45. #non ego#: 'I do not decline your praise-- no, not I.' G., 447; A.,
76, 3, _d_. Comp. 2, 3; 3, 78; and Hor., Ep., 1, 19, 37, _#non ego#
ventosae plebis suffragia venor_. --#si forte quid aptius exit#: 'if I
chance to turn out (off) a rather neat piece of work.' _Exit_ may mean
'to leave the shop' (_ex officina exire_, Cic., Parad., pr. 5), or 'to
leave the potter's wheel,' as _urceus exit_, Hor., A. P., 22 (Jahn).
Conington translates 'hatch' on account of _rara avis_. +Kakon ôon+. The
passage is imitated by Quint., 12, 10, 26.
46. #quando#: gives the reason for his saying _si forte_. There is no
necessity of writing _quanquam_, but the translation 'although' is not
unnatural, as causative particles are often adversative. Comp. _cum_ and
Gr. +epei+. --#rara avis#: proverbial as in the famous line of Juv., 6,
165.
47. #laudari metuam#: So Hor., _metuens audiri_, Ep., 1, 16, 60; _metuit
tangi_, Od., 3, 11, 10. In prose the construction is less common with
_metuo_ than with _vereor_. G., 552, R. 1; M., 376, Obs. --#cornea#: 'of
horn.' The metaphorical use seems to be novel. Comp. Hom., Od., 19, 211:
+ophthalmoi d' hôs ei #kera# hestasan êe sidêros+. --#fibra#: 'heart.'
See 5, 29.
48. #recti finemque extremumque#: 'the ultimate standard.' Conington
renders 'be-all and end-all.'
49. #euge, belle#: like _decenter_ (v. 84), are current expressions of
approbation at public readings. _Euge_, 'bravo!' _belle_, 'well said!'
_decenter_, 'pretty fair!' Martial gives us a list of popular comments
(2, 27, 3-4): _Effecte! graviter! st! nequiter! euge! beate! | hoc
volui!_ --#excute#: a favorite word with Persius as with Seneca, Ep.,
13, 8; 16, 7; 22, 10; 26, 3; De Ira, 3, 36 (Jahn). The metaphor is taken
from shaking clothes in order to get out any thing that may be concealed
in them-- Gr., +ekseiein+. We should say 'analyze.'
50. #quid non intus habet#: The figure is kept up. 'What is not covered
up in that beggarly rag of a _#belle#_'? --#non# = _nonne_. G., 445
and R.; A., 71, 1. --#Atti#: See v. 4. --#Ilias ebria#: Comp. _ebrius
sermo_, Sen., Ep., 19, 9.
51. #veratro#: white hellebore (_album multum terribilius nigro_, Plin.,
II. N., 25, 5, 21), a strong emetic, which students took 'to quicken
their wits.' The modern _veratrum_ is a different drug. --#elegidia#:
contemptuous, 'bits of elegies' on such themes as Phyllis and Hypsipyle.
_E._ a Greek word not in Greek lexicons, like _poetridas_, Prol., 13.
--#crudi#: with their dinners undigested and their brains muddled.
52. #dictarunt#: 'extemporize.' --#lectis#: 'sofas.' The ancients wrote
in a recumbent posture far more frequently than we do.
53. #citreis#: 'of citron wood,' 'wood of the thyia' (_Thyia
articulata_, African Arbor Vitae, Plin., 15, 29). The fabulous cost of
tables of this material is well known. Cic., Verr., 4, 17, 37. --#scis#:
'you know how.' _Scire_ in this sense is related to _posse_, as Fr.
_savoir_ to _pouvoir_, a traditional distinction. --#calidum#:
'hot-and-hot' (Pretor). --#ponere#: 1. 'serve up;' 2. 'cause to serve
up,' 'treat to.' _Heri non tam bonum #posui# et multo honestiores
cenabant_, Petron., 34. --#sumen#: a dainty dish in the eyes of Greek
and Roman. Comp. _vulva nil pulchrius ampla_, Hor., Ep., 1, 15, 41;
Plut., Sanit. Praec., 124F; Alciphr., Ep., 1, 20; and the joke in
Alexis, fr. 188 (3, 473 Mein.).
54. #comitem horridulum trita donare lacerna#: This is the kind of
patronage that galled Lucian (De Merced. Cond., 37), who mentions the
paltry present of an +ephestridion athlion hê chitônion huposathron+. On
the word _comitem_, see 3, 7. _Horridulum comitem_, 'shivering beggar of
a companion,' 'poor devil in your suite.' For the custom, comp. Hor.,
Ep., 1, 19, 37: _Non ego ventosae plebis suffragia venor | impensis
#cenarum# et #tritae# munere #vestis#_.
56. #qui pote?# _Pote_ is an archaism for _potis_. Both _potis_ and
_pote_ are used as predicates without regard to number and gender.
--#vis dicam#: G., 546, R. 3; A., 70, 3, _f_, R. _Vis_ does not wait for
an answer. See 6, 63. --#nugaris#: 'you are a twaddler' (Conington).
--#calve#: Persius calls up his _vetulus_ (v. 22) again, and gives him a
huge 'bombard' of a belly. Nero had a _venter proiectus_, and some
editors fancy that Nero's person is aimed at here, and Nero's poetry in
the verses that follow. See Introd., xxxvi.
57. #aqualiculus#: (said properly to mean 'a pig's stomach') 'paunch,'
'cloak-bag of guts,' Shaksp. --#protenso sesquipede#: Comp. the Greek
proverb: +pacheia gastêr lepton ou tiktei noon+. Even M. Martha is
forced to say: _Le trait n'est ni spirituel ni poli_ (_Moralistes
Romains_, p. 147). For the justification, see v. 128. Jahn (1843) reads
_propenso_.
58. #Iane#: Janus, who sees both ways, is secure from being laughed at
behind his back. --#ciconia pinsit# = _pinsendo ludit_. The fingers of
the mocker imitate the clapping of the stork's bill. _Pinsit_, 'pounds,'
because the _ciconia levat ac deprimit rostrum dum clangit_, Isidor.,
Orig., 20, 15, 3. 'Pecks at' is not correct; 'claps' is nearer. What
seems to be meant is mock applause.
59. #auriculas#: The imitation of ass's ears by the hands belongs to
universal culture. --#imitari mobilis# = _ad imitandum m._ G., 424,
R. 4; A., 57, 8, _f._ --#albas#: on account of the white lining. Ov.,
Met., 11, 176: _aures-- villis #albentibus# implet_.
60. #linguae#: The thrusting out of the tongue in derision is as common
now as it was then. --#canis Apula#: Apulia was the +dipsion Argos+ of
Italy. _Siticulosae Apuliae_, Hor., Epod., 3, 16. --#tantae#: So Jahn
and Herm. 'Tongues big enough to represent the thirst of an Apulian
hound' (Pretor). Jahn compares for the construction, Luc., 1, 259:
_quantum rura silent, tanta quies_. Conington considers _tantum_ 'much
neater,' and makes _quantum sitiat = quantum sitiens protendat_, 'a
length of tongue protruded like an Apulian dog in the dog-days.'
61. #vos, o patricius sanguis#: Hor., A. P., 291: _vos, o | Pompilius
sanguis_. The Nom. for the Vocative in solemn address. G., 194, R. 3;
A., 53, _a._ --#fas est# = _fatum est_, 'it is ordained.'
62. #occipiti#: Notice the exceptional Abl. in _i_. Comp. Auson.,
Epigr., 12, 8: _#occipiti# calvo es_, and _capiti_, v. 83. --#posticae#:
chiefly of the back part of a building: 'back-stairs' (Conington).
--#occurrite#: 'turn round and face' (Conington and Pretor). --#sannae#:
'flout,' 'gibe,' 'fleer,' +môkos+.
63-82. Persius takes up the thread which Janus had rudely snapt: 'We
have heard the bounden praise of dependants. What does the town say?
Why, they admire the smooth flow of the verse, the grand style. If they
find these requisites, little do they care about theme or order of
development; the 'prentice hand that bungles an eclogue, undertakes an
epic-- nay, jumbles eclogue and epic-- Bravo, poet! all the same.
Another mania is the passion for the old poets, a Pacuvian revival. What
is to be expected when all this bubble-and-squeak language is the daily
food of our children and the dear delight of lecture-halls?'
63. #Quis# = _qui_. G., 105; A., 21, 1, _a._ --#quis enim#: _Enim_, like
+gar+; 'why, what else?' 'of course.' G., 500; A., 43, 3, _d._
64. #nunc demum#: as if something marvellous had been accomplished.
--#severos#: 'captious, critical.'
65. #effundat#: 'suffers to glide smoothly,' a harsh expression.
--#iunctura#: The image is that of the joining of pieces of marble, as
in an _opus tessellatum_. Comp. Lucil., fr. inc., 10, 33 (L. M.): _quam
lepide +lexeis+ conpostae, ut tesserulae, omnes | arte pavimenti atque
emblemati' vermiculati_. The poet is compared with an artisan, not with
an artist. He knows how to fit the pieces together so perfectly as to
present a continuous smooth surface to the pressure of the most exacting
nail. Comp. v. 92. --#tendere versum#: 'to lay off a verse,' as a
carpenter lays off his work. The propriety of the word _tendere_ is
heightened, if we remember that the hexameter was called the _versus
longus_.
66. Carpenter-like, the versewright stretches his ruddled line
(_rubrica_), sights it (_oculo derigit uno_), and springs it. The modern
carpenter uses chalk instead of ruddle, but the red pencil may be
regarded as a survival of color. For references, see Rost's Passow, s.v.
+stathmê+. For the spelling _derigat_, remember that _dirigere_ is 'to
point in different directions;' _derigere_ 'in one.' --#ac si derigat#:
On the sequence, see G., 604; A., 61, 1, R.
67. #sive#: seldom used alone; here for _vel si_. --#in mores, in luxum,
in prandia regum#: a kind of anticlimax. _In_ does not necessarily,
though it does naturally, denote hostility. The _prandium_ was
originally a very simple meal. The Stoic model is set up in Seneca, Ep.
83, 6: _Panis deinde siccus et sine mensa prandium, post quod non sunt
lavandae manus._ The _manger sur le pouce_ became in time the _déjeuner
à la fourchette_ (_calidum prandium_, Plaut., Poen., 3, 5, 14), and then
the _déjeuner dinatoire_ (_prandia cenis ingesta_, Sen., N. Q., 4,
13, 6). _Regum_, 'grandees,' 'nabobs,' belongs to _prandia_ alone.