FOOTNOTES:
[1632] It is not known what the places are from which Lucilius meant to mark these distances. Nonius explains commodum by integrum, totum, "complete."
[1633] Gronovius supposes the harbor intended to be the Portus Alburnus. Varges says it is Pompeii, which was a little distance from the sea. Gerlach takes it to be Salernum itself: "and there you are at Salernum!"
[1634] This high-sounding line is supposed to be a parody of some of the "sesquipedalia verba" of Ennius. The place meant is Puteoli, now Pozzuoli, so called either from the mephitic smell of the water, or from the quantity of wells there. It became the great emporium of commerce, as Delos had been before, and hence was called Delos Minor. It was a Greek colony, and was called Dicæarcheia, from the strict justice with which its government was administered, or from the name of its founder. Plin., III., v., 9. Stat. Sylv., II., ii., 96, 110. Sil. Ital., viii., 534; xiii., 385.
[1635] Longe pro logitudine. Cf. Hor., i., Sat. v., 25, "Millia tum pransi tria repimus." What Horace says of his slow journey to Terracina, Lucilius had said of his tedious ascent to Setia. See next Fr.
[1636] Susque deque is properly applied to a thing "about which you are so indifferent that you do not care whether it is up or down." Cic., Att., xiv., 6, "de Octavio susque deque." Compare the Greek ἀδιαφορεῖ. A. Gell., xvi., 9. So "susque deque ferre," i. e., æquo animo, "to bear patiently."
Illud opus. Virg., Æn., vi., 129, "Hoc opus hic labor est," Setia, now Sezza, near the Pomptine marshes, on the Campanian hills. From its high position, Martial gives it the epithet "pendula:" xiii., Ep. 112, "Pendula Pomptinos quæ spectat Setia campos." The country round was a famous wine district. Cf. Plin., iii., 5, 5; xiv., 6, 8. Mart., vi., 86. Juv., v., 34; x., 27; xiii., 213. αἰγίλιποι. The Schol. on Hom., Il., ix., 15, explains this as "a cliff so high that even goats forsake it." Cf., Æsch., Supp., 794. But it more probably comes from λίπτομαι, than λείπομαι, therefore "eagerly sought by goats." Cf. Mart., xiii., Ep. 99.
[1637] Labosum for laboriosum.
[1638] Quartarius, "quia partem quartam questûs capiebant." "The mule-drivers were so called, because they received one fourth of the hire." Of course, as the animals were not their own, they were not very careful how they drove them; and hence might run foul of the cippi, which were either tomb-stones by the side of the road, or stones set to mark the boundaries of land. Cf. Juv., Sat. i., 171. Pers., i., 37. Hor., i., Sat. viii., 12.
[1639] Hor., i., Sat. vi., 105, "Mantica cui lumbos onere ulceret atque eques armos." Canterius (more correctly Cantherius), "a gelding."
[1640] The Promontory of Minerva, now P. di Campanella, is the southernmost extremity of the Bay of Naples, a short distance from the island of Capri.
[1641] The Portus Alburnus is the mouth of the river Silarus (now Selo), which separates Lucania from the district of the Picentini. The Mons Alburnus (now Alburno), from which it takes its name, stands near the junction of the Tanager (now Negro) with the Silarus. Virgil mentions this district as abounding in the gad-fly. Georg., iii., 146.
[1642] Palinurum (still called Capo Palinuro) is in Lucania, not far from the town of Velia, at the north of the Laus sinus, or Golfo di Policastra.
[1643] Messana, the ancient Zancle, still gives its name to the strait between it and Rhegium. The geological fact from which the latter derives its name (Rhegium, or ῥήγνυμι), is described, Virg., Æn., iii., 414, seq. Lipara (now Lipari) is the principal of the Æolian or Vulcanian Islands.
Phacelitis, from φάκελος, "a fagot." When Orestes made his escape with Pylades and Iphigenia from Taurica, he carried away with him the image of Artemis, inclosed for the purpose of concealment in a bundle of sticks. Hence her name, Phacelitis, or, according to the Latin form, Facelitis. This image he carried, according to one legend, to Aricia, near which was the grove of Diana Nemorensis; or, as others say, to Syracuse, where he built a temple and established her Cultus. Cf. Sil. Ital., xiv., 260.
[1644] Carchesium is, according to some, "the upper part of the Levantine sail," or "the lower part of the mast." Others explain it as "the cross-trees or tops of the mast, to which the sailors ascended to look out." Or it is "the hollow bowl-shaped top or truck of the mast, through which the halyards work." Hence its use as applied to a drinking-cup. (Virg., Georg., iv., 380. Athen., xi., c. 49. Müller's Archæol. of Art, § 299.) Catull., Pel. et Thet., 236. Liv., Andron. Fr. incert, 1, "Florem antlabant Liberi ex carchesiis."
[1645] Degrumor. Properly, "to mark out two lines crossing each other exactly at right angles." There was a point in the camp near the Prætorium, called Groma, at which four lines converged, which divided the camp into four equal portions.
[1646] Hor., i, Epist. ii, 29.
[1647] Purpura is properly the shell-fish from which the famous dye came. (Ostrum, cognate with ostrea.) The Peloris was a common kind of shell-fish, caught probably off Cape Pelorum, whence its name. Cf. Plin., xxxii, 9, 31. Hor., ii., Sat. iv., 32, "Muria Baiano melior Lucrina peloris." Mart., vi., Ep. xi., 5, "Tu Lucrina voras: me pascit aquosa Peloris." x., Ep. xxxvii., 9.
[1648] Cernuus is applied to one "who falls on his face." "In eam partem quâ cernimus." Virg., Æn., x., 894.
[1649] Brocchus ovat Lanius. The reading of Junius (cf. Virg., Æn., x., 500), probably part of the description of the street brawl. Brocchus is applied to one "with projecting mouth and teeth, like the jowl of a bull-dog."
[1650] Abundans. Ter., Phorm., I., iii., 11, "Amore abundas Antipho." This line either refers to an actual exhibition of gladiators, in Campania perhaps, or Lucilius applies the language of the arena to the street-fight. The Scholiast on Juvenal (iii., 158, ed. Jahn) says, the helmets of the gladiators were adorned with peacocks' feathers; others think the upper part of the helmet was so called, which the Samnis wore, and hence his opponent was denominated Pinnirapus.
[1651] Depôstus, "despaired of." So Virg., Æn., xii., 395, "Ille ut depositi proferret fata parentis."
[1652] Strictura is either "the mass of iron, generally in a glowing state, ready to be forged," or "the sparks that fly from the iron while it is being hammered." The line probably refers to Lipara, or one of the Vulcanian isles, where the Cyclops had their workshop. (Cf. Fr. 13.) Virgil uses the word also in describing the Cyclops, viii., 420, "Striduntque cavernis Stricturæ Chalybum et fornacibus ignis anhelat." Pers., ii., 66, "Stringere venas ferventis massæ."
[1653] Fundus seems to be here used almost like funditus; or it may mean "our firm solid basis."
[1654] Ad incita, from "in" and "cieo." A metaphor from chess, or some game resembling it (latrunculi or calculi), when one party has lost so many men that he has none more to move; or only in such a position that by the laws of the game they can not be moved (checkmated). The usual phrase is ad incitas. Lucilius is the only writer who uses the form ad incita.
[1655] Syrus was a common name for a slave, from his country, as Davus, "the Dacian," Geta, "the Goth," etc. Cf. Juv., viii., 159, "Obvius assiduo Syrophœnix udus amomo currit Idumeæ Syrophœnix incola portæ."