps of liberty give us. 'Why? can you define a free man otherwise than a man who has the power of living as he has chosen? I have the power of living little whether we put a stop at 'est' or make agaso' the predicate. 6 Dama (Demetrius), used repeatedly by Horace as a slave's name, I S. 6. 38, 2 S. 5. 18, 101., 7. 54. [Dama Vetti' (servus) Corpus Inscr. Lat. I. no. 602.] non tresis, οὐκ ἄξιος τριωβόλου, Casaubon. Jahn compares Vatinius in Cic. Ep. Fam. 5. 10 'non semissis homo.' agaso, 'a stable-boy.' 'Si patinam pede lapsus frangat agaso' Hor. 2 S. 8. 72, of the waiter at Nasidienus' table. 77. It is difficult to decide between 'Vappa et lippus,' the common reading, supported by about half the MSS., and Vappa lippus,' which Jahn prefers. Vappa' is twice coupled by Horace with 'nebulo,' I S. I. 104., 2. 12, [comp. Priap. 13. 6 Nos vappae sumus et pusilla culti Ruris numina '], and lippus may be explained as in 1. 79., 2. 72, as a contemptuous term, probably implying disease brought on by sensuality: on the other hand, the stable-helper would be naturally enough described as 'blear-eyed from tippling swipes,' as in Hor. I S. 5. 16 'multa prolutus vappa nauta ;' 'farrago appellatur id quod ex pluribus satis pabuli caussa datur iumentis' Festus, p. 91; 'in the matter of a slight feed of corn,' with reference to agaso.' Freund unaccountably supposes farrago' here to have the sense of a trifle.' 6 78. verterit. . exit, compare v. 189, 'Dixeris . . videt.' momento turbinis, like 'horae momento' Hor. I S. I. 7. exit, as in Hor. A. P. 22, 'turbinis ' answering to 'rota.' H 6 79. Marcus, like Publius,' v. 74. M. FVFIVS M. L. DAMA actually occurs in an inscription in Buonarotti (vetri p. 136), Jahn. papae is understood by Jahn as an expression of wonder that Dama continues the same as he was-no more trusted as a citizen than he was as a slave: but this would destroy the whole spirit of the passage, which is clearly ironical. Persius throws up his hands with wonder at the transformation. 'After this can anybody think of his antecedents-hesitate about lending money on his security-feel qualms when he is on the bench? Impossible-he is a Roman-his word is good for anything-so is his signature.' 80. palles, of fear,' Hor. I Ep. 7. 7. 81. dixit: ita est, a contrast to 'mendax.' adsigna, 'put your seal to,'' as a witness.' Compare Mart. 9. 88. 3 foll. (König). 82. Vult libertas dici mera' Hor. I Ep. 18. 8. pillea. note on 3. 106. 83. The humour is increased by making the man argue in a formal syllogism, and advance as his major premiss the definition of liberty given by the Stoics themselves, [after the popular opinion quoted by Aristotle, Pol. 7 (6). 2 τὸ ζῆν ὡς βούλεταί τις· τοῦτο γὰρ τῆς ἐλευθερίας ἔργον εἶναί paoiv.] Comp. Cic. de Off. 1. 20, Par. 5. Ι. 34. [Ελεύθερός ἐστιν ὁ ζῶν ὡς βούλεται . . . . Τίς οὖν θέλει ζῆν ἁμαρτάνων ; Οὐδείς . Οὐδεὶς ἄρα τῶν φαύλων ζῇ ὡς βούλεται· οὐ τοίνυν οὐδ ̓ ἐλεύθερος Epictetus 4. I. I. On the subject of the emancipation of slaves under the empire, 6 liberior Bruto?' Mendose colligis,' inquit stoicus hic aurem mordaci lotus aceto. 'haec reliqua accipio; licet illud et ut volo tolle.' 'Disce, sed ira cadat naso rugosaque sanna, dum veteres avias tibi de pulmone revello. non praetoris erat stultis dare tenuia rerum officia atque usum rapidae permittere vitae: sambucam citius caloni aptaveris alto. stat contra ratio et secretam garrit in aurem, ne liceat facere id quod quis vitiabit agendo. 97. uitiauit. and on the Stoical doctrine of freedom in general, there are some interesting remarks in Bernays' Heraklitische Briefe' p. 98 foll.] 6 84. voluit, perf. because the will precedes the action. 85. liberior Bruto, 'more free than the hero of freedom himself.' Mendose colligis; colligere' is the technical term for logical inference, συλλογίζεσθαι. 86. stoicus hic seems to be Persius' way of describing himself, like the common expression hic homo,' ȧvǹp öde, Hor. I S. 9. 47. aurem.. lotus, v. 63 note. aceto. König refers to Cels. 6. 7. 2. 3, to show that vinegar was used in cases of deafness. 87. haec reliqua, is the reading of the great majority of the MSS., opp. to 'licet illud.' Persius admits the major, but denies the minor. accipio, like accipere condicionem,' ' legem.' For licet illud et ut volo,' some MSS. have licet ut volo vivere,' adopted by Orelli and Heinr., but it seems to be an interpolation from v. 84. Persius objects to 'licet' and 'volo' as the two obnoxious words, denying both that the man has a will and that he is free to follow it. 88. Vindicta, instrum. abl. For the process see note on v. 76. meus, my own master,' or rather 85 90 95 'my own property.' König compares Ter. Phorm. 4. 1. 21 nam ego meorum solus sum meus.' ་ 89. Iussit quod splendida bilis' Hor. 2 S. 3. 141. 90. The exception proves that the man has no notion of any but civil freedom, which is expressed as Facultas eius quod cuique facere libet, nisi quod vi aut iure prohibetur' Inst. 1. 3. I, Dig. 1. 5. 4, referred to by Jahn. For Masurius Sabinus, see Dict. Biog. 'Rubricam vocat minium, quo tituli legum annotabantur ' Schol. Hence in Dig. 43. I. 2 sub rubrica' is used for Juv. 14. 192. sub titulo,' Mayor on vetavit for vetuit,' found nowhere else except in a note of Servius on Virg. Aen. 2. 201. Jahn. [See Neue, Lat. Form. 2. p. 370.] It 91-223. 'I will show you, if you will submit to be disabused patiently. The praetor cannot confer right of action on a fool. Reason, witnessed by nature and embodied in the unwritten law of humanity, treats ignorance as disability. is so in all cases-a man who is ignorant of medicine may not practise-a man who knows nothing of naval matters may not command a ship. Can you distinguish truth from falsehood? right from wrong? are you contented and cheerful? sparing or generous, as occasion requires ? free from covetousness? Satisfy me on these points, and I will call you free. Fail to as I choose; am I not more of a freeman than Brutus, the founder of freedom?' 'A false inference,' retorts our Stoic friend, whose ear has been well rinsed with good sharp vinegar. 'I admit the rest, only strike out the words power and choose.' 'Why, after the rod enabled me to leave the praetor's presence my own man, why should not I have power over whatever I have a mind for, except where the statutes of Masurius come in the way y?' 'Attend, then, but drop that angry wrinkled snarl from your nostrils, while I pull your old grandmother out of the heart of you. It was not in the praetor's province to give fools command over the delicate proprieties of relative duty, or grant them the entry of the rapid race-course of life; you will get a hulking camp-follower to handle a dulcimer first. No, reason steps in your way and whispers privately in your ear that no one be allowed to do what he will spoil in the doing. It is a statute contained in the general substantiate your professions, and I retract the admission, and tell you that you have no right of action whatever-no power to take a single step without a blunder.' 91. The nose shows anger by snarling, I. 109. Casaubon quotes Theocr. I. 18 καί οἱ ἀεὶ δριμεῖα χολὰ ποτὶ ῥινὶ κάθηται. Lucil. Fr. 20. 11 'Eduxique animam in primoribus naribus' ('primoribus partibus naris' L. Müller). rugosa, as wrinkling up the nostrils. Corruget nares' Hor. I Ep. 5. 23. sanna. I. 62. 92. veteres avias; as we should say, prejudices which you imbibed with your mother's milk. Compare 2. 31, where the grandmother is made to utter foolish wishes. pulmone, mentioned as the seat of pride (3. 27), as Casaubon thinks, more probably than as the seat of wrath, which is Jahn's view. 93. tenuia (trisyll. as in Virg. G. 1. 397., 2. 121., 4. 38). . officia, not as distinguishing them from other broader duties, but expressing the nature of right doing, which is an art made up of innumerable details, and requiring exact study. ['Erat,' was not as you thought it was: the imperfect common in dialogue.] rerum, equivalent to 'vitae.' 94. usum permittere vitae = 'permittere ut uterentur vita.' rapidae appears to be a metaphor from a race-course, as in 3.67, 8, the notion being that there is no power of stopping in the career of life, which consequently is no place for a man who cannot conduct himself. 96. stat contra, confronts you,' 'stops your way.' 'Stat contra, dicitque tibi tua pagina, Fur es' Mart. I. 53 (54). 12, quoted by Jahn. Stat contra, starique iubet' Juv. 3. 290. 'Ratio tua coepit vocife ari' Lucr. 3. 14. The MSS. are divided between garrit and gannit. Jahn is perhaps right in preferring the former, as garrire in aurem occurs in Mart. 1. 89 (90). I., 3. 28. 2, etc. seemingly in the sense of whispering. [But Afranius fr. v. 283 (Ribbeck) has 'gannire ad aurem.'] With the general expression of the line, compare Hor. I Ep. 1. 7 Est mihi purgatam crebro qui personet aurem,' of an inward monitor. 97. liceat, with reference to 'licet,' v. 84. CYFJ publica lex hominum naturaque continet hac fas, ut teneat vetitos inscitia debilis actus. diluis helleborum, certo conpescere puncto nescius examen? vetat hoc natura medendi. navem si poscat sibi peronatus arator, luciferi rudis, exclamet Melicerta perisse frontem de rebus. tibi recto vivere talo ars dedit, et veri specimen dinoscere calles, ne qua subaerato mendosum tinniat auro? quaeque sequenda forent, quaeque evitanda vicissim, illa prius creta, mox haec carbone notasti? es modicus voti? presso lare? dulcis amicis? 98. publica lex hominum, opp. to 'Masuri rubrica' v. 90, as the Delph. ed. remarks. natura seems to be mentioned as the source of the law, which is consequently accepted and acknowledged everywhere. [The doctrine of a supreme law of Nature, the actual source and ideal standard of all particular laws, was characteristic of the Stoics, and lay at the bottom of the Roman juristical notion of a ratio naturalis' or 'ius gentium' (Inst. 2. 1). Aliquod esse commune ius generis humani' Sen. Ep. 47. 3: 'lex naturae' ib. Vit. Beat. 15. 5.] 98. hoc fas; fas omne is a common expression, Virg. Aen. 3. 55, etc.; and fas gentium,' 'patriae,' etc. occur in Tacitus (Ann. I. 42., 2. 10). 99. teneat vetitos are connected by Casaubon, who explains them habeat pro vetitis.' Jahn says, Teneat, ita ut necessario eam sequantur.' Perhaps it would be more natural to explain it in the sense of restraining. 'That ignorance and incompetence should operate as a bar to forbidden actions,'-or, if we take inscitia debilis as equivalent to 'insciti et debiles,'' should check them,' as if it were 'teneat se ab agendis vetitis.' So Ascens.Contineat in se nec emittat actus vetitos,' and Nebriss. Contineat se ab aliqua re agenda quam agere ratio, lex, et natura vetant.' 6 The use of actus in this sense seems chiefly to belong to later Latin. Freund thinks there is only one instance of it in 106. sub aerato. 100 105 Cicero (Leg. 1. 11), 'Non solum in rectis sed etiam in pravis actibus.' [But Orelli reads pravitatibus' without mentioning any variant.] 100. This and the following example are from Hor. 2 Ep. 1. 114 foll. 'Navem agere ignarus navis timet: abrotonum aegro Non audet, nisi qui didicit, dare,'speaking of those who rush into poetry without preparation. seems diluis helleborum. Hellebore to have been sometimes taken pure, as in 4. 16 note, sometimes mixed. certo, etc. The metaphor here is from a steel-yard (' statera '), not as in I. 6 foll., from a balance (trutina '). conpescere, 'to check,' seems here to mean to bring to the perpendicular, so that the index ('examen ') may show that there is an equipoise. punctum is one of the points on the graduated arm, along which the weight is moved. certo conpescere puncto, then, is to steady the index by bringing the weight to the point required. Thus the whole will mean, as Lubin explains it, 'Do you attempt to compound medicines who do not understand the use of the steelyard?' IOI. natura medendi, 'the conditions of the healing art.' 102. navem.. poscat, 'should ask for the command of a ship,' like 'vitem posce' Juv. 14. 193. peronatus. The 'pero' was a thick boot of raw hide, 'crudus pero' Virg. Aen. 7. 690, 'alto.. perone.. qui summovet code of humanity and nature, that ignorance and imbecility operate as an embargo on a forbidden action. What? compound hellebore, when you don't know the right point at which to steady the index of the steel-yard? The law of the healing art forbids you. So if a roughshod clodhopper, unacquainted with the pole-star, should ask for a ship, the gods of the sea would cry out that shamefacedness had vanished from nature. Tell me, has study given you the power of living correctly? are you well practised in testing the appearances of truth, and seeing that there is no false ring to show that the gold is coppered underneath? Have you discriminated what should be followed on the one hand and what avoided on the other, marking the former with chalk first, and then the latter with charcoal ? Are your desires moderate, your house within compass, your temper to your friends pleasant? Can you Euros Pellibus inversis' Juv. 14. 185, contrasted with the light shoes which sailors wear on deck (Stocker). 103. luciferi, mentioned as the chief of the stars. Casaubon remarks that in that case the countryman would be ignorant even of his own trade, as he is bound to have some knowledge of the stars, Virg. G. 1. 204 foll. exclamet, etc. From Hor. 2 Ep. 1. 80 clamant periisse pudorem Cuncti paene patres.' Casaubon quotes Theognis 291 αἰδὼς μὲν γὰρ ὄλωλεν, ἀναιδείη δὲ καὶ ὕβρις Νικήσασα δίκην γῆν κατὰ πᾶσαν ἔχει. Melicerta, as one of the patrons of sailors, Virg. G. 1. 437. 104. frontem, the seat of modesty, put for modesty itself, as in our word frontless.' de rebus, from the world,' as in 'Rerum pulcherrima Roma,' etc. 'Cadat an recto stet fabula talo' Hor. 2 Ep. 1. 176; apparently from Pind. Isthm. 6. 12 ὀρθῷ ἔστασας ἐπὶ σφυρῷ. Jahn. Opp. to falling or stumbling. Not unlike is Juv. 10. 5 dextro pede concipis.' 105. ars. So Cic. Tusc. 2. 4 says of the philosopher, In ratione vitae peccans.. in officio cuius magister esse vult labitur, artemque vitae professus, delinquit in vita.' The word is emphatic here, as Persius means to deny that virtue comes except by training and study. [The Stoics were fond of drawing out the analogy between life and the arts so familiar to the readers of Plato: e. g. Epictetus 4. I. 117 foll. οὕτως ἐφ' ἑκάστης ὕλης τὸν ἔμπειρον τοῦ ἀπείρου κρατεῖν πᾶσα ἀνάγκη. Οστις οὖν καθόλου τὴν περὶ βίον ἐπιστήμην κέκτηται, τί ἄλλο ἢ τοῦτον εἶναι δεῖ τὸν δεσπότην ; Τίς γάρ ἐστιν ἐν νηῒ κύριος; Ο κυβερνήτης κ.τ.λ. Sen. Ep. 117. 12 'Sapientia ars vitae est:' comp. ib. Vit. Beat. 8. 3.] specimen is restored by Jahn from the majority of MSS., including the oldest, for speciem.'' specimen' has here its original sense of indicium,' as in Lucr. 4. 209 foll. Hoc etiam in primis specimen verum esse videtur, Quam celeri motu rerum simulacra ferantur.' 106. subaerato, a translation of vπóXaλkos, Casaubon. Rather an awkward one, as 'aeratus' would imply that the copper had been applied to the gold, not vice versa. mendosum tinniat, like 'sonat vitium' 3. 21, 'solidum crepet' above, v. 25. The metaphor in this and the preceding line is not unlike Hor. 1 Ep. 7. 23 Nec tamen ignorat quid distent aera lupinis.' The nom. to 'tinniat' would seem to be' verum.' |