Quadrivio, quum jam sexta cervice feratur, simply cerac.' 64. sexta cervice feratur,] This thief was carried in a cathedra,' borne by six slaves, hexaphoron;' the sides were thrown open, by the drawing back of the curtains by which they were usually closed in. This represents the impudence of the man, who ought to have been ashamed to show his face, and his laziness, in which he is said to look very much like Maecenas. The character of Maecenas, in this respect, is mentioned in my note on Hor. S. i. 2. 25, "Maltinus tunicis demissis ambulat," where authorities are quoted. See also below, S. xii. 39. Multum referens de Maecenate' is, literally, ' representing much of Maecenas.' So Virgil has" Invalidique patrum referunt jejunia nati" (G. iii. 127). Supino' means no more than lying lazingly on his back. The cathedra' was so constructed that the person half reclined and half sat. In the 'lectica' he lay at full length; and in the sella' he sat upright, as on an arm-chair. Cathedrae' were chiefly used by women, and were considered effeminate carriages for men. "Cujus apud molles minima est jactura cathedras" (vi. 91). Its shape and furniture are described in ix. 52: "Strata positus longaque cathedra." They were all carried by a single pole in front, and another behind, resting on the bearers' shoulders. The Indian 'tonjon' represents the 'sella,' and in some instances the cathedra.' 67. Signator falso,] This is the punctuation of most editions. Ruperti puts the stop after 'signator,' which Madvig says is right, or else Juvenal wrote 'signato falso,' which no one I think will adopt (Op. i. 40). 'Signator falso' is one who has put forged seals and signatures to a false will, or has got knaves like himself to witness such a will with him. A 'testamentum' required five witnesses, who put a seal and their names on the outside of it (see Dict. Ant. Testamentum'). The common way of writing wills was on waxed tablets (exiguis tabulis), whence come the expressions cera prima,' 'secunda,' 'ima,' (see Hor. S.ii. 5.53, n.). "Gemma uda' is a seal moistened before the impression was made. 'Lautus' is 'fine;' and 'beatus' 'well to do' (Hor. C. i. 4. 14, n.). 69. molle Calenum] The wine of Cales (Calvi) in Campania was among the best in Horace's time. It seems to have been one of the milder wines, from this epithet. This woman, who is represented as a person of family (Ruperti says Agrippina is meant, which Madvig (i. 40) rightly denies), Juvenal says, when she was going to hand her husband some wine, mixed poison with it; and being well skilled in such matters,taught her simpler neighbours how to get rid of their husbands in the same way, and to carry them out to their burial without any regard to the notoriety of the murder and the crowds that collected to see the funeral. 'Rubeta' is a poisonous sort of toad (see below, vi. 659). 'Nigros' expresses the effect of the poison on the dead body. The woman is called Locusta,' after her who poisoned Claudius by the direction of Agrippina, and Britannicus by the order of Nero. See Tacitus, Ann. xii. 66; xiii. 15. See also Suetonius (Nero, c. 33), who says she was handsomely rewarded for the latter of these murders. She was put to death by Galba, Nero's successor. The Scholiast on this place calls her Lucusta,' in one version of his text; and Jahn adopts that form. Valla's Scholiast says that Nero employed her to teach him her art, and many young women besides, "ut et illum doceret et plures puellas;" and Suetonius says, he gave her "impunitatem (she had been convicted of witchcraft) praediaque ampla, sed et discipulos." The Scholiast quotes two corrupt lines from Turnus, the satiric poet, thus amended by Valla: "Ex quo Caesareas soboles Locusta cecidit Horrendum, curas dum liberat atra Neronis." [Ribbeck places vv. 69, 70, 71, 72 between v. 76 and v. 77.] Per famam et populum nigros efferre maritos. 72. Per famam et populum] This forms one subject, in the midst of the whispers or talking of the citizens. It seems, therefore, that the corpse was carried out with the face exposed. 73. brevibus Gyaris] This was a small barren island (still called Giura) in the Aegean, one of the Cyclades, to which a few of the worst sort of criminals were transported in the time of the empire. When it was proposed that Silanus should be sent thither, Tiberius to show his clemency chose another place of banishment for him, saying that Gyara (or Gyarus) "insulam immitem et sine cultu hominum esse" (Tac. Ann. iii. 69). It was ill supplied with water('egena aquae:' ib.iv.30); and it was little better than death to be sent there. See vi. 563; x. 170. 'Brevibus' is equivalent to 'parvis.' 74. probitas laudatur et alget.] These words are often quoted and imitated. Gifford quotes from Massinger's Fatal Dowry (Act ii. sc. 1): "In this partial, avaricious age, What price bears honour? virtue? long ago It was but praised and freezed: but now-adays 'Tis colder far, and has nor love nor praise." John of Salisbury (Policr. iii. 9) quotes these words: "Quis Themistoclis diligentiam, Frontonis gravitatem, continentiam Socratis, Fabricii fidem, innocentiam Numae, pudicitiam Scipionis, longanimitatem Ulyssis, Catonis parcitatem, Titi pietatem imitatur? quis non cum admiratione veneratur? probitas siquidem laudatur et alget." For aliquis,' some of the MSS. have aliquid;' but the masculine is right. Persius has it (i. 129), "seque aliquem credens;" and Cicero (Ad Att. iii. 15, sub fin.), "meque ut facis velis esse aliquem." The Greeks used in the same way; and the same is common in most languages. To be " 'somebody" is the great object of ambition with half the world. TIS 6 75. praetoria,] Fine houses fit for an emperor (x. 161). As to the Roman tables 75 and their vessels of silver and bronze, see Hor. S. i. 4. 28, n.; ii. 2. 4, n. 76. stantem extra pocula caprum.] The Scholiast quotes Martial (viii. 51. 9): "Stat caper Aeolio Thebani vellere Phrixi Cultus." Grangaeus asks, not with his usual judgment, whether 'stantem' means "pedibus erectis ut solent pascere caprae, an eminentem ?" It means standing out in bold relief, as in Ovid (Met. xii. 235): "Forte fuit juxta signis extantibus asper Antiquus crater." Stare' is occasionally used in this sense absolutely, as in Hor. C. i. 9. 1: "Vides ut alta stet nive candidum Soracte," 'see you how white Soracte with deep snow stands out' (see note). Such figures on cups, &c., when they were moveable, were called 'emblemata,' after the Greek. (See v. 38, and the note.) On the ancient Greek vessels they were very handsome and curious. Verres the governor of Sicily laid his hands upon many. Cicero calls them 'scyphos sigillatos,' cups with 'signa,' or carved figures upon them (Verr. ii. 4. 14. See Long's note). The art, though continued till the latter years of the Roman republic, xxxiii. 12). The latest artist of the kind was suddenly dropped, as Pliny says (H. N. whom he mentions, and whom he calls a 'crustarius,' of note, was named Teucer, no doubt a Greek. 78. praetextatus adulter?] Heinrich and Madvig take this for a boy paramour, who has learnt his lesson of vice before he has put on the 'toga virilis.' It may be so. Compare ii. 170: "Sic praetextatos referunt Artaxata mores." There is more force in this than in taking the words for a senator, or others who wore the 'toga praetexta,' concerning which see Dict. Ant., and Hor. S. i. 5. 34, n. As to 'sponsae,' see iii. 111, n. 79. facit indignatio versum,] These words also are used by John of Salisbury, whose quotations are always well chosen (Nugae, &c., iii. 13): "Disposueram tamen silere de mollibus qui sicut ignominiosi ita 80 Qualemcunque potest, quales ego vel Cluvienus. sunt et videntur innominabiles. Silentium 80. Cluvienus.] It is impossible to say who is meant by this name. The Scholiast throws no light upon it. He only says it was "delirus poeta vel indoctus." 81. Ex quo Deucalion,] Horace has this phrase (C. iii. 3.21): "Ex quo destituit Deos Mercede pacta Laomedon." Juvenal says that the passions of mankind, such as they have been ever since the flood, are the subjects he has chosen for his pen. The story of Deucalion and Pyrrha, and how men and women sprung up from the stones they threw behind them, is told at length by Ovid (Met. i. 260 sqq.). The mountain on which the vessel landed is said by Ovid, and was generally supposed, to be Parnassus; and the divinity whose oracle Deucalion consulted, was Themis. Sortes,' for the answer of an oracle, is taken from the Italian practice, particularly in the temples of Fortuna, whose responses were delivered by lots (Cic. Div. ii. 41. 56), wooden tablets with different inscriptions shaken out of a box (sitella,' 'cista, urna,' 'arca'), and not by word of mouth, as the Greek oracles were delivered. Virgil has Lyciae sortes' twice over (Aen. iv. 346. 377). Sortes poscere 'is an unusual phrase. Poscere' is stronger than 'petere,' which is more commonly used. Poscere divos' is not analogous. That is to ask a favour of the gods, as " Quid dedicatum poscit Apollinem Vates?" (Hor. C. i. 31. 1.) 83. caluerunt mollia saxa,] This seems to be taken from Ovid's description (1. c.): "Saxa (quis hoc credat, nisi sit pro teste vetustas ?) Ponere duritiem coepere suumque rigorem, mam. 86. discursus,] Forcellini interprets this by discursationes, conatus, labores, ad 88. Major avaritiae patuit sinus?] Sinus' means the fold of the toga over the breast within which the purse (crumena) usually hung. A large purse would require a large sinus.' Ovid has (Am. i. 10. 18): "Quo pretium condat non habet ille sinum." So Heinrich takes it. The old commentators differ. Grangaeus takes it this way. Britannicus explains it from the bellying of a sail with a fair wind; and Owen translates thus, "And when did vice with growth so rank prevail? Or avarice wanton in so fair a gale?" Holyday, "When open lay to avarice a larger haven?" Mr. Mayor says, "When did the gulf of avarice yawn wider ?" comparing the passage quoted by Forcellini from Seneca (Oed. 582), "Subito dehiscit terra et immenso sinu Laxata patuit." I have no doubt the first explanation is right. 88. alea quando Hos animos?] "When has the gambling spirit run so high?" (Owen.) This is a pretty literal translation. "When had gambling such spirit as it has now (hos animos) ?" Ruperti's explanation of hos' as "tot animos sc. cepit, occupavit" (i.e. when did gambling seize upon so many minds?) is very bad. Heinecke is Hos animos? Neque enim loculis comitantibus itur Armigero! Simplexne furor sestertia centum no better, who takes 'hos animos' for 'hos Romanos,' or proposes 'potius' to change 'hos' into 'haec,' and to explain it thus: "Quando alea haec, i.e. talis, ut nunc est; talis aleae cupiditas animos, homines, sc. cepit." Habuit' is easily supplied, as the Scholiast suggests. The verb is often omitted in such questions where there is indignation, as below (vi. 641): "Tune duos una, saevissima vipera, coena ? Tune duos? Septem, si septem forte fuis. sent." Juvenal says elsewhere (xiv. init.) that fathers taught their young children to game. The 'alea' was always 'vetita legibus' (Hor. C. iii. 24. 58), but never checked from the declining times of the republic. Augustus (Vit. c. 70, 71), Caligula (c. 41), Clau dius (c. 33), and Domitian (c. 21), are all put down as gamblers by Suetonius; and Claudius wrote a treatise on the subject. Compare S. viii. 10: "Effigies quo Tot bellatorum, si luditur alea pernox Ante Numantinos?" · 89. Neque enim loculis comitantibus] He says men do not now go to the gaming table with their purse and play for the contents of that, but stake their chest containing all the ready money they had. Tabula' is the board on which the dice were thrown. As to neque enim,' see Key's Lat. Gr. 1449: "Enim' must commonly be translated by the English conjunction 'for,' but at times retains what was probably its earlier signification, 'indeed,'as in 'enim vero,' indeed, indeed; neque enim,' nor indeed; 'et enim,' and indeed, &c.; as, 'Quid tute tecum? Nihil enim' (Plaut.). What are you saying to yourself? Nothing, I assure you."" For ad casum' one MS. of the fifteenth century quoted by Ruperti, and two editions of the same century, Calderini and the Leipzig, have ad causam.' M. has that word in the text, with 'casum' in the margin. Causam' has no meaning. 91. dispensatore videbis Armigero!] 'Dispensator' was the cash-keeper, called also procurator' and 'calculator,' who formed one of the establishment in all rich houses. He is called armigero' because he furnished the sinews of this warfare, the money: "Utpote qui ludenti domino nummos subministret" (Britannicus). Grangaeus says the 'arma' in 'armigero' are the dice, as below (xiv. 5), "parvoque eadem movet arma fritillo." This is wrong, I think. 92. Simplexne furor sestertia centum] The Greeks would say ἁπλῆ μανία, madness and nothing more. Heinrich explains it "non simplex furor, sed duplex vel triplex," which may be right, though I prefer the other. Taking the 'sestertium'at the value in our money of 77. 16s. 3d., a hundred 'sestertia' would be 7817.5s. The Romans did not understand high play if this was enough to make a satirist angry: but the more than madness lay in the selfishness of the man who (as Heinrich explains it) after losing all his money stakes his slave's jacket, and losing that also never restores it. The commentators compare Persius (i. 54), "Scis comitem horridulum trita donare lacerna:" but reddere' means here to restore, and is never equivalent to the simple form 'dare.' 94. Quis totidem erexit villas,] This reminds us of Horace's complaint more than a century earlier (C. ii. 15): "Jam pauca aratro jugera regiae Non ita Romuli Praescriptum et intonsi Catonis Auspiciis veterumque norma." See Lipsius, De Magn. Rom. lib. iii. c. 14. As to fercula' see Hor. S. ii. 6. 104, n. 'Secreto' only means by himself,' as Virg. Aen. viii. 670, "secretosque pios." A couple of courses was enough for the old Romans according to Servius on Aen. i. 729. "For some ages the Roman nobility commonly used nothing but far' and 'puls,' and if a marriage or other joyful feast fell out, they thought it a mighty thing if they added a few small fishes and a few pounds of pork" (Lipsius, De Magn. Rom. iv. 5). Suetonius gives Augustus credit for moderation and good taste combined, because his custom was ordinarily to have but three courses, and at his finest dinners only six Secreto coenavit avus? Nunc sportula primo (c. 74). Various sumptuary laws regulating 95. Nunc sportula primo Limine parva sedet] He says that the 'sportula' is now a shabby affair, and that instead of being given in the atrium' as a regular entertainment (coena recta') in the way clients used to be received by their patrons, it was now set out at the door, to be scrambled for by the hungry rabble, closely watched by the master, lest any should get it under false pretences. Sportula,' a little basket, was the name given to a dole which first under the emperors it became customary for rich men to give to those dependents who chose to pay their respects to them at their early reception in the morning, and to dance attendance upon them at other times. It was given sometimes in the shape of meat, at others in a small sum of money, usually 100 quadrantes, or one and a half denarii, about eleven pence (v. 120, and v. 127 note). Gifford has confounded the public 'sportula' with the private. The former, not the latter, was established by Nero and abolished by Domitian. 96. turbae rapienda togatae.] Ruperti says this is spoken contemptuously, because under the emperors only the poorer and vulgar sort wore the 'toga.' This is nonsense. He refers to Horace, S. i. 2. 63.82, which only shows that women of bad character wore a 'toga' instead of a stola.' The toga' was worn out of respect to the great man, and it was counted bad taste for any person of respectability to go abroad without it. At one time it became common for persons of family to go to the theatre without the toga,' and Augustus put a stop to the practice. Turba togata,''gens to 6 35 95 100 gata,' were commonly used for the Romans. 97. trepidat,] This word expresses any hurried action or emotion. Inspicit et trepidat' means he looks in the man's face anxiously, with a sharp scrutinizing eye. Ille' can hardly be any but the master, who is supposed to condescend so far as to look on and regulate the distribution. Some take it for the 'dispensator' or balneator,' which is the name Martial gives to the servant who distributed the sportulae.' Quos (quadrantes) dividebat balneator elixus" (iii. 7. 3). 66 99. jubet a praecone vocari Ipsos Troju genas;] The 'praeco' may mean the 'nomenclator,' whose particular duty was to attend the morning visits and to know all his master's acquaintance by sight and name, with their circumstances and all about them. See Hor. Epp. i. 6. 50, n. The master bids this man call up the respectable people first; for, says Juvenal, proud gentlemen of the old families condescend to join us humble folk in begging. The poorer they got the more they stuck to their pedigree, and nothing would satisfy them short of the blood of Aeneas in their veins. See below (viii. 42), "Ut te conciperet quae sanguine fulget Iuli;" (ib. 56) "Die mihi, Teucrorum proles; " (ib. 181) "At vos, Trojugenae ; (xi. 95) "Clarum Trojugenis factura ac nobile fulcrum." See also Horace, S. ii. 5. 63, n.: "Ab alto demissum genus Aenea." 101. Da Praetori, da deinde Tribuno.] See S. iii. 128. Martial has an epigram addressed to Paulus, a senator, beginning «Cum tu laurigeris annum qui fascibus intras Mane salutator limina mille teras" (x. 10), where limina terere' corresponds to 'vexant limen' in the last line. Horace (S. i. 8. 18) says of the Esquiline, thieves and beasts were wont hunc vexare locum,' to infest it. It must be supposed that some |