Note 30 — A. PERSIUS FLACCUS

pavido: variously interpreted of the fear—1. Which an entrance on life breeds; 2. Which requires the protection of the praetexta; 3. Which the rule of tutors and governors inspires. The third view is favored by blandi comites, as Conington remarks. Comp. Mart., 11, 39, 2: et pueri custos assiduusque comes with v. 6: te dispensator, te domus ipsa pavet.—custos purpura: ‘the guardian purple.’ Purpura = praetexta, the dress of boyhood, which was of itself a protection. This was exchanged for the toga when the nonage was over. Per hoc inane purpurae decus precor, Hor., Epod., 5, 7.—mihi: If cessit is taken absolutely, mihi may depend on the predicative notion in custos = quae mihi custos fuerat. Casaubon explains, mihi cessit, ut iam annis maiori vel etiam ut hosti. It seems best to combine the two: ‘When the purple resigned its dreaded guardianship over me.’