December 28th SATURA IV. "REM populi tractas?" barbatum haec crede magistrum 66 quo fretus? dic hoc, magni pupille Pericli. scilicet ingenium et rerum prudentia velox your ergo ubi commota fervet plebecula bile, I you have a mind to: 7. callidae. On the want of self-command and selfknowledge in public men—a sort of continuation of the last Satire, being addressed to a supposed representative of the age, but complete in itself. The general notion and a few of the expressions are taken from Plato's (?) First Alcibiades, but the treatment is not particularly similar. The gist of the whole is contained in Alcibiades' speech in Plato Sympos. p. 216 A, quoted by Konig : ἀναγκάζει γάρ με ὁμολογεῖν, ὅτι πολλοῦ ἐνδεὴς ὢν αὐτὸς ἔτι ἐμαυτοῦ μὲν ἀμελῶ, τὰ δ ̓ Αθηναίων πράττω. Other philosophers appear to have written dialogues of the kind (Brandis Rhein. Mus. I. p. 120 foll.), so that the subject, as Jahn remarks, was probably a stock one in the schools. This would account for Persius choosing it, as it cannot have been particularly appropriate to the time, there being no field at Rome for the display of popular statesmanship, such as Persius represents in the early part of the Satire, vv. 1-16. Alcibiades is not Nero, as Brit. suggests, and Casaubon maintains length, but one of the young nobility, such as those described in Sat. 3-only placed in circumstances which belong not to at J 5 Rome but to Athens. Thus the general conception of the Satire is sufficiently weak; the working out, however, has all Persius' peculiar force. I-22. Alcibiades would be a statesman, would he? what are his qualifications? Ready wit and intuitive tact, impressive action, a power of logical statement, and a certain amount of philosophic training. But what is he in himself? he has no end beyond his own enjoyment. Why, the meanest old crone knows as much.' 1. Rem populi = 'rempublicam.' Rem.. tractare, as in Enn. in Cic. de Orat. I. 45 ut ne res temere tractent turbidas.' barbatum.. magistrum is copied by Juv. 14. 12. Comp. Hor. 2 S. 3. 16, 35, where the beard is the especial mark of the Stoics. SATIRE IV. "Do you charge yourself with the affairs of the nation?" Suppose this to be said by the bearded philosopher, whom the fatal draught of hemlock removes from the scene-" on the strength of what? tell me, ward of the great Pericles as you are. Oh yes, of course; ready wit and experience of business have been quick in coming, and arrived sooner than your beard: you know well what should be said and what not. And so when the lower orders are fermenting and the bile in their system beginning to work, the impulse within moves you to cause silence through the heated 3. quo fretus, from Plato, Alc. 1, p. 123 Ε τί οὖν ποτ ̓ ἔστιν ὅτῳ πιστεύει τὸ μειράκιον ; magni pupille Pericli is emphatic, as Alcibiades' prestige depended very much on his connexion with Pericles, Plat. 1. c. p. 104 Β ξυμπάντων δὲ ὧν εἶπον μείζω οἴει σοι δύναμιν ὑπάρχειν Περικλέα τὸν Ξανθίππου ὃν ὁ πατὴρ ἐπίτροπον κατέλιπέ σοί τε καὶ τῷ ἀδελφῷ. 4. scilicet is here half ironical. The speaker does not mean to deny that Alcibiades has this ready wit and intuitive tact, but he affects to make more of it than it is worth. ingenium et rerum prudentia are from Virg. G. 1. 416, 'talent and knowledge of life.' velox with venit,' 'has come rapidly. Comp. Ov. A. A. 1. 185 'Ingenium caeleste suis velocius annis surgit.' your 5. ante pilos; sooner than beard,' a contrast with 'barbatum magistrum.' dicenda tacendaque calles is much the same as Aeschylus' σιγᾶν ὅπου δεῖ καὶ λέγειν τὰ καίρια (Cho. 582). The words are from Hor. 1 Ep. 7. 72 ' dicenda tacenda locutus.' König quotes Quint. 2. Hor. 7. fert animus. Ov. M. 1. I. 'You have a mind to try the effect of your oratory on an excited mob.' facere silentium, a phrase used either of the person who keeps silence, 'huic facietis fabulae silentium' Plaut. Amph. Prol. 15, or of the person who commands it, as here, and Tac. H. 3. 20 'ubi adspectu et auctoritate silentium fecerat.' The dative in the latter sense of the phrase has the same force as in facere negotium alicui, etc. of Hor. Dunite puta, aut N.. maiestate manus. quid deinde loquere? Quirites, hoc puta non iustum est, illud male, rectius illud.' scis etenim iustum gemina suspendere lance The wavering balance ancipitis librae, rectum discernis, ubi inter 10 where the right line comes in between curva subit, vel cum fallit pede regula varo, he curves? et potis es nigrum vitio praefigere theta diverging - you cannot imposs on me? different quin tu igitur, summa nequiquam pelle decorus, ante diem blando caudam iactare popello desinis, Anticyras melior sorbere meracas undiluted? 15 quae tibi summa boni est? uncta vixisse patella rich ta' semper et adsiduo curata cuticula sole? expecta, haud aliud respondeat haec anus.] i nunc quid deinde loquere? may perhaps be meant, as Jahn thinks, to show that the orator had not thought beforehand of what he should say. 9. puta. Hor. 2 S. 5. 32. non iustum est. So Alcibiades in Plato, p. 109, is made to admit that in deliberative oratory тò ŵde † ŵde is equivalent to τὸ δικαίως ἢ ἀδίκως. Casaubon compares Hor. I S. 4. 134 rectius hoc est: Hoc faciens vivam melius.' Io. You have studied philosophy.' Comp. 3. 52 foll. note, where the language is substantially the same. iustum is what is put into each scale of the balance. 'You can weigh the justice of one course against that of another.' gemina...lance 'geminis lancibus,' like 'geminus pes' Ov. A. A. 2. 644. II. 'You can distinguish right from the wrong on either side of it'—as there may be two opposite deviations from the perpendicular-a doctrine not unlike the Aristotelian theory of virtue as a mean, which Casaubon compares, where it (the right line) comes in between the curves.' Comp. 3. 52., 5. 38. even 12. The meaning seems to be (vel) when the rule misleads you by its deviation,' i.e. as Casaubon explains it, when justice has to be corrected by equity. pede, used apparently to suggest the notion of a foot measure. • Metiri se quemque suo modulo ac pede verum est' Hor. I Ep. 7. 98. varo possibly may denote that the rule branches into two parts. Comp. 6. 18 Geminos, horoscope, varo Producis genio,' and note. 13. potis es. I. 56, note. theta;, the initial of Oávatos, was the mark of condemnation, apparently introduced from Greece in place of C ('Condemno'), which the judges used in Cicero's time. Isid. Orig. I. 3. was also employed in epitaphs [Brambach's C. Insc. Rhen. 391] and by the quaestors in striking off dead soldiers' names from the roll, Mart. 7. 37. 2. The Scholiast and Isid. 1. c. quote a line from an unknown writer, 'O multum ante alias infelix littera Theta.' 14. The monitor suddenly turns round on the would-be statesman. • Will you then be so good as to have done with that?' igitur, as if it were the natural and expected consequence for all the admissions in his favour that have been made. The real reason is given afterwards, v. 17. summa.. pelle decorus, imitated from Hor. I Ep. 16. 45 Introrsus turpem, speciosum pelle decora.' Comp. also assemblage by the imposing action of your hand. Well, now that you have got it, what will you say? Citizens, this (say) is an injustice, that is ill-advised; of the three courses the third is nearer right.' Just so; you know how to weigh justice in the scales of the wavering balance. You can distinguish right where it comes in between the deviations on either side, even where the rule misleads you by its divarication, and you can obelize wrong with a staring black mark. Will you have the goodness, then, to stop, and not go on under the vain disguise of that goodly skin fawning so precociously on the mob that strokes you, when your better course would be to swallow the contents of all the Anticyras undiluted? What is your conception of the chief good? to live at a rich table every day and cultivate your dainty skin with constant sunning? Now listen the old women here will give the same answer to the same 2 S. 1. 64, alluding to such fables as the ass in the lion's skin, etc., 5. 116. nequiquam, because you cannot impose on me. Comp. 3. 30. 15. ante diem. You may be led into it some day, but at any rate do not anticipate things.' So 4. 5. To be the people's pet.' The Scholiast is quite right in supposing that Persius is thinking of a pet animal that wags its tail, against Casaubon, who, on second thoughts, supposes the image to be that of a peacock, and Jahn, who suggests that it may be a horse. The action described is that of a dog, who fawns on those who caress him (blando; comp. Hor. 3 Od. II. 15 Cessit immanis tibi blandienti Ianitor aulae;' blandus' is applied to the animal itself, Lucr. 4. 998, Ov. M. 14. 258), as in Hor. 2 Od. 19. 30 'leniter atterens Caudam:' but Persius probably meant to allude to the wellknown comparison of Alcibiades to a lion's whelp, Aristoph. Frogs 1431 foll. Compare the description in Aesch. Ag. 725. · popello, contemptuously, 6. 50., Hor. 1 Ep. 7. 65. 16. Anticyras, freq. in Hor., 2 S. 3. 83, 166., A. P. 300. The plural is used because there were two towns of the name, both producing hellebore, one in Phocis, the other on the Maliac gulf-of course with an accompanying notion of exaggeration. This is further brought out by using the town as synonymous with its contents (comp. 'Anticyram omnem' Hor. 2 S. 3. 83). melior sorbere 'quem sorbere = "aute diem. melius foret.' Jahn. Comp. the Gr. ex- meracas reminds us of another pas- 17. summa boni='summum bonum,' just as summa rerum' and 'res summa summa respublica' are used convertibly. 6 or vixisse, the inf. used as a noun and so coupled with a subst., as in 1. 9., 3. 53 foll. etc. patella. 3. 25. Possibly the reference may be, as there, to a sacrificial dish. Comp. Jahn's suggestion quoted on 2. 42. For the general sense, comp. Hor. 1 Ep. 6. 56 foll. Si bene qui cenat bene vivit, lucet, eamus Quo ducit gula,' quoted by Delph. ed. 18. curare cutem, as in Hor. I Ep. 2. 29., 4. 15, from whom Persius and Juv. 2. 105 seem to have borrowed it. cuticula, contemptuously, like 'Pelliculam curare' Hor. 2 S. 5. 38, where the dim. expresses luxury, as here, in substitution of pellis' for 'cutis,' old age, as in note on 3. 95. Juv. imitates the line (II. 203) 'Nostra bibat vernum contracta cuticula solem.' sole, with reference to the custom of basking (insolatio' or 'apricatio ') after being anointed, see Mayor on Juv. 1. c. 19. expecta, 'listen.' The hearer waiting for the words of the speaker. Expecto si quid dicas' Plaut. Trin. I. 2. 61. Jahn compares Sen. de Benef. 5. 12. 1 'Dicis me abesse ab eo, qui operae pretium dissolute prodigal' دو "Son of Dicomach" "mouth it out: Dinomáches ego sum,' sufla 'sum candidus.' esto; dum ne deterius sapiat pannucia Baucis, shrivelled? (a peasant woman cum bene discincto cantaverit ocima vernae.' ovid Ut nemo in sese temptat descendere, nemo, sed praecedenti spectatur mantica tergo! quaesieris 'Nostin Vettidi praedia?' Cuius?' Kite 'Dives arat Curibus quantum non miluus oberret.' 'Hunc ais, hunc dis iratis genioque sinistro, wallet 21. pannucea. 22. осума. 23. discendere. facit, imo totam operam bona fide perdere? Expecta: etiam hoc verius dicas.' 19. i nunc, ironically-now then, after this proceed to do as you have done.' Hor. I Ep. 6. 17., 2 Ep. 2. 76. The 20. Dinomaches ego sum. So Socrates in talking to Alcibiades calls him d Δεινομάχης υἱός Plato, p. 123 C. mother being mentioned in preference to the father, Cleinias, because it was through her that he was connected with the Alcmaeonidae. For the expression of the relationship by the gen. alone, see Madvig 280, obs. 4. Here it is doubtless used as a Greek idiom. sufladic suflatus '-to be connected closely with 'i nunc,' which in this form of expression is always followed by another imperative, sometimes with a copula, sometimes without. Candida pulla candidus, of beauty, as in 3. 110. Madan compares Hor. 2 Ep. 2.4 'Candidus et talos a vertice pulcher ad imos.' Alcibiades' beauty is admitted by Socrates (Plato, p. 104 A, quoted by Jahn) oĩeɩ yàp δὴ εἶναι πρῶτον μὲν κάλλιστός τε καὶ μέγιστος, καὶ τοῦτο μὲν δὴ παντὶ δῆλον ἰδεῖν ὅτι οὐ ψεύδει. 21. 'Only do not set up to be wiser than the old lady there.' pannucia (the spelling adopted by Jahn from the MSS. for 'pannucea '), properly ragged, hence shrivelled (used as an epithet of apples, Plin. 15. 14. 15), which is evidently its meaning here, to point the contrast with 'candidus.' Baucis (contrasted with Dinomaches'), a name chosen from the wellknown story, Ov. M. 8. 640 foll., the point of which lies in the contrast between the grandeur of the gods and the meanness of the peasants who were 25. nectidi. 26. oberrat. 25 deemed fit to entertain them—' a person not more below you than Baucis was below Jupiter.' 22. bene with discincto, like 'bene mirae' I. III. Jahn. a cantaverit ocima is explained Nebriss, and Casaubon as='dixerit opprobria,' on the strength of a passage in Pliny (19. 7. 36), where it is said that ocimum or basil, ought to be sown with curses, that it may grow up more abundantly. But this superstition furnishes but a slender warrant for so strange an expression. It will be better then to follow the Scholiast and the other commentators, ancient and modern, who make the old woman herb-seller (λaxavóτwλɩs, like the mother of Euripides), crying basil (cantaverit' with reference to her whining note) to a 2 lazy liquorish slave. There is some doubt about the identity of ocimum' (otherwise written 'ozimum,' ' ocymum,''ocinum '), and Jahn thinks its real nature cannot be exactly ascertained: it appears however from Pliny, 20. 12. 48, to have been a stimulant, and to have been considered injurious by some people. The sense then will be that the old woman in trying to sell doubtful herbs to low customers is acting on the same principle which Alcibiades has avowed, she would like to be idle and live well, and her labours are directed to that end-she pleases her public and you yours. 'Cantaverit' is probably meant to have a force, as contrasted with the modulated voice of the young orator; she knows the regular whine of the trade, just as you know the various intonations which belong to yours: and she is as persuasive as you.' But the explanation is not very satisfactory, and the line requires further illustration. |