Satire VIII
What is the use of pedigrees?396 What boots it, Ponticus, to be accounted of an ancient line, and to display the painted faces397 of your ancestors, and the Æmiliani standing in their cars, and the Curii diminished to one half their bulk, and Corvinus deficient of a shoulder, and Galba that has lost his ears and nose[4]—what profit is it to vaunt in your capacious genealogy of Corvinus, and in many a collateral line398 to trace dictators and masters of the horse begrimed with smoke, if before the very faces of the Lepidi you lead an evil life! To what purpose are the images of so many warriors, if the dice-box rattles all night long in the presence of the Numantini:399 if you retire to rest at the rising of that star400 at whose dawning those generals set their standards and camps in motion? Why does Fabius401 plume himself on the Allobrogici and the “Great Altar,” as one born in Hercules’ own household, if he is covetous, empty-headed, and ever so much more effeminate than the soft lamb of Euganea.402 If with tender limbs made sleek by the pumice403 of Catana he shames his rugged sires, and, a purchaser of poison, disgraces his dishonored race by his image that ought to be broken up.404
Though your long line of ancient statues adorn your ample halls on every side, the sole and only real nobility is virtue. Be a Paulus,405 or Cossus, or Drusus, in moral character. Set that before the images of your ancestors. Let that, when you are consul, take precedence of the fasces themselves. What I claim from you first is the noble qualities of the mind. If you deserve indeed to be accounted a man of blameless integrity, and stanch love of justice, both in word and deed, then I recognize the real nobleman. All hail, Gætulicus!406 or thou, Silanus,407 or from whatever other blood descended, a rare and illustrious citizen, thou fallest to the lot of thy rejoicing country. Then we may exultingly shout out what the people exclaim when Osiris is found.408
For who would call him noble that is unworthy of his race, and distinguished only for his illustrious name? We call some one’s dwarf,409 Atlas; a negro, swan; a diminutive and deformed wench, Europa. Lazy curs scabbed410 with inveterate mange, that lick the edges of the lamp now dry, will get the name of Leopard, Tiger, Lion, or whatever other beast there is on earth that roars with fiercer throat. Therefore you will take care and begin to fear lest it is upon the same principle you are a Creticus411 or Camerinus.
Whom have I admonished in these words? To you my words are addressed, Rubellius412 Plautus! You are puffed up with your descent from the Drusi, just as though you had yourself achieved something to deserve being ennobled; and she that gave you birth should be of the brilliant blood of Iulus, and not the drudge that weaves for hire beneath the shelter of the windy rampart.413 “You are the lower orders!” he says; “the very dregs of our populace! Not a man of you could tell where his father was born! But I am a Cecropid!” Long may you live!414 and long revel in the joys of such a descent! Yet from the lowest of this common herd you will find one that is indeed an eloquent Roman. It is he that usually pleads the cause of the ignorant noble.415 From the toga’d crowd will come one that can solve the knotty points of law, and the enigmas of the statutes. He it is that in his prime carves out his fortune with his sword, and goes to Euphrates, and the legions that keep guard over the conquered Batavi. While you are nothing but a Cecropid, and most like the shapeless pillar crowned with Hermes’ head. Since in no other point of difference have you the advantage save in this—that his head is of marble,416 and your image is endowed with life! Tell me, descendant of the Teucri, who considers dumb animals highly bred, unless strong and courageous? Surely it is on this score we praise the fleet horse—to grace whose speed full many a palm glows,417 and Victory, in the circus hoarse with shouting, stands exulting by. He is the steed of fame, from whatever pasture he comes, whose speed is brilliantly before the others, and whose dust is first on the plain. But the brood of Corytha, and Hirpinus’ stock, are put up for sale if victory sit but seldom on their yoke. In their case no regard is had to their pedigree—their dead sires win them no favor—they are forced to change their owners for paltry prices, and draw wagons with galled withers, if slow of foot, and only fit to turn Nepos’418 mill. Therefore that we may admire you, and not yours, first achieve some noble act419 that I may inscribe on your statue’s base, besides those honors that we pay, and ever shall pay, to those to whom you are indebted for all.
Enough has been said to the youth whom common report represents to us as haughty and puffed up from his relationship to Nero.420 For in that rank of life the courtesies421 of good breeding are commonly rare enough. But you, Ponticus, I would not have you valued for your ancestors’ renown; so as to contribute nothing yourself to deserve the praise of posterity. It is wretched work building on another’s fame; lest the whole pile crumble into ruins when the pillars that held it up are withdrawn. The vine that trails along the ground,422 sighs for its widowed elms in vain.
Prove yourself a good soldier, a faithful guardian, an incorruptible judge. If ever you shall be summoned as a witness in a doubtful and uncertain cause, though Phalaris himself command you to turn liar, and dictate the perjuries with his bull placed before your eyes, deem it to be the summit of impiety423 to prefer existence to honor,424 and for the sake of life to sacrifice life’s only end! He that deserves to die is dead; though he still sup on a hundred Gauran425 oysters, and plunge in a whole bath of the perfumes of Cosmus.426
When your long-expected province shall at length receive you for its ruler, set a bound to your passion, put a curb on your avarice. Have pity on our allies whom we have brought to poverty. You see the very marrow drained from the empty bones of kings. Have respect to what the laws prescribe, the senate enjoins. Remember what great rewards await the good, with how just a stroke ruin lighted on Capito427 and Numitor, those pirates of the Cilicians, when the senate fulminated its decrees against them. But what avails their condemnation, when Pansa plunders you of all that Natta left? Look out for an auctioneer to sell your tattered clothes, Chærippus, and then hold your tongue! It is sheer madness to lose, when all is gone, even Charon’s fee.428
There were not the same lamentations of yore, nor was the wound inflicted on our allies by pillage as great as it is now, while they were still flourishing, and but recently conquered.429 Then every house was full, and a huge pile of money stood heaped up, cloaks from Sparta, purple robes from Cos, and along with pictures by Parrhasius, and statues by Myro, the ivory of Phidias seemed instinct with life;430 and many a work from Polycletus’ hand in every house; few were the tables that could not show a cup of Mentor’s chasing. Then came Dolabella,431 and then Antony, then the sacrilegious Verres;432 they brought home in their tall433 ships the spoils they dared not show, and more434 triumphs from peace than were ever won from war. Now our allies have but few yokes of oxen, a small stock of brood-mares, and the patriarch435 of the herd will be harried from the pasture they have already taken possession of. Then the very Lares themselves, if there is any statue worth looking at, if any little shrine still holds its single god. For this, since it is the best they have, is the highest prize they can seize upon.
You may perhaps despise the Rhodians unfit for war, and essenced Corinth: and well you may! How can a resin-smeared436 youth, and the depilated legs of a whole nation, retaliate upon you. You must keep clear of rugged Spain, the Gallic car,437 and the Illyrian coast. Spare too those reapers438 that overstock the city, and give it leisure for the circus439 and the stage. Yet what rewards to repay so atrocious a crime could you carry off from thence, since Marius440 has so lately plundered the impoverished Africans even of their very girdles?441
You must be especially cautious lest a deep injury be inflicted on those who are bold as well as wretched. Though you may strip them of all the gold and silver they possess, you will yet leave them shield and sword, and javelin and helm. Plundered of all, they yet have arms to spare!
What I have just set forth is no opinion of my own. Believe that I am reciting to you a leaf of the sibyl, that can not lie. If your retinue are men of spotless life, if no favorite youth442 barters your judgments for gold, if your wife443 is clear from all stain of guilt, and does not prepare to go through the district courts,444 and all the towns of your province, ready, like a Celæno445 with her crooked talons, to swoop upon the gold—then you may, if you please, reckon your descent from Picus; and if high-sounding names are your fancy, place the whole army of Titans among your ancestors, or even Prometheus446 himself. Adopt a founder of your line from any book you please. But if ambition and lust hurry you away headlong, if you break your rods447 on the bloody backs of the allies, if your delight is in axes blunted by the victor worn out with using them—then the nobility of your sires themselves begins to rise448 in judgment against you, and hold forth a torch to blaze upon your shameful deeds.449 Every act of moral turpitude incurs more glaring reprobation in exact proportion to the rank of him that commits it. Why vaunt your pedigree to me? you, that are wont to put your name to forged deeds in the very temples450 which your grandsire built, before your very fathers’ triumphal statues! or, an adulterer that dares not face the day, you veil your brows concealed beneath a Santon451 cowl. The bloated Damasippus is whirled in his rapid car past the ashes and bones of his ancestors—and with his own hands, yes! though consul! with his own hands locks his wheel with the frequent drag-chain.452 It is, indeed, at night. But still the moon sees him! The stars strain on him their attesting eyes.453 When the period of his magistracy is closed, Damasippus454 will take whip in hand in the broad glare of day, and never dread meeting his friend now grown old, and will be the first to give him the coachman’s salute, and untie the trusses and pour the barley455 before his weary steeds himself. Meantime, even while according to Numa’s ancient rites he sacrifices the woolly victim and the stalwart bull before Jove’s altar, he swears by Epona456 alone, and the faces daubed over the stinking stalls. But when he is pleased to repeat his visits to the taverns open all night long, the Syrophœnician, reeking with his assiduous perfume,457 runs to meet him (the Syrophœnician that dwells at the Idumæan458 gate), with all the studied courtesy of a host, he salutes him as “lord”459 and “king;” and Cyane, with gown tucked up, with her bottle for sale. One who wishes to palliate his crimes will say to me, “Well; we did so too when we were young!” Granted. But surely you left off, and did not indulge in your folly beyond that period. Let what you basely dare be ever brief! There are some faults that should be shorn away with our first beard. Make all reasonable allowance for boys. But Damasippus frequents those debauches of the bagnios, and the painted signs,460 when of ripe age for war, for guarding Armenia461 and Syria’s rivers, and the Rhine or Danube. His time of life qualifies him to guard the emperor’s person. Send then to Ostia!462 Cæsar—send! But look for your general in some great tavern. You will find him reclining with some common cut-throat; in a medley of sailors, and thieves, and runaway slaves; among executioners and cheap coffin-makers,463 and the now silent drums of the priest of Cybele, lying drunk on his back.464 There there is equal liberty for all—cups in common—nor different couch for any, or table set aloof from the herd. What would you do, Ponticus, were it your lot to have a slave of such a character? Why surely you would dispatch him to the Lucanian or Tuscan bridewells.465 But you, ye Trojugenæ! find excuses for yourselves, and what would disgrace a cobbler466 will be becoming in a Volesus or Brutus!
What if we never produce examples so foul and shameful, that worse do not yet remain behind! When all your wealth was squandered, Damasippus, you let your voice for hire467 to the stage,468 to act the noisy Phasma469 of Catullus. Velox Lentulas acted Laureolus, and creditably too. In my judgment he deserved crucifying in earnest. Nor yet can you acquit the people themselves from blame. The brows of the people are too hardened that sit470 spectators of the buffooneries of the patricians, listen to the Fabii with naked feet, and laugh at the slaps on the faces of the Mamerci. What matters it at what price they sell their lives: they sell them at no tyrant’s compulsion,471 [nor hesitate472 to do it even at the games of the prætor seated on high.] Yet imagine the gladiator’s sword473 on one side, the stage on the other. Which is the better alternative? Has any one so slavish a dread of death as to become the jealous lover of Thymele,474 the colleague of the heavy Corinthus? Yet it is nothing to be wondered at, if the emperor turn harper, that the nobleman should turn actor. To crown all this, what is left but the amphitheatre?475 And this disgrace of the city you have as well—Gracchus476 not fighting equipped as a Mirmillo, with buckler or falchion (for he condemns—yes, condemns and hates such an equipment). Nor does he conceal his face beneath a helmet. See! he wields a trident. When he has cast without effect the nets suspended from his poised right hand, he boldly lifts his uncovered face to the spectators, and, easily to be recognized, flees across the whole arena. We can not mistake the tunic,477 since the ribbon of gold reaches from his neck, and flutters in the breeze from his high-peaked cap. Therefore the disgrace, which the Secutor had to submit to, in being forced to fight with Gracchus, was worse than any wound. Were the people allowed the uncontrolled exercise of their votes, who could be found so abandoned as to hesitate to prefer Seneca478 to Nero? For whose punishment there should have been prepared not a single ape479 only, or one snake or sack.480 “His crime is matched by that of Orestes!”481 But it is the motive cause that gives the quality to the act. Since he, at the instigation of the gods themselves, was the avenger of his father butchered in his cups. But he neither imbrued his hands in Electra’s blood, or that of his Spartan wife; he mixed no aconite for his relations. Orestes never sang on the stage; he never wrote “Troïcs.” What, blacker crime was there for Virginius’482 arms to avenge, or Galba leagued with Vindex? In all his tyranny, cruel and bloody as it was, what exploit did Nero483 achieve? These are the works, these the accomplishments of a high-born prince—delighting to prostitute484 his rank by disgraceful dancing on a foreign stage, and earn the parsley of the Grecian crown. Array the statues of your ancestors in the trophies of your voice. At Domitius’485 feet lay the long train of Thyestes, or Antigone, or Menalippe’s mask, and hang your harp486 on the colossus of marble.
What could any one find more noble than thy birth, Catiline, or thine, Cethegus! Yet ye prepared arms to be used by night, and flames for our houses and temples, as though ye had been the sons of the Braccati,487 or descendants of the Senones. Attempting what one would be justified in punishing by the pitched shirt.488 But the consul is on the watch489 and restrains your bands. He whom you sneer at as a novus490 homo from Arpinum, of humble birth, and but lately made a municipal knight at Rome, disposes every where his armed guards to protect the terrified people, and exerts himself in every quarter. Therefore the peaceful toga, within the walls, bestowed on him such honors and renown as not even Octavius bore away from Leucas491 or the plains of Thessaly, with sword reeking with unintermitted slaughter. But Rome owned him for a parent. Rome, when unfettered,492 hailed Cicero as father of his father-land.
Another native of Arpinum was wont to ask for his wages when wearied with another’s plow on the Volscian hills. After that, he had the knotted vine-stick493 broken about his head, if he lazily fortified the camp with sluggard axe. Yet he braved the Cimbri, and the greatest perils of the state, and alone protected the city in her alarm. And therefore when the ravens, that had never lighted on bigger carcasses,494 flocked to the slaughtered heaps of Cimbrians slain, his nobly-born colleague is honored with a laurel inferior to his.495
The souls of the Decii were plebeian, their very names plebeian. Yet these are deemed by the infernal deities and mother Earth a fair equivalent for the whole legions, and all the forces of the allies, and all the flower of Latium. For the Decii496 were more highly valued by them than all they died to save!
It was one born from a slave497 that won the robe and diadem and fasces of Quirinus, that last of good kings! They that were for loosening the bolts of the gates betrayed to the exiled tyrants, were the sons of the consul himself! men from whom we might have looked for some glorious achievement in behalf of liberty when in peril; some act that Mucius’ self, or Cocles, might admire; and the maiden that swam across498 the Tiber, then the limit of our empire. He that divulged to the fathers the secret treachery was a slave,499 afterward to be mourned for by all the Roman matrons: while they suffer the well-earned punishment of the scourge, and the axe,500 then first used by Rome since she became republican.
I had rather that Thersites501 were your sire, provided you resembled Æacides and could wield the arms of Vulcan, than that Achilles should beget you to be a match to Thersites.
And yet, however far you go back, however far you trace your name, you do but derive your descent from the infamous sanctuary.502 That first of your ancestors, whoever he was, was either a shepherd, or else—what I would rather not mention!
Footnotes
396 Stemmata. “The lines connecting the descents in a pedigree,” from the garlands of flowers round the Imagines set up in the halls (v., 19) and porticoes (vi., 163) of the nobiles; which were joined to one another by festoons, so that the descent from father to son could be readily traced. Cf. Pers., iii., 28. “Stemmate quod Tusco ramum millesime ducis.” Of Ponticus nothing is known.
397 Vultus. Because these Imagines were simply busts made of wax, colored.
398 Virgâ.
“What boots it on the lineal tree to trace
Through many a branch the founders of our race.” Gifford.
399 Numantinos. Scipio Africanus the Younger got the name of Numantinus from Numantia, which he destroyed as well as Carthage.
400 Ortu.
“Just at the hour when those whose name you boast
Broke up the camp, and march’d th’ embattled host.” Hodgson.
401 Fabius, the founder of the Fabian gens, was said to have been a son of Hercules by Vinduna, daughter of Evander, and by virtue of this descent the Fabii claimed the exclusive right of ministering at the altar consecrated by Evander to Hercules. It stood in the Forum Boarium, near the Circus Flaminius, and was called Ara Maxima. Cf. Ovid, Fast., i., 581, “Constituitque sibi quæ Maxima dicitur, Aram, Hic ubi pars urbis de bove nomen habet.” Cf. Virg., Æn., viii., 271, “Hanc aram luco statuit quæ Maxima semper dicetur nobis, et erit quæ Maxima semper.” Quintus Fabius Maximus Æmilianus, the consul in the year B.C. 121, defeated the Allobroges at the junction of the Isère and the Rhone, and killed 130,000: for which he received the name of Allobrogicus. Cf. Liv., Ep. 61. Vell., ii., 16.
402 Euganea, a district of Northern Italy, on the confines of the Venetian territory.
403 Pumice. The pumice found at Catana, now Catania, at the foot of Mount Ætna, was used to rub the body with to make it smooth (cf. ix., 95, “Inimicus pumice lævis.” Plin., xxxvi., 21. Ovid, A. Am., i., 506, “Nec tua mordaci pumice crura teras”), after the hairs had been got rid of by the resin. Vid. inf. 114.—Traducit. Vid. ad xi., 31.
404 Frangendâ. The busts of great criminals were broken by the common executioner. Cf. x., 58, “Descendunt statuæ restemque sequuntur.” Tac., Ann., vi., 2, “Atroces sententiæ dicebantur in effigies.” Cf. Ruperti, ad Tac., Ann., ii., 32. Suet., Domit., 23.
“He blast his wretched kindred with a bust,
For public justice to reduce to dust.” Gifford.
405 Paulus. He mentions (Sat. vii., 143) two lawyers, bearing the names of Paulus and Cossus, who were apparently no honor to their great names. (For Cossus, cf. inf. Gætulice.)
406 Gætulice. Cn. Cornelius Lentulus Cossus received the name of Gætulicus from his victory over the Gætuli, “Auspice Augusto,” in his consulship with L. Calpurnius Piso Augur. B.C. 1. Vid. Clinton, F. H., in an. Flor., iv., 12.
407 Silanus. The son-in-law of the Emperor Claudius, who, as Tacitus says (Ann., xvi., 7), “Claritudine generis, and modestâ juventâ præcellebat.” Cf. Ann., xii. Suet., Claud., 27.
“Hail from whatever stock you draw your birth,
The son of Cossus, or the son of earth.” Gifford.
408 Osiri invento. Vid. ad vi., 533.
409 Nanum cujusdam. There is probably an allusion here to Domitian’s fondness for these deformities. Cf. Domit., iv., “Per omne spectaculum ante pedes ei stabat puerulus coccinatus, parvo portentosoque capite, cum quo plurimum fabulabatur.” Cf. Stat., Sylv., i.; vi., 57, seq.
410 Scabie.
“That mangy larcenist of casual spoil,
From lamps extinct that licks the fetid oil.” Badham.
411 Creticus. Q. Metellus had this surname from his conquest of Crete, B.C. 67. Vell. Pat., ii., 34. Flor., iii., 7. Cf. ii., 78, “Cretice pelluces.” P. Sulpicius Camerinus was one of the triumvirs sent to Athens for Solon’s laws. Cf. vii., 90. Liv., iii., 33. Camerinus was a name of the Sulpician gens, and seems to have been derived from the conquest of Cameria in Latium. (Cf. Facciol.) Liv., i., 38. The name of Creticus was actually given in derision to M. Antonius, father of the triumvir, for his disastrous failure in Crete. Vid. Plut. in Ant.
412 Rubellius Blandus was the father, Plautus the son. Both readings are found here. Of the latter Tacitus says (Ann., xiv., 22), “Omnium ore Rubellius Plautus celebrabatur, cui nobilitas per matrem ex Julia familiâ.” His mother Julia was daughter of Drusus, the son of Livia, wife of Augustus. Germanicus, his mother’s brother, was father of Agrippina, mother of Nero: hence, inf. 72, “inflatum plenumque Nerone propinquo.” Cf. Virg., Æn., i., 288, “Julius a magno demissum nomen Julo.”
413 Aggere. Cf. ad vi., 588.
414 Vivas.
“Long may’st thou taste the secret sweets that spring
In breasts affined to so remote a king.” Gifford.
415 Nobilis indocti.
“Who help the well-born dolt in many a strait,
And plead the cause of the unletter’d great.” Badham.
416 Marmoreum.
“For ’tis no bar to kindred, that thy block
Is form’d of flesh and blood, and theirs of rock.” Gifford.
417 Fervet. “Frequenter celebratur.” Lubin. Some commentators interpret it of the eager clapping of the hands of the spectators: others, of the prize of victory.
“The palm of oft-repeated victories.” Hodgson.
“Whom many a well-earned palm and trophy grace.” Gifford.
“Whose easy triumph and transcendent speed,
Palm after palm proclaim.” Badham.
418 Nepos, the name of a noted miller at Rome.
419 Aliquid. “Sometimes great.” So i., 74, “Si vis esse aliquis.” Hall imitates this beautifully:
“Brag of thy father’s faults, they are thine own;
Brag of his lands, if they are not foregone:
Brag of thine own good deeds; for they are thine,
More than his life, or lands, or golden line.”
420 Nerone. Cf. ad l. 39.
421 Sensus communis. There are few phrases in Juvenal on which the commentators are more divided. Some interpret it exactly in the sense of the English words “common sense.” Others, “fellow-feeling, sympathy with mankind at large.” Browne takes it to be “tact.” Cf. Hor., i., Sat. iii., 66; Phædr., i., Fab. vii., 4. There is a long and excellent note in Gifford, who translates it himself by “a sense of modesty,” but allows that in Cicero it means “a polite intercourse between man and man;” in Horace, “suavity of manners;” in Seneca, “a proper regard for the decencies of life:” by others it is used for all these, which together constitute what we call “courteousness, or good breeding.” So Quintilian, I., ii., 20. Hodgson turns it,
“For plain good sense, first blessing of the sky,
Is rarely met with in a state so high.”
Badham,
“In that high estate
Plain common sense is far from common fate.”
422 Stratus humi.
“Stretch’d on the ground, the vine’s weak tendrils try
To clasp the elm they dropped from, fail, and die.” Gifford.
423 Summum crede nefas. See some beautiful remarks in Coleridge’s Introduction to the Greek Poets, p. 24, 25.
424 Pudori.
“At honor’s cost a feverish span extend,
And sacrifice for life, life’s only end!
Life! I profane the word: can those be said
To live, who merit death? No! they are dead.” Gifford.
425 Gaurana. Gaurus (cf. ix., 57), a mountain of Campania, near Baiæ and the Lucrine Lake, which was famous for oysters (cf. iv., 141, “Lucrinum ad saxum Rutupinove edita fundo Ostrea,” Plin., iii., 5. Martial, v., Ep. xxxvii., 3, “Concha Lucrini delicatior stagni”), now called “Gierro.”
426 Cosmus, a celebrated perfumer, mentioned repeatedly by Martial.
427 Capito. Cossutianus Capito, son-in-law of Tigellinus (cf. i., 155. Tac., Ann., xiv., 48; xvi., 17), was accused by the Cilicians of peculation and cruelty (“maculosum fœdumque, et idem jus audaciæ in provincia ratum quod in urbe exercuerat”), and condemned “lege repetundarum.” Tac., Ann., xiii., 33. Thrasea Pætus was the advocate of the Cilicians, and in revenge for this, when Capito was restored to his honors by the influence of Tigellinus, he procured the death of Thrasea. Ann., xvi., 21, 28, 33. Of Numitor nothing is known save that he plundered these Cilicians, themselves once the most notorious of pirates. Cf. Plat. in Pomp. Some read Tutor; a Julius Tutor is mentioned repeatedly in the fourth book of Tac. Hist., but with no allusion to his plundering propensities.
428 Naulum.
“Nor, though your earthly goods be sunk and lost,
Lose the poor waftage of the wandering ghost.” Hodgson.
Cf. iii., 267, “Nec habet quem porrigat ore trientem.” Holyday and Ruperti interpret it, “Do not waste your little remnant in an unprofitable journey to Rome to accuse your plunderer.” Gifford says it is merely the old proverb, and renders it, “And though you’ve lost the hatchet, save the haft.”
429 Modo victis. Browne explains this by tantummodo victis, i. e., only subdued, not plundered; and so Ruperti.
430 Vivebat. “And ivory taught by Phidias’ skill to live.” Gifford.
431 Dolabella. There were three “pirates” of this name, all accused of extortion; of whom Cicero’s son-in-law, the governor of Syria, seems to have been the worst.
432 Verres retired from Rome and lived in luxurious and happy retirement twenty-six years.
433 Altis, or “deep-laden.”
434 Plures.
“More treasures from our friends in peace obtain’d,
Than from our foes in war were ever gain’d.” Gifford.
435 Pater.
“They drive the father of the herd away,
Making both stallion and his pasture prey.” Dryden.
436 Resinata. Resin dissolved in oil was used to clear the skin of superfluous hairs. Cf. Plin., xiv., 20, “pudet confiteri maximum jam honorem (resinæ) esse in evellendis ab virorum corporibus pilis.”
437 Gallicus axis. Cf. Cæs., B. G., i., 51. “The war chariot;” or the “climate of Gaul,” as colder than that of Rome, and breeding fiercer men. Cf. vi., 470. “Hyperboreum axem,” xiv., 42.
438 Messoribus. These reapers are the Africans, from whom Rome derived her principal supply of corn. Cf. v., 119. Plin., v., 4.
439 Circo. Cf. x., 80, “duas tantum res anxius optat, Panem et Circenses.” Tac., Hist., i., 4, “Plebs sordida ac Circo et Theatris sueta.”
“From those thy gripes restrain,
Who with their sweat Rome’s luxury maintain,
And send us plenty, while our wanton day
Is lavish’d at the circus or the play.” Dryden.
440 Marius. Vid. ad i., 47.
441 Discinxerit. Cf. Virg., Æn., viii., 724, “Hic Nomadum genus et discinctos Mulciber Afros.” Sil. Ital., ii., 56, “Discinctos Libyas.” Money was carried in girdles (xiv., 296), and the Africans wore but little other clothing. For the amount of his plunder, see Plin., ii., Ep. xi., “Cornutus, censuit septingenta millia quæ acceperat Marius ærario inferenda.”
442 Acersecomes. Some “puer intonsus” with flowing locks like Bacchus or Apollo. Φοῖβος ἀκερσεκόμης. Hom., Il., xx., 39. Pind., Pyth., iii., 26.
443 Conjuge. Cf. the discussion in the senate recorded Tac., Ann., iii., 33, seq.
444 Conventus. “Loca constituta in provinciis juri dicundo.” The different towns in the provinces where the Roman governors held their courts and heard appeals. The courts as well as the towns were called by this name. They were also called Fora and Jurisdictiones. Vid. Plin., III., i., 3; V., xxix., 29. Cic. in Verr., II., v., 11. Cæs., B. G., i., 54; vi., 44.
445 Celæno. Cf. Virg., Æn., iii., 211, “dira Celæno Harpyiæque aliæ.”
446 Promethea.
“E’en from Prometheus’ self thy lineage trace,
And ransack history to adorn thy race.” Hodgson.
447 Frangis virgas.
“Rods broke on our associates’ bleeding backs,
And headsmen laboring till they blunt their axe.” Dryden.
448 Incipit ipsorum.
“The lofty pride of every honor’d name
Shall rise to vindicate insulted fame,
And hold the torch to blazon forth thy shame.” Hodgson.
449 Contra te stare.
“Will to his blood oppose your daring claim,
And fire a torch to blaze upon your shame.” Gifford.
450 Temples. The sealing of wills was usually performed in temples; in the morning, and fasting, as the canon law afterward directed.
451 Santonico. The Santones were a people of Aquitania, between the Loire and Garonne. Cf. Mart., xiv., Ep. 128, “Gallia Santonico vestit te bardocucullo.”
452 Sufflamine. “The introduction of the drag-chain has a local propriety: Rome, with its seven hills, had just so many necessities for the frequent use of the sufflamen. This necessity, from the change of the soil, exists no longer.” Badham.
453 Testes. Cf. vi., 311, Lunà teste.
454 Damasippus (cf. Hor., ii., Sat. iii., 16) was a name of the Licinian gens. “Damasippus was sick,” says Holyday, “of that disease which the Spartans call horse-feeding.”
455 Hordea. Horses in Italy are fed on barley, not on oats.
456 Eponam (cf. Aristoph., Nub., 84), the patroness of grooms. Some read “Hipponam,” which Gifford prefers, from the tameness of the epithet “solam.” Cf. Blunt’s Vestiges, p. 29.
“On some rank deity, whose filthy face
We suitably o’er stinking stables place.” Dryden.
457 Amomo, an Assyrian shrub. Cf. iv., 108.
458 Idumeæ. The gate at Rome near the Arch of Titus, through which Vespasian and Titus entered the city in triumph after their victories in Palestine.
459 Dominum. Cf. Mart., i., Ep. 113, “Cum te non nossem dominum regemque vocabam.” Cf. iv., Ep. 84, 5.
460 Inscripta lintea. Perhaps “curtains, having painted on them what was for sale within.” Others say it means “embroidered with needlework;” or “towels,” according to Calderinus, who compares Catull., xxv., 7.
461 Armeniæ. The allusion is to Corbulo’s exploits in Parthia and Armenia in Nero’s reign, A.D. 60. Cf. ad iii., 251. There were great disturbances in the same quarters in Trajan’s reign, which caused his expedition, in A.D. 114, against the Armenians and Parthians. In A.D. 100, Marius Priscus was accused by Pliny and Tacitus. Vid. Plin., ii., Ep. xi. Probably half way between these two dates we may fix the writing of this Satire.
462 Mitte Ostia. So most of the commentators interpret it. “Send your Legatus to take the command of the troops for foreign service, waiting for embarkation at Ostia.” But if so, “ad” should be expressed, and either Tiberina added, or Ostia made of the 1st declension. Britann., therefore, and Heinrich explain it, “Pass by his own doors;” omitte quærere illic, “he is far away.”
463 Sandapila. The bier or open coffin, on which the poor, or those killed in the amphitheatre, were carried to burial; hence “sandapila popularis.” Suet., Domit., 17. Stepney (in Dryden’s version) thus enumerates these worthies:
“Quacks, coffin-makers, fugitives, and sailors,
Rooks, common soldiers, hangmen, thieves, and tailors.”
464 Resupinantis. In Holyday’s quaint version,
“Among great Cybel’s silent drums, which lack
Their Phrygian priest, who lies drunk on his back.”
465 Ergastula. Private prisons attached to Roman farms, in which the slaves worked in chains. The Tuscan were peculiarly severe. Vid. Dennis’s Etruria, vol. i., p. xlviii.
466 Turpia cerdoni. Cf. iv., 13,” Nam quod turpe bonis Titio Seioque decebat Crispinum.” Pers., iv., 51, “Tollat sua munera cerdo.”
“And crimes that tinge with shame the cobbler’s face,
Become the lords of Brutus’ honor’d race.” Hodgson.
467 Locasti.
“Lets out his voice (his sole remaining boast),
And rants the nonsense of a clam’rous ghost.” Hodgson.
468 Sipario. The curtain or drop-scene in comedy, as Aulæum was in tragedy. Donat.
469 Phasma. Probably a translation from the Greek. Ter., Eun., pr. 9, “Idem Menandri phasma nunc nuper dedit.” Catullus is not to be confounded with C. Valerius Catullus of Verona (the old Schol. says Q. Lutatius Catullus is meant, and quotes xiii., 11, whom Lubinus, ad loc., calls “Urbanus Catullus”) as far as the Phasma is concerned.—Laureolus was the chief character in a play or ballet by Val. Catullus, or Laberius, or Nævius: and was crucified on the stage, and then torn to pieces by wild beasts. Martial (de Spect., Ep. vii.) says this was acted to the life in the Roman amphitheatre, the part of the bandit being performed by a real malefactor, who was crucified and torn to pieces in the arena, “Non falsâ pendens in cruce Laureolus.”
“And Lentulus acts hanging with such art,
Were I a judge, he should not feign the part.” Dryden.
470 Sedet.
“Sit with unblushing front, and calmly see
The hired patrician’s low buffoonery;
Smile at the Fabii’s tricks, and grin to hear
The cuffs resound from the Mamerci’s ear.” Gifford.
471 Cogente Nerone. Cf. Tac., Ann., xiv., 14, who abstains from mentioning the names of the nobles thus disgraced, out of respect for their ancestors. Cf. Dio., lxi. Suetonius says (Nero, cap. xii.) that 400 senators and 600 knights were thus dishonored (but Lipsius says 40 and 60 are the true numbers).
472 Nec dubitant. No doubt a spurious line.
473 Gladios. This is the usual interpretation. Perhaps it would be better to take “gladios” for the death that awaits you if you refuse to comply: as iv., 96; x., 345. So Badham:
“Place here the tyrant’s sword, and there the scene;
Gods! can a Roman hesitate between!”
474 Thymele. Cf. i., 36.
475 Ludus. Properly, “school of gladiators.”
476 Gracchus. Cf. ii., 143.
477 Tunicæ. Cf. ii., 143, tunicati fuscina Gracchi. Suet., Cal., 30. The Retiarii wore a tunic only. The gold spira was the band that tied the tall conical cap of the Salii; who wore also a gold fringe round the tunic.
478 Seneca. There is said to be an allusion here to the plot of Subrius Flavius to murder Nero and make Seneca emperor. It was believed that Seneca was privy to it. Tac., Ann., xv., 65.
479 Simia. Cf. xiii., 155, “Et deducendum corio bovis in mare cum quo clauditur adversis innoxia simia fatis.” The punishment of parricides was to be scourged, then sewn up in a bull’s hide with a serpent, an ape, a cock, and a dog, and to be thrown into the sea. The first person thus punished was P. Malleolus, who murdered his mother. Liv., Epit. lxviii.
480 Culeus. Cf. Suet., Aug., 33. Nero murdered his mother Agrippina, his aunt Domitia, both his wives, Octavia and Poppæa, his brother Britannicus, and several other relations.
481 Agamemnonidæ. Grangæus quotes the Greek verse current in Nero’s time, Νέρων, Ὀρέστης, Ἀλκμαίων μητροκτόνοι. Cf. Suet., Nero, 39.
482 Virginius Rufus, who was legatus in Lower Germany, Julius Vindex, proprætor of Gaul, and Sergius Galba, præfect of Hispania Tarraconensis, afterward emperor, were the chiefs of the last conspiracy against Nero. In August, A.D. 67, Nero was playing the fool in Greece; in March, 68, he heard with terror and dismay of the revolt of Vindex, who proclaimed Galba. Dio., lxiii., 22.
483 Quid Nero.
“What but such acts did Rome indignant see
Perform’d in Nero’s savage tyranny?” Hodgson.
484 Prostitui.
“To prostitute his voice for base renown,
And ravish from the Greeks a parsley crown.” Gifford.
Nero was in Greece A.D. 67, into which year (though not an Olympiad) he crowded all the games of Greece, “Certamina omnia et quæ diversissimorum temporum sunt cogi in unum annum jussit.” Suet., Ner., 23. “Romam introiit coronam capite gerens Olympiam dextrâ manu Pythiam,” c. 25.
485 Domitius was the name both of the father and grandfather of Nero. His father was Domitius Ahenobarbus, governor of Transalpine Gaul. Suetonius (Nero, 6) tells us that the two pædagogi to whom his childhood was intrusted were a saltator and a tonsor. To this perhaps his subsequent tastes may be traced.
486 Citharam. Cf. Suet., Ner., 12, “Citharæ a judicibus ad se delatam, adoravit ferrique ad Augusti statuam jussit.”
“And on the proud Colossus of your sire,
Suspend the splendid trophy of—a lyre!” Hodgson.
“Sacras coronas in cubiculis circum lectos posuit: item statuas suas Citharædico habitu: quâ notâ etiam nummum percussit.” Suet., Ner., 25.
487 Braccatorum. Gallia Narbonensis was called Braccata from the Braccæ, probably “plaid,” which the inhabitants wore. Plin., iii., 4. Diod., v., 30. The Senones were a people of Gallia Lugdunensis, who sacked Rome under Brennus; hence Minores, i. e., “as though you had been the hereditary enemies of Rome.”
488 Tunicâ molestâ. Cf. ad i., 155, “a dress smeared with pitch and other combustibles,” and then lighted. Cf. Mart., x., Ep. xxv., 5. In some cases Nero buried his victims up to the waist, and then set fire to their upper parts.
489 Vigilat refers to Cicero’s own words, “Jam intelliges multo me vigilare acrius ad salutem, quam te ad pernicem reipublicæ.”
490 Novus. Cicero was the first of the Tullia gens that held a curule magistracy. Arpinum, his birthplace, now Arpino, was a small town of the Volsci. The Municipia had their three grades, of patricians, knights, and plebeians, as Rome had; they lived under their own laws, but their citizens were eligible to all offices at Rome.
491 Leucas, i. e., “Actium.” Thessaliæ, “Philippi.” The words following probably refer to the brutal cruelty of Augustus after the battle.
492 Libera. “When Rome could utter her free unfettered sentiments” (as sup., “Libera si dentur populo suffragia”). Not in the spirit of servile adulation, with which she bestowed the same title on her emperors.
493 Vitem. The centurion’s baton of office as well as instrument of punishment. Cf. xiv., 193; Mart., x., Ep. xxvi., 1. See the story of Lucilius, nicknamed Cedo alteram, in Tac., Ann., i., 23.
494 Majora cadavera. Besides their fierce gray eyes (xiii., 164), the Germans were conspicuous for their stature and red hair. “Truces et cærulei oculi, rutilæ comæ, magnum corpora et tantum ad impetum valida.” Tac., Germ., iv. “Cimbri præ Italis ingentes.” Flor., iii.,3.
495 Lauro secundâ. A double triumph was decreed to Marius; he gave up the second to Q. Lutatius Catulus, his noble colleague, to satisfy his soldiers, who knew, better than Juvenal, that the nobleman’s services did not fall short of those of the plebeian. Marius afterward barbarously murdered him.
496 Deciorum. Alluding to the three immolations of the Decii, father, son, and grandson, in the wars with the Latins, Gauls, and Pyrrhus. All three bore the name of Publius Decius Mus. Juvenal comes very near the formula of self-devotion given in Liv., viii., 6, seq. “Exercitum Diis Manibus matrique terræ deberi.”
497 Ancilla natus. Servius Tullius (Cf. vii., 199) was the sen of Ocrisia, or Ocriculana, a captive from Corniculum. Liv., i., 39. The Trabea was a white robe with a border and broad stripes (trabes) of purple, worn afterward by consuls and augurs: cf. x., 35; the diadema of the ancient kings was a fillet or ribbon, not a crown.
“And he who graced the purple which he wore,
The last good king of Rome, a bondmaid bore.” Gifford.
498 Natavit.
“And she who mock’d the javelins whistling round,
And swam the Tiber, then the empire’s bound.” Gifford.
499 Servus. Livy calls him Vindicius; and derives from him the name of the Vindicta, “the rod of manumission.” Liv., ii., 7. He was mourned for at his death by the Roman matrons publicly, as Brutus had been.
500 Legum prima securis. Tarquinius Priscus introduced the axe and fasces with the other regalia. The axe therefore had often fallen for the tyrants; now it is used for the first time in defense of a legal constitution and a free republic.
501 Thersites. Hom., Il., ii., 212.
502 Asylo. Cf. Liv., i., 8.