FOOTNOTES:
[329] Ratio studiorum. Cf. Tac., Ann., xi., 7, "Sublatis studiorum pretiis etiam studia peritura."
[330] Cæsare. Which Cæsar is intended is a matter of discussion among the commentators; whether Nero, Titus, Trajan, Hadrian, Nerva, or Domitian. Probably the last is meant: as in the beginning of his reign he affected the character of a patron of literature.
[331] Respexit. "To view with favor or pity," as a deity: so Virg., Ecl., i., 28, "Libertas, quæ sera tamen respexit inertem."
[332] Atria. Either "the antechambers of rich patrons," or to "the Licinian and other courts," near the forum, where auctions were held; the atria auctionaria of Cicero: cf. pro Quint., 12, 25, i. in Rull., 7.
[333] Machæra, a famous Præco of his time. Lubin.
[334] Commissa. Either from the goods being "intrusted" to the auctioneer by the owner or the magistrate; or from the parties that bid being as it were "pitted," commissi, against each other, like gladiators.
[335] Vidi. So xvi., 29, "Audeat ille Nescio quis, pugnos qui vidit, dicere vidi."
[336] Asiani. "Jam equites, olim servi Asiatici." Lub. The next line is in all probability interpolated, being only a gloss. Heinrich.
[337] Nudo talo. Vid. ad i., 111. Or, it may be "barefooted" simply. Galatia in Asia Minor, so called from the colony of Gauls who settled there, A.D. 278, at the invitation of Nicomedes. Liv., xxxviii., 16. Cf. Paus., Phoc., xxiii. Cramer's Asia Minor, ii., 79. Clinton, Fast. Hell. in an.
"Sent from Bithynia's realms with shoeless feet." Badham.
[338] Laurumque momordit. So δαφνηφάγοι. The chewing of the bay, as being sacred to Apollo, was supposed to convey divine inspiration. Grang. Cf. Lycoph., 6.
Indulgentia. "Lo! the imperial eye
Looks round attentive on each rising bard,
For worth to praise, for genius to reward." Gifford.
[340] Croceæ. Because parchment is always yellow on the side where the hair grew. Others think the parchment itself was dyed yellow. Cf. Pers., iii., 10.
[341] Veneris marito, a burlesque phrase for "the fire."
[342] Tinea. Cf. Hor., Ep., I., xx., 12, "Tineas pasces taciturnus inertes."
[343] Cellâ. So Ben Jonson:
"I that spend half my nights and half my days
Here in a cell, to get a dark pale face,
To come forth worth the ivy or the bays,
And in this age can hope no other grace."
[344] Junonis avem.
"To praise and only praise the high-wrought strain.
As boys the bird of Juno's glittering train." Gifford.
[345] Facunda et unda.
"Till gray-haired, helpless, humbled genius see
Its fault too late, and curse Terpsichore." Badham.
[346] Comitum voces. Cf. xiii., 32, "Vocalis sportula."
[347] Anabathra, the seats rising one above another in the form of a theatre. Subsellia, those in the body of the room. Orchestra, the hired chairs in front of all, for his knightly guests. Holyday quaintly says no patron cared
"What the orchestra cost raised for chief friends,
And chairs recarried when the reading ends."
[348] Laqueo.
"And would we quit at length th' ambitious ill,
The noose of habit implicates us still." Badham.
[349] Vatem egregium. Cf. Hor., i., Sat. iv., 43, "Ingenium cui sit, cui mens divinior, atque os magna sonaturum, des nominis hujus honorem." How immeasurably finer of the two is Juvenal's description of a poet!
"But he, the bard of every age and clime,
Of genius fruitful, and of soul sublime,
Who 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:
He whom I feel, but want the power to paint,
Must boast a soul impatient of restraint,
And free from every care—a soul that loves
The Muses' haunts, clear springs and shady groves." Gifford.
Of this passage, Hodgson says, Gifford has drawn the prize in the lottery of translation, all others must be blanks after it.
[350] Evoe! Vid. Hor., ii., Od. xix., 5. Cf. Milman's Life.
[351] Feruntur.
"Be hurried with resistless force along
By the two kindred powers of wine and song." Gifford.
[352] Duas.
"Nor wrestlings with the world will Genius own,
Destined to strive with song, and song alone." Badham.
[353] Erinnys. The splendid passage in the seventh Æneid, 445, seq., "Talibus Alecto dictis exarsit in iras. At juveni oranti subitus tremor occupat artus: Deriguere oculi: tot Erinnys sibilat hydris, Tantaque se facies aperit." Cf. Æn., ii., 602, seq.; xii., 326.
[354] Atreus. Some take Atreus to be the person who lends the money. Grangæus interprets it, "Qui dum componit tragædiam de Atreo, ut vitam sustentare possit pignori opponit alveolos."
"Who writes his Atreus, as his friends allege,
With half his household goods and cloak in pledge." Badham.
[355] Statius employed twelve years upon his Thebais. (Cf. xii., 811.) It was not completed till after the Dacian war, but was written before the 1st book of the Silvæ, the date of the 4th book of which is known to be A.D. 95. We may therefore assume the date of the Thebais to be about 94.
[356] Vendat. Holyday quotes from Brodæus the price given to Terence for his Eunuchus, viz., eight sestertia, about sixty-five pounds.
[357] Agave. Probably a pantomimic ballet on a tragic subject; for, as Heinrich says, what had Paris, the mime, to do with a new tragedy? These and the following lines are said to have been the cause of Juvenal's banishment.
[358] Semestri is said to refer to an honorary military commission, conferred on favorites, even though not in the army, and called "Semestris tribunatus militum." It lasted for six months only, but conferred the privilege of wearing the equestrian ring, with perhaps others. It is alluded to in Pliny, iv., Epist. 4, who begs of Sossius the consul in behalf of a friend, "Hunc rogo semestri tribunatu splendidiorem facias." There are divers other interpretations, but this appears the simplest and most probable. To confound it with the "æstivum aurum" (i., 28), is a palpable absurdity.
[359] Vinum nescire. Cf. Hor., ii., Sat. iii., 5, "At ipsis Saturnalibus huc fugisti Sobrius." Stat., Sylv., I., vi., 4, "Saturnus mihi compede exsolutâ, et multo gravidus mero December."
"Then all December's revelries refuse,
And give the festive moments to the Muse." Gifford.
[360] Acta legenti. Either the "notary public," or "keeper of the public records," or the historian's reader, who collected facts for the author, or "any one who read aloud the history itself."
[361] Russati. Cf. ad vi., 589. So the charioteer of "the white" was called Albatus. Lacerna, or Lacerta, was a charioteer in the reign of Domitian, some say of Domitian himself. One commentator takes Lacerna to be "any soldier wearing a red cloak;" as Paludatus is "one wearing the general's cloak." Cf. Mart., xiii., Ep. 78, "Prasinus Porphyrion."
[362] Consedere. Cf. Ov., Met., xiii., 1, "Consedere duces; et, vulgi stante corona, Surgit ad hos clypei dominus septemplicis Ajax." Cf. ad xi., 30.
[363] Bubulco." Before some clod-pate judge thy vitals strain." Badham.
[364] Palmæ. Cf. ad ix., 85.
"So shall the verdant palm be duly tied
To the dark staircase where such powers reside." Badham.
[365] Afrorum Epimenia. Most probably alluding to the "monthly rations of onions" allowed to African slaves, who were accustomed to plenty of them in their own country (cf. Herod., ii., 125. Numb., xi., 5), where they grew in great abundance. Martial, ix., Ep. xlvi., 11, enumerates "bulbi" among the presents sent at the Saturnalia to the causidicus Sabellus.
[366] Lagenæ. Mart., u. s. "Five jars of meagre down-the-Tiber wine." Badham.
[367] Aureus. About sixteen shillings English at this time.
[368] Pragmaticorum. Cicero describes their occupation, de Orat., i., 45, "Ut apud Græcos infimi homines, mercedula adducti, ministros se præbent judiciis oratoribus ii qui apud illos πραγματικοὶ vocantur." Cf. c. 59. Quintil., iii., 6; xii., 3. Mart., xii., Ep. 72. They appear afterward to have been introduced at Rome, and are sometimes called "Tabelliones."
[369] Licet. The Lex Cincia de Muneribus, as amended by Augustus, forbade the receipt of any fees. A law of Nero fixed the fee at 100 aurei at most. Vid. Tac., Ann., xi., 5 (Ruperti's note). Suet., Ner., 17. Plin., v., Ep. iv., 21.
[370] Quadrijuges. It appears to have been an extraordinary fancy with lawyers of this age to be represented in this manner; cf. Mart., ix., Ep. lxix., 5, seq.; but the details of the picture have puzzled the commentators. "Curvatum" is supposed to mean that "the spear actually seems quivering in his hand," or that it is "bent with age," or that the arm is "bent back," as if in the act of throwing. Cf. Xen., Anab., V., ii., 12, διηγκυλωμένους. "Luscâ" may imply that the statue imitated to the life the personal defect of Æmilius; or simply the absence of the pupil (ὀμμάτων ἀχηνία), inseparable from statuary; or that Æmilius is represented as closing one eye to take better aim.
"Lifts his poised javelin o'er the crowd below,
And from his blinking statue threats the blow." Hodgson.
[371] Cf. Mart., ix., Ep. 60.
[372] Stlataria. Stlata is said to be an old form of lata, as stlis for lis, stlocus for locus. Therefore Stlataria is the same as the "Latus Clavus," according to some commentators; or a "broad-beamed" merchant ship; and therefore means simply "imported." Others say it is a "piratical ship," such as the Illyrians used, and the word is then taken to imply "deceitful." Facciolati explains, it by "peregrina et pretiosa: longè navi advecta."
[373] Crambe. The old Schol. quotes a proverb—δὶς κράμβε θάνατος, Grangæus another, which forcibly expresses a schoolmaster's drudgery—οἰ αὐτοὶ περὶ τῶν αὐτῶν τοῖς αὐτοῖς τὰ ἀυτά.
"Till, like hash'd cabbage, served for each repast,
The repetition kills the wretch at last." Gifford.
[374] Arcadia was celebrated for its breed of asses. Cf. Pers., Sat. iii., 9, "Arcadiæ pecuaria rudere credas." Auson., Epigr. 76, "Asinos quoque rudere dicas, cum vis Arcadium fingere, Marce, pecus."
[375] Stipulare.
"Get me his father but to hear his task
For one short week, I'll give you all you ask." Bad.
[376] Maritus.
"The faithless husband and abandon'd wife,
And Æson coddled to new light and life." Gifford.
[377] Tessera. The poorer Romans received every month tickets, which appear to have been transferable, entitling them to a certain quantity of corn from the public granaries. These tesseræ or symbola were made, Lubinus says, of wood or lead, and distributed by the "Frumentorum Curatores." In the latter days, bread thus distributed was called "Panis Gradilis," quia gradibus distribuebatur. The Congiarium consisted of wine, or oil only. The Donativum was only given to soldiers. Several of these tickets of wood and lead are preserved in the museum at Portici.
[378] Scindens. "Præcepta ejus artis minutatim dividens." Lubin. On the principle, perhaps, that "Qui benè dividit benè docet." Britannicus, whom Heinrich follows, explains it by "deridet." Theodorus of Gadara was a professor of rhetoric in the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius. Vid. Suet., Tib., 57. It was he who so well described the character of the latter; calling him πήλον αἵματι πεφύρμενον. Chrysogonus, in vi., 74, is a singer, and Pollio, vi., 387, a musician (cf. Mart., iv., Ep. lxi., 9); but, as Lubinus says, the persons mentioned here are professors of rhetoric, and probably therefore not the same.
[379] Mundæ.
"He splash his fav'rite mule in filthy roads!
With ample space at his command, to tire
The well-groom'd beast, with hoof unstain'd by mire." Badham.
[380] Algentem. They had dining-rooms facing different quarters, according to the season of the year, with a southern aspect for the winter, and an eastern for the summer. Cf. Plin., ii., Ep. 17. Rapiat rather seems to imply the former case. So Badham—
"Courts the brief radiance of the winter's noon."
"Algentem" favors the other view—
"Front the cool east, when now the averted sun
Through the mid ardors of his course has run." Hodgson.
[381] Lunam. Senators wore black shoes of tanned leather: they were a kind of short boot reaching to the middle of the leg (hence, "Nigris medium impediit crus pellibus," Hor., I., Sat. vi., 27), with a crescent or the letter C in front, because the original number of senators was a hundred.—Aluta, "steeped in alum," to soften the skin.
[382] Ventidius Bassus, son of a slave; first a carman, then a muleteer; afterward made in one year prætor and consul. Being appointed to command against the Parthians, he was allowed a triumph; having been himself, in his youth, led as a captive in the triumphal procession of Pompey's father. Cf. Val. Max., vi., 10.
[383] Thrasymachus of Chalcedon, the pupil of Plato and Isocrates, wrote a treatise on Rhetoric, and set up as a teacher of it at Athens; but, meeting with no encouragement, shut up his school and hanged himself.
[384] Secundus Carrinas is said to have been driven by poverty from Athens to Rome; and was banished by Caligula for a declamation against tyrants. He is mentioned, Tac., Ann., xv., 45.
[385] Gelidas. "Cicutæ refrigeratoria vis: quos enecat incipiunt algere ab extremitatibus corporis." Plin., xxv., 13. Plat., Phædo, fin. Pers., iv., 1.
[386] Dii Majorum, etc.
"Shades of our sires! O sacred be your rest,
And lightly lie the turf upon your breast;
Flowers round your urns breathe sweets beyond compare,
And spring eternal bloom and flourish there!
Your honor'd tutors, now a slighted race,
And gave them all a parent's power and place!" Gifford.
[387] Rufus, according to the old Schol., was a native of Gaul. Grangæus calls him Q. Curtius Rufus, and says nothing more is known of him than that he was an eminent rhetorician. He is here represented as charging Cicero with barbarisms or provincialisms, such as a Savoyard would use.
[388] Enceladus. Nothing is known of him.
[389] Palæmon. Vid. ad vi., 451.
[390] Cadurci. Cf. vi., 537.
[391] Non pereat.
"Yes, suffer this! while something's left to pay
Your rising, hours before the dawn of day;
When e'en the lab'ring poor their slumbers take,
And not a weaver, not a smith's awake." Gifford.
[392] Cognitione Tribuni. Not a tribune of the people, but one of the Tribuni Ærarii, to whom the cognizance of such complaints belonged.
[393] Historias. Tiberius was exceedingly fond of propounding to grammarians, a class of men whom he particularly affected (quod genus hominum præcipuè appetebat), questions of this nature, to sound their "notitia historiæ usque ad ineptias atque derisum." Cf. Suet., Tib., 70, 57.
[394] Nutricem. The names of these two persons are said to have been Casperia and Tisiphone.
[395] Aurum. i. e., 5 aurei, the highest reward allowed to be given. The aureus, which varied in value, was at this time worth 25 denarii; a little more than 16 shillings English. Cf. Mart., x., Ep. lxxiv., 5.