, Otho, 4, "Spem majorem cepit ex
affirmatione Seleuci _Mathematici_, qui cum eum olim superstitem Neroni
fore spopondisset, tunc ultro inopinatus advenerat, imperaturum quoque
brevi repromittens.
affirmatione Seleuci _Mathematici_, qui cum eum olim superstitem Neroni
fore spopondisset, tunc ultro inopinatus advenerat, imperaturum quoque
brevi repromittens.
Satires
, Ep.
i.
, 143.
--_Quadrans.
_ Philosophers used to go to the
commonest baths, either from modesty or poverty. Seneca calls the
bath "Res Quadrantaria. " Cf. Hor. , i. , Sat. iii. , 147. Cic. pro Cœl.
"Quadrantaria permutatio. "
[286] _Torqueat. _ Cf. vii. , 156, "Quæ venient diversæ forte sagittæ,"
Quint. , vi. , 3, "Jaculatio verborum. " So Plato uses the term δεινὸς
ἀκοντιστής, of a Spartan orator.
[287] _Palæmon. _ Cf. vii. , 215," Docti Palæmonis. " "Insignis
Grammaticus. " Hieron. "Remmius Palæmon," Vicentinus, owed his first
acquaintance with literature to taking his mistress' son to school as
his "custos angustæ vernula capsæ" (x. , 117). Manumitted afterward, he
taught at Rome in the reigns of Tiberius and Claudius, and "principem
locum inter grammaticos tenuit. " Vid. Suet. , Gram. Illust. , 23, who
says he kept a very profitable school, and gives many curious instances
of his vanity and luxuriousness. He was Quintilian's master. Cf. Vet.
Schol. , and Clinton, Fasti Rom. in anno, A. D. 48.
[288] _Opicæ. _ Cf. iii. , 207, "Opici mures. " Opizein Græci dicunt de
iis qui imperitè loquuntur. Vet. Schol.
[289] _Poppæana. _ "Cosmetics used or invented by Poppæa Sabina," of
whom Tacitus says, "Huic mulieri cuncta alia fuere præter honestum
animum," Ann. , xiii. , 45. She was of surpassing beauty and insatiable
ambition: married first to Rufus Crispinus, a knight whom she quitted
for Otho. Nero became enamored of her, and sent Otho into Lusitania,
where he remained ten years. (Cf. Suet. , Otho, 3. Clinton, F. R. , a.
58. ) Four years after he put away Octavia, banished her to Pandataria,
and forced her to make away with herself, and her head was brought to
Rome to be gazed upon by Poppæa, whom he had now married, A. D. 62. Cf.
Tac. , Ann. , xiv. , 64. Poppæa bore him a child next year, whom he called
Augusta, but she died before she was four months old, to his excessive
grief. Cf. xv. , 23. Three years after, "Poppæa mortem obiit, fortuitâ
mariti iracundiâ, à quo gravida ictu calcis adflicta est. " Nero, it
is remarkable, died on the same day of the month as the unfortunate
Octavia.
[290] _Lacte. _ The old Schol. says _Poppæa_ was banished, and took with
her fifty she-asses to furnish milk for her bath. The story of her
exile is very problematical, as Heinrich shows, and is probably only
an ordinary hyperbole. Pliny says (xxviii. , 12; xi. , 41) that asses'
milk is supposed to make the face tender, and delicately white, and to
prevent wrinkles. "Unde Poppæa uxor Neronis, quocunque ire contigisset
secum sexcentas asellas ducebat. " ὄνους πεντακοσίας ἀρτιτόκους. Xiph. ,
lxii. , 28.
[291] _Facies. _
"Can it be call'd a face, so poulticed o'er?
By heavens, an ulcer it resembles more! " Hodgson.
"But tell me yet, this thing thus daub'd and oil'd,
Thus poulticed, plaster'd, baked by turns and boil'd;
Thus with pomatums, ointments, lackered o'er,
Is it a face, Ursidius, or a sore? " Gifford.
[292] _Frangit. _ Cf. viii. , 247, "Nodosam post hæc frangebat vertice
vitem. " The climax here is not correctly observed, according to Horace.
"Ne scuticâ dignum horribili sectere flagello: Nam, ut ferula cædas
meritum majora subire Verbera non vereor. " I. , Sat. iii. , 119. The
_scutica_ was probably like the "taurea:" the "cowskin" of the American
slave States.
[293] _Diurnum. _ "The diary of the household expenses. " _Relegit_ marks
the deliberate cruelty of the lady.
"Beats while she paints her face, surveys her gown,
Casts up the day's accounts, and still beats on. " Dryden.
[294] _Isiacæ. _ Cf. ix. , 22, "Fanum Isidis. . . . Notior Aufidio mœchus
celebrare solebas. "
[295] _Emerita. _ From the soldier who has served his time and become
"emeritus. "
[296] _Ædificat. _
"So high she builds her head, she seems to be,
View her in front, a tall Andromache;
But walk all round her, and you'll quickly find
She's not so great a personage behind! " Hodgson.
[297] _Pygmæâ. _
"Yet not a pigmy--were she, she'd be right
To wear the buskin and increase her height;
To gain from art what nature's stint denies,
Nor lightly to the kiss on tip-toes rise. " Hodgson.
[298] _Vicina. _
"And save that daily she insults his friends,
Provokes his servants, and his fortune spends,
As a mere neighbor she might pass through life,
And ne'er be once mistaken for his wife. " Badham.
[299] _Xerampelinas. _ The Schol. describes this color as "inter
coccinum et muricem medius," from ξηρὸς, siccus, ἄμπελος, vitis, "the
color of vine leaves in autumn;" the "morte feuille" of French dyers.
[300] _Superbi. _ The Campus Martius, as having belonged originally to
Tarquinius Superbus.
[301] _Ovile_, more commonly _ovilia_ or _septa_, stood in the Campus
Martius, where the elections were held.
[302] _Animam_, "the moral," _mentem_, "the intellectual part" of the
soul. Cf. Virg. , Æn. , vi. , 11, "Cui mentem animamque Delius inspirat
Vates. " When opposed to _animus_, anima is simply "the principle of
vitality. " "Anima, quâ vivimus; mens qua cogitamus. " Lactant. So Sat. ,
xv. , 148, "Indulsit communis conditor illis tantum animas nobis animum
quoque. "
"Doubtless such kindred minds th' immortals seek,
And such the souls with whom by night they speak. " Badham.
[303] _Linigero. _ Cf. Mart. , xii. , Ep. xxix. , 19, "Linigeri fugiunt
calvi sistrataque turba. " Isis is said to have been a queen of Egypt,
and to have taught her subjects the use of linen, for which reason
the inferior priests were all clothed in it. All who were about to
celebrate her sacred rites had their heads shaved. Isis married Osiris,
who was killed by his brother Typhon, and his body thrown into a well,
where Isis and her son Anubis, by the assistance of dogs, found it.
Osiris was thenceforth deified under the form of an ox, and called
Apis: Anubis, under the form of a dog. (Hence Virg. , Æn. , viii. , 698,
"Latrator Anubis. ") An ox, therefore, with particular marks (vid.
Strab. , xvii. ; Herod. , iii. , 28), was kept in great state, which Osiris
was supposed to animate; but when it had reached a certain age (non est
fas eum certos vitæ excedere annos, Plin. , viii. , 46), it was drowned
in a well (mersum in sacerdotum fonte enecant) with much ceremonious
sorrow, and the priests, attended by an immense concourse of people,
dispersed themselves over the country, wailing and lamenting, in quest
of another with the prescribed marks (quæsituri luctu alium quem
substituant; et donec invenerint mærent, derasis etiam capitibus.
Plin. , ii. , 3). When they had found one, their lamentations were
exchanged for songs of joy and shouts of εὑρήκαμεν (cf. viii. , 29,
Exclamare libet populus quod clamat Osiri invento), and the ox was
led back to the shrine of his predecessor. These gloomy processions
lasted some days; and generally during these (or nine days at least)
women abstained from intercourse with their husbands. These rites were
introduced at Rome, the chief priest personating Anubis, and wearing a
dog's head. Hence _derisor_. Cf. xv. , 8, "Oppida tota canem venerantur. "
[304]
"Her internuntial office none deny,
Between us peccant mortals and the sky. " Badham.
[305] _Commagene_ was reduced to a province A. D. 72.
[306] _Deferat. _
"Or bid, at times, the human victim bleed,
And then inform against you for the deed. " Hodgson.
[307] _Conducenda. _
"By whose hired tablet and concurring spell,
The noble Roman, Otho's terror, fell. " Hodgson.
[308] _Magnus civis. _ Cf. Suet.
, Otho, 4, "Spem majorem cepit ex
affirmatione Seleuci _Mathematici_, qui cum eum olim superstitem Neroni
fore spopondisset, tunc ultro inopinatus advenerat, imperaturum quoque
brevi repromittens. " Cf. Tac. , Hist. , i. , 22, who says one Ptolemæus
promised Otho the same when with him in Spain. Ptolemy helped to
fulfill his own predictions, "Nec deerat Ptolemæus, jam et sceleris
instinctor, ad quod facillimè ab ejusmodi voto transitur. "
[309] _Cyclada. _ Cf. i. , 73, "Aude aliquid brevibus Gyaris et carcere
dignum. " x. , 170, "Ut Gyaræ clausus scopulis parvaque Seripho. "
[310] _Tanaquil. _ Cf. Liv. , i, 34, "perita cœlestium prodigiorum
mulier. "
"To him thy Tanaquil applies, in doubt
How long her jaundiced mother may hold out. " Gifford.
[311] _Pinguia sucina. _ The Roman women used to hold or rub amber in
their hands for its scent. Mart. , iii. , Ep. lxv. , 5, "redolent quod
sucina trita. " xi. , Ep. viii. , 6, "spirant, succina virgineâ quod
regelata manu. " Cf. v. , Ep. xxxviii. , II. (Cf. ix. , 50. )
"By whom a greasy almanac is borne,
With often handling, like chafed amber worn. " Dryden.
[312] _Thrasyllus_ was the astrologer under whom Tiberius studied the
"Chaldean art" at Rhodes (Tac. , Ann. , vi. , 20), and accompanied his
patron to Rome. (Cf. Suet. , Aug. , 98. ) Cf. Suet. , Tib. , 14, 62, and
Calig. , 19, for a curious prediction belied by Caligula.
[313] _Petosiris_, another famous astrologer and physician. Plin. , ii. ,
23; vii. , 49.
[314] _Fulgura. _ When a place was struck by lightning, a priest was
sent for to purify it, a two-year-old sheep was then sacrificed, and
the ground, hence called bidental, fenced in.
[315] _Agger. _ The mound to the east of Rome, thrown up by Tarquinius
Superbus. Cf. viii. , 43, "ventoso conducta sub aggere texit. " Hor. , i. ,
Sat. viii. , 15, "Aggere in aprico spatiari. "
[316] _Phalas. _ The Circensian games were originally consecrated to
Neptunus Equestris, or Consus. Hence the dolphins on the columns in
the Circus Maximus. The circus was divided along the middle by the
Spina, at each extremity of which stood three pillars (metæ) round
which the chariots turned: along this spine were seven movable towers
or obelisks, called from their oval form ova, or phalæ; one was taken
down at the end of each course. There were four factions in the
circus, Blue, Green (xi. , 196). White, and Red, xii. , 114; to which
Domitian added the Golden and the Purple. Suet. , Domit. , 7. The egg
was the badge of the Green faction (which was the general favorite),
the dolphin of the Blue or sea party. For the form of these, see
the Florentine gem in Milman's Horace, p. 3. Böttiger has a curious
theory, that the four colors symbolize the four elements, the green
being the earth. The circus was the resort of prostitutes (iii. , 65)
and itinerant fortune-tellers. (Hence "_fallax_," Hor. , i. , Sat. , vi. ,
113. ) Cf. Suet. , Jul. , 39, and Claud. , 21.
[317] _Mane. _ "The first thing seen" in the morning was a most
important omen of the good or bad luck of the whole day. This is well
turned by Hodgson:
"The sooty embryo, had he sprung to light,
Had heir'd thy will and petrified thy sight;
Each morn with horror hadst thou turn'd away,
Lest the dark omen should o'ercloud the day. "
[318] _Spurcos lacus. _ Infants were exposed by the Milk-pillar in
the Herb-market: the low ground on which this stood, at the base of
Aventine, Palatine, and Capitoline, was often flooded and covered with
stagnant pools. "Hoc ubi nunc fora sunt udæ tenuere paludes," Ov. ,
Fast. , vi. , 401. The "Velabri regio" of Tibull. , ii. , v. , 33.
"The beggars' bantlings spawn'd in open air,
And left by some pond-side to perish there;
From hence your Flamens, hence your Salii come,
Your Scauri chiefs and magistrates of Rome. " Gifford.
[319] _Mimum. _ Cf. iii. , 40, "Quoties voluit Fortuna jocari. "
[320] _Boletus. _ Cf. v. , 147. Nero used to call mushrooms "the food of
the gods" after this. Cf. Suet. , Nero, 33. Tac. , Ann. , xii. , 66, 7.
Mart. , i. , Ep. xxi.
[321]
"That only closed the driveling dotard's eyes,
And sent his godhead downward to the skies. " Dryden.
[322] _Cæsonia. _ Cf. Suet. , Calig. , 50, "Creditur potionatus a Cæsonia
uxore, amatorio quidem medicamento, sed quod in furorem verterit. "
[323] _Grande Sophocleo. _
"Are these then fictions? and would satire's rage
Sweep in Iambic pomp the tragic stage
With stately Sophocles, and sing of deeds
Strange to Rutulian skies and Latian meads? " Badham.
[324] _Pontia_, daughter of Titus Pontius, and wife of Drymis, poisoned
her two children, and afterward committed suicide. The fact was duly
inscribed on her tomb. Cf. Mart. , vi. , Ep. 75.
[325] _Tamen. _ Heinrich proposes to read "tantum. "
[326] _Alcestim. _
"Alcestis, lo! in love's calm courage flies
To yonder tomb where, else, Admetus dies,
While those that view the scene, a lapdog's breath
Would cheaply purchase by a husband's death. " Badham.
[327] _Insulsam. _
"But here the difference lies--those bungling wives
With a blunt axe hack'd out their husbands' lives. " Gifford.
[328] _Ter victi_, by Sylla, Lucullus, and Pompey. Cf. xiv. , 452, "Eme
quod Mithridates Composuit si vis aliam decerpere ficum Atque alias
tractare rosas. "
SATIRE VII.
All our hope and inducement to study[329] rests on Cæsar[330] alone.
For he alone casts a favoring eye[331] on the Muses, who in our days
are in a forlorn state. When poets, now become famous and men of
renown, would fain try and hire a little bath at Gabii, or a public
oven at Rome. While others, again, would esteem it neither shocking
nor degrading to turn public criers: since Clio herself, if starving,
would quit the vales of Aganippe, and emigrate to courts. [332] For if
not a single farthing is offered you in the Pierian shades, be content
with the name and calling of Machæra:[333] and sooner sell what the
auction duly set[334] sells to those that stand around; wine-flagons,
trivets, book-cases, chests; the "Alcyone" of Paccius, or the "Thebes"
and "Tereus" of Faustus. This is preferable to asserting before the
judge that you are a witness of what you never did see. [335] Even
though Asiatic,[336] and Cappadocian, and Bithynian knights stoop
to this: fellows whom Gallo-Græcia transports hither with chalked
feet. [337] Hereafter, however, no one will be compelled to submit
to an employment derogatory to his studies, who unites loftiness
of expression to tuneful numbers, and has chewed the bay. [338] Set
vigorously to work then, young men! The kindness[339] of the emperor is
looking all around, and stimulates your exertions, while he is seeking
worthy objects of his patronage. If you think that from any other
quarter you may look for encouragement in your pursuits, and with that
view fill the parchment of your yellow[340] tablet; call with all speed
for a fagot, and make a present of all your compositions, Telesinus, to
Venus' husband:[341] or lock them up, and let the bookworm[342] bore
them through as they lie stowed away. Destroy your pens, poor wretch!
Blot out your battles that have lost you your nights' rest, you that
write sublime poetry in your narrow garret,[343] that you may come
forth worthy of an ivy-crown and meagre image. You have nothing farther
to hope for. The stingy patron of our days has learned only to admire
and praise the eloquent as boys do Juno's peacock. [344] But your prime
of life is ebbing away; that is able to bear the fatigue of the sea,
the helmet, or the spade. Then weariness creeps over the spirits: and
an old age, that is indeed learned but in rags,[345] curses itself and
the Muses that it courted. Now learn the devices of the great man
you pay court to, to avoid laying out any money upon you: quitting
the temple of the Muses, and Apollo, he composes verses himself, and
only yields the palm to Homer himself on the score of his priority by
a thousand years. But if inflamed by the charms of fame you recite
your poetry, he kindly lends you a dirty mansion, and places at your
service one that has been long barred up, whose front gate emulates
those of a city in a state of siege. He knows how to place his freedmen
in seats at the farther end of the audience, and how to arrange his
clients who are to cheer you lustily. [346] None of these great lords
will give you as much as would pay for the benches,[347] or the seats
that rise one above another on the platform you have to hire; or your
orchestra of chairs, which must be returned when your recitation is
over. Yet still we ply our tasks, and draw furrows in the profitless
dust, and keep turning up the sea-shore with sterile plow. For even if
you try to abandon the pursuit, the long habit[348] of indulging in
this vain-glorious trifling,[349] holds you fast in its fetters. An
inveterate itch of writing, now incurable, clings to many, and grows
old in their distempered body. But the poet that is above his fellows,
whose vein is not that of the common herd; that is wont to spin out
no stale or vulgar subject, and stamps no hackneyed verse from a die
that all may use; such an one as I can not embody in words, and can
only feel in my soul, is the offspring of a mind free from solicitude,
exempt from all that can embitter life, that courts the quiet of the
woods, and loves to drink the fountains of the Aonides. Nor can it be
that poverty should sing in the Pierian cave, or handle the thyrsus,
if forced to sobriety, and lacking that vile pelf the body needs both
day and night. Well plied with food and wine is Horace when _he_ shouts
out his Evoe! [350] What scope is there for fancy, save when our breasts
are harassed by no thoughts but verse alone; and are hurried along[351]
under the influence of the lords of Cirrha and Nysa, admitting of no
divided[352] solicitude. It is the privilege of an exalted soul, and
not of one bewildered how to get enough to buy a blanket, to gaze on
chariots and horses and the forms of divinities, and in what dread
shapes Erinnys[353] appalls the Rutulian. For had Virgil lacked a slave
and comfortable lodging, all the serpents would have vanished from
Alecto's hair: his trumpet, starved to silence, would have blazed no
note of terror. Is it fair to expect that Rubrenus Lappa should not
fall short of the buskin of the ancients, while his Atreus[354] forces
him to pawn his very sauceboats and his cloak?
Poor Numitor is so unfortunate as to have nothing he can afford to send
his protégé! Yet he can find something to give Quintilla--he managed
to pay for a tame lion, that must have pounds of flesh to feed him. No
doubt the huge beast is kept at far less expense; and a poet's stomach
is far more capacious! Let Lucan recline at his ease in his gardens
among his marble statues, satisfied with fame alone. But to poor
Serranus, and starving Saleius, of what avail will glory be, however
great, if it be glory only? All flock in crowds to hear his sweet
voice, and the tuneful strains of the Thebais, when Statius[355] has
gladdened the city, and fixed the day for reciting it.
commonest baths, either from modesty or poverty. Seneca calls the
bath "Res Quadrantaria. " Cf. Hor. , i. , Sat. iii. , 147. Cic. pro Cœl.
"Quadrantaria permutatio. "
[286] _Torqueat. _ Cf. vii. , 156, "Quæ venient diversæ forte sagittæ,"
Quint. , vi. , 3, "Jaculatio verborum. " So Plato uses the term δεινὸς
ἀκοντιστής, of a Spartan orator.
[287] _Palæmon. _ Cf. vii. , 215," Docti Palæmonis. " "Insignis
Grammaticus. " Hieron. "Remmius Palæmon," Vicentinus, owed his first
acquaintance with literature to taking his mistress' son to school as
his "custos angustæ vernula capsæ" (x. , 117). Manumitted afterward, he
taught at Rome in the reigns of Tiberius and Claudius, and "principem
locum inter grammaticos tenuit. " Vid. Suet. , Gram. Illust. , 23, who
says he kept a very profitable school, and gives many curious instances
of his vanity and luxuriousness. He was Quintilian's master. Cf. Vet.
Schol. , and Clinton, Fasti Rom. in anno, A. D. 48.
[288] _Opicæ. _ Cf. iii. , 207, "Opici mures. " Opizein Græci dicunt de
iis qui imperitè loquuntur. Vet. Schol.
[289] _Poppæana. _ "Cosmetics used or invented by Poppæa Sabina," of
whom Tacitus says, "Huic mulieri cuncta alia fuere præter honestum
animum," Ann. , xiii. , 45. She was of surpassing beauty and insatiable
ambition: married first to Rufus Crispinus, a knight whom she quitted
for Otho. Nero became enamored of her, and sent Otho into Lusitania,
where he remained ten years. (Cf. Suet. , Otho, 3. Clinton, F. R. , a.
58. ) Four years after he put away Octavia, banished her to Pandataria,
and forced her to make away with herself, and her head was brought to
Rome to be gazed upon by Poppæa, whom he had now married, A. D. 62. Cf.
Tac. , Ann. , xiv. , 64. Poppæa bore him a child next year, whom he called
Augusta, but she died before she was four months old, to his excessive
grief. Cf. xv. , 23. Three years after, "Poppæa mortem obiit, fortuitâ
mariti iracundiâ, à quo gravida ictu calcis adflicta est. " Nero, it
is remarkable, died on the same day of the month as the unfortunate
Octavia.
[290] _Lacte. _ The old Schol. says _Poppæa_ was banished, and took with
her fifty she-asses to furnish milk for her bath. The story of her
exile is very problematical, as Heinrich shows, and is probably only
an ordinary hyperbole. Pliny says (xxviii. , 12; xi. , 41) that asses'
milk is supposed to make the face tender, and delicately white, and to
prevent wrinkles. "Unde Poppæa uxor Neronis, quocunque ire contigisset
secum sexcentas asellas ducebat. " ὄνους πεντακοσίας ἀρτιτόκους. Xiph. ,
lxii. , 28.
[291] _Facies. _
"Can it be call'd a face, so poulticed o'er?
By heavens, an ulcer it resembles more! " Hodgson.
"But tell me yet, this thing thus daub'd and oil'd,
Thus poulticed, plaster'd, baked by turns and boil'd;
Thus with pomatums, ointments, lackered o'er,
Is it a face, Ursidius, or a sore? " Gifford.
[292] _Frangit. _ Cf. viii. , 247, "Nodosam post hæc frangebat vertice
vitem. " The climax here is not correctly observed, according to Horace.
"Ne scuticâ dignum horribili sectere flagello: Nam, ut ferula cædas
meritum majora subire Verbera non vereor. " I. , Sat. iii. , 119. The
_scutica_ was probably like the "taurea:" the "cowskin" of the American
slave States.
[293] _Diurnum. _ "The diary of the household expenses. " _Relegit_ marks
the deliberate cruelty of the lady.
"Beats while she paints her face, surveys her gown,
Casts up the day's accounts, and still beats on. " Dryden.
[294] _Isiacæ. _ Cf. ix. , 22, "Fanum Isidis. . . . Notior Aufidio mœchus
celebrare solebas. "
[295] _Emerita. _ From the soldier who has served his time and become
"emeritus. "
[296] _Ædificat. _
"So high she builds her head, she seems to be,
View her in front, a tall Andromache;
But walk all round her, and you'll quickly find
She's not so great a personage behind! " Hodgson.
[297] _Pygmæâ. _
"Yet not a pigmy--were she, she'd be right
To wear the buskin and increase her height;
To gain from art what nature's stint denies,
Nor lightly to the kiss on tip-toes rise. " Hodgson.
[298] _Vicina. _
"And save that daily she insults his friends,
Provokes his servants, and his fortune spends,
As a mere neighbor she might pass through life,
And ne'er be once mistaken for his wife. " Badham.
[299] _Xerampelinas. _ The Schol. describes this color as "inter
coccinum et muricem medius," from ξηρὸς, siccus, ἄμπελος, vitis, "the
color of vine leaves in autumn;" the "morte feuille" of French dyers.
[300] _Superbi. _ The Campus Martius, as having belonged originally to
Tarquinius Superbus.
[301] _Ovile_, more commonly _ovilia_ or _septa_, stood in the Campus
Martius, where the elections were held.
[302] _Animam_, "the moral," _mentem_, "the intellectual part" of the
soul. Cf. Virg. , Æn. , vi. , 11, "Cui mentem animamque Delius inspirat
Vates. " When opposed to _animus_, anima is simply "the principle of
vitality. " "Anima, quâ vivimus; mens qua cogitamus. " Lactant. So Sat. ,
xv. , 148, "Indulsit communis conditor illis tantum animas nobis animum
quoque. "
"Doubtless such kindred minds th' immortals seek,
And such the souls with whom by night they speak. " Badham.
[303] _Linigero. _ Cf. Mart. , xii. , Ep. xxix. , 19, "Linigeri fugiunt
calvi sistrataque turba. " Isis is said to have been a queen of Egypt,
and to have taught her subjects the use of linen, for which reason
the inferior priests were all clothed in it. All who were about to
celebrate her sacred rites had their heads shaved. Isis married Osiris,
who was killed by his brother Typhon, and his body thrown into a well,
where Isis and her son Anubis, by the assistance of dogs, found it.
Osiris was thenceforth deified under the form of an ox, and called
Apis: Anubis, under the form of a dog. (Hence Virg. , Æn. , viii. , 698,
"Latrator Anubis. ") An ox, therefore, with particular marks (vid.
Strab. , xvii. ; Herod. , iii. , 28), was kept in great state, which Osiris
was supposed to animate; but when it had reached a certain age (non est
fas eum certos vitæ excedere annos, Plin. , viii. , 46), it was drowned
in a well (mersum in sacerdotum fonte enecant) with much ceremonious
sorrow, and the priests, attended by an immense concourse of people,
dispersed themselves over the country, wailing and lamenting, in quest
of another with the prescribed marks (quæsituri luctu alium quem
substituant; et donec invenerint mærent, derasis etiam capitibus.
Plin. , ii. , 3). When they had found one, their lamentations were
exchanged for songs of joy and shouts of εὑρήκαμεν (cf. viii. , 29,
Exclamare libet populus quod clamat Osiri invento), and the ox was
led back to the shrine of his predecessor. These gloomy processions
lasted some days; and generally during these (or nine days at least)
women abstained from intercourse with their husbands. These rites were
introduced at Rome, the chief priest personating Anubis, and wearing a
dog's head. Hence _derisor_. Cf. xv. , 8, "Oppida tota canem venerantur. "
[304]
"Her internuntial office none deny,
Between us peccant mortals and the sky. " Badham.
[305] _Commagene_ was reduced to a province A. D. 72.
[306] _Deferat. _
"Or bid, at times, the human victim bleed,
And then inform against you for the deed. " Hodgson.
[307] _Conducenda. _
"By whose hired tablet and concurring spell,
The noble Roman, Otho's terror, fell. " Hodgson.
[308] _Magnus civis. _ Cf. Suet.
, Otho, 4, "Spem majorem cepit ex
affirmatione Seleuci _Mathematici_, qui cum eum olim superstitem Neroni
fore spopondisset, tunc ultro inopinatus advenerat, imperaturum quoque
brevi repromittens. " Cf. Tac. , Hist. , i. , 22, who says one Ptolemæus
promised Otho the same when with him in Spain. Ptolemy helped to
fulfill his own predictions, "Nec deerat Ptolemæus, jam et sceleris
instinctor, ad quod facillimè ab ejusmodi voto transitur. "
[309] _Cyclada. _ Cf. i. , 73, "Aude aliquid brevibus Gyaris et carcere
dignum. " x. , 170, "Ut Gyaræ clausus scopulis parvaque Seripho. "
[310] _Tanaquil. _ Cf. Liv. , i, 34, "perita cœlestium prodigiorum
mulier. "
"To him thy Tanaquil applies, in doubt
How long her jaundiced mother may hold out. " Gifford.
[311] _Pinguia sucina. _ The Roman women used to hold or rub amber in
their hands for its scent. Mart. , iii. , Ep. lxv. , 5, "redolent quod
sucina trita. " xi. , Ep. viii. , 6, "spirant, succina virgineâ quod
regelata manu. " Cf. v. , Ep. xxxviii. , II. (Cf. ix. , 50. )
"By whom a greasy almanac is borne,
With often handling, like chafed amber worn. " Dryden.
[312] _Thrasyllus_ was the astrologer under whom Tiberius studied the
"Chaldean art" at Rhodes (Tac. , Ann. , vi. , 20), and accompanied his
patron to Rome. (Cf. Suet. , Aug. , 98. ) Cf. Suet. , Tib. , 14, 62, and
Calig. , 19, for a curious prediction belied by Caligula.
[313] _Petosiris_, another famous astrologer and physician. Plin. , ii. ,
23; vii. , 49.
[314] _Fulgura. _ When a place was struck by lightning, a priest was
sent for to purify it, a two-year-old sheep was then sacrificed, and
the ground, hence called bidental, fenced in.
[315] _Agger. _ The mound to the east of Rome, thrown up by Tarquinius
Superbus. Cf. viii. , 43, "ventoso conducta sub aggere texit. " Hor. , i. ,
Sat. viii. , 15, "Aggere in aprico spatiari. "
[316] _Phalas. _ The Circensian games were originally consecrated to
Neptunus Equestris, or Consus. Hence the dolphins on the columns in
the Circus Maximus. The circus was divided along the middle by the
Spina, at each extremity of which stood three pillars (metæ) round
which the chariots turned: along this spine were seven movable towers
or obelisks, called from their oval form ova, or phalæ; one was taken
down at the end of each course. There were four factions in the
circus, Blue, Green (xi. , 196). White, and Red, xii. , 114; to which
Domitian added the Golden and the Purple. Suet. , Domit. , 7. The egg
was the badge of the Green faction (which was the general favorite),
the dolphin of the Blue or sea party. For the form of these, see
the Florentine gem in Milman's Horace, p. 3. Böttiger has a curious
theory, that the four colors symbolize the four elements, the green
being the earth. The circus was the resort of prostitutes (iii. , 65)
and itinerant fortune-tellers. (Hence "_fallax_," Hor. , i. , Sat. , vi. ,
113. ) Cf. Suet. , Jul. , 39, and Claud. , 21.
[317] _Mane. _ "The first thing seen" in the morning was a most
important omen of the good or bad luck of the whole day. This is well
turned by Hodgson:
"The sooty embryo, had he sprung to light,
Had heir'd thy will and petrified thy sight;
Each morn with horror hadst thou turn'd away,
Lest the dark omen should o'ercloud the day. "
[318] _Spurcos lacus. _ Infants were exposed by the Milk-pillar in
the Herb-market: the low ground on which this stood, at the base of
Aventine, Palatine, and Capitoline, was often flooded and covered with
stagnant pools. "Hoc ubi nunc fora sunt udæ tenuere paludes," Ov. ,
Fast. , vi. , 401. The "Velabri regio" of Tibull. , ii. , v. , 33.
"The beggars' bantlings spawn'd in open air,
And left by some pond-side to perish there;
From hence your Flamens, hence your Salii come,
Your Scauri chiefs and magistrates of Rome. " Gifford.
[319] _Mimum. _ Cf. iii. , 40, "Quoties voluit Fortuna jocari. "
[320] _Boletus. _ Cf. v. , 147. Nero used to call mushrooms "the food of
the gods" after this. Cf. Suet. , Nero, 33. Tac. , Ann. , xii. , 66, 7.
Mart. , i. , Ep. xxi.
[321]
"That only closed the driveling dotard's eyes,
And sent his godhead downward to the skies. " Dryden.
[322] _Cæsonia. _ Cf. Suet. , Calig. , 50, "Creditur potionatus a Cæsonia
uxore, amatorio quidem medicamento, sed quod in furorem verterit. "
[323] _Grande Sophocleo. _
"Are these then fictions? and would satire's rage
Sweep in Iambic pomp the tragic stage
With stately Sophocles, and sing of deeds
Strange to Rutulian skies and Latian meads? " Badham.
[324] _Pontia_, daughter of Titus Pontius, and wife of Drymis, poisoned
her two children, and afterward committed suicide. The fact was duly
inscribed on her tomb. Cf. Mart. , vi. , Ep. 75.
[325] _Tamen. _ Heinrich proposes to read "tantum. "
[326] _Alcestim. _
"Alcestis, lo! in love's calm courage flies
To yonder tomb where, else, Admetus dies,
While those that view the scene, a lapdog's breath
Would cheaply purchase by a husband's death. " Badham.
[327] _Insulsam. _
"But here the difference lies--those bungling wives
With a blunt axe hack'd out their husbands' lives. " Gifford.
[328] _Ter victi_, by Sylla, Lucullus, and Pompey. Cf. xiv. , 452, "Eme
quod Mithridates Composuit si vis aliam decerpere ficum Atque alias
tractare rosas. "
SATIRE VII.
All our hope and inducement to study[329] rests on Cæsar[330] alone.
For he alone casts a favoring eye[331] on the Muses, who in our days
are in a forlorn state. When poets, now become famous and men of
renown, would fain try and hire a little bath at Gabii, or a public
oven at Rome. While others, again, would esteem it neither shocking
nor degrading to turn public criers: since Clio herself, if starving,
would quit the vales of Aganippe, and emigrate to courts. [332] For if
not a single farthing is offered you in the Pierian shades, be content
with the name and calling of Machæra:[333] and sooner sell what the
auction duly set[334] sells to those that stand around; wine-flagons,
trivets, book-cases, chests; the "Alcyone" of Paccius, or the "Thebes"
and "Tereus" of Faustus. This is preferable to asserting before the
judge that you are a witness of what you never did see. [335] Even
though Asiatic,[336] and Cappadocian, and Bithynian knights stoop
to this: fellows whom Gallo-Græcia transports hither with chalked
feet. [337] Hereafter, however, no one will be compelled to submit
to an employment derogatory to his studies, who unites loftiness
of expression to tuneful numbers, and has chewed the bay. [338] Set
vigorously to work then, young men! The kindness[339] of the emperor is
looking all around, and stimulates your exertions, while he is seeking
worthy objects of his patronage. If you think that from any other
quarter you may look for encouragement in your pursuits, and with that
view fill the parchment of your yellow[340] tablet; call with all speed
for a fagot, and make a present of all your compositions, Telesinus, to
Venus' husband:[341] or lock them up, and let the bookworm[342] bore
them through as they lie stowed away. Destroy your pens, poor wretch!
Blot out your battles that have lost you your nights' rest, you that
write sublime poetry in your narrow garret,[343] that you may come
forth worthy of an ivy-crown and meagre image. You have nothing farther
to hope for. The stingy patron of our days has learned only to admire
and praise the eloquent as boys do Juno's peacock. [344] But your prime
of life is ebbing away; that is able to bear the fatigue of the sea,
the helmet, or the spade. Then weariness creeps over the spirits: and
an old age, that is indeed learned but in rags,[345] curses itself and
the Muses that it courted. Now learn the devices of the great man
you pay court to, to avoid laying out any money upon you: quitting
the temple of the Muses, and Apollo, he composes verses himself, and
only yields the palm to Homer himself on the score of his priority by
a thousand years. But if inflamed by the charms of fame you recite
your poetry, he kindly lends you a dirty mansion, and places at your
service one that has been long barred up, whose front gate emulates
those of a city in a state of siege. He knows how to place his freedmen
in seats at the farther end of the audience, and how to arrange his
clients who are to cheer you lustily. [346] None of these great lords
will give you as much as would pay for the benches,[347] or the seats
that rise one above another on the platform you have to hire; or your
orchestra of chairs, which must be returned when your recitation is
over. Yet still we ply our tasks, and draw furrows in the profitless
dust, and keep turning up the sea-shore with sterile plow. For even if
you try to abandon the pursuit, the long habit[348] of indulging in
this vain-glorious trifling,[349] holds you fast in its fetters. An
inveterate itch of writing, now incurable, clings to many, and grows
old in their distempered body. But the poet that is above his fellows,
whose vein is not that of the common herd; that is wont to spin out
no stale or vulgar subject, and stamps no hackneyed verse from a die
that all may use; such an one as I can not embody in words, and can
only feel in my soul, is the offspring of a mind free from solicitude,
exempt from all that can embitter life, that courts the quiet of the
woods, and loves to drink the fountains of the Aonides. Nor can it be
that poverty should sing in the Pierian cave, or handle the thyrsus,
if forced to sobriety, and lacking that vile pelf the body needs both
day and night. Well plied with food and wine is Horace when _he_ shouts
out his Evoe! [350] What scope is there for fancy, save when our breasts
are harassed by no thoughts but verse alone; and are hurried along[351]
under the influence of the lords of Cirrha and Nysa, admitting of no
divided[352] solicitude. It is the privilege of an exalted soul, and
not of one bewildered how to get enough to buy a blanket, to gaze on
chariots and horses and the forms of divinities, and in what dread
shapes Erinnys[353] appalls the Rutulian. For had Virgil lacked a slave
and comfortable lodging, all the serpents would have vanished from
Alecto's hair: his trumpet, starved to silence, would have blazed no
note of terror. Is it fair to expect that Rubrenus Lappa should not
fall short of the buskin of the ancients, while his Atreus[354] forces
him to pawn his very sauceboats and his cloak?
Poor Numitor is so unfortunate as to have nothing he can afford to send
his protégé! Yet he can find something to give Quintilla--he managed
to pay for a tame lion, that must have pounds of flesh to feed him. No
doubt the huge beast is kept at far less expense; and a poet's stomach
is far more capacious! Let Lucan recline at his ease in his gardens
among his marble statues, satisfied with fame alone. But to poor
Serranus, and starving Saleius, of what avail will glory be, however
great, if it be glory only? All flock in crowds to hear his sweet
voice, and the tuneful strains of the Thebais, when Statius[355] has
gladdened the city, and fixed the day for reciting it.
