your storehouse of materials; leave Mycenae its feasts with their baskets of extremities, and make yourself at home at the early dinners of common Roman folk.' P. 'No, my aim is not to have my page distended with air-blown trifles, with a trick of making vapour look solid. My voice is for a private ear; it is to you, at the instance of the Muse within me, that I would offer my heart to be sifted thoroughly; my passion is to show you, Cornutus, how large a share of my inmost being is yours, my beloved friend; strike it, use every test to tell what rings sound and what is the mere plaster of a varnished tongue. An occasion indeed it is for which I may well venture to ask a hundred voices, that I may bring out in clear utterance how thoroughly I have lodged you in the very corners of my breast, and unfold in words all the unspeakable feelings which lie entwined deep down among my heart-strings. When first the guardianship of the purple ceased to awe me, Ep. 19. 42 nugis addere pondus:' dare . idonea, from Hor. 1 Ep. 16. 12. Fons.. rivo dare nomen idoneus,' both quoted by Casaubon. 21. secreti, opp. to 'ad populum.' hortante Camena seems to imply, I am inspired, as truly as any poet-as Homer himself when he sang of the ships and asked for a hundred tongues-and the spirit within me bids me to open my heart to you, and tell of our friendship.' 22. excutienda. I. 49. 6 23. Te meae partem animae' Hor. 2 Od. 17. 5, animae dimidium meae' id. I Od. 3. 8. dulcis amice, Hor. 1 Ep. 7. 12. Jahn. 24. iuvat, of an occupation, Virg. Aen. 9. 613-615, where Comportare iuvat praedas et vivere rapto,' is opp. to 'iuvat indulgere choreis.' pulsa. 3. 21 note. dinoscere cautus, like cautum adsumere' Hor. I S. 6. 51. dinoscere.. quid.. crepet et..tectoria='dinoscere quid crepet a tectoriis.' 'Pauci dinoscere possunt Vera bona atque illis multum diversa' Juv. 10. 2 foll. 'Tectorium' or 'opus tectorium,' plaster or stucco for walls, so that the metaphor is from striking a wall to see whether it is solid stone or not. 25. pictae tectoria linguae is apparently to be resolved into 'quod tegit pictam linguam,' as a thing covered with tectorium' might be called 'pictus,' though we should rather have expected the thing varnished to be the mind, and the tongue the varnisher. Casaubon quotes Auson. Id. 16. 12 'Sit solidum quodcunque subest, nec inania subter Indicet admotus digitis pellentibus ictus.' [So 'fucosus' is opposed to 'firmus' by Quintus Cicero de Pet. Cons. 9. 35.] 26. hic is the reading of many MSS., including the oldest, and may very well be explained in hac re.' Compare Virg. G. 2. 45 foll. Non hic te carmine ficto Atque per ambages et longa exorsa tenebo.' His,' the other reading (Heinr., Jahn), equivalent to 'ad haec,' seems scarcely so natural. centenas, for centum,' like 'septenas temperat unda vias' Prop. 4. 22. 16. 27. sinuoso; the breast is supposed to contain many sinus' or recesses. Jahn compares 'recessus mentis' 2. 73. fixi expresses depth and permanence. We should have expected fixerim,' but the independent and dependent questions are confused, as in 3. 67 foll. 28. voce, negligently repeated after bullaque succinctis Laribus donata pependit; 33. umbro. of youth, I placed myself under your care. You became my guide, philosopher, and friend. Happily our days flowed on together the morning spent in work, the evening in social pleasure. The same star must have presided over the birth of both: it were sin to doubt it.' 30. pavido, not 'timid on entering into life' (Lubin), nor fearful, and therefore requiring protection' (Casaubon, Jahn), but trembling under those who watched over me,' 'quod sub metu paedagogorum praetextati sunt,' as the Scholiast says whence the contrast of 'blandi comites' v. 32. Compare Ter. Andr. I. I. 27 Dum aetas, metus, magister, prohibebant.' purpura, of the 'praetexta.' 'Per hoc inane purpurae decus precor' Hor. Epod. 5. 7, Quos ardens purpura vestit' Juv. 11. 155. Boys had regular 'custodes' (Hor. A. P. 161): but the 'praetexta' itself is called 'custos,' as the symbol of sanctity. Casaubon quotes Quint. Decl. 340 Sacrum praetextarum, quo sacerdotes velantur, quo magistratus, quo infirmitatem pueritiae sacram facimus ac venerabilem: the Delph. ed. refers to Pliny 9. 60. 36 Fasces huic securesque Romanae viam faciunt: idemque pro maiestate pueritiae est.' (Compare also for the general sentiment Juv. 14. 44 foll.) In the same way Propertius says to Cynthia 3. 9. 35 Ipse tuus semper tibi sit custodia lectus,' with reference to the actual custodes' appointed for courtezans. For the custom of exchanging the ' praetexta' for the 'toga,' as well as for that of hanging up the bulla,' mentioned in the next line, see Dict. Antiqq. König 36. seposui. 35 refers to Catull. 68. 15 foll. Tempore quo primum vestis mihi tradita pura est, Iucundum cum aetas florida ver ageret, Multa satis lusi: non est Dea nescia nostri, Quae dulcem curis miscet amaritiem,' a graceful passage, which Persius may have had in his mind. 31. Compare 2. 70 note. König com. pares Prop. 4. 1. 131 foll. Mox ubi bulla rudi demissa est aurea collo, Matris et ante deos libera sumta toga.' succinctis, quia Gabino habitu cincti di Penates formabantur, obvoluti toga supra humerum sinistrum, dextro nudo' Scholiast. Jahn compares Ov. F. 2. 632 Nutriat incinctos missa patella Lares.' 32. blandi, ('fuerunt'). comites. 3. I note, here' aequales.' Subura, the focus of all business in Rome, Juv. 3. 5, where it is contrasted with a rocky island, II. 51 'ferventi Subura,' and elsewhere. 33. permisit may be illustrated by the epithet libera' given to the 'toga.' Prop. cited on v. 31, Ov. F. 3. 771 foll. The Delph. ed. compares Ter. Andr. I. I. 24 Nam is postquam excessit ex ephebis, Sosia, Liberius vivendi fuit potestas.' sparsisse oculos. Jahn compares Val. Fl. 5. 247 tua nunc terris, tua lumina toto Sparge mari.' To cast my glances everywhere.' Compare the passage from Catullus cited on v. 30. iam candidus expresses the same as Cum primum' v. 30. The toga was yet new and clean, and the sense of freedom still fresh. umbo, the gathering of the folds of the 'toga.' See Dict. Antiqq. and the boss of boyhood was hung up as an offering to the quaint old household gods, when my companions made themselves pleasant, and the yet unsullied shield of my gown left me free to cast my eyes at will over the whole Subura-just when the way of life begins to be uncertain, and the bewildered mind finds that its ignorant ramblings have brought it to a point where roads branch off-then it was that I made myself your adopted child. You at once received the young foundling into the bosom of a second Socrates; and soon your rule, with artful surprise, straightens the moral twists that it detects, and my spirit becomes moulded by reason, and struggles to be subdued, and assumes plastic features 34.3.65 note. vitae nescius error answers to rerum inscitia' Hor. I Ep. 3. 33, 'ignorance of life or of the world.' error is here the act of wandering. Compare Lucr. 2. 10 'Errare, atque viam palantes quaerere vitae' and Hor. 2 S. 3. 48 foll. Velut silvis, ubi passim Palantes error certo de tramite pellit, Ille sinistrorsum, hic dextrorsum abit: unus utrisque Error, sed variis illudit partibus.' 35. deducit, Jahn (1843), from the best MSS. for 'diducit,' which the other editors, and Jahn in his text of 1868, prefer. It seems doubtful whether any appropriate meaning could be extracted from • diducit in compita,' as 'compita' signifies not the crossways, but the junction or point of crossing. 'Deducit' will have its ordinary sense of leading from one place to another, viz. from the straight path to the point where the roads begin to diverge, according to the image explained on 3. 56. Emphasis is thus thrown on 'vitae nescius error,' the guidance to which they have to trust is that of ignorance and inexperience, so that they do not know which way to turn. 36. supponere is used of supposititious children, and of eggs placed under a hen, the common notion being that of introducing a person or thing into a place ready for it, but not belonging to it. Such seems to be its force here, though it would perhaps be too much to suppose, with Jahn, that the metaphor is directly taken from children. It seems, however, to have suggested suscipis,' which is the technical term for taking up and rearing a child. Haec ad te die natali meo scripsi, quo utinam susceptus non essem' Cic. Att. 11. 9. Tollere,' which is a synonyme of 'suscipere,' is used of supposititious children Quint. 3. 6. 97. teneros.. annos is not equivalent to 'me tenera aetate,' as the words are not used literally of actual infancy, but metaphorically of the infancy of judgment which belongs to youth. 37. Socratico involves the notion not only of wisdom, but, as Jahn remarks, of the tender affection with which Socrates watched over youth. fallere sollers is explained by Jahn, quae sollertiam adhibet, ubi de fallendo agitur-quae non fallit,' evidently an impossible rendering. The words can only mean skilful to deceive,' so that we must understand them either of the gradual art with which Cornutus led his pupil to virtue (Casaubon), or, as 'Socratico' would suggest, of the eipuveia which surprises error into a confession that it is opposed to truth (compare 3. 52, 'curvos deprendere mores') by placing the two suddenly in juxtaposition-a view which would perhaps agree better with the language of the next line. There seems no affinity between the sense of 'fallere' here, and that of fallit regula' 4. 12, though the expressions are similar. 38. 3. 52., 4. 12, notes. intortus, apparently stronger than 'pravus.' ostendit is read by some MSS., but 'extendit' is better, as showing that the same process convinced the pupil of his faults and led him to correct them. 39. premitur. Jahn well compares Virg. Aen. 6. 80 'fingitque premendo,' so that the word prepares us for the image of moulding in the next line. vinci laborat, like obliquo laborat Lympha fugax trepidare rivo' Hor. 2 Od. 3. 12, where a prose writer would have said 'vinci cogitur,' though laborat' is doubtless meant to show that the pupil's mind co-operated with the teacher. artificemque tuo ducit sub pollice vultum. 40 non equidem hoc dubites, amborum foedere certo consentire dies et ab uno sidere duci. 45 nostra vel aequali suspendit tempora Libra 40. A metaphor from wax or clay. artificem, passive. 'Quatuor artifices vivida signa, boves' Prop. 3. 23. 8, artificemque regat' Ov. A. A. 3. 556, of a horse broken in. ducit.. vultum, like ' saxa.. ducere formam,' Ov. M. 1. 402, which Jahn compares, the clay or wax being said to spread the form, just as the workman is said to spread the clay, 'Ut teneros mores ceu pollice ducat, Ut si quis cera vultum facit' Juv. 7. 237, probably a copy from this passage. Compare also Virg. Aen. 6. 848 'vivos ducent de marmore vultus,' Hor. 2 Ep. 1. 240 duceret aera Fortis Alexandri vultum simulantia,' where the notion is substantially the same. With the whole line Casaubon compares Stat. Achill. 1. 332 Qualiter artificis victurae pollice cerae Accipiunt formas, ignemque manumque sequuntur.' 41. From Virg. E. 9. 51 saepe ego longos Cantando puerum memini me condere soles,' as that is from Anth. Pal. 7. 80 ἠέλιον λέσχῃ κατεδύσαμεν: consumere horas,' tempus,' etc., is sufficiently common. 42. epulis, either the dat. or the instrumental abl. Prima nox,' the beginning of the night, with a reference to 'decerpere primitias.' 'Dum primae decus affectat decerpere pugnae' Sil. 4. 138. decerpere, to pluck off,' stronger than carpere,' like 'partem solido demere 49. ingeminos. de die' Hor. I Od. 1. 20. · 50 43. Casaubon compares Virg. G. 4. 184 Omnibus una quies operum, labor omnibus unus.' Jahn supplies unam' for ' requiem,' from 'unum opus;' but perhaps it is better to make unum a predicate, and explain the line disponimus opus, ita ut unum sit, et requiem ita ut pariter habeatur.' Disponere diem' is a phrase. Suet. Tib. 11, Tac. Germ. 30, and Pliny Ep. 4. 23 has disponere otium.' 44. verecunda = 'modica.' laxamus seria, like 'laxabant curas,' Virg. Aen. 9. 225, in which sense 'relaxare' is more common. 'Seria' Hor. 2 S. 2. 125 'Explicuit vino contractae seria frontis.' under your hand. Aye, I mind well how I used to wear away long summer suns with you, and with you pluck the early bloom of the night for feasting. We twain have one work and one set time for rest, and the enjoyment of a moderate table unbends our gravity. No, I would not have you doubt that there is a fixed law that brings our lives into accord, and one star that guides them. Whether it be in the equal balance that truthful Destiny hangs our days, or whether the birth-hour sacred to faithful friends shares our united fates between the heavenly Twins, and we break the shock of Saturn together by the common shield of Jupiter, some star, I am assured, there is which fuses me with you. Men are of a thousand kinds, and the practice of life wears the Horace and Persius are talking at random, as is evident from the fact that neither professes to know his own horoscope. Astrology, as Jahn remarks, was in great vogue in Persius' time, an impulse having been given to the study by Tiberius. Compare the well-known passage of Tacitus, H. I. 22 mathematicis .. genus hominum potentibus infidum, sperantibus fallax, quod in civitate nostra et vetabitur semper et retinebitur.' 47. 'Seu Libra seu me Scorpios aspicit' Hor. 2 Od. 17. 17. 48. Parca non mendax' Hor. 2 Od. nata fidelibus, ordained for faithful friends.' The hour of birth is said to be born itself, as in Aesch. Ag. 107 έúμφυτος αἰών ; Soph. Οed. R. 1082 συγγενεῖς μήνες. 49. dividit in Geminos, like 'dividere nummos in viros.' Casaubon compares Manil. 2. 628 Magnus erit Geminis amor et concordia duplex.' 50. Te Iovis impio Tutela Saturno refulgens Eripuit' Hor. 2 Od. 17. 22 foll. The Delph. ed. compares Prop. 5. 1.83 foll. Felicesque Iovis stellas, Martisque rapacis, Et grave Saturni sidus in omne caput.' nostro, including the notion of fa vourable. frangimus. Casaubon compares Stat. Silv. 1. 3. 7 'frangunt sic improba solem Frigora.' 51. nescio quid is the reading of a considerable number of MSS., including the oldest, and is supported by Virg. E. 8. 107, where the same words occur: and this seems more idiomatic and less clumsy than the common reading and pointing, 'Nescio quod, certe est quod,' etc. Persius says, 'Whether it be Libra, or Gemini, or Jove, at any rate I know (certe') that there is some star ('nescio quid'). temperat is from Hor. 2 Ep. 2. 187 Scit Genius, natale comes qui temperat astrum,' though the sense here is changed, the star being said temperare,' not 'temperari.' me tibi temperat is a strange construction, illustrated by none of the commentators. "Tempero' seems here to follow the analogy of misceo,' which is used with a dat. where the mingling of persons is spoken of. Miscere' and 'temperare,' as Freund shows, are sometimes used together, though they are contrasted Cic. Rep. 2. 23 Haec ita mixta fuerunt, ut temperata nullo fuerint modo,' as 'temperare' means not only to mix, but to mix in due proportion, which blends me with thee.' 6 52-61. The mention of their unanimity leads Persius to think of the variety of pursuits in the world. 'Men's pursuits are innumerable-each has his own-one is a merchant-one a bon-vivant-one an athlete-one a gambler-one a debauchee -but disease and decay bring remorse with them.' 52. The Scholiast compares Hor. 2 S. 1. |