[1464] Melicerta was the son of Ino, who leaped with him into the sea, to save him from her husband Athamas. Neptune, at the request of Venus, changed them into sea-deities, giving to Ino the name of Leucothea, and to Palæmon that of Melicerta, or, according to others, Portunus (à portu, as Neptunus, à nando). Vid. Ov., Met., iv., 523, seq. Fast., vi., 545. Milton's Lycidas,
"By Leucothea's golden bands,
And her son that rules the sands."
[1465] Frontem. See note on Sat. i., 12. Hor., ii., Ep. i., 80, "Clament periisse pudorem cuncti."
[1466] In luto fixum. From Hor., i., Ep. xvi., 63, "Quî melior servo qui liberior sit avarus. In triviis fixum cum se demittat ob assem." The boys at Rome used to fix an as tied to a piece of string in the mud, which they jerked away, with jeers and cries of "Etiam!" as soon as any sordid fellow attempted to pick it up. Mercury being the god of luck (see note on ii., 44; Hor., ii., Sat. iii., 25), Persius uses the term "Mercurial saliva" for the miser's mouth watering at the sight of the prize (vi., 62).—Glutto expresses the gurgling sound made in the throat at the swallowing of liquids.
[1467] Fronte politus. Hor., i., Ep. xvi., 45, "Introrsus turpem, speciosum pelle decorâ."
[1468] Vulpem. Hor., A. P., 437, "Nunquam te fallant animi sub vulpe latentes." Lysander's saying is well known, "Where the lion's skin does not fit, we must don the fox's."
[1469] Funemque reduco. Shakspeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act ii. sc. 1.
"I would have thee gone,
And yet no farther than a wanton's bird,
Who lets it hop a little from her hand,
Like a poor prisoner in his twisted gyves,
And with a silk thread plucks it back again."
[1470] Digitum exsere. The Stoics held that none but a philosopher could perform even the most trivial act, such as putting out the finger, correctly; there being no middle point between absolute wisdom and absolute folly: consequently it was beyond even the power of the gods to bestow upon a fool the power of acting rightly.
[1471] Litabis. See note on Sat. ii., 75.