SATIRA III. Cultam palliolo? Mulier nempe ipsa videtur, Nec tamen Antiochus, nec erit mirabilis illic Δωρὶς ὡς κόρα. As waiting women were not allowed shawls, and so were obliged to follow the Dorian fashion, Doris would be a natural name for them. 95 nempe] To be sure they act well; still they would be nothing among Greeks. 99 molli Haemo] An actor famous for his assumption of womanish delicacy. 100 Natio] This word is used in the purest prose writers of what we call tribes, while gentes are what we call nations. It would be easy and irrelevant to translate "it is a tribe of actors." 102 igniculum] "A bit of fire." 103 Accipit] Not merely capit or induit, he is glad to get his cue from you. 105 aliena] So P.; all the rest alienum, which Juvenal ought to have written. 108] Almost certainly we are to think of a 'cottabus,' probably in this context of an indecent one, suitable to a man, "Qui Lacedaemonium pytismate lubricat orbem " (xi. 173). 114 transi] Leave the boyish rudiments of sin, and listen to the crimes of manhood. Some think transi gymnasia = transi ad gymnasia, to the philosophic schools; but it is not certain that gymnasia can mean schools; or majoris abollae, a bigger philosopher's cloak, without more help from the context than they get here. Gymnasia atque audi facinus majoris abollae. Quod porro officium, ne nobis blandiar, aut quod 116 Stoicus] Publius Egnatius Celer, a client of Soranus Barea, denounced him and his daughter for magic and treason under Nero; they had to commit suicide. After the fall of Vitellius, Egnatius was banished. 117 Discipulam] So Ritter, for discipulum, to give force to senex, as the client could not be much older than the patron, while the copyists might easily forget Barea's daughter. 118] Though a native of Berytus, he might be educated at Tarsus, which Juvenal probably derived from Pegasus' hoof.-Caballi, slang, like nag. Cf. "pigri sarraca Bootae" (v. 23), immeritis franguntur crura caballis" (x. 60). 125] He is sold cheap for another false smile from a Greek. 127 hic] At Rome. Contrast the following passage where Cicero is defending Muraena against Cato from the charge of hiring attendants to follow him in his canvass :'Quid opus est, inquit, sectatoribus? A me tu id quaeris, quid opus sit eo, quo semper usi sumus? Homi 115 I 20 125 nes tenues unum habent in nostrum ordinem aut promerendi aut referendi beneficii locum, hanc in nostris petitionibus operam atque adsectationem. Neque enim fieri potest neque postulandum est a nobis aut ab equitibus Romanis, ut suos necessarios candidatos adsectentur totos dies: a quibus si domus nostra celebratur, si interdum ad forum deducimur, si uno basilicae spatio [one turn through a basilica] honestamur, diligenter observari videmur et coli: tenuiorum et non occupatorum amicorum est ista adsiduitas : quorum copia bonis viris et beneficis deesse non solet" (Pro. L. Mur. c. xxxiv. § 70). I underline the words which mark how closely such homage was measured in the last age of the Republic. 129 dudum vigilantibus orbis] A scholiast who was puzzled by dudum says: "Quamvis contemnat, festinat tamen." The words give the reason not for impellat and jubeat, but for ire praecipitem, and give the praetor's view, even if not spoken in his person; he tells the lictor to Ne prior Albinam et Modiam collega salutet? Ut semel atque iterum super illam palpitet: at tu, Quid? quod materiam praebet causasque jocorum 150 traffic in the beginning of Greek civilisation, its gods were widely known; as the race which originally occupied the island was clearly distinct from the historical Greeks, and naturally made a secret to strangers of the precise nature and object of their worship, these gods exercised the attraction of mystery upon the religious consciousness of Greece, while it was impressible and fresh, and still continued in an age of scepticism to inspire a certain degree of superstitious awe. 150 crassum atque recens] He is always having his shoes mended, so there is always a glaring new patch to shew. Atque recens linum ostendit non una cicatrix. n Nil habet infelix paupertas durius in se, Quam quod ridiculos homines facit. "Exeat," inquit, "Si pudor est de se, pulvino surgat equestri 154 Si pudor est de se] So the Scholiast, and probably Pithou's MS., the corrector whereof and the other MSS. have Si pudor est, et de, which is neater, and less vigorous. 157 nitidi] Like cultos in the next line: the auctioneer has commenced gentleman. The Scholiast has a curious note on cultos :-"Divitis degener gladiatoris," as if it was unmanly of them not to be gladia 2 155 160 165 162 Quando-Aedilibus] Cf. sup. 47: Nulli comes exeo, n. Here he complains of the difficulty of getting, not an appointment on a governor's staff, but a berth as assessor to the aediles, who were mere police magistrates. Such a position would add to the respectability of a thriving bourgeois, and perhaps had some of the practical conveniences of being on the vestry and the board of guardians. Umbricius means that the poor gentleman cannot make his way either. at court, where he is ousted by Greeks, or in business, where he is cut out by freedmen. 163 Debuerant olim migrasse] 'Olim' carries the mind back to a past time, at which it had long been their duty to have emigrated, if the tenses can be tabulated in order of succession, except in direct narrative. In idiomatic English we might say, they had ought," which is exactly like 'debuerant,' and means, not that the duty had been long incumbent, but that it was unperformed. Cf. inf. 315, note. Conatus; magno hospitium miserabile, magno Pars magna Italiae est, si verum admittimus, in qua 170 Nemo togam sumit nisi mortuus. Ipsa dierum 166, 167 magno servorum ventres] Slaves are expensive to buy and expensive to keep. 168 negavit] So the MSS. "When a man is transported, he is sure to deny," the aorist is unnecessary; but it is not worth while to alter it to negabit. The paraphrase of the Scholiast supports another conjecture, negabis; and it is more like Latin that the nominative to a verb shall be an unexpressed and indefinite 'you,' than an unexpressed and indefinite 'he.' 170 cucullo] Cf. "Tempora Santonico veles adoperta cucullo" (inf. viii. 145). The 'capote' does not seem to have been a purely Italian garment, as its dye in this passage suggests a foreign origin, as does also the epithet in the quotation above. The variant culullo is condemned by 'que' and all the MSS. 171 si verum admittimus] "If we can bear to realise the truth." Cf. i. 21: "Si vacat et placidi rationem admittitis, edam." 175 180 |