Today | News | Books | Recipes Adventure | Science Fiction | Ghost stories | Poetry | Children | History Booky or fondness. [507] _Sylva._ "And every limb, once smooth'd with nicest care, Rank with neglect, a shrubbery of hair." Gifford. [508] _Deprendas._ "Sorrow nor joy can be disguised by art, Our foreheads blab the secrets of our heart." Dryden. [509] _Isis._ Cf. vi., 489, "Aut apud Isiacæ potius sacraria lenæ." [510] _Pacis._ Vespasian built the splendid temple of Peace near the Forum, A.D. 76. Dio., lxvi., 15. Suet., Vesp. 9. In it, or near it, stood the statue of Ganymede. Others think that Ganymedes is put for the temple of Jupiter. [511] _Advectæ Matris_, i. e., Cybele, called also Parens Idæa, and Numen Idæum, because her worship was introduced into Rome from Phrygia, A.U.C. 548, after the Sibylline books had been consulted as to the means of averting certain prodigies. The rude and shapeless mass which represented the goddess was lodged in the house of P. Corn. Scipio Nasica, as the most virtuous man in Rome. Cf. Sat. iii., 137. Liv., xxix., 10. A temple was afterward erected for her on the Palatine Hill: hence _palatia_. _Secreta_ alludes to the abominable orgies performed in her honor. [512] _Venæque secundæ._ "Silver adulterated with brass below the standard; in short, base metal." [513] _Mollis avarus._ "But oh! this wretch, this prodigy behold! A slave at once to lechery and gold." Dryden. [514] _Morbo._ Cf. Hor., i., Sat. vi., 30, "Ut si qui ægrotet quo morbo Barrus." [515] _Succina._ Cf. ad vi., 573. The old Schol. explains this by "Gemmata Dextrocheria." Grangæus thinks that it means "presents of amber," which the Roman ladies used to rub in their hands. So Badham: "For whom the cup of amber must be found, Oft as the birth or festal day comes round." [516] _Fœmineis Kalendis._ On the 1st of March were celebrated the Matronalia in honor of the women who put an end to the Sabine war (bellum dirimente Sabina, vi., 154). Cf. Ov., Fast., iii., 229. On this festival, as well as their birthdays, the Roman ladies sat up in state to receive presents from their husbands, lovers, and acquaintances (vid. Suet., Vesp., 19), in return for what they had given to the men on the Saturnalia. Cf. Mart., v., Ep. lxxxiv., 10, "Scis certè puto vestra jam venire Saturnalia Martias Kalendas." Hor., iii., Od. viii., 1, "Martiis cælebs quid agam Kalendis." [517] _Appula._ Cf. iv., 27. _Milvos._ "Regions which such a tract of land embrace, That kites are tired within the unmeasured space." Gifford. [518] _Trifolinus ager._ Cf. Mart., xiii., Ep. 114, "Non sum de primo fateor, Trifolina, Lyæo; inter vina tamen septima vitis ero." Trifoline wines were so called from being fit to drink at the third appearance of the leaf, "quæ tertio anno ad bibendum tempestiva forent." Plin., xiv., 6. Facc. takes it from Trifolium, a mountain in Campania, perhaps near Capua. Plin., iv., 6. [519] _Suspectumque jugum._ Either Mons Misenus (cf. Virg., Æn., vi., 234), only three miles from Cumæ, or Vesuvius, which was famous for its wines. Mart., iv., Ep. 44. Virg., Georg., ii., 224. Gaurus, now Monte Barbaro, is full of volcanic caverns. It is also called "Gierro." [520] _Plura._ "Though none drinks less, yet none more vessels fills!" Dryden. [521] _Casulis._ Cf. xi., 153, "notos desiderat hædos." "Sure yonder female with the child she bred, The dog their playmate, and their little shed, Had with more justice been conferr'd on me, Than on a cymbal-beating debauchee." Gifford. [522] _Polyphemi._ For the loudness of his roar, vid. Virg., Æn., iii., 672. The meaning seems to be, "I am as badly off with but one slave as Polyphemus was with only one eye: had he had _two_ Ulysses would not have escaped him." Badham takes it of the slave calling for food. "My hungry rascal must at home be fed, Or else, like Polypheme, he'll roar for bread!" [523] _Decembri_, used here adjectively. [524] _Durate._ A parody on Virg., Æn., i., 207, "Durate, et vosmet rebus servate secundis." Cf. Suet., Cal., 45. "Cold! never mind! a month or two, and then The grasshoppers, my lads, will come again!" Badham. [525] _Ruperat._ Cf. Tac., Ann., xi., 30, "At is redderet uxorem, rumperetque tabulas nuptiales." There was an express clause in the marriage contract, "liberorum procreandorum gratiâ uxorem duci." [526] _Libris actorum._ Cf. Tac., Ann., iii., 3. Sat. ii., 136, "cupient et in acta referri." These acta were public registers, in which parents were obliged to insert the names of their children a few days after their birth. They contained, besides, records of marriages, divorces, deaths, and other occurrences of the year, and were therefore of great service to historians, who as some think employed persons to read them up for them. (Cf. acta legenti vii., 104.) Servius Tullius instituted this custom. The records were kept in the temple of Saturn. [527] _Suspende coronas._ This was customary on all festive occasions, as here, on the birth of a child; at marriages (vi., 51, "Necte coronam postibus, et densos per limina tende corymbos"), the return of friends (cf. xii., 91, "Longos erexit janua ramos"), or any public rejoicing (as x., 65, on the death of Sejanus, "Pone domi lauros"). So, when advocates gained a cause, their clients adorned the entrance of their houses with palm branches. Cf. vii., 118, "virides scalarum gloria palmæ." Mart., vii., Ep. xxviii., 6, "excolat et geminas plurima palma fores." [528] _Legatum omne._ One of the provisions of the Lex Papia Poppæa (introduced, at the desire of Augustus, to extend the Lex Julia de maritandis ordinibus) was, that if a married person had no child, a tenth, and in some cases a larger proportion, of what was bequeathed him, should fall to the exchequer. Cf. vi., 38. It conferred also certain privileges and immunities on those who in Rome had three children (hence jus trium liberorum) born in wedlock. Cf. Ruperti and Lips. ad Tac., Ann., iii., 25. Cf. Ann., xv., 19. Mart., ii., Ep. xci., 6; ix., lxvii. [529] _Caducum_, probably a legacy contingent upon the condition of having children. [530] _Pumice._ Cf. viii., 16, "tenerum attritus Catanensi pumice lumbum." [531] _Valvis._ Cf. xiii., 145, _seq._ [532] _Corydon._ Cf. Virg., Ecl., ii., 69, "Ah, Corydon, Corydon, quæ te dementia cepit!" and 56, "Rusticus es, Corydon!" [533] _Claude fenestras._ "Bolt every door, stop every cranny tight, Close every window, put out every light; Let not a whisper reach the listening ear, No noise, no motion--let no soul be near." Gifford. [534] _Gallicinium_ was the technical name for the second military watch, Vid. Facc. [535] _Carptores_, Grangæus explains by "Escuiers trenchants." Facc. by δαιτρός and structor. [536] _Baltea._ "For countless scourgings will the rogues be slack In slanderous villainies to pay thee back?" Badham. [537] _Saufeia_, or Laufella, is supposed to be the "conjux Fusci," mentioned xii., 45, and Mart., iii., Ep. 72; and whose other debaucheries are mentioned vi., 320. Cicero, knowing |