219. Conjugii conjugis. Orestes married his cousin Hermione, daughter of Menelaus and Helen. 220 sq. Nero went upon the stage first at Naples, where he appeared several times. He wrote an epic poem on the taking of Troy, which he recited publicly in the theatre. He is said to have recited it also as Rome was burning, while he looked out from a tower and admired the beauty of the flames. 221 sqq. Quid is defined by quod ... fecit (223), where quod (the MSS. giving quid) is a conjecture of Madvig's, now generally adopted. The sense is, Quid ex omnibus ejus factis magis ulcisci debuit? (Madvig Opusc. ii. 199 sqq.; Roth Kl. Schr. ii. 432.) "L. Verginius Rufus was governor of Upper Germany, when Julius Vindex, propraetor of Gaul, rose against Nero, A. D. 68. Vindex having offered Galba, governor of Hispania Tarraconensis, the empire, Galba also revolted. Verginius marched against Vindex, protesting that he would acknowledge no one as emperor till he had been proclaimed by the senate. At Vesontio (Besançon) the two generals are said to have had a conference, and to have agreed to unite against Nero; but an engagement took place, and Vindex, being defeated, died by his own hand. Verginius afterward aided in the establishment of Galba, and several times refused the empire for himself. His funeral oration was pronounced by Tacitus, who was consul that year (A. D. 97)." "It is rather strange to find Juvenal coupling him with Vindex, as the epitaph composed by himself for his tomb ran thus: Hic situs est Rufus, pulso qui Vindice quondam 225 sq. Nero went through Greece, A. D. 67, reciting in the theatres and contending for the prizes at the games. He received no less than eighteen hundred crowns, partly in compliment, and partly for his so-called victories; and on his return to Rome he entered the city in triumph, wearing on his head an Olympic crown of wild olive, and bearing in his hand a Pythian crown of laurel, while he had the catalogue of his victories borne before him. The parsley crown has special reference to the musical contests at the Nemean games, in which a chaplet of parsley was the prize. 228 sq. Nero's father was Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus, for a statue of whom he asked the Senate A. D. 54, the year he came to the throne. Besides the Greek plays on these subjects, there were Latin tragedies, which were very likely imitations of them. Thus Varius = wrote a Thyestes, Nero himself an Antigone, and both Ennius and Accius a Menalippe. — The syrma (from cúpw) was a robe worn by the tragic actors, which had a train trailing upon the ground. - Personam, the mask. Menalippe Melanippe. Euripides wrote a tragedy with this title.—I read Antigones aut after Hermann. Jahn and Ribbeck, Antigonae seu (P). Many MSS. give Antigones tu. 230. The marble colossus is probably the colossal statue of one of Nero's ancestors. 231. Catiline was of the gens Sergia, one of the oldest of the patrician families (cf. Verg. Aen. v. 121). Cethegus, his chief companion in his conspiracy, was of a still more distinguished family, in the gens Cornelia. 234. The reference is to the Gauls, the inveterate enemies of Rome. Before the formation of the separate province Gallia Narbonensis, the Romans gave the inhabitants the name Bracati (Braccati), from their wearing, like nearly all other nations not Greek or Roman, braccae, i. e. "breeks" or "breeches." These trowsers were looser than we wear them now, but not so loose among the European nations as in the East. There may be an allusion here to the Allobroges, a Gallic people in this quarter, who had been invited, through their ambassadors, to join in the conspiracy of Catiline. The Senones were an ancient Gallic tribe on the Seine; (their name still survives in Sens.) They invaded Italy in the time of the Tarquins, and settled on the Adriatic (where they have left a record of themselves in the name of Senigaglia); and this was the tribe that took and burned Rome B. C. 390.-Minores, the descendants. Weidner understands -que in this verse thus: the sons of the Gauls, and indeed the descendants of the Senones,-that very tribe that took Rome. 235. Tunica molesta, "with the tunic of torture." This was a tunic covered over with (or made of) paper, pitch, wax, and other combustibles, which was put upon the victims, who were bound to a stake, and then lighted. 236. Vigilat consul. Cic. in Cat. i. 8: Intelliges multo me vigilare acrius ad salutem, quam te ad perniciem reipublicae. 237 sq. Cicero was born B. c. 106 at Arpinum, a town of Latium and a municipium. He was the first of his gens that had curule honors, and was therefore novus homo and ignobilis (no noble; not "ignoble" in our sense).- Modo. . eques, but the other day only a municipal knight living at Rome. 238. Galeatum. Hence, ready for action. Cf. i. 169. 239. Attonitis, "for the bewildered citizens," who knew nothing of the reasons for these things. In omni monte, on every hill (of Rome), i. e. throughout the whole city. Monte (S) is now adopted by the best editors. Other readings are gente (pw) and ponte (" legitur et ponte" S). In P the first two letters are erased or illegible. 240. The toga represents peace, and civil functions. 241 sq. From Leucas means from the battle of Actium, which place was about thirty miles north of the island of Leucas or Leucadia. From the plains of Thessaly refers to the battle of Philippi, - inaccurately, as Philippi is in Macedonia adjecta, a district originally Thracian. The original name of Augustus was C. Octavius; but he dropped this at his great uncle's death, and then became C. Julius Cæsar Octavianus, to which the title of Augustus was added B. C. 27. — In 241 with Ribbeck I adopt Hermann's conjecture, vix. The MSS. give in (PS f g h), and non (pw). Non is certainly inadmissible. The true reading may be quantum Leucate (Kiær, p. 87). - 243 sq. Set-dixit. But Rome called Cicero " 'Parent," Rome called him "Father of his Country," when she was free. It was an enslaved Rome that gave that title to Augustus. 245. Arpinas alius. C. Marius. 247. The vine switch was the centurion's baton of office, and was also used for military floggings.-" Broke with his head" switch broken over his head. = - had the 248. The dolabra was a hatchet on one side, but had a pick on the other. Ancient writers speak of breaking through ice, felling trees, breaking through and undermining walls, and performing various other operations, with dolabrae. 249. In B. C. 101 Marius and Q. Lutatius Catulus defeated the Cimbri on a plain called Campi Raudii, near Vercellae in Gallia Cisalpina. Rerum, of the State. 252. Majora cadavera. The Cimbri were remarkable for their size. 253. Nobilis, nobly born. 254-258. "The Decii were a plebeian family, but a very old one; for at the secession of the plebs, B. C. 494, M. Decius was one of the deputies sent by them to treat with the senate." P. Decius Mus, father and son, devoted themselves to death in battle, thereby securing the victory to the Romans: the first in the war against the Latins (Liv. viii. 9), the second in that against the Gauls (Liv. x. 28). The formula of devotion, after calling on the gods, finished with these words: Pro re publica Quiritium, exercitu, legionibus, auxiliis pop. uli Romani Quiritium legiones auxiliaque hostium mecum diis Manibus Tellurique devoveo (Liv. viii. 9). — Quae servantur. In this concise expression, quae suggests everything that was great in Rome, her wealth, her power, her splendor, her dominion. 259. Ancilla natus. I. e. Servius Tullius. - The trabea was a white robe, with stripes of purple, supposed to have been worn by the kings. The diadema was a band or fillet. 260. Meruit, earned by his merits; won. 261-268. Juvenal refers to the participation of the sons of Brutus, the first consul, in the conspiracy for restoring Tarquinius Superbus. They were the very men from whom some great exploit in behalf of liberty only partially established (dubia, still doubtful) might have been expected, such as Mucius (who thrust his right hand into the fire) in unison with Cocles (who kept the bridge) might admire, and the virgin Cloelia, who swam across the Tiber and escaped from the camp of Porsena. 261. Laxabant, were on the point of loosening; were ready to loosen. 265. Imperii fines. After the surrender of the city to Porsena, the Romans lost their territory on the right bank of the river. Tiberim. Accusative of the space over which the action extends. More simply, we might have had Tiberim tranatavit. 266 sq. He that revealed the crime was a slave; and he deserved to be mourned by the matrons, even as was the consul Brutus himself. 268. The first axe of the laws signifies the first execution under the laws of a free state. The constitution of Massachusetts indicates the difference between arbitrary and republican government, in the happy phrase, "to the end that it may be a government of laws, and not of men." 269 sqq. Thersites, the deformed and odious braggart and slanderer in Homer (Il. ii. 212 sqq.). - Aeacidae, Achilles. - Vulcania Cf. Hom. Il. xviii. 369 sqq. arma. 272. Et tamen, and after all. - Ut longe, however far back.-Revolvere nomen = revolvendis voluminibus quaerere nomen. 273. Asylo. Cf. Liv. i. 8; Dionys. Hal. ii. 215. 275. Even Romulus and Remus had been brought up as shepherds. This satire abounds in sharp contrasts, as those between Nero and Seneca, Cicero and Catiline, Marius and Catulus, the Decii and the patricians, the sons of Brutus and the slave; so also the picture of a worthy noble is followed by examples of the opposite,noble-born coachmen, actors, gladiators. (Weidner.) T SATIRE X. ARGUMENT. 1-11. IN all the world, but few can tell good from its opposite. When are our fears or hopes guided by reason? What wish when gained is not repented of? The gods, too kind, ruin whole houses at their own desire. In peace and war we pray for what must hurt us: the gift of eloquence or sinewy arms are fatal both alike. 12-27. But more are choked with money, that theirs shall excel all other men's fortunes. For this in tyrannous times by Nero's bidding Longinus, Seneca, and Lateranus were shut up in their houses: but guards are seldom set to watch a garret. The empty traveller_sings in the robber's presence; carry a little silver cup or two and you shall start at every reed that moves. But wealth is our first prayer; and yet no poison lurks in earthen mugs, 't is in the jewelled cup and Setian wine you have to fear it. 28-53. Did not the sages well then, one who laughed and one who wept whene'er he went abroad? Any can laugh, but where the other got his store of tears we well may wonder. Democritus could laugh forever, yet those towns had no abuses like our own. Suppose he had seen the Praetor going to the games in his tall chariot with Jove's tunic on, with folds of purple toga, and a great crown, too big for any neck, borne by a slave placed in the same chariot with him, of course to lower his pride; an eagle on his ivory staff, on one side trumpeters, on the other friends and citizens in white, friends whom his dole makes such. Why, even there he laughed at every turn, showing that men of mind are found even in dullest times. He mocked the cares, the joys, sometimes the very tears of men, bade Fortune hang herself, and pointed at her. 54-113. So all our prayers are idle or they 're mischievous. Some by the envy which is linked with power, some by long rolls of honors are undone; their statutes fall, triumphal chariots are hacked to pieces. The flames are crackling, see Sejanus burns, and from that face, second to only one, are pots and pans and kettles made. Rejoice! Sejanus through the streets is dragged, and all are happy. "Look at his lips, his face: I never loved the man; but who accused him, how has the offence been proved?" "A wordy long epistle came from Capreae." "No more, I ask no more. But what of the |