Today | News | Books | Recipes Adventure | Science Fiction | Ghost stories | Poetry | Children | History Bookoddess made, by man alone." Badham. [1050] _Sitis atque fames._ Hor., i., Sat. i., 73, "Nescis quo valeat nummus quem præbeat usum? Panis ematur, olus, vini Sextarius; adde Queis humana sibi doleat natura negatis." [1051] _Epicure._ Cf. xiii., 122, "Non Epicurum suspicit exigui lætum plantaribus horti." "As much as made wise Epicurus blest, Who in small gardens spacious realms possess'd: This is what nature's wants may well suffice; He that would more is covetous, not wise." Dryden. [1052] _Summam._ Cf. iii., 154, "De pulvino surgat equestri Cujus res legi non sufficit." Plin., xxxii., 2, "Tiberio imperante constitutem ne quis in equestri ordine censeretur, nisi cui ingenuo ipsi, patri, avoque paterno sestertia quadringenta census fuisset." Cf. i., 105; iii., 159, "Sic libitum vano qui nos distinxit Othoni." [1053] _Tertia Quadringenta._ Suet., Aug., 41, "Senatorum Censum ampliavit, ac pro Octingentorum millium summâ, duodecies sestertio taxavit, supplevitque non habentibus." [1054] _Narcissi._ Of his wealth Dio says (lx., p. 688), μέγιστον τῶν τότε ἀνθρώπων ἐδυνήθη μυριάδας τε γὰρ πλείους μυρίων εἷχε. Narcissus and his other freedmen, Posides, Felix, Polybius, etc., exercised unlimited control over the idiotic Claudius, but Pallas and Narcissus were his chief favorites, "Quos decreto quoque senatus, non præmiis modo ingentibus, sed et quæstoriis prætoriisque ornamentis ornari libenter passus est:" and so much did they abuse his kindness, that when he was once complaining of the low state of his exchequer, it was said, "abundaturum si à duobus libertis in consortium reciperetur." Claudius would have certainly pardoned Messalina, had it not been for Narcissus. "Nec enim Claudius Messalinam interfecisset, nisi properâsset index, delator adulterii, et quodammodo imperator cædis Narcissus." See the whole account, Tac., Ann., xi., 26-38. Suet., Claud., 26, _seq._ On the accession of Nero, Narcissus was compelled by Agrippina to commit suicide. Cf. ad x., 330. "No! nor his heaps, whom doting Claudius gave Power over all, and made himself a slave; From whom the dictates of command he drew, And, urged to slay his wife, obedient slew." Hodgson. SATIRE XV. Who knows not, O Volusius[1055] of Bithynia, the sort of monsters Egypt,[1056] in her infatuation, worships? One part venerates the crocodile:[1057] another trembles before an Ibis gorged with serpents. The image of a sacred monkey glitters in gold, where the magic chords sound from Memnon[1058] broken in half, and ancient Thebes lies buried in ruins, with her hundred gates. In one place they venerate sea-fish, in another river-fish; there, whole towns worship a dog;[1059] no one Diana. It is an impious act to violate or break with the teeth a leek or an onion.[1060] O holy nations! whose gods grow for them in their gardens![1061] Every table abstains from animals that have wool: it is a crime there to kill a kid. But human flesh is lawful food. Were Ulysses[1062] to relate at supper such a deed as this to the amazed Alcinous, he would perhaps have excited the ridicule or anger of some, as a lying babbler.[1063] "Does no one hurl this fellow into the sea, that deserves indeed a savage Charybdis and a real one[1064] too, for inventing[1065] his huge Læstrygones[1066] and Cyclops. For I would far more readily believe in Scylla, or the Cyanean rocks that clash together,[1067] and the skins filled with stormy winds; or that Elpenor, struck with the light touch of Circe's wand, grunted in company with his messmates turned to hogs. Does he suppose the heads of the Phæacians so void[1068] of brains?" So might any one with reason have argued, who was not yet drunk,[1069] and had taken but a scanty draught[1070] of the potent wine from the Corcyræan[1071] bowl; for the Ithacan[1072] told his adventures alone, with none to attest his veracity. We are about to relate events, wondrous indeed, but achieved only lately, while Junius[1073] was consul, above the walls of sultry Coptos.[1074] We shall recount the crime of a whole people, deeds more atrocious than any tragedy could furnish. For from the days of Pyrrha,[1075] though you turn over every tragic theme,[1076] in none is a whole people[1077] made the perpetrators of the guilt. Here, then, an instance which even in our own days ruthless barbarism[1078] produced. There is an inveterate and long-standing grudge,[1079] a deathless hatred and a rankling wound that knows no cure, burning fiercely still between Ombos[1080] and Tentyra, two neighboring peoples. On both sides the principal rancor arises from the fact that each place hates its neighbor's gods,[1081] and believes those only ought to be held as deities which itself worships. But at a festive period of one of those peoples, the chiefs and leaders of their enemies determined that the opportunity must be seized, to prevent their enjoying their day of mirth and cheerfulness, and the delights of a grand dinner, when their tables were spread near the temples and cross-ways, and the couch that knows not sleep, since occasionally even the seventh day's sun finds it still there, spread without intermission of either night or day.[1082] Savage,[1083] in truth, is Egypt! But in luxury, so far as I myself remarked, even the barbarous mob does not fall short of the infamous Canopus.[1084] Besides, victory is easily gained over men reeking[1085] with wine, stammering[1086] and reeling. On one side there was a crew of fellows dancing to a black piper; perfumes, such as they were; and flowers, and garlands in plenty round their brows. On the other side was ranged fasting hate. But, with minds inflamed, they begin first of all to give vent to railings[1087] in words. This was the signal-blast[1088] of the fray. Then with shouts from both sides, the conflict begins; and in lieu of weapons,[1089] the unarmed hand rages. Few cheeks were without a wound. Scarcely one, if any, had a whole nose out of the whole line of combatants. Now you might see, through all the hosts engaged, mutilated faces,[1090] features not to be recognized, bones showing ghastly beneath the lacerated cheek, fists dripping with blood from their enemies' eyes. But still the combatants themselves consider they are only in sport, and engaged in a childish[1091] encounter, because they do not trample any corpses under foot. What, forsooth, is the object of so many thousands mixing in the fray, if no life is to be sacrificed? The attack, therefore, is more vigorous; and now with arms inclined along the ground they begin to hurl stones[1092] they have picked up--Sedition's[1093] own peculiar weapons. Yet not such stones as Ajax[1094] or as Turnus[1095] hurled; nor of the weight of that with which Tydides[1096] hit Æneas' thigh; but such as right hands far different to theirs, and produced in our age, have power to project. For even in Homer's[1097] lifetime men were beginning to deg |