157-158. #nec--dicas# = _neu dicas_. See note on 1, 5.
159. #nam et#: (Don't say so) 'for.' 'Why, there's the dog that, like
you (_et_), breaks its fastening.' --#luctata#: 'by a wrench.'
--#nodum#: 'is the knot by which the chain is fastened to the bar of the
door, (_sera_). Comp. Prop., 4, 11, 25-6: _#Cerberus# et nullas hodie
petat improbus umbras, | sed iaceat tacita lapsa catena #sera#_'
(Pretor). --#et tamen#: So Jahn (1868). _At tamen_, the reading of most
MSS., can not stand, if Madvig is right in maintaining that _at tamen_
always means 'at least.' Hermann's _ast tamen_ is well supported by
MSS., and is more vigorous than _et_.
160. #a collo#: G., 388, R. 2; A., 42, 2. --#pars longa catenae#: The
long chain hampers its flight, and makes it easier to catch. The
comparison clearly suggests the next picture.
161-175. Persius, knowing little of love or liaison, goes to his Greek
books for an example, and finds it, where it was not far to seek, in
Menander's Eunuch. Horace (Sat., 2, 3, 259 seqq.) follows Terence's
adaptation, Persius seems to have stuck to the original. Hence the
dialogue is between Chaerestratus (+Chairestratos+), the young master,
and Davus (+Daos+), the confidential servant, and not between Phaedria
and Parmeno, as in the Latin dramatist.
Ch. Davus, I'm going to put a stop to this sort of thing. --D. Thank
Heaven for that! --Ch. But-- I should not like to hurt her feelings. Do
you think she'll cry? --D. Well, if you talk that way, you had better
not kick over the traces at all. She will give it to you soundly when
she gets hold of you again, and she will get hold of you again as soon
as she calls you. Don't be making suppositions. Go back to her in no
case.
A man who can make such a resolution and keep it-- here is your free
man, not the lictor's whirligig.
161. #Dave, cito#: Observe how he jerks out the words between the
gnawings. --#credas iubeo#: G., 546, R. 3. --#finire dolores#, etc.:
From Hor., l.c. 263: _an potius mediter #finire dolores#_.
162. #praeteritos#: logically superfluous with _finire_, and yet not bad
dramatically; 'that I have been having, undergoing.' --#crudum#:
predicative, 'to the raw,' 'to the quick.' Comp. 1, 106: _demorsos
unguis_.
163. ##ad#rodens#: more natural than _abrodens_. 'He is in meditation,
not in despair' (Hermann). --#siccis#: opp. to _madidis_, _ebriis_.
'What! shall I be a standing disgrace in the way of my sober relations?'
164. #rumore sinistro#: 'What? make myself the talk of all the
scandal-mongers by squandering my estate?'
165. #limen ad obscenum#: 'at a bawdy-house.' See note on 1, 109. He
puts the case strongly. Remember that he is shut out. --#frangam#:
colloquial, 'smash up,' 'make flinders of.' --#Chrysidis#: In Terence
the lady's name is Thais, not Chrysis. --#udas#: 'dripping.' With what?
With perfumes (Lucr., 4, 1179), with wine (Hor., Od., 1, 7, 22), with
tears (Ov., Am., 1, 6, 18), with rain (Hor., Od., 3, 10, 19), with the
sweat of the commentators of Persius.
166. Comp. Hor., Sat., 1, 4, 51: _#ebrius# et, magnum quod dedecus,
ambulet ante | noctem #cum facibus#_. --#ante fores canto#: Antique
erotic literature is full of the caterwaulings of excluded lovers
(+paraklausithura+).
167. #puer#: 'Davus encourages his master, hence _puer_ instead of
Terence and Horace's _ere_' (Conington). 'My young master' gives the
tone here, 'my boy' below. --#sapias#: 'I do hope you are going to show
your sense.' Rather optative than imperative. --#dis depellentibus#:
_depulsoribus_ = _dis averruncis_. The Gr. is +apotropaios, apôsikakos,
alexikakos+. Comp. +apotropoisi daimosi+, Aesch., Pers., 203 (quoted by
Pretor).
169. #Nugaris#: 'at your old nonsense, I see.' See v. 127. --#solea#:
The slipper was and is a matronly instrument of torture (Luc., D. D.,
11, 1), and hence the fun of its application to grown-up men, as in the
familiar story of Hercules and Omphalé, Luc., D. D., 13, 2. 'To slipper'
would be understood as well in a modern nursery as +blautoun+ was in a
Greek gynaikonitis. _Philtra quibus valeat mentem vexare mariti | et
#solea# pulsare natis_, Juv., 6, 611-12. --#obiurgabere#: a _terminus
technicus_. Petron., 34: _colaphis #objurgare# puerum iussit_.
--#rubra#: A dramatic touch. This 'No Goody Two Shoes' wore the
fashionable red slippers. Comp. the _talon rouge_ of the last century.
170. #ne trepidare velis# = _noli trepidare_. 'Pray don't undertake to
be restiff, to be plunging about.' Chaerestratus is a wild beast in the
toils. This suggests _ferus_, and then the metaphor is dropped, unless
_exieras_, v. 174, be a remnant of it.
171. The distribution of what follows is not clear. Jahn and Hermann
make Davus's speech end with _dicas_, so that _haud mora_ is the reply
which the slave puts into the mouth of his master. 'If she should call
you, you would say: "Anon, anon, mistress."' Chaerestratus speaks the
words from _Quidnam_ to _accedam_, and Davus concludes with _si totus--
nec nunc_. If Jahn's view be adopted, I do not see how we are to reject
the old conjecture _ne tunc_ or _nec tunc_ for the reading _ne nunc, nec
nunc_, v. 174. According to Heinrich, followed by Macleane and
Conington, _haud mora_ is adverbial, and the words _quidnam-- accedam_
are attributed by Davus to Chaerestratus. 'In Terence,' says Conington,
'the lover has received a summons before the scene begins, and he
deliberates whether to obey it. In Persius he is trying to resolve under
the pressure of disappointment, and even then can not make up his mind;
so that his servant tells him that if he _should_ be summoned back, he
is pretty sure to entertain the question.' I have followed Heinrich's
arrangement. Speech within speech is as characteristic of Persius as
metaphor within metaphor.
172. #nec nunc#: So Jahn in his ed. of 1868. _Ne nunc_, his former
reading, for _ne nunc quidem_, condemned by Madvig, has a doubtful
support in Hor., Sat., 2, 3, 262, a clear support in Petron., 9, 47.
--#arcessat#: So Jahn for _arcessor_, which is excessively harsh, by
reason of the double change, person and mood, in _supplicet_.
174. #si exieras#: +ei g' exebês+. 'If (as you pretend you did) you got
away heart-whole and fancy-free, don't go to her even now.' _Si_ with
Pluperf. Ind. (not iterative) is not common, Cic., N. D., 2, 35, 90.
Others read _exieris_. --#nec nunc#: sc. _accedas_. --#hic, hic#: The
Adverb, as appears from _in festuca_. Comp. Hor., Ep., 1, 17, 39: _hic
est aut nusquam quod quaerimus_.
175. #festuca#: is generally explained as a synonyme for _vindicta_.
Others refer it to the practice of throwing stubble on the manumitted
slave, Plut., De Sera Num. Vind., p. 550 (Conington). --#ineptus#: 'as
if a lictor could make a man truly free!' (Jahn).
176-179. Ambition's Slave.
176. #palpo#: literally 'patter, stroker,' 'softsawder-man,' i.e.,
electioneerer. Another of the _verba togae_. See note on 1, 12. _Palpo_
is explained by Io. Sarisberiensis (ap. Jahn) as 'one who feels his way
with the people;' but this is not so simple nor so much in accordance
with the use of _palpare_. --#ducit hiantem#: Comp. Hor., Sat., 1, 2,
88: _emptorem inducat #hiantem#_, where Bentley reads _ducat_ on account
of this passage. Also Verg., Georg., 2, 508: _hunc plausus #hiantem#-- |
corripuit_, and Solon, 13, 36 (Bergk), #+#chaskontes# kouphais elpisi
terpometha+.
177. #cretata# = _candidata_. Togas were chalked then, as belts are
pipe-clayed now. The candidate naturally put on his best. 'My Lady
Canvass in holiday attire, in spotless white.' --#vigila#: 'Be up
early,' in the same sense as our phrase, 'You must get up early to do
this or that.' There is no special reference to the morning _salutatio_.
--#cicer#: Comp. Hor., Sat., 2, 3, 182: _in #cicere# atque faba bona tu
perdasque lupinis, | latus ut in circo spatiere et aeneus ut stes_. The
vetch was a vulgar vegetable.
178. #nostra#: _nobis aedilibus celebrata_ (Jahn). On the ironical First
Person, see 3, 3. --#Floralia#: See the Dictionaries.
179. #aprici# = _apricantes_. See 4, 18. 19. To 'love to live i' th'
sun' (Shaksp.) is common to the feebleness of age and the luxury of
youth, 4, 33. --#quid pulchrius#: Snatch of the old men's chat
(Hermann). Ironical comment of Persius (Jahn). The former is more in
Persius's manner.
#at#: An abrupt transition to the Thraldom of Superstition (180-188).
Whether the slave of superstition is identical with the slave of
ambition or not is not certain-- probably not.
180. #Herodis--dies#: Probably Herod's birthday, celebrated by the sect
of the Herodians. Persius takes Herod as the most familiar Jewish
personage to indicate Jewish superstition. On the spread of Judaism in
the Roman Empire, see Friedländer, _Sittengesch._, 3, 489. --#uncta
fenestra#: The 'window' is 'greasy' from the oil-lamps.
181. #lucernae#: Those who wish illustrations for what they can see with
their own eyes, may consult Friedländer, l.c. 1, 292. The lights remind
one of the Feast of Tabernacles.
182. #violas#: Comp. Juv., 12, 90: _omnis #violae# iactabo colores_. The
violet may be our violet or the pansy (_viola bicolor_). --#rubrumque
amplexa catinum#: The tunny is so large that it embraces the dish, and
is not embraced by it. Comp. Hor., Sat., 2, 4, 77: _angustoque vagos
piscis urgere #catino#_. _Rubrum_, the common color of pottery.
183. #cauda thynni#: The tunny has a large tail, hence some such
adjective as 'taily' is desiderated. Comp. note on 6, 10. --#natat#:
Makes fun of the fish's swimming in the circumstances. --#tumet#:
'bulges.' The big belly of the jar looks as if it were 'swollen' with
wine.
184. #labra movet tacitus#: Comp. Hor., Ep., 1, 16, 60: _#labra movet#,
metuens audiri_ (of a prayer to Laverna). A recondite allusion to the
secret prayer of the Jews is unlikely. --#recutita sabbata# =
_recutitorum sabbata_. Comp. Ov., Rem. Am., 219, 220: _nec te peregrina
morentur | #sabbata#_. --#palles# = _pallidus times_. G., 329, R. 1; A.,
52, 1, _a_. Comp. our English 'blanch' or 'blench.'
185. #tum#: As soon as the man has got over his Jewish fright he is
assailed by other superstitions. --#lemures#: 'hobgoblins.' See note on
2, 3. Comp. Hor., Ep., 2, 2, 208: _somnia, terrores magicos, miracula,
sagas, | #nocturnos lemures#, portentaque Thessala rides?_ --#ovoque
pericula rupto#: The Schol. refers these words to the Gr. +ôoskopikê+
(Jahn). 'The priests used to put eggs on the fire, and observe whether
the moisture came out from the side or the top, the bursting of the egg
being considered a very dangerous sign.' So Conington, after the
Scholiast. _Lemures_ and _pericula_ have no strict grammatical
connection. Some supply _timentur_ out of _palles_, others connect with
_incussere_ by Zeugma.
186. #grandes galli#: Juvenal's _ingens | semivir_ (6, 512). The
peculiar worship of Cybelé had long been familiar to the Romans.
--#sistro#: The +seistron+, or 'timbrel,' was peculiar to the service of
Isis, which had been imported more recently. On its significance, see
Plut., De Isid. et Osir., p. 376. The vibratory theory of life, with its
perpetual sensuous unrest, is no novelty, as some of its eloquent
advocates seem to think. --#lusca#: Why _lusca_? The priestess is
supposed to have been struck blind by Isis, who visited offenders in
that way. Comp. Ov., Ep. ex P., 1, 1, 53, and Juv., 13, 93: _Isis et
irato feriat mea lumina sistro_. One homely explanation is that the
priestess, being one-eyed, had betaken herself to religion in despair of
a husband! (Schol.)
187. #incussere#: Gr. Aorist. Comp. 3, 101. The expression, 'strike the
gods into you,' after the analogy of _incutere metum, terrorem_, is the
other side of Vergil's famous _magnum si pectore postit | #excussisse
deum#_ (Aen., 6, 78). --#inflantis#: 'who have a way of swelling.'
Compare the use of _depellentibus_ for _depulsoribus_, v. 167. See G.,
439.
188. #praedictum#: 'prescribed.' --#alli#: The superstitious usage here
referred to has not yet been paralleled.
189-91. Last scene of all. Horse-laughter of the muscular military.
189. #Dixeris--ridet# = _si dixeris-- ridet_. Comp. v. 78.
--#varicosos#: Comp. Juv., 6, 397: _#varicosus# fiet haruspex_ (from
long-standing). Varicose veins would naturally be common with men who
were as much on their legs as the soldiers of that day. But as
_varicare_ means to stand or walk, as if one had _varices_, 'to
straddle' (Quint., 11, 3, 125), and as _v[-a]ricus_ means 'straddling'
(Ov., A. A., 3, 304), it seems better to translate _varicosos_
'straddling' here, always remembering the origin. With the change of
quantity, comp. _v[)a]cillo_ and _v[-a]cillo (vaccillo)_, Lachm.,
_Lucret._, p. 37. --#centurionum#: See note on 3, 77.
190. #crassum ridet#: Comp. _subrisit molle_, 3, 110. --#Pulfennius#:
Jahn's last. The name is variously written. Notice a similar trouble
about a _hircosus centurio_ in Caes., B. G., 5. 44, once Pulfio, now
Pulio. Heinrich recognizes a fellow-countryman in _Vulfennius_ (Wulfen).
--#ingens#: Comp. _#torosa# inventus_, 3, 86; _caloni #alto#_, 5, 95.
191. #Graecos#: Comp. _doctores Graios_, 6, 38. --#curto#: 'clipped.'
--#licetur#: A similar notion is worked out with admirable humor in
Lucian's Vitarum Auctio.