Today | News | Books | Recipes Adventure | Science Fiction | Ghost stories | Poetry | Children | History Bookerlucente ruinâ._ Cf. x., 107, "impulsæ præceps immane ruinæ." A metaphor from a building on the point of falling, with the daylight streaming through its cracks and fissures. "Then with their prize to ruin'd walls repair, And eat the dainty scrap on earthenware." Badham. [695] _Gustus._ III., 93, "Quando omne peractum est, et jam defecit nostrum mare, dum gula sævit, retibus assiduis penitus scrutante macello proxima." The idea is probably from Seneca. "Quidquid avium volitat, quidquid piscium natat, quidquid ferarum discurrit, nostris sepelitur ventribus." Contr. V. pr. The Cœna consisted of three parts. 1. Gustus (Gustatio), or Promulsis. 2. Fercula: different courses. 3. Mensæ Secundæ. The gustus contained dishes designed more to excite than to satisfy hunger: vegetables, as the lactuca (Mart., xiii., 14), shell and other fish, with piquant sauces: mulsum (Hor., ii., Sat. iv., 24. Plin., i., Ep. 15). Cf. Bekker's Gallus, p. 466, 493. Vide ad Sat. vi., 428. [696] _Difficile_, i. e., "non dubitant." Vid. Schol. Not that they "have _no difficulty_" in raising the money, as Crepereius Pollio found. Cf. ix., 5. [697] _Oppositis._ "Ager oppositus est pignori ob decem minas." Ter., Phorm., IV., iii., 56. [698] _Fractâ._ "Broken, that the features may not be recognized:" alluding probably to some well-known transaction of the time. [699] _Quadringentis._ Cf. Suet., Vit., 13, "Nec cuiquam minus singuli apparatus quadringentis millibus nummûm constiterunt." [700] _Fictile._ III., 168, "Fictilibus cœnare pudet." [701] _Miscellanea._ "A special diet-bread to advantage the combatants at once in breath and strength." _Holyday._ It is said to have been a mixture of cheese and flour; probably a kind of macaroni. "Gladiatoria sagina." Tac., Hist., ii., 88. Prop., IV., viii., 25. [702] _Ferratû._ XIV., 259, "Æratâ multus in arcâ fiscus." X., 25. Hor., i., Sat. i., 67. [703] _E cœlo._ This precept has been assigned to Socrates, Chilo, Thales, Cleobulus, Bias, Pythagoras. It was inscribed in gold letters over the portico of the temple of Delphi. Hence, perhaps, the notion afterward, that it was derived immediately from heaven. [704] _Conjugium._ Cf. Æsch., Pr. V., 890. Ov., Her., ix., 32, "Si qua voles aptè nuberè nube pari." [705] _Sacri._ "The undaunted spirit," says Gifford, "which could thus designate the senate in those days of tyranny and suspicion, deserves at least to be pointed out." [706] _Thersites._ Cf. vii., 115: x., 84; viii., 269. Juvenal is very fond of referring to this contest. [707] _Traducebat._ II., 159, "Illuc heu miseri traducimur." VIII., 17, "Squalentes traducit avos." It means literally "to expose to public derision," a metaphor taken from leading malefactors through the forum with their name and offense suspended from their neck. Cf. Suet., Tit., 8. Mart., i., Ep. liv., 3, "Quæ tua traducit manifesto carmina furto." VI., lxxvii., 5, "Rideris multoque magis traduceris afer Quam nudus medio si spatiere foro." Grang. explains it "se risui exponebat: nec enim arma Achillis Ulyssem decebant." Browne, "in which Ulysses cut a doubtful figure." Others refer ancipitem to _loricam_; or place the stop after _Ulysses_, and take ancip. with _causam_. Gifford omits the passage altogether, as a tasteless interpolation of some Scholiast. Dryden turns it, "When scarce Ulysses had a good pretense, With all th' advantage of his eloquence." Badham: "Which, at the peril of a soldier's fame, The brave Ulysses scarcely dared to claim." Hodgson: "Thersites never could that armor bear, Which e'en Ulysses hesitates to wear." Britann. suggests that it may mean "his enemies doubted if he were really Achilles or no." Facciol.: "in a doubtful frame of mind as to whether they would become him or not." [708] _Matho._ Cf. i., 39; vii., 129. Mart., iv., Ep. 80, 81. For Curtius Montanus, see Tac., Ann., xvi., 48. Hist., iv., 42. [709] _Mullum._ Gifford always renders this by "sur-mullet" «"mugilis" being properly the mullet, of which Holyday gives a drawing, ad x., 317»; Mr. Metcalfe, by "the sea-barbel." Cf. ad iv., 15. "Nor doubt thy throat of mullets to amerce, While scarce a gudgeon lingers in thy purse." Badham. [710] _Crumenâ._ Properly "a bag or reticule to hang on the arm;" a satchel to be hung over a boy's shoulder: then a purse suspended from the girdle, like the "gypciére" of the Middle Ages: "If thy throat widen as thy pockets shrink." Gifford. [711] _Mersis._ "That deep abyss which every kind can hold, Land, cattle, contract, houses, silver, gold." Badham. [712] _Novissimus._ VI., 356, "Levibus athletis vasa novissima donat." [713] _Pollio._ Probably the Crepereius Pollio mentioned Sat. ix., 6, who could get no one to lend him money, though "triplicem usuram præstare paratus." [714] _Senectus_; exemplified in the story of Apicius above. "Decrepit age far more than death they fear; Nor thirst nor hunger haunt the silent bier." Hodgson. [715] _Qui vertere solum._ Cic. pro Cæc., 34, "Qui volunt pœnam aliquam subterfugere aut calamitatem, _solum vertunt_, hoc est sedem ac locum mutant." Browne conjectures the meaning to be, "They who have parted with their property by mortgage, and so _changed_ its owner." [716] _Cedere foro_ is evidently explained, "to give one's creditors the slip"--"to run away from justice"--"to abscond from 'Change"--"to become bankrupt." [717] _Ferventi._ "Lest Rome should grow too _warm_, from Rome they run." Dryden. [718] _Circensibus._ Cf. iii., 223, "Si potes avelli Circensibus." vi., 87, "utque magis stupeas ludos Paridemque reliquit." viii., 118, "Circo scenæque vacantem." x., 80, "duas tantum res anxius optat Panem et Circenses." All these passages show the infatuation of the Romans for these games. Cf. Plin., Ep. ix., 6. Tac., Hist., i., 4; Ann., i., 2. [719] _Uno._ It is not implied that they had the privilege of returning at the end of a year, by a sort of statute of limitations, but only that the loss of the games even for that short period was a greater affliction than the forfeiture of all other privileges. [720] _Siliquas_, from Hor. ii., Ep. i., 123, "Vivit siliquis et pane secundo." [721] _Pultes._ A mixture of coarse meal and water, seasoned with salt and cheese; sometimes with an egg or honey added. It was long the food of the primitive Romans, according to Pliny, xviii., 8, _seq._ It probably resembled the macaroni, or "polenta," of the poor Italians of the present day. Cf. Pers., iii., 55, "Juventus siliquis et grandi pasta polentâ." [722] _Evandrum._ The allusion is to Virg., Æn., viii., 100, _seq._; 228, 359, _seq._ "Come; and while fancy brings past times to view, I'll think myself the king--the hero, you!" Gifford. [723] _Alter aquis._ Æneas, drowned in the Numicius. Hercules, burned on Mount Œta. [724] _Fercula._ Cf. ad 14. [725] _Macellis._ Virg., Georg., iv., 133, "Dapibus mensas onerabat inemptis." Cf. Hor., ii., Sat. ii., 150, _seq._ The n |