SATIRA IV. INTRODUCTION. THERE is not much to remark in this Satire. Its purpose is to show that men have little acquaintance with themselves while they are ready to criticize severely the characters of their neighbours, and to take in with delight vulgar flattery. It opens with a dialogue (if it can be called so, where one of the persons is only supposed to utter a dozen words put into his mouth by the other, v. 17, sq.) between Socrates and Alcibiades, in which the teacher remonstrates with his favourite on his vanity and selfconfidence, just as he does in Plato's dialogue, Alcibiades Prior; from which some of the expressions in this scene are taken, and the scene itself is evidently copied. This part illustrates the first point in the Satire, which is men's ignorance of themselves. Their unkindness to others follows. You have only to name a man, and straightway his character is abused and his faults exaggerated; his good qualities are never mentioned. But though men may hide their sore places from the world and delight themselves in flattery, they cannot cheat conscience altogether. The moral is that men should scorn to be called what they are not; throw back the flattery of the vulgar on themselves; and make their own breast their home, that they may learn how little they have there to be proud of. ARGUMENT. What, you become a statesman? (suppose that Socrates is speaking.) Trusting in what, O ward of Pericles? No doubt you're wise beyond your years, and so the people when their passions rise will surely listen to you, saying, 'Citizens, I tell you this is wrong-'twere better so.' You can weigh justice in the balance, you can tell straight from crooked. You cannot? Then as you're only fair outside, why show your gaudy tail before your day to an admiring crowd? You're only fit for hellebore. What is your happiness? To eat good dishes and to bask in the sun.' Hold, this old woman could but answer so. Well, boast your beauty and descent, only allow that Baucis crying herbs for slaves to buy is wise as you. V. 23. No man goes down into himself, but all can see the pack upon their neighbour's shoulders. Ask a man thus, Know you Vectidius' estate, the man who owns broad lands at Cures ?' What he (the man replies) the wretch, who on a holiday eats onions raw, washed down with sour old wine he scarce has the heart to draw ?' Or if you're a free liver, some one will touch you on the elbow and drag your character through the mire. V. 42. We strike and in our turn are struck again. These are the terms we live on: so much experience teaches us! You've a deep sore within, but your broad belt conceals it. Well, try and cheat your conscience if you can. 'But if my neighbours praise me shall I not believe them? If money turns you pale, if you indulge your lusts, or if you cheat in the Forum, 'tis vain to drink the flattery of the vulgar; scorn to be what you are not: give the cobbler back his offering; live with yourself, and you shall see how scantily furnished is your home. REM populi tractas? (barbatum haec crede magistrum 1. Rem populi tractas?] See Introduction. Rem populi' is equivalent to 'rem publicam. As to cicuta, see Juv. vii. 206. 3. Quo fretus,] Here he follows closely Socrates language in Plato's dialogue. He supposes Alcibiades in his pride to match himself against the king of Persia, and the queen-mother to wonder 874 TоTè πιστεύων ἐν νῷ ἔχει οὗτος ὁ ̓Αλκιβιάδης τῷ Αρταξέρξη διαγωνίζεσθαι. She answers herself, οὐκ ἔσθ' ὅτῳ ἄλλῳ πιστεύων πλὴν ἐπιμελείᾳ τε καὶ σοφίᾳ, ταῦτα γὰρ μόνα ἄξια λóyov ev "EλAnoi. Socrates continues, ἐπεὶ εἴ γε πύθοιτο ὡς ὁ ̓Αλκιβιάδης οὗτος νῦν ἐπιχειρεῖ, πρῶτον μὲν ἔτη οὐδέπω γεγονὼς σφόδρα εἴκοσιν, ἔπειτα παντάπασιν ἀπαίδευτος, οἶμαι ἂν αὐτὴν θαυμάσαι τε καὶ ἐρέσθαι, τί οὖν ποτ ̓ ἔστιν ὅτῳ πιστεύει τὸ MEIрáкIOV; The MSS. instead of o,' which Heinrich reads, have hoc' or 'haec.' I do not take either of these to be right. magni pupille Pericli.] Clinias the father of Alcibiades was killed at the battle of Coroneia, B.C. 447, and left his son (whose age at the time is uncertain, but he was quite a child) under the care of Pericles and his brother Ariphron, who were second cousins, as we should call them, of Dinomache, the mother of Alcibiades. The form Pericli or Periclei is like Ulixei (Hor. Epp. i. 7. 40, &c.) and Achillei (C. i. 15. 34), from a nominative Pericleus, the last syllable of the genitive being open or contracted according to convenience. 4. Scilicet ingenium] This is ironical, and taken from the above passage of Plato. Rerum prudentia' is a knowledge of the world. See note on Hor. C. iv. 9. 35, "Est animus tibi Rerumque prudens." Ante pilos' is 'before the beard.' 'Dicenda tacendaque' means all sorts of things.' See note on Hor. Epp. i. 7. 72: "Dicenda tacenda locutus Tandem dormitum dimittitur." 5 honesty; of which Socrates makes him confess he knows nothing : οὐκοῦν ἐλέγχθη ὅτι περὶ δικαίων καὶ ἀδίκων ̓Αλκιβιάδης ὁ καλὸς ὁ Κλεινίου οὐκ ἐπίσταιτο· οἴοιτα δὲ καὶ μέλλοι εἰς ἐκκλησίαν ἐλθὼν συμβουλεύσειν Αθηναίοις περὶ ὧν οὐδὲν οἶδεν; οὐ ταῦτ ̓ ἦν; ̓Αλκ. φαίνεται (Steph. ii. 113). In quid deinde loquere?' Jahn sees an allusion to the young man's thoughtlessness in not preparing his speech before he goes in. This is a strange remark. Socrates takes it for granted he will say what he puts into his mouth. For 'puto' most MSS. have ‘puta [and also Jahn]. The other seems to be required. The speaker expresses his own opinion. Priscian and Servius both quote the line with puta, observing that the last syllable in puta, which some call an adverb, is short. As to 'libra' see S. i. 7, n. As to curva' see S. iii. 52. Regula' is properly a straight ruler. Here it is put, as part for the whole, for norma,' which was composed of two 'regulae' joined at right angles. These are the pedes' here referred to, and he supposes the instrument to have been bent and the angle altered. What he says is, You can weigh justice in the scales and tell when it is wanting; and you can distinguish a straight line when you see it among curves, or from the diverging line formed by a 'norma' when its legs are out of the perpendicular. You know also how to set your black mark against vice. is for @ávaros. According to the Scholiast here (to whose authority Plum adds Isidorus, Hispal. Etymol. i. 20. 23, and Asconius, ad Cic. pro Scauro) the Greek dicasts declared their verdict of condemnation by this letter as the Roman judices did by C (condemno). Martial has an epigram (vii. 37) of which the lemma is "Ad Castricum de Theta." It begins "Nosti mortiferum quaestoris, Castrice, signum ? Est operae pretium discere theta 6. Ergo ubi commota] Ergo,' because you are so early wise, you are eager to go among the people, and wave down their noise with the majestic motion of your arm, and then discourse to them upon The Scholiast quotes from an author he novum. 'Quirites, Fert animus calidae fecisse silentia turbae Quin tu igitur summa nequicquam pelle decorus does not name, "O multum ante alias in- 14. Quin tu igitur] He goes on (as if the youth had disclaimed all that he ironically attributes to him), "Then why do you not leave off showing your fine tail (like a peacock) before your time to the flattering vulgar, you who are only fair on the surface, you who had better go and swallow all Anticyra without water?" Horace says of one (Epp. i. 16. 44, sq.): "Sed videt hunc omnis domus et vicinia tota Introrsum turpem, speciosum pelle de cora." himself. " 'Ante diem' is before he has qualified Popello' is the contemptuous form of populus' used by Horace (Epp. i. 7. 65), "Vilia vendentem tunicato scruta popello." See below, S. vi. 50. As to Anticyra see Juv. xiii. 97. Horace speaks of three Anticyrae (A. P. 300, "tribus Anticyris caput insanabile nunquam "), but there is no more meaning in the plural there than here (see note). As to 'meracas' compare Horace, Epp. ii. 2. 137: "Expulit helleboro morbum bilemque me raco, Et redit ad sese." 'Uncta' is a common epithet for dainties, made-dishes. See S. iii. 102; vi. 16. 18. assiduo curata cuticula sole.] Pelliculam' or 'cutem curare' are common phrases with Horace, as in S. ii. 5. 38; Epp. i. 2. 29; i. 4. 15. It is an expression for taking care of oneself, generally in the way of eating and drinking. And so it I nunc, 10 15 is here. The man liked a good dinner, which in the winter he would take in a room that caught the sun's rays, as in summer in one looking to the north. See note on Hor. C. ii. 15. 14: "nulla decempedis Metata privatis opacam Porticus excipiebat Arcton." For the former the Romans had the words 'insolatio,' 'apricatio,' for the latter the phrase was 'coenatio ad Boream.' Juv. xi. 203 has "Nostra bibat vernum contracta cuticula solem." is wait a moment,' or 'look here.' It was 'Dinomaches ego sum,' suffla; 'sum candidus.' Esto, 20 Dum ne deterius sapiat pannucea Baucis, Cum bene discincto cantaverit ocima vernae. Ut nemo in sese tentat descendere, nemo, Sed praecedentis spectatur mantica tergo! Quaesieris, "Nostin' Vectidii praedia?" "Dives arat Curibus quantum non milvus oberret." "Hunc ais, hunc Dis iratis Genioque sinistro? Qui quandoque jugum pertusa ad compita figit, 23. Ut nemo in sese tentat] Here the poet leaves Alcibiades and his teacher, to derive from the scene he has described a lesson against self-ignorance. To go down into oneself as into a dark mine or cavern is an expressive phrase. Aesop's story of the two wallets is referred to among many other writers by Horace, S. ii. 3. 299: "Respicere ignoto discet pendentia tergo," where see note. According to the original fable each man carries his neighbour's vices in a wallet on his breast, and is continually looking into it, while his own he swings on his back and never sees them. Persius makes the man looking with satisfaction at the wallet on the back of one who is walking before him; thereby slightly varying the fable. [Phaedrus (iv. 9) has told the fable well in three lines: "Peras imposuit Jupiter nobis duas : Propriis repletam vitiis post tergum dedit; Alienis ante pectus suspendit gravem." In v. 24 of Persius Jahn has praecedenti.'] ་ 25. Quaesieris, Nostin' Vectidii praedia?] He supposes by way of example some one to ask whether he is acquainted with Vectidius' estate. The man asks 'which Vectidius ?' and he explains by saying he has immense estates at Cures. Whereupon the other takes him up, "What, do you mean that stingy wretch, who blesses himself if he opens a jar of wine on a holiday, eating a raw onion and gulping his sour drink, while his slaves are making merry with a pot of porridge ?" He means that people will only find what harm they can in a man, and exaggerate it, and never think of his better qualities. "Cujus?" 25 rich shows how frequently in the same name 'c' and 't' are interchanged. Jahn says this is due to the ignorance of the middle ages, and that in inscriptions the name Vettidius is often found, but Vectidius never. That does not decide the case against the MSS., which are for the most part in favour of Vectidii. Cures' is the Sabine town in which tradition said Numa was born. The circumstance of Vectidius being a Sabine might account for his thriftiness, for which those people were proverbial. But his neighbours chose to take the worst view of it. As to quantum non milvus oberret' see Juv. ix. 54, sq. : «Dic, passer, cui tot montes, tot praedia servas Appula, tot milvos intra tua pascua lassos ?" Dis iratis Genioque sinistro' are ablatives of quality. We need not understand 'natus' because Horace says, "Iratis natus paries Dis atque poetis." The man was Dis inimicus,' the gods hated him, and his Genius was adverse to him; he was born bad. See note on S. ii. 8. 28. quandoque jugum pertusa ad compita figit,] This is obscure. Forcellini renders 'pertusa' pervia,' which Jahn adopts, and adds in the words of the Scholiast, "quia in omnes partes patent." Heinrich explains it by 'calcata,'' trita,' and this seems to be near the meaning. There were holes in the road from weather and use. But it is not certain what the man is about. Heinrich, Jahn, and most of the old commentators, understand that he is making an offering to the Lares Coinpitales at their festival, the Compitalis, which was held at the beginning of January with a good deal of eating and drinking. But there is nothing about the Compitalia in the text, which only says that the man sometimes hung up a yoke Seriolae veterem metuens deradere limum 35 Ingemit, 'Hoc bene sit!' tunicatum cum sale mordens 30 at the 'compita,' and on the occasion ate Veianius armis 40 prays that no harm may come of such extravagance. Hoc bene sit,' 'quod bene sit,' were ordinary forms of prayer, especially when there was any thing doubtful about the matter in hand. Tunicatum caepe' is a raw onion with the shell on. See Juv. xiv. 153, Tunicam mihi malo lupini," &c. 'Farratam ollam' is a jar of porridge, 'puls.' See Juv. xi. 109, where farrata' is used absolutely for 'pultes.' See also his description of the young rustics' supper, "grandes fumabant pul " Herculis ad postem fixis latet abditus tibus ollae" (xiv. 171). The slaves clapped agro," it was usual for persons giving up any particular calling to dedicate their tools, &c., to some god. This the commentators refer to. But here a repeated act is implied in 'quandoque,' and it cannot therefore be referred to the man's retirement from farming. We must, I think, remain ignorant of the occasions on which the farmer dedicated his yoke, admitting that a dedication to the Lares Compitales is meant. It appears that on such occasions, whatever they were, the household had a feast, which according to the speaker went against the grain with Vectidius. Quandoque' for 'quandocunque' is twice used by Horace, C. iv. 1. 17, "Et quandoque potentior," &c., and 2. 84, "Caesarem quandoque trahet feroces," &c. See Forcellini. 29. Seriolae veterem] Seria' was one of the different sorts of jars in which wine was kept, and seriola' was a small one of the same sort. This man is said with all his riches to be unwilling to take off the dirt from his old jar to draw the wine, and It their hands when they saw this mess. Casaubon, Passow, and most editors, The 33. At si unctus cesses] But if you be not a thrifty liver like Vectidius, but selfindulgent, like Alcibiades (see v. 18), then people will find something worse to say of you.' What they say the reader will be glad to pass over. 42. Caedimus inque vicem] Horace has something like this (Epp. ii. 2. 97), |