ARGUMENT.
The fourteenth book contained, according to Schoenbeck's idea, the
praises of a placid and easy life. Duentzer, on the other hand,
says the subject was ambition. The two notions are not so much
opposed, says Gerlach, as at first sight they seem: the object
of the poet being to contrast the frugal simplicity and tranquil
leisure of a rustic life, with the empty vanities and arrogant
assumption of the ambitious man. Thus the Fragments 2, 4, 5, 12,
15, 16, and perhaps 1, contain the praises of frugal parsimony
and an honorable leisure: 3, 6, 7, 8, and perhaps others,
describe the heart-burnings and disappointments of a life devoted
to ambition.
1 Is that rather the sign of a sick man that I live on bread and
tripe? * * *[1766]
2 ... but you rather lead in peace a tranquil life, which you
seem to hold more important than doing this.
3 Publius Pavus Tuditanus, my quæstor in the Iberian land, was a
skulker, a mean fellow, one of that class, clearly.[1767]
4 ... these, I say, we may consider a sham sea-fight, and a game
of backgammon ... but though you amuse yourself, you will not
live one whit the better.[1768]
5 ... for that he preferred to be approved of by a few, and those
wise men, than to rule over all the departed dead--[1769]
6 ... were he not associated with me as prætor, and annoyed
me....[1770]
7 ... for that famous old Cato ... because he was not conscious
to himself.[1771]
8 I will go as embassador to the king, to Rhodes, Ecbatana, and
Babylon, I will take a ship....[1772]
9 ... no supper, he says; no portion for the god....[1773]
10 when that which we chew with our mouth, ...[1774]
11 I see the common people hold it in earnest affection--
12 The horse himself is not handsome, but an easy goer, a capital
hackney.[1775]
13 ... whom oftentimes you dread; occasionally feel pleasure in
his company.
14 ... In a moment, in a single hour....[1776]
15 ... the cheese has a flavor of garlic--[1777]
16 ... and scraggy wood-pigeons.[1778]
17 ... chalk....
FOOTNOTES:
[1766] Gerlach's reading is followed, "quod pane et viscere vivo." In
the next line he thinks there is something of the same kind of pun as
in Ovid, Met., xv., 88, "Heu quantum scelus est in viscera viscera
condi."
[1767] _Lucifugus_, "one who shuns the light, because his deeds are
evil." So Nebulo and Tenebrio are used for one who would gladly cloak
his deeds of falsehood and cunning under the mist of darkness. Cic.,
de Fin., i., 61, "Malevoli, invidi, difficiles, _lucifugi_, maledici,
monstrosi." Nebulo is also applied to a vain empty-headed fellow, of no
more solidity than a mist; and then to a spendthrift, who had devoured
all his substance and "left not a wrack behind." Vid. Ælium Stilum ap.
Fest., in voc. Who this desirable person was, is doubtful. Gerlach
thinks that Lucilius' quarrel with him began at the siege of Numantia,
and that this Fragment is part of a speech which the poet puts into
the mouth of Scipio respecting his quæstor. _Tuditanus_ was a cognomen
of the Sempronian gens, from the "mallet-shaped" head of one of the
family. _Pavus_ may have been derived from the taste shown by one of
them for feeding and fattening peacocks. There was a Publius Sempronius
Tuditanus consul with M. Cornelius Cethegus in B.C. 204, and a Caius
Semp. Tuditanus consul B.C. 129, the year of Scipio Africanus' death.
Cicero speaks highly of his eloquence (Brut., c. 25), and Dionysius
Halicarnassus of his historical powers (i., p. 9).
[1768] Corpet supposes the allusion to be to the game called "duodecim
scripta," which resembled our backgammon; the alveolus being a kind
of table on which the dice were thrown, with a rim to prevent their
rolling off. Cicero tells us P. Mutius Scævola was a great adept at
this game. (Or., i., 50.) Gerlach supposes it to be a Fragment of the
speech of some plain countryman, who couples all these things together,
to show that they do not tend to make life happier. _Calces_ will be
the white lines marked on the stadium.
[1769] ἢ πᾶσιν, κ. τ. λ. Part of Achilles' speech to Ulysses in the
shades below, where he declares he would rather submit to the most
menial offices on earth, than rule over all the shades of departed
heroes. Odyss., xi., 491. Cf. Attii Epinausimache, "Probis probatum
potius quam multis fore."
[1770] The prætor may probably be C. Cæcilius Metellus Caprarius, with
whom Scipio was so wroth at Numantia, as Cicero tells us (de Or., ii.,
66); to whom Gerlach also refers Fr. incert. 96, 97.
[1771] This Fragment is hopeless. Even Gerlach does not attempt to
explain it.
[1772] _Cercurum._ Cf. ad viii., 4.
[1773] _Prosecta_, the same as _prosiciæ_ (from prosecando, as insiciæ
from insecando). The gloss in Festus explains it by αἱ τῶν θυμάτων
ἀπαρχαί. Cf. Arnob. adv. Gent., vii., "Quod si omnes has partes quas
prosicias dicitis, accipere Dii amant, suntque illis gratæ." Scaliger
reads _prosiciem_.
[1774] Cf. iv., Fr. 12, and Pomponius Pappo ap. Fest. in v., "Nescio
quis ellam urget, quasi asinus, uxorem tuam: ita opertis oculis simul
manducatur ac molet:" which is perhaps the sense here.
[1775] _Gradarius_ is said of a horse "trained to an easy, ambling
pace," like that expressed by the word _tolutim_, cf. ix., Fr. 6
(exactly the contrary to succussator, ii., Fr. 10), xv., Fr. 2. Hence
"pugna gradaria," where the advance to the charge is made at a slow
pace. So Seneca (Epist., xl.) applies the term to Cicero's style of
oratory, "lentè procedens, interpungens, intermittens actionem."
[1776] _Puncto._ So στιγμὴ χρόνου. Cf. Terent., Phorm., act. I., iv.,
7, "Tum temporis mihi punctum ad hanc rem est."
[1777] _Allium olet_; instead of the old reading, "allia molliet."
[1778] _Macros._ So Horace, "Sedulus hospes pæne macros arsit dum
turdos versat in igni." i., Sat. v., 72.