, 69, "Ah, Corydon, Corydon, quæ
te dementia cepit!
te dementia cepit!
Satires
Corn.
Scipio
Nasica, as the most virtuous man in Rome. Cf. Sat. iii. , 137. Liv. ,
xxix. , 10. A temple was afterward erected for her on the Palatine Hill:
hence _palatia_. _Secreta_ alludes to the abominable orgies performed
in her honor.
[512] _Venæque secundæ. _ "Silver adulterated with brass below the
standard; in short, base metal. "
[513] _Mollis avarus. _
"But oh! this wretch, this prodigy behold!
A slave at once to lechery and gold. " Dryden.
[514] _Morbo. _ Cf. Hor. , i. , Sat. vi. , 30, "Ut si qui ægrotet quo morbo
Barrus. "
[515] _Succina. _ Cf. ad vi. , 573. The old Schol. explains this by
"Gemmata Dextrocheria. " Grangæus thinks that it means "presents of
amber," which the Roman ladies used to rub in their hands. So Badham:
"For whom the cup of amber must be found,
Oft as the birth or festal day comes round. "
[516] _Fœmineis Kalendis. _ On the 1st of March were celebrated the
Matronalia in honor of the women who put an end to the Sabine war
(bellum dirimente Sabina, vi. , 154). Cf. Ov. , Fast. , iii. , 229. On this
festival, as well as their birthdays, the Roman ladies sat up in state
to receive presents from their husbands, lovers, and acquaintances
(vid. Suet. , Vesp. , 19), in return for what they had given to the men
on the Saturnalia. Cf. Mart. , v. , Ep. lxxxiv. , 10, "Scis certè puto
vestra jam venire Saturnalia Martias Kalendas. " Hor. , iii. , Od. viii. ,
1, "Martiis cælebs quid agam Kalendis. "
[517] _Appula. _ Cf. iv. , 27. _Milvos. _
"Regions which such a tract of land embrace,
That kites are tired within the unmeasured space. " Gifford.
[518] _Trifolinus ager. _ Cf. Mart. , xiii. , Ep. 114, "Non sum de primo
fateor, Trifolina, Lyæo; inter vina tamen septima vitis ero. " Trifoline
wines were so called from being fit to drink at the third appearance of
the leaf, "quæ tertio anno ad bibendum tempestiva forent. " Plin. , xiv. ,
6. Facc. takes it from Trifolium, a mountain in Campania, perhaps near
Capua. Plin. , iv. , 6.
[519] _Suspectumque jugum. _ Either Mons Misenus (cf. Virg. , Æn. , vi. ,
234), only three miles from Cumæ, or Vesuvius, which was famous for its
wines. Mart. , iv. , Ep. 44. Virg. , Georg. , ii. , 224. Gaurus, now Monte
Barbaro, is full of volcanic caverns. It is also called "Gierro. "
[520] _Plura. _
"Though none drinks less, yet none more vessels fills! " Dryden.
[521] _Casulis. _ Cf. xi. , 153, "notos desiderat hædos. "
"Sure yonder female with the child she bred,
The dog their playmate, and their little shed,
Had with more justice been conferr'd on me,
Than on a cymbal-beating debauchee. " Gifford.
[522] _Polyphemi. _ For the loudness of his roar, vid. Virg. , Æn. , iii. ,
672. The meaning seems to be, "I am as badly off with but one slave as
Polyphemus was with only one eye: had he had _two_ Ulysses would not
have escaped him. " Badham takes it of the slave calling for food.
"My hungry rascal must at home be fed,
Or else, like Polypheme, he'll roar for bread! "
[523] _Decembri_, used here adjectively.
[524] _Durate. _ A parody on Virg. , Æn. , i. , 207, "Durate, et vosmet
rebus servate secundis. " Cf. Suet. , Cal. , 45.
"Cold! never mind! a month or two, and then
The grasshoppers, my lads, will come again! " Badham.
[525] _Ruperat. _ Cf. Tac. , Ann. , xi. , 30, "At is redderet uxorem,
rumperetque tabulas nuptiales. " There was an express clause in the
marriage contract, "liberorum procreandorum gratiâ uxorem duci. "
[526] _Libris actorum. _ Cf. Tac. , Ann. , iii. , 3. Sat. ii. , 136,
"cupient et in acta referri. " These acta were public registers, in
which parents were obliged to insert the names of their children a few
days after their birth. They contained, besides, records of marriages,
divorces, deaths, and other occurrences of the year, and were therefore
of great service to historians, who as some think employed persons to
read them up for them. (Cf. acta legenti vii. , 104. ) Servius Tullius
instituted this custom. The records were kept in the temple of Saturn.
[527] _Suspende coronas. _ This was customary on all festive occasions,
as here, on the birth of a child; at marriages (vi. , 51, "Necte coronam
postibus, et densos per limina tende corymbos"), the return of friends
(cf. xii. , 91, "Longos erexit janua ramos"), or any public rejoicing
(as x. , 65, on the death of Sejanus, "Pone domi lauros"). So, when
advocates gained a cause, their clients adorned the entrance of their
houses with palm branches. Cf. vii. , 118, "virides scalarum gloria
palmæ. " Mart. , vii. , Ep. xxviii. , 6, "excolat et geminas plurima palma
fores. "
[528] _Legatum omne. _ One of the provisions of the Lex Papia Poppæa
(introduced, at the desire of Augustus, to extend the Lex Julia de
maritandis ordinibus) was, that if a married person had no child, a
tenth, and in some cases a larger proportion, of what was bequeathed
him, should fall to the exchequer. Cf. vi. , 38. It conferred also
certain privileges and immunities on those who in Rome had three
children (hence jus trium liberorum) born in wedlock. Cf. Ruperti and
Lips. ad Tac. , Ann. , iii. , 25. Cf. Ann. , xv. , 19. Mart. , ii. , Ep. xci. ,
6; ix. , lxvii.
[529] _Caducum_, probably a legacy contingent upon the condition of
having children.
[530] _Pumice. _ Cf. viii. , 16, "tenerum attritus Catanensi pumice
lumbum. "
[531] _Valvis. _ Cf. xiii. , 145, _seq. _
[532] _Corydon. _ Cf. Virg. , Ecl. , ii.
, 69, "Ah, Corydon, Corydon, quæ
te dementia cepit! " and 56, "Rusticus es, Corydon! "
[533] _Claude fenestras. _
"Bolt every door, stop every cranny tight,
Close every window, put out every light;
Let not a whisper reach the listening ear,
No noise, no motion--let no soul be near. " Gifford.
[534] _Gallicinium_ was the technical name for the second military
watch, Vid. Facc.
[535] _Carptores_, Grangæus explains by "Escuiers trenchants. " Facc. by
δαιτρός and structor.
[536] _Baltea. _
"For countless scourgings will the rogues be slack
In slanderous villainies to pay thee back? " Badham.
[537] _Saufeia_, or Laufella, is supposed to be the "conjux Fusci,"
mentioned xii. , 45, and Mart. , iii. , Ep. 72; and whose other
debaucheries are mentioned vi. , 320. Cicero, knowing the propensity of
his countrywomen to wine-bibbing, would exclude them from officiating
at any sacred rites (at which wine was always used) after nightfall.
The festival of the Bona Dea is the only exception he would make.
"Nocturna mulierum sacrificia ne sunto, præter olla quæ pro populo rite
fiant. "
[538] _Faciens_; so _operatur_, xii. , 92. Virg. , Ecl. , iii. , 77,
"Cum _faciam_ vitulâ pro fugibus ipse venito. " So Georg. , i. , 339,
"Sacra refer Cereri lætis operatus in herbis. " So in Greek, ῥέζειν is
constantly used absolutely.
"For more stolen wine than late Saufeia boused,
When, for the people's welfare, she caroused! " Gifford.
[539] _Liber. _
"Yet worse than they, the man whose vicious deeds
Makes him still tremble at the rogues he feeds. " Badham.
[540] _Flosculus. _ For many exquisite parallel passages to this, see
Gifford's note.
[541] _Dum bibimus. _
"And while thou call'st for garlands, girls, and wine,
Comes stealthy age, and bids thee all resign. " Badham.
[542] _Digito. _ Effeminate wretches, who, as Holyday says, like women,
are afraid of touching their heads with more than a finger, for fear of
discomposing their curls. Pompey had this charge brought against him by
one Calvus; and cf. Plut. in Vit. , 48. Amm. Marcell. , XVII. , xi.
[543] _Lares_, cf. xii. , 87. Hor. , iii. , Od. xxiii. , 15, "Parvos
coronantem marino Rore Deos, fragilique myrto. " Plin. , xi. , 2, "Numa
instituit deos fruge colere, et mola salsa supplicare et far torrere. "
[544] _Figam_, a metaphor from hunting. --_Tegete_, cf. v. , 8, "Nusquam
pons et tegetis pars. "--_Baculo_, cf. Ter. , Heaut. , V. , i. , 58.
[545] C. Fabricius Luscinus, when censor, removed from the senate P.
Cornelius Rufinus, who had been twice consul and once dictator, for
having in his possession more than ten pounds' weight of plate. Liv. ,
Epit. , xiv. He was censor A. U. C. 478. Cf. xi. , 90, _seq. _
[546] _Duo fortes. _ Persons of moderate fortune rode in their _sella
gestatoria_, a sedan borne by two persons. The rich had litters or
palanquins, called hexaphori, or octophori, according to the number of
the lecticarii. Cf. i. , 64. Mœsia, now Bulgaria and Servia, is said to
have been famous for producing these brawny chairmen.
[547] _Curvus. _ So Lubinus interprets it. "Cum enim laborat se incur
vat. " Cf. Virg. , Eccl. , iii. , 42, "curvus arator;" so Art. Am. , ii. ,
670, "Curva senectus. " Or from his assiduity, "qui assiduus in opere
est. " Madan says, "Curvus means crooked, that hath turnings and
windings; and this latter, in a mental sense, denotes cunning, which
is often used for _skillful_. " Cf. Exod. , xxxviii. , 23. The old Schol.
explains it by Anaglyptarius, "a carver in low relief. "
[548] _Pingit. _ Others read _fingit_, and interpret it of "plaster
casts. " It probably refers to the "line of painted busts" to deck his
corridor, perhaps of fictitious ancestors. Cf. viii. , 2, "Pictosque
ostendere vultus majorum. "
[549] _Fortuna. _
"For when to Fortune I prefer my prayers,
The obdurate goddess stops at once her ears;
Stops with that wax which saved Ulysses' crew,
When by the Syrens' rocks and songs they flew. " Gifford.
SATIRE X.
In all the regions which extend from Gades[550] even to the farthest
east and Ganges, there are but few that can discriminate between real
blessings and those that are widely different, all the mist[551] of
error being removed. For what is there that we either fear or wish for,
as reason would direct? What is there that you enter on under such
favorable auspices, that you do not repent of your undertaking, and the
accomplishment of your wish? The too easy gods have overthrown[552]
whole families by granting their owners' prayers. Our prayers are put
up for what will injure us in peace and injure us in war. To many the
copious fluency[553] of speech, and their very eloquence, is fatal. It
was owing to his strength[554] and wondrous muscle, in which he placed
his trust, that the Athlete met his death. But money heaped up with
overwhelming care, and a revenue surpassing all common patrimonies as
much as the whale of Britain[555] exceeds dolphins, causes more to
be strangled. Therefore it was, that in that reign of Terror, and at
Nero's bidding, a whole cohort[556] blockaded Longinus[557] and the
spacious gardens of the over-wealthy Seneca,[558] and laid siege to the
splendid[559] mansion of the Laterani. [560] It is but rarely that the
soldier pays his visit to a garret. Though you are conveying ever so
few vessels of unembossed silver, entering on your journey by night,
you will dread the bandit's knife and bludgeon, and tremble at the
shadow of a reed as it quivers in the moonshine. [561] The traveler with
empty[562] pockets will sing even in the robber's face.
The prayers that are generally the first put up and best known in all
the temples are, that riches,[563] that wealth may increase; that our
chest may be the largest in the whole forum. [564] But no aconite is
drunk from earthenware. It is time to dread it when you quaff jeweled
cups,[565] and the ruddy Setine blazes in the broad gold. And do you
not, then, now commend the fact, that of the two sages,[566] one
used to laugh[567] whenever he had advanced a single step from his
threshold; the other, with sentiments directly contrary, used to weep.
But easy enough to any one is the stern censure of a sneering laugh:
the wonder is how the other's eyes could ever have a sufficient supply
of tears. [568] Democritus used to shake his sides with perpetual
laughter, though in the cities of those regions there were no prætextæ,
no trabeæ,[569] no fasces, no litter, no tribunal! What, had he seen
the prætor[570] standing pre-eminent in his lofty car, and raised on
high in the mid dust of the circus, dressed in the tunic of Jove, and
wearing on his shoulders the Tyrian hangings of the embroidered toga;
and the circlet of a ponderous crown,[571] so heavy that no single
neck could endure the weight:[572] since the official, all in a sweat,
supports it, and, that the consul may not be too elated, the slave
rides in the same car. Then, add the bird that rises from his ivory
sceptre: on one side the trumpeters; on the other, the long train of
attendant clients, that march before him, and the Quirites, all in
white togas, walking by his horses' heads; men whose friendship he has
won by the sportula buried deep in his chest. Even in those days _he_
found subject for ridicule in every place where human beings meet,
whose wisdom proves that men of the highest intellect, men that will
furnish noble examples, may be born in the country of wether-sheep,
and in a foggy[573] atmosphere. He used to laugh at the cares and
also the joys of the common herd; sometimes even at their tears:
while he himself would bid Fortune, when she frowned, "Go hang! " and
point at her his finger[574] in scorn! Superfluous therefore, or else
destructive, are all those objects of our prayers, for which we think
it right to cover the knees of the gods with waxen tablets. [575]
Power, exposed to great envy, hurls some headlong down to ruin. The
long and splendid list of their titles and honors sinks[576] into the
dust. Down come their statues,[577] and are dragged along with ropes:
then the very wheels of the chariot are smashed by the vigorous stroke
of the axe, and the legs of the innocent[578] horses are demolished.
Now the fires roar! Now that head, once worshiped[579] by the mob,
glows with the bellows and the furnace! Great Sejanus crackles! Then
from that head, second only in the whole wide world, are made pitchers,
basins, frying-pans,[580] and platters! "Crown your doors with
bays! [581] Lead to Jove's Capitol a huge and milk-white ox! Sejanus
is being dragged along by the hook! a glorious sight! " Every body is
delighted. "What lips he had! and what a face! If you believe me, I
never could endure this man! " "But what was the charge under which he
fell! Who was the accuser? what the information laid? By whose witness
did he prove it? " "Nothing of the sort! a wordy and lengthy epistle
came from Capreæ. " "That's enough! I ask no farther. But how does the
mob of Remus behave! " "Why, follow Fortune,[582] as mobs always do,
and hate him that is condemned? " That self-same people, had Tuscan
Nurscia[583] smiled propitious on her countryman--had the old age of
the emperor been crushed while he thought all secure--would in that
very hour have saluted Sejanus as Augustus. Long ago they have thrown
overboard all anxiety. For that sovereign people that once gave away
military command, consulships, legions, and every thing, now bridles
its desires, and limits its anxious longings to two things only--bread,
and the games of the circus! "I hear that many are involved in his
fall. " "No doubt: the little furnace[584] is a capacious one; I met
my friend Brutidius[585] at the altar of Mars looking a little pale! "
"But I greatly fear that Ajax, being baffled,[586] will wreak fearful
vengeance, as having been inadequately defended. Let us rush headlong;
and, while he still lies on the river-bank, trample on Cæsar's foe?
But take care that our slaves witness the act! lest any of them should
deny it, and drag his master to trial with a halter round his neck! "
Such were the conversations then about Sejanus; such the smothered
whispers of the populace? Would _you_ then have the same court paid to
you that Sejanus had? possess as much, bestow on one the highest curule
honors, give another the command of armies,[587] be esteemed the lawful
guardian[588] of the prince that lounged away[589] his days with his
herd of Chaldæan astrologers, in the rock of Capreæ that he made his
palace? [590] Would you have centuries and cohorts, and a picked body
of cavalry,[591] and prætorian bands at your beck? Why should you not
covet these? Even those who have not the _will_ to kill a man would
gladly have the _power_. But what brilliant or prosperous fortune is of
sufficient worth that your measure of evils should balance your good
luck? Would you rather put on the prætexta of him that is being dragged
along, or be the magistrate of Fidenæ or Gabii, and give sentence about
false weights,[592] and break up scanty measures as the ragged ædile of
the deserted Ulubræ? [593]
You acknowledge, therefore, that Sejanus did not know what ought to
have been the object of his wishes. For he that coveted excessive
honors, and prayed for excessive wealth, was but rearing up the
multiplied stories of a tower raised on high, only that the fall might
be the deeper,[594] and horrible the headlong descent of his ruin[595]
once accelerated!
What overthrew the Crassi? [596] and Pompey and his sons? [597] and
him that brought Rome's haughty citizens quailing[598] beneath his
lash? Surely it was the post of highest advancement, reached by every
possible device, and prayers for greatness heard by gods who showed
their malignity in granting them! Few kings go down without slaughter
and wounds to Ceres' son-in-law. Few tyrants die a bloodless death!
He that as yet pays court to[599] Minerva, purchased by a single
_as_, that is followed by his little slave[600] to take charge of
his diminutive satchel, begins to long, and longs through all his
quinquatrian[601] holidays, for the eloquence and the renown of
Demosthenes or Cicero. But it was through their eloquence that both of
these orators perished: the copious and overflowing fount of talent
gave over each to destruction; by talent, was his hand and head cut
off! Nor did the Rostra[602] ever reek with the blood of a contemptible
pleader.
"O fortunate Rome, whose natal day may date from me as consul! " He
might have scorned the swords of Antony,[603] had all he uttered
been such trash as this.
Nasica, as the most virtuous man in Rome. Cf. Sat. iii. , 137. Liv. ,
xxix. , 10. A temple was afterward erected for her on the Palatine Hill:
hence _palatia_. _Secreta_ alludes to the abominable orgies performed
in her honor.
[512] _Venæque secundæ. _ "Silver adulterated with brass below the
standard; in short, base metal. "
[513] _Mollis avarus. _
"But oh! this wretch, this prodigy behold!
A slave at once to lechery and gold. " Dryden.
[514] _Morbo. _ Cf. Hor. , i. , Sat. vi. , 30, "Ut si qui ægrotet quo morbo
Barrus. "
[515] _Succina. _ Cf. ad vi. , 573. The old Schol. explains this by
"Gemmata Dextrocheria. " Grangæus thinks that it means "presents of
amber," which the Roman ladies used to rub in their hands. So Badham:
"For whom the cup of amber must be found,
Oft as the birth or festal day comes round. "
[516] _Fœmineis Kalendis. _ On the 1st of March were celebrated the
Matronalia in honor of the women who put an end to the Sabine war
(bellum dirimente Sabina, vi. , 154). Cf. Ov. , Fast. , iii. , 229. On this
festival, as well as their birthdays, the Roman ladies sat up in state
to receive presents from their husbands, lovers, and acquaintances
(vid. Suet. , Vesp. , 19), in return for what they had given to the men
on the Saturnalia. Cf. Mart. , v. , Ep. lxxxiv. , 10, "Scis certè puto
vestra jam venire Saturnalia Martias Kalendas. " Hor. , iii. , Od. viii. ,
1, "Martiis cælebs quid agam Kalendis. "
[517] _Appula. _ Cf. iv. , 27. _Milvos. _
"Regions which such a tract of land embrace,
That kites are tired within the unmeasured space. " Gifford.
[518] _Trifolinus ager. _ Cf. Mart. , xiii. , Ep. 114, "Non sum de primo
fateor, Trifolina, Lyæo; inter vina tamen septima vitis ero. " Trifoline
wines were so called from being fit to drink at the third appearance of
the leaf, "quæ tertio anno ad bibendum tempestiva forent. " Plin. , xiv. ,
6. Facc. takes it from Trifolium, a mountain in Campania, perhaps near
Capua. Plin. , iv. , 6.
[519] _Suspectumque jugum. _ Either Mons Misenus (cf. Virg. , Æn. , vi. ,
234), only three miles from Cumæ, or Vesuvius, which was famous for its
wines. Mart. , iv. , Ep. 44. Virg. , Georg. , ii. , 224. Gaurus, now Monte
Barbaro, is full of volcanic caverns. It is also called "Gierro. "
[520] _Plura. _
"Though none drinks less, yet none more vessels fills! " Dryden.
[521] _Casulis. _ Cf. xi. , 153, "notos desiderat hædos. "
"Sure yonder female with the child she bred,
The dog their playmate, and their little shed,
Had with more justice been conferr'd on me,
Than on a cymbal-beating debauchee. " Gifford.
[522] _Polyphemi. _ For the loudness of his roar, vid. Virg. , Æn. , iii. ,
672. The meaning seems to be, "I am as badly off with but one slave as
Polyphemus was with only one eye: had he had _two_ Ulysses would not
have escaped him. " Badham takes it of the slave calling for food.
"My hungry rascal must at home be fed,
Or else, like Polypheme, he'll roar for bread! "
[523] _Decembri_, used here adjectively.
[524] _Durate. _ A parody on Virg. , Æn. , i. , 207, "Durate, et vosmet
rebus servate secundis. " Cf. Suet. , Cal. , 45.
"Cold! never mind! a month or two, and then
The grasshoppers, my lads, will come again! " Badham.
[525] _Ruperat. _ Cf. Tac. , Ann. , xi. , 30, "At is redderet uxorem,
rumperetque tabulas nuptiales. " There was an express clause in the
marriage contract, "liberorum procreandorum gratiâ uxorem duci. "
[526] _Libris actorum. _ Cf. Tac. , Ann. , iii. , 3. Sat. ii. , 136,
"cupient et in acta referri. " These acta were public registers, in
which parents were obliged to insert the names of their children a few
days after their birth. They contained, besides, records of marriages,
divorces, deaths, and other occurrences of the year, and were therefore
of great service to historians, who as some think employed persons to
read them up for them. (Cf. acta legenti vii. , 104. ) Servius Tullius
instituted this custom. The records were kept in the temple of Saturn.
[527] _Suspende coronas. _ This was customary on all festive occasions,
as here, on the birth of a child; at marriages (vi. , 51, "Necte coronam
postibus, et densos per limina tende corymbos"), the return of friends
(cf. xii. , 91, "Longos erexit janua ramos"), or any public rejoicing
(as x. , 65, on the death of Sejanus, "Pone domi lauros"). So, when
advocates gained a cause, their clients adorned the entrance of their
houses with palm branches. Cf. vii. , 118, "virides scalarum gloria
palmæ. " Mart. , vii. , Ep. xxviii. , 6, "excolat et geminas plurima palma
fores. "
[528] _Legatum omne. _ One of the provisions of the Lex Papia Poppæa
(introduced, at the desire of Augustus, to extend the Lex Julia de
maritandis ordinibus) was, that if a married person had no child, a
tenth, and in some cases a larger proportion, of what was bequeathed
him, should fall to the exchequer. Cf. vi. , 38. It conferred also
certain privileges and immunities on those who in Rome had three
children (hence jus trium liberorum) born in wedlock. Cf. Ruperti and
Lips. ad Tac. , Ann. , iii. , 25. Cf. Ann. , xv. , 19. Mart. , ii. , Ep. xci. ,
6; ix. , lxvii.
[529] _Caducum_, probably a legacy contingent upon the condition of
having children.
[530] _Pumice. _ Cf. viii. , 16, "tenerum attritus Catanensi pumice
lumbum. "
[531] _Valvis. _ Cf. xiii. , 145, _seq. _
[532] _Corydon. _ Cf. Virg. , Ecl. , ii.
, 69, "Ah, Corydon, Corydon, quæ
te dementia cepit! " and 56, "Rusticus es, Corydon! "
[533] _Claude fenestras. _
"Bolt every door, stop every cranny tight,
Close every window, put out every light;
Let not a whisper reach the listening ear,
No noise, no motion--let no soul be near. " Gifford.
[534] _Gallicinium_ was the technical name for the second military
watch, Vid. Facc.
[535] _Carptores_, Grangæus explains by "Escuiers trenchants. " Facc. by
δαιτρός and structor.
[536] _Baltea. _
"For countless scourgings will the rogues be slack
In slanderous villainies to pay thee back? " Badham.
[537] _Saufeia_, or Laufella, is supposed to be the "conjux Fusci,"
mentioned xii. , 45, and Mart. , iii. , Ep. 72; and whose other
debaucheries are mentioned vi. , 320. Cicero, knowing the propensity of
his countrywomen to wine-bibbing, would exclude them from officiating
at any sacred rites (at which wine was always used) after nightfall.
The festival of the Bona Dea is the only exception he would make.
"Nocturna mulierum sacrificia ne sunto, præter olla quæ pro populo rite
fiant. "
[538] _Faciens_; so _operatur_, xii. , 92. Virg. , Ecl. , iii. , 77,
"Cum _faciam_ vitulâ pro fugibus ipse venito. " So Georg. , i. , 339,
"Sacra refer Cereri lætis operatus in herbis. " So in Greek, ῥέζειν is
constantly used absolutely.
"For more stolen wine than late Saufeia boused,
When, for the people's welfare, she caroused! " Gifford.
[539] _Liber. _
"Yet worse than they, the man whose vicious deeds
Makes him still tremble at the rogues he feeds. " Badham.
[540] _Flosculus. _ For many exquisite parallel passages to this, see
Gifford's note.
[541] _Dum bibimus. _
"And while thou call'st for garlands, girls, and wine,
Comes stealthy age, and bids thee all resign. " Badham.
[542] _Digito. _ Effeminate wretches, who, as Holyday says, like women,
are afraid of touching their heads with more than a finger, for fear of
discomposing their curls. Pompey had this charge brought against him by
one Calvus; and cf. Plut. in Vit. , 48. Amm. Marcell. , XVII. , xi.
[543] _Lares_, cf. xii. , 87. Hor. , iii. , Od. xxiii. , 15, "Parvos
coronantem marino Rore Deos, fragilique myrto. " Plin. , xi. , 2, "Numa
instituit deos fruge colere, et mola salsa supplicare et far torrere. "
[544] _Figam_, a metaphor from hunting. --_Tegete_, cf. v. , 8, "Nusquam
pons et tegetis pars. "--_Baculo_, cf. Ter. , Heaut. , V. , i. , 58.
[545] C. Fabricius Luscinus, when censor, removed from the senate P.
Cornelius Rufinus, who had been twice consul and once dictator, for
having in his possession more than ten pounds' weight of plate. Liv. ,
Epit. , xiv. He was censor A. U. C. 478. Cf. xi. , 90, _seq. _
[546] _Duo fortes. _ Persons of moderate fortune rode in their _sella
gestatoria_, a sedan borne by two persons. The rich had litters or
palanquins, called hexaphori, or octophori, according to the number of
the lecticarii. Cf. i. , 64. Mœsia, now Bulgaria and Servia, is said to
have been famous for producing these brawny chairmen.
[547] _Curvus. _ So Lubinus interprets it. "Cum enim laborat se incur
vat. " Cf. Virg. , Eccl. , iii. , 42, "curvus arator;" so Art. Am. , ii. ,
670, "Curva senectus. " Or from his assiduity, "qui assiduus in opere
est. " Madan says, "Curvus means crooked, that hath turnings and
windings; and this latter, in a mental sense, denotes cunning, which
is often used for _skillful_. " Cf. Exod. , xxxviii. , 23. The old Schol.
explains it by Anaglyptarius, "a carver in low relief. "
[548] _Pingit. _ Others read _fingit_, and interpret it of "plaster
casts. " It probably refers to the "line of painted busts" to deck his
corridor, perhaps of fictitious ancestors. Cf. viii. , 2, "Pictosque
ostendere vultus majorum. "
[549] _Fortuna. _
"For when to Fortune I prefer my prayers,
The obdurate goddess stops at once her ears;
Stops with that wax which saved Ulysses' crew,
When by the Syrens' rocks and songs they flew. " Gifford.
SATIRE X.
In all the regions which extend from Gades[550] even to the farthest
east and Ganges, there are but few that can discriminate between real
blessings and those that are widely different, all the mist[551] of
error being removed. For what is there that we either fear or wish for,
as reason would direct? What is there that you enter on under such
favorable auspices, that you do not repent of your undertaking, and the
accomplishment of your wish? The too easy gods have overthrown[552]
whole families by granting their owners' prayers. Our prayers are put
up for what will injure us in peace and injure us in war. To many the
copious fluency[553] of speech, and their very eloquence, is fatal. It
was owing to his strength[554] and wondrous muscle, in which he placed
his trust, that the Athlete met his death. But money heaped up with
overwhelming care, and a revenue surpassing all common patrimonies as
much as the whale of Britain[555] exceeds dolphins, causes more to
be strangled. Therefore it was, that in that reign of Terror, and at
Nero's bidding, a whole cohort[556] blockaded Longinus[557] and the
spacious gardens of the over-wealthy Seneca,[558] and laid siege to the
splendid[559] mansion of the Laterani. [560] It is but rarely that the
soldier pays his visit to a garret. Though you are conveying ever so
few vessels of unembossed silver, entering on your journey by night,
you will dread the bandit's knife and bludgeon, and tremble at the
shadow of a reed as it quivers in the moonshine. [561] The traveler with
empty[562] pockets will sing even in the robber's face.
The prayers that are generally the first put up and best known in all
the temples are, that riches,[563] that wealth may increase; that our
chest may be the largest in the whole forum. [564] But no aconite is
drunk from earthenware. It is time to dread it when you quaff jeweled
cups,[565] and the ruddy Setine blazes in the broad gold. And do you
not, then, now commend the fact, that of the two sages,[566] one
used to laugh[567] whenever he had advanced a single step from his
threshold; the other, with sentiments directly contrary, used to weep.
But easy enough to any one is the stern censure of a sneering laugh:
the wonder is how the other's eyes could ever have a sufficient supply
of tears. [568] Democritus used to shake his sides with perpetual
laughter, though in the cities of those regions there were no prætextæ,
no trabeæ,[569] no fasces, no litter, no tribunal! What, had he seen
the prætor[570] standing pre-eminent in his lofty car, and raised on
high in the mid dust of the circus, dressed in the tunic of Jove, and
wearing on his shoulders the Tyrian hangings of the embroidered toga;
and the circlet of a ponderous crown,[571] so heavy that no single
neck could endure the weight:[572] since the official, all in a sweat,
supports it, and, that the consul may not be too elated, the slave
rides in the same car. Then, add the bird that rises from his ivory
sceptre: on one side the trumpeters; on the other, the long train of
attendant clients, that march before him, and the Quirites, all in
white togas, walking by his horses' heads; men whose friendship he has
won by the sportula buried deep in his chest. Even in those days _he_
found subject for ridicule in every place where human beings meet,
whose wisdom proves that men of the highest intellect, men that will
furnish noble examples, may be born in the country of wether-sheep,
and in a foggy[573] atmosphere. He used to laugh at the cares and
also the joys of the common herd; sometimes even at their tears:
while he himself would bid Fortune, when she frowned, "Go hang! " and
point at her his finger[574] in scorn! Superfluous therefore, or else
destructive, are all those objects of our prayers, for which we think
it right to cover the knees of the gods with waxen tablets. [575]
Power, exposed to great envy, hurls some headlong down to ruin. The
long and splendid list of their titles and honors sinks[576] into the
dust. Down come their statues,[577] and are dragged along with ropes:
then the very wheels of the chariot are smashed by the vigorous stroke
of the axe, and the legs of the innocent[578] horses are demolished.
Now the fires roar! Now that head, once worshiped[579] by the mob,
glows with the bellows and the furnace! Great Sejanus crackles! Then
from that head, second only in the whole wide world, are made pitchers,
basins, frying-pans,[580] and platters! "Crown your doors with
bays! [581] Lead to Jove's Capitol a huge and milk-white ox! Sejanus
is being dragged along by the hook! a glorious sight! " Every body is
delighted. "What lips he had! and what a face! If you believe me, I
never could endure this man! " "But what was the charge under which he
fell! Who was the accuser? what the information laid? By whose witness
did he prove it? " "Nothing of the sort! a wordy and lengthy epistle
came from Capreæ. " "That's enough! I ask no farther. But how does the
mob of Remus behave! " "Why, follow Fortune,[582] as mobs always do,
and hate him that is condemned? " That self-same people, had Tuscan
Nurscia[583] smiled propitious on her countryman--had the old age of
the emperor been crushed while he thought all secure--would in that
very hour have saluted Sejanus as Augustus. Long ago they have thrown
overboard all anxiety. For that sovereign people that once gave away
military command, consulships, legions, and every thing, now bridles
its desires, and limits its anxious longings to two things only--bread,
and the games of the circus! "I hear that many are involved in his
fall. " "No doubt: the little furnace[584] is a capacious one; I met
my friend Brutidius[585] at the altar of Mars looking a little pale! "
"But I greatly fear that Ajax, being baffled,[586] will wreak fearful
vengeance, as having been inadequately defended. Let us rush headlong;
and, while he still lies on the river-bank, trample on Cæsar's foe?
But take care that our slaves witness the act! lest any of them should
deny it, and drag his master to trial with a halter round his neck! "
Such were the conversations then about Sejanus; such the smothered
whispers of the populace? Would _you_ then have the same court paid to
you that Sejanus had? possess as much, bestow on one the highest curule
honors, give another the command of armies,[587] be esteemed the lawful
guardian[588] of the prince that lounged away[589] his days with his
herd of Chaldæan astrologers, in the rock of Capreæ that he made his
palace? [590] Would you have centuries and cohorts, and a picked body
of cavalry,[591] and prætorian bands at your beck? Why should you not
covet these? Even those who have not the _will_ to kill a man would
gladly have the _power_. But what brilliant or prosperous fortune is of
sufficient worth that your measure of evils should balance your good
luck? Would you rather put on the prætexta of him that is being dragged
along, or be the magistrate of Fidenæ or Gabii, and give sentence about
false weights,[592] and break up scanty measures as the ragged ædile of
the deserted Ulubræ? [593]
You acknowledge, therefore, that Sejanus did not know what ought to
have been the object of his wishes. For he that coveted excessive
honors, and prayed for excessive wealth, was but rearing up the
multiplied stories of a tower raised on high, only that the fall might
be the deeper,[594] and horrible the headlong descent of his ruin[595]
once accelerated!
What overthrew the Crassi? [596] and Pompey and his sons? [597] and
him that brought Rome's haughty citizens quailing[598] beneath his
lash? Surely it was the post of highest advancement, reached by every
possible device, and prayers for greatness heard by gods who showed
their malignity in granting them! Few kings go down without slaughter
and wounds to Ceres' son-in-law. Few tyrants die a bloodless death!
He that as yet pays court to[599] Minerva, purchased by a single
_as_, that is followed by his little slave[600] to take charge of
his diminutive satchel, begins to long, and longs through all his
quinquatrian[601] holidays, for the eloquence and the renown of
Demosthenes or Cicero. But it was through their eloquence that both of
these orators perished: the copious and overflowing fount of talent
gave over each to destruction; by talent, was his hand and head cut
off! Nor did the Rostra[602] ever reek with the blood of a contemptible
pleader.
"O fortunate Rome, whose natal day may date from me as consul! " He
might have scorned the swords of Antony,[603] had all he uttered
been such trash as this.
