Sulpicia
Argument
The Satire opens with an Invocation of Calliope, the Muse of Heroic poetry. The dignity of the subject, which is in fact the undeserved sufferings of the good and great men whom Domitian’s edict was ejecting from their homes, deserves a higher strain than is compatible with the more commonplace, and therefore less powerful, invectives of Iambic metre. The effect produced by such a measure is described as nothing less than forcing the civilized world to retrograde to a state of primæval barbarism. The cause which has led to such a perversion of taste and degradation of intellect is then examined; which are shown to be the result of a long-protracted peace. The old Roman valor which had raised the city to the proud position promised by the father of gods and men, had become gradually enervated and enfeebled, as it ceased to have an object on which to exercise itself. The stern and rigid virtue of the best period of the city’s history, which had led her greatest men, even in the fierce struggles for existence against the rival republic, to appreciate and patronize the philosophy of Greece, the love of country and the ties of brotherhood which had been fostered by that “rugged nurse Adversity,” were now all buried in the corpse-like lethargy induced by the enervating influence of a lengthened peace. The Satire concludes with a bitter denunciation of coming vengeance against the tyrant; and a prophetic anticipation of the lasting fame to be enjoyed by the poem.
Grant me, O Muse,1553 to tell my little tale in a few words, in those numbers in which thou art wont to celebrate1554 heroes and arms! For to thee I have retired; with thee revising1555 my secret plan.1556 For which reason, I neither trip on in the measure of Phalæcus,1557 nor in Iambic1558 trimeter; nor in that metre which, halting with the same foot, learned under its Clazomenæan guide boldly to give vent to its wrath. All other things1559 moreover, in short, my thousand sportive effusions; and how I was the first that taught our Roman matrons to rival the Greeks, and to diversify their subject with wit untried before, consistently1560 with my purpose, I pass by; and thee I invoke, in those points in which thou art chief of all, and, supreme in eloquence, art best skilled. Descend1561 at thy votary’s prayer and hear!
Tell me, O Calliope, what is it the great1562 father of the gods purposes to do? Does he revert to earth, and his father’s age; and wrest from us in death the arts that once he gave; and bid us, in silence, nay, bereft of reason, too, just as when we arose in the primæval age,1563 stoop again1564 to acorns,1565 and the pure stream? Or does he guard with friendly care all other lands and cities, but thrusts away1566 the race of Ausonia, and the nurslings of Remus?1567
For, what must we suppose? There are two ways by which Rome reared aloft her mighty head. Valor in war, and wisdom in peace. But valor, practiced1568 at home and by civil warfare, passed over to the seas of Sicily and the citadels of Carthage, and swept away also all other empires and the whole world.
Then, as the victor, who, left alone in the Grecian stadium, droops, and though with valor undaunted, feels his heart sink within him—just so the Roman race, when it had ceased from its struggles, and had bridled peace in lasting trammels; then, revising at home the laws and discoveries of the Greeks,1569 ruled with policy and gentle influence1570 all that had been won by sea and land as the prizes of war.
By this Rome stood—nor could she indeed have maintained her ground without these. Else with vain words1571 and lying lips would Jupiter1572 have been proved to have said to his queen, “I have given them empire1573 without limit!”
Therefore, now, he who sways the Roman state1574 has commanded all studies, and the philosophic name and race of men to depart out of doors and quit the city.
What are we to do? We left the Greeks and the cities of men,1575 that the Roman youth might be better instructed in these.
Now, just as the Gauls,1576 abandoning their swords and scales, fled when Capitoline Camillus thrust them forth; so our aged men are said to be wandering forth,1577 and like some deadly burden, themselves eradicating their own books. Therefore the hero of Numantia and of Libya, Scipio, erred in that point, who grew wise under the training of his Rhodian1578 master; and that other band, fruitful in talent, in the second war;1579 among whom the divine apophthegm1580 of Priscus1581 Cato1582 held it of such deep import to determine whether the Roman stock would better be upheld1583 by prosperity or adversity. By adversity, doubtless; for when the love of country urges them to defend1584 themselves by arms, and their wife held prisoner together with their household gods, they combine1585 just like wasps (a bristling band, with weapons all unsheathed along their yellow bodies), when their home and citadel is assailed. But when care-dispelling peace has returned, forgetful of labor, commons and fathers together lie buried in lethargic sleep. A long-protracted and destructive peace1586 has therefore been the ruin of the sons of Romulus.1587
Thus our tale comes to a close. Henceforth, kind Muse, without whom life is no pleasure to me, I pray thee warn them that, like the Lydian of yore, when Smyrna fell,1588 so now also they may be ready to emigrate; or else, in line, whatever thou wishest. This only I beseech thee, goddess! Present not in a pleasing light to Calenus1589 the walls of Rome and the Sabines.
Thus much I spake. Then the goddess deigns to reply in few words, and begins:
“Lay aside thy just fears, my votary. See, the extremity of hate is menacing him, and by our mouth shall he perish! For we haunt the laurel groves of Numa,1590 and the self-same springs, and, with Egeria for our companion,1591 deride all vain essays. Live on! Farewell! Its destined fame awaits the grief that does thee honor. Such is the promise of the Muses’ choir, and of Apollo1592 that presides over Rome.”
Footnotes
1553 Musa. Although about to indite a Satire, Sulpicia declares her intention of not imitating the Hendecasyllabics of Phalæcus, the Iambics of Archilochus, or the Scazontics of Hipponax, but of writing in the good old Heroic metre. She therefore invokes the aid of Calliope.
1554 Frequentas. “Celebrare” is often used in the sense of “crowding in large numbers to a place;” so here, conversely, frequentare is used in the sense of “frequently celebrating.”
1555 Detexere is properly to “finish off one’s weaving.” Vid. Hyg., Fab., 126, “Cum telam detexuero nubam.” Plaut., Ps. I., iv., 7, “Neque ad detexundam telam certos terminos habes.”
1556 Penetrale is applied to the inmost and most sacred recesses; hence the “Penetrales Dii.” Cic., Nat. D., ii., 27. Senec., Œdip., 265. So “penetrale sacrificium.”—Retractans, in the sense of going over again with a view to corrections and additions. So Plin., v. Ep., 8, “Egi graves causas; has destino retractare.” Senec., Ep., 46, “De libro tuo plura scribam cum illum retractavero.”
1557 Phalæco. Phalæcus is said by Diomedes (iii., 509) and Terentianus (p. 2440) to have been the inventor of the Hendecasyllabic metre, which consists of five feet; the first a Spondee or Iamb., the second a Dactyl, and the three last Trochees. Many of Catullus’s pieces are in this metre. E. g. “Lugete O Veneres, Cupidinesque.” Vid. Hermann, Elem. Doctr. Metr., p. 264.
1558 Iambo. The Iambic metre was peculiarly adapted to Satire. Hence its probable etymology from ἰάπτω, jacio; and hence the epithet criminosi applied to these verses by Horace (i., Od. xvi., 2), and truces by Catullus (xxxvi., 5). Archilochus, the Parian, who flourished in the eighth century B.C. (Cic., Tusc. Q., i., 1; Bähr, ad Herod., i., 12), is said to have been the inventor of the metre, and to have employed it against Lycambes, who had promised him his daughter Neobule, but afterward retracted. Cf. Hor., A. P., 79, “Archilochum proprio rabies armavit Iambo.” i., Ep. xix., 23, “Parios ego primus Iambos Ostendi Latio numeros animosque secutus Archilochi non res et agentia verba Lycamben.” The allusion in the next line is to Hipponax, who flourished cir. B.C. 540; Ol. lx. He was a native of Ephesus; but being expelled from his native country by the tyrant Athenagoras, he settled at Clazomenæ, now the Isle of St. John. The common story is, that he was so hideously ugly, that the sculptors Bupalus and Athenis caricatured him. And to avenge this insult, Hipponax altered the Iambic of Archilochus into a more bitter form by making the last foot a spondee, which gave the verse a kind of halting rhythm, and was hence called Scazontic, from σκάζω· or Choliambic, from χῶλος, “lame.” Diomed., iii., 503. [A specimen may be seen in Martial’s bitter epigram against Cato. i., Ep. I, “Cur in Theatrum Cato severe venisti?”] In this metre he so bitterly satirized them that they hanged themselves, as Lycambes had done, in consequence of the ridicule of Archilochus. Hence Horace, vi., Epod. 13, “Qualis Lycambæ spretus infido gener Aut acer hostis Bupalo.” Pliny (H. N., xxxvi., 5) treats the whole story as mythical. Cf. Mart., i., Ep. 97, for some good specimens, and Catull., xxxix. Another form of Choliambic verse is the substitution of an Antibacchius for the final Iamb.: e. g., “Remitte pallium mihi quod involasti.” Catull., xxv. Two of Hipponax’s verses may be seen, Strabo, lib. xiv., c. 1.
1559 Cætera. From the high compliment paid to her chastity and poetical powers by Martial, it is probable that Sulpicia had composed many poems before the present Satire. From the metre Martial chooses for his complimentary effusion, and from the testimony of the old Scholiast, it is probable these verses were in Hendecasyllabics; or at all events in some lyrical metre. There was a poetess named Cornificia in the time of Augustus, who wrote some good Epigrams. She was the sister of Cornificius, the reputed enemy of Virgil (vid. Clinton, F. H., in ann. B.C. 41), but as she was not a lyrical poetess, Sulpicia claims the palm to herself.
1560 Constanter. The subject is too serious and solemn for lyrical poetry; she therefore employs the dignity of Heroic verse. So Juvenal, iv., 34, “Incipe Calliope—non est cantandum, res vera agitur, narrate puellæ Pierides.”
1561 Descende. Cf. Hor., iii., Od. iv., 1, “Descende cœlo et dic age tibiâ Regina longum Calliope melos.” Calliope, as the Muse of Heroic poetry, holds the chief place. (Cf. Auson., Id. xx., 7, “Carmina Calliope libris Heroïca mandat.”) Hence “Princeps.” So Hesiod, Theog., 79, Καλλιόπη Θ’ ἣ δὲ προφερεστάτη ἐστὶν ἁπασέων. Dionys., Hymn, i., 6, Μουσῶν προκαθηγέτι τερπνῶν. The poets assign different provinces to the different Muses. According to some, Calliope is the Muse of Amatory poetry.
1562 Ille. So Virg., Æn., ii., 779, “Aut ille sinit regnator Olympi.”
1563 Patria Sæcula. The age of Saturn, when men lived in primæval barbarism, and all cultivation and refinement was unknown. Compare the first twelve lines of Juvenal’s sixth Satire. Ov., Met., i., 113.
1564 Procumbere. Cf. ad Prol. Pers., i.
1565 Glandibus. Ov., Met., i., 106, “Et quæ deciderant patula Jovis arbore glandes.” Lucret., v., 937, “Glandiferas inter curabant corpora quercus.” Virg., Georg., i., 8, 148. Ov., Am., III., x., 9. Juv., vi., 10. Sulpicia had probably in view the passage in Horace, i., Sat. iii., 99,” Cum prorepserunt primis animalia terris, Mutum et turpe pecus glandem atque cubilia propter,” etc.
1566 Exturbat. A technical phrase, “eject.” Cf. Cic. pro Rosc., 8, “Nudum ejicit domo atque focis patriis, Diisque penatibus præcipitem exturbat.” Plaut., Trin., IV., iii., 77. Ov., Met., xv., 175. Tac., Ann., xi., 12.
1567 Remuli: the other readings are Remi, and Romi. Cf. Juv., x., 73, “Turba Remi.” Alumnus is properly a “foundling.” Cf. Plin., x. Epist., 71, 72.
1568 Agitata. As though the wars carried on within the peninsula of Italy had served only to train the Romans in that military discipline by which they were to subjugate the world. This universal dominion having been attained, Rome rested from her labors, like the conqueror left alone in his glory, in the Grecian games; and having no more enemies against whom she could turn her arms, had sheathed her sword and applied herself to the arts of Peace. This seems the most probable interpretation. Dusa proposes to read Cætera quæ, for Cæteraque, and to place the line as a parenthesis after socialibus armis: but with the sense given in the text, the substitution is unnecessary. He supposes also Victor to apply to a horse that has grown old in the contests of the circus; the allusion would surely be more simple to a conqueror in the Pentathlon. The reading exiit is followed in preference to exilit or exigit.
1569 Graia inventa. So Livy dates the first introduction of a fondness for the products of Greek art from the taking of Syracuse by Marcellus: lib. xxv., 48, “Inde primum initium mirandi Græcarum artium opera.” Cf. xxxiv., 4. Hor., ii., Epist. i., 156, “Græcia capta ferum victorem cepit et artes intulit agresti Latio.”
1570 Molli ratione. Virg., Æn., vi., 852, “Hæ tibi erunt artes: pacisque imponere morem, Parcere subjectis et debellare superbos.”
1571 Aut frustra. An anacoluthon, as the old Scholiast remarks; stabat evidently referring to Roma. Cf. 1. 50, “An magis adversis staret.”
1572 Diespiter, i. e., Diei pater. Macrob., Sat., i., 15. Hor., iii., Od. ii., 29.
1573 Imperium. Virg., Æn., i., 279. It is in Jupiter’s speech to Venus, not to Juno, that the line occurs.
1574 Res Romanas imperat inter. A line untranslatable as it stands. Various remedies have been proposed—rex for res, temperat for imperat, impar for inter, Romanos for Romanas. Rex being, like dominus, generally used in a bad sense by the Romans, rex Romanos imperat inter would imply the excessive oppression of Domitian’s tyranny. Dusa suggests rex Romanis temperat inter (taking interrex as one word divided by tmesis), and supposes Sulpicia meant to assert, that as his reign was to be so briefly brought to a close, he could only be looked upon in the light of an Interrex.
1575 Hominum. As though the Greeks alone deserved the name of men, and the praise of humanity and refinement.
1576 Galli. Alluding to the old legend of Brennus casting his sword into the scale, with the words “Væ victis!” in answer to the remonstrance of the tribune Q. Sulpicius. Liv., v., 48, 9. “Ensibus” is preferred to the old reading, “Lancibus.” Capitolinus was properly the agnomen of M. Manlius. Camillus is probably so called here from his appointing the collegium to celebrate the Ludi Capitolini, in honor of Jupiter for his preserving the Capitol. Vid. Liv., v., 50. May there not be a bitter sarcasm in the epithet? It was only four years before he expelled the philosophers, that Domitian instituted the Capitoline games. Suet., Vit., 4. (Vid. Chronology.)
1577 Palare dicuntur. Wernsdorf adopts this reading; but it is perhaps the only instance of the active form of palare: and dicuntur is very weak.
1578 Rhodio. The old readings were “Rhoido,” which is unintelligible, and that of the old Scholiast, “Rudio,” who refers it to Ennius, born at Rudiæ in Calabria. (Cf. ad Pers., vi., 10.) The Rhodian is Panætius; he was sprung from distinguished ancestors, many of whom had served the office of general. He studied under Crates, Diogenes, and Antipater of Tarsus. The date of his birth and death are unknown. He was probably introduced by Diogenes to Scipio, who sent for him from Athens to accompany him in his embassy to Egypt, B.C. 143. His famous treatise De Officiis was the groundwork of Cicero’s book; who says that he was in every way worthy of the intimate friendship with which he was honored by Scipio and Lælius. Cic., de Fin., iv., 9; Or., i., 11; De Off., pass. Hor., i., Od. xxix., 14. The title of his book is περὶ τοῦ καθήκοντος. He also wrote De Providentia, De Magistratibus.
1579 Bello secundo, i. e., the Second Punic War (from B.C. 218-201), a period pre-eminently rich in great men. Not to mention their great generals, Marcellus, Scipio, etc., this age saw M. Porcius Cato; the historians Fabius Pictor and Cincius Alimentus; the poets Livius Andronicus, Ennius, Nævius, Pacuvius, Plautus, etc.; and among the Greeks, Archimedes, Chrysippus, Eratosthenes, Carneades, and the historians Zeno and Antisthenes.
1580 Sententia dia. Hor., i., Sat. ii., 31, “Macte Virtute esto, inquit sententia dia.”
1581 Prisci Catonis. Priscus is, as Dusa shows on the authority of Plutarch, not the epithet, but the name of Cato, by which he was distinguished. So Horace, iii. Od., xxi., 11, “Narratur et Prisci Catonis sæpe mero caluisse virtus.” (But cf. Hor., ii., Ep. ii., 117.)
1582 Catonis. Both Horace and Sulpicia have imitated Lucilius, “Valerî sententia dia.” Fr. incert., 105.
1583 Staret. Nasica, as Sallust tells us, in spite of Cato’s “Delenda est Carthago,” was always in favor of the preservation of Carthage; as the existence of the rival republic was the noblest spur to Roman emulation.
1584 Defendere. Livy shows throughout, that the only periods of respite from intestine discord were under the immediate pressure of war from without. The particular allusion here is probably to the time of Hannibal. So Juv., vi., 286, seq., “Proximus Urbi Hannibal et stantes Collinâ in turre mariti.” Liv., xxvi., 10. Sil. Ital., xii., 541, seq. Sallust has the same sentiment, “Metus hostilis in bonis artibus civitatem retinebat.” Bell. Jug., 41.
1585 Convenit. The next four lines are hopelessly corrupt. The following emendations have been adopted: domus arxque movetur for Arce Monetæ: pax secura for apes secura: laborum for favorum: patresque for mater, or the still older reading, frater; of which last Dusa says, “Neque istud verbum emissim titivillitio.”
1586 Exitium pax. Juv., vi., 292, “Sævior armis Luxuria incubuit victumque ulciscitur orbem.” Compare the beautiful passage in Claudian (de Bell. Gild., 96), “Ille diu miles populus qui præfuit orbi,” etc.
1587 Romulidarum. Cf. ad Pers., i., 31.
1588 Smyrna peribat. Smyrna was attacked by Gyges, king of Lydia, but resisted him with success. It was compelled, however, to yield to his descendant, Alyattes, and in consequence of this event, it sunk into decay and became deserted for the space of four hundred years. Alexander formed the project of rebuilding the town in consequence of a vision. His design was executed by Antigonus and Lysimachus. Vid. Herod., i., 14-16. Paus., Bœot., 29. Strabo, xiv., p. 646. (An allusion to Phocæa or Teos would have been more intelligible. Cf. Herod., i., 165, 168. Hor., Epod. xvi., 17.) The next three lines are corrupt: the reading followed is, “Vel denique quid vis: Te, Dea, quæso illud tantum.”
1589 Caleno. Calenus, the husband of Sulpicia, probably derived his name from Cales in Campania, now Calvi. (Hor., i., Od. xx., 9. Juv., i., 69.) It was the cognomen of Q. Fufius, consul, B.C. 47. The readings in the next line vary: pariter ne obverte; pariterque averte; pariterque adverte. Dusa’s explanation is followed in the text. Sulpicia prays that her husband may not be induced by the allurements of inglorious ease to remain longer in Rome or its neighborhood, now that all that is really good and estimable has been driven from it by the tyranny of the emperor. In line 66, read ecce for hæc: in ore for honore. If “dignum laude virum Musa vetat mori,” Hor., iv., Od. viii., 28, so he may be said “Doubly dying to go down to the vile dust from whence he sprung,” who lives only in the sarcasm of the satirist.
1590 Laureta Numæ. Cf. ad Juv., iii., 12, seq., the description of Umbritius’ departure from Rome.
1591 Comite Ægeria. It is not impossible there may have been some allusion to Numa and Egeria in Sulpicia’s lost work on conjugal affection; and hence Mart., x., Ep. xxxv., 13, “Tales Egeriæ jocos fuisse Udo crediderim Numæ sub antro.”
1592 Apollo. Hor., i., Ep. iii., 17, “Scripta Palatinus quæcunque recepit Apollo.” Juv., vii., 37.