No More Learning

_

"Yes, suffer this! while something's left to pay
Your rising, hours before the dawn of day;
When e'en the lab'ring poor their slumbers take,
And not a weaver, not a smith's awake. " Gifford.

[392] _Cognitione Tribuni. _ Not a tribune of the people, but one of the
Tribuni Ærarii, to whom the cognizance of such complaints belonged.

[393] _Historias. _ Tiberius was exceedingly fond of propounding to
grammarians, a class of men whom he particularly affected (quod genus
hominum præcipuè appetebat), questions of this nature, to sound their
"notitia historiæ usque ad ineptias atque derisum. " Cf. Suet. , Tib. ,
70, 57.

[394] _Nutricem. _ The names of these two persons are said to have been
Casperia and Tisiphone.

[395] _Aurum. _ i. e. , 5 aurei, the highest reward allowed to be given.
The aureus, which varied in value, was at this time worth 25 denarii; a
little more than 16 shillings English. Cf. Mart. , x. , Ep. lxxiv. , 5.


SATIRE VIII.

What is the use of pedigrees? [396] What boots it, Ponticus, to be
accounted of an ancient line, and to display the painted faces[397]
of your ancestors, and the Æmiliani standing in their cars, and the
Curii diminished to one half their bulk, and Corvinus deficient of a
shoulder, and Galba that has lost his ears and nose[4]--what profit
is it to vaunt in your capacious genealogy of Corvinus, and in many
a collateral line[398] to trace dictators and masters of the horse
begrimed with smoke, if before the very faces of the Lepidi you lead an
evil life! To what purpose are the images of so many warriors, if the
dice-box rattles all night long in the presence of the Numantini:[399]
if you retire to rest at the rising of that star[400] at whose dawning
those generals set their standards and camps in motion? Why does
Fabius[401] plume himself on the Allobrogici and the "Great Altar," as
one born in Hercules' own household, if he is covetous, empty-headed,
and ever so much more effeminate than the soft lamb of Euganea. [402] If
with tender limbs made sleek by the pumice[403] of Catana he shames his
rugged sires, and, a purchaser of poison, disgraces his dishonored race
by his image that ought to be broken up. [404]

Though your long line of ancient statues adorn your ample halls
on every side, the sole and only real nobility is virtue. Be a
Paulus,[405] or Cossus, or Drusus, in moral character. Set _that_
before the images of your ancestors. Let that, when you are consul,
take precedence of the fasces themselves. What I claim from you first
is the noble qualities of the mind. If you deserve indeed to be
accounted a man of blameless integrity, and stanch love of justice,
both in word and deed, then I recognize the real nobleman. All hail,
Gætulicus! [406] or thou, Silanus,[407] or from whatever other blood
descended, a rare and illustrious citizen, thou fallest to the lot of
thy rejoicing country. Then we may exultingly shout out what the people
exclaim when Osiris is found. [408]

For who would call him noble that is unworthy of his race, and
distinguished only for his illustrious name? We call some one's
dwarf,[409] Atlas; a negro, swan; a diminutive and deformed wench,
Europa. Lazy curs scabbed[410] with inveterate mange, that lick the
edges of the lamp now dry, will get the name of Leopard, Tiger, Lion,
or whatever other beast there is on earth that roars with fiercer
throat. Therefore you will take care and begin to fear lest it is upon
the same principle you are a Creticus[411] or Camerinus.

Whom have I admonished in these words? To you my words are addressed,
Rubellius[412] Plautus! You are puffed up with your descent from the
Drusi, just as though you had yourself achieved something to deserve
being ennobled; and she that gave you birth should be of the brilliant
blood of Iulus, and not the drudge that weaves for hire beneath the
shelter of the windy rampart. [413] "You are the lower orders! " he says;
"the very dregs of our populace! Not a man of you could tell where
his father was born! But I am a Cecropid! " Long may you live! [414]
and long revel in the joys of such a descent! Yet from the lowest of
this common herd you will find one that is indeed an eloquent Roman.
It is he that usually pleads the cause of the ignorant noble. [415]
From the toga'd crowd will come one that can solve the knotty points
of law, and the enigmas of the statutes. He it is that in his prime
carves out his fortune with his sword, and goes to Euphrates, and
the legions that keep guard over the conquered Batavi. While you are
nothing but a Cecropid, and most like the shapeless pillar crowned
with Hermes' head. Since in no other point of difference have you the
advantage save in this--that his head is of marble,[416] and your image
is endowed with life! Tell me, descendant of the Teucri, who considers
dumb animals highly bred, unless strong and courageous? Surely it is on
this score we praise the fleet horse--to grace whose speed full many
a palm glows,[417] and Victory, in the circus hoarse with shouting,
stands exulting by. He is the steed of fame, from whatever pasture he
comes, whose speed is brilliantly before the others, and whose dust
is first on the plain. But the brood of Corytha, and Hirpinus' stock,
are put up for sale if victory sit but seldom on their yoke. In their
case no regard is had to their pedigree--their dead sires win them no
favor--they are forced to change their owners for paltry prices, and
draw wagons with galled withers, if slow of foot, and only fit to turn
Nepos'[418] mill. Therefore that we may admire _you_, and not _yours_,
first achieve some noble act[419] that I may inscribe on your statue's
base, besides those honors that we pay, and ever shall pay, to those to
whom you are indebted for all.

Enough has been said to the youth whom common report represents to us
as haughty and puffed up from his relationship to Nero. [420] For in
that rank of life the courtesies[421] of good breeding are commonly
rare enough. But you, Ponticus, I would not have _you_ valued for your
ancestors' renown; so as to contribute nothing yourself to deserve the
praise of posterity. It is wretched work building on another's fame;
lest the whole pile crumble into ruins when the pillars that held it up
are withdrawn. The vine that trails along the ground,[422] sighs for
its widowed elms in vain.

Prove yourself a good soldier, a faithful guardian, an incorruptible
judge. If ever you shall be summoned as a witness in a doubtful and
uncertain cause, though Phalaris himself command you to turn liar, and
dictate the perjuries with his bull placed before your eyes, deem it to
be the summit of impiety[423] to prefer existence to honor,[424] and
for the sake of life to sacrifice life's only end! He that deserves to
die _is_ dead; though he still sup on a hundred Gauran[425] oysters,
and plunge in a whole bath of the perfumes of Cosmus. [426]

When your long-expected province shall at length receive you for its
ruler, set a bound to your passion, put a curb on your avarice. Have
pity on our allies whom we have brought to poverty. You see the very
marrow drained from the empty bones of kings. Have respect to what
the laws prescribe, the senate enjoins. Remember what great rewards
await the good, with how just a stroke ruin lighted on Capito[427] and
Numitor, those pirates of the Cilicians, when the senate fulminated its
decrees against them. But what avails their condemnation, when Pansa
plunders you of all that Natta left? Look out for an auctioneer to sell
your tattered clothes, Chærippus, and then hold your tongue! It is
sheer madness to lose, when all is gone, even Charon's fee. [428]

There were not the same lamentations of yore, nor was the wound
inflicted on our allies by pillage as great as it is now, while they
were still flourishing, and but recently conquered. [429] Then every
house was full, and a huge pile of money stood heaped up, cloaks from
Sparta, purple robes from Cos, and along with pictures by Parrhasius,
and statues by Myro, the ivory of Phidias seemed instinct with
life;[430] and many a work from Polycletus' hand in every house;
few were the tables that could not show a cup of Mentor's chasing.
Then came Dolabella,[431] and then Antony, then the sacrilegious
Verres;[432] they brought home in their tall[433] ships the spoils they
dared not show, and more[434] triumphs from peace than were ever won
from war. Now our allies have but few yokes of oxen, a small stock of
brood-mares, and the patriarch[435] of the herd will be harried from
the pasture they have already taken possession of. Then the very Lares
themselves, if there is any statue worth looking at, if any little
shrine still holds its single god. For this, since it is the best they
have, is the highest prize they can seize upon.

You may perhaps despise the Rhodians unfit for war, and essenced
Corinth: and well you may! How can a resin-smeared[436] youth, and the
depilated legs of a whole nation, retaliate upon you. You must keep
clear of rugged Spain, the Gallic car,[437] and the Illyrian coast.
Spare too those reapers[438] that overstock the city, and give it
leisure for the circus[439] and the stage. Yet what rewards to repay so
atrocious a crime could you carry off from thence, since Marius[440]
has so lately plundered the impoverished Africans even of their very
girdles? [441]

You must be especially cautious lest a deep injury be inflicted on
those who are bold as well as wretched. Though you may strip them of
all the gold and silver they possess, you will yet leave them shield
and sword, and javelin and helm. Plundered of all, they yet have _arms_
to spare!

What I have just set forth is no opinion of my own. Believe that I
am reciting to you a leaf of the sibyl, that can not lie. If your
retinue are men of spotless life, if no favorite youth[442] barters
your judgments for gold, if your wife[443] is clear from all stain of
guilt, and does not prepare to go through the district courts,[444] and
all the towns of your province, ready, like a Celæno[445] with her
crooked talons, to swoop upon the gold--then you may, if you please,
reckon your descent from Picus; and if high-sounding names are your
fancy, place the whole army of Titans among your ancestors, or even
Prometheus[446] himself. Adopt a founder of your line from any book you
please. But if ambition and lust hurry you away headlong, if you break
your rods[447] on the bloody backs of the allies, if your delight is in
axes blunted by the victor worn out with using them--then the nobility
of your sires themselves begins to rise[448] in judgment against
you, and hold forth a torch to blaze upon your shameful deeds. [449]
Every act of moral turpitude incurs more glaring reprobation in exact
proportion to the rank of him that commits it. Why vaunt your pedigree
to me? you, that are wont to put your name to forged deeds in the very
temples[450] which your grandsire built, before your very fathers'
triumphal statues! or, an adulterer that dares not face the day, you
veil your brows concealed beneath a Santon[451] cowl. The bloated
Damasippus is whirled in his rapid car past the ashes and bones of
his ancestors--and with his own hands, yes! though consul! with his
own hands locks his wheel with the frequent drag-chain. [452] It is,
indeed, at night. But still the moon sees him! The stars strain on
him their attesting eyes. [453] When the period of his magistracy is
closed, Damasippus[454] will take whip in hand in the broad glare of
day, and never dread meeting his friend now grown old, and will be the
first to give him the coachman's salute, and untie the trusses and
pour the barley[455] before his weary steeds himself. Meantime, even
while according to Numa's ancient rites he sacrifices the woolly victim
and the stalwart bull before Jove's altar, he swears by Epona[456]
alone, and the faces daubed over the stinking stalls. But when he is
pleased to repeat his visits to the taverns open all night long, the
Syrophœnician, reeking with his assiduous perfume,[457] runs to meet
him (the Syrophœnician that dwells at the Idumæan[458] gate), with
all the studied courtesy of a host, he salutes him as "lord"[459] and
"king;" and Cyane, with gown tucked up, with her bottle for sale. One
who wishes to palliate his crimes will say to me, "Well; we did so too
when we were young! " Granted. But surely you left off, and did not
indulge in your folly beyond that period. Let what you basely dare be
ever brief! There are some faults that should be shorn away with our
first beard. Make all reasonable allowance for boys. But Damasippus
frequents those debauches of the bagnios, and the painted signs,[460]
when of ripe age for war, for guarding Armenia[461] and Syria's rivers,
and the Rhine or Danube. His time of life qualifies him to guard the
emperor's person. Send then to Ostia! [462] Cæsar--send! But look
for your general in some great tavern. You will find him reclining
with some common cut-throat; in a medley of sailors, and thieves,
and runaway slaves; among executioners and cheap coffin-makers,[463]
and the now silent drums of the priest of Cybele, lying drunk on his
back. [464] There there is equal liberty for all--cups in common--nor
different couch for any, or table set aloof from the herd. What
would you do, Ponticus, were it your lot to have a slave of such a
character? Why surely you would dispatch him to the Lucanian or Tuscan
bridewells. [465] But you, ye Trojugenæ! find excuses for yourselves,
and what would disgrace a cobbler[466] will be becoming in a Volesus
or Brutus!

What if we never produce examples so foul and shameful, that worse do
not yet remain behind! When all your wealth was squandered, Damasippus,
you let your voice for hire[467] to the stage,[468] to act the noisy
Phasma[469] of Catullus. Velox Lentulas acted Laureolus, and creditably
too. In my judgment he deserved crucifying in earnest. Nor yet can
you acquit the people themselves from blame. The brows of the people
are too hardened that sit[470] spectators of the buffooneries of the
patricians, listen to the Fabii with naked feet, and laugh at the
slaps on the faces of the Mamerci. What matters it at what price they
sell their lives: they sell them at no tyrant's compulsion,[471] «nor
hesitate[472] to do it even at the games of the prætor seated on
high. » Yet imagine the gladiator's sword[473] on one side, the stage
on the other. Which is the better alternative? Has any one so slavish
a dread of death as to become the jealous lover of Thymele,[474] the
colleague of the heavy Corinthus? Yet it is nothing to be wondered
at, if the emperor turn harper, that the nobleman should turn actor.
To crown all this, what is left but the amphitheatre? [475] And this
disgrace of the city you have as well--Gracchus[476] not fighting
equipped as a Mirmillo, with buckler or falchion (for he condemns--yes,
condemns and hates such an equipment). Nor does he conceal his face
beneath a helmet. See! he wields a trident. When he has cast without
effect the nets suspended from his poised right hand, he boldly lifts
his uncovered face to the spectators, and, easily to be recognized,
flees across the whole arena. We can not mistake the tunic,[477] since
the ribbon of gold reaches from his neck, and flutters in the breeze
from his high-peaked cap. Therefore the disgrace, which the Secutor
had to submit to, in being forced to fight with Gracchus, was worse
than any wound. Were the people allowed the uncontrolled exercise of
their votes, who could be found so abandoned as to hesitate to prefer
Seneca[478] to Nero? For whose punishment there should have been
prepared not a single ape[479] only, or one snake or sack. [480] "His
crime is matched by that of Orestes! "[481] But it is the motive cause
that gives the quality to the act. Since he, at the instigation of the
gods themselves, was the avenger of his father butchered in his cups.
But he neither imbrued his hands in Electra's blood, or that of his
Spartan wife; he mixed no aconite for his relations. Orestes never sang
on the stage; he never wrote "Troïcs. " What, blacker crime was there
for Virginius'[482] arms to avenge, or Galba leagued with Vindex? In
all his tyranny, cruel and bloody as it was, what exploit did Nero[483]
achieve? These are the works, these the accomplishments of a high-born
prince--delighting to prostitute[484] his rank by disgraceful dancing
on a foreign stage, and earn the parsley of the Grecian crown. Array
the statues of your ancestors in the trophies of your voice. At
Domitius'[485] feet lay the long train of Thyestes, or Antigone, or
Menalippe's mask, and hang your harp[486] on the colossus of marble.

What could any one find more noble than thy birth, Catiline, or
thine, Cethegus! Yet ye prepared arms to be used by night, and flames
for our houses and temples, as though ye had been the sons of the
Braccati,[487] or descendants of the Senones. Attempting what one would
be justified in punishing by the pitched shirt. [488] But the consul is
on the watch[489] and restrains your bands. He whom you sneer at as
a novus[490] homo from Arpinum, of humble birth, and but lately made
a municipal knight at Rome, disposes every where his armed guards to
protect the terrified people, and exerts himself in every quarter.
Therefore the peaceful toga, within the walls, bestowed on him such
honors and renown as not even Octavius bore away from Leucas[491]
or the plains of Thessaly, with sword reeking with unintermitted
slaughter. But Rome owned him for a parent. Rome, when unfettered,[492]
hailed Cicero as father of his father-land.

Another native of Arpinum was wont to ask for his wages when wearied
with another's plow on the Volscian hills. After that, he had the
knotted vine-stick[493] broken about his head, if he lazily fortified
the camp with sluggard axe. Yet _he_ braved the Cimbri, and the
greatest perils of the state, and alone protected the city in her
alarm. And therefore when the ravens, that had never lighted on bigger
carcasses,[494] flocked to the slaughtered heaps of Cimbrians slain,
his nobly-born colleague is honored with a laurel inferior to his. [495]

The souls of the Decii were plebeian, their very names plebeian. Yet
these are deemed by the infernal deities and mother Earth a fair
equivalent for the whole legions, and all the forces of the allies, and
all the flower of Latium. For the Decii[496] were more highly valued by
_them_ than all they died to save!

It was one born from a slave[497] that won the robe and diadem and
fasces of Quirinus, that last of good kings! They that were for
loosening the bolts of the gates betrayed to the exiled tyrants, were
the sons of the consul himself! men from whom we might have looked for
some glorious achievement in behalf of liberty when in peril; some act
that Mucius' self, or Cocles, might admire; and the maiden that swam
across[498] the Tiber, then the limit of our empire. He that divulged
to the fathers the secret treachery was a slave,[499] afterward to
be mourned for by all the Roman matrons: while they suffer the
well-earned punishment of the scourge, and the axe,[500] then first
used by Rome since she became republican.

I had rather that Thersites[501] were your sire, provided you resembled
Æacides and could wield the arms of Vulcan, than that Achilles should
beget you to be a match to Thersites.

And yet, however far you go back, however far you trace your name, you
do but derive your descent from the infamous sanctuary. [502] That first
of your ancestors, whoever he was, was either a shepherd, or else--what
I would rather not mention!

FOOTNOTES:

[396] _Stemmata. _ "The lines connecting the descents in a pedigree,"
from the garlands of flowers round the Imagines set up in the halls
(v. , 19) and porticoes (vi. , 163) of the nobiles; which were joined to
one another by festoons, so that the descent from father to son could
be readily traced. Cf. Pers. , iii. , 28. "Stemmate quod Tusco ramum
millesime ducis. " Of Ponticus nothing is known.

[397] _Vultus. _ Because these Imagines were simply busts made of wax,
colored.

[398] _Virgâ. _

"What boots it on the lineal tree to trace
Through many a branch the founders of our race. " Gifford.

[399] _Numantinos. _ Scipio Africanus the Younger got the name of
Numantinus from Numantia, which he destroyed as well as Carthage.

[400] _Ortu.
_

"Just at the hour when those whose name you boast
Broke up the camp, and march'd th' embattled host. " Hodgson.

[401] _Fabius_, the founder of the Fabian gens, was said to have been
a son of Hercules by Vinduna, daughter of Evander, and by virtue of
this descent the Fabii claimed the exclusive right of ministering at
the altar consecrated by Evander to Hercules. It stood in the Forum
Boarium, near the Circus Flaminius, and was called Ara Maxima. Cf.
Ovid, Fast. , i. , 581, "Constituitque sibi quæ Maxima dicitur, Aram,
Hic ubi pars urbis de bove nomen habet. " Cf. Virg. , Æn. , viii. , 271,
"Hanc aram luco statuit quæ Maxima semper dicetur nobis, et erit quæ
Maxima semper. " Quintus Fabius Maximus Æmilianus, the consul in the
year B. C. 121, defeated the Allobroges at the junction of the Isère
and the Rhone, and killed 130,000: for which he received the name of
Allobrogicus. Cf. Liv. , Ep. 61. Vell. , ii. , 16.

[402] _Euganea_, a district of Northern Italy, on the confines of the
Venetian territory.

[403] _Pumice. _ The pumice found at Catana, now Catania, at the foot of
Mount Ætna, was used to rub the body with to make it smooth (cf. ix. ,
95, "Inimicus pumice lævis. " Plin. , xxxvi. , 21. Ovid, A. Am. , i. , 506,
"Nec tua mordaci pumice crura teras"), after the hairs had been got rid
of by the resin. Vid. inf. 114. --_Traducit. _ Vid. ad xi. , 31.

[404] _Frangendâ. _ The busts of great criminals were broken by
the common executioner. Cf. x. , 58, "Descendunt statuæ restemque
sequuntur. " Tac. , Ann. , vi. , 2, "Atroces sententiæ dicebantur in
effigies. " Cf. Ruperti, ad Tac. , Ann. , ii. , 32. Suet. , Domit. , 23.

"He blast his wretched kindred with a bust,
For public justice to reduce to dust. " Gifford.

[405] _Paulus. _ He mentions (Sat. vii. , 143) two lawyers, bearing the
names of Paulus and Cossus, who were apparently no honor to their great
names. (For Cossus, cf. inf. _Gætulice_. )

[406] _Gætulice. _ Cn. Cornelius Lentulus Cossus received the name of
Gætulicus from his victory over the Gætuli, "Auspice Augusto," in his
consulship with L. Calpurnius Piso Augur. B. C. 1. Vid. Clinton, F. H. ,
in an. Flor. , iv. , 12.

[407] _Silanus. _ The son-in-law of the Emperor Claudius, who, as
Tacitus says (Ann. , xvi. , 7), "Claritudine generis, and modestâ juventâ
præcellebat. " Cf. Ann. , xii. Suet. , Claud. , 27.

"Hail from whatever stock you draw your birth,
The son of Cossus, or the son of earth. " Gifford.

[408] _Osiri invento. _ Vid. ad vi. , 533.

[409] _Nanum cujusdam. _ There is probably an allusion here to
Domitian's fondness for these deformities. Cf. Domit. , iv. , "Per
omne spectaculum ante pedes ei stabat puerulus coccinatus, _parvo
portentosoque capite_, cum quo plurimum fabulabatur. " Cf. Stat. , Sylv. ,
i. ; vi. , 57, _seq. _

[410] _Scabie. _

"That mangy larcenist of casual spoil,
From lamps extinct that licks the fetid oil. " Badham.

[411] _Creticus. _ Q. Metellus had this surname from his conquest of
Crete, B. C. 67. Vell. Pat. , ii. , 34. Flor. , iii. , 7. Cf. ii. , 78,
"Cretice pelluces. " P. Sulpicius Camerinus was one of the triumvirs
sent to Athens for Solon's laws. Cf. vii. , 90. Liv. , iii. , 33.
Camerinus was a name of the Sulpician gens, and seems to have been
derived from the conquest of Cameria in Latium. (Cf. Facciol. ) Liv. ,
i. , 38. The name of Creticus was actually given in derision to M.
Antonius, father of the triumvir, for his disastrous failure in Crete.
Vid. Plut. in Ant.

[412] _Rubellius_ Blandus was the father, Plautus the son. Both
readings are found here. Of the latter Tacitus says (Ann. , xiv. , 22),
"Omnium ore Rubellius Plautus celebrabatur, _cui nobilitas per matrem
ex Julia familiâ_. " His mother Julia was daughter of Drusus, the son of
Livia, wife of Augustus. Germanicus, his mother's brother, was father
of Agrippina, mother of Nero: hence, inf. 72, "inflatum plenumque
Nerone propinquo. " Cf. Virg. , Æn. , i. , 288, "Julius a magno demissum
nomen Julo. "

[413] _Aggere. _ Cf. ad vi. , 588.

[414] _Vivas. _

"Long may'st thou taste the secret sweets that spring
In breasts affined to so remote a king. " Gifford.

[415] _Nobilis indocti. _

"Who help the well-born dolt in many a strait,
And plead the cause of the unletter'd great. " Badham.

[416] _Marmoreum. _

"For 'tis no bar to kindred, that thy block
Is form'd of flesh and blood, and theirs of rock. " Gifford.

[417] _Fervet. _ "Frequenter celebratur. " Lubin. Some commentators
interpret it of the eager clapping of the hands of the spectators:
others, of the prize of victory.

"The palm of oft-repeated victories. " Hodgson.

"Whom many a well-earned palm and trophy grace. " Gifford.

"Whose easy triumph and transcendent speed,
Palm after palm proclaim. " Badham.

[418] _Nepos_, the name of a noted miller at Rome.

[419] _Aliquid. _ "Sometimes great. " So i. , 74, "Si vis esse _aliquis_. "
Hall imitates this beautifully:

"Brag of thy father's faults, they are thine own;
Brag of his lands, if they are not foregone:
Brag of thine own good deeds; for they are thine,
More than his life, or lands, or golden line. "

[420] _Nerone. _ Cf. ad l. 39.

[421] _Sensus communis. _ There are few phrases in Juvenal on which the
commentators are more divided. Some interpret it exactly in the sense
of the English words "common sense. " Others, "fellow-feeling, sympathy
with mankind at large. " Browne takes it to be "tact. " Cf. Hor. , i.