[739] In armis.
"Then all their wealth was on their armor spent,
And war engross'd the pride of ornament." Hodgson.
[740] Lividulus.
"Yet justly worth your envy, were your breast
But with one spark of noble spleen possess'd." Gifford.
[741] Præsentior. Cf. iii., 18, "Quanto præsentius esset Numen aquæ." Virg., Ec., i., 42, "Nec tam præsentes alibi cognoscere Divos." Georg., i., 10, "Præsentia Numina Fauni." Hor., iii., Od. v., 2, "Præsens Divus habebitur Augustus."
[742] Vox. "M. Cædicius de plebe nunciavit tribunis, se in Novâ Viâ, ubi nunc sacellum est, suprà sedem Vestæ vocem noctis silentio audîsse clariorem humanâ quæ magistratibus dici juberet 'Gallos adventare.'" "Invisitato atque inaudito hoste ab oceano terrarumque ultimis oris bellum ciente." Liv., v., 32, 3, 7, 50. Cic., de Div., ii., "At paullo post audita vox est monentis ut providerent ne a Gallis Roma caperetur: ex eo Aio loquenti aram in novâ viâ consecratam." Cf. Plut. in Vit. Camill.
[743] Fictilis. Cf. Sen., Ep. 31, "Cogita illos quum propitii essent fictiles fuisse."
[744] Arbore. Cf. Mart., xiv., Ep. xc., "Non sum crispa quidem nec sylvæ filia Mauræ, sed nôrunt lautas et mea ligna dapes." Cf. Sat. i., 75, 137; iv., 132. The extravagance of the Romans on their tables is almost incredible. Pliny says that Cicero himself, who accuses Verres of stealing a Citrea mensa from Diodorus (in Verr., iv., 17), gave a million of sesterces for one which was in existence in his time. A "Senatoris Census" was a price given. These tables were not provided with several feet, but rested on an ivory column (sometimes carved into the figure of animals), hence called monopodia. They were called "Orbes," not from being round, but because they were massive plates of wood cut off the stem in its whole diameter. The wood of the citrus was most preferred. This is not the citron-tree, which never attains to this bulk, but a tree found in Mauritania, called the thyæ cypressides. Plin., xiii., 16. Those cut near the root were most valued from the wood being variegated: hence "Tigrinæ, pantherinæ, pavonum caudæ oculos imitantes." The mensæ were formerly square, but were afterward round to suit the new fashion of the Sigma couch. The Romans also understood the art of veneering tables and other furniture with the citrus wood and tortoise-shell.
[745] Porta Syenes. Syene, now "Assouan," is situated near the rapids, just on the confines of Ethiopia. It was a station for a Roman garrison, and the place to which Juvenal is said to have been banished. Some think the island Elephantine is here meant. Cf. ad x., 150, "aliosque Elephantos."
[746] Mauro. Ab ἀμαυρός, vel μαυρός, "obscurus." Cf. Lucan., iv., 678, "Concolor Indo Maurus."