Gerlach considers
these words to have been addressed either to Valerius Soranus, or
more probably to Ælius Stilo, whose judgment in literary matters was
so highly thought of that even Q.
these words to have been addressed either to Valerius Soranus, or
more probably to Ælius Stilo, whose judgment in literary matters was
so highly thought of that even Q.
Satires
because he dragged Cassandra from
the statue[1867]
63 . . . Eager to return home, we almost infringed our king's
command[1868]
64 . . . Let something, at all events, which I have attempted, turn
out, some way. . . .
65 . . . Thither our eyes of themselves entice us, and hope hurries
our mind to the spot.
66 . . . he thinks by clothes to ward off cold and shivering.
67 . . . unless you write of monsters and snakes with wings and
feathers. [1869]
68 . . . for I grow contemptuous and am weary of Agamemnon--
69 . . . he is tormented with hunger, cold, dirt, unbathed
filthiness, neglect.
70 . . . a sieve, a colander, a lantern . . . a thread for the
web. [1870]
71 May the gods suggest better things, and avert madness from you
72 . . . a dry, wretched, miserable stock he calls an elder--
73 . . . be more learned than the rest; abandon, or change to some
other direction, those faults which have become sacred with you.
74 It were better to get gold from the fire or food out of the mud
with our teeth.
75 Let him chop wood, perform his task-work, sweep the house, be
beaten.
76 He alone warded off Vulcan's violence from the fleet. . . .
77 Therefore, they think all will escape sickness. . . .
78 I therefore dispose, for money, of that which costs me dearer.
FOOTNOTES:
[1831] _Producunt_, i. e. , "instituunt," Nonius: vel "gignunt," Plaut. ,
Rud. , IV. , iv. , 129. Pers. , vi. , 18, "Geminos Horoscope varo producis
genio. " Juv. , viii. , 271, "Quam te Thersitæ similem producat Achilles. "
Plaut. , As. , III. , i. , 40. Ter. , Ad. , III. , ii. , 16. Juv. , xiv. , 228.
This, and the 3d, 4th, and 5th Fragments refer to the miseries of
married life.
[1832] _Mutires_, "to grumble, mutter. " Plaut. , Amph. , I. , i. , 228,
"Etiam muttis? jam tacebo. "
[1833] The Tricorii were a people of Gallia Narbonensis, on the
banks of the Druentia, now Durance, near Briançon, bordering
on the Allobroges and Vocontii. Hannibal marched through their
territory, after leaving the Arar. Cf. Plin. , ii. , 4. Liv. , xxi. , 31.
_Versipellis. _ Cf. Plaut. , Amph. , Prol. , 123, "Ita versipellem se facit
quando lubet. "
[1834] Van Heusde's interpretation is followed, which seems the most
obvious one. Gerlach takes the contrary view, and says, these very
words prove that Lucilius could not have been a scriptuarius or
decumanus. Lucilius means, "he would not change his present condition
and pursuits, even for a very lucrative post in Asia. "
[1835] _Depeculassere_ and _deargentassere_, are examples of the
old form of a future infinitive ending in _assere_. Cf. Plaut. ,
Amphit. , I. , i. , 56, "Sese igitur summâ vi virisque eorum oppidum
_expugnassere_. " _Decalauticare_, "to deprive of one's hood," from
calautica, "a covering for the head, used by women, and falling over
the shoulders. " It seems that Cicero charged Clodius with wearing one,
when he was detected in Cæsar's house. "Tunc cum vincirentur pedes
fasceis, cum calauticam capiti accommodares. " Cic. in Clod. ap. Non. ,
in voc. _Decalicasse_, is another reading.
[1836] _Defrudet. _ Cf. Plaut. , Asin. , I. , i. , 77, "Me defrudato.
Defrudem te ego? Age, sis, tu sine pennis vola! "
[1837] Cf. Shaksp. , Measure for Measure, act iii. , sc. 1, "Reason thus
with life," etc.
[1838] Read "causam . . . collocaveris. "
[1839] Hopelessly corrupt. Gerlach says very justly, "fortasse rectius
ejusmodi loca intacta relinquuntur. "
[1840] _Conficere_, i. e. , "Colligere. " Nonius, in voc.
[1841] _Repedasse. _ Cf. Lucret. , vi. , 1279, "Perturbatus enim totus
repedabat. " Pacuv. ap. Fest. , in voc. , "Paulum repeda gnate à vestibulo
gradum. "
[1842] 19 and 20. Cf. Hor. , i. , Epist. xiv. , 18, "Non eadem miramur:
eô disconvenit inter meque et te: nam quæ deserta et inhospita tesqua
Credis, amœna vocat mecum qui sentit, et odit quæ tu pulchra putas. "
Cf. 23.
[1843] Describes the alternatives which the man worn out by conjugal
miseries proposes to himself.
[1844] Hor. , i. , Epist. xiv. , 11,. "Cui placet alterius sua nimirum est
odio sors. Stultus uterque locum immeritum causatur iniquè. In culpâ
est animus qui se non _effugit_ unquam. "
[1845] Gerlach's emendation is followed. Nonius explains "viriatum" by
"magnarum virium. " Freund explains it, "adorned with bracelets," from
an old word, "viriæ," a kind of armlet or bracelet.
[1846] This refers, according to Gerlach, to Aulus Postumius Albinus,
consul B. C. 151, who wrote a Roman history in Greek. Cic. , Brut. , 21.
Fr. inc. 1.
[1847] _Folliculus_, properly the "pod, shell, or follicle" of a grain
or seed, is here put for the human flesh or body, which serves as the
husk to enshrine the principle of vitality.
[1848] _Munifici. _ Plaut. , Amph. , II. , ii. , 222, "Tibi morigera, atque
ut munifica sim bonis, prosim probis. "
[1849] _Idiota. _ Cf. Cic. , Ver. , ii. , 4; Sest. , 51.
Gerlach considers
these words to have been addressed either to Valerius Soranus, or
more probably to Ælius Stilo, whose judgment in literary matters was
so highly thought of that even Q. Servilius Cæpio, C. Aurelius Cotta,
and Q. Pompeius Rufus used his assistance in the composition of their
speeches. Cf. ad lib. i. , Fr. 16.
[1850] Lipsius supposes this Fragment to refer to the Roman custom of
sounding a trumpet in the most frequented parts of the city, when the
day of trial of any citizen, on a capital charge, was proclaimed.
[1851] This Fragment, as well as 37 and 44, Gerlach supposes to have
been addressed to Ælius Stilo.
[1852] _Vel vitæ vel gaudî dator. _ Gerlach's last conjecture.
[1853] _Bulga. _ Cf. lib. ii. , Fr. 16; vi. , Fr. i.
[1854] _Irrigarier. _ Cf. Plaut. , Pœn. , III. , iii. , 86, "Vetustate vino
edentulo ætatem irriges. " Virg. , Æn. , iii. , 511, "Fessos sopor irrigat
artus. "
[1855] _Capital. _ Cf. Plaut. , Trin. , IV. , iii. , 81, "Capitali
periculo. " Rud. , II. , iii. , 19. Mostell. , II. , ii. , 44, "Capitalis ædes
facta est. "
[1856] _Difflo. _ "Flatu disturbo. " Non. Cf. Plaut. Mil. Gl. , I. , i. ,
17, "Quoius tu legiones difflavisti spiritu, quasi ventus folia aut
paniculam tectoriam. " Gerlach thinks this refers to some description
of the return of the Greeks from the Trojan war, and is quoted by
Lucilius to show how entirely his style of composition differs from
such subjects.
[1857] _Nundinæ. _ The market days were every ninth day, when the
country people came into Rome to sell their goods. These days
were _nefasti_. "Ne si liceret cum populo agi, interpellarentur
nundinatores. " Fest.
[1858] _Lira_ is properly "the ridge thrown up between two furrows. "
Hence _lirare_, "to plow or harrow in the seed. " [In Juv. , Sat. xiii. ,
65, some read "_liranti_ sub aratro. "] _Delirare_, therefore, is "to go
out of the right furrow. " Hence, "to deviate from the straight course,
to go wrong, or deranged. " Hor. , i. , Ep. xii. , 20, "Quidquid delirant
reges plectuntur Achivi. "
[1859] _Spectatam. _ Ov. , Trist. , I. , v. , 25, "Ut fulvum spectatur in
ignibus aurum tempore sic duro est inspicienda fides. " Cic. , Off. , ii. ,
11, "Qui pecuniâ non movetur hunc igni spectatum arbitrantur. "
[1860] _Siccare_, is properly applied "to healing up a running sore. "
Then generally for hardening and making healthy the skin or body.
[1861] _Ignobilitas. _ Cic. , Tusc. , v. , 36, "Num igitur _ignobilitas_
aut humilitas . . . sapientem beatum esse prohibebit? "
[1862] _Vescum. _ Ovid explains the word. Fast. , iii. , 445, "Vegrandia
farra coloni. Quæ male creverunt, vescaque parva vocant. " Cf. Virg. ,
Georg. , iii. , 175, "Et vescas salicum frondes. " Lucret. , i. , 327,
"Vesco sale saxa peresa. " Nonius explains it by "minutus, obscurus. "
Gerlach omits the last words of the Fragment.
[1863] Gerlach supposes Popilius Lænas to be meant, who incurred great
odium from the manner in which he conducted the inquiry into the death
of Tiberius Gracchus.
[1864] Cf. Plaut. , Trin. , II. iv. , 138, "Nam fulguritæ sunt hic alternæ
arbores. "
[1865] _Combibo. _ "A pot companion. " Cic. , Fam. , ix. , 25, "In
controversiis quas habeo cum tuis combibonibus Epicureis. "
[1866] For the old reading _flaci tam_, Dusa reads _flaccidam_;
Gerlach, _fædatam_.
[1867] Nonius explains _prosferari_ by _impetrari_, which is very
doubtful. Scaliger proposes "Nec mihi oilei proferatur Ajax. " Gerlach,
"Agamemnoni præferatur Ajax," which would connect this Fragment with
Fr. 68 and 40, and the following.
[1868] _Domuitio_ (i. e. , Domum itio, formed like circuitio). This,
probably, also refers to the return of the Greeks from Troy. _Imperium
imminuimus. _ Cf. Plaut. , Asin. , III. , i. , 6, "Hoccine est pietatem
colere _imperium_ matris _minuere_? "
[1869] This is also an allusion to tragic poets, whose subjects are
quite foreign to his taste. Cf. Fr. 40. The allusion is of course to
such plays as the Medea of Euripides (the Amphitryo of Plautus, etc. ).
[1870] It is not impossible that the reference may be to the custom
prescribed by the laws of the xii. tables to persons searching for
stolen goods. The person so searching either wore himself (or was
accompanied by a servus publicus wearing) a small girdle round the
abdomen, called Licium; this was done to prevent any suspicion of
himself introducing into the house that which he alleged to have been
stolen from him; and that it might not be abused into a privilege of
entering the women's apartments for the purposes of intrigue, he was
obliged to carry before his face a Lanx perforated with small holes
(hence incerniculum), that he might not be recognized by the women,
whose apartments the law allowed him to search. This process was
called, in law, per lancem et licium furta concipere. It is alluded to
by Aristoph. , Nub. , 485. Cf. Schol. in loc. Fest. in voc. Lanx. Plato,
Leg. , xii. , calls licium χιτωνίσκον.
BOOK XXVII.
ARGUMENT.
The Fragments of this book are of too diversified a character to
form a correct conclusion with regard to the general subject.
Corpet admits the difficulty, but considers that it contained
a criticism upon the philosophic opinions of the day. Mercer
thinks that the principal portion was occupied by a matrimonial
discussion, in which the lady had decidedly the better of the
argument; who being sprung from a more noble descent, and being
possessed of a more ample fortune, considered that the control
of the household pertained to herself, as a matter of right.
These conjectures, however satisfactory as far as they go,
will not sufficiently account for the greater portion of the
Fragments. Gerlach supposes that the book contained a defense of
the poet's own pursuits and habits of life against the attacks
of calumniators. The book begins, therefore, with a conversation
between the poet and a friend, when the various points at issue
are brought forward and refuted. The chief of these are the
study of poetry; which, as Lucilius maintains, conduces greatly
to the well-being of the state. He then defends his choice of
the particular branch of poetry which he has adopted, and proves
that his satiric view is to be attributed to no arrogance,
self-sufficiency, or malevolence, or envy toward his fellow-men;
that he himself is possessed of a certain evenness of temper,
neither elated by prosperity nor depressed by adversity. The
result of this temperament is an openness of heart, and frankness
of disposition, which leads him to form friendships rapidly,
without that cautious circumspection which commonly attends
men of less equable tone of mind. This peculiar disposition of
mind is also one which, extending to itself no indulgence for
any frailty, is but little inclined to overlook the weaknesses
of others, but impartially corrects the failings of itself and
others: whereas the more common character of mankind is to be
indulgently blind to those faults to which they are themselves
inclined, and severely critical of the imperfections of their
neighbors. While others, again, make it their whole study
hypocritically to conceal their own defects. He concludes with
a sentiment which Horace has borrowed and enlarged upon, that
whereas no perfection can be expected in this life, he is to be
accounted to have arrived most nearly at the wished-for goal, who
is disfigured by the fewest defects; and since all human affairs
are at the best but frail and fleeting, it is a characteristic of
wisdom out of evils to choose the least.
1 Moreover it is inherent in good men, whether they are angry
or kindly disposed, to remain long in the same way of
thinking. [1871]
2 The cook cares not that the tail be very large, provided it be
fat. So friends look to a man's mind; parasites, to his riches.
3 He acts in the same way as those who secretly convey away from
the harbor an article not entered, that they may not have to
pay custom-dues. [1872]
4 Lucilius greets the people in such elaborate verses as he can;
and all this too zealously and assiduously. [1873]
5 . . . do you think Lucilius will be content, when I have wearied
myself out, and used all my best endeavors. . . .
6 . . . for such a return as this indeed they foreboded, and to
offend in no other thing.
7 . . . those, too, who have approached the door they throw out of
the windows on their head--
8 . . . that I envy no one, nor often cast a jealous eye on their
luxuries[1874]
9 . .
the statue[1867]
63 . . . Eager to return home, we almost infringed our king's
command[1868]
64 . . . Let something, at all events, which I have attempted, turn
out, some way. . . .
65 . . . Thither our eyes of themselves entice us, and hope hurries
our mind to the spot.
66 . . . he thinks by clothes to ward off cold and shivering.
67 . . . unless you write of monsters and snakes with wings and
feathers. [1869]
68 . . . for I grow contemptuous and am weary of Agamemnon--
69 . . . he is tormented with hunger, cold, dirt, unbathed
filthiness, neglect.
70 . . . a sieve, a colander, a lantern . . . a thread for the
web. [1870]
71 May the gods suggest better things, and avert madness from you
72 . . . a dry, wretched, miserable stock he calls an elder--
73 . . . be more learned than the rest; abandon, or change to some
other direction, those faults which have become sacred with you.
74 It were better to get gold from the fire or food out of the mud
with our teeth.
75 Let him chop wood, perform his task-work, sweep the house, be
beaten.
76 He alone warded off Vulcan's violence from the fleet. . . .
77 Therefore, they think all will escape sickness. . . .
78 I therefore dispose, for money, of that which costs me dearer.
FOOTNOTES:
[1831] _Producunt_, i. e. , "instituunt," Nonius: vel "gignunt," Plaut. ,
Rud. , IV. , iv. , 129. Pers. , vi. , 18, "Geminos Horoscope varo producis
genio. " Juv. , viii. , 271, "Quam te Thersitæ similem producat Achilles. "
Plaut. , As. , III. , i. , 40. Ter. , Ad. , III. , ii. , 16. Juv. , xiv. , 228.
This, and the 3d, 4th, and 5th Fragments refer to the miseries of
married life.
[1832] _Mutires_, "to grumble, mutter. " Plaut. , Amph. , I. , i. , 228,
"Etiam muttis? jam tacebo. "
[1833] The Tricorii were a people of Gallia Narbonensis, on the
banks of the Druentia, now Durance, near Briançon, bordering
on the Allobroges and Vocontii. Hannibal marched through their
territory, after leaving the Arar. Cf. Plin. , ii. , 4. Liv. , xxi. , 31.
_Versipellis. _ Cf. Plaut. , Amph. , Prol. , 123, "Ita versipellem se facit
quando lubet. "
[1834] Van Heusde's interpretation is followed, which seems the most
obvious one. Gerlach takes the contrary view, and says, these very
words prove that Lucilius could not have been a scriptuarius or
decumanus. Lucilius means, "he would not change his present condition
and pursuits, even for a very lucrative post in Asia. "
[1835] _Depeculassere_ and _deargentassere_, are examples of the
old form of a future infinitive ending in _assere_. Cf. Plaut. ,
Amphit. , I. , i. , 56, "Sese igitur summâ vi virisque eorum oppidum
_expugnassere_. " _Decalauticare_, "to deprive of one's hood," from
calautica, "a covering for the head, used by women, and falling over
the shoulders. " It seems that Cicero charged Clodius with wearing one,
when he was detected in Cæsar's house. "Tunc cum vincirentur pedes
fasceis, cum calauticam capiti accommodares. " Cic. in Clod. ap. Non. ,
in voc. _Decalicasse_, is another reading.
[1836] _Defrudet. _ Cf. Plaut. , Asin. , I. , i. , 77, "Me defrudato.
Defrudem te ego? Age, sis, tu sine pennis vola! "
[1837] Cf. Shaksp. , Measure for Measure, act iii. , sc. 1, "Reason thus
with life," etc.
[1838] Read "causam . . . collocaveris. "
[1839] Hopelessly corrupt. Gerlach says very justly, "fortasse rectius
ejusmodi loca intacta relinquuntur. "
[1840] _Conficere_, i. e. , "Colligere. " Nonius, in voc.
[1841] _Repedasse. _ Cf. Lucret. , vi. , 1279, "Perturbatus enim totus
repedabat. " Pacuv. ap. Fest. , in voc. , "Paulum repeda gnate à vestibulo
gradum. "
[1842] 19 and 20. Cf. Hor. , i. , Epist. xiv. , 18, "Non eadem miramur:
eô disconvenit inter meque et te: nam quæ deserta et inhospita tesqua
Credis, amœna vocat mecum qui sentit, et odit quæ tu pulchra putas. "
Cf. 23.
[1843] Describes the alternatives which the man worn out by conjugal
miseries proposes to himself.
[1844] Hor. , i. , Epist. xiv. , 11,. "Cui placet alterius sua nimirum est
odio sors. Stultus uterque locum immeritum causatur iniquè. In culpâ
est animus qui se non _effugit_ unquam. "
[1845] Gerlach's emendation is followed. Nonius explains "viriatum" by
"magnarum virium. " Freund explains it, "adorned with bracelets," from
an old word, "viriæ," a kind of armlet or bracelet.
[1846] This refers, according to Gerlach, to Aulus Postumius Albinus,
consul B. C. 151, who wrote a Roman history in Greek. Cic. , Brut. , 21.
Fr. inc. 1.
[1847] _Folliculus_, properly the "pod, shell, or follicle" of a grain
or seed, is here put for the human flesh or body, which serves as the
husk to enshrine the principle of vitality.
[1848] _Munifici. _ Plaut. , Amph. , II. , ii. , 222, "Tibi morigera, atque
ut munifica sim bonis, prosim probis. "
[1849] _Idiota. _ Cf. Cic. , Ver. , ii. , 4; Sest. , 51.
Gerlach considers
these words to have been addressed either to Valerius Soranus, or
more probably to Ælius Stilo, whose judgment in literary matters was
so highly thought of that even Q. Servilius Cæpio, C. Aurelius Cotta,
and Q. Pompeius Rufus used his assistance in the composition of their
speeches. Cf. ad lib. i. , Fr. 16.
[1850] Lipsius supposes this Fragment to refer to the Roman custom of
sounding a trumpet in the most frequented parts of the city, when the
day of trial of any citizen, on a capital charge, was proclaimed.
[1851] This Fragment, as well as 37 and 44, Gerlach supposes to have
been addressed to Ælius Stilo.
[1852] _Vel vitæ vel gaudî dator. _ Gerlach's last conjecture.
[1853] _Bulga. _ Cf. lib. ii. , Fr. 16; vi. , Fr. i.
[1854] _Irrigarier. _ Cf. Plaut. , Pœn. , III. , iii. , 86, "Vetustate vino
edentulo ætatem irriges. " Virg. , Æn. , iii. , 511, "Fessos sopor irrigat
artus. "
[1855] _Capital. _ Cf. Plaut. , Trin. , IV. , iii. , 81, "Capitali
periculo. " Rud. , II. , iii. , 19. Mostell. , II. , ii. , 44, "Capitalis ædes
facta est. "
[1856] _Difflo. _ "Flatu disturbo. " Non. Cf. Plaut. Mil. Gl. , I. , i. ,
17, "Quoius tu legiones difflavisti spiritu, quasi ventus folia aut
paniculam tectoriam. " Gerlach thinks this refers to some description
of the return of the Greeks from the Trojan war, and is quoted by
Lucilius to show how entirely his style of composition differs from
such subjects.
[1857] _Nundinæ. _ The market days were every ninth day, when the
country people came into Rome to sell their goods. These days
were _nefasti_. "Ne si liceret cum populo agi, interpellarentur
nundinatores. " Fest.
[1858] _Lira_ is properly "the ridge thrown up between two furrows. "
Hence _lirare_, "to plow or harrow in the seed. " [In Juv. , Sat. xiii. ,
65, some read "_liranti_ sub aratro. "] _Delirare_, therefore, is "to go
out of the right furrow. " Hence, "to deviate from the straight course,
to go wrong, or deranged. " Hor. , i. , Ep. xii. , 20, "Quidquid delirant
reges plectuntur Achivi. "
[1859] _Spectatam. _ Ov. , Trist. , I. , v. , 25, "Ut fulvum spectatur in
ignibus aurum tempore sic duro est inspicienda fides. " Cic. , Off. , ii. ,
11, "Qui pecuniâ non movetur hunc igni spectatum arbitrantur. "
[1860] _Siccare_, is properly applied "to healing up a running sore. "
Then generally for hardening and making healthy the skin or body.
[1861] _Ignobilitas. _ Cic. , Tusc. , v. , 36, "Num igitur _ignobilitas_
aut humilitas . . . sapientem beatum esse prohibebit? "
[1862] _Vescum. _ Ovid explains the word. Fast. , iii. , 445, "Vegrandia
farra coloni. Quæ male creverunt, vescaque parva vocant. " Cf. Virg. ,
Georg. , iii. , 175, "Et vescas salicum frondes. " Lucret. , i. , 327,
"Vesco sale saxa peresa. " Nonius explains it by "minutus, obscurus. "
Gerlach omits the last words of the Fragment.
[1863] Gerlach supposes Popilius Lænas to be meant, who incurred great
odium from the manner in which he conducted the inquiry into the death
of Tiberius Gracchus.
[1864] Cf. Plaut. , Trin. , II. iv. , 138, "Nam fulguritæ sunt hic alternæ
arbores. "
[1865] _Combibo. _ "A pot companion. " Cic. , Fam. , ix. , 25, "In
controversiis quas habeo cum tuis combibonibus Epicureis. "
[1866] For the old reading _flaci tam_, Dusa reads _flaccidam_;
Gerlach, _fædatam_.
[1867] Nonius explains _prosferari_ by _impetrari_, which is very
doubtful. Scaliger proposes "Nec mihi oilei proferatur Ajax. " Gerlach,
"Agamemnoni præferatur Ajax," which would connect this Fragment with
Fr. 68 and 40, and the following.
[1868] _Domuitio_ (i. e. , Domum itio, formed like circuitio). This,
probably, also refers to the return of the Greeks from Troy. _Imperium
imminuimus. _ Cf. Plaut. , Asin. , III. , i. , 6, "Hoccine est pietatem
colere _imperium_ matris _minuere_? "
[1869] This is also an allusion to tragic poets, whose subjects are
quite foreign to his taste. Cf. Fr. 40. The allusion is of course to
such plays as the Medea of Euripides (the Amphitryo of Plautus, etc. ).
[1870] It is not impossible that the reference may be to the custom
prescribed by the laws of the xii. tables to persons searching for
stolen goods. The person so searching either wore himself (or was
accompanied by a servus publicus wearing) a small girdle round the
abdomen, called Licium; this was done to prevent any suspicion of
himself introducing into the house that which he alleged to have been
stolen from him; and that it might not be abused into a privilege of
entering the women's apartments for the purposes of intrigue, he was
obliged to carry before his face a Lanx perforated with small holes
(hence incerniculum), that he might not be recognized by the women,
whose apartments the law allowed him to search. This process was
called, in law, per lancem et licium furta concipere. It is alluded to
by Aristoph. , Nub. , 485. Cf. Schol. in loc. Fest. in voc. Lanx. Plato,
Leg. , xii. , calls licium χιτωνίσκον.
BOOK XXVII.
ARGUMENT.
The Fragments of this book are of too diversified a character to
form a correct conclusion with regard to the general subject.
Corpet admits the difficulty, but considers that it contained
a criticism upon the philosophic opinions of the day. Mercer
thinks that the principal portion was occupied by a matrimonial
discussion, in which the lady had decidedly the better of the
argument; who being sprung from a more noble descent, and being
possessed of a more ample fortune, considered that the control
of the household pertained to herself, as a matter of right.
These conjectures, however satisfactory as far as they go,
will not sufficiently account for the greater portion of the
Fragments. Gerlach supposes that the book contained a defense of
the poet's own pursuits and habits of life against the attacks
of calumniators. The book begins, therefore, with a conversation
between the poet and a friend, when the various points at issue
are brought forward and refuted. The chief of these are the
study of poetry; which, as Lucilius maintains, conduces greatly
to the well-being of the state. He then defends his choice of
the particular branch of poetry which he has adopted, and proves
that his satiric view is to be attributed to no arrogance,
self-sufficiency, or malevolence, or envy toward his fellow-men;
that he himself is possessed of a certain evenness of temper,
neither elated by prosperity nor depressed by adversity. The
result of this temperament is an openness of heart, and frankness
of disposition, which leads him to form friendships rapidly,
without that cautious circumspection which commonly attends
men of less equable tone of mind. This peculiar disposition of
mind is also one which, extending to itself no indulgence for
any frailty, is but little inclined to overlook the weaknesses
of others, but impartially corrects the failings of itself and
others: whereas the more common character of mankind is to be
indulgently blind to those faults to which they are themselves
inclined, and severely critical of the imperfections of their
neighbors. While others, again, make it their whole study
hypocritically to conceal their own defects. He concludes with
a sentiment which Horace has borrowed and enlarged upon, that
whereas no perfection can be expected in this life, he is to be
accounted to have arrived most nearly at the wished-for goal, who
is disfigured by the fewest defects; and since all human affairs
are at the best but frail and fleeting, it is a characteristic of
wisdom out of evils to choose the least.
1 Moreover it is inherent in good men, whether they are angry
or kindly disposed, to remain long in the same way of
thinking. [1871]
2 The cook cares not that the tail be very large, provided it be
fat. So friends look to a man's mind; parasites, to his riches.
3 He acts in the same way as those who secretly convey away from
the harbor an article not entered, that they may not have to
pay custom-dues. [1872]
4 Lucilius greets the people in such elaborate verses as he can;
and all this too zealously and assiduously. [1873]
5 . . . do you think Lucilius will be content, when I have wearied
myself out, and used all my best endeavors. . . .
6 . . . for such a return as this indeed they foreboded, and to
offend in no other thing.
7 . . . those, too, who have approached the door they throw out of
the windows on their head--
8 . . . that I envy no one, nor often cast a jealous eye on their
luxuries[1874]
9 . .
