Note 10 — A. PERSIUS FLACCUS

ebulliat: is slang. Comp. tam bonus Chrysanthus animam ebulliit, Petron., 42 (nos non pluris sumus quam bullae, ibid.); Sen., Apocolocynt., 4. Conington renders ‘go off.’ ‘Kick the bucket’ would be worthy of Persius. Ebulliat must be read ebulljat (G., 717). The best MSS. have ebullit, but such a Subjunctive would be more than doubtful (G., 191, 3; Neue, Formenl., 2, 339).—praeclarum funus: Either ‘that would be a grand funeral,’ or ‘that would be a corpse worth seeing.’ In the former case the man of prayer tries to salve his conscience by promising his uncle (comp. 1, 11) a ‘first-class funeral.’ Comp. funus egregie factum laudet vicinia, Hor., Sat., 2, 5, 105. In the latter, he is welcoming the death of the crabbed old man. For funus, in this connection, Jahn compares Prop., 1, 17, 8: haecine parva meum funus harena teget? The half-light of the passage is well suited to the paltering knavery of the prayer.