Ventus adest; inopi miserabilis arte cucurrit 70 75 Quæ pelago occurrunt medio, longeque relinquunt Italiam non sic igitur mirabere portus, Quos natura dedit: sed truncâ puppe magister 67. The miserable, &c.] The shattered vessel left in a miserable plight. Prora (by synec.) may mean the vessel itself: but it literally signifies the forepart, the foredeck or forecastle of a ship; and so it is probably to be understood here, as the velo suo implies the sail proper to this part of the ship; the foresprit sail, as we call it. This was the only remaining sail. -Poor device.] She made a sad shift to make her way through the water, by the poor contrivance of the seamen's clothes spread out-vestibus extensis, to help her on. 69. Was left.] i. e. Had surmounted the violence of the storm. Superaverat, quasi supererat-remained; as in VIRG. En. v. 519. Amissa solus palmá superabat Acestas. 69. The south winds, &c.] Which were very dangerous on the coasts of Italy. See HoR. sat. i. 1. 6; and lib. iii. ode iii. 1. 4, 5. ode iii. lib. i. 1. 14-16. These now began to abate. 70. Return'd with the sun.] With the day-light. -Acceptable to Iulus, &c.] The Alban mount, on which Iulus Ascanius, the son of Eneas, built Alba longa. This is the sublime top, mentioned 1. 72. The poet calls it gratus Iulo, because he left Lavinum, built by Æneas, to live at Alba. 71. Lavinum of his step-mother, &c.] 80 When Iulus came to live at Alba, he left Lavinum to his mother-in-law Lavinia, the second wife of Eneas, (who had named the city Lavinum after his wife Lavinia.) Hence Juvenal says, novercali Lavino. 72, 3. A white sow, &c.] From which the city was called Alba, white. See sat. vi. 1. 176, note. 73. A wonderful udder, &c.] Sumen, the belly, paps, or udder of a sow. AINSW. Here, by synec. it is to be understood to signify the sow. This was a sight much admired by the joyful Trojans, who, after all their dangers and toils, discovered, by this, their promised resting-place. Hic locus urbis erit, requies ca certa laborum. En. lib. viii. 1. 46. Troy was the capital of Phrygia, a country of Lesser Asia, and sometimes taken for the whole country of Phrygia: hence the Trojans were called Phry. gians. 74. Thirty dugs.] With each a pig sucking at it. En. viii. 1. 45. A sight never seen before. 75. She enters.] i. e. The ship enters. -Placed moles.] The moles, or piers, which had been placed, or built, to keep off the violence of the sea, and to form a safe and quiet harbour. -Included waters.] The waters included between and within the moles. 76. Tyrrhene Pharos.] In this haven Is there a wind, the miserable prow ran with a poor device, The hope of life return'd with the sun: then, acceptable to Iülus, 70 And an abode preferr'd to the Lavinum of his step-mother, 74 At length she enters the placed moles, thro' the included waters, And the Tyrrhene Pharos, and again the stretched-out arms Which meet the middle sea, and far leave Italy therefore you will not so admire the havens 80 Which nature has given: but the master, with mangled ship, of Ostia, on the shore of the Tyrrhene sea, Claudius built a Pharos, or lighthouse, in imitation of that at Alexandria in Egypt. 76. And again.] We once more return to the spot from whence we sat out." -Stretched-out arm,&c.] The two sides of the piers, or artificial mounts, like two arms, stretched so far into the Tyrrhene sea, that they seemed to inclose it as far as the middle way, and, as it were, to leave the coast of Italy behind. 78. You will not, &c.] This port, formed in this manner by art, is much more wonderful than any port naturally formed by the shore itself; therefore the former is more to be admired than the latter. 80. The interior pools, &c.] The innermost part of this artificial haven, as the most secured from the sea. 81.4 Baian boat.] Little wherries were used at Baia to carry people in still water; perhaps from one side of the bay to the other. -Shaved head, &c.] It was a custom, when in distress at sea, to invoke the aid of some god or other (see Jonah i. 5.) with a solemn vow of cutting off their hair, and offering it as an acknowledgment for their preservation. See Acts xxvii. 34. where Paul says, "there "shall not an hair of your head perish:" VOL. II. alluding probably to this custom. As if he had said, "they should not need to "shave and devote their hair, for they "should be preserved without it." See POWER's note. 82. The sailors rejoice, &c.] Take a delight to chatter and prate about what had happened to every boy they met. The poet says, garrula pericula-quia nautas garrulos reddebant—i. c. because they set the sailors a prating. BRIT. See a like figure of speech, sat. vii. 49. Hypallage. q. d. The chattering sailors delight to relate their dangers. 83. Boys.] Go, my boys-speaking to his servants. See sat. xi. 1. 151, where he describes his two servant-lads. -Favouring, &c.] Helping on the solemnity, by observing a profound silence and attention; this was always commanded during a sacrifice, that there might be no disturbance or interruption. In this view, faveo means to attend with silence. AINSW. So HOR. lib. iii. ode i. 1. 2. Favete linguis, which Smart translates, Give a religious attention; and which is thus commented on in Delph. edit. Favete linguis. "Vox "in sacris olim usitata, qua silentium imperabatur." "An expression for"merly used at sacrifices, or sacred "rites, by which silence was com"manded." M Sertaque delubris, et farra imponite cultris, Nec suspecta tibi sint hæc, Corvine: Catullus, Pro cujus reditu tot pono altaria, parvos Tres habet hæredes. Libet expectare, quis ægram Go then, my boys, the sacred rites prepare, With awful silence, and attention hear. POWER. See VIRG. En. v. l. 71. Ore favete omnes, &c. 84. Put garlands, &c.] On solemn occasions all the temples of the gods were adorned with garlands. So VIRG. Æn. ii. 1. 248, 9. Nos delubra Deum -festá relamus fronde per urbem. -Meal on the knives.] The custom was to make cakes with meal and salt, with which they sprinkled the sacrificing knife, the head of the victim, and the fire. Hence comes the word immolor, from the sacred mola, or cake. Virgil calls them salsa fruges, Æn. ii. 132, 3. -Mihi sacri parari Et salsa fruges. 85. Sft hearths, &c.] The poet gave us to understand, 1. 2. that his altar was made of turf, or green sod. 86. I'll soon follow.] i. e. After these preparations are made. -The sacred business, &c.] That of the public sacrifice, which I shall offer. -Which is best.] Quod præstat, i. e. which is the most material thing, and most necessary to be done. 87. Then return home.] In order to offer private sacrifices on the little turfaltar to my domestic deities. -Little images, &c.] Little statues of the Lares, or household gods, made of 85 90 95 wax, neatly polished, so as to shine. Hence HoR. epod. ii. 1. 66. calls them, renidentes Lares. 88. Slender crowns.] Small garlands, or chaplets. 89. Placate.] Appease and render propitious. -Our Jupiter.] The favourer and guardian of our country; or, as the poet mentions the worship of Jupiter after his return home, we may suppose, that, among his other little statues, there was one of Jupiter, before which, as before the others, he intended to offer incense, in order to make him propitious. -Paternal Lares.] Left me by my forefathers, who used to worship them as I do. See note on sat. viii. 1. 110. The Romans were very superstitious about these little images of the Lares; they thought no house safe without them, they constantly worshipped them, and, if they removed, they carried their Lares along with them: they were looked upon as tutelar deities, which protected their houses and lands. 90. Will give.] Will offer; which they did, by putting it on the fire, and fumigating the images, or letting the smoke ascend before them. -Throw down.] i. e. Will strew before them. -All the colours, &c.] i. c. Violets of every colour. 91. All things shine.] Every thing looks gay. -Has erected, &c.] Over the tops of Put garlands on the temples, and meal on the knives, 85 I'll soon follow, and the sacred business, which is best, being I will then return home; where, little images, shining Here I will placate our Jupiter, and to my paternal Lares All things shine. My gate has erected long branches, 90 Nor let these things be suspected by you, Corvinus: Catullus, Little heirs I should be glad to see who would bestow 95 So barren but this is an expence too great. No quail n the doors are long branches of laurel. This was usual on these festal occasions. 92. Joyful.] Having a joyful and festival appearance. -Celebrates.] Operatur. The verb operor, like facio, (see sat. ix. 1. 117.) when it stands without any addition, signifies performing sacrifice. See also VIRG. ecl. iii. 77; and Georg. i. 1. 339. So the word wy, in Hebr. See PARK. Heb. and Eng. Lex. y, No. 5. The poet here means to say, that the very gates of his house bore a part in the solemnity on this joyful occasion. Some are for reading operitur, covered-i. e. the gates were covered with lamps as well as with laurel-branches. This makes a very clear sense; but I question whether operatur, as above explained, does not more exactly coincide with the epithet festa in this line. Operatur here is metaphorical, like Virgil's ridet ager. -Morning lamps.] It was a custom, on any joyful occasion, either of a public or private nature, to adorn the gates of their houses with branches of laurel, and with lamps, even in the day-time; which Tertullian mentions, in his apology, in the following passage: "Cur die "læto non laureis postes adumbramus? lucernis diem infringimus ?" "Why, on a joyful day, do we not "overshadow our door-posts with lau"rels, nor infringe upon the day with "lamps ?" By the word matutinis, the poet means to say, he will light them early, out of zeal to his friend, that they might burn from morning to night. -My portal shines with verdant bays, 93. Suspcated, &c.] As if done with a mercenary view, or for selfish ends; as if to flatter my friend Catullus into making me his heir. 94, 5. Three little heirs.] Has three children to inherit his estate. 95. Glad to see.] Libet expectare-literally, it liketh me to expect; which certainly answers to the English idiom in the translation. 96, 7. A friend so barren, &c.] So unlikely to leave any thing in his will to any body but his own family; who would sacrifice for such a one, I won't say a fine cock to Esculapius for his recovery, but even an old rotten hen? even this would not be worth while. 97. No quail.] Not even one of the least of birds. 98. Ever fall.] i. e. Be killed and offered in sacrifice. -A father.] i. e. For a man that is the father of children, and who, like Catullus, has heirs to his estate. Elephants Si cœpit locuples Gallita et Paccius, orbi, 100 105 Hannibali, et nostris Ducibus, Regique Molosso, Partem aliquam belli, et euntem in prælia turrim. Nulla igitur mora per Novium, mora nulla per Istrum 98. Gallita and Paccius.] Two rich men who were childless, which made them fine objects for the hæredipetæ, or legacy-hunters. 99. Perceive heat.] To be attacked with a fever. Every porch, &c.] Tota is here équivalent to omnis. q. d. The whole of the porches, i. e. all the porches of the temples, are covered, as it were, with vo. tive tablets for their recovery. These votive tablets were inscribed with the vows and prayers of those who hung them up. If the party, for whom these tablets were hung up, recovered, the offerers of the tablets thought themselves bound to perform their vows. 100. According to law.] Legitime here seems to mean, according to the stated custom and usual practice of such people, who made it a kind of law among them to act in this manner on such occasions; not that there was any public law to compel them to it. 101. There exist, &c.] Some there are, who would not scruple to vow an hun. dred oxen in sacrifice. Hecatombe is compounded of ixare, an hundred, and Bous, an ox; but it also denotes a sacrifice of an hundred sheep, or of any other animals, though primarily is to be understood of oxen, according to the etymology. 102. Elephants, &c.] q. d. They can't get elephants indeed, or else they would vow an hecatomb of them. 102, 3. Here nor in Latium.] Either 110 here at Rome, or in the country of Italy at large. See note, sat. xi. 115. 104. Conceived.] i. c. Bred. -A dusky nation.] From the Moors, or the Indians, who are of a swarthy or black complexion. See sat. xi. l. 125, note. 105. The Rutulian woods, &c.] In the forest near Lavinum, where Turnus the king of the Rutuli reigned, the country was called Etruria; now the dukedom of Tuscany. 106. The herd of Cæsar.] Domitian, as a matter of state and curiosity, transported into Italy numbers of elephants; and, in the forest above mentioned, an herd of them might be seen together. 106, 7. No private man.] They were not procured to be at any private man's command, but at the emperor's only, for his pleasure and amusement, in seeing them in the forest, and exhibiting them in public shows in the Circus. 107. Ancestors of these.] The elephants of former days were put to a nobler use. -Indeed.] Prateus, in his Interpretatio in usum Delph. explains the siquidem by enimvero, verily, truly, indeedMarshall, by vero, which is much of the same import, and seems to mark a sarcastical contrast between the use of those noble animals by the warlike kings and generals of old time, and Domitian's getting them to Rome at a vast expence, for the empty gratification of his pride and ostentation. |