Today | News | Books | Recipes Adventure | Science Fiction | Ghost stories | Poetry | Children | History Bookl. But hatchets are the things." Badh. [793] _Staminis albi._ The "white" or "black" threads of the Parcæ were supposed to symbolize the good or bad fortune of the mortal whose yarn Clotho was spinning. Mart. iv. Ep. 73, "Ultima volventes oraba pensa sorores, Ut traherent parva stamina pulla morâ." VI. Ep. 58, "Si mihi lanificæ ducunt non pulla sorores Stamina." Hor. ii. Od. iii. 16, "Sororum fila trium patiuntur atra." [794] _Prælata Lavino._ Virg. Æn. i. 267, seq. Liv. i. 1, 3. Tibull. II. v. 49. [795] _Scrofa._ Virg. Æn. iii. 390, "Littoreis ingens inventa sub ilicibus sus, Triginta capitum fœtus enixa jacebit, Alba solo recubans, albi circum ubera nati. Is locus urbis erit, requies ea certa laborum,"--and viii., 43. [796] _Moles._ This massive work was designed and begun by Julius Cæsar, executed by Claudius, and repaired by Trajan. It is said to have employed thirty thousand men for eleven years. Suetonius thus describes it (Claud., c. 20): "Portum Ostiæ exstruxit circumducto dextrâ sinistrâque brachis, et ad introitum profundo jam solo mole objectâ, quam quò stabilius fundaret, navem ante demersit, quâ magnus obeliscus, ex Ægypto fuerat advectus; congestisque pilis superposuit altissimam turrim in exemplum Alexandrini Phari, ut ad nocturnos ignes cursum navigia dirigerent." (Cf. vi., 83. The Pharos of Alexandria was built by Sostratus, and accounted one of the seven wonders of the world.) "Enter the moles, that running out so wide Clasp in their giant arms the billowy tide, That leave afar diminishing the land, More wondrous than the works of nature's hand." Hodgson. [797] _Vertice raso._ It was the custom in storms at sea to vow the hair to some god, generally Neptune: and hence slaves, when manumitted, shaved their heads, "quod tempestatem servitutis videbantur effugere, ut naufragis liberati solent." Cf. Pers., iii., 106, "Hesterni capite inducto subiere Quirites." Hodgson has an excellent note on the "mystical attributes" of hair. [798] _Linguis animisque faventes._ Cic., de Div., i., 102, "Omnibus rebus agendis, Quod bonum, faustum, felix, fortunatumque esset, præfabantur: rebusque divinis, quæ publicè fierent, ut faverent linguis imperabant: inque feriis imperandis ut litibus et jurgiis se abstinerent." Cf. Hor., iii., Od. i., 2, "Favete linguis." Virg., Æn., v., 71, "Ore favete omnes." Hor., Od., III., xiv., 11; Tibull., II., ii., 2, "Quisquis ades linguâ, vir, mulierque fave." So εὐφημεῖν; cf. Eurip., Hec., 528, _seq._ [799] _Sacro quod præstat_; i. e., the sacrifices mentioned in the beginning of the Satire, viz., to Juno, Pallas, and Tarpeian Jove, and therefore more important than those to the Lares. [800] _Placabo._ Cf. Hor., i., Od. 36, 1. Orell. [801] _Nostrum_, i. e., his own Lar familiaris. Cf. ix., 137, "O Parvi nostrique Lares." For the worship of these Lares, Junones, and Genius, see Dennis's Etruria, vol. i., p. lv. [802] _Erexit janua ramos._ Cf. ad ix., 85. [803] _Operatur festa._ Perhaps read with Lipsius, "operitur festa," "in festive-guise is covered with." Virgil, however, uses "operatus" similarly. Georg., i., 339, "Sacra refer Cereri lætis operatus in herbis." Cf. ad ix., 117. "All savors here of joy: luxuriant bay O'ershades my portal, while the taper's ray Anticipates the feast and chides the tardy day." Gifford. [804] _Gallita._ Tacitus (Hist., i., 73) speaks of a Gallita Crispilina, or, as some read, Calvia Crispinilla, as a "magistra libidinum Neronis," and as "potens _pecuniâ et orbitate_, quæ bonis malisque temporibus juxtà valent." Paccius Africanus is mentioned also Hist., iv., 41. [805] _Tabellis._ Cf. ad x., 55, "Propter quæ fas est genua incerare deorum." [806] _Hecatomben._ The hecatomb properly consisted of oxen, 100 being sacrificed simultaneously on 100 different altars. But sheep or other victims were also offered. The poor sometimes vowed an ὠῶν ἑκατόμβη. Emperors are said to have sacrificed 100 lions or eagles. Suetonius says, that above 160,000 victims were slaughtered in honor of Caligula's entering the city. Calig., c. 14. [807] _Nostris ducibus._ Curius Dentatus was the first to lead elephants in triumph. Metellus, after his victory over Asdrubal, exhibited two hundred and four. Plin., viii., 6. L. Scipio, father-in-law to Pompey, employed thirty in battle against Cæsar. The Romans first saw elephants in the Tarentine war, against Pyrrhus; and as they were first encountered in Lucania, they gave the elephant the name of "Bos Lucas." So Hannibal. See x., 158, "Gætula ducem portaret bellua luscum." [808] _Ister Pacuvius._ Cf. ii., 58. [809] _Iphigenia._ Cf. Æsch., Ag., 39, seq., and the exquisite lines in Lucretius, i., 85-102; but Juvenal seems to have had Ovid's lines in his head, Met., xii., 28, _seq._, "Postquam pietatem publica causa, Rexque patrem vicit, castumque datura cruorem Flentibus ante aram stetit Iphigenia ministris: Victa dea est, nubemque oculis objecit, et inter Officium turbamque sacri, vocesque precantum, Supposita fertur mutâsse _Mycenida cervâ_." [810] _Mille._ στόλον Ἀργείων χιλιοναύτην. Æsch., Ag., 44. [811] _Libitinam._ Properly an epithet of Venus (the goddess who presides over _deaths_ as well as births), in whose temple all things belonging to funerals were sold. Cf. Plut., Qu. Rom., 23. Servius Tullius enacted that a sestertius should be deposited in the temple of Venus Libitina for every person that died, in order to ascertain the number of deaths. Dion. Halic., iv., 79. Cf. Liv., xl., 19; xli., 21. Suet., Ner., 39, "triginta funerum millia in rationem Libitinæ venerunt." Hor., iii., Od. xxx., 6; ii., Sat. vi., 19. [812] _Nassa_ is properly an "osier weel," κύρτη for catching fish. Plin., xxi., 18, 59. [813] _Solo._ Cf. i., 68, "Exiguis tabulis;" ii., 58, "Solo tabulas impleverit Hister Liberto;" vi., 601, "Impleret tabulas." "What are a thousand vessels to a will! Yes! every blank Pacuvius' name shall fill." Hodgson. [814] _Nestora._ Cf. Hom., Il., i., 250; Od., iii., 245. Mart., vi., Ep. lxx., 12, "Ætatem Priami Nestorisque." X., xxiv., 11. Cf. ad x., 246. [815] _Rapuit Nero._ Vid. Tac., Ann., xv., 42, Brotier's note. Suetonius (Nero, c. 32), after many instances of his rapacity, subjoins the following: "Nulli delegavit officium ut non adjiceret Scis quid mihi opus sit:" et "Hoc agamus ne quis quidquam habeat." "Ultimot emplis compluribus dona detraxit." [816] _Nec amet._ "Nor ever be, nor ever find, a friend!" Dryden. SATIRE XIII. Every act that is perpetrated, that will furnish a precedent for crime, is loathsome[817] even to the author himself. This is the punishment that first lights upon him, that by the verdict[818] of his own breast no guilty man is acquitted; though the corrupt influence of the prætor may have made his cause prevail, by the urn[819] being tampered with. What think you, Calvinus,[820] is the opinion of all men touching the recent vi |