Today | News | Books | Recipes Adventure | Science Fiction | Ghost stories | Poetry | Children | History Bookwith clusters of ivy. "Could such verses be tolerated," Persius asks indignantly, "did one spark of the homely, manly, vigorous spirit of our sires still thrill in our veins? Verses which show no evidence of anxious thought and careful labor, but flow as lightly from the lips as the spittle that drivels from them." [1262] _Pluteum._ Cf. Hor., ii., Sat. iii., 7, "Culpantur frustra calami, immeritusque laborat Iratis natus paries Diis atque poëtis." i., Sat. x., 70, "Et in versu faciendo sæpe caput scaberet vivos et roderet ungues." [1263] _Majorum._ Hor., ii., Sat. i., 60, "O puer ut sis Vitalis metuo, et majorum ne quis amicus frigore te feriat." [1264] _Canina litera._ All the commentators are agreed that this is the letter R, because the "burr" of the tongue in pronouncing it resembles the snarl of a dog (cf. Lucil., lib. i., fr. 22, "Irritata canis quod homo quam planius dicat"), but to _whom_ the growl refers is a great question. It may be the surly answer of the great man's porter who has orders not to admit you, or the growl of the dog chained at his master's gate, who shares his master's antipathy to you; or again it may be taken, as by Gifford, "This currish humor you extend too far, While every word growls with that hateful gnarr. Lubinus explains it, "Great men are always irritable; and therefore in their houses this sound is often heard." [1265] _Per me._ "I will take your advice then: but let me know whose verses I am to spare: just as sacred places have inscriptions warning us to avoid all defilement of them." [1266] _Secuit Lucilius._ So Juv., i., 165, "Ense velut stricto quoties Lucilius ardens infremuit." [1267] _Lupe._ Lucilius in his first book introduces the gods sitting in council and deliberating what punishment shall be inflicted on the perjured and impious Lupus. This Lupus is generally considered to be P. Rutilius Lupus, consul A.U.C. 664. But Orellius shows that it is more probably L. Corn. Lentulus Lupus, consul in A.U.C. 597. The fragment is to be found in Cic., de Nat. Deor., i., 23, 65. Cf. Lucil., Fr., lib. i., 4. Hor., ii., Sat. i., 68. [1268] _Muti._ T. Mucius Albutius, whom Lucilius ridicules for his affected fondness for Greek customs. Cf. Lucil., Fr. incert. 3. Juv., Sat. i., 154, "Quid refert dictis ignoscat Mucius an non?" Cic., de Fin., i., 3, 8. Varro, de R. R., iii., 2, 17. [1269] _Genuinum._ Hor., ii., Sat. i., 77, "Et fragili quærens illidere dentem, offendet solido?" "dens genuinus, qui a genis dependet: sic non leo morsu illos pupugit." Cas., Juv. v., 69, "Quæ genuinum agitent non admittentia morsum." [1270] _Suspendere._ Cf. ad i., 40. [1271] _Excusso_ may be also explained "without a wrinkle," or, as D'Achaintre takes it, of the shaking of the head of a person, ridiculing as he reads. [1272] _Cum Scrobe._ Alluding to the well-known story of the barber who discovered the ass's ears of King Midas, which he had given him for his bad taste in passing judgment on Apollo's skill in music; and who, not daring to divulge the secret to any living soul, dug a hole in the ground and whispered it, and then closed the aperture. But the wind that shook the reeds made them murmur forth his secret. Cf. Ov., Met., xi., 180-193. [1273] _Auriculas._ Persius is said to have written at first "Mida rex habet," but was persuaded by Cornutus to change the line, as bearing too evident an allusion to Nero. [1274] _Iliade_, such as that of Accius, mentioned above. [1275] _Afflate._ Persius now describes the class of persons he would wish to have for his readers. Men thoroughly imbued with the bold spirit of the old comedians, Cratinus, Eupolis, and Aristophanes: not those who have sufficient βαναυσία and bad taste to think that true Satire would condescend to ridicule either national peculiarities, or bodily defects; which should excite our pity rather than our scorn. [1276] _Decoctius._ A metaphor from the boiling down of fruits, wine, or other liquids, and increasing the strength by diminishing the quantity. As Virgil is said to have written fifty lines or more in the morning, and to have cut them down by the evening to ten or twelve. [1277] _Supinus_ implies either "indolence," "effeminacy," or "pride." Probably the last is intended here, as Casaubon says, "proud men walk so erectly that they see the sky as well as if they lay on their backs." Quintilian couples together "otiosi et supini," x., 2. Cf. Juv., i., 190, "Et multum referens de Mæcenate supino." Mart., ii., Ep. 6, "Deliciæ supiniores." Mart., v., Ep. 8, also uses it in the sense of _proud_. "Hæc et talia cum refert supinus." It also bears, together with its cognate substantive, the sense of "stupidity." [1278] _Ædilis._ Juv., x., 101, "Et de mensurâ jus dicere, vasa minora Frangere pannosus vacuis Ædilis Ulubris." [1279] _Arreti_, a town of Etruria, now "Arezzo." Cf. Mart., xiv., Ep. 98. [1280] _Heminas_, from ἥμισο. Half the Sextarius, called also Cotyla. [1281] _Abaco._ The frame with movable counters or balls for the purpose of calculation. _Pulvere_ is the sand-board used in the schools of the geometers for drawing diagrams. [1282] _Nonaria._ Women of loose character were not permitted to show themselves in the streets till after the ninth hour. Such at least is the interpretation of the old Scholiast, adopted by Casaubon. The word does not occur elsewhere. [1283] _Vellet._ Hor., i., Sat. iii., 133, "Vellunt tibi barbam Lascivi pueri." Dio Chrys., Or. lxxii., p. 382, φιλόσοφον ἀχίτωνα ἐρεθίζουσι καὶ ἤτοι κατεγέλασαν ἢ ἐλοιδόρησαν ἢ ἐνίοτε ἕλκουσιν ἐπιλαβόμενοι. [1284] _Cynico._ There is probably an allusion to the story of Lais and Diogenes, Athen., lib. xiii. [1285] _Do._ So Hor., i., Epist. xix., 8, "Forum putealque Libonis mandabo siccis." [1286] _Edictum_, i. e., Ludorum, or muneris gladiatorii; the programme affixed to the walls of the forum, announcing the shows that were to come. The reading of these would form a favorite amusement of idlers and loungers. Callirhoe is probably some well-known nonaria of the day. Persius advises hearers of this class to spend their mornings in reading the prætor's edicts, and their evenings in sensual pleasures, as the only occupations they were fit for. Marcilius says that it refers to an edict of Nero's, who ordered the people to attend on a certain day to hear him recite his poem of Callirhoe, which, as D'Achaintre says, would be an admirable interpretation, were not the whole story of the edict a mere fiction. SATIRE II. ARGUMENT. This Satire, as well as the tenth Satire of Juvenal, is based upon the Second Alcibiades of Plato, which it closely resembles in arrangement as well as sentiment. The object is the same in all three; to set before as the real opinion which all good and worthy men entertained, even in the days of Pagan blindness, of the manner and spirit in which the deity |