SATURA VI.
Admovit iam bruma foco te, Basse, Sabino? iamne lyra et tetrico vivunt tibi pectine chordae? mire opifex numeris veterum primordia vocum atque marem strepitum fidis intendisse Latinae, mox iuvenes agitare iocis et pollice honesto 5 egregius lusisse senes. mihi nunc Ligus ora intepet hibernatque meum mare, qua latus ingens dant scopuli et multa litus se valle receptat. Lunai portum, est operae, cognoscite, cives! cor iubet hoc Enni, postquam destertuit esse 10 Maeonides, Quintus pavone ex Pythagoreo. hic ego securus vulgi et quid praeparet auster infelix pecori, securus et angulus ille vicini nostro quia pinguior, etsi adeo omnes ditescant orti peioribus, usque recusem 15 curvus ob id minui senio aut cenare sine uncto, et signum in vapida naso tetigisse lagoena. discrepet his alius! geminos, horoscope, varo producis genio. solis natalibus est qui tingat holus siccum muria vafer in calice empta, 20 ipse sacrum inrorans patinae piper; hic bona dente grandia magnanimus peragit puer. utar ego, utar, nec rhombos ideo libertis ponere lautus, nec tenuis sollers turdarum nosse salivas. messe tenus propria vive et granaria, fas est, 25 emole; quid metuis? occa, et seges altera in herba est. ast vocat officium: trabe rupta Bruttia saxa prendit amicus inops, remque omnem surdaque vota condidit Ionio; iacet ipse in litore et una ingentes de puppe dii, iamque obvia mergis 30 costa ratis lacerae. nunc et de caespite vivo frange aliquid, largire inopi, ne pictus oberret caerulea in tabula. ‘Sed cenam funeris heres negleget, iratus quod rem curtaveris; urnae ossa inodora dabit, seu spirent cinnama surdum, 35 seu ceraso peccent casiae, nescire paratus. tune bona incolumis minuas? et Bestius urguet doctores Graios: _Ita fit, postquam sapere urbi_ _cum pipere et palmis venit nostrum hoc maris expers;_ _fenisecae crasso vitiarunt unguine pultes._’ 40 Haec cinere ulterior metuas? At tu, meus heres quisquis eris, paulum a turba seductior audi. o bone, num ignoras? missa est a Caesare laurus insignem ob cladem Germanae pubis, et aris frigidus excutitur cinis, ac iam postibus arma, 45 iam chlamydes regum, iam lutea gausapa captis essedaque ingentesque locat Caesonia Rhenos. dis igitur genioque ducis centum paria ob res egregie gestas induco; quis vetat? aude. vae, nisi conives! oleum artocreasque popello 50 largior; an prohibes? dic clare! ‘Non adeo,’ inquis ‘exossatus ager iuxta est.’ Age, si mihi nulla iam reliqua ex amitis, patruelis nulla, proneptis nulla manet patrui, sterilis matertera vixit, deque avia nihilum superest, accedo Bovillas 55 clivumque ad Virbi, praesto est mihi Manius heres. ‘Progenies terrae?’ Quaere ex me, quis mihi quartus sit pater: haud prompte, dicam tamen; adde etiam unum, unum etiam: terrae est iam filius, et mihi ritu Manius hic generis prope maior avunculus exit. 60 qui prior es, cur me in decursu lampada poscis? sum tibi Mercurius; venio deus huc ego ut ille pingitur; an renuis? vin tu gaudere relictis? ‘Dest aliquid summae.’ Minui mihi; sed tibi totum est, quidquid id est. ubi sit, fuge quaerere, quod mihi quondam 65 legarat Tadius, neu dicta repone paterna: _Faenoris accedat merces; hinc exime sumptus._ _quid reliquum est?_ Reliquum? nunc, nunc inpensius ungue, ungue, puer, caules! mihi festa luce coquetur urtica et fissa fumosum sinciput aure, 70 ut tuus iste nepos olim satur anseris extis, cum morosa vago singultiet inguine vena, patriciae inmeiat vulvae? mihi trama figurae sit reliqua, ast illi tremat omento popa venter? vende animam lucro, mercare atque excute sollers 75 omne latus mundi, nec sit praestantior alter Cappadocas rigida pinguis plausisse castata: rem duplica. ‘Feci; iam triplex, iam mihi quarto, iam deciens redit in rugam: depunge, ubi sistam.’ Inventus, Chrysippe, tui finitor acervi. 80
NOTES.
SIXTH SATIRE.
The Sixth Satire is addressed to Caesius Bassus, a friend of Persius. The theme of it is the Proper Use of the Goods of this Life, which takes the personal form of a vindication of the poet’s course in preferring moderate enjoyment to mean parsimony or grasping avarice.
ARGUMENT.-- Are you by this time snugly ensconced by your Sabine fire? And _do_ the chords of your lyre wake to life at your vigorous touch? O cunning craftsman! in whose song the noble tongue of our sires is set to manly music, while young and old alike feel the play of your sportive wit, which in all its sport never forgets the gentleman (1-6).
While you are yonder, I am in my dear Liguria, where the coast is warm, the sea is wintry but kindly, the rocks bar out the storm, and the shore retreats far inland.
‘Luna’s port-- ’tis well worth while, good people, to know it.’
This was a saying of Ennius, as he woke up in his senses from his Pythagorean dreams and became plain Quintus, instead of the ‘blind old man of Scio’s rocky isle,’ and a wise saying of that hearty old cock it was (7-11).
Well, here I am, caring nothing for the rabble rout, caring nothing what an ill wind may be getting up for my flock. My neighbor may have a better patch of ground, men of lower birth may be growing rich over me. I will not fret myself into a crooked old man for that, nor dine without a bit of something nice, nor nose out a swindle in the imperfect seal of a flagon of flat wine (12-17).
How men differ in such matters! The very same horoscope may bring forth rights and lefts. Here is one that even on his birthday allows himself only the scantiest and meanest fare. Here is another that eats up, like a spirited lad as he is, a vast estate. For my part, ‘Enjoyment, enjoyment,’ is my motto, although I do not intend to treat my freedmen to turbots, and do not understand the difference between cock-ortolan and hen-ortolan after they are cooked (18-24).
Now this is the way to live, I take it. Up to your harvest, up to the last grain of your garners. What are you afraid of? It is a mere matter of harrowing, and lo! another crop is there (25, 26).
But you say, Mr. Critic, ‘There are claims on one. A friend is shipwrecked, the poor fellow is utterly ruined. One must do something for him.’
Well and good! Sell a piece of land, give the proceeds to the needy friend, and keep him from begging up and down with a pictorial appeal to the benevolent (27-33).
Ay, but what of the heir? _He_ will dock the funeral meats, if _you_ dock the estate. One, sure, would not be stenchful when one’s dead, and your bones will not be perfumed, or the perfumes will be stale or adulterated. One can not expect to diminish one’s property without paying for it. Why, I heard Bestius say of your Greek teachers, from whom you learned this precious wisdom of yours, that ever since this new doctrine came to town the very haymakers have been spoiling their good, wholesome fare by rancid grease.
Well, what of all this-- the heir’s neglect and Bestius’s fault-finding-- would you fear _them_ beyond the grave? (34-41).
But come, my heir, let us dismiss the critic, and have a quiet chat together. Consider the claims on me. Here comes a glorious piece of news from the Emperor. The Germans have been defeated with great slaughter. A grand triumph is preparing. This is no time to hold back. I am going to bring out a hundred pairs of gladiators in honor of the occasion. Forbid it, if you dare. If you don’t like that, I am going to give largess to the people-- none of your vile vetches, but oil and pasties. Do you object? Out with it (42-51).
What do you say? ‘My farm is hardly worth having after that.’ Well, if you don’t want it, I can get some of the women to take it; and if there is none of them left, I can go to the next village, and Hodge will accept. ‘A son of earth?’ you say; ‘a nobody?’ Pshaw! If you come to that, I can just remember who my great-great-grandfather was. Two generations further back and I come to a son of earth, a nobody, and Hodge is a relation-- a distant relation, but still a relation-- a kind of great-great-uncle. Believe me, the Lord No Zoo is father of us all (52-60).
You are an impatient heir, I must say. Why can’t you wait for my shoes until I take them off? I am the God of Fortune to you, just as he is painted in the pictures, with a purse in his hand. Will you take what I leave, and be glad to get it? It falls short; I know it does. But if I have lessened it, it is for myself that I have lessened it, and what is left is all yours. Don’t stop to ask about that old legacy, and serve up a stale dish of fatherly advice. I know how fathers talk. ‘Credit yourself by the interest. Debit yourself by the expenses. What is the remainder?’ Remainder? Fudge! Souse the cabbage, boy. Don’t spare the oil. Am I to dine off cow-heel and turnips on a holiday, that your graceless grandson may stuff himself with _pate de foie gras_, and indulge himself in aristocratic connections? Am I to go through the eye of a cambric needle that he may have a priestly paunch? (61-74).
Furthermore, if you are not content with the little that I can leave you, sell your life for gain. Try every trade. Try every nook and corner of the earth. Go to Cappadocia, for instance, where you can make something by dealing in slaves, and become an adept in that dainty business. Double your capital. ‘I have done so. Nay, I have trebled it, quadrupled it, decupled it. Tell me where to draw the line.’ Tell you where to draw the line? Why, Chrysippus himself could not find the limit between wealth and poverty. A dollar more does not make a man rich, a dollar less does not make him poor. Where is the turning-point? And yet this man talks as if the turning-point had been found! (75-80.)
The Sixth Satire is the most obscure and unsatisfactory of the poems of Persius, and baffled interpreters have taken refuge in the hypothesis that the Satire is incomplete. The roughness of the metre and the harshness of the transitions favor this view; but parts are wrought out with all the minuteness of detail that is characteristic of our author’s style, and some of the highest authorities, such as Jahn, consider the Satire complete. The close, as Mr. Pretor remarks, is exactly in Persius’s manner, and we must look elsewhere in the Satire for the breaks-- if breaks there be.
1-11. Are you spending the winter on your Sabine farm, Bassus, and have you resumed your poetry? I am in my Ligurian resort, so praised by Ennius.
1. #iam#: in the question implies uncertainty, ‘actually?’ ‘so?’ --#bruma# = _brevuma_ = _brevissuma_ (_dies_), ‘the shortest day,’ ‘winter-solstice,’ ‘midwinter.’ --#foco#: contrast between the _fireside_ of the land of the Sabines and the open-air _warmth_ of Liguria. --#Basse#: ‘Caesius Bassus, one of the intimate friends of Persius, was deputed by Cornutus to edit his Satires after his death. He is classed with Horace, as a lyric poet, by Quintilian (10, 1, 96), who, however, thinks him inferior to some of his own contemporaries, and he is probably the same with the author of a treatise on Metres, which is referred to by various grammarians, and still exists in an interpolated epitome, but different from Gabius or Gavius Bassus, who wrote works on the origin and signification of words and on the gods. Bassus was killed, according to the Scholiast, in the famous eruption of Vesuvius’ (Conington, after Jahn). See also v. 5. --#Sabino#: The simplicity of the Sabines has already been noted (see 1, 20), and Jahn thinks that the life about the fireside (Verg., Georg., 2, 532) is an indication of the primitive tastes of Bassus and his family. _Sabino_ also prepares the way for _tetrico_ (below). Comp. _#tetrica# ac tristis disciplina #Sabinorum#_, Liv., 1, 18 (quoted by Jahn).
2. #tetrico#: ‘austere.’ --#vivunt#: Persius was thinking of Horace’s _vivuntque commissi calores | Aeoliae fidibus puellae_, Od., 4, 9, 11. 12. _Iam vivunt_, ‘wake to life’ (Pretor), where ‘wake’ represents _iam_. See note on 5, 33.
3. #mire#: is an Adjective or an Adverb, according as _opifex_ is a Substantive or an Adjective. --#opifex#: Commentators supply _es_, but the Nom. can be used in characteristic exclamation. See G., 340, R. 1, and comp. 1, 5. With _opifex intendisse_ comp. Prol., 11, and _egregius lusispe_ below. For the Perf., see 1, 41, note. --#veterum primordia vocum#: Perhaps ‘the racy richness of our early tongue.’ Lucr. (4, 531) uses _primordia vocum_ of the beginnings of articulate sound, as Quint., 1, 9, 1, uses _dicendi primordia_ of instruction in the rudimentary preparation for rhetoric. Bassus, as the whole context shows, affected to belong to the _antiquiores homines_, and imitated the diction of an earlier time. Persius belongs to a different school of art, and his friendship makes him guarded. Jahn understands a grammatical poem, of which Lucilius furnishes a familiar example in his Ninth Book (see L. Muller’s _Lucilius_, p. 221), but, as Pretor remarks, _numeris-- marem strepitum fidis intendisse Latinae_ indicates lyric poetry.
4. #marem strepitum#: like ἄρρην φθόγγος. Comp. Hor., A. P., 402: _mares animos_. --#fidis Latinae#: Stress is to be laid on _Latinae_. Persius himself is intensely Latin in his vocabulary. --#intendisse#: ‘Verg., Aen., 9, 774, speaks of stringing the numbers on the chords; Persius goes further [and fares worse], and talks of stringing sounds on the numbers’ (Conington).
5. #mox#: points to another side of Bassus’s poetry, the non-lyrical, probably satires, for one _Bassus in satyris_, mentioned by Fulgentius (ap. Jahn), is most likely our man, despite Jahn’s objections. --#iocis#: Heinrich, _ex coni_. The passage is a very difficult one. The interpretation turns on the two words, _iocos_ (or _iocis_), _senes_ (or _senex_), as the reading _egregios_ for _egregius_ may be discarded.
(1.) Jahn reads in both editions (1843 and 1868) _iocos_ and _senes_.
(2.) Hermann’s _senex_, the reading of Montepess., was enthusiastically advocated by Hermann himself.
(3.) Heinrich’s _iocis_ has the merit of making a perfectly clear sense, and is accepted by Mr. Pretor.
(1.) If we read _iocos_ with the MSS., _iuvenes_ must be considered an Adjective, and _iuvenes iocos_ = _iuvenilis iocos_. This almost compels us to make _senes_ an Adjective also, and the following translation may be given: ‘Rare genius for carrying on the frolics of youth [in song], and for giving play with virtuous skill to the jests of the aged.’
(2.) Hermann’s reading labors under the difficulty of requiring us to understand _senex_ of Bassus, who was not an old man at the time; but compare the note on _praegrandi sene_, 1, 124. Notice also the want of balance in the absolute _lusisse_. ‘Then showing yourself excellent in your old age at wakening young loves and frolicking over the chords with a virtuous touch’ (Conington). _Iocus_ is often used of love. Comp. Catull., 8, 6: _ibi illa multa tum #iocosa# fiebant_.
(3.) Heinrich’s _iocis_ gives us, ‘Rarely skilled to rally the young with jibe and jest and have a fling at old sinners, but all in high-bred style.’ _Pollice honesto_ is the _ingenuo ludo_ of 5, 16. Comp. also 2, 74: _generoso #honesto#_; and the _#honesta# oratio_ of Ter., Andr., 1, 1, 114: _quae opponitur #plebeiae#_, as Gesner says, s.v. It is hardly necessary to say that the English language has no synonyme for _honestus_, which embraces the goodly outside as well as the pure heart.
Mr. Conington translates Hermann’s text and comments on Jahn’s. _Lusisse senes_ he understands as _amavisse senili more_, the poet being said to do the deed he writes about, Verg., Ecl., 9, 19. It would be far more simple to make _iocos senes_ = _amores senilis_, harsh as that would be. Old men’s philanderings are fair game for the satirist or comic poet to have his fling at (_lusisse_). _Turpe senilis amor_, as the master says, Ov., Am., 1, 9, 4. Compare the Casina of Plautus. --#pollice#: the cithern being played chiefly with the thumb.
6. #lusisse#: Comp. _scit #risisse#_, 1, 132. --#mihi#: The step-father of Persius probably had a seat there.
7. #intepet#: The warmth of the coast made it a favorite resort for invalids. It is not unlikely that Persius was a man of delicate constitution. --#hibernat#: According to some, ‘my sea winters,’ that is, ‘rests for the winter,’ is not vexed by the keels of ships (Schol.). According to others, ‘is wintry,’ like _hiemat_ (the more common word in this sense). A stormy sea was supposed to lash itself warm. Jahn quotes, among other passages, Cic., N. D., 2, 10, 26: _maria agitata ventis #tepescunt#_. --#meum#: ‘my sea,’ ‘my favorite haunt.’ Some have inferred falsely from this passage that Luna was the birthplace of Persius.
8. #latus dant#: ‘present their giant side,’ ‘interpose a mighty barrier’ against the winds. Jahn comp. Verg., Aen., 1, 105: _undis #dat latus#_. --#valle# = _sinu_. The Abl. of manner may be translated locally; ‘into a deep bay’ (Conington). --#se receptat#: ‘retreats,’ ‘retires’ from the storms. So Horace (Od., 1, 17, 17; Epod., 2, 11) speaks of a _reducta vallis_. Jahn refers the frequentative to the windings of the bay. ‘Keeps retreating,’ ‘retreats further and further,’ might very well be said from the traveller’s point of view. The description of the harbor, now the Gulf of Spezia, is said to be very accurate.
9. #Lunai portum#, etc.: Ennius, Ann., v. 16 (Vahl.). Luna, from which the harbor took its name, was not on the gulf, but on the eastern side of the Macra (Magra), near the modern Sarzana. --#est operae#: Commonly explained by the ellipsis of _pretium_. But the Gen. is very elastic. --#cognoscite#: is easier in tone, _cognoscere_ is easier for translation. #cives#: ‘good people all.’ Ger. _Leutlein_. Jahn notices the _antiqua gramtas_ of _civis_.
10. #cor Enni#: Comp. _re-#cor#-dor_ and _#cor#-datus_, and our ‘get _by heart_.’ So _credidit meum #cor#_, Enn., Ann., 374 (Vahl.). See Mart., 3, 26, 4; 11, 84, 17. The expression is little more than _cordatus Ennius_, as in the familiar passage, _tergemini #vis# Geryonai_, Lucr., 5, 28. So _#corpore# Turni_, Verg., Aen., 7, 650; Greek, βία, ἴς, δέμας, στόμα (Ἀνύτης στόμα, Anthol. P., 9, 26, 3). On the same principle are based such combinations as _#mens# provida Reguli_, Hor., Od., 3, 5, 13, and _venit et Crispi iucunda #senectus#_. Juv., 4, 81, and _Montani quoque #venter# adest_, l.c. 107. ‘Ennius, in his sober moments’ (Gifford). --#destertuit#: On the Tense, see G., 563; A., 62, 2, _a_. ‘Snored off his being,’ i.e., the dream that he was Homer. Ennius’s dreams are touched up in Prol., 2, where it has been mentioned that Ennius dreamed that he had seen Homer. For the further visions, see the citations in Vahlen’s ed. of Ennius, Ann., v. 15.
11. #Maeonides#: poetic ‘flash-name,’ like the ‘Bard of Avon.’ --#Quintus#: ‘plain Quintus’ (Gifford). The Scholiast fancies that _quintus_ is a numeral, and gives the following order of transmigrations: 1. Pythagoras; 2. A peacock; 3. Euphorbus; 4. Homer. Tertullian gives: 1. Euphorbus; 2. Pythagoras; 3. Homer; 4. A peacock. The pun would be a wretched one, but that is no objection; more serious is the wrong use of the Preposition _ex_ for _ab_. Heinrich combines confidently _Maeonides Quintus_, ‘Homer with a Roman _praenomen_.’ Conington follows doubtingly. --#pavone#: _Memini me fiere #pavum#_, Enn., Ann., v. 15 (Vahl.). --#Pythagoreo#: ‘Since _Pythagoras’_ time that I was an Irish rat,’ Shaksp.
12-17. Here I am in happy unconcern, caring naught for vulgar herd or threatened flock. I do not pine because my neighbor waxes fat. Let who will get up in the world; I won’t let my hair turn gray for that, nor stint myself, nor poke my nose into the wax of every jar of wine I open to see whether somebody has not been tampering with the seal.
12. #securus#: with Gen., Verg., Aen., 1, 350; 10, 326. --#quid praeparet auster#: Jahn comp. _quid cogitet umidus #auster#_, Verg., Georg., 1, 462; and 444: _arboribusque satisque Notus #pecorique# sinister_.
13. #infelix#: with Dat. Verg., Georg., 2, 239: _tellus_-- _#infelix# frugibus_, quoted by Conington. --#pecori#: as it were, doubly dependent. --#securus et#: The trajection of _et_ (1, 23) gives _securus_ a better position. --#angulus#: as in _O si #angulus# ille | proximus accedat_, Hor., Sat., 2, 6, 8.
14. #pinguior#: Jahn quotes appositely for the thought, _fertilior seges est alienis semper in agris_, Ov., A. A., 1, 349. So Juv., 14, 142: _maiorque videtur | et melior vicina seges_. --#adeo omnes#: The emphasis of _adeo_ may be given by repetition, _all, ay, all_. The supposition is an extreme one, hence the Subjunctive _ditescant_. Notice the harsh elision at this point, which is avoided by smoother writers. Persius has it fourteen times in all-- eight times in this one Satire-- which may be interpreted as an indication of its incompleteness.
15. #peioribus#: Comp. Hor., Ep., 1, 6, 22: _#peioribus# ortus_. The social sense is the more prominent. --#usque# = _ubi-s-que_, ‘no matter where or when,’ hence ‘every where,’ and, as here, ‘always.’
16. #curvus#: ‘bent double.’ --#minui#: ‘lose flesh’ (Conington). --#senio#: before my time. Comp. 1, 26. --#uncto#: synonymous with ‘dainty.’ Jahn comp. Hor., A. P., 422, and 3, 102; 4, 17.
17. #signum tetigisse#: Only good wines were sealed. The miser not only seals up his vile stuff, but, in his anxious scrutiny into the state of the seal, butts his nose against it-- perhaps with the additional idea of helping the sense of sight with the sense of smell. _Recusem tetigisse_ = _nolim tetigisse_. Comp. note on 1, 91.
18-24. Others may not agree with me in these views. Even twins born under the same star may be widely different. One gives himself a treat only on his birthday, and a poor treat it is. Another devours his substance before he comes of age. I am for enjoyment, but not for waste; for enjoyment, but not for a subtle discernment of the pleasures of the table.
18. #his#: On the Dat., see G., 388, R. 1; A., 51, 2, _g_. _His_ is Neuter. ‘These views of mine.’ --#geminos#: Comp. Hor., Ep., 2, 2, 183 seqq. --#horoscope#: ‘natal star,’ ‘star of nativity.’ Comp. note on 5, 46. --#varo genio#: ‘of diverging temper.’ _#Varus#_ is often used of distorted, bowed legs, and _varo genio_ is only Persius’s way of saying that the dispositions of twins often go apart.
19. #producis#: ‘bring forth,’ ‘give birth to,’ ‘beget,’ Plaut., Rud., 4, 4, 129; Prop., 5, 1, 89 (Conington). Jahn renders it _in lucem edit et educat_, which is more in conformity with general usage and with the notion of control in the star of nativity. --#solis natalibus#: This picture has been much admired. Every word tells. This high-day comes but once a year (_solis_), the cabbage is dry (_sine uncto_), he does not souse it with oil, as Persius does (_ungue, puer, caules_, v. 69), but moistens it (_tingat_) with fish brine (_muria_), which he has bought-- sly fox that he is (_vafer_)-- in a cup (a cupful at a time, to prevent waste), while, with his own hand (_ipse_)-- for he trusts no other-- he dusts (_inrorans_) the platter with the dear, precious pepper, sacred in his eyes (_sacrum_).
20. #muria#: was a cheap sauce, ‘made of the _thynnus_, and less delicate than _garum_, made of the _scomber_’ (Macleane); hence the point of buying it only as he wanted it-- a small quantity at a time. --#empta#: Both Conington and Pretor direct us to combine _empta_ with _muria_. It can not be combined with any thing else, as _calice_ is rigidly masculine, Neue, _Formenl._, 1, 691.
21. #sacrum#: _Acerbe dictum quia avarus tamquam sacro parcit_ (Jahn). Jahn compares ἅλς θεῖος, but has not overlooked the real point, as Mr. Pretor intimates. --#inrorans#: Comp. _instillat_ in a similar description of a miser (Avidienus), in Hor., Sat., 2, 2, 62. --#dente peragit#: ‘gobbles up’ (Conington). _Peragere_, ‘go through,’ ‘run through.’
22. #magnanimus#: Ironical, like Hor., Ep., 1, 15, 27: _rebus maternis atque paternis | #fortiter# absumptis_. ‘High-hearted hero.’ --#puer#: while a mere lad. ‘Gifford notices the rapidity of the metre, and contrasts it with the slowness of v. 20.’ It would have been more to the purpose if he had noticed the mockery of the position, which suspends the sense. ‘He-- his property-- with nothing but his teeth-- his vast estate-- heroic being-- runs through-- while nothing but a boy.’
23. #rhombos#: It suffices to refer to Juv., Sat., 4. --#ponere#: 1, 53. For the construction, see Prol., 11.
24. #tenuis--salivas#: ‘delicate juices,’ ‘subtle flavors.’ _Saliva_ = _sapor_, as in Plin., H. N., 22, 1, 22: _sua cuique vino #saliva#_, by a natural transfer from the consumer to the consumed; or, as Conington puts it, from effect to cause. See 5, 112. --#sollers nosse#: Prol., 11. --#turdarum#: ‘thrushes,’ ‘fieldfares,’ a well-known delicacy, Hor., Sat., 2, 5, 10; Ep., 1, 15, 41. The Scholiast tells us that the feminine is used for the ordinary masculine, because the Brillat-Savarins of the period undertook to tell the sex by the taste. The difference between _turdorum_ and _turdarum_ reminds one of ‘calipash’ and ‘calipee.’
25-33. The true course is to live fully up to your income and trust to the next crop. ‘But suppose an extraordinary demand is made on you. Suppose a friend is shipwrecked.’ What easier than to sell a piece of land and relieve his wants?
25. #tenus#: here ‘fully up to.’ Jahn makes _tenus_ an Adverb, compares Verg., Aen., 1, 737: _summo #tenus# attigit ore_, and explains _messe propria vive_ as = _consume fructus agrorum tuorum usque ad finem, quoad suppetunt_. --#propria#: ‘Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with _mine own_?’
26. #emole#: to the last grain. --#occa#: Comp. Hor., Ep., 2, 2, 161: _cum segetes #occat# tibi mox frumenta daturas_. --#in herba#: ‘in the blade.’ Ov., Her., 17, 263: _adhuc tua messis in #herba# est_. Have something of the farmer’s hopeful spirit. Comp. the Gr. proverb: ἀεὶ γεωργὸς εἰς νέωτα πλούσιος.
27. #ast#: 2, 39. An impersonal objector speaks. --#officium# = τὸ καθῆκον, which embraces our charity. The Stoics insisted on χρηστότης, without prejudice to ἀπάθεια. They wanted _benevolentia_ without _misericordia_. See Knickenberg, l.c. p. 90. The poet gets the better of the philosopher in Persius. --#trabe rupta#: Comp. 1, 89. --#Bruttia saxa#: In the toe of the Italian boot.
28. #prendit#: Casaubon comp. _#prensantemque# uncis manibus capita aspera montis_, Verg., Aen., 6, 360 (of Palinurus). --#surdaque vota#: _Surdus_ is ‘dull of hearing’ and ‘dull of sound,’ ‘deaf,’ and, as here, ‘unheard,’ Comp. κωφός, The radical is SVAR, ‘heavy;’ ‘neither his ear _heavy_ that it can not hear.’
29. #Ionio#: sc. _sinu_, if we may judge by Juv., 6, 92: _lateque #sonantem# pertulit #Ionium#_. Gr. Ἰόνιος #κόλπος#. Comp. Thuc., 1, 24 with 6, 30. It is used here in a wide sense, as is shown by _Bruttia saxa_, v. 27. Comp. Serv. ad Aen., 3, 211: _sciendum #Ionium sinum# esse #immensum# ab Ionia usque ad #Siciliam#_. On the translation and construction of _Ionio_, see note on Prol., 1. --#ipse#: the master of the vessel. G., 297, R. 1.
30. #de puppe dii#: Paintings of the gods. Comp. Verg., Aen., 10, 171: _aurato fulgebat #Apolline puppis#_. The gods may have been Castor and Pollux, no unlikely ‘sign,’ Acts, 28, 11. _Ingentes_ implies the size of the ship and the magnitude of the loss (Jahn). See note on _trabe vasta_, 5, 141. --#obvia mergis#: Jahn comp. Hor., Epod., 10, 21: _opima quod si praeda eurvo litore | porrecta #mergos# iuveris_. Any large sea-bird will answer, such as ‘cormorant.’
31. #lacerae#: Conington comp. Ov., Her., 2, 45: _at #laceras# etiam #puppes# furiosa refeci_. --#et#: καί, ‘if need be.’ --#caespite vivo#: Comp. Hor., Od., 1, 19, 13; 3, 8, 4; ‘live sod,’ ‘green turf.’ Here landed property is meant, in contrast to the income, represented by the _messis_.
32. #pictus#: See note on 1, 89. ‘With his picture’ (Conington). --#oberret#: ‘go up and down the country.’ --#tabula caerulea#: ‘a sea-green board,’ as might be expected from the subject.
33-41. ‘But,’ resumes the interlocutor, ‘your heir will object to your curtailing your property, and not show you the proper respect when you are dead. You can’t expect to diminish your property without scath. And, in fact, you philosophers are very much spoken against on account of the bad example you set, the bad influence you have exerted on the common people.’ --Well, what of it? Would you care any thing about what was done to you or said of you after you are dead?
The connection is much disputed.
33. #cenam funeris#: the _epulum funebre_, the ‘funeral baked meats’ of Hamlet, not the _silicernium_ proper, not the _exigua #feralis cena# patella_ of Juv., 5, 85, the scanty meal left at the funeral pile for the _dis manibus_.
34. #curtaveris#: G., 542; A., 70, 5, _b_. --#urnae#: Do not efface the personal conception (G., 344, R. 3; A., 51, N.) by translating ‘put into.’ The urn receives; hence _dabit_ = ‘commit,’ ‘consign.’
35. #inodora#: Ov., Trist., 3, 3, 69: _atque ea (= ossa) cum foliis et #amomi# pulvere misce_; Tib., 3, 2, 23 (Jahn). --#seu spirent#: 5, 3. --#cinnama--casiae#: On the Plural, see G., 195, R. 6; A., 14, 1, _a_. --#surdum#: ‘faint,’ a transfer from hearing to smell. On the construction, see 5, 25.
36. #ceraso#: This passage is our only authority for the fraudulent admixture. Tr., ‘whether the cinnamon have lost the fragrance of its breath, or cassia be taken in adulteration with cherry-bark.’ --#nescire puratus#: here ‘fully resolved,’ rather than as in 1, 132.
37. #tune bona incolumis minuas#: In his ed. of 1868 Jahn has followed Sinner’s suggestion, and transposed parts of vv. 37 and 41, so as to read _Haec cinere ulterior metuas_ here, and _Tune bona incolumis minuas_ below, as Hermann had done before him, only Hermann puts the words in the mouth, not of the objector, but of Persius. I am unable to see how either arrangement helps us out of the difficulties of the passage. In his ed. of 1843, Jahn makes _tune bona incolumis minuas?_ the language of the heir, who asks angrily, ‘Do you expect to diminish your property without suffering for it?’ It is rather the language of the objector, who had just told Persius that he would miss a good funeral by curtailing his estate, and who goes on to cite Bestius, as another opponent of this new-fangled philosophy. Persius dismisses this tirade by the single question: ‘What would all this be to you or me after we are dead?’ This gets rid of Bestius as a new speaker. He is quoted by the objector. Mr. Pretor translates: ‘Do you mean to say, Persius, that _you_ would thus break up your property, while hearty and strong, instead of waiting to bequeath it by will on your death-bed?’ --#incolumis#: χαίρων, _impune_. --#et#: Others besides the heir are dissatisfied. --#Bestius#: the _corrector Bestius_ of Hor., Ep., 1, 15, 37, who is quoted here by the opponent of Persius, as inveighing against doctrines that have taught the lower classes to waste their substance on condiments and spoil their wholesome fare, after the pattern of such gentlemen as Persius. Comp. _usque recusem-- cenare sine uncto_, v. 16, and _ungue, puer, caules_, v. 69.
38. #doctores Graios#: Comp. 5, 191. --#Ita fit#: ‘That is the way of it.’ --#sapere nostrum#: 1, 9. --#urbi#: with _venit_. _Venire_ with the Dat., like the Greek ἐλθεῖν, on account of the personal interest involved, ‘came’ being = ‘was brought,’ _allatum est_. See Kuhner, _A. G._, 2, 351, and Weissenborn on Liv., 32, 6, 4.
39. #cum pipere et palmis#: notoriously foreign productions. Comp. _advectus Romam quo pruna et cottona vento_, Juv., 3, 83. _Palmis_ = ‘dates.’ --#nostrum hoc#: ‘this new wisdom of our day.’ --#maris expers#: Hor., Sat., 2, 8, 15: _Chium #maris expers#_. The explanations are by no means convincing. _Maris expers._ (1) Not mixed with salt water, which was supposed to be wholesome, as in Horace, l.c. (2) _insulum_, Heinr., the most simple, ‘foolish philosophy,’ ‘insipid sapience.’ (3) Devoid of manliness (Casaubon). Comp. 1, 103, 104, in which case _maris_ would be a pun, as there is an evident Horatian reminiscence. See Introd., xxiii. But the Horatian passage is itself variously interpreted. (4) The rendering, ‘innocent of the sea,’ i.e., ‘home-grown,’ is in manifest contradiction to the drift of the passage.
40. #fenisecae#: Type of the rustic laborer. Comp. _fossor_, 5, 122. _Fenisecae_, the plebeian spelling for _faenisecae_, seems more appropriate here. --#crasso unguine#: They can not get a good article, but they are determined to imitate their betters, and so they take a poor one. With _crasso unguine_ comp. 3, 104: _crassis amomis_. --#vitiarunt pultes#: On _vitiarunt_ comp. 2, 65; _puls_ is the national porridge, the _farrata olla_ of 4, 31.
41. #cinere ulterior#: ‘when you are the other side of the grave’ (comp. 5, 152); περαιτέρω κόνεως (Casaubon).
41-60. Persius turns on his heir: ‘Glorious news has come of a great victory. I wish to celebrate it by games-- by largess. Will you forbid it? If you don’t want what is left, let it alone. I can get somebody to take it-- some beggar, perhaps, related to me through that son of earth, Adam.’
42. #quisquis eris#: does not so much show ‘the indifference of Persius himself’ to his successor as the utter lack of real personality in the Satire. See note on 1, 44. --#seductior#: Comp. 2, 4. _Paulum_ with _seductior_. Comp. Petron., 13: _#seduxit# me #paululum# a turba_; and Plaut., Asin., 5, 2, 75; Ter., Eun., 4, 4, 39. The Accusative with the Comparative is rare but sure, Drager, l.c. § 245, _b_; for examples with _paulum_, Sil., 15, 21; Stat., Theb., 10, 938 (Freund).
43. #o bone#, etc.: The only passage in Persius that deals with the political life of his time, the only passage that has any historic force. A keen observer in his narrow sphere, Persius has hit off very happily the features of this droll triumph of Caligula’s. True, he was only seven years old when it took place; but he lost his father when he was six, and yet recalls him vividly, and this parade must have made an abiding impression, whether he saw it or only heard of it. Caligula’s German expedition is recounted in Suet., Calig., 43 seqq.: ‘He ordered a triumph, which was to be unprecedentedly splendid, and cheap in proportion, as he had a right to the property of his subjects-- changed his mind, forbade any proposal on the subject under capital penalties, abused the senate for doing nothing, and finally entered the city in ovation on his birthday’ (Conington). With _o bone_ comp. _heus bone_, 3, 94. --#laurus# = _laureata epistola_, the letter bound with bays, in which victories were announced.
44. #Germanae pubis#: ‘flower of the German army’ (Pretor), _pubes_ being = ἡλικία.
45. #aris | frigidus excutitur cinis#: Of course to make room for new sacrifices, but _frigidus_ intimates that the ashes had had time to cool; such occasions were rare. Comp. Apul., Met., 4, 83: _arae viduae #frigido cinere# foedatae_. _Aris_, Dat. _Excutitur_ denotes haste. ‘The ashes are hustled off.’ --#postibus#: ‘for the door-posts’ (of temples, palaces, the residence of the _triumphator_, and other buildings). With the Dative comp. Juv., 6, 51: _necte coronam | #postibus#_.
46. #lutea gausapa#: ‘yellow wools.’ The coarse fabric known as _gausapa_ was used to make yellow wigs for the mock German captives. The light hair of the Germans is a familiar characteristic, and a similar device is recorded of Domitian by Tacitus, Agr., 39 (Jahn). As the captives were actually Gauls, Casaubon understands _gausapa_ of the common Gallic costume.
47. #Caesonia#: the mistress, and, after the birth of a daughter and the divorce of Lollia, the wife of Caligula, Suet., Cal., 25. --#ingentis Rhenos#: Jahn understands statues or pictures of the Rhine, to be carried in procession, referring to the Jordan on the Arch of Titus, and citing Ov., A. A., 1, 223 seqq., for the Euphrates and Tigris. Conington adds Verg., Georg., 3, 28, for the Nile, and considers the Plural _Rhenos_ sarcastic. The more common interpretation regards _Rhenos_ as _Rhenanos_. Suet., l.c. 47, mentions expressly the fact that Caligula picked out the tallest men he could find (_procerissimum quemque_) for the procession.
48. #genioque ducis#: On _genio_, see 2, 3. The genius of the Emperor was publicly worshipped, Ov., Fast., 5, 145. Caligula punished those who did not swear by his genius, Suet., Cal., 27. _Ducis_ is sarcastic. ‘So Juv., 4, 145; 7, 21, calls Domitian _dux_, with reference to a similar exploit, a sham triumph with manufactured slaves’ (Conington, after Jahn). --#centum paria#: Comp. Hor., Sat., 2, 3, 85: _ni sic fecissent #gladiatorum# dare #centum# | damnati populo #paria# atque epulum_. The number is absurd for any ordinary fortune, and the extravagance of the threat destroys the dramatic effect on the heir.
49. #induco#: The familiar Present for the Future. _Induco, verbum harenae_ (Casaubon). --#aude#: We should say, ‘I dare you’ (Conington).
50. #oleum#: Largesses of oil by Caesar and Nero are recorded by Suet., Caes., 38, Nero, 12 (Jahn). --#artocreas#: ἀρτόκρεας = _visceratio_, ‘bread-meat’ for ‘bread-and-meat.’ Outside of the numerals, such copulative compounds (_dvandva_ in Sanskrit) are rare, and chiefly late. Comp. _suovetaurilia_, νυχθήμερον, the famous word of seventy-nine syllables in Ar., Eccl., 1169, and Mod. Gr. ἀνδρόγυνον, ‘man-and-wife.’ Some consider _artocreas_ a kind of meat-pasty. --#popello#: 4, 15.
51, 52. #dic clare#: It were very much to be wished that he had. The context seems to require, on the one hand, a motive for the silence of the heir; on the other, a motive for declining the inheritance. The interpretation of _non adeo-- iuxta est_ depends on the meaning of _exossatus_, which is sometimes rendered ‘exhausted,’ ‘impoverished,’ ‘worn out,’ as if ‘boneless’ and ‘marrowless’ were the same thing here; sometimes, and with far more probability, ‘cleared of stones.’ A poetic allusion to the ‘bones of Mother Earth,’ Ov., Met., 1, 393 seqq. (Schol.), would be out of place, and the common culinary sense of _exossatus_, ‘boned,’ is in keeping with the homely character of Persius’s tropes. _Adeo_ is sometimes considered a Verb, in the sense of _adire hereditatem;_ sometimes an Adverb, and connected now with _prohibeo_ (from _prohibes_), now with _exossatus_; and, finally, some give _exossatus-- est_ to the heir, others to Persius. I subjoin the chief distributions and interpretations:
(1.) _Non adeo_, inquis. Exossatus ager iuxta est. Jahn (1843). (Do you mean to hinder me? Out with it.) ‘Not exactly,’ you say. Here is a worn-out field hard by. If you won’t have it, another will.
(2.) ‘Non adeo,’ inquis? Exossatus ager iuxta est (Conington). You won’t accept the inheritance, you say? Here is a field, now, cleared for ploughing.
(3.) ‘Non adeo,’ inquis, ‘exossatus ager iuxta est,’ Jahn (1868), which may be rendered, ‘I am sure that your land here is not in such very good order’ (that you can afford such extravagance). Good order or not, I can find some one to take it off my hands, etc.
(4.) Hermann bases his interpretation on the Schol., and understands _non adeo exossatus ager_ to be a field that is not wholly cleared of stones, to which the heir points as a cogent argument against his making a difficulty. He is afraid of a stoning from the people, as above he was afraid of doing any thing to disoblige the Emperor (_Lect. Pers._, II., 64).
(5.) Teuffel agrees with Hermann’s interpretation of _exossatus_, but separates _non adeo_, ‘Not exactly.’ See (1.). ‘There is a field hard by from which the stones have [just] been dug up,’ where they are lying in convenient heaps.
(6.) Heinrich takes _adeo_ to be the Verb, _exossatus_ as ‘impoverished,’ and _iuxta_ = _paene_.
(7.) _Non adeo_, inquis. _Exossatus ager iuxta est_ is rendered by Mr. Pretor, ‘I can’t quite forbid it; but let me suggest to you that your land is impoverished.’
(8.) Konig understands the heir to say: ‘I will not accept. I have a well-tilled piece of land of my own hard by.’
I am not ashamed to acknowledge that the only point about which I am convinced is the impossibility of making _exossatus_ mean ‘impoverished.’
53. #amitis#: _Amita_ is the aunt by the father’s side. See note on 2, 31. Persius left his property to his mother and sister, and all this string of suppositions is in keeping with the impersonal character of his heir. Teuffel notices the utter jumble of legal relations. --#proneptis patrui#: ‘female cousin twice removed.’
54. #sterilis vixit#: ‘has lived barren’ means ‘has died childless, without issue.’
55. #nihilum#: ‘neither chick nor child.’ --#Bovillas#: Bovillae lay between Rome and Aricia, and was the first stage on the Appian road, hence called ‘suburban’ by Ov., Fast., 3, 667 (Jahn). Persius had an estate in the neighborhood.
56. #clivum ad Virbi#: Martial’s _clivus Aricinus_ (2, 19, 3; 12, 32, 10), a noted station for beggars. Juv., 4, 17: _dignus #Aricinos# qui mendicaret ad axes_. Virbius was identified with Hippolytus, and worshipped as the hero of Aricia. --#Manius#: a typical beggar’s name. There was a proverb: _multi #Mani# Ariciae_, Fest., s.v., with the explanation, _multos claros viros ibi fuisse_. The ‘Arician aristocracy’ must have become a term of contempt by the time of Persius (πάλαι ποτ᾽ ἦσαν ἄλκιμοι Μιλήσιοι).
57. #progenies terrae#: is the indignant remonstrance of the heir, _progenies terrae_ being = the more familiar _terrae filius_, Cic., Att., 1, 13, 4 al.; our ‘groundling’ can answer only as a play on the word. --#quartus pater# = _abavus_, ‘great-great-grandfather.’
58. #haud prompte, dicam tamen#: μόλις μὲν, ἐξερῶ δ᾽ ὅμως (Conington); μόλις μὲν, ἀλλ᾽ οὖν ἐξερῶ Comp. [Dem.] 58, 26. --#adde etiam unum# = _atavum_, ‘one step further back.’
59. #unum etiam# = _tritavum_.
60. #ritu | generis#: ‘by regular descent’ (Conington). Jahn connects _generis_ with _avunculus_. --#maior avunculus#: _avii aut aviae avunculus est_ (Jahn), ‘great-great-uncle.’ Persius qualifies this statement by _prope_, ‘something like,’ but he has not only got the degree wrong, but has passed over to the mother’s side. The thought of this _frigidiuscula ratio_, as Jahn calls it, does not need illustration. Still, comp. Juv., 4, 99: _unde fit ut malim fraterculus esse gigantum_. --#exit# = _evadit_, 1, 45; 5, 130.
61-74. Persius: ‘You are getting impatient. Why not wait for your turn? I am Fortune. Wait until I drop my purse into your hand, and then be satisfied with what I have left in it. _Tadius bequeathed me some money._ I know he did. What is that to you? None of your fatherly advice about looking after my balance at the banker’s. What do I care about “balance?” I will eat a good dinner, and not starve myself for your spoilt grandson’s sake.’ |
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