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The Satires of Juvenal, Persius, Sulpicia, and Lucilius

Note 1727 — BOOK IX.

Lewis Evans translation

Panus is explained in two ways, as "tramæ involucrum," and as "tumor inguinis." Gerlach inclines to the latter interpretation. Schmidt supposes Lucilius to employ the metaphor of weaving to express the following sentiment: "as the outer surface of the woof is of little consequence if the inner part be good, so, provided a man's internal qualities, the virtues of his heart and head, are all that we can desire, it matters little what the outer integument is that shrouds this fair inside:" and that to this Horace alludes, ii., Sat. i., 63, "Lucilius ausus Primus in hunc operis componere carmina morem Detrahere et pellem nitidus quâ quisque per ora Cederet introrsum turpis." (Lucilii Satyrarum quæ de lib. ix. supersunt disposita, c. L. F. Schmidt, p. 40.) But Gerlach thinks that panus could not be used to express pellis.

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