the dead, personating, under their names, certain living charac

ters.

1. Semper... tantùm: 'shall I be ever a hearer only ?"—ego used emphatically. It was customary among the ancients to recite their works privately, among their particular friends; or publicly, either in the temple of Apollo, or in the spacious houses of some rich and great man.-Reponam: a metaphor taken from the repayment of money.

2. Rauci... Codri: with the Theseis of hoarse Codrus.'— Theseïde i. e. recitatione Theseidis; a poem or tragedy which described the actions of Theseus, the author of which was Codrus, a poor and mean poet, who is here supposed to have made himself hoarse by frequently reading his poem.

3. Togatas: 'comedies; there were three different kinds of comedy, each denominated from the dress of the persons represented:

Togata, so called from the toga, a gown worn by the common people, which exhibited the actions of the lower sort:-Prætextata, so called from the prætexta, a white robe, ornamented with purple, and worn by magistrates and nobles, which described the actions of this class:-Palliata, from the pallium, an upper garment, worn by the Greeks, and in which the actors were habited, when the manners and actions of the Greeks were represented. 4. Elegos: these were short poems on mournful subjects generally, written in hexameter and pentameter verses alternately.

5. Telephus: some tedious play on the subject of Telephus, son of Hercules and Auge, and king of Mysia, who was wounded by the spear of Achilles, but afterwards healed by its rust.-Aut... Orestes: or shall the tragedy of Orestes, the margin of the whole book being already full, and written on the back too, but not yet finished, waste the whole day?'

7. Lucus Martis: the grove of Mars; that is, as some understand it, the history of Romulus and Remus, whom Rhea Silvia bore in a grove sacred to Mars, near Alba:-this and the other subjects mentioned were so continually dinned into his ears, that the places were as familiar as his own house.

8. Æoliis ... rupibus: to the north of Sicily are seven rocky islands, which were called the Æolian or Vulcanian (now the Lipari) islands. To Hiera, one of these, (now Vulcano,) Juvenal probably refers; and by antrum Vulcani et Cyclopum, Etna is

meant.

9. Quid... columnæ: the construction is, Platani Frontonis, convulsaque marmora, et columnæ ruptæ assiduo lectore, semper clamant quid venti agant, &c.— Quid ... venti: this either alludes to some tedious poetical treatise on the nature of the winds, or to some play on the amours of Boreas and Orithyia, the daughter of Erechtheus, king of Athens.

10. Unde... pellicule: i. e. Jason, who, by the assistance of Medea, stole the golden fleece from Colchis.

11. Monychus a general name for the Centaurs, because they are described as having hoofs (örvž) not cleft (uros). In the battle with the Lapithæ, they plucked up trees by the roots, and flung them like darts at the enemy. It alludes here to some poem on this subject.

12. Frontonis platani: Fronto, a noble Roman, famous for his learning, who was in the habit of lending his porticoes to the poets of his times to recite their verses: these porticoes were shaded with plane trees, supported by marble pillars, and adorned with statues.-Convulsaque clamant: 'the convulsed marble reechoes this relates either to the statues almost shaken from their pedestals with the noise; or to the marble inlaid in the walls; or to the pavement, which seemed likely to be torn asunder by the continual bawling.

13. Assiduo... columnæ: 'the pillars split by the incessant recitations of the poets.'

14. Exspectes...poëtâ: sc. ut carmina et scribant et recitent.

15. Et... subduximus: the meaning is; and I, for this reason (ergò, i. e. ut cadem a me exspectes, ut carmina aliquando scribere possem atque recitare; et quia insanabile scribendi cacoëthes carmina nunc tenet tot homines), have frequented the schools of grammarians and rhetoricians.—Manum ferulæ subduximus: the following is the best interpretation of this clause; et nos in disciplinâ ludimagistri fuimus, et, manum ferulæ præbere coacti, illam metuentes sæpe subduximus. Id facetè dictum pro: scholas frequentavi.-Et... dormiret: in the schools, discussions and declamations on various subjects were introduced; one of these discussions, while Juvenal was at school, was "whether Sylla should take the dictatorship, or live in ease and quiet as a private man ?” He had maintained the latter proposition.

18. Peritura... charta: paper that will be wasted' by others, if I do not use it.

19. Cur... edam: the construction is, tamen, si vacat, et placidi admittitis rationem, edam cur libeat decurrere hoc campo potiùs, per quem magnus, &c.-Decurrere: a metaphor, taken from chariot racing, and applied here to the writing of Satire.

20. Aurunca: Aurunca, an ancient city of Latium, in Italy, was the birthplace of the great Roman satir'st, Lucilius.

21. Admittitis: admitto literally signifies to admit,' but it is sometimes used with auribus understood, and then it signifies 'to hearken, to attend.'

22. Quum tener... Satiram non scribere: the construction is, difficile est non scribere Satiram, quum tener spado, &c.—Mavia... aprum: Mavia put here for any immodest woman; in the time of Domitian, some women had the impudence to appear in the amphitheatre, and there perform the part of gladiators.-Tuscan boars were considered the fiercest.

25. Quo... sonabat: the person alluded to is supposed to have

been either Cinnamus, or Licinius, the freedman and barber of Augustus.-Gravis... mihi: 'troublesome to me, a youth.'

26. Quum... Crispinus: when Crispinus, one of the lowest of the Egyptians, once a Canopian slave.'-Canopi: a city of Egypt, addicted to all manner of debauchery.

27. Crispinus: from a slave, he had been made master of the horse to Nero.-Tyrias... lacernas: the Romans used to fasten their cloaks (lacerna) round the neck with a loop. Crispinus wore his so loose, that he is here described as raising it up with his shoulders.-Tyrias: dyed with Tyrian purple; which was very expensive.

28. Ventilet... aurum: the Romans arrived at such a height of luxury, that they wore large and heavy rings in winter, but lighter ones in summer. The effeminate Egyptian is here represented as 'waving to and fro' (ventilo) his hand in the air, to cool his fingers (or, more probably, to display his ring), on one of which he wore a summer ring.

29. Majoris... gemmæ: 'of a larger size,' that is, 'a winter ring.'

31. Tam ferreus: 'so insensible;' so much of the nature of

iron.

32. Lectica: this was a sort of' sedan,' with a couch in it, in which the great men were carried by their servants.-Mathonis : Matho had been a lawyer, but turned informer to Domitian, and thereby had amassed a great fortune.

33. Plena ipso: this alludes either to his corpulency, or to the haughty manner, which he assumed while in the sedan.-Delator: critics are divided about the man, who followed Matho. The old Scholiast says it was Heliodorus, the Stoic, who informed against L. Junius Silanus, Massa, and Carus; others, that it was Egnatius Celer, a Stoic philosopher, who, by false testimony, ruined his friend and pupil, Bareas Soranus: but more probably it was M. Regulus, mentioned by Pliny, who carried on the trade of informer under Nero and Domitian. Or, perhaps, the poet did not allude to one informer, but to several.-Magni amici: this means either that the informer was in the employ of some distinguished friend, for instance the Emperor; or that he had laid information against some illustrious friend of himself, or of the Emperor.

34. Comesa: robbed and destroyed by secret accusations, or pillaged by informers for hush-money.

35. Massa: Massa Bebius, an infamous informer.

36. Carus: Metius Carus, another informer, who bribed Regulus to avoid some secret accusation.-Thymele... Latino : Thymele was the wife of Latinus, a famous mimic; she was 'sent privately' by her husband and prostituted to Regulus, to avoid some information which Latinus dreaded.

38. Quum...prostantis: he now satirizes such guardians as enrich themselves by the spoils of the young men intrusted to

their care; the ward was afterwards reduced by their villany to such poverty, as to be obliged to prostitute himself for his support. -Some texts have pupilla.-Populum...premit: 'presses on, and incommodes the passengers with his train of attendants.'

39. Et hic... bibit: the construction is, et hic Marius exsul damnatus inani judicio (enim quid, &c.) bibit ab octavd.—Inani: 'vain,' because, though inflicted on Marius, the injured province received no recompense.

41. Ab octavá: the eighth hour of the natural day, or two o'clock, P. M., which may be considered as an instance of great luxury, the Romans not being in the habit of sitting down to their meals sooner than the ninth hour.-Marius: Marius Priscus was pro-consul of Africa, and being prosecuted by the province for cruelty and extortion, was convicted, fined, and banished from Italy. Yet retaining the greater part of his former spoils, he lived in a wanton exile; while the Africans returned home with the wretched consolation of having defrayed their own expenses, and seen the money, levied on their oppressor, carried to the Roman treasury.-Fruitur... iratis: i. e. gaudet irá deorum, i. e. damnatione; though Marius had by his crimes incurred the anger of the gods, and suffered condemnation in a court of justice, still he received no injury, but lived in the highest luxury.

42. Victrix: victrix was a law term, applied to those who gained a suit.

43. Venusinâ... lucernâ: 'the Venusinian lamp,' that is, 'the pen of Horace himself,' who was born at Venusium, a city of Apulia.

44. Agitem: a metaphor from hunting wild beasts.-Sed... Heracleas: fabulas understood; 'but why should I rather write poetic fables on the labors of Hercules.'

45. Diomedeas: fabulas understood; 'the exploits of Diomede.' See Class. Dict.-Mugitum Labyrinthi: i. e. the Minotaur; see Class. Dict.

46. Et... puero: i. e. the story of Icarus. See Class. Dict.— Fabrumque volantem, i. e. the story of Dædalus. See Class. Dict.

47. Leno... bona: 'the husband, who turns pander, receives the goods of the adulterer,' as the price of his wife's prostitution.Si... uxori: Domitian made a law which prohibited the use of litters and the right of inheritance to adulterous wives. This was evaded by making their husbands panders to their lewdness, and thus causing the legacies to be given to them.

48. Spectare lacunar: as inobservant of his wife's infamy.

49. Doctus... naso: a cup was also set before the husband (another device), which he pretended to have drunk, and then nodded and snored as if in a drunken sleep.-Vigilanti: the poet uses the epithet vigilanti, here, very humorously, to denote that though the man seemed to be fast asleep by his snoring, yet his nose seemed to be awake by the noise it made.

50. Quum... amica: another cause of indignation.

It is un

certain to what person he here alludes; some understand Cornelius Fuscus, who was charioteer to Nero, as Automedon was to Achilles; others, Tigellinus.

51. Bona... præsepibus: has squandered his property in keeping and breeding horses.'

52. Majorum censu: his family estate.'

54. Ipse... quum se jactaret: when he was insinuating himself into the favor.'-Ipse: Nero.-Lacernatæ... amica: we are by this to understand Sporus (Sueton. cap. 28), whom Juvenal humorously mentions in the feminine gender. The Lacerna was worn only by men."

55. Nonne... quadrivio: might not one amuse himself in filling a large book with the objects of satire, which present themselves in the very streets.-Ceras... capaces: large waxen tablets;' these were thin pieces of wood, covered over with wax, on which the ancients wrote with the point of a sharp instrument, called stylus: it had a blunt end to rub out with.

56. Quum... uda: the construction is, quum jam signator qui fecerat se lautum falso (i. e. crimine falsi), et beatum exiguis tabulis, et gemmâ udâ, feratur sextâ cervice, patens hinc, &c.— Sextâ cervice in a litter carried on the shoulders of six slaves.

57. Hinc ... patens: 'exposed on every side' to the view of the passengers, and not ashamed of the means which he had taken to enrich himself.-Nudâ: unveiled;' or it may be rendered almost empty,' as filling the sedan himself.

58. Multum... supino: much resembling the supine and effeminate Mæcenas.' Sat. XII. 37.

59. Falso: i. e. crimine falsi, which, in the Roman law, signified the forging of wills, counterfeiting public money, &c. Some texts have signator falso: it would then signify 'a signer to a false will ;'—' a forger of wills.'-Some suppose that the poet refers particularly to Tigellinus, a favorite of Nero, who poisoned three uncles, and, by forging their wills, made himself heir to their estates.

60. Exiguis tabulis: 'short testaments,' which in a few words bequeathed the entire property to one person alone.—Gemmâ . . . uda: a seal, cut from some precious stone or gem, worn in a ring on the finger, and occasionally used to seal deeds, &c. This they used to wet to prevent the wax sticking to it.

61. Occurrit...maritos: another subject for satire presents itself: women who poison their husbands, and that with impunity.-Matrona potens: on account of the epithet potens, some think Agrippina is meant, who poisoned her husband Claudius.Calenum: vinum understood; Cales or Calenum was a town of Campania, in Italy, famous for excellent wine.

62. Viro... sitiente: this may either be the ablative absolute, or sitiente is the ancient form of the dative for sitienti.-Rubetam: a toad, that is, poison extracted from a toad.

63. Rudes: before unskilled' in the art of poisoning.-Melior