way of precaution, PR. ut custodirent animas; 630.

The custom of having meats and drinks tasted beforehand by an attendant was originally Persian, and was probably introduced into Rome by Augustus; Tac. A. xii. 66. LI. (Ath. iv. 21. izrgos Suid. Xen. Cyr. i. 3. R.) with other oriental fashions: Hor. I. xxxviii.

633. The step-mother who has children of her own.' HG.

Timidus in fear of his life.' LU. Pappas is properly the child's word for father: and is here applied to the pedagogue, who had the care of the boy. PA. It is natural that an orphan, having no father of his own, should apply this term of endearment to the person who lived with him as his guardian, discipuli custos; vii. 218. R.

634. He anticipates an objection which might be started: VS. "I pass the bound Of Satire and encroach on tragic ground!" G.

The high buskin' see note on 506. R. sola Sophocleo tua carmina digna cothurno; Virg. E. viii. 10. PR.

635. The end we proposed to ourselves,' quidquid agunt homines; i. 85.

Our predecessors,' viz. Lucilius, Horace, Persius, PR. who confined themselves to real life. R.

636. We rave as though inspired, (Stat. I S. ii. 258.) in the deep-mouthed tones of the Athenian bard, (Mart. III. xx. 7.) a theme of terrific grandeur.' FA. LU. PR. R.

The tragic masks were made of hollow wood with a wide mouth,' which gave a depth to the voice of the actors: but grande and hiatu may both allude to the pompous diction of tragedy; as xaívur and οἱ ὑποκριταὶ μέγα κεχηνότες· Call. H. Apol. 24. Luc. Nigr. t. 1. p. 50. carmen hiare; Prop. II. xxxi. 6. (BK.) Pers. v. 3. (K.) Prud. c. Sym. ii. 646. R. cf. iii. 175.

Turnus. BRI. cf. iii. 84 sq. xii. 103.

105. R.

638. Vani, i. e. mendaces et infidi et levia inaniaque pro gravibus et veris astutissime componentes; Gell. xviii. 4. R.

The story of Pontia was well known at Rome. Indeed, it so happens, that there were two monsters of this name, and that the history of either would have answered our author's purpose. (1) The first was the daughter of Publius Petronius and the wife of Vectius Bolanus, a man of high rank and estimation, who gave her twin-children poison, in the time of Nero. Her attempt failed, for the Protrepticon of Statius, written in the beginning of Domitian's reign, is addressed to one of them, who was still a mere youth. It would seem from this poem that the mother was put to death by the latter emperor: exegit pænas, hominum cui cura suorum, quo Pietas auctore redit terrasque revisit, quem timet omne nefas; V. S. ii. 90 sqq. (2) The other Pontia, to whom Juvenal more particularly alludes, was the wife of Drymis; whose family took care to perpetuate her crime by the following inscription on her tomb: PONTIA

TITI PONTII FILIA HEIC SITA SVM QVAE

DVOBVS NATIS A ME VENENO CONSUMPTIS

AVARITIAE OPVS MISERE MIHI MORTEM CONSCIVI. TV QVISQIVS FS QVI HAC

TRANSIS SI PIVS ES QVAESO A ME OCVLOS AVERTE. It is not unprofitable to remark, that this wretched woman was driven to escape by self-murder from the reproaches of her own conscience. To one of these females, Martial addressed the following witty epigram: cum mittis turdumve mihi quadramve placenta sive femur leporis sive quid his simile; buccellas misisse tuas te, Pontia, dicis: has ego nec mittum, Pontia, sed nec edam; VI. lxxv. G. PA. VS. HO. Id. II. xxxiv. 6. PR.

Feci is the word used by a culprit in pleading guilty; as fecisse videtur are the words of the prætor in finding a person guilty. Mart. IX. xvi. 2. R.

voted her own life for the preservation of her husband. Diod. v. SCH. Apoll. I. ix. 15. R. Plat. D. de Am. Eurip. Alc. Cic. T. Q. v. 78. PR. cf. Hor. III Od. ix. 11 sq. 15 sq.

654. If they had a like option, they would sacrifice their husbands to save their lap-dogs.' LU.

655. Danaus and Egyptus, the two sons of Belus, had each of them fifty children; those of Danaus were all daughters and those of Egyptus sons. These cousins were all married in one day; and the Danaides, that same night, slew their husbands (excepting Hypermnestra who spared Lynceus) and were condemned, after death, to draw water from the infernal streams in perforated buckets. Ov. M. iv. 461 sq. LU. PR. Hor. III Od. xi. 22 sqq. (MI.) M. Hyg. f. 170. Ov. Her. xiv. Apoll. II. i. 4. and Tib. I. iii. 79. (HY.) R.

Eriphyle, the daughter of Talaus and sister of Adrastus, was the wife of Amphiaraus; who, aware (from his skill in prophecy) that he should fall if he went to the Theban war, concealed himself. Eriphyle, however, discovered her husband to Polynices for the bribe of a gold necklace: and, in the war of the Epigoni, she in like manner (for the sake of a handsome robe) betrayed her son Alcmæon to Thersander. concidit auguris Argivi domus, ob lucrum demersa exitio; Hor. III Od. xvi. 11 sqq. (MI.) PR. LU. Ath. vi. 4. Apoll. III. vi. 2. vii. 2. 5. (HY.) R.

656. Occurrent mane; see v. 54. notes on vi. 572. and 601. R.

Clytemnestra, the daughter of Tyndarus and Leda, was living in adultery with Ægisthus, when the expedition re

turned from Troy. At the instigation of her paramour she slew her husband Agamemnon in the bath-room with an axe. VS. PR.

657. Securi divisit medium fortissima Tyndaridarum; Hor. I S. i. 99 sq. M. "But here the difference lies; those bungling wives With a blunt axe hack'd out their husband's lives: While now, the deed is done with dextrous art, And a drugg'd bowl performs the axe's part. Yet if the husband, prescient of his fate, Have fortified his breast with mithridate, She baffles him e'en there, and has recourse To the old weapon, for a last resource." G.

658. The epithets belong as much to the agent as to the instrument. R.

659. The business is settled.' FA. 'A toad;' see note on i. 70. PR. 660. Not but what a Roman Tyndaris could handle a sword upon a pinch.' FA.

'Her Atrides,' i. e. her lord and master.' FA.

661. So wary as to fortify himself against the effects of poison with the antidote of Mithridates,' king of Pontus; who was vanquished the first time by the . good fortune of Sylla, the second time by the valour of Lucullus, the third time by the greatness of Pompey. Plin. xxiii. 24. FA. VS. Cic. pro L. Man. PR.

Pontus was famous for its poisonous drugs: Virg. E. viii. 95. PR.

Drugs. Plin. xxiii. 7—9. xxv. 2. xxix. 1. Gell. xvii. 16. Mart. V. lxxvii.

PR. cf. xiv. 252 sqq. App. B. Mith. 109 sqq. Dio xxxvii. 10 sqq. Seren. Samm. 60. 62. Cels. v. 23. Galen de Antid. ii. I sq. R.

1. Whatever hopes of reward or motives for study literary men may have, are entirely owing to Cæsar.' Which of the Cæsars is here meant, is a matter of controversy: (1) Nero. (2) Titus. (3) Trajan; who built the Ulpian library: Plin. Pan. 47. BRI. GR. R. (4) Hadrian: Spartian, 3. 16. R. (5) Nerva: Mart. VIII. lxx. IX. xxvii. XII. vi. but he, though a poet himself, was little disposed to pationise poetry in others. (6) Domitian; VS. LU. SĂ. GRÆ. who, whatever vices he had, was a patron of the Muses, FA. especially in the commencement of his reign. Suet. 9. quo nec præsentius aliquid nec studiis magis propitium numen est; Quint. Pr. IV. PR. Quintilian, Martial, Statius, Flaccus, and other learned men, tasted of his bounty, M. and sang his praises with more gratitude, perhaps, than truth. This dutiful prince had once an idea of contesting the empire with his father: finding the armies, however, averse to his designs, he retired from all public business, and with a specious appearance of content, lived in a kind of solitude: pretending that poetry, and literary pursuits in general, were his only passion. This mask he continued to wear during the reign of Titus; and whether it was that habit begot a kind of nature, or that he thought it dangerous to lay aside the hypocrite too soon, he did certainly patronise the arts at his accession. That he afterwards changed his sentiments, and fell suddenly upon men of letters, is equally certain but this may be readily accounted for, from his disposition, which was at once crafty and violent; as represented by Xiphilin, lxvii. init. According to the custom of the emperors in selecting some favourite deity for their worship, Domitian made choice of Minerva. His attachment to this goddess is frequently noticed by Juvenal's contemporaries. Thus Martial, in that detestable medley of flattery and im

piety, IX. iv. Pallada prætereo: res agit illa tuas; 10. Suet. 15. Massinger in his Roman Actor has several ingenious and truly classical allusions to the reliance which the tyrant fondly placed on the partiality of this deity. A Pallas very generally accompanies Domitian on the reverse of his coins: Beger. Numism. xxxii. 4. And we learn from a passage of Philostrates, that the emperor publicly declared himself to be the son of Pallas, and required accordingly that divine honours should be paid to him. Vit. Apoll. vii. 24. Plin. Pan. xxxii. 4. This satire would appear to have been written in the early part of Domitian's reign; and Juvenal, by giving the emperor "one honest line" of praise, probably meant to stimulate him to extend his patronage. He did not think very ill of him at the time, while he augured happily for the future. And, indeed, the bitter mortification he felt at finding his predictions falsified, and his 'sole patron of literature' changed, in a few years, into a ferocious and bloody persecutor of all the arts, might have exasperated his resentment, and generated that intense hatred with which he pursues his memory. G. CAR, L. ix. p. 215-217.

3. Respexit; Virg. E. i. 28. 30. PR. 4. A small bagnio.' M. The diminutive is used in aggravation. R.

'At Gabii' of all places in the world! See iii. 192. and vi. 56. PR.

Conducere, iii. 38 &c.

Public ovens,' VS. so as not to starve either with hunger or with cold. LU. qui frigus collegit, furnos et balnea laudat; Hor. 1 Ep. xi. 12 sq. GR.

5. Tentarent; any thing, in short, to turn an honest penny. See the account of Cleanthes, note on ii. 7. and D. Laert. vii. PR.

6. The occupation of a public crier, though ungenteel, was lucrative: artes discere vult pecuniosas? praeconem facias vel architectum; Mart. V. lvi. 8.