No More Learning

But now Rufus[387] and others are beaten each by their own pupils;
Rufus! who so often called Cicero "the Allobrogian! " Who casts into
Enceladus'[388] lap, or that of the learned Palæmon,[389] as much as
their grammarian labors have merited! And yet even from the wretched
sum, however small (and it is smaller than the rhetorician's pay),
Acænonoëtus, his pupil's pedagogue, first takes his slice; and then the
steward who pays you deducts his fragment. Dispute it not, Palæmon!
and suffer some abatement to be made, just as the peddler does that
deals in winter rugs and snow-white sheetings. [390] Only let not all
be lost,[391] for which you have sat from the midnight hour, when no
smith would sit, nor even he that teaches how to draw out wool with
the oblique iron. Lose not your whole reward for having smelled as
many lamps as there were boys standing round you; while Horace was
altogether discolored, and the foul smut clave to the well-thumbed
Maro. Yet rare too is the pay that does not require enforcing by the
Tribune's court. [392]

But do you, parents, impose severe exactions on him that is to teach
your boys; that he be perfect in the rules of grammar for each
word--read all histories[393]--know all authors as well as his own
finger-ends; that if questioned at hazard, while on his way to the
Thermæ or the baths of Phœbus, he should be able to tell the name of
Anchises' nurse,[394] and the name and native land of the step-mother
of Anchemolus--tell off-hand how many years Acestes lived--how many
flagons of wine the Sicilian king gave to the Phrygians. Require of
him that he mould their youthful morals as one models a face in wax.
Require of him that he be the reverend father of the company, and check
every approach to immorality.

It is no light task to keep watch over so many boyish hands, so many
little twinkling eyes. "This," says the father, "be the object of your
care! "--and when the year comes round again, Receive for your pay as
much gold[395] as the people demand for the victorious Charioteer!

FOOTNOTES:

[329] _Ratio studiorum. _ Cf. Tac. , Ann. , xi. , 7, "Sublatis studiorum
pretiis etiam studia peritura. "

[330] _Cæsare. _ Which Cæsar is intended is a matter of discussion among
the commentators; whether Nero, Titus, Trajan, Hadrian, Nerva, or
Domitian. Probably the last is meant: as in the beginning of his reign
he affected the character of a patron of literature.

[331] _Respexit. _ "To view with favor or pity," as a deity: so Virg. ,
Ecl. , i. , 28, "Libertas, quæ sera tamen respexit inertem. "

[332] _Atria. _ Either "the antechambers of rich patrons," or to "the
Licinian and other courts," near the forum, where auctions were held;
the _atria auctionaria_ of Cicero: cf. pro Quint. , 12, 25, i. in Rull. ,
7.

[333] _Machæra_, a famous _Præco_ of his time. Lubin.

[334] _Commissa. _ Either from the goods being "intrusted" to the
auctioneer by the owner or the magistrate; or from the parties that
bid being as it were "pitted," _commissi_, against each other, like
gladiators.

[335] _Vidi. _ So xvi. , 29, "Audeat ille Nescio quis, pugnos qui vidit,
dicere vidi. "

[336] _Asiani. _ "Jam equites, olim servi Asiatici. " Lub. The next line
is in all probability interpolated, being only a gloss. Heinrich.

[337] _Nudo talo. _ Vid. ad i. , 111. Or, it may be "barefooted" simply.
Galatia in Asia Minor, so called from the colony of Gauls who settled
there, A. D. 278, at the invitation of Nicomedes. Liv. , xxxviii. , 16.
Cf. Paus. , Phoc. , xxiii. Cramer's Asia Minor, ii. , 79. Clinton, Fast.
Hell. in an.

"Sent from Bithynia's realms with shoeless feet. " Badham.

[338] _Laurumque momordit. _ So δαφνηφάγοι. The chewing of the bay, as
being sacred to Apollo, was supposed to convey divine inspiration.
Grang. Cf. Lycoph. , 6.

[339]

_Indulgentia. _ "Lo! the imperial eye
Looks round attentive on each rising bard,
For worth to praise, for genius to reward. " Gifford.

[340] _Croceæ. _ Because parchment is always yellow on the side where
the hair grew. Others think the parchment itself was dyed yellow. Cf.
Pers. , iii. , 10.

[341] _Veneris marito_, a burlesque phrase for "the fire. "

[342] _Tinea. _ Cf. Hor. , Ep. , I. , xx. , 12, "Tineas pasces taciturnus
inertes. "

[343] _Cellâ. _ So Ben Jonson:

"I that spend half my nights and half my days
Here in a cell, to get a dark pale face,
To come forth worth the ivy or the bays,
And in this age can hope no other grace. "

[344] _Junonis avem. _

"To praise and _only_ praise the high-wrought strain.
As boys the bird of Juno's glittering train. " Gifford.

[345] _Facunda et unda. _

"Till gray-haired, helpless, humbled genius see
Its fault too late, and curse Terpsichore. " Badham.

[346] _Comitum voces. _ Cf. xiii. , 32, "Vocalis sportula. "

[347] _Anabathra_, the seats rising one above another in the form of a
theatre. _Subsellia_, those in the body of the room. _Orchestra_, the
hired chairs in front of all, for his knightly guests. Holyday quaintly
says no patron cared

"What the orchestra cost raised for chief friends,
And chairs recarried when the reading ends. "

[348] _Laqueo. _

"And would we quit at length th' ambitious ill,
The noose of habit implicates us still. " Badham.

[349] _Vatem egregium. _ Cf. Hor. , i. , Sat. iv. , 43, "Ingenium cui
sit, cui mens divinior, atque os magna sonaturum, des nominis hujus
honorem. " How immeasurably finer of the two is Juvenal's description of
a poet!

"But he, the bard of every age and clime,
Of genius fruitful, and of soul sublime,
Who from the glowing mint of fancy pours
No spurious metal, fused from common ores,
But gold to matchless purity refined,
And stamp'd with all the godhead in his mind:
He whom I feel, but want the power to paint,
Must boast a soul impatient of restraint,
And free from every care--a soul that loves
The Muses' haunts, clear springs and shady groves. " Gifford.

Of this passage, Hodgson says, Gifford has drawn the prize in the
lottery of translation, all others must be blanks after it.

[350] _Evoe! _ Vid. Hor. , ii. , Od. xix. , 5. Cf. Milman's Life.

[351] _Feruntur. _

"Be hurried with resistless force along
By the two kindred powers of wine and song. " Gifford.

[352] _Duas. _

"Nor wrestlings with the world will Genius own,
Destined to strive with song, and song alone. " Badham.

[353] _Erinnys. _ The splendid passage in the seventh Æneid, 445,
_seq. _, "Talibus Alecto dictis exarsit in iras. At juveni oranti
subitus tremor occupat artus: Deriguere oculi: tot Erinnys sibilat
hydris, Tantaque se facies aperit. " Cf. Æn. , ii. , 602, _seq. _; xii. ,
326.

[354] _Atreus. _ Some take Atreus to be the person who lends the money.
Grangæus interprets it, "Qui dum componit tragædiam de Atreo, ut vitam
sustentare possit pignori opponit alveolos. "

"Who writes his Atreus, as his friends allege,
With half his household goods and cloak in pledge. " Badham.

[355] _Statius_ employed twelve years upon his Thebais. (Cf. xii. ,
811. ) It was not completed till _after_ the Dacian war, but was written
_before_ the 1st book of the Silvæ, the date of the 4th book of which
is known to be A. D. 95. We may therefore assume the date of the Thebais
to be about 94.

[356] _Vendat. _ Holyday quotes from Brodæus the price given to Terence
for his Eunuchus, viz. , eight sestertia, about sixty-five pounds.

[357] _Agave. _ Probably a pantomimic ballet on a tragic subject; for,
as Heinrich says, what had Paris, the mime, to do with a _new tragedy_?
These and the following lines are said to have been the cause of
Juvenal's banishment.

[358] _Semestri_ is said to refer to an honorary military commission,
conferred on favorites, even though not in the army, and called
"Semestris tribunatus militum. " It lasted for six months only, but
conferred the privilege of wearing the equestrian ring, with perhaps
others. It is alluded to in Pliny, iv. , Epist. 4, who begs of Sossius
the consul in behalf of a friend, "Hunc rogo semestri tribunatu
splendidiorem facias. " There are divers other interpretations, but
this appears the simplest and most probable. To confound it with the
"æstivum aurum" (i. , 28), is a palpable absurdity.

[359] _Vinum nescire. _ Cf. Hor. , ii. , Sat. iii. , 5, "At ipsis
Saturnalibus huc fugisti Sobrius. " Stat. , Sylv. , I. , vi. , 4, "Saturnus
mihi compede exsolutâ, et multo gravidus mero December. "

"Then all December's revelries refuse,
And give the festive moments to the Muse. " Gifford.

[360] _Acta legenti. _ Either the "notary public," or "keeper of the
public records," or the historian's reader, who collected facts for the
author, or "any one who read aloud the history itself. "

[361] _Russati. _ Cf. ad vi. , 589. So the charioteer of "the white" was
called Albatus. Lacerna, or Lacerta, was a charioteer in the reign of
Domitian, some say of Domitian himself.
One commentator takes Lacerna
to be "any soldier wearing a red cloak;" as Paludatus is "one wearing
the general's cloak. " Cf. Mart. , xiii. , Ep. 78, "Prasinus Porphyrion. "

[362] _Consedere. _ Cf. Ov. , Met. , xiii. , 1, "Consedere duces; et, vulgi
stante corona, Surgit ad hos clypei dominus septemplicis Ajax. " Cf. ad
xi. , 30.

[363] _Bubulco. _" Before some clod-pate judge thy vitals strain. "
Badham.

[364] _Palmæ. _ Cf. ad ix. , 85.

"So shall the verdant palm be duly tied
To the dark staircase where such powers reside. " Badham.

[365] _Afrorum Epimenia. _ Most probably alluding to the "monthly
rations of onions" allowed to African slaves, who were accustomed to
plenty of them in their own country (cf. Herod. , ii. , 125. Numb. , xi. ,
5), where they grew in great abundance. Martial, ix. , Ep. xlvi. , 11,
enumerates "bulbi" among the presents sent at the Saturnalia to the
causidicus Sabellus.

[366] _Lagenæ. _ Mart. , _u. s. _ "Five jars of meagre down-the-Tiber
wine. " Badham.

[367] _Aureus. _ About sixteen shillings English at this time.

[368] _Pragmaticorum. _ Cicero describes their occupation, de Orat. , i. ,
45, "Ut apud Græcos infimi homines, mercedula adducti, ministros se
præbent judiciis oratoribus ii qui apud illos πραγματικοὶ vocantur. "
Cf. c. 59. Quintil. , iii. , 6; xii. , 3. Mart. , xii. , Ep. 72. They appear
afterward to have been introduced at Rome, and are sometimes called
"Tabelliones. "

[369] _Licet. _ The Lex Cincia de Muneribus, as amended by Augustus,
forbade the receipt of any fees. A law of Nero fixed the fee at 100
aurei at most. Vid. Tac. , Ann. , xi. , 5 (Ruperti's note). Suet. , Ner. ,
17. Plin. , v. , Ep. iv. , 21.

[370] _Quadrijuges. _ It appears to have been an extraordinary fancy
with lawyers of this age to be represented in this manner; cf. Mart. ,
ix. , Ep. lxix. , 5, _seq. _; but the details of the picture have puzzled
the commentators. "Curvatum" is supposed to mean that "the spear
actually seems quivering in his hand," or that it is "bent with age,"
or that the _arm_ is "bent back," as if in the act of throwing. Cf.
Xen. , Anab. , V. , ii. , 12, διηγκυλωμένους. "_Luscâ_" may imply that the
statue imitated to the life the personal defect of Æmilius; or simply
the absence of the pupil (ὀμμάτων ἀχηνία), inseparable from statuary;
or that Æmilius is represented as closing one eye to take better aim.

"Lifts his poised javelin o'er the crowd below,
And from his blinking statue threats the blow. " Hodgson.

[371] Cf. Mart. , ix. , Ep. 60.

[372] _Stlataria. _ _Stlata_ is said to be an old form of _lata_, as
_stlis_ for _lis_, _stlocus_ for _locus_. Therefore Stlataria is the
same as the "Latus Clavus," according to some commentators; or a
"broad-beamed" merchant ship; and therefore means simply "imported. "
Others say it is a "piratical ship," such as the Illyrians used, and
the word is then taken to imply "deceitful. " Facciolati explains, it by
"peregrina et pretiosa: longè navi advecta. "

[373] _Crambe. _ The old Schol. quotes a proverb--δὶς κράμβε θάνατος,
Grangæus another, which forcibly expresses a schoolmaster's
drudgery--οἰ αὐτοὶ περὶ τῶν αὐτῶν τοῖς αὐτοῖς τὰ ἀυτά.

"Till, like hash'd cabbage, served for each repast,
The repetition kills the wretch at last. " Gifford.

[374] Arcadia was celebrated for its breed of asses. Cf. Pers. , Sat.
iii. , 9, "Arcadiæ pecuaria rudere credas. " Auson. , Epigr. 76, "Asinos
quoque rudere dicas, cum vis Arcadium fingere, Marce, pecus. "

[375] _Stipulare. _

"Get me his father but to hear his task
For one short week, I'll give you all you ask. " Bad.

[376] _Maritus. _

"The faithless husband and abandon'd wife,
And Æson coddled to new light and life. " Gifford.

[377] _Tessera. _ The poorer Romans received every month tickets,
which appear to have been transferable, entitling them to a certain
quantity of corn from the public granaries. These tesseræ or symbola
were made, Lubinus says, of wood or lead, and distributed by the
"Frumentorum Curatores. " In the latter days, bread thus distributed was
called "Panis Gradilis," quia gradibus distribuebatur. The Congiarium
consisted of wine, or oil only. The Donativum was only given to
soldiers. Several of these tickets of wood and lead are preserved in
the museum at Portici.

[378] _Scindens. _ "Præcepta ejus artis minutatim dividens. " Lubin.
On the principle, perhaps, that "Qui benè dividit benè docet. "
Britannicus, whom Heinrich follows, explains it by "deridet. " Theodorus
of Gadara was a professor of rhetoric in the reigns of Augustus and
Tiberius. Vid. Suet. , Tib. , 57. It was he who so well described
the character of the latter; calling him πήλον αἵματι πεφύρμενον.
Chrysogonus, in vi. , 74, is a singer, and Pollio, vi. , 387, a musician
(cf. Mart. , iv. , Ep. lxi. , 9); but, as Lubinus says, the persons
mentioned here are professors of rhetoric, and probably therefore not
the same.

[379] _Mundæ. _

"He splash his fav'rite mule in filthy roads!
With ample space at his command, to tire
The well-groom'd beast, with hoof unstain'd by mire. " Badham.

[380] _Algentem. _ They had dining-rooms facing different quarters,
according to the season of the year, with a southern aspect for the
winter, and an eastern for the summer. Cf. Plin. , ii. , Ep. 17. _Rapiat_
rather seems to imply the former case. So Badham--

"Courts the brief radiance of the winter's noon. "

"Algentem" favors the other view--

"Front the cool east, when now the averted sun
Through the mid ardors of his course has run. " Hodgson.

[381] _Lunam. _ Senators wore _black_ shoes of tanned leather: they
were a kind of short boot reaching to the middle of the leg (hence,
"Nigris medium impediit crus pellibus," Hor. , I. , Sat. vi. , 27), with
a crescent or the letter C in front, because the original number of
senators was a hundred. --_Aluta_, "steeped in alum," to soften the skin.

[382] _Ventidius Bassus_, son of a slave; first a carman, then a
muleteer; afterward made in one year prætor and consul. Being appointed
to command against the Parthians, he was allowed a triumph; having been
himself, in his youth, led as a captive in the triumphal procession of
Pompey's father. Cf. Val. Max. , vi. , 10.

[383] _Thrasymachus_ of Chalcedon, the pupil of Plato and Isocrates,
wrote a treatise on Rhetoric, and set up as a teacher of it at Athens;
but, meeting with no encouragement, shut up his school and hanged
himself.

[384] _Secundus Carrinas_ is said to have been driven by poverty from
Athens to Rome; and was banished by Caligula for a declamation against
tyrants. He is mentioned, Tac. , Ann. , xv. , 45.

[385] _Gelidas. _ "Cicutæ refrigeratoria vis: quos enecat incipiunt
algere ab extremitatibus corporis. " Plin. , xxv. , 13. Plat. , Phædo, fin.
Pers. , iv. , 1.

[386] _Dii Majorum_, etc.

"Shades of our sires! O sacred be your rest,
And lightly lie the turf upon your breast;
Flowers round your urns breathe sweets beyond compare,
And spring eternal bloom and flourish there!
Your honor'd tutors, now a slighted race,
And gave them all a parent's power and place! " Gifford.

[387] _Rufus_, according to the old Schol.