SATIRE VIII. ARGUMENT. In this Satire, in which Juvenal puts on a most serious and impressive air, he demonstrates that distinction is merely personal; 19-30. that though we may derive rank and titles from our ancestors, yet if we degenerate from the virtues by which they obtained them, we cannot be considered as truly noble. 1-18. 30-38. We estimate animals not from their pedigree but from their excellencies. 56–67. Merit constitutes true nobility; 30 sqq. 211 sqq. in this, men of inferior origin are frequently pre-eminent. 39 sqq. and in this, men of high birth ought to aim at distinction. 68-86. The Satire branches out into many collateral topics. From the profligacy of the young nobility, he passes, by an easy transition, to the miserable state of the provinces, which were usually placed under their management, and which they plundered and harassed without mercy. 87 sqq. (cf. Pliny Ep. to Max. viii. 24.) This part of his Satire is treated with a freedom of thought, and an elevation of language, worthy of the best times of the republic. From this, he returns once more to the main subject, 142 sqq. the state of debasement into which the descendants of the first families had voluntarily sunk 145 sqq. he severely lashes their meanness, cowardice, and base prostitution of every kind; 183–210. vices which he sets in the strongest light, by contrasting them with the opposite virtues, to be found in persons of the lowest station and the humblest descent. 231 sqq. Seneca is placed in contraposition to Nero: 211-230. Cicero with Catiline and Cethegus on the one hand, and Octavius on the other: 231-244. Marius with Catulus. 245-253. The Decii 254-258 and Servius Tullius 259 sq. are then adduced. And lastly the noble traitors of the house of Brutus are contrasted with the patriotic slave. 261-268. Considered as a whole, this is a very fine performance. We may perhaps discover a triteness in some of these latter instances; but perhaps the poet was willing to sacrifice novelty to notoriety, and imagined that his examples would be more effectual in proportion as they were more generally recognized. He winds up with the reflexion, that of the two it is far better by personal merits and exploits to throw a splendor around a low origin than to sully the highest by degenerate vices. 269-271. And the most ancient Roman ancestry, after all, was of a very questionable character in point of respectability. 272-275. The detailed history of Nero's enormities shows this Satire to have been written while they were yet fresh in the author's mind, probably before the death of Vespasian. (see note on 51.) G. R. Horace has handled the same subject (I Satire vi.) more methodically and in a less declamatory style. K. There is an excellent German translation of this Satire by von Denis. R. Boileau Despreaux has given a version of it, (Satire v.) which, though almost literal, is very inferior to the original. ACH. To these may be added “ High Birth, a Satire addressed to a young Nobleman; in imitation of the Eighth Satire of Juvenal. London. 1821." 8vo. pp. 48. STEMMATA quid faciunt? Quid prodest, Pontice, longo Sanguine censeri pictosque ostendere vultus Majorum et stantes in curribus Emilianos Et Curios jam dimidios humerosque minorem 5 Corvinum et Galbam auriculis nasoque carentem? Quis fructus generis tabula jactare capaci +Corvinum, posthac multa contingere virga+ 1. Genealogical trees.' stemmate quod Tusco ramum millesime ducis; Pers. iii. 28. LU. The images of noble ancestors were connected by festoons formed with garlands of flowers, which went regularly from father to son, so that the pedigree could be traced thereby. These images were ranged in their halls, 19 sq. and porticoes, vi. 163. Plin. xxxv. 1-5. (HA.) R. Nobilem non facit atrium plenum fumosis imaginibus: animus facit nobilem, &c. Sen. Ep. 44. qui imagines in atrio exponunt, et nomina familiæ suæ longo ordine, ac multis stemmatum illigala flexuris, in parte prima ædium collocant; noti magis quam nobiles sunt; Id. Ben. iii. 28. LI. RF. satius est me meis rebus gestis florere, quam majorum opinione niti, atque ita vivere, ut sim ego posteris meis nobilitatis initium, et virtutis exemplum; Cic. in Sallust: nam genus et proavos et quæ non fecimus ipsi, vix ea nostra voco; Ov. M. xiii. 40 sq. PR. nam quid imaginibus, quid avitis fulta triumphis atria, quid pleni numeroso consule fasti profuerint, si vita labat? perit omnis in illo nobilitas, cujus laus est in origine sola; Author of the Paneg. ad Pis. 8 sqq. GR. Nihil eruca faciunt, nec prosunt satureia; Mart. III. lxxv. 3 sq. Ov. Tr. III. viii. 23. BU. Of Ponticus nothing is known but the name. Juvenal took an interest in his conduct, this young nobleman had probably some sparks of worth. As we do not find he afterwards distinguished himself, we may hope that his virtues were greater than his talents, and, that if he did not add to his family honours, the poet's admonitions prevented him, at least, from tarnishing them. G. He might be descended from the heroic poet of the same name, in the Augustan age, who was the author of a Thebaid. Prop. I. vii. ix. Ov. Tr. IV. x. 47. R. As Longo. Plin. ii. 33. LU. genus alto a sanguine Divûm; Virg. Æ. iv. 230. SCH. 2. Family portraits,' which were kept in cabinets, and only opened on festivals. Besides these there were masks of waxwork, resembling the deceased members of the family, which were carried in funeral processions. Q. LI. T. 3. On statues and triumphal cars, see Plin. xxxiv. LU. cf. vii. 152. R. P. Corn. Scipio Emilianus, who acquired the appellations of Africanus Minor and Numantinus, 11. ii. 154. 146. He was also the conqueror of Perses king of Macedon; Aur. Vict. PR. P. Scipio (the son of Africanus Major) adopted him into the Cornelian clan. R. 4. Curii; ii. 3. LU. Mutilated from the effects of time.' LU. xv. 57. dimidios Crispi equos; Mart. X. ii. 10. cf. iii. 219. xv. 5. R. Humeros minor is a Grecism, as frontem minor truncam; Sil. iii. 42. V. Flac. i. 582. Luc. ii. 717. R. 5. M. Val. Mar. Corvinus; i. 108. acquired the latter name from his victory, when military tribune, over a gigantie Gaul, in which he was aided by a raven. Liv. vii. 26. PR. Ser. Sulpicius Galba, the emperor, ii. 104. traced his pedigree up to Jupiter. One of his ancestors is here meant. LU. Suet. 2 sq. PR. 6. Cf. 135 sqq. Pers. iv. 46 sqq. R. To display ostentatiously.' FA. LU. quamvis, Pontica pinus, sylvæ filia nobilis, jactes et genus et nomen inutile; Hor. I Od. xiv. 11 sqq. note on parráZiobar Her. vii. 10. 7. The genealogical tables' were made out in the form of trees: the first founder of the family was the root, his immediate descendants the stem, and all the collaterals from them were the branches.' M. Or (2) by many fasces:' I'S. of which a dictator had twenty-four, Fumosos Equitum cum Dictatore Magistros, Si coram Lepidis male vivitur? Effigies quo 10 Tot bellatorum, si luditur alea pernox Ante Numantinos? si dormire incipis ortu a consul twelve, and a master of the horse six. LU. Or (3) to point out with a wand to the persons before whom you display your pedigree.' SCH. 8. Obrepsisti ad honores errore hominum, commendatione fumosarum imaginum, quarum simile habes nihil præter colorem ; Cic. in Pis. 1. The kitchen was in the hall, on which account the latter was called atrium from the black' colour. SV. SIG, Ant. J. C. R. ii. 20. PR. fumosa stemmata; Mart. VIII. vi. 3. Sen. Ep. 44. fæda nigro simulacra fumo; Hor. III Od. vi. 4. R. 9. M. Emil. Lepidus, puer etiam tum progressus in aciem, hostem interemit, civem servavit : cujus tam memorabilis operis index est in Capitolio statua bullata et incincta prætexta, senatus consulto posita illi, qui jam virtuti maturus, honori tempestivus; V. Max. iii. 1. PR. Coram in the presence of their images;' VS. 144. R. 'One lives ill.' nonnullis solet nobilitas generis parere ignobilitatem mentis; Greg. Dial. PR. Quo to what end?' 142. xiv. 135. xv. 61. Ov. Her. ii. 53. iv. 157. (H.) 10. Alea; i. 88. the nominative for the ablative. R. Pernor; Virg. G. iii. 230. Thus vigiles fenestra; iii. 275. LU. Pers. v. 57. PR. 11. Numantinos; 3. Flor. ii. 18. PR. 12. The planet Venus was called Vesper or Hesperus in the evening, and Lucifer or Phosphorus in the morning. LU. nascere præque diem veniens age, Lucifer, almum; Virg. E. viii. 17. infra solem ambit ingens sidus appellatum Veneris, alterno meatu vagum, ipsisque cognominibus æmulum solis ac lunæ. præveniens quippe et ante matutinum exoriens, Luciferi nomen accipit, ut sol alter, diem maturans. contra, ab occasu refulgens, nuncupatur Vesper, ut prorogans lucem vicemque lunæ reddens; Plin. ii. 8. PR. 13. Q. Fab. Max. Emilianus Gallica victoria cognomen Allobrogici sibimet ac poster is peperit; V. Max. vi. 9. (cf. vii. 214.) PR. Plin. vii. 50. xxxiii. 11. Liv. Ep. xi. Flor. iii. 2. ER, Cl. Cic. His son Q. F. M. Persicus, in consequence of his profligacy, was interdicted from the use of his father's estate by the city prætor Q. Pompeius, father of the triumvir. V. Max. III. v. 2. Sen. Ben. ii. 21. iv. 30. T. LU. R. G. The great altar' stood in the Oxmarket near the Flaminian Circus, and was consecrated to Hercules by Evander. The Fabii claimed, by virtue of their descent from Hercules, the exclusive right to minister at it. VS. T. LU. Schol. on Liv. i. 7. ix. 29. Plut. V. Fab. Macr. iii. 6. Evandrum Alcides ruricolasque vocat: constituitque sibi, quæ maxima dicitur, aram, hic ubi pars Urbis de bove nomen habet; Ov. F. i. 580 sqq. (H. BU.) PR. Virg. Æ. viii. 271. (HY.) R. Gaudeat not only be vain of it, but reap advantage from it.' non sine ratione sacra est magnarum virtutum memoria: et esse plures bonos juvat, si gratia bonorum non cum ipsis cadat ..... Quid nuper Fabium Persicum, cujus osculum etiam impudici vitabant, sacerdotem non in uno collegio fecit; nisi Verrucosi et Allobrogici et illi trecenti, (ii. 155.) qui hostium incursioni pro republica unam domum objecerant? hoc debemus virtutibus, ut non præsentes solum illas, sed etiam ablatas e conspectu colamus; Sen. Ben. iv. 30. PR. 14. Fabius, the founder of their family, is said to have been the son of Hercules by Vinduna, daughter of Evander. Plut. V. Fab. Sil. ii. 3. vi. 627 sqq. vii. 35. 44. 48. viii. 217. Ov. Pont. III. iii. 100. F. ii. 237. 375 sqq. Macr. iii. 6. R. The Lares were common to the whole clan, and were preserved by each family: privata sacra perpetua sunto; a Law of the XII Tables. Hence they are called paterni; xii. 89. patrii; Tib. I. x. 15. 15 Vanus et Euganea quantumvis mollior agna; Si tenerum adtritus Catinensi pumice lumbum Squalentes traducit avos emtorque veneni Frangenda miseram funestat imaginegentem? Tota licet veteres exornent undique ceræ Synes. Ep. v. 72. Di Penates parentum familiæque Lar pater; Plaut. Merc. i. 5. PL. They are said to be the sons of Mercury and the nymph Lara: Ov. F. ii. According to Plato, good men became Lares after death, and wicked men, Lemures. PR. 15. The Euganeans originally dwelt between the Alps and the Adriatic; they were driven to the hills by the Veneti, and settled between the river Athesis and the lake Larius. Liv. i. 1. Their name was frequently applied to the Venetians, in whose territory was the town of Altinum at the mouth of the Silis, famous for its white wool: Mart. XIV. clv. (quoted in the note on vi. 150.) Colum. VII. ii. 3. Among other excellent sheep are named, the Circumpadana; Plin. viii. 48 s 73. and the Pollentine; Mart. XIV. clvii. R. Plin. iv. 20. SCH. 'More soft' denotes effeminacy: as agna Galæsi mollior Phalantini; Mart. V. xxxvii. 2. R. 16. "If, with anxious care, From his soft limbs he pumice every hair, And shame his rough-hewn sires!" G. Catina (now Catania) a town of Sicily near Etna, was buried by a shower of 'pumice stones' in one of the eruptions of that mountain. Oros. v. 13. It had been notorious for its luxury and proffigacy. VS. T. It suffered much in 1669 A.D. PR. and again in 1693. M. Its lands were damaged, according to Thucydides, in 425 B.C. Pumex; in usu corporum lævigandorum feminis, jam quidem et viris; Plin. xxxvi. 21. PR. Ov. A. A. i. 506. R. 17. He exposes to public derision.' The metaphor is taken from guilty persons being carried through the forum with the name and nature of their offence suspended round their neck. FA. Suet. Tit. 8. PR. cf. xi. 31. Liv. ii. 38. xxxiii. 23. Mart. I. liv. 3. III. lxxiv. 5. VI. lxxvii. 5. R. Or conveys their images in funeral processions.' GE. Squalentes may be (1) synonymous with fumosos, 8. smoky and dusty from age.' cf. Sil. i. 211. iii. 655. iv. 375. Virg. G. iii. 161. Apollon. ii. 1007. iii. 411. Or (2) ' rough and manly,' ii. 11, note. Or (3) mourning for the degeneracy of their posterity.' R. FA. 18. The busts and statues of such as had been guilty of any capital crime were sometimes delivered up to the common executioner to be destroyed, that they might not disgrace the name, by being carried with the rest in the funeral processions of the family. LU. x. 58. PR. Plin. Pan. 52. Tac. A. vi. 2. (LI.) R. This might have operated as a very powerful preventive of vice, had it not, like many other salutary customs, been perverted by the emperors and their favourites to the purposes of private hatred and revenge. Motions were sometimes made in the senate, for breaking the busts of such as were obnoxious to the tyrant of the day; and even so early as the reign of Tiberius, we find that it was not considered safe, in the splendid funeral of Junia, the wife of Cassius, to bring out among the numerous busts of her illustrious family, either that of her husband or that of her brother. "Could but our fathers break the bonds of fate, And see their offspring thus degenerate; How they contend for birth and names unknown, And build on others' actions, not their own, They'd burn their titles, and their tombs deface, And disavow the vile, degenerate race For fame of families is all a cheat, 'Tis personal virtue only, makes us great;" De Foe, quoted from memory. G. 19. Atriaque immodicis arctat imaginibus; Mart. II. xc. 6. LU. non facit nobilem atrium plenum fumosis imaginibus. nemo in nostram gloriam vixit, neque quod antefuit, nostrum est. animus facit nobilem, cui ex quacumque conditione supra fortunam licet surgere. quis est generosus? ad virtutem bene a natura compositus; Sen. Ep. 44. Auth. of Pan. ad Pis. 5 sqq. Sall. B. J. 85. Pers. iii. 29. (K.) R. Juvenal perhaps had in his eye, Ov. Am. I. viii. 65. H. Sanctus haberi 20 Atria, nobilitas sola est atque unica virtus. 21. (1) Paulus; see 145, note. FA. Plut. Vit. Aur. Vict. de Vir. Ill. PR. (2) Aulus Cornelius Cossus, when tribune in the army, slew Lar Tolumnius king of the Veientes, and thereby carried off the second spolia opima to consecrate to Jupiter Feretrius. Liv. iv. 19. Or C. Corn. Lentulus Cossus. Augustus Cæsar Gætulos accolas Syrtium Cosso duce compescuit, unde illi Gætulici nomen; Flor. IV. xii. 40. The latter would seem to be here alluded to, from v. 26. FA. PR. (3) One of the Claudii gained the additional name of Drusus by engaging hand to hand and slaying Drusus the enemy's general: he also brought back out of Gaul the gold which had formerly been paid to the Senones, when they were besieging the Capitol. PR. There were in Juvenal's time two lawyers named Paulus and Cossus, who, probably, were no honour to the name they bore. vii. 144, note. illustrious hero and conqueror, than he who has but gained a victory over barbarian enemies.' LU. 27. Junius Silanus eximia nobilitate fuit; Tac. A. xii. init. LU. He was son-in-law of the emperor Claudius. Suet. 27. PR. Rari quippe boni; xiii. 26. LU. 29. Osiris was deified as having been the inventor of agriculture, gardening, and planting. Tib. I. vii. 27 sqq. (HY.) VS. The Egyptians worshipped him under the figure of a live ox, which he was supposed to animate. When the animal (to which they gave the name of Apis, LO.) grew old, and consequently unfit for the residence of the divinity, he was thought to quit it, and migrate into a younger body of the same species; just as the Tartars, with infinitely more good sense, are taught to believe that their Lama migrates from one human body to another. The deserted ox was drowned with much ceremonious sorrow; when, those melancholy maniacs, his priests, attended by an immense concourse of people, dispersed themselves over the country, wailing and lamenting, in quest of the favoured individual which Osiris had selected to dwell in. This the priests were supposed to know by some sacred marks, and this they always took care to find in due time: the lamentations of the people were then changed into songs of joy; they conducted the sacrosanct beast with great pomp to the shrine of his predecessor, shouting and calling to the inhabitants as they passed, "We have found him, we have found him! come, and let us rejoice together." All the rites of the Egyptians were of a gloomy cast. This may be one of the causes of the singular attachment of the women to them, whereever they were introduced. We have |
