134. #saperdam#: Sing. for the Plur. Comp. _mena_, 3, 76. The _saperda_
(+saperdês, korakinos+) was a cheap fish for salting. The best came from
the Palus Maeotis (Sea of Azow, Balik-Denghis, or Fish-sea), where they
were caught in vast quantities. 'Salt herring.' --#Ponto#: a whence
case.
135. #castoreum, stuppas, hebenum, tus#: A mere hodge-podge. Comp.
Menand., fr. 720 (4, 279 Mein.): +stuppeion, elephant', oinon, aulaian,
muron+. The wares are mainly Eastern. Musk came from Pontus, ebony and
frankincense from the Far East. --#lubrica Coa#: 'slippery Coans,' may
be understood of 'oily (or laxative) Coan wines,' Hor., Sat., 2, 4, 29,
or of 'soft Coan vestments,' which were little more than woven air,
Hor., Od., 4, 13, 13. The use of _Coa_ for 'Coan robes' is sustained by
Ov., A. A., 2, 298: _#Coa# decere puta_, even if Hor., Sat., 1, 2, 101,
be cavilled at, and the effect is droller.
136. #recens primus piper#: _Recens_, 'fresh,' 'just in;' _primus_,
'forestall the market.' --#ex sitiente camelo#: The thirsty camel brings
the scene before our eyes-- comp. _ante boves_, 1, 74-- and shows that
the genuine Indian pepper is meant, the _rugosum piper_ of v. 55. The
camel must have come a long way to be thirsty (_sitim quadriduo
tolerat_, Plin., H. N., 8, 18), but Madam Avarice will not let her slave
wait until the camel has been unloaded and has had its drink.
137. #verte aliquid; iura#: _Verte aliquid_ is said with impatience, and
_aliquid_ is to be urged. Comp. _frange #aliquid#_, 6, 32; _dest
#aliquid#_, 6, 64; _fodere aut arare aut #aliquid# ferre_, Ter., Heaut.,
1, 1, 17. 'Do something or other in the way of trade.' This obviates
Jahn's objection, who finds the expression tame after the preceding
list, and prefers to make _vertere_ = _versuram facere_, 'borrow money'
(to pay debts), and to interpret _iura_ of swearing out of the
obligation. But the connection in which _iura_ stands shows that it is
professional, and hence dishonorable; and though _verte aliquid_ is not
necessarily immoral, observe that in English we add 'honest' to the
phrase 'turn a penny,' if we wish to prevent a sinister interpretation,
which is the interpretation here, as König remarks. As for the
'tameness,' _mercare_ is 'tame' after _vende animam lucro_, 6, 75.
138. #varo#: or _baro_, 'lout.' This obscure word is entered by Vanicek
(_Etym. Wörterb._, S. 36) under KAR (KVAR)-- comp. _varus_, 'crooked'--
so that _varo_ would be 'a wrong-headed creature,' 'a perverse
blockhead.' The verb _obvaro_ occurs in Ennius (Trag., 2 Vahl.), and
_varo_ (Subst.) would be a formation like _cachinno_ (1, 12) and _palpo_
(5, 176). --#regustatum digito terebrare salinum#: After the Greek
proverb: +halian trupan+ (of extreme poverty). Casaubon quotes, and
every body after him, Apoll. Tyan., Ep., 7: +emoi d' eiê tên halian
trupan en Themidos oikô.+ 'To taste and taste until you bore a hole with
your finger in the salt-cellar.' 'To lick the platter clean.'
--#salinum#: Only the most advanced philosophers professed to consider
salt, which even the miser could not well dispense with (4, 30), as a
luxury. So Thrasycles, in Luc., Tim., 56: +opson de hêdiston thumon ê
kardamon ê #ei pote truphôên oligon tôn halôn#+.
139. #perages#: according to Casaubon, an imitation of the Gr.
+diagein+. Warrant for the ellipsis of _vitam_ or _aetatem_ seems to be
lacking. Some wish to read _perges_ here, and combine it with
_terebrare_. If so, the word _perges_ must not be translated 'continue'
+trupôn diateleis+, but 'proceed.' See the Dictionaries. There is no
authority for making _perages_ = _perges_. --#vivere cum Iove#: Madam
Avarice is blasphemously familiar in her expressions. 'To live on good
terms with Jupiter.'
140. #pellem#: simply 'a skin,' which might serve as many purposes as a
modern traveller's shawl. Jahn interprets it as meaning a sort of
packing cloth (_segestre_), and compares Petron., 102. This is much more
likely than the _pastoria pellis_ of Ov., Met., 2, 680, the +baitê+ of
Theocr., 3, 25, elsewhere called +nakos+, 5, 2, 'a peasant's coat of raw
hide.' --#succinctus#: 'high girt,' hence 'equipped.' --#oenophorum#: 'a
wine case.' Comp. Hor., Sat., 1, 6, 109: _pueri lasanum portantes
#oenophorumque#_.
141. #Ocius ad navem#: It matters not who says this: 'Off to the ship
this instant.' We are on the wharf, where such cries are in the air; but
if we must assign them to somebody, they are best assigned to the
master, who hurries the slaves on board. --#quin#: G., 551,1; A., 70, 4,
_g_. --#trabe vasta#: 'mammoth ship.' The man's greed is indicated by
the size of the ship, as contrasted with the slenderness of his personal
equipment. _Vastum Aegaeum_, another reading, would be an epithet
wasted, a rare extravagance in Persius.
142. #rapias#: 'scour.' Casaubon comp. Stat., Theb., 5, 3: _#rapere#
campum_. So Verg., Georg., 3, 103: _campum | #corripuere#_. The notion
is that of devouring. --#sollers#: 'artful' (literally, all-art).
143. #seductum#: Comp. 2, 4; 6, 42. --#quo deinde ruis?# So Verg., Aen.,
5, 741. _Deinde_, 'next.'
144. #quid tibi vis?# Comp. Hor., Sat., 1, 2, 69. G., 351, R.; A., 51,
7, _d_. --#calido#: is proleptic. 'Your breast is heated by a rising of
potent bile.' --#mascula# = _robusta_ (Jahn). _Mascula bilis_ means
_bilis nigra_, +melancholia+. Conington compares the Greek use of
+arsên+ as +ktupos arsên+, Soph., Phil., 1455. See 6, 4.
145. #intumuit#: Comp. 2, 14; 3, 8. --#non exstinxerit#: +ouk an
sbeseie+. G., 629 (250); A., 60, 2, _b_. --#urna#: nearly three gallons,
half an amphora. --#cicutae#: the remedy for madness from this cause,
Hor., Ep., 2, 2, 53.
146. #mare transilias#: G., 251; A., 57, 6. Conington's 'skip across'
would hardly answer for Horace's _non tangenda rates | #transiliunt#
vada_, Od., 1, 3, 24. Tr. 'vault over.' --#torta cannabe#: 'Twisted
hemp' is 'rope,' but Persius probably means a 'coil of rope.' --#fulto#:
with _tibi_. Jahn quotes Juv., 3, 82: _#fultusque# toro meliore
recumbet_. A coil of rope will be your cushion and a bench your table.
147. #Veientanumque rubellum#: The _Veientana uva_ (Mart., 2, 53, 4)
yielded a coarse red wine. _Et Veientani bibitur faex crassa #rubelli#_,
Mart., 1, 103, 9. Not a happy stroke, as Teuffel has observed. A sea
voyage does not involve bad wine.
148. #vapida pice#: 'fusty pitch.' Jars were pitched to preserve the
wine. --#laesum#: 'damaged.' --#sessilis obba#: 'broad-bottomed jorum,'
'squab jug' (Gifford). _Obba_ is an obsolete word for a large
drinking-cup. Conington's 'noggin' does not hold enough.
149. #quincunce#: As an _as_ a month is twelve per cent. per annum, so
5/12 _as_ (_quincunx_) is five per cent., and _deunx_ eleven.
150. #nutrieras#: We use 'nursing' in similar connections, but rather in
the sense of 'husbanding.' The figure is an extension of the Greek
+tokos+. See Shaksp., M. of V., 1, 3, where the 'breed for barren metal'
embodies an ancient prejudice. Comp. further Hor., Ep., 1, 18, 35:
_nummos alienos #pascet#_. --#nummi-- pergant avidos sudare deunces#: So
Jahn (1843). 'May go on to sweat out a greedy eleven per cent.' Hermann
edits: _nummos-- peragant avido sudore deunces_, and so Jahn (1868). H.
(_L. P._, II., 57) refers to _bona peragere_ (6, 22), and says that the
merchant, dissatisfied with his modest five per cent. which had
increased his capital, goes in for eleven per cent., which gobbles it
up, and has his sweat for his pains. On _pergant_, see note on v. 139;
with _sudare deunces_ comp. Verg., Ecl., 4, 30: _sudabunt roscida
mella_.
151. #indulge genio#: See note on 2, 3. --#nostrum est quod vivis#:
Variously interpreted. 'Your real life is mine,' i.e., 'only that part
of life which you bestow on me is life' (Casaubon, and so, in effect,
Jahn). 'Your life belongs to me and you (_nostrum_ answering to
_carpamus dulcia_), not to any one else, such as Avarice, and it is all
that we have' (Conington). 'It is all in our favor that you are alive'
(Pretor)-- clearly wrong. There is an evident reminiscence of the
Horatian _#quod spiro# et placeo, si placeo, #tuum# est_ (Od., 4, 3,
24), which sustains Casaubon's view.
152. #cinis et manes et fabula fies#: See note on 1, 36. There are
clearly three stages, as Conington suggests: 'first ashes, then a shade,
then a name.' With _fabula fies_ comp. Hor., Ep., 1, 13, 9: _fabula
fias_, and Od., 1, 4, 16: _iam te premet nox #fabulaeque manes#_.
153. #vive memor leti#: So Hor., Sat., 2, 6, 97. --#hoc quod loquor inde
est#: 'What I am saying-- this speech of mine-- is so much off, so much
time lost.' Comp. _dum loquimur fugerit invida | aetas_, Hor., Od., 1,
11, 7.
154. #en quid agis?# See 3, 5. --#duplici hamo#: 'a couple of hooks.' If
_hamo_ is a fish-hook, _scinderis_ is a metaphor within a metaphor. 'You
are like a fish distracted by two hooks,' not knowing which to bite at.
Comp. Hor., Ep., 1, 7, 74: _occultum visus decurrere piscis ad #hamum#_,
and for _scinderis_, Verg., Aen., 2, 39: _#scinditur# incertum studia in
contraria vulgus_. The executioner's hook, which others understand, is
generally _uncus_; Juv., 10, 66: _Seianus ducitur #unco#_.
155. #sequeris#: See note on 3, 5. --#subeas oportet#: G., 535, R. 1;
A., 70, 3, _f_, R.