Obrázky na stránke
PDF
ePub

Omne in præcipiti vitium stetit. Utere velis; 150 Totos pande sinus. Dicas hic forsitan " Unde Ingenium par materiæ ? unde illa priorum Scribendi, quodcumque animo flagrante liberet, Simplicitas, cujus non audeo dicere nomen? Quid refert dictis ignoscat Mucius, an non? 155 Pone Tigellinum: tæda lucebis in illa, Qua stantes ardent, qui fixo gutture fumant, Et latum media sulcum diducis arena."

[ocr errors]

149. The climax is now complete: vice has reached its acme.'

The poet here encourages himself to give full scope to his indignation in a familiar metaphor. cf. Virg. G. ii. 41. iv. 117. Hor. I Od. xxxiv. 4. II Od. x. 23. IV Od. xv. 4. &c. R.

150. From unde to arena, 157. is an anticipation of the objections supposed to be made by a friend. BRI.

151. Observe the hiatus in materia unde. See ii. 26. iii. 70. v. 158. vi. 247. 468. &c. R.

Priores viz. Eupolis, Cratinus, Aristophanes, Lucilius, Cato Censorinus, Terentius Varro, and Horace. PR. cf. Hor. II S. i. 62. R.

153. Simplicitas, rappnoía. The unutterable name' was libertas. BRI. cf. Suet. Cal. 27. PR.

154. See Pers. i. 114. T. Mucius Albutius had sufficient magnanimity and wisdom to disregard the attacks of Lucilius; but had it been otherwise, the satirist would have little to dread from his resentment.' VS. M.

155. Dare to put down the name of Tigellinus, and you will be treated as an incendiary.' C. Offonius Tigellinus of Agrigentum was recommended to the notice of Nero by his debaucheries. After the murder of Burrhus, he succeeded to the command of the prætorian guards, and abused his ascendancy over the emperor to the most dreadful purposes. He afterwards betrayed him; by which, and other acts of perfidy, he secured himself during Galba's short reign. He was put to death by Otho, to the great joy of the people, and died, as he had lived, a profligate and a coward. See 59. Who is here designated by the name of Tigellinus, cannot now be known; even in Trajan's reign there were depraved favorites, whose enmity it would

be perilous to provoke. G. VS. Mart. III. xx. 16. GRÆ. PR. Suet. Galb. 15. Pone may mean 'pourtray;' Pers. i. 70. Hor. A. P. 34. R.

Tada-fumant. The dreadful fire, which laid waste a great part of Rome in the reign of Nero, was found to have broken out in the house of Tigellinus. His notorious intimacy with the emperor corroborated the general suspicion that the conflagration was owing to design. Nero was exasperated at the discovery, and to avert the odium from his favorite, basely taxed the Christians with setting fire to the house. Thousands of those innocent victims were sacrificed in consequence: multitudo ingens convicti sunt: et pereuntibus addita ludibria, ut ferarum tergis contecti, laniatu canum interirent, aut crucibus adfixi, aut flammandi; atque, ubi defecisset dies, in usum nocturni luminis urerentur: hortos suos ei spectaculo Nero obtulerat, et circense ludicrum edebat; Tac. An. xv. 44. G. This was called tunica punire molesta; viii. 235. BRO. circumdati defixis corporibus ignes; Sen. de Ira, iii. 3. LI. cogita illam tunicam alimentis ignium illitam et intextam, et quicquid præter hæc sævitia commenta est ; Id. ad Lucil. PR. Id. Ep. xiv. R.

157. Homines defoderunt in terram dimidiatos, ignemque circumposuerunt; ita interfecerunt; Cat. ap. Gell. iii.14. GRO. [Supposing this to be the case here, we may read (or, at any rate, interpret) the line thus; Et latum medius sulcum diducis arena.] The ground in which the stake was fixed appears to have been more or less excavated; pæna Flavii Veiano Nigro tribuno mandatur, is proximo in agro scrobem effodi jussit, quam Flavius ut humilem et angustam increpabat; Tac. An. xv. Scrobem sibi fieri coram imperat dimensus ad corporis sui modulum ipse Nero; Suet. Ner. 49. These executions often

Qui dedit ergo tribus patruis aconita, vehatur

"

Pensilibus plumis atque illinc despiciat nos?
160 Quum veniet contra, digito compesce labellum.
Accusator erit, qui verbum dixerit, HIC EST.
Securus licet Æneam Rutulumque ferocem
Committas: nulli gravis est percussus Achilles,
Aut multum quæsitus Hylas urnamque sequutus.
165 Ense velut stricto quoties Lucilius ardens
Infremuit, rubet auditor, cui frigida mens est
Criminibus; tacita sudant præcordia culpa.
Inde iræ et lacrumæ. Tecum prius ergo voluta
Hæc animo ante tubas. Galeatum sero duelli

took place in the centre of the arena of the amphitheatre.' Suet. Cal. 7. PR. nemo spectator miseras voluptates unco et ignibus expiavit; Plin. Pan. xxxiii. 3. R. or You labor in vain, as if you were ploughing the sand.' cf. vii. 48 sq. M.

158. Here the author replies indignantly. LU. See 67. PR. 'Wolf'sbane' may be put for poison generally: lurida terribiles miscent aconita noverca; Ov. Met. i. 147. M. Id. vii. 418 sqq. Virg. G. ii. 152. R.

159. On pensile couch of down.' VS. 160. The friend now speaks. Contra 'in your way;' Mart. V. iv. 5. XIV. lxii. R.

161. He will be regarded in the light of an accuser, who shall but have whispered "That's he"! H. even although these words are generally used in a favorable sense; as Pers. i. 28. Mart. V. xiii. 3. R. or If a person does but say "That's he!" he will have an information laid against him.' PR.

162. 'You may without apprehension handle epic themes.' 'The Rutulian' is Turnus. PR. cf. Hor. II S. i. 10 sqq. R. Nos enim, qui in foro verisque litibus terimur, multum malitiæ, quamvis nolimus, addiscimus: schola et auditorium, ut ficta causa, ita res inermis innoxia est; Plin. There is the same idea in the Knight of the Burning Pestle: "Prol. By your sweet favour we intend no harm to the

city. Cit. No, sir! yes, sir. If you were not resolved to play the jack, what need you study for new subjects purposely to abuse your betters? Why could not you be content, as well as others, with the Legend of Whittington, the

Story of Queen Eleanor, and the rearing of London Bridge upon woolsacks?" G.

163. Committere is a metaphor from ‘matching' a pair of gladiators against each other.' GRÆ. vi. 378. 436. Luc. i. 97. R.

Nec nocet auctori, mollem qui fecit Achillem, infregisse suis mollia facta modis; Ov. Tr. ii. 411 sq. GR. Achilles was shot with an arrow by Paris. PR. Hom. Il. x 359. Od. n 36 sqq. Virg. Æ. vi. 57. R.

[ocr errors]

164. Sought for by Hercules and the Argonauts.' Virg. E. vi. 43 sq. PR. G. iii. 6. R.

165. Secuit Lucilius urbem; Pers. i. 114. PR. Hor. I S. iv. 1 sqq. II S. i. 62 sqq. R. cf. Suet. Cal. 53. Hor. III Od. i. 17 sqq. In Randolph's Entertainment there is an admirable paraphrase of this passage: "When I but frown'd in my Lucilius' brow, Each conscious cheek grew red, and a cold trembling Freezed the chill soul, while every guilty breast Stood, fearful of dissection, as afraid To be anatomized by that skilful hand, And have each artery, nerve, and vein of sin, By it laid open to the public scorn." G.

166. It shudders;' 'the blood runs cold.' M. formidine turpi frigida corda tremunt; Sil. ii. 338. R.

168. Hine illæ lacrume! Ter. And. I. i.99. GRÆ.

[blocks in formation]

170 Pœnitet." Experiar, quid concedatur in illos, Quorum Flaminia tegitur cinis atque Latina.

is fond of adopting Virgilian expresvery sions; see 61. ii. 99. 100. vi. 44. (cf. i. 36.) xii. 94. &c. HR.

Galeatus denotes not merely a soldier,' as in viii. 238. but one who has buckled on his helmet (cf. vi. 252.); since it appears from Trajan's Pillar, that before soldiers went into battle, their helmets. were suspended from the right shoulder. HR.

Sero; compare St Luke xiv. 31. Duellum is the ancient form of bellum, and hence the word perduellis. F.

170. The Poet declares that he will wage war on the dead alone. PR.

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

SATIRE II.

ARGUMENT.

This Satire, in point of time, was probably the first which Juvenal wrote. It contains an irregular but animated attack upon the hypocrisy of philosophers and reformers; whose wickedness it exposes with just severity, 1-28. Domitian here becomes the hero: and the poet must have had an intrepid spirit to produce and circulate, though but in private, such a faithful picture of that ferocious tyrant, at once the censor and the pattern of profligacy, 29 sqq. The corruption, beginning at the head, is represented as rapidly spreading downwards, 34-81.

Such was the depravity and impiety, that a club was formed to dress up as females and burlesque the rites of the Good Goddess, 82-114. There were even instances of men marrying each other, 115-142. and of Roman nobles degrading themselves by playing the gladiator, 143–148. Infidelity was now universal. How would the heroes of primitive Rome receive in the shades below their degenerate posterity! 149-158. Even the victorious progress of the Roman arms served but to diffuse corruption more widely, 159–170. G. R.

There is a close correspondence between this Satire and Dio Chrysost. rigi ex paros Orat. Alex. hab. HN.

book ase

co

[ocr errors]

ULTRA Sauromatas fugere hinc libet et glacialem
Oceanum, quoties aliquid de moribus audent,
Qui Curios simulant et Bacchanalia vivunt.
Indocti primum; quamquam plena omnia gypso
5 Chrysippi invenias. Nam perfectissimus horum est,
Si quis Aristotelem similem vel Pittacon emit,
Et jubet archetypos pluteum servare Cleanthas.
Fronti nulla fides. Quis enim non vicus abundat
Tristibus obscœnis? Castigas turpia, quum sis

1. Fain would I flee.' cf. xv. 171 sq. Prop. II. xxx. 2. R. Hor. III Od. x. 1. The Sauromate, or Sarmata, (iii. 79. Herod. iv. 21. &c.) inhabited the banks of the Tanais and Borysthenes; GR. PR. the province of Astracan.

The icy or northern ocean: et qua bruma rigens ac nescia vere remitti, adstringit Scythico glacialem frigore pontum; Luc. i. 17. M.

2. Understand docere, scribere, aut disputare. GR. In this line, as in vv. 40, 63, and 121, there is a side blow at the Perpetual Censorship which Domitian

had assumed. HR.

3. Simulare to pretend to be what one is not;' dissimulare to pretend not to be what one is.'

M'.Curius Dentatus, thrice consul,
conqueror of the Sabines, Samnites, Lu-
canians, and Pyrrhus, was a pattern of
frugality and integrity. Val. Maxim.
iv. 3. Plin. xviii. 3. PR. xi. 78 sqq.
Adspicis incomptis illum, Deciane, ca-
pillis? (cf. Hor. I Od. xii. 41 sqq.)
cujus et ipse times triste supercilium; qui
loquitur Curios, assertoresque Camillos:
nolito fronti credere; Mart. I. xxv.
VII. lviii. 7 sq. IX. xxviii. 5 sqq. Quid?
si quis vultu torvo ferus, et pede nudo,
exiguæque toga simulet textore Cato-
nem, virtutemne repræsentet moresque Ca-
tonis? Hor. I Ep. xix. 12 sqq. R.

Bacchanalia: cf. Liv. xxxix. 8 sqq. PR.
A Grecism for bacchantium more. M.
Nunc Satyrum, nunc agrestem Cyclopa
movetur; Hor. II Ep. ii. 125.
these rites the grossest vices were prac-
tised under the cloak of religion. R.

In

4. These unlearned pretenders had
brought out of the schools little wisdom,
but plenty of conceit. HR.
Understand loca: every corner of
their libraries and halls.' LU.
Gypso' of plaster casts or busts.' LU.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

5. Chrysippus, the Stoic, pupil of Zeno
and Cleanthes. LU. Pers. vi. 80. PR.

Est i. e. in their estimation. LU.
6. An image of Aristotle,' the Stagy-
rite, pupil of Plato, founder of the Peri-
patetic sect, tutor of Alexander the great.
PR. Thus similem te an image of thee;'
Stat. I S. i. 101. II S. vii. 129. Mart.
IX. cii. 1. R.

Pittacus, Dictator of Mitylene, one of
the seven sages. LU.

7. Originals' (e̟xǹ rúros). T. Mart. VII. x. 4. XII. lxix. 2. R.

6

Pluteum the bookcase.' VS. Pers. v. 106. PR.

Cleanthes, originally a pugilist, was afterwards pupil of Zeno, and his successor in the Stoic School: while student he was so poor that he used to work at night in drawing water for gardeners, and was hence called giávrλns. LU. Therefore some prefer the reading puteum. VA. GRÆ. H. Pers. v. 64. PR.

If Lucian had read Juvenal, he might have this passage in his thought when he wrote his Illiterate Book-collector. Locher, who translated Brandt's Ship of Fools, had undoubtedly both Lucian and Juvenal before him, when he gave the following version: spem quoque nec parvam collecta volumina præbent, calleo nec verbum, nec libri sentio mentem, attamen in magno per me servantur honore. G.

9. Solemn debauchees :' arumnosique Solones, obstipo capite et figentes lumine terram; Pers. iii. 79. GR. Philosophi vultum et tristitiam et dissentientem a ceteris habitum pessimis moribus prætendunt; Quint. I. pr. §. 15. Pigritia arrogantioris (homines), qui, subito fronte conficta immissaque barba, paulum aliquid sederunt in scholis philosophorum, ut deinde in publico tristes, domi dissoluti, captarent auctoritatem contemtu ceterorum ; Id. XII. iii. 12. HR.

« PredošláPokračovať »