Note 40 — A. PERSIUS FLACCUS
Reading edition
artificem: Passive, arte factum, ‘artistic,’ ‘finished.’ The figure is of course taken from moulding in wax or clay.—ducit vultum: Comp. exigite ut teneros mores ceu pollice ducat | ut si quis cera vultum facit, Juv., 7, 237; only there the workman moulds, here the material. Transl. ‘take on,’ ‘assume,’ as in Ov., Met., 1, 402: saxa ducere formam (Jahn).—pollice: The thumb is largely used in moulding. See Juv., l.c., and Ov., Met., 10, 285; Stat., Achill., 1, 332, quoted by Jahn.