Atque ideo, postquam ad Cimbros stragemque volabant Plebeiae Deciorum animae, plebeia fuerunt 255 Pluris enim Decii, quae quae servantur ab illis. Malo pater tibi sit Thersites, dummodo tu sis 260 265 270 253] This is an instance of Juvenal's unreality. The soldiers insisted that Catulus should share the triumph. 256 omni pube Latina] One does not know whether this is a zeugma or a blunder. The devotion of the elder Decius was to secure the destruction of the Latins. Pubes is related to chivalry, as ingenuus to gentleman. 259 trabeam] The striped mantle is always attributed to Romulus ; the toga, with trimmings or embroidery, to Tullus or the Tarquins. 261 laxabant] "Were for opening." 265 Imperii fines] Juvenal does not mean that the dominion of Rome had fallen back from the Ciminian hills (or whatever was the frontier under the last king) to the Tiber, the contrast is between the Tiber and the Rhine.-Tiberinum natavit, as we say 'swam the Tiber.' 267, 268] He deserved the honours paid to Brutus, whose sons deserved death and servile stripes. -Legum prima securis. Cf. Liv. ii. 1: "Imperia legum potentiora quam hominum." Et tamen, ut longe repetas longeque revolvas 272 tamen] Although nobility is worth so little, no Roman nobility can be considered genuine. 275 pastor] And therefore had 275 helped Romulus to found the asylum, if he did not actually use it. ツ SATIRA X. OMNIBUS in terris, quae sunt a Gadibus usque a Aut cupimus? quid tam dextro pede concipis, ut te Evertere domos totas optantibus ipsis Di faciles; nocitura toga, nocitura petuntur Militia; torrens dicendi copia multis Et sua mortifera est facundia; viribus ille 5 10 Confisus periit admirandusque lacertis. Strangulat, et cuncta exsuperans patrimonia census, Temporibus diris igitur jussuque Neronis 4 ratione] Cum is generally prefixed to the ablative of manner, except when, as here, it borders on the ablative of instrument, or when, as in the next line, being accompanied by an adjective or pronoun, it approximates to the so-called ablative absolute. 8-11] Toga and militia are general: we have an instance corresponding to each, many perish by their eloquence, another (Milo of Croton) by trusting in his strength.-Admirandusque if wrong is a simple blunder retained by the perverse predi 15 lection of some copyists: most MSS. have admirandisque, which, if a conjecture, is not too obvious to be plausible. 12 nimia-cura] Closely con. nected both with congesta and strangulat. 14 Britannica] Note that whales were once common in our seas. 15 igitur] Introduces instances of what might be expected under the general rule laid down above. 16 Longinum] C. Cassius, the jurist, banished by Nero to Sardinia, because he was a man of high stand Clausit, et egregias Lateranorum obsidet aedes Nocte iter ingressus gladium contumque timebis Et motae ad lunam trepidabis arundinis umbram : Nostra sit arca foro. Sed nulla aconita bibuntur Jamne igitur laudas, quod de sapientibus alter n 20 25 30 opes ut colare; but divitiae includes opes. 27 ardebit] "Will glow," certainly used of fiery wine; possibly of sparkling wine, as the Scholiast thought here. 28 Jamne] Well after this do you still praise [the common sense of the world] which one of the wise men was always laughing at as soon as he had stirred a step to go outside his door, while it made the authority on the other side cry? 30 auctor] So P., and two other MSS.: the rest alter. "There is Heraclitus' authority for crying at mankind: where is your authority for admiring their taste?" 31 rigidi cachinni] "A grim chuckle," a dry chuckle." 99 66 34 esset] In the subjunctive be. cause there is still a reference to what Juvenal's contemporaries might be supposed to think of Democritus. Praetexta et trabeae, fasces, lectica, tribunal, Da nunc et volucrem, sceptro quae surgit eburno, 35] These details are mentioned not as more ridiculous in themselves than anything Democritus had seen in Greece, but because Democritus regarded all human life as a farce, and at Rome the farce was more elaborate. Lectica refers to the procession of clients who accompanied it; tribunal to the display of empty eloquence before it. 36, sqq.] "What would he have said of the praetor's triumphal procession from the Capitol to the Circus?" The triumphal dress sug gests the idea of triumph, and this consul (inf. 41). 38 tunica Jovis] Whom he personated, hence the eagle on his sceptre. The tunic was so costly that it was not till the third century that a private person possessed one of his own, even the emperors when they triumphed supplied themselves from the treasury of the Capitol or of the Palace. Sarrana] From the unhellenized form of Tyrus. 35 40 45 50 39 aulaea] A whole stage-curtain of a toga. "No head could 41 Quippe] 44 longi agminis officia] There 45 niveos] In bran new togas 47 Tum] Even between B.C. 50] An Abderite would have hung himself. The cord giving way, he fell, and broke his head. He first went to the surgeon, and had his wound plastered, and then again hung himself. 3 |