77. per montem adversum, over the hill in front of me. gelidas... Esquilias. The Esquiline Hill was on the east of the Forum, between the Viminal and Caelian. Horace, Sat. ii. 6, 32, calls it "atras Esquilias," because formerly it had been a burying-ground for the poorer classes. Maecenas had, however, a house there, and had laid out his gardens beyond it on the site of the old burial-ground. Conf. Mart. iii. 36, 4. 79. paenula (Grk. pawóλns), a thick over-garment without sleeves, fitting closely over the toga, and worn in travelling or wet weather. Milo was paenulatus when he met Clodius, Cic. pro Mil. § 54. In Juvenal's time it was usually made of gausape, a shaggy kind of cloth. Conf. Mart. vi. 59, 8, "Mense vel Augusto sumere gausapinas." "Cordus" is also called "alpha paenulatorum," ii. 57, 4. To run in such a dress was well-nigh impossible. 81. squilla, a lobster. Apicius the epicure is said to have sailed to Libya because he heard that finer squillae were to be obtained there. Many were found at the mouth of the Liris. Conf. Mart. xiii. 83. 84. dimidio constrictus cammarus ovo, a crab pinched up between half an egg." The cammarus was an inferior kind of squilla. Conf. Mart. ii. 43, 12, "Concolor in nostra, cammare, lance rubes." As probably many of these crabs were served round to the clientes, only half a hard-boiled egg was spared for each. 85. feralis cena. A meal of a simple description (pultes, panis, merum) was placed sometimes on the funeral pyre, sometimes on the tomb nine days after the burial; hence the expression "novemdialis cena," Tac. Ann. vi. 5. There was sometimes also a feast at the house on the ninth day. Conf. Pers., vi. 33, "sed cenam funeris heres neglegit iratus." 86. Venafrano (sc. oleo). of Campania and Samnium. certat bacca Venafro," and sudavit bacca Venafri." Venafrum was a town on the borders 87. olebit lanternam, semi-cognate accusative. Conf. νάπυ Bλée. Conf. Hor. Sat. i. 6, 123, "ungor olivo, non quo fraudatis immundus Natta lucernis." 88. alveolis, dishes or plates. 89. canna Micipsarum, the reed-boat of the Africans. Pliny, H. N. vii. 206, says, "naves utiles in Nilo fiunt ex papyro et arundine.” Micipsarum, generalising use of the plural. Micipsa was king of Numidia. The word is used here of Africans generally. 90. cum Bocchare nemo lavatur, because the Africans anointed themselves at the baths with such abominable oil. Bocchar was a king of Mauretania, and an ally of Jugurtha. 91. A doubtful line, not found in P. touch them when anointed with this oil. Even snakes will not 92. Mullus; see note on Sat. iv. 15 for the usual size of these fish. 93. Tauromenitanae rupes. Tauromenium, a town on the east coast of Sicily. 94. nostrum mare, i.e. the sea near Italy. dum gula saevit. Conf. Sat. xi. 39, "crescente gula." 95. macello, the provision-market on the north of the Via Sacra. Conf. Hor. Sat. ii. 3, 229, "cum Velabro omne macellum mane domum veniant." See Sat. xi. 10. Varro, Ling. Lat. v. 146, says, "forum boarium, olitorium, piscarium . haec omnia posteaquam contracta in unum locum quae ad victum pertinebant, et aedificatus locus appellatum Macellum." 96. Tyrrhenum. piscem. The Mare Tuscum or Tyrrhenum was that part of the Mediterranean between Italy and Sardinia. 97. Instruit . . . focum provincia, i.e. the provinces must supply dainties, since our own coasts are exhausted. iv. 26. Conf. Sat. 98. captator, a legacy-hunter; see on Sat. xii. 93 seq. Horace describes the arts of these men in Sat. ii. 5. Aurelia is of course the rich orba, who is courted with presents of fish, which she sells. Conf. Hor. Ep. i. 1, 78, "sunt, qui crustis et pomis viduas venentur avaras. Juvenal, alluding to these presents made to orbi in vi. 40 uses the phrase captatore macello." Aurelia is mentioned as a rich lady, "signatura testamentum," by Pliny, Ep. ii. 20, 10. 100. gurgite de Siculo. Conf. Mart. xiii. 80, 1, 66 quae natat in Siculo grandis muraena profundo." The rich Romans used to keep lampreys in their piscinae. Hortensius went into mourning on the death of one. In the dinner described by Horace, Sat. ii. 8, 42, a "muraena" is served up amid "squillas natantes." gurgite probably refers to the straits between Rhegium and Messina, where the story of Scylla and Charybdis is fixed; see line 102. 101. in carcere, i.c. in the Aeolium antrum; conf. Vergil's description, Aen. i. 52-54. Conf. Sat. x. 181. 102. lina. Conf. "lini magister," iv. 45. 104. Tiberinus (sc. lupus), a pike from the Tiber. The river pikes were usually considered dainties, especially if caught "inter pontes," i.e. between the Fabricius Pons and the N Sublicius Pons, where the water was especially rapid. Conf. Hor. Sat. ii. 2, 30, seq., "esto: unde datum sentis, lupus hic Tiberinus, an alto captus hiet, pontesne inter iactatus. The pike in the present passage, however, was diseased with the cold, and had swum up the Cloaca Maxima as far as the Subura. 105. vernula riparum, always frequenting the banks.” See note on verna Canopi," i. 26. 66 torrente cloaca. The Cloaca Maxima, built by Tarquinius Priscus, and composed of three arches, one within another, drained all the low-lying district between the seven hills of Rome. It passed underneath the Forum, and thence down past the Velabrum to the Tiber. 106. cryptam. . . Suburae, the main drain of the Subura. For the Subura, see note on Sat. iii. 4. 107. Ipsi, to the host. 109. a Seneca. Seneca, the tutor of Nero, was both rich and liberal. He was a native of Corduba in Spain, and belonged to the Stoics. He was killed by Nero, nominally for complicity in the conspiracy of Piso, really for the sake of his money. Martial says, xii. 36, 4, Pisones Senecasque . . . mihi redde." Piso bonus. Calpurnius Piso was the head of the conspiracy which caused the death of Seneca, 65 A.D. Tacitus, Ann. xv. 48, speaks of his "largitionem adversus amicos." Cotta Messalinus is mentioned, vii. 95, among other patrons of literature. Tacitus probably speaks of the same man, Ann. xiii. 34, as having had "avitas opes," which he had squandered. 110. titulis, the inscriptions under a bust or statue. 112. ut cenes civiliter, "that you will dine as a citizen among citizens." Conf. Mart. iii. 59, 1-2, "Cum vocor ad cenam, non iam venalis ut ante, cur mihi non eadem, quae tibi, cena datur?" Conf. Tac. Hist. i. 12. 114. Anseris . . . magni iecur. The livers of geese were artificially fattened. Conf. Mart. xiii. 58, Aspice quam tumeat magno iecur ansere maius!" Hor. Sat. ii. 8, 88, "Pinguibus et ficis pastum iecur anseris albae." Prof. Mayor mentions the "pâtés de foies gras" made out of the livers of geese at Strassburg. 115. altilis, a fatted capon, derived from alo. Horace has "satur altilium," Ep. i. 7, 34. Meleagri. For the story of Meleager and the boar of Calydon, see Class. Dict. 116. aper. Conf. i. 141, "animal propter convivia natum.” tradentur. The old reading was raduntur. tubera, truffles. Pliny (H. N. xix, 37) says that they are best in spring, and that autumn rains and thunderstorms make them plentiful; hence "optata tonitrua.' 118. "Tibi habe frumentum," keep your corn to yourself. Africa was one of the granaries of Rome. Conf. Sat. viii. 117. The selfish epicure Alledius would be content that every one should starve as long as he got his truffles. 120. Structorem. Conf. Mart. x. 48, 15. The structor was properly a servant who arranged the dishes in a tasty, artistic fashion. He is often, however, the carver (carptor). There was a regular school at Rome in which carving and its accompaniments were taught as a fine art, and where the pupils practised on wooden models. Conf. Sat. xi. 141, "ulmea cena. They are said sometimes to have carved to the accompaniment of music, but, at any rate, some peculiar gesture was appropriate to each animal carved, and various movements both of the hands and feet formed part of the performance. Hence "saltantem" and "chironomunta," the latter a Latinised form of xeiρovoμoûvтa. It was Juvenal's habit to use Greek words to express customs derived from Greece. Conf. "trechedipna and ceromatico" in Sat. iii. 67, 68; and vi. 63, "Chironomon Ledan molli saltante Bathyllo." 66 122. dictata, the lessons. magistri. His name is given as Trypherus in Sat. xi. loc. cit. Seneca says, "est aliquis scindendi obsonii magister." 123. sane, "it must be allowed "-ironical. 125. Cacus. For the combat with Hercules, see Verg. Aen. viii. 264 seq., and Class. Dict. 127. hiscere, to open your mouth. tamquam habeas tria nomina, i.e. as though you were a freeborn citizen. Roman citizens had a praenomen, peculiar to themselves; a nomen, common to the whole gens; and a cognomen, belonging to the particular branch of the gens. Thus Gaius Iulius Caesar. To these was sometimes added a special name, such as Africanus, Numidicus, etc., to commemorate some special exploit. In imperial times the cognomina were often very numerous. peregrini had only one name. propinat tibi, drinks to your health, i.c. drinks out of a cup, and then pledges it to another, challenging him to empty it. Conf. Cic. Tus. Disp. 1, 40, of Theramenes drinking the poison, propino, inquit, hoc pulchro Critiae.' The words 'sumitque tuis," etc., refer of course to the converse, "lets you pass the cup to him." 66 66 130. regi; see note on line 14. Conf. Sat. vii. 45, viii. 161 131. laena, the lacerna; see iii. 283. 132. Quadringenta (sc. sestertia), the knight's census; conf. i. 106. If the client were suddenly to be enriched, Virro would become a captator. 135. frater. Conf. Hor. Ep. i. 6, 54-55, "frater, pater, adde: ut cuique est aetas ita quemque facetus adopta." istis means "those near you," and is a better reading than ipsis. 136. Ilibus, used here of the loin, as in Mart. x. 45, 4. 137. Dominus tamen et domini rex, etc., if you wish to have clients of your own (i.e. to be dominus), and to be the patron of your present lord. The dominus was the master of a familia, the paterfamilias. rex, as we have seen before, is often used for a patron. If a rich man married and had children, his captatores fell off in their attentions. Conf. Hor. Sat. ii. 5, 30, “fama civem causaque priorem sperne, domi si natus erit. So Pliny talks of an age, "quo plerisque etiam singulos filios orbitatis praemia graves faciunt." 138. parvulus aula luserit Aeneas. Conf. Verg, Aen. iv. 328, "si quis mihi parvulus aula luderet Aeneas"; and Sat. x. 318, “tuus Endymion.” 139. illo, than the captator. 141. nunc, as it is. As you are poor, your lord patronises your children, and makes them trifling presents. were not for eating, Horace couples them 143. thoraca, a vest or waistcoat. 144. minimasque nuces. The nuts but for a game in which they were used. with tali, knuckle-bones. Sat. ii. 3, 171, "talos nucesque.' infans, because the child would prob 145. parasitus . . ably follow in his father's footsteps; on parasitus, see note to i. 139. 146. Vilibus amicis. Conf. "modicis amicis," above, 1. 108. So Pliny, Ep. ii. 6, says, "amicos gradatim habet." 147. boletus, a rare kind of mushroom. Mart. xiii. 48, "boletos mittere difficile est"; and i. 30, "turba spectante vocata, solus boletos, Caeciliane, voras.' sed quales, nay, even such as. Apulia vendit." Conf. iv. 27, "sed maiores quales Claudius edit. The Emperor Claudius was poisoned by a mushroom given to him by his wife Agrippina, with the help of Locusta, i. 71 (A.D. 54), Suet. Claud. 44. 21, 4, "Boletum, qualem Claudius edit, edas." Conf. Mart. i. 148. ante illum uxoris. Conf. Sat. vi. 620,"minus ergo nocens erit Agrippinae boletus?" |