Obrázky na stránke
PDF
ePub

Mire opifex numeris veterum primordia vocum
Atque marem strepitum fidis intendisse Latinae,
Mox juvenes agitare jocos et pollice honesto
Egregius lusisse senes. Mihi nunc Ligus ora
Intepet, hibernatque meum mare, qua latus ingens
Dant scopuli et multa littus se valle receptat.
Lunai portum (est operae) cognoscite, cives.
Cor jubet hoc Enni, postquam destertuit esse
Maeonides, Quintus pavone ex Pythagoreo.
Hic ego securus vulgi et quid praeparet Auster

to satires of Bassus. But they have nothing
to do with satire. He wrote verses on
young men's love-sports and old men's wis-
dom, perhaps, or whatever it may have been.
6. Mihi nunc Ligus ora] He had gone
down to the Ligurian coast to pass the win-
Horace tells his friend he shall go to
the sea side when the winter comes on (Epp.
i. 7. 10 sqq.):

ter.

“Quod si bruma nives Albanis illinet agris Ad mare descendet vates tuus, et sibi parcet, Contractusque leget."

[ocr errors]

Horace has" defendens pisces hiemat mare
(S. ii. 2. 17, see note). Persius only says
'meum mare' because he was staying on the
coast, not because he was born there, as some
suppose. (See Life) 'Ligus' is the Greek
form. The Scholiast has the Latin, Ligur.'
The bay to which Persius had retreated for

the winter the Romans called Lunae Por-
tus. It is now well known as the Gulf of
Spezia, and one of the finest harbours in
Europe. It is surrounded by high moun
tains, and the valleys run down to the
shore, as Persius describes, and two or three
other bays indented the coast of this bay.
Ennius appears to have visited it near two
centuries before Persius wrote, and the line
he quotes is from the Annales of that
writer. The name of the town, if any, at
which Persius was staying is not mentioned.
It was not Luna (Luni), which, though it
gave its name to the bay, was separated
from it by a range of hills and the river
Macra.

The reading of most MSS. in 9 is est operae cognoscere,' which Heinrich rejects for the reading of the text, because of 'jubet' in the next line. I have followed his judgment without being sure he is right. Pretium' would usually follow operae.' 10. Cor jubet hoc Enni,] Cor Enni' is equivalent to Ennius cordatus,' as Turnebus observes (Adv. 30. 7). Cordatus' is a word Ennius used, and it sig

[ocr errors]
[merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

nifies 'wise.' So Horace has sententia dia Catonis' for 'Cato divine sentiens ' (S. i. 2. 32), and other like phrases. See note on Juv. iv. 34, and Index (Genitive).

[ocr errors]

postquam destertuit esse] This verb is not used elsewhere, and the construction is Greek and elliptical. He ceased to snore' is 'he ceased to dream,' that he was Maeonides (Homer), and had become peacock, in which the soul of Pythagoras Quintus Ennius after passing through a had lived. Heinrich joins Quintus with Maeonides, as it might be Q. Ennius. I do not see why, if that be the connexion, the praenomen should not have been put in its proper place. Horace, alluding to this dream, which was recorded at the beginning of Ennius' Annales (as the Scholiasts here and on Horace tell us) says: "Ennius et sapiens et fortis et alter Homerus, Ut critici dicunt, leviter curare videtur Quo promissa cadant et somnia Pythagorea."

(Epp. ii. 1. 50 sqq., see note.) The Scholiast and others give five steps by which he became Quintus Ennius, and from which his name was given him. Pythagoras, says the Scholiast, passed into a peacock, and thence to the body of Euphorbus (Hor. C. i. 28. 10, n.), thence to Homer, and from Homer to Ennius. Tertullian (De Resurr. Carnis, c. 1) makes the order different: Euphorbus, Pythagoras, Homer, the peacock, Ennius. This dream is referred to in the Prologus, v. 2. Persius means Ennius gave his countrymen this good advice after he had left off dream. ing, and got back to his good sense, his cor.' Juv. vii. 159. Pers. i. 12, n.

[ocr errors]

12. et quid praeparet Auster] So Virgil says, quid cogitet humidus Auster (Georg. i. 462). See note on Hor. S. ii. 6. 18, "Nec mala me ambitio perdit nec plumbeus Auster Auctumnusque gravis." Angulus ille' is like "O si angulus ille Proxi

Infelix pecori securus, et angulus ille

Vicini nostro quia pinguior; et si adeo omnes Ditescant orti pejoribus, usque recusem

Curvus ob id minui senio, aut coenare sine uncto, Et signum in vapida naso tetigisse lagena. Discrepet hinc alius. Geminos, horoscope, varo Producis Genio: solis natalibus est qui

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

mus accedat qui nunc denormat agellum" (Hor. S. ii. 6. 8). 'Adeo omnes' is 'absolutely all.' 'Pejoribus orti' is copied from Horace (Epp. i. 6. 22), “indignum quod sit, pejoribus ortus, Hic tibi sit potius quam tu mirabilis illi." Persius was an eques.' Senium,' for sourness, is used as 'canities' in S. i. 9, where see note. 'Curvus' and 'minui' explain each other. 'Usque recusem' is copied insensibly from Horace, S. ii. 7. 24, "Si quis ad illa deus subito te agat usque recuses.' 'Coenare sine uncto' is to dine without delicacies, for which 'unctus' is a constant epithet. See S. iii. 102; iv. 17, and Horace, A. P. 422, "Si vero est unctum qui recte ponere possit." Some take 'sine uncto' to mean without oiling,' but that is not the sense. Vapida lagena' is like 66 Exhalet vapida laesum pice sessilis obba" (S. v. 148), where' vapida' properly refers to the obba,' or rather to its contents. Signum' is the seal with which the 'lagena,' or 'amphora,' was sealed. 'Naso tetigisse' is to put his nose down so close as to touch it, which he would do in examining the seal to see if the servants had been after his nasty stuff.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

18. Geminos, horoscope, varo] Horoscopus' is the star of one's nativity. He says others may not think and feel as he does, for the star that waits on the birth even of twins sometimes brings them into the world with different Genii. This is one of the many ways of putting the same thing. Varro (quoted in my note on Hor. Epp. i. 7. 94) says the Genius is "Dens qui praepositus est, ac vim habet omnium rerum gignendarum," and Horace reverses Persius' order and speaks of a man's Genius as that "natale comes qui temperat astrum, Naturae deus humanae." See above, S. v. 45 sqq.; ii. 8, n.; iv. 27. Producere,' 'to bring into life,' is used of the father or mother. See Juv. viii. 271, and Forcellini, who gives no other instance of 'varus' in this sense. But it corresponds very nearly to S. iv. 12, "vel cum fallit pede regula varo." It is properly applied to legs that diverge from the knees downwards, and is opposed to valgus,' bow-legged. See note on Hor. S. i. 3. 47, "hunc varum

[ocr errors][merged small]

distortis cruribus." 'Varo Genio,' therefore, is Geniuses that go in different directions.

19. solis natalibus est qui] 'Est qui' is opposed to 'hic' (21). On the government see Hor. C. i. 1. 3, n. One moistens his dry cabbage in 'muria,' which he goes out to buy for the occasion, and sprinkles the pepper with his own hand; the other runs through a large property in good living while he is still a lad. In both cases early vice is meant. Like the sons of Horace's Canusian, Servius Oppidius (S. ii. 3. 168 sqq.), the one is a cunning young miser, the other a magnanimous young spendthrift. Muria' was a sauce made of the thunnus,' and less delicate than 'garum,' which was made of the 'scomber.' The one was used by the poor, and the other by the rich. Martial has an epigram on muria' (xiii. 103):

66

'Antipolitani, fateor, sum filia thunni;

Essem si scombri, non tibi missa forem." But this distinction was not always observed, for Horace speaks of Catius' choice sauce being made of sweet olive oil mixed with good rich wine and 'muria' (S. ii. 4. 65). The stingy lad will let no one else pepper his mess, like Horace's miser, Avidienus (S. ii. 2. 61), "cornu ipse bilibri Caulibus instillat veteris non parcus aceti." The pepper is called ' sacred' for the respect with which he spares it, as the greedy man spares his money bags, "congestis undique saccis Indormis inhians et tanquam parcere sacris Cogeris" (Hor. S. i. 1. 70 sqq. note). Tingat' means that he only moistens the cabbage. He is sparing even of his cheap sauce. Irrorat' has the same sort of force. He sprinkles his pepper but lightly. 'Empta' means that he has none in his closet, but must go out and buy a small cup of the sauce when he requires it. Magnanimus' is the same sort of irony as in Horace's "Maenius ut, rebus maternis atque paternis Fortiter absumptis, urbanus coepit haberi" (Epp. i. 15. 26 sqq.). 'Bona dente peragit' is like Juv. xi. 39 sqq., "aere paterno Ac rebus mersis in ventrem. 'Peragere' is here used as it is not exactly

Tingat olus siccum muria vafer in calice empta,
Ipse sacrum irrorans patinae piper; hic bona dente
Grandia magnanimus peragit puer. Utar ego, utar,
Nec rhombos ideo libertis ponere lautus,

Nec tenuem sollers turdarum nosse salivam.
Messe tenus propria vive, et granaria, (fas est,)
Emole.

20

25

Quid metuas? occa, et seges altera in herba est.
Ast vocat officium; trabe rupta Bruttia saxa
Prendit amicus inops, remque omnem surdaque vota

used elsewhere. It is to run through,' as
we say, to come to the end of his property.
'Puer,' at the end of the sentence, is em-
phatic, as in Horace (C. i. 9. 15), "nec
dulces amores Sperne puer, neque tu cho-
reas,” i. e., while you are young (Epp. i. 2.
67), "Nunc adbibe puro Pectore verba,
puer."

22. Utar ego, utar,] This is imitated from Horace, Epp. ii. 2. 190:

"Utar, et ex modico quantum res poscet

acervo

Tollam, nec metuam quid de me judicet heres."

The verb is put absolutely, but the meaning is easily seen. The pronoun though emphatic is omitted, whatever others may do.' He says he will enjoy his fortune, which was ample, and yet he is not on that account so extravagant as to feed his 'liberti' upon turbot, or such an epicure as to distinguish the delicate taste of a hen thrush or fieldfare. The difference of taste

between a cock and a hen was imaginary perhaps, but the masculine here would have no force. Though the MSS. differ therefore, and the masculine is the vulgar reading, there is no doubt the feminine is right. This the Scholiast recognizes and explains: ""turdarum' abusive posuit cum 'turdorum' dicere debuerit." Nearly all the MSS. have tenues salivas,' which no editor has adopted that I am aware of, except Duebner, who has introduced it into Casaubon's text. 'Saliva' is equivalent to 'sapor,' as in Propertius (v. 8. 38, Paley), "Et Mithymnaei Graeca saliva meri," where it seems Hertzberg disputes this meaning. There is no doubt about it here. Lautus ponere,' sollers nosse,' is a construction noticed on Prol. 11. This sense of lautus' is common. Forcellini gives examples. See Juv. xi. 1,

[ocr errors]

"Atticus eximie si coenat lautus habetur." 25. Messe tenus propria vive,] We should call this living up to one's income.' He adds, 'don't hoard but grind all your grain. What have you to fear? only harrow your

ground, and you get another crop.' 'In
herba' is 'in the blade.' Horace, Epp. ii.
2. 161, has "Cum segetes occat tibi mox
frumenta daturas," where see note on oc-
care.'
'Quid metuas' is better than me-
tuis,' which Jahn adopts, and it has more
MSS. authority. 'Quid metuas' occurs in
iii. 26.

27. Ast vocat officium:] This is by
some taken to be an objection of the man,
So Halliday translates it,-
who does not like parting with his grain.

[blocks in formation]

In this case, he

Dryden and Gifford give the same sense,
which is not that of Persius. He supposes
a case in which a particular duty calls for
greater generosity. A friend is wrecked,
his property and the vows he offered for its
safety all buried alike in the waves; he is
cast on shore, and lies grasping the rocks
with the ship's gods lying by him, and the
gulls flying over the scattered timbers as
they float on the waters.
adds, you may go further, and give the poor
man a piece of your land to save him from
begging. Trabe' is used for a ship, as in
S. v. 141, and Horace, C. i. 1. 13, trabe
Cypria.' By way of giving reality to the
picture, he fixes the place of the wreck on
the south coast of Italy, where he lies like
Palinurus in the Æneid. vi. 360, “Prensan-
temque uncis manibus capita aspera montis."
'Surdus' is not used elsewhere in this sense

exactly. It means vows to which the gods
are deaf. Where it means silent,' as in Juv.
vii. 71; xiii. 194, it is as being unheard,
which is an analogous use. As to Ionio,
see Juv. vi. 93, n. Images of gods
were carried in the stern of a ship. Ovid,
describing a storm he encountered on his
voyage from Rome, says,

"Monte nec inferior prorae puppique re

curvae

Insilit, et pictos verberat unda Deos."

(Trist. i. 4. 7 sq.)

Condidit Ionio; jacet ipse in litore et una
Ingentes de puppe Dei, jamque obvia mergis
Costa ratis lacerae. Nunc et de cespite vivo
Frange aliquid, largire inopi, ne pictus oberret
Caerulea in tabula.- -Sed coenam funeris heres
Negliget iratus, quod rem curtaveris; urnae
Ossa inodora dabit, seu spirent cinnama surdum
Seu ceraso peccent casiae nescire paratus.
Tunc bona incolumis minuas? Et Bestius urget
Doctores Graios: "Ita fit, postquam sapere urbi

'De cespite vivo frange aliquid' is only
a way of expressing 'give the man a piece of
land.' 'Vivus cespes' is used by Horace
twice for a turf altar, C. i. 19. 13; iii. 8. 4.
As to the sailor and his picture, see Juv.
xiv. 301, sq. Pers. i. 89.

33. Sed coenam funeris heres] He supposes the man to be afraid of the revenge his 'heres' will take if he curtails his property for such a purpose. 'Coena funeris' is a dinner given to the friends of the deceased after the funeral. It has nothing to do with the silicernium,' concerning which see Juv. v. 85," feralis coena." The friends met and speeches were commonly made on such occasions as at wedding breakfasts with us, the chief subject being the merits of the principal person concerned. The dinner was sometimes mentioned in the will. See Hor. S. ii. 3. 86, n. “epulum arbitrio Arri.” 34. urnae Ossa inodora dabit,] There is a variant inhonora,' but the other is the true word. It was usual to sprinkle odours on the ashes when they were put into the Tibullus, giving directions for his burial (iii. 2), begs, that when his bones are placed in the urn, all manner of perfumes may be brought,

urn.

[ocr errors]
[blocks in formation]

'Surdus,' like Koç, has reference properly to the failure of hearing either actively or passively. (See note on 28.) But it came to be applied more generally to anything dull and spiritless. (See Forcellini.) 'Spirent surdum' means 'they give no scent at all,' or a flat one: "acutum odorem non reddunt" (Schol.). The adulteration of the olive oil with oil of casia is referred to above (ii. 64). That of casia with an ex

30

35

tract from the cherry-tree is no where else mentioned. Nescire paratus,' ' he is prepared not to know,' is a sarcastic way of speaking.

37. Tunc bona incolumis minuas?] These words are usually attributed to the 'heres,' abusing the man after his death. In that case the reading supposed is 'tune.' Heinrich with a few MSS. reads 'tunc,' and says they are the words of the poet. He takes no notice of the metrical difficulty, but I think the hiatus may be got over, as in "male ominatis" (Horace, C. iii. 14. 11). If this is right, as I incline to think it is, the poet asks ironically, and then would you not be mad to curtail your estate?' that is, with such a terrible prospect after your death? Incolumis' is used in this sense of 'sanus' by Horace, S. ii. 3. 132, "Incolumi capite es?" He also has "male tutae mentis" in the same satire (137).

[ocr errors]

37. Et Bestius urget] And then with the airs of a Bestius he (the heres') will go on to attack the Greek doctors.' Persius has obviously borrowed this name from Horace (Epp. i. 15. 37),

"Scilicet ut ventres lamna candente nepo

tum

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

38. Ita fit, postquam sapere urbi] 'This is always the way, ever since this taste of ours was imported with pepper and palms.'

Sapere hoc' is like 'nostrum vivere,' &c. (S. i. 9, n.) Pepper and palms came from the coast of Syria (v. 136), from whence Juvenal's man Umbricius complains that the Romans got so much vice (iii. 62 sqq.), "Jam pridem Syrus in Tiberim defluxit Orontes." (See note.) The commentators

Cum pipere et palmis venit nostrum hoc maris expers,
Foenisecae crasso vitiarunt unguine pultes."
Haec cinere ulterior metuas? At tu, meus heres,
Quisquis eris, paulum a turba seductior audi.
O bone, num ignoras? missa est a Caesare laurus

are much troubled by maris expers.' Casaubon was the first who thought of maris' being the genitive of mas,' and the sense being emasculated.' Weber approves this interpretation, and compares i. 103, "si testiculi vena ulla paterni Viveret in nobis?" Our translators Halliday and Gifford so render the words. But it is manifest that Persius, in whose mind the words of Horace were continually running, thought of "Chium maris expers" (S. ii. 8. 15), and whatever he may have taken the meaning to be there he meant here. One of the interpretations of maris expers' in the passage of Horace is without salt water,' which was mixed with some Greek wines; and Heinrich supposes that Persius means 'salis expers,' insulsum.' This is an ingenious solution of the difficulty. So it would be this witless, silly taste of ours.' The expression would be far-fetched; but I think though it would not have occurred to the writer himself, it is not improbable he may have thus applied it. Jahn, taking Horace's meaning in the same sense, follows close upon Heinrich's interpretation. But he takes the sense to be corrupt,' that is, wanting in that salt which preserves all things from corruption. The other interpretation of Horace's meaning is, that the wine had never crossed the seas, and so some interpreters take this place as a taste of home growth. This is the interpretation of Turnebus (Adv. 30. 7), and of Meister, who has written a treatise on this passage. (Ueber A. Persii S. vi. 37-40. Leipzig, 1810.) The words as they stand in the text will not bear this meaning, and to sustain it they separate nostrum hoc maris expers' from what goes before. When I wrote my note on Horace (1. c.) I thought this was the meaning of Persius and of Horace. But on farther reflection I do not think it is, but that maris expers' here means 'without salt' (wit), as there it is

'without salt water.'

40. Foenisecae crasso] 'Foenisices' is the more common form. It means' mowers.' He uses it generally for country labourers, as he uses 'fossor' (v. 122). Heinrich and Jahn have ae' in the first syllable on the authority of the MSS. Orelli has 'oe,' and Forcellini says that is the right diph

40

[blocks in formation]

41. Haec cinere ulterior metuas?] The poet drops his irony and asks in scorn, ‘Are you to fear such stuff as this when you are dead ?' We say 'beyond the grave;' Persius says 'beyond the burning.' He then by way of shewing his own mind in this matter, turns and addresses his 'heres,' and asks for a word in his ear. By 'meus heres' he means his heres legitimus,' who would succeed to his property in the event of his dying intestate, and who might probably expect to be named 'heres' if he made a will. Persius so far identifies himself with his subject that he assumes the speaker to have no sui heredes' (Juv. x. 237), Persius having no children or wife himself.

43. O bone, num ignoras?] My good friend, haven't you heard?' as the doctor says, "Heus, bone, tu palles" (iii. 94). He goes on to say that Caesar has sent tidings of a great victory over the Germans, and arrangements are being made for a grand celebration: he therefore intends to offer a hundred pairs of gladiators, and asks who shall prevent him. The Caesar he means is Caligula, whose ridiculous pretence of an expedition against the Germans, B.C. 40, is related by Suetonius (Caligula, 43, sqq.). Tacitus speaks of it and a pretended expedition against Britain as "Caianarum expeditionum ludibrium" (Hist. iv. 15). His object was plunder, of which he was insatiate. The son of a British chief came to Caligula in North Gallia and ceded the whole is and to him, whereupon he sent a flaming letter to announce the fact to the Senate. Afterwards he got up a sham engagement in a wood by the Rhine, sending some German prisoners across the river to represent the enemy, who were then reported as coming down in great force. He marched his army down to the sea-shore, and when they got there ordered them to pick up shells as spoils of the ocean, to be dedicated in the Capitol and Palatium, and built a lighthouse to commemorate this victory. He then made arrangements for a triumph on

« PredošláPokračovať »