FOOTNOTES:
[1511] Bruma. The learned Romans, who divided their time between business and study, used to begin their lucubrations about the time of the Vulcanalia, which were held on the 23d of August (x. Kal. Sept.), and for this purpose usually returned from Rome to their country houses. Pliny, describing the studious habits of his uncle, says (iii., Ep. 5), "Sed erat acre ingenium, incredibile studium, summa vigilantia. Lucubrare a Vulcanalibus incipiebat, non auspicandi causâ sed studendi, statim a nocte." So Horace, i., Ep. vii., 10, "Quod si bruma nives Albanis illinet agris, Ad mare descendet vates tuus et sibi parcet Contractusque leget." He gives the reason, ii., Ep. ii., 77, "Scriptorum chorus omnis amat nemus et fugit urbem." Cf. Juv., vii., 58. Plin., i., Ep. 9.
[1512] Basse. Cæsius Bassus, a lyric poet, said to have approached most nearly to Horace. Cf. Quint., Inst., X., i., 96. Prop., I., iv., 1. He was destroyed with his country house by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, in which Pliny the elder perished. Vid. Plin., vi., Ep. 16.
[1513] Vivunt, Casaubon explains by the Greek ἐνεργεῖν "to be in active operation."
[1514] Tetrico is spelt in some editions with a capital letter. The sense is the same, as the rough, hardy, masculine virtues of the ancient Romans were attributed to Sabine training and institutions. Tetricus, or Tetrica, was a hill in the Sabine district. Virg., Æen., vii., 712, "Qui Tetricæ horrentis rupes, montemque severum Casperiamque colunt." Liv., i., 18, "Suopte igitur ingenio temperatum animum virtutibus fuisse opinor magis; instructumque non tam peregrinis artibus quam disciplina tetricâ ac tristi veterum Sabinorum: quo genere nullum quondam incorruptius fuit." Ov., Am., III., viii., 61, "Exæquet tetricas licet illa Sabinas." Hor., iii., Od. vi., 38. Cic. pro Ligar., xi.
[1515] Vocum. Another reading is "rerum," which Casaubon adopts, and supposes Bassus to have been the author of a Theogony or Cosmogony. He is said, on the authority of Terentianus Maurus and Priscian, to have written a book on Metres, dedicated to Nero. Those who read "vocum," suppose that Persius meant to imply that he successfully transferred to his Odes the nervous words of the older dialects of his country.
[1516] Ligus ora. Fulvia Sisennia, the mother of Persius, is said to have been married, after her husband's death, to a native of Liguria, or of Luna. It was to her house that Persius retired in the winter.
[1517] Lunai portum. A line from the beginning of the Annals of Ennius. The town of Luna, now Luni, is in Etruria, but only separated by the river Macra (now Magra) from Liguria. The Lunai Portus, now Golfo di Spezzia, is in Liguria, and was the harbor from which the Romans usually took shipping for Corsica and Sardinia. Ennius therefore must have known it well, from often sailing thence with the elder Cato.
[1518] Cor Ennii. "Cor" is frequently used for sense. It is here a periphrasis for "Ennius in his senses." Quintus Ennius was born B.C. 239, at Rudiæ, now Rugge, in Calabria, near Brundusium, and was brought to Rome from Sardinia by Cato when quæstor there B.C. 204. He lived in a very humble way on Mount Aventine, and died B.C. 169, of gout (morbus articularis), and was buried in Scipio's tomb on the Via Appia. He held the Pythagorean doctrine of Metempsychosis, and says himself, in the beginning of his Annals, that Homer appeared to him in a dream, and told him that he had once been a peacock, and that his soul was transferred to him. The fragment describing this is extant. "Transnavit cita per teneras Caliginis auras (anima Homeri) visus Homerus adesse poeta. Tum memini fieri me pavum." [Cf. Hor., ii., Ep. i., 50. "Ennius et sapiens et fortis et alter Homerus, Ut critici dicunt, leviter curare videtur Quo promissa cadant et somnia Pythagorea." Tertull., de An., 24, "Pavum se meminit Homerus, Ennio Somniante.">[ The interpretation in the text seems the most reasonable. Others take quintus as a numeral adjective, and explain the meaning to be, that the soul of a peacock transmigrated first into Euphorbus, then into Homer, then into Pythagoras, and then into Ennius, who was consequently fifth from the peacock.
[1519] Auster, the Sirocco of the modern Italians, was reckoned peculiarly unwholesome to cattle. Cf. Virg., Georg., i., 443, "Urget ab alto Arboribusque satisque Notus pecorique sinister." 462, "Quid cogitet humidus Auster." Ecl., ii., 58. Tibul., I., i., 41. Hor., ii., Sat. vi., 18, "Nec mala me ambitio perdit nec plumbeus Auster, Auctumnusque gravis, Libitinæ quæstus acerbæ." ii., Od. xiv., 15. Some derive the name from "Ardeo," others from αὐὼ, "to parch or burn up:" so Austerus, from αὐστηρός.
[1520] Angulus. Hor., ii., Sat. vi., 8, "Oh! si angulus ille proximus accedat qui nunc denormat agellum."
[1521] Senio. "The premature old age brought on by pining at another's welfare." So Plautus, "Præ mærore adeo miser æquè ægritudine consenui." Cf. Capt., I., ii., 20. Truc., ii., 5, 13.
[1522] Naso tetigisse. "I will not become such a miser as to seal up vapid wine, and then closely examine the seal when it is again produced, to see whether it is untouched." Cf. Theophr. π. αἰσχροκερδ. So Cicero says, "Lagenas etiam inanes obsignare." Fam., xiv., 26.
[1523] Horoscope. Properly, "the star that is in the ascendant at the moment of a person's birth, from which the nativity is calculated." Persius has just ridiculed the Pythagoreans, he now laughs at the Astrologers. Whatever they may say, twins born under exactly the same horoscope, have widely different characters and pursuits. "Castor gaudet equis—ovo prognatus eodem Pugnis." Hor., ii., Sat. i., 26. Cf. Diog. Laert., II., i., 3.
[1524] Muria. Either a brine made of salt and water, or a kind of fishsauce made of the liquor of the thunny. Every word is a picture. "He buys his sauce in a cup; instead of pouring it over his salad, he dips the salad in it, and then scarcely moistens it: he will not trust his servant to season it, so he does it himself; but only sprinkles the pepper like dew, not in a good shower, and as sparingly as if it were some holy thing." Cf. Theophr., π. μικρολογ, καὶ ἀπαγορεῦσαι τῇ γυναικὶ, μήτε ἅλας χρωννύειν μήτε ἐλλύχνιον, μήτε κύμινον, μήτε ὀρίγανον, μήτε οὐλὰς, μήτε στεμματα, μήτε θυηλήματα· ἀλλὰ λέγειν, ὅτι τὰ μικρὰ ταῦτα πολλά ἐστι τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ. Hor., i., Sat. i., 71, "Tanquam parcere sacris cogeris." ii., Sat. iii., 110, "Metuensque velut contingere sacrum."
[1525] Turdarum. So the best MSS. and the Scholiasts read, and Casaubon follows. Varro, L. L., viii., 38, says the feminine form is not Latin. The "turdus" (Greek κίχλη), probably like our "field-fare," was esteemed the greatest delicacy by the Greeks and Romans. In the Nubes of Aristophanes, the λόγος δίκαιος says, "In former days young men were not allowed οὐδ' ὀψοφαγεῖν, οὐδὲ κιχλίζειν." (Ubi vid. Schol.; but cf. Theoc., Id., xi., 78, cum Schol.) To be able to distinguish the sex of so small a bird by the flavor would be the acme of Epicurism. Hor., i., Ep. xv., 41, "Cum sit obeso nil melius turdo." Mart., xiii., Ep. 92, "Inter aves turdus, si quis me judice certet, Inter quadrupedes mattya prima lepus." Cf. Athen., ii., 68, D.
[1526] Prendit amicus. From Hom., Od., v., 425, τόφρα δέ μιν μέγα κῦμα φέρε τρηχεῖαν ἐπ' ἀκτήν· ἔνθα κ' ἀπὸ ῥινοὺς δρύφθη, σὺν δ' ὀστέ' ἀράχθη, and 435. Virg., Æn., vi., 360. Cf. Palimirus," Prensantemque uncis manibus capita ardua montis."
[1527] Ingentes de puppe dei. The tutelary gods were placed at the stern as well as the stem of the ship. Cf. Æsch., S. Theb., 208. Virg., Æn., x., 170, "Aurato fulgebat Apolline puppis." Ov., Trist., I., x., l. Hor., i., Od. xiv., 10. Acts, xxviii., 11. Catull., I., iv., 36. Eurip., Hel., 1664.
[1528] Mergis. Cf. Hom., Od., v., 337. The Mergus (αἴθυια of the Greeks) is put for any large sea-bird. Hor., Epod. x., 21, "Opima quodsi præda curvo litore porrecta mergos juveris."
[1529] Pictus oberret. Cf. ad Juv., xiv., 302, "Pictâ se tempestate tuetur." xii., 27.
[1530] Sed. "But perhaps you will object," etc. He now ridicules the folly of those who deny themselves all the luxuries and even the necessaries of life, in order to leave behind a splendid inheritance to their heirs. "Quum sit manifesta phrenesis Ut locuples moriaris egenti vivere fato." Juv., xiv., 186. Cf. Hor., ii., Ep. ii., 191, "Utar, et ex modico quantum res poscet acervo Tollam, nec metuam quid de me judicet hæres Quod non plura datis invenerit." i., Ep. v., 13, "Parcus ob hæredis curam, nimiumque severus assidet insano." ii., Od. xiv., 25.
[1531] Bestius, from Hor., i., Ep. xv., 37, "Diceret urendos corrector Bestius." Probably both Horace and Persius borrowed from Lucilius. Weichert, P. L., p. 420.
[1532] Maris expers. Hor., ii., Sat. viii., 15, "Chium maris expers," which is generally interpreted to mean that Nasidienus set before his guests wine which he called Chian, but which in reality had never crossed the seas, being made at home. It may be put therefore for any thing "adulterated, not genuine." Another interpretation is, "effeminate, emasculate, void of manly vigor and energy," from the supposed enervating effect of Greek philosophy on the masculine character of the Romans of other days. A third explanation is, "that which has experienced the sea," from the active sense of expers, and therefore is simply equivalent to "foreign, or imported." Casaubon seems to incline to the latter view.
[1533] Sapere. So "Scire tuum," i., 27 and 9, "Nostrum illud vivere triste." In the indiscriminate hatred of all that was Greek, philosophy and literature were often included.
[1534] Laurus. After a victory, the Roman soldiers saluted their general as Imperator. His lictors then wreathed their fasces, and his soldiers their spears, with bays, and then he sent letters wreathed with bays (literæ laureatæ) to the senate, and demanded a triumph. If the senate approved, they decreed a thanksgiving (supplicatio) to the gods. The bays were worn by himself and his soldiers till the triumph was over. (Branches of bay were set up before the gate of Augustus, by a decree of the senate, as being the perpetual conqueror of his enemies. Cf. Ov., Trist., III., i., 39.) These letters were very rare under the emperors, vid. Tac., Agric., xviii., except those sent by the emperors themselves. Mart., vii., Ep. v., 3, "Invidet hosti Roma suo veniat laurea multa licet." Caligula's mock expedition into Germany (A.D. 40) is well known. The account given by Suetonius tallies exactly with the words of Persius. "Conversus hinc ad curam triumphi præter captivos ac transfugas barbaros, Galliarum quoque procerissimum quemque et ut ipse dicebat ἀξιοθριαμβευτον legit ac seposuit ad pompam; coegitque non tantum rutilare et submittere comam, sed et sermonem Germanicum addiscere et nomina barbarica ferre." Vid. Domit., c. xlvii. Cf. Tac., German., xxxvii. (Virg., Æn., vii., 183. Mart., viii., Ep. xxxiii., 20.)
[1535] Exossatus ager. Among the Romans it was esteemed a great disgrace for a legatee to refuse to administer to the estate of the testator. Persius says, "even though you refuse to act as my heir, I shall have no great difficulty in finding some one who will. Though I have spent large sums in largesses to the mob, and in honor of the emperor, I have still a field left near the city, which many would gladly take." Such is unquestionably the drift of the passage; but "exossatus" is variously explained. It literally means that from which the bones have been taken: vid. Plaut., Aul., II., ix., 2, "Murænam exdorsua, atque omnia exossata fac sient." Amph., I., i., 163. So Lucr., iv., 1267. Ter., Ad., III., iv., 14. As stones are "the bones of the earth" (Ov., Met., i., 393, "Lapides in corpore terræ ossa reor"), it may mean "thoroughly cleared from stones;" or, as Casaubon says, so thoroughly exhausted by constant cropping, that the land is reduced to its very bones (as Juv., viii., 90, "Ossa vides regum vacuis exhausta medullis"). "Yet even this field, bad as it is, some terræ filius may be found to take." Juxta is generally explained "near Rome," and therefore parted with last. D'Achaintre takes it with exossatus in the sense of "almost."
[1536] Bovillæ, a village on the Via Appia, no great distance from Rome; hence called Suburbanæ, by Ovid (Fast., iii., 667) and Propertius (IV., i., 33). Here Clodius was killed by Milo. Like Aricia, it was infested by beggars. (Cf. Juv., iv., 117, "Dignus Aricinos qui mendicaret ad axes.") Hence the proverb "Multi Manii Ariciæ."
[1537] Virbii clivum, a hill near Aricia, by the wood sacred to Diana Nemorensis. It took its name from Hippolytus, son of Theseus, who was worshiped here under the name of Virbius (bis vir) as having been restored by Æsculapius to life. Cf. Ov., Met., xv., 543. Virg., Æn., vii., 760-782. There was also a hill within the walls of Rome called by this name (cf. Liv., i., 48, where, however, Gronovius reads Orbii), near the Vicus Sceleratus.
[1538] Lampada. The allusion is to the Torch-race λαμπαδηφόρια at Athens. There were three festivals of this kind, according to Suidas, the Panathenæan, Hephæstian, and Promethean. In the latter they ran from the altar of Prometheus through the Ceramicus to the city. The object of the runners in these races was to carry a lighted torch to the end of their courses. But the manner of the running is a disputed point among the commentators. Some say three competitors started together, and he that carried his torch unextinguished to the goal was victorious. Others say the runners were stationed at different intervals, and the first who started gave up his torch at the first station to another, who took up the running, and in turn delivering it to a third; and to this the words of Lucretius seem to refer, ii., 77, "Inque brevi spatio mutantur sæcla animantúm Et quasi cursores vitaï lampada tradunt." Others again think that several competitors started, but one only bore a torch, which, when wearied, he delivered to some better-winded rival; which view is supported by Varro, R. R., iii., 16, "In palæstra qui tædas ardentes accipit, celerior est in cursu continuo quam ille qui tradit: propterea quod defatigatus cursor dat integro facem." Cic., Heren., 4. The explanations of this line consequently are almost as various. Prate, the Delphin editor, supposes that Persius' heir was a man farther advanced in years than Persius himself. Gifford explains it, "You are in full health, and have every prospect of outstripping me in the career of life; do not then prematurely take from me the chance of extending my days a little. Do not call for the torch before I have given up the race:" and sees in it a pathetic conviction of Persius' own mind, that his health was fast failing, and that a fatal termination of the contest was inevitable and not far remote. D'Achaintre thinks, with Casaubon, that "qui prior es" means, "You are my nearer heir than the imaginary Manius, why therefore do you disturb yourself? Receive my inheritance, as all legacies should be received, i. e., as unexpected gifts of fortune; as treasures found on the road, of which Mercurius is the supposed giver. I am then your Mercury. Imagine me to be your god of luck, coming, as he is painted, with a purse in my hand." Cf. Hor., ii., Sat. iii., 68.
[1539] Dicta paterna. Not "the precepts of my father," because Persius' father was dead; but such as fathers give, inculcating lessons of thrift and money-getting; as Hor., i., Ep. i., 53, "Virtus post nummos—hæc recinunt juvenes dictata senesque." Cf. Juv., xiv., 122.
[1540] Vago. Cf. Varr. ap. Non., i., 223, "Spatale eviravit omnes Venerivaga pueros."
[1541] Trama is the "warp," according to some interpretations, the "woof," according to others. The metaphor is simply from the fact, that when the nap is worn off the cloth turns threadbare; and implies here one so worn down that his bones almost show through his skin.
[1542] Popa venter. With paunch so fat that he looks like a "popa," "the sacrificing priest," who had good opportunities of growing fat from the number of victims he got a share of; and therefore, like our butchers, grew gross and corpulent. Popa is also put for the female who sold victims for sacrifice, and probably had as many chances of growing fat. The idea of the passage is borrowed from Hor., ii., Sat. iii., 122.
[1543] Plausisse, either in the sense of jactâsse, "to praise their good qualities," or, "to clap them with the hand, to show what good condition they are in." Cf. Ov., Met., ii., 866, "Modo pectora præbet virgineâ plaudenda manu." Others read "pavisse," "clausisse," and "pausasse." (Cf. Sen., Epist. lxxx., 9.)
[1544] Catasta, from κατάστασις, "a wooden platform on which slaves were exposed to sale," in order that purchasers might have full opportunity of inspecting and examining them. These were sometimes in the forum, sometimes in the houses of the Mangones. Cf. Mart., ix., Ep. lx., 5, "Sed quos arcanæ servant tabulata Catastæ." Plin., H. N., xxxv., 17. Tib., II., iii., 59, "Regnum ipse tenet quem sæpe coëgit Barbara gypsatos ferre catasta pedes." Persius recommends his miserly friend to condescend to any low trade, even that of a slave-dealer, to get money. Cappadocia was a great emporium for slaves. Cic., Post. Red., "Cappadocem modo abreptum de grege venalium diceres." Hor., i., Ep. vi., 39, "Mancipiis locuples eget æris Cappadocum rex." The royal property, consisting chiefly in slaves, was kept in different fortresses throughout the country. The whole nation might be said to be addicted to servitude; for when they were offered a free constitution by the Romans, they declined the favor, and preferred receiving a master from the hand of their allies. Strabo, xii., p. 540. After the conquest of Pontus, Rome and Italy were filled with Cappadocian slaves, many of whom were excellent bakers and confectioners. Vid. Plutarch v. Lucullus. Athen., i, p. 20; iii., 112, 3. Cramer, Asia Minor, ii., p. 121. Mart., vi., Ep. lxvii., 4.
[1545] Depunge. A metaphor from the graduated arm of the steelyard. Cf. v., 100, "Certo compescere puncto nescius examen." The end of the fourteenth Satire of Juvenal, and of the fifteenth Epistle of Seneca, may be compared with the conclusion of this Satire. "Congeratur in te quidquid multi locupletes possederunt: Ultra privatum pecuniæ modum fortuna te provehat, auro tegat, purpurâ vestiat, ... majora cupere ab his disces. Naturalia desideria finita sunt: ex falsâ opinione nascentia ubi desinant non habent. Nullus enim terminus falso est." Sen., Ep. xvi., 7, 8; xxxix., 5; ii., 5.
[1546] Chrysippi. This refers to the σωρειτικὴ ἀπορία of the Stoics, of which Chrysippus, the disciple of Zeno or Cleanthes, was said to have been the inventor. The Sorites consisted of an indefinite number of syllogisms, according to Chrysippus; to attempt to limit which, or to bound the insatiable desires of the miser, would be equally impossible. It takes its name from σῶρος, acerbus, "a heap:" "he that could assign this limit, could also affirm with precision how many grains of corn just make a heap; so that were but one grain taken away, the remainder would be no heap." Cf. Cic., Ac. Qu., II., xxviii. Diog. Laert., VII., vii. Hor., i., Ep. ii., 4. Juv., ii., 5; xiii., 184. Of the seven hundred and fifty books said to have been written by Chrysippus, and enumerated by Diogenes Laertius, not one fragment remains. His logic was so highly thought of, that it was said "that, had the gods used logic, they would have used that of Chrysippus."