Today | News | Books | Recipes Adventure | Science Fiction | Ghost stories | Poetry | Children | History Bookistud _vivere_ triste." So Lucilius, "Id me nolo scire mihi cujus sum conscius solus: ne damnum faciam, scire est nescire nisi id me scire alius scierit." [1207] _Digito monstrariar._ So Hor., iv., Od. iii., 22, "Quod monstror digito prætereuntium Romanæ fidicen lyræ." Plin., ix., Epist. xxiii., "Et ille 'Plinius est' inquit. Verum fatebor, capio magnum laboris mei fructum. An, si Demosthenes jure lætatus est quod ilium anus Attica ita noscitavit οὗτος ἐστι Δημοσθένης ego celebritate nominis mei gaudere non debeo?" Cic., Tus. Qu., v., 36. [1208] _Dictata._ The allusion is to Nero, who ordered that his verses should be taught to the boys in the schools of Rome. The works of eminent contemporary poets were sometimes the subjects of study in schools, as well as the standard writings of Virgil and Horace. Cf. Juv., vii., 226, "Totidem olfecisse lucernas Quot stabant pueri quum totus decolor esset Flaccus et hæreret nigro fuligo Maroni." [1209] _Cirratorum._ "Boys of high rank with well-curled hair." Cf. Mart., i., Ep. xxxv., "Cirrata caterva magistri." [1210] _Ecce!_ "See," answers Persius, "the noblest result, after all you can hope to attain, is only to have your poems lisped through by men surcharged with food and wine!" [1211] _Inter pocula._ Cf. Juv., vi., 434; xi., 178. [1212] _Romulidæ_, the degenerate self-styled descendants of Romulus. With equal bitterness Juvenal calls them "Quirites," iii., 60; "Trojugenæ," viii., 181; xi., 95; "Turba Remi," x., 73. [1213] _Balba de nare._ Balbutire is properly a defect of the _tongue_, not of the nose. [1214] _Eliquare_ is properly used of the melting down of metals. It is here put for effeminate affectation of speech. [1215] _Phyllidas._ Not alluding probably to the Heroics of Ovid on these two subjects, but to some wretched trash of his own day. [1216] _Assensere._ From Ov., Met., ix., 259, "Assensere Dei." So xiv., 592. [1217] _Cinis._ Cf. Ov., Trist., III., iii., 76. Amor., III., ix., 67, "Ossa quieta precor tuta requiescite in urnâ, Et sit humus cineri non onerosa tuo." Propert., I., xvii., 24, "Ut mihi non ullo pondere terra foret." Juv., vii., 207, "Dii Majorum umbris tenuem et sine pondere terram Spirantesque crocos et in urnâ. perpetuum ver." [1218] _Levior cippus._ Virg., Ecl., x., 33, "Oh mihi tum quam molliter ossa quiescant." Alluding to the usual inscription on the sepulchral cippi, "Sit tibi terra levis." It is strange, says D'Achaintre, that the Romans should wish the earth to press lightly on the bones of their friends, whom they honored with ponderous grave-stones and pillars; while they prayed that "earth would lie heavy" on their enemies, to whom they accorded no such honors. [1219] _Nascentur violæ._ Cf. Hamlet, Act v., sc. 1, "And from her fair and unpolluted flesh shall violets spring." [1220] _Uncis naribus._ Hor., i., Sat. vi., 5, "Ut plerique solent naso suspendis adunco Ignotos." ii., Sat. viii., 64, "Balatro suspendens omnia naso." Mart., i., Ep. iv., 6, "Nasum Rhinocerotis habent." The Greek μυκτηρίζειν. [1221] _Os populi_, as the Greeks say, τὸ διὰ τοῦ στόματος εἶναι: and Ennius, "Volito vivus' per ora virûm." [1222] _Cedro._ From the antiseptic properties of this wood, it was used for presses for books, which were also dressed with the oil expressed from the tree. Plin., H. N., xiii., 5; xvi., 88. Cf. Hor., A. P., 331, "Speramus carmina fingi posse linenda cedro et levi servanda cupresso." Mart., v., Ep. vi., 14, "Quæ cedro decorata purpurâque nigris pagina crevit umbilicis." Dioscorides calls the cedar τῶν νεκρῶν ζωήν. i., 89. [1223] _Scombros._ Hor., ii., Ep. i., 266, "Cum scriptore meo capsâ porrectus apertâ deferar in vicum vendentem thus et odores et piper et quidquid chartis amicitur ineptis." Mart., vi., Ep. lx., 7, "Quam multi tineas pascunt blattasque diserti, Et redimunt soli carmina docta coci," i. e., verses so bad as to be only fit for wrapping up cheap fish and spices. [1224] _Fas est._ D'Achaintre's reading and interpretation is adopted, instead of the old and meaningless _feci_. [1225] _Exit._ A metaphor from the potter's wheel. Hor., A. P., 21, "Amphora cœpit institui currente rotâ cur urceus _exit_?" [1226] _Rara avis._ "An event as rare as the appearance of the Phœnix." Cf. Juv., Sat. vi., 165, "Rara avis in terris, nigroque simillima cygno." vii., 202, "Corvo quoque rarior albo." Hor., ii., Sat. ii., 26. [1227] _Euge! Belle!_ The exclamations of one praising the recitations. "Though a Stoic, and therefore holding that virtue is its own reward, I am not so stony-hearted as to shrink from all praise. Yet I deny that this idle, worthless praise can form the legitimate end and object of a wise man's aim." [1228] _Ilias Acci._ Cf. ad v., 4. The effusion not of true genius, but of the besotting influence of drugs. "The poet," as Casaubon says, "has not reached the inspiring heights of Hippocrene, but muddled himself with the hellebore that grows on the way thither." The ancients were not unacquainted with the use of this artificial stimulant to genius. Cf. Plin., xxv., 5, "Quondam terribile, postea tam promiscuum, ut plerique studiorum gratia ad providenda acrius quæ commentabantur sumpsitaverint." [1229] _Crudi_; i. e., "over their banquets." «Literally "undigested," as Juv., Sat. i., 143, "Crudum pavonem in balnea portas." Hor., i., Ep. vi., 6, "Crudi tumidique lavemur."» ii., Ep. i., 109, "Pueri patresque severi fronde comas vincti cœnant et carmina dictant." Cf. Pers., iii., 98. [1230] _Citreis._ Cf. ad Juv., xi., 95. [1231] _Sumen._ Juv., xi., 81; xii., 73. Lucil., v., fr. 5. "You purchase their applause by the good dinners you give them." Cf. Hor., i., Epist. xix., 37, "Non ego ventosæ plebis suffragia venor Impensis cœnarum et tritæ munere vestis." [1232] _Horridulum._ Juv., i., Sat. 93, "Horrenti tunicam non reddere servo." Ov., A. Am., ii., 213. [1233] _Verum amo._ Plaut., Mostill., I., iii., 24, "Ego verum amo: verum volo mihi dici: mendacem odi." Hor., A. P., 424, "Mirabor si sciet internoscere mendacem verumque beatus amicum. Tu seu donaris seu quid donare voles cui, nolito ad versus tibi factos ducere plenum lætitiæ; clamabit enim pulchre! bene! recte!" [1234] _Nugaris._ "Dotard! this thriftless trade no more pursue. Your lines are bald, and dropsical like you!" Gifford. [1235] _Ciconia: manus: lingua._ These are three methods employed even to the present day in Italy of ridiculing a person behind his back. Placing the fingers so as to imitate a stork pecking; moving the hands up and down by the side of the temples like an ass's ears flapping; and thrusting the tongue out of the mouth or into the side of the cheek. [1236] _Patricius sanguis._ Hor., A. P., 291, "Vos O Pompilius sanguis!" [1237] _Jus est._ "Ye, whose position places you above the necessity of writing verses for gain, by refraining from writing your paltry trash, avoid the |