Lucili ritu, nostrum melioris utroque.

Ille velut fidis arcana sodalibus olim

Credebat libris, neque si male cesserat unquam
Decurrens alio, neque si bene; quo fit, ut omnis
Votiva pateat veluti descripta tabella

Vita senis. Sequor hunc Lucanus an Apulus anceps:
Nam Venusinus arat finem sub utrumque colonus,
Missus ad hoc pulsis, vetus est ut fama, Sabellis,
Quo ne per vacuum Romano incurreret hostis,
Sive quod Apula gens seu quod Lucania bellum
Incuteret violenta. Sed hic stilus haud petet ultro
Quemquam animantem et me veluti custodiet ensis
Vagina tectus; quem cur destringere coner
Tutus ab infestis latronibus? O pater et rex
Jupiter, ut pereat positum rubigine telum

29. i. e. a greater man than either of us.'

31. cesserat. Al. gesserat, which Gesner explains by supplying as an accusative c. vitam, from vita in v. 34.

But even allowing this as admissible, Latin usage would seem to favour the other reading.

There is no more frequent or favourite phrase for good or ill success' than 'bene' or 'male cedere.' unquam. Al. usquam.

33. Votivâ tabellâ. Cp. Carm. 1. v. 13.; Cic. N. D. iii. 37. (89.).

34. senis, 'the old poet.' Cp. above, Sat. I. x. 67., seniorum; cp. Pers. i. 124., prægrandi sene (said of Aristophanes); Virg. Ecl. vi. 70. Orell. quotes Cic. de Cl. Orat. 10. (39.)

Lucilius said to have died at the early age of 46. Much doubt, however, has been thrown upon the state

est;' ut, Liv. xxxi. 12., incertus. Cp. xxvii. 37., xxx. 35.”—Orell.

Some take anceps for the neut. gen., comparing the usage of incertum in Liv. xxxi. 41. and. Plin. N. H. xxxvi. 15. (24.) But it is unlikely that an adjective which does not show its gender by its termination would be so used.

36. The colony of Venusia was sent out B. c. 291, towards the end of the third Samnite war.

37. Quo ne,that... not,' like 'ut ne;'"rarissimo usu," Or. per vacuum. i. e. by an undefended part,' 'that the frontier might not be open to the invasion of enemies.'

Romano. The sing. is used in a collective sense. Comp. Epod. vii. 6.

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39. Incuteret, menaced.' 40. veluti ensis. Cp. Cic. De Orat. 1. arma quibus vel tectus ipse esse possis.

43. ut pereat. Gr. Es dóλoito. (The commentators compare Call

Nec quisquam noceat cupido mihi pacis! at ille,
Qui me commorit,— melius non tangere, clamo
Flebit et insignis tota cantabitur urbe.
Cervius iratus leges minitatur et urnam,
Canidia Albuti quibus est inimica venenum,
Grande malum Turius, si quid se judice certes.
Ut, quo quisque valet, suspectos terreat, utque
Imperet hoc natura potens, sic collige mecum :
Dente lupus, cornu taurus petit: unde nisi intus
Monstratum? Scævæ vivacem crede nepoti
Matrem nil faciet sceleris pia dextera; mirum,

45

50

Ut neque calce lupus quemquam neque dente petit bos:
Sed mala tollet anum vitiato melle cicuta.

Ne longum faciam: seu me tranquilla senectus
Exspectat seu Mors atris circumvolat alis,
Dives, inops, Romæ, seu fors ita jusserit, exul,
Quisquis erit vitæ, scribam, color. O puer, ut sis
Vitalis metuo, et majorum ne quis amicus
Frigore te feriat. Quid? cum est Lucilius ausus
Primus in hunc operis componere carmina morem,

Fragm. 509., translated by Catull. Ixvi. 48.: Jupiter ut Chalybôn omne genus pereat!)

46. Flebit, 'He shall rue it:' multa fleturum caput, Epod. v. 74. cantabitur = fabula fiet;' as Epist. 1. xiii. 9.

47. Cervius, an informer. urnam. i.e. the judicial urn. Virg. Æn. vi. 432.; Juv. xiii. 4.

48. Albuti venenum. Albutius was said to have poisoned his wife (or his mother). So the Scholiasts.

49. Turius, a corrupt judge. siquid certes. Certo, prop. a neuter verb, takes here an acc. c. of the pronoun: it is used passively with a nom. c. in Sat. 11. v. 27.; as militor in Epod. i. 23.

56

60

60. ut sis vitalis metuo. from Homer, Il. Σ. 95.: ὠκύμορος δή μοι, τέκος, ἔσσεαι οἱ ἀγορεύεις.

62. Frigore feriat. i. e. chill you 51. sic collige mecum (cp. Epist. by cold neglect.' Cp. Pers. i. 169.

Detrahere et pellem, nitidus qua quisque per ora
Cederet introrsum turpis; num Lælius aut qui
Duxit ab oppressa meritum Carthagine nomen,
Ingenio offensi aut læso doluere Metello
Famosisque Lupo cooperto versibus? Atqui
Primores populi arripuit populumque tributim,
Scilicet uni æquus virtuti atque ejus amicis.
Quin ubi se a vulgo et scena in secreta remorant
Virtus Scipiada et mitis sapientia Læli,
Nugari cum illo et discincti ludere, donec
Decoqueretur olus, soliti. Quidquid sum ego, quamvis
Infra Lucili censum ingeniumque, tamen me

64. pellem... introrsum turpis. Epist. I. xvi. 45.

per ora. Here, 'in the eyes of all.' Ov. Trist. IV. ii. 48.

65. Lælius. Caius Lælius Sapiens. His cognomen is expressed in the circumlocution of v. 72. He was the intimate friend of the younger Africanus, as his father had been of the elder. To him the "De Amicitiâ " is dedicated.

66. qui duxit, etc. Scipio Africanus Minor (under him Lucilius had served as an eques at Numantia). Cp. Carm. IV. viii. 18. Cp. Ov. Fast. i. 593

Africa victorem de se vocat.

67. Metello. Qu. Cæcilius Metellus Macedonicus. He was of the opposite party to Scipio (Cic. De Off. 1. xxv. 7.), yet said of him at his death: "Ite filii, celebrate exsequias; nunquam civis majoris funus videbitis."-Plin. H. N. vii.

14.

68. Lupo. Luc. Cornel. Lentulus Lupus.

Cic. N. D. i. 23. (63.) quotes these verses from Lucilius:

"Tubulus si Lucius unquam

65

70

75

Esse Deos, tam perjurus aut tam impurus fuisset ?"

Lupus is called by the Schol. princeps senatûs." Both he and Metellus are examples of primores populi, and the general meaning is: Were the patrons of Lucilius, seeing that he satirised men of the greatest eminence and power, fearful for themselves or offended by his freedom? No, their friendship was constant and unreserved.'

71. Cp. Cic. De Amic. 27. (103.) 73. Cp. Cic. De Orat. ii. 6. (22.) Nugari. Epist. 1. xviii. 60.

discincti. A compound, the contrary of præcinctus and succinctus, nearly in undress,' i.e. without ceremony or reserve.

74. olus. i. e. their frugal meal.' See Cic. De Fin. ii. 8. (quoting Lucilius): "O lapathe, ut jactare necesse est, cognitus cui sis! In quo Lælius clamores sophos ille solebat Edere, compellans gumias ex ordine nostros;" (and adding) Præclare Lælius et recte "sophos."

Cum magnis vixisse invita fatebitur usque
Invidia et fragili quærens illidere dentem
Offendet solido, nisi quid tu, docte Trebati,
Dissentis. Equidem nihil hinc diffindere possum ;
Sed tamen ut monitus caveas, ne forte negoti
Incutiat tibi quid sanctarum inscitia legum :
Si mala condiderit in quem quis carmina, jus est
Judiciumque. Esto, si quis mala: sed bona si quis.

76. Cum magnis vixisse. Epist. moner sense, viz. to reject or put 1. xx. 23., and cp. 1. xvii. 35.

aside.' (The other readings, desolido, and findere, defingere, defigere, diffigere, diffidere, diffundere, are but curious instances of the ingenuity of correctors.)

77. fragili when thinking to strike its tooth into a soft morsel will come upon a hard one;' i. e. when expecting to find an easy prey, it will find it has met its match. fragili = quod frangi potest, e. g. as a nut between the teeth. Or perhaps the metaphor is drawn from the "Viper and the File."

79. diffindere. The general sense of this is clear: I cannot object to, I agree with, what you say.' But the reading, as well as the literal meaning, is difficult to determine.

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Other editions have: diffingere, to fashion again, to undo or alter,' (and this is supported by many MSS., by Bentley, and Heindorf); defringere, to break off a piece,' in allusion to the metaph. fragili... solido. (This seems to be a mere conjecture.)

diffindere is on the whole the most probable reading, and it is a legal term, and therefore in character.

80. ut may be taken either with monitus or caveas; the latter seems the most natural constr.: 'That you may be safe from any evil consequences from ignorance of the law, (remember) etc.'

82. si mala, etc. See Epist. II. i. 152., Lex pœnaque, sq. The terms of the law in the Twelve Tables are quoted by Cicero, De Rep. iv. 10.:

66

XII. Tabulæ cum perpaucas res capite sanxissent in his hanc quoque sanciendam putaverunt, siquis occentavisset sive carmen condidisset quod infamiam faceret flagitiumve alteri."

jus judiciumque. i. e. 'there is law and ground for action; the aggrieved party has his remedy at law; an action will lie against the writer.'

jus judiciumque was seemingly an indefinite double phrase (cp. diem or rem diffindere was equiv. Liv. xxxix. 24.); but Orelli parato differre; and hence Gesner ex-phrases it thus: Lex Cornelia lata plains the sense as being the case est et actio injuriarum in eum is so clear I need not defer judgment, I can decide at once.' But Fea (with whom Orelli agrees) considers that, though suggested by its technical usage, it may be intended to have here a different and a com

datur."

83. mala. Used punningly. Cp. the Greek Epigram of Palladas:

καλῶς εἰπεῖν Αττικόν ἐστι

μέλι.

Judice condiderit laudatus Cæsare? si quis
Opprobriis dignum latraverit, integer ipse?
Solventur risu tabulæ, tu missus abibis.

SATIRA II.

QUE virtus et quanta, boni, sit vivere parvo,
Nec meus hic sermo est, sed quem præcepit Ofella
Rusticus, abnormis sapiens, crassaque Minerva -

86. The charges will be quashed by the general laugh; you will get off." (missus dimissus, not necessa- 95., and a vocative seems required rily absolutus.)