Sed vatem egregium, cui non sit publica vena, Qui nihil expositum soleat deducere nec qui 55 Communi feriat carmen triviale moneta, Hunc, qualem nequeo monstrare et sentio tantum, Anxietate carens animus facit, omnis acerbi Impatiens, cupidus silvarum aptusque bibendis Fontibus Aonidum. Neque enim cantare sub antro 60 Pierio thyrsumve potest contingere sana Paupertas atque æris inops, quo nocte dieque Creeps, like a tetter, through the human breast, Nor knows, nor hopes, a cure.' G. xaxonbes was, properly, a kind of ulcer, very difficult to cure. Cels. v. 28, 2. Plin. xxii. 25. PR. Id. xxiv. 3. 10. στίξαι τὴν νόσον οὐ δύναμαι Pallad. xv. 4. tanta meo comes est insania morbo; Ov. Tr. ii. 15. R. Egro distempered.' M. LU. 53. Ingenium cui sit, cui mens divinior, atque os magna sonaturum, des nominis hujus honorem; Hor. I S. iv. 43 sq. PR. γόνιμον δὲ ποιητὴν ἂν οὐχ εὕροις ἔτι ζητῶν ἄν, ὅστις ῥῆμα γενναῖον λάκοι Arist. R. 96 sq. FA. Poeta nascitur, non fit; therefore it is absurd for any one to attempt to turn poet for the sake of bread. cf. iii. 78. Hor. II Ep. ii. 51. Pers. pr. 8 sqq. (CAS.) An Augustus and a Mecenas are not to be met with in every age. 62. R. A poetical vein :' a metaphor from mining. R. ego nec studium sine divite vena, nec rude quid possit video ingenium; Hor. A. P. 409 sqq. PR. 54. Expositum vulgar.' Quint. II. v. 19. (SPA.) X. v. 11. Stat. I S. ii. 24. Theb. ii. 188. R. 'To spin out.' GRÆ. 224. tenui deducta poemata filo; Hor. II Ep. i. 225. Ov. Tr. I. i. 39. Pont. I. v. 13. výbodas aadás Antip. Ep. lxx. Tib. IV. i. 211. Pers. v. 5. (CAS.) R. cf. proferre and producere to issue,' in Hor. A. P. 58 sq. 55. "He, from the glowing mint of fancy, pours No spurious metal, fused from common ores, But gold, to matchless purity refined, And stamp'd with all the godhead in his mind." G. Ferire to hit off.' M. Non tu in triviis, indocte, solebas stridenti miserum stipula disperdere carmen? Virg. E. iii. 26. PR. effugiendum est ab omni verborum vilitate, et sumendæ voces a plebe summota; Petron. GRE. Cic. for Mur. 6. pr. cf. x. 22. Ov. Tr. IV. i. 5 sqq. Calp. i. 28. (WE.) R. Stamp.' Græcas voces Latina moneta percutere; Apul. Ap. p. 298, 33. Sen. Ep. 34, extr. licebit signatum præsente nota producere nomen; Hor. A. P. 58 sq. (BY.) R. PR. 57. Ov. Tr. v. 12. Hor. I Od. xxvi. 1. R. 58. Impatient of restraint;' G.' exempt from suffering. R. Carmina secessum scribentis et otia quærunt; Ov. I Tr. i. 41. scriptorum chorus omnis amat nemus et fugit urbes, rite cliens Bacchi somno gaudentis et umbra; Hor. II Ep. ii. 77 sq. PR. Bacchum in remotis carmina rupibus vidi docentem; II Od. xix. 1 sq. (MI.) VS. me gelidum nemus secernit populo; I Od. i. 30. 32. IV Od. iii. 10-12. cf. 8. Tac. de Or. 9 extr. R. 59. Aonian Nymphs.' In Boeotia, (the mountainous part of which was called Aonia, M.) there were many spots sacred to the Muses; LU. as Hippocrene, Helicou, Aganippe. cf. 6. PR. Pers. pr. 1. (K.) Prop. II. viii. 19 sqq. R. Virg. E. vi. 65. 60. Pierian,' 8. FA. Hor. I Od. xxxii. 1. II Od. i. 39. III Od. iv. 40. (BY) R. The thyrsi were' the spears of Bacchus and his votaries, enwreathed with vineleaves and ivy.' PR. The blow of the god's wand was supposed to communicate inspiration; and hence those thus inspired were called θυρσοπλῆγες. GR. see note on 58. Excludit sanos Helicone poetas Democritus; Hor. A. P. 296 sq. GR. 61. Paupertas i. e. a poor poet.' cf. 53. R. Corpus eget: satur est, quum dicit Horatius EVOE! Quis locus ingenio, nisi quum se carmine solo Vexant et dominis Cirrhæ Nysæque feruntur 65 Pectora nostra, duas non admittentia curas? Magnæ mentis opus nec de lodice paranda Adtonitæ, currus et equos faciesque Deorum Adspicere et qualis Rutulum confundat Erinnys. Inops; note on iii. 164. 62. If Horace (see II S. ii. 49–54.) ever felt what it was to want, it was but for a short time. He was in affluent circumstances before the battle of Philippi, and three years after it, he was taken into the favour of Mæcenas; and his best poems were written subsequently to this period. His Odes were mostly composed later than his Satires. M. R. Ere; Hor. II Od. xix. 5. 7. BRI. bo (from and i); Virg. Æ. vii. 389. Ov. M. iv. 522. cf. Eur. Ph. 660. B. 141. (BAR.) Arist. Th. 999. (BOU.) Sidon. Ep. viii. 9. R. 63. Spenser had this passage in his thoughts, when he wrote the following noble lines: "The vaunted verse a va cant head demaundes; Ne wont with crabbed care the Muses dwell; Unwisely weaves, that takes two webbes in hand. Who ever casts to compasse wightie prise, And thinkes to throwe out thundring words of threat, Let powre in lavish cups, and thriftie bittes of meate, For Bacchus fruite is friend to Phoebus wise; And, when with wine the braine begins to sweat, The numbers flowe as fast as spring doth rise. Thou kenst not, Percie, how the rime should rage; O if my temples were distain'd with wine, And girt in girlonds of wilde yvie twine, How I could reare the Muse on stately stage, And teach her tread aloft in buskin fine, With quaint Bellona in her equipage!" Shep. Cal. Egl. x. 100 sqq. G. 64. Apollo and Bacchus were the lords' of Cirrha and Nysa: VS. of which the former was the sea-port of Delphi near the base of Parnassus, LU. Mart. I. lxxvii. the latter some mountain or city of the East; but there were no less than eleven places of this name: Apoll. III. iv. 3. and Virg. Æ. vi. 806. (HY.) R. Strab. xv. Diod. iv. 5. v. 1. Mart. IV. xliv. PR. from some one of which the god was called Dionysus. M. note on Her. iv. 87. Feruntur; vi. 315, note. 65. Two cares,' poetry and the providing of necessaries. LU. 66. Lodice; vi. 195. R. 67. Over anxious' LU.' distracted' M. bewildered'' nervous.' at In this and the following lines Juvenal alludes to various passages in Virgil, (to whom he was evidently very partial,) but chiefly to these two: (1) Divím inclementia, divûm has evertit opes sternitque a culmine Trojam. adspice: &c. jam summas arces Tritonia, respice, Pallas insedit, nimbo effulgens et Gorgone sæva. ipse pater Danais animos viresque secundas sufficit; ipse deos in Dardana suscitat arma. apparent dire facies inimicaque Troja numina magna Deúm; Æn. ii. 602-623. (2) luctificam Alecto dirarum ab sede sororum infernisque ciet tenebris ; &c. Alecto exarsit, in iras. juveni oranti subitus tremor occupat artus; deriguére oculi; tot Erinnys sibilat hydris, tantaque se facies aperit: &c. olli somnum ingens rumpit pavor, ossaque et artus perfundit toto proruptus corpore sudor; Æn. vii. 323-571. PR. These are good specimens of the sublime, especially the first; yet might not our author have found, in the compass of Latin poetry, something more to his purpose? From Ennius, Horace has a quotation of much force and sublimity and Lucretius (who had also his Mæcenas) would have furnished examples of greater fire and animation. But Lucretius was doomed to misfortune: his contemporaries neither saw his beauties nor his defects; and succeeding writers, if they did not entirely neglect his poetry, plundered him, and were silent. His philosophy ruined his poetry in the eyes of Rome. G. cf. Virg. Æ. xii. 326 sq. M. 68. The Rutulian.' vi. 637. PR. i. 162. The Furies were three in number, Alecto, Tisiphone, and Megæra. LU. Nam si Virgilio puer et tolerabile dêsset 70 Hospitium, caderent omnes a crinibus hydri: Surda nihil gemeret grave buccina. Poscimus, ut sit Non minor antiquo Rubrenus Lappa cothurno, Cujus et alveolos et lænam pignerat Atreus. Non habet infelix Numitor, quod mittat amico: 75 Quintillæ quod donet, habet; nec defuit illi, Unde emeret multa pascendum carne leonem Jam domitum: constat leviori belua sumtu Nimirum et capiunt plus intestina poetæ. Contentus fama jaceat Lucanus in hortis 80 Marmoreis: at Serrano tenuique Saleio 69. Had not Virgil been in easy circumstances, the energy of his genius would have flagged.' LU. Virgil (if we can credit Donatus) possessed (prope centies ns.) about a million and a half sterling, owing to the munificence of his friends, and had a town house in Esquiliæ near the gardens of Mæcenas, though he spent most of his time in retirement at his Campanian villa (Gell. vii. 20.) and in Sicily. R. 71. Surda, by catach resis, signifies 'mute' as well as deaf.' LU. xiii. 194. M. Sil. vi. 75. xwpis has the same variety of meaning. K. note on Her. i. 34. Gemeret; ii. 90. LU. Buccina; Virg. Æ. 511-522. PR. Yet, forsooth, we are so unreasonable as to expect.' R. 72. Rubrenus Lappa was an ingenious, but needy, tragic poet. VS. Cothurno; vi. 506. 634. Eschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides were wealthy and influential men in their day. LU. cf. Pind. Ol. iii. 9 sq. 73. Alveolos; v. 88. T. PR. Lænam; iii. 283. v. 131. PR. Pignerat occasions the pawning of.' 135. 92. iii. 116. T. Atreus is the name of a tragedy of his: thus Agave, Pelopea, Philomela, 87. 92. Telephus, Orestes, and Tereus, i. 5 sq. vii. 12. R. Atreus, the son of Pelops and Hippodamia, and king of Mycenae, slew the children of Thyestes who were born in adultery of his queen, and served them up to their own father. Sen. Thy. PR. Capiunt; Ov. A. A. iii. 757. (H.) R. 79. It is true that a wealthy person may write for fame, and fame only.' LU. cf. 81. quid petitur sacris, nisi tantum fama, poetis? hoc votum nostri summa laboris habet; Ov. A. A. iii. 403 sq. M. Annæus Lucanus, a very rich Roman knight, of Cordova in Spain, the son of L. Ann. Mella and nephew of Seneca the tragedian, and an intimate friend of Saleius Bassus and Persius. According to Quintilian, he was an orator rather than a poet: x. 1. He was at first a favourite with Nero, but was put to death by that tyrant in the flower of his age. Tac. xv. PR. Id. xvi. 17. R. Hortis; cf. Ov. Tr. I. xi. 37. ACH. Plin. xix. 4 pr. Cic. Off. iii. 14. R. i. 75, note. 80. Serranus (cf. Virg. Æ. vi. 845. (H.) Cic. Rosc. Am. 18. Plin. xviii. 3. Val. Max. IV. iv. 5.) was a family name of the Atilian clan. Plin. iii. 14. Sil. vi. 62. (DR.) PER, An. Hist. i. p. 24. 33. Gloria quantalibet quid erit, si gloria tantum est? Nothing further is known of this poet except that he was over head and ears in debt to a money-lender. Mart. IV. xxxvii. 3. R. Bassus Saleius was another of our author's contemporaries, who was poor in purse,' but rich in merit and poetical talents, LU. absolutissimus poeta, according to Tacitus, D. Or. 5. 9. see notes on 35. and 40. who also mentions that he once received a present of five hundred sesterces from Vespasian, (a prodigious effort of generosity in that frugal prince,) and this was sufficient perhaps to make Domitian neglect him; for he was not over-fond of imitating his father. G. PR. Mart. III. xlvii. lviii. V. xxiv. liv. VII. xcv. VIII. x. R. 83. The subject of the Thebaid' is the war between Polynices and Eteocles; Ponticus also wrote an epic poem on the same story (Prop. i. 7.); and it afforded a theme for tragedy to Eschylus, Seneca, PR. and Euripides. · P. Papinius Statius was a native of Naples. He was taken into favour by Domitian, and repaid the emperor's patronage by gross flattery. He spent twelve years on his Thebaid, and died, soon after commencing the Achilleid, A. D. 96. PR. Suet. Dom. 4. (CAS.) Stat. S. III. i. 61 sqq. v. 28 sqq. IV. ii. 62 sqq. v. 1 sqq. V. iii. 215 sqq. 229 sqq. Th. xii. 812 sqq. (B.) R. 84. Notice was given, by bills, of the day of recitation.' R. 6 Authors sold' their plays to prætors, ædiles, or others who exhibited public games. Ter. Hec. pr. I. vii. II. xlix. Ov. Tr. ii. 507 sqq. R. A poem (most probably, a tragedy) on the story of Agave, daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia, mother of Pentheus by Echion, king of Thebes. Her son was transformed into a boar, and torn to pieces by his mother and aunt, in their Bacchanalian revels. Hygin. 184. PA. BR. Pers. i. 100 sqq. PR. Hor. II S. ii. 303. Ov. M. iii. 501 sqq. M. cf. 73. Stat. Th. iii. 190. iv. 565. xi. 318. R. 88. This actor too has the disposal of many a commission in the army.' PR. cf. 92. R. 89. In other words, makes them military tribunes for six months.' xeuroφοροῦσι γὰρ τῶν στρατευομένων οἱ χιλίαρχοι, τῶν ἐλαττόνων σιδηροpogoúvray App. R. Pun. 104. cf. i. 28, note. These were divided into laticlavii (who were styled illustrious knights;' egregii; x. 95, note. iv. 32, note;) and angusticlavii, (the former of senatorial, the latter of equestrian families; Suet. Aug. 38. Oth. 10. Tac. A. ii. 59. xi. 4.) the purple border which they wore being either broad or narrow accordingly. LI. SA. This border seems to have answered the purpose of gold lace in our days. The boatswains and boatswains' mates at Greenwich Hospital are distinguished by the broad or narrow gold lace on their coats and hats; if the com 90 Quod non dant proceres, dabit histrio. Tu Camerinos Et Bareas, tu nobilium magna atria curas? Præfectos Pelopea facit, Philomela tribunos. L Haud tamen invideas vati, quem pulpita pascunt. Quis tibi Mæcenas? quis nunc erit aut Proculeius 95 Aut Fabius? quis Cotta iterum? quis Lentulus alter? parison be not derogatory to the semestres militioli, as the author of Juvenal's life calls them. I wish there were any authority for supposing the six-months' or half month's gold' to be so called from its conferring a permanent appointment, but with only half the annual stipend: so that the permission to wear it would give an honorary or brevet rank, (a real command, I am convinced, it never could,) which gave the possessor a claim to something like half-pay, without requiring actual service; or, at any rate, to certain privileges and immunities. [Livy v, 4. ED.] This favour (whatever the precise nature of it might be) was bestowed by generals and prefects. Thus Pliny entreats Sossius, one of Trajan's lieutenants, to confer this honour on the nephew of his friend C. Nepos : C. Calvisium Nepotem valde diligo: hunc rogo semestri tribunatu splendidiorem et sibi et avunculo suo facias; Ep. iv. 4. and in another place, he transfers a tribuneship which he had obtained for Suetonius, at the historian's own request, to one of his relations: iii. 8. G. 90. Histrio is a Tuscan word. Liv. vii. 2. V. Max. ii. 4. PR. The Camerini viii. 38. R. were a family of the Sulpician clan. PR. P. Sulp. Camerinus was one of the triumvirs sent to Athens for Solon's laws. 91. The Barea were of the Marcian clan. Tac. A. xii. 53. R. iii. 116. PR. Atria; note on 7. R. 92. Pelopea was the daughter of Thyestes; Ægisthus was the offspring of their incestuous intercourse. LU. 73, note. PR. or Пóra, the daughter of Pelias Apollod. I. ix. 10. (HY.) R. Facit gets the authors made.' cf. iii. 116, note. Philomela; vi. 644, note. LU. It is said, that in consequence of this passage, Juvenal was banished from Rome; by whom, is a matter of dispute. Some say by Domitian, owing to a complaint by Paris. But why should he complain at all? Was he ashamed of his influence at court? He was more likely to have gloried in it. Others say by Hadrian, when Juvenal was an old man of fourscore, merely because these lines were supposed to cast some reflection upon an actor who was a great favourite with the emperor. If so, this imperial patron of letters was guilty of a most arbitrary stretch of authority, and a most unprovoked piece of cruelty. G. 93. That lives by the stage.' Eschylus et modicis instravit pulpita tignis; Hor. A. P. 279. PR. iii. 174. M. cf. 87. xiv. 257. R. 94. Maecenas, by his generosity to Virgil and Horace, transmitted his name to future ages as an appellative for all munificent patrons of literature. LU. PR. Spenser has an allusion to these lines: "But ah! Mecænas is yclad in claye, And great Augustus long ygoe is dead, And all the worthies liggen wrapt in lead, That matter made for poets on to playe: For ever, who in derring-doe were dread, The loftie verse of hem was loved aye;" Shep. Cal. Egl. x. 61 sqq. G. Proculeius another bountiful knight of the Augustan age. Hor. II Od. ii. 5. (MI.) Tac. A. iv. 40. (LI.) Quint. vi. 3. (BU.) Plin. vii. 45. (HA.) R. 95. Fabius Maximus was a noble patron, to whom Ovid addressed several of his epistles from Pontus; PR. M. I. ii. v. ix. II. iii. III. iii. viii. (H.) Quint. vi. 3. R. Aurelius Cotta, as well as Fabius, joined to great liberality the rarer quality of fidelity in distress: G. Ov. Pont. II. viii. III. ii. v. PR. te tamen in turba non ausim, Cotta, silere, Pieridum lumen præsidiumque fori; Id. IV. xvi. 40 sq. (H.) R. P. Lentulus Spinther, who was mainly instrumental to the recall of Cicero, and to whom the orator writes thus: magna est hominum opinio de te, magna commendatio liberalitatis; Ep. Fam. i. 7. Cic. ad Div. i. 1 sqq. M. R. It may be wondered that Juvenal |