_ In swearing, the Romans laid their hands on the
altars consecrated to the gods to whose deity they appealed.
altars consecrated to the gods to whose deity they appealed.
Satires
Plin.
, H.
N.
,
xviii. , 2.
[991] _Vernula. _ Cf. x. , 117, "Quem sequitur custos angustæ vernula
capsæ. " The verna (οἰκοτραφὴς) was so called, "qui in villis _vere
natus_, quod tempus duce natura feturæ est. " Fest. Others say that it
became a term of reproach from having been first given to those who
were born in the Ver Sacrum. Cf. Fest, _s. v. _ Mamertini. Strabo, v. ,
p. 404. Liv. , xxxiv. , 44. Just. , xxiv. , 4. These home-born slaves,
though more despised from having been born in a state of servitude,
were treated with great fondness and indulgence. Sen. , Prov. , i. , f. ,
"Cogita filiorum nos modestia delèctari, vernularum licentia: illos
tristiori disciplinâ contineri; horum ali audaciam. "
[992] _Domini. _ Cf. Plaut. , Capt. Pr. , 18, "Licet non hæredes sint,
domini sunt. "
[993] _Grassatur. _ iii. , 305, "Interdum et ferro subitus grassator agit
rem. "
[994] _Cito vult fieri. _ Cf. Menand. , οὐδεὶς ἐπλούτησε ταχέως δίκαιος
ὤν. Prov. , xxviii. , 20, "He that maketh haste to be rich, shall not be
innocent. "
"What law restrains, what scruples shall prevent
The desperate man on swift possessions bent? " Badham.
[995] _Numina ruris. _ Cf. Virg. , Georg. , i. , 7, "Liber et alma Ceres
vestro si munere tellus Chaoniam pingui glandem mutavit aristâ. " So
Fast. , i. , 671, "Placentur matres frugum Tellusque Ceresque Farre
suo gravidæ, visceribusque suis. Consortes operum, per quas correcta
vetustas, Quernaque glans victa est utiliore cibo. " iv. , 399, "Postmodo
glans nata est bene erat jam glande reperta, duraque magnificas quercus
habebat opes. Prima Ceres homini ad meliora alimenta vocato mutavit
glandes utiliore cibo. " So Sat. , vi. , 10, "Et sæpe horridior glandem
ructante marito. " Sulp. , 16, "Non aliter primo quàm cum surreximus ævo,
Glandibus et puræ rursus procumbere lymphæ. "
[996] _Perone. _ Virg. , Æn. , vii. , 690, "Crudus tegit altera pero. " The
pero was a rustic boot, reaching to the middle of the leg, made of
untanned leather. Cf. Pers. , v. , 102, "Navem si poscat sibi peronatus
arator Luciferi rudis. "
"No guilty wish the simple plowman knows,
High-booted tramping through his country snows;
Clad in his shaggy cloak against the wind,
Rough his attire and undebauch'd his mind:
The foreign purple, better still unknown,
Makes all the sins of all the world our own. " Hodgson.
[997] _Media de nocte. _ Cf. Arist. , Nub. , 8, _seq. _
[998] _Rubras. _ Cf. Pers. , v. , 90, "Excepto si quid Masuri rubrica
vetavit. " Ov. , Trist. , I. , i. , 7, "Nec titulus minio nec cedro charta
notetur. " Mart. , iii. , Ep. ii. , "Et te purpura delicata velet, et cocco
rubeat superbus index. " In ordinary books, the titles and headings of
the chapters were written in red letters. But in law-books the text was
in _red_ letter, and the commentaries and glosses in _black_.
[999] _Pilosas. _ ii. , 11, "Hispida membra quidem et duræ per brachia
setæ promittunt atrocem animum. " Combs were usually made of box-wood.
Ov. , Fast. , vi. , 229, "Non mihi detonsos crines depectere buxo. "
Mart. , xiv. , Ep. xxv. , 2, "Quid faciet nullos hic inventura capillos,
multifido buxus quæ tibi dente datur. "
[1000] _Attegias_, a word of Arabic origin. The Magalia of Virgil, Æn. ,
i. , 425; iv. , 259, and Mapalia of Silius Italicus, ii. , 437, _seq. _,
xvii. , 88. Virg. , Georg. , iii. , 340. Low round hovels, sometimes on
wheels like the huts of the Scythian nomadæ, called from their shape
"Cohortes rotundæ," "hen-coops. " Cat. ap. Fest. They are described by
Sallust (Bell. Jug. , 20) as "Ædificia Numidarum agrestium, oblonga,
incurvis lateribus tecta, quasi navium carinæ;" and by Hieron. as
"furnorum similes. " Probably when _fixed_ they were called Magalia;
whence the name of the ancient part of Carthage, from the Punic
"Mager. " When _locomotive_, Mapalia. Livy says that when Masinissa
fled before Syphax to Mount Balbus, "familiæ aliquot cum mapalibus
pecoribusque suis persecuti sunt regem. "
[1001] The _Brigantes_ were the most ancient and most powerful of the
British nations, extending from sea to sea over the counties of York,
Durham, Lancaster, Westmoreland, and Cumberland. Tac. , Agric. , 17. The
famous Cartismandua was their queen, with whom Caractacus took refuge.
Tac. , Ann. , xii. , 32, 6. Hist. , iii. , 45. Hadrian was in Britain, A. D.
121, when his Foss was constructed.
[1002] _Lucri bonus est odor. _ Alluding to Vespasian's answer to Titus.
Vid. Suet. , Vesp. , 23, "Reprehendenti filio Tito, quod etiam urinæ
vectigal commentus esset, pecuniam ex primâ pensione admovit ad nares,
sciscitans, num odore offenderetur; et illo negante, atqui, inquit
ex lotio est. " Martial alludes to the fact of offensive trades being
banished to the other side of the Tiber. VI. , xciii. , 4, "Non detracta
cani Transtiberina cutis. " I. , Ep. xlii. , 3; cix. , 2.
[1003] _Poetæ. _ Ennius is said to have taken this sentiment from the
Bellerophon of Euripides. Horace has also imitated it; i. , Ep. i. ,
65, "Rem facias; rem si possis rectè, si non quôcumque modo rem. " Cf.
Seneca, Epist. 115, "Non quare et unde; quid habeas tantum rogant. " (No
sentiment of the kind is to be found in the fragments of either. )
"No! though compell'd beyond the Tiber's flood
To move your tan-yard, swear the smell is good,
Myrrh, cassia, frankincense; and wisely think
That what is lucrative can never stink. " Hodgson.
[1004] _Peleus. _ Thetis was given in marriage to Peleus, because it had
been foretold that she should give birth to a son who should be greater
than his father; and therefore Jupiter was obliged to forego his
passion for her. Vid. Æsch. , Prom. Vinct. , 886, _seq. _ Pind. , Isthm. ,
viii. , 67. Nonnus, Dionys. , xxxiii. , 356.
[1005] _Parcendum teneris. _ Parodied from Virg. , Georg. , ii. , 363, "Ac
dum prima novis adolescit frondibus ætas, parcendum teneris. "
[1006] _Tangens.
_ In swearing, the Romans laid their hands on the
altars consecrated to the gods to whose deity they appealed. Vid.
Virg. , Æn. , pass. Hor. , ii. , Ep. i. , 16. Cf. Sat. xiii. , 89, "Atque
ideo intrepide quæcunque altaria tangunt. " Sil, iii. , 82, "Tangat
Elissæas palmas puerilibus aras. " Liv. , xxi. , 1, "Annibalem annorum
ferme novem, altaribus admotum tactis sacris jurejurando adactum, se
quum primum posset, hostem fore populo Romano. "
[1007] _Mortiferâ. _ Cf. Pers. , ii. , 13, "Acri bile tumet. Nerio jam
tertia conditur uxor. "
"If Fate should help him to a dowried wife,
Her doom is fix'd, and brief her span of life:
Sound in her sleep, while murderous fingers grasp
Her slender throat, hark to the victim's gasp! " Badham.
[1008] _Brevior via. _ So Tacitus (Ann. , iii. , 66), speaking of
Brutidius (cf. Sat. x. , 83), says, "Festinatio exstimulabat, dum
æquales, dein superiores, postremò suasmet ipse spes anteire parat:
quod multos etiam bonos pessum dedit qui, _spretis quæ tarda cum
securitate_, præmatura vel cum exitio _properarent_. "
[1009] The line "Et qui per fraudes patrimonia conduplicare" is now
generally allowed to be an interpolation.
[1010] _Effundit habenas. _ So Virg. , Georg. , i. , 512, "Ut cum
carceribus sese effudere quadrigæ addunt in spatia, et frustra
retinacula tendens Fertur equis auriga, neque audit currus habenas. "
Æn. , v. , 818; xii. , 499. Ov. , Am. , III. , iv. , 15. Cf. Shaksp. , King
Henry V. , Act iii. , sc. 3, "What rein can hold licentious wickedness,
when down the hill he holds his fierce career? "
"With base advice to poison youthful hearts,
And teach them sordid, money-getting arts,
Is to release the horses from the rein,
And let them whirl the chariot o'er the plain:
Forward they gallop from the lessening goal,
Deaf to the voice of impotent control. " Hodgson.
[1011] _Donet amico. _ Hor. , i. , Sat. ii. , 4, "Contra hic, ne prodigus
esse Dicatur metuens, inopi dare nolit amico. "
[1012] _Levet. _ Cf. Isa. , lviii. , 6, "To loose the bands of wickedness,
to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that
ye break every yoke. " Gal. , vi. , 2.
[1013] _Deciorum. _ Cf. ad viii. , 254. _Græcia vera. _ Cf. x. , 174,
"Quidquid Græcia mendax audet. "
[1014] _Menæceus. _ So called because he chose rather to "remain
at home," and save his country from the Argive besiegers by
self-sacrifice, than to escape, as his father urged, to Dodona. See the
end of the Phœnissæ of Euripides, and the story of the pomegranates
that grew on his grave, in Pausanias, ix. , cap. xxv. , 1. Cf. Cic. , T.
Qu. , i. , 48, and the end of the tenth book of Statius' Thebais.
[1015] _Sulcis. _ Ov. , Met. , iii. , 1-130. Virg. , Georg. , ii. , 141,
"Satis immanis dentibus hydri, nec galeis densisque virum seges horruit
hastis. "
[1016] _Ignem. _ Pind. , Pyth. , iii. , 66, πολλὰν τ' ὄρει πῦρ ἐξ ἑνὸς
σπέρματος ἐνθορὸν ἀΐστωσεν ὕλαν.
[1017] _Leo alumnus. _ There is said to be an allusion to a real
incident which occurred under Domitian. Cf. Mart. , Ep. , de Spect. , x. ,
"Læserat ingrato leo perfidus ore magistrum ausus tam notas contemerare
manus: sed dignas tanto persolvit crimine pœnas; et qui non tulerat
verbera tela tulit. " Æsch. , Ag. , 717, 34.
[1018] _Mathematicis. _ Suet. , Calig. , 57; Otho, 4. Cf. Sat. iii. , 43;
vi. , 553, 562. Among these famous astrologers the names of Thrasyllus,
Sulla, Theogenes, Scribonius, and Seleucus are preserved. The
calculations necessary for casting these nativities are called "numeri
Thrasylli," "Chaldaicæ rationes," "numeri Babylonii. " Hor. , i. , Od.
xi. , 2. Cic. , de Div. , ii. , 47. Ov. , Ibis, 209, _seq. _
[1019] _Grave. _ Cf. Strat. , Ep. lxxii. , 4, φεῦ μοίρης τε κακῆς καὶ
πατρὸς ἀθανάτου.
[1020] _Stamine. _ Cf. iii. , 27, "Dum superest Lachesi quod torqueat. "
x. , 251, "De legibus ipse queratur Fatorum et nimio de stamine. "
[1021] _Cervina. _ Cf. x. , 247, "Exemplum vitæ fuit a cornice secundæ. "
The crow is said to live for nine generations of men. The old Scholiast
says the stag lives for nine hundred years. Vid. Anthol. Gr. , ii. , 9,
ἡ φάος ἀθρήσασ' ἐλάφου πλέον ἡ χερὶ λαιᾷ γῆρας ἀριθμεῖσθαι δεύτερον
ἀρξαμένη. In the caldron prepared by Medea to renovate Æson, we find,
"vivacisque jecur cervi quibus insuper addit ora caputque novem
cornicis sæcula passæ. " Auson. , Idyll. , xviii. , 3, "Hos novies superat
vivendo garrula cornix, et quater egreditur cornicis sæcula cervus. "
[1022] _Archigenem. _ vi. , 236; xiii. , 98.
[1023] _Mithridates. _ vi. , 660, "Sed tamen et ferro si prægustarit
Atrides Pontica ter victi cautus medicamina regis. " x. , 273, "Regem
transeo Ponti. " Cf. Plin. , xxiii. , 24; xxv. , 11. Mart. , v. , Ep. 76,
"Profecit poto Mithridates sæpe veneno, Toxica ne possent sæva nocere
sibi. " This composition (Synthesis) is described by Serenus Sammonicus,
the physician, and consists of ludicrously simple ingredients. xxx. ,
578. Cf. Plin. , xxiii. , 8.
[1024] _Ærata. _ Cf. xi. , 26, "Quantum ferratâ distet ab arcâ Sacculus. "
[1025] _Vigilem Castora. _ So called, Grangæus says, "quod ante Castoris
templum erant militum excubiæ. " The temple of Mars Ultor, with its
columns of marble, was built by Augustus. Suet. , Aug. , 29.
xviii. , 2.
[991] _Vernula. _ Cf. x. , 117, "Quem sequitur custos angustæ vernula
capsæ. " The verna (οἰκοτραφὴς) was so called, "qui in villis _vere
natus_, quod tempus duce natura feturæ est. " Fest. Others say that it
became a term of reproach from having been first given to those who
were born in the Ver Sacrum. Cf. Fest, _s. v. _ Mamertini. Strabo, v. ,
p. 404. Liv. , xxxiv. , 44. Just. , xxiv. , 4. These home-born slaves,
though more despised from having been born in a state of servitude,
were treated with great fondness and indulgence. Sen. , Prov. , i. , f. ,
"Cogita filiorum nos modestia delèctari, vernularum licentia: illos
tristiori disciplinâ contineri; horum ali audaciam. "
[992] _Domini. _ Cf. Plaut. , Capt. Pr. , 18, "Licet non hæredes sint,
domini sunt. "
[993] _Grassatur. _ iii. , 305, "Interdum et ferro subitus grassator agit
rem. "
[994] _Cito vult fieri. _ Cf. Menand. , οὐδεὶς ἐπλούτησε ταχέως δίκαιος
ὤν. Prov. , xxviii. , 20, "He that maketh haste to be rich, shall not be
innocent. "
"What law restrains, what scruples shall prevent
The desperate man on swift possessions bent? " Badham.
[995] _Numina ruris. _ Cf. Virg. , Georg. , i. , 7, "Liber et alma Ceres
vestro si munere tellus Chaoniam pingui glandem mutavit aristâ. " So
Fast. , i. , 671, "Placentur matres frugum Tellusque Ceresque Farre
suo gravidæ, visceribusque suis. Consortes operum, per quas correcta
vetustas, Quernaque glans victa est utiliore cibo. " iv. , 399, "Postmodo
glans nata est bene erat jam glande reperta, duraque magnificas quercus
habebat opes. Prima Ceres homini ad meliora alimenta vocato mutavit
glandes utiliore cibo. " So Sat. , vi. , 10, "Et sæpe horridior glandem
ructante marito. " Sulp. , 16, "Non aliter primo quàm cum surreximus ævo,
Glandibus et puræ rursus procumbere lymphæ. "
[996] _Perone. _ Virg. , Æn. , vii. , 690, "Crudus tegit altera pero. " The
pero was a rustic boot, reaching to the middle of the leg, made of
untanned leather. Cf. Pers. , v. , 102, "Navem si poscat sibi peronatus
arator Luciferi rudis. "
"No guilty wish the simple plowman knows,
High-booted tramping through his country snows;
Clad in his shaggy cloak against the wind,
Rough his attire and undebauch'd his mind:
The foreign purple, better still unknown,
Makes all the sins of all the world our own. " Hodgson.
[997] _Media de nocte. _ Cf. Arist. , Nub. , 8, _seq. _
[998] _Rubras. _ Cf. Pers. , v. , 90, "Excepto si quid Masuri rubrica
vetavit. " Ov. , Trist. , I. , i. , 7, "Nec titulus minio nec cedro charta
notetur. " Mart. , iii. , Ep. ii. , "Et te purpura delicata velet, et cocco
rubeat superbus index. " In ordinary books, the titles and headings of
the chapters were written in red letters. But in law-books the text was
in _red_ letter, and the commentaries and glosses in _black_.
[999] _Pilosas. _ ii. , 11, "Hispida membra quidem et duræ per brachia
setæ promittunt atrocem animum. " Combs were usually made of box-wood.
Ov. , Fast. , vi. , 229, "Non mihi detonsos crines depectere buxo. "
Mart. , xiv. , Ep. xxv. , 2, "Quid faciet nullos hic inventura capillos,
multifido buxus quæ tibi dente datur. "
[1000] _Attegias_, a word of Arabic origin. The Magalia of Virgil, Æn. ,
i. , 425; iv. , 259, and Mapalia of Silius Italicus, ii. , 437, _seq. _,
xvii. , 88. Virg. , Georg. , iii. , 340. Low round hovels, sometimes on
wheels like the huts of the Scythian nomadæ, called from their shape
"Cohortes rotundæ," "hen-coops. " Cat. ap. Fest. They are described by
Sallust (Bell. Jug. , 20) as "Ædificia Numidarum agrestium, oblonga,
incurvis lateribus tecta, quasi navium carinæ;" and by Hieron. as
"furnorum similes. " Probably when _fixed_ they were called Magalia;
whence the name of the ancient part of Carthage, from the Punic
"Mager. " When _locomotive_, Mapalia. Livy says that when Masinissa
fled before Syphax to Mount Balbus, "familiæ aliquot cum mapalibus
pecoribusque suis persecuti sunt regem. "
[1001] The _Brigantes_ were the most ancient and most powerful of the
British nations, extending from sea to sea over the counties of York,
Durham, Lancaster, Westmoreland, and Cumberland. Tac. , Agric. , 17. The
famous Cartismandua was their queen, with whom Caractacus took refuge.
Tac. , Ann. , xii. , 32, 6. Hist. , iii. , 45. Hadrian was in Britain, A. D.
121, when his Foss was constructed.
[1002] _Lucri bonus est odor. _ Alluding to Vespasian's answer to Titus.
Vid. Suet. , Vesp. , 23, "Reprehendenti filio Tito, quod etiam urinæ
vectigal commentus esset, pecuniam ex primâ pensione admovit ad nares,
sciscitans, num odore offenderetur; et illo negante, atqui, inquit
ex lotio est. " Martial alludes to the fact of offensive trades being
banished to the other side of the Tiber. VI. , xciii. , 4, "Non detracta
cani Transtiberina cutis. " I. , Ep. xlii. , 3; cix. , 2.
[1003] _Poetæ. _ Ennius is said to have taken this sentiment from the
Bellerophon of Euripides. Horace has also imitated it; i. , Ep. i. ,
65, "Rem facias; rem si possis rectè, si non quôcumque modo rem. " Cf.
Seneca, Epist. 115, "Non quare et unde; quid habeas tantum rogant. " (No
sentiment of the kind is to be found in the fragments of either. )
"No! though compell'd beyond the Tiber's flood
To move your tan-yard, swear the smell is good,
Myrrh, cassia, frankincense; and wisely think
That what is lucrative can never stink. " Hodgson.
[1004] _Peleus. _ Thetis was given in marriage to Peleus, because it had
been foretold that she should give birth to a son who should be greater
than his father; and therefore Jupiter was obliged to forego his
passion for her. Vid. Æsch. , Prom. Vinct. , 886, _seq. _ Pind. , Isthm. ,
viii. , 67. Nonnus, Dionys. , xxxiii. , 356.
[1005] _Parcendum teneris. _ Parodied from Virg. , Georg. , ii. , 363, "Ac
dum prima novis adolescit frondibus ætas, parcendum teneris. "
[1006] _Tangens.
_ In swearing, the Romans laid their hands on the
altars consecrated to the gods to whose deity they appealed. Vid.
Virg. , Æn. , pass. Hor. , ii. , Ep. i. , 16. Cf. Sat. xiii. , 89, "Atque
ideo intrepide quæcunque altaria tangunt. " Sil, iii. , 82, "Tangat
Elissæas palmas puerilibus aras. " Liv. , xxi. , 1, "Annibalem annorum
ferme novem, altaribus admotum tactis sacris jurejurando adactum, se
quum primum posset, hostem fore populo Romano. "
[1007] _Mortiferâ. _ Cf. Pers. , ii. , 13, "Acri bile tumet. Nerio jam
tertia conditur uxor. "
"If Fate should help him to a dowried wife,
Her doom is fix'd, and brief her span of life:
Sound in her sleep, while murderous fingers grasp
Her slender throat, hark to the victim's gasp! " Badham.
[1008] _Brevior via. _ So Tacitus (Ann. , iii. , 66), speaking of
Brutidius (cf. Sat. x. , 83), says, "Festinatio exstimulabat, dum
æquales, dein superiores, postremò suasmet ipse spes anteire parat:
quod multos etiam bonos pessum dedit qui, _spretis quæ tarda cum
securitate_, præmatura vel cum exitio _properarent_. "
[1009] The line "Et qui per fraudes patrimonia conduplicare" is now
generally allowed to be an interpolation.
[1010] _Effundit habenas. _ So Virg. , Georg. , i. , 512, "Ut cum
carceribus sese effudere quadrigæ addunt in spatia, et frustra
retinacula tendens Fertur equis auriga, neque audit currus habenas. "
Æn. , v. , 818; xii. , 499. Ov. , Am. , III. , iv. , 15. Cf. Shaksp. , King
Henry V. , Act iii. , sc. 3, "What rein can hold licentious wickedness,
when down the hill he holds his fierce career? "
"With base advice to poison youthful hearts,
And teach them sordid, money-getting arts,
Is to release the horses from the rein,
And let them whirl the chariot o'er the plain:
Forward they gallop from the lessening goal,
Deaf to the voice of impotent control. " Hodgson.
[1011] _Donet amico. _ Hor. , i. , Sat. ii. , 4, "Contra hic, ne prodigus
esse Dicatur metuens, inopi dare nolit amico. "
[1012] _Levet. _ Cf. Isa. , lviii. , 6, "To loose the bands of wickedness,
to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that
ye break every yoke. " Gal. , vi. , 2.
[1013] _Deciorum. _ Cf. ad viii. , 254. _Græcia vera. _ Cf. x. , 174,
"Quidquid Græcia mendax audet. "
[1014] _Menæceus. _ So called because he chose rather to "remain
at home," and save his country from the Argive besiegers by
self-sacrifice, than to escape, as his father urged, to Dodona. See the
end of the Phœnissæ of Euripides, and the story of the pomegranates
that grew on his grave, in Pausanias, ix. , cap. xxv. , 1. Cf. Cic. , T.
Qu. , i. , 48, and the end of the tenth book of Statius' Thebais.
[1015] _Sulcis. _ Ov. , Met. , iii. , 1-130. Virg. , Georg. , ii. , 141,
"Satis immanis dentibus hydri, nec galeis densisque virum seges horruit
hastis. "
[1016] _Ignem. _ Pind. , Pyth. , iii. , 66, πολλὰν τ' ὄρει πῦρ ἐξ ἑνὸς
σπέρματος ἐνθορὸν ἀΐστωσεν ὕλαν.
[1017] _Leo alumnus. _ There is said to be an allusion to a real
incident which occurred under Domitian. Cf. Mart. , Ep. , de Spect. , x. ,
"Læserat ingrato leo perfidus ore magistrum ausus tam notas contemerare
manus: sed dignas tanto persolvit crimine pœnas; et qui non tulerat
verbera tela tulit. " Æsch. , Ag. , 717, 34.
[1018] _Mathematicis. _ Suet. , Calig. , 57; Otho, 4. Cf. Sat. iii. , 43;
vi. , 553, 562. Among these famous astrologers the names of Thrasyllus,
Sulla, Theogenes, Scribonius, and Seleucus are preserved. The
calculations necessary for casting these nativities are called "numeri
Thrasylli," "Chaldaicæ rationes," "numeri Babylonii. " Hor. , i. , Od.
xi. , 2. Cic. , de Div. , ii. , 47. Ov. , Ibis, 209, _seq. _
[1019] _Grave. _ Cf. Strat. , Ep. lxxii. , 4, φεῦ μοίρης τε κακῆς καὶ
πατρὸς ἀθανάτου.
[1020] _Stamine. _ Cf. iii. , 27, "Dum superest Lachesi quod torqueat. "
x. , 251, "De legibus ipse queratur Fatorum et nimio de stamine. "
[1021] _Cervina. _ Cf. x. , 247, "Exemplum vitæ fuit a cornice secundæ. "
The crow is said to live for nine generations of men. The old Scholiast
says the stag lives for nine hundred years. Vid. Anthol. Gr. , ii. , 9,
ἡ φάος ἀθρήσασ' ἐλάφου πλέον ἡ χερὶ λαιᾷ γῆρας ἀριθμεῖσθαι δεύτερον
ἀρξαμένη. In the caldron prepared by Medea to renovate Æson, we find,
"vivacisque jecur cervi quibus insuper addit ora caputque novem
cornicis sæcula passæ. " Auson. , Idyll. , xviii. , 3, "Hos novies superat
vivendo garrula cornix, et quater egreditur cornicis sæcula cervus. "
[1022] _Archigenem. _ vi. , 236; xiii. , 98.
[1023] _Mithridates. _ vi. , 660, "Sed tamen et ferro si prægustarit
Atrides Pontica ter victi cautus medicamina regis. " x. , 273, "Regem
transeo Ponti. " Cf. Plin. , xxiii. , 24; xxv. , 11. Mart. , v. , Ep. 76,
"Profecit poto Mithridates sæpe veneno, Toxica ne possent sæva nocere
sibi. " This composition (Synthesis) is described by Serenus Sammonicus,
the physician, and consists of ludicrously simple ingredients. xxx. ,
578. Cf. Plin. , xxiii. , 8.
[1024] _Ærata. _ Cf. xi. , 26, "Quantum ferratâ distet ab arcâ Sacculus. "
[1025] _Vigilem Castora. _ So called, Grangæus says, "quod ante Castoris
templum erant militum excubiæ. " The temple of Mars Ultor, with its
columns of marble, was built by Augustus. Suet. , Aug. , 29.
