Satire III Argument
In this Satire, perhaps more than in any other, we detect Persius’ predilection for the doctrines of the Stoics. With them the summum bonum was “the sound mind in the sound body.” To attain which, man must apply himself to the cultivation of virtue, that is, to the study of philosophy. He that does not can aspire to neither. Though unknown to himself, he is laboring under a mortal disease, and though he fancies he possesses a healthy intellect, he is the victim of as deep-seated and dangerous a delusion as the recognized maniac. The object of the Satire is to reclaim the idle and profligate young nobles of his day from their enervating and pernicious habits, by the illustration of these principles.
The opening scene of the Satire presents us with the bedchamber where one of these young noblemen, accompanied by some other youths probably of inferior birth and station, is indulging in sleep many hours after the sun has risen upon the earth. The entrance of the tutor, who is a professor of the Stoical philosophy, disturbs their slumbers, and the confusion consequent upon his rebuke, and the thin disguise of their ill-assumed zeal, is graphically described. After a passionate outburst of contempt at their paltry excuses, the tutor points out the irretrievable evils that will result from their allowing the golden hours of youth to pass by unimproved: overthrows all objections which are raised as to their position in life, and competency of means rendering such vigorous application superfluous; and in a passage of solemn warning full of majesty and power, describes the unavailing remorse which will assuredly hereafter visit those who have so far quitted the rugged path that leads to virtue’s heights, that all return is hopeless. He then proceeds to describe the defects of his own education; and the vices he fell into in consequence of these defects—vices however which were venial in himself, as those principles which would have taught him their folly were never inculcated in him. Whereas those whom he addresses, from the greater care that has been bestowed on their early training, are without apology for their neglect of these palpable duties. Then with great force and vigor, he briefly describes the proper pursuits of well-regulated minds; and looks down with contemptuous scorn on the sneers with which vulgar ignorance would deride these truths, too transcendent for their gross comprehension to appreciate. The Satire concludes very happily with the lively apologue of a glutton; who, in despite of all warning and friendly advice, perseveres even when his health is failing, in such vicious and unrestrained indulgence, that he falls at length a victim to his intemperance. The application of the moral is simple. The mind that is destitute of philosophical culture is hopelessly diseased, and the precepts of philosophy can alone effect a cure. He that despises these, in vain pronounces himself to be of sound mind. On the approach of any thing that can kindle the spark, his passions burst into flame; and in spite of his boasted sanity, urge him on to acts that would call forth the reprobation even of the maniac himself. The whole Satire and its moral, as Gifford says, may be fitly summed up in the solemn injunction of a wiser man than the schools ever produced: “Wisdom is the principal thing: therefore get Wisdom.”
What! always thus!1336 Already the bright morning is entering the windows,1337 and extending1338 the narrow chinks with light. We are snoring1339 as much as would suffice to work off the potent Falernian,1340 while the index1341 is touched by the fifth shadow of the gnomon. See! What are you about? The raging Dog-star1342 is long since ripening the parched harvest, and all the flock is under the wide-spreading elm. One of the fellow-students1343 says, “Is it really so? Come hither, some one, quickly. Is nobody coming!” His vitreous bile1344 is swelling. He is bursting with rage: so that you would fancy whole herds of Arcadia1345 were braying. Now his book, and the two-colored1346 parchment cleared of the hair, and paper, and the knotty reed is taken in hand. Then he complains that the ink, grown thick, clogs in his pen; then that the black sepia1347 vanishes altogether, if water is poured into it; then that the reed makes blots with the drops being diluted. O wretch! and every day still more a wretch! Are we come to such a pitch? Why do you not rather, like the tender ring-dove,1348 or the sons of kings, call for minced pap, and fractiously refuse your nurse’s lullaby!—Can I work with such a pen as this, then?
Whom are you deceiving? Why reiterate these paltry shifts? The stake is your own! You are leaking away,1349 idiot! You will become an object of contempt. The ill-baked jar of half-prepared clay betrays by its ring its defect, and gives back a cracked sound. You are now clay, moist and pliant:1350 even now you ought to be hastily moulded and fashioned unintermittingly by the rapid wheel.1351 But, you will say, you have a fair competence from your hereditary estate; a pure and stainless salt-cellar.1352 Why should you fear? And you have a paten free from care, since it worships your household deities.1353 And is this enough? Is it then fitting you should puff out your lungs to bursting because you trace the thousandth in descent from a Tuscan stock;1354 or because robed in your trabea you salute the Censor, your own kinsman? Thy trappings to the people! I know thee intimately, inside and out! Are you not ashamed to live after the manner of the dissolute Natta?1355
But he is besotted by vicious indulgence; the gross fat1356 is incrusted round his heart: he is free from moral guilt; for he knows not what he is losing; and sunk in the very depth of vice, will never rise again to the surface of the wave.
O mighty father of the gods! when once fell lust, imbued with raging venom, has fired their spirits, vouchsafe to punish fierce tyrants in no other way than this. Let them see Virtue,1357 and pine away at1358 having forsaken her! Did the brass of the Sicilian1359 bull give a deeper groan, or the sword1360 suspended from the gilded ceiling over the purple-clad neck strike deeper terror, than if one should say to himself, “We are sinking, sinking headlong down,” and in his inmost soul, poor wretch, grow pale at what even the wife of his bosom must not know? I remember when I was young I often used to touch1361 my eyes with oil, if I was unwilling to learn the noble words of the dying Cato;1362 that would win great applause from my senseless master, and which my father, sweating with anxiety, would listen to with the friends he had brought to hear me. And naturally enough. For the summit of my wishes was to know what the lucky sice would gain; how much the ruinous ace1363 would sweep off; not to miss the neck of the narrow jar;1364 and that none more skillfully than I should lash the top1365 with a whip.
Whereas you are not inexperienced in detecting the obliquity of moral deflections, and all that the philosophic porch,1366 painted over with trowsered Medes, teaches; over which the sleepless and close-shorn youth lucubrates, fed on husks and fattening polenta. To thee, besides, the letter that divides the Samian branches,1367 has pointed out the path that rises steeply on the right-hand track.
And are you snoring still? and does your drooping head, with muscles all relaxed, and jaws ready to split with gaping, nod off your yesterday’s debauch? Is there indeed an object at which you aim, at which you bend your bow? Or are you following the crows, with potsherd and mud, careless whither your steps lead you, and living only for the moment?
When once the diseased skin begins to swell, you will see men asking in vain for hellebore. Meet the disease on its way to attack you. Of what avail is it to promise mountains of gold to Craterus?1368 Learn, wretched men, and investigate the causes of things; what we are—what course of life we are born to run—what rank is assigned to us—how delicate the turning round1369 the goal, and whence the starting-point—what limit must be set to money—what it is right to wish for—what uses the rough coin1370 possesses—how much you ought to bestow on your country and dear relations—what man the Deity destined you to be, and in what portion of the human commonwealth your station is assigned.
Learn: and be not envious because full many a jar grows rancid in his well-stored larder, for defending the fat Umbrians,1371 and pepper, and hams, the remembrances of his Marsian client; or because the pilchard has not yet failed from the first jar.1372
Here some one of the rank brood of centurions may say, “I have philosophy enough to satisfy me. I care not to be what Arcesilas1373 was, and woe-begone Solons, with head awry1374 and eyes fastened on the ground, while they mumble suppressed mutterings, or idiotic silence, or balance words on their lip pouting out, pondering over the dreams of some palsied dotard, ’that nothing can be generated from nothing; nothing can return to nothing.’—Is it this over which you grow pale? Is it this for which one should go without his dinner?” At this the people laugh, and with wrinkling nose the brawny1375 youth loudly re-echo the hearty peals of laughter.
“Examine me! My breast palpitates unusually; and my breath heaves oppressedly from my fevered jaws: examine me, pray!” He that speaks thus to his physician, being ordered to keep quiet, when the third night has seen his veins flow with steady pulse, begs from some wealthier mansion some mellow Surrentine,1376 in a flagon of moderate capacity, as he is about to bathe. “Ho! my good fellow, you look pale!” “It is nothing!” “But have an eye to it, whatever it is! Your sallow skin is insensibly rising.” “Well, you look pale too! worse than I! Don’t play the guardian to me! I buried him long ago—you remain.” “Go on! I will hold my peace!” So, bloated with feasting and with livid stomach he takes his bath, while his throat slowly exhales sulphureous malaria. But shivering1377 comes on over his cups, and shakes the steaming beaker1378 from his hands; his teeth, grinning, rattle in his head; then the rich dainties dribble from his flaccid lips.
Next follow the trumpets and funeral-torches; and at last this votary of pleasure, laid out on a lofty bier, and plastered over with thick unguents,1379 stretches out his rigid heels1380 to the door. Then, with head covered, the Quirites of yesterday1381 support his bier.
“Feel my pulse, you wretch! put your hand on my breast. There is no heat here! touch the extremities of my feet and hands. They are not cold!”
If money has haply met your eye,1382 or the fair maiden of your neighbor has smiled sweetly on you, does your heart beat steadily? If hard cabbage has been served up to you in a cold dish, or flour shaken through the people’s sieve,1383 let me examine your jaws. A putrid ulcer lurks in your tender mouth, which it would not be right to grate against with vulgar beet.1384 You grow cold, when pallid fear has roused the bristles on your limbs. Now, when a torch is placed beneath, your blood begins to boil, and your eyes sparkle with anger; and you say and do what even Orestes1385 himself, in his hour of madness, would swear to be proofs of madness.
Footnotes
1336 Nempe hæc. A passage in Gellius exactly describes the opening scene of this Satire. “Nunc videre est philosophos ultrò currere ut doceant, ad foras juvenum divitûm, eosque ibi sedere atque operiri prope ad meridiem, donec discipuli nocturnum omne vinum edormiant.” x., 6.
1337 Fenestras. So Virg., Æn., iii., 151, “Multo manifesti lumine, quà se plena per insertas fundebat luna fenestras.” Prop., I., iii., 31, “Donec divisas percurrens luna fenestras.”
1338 Extendit, an hypallage. The light transmitted through the narrow chinks in the lattices, diverges into broader rays.
1339 Stertimus, for stertis. The first person is employed to avoid giving offense.
1340 Falernum. The Falernian was a fiery, full-bodied wine of Campania: hence its epithets, “Severum,” Hor., i., Od. xxvii., 9; “Ardens,” ii., Od. xi., 19; Mart., ix., Ep. lxxiv., 5; “Forte,” ii., Sat. iv., 24 (cf. Luc., x., 163, “Indomitum Meroë cogens spumare Falernum”); “Acre,” Juv., xiii., 216. To soften its austerity it was mixed with Chian wine. Tibull., II., i., 28, “Nunc mihi fumosos veteris proferte Falernos Consulis, et Chio solvite vincla cado.” Hor., i., Sat. x., 24, “Suavior ut Chio nota si commista Falerni est.” Despumare is, properly, “to take off the foam or scum;” “Et foliis undam trepidi despumat aheni;” then, met., “to digest.”
1341 Linea. “It wants but an hour of noon by the sun-dial.” The Romans divided their day into twelve hours; the first beginning with the dawn; consequently, at the time of the equinoxes, their hours nearly corresponded with ours. According to Pliny, H. N., ii., 76, Anaximenes was the inventor of the sun-dial; whereas Diog. Laertius (II., i., 3) and Vitruvius attribute the discovery to Anaximander. They were, however, known in much earlier times in the East. Cf. 2 Kings, xx. Sun-dials were introduced at Rome in the time of the second Punic war; the use of Clepsydræ, “water-clocks,” by Scipio Nasica.
1342 Canicula. Hor., iii., Od. xiii., 9, “Te flagrantis atrox hora Caniculæ nescit tangere.” III., xxix., 19, “Stella vesani Leonis.”
1343 Comitum. One of the young men of inferior fortune, whom the wealthy father has taken into his house, to be his son’s companion.
1344 Vitrea bilis. Cf. Hor., ii., Sat. iii., 141, “Jussit quod splendida bilis;” ubi v. Orell. It is called, by medical writers, ὑαλώδης χολή.
1345 Arcadiæ. Juv., vii., 160, “Nil salit Arcadico juveni.” Arcadia was famous for its broods of asses.
1346 Bicolor. The outer side of the parchment on which the hair has been is always of a much yellower color than the inner side of the skin; hence “croceæ membrana tabellæ,” Juv., vii., 23; though some think that the color was produced by the oil of citron or cedar. (Plin., xiii., 5. Cf. ad Sat. i., 43.) Leaves and the bark of trees were first used for writing on; hence folia and liber: occasionally linen, or plates of metal or stone; then paper was manufactured from the Cyperus papyrus, or Egyptian flag. Plin., xii., 23; xiii., 11. When the Ptolemies stopped the exportation of paper from Egypt, to prevent the library of Eumenes, king of Pergamus, from rivaling that of Alexandria, parchment (Pergamenum) was invented to serve as a substitute. Plin., x., 11, 21. Hieron., Ep. vii., 2. Hor., Sat., II., iii., 2. The manufacturer of it was termed Membranarius. The parchment was rendered smooth by rubbing with pumice, and flattened with lead, and was capable of being made so thin, that we read that the whole Iliad written on parchment was inclosed within a walnut-shell. Plin., VII., xxi., 21. Quintilian says, “that wax tablets were best suited for writing, as erasures could be so readily made; but that for persons of weak sight parchment was much better; but that the rapid flow of thought was checked by the constant necessity for dipping the pen in the ink.” Quint., x., 3. Cf. Catull., xxii., 6. Tibull., III., i., 9. They used reeds (calamus, fistula, arundo) for writing on this, as is done to the present day in the East. The best came from Egypt. “Dat chartis habiles calamos Memphitica tellus.” Mart., xiv., Ep. 38. Hor., A. P., 447.
1347 Sepia, put here for the ink. The popular delusion was, that this fish, when pursued, discharged a black liquid (atramentum), which rendered the water turbid, and enabled it to make its escape. (Hence it is still called by the Germans “Tinten-fisch,” Ink-fish.) Vid. Cic., Nat. Deor., ii., 50. Plin., ix., 29, 45. The old Schol. says that this liquid was used by the Africans; but that a preparation of lamp-black was ordinarily used.
1348 Palumbo. The ring-dove is said to be fed by the undigested food from the crop of its mother. Pappare is said of children either calling for food or eating pap (papparium). Hence the male-nurse is called Pappas. Juv., iv., 632, “timidus prægustet pocula Pappas.” Plaut., Epid., v., 2, 62. It is here put by enallage for the pap itself; as lallare, in the next line, for the “lullaby” of the nurse, which Ausonius calls lallum. Epist. xvi., 90, “Nutricis inter lemmata lallique somniferos modos.” Cf. Hieron., Epist. xiv., 8, “Antiquum referens mammæ lallare.” Shakspeare, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act ii., sc. 3.
1349 Effluis is said of a leaky vessel, and refers to his illustration of the ill-baked pottery in the following line—sonat vitium. Cf. v. 25, “Quid solidum crepet.”
1350 Udum et molle lutum. Hor., ii., Ep. ii., 7, “Idoneus arti cuilibet; argillâ quidvis imitaberis udâ.” A. P., 163, “Cereus in vitium flecti.” Plat., de Legg., i., p. 633, θωπεῖαι κολακικαὶ αἳ τινὰς κηρίνους ποιοῦσι πρὸς ταῦτα ξύμπαντα.
1351 Rotâ. So Hor., A. P., 21, “Currente rotâ cur urceus uxit.” Plaut., Epid., III., ii., 35, “Vorsutior es quam rota figularis.”
1352 Salinum. The reverence for salt has been derived from the remotest antiquity. From its being universally used to season food, and from its antiseptic properties, it has been always associated with notions of moral purity, and, from forming a part of all sacrifices, acquired a certain degree of sanctity; so that the mere placing salt on the table was supposed, in a certain degree, to consecrate what was set on it. (Arnob., ii., 91, “Sacras facitis mensas salinorum appositu.”) Hence the salt-cellar became an heir-loom, and descended from father to son. (Hor., ii., Od. xvi., 13, “Vivitur parvo bene cui paternum splendet in mensâ tenui salinum.”) Even in the most frugal times, it formed part, sometimes the only piece, of family-plate. Pliny says that the “salinum and patella were the only vessels of silver Fabricius would allow,” xxxiii., 12, 54; and in the greatest emergencies, as e. g., A.U.C. 542, when all were called upon to sacrifice their plate for the public service, the salt-cellar and paten were still allowed to be retained. Liv., xxvi., 36, “Ut senatores salinum, patellamque deorum causâ habere possint.” Cf. Val. Max., IV., iv., 3, “In C. Fabricii et Q. Æmilii Papi domibus argentum fuisse confiteor; uterque enim patellam deorum et salinum habuit.” Cf. Sat. v., 138.
1353 Cultrix foci. A portion of the meat was cut off before they began to eat, and offered to the Lares in the patella, and then burnt on the hearth; and this offering was supposed to secure both house and inmates from harm.
1354 Stemmate. Vid. Juv., viii., 1. The Romans were exceedingly proud of a Tuscan descent. Cf. Hor., i., Od. i., 1; iii., Od. xxix., 1; i., Sat. vi., 1. The vocatives “millesime,” “trabeate,” are put by antiptosis for nominatives. For the trabea, see note on Juv., viii., 259, “trabeam et diadema Quirini.” It was properly the robe of kings, consuls, and augurs, but was worn by the equites on solemn processions. These were of two kinds, the transvectio and the censio. The former is referred to here. It took place annually on the 15th of July (Idibus Quinctilibus), when all the knights rode from the temple of Mars, or of Honor, to the Capitol, dressed in the trabea and crowned with olive wreaths, and saluted as they passed the censors, who were seated in front of the temple of Castor in the forum. This custom was introduced by Q. Fabius, when censor, A.U.C. 303. (Liv., ix., 46, fin. Aur. Vict., Vir. Illustr., 32.) It afterward fell into disuse, but was revived by Augustus. (Suet., Vit., 38.) In the censio, which took place every five years only, the equites walked in procession before the censors, leading their horses; all whom the censors approved of were ordered to lead along their horses (equos traducere); those who had disgraced themselves, either by immorality, or by diminishing their fortune, or neglecting to take care of their horses, were degraded from the rank of equites by being ordered to sell their horses.
1355 Natta. We find a Pinarius Natta mentioned, Tac., Ann., iv., 34, as one of the clients of Sejanus. Cicero also speaks of the Pinarii Nattæ as patricians and nobles. De Divin., ii., xxi. (Cf. pro Mur., xxxv. Att., iv., 8.) Horace uses the name for a gross person. “Ungor olivo non quo fraudatis immundus Natta lucernis,” i., Sat. vi., 124; and Juvenal for a public robber, “Quum Pansa eripiat quidquid tibi Natta reliquit,” Sat. viii., 95. He is here put for one so sunk in profligacy, with heart so hardened, and moral sense so obscured by habitual vice, as to be unable even to perceive the abyss in which he is plunged. Cf. Arist., Eth., ii., 5, 8. “Reason and revelation alike teach us the awful truth, that sin exercises a deadening effect on the moral perception of right and wrong. Ignorance may be pleaded as an excuse, but not that ignorance of which man himself is the cause. Such ignorance is the result of willful sin. This corrupts the moral sense, hardens the heart, destroys the power of conscience, and afflicts us with judicial blindness, so that we actually lose at last the power of seeing the things which belong unto our peace.” P. 67 of Browne’s translation of the Ethics, in Bohn’s Classical Library. (For discinctus, vid. Orell. ad Hor., Epod. i., 34.)
1356 Pingue. Cf. Psalm cxix., 70, “Their heart is as fat as brawn.”
1357 Virtutem videant. This passage is beautifully paraphrased by Wyat.
“None other payne pray I for them to be,
But, when the rage doth lead them from the right,
That, looking backward, Vertue they may see
E’en as she is, so goodly faire and bright!
And while they claspe their lustes in arms acrosse,
Graunt them, good Lord, as thou maist of thy might,
To fret inwarde for losing such a losse!” Ep. to Poynes.
“Virtue,” says Plato, “is so beautiful, that if men could but be blessed with a vision of its loveliness, they would fall down and worship.” ὄψις γάρ ὑμῖν ὀξυτάτη τῶν διὰ τοῦ σώματος ἔρχεται αἰσθήσεων, ᾗ φρόνησις οὐχ ὁρᾶται δεινοὺς γάρ ἂν παρεῖχεν ἔρωτας εἴ τι τοιρῦτον ἑαυτῆς ἐναργὲς εἴδωλον παρείχετο εἰς ὄψιν ἰόν καὶ τἆλλα ὅσα ἐραστά. Phædr., c. 65, fin. The sentiment has been frequently repeated. Cic., de Fin., ii., 16, “Quam illa ardentes amores excitaret sui si videretur.” De Off., i., 5, “Si oculis cerneretur mirabiles amores, ut ait Plato, excitaret sui.” Senec., Epist. 59, 1, “Profecto omnes mortales in admirationem sui raperet, relictis his quæ nunc magna, magnorum ignorantia credimus.” So Epist. 115. Shaftesbury’s Characteristics. The Moralists. Part iii., § 2.
1358 Intabescant. Hor., Epod. v., 40. Ov., Met., ii., 780; iii., Od. xxiv., 31, “Virtutem incolumem odimus, Sublatam ex oculis quærimus invidi.” Pers., Sat. v., 61, “Et sibi jam seri vitam ingemuero relictam.”
1359 Siculi. Alluding to the bull of Phalaris, made for him by Perillus. Cf. ad Juv., viii., 81, “Admoto dictet perjuria tauro.” Plin., xxxiv., 8. Cic., Off., ii., 7. Ov., Ib., 439, “Ære Perillæo veros imitere juvencos, ad formam tauri conveniente sono.” A. Am., i., 653, “Et Phalaris tauro violenti membra Perilli Torruit infelix imbuit auctor opus.” Ov., Trist., III., xi., 40-52. Claud., B. Gild., 186. Phalaris and Perillus were both burnt in it themselves.
1360 Ensis refers to the entertainment of Damocles by Dionysius of Syracuse. Vid. Cic., Tusc. Qu., v., 21. Plat, de Rep., iii., p. 404. Hor., iii., Od. i., 17, “Destrictus ensis cui super impia Cervice pendet non Siculæ dapes Dulcem elaborabunt vaporem.”
1361 Tangebam. Cf. Ov., A. Am., i., 662, “Put oil on my eyes to make my master believe they were sore.”
1362 Catonis. Either some high-flown speech put into Cato’s mouth, like that of Addison, or a declamation on the subject written by the boy himself. Cf. Juv., i., 16; vii., 151.
1363 Damnosa Canicula. Cf. Propert., IV., viii., 45, “Me quoque per talos Venerem quærente secundos, semper damnosi subsiluere Canes.” Juv., xiv., 4, “Damnosa senem juvat alea,” The talus had four flat sides, the two ends being rounded. The numbers marked on the sides were the ace, “canis” or “unio” (Isid., Or. xviii., 65, only in later writers), the trey, “ternio,” the quater, “quaternio,” and the sice, “senio,” opposite the ace. They played with four tali, and the best throw was when each die presented a different face (μηδενὸς ἀστραγάλου πεσόντος ἴσῳ σχήματι, Lucian, Am. Mart., xiv., Ep. 14, “Cum steterit nullus tibi vultu talus eôdem”), i. e., when one was canis, another ternio, another quaternio, and the fourth senio. This throw was called Venus, or jactus Venereus, because Venus was supposed to preside over it. The worst throw was when all came out aces; and there appears to have been something in the make of the dice to render this the most common throw. This was called Canis, or Canicula; as Voss says, because “like a dog it ate up the unfortunate gambler who threw it.” Ovid, A. Am., ii., 205, “Seu jacies talos, victam ne pœna sequatur, Damnosi facito stent tibi sæpe Canes.” One way of playing is described (in Suet., Vit. August, c. 71) is letter of Augustus to Tiberius. Each player put a denarius into the pool for every single ace or sice he threw, and he who threw Venus swept away the whole. There were probably many other modes of playing. Cf. Cic., de Div., i., 13. The tesseræ were like our dice with six sides, numbered from one to six, so that the numbers on the two opposite sides always equaled seven. Cf. Bekker’s Gallus, p. 499. Lucil., i., fr. 27.
1364 Orcæ. This refers to a game played by Roman boys, which consisted in throwing nuts into a narrow-necked jar. This game was called τρόπα by the Greeks; who used dates, acorns, and dibs for the same purpose. Poll., Onom., IX., vii., 203. Ovid refers to it in his “Nux.” “Vas quoque sæpe cavum, spatio distante, locatur In quod missa levi nux cadat una manu.” Orca (the Greek ὕρχα Arist., Vesp., 676) was an earthen vessel used for holding wine, figs, and salted fish. Cf. 1. 73, “Mænaque quod primâ nondum defecerit orcâ.” Hor., ii., Sat. iv., 66, “Quod pingui miscere mero muriâque decebit non alià quam quâ Byzantia putruit orca.” Colum., xii., 15. Plin., xv., 19. Varro, R. R., i., 13. The dibs used for playing were called taxilli, Pompon. in Prisc., iii., 615.
1365 Buxum. “Volubile buxum.” Cf. Virg., Æn., vii., 378-384. Tibull., I., v. 3.
1366 Porticus. ἡ ποικίλη Στοά. The Pœcile, or “Painted Hall,” at Athens. It was covered with frescoes representing the battle of Marathon, executed gratuitously by Polygnotus the Thasian and Mycon. Plin., xxxv., 9. Corn. Nep., Milt., vi. This “porch” was the favorite resort of Zeno and his disciples, who were hence called Stoics. Diog. Laert., VII., i., 6.
1367 Samios diduxit litera ramos. The letter Y was taken by Pythagoras as the symbol of human life. The stem of the letter symbolizes the early part of life, when the character is unformed, and the choice of good or evil as yet undetermined. The right-hand branch, which is the narrower one, represents the “steep and thorny path” of virtue. The left-hand branch is the broad and easy road to vice. Compare the beautiful Episode of Prodicus in Xenophon’s Memorabilia. Servius ad Virg., Æn., vi., 540, “Huic literæ dicebat Pythagoras humanæ vitæ cursum esse similem, quia unusquisque hominum, cum primum adolescentiæ limen attigerit, et in eum locum venerit ‘partes ubi se via findit in ambas,’ hæreat nutabandus, et nesciat in quam se partem potius inclinet.” Auson., Idyll., xii., 9, “Pythagoræ bivium ramis pateo ambiguis Y.” Shakspeare, Hamlet, Act i., sc. 3. Cic., de Off., i., 32. Hesiod, Op. et Di., 288, μακρὸς δὲ καὶ ὄρθιος οἶμος. Pers., Sat., v., 35.
1368 Cratero, a famous physician in Cicero’s time. Cic. ad Att., xii., 13, 14. He is also mentioned by Horace, Sat., II., iii., 161, “Non est cardiacus, Craterum dixisse putato.”
1369 Flexus. “There are many periods of life as critical as the end of the stadium in the chariot-race, where the nicest judgment is required in turning the corner.” Adrian Turnebe. The reading of D’Achaintre is followed.
1370 Asper Numus. Cf. ad Juv., xiv., 62.
1371 Defensis pinguibus Umbris. For the presents which lawyers received from their clients, cf. Juv., vii., 119, “Vas pelamidum.”
1372 Orca. Cf. sup., 1. 50. The Mœna was a common coarse kind of fish (Cic., Fin., ii., 28), commonly used for salting.
1373 Arcesilas was a native of Pitane, in Æolis. After studying at Sardis under Autolycus, the mathematician, he came to Athens, and became a disciple of Theophrastus, and afterward of Crantor. He was the founder of the Middle Academy. Diog. Laert., Proœm., x., 14. Liv., iv., c. vi. He maintained that “nothing can be known,” and is hence called “Ignorantiæ Magister.” Lactant., III., v., 6. His doctrine is stated, Cic., de Orat., iii, 18. Acad., i, 12.
1374 Obstipo capite implies “the head rigidly fixed in one position.” Sometimes in an erect one, as in an arrogant and haughty person. (Suet., Tib., 68, “Cervix rigida et obstipa.”) Sometimes bent forward, which is the characteristic of a slavish and cringing person. (δουλοπρέπες. Cf. Orell. ad Hor., ii., Sat. v., 92, “Davus sis Comicus atque Stes capite obstipo multum similis metuenti.”) Sometimes in the attitude of a meditative person in deep reflection, “with leaden eye that loves the ground.”
1375 Torosa. Applied properly to the broad muscles in the breast of a bull. Ov., Met., vii., 428, “Feriuntque secures Colla torosa boüm.”
1376 Surrentina. Surrentum, now “Sorrento,” on the coast of Campania, was famous for its wines. Ov., Met., xv., 710, “Et Surrentino generosos palmite colles.” Pliny assigns it the third place in wines, ranking it immediately after the Setine and Falernian. He says it was peculiarly adapted to persons recovering from sickness. XIV., vi., 8; XXIII., i., 20. Surrentum was also famous for its drinking-cups of pottery-ware. XIV., ii, 4. Mart., xiv., Ep. 102; xiii., 110.
1377 Tremor. So Hor., i, Epist. xvi., 22, “Occultam febrem sub tempus edendi dissimules, donec manibus tremor incidat unctis.”
1378 Trientem, or triental, a cup containing the third part of the sextarius (which is within a fraction of a pint), equal to four cyathi Cf. Mart., vi., Ep. 86, “Setinum, dominæque nives, densique trientes, Quando ego vos medico non prohibente bibam?”
1379 Amomis. Juv., iv., 108, “Et matutino sudans Crispinus amomo, Quantum vix redolent duo funera.” The amomum was an Assyrian shrub with a white flower, from which a very costly perfume was made. Plin., xiii., 1.
1380 Rigidos calces. Vid. Plin., vii., 8. The dead body was always carried out with the feet foremost.
1381 Hesterni Quirites. Slaves, when manumitted, shaved their heads, to show that, like shipwrecked mariners (Juv., xii., 81), they had escaped the storms of slavery, and then received a pileus (v., 82) in the temple of Feronia. Cf. Plaut., Amph., I., i., 306. The temple, according to one legend, was founded by some Lacedæmonians who quitted Sparta to escape from the severity of Lycurgus’ laws. Many persons freed all their slaves at their death, out of vanity, that they might have a numerous body of freedmen to attend their funeral.
1382 Visa est. So iv., 47, “Viso si palles improbe numo.”
1383 Cribro. The coarse sieve of the common people would let through much of the bran. The Romans were very particular about the quality of their bread. Cf. Juv., v., 67, seq.
1384 Beta. Martial calls them fatuæ, from their insipid flavor without some condiment, and “fabrorum prandia.” xiii., Ep. xiii.
1385 Orestes. Cf. Juv., xiv., 285.