Note 55 — A. PERSIUS FLACCUS

invigilat: ‘rather tautological after insomnis. Nec capiat somnos invigiletque malis, Ov., Fast., 4, 530’ (Conington). Positive and negative sides of an action are more frequently combined in Latin and Greek than in English, and ‘sleepless vigil’ would not be strange even in English.—siliquis: ‘pulse.’ Hor., Ep., 2, 1, 123: vivit [vates] siliquis et pane secundo.—grandi polenta: ‘mighty messes of porridge;’ coarse, thick stuff (Macleane). ‘Polenta, ἄλφιτα, “pearl barley,” a Greek, not a Roman dish (Plin., H. N., 18, 19, 28), mentioned as a simple article of diet by Attalus, Seneca’s preceptor (Ep., 110, 18)’ (Conington, after Jahn).