Book 1 — SATIRES.—BOOK I.

SATIRE I.

The professed purpose of this Satire, or that with which Horace seems to have begun, may be gathered from the first two lines. Discontent with the condition that Providence had assigned them; disappointment with the position many years’ labor, and perhaps dishonesty, have gained them; envy of their neighbors’ circumstances, even if they be worse than their own; dissatisfaction, in short, with what they have and are, and craving for something they have not and are not,—these are features common to the great majority of men. For this vice of discontent the Greeks had a comprehensive name, μεμψιμοιρία. It will be seen that, after propounding the whole subject in the shape of a question to Mæcenas, Horace confines himself to one solution of it, and that not the most comprehensive (see notes on vv. 28, 108). Avarice is the only reason he assigns for the universal disease, and any one will see that hereby he leaves many untouched who are as culpably restless as the avaricious, but not in their sordid way.

The Satire is put first in the order of this book, not as an introduction (of which it bears no signs), but because it is addressed to Mæcenas.

1. quam sibi sortem] See note on C. i. 9. 14, as to ‘sors’ and ‘fors.’ These two are opposed, as effect and cause, the condition and that which produces it. ‘Fors’ and ‘ratio’ are opposed as that which a man cannot help, and that which he carves out for himself. ‘Fors’ is ‘accident,’ ‘ratio’ is ‘choice.’

3. laudet] This sense of ‘laudare,’ ‘felicem praedicare,’ μακαρίζειν is repeated below, v. 9, and in v. 109, where it occurs in combination with, and as equivalent to, ‘probare.’ So Cicero (De Am. c. 7) says: “Ex quo illorum beata mors videtur, horum vita laudabilis.”

laudet diversa sequentes?] This is briefly expressed, for ‘sed quisque laudet.’ In the transition from negative to positive statements, the positive element which is contained in the former is often carried on in the mind, so as to affect the latter, as in those sentences which are coupled by ‘nec’ and ‘et,’ οὔτε and τε. ‘Nemo vivit’ is ‘quisque non vivit’. ‘Diversa’ indicates, not merely different, but ‘opposite’ careers.

4. gravis annis] Virgil says (Aen. ix. 246): “Hic annis gravis atque animi maturus Aletes.” And ‘gravis’ is one of the commonest words applied to old age, as may be gathered from Cicero’s treatise De Senect.; and βαρύς is equally common in the same connection. Horace, in his own campaigning, had undoubtedly heard many a veteran grumbling at his condition.

7. Quid enim, concurritur:] See C. ii. 18. 23, n.

horae Momento] ‘Horae momento’ is a common phrase in Livy and other writers. Horace has below, ‘puncto mobilis horae.’ ‘Punctum’ is perhaps a little more precise than ‘momentum,’ which signifies the progress of time, though conventionally its smallest division. Pliny draws a distinction between them (Panegyr. iv. c. 56): “Quod momentum, quod immo temporis punctum aut beneficio sterile aut vacuum laude?”

9. juris legumque peritus] ‘Jurisperiti,’ ‘jurisconsulti,’ were persons who expounded the law. Their expositions were called ‘responsa,’ and they gave them gratuitously. They were distinct from the professors or teachers (‘advocati’) and others, who were paid for their services, and from ‘oratores,’ though the ‘consultus’ sometimes combined with his calling as such that of the ‘orator’ or ‘patronus.’ If we are to believe this statement of Horace, and another to the same effect (Epp. ii. 1. 103), we must suppose that these learned persons sacrificed their own convenience to the anxiety of their clients, and received them at a very early hour in the morning. ‘Jus’ embodied all law. As to ‘leges,’ see Epp. i. 16. 41, n. On ‘laudat,’ see v. 3, n.

11. datis vadibus] ‘Vades’ were sureties provided by the defendant, to secure his appearance before the prætor at a time agreed upon between the plaintiff and himself. If he did not appear, he forfeited the amount of the ‘vadimonium’ or agreement, and his ‘vades’ were liable to pay it if he did not (see S. 9. 36, n.). The person here represented, therefore, is the defendant in an action, going up reluctantly to Rome, to appear before the prætor according to his agreement. ‘Ille’ is as if the man were before us.

14. Delassare valent] Though ‘delasso’ does not occur elsewhere, there is no reason to suspect the word, or alter it. The intensive force of ‘de’ is well added to ‘lasso.’ It corresponds to κατά, which has the same force. Who Fabius was, it is impossible even to conjecture with probability.

15. Si quis Deus,] This is not a Roman way of speaking but Greek, εἰ δαίμων τις. ‘En ego’ does not belong to ‘faciam,’ but is absolute: ‘Here am I.’ ‘Eia’ is an exclamation of haste, ‘Away!’ ‘Nolint,’ ‘they would not’ (οὐκ ἐθέλοιεν ἄν), is the apodosis to ‘si quis Deus.’ Compare S. ii. 7. 24. “Si quis ad illa deus subito te agat, usque recuses.” ‘Atqui’ is another form of ‘atquin,’ and ‘quin’ represents ‘qui,’ with a negative particle affixed.

18. partibus:] An expression taken from the language of the theatre: ‘the part you have to play’ in life.

21. Iratus buccas inflet,] An obvious, but not very reverential, representation of passion.

25. olim] See C. ii. 10. 17, n.

27. Sed tamen amoto] ‘Sed,’ ‘sed tamen,’ ‘veruntamen,’ are often used, and especially by Cicero, not to express opposition, but after a parenthesis or digression, as here and C. iv. 4. 22. See, for another instance among many, Cic. in Verr. ii. 3. 2.

28. Ille gravem] The cause of that discontent which was spoken of at the beginning is here traced to the love of money, each man thinking that his neighbor is getting it faster than he is, and wishing therefore to change places with him. But Horace does not mean that to be the only solution of the universal discontent. That would be absurd, and one at least of his own examples would contradict his theory, the jurisconsultus, who did not pursue his laborious vocation for pay. He therefore shifts or limits his ground a little, and dwells upon that which he supposes to be the most prevalent cause of discontent; and with his ground he changes his examples. ‘Nauta’ and ‘mercator’ here are the same person, the trader navigating his own ship. (See C. i. 28. 23.) ‘Perfidus caupo’ appears again in ‘cauponibus atque malignis’ (S. i. 5. 4). ‘Per omne Audaces mare qui currunt’ is repeated from C. i. 3. 9, sqq.

32. cibaria:] This word, which is generally used for the rations of soldiers or slaves, is used here ironically for the humblest provision that can be made for the latter years of life, as if that was all that these men set before their minds.

33. nam exemplo est,] ‘for this is their model.’

35. haud ignara ac non incauta futuri.] Experience tells her that times will change, and instinct teaches her to provide against that change; she knows what is coming, and provides accordingly. This is what Horace means; but the ant is torpid in the winter, and lays up no store in her house for that season, though no error is more common than to suppose she does. These animals work hard during the warmer months of the year, but the food they gather is consumed before the winter.

36. Quae, simul inversum] ‘Quae’ is opposed to ‘quum te’ (v. 38): ‘now she.’ ‘Inversum annum’ is compounded of the two notions ‘inversum caelum’ and ‘mutatum annum.’ The sun enters Aquarius in the middle of January. Virgil uses the word ‘contristat’ (Georg. iii. 279): “unde nigerrimus Auster Nascitur, et pluvio contristat frigore caelum.” The ant is one of the “four things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise,”—the ants, the conies, the locusts, and the spiders. (Prov. xxx. 24, sqq.)

39. ignis, mare, ferrum,] This is a mere proverbial way of speaking, common to all languages. No obstacles are too great for a man who has a selfish purpose to serve, if he has set his heart upon it. The second person is used to give force to the language. The self-deceiver is confronted with his own illustration.

43. Quod si comminuas] The miser is supposed to interrupt, and say, “But if you were to take from it, it would soon dwindle to a paltry ‘as.’” ‘Quod’ is always the neuter of the relative, but here, as often elsewhere, it is used to connect a new sentence with what precedes, and is not connected with ‘pondus’ as its antecedent.

45. Millia frumenti] ‘Modiorum’ must be supplied. As to ‘millia,’ ‘mille,’ see S. ii. 3. 197, n. On ‘area,’ see C. i. 1. 10, n. ‘Triverit,’ ‘suppose that it threshes.’ This is the concessive use of the subjunctive. The practice of putting a note of interrogation in such sentences as this is exploded. The older editions generally have it. Similar constructions are S. 10. 64, “Fuerit Lucilius inquam Comis et urbanus; fuerit limatior — sed ille,” etc.; S. 3. 15, “Decies centena dedisses:—quinque diebus nil erat in loculis”; S. ii. 6. 50; Epp. i. 1. 87; and many other places.

46. plus ac meus:] This construction occurs again, S. i. 6. 130; 10. 34, 59; ii. 3. 270. Cicero likewise uses ‘ac’ with the comparative (Ad Att. xiii. 2), “Diutius abfuturus ac nollem.” ‘Plus quam’ occurs immediately below. The scene that follows is that of a rich man’s household preceding him to the country, a pack of slaves (‘venales’), some carrying provisions and particularly town-made bread in netted bags (‘reticula’), and others with different burdens, and some with none at all. The man who carried the bread would not get any more of it on that account, when the rations were given out, but all would share alike.

49. Quid referat — viventi,] ‘Refert’ is ‘rem fert,’ and the construction ‘mea,’ ‘tua,’ etc.; ‘refert’ is no more than a corruption of ‘meam,’ ‘tuam,’ etc., ‘rem fert.’ So ‘magni refert’ is ‘rem magni fert,’ ‘it brings with it a matter of great price,’ and ‘refert viventi’ signifies ‘it brings something that concerns him who lives,’ that is, it affects him, and ‘quid refert’ is ‘wherein does it affect him?’

51. At suave est] ‘At’ introduces the supposed answer to the preceding question. A rejoinder immediately follows to this effect: “You might as well say, if you only wanted a pitcher of water, you had rather draw it from a broad stream, like the Aufidus, than from the little spring by your side. The consequence of which might be that you would be drowned.”

53. cumeris] Acron explains ‘cumera’ as a large basket of wicker-work, or earthen-ware vessel like a ‘dolium,’ in which the poorer sort kept their wheat.

54. liquidi] This word is used for ‘aqua’ by Ovid (Met. v. 454): “Cum liquido mixta perfundit diva polenta.” The ‘urna,’ one of the Roman liquid measures, contained half an ‘amphora,’ or twenty four ‘sextarii.’ As observed before (C. iii. 19. 14), the ‘cyathus’ contained one twelfth of a ‘sextarius,’ which was one forty-eighth of an ‘amphora.’

55. malim] ‘Malim’ simply means ‘I would rather’; ‘mallem’ (the reading of the early editions), ‘I would have done it if I could, but the time is past.’ The Aufidus (Horace’s native river, C. iii. 30. 10) is still described as a rapid and violent stream at some seasons.

61. bona pars] ‘The greater part’. A. P. 297: “Bona pars non ungues ponere curat.” On ‘cupido,’ see C. ii. 16. 15, n.

62. quia tanti quantum habeas sis.] ‘because you are valued according to your wealth.’

63. illi?] ‘Such a man as this.’ ‘Quatenus’ signifies ‘since.’ ‘Bid him be miserable, since he likes to be so.’ ‘Facio’ is sometimes used in this way. See C. iii. 24. 30. The story that follows may have been picked up by Horace at Athens, or invented by him. The language (‘sibilat — plaudo’) is taken from the theatre.

68. Tantalus] See Epod. xvii. 66, n.

69. Quid rides?] The miser is supposed to laugh at Horace’s trite illustration, and the solemn way in which it is announced.

71. tamquam parcere sacris] This appears to have been a proverbial expression. See S. ii. 3. 109, sq.

72. Cogeris] ‘you force yourself.’

74. sextarius,] See v. 54, n. A ‘sextarius’ of wine would be enough for one temperate man’s consumption in a day.

78. compilent fugientes,] ‘rob you, and run away.’

79. pauperrimus — bonorum.] C. iii. 30. 11: “Pauper aquae Daunus.” S. ii. 3. 142.

80. At si condoluit] This is an argument urged by the avaricious man: ‘If you have money, you will have anxious friends to nurse you in sickness.’ The answer is, ‘Your nearest relatives have no wish you should live, and no wonder either, since you prefer your money to all the world.’

tentatum frigore] ‘Tentatum’ is the word commonly used in connection with diseases.

85. pueri atque puellae.] This, which appears to be a proverbial sort of expression, occurs again S. ii. 3. 130.

86. argento post omnia ponas,] i.e. ‘postponas omnia argento.’

88. An si cognatos,] ‘But say, if you seek to retain and keep the affection of those relations whom nature gives you without any trouble of your own, would you lose your labor, like the luckless fool that tries to turn an ass into a racer?’ Training an ass to run in the Campus Martius among the thorough-bred horses that were there exercised (see C. i. 8. 5; iii. 12. 8) was perhaps a proverbial way of expressing lost labor. ‘Amicos’ belongs to ‘cognatos’ in the way I have translated it, and ‘servare amicos’ is ‘to keep them fond of you.’

92. quaerendi,] ‘money-getting.’ ‘Plus’ means ‘a superfluity.’

94. ne facias] ‘Lest you fare,’ μὴ πράσσης.

95. Ummidius quidam;] Who this person was, is unknown. All that can be safely said of him is what Horace says, that he was very rich and mean, and that he was murdered by one of his freedwomen (his mistress probably), who, Horace says, was as stout-hearted as Clytemnestra, the bravest of her family, who killed her husband Agamemnon. ‘Tyndaridarum’ is masculine: ‘Tyndaridum’ would be the feminine form. The sons of Tyndarus, therefore, as well as his daughters, should, strictly speaking, be included.

97. adusque] Forcellini gives only two other instances of this word from writings of Horace’s day,—Virgil (Aen. xi. 262), and Horace himself (S. i. 5. 96). It is only an inversion of ‘usque ad,’ ‘every step to.’

101. ut vivam Maenius?] The construction is the same as “discinctus aut perdam nepos” (Epod. i. 34), where it has been proposed to insert ‘ut’ before ‘nepos.’ Mænius and Nomentanus appear to have been squanderers of money, and good livers, according to the obvious meaning of this passage. They are united again in S. i. 8. 11, ii. 1. 21, where the former appears under the name Pantolabus, one who lays his hands on anything he can get (πάντα λαβών), or borrows money from any one who will lend it. He spent his money and turned parasite. Both Mænius and Nomentanus are names used by Lucilius for characters of the same kind, and Horace may very probably have only borrowed the names to represent some living characters, whom he does not choose to point out by their own names. Nomentanus was the name of one of the guests at the dinner of Nasidienus (S. ii. 8. 25). He appears again, S. ii. 3. 224, sqq.

103. Frontibus adversis componere:] These words go together, ‘to bring face to face, and compare or match.’

104. vappam] ‘Vappa,’ wine which has got flat and sour, expresses a worn-out debauchee: ‘nebulo,’ a frivolous fellow, light as a mist (‘nebula’).

105. Tanaïn — socerumque Visellî.] The Scholiast says that Horace has conveyed under these names a well-known Greek proverb. What the distinction between them may have been, is unknown.

108. nemo ut avarus] ‘I return to that point from which I have digressed, how that no covetous man is satisfied with himself.’ The reading is not certain, and the hiatus is unusual. Horace qualifies the general assertion he made at the outset, by limiting his remark to the avaricious. See note on v. 28; and on ‘laudet,’ see v. 3.

114. Ut, quum carceribus] These lines are a little like the last three verses of Virgil’s first Georgic.

119. Cedat uti conviva satur,] These are so like the words of Lucretius (iii. 951), that perhaps Horace remembered them when he wrote,—

“Cur non ut plenus vitae conviva recedis, Aequo animoque capis securam, stulte, quietem?”

120. Crispini scrinia lippi] We know nothing about Crispinus. The fertility of his pen has profited him nothing. He was more anxious to write much than to write well. See S. i. 4. 14, sqq. Crispinus appears in the third Satire of this book (v. 139), where he is the only attendant of the would-be ‘rex.’ He appears again in S. ii. 7. 45. ‘Lippi’ is used for mental blindness.

SATIRE II.

This Satire, the coarsest of all written by Horace, seems to have been suggested by the death of Tigellius, a celebrated musician of the time. It is directed against the tendency of men to run into extremes, and to pass from one extreme to the other. Illustrations of this subject are drawn from the social life of Rome. The ideas and the language are marked by a grossness which is unusual with Horace.

SATIRE III.

The last Satire was, as has been said, written on the death of one Tigellius, an eminent musician, a native of Sardinia, and a friend of Julius Cæsar. Some of the vices and follies of the age are attacked in strong language, and besides Tigellius, who was dead, it is probable many living persons felt injured by that Satire, and perhaps by others that have not come down to us. We may infer from the present poem, that Horace wished to clear himself from the imputation of a censorious spirit, and so to set himself right with Mæcenas and his friends. The connection between the two Satires is seen in the opening of this, in which Tigellius is again introduced, and the peculiarities of his character described, for no other reason, as it would seem, than to serve as a text for the discourse that follows, on the duty of judging others charitably, as we wish to be judged ourselves. In the course of his remarks on this subject, Horace falls upon two of the Stoic absurdities; one, that all faults are alike (v. 96, sqq.), which he meets by the Epicurean absurdity that expediency is the foundation of right; and the other, that every wise man (that is, every Stoic) is endowed with all the gifts of art and fortune, from the skill of the mechanic to the power of a king. With a jest upon this folly the Satire closes.

4. Tigellius] See Introduction. This person is described as a capricious, inconsistent man, of whom you never could tell what he would do next.

6. ab ovo Usque ad mala] The ‘promulsis,’ otherwise called ‘gustus,’ preceded the regular meal, and consisted of things calculated to provoke the appetite, of which a list is given in the eighth Satire of the second book, v. 8, sq., where, however, eggs are not mentioned, but they were usual, and ‘ab ovo usque ad mala,’ ‘from the eggs to the dessert,’ was a common way of speaking. The ‘gustus’ was eaten with a draught of ‘mulsum’ (S. ii. 2. 15, n.) sometimes before they sat down, or even before they left the bath.

7. citaret, Io Bacche!] This use of ‘citare,’ ‘to shout,’ is not common. There were convivial songs among the Greeks to which they gave the name ἰόβακχοι. Several fragments of such songs by Archilochus have been preserved. The final syllable in ‘Bacche’ is lengthened, and should properly be pronounced as the singer might be supposed to pronounce it.

modo summa] The strings in the tetrachord, or harp with four strings, which continued to be used even after the heptachord was invented (see A. P. 83, n.), from which the low notes proceeded, were uppermost as the player held it in his hand, and the notes of the voice which corresponded with these are expressed by ‘summa voce.’ For the same reason, the high notes would be those which harmonized with the lowest of the strings. The ‘summa chorda’ was called in Greek ὑπάτη, and the ‘ima’ νήτη. ‘Chordis’ is the dative case, the literal translation being, ‘that voice which is the lowest (where, for the above reason, those notes are called the lowest which we should call the highest), and that echoes to the four strings.’

11. Junonis sacra ferret;] This refers to the ‘canephoroe,’ damsels who carried the basket of sacred instruments on their head at sacrifices. Those of Juno are mentioned here; but the practice was observed at all sacrifices.

habebat saepe ducentos,] Ten slaves were a very small household for a rich man, and Tigellius was rich. The number of slaves in wealthy houses in primitive times was small, but afterwards grew to an extraordinary number.

12. modo reges atque tetrarchas,] ‘Modo,’ as an adverb of time, signifies ‘now,’ or some time not far from the present. It is the ablative of ‘modus,’ ‘measure,’ and ‘modo’ is ‘within measure,’ and therefore its sense is confined to limited quantities. Compare the use of ‘modo’ and ‘admodum’ in Terence (Hec. iii. 5. 8): “Advenis modo? Pam. Admodum.” ‘Are you coming now?—Just now.’ ‘Modo’ thus comes to have the meaning of ‘nunc,’ and to be used in the same combinations, as here ‘nunc reges — loquens; nunc, sit mihi mensa tripes’ would have the same meaning; and likewise in S. 10. 11. Tetrarchs were properly governors of a fourth part of a province or other territorial division; but the title was not so limited in practice. It was a title originally confined to the petty princes of Asia Minor; the Romans gave it to different members of Herod’s family, who succeeded to different parts of his dominions.

13. mensa tripes] This was the simplest and most old-fashioned shape, and the tables were small, only suited to a person dining by himself, or with one or two companions. The wealthy Romans were very extravagant about their tables. See S. ii. 2. 4, n. The salt-cellar was usually, except among the poorest sort, of silver, and an heirloom. It stood in the middle of the table, and had a sacred character. See C. ii. 16. 14. As to ‘concha,’ see C. ii. 8. 23, n. ‘Puri’ means ‘clean.’

15. Decies centena] ‘A million of sesterces,’—a common way of expressing the largest number. The sestertium was a sum of money equal to 1,000 sestertii, each sestertius being of the value of twopence and a very small fraction, of English money. After ‘centena’ must be understood ‘millia.’ On the construction, see above, S. 1. 45, n. ‘Erat’ is used in an uncommon way; ἦν ἄν would be the Greek equivalent. It is a loose, conversational way of speaking.

19. Nunc aliquis dicat mihi:] Here we leave Tigellius, and enter upon the subject of mutual charity in judging of each other.

20. Immo alia] Professor Key has given the precise meaning of ‘immo’ here (L. G. 1429): “‘Immo’ seems to have signified properly an assent with an important qualification.” This explanation is borne out by the etymology of the word, which is compounded of ‘in’ and ‘modo.’ The qualification is found in ‘et fortasse minora.’ Horace means to say, he admits he has his faults, though they may not be so glaring as those of Tigellius, and he is not so selfish and foolish as Mænius (see S. 1. 101 of this book), who reviled the man Novius behind his back, and, when told to look at his own faults, said he made excuses for himself which he would not make for others. Novius may be anybody: we know nothing about him. Whether he has any connection with the Novius mentioned in the sixth Satire of this book, v. 40, the plebeian tribune, or the usurer in v. 121 of the same Satire, it is impossible to say. ‘Dare verba’ means to give words in the place of facts, to deceive.

24. improbus] See C. iii. 24. 62, n. ‘Amor’ means ‘self-love.’ As to ‘notari,’ see S. 6. 14.

25. Cum tua pervideas] ‘While you see through your own faults, as well as a blear-eyed man sees with his eyes smeared with ointment.’

27. serpens Epidaurius?] The serpents of Epidaurus (on the Sinus Saronicus) were proverbial, in consequence of Æsculapius having been conveyed in the form of a serpent from that place, where above others he was worshipped, to Rome, to avert a pestilence. (See Liv. Epit. lib. xi.)

29. Iracundior est paulo,] Horace is illustrating here the tendency of those quick-sighted critics of their neighbors’ characters to magnify the faults they find. The first instance is of a man who is sensitive under (‘not suited for’) the sharp judgment of the men of that day (‘horum hominum’), men who had the keenness of a bloodhound’s scent in finding out defects, and no delicacy in proclaiming them. ‘Rusticius’ belongs to ‘tonso,’ and ‘defluit’ is absolute, ‘hangs down.’ ‘Male’ belongs to ‘laxus.’ (See v. 45, and C. i. 17. 25, n.) To be slipshod (μείζω τοῦ ποδὸς ὑποδήματα φορεῖν, Theophr. Char. 4) has always been the proverbial characteristic of a sloven. “Nec vagus in laxa pes tibi pelle natet” (Ovid, A. A. i. 516). ‘At’ is often repeated in the same way as here by Cicero.

34. hoc sub corpore.] He speaks as if the man were before him.

35. Concute] The metaphor is probably derived from the shaking of a cloak, or anything of that sort, to see if there is anything hid in it. It means ‘to search,’ as suspected persons are searched by the police. ‘Excutio’ is used in that connection. See Phædrus (Fab. v. 16):

“Sic porcelli vocem est imitatus sua Verum ut subesse pallio contenderent Et excuti juberent.”

37. Neglectis urenda filix] This has the appearance of a proverb. Virgil calls the fern “curvis invisam aratris.”

38. Illuc praevertamur,] ‘Before we go further, let us first turn our attention to this, namely, how lovers are blind to the faults of their mistresses.’ Balbinus and Hagna are persons unknown. The former is a Roman name. Hagna is derived from ἁγνή, ‘pure.’ The first syllable of ‘polypus’ is always long, though derived from πολὺς ποῦς, the Æolic form, πωλύς, being followed rather than the Attic.

42. nomen virtus posuisset] The Romans used ‘ponere nomen,’ after the Greek ὄνομα τιθέναι.

44. strabonem Appellat paetum] The difference between ‘strabo’ and ‘paetus’ is one only of degree; ‘strabo’ signifies ‘squinting’; ‘paetus,’ ‘a slight cast of the eye,’ which is by some considered a beauty, whence Venus had the epithet ‘paeta’ applied to her. Sisyphus was the name of a dwarf kept by M. Antonius. Dwarfs were kept by the rich to amuse them and play to them, for they were generally instructed in music. That ‘varus’ is a soft term for those who have bent legs, and ‘scaurus’ for one whose ankles are ricketty, we may gather from this passage. From ‘varus’ is derived ‘praevaricari,’ ‘to shuffle.’

49. frugi] See S. ii. 5. 77, n.

Ineptus] This word signifies want of tact. Cicero thus defines the word (De Or. ii. 4): “Qui aut tempus quid postulet non videt, aut plura loquitur aut se ostentat — aut denique in aliquo genere aut inconcinnus aut multus est, is ineptus dicitur.” Such a man’s failing is to be softened down, Horace says, into a wish to make himself agreeable to his friends. ‘Truculentior’ means coarse and approaching to brutality in his behavior. ‘Acres’ means ‘high-spirited.’

56. Sincerum cupimus vas incrustare.] ‘We are ready and even anxious to foul the clean vessel.’ This is the original meaning of ‘sincerus.’

57. multum demissus homo:] ‘Demissus’ is used in a bad sense: ‘a very abject fellow,’ ‘a driveller.’ Compare v. 147 of S. ii. 3, “multum celer atque fidelis”; “multum similis metuenti” (S. ii. 5. 92).

58. Tardo cognomen] ‘Another because he is slow we call fat, lazy.’ The dative ‘pingui’ is correct, as “cui nunc cognomen Iulo Additur” (Aen. i. 267). It is the common construction, in prose as well as poetry, to put the name in the dative.

59. malo] This is masculine: he lays himself open to no malignant person, gives him no handle. ‘Hoc genus vitae’ means men who live on the principles of the present day; like ‘horum hominum’ (v. 30).

63. Simplicior quis et est,] By ‘simplicior’ Horace means ‘unsophisticated’: one who in the simplicity of his feelings may perhaps sometimes obtrude himself upon those he likes, thinking he must be welcome because he is himself pleased to meet them. He says he has often acted in that way with Mæcenas.

65. impellat] ‘Impellere’ means here ‘to interrupt’ or ‘intrude upon’: he breaks in upon one when reading or meditating, with some irrelevant talk. ‘Common sense,’ for which the Greeks had the expression ὁ κοινὸς νοῦς, is so called, not as being exercised upon common, every-day things, but as being supposed to be common property, and not confined to the learned.

67. legem sancimus] ‘Sancire legem’ is properly to give full effect to a law, by inserting a penalty for the breach of it. See Cic. de Am. c. 13 (Long): “Haec igitur prima lex amicitiae sanciatur.”

70. Cum mea compenset vitiis bona;] ‘Cum’ belongs to ‘vitiis.’ ‘Compensare’ is a legal term. ‘Compensatio’ is a ‘set-off.’

72. trutina] This word applies equally to the ‘libra,’ a balance with two scales (‘lances’), and to the ‘statera,’ or steelyard, both of which were in common use among the Romans. ‘In trutina ponetur eadem,’ ‘he shall be weighed in the same balance,’ is another, but not very exact, way of saying, he shall be tried by the same standard, his character shall be estimated in the same way. ‘Hac lege’ is ‘on this condition.’

76. quatenus excidi penitus] He now draws his conclusion from the preceding remarks. ‘In short, inasmuch as (C. iii. 24. 30) the vice of passion and all other vices that cleave to us fools cannot be entirely eradicated, we ought to judge others as we judge ourselves, and visit each fault with no more than its due censure.’ Literally, ‘Why does not our judgment use its own weights and measures, and, according to the circumstances of each case, check faults with their penalties?’ All were fools with the Stoics, who were not wise after their fashion.

80. patinam] ‘Pisces patinarii’ were boiled fish served up with sauce in an open dish.

82. In cruce suffigat,] Cicero has the expressions ‘in crucem sublatum’ (Verr. ii. 5. 3), ‘ad palum alligatos’ (Ib. c. 6), which have the same meaning. In the latter place he has the construction “damnatis crucem servis fixeras.” See Dict. Antt. art. ‘Crux,’ for an account of the punishment by crucifixion, which was only inflicted as a general rule upon slaves or the worst sort of malefactors. A master might put his slave to death, or punish him in any other way he pleased.

Labeone insanior] Different persons are identified with this Labeo, but it is impossible to say who is meant.

84. paulum deliquit amicus,] ‘Say your friend has committed a small fault; such that, if you do not excuse it, you must be looked upon as harsh; you hate him in your bitterness, and run away from him.’ ‘Concedo’ is used in this way by other writers.

86. Rusonem] Ruso, whoever he was, seems to have made a stipulation with his debtors that they should, besides paying interest, listen to his recitations of his own writings. ‘Historias’ means tales or narratives of some sort. See C. iii. 7. 20.

87. tristes — Kalendae] See note on Epod. ii. 70. ‘Merces’ is used only by Horace in the sense of ‘usurae,’ ‘interest’ (S. 2. 14). It signifies money paid for rent (see S. ii. 2. 115), or for the use of anything.

90. catillum Evandri manibus tritum] A plate that had been used by Evander, the old king and ally of Æneas; an exaggeration meant to heighten the absurdity of the man.

92. Aut positum ante] The words are not very regularly placed. ‘Or because to the chicken served on my part of the dish he helps himself before me, in the eagerness of his hunger.’ The meats were cut up on a side table by a slave called ‘structor,’ and the guests helped themselves with their fingers, and threw the bones and remnants on the floor. The man who had a dish before him, and fancied a particular part of it, might count it unmannerly if his neighbor stretched out his hand and took what he had set his heart upon.

95. fide] This is a form both of the genitive and dative. See C. iii. 7. 4: “Constantis juvenem fide.” As to ‘sponsum,’ see S. ii. 6. 23.

96. Quis paria esse fere] See Introduction. This common doctrine of the Stoics is noticed by Cicero (De Fin. iv. 19) and condemned on the principles of common sense and truth, as here. ‘Laborant,’ ‘they are in a dilemma.’

98. justi prope mater] In making expediency the parent of justice, or something like it (‘prope,’ S. ii. 3. 32), Horace follows an Epicurean notion. One of the dogmas of Epicurus appears to have been, that justice was nothing by itself, but merely a social compact, by which men bound themselves to abstain from injuring one another: a very narrow view of the case. The Stoics had more true notions of Justice, whom they held to be the daughter of Zeus.

99. Cum prorepserunt] He goes on to illustrate this doctrine, saying that men lived at first like beasts, till expediency taught them to make laws.

102. usus,] Here this signifies ‘need.’ It generally occurs (in this sense) in combination with ‘est’ or ‘venit.’

103. Donec verba] ‘Verba nominaque’ embraces all the parts of speech, like the Greek ὀνόματα καὶ ῥήματα. (A. P. 234.) ‘Notae’ are symbols, as in short-hand writing for instance; and this line may perhaps be most accurately rendered, ‘till they invented language, whereby they could give a symbolical form to the sounds of their voice, and to their feelings.’

110. Viribus editior] ‘Superior in strength.’ ‘Editus’ is used for ‘exalted,’ ‘high.’ It nowhere else appears in the sense Horace gives it here.

111. Jura inventa metu injusti] If this be admitted, as of course it must be, then Injustice—and, if so, Justice—was anterior to any laws or social compact, express or implied; so that the doctrine above laid down falls to the ground; and that justice of which expediency is said to be the mother, turns out to be nothing more than magistrates’ justice,—the justice of statutes, which may be just or unjust.

112. evolvere] This word which signifies ‘to read,’ is taken from the unrolling of a parchment ‘usque ad umbilicum.’ See Epod. xiv. 8, n. As to ‘fastos,’ see C. iii. 17. 4, n. Epp. ii. 1. 48, n.

114. bona diversis,] ‘Bona’ means things which it is good to have and to get, not virtues, but the gifts of fortune and such like.

115. Nec vincet ratio hoc,] ‘Nor will any logic prove this.’ ‘Vincere causam’ is an ordinary expression for winning a cause. ‘Idem’ is explained by ‘tantundem,’ the same in degree of guilt.

117. sacra divum legerit.] ‘Legere’ is not uncommonly used in the sense of robbing. Hence our word ‘sacrilege.’

119. Ne scutica dignum] The epithet ‘horribili’ belongs to ‘flagello,’ which was a severer instrument than the ‘scutica,’ and was sometimes constructed with horrible cruelty, and fatal in its application. The ‘scutica’ had but one thong, of leather. ‘Ferula’ was a switch, usually from the vine. The Latin derivatives from σκῦτος are short in the first syllable. There are other instances (as ‘anchŏra’ from ἄγκῡρα, ‘crĕpida’ from κρηπίς, etc.) in which the quantity of the Greek vowel is changed in the Latin.

120. ut ferula caedas] The rule in respect to verbs of fearing is that “the Latin inserts a negative where the English has none, and vice versa,” that is, ‘vereor ne’ means ‘I fear it will’; ‘vereor ut,’ ‘I fear it will not.’ There is no deviation from the rule here; for the position of ‘ut’ makes it independent of ‘vereor.’ ‘For that you should beat,’ or ‘as to your beating with a switch one who deserves to undergo a severer flogging, of this I have no fear.’

122. Furta latrociniis] This is not strictly a technical distinction, nor is ‘latrocinium’ a technical term. All robbery was ‘furtum,’ whether attended with violence or not; but Horace means to distinguish between thefts without violence and robbery with violence (‘rapina’). ‘Cum dicas,’ ‘though you do say.’

124. Si dives qui sapiens est,] The word ‘regnum’ turns the discourse to another doctrine of the Stoics not connected with the main subject of the Satire, namely, that the sage is the only rich, capable, handsome man, and a king. The absurdity of the doctrine, which is repeated in Epp. i. 1. 107, consists not so much in the statement that the wise man’s intelligence contains in itself the germ of all practical knowledge, and that such knowledge is power, as in the limitation of wisdom to the pale of a sect, and the attempt to give a practical application to a notion of this kind.

127. Chrysippus dicat:] The later Stoics looked to Chrysippus as the founder of their philosophy; but he adhered, with little essential deviation, to the doctrines taught him by his master Cleanthes, and Cleanthes was a devoted disciple of Zeno. He was born at a town in Cilicia, B. C. 280, and was a very voluminous writer. ‘Inquit’ means that some Stoic says this, including from ‘non nosti’ to ‘sapiens,’ and after ‘qui?’ to ‘sic rex’ (v. 133). What he means to affirm in reply to the taunt ‘cur optas quod habes?’ is, that a man may be, in the Stoic sense, a king, and yet not be in a condition to exercise authority, as an artisan or a singer may still be great in his calling, even when he has laid aside the practice of it.

crepidas — soleas] ‘Crepida’ (κρηπίς) was a low shoe or slipper copied from the Greeks and worn in undress: ‘solea’ was a plain sandal fastened over the instep by a strap, and worn by men as the ‘sandalium’ was worn by women. The ‘soccus’ was not materially different from the ‘crepida,’ and the ‘Gallica,’ adopted from Gaul, was like the ‘solea.’ None of these were walking shoes (‘calcei’) fit for wet or dirty roads, but were ordinarily worn only in the house.

129. Hermogenes] This person has been confounded with Tigellius, whose death is mentioned in the second Satire, and whose character is described at the beginning of this. Hermogenes is also called Tigellius in S. 4. 72; 10. 80, 90. But as he is always spoken of as alive, it is impossible he can be Tigellius the Sardinian, to whom there are no grounds for giving the name Hermogenes, though the Scholiasts give it him. Hermogenes Tigellius was a teacher of music (S. 10. 90), and (whether ironically or not it is not easy to say) Horace calls him a first-rate singer here, and implies as much in S. 9. 25. But he had a contempt for him in other respects as appears from S. 4. 72; 10. 17 (where he calls him a coxcomb); and 10. 79 (where he introduces him with a fool for his friend or parasite). He may have had some private pique against him.

130. Alfenius vafer,] Who Alfenius was, is very doubtful, and the reading ‘sutor’ is not quite certain. Some editions have ‘tonsor.’ From ‘erat’ it has been inferred that Alfenius was dead when the Satire was written. It merely means, that, though he threw up his trade, he still continued to be a ‘sutor.’

133. Vellunt tibi barbam] The Romans of this period did not usually wear beards. But those who affected philosophy let theirs grow, and may have been hooted and insulted by the boys in the streets for doing so (see S. ii. 3. 17).

137. Ne longum faciam:] The chief subject of the Satire is a censorious temper. To this Horace returns, and says that, as long as he can live on terms of mutual indulgence with his friends, the Stoics and their crabbed doctrines are nothing to him: he will be happier than all the self-styled kings in the world.

dum tu quadrante lavatum] ‘Quadrante lavari’ (Juvenal, S. vi. 447) was an expression equivalent to taking a public bath, because a ‘quadrans’ was the ordinary fee paid by each visitor. But it may be inferred from Horace’s words, that they who paid this sum were not the richer sort of bathers; for he seems to say, ‘While you, a fine king as you are, go and bathe for a quadrans.’ The rich may perhaps have paid more, and had more privacy and better bathing and attendance. The ‘quadrans,’ which was the fourth of an ‘as,’ and therefore the sixty-fourth part of a ‘denarius,’ after the reduction of the ‘as’ to one sixteenth of that coin, was of the value of about half a farthing of English money, taking the value of the ‘denarius’ at 8½d. The Romans were great bathers.

139. Crispinum] See S. i. 1. 120, n. The bodyguards of kings were called ‘stipatores.’ Horace therefore uses the word ironically in that sense.

SATIRE IV.

Here again Horace is at pains to defend himself from the charge of malevolence. This charge, no doubt, was loudly brought against him by those who were or thought themselves the objects of his satire; and he attributes it, as well as the neglect his poems experienced compared with the inferior poetry of the day and the old poetry of Lucilius, to the jealousy and fears of the multitude, every man apprehending that he may be attacked next; and also in some measure to a false taste, which preferred a wordy, flowing style to the terseness and accuracy of his own. His object is to contrast his own style and pretensions with those of Lucilius and of the Crispinuses and Fanniuses of the day, as well as to quiet the apprehensions of his friends, and disarm the malignity of his enemies. Everybody must admire the way in which he takes occasion, from the necessity of self-defence, to pay a tribute of grateful affection to his father’s memory; and it would be difficult to find a more pleasing picture of paternal solicitude and sound sense, as applied to a boy’s education, than Horace has drawn in the latter part of this Satire.

1. Eupolis atque Cratinus Aristophanesque] He begins by describing the character of Lucilius as a satirist, and says he followed in the steps of the old Greek comedians. The Greek comedy was divided by the Alexandrine grammarians into three periods, the Old, the Middle, and the New. The three persons here named were the chief poets of the Old Comedy. Cratinus was the eldest of the three, and died B. C. 422, when Aristophanes was a young man. He was the last of that period. The other writers of the Old Comedy, whom Horace alludes to with respect, are very little known to us. Horace fixes on the Comoedia Prisca, because the subsequent phases of the Greek Comic Drama were not of the same personally satirical cast, the license granted to the old writers having been taken away by law. The words ‘poëtae’ and ‘virorum’ are used emphatically, as below in S. 10. 16: “Illi scripta quibus comoedia prisca viris est.”

5. multa cum libertate notabant.] During the period of the Old Comedy, the law of Athens did not interfere with the poet’s liberty of speech, except upon two occasions, when psephisms were passed prohibiting the introduction upon the stage of living characters as objects of satire by name,—a restriction of no great force, since the substitution of a feigned name, slightly altered from the true, would make the allusions equally intelligible and more ridiculous. Neither of these psephisms lasted more than a couple of years. See S. i. 6. 14, n., on ‘notare.’

6. Hinc omnis pendet Lucilius,] ‘Hinc’ means ‘upon them,’ as ‘unde’ is elsewhere used with reference to persons. What Horace says of Lucilius is briefly this: that his whole strength was laid out on the satirizing of vice in the persons of living characters, that he especially imitated herein the writers of the Old Comedy, only changing their metre; that he was funny (‘facetus’) and acute (‘emunctae naris’), but harsh in his style of versification; wordy and sometimes vulgar, in consequence of the haste with which he wrote and his impatience of the trouble of correcting. He adds below (S. 10. 3), that the most idolatrous admirer of Lucilius could not deny that his style was uncouth. He there also adds, that Lucilius loved to mix up Greek words with his own language (v. 20), that he was good-tempered, notwithstanding his satirical vein (v. 53), and again that he was very unreserved and frank (S. ii. 1. 30-34). The fragments of Lucilius that have come down to us are too short to form a very accurate opinion upon, but in some points, at least, (such as the absurd mixture of Greek and Latin,) they bear out Horace’s statements.

7. Mutatis tantum pedibus] The writings of Lucilius appear to have been very early divided by the grammarians into thirty books, of which two thirds were written in hexameter verse, and the rest in the iambic and trochaic measures. That Lucilius imitated the comedians in all but their measures, cannot be true. The character of their plays could not be transferred to satirical poems like his, though some of their features might suit, as their coarseness and personalities.

8. Emunctae naris,] ‘Emunctae naris’ is one who has his nose well wiped, and is therefore no driveller. Phædrus explains it in his description of Æsop (l. iii. f. 3, v. 14):—

“Aesopus ibi stans naris emunctae senex, Natura nunquam verba cui poterit dare.”

‘Emungere’ is used by the comic writers for ‘cheating,’ as among other places (see A. P. 238) in the fragment from the Epiclerus of Cæcilius quoted by Cicero de Am. 26. “To wipe a man’s nose for him, is, to imply that he is a driveller who cannot do it for himself, and hence it means to ‘outwit’ and to ‘cheat’ him.” (Long in loco.) Others explain ‘emunctae naris’ as ‘keen-scented,’ like a hound, which is wrong.

10. versus dictabat] See S. 10. 92, n. The words ‘stans pede in uno’ mean with the utmost facility, or ‘standing at ease,’ as we might say. Others explain ‘stans pede in uno’ to mean within the time a man could stand on one foot. The other is right.

11. Cum flueret lutulentus] ‘Lutulentus’ combines two notions, dirtiness and obscurity. Lucilius may have imitated the obscenity of the old comedians; and in this, as in other respects, his verse may have been like a muddy stream. The word, no doubt, comprehends defects of taste as well as style.

12. piger scribendi ferre laborem,] ‘Piger ferre’ is a Greek construction, common in the Odes, but not so in the language of the Satires. (See C. i. 1. 18, n.) In C. iv. 14. 22, we have ‘impiger’ in the same construction.

14. Crispinus minimo] See S. i. 1. 120, n. ‘Minimo me provocat,’ ‘he offers me the greatest odds,’ literally, ‘he challenges me at the smallest amount’ to be staked on my side, while he puts down a large one on his. The mention of the negligent way in which Lucilius wrote, leads on to the mention of small poets of the day, Crispinus and Fannius. See Introduction.

15. Accipiam tabulas;] This is nothing more than a polite challenge to see which could write most verses in a given time. ‘Take tablets if you please, and I will take them too.’ The omission of the personal pronoun before ‘accipiam’ to express antithesis, is nothing in familiar talk, where there could be no mistake. ‘Custodes’ are umpires to see that there is no foul play.

18. raro et perpauca loquentis.] ‘The gods have done me a kindness in making me of a poor and unpretending disposition, that speaks but seldom, and very little at a time.’ This is Horace’s reply to the challenge, which he declines.

19. At tu conclusas] Persius imitates this, S. v. 10.

21. Beatus Fannius] This Fannius is spoken of in another place (S. i. 10. 80) as a contemptible person, and a parasite of Hermogenes Tigellius (S. 3. 129, n.). It appears probable, from Horace’s words, that he had his admirers, as rant and emptiness will always have, and that they made him a present, by way of a testimonial as it is called, of a set of handsome ‘capsae’ and a bust. The ‘capsa’ was a round box, suited to hold one or more rolled volumes. The larger sort was called ‘scrinium.’

22. cum mea nemo] See Introduction. That Horace wrote many pieces which have not been preserved, appears clear from this passage and v. 71, sqq.

23. vulgo recitare timentis] See note on v. 73. The usage which leaves the personal pronoun to be inferred from the possessive, is common both in Greek and Latin. (See C. iii. 22. 6.) Compare Ovid (Heroid. v. 45): “Et flesti, et nostros vidisti flentis ocellos.” ‘Timeo’ and ‘metuo’ do not govern an infinitive mood in the prose writings of Horace’s day. ‘Vereor’ is used in that construction.

24. sunt quos] ‘There are some who are by no means pleased with this sort of writing, as being for the most part worthy of censure themselves.’ As to ‘sunt quos,’ see C. i. 1. 3, n. He seems to have particular persons or classes in view.

26. Aut ob avaritiam] ‘Laborare ob’ is an unusual construction, and the sentence begins with one form of expression and ends with another. ‘Ambitio’ generally had an epithet of a strong kind applied to it. Horace has ‘prava,’ ‘inanis,’ ‘mala,’ ‘misera’; and Cicero (De Off. i. 26) says, “Miserrima est omnino ambitio honorumque contentio.” The practice, therefore, seems to have been habitual, which, if we consider the evils that arose out of personal ambition, and the eagerness with which places of honor were sought at all times of the Republic, is not surprising.

28. Hunc capit argenti splendor;] Cups and other vessels curiously wrought in silver and Corinthian bronze, and very costly (such as Juvenal describes, S. i. 76), were among the many objects of extravagance at Rome. The exaggerated admiration of the persons Horace alludes to, for such works of art, might be comparatively harmless, if it did not lead them into dishonest ways of acquiring them, and beggaring their families, as Albius did, of whom we know nothing. His son is mentioned below (v. 108), as living in want through his father’s extravagance. ‘Stupet,’ with the ablative, occurs below (S. 6. 17); and ‘torpere,’ an equally strong word, is used in the same connection in S. ii. 7. 95.

29. Hic mutat merces] See C. i. 31. 12, n.

surgente a sole, etc.] This means from east to west (“ad ortus Solis ab Hesperio cubili,” C. iv. 15. 15). ‘Mutare merces’ can hardly be applied to any but a mercator. ‘Mala’ means dangers and hardships.

34. Foenum habet in cornu;] A law of the XII. Tables gave an action to any man who was injured by a vicious animal. It became customary, therefore, that any ox or other animal of vicious propensities should be marked in such a way as to warn passengers, and enable them to get out of its way. Hence the proverb, “He has a wisp of hay on his horn.”

37. a furno] ‘Furnus’ is the bakehouse, to which the lower sort of people, old women and children, carried their bread to be baked. ‘Lacus’ were tanks distributed in all parts of the city, into which water was conveyed from the aqueducts, and to which poorer persons resorted who could not afford to have water laid on at their houses.

38. Agedum,] ‘Dum,’ as an enclitic, signifies ‘awhile’; ‘agedum,’ ‘come a moment.’

39. Primum ego me illorum] ‘Primum’ means ‘in the first place’; before I begin, let me dispose of the fallacy which classes writers like myself among poets (the word assumed above, “Omnes hi metuunt versus, odere poëtas,” v. 33). This question occupies twenty-four verses, after which he returns to the main point, which is the odium attaching to writers of Satire. The dative is commonly used after ‘licet esse,’ ‘datur esse,’ etc. See S. i. 1. 19; 2. 51. A. P. 372.

40. concludere versum] This expression is repeated below (S. 10. 59: “si quis pedibus quid claudere senis”).

42. Sermoni propiora:] ‘Sermoni’ means common conversation. Hence the name ‘Sermones’ given to the Satires and Epistles.

43. os Magna sonaturum,] This form does not appear elsewhere in this word. Cicero uses ‘praestaturus,’ and Sall. (Jug. 47) ‘juvaturus.’ Horace has ‘intonata’ in Epod. ii. 51. See Virg. (Georg. iii. 294): “Nunc veneranda Pales, magno nunc ore sonandum.” The attributes of a poet, which Horace considers essential, are genius, inspiration, and dignified sentiments, and language suited to high subjects.

45. Idcirco quidam] ‘In reference to this, certain persons have raised the question whether a comedy was or was not a poem’: “utrum comoedia esset poëma necne esset.” This is a grammarian’s question, and depends upon the definition assumed for a poem, in which, however, imagination is generally supposed to have a conspicuous place, and this would exclude the comedies of Plautus and Terence, and their Greek originals of the New Comedy, from the title of poetry. But the same rule would exclude much more that has passed for poetry, with less pretension to the name even than Horace’s Satires, or the Heautontimorumenos. ‘Quidam’ signifies the grammarians of Alexandria.

48. Differt sermoni] ‘Discrepare,’ ‘dissidere,’ ‘distare,’ ‘differre,’ Horace uses with the dative (see C. i. 27. 5, n.), but the two last also with the ablative and ‘ab.’ “It must not be supposed, however, that ‘from’ can in any way be the signification of the dative,” which remark Professor Key applies to the analogous construction in use by the poets with verbs of taking away.

At pater ardens] Demea in the Adelphi of Terence, and Plautus’s Theuropides are instances in point. ‘At,’ which usually in such places introduces an objection, here seems to be the remark of one who supposed that the fury and ranting of the enraged father in the comedy might be supposed to partake of the fire of poetry. But Horace disposes of the objection very easily. Any father who had such a son as Pomponius, for instance, a dissolute youth (of whom we know nothing more), would probably storm at him in much the same terms that the man on the stage uses. It was the aim of the New Comedy, which the Roman writers followed, to put real life upon the stage by means of a plot natural and probable, and to represent men and women as they were seen and heard every day, in which it differed essentially from the Old Comedy, a mere vehicle for political and personal satire.

54. puris — verbis,] ‘Puris’ corresponds to ‘inornata’ (A. P. 234). It means plain language, free from any mixture of trope or other ornament. See Terence (Heaut. Prol. 44):—

“Si quae laboriosa est ad me curritur: Si lenis est ad alium defertur gregem. In hac est pura oratio.”

So Cicero (In Verr. ii. 4. 22) speaks of “purum argentum,” plate with the ornamental work taken off. He says it is not enough (to constitute a poem) that it should be written throughout in plain language, which, if you take to pieces, it will be found that any father in common life expresses his wrath in the same terms as the father in the play.

56. His ego quae nunc,] ‘From these verses that I now write and Lucilius wrote formerly, if you take away certain times and measures (measures regulated by beating time), and change the position of the words, you will not (as you would if you broke up such a verse as the following, Postquam, etc.) find the members of the poet thus torn to pieces.’ That is, his language would be unintelligible, or there would be no more of the poet left.

60. Postquam Discordia tetra] The Scholiasts imply that this is a verse of Ennius, but they do not say from what poem it is taken. Virgil (Aen. i. 294) has “claudentur belli portae.” As to the position of ‘non,’ see S. 6. 1.

63. alias justum sit necne poëma,] The question he has been discussing since v. 38, namely, whether he and such as he are or are not properly called poets, is not resumed, though we may perceive that Horace does not consider that his arguments have quite settled it. He goes on to show that the public have no reason to be afraid of him.

65. Sulcius acer Ambulat et Caprius] These persons are said by the Scholiasts to have been public informers, or else ‘causidici,’ ‘pleaders,’ and Horace may mean that they have made themselves hoarse with roaring in the courts. The ‘libelli’ they carried were their note-books. ‘Ambulat’ signifies their strutting through the streets with the consciousness that men were afraid of them. ‘Delatores,’ ‘informers,’ were more common in after years, but they were sufficiently abundant in Horace’s time. Cælius and Birrus are said by Acron to have been profligate youths, meaning probably that they were young men of fortune, who had run through their money and had taken to robbing.

69. Ut sis] ‘Say that you are.’ Horace says he is not like the informers, going about seeking whom they may charge, and no one with clean hands need be afraid of him.

71. Nulla taberna meos habeat] In the next place, he has no wish to see his books in the shops and thumbed by the vulgar. The ‘taberna’ was sometimes under a porticus, in which case the titles of the books for sale within were hung upon the columns (‘pilae’) in front. Horace alludes to this when he says (A. P. 372), “Mediocribus esse poëtis. Non Dii, non homines non concessere columnae,” which means that indifferent poets would not be patronized by the booksellers. ‘Habeat’ expresses a wish. On Hermogenes Tigellius, see S. 3. 129, n.

73. Nec recito cuiquam] Nor does he go about reciting his works in public. This practice grew to be an intolerable nuisance in the course of time. Persons who had money and dabbled in literature inflicted their productions upon their clients and others, whom they bribed to listen and applaud them. What Horace goes on to complain of are silly people reciting their own verses in public places (the forum and the baths) to chance acquaintances, or even strangers, and annoying the neighbors while they gratified themselves. Round the baths were spaces called ‘scholae.’ On these, people sat or walked about, and conceited authors could tease their acquaintance and the strangers that were compelled to listen to them, and in the act of bathing they could do the same.

77. haud illud quaerentes,] ‘Illud’ is thus used commonly to introduce something about to be mentioned.

78. Laedere gaudes, Inquit,] Horace has said, that, even if he does write or recite, it is only in a private way, and no one therefore need be afraid of him. He now disposes of the charge of writing with malicious intent. ‘Studio’ is used adverbally, ‘of set purpose in your malignity you do it.’

80. Est auctor quis denique eorum] ‘Quis’ may be taken as an interrogative or an enclitic. It is not easy to decide. As to ‘auctor,’ see C. 1. 28. 14, n.

84. commissa tacere Qui nequit;] This, which is too commonly softened into a weakness, the inability to keep a secret, Horace very justly marks as one of the most prominent signs of a mischievous character. See C. iii. 2. 25, n. On ‘Romane,’ see C. iii. 6. 2, n.

86. Saepe tribus lectis] Four persons on each ‘lectus tricliniaris’ would be an unusually large party at one table. Three on each was the usual number when the table was full. Respecting the arrangement of the guests, see S. ii. 8. 20, n.

87. E quibus unus amet] ‘Amet’ is used in the same sense as in “umbram hospitalem consociare amant” (C. ii. 3. 10). ‘Quavis’ is ‘qua ratione vis.’ ‘Qui praebet aquam’ is an uncommon expression, but it seems to be used for the host “qui aquam temperat ignibus.” See C. iii. 19. 6, n. On ‘verax Liber,’ see C. i. 18. 16; iii. 21. 16; Epod. xi. 14. Epp. i. 18. 38; 5. 16. A. P. 434.

92. Pastillos Rufillus olet,] This verse is quoted from a former Satire (2. 27) only to show the innocent subjects with which Horace’s satire dealt, and he goes on to show that his satire has none of the malignity which is common in society. ‘Pastillus’ is a diminutive form of ‘panis,’ and signifies ‘a small roll,’ whence in a derived sense it came to mean small balls of perfume. Who Rufillus and Gargonius may have been, we cannot tell.

94. De Capitolini furtis] Petillius Capitolinus was charged, according to some stories, with stealing the golden crown from the statue of Jupiter when he was in charge of the Capitol. That he was tried on some serious charge and acquitted, and that the verdict did not escape scandal, is clear from the context. See also S. 10. 26. The nature of the accusation must remain a matter of doubt. We may also gather that he was a person of influence from v. 97, which he must have been, if he was acquitted, or supposed to have been acquitted, through the corruption of the jury.

95. ut tuus est mos:] ‘In your peculiar way,’ that is, sarcastically.

99. Sed tamen admiror,] There is sarcasm in this, which Horace calls ‘succus loliginis,’ the dark secretion of the cuttle-fish, black and malignant. ‘Aerugo mera,’ nothing but copper-rust, that eats into character and destroys it.

102. ut si quid] There is a little obscurity in the construction, but the sense is plain. ‘I promise, as I truly can, if I can promise of myself aught else with truth.’ ‘Promitto, ut vere possum si aliud quid vere de me promittere possum.’

104. hoc mihi juris] ‘So much liberty as this’;—‘hoc jus’ would not do.

105. insuevit pater optimus hoc me,] ‘Suesco’ and its compounds have an active as well as a neuter signification, taking usually an accusative of the person and dative of the thing, which order is inverted in Virg. (Aen. vi. 833): “Ne, pueri, ne tanta animis assuescite bella.” See below, S. ii. 2. 109: “Pluribus assuerit mentem corpusque superbum.” I am not aware of any instances of a double accusative after ‘suesco’ except this. The construction is that of the Greeks, who said ἐθίζειν τί τινα. ‘Notando’ has something of the technical sense. The father taught his son to avoid vices, and he did so by branding them in each instance by means of examples, which he says was the origin of his tendency to satire. See S. i. 6. 14, n., on ‘notare.’

108. quod mi ipse parasset:] Horace’s father had lived a life of frugal industry, and, in addition to any ‘peculium’ he may have laid by as a ‘servus,’ he made enough money by his occupation of ‘coactor’ (S. 6. 86) to purchase a farm of no great value at Venusia, to pay for his son’s education at Rome, and enable him to continue it at Athens.

109. Albi ut male vivat filius,] See above, v. 28, n. This person, of whom nothing is known, is to be distinguished from the coxcomb in the sixth Satire (v. 30). Scetanius (otherwise Sectanius) is not more known than Barrus. Trebonius was the name of a plebeian gens of some distinction, but which of them Horace alludes to, it is impossible to say.

115. Sapiens vitatu quidque petitu] ‘The philosopher may give you good reasons as to what is best to be avoided and what to be sought; I am satisfied if I can maintain the practice of my fathers,’ etc. Horace’s father had no mind to refine upon the foundation of morals, nor any pretension to a philosophical view of these matters. He knew that right was right and wrong was wrong, and followed the beaten track, and would have his son do the same. Horace expresses the same below, S. 6. 82, sqq. The whole of the passage there should be compared with this. The elder Horace was no doubt a plain, sensible man. As to ‘sapiens,’ see C. i. 34. 2.

121. Formabat] This is Horace’s usual word for education. C. i. 10. 2: “Qui feros cultus hominum recentum Voce formasti.” See C. iii. 24. 54, n.

123. Unum ex judicibus selectis] It was the duty of the Prætor Urbanus annually to select a certain number of persons whose names were registered in the Album Judicum Selectorum, and from whom were chosen by lot the ‘judices’ for each trial. It is uncertain whether at this time, or by a subsequent ‘lex’ of Augustus, their functions were extended to civil as well as criminal proceedings. The number of these ‘judices’ varied. By the ‘lex Servilia Glaucia Repetundarum’ it was fixed at 450. The law that was in force at the time Horace refers to was the ‘lex Aurelia,’ by which the Judices Selecti were made eligible from the Senators, Equites, and Tribuni Aerarii. Horace’s father, as plain men are wont, looked up with reverence to the body in whom were rested such high functions; but the office was not an enviable one, nor always most purely exercised. See C. iv. 9. 39, n. As to ‘auctor,’ see above, v. 80.

126. Avidos] This signifies ‘intemperate,’ as in C. i. 18. 11.

129. Ex hoc ego sanus] Horace says that, owing to his father’s training (‘ex hoc’), he had been kept in a sound and healthy state, and preserved from those vices which in their worst form bring destruction, but which in a moderate degree may be overlooked. He implies that in this venial form he is liable to such faults; but even from this smaller measure, time, the candor of friends, and reflection will deduct a good deal. The sentence is a little irregular, but sufficiently intelligible. ‘Consilium proprium’ is the counsel a man takes with himself when he reviews his life, and is bent upon correcting the errors of it. This sort of reflection a man may pursue, if he be in earnest, either as he lies on his bed (see below, S. 6. 122, n.), or as he walks abroad, alone among crowds. By ‘porticus’ Horace means any one of the public porticoes, covered walks, of which there were many at Rome, and which were usually crowded by persons of all sorts, resorting thither for exercise, conversation, or business.

137. olim] See C. ii. 10. 17, n.

139. Illudo chartis.] This means, ‘I put it down in my notes by way of amusement.’ As to ‘chartae,’ see S. ii. 3. 2, n.

141. Multa poëtarum veniat manus] Horace, in winding up his discourse, stops the lips of his opponents with a sally of good humor, which they would find it hard to resist. He says, if they will not make excuses for this little sin of his (that of taking notes of his neighbors’ vices), he will bring a host of sinners (poets) as bad as himself, and, like the proselytizing Jews (S. 9. 69, n.), they will attack them till they have made converts and poets of them all. ‘Plures’ signifies any number more than one, as in Epp. i. 5. 28, “Locus est et pluribus umbris.” ‘Multo plures sumus’ means ‘there are many besides me.’

SATIRE V.

In the spring of the year B. C. 37, M. Antonius brought over an army to Italy, and a fleet of 300 ships (Plut. Ant. c. 35): ἔκ τινων διαβόλων παροξυνθεὶς πρὸς Καίσαρα, says Plutarch. He pretended, Dion says, to come for the purpose of helping to put down Sextus Pompeius, his real object being rather to see what was going on, than to take any active part. He came to Brundisium, but the people would not let him come into the harbor (according to Plutarch), and he therefore went on to Tarentum. Negotiations were carried on between the two rivals (Cæsar being at Rome) through agents employed by both, but without effect, till Octavia undertook to mediate between her husband and brother, and was finally successful in reconciling them. It has been supposed, with every probability, that the mission which Horace accompanied was sent by Augustus to meet Antonius on his expected arrival at Brundisium, on this occasion.

Horace started from Rome with only one companion, Heliodorus the rhetorician (v. 2), and these two travelled together three days and one night, about fifty-six miles, till they reached Tarracina or Anxur, where, by appointment, they were to meet the official members of their party. These were Mæcenas and Cocceius, who had been employed in negotiating the first reconciliation between Augustus and Antonius (B. C. 40), and Fonteius, an intimate friend of the latter. Three days afterwards, they met at Sinuessa Horace’s three most intimate friends, Plotius Tucca, Varius, and Virgil; one of whom, Varius, kept them company only for six days, and left them, for reasons which are not mentioned, at Canusium (v. 93). The rest of the party went on together till they reached Brundisium, seventeen days after Horace had left Rome. The route they took was not the shortest or the easiest, which lay through Venusia and Tarentum. They preferred taking the northeastern road, which strikes across the country from Beneventum, and, reaching the coast at Barium continues along the shore till it comes to Brundisium. They were evidently not pressed for time, and probably took the road they did because it passed through Canusium, whither one of the party was bound. Mæcenas made his journey as agreeable as, under the circumstances, it could be, by taking with him such companions; and they all appear to great advantage in Horace’s good-humored diary. There was no restraint between the patron and his friends, and it is very pleasant to contemplate their affection for him and one another.

It is probable that, before Horace returned to Rome, he visited Tarentum and his native place, Venusia, through which he would naturally pass. He seems to have had in mind the description by Lucilius of a journey he took to Capua, of which three or four verses only have been preserved (see note on v. 6).

1. Egressum magna me excepit Aricia] They left Rome by the Porta Capena, between Mons Aventinus and Mons Cælius, in the southern quarter of the city. Aricia (La Riccia), one of the most ancient towns of Latium, was sixteen miles from Rome. It was situated on the side of a hill, sloping down to a valley called Vallis Aricina, through which the Appia Via passed. This part of the road is still in good preservation. The citadel was placed on the top of the hill (Strabo, v. p. 239), and on that spot stands the modern town. Aricia was a considerable town in Horace’s time, and for some centuries after. Cicero calls it “municipium — vetustate antiquissimum, splendore municipum honestissimum” (Phil. iii. 6). Its neighborhood to Rome, and accessible position, contributed to its prosperity, which was assisted by its association with the worship of Diana Aricina, who had a temple among the woods on the small lake (Lacus Nemorensis), a short way from the town, probably on the site of the modern town Nemi. The wealthy Romans had villas in the neighborhood.

By ‘hospitio modico’ Horace means an indifferent inn; but ‘hospitium’ is not the Latin for an ‘inn,’ which was called ‘caupona,’ or ‘taberna,’ or ‘diversorium,’ and its keeper ‘caupo.’ The inns at the different stages on the great roads were never very good, the chief reason being that travellers of any importance usually found friends at the principal towns, who entertained them.

2. rhetor comes Heliodorus,] Horace jocularly exaggerates the merits of this Greek. Nothing is known of him from other sources. Appii Forum was thirty-nine miles from Rome, and was so called by Appius Claudius, surnamed Cæcus, who in his censorship (A. U. C. 441) constructed the Via Appia and the great aqueduct which bore his name. Some ruins of this town are said by Walckenaer still to exist. Its modern name is Borgo Lungo. The participle ‘differtus’ means ‘full,’ and is formed as from ‘differcio,’ which verb is not found. ‘Differtus’ occurs below (Epp. i. 6. 59). ‘Malignis’ belongs to ‘cauponibus’ in the same sense as ‘perfidus’ (S. 1. 29). ‘Nautae’ were the boatmen who plied on the canal mentioned below (v. 7, n.). It was to Appii Forum that some of the Christians, when they heard of St. Paul’s approach, went, from Rome, to meet him. Others met him at a place called Tres Tabernae (La Castella), which was about seven miles from Aricia, and sixteen from Appii Forum. Horace must have passed through this town without stopping. It was a well-known place, and from it a Christian bishop took his title, “Felix a Tribus Tabernis.”

5. Hoc iter] i.e. the journey from Rome to Appii Forum, which was usually made in one day, they took two to accomplish. ‘Praecinctus’ is opposed to ‘discinctus,’ and means ‘one well girt,’ εὔζωνος, and ready for active exertion, running, etc. Horace uses the word more literally, S. ii. 8. 70: “ut omnes Praecincti recte pueri comptique ministrent.” The Asiatics tuck up in their girdles their long garments, when they are preparing to run or walk quick. Hence such expressions as we meet with in Scripture, “Gird up the loins of your mind.” ‘Succinctus,’ ‘tucked up,’ is the more usual word.

6. minus est gravis Appia tardis.] Horace means, that the Via Appia was less fatiguing to the slow traveller than to the quick; that it was a rough road, over which the slower you went, the less unpleasant was the journey. This road was constructed with a foundation of large squared blocks of basaltic stone, over which was laid a coating of gravel, until the Emperors Nerva and Trajan laid it with silex, according to an inscription found on a mile-stone in the neighborhood of Forum Appii. Horace speaks elsewhere of the traveller “qui Romam Capua petit imbre lutoque Adspersus” (Epp. i. 11. 11). In one of the verses of the Satire of Lucilius, mentioned in the Introduction, he says, “Praeterea omne iter est labosum atque lutosum.”

7. Hic ego propter aquam,] At Appii Forum they were to embark at night in a boat that was to carry them by canal to Tarracina. A party were waiting at the same inn to go with them, and Horace waited with impatience till they had done supper. These he means by ‘comites.’ This canal was constructed by Augustus. There are still traces of it to be seen. It was nineteen miles long, and was called in consequence Decennovium. The road may have been defective hereabouts, as it was the general practice of travellers to exchange it for the canal, and to make the journey by night.

9. Jam nox inducere terris] This is a parody of the heroic style, unless it be taken from some poet, as Ennius.

12. Huc appelle!] “Put in here, and take us on board!” cries a servant. “How many more?—you’ll swamp the boat!” says another to the boatman, who wants to get as many as he can. The bank is crowded; the passengers all want to be attended to at once. The collection of the fare and putting-to the mule being accomplished, Horace goes on board. The boat starts, and he lies down to sleep, disturbed much by the mosquitos and the croaking of frogs. The boatman and one of the passengers, half drunk, sing songs till the one drops off to sleep, and the other, having a mind to do the same, stops the boat, turns the mule out to graze, lays himself down and snores till the dawn of day, when one of the passengers wakes, starts up in a passion, and falls foul of the boatman and the poor mule, who is put to again, and a little after the fourth hour they reach their destination, a temple of Feronia, about seventeen miles from the place where they embarked. ‘Cerebrosus’ is an old word signifying ‘choleric.’ ‘Dolare’ is properly to turn a piece of wood with an axe, ‘dolabra.’ ‘He rough-hewed him with a cudgel.’ It is only here used in this sense. Feronia was a goddess, worshipped originally by the Sabines. On the site of the temple near which Horace and his party disembarked, there now stands an old tower, bearing the name Torre Ottofacia. Horace says they only washed their hands and face, which would be no little refreshment after a night spent in a canal-boat.

25. Millia tum pransi tria repimus] Three miles farther, on the top of a steep ascent, stood the town of Tarracina (Terracina), which by the Volscians was called Anxur, by which name it is always mentioned by the poets. The winding of the road up the hill, and the difficulty of the ascent, explains the word ‘repimus.’ The old town of Tarracina was built on the top of the hill, but this site was afterwards abandoned, and a new town built on the plain below, close upon the shore, which is the site of the modern Terracina. It was in Horace’s day, and had been for a long time, and long continued to be, a town of great importance, as it was one of great antiquity. The buildings of white marble, perhaps, gave it the appearance described in ‘late candentibus.’ The same appearance is observed still in the modern town. After leaving the boat, the party lunched before they proceeded. The ‘prandium’ was a light meal, usually eaten about noon, but sometimes earlier, as probably was the case in this instance.

27. Huc venturus erat] See Introduction. L. Cocceius Nerva was a friend of M. Antonius, and was among those whom Augustus found in Perusia when he took it (B. C. 41). He offered these persons no indignity, but made friends of them, and Cocceius seems to have become especially intimate with Augustus, without betraying his friendship for M. Antonius.

29. aversos soliti componere amicos.] After the taking of Perusia, war was threatened between Augustus and Antonius, which was averted by an arrangement made through the medium of Mæcenas, on the part of Augustus, and of Cocceius and Pollio, on the part of Antonius. This is what Horace alludes to.

30. nigra meis collyria lippus] ‘Collyrium,’ an ointment for sore eyes, was composed of juices expressed from the poppy and various shrubs, as the lycium, glaucion, acacia, hypocystis, etc. The etymology of the word is not known.

32. Capitoque simul Fonteius,] Not much is known of C. Fonteius Capito. He was deputed by Augustus on this occasion, as being a particular friend of M. Antonius, who afterwards, as Plutarch relates (Anton. 36), sent him, while he was in Syria, to fetch Cleopatra thither from Egypt. The expression ‘ad unguem factus’ is taken from the craft of the sculptor, who tries the surface of his statue by passing the nail over it; if the parts be put perfectly together, and the whole work well finished, the nail passes over the surface, and meets with no obstruction. See Persius, S. i. 64. Compare also A. P. 294. Below (S. ii. 7. 86) the perfect man is described as

“in se ipso totus, teres atque rotundus, Externi ne quid valeat per leve morari,”

which is like the description of the text, though the metaphor is not quite the same.

33. non ut magis alter] This is equivalent to ‘quam qui maxime’ in prose.

34. Fundos Aufidio Lusco praetore] They arrived at Tarracina about noon, and there the principal personages met them. At Tarracina they slept, and proceeded next morning to Fundi (Fondi), sixteen miles farther to the northeast of Tarracina. Fundi was situated on the north shore of a lake, which was called after it Fundanus; and also Amyclanus from an old Greek town Amyclæ, the existence of which was only traditional when Horace wrote, but is occasionally mentioned by the poets. Fundi was one of that class of towns called ‘praefectura,’ which, instead of having the administration of its own affairs, was governed by a ‘praefectus’ sent annually from Rome by the Prætor Urbanus. At this time the ‘praefectus’ was one Aufidius Luscus (not otherwise known), an upstart whom Horace calls Prætor by way of ridicule. The officers of the other municipal towns were allowed to wear the ‘toga praetexta,’ the ‘toga’ with a purple border (Livy xxxiv. 7), but the ‘praefecti’ were not, and yet Luscus wore it. The ‘latus clavus’ was a broad purple stripe down the front of the tunic, and was a badge that belonged only to senators. ‘Prunae batillum’ was a pan of hot coals, which may have been used for burning incense or otherwise in connection with sacrifice. But its use is uncertain. Aufidius, it appears, had been a ‘scriba’ or clerk, probably in the prætor’s office,—such a situation as Horace held at this time in the quæstor’s. Persons in that capacity had opportunities of pushing their fortunes if they managed well, and the honors of Luscus are spoken of as ‘praemia,’ rewards of service rendered to his master.

37. In Mamurrarum] Disgusted with the officiousness of the promoted scribe, the party move on, in the course of the day, to Formiæ (Mola di Gaeta), about twelve miles farther, where the road, having taken an upward bend from Tarracina to Fundi, goes straight down from thence to the coast, where Formiæ was situated at the head of the Sinus Caietanus. Its supposed identity with the Læstrygonia of Homer has been noticed before (C. iii. 16. 34, n., and 17, Int.). As the scene of Cicero’s frequent retirement, and his death, it is a place of much interest. Its wines Horace mentions more than once. He here calls it the city of the Mamurræ,—a family of respectability in this town. When the party got to Formiæ, having travelled upwards of twenty-five miles, they were tired, and resolved to pass the night there. Licinius Murena (C. ii. 10, Int.), having a house at this place, gave them the use of it, but as he was not there himself, and probably had no establishment in the house suitable to the entertainment of such guests, Fonteius Capito invited his fellow travellers to dine with him. He therefore appears to have had a house at Formiæ likewise.

40. Sinuessae] Leaving Formiæ next day, the party set out for Sinuessa, eighteen miles distant. The road crossed the Liris (C. i. 31. 7) at Minturnæ, and went down the coast till it reached Sinuessa, the most southerly of the Latin towns. The site is now called Monte Dragone (Cramer). It was on the sea, and said to have been founded on the ruins of the Greek city Sinope. Strabo (v. 234) derives its name from the Sinus Vescinus on which it stood. Plotius Tucca appears to have been a native of Cisalpine Gaul. He was associated with L. Varius Rufus by Virgil, who loved them both, as the executor of his will, and he was employed in the task of editing the Æneid after his death. Nothing more is known of him, but what we gather from this passage and S. i. 10. 81, that he was one of Mæcenas’s friends, and on intimate terms with Horace. As to L. Varius, see C. i. 6. 1. S. i. 10. 44.

45. Proxima Campano ponti] After Sinuessa, the Appia Via continued to take a southerly direction, and crossed the Savo (Savone) about three miles from that town, and just within the borders of Campania. That river was crossed by a bridge bearing the name Pons Campanus, near which was a small house erected for the accommodation of persons travelling on public business, where there were officers appointed to supply them with ordinary necessaries. Hence they were called ‘parochi,’ from the Greek παρέχειν. In this house the party passed the night.

47. Hinc muli Capuae] When it reached the right bank of the Vulturnus, four miles below the Savo, the Appia Via turned, striking inland along that bank of the river, which it crossed at the town of Casilinum, where Hannibal met with stout resistance from the Romans who garrisoned it after the battle of Cannæ (Liv. xxiii. 17). This is perhaps the site of the modern Capua. About two miles farther on the road, which now took a southeasterly direction, lay Capua, on the site of which is the modern village Santa Maria di Capoa. There the party arrived ‘betimes,’—in time probably for dinner, after which meal Mæcenas and others of the party went to play at ball, while Horace, whose sight, and Virgil, whose digestion, interfered with that amusement, went early to bed. Virgil is said to have had uncertain health, and to have suffered frequently, either from toothache, headache, or complaints of the stomach.

50. Hinc nos Cocceii] The road, continuing in a southeast direction, passed through two small Campanian towns, Calatia (Le Galazze) and Ad Novas (La Nova), but the usual halting-place after Capua was the town of Caudium, which was the first Samnite town on the Appia Via, and was situated at the head of the pass called the Furcæ (or Fauces) Caudinæ, celebrated for the surprise and capture of the Roman army by C. Pontius, in the second Samnite war, B. C. 321. At Caudium, Cocceius had a handsome house, and Horace marks its situation by saying it lay beyond the public tavern. The town was twenty one miles from Capua.

51. Nunc mihi paucis] The scene that follows represents a scurrilous contest between two parasites, whom Mæcenas carried with him for the entertainment of himself and his party. The description begins with an invocation of the Muse, after the fashion of the Epic poets. Sarmentus was an Etrurian by birth, and originally a slave of M. Favonius (well known in the civil wars, and put to death by Augustus after the battle of Philippi). On the confiscation of the property of Favonius, Sarmentus passed by public sale into the hands of Mæcenas, who gave him his liberty. He then obtained the office of ‘scriba’ in the quæstor’s department, and affected the position of an Eques. He was brought to trial for pretending to a rank he had no claim to (perhaps under the law of Otho), and got off only by the favor of the judges, and by the accuser being put out of the way. When old, he was reduced to great poverty through his licentiousness and extravagance, and was obliged to sell his place as ‘scriba.’ When persons taunted him with this, he showed his ready wit by replying that he had a good memory; by which probably he meant that he had no occasion to write anything down, for he could carry it in his head. It appears that at the time Horace wrote he was free, and held his scribe’s office, though he continued to attend Mæcenas, for his adversary says, though he was a scribe, he was in fact only a runaway, and still belonged to his mistress, the widow of Favonius (v. 66), which is only a joke that would amuse Mæcenas, who had bought and manumitted Sarmentus. When Horace says that Messius was of the noble blood of the Osci, he only means, by way of joke, to say that he was of old and high descent. Perhaps he also alludes to the scar on his temple, which indicated the disease called Campanian (the Campanians were of Oscan descent), of which we are told that it consisted of great excrescences over the temples like horns, which used to be cut out, and left a scar. The Oscans also were the authors of the ‘Atellanae fabulae,’ which were full of broad raillery and coarse wit, which may have something to do with Horace’s joke. ‘Cicirrhus’ is a nickname from κίκιῤῥος, which signifies, according to Hesychius, ‘a cock.’ With these explanations most of the allusions will be intelligible.

58. Accipio, caput et movet.] Messius accepts Sarmentus’s joke as a challenge, and shakes his head fiercely at him, on which Sarmentus takes him up and pretends to be alarmed. The wild horse to which Messius is likened is the unicorn, an imaginary animal described by Pliny as a very terrible beast.

63. Pastorem saltaret] That he should dance the Cyclops’ dance, in which the uncouth gestures of Polyphemus courting Galatea were represented. See Epp. ii. 2. 125. Ovid (Trist. ii. 519) uses ‘salto’ in the passive voice: “Et mea sunt populo saltata poëmata saepe.”

64. larva] The Greek actors always wore masks on the stage suited to the character they were performing. The Romans adopted them about B. C. 100. They were called πρόσωπα by the Greeks, and ‘personae’ or ‘larvae’ by the Romans. As to ‘cothurnus,’ see C. ii. 1. 12, n.

65. Donasset jamne catenam] See Epp. i. 1. 4, n.

67. Nihilo deterius] ‘Nihilo’ is to be pronounced as a dissyllable, like “vehemens et liquidus” (Epp. ii. 2. 120).

68. una Farris libra] The allowance of ‘far’ to each slave was four or five ‘modii’ by the month, and it was served out to them monthly, or sometimes daily (Epp. i. 14. 40). That allowance would give three pints a day, which Messius considers would be three times as much as Sarmentes could possibly require, so he could not better himself by running away. The ‘far’ was otherwise called ‘adoreum’ (C. iv. 4. 41, n.), and seems to have been the same as the Greek ζειά or ὄλυρα. The nature of this grain is not exactly known. That two persons above the condition of slaves should be found in waiting on any man, great or otherwise, for the purpose of entertaining him with such low buffoonery as the above, seems surprising to us; but we know that there was no personal degradation to which this class of people, called ‘parasites’ (diners out), would not demean themselves for the pleasure of a good dinner and the company of the great. The entertainment of these persons would serve to keep the conversation from turning upon politics, which, as the deputies from both sides were now together, it was desirable to avoid.

71. Beneventum,] The Appia Via took a northeast turn from Caudium, for ten miles, till it came to Beneventum (Benevento), a very ancient town, by tradition said to have been founded by Diomed, and the name of which was originally, when the Samnites had it, Maleventum, or some name that sounded so like Maleventum to a Latin ear that the Romans thought fit to change it (for good luck) to Beneventum. Thither the party proceeded next day, and put up at an inn, when the host nearly set fire to his house through carelessness in roasting some indifferent thrushes for their dinner. ‘Hospes paene arsit,’ ‘the host nearly got himself on fire,’ means that he nearly burnt the house down, as the context shows. The expression is the same as in Aen. ii. 311. “Jam proximus ardet Ucalegon.” The position of ‘macros’ is a little careless.

78. quos torret Atabulus] This was a cold wind, said to be peculiar to Apulia. ‘Torret’ is a word which applies to the effect of cold, as well as heat. ‘Atabulus’ is generally looked upon by the commentators as the Sirocco, a hot land wind. But it came directly off the sea from the east, and Pliny speaks of it as a winter wind.

79. Nunquam erepsemus] This is one of the many abbreviated forms Horace uses. See C. i. 36. 8, n., and to the examples there given add the present, and also ‘surrexe,’ ‘divisse,’ ‘evasti.’ ‘Vixet,’ in Aen. xi. 118, is a like contraction of the same tense as ‘erepsemus.’ Horace says that they would never have got out of these hills (the range that borders Samnium and separates it from Apulia) had they not found an inn at the town of Trivicum (Trevico), at which they were able to put up for the night. He means that the next stage, which was twenty-four miles farther on, would have been too long a journey. Horace had been familiar with these mountains in his early childhood, for they overlooked his native town. ‘Notos’ refers to these early reminiscences. Trivicum was probably on a cross road (Cramer, ii. 259) which lay between the two branches of the Appia Via, one of which took the most direct course from Beneventum through Venusia to Tarentum and Brundisium, and the other took a more northerly course across the Apennines, near Equus Tuticus; and then, striking directly eastward till it arrived very near the sea-coast, near Cannæ, proceeded down the line of coast till it reached Brundisium.

81. camino.] See Epod. ii. 43, n.

86. rhedis,] See S. ii. 6. 42.

87. Mansuri oppidulo] It appears probable that the road on which Trivicum lay, entering Apulia about ten miles from that town, passed through or near the Apulian Asculum (Ascoli), and it is in that neighborhood that the little town with the unrhythmical name, at which the party stopped after Trivicum, is supposed to have stood. Of its name we must be content to be ignorant.

91. Nam Canusi lapidosus,] In a plain between the hills and the right bank of the Aufidus, about twelve miles from its mouth, stood the town of Canusium (Canosa), one of the ancient Greek settlements of Apulia. This town and others in Apulia (Venusia and Brundisium among them), and in other parts of Eastern Italy, were represented to have been founded by Diomed, when, after the Trojan war, he was driven to the coast of Apulia, and hospitably entertained and presented with land by Daunus, its king. His name was retained by the islands now called Tremiti, but by the ancients Diomedeæ. Many remains found among its ruins testify to the former importance and wealth of Canusium. The present town stands on a height where the citadel stood, and contains not above 300 houses. A supply of good water was brought into this town by Hadrian, the emperor. That Apulia was not well watered, has been observed before (Epod. iii. 16, n.). The turbid waters of the Aufidus must have been unfit for drinking. The bread of Canosa is described by modern travellers to be as bad as ever. It is accounted for by the softness of the millstones.

91. aquae non ditior urna] The only way of taking this regularly is to make ‘ditior’ agree with ‘locus,’ ‘which place, being not richer in water (than the last) by a single pitcher, was built by brave Diomed.’ So Orelli takes it. The construction is not very agreeable; but to avoid it we must suppose great irregularity.