12. #querimur#: In his ed. of 1868 Jahn has abandoned _queritur_ (1843)
here and in v. 14. Comp. _stertimus_, v. 3. --#calamo#: In prose, _de
calamo_.
13. #nigra sepia#: 'The blackness of the liquor,' Conington, who says
correctly that _nigra_ is emphatic. _Sepia_, 'juice of the cuttle-fish,'
used for ink. Comp. Auson., Epist., 4, 76; 7, 54 (Jahn).
14. #fistula# = _harundo_. The nib of the pen was badly slit. Comp. _nec
iam #fissipedis# per #calami# vias | grassetur Cnidiae sulcus
harundinis_, Auson., Epist., 7, 49-50.
The whole period is very awkward, and is not improved by Jahn's _sed_
for _quod_ in v. 13. Mr. Pretor suspects a _duplex recensio_, and
brackets v. 13. In any other author I should suggest _dilutas#que
nimis#_ for _dilutas #querimur#_, v. 14 (Mp. _querimus_).
15. #ultra miser# = _miserior_. --#hucine rerum#: _Hucine_ is archaic
and colloquial. On _rerum_, see G., 371, R. 4; A., 50, 2, _d_. Comp. 1,
1 for the translation.
16. #tenero columbo#: a pet name for children (Schol.). _Columbus_ is
'the house-pigeon,' _palumbus_ 'the wood-pigeon.' Some of the best MSS.
read _palumbo_, which Bentley on Hor., Od., 1, 2, 10, prefers. Notice
further that nurses often feed their babies pigeon-fashion. --#regum
pueris#: 'aristocratic babies,' 'babies of quality' (Conington). _Regum_
as in 1, 67. --#pappare#: (_papare_, Jahn, 1843) Infin. for Substantive,
'pap.' Such Infinitives are hardly parallel with _vivere triste_ (1, 9),
and belong rather to the _verba togae_. They may be called nursery
Infinitives. Comp. Titin. (ap. Charisium, 1, p. 99P.), v. 78 Ribb.:
_Date illi #biber#, iracunda haec est_. Comp. the Greek +to piein, to
phagein+, Theocr., 10, 53; Anthol. Pal., 12, 34, 5. The Scholiast calls
_pappare_ and _lullare_ '_voces mutilas_.' --#minutum#: 'chewed fine,'
'minced.'
18. #iratus#: 'in a pet.' --#mammae#: exactly our 'mammy;' depends on
_lallare_, not on _iratus_. --#lallare#: like _pappare_, 'lullaby.'
'Pettishly refusing to let mammy sing you to sleep' (Conington)-- 'to go
by-bye for mammy.'
19. #studeam#: G., 258; A., 57, 6. The absolute use of _studere_ is
post-Augustan. _Desidioso #studere# torqueri est_, Sen., Ep. M., 71, 23.
--#Cui verba#: sc. _das_?
20. #succinis#: 'sing to an instrument or second to a person,' hence 'to
sing small' (Conington), 'come whimpering, whining with.' --#ambages#:
'beating about the bush,' 'shuffling excuses.' _Quando pauperiem, missis
#ambagibus#, horres_, Hor., Sat., 2, 5, 9. --#tibi luditur#: _Tua res
agitur_, 'it is your game,' 'your stake,' 'your affair.' --#effluis
amens#: with a sudden change of figure. The dissolute young man is
compared to a cracked jar, from which all the noble 'wine of life'
(Shaksp., Macbeth, 2, 3) is escaping. The passage in Ter., Eun., 1, 2,
25, which is often cited in this connection: _Plenus rimarum sum; huc
atque huc #perfluo#_ refers to 'a leaky vessel,' one who can not keep a
secret.
21. #contemnere#: A sudden desertion of the metaphor, unless
_contemnere_ be a technical term, like +apodokimazein+, 'reject on
test.' Cicero combines _conterere et contemnere_, _contemnere et
reicere_, _contemnere et pro nihilo putare_. The Scholiast thinks that
the word is an unhappy reminiscence of Hor., Sat., 2, 3, 14:
_#contemnere# miser_. --#sonat vitium# = _sono indicat vitium_. _Sonat
vitium_, like _sapit mare_, 'sounds flawy,' 'has a flawy ring.' The
Schol. comp. Verg., Aen., 1, 328: _nec vox #hominem sonat#_.
--#maligne#: 'ill-naturedly,' 'grudgingly,' of that which falls short of
what was expected. _Maligne respondet_, 'gives a short answer,' 'a dull
sound.'
22. #viridi#: = _crudo_, 'untempered.' The material is ill-mixed and the
crock ill-baked (_non cocta_).
23. 'Persius steps back, as it were, while pursuing the metaphor,' is
Conington's droll defence of Persius's +husteron proteron+. Common
critics would say that Persius had bungled the figure. --#properandus et
fingendus#: not necessarily equivalent to _propere fingendus_. Comp.
Juv., 4, 134: _argillam atque rotam citius #properate#_.
24-43. Persius: 'I know what you are going to say. You have a fair
estate, you have nothing to dread, you have good connections, you have a
good position. Away with these baubles. I know you yourself. You live no
higher life than the dullest sensualist, who knows not what he is
losing; but the time will come when you will be roused to the
consciousness of your loss, and your soul must be tortured with the
expectation of impending ruin and the carking of hidden sin.' --#rure
paterno#: G., 412, R. 1; A., 55, 3, _c_, R.
25. #far modicum#: _Modicum_ with a sneer. The young man keeps up a show
of Stoic moderation. --#salinum--patella#: two articles of plate, to
which every respectable family aspired. Compare the apostle-spoons and
the candle-cup of the Elizabethan period. The _salinum_ and the
_patella_ were exempt, when all other gold and silver plate was called
for to meet the necessities of the state. --#purum et sine labe#:
literally and metaphorically.
26. #quid metuas#: _ex animo iuvenis_. The young man is supposed to ask
_quid metuam?_ See v. 19. 'I have nothing to fear on the score of
poverty.' --#cultrix foci#: The _patella_ was used in the worship of the
Lares. Conington preserves the possible double sense of 'inhabitant' and
'worshipper,' by rendering 'a dish for fireside service.' --#secura#:
'that knows no fear' (of want).
27. #hoc satis?# This is very well, but is it enough? --#an deceat#: The
connection is not very plain, and Jahn thinks that another person is
apostrophised. Persius is attacking the same man, now as to his fortune,
now as to his family. That this is not clearly brought out, is simply
his own fault. --#ventis#: 'with airs' (Pretor). See 4, 20.
28. #stemmate#: Abl. as a whence-case. 'Comp. Juv., 8, 1-6; Suet., Nero,
37. These _stemmata_ were genealogical trees or tables of pedigree, in
which the family portraits (_imagines_) were connected by winding lines.
Comp. _#stemmata# vero lineis discurrebant ad imagines pictas_, Plin.,
H. N., 25, 2, and _multae #stemmatum# flexurae_, Sen., de Benef., 3, 28'
(Pretor, after Jahn). --#Tusco#: The Etruscans were great sticklers for
family, as Persius well knew. Comp. Hor., Od., 3, 29, 1; Sat., 1, 6, 1;
Prop., 4, 9, 1. Your aristocratic philosopher can afford to be
disdainful of birth. A Stoic commonplace: _si quid est aliud in
philosophia boni, hoc est quod #stemma# non inspicit_, Sen., Ep., 44, 1.
--#ramum# = _lineam_. --#millesime#: 'a thousand times removed'
(Pretor). On the case, 1, 123. Conington recognizes a side-thrust, and
compares Savage's 'No _tenth_ transmitter of a foolish face.'
29. #censoremne#: So Casaubon. Jahn (1868) reads _-que_, thus abandoning
the reading which is best supported by MSS., but utterly unsupported by
grammar, _-ve_. The careless use of _vel_ after _ve_ is one of those
slips that are simply incredible, nor can _-ve-- vel_ be successfully
defended by connecting the latter closely with _trabeate_. Pretor
explains, 'because you have a censor in your family, or are yourself a
knight of distinction (sc. _quodve censorem tuum salutas vel quod ipse
trabeatus es_)'. Heinr.'s conjecture, _fatuum_, with a reference to the
censorship of Claudius, is itself almost fatuous. If we are to resort to
conjecture, Heinr.'s other suggestion, _vetulum_, would be mild. Jahn
explains this line (after Niebuhr) of the _municipales equites_,
'Because you are a great man in your own provincial town.' Comp. 1, 129.
'In any case the allusion is to the annual _transvectio_ of the
_equites_ before the censor, who used to review them (_recognoscere_) as
they defiled before him on horseback. If _censorem_ is understood of
Rome, _tuum_ will imply that the youth is related to the Emperor, like
Juvenal's Rubellius Blandus, 8, 40; otherwise it means "your local
censor"' (Conington). --#trabeate#: The _trabea_ is the official dress
of the _equites_. Comp. 1, 123.
30. #ad populum phaleras#: 'The _phalerae_ included all the trappings of
the horse and rider. They were on occasion much ornamented with metal,
and Polybius (6, 23) says that they were given as rewards of merit to
cavalry soldiers' (Pretor, after Jahn). 'To the mob with your trappings,
your stars and garters.' --#intus et in cute#: 'inside and out;' a rough
equivalent. _In cute_ (Gr. +en chrô+) means 'closely' ('to a dot, a T').
See Lexx. s.v. +chrôs+.
31. #non pudet#: 'You are not ashamed?' (you ought to be). See G., 455.
--#discincti#: Comp. _#discinctus# aut perdam #nepos#_, Hor., Epod., 1,
34 (Schol.). The _discinctus_ is 'a man of loose habits.' --#Nattae#:
taken at random from Hor., Sat., 1, 6, 124.
32. #stupet#: +anaisthêtei+ (Casaubon). He is 'past feeling,' his
conscience is benumbed, is 'seared with a hot iron.' --#fibris increvit
opimum pingue#: 'his heart is overgrown with thick collops of fat'
(Conington). The Scriptural parallels are familiar: Psa., 119, 70;
Matt., 13, 15; John, 12, 40. The Delphin ed. comp. Tertull., de Anima,
20: _#Opimitas# impedit sapientiam._ On _opimum pingue_, comp. 1, 107.
33. #caret culpa#: Perhaps because the Stoic would not hold him
responsible, Epictet., Diss., 1, 18. Conington well remarks that
Casaubon's quotation from Menand., Mon., 430-- +ho mêden eidôs ouden
examartanei+-- does not meet the case. In Menander we have to do with 'a
sin of ignorance' against others. Here the sin is against the man's own
nature. Possibly _culpa_ is = _conscientia culpae_.
34-43. The terrors of remorse.
34. #rursum non bullit#: 'he makes no bubbles,' 'makes no further
struggles,' 'he is down among the dead men.'