Obrázky na stránke
PDF
ePub

Clunem agitant. "Ego te ceventem, Sexte, verebor?" Infamis Varillus ait. "Quo deterior te? Loripedem rectus derideat, Æthiopem albus. Quis tulerit Gracchos de seditione querentes? 25 Quis cœlum terris non misceat et mare cœlo, Si fur displiceat Verri, homicida Miloni? Clodius accuset moechos, Catilina Cethegum?

Hercules. GR. (cf. Pers. v. 34 sq. PR.) Xen. Mem. ii. 1. Cic. Off. i. 32. M. àxovcar', à Σrwaxss [or Στόακες], ἔμποροι λήρου, λόγων ὑποκριτῆρες, οἳ μόνοι πάντα τὰ ἐν τοῖς πίναξι, πρὶν ἢ τῷ σοφῷ δοῦναι αὐτοὶ καταῤῥοφεῖτε καθ ̓ ἁλίσκεσθε ἐναντία πράσσοντες οἷς τραγῳδεῖτε θρυλλεῖτε γὰρ ὅτι δεῖ μὴ τῶν σωμάτων, ἀλλὰ τῆς ψυχῆς ἐρῶν· Herm. in Athen. xiii. 15. p. 563. R. These Stoics affected to imitate Hercules. HR.

21. Act the wanton.'

Ceventem indulging in lewdness.' 22. Varillus, a beggarly debauchee, being threatened with punishment by Sextus, a magistrate of depraved character, takes occasion to shelter himself by recrimination. He aggravates the hypocrisy of his judge by various examples, till the accumulated force of the charge is turned upon Domitian. G. cf. Hor. II S. vii. 40 sqq. R. Pers. iv. 23 sq. GR.

23. One who has his legs twisted like a thong.' PR.

Vicinia solis usque ad speciem nigri coloris exussit Ethiopas, torridæ nimirum zone subjectos; Macrob. de Som. Sc. ii. 10. Plin. ii. 78. Diod. iv. 1. PR.

Qui alterum accusat probri, eum ipsum se intueri oportet; Plaut. Truc. I. ii. 58. GR. St Matth. vii. 3-5. M.

24. Ti. and C. Sempronii Gracchi were brothers, nobly descended and virtuously educated, but too ambitious for their times. To carry an Agrarian law, which they had proposed, they stuck at no means however inconsistent with that liberty of which they were the professed champions. They both met with violent deaths, the former at the hands of Scipio Nasica, the latter about thirteen years afterwards, by order of the consul Opimius. Of their characters Dio says: ἐκεῖνος μὲν ἀπ' ἀρετῆς ἐν φιλοτιμίαν. καὶ ἐξ αὐτῆς ἐς κακίαν ἐξώκειλεν οὗτος δὲ ταρα

χωδής τε φύσει ἦν, καὶ ἑκὼν ἐπονηρεύεται fr. 90. Cicero speaks in high terms of the abilities of the younger brother: T. Gracchum sequutus est C. Gracchus, quo ingenio! quanta gravitate dicendi, ut dolerent boni omnes, non illa tanta ornamenta ad meliorem mentem voluntatemque esse conversa; de Ar. Resp. 41. From the present passage it appears that Juvenal thought them seditious; they certainly set a pernicious example to the ambitious men of the subsequent age. After Sylla, Marius, and Cinna had devastated the commonwealth by their sanguinary feuds and proscriptions, the people, weary of fierce contentions from which they gained nothing, threw themselves into the arms of tyranny, the ordinary refuge from the evils of licentious anarchy. G.

25. An imitation of non si terra mari miscebitur, et mare cœlo; Lucr. iii. 854. Who would not exclaim, O cœlum, O terra, O maria Neptuni!' Ter. Ad. V. iii. 4. LU. vi. 283 sq. Virg. Æ. i. 133. v. 790. Liv. iv. 3. Tn yn ròv oùgavòv àvausuíxlar Luc. Prom. 9. R. "O all you host of heaven! O earth! What else? And shall I couple hell?" Shaksp. Ham. I. v. See note on 75.

26. The extortions of C. Verres, in Gaul, Cilicia, and more especially in Sicily, where he was proconsul, are well known from Cicero's orations. R.

T. Annius Milo killed P. Clodius, and was defended unsuccessfully by Cicero. M.

27. P. Clodius was guilty of incest with his own sister, and of adultery with Pompeia, the wife of Cæsar. He was a bitter enemy of Cicero, and the chief author of his banishment. GRÆ. M. This name is the same as Claudius. R.

L. Sergius Catilina and Corn. Cethegus were accomplices in the formidable conspiracy which was frustrated by the exertions of Cicero. Sall. Cat. PR. viii. 231. x. 287. R.

In tabulam Sullæ si dicant discipuli tres?
Qualis erat nuper tragico pollutus adulter
30 Concubitu, qui tunc leges revocabat amaras
Omnibus atque ipsis Veneri Martique timendas,
Quum tot abortivis fecundam Julia vulvam
Solveret et patruo similes effunderet offas."
Nonne igitur jure ac merito vitia ultima fictos
35 Contemnunt Scauros et castigata remordent?
Non tulit ex illis torvum Lauronia quemdam

28. The proscription-list.' Flor. iii. 21. V. Max. ix. 2. GRÆ.

Sulla: see i. 16.

Dicere in may be either to inveigh against, as accusers,' or to condemn, as judges.' R.

The three disciples' are most probably the second triumvirate, Octavius, Antony, and Lepidus, who imitated Sulla in the extent and cruelty of their proscriptions: Flor. v. 4. The former triumvirate of Cæsar, Pompey, and Crassus, was formed within twenty years of Sulla's death. VS. R. Both these triumvirates might have said with Shylock, "The villainy you teach us, we will execute; and it shall go hard, but we will better the instruction;" Shaksp. M. of V. III. i. G.

30. The Julian and Scatinian laws;' the former against adultery, the latter against unnatural vices: 44. Suet. 8. The epigrammatist makes this re-enactment the grounds of courtly panegyric; Mart. VI. ii. IX. vii. PR. cf. vi. 368. R.

31. Omnibus shows the universal depravity of the times. R.

Venus and Mars' were detected by Vulcan. LU. Ov. M. iv. 171 sqq.

32. Drugs to procure abortion.' vi. 368. 595 sq. R. These medicines were repeated in stronger doses, and the last proved fatal. Suet. 22. PR.

33. Her uncle' Domitian was illmade. Suet. 18. GR.

Shapeless lumps.' xv. 11. It does not follow from the epithet fecundam and the plural offas, that more than one miscarriage was caused. R.

29. Such a rigid censor was Domitian.' Suet. Dom. 8. HR. Nostine hos, qui 34. Vitia ultima, by hypallage, for omnium libidinum servi, sic aliorum vitiis'the very worst of men;' LU. the abirascuntur, quasi invideant; et gravissime stract for the concrete: M. thus labes ac puniunt, quos maxime imitantur; Plin. canum; Cic. scelus; Plaut. Bac. V. ii. Ep. i. 22. FA. Zuxvoi di xai ärögis nai 57. &c. R. Ter. And. III. v. 1. and póßos γυναίκες τῶν πλουσίων ἐπὶ μοιχείᾳ ἐκολά- for φοβερόν Her. vii. 112. σθησαν, ὧν ἔνιαι καὶ ὑπ ̓ αὐτοῦ ἐμοιχεύθησαν D. Cass. lxvii. 12. Nec minore scelere quam quod ulcisci videbatur, Domitianus absentem inauditamque Corneliam damnavit incesti, cum ipse fratris filiam, incesto non polluisset solum, verum etiam occidisset! Plin. iv. 11. G. Domitian, after having declined the hand of Julia the daughter of his brother Titus, seduced her, although she was then married to Sabinus. During the lifetime of her father and husband, however, he kept the intrigue secret. R. He had previously taken away Domitia Longina from her husband Ælius Lamia. M.

Tragic,'' full of horrors:' as were the guilty loves of Thyestes and Aerope, the passion of Phædra for her step-son Hippolytus, PR. the marriage of Edipus and Jocasta, &c. HK. [Livy i, 46. ED.]

E

35. M. Æmilius Scaurus is described as homo vitia sua callide occultans; Sall. Jug. 18. LU. Hor. I S. iii. 62. But on comparing xi. 90 sq. we may presume that the family, rather than the individual, is alluded to: Those who pretend to be Scauri.' R.

'Bite in return.' Hor. Ep. vi. Lucr. iii. 839. iv. 1131. R.

[ocr errors]

36. Of those hypocrites.' PR. Torvum crabbed; or, if coupled with clamantem, sternly;' M. as Virg. Æ. vii. 399. Sil. xi. 99. R.

Lauronia, according to Martial, was orba, dives, anus, vidua; II. xxxii. 6. PR. The fable of the Lion and the Painter' (Spect. No. xi.) is admirably illustrated by her attack which not only does away, in advance, several of the heaviest

Clamantem toties: "Ubi nunc lex Julia? dormis?"
Ad quem subridens: "Felicia tempora, quæ te
Moribus opponunt! Habeat jam Roma pudorem!
40 Tertius e cœlo cecidit Cato. Sed tamen unde
Hæc emis, hirsuto spirant opobalsama collo
Quæ tibi? Ne pudeat dominum monstrare tabernæ.
Quod si vexantur leges ac jura, citari

Ante omnes debet Scatinia. Respice primum
45 Et scrutare viros: faciunt hi plura; sed illos
Defendit numerus junctæque umbone phalanges.
Magna inter molles concordia. Non erit ullum
Exemplum in nostro tam detestabile sexu.

charges against the women in Sat. vi. but retorts them with good effect on the men. G.

37. The Julian law,' v. 30. was enacted by Augustus, and called Julian, because Augustus was adopted into that family by the will of his great uncle, and, consequently, took the name of C. Jul. Cæsar. GR.

Ferulæ cessent, et idus dormiant in Octobres; Mart. X. Ixii. 10 sq. pessuli dormiunt; Plaut. Curc. I. ii. 66. R. οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι, λύοντες ἐν χρεία τὴν ἀτιμίαν τῶν ἁλόντων περὶ Πύλον. ἔφασαν "xosμúot wv oi vóμos túμegor” App. Pun. 112. RI. cf. 43.

[ocr errors]

38. Understand inquit. LU.

Smiling ironically.' LU. Virg. Æ. x. 742. R.

39. See note on Pers. v. 178. PR. 40. Both M. Porcius Cato the Censor (thence called Censorius) and his greatgrandson, surnamed Uticensis from his death at Utica, were men of most rigid morals, and strict disciplinarians. VS. PR. Thus Stertinius is called sapientum octavus; Hor. II S. iii. 296. R. See note on 2. HR.

Any thing of extraordinary excellence (xi. 27.), or occurring unexpectedly in a time of great emergency, [Livy xxi, 29, 2; ED.] was said to have come down from heaven. R. A pinnace, which (Herodotus says viii. 94.) fell in with the Corinthians in our is called by Plutarch οὐρανοπετής.

41. Lauronia may be said to have smelt this censor out, notwithstanding his assumed odour of sanctity. M. Hirsuto, see 11. R.

Exhale fragrance:' ambrosiæque coma divinum vertice odorem spiravere; Virg. Æ. i. 407.

Opobalsama was the juice which exuded from the wounds made in the balsam tree; respecting this, the xylobalsamum, and the carpobalsamum, see Plin. H. N. xii. 15 s 25. LU. Mart. XIV. lix. R.

42. By the way, I should very much like to know the shop, where you bought such lady-like perfumes; why should you be ashamed to tell me?' PR. M.

43. [Livy xxvii, 7, f. ED.] Vir bonus est quis? qui consulta patrum, qui leges juraque serval; Hor. I Ep. xvi. 41. i. e. the decrees of the Senate, the statute-law, and the common-law.' M.

Vexari to be roused into action' is opposed to dormire. M. cf. 37. 44. See v. 30.

45. More things deserving of reprobation and punishment.' R.

46. Ipse metus exsolverat audax turba suos: quidquid multis peccatur, inultum est; Luc. v. 259 sq. VS. pudorem rei tollet multitudo peccantium, et desinet esse probri loco commune delictum; Sen. Ben. iii. 16. Clem. i. 22. R.

[ocr errors]

By locking their shields one in the other' the testudo was formed. PR. φράξαντες σάκος σάκεῖ, ἀσπὶς ἄρ ̓ ἀσπίδε ἔρειδε, ως πύκνοι ἐφέστασαν ἀλλήλοισι· Hom. II. N 130 sqq. П 212 sqq. R. See note on φράξαντες τὰ γέῤῥα· Her. ix. 61.

The phalanx' was the Macedonian disposition of heavy infantry. LU.

47. Cf. Cat. lvii. 1. 10. similis simili gaudet, and Mart. VIII. xxxv. GR.

48. Exemplum an example or instance,' exemplar a pattern.' GR.

[ocr errors]

Tædia non lambit Cluviam nec Flora Catullam:
50 Hispo subit juvenes et morbo pallet utroque.
Numquid nos agimus causas? civilia jura
Novimus? aut ullo strepitu fora vestra movemus?
Luctantur paucæ; comedunt coliphia pauca.
Vos lanam trahitis calathisque peracta refertis
55 Vellera: vos tenui prægnantem stamine fusum
Penelope melius, levius torquetis Arachne,
Horrida quale facit residens in codice pellex.
Notum est, cur solo tabulas impleverit Hister
Liberto, dederit vivus cur multa puellæ.

49. These are the real or fictitious names of notorious courtezans at Rome; as Hispo was of some infamous wretch. R. Lambit fondles not.'

Catulla; x. 322. Mart. VIII. liii. R. 50. Subit submits to be caressed by.' Prop. III. xix. 14. R.

[ocr errors]

Morbo utroque with twofold sin.' 51. We trespass not on your depart. ment, therefore why should you usurp our province?' Plutarch mentions one instance of a woman's pleading her own cause, which was regarded by the Senate as portentous: Comp. Lyc. et Num. LU. Inteream, si novi civilia jura! Hor. I S. ix. 38 sq.

52. Vestra all your own.' Amæsia, Afrania, and Hortensia were considered indelicate for having spoken in the forum. V. Max. viii. 3. PR. But cf. vi. 242. R. 53. To be sure there may be some few wrestlers among us, but then they are but a few.' cf. i. 22 sq. vi. 245 sqq. Mart. Sp. vi. PR.

[ocr errors]

Coliphia, because they make nλa the limbs' strong. The diet of athletes. Mart. VII. Ixvii. 12. J. Plaut. Pers. I. iii. 12. PR. Or from wań or z, diminutive of xwan xwań. SA. cf. xi. 20. R. Rump steaks.' SN. BO. This etymology of our English word COLLOP has been overlooked: "Take notice what plight you find me in, if there want but a collop or a steak o'me, look to't;" Beaum. and Fl. Maid in the Mill.

54. Paucaque cum tacta perfeci stamina tela; Ov. Ep. H. xix. 49. H. Tib. I. vi. 78 sqq. R.

In work-baskets.' LU.

55. The spindle big with slender thread.' M. cf. Pers. vi. 73. PR.

56. Penelope, queen of Ithaca, amused her importunate suitors by a promise to choose one of their number as soon as she had finished a pall which she was then weaving for Laertes; but delayed her decision by undoing at night, what was worked during the day. Hence the proverb Penelopes telam texere. LU. Hom. Od. T 137 sqq. R.

[ocr errors]

More nimbly: levi teretem versabat pollice fusum; Ov. Met. vi. 22. λέπτ' ἠλάκατα στρωφῶσαι Hom. Od. P 97. R.

Arachne, a Lydian damsel, challenged Pallas in weaving, and, being vanquished, hung herself and was transformed into a spider. Ov. Met. vi. 1 sqq. LU. cf. Plin. vii. 56. PR.

57. When the mistress of a family detected any improper familiarity between a female slave and her master, she used to fasten her to a large log of wood' and keep her to constant work. VS.

caudicis immundi vincula sentit: et

graviora rependit iniquis pensa quasillis; Prop. IV. vii. 44 and 41. Plaut. Poen. V. iii. 34. R.

Pelle akkúnn, a concubine,' the mistress of a married man. M.

58. Opinor omnibus et lippis notum et tonsoribus esse; Hor. I S. vii. 2 sq. LU. Virg. E. iii. 8. PR. See note on vi. 366.

Post meritum sane mirandum, omnia soli breviter dabit; xii. 124 sq. LU. vi. 601. R.

This Pacuvius Hister was an infamous

wretch, who had made his fortune by legacy-hunting; xii. 111 sqq. LU.

59. During his life-time,' because it was illegal to bequeath a fortune to one's wife. PR.

Lauronia, by calling the wife puella,

60 Dives erit, magno quæ dormit tertia lecto.
Tu nube atque tace: donant arcana cylindros.
De nobis post hæc tristis sententia fertur:
Dat veniam corvis, vexat censura columbas."
Fugerunt trepidi vera ac manifesta canentem
65 Stoicidæ. Quid enim falsi Lauronia? Sed quid
Non facient alii, quum tu multicia sumas,
Cretice, et hanc vestem populo mirante perores
In Proculas et Pollitas? Est mocha Labulla:
Damnetur, si vis, etiam Carfinia. Talem

70 Non sumet damnata togam.

[blocks in formation]

60. A wife, who consents to sleep three in a bed, is sure to make her fortune by the hush-money she will receive.' LU. M.

61. Lauronia here apostrophizes the unmarried, telling them beforehand what they have to expect. M.

Your keeping a secret will ensure presents of costly jewels.' LU. Plin. xxxvii. 5. GR. cf. vi. 459. PR.

62. If this be so, the melancholy truth is told of us in the proverb.' FA, 63. See 2. HR. Of course' ravens' and 'doves' designate' men' and 'women.' LU. Democrates, Zaleucus, and Anacharsis compared laws to cobwebs, which only catch small insects, whereas larger ones break through them. Ter. Phor. III. ii. 16. R.

64. Trepidi conscience-stricken;' as the Pharisees were in St John viii. 9. M. There is sarcasm in this word, for the Stoics professed to be ἀπαθεῖς. LU.

Canentem delivering oracularly:' cantare; Plaut. Bac. IV. ix. 61. Mos. IV. ii. 64. Rud. II. v. 21. R.

65. Stoicidæ 'These new-fangled Stoics;' formed as Eacidæ, Priamidæ, &c. PR. Thus Erwanis note on 20. R. Or rather Vapes of the Stoics.' HR.

[ocr errors]

Now the satire proceeds to the Stoici pæne Epicurei: cf. 11. HR.

66. Quid domini faciant, audent quum talia fures! Virg. E. iii. 16. GRE.

Thou, a magistrate!' PR.

"Sed Julius ardet;

186. called serica as coming from India through the country of the Seres, now Bocharia. They were first imported under the Emperors for ladies' dresses, but, being transparent (78. Tib. IV. vi. 13.), gave great offence: video sericas vestes, si vestes vocandæ sunt, in quibus nihil est quo defendi corpus aut denique pudor possit: &c. Sen. Ben. vii. 9. denudat faminas vestis; Plin. xi. 23. P. Syrus calls them ventus tertilis and nebula linea. GR. R. G. See notes on vi. 259 sq.

Sumas is the opposite to ponas. GR. cf. 74. iii. 56.

67. By the name of Creticus (viii. 38.), is designated a degenerate descendant of the Cæcilius Metellus who acquired that appellation from the conquest of Crete; with some allusion to the inexorable severity of the ancient Cretan judges, Minos and Rhadamanthus. GRÆ. ÅR. R.

Perorare to sum up,'' to deliver a studied harangue.' M.

68. By Procula (iii. 203.), Pollita, &c. are meant females amenable to the Julian law. R.

70. There is no denying her guilt: you may sentence her to infamy: and, when condemned, she may be obliged to lay aside the decent vest (stolam) and assume the gown of penance (togam): but, bad as she is, she would never degrade herself by wearing such a gown.' LU. Cicero distinguishes the virilis toga from the muliebris stola; Phil. but females of disreputable character were obliged to wear the former: hence the virtuous and the loose part of the sex were discriminated as stolate and togata. cf. Hor. I S. ii. 63. 82. Tib. I. vi. 68. IV. x. 3. Mart. II. xxxxix. X. lii. RI.

Multicia thin muslin robes,' 76. xi. PR. G. R.

« PredošláPokračovať »