Obrázky na stránke
PDF
ePub

200 Sidus et occulți miranda potentia fati?

Servis regna dabunt, captivis Fata triumphos. Felix ille tamen corvo quoque rarior albo. Poenituit multos vanæ sterilisque cathedræ, Sicut Thrasymachi probat exitus atque Secundi 205 Carrinatis: et hunc inopem vidistis, Athenæ, Nil præter gelidas ausæ conferre cicutas.

-Dî, majorum umbris tenuem et sine pondere terram
Spirantesque crocos et in urna perpetuum ver,

good king (201. VS.) of Rome: viii. 260. G. Liv. i. 39 sqq. Flor. i. 6. Eutr. PR.

200. Nescia mens hominum fati sortisque futura; Virg. Æ. x. 501. DO. cf. Cic. de Fato. PR.

201. P. Ventidius ex Parthis, et per Parthos de Crassi manibus in hostili solo miserabiliter jacentibus, triumphum duxit; et qui captivus carcerem exhorruerat, victor Capitolium felicitate celebravit; V. Max. vi. 9. PR.

202. Ille i. e. Quintilian. VS.

A proverb like that in vi. 165. DO. Hence the oracle to Phalanthus, uvrhy χώραν, ἕως κόρακες λευκοὶ γένωνται· Ath. viii. 16. R. White ravens are occasionally met with Aristotle. One was sent to Alphonso king of Sicily by the king of England. Another was seen by RH.

PR.

203. Of the profession of rhetoric.' circum pulpita nostra et steriles cathedras basia sola crepant; Mart. I. lxxvii. 13 sq. PR. note on 49. R.

204. Θρασύμαχος Χαλκηδόνιος σοφιστής ἐν Βιθυνία, ὃς πρῶτος περίοδον καὶ κῶλον κατέδειξε καὶ τὸν νῦν τῆς ῥητορικῆς τρόπον εἰσηγήσατο μαθητής Πλάτωνος τοῦ φιλοσόφου καὶ ̓Ισοκράτους τοῦ ῥήτορος· ἔγραψε συμβουλευτικούς, τέχνην ῥητορικὴν, παίγνια, apoguàs pnrogixás Suid. cf. Cic. Or. iii. 12. 16. 32. Quint. III. i. 10. iii. 4. R. Thrasymachus shut up his school at Athens for want of encouragement, and afterwards hung himself. VS. FA. Plat. de Rep. Dionys. Hal. fr. de Vet. Orat.

VL.

Secundus Carrinas was driven by poverty from Athens to Rome. On account of a rhetorical declamation against tyrants, (note on 151.) he was banished by Caligula. FA. Dio lix. 20. PR. Tac. A. xv. 45. (LI.) R.

205. You too, Athens,' i. e. Athens as well as Rome. cicutas will mean 'your hemlock, which you reserve as a reward for indigent genius.'

206. Cold.' (cf. note on i. 72.) Cicuta quoque venenum est, publica Atheniensium pœna invisa. semen habet noxium. semini et foliis refrigeratoria vis: quos enecat, incipiunt algere ab extremitatibus corporis. remedio est, priusquam perveniat ad vitalia, vini natura excalfactoria. sed in vino pota irremediabilis existimatur; Plin. xxv. 13 s 95, 4. Diosc. iv. 79. in Alex. 11. Cicutam potam caligo mentisque alienatio et artuum gelatio insequitur; Scrib. Larg. de Comp. Med. 179. Schol. on Pers. v. 145. (K.) R. Plat. Phæd. 66.

There is an allusion here to the condemnation of Socrates, who was adjudged to die by drinking hemlock. Pers. iv. 1 sq. PR.

207. Date or dent is understood, sit tibi terra levis, mollique tegaris arena; Mart.— IX. xxx. 11. M. Hence the letters frequently placed on tombs S. T. T. L.

Light lie the earth on thee:" opposed to which are the maledictions, sit tibi terra gravis! urgeat ossa lapis! duriter ossa cubent! GR, FA. LU, R. istam (Phadram) terra defossam premat, gravisque tellus impio capiti incubet; Sen. Hip. 1280. cf. Pers. i. 37 sqq. PR. And the well-known epigram on Sir John Vanbrugh, the architect of Blenheim; "Lie heavy on him, earth! for he Laid many a heavy load on thee."

208. The ancients used to strew fragrant nosegays, annually, on the tombs of their departed friends, and even believed that flowers grew spontaneously on the graves, so that the shades of the deceased enjoyed a perpetual spring.' Suet. Aug. 18. Ath. xv. p. 679. Anth. Lat. (BU.)

[ocr errors]

Qui præceptorem sancti voluere parentis
210 Esse loco. Metuens virgæ jam grandis Achilles
Cantabat patriis in montibus: et cui non tunc
Eliceret risum citharodi cauda magistri?

215

Sed Rufum atque alios cædit sua quæque juventus,
Rufum, qui toties Ciceronem Allobroga dixit.

Quis gremio Enceladi doctique Palæmonis affert, Quantum grammaticus meruit labor? Et tamen ex hoc, Quodcumque est, (minus est autem, quam rhetoris æra) Discipuli custos præmordet Acœnonoëtus

II. iv. 99. 186. 247. Anal. Br. t. ii. p. 25. t. iii. p. 303. This notion seems closely connected with the fabled metamorphoses of many heroes of antiquity into flowers. Pers. i. 35 sqq. Suet. Ner. 75. (CAS.) Prop. I. xvii. 22. (VU.) Perfumes and odoriferous flowers,' crocus' (Plin. xxi. 6.) among the rest, were used at funerals and scattered either on the funeral pile or on the bones. Tib. III. ii. 23 sq. JA. KI, de Fun. Rom. iii. 5. iv. 3. OU. GRU. K. R. PR. iv. 109, note. see Shaksp. Cymb. IV. ii. and the Dirge by Collins. A like custom still prevails in France.

[ocr errors]

209. Alexander, the pupil of Aristotle, is reported to have said: præceptoribus plura, quam ipsis parentibus, debemus; quum ab his vivendi, ab illis bene vivendi rationem adipiscamur. cf. 238 sq. Sen. Ben. vi. 16, extr. Quint. ii. 2. 9 pr. LU. PR. 210. In awe of the rod,' v. 154. regarding his preceptor with respectful deference. LU. Phillyrides puerum cithara perfecit Achillen, atque animos placida contudit arte feros: qui toties socios, toties exterruit hostes, creditur annosum pertimuisse senem: quas Hector sensurus erat, poscente magistro, verberibus jussas præbuit ille manus; Ov. A. A. i. 11 sqq. PR. Stat. Ach. i. 503 sqq. (B.) R.

211. Learnt to sing and accompany his voice on the lyre.' PR. nobilis grandi cecinit Centaurus alumno; Hor. Ep. xiii. 11. R.

Mount Pelion in Thessaly; LU. the abode of the Centaurs. Apoll. II. v. 4. 212. Chiron, (iii. 205. PR.) one of the sons of Saturn and Phillyra, being a centaur, had the body and tail of a horse. LU. He had many heroes for his pupils. A poll. III. xiii. 6. (HY.) R.

213. Satrius Rufus, cui fuit cum Cicerone æmulatio; Plin. Ep. I. v. 11. R. or Q. Curtius Rufus, of whom nothing further is known than that he was an eminent rhetorician. GR. A very eloquent native of Gaal. VS.

Olim populi prius honorem capiebat suffragio, quam magistri desinebat esse dicto obediens, &c. G. but now puer septuennis pædagogo tabula dirumpit caput; Plaut. Bac. III. iii. 37. M.

214. This Rufus arraigned the purity of Tully's style,' G. charging him with provincialisms and barbarisms, such as were only current among the natives of Savoy and those parts. satis constat nec Ciceroni quidem obtrectatores defuisse, quibus inflatus et tumens, nec satis pressus, supra modum exsultans et superfluens videretur; Tac. de Or. 18. 22. (LI.) Calvus called him solutum et enervem; Brutus elumbem et fractum. For a defence of him see Gell. xvii. 1. Quint. XI. i. 3. XII. x. 1. Or an historical declamation may be alluded to, which went to prove that Cicero had, in the affair of Catiline, identified himself with the Allobroges rather than with his fellow-countrymen. Sall. B. C. PR. R.

215. To the lap.' see St Luke vi. 38. M.

Of Enceladus nothing further is known. Palamon; vi. 452. LU. He was in the receipt of a good annual income; G. as his school brought him in forty sestertia and he had little less in private property: making together about £650 per annum.

R.

216. Grammaticus; Petr. 55. Ath. xv. 1. Quint. i. 4. Gell. xiv. 5. PR. Pallad. Ep. 46 in Br. An. t. ii. p. 417. R.

218. The servant, who takes his little master to the day-school, must have

Et, qui dispensat, franget sibi. Cede, Palæmon, 220 Et patere inde aliquid decrescere, non aliter, quam Institor hibernæ tegetis niveique cadurci,

Dummodo non pereat, mediæ quod noctis ab hora
Sedisti, qua nemo faber, qua nemo sederet,
Qui docet obliquo lanam deducere ferro;
225 Dummodo non pereat, totidem olfecisse lucernas,
Quot stabant pueri, quum totus decolor esset
Flaccus et hæreret nigro fuligo Maroni.
Rara tamen merces, quæ cognitione tribuni
Non egeat. Sed vos sævas imponite leges,
230 Ut præceptori verborum regula constet,

the first nibble.' The metaphor is
taken from a slice of bread sent, by the
hands of a hungry messenger, to a third
person. M.

219. The steward breaks a bit off, before it leaves his hands.' M.

[ocr errors]

Courage, Palamon, be not over nice, But suffer some abatement in your price; As those who deal in rugs, will ask you high, And sink by pence, and half-pence, till you buy." G. Neither the advice nor the simile could be very palatable to the arrogance and self-importance of the grammarian. BRI. It is said however that he was very attentive to the main chance; cum officinas promercalium vestium exerceret; &c. Suet. Ill. Gr. 23. R.

220. Inde i. e. ex hoc; 216.

221. The salesman' or 'factor,' who sold upon commission, and sometimes travelled about with goods for the manufacturer. cf. Hor. III Od. vi. 30. JN. Prop. IV. ii. 38. (BK.) R. Mart. XII. lvii. 14. [Livy xxii, 25, 16. ED.]

Tegetis; v. 8. Cadurci; vi. 537. R. 222. The early hour at which these schools opened is noticed also by Martial: (note on 126.) quid tibi nobiscum, ludi scelerate magister, invisum pueris virginibusque caput? nondum cristati rupere silentia galli: murmure jam sævo verberibusque tonas. Vicini somnum non tota nocte rogamus: nam vigilare leve est, pervigilare grave; I. Ixix. 1 sqq. 9 sq. PR. nec cogitandi nec quiescendi in Urbe locus est pauperi; negant vitam ludimagistri mane, &c. numerare pigri damna quis potest somni? XII. Ivii. 3 sqq. 15. Pers. iii. 1 sqq. R.

[ocr errors]

223. The master sat in his chair, 203. while the boys stood; 226. GR. R. 224. They combed wool with a card, which had crooked iron' teeth, like those now in use. M. doctissimus artis lanificæ, moderator pectine unco; Claud. Eut. ii. 381 sq. R.

Deducere; 54. Tib. 1. vi. 78-80. (HY.) R.

225. Each boy had his lamp, because it was not yet day-light. LU.

226. From this passage we learn, that Virgil and Horace were the standard books in the grammar schools of those days. cf. Quint. X. i. 85. PR. I. i. 12. viii. 5. Petr. 5. Cic. de Or. i. 42. R.

228. E'en then, the stipend thus reduced, (216 sqq. R.) thus small, Without a law-suit, rarely comes at all." G.

The tribune, who presided in the court of requests for the recovery of small debts,' and was therefore called aerarius. GR. A. Trials, which at first were entirely in the hands of the senators, by the Sempronian law of C. Gracchus were transferred to the equestrian order, then by the Livian and Plautian laws to the senators and knights, afterwards by C. Sulla they were restored to the senate, and lastly by the Aurelian law of L. Aur. Cotta they were made common to the three classes: the tribunes of money matters were chosen from the plebeians. Julius Cæsar when dictator abolished the latter decuria, which was presently reinstated by Augustus. R.

229. I would have you, who are parents, show the master no mercy.' PR.

230. He must know the rules for every word.' M.

Ut legat historias, auctores noverit omnes,
Tamquam ungues digitosque suos; ut forte rogatus,
Dum petit aut thermas aut Phobi balnea, dicat
Nutricem Anchisæ, nomen patriamque novercæ
235 Anchemoli; dicat, quot Acestes vixerit annos,
Quot Siculus Phrygibus vini donaverit urnas.
Exigite, ut mores teneros ceu pollice ducat,
Ut si quis cera vultum facit: exigite, ut sit
Et pater ipsius cœtus, ne turpia ludant, ̧
240 Ne faciant vicibus. Non est leve, tot puerorum
Observare manus oculosque in fine trementes."

231. Universal history, and all the classics, he must have at his fingers' ends.' M. non satis est poetas legisse, excutiendum omne scriptorum genus, non propter historias modo sed et verba, quæ frequenter jus ab auctoribus sumunt. solu grammatica omni studiorum genere plus habet operis quam ostentationis; Quint. I. iv. PR. XI. iii. 114. R.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

233. (1) Either the hot or the cold baths.' LU. Phœbus is said to have been a bath-keeper at Rome. This was the name of one of Nero's freed-men: Tac. An. xvi. 5. (2) Either artificial or natural baths;' the latter being warmed only by the sun. (3) The baths of Baiæ or Cumæ;' the latter being designated by the name of its guardian god: non Phabi vada, principesque Baia; Mart. VI. xlii. 7. PR. R. Wealthy noblemen used to send for literary men to enjoy their conversation at the baths. HG.

234. This absurd curiosity about trifles (which, as Seneca well observes, nec juvat nec prodest scire) was but too common among the ancients. Gellius gives us many pleasant instances of it, to which his learned translator has added more. Juvenal seems to allude to Tiberius, who used to harass these poor men, by enquiring who was Hecuba's mother, what the Sirens used to sing, &c. &c. It is impossible to suppress a smile at the perverse industry of modern critics in hunting out what Juvenal represents as puzzling those of his own time. The nurse of Anchises and the step-dam of Anchemolus' are no longer secrets. G. Sen. Ep. 88. 98. 108. Gell. xiv. 6. Suet. Tib. 56. 70. FA. The latter is said to have been

Casperia; SV. Virg. Æn. x. 389. PR. the former, Tisiphone. VS. Quint. I. viii. Sen. de Br. V. 18. R.

235. Acestes, king of Sicily; avi maturus; Virg. Æn. v. 73. PR. 236. Quot: cf. Virg. Æn. i. 195 sq. (HY.) PR.

Siculus the Sicilian king.' see note on τὸν Κόλχον Her. i. 2.

237. The moral education of his pupils must be equally attended to. Suet. Ill. Gr. 23. R. Pers. v. 36-40. PR.

That he mould.' Pers. v. 40. (K.) PR. excudent alii spirantia mollius æra, vivos ducent de marmore vultus ; Virg. Æ. vi. 848 sq. M. Mart. VIII. vi. 10. Ov. M. i. 402. fingere mentes; Sil. i. 441. robora in rectum, quamvis flexa revocabis; curvatas trabes calor explicat et aliter natæ in id finguntur, quod usus noster exigit: quanto facilius animus accipit formam, flexibilis et omni humore obsequentior; Sen. Ep. 50. R.

238. Thus Horace speaks of the young as cereus in vitium flecti; A. P. 163. PR. cf. Pers. iii. 23 sq. ut Hymettia sole cera remollescit, tractataque pollice multas flectitur in facies, ipsoque fit utilis usu; Ov. M. x. 284 sqq. qualiter artifici victura pollice cerae accipiunt formas, ignemque manumque sequuntur; Stat. Ach. i. 332 sq. Plin. Ep. VII. ix. 11. R.

239. Pater; Quint. II. ii. PR. cf. 209 sq. R.

[blocks in formation]

"Hæc" inquit "cures; et, quum se verterit annus, Accipe (victori populus quod postulat) aurum."

66

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

gunλarovra (Heliogabalus is meant) καὶ χρυσοῦς, ὡς πέρ τινα τῶν τυχόντων, airoura Xiph. Hel. Or (2) gladiator in the amphitheatre,' Suet. Claud. 21. Or (3) actor in the theatre;' Tac. An. i. 83. (LI.) SA, p. 911. So that these men get as much in one hour, as a schoolmaster for the whole year. A. VS. FA. PR. cf. Pallad. Ep. xlvi. in Br. An. (JA.) R.

« PredošláPokračovať »