Note 5, 141 — A. PERSIUS FLACCUS (continued 3)

141. Ocius ad navem: It matters not who says this: ‘Off to the ship this instant.’ We are on the wharf, where such cries are in the air; but if we must assign them to somebody, they are best assigned to the master, who hurries the slaves on board.—quin: G., 551,1; A., 70, 4, g.—trabe vasta: ‘mammoth ship.’ The man’s greed is indicated by the size of the ship, as contrasted with the slenderness of his personal equipment. Vastum Aegaeum, another reading, would be an epithet wasted, a rare extravagance in Persius.