e; Surgebant crista! Nihil est, quod credere de se 70 75 tamen illi (Domitiano) Surgebant crista] Ille animo efferebatur, adulatione intumescebat, metaphora desumpta ab avibus cristatis, quarum cristæ erectiores alacritatis ac superbiæ indicia sunt. R. 70. Diis aqua potestas] "Dominus ac Deus noster" was the title with which Domitian was saluted by his sycophants. Dryden, in his "Alexander's Feast," draws a striking picture of a poor silly mortal intoxicated by adulation : With ravish'd ears The monarch hears; Affects to nod, And seems to shake the spheres. 71. Patina mensura] Patina satis magna. R. 72. Quos oderat ille, &c.] We have here a striking representation of a tyrant, who, conscious that he must be hated by all about him, hates them, and they, knowing his capricious cruelty, never approach him without horror and dread, lest they should say or do something, however undesignedly, which may cost them their lives. M. 74. Liburno] The public crier, whose office it was to summon the senate on any great and sudden emergency, (Adam's Ant.) and who was generally a Liburnian, a race renowned for strength of lungs, as well as of backs. See Sat. iii. 222. note. 76. Pegasus] An eminent lawyer, who had been appointed præfect or governor of the city of Rome; an office, formerly, of great power and dignity. But to mark the degradation of Rome and its magistrates under the tyranny of Domitian, Juvenal calls him villicus, or bailiff,-the superintendant of the slaves who cultivated a farm.-Attonita] Amazed and terrified at the suddenness of the summons. G. 79. Inermi Justitiá] So much blood was shed in those dire times by the sword of Tyranny, that Pegasus was loath (even when he Justitiâ. Venit et Crispi jucunda senectus : 80 85 90 95 ought) to unsheath the sword of Justice; or to punish inferior villains, while the grand criminal escaped with impunity. 80. Crispi jucunda senectus] Suetonius gives us a specimen of Crispus's pleasantry. The tyrant was used to spend some part of the day in killing flies: when, therefore, some person, who wanted to be introduced to the emperor, asked Crispus, if there was any company with him, he drolly said, Ne musca quidem, “no, not a fly." 0. 83. Clade et peste sub illâ] Sub Domitiano, qui clades velut et pestis bonorum omnium. P. 85. Violentius] Impatientius, iracundius, irritabilius. 86. Cum quo, de pluviis, &c.] Such was the capriciousness and cruelty of Domitian, that it was unsafe for his friends to converse with him, even on the most indifferent subjects, such as the weather, and the like. M. 92. His armis] His artibus, scil. dissimulatione, taciturnitate, et obsequio. R. 93. Acilius] This aged senator, we are told, was soon after banished on a charge of treason. 94. Cum juvene] This youth is supposed to have been the son of Acilius.-Indigno, &c.] Non merente ut mors adeo crudelis maneret eum. P. 95. Olim] Jamdudum, for a long time. 96. Prodigio, &c.] q. d. From the days of Nero till this hour, it has been the practice to cut off the nobility, when the em peror's jealousy, fear, or hatred, inclined him so to do; insomuch. Unde fit, ut malim fraterculus esse Gigantum! 100 105 that to see a nobleman live to old age is something like a prodigy. M. 97. Gigantum] These fabulous beings were supposed to be the sons of Titan and Tellus.-Malim, &c.] q. d. Since to be born noble is so very dangerous, I had much rather, like these Terra filii, claim no higher kindred than my parent Earth, and, though not in size, yet as to origin, be a brother of theirs, than be descended from the highest families among our nobility. M. 98. Profuit ergò, &c.] It was of no avail to the unhappy youth, that, to escape the tyrant's rage, he feigned madness, and fought naked in the amphitheatre at Alba with Numidian lions, here called ursos. So Virgil, Æn. v. 37. Pelle Libystidis urso. 102. Brute] Junius Brutus, who, by pretending to be an idiot, escaped the fury of Tarquin.-Barbato regi] Alluding to the simplicity of ancient times, when Rome was governed by kings, who, as well as their people, wore their beards; for shaving and cutting the beard were not in fashion till later times. M. 103. Nec melior vultu] Non minus tristis ac pallidus metu. R. 104. Rubrius] Of Rubrius, or of his offence, nothing is known. 105. Montani venter] An admirable stroke of satire; not only as describing the glutton's unwieldy corpulence, but as marking him for one of those "whose god is their belly,"-the mere slave and appendage of his own overgrown and pampered paunch! 106. Matutino amomo] To be perfumed in the morning was considered by the Romans a mark of peculiar effeminacy. Here we again behold Crispinus vocatus ad partes. 107. Duo funera] Crispinus had more perfume about him than would have served to anoint two corpses for burial. M. 108. Pompeius] Of this wretch nothing is known, but what Juvenal here tells us that he was more cruel than Crispinus, in cutting throats with the gentle whisper of secret accusation. Fuscus, marmoreâ meditatus prælia villâ. Et cum mortifero prudens Veiento Catullo, Qui nunquam vise flagrabat amore puellæ, 110 Grande et conspicuum nostro quoque tempore monstrum! Nemo magis rhombum stupuit: nam plurima dixit 115 120 110. Fuscus] Sent afterwards in command of an expedition against the Dacians, where his army and himself were lost. Marmorea, &c.] Without having any other ideas of war, than he conceived amid the sloth and luxury of his sumptuous villa. M. 111. Prudens Veiento] Fabricius Veiento, cautious and skilful in court-manœuvres.-Mortifero Catullo] A pestilent informer, Catullus Messalinus, mentioned by Tacitus, Agric. 45. 112. Qui nunquam visa, &c.] Catullus was blind with age, yet still burning with licentiousness. 114. Dirusque a ponte satelles] Satelles a courtier, a ponte from a beggar; bridges being the usual stands of beggars. O. 115. Aricinos axes] The carriages which passed along towards or from Aricia, a town in the Appian Way, about ten miles from Rome, a very public road, and much frequented; so very opportune for beggars. M. 116. Jacturet basia] Kissing his hand to the passengers. 119. Sic pugnas, &c.] Catullus, in spite of his blindness, would still frequent the theatres, and pretend to be as much enraptured as any real spectator,-Cilicis] Some Cilician gladiator, high in favour at that time. 120. Pegma et pueros] Pegma was a machine, upon which a boy was seated, probably representing Ganymede, and whirled aloft by it to the top of the theatre, here called velaria; these were canvas awnings stretched across the top, to protect the spectators from the sun or rain. 121. Non cedit Veiento] The blind Catullus had surpassed all the rest in rapturous admiration of the turbot; but the prudlens Veiento was determined to outdo even him; and therefore assumes at once the tone of prophetic inspiration.-Estro] Estrus signifies a sort of fly, which stings cattle, so as to make them run about as if they were mad. See Virg. G. iii. 1. 146–53. By meson, inspired fury of any kind. M. 125 Percussus, Bellona, tuo, divinat; et, "Ingens "Omen habes," inquit, " magni clarique triumphi! "Regem aliquem capies; aut de temone Britanno "Excidet Arviragus: peregrina est bellua: Cernis "Erectas in terga sudes?" Hoc defuit unum Fabricio, patriam ut rhombi memoraret, et annos. "Quidnam igitur censes? Conciditur?"—" Absit ab illo "Dedecus hoc, Montanus ait; testa alta paretur, "Quæ tenui muro spatiosum colligat orbem. "Debetur magnus patinæ subitusque Prometheus. Argillam atque rotam citiùs properate: sed ex hôc 130 122. Bellona] The fabled sister of Mars, and goddess of war. Her priests, in the celebration of her feasts, used to cut themselves, and dance about as if they were mad, pretending also to divine or prophesy future events. M. 124. Temone] Carru bellico. 125. Arviragus] Some British prince not certainly known. 126. Sudes] Veiento interprets the erected fins of the fish as emblematic of the spears of the conquered enemy.-The mention of fins on the back might lead us to doubt whether the rhombus were our turbot; but perhaps, as Mr. Gifford hints, Veiento, in the phrensy of inspiration, saw fins where there were none. 127. Fabricio] i. e. Fabricio Veientoni.-He was so diffuse in his harangue, that, in short, there wanted nothing but his telling where it was bred, and how old it was, to complete and establish his prophetic history of the fish. M. 128. Quidnam igitur censes? Conciditur?] The words of the emperor, proposing to his senate the important question, whether the fish must be cut up in order to be dressed.-The exclamation of Montanus in reply, Absit ab illo dedecus hoc! is admirably in character, and marks at once the courtier and the glutton. 129. Testa alta] Vas fictile, profundum et capax. P. 130. Colligat] Ambiat, includat. R.-Spatiosum orbem] Fundum amplum rotundumque, rhombi figuræ et magnitudini accoinmodatum. P. 131. Debetur] Requiritur. R.-Prometheus] The first and most renowned of all potters, fabled even to have formed mankind of clay. Juvenal often gives vigour to his style by using a proper for a common name. If the speaker had said, "let us get some artisan of the greatest, readiest, and most incomparable skill," this would not have conveyed his flattery with half the strength and delicacy of this single word. O. 132. Rotam] Earthenware is formed on a wheel, or table, made |