Suburae, a low and noisy vicus or quarter of the city, leading to the Forum along a valley between the Viminal and Esquiline hills. Juvenal appears from Mart. xii. 15 to have known it well. Conf. Sat. xi. 51.

7. incendia, lapsus tectorum. Land was dear at Rome, and accordingly the insulae, or "blocks of buildings," were raised to a great height. Naturally they often fell in; while, as much wood was used in their construction, and the streets were narrow, fires were often very destructive. The fire in Nero's reign lasted six days, wholly destroyed three out of the fourteen quarters of the city, and half-ruined seven more. There was also a disastrous fire under Titus. Augustus established cohortes vigilum distributed among the several regiones of the city, whose special duty it was to prevent and extinguish fires.

9. Augusto recitantes mense poetas. For the recitations, see note on Sat. i. 4. Prof. Mayor has an exhaustive note on the subject. Pollio was the first to introduce the custom at Rome, and among others the following authors recited their own works-Vergil, Horace (Sat. i. 4, 73), Silius Italicus (Plin. Ep. iii. 7, 5), Statius (Silv. vii. 83), Martial (vii. 29, 6), Pliny (Ep. v. 3). August was the unhealthiest month at Rome. All who could do so got away. Horace, in a letter to Maecenas, excuses himself for remaining in the country totum Sextilem, as he was aegrotare timens. These recitations, though irksome to friends and freedmen, were not without use, as the expected criticisms of the audience would ensure a certain amount of care and pains in the writers. Conf. Plin. Ep. i. 13.

10. dum tota domus. domus is here the familia, the “household slaves," of whom the poor Umbricius had only a few. Carriages were not allowed in the streets of Rome, and therefore waited outside the gates. The reda was a four-wheeled carriage, usually employed for long journeys. Milo was travelling in one when he met Clodius, Cic. pro Mil. 10, 20.

11. veteres arcus madidamque Capenam. The arches were those of the Aqua Marcia, which passed over the Porta Capena, on the Appia Via, which is hence called madida. Conf. Mart. iii. 47, 1, "Capena grandi porta qua pluit gutta."

12. Numa constituebat amicae. Livy, i. 19, says of Numa, "simulat sibi cum dea Egeria congressus nocturnos esse. It was Numa who organised the religious system at Rome; he is said to have instituted the Pontiffs, Augurs, and Vestal Virgins. 13. nemus. lucus is generally the word for a "sacred grove." Conf. Verg. Aen. i. 441, "Lucus in urbe fuit media." locantur Iudaeis, are let out to Jews." Jews were expelled from Rome by an edict of Domitian, but were allowed to rent

this valley, where they probably had their proseuchae. See note on line 296.

14. cophinus faenumque, the basket to keep their provisions free from pollution; the hay to lie upon. Conf. Sat. vi. 542, "cophino faenoque relicto arcanam ludaea tremens mendicat in aurem.

eiectis . Camenis, i.e. by these Jewish intruders.

20. ingenuum, "natural." Lucretius, i. 230, has ingenui fontes.

23. atque eadem cras deteret exiguis aliquid, "while to-morrow it will lose (lit. 'wear away') some portion of the small remainder. Bergmüller takes "urbs" instead of "res as agreeing with "eadem." Others read "adeo," making "cras the subject.

25. ubi Daedalus exuit alas, i.e. at Cumae. When Daedalus left Crete he flew towards the north, and alighted at Cumae. Conf. Verg. Aen. vi. 17, "Chalcidicaque levis tandem super adstitit arce. Cumae was a colony from Chalcis in

Euboea.

27. dum superest Lachesi quod torqueat, "while Lachesis has something yet to spin." The three Parcae-Lachesis, Clotho, and Atropos-had properly separate functions. Lachesis (Máxos, a lot) allotted the course and length of a man's life at his birth, Clotho spun it while he lived, and Atropos cut the web when he died. But they are sometimes spoken of as all three spinning, as in Hor. Od. ii. 3, 15, “Dum res et aetas et sororum fila trium patiuntur atra."

28. bacillo, dimin. from baculus, as tigillum from tignum, and popellus from populus.

29. Artorius.

31. quis facile est,

et Catulus, some obscure swindlers.
"who are quite ready to. . . ."

aedem conducere, "to take on contract the repairing of a temple. Formerly the aediles had had the superintendence of public buildings, etc., but under the empire curatores, appointed by the emperor, divided the various departments among them. They were said locare, the contractors (redemptores) conducere.

flumina. The Tiber had frequently to be dredged and embanked, owing to the alluvial soil which it deposited.

portus, the construction of harbours.

32. siccandam eluviem, the clearing out of the Cloacae, usually performed by convicts, and contracted for by the lowest class of redemptores. Conf. Plin. ad Trai. 41.

portandum ad busta cadaver. This refers, of course, to public funerals paid for by the state, and given in contract to

8, 8.

some of the libitinarii, or undertakers. Conf. Hor. Sat. The busta were places where the bodies were burnt, though the word is often applied to tombs in general.

33. et praebere caput, etc. Either (1) to give up their civic status by a sale under the praetor's spear; or (2) to give up their persons; or (3) to offer a slave for sale, i.e. to act as a praeco or mango (slave-dealer). Probably (3) is right.

sub hasta. In public sales (sectiones) a spear was fixed up in the Forum, probably as a survival of the custom at military sales of booty in the camp. It is here called domina, because it conferred dominium on the purchaser. Conf. Cic. Off. ii. 23, 83. Both praecones and libitinarii were, by the lex Iulia municipalis, ineligible to municipal offices.

34. cornicines, etc., horn-blowers at the gladiatorial shows in the provincial towns (municipia) of Italy.

35. notaeque

buccae, "and their puffed cheeks were familiar in every town." Conf. Sat. xi. 34.

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36. munera nunc edunt, now they give gladiatorial shows themselves." munera were properly the last services done to a corpse. Then, when it became customary to have gladiatorial combats at funerals, -a custom derived from Etruria, and first practised in Rome in 261 B.C.,-the word was applied to these shows. Gradually, but not entirely till the end of the Republic, this connection with funeral solemnities was lost sight of. So Tertullian says, de Spect. 12, (transisse) hoc genus editionis ab honoribus mortuorum ad honores viventium." Under the Empire these gladiatorial shows gained very great popularity. Those who provided them (editores) did so either (1) as a speculation for the sake of gain, or (2) as an act of public munificence, or (3) because they were required to do so by law. Instances of the last class were the quaestors at Rome since the time of Claudius (see Suet. Claud. 21, and Dom. 4), and the "sacerdotes Romae et Augusti" in the provinces (see Ephem. Epigr. vii. 404, etc.) Instances of the second class were the emperors themselves, who found this one of the most efficacious means of conciliating the "plebs urbana," and magistrates in the municipal towns, who frequently signalised their office by shows of this kind. Juvenal is evidently referring here to the first class of men, who give gladiatorial shows as a speculation. Tacitus (Ann. iv. 62) mentions a man who gave a 'spectaculum gladiatorum" at Fidenae, and failed to make the amphitheatre secure, "ut qui non abundantia pecuniae nec municipali ambitione, sed in sordidam mercedem id negotium quaesivisset." The result was a disaster, and in consequence, "cautum in posterum senatus consulto ne quis gladiatorium munus ederet, cui minor quadrin

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gentorum milium res." Shows of this speculative kind were called "munera assiforana" (see an inscription found in Spain, Ephem. Epigr. vii. 390), because the editor, as Mommsen says, "per oppidorum fora asses a spectatoribus pro locis exegit.' So Suetonius (Vitell. 12) speaks of a "lanista circumforaneus," with which expression compare Juvenal's "municipalis arenae perpetui comites." Martial speaks of a cobbler at Bononia and a dyer at Mutina who gave munera (iii. 59).

verso pollice, "with the thumb turned upwards," the sign for giving the fatal blow to the fallen gladiator. Turning the thumb down was the sign for sparing his life.

vulgus quem iubet. The editor of the show always took his cue from the crowd, whether to have the gladiator spared or despatched. Conf. Mart. iii. 99.

37. populariter, "to win popularity."

inde reversi, i.e. to their ignominious trades again.

42. motus astrorum ignoro, "I am ignorant of astrology," a science to which the Romans were always much inclined. The Chaldaei or astrologers, though continually expelled from Rome by the emperors, as continually managed to return. They were often consulted by young spendthrifts, anxious to know when their fathers would die and leave them the property. Conf.

Sat. xiv. 248.

44. ranarum viscera numquam inspexi. Possibly as an haruspex. But I cannot help thinking that there may be an allusion to poison extracted from toads. See Sat. i. 70, but also Sat. vi. 550, "Armenius vel Commagenus haruspex pectora pullorum rimabitur, exta catelli.”

45. quae mittit, "his presents."

46. quae mandat, "his messages.'

47. nulli comes exeo; here, as often, comes means one of the personal attendants of a provincial governor, who would of course share the illegal gains of his principal. Conf. Sat. viii. 127.

48. exstinctae

dextrae, genitive of quality, coupled with the adj. mancus, as in xi. 96,"nudo latere et parvis.' 49. nisi conscius. Conf. Mart. vi. 50, "Vis fieri dives, Bithynice, conscius esto."

53. Verri, the propraetor of Sicily (73-70 B. C.), against whom Cicero made his famous speech; here an example of extortionate governors generally. Conf. Sat. viii. 106. Juvenal's custom is to take, as examples of certain crimes, either men already dead, as Verres, Tigellinus, Crispinus, etc.; or men in exile or other

wise harmless, as Marius Priscus. Conf. Sat. ii. 26, "Si fur displiceat Verri, homicida Miloni.”

quo vult; the subject of vult is of course not Verres, but his abettor.

54. Tanti tibi non sit, "let it not be of so much value in your eyes"; non is occasionally, though rarely, used for ne; conf. Hor. Ars Poet. 460, "non sit qui tollere possit," and infr. Sat. xvi. 28, 66 non sollicitemus amicos."

55. arena Tagi. The Tagus, like the Pactolus (see Hor. Epod. xv. 20), was supposed to roll down gold amid its sand. See Sat. xiv. 299.

56. ponenda, "which must again be laid down."

59. properabo, in order that he may get over the pudor as soon as possible.

61. Graecam urbem, a Greek Rome." The city was crowded with Greek parasites, actors, teachers, and athletes.

quamvis quota portio faecis Achaei?" and yet how small a fraction of our dregs are Achaeans," i.e. numerous as the Greeks were, they were few compared with the motley throng of Orientals. Quota portio is lit. "the what-th part?" the answer to it is an ordinal number; and the higher the ordinal, the smaller, of course, is the fraction. Conf. " "Quota hora est ?" "What o'clock is it?" Ans. "Tertia, quarta," etc.; and Hor. Ep. i. 5, 30, "Tu quotus esse velis rescribe," "Write back to say how many fellow-guests you wish to have." If the answer were quartus," there would be three besides himself. Conf. the Greek expression, τρίτος αὐτός = with two others. See Sat. xiii. 157, "Haec quota pars scelerum?"

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From the time when Rome was brought into connection with Greece and the East, the number of foreigners in the city gradually increased. But in earlier times these foreigners had consisted for the most part of literary men, artists, or philosophers, who were naturally attracted by the superior civilisation and wealth of Rome. They neither came in such numbers, however, nor was their importance so great, as to modify Roman character, or to interfere with the careers of Roman citizens. Under the Empire this was entirely changed. As luxury increased, the instruments of luxury increased too. Foreign actors, dancers, astrologers, rhetoricians, flocked to Rome, ingratiated themselves with the rich, and completely supplanted the less versatile Romans and Italians. But there was another class of upstarts hardly less numerous, and often more dangerous, than these. The slave-market was continually pouring more and more slaves into Rome, and of these an increasing number ingratiated themselves with their masters, received manumission, and swelled the numbers of the libertini. Especially was this the case in