[1579] Bello secundo, i. e., the Second Punic War (from B.C. 218-201), a period pre-eminently rich in great men. Not to mention their great generals, Marcellus, Scipio, etc., this age saw M. Porcius Cato; the historians Fabius Pictor and Cincius Alimentus; the poets Livius Andronicus, Ennius, Nævius, Pacuvius, Plautus, etc.; and among the Greeks, Archimedes, Chrysippus, Eratosthenes, Carneades, and the historians Zeno and Antisthenes.
[1580] Sententia dia. Hor., i., Sat. ii., 31, "Macte Virtute esto, inquit sententia dia."
[1581] Prisci Catonis. Priscus is, as Dusa shows on the authority of Plutarch, not the epithet, but the name of Cato, by which he was distinguished. So Horace, iii. Od., xxi., 11, "Narratur et Prisci Catonis sæpe mero caluisse virtus." (But cf. Hor., ii., Ep. ii., 117.)
[1582] Catonis. Both Horace and Sulpicia have imitated Lucilius, "Valerî sententia dia." Fr. incert., 105.
[1583] Staret. Nasica, as Sallust tells us, in spite of Cato's "Delenda est Carthago," was always in favor of the preservation of Carthage; as the existence of the rival republic was the noblest spur to Roman emulation.
[1584] Defendere. Livy shows throughout, that the only periods of respite from intestine discord were under the immediate pressure of war from without. The particular allusion here is probably to the time of Hannibal. So Juv., vi., 286, seq., "Proximus Urbi Hannibal et stantes Collinâ in turre mariti." Liv., xxvi., 10. Sil. Ital., xii., 541, seq. Sallust has the same sentiment, "Metus hostilis in bonis artibus civitatem retinebat." Bell. Jug., 41.
[1585] Convenit. The next four lines are hopelessly corrupt. The following emendations have been adopted: domus arxque movetur for Arce Monetæ: pax secura for apes secura: laborum for favorum: patresque for mater, or the still older reading, frater; of which last Dusa says, "Neque istud verbum emissim titivillitio."
[1586] Exitium pax. Juv., vi., 292, "Sævior armis Luxuria incubuit victumque ulciscitur orbem." Compare the beautiful passage in Claudian (de Bell. Gild., 96), "Ille diu miles populus qui præfuit orbi," etc.
[1587] Romulidarum. Cf. ad Pers., i., 31.
[1588] Smyrna peribat. Smyrna was attacked by Gyges, king of Lydia, but resisted him with success. It was compelled, however, to yield to his descendant, Alyattes, and in consequence of this event, it sunk into decay and became deserted for the space of four hundred years. Alexander formed the project of rebuilding the town in consequence of a vision. His design was executed by Antigonus and Lysimachus. Vid. Herod., i., 14-16. Paus., Bœot., 29. Strabo, xiv., p. 646. (An allusion to Phocæa or Teos would have been more intelligible. Cf. Herod., i., 165, 168. Hor., Epod. xvi., 17.) The next three lines are corrupt: the reading followed is, "Vel denique quid vis: Te, Dea, quæso illud tantum."