P codicis Pithoeani nunc Montepessulani lectio genuina. ubi quid erasum est neque legi potuit ** indicatum est. S scholiorum lectiones ipsis litteris, lemmatibus maxime, scriptae. Σ scholiorum lectiones, de quibus interpretatione coniecturam capere licet. w codices interpolati uel omnes uel plurimi. s codices interpolati aliquot, maxime recentiores. Ad hos perti nent p codicis Pithoeani manus secunda. r codicis Vaticani palimpsesti fragmentum. c codex bibliothecae Einsiedlensis, saec. x. d codex bibliothecae Parisiensis 8070, saec. xii. e codex bibliothecae Parisiensis 4883 A. f codex bibliothecae Parisiensis 8071, saec. Xx. g codex bibliothecae Parisiensis 7900, saec. ix. h codex bibliothecae Vaticanae Vrbinas 661. v excerpta e codice Vossiano apud Cortium et Fabricium.— NOTES. SATIRE I. ARGUMENT. 1-14. "Must I be forever a passive listener to epics, comedies, elegies, and tragedies? Am I never to retaliate upon those wretched poetasters by whom, at every turn, the legends of the Argonauts and Centaurs are dinned in our ears? 15-18. "I, too, have flinched from the master's cane; I, too, in the school of rhetoric, have urged Sulla to abdicate. Why should not I, then, waste ink and paper with the rest of the world? 19-50. "I will follow in the track of Lucilius. As a eunuch weds, as a virago spears boars in the amphitheatre, as my old barber vies with Rome's whole nobility in his single wealth, as Crispinus, the spawn of the Nile, flaunts it in a purple cloak, and daintily airs light summer-rings, 't is hard not to write satire. Who could hold his peace when Matho fills his new sedan with his swollen self, and the spy of spies goes by, who will soon despatch the remnant of Rome's nobles, as he has already betrayed his lord and friend? when a scoundrel robs his ward, and compels him to eat the bread of shame? when Marius, mulcted in fame not in purse, sits down in exile to carouse a full hour before Rome dines, while plundered Africa cries out upon the barren verdict? 51-72. "These themes, surely, are worthier the midnight lamp of Horace than all the threadbare romances, labors of Hercules, return' of Diomed, the Minotaur's bellowing, the airy voyage of Daedalus, and the headlong plunge of Icarus. Is it a time for toys like these, when the gallant's estate, denied by law to the wife, is taken by the pander husband, who winks at his own shame? when a youth of ancient lineage holds it no sin by the profits of a military command to retrieve his inheritance wasted upon grooms, or furious drives along the Flaminian way, himself stooping to guide the reins, showing off his skill to his mistress? Fain must I fill every leaf of my tablets, even in the middle of the street, as there sweeps lordly by, lolling in an open sedan, courting the public gaze, the forger, enriched at the cost of a few lines of writing and a moistened signet. The matron fronts us to our face, who, when her lord calls for wine, drugs the cup with toad's juice, and trains country cousins to carry out their husbands' spotted corpses amid the whispers of the crowd. 73-80. "Stoutly sin, if you would be something in this world. Virtue is praised, and starves. 'Tis crime that wins parks, mansions, costly tablets, embossed beakers. Who can sleep, for incest and precocious crime? If nature is grudging, scorn indites the verse, the best it can, such as I write-or Cluvienus. 81-150. "The whole range of human life since the flood, all its passions and interests, is my theme. The gambler stakes his fortune, leaving his page the while in tatters; the great add palace to palace, luxury to luxury, but for themselves alone; poor retainers may not pass the threshold, where, after a jealous scrutiny, the fixed pittance is doled out; praetors and tribunes themselves attend the levée, and are served in the order of their rank; but a wealthy freedman claims precedence, for Mammon is the god we worship. The dole is an item in a consul's revenue; can the poor man scorn it, who has nothing else? Great ladies in their palanquins follow their husbands for a second dole; sometimes the empty palanquin deceives the steward. After a long day's attendance, clients disperse to their dinner of herbs; while the 'king' and patron devours an estate at a solitary board. Excess will cut short his days, and he will die unwept. Nothing will remain for after times to add to our corruption; posterity will but ape our acts and our desires; all vice has settled at its zenith: poet, hoist sail, shake out every stitch of canvas! 150-171. Here, perhaps, you may ask, 'Whence a genius equal to the theme? whence that bluntness wherewith the ancients wrote off as their blood boiled within them whatever they list? Set forth Tigellinus, and you will light up the amphitheatre by night amidst those pine fagots, by which they burn as they stand, who smoke with pierced breast, and your body will be dragged with a hook through the midst of the arena.' What, should he who administered poison to three uncles ride past slung upon his downy pillow, and thence look down with disdain upon me? 'When he shall meet you, lay your finger on your lip. "Tis defamation but to say, That's he! You may pit Aeneas against Turnus, and safely; you may wound Achilles in epic verse; Hylas may drop his pitcher, and none will cry, not if he drown himself for company; but let Lucilius once in a glow of anger draw his sword and thunder in verse, the hearer, whose soul is chill with guilt, blushes, his heart sweats under his secret sins. Count well the cost, then, before the trumpet sounds to battle; the plumed combatant repents too late.' "If it be so hazardous to touch the living, I will try what may be said against those whose ashes lie entombed by the highway side.”. MAYOR (with modifications). This satire must have been published after A. D. 100, in which year Marius Priscus was condemned for oppression in proconsular Africa. The greater part of it may have been written before that date. 1. Auditor. Recitations by authors were in vogue from the days of Augustus to those of Hadrian. The reciters summoned their friends to hired rooms, or to a private house lent for the purpose by a wealthy patron, or to some public place, as the forum, a bath, a temple, or a theatre; sometimes they button-holed those they chanced to meet in such places, and assailed their ears with their verses; sometimes a host would inflict his poems on his guests at a dinnerparty. The author of the Aeneid used to recite his lines; but in Juvenal's time there were more Corduses than Virgils. Tantum, only. When used as a restrictive particle, tantum, like quoque, generally stands after the word which it limits; yet not without exception. Numquamne reponam, shall I never retaliate? Cf. Horat. Ep. i. 19, 39: scriptorum auditor et ultor. Literally, shall I never pay back? A metaphor derived from mercantile language. The verb may be either in the future indicative or the deliberative subjunctive; preferably the latter. 2. Totiens (=toties). The poem was so long that it lasted through a number of recitations. Rauci. The wretched poet is hoarse from his long reading and pompous mouthing. Cordi. Probably a fictitious name. The Theseis would be an epic poem on the exploits of Theseus; the name being formed as are Aeneis, Achilleis, Heracleis. Another reading here is Codri. 3. Notice the emphatic position of impune.— Ergo, as it does often, denotes indignant feeling. Recitaverit is fut. perf. indicative: "shall it go for nothing that one has recited," etc. So also consumpserit. C.* 195, 4. Togatas, sc. fabulas, his comedies. In these plays the actors appear in the toga, and the manners of the middle or lower classes of Rome are represented. The praetexta was the symbol of tragedy; the pallium of Greek subjects. 4. Diem. Auditur toto saepe poeta die. Mart. xi. 70. 4, 5. Telephus, king of Mysia and son of Hercules, was wounded by the spear of Achilles, and was the hero of many tragedies, both Greek and Roman. Ingens refers probably to the length of the poem ("the everlasting Telephus," E.); some have taken it, however, of the size of the hero (giant), others of his prowess (mighty). 5, 6. Summi- tergo (the tragedy of Orestes), written even on the back (of the paper), as the border to the very end of the roll is already full. The ancients wrote usually on one side only of the papyrus *C. stands for Chase's Latin Grammar. |