150 Pelle patet: vel si consuto vulnere crassum IN SE, 155 Quis gener hic placuit censu minor, atque puellæ 160 149. Soiled.] Sordidula, dim. of sordidus-and signifies some what dirty or nasty. in the With torn leather, &c.] One shoc gapes open with a rent upper leather. 150-1. The poet's language is here metaphorical-he humourously, by vulnere, the wound, means the rupture of the shoe; by cicatrix, (which is, literally, a scar, or seam in the flesh,) the awkward seam on the patch of the cobbled shoe, which exhibited to view the coarse thread in the new-made stitches. 153. Says he.] i. e. Says the person who has the care of placing the people in the theatre. Let him go out, &c.] Let the man who has not a knight's revenue go out of the knight's place or seat. It is to be observed that, formerly, all persons placed themselves, as they came, in the theatre, promiscuously: now, in contempt of the poor, that licence was taken away. Lucius Roscius Otho, a tribune of the people, instituted a law, that there should be fourteen rows of scats, covered with cushions, on which the knights were to be seated. If a poor man got into one of these, or any other, who had not 400 sestertia a year income, which made a knight's estate, he was turned out with the utmost contempt. 155. Is not sufficient for the law.] i. e. Who has not 400 sestertia a year, according to Otho's law. 156. The sons of pimps, &c.] The lowest, the most base-born fellows, who happen to be rich enough to answer the conditions of Otho's law, are to be seated in the knights' seats; and persons of the best family are turned out, to get a seat where they can, if they happen to be poor. See HoR. epod. iv. l. 15, 16. 157. Crier.] A low office among the Romans, as among us, who proclaimed the edicts of magistrates, public sales of goods, &c. The poet says nitidi præconis, intimating that the criers got a good deal of money, lived well, were fat and sleek in their appearance, and affected great spruceness in their dress. Applaud.] Take the lead in applauding theatrical exhibitions.-Applause was expressed, as among us, by clapping of hands. 158. Of a sword-player.] Pinnirapi-denotes that sort of gladiator, called also Retiarius, who, with a net which he had in his [150 Leather be open: or if not one patch only shews the coarse out, says he, Let him go If he has any shame, and let him rise from the equestrian cushion, Whose estate is not sufficient for the law, and let there sit here 155 The sons of pimps, in whatever brothel born. hand, was to surprise his adversary, and catch hold on the crest of his helmet, which was adorned with peacock's plumes: from pinna, a plume or feather, and rapio, to snatch. See sat. ii. l. 143, note, where we shall find the figure of a fish on the helmet; and as pinna also means the fin of a fish, perhaps this kind of gladiator was called Pinnirapus, from his endeavouring to catch this in his net. 158. The youths.] The sons-now grown young men-juvenes. Such people as these were entitled to seats in the fourteen rows of the equestrian order, on account of their estates: while sons of nobles, and gentlemen of rank, were turned out because their income did not come up to what was required, by Otho's law, to constitute a knight's estate. A fencer.] Lanista signifies a fencing-master, one that taught boys to fence. 159. Thus it pleased vain Otho.] q. d. No sound or good reason could be given for this; it was the mere whim of a vain man, who established this distinction, from his own caprice and fancy, and to gratify his own pride and vanity. However, Otho's law not only distinguished the knights from the plebeians, but the knights of birth from those who were advanced to that dignity by their fortunes or service; giving to the former the first rows on the equestrian benches. Therefore HoR. epod. iv. where he treats in the severest manner Menas, the freedman of Cn. Pompeius, who had been advanced to a knight's estate, mentions it as one instance of his insolence and pride, that he sat himself in one of the first rows after he became possessed of a knight's estate. Sedilibusque magnus in primis eques, See FRANCIS, notes in loc. 160. What son-in-law.] Umbritius still proceeds in shewing the miseries of being poor, and instances the disadvantages which men of sinall fortunes lie under with respect to marriage. - Inferior in estate.] Census signifies a man's estate, wealth, or yearly revenue. Also a tribute, tax, or subsidy, to be paid according to men's estates. According to the first meaning of census-censu minor may sig Sarcinulis impar? quis pauper scribitur hæres ? 165 HAUD FACILE EMERGUNT, QUORUM VIRTUTIBUS OBSTAT : nify, that a man's having but a small fortune, unequal to that of the girl to whom he proposes himself in marriage, would occasion his being rejected, as by no means pleasing or acceptable to her father for a son-in-law. According to the second interpretation of the word census, censu minor may imply the man's property to be too small and inconsiderable for entry in the public register as an object of taxation. The copulative atque seems to favour the first interpretation, as it unites the two sentences as if Umbritius had said-Another instance, to shew how poverty renders men contemptible at Rome, is, that nobody will marry his daughter to one whose fortune does not equal hers; which proves that, in this, as in all things else, money is the grand and primary consideration. Themistocles, the Athenian general, was of another mind, when he said "I had rather have a man for my daughter without money, "than money without a man. 161. Written down heir ?] Who ever remembered a poor man in his will, so as to make him his heir? 162. Ediles.] Magistrates in Rome, whose office it was to oversee the repairs of the public buildings and temples-also the streets and conduits--to look to weights and measures-to regulate the price of corn and victuals-also to provide for solemn funerals and plays. This officer was sometimes a senator, who was called Curulis, a sellâ curuli, a chair of state made of ivory, carved, and placed in curru, in a chariot, in which the head officers of Rome were wont to be carried into council. But there were meaner officers called Ædiles, with a similar ju risdiction in the country towns, to inspect and correct abuses in weights and measures, and the like. See sat. x. 101, 2. When, says Umbritius, is a poor man ever consulted by one of the magistrates? his advice is looked upon as not worth havingmuch less can he ever hope to be a magistrate himself, however deserving or fit for it. In a formed body.] Agmine facto-i. e. collected together in one body, as we say. So VIRG. Georg. iv. 167. of the bees flying out in a swarm against the drones. And again, Æn. i. 86. of the winds rushing forth together from the cave of Æolus. 1 163. Long ago.] Alluding to the sedition and the defection of the plebeians, called here tenues Quirites-when oppressed by the [ROW To the bags of a girl? what poor man written down heir? them is. The endeavour: a miserable lodging at a great price, at a great price The bellies of servants, and a little frugal supper at a great price. It shameth to sup in earthen ware: which he denied to be disgraceful, nobles and senators, they gathered together, left Rome, and retired to the Mons Sacer, an hill near the city consecrated to Jupiter, and talked of going to settle elsewhere; but the famous apologue of Menenius Agrippa, of the belly and the members, prevailed on them to return. This happened about 500 years before Juvenal was born. See ANT. Un. Hist. vol. xi. 383-403. 163. Ought long ago to have migrated.] To have persisted in their intention of leaving Rome, and of going to some other part, where they could have maintained their independency. See before, 1. 60. Quirites. 164. Easily emerge.] Out of obscurity and contempt. Whose virtues, &c.] The exercise of whose faculties and good qualities is cramped and hindered by the narrowness of their circumstances: and, indeed, poverty will always prevent respect, and be an obstacle to merit, however great it may be. So HOR. sat. v. lib. ii. l. 8. Atqui Et genus et virtus, nisi cum re, vilior algâ est. FRANCIS. 166. The endeavour.] But to them-illis-to those who have small incomes, the endeavouring to emerge from contempt, is more difficult at Rome than in any other place; because their little is, as it were, made less, by the excessive dearness of even common necessariesa shabby lodging, for instance; maintenance of slaves, whose food is but coarse; a small meal for one's self, however fru gal-all these are at an exorbitant price. 168. It shameth, &c.] Luxury and expense are now got to such an height, that a man would be ashamed to have earthen ware at his table. Which he denied, &c.] The poet is here supposed to allude to Curius Dentatus, who conquered the Samnites and the Marsi, and reduced the Sabellans (descendents of the Sabines) into obedience to the Romans. When the Samnite ambassadors came to him to treat about a league with the Romans, they found him among the Marsi, sitting on a wooden seat near the fire, dressing his own dinner, which consisted of a few roots, in an earthen vessel, and offered Translatus subito ad Marsos, mensamque Sabellam, Pars magna Italiæ est, si verum admittimus, in quâ 170 175 him large sums of money-but he dismissed them, saying, "I had "rather command the rich, than be rich myself; tell your country66 men, that they will find it as hard to corrupt as to conquer me.' Curius Dentatus was at that time consul with P. Corn. Rufinus, and was a man of great probity, and who, without any vanity or ostentation, lived in that voluntary poverty, and unaffected contempt of riches, which the philosophers of those times were wont to recommend. He might, therefore, well be thought to deny, that the use of earthen ware was disgraceful, any more than of the homely and coarse clothing of those people, which he was content to wear. See ANT. Univ. Hist. vol. xi. p. 139, But, among commentators, there are those, who, instead of negavit, are for reading negabit--not confining the sentiment to any particular person, but as to be understood in a general sense, as thus→→ However it may be reckoned disgraceful, at Rome, to use earthen ware at table, yet he who should suddenly be conveyed from thence to the Marsi, and behold their plain and frugal manner of living, as well as that of their neighbours the Sabellans, will deny that there is any shame or disgrace in the use of earthen ware at meals, or of wearing garments of coarse materials. This is giving a good sense to the passage-but as Juvenal is so frequent in illustrating his meaning, from the examples of great and good men who lived in past times, and as negavit is the reading of the copies, I should rather think that the first interpretation is what the poet meant. 169. Translated suddenly.] On being chosen consul, he was immediately ordered into Samnium, where he and his colleague acted separately, each at the head of a consular army. The Marsi lay between the Sabelli and the Samnites 170. A Venetian and coarse hood.] Venetus-a-um, of Venice— dyed in a Venice-blue, as the garments worn by common soldiers and sailors were. AINSW. This colour is said to be first used by the Venetian fishermen. The cucullus was a cowl, or hood, made of very harsh and coarse cloth, which was to pull over the head, in order to keep off the rain. 172. Unless dead.] It was a custom among the Romans to put a gown on the corse when they carried it forth to burial. In many parts of Italy, where they lived in rustic simplicity, they went |