A little knavish; there remains one who can compel you to lay it down. 75 "Wilt thou, impudent guest, from the accustomed baskets “Be filled, and know the colour of your own bread ?" "Well, this has been that, for which often, my wife being left, "I have run over the adverse mount, and the cold Esquiliæ, when the vernal air rattled with cruel 66 "Hail, and my cloak dropped with much rain." See, with how long a breast, a lobster, which is brought 80 To the master, distends the dish, and with what asparagus On all sides surrounded; with what a tail he can look down on the banquet, When he comes borne aloft by the hands of a tall servant. He besmears his fish with Venafran (oil)—but this In a large dish an out-stretch'd lamprey lies With shrimps all floating round. FRANCIS. Perhaps what we call a shrimp, or prawn, may be the pinnothera, or pinnophylax, of PLIN. iii. 42. the squilla parva. The shrimp is a sort of lobster in miniature; and if we understand the word parva to distinguish it from the fish which is simply called squilla, the latter may probably signify a lobster, particularly here, from what is remarked of the tail, (1. 82.) which is the most delicious part of a lobster. 81. Asparagus.] Asparagis, plur. may here denote the young shoots, or buds, of various herbs. See AINSW. Asparagus, No. 2. With these it was perhaps usual to garnish their dishes. 82. With what a tail, &c.] What a noble tail he displays, with what contempt does he seem to look down upon the rest of the banquet, when lifted on high, by a tall slave, over the heads of the guests, in order to be placed on the table. 84. A crab.] Cammarus, a sort of crab-fish, called also Gammarus; a very vile food, as we may imagine by its being opposed to the delicious squilla, which was set before the master of the feast. -Shrunk.] I think Holyday's rendering of constrictus nearest the sense of 85 the word, which lit. signifies straitened, narrow. Crabs, if kept long out o water, will waste and shrink up in the shell, and when boiled will be half full of water; so lobsters, as every day's experience evinces. Farnaby explains it by semiphlenus, half-full, or spent, as he calls it, which conveys the same idea. This sense also contrasts this fish with the plumpness of the foregoing. Comp. 1. 80-3. -With half an egg.] To mix with it when you eat it a poor allowance. Many construe constrictus in the sense of paratus-coctus-conditus, and the like; q. d. dressed or seasoned with half an egg. 85. Funeral supper, &c.] The Romans used to place, in a small dish on the sepulchres of the dead, to appease their manes, milk, honey, water, wine, flowers, a very little of each; which circumstances, of the smallness of the dish and of the quantity, seem to be the reason of this allusion. -A little platter.] Patella is itself a diminutive of patera; but the poet, to make the matter the more contemptible, adds exigua. This is a contrast to the lancem, 1. 80. which signifies a great broad plate, a deep dish to serve meat up in. a 86. He.] Virro, the master of the feast. -Venafran oil.] Venafrum was city of Campania, famous for the best oil. HOR. lib. ii. od. vi. 1. 15, 16. Pallidus offertur misero tibi caulis, olebit Mullus erit domino, quem misit Corsica, vel quem Virroni muræna datur, quæ maxima venit 87. Pale cabbage.] Sickly looking, as if it was half withered. 88. Your saucers.] Alveolus signifies any wooden vessel made hollow; here it may be understood of wooden trays, or saucers, in which the oil was brought, which was to be poured on the cabbage. 89. A canoe.] Canna, a small vessel made of the cane, or large reed; which grew to a great size and height, and which was a principal material in building the African canoes. -Micipsa.] It seems to have been a general name given to all the Numidians, from Micipsa, one of their kings. These were a barbarous people on the shore of Africa, near Algiers, from whence came the oil which the Romans used in their lamps. -Sharp prow. Alluding to the shape of the African canoes, which were very sharp-beaked. 90. Bocchar. Or Bocchor, a Mauritanian name, but here, probably, for any African. This was the name of one of their kings, and hence the poet takes occasion to mention it, as if he said, that "the Numidians and Moors, who anointed themselves with this oil, "stunk so excessively, that nobody at "Rome would go into the same bath "with one of them; no, though it were king Bocchar himself." 91. Safe from serpents.] So horrid is the smell of these Africans, that, in their 90 95 100 -Our sea is exhausted, &c.] Such is the luxury and gluttony of the great, that there is now no more fine fish to be caught at home. 94. While the appetite, &c.] While gluttony is at such an height, as not to be satisfied without such dainties. 95. The market.] The market-people, who deal in fish, and who supply great tables. -With assiduous nets, &c.] Are incessantly fishing in the neighbouring seas, upon our own coasts, leaving no part unsearched, that they may supply the market. 96. A Tyrrhene fish.] The Tyrrhenę sea was that part of the Mediterranean Pale cabbage, which is brought to miserable you, will smell A canoe of the Micipse brought over in its sharp prow. A mullet will be for the master, which Corsica sent, or which The Taurominitinian rocks, since all our sea is exhausted, And now has failed: while the appetite rages, The market, with assiduous nets, is searching thoroughly 95 The neighbouring (seas,) nor suffers a Tyrrhene fish to grow: Therefore a province furnishes the kitchen: from thence is taken What the wheedler Lenas might buy, Aurelia sell. To Virro a lamprey is given, the largest that came From the Sicilian gulph: for while the south contains itself, While it rests, and in its prison dries its wet wings, The rash nets despise the middle of Charybdis. An eel remains for you, a relation of a long snake; which washes the southern parts of Italy. So greedy were the Roman nobility of delicate fish, and they were caught in such numbers, that they were not suffered to grow to their proper size. 97. Therefore a province, &c.] They were forced, therefore, to go to the coasts of some of the foreign provinces, which were subject to the Romans, in order to catch such fish as they wanted for the kitchens of the nobles. Comp. sat. iv. 66, and note. -From thence.] From some of the foreign coasts. 98. What the wheedler Lenas, &c.] Some famous captator, or legacy-hunter, one of the people called hæredipetæ, who courted and made presents to the rich and childless, in hopes to become their heirs they also took care to buy whatever was rare and curious for this purpose. -Aurelia sell.] This may probably be the name of some famous dealer in fine fish. The commentators suppose also, that this might have been the name of some rich childless widow, who had so many presents of fine fish, that she could not dispose of them to her own use, and therefore sold them, that they might not be spoiled and thrown away. 99. To Virro a lamprey is given.] i. e. Is given him to eat, is set before him at table. 100. The Sicilian gulph.] That part of 99 the sea which formed the Straits of Sicily, which, at times, was most formidable and dangerous, especially with a strong wind from the south. But, by what follows, 1. 102. the dreadful whirlpool of Charybdis seems to be meant; where, in fine weather, the fishermen would venture to go, and fish for lampreys. 101. It rests.] Refrains from blowing, is perfectly quiet. - -In its prison, &c.] Alluding to VIRG. -Vasto rex Eolus antro Its wet wings.] It was usually attended with heavy rains and storms. 102. The rash nets.] Lina-see sat. iv. 1. 45. Lina here means the persons who use the nets, the fishermen. METON. They would, in calm weather, despise the danger of Charybdis itself, in order to catch the fish which lay within it, so good a market were they sure to have for what they caught. Charybdis was a dangerous whirlpool in the Straits of Sicily, near the coast of Taurominium, over against Scylla, a dreadful rock. See VIRG. En. iii. 414-32. 103. An eel, &c.] The contrast between Virro's fine lamprey, and Trebius's filthy eel, is well imagined. -Relation of a long snake.] Perhaps we are to understand the eel and snake Aut glacie aspersus maculis Tiberinus, et ipse to appear as related, from the likeness of their form. Some have supposed, that eels and water-snakes will engender together. 104. A Tiberine.] Tiberinus, i. e. piscis-a pike, or some other fish, out of the river Tiber. Unde datum sentis, Lupus hic Tiberinus-&c. HOR. lib. ii. sat. ii. 1. 31. Some common, coarse, and ordinary fish is here meant, which, in the winter-time, when the Tiber was frozen, contracted spots, perhaps from some disorder to which it might be liable; this was reckoned the worst sort of pike. 105. An attendant, &c.] Vernula, lit. signifies a little bond-slave or servant. Hence this fish is so called, from its constant attendance on the banks of the river, in some of the holes of which it was usually found. 105. Fat, &c.] From this circumstance, one would be inclined to think that a pike is here meant, which is a voracious, foul-feeding fish. Juvenal, to carry on his description of the treatment which Trebius must expect at a great man's table, adds this circumstance that the fish set before Trebius would be a pike, that of the worst sort, and fatted with the filthy contents of the common-sewer, into which the ordure and nastiness of the city were conveyed, and which ran under the Suburra, down to the Tiber, and there emptied itself into the river. 106. Accustomed to penetrate, &c.] 105 110 115 This fish is supposed to enter the mouth of the drain, that it might meet the filth in its way, and feed upon it. For Suburra, see sat. iii. 5. 107. To himself, &c.] To Virro the master of the feast. Ipsi pauca velimlike TER. And. act i. sc. i. 1. 2. paucis te volo-a word with you. COLMAN. 109. Seneca.] L. Annæus Seneca, the tutor of Nero; he was very rich, and very munificent towards his poor clients. See sat. x. 16. where Juvenal styles him prædives-very rich. -Piso.] L. Calphurnius Piso, one of the Calphurnian family descended from Numa; he lived in the time of Claudius, and was famous for his liberality. HoR. Ar. Poet. 291, 2. addressing the Pisones, says, Vos O Pompilius sanguis. -Cotta.] Aurelius Cotta, another munificent character in the time of Nero. 110. Titles and offices, &c.] High titles of nobility, or the ensigns of magistracy. See sat. iii. 128. note. 112. That you would sup civilly.] Civiliter, courteously, with so much good manners towards your poor friends, as not to affront and distress them; by the difference you make between them and yourself when you invite them to 'supper. -Do this.] Consult the rules of civility, and then you will accommodate yourself to the condition of your guests. 113, Be, as many now are, &c.] When you sup alone, then, as many are, be dives tibi, i. e. fare as expensively and Or a Tiberine sprinkled with spots by the ice, and that 104 An attendant of the banks, fat with the rushing common-sewer, And accustomed to penetrate the drain of the Suburra. I would say a few words to himself, if he would lend an easy ear: Nobody seeks, what were sent to his mean friends 110 By Seneca: what good Piso, what Cotta used to geese, : friends. 114 A crammed fowl, and, worthy the spear of yellow Meleager, as sumptuously as you please; spare no expence to gratify yourself. But when you invite your poor friends, then fare as they do if you treat them as poor and mean, so treat yourself, that you and they may be upon the same footing; thus be pauper amicis. 9. d. This is all we ask; we don't require of you the munificence of Seneca, Piso, Cotta, or any of those great and generous patrons, who esteemed a service done, or a kindness bestowed, on their poor friends, beyond the glory of titles of nobility, or of high offices in the state; this, perhaps, might be going too far; therefore we desire no more, than that, when you invite us, you would treat us civilly at least, if not sumptuously; fare as we fare, and we shall be content. This little apostrophe to Virro contains a humourous, and, at the same time, a sharp reproof of the want of generosity, and of the indignity with which the rich and great treated their poorer friends. 114. Before himself.] i. e. Before Virro himself. -The liver, &c.] This was reckoned a great dainty; and in order to increase the size of the liver, they fatted the goose with figs, mixed up with water, wine, and honey; of this a sort of paste was made, with which they crammed them until the liver grew to a very large size. See PERS. vi. I. 71. HOR. lib. ii. sat. viii. 1. 88. and MART. epigr. lviii. lib. xiii. Aspice quam tumeat magno jecur ansere majus. 115. A crammed fowl.] Altilis-from alo-ere-fatted, fed, crammed. Probably a fat capon is here meant, which grows to a large size: Juvenal says here, equal in size to geese-par anseribus. -Yellow, &c.] Yellow-haired. See AINSW. The story of Meleager. Golden-haired. Holyday. See VIRG. Æn. iv. 698. HOR. lib. iii. od. ix. 1. 19. lib. iv. od. iv. 1. 4. 116. Smokes a boar.] See sat. i. 140, 1. -After him, &c.] The next dish, which comes after the boar, is composed of truffles-tuber signifies a puff, or what we call a toadstool, from tumeo, to swell; but it seems to denote mushrooms, truffles, and other fungous plants, which are produced from the earth. Tubera terræ, sat. xiv. 7. Here some understand truffles, others mushrooms; which last, rainy and thundering springs produce in abundance, and therefore were desired. But the same weather may also have the same effect on truffles, which are a sort of subterraneous mushroom, and so on all fungous excrescences of the earth. PLIN. XIX. 117, 18. Make suppers greater.] By a plentiful addition of truffles. 118. Alledius.] Some famous glutton. |