evidence for a later date, _Med_. 163 'qui nil potest sperare, desperet
nihil' seems to be an echo of _Ep_. v. 7 'sed ut huius quoque diei
lucellum tecum communicem, apud Hecatonem nostrum inveni ... "desines",
inquit, "timere, si sperare desieris".' This aphorism is quoted as newly
found. The letters were written 62-5 A.D. This passage would therefore
suggest a very late date for the _Medea_. But Seneca had probably been
long familiar with the works of Hecato, and the epigram is not of such
profundity that it might not have occurred to Seneca independently.
176. For comparative analyses of Seneca's tragedies and the
corresponding Greek dramas see Miller's _Translation of the Tragedies of
Seneca_, p. 455.
177. The _Phaedra_ of Seneca is interesting as being modelled on the
lost _Hippolytus Veiled_ of Euripides. Phaedra herself declares her
passion to Hippolytus, with her own lips reveals to Theseus the
pretended outrage to her honour, and slays herself only on hearing of
the death of Hippolytus. Cp. Leo, _Sen. Trag_. i. 173. The _Phoenissae_
presents a curious problem. It is far shorter than any of the other
plays and has no chorus. It falls into two parts with little connexion.
I. (_a_) 1-319. Oedipus and Antigone are on their way to Cithaeron.
Oedipus meditates suicide and is dissuaded by Antigone. (_b_) 320-62. An
embassy from Thebes arrives begging Oedipus to return and stop the
threatened war between his sons. He refuses, and declares the intention
of hiding near the field of battle and listening joyfully to the
conflict between his unnatural sons. II. The remaining portion, on the
other hand, seems to imply that Oedipus is still in Thebes (553, 623),
and represents a scene between Jocasta and her sons. It lacks a
conclusion. These two different scenes can hardly have belonged to one
and the same play. They may be fragments of two separate plays, an
_Oedipus Coloneus_ and a _Phoenissae_, or may equally well be two
isolated scenes written for declamation without ever having been
intended for embodiment in two completed dramas. Cp. Ribbeck, _Gesch.
Röm. Dichtung_, iii. 70.
178. _Sen. Trag._ i. 161.
179. Leo, op. cit., i. 166 sqq.
180. 530-658. The _Oedipus_ is based on the _O. Rex_ of Sophocles, but
is much compressed, and the beautiful proportions of the Greek are lost.
In Seneca out of a total of 1,060 lines 330 are occupied by the lyric
measures of the chorus, 230 by descriptions of omens and necromancy.
181. It is also to be noted that the nurse does not make use of this
device till after Hippolytus has left the stage, although to be really
effective her words should have been uttered while Hippolytus held
Phaedra by the hair. The explanation is, I think, that the play was
written for recitation, not for acting. Had the play been acted, the
nurse's call for help and her accusation of Hippolytus could have been
brought in while Hippolytus was struggling with Phaedra. But being
written for recitation by a single person there was not room for the
speech at the really critical moment, and therefore it was inserted
afterwards--too late. See p. 73.
182. Similarly, Medea, being a sorceress, must be represented engaged in
the practice of her art. Hence lurid descriptions of serpents, dark
invocations, &c. (670-842).
183. Seneca never knows when to stop. Undue length characterizes
declamations and lyrics alike.
184. As a whole the _Troades_ fails, although, the play being
necessarily episodic, the deficiencies of plot are less remarkable. But
compared with the exquisite _Troades_ of Euripides it is at once
exaggerated and insipid.
185. Cp. Apul. _Met_. x. 3, where a step-mother in similar circumstances
defends her passion with the words, 'illius (sc. patris) enim
recognoscens imaginem in tua facie merito te diligo.'
186. This speech is closely imitated by Racine in his _Phèdre_.
187. 2: Cp. esp. 995-1006: the _agnosco fratrem_ of Thyestes is perhaps
the most monstrous stroke of rhetoric in all Seneca. Better, but equally
revolting, are ll. 1096-1112 from the same play.
188. For other examples of dialogue cp. esp. _Medea_, 159-76, 490-529
(perhaps the most effective dialogue in Seneca), _Thyestes_, 205-20; H.
F. 422-38. for which see p. 62.
189. _Pro M_. 61 'Fuit enim quidam summo ingenio vir, Zeno, cuius
inventorum aemuli Stoici nominantur: huius sententia et praecepta
huiusmodi: sapientem gratia nunquam moveri, nunquam cuiusquam delicto
ignoscere; neminem misericordem esse nisi stultum et levem: viri non
esse neque exorari neque placari: solos sapientes esse, si
distortissimi sint, formosos, si mendicissimi, divites, si servitutem
serviant reges.' &c. He goes on to put a number of cases where the
Stoic rules break down.
190. Cp. Eurip. _Andr_. 453 sqq.
191. For still greater exaggeration cp. _Phoen_. 151 sqq,; _Oed_. 1020
sqq.
192. Cp. Sen. _Contr_. ii. 5; ix. 4.
193. Cp. Sen. _de Proc_. iv. 6 'calamitas virtutis occasio est'.
194. Cp. Sen. _Ep_. xcii. 30, 31 'magnus erat labor ire in caelum'.
195. Cp. Sen. _Ep_. xcii. 16 sqq.
196. _Ep_. cviii. 24.
197. Cp. _Macbeth_ ii. 2. 36, Macbeth does murder sleep, &c. For other
Shakespearian parallels, cp. _Macbeth_, Canst thou not minister to a
mind diseased? _H.F._ 1261 'nemo pollute queat | animo mederi.'
_Macbeth_, I have lived long enough.... And that which should accompany
old age, As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends, I must not look
to have. _H.F._ 1258 'Cur animam in ista luce detincam amplius |
morerque nihil est; cuncta iam amisi bona, | mentem, arma, famam,
coniugem, natos, manus.' J. Phil. vi. 70. Cunliffe, _Influence of Seneca
on Elizabethan Tragedy_.
198. An exception might be made in favour of the beautiful simile
describing Polyxena about to die, notable as giving one of the very few
allusions to the beauty of sunset to be found in ancient literature
(_Troad_. 1137):
ipsa deiectos gerit
vultus pudore, sed tamen fulgent genae
magisque solito splendet extremus decor,
ut esse Phoebi dulcius lumen solet
iamiam cadentis, astra cum repetunt vices
premiturque dubius nocte vicina dies.
Fine, too, are the lines describing the blind Oedipus (_Oed_. 971):
attollit caput
cavisque lustrans orbibus caeli plagas
noctem experitur.
199. pp. 52 sqq., 59.
200. Cp. Eur. _H.F._ 438 sqq.
201. For further examples cp. _H.F._ 5-18, _Troades_ 215-19.
202. This terse stabbing rhetoric is characteristic of Stoicism; the
same short, jerky sentences reappear in Epictetus. Seneca is doubtless
influenced by the declamatory rhetoric of schools as well, but his
philosophical training probably did much to form his style.
203. Exceptions are so few as to be negligible. The effect of this rule
is aggravated by the fact that in nine cases out of ten the accent of
the word and the metrical ictus 'clash', this result being obtained 'by
most violent elisions, such as rarely or never occur in the other feet
of the verse'. Munro, J. Phil. 6, 75.
204. The older and more rugged iambic survives in the fables of
Phaedrus, written at no distant date from these plays, if not actually
contemporary.
205. Cp. Leo, op. cit. i. 166, 174.
206. See p. 29.
207. These horrors go beyond the crucifixion scene in the Laureolus (see
p. 24), and the tradition of genuine tragedy was all against such
presentation. As far as the grotesqueness and bombast of the plays go,
the age of Nero might have tolerated them. We must remember that
seventeenth-century England enjoyed the brilliant bombast of Dryden
(e.g. in _Aurungzebe_) and that the eighteenth delighted in the crude
absurdities of such plays as _George Barnwell_.
208. Cp. also _Phaedra_ 707, where Hippolytus' words, 'en impudicum
crine contorto caput | laeva reflexi,' can only be justified as inserted
to explain to the hearers what they could not see. See also p. 48, note.
209. They have been influenced by the pantomimus and the dramatic
recitation so fashionable in their day, inasmuch as they lack connexion,
and, though containing effective episodes, are of far too loose a
texture to be effective drama.
210. See R. Fischer, _Die Kunstentwicklung der englischen Tragödie_; J.
W. Cunliffe, _Influence of Seneca on Elizabethan Tragedy_; J. E. Manly,
_Introductory Essay_ to Miller's _Translation of the Tragedies of
Seneca_. The Senecan drama finds its best modern development in the
tragedies of Alfieri. Infinitely superior in every respect as are the
plays of the modern dramatist, he yet reveals in a modified form not a
few of Seneca's faults. There is often a tendency to bombast, an
exaggeration of character, a hardness of outline, that irresistibly
recall the Latin poet.
211. The debt is as good as acknowledged, ll. 58 sqq.
212. ll. 310 sqq.
213. l. 915.
214. There is no direct evidence of the sex of the chorus in the
_Octavia_. In Greek drama they would almost certainly have been women.
215. The diction is wholly un-Senecan. There is no straining after
epigram; the dialogue, though not lacking point (e.g. the four lines
185-8, or 451-60), does not bristle with it, and is far less rhetorical
and more natural. The chorus confines itself to anapaests, is simpler
and far more relevant. The all-pervading Stoicism is the one point they
have in common.
216. The imitation of Lucan in 70, 71 'magni resto nominis umbra,' is
also strong evidence against the Senecan authorship.
217. _Probus, vita_. 'A. Persius Flaccus natus est pridie non. Dec.
Fabio Persico, L. Vitellio coss.' Hieronym. ad ann. 2050=34 A.D.
'Persius Flaccus Satiricus Volaterris nascitur.' Where not
otherwise stated the facts of Persius' life are drawn from the
biography of Probus.
218. Quint, vii. 4, 40; Tac. _Ann_. xv. 71.
219. Suet. _de Gramm_. 23.
220. Bassus was many years his senior--addressed as _senex_ in Sat. vi.
6, written late in 61 or early in 62 A.D.--and perished in the eruption
of Vesuvius, 79 A. D. Cp. Schol. _ad Pers_. vi. 1.
221. Lucan was five years his junior. Cp. p. 97.
222. Cp. Tac. _Ann_. xiv. 19; _Dial_. 23; Quint. x. 1. 102.
223. This friendship lasted ten years, presumably the last ten of
Persius' life; cp. _Prob. vit_.
The second satire is addressed to Plotius Macrinus, who, according to
the scholiast, was a learned man, who 'loved Persius as his son, having
studied with him in the house of Servilius Nonianus.'
224. See O. Jahn's ed., p. 240.
225. _Prob. vit_.'decessit VIII Kal. Dec. P. Mario, Afinio Gallio coss.'
Hieronym. ad ann. 2078--62 A.D. 'Persius moritur anno aetatis XXVIII.'
226. _Prob. vit_.
227. Such at least is a plausible inference. Probus tells us that he
used to travel abroad with Thrasea. It is a natural conjecture that
these _hodoeporica_ were in the style of Horace's journey to Brundisium.
228. Cp. Mart. i. 13; Plin. _Ep_. iii. 16. She was the mother of the
wife of Thrasea.
229. This may mean that the last satire was actually incomplete, but
that the omission of a few lines at the end gave it an appearance of
completion; or that a few lines intended for the opening of a seventh
satire were omitted.
230. So Probus. Cp. also Quint. x. 1. 94 'multum et verae gloriae
quamvis uno libro meruit.' Mart. iv. 29. 7.
231. Hieronym. _in apol. contra Rufin._ i. 16 'puto quod puer legeris
... commentarios ... aliorum in alios, Plautum videlicet, Lucretium,
Flaccum, Persium atque Lucanum.' The high moral tone of the work,
coupled perhaps with the smallness of its bulk, is in the main
responsible for its survival. Scholia from different sources have come
down to us under the title of _Cornuti commentum_. Whether such a person
as the commentator Cornutus existed or not is uncertain. The name may
have been attached to the scholia merely to give them a spurious
importance as though possessing the imprimatur of the friend and teacher
of the poet.
232. The choliambi are placed after the satires by two of the three
best MSS., but before them by the scholia and inferior MSS. It is
of little importance which we follow. But it seems probable that
Probus (see below) regarded the choliambi as a prologue. Such at
least is my interpretation of _sibi primo_ (i.e. in the prologue)
_mox omnibus detrectaturus._ The lines have rather more force if read
first and not last.
233. _Prob. vit._ 'sed mox ut a schola magistrisque devertit, lecto
Lucili libro decimo vehementer saturas componere studuit; cuius libri
principium imitatus est, sibi primo, mox omnibus detrectaturus, cum
tanta recentium poetarum et oratorum insectatione,' &c. This can only
refer to the prologue and the first satire, and seems to point to its
having been the first to be composed. According to the scholiast the
opening line is taken from the first satire of Lucilius.
234. Porphyr. _ad Hor. Sat._ i. 10. 53 'facit autem Lucilius hoc cum
alias tum vel maxime in tertio libro, ... et nono et decimo.
235. Cp. Nettleship's note ad loc., and Petron. 4.
236. e.g. Dama, Davus, Natta, Nerius, Craterus, Pedius, Bestius.
237. Instances might be almost indefinitely multiplied. The whole of
Pers. i, but more especially the conclusion, is strongly influenced
by Hor. _Sat._ i. 10. Cp. also Pers. ii. 12, Hor. _Sat._ ii. 5. 45;
Pers. iii. 66, Hor. _Ep._ i. 18. 96; Pers. v. 10, Hor. _Sat._ i. 4.
19, &c., &c.
238. i. 92-102. According to the scholiast the last four lines--
torva Mimalloneis implerunt cornua bombis,
et raptum vitulo caput ablatura superbo
Bassaris et lyncem Maenas flexura corymbis
euhion ingeminat, reparabilis adsonat echo (i. 99)--
are by Nero. But it is incredible that Persius should have had such
audacity as openly to deride the all-powerful emperor. The same remark
applies to other passages where the scholiast and some modern critics
have seen satirical allusions to Nero (e.g. prologue and the whole of
Sat. iv). The only passage in which it is possible that there was a
covert allusion to Nero is i. 121, which, according to the scholiast,
originally ran _auriculas asini Mida rex habet_. Cornutus suppressed the
words _Mida rex_ and substituted _quis non_. For an ingenious defence of
the view that Persius hits directly at Nero see Pretor, _Class. Rev_.,
vol. xxi, p. 72.
239. i. 76 'Est nunc Brisaei quem venosus liber Acci, | sunt quos
Pacuviusque et verrucosa moretur | Antiopa, aerumnis cor
luctificabile fulta.'
240. The description of the self-indulgent man who, feeling ill,
consults his doctor and then fails to follow his advice (iii. 88), is a
possible exception. It is noteworthy that in Sat. iv he addresses a
young aspirant to a political career as though free political action was
still possible at Rome.
241. e.g. iv. 41.
242. But see below, p. 91.
243. Prob. vita Persii.
244. Our chief authorities for Lucan's life are the 'lives' by Suetonius
(fragmentary) and by Vacca (a grammarian of the sixth century).
245. Vacca.
246. Tac. _Ann._ xvi. 17.
247. Vacca.
248. Vacca.
249. The young Lucan is said to have formed a friendship with the
satirist at the school of Cornutus; Persius was some five years his
senior. _Vita Persii_ (p. 58, Bücheler).
250. Suetonius and Vacca. The latter curiously treats this victory as
one of the causes of Nero's jealousy. Considering that the poem was a
panegyric of the emperor, and that it was Lucan's first step in the
imperial favour, the suggestion deserves small credit.
251. Sueton. There is an unfortunate hiatus in the Life by Suetonius,
occurring just before the mention of the visit to Athens. As the text
stands it suggests that the visit to Athens occurred after the victory
at the Neronia. Otherwise it would seem more probable that Lucan went to
Athens somewhat earlier (e.g. 57 A.D.) to complete his education.
252. Sueton., Vacca.
253. Vacca; Tac. _Ann._ xv. 49; Dion. lxii. 29.
254. Vacca.
255. Suetonius.
256. Suetonius.
257. Sueton.; Tac. _Ann._ xv. 56.
258. Vacca; Sueton.; Tac. _Ann._ xv. 70. Various passages in the
_Pharsalia_ have been suggested as suitable for Lucan's recitation at
his last gasp, iii. 638-41, vii. 608-15, ix. 811.
259. Statius, in his _Genethliacon Lucani_ (_Silv._ ii. 7. 54), seems to
indicate the order of the poems:
ac primum teneris adhuc in annis
ludes Hectora Thessalosque currus
et supplex Priami potentis aurum,
et sedes reserabis inferorum;
ingratus Nero duleibus theatris
et noster tibi proferetur Orpheus,
dices culminibus Remi vagantis
infandos domini nocentis ignes,
hinc castae titulum decusque Pollae
iucunda dabis adlocutione.
mox coepta generosior iuventa
albos ossibus Italis Philippos
et Pharsalica bella detonabis.
Cp. also Vacca, 'extant eius complures et alii, ut Iliacon, Saturnalia,
Catachthonion, Silvarum x, tragoedia Medea imperfecta, salticae fabulae
xiv, et epigrammata (MSS. _appamata_ sive _ippamata_), prosae orationes
in Octavium Sagittam et pro eo, de incendio Urbis, epistularum ex
Campania, non fastidiendi quidem omnes, tales tamen ut belli civili
videantur accessio.'
260. Vacca.
261. See chapter on Statius.
262. See chapter on Drama.
263. Cp. Mart., bks. xiii and xiv.
264. There are two fragments from the _Iliacon_, two from the _Orpheus_,
one from the _Catachthonion_, two from the _Epigrammata_, together with
a few scanty references in ancient commentators and grammarians: see
Postgate, _Corp. Poet. Lat._
265. Vacca, 'ediderat ... tres libros, quales videmus.'
266. Sueton. 'civile bellum ... recitavit ut praefatione quadem aetatem
et initia sua comparans ausus sit dicere, "quantum mihi restat ad
Culicem".' Cp. also Stat, _Silv._ ii. 7. 73:--
haec (Pharsalia) primo iuvenis canes sub aevo
ante annos Culicis Maroniani.
Vergil was twenty-six when he composed the _Culex_. Cp. Ribbeck, _App.
Verg._ p. 19.
267. Vacca, 'reliqui septem belli civilis libri locum calumniantibus
tanquam mendosi non darent; qui tametsi sub vero crimine non egent
patrocinio: in iisdem dici, quod in Ovidii libris praescribitur, potest:
emendaturus, si licuisset, erat.'
268. See p. 4.
269. Boissier, _L'Opposition sous les Césars (p. 279), sees some
significance in the fact that the list of Nero's ancestors always stops
at Augustus. But there was no reason why the list should go further than
the founder of the principate. It is noteworthy that Lucan's uncle
Seneca wrote a number of epigrams in praise of the Pompeii and Cato. The
famous lines,
quis iustius induit arma
scire nefas: magno se iudice quisque tuetur,
victrix causa deis placuit, sed victa Catoni (i. 126),
are supremely diplomatic. Without sacrificing his principles, Lucan
avoids giving a shadow of offence to his emperor.
270. See p. 116.
271. Petron., loc. cit.
272. v. 207, vii. 451, 596, 782, x. 339-42, 431.
273. i. 143-57.
274. ii. 657 nil actum credens cum quid superesset agendum.
275. v. 317 meruitque timeri non metuens.
276. See Shelley, _Prometheus Unbound_, Preface.
277. vii. 45-150.
278. vii. 342.
279. vii. 647-727.
280. Cp. the epigrams attributed to Seneca, _P. L. M._ iv, _Anth.
Lat._ 7, 8, 9.
281. The one exception is Curio, sec iv. 799.
282. i. 185:
ut ventum est parvi Rubiconis ad undas,
ingens visa duci patriae trepidantis imago,
clara per obscuram voltu maestissima noctem
turrigero canos effundens vertice crines
caesarie lacera nudisque adstare lacertis
et gemitu permixta loqui: 'quo tenditis ultra?
quo fertis mea signa, viri? si iure venitis,
si cives, huc usque licet.'
283. iii. 1:
propulit ut classem velis cedentibus Auster
incumbens mediumque rates movere profundum,
omnis in Ionios spectabat navita fluctus;
solus ab Hesperia non flexit lumina terra
Magnus, dum patrios portus, dum litora numquam
ad visus reditura suos tectumque cacumen
nubibus et dubios cernit vanescere montes.
284. v. 722-end.
285. vii. 6-44.
286. iii. 399-425.
287. iii. 399.
288. Cp. Seneca, _Oed._ 530 sqq. The description of a grove was part of
the poetic wardrobe. Cp. Pers. i. 70.
289. See p. 103.
290. iii. 509-762. For a still more grotesque fight, cp. vi. 169-262;
also ii. 211-20; iv. 794, 5.
291. v. 610-53. Cp. also ix. 457-71.
292. Sir E. Ridley's trans.
293. Sir E. Ridley's trans.
294. ix. 619-838.
295. ix. 946, 7.
296. For examples of erudition, cp. ix. loc. cit., where the origin of
serpents of Africa is given, involving the story of Perseus and Medea,
iv. 622 sqq. The arrival of Curio in Africa is signalized by a long
account of the slaying of Antaeus by Hercules.
297. i. 523-end.
298. ii. 67-220.
299. ii. 392-438. Cp. the geography of Thessaly, coupled with a
description of its witches, vi. 333-506.
300. v. 71-236.
301. vi. 507-830. It is noteworthy, also, that incidents not necessarily
irrelevant in themselves are treated with a monstrous lack of
proportion, e.g. the siege of Massilia is not irrelevant; but it is
given 390 lines (iii. 372-762), and Lucan forgets to mention that Caesar
captured it.
302. e.g. iv. 799-end, vii. 385-459, 586-96, 617-46, 847-72, viii.
542-60, 793-end.
303. vii. 385-459.
304. There is nothing in these last seven books that can be regarded as
in any way written to please Nero, save the description of the noble
death of Domitius Ahenobarbus, Nero's great-great-grandfather (vii.
597-616). On the contrary there are many passages which Lucan would
hardly have written while he was enjoying court favour: e.g. iv. 821-3,
v. 385-402, vi. 809, vii. 694-6, x. 25-8.
305. See p. 98.
306. e.g. the two speeches of Cato quoted above.
307. He is, moreover, very careless in his repetition of the same word,
cp. i. 25, 27 urbibus, iii. 436, 441, 445 silva, &c.; cp. Haskins, ed.
lxxxi. (Heitland's introd.)
308. He is far less dactylic than Ovid. For the relation between the
various writers of epic in respect of metre, see Drobisch, _Versuch üb.
die Formen des lat. Hex._ 140. The proportion of spondees in the first
four feet of hexameters of Roman writers is there given as follows:
Catullus 65.8%, Silius 60.6%, Ennius 59.5%, Lucretius 57.4%, Vergil 56%,
Horace 55%, Lucan 54.3%, Statius 49.7%, Valerius 46.2%, Ovid 45.2%.
309. Tac. _Ann._ xvi. 18, 19 (Church and Brodribb's trans.).
310. c. 118 sq.
311. cc. 1-5.
312. The first reference in literature to the _Satyricon_ is in
Macrobius, in _Somn. Scip._ i. 2, 8.
313. cc. 1-5.
314. MS. fortuna.
315. MS. dent.
316. c. 83
317. Cp. Juv. _Sat._ 7; Tac. _Dial._ 9.
318. c. 89. It has been suggested that this poem is a parody of Nero's
_Troiae halosis_! But the poem shows _no_ signs of being a parody. It is
obviously written in all seriousness.
319. MS. _minor_, I suggest _minans_ as a possible solution of the
difficulty.
320. c. 93.
321. Cp. also 128 and the spirited epic fragment burlesquely used in
108.
322. See p. 36.
323. Baehrens, _P. L. M._ iv. 74-89.
324. Nos. 76 and 86. Cp. Fulg. _Mythol._ i. I, p. 31; Lactant. _ad Stat.
Theb._ iii. 661; Fulg. _Mythol._ iii. 9, p. 126.
325. Baehrens, _P.L.M._ iv. 90-100.
326. Poitiers, 1579 A.D.
327. Fulg. _Mythol._ i. 12, p. 44.
328. That the attribution to Petronius rests on the authority of the
lost MS. is a clear inference from Binet's words, cp. Baehrens, _P.L.M._
iv. 101-8, 'sequebantur ista, sed sine Petronii titulo, at priores illi
duo Phalaecii vix alius fuerint quam Petronii.'
329. Baehrens, _P.L.M._ iv. 101-8.
330. See note 4.
331. Petr. cc. 14, 83; Baehrens, _P.L.M._ iv. 120, 121.
332. Cp. _Satyr_. 127, 131; _P.L.M._ iv. 75; _S._ 128; _P.L.M._ iv. 121;
_S._ 108; _P.L.M._ iv. 85; _S._ 79, iv. 101.
333. _P.L.M._ iv. 75.
334. _P.L.M._ iv. 81.
335. The MS. is hopelessly corrupt at this point. I suggest _naidas
alterna manu_ as a possible correction of the MS. _Iliadas armatas
s. manus._
336. _P.L.M._ iv. 84.
337. _P.L.M._ iv. 85.
338. Ib. 76.
339. Ib. 82.
340. Ib. 78.
341. _P. L. M._ iv. 99. Cp. also 92 and 107.
342. 569 sqq.
343. 17-22, 43 sqq. He falls into the same error himself (203).
344. 76 sqq.
345. 88 sqq.
346. 220 sqq.
347. 96 sqq.
348. 178 sqq.
349. 400 sqq.
350. 333 sqq.
351. 294.
352. So Ellis (_Corp. Poet. Lat._, vol. ii. pref.); Baehrens, _P. L. M._
ii. pp. 29 sqq.
353. Serv. _ad Verg. Aen._ praef. Donatus, _vita Verg._, p. 58 R
('Scripsit etiam de qua ambigitur Aetnam').
354. Sen. _Nat. Quaest._ iii. 26. 5. He also wrote in verse on
philosophical subjects; cp. Sen. _Ep._ 24, 19-21.
355. So Wernsdorf, von Jacob, Munro (edd.), Wagler _de Aetna quaest.
crit._, Berlin, 1884.
356. Sen. _Nat. Quaest._ iv. 2. 2.
357. Sen. _Ep._ 79. 5.
358. So many Italian scholars of sixteenth and seventeenth centuries,
among them Scaliger.
359. Cornelius Severus wrote a poem on the Sicilian War of Octavian and
Sext. Pompeius; cp. Quint, x. l. 89.
360. Cp. _Nat. Quaest._ iii. 16. 4, _Aetna_, 302 and 303. But this may
be due to the fact that both Seneca and the author of _Aetna_ get their
information from the same source, perhaps Posidonius; cp. Sudhaus,
introd. to his edition, p. 75.
361. It is not improbable that in 293 sqq. the poet refers to the
mechanical Triton shown at the Naumachia on the Fucine Lake at a
festival given by Claudius in honour of Nero's adoption in 50 A. D.
362. 425-34.
363. Baehrens would put the lower limit at 63 A. D., the year in which
severe earthquakes first indicated the reviving activity of Phlegraean
fields. But earthquakes, though often caused by volcanic action, do not
necessarily produce volcanoes.
364. viii. 16. 9; 10. 185.
365. iii. 3. 3 'his certe temporibus Nomentana regio celeberrima fama
est illustris, et praecipue quam possidet Seneca, vir excellentis
ingenii atque doctrinae'. He is quoted by Pliny, not infrequently.
Columella was an old man when he wrote; cp. 12 ad fin. 'nec tamen canis
natura dedit cunctarum rerum prudentiam'.
366. Cp. _C.I.L._ ix. 235 'L. Iunio L. F. Gal. Moderato Columellae Trib.
mil. leg. VI. Ferratae'. That this refers to the poet is borne out by
two facts. (1) Gades belonged to the Tribus Galeria. (2) At this date
the legio VI. Ferrata was stationed in Syria; cp. Col. ii. 10. 18
'Ciliciae Syriaeque regionibus ipse vidi'.
367. Cp. i. 1. 7. He speaks as a practical farmer; cp. ii. 8. 5; 9. 1;
10. 11; iii. 9. 2; 10. 8, &c. He writes primarily for Italy, not for
Spain; cp. iii. 8. 5.
368. Cp. x. praef.: also ix. 16. 2, which tells us that Gallio, Seneca's
brother, had added his entreaties.
369. xi. praef.
370. He also wrote a treatise against astrologers (cp. xi. 1. 131) and a
treatise on religious ceremonies connected with agriculture (cp. ii. 21.
5). This latter work was perhaps never completed (cp. ii. 21. 6). In any
case both treatises were lost. There survives a book on arboriculture
which is not an isolated monograph, but portion of a larger work, at
least three books long, for it alludes to a 'primum volumen de cultu
agrorum' (ad init.). It probably consisted of four books, since
Cassiodorus (_div. lect_. 28) speaks of the sixteen books of Columella.
371. siderei Maronis, 434.
372. Cp. esp. 196 sqq.
373. Cp. 130 sqq., 320 sqq., 344 sqq.
374. 102 sqq.
375. 45-94.
376. 29-34.
377. 196 sqq.
378. Tac. _Ann._ xii. 58.
379. M. Haupt, _Opusc._ i. 391; Lachm. _Comm. on Lucret._ 1855, p. 326
Schenkl (ed. Calp. Sic., p. ix).
380. Or _de laude Pisonis_. See Baehrens, _Poet. Lat. Min._ iii. 1. For
the question of authorship see p. 159.
381. It was long believed that there were eleven, but the last four
eclogues of the collection are shown by their style to be of later date,
and there can be little doubt that the MSS. which attribute them to
Nemesianus of Carthage are right. We know of a Nemesianus who lived
about 290 A.D. and wrote a _Cynegetica_, a portion of which survives.
Comparison with these four eclogues shows a marked resemblance of style.
382. Verg. _Ecl._ vii. 1:
forte sub arguta consederat ilice Daphnis,
compulerantque greges Corydon et Thyrsis in unum,
Thyrsis oves, Corydon distentas lacte capellas,
ambo florentes aetatibus, Arcades ambo,
et cantare pares et respondere parati.
Calp. ii. 1:
intactam Crocalen puer Astacus et puer Idas,
Idas lanigeri dominus gregis, Astacus horti,
dilexere diu, formosus uterque nec impar
voce sonans.
The conclusion is borrowed from Vergil, _Ecl._ iii. 108:
non nostrum inter vos tantas componere lites.
et vitula tu dignus et hic et quisquis amores
aut metuet dulces aut experietur amaros.
claudite iam rivos, pueri; sat prata biberunt.
Calp. ii. 95-100:
'iam resonant frondes, iam cantibus obstrepit arbos:
i procul, o Doryla, rivumque reclude canali
et sine iam dudum sitientes irriget hortos'
vix ea finierant, senior cum talia Thyrsis,
'este pares ...'
383. Cp. also v. 50 sqq.
384. See Baehrens, _Poet. Lat. Min._ vol. iii. p. 60. The first poem is
unfinished, the award of Midas being missing.
385. Bücheler, _Rhein. Mus._ xxvi. p. 235.
386. So Bücheler, loc. cit. _respexit_ is a mere conjecture:
_corrumpit_, the MS. reading, is meaningless, and no satisfactory
alternative has been suggested. The lines may merely refer to Apollo,
but _et me_ suggests strongly that Ladas retorts, 'I, too, have
Caesar's favour.' Cp. _L._ 37, where _hic vester Apollo est!_ clearly
refers to Nero.
387. In a MS. at Lorsch, now lost; but used by Sechard for his edition
of Ovid, Basle, 1527.
388. In Parisinus 7647 (Florileg.). Sec Baehrens, _P. L. M._ i. p. 222.
389. Tac. _Ann._ xv. 48 'facundiam tuendis civibus exercebat,
largitionem adversum amicos et ignotis quoque comi sermone et
congressu.'
390. Schol. Vall, _ad Iuv._ v. 109 'in latrunculorum lusu tam perfectus
et callidus, ut ad cum ludentem concurreretur.'
391. Cp. ll. 190 sqq.
392. Cp. ll. 190 sqq.
393. Baehrens, _Fragm. Poet. Rom._ p. 281.
394. Priscian, _Gr. Lat._ i. 478.
395. Persius derides a certain Labeo (i. 4) and a writer named Attius
(i. 50) for his translation of _Iliad_. On this last passage the
scholiast says, 'Attius Labeo poeta indoctus fuit illorum temporum, qui
Iliadem Homeri foedissime composuit.' The names are found combined in an
inscription from Corinth, Joh. Schmidt, _Mitt. des deutsch. archäol.
Inst. in Athen_, vi (1882), p. 354.
396. Schol. _ad Pers._ i. 4 (p. 248, Jahn).
397. Schol. _ad Pers._ i. 4, ex cod. Io. Tillii Brionensis episc., cited
by El. Vinetus.
398. Sen. _ad Polyb. de Cons._ viii. 2, and xi. 5.
399. Vualtherus Spirensis Vs. 93. X cent. (ed. Harster, Munich, 1878, p.
22). Eberhard Bethunensis, _Labyr. Tract._ iii. 45.
400. This apparent confusion between Homer and Pindar is first found in
Benzo, episc. Albensis (_Monum. Germ._ xi. 599) circa 1087. In Hugo
Trimbergensis (thirteenth century) Pindar is the translator: 'Homero,
quem Pindarus philosophus fertur transtulisse.' Cp. L. Müller, _Philol._
xv, p. 475. So, too, in Cod. Vat. Reg. 1708 (thirteenth and fourteenth
centuries); in Vat. Pal. 1611 (end of fourteenth century), he is styled
Pandarus. See Baehrens, _P. L. M._ iii. 4.
401. Seyffert, in Munk, _Geschichte der Röm. Litt._ ii, p. 242.
Bücheler, _Rhein. Mus._ 35 (1880), p. 391.
402. Baehrens (_P. L. M._ iii) reads (7) _ut primum tulerant_ for _ex
quo pertulerant_. The corruption is unlikely, especially since the
corresponding line in the _Iliad_ (i. 6) begins [Greek: ex ou]. In line
1065, for _quam cernis paucis ... remis_, he reads _remis quam cernis
... paucis_, a distinct improvement. Some of those who retain MSS. in
(7) attempt to explain _Italice_ as a vocative or adverb. But _ex nihilo
nihil fit_. For a summary of these unprofitable and generally absurd
speculations, cp. Schanz, _Gesch. Röm. Lit._ § 394.
403. Vindobon. 3509 (fifteenth or sixteenth centuries).
404. Mart. vii. 63.
405. Vagellius, Sen. _N.Q._ vi. 2. 9. Antistius Sosianus, Tac. _Ann._
xiii. 28. C. Montanus, ib. xvi. 28. 29. Lucilius junior, see p. 144.
406. Tac. _Ann._ iv. 46; _C.I.L._ ii. 2093.
407. Dion. lix. 22; Tac. _Ann._ vi. 30.
408. Dion. loc. cit.; Suet. _Claud._ 9.
409. Plin _Ep._ v. 3. 5; Mart. i. praef.
410. Ap. Sid. _Ep._ ii. 10. 6.
411. v. 16; vi. 190, 331; vii. 71, 244, 245, 275, 354; xi. 409.
412. Baehrens, _Poet. Rom. Fragm._ p. 361.
413. Quint, x. 1.96 'at lyricorum Horatius fere solus legi dignus:... si
quem adicere velis, is erit Caesius Bassus, quem nuper vidimus; sed eum
longe praecedunt ingenia viventium'.
414. e.g. perhaps Martial, Sulpicia, and some of Pliny's poet friends,
see pp. 170 sqq.
415. See p. 80.
416. See Teuffel and Schwabe, _Hist. Röm. Lit._ § 304; Schanz, _Gesch.
Röm. Lit._ 384 a.
417. Schol. _Pers._ vi. 1.
418. Ithyphallicum, Archebulium, Philicium, Paeonicum, Proceleusmaticum,
Molossicum. Baehrens, _Poet. Röm. Fragm._ p. 364.
419. Ioseph. _vita_ 65.
420. Suet. _Vesp._ 17, 18.
421. Ib. 8.
422. Ib. 19 'vetera quoque acroamata revocaverat'.
423. Ib. 18.
424. Dion. lxvi. 13, in 71 A.D. That this act was ineffectual is shown
by Domitian's action in 89-93 A.D.
425. Plin. _N.H._ praef. 5 and 11.
426. Suet. _Dom._ 2; Tac. _Hist._ iv. 86; Quint, x. 1. 91.
427. Suet. _Dom._ 18.
428. Quint. loc. cit.; Val. Fl. i. 12; Mart. v. 5. 7.
429. Suet. _Dom._ 4.
430. 6 Stat. _Silv._ iv. 2. 65, v. 3. 227.
431. Suet. _Dom._ 20. This may have been creditable to him as ruler of
the empire, though Suetonius undoubtedly wishes us to regard Tiberius'
memoirs as a manual of tyranny.
432. Suet. _Dom._ 10.
433. Suet. loc. cit.; Hieronym. ad ann. 89 and 95 A.D. The latter date
is wrong: cp. Mommsen, _Hermes_, iii (1869), p. 84.
434. Tac. _Agr._ 2.
435. Quint. x. 1. 89. There is no clear indication of his date, but he
is coupled with Saleius Bassus by Juvenal (vii. 80), a fact which
suggests that he belonged to the Flavian period.
436. x. 1. 90.
437. Juv. vii. 79.
438. Stat. _Silv._ v. 3.
439. Stat. _Silv._ i. 2. 253; Mart. iv. 6. 4, i. 7, vii. 14.
440. Schol. Vall, _ad Iuv._ i. 20; Mart. xi. 10; Rut. Nam. i. 603;
Schol. _Iuv._ i. 71. For his brother Scaevus Memor see p. 30.
441. Plin. _Ep._ v. 3. 5, vi. 10. 4.
442. Ib. iii. 1. 11, ii. 7. 1
443. Mart. viii. 70. 7.
444. Plin. _Ep._ v. 3. 5.
445. Priscian, _Gr. Lat._ ii, p. 205, 6.
446. Plin. _Paneg._ 47; _Ep._ iii. 18. 5.
447. Dion. lxviii. 16; Gellius xi. 17. 1.
448. See p. 25. Other names are Octavius Rufus, Plin. _Ep._ i. 7;
Titinius Capito, _C. I. L._ 798, Plin. _Ep._ i. 17. 3; viii. 12. 4;
Caninius Rufus, Plin. _Ep._ viii. 4. 1; Calpurnius Piso, Plin.
_Ep._ v. 17. 1.
449. _Ep._ vi. 15.
450. _Ep._ ix. 22.
451. Gaius Passennus Paulus Propertius Blaesus was his full title. He
derives his chief interest from the fact that the inscription at Assisi
which preserves his name is our most conclusive evidence for the
birthplace of Propertius. Haupt, opusc. i. p. 283, Leipz. (1875).
452. _Ep._ iv. 27.
453. viii. 21. 14.
454. vii. 9. 10.
455. iv. 14. 2.
456. iv. 14. 4.
457. He also translated the Greek epigrams of Arrius Antoninus. Cp.
_Ep._ iv. 3. 3, and xviii. 1. One of these translations is preserved.
Baehrens, _P.L.M._ iv. 112.
458. ii. 90. 9.
459. In the sixth Satire.
460. See Schanz, _Gesch. Röm. Lit._ § 284.
461. Apoll. Sid. ix. 261 'quod Sulpiciae iocos Thalia scripsit
blandiloquum suo Caleno'. Auson. _Cento. Nupt._, 4 'meminerint prurire
opusculum Sulpiciae, frontem caperare'. Fulgentius, _Mythol._ 1 (p. 4,
Helm.) 'Sulpicillae procacitas'
462. Schol. Vall, _ad Iuv._ vi. 537,
unde ait Sulpicia:
si me cadurcis dissolutis fasciis
nudam Caleno concubantem proferat.
463. Mart. x. 38. 9:
vixisti tribus, o Calene, lustris:
aetas haec tibi tota computatur
et solos numeras dies mariti.
The first edition of Martial, Book x, was probably published in 95 A.D.
If Sulpicia married Calenus at the age of 18-25, her birth will
therefore fall between 55 and 62 A. D.
464. Cp. Mart. x. 38. 4-8.
465. Cp. Mart. x. 38. 9-11. It is, of course, possible that _mariti_ is
a euphemism.
466. Mart. x. 35. 1.
467. See Ap. Sid. loc. cit.
468. Sulp. _Sat._, lines 4, 5.
469. _Raph. Volaterr. comment. urban._ (fol. lvi. 1506 A.D.), 'hic (sc.
at Bobbio) anno 1493 huiuscemodi libri reperti sunt. Rutilius
Namatianus. Heroicum Sulpici carmen.' The first edition was published
in 1498, with the title _Sulpitiae carmina quae fuit Domitiani
temporibus: nuper a Georgio Merula Allexandrino, cum aliis opusculis
reperta. queritur de statu reipublicae et temporibus Domitiani_. The
MS. is now lost.
470. Cp. line 62. Domitian's edict seems to have threatened the security
of Calenus. In the lines which follow, Domitian's death and overthrow
are foretold. The poem, therefore, if genuine, must have been published
soon after Domitian's assassination in 96, though it may have been
composed in part during his lifetime.
471. The work is generally rejected as spurious. Bachrens (_P. L. M._ v.
p. 93, and _de Sulpiciae quae vocatur satira_, Jena, 1873) holds that
the work is contemporary with Ausonius. Boot (_de Sulpiciae quae fertur
satira_, Amsterdam, 1868) goes further, and regards the work as a
renaissance forgery. He is followed by Bücheler. But there is no reason
to doubt the existence of the Bobbian MS. The metrical difficulties can
be remedied by emendation _palare_ for _palari_ (43) is a solecism, but
many verbs are found in both active and deponent forms, and _palare_ may
be a slip, or even an invention by analogy. _captiva_ (52) does not =
the Italian _cattiva_ or the French _chétive_. The most that we can say
is that the work shows no resemblance to any extant contemporary
literature. That does not necessarily prove it to be of later date. The
problem cannot be answered with certainty. On the whole, to us the
difficulty of supposing it to be a late forgery seems greater than the
difficulty of supposing it to be by Sulpicia.
472. An exception must be made of the _Silvae_ of Statius.
473. Or Balbus Setinus.
474. Schenkl, _Stud, zu V. F._ 272.
475. Mart. i. 61 and 76.
476. i. 5:
Phoebe mone, si Cymaeae mihi conscia vatis
stat casta cortina domo.
In _Cymaeae vatis_ there is an allusion to the custody of the
Sibylline books.
477. x, 1. 90.
478. i. 7-12.
479. i. 13, 14:
Solymo nigrantem pulvere fratrem
spargentemque faces et in omni turre furentem.
Domitian pretended to be a poet and connoisseur of poetry. See p. 167.
480. iii. 207:
ut mugitor anhelat
Vesvius, attonitas acer cum suscitat urbes
481. vii. 645; viii. 228. If these allusions be to events of 89 A. D.
they point to the view that the last two books were composed shortly
before the poet's death, and confirm the opinion that the _Argonautica_
was never finished.
482. A few instances will suffice. In iii. 302 Jason asserts that seers
had prophesied his father's death; this is nowhere else mentioned; on
the contrary, at the beginning of the second book, it is specially told
us that Juno concealed from Jason the fact of his father's death, while
in vii. 494 Jason speaks of him as still alive. In vii. 394 Venus is
represented as leaving Medea in terror at the sound of her magic chant,
while five lines later it is implied that she is still holding Medea's
hand. In viii. 24 Jason goes to the grove of Mars to meet Medea and to
steal the fleece of gold; but no arrangement to this effect has been
made between Jason and Medea at their previous meeting (vii. 516).
Instances might be multiplied. See Schenkl, op. cit. 12 sqq.; Summers'
_Study of Argonautica of Valerius Flaccus_, p. 2 sqq. The inconsistency
which makes the _Argo_ to be at once the first ship and to meet many
other ships by the way is perhaps the most glaring, but its
rectification would have involved very radical alterations.
483. Cp. viii. 189:
inde sequemur
ipsius amnis iter, donec nos flumine certo
perferat inque aliud reddat mare.
484. Summers, op. cit. 6.
485. e.g. Argous Portus, Cales, the portico of the Argonauts at Rome.
486. i. 7-12.
487. Summers, p. 7.
488. i. 806; ii. 4.
489. Valerius was no slavish imitator of Apollonius. Some of his
incidents are new, such, as the rescue of Hesione (ii. 450 sqq.). Many
of the incidents in Apollonius are omitted (e.g. Stymphalian birds, A.R.
ii. 1033, and the encounter with the sons of Phrixus, A.R. ii. 1093).
Other incidents receive a fresh turn. In both poets the Argonauts see
traces of the doom of Prometheus. But in A. he is still being devoured,
in V. he is being freed by Hercules amid an earthquake. Again V. often
expands or contracts an incident related by A. E.g. Contraction: The
launching of _Argo_, V.F. i. 184-91; A.R. i. 362-93. Expansion: The
story of Lemnos V. ii. 72-427; A. i. 591-884: here there is not much
difference in length, but V. tells us much more. The visit to Cyzicus,
V. iii. 1-361; A. i. 947-1064: note also that in V. the purification of
the Argonauts, 362-459, takes the place of the irrelevant founding of
the temple of Rhea on Dindymus, A. i. 1103 sqq. The debate as to whether
to abandon Hercules, who has gone in search of Hylas, V. iii. 598-714;
in A. the Argonauts sail without noticing the absence of Hercules and
Hylas, and the debate takes place at sea, A. i. 1273-1325. As a rule,
however, V. is longer than A., partly owing to longer descriptions,
partly owing to the greater complication of the plot at Colchis. On the
other hand, there is much imitation of A. Cp. V.F. i. 255; A.R. i. 553;
V.F. iii. 565-97; A. i. 1261-72; V.F. iv. 733; A. ii. 774; V.F. v.
73-100; A. ii. 911-929.
490. In Apollonius the aid of Aphrodite and Eros is requisitioned to
make Medea fall in love with Jason, but there is no further conventional
supernatural interference. In Valerius, Juno (v. 350, vi. 456-660, vii.
153-90) kindles Medea's passion with Venus's aid. In vii, 190 sqq.,
Venus goes in person.
491. As evidence for Apollonius' superiority cp. V.F. v. 329 sqq.; A.R.
iii. 616 sq.; V.F. vii, 1-25; A.R. iii. 771 sq.; V.F v. 82-100; A.R.
ii. 911-21.
492. v. 418. Cp. Apollon. iv. 272; Herod, ii. 103; Strab. xvi. 4. 4;
Plin. _N.H._ xxxiii, 52.
493. vi. 118. Cp. also v. 423:
Arsinoen illi tepidaeque requirunt
otia laeta Phari.
494. Cp. vii. 35 sqq.
495. As, for instance, in the _Alcestis_ of Euripides and Callimachus'
Hymn to Artemis.
496. A.R. i. 1167 [Greek: d_e tot anochliz_on tetr_echotos oidmatos
olkous | messothen axen eretmon atar tryphos allo men autos | amph_o
chersin ech_on pese dochmios, allo de pontos | klyze palirrothioisi
pher_on. ana d' hezeto sig_e | paptain_on cheires gar a_etheon
_eremeousai].
497. Cp. also V.F. iv. 682-5; viii. 453-7.
498. For obscurity cp. also iii. 133-7, 336-7; vii. 55.
499. Valerius is fond of such inversions, especially in the case of
particles, pronouns, &c.; cp. v. 187 _iuxta_; ii. 150 _sed_; vi. 452
_quippe_; vi. 543 _sed_.
500. Cp. i. 436-8; ii. 90; iii. 434; vi. 183, 260-4.
501. See p. 183.
502. The passage may conceivably be only a rough draft, cp p. 197 note.
503. Cp. also i. 130-48, 251-4.
504. There is little evidence that he had any influence on posterity,
though there may be traces of such influence in Hyginus and the Orphic
Argonautica. Of contemporaries Statius and Silius seem to have read him
and at times to imitate him. See Summers, pp. 8, 9. Blass, however (_J.
f. Phil. und Päd._ 109, 471 sqq.), holds that Valerius imitates Statius.
505. Cp. V. F. i. 833 sqq.; _Aen._ vi. 893, 660 sqq., 638 sqq.; V. F. i.
323; A. viii. 560 sqq.; V. F. vi. 331; A. ix. 595 sqq.; V. F. iii. 136;
A. xii. 300 sqq.; V. F. viii. 358; A. x. 305; V. F. vi. 374; A. xi. 803.
See Summers, pp. 30-3. His echoes from Vergil are perhaps more obvious
in some respects than similar echoes in Statius, owing to the fact that
he had a more Vergilian imagination than Statius, and lacked the extreme
dexterity of style to disguise his pilferings. But in his general
treatment of his theme he shows far greater originality; this is perhaps
due to the fact that the Argonaut saga is not capable of being
'Aeneidized' to the same extent as the Theban legend. But let Valerius
have his due. He is in the main unoriginal in diction, Statius in
composition.
506. Cp. Summers, p. 49. See also note, p. 123.
507. Cp. beside the passages quoted below iii. 558 sqq., 724, 5; iv.
16-50, 230, 1; v. 10-12; vii. 371-510, 610, 648-53.
508. One is tempted at times to account for the profusion and lack of
spontaneity of similes in poets of this age by the supposition that they
kept commonplace books of similes and inserted them as they thought fit.
509. vi. 260:
qualem populeae fidentem nexibus umbrae
siquis avem summi deducat ab aere rami,
ante manu tacita cui plurima crevit harundo;
illa dolis viscoque super correpta sequaci
inplorat ramos atque inrita concitat alas.
510. vii. 124:
sic adsueta toris et mensae dulcis erili,
aegra nova iam peste canis rabieque futura,
ante fugam totos lustrat queribunda penates.
511. iv. 699:
discussa quales formidine Averni
Alcides Theseusque comes pallentia iungunt
oscula vix primas amplexi luminis oras.
512. This simile is a free translation from Apollonius, iii. 966
[Greek: t_o d' aneo kai anaudoi ephestasan all_eloisin, | h_e drusin
h_e makr_esin eeidomenoi elat_esin, | ai te parasson ek_eloi en
ourresin erriz_ontai,| n_enemiae meta d' autis upo mip_es anemoio |
kitumenai omad_esan apeiriton _os ara t_oge | mellon alis
phthenchasthai upo pnoi_esin Er_otos.] Valerius has compressed the last
three lines into _rapidus nondum quas miscuit Auster_. The effective
_miscuit_ conveys nearly as much as the longer and not less beautiful
version in the Greek.
513. This accumulation is probably due to the lack of revision.
_obvius ... pavor_ fits the context ill and is curiously reminiscent
of I. 392 ('iam stabulis gregibusque pavor strepitusque sepulcris
inciderat'), while II. 400-2 would probably have been considerably
altered had the poem undergone its final correction. There are other
indications of the unfinished character of the work to be found in
this passage (p. 181, note).
514. Cp. also viii. 10, where Medea bids farewell to her home. 'O my
father, would thou mightest give me now thy last embrace, as I fly to
exile, and mightest behold these my tears. Believe me, father, I love
not him I follow more than thee: would that the stormy deep might
whelm us both. And mayest thou long hold thy realm, grown old in
peace and safety, and mayest thou find thy children that remain more
dutiful than me.'
515. Ap. Rh. iii. 1105 sqq.; cp. also Murray on Apollonius in his
_History of Greek Literature_, p. 382.
516. _Silv._ v. 3. 116 sqq.
517. Ib. 146 sqq.
518. Ib. 163.
519. Ib. 141.
520. Ib. 195-208. This passage suggests that the elder Statius died soon
after 79 A.D. On the other hand, he probably lived some years longer as
the _Thebais_, inspired and directed by him, was not begun till 80 A.D.
He must, however, have died before 89 A.D., the earliest date assignable
to Statius' victory at the Alban contest.
521. _Silv._ v. 3. 225.
522. Juv. vii. 86. Paris had fallen from imperial favour by 83 A.D. Dio.
lxvii. 3. 1.
523. _Silv._ v. 3. 215.
524. Juv. vii. 82.
525. _Silv._ v. 3. 227. The subject of his prize recitation was the
triumph of Domitian over the Germans and Dacians; i.e. after 89 A.D.
526. Praef. _Silv._ i. 'pro Thebaide quamvis me reliquerit timeo.' The
first book of the _Silvae_ was published in 92 A.D. For the time taken
for its composition and the poet's anticipations of immortality see
_Th._ xii. 811 sqq.
527. See previous note.
528. _Silv._ iii. 5. 28, v. 3. 232. The Agon Capitolinus was instituted
in 86 A.D. The contests falling in Statius' lifetime are those of 86,
90, 94 A.D. As his failure is always mentioned after the Alban victory,
94 A.D. would seem the most probable date.
529. Rutilius Gallicus had just died when the first book was published;
cp. Praef., bk. i. This took place in 92 A.D.; cp. _C.I.L._ v. 6988,
vi. 1984. 8. _Silv._ iv. 1 celebrates Domitian's seventeenth consulate
(95 A.D.).
530. See previous note.
531. Such at least is a legitimate inference from the fact that it is
not mentioned before the fourth and fifth books of the _Silvae_; cp. iv.
4. 94, iv. 7. 23, v. 2. 163.
532. Written probably in 95 A.D. Statius promises such a work in
_Silv._ iv. 4. 95. Four lines are quoted from it in G. Valla's scholia
on Juv. iv. 94:
lumina: Nestorei mitis prudentia Crispi
et Fabius Veiento (potentem signat utrumque
purpura, ter memores implerunt nomine fastos),
et prope Caesareae confinis Acilius aulae.
533. Praef. _Silv._ iv 'Maximum Vibium et dignitatis et eloquentiae
nomine a nobis diligi satis eram testatus epistula quam ad illum de
editione Thebaidos meae publicavi.'
534. Witness poems such as the Villa Surrentina Pollii. _Silv._
ii. 2. 3, 1.
535. _Silv._ iii. 5. 13.
536. Praef. _Silv._ iii. and iii. 5. He was married soon after beginning
the _Thebais_, i.e. about 82 A.D. (cp. _S._ iii. 5. 35). Claudia had a
daughter by her first husband, iii. 5. 52-4.
537. v. 5. 72-5.
538. iii. 5. 13, iv. 4. 69, v. 2. 158. It is worth noting how late in
life all his best work was done, i.e. 80-95 A.D.
539. The well-known passage of Juvenal, vii. 86 ('cum fregit subsellia
versu, esurit, intactam Paridi nisi vendit Agaven'), as has been pointed
out, is only Juvenal's exaggerated way of saying that the _Thebais_
brought Statius no material gain. The family was not, however, rolling
in wealth; cp. v. 3. 116 sqq.
540. His friendships do not throw much light on his life, though they
show that he moved in high circles. Rutilius Gallicus (i. 4) had had a
distinguished career and rose to be _praefectus urbis_; Claudius
Etruscus (i. 5), originally a slave from Smyrna, had risen to the
imperial post _a rationibus_; Abascantus (v. 1) held the office known as
_ab epistulis_; Plotius Grypus (iv. 9) came of senatorial family;
Crispinus (v. 2) was the son of Vettius Bolanus, Governor of Britain and
afterwards of Asia; Vibius Maximus (iv. 7) became praefect of Egypt
under Trajan; Polla Argentaria (ii. 7) was the widow of Lucan; Arruntius
Stella (i. 2) was a poet, and rose to the consulship. Most of these
persons must have been possessed of strong literary tastes. Some are
mentioned by Martial, e.g. Stella, Claudius Etruscus, Polla Argentaria.
Atedius Melior and Novius Vindex were also friends of the two poets.
Both must have moved in the same circles, yet neither ever mentions the
other. They were probably jealous of one another and on bad terms.
541. e.g. ii. 2. Cp. also i. 3. 64-89.
542. Dante regards him also as a Christian. This compliment was paid by
the Middle Ages to not a few of the great classical authors. It was not
even a fatal obstacle to have lived before the birth of Christ. Cicero,
for instance, was believed to have been a Christian. The description of
the Altar of Mercy at Athens (_Th._ xii. 493) has been regarded as a
special reason for the Christianizing of Statius: cp. Verrall, _Oxford
and Cambridge Review_, No. 1; Arturo Graf, _Roma nella memoria del medio
evo_, vol. ii, ch. 17.
543. This statement does not, however, apply to the _Silvae_.
544. Ov. _Am_. i. 15. 14.
545. Merivale, _Rom. Emp_. viii. 80, 1.
546. Merivale, _Rom. Emp_. viii. 80, 1.
547. The sources for his story were the old Cyclic poem, the later epic
of Antimachus, the plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, that
draw their plots from the Theban cycle of legend. The material thus
given him he worked over in the Vergilian manner, remoulding incidents
or introducing fresh episodes in such a fashion as to provide precise
parallels to many episodes in the _Aeneid_. He also drew certain hints
from the _Phoenissae_ and _Oedipus_ of Seneca: for details see Legras,
_Étude sur la Thébaide de Stace_, part i, ch. 2, part ii, chh. 1 and 2.
The subject had been treated also by one Ponticus, the friend of
Propertius (Prop. i. 7. 1, Ov. _Tr_. iv. 10. 47) and possibly by Lynceus
(Prop. ii. 34).
548. Legras, _Les Légendes Théb._, ch. iii. 4. The [Greek: Amphiaraou
exelasis] mentioned by Suidas s.v. [Greek: Hom_eros] is sometimes
identified with the _Thebais_; but it is more probably merely the
title of a book of that epic. Still the fact that the [Greek: Amph.
exel.] is given such prominence by Suidas does lend some support to
the view that he was the chief character of the epic. He is certainly
the most tragic figure.
549. Porphyr. ad Hor. _A.P._ 146.
550. Vergil had given six books to the wanderings of Aeneas; Statius
must give six to the preparation and march of the Thebans!
551. See Legras, op. cit., pp. 183 ff.
552. x. 632.
553. xi. 457. Cp. also the strange and stilted description of the cave
of sleep, x. 84, where Quies, Oblivio, Ignavia, Otium, Silentium,
Voluptas, and even Labor and Amor are to be found. But with the
exception of Amor these abstract personages are inventions of Statius.
Virtus and Pietas had temples at Rome.
554. iv. 32-308; vii. 250-358.
555. x. 262-448.
556. vi. 1-921. Two other funerals are to be found, in. 114-217,
xii. 22-104.
557. _Th._ i. 557 sqq.; Verg. _Aen._ viii. 190 sqq.
558. v. 17-498: with this compare the version of the story given by
Valerius Maccus, ii. 78-305; except in point of brevity there is little
to choose between the two versions. But it is not a digression in
Valerius, and it is told at less inordinate length. The versions differ
much in detail, and Statius owes little or nothing to Valerius.
559. Op. Legras, _Les légendes Thébaines_, ch. ii. 4, Welcker, _Ep.
Cycl._ ii. 350. The story was well known. Aeschylus probably treated it
in his [Greek: Nemea,] Euripides certainly in his [Greek: ypsipel_e].
The legend gives the origin of the Nemean games.
560. The speeches in the _Thebais_, though they lack variety, are
almost always exceedingly clever and quite repay reading; see esp. i.
642; iii. 59, 151, 348; iv. 318; vi. 138; vii. 497, 539; ix. 375; xi.
155, 677, 708.
561. iii. 348.
562. v. 660.
563. vii. 538.
564. viii. 751. Tydeus bites the severed head of Melanippus to the
brain, thereby losing the gift of immortality that Pallas was hastening
to bring him. The incident is revolting, but Statius has merely followed
the old legend recorded by Aesch. _Sept._ 587; Soph. _Fr._ 731; Eurip.
_Fr._ 357.
565. Cp. in this context Atalanta's beautiful lament on his departure
for the war, iv. 318.
566. Every book, however, abounds in echoes of Vergil, both in matter
and diction; e.g. _Aen._ vii. 475, Allecto precipitates the war by
making Ascanius kill a tame stag. _Theb._ vii. 562, an Erinnys brings
about the war by causing the death of two pet tigers sacred to Bacchus.
_Aen._ xi. 591, Diana orders one of her nymphs to kill the slayer of
Camilla. _Theb._ ix. 665, she tells Apollo that the slayer of
Parthenopaeus shall perish by her arrows, for which see _Th._ ix. 875.
Cp. also _Th._ ii. 205; _Aen._ iv. 173, 189; _Th._ ii. 162; _Aen._ xi.
581. The passage previously referred to concerning the exploits of Dymas
and Hopleus is especially noteworthy as openly challenging comparison
with Vergil; cp. x. 445. For verbal imitations cp. _Aen._ v. 726, 7;
_Th._ ii. 115; _Aen._ i. 106; _Th._ v. 366; _Aen._ vii. 397; _Th._ iv.
379, &c. It is no defence to urge that the ancients held different views
on plagiarism, that Vergil and Ovid pilfered from their predecessors.
For _they_ made their appropriations their own, and set the stamp of
their genius upon what they borrowed. And, further, the process of
borrowing cannot continue indefinitely. The cumulative effect of
progressive plagiarism is distressing. For Statius' imitation of other
Latin poets, notably Lucan, Seneca, and Ovid, see Legras, op. cit., i.
2. Such imitations, though not very rare, are of comparatively small
importance.
567. ix. 315 sqq.
568. Statius is imitating early Greek epic. That might excuse him if
these similes possessed either truth or beauty.
569. See p.123, note.
570. i. 841-85 gives a good idea of the _Achilleis_ at its best. The
passage describes the unmasking of the disguised Achilles.
571. Quint, x. 3. 17.
572. _Silv._ i. 1. 6; iii. 4; iv. 1. 2, 3.
573. ii. 1. 6; iii. 3.
574. v. 1. 3, 5.
575. iii. 5; iv. 4. 5, 7; v. 2.
576. i. 4.
577. iii. 2.
578. i. 3. 5; ii. 2; iii. 1.
579. i. 2.
580. ii. 7.
581. iv. 6.
582. ii. 4. 5.
583. v. 4.
584. Cp. also the extravagant dedication of the _Thebais_.
585. It is hard to select from the _Silvae_. Beside, those poems from
which quotations are given, iii. 5, v. 3 and 5 are best worth reading.
But the average level is high. The Sapphic and Alcaic poems (iv. 5 and
7) and the hexameter poems in praise of Domitian (i. 1, iii. 4, iv. 1
and 2) are the least worth reading.
586. The poem on the death of his father (v. 3) shows genuine depth of
feeling, but its elaborate artificiality is somewhat distressing,
considering the theme. (The same is true to a less degree of v. 5.) V. 3
must be, in portions at any rate, the earliest of the _Silvae_, for (l.
29) the poet states that his father has been dead but three months. But
it records (ll. 219-33) events which took place long after that time
(i.e. victory at Alba and failure at Agon Capitolinus). The poem must
have been rewritten in part, ll. 219-33 at least being later additions.
The inconsistency between these lines and line 29 is probably due to the
poet having died before revising bk. v for publication.
587. viii. 8; ii. 17; v. 6.
588. With Statius, as with Martial, the hendecasyllable always begins
with a spondee. The Alcaics of iv. 5 and Sapphics of iv. 7 call for no
special comment. They are closely modelled on Horace. The two poems fail
because they are prosy and uninteresting, not through any fault of the
metre, but it may be that Statius felt his powers hampered by an
unfamiliar metre.
589. If _iuvenis_ be taken to refer to Statius, the poem must be an
early work or depict an imaginary situation. The alternative is to take
it as a vocative referring to Sleep.
590. _C.I.L._ vi. 1984. 9, in the 'fasti sodalium Augustalium
Claudialium'. In MSS. Pliny and Tacitus, he is Silius Italicus, in
Martial simply Silius or Italicus.
591. Plin. _Ep._ iii. 7. In the description of his life which follows,
Pliny is the authority, where not otherwise stated.
592. Pliny writes in 101 A.D. to record Silius' death. Silius was over
seventy-five when he died.
593. _Italicus_ might suggest that he came from the Spanish town of
_Italica_. But Martial, who addresses him in several epigrams of almost
servile flattery, would surely have claimed him as fellow-countryman had
this been the case.
594. Pliny, loc. cit.; Tac. _Hist._ iii. 65.
595. His poem was already planned in 88; cp. Mart. iv. 14 (published 88
A.D.). Some of it was already written in 92; cp. _legis_, M. vii. 62
(published 92 A.D.). But the allusion to Domitian, iii. 607, must have
been inserted after that date, while xiv. 686 points to the close of
Nerva's principate. Statius, _Silv._ iv. 7. 14 (published 95 A.D.) seems
to imitate Silius:
Dalmatae montes ubi Dite viso
pallidus fossor redit erutoque
concolor auro.
Sil. i. 233 'et redit infelix effosso concolor auro.' The last five
books, compressed and markedly inferior to i-xii, may have been left
unrevised.
596. In 101 A.D. at the age of seventy-five.
597. Epict. _diss._ iii. 8. 7.
598. Mart. xi. 48:
Silius haec magni celebrat monumenta Maronis,
iugera facundi qui Ciceronis habet.
heredem dominumque sui tumulive larisve
non alium mallet nec Maro nec Cicero.
That it was the Tusculanum and not the Cumanum of Cicero that Silius
possessed is an inference from _C.I.L._ xix. 2653, found at Tusculum:
'D.M. Crescenti Silius Italicus Collegium salutarem.'
599. Enn. _Ann._ vii, viii, ix.
600. Sec p. 103.
601. i. 55.
602. iv. 727.
603. viii. 28.
604. x. 349.
605. ix. 484.
606. xvii. 523.
607. iv. 675.
608. xi. 387.
609. ix. 439.
610. ii. 395.
611. xvi. 288.
612. ii. 36.
613. iii. 222 and viii. 356.
614. xiii. 395.
615. e.g. the Funeral Games, the choice of Scipio (xv. 20), the Nekuia.
616. At Nola.
617. Cp. x. 628 'quod ... Laomedontiadum non desperaverit urbi'. The
tasteless _Laomedontiadum_ as a learned equivalent for _Romanorum_ is
characteristic. Silius has the _Aeneid_ in his mind when he chooses this
word: his literary proclivities lead him astray; where he should be most
strong he is most feeble.
618. _Vide infra_ for his treatment of Paulus' dead body after Cannae.
619. Trebia, iv. 480-703; Trasimene, v. 1-678; Cannae, ix. l78-x. 578.
620. Mart, vii. 90.
621. See p. 123, note.
622. Bk. vi.
623. xii. 212-67, where the death of Cinyps clad in Paulus' armour is
described, are pretty enough, but too frankly an imitation of Vergil to
be worth quoting. The simile 247-50 is, however, new and quite
picturesque.
624. Sights of Naples, xii. 85; Tides at Pillars of Hercules, iii.
46; Legend of Pan, xiii. 313; Sicily, xiv. 1-50; Fabii, vii. 20;
Anna Perenna, viii. 50; Bacchus at Falernum, vii. 102; Trasimenus,
v. ad init.
625. See note on p. 13.
626. Plin. _Ep._ i. 13.
627. Mart. vii. 63.
628. On the modern Cerro de Bambola near the Moorish town of El
Calatayud.
629. Cp. ix. 52, x. 24, xii. 60.
630. Cp. v. 34.
631. ix. 73. 7.
632. In x. 103. 7, written in 98 A. D., he tells us that it is
thirty-four years since he left Spain.
633. iv. 40, xii. 36.
634. He is found rendering poetic homage to Polla, the wife of Lucan, as
late as 96 A. D., x. 64, vii. 21-3. For his reverence for the memory of
Lucan, cp. i. 61. 7; vii. 21, 22; xiv. 194.
635. Cp. his regrets for the ease of his earlier clienthood and the
generosity of the Senecas, xii. 36.
636. ii. 30; cp. 1. 5:
is mihi 'dives eris, si causas egeris' inquit.
quod peto da, Gai: non peto consilium.
637. Vide his epigrams _passim_.
638. xiii. 42, xiii. 119. Perhaps the gift of Seneca, cp. Friedländer on
Mart. i. 105.
639. ix. 18, ix. 97. 7, x. 58. 9.
640. Such is the most plausible interpretation of iii. 95. 5, ix. 97. 5:
tribuit quod Caesar uterque
ius mihi natorum (uterque, i.e. Titus and Domitian).
641. iii. 95, v. 13, ix. 49, xii. 26.
642. iii. 95. 11, vi. 10. 1.
643. xiii. 4 gives Domitian his title of Germanicus, assumed after
war with Chatti in 84; xiv. 34 alludes to peace; no allusion to
subsequent wars.
644. I, II. Perhaps published together. This would account for length of
preface. II. Largely composed of poems referring to reigns of Vespasian
and Titus. Reference to Domitian's censorship shows that I was not
published before 85. There is no hint of outbreak of Dacian War, which
raged in 86.
III. Since bk. IV contains allusion to outbreak of revolt of
Antonius Saturninus towards end of 88 (11) and is published at Rome,
whereas III was published at _Cornelii forum_ (1), III probably
appeared in 87 or 88.
IV. Contains reference to birthday of Domitian, Oct. 24 (1. 7), and
seems then to allude to _ludi saeculares_ (Sept. 88). Reference to
snowfall at Rome (2 and 13) suggests winter. Perhaps therefore published
in _Saturnalia_ of 88.
V. Domitian has returned to Italy (1) from Dacian War, but there is no
reference to his triumph (Oct. 1, 89 A. D.). Book therefore probably
published in early autumn of 89.
VI. Domitian has held his triumph (4. 2 and 10. 7). Julia (13) is dead
(end of 89). Book probably published in 90, perhaps in summer.
Friedländer sees allusion to Agon Capitolinus (Summer, 90) in vi. 77.
VII. 5-8 refer to Domitian's return from Sarmatic War. He has not yet
arrived. These epigrams are among last in book. He returned in January
93. His return was announced as imminent in Dec. 92.
VIII. 21 describes Domitian's arrival; 26, 30, and others deal with
festivities in this connexion. 65 speaks of temple of Fortuna Redux and
triumphal arch built in Domitian's honour. They are mentioned as if
completed. 66 speaks of consulate of Silius Italicus' son beginning
Sept. 1, 93.
IX. 84 is addressed to Appius Norbanus Maximus, who has been six years
absent from Rome. He went to Upper Germany to crush Antonius Saturninus
in 88. 35 refers to Agon Capitolinus in summer of 94.
X. Two editions published. We possess later and larger. Cp. x. 2. 70. 1
suggests a year's interval between IX and X. X, ed. 1 was therefore
perhaps published in Dec. 95. X, ed. 2 has references to accession of
Trajan, Jan. 25, 98 A. D. (6, 7 and 34). Martial's departure for Spain
is imminent.
XI. 1 is addressed to Parthenius, executed in middle of 97 A. D. xii. 5
refers to a selection made from X and XI, perhaps from presentation to
Nerva; cp. xii. 11.
XII. In preface Martial apologizes for three years' silence (1. 9) from
publication of X. ed. 2. xii. 3. 10 refers to Stella's consulship, Oct.
101 or 102. Three years' interval points to 101. It was published late
in the year; cp. 1 and 62. Some epigrams in this book were written at
Rome. But M. says that it was written _paucissimis diebus_. This must
refer only to Spanish epigrams, or the book must have been enlarged
after M.'s death.
For the whole question see Friedländer Introd., pp. 50 sqq.
645. iii. 1 and 4.
646. Cp. xi. 3.
647. xii. 21, xii. 31. There is no reason to suppose with some critics
that she was his wife.
648. xii. praef. 'civitatis aures quibus adsueveram quaero.'
649. Ib. 'accedit his municipalium robigo dentium.'
650. See p. 271. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that this silence
was due to dislike or jealousy.
651. Mackail, _Greek Anthol_., Introd., p. 5.
652. Domitius Marsus was famous for his epigrams, as also Calvus,
Gaetulicus, Pedo, and others.
653. See p. 36.
654. See p. 134.
655. The best of his erotic poems is the pretty vi. 34, but it is far
from original; cp. the last couplet:
nolo quot (sc. basia) arguto dedit exorata Catullo
Lesbia; pauca cupit qui numerare potest.
656. Cp. Cat. 5 and 7; Mart. vi. 34; Cat. 2 and 3; Mart. i. 7 and 109
(it is noteworthy that this last poem has itself been exquisitely
imitated by du Bellay in his poem on his little dog Peloton).
657. Cp. Ov. _Tr._ ii. 166; Mart. vi. 3. 4; Ov. _F._ iii. 192; Mart, vi.
16. 2; Ov. _A._ i. 1. 20; Mart. vi. 16. 4; Ov. _Tr._ i. 5. 1, iv. 13. 1;
Mart, i. 15. 1. His imitations of other poets are not nearly so marked.
There are a good many trifling echoes of Vergil, but little wholesale
borrowing. A very large proportion of the parallel passages cited by
Friedländer are unjust to Martial. No poet could be original judged by
such a test.
658. There is little of any importance to be said about Martial's metre.
The metres most often employed are elegiac, hendecasyllabic, and the
scazon. In the elegiac he is, on the whole, Ovidian, though he is
naturally freer, especially in the matter of endings both of hexameter
and pentameter. He makes his points as well, but is less sustainedly
pointed. His verse, moreover, has greater variety and less formal
symmetry than that of Ovid. On the other hand his effects are less
sparkling, owing to his more sparing use of rhetoric. In the
hendecasyllabic he is smoother and more polished. It invariably opens
with a spondee.
659. Cp. vii. 72. 12, x. 3.
660. Cp. vii. 12. 9, iii. 99. 3.
661. Catull. xvi. 5; Ov. _Tr._ ii. 354; Apul. _Apol._ 11; Auson. 28,
_cento nup._; Plin. _Ep._ vii. 8.
662. We might also quote the beautiful
extra fortunam est quidquid donatur amicis:
quas dederis solas semper habebis opes (v. 42).
What thou hast given to friends, and that alone,
Defies misfortune, and is still thine own.
PROFESSOR GOLDWIN SMITH.
But the needy poet may have had some _arrière-pensée_. We do not know to
whom the poem is addressed.
663. Cp. the description of the villa of Faustinus, iii. 58.
664. Their only rival is the famous Sirmio poem of Catullus.
665. Even Tennyson's remarkable poem addressed to F. D. Maurice fails to
reach greater perfection.
666. e.g. Arruntius Stella and Atedius Melior. Cp. p. 205.
667. Cp. the poems on the subject of Earinus, Mart. ix. 11, 12, 13, and
esp. 16; Stat. _Silv._ iii. 4.
668. Mart. vi. 28 and 29.
669. The remaining lines of the poem are tasteless and unworthy of the
portion quoted, and raise a doubt as to the poet's sincerity in the
particular case. But this does not affect his general sympathy for
childhood.
670. 101 provides an instance of Martial's sympathy for his own slaves.
Cp. 1. 5:--
ne tamen ad Stygias famulus descenderet umbras,
ureret implicitum cum scelerata lues,
cavimus et domini ius omne remisimus aegro;
munere dignus erat convaluisse meo.
sensit deficiens mea praemia meque patronum
dixit ad infernas liber iturus aquas.
671. i. 13.
672. i. 42.
673. i. 21. He is perhaps at his best on the death of Otho (vi. 32):
cum dubitaret adhuc belli civilis Enyo
forsitan et posset vincere mollis Otho,
damnavit multo staturum sanguine Martem
et fodit certa pectora tota manu.
sit Cato, dum vivit, sane vel Caesare maior:
dum moritur, numquid maior Othone fuit?
When doubtful was the chance of civil war,
And victory for Otho might declare;
That no more Roman blood for him might flow,
He gave his breast the great decisive blow.
Caesar's superior you may Cato call:
Was he so great as Otho in his fall?
HAY.
674. It is to be noted that even in the most worthless of his epigrams
he never loses his sense of style. If childish epigrams are to be given
to the world, they cannot be better written.
675. Cp. Juv. 5; Mart. iii. 60, vi. 11, x. 49; Plin. _Ep_. ii. 6.
676. v. 18. 6.
677. This is doubly offensive if addressed to the poor Cinna of
viii. 19. Cp. the similar vii. 53, or the yet more offensive viii.
33 and v. 36.
678. More excusable are poems such as x. 57, where he attacks one Gaius,
an old friend (cp. ii. 30), for failing to fulfil his promise, or the
exceedingly pointed poem (iv. 40) where he reproaches Postumus, an old
friend, for forgetting him. Cp. also v. 52.
679. See p. 252.
680. Cp. the elaborate and long-winded poem of Statius on a
statuette of Hercules (_Silv._ iv. 6) with Martial on the same
subject, ix. 43 and 44.
681. Cp. viii. 3 and 56.
682. Bridge and Lake, Introd., _Select Epigrams of Martial_.
683. The ancient biographies of the poet all descend from the same
source: their variations spring largely from questionable or absurd
interpretations of passages in the satires themselves. The best of them,
if not their actual source, is the life found at the end of the codex
Pithoeanus, the best of the MSS. of Juvenal. It was in all probability
written by the author of the scholia Pithoeana--to whom Valla, on the
authority of a MS. now lost, gave the name of Probus--and dates from the
fourth or fifth century.
684. L. 41. Cp. Plin. _Ep._ ii. 11.
685. xiii. 17 'sexaginta annos Fonteio consule natus'. xv. 27 'nuper
consule Iunco'.
686. _Vita_ 1 (O. Jahn ed.): 1 a (Dürr, _Das Leben Juvenals_). A life
contained in Cod. Barberin. viii. 18 (fifteenth century), says _Iunius
Iuvenalis Aquinas Iunio Iuvenale patre, matre vero Septumuleia ex
Aquinati municipio, Claudio Nerone et L. Antistio consulibus_ (55 A. D.)
_natus est; sororem habuit Septumuleiam, quae Fuscino nupsit._ This may
be mere invention on the part of a humanist of the fifteenth century.
The life contains many improbabilities and the MS. is of suspiciously
late date. But see Dürr, p. 28.
687. _Vitae_ 2 and 3 'oriundus temporis Neronis Claudii imperatoris'.
_Vit._ 4 'decessit sub Antonino Pio'.
688. So Cod. Paris. 9345; Vossian. 18 and 64; Bodl. (Canon Lat. 41);
Schol. Pith, ad _vit._ 1.
689. So all ancient biographies except 1. In _Sat._ iii, Umbricius,
addressing Juvenal, speaks of _tuum Aquinum_: cp. also the inscription
found near Aquinum and quoted later.
690. This is only conjecture, but the son of a rich citizen of Aquinum
would naturally be sent to Rome for his education. For his rhetorical
education cp. i. 15-17.
691. _Vita_ 1.
692. Cp. especially the whole of xvi; also i. 58, ii. 165, iii. 132,
vii. 92, xiv. 193-7.
693. _C.I.L._ x. 5382.
694. _C.I.L._ vii, p. 85; Hübner, _Rhein. Mus._ xi (1857), p. 30;
_Hermes_, xvi (1881), p. 566.
695. Satt. 3, 11, 12, 13. Trebius in 5 is perhaps an imaginary
character.
696. vi. 75, 280, vii. 186.
697. vii, 82.
698. Mart. vii. 24, 91, xii. 18.
699. vi. 57.
700. xi. 65.
701. xi. 190, xii. 87.
702. _Vita_ 1.
703. There are, however, allusions to Domitian as dead in ii.
29-33, iv. 153.
704. Ap. Sid. ix. 269.
705. Joh. Mal. _Chron._ x, p. 341, _Chilm._
706. _Vita_ 7. Schol. ad vii. 92.
707. _Vita_ 6.
708. _Vitae_ 1, 2, 4, 7. Perhaps an inference from _Sat._ xv. 45.
709. See 708.
710. _Vitae_ 5 and 6. If the inscription (see p. 288) refers to the
poet, this view has further support.
711. Joh. Mal., loc. cit.
712. Trajan had, however, a favourite in the _pantomimus_ Pylades. Dio.
Cass. Ixviii. 10.
713. The simplest suggestion is that Juvenal was at some time banished,
that the reason for his banishment was forgotten and supplied by
conjecture. Cp. Friedländer's ed., p. 44. There is no real evidence to
prove that Juvenal was ever in Egypt or Britain. His topography in
_Sat._ xv is faulty, and allusion to the oysters of Richborough (_ostrea
Rutupina_, iv. 141) would be possible even in a poet who had never
visited Britain.
714. i. 1-3, 17, 18 (Dryden's translation).
715. i. 79.
716. Ib. 85.
717. Ib. 147-50.
718. i. 165-71.
719. x. 356-66 (Dryden's translation).
720. There is nothing in this satire to suggest that Juvenal had or had
not visited Egypt. The legend of his banishment to Egypt may be true,
but it is quite as likely that this satire caused the scholiast to
localize his traditional exile in Egypt. The theme of cannibalism was
sometimes dealt with by the rhetoricians. Cp. Quintilian, _Decl._ 12.
721. e.g. Claudius Etruscus, who held the imperial secretaryship of
finance under Nero and Vespasian, and Abascantus, the secretary _ab
epistulis_ to Domitian. Stat. _Silv._ iii. 3, v. 1.
722. For a fine picture of the exclusive Roman spirit, cp. _Le
procurateur de Judée_, by Anatole France in _L'Étui de nacre_.
723. iii. 60-125.
724. xiv. 96 sqq.
725. i. 130 sqq, and the whole of xv. Above all, he hates the Egyptian
Crispinus, cp. iv. 2.
726. i. 102 sqq.
727. For the tradition of coarseness see chapter on Martial, p. 263.
728. It has been pointed out that the epigrams of Martial addressed to
Juvenal are disfigured by gross obscenities. It is, however, a little
unfair to make Juvenal responsible for his friend's observations.
729. The sixth satire abounds throughout its great length with sketches
of the most appalling clearness and power, though they tend to crudeness
of colour and are few of them suitable for quotation.
730. xiii. 120 sqq.
731. x. 346 sqq.
732. xiii. 180.
733. ix. 32, xii. 63.
734. vii. 194 sqq., ix. 33.
735. xiii. 192-249.
736. xii. 3-6, 89 sqq.
737. Such obscurity as he presents is due almost entirely to the fact
that we have lost the key to his topical allusions. He has a strong
affection for ingenious periphrases (e.g. v. 139, vi. 159, x. 112, xii.
70), but they are as a rule effective and amusing.