et Catulus, maneant qui nigrum in candida vertunt, 30 quis facile est aedem conducere flumina portus, siccandam eluviem, portandum ad busta cadaver, et praebere caput domina venale sub hasta. quondam hi cornicines et municipalis harenae perpetui comites notaeque per oppida buccae, munera nunc edunt et verso pollice vulgus cum iubet, occidunt populariter; inde reversi conducunt foricas ; et cur non omnia? cum sint quales ex humili magna ad fastigia rerum extollit quotiens voluit Fortuna iocari. 31. quis = quibus. facile est: i.e. they have no scruple about; cf. 11. 17 haud difficile est. They are quite willing to take contracts to build or repair temples, to collect the river and harbor dues, to cleanse the sewers, or to conduct funerals, and then to go into bankruptcy in order to defraud the state. 33. praebere caput venale, to be sold up, i.e. to have their goods seized and sold for the benefit of their creditors. Having taken the contracts and given security by pledging their goods, they embezzle the money received from the state and become bankrupt after putting the greater part of their property beyond the reach of the law. What is left is sold sub hasta. Another interpretation of praebere caput venale is to sell slaves at auction; caput being used for man or person. With this interpretation et simply adds another device to those already named. With the former explanation it introduces as a climax the disgraceful ending of them all. domina sub hasta: a spear was set up as the sign of a public 35 40 auction, called domina because it conferred on the purchaser dominium, or rightful ownership. 34. cornicines: trumpeters at gladiatorial contests in the country towns. By their contracts they have now become wealthy enough to give gladiatorial shows themselves. 36. verso pollice: i.e. with their thumbs turned downwards, the sign by which the people expressed their wish that the wounded gladiator should receive no mercy. Post, Am. Journal of Philol. xiii (1892), pp. 213-225. 37. populariter, to gain the favor of the people, whose wishes the editor generally followed. 38. conducunt foricas: when their day of honor is over no employment is too low for them if there is any profit in it. — et cur non omnia: ¿.e. and why should they not undertake anything however base, since they are the sort Fortune loves to exalt when she is in a merry humor? Bücheler places the point of interrogation after non, joining omnia with the words following, since they are in all respects such as. quid Romae faciam? mentiri nescio; librum, nec volo nec possum; ranarum viscera numquam 41. quid Romae faciam: cf. Mart. III. 38. - librum nequeo laudare: cf. Mart. XII. 40. I recitas mala carmina, laudo. 42. poscere: i.e. ask for the loan of a copy in order to flatter the author. motus astrorum ignoro: I cannot impose on the credulous by pretending to tell the future by the stars. 43. promittere, to foretell, i.e. to the son who is in a hurry to get his father's property. 44. ranarum viscera inspexi : perhaps to get poison (1. 70), perhaps for purposes of divination. 45. quae mittit: i.e. his letters and gifts. 46. quae mandat: ie. messages that he thinks it not safe to put in writing. as a comes. 47. nulli comes exeo: I cannot be an accomplice in extortion, and therefore no proconsul or propraetor takes me into a province Comites were the personal staff of a provincial governor. They were called also cohors; cf. 8. 127 n. They were selected by the governor, and a dishonest officer would avoid honest comites. 45 50 48. mancus. . . dextrae, like some cripple whose right hand is palsied, a useless trunk. — exstinctae dextrae: gen. of quality connected by et to mancus. pus non utile: an appositive with the implied substantive to which mancus and exstinctae dextrae belong; cf. 1.33 delator et rapturus. - cor 49. diligitur: ie. is treated as if he were highly esteemed. conscius, as is shown by the following verse, implies a knowledge of some secret crime, a confidant; Mart. VI. 50. 5 vis fieri dives, conscius esto. cui is perhaps a dissyllable here and in 7. 211, as it certainly is four times in Martial's hendecasyllables (e.g. I. 104. 22 sed norunt cui serviant leones), but Juvenal seems to have had no prejudice against spondaic verses. fervens aestuat: he is feverishly anxious and yearns to disclose the secret, but is kept back by fear; cf. I. 166-167. 51. nil tibi debere: he feels under no special obligations to you, since you can do him no harm by disclosing his secret. For the quantity of final i in tibi, see Intr. 84. participem qui te secreti fecit honesti : carus erit Verri qui Verrem tempore quo vult accusare potest. tanti tibi non sit opaci omnis harena Tagi quodque in mare volvitur aurum, 55 ut somno careas ponendaque praemia sumas tristis et a magno semper timearis amico. 60 Quae nunc divitibus gens acceptissima nostris, et quos praecipue fugiam, properabo fateri, nec pudor opstabit. non possum ferre, Quirites, Graecam urbem. quamvis quota portio faecis Achaei? iam pridem Syrus in Tiberim defluxit Orontes et linguam et mores et cum tibicine chordas obliquas nec non gentilia tympana secum vexit et ad circum iussas prostare puellas. 53. carus erit Verri: an extortioner like Verres will treat his accomplice with great respect. Verri: the notorious propraetor of Sicily, B.C. 73-71, prosecuted by Cicero. 54. tanti non sit : let no amount of wealth tempt you to share a guilty secret, and thus lose your peace of mind. For this use of non, see Intr. 38. — opaci Tagi: Martial (I. 49. 15-16) mentions the shady banks and golden sands of the Tagus. 56. ponenda: i.e. which you must soon give up; but the scholiast says: quod deponere debeas.praemia, bribes given to keep you silent, hush-money. 57. timearis: he fears lest you betray him, and will not feel secure until he has accomplished your death. 58-125. Foreigners, and especially Greeks, have supplanted the poor Romans, and now hold all desirable positions. 65 60. pudor: i.e. shame at being obliged to admit that Roman citizens have been displaced by foreigners. Quirites: an honorable title, but they are no longer worthy of it. 61. Graecam urbem: Rome debased by Greek influences. quota portio, what fraction of the whole? faecis: cf. Cic. Att. I. 16. 11 apud sordem urbis et faecem; Lucan VII. 405 Romam mundi faece repletam.-Achaei: Greeks are bad enough, but the Asiatics, who constitute the larger part of the rabble, are still worse. 62. Orontes: chief river of Syria, near Antioch. It represents the Syrians, who have long been pouring into Rome, with their barbarous speech, customs, music, and vices. 63. chordas obliquas: the sambuca, a harp with triangular frame and slanting strings. 64. nec non, and likewise. gentilia, their national. ite, quibus grata est picta lupa barbara mitra! rusticus ille tuus sumit trechedipna, Quirine, et ceromatico fert niceteria collo. hic alta Sicyone, ast hic Amydone relicta, hic Andro, ille Samo, hic Trallibus aut Alabandis 70 Esquilias dictumque petunt a vimine collem, viscera magnarum domuum dominique futuri. ingenium velox, audacia perdita, sermo promptus et Isaeo torrentior. ede quid illum esse putes. quemvis hominem secum attulit ad nos: 75 66. picta, embroidered. — mitra: an eastern headdress, consisting of a cloth wound about the head so as to form a cap. 67. trechedipna: треxédεɩTT VOS in Plutarch is applied to a parasite who hastens to dinner. The neuter occurs only here, and denotes some fashionable Greek article which the Roman fop wears to a dinner party. The scholiast says: vestimenta parasitica, vel galliculas graecas currentium ad cenam. Everything which the fashionable young Roman has must be Greek and called by a Greek name. puts on his τρεχέδειπνα, and wears νικητήρια on his neck anointed with Kýрwμa. Cf. the lover's Greek in Lucr. IV. 1160 sqq. He 68. ceromatico: Kýрwμa was an unguent used by Greek wrestlers. niceteria: prizes gained in the Greek gymnastic exercises, which were more gentlemanly than the traditional exercises of the Romans, hunting and the martial' sports of the Campus; cf. Hor. C. I. 8; S. II. 2. 10; Ep. I. 18. 49. 69. Sicyone in the Peloponnesus near Corinth. - Amydone: in Macedonia. 70. Andro, Samo: islands in the Aegean. Samo, hic: hiatus at the caesura; Intr. 82. Cf. Verg. Aen. I. 16. Trallibus, Alabandis cities in Asia Minor near the Maeander. Greeks have flocked to Rome from all regions where Greeks dwell. 71. Esquilias: many wealthy families had their residences on the Esquiline and Viminal. dictum a vimine collem: Intr. 66 b. Viminālis is not admissible in dactylic verse. : 72. viscera i.e. the intimates.futuri Intr. 41 b. : 73. ingenium velox: they can adapt themselves readily to any circumstances. audacia perdita: they shrink from nothing because it is disgraceful.- sermo promptus: they are never at a loss for words. grammaticus rhetor geometres pictor aliptes augur schoenobates medicus magus, omnia novit Graeculus esuriens; in caelum, iusseris, ibit. in summa non Maurus erat neque Sarmata nec Thrax qui sumpsit pinnas, mediis sed natus Athenis. horum ego non fugiam conchylia? me prior ille signabit fultusque toro meliore recumbet, advectus Romam quo pruna et cottona vento? usque adeo nihil est, quod nostra infantia caelum hausit Aventini baca nutrita Sabina ? quid quod adulandi gens prudentissima laudat sermonem indocti, faciem deformis amici, et longum invalidi collum cervicibus aequat Herculis Antaeum procul a tellure tenentis, miratur vocem angustam, qua deterius nec ille sonat quo mordetur gallina marito? 76. grammaticus: see 7. 215 n. - rhetor: 7. 150 n. - aliptes : unctor, the anointer at the bath. 77. schoenobates, rope-dancer; cf. 14. 266 quique solet rectum descendere funem. 78. Graeculus: Intr. 73 f. in caelum ibit: i.e. volabit. iusseris for si iusseris; Intr. 25 c. 79. in summa: like ad summam, in a word. - Maurus, Sarmata, Thrax: Intr. 64 a. 80. qui sumpsit pinnas: i.e. Daedalus; Intr. 66 c. 81. conchylia, purple garments, as in 8. 101 conchylia Coa; so purpura (Cat. 64. 49), a purple cov erlet. 82. signabit as a witness to a document; cf. Plin. Ep. I. 9. 2 ille me ad signandum testamentum rogavit. recumbet : at the table; cf. Hor. S. II. 8. 20-24. Those considered of most consequence 80 85 90 would be asked to sign first, and would be given the most honorable places at the table. 83. pruna et cottona: Pliny (N. H. XIII. 51) says that Syria produces small figs called cottana, and likewise pruna in Damasco monte nata; i.e. Damascus plums, or damsons. 84. usque adeo nihil est, is it so absolutely nothing that I was born and reared at Rome? 85. baca Sabina: the olive. 86. quid quod, what of the fact that? or, nay more. 87. indocti, stupid. mis, coarse featured. defor 88. cervicibus, the brawny neck. 89. Antaeum : the giant whose strength depended on his contact with his mother earth. Hercules lifted him from the earth and crushed him in the air. 91. marito: Intr. 46. |