ing calls, on these occasions, before daybreak. CAS. cf. Mart. IV. lxxviii. Sen. Br. V. 24. or Be on the watch,' be always on the look out for an opportunity of ingratiating yourself with the people.' M. K.

6

The candidates for popularity used to throw among the mob a number of tallies entitling the bearer to a certain quantity of some sort of grain. in cicere atque faba bona tu perdasque lupinis; Hor. II S. iii. 182. This was the method pursued by the ædiles at the games of Flora.' The sums squandered in these largesses, under the republic, far surpassed the most lavish cost of our contested elections, and were frequently ruinous to the parties, et populare sacrum bis millia dena tulisset; Mart. X. xli. 7. even when the emperors had engrossed the whole power, and the only subject of contention was, to be a slave with the title of an office, or without it. A, vi. 8. PR. G. cf. Suet. sæp. cicer was a very plebeian food. Hor. A. P. 249. I S. vi. 115. cf. Mart. VIII. lxxix. 7 sqq. Stat. S. I. vi. 9 sqq. (B.) K. cf. vi. 50,

note.

178.Scrambling.' PR. Floralia; Macr. S. i. 4. Aug. Civ. D. vi. 7. PR. Juv. vi. 249, note. K.

179. Juv. xi. 203. This basking in the sun is characteristic of old age. "Together they totter about, Or sit in the sun at the door;" Darby and Joan. M. Cic. Sen. 16. K.

180. We now come to the tyranny of Superstition. The Herodians were a considerable party among the Jews. Under Herod the Great, the government attained a pitch of power, which it had not reached since the captivity. He was greatly favoured by Dolabella and Antony, and, subsequently, by Augustus; who, like the two former, extended his empire, and, at his request, conferred

privileges and immunities upon the Jews then resident in Rome: to this, must be added that he restored the temple, the idol of Jewish vanity, with surpassing magnificence. This was enough for that factious and selfish people: many of them honoured his memory, (execrable as it was,) and kept the day of his accession as a festival. Persius, like all the writers of his time, speaks of the Jews with equal ignorance and contempt; and, in this place, confounds a simple festival with their solemn sabbaths. G. VS. CAS. PR. cf. Juv. xiv. 96 sqq, notes. St Matthew xiv. 6. St Mark vi. 21. M.

181. Juv. xii. 90-92, notes. moratur Dei ancilla in laribus alienis, et inter illos omnibus honoribus dæmonum, omnibus solennibus regum, incipiente anno, incipiente mense, nidore thuris agitabitur: et procedat de janua laureata et lucernata, ut de novo consistorio libidinum publicarum; Tert. ad Ux. xi. PR.

Vomuere; Virg. Æ. v. 682. M. 182. Cumano rubicundam pulvere testam; Mart. XIV. cxiv. 1.paropsis rubra ; XI. xxvii. 5. PR. This is put by hypallage for the dish embracing the tail of the fish.' LU. The red earthenware,' 'the large coarse fish,' and the tail,' which was not the prime part of it, the white jug,' and 'the frothy wine,' are all mentioned contemptuously and with reference to the meanness and poverty of the Jews. M.

183. Præcipua magnitudine thynni. invenimus talenta xv pependisse. ejusdem caudæ latitudinem duo cubita et palmum, &c. Plin. ix. 15 s 17 and 20. PR.

Tumet may simply mean is filled to the brim.' CAS. or "The crude must foams o'er the pitcher's brims." G. cf. Virg. G. ii. 6.

184. Cf. ii. 6, note. PR.

The sabbaths of the circumcised.' VS. Mart. VII. xxix. 5. K.

185. Understand timentur. CAS. somnia, terrores magicos, miracula, sagas, nocturnos lemures, portentaque Thessala rides? Hor. II Ep. ii. 208 sq. animus virtute perfectus genius vocatur. animum humanum emeritis vitæ stipendiis corpore suo abjurantem vetere Latina lingua lemurem dictitatum reperio. ex hisce lemuribus qui posterorum suorum curam sortitus, placato et quieto numine domum possidet, Lar familiaris dicitur: qui vero ob adversa vitæ merita, nullis bonis sedibus, incerta vagatione, seu quodam exsilio punitur, inane terriculamentum bonis hominibus, ceterum noxium malis, id genus plerique Larvas perhibent. cum vero incertum est, quæ cuique eorum sortitio evenerit, utrum Lar sit, an Larva, nomine Manem deum nuncupant; Apul. de D. Socr. duat tibi Deus obvias species mortuorum, quidquid Umbrarum est usquam, quidquid Lemurum, quidquid Manium, quidquid Larvarum, oculis tuis aggerat, omnia noctium occursacula, omnia bustorum formidamina, omnia sepulcrorum terriculamenta; Id. Apol. cf. Varr. de V. P. R. i. Ov. F. v. 419 sqq. PR.

Eggs were much used in lustrations and expiations. Ov. A. A. ii. 329 sq. Hor. Ep. v. 19 sq. K. If an egg broke when put on the fire, it portended jeopardy to the person or property of the individual. VS. There was another superstition relative to an egg: huc pertinet ovorum ut exsorbuerit quisque calices cochlearumque protinus frangi aut eosdem cochlearibus perforari; Plin. xxviii. 2. The danger was in case the shells should be pricked with a needle. T. Many persons even at the present day, after eating an egg, always break the bottom of the shell; some from superstitious motives, and others without knowing why.

49. Varro. inter viridem Cybelen altasque Celanas amnis it insana, nomine Gallus, aqua: qui bibit inde, furit; Ov. F. iv. 363 sqq. PR.

Sistro; Juv. xiii. 93, note. Apuleius calls it aureum crepitaculum ; l. c. K. it was also made of silver or brass. PR.

This one-eyed lady, having never had a matrimonial offer, devoted herself to the service of Isis, VS. where her defect might be turned to good account, for she might represent it as the act of the offended goddess: if the ministers of that deity were so exposed to her wrath, what must other mortals be? cf. Juv. xiii. 93. Ov. Pont. I. i. 51 sqq. PR.

M.

187. Have inculcated the dread of the gods: LU. i. e. of Venus and her son. SA. T. Ulcers and tumours are very common in Syria and Egypt. Aret. Morb. Ac. 6. The Zugiav bror of δεισιδαίμονες νομίζουσιν, ἂν μαινίδα τις ἢ ἀφύας φάγῃ, τὰ ἀντικνήμια διεσθίειν, ἕλκεσι τὸ σῶμα πιμπλάναι, συντήκειν τὸ ἦπαρ' Plut. Superst. 9. t. viii. p. 76. CAS. Mart. IV. xliii. 2. PR.

188. Named before you eat it.' LU. "A head of garlick eaten fasting' was reckoned a specific against magical fascination. LU. T.

189. Στρατιωτικὴ ἀλογία was proverbial among the Greeks. PR. Surely Persius has shown little judgement in propounding his Stoical paradoxes to such an audience: but he seems to bear a rooted dislike to the soldiery; and whenever he has occasion for a more illiterate and worthless character than ordinary, he commonly repairs to the camp for him. His conduct, in this instance, will perhaps remind the reader of Fielding and Smollett, who, in compliance with the wretched cant of their times, manifested a patriotic abhorrence of the military, and seldom went further for a blockhead, a parasite, or an adept in low villainy, than the Army List. We have outlived this stupid piece of