Chapter X: Appendix: , on the Date of Juvenal's Satires (7)

"The driven axe destroys the conquering car,
And unoffending steeds the ruin share." Hodgson.

[579] _Adoratum._ Cf. Tac., Ann., iii., 72; iv., 2, "Coli per theatra et fora effigies ejus sineret." Vid. Suet., Tib., lv., 48, "Solæ nullam Sejani imaginem inter signa coluissent." 65, "Sejani imagines aureas coli passim videret."

[580] _Sartago._

"And from the stride of those colossal legs
You buy the useful pan that fries your eggs." Badham.

Dryden reads "matellæ."

[581] _Pone domi lauros._ Cf. ad ix., 85.

[582] _Sequitur Fortunam._

"When the king's _trump_, the mob are for the king." Dryden.

[583] _Nurscia_, Nyrtia, Nortia, or Nurtia, the Etruscan goddess of Fortune, nearly identical with Atropos, and cognate with Minerva. The old Schol. says, "Fortuna apud Nyrtiam colitur _unde fuit Sejanus_." But Tacitus tells us (Ann., iv., l; vi., 8) that Sejanus was a native of Volsinii, now Bolsena. Outside the Florence gate of Bolsena stands the ruin of a temple still called Tempio di Norzia. Cf. Liv., vii., 3; Tertull., Apoll., 24, ad Nat., ii., 8; Müller's Etrusker, IV., vii., 6; Dennis's Etruria, i., p. 258, 509.

[584] _Fornacula._ "A fire so fierce for one was scarcely made." Gifford.

[585] _Brutidius._ Tacitus speaks thus of him: "Brutidium artibus honestis copiosum et, si rectum iter pergeret, ad clarissima quæque iturum festinatio exstimulabat, dum æquales, dein superiores, postremo suasmet ipse spes anteire parat." Ann., iii., 66. He had been one of the accusers of Silanus, and was involved in Sejanus' fall. "Magna est fornacula" is well borne out by Tacitus' account. "Cunctos qui carcere attinebantur, accusati societatis cum Sejano, necari jubet. _Jacuit immensa strages_; omnis sexus omnis ætas: inlustres ignobiles--corpora adsectabantur dum in Tiberim traherentur." Ann., vi., 19.

[586] _Victus._ Fierce as Ajax, when worsted in the contest for the arms of Achilles.

[587] _Exercitibus præponere._ Vid. Tac., Ann., iv., 2, "Centuriones ac Tribunos ipse deligere: neque senatorio ambitu abstinebat clientes suos honoribus aut provinciis ornando, facili Tiberio atque ita prono ut socium laborum celebraret."

[588] _Tutor._

"Arraign
Thy feeble sovereign in a guardian's strain,
Who sits amid his foul Chaldæan herd
In that august domain to Rome preferr'd." Badham.

[589] _Sedentis._ Cf. Suet., Tib., 43; Tac., Ann., vi., 1. Grangæus supposes this word to have reference to the Sellaria there described. It probably only refers to his luxury and indolence. Tiberius was with Augustus when he visited Capreæ shortly before his death: "remisissimo ad otium et ad omnem comitatem animo. Vicinam Capreis insulam ἀπραγοπόλιν appellabat à desidiâ secedentium illuc e comitatu suo." Cf. c. 40. Tac., Ann., iv., 67.

[590] _Augusta._ The old reading was angustâ. The alteration of a single letter converts a forceless expletive into an epithet full of picturesque and historic truth.

[591] _Egregios equites._ The flower of the Roman army, the prætorian troops, of which Sejanus was præfect.

[592] _Vasa minora._

"To pound false weights and scanty measures break." Dryden.

[593] _Ulubris._ Cf. Hor., i., Ep. xi., 30, "Est Ulubris, animus si non tibi deficit æquus." Another joke at the expense of the plebeian ædiles (cf. iii., 162), who had the charge of inspecting weights and measures, markets and provisions, roads, theatres, etc. These functionaries still exist (as Gifford says), "as ragged and consequential" as ever, in the Italian villages, retaining their old name of Podestà.

"Deal out the law, and curb with high decree
The tricks of trade at empty Ulubræ." Hodgson.

[594] _Altior._ The idea is probably borrowed from Menander, ἐπαίρεται γὰρ μεῖζον, ἵνα μεῖζον πέσῃ. So hence Horace, ii., Od. x., 10, "Celsæ graviore casu decidunt turres." So Claudian in Rufin., i., 22, "Tolluntur in altum ut lapsu graviore ruant;" and Shakspeare, "Raised up on high to be hurl'd down below."

[595] _Ruinæ._ So Milton.

"With hideous _ruin_ and combustion down." C. Badham.

[596] _Crassos._ M. Licinius Crassus and his son Publius; both killed in the Parthian war.

[597] _Pompeios._ Cn. Pompeius Magnus, and his two sons, Cnæus and Sextus.

[598] _Domitos._

"The stubborn pride of Roman nobles broke,
And bent their haughty necks beneath his yoke." Dryd.

[599] _Colit._ Ov., Fast., iii., 816, "Qui benè placârit Pallada doctus erit."

[600] _Vernula._ This slave was called Capsarius. Suet., Ner., 36. Cf. ad vi., 451.

[601] _Quinquatribus._ Cf. Hor., ii., Ep. ii., 197, "Puer ut festis quinquatribus olim." This festival originally lasted only _one_ day; and was celebrated xiv. Kal. April. It was so called "quia _post diem quintum_ Idus Martias ageretur." So "post diem sextum" was called Sexatrus; and "post diem septimum," Septimatrus. Varro, L. L., v., 3. It was afterward _extended_ to five days; hence the "vulgus" supposed that to have been the origin of the name; and so Ovid takes it, "Nominaque a junctis quinque diebus habet," Fast., iii., 809; who says it was kept in honor of Minerva's natal day, "Causa quod est illâ nata Minerva die," l. 812. (Others say, because on that day her temple on Mount Aventine was consecrated.) Domitian kept the festival in great state at his Alban villa. Suet., Domit., iv. Cicero has a punning allusion to it. Vid. Fam., xii., 25. These five days were the schoolmasters' holidays; and on the first they received their pay, or entrance fee, διδακτρὰ, hence called Minerval; though Horace seems to imply they were paid every month, "Octonis referentes Idibus æra." I., Sat. vi., 75. The lesser Quinquatrus were on the Ides of June. Ov., Fast., vi., 651, "Quinquatrus jubeor narrare minores," called also Quinquatrus Minusculæ.

[602] _Rostra._ Popilius Lenas, who cut off Cicero's head and hands, carried them to Antony, who rewarded him with a civic crown and a large sum of money, and ordered the head to be fixed between the hands to the Rostra. (For the _name_, vid. Liv., viii., 14.)

[603] _Antonî gladios._ Quoting Cicero's own words, "Contempsi Catilinæ gladios, non pertimescam tuos." Phil., ii., 46.

"For me, the sorriest rhymes I'd rather claim,
Than bear the brunt of that Philippic's fame,
The second! the divine!" Badham.

[604] _Torrentem._ So i., 9, "Torrens dicendi copia;" iii., 74, "Isæo torrentior." At the approach of Antipater, Demosthenes fled from Athens, and took refuge in the temple of Poseidon at Calaureia, near Argolis; and fearing to fall into the hands of Archias, took poison, which he carried about with him in a reed, or, as Pliny says, in a ring, xxxiii., 1.

[605] _Forcipibus._ Cf. Virg., Æn., viii., 453, "Versantque tenaci forcipe massam." Juvenal seems to have had the whole passage in his eye.

[606] _Vulcano._ Demosthenes' father was a μαχαιροποιός: in which capacity he employed a large number of slaves, ἐργαστήριον ἔχων μέγα καὶ δούλους τεχνίτας. But as he could not afford to place his son under the costly Isocrates, he sent him to Isæus.

[607] _Truncis._ Virg., Æn., xi., 5.

Ingentem quercum decisis undique ramis
Constituit tumulo, fulgentiaque induit arma,
Mezenti ducis _exuvias_, tibi magne _tropæum_
Bellipotens: aptat rorantes sanguine cristas
Telaque _trunca_ viri.

[608] _Aplustre_, the ἄφλαστον of the Greeks was the high peak of the galley, from which rose the ensign.

[609] _Arcu._ Cf. Suet., Domit., 13, "Janos arcusque cum quadrigis et insignibus triumphorum per regiones urbis tantos et tot exstruxit, ut cuidam Græcè inscriptum sit, ἀρκεῖ—." Some think there is an allusion here to the column of Trajan, erected in honor of his Dacian victories. This would bring down the date of this Satire to after A.D. 113.

[610] _Amplectitur._

"That none confess fair Virtue's genuine power,
Or woo her to their breast without a dower." Gifford.

[611] _Sepulchris_; from Propertius, III., ii., 19, _seq._ So Ausonius, "Mors etiam saxis, nominibusque venit."

"For fate hath foreordain'd its day of doom,
Not to the tenant only, but the tomb." Badham.

[612] _Expende._

"How are the mighty changed to dust! how small
The urn that holds what once was Hannibal!" Hodgson.

[613] _Altos_; others read _alios_; referring to the elephants of _Africa_ as well as _Asia_. "Elephantos fert Africa, ferunt Æthiopes et Troglodytæ: sed maximos India." Plin., viii., 11.

[614] _Aceto._ Vid. Liv., xxi., 37. Polybius omits the story as fabulous. There appears, now, no reason to doubt the fact.

[615] Actum. "Nil actum referens si quid superesset agendum."

"Peace courts his hand, but spreads her charms in vain;
'Think nothing gain'd,' he cries, 'till naught remain;
On Moscow's walls till Gothic standards fly,
And all be mine beneath the Polar sky.'" Johnson.

[616] _Facies._

"Oh! for some master-hand, the lines to trace!" Gifford.

[617] _Luscum._ Hannibal lost one eye, while crossing the marshes, in making his way to Etruria: "quia medendi nec locus nec tempus erat altero oculo capitur;" he rode, Livy tells us, on his sole surviving elephant, xxii., 2.

[618] _Bithyno._ When accused by the Romans at Carthage, Hannibal fled to Antiochus, king of Syria, and thence to the court of Prusias, king of Bithynia, for whom he carried on successfully the war against Eumenes. But when Flaminius was sent to demand his surrender, he destroyed himself with poison, which he always carried in a ring.

[619] _Sanguinis._ Forty-five thousand dead were left on the field of Cannæ, with the Consul Æmilius Paulus, eighty senators, and very many others of high rank.

[620] _Declamatio._ Cf. vii., 167, "Sexta quâque die miserum dirus caput Hannibal implet." So I. 150, and i., 15.

"Go, climb the rugged Alps, ambitious fool!
To please the boys, and be a theme at school." Dryden.

[621] _Unus._ "Heu me miserum! quod ne uno quidem adhuc potitus sum!" is the exclamation put into Alexander's mouth by Val. Max., viii., 14.

[622] _Gyaris._ Cf. i., 73; vi., 563.

[623] _Figulis._ Cf. Herod., i., 78. Ov., Met., iv., 27, "Ubi dicitur altam Coctilibus muris cinxisse Semiramis urbem."

[624] _Sarcophago._ A stone was found at Assos, near Troy, which was said to possess the property of consuming the flesh of bodies inclosed in it within the space of forty days, hence called σαρκοφάγος. Plin., ii., 96; xxxvi., 17. Cf. Henry's speech to Hotspur's body:

"Ill-weaved ambition, how much art thou shrunk!
When that this body did contain a spirit,
A kingdom for it was too small a bound:
But now, two paces of the vilest earth
Is room enough."

So Hall:

"Fond fool! six feet shall serve for all thy store,
And he that cares for most shall find no more."

And Shirley:

"How little room do we take up in death,
That, living, knew no bounds!"

And Webster's Duchess of Malfy:

"Much you had of land and rent;
Your length in clays's now competent."

So K. Henry VI.:

"And of all my lands
Is nothing left me but my body's length."

And Dryden's Antony:

"The place thou pressest on thy mother Earth
Is all thy empire now."

Cf. Æsch., S. Theb., 731. Soph., Œd. Col., 789. Shakspeare's Richard II., Act iii., sc. 2.

[625] _Epota._ Herodotus mentions the Scamander, Onochnous, Apidanus, and Echedorus.

"Rivers, whose depth no sharp beholder sees,
Drunk at an army's dinner to the lees!" Dryden.

[626] _Sostratus._ Of this poet nothing is known.--_Madidis_, probably in the same sense as in Sat. xv., 47, "Facilis victoria de madidis." Sil., xii., 18, "Madefacta mero."

[627] _Ennosigæum._ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐνόθειν τὴν γαῖαν. Cf. Hom., Il., vii., 455. _Æolis_ is an allusion to Virgil, Æn., i., 51, "Vinclis ac carcere frænat," etc.

[628] _Stigmate._ Herod., vii., 35.

"That shackles o'er th' earth-shaking Neptune threw,
And thought it lenient not to brand him too." Gifford.

[629] _Servire Deorum._ As Apollo served Admetus; Neptune, Laomedon, etc.

"Ye gods! obeyed ye such a fool as this?" Hodgson.

[630] _Tardâ._ Perhaps alluding to Her., viii., 118.

"A single skiff to speed his flight remains,
Th' encumbered oar scarce leaves the dreaded coast
Through purple billows and a floating host!" Johnson.

[631] _Tabraca_, on the coast of Tunis, now Tabarca.

[632] _Simia._ So Ennius, in Cic., Nat. De., i., 35, "Simia, quam similis turpissima bestia nobis!"

"A stick-fallen cheek! that hangs below the jaw,
Such wrinkles as a skillful hand would draw
For an old grandam ape, when, with a grace,
She sits at squat, and scrubs her leathern face." Dryden.

[633] _Cum voce trementia membra._ Compare Hamlet's speech to Polonius, and As you like it, Act ii., 7:

"His big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in its sound."

"The self-same palsy both in limbs and tongue." Dryden.

[634] _Palato._ Compare Barzillai's speech to David, 2 Sam., xix., 35, "I am this day fourscore years old; and can I discern between good or evil? can thy servant taste what I eat and what I drink? can I hear any more the voice of singing men and singing women?"

[635] _Vini._

"Now pall the tasteless meats, and joyless wines,
And Luxury with sighs her slave resigns." Johnson.

[636] _Viribus._ Shakspeare, King Henry IV., Part ii., Act ii., sc. 4, "Is it not strange that desire should so many years outlive performance?"

[637] _Auratâ._ Cic. ad Heren., iv., 47, "Uti citharædus cum prodierit optimè vestitus, pallâ _inauratâ_ indutus, cum chlamyde purpureâ coloribus variis intextâ, cum coronâ aureâ, magnis _fulgentibus_ gemmis illuminatâ." Horace, A. P., 215, "Luxuriem addidi arti Tibicen, traxitque vagus per pulpita vestem."

[638] _Nuntiet horas._ Slaves were employed to watch the dials in the houses of those who had them, and report the hour: those who had no dial sent to the Forum. Cf. Mart., viii., 67. Suet., Domit., xvi., "Sexta nuntiata est."

[639] _Gelido._ Virg., Æn., v., 395, "Sed enim _gelidus_ tardante senectâ _Sanguis_ hebet, _frigentque_ effœtæ in corpora vires."

[640] _Themison_ of Laodicea in Syria, pupil of Asclepiades, was an eminent physician of the time of Pompey the Great, and is said to have been the founder of the "Methodic" school, as opposed to the "Empiric." Vid. Cels., Præf. Plin., N. H., xxix., 15. Others say he lived in Augustus' time, and Hodgson thinks he may have lived even to Juvenal's days. Cicero (de Orat., i., 14) mentions an Asclepiades; and the names of at least _three_ others are mentioned in later times.

[641] _Quo tondente._ Cf. i., 35.

[642] _Hiat._ Cf. Lucian, Tim., ἐμὲ περιμένουσι κεχηνότες ὥσπερ τὴν χελιδόνα προσπετομένην τετριγότες οἰ νεοσσοί. P. 72, E., ed. Bened.

[643] _Jejuna_, from Hom., Il., ix., 323, ὡς δ' ὄρνις ἀπτῆσι νεοσσοῖσι προφέρῃσι μάστακ', ἐπεί κε λάβῃσι, κακῶς δέ τέ οἱ πέλει αὐτῇ.

[644] _Phialen._

"Forgets the children he begot and bred,
And makes a strumpet heiress in their stead." Gifford.

[645] _Nigrâ._ "And liveries of black for length of years." Dryden.

[646] _Pylius._ Hom., Il., i., 250, μετὰ δὲ τριτάτοισιν ἄνασσεν. So Odyss., iii., 245, τρὶς γὰρ δή μίν φασιν ἀνάξασθαι γένε' ἀνδρῶν.

[647] _Cornice._

"Next to the raven's age, the Pylian king
Was longest-lived of any two-legged thing." Dryden.

[648] _Dextra._ This the Greeks express by ἀναπεμπάζεσθαι. They counted on the left hand as far as a hundred, then on the right up to two hundred, and then again on the left for the third hundred. Holyday has a most elaborate explanation of the method.

[649] _Antilochi._ Cf. Hor., II., Od. ix., 14.

[650] _Natantem._ Cf. Hom., Od., v., 388, 399.

"So Peleus sigh'd to join his hero lost--
Laertes his on boundless billows toss'd." Hodgson.

[651] _Polyxena_, from Eurip., Hec., 556, λαβοῦσα πέπλους ἐξ ἄκρας ἐπωμίδος ἔῤῥηξε.

[652] _Miles tremulus._ Virg., Æn., ii., 509, "Arma diu senior desueta trementibus ævo circumdat," etc.

"A soldier half, and half a sacrifice." Dryden.

[653] _Bos._ Virg., Æn., v., 481, "Sternitur, exanimisque tremens procumbit humi bos."

[654] _Fastiditus._

"Disdain'd its labors, and forgotten now
All its old service at the thankless plow." Hodgson.

[655] _Canino._ See the close of Eurip., Hecuba. The Greeks fabled that Hecuba was metamorphosed into a bitch, from her constant railing at them. Hence κυνὸς σῆμα. Cf. Plaut., Menœchm., v. i.

[656] _Crœsus._ Cf. Herod., i., 32.

[657] _Spatia_, a metaphor from the "course." So Virgil has metæ ævi, metæ mortis.

[658] _Minturnarum_, a town of the Aurunci near the mouth of the Liris, now Garigliano. In the marshes in the neighborhood Marius concealed himself from the cavalry of Sylla.

[659] _Animam._

"Had he exhaled amid the pomp of war,
A warrior's soul in that Teutonic car." Badham.

[660] _Teutonico_, i. e., after his triumph over the Cimbri and Teutones. Cf. viii., 251.

[661] _Campania._ Cf. Cic., Tus. Qu., i., 35, "Pompeius noster familiaris, cum graviter ægrotaret Neapoli, utrum si tum esset extinctus, à bonis rebus, an à malis discessisset? certè a miseriis, si mortem tum obiisset, in amplissimis fortunis occidisset." Achillas and L. Septimius murdered Pompey and cut off his head; which ἐφύλασσον Καίσαρι, ὡς ἐπὶ μεγίσταις ἀμοιβαῖς. Appian, B.C., ii., 86

[662] _P. Corn. Lentulus Sura_, was strangled in prison with Cethegus. Catiline fell in battle, near Pistoria in Etruria.

[663] _Murmure._ Venus was worshiped under the name of ἀφροδίτη Ψίθυρος, because all prayers were to be offered in whispers.

[664] _Delicias._ This is Heinrich's view. Grangæus explains it, "Ut pro ipsis vota deliciarum plena concipiat." Britannicus, "quasi diceret, optat ut tam formosa sit, ut eam juvenes in suos amplexus optent."

[665] _Latona._ Hom., Od. vi., 106, γέγηθε δέ τε φρένα Λήτω. Virg., Æn., i., 502, Latonæ tacitum pertentant gaudia pectus.

[666] _Lucretia._

"Yet Vane could tell what ills from beauty spring,
And Sedley cursed the form that pleased a king!" Johnson.

[667] _Concordia._ Ov., Heroid, xvi., 288, "Lis est cum _forma_ magna _pudicitiæ_."

"Chaste--is no epithet to suit with fair." Dryden.

[668] _Tradiderit._

"Though through the rugged house, from sire to son,
A Sabine sanctity of manners run." Gifford.

[669] _Pœnas metuet._ The punishment of adulterers seems to have been left to the discretion of the injured husband rather than to have been defined by law.

[670] _Laqueos._ Ov., Met., iv., 176, "Extemplo graciles ex ære catenas, Retiaque et laqueos quæ lumina fallere possint, elimat." Art. Am., ii., 561, _seq._ Hom., Odyss., viii., 266.

[671] _Servilia_; i. e., some one as rich and debauched as Servilia, sister of Cato and mother of Brutus, with whom Cæsar intrigued, and lavished immense wealth on her. Vid. Suet, Jul., 50. Her sister, the wife of Lucullus, was equally depraved.

[672] _Mores._

"In all things else, immoral, stingy, mean,
But in her lusts a conscionable quean." Dryden.

[673] _Hæc_, sc. Phædra, daughter of Minos, king of Crete.

[674] _Stimulos._

"A woman scorn'd is pitiless as fate,
For then the dread of shame adds stings to hate." Gifford.

[675] _Cæsaris uxor._ The story is told in Tacitus, Ann., xi., 12, seq. "In Silium, juventutis Romanæ _pulcherrimum_ ita exarserat, ut Juniam Silanam nobilem fœminam, matrimonio ejus exturbaret vacuoque adultero potiretur. Neque Silius _flagitii_ aut _periculi_ nescius erat: _sed certo si abnueret exitio_ et nonnullâ fallendi spe, simul magnis præmiis, opperiri futura, et præsentibus frui, pro solatio habebat." This happened A.D. 48, in the autumn, while Claudius was at Ostia. It was with great difficulty, after all, that Narcissus prevailed on Claudius to order Messalina's execution, cf. xiv., 331; Tac., Ann., xi., 37; and she was put to death at last without his knowledge.

[676] _Auspex._ Suet., Claud. "Cum comperisset «Valeriam Messalinam» super cætera flagitia atque dedecora, C. Silio etiam nupsisse, _dote inter auspices consignatâ_, supplicio affecit." C. 26; cf. 36, 39.

[677] _Lucernas._ "Before the evening lamps 'tis thine to die." Badham.

[678] _Nota urbi et populo._ Juvenal uses almost the very words of Tacitus. "An discidium inquit (Narcissus) tuum nôsti? Nam matrimonium Silii vidit populus et senatus et miles: ac ni properè agis tenet urbem maritus." Ann., xi., 30.

[679] _Prœbenda._ Cf. Tac., Ann., xi., 38.

"Inevitable death before thee lies,
But looks more kindly through a lady's eyes!" Dryden.

[680] _Tomacula_, "the liver and other parts cut out of the pig minced up with the fat." Mart., i., Ep. xlii., 9, "Quod fumantia qui tomacla raucus circumfert tepidus coquus popinis." The other savory ingredients are given by Facciolati; the Greeks called them τεμάχη or τεμάχια.

[681] _Munera._

"A soul that can securely death defy,
And count it Nature's privilege to die." Dryden.

[682] _Hercules._ Alluding to the well-known "Choice of Hercules" from Prodicus. Xen., Mem.

[683] _Nullum numen._ Repeated, xiv., 315.

[684] "The reasonings in this Satire," Gibbon says, "would have been clearer, had Juvenal distinguished between wishes the accomplishment of which could not fail to make us miserable, and those whose accomplishment might fail to make us happy. Absolute power is of the first kind; long life of the second."

SATIRE XI.

If Atticus[685] sups extravagantly, he is considered a splendid[686] fellow: if Rutilus does so, he is thought mad. For what is received with louder laughter on the part of the mob, than Apicius[687] reduced to poverty?

Every club,[688] the baths, every knot of loungers, every theatre,[689] is full of Rutilus. For while his sturdy and youthful limbs are fit to bear arms,[690] and while he is hot in blood, he is driven[691] (not indeed forced to it, but unchecked by the tribune) to copy out[692] the instructions and imperial commands of the trainer of gladiators. Moreover, you see many whom their creditor, often cheated of his money, is wont to look out for at the very entrance of the market;[693] and whose inducement to live exists in their palate alone. The greatest wretch among these, one who must soon fail, since his ruin is already as clear[694] as day, sups the more extravagantly and the more splendidly. Meanwhile they ransack all the elements for dainties;[695] the price never standing in the way of their gratification. If you look more closely into it, those please the more which are bought for more. Therefore they have no scruple[696] in borrowing a sum, soon to be squandered, by pawning[697] their plate, or the broken[698] image of their mother; and, with the 400[699] sesterces, seasoning an earthen[700] dish to tickle their palate. Thus they are reduced to the hotch-potch[701] of the gladiator.

It makes therefore all the difference who it is that procures these same things. For in Rutilus it is luxurious extravagance. In Ventidius it takes a praiseworthy name, and derives credit from his fortune.

I should with reason despise the man who knows how much more lofty Atlas is than all the mountains in Libya, yet this very man knows not how much a little purse differs from an iron-bound chest.[702] "Know thyself," came down from heaven:[703] a proverb to be implanted and cherished in the memory, whether you are about to contract matrimony,[704] or wish to be in a part of the sacred[705] senate:--(for not even Thersites[706] is a candidate for the breast-plate of Achilles: in which Ulysses exhibited himself in a doubtful character:[707])--or whether you take upon yourself to defend a cause of great moment. Consult your own powers; tell yourself who you are; whether you are a powerful orator, or like a Curtius, or a Matho,[708] mere spouters.

One must know one's own measure, and keep it in view, in the greatest and in most trifling matters; even when a fish is to be bought. Do not long for a mullet,[709] when you have only a gudgeon in your purse. For what end awaits you, as your purse[710] fails and your gluttony increases: when your patrimony and whole fortune is squandered[711] upon your belly, what can hold your money out at interest, your solid plate, your flocks, and lands?

By such proprietors as these, last of all[712] the ring is parted with, and Pollio[713] begs with his finger bare. It is not the premature funeral pile, or the grave, that is luxury's horror, but old age,[714] more to be dreaded than death itself. These are most commonly the steps: money, borrowed at Rome, is spent before the very owners' faces; then when some trifling residue is left, and the lender of the money is growing pale, they give leg-bail[715] and run to Baiæ and Ostia. For now-a-days to quit the forum[716] is not more discreditable to you than to remove to Esquiline from hot[717] Suburra. This is the only pain that they who flee their country feel, this their only sorrow, to have lost the Circensian games[718] for one[719] year. Not a drop of blood remains in their face; few attempt to detain modesty, now become an object of ridicule and fleeing from the city.

You shall prove to-day by your own experience, Persicus, whether all these things, which are very fine to talk about, I do not practice in my life, in my moral conduct, and in reality: but praise vegetables,[720] while in secret I am a glutton: in others' hearing bid my slave bring me water-gruel,[721] but whisper "cheese-cakes" in his ear. For since you are my promised guest, you shall find me an Evander:[722] you shall come as the Tirynthian, or the guest, inferior indeed to him, and yet himself akin by blood to heaven: the one sent to the skies by water,[723] the other by fire.

Now hear your bill of fare,[724] furnished by no public market.[725]

From my farm at Tibur there shall come a little kid, the fattest and tenderest of the whole flock, ignorant of the taste of grass, that has never yet ventured to browse even on the low twigs of the willow-bed, and that has more milk than blood in his veins: and asparagus[726] from the mountains, which my bailiff's wife, having laid down her spindle, gathered. Some huge eggs besides, and still warm in their twisted hay, shall be served up together with the hens themselves: and grapes kept a portion of the year, just as they were when fresh upon the vines: pears from Signia[727] and Syria: and, from the same basket, apples rivaling those of Picenum,[728] and smelling quite fresh; that you need not be afraid of, since they have lost their autumnal moisture, which has been dried up by cold, and the dangers to be feared from their juice if crude. This would in times gone by have been a luxurious supper for our senate. Curius[729] with his own hands used to cook over his little fire pot-herbs which he had gathered in his little garden: such herbs as now the foul digger in his heavy chain rejects with scorn, who remembers the flavor of the vile dainties[730] of the reeking cook-shop. It was the custom formerly to keep against festival days the flitches of the smoked swine, hanging from the wide-barred rack, and to set bacon as a birthday treat before one's relations, with the addition of some fresh meat, if a sacrificial victim furnished any. Some one of the kin, with the title of "Thrice consul," that had held command in camps, and discharged the dignity of dictator, used to go earlier[731] than his wont to such a feast as this, bearing his spade over his shoulder from the mountain he had been digging on. But when men trembled at the Fabii,[732] and the stern Cato, and the Scauri and Fabricii;[733] and when, in fine, even his colleague stood in dread of the severe character of the strict Censor; no one thought it was a matter of anxiety or serious concern what kind of tortoise[734] floated in the wave of ocean, destined to form a splendid and noble couch for the Trojugenæ. But with side devoid of ornament, and sofas of diminutive size, the brazen front displayed the mean head of an ass wearing a chaplet,[735] at which the country lads laughed in wantonness.

The food then was in keeping with the master of the house and the furniture. Then the soldier, uncivilized, and too ignorant[736] to admire the arts of Greece, used to break up the drinking-cups, the work of some renowned artists, which he found in his share of the booty when cities were overthrown, that his horse might exult in trappings,[737] and his embossed helmet might display to his enemy on the point of perishing, likenesses of the Romulean wild beast bidden to grow tame by the destiny of the empire, and the twin Quirini beneath the rock, and the naked image of the god coming down[738] with buckler and spear, and impending over him. Whatever silver he possessed glittered on his arms[739] alone. In those days, then, they used to serve all their furmety in a dish of Tuscan earthenware: which you may envy, if you are at all that way inclined.[740]

The majesty of temples also was more evidently near[741] to men, and a voice[742] heard about midnight and through the midst of the city, when the Gauls were coming from the shore of ocean, and the gods discharged the functions of a prophet, warned us of these.

This was the care which Jupiter used to show for the affairs of Latium, when made of earthenware,[743] and as yet profaned by no gold. Those days saw tables made of wood grown at home and from our native trees.[744] To these uses was the timber applied, if the east wind had chanced to lay prostrate some old walnut-tree. But now the rich have no satisfaction in their dinner, the turbot and the venison lose their flavor, perfumes and roses seem to lose their smell, unless the broad circumference of the table is supported by a huge mass of ivory, and a tall leopard with wide-gaping jaws, made of those tusks, which the gate of Syene[745] transmits, and the active Moors, and the Indian of duskier hue than the Moor;[746] and which the huge beast has deposited in some Nabathæan[747] glen, as now grown too weighty and burdensome to his head: by this their appetite[748] is whetted: hence their stomach acquires its vigor. For a leg of a table made only of silver is to them what an iron ring on their finger would be: I therefore cautiously avoid a proud guest, who compares me with himself, and looks with scorn on my paltry estate. Consequently I do not possess a single ounce of ivory: neither my chess-board[749] nor my men are of this material; nay, the very handles of my knives are of bone. Yet my viands never become rank in flavor by these, nor does my pullet cut up the worse on that account. Nor yet will you see a carver, to whom the whole carving-school[750] ought to yield the palm, some pupil of the professor Trypherus, at whose house the hare, with the large sow's udders,[751] and the wild boar, and the roebuck,[752] and pheasants,[753] and the huge flamingo,[754] and the wild goat[755] of Gætulia, all forming a most splendid supper, though made of elm, are carved with the blunted knife, and resounds through the whole Suburra. My little fellow, who is a novice, and uneducated all his days, does not know how to take dexterously off a slice of roe, or the wing of a Guinea-hen;[756] only versed in the mysteries of carving the fragments of a small collop.[757]

My slave, who is not gayly dressed, and only clad so as to protect him from cold, will hand you plebeian cups[758] bought for a few pence. He is no Phrygian or Lycian, or one purchased from the slave-dealer[759] and at great price. When you ask for any thing, ask in Latin. They have all the same style of dress; their hair close-cropped and straight, and only combed to-day on account of company. One is the son of a hardy shepherd, another of a neat-herd: he sighs after his mother, whom he has not seen for a long time, and pines for his hovel[760] and his playmate kids. A lad of ingenuous face, and ingenuous modesty; such as _those_ ought to be who are clothed in brilliant purple. He shall hand you wine[761] made on those very hills from which he himself comes, and under whose summit he has played; for the country of the wine and the attendant is one and the same.

Gambling is disgraceful, and so is adultery, in men of moderate means. Yet when rich men commit all those abominations, they are called jovial, splendid fellows. Our banquet to-day will furnish far different amusements. The author of the Iliad[762] shall be recited, and the verses of high-sounding Mars, that render the palm doubtful. What matter is it with what voice such noble verses are read?[763] But now having put off all your cares, lay aside business, and allow yourself a pleasing respite, since you will have it in your power to be idle all day long. Let there be no mention of money out at interest. Nor if your wife is accustomed to go out at break of day and return at night, let her stir up your bile,[764] though you hold your tongue. Divest yourself at once of all that annoys you, at my threshold. Banish all thoughts of home and servants, and all that is broken and wasted[765] by them--especially forget ungrateful friends! Meantime, the spectacles of the Megalesian towel[766] grace the Idæan solemnity: and, like one in a triumph, the prey of horses, the prætor, sits: and, if I may say so without offense to the immense and overgrown crowd, the circus to-day incloses the whole of Rome;[767] and a din reaches my ears, from which I infer the success of the green faction.[768] For should it not win, you would see this city in mourning and amazement, as when the consuls were conquered in the dust[769] of Cannæ. Let young men be spectators of these, in whom shouting and bold betting, and sitting by a trim damsel is becoming. Let our skin,[770] which is wrinkled with age, imbibe the vernal sun and avoid the toga'd crowd. Even now, though it wants a whole hour to the sixth, you may go to the bath with unblushing brow. You could not do this for five successive days; because even of such a life as this there would be great weariness. It is a more moderate use[771] that enhances pleasures.

FOOTNOTES:

[685] _Atticus._ Put for any man of wealth and rank. So _Rutilus_ for the reverse. Cf. xiv., 18.

[686] _Lautus._ Cf. Mart., xii., Ep. xlviii., 5.

[687] _Apicius_ (cf. iv., 23), having spent "millies sestertium," upward of eight hundred thousand pounds, in luxury, destroyed himself through fear of want, though it appeared he had above eighty thousand pounds left.

[688] _Convictus._ Properly, like convivium, "a dinner party." Cf. i., 145, "It nova nec tristis per cunctas fabula cœnas." Tac., Ann., xiv., 4; xiii., 14.

[689] _Stationes_, "locus ubi otiosi in urbe degunt, et variis sermonibus tempus terunt." Plin., Ep. i., 13; ii, 9.

[690] _Sufficiunt galeæ._ Cf. vii., 32, "Defluit ætas et pelagi patiens et cassidis atque ligonis."

[691] _Cogente._ Cf. viii., 167, "Quanti sua funera vendunt Quid refert? vendunt nullo _cogente Nerone_. Nec dubitant celsi prætoris vendere ludis."

[692] _Scripturus._ Suet., Jul., 26. Gladiators had to write out the rules and words of command of their trainers, "dictata," in order to learn them by heart. Lubinus gives us some of these: "attolle, declina, percute, urge, cæde."

[693] _Macelli._ So called from μάκελλον, "an inclosure," because the markets, before dispersed in the Forum boarium, olitorium, piscarium, cupedinis, etc., were collected into one building; or, from one Romanius Macellus, whose house stood there, and was "propter latrocinia ejus publicè diruta." Vid. Donat. ad Ter., Eunuch., ii., sc. ii., 24, where he gives a list of the cupediarii, "cetarii, lanii, coqui, fartores, piscatores;" or á mactando; as the French "Abattoir." Cf. Sat., v., 95. Suet., Jul., 26. Plaut., Aul., II., viii., 3. Hor., i., Ep. xv., 31.

[694] _Perlucente 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 next 16 lines are imitated from Mart., x., Ep. 48. Gifford says, "Martial has imitated this bill of fare in Lib. x., 48." But his 10th Book was written A.D. 99; and from line 203, it is evident this Satire was written in Juvenal's old age, and therefore, in all probability, twenty years later.

[726] _Asparagi_, called "corruda," Cato, de R. R., 6. The wild asparagus is still very common on the Italian hills. Cf. Mart., Ep. xiii., 21, "Inculti asparagi." See Sir William Hooker's note on Badham's version.

[727] _Signia_, now "Segni" in Latium. Cf. Plin., xv., 15.--_Syrium._ The "Bergamot" pears are said to have been imported from Syria. Cf. Mart., v., Ep. lxxviii., 13, "Et nomen pyra quæ ferunt Syrorum." Virg., Georg., ii., 88, "Crustumiis Syriisque pyris." Columella (lib. v., c. 10) calls them "Tarentina," because brought from Syria to Tarentum. Others say they are the same as the Falernian.

[728] _Picenis._ Hor., ii., Sat. iv., 70, "Picenis cedunt pomis Tiburtia succo, Nam facie præstant." And iii., 272, "Picenis excerpens semina pomis." These apples were to be also from his Tiburtine farm: the banks of the Anio being famous for its orchards. Hor., i., Od. vii., 14, "Præceps Anio ac Tiburni lucus et uda mobilibus pomaria vivis." Propert., IV., vii., 81, "Pomosis Anio quà spumifer incubat arvis." Apples formed a very prominent part of the mensæ secundæ: hence the proverb, "Ab ovo usque ad mala." Cf. Mart., x., 48, fin., "Saturis mitia poma dabo." Cf. Sat. v., 150, _seq._, where apples "qualia perpetuus Phæacum Autumnus habebat" form the conclusion of Virro's dinner. Cf. Mart., iii., Ep. 50.

[729] _Curius_ was found by the Samnite embassadors preparing his dish of turnips over the fire with his own hands. Cic., de Sen., xvi.

"Senates more rich than Rome's first senates were,
In days of yore desired no better fare." Badham.

[730] _Vulvâ._ "Nul vulvâ pulchrius amplâ." Hor., i., Ep. xv., 41. For a description of this loathsome dainty, vid. Plin., xi., 37, 84. Cf. Mart., Ep. xiii., 56.

[731] _Maturius._

"For feasts like these would quit the mountain's soil,
And snatch an hour from customary toil." Badham.

[732] _Fabios._ Q. Fabius Maximus Rullianus, censor A.U.C. 449, obliged his colleague, P. Decius, to allow him to administer his office with all its pristine severity.

[733] _Fabricios._ Cf. ad ix., 142.

[734] _Testudo._ Cf. vi., 80, "Testudineo conopeo;" xiv., 308, "ebore et lata testudine."

"Which future times were destined to employ,
To build rare couches for the sons of Troy." Badham.

[735] _Vile coronati._ Henninius suggests _vite_. The ass, by browsing on the vine, and thereby rendering it more luxuriant, is said to have first given men the idea of pruning the tendrils. Cf. Paus., ii., 38. Hyg., F., 274. The ass is always found, too, in connection with Silenus.

[736] _Nescius._

"Till at the soldier's foot her treasures lay,
Who knew not half the riches of his prey." Hodgson.

[737] _Phaleris_: xvi., 60. Florus says Phaleræ were introduced from Etruria together with curule chairs, trabeæ, prætextæ, etc. Vid. Liv., xxxix., 31. Plin., vii., 28, 9, says Siccius Dentatus had 25 phaleræ and 83 torques. Sil., xv., 254. Cf. Virg., Æn., ix., 359. Suet., Aug., 25; Ner., 33.

[738] _Venientis._ Supposed to be a representation of Mars hovering in the air, and just about to alight by the sleeping Rhea Sylvia. The god is _armed_, because the conventional manner of representing him was by the distinction of his "framea" and "clypeus." See Addison's note in Gifford.

[739] _In armis._

"Then all their wealth was on their armor spent,
And war engross'd the pride of ornament." Hodgson.

[740] _Lividulus._

"Yet justly worth your envy, were your breast
But with one spark of noble spleen possess'd." Gifford.

[741] _Præsentior._ Cf. iii., 18, "Quanto _præsentius_ esset Numen aquæ." Virg., Ec., i., 42, "Nec tam præsentes alibi cognoscere Divos." Georg., i., 10, "Præsentia Numina Fauni." Hor., iii., Od. v., 2, "Præsens Divus habebitur Augustus."

[742] _Vox._ "M. Cædicius de plebe nunciavit tribunis, se in Novâ Viâ, ubi nunc sacellum est, suprà sedem Vestæ vocem noctis silentio audîsse clariorem humanâ quæ magistratibus dici juberet 'Gallos adventare.'" "Invisitato atque inaudito hoste ab oceano terrarumque ultimis oris bellum ciente." Liv., v., 32, 3, 7, 50. Cic., de Div., ii., "At paullo post audita _vox est monentis_ ut providerent ne a Gallis Roma caperetur: ex eo Aio loquenti aram in novâ viâ consecratam." Cf. Plut. in Vit. Camill.

[743] _Fictilis._ Cf. Sen., Ep. 31, "Cogita illos quum propitii essent fictiles fuisse."

[744] _Arbore._ Cf. Mart., xiv., Ep. xc., "Non sum crispa quidem nec sylvæ filia Mauræ, sed nôrunt lautas et mea ligna dapes." Cf. Sat. i., 75, 137; iv., 132. The extravagance of the Romans on their tables is almost incredible. Pliny says that Cicero himself, who accuses Verres of stealing a Citrea mensa from Diodorus (in Verr., iv., 17), gave a million of sesterces for one which was in existence in his time. A "Senatoris Census" was a price given. These tables were not provided with several feet, but rested on an ivory column (sometimes carved into the figure of animals), hence called monopodia. They were called "Orbes," not from being _round_, but because they were massive plates of wood cut off the stem in its whole diameter. The wood of the _citrus_ was most preferred. This is not the _citron_-tree, which never attains to this bulk, but a tree found in Mauritania, called the thyæ cypressides. Plin., xiii., 16. Those cut near the root were most valued from the wood being variegated: hence "Tigrinæ, pantherinæ, pavonum caudæ oculos imitantes." The mensæ were formerly square, but were afterward round to suit the new fashion of the Sigma couch. The Romans also understood the art of veneering tables and other furniture with the citrus wood and tortoise-shell.

[745] _Porta Syenes._ Syene, now "Assouan," is situated near the rapids, just on the confines of Ethiopia. It was a station for a Roman garrison, and the place to which Juvenal is said to have been banished. Some think the island Elephantine is here meant. Cf. ad x., 150, "aliosque Elephantos."

[746] _Mauro._ Ab ἀμαυρός, vel μαυρός, "obscurus." Cf. Lucan., iv., 678, "Concolor Indo Maurus."

[747] _Nabathæo._ The Nabathæi, in Arabia Petræa, took their name from "Nebaioth, first-born of Ishmael," Gen., xxv., 13. Elephants are said to shed their tusks every two years.

[748] _Orexis._ VI., 428. _Vires._ Henninius' suggestion. Cf. ad l. 14.

[749] _Tessellæ._ Holyday explains this by "chess-board," from the resemblance of the squares to the tesselated pavements. But it is a die, properly; of which shape the separate tesseræ were. Mart., xiv., 17, "Hic mihi bis seno numeratur tessera puncto: Calculus hic gemino discolor hoste perit." Cf. Ep. 14. Cicero considers this game to be one of the legitimate amusements of old age. "Nobis senibus, 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.