" Paccius
Africanus
is mentioned also
Hist.
Hist.
Satires
, 59,
"Virosaque Pontus Castorea," and Browne's Vulgar Errors, lib. iii. , 4. )
Pliny, viii. , 3, tells a similar story of the elephant, "Circumventi a
venantibus dentes impactos arbori frangunt, _prædâque se redimunt_. "
[785] _Bæticus. _ The province of Bætica (Andalusia) takes its name from
the Bætis, or "Guadalquivir," the waters of which were said to give a
ruddy golden tinge to the fleeces of the sheep that drank it. Martial
alludes to it repeatedly. "Non est lana mihi mendax, nec mutor aëno. Si
placeant Tyriæ me mea tinxit ovis," xiv. , Ep. 133. Cf. v. , 37; viii. ,
28. "Vellera nativo pallent ubi flava metallo," ix. , 62. "Aurea qui
nitidis vellera tingis aquis," xii. , 99.
"Away went garments of that innate stain
That wool imbibes on Guadalquiver's plain,
From native herbs and babbling fountains nigh,
To aid the powers of Andalusia's sky. " Badham.
[786] _Urnæ. _ Vid. ad vi. , 426. Pholus was one of the Centaurs. Virg. ,
Georg. , ii. , 455. Cf. Stat. , Thebaid. , ii. , 564, _seq. _, "Qualis in
adversos Lapithas erexit inanem Magnanimus cratera Pholus," etc.
[787] _Conjuge Fusci. _ Vid. ad ix. , 117.
[788] _Bascaudas. _ The Celtic word "Basgawd" is said to be the root of
the English word "basket. " Vid. Latham's English language, p. 98. These
were probably vessels surrounded with basket or rush work. Mart. , xiv. ,
Ep. 99. "Barbara de pictis veni bascauda Britannis; sed me jam mavolt
dicere Roma suam. "
[789] _Olynthi. _ Philip of Macedon bribed Lasthenes and Eurycrates to
betray Olynthus to him. Pliny (xxxiii. , 5) says he used to sleep with a
gold cup under his pillow. Once, when told that the route to a castle
he was going to attack was impracticable, he asked whether "an ass
laden with gold could not possibly reach it. " Plut. , Apophth. , ii. , p.
178.
"A store
Of precious cups, high chased in golden ore;
Cups that adorn'd the crafty Philip's state,
And bought his entrance at th' Olynthian gate. " Hodgson.
[790] _Digitis. _ Cf. xiv, 289, "Tabulâ distinguitur undâ. " Ovid. Amor.
ii. xi. 25, "Navita sollicitus qua ventos horret iniquos; Et prope tam
letum quam prope cernit aquam. "
"Trust to a little plank 'twixt death and thee,
And by four inches 'scape eternity. " Hodgson.
[791] _Ventre-lagenæ. _ "A gorbellied flagon. " Shakspeare.
[792] _Secures. _
"His biscuit and his bread the sailor brings
On board: 'tis well. But hatchets are the things. " Badh.
[793] _Staminis albi. _ The "white" or "black" threads of the Parcæ
were supposed to symbolize the good or bad fortune of the mortal whose
yarn Clotho was spinning. Mart. iv. Ep. 73, "Ultima volventes oraba
pensa sorores, Ut traherent parva stamina pulla morâ. " VI. Ep. 58, "Si
mihi lanificæ ducunt non pulla sorores Stamina. " Hor. ii. Od. iii. 16,
"Sororum fila trium patiuntur atra. "
[794] _Prælata Lavino. _ Virg. Æn. i. 267, seq. Liv. i. 1, 3. Tibull.
II. v. 49.
[795] _Scrofa. _ Virg. Æn. iii. 390, "Littoreis ingens inventa sub
ilicibus sus, Triginta capitum fœtus enixa jacebit, Alba solo recubans,
albi circum ubera nati. Is locus urbis erit, requies ea certa
laborum,"--and viii. , 43.
[796] _Moles. _ This massive work was designed and begun by Julius
Cæsar, executed by Claudius, and repaired by Trajan. It is said to have
employed thirty thousand men for eleven years. Suetonius thus describes
it (Claud. , c. 20): "Portum Ostiæ exstruxit circumducto dextrâ
sinistrâque brachis, et ad introitum profundo jam solo mole objectâ,
quam quò stabilius fundaret, navem ante demersit, quâ magnus obeliscus,
ex Ægypto fuerat advectus; congestisque pilis superposuit altissimam
turrim in exemplum Alexandrini Phari, ut ad nocturnos ignes cursum
navigia dirigerent. " (Cf. vi. , 83. The Pharos of Alexandria was built
by Sostratus, and accounted one of the seven wonders of the world. )
"Enter the moles, that running out so wide
Clasp in their giant arms the billowy tide,
That leave afar diminishing the land,
More wondrous than the works of nature's hand. " Hodgson.
[797] _Vertice raso. _ It was the custom in storms at sea to vow the
hair to some god, generally Neptune: and hence slaves, when manumitted,
shaved their heads, "quod tempestatem servitutis videbantur effugere,
ut naufragis liberati solent. " Cf. Pers. , iii. , 106, "Hesterni capite
inducto subiere Quirites. " Hodgson has an excellent note on the
"mystical attributes" of hair.
[798] _Linguis animisque faventes. _ Cic. , de Div. , i. , 102, "Omnibus
rebus agendis, Quod bonum, faustum, felix, fortunatumque esset,
præfabantur: rebusque divinis, quæ publicè fierent, ut faverent
linguis imperabant: inque feriis imperandis ut litibus et jurgiis se
abstinerent. " Cf. Hor. , iii. , Od. i. , 2, "Favete linguis. " Virg. , Æn. ,
v. , 71, "Ore favete omnes. " Hor. , Od. , III. , xiv. , 11; Tibull. , II. ,
ii. , 2, "Quisquis ades linguâ, vir, mulierque fave. " So εὐφημεῖν; cf.
Eurip. , Hec. , 528, _seq. _
[799] _Sacro quod præstat_; i. e. , the sacrifices mentioned in the
beginning of the Satire, viz. , to Juno, Pallas, and Tarpeian Jove, and
therefore more important than those to the Lares.
[800] _Placabo. _ Cf. Hor. , i. , Od. 36, 1. Orell.
[801] _Nostrum_, i. e. , his own Lar familiaris. Cf. ix. , 137, "O Parvi
nostrique Lares. " For the worship of these Lares, Junones, and Genius,
see Dennis's Etruria, vol. i. , p. lv.
[802] _Erexit janua ramos. _ Cf. ad ix. , 85.
[803] _Operatur festa. _ Perhaps read with Lipsius, "operitur festa,"
"in festive-guise is covered with. " Virgil, however, uses "operatus"
similarly. Georg. , i. , 339, "Sacra refer Cereri lætis operatus in
herbis. " Cf. ad ix. , 117.
"All savors here of joy: luxuriant bay
O'ershades my portal, while the taper's ray
Anticipates the feast and chides the tardy day. " Gifford.
[804] _Gallita. _ Tacitus (Hist. , i. , 73) speaks of a Gallita
Crispilina, or, as some read, Calvia Crispinilla, as a "magistra
libidinum Neronis," and as "potens _pecuniâ et orbitate_, quæ bonis
malisque temporibus juxtà valent.
" Paccius Africanus is mentioned also
Hist. , iv. , 41.
[805] _Tabellis. _ Cf. ad x. , 55, "Propter quæ fas est genua incerare
deorum. "
[806] _Hecatomben. _ The hecatomb properly consisted of oxen, 100
being sacrificed simultaneously on 100 different altars. But sheep
or other victims were also offered. The poor sometimes vowed an ὠῶν
ἑκατόμβη. Emperors are said to have sacrificed 100 lions or eagles.
Suetonius says, that above 160,000 victims were slaughtered in honor of
Caligula's entering the city. Calig. , c. 14.
[807] _Nostris ducibus. _ Curius Dentatus was the first to lead
elephants in triumph. Metellus, after his victory over Asdrubal,
exhibited two hundred and four. Plin. , viii. , 6. L. Scipio,
father-in-law to Pompey, employed thirty in battle against Cæsar. The
Romans first saw elephants in the Tarentine war, against Pyrrhus; and
as they were first encountered in Lucania, they gave the elephant the
name of "Bos Lucas. " So Hannibal. See x. , 158, "Gætula ducem portaret
bellua luscum. "
[808] _Ister Pacuvius. _ Cf. ii. , 58.
[809] _Iphigenia. _ Cf. Æsch. , Ag. , 39, seq. , and the exquisite lines
in Lucretius, i. , 85-102; but Juvenal seems to have had Ovid's lines
in his head, Met. , xii. , 28, _seq. _, "Postquam pietatem publica causa,
Rexque patrem vicit, castumque datura cruorem Flentibus ante aram
stetit Iphigenia ministris: Victa dea est, nubemque oculis objecit, et
inter Officium turbamque sacri, vocesque precantum, Supposita fertur
mutâsse _Mycenida cervâ_. "
[810] _Mille. _ στόλον Ἀργείων χιλιοναύτην. Æsch. , Ag. , 44.
[811] _Libitinam. _ Properly an epithet of Venus (the goddess who
presides over _deaths_ as well as births), in whose temple all things
belonging to funerals were sold. Cf. Plut. , Qu. Rom. , 23. Servius
Tullius enacted that a sestertius should be deposited in the temple
of Venus Libitina for every person that died, in order to ascertain
the number of deaths. Dion. Halic. , iv. , 79. Cf. Liv. , xl. , 19; xli. ,
21. Suet. , Ner. , 39, "triginta funerum millia in rationem Libitinæ
venerunt. " Hor. , iii. , Od. xxx. , 6; ii. , Sat. vi. , 19.
[812] _Nassa_ is properly an "osier weel," κύρτη for catching fish.
Plin. , xxi. , 18, 59.
[813] _Solo. _ Cf. i. , 68, "Exiguis tabulis;" ii. , 58, "Solo tabulas
impleverit Hister Liberto;" vi. , 601, "Impleret tabulas. "
"What are a thousand vessels to a will!
Yes! every blank Pacuvius' name shall fill. " Hodgson.
[814] _Nestora. _ Cf. Hom. , Il. , i. , 250; Od. , iii. , 245. Mart. , vi. ,
Ep. lxx. , 12, "Ætatem Priami Nestorisque. " X. , xxiv. , 11. Cf. ad x. ,
246.
[815] _Rapuit Nero. _ Vid. Tac. , Ann. , xv. , 42, Brotier's note.
Suetonius (Nero, c. 32), after many instances of his rapacity, subjoins
the following: "Nulli delegavit officium ut non adjiceret Scis quid
mihi opus sit:" et "Hoc agamus ne quis quidquam habeat. " "Ultimot
emplis compluribus dona detraxit. "
[816] _Nec amet. _
"Nor ever be, nor ever find, a friend! " Dryden.
SATIRE XIII.
Every act that is perpetrated, that will furnish a precedent for crime,
is loathsome[817] even to the author himself. This is the punishment
that first lights upon him, that by the verdict[818] of his own breast
no guilty man is acquitted; though the corrupt influence of the prætor
may have made his cause prevail, by the urn[819] being tampered with.
What think you, Calvinus,[820] is the opinion of all men touching the
recent villainy, and the charge you bring of breach of trust? But it is
your good fortune not to have so slender an income, that the weight of
a trifling loss can plunge you into ruin; nor is what you are suffering
from an unfrequent occurrence. This is a case well known to many--worn
threadbare--drawn from the middle of fortune's heap. [821]
Let us, then, lay aside all excessive complaints. A _man's_ grief
ought not to blaze forth beyond the proper bounds, nor exceed the
loss sustained. Whereas _you_ can scarcely bear even the very least
diminutive particle of misfortune, however trifling, boiling with rage
in your very bowels because your friend does not restore to you the
deposit he swore to return. Can _he_ be amazed at this, that has left
threescore years behind him, born when Fonteius was consul? [822] Have
you gained[823] nothing by such long experience of the world? Noble
indeed are the precepts which philosophy, that triumphs over fortune,
lays down in her books of sacred wisdom. Yet we deem those happy too
who, with daily life[824] for their instructress, have learned to
endure with patience the inconveniences of life, and not shake off the
yoke. [825]
What day is there so holy that is not profaned by bringing to light
theft, treachery, fraud--filthy lucre got by crime of every dye, and
money won by stabbing or by poison? [826] Since rare indeed are the
good! their number is scarce so many as the gates of Thebes,[827] or
the mouths of fertilizing Nile. We are now passing through the ninth
age of the world: an era far worse than the days of Iron; for whose
villainy not even Nature herself can find a name, and has no metal[828]
base enough to call it by. Yet we call heaven and earth to witness,
with a shout as loud as that with which the Sportula,[829] that gives
them tongues, makes his clients applaud Fæsidius as he pleads. Tell
me, thou man of many years, and yet more fit to bear the boss[830]
of childhood, dost thou not know the charms that belong to another's
money? Knowest thou not what a laugh thy simplicity would raise in the
common herd, for expecting that no man should forswear himself, but
should believe some deity is[831] really present in the temples and
at the altars red with blood? In days of old the aborigines perhaps
used to live after this fashion: before Saturn in his flight laid
down his diadem, and adopted the rustic sickle: in the days when Juno
was a little maid; and Jupiter as yet in a private[832] station in
the caves of Ida: no banquetings of the celestials above the clouds,
no Trojan boy or beauteous wife of Hercules as cup-bearer; or Vulcan
(but not till he had drained the nectar) wiping[833] his arms begrimed
with his forge in Lipara. Then each godship dined alone; nor was the
crowd of deities so great[834] as it is now-a-days: and the heavens,
content with a few divinities, pressed on the wretched Atlas with less
grievous weight. No one had as yet received as his share the gloomy
empire of the deep: nor was there the grim[835] Pluto with his Sicilian
bride, nor Ixion's wheel, nor the Furies, nor Sisyphus' stone, nor the
punishment of the black vulture,[836] but the shades passed jocund days
with no infernal king.
In that age villainy was a prodigy! They used to hold it as a heinous
sin, that naught but death could expiate, if a young man had not risen
up to pay honor to an old one,[837] or a boy to one whose beard was
grown; even though he himself gloated over more strawberries at home,
or a bigger pile of acorns. [838]
So just a claim to deference had even four years' priority; so much
on a par with venerated old age was the first dawn of youth! Now, if
a friend should not deny the deposit[839] intrusted to him, if he
should give back the old leathern purse with all its rusty[840] coin
untouched, it is a prodigy of honesty, equivalent to a miracle,[841]
fit to be entered among the marvels in the Tuscan records,[842] and
that ought to be expiated by a lamb crowned for sacrifice. [843] If I
see a man above the common herd, of real probity, I look upon him as
a prodigy equal to a child born half man, half brute;[844] or a shoal
of fish turned up by the astonished[845] plow; or a mule[846] with
foal! in trepidation as great as though the storm-cloud had rained
stones;[847] or a swarm of bees[848] had settled in long cluster from
some temple's top; as though a river had flowed into the ocean with
unnatural eddies,[849] and rushing impetuous with a stream of milk.
Do you complain of being defrauded of _ten_ sestertia by impious
fraud? What if another has lost in the same way two hundred, deposited
without a witness! [850] and a third a still larger sum than that, such
as the corner of his capacious strong-box could hardly contain! So
easy and so natural is it to despise the gods above,[851] that witness
all, if no mortal man attest the same! See with how bold a voice he
denies it! What unshaken firmness in the face he puts on! He swears by
the sun's rays, by the thunderbolts of Tarpeian Jove, the glaive of
Mars, the darts of the prophet-god of Cirrha,[852] by the arrows and
quiver of the Virgin Huntress, and by thy trident, O Neptune, father
of the Ægæan! He adds the bow of Hercules, Minerva's spear, and all
the weapons that the arsenals of heaven hold. [853] But if he be a
father also, he says, "I am ready to eat my wretched son's head boiled,
swimming in vinegar from Pharos. "[854]
There are some who refer all things to the accidents of fortune,[855]
and believe the universe moves on with none to guide its course;
while nature brings round the revolutions of days and years. And
therefore, without a tremor, are ready to lay their hands[856] on any
altar. Another does indeed dread that punishment will follow crime;
he thinks the gods _do_ exist. Still he perjures himself, and reasons
thus with himself: "Let Isis[857] pass whatever sentence she pleases
upon my body, and strike my eyes with her angry Sistrum, provided only
that when blind I may retain the money I disown. Are consumption,
or ulcerous sores, or a leg shriveled to half its bulk, such mighty
matters? If Ladas[858] be poor, let him not hesitate to wish for gout
that waits on wealth, if he is not mad enough to require Anticyra[859]
or Archigenes. [860] For what avails the honor of his nimble feet, or
the hungry branch of Pisa's olive? All-powerful though it be, that
anger of the gods, yet surely it is slow-paced! If, therefore, they
set themselves to punish all the guilty, when will they come to me?
Besides, I may perchance discover that the deity may be appeased by
prayers! "It is not unusual with him to pardon[861] such perjuries as
these. Many commit the same crimes with results widely different. One
man receives crucifixion[862] as the reward of his villainy; another, a
regal crown! "
Thus they harden their minds, agitated by terror inspired by some
heinous crime. Then, when you summon him to swear on the sacred
shrine, he will go first! [863] Nay, he is quite ready to drag you
there himself, and worry you to put him to this test. For when a
wicked cause is backed by impudence, it is believed by many to be the
confidence[864] of innocence. He acts as good a farce as the runaway
slave, the buffoon in Catullus'[865] Vision! You, poor wretch, cry out
so as to exceed Stentor,[866] or, rather, as loudly as Gradivus[867]
in Homer: "Hearest thou[868] this, great Jove, and openest not thy
lips, when thou oughtest surely to give vent to some word, even though
formed of marble or of brass? Or, why then do we place on thy glowing
altar the pious[869] frankincense from the wrapper undone, and the
liver of a calf cut up, and the white caul of a hog? [870] As far as
I see, there is no difference to be made between your image and the
statue of Vagellius! "[871]
Now listen to what consolation on the other hand he can offer, who
has neither studied the Cynics, nor the doctrines of the Stoics, that
differ from the Cynics only by a tunic,[872] and pays no veneration to
Epicurus,[873] that delighted in the plants of his diminutive garden.
Let patients whose cases are desperate be tended by more skillful
physicians; you may trust _your_ vein even to Philippus' apprentice.
If you can show me no act so heinous in the whole wide world, then, I
hold my tongue; nor forbid you to beat your breast with your fists, nor
thump your face with open palm. For, since you really _have_ sustained
loss, your doors must be closed; and money is bewailed with louder
lamentations from the household, and with greater tumult,[874] than
deaths. No one, in such a case, counterfeits sorrow; or is content with
merely stripping[875] down the top of his garment, and vexing his eyes
for forced rheum. [876] The loss of money is deplored with genuine tears.
But if you see all the courts filled with similar complaints, if, after
the deeds have been read ten times over, and each time in a different
quarter,[877] though their own handwriting,[878] and their principal
signet-ring,[879] that is kept so carefully in its ivory casket,
convicts them, they call the signature a forgery and the deed not
valid; do you think that you, my fine fellow, are to be placed without
the common pale? What makes _you_ the chick of a white hen, while we
are a worthless brood, hatched from unlucky eggs? What you suffer is
a trifle; a thing to be endured with moderate choler, if you but turn
your eyes to crimes of blacker dye. Compare with it the hired assassin,
fires that originate from the sulphur of incendiaries,[880] when
your _outer_ gate is the first part that catches fire. Compare those
who carry off the ancient temple's massive cups,[881] incrusted with
venerable rust--the gifts of nations; or, crowns[882] deposited there
by some king of ancient days. If these are not to be had, there comes
some sacrilegious wretch that strikes at meaner prey; who will scrape
the thigh of Hercules incased in gold, and Neptune's face itself, and
strip off from Castor his leaf-gold. Will he, forsooth, hesitate, that
is wont to melt down whole the Thunderer[883] himself? Compare, too,
the compounders and venders of poisons;[884] or him that ought to be
launched into the sea in an ox's hide,[885] with whom the ape,[886]
herself innocent, is shut up, through her unlucky stars. How small a
portion is this of the crimes which Gallicus,[887] the city's guardian,
listens to from break of day to the setting of the sun! Would you study
the morals of the human race, one house is quite enough. Spend but a
few days there, and when you come out thence, call yourself, if you
dare, a miserable man!
Who is astonished at a goitred throat[888] on the Alps? or who, in
Meroë,[889] at the mother's breast bigger than her chubby infant? Who
is amazed at the German's[890] fierce gray eyes, or his flaxen hair
with moistened ringlets twisted into horns? Simply because, in these
cases, one and all are alike by nature.
The pigmy[891] warrior in his puny panoply charges the swooping birds
of Thrace, and the cloud that resounds with the clang of cranes.
"Virosaque Pontus Castorea," and Browne's Vulgar Errors, lib. iii. , 4. )
Pliny, viii. , 3, tells a similar story of the elephant, "Circumventi a
venantibus dentes impactos arbori frangunt, _prædâque se redimunt_. "
[785] _Bæticus. _ The province of Bætica (Andalusia) takes its name from
the Bætis, or "Guadalquivir," the waters of which were said to give a
ruddy golden tinge to the fleeces of the sheep that drank it. Martial
alludes to it repeatedly. "Non est lana mihi mendax, nec mutor aëno. Si
placeant Tyriæ me mea tinxit ovis," xiv. , Ep. 133. Cf. v. , 37; viii. ,
28. "Vellera nativo pallent ubi flava metallo," ix. , 62. "Aurea qui
nitidis vellera tingis aquis," xii. , 99.
"Away went garments of that innate stain
That wool imbibes on Guadalquiver's plain,
From native herbs and babbling fountains nigh,
To aid the powers of Andalusia's sky. " Badham.
[786] _Urnæ. _ Vid. ad vi. , 426. Pholus was one of the Centaurs. Virg. ,
Georg. , ii. , 455. Cf. Stat. , Thebaid. , ii. , 564, _seq. _, "Qualis in
adversos Lapithas erexit inanem Magnanimus cratera Pholus," etc.
[787] _Conjuge Fusci. _ Vid. ad ix. , 117.
[788] _Bascaudas. _ The Celtic word "Basgawd" is said to be the root of
the English word "basket. " Vid. Latham's English language, p. 98. These
were probably vessels surrounded with basket or rush work. Mart. , xiv. ,
Ep. 99. "Barbara de pictis veni bascauda Britannis; sed me jam mavolt
dicere Roma suam. "
[789] _Olynthi. _ Philip of Macedon bribed Lasthenes and Eurycrates to
betray Olynthus to him. Pliny (xxxiii. , 5) says he used to sleep with a
gold cup under his pillow. Once, when told that the route to a castle
he was going to attack was impracticable, he asked whether "an ass
laden with gold could not possibly reach it. " Plut. , Apophth. , ii. , p.
178.
"A store
Of precious cups, high chased in golden ore;
Cups that adorn'd the crafty Philip's state,
And bought his entrance at th' Olynthian gate. " Hodgson.
[790] _Digitis. _ Cf. xiv, 289, "Tabulâ distinguitur undâ. " Ovid. Amor.
ii. xi. 25, "Navita sollicitus qua ventos horret iniquos; Et prope tam
letum quam prope cernit aquam. "
"Trust to a little plank 'twixt death and thee,
And by four inches 'scape eternity. " Hodgson.
[791] _Ventre-lagenæ. _ "A gorbellied flagon. " Shakspeare.
[792] _Secures. _
"His biscuit and his bread the sailor brings
On board: 'tis well. But hatchets are the things. " Badh.
[793] _Staminis albi. _ The "white" or "black" threads of the Parcæ
were supposed to symbolize the good or bad fortune of the mortal whose
yarn Clotho was spinning. Mart. iv. Ep. 73, "Ultima volventes oraba
pensa sorores, Ut traherent parva stamina pulla morâ. " VI. Ep. 58, "Si
mihi lanificæ ducunt non pulla sorores Stamina. " Hor. ii. Od. iii. 16,
"Sororum fila trium patiuntur atra. "
[794] _Prælata Lavino. _ Virg. Æn. i. 267, seq. Liv. i. 1, 3. Tibull.
II. v. 49.
[795] _Scrofa. _ Virg. Æn. iii. 390, "Littoreis ingens inventa sub
ilicibus sus, Triginta capitum fœtus enixa jacebit, Alba solo recubans,
albi circum ubera nati. Is locus urbis erit, requies ea certa
laborum,"--and viii. , 43.
[796] _Moles. _ This massive work was designed and begun by Julius
Cæsar, executed by Claudius, and repaired by Trajan. It is said to have
employed thirty thousand men for eleven years. Suetonius thus describes
it (Claud. , c. 20): "Portum Ostiæ exstruxit circumducto dextrâ
sinistrâque brachis, et ad introitum profundo jam solo mole objectâ,
quam quò stabilius fundaret, navem ante demersit, quâ magnus obeliscus,
ex Ægypto fuerat advectus; congestisque pilis superposuit altissimam
turrim in exemplum Alexandrini Phari, ut ad nocturnos ignes cursum
navigia dirigerent. " (Cf. vi. , 83. The Pharos of Alexandria was built
by Sostratus, and accounted one of the seven wonders of the world. )
"Enter the moles, that running out so wide
Clasp in their giant arms the billowy tide,
That leave afar diminishing the land,
More wondrous than the works of nature's hand. " Hodgson.
[797] _Vertice raso. _ It was the custom in storms at sea to vow the
hair to some god, generally Neptune: and hence slaves, when manumitted,
shaved their heads, "quod tempestatem servitutis videbantur effugere,
ut naufragis liberati solent. " Cf. Pers. , iii. , 106, "Hesterni capite
inducto subiere Quirites. " Hodgson has an excellent note on the
"mystical attributes" of hair.
[798] _Linguis animisque faventes. _ Cic. , de Div. , i. , 102, "Omnibus
rebus agendis, Quod bonum, faustum, felix, fortunatumque esset,
præfabantur: rebusque divinis, quæ publicè fierent, ut faverent
linguis imperabant: inque feriis imperandis ut litibus et jurgiis se
abstinerent. " Cf. Hor. , iii. , Od. i. , 2, "Favete linguis. " Virg. , Æn. ,
v. , 71, "Ore favete omnes. " Hor. , Od. , III. , xiv. , 11; Tibull. , II. ,
ii. , 2, "Quisquis ades linguâ, vir, mulierque fave. " So εὐφημεῖν; cf.
Eurip. , Hec. , 528, _seq. _
[799] _Sacro quod præstat_; i. e. , the sacrifices mentioned in the
beginning of the Satire, viz. , to Juno, Pallas, and Tarpeian Jove, and
therefore more important than those to the Lares.
[800] _Placabo. _ Cf. Hor. , i. , Od. 36, 1. Orell.
[801] _Nostrum_, i. e. , his own Lar familiaris. Cf. ix. , 137, "O Parvi
nostrique Lares. " For the worship of these Lares, Junones, and Genius,
see Dennis's Etruria, vol. i. , p. lv.
[802] _Erexit janua ramos. _ Cf. ad ix. , 85.
[803] _Operatur festa. _ Perhaps read with Lipsius, "operitur festa,"
"in festive-guise is covered with. " Virgil, however, uses "operatus"
similarly. Georg. , i. , 339, "Sacra refer Cereri lætis operatus in
herbis. " Cf. ad ix. , 117.
"All savors here of joy: luxuriant bay
O'ershades my portal, while the taper's ray
Anticipates the feast and chides the tardy day. " Gifford.
[804] _Gallita. _ Tacitus (Hist. , i. , 73) speaks of a Gallita
Crispilina, or, as some read, Calvia Crispinilla, as a "magistra
libidinum Neronis," and as "potens _pecuniâ et orbitate_, quæ bonis
malisque temporibus juxtà valent.
" Paccius Africanus is mentioned also
Hist. , iv. , 41.
[805] _Tabellis. _ Cf. ad x. , 55, "Propter quæ fas est genua incerare
deorum. "
[806] _Hecatomben. _ The hecatomb properly consisted of oxen, 100
being sacrificed simultaneously on 100 different altars. But sheep
or other victims were also offered. The poor sometimes vowed an ὠῶν
ἑκατόμβη. Emperors are said to have sacrificed 100 lions or eagles.
Suetonius says, that above 160,000 victims were slaughtered in honor of
Caligula's entering the city. Calig. , c. 14.
[807] _Nostris ducibus. _ Curius Dentatus was the first to lead
elephants in triumph. Metellus, after his victory over Asdrubal,
exhibited two hundred and four. Plin. , viii. , 6. L. Scipio,
father-in-law to Pompey, employed thirty in battle against Cæsar. The
Romans first saw elephants in the Tarentine war, against Pyrrhus; and
as they were first encountered in Lucania, they gave the elephant the
name of "Bos Lucas. " So Hannibal. See x. , 158, "Gætula ducem portaret
bellua luscum. "
[808] _Ister Pacuvius. _ Cf. ii. , 58.
[809] _Iphigenia. _ Cf. Æsch. , Ag. , 39, seq. , and the exquisite lines
in Lucretius, i. , 85-102; but Juvenal seems to have had Ovid's lines
in his head, Met. , xii. , 28, _seq. _, "Postquam pietatem publica causa,
Rexque patrem vicit, castumque datura cruorem Flentibus ante aram
stetit Iphigenia ministris: Victa dea est, nubemque oculis objecit, et
inter Officium turbamque sacri, vocesque precantum, Supposita fertur
mutâsse _Mycenida cervâ_. "
[810] _Mille. _ στόλον Ἀργείων χιλιοναύτην. Æsch. , Ag. , 44.
[811] _Libitinam. _ Properly an epithet of Venus (the goddess who
presides over _deaths_ as well as births), in whose temple all things
belonging to funerals were sold. Cf. Plut. , Qu. Rom. , 23. Servius
Tullius enacted that a sestertius should be deposited in the temple
of Venus Libitina for every person that died, in order to ascertain
the number of deaths. Dion. Halic. , iv. , 79. Cf. Liv. , xl. , 19; xli. ,
21. Suet. , Ner. , 39, "triginta funerum millia in rationem Libitinæ
venerunt. " Hor. , iii. , Od. xxx. , 6; ii. , Sat. vi. , 19.
[812] _Nassa_ is properly an "osier weel," κύρτη for catching fish.
Plin. , xxi. , 18, 59.
[813] _Solo. _ Cf. i. , 68, "Exiguis tabulis;" ii. , 58, "Solo tabulas
impleverit Hister Liberto;" vi. , 601, "Impleret tabulas. "
"What are a thousand vessels to a will!
Yes! every blank Pacuvius' name shall fill. " Hodgson.
[814] _Nestora. _ Cf. Hom. , Il. , i. , 250; Od. , iii. , 245. Mart. , vi. ,
Ep. lxx. , 12, "Ætatem Priami Nestorisque. " X. , xxiv. , 11. Cf. ad x. ,
246.
[815] _Rapuit Nero. _ Vid. Tac. , Ann. , xv. , 42, Brotier's note.
Suetonius (Nero, c. 32), after many instances of his rapacity, subjoins
the following: "Nulli delegavit officium ut non adjiceret Scis quid
mihi opus sit:" et "Hoc agamus ne quis quidquam habeat. " "Ultimot
emplis compluribus dona detraxit. "
[816] _Nec amet. _
"Nor ever be, nor ever find, a friend! " Dryden.
SATIRE XIII.
Every act that is perpetrated, that will furnish a precedent for crime,
is loathsome[817] even to the author himself. This is the punishment
that first lights upon him, that by the verdict[818] of his own breast
no guilty man is acquitted; though the corrupt influence of the prætor
may have made his cause prevail, by the urn[819] being tampered with.
What think you, Calvinus,[820] is the opinion of all men touching the
recent villainy, and the charge you bring of breach of trust? But it is
your good fortune not to have so slender an income, that the weight of
a trifling loss can plunge you into ruin; nor is what you are suffering
from an unfrequent occurrence. This is a case well known to many--worn
threadbare--drawn from the middle of fortune's heap. [821]
Let us, then, lay aside all excessive complaints. A _man's_ grief
ought not to blaze forth beyond the proper bounds, nor exceed the
loss sustained. Whereas _you_ can scarcely bear even the very least
diminutive particle of misfortune, however trifling, boiling with rage
in your very bowels because your friend does not restore to you the
deposit he swore to return. Can _he_ be amazed at this, that has left
threescore years behind him, born when Fonteius was consul? [822] Have
you gained[823] nothing by such long experience of the world? Noble
indeed are the precepts which philosophy, that triumphs over fortune,
lays down in her books of sacred wisdom. Yet we deem those happy too
who, with daily life[824] for their instructress, have learned to
endure with patience the inconveniences of life, and not shake off the
yoke. [825]
What day is there so holy that is not profaned by bringing to light
theft, treachery, fraud--filthy lucre got by crime of every dye, and
money won by stabbing or by poison? [826] Since rare indeed are the
good! their number is scarce so many as the gates of Thebes,[827] or
the mouths of fertilizing Nile. We are now passing through the ninth
age of the world: an era far worse than the days of Iron; for whose
villainy not even Nature herself can find a name, and has no metal[828]
base enough to call it by. Yet we call heaven and earth to witness,
with a shout as loud as that with which the Sportula,[829] that gives
them tongues, makes his clients applaud Fæsidius as he pleads. Tell
me, thou man of many years, and yet more fit to bear the boss[830]
of childhood, dost thou not know the charms that belong to another's
money? Knowest thou not what a laugh thy simplicity would raise in the
common herd, for expecting that no man should forswear himself, but
should believe some deity is[831] really present in the temples and
at the altars red with blood? In days of old the aborigines perhaps
used to live after this fashion: before Saturn in his flight laid
down his diadem, and adopted the rustic sickle: in the days when Juno
was a little maid; and Jupiter as yet in a private[832] station in
the caves of Ida: no banquetings of the celestials above the clouds,
no Trojan boy or beauteous wife of Hercules as cup-bearer; or Vulcan
(but not till he had drained the nectar) wiping[833] his arms begrimed
with his forge in Lipara. Then each godship dined alone; nor was the
crowd of deities so great[834] as it is now-a-days: and the heavens,
content with a few divinities, pressed on the wretched Atlas with less
grievous weight. No one had as yet received as his share the gloomy
empire of the deep: nor was there the grim[835] Pluto with his Sicilian
bride, nor Ixion's wheel, nor the Furies, nor Sisyphus' stone, nor the
punishment of the black vulture,[836] but the shades passed jocund days
with no infernal king.
In that age villainy was a prodigy! They used to hold it as a heinous
sin, that naught but death could expiate, if a young man had not risen
up to pay honor to an old one,[837] or a boy to one whose beard was
grown; even though he himself gloated over more strawberries at home,
or a bigger pile of acorns. [838]
So just a claim to deference had even four years' priority; so much
on a par with venerated old age was the first dawn of youth! Now, if
a friend should not deny the deposit[839] intrusted to him, if he
should give back the old leathern purse with all its rusty[840] coin
untouched, it is a prodigy of honesty, equivalent to a miracle,[841]
fit to be entered among the marvels in the Tuscan records,[842] and
that ought to be expiated by a lamb crowned for sacrifice. [843] If I
see a man above the common herd, of real probity, I look upon him as
a prodigy equal to a child born half man, half brute;[844] or a shoal
of fish turned up by the astonished[845] plow; or a mule[846] with
foal! in trepidation as great as though the storm-cloud had rained
stones;[847] or a swarm of bees[848] had settled in long cluster from
some temple's top; as though a river had flowed into the ocean with
unnatural eddies,[849] and rushing impetuous with a stream of milk.
Do you complain of being defrauded of _ten_ sestertia by impious
fraud? What if another has lost in the same way two hundred, deposited
without a witness! [850] and a third a still larger sum than that, such
as the corner of his capacious strong-box could hardly contain! So
easy and so natural is it to despise the gods above,[851] that witness
all, if no mortal man attest the same! See with how bold a voice he
denies it! What unshaken firmness in the face he puts on! He swears by
the sun's rays, by the thunderbolts of Tarpeian Jove, the glaive of
Mars, the darts of the prophet-god of Cirrha,[852] by the arrows and
quiver of the Virgin Huntress, and by thy trident, O Neptune, father
of the Ægæan! He adds the bow of Hercules, Minerva's spear, and all
the weapons that the arsenals of heaven hold. [853] But if he be a
father also, he says, "I am ready to eat my wretched son's head boiled,
swimming in vinegar from Pharos. "[854]
There are some who refer all things to the accidents of fortune,[855]
and believe the universe moves on with none to guide its course;
while nature brings round the revolutions of days and years. And
therefore, without a tremor, are ready to lay their hands[856] on any
altar. Another does indeed dread that punishment will follow crime;
he thinks the gods _do_ exist. Still he perjures himself, and reasons
thus with himself: "Let Isis[857] pass whatever sentence she pleases
upon my body, and strike my eyes with her angry Sistrum, provided only
that when blind I may retain the money I disown. Are consumption,
or ulcerous sores, or a leg shriveled to half its bulk, such mighty
matters? If Ladas[858] be poor, let him not hesitate to wish for gout
that waits on wealth, if he is not mad enough to require Anticyra[859]
or Archigenes. [860] For what avails the honor of his nimble feet, or
the hungry branch of Pisa's olive? All-powerful though it be, that
anger of the gods, yet surely it is slow-paced! If, therefore, they
set themselves to punish all the guilty, when will they come to me?
Besides, I may perchance discover that the deity may be appeased by
prayers! "It is not unusual with him to pardon[861] such perjuries as
these. Many commit the same crimes with results widely different. One
man receives crucifixion[862] as the reward of his villainy; another, a
regal crown! "
Thus they harden their minds, agitated by terror inspired by some
heinous crime. Then, when you summon him to swear on the sacred
shrine, he will go first! [863] Nay, he is quite ready to drag you
there himself, and worry you to put him to this test. For when a
wicked cause is backed by impudence, it is believed by many to be the
confidence[864] of innocence. He acts as good a farce as the runaway
slave, the buffoon in Catullus'[865] Vision! You, poor wretch, cry out
so as to exceed Stentor,[866] or, rather, as loudly as Gradivus[867]
in Homer: "Hearest thou[868] this, great Jove, and openest not thy
lips, when thou oughtest surely to give vent to some word, even though
formed of marble or of brass? Or, why then do we place on thy glowing
altar the pious[869] frankincense from the wrapper undone, and the
liver of a calf cut up, and the white caul of a hog? [870] As far as
I see, there is no difference to be made between your image and the
statue of Vagellius! "[871]
Now listen to what consolation on the other hand he can offer, who
has neither studied the Cynics, nor the doctrines of the Stoics, that
differ from the Cynics only by a tunic,[872] and pays no veneration to
Epicurus,[873] that delighted in the plants of his diminutive garden.
Let patients whose cases are desperate be tended by more skillful
physicians; you may trust _your_ vein even to Philippus' apprentice.
If you can show me no act so heinous in the whole wide world, then, I
hold my tongue; nor forbid you to beat your breast with your fists, nor
thump your face with open palm. For, since you really _have_ sustained
loss, your doors must be closed; and money is bewailed with louder
lamentations from the household, and with greater tumult,[874] than
deaths. No one, in such a case, counterfeits sorrow; or is content with
merely stripping[875] down the top of his garment, and vexing his eyes
for forced rheum. [876] The loss of money is deplored with genuine tears.
But if you see all the courts filled with similar complaints, if, after
the deeds have been read ten times over, and each time in a different
quarter,[877] though their own handwriting,[878] and their principal
signet-ring,[879] that is kept so carefully in its ivory casket,
convicts them, they call the signature a forgery and the deed not
valid; do you think that you, my fine fellow, are to be placed without
the common pale? What makes _you_ the chick of a white hen, while we
are a worthless brood, hatched from unlucky eggs? What you suffer is
a trifle; a thing to be endured with moderate choler, if you but turn
your eyes to crimes of blacker dye. Compare with it the hired assassin,
fires that originate from the sulphur of incendiaries,[880] when
your _outer_ gate is the first part that catches fire. Compare those
who carry off the ancient temple's massive cups,[881] incrusted with
venerable rust--the gifts of nations; or, crowns[882] deposited there
by some king of ancient days. If these are not to be had, there comes
some sacrilegious wretch that strikes at meaner prey; who will scrape
the thigh of Hercules incased in gold, and Neptune's face itself, and
strip off from Castor his leaf-gold. Will he, forsooth, hesitate, that
is wont to melt down whole the Thunderer[883] himself? Compare, too,
the compounders and venders of poisons;[884] or him that ought to be
launched into the sea in an ox's hide,[885] with whom the ape,[886]
herself innocent, is shut up, through her unlucky stars. How small a
portion is this of the crimes which Gallicus,[887] the city's guardian,
listens to from break of day to the setting of the sun! Would you study
the morals of the human race, one house is quite enough. Spend but a
few days there, and when you come out thence, call yourself, if you
dare, a miserable man!
Who is astonished at a goitred throat[888] on the Alps? or who, in
Meroë,[889] at the mother's breast bigger than her chubby infant? Who
is amazed at the German's[890] fierce gray eyes, or his flaxen hair
with moistened ringlets twisted into horns? Simply because, in these
cases, one and all are alike by nature.
The pigmy[891] warrior in his puny panoply charges the swooping birds
of Thrace, and the cloud that resounds with the clang of cranes.
