[1247] Venosus is probably applied to the hard knotted veins that stand out on the faces and brows of old men. The allusion, therefore, is to the taste of the Romans of Persius' days, for the rugged, uncouth, and antiquated writing of their earlier poets. Nearly the same idea is expressed by the word verrucosa, "full of warts, hard, knotty, horny." Cicero mentions this play: "Quis Ennii Medeam, et Pacuvii Antiopam contemnat et rejiciat," de Fin., i., 2. The remainder of the line is a quotation from Pacuvius. The word ærumna was obsolete when Quintilian wrote.
[1248] Sartago. Juv., x., 64. Properly "a frying-pan," then used for the miscellaneous ingredients put into it; or, as others think, for the sputtering noise made in frying, to which Persius compared these "sesquipedalia verba." Casaubon quotes a fragment of the comic poet Eubulus, speaking of the same thing, Λοπὰς παφλάζει βαρβάρῳ λαλήματι, Πηδῶσι δ' ἰχθῦς ἐν μέσοισι τηγάνοις. "The dish splutters, with barbarous prattle, and the fish leap in the middle of the frying-pan." The word is said to be of Syriac origin.
[1249] Dedecus. The disgrace of corrupting the purity and simplicity of the Latin language, by the mixture of this jargon of obsolete words and phrases.
[1250] Trossulus was a name applied to the Roman knights, from the fact of their having taken the town of Trossulum in Etruria without the assistance of the infantry. It was afterward used as a term of reproach to effeminate and dissolute persons. The Subsellia are the benches on which these persons sit to hear the recitations. Exultat expresses the rapturous applause of the hearers. Hor., A. P., 430, "Tundet pede terram."
[1251] Nilne pudet? He now attacks those who, even while pleading in defense of a friend whose life is at stake, would aim at the applause won by pretty conceits and nicely-balanced sentences. Niebuhr, Lect., vol. iii., p. 191, seq.
[1252] Decenter is a more lukewarm expression of approbation than euge or belle, pulchre or benè.
[1253] Pedius Blæsus was accused of sacrilege and peculation by the Cyrenians: he undertook his own defense, and the result was, he was found guilty and expelled from the senate. Tac., Ann., xiv., 18.
[1254] Bellum hoc is the indignant repetition by Persius of the words of applause.
[1255] Ceves. "Does the descendant of the vigorous and warlike Romulus stoop to winning favor by such fawning as this?" Cevere is said of a dog. Shakspeare, K. Henry VIII., act v., sc. 2, "You play the spaniel, and think with wagging of your tongue to win me."
[1256] Pictum. Cf. ad Juv., xiv., 301, "Mersâ rate naufragus assem dum rogat et pictâ se tempestate tuetur."