Commune id vitium est: hic vivimus ambitiosa Paupertate omnes. Quid te moror? Omnia Romae Ille metit barbam, crinem hic deponit amati; Quis timet aut timuit gelida Praeneste ruinam` 184 aliquando] After he has been 187 venalibus] Probably everybody who helped himself had to give something to the amatus: they may have had to pay for getting in at all. Cf. sup. 184. 188 Fermentum] The cakes were unleavened. 190-192] Note the attractions, the climate of Praeneste, the wooded hills of Volsinii, the sans façon of Gabii, the picturesque situation of Tibur proni; cf. Tibur supinum. Hor. Od. iii, iv. 27. In one the town is conceived as running down the slope, in the other as running up it: only there is a sort of personification in 185 190 195 each. Horace hints at a beauty throwing herself on her back, in Juvenal she is flung forward on her face. 194-196] "That's the way your bailiff keeps the occupants from falling' (he puts up a 'tibicen '), "plasters up the crack, and tells them to sleep at ease, though ruin is hanging over them." Festus guesses that the tibicen was SO called from supporting the house, as the piper supported the singers; it seems to have been a buttress if we suppose it bevelled away to a point at top, this might suggest the double pipes as viewed in front, or if it was simply sloped away to the wall this would suggest the single pipe when viewed in profile.-Quum texit; so P. Most MSS. contexit, which would be a harsh asyndeton. 199] Cf. "Jam proximus ardet Ucalegon" (Aen. ii. 311). If the Tu nescis: nam si gradibus trepidătur ab imis, Nil habuit Codrus: quis enim negat? et tamen illud 200 205 210 215 up at the front door. Cf. inf., vii. 117, 118: "Rumpe miser tensum jecur, ut tibi lasso Figantur virides, scalarum gloria, palmae." 206] "He had a box too, to hold his books; but it was too old to keep the mice of Italy from gnawing the inspired poems of Greece." 209 Perdidit] Perf. not aor. as is shewn by juvabit. 212 Asturici] At Rome a great mansion always kept the name of its founder: the present owner is Persicus. Inf. 221, note. 215 marmora] For panels and bosses, perhaps for pavement. 216 nuda et candida signa] Nude figures in white marble. Euphranor and Polycletus worked in bronze. Phaecasianorum vetera ornamenta deorum, Plurimus hic aeger moritur vigilando: sed ipsum \ 218] 'Phaecasianorum' is the reading of most MSS. Haec Asianorum,' which looks like a correction of the text, is found in P. and the Scholiast. If it is right, the women join the collection as well as the mourning; but their solitary representative looks forlorn among so many men. Hence Jahn reads hic, which would be quite unobjectionable, if Juvenal had written it; and others try to make haec neuter. It is very difficult to guess what gods could be characterized by the white woollen shoes of Athenian or Alexandrine priests; but " 'potior est lectio difficillima." 219] As other friends, 216-218, have furnished the gymnasium, this one furnishes the library. 220 modium argenti] About two gallons of small change worth eight hundred or a thousand pounds. Cf. Hor. S. I. i. 96, dives Ut metiretur nummos. After Conferat impensas (sup. 216), symmetry requires a contribution in money in addition to those in kind. 221 orborum lautissimus] So 220 225 230 that he lives in better style than any other orbus. 222 Suspectus, tanquam &c.] This use of tanquam, which is frequent in the Silver Age, does not imply the injustice of the suspicion, accusation, &c., as a clause with tanquam may either state the reason of an unjust charge or the nature of a just. 224 paratur] "Is bought." Contrast i. 105, 106: "Quinque tabernae Quadringenta parant." 225 tenebras] A dark smoky garret. 66 226-229] Every thing is on a diminutive scale, -the garden, the young plants, that want all the water they get from the shallow well, that needs no rope to the bucket; still, if you stick to it you can get a dinner out of it that would be an event to a hundred Pythagoreans." The water is drawn with a swipe instead of a windlass; as it is turned out of the bucket it runs down along the little trenches between the little beds. 232-234] "Invalids die for Languorem peperit cibus imperfectus et haerens ние Alter: at hic tignum capiti incutit, ille metretam. Nonne vides quanto celebretur sportula fumo? want of sleep; and they lose their health because want of sleep disturbs their digestion."-Sed introduces the additional fact as a correction of the inadequacy of the previous statement. Cf. iv. 27 n. Meritoria, "lodgings." Coenacula seem to have been let by a more permanent tenure. 236] Redarum transitus arcto &c.] The streets are narrow and crooked, and so carriages make more noise in passing; while they pass, a drove of cattle is brought to a stand still, and the drover abuses the drivers. 238] Tib. Claudius Drusus succeeded Caligula. He had a passion for hearing causes, and used to go to sleep on the bench; his intimates ventured to slip flesh gloves and combs over his hands that they might see his amazement when he 235 240 245 250 Impositas capiti, quot recto vertice portat Servulus infelix et cursu ventilat ignem. Scinduntur tunicae sartae modo: longa coruscat Sarraco veniente abies, atque altera pinum 255 Plaustra vehunt; nutant alte populoque minantur : Axis, et eversum fudit super agmina montem, Quid superest de corporibus? quis membra, quis ossa 260 Jam lavat et bucca foculum excitat, et sonat unctis 265 Quod spatium tectis sublimibus, unde cerebrum 270 275 254 tunicae] Must be the servants'; the masters wear the toga, and do not join so actively in the scramble. 257 Nam] As the people have no remedy they are alarmed at the waggons which can afford to be unsafe. Ligustica] From Luna, near the modern Carrara. 258] Note the exaggeration; there are armies of people moving. in a narrow street; the pile of marble blocks is a mountain. 262 Jam] Though they do not expect him for an hour or two. 265 Jam] So long before he could have sat down in his own house. 270 rimosa et curta] Cracked or chipped. The praetor gave full damages for such accidents, except in case of the death of a freeman, where the amount was fifty 'aurei.' 272] "You may be fairly thought negligent, &c., so far have we go! in providing death at every open window." |