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His mane edictum, post prandia Callirhoen do.

134. Edictum (according to the phrases edictum ludorum, edictum muneris gladiatori, &c. Pliny) signified a programma drawn up by authority and, like our play-bills, announcing the public amusements of the day. It was stuck up, early in the morning, against the walls, where it formed a focus of attraction for idlers and loungers. nemo, qui parturienti filiæ obstetricem accersit,

edictum et ludorum ordinem perlegit; Ep. 98. MAR.

Callirhoe is just such another woeful ditty as Phyllis and Hypsipyle. G. cf. Paus. vii. 21. It appears from 30 sq. 38.51 sqq. that these mawkish lays were recited after their dinners.

Do: thus forum putealque Libonis mandabo siccis; Hor. I Ep. xix. 8 sq. CAS.

SATIRE II.

ARGUMENT.

It was the Roman custom to offer vows, and send presents to relations and friends on their birthdays; and Persius, who probably knew that his beloved Macrinus delighted in verse, embraces the opportunity of this festival, to send him an excellent moral and religious poem. G. After the exordium, or congratulatory address to Macrinus, 1 sqq. there is first an enumeration of interested and impious prayers; prayers, which, too iniquitous for the ear of man, can only be trusted to the gods in private. 3-16. The gross folly of these prayers is attributable to the false and unworthy ideas entertained respecting the gods. 17-30. 52-70. Then follows a spirited exposure of those extravagant and ridiculous petitions for superfluous objects, which originate in ignorance and superstition. 31-40. We have next an indignant reproof of the rash expectations of those, who frame requests for blessings which they madly labour to defeat by their own vicious excesses. 41-51. G. K. The Satire concludes with some just and elevated remarks on the true nature of sacrifice and prayer, 71-75. which might be written up in more than one Christian temple. DD.

In this little poem, which assumes a tone almost too serious and solemn for satire, the author had in view the second Alcibiades of Plato, upon which the tenth Satire of Juvenal is also founded. D. The matter of this celebrated dialogue, (of which Addison has given a pretty analysis in No. 207 of the Spectator,) Persius has compressed and arranged with great care. G.

HUNC, Macrine, diem numera meliore lapillo,
Qui tibi labentes apponit candidus annos.

Funde merum Genio! Non tu prece poscis emaci,
Quæ nisi seductis nequeas committere divis.

5 At bona pars procerum tacita libabit acerra.

Haud cuivis promptum est, murmurque humilesque

susurroS

1. Plotius Macrinus was a man of considerable learning and warmly attached to our poet. He studied in the house of Servilius, the tutor of Persius, so that they were, in some sort, fellowstudents. VS.

Cf. v. 108. Hor. II S. iii. 246. Mart. IX. liii. 4 sq. PR. The Thracians used to throw into a box a white stone for every happy day and black stones for unhappy ones; and, at the end of the year, they computed how many days they might be said to have really lived. Plin. vii. 40. Ep. vi. 11. Cat. lxviii.

148. Hor. I Od. xxxvi. 10. LU. K. non est vivere, sed valere, vita.

This idle tale has been handed down from age to age. It makes indeed a pretty figure in poetry; (et si calculus omnis huc et illuc diversus bicolorque digeratur; vincet candida turba nigriorem; Mart. XII. xxxiv. 5 sqq.) and not a contemptible one in a tritical essay on morality: but the expression is merely metaphorical, and means nothing more than lucky. It would probably puzzle a more metaphysical head than ever stood upon a Scythian's shoulders, to distinguish the happy days from the unhappy ones and were there no neutrals? were their days never chequered? Did the evenings always set upon the fortunes of the mornings? A rude and barbarous people, (quorum plaustra vagas rite trahunt domos; Hor. III Od. xxiv. 10.) would scarcely occupy themselves in seeking for black and white stones, to mark the colour of their fortune; and all others would speedily discover the futility of so ridiculous a practice. G.

2. Labentes; cf. Hor. II Od. xiv. 2. M. Ov. M. xv. 174 sqq. K.

Candidus; i. 110. PR. Ov. Tr. V. v. 13 sq. K.

3. Genius est deus, cujus in tutela, ut quisque natus est, vivit, hic, sive quod, ut

genamur, curat; sive quod una genitur nobiscum; sive etiam quod nos genitos suscipit ac tuetur: certe a genendo Genius appellatur; Censor. de D. Nat. The birthday was sacred to the Genius alone; the customary offerings were incense, wine, and flowers; because, as Censorinus tells us from Varro, (and it is a pretty fancy) cum munus annale Genio solverent, manum a cæde ac sanguine abstinerent, ne die, qua ipsi lucem accepissent, aliis demerent. T. G. piabant floribus et vino Genium memorem brevis avi; Hor. II Ep. i. 143 sq. Tib. II. ii. 8 &c. I. vii. 49 sqq. (HY.) On other days, however, they did sacrifice victims to the Genius: cf. Hor. III Od. xvii. 14 sqq. (JN.) PR. Prop. III. viii. 12. Juv. xi. 85, note. K.

"You claim not as a due with mercenary prayer.' LU. emax denotes 'making a bargain.' Plat. Euryph. statim ante quam limen Capitolii tangant, alius donum promittit, si propinquum divitem extulerit; alius, si thesaurum effoderit, &c. Petr. PR. Juv. iii. 276, note. Spectator, No. 391.

4. Seductis: cf. Tib. II. i. 84. (HY.) K. i. e. omnibus arbitris procul amotis; Sall. B. C. 20. Her. i. 89, note 57.

Committere: cf. Juv. x. 346 sqq. Id. vi. 539, note.

5. At bona pars hominum; Hor. I S. i. 61. Thus we say 'a good many men.' M.

Acerra: Ov. Pont. IV. viii. 39 sq. PR. Hor. III Od. viii. 2 sq. (JN.) K.

6. Labra movet metuens audiri: pulcra Laverna! da mihi fallere, da justo sanctoque videri; noctem peccatis et fraudibus objice nubem; Hor. I Ep. xvi. 60. LU. Thus the merchant prays to Mercury: da modo lucra mihi, da facto gaudia lucro; et face ut emtori verba dedisse juvet; Ov. F. v. 689 sq. PR.

Tollere de templis et aperto vivere voto.

"Mens bona, fama, fides!" hæc clare et ut audiat

hospes :

Illa sibi introrsum et sub lingua immurmurat: “O si 10 Ebullit patruus, præclarum funus !” et: “O si Sub rastro crepet argenti mihi seria, dextro

Hercule! Pupillumve utinam, quem proximus heres
Impello, expungam! namque est scabiosus et acri

7. It was an excellent precept of some philosopher, that "We should address ourselves to men as if God heard us, and to God as if men heard us:" Macr. i. 7. PR.

8. Cf. Juv. x. 356. LU. roga bonam mentem, bonam valetudinem animi, deinde corporis; Sen. Ep. 94. PR. Petr. 3. K. Fides. cf. Juv. iii. 143 sq. K.

'So that strangers and standers-by may hear.' HO. This is opposed to sibi in the next line. K.

9. Cf. Juv. x. 23 sqq.

Sub lingua. cf. Virg. Æ. x. 464 sq. K.

O' would that:' cf. Hor. II S. vi. 9. LU.

10. Ebullit for ebullierit, by archaism, as axim for egerim, comedim and edim, dedim, CAS. vixit; Virg. Æ. xi. 118. PR. excussit for excusserit; Plaut. Bac. IV. ii. 16.

With ebullit understand animam: 'to

throw out by boiling,' 'to boil away;' hence to die' Sen. Apocol. (before the middle ;) Petr. fr. Trag. 42. 62. F. cf. Cic. T. Q. iii. 42. Others would read ebullet 4 would vanish like a bubble; homo est bulla ; Var. R. R. i. 1. PR. "Like a bubble on the fountain Thou art gone, and for ever!” Scott, L. of the Lake; III. xvi. 23 sq. cf. iii. 34.

'His uncle,' both because of his strictness, i. 11. K. and for the sake of his fortune. VS. Nothing can be more ingenious than the manner in which Persius has contrived to frame these impious requests, and calm the conscience of his votary. The supplicant meditates no injury to any one. The death of his uncle is concealed under a wish that he could see his magnificent funeral! which, as the poor man must one day die, is a prayer becoming a pious nephew, who was to inherit his fortune. (Boileau has noted the humour of this

ner:

passage, and given it in his happiest man"Oh, que, si cet hiver un rhume salutaire, Guérissant de tous maux mon avare beau-père, Pourroit, bien confessé, l'étendre en un cerceuil, Et remplie sa maison d'un agréable deuil, Que mon áme en ce jour de joie et d'opulence, D'un superbe convoi plaindroit peu la dépense!" The bien confessé is admirable.) The second petition is quite innocent: if people will foolishly bury their gold, and overlook or forget it, there is no more harm in his finding it than another. The third is even laudable; it is a prayer uttered, in pure tenderness of heart, for the release of a poor suffering child. With respect to the last; there can be no wrong in mentioning a fact which every body knows. Not a syllable is said of his own wife: if the gods are pleased to take a hint and remove her, that is their concern; he never asked it. G.

11. A jar.' cf. [Livy xxiv, 10, 4. ED.] Plaut. Aul. O si urnam argenti fors qua mihi monstret; Hor. II S. vi. 19. PR. Π τοὺς θησαυρούς τ ̓ αὐτοῖς δείξουσ', οὓς οἱ πρότεροι κατέθεντο, τῶν ἀργυρίων οὗτοι γὰρ ἴσασι. λέγουσι δέ τοι

Údi TÚYTIS οὐδεὶς οἶδεν τὸν θησαυρὶν τὸν ἐμὲν, πλὴν εἴ τις ἄρ ̓ ὄρνις.” ΕΥ. πωλῶ γαῦλον, κτῶμαι σμινύην, καὶ τὰς ὑδρίας vogurra. Arist. Av. 599 sqq.

12. Hercules was considered the guardian of hidden treasures; and the tithe of them, when found, was his due. FA. amico Hercule; Hor. II S. vi. 12. (TO.) Plaut. Most. Diod. S. v. 2. PR. v. 44.

13. On whose heels I tread:' a metaphor taken from persons in a crowd. PR. It was a law of the twelve tables: si pater-familias intestato moritur, cui impubes suus heres escit, agnatus proxi

mus tutelam nancitor. K. 'I might strike out.' cf. Plaut. Curc. IV. iv. 24. K.

Bile tumet. Nerio jam tertia ducitur uxor !” 15 Hæc sancte ut poscas, Tiberino in gurgite mergis Mane caput bis terque et noctem flumine purgas.

Heus age, responde: (minimum est, quod scire laboro :)
De Jove quid sentis? Estne, ut præponere cures
Hunc ?"Cuinam?" Cuinam? Vis Staio?—An scilicet

hæres,

20 Quis potior judex puerisve quis aptior orbis?

Hoc igitur, quo tu Jovis aurem impellere tantas, Dic agedum Staio: "Proh Jupiter! O bone" clamet "Jupiter!" At sese non clamet Jupiter ipse? Ignovisse putas, quia, quum tonat, ocius ilex 25 Sulfure discutitur sacro, quam tuque domusque? An quia non fibris ovium Ergennaque jubente,

14. Bile tumet. Plat. Tim. t. ix. p. 420. Hor. I Od. xiii. 4 sq. K.

His avarice is shown by his envying Nerius, who had already come in for the fortune of three wives. cf. Mart. X. xliii. K.

15. Juv. vi. 522 sqq, notes. M. Virg. E. ii. 719 sq. PR. Our author here exposes the absurd folly of those, who imagine that sanctity consists in a due observance of the external forms and rites of religion; while they shamefully neglect the purification of the heart, of which the other is but typical and ought to remind them. Cic. Leg. ii. 10. cf. Luc. Icar. t. ii. p. 781 sq. K.

16. Albula, quem Tibrin mersus Tiberinus in unda reddidit; Ov. F. ii. 389 sq. PR.

The rites of the infernal deities were performed in the evening, those of the celestials in the morning.' Apoll. Rh. Pind. Is. iv. 110 sqq. PR.

Bis caput intonsum fontana spargitur unda: bis sua faginea tempora fronde tegit; Ov. F. iv. 655 sq. PR.

Ter caput irrorat, ter tollit in æthera palmas; Óv. F. iv. 315. PR. Virg. G. i. 345. M. Id. Æ. vi. 229. Tib. I. xi. 34. Petr. 131. K.

Purgas. Ablutions are still performed, with this view, by the Turks, ac primum pura somnum tibi discute lympha; Prop. III. x. 13. omnia noctis farre pio placant et saliente sale; Tib. III. iv. 9 sq. PR. cf. Arist. R. 1376 sq. Pl. 656 sq. Cic. for Col. 14. Ov. Am. III. vii. 43 sq.

Virg. Æ. viii. 69 sq. Tib. II. i. 9 sqq.
Petr. 104. K.

19. There is great bitterness in the cuinam? The man of prayer will not venture to decide; till he hears the name of the individual, whose virtues, as guardian and judge, are to be weighed against those of Jupiter: even then he hesitates; till he is incidentally reminded, that the person thus selected had defrauded his ward in one instance, and condemned the innocent in another: this overcomes his delicate scruples; and he tacitly admits the god to be the better of the two. G.

Who Stains was, is not known: we learn what he was, from the next line. K. 21. Impellere to assail.' Virg. E. xii. 618 sq. K.

6

22. Clamet, understand Staius. LU. cf. Hor. I S. ii. 17 sq. K.

24. Juv. xiii. 100, note. K.

25. The thunderbolt.' LU. Plin. xxxv. 15. PR. quocumque decidit fulmen, ibi odorem sulfuris esse certum est; Sen. Q. N. ii. 53. Virg. Æ. ii. 698. K.

26. "Ey dià duoiv: Ergenna (i. e. the Tuscan soothsayer,) gives directions, after consulting the entrails of the sheep. CAS. LU. cf. Juv. xiii. 62. PR. and vi. 587, note. This line, in construction, follows evitandum. rí dúxors roùs ἱεροσύλους καὶ ληστὰς ἀφέντες καὶ τοσού τους ὑβριστὰς καὶ βιαίους καὶ ἐπιόρκους, δρῦν τινὰ πολλάκις κεραυνοῦτε ἢ λίθον ἢ νιὼς ἱστὸν οὐδὲν ἀδικούσης ; ἐνίοτε δὲ χρηστόν τινα καὶ ὅσιον ὁδοιπόρον, τί σιωπᾷς, ὦ Z., vdì toūtó μs démis ridívas; Luc.

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