Mox, lenone suas jam dimittente puellas, Hippomanes carmenque loquar coctumque venenum Si verum excutias facies non uxor amatur : 131. Obscurisque genis] That is, dirty. He says below (v. 145), “fiant obscuri dentes," ""let her teeth become black." 132. ad pulvinar] "Ad lectum mari. talem" is the Scholiast's note. 133. Hippomanes carmenque] These are love potions and charms. He asks if he shall go on to speak of the other crimes of women, such as the administering of love philtres and charms, and poisoning stepchildren, for bad as their lust is, women are driven to still greater crimes through the dominion of their sex, that is, of the pas. sions that belong to their sex. As to hip pomanes,' see below, v. 616, where he resumes the subject. At present he passes on to another, that of the tyranny of rich and pretty wives. Horace speaks of that as a happy state of society in which "matre carentibus Privignis mulier temperat innocens (C. iii. 24. 17). 136. Optima sed quare] He supposes one to ask, if all women are so bad, why some husbands seem to love their wives; why for instance Caesennia's husband counts her the best of women? The answer is, that she brought him a large portion. Bis quingenta' is equivalent to decies sestertium,' ten hundred thousand sesterces, not much less than 80001. of our money; that is the price at which he calls her chaste. The arrows of his love and the torch of Venus with him are in his wife's money. Horace refers to the tyranny of rich wives, C. iii. 130 135 140 24. 19, where, describing the blessings of rude life, he says, "Nec dotata regit virum Conjux nec nitido fidit adultero." Other examples will be found there. The round number here given is repeated in S. x. 335, "ritu decies centena dabuntur Antiquo," and in the epigram of Martial (ii. 65) quoted on the above place of Horace, and in Tacitus (Ann. ii. 86). "Et Caesar quamvis posthabitam (Agrippae filiam) decies sestertii dote solatus est," where Lipsius says that this was the usual portion among rich people. But it is plainly only put conventionally, as quadringenta sestertia' is above (ii. 117). The bow and torch of Cupid are given to his mother by Ovid (Heroid. ii. 39): "Per Venerem, nimiumque mihi facientia tela, Altera tela arcus, altera tela faces." Caesennia is the name of a noble Etrurian family. Some MSS. have Caesonia, which name appears in v. 616 of this satire. The other is right. 140. Libertas emitur:] She buys her freedom with her portion. She is at liberty to do what she likes to her paramour, answer his letters or any thing else. She is a widow for any allegiance she shows to her husband. 143. Si verum excutias] On the pri Tres rugae subeant et se cutis arida laxet, "Collige sarcinulas," dicet libertus, "et exi; mary meaning of excutere' and 'concutere,' which is used in the same way, see note on Hor. S. i. 3. 35, and Long's note on Cic. con. Rull. ii. 23. It means to search out.' 145. obscuri] See v. 131, n. 146. Collige sarcinulas,] This word is explained on iii. 160. The Lex Julia de Adulteriis provided that there should be present on the occasion of a divorce seven witnesses, besides a freedman of the person making the divorce (see Long's Article Divortium' in Smith's Dict. Ant.). This explains dicet libertus;' it was the freedman who declared the divorce in the name of the husband or wife, whichever it might be, for either party could divorce the other. This practice became extremely common under the Empire, and for the most trifling causes. The man, Sertorius, here divorces his Bibula because she blows her nose too often. The wife was entitled to her 'dos' unless some grave fault could be proved against her, in which case she only got part of it back. (See note on Hor. S. i. 2. 130.) 147. et saepe emungeris;] The MSS. all have 'et.' Heinsius (ad Claudium, In Stii. ii. 327) and Burmann (ad Petron. i. p. 279) propose'ut,' "I am tired of your blowing your nose so often." The text is, "I am tired of you, and, besides, you blow your nose so often," which is better; the blowing of the nose is only an after thought. He must make an excuse, and the most trifling is enough. 149. Interea calet et regnat] Meanwhile, as long as her beauty lasts, she's a hot imperious tyrant. 150. Pastores et ovem Canusinam] The wool of Apulia was the best in Italy. That of Canusium (Canosa, on the Aufidus, where Horace got and travellers still get bad bread, S. i. 5. 91) was famous. Pliny (H. N. viii. 48) says, "Circa Tarentum Canusiumque summam nobilitatem habent (oves)." And Martial speaks of a fine dressed slave as Canusinatus Syrus' (ix. 23. 9); and sending a cloak to a friend, he says (xiv. 127), 145 150 "Haec tibi turbato Canusina simillima mulso Munus erit: gaude: non cito fiet anus." The natural colour was dark, as Pliny says, and that is what Martial means. This woman, as long as she had her beauty and her own way, would be content with none but the finest cloths and the best wine. Falernian elms are put because the vine was commonly trained to the elm. The Falernian wine was not in Juvenal's day as highly valued as it had been in Horace's. The Setinian and Alban were preferred to it. 151. Quantulum in hoc !] "How small a matter is this!" She will have all the slaves bought, whole workhouses full, and any thing she has not got and a neighbour has. Ergastula' (τόπος ἐν ᾧ οἱ ἑεσμῶται pyȧžovrai, Lipsius gives as the derivation from a gloss of Philoxenus; see Lips. Elect. ii. 15) were places in which slaves were kept in chains at various employments, such as grinding corn, cutting and breaking stones, and other country work, and taken as they were wanted to work in the fields. There were one or more ergastula' attached to most estates, and slaves were sent to them for misbehaviour or through the caprice of their masters. See below, S. viii. 180; xi. 80; xiv. 24, n.; and the note (and quotations there given) on Hor. S. ii. 7. 118, "Accedes opera agro nona Sabino;" where the Scholiast says, "Quasi octo servos Horatius miserit in ergastula agri Sabini." In the above chapter Lipsius has a long and interesting dissertation on this subject. It was only usual to put fifteen slaves into one 'ergastulum,' as Lipsius shows from Apuleius: "Quindecim liberi homines populus est: totidem servi familia, totidem vincti ergastulum." Suetonius (Vit. Aug. c. 32) says that in the time of Augustus bands of armed men used to seize travellers and hurry them off to these ergastula.' "Rapti per agros viatores sine discrimine Quodque domi non est et habet vicinus ematur. liberique servique ergastulis possessorum 152. et habet vicinus] Jahn has 'sed,' from P. and three other MSS. But it is not wanted. There are many instances in which 'et' and 'que' in negative sentences have something of an adversative sense. See note on Horace, C. ii. 12. 9: "Tuque pedestribus Dices historiis proelia Caesaris." 153. Mense quidem brumae, quum] Ruperti and Jahn have 'quo' after P. and several MSS. M. and many others and most of the old editions have 'quum' or 'cum.' 'Quo' probably arose from the omission of the usual mark in 'quō' for 'quom.' The Saturnalia, or festival of Saturnus (see v. 1, n.), was held at Rome in December, from the 17th to the 23rd inclusive. The three first days were properly the Saturnalia; the next two were called Opalia, the festival of Opis, wife of Saturnus; and the last two Sigillaria, a fair, so named from the little figures (sigilla) which, among other things, were sold at that time as toys and presents. The fair was held, as ours are, in booths; and the Scholiast on this place says the principal place was the Porticus Argonautarum, built and dedicated to Neptune by M. Agrippa in honour of the naval victories of Augustus, probably after the battle of Actium, in which he himself commanded. On the walls were fresco paintings of the Argonauts. (See Hor. Epp. i. 6. 26. n.) This explains the meaning of Juvenal here. 'Mense brumae' is December; 'mercator Iason Clausus,' &c. means that the pictures 155 All of Jason and his armed sailors were shut in, over nonsense. 155. Grandia tolluntur crystallina,] Cups and other vessels of coloured glass were common (see v. 48), though some of these were of great value, as we may judge from the Portland Vase in the British Museum. But those of pure transparent crystal were very costly. Pliny (H. N. xxxvii. 2) mentions a lady in his time (and she not rich) having given 150,000 sesterces (HS. CLM.), nearly 12001. sterling, for one drinking cup. The murrhina,' or 'murrhia, vasa' were probably the same as Chinese porcelain, though it does not seem to be certain. (See Bekker's Gallus, p. 25, n. 21, Metcalfe's Abridg.) Pliny (1. c.) says it came from the East. He also mentions Nero having paid 300 talents for a small cup, more than 70001. (see below, vii. 133.) Pliny speaks of one porcelain cup as holding three sextarii, about three pints. Tolluntur' is generally understood to mean that she carries them off. Heinrich says she takes them up in her hand to admire them. If so, she means her husband to buy them. But the other is better. 156. adamas notissimus] The diamond has always been the most costly of precious stones. Pliny says it is the dearest thing that exists, not only the dearest stone; "Maximum in rebus humanis non solum inter gemmas pretium habet adamas” (H. N. xxxvii. 4). In his time there were six sorts, among which he gives the first place to that of the East Indies. Berenice's name is familiar to us as the sister of that King Agrippa before whom St. Paul defended In digito factus pretiosior: hunc dedit olim Barbarus incestae, dedit hunc Agrippa sorori, Observant ubi festa mero pede sabbata reges Et vetus indulget senibus clementia porcis. Nullane de tantis gregibus tibi digna videtur? Sit formosa, decens, dives, fecunda, vetustos Porticibus disponat avos, intactior omni Crinibus effusis bellum dirimente Sabina, Rara avis in terris nigroque simillima cygno: Quis ferat uxorem cui constant omnia? Malo, Malo Venusinam quam te, CORNELIA MATER himself (Acts xxv.). They were son and daughter of Herod Agrippa (grandson of Herod the Great), whose death was the punishment of his blasphemy (Acts xii.). Agrippa was presented by Claudius (A.D. 48) with the sovereignty of Chalcis, in Syria, on the death of his uncle Herod, to whom Berenice was married. When her husband died she lived with her brother, and there are stories of their having carried on incestuous intercourse. His government was afterwards transferred to that part of Syria which had been the tetrarchy of his great uncle Philip, and he then received the title of king. What follows about kings observing the Sabbath with naked feet is mere nonsense. The Romans knew but little about the Jewish law, which however, and particularly the Sabbath, was held by some of the vulgar in superstitious respect. (See note on Hor. S. i. 9. 69, tricesima Sabbata.') 161. Nullane de tantis] This is supposed to be another speaker. The answer follows, which is that there is none; for those who have any merit make so much of it, that no man should marry them. 163. Porticibus disponat avos,] The porticoes here meant are the covered galleries with pillars on one side, out of which doors led to the different rooms. Between these pillars it was common to set up statues, as Cicero says to Verres (Act. ii. 1. c. 19): "Illa quaero quae apud te nuper ad omnes columnas, omnibus etiam intercolumniis, in silva denique disposita sub divo vidimus?" In the atrium,' the principal reception room (as we call it) in a Roman house, it was usual for the 'nobiles' to set up in rows (disponere) waxen busts and pictures (imagines) of such of their ancestors as had held curule offices or were otherwise distinguished. According to this 160 165 passage such busts and pictures were set up in the galleries. Pictures were also put up at the public expense in temples and public porticoes, of those who had earned that honour. 164. bellum dirimente Sabina,] The story of the Sabine women reconciling their fathers and brothers with their husbands is told by Livy (i. 13). Intactus' is chaste, like 'integer,' which has the same root (tag): "Notus et integrae Tentator Orion Dianae" (Hor. C. iii. 4. 70). "Sunt quibus unum opus est intactac Palladis urbem Carmine perpetuo celebrare" (C. i. 7. 5). He may have copied intactior' from Propertius: "Tu rapere intactus docuisti impune Sabinas" (ii. 6 21). It appears that some are offended at intactior' because they were wives; and Markland (on Statius, Silv. ii. 3. 73) proposes sit castior,' a very unneces sary alteration. 'Tangere' was used in a bad sense, and 'intactus' is 'chaste.' Propertius says, Lynceu, tune meam potuisti tangere curam?" (ii. 34.) 66 GRACCHORUM, si cum magnis virtutibus affers "Parce, precor, Paean, et tu depone sagittas, the great champions of popular liberty. Plutarch mentions that at her death a monument was erected to her memory with the inscription, Cornelia MATER GRACCHORUM.' She lived to a great age, surviving her sons and also her son-in-law, Scipio Africanus the Younger, who married her daughter. She was a woman of great attainments and strong mind. The spirit of her sons was inherited from her; and Cicero says their eloquence was got from her conversation. He says, "Legimus epistolas Corneliae matris Gracchorum (this name seems to have been proverbial): apparet filios non tam in gremio educatos quam in sermone matris" (Brut. c. 8). Though with her husband she joined the popular party and instigated her sons to the course they followed, she had the pride of Scipio's daughter and the descendant of a long line of ancestors. She had also great wealth, with which she lived in princely style. 169. numeras in dote triumphos.] "Count triumphs in your 'dos,' as part of it." In the first Punic war two Scipios had triumphs, one for victories in Sicily, the other in Corsica and Sardinia. The father of Africanus Major, P. Cornelius Scipio, though no match for Hannibal, distinguished himself in opposing the Carthaginians in Spain. The triumphs that Juvenal mentions were those of Cornelia's father, who however triumphed but once for his victories: in the first instance over Hasdrubal the Carthaginian general and Syphax their Numidian ally, whose camps he burnt (Livy, xxx. c. 5); and afterwards over Hannibal near Zama, B. c. 202. Migra' means 'get you gone,' like 'collige sarcinulas et exi' above (v. 146). 172. Parce, precor, Paean,] Niobe is introduced as the type of fecundity. According to the story derived from Homer, the earliest authority (Il. xxiv. 602 sqq., where Achilles is comforting Priam for the loss of his son), she had six sons and six 175 daughters. The Scholiasts on this place and on Euripides (who mentions her seven daughters, Phoen. 159) give her seven of each. Other writers give her more or fewer. Her husband was Amphion, the bard-king of Thebes, who here cries to Apollo and Diana to spare his innocent children and to pierce their mother. 'Tu' is addressed to Diana, who, the story in Homer says, shot the daughters while Apollo killed the sons. Graevius proposed 'tu Dia pone' for 'tu depone' against all the MSS.; and Ruperti and Jahn have this reading, which is quite unnecessary. The father's agony is quite as well, and perhaps better, expressed by 'tu' alone. The scene is made more present. Heinrich keeps the MSS. reading. The Florence group of Niobe and her children, which is attributed to Scopas, represents the mother in a state of much anguish pressing her youngest daughter, a girl of about ten, to her lap; and twelve other children, five of whom are girls and seven sons, one a boy and the rest grown up, in various attitudes of pain or fear. The group is well engraved in C. O. Müller's Denkmäler der Alten Kunst, Gottingen, 1835, an excellent publication. 175. ipsumque parentem,] According to Ovid (Met. vi. 271) Amphion killed himself for grief at the death of his children: "Nam pater Amphion, ferro per pectus adacto, Finierat moriens pariter cum luce dolorem." Other traditions give him a different end. Ovid tells the whole story; putting a long boastful speech in the mouth of Niobe, while all the Theban women were going forth to do honour to Leto. He gives her, like the Scholiasts, seven sons and seven daughters. Extulit' means carried forth to burial, as in S. i. 72, "nigros efferre maritos." The story is that the victims lay nine days unburied, and that on the tenth the gods buried them, Niobe having |