, "totum diem
argutatur
quasi cicada.
Satires
in the first place, gold is superabundant, and the
treasures are open--
25 . . . persuade . . . and pass: or tell me why you should pass.
26 † he besides orders our . . . who are entering. . . . [1902]
27 . . . to your own mischief, you destroyers of hinges[1903]
28 If Lucilius has provoked him in his love.
29 Whether you have kept aloof from your husband, a year, or this
year--
30 besides this, some extra work, whenever you please[1904]
31 to whom I intrusted implicitly my life and fortunes. [1905]
32 . . . on whom I have often inflicted a thousand stripes a day
33 . . . that he is a capital botcher: sews up patchwork
excellently. [1906]
34 . . . by such great power they will elate their minds to
heaven[1907]
35 But what are you doing? tell me that I may know--
36 . . . Youth must provide now against old age.
37 As though you had dropsy in your mind.
38 . . . as to face and stature. . . . [1908]
39 . . . and what is filthy in look and smell--
40 . . . to forge supports of gold and brass--[1909]
41 Nor challenges at any price--
42 Go in, and be of good cheer.
43 Care nothing about teaching letters to a clod. [1910]
44 I have made up my mind, Hymnis, that you are taking from a
madman[1911]
45 You know the whole affair. I am afraid I shall be blamed
46 Chremes had gone to the middle. Demænetus to the top.
47 Here you will find firm flesh, and the breasts standing forth
from a chest like marble--[1912]
48 I will surpass the forms and atoms of Epicurus--
49 † Now you come toward us. . . . [1913]
50 . . . I come to the pimp . . . that he intends to buy her outright
for three thousand sesterces. [1914]
FOOTNOTES:
[1887] Nonius explains _eligere_ by _defatigare_. It is used by Varro
and Columella in the sense of "plucking up, weeding out," eridicare;
and metaphorically by Cicero in the same sense. (Tusc. , iii. , 34. )
Gerlach maintains that _nervos eligere_ is not Latin, and reads _nervos
elidat_ «which is confirmed by a passage in the same treatise of
Cicero, "Nervos omnes virtutis elidunt. " Tusc. , ii. , 11».
[1888] _Compendi facere. _ Plaut. , Most. , I. , i. , 57, "Orationis operam
compendiface. " Pseud. , IV. , vii. , 44, "Quisquis es adolescens operam
fac compendi quærere. " Asin. , II. , ii. , 41, "Verbivelitationem fieri
compendi volo. " Capt. , V. , ii. , 12. Bacch. , I. , ii, 51; II. , ii. , 6.
_Terginum_ is a scourge made of hide (the "cowskin" of the Americans).
Cf. Plaut. , Ps. , I. , ii. , 22, "Nunquam edepol vostrum durius _tergum_
erit quam _terginum_ hoc meum. "
[1889] The story of Polemon entering intoxicated into the school of
Xenocrates, and being suddenly converted by that philosopher's lecture
on temperance, is told by Diogenes Laertius (in Vit. , i. , c. 1), and
referred to by Horace, ii. , Sat. iii. , 253, "Faciasne quod olim mutatus
Polemon? ponas insignia morbi Fasciolas, cubital, focalia, potus ut
ille dicitur ex collo furtim carpsisse coronas postquam est impransi
correptus voce magistri. " He afterward succeeded Xenocrates; and Zeno
and Arcesilaus were among his hearers. Cic. , Orat. , iii. , 18.
[1890] _Viscatis manibus. _ Cf. Sen. , Ep. viii. , 3, "Quisquis nostrum
ista _viscata_ beneficia devitet. "
[1891] To whom these vituperative alliterations (_vatia_, _vatrax_,
_vatricosus_) are applied is uncertain. The Fabian gens are most
probably alluded to. The reading "verrucosus," therefore, has been
suggested, to identify the person with the great Fabius Cunctator.
(Aur. Vict. , Vir. Ill. , 43. ) But this violates the metre, and still
leaves the two other epithets unaccounted for. Three famous men of the
gens had the prænomen Quintus, Æmilianus, his son Allobrogicus, and his
grandson. Gerlach considers the last to be the object of the Satire, as
his profligacy and licentiousness were notorious. Cf. Val. Max. , III. ,
v. , 2.
[1892] Of the numerous repartees of Aristippus to Dionysius, mentioned
by Diogenes Laertius in his Life, it is difficult to say to which
Lucilius alludes. Cf. Hor. , ii. , Sat. iii. , 10; i. , Epist. xvii. , 13,
_seq_.
[1893] Cf. Hor. , Epod. xvii. , 1, "Jam jam efficaci _do manus_ scientiæ. "
[1894] _Armillum_, "a wine-pot," vini urceolus, vas vinarium; so
called quia armo, i. e. , humero deportatur. Old women being naturally
wine-bibbers (vinibuæ), "anus ad armillum" passed into a proverbial
expression. Cf. Prov. , xxvi. , 11. 2 Pet. , ii. , 22.
[1895] _Nullo honore. _ Cf. Scott's Lay of Last Minstrel, "Unwept,
unhonored, and unsung. "
[1896] _Committere_, Nonius explains by "conjungere, sociare. " Cf.
Virg. , Æn. , iii. , "Delphinum caudas utero commissa luporum. " Ov. , Met,
xii. , 478, "Quà vir equo commissus erat. "
[1897] Nonius quotes this passage as an instance of "convenire" used in
the sense of "interpellare. "
[1898] _Altilium. _ Cf. Juv. , v. , 168, "Ad nos jam veniet minor
altilis. " Hor. , i. , Ep. vii. , 35, "Nec somnum plebis laudo satur
altilium. " Cf. iv. , Fr. 5.
[1899] _Argutamini. _ Cf. Enn. ap. Non. , "Exerce linguam ut argutarier
possis. " Næv. , ibid.
, "totum diem argutatur quasi cicada. " Plaut. ,
Amp. , I. , i. , 196, "Pergin argutarier? " Bacch. , I. , ii. , 19, "Etiam me
advorsus exordire argutias? "
[1900] _Percitus_ is commonly used by the comic writers for the
excitement of any strong passion, as love, anger, etc.
[1901] _Centenarias. _ So pondere centenario. Plin. , vii. , 20. Cf. ad
lib. v. , Fr. 22.
[1902] Hopelessly corrupt. Dusa proposes _puer_.
[1903] _Confectores. _ Connected probably with Fr. 20, and referring to
the violent entrances lovers used to effect into the houses of their
mistresses. Cf. lib. iv. , Fr. 15; xxix. , Fr. 47. Hor. , iii. , Od. xxvi. ,
7. Where Zumpt explains _vectes_ as instruments which "adhibebantur ad
fores effringendas. " _Conficere_, i. e. , frangere. Nonius.
[1904] _Subsecivus_ is properly applied to that which is "cut off and
left remaining over and above," as land in surveying, etc. So horæ
subsecivæ, tempus subsecivum, "leisure hours, odd times," used by
Cicero and Pliny. So Seneca says of philosophy, "Exercet regnum suum:
dat tempus non accipit. Non est _res subseciva_: ordinaria est, domina
est: adest et jubet. " Cf. the Greek phrase ἐκ παρέργου.
[1905] _Concredidit. _ Plaut. , Aul. , Prol. , 6.
[1906] _Sarcinator. _ Plaut. , Aul. , III. , v. , 41. _Cento_, "a patchwork
coverlet. " Juv. , vi. , 121. Vid. Fest in voc. "prohibere. " The phrase
_centones sarcire_ also means, "to impose upon a person by falsehoods. "
Cf. Plaut. , Epid. , III. , iv. , 19, "Quin tu alium quæras quoi centones
sarcias. "
[1907] The emendations of this Fragment are endless. The reading of the
text is approved by Merula and Gerlach.
[1908] _Statura. _ Cf. Cic. , Phil. , ii. , 16, "Velim mihi docas, L,
Turselius, qua _facie_ fuit, quâ _staturâ_. "
[1909] _Fulmenta_, "any prop or support. " Hence "a bed-post. " Whence
the proverb, "Fulmenta lectum scandunt. " Plautus also uses it for the
"heel of a shoe," "fulmentas jubeam suppingi soccis? " Trin. , III. , ii. ,
94, _seq_. Lib. iv. , Fr. 19.
[1910] _Lutum_ for "lutulentum. "
[1911] Gerlach thinks _Hymnis_, here and in lib. xxvii. , Fr. 43, may be
a proper name.
[1912] _Hic corpus. _ "Verba conciliatricis Lenæ. " Dusa. (Cf. Arist. ,
Acharn. , 1199).
[1913] Given up even by Gerlach.
[1914] _Destinet. _ Cf. Plaut. , Rud. , Prol. , 45, "Amare occœpit, ad
lenonem devenit minis triginta sibi puellam destinat. " Pers. , IV. ,
iii. , 80. Mart. , III. , i. , 109; IV. , iii. , 35. _Destinare_ is properly
"to set one's mind upon a thing. " So _obstinare_. Plaut. , Aul. , II. ,
ii. , 89.
BOOK XXIX.
ARGUMENT.
The remains of this book are so mutilated and so diversified, that,
as Gerlach says, "one might be disposed to imagine that the very
essence of the subject was its unconnected variety. " Both he and
Merula, however, consider that it contained a long episode on
the state of morality in the good old days; when the war with
Hannibal rendered a luxurious indulgence incompatible even with
personal safety. (Cf. Juv. , vi. , 291. Sulpic. , 51, 52. ) An old
man is introduced inveighing bitterly against the sloth, the
luxury, and immoderate extravagance of the young men of his day;
of their unscrupulousness as to the means by which the money was
acquired, which was squandered on their licentious pleasures.
He then describes one of these scenes of dissipation; and shows
how young men, once entangled in the snares of their worthless
paramours not only become lost to every principle of virtue and
sense of shame, but are so completely enslaved and enthralled
by their passions, that they are able to refuse nothing,
however unworthy of them, which is exacted by their tyrannical
mistresses. This corruption extends itself, also, not only to
the courts of law, where justice has become a matter of barter,
both with advocates and judges, but its fatal effects may also
be traced in the debasement and deterioration of literature, of
poetry, and of the public taste.
1 When he has done this, the culprit will be handed over along
with others to Lupus: he will not appear. He will deprive the
man of both primary matter and elements: when he has prohibited
him from the use of water and fire, he has still two elements:
he would have preferred . . . still he will deprive him--[1915]
2 . . . and rest assured in your mind, that it will be a very
weighty reason indeed with me, which would draw me away from
any thing that would serve you.
3 . . . who communicates to me what the difference is between the
race of mankind and brutes, and what it is connects them
together.
4 Apollo is the deity who will not suffer you to bring disgrace
and infamy on the ancient Delians. [1916]
5 For he swears a great oath that he has written, and will not
write afterward. . . . and return into fellowship.
6 . . . when you have learnt, you may pass your life without care.
7 . . . at the close of the year, days of mourning, sorrow, and
ill-luck. [1917]
8 . . . and loved all; for he makes no difference, and separates
them by a white line. . . .
So in love, and in the case of young men of rather better face, he
marks. . . . and loves nothing. [1918]
9 Why do you give way to excessive anger? You had better keep
your hands off a woman!
10 . . . you could not take it away before you took the spirit of
Tullius from the man, and killed the man himself. [1919]
11 We heard he appealed to his friends, with that rascal Lucilius.
12 besides that you would wish us to direct, and apply our minds
to your words
13 So, I say, was that crafty fellow, that old wolf, Hannibal,
taken in. [1920]
14 But they are not alike, and do not give. What if they would
give? Would you accept, tell me?
15 . . . convey him, like a runaway slave, with handcuffs, fetters,
and collar. [1921]
16 . . . who will both beg you for less, and grant their favors much
better, and without disgrace. [1922]
17 If you wish to detain him.
treasures are open--
25 . . . persuade . . . and pass: or tell me why you should pass.
26 † he besides orders our . . . who are entering. . . . [1902]
27 . . . to your own mischief, you destroyers of hinges[1903]
28 If Lucilius has provoked him in his love.
29 Whether you have kept aloof from your husband, a year, or this
year--
30 besides this, some extra work, whenever you please[1904]
31 to whom I intrusted implicitly my life and fortunes. [1905]
32 . . . on whom I have often inflicted a thousand stripes a day
33 . . . that he is a capital botcher: sews up patchwork
excellently. [1906]
34 . . . by such great power they will elate their minds to
heaven[1907]
35 But what are you doing? tell me that I may know--
36 . . . Youth must provide now against old age.
37 As though you had dropsy in your mind.
38 . . . as to face and stature. . . . [1908]
39 . . . and what is filthy in look and smell--
40 . . . to forge supports of gold and brass--[1909]
41 Nor challenges at any price--
42 Go in, and be of good cheer.
43 Care nothing about teaching letters to a clod. [1910]
44 I have made up my mind, Hymnis, that you are taking from a
madman[1911]
45 You know the whole affair. I am afraid I shall be blamed
46 Chremes had gone to the middle. Demænetus to the top.
47 Here you will find firm flesh, and the breasts standing forth
from a chest like marble--[1912]
48 I will surpass the forms and atoms of Epicurus--
49 † Now you come toward us. . . . [1913]
50 . . . I come to the pimp . . . that he intends to buy her outright
for three thousand sesterces. [1914]
FOOTNOTES:
[1887] Nonius explains _eligere_ by _defatigare_. It is used by Varro
and Columella in the sense of "plucking up, weeding out," eridicare;
and metaphorically by Cicero in the same sense. (Tusc. , iii. , 34. )
Gerlach maintains that _nervos eligere_ is not Latin, and reads _nervos
elidat_ «which is confirmed by a passage in the same treatise of
Cicero, "Nervos omnes virtutis elidunt. " Tusc. , ii. , 11».
[1888] _Compendi facere. _ Plaut. , Most. , I. , i. , 57, "Orationis operam
compendiface. " Pseud. , IV. , vii. , 44, "Quisquis es adolescens operam
fac compendi quærere. " Asin. , II. , ii. , 41, "Verbivelitationem fieri
compendi volo. " Capt. , V. , ii. , 12. Bacch. , I. , ii, 51; II. , ii. , 6.
_Terginum_ is a scourge made of hide (the "cowskin" of the Americans).
Cf. Plaut. , Ps. , I. , ii. , 22, "Nunquam edepol vostrum durius _tergum_
erit quam _terginum_ hoc meum. "
[1889] The story of Polemon entering intoxicated into the school of
Xenocrates, and being suddenly converted by that philosopher's lecture
on temperance, is told by Diogenes Laertius (in Vit. , i. , c. 1), and
referred to by Horace, ii. , Sat. iii. , 253, "Faciasne quod olim mutatus
Polemon? ponas insignia morbi Fasciolas, cubital, focalia, potus ut
ille dicitur ex collo furtim carpsisse coronas postquam est impransi
correptus voce magistri. " He afterward succeeded Xenocrates; and Zeno
and Arcesilaus were among his hearers. Cic. , Orat. , iii. , 18.
[1890] _Viscatis manibus. _ Cf. Sen. , Ep. viii. , 3, "Quisquis nostrum
ista _viscata_ beneficia devitet. "
[1891] To whom these vituperative alliterations (_vatia_, _vatrax_,
_vatricosus_) are applied is uncertain. The Fabian gens are most
probably alluded to. The reading "verrucosus," therefore, has been
suggested, to identify the person with the great Fabius Cunctator.
(Aur. Vict. , Vir. Ill. , 43. ) But this violates the metre, and still
leaves the two other epithets unaccounted for. Three famous men of the
gens had the prænomen Quintus, Æmilianus, his son Allobrogicus, and his
grandson. Gerlach considers the last to be the object of the Satire, as
his profligacy and licentiousness were notorious. Cf. Val. Max. , III. ,
v. , 2.
[1892] Of the numerous repartees of Aristippus to Dionysius, mentioned
by Diogenes Laertius in his Life, it is difficult to say to which
Lucilius alludes. Cf. Hor. , ii. , Sat. iii. , 10; i. , Epist. xvii. , 13,
_seq_.
[1893] Cf. Hor. , Epod. xvii. , 1, "Jam jam efficaci _do manus_ scientiæ. "
[1894] _Armillum_, "a wine-pot," vini urceolus, vas vinarium; so
called quia armo, i. e. , humero deportatur. Old women being naturally
wine-bibbers (vinibuæ), "anus ad armillum" passed into a proverbial
expression. Cf. Prov. , xxvi. , 11. 2 Pet. , ii. , 22.
[1895] _Nullo honore. _ Cf. Scott's Lay of Last Minstrel, "Unwept,
unhonored, and unsung. "
[1896] _Committere_, Nonius explains by "conjungere, sociare. " Cf.
Virg. , Æn. , iii. , "Delphinum caudas utero commissa luporum. " Ov. , Met,
xii. , 478, "Quà vir equo commissus erat. "
[1897] Nonius quotes this passage as an instance of "convenire" used in
the sense of "interpellare. "
[1898] _Altilium. _ Cf. Juv. , v. , 168, "Ad nos jam veniet minor
altilis. " Hor. , i. , Ep. vii. , 35, "Nec somnum plebis laudo satur
altilium. " Cf. iv. , Fr. 5.
[1899] _Argutamini. _ Cf. Enn. ap. Non. , "Exerce linguam ut argutarier
possis. " Næv. , ibid.
, "totum diem argutatur quasi cicada. " Plaut. ,
Amp. , I. , i. , 196, "Pergin argutarier? " Bacch. , I. , ii. , 19, "Etiam me
advorsus exordire argutias? "
[1900] _Percitus_ is commonly used by the comic writers for the
excitement of any strong passion, as love, anger, etc.
[1901] _Centenarias. _ So pondere centenario. Plin. , vii. , 20. Cf. ad
lib. v. , Fr. 22.
[1902] Hopelessly corrupt. Dusa proposes _puer_.
[1903] _Confectores. _ Connected probably with Fr. 20, and referring to
the violent entrances lovers used to effect into the houses of their
mistresses. Cf. lib. iv. , Fr. 15; xxix. , Fr. 47. Hor. , iii. , Od. xxvi. ,
7. Where Zumpt explains _vectes_ as instruments which "adhibebantur ad
fores effringendas. " _Conficere_, i. e. , frangere. Nonius.
[1904] _Subsecivus_ is properly applied to that which is "cut off and
left remaining over and above," as land in surveying, etc. So horæ
subsecivæ, tempus subsecivum, "leisure hours, odd times," used by
Cicero and Pliny. So Seneca says of philosophy, "Exercet regnum suum:
dat tempus non accipit. Non est _res subseciva_: ordinaria est, domina
est: adest et jubet. " Cf. the Greek phrase ἐκ παρέργου.
[1905] _Concredidit. _ Plaut. , Aul. , Prol. , 6.
[1906] _Sarcinator. _ Plaut. , Aul. , III. , v. , 41. _Cento_, "a patchwork
coverlet. " Juv. , vi. , 121. Vid. Fest in voc. "prohibere. " The phrase
_centones sarcire_ also means, "to impose upon a person by falsehoods. "
Cf. Plaut. , Epid. , III. , iv. , 19, "Quin tu alium quæras quoi centones
sarcias. "
[1907] The emendations of this Fragment are endless. The reading of the
text is approved by Merula and Gerlach.
[1908] _Statura. _ Cf. Cic. , Phil. , ii. , 16, "Velim mihi docas, L,
Turselius, qua _facie_ fuit, quâ _staturâ_. "
[1909] _Fulmenta_, "any prop or support. " Hence "a bed-post. " Whence
the proverb, "Fulmenta lectum scandunt. " Plautus also uses it for the
"heel of a shoe," "fulmentas jubeam suppingi soccis? " Trin. , III. , ii. ,
94, _seq_. Lib. iv. , Fr. 19.
[1910] _Lutum_ for "lutulentum. "
[1911] Gerlach thinks _Hymnis_, here and in lib. xxvii. , Fr. 43, may be
a proper name.
[1912] _Hic corpus. _ "Verba conciliatricis Lenæ. " Dusa. (Cf. Arist. ,
Acharn. , 1199).
[1913] Given up even by Gerlach.
[1914] _Destinet. _ Cf. Plaut. , Rud. , Prol. , 45, "Amare occœpit, ad
lenonem devenit minis triginta sibi puellam destinat. " Pers. , IV. ,
iii. , 80. Mart. , III. , i. , 109; IV. , iii. , 35. _Destinare_ is properly
"to set one's mind upon a thing. " So _obstinare_. Plaut. , Aul. , II. ,
ii. , 89.
BOOK XXIX.
ARGUMENT.
The remains of this book are so mutilated and so diversified, that,
as Gerlach says, "one might be disposed to imagine that the very
essence of the subject was its unconnected variety. " Both he and
Merula, however, consider that it contained a long episode on
the state of morality in the good old days; when the war with
Hannibal rendered a luxurious indulgence incompatible even with
personal safety. (Cf. Juv. , vi. , 291. Sulpic. , 51, 52. ) An old
man is introduced inveighing bitterly against the sloth, the
luxury, and immoderate extravagance of the young men of his day;
of their unscrupulousness as to the means by which the money was
acquired, which was squandered on their licentious pleasures.
He then describes one of these scenes of dissipation; and shows
how young men, once entangled in the snares of their worthless
paramours not only become lost to every principle of virtue and
sense of shame, but are so completely enslaved and enthralled
by their passions, that they are able to refuse nothing,
however unworthy of them, which is exacted by their tyrannical
mistresses. This corruption extends itself, also, not only to
the courts of law, where justice has become a matter of barter,
both with advocates and judges, but its fatal effects may also
be traced in the debasement and deterioration of literature, of
poetry, and of the public taste.
1 When he has done this, the culprit will be handed over along
with others to Lupus: he will not appear. He will deprive the
man of both primary matter and elements: when he has prohibited
him from the use of water and fire, he has still two elements:
he would have preferred . . . still he will deprive him--[1915]
2 . . . and rest assured in your mind, that it will be a very
weighty reason indeed with me, which would draw me away from
any thing that would serve you.
3 . . . who communicates to me what the difference is between the
race of mankind and brutes, and what it is connects them
together.
4 Apollo is the deity who will not suffer you to bring disgrace
and infamy on the ancient Delians. [1916]
5 For he swears a great oath that he has written, and will not
write afterward. . . . and return into fellowship.
6 . . . when you have learnt, you may pass your life without care.
7 . . . at the close of the year, days of mourning, sorrow, and
ill-luck. [1917]
8 . . . and loved all; for he makes no difference, and separates
them by a white line. . . .
So in love, and in the case of young men of rather better face, he
marks. . . . and loves nothing. [1918]
9 Why do you give way to excessive anger? You had better keep
your hands off a woman!
10 . . . you could not take it away before you took the spirit of
Tullius from the man, and killed the man himself. [1919]
11 We heard he appealed to his friends, with that rascal Lucilius.
12 besides that you would wish us to direct, and apply our minds
to your words
13 So, I say, was that crafty fellow, that old wolf, Hannibal,
taken in. [1920]
14 But they are not alike, and do not give. What if they would
give? Would you accept, tell me?
15 . . . convey him, like a runaway slave, with handcuffs, fetters,
and collar. [1921]
16 . . . who will both beg you for less, and grant their favors much
better, and without disgrace. [1922]
17 If you wish to detain him.
