120 125 Caecus adulator, dirusque a ponte satelles, that with the qualification of a beggar, he is the terror of a court. 118] devexae] As it comes down the Clivus Virbius. 119 Nemo] His wonder is ironically made to account for the mistakes of his blindness. 122] The pegma was a machine composed of two jointed sticks, supporting a platform; if the joints were allowed to bend the platform fell, while if they were suddenly stiffened by dropping the weights attached to the lower ends of the sticks, the platform rose; it would be useful to lift a stage Ganymede, who could hardly be raised by the claws of a stage-eagle without hurting him. 123 fanaticus] There is an inscription (Grut. 343. 1), "Caecilio 135 Apollinari fanatico de aede Bellonae." 66 126 temone] Curru falcato' (Schol.).—Arviragus, not mentioned elsewhere except in the legend of St Joseph of Arimathea. A plausible Celtic etymology has been found for the word, which might be formed from Ardriagh, High King; it is also supposed that Arthur is another form of the same title. 128 Erectas] For resistance which has proved vain; hence the omen. 130 censes] The regular word for a vote in the Senate: so inf. 136, vicit. conciditur] "Do we cut it up?" (iii. 276 n.) 131 alta] That the fish and sauce may stew together. 135 tua castra] As Domitian ac Vicit digna viro sententia: noverat ille Luxuriam imperii veterem noctesque Neronis Jam medias aliamque famem, quum pulmo Falerno 140 Concilio, quos Albanam dux magnus in arcem 145 Tanquam de Cattis aliquid torvisque Sicambris Dicturus, tanquam diversis partibus orbis Anxia praecipiti venisset epistola pinna. Atque utinam his potius nugis tota illa dedisset Tempora saevitiae, claras quibus abstulit urbi Illustresque animas impune et vindice nullo ! 150 tually took the command in Dacia, the flattery is appropriate enough for irony. 138 aliam famem] "A new appetite," due here to wine; not emetics, whereby Vitellius prepared himself for the comissatio after coena (Suet. Vit. 13). 140-143] The oysters of Circeis had black flesh and shells, but were dulciora than those imported from Rutupiae (Richborough) in Britain. Note the climax in morsu and aspecti. 145, 146] One would fancy they had been fetched from Rome, instead of having been waiting outside, the inference from 73.-Arcem implies a tyrant (x. 30). Domitian had established a fortified camp at the Alban Villa to which he removed a portion of the prætorians. 147] Juvenal had heard of the Catti, under Domitian, and read of the Sicambri in Horace. 149 pinna] Gronovius quotes TTEроpbрol, from Hesychius, as a military office, and translates it tabellarii. According to the Scholiast alarming news came in 'pinnatae litterae,' good in 'laureatae ;' and so Serv. ad Æn. ix. 473. It is clear from the following lines of Statius, Silv. v. i. 92, 93: "Omnia nam laetas pila attollentia frondes, Nullaque famosa signatur lancea pinna," that such a custom really existed; and it would be natural and piquant to allude to it here. (They came in haste as if Domitian had allowed his lieutenants to confess a defeat.) Mayor, after Casaubon, translates on hurried wing,' 'with great despatch;' which is of course an adequate rendering of the words as they stand. Sed periit, postquam cerdonibus esse timendus Coeperat: hoc nocuit Lamiarum caede madenti. 153 cerdonibus] The meaning is clear from the etymology; but some have imagined an eponymous hero. Bezonian is sometimes printed as a proper name; but most likely it is derived from 'bisogno,' as 'cerdo' from κέρδος. 154] A member of this highly respectable family had to give up his wife to Domitian, under Vespasian, and made some mild jokes on the subject, for which Domitian put him to death long after. His family is selected as the type of nobility, owing to Horace's quizzical ode (iii. 17). SATIRA V. Si te propositi nondum pudet atque eadem est mens, Nulla crepido vacat? nusquam pons et tegetis pars Et violare manu malisque audacibus orbem, Fatalis crusti, patulis neque parcere quadris.' 3 Sarmentus] "seu P. Blessus, Junium, hominem nigrum et macrum et pandum, fibulam ferream dixit." Weichert and Orelli distinguish this man, the antagonist of Cicirrus, in Horace (Sat. I. v. 52), from a young favourite of Augustus, at the time of the battle of Actium. The Scholiast knew of a Sarmentus, once dependent on Marcus Favonius, whose wit and good looks made his fortune, whereupon he insulted the public by appearing in the theatre as a Roman knight. The spectators called out: 5 "Aliud scriptum habet Sarmentus, aliud populus voluerat Digna dignis, sic Sarmentus habeat Rustici, ne nihil agatis, aliquis He was brought to trial for usurp- 4 Gabba] A corruption of Galba, found in P., the Weimar MS., and the Scholiast; Quintilian mentions some jokes of Aulus Galba. The Scholiast calls this man Apicius, and places him under Tiberius. 5 Quamvis jurato] "Sworn with any oaths." 7 alvo] Cf. inf. 98 n. 8 tegetis] A beggar's mat, on which he sat, in which he slept. Tam jejuna fames, quum possit honestius illic "Una simus,” ait. Votorum summa: quid ultra Quaeris? Habet Trebius, propter quod rumpere somnum 10] "Is hunger so very starved as to consent to this, when it might find dog's meat, which is so much more creditable to munch there?" All sorts of different readings have been tried. One, cum possis, has got into most MSS. Of course this cannot be right as possis a spondee. Possis cum is so ugly that it might easily have been altered, and may be defended by 'cocto num adest honor idem' (Hor. Sat. 11. ii. 28). 14 cibus] Not money or interest, or even small presents in kind. 17] The last couch the host would fill up would be the lowest, on which he lay himself; consequently the discourtesy of his eating a good dinner himself and giving the parasite at his elbow a bad one would be all the more glaring. Three was the regular number to a couch. We find as many as seven in one basrelief; but the regular device was to have more triclinia.' Plutarch speaks of οἰκίαι τριακοντάκλινοι, which would accommodate ten 'triclinia,' and ninety guests as not uncommon. There was a tendency to supersede them by semi-circular couches: 10 15 20 Cerealis, "Stella, Nepos, Cani, 6 22, 23] "When the stars are still fading, or if all the rest are gone, while the Bear is in sight turning round the Pole." The above is the received interpretation; but the distinction seems hardly sufficient to warrant aut. It may meanwhile the stars are still fading [in summer], or when winter is just setting in.' This would give more point to illo tempore and frigida; besides, it is hard to believe that the stars had begun to fade in winter at the hour at which clients chose to think themselves bound to be in attendance. If it should seem that the distinction between the grievance of having to rise early in summer, and having to face the cold in |