35

and the judge calls upon you to produce your evidence, is there a man breathing, who would have the courage and the honesty to tell the dangerous truth?' M. 30. Vidi; vii. 13. R.

31. This is a description of a Roman of the old school.' VS. iv. 103, vi. 105, notes. R.

34. The property and privileges and the honour.' R.

36. ' Military oaths' are here put for 'the soldiers' themselves. By this oath the soldiers swore to be true and faithful to their country, to the emperor, and to their general; and not to quit their standards, without leave, till the expiration of their service. LU. M.

A valley enclosed on all sides with hills.' M.

38. In the infancy of agriculture, when artificial boundaries, hedges, walls, &c. were unknown, large stones, set up at certain distances, separated the lands of one proprietor from those of another. As these were easily displaced, it became necessary to secure them by extraordinary precaution. Dreadful threats were accordingly denounced against such as removed them, in the old world; and "Cursed be he that removeth his neighbour's landmark" (Deut. xxvii. 17.) was probably found in the religious code of every nation. When men fell to idolatry, such comminations lost their terror, and legislators and priests were driven to other expedients. A god (Terminus) was created; and these mere-stones were converted into altars to his name, and invested with a sacred character: it was consequently an act of sacrilege to stir them from their places; and thus the divisions of land were in a great measure maintained. Of the innumerable superstitions of ethnicism, this was at once the most elegant and the most useful; it was

also one of the most innocent: for the offerings, which were usually made by the rustics in procession, consisted of the produce of the soil, flowers, fruits, unguents, and, the invariable concomitants of every sacrifice, wine and the salted cake. The fullest account of it is in Dionys. Η. θεούς τε γὰρ ἡγοῦνται τοὺς τέρμονας, καὶ θύουσιν αὐτοῖς ἔτι τῶν μὲν ἐμψύχων οὐδέν· οὐ γὰρ ὅσιον αἱμάττειν τοὺς λίθους τελάνους δὲ δήμητρος, καὶ ἄλλας

as agrāv àxagxás ii. 9. This annual visitation, which was perpetuated, with the property it protected, from father to son, seems to have endeared the rite to the ancients; who speak of it with a degree of tenderness and affection, which they do not always express for those of a more public and important nature: nam veneror, seu stipes habet desertus in agris, seu vetus in trivio florea serta lapis: &c. Tib. I. i. 11 sqq. (HY.) The institution is attributed to Numa, by Plutarch: the more probable fact is, that this prince brought to the rude and barbarous hordes, whom, happily for themselves, he was called to govern, the rites and ceremonies of a more refined and virtuous people. His denunciations against those who removed the sacred landmark' are even more severe than those of the Hebrew legislator: Qui terminum exarasit, ipsus et boveis sacrei sunto. The Fathers are much offended at this superstition, which continued to a late period, and was not given up without a struggle, as the husbandman persisted in connecting the idea of a prosperous year with the due observance of his rural ceremonies. Their fulminations at length prevailed; and Prudentius, who witnessed the desecration of these landmarks, observes with some degree of triumph over the superstitious fears of the rustics, that sunshine and rain still visited the earth, which had

yet lost nothing of its pristine fertility! et lapis illic si stetit antiquus, quem cingere sueverat error fasciolis vel galline pulmone rigare, frangitur, et nullis violatur terminus extis; nec tamen idcirco minor est aut fructus agelli aut tempestatis clementia læta serena, temperat aut pluviis qui culta novalia ventus; c. Sym. 1005. But in his time, and, indeed, long before, the simplicity of the ancient worship had been corrupted: spargitur et cæsa communis terminus agna; nec queritur, lactens cum sibi porca datur; Ov. F. ii. 640-684. (Í. BU.) The blood of lambs and kids was mingled with the primitive fruits and flowers; and, as property was secured by other means, its abolition was no less desirable than expedient. G. LU. PR. M. cf. Festus on Terminus. Sic. Fl. de Term. Liv. i. 55. Lact. Inst. i. 20. Min. F. p. 15. (OU.) R.

41. Cf. xiii. 137. SCH.

42. I shall have to wait for months and months, before the multitudinous suits of the people come on, and mine among the rest.' dum comuntur, dum ornantur, annus est; Ter. Heaut. II. ii. 11. cf. Suet. Vesp. 10. Plin. Ep. i. 18. vi. 33. R. Id. iv. 16. PR.

45. Sternuntur may here signify the spreading of the judges' benches with cushions, &c. M. No business is done, because there is not a quorum. R.

'Although the eloquent Cædicius has already laid aside his surtout and appears in his gown to plead; (Mart. VIII. xxviii. Plin. Ep. ii. 3. iv. 2.) and Fuscus

has now taken the opportunity of stepping aside for a few minutes, because he will soon be called upon to speak and will not then be able to leave the court.' HK. cf. ix. 28 sq. Quint. xi. 3. lacernas for lacernam is no uncommon enallage. R.

46. Cædicius is apparently a different person from the one mentioned in xiii. 197. R.

Fuscus (not the general, iv. 112.) but Aurelius Fuscus, a distinguished advocate of those days, who was both fond of the bottle himself and was kept in countenance by his lady. xii. 45. Plin. Ep. vii. 9. Mart. VII. xxviii. LU. R.

C. Titius, vir ætatis Lucilianæ, in oratione qua legem Fanniam suasit, describens homines prodigos in forum ad judicandum ebrios commeantes, sic ait...." ad comitium vadunt ne litem faciant suam. dum eunt, nulla est in angiporto amphora, (Lucr. iv. 1023.) quam non impleant, quippe qui vesicam plenam vini habeant. veniunt in comitium tristes: jubent dicere; quorum negotium est, narrant: judex testes poscit; ipsus it mictum: ubi redit, ait se audisse omnia: tabulas poscit ; literas inspicit; vix præ vino sustinet palpebras," Macr. iii. 16. LU. PR. The same cause would produce the same effect in the advocate as in the judge. R.

47. A metaphor from the amphitheatre. LU. ii. 144. M.

50. Nor are their wealth and patience worn away By the slow drag-chain of the law's delay." G. viii. 148. PR.

51. Militibus liberam testandi factionem

primus quidem D.Julius Cæsar concessit; sed ea concessio temporalis erat: postea vero D. Titus dedit: post hoc Domitianus: postea D. Nerva plenissimam indulgentiam in milites contulit: eamque et Trajaus secutus est; Ulp. 23. §. 10. exinde mandatis inseri cœpit caput tale; cum in notitiam meam pervenerit...simplicitati eorum consulendum existimavi, ut quoquo modo testati fuissent, rata esset eorum voluntas. faciant igitur testamenta quomodo volent, faciant quomodo poterin; sufficiatque ad bonorum suorum divisionem faciendam nuda voluntas testatoris; ib. PR. This privilege, however, only applied to the savings of their pay, and their other military earnings; peculium castrense. VS. M. The object of this enactment was obviously to conciliate the soldiery, the attachment of whom was now become of importance to the ambitious chiefs who contended for the empire. By the old constitution of the republic, the power of a father over a son was unbounded; it extended both to his property and to his person, and terminated only with the death of one of the parties. We do not find many instances of the abuse of this power. Natural affection is an excellent corrective to the anomalies of tyranny. GR.

53. Incorporated with the private fortune.' M.

54. Coranus, in all probability, was a soldier of fortune well known at that time; LU. not the wealthy individual whom Horace mentions; II S. v. 57.

64. PR.

56. The arts of common fortune-hunters have been already satirized: xii. 93 sqq. R. but there is something ludicrous, amid the disgusting picture of avaricious depravity, in making a father,

tottering on the verge of the grave, pay servile court to a son, in the full vigour of life, in hopes to be named his heir G. At the same time we must recollect that this son was in the army, and consequently that his life was of a very precarious tenure. It was customary for a soldier, when going into battle, to name an heir in the presence of three or four witnesses, and if he fell, the law recognized this verbal declaration as a valid will. A.

57. To say labor reddit sua dona labori is surely a very awkward expression and not very intelligible: and, from what follows, the promotion is to be attributed to the discernment of the general. Labor is probably owing to the eye of the copyist catching the last word in this next line: the word has also occurred just before, v. 52. Read therefore favor. R. HG. 58. Cf. x. 141 sq. M.

60. Romani auxiliares et externos torquibus aureis donavere, at cives nonnisi argenteis; Plin. xxxiii. 2. It is recorded, Lucium Sicinium Dentatum, ob eximiam virtutem appellatum Achillem Romanum, pugnasse in hostes centum et viginti præliis: cicatricem aversam nullam, adversas quinque et quadraginta tulisse: coronis esse donatum aureis octo, obsidionali una, muralibus tribus, civicis quatuordecim; torquibus tribus et octoginta: armillis plus centum et sexaginta; hastis duodeviginti, phaleris item donatum quinquies viciesque: populi militaria dona habuisse multijuga, in his provocatoria pleraque: denique triumphasse cum imperatoribus suis triumphos novem; Gell. ii. 11. PR. cf. xi. 103. Sil. xv. 254 sqq. LI, Mil. Rom. v. 17. R.