The
fourteenth
book contained, according to Schoenbeck's idea, the
praises of a placid and easy life.
praises of a placid and easy life.
Satires
, 60, 70, where
some of his witticisms are quoted. )
[1751] Gerlach refers this Fragment to the presents sent by Attalus.
"Datis" he takes to mean any common name, but would suggest "ducis. "
[1752] _Rudus_ is applied to a mixture of stones, gravel, and rubble,
cemented together with lime, used by the Romans as a substratum for a
path or pavement. Cat. , R. R. , 18. Plin. , xxxvi. , 25. Cf. Liv. , xli. ,
27, "Vias sternendas silice in Urbe glareâ extra Urbem locaverunt. "
Tibull. , I. , viii. , 59.
[1753] This Fragment is most probably connected with Fr. 3, as both
strigosus and bovinator are applied to beasts who refuse to move; and
hence to persons who use all kinds of artifices to avoid the payment of
their just debts.
[1754] Cf. vi. , 13; x. , 4.
BOOK XII.
ARGUMENT.
The extant Fragments of this book are too few and too varied in
their matter to enable us to form any definite idea of the
general subject. From a passage in Diomedes (lib. iii, p. 483),
which contains the seventh Fragment, Schoenbeck supposes it must
have referred to scenic matters; which conjecture he considers
farther strengthened by the first Fragment. (Cf. Plaut. , Pers. ,
I. , iii, 78. ) But, as Gerlach observes, "Chorage" in this passage
can hardly be understood in its primitive sense, since it is
coupled with the word "Quæstore;" and as the quæstors had nothing
to do with the Ludi Scenici, except when it fell to them to take
the place of the prætors or ædiles, this office could hardly be
reckoned among their positive or regular duties.
1 . . . that this man stands in need of some quæstor and choragus
to furnish gold at the public expense, and from the treasury.
2 . . . a hundred yoke of mules, with one strong pull, could not
drag him. [1755]
3 Let this be fixed firmly and equally in your breast. . . .
4 . . . he is remarkable for bandy-legged and shriveled
shanks. [1756]
5 . . . of what advantages I deprived myself. [1757]
6 I agreed with the man.
7 At the Liberalia, among the Athenians on the festal day[1758]
of father Liber, wine used to be given to the singers instead
of a crown--
8 . . . whatever had happened while I and my brother were boys.
9 . . . wrinkled and full of famine.
FOOTNOTES:
[1755] Cf. vi. , 2.
[1756] _Petilis_ is derived by Dacier from πέταλον: i. e. , withered and
shriveled up like a dead leaf.
[1757] _Decollare_, in its primitive sense, is "to decapitate;" then
simply "to deprive. "
[1758] This Fragment is given just as it stands in Diomedes (see
Arg. ), without any attempt on the part of editors or commentators to
reduce it to the form of a verse. The whole passage stands thus in
the original: "Alii a vino tragœdiam dictam arbitrantur: proptereà
quod olim dictabatur τρύξ, à quo τρύγητος hodieque vindemia est, quia
'Liberalibus, apud Atticos, die festo Liberi patris vinum cantoribus
pro Corollario dabatur' cujus rei testis est Lucilius in duodecimo. "
"Others think that Tragedy is so called from wine, because the
ancient term was τρύξ; whence even at the present day the vintage is
called τρυγητός. " For the Attic Dionysia see the second vol. of the
Philological Museum. «Probably, like the Sigillaria in lib. vii. , Fr.
4, the festival was described by some circumlocution, the whole word
being inadmissible into a verse. »
BOOK XIII.
ARGUMENT.
The Fragments of this book, as well as of the twelfth, are too few
to admit of any opinion being satisfactorily arrived at with
respect to its subject. Schoenbeck supposes it was directed
against sumptuous extravagance and luxurious banquets. Petermann
adopts the same view. Gerlach, though he considers the Fragments
so vague that they might support any hypothesis, allows that this
conjecture is tenable, as the third, fifth, ninth, tenth, and
eleventh appear to "savor of the kitchen. "
1 Or to conquer in war altogether by chance and fortune; if it is
entirely by chance and at random, that any one arrives at the
highest distinction. [1759]
2 . . . to whom fortune has assigned an equal position, and chance
their destiny.
3 The same thing occurs at supper. You will give oysters bought
for a thousand sesterces.
4 . . . sets them to engage with one another in fierce
conflict. [1760]
5 In the first place, let all banquetings and company be done
away with. [1761]
6 Add shoes from Syracuse, a bag of leather. . . . [1762]
7 . . . one only, out of many, who has intellect. . . .
8 . . . as he is styled skilless in whom there is no skill. [1763]
9 and not so poor as . . . a chipped dish of Samian pottery. [1764]
10 . . . for as soon as we recline at a table munificently heaped up
at great expense. . . .
11 . . . the same food at the feast, as the banquet of almighty
Jove. . . . [1765]
FOOTNOTES:
[1759] Nonius draws this distinction between Fors and Fortuna: _fors_
simply expresses "the accidents of temporal affairs, as opposed to
providence or design. " _Fortuna_ is "the personification of these in
the form of the goddess. " In the text Gerlach's conjecture is followed
instead of the reading of the MSS. , which is quite unintelligible: "Si
forte ac temerè omnino quis summum ad honorem perveniat. " Cf. Pacuv. in
Hermiona, "Quo impulerit fors eò cadere Fortunam autumant. "
[1760] _Cernit_, i. e. , "disponit. " Nonius. Cf. v. , Fr. 29, "Postquam
præsidium castris educere crevit. "
[1761] _Dominia. _ As dominus is put for the "master of the feast,"
so dominium is used for the banquet itself (lib. vi. , Fr. 7; Sall. ,
Hist. , iii. , "In imo medius inter Tarquinium et _dominum_ Perpenna;"
Cic. , Vatin. , xiii. , "Epuli dominus Q. Arrius"), or for the office of
the giver of the banquet. Cicero uses Magisteria in the same sense.
Senect. , c. 14. It is also put for "the _place_ where a banquet is
held. " Cic. , Ver. , II. , iii. , 4. _Sodalitium_ is properly a banquet
celebrated by "Sodales," i. e. , persons associated in the same
religious cultus.
[1762] _Pasceolum_, "a leathern bag or purse," marsupium, from
φάσκωλον. Suid. Plaut, Rud. , V. , ii. , 27, "prætereà centum Denaria
Philippea in pasceolo seorsum. " _Aluta. _ Vid. ad Juv. , xiv. , 282.
[1763] _Iners. _ Cf. Cic. , de Fin. , "Lustremus animo has maximas
_artes_, quibus qui carebant _inertes_ à majoribus nominabantur. "
[1764] Cf. ad lib. vii. , Fr. 1.
[1765] _Epulum_ (i. e. , edipulum) and _epulæ_ seem to be interchanged;
but epulum is probably the older form of the word.
BOOK XIV.
ARGUMENT.
The fourteenth book contained, according to Schoenbeck's idea, the
praises of a placid and easy life. Duentzer, on the other hand,
says the subject was ambition. The two notions are not so much
opposed, says Gerlach, as at first sight they seem: the object
of the poet being to contrast the frugal simplicity and tranquil
leisure of a rustic life, with the empty vanities and arrogant
assumption of the ambitious man. Thus the Fragments 2, 4, 5, 12,
15, 16, and perhaps 1, contain the praises of frugal parsimony
and an honorable leisure: 3, 6, 7, 8, and perhaps others,
describe the heart-burnings and disappointments of a life devoted
to ambition.
1 Is that rather the sign of a sick man that I live on bread and
tripe? * * *[1766]
2 . . . but you rather lead in peace a tranquil life, which you
seem to hold more important than doing this.
3 Publius Pavus Tuditanus, my quæstor in the Iberian land, was a
skulker, a mean fellow, one of that class, clearly. [1767]
4 . . . these, I say, we may consider a sham sea-fight, and a game
of backgammon . . . but though you amuse yourself, you will not
live one whit the better. [1768]
5 . . . for that he preferred to be approved of by a few, and those
wise men, than to rule over all the departed dead--[1769]
6 . . . were he not associated with me as prætor, and annoyed
me. . . . [1770]
7 . . . for that famous old Cato . . . because he was not conscious
to himself. [1771]
8 I will go as embassador to the king, to Rhodes, Ecbatana, and
Babylon, I will take a ship. . . . [1772]
9 . . . no supper, he says; no portion for the god. . . . [1773]
10 when that which we chew with our mouth, . . . [1774]
11 I see the common people hold it in earnest affection--
12 The horse himself is not handsome, but an easy goer, a capital
hackney. [1775]
13 . . . whom oftentimes you dread; occasionally feel pleasure in
his company.
14 . . . In a moment, in a single hour. . . . [1776]
15 . . . the cheese has a flavor of garlic--[1777]
16 . . . and scraggy wood-pigeons. [1778]
17 . . . chalk. . . .
FOOTNOTES:
[1766] Gerlach's reading is followed, "quod pane et viscere vivo. " In
the next line he thinks there is something of the same kind of pun as
in Ovid, Met. , xv. , 88, "Heu quantum scelus est in viscera viscera
condi. "
[1767] _Lucifugus_, "one who shuns the light, because his deeds are
evil. " So Nebulo and Tenebrio are used for one who would gladly cloak
his deeds of falsehood and cunning under the mist of darkness. Cic. ,
de Fin. , i. , 61, "Malevoli, invidi, difficiles, _lucifugi_, maledici,
monstrosi. " Nebulo is also applied to a vain empty-headed fellow, of no
more solidity than a mist; and then to a spendthrift, who had devoured
all his substance and "left not a wrack behind. " Vid. Ælium Stilum ap.
Fest. , in voc. Who this desirable person was, is doubtful. Gerlach
thinks that Lucilius' quarrel with him began at the siege of Numantia,
and that this Fragment is part of a speech which the poet puts into
the mouth of Scipio respecting his quæstor. _Tuditanus_ was a cognomen
of the Sempronian gens, from the "mallet-shaped" head of one of the
family. _Pavus_ may have been derived from the taste shown by one of
them for feeding and fattening peacocks. There was a Publius Sempronius
Tuditanus consul with M. Cornelius Cethegus in B. C. 204, and a Caius
Semp. Tuditanus consul B. C. 129, the year of Scipio Africanus' death.
Cicero speaks highly of his eloquence (Brut. , c. 25), and Dionysius
Halicarnassus of his historical powers (i. , p. 9).
[1768] Corpet supposes the allusion to be to the game called "duodecim
scripta," which resembled our backgammon; the alveolus being a kind
of table on which the dice were thrown, with a rim to prevent their
rolling off. Cicero tells us P. Mutius Scævola was a great adept at
this game. (Or. , i. , 50. ) Gerlach supposes it to be a Fragment of the
speech of some plain countryman, who couples all these things together,
to show that they do not tend to make life happier. _Calces_ will be
the white lines marked on the stadium.
[1769] ἢ πᾶσιν, κ. τ. λ. Part of Achilles' speech to Ulysses in the
shades below, where he declares he would rather submit to the most
menial offices on earth, than rule over all the shades of departed
heroes. Odyss. , xi. , 491. Cf. Attii Epinausimache, "Probis probatum
potius quam multis fore. "
[1770] The prætor may probably be C. Cæcilius Metellus Caprarius, with
whom Scipio was so wroth at Numantia, as Cicero tells us (de Or. , ii. ,
66); to whom Gerlach also refers Fr. incert. 96, 97.
[1771] This Fragment is hopeless. Even Gerlach does not attempt to
explain it.
[1772] _Cercurum. _ Cf. ad viii. , 4.
[1773] _Prosecta_, the same as _prosiciæ_ (from prosecando, as insiciæ
from insecando). The gloss in Festus explains it by αἱ τῶν θυμάτων
ἀπαρχαί. Cf. Arnob. adv. Gent. , vii. , "Quod si omnes has partes quas
prosicias dicitis, accipere Dii amant, suntque illis gratæ. " Scaliger
reads _prosiciem_.
[1774] Cf. iv. , Fr. 12, and Pomponius Pappo ap. Fest. in v. , "Nescio
quis ellam urget, quasi asinus, uxorem tuam: ita opertis oculis simul
manducatur ac molet:" which is perhaps the sense here.
[1775] _Gradarius_ is said of a horse "trained to an easy, ambling
pace," like that expressed by the word _tolutim_, cf. ix. , Fr. 6
(exactly the contrary to succussator, ii. , Fr. 10), xv. , Fr. 2. Hence
"pugna gradaria," where the advance to the charge is made at a slow
pace. So Seneca (Epist. , xl. ) applies the term to Cicero's style of
oratory, "lentè procedens, interpungens, intermittens actionem. "
[1776] _Puncto. _ So στιγμὴ χρόνου. Cf. Terent. , Phorm. , act. I. , iv. ,
7, "Tum temporis mihi punctum ad hanc rem est. "
[1777] _Allium olet_; instead of the old reading, "allia molliet. "
[1778] _Macros. _ So Horace, "Sedulus hospes pæne macros arsit dum
turdos versat in igni. " i. , Sat. v. , 72.
BOOK XV.
ARGUMENT.
None of the commentators on Lucilius have ventured to give a
decisive opinion on the subject of this book, with the exception
of Duentzer; who says that the poet intended it as a defense
of true tranquillity of mind, in opposition to the precepts
and dogmas of the Stoics. In the sixth Fragment we certainly
have mention made of a philosopher; but it is only to assert
that many common and homely articles in daily and constant use
are of more real value than any philosopher of any sect. This,
however, may be supposed to be the opinion of some vulgar and
ignorant plebeian, or of a woman. In the fifth Fragment we have
the character of a wife portrayed, such as Juvenal describes
so graphically in his sixth Satire. Indolent and slatternly in
her husband's presence, she reserves all her graces of manner
and elegance of ornament for the presence of strangers. We have
besides a notice of the wonders in Homer's narratives, the
praises of a good horse, a picture of a usurer, an account of a
soldier who has seen service in Spain, a eulogy of frugality and
other matters; how all these can possibly be arranged under one
head, is, as Gerlach says, a matter of the greatest obscurity.
1 Men think that many wonders described in Homer's verses are
prodigies; among the chief of which is Polyphemus the Cyclops,
two hundred feet long: and then besides, his walking-stick,
greater than the main-mast in any merchantman--[1779]
2 . . . no high-actioned Campanian nag will follow him that has
conquered by a mile or two * * * *[1780]
3 . . . moreover, as to price, the first is half an as, the second
a sestertius, and the third more than the whole bushel.
4 . . . in the number of whom, first of all Trebellius . . . fever,
corruption, weariness, and nausea. .
some of his witticisms are quoted. )
[1751] Gerlach refers this Fragment to the presents sent by Attalus.
"Datis" he takes to mean any common name, but would suggest "ducis. "
[1752] _Rudus_ is applied to a mixture of stones, gravel, and rubble,
cemented together with lime, used by the Romans as a substratum for a
path or pavement. Cat. , R. R. , 18. Plin. , xxxvi. , 25. Cf. Liv. , xli. ,
27, "Vias sternendas silice in Urbe glareâ extra Urbem locaverunt. "
Tibull. , I. , viii. , 59.
[1753] This Fragment is most probably connected with Fr. 3, as both
strigosus and bovinator are applied to beasts who refuse to move; and
hence to persons who use all kinds of artifices to avoid the payment of
their just debts.
[1754] Cf. vi. , 13; x. , 4.
BOOK XII.
ARGUMENT.
The extant Fragments of this book are too few and too varied in
their matter to enable us to form any definite idea of the
general subject. From a passage in Diomedes (lib. iii, p. 483),
which contains the seventh Fragment, Schoenbeck supposes it must
have referred to scenic matters; which conjecture he considers
farther strengthened by the first Fragment. (Cf. Plaut. , Pers. ,
I. , iii, 78. ) But, as Gerlach observes, "Chorage" in this passage
can hardly be understood in its primitive sense, since it is
coupled with the word "Quæstore;" and as the quæstors had nothing
to do with the Ludi Scenici, except when it fell to them to take
the place of the prætors or ædiles, this office could hardly be
reckoned among their positive or regular duties.
1 . . . that this man stands in need of some quæstor and choragus
to furnish gold at the public expense, and from the treasury.
2 . . . a hundred yoke of mules, with one strong pull, could not
drag him. [1755]
3 Let this be fixed firmly and equally in your breast. . . .
4 . . . he is remarkable for bandy-legged and shriveled
shanks. [1756]
5 . . . of what advantages I deprived myself. [1757]
6 I agreed with the man.
7 At the Liberalia, among the Athenians on the festal day[1758]
of father Liber, wine used to be given to the singers instead
of a crown--
8 . . . whatever had happened while I and my brother were boys.
9 . . . wrinkled and full of famine.
FOOTNOTES:
[1755] Cf. vi. , 2.
[1756] _Petilis_ is derived by Dacier from πέταλον: i. e. , withered and
shriveled up like a dead leaf.
[1757] _Decollare_, in its primitive sense, is "to decapitate;" then
simply "to deprive. "
[1758] This Fragment is given just as it stands in Diomedes (see
Arg. ), without any attempt on the part of editors or commentators to
reduce it to the form of a verse. The whole passage stands thus in
the original: "Alii a vino tragœdiam dictam arbitrantur: proptereà
quod olim dictabatur τρύξ, à quo τρύγητος hodieque vindemia est, quia
'Liberalibus, apud Atticos, die festo Liberi patris vinum cantoribus
pro Corollario dabatur' cujus rei testis est Lucilius in duodecimo. "
"Others think that Tragedy is so called from wine, because the
ancient term was τρύξ; whence even at the present day the vintage is
called τρυγητός. " For the Attic Dionysia see the second vol. of the
Philological Museum. «Probably, like the Sigillaria in lib. vii. , Fr.
4, the festival was described by some circumlocution, the whole word
being inadmissible into a verse. »
BOOK XIII.
ARGUMENT.
The Fragments of this book, as well as of the twelfth, are too few
to admit of any opinion being satisfactorily arrived at with
respect to its subject. Schoenbeck supposes it was directed
against sumptuous extravagance and luxurious banquets. Petermann
adopts the same view. Gerlach, though he considers the Fragments
so vague that they might support any hypothesis, allows that this
conjecture is tenable, as the third, fifth, ninth, tenth, and
eleventh appear to "savor of the kitchen. "
1 Or to conquer in war altogether by chance and fortune; if it is
entirely by chance and at random, that any one arrives at the
highest distinction. [1759]
2 . . . to whom fortune has assigned an equal position, and chance
their destiny.
3 The same thing occurs at supper. You will give oysters bought
for a thousand sesterces.
4 . . . sets them to engage with one another in fierce
conflict. [1760]
5 In the first place, let all banquetings and company be done
away with. [1761]
6 Add shoes from Syracuse, a bag of leather. . . . [1762]
7 . . . one only, out of many, who has intellect. . . .
8 . . . as he is styled skilless in whom there is no skill. [1763]
9 and not so poor as . . . a chipped dish of Samian pottery. [1764]
10 . . . for as soon as we recline at a table munificently heaped up
at great expense. . . .
11 . . . the same food at the feast, as the banquet of almighty
Jove. . . . [1765]
FOOTNOTES:
[1759] Nonius draws this distinction between Fors and Fortuna: _fors_
simply expresses "the accidents of temporal affairs, as opposed to
providence or design. " _Fortuna_ is "the personification of these in
the form of the goddess. " In the text Gerlach's conjecture is followed
instead of the reading of the MSS. , which is quite unintelligible: "Si
forte ac temerè omnino quis summum ad honorem perveniat. " Cf. Pacuv. in
Hermiona, "Quo impulerit fors eò cadere Fortunam autumant. "
[1760] _Cernit_, i. e. , "disponit. " Nonius. Cf. v. , Fr. 29, "Postquam
præsidium castris educere crevit. "
[1761] _Dominia. _ As dominus is put for the "master of the feast,"
so dominium is used for the banquet itself (lib. vi. , Fr. 7; Sall. ,
Hist. , iii. , "In imo medius inter Tarquinium et _dominum_ Perpenna;"
Cic. , Vatin. , xiii. , "Epuli dominus Q. Arrius"), or for the office of
the giver of the banquet. Cicero uses Magisteria in the same sense.
Senect. , c. 14. It is also put for "the _place_ where a banquet is
held. " Cic. , Ver. , II. , iii. , 4. _Sodalitium_ is properly a banquet
celebrated by "Sodales," i. e. , persons associated in the same
religious cultus.
[1762] _Pasceolum_, "a leathern bag or purse," marsupium, from
φάσκωλον. Suid. Plaut, Rud. , V. , ii. , 27, "prætereà centum Denaria
Philippea in pasceolo seorsum. " _Aluta. _ Vid. ad Juv. , xiv. , 282.
[1763] _Iners. _ Cf. Cic. , de Fin. , "Lustremus animo has maximas
_artes_, quibus qui carebant _inertes_ à majoribus nominabantur. "
[1764] Cf. ad lib. vii. , Fr. 1.
[1765] _Epulum_ (i. e. , edipulum) and _epulæ_ seem to be interchanged;
but epulum is probably the older form of the word.
BOOK XIV.
ARGUMENT.
The fourteenth book contained, according to Schoenbeck's idea, the
praises of a placid and easy life. Duentzer, on the other hand,
says the subject was ambition. The two notions are not so much
opposed, says Gerlach, as at first sight they seem: the object
of the poet being to contrast the frugal simplicity and tranquil
leisure of a rustic life, with the empty vanities and arrogant
assumption of the ambitious man. Thus the Fragments 2, 4, 5, 12,
15, 16, and perhaps 1, contain the praises of frugal parsimony
and an honorable leisure: 3, 6, 7, 8, and perhaps others,
describe the heart-burnings and disappointments of a life devoted
to ambition.
1 Is that rather the sign of a sick man that I live on bread and
tripe? * * *[1766]
2 . . . but you rather lead in peace a tranquil life, which you
seem to hold more important than doing this.
3 Publius Pavus Tuditanus, my quæstor in the Iberian land, was a
skulker, a mean fellow, one of that class, clearly. [1767]
4 . . . these, I say, we may consider a sham sea-fight, and a game
of backgammon . . . but though you amuse yourself, you will not
live one whit the better. [1768]
5 . . . for that he preferred to be approved of by a few, and those
wise men, than to rule over all the departed dead--[1769]
6 . . . were he not associated with me as prætor, and annoyed
me. . . . [1770]
7 . . . for that famous old Cato . . . because he was not conscious
to himself. [1771]
8 I will go as embassador to the king, to Rhodes, Ecbatana, and
Babylon, I will take a ship. . . . [1772]
9 . . . no supper, he says; no portion for the god. . . . [1773]
10 when that which we chew with our mouth, . . . [1774]
11 I see the common people hold it in earnest affection--
12 The horse himself is not handsome, but an easy goer, a capital
hackney. [1775]
13 . . . whom oftentimes you dread; occasionally feel pleasure in
his company.
14 . . . In a moment, in a single hour. . . . [1776]
15 . . . the cheese has a flavor of garlic--[1777]
16 . . . and scraggy wood-pigeons. [1778]
17 . . . chalk. . . .
FOOTNOTES:
[1766] Gerlach's reading is followed, "quod pane et viscere vivo. " In
the next line he thinks there is something of the same kind of pun as
in Ovid, Met. , xv. , 88, "Heu quantum scelus est in viscera viscera
condi. "
[1767] _Lucifugus_, "one who shuns the light, because his deeds are
evil. " So Nebulo and Tenebrio are used for one who would gladly cloak
his deeds of falsehood and cunning under the mist of darkness. Cic. ,
de Fin. , i. , 61, "Malevoli, invidi, difficiles, _lucifugi_, maledici,
monstrosi. " Nebulo is also applied to a vain empty-headed fellow, of no
more solidity than a mist; and then to a spendthrift, who had devoured
all his substance and "left not a wrack behind. " Vid. Ælium Stilum ap.
Fest. , in voc. Who this desirable person was, is doubtful. Gerlach
thinks that Lucilius' quarrel with him began at the siege of Numantia,
and that this Fragment is part of a speech which the poet puts into
the mouth of Scipio respecting his quæstor. _Tuditanus_ was a cognomen
of the Sempronian gens, from the "mallet-shaped" head of one of the
family. _Pavus_ may have been derived from the taste shown by one of
them for feeding and fattening peacocks. There was a Publius Sempronius
Tuditanus consul with M. Cornelius Cethegus in B. C. 204, and a Caius
Semp. Tuditanus consul B. C. 129, the year of Scipio Africanus' death.
Cicero speaks highly of his eloquence (Brut. , c. 25), and Dionysius
Halicarnassus of his historical powers (i. , p. 9).
[1768] Corpet supposes the allusion to be to the game called "duodecim
scripta," which resembled our backgammon; the alveolus being a kind
of table on which the dice were thrown, with a rim to prevent their
rolling off. Cicero tells us P. Mutius Scævola was a great adept at
this game. (Or. , i. , 50. ) Gerlach supposes it to be a Fragment of the
speech of some plain countryman, who couples all these things together,
to show that they do not tend to make life happier. _Calces_ will be
the white lines marked on the stadium.
[1769] ἢ πᾶσιν, κ. τ. λ. Part of Achilles' speech to Ulysses in the
shades below, where he declares he would rather submit to the most
menial offices on earth, than rule over all the shades of departed
heroes. Odyss. , xi. , 491. Cf. Attii Epinausimache, "Probis probatum
potius quam multis fore. "
[1770] The prætor may probably be C. Cæcilius Metellus Caprarius, with
whom Scipio was so wroth at Numantia, as Cicero tells us (de Or. , ii. ,
66); to whom Gerlach also refers Fr. incert. 96, 97.
[1771] This Fragment is hopeless. Even Gerlach does not attempt to
explain it.
[1772] _Cercurum. _ Cf. ad viii. , 4.
[1773] _Prosecta_, the same as _prosiciæ_ (from prosecando, as insiciæ
from insecando). The gloss in Festus explains it by αἱ τῶν θυμάτων
ἀπαρχαί. Cf. Arnob. adv. Gent. , vii. , "Quod si omnes has partes quas
prosicias dicitis, accipere Dii amant, suntque illis gratæ. " Scaliger
reads _prosiciem_.
[1774] Cf. iv. , Fr. 12, and Pomponius Pappo ap. Fest. in v. , "Nescio
quis ellam urget, quasi asinus, uxorem tuam: ita opertis oculis simul
manducatur ac molet:" which is perhaps the sense here.
[1775] _Gradarius_ is said of a horse "trained to an easy, ambling
pace," like that expressed by the word _tolutim_, cf. ix. , Fr. 6
(exactly the contrary to succussator, ii. , Fr. 10), xv. , Fr. 2. Hence
"pugna gradaria," where the advance to the charge is made at a slow
pace. So Seneca (Epist. , xl. ) applies the term to Cicero's style of
oratory, "lentè procedens, interpungens, intermittens actionem. "
[1776] _Puncto. _ So στιγμὴ χρόνου. Cf. Terent. , Phorm. , act. I. , iv. ,
7, "Tum temporis mihi punctum ad hanc rem est. "
[1777] _Allium olet_; instead of the old reading, "allia molliet. "
[1778] _Macros. _ So Horace, "Sedulus hospes pæne macros arsit dum
turdos versat in igni. " i. , Sat. v. , 72.
BOOK XV.
ARGUMENT.
None of the commentators on Lucilius have ventured to give a
decisive opinion on the subject of this book, with the exception
of Duentzer; who says that the poet intended it as a defense
of true tranquillity of mind, in opposition to the precepts
and dogmas of the Stoics. In the sixth Fragment we certainly
have mention made of a philosopher; but it is only to assert
that many common and homely articles in daily and constant use
are of more real value than any philosopher of any sect. This,
however, may be supposed to be the opinion of some vulgar and
ignorant plebeian, or of a woman. In the fifth Fragment we have
the character of a wife portrayed, such as Juvenal describes
so graphically in his sixth Satire. Indolent and slatternly in
her husband's presence, she reserves all her graces of manner
and elegance of ornament for the presence of strangers. We have
besides a notice of the wonders in Homer's narratives, the
praises of a good horse, a picture of a usurer, an account of a
soldier who has seen service in Spain, a eulogy of frugality and
other matters; how all these can possibly be arranged under one
head, is, as Gerlach says, a matter of the greatest obscurity.
1 Men think that many wonders described in Homer's verses are
prodigies; among the chief of which is Polyphemus the Cyclops,
two hundred feet long: and then besides, his walking-stick,
greater than the main-mast in any merchantman--[1779]
2 . . . no high-actioned Campanian nag will follow him that has
conquered by a mile or two * * * *[1780]
3 . . . moreover, as to price, the first is half an as, the second
a sestertius, and the third more than the whole bushel.
4 . . . in the number of whom, first of all Trebellius . . . fever,
corruption, weariness, and nausea. .
