Quum duo crura habeas, offendere tot caligas, tot "Da testem," judex quum dixerit. Audeat ille Praemia nunc alia atque alia emolumenta notemus Improbus aut campum mihi si vicinus ademit, Quod mea cum patulo coluit puls annua libo; Quod placitum est ipsis praestatur tempus agendi, Nec res atteritur longo sufflamine litis. 50 Solis praeterea testandi militibus jus Vivo patre datur: nam quae sunt parta labore Quamvis jam tremulus captat pater. Hunc labor aequus 60 NOTES. SATIRE I. THIS satire must have been published after A.D. 100 (see note on verse 47). Whether it was written first or not, it serves very well as an introduction to the volume. The 'libellus' of which the author speaks (verse 86) may be this poem or the whole collection. ARGUMENT.-Am I always to listen, and never to pay back in kind? I, too, have been to school; if paper must be wasted, why should not I write (1-18)? How can I restrain myself when I think of the men and the times? I have no choice; I must write satire. How, in view of the sins of to-day, can I take up the hackneyed tales of the old poets? In the very streets one sees his material. Honesty is gone; crimes alone help men. I must write as I can (19-80). All the passions of men are my motley subject. When was there so much gaming as there is to-day, such luxury, such base cringing for a paltry gain? Why, even men of rank seek the dole and press their claim in every way (81-126). So, every day, the sportula comes first, then the court; then the hungry clients go away disappointed, and the rich man sits down to his feast. But such gluttony brings its own speedy punishment (127-146). You tell me I had best be careful how I speak, or I may meet the Christians' fate; that it is safer to write of those who are dead and gone. Well, then, I must try what I can do with those who are in their tombs (147-171). 1. Semper ego auditor tantum ?] In the time of Augustus it had become common for all sorts of writers, but particularly poets, to recite their productions in public places, baths, colonnades, and so forth; or to get their friends and acquaintances together to hear them in private houses or rooms hired for the purpose. The practice was adopted by literary men of character as well as the inferior sort; the example having been first set, as is said, by Asinius Pollio, the friend and patron of Horace and others. Tantum' modifies auditor.' A. 47, 3, c; H. 583, 1; B. 997; M. 301, c, obs. 2. Nunquamne reponam means 'Am I never to pay back?' The verb is the present subjunctive. A. 57, 6; H. 486, 11.; B. 1180. |