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NOTES.

SATIRE I.

Ver. 1. O curas hominum! O quantum est in rebus

inane!

The Author may be supposed to have commenced a satire upon the idle vanities of the world, when his friend interrupts him, by asking him, who would read so grave a piece of morality. Casaubon has had the dexterity to find out, that Persius meant to be facetious in this line. He hath omitted none of those things, says the commentator, quæ satiricum cachinnum possunt movere. But it seems, he not only sneered, but conveyed in these few words much recondite wisdom. Vides, continues Casaubon, quam apto, quam philosophico, quam TEX VIXW principio utatur Persius?

Ver. 4.

— Ne mihi Polydamas, &c.

By Polydamas et Troides, Persius is generally supposed to have meant Nero and his courtiers. But was not Polydamas an illustrious character?

Οι μην ἁμ Εκτορ ἴσαν, καὶ ΑΜΥΜΟΝΙ Πολυδαμανι.

Ιλιάδ. μια

Labeo was a minion of Nero's, who had translated the Iliad.

Ver. 14. Grande aliquid, &c.

Longinus remarks the difficulty of guarding against the bombast in writing; and observes that authors are naturally led to seek what is grand; but in avoiding dryness and feebleness, they become turgid, and vainly console themselves, with the reflection, that if they err, it is in attempting what is great and noble. Όλως δ ̓ ἔσσα κεν ἔιναι τὸ ἔιδειν εν τοις μάλιςα δυσφυλακ]]αιον· φύσει γὰρ απαίτες οι μεγεθες εφιμενοι; φευγοντες ασθενείας και ξή ρόζηλος κατάγνωσιν, εκ ειδ ̓ ὅπως, ἐπι τεθ ̓ υποφερονται, πειθόμενοι τως

Μεγάλως απολισθαινειν

Αμαρτημ ευγενες.

Ver. 20. Ingentes trepidare Titos, &c.

The prænomen Titus was frequent among the Roman nobility. The prænomen was never taken by a roturier. See notes to Sat. vo

Ver. 28.

-digito monstrari, &c.

The Greek expresses this action by a single word,

δακτυλοδεικτεῖσθαι.

Ver. 35. Eliquat, et tenero supplantat, &c.

Verbisque sonat plorabile quiddam

Ultra nequitiam fractis-eliquat.

CLAUDIAN.

Eliquare signifies to liquidate, and here figuratively, to speak in a plaintive tone.

Supplantare et subnervare, are, as Casaubon observes, verba palestra. Supplantare verba-estropier les

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Id est, to leave no books which shall be in danger of being used as waste paper in the shops.

Ver. 47.

neque enim mihi cornea fibra est.

I am not, says Persius, a man of so much apathy as to be quite insensible to praise-I only think it necessary to deserve it, in order truly to enjoy it.

Ver. 50.

Non heic est Ilias Acci

Ebria veratro?

Casaubon understands plena by ebria. Malè. Hellebore was taken by persons professing the art of divination, who probably drank it, in order to exhilarate their spirits, and to work themselves up to a proper pitch of phrenzy for acting their parts. The expression of Persius then means, that the Iliad of Accius, was turgid and declamatory, and was destitute of all real poetical merit.

The hellebore, which was known in Italy by the name of veratrum, was of two sorts, the black and the white. The latter of these was, as Pliny assures us, much the stronger. It is only when speaking of the external appearance of these two sorts, that Theophrastus says-τω χρωμάλι μονον διαφέρων.

It appears from several authors, and among others from Pliny, that before any serious application to study, the ancients used to prepare themselves by taking a large dose of hellebore. The idlers of the present day would not be the more reconciled to the labours of the mind by such a diarrhetic discipline of the body.

Ver. 57.

calve

Pinguis aqualiculus propenso sesquipede exstet. Casaubon says, pinguis aqualiculus, quia, ut ex aquali funditur aqua, sic ab illa parte urina. It is very true, that aqualiculus is often used for venter. But here Per

sius probably alludes to those dropsical habits incurred by indolence, luxury, gluttony, and inebriety. The sense is, " you are an old fool to write verses, when, from the size of your paunch, it is evident that you have thought much more of indulging your appetite, than of cultivating your mind.”

Ver. 70. Nugari solitos Grace, &c.

The fashion is again revived; and we have baldheads in this country, who employ themselves in strumming modern airs on the untuned lyre of Pindar, and in adapting English strains to the pipe of Theocritus.

Ver. 72.

et fumosa Palilia, &c.

The Palilia were rural feasts observed in honour of Pales. Varro.

Ver. 76.

venosus liber Acci.

Venosus stands here for asper, durus, horridus. See the Thesaurus of R. Stephanus.

Ver. 77. Sunt quos Pacuviusque, et verrucosa movetur Antiopa, c.

Pacuvius was the author of the tragedy of Antiopaverrucosa, literally, full of warts, is put here figuratively to express the rugged style, in which this tragedy was written.

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