[1812] Peniculamentum is a portion of the dress hanging down like a tail; perhaps like the "liripipes" of our ancestors. "Pendent peniculamenta unum ad quodque pedule." Ennius, Annal., lib. xi., ap. Nonium.
[1813] Cicero (Tusc. Qu., i., 44) quotes the passage from the Thyestes of Ennius: it is part of his imprecation against Atreus, "Ipse summis saxis fixus asperis evisceratus," etc. Vid. Enn., Frag. Bothe, p. 66, 11. Gerlach considers them to be the very words of Ennius, inserted in his Satire by Lucilius. Cicero's criticism is probably borrowed from Lucilius: it is in no measured terms: "Illa inania; non ipsa saxa magis sensu omni vacabant quam ille 'latere pendens' cui se hic cruciatum censet optare: quæ essent dura si sentiret; nulla sine sensu sunt."
[1814] Cf. Juv., i., 2, "Rauci Theseide Codri ... necdum finitus Orestes."
[1815] Gerlach supposes that Lucilius ridicules the folly of those poets who either write what is unintelligible, or whose effusions are spoiled by the indifference of the actors who personate their characters, in the same way as Horace, ii., Sat. iii., 106, "Si scalpra et formas non sutor emat."
[1816] Nonius explains cupiditas to be a milder form of cupído.
BOOK XX.
ARGUMENT.
Gerlach without hesitation pronounces the subject of this book to have been "the superstition of the lower orders, and the luxury of the banquets of the wealthy." There were, even in the days of Lucilius, many who could see through, and heartily despise, the ignorant superstition by which their fellow-men were shackled. Hence the famous saying of Cato, that he wondered how a soothsayer could look another of the same profession in the face without laughing. The 3d and 4th Fragments are probably part of the speech of some notorious epicure, who cordially detests the simplicity and frugality of ancient days; and the 6th may contain the fierce expression of his unmeasured indignation at any attempt to suppress or curtail the lavish munificence and luxurious self-indulgence of men like himself. The 6th, 7th, and 9th Fragments may also refer to the sumptuous banquets of the day.
1 These bugbears, Lamiæ, which the Fauni and Numas set up—at these he trembles, and sets all down as true.... Just as little children believe that all the statues of brass are alive and human beings, just so these men believe all these fables to be true, and think there is a heart inside these brazen statues.