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jingle of ablatura and flexura, may be cited as confirmations of the view of PERSIUS, but, with the exception of the desperate verse 95, the diction is in keeping with the theme. If adsonat Echo is not ridiculous in OVID (Met., 3, 505), it is not ridiculous here; and one surely needs to be told that reparabilis is not a happy adjective for Echo, who is always 'paying back' and making good.

93. cludere versum: like concludere versum (HOR., Sat., 1, 4, 40), is 'round a verse' (Conington), rather than ‘close a line.'— didicit: What is the subject? ‘Our man,' ‘our poet,' the lover of decor et iunctura? So most commentators. Heinr. makes Attis the subject. The personification of iunctura would not be too harsh for PERSIUS.-Berécyntius Attis: It suffices to refer to CATULL., 63. Berecyntus, a mountain in Phrygia.

94. Nerea: god of the sea, the water. In modern Gr. vɛpóv is 'water.' The use, which Conington calls 'grotesque,' is almost as 'grotesque' as Vulcanus for 'fire.' The scholiast thinks of Arion's dolphin. Bacchus's dolphin is as likely.

95. sic costam longo subduximus Appennino: With the close of the verse, comp. Ov., 2, 226: Aeriaeque Alpes et nubifer Appenninus; and Haupt's note. 'We filched a rib from the long Apennine.' The interpretations are all unsatisfactory. The scholiast sees in the removal of the rib from the mountain a metaphor for the removal of a syllable from the hexameter. The only point worthy of notice in this remark is the emphasis laid on the spondaic verse. The Graece nugari soliti doubtless used spondaic verses more freely than the model Latin poets (comp. CATULL., 64). Some understand the words to refer to a forced march (putavi tam pauca milia subripi posse, SEN., Ep., 53, 1); others to the device attributed to Hannibal in crossing the Alps (montem rumpit aceto, Juv., 10, 153). It is all idle guess-work, without a context; but, guess for guess, the expression would suit a 'Titanomachia,' and the rib might answer for a weapon, as once a jaw-bone did. The jingle of the verse is like VERG., Aen., 3,549: cornua velatarum obvertimus antennarum, quoted by the scholiast.

96. Arma virum! Compare with these elegant verses Arma virum; what a rough affair!' Not only were the opening words E

of a poem used to indicate the poem itself—Mñviv äɛɩdɛ the Iliad, "Avèpa poi evvεTE the Odyssey, Arma virum the Aeneid-but the first verses were considered peculiarly significant. So the metrical structure of the first verse of the Iliad is very different from that of the first verse of the Odyssey. Arma virum, etc., with its short words and its frequent caesurae, was harsh to the ear of the interlocutor, and is compared with the rough, cracked bark of the cork-tree.—spumosum et cortice pingui: 'frothy and fluffy' (Conington). As usual, PERSIUS works out his comparison into minute details.

97. vegrandi subere: So Jalın, instead of praegrandi subere. Do not translate 'huge, overgrown bark' (Conington), but 'dwarfed, stunted cork-tree.' See Ribbeck (Beiträge zur Lehre von den lateinischen Partikeln, S. 9), who has discussed ve and this verse at some length. Both Conington and Pretor admire the metaphysics of Jahn, who has 'explained, after FESTUS and NoNIUS, vegrandis as male grandis, so as to include the two senses attributed to it by GELL., 5, 12; 16, 5, of too small and too large. But ve- means separation (Vaniček, Etym. Wb., S. 166); ve-cor-s, 'out of one's mind;' ve-sanu-s, 'out of one's sound senses;' vegrandi-s, 'shrunken,' 'dwarfed,' 'undergrown' (if the word is admissible). For the growth of the cork-tree, R. refers to PLIN., N. H., 16, 8, 13: suberi minima arbor-cortex tantum in fructu, praecrassus ac renascens atque etiam in denos pedes undique explanatus. Some of the best commentators give these two verses (96 and 97) to PERSIUS, and consider Arma virum as an invocation of the shades of VERGIL, 'as HORACE, A. P., 141, contrasts the opening of the Odyssey with Fortunam Priami cantabo. Hoc is supposed to refer to the specimen verses. Ribbeck also (1. c.) regards the swollen, light bark of the low cork-tree as the image of the genus tumidum et leve, as opposed to the grande et grace. -coctum: 'thoroughly dried.'

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98. Quidnam igitur: Igitur is not unfrequently used in questions, as our then.' So quidnam igitur censes? Juv., 4, 130. But, unless the question is a rejoinder, it is not very appropriate. 'If the Aeneid is rough, give us something really soft,' would be a fit reply to Arma virum, etc., in the mouth of the objector. Conington, who gives 96-98 to PERSIUS, connects thus: 'If these

are your specimens of finished versification, give us something peculiarly languishing.'-laxa cervice: the attitude of the mobile guttur, v. 18.

99. Torva mimalloneis: PERSIUS can not wait for a specimen, and gives one himself. This is much more dramatic than the arrangement, which makes the respondent cite the verses. The verses are attributed to Nero by the scholiast, and in fact Nero is said to have composed a poem on the Bacchae, Dro., 61, 20. The theme is so common that no conclusion is to be drawn from that statement. Mr. Pretor, who understands by iunctura a resetting of old verses,' regards 99-102 as a weak réchauffé of CATULL., 64, 257 seqq., and compares TAC., Ann., 14, 16.—Torva: 'grim.' So torvumque repente | clamat, VERG., Aen., 7, 399 (of Bacchanalian madness).—mimalloneis: from Mimas, on the coast opposite Chios. With the whole verse comp. multis raucisonos efflabant cornua bombos, CATULL., 64, 264, and LUCR., 4, 544.

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100. vitulo superbo: variously caricatured as 'the haughty, the scornful calf.' No such effect could have been produced by the original. Comp. Taupo ißρioraí, EUR., Bacch., 743 (Jahn); yavporépa μóoxw, THEOCR., 11, 21; equae superbiunt, PLIN., 10, 63. The Bacchanal rending of animals is familiar.-ablatura: On this free use of the future participle, see G., 672; A., 72, 4.

101. Bassaris: a Bacchante. Jahn cites a Greek epigram (ANTH. PAL., 6, 74), which shows how close a resemblance may be due simply to community of theme.-lyncem: The lynx was sacred to Bacchus as the conqueror of India.’

102. euhion: Gr. evtov, Accus. of εvlog (commonly but falsely spelled Evius), Euhius, Bacchus. -reparabilis: Actively, as HORACE's dissociabilis, Od., 1, 3, 22; 'renewing,'' restoring,' 'reawakening.' So Ov., Met., 1, 11, of the moon: reparat nova cornua.-adsonat: 'chimes in.'

103. testiculi vena ulla paterni: 'Honestius expressit, Ov., Her., 16, 291: si sint vires in semine avorum.' 'If we had one spark of our fathers' manhood alive in us' (Conington).

104. delumbe: 'backboneless,' ' marrowless.' Comp. ioxioppoyɩóg.-saliva: Spittle is 'foolish rheum' as well as tears.

105. in udo est Maenas et Attis:Your Maenas and your Attis -it drivels away.'

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106. nec pluteum caedit, etc.: Pluteus, which is commonly rendered 'desk,' is, ‘according to the scholiast, the back-board of the lecticula lucubratoria,' or studying-sofa, such as Augustus indulged in, SUET., Aug., 78; comp. v. 53. The man lies on his couch after his meal, listlessly drivelling out his verses, without any physical exertion or even motion of impatience' (Conington). PERSIUS underrates the artistic finish, as he has overdrawn the moral conclusion.-demorsos: 'bitten down to the quick.' Et in versu faciendo | saepe caput scaberet vivos et roderet ungues, HOR., Sat., 1, 10, 70.

107-121. M. But what is the use of offending people? We must not tell the truth at all times. You will have a cool reception at certain great houses. Nay, the dog will be set on you.-P. Well! I make no struggle. Every thing is lovely. No nuisance, you say. All right. Boys, let us go somewhere else. But there was LUCILIUS-he wielded the lash, he gnawed the bones of his victims. There was HORACE―he probed his friend's heart and punched him in the ribs, and had the town dangling from the gibbet of his tip-tilted nose. And I am not to sayBo! Not all to myself? Not with a ditch for my confidant? Nowhere? Nowhere, you say? But I will. I have found a place a ditch. It is my book. Here, book, is my great secret: 'All the world's an ass.' What a relief!

107. quid: What case?—radere: ‘rasp.'—mordaci vero: Verum is so completely a substantive that there is no difficulty about mordaci vero (comp. G., 428, R. 2). Much bolder is generoso honesto, 2, 74; opimum pingue, 3, 32.

108. vidě: like cavě, and other iambic Imperatives. G., 704, 2; A., 78, 2, d.—sis=si vis, to soften the Imperative, 'pray do.' —maiorum tibi forte: HoR., Sat., 2, 1, 60: O puer ut sis | vitalis metuo et maiorum ne quis amicus frigore te feriat. Maiores: 'grandees.'

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109. limina frigescant: like the modern slang, ‘leave one out in the cold.' Limen is used in many Latin turns where 'threshold' would be too stately in English. Mrs. Gamp would render: 'the great man's cold doorsteps will settle on your lungs.'-canina littera: 'R is for the dog,' SHAKSP., Romeo and Jul.; ‘A dog snarling R,' BEN JONSON. See Dictionaries, s. v. hirrire. Gr.

apapilε. An allusion to the familiar cave canem. 'The snarl is that of the great man' (Scholiast). Conington compares ira cadat naso, 5, 91. The obvious interpretation is the right one. 'There is a sound of snarling in the air,' refers simply to the great man's dog, which will be set on the unwelcome satirist.

110. per me: 'for all I care,' ¿μoỡ y' éveka, a familiar use of the preposition per: per me habeat licet, PLAUT., Mercat., 5, 4, 29. -equidem: Not for ego quidem, although this opinion affected the practice of CICERO, HORACE, VERGIL, QUINTILIAN, the younger PLINY. SALLUST, like VARRO, combines equidem with every person. So Ribbeck (l. c. S. 36), who derives equidem from e interj. and quidem. Conington tries to save the rule here by making the expression equivalent to equidem concedo. Another exception is found 5, 45, where C. goes through the same legerdemain: non equidem dubites, 'I would not have you doubt.'-alba: 'lovely,' 'whitewash them as much as you please.'

111. nil moror, etc.: The whole line, indeed the whole passage, is strongly conversational in its tone. Nil moror, 'I don't wish to be in your way, to spoil sport.' Comp. TER., Eun., 3, 2, 7, and Gesner, s. v. moror.-bene: Comp. Cic., Fam., 7, 22: bene potus. See also note on 4, 22.—mirae res: 'wonders of the world' (Conington), 'miracles of perfection.'

112. hoc iuvat? 'I hope that is satisfactory.'-veto quisquam faxit oletum: 'commit no nuisance.' Observe the legal tone. Quisquam, on account of the negative idea. The negative ne is omitted after veto as often after caveo. G., 548, R. 2; A., 57, 7, a. Faxit, a disputed form. G., 191, 5; A., 30, 6, e.

113. pinge duos anguis: a sign of dedication rather than of prohibition' (Pretor). The dedication involves the prohibition. This is one of the innumerable phases of serpent-worship. For the serpent, as the symbol of the genius loci, which is Greek as well as Latin, see VERG., Aen., 5, 95, and the commentators. The reading pinguedo sanguis of some of the best MSS. may be mentioned, animi causa.

114. secuit: 'cut to the bone.'-Lucilius: The loci classici are HOR., Sat., 1, 4, 6; 1, 10, 1; 2, 1, 62; Juv., 1, 19, 165. The testimonia de Lucilio have been collected and annotated by L. Müller, LUCIL., p. 170 seqq.; p. 288 seqq.

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