Note 1891 — BOOK XXVIII.

To whom these vituperative alliterations (vatia, vatrax, vatricosus) are applied is uncertain. The Fabian gens are most probably alluded to. The reading "verrucosus," therefore, has been suggested, to identify the person with the great Fabius Cunctator. (Aur. Vict., Vir. Ill., 43.) But this violates the metre, and still leaves the two other epithets unaccounted for. Three famous men of the gens had the prænomen Quintus, Æmilianus, his son Allobrogicus, and his grandson. Gerlach considers the last to be the object of the Satire, as his profligacy and licentiousness were notorious. Cf. Val. Max., III., v., 2.