SATIRE II. The poet inveighs against the luxury and extravagance of the times, and sets forth the advantages of frugal and temperate living. In order to present his sentiments in a more lively manner, he puts them into the mouth of a plain, sensible farmer, Ofellus, by name, whom Horace, when a boy, had known at Venusium. This piece has beer. imitated by Pope, in his "Satire to Mr. Bethel." 1. Boni. Voc. plural. 3. Abnormis (a and norma); literally, without rules, i. e. of philosophers and philosophic schools; self-instructed.—Crassa Minerva. Minerva, the goddess of wisdom, the arts, &c., here metaphorically expresses ingenium, genius, talent, &c. “A genius, though of coarse texture.”—Osborne. So Cic de Amic. 5, pingui Minerva. -5. Acies; sc. oculorum. Acies, meaning primarily a sharp edge, sharpness, is applied metaphorically, as here, to the sense of sight, vision. -6. Acclinis; inclined to. A word rarely used. - 10. Si Romana, etc. The poet turns from the participial construction to the conditional; instead of fatigatus, etc. Hunting and horse-riding were favorite sports with the Romans; also to some extent a training for war; hence here Romana militia. - 11. Graecari. Greek fashions were imitated by the Romans; much in the same way, probably, as French modes by us. Comp. n. O. iii., 24, 57. -15. Sperne. Said in irony. - Nisi; join with diluta. The poet refers to the favorite Roman drink, called mulsum, a mixture of wine and honey. Comp. notes, O. i., 1, 19; ii., 6, 14. - 19. Partum, sc. esse; viz., that you could be content with such fare. -21. Ostrea. Read here as a dissyllable. -22. Lagois. Some kind of a bird, but of what species is unknown. -23. Eripiam. Used poetically for impediam or prohibebo. Vanis; the neuter abl., and governs rerum; by the rain shows of things. See Z. 435. 29. Carne tamen, etc. I give here the explanation of Bothe, also adop'ed by Dillenburger: quamvis distat gallinae caro a pavonis, tamen nu (non) hac (pavonis) magis illa (gallinae sed) imparibus formis deceptum te esse patet. — -31. Unde datum sentis; = unde datum tibi est, ut sentias. The Roman epicures professed to be able to distinguish between fish caught in the Tiber, and fish of the same species caught in the sea; and also to decide whether they were caught at the mouth of the river, or between the bridges, i. e. the Sublician and the Senatorian, where the Cloaca maxima discharged itself. - 34. Mullum. Great prices were paid by Roman epicures for large mullets. The ordinary size was about two pounds. Juvenal mentions one that weiged six pounds, and was sold for 6000 sesterces. Sat. iv. 15.40. At vos, etc. The poet makes the honest Ofellus indignantly invoke the south winds to taint the delicacies of such gluttons. On at see n. Epod. v., 1.- -44. Inulas. The inula is a plant; scabwort or elecampane. 25. 45. Regum; i. e. divitum, as often in the Odes. 46. Ita pridem. Very long ago; Ita, exactly as we use so, e. g. it was not so long ago. The force of ita in such expressions grows out of an ellipsis, e. g. haud ita, ut quis putet.-So Hand, Turs, iii., p. 491.-Gallonius lived in the time of Lucilius, and is mentioned by him; so that Horace uses ita pridem for a period of about eighty years. Comp. Ars. p. 254. 47. Acipensere. Generally thought to be a sturgeon. In the time of Horace, the rhombus, turbot, had displaced the sturgeon in the good graces of the gourmands. The poet, in this line and the following lines, ridicules the changing fashions of the table. 50. Auctor. Accord ing to an old commentator, A. Sempronius Rufus, on whom, when he failed of being elected praetor, some wag wrote the following epigram: Ciconiarum Rufus iste conditor, Hic est duobus elegantior Plancis: 51. Edixerit. In humorous allusion to praetorius, in preceding line. 55. Pravum; i. e. ita, ut pravus fias. verbially; perversely. the worse, spoiled. But we may translate ad 58. Mutatum; i. e. for oleum, cujus odorem, etc. 61. Albatus. The toga was = 57. Est; from edo. 59. Cujus, etc.; 59. Licebit. See n. O. i., 28, 35.. woollen, and its color was white. To brighten the color, the toga was rubbed with chalk on particular occasions. Hence the expression, used of candidates for office, cretata ambitio. 64. Lupus, etc. A proverb, used of one, placed between two extremes; referring, originally perhaps, to one exposed, on one side to a wolf, on the other to a dog. 65. Qua; i. e. ea tenus, qua- in so far as. -66. Neutram partem. Neither avarice on the one hand, nor luxury on the other. -Cultus, manner of life; in genitive case, and dependent on miser.· 69. Aquam; to mix with the wine. Naevius, put in contrast with Albutius, is the type of a good-natured master, whose servants are suffered to be careless in waiting upon the guests. -72. Ut noceant; join with cdas. But ut quomodo. To express simply that, credere is joined with acc. and infin.- -73. Simul; simul ac. -77. Coena dubia. What this means Terence shows in Phormio ii.,. 2, 28: Ph. "Coena dubia apponitur. Geta. Quid istuc verbi est ? 79. Divinae-aurae. In allusion to the doctrine, that every human soul is an emanation from the Divine Spirit;-"ex universa mente divina delibatos animos:"- Cic. de Senec. c. 21. 80. Dicto citius. Join with curata. The whole expression is opposed to the long and luxuri ous dinner of an epicure. 82. Quondam. Sometimes; see n. O. ii., 10, 18. The poet goes on to say, that the man accustomed to plain living can relish best, on proper occasions, more generous fare. 97. Patruum. See n. O. iii., 12, 3.- 99. Trausius. Probably adduced as an illustration of one who lived beyond his means. -101. The indignant reply of Ofellus: then why not give something of your surplus to the needy, to the support of religion, to your country? - 106. Recteerunt. Esse, joined with adverbs, signifies to be in a condition. See Z. 365. 114. Nunc accisis. Ofellus seems to have been one of those whose lands had been confiscated, and assigned to the veterans of Octavianus. Virgil, in his 1st and 9th Eclogues, has similar illustrations. 115. He was now a tenant, cultivating for certain wages the soil formerly his own. Comp. n. O. i., 35, 6. - 116. Profesta. See n. 0. iv., 15, 25. -119. Vacuo; agrees with mihi. mensas. See n. O. iv., 5, 31. -122. Duplice; The figs were thus split, laid one upon another, and thus dried and kept. Orelli quotes from Gargallo, the Italian translator, who speaks of the same custom, as now prevailing in Sicily. 123. Culpamagistra. Descriptive of a temperate feast; a penalty was imposed upon any one who drank to excess; hence culpa was, as it were, the magistra convivii, or bibendi.· -124. Ita; to sic, which is generally used to express a condition, connected with a prayer or religious ceremony. Comp. n. O. i., 3, 1. With surgeret supply, in translation, ut. Ceres was worshipped by libations, with the expectation that she would crown the husbandman's labors with a rich harvest. -125. Explicuit. See n. O. iii., 29, 16. = = -121. Secundasbifida, split in two. SATIRE III. This Satire was probably elicited from the poet by the reproach, which he began to hear from some quarters, that he was relaxing from his literary labors, content with his present fame, and with the means he had, through the bounty of Maecenas, of living at his ease. In composing the Satire, Horace seems to have aimed in general, to expose the folly of men, in their various tastes and pursuits; and, at the same time, to ridicule a class of people, doubtless common in Rome, ever since Cicero had made Greek philosophy the mode, who in their dress and air affected the philosopher, and especially the Stoic, and walked about the forum and the streets, talking very large and very loud of wisdom and virtue, and calling all the world fools except their ideal wise man. This two-fold end the poet reaches in a very ingenious manner. Damasippus, "a bankrupt virtuoso," but now a street philosopher of approved fashion, breaks in upon the poet at his Sabine farm, whither he had gone to get rid of the noise and confusion of the Saturnalia, and after rating him soundly for his literary inactivity, tells him the story of his conversion to philosophy by one Stertinius. He then details a conversation between Stertinius and himself, illustrative of the Stoic dogma, omnes stultos insanire. The two philosophers summon before them the various classes of men, and dismiss them, convicted all of mad folly in their several pur suits; on Horace himself at last they pronounce a like sentence; but all the while they mingle with their wise precepts and decisions so much of absurdity and extravagance, that they clearly give themselves too, a select place in the universal category of fools. Thus Horace retorts upon his critics, with the longest and one of the best of his satires; in which, delightfully mingling wit and earnestness, passing ever "from grave to gay, from lively to severe," he hits off, in the most polite and good-humored way pos sible, the folly men are daily exhibiting, as they move about him, in the thronged, busy world of Roman life. 1. Sic, etc. The first sixteen lines to be understood as the words of Damasippus. 2. Membranam; parchment, called also Pergama, because invented at Pergamus. The ancients also had paper, charta, made of the papyrus, the Egyptian reed. On both these they wrote with a calamus or pen, made also of a reed. 2. Retexens. A metaphorical expression for weaving, which we cannot directly translate; we say retouch or remodel. -3. Tibi. Depends upon benignus. — 5. Saturnalibus. The festival of Saturn, kept up for seven days in December, during which the people gave themselves to feasting, sports, and unrestrained merriment. The modern Carnival, as now celebrated annually at Rome, corresponds in character to the ancient Saturnalia. See Dict. Antiqq. Huc. The poet's Sabine farm. -7. Laborat; suffers; i. e. from the vexed poet, who instead of finding fault with his own barren brain, finds fault with the wall of his study, and curses and beats it. -8. Iratis, etc. He facetiously speaks of the wall, as if of a person, on whom at its birth rested the curse of gods and poets. 9. Erat; i. e. when you left the city. Minantis; of one who threatened. 11. Menandro. The principal writer of the New Comedy of the Greeks. See n. Sat. i., 4, 1. - 12. Archilochum. See n. Epod. vi., 13. -17. Donent tonsore. Instead of invoking upon him all manner of blessings, the poet humorously wishes him the kindly services of a barber; in allusion to the long beard which he wore, in imitation of the Strics. 18. Janum-ad medium. Different from the Janus in O. iv., 15, 9. The name Jani was given to three arched passages on the north side of the Forum, one at each end, and one in the middle. Near these, and especially the last, medium Janum, were the places of business of bankers and brokers. - 21. Quo-aere. Cicero speaks of a Damasippus-the same, probably whom Horace means-who was a connoisseur and a dealer in statues, and antiques of all sorts. Here the allusion seems to be to some foot-bath of Sisyphus, made of Corinthian bronze. Comp. n. Sat. i., 3, 91. Sisyphus was the reputed founder of Corinth. 25. Mercuriale. Mercurius, from merx, was with the Romans the god of gain and traffic. But generally, in Horace, he is invested with the attributes of the Greek Mercury, i. e. Hermes. Morbi; dependent upon purgatum; see A. & S. ý 217, R. i.; Z. § 446 27. 31. 30. Hic; on its force, see n. Sat. i., 1, 29, hic caupo. Simile; refers to fit pugil. Damasippus suited the action to the word, in describing the pugnacious patient; hence these words, said in jest, by the poet. Huic; i. e. mihi or in me; pointing to himself. Esto is in third person. 33. Unde. See n. O. i., 12, 17. 35. Barbam. See above, n. 1. 17. -36. Fabricio. So named from L. Fabricius, its builder. This bridge connected the Insula Tiberina with the opposite side of the river; with the city on one side, and the Janiculum on the other. It is now called Ponte di quattro Capi. 37. Male re gesta. Refers to his failure in business; as above, 1. 18, 19. - 42. Nil-quin-addam. The construction with quin, because in nil addam is involved the notion of hindering; will add not a word to hinder you from, &c. See n. Sat. ii., 2, 23; and Z. 543.44. Porticus. The στοὰ ποικίλη, at Athens, where Zeno taught the Stoic system of philosophy. On Chrysippus, see n. Sat. ii., 3, 127. -51. Hoc-modo-nt, etc. Hoc points back to velut, and forward to ut, which means, so that. The sense is: Just as they all in common miss the true path, in this same way also are you insane, yet so that the man who laughs at you, is no less insane himself.. - 53. Caudam trahat. The Roman boys, not unlike boys of later times, played their tricks upon passers-by, for instance, crazy or intoxicated people, by fastening tails upon them, and then following them, and having a laugh at the appendage; whence the metaphor here. 54. Nihilum. Adverbial; nowise. Join with metuenda. 56. Varum; oppositum.· 60. Fufius. The name of an actor. In playing the part of Iliona, in the tragedy of that name, by Pacuvius, he was to feign sleep, and be roused by the call of Catienus, who played the part of Deiphilus; but he got so sound asleep from intoxication, that not twelve hundred Catieni could wake him up. 65, 66. Esto. Accipe, etc. Conceding what has just been said in 64, 65, he now goes on to show that the creditor too is insanus. 68. Mercurius. See above, n. 1. 25. 69. Scribe, etc. He proceeds to say, that a creditor might as well give away his money outright, as lend it, trusting to the security of written bonds, be they ever so various in form. Decem; sc. tabulas or syngraphas, a Nerio: elliptical; "quales a Nerio dictari solent debitoribus;" Orelli. Like those of Nerius. Nerius and Cicuta were money-lenders, who made out their notes in a variety of ways, so as to make sure of their debtor. -70. Catenas; metaphorical for cautiones; bonds. -72. Malis; abl. of mala, a jaw; the sense is: laughing immoderately, as if he were using not his own, but another's jaws, and therefore didn't care if he perilled them. So the debtor makes himself merry over his creditor, who can get nothing out of him. -73. Fiet aper, etc. Suggested by Proteus, 1. 71, who could transform himself into any thing at will. So the debtor resorts to all kinds of expedients to evade his creditor. Comp. Virg. Georg. iv., 407. = |