Obrázky na stránke
PDF
ePub
[ocr errors]

Nota magis nulli domus est sua, quam mihi lucus
Martis et Æoliis vicinum rupibus antrum

Vulcani. Quid agant venti, quas torqueat umbras 10 Eacus, unde alius furtivæ devebat aurum

Pelliculæ, quantas jaculetur Monychus ornos,
Frontonis platani convulsaque marmora clamant
Semper et assiduo ruptæ lectore columnæ.
Exspectes eadem a summo minimoque poeta!
15 Et nós ergo manum ferulæ subduximus, et nos

7. Hall has imitated this passage; No man his threshold better knows, than I Brute's first arrival and his victory, St. George's sorrel and his cross of blood, Arthur's round board, or Caledonian wood; But so to fill up books, both back and side, What boots it, &c." G. Teneo melius ista quam meum nomen; Mart. IV. xxxvii. 7. OaTTOY TOUvoμa ἕκαστος αὐτῶν (τῶν παίδων) ἐπιλάθοιτο τοῦ πατρὸς, ἢ τὰς Ορέστου καὶ Πυλάδου πράξεις ἀγνοήσεις Luc. Tox. 6. R.

The grove of Mars' might be that in which Ilia gave birth to Romulus and Remus, the twin sons of Mars: VS. or any one of the numerous groves of this deity; EG. as lucus Diana is used, Hor. A. P. 16. cf. Pers. i. 70. PR.

6

8. The Eolian rocks,' or Vulcanian islands, were seven in number, and are now called the Lipari isles. GR. cf. Virg. Æ. i. 56 sqq. M. Luc. v. 609. R.

9. The cave of Vulcan' and the Cyclops, in Mount Etna; cf. xiii. 45. Virg. Æ. viii. 416 sqq. GR.

Tedious descriptions of the natural agency of the Winds' may be alluded to; or fables of the loves of Boreas and Orithyia, Ov. M. vi. 238. M. R. of Zephyrus and Chloris, &c.

10. The ghosts were tortured into confession: Virg. Æ. vi. 566 sqq. M. Some divide the duties of the three judges of hell, making the office of Rhadamanthus inquisitorial, that of Minos judicial, and that of Eacus executive. PR. Others supposed that Eacus, as an European, was the judge of European shades; but that Minos and Rhadamanthus, who were natives of Asia, judged the Asiatics. Plato in extr. Gorg. et Min. R.

Jason eloped from Colchis with Medea, and carried off the golden fleece' unknown to Æetes. GR. Argonautics

a

were composed by Orpheus and Apollonius among the Greeks, and Valerius Flaccus among the Latins. PR. Our author, who hated the Flavian family, might be prejudiced against Flaccus, who paid them court. G.

11. Monychus, (móvos 'single' ovoz hoof' PR.) the Centaur, distinguished himself in combat with the Lapitha. cf. Οr. Met. xii. 499 sqq. V. Flac. i. 145 sqq. GRÆ. Aspera te Pholoes frangentem, Monyche, saxa; teque sub Etæo torquentem vertice vulsas, Rhace feror, quas vix Boreas inverteret, ornos; Luc. vi. 388 sqq. R.

12. Fronto, a munificent patron of literature, LU. was thrice consul, and a colleague of Trajan. His mansion and grounds were thrown open to the public. PR. G. We find the house of Maculonus, vii. 40. and that of Stella, Mart. IV. vi. 5. lent for similar rehearsals. The name of Fronto was common to many Romans. R.

[ocr errors]

Plane-trees,' on account of their luxuriant shade, were great favourites with the ancients. cf. Plat. Phædr. p. 338. A. Cic. de Or. I. vii. 28. Prop. II. xxxii. 11 sqq. HR. R.

The marbles' were either those with which the walls were built, or inlaid; BRI. or the marble pavements, columns, and statues of Fronto's villa. M. Convulsa, clamant, and rupte must be taken hyperbolically, as cantu querule rumpent arbustu cicada; Virg. G. iii. 328. GRE.

14. Scribimus indocti doctique poemata passim; Hor. II E. i. 117. BRI. Martial appears to have entertained an equally mean opinion of these hackneyed subjects: IV. xlix. X. iv. G.

15. Juvenal means that he had known what it was to be a schoolboy. Ferula tristes, sceptra pædagogorum, Mart. X.

[ocr errors]

patient

Consilium dedimus Sullæ, privatus ut altum
Dormiret. Stulta est clementia, quum tot ubique
Vatibus occurras, perituræ parcere chartæ.-

Cur tamen hoc potius libeat decurrere campo,

20 Per quem magnus equos Aurunca flexit alumnus, cili,
Si vacat et placidi rationem admittitis, edam.
Quum tener uxorem ducat spado, Mævia Tuscum
Figat aprum et nuda teneat venabula mamma;
Patricios omnes opibus quum provocet unus,
25 Quo tondente gravis juveni mihi barba sonabat;
Quum pars Niliaca plebis, quum verna Canopi

lxii. 10. were used as the cane' to
punish scholars by striking them across
the palm. PR. It was natural for boys
to withdraw their hand when the blow
was coming. M.

Ergo, 'with that object in view.' R.
16. Boys were taught Rhetoric by
having a thesis proposed on which they
were to take the opposite sides of the
question. cf. vii. 151 sqq. Senec. Suas.
iii. v. vi. vii. Ciceroni dabimus consilium,
ut Antonium roget, vel Philippicas exurat;
Quint. III. viii. 46. R. The subject
which Juvenal had to handle was of the
deliberative kind, advising L. Corn. Sulla
to retire from public life. Sulla did
resign the perpetual dictatorship; and
died the following year. For his cha-
racter, see Sall. B. J. and Val. Maxim.
ix. 2. LU. PR. Prince Henry thus
apostrophises his father's crown: "Golden
care! That keep'st the ports of slumber
open wide To many a watchful night!
Sleep with it now! Yet not so sound,
and half so deeply sweet, As he, whose
brow, with homely biggin bound, Snores
out the watch of night;" K. H. iv. pt.
A. IV. sc. iv.

19. The metaphor is taken from the
chariot races in the Campus Martius, M.
or in the Circensian games. cf. Ov.
Fast. ii. 360. iv. 10. vi. 586, &c. R.

[blocks in formation]

Severus

gladiatoresque;-nec virorum modo pugnas,
sed et feminarum; Suet. Dom. 4. cf. vi.
246 sqq. Mart. Spect. ep. vi. Tac. An.
xv. 33. Stat. Sylv. I. vi. 53.
put a stop to this disgraceful practice:
Xiphil. Sev. lxxv. 16. BRI. LI.
Mavia denotes no individual in particular.
R. The Tuscan boars' were said to be
peculiarly fierce. GRE. The epithet,
however, may be merely ornamental, as
Marsus aper; Hor. I Öd. i. 28. R.

23. Such was the costume both of the
Amazons and of huntresses; as of Pen-
thesilea, Virg. Æ. i. 492. of Camilla, Id.
xi. 649. of Asbyte, Sil. ii. 78. and of Diana;
Id. xii. 715. R.

24. The person here meant is either Licinus the freedman and barber of Augustus, (Hor. A. P. 301.); or rather Cinnamus, (x. 225.) qui tonsor fuerat tota notissimus urbe, et post hæc domina munere factus eques; Mart. VII. Ixiv. GRE. PR.

25. This line recurs, x. 226. GRÆ. It is a parody on candidior postquam tondenti barba cadebat; Virg. E. i. 29. PR. The term juvenis extended to the middle period of life, which the words gravis and sonabat seem to denote. The satirist is pointing out the rapid rise of his quondam tonsor. G.

[ocr errors][merged small]

Агиряти

Crispinus, Tyrias humero revocante lacernas, Ventilet æstivum digitis sudantibus aurum, Nec sufferre queat majoris pondera gemmæ: 30 Difficile est Satiram non scribere.Nam quis iniquæ Tam patiens urbis, tam ferreus, ut teneat se, Causidici nova quum veniat lectica Mathonis

ever should be born during the next spring. Paul. ex Fest. F. Such victims resembled the Cherem of the Hebrews. cf. Judges xi.

Canopus, not far from Alexandria, was notorious for a temple of Serapis, and the scene of every grossness and debauchery. FA. vi. 84. R. xv. 46. PR. This city was built by Menelaus and named after his pilot. VS.

27. Crispinus rose, under Nero, from the condition of a slave, to riches and honors. His connexion with that monster recommended him to Domitian, with whom he seems to have been in high favor: he shared his counsels, ministered to his amusements, and was the ready instrument of his cruelties. For these, and other causes, Juvenal regarded him with perfect detestation: and whenever he introduces him, (which he does on all occasions,) it is with mingled contempt and horror. Here he is not only a Niliacan,' (an expression which conveyed more to Juvenal's mind than it does to ours,) but a Canopian,' a native of the most profligate spot in Egypt: not only one of the dregs of the people, but a slave; and not only a slave, but a slave, born of a slave! Hence the poet's indignation at his effeminate luxury. G.

[ocr errors]

The Tyrian' purple was a very expensive dye: x. 38. GRO. iii. 81. the most costly dresses were twice dipt; induerat Tyrio bis tinctam murice pallam; Ov. F. ii. 107. Lacerna, 62. ix. 28. signifies a loose upper mantle,' also called abolla; GRÆ, nescit cui dederit Tyriam Crispinus abollum, dum mutat cultus, &c. Martial VIII. xlviii. G.

Revocante has been variously interpreted. It may mean that the cloak was looped up and fastened on the shoulder by a clasp: GRO. fibula mordaci refugas a pectore vestes dente capit; Sidon. ii. 396. Revocat fulvas in pectore pelles; Claudian. in Ruf. ii. 79. ef. Eund. in Eutr. ii. 183. Prudent. Psych. 186 sqq. R. Or that, the wea

ther being hot, the mantle was not fastened; therefore the shoulder endeavoured by shrugging to hoist up and replace the robe; which was as constantly slipping off from it, and the more so from the waving of the arm to and fro, 28. M. as well as from the awkwardness of a wearer but newly accustomed to such finery. R. The most simple interpretation seems to be that the delicate shoulder, which in winter had laid aside its summer mantles for warmer cloaks, now, with the change of weather, resumed' its thinner robes: revocare being opposed to omittere; Suet. Vesp. 16. HK. to intermittere; Cic. T. Q. i. 1. to amittere; Id. Fam. vii. 26 fin. and signifying in usum reducere: cf. ii. 30. Hor. IV Od. xv. 12. Suet. Claud. 22. Tac. An. i. 20. F.

28. The Romans were so effeminate as to wear a lighter ring in warm weather: T. Plin. xxxiii. 1. PR. and even this summer ring' (levis annulus; Mart. V. lxi. 5. GRE.) was oppressively hot: cf. vi. 259 sqq. quod tener digitus ferre recuset, onus; Ov. Am. II. xvi. 22. R. v. BO. p. 412. Servants wore an iron ring, plebeians one of silver, and those of equestrian rank a golden one. Freedmen were allowed to wear the latter, if they had an equestrian estate, but were not considered actual knights. PL. Ventilare may mean 'to take off from the finger and fan backwards and forwards in order to cool it;' BRI. or to wave the hand, affectedly, to and fro in the air, in order to show off the ring:' Yehoïo, oi #hoUTOûVTss, xai Tàs πορφυρίδας προφαίνοντες, καὶ τοὺς δακτύ λους προτείνοντες· Luc. Nigr. 21. R.

30. Cf. Hor. II S. i. R.

31. Ovid. Am. II. v. 11. Tib. II. iii. 2. ingó@gwv: ferrea pectora ; vii. 150. illi robur et as triplex circa pectus erat; Hor. I Od. iii. 9. R. Mart. XI. xxvii. 1.

32. These litters' resembled oriental palanquins: they were fitted up with couches on which grandees or ladies reclined, and were carried by six or eight

[ocr errors]

Plena ipso? post hunc magni delator amici

Et cito rapturus de nobilitate comesa,

35 Quod superest, quem Massa timet, quem munere palpat
Carus et a trepido Thymele submissa Latino?
Quum te submoveant, qui testamenta merentur
Noctibus, in cœlum quos evehit optima summi

[ocr errors]

slaves: 64. PR. M. Recens sella linteisque lorisque; Mart. II. lvii. 6. FA. Matho, vii. 129. xi. 34. was starving as a lawyer,' and thereupon turned informer, which he found a more profitable trade; he has now set up his sedan, and is grown so immoderately fat as to fill it himself.' cf. 136. VS. BRI. G. Martial often attacks him: IV. lxxx. lxxxi. VIII. xlii. X. xlvi. XI. lxviii. PR.

33. Either (1) Heliodorus, the Stoic who laid an information against his pupil L. Junius Silanus: or (2) Egnatius Celer, the Philosopher who denounced his pupil Barea Soranus to Nero, iii. 116. and was afterwards himself condemned under Vespasian on the accusation of Musonius Rufus or (3) Demetrius the lawyer, who laid informations against several in Nero's reign: VS. or (4) M. Regulus, who became formidable to the Emperor's friends' as well as his own; BRI. omnium bipedum nequissimus; see Pliny i. 5. 20. ii. 5. 20. iv. 2. 7. vi. 2. Tac. Hist. iv. 42. cf. magna amicitia; iv. 74. vi. 559. 313. PR. R. The difficulty of fixing on any particular name affords matter for melancholy reflection. That so many should at the same period be guilty of the complicated crimes of treachery and ingratitude, gives a dreadful picture of the depravity then prevalent in Rome. G.

34. The nobility were ruined by proscriptions and confiscations; LU. and the informers came in for their share of the spoil. PR.

35. Hi sunt, quos timent etiam qui timentur; Sidon. Ep. v. 7. R.

Massa, Carus, and Latinus were freedmen of Nero and notorious informers. The two former were put to death on the information of Heliodorus, although they had given him hush-money. The latter was executed on suspicion of having intrigued with Messalina. VS. [But these particulars are questionable.] Bæbius · Massa was prosecuted for malepractices in

his government of Bætica, and condemned to refund his peculations. Though he' contrived to elude the sentence, he ceased, to be powerful, and is stigmatized as a. thief by Martial, XII. xxix. Mettius. Carus started later in the same line, and outlived his success, falling into poverty and contempt. Tac. Hist. iv. 50. Ag. 45. Plin. i. 5. iii. 4. vi. 29. vii. 19, 27, 33. &c. Mart. XII. xxv. 5. PR. R. G.

Palpure is properly applied to horses. Horace uses the same metaphor in speaking of Augustus; cui male si palpere, recalcitrat undique tutus; II S. i. 20. R.

Even

was

36. Thymele (ouiλn the raised platform of the stage') was an actress and celebrated dancer, and, some say, the wife of Latinus. vi. 66. viii. 197. Mart. I. v. 5. IX. xxix. Suet. Dom. 15. She was 'sent privately' to propitiate the informer either by presents, or by artifices, or by more disreputable means. Latinus the Emperor's favourite obliged to resort to such an expedient for deprecating ruin. BRI. GRÆ. PR. R. There is an allusion to the plot of some well-known piece in which Latinus, who acted the gallant, deputes Thymele, who personified the lady with whom he had intrigued, to extricate him from the scrape with her jealous and incensed spouse. T. If so, we should read ut for et. Övid gives the ordinary dramatis persona of these mimes (1) cultus adulter, (2) callida nupta, (3) stultus vir, and reprobates the immorality of pieces, in which, cum fefellit amans aliqua novitate muritum, plauditur ; Tr. ii. 497 sqq. (See the note on vi. 42— 44.) Scene sales inverecundos, agentium strophas, adulterorum fallacias,—ipsos quoque patresfamilias togatos, modo stupidos, modo obscænos; Cypr. de Spect. p. 4. cf. viii. 192. 197. v. 171. HR.

37. Supplant thee, the heir at law.'

LU.

[ocr errors][merged small]

4

Nunc via processus, vetulæ vesica beatæ?
40 Unciolam Proculeius habet, sed Gillo deuncem,
Partes quisque suas ad mensuram inguinis heres.
Accipiat sane mercedem sanguinis et sic
Palleat, ut nudis pressit qui calcibus anguem,
Aut Lugdunensem rhetor dicturus ad aram.

45

Quid referam, quanta siccum jecur ardeat ira,
Quum populum gregibus comitum premit hic spoliator
Pupilli prostantis? et hic damnatus inani
Judicio (quid enim salvis infamia nummis?)
Exsul ab octava Marius bibit et fruitur Dis

In cœlum to the height of their ambition;' thus sunt quos palma nobilis terrarum dominos evehit ad Deos, and me doctarum hederæ præmia frontium Dis miscent superis,and quod si me lyricis vatibus inseris, sublimi feriam sidera vertice; Hor. I Od. i.

39. The pruriency of some wealthy dowager.' iv. 4. beatus occurs in the same sense; v. 67. vi. 204. Ov. Am. I. xv. 34. Sil. i. 609. R.

40. The Romans divided property as they did the as, the jugerum, &c. into twelve parts or uncia; which were computed thus, uncia, † (= }) sextans, (=) quadrans, (=) triens, quincunx, (=) semis, 1 septunx, bessis, (= ) dodrans, 10 (=) dextans, }} (= 1—1) deunx, }( 1) as. T. Hence heres ex asse was one to whom an entire estate fell, (Mart. VII. lxvi.) heres ex deunce one who had all but one twelfth, heres ex uncia one who inherited one twelfth only, heres ex unciola one who had even less than that. R. cf. Hor. A.P. 325 sqq.

=

Proculeius and Gillo were two noted paramours of these old ladies. M.

41. In proportion to his powers.' 42. Sanguinis i. e. ' of the ruin of his health and constitution.' M.

43. Virg. Æ. ii. 379 sqq. M. Ov. Fast. ii. 341. Hom. II. r 33 sqq. R.

44. Caligula instituit in Gallia, Lugduni, certamen Græca Latinæque facundiæ, quo ferunt victoribus præmia victos contulisse, eorundem et laudes componere coactos: eos autem, qui maxime displicuissent, seripta sua spongia linguave delere jussos, nisi ferulis objurgari aut flumine proximo mergi maluissent; Suet. Cal. 20.

LU. The altar at Lyons' was at the confluence of the Soane and the Rhone, where the abbey of Asnay now stands. This had been looked upon as a sacred spot from the earliest ages. After the subjection of the country, the natives built a temple and altar here to Augustus, and renewed the ancient festival, to which there was annually a great resort. cf. Dio liv. lix. 19. Strab. iv. Suet. Claud. 2. R. G.

45. The ancients considered the 'liver' as the seat of the passions: fervens difficili bile tumet jecur; Hor. I Od. xiii. 4. torrere jecur; IV Od. i. 12. M. facit ira nocentem hunc sexum, et rabie jecur incendente feruntur præcipites; vi. 647. cf. vii. 117. xiii. 14. 181. Pers. i. 12. 25. ii. 13. v. 129. Claud. IV Cons. Hon. 240 sqq. Hom. Il. A 81. I 550. CAS. R.

46. Quem grex togatus sequitur; Mart. II. lvii. 5. Comites (v. 119.) denotes retainers, dependents, clients, &c.' R. whereas socii are equals.' cf. Hor. I Od. vii. 26.

47. Rather pupillæ : cf. iii. 65. vi. 123. ix. 24. R. Reduced to seek a wretched livelihood by prostitution.' PR.

Marius Priscus, proconsul of Africa, was tried in the third year of Trajan for extortion, condemned to disgorge into the treasury about £6000, and banished from Italy. The penalty was a mere trifle out of the vast sums he had accumulated by his rapacity; and the province was not reimbursed. Plin. ii. 11 sq. PR. G. cf. viii. 94 sqq. 119 sqq. R.

48. Understand nocet. GRO.

49. It was the custom at Rome to take a bath at the eighth hour (2 o'clock

« PredošláPokračovať »