Today | News | Books | Recipes Adventure | Science Fiction | Ghost stories | Poetry | Children | History Bookibus, ex lusionibus multis, talos relinquant et _tesseras_," de Sen., xvi. "Old Mucius Scævola, the lawyer, was a great proficient at it. It was called Ludus duodecim scriptorum, from the lines dividing the alveolus. On these the two armies, white and black, each consisting of fifteen men, or calculi, were placed; and alternately moved, according to the chances of the dice, _tesseræ_." Vid. Gibbon, chap. xxxi. [750] _Pergula._ Literally "the stall outside a shop where articles are displayed for sale." Here used for the teachers of the art of carving who exhibited at these stalls. Suet., Aug., 94, speaks of a "pergula Mathematici." Pergula, "à perga, quia extrà parietem pergit." Facc. [751] _Sumine._ Cf. Mart., Ep. xiii., 44, "vivo lacte papilla tumet." [752] _Pygargus._ "Capræ sylvestris genus, ab albis clunium pilis." Facc. Cf. Plin., viii., 53, 79, "Damæ et pygargi et Strepsicerotes." The "spring-bok" of the Cape. [753] _Scythicæ._ The pheasant (ὄρνις φασιανὸς or φασιανικός, Arist., Av., 68) takes its name from the Phasis, a river in Colchis, on the confines of Scythia, at the mouth of which these birds congregate in large flocks. Vid. Athen., ix., 37, _seq._ [754] _Phœnicopterus._ Arist., Av., 273. Cf. Mart., xiii., 71, "Dat mihi penna rubens nomen." Cf. iii., Ep. lviii., 14. Suetonius mentions "linguas phœnicopterûm" among the delicacies of the "Cœna adventicia" given by his brother to Vitellius, in Vit., c. 13. [755] _Capreæ._ Cf. Mart., Ep. xiii., 99. [756] _Afra avis._ Hor., Epod., ii., 53, "Non Afra avis descendat in ventrem meum non attagen Ionicus." The μελεαγρίς of the Greeks. Varro, R. R., III., ix., 18. [757] _Offelæ_, the diminutive of Offa. "A cutlet or chop," generally applied to the coarser kind of meat. Cf. Mart., xii., 48, "Me meus ad subitas invitet amicus ofellas: Hæc mihi quam possum reddere cœna placet." Some read _furtis_ for _frustis_: which imputation against the character of the little slave Gifford indignantly rejects. [758] _Plebeios calices_, cf. ad vi., 155; v., 46, made of glass, which was now very common at Rome. Vid. Mart., Ep. xii., 74; xiv., 94, _seq._, and especially the Epigram on Mamurra, ix., 60. Strabo speaks of them as sold commonly in Rome in his own time for a χαλκοῦς each (not quite a farthing), lib. xvi., p. 368, T. Cf. Bekker's Gallus, p. 303. [759] _Mango_, cf. Pers., vi., 76, _seq._, from _manu ago_, because they made up their goods for sale, or from μάγγανον, "a trick." Cf. Aristoph., Plut., 310. Bekker's Gallus, the Excursus on "the Slaves." [760] _Casulam._ Cf. ix., 59, "Rusticus infans, cum matre et casulis et conlusore catello." "Sighs for his little cottage, and would fain Meet his old playfellows the goats again." Gifford. [761] _Vina._ Cf. vii., 96, "Vinum Tiberi devectum." Mart., x., 48, 19, "De Nomentana vinum sine fæce lagenâ." [762] _Iliados._ "The tale of Ilium, or that rival lay Which holds in deep suspense the dubious bay." Bad. [763] _Legantur._ Cf. Corn. Nep., vit. Attici, "Nemo in convivio ejus aliud acroama audivit quam Anagnosten: quod nos quidem jucundissimum arbitramur. Neque unquam sine aliquâ lectione apud eum cœnatum est, ut non minus animo quam ventre convivæ delectarentur," c. xvi. Cf. Mart., iii., Ep. 50, who complains of Ligurinus inviting him to have his own productions read to him. [764] _Bilem._ "Let no dire images to-day be brought To wake the hell of matrimonial thought." Hodgson. [765] _Perit._ Cf. Hor., ii., Ep. i., 121, "Detrimenta, fugas servorum, incendia ridet." [766] _Mappæ._ Holyday gives the following account of the origin of this custom. "Nero on a time, sitting alone at dinner, when the shows were eagerly expected, caused his towel with which he had wiped his hands to be presently cast out at the window, for a sign of his speedy coming. Whereupon it was in after times the usual sign at the beginning of these shows." For the mappa see Bekker's Gallus, p. 476.--_Præda_, because "ruined by the expense;" or _Prædo_, from his "unjust decisions;" or _Perda_, from the "number of horses damaged." [767] _Totam Romam._ See Gibbon, chap. xxxi., for the eagerness with which all ranks flocked to these games. [768] _Viridis panni._ Cf. ad vi., 590. Plin., Ep. ix., 6, "Si aut velocitate equorum, aut hominum arte traherentur, esset ratio nonnulla. Nunc favent _panno_: _pannum_ amant," _et seq._ Mart., x., Ep. xlviii., 23, "De Prasino conviva meus, venetoque loquatur." XIV., 131, "Si veneto Prasinove faves quid coccina sumis?" [769] _Pulvere_ is not without its force. Hannibal is said to have plowed up the land near Cannæ, that the wind which daily rose and blew in that direction might carry the dust into the eyes of the Romans. "Ventus (_Vulturnum_ incolæ regionis vocant) adversus Romanis coortus, _multo pulvere_ in ipsa ora volvendo, prospectum ademit." Liv., xxii., 46 and 43. Cf. Sat, ii., 155; x., 165. [770] _Cuticula._ Pers., iv., 18, "Assiduo curata cuticula sole." 33, "Et figas in cute solem." V., 179, "Aprici meminisse senes." Mart., x., Ep. xii., 7, "Totos avidâ cute combibe soles." I., Ep. 78, "Sole utitur Charinus." Plin., Ep. iii., 1, "Ubi hora balinei nuntiata est (cf. ad Sat. x., 216), est autem hieme nona, æstate octava, in sole, si caret vento, ambulat nudus." Cicero mentions "apricatio" as one of the solaces of old age. De Sen., c. xvi. "While we, my friend, whose skin grows old and dry, Court the warm sunbeam of an April sky." Badham. [771] _Rarior usus._ "Our very sports by repetition tire, But rare delight breeds ever new desire." Hodgson. SATIRE XII. This day, Corvinus, is a more joyful one to me than even my own birthday;[772] in which the festal altar of turf[773] awaits the animals promised to the gods. To the queen of the gods we sacrifice a snow-white[774] lamb: a similar fleece shall be given to her that combated the Mauritanian Gorgon.[775] But the victim reserved for Tarpeian Jupiter, shakes, in his wantonness, his long-stretched[776] rope, and brandishes his forehead. Since he is a sturdy calf; ripe for the temple and the altar, and ready to be sprinkled with wine; ashamed any longer to drain his mother's[777] teats, and butts the oaks with his sprouting horn.[778] Had I an ample fortune, and equal to my wishes, a bull fatter than Hispulla,[779] and slow-paced from his very bulk, should be led to sacrifice, and one not fed in a neighboring pasture; but his blood should flow, giving evidence of the rich pastures of Clitumnus,[780] and with a neck that must be struck by a ministering priest of great strength, to do honor to the return of my friend who is still trembling, and has recently endured great horrors, and wonders to find himself safe. For besides the dangers of the sea, and the stroke of the lightning which he escaped, thick darkness obscured the sky in one huge cloud, and a sudden thunder-bolt struck the yard-arms, while every one fancied |