, 261,
"Domus intereà secura _patellas_ jam _lavat_.
"Domus intereà secura _patellas_ jam _lavat_.
Satires
" Dryden.
[923] _Alea_, i. , 89. Cf. Propert. , IV. , viii. , 45, "Me quoque per
talos Venerem quærente secundos, Semper _damnosi_ subsiluere Canes. "
The Romans used four dice in throwing, which were thrown on a table
with a rim (alveolus or abacus), out of a dice-box made of horn,
box-wood, or ivory. This fritillus was a kind of _cup_, narrower at
the top than below. When made in the form of a tower, with graduated
intervals, it was called pyrgus, turricula, or phimus.
[924] _Ludit. _
"Repeats in miniature the darling vice;
Shakes the low box, and cogs the little dice. " Gifford.
[925] _Tubera. _ Cf. v. , 116, _seq. _ Mart. , Ep. xiii. , 50.
[926] _Boletum. _ Cf. v. , 147. Mart. , Ep. xiii. , 48.
[927] _Ficedulas. _ Mr. Metcalfe translates "snipes. " Cf. Mart. , Ep.
xiii. , 49, "Cum me ficus alat, cum pascar dulcibus uvis, Cur potius
nomen non dedit uva mihi? "
[928] _Gula_, i. , 140.
[929] _Septimus. _ Plin. , vii. , 16, "Editis infantibus primores
dentes septimo gignuntur mense: iidem anno septimo decidunt, aliique
sufficiuntur. "
[930] _Barbatos. _ Pers. , iv. , 1, "Barbatum hoc crede magistrum dicere
sorbitio tollit quem dira cicutæ. " Cic. , Fin. , iv. , "Barba sylvosa et
pulchre alita, quamvis res ipsa sit exterior et fortuita, inter hominis
eruditi insignia recensetur. "
[931] _Rutilus. _ Used probably indefinitely, as in Sat. xi. , 2, "Si
Rutilus, demens. " Rutilus was a surname of the Marcian, Virginian, and
Nantian clans.
[932] _Servorum. _ Gifford quotes an apposite passage from Macrobius,
i. , 2, "Tibi autem unde in servos tantum et tam immane fastidium? Quasi
non ex iisdem tibi constent et alantur elementis, eumdemque spiritum ab
eodem principe carpant! "
[933] _Sirena. _ Cf. ix. , 150.
[934] _Antiphates_, king of the cannibal Læstrygones. Hom. , Odys. , x. ,
114, _seq. _ Ovid, Met. , xiv. , 233, _seq. _
[935] _Tortore. _ vi. , 480, "Sunt quæ tortoribus annua præstent. "
"Knows no delight, save when the torturer's hand
Stamps for low theft the agonizing brand. " Gifford.
[936] _Ergastula. _ Cf. ad viii. , 180. Put here, as in vi. , 151, for the
slaves themselves. As 15 freemen were said to constitute a _state_, and
15 slaves a _familia_, so "_quindecim vincti_" form one Ergastulum. It
properly means the Bridewell, where they were set to "travaux forcis. "
Liv. , ii. , 23; vii. , 4. The country prisons were generally under-ground
dungeons. Branding on the forehead was a common punishment. Thieves
had the word "Fur" burnt in; hence called "literati homines," "homines
trium literarum. " Plaut. , Aul. , II. , iv. , 46. Cicero calls one
"compunctum notis, stigmatiam," Off. , ii. , 7. So "Inscripti vultus,"
Plin. , xviii. , 3. "Inscripti," Martial, Ep. viii, 79. Cf. Plin. ,
Paneg. , 35. Sat. x. , 183. Plaut. , Cas. , II. , vi. , 49.
[937] _Largæ. _ Cf. vi. , 239, "Scilicet expectas ut tradat mater
honestos atque alios mores quam quos habet? " x. , 220, "Promptius
expediam quot amaverit Hippia mæchos. "
[938] _Dictante. _ vi. , 223, "Illa docet missis a corruptore tabellis,
nil rude, nil simplex rescribere. "
[939] _Exempla. _ From Cic, Ep. , iv. , 3, "Quod exemplo fit, id etiam
jure fieri putant. "
[940] _Exempla domestica. _
"Thus Nature bids our home's examples win
The passive mind to imitative sin,
And vice, unquestion'd, makes its easy way,
Sanction'd by those our earliest thoughts obey. " Badham.
[941] _Luto. _ Callim. , fr. 133, εἴ σε Προμηθεὺς ἔπλασε καὶ πηλοῦ μὴ 'ξ
ἑτέρου γέγονας. Ovid, Met, i. , 80, "Sive recens tellus seductaque nuper
ab alto æthere cognati retinebat semina cœli; Quam satus Iapeto mixtam
fluvialibus undis finxit in effigiem moderantûm cuncta Deorum. " Cf.
Sat. vi. , 13, "Compositive luto nullos habuere parentes. "
[942] _Orbita_, from orbis; "the track of a wheel. " So by the same
metaphor the "_routine_," or course of life.
[943] _Abstineas. _
"O cease from sin! should other reasons fail
Lest our own frailties make our children frail. " Badham.
[944] _Brutus_ was the son of Servilia, the sister of Cato of Utica
(cf. x. , 319). So Sen. , Ep. 97, "Omne tempus Clodios, non omne Catones
fert. "
[945] _Procul hinc. _ The formula at religious solemnities. Cf. ii. ,
89. Ov. , Met. , vii. , 255, "Hinc procul Æsonidem, procul hinc jubet ire
ministros, et monet arcanis oculos removere profanos. "
[946] _Parasiti. _ Cf. i. , 139.
[947] _Reverentia. _
"His child's unsullied purity demands
The deepest reverence at a parent's hands. " Badham.
[948] _Censoris. _ Henninius' reading and punctuation is followed here.
"Oh yet reflect! For should he e'er provoke,
In riper age, the Law's avenging stroke
(Since not alone in person and in face,
But morals, he will prove your son, and trace,
Nay pass your vicious footsteps), you will rail,
And name another heir, should threatening fail! " Gifford.
[949] _Cerebro. _ Plin. , ix. , 37, "Cerebrum est velut arx sensuum: hic
mentis est regimen. "
[950] _Cucurbita. _ Properly a kind of gourd, κολοκύνθη thence from its
shape, and perhaps too from its _use_, applied to a cupping-glass.
These were made of horn, brass, and afterward of glass. The Greeks,
from the same cause, called it σικύα, or κύαθος (cf. Schol. ad Arist. ,
Lys. , 444). It is called _ventosa_ from the rarefication of the air in
the operation, and was applied to relieve the head. Hence _cucurbitæ
caput_ is used for a fool. Cf. Appul. , Met. , I, "Nos cucurbitæ caput
non habemus, ut pro te moriamur! "
[951] _Lavet. _ Browne says, "Who washes silver plate? " and prefers the
reading "leve. " "But might not his _patellæ_ be of silver? " iii.
, 261,
"Domus intereà secura _patellas_ jam _lavat_. "
[952] _Aspera. _ Cf. i. , 76, "Argentum vetus et stantem extrà pocula
caprum. " v. , 38, "Inæquales beryllo phialas. " Virg. , Æn. , ix. , 266,
"Argento perfecta atque _aspera_ signis pocula. " Ovid. , Met. , v. ,
81, "Altis exstantem signis cratera. " xii. , 235, "Signis exstantibus
_asper_ Antiquus crater. " xiii. , 700, "Hactenus antiquo signis
fulgentibus ære, Summus inaurato crater erat asper acantho. "
"'Sweep the dry cobwebs down! ' the master cries,
Whips in his hand, and fury in his eyes:
'Let not a spot the clouded columns stain,
Scour you the figured silver; you the plain! '" Gifford.
[953] _Patriæ populoque_, an ancient formula. Cf. Liv. , v. , 41. So
Horace joins them, "Hoc fonte derivata clades in patriam populumque
fluxit," iii. , Od. vi. , 20 (vid. Orell. in loc. ). Ovid, Met. , xv. , 572,
"Seu lætum est, patriæ lætum, populoque Quirini. "
"Thy grateful land shall say 'tis nobly done,
If thou bring'st up to public use thy son;
Fit for the various tasks allotted men,
A warlike chief, a prudent citizen. " Hodgson.
[954] _Serpente. _ Pliny (H. N. , x. , 23) alludes to the same
circumstance with regard to storks. "Illis in Thessaliâ tantus honos
serpentum exitio habitus est, ut ciconiam occidere capitale sit, eadem
legibus pœna, quâ in homicidas. "
"Her progeny the stork with serpents feeds,
And finds them lizards in the devious meads:
The little storklings, when their wings are grown,
Look out for snakes and lizards of their own. " Badham.
[955] _Famulæ Jovis. _ Æsch. , Prom. V. , 1057, Διὸς πτηνὸς κύων, δαφοινὸς
ἀετός. Hor. , iv. , Od. iv. , 1, "Qualem ministrum fulminis alitem," etc.
[956] _Leporem. _ Virg. , Æn. , ix. , 563, _seq. _, "Qualis ubi aut leporem
aut candenti corpora cycnum Sustulit alta petens pedibus Jovis armiger
uncis. "
"While Jove's own eagle, bird of noble blood,
Scours the wide champaign for untainted food,
Bears the swift hare, or swifter fawn away,
And feeds her nestlings with the generous prey. " Gifford.
[957] _Caietæ_, now "Mola di Gaeta," called from Æneas's nurse. Virg. ,
Æn. , vii. , 1, "Tu quoque littoribus nostris, Æneia nutrix, Æternam
moriens famam Caieta dedisti. Et nunc servat honos sedem tuus. "
[958] _Tibur_, now "Tivoli," on the Anio, built on a steep acclivity.
Hence "supinum," Hor. , iii. , Od. iv. , 23. Cf. iii. , 192, "aut proni
Tiburis arce. "
[959] _Præneste_, now "Palestrina," said to have been founded by
Cæculus, son of Vulcan. Vid. Virg. , Æn. , vii. , 678.
[960] _Græcis. _ Cf. Stat. Sylv. , III. , i. , 5, "Sed nitidos postes
Graiisque effulta metallis culmina. " The _green_ marble of Tænarus was
very highly prized. Vid. Plin. , H. N. xxxvi. , 7. Prop. , III. , ii. ,
9, "Quod non Tænariis domus est mihi fulta columnis. " Tibull. , III. ,
iii. , 13, "Quidve domus prodest Phrygiis innixa columnis, Tænare sive
tuis, sive Caryste tuis. " Among other foreign marbles, Pliny mentions
the Egyptian, Naxian, Armenian, Parian, Chian, Sicyonian, Synnadic,
Numidian. Augustus introduced the use of marble in public buildings,
and many edifices of his time were constructed of solid marble. All
the columns of the temple of Mars Ultor are of marble. (Vid. Niebuhr's
Lectures, vol. iii. , p. 299. Sat. xi. , 182, "Longis Numidarum fulta
columnis. " Hor. , ii. , Od. xviii. , 4, "Columnas ultimâ recisas Africâ. "
Lucian, Hipp. , p. 507, ed. Bened. ) But the more general use of it
did not begin till the reign of Nero, when Greek architecture became
prevalent.
[961] _Fortunæ. _ The temple of Fortune at Præneste was erected by
Augustus. Hence she was called Dea Prænestina, and the oracles
delivered there "Sortes Prænestinæ. " Suet. , Tib. , 63. Propert. , II. ,
xxxii. , 3. Cf. Ov. , Fast. , vi. , 62. (From Stat. Sylv. , I. , iii. , 80,
"Quod ni templa darent alias Tirynthia sortes, et Prænestinæ poterant
migrare Sorores," it appears that at Præneste, as at Antium, there were
two Fortunes worshiped as sister-goddesses. Cf. Suet. , Calig. , 57.
Mart. , v. , Ep. i. , 3. Orell. ad Hor. , i. , Od. xxxv. , 1. ) The temple
of Hercules at Tibur was built by Marcius Philippus, step-father of
Augustus. Cf. Suet. , Aug. , 29. Prop. , II. , xxxii. , 5.
[962] _Posides. _ Vid. Suet. , Claud. , 28, "Libertorum præcipuè suspexit
Posiden spadonem quem etiam, Britannico triumpho, inter militares viros
hastâ purâ donavit. " Like Claudius' other freedmen, he amassed immense
wealth.
[963] _Verpos. _ Some of the commentators waste a great amount of zeal,
and no little knowledge, to show us that these lines prove Juvenal to
have been in utter ignorance of the Mosaic law. I presume Juvenal means
to tell us _what the Jews did_, not what the Jewish law _taught_; which
had they followed, they would not have been in Rome for Juvenal to
write about. These lines, in fact, instead of contradicting Josephus,
_confirm_ his account of the state of his countrymen, and are another
valuable testimony to prove that they "_had_ made the word of God of
none effect through their traditions. " What should we say of Messrs.
Johnson, Malone, and Steevens, were they to gravely demonstrate that
Shakspeare wrote in _ignorance of the tenets of Judaism_ when he
introduces Shylock coveting Signor Antonio's "pound of flesh? "
[964] _Septima. _ Cf. Tac. , His. , v. , 4, "Septimo die otium placuisse
ferunt; quia is finem laborum tulerit; dein blandiente inertiâ,
septimum quoque annum ignaviæ datum. "
[965] _Specie. _ Hor. , A. P. , 25, "Decipimur specie recti. " Pers. , v. ,
105, "Et veri speciem dignoscere calles. "
"For this grave vice, assuming Virtue's guise,
Seems Virtue's self to superficial eyes. " Gifford.
[923] _Alea_, i. , 89. Cf. Propert. , IV. , viii. , 45, "Me quoque per
talos Venerem quærente secundos, Semper _damnosi_ subsiluere Canes. "
The Romans used four dice in throwing, which were thrown on a table
with a rim (alveolus or abacus), out of a dice-box made of horn,
box-wood, or ivory. This fritillus was a kind of _cup_, narrower at
the top than below. When made in the form of a tower, with graduated
intervals, it was called pyrgus, turricula, or phimus.
[924] _Ludit. _
"Repeats in miniature the darling vice;
Shakes the low box, and cogs the little dice. " Gifford.
[925] _Tubera. _ Cf. v. , 116, _seq. _ Mart. , Ep. xiii. , 50.
[926] _Boletum. _ Cf. v. , 147. Mart. , Ep. xiii. , 48.
[927] _Ficedulas. _ Mr. Metcalfe translates "snipes. " Cf. Mart. , Ep.
xiii. , 49, "Cum me ficus alat, cum pascar dulcibus uvis, Cur potius
nomen non dedit uva mihi? "
[928] _Gula_, i. , 140.
[929] _Septimus. _ Plin. , vii. , 16, "Editis infantibus primores
dentes septimo gignuntur mense: iidem anno septimo decidunt, aliique
sufficiuntur. "
[930] _Barbatos. _ Pers. , iv. , 1, "Barbatum hoc crede magistrum dicere
sorbitio tollit quem dira cicutæ. " Cic. , Fin. , iv. , "Barba sylvosa et
pulchre alita, quamvis res ipsa sit exterior et fortuita, inter hominis
eruditi insignia recensetur. "
[931] _Rutilus. _ Used probably indefinitely, as in Sat. xi. , 2, "Si
Rutilus, demens. " Rutilus was a surname of the Marcian, Virginian, and
Nantian clans.
[932] _Servorum. _ Gifford quotes an apposite passage from Macrobius,
i. , 2, "Tibi autem unde in servos tantum et tam immane fastidium? Quasi
non ex iisdem tibi constent et alantur elementis, eumdemque spiritum ab
eodem principe carpant! "
[933] _Sirena. _ Cf. ix. , 150.
[934] _Antiphates_, king of the cannibal Læstrygones. Hom. , Odys. , x. ,
114, _seq. _ Ovid, Met. , xiv. , 233, _seq. _
[935] _Tortore. _ vi. , 480, "Sunt quæ tortoribus annua præstent. "
"Knows no delight, save when the torturer's hand
Stamps for low theft the agonizing brand. " Gifford.
[936] _Ergastula. _ Cf. ad viii. , 180. Put here, as in vi. , 151, for the
slaves themselves. As 15 freemen were said to constitute a _state_, and
15 slaves a _familia_, so "_quindecim vincti_" form one Ergastulum. It
properly means the Bridewell, where they were set to "travaux forcis. "
Liv. , ii. , 23; vii. , 4. The country prisons were generally under-ground
dungeons. Branding on the forehead was a common punishment. Thieves
had the word "Fur" burnt in; hence called "literati homines," "homines
trium literarum. " Plaut. , Aul. , II. , iv. , 46. Cicero calls one
"compunctum notis, stigmatiam," Off. , ii. , 7. So "Inscripti vultus,"
Plin. , xviii. , 3. "Inscripti," Martial, Ep. viii, 79. Cf. Plin. ,
Paneg. , 35. Sat. x. , 183. Plaut. , Cas. , II. , vi. , 49.
[937] _Largæ. _ Cf. vi. , 239, "Scilicet expectas ut tradat mater
honestos atque alios mores quam quos habet? " x. , 220, "Promptius
expediam quot amaverit Hippia mæchos. "
[938] _Dictante. _ vi. , 223, "Illa docet missis a corruptore tabellis,
nil rude, nil simplex rescribere. "
[939] _Exempla. _ From Cic, Ep. , iv. , 3, "Quod exemplo fit, id etiam
jure fieri putant. "
[940] _Exempla domestica. _
"Thus Nature bids our home's examples win
The passive mind to imitative sin,
And vice, unquestion'd, makes its easy way,
Sanction'd by those our earliest thoughts obey. " Badham.
[941] _Luto. _ Callim. , fr. 133, εἴ σε Προμηθεὺς ἔπλασε καὶ πηλοῦ μὴ 'ξ
ἑτέρου γέγονας. Ovid, Met, i. , 80, "Sive recens tellus seductaque nuper
ab alto æthere cognati retinebat semina cœli; Quam satus Iapeto mixtam
fluvialibus undis finxit in effigiem moderantûm cuncta Deorum. " Cf.
Sat. vi. , 13, "Compositive luto nullos habuere parentes. "
[942] _Orbita_, from orbis; "the track of a wheel. " So by the same
metaphor the "_routine_," or course of life.
[943] _Abstineas. _
"O cease from sin! should other reasons fail
Lest our own frailties make our children frail. " Badham.
[944] _Brutus_ was the son of Servilia, the sister of Cato of Utica
(cf. x. , 319). So Sen. , Ep. 97, "Omne tempus Clodios, non omne Catones
fert. "
[945] _Procul hinc. _ The formula at religious solemnities. Cf. ii. ,
89. Ov. , Met. , vii. , 255, "Hinc procul Æsonidem, procul hinc jubet ire
ministros, et monet arcanis oculos removere profanos. "
[946] _Parasiti. _ Cf. i. , 139.
[947] _Reverentia. _
"His child's unsullied purity demands
The deepest reverence at a parent's hands. " Badham.
[948] _Censoris. _ Henninius' reading and punctuation is followed here.
"Oh yet reflect! For should he e'er provoke,
In riper age, the Law's avenging stroke
(Since not alone in person and in face,
But morals, he will prove your son, and trace,
Nay pass your vicious footsteps), you will rail,
And name another heir, should threatening fail! " Gifford.
[949] _Cerebro. _ Plin. , ix. , 37, "Cerebrum est velut arx sensuum: hic
mentis est regimen. "
[950] _Cucurbita. _ Properly a kind of gourd, κολοκύνθη thence from its
shape, and perhaps too from its _use_, applied to a cupping-glass.
These were made of horn, brass, and afterward of glass. The Greeks,
from the same cause, called it σικύα, or κύαθος (cf. Schol. ad Arist. ,
Lys. , 444). It is called _ventosa_ from the rarefication of the air in
the operation, and was applied to relieve the head. Hence _cucurbitæ
caput_ is used for a fool. Cf. Appul. , Met. , I, "Nos cucurbitæ caput
non habemus, ut pro te moriamur! "
[951] _Lavet. _ Browne says, "Who washes silver plate? " and prefers the
reading "leve. " "But might not his _patellæ_ be of silver? " iii.
, 261,
"Domus intereà secura _patellas_ jam _lavat_. "
[952] _Aspera. _ Cf. i. , 76, "Argentum vetus et stantem extrà pocula
caprum. " v. , 38, "Inæquales beryllo phialas. " Virg. , Æn. , ix. , 266,
"Argento perfecta atque _aspera_ signis pocula. " Ovid. , Met. , v. ,
81, "Altis exstantem signis cratera. " xii. , 235, "Signis exstantibus
_asper_ Antiquus crater. " xiii. , 700, "Hactenus antiquo signis
fulgentibus ære, Summus inaurato crater erat asper acantho. "
"'Sweep the dry cobwebs down! ' the master cries,
Whips in his hand, and fury in his eyes:
'Let not a spot the clouded columns stain,
Scour you the figured silver; you the plain! '" Gifford.
[953] _Patriæ populoque_, an ancient formula. Cf. Liv. , v. , 41. So
Horace joins them, "Hoc fonte derivata clades in patriam populumque
fluxit," iii. , Od. vi. , 20 (vid. Orell. in loc. ). Ovid, Met. , xv. , 572,
"Seu lætum est, patriæ lætum, populoque Quirini. "
"Thy grateful land shall say 'tis nobly done,
If thou bring'st up to public use thy son;
Fit for the various tasks allotted men,
A warlike chief, a prudent citizen. " Hodgson.
[954] _Serpente. _ Pliny (H. N. , x. , 23) alludes to the same
circumstance with regard to storks. "Illis in Thessaliâ tantus honos
serpentum exitio habitus est, ut ciconiam occidere capitale sit, eadem
legibus pœna, quâ in homicidas. "
"Her progeny the stork with serpents feeds,
And finds them lizards in the devious meads:
The little storklings, when their wings are grown,
Look out for snakes and lizards of their own. " Badham.
[955] _Famulæ Jovis. _ Æsch. , Prom. V. , 1057, Διὸς πτηνὸς κύων, δαφοινὸς
ἀετός. Hor. , iv. , Od. iv. , 1, "Qualem ministrum fulminis alitem," etc.
[956] _Leporem. _ Virg. , Æn. , ix. , 563, _seq. _, "Qualis ubi aut leporem
aut candenti corpora cycnum Sustulit alta petens pedibus Jovis armiger
uncis. "
"While Jove's own eagle, bird of noble blood,
Scours the wide champaign for untainted food,
Bears the swift hare, or swifter fawn away,
And feeds her nestlings with the generous prey. " Gifford.
[957] _Caietæ_, now "Mola di Gaeta," called from Æneas's nurse. Virg. ,
Æn. , vii. , 1, "Tu quoque littoribus nostris, Æneia nutrix, Æternam
moriens famam Caieta dedisti. Et nunc servat honos sedem tuus. "
[958] _Tibur_, now "Tivoli," on the Anio, built on a steep acclivity.
Hence "supinum," Hor. , iii. , Od. iv. , 23. Cf. iii. , 192, "aut proni
Tiburis arce. "
[959] _Præneste_, now "Palestrina," said to have been founded by
Cæculus, son of Vulcan. Vid. Virg. , Æn. , vii. , 678.
[960] _Græcis. _ Cf. Stat. Sylv. , III. , i. , 5, "Sed nitidos postes
Graiisque effulta metallis culmina. " The _green_ marble of Tænarus was
very highly prized. Vid. Plin. , H. N. xxxvi. , 7. Prop. , III. , ii. ,
9, "Quod non Tænariis domus est mihi fulta columnis. " Tibull. , III. ,
iii. , 13, "Quidve domus prodest Phrygiis innixa columnis, Tænare sive
tuis, sive Caryste tuis. " Among other foreign marbles, Pliny mentions
the Egyptian, Naxian, Armenian, Parian, Chian, Sicyonian, Synnadic,
Numidian. Augustus introduced the use of marble in public buildings,
and many edifices of his time were constructed of solid marble. All
the columns of the temple of Mars Ultor are of marble. (Vid. Niebuhr's
Lectures, vol. iii. , p. 299. Sat. xi. , 182, "Longis Numidarum fulta
columnis. " Hor. , ii. , Od. xviii. , 4, "Columnas ultimâ recisas Africâ. "
Lucian, Hipp. , p. 507, ed. Bened. ) But the more general use of it
did not begin till the reign of Nero, when Greek architecture became
prevalent.
[961] _Fortunæ. _ The temple of Fortune at Præneste was erected by
Augustus. Hence she was called Dea Prænestina, and the oracles
delivered there "Sortes Prænestinæ. " Suet. , Tib. , 63. Propert. , II. ,
xxxii. , 3. Cf. Ov. , Fast. , vi. , 62. (From Stat. Sylv. , I. , iii. , 80,
"Quod ni templa darent alias Tirynthia sortes, et Prænestinæ poterant
migrare Sorores," it appears that at Præneste, as at Antium, there were
two Fortunes worshiped as sister-goddesses. Cf. Suet. , Calig. , 57.
Mart. , v. , Ep. i. , 3. Orell. ad Hor. , i. , Od. xxxv. , 1. ) The temple
of Hercules at Tibur was built by Marcius Philippus, step-father of
Augustus. Cf. Suet. , Aug. , 29. Prop. , II. , xxxii. , 5.
[962] _Posides. _ Vid. Suet. , Claud. , 28, "Libertorum præcipuè suspexit
Posiden spadonem quem etiam, Britannico triumpho, inter militares viros
hastâ purâ donavit. " Like Claudius' other freedmen, he amassed immense
wealth.
[963] _Verpos. _ Some of the commentators waste a great amount of zeal,
and no little knowledge, to show us that these lines prove Juvenal to
have been in utter ignorance of the Mosaic law. I presume Juvenal means
to tell us _what the Jews did_, not what the Jewish law _taught_; which
had they followed, they would not have been in Rome for Juvenal to
write about. These lines, in fact, instead of contradicting Josephus,
_confirm_ his account of the state of his countrymen, and are another
valuable testimony to prove that they "_had_ made the word of God of
none effect through their traditions. " What should we say of Messrs.
Johnson, Malone, and Steevens, were they to gravely demonstrate that
Shakspeare wrote in _ignorance of the tenets of Judaism_ when he
introduces Shylock coveting Signor Antonio's "pound of flesh? "
[964] _Septima. _ Cf. Tac. , His. , v. , 4, "Septimo die otium placuisse
ferunt; quia is finem laborum tulerit; dein blandiente inertiâ,
septimum quoque annum ignaviæ datum. "
[965] _Specie. _ Hor. , A. P. , 25, "Decipimur specie recti. " Pers. , v. ,
105, "Et veri speciem dignoscere calles. "
"For this grave vice, assuming Virtue's guise,
Seems Virtue's self to superficial eyes. " Gifford.
