[95] The statement of the vitae, ‘ad mediam fere aetatem declamavit,’ may imply no more than that he continued his studies in private; but it must be observed that the usual meaning of declamare is ‘to attend college classes’; and the statement, in whatever way it is taken, must be looked upon as improbable.
[96] If the number I. is right, and this appears most likely. II. is the only other possible reading, and it must be noted that the second Dalmatian cohort was in Britain at the beginning of the second century, and probably had been there for a considerable time. Trib. in the inscription is a conjecture suggested by the vitae: praef., which is epigraphically possible, is preferred by some authorities.
[97] E. G. Hardy thinks that A.D. 87 was one of the years when duumviri quinquennales (appointed every five years) were elected in Aquinum, and hypothetically assigns Juvenal’s holding of the post to that year.
[98] C.I.L. vii. 1195.
[99] Cf. E. G. Hardy, ed. of Juvenal.
[100] Cf. E. G. Hardy, ibid.
[101] The reference in 4, 126, ‘De temone Britanno excidet Arviragus,’ proves nothing. It is the sort of reference that would be made by an Italian ignorant of Britain, and is, in fact, put into the mouth of one.
[102] The view that Sat. i. 33 sqq. refers to M. Aquilius Regulus, who died probably A.D. 105 (Pliny, Ep. i. 5, 14-15), is rejected by Friedländer ad loc.
[103] H. Nettleship (Journal of Philology, xvi., p. 45) points out that C. Vipstanus Apronianus and C. Fonteius Capito were consuls A.D. 59, and suggests that this may be the year meant. This would give A.D. 119 as the date of composition.
[104] The scholiast connects with 4, 37-8.