Horace: Satires I 0856685291, 9780856685293

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HORACE: SATIRES I

CONIUGI, FILIAE, FILIO CARISSIMIS OPTIMISQUE

HORACE Satires I with an Introduction, Text, Translation and eommentary by

P. Michael Brown

Aris & Phillips - W anninster - England

e P.M. Brown 1993. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any way or by any means including photocopying without the prior permission of the Publishers in writing. ISBNs

Cloth O 85668 5291 Limp O85668 5305

ISSN

0953 7961

British Library Catalogulng-ln-PubllcationData A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Printed and published in England by Aris & Phillips Ltd., Teddington House, Warminster, Wiltshire BA12 8PQ

Contents

Preface

Vil

Bibliography Introduction Satires I

Latin Translation

Commentary

IX

1 18

19 89

Preface Horace's first book of verse satires commands attention not only as the earliest fully extant example of the genre but also for the author's literary skills; my aim hasbeen to make the satires readily accessible to the modem reader, including the reader with little or no Latin. In the prose translation, I have tried to stay as close to the Latin as possible while still producing reasonably idiomatic English. Where greater freedom seemed necessary, a literal rendering is normally included in the commentary; a number of grammatical notes are also included to show how the Latin works. The translation also aims to reflect Horace's frequent shifts in style. In the occasional cases where he resorts to extreme obscenity, a feature characteristic of the genre, I have not attempted to disguise or dilute it. In the commentary, I have tried to elucidate the content, structure and background of the satires, and to explore their artistry. My debt to previous scholars is immense: in an edition of Horace, a good deal of the material is inevitably tralaticious, and many of the parallel passages which I cite are taken over from Kiessling/Heinze, Gow and Palmer. I owe no less a debt to Fraenkel and Rudd (1966), who have produced the most indispensable of the general studies. One conscious aim has been to sift, and to bring together into one edition, material not previously assembled. I am indebted to the late John Aris for his kindness in inviting me to make this contribution to the publishers' enterprising series. I am also grateful to Dr Frances Muecke of the University of Sydney, who is working on Book 2 of the Satires and with whom I had helpful discussions when she visited me in Glasgow. I owe an especial debt to Professor Malcolm Willcock, who in his editorial capacity read a draft of the complete work with meticulous care, and whose expertise and many perceptive suggestions have saved me from error or misjudgment at many points; for the defects that remain I am solely responsible. I owe no less a debt of gratitude to Mrs Jennifer Murray, the Departmental Secretary, who has made time, amidst her many other commitments, to put the whole work on to disc, mostly from my cryptic manuscript; though repeatedly given the same instruction as Horace's slave in the last line of the book*, she hasperformed the task with unfailing patience, efficiency and good humour.

Departmentof Classics Universityof Glasgow

*i, puer, atque meo citus haec subscribe libello

November 1992

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Select Bibliography (a) Editions BEN1LEY, R.: Q.HoratiusFlaccus (Cambridge 1711) GOW, J.: Q.Horati Flacci SaturarumLiber I (Cambridge 1901) KIESSLING, A., revised by HEINZE, R.: Q. Horatius Flaccus Satiren, 10th edition (Dublin/Zurich 1968) LAMBINUS, D.: Q. HoratiusFlaccus (Paris 1568) LEJAY, P.: Oeuvresd'Horace,Satires (Paris, 1911) ORELLI, J.G., revised by BAITER, J.G.: Q. HoratiusFlaccus {Turin 1850) PALMER, A.: The Satires of Horace {London 1883) RITIER, F.: Q. Horatius Flaccus, vol ii (Leipzig 1857) ROLFE, J.C.: Q. Horati Flacci Sermoneset Epistulae (Michigan 1901) WICKHAM, E.C.: Q. Horati Flacci Opera Omnia, vol ii (Oxford 1891) (b) Other Works

ANDERSON, W.S.: Essays in Roman Satire (Princeton 1982) 'Recent Work in Roman Satire, 1968-78', ClassicalWorld 15 (1982a) 273-99 ANDRE, J.-M.: Mecene: Essai de BiographieSpirituelle(Paris 1967) ARMSlRONG, D.: 'Horace, Satires 1.1-3: a Structural Study,' Arion 3.2 (1964) 86-96 --Horace (Yale 1989) BALDWIN, B.: 'Horace on Sex,' AmericanJournal of Philology91 (1970) 460-5 BRINK, C.O.: Horace on Poetry, vol 1 (Prolegomena to the Literary Epistles) (Cambridge 1963) BUSHALA, E.W.: 'The Motif of Sexual Choice in Horace, Satires 1.2,' Classical Journal 66 (1971) 312-5 CART AULT, A.: Etude sur les Satires d'Horace(Paris 1899) COFFEY, M.: Roman Satire (London 1976) COSTA, C.D.N. (ed): Studies in Latin Literature and its Influence: Horace {London 1973) CURRAN, L.: 'Nature, Convention and Obscenity in Horace, Satires 1.2,' Arion 9 (1970) 320-45 DAIZELL, A.: 'Maecenas and the Poets,' Phoenix 10 (1956) 151-62 DESSEN, C.: 'The Sexual and Financial Mean in Horace's Serm. 1.2,' AmericanJournal of Philology 89 (1968) 200-8 DuQUESNAY, I.M. Le M.: 'Horace and Maecenas: the Propaganda Value of Sermones I, in WOODMAN,T. and WEST, D. (edd), Poetry and Politics in the Age of Augustus (Cambridge 1984) FISKE, G.C.: Lucilius and Horace (Madison 1920)

X

FRAENKEL, E.: Horace (Oxford 1957) HARRISON, EL.: 'Horace's Tribute to his Father,' Classical Philology 60 (1965) 1114 HENDRICKSON, G.L.: 'Horace, Serm. 1.4: a Protest and a Programme,' American Journal of Philology 21 (1900) 121-41 HORSFALL, N.: 'Poets and Patron,' Publications of the Macquarie Ancient History Association 3 (1981) 1-24 KERNAN, A.B.: The Cankered Muse: Satire of the English Renaissance (New Haven 1959) KNOCHE, U.: Roman Satire, translated by RAMAGE, E.S. (Indiana 1975) LaFLEUR, R.A.: 'Horace and Onomasti Comodein: the Law of Satire,' Aufstieg und Niedergang der romische Welt 2.31.3 (1981) 1790-1826 LEFEVRE, E.: 'Horaz und Maecenas,' ibid. 2.31.3 (1981) 1987-2029 MUECKE, F.: 'Horace the Satirist: Form and Method in Satires 1.4,' Prudentia 11 (1979) 55-68 'The Audience of/in Horace's Satires,' AUMLA 14 (1990) 34-47 NISBET, R.G.M. and HUBBARD, M.: A Commentary on Horace: Odes Book I and Odes Book II (Oxford 1970 and 1978) PERRET, J.: Horace, translated by Humez, B. (New York 1964) RAMAGE, E.S., SIGSBEE, DL., and FREDERICKS, S.C.: Roman Satirists and their Satire (New Jersey 1974) RECKFORD, KJ .: 'Horace and Maecenas,' Transactions of the American Philological Association 90 (1959) 195-208 RICHLIN, A.: The Garden of Priapus (Yale 1983) RUDD, N.: 'Had Horace been criticized?,' American Journal of Philology 16 (1955) 165-75 The Satires of Horace (Cambridge 1966) The Satires of Horace and Persius (Penguin translation: revised edition, including Horace's Epistles) (Harmondsworth 1979) Themes in Roman Satire (Oklahoma 1986) SHACKLETON BAILEY, D.R.: Profile of Horace (London 1982) Q. Horati Flacci Opera (Bibliotheca Teubneriana) (Stuttgart 1985) STACK,F.: Pope and Horace (Cambridge 1985) SYME, R.: The Roman Revolution (Oxford 1939) Sallust (California 1964) TAYLOR, L.R.: 'Horace's Equestrian Career,' American Journal of Philology 46 (1925) 161-70 Van ROOY, C.A.: Studies in Classical Satire and Related Literary Theory (Leiden 1965) 'Arrangement and Structure of Satires in Horace Sermones Book I,' Acta Classica 11 (1968) 37-72, 13 (1970) 7-27 and 45-59, 14 (1971) 67-90, and 15 (1972) 37-52 Imitatio of Vergil, Eclogues in Horace, Satires Book I,' Acta Classica 16 (1973) 69-88

X1

WARMINGTON, E.H.: Remains of Old Latin, vol i (Ennius and Caecilius) and vol iii (Lucilius and The Twelve Tables) (Loeb Oassical Library, London 1935 and 1938) Wll.LIAMS, G.: Tradition and Originality in Roman Poetry (Oxford 1968) Horace (Greece & Rome, New Surveys in the Classics No 6) (Oxford 1972) WIMMEL, W.: Z.UrForm der Horazischen Diatribensatire (Frankfurt 1962) WISEMAN, T.P.: New Men in the Roman Senate 139 BC-AD 14 (Oxford 1971) WITKE, C.: Latin Satire, the Structure of Persuasion (Leiden 1970) ZETSEL, J.E.G.: 'Horace's Liber Sermonum: the Structure of Ambiguity,' Arethusa 13 (1980) 59-77

1

Introduction I. LIFE AND WORKS OF HORACE The main events in the life of Quintus Horatius Flaccus are attested in his poetry and in the slightly abridged version of Suetonius' biography which has been preserved in certain manuscripts of the poems. He was born on 8 December, 65 B.C. in Venusia, an old military colony in south-east Italy, on the border between Apulia and Lucania. His father was an ex-slave (Satires i.6.6 and 45-6), a coactor argentarius or auction-broker by profession (Satires i.6.86-7 and note) who had acquired a small-holding (Satires i.6.71) and, as the education he gave his son shows, a considerable fortune; determined to give Horace the opportunities normally open only to the upper classes, he first took him to Rome and personally supervised his schooling there under the stem disciplinarian Orbilius, with whom his literary training included the study of Livius Andronicus and Homer (Satires i.6.71-88; Epistles ii.1.69-71 and ii.2.41-2); subsequently, he made provision for Horace to complete his education by proceeding, aged 19 or thereabouts, to the study of philosophy in Athens (Epistles ii.2.43-5), where he no doubt seized the opportunity of immersing himself further in Greek literature with the study of texts not readily available in Rome. But political events were now to intervene. In autumn 44, some six months after Julius Caesar's assassination, Brutus the tyrannicide arrived in Athens, where he personally attended philosophical lectures and discussions with the object of winning promising young Romans to his cause and recruiting them as junior officers for his army; Horace, like the younger Cicero, was amongst those who fell under his spell (Epistles ii.2.46-8; Plutarch, Brutus 24; Cicero, ad Brutum i.14 and ii.3.6), and accompanied him to Asia Minor (as Satires i.7 reflects). At some time before Brutus' defeat and suicide at Philippi in November 42, Horace, though without previous military experience, was given a junior commission as one of his military tribunes, of whom there were six to each legion: the position was normally held by the sons of senators or equestrians intending a magisterial or military career, and the appointment, which gave Horace equestrian status (Taylor (1925) 161-2), clearly exposed the freedman's son to sneers and jealous taunts (Satires i.6.45-8 and note). Fleeing the battlefield, he made good his escape (Odes ii.7.9-14, where the allusion to his abandoning his shield is a conventional lyric motif, exploited with characteristic self-depreciation, which it is dangerous to take literally). Pardoned by the victorious triumvirate of Octavian, Antony and Lepidus for his support of the Republican cause, he returned to Italy, where his father was now dead and the family estate confiscated (Epistles ii.2.50-2). His own humorously exaggerated claim, made in the same passage, that at this point poverty drove him to poetic composition (an acknowledgement of the material benefits which literary patronage was later to confer on him), is corrected by Suetonius, who shows that he still had the means to purchase the post of scriba quaestorius or quaestor's clerk, employed at the treasury and concerned not simply with state revenue but with public records. This responsible,

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IN1RODUCTIONI

lucrative and nonnally pennanent post was often held by members of the equestrian order: Horace himself may still have retained the equestrian status conferred by his military tribunate. It was clearly through poetry composed in his spare time that he came into contact with Virgil and his fellow-poet Varius and became their close friend: it was through them that, in 39 or 38. he was granted an interview with their patron C. Maecenas (see on 1.1). right-hand man to Octavian/Augustus from about 40-20 B.C .• and not only the great literary patron of the Augustan age but also chief diplomatic adviser to the future emperor. Eight or nine months later. somewhere between late 39 and early 37, Horace was recalled and accepted into Maecenas' literary circle (Satires i.6.54-62: for the dating. see on 60-2); before long he found himself, together with Virgil and Varius, accompanying his patron on a diplomatic mission (Satires i.5: see introductory note there). Maecenas' patronage enabled him to devote himself to poetic composition: between 35 and 31. it provided him with the Sabine estate, situated some nine miles from the modem Tivoli, which was so dear to him and is so often mentioned in his poetry (see especially Satires ii.6 and Epistles i.16) and where he often spent summer and autumn. Whether he resigned his post as scriba quaestorius, either on entry as client into Maecenas' circle or on the gift of the farm, or whether he retained it and was able to treat it as a sinecure by delegating his responsibilities, is not clear (in Satires ii.6, a poem which expresses his gratitude for the farm, the scribae at 36-7 crave his presence on an important matter of common concern, but this could be in a merely advisory capacity): what is clear is that the post now took up little, if any, of his time. The presumption that his material prosperity as Maecenas' client gave him equestrian status is proved at Satires ii.7.53-5, if the words of his slave Davus are addressed, as seems natural, to Horace and not to some imaginary second person, and at Satires ii.6.48, where he watches games in the company of Maecenas, himself an eques, since for ludi scaenici the equestrians sat together in specially reserved seats (see on 6.40 below) and for ludi circenses they enjoyed priority from very early times; again. equestrian status fits Horace's eagerness to disavow aspirations to the senatorial cursus in Satires i.6, since any eques was a potential senator, whereas for a non-equestrian the prospect of a senatorial career would be much more remote (see Taylor ( 1925) 161-70). Horace enjoyed an intimate and cordial relationship not only with Maecenas, but also, at least from about 20 B.C., with the emperor Augustus himself; though he had fought for Brutus and Cassius at Philippi, he sincerely welcomed the Augustan regime for its promise of order and stability, and devoted much of his poetry to celebrating it. The Suetonian biography not only mentions the emperor's high regard for Horace as a poet, indicating that the Carmen Saeculare, Odes iv and Epistles ii.I were written at his request, but also records that he offered Horace a position as secretary to help with his private correspondence, and took his refusal with good grace; it further contains extracts from remarkably intimate and playful letters which he addressed to the poeL Tacitus, Annals iii.30, records a cooling in relations between Augustus and Maecenas after 20 B.C.; the absence of allusion to Maecenas in Horace's later works, apart from an affectionate reference to his birthday in Odes iv .11, is no doubt due in part to the poet's tact and diplomacy, and also reflects that Augustus now wished to take on the role of literary patron himself: there is no need to assume any breach between Horace and

INlRODUCTIONI 3 Maecenas, especially in the light of Maecenas' dying instruction to Augustus in his will to remember Horace no less than himself (Horati Flacci, ut mei, memor esto). In Epistles i.20.24-5, Horace portrays himself, at the age of 44, as short (the biography adds that he was tubby and quotes Augustus teasing him on the subject), prematurely white, sun-loving and hasty-tempered, though easily appeased. He remained a bachelor all his life and died, within months of Maecenas, on 27 November, 8B.C. His earliest publications, on which he worked concurrently, were the two books of Satires and the 17 Epodes. Seven of the ten satires of book i mention or allude indirectly to Maecenas, and were thus completed after Horace's acceptance into his circle. The others (2, 4 and 7) could, as is often argued, have been composed earlier, but could equally belong to the same period: the Horatian poems which Virgil and Varius may be presumed to have shown Maecenas when they secured his introduction are not necessarily satires or epodes which have been preserved in the extant corpus. The tenth satire is a formal epilogue to book i, which the last line clearly suggests was published separately from book ii and not, as argued by Williams (1972) 20, simultaneously; there is no reason to question that it appearedc. 35 B.C., perhaps in the winter of 36/5 when the Bibulus mentioned as a prospective reader at 10.86, if correctly identified with Brutus' stepson, was in Rome after taking a fleet to Sicily to help Octavian, and before returning to govern Syria on Antony's behalf (cf. DuQuesnay (1984) 20). Book ii. refers to events in the winter of 31/30, after Octavian's defeat of Antony and Cleopatra at Actium (6.38-9 and 53-6), and probably appearedin 30. The Epodes, composed in iambics, in some cases alternating with dactyls, and ostensibly modelled on Archilochus, are partly invectives and partly on erotic or political themes which look forward to the Odes. They too were probably published in 30: like Satires ii, they presuppose Actium (1 and 9), but cover a wider time-span, relating also to much earlier events (16). The first three books of Odes were published together in 23 or thereabouts, and ensured Horace's permanent fame. Written predominantly in the metres of Sappho and Alcaeus, whom he claims as his models, they draw not only on a wide range of early Greek lyric poetry but also on Alexandrian poetic techniques. Within their great diversity, a number approximate in form, either in whole or in part, to hymns; others concern a drinking-party, a motif often utilised to introduce serious reflections on some aspect of life; others again deal with love, a theme usually handled with detachment and ironic humour at the expense of the victim, who is sometimes the poet himself; a number, overlapping in some cases with the categories just distinguished, make lyric the vehicle for serious political comment and moralising, of which the 'Roman' odes, iii.1-6, are the most conspicuous but by no means the only examples. It was at Augustus' instigation that Horace twice resumed lyric composition, first in the Carmen Saeculare or 'Centennial Ode', a hymn to Apollo and Diana in Sapphic metre detailing Augustus' achievements, to be performed by a choir of 27 girls and 27 boys at the ludi saeculares which were celebrated in 17 and were to be repeated at 120-year intervals thereafter; some four years later he published the fourth book of Odes, in which political themes predominate. The first book of verse Epistles, made up of 20 pieces, seems to have beenpublished in 20, the second, comprising two long letters on literary themes, the first of which is

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addressed to Augustus, in 14. Written in hexameters, they are in many ways the logical sequel to the Satires,in that the epistolary fonn gives Horace the opportunity to indulge in positive reflection or advice on a variety of moral and literary topics in a conversational, informal and highly personal way. His remaining work, the problem~tical Ars Poetica or 'Art of Poetry', which restricts itself largely to epic and drclDla,is of uncertain date but resembles the two Epistlesof book ii in that it takes the form of an extended letter on a literary theme, addressed in this case to an unknown Piso and his sons.

Il. ROMAN SATIRE BEFOREHORACE Whereas the other Roman literary genres have their counterparts in Greek, verse satire is unique in being an original Roman invention. This is the point of Quintilian's famous claim, made in the course of his comparative treatment of Greek and Roman literature, that satire is 'entirely ours' (i.e. entirely Roman: saturaquidemtota nostra est x.1.93). The fact that the Romans here had the field to themselves is reflected in the absence in Greek of any generic term for satire, corresponding to the Roman satura . But the claim to Roman originality in satire requires immediate qualification. First it applies only to the major branch of satura, verse satire, and not to Menippean satire, a minor, rarely practised, category composed in prose and interspersed verse. This branch, as its name reflects, had a direct Greek model in the Cynic philosopher Menippus of Gadara, a Palestinian Greek of the third century B.C., whose works, now lost, were a vehicle for critical philosophical comment which combined the serious with the frivolous. At Rome this form was taken up by the great scholar and antiquarian, M. Terentius Varro (116-27 B.C.), who, in addition to four books of verse satire, produced 150 books of Menippeans, from which only fragments and titles survive; in the next century, it was adopted by the younger Seneca in his Apocolocyntosis,a brief squib at the deceased emperor Claudius, and exploited by Petronius for his comic novel,

Satyricon. Secondly, even though verse satire as a separate literary genre is a Roman invention, it has considerable debts to a variety of branches of Greek literature. If the Romans invented 'satire' in the formal, generic, sense, they certainly did not invent 'the satiric', which is universal and is exemplified in a variety of Greek literary forms. One of the most obvious and important Greek influences on the new Roman genre was the Old Comedy of fifth century Athens (see on 4.1); the extant plays of Aristophanes have a marlced satirical element and carry outspoken attacks on a wide variety of contemporary characters and developments, ranging from the political to the philosophical and the literary. While Horace's claim that Lucilius, his predecessor in verse satire and its true founder, depended entirely on Greek Old Comedy (4.6) is a gross exa-ggeration (see notes there), it contains an important element of truth in that Lucilius sometimes used his satires, as Aristophanes had used his plays, as a vehicle for outspoken, named, contemporary attack. A second and even more potent Greek influence (strictly speaking sub-literary rather than literary) was the philosophical street-sennon or diatribe (8taTpt~{i), delivered in the Hellenistic age by itinerant philosophers of the Cynic and Stoic sects. The most

INTRODUCTION II 5 famous exponent was Bion of Borysthenes on the Black Sea (c.325-255 B.C.), a few fragments of whose diatribes are preserved in the works of Teles, a later practitioner; the work of Menippus, the model for the Menippean sub-category of Roman satire, clearly had much in common with the street-sermon in both spirit and technique. The lessons conveyed in these sermons were not usually doctrinaire, but would often have been acceptable to Cynics, Stoics and Epicureans alike; they were aimed at the man-inthe-street, and sought in inculcate commonplace conclusions about conduct and so to help him lead a happier life. They employed the principle of 'joking in earnest' (CJ1Tov8aLo-yi>.oLov), and sugared the philosophical or ethical pill with a liberal coating of humour. There was a marked satirical element, as the diatribe leant heavily on satirical attack on folly and error; the butt of the satire was often an anonymous interlocutor, so that dialogue figured prominently. The diatribe was also discursive, and avoided formal, systematic arrangement; its language was colloquial. To make it more vivid, arresting and dramatic, it included such devices as fable, character-sketch, literary parody and obscenity. All these features have their place in Roman satire; the importance of the diatribe's influence is reflected in Horace's title for his satires, Sermones (Conversations' or 'Discourses'), since sermo is the exact Latin counterpart of 8LaTpL~TJ,while in Epistles ii.2.60, with reference to satires like his own, he uses the phrase Bioneis sermonibus et sale nigro, 'discourses and malicious wit like Bion's.' Lucilius too had referred to his satires as sermones in the course of the text, even though their official title seems clearly to have been saturae . But Old Comedy and the Hellenistic diatribe were by no means the only influences on Roman satura . The tradition of personal satirical attack in Greek iambic poetry had been established in the seventh century by Archilochus, whose influence on Lucilius can sometimes be detected, as can that of Hellenistic satirical lampoons (l;(>J.oL) like those of the sceptical philosopher Timon of Phlius. Again, Greek mock-epic poems provide a precedent for the mock-epic technique commonly exploited by Roman satirists, above all by Juvenal, while beast-fables, like those of Aesop, have their counterpart in satura, as in Horace's fable of the town and country mouse (Satires ii.6). The Roman invention of a separate literary genre is compatible with a wide range of debts, within it, to other literary forms handled by the Greeks. One factor, however, which perhaps helps to explain the Romans' creation of a new literary genre devoted increasingly to 'the satiric' is that repartee and invective seem to have been particularly congenial to the Roman temperament This is exemplified in the Fescennine verses, an indigenous Roman form comprising ribald songs, often involving cross-talk and banter, sung on such occasions as weddings and harvest-festivals; they have a parallel in the insulting, licentious songs sung about Roman generals celebrating a triumph, the insults being sanctioned on the grounds that they would ward off the Evil Eye. In the literary field, Cicero's in Pisonem, to take a single striking example, is a remarkable reminder of Roman proficiency in highly coloured, virulent invective. This national predisposition, reflected also in the exchange of the two buffoons in Horace, Satires i.5.51-70 and in the acid Italian wit (ltalo aceto) of Rupilius Rex in i.7.32, perhaps makes the Roman invention and cultivation of the new genre a little less of a surpnse. The connotations of satura (later satira) are important, since the term does not wholly overlap with the English derivative, and the differences provide important

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indications of the nature of the Roman genre especially in its early stages. By derivation, satura most probably denotes a medley, being the feminine of the adjective satur, 'full', and referring to something full of diverse contents; it may well be a food metaphor, from either a full dish of first-fruits offered to a deity or the full skin of a sausage (cf. 'farce', which is connected with Italian farsa, 'stuffing'). Both these possibilities are mentioned by the fourth century grammarian Diomedes; a different theory which he proffers, of a connection with the Greek Satyrs, the personification of shameless animal appetite and indulgence, is clearly mistaken on both etymological and general grounds. Some modem scholars prefer the alternative hypothesis of a connection with satir (Etruscan for 'speak'),which like Horace's title Sermones would illustrate the link with conversational discourse and with the Greek diatribe. Whatever the actual derivation, the Romans themselves always thought of satura as involving a medley or miscellany. This is clearly reflected in the last great Roman satirist, Juvenal, who published later than 100 A.D.; at 1.86 he applies the word farrago, literally mixed mash for feeding animals, to his first book as a metaphor for a literary miscellany. From this solitary metaphorical usage in extant Latin, which is characteristically derogatory and suggests that his satires are not fit for human consumption, the word passes into English to denote a hotch-potch. satura thus retained, for all the Roman satirists, the connotation of 'medley', as is reflected in the variety of both their subject-matter and their treatment. And in the case of the earliest practitioners, 'medley' was the primary connotation; it was only with Lucilius that satura became closely associated with satire in the modem sense, and even a century later there is a good deal in Horace's Satires which the modem reader would scarcely regard as satiric, but which reflects the old 'medley' connotation of the word. The English term 'satire' is notoriously difficult to define, but might be summed up as 'criticism of manners (whatever the field, whether, say, social, political, or literary) employing humour and ridicule (however gentle, or however virulent and bitter).' This very broad definition is designed to avoid the pitfalls of attempts at too narrow an interpretation: some definitions, like that of G. Highet in the Oxford Classical Dictionary, would insist that satire must aim to improve society, thus probably excluding Juvenal, who seems primarily concerned to vent his cynical pessimism in a witty, literarily arresting way; some definitions, in turn, would exclude Horace, because his satire is for the most part so mild and his humour so gentle. The origins of Roman verse satire are shrouded in mystery. Livy vii.2 refers to a revue-type stage entertainment, which was developed by Roman performers from an Etruscan ballet performance imported in 364 B.C. and which included miming, song and dance, as impletas modis saturas (metrical medleys), contrasting these with the plays with a connected plot later introduced to the Roman stage by Livius Andronicus in the mid-third century. Some scholars see here a dramatic precursor to literary satura, but even if Livy's account, which is sometimes thought fictitious, is soundly based and the 'dramatic satura' actually existed, to assume any close links with later literary satura on the basis of the three most obvious common features, the miscellaneous content, the use of metre and of dialogue, is highly speculative. Certainly the first writer of literary verse satura was Quintus Ennius (see on 10.54 below). His saturae were in four books (Porphyrio on Horace, Satires i.10.46) and comprised a miscellany of verse pieces in a variety of metres (to be distinguished from

INTRODUCTION II

7

his minor poems with individual titles like Scipio, Ambracia and Hedyphagetica); such collections had a degree of precedent in Hellenistic miscellanies 0,:vµµe-LKTa and •ATana), including Posidippus' Li.>p6s(Com-heap). These Ennian medleys, like those of his nephew Pacuvius, are differentiated by Diomedes from the censorious satura of Lucilius, and Quintilian x.1.95, though he does not mention Ennius by name, also distinguishes this pre-Lucilian tradition (alterum illud etiam prius saturae genus), suggesting that Varro, in his Menippean Satires, further extended its variety by intermingling prose. The scanty fragments and testimonies provide only a limited picture of the Ennian saturae, but, in addition to confirming their diversity of metre and of content, show that general moralising played some part in them (they included a fable from Aesop and a dialogue between Life and Death), and suggest that they may have contained some criticism, not of individuals, but of general moral types, like the glutton and the parasite. But it was left to Gaius Lucilius, a prosperous equestrian of Suessa Aurunca in Latium who wrote in the latter part of the second century and died in 102 B.C., to revolutionise the genre, to make satura satiric and to merit the title of the first European satirist in the modem sense of the term. It is to Lucilius, rather than to Ennius, that the later Roman satirists look back as the generic prototype; Horace, Satires i.10.48, refers to him as the inventor of the genre, in the sense that he realised its true potential and gave it its distinctive stamp. With Lucilius, satura was not a side-line, as it had been for its previous exponents: he concentrated on the one genre, transformed it and exalted its literary prestige. From his 30 books of saturae, over 1300 lines are preserved as fragments; though most of these are isolated lines, cited for a linguistic usage, and though the longest continuous fragment runs to only 13 lines, they nevertheless give a good idea of his themes and the breadth of his range: from them, three vital aspects of his saturae emerge. First, the fragments confirm the feature most emphasised by later Roman satirists and critics, who stress not only his wit but his severity and pungency as a satirist, the outspokenness of his attacks and the freedom with which he assailed prominent contemporary targets by name: thus Horace i.10.3-4 and ii.1.69 describes him as having 'scoured the city with the abundant salt of his wit' and 'arraigned the people's leaders and the people, tribe by tribe', Persius 1.114 as having 'scourged the town'; Juvenal 1.165-7 pictures him as a warrior with drawn sword, at whose approach the guilty blush and sweat with inward guilt, while Quintilian x.1.94 talks of his outspokenness (libertas) and consequent pungency and abundant wit. The fragments bear out this outspokenness in named personal attack, while showing that this is by no means the only side of Lucilius. The later satirists, who are far more inhibited about attacking influential living contemporaries by name, no doubt emphasise it as his most distinctive innovation in the genre, and Persius and Juvenal, who were writing under the Empire when the same degree of freedom was denied them, also perhaps out of a certain nostalgia. Not only was Lucilius writing in the heyday of the Republic, and not only was he himself of influential family, but he also had the powerful backing of Scipio Aemilianus, victor over Carthage in the Third Punic War: he shared the political and philhellenic literary sympathies of Scipio and his associates and was a member of their circle. The fragments reflect these twin interests: not only is Lucilius to be observed attacking political opponents by name and unveiling contemporary scandals with relish in the

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INTRODUCTIONII

process; he is also found levelling some of his famous criticisms at Roman authors past and present (cf. Horace's allusions to his complaints about Accius and Ennius, Satires i.10.53-4 ): sometimes academic literary points, including questions of orthography, are raised, illustrating the learning (eruditio) attributed to him by Quintilian. Such literary criticism was to become a frequent theme of Roman satura, in both its branches. But in addition to outspoken criticism in politics and literature, the fragments reveal secondly that the satires contained a good deal of the general moralising such as certainly figured prominently both in Varro's Menippean Satires and in the later verse satirists, attacks on such general moral targets as luxury, materialism and discontent; they contained general moral lessons of the sort which had figured earlier in the Greek street-sermon or diatribe. Thirdly, the fragments reveal a marked personal, autobiographical element in the satires, a feature not associated with satire in the modem sense but which reflects the origins of satura as a miscellany. The satires contained a good deal of personal anecdote and uninhibited self-revelation, illustrated by the satura which described the satirist's journey from Rome to the Sicilian straits, which in tum was the precedent for Horace's Journey to Brundisium in Satires i.5. The point is summed up by Horace in Satires ii.1.30-4 (used by Boswell to preface his life of Johnson), to the effect that Lucilius' 'confessions' in the satires depict his whole life as clearly as in a painting on a votive tablet. The personal, subjective element is equally marked in Horace's Satires, especially book i: in Juvenal, by contrast, it is conspicuous by its absence, a marked divergence from the earlier tradition. Apart from content, Lucilius' contribution to the form and style of satura was of vital importance. After experimenting with a variety of other metres in the books written first (26-30), he settled on the hexameter for the rest, and so established it as the standard metre for his successors in the genre. But the hexameter of Lucilius' satire differs radically from that of epic and didactic, and conforms to far less rigid canons; though Horace complains of, and refines on, Lucilius' rough versification (cf. Rudd (1966) 105-7), his own hexameter, where the sense-breaks, for example, can come at virtually any point in the line, is, broadly speaking, a far more informal, chattier measure than, say, the Virgilian: it was left to Juvenal to adopt a statelier satiric hexameter conforming far more closely to epic canons. Lucilius also employed for satire a diction and vocabulary that was informal, and often colloquial, avoiding an excess of usages peculiar to epic and tragedy. Here again, although Horace introduced considerable refinements, avoiding, for example, Lucilius' free incorporation of Greek words (cf. Satires i.10.20-30), he followed his predecessor in broad principle, adopting a predominantly conversational style, over-modestly summing up his satires as little more than versified prose (i.4.41-2). Here, Juvenal once more provides a marked contrast, in that in style and vocabulary, as in his handling of the hexameter, he has far more in common with loftier poetic genres than do Lucilius and Horace.

INTRODUCTION ID. THE SATIRES OF BOOK 1

9

In the period of almost a century separating Lucilius' works from those of Horace, verse satire continued to be written, but no practitioner seems to have achieved distinction: see on 10.46-7 below, where Horace alludes to the unsuccessful efforts of Varro of Atax and others, and claims to have chosen the genre on the grounds that he could improve on these attempts. His first book, the first fully extant example of Roman satura, is remarkable for its variety. The ten pieces are grouped in three triads, with the tenth constituting a formal epilogue. The three opening poems form the most clearly defined group, and may be labelled 'diatribe' satires: they owe a great deal to the Greek diatribes or street-sermons in both subject-matter and treatment; it is in these that the moral purpose Horace later claims in 4, when he argues that criticism of faults in specific individuals can deter others from them, is most dominant and conspicuous. Each piece has a single main target of satirical attack, which lies in the field of personal relationships, greed or avarice in l, male sexual folly (primarily adultery and infatuation) in 2, intolerance and excessive severity in judging and punishing the faults of others in 3. The approach is similar in each satire: no abstract religious or philosophical principle is invoked to condemn the three failings; they are attacked, rationally and intellectually, essentially on grounds of self-interest; their victims are portrayed as victims of self-deception, folly and self-inflicted misery. All three faults are represented as forms of foolish extremism in behaviour; in each satire, Horace appeals to the commonplace doctrine of the Golden Mean (e.g. 1.101-7, 2-28), pleading for moderation in all things and arguing against any behavioural excess. There are also common features in form and technique, which are shared with the Greek diatribe and Lucilius; the approach is informal and discursive, in that rather than announcing his moral text at the beginning of each satire, he first engages the reader's attention and leads up to the main theme indirectly, taking him by surprise; he also makes use, to a greater or lesser extent, of an imaginary opponent or interlocutor, with whom he conducts an argument or debate, treating him rather more gently than was probably the case in the Greek diatribes or in Lucilius. He also seeks to avoid the appearance of preaching and of a 'holier-than-thou' attitude by admitting to faults of his own (3.20; cf. 4.130-1 and 6.65-6). Despite marked Epicurean sympathies (e.g. l.74-5, 2.111-2, 3.76-7 and 97-114; cf. 5.44 and 101-3 and 6.128-31) and some antipathy to Stoics (e.g. 1.14 and 120, 2.134, 3.96-142), the moral lessons, as in the Greek diatribe, generally belong to the common ground of philosophy: Horace's targets, and the arguments he directs against them, are perennial and commonplace, though this does not render them any less important; what is perhaps most original and what most commends these pieces to their admirers, along with the stylistic perfection which he brought to the task, is the sweet reasonableness, persuasiveness and good humour with which he presents his case. The second triad, comprising satires 4, 5 and 6, shows greater diversity than the first, but is connected in that these poems are all highly personal in their content. 4 sets out the poet's conception of the moral and literary requirements of the genre, claiming that his satirical attacks have an ultimately constructive purpose (which is illustrated from the personal example of the moral upbringing given him by his father), and asserting, in the course of strategically deployed digressions, the need for a painstaking care in

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INTRODUCTION III

composition of which Lucilius fell woefully short, but at the same time distinguishing the poetic level appropriate for satire from that of more elevated genres like epic. This characteristically discursive piece fakes the form of a defence against the charge that his satire (of which the diatribe triad has now provided examples) is malevolent; it constitutes the poet's literary apologia, which is developed, by way of epilogue to the book, in satire 10, where the stylistic criticisms of Lucilius are defended and extended to his satiric tone, and where Horace defines his own relationship to his predecessor: such literary themes were a recurrent feature of satura (Introduction II). The literary apologia of 4 is balanced by the personal apologia which completes the triad in 6. While this piece is closely related to the diatribe satires, in that it contains a general moral lesson on ambition and an attack on its follies, the discussion is illustrated throughout from Horace's own case, and includes a careful justification of his own standing with Maecenas and a defence against the criticisms of jealous detractors; he takes the opportunity to make clear that he has no political ambitions and no intention to exploit his relationship with his patron to that end. The argument is conducted by means of memorable personal illustrations, including the descriptions of his freedman father's unstinting educational provisions for his son and Horace's own pride in him, and of his introduction to and acceptance by Maecenas and the independent life-style which this has made possible: the piece pays an eloquent tribute of gratitude and admiration to both father and patron. Satire 5, the central poem of the triad, on which the apologias of 4 and 6 pivot, is also highly personal, this time in that it provides a first-person account of a journey which Horace without much doubt actually made, when he accompanied Maecenas, who was engaged on a diplomatic mission, from Rome to Brundisium in 38 or 37 B.C. (on this and some of the following points, see introductory note to the satire). In the triad, the poem looks both forward and back: it is a natural sequel to the complaints about Lucilius' careless prolixity in 4, since he had treated a parallel theme and Horace thus has the opportunity to demonstrate the economy and care with which it should be handled; it also has close links with 6, in that it provides a preliminary insight into Horace's relationship not only with Maecenas (cf. also 3.63-5 earlier) but also with other members of the circle, Virgil and Varius, who had secured his introduction and who, along with Plotius Tucca, join the party for the later stages of the journey; again as in 6, Horace seems deliberately to dissociate himself from politics, here by distancing himself from the diplomatic mission. Attempts to find a central satiric purpose in the poem are unconvincing and misguided, but the good-humoured, ironic detachment with which the various tribulations of the journey are recounted does much to develop the personal image of the satirist which is conveyed to the reader. While the second triad is thus primarily concerned with Horace himself and his literary and social worlds, the third comprises an assortment of three anecdotal pieces, which are the shortest poems in the book and are arranged in ascending order of length (35, 50 and 78 lines in turn). Mainly lighter than the remainder, they, together with 5, are classified by Rudd (1966) 54 as 'entertainments', though the label has the disadvantage of implying a lack of entertainment value in the rest. Each poem of the final triad involves a conflict, between the vituperative litigants Rupilius and Persius in 7, between the fig-wood statue of Priapus (the narrator) and the witches who haunt the gardens he protects in 8, and between Horace (the narrator) and the 'bore' or 'pest' in 9 (in both 7 and 9, the combatants are compared with epic warriors in battle): the conflict

INTRODUCTION III

11

is in each case resolved with paradoxical ease, by Persius' pun, by the explosion brought about by the statue's terror, and by the divine intervention which results in the 'bore' being whisked away to his lawsuit While 7 vies with 5 for the title of the least satiric poem in the book, and while the satire on the witches in 8 presupposes Horace's own sceptical attitude, 9 includes a sustained satirical expose not only of the bore's general tiresomeness but also of more serious faults, his social climbing, in his eagerness to secure an introduction to Maecenas, and his ruthless, competitive ambition, which he mistakenly attributes to the members of Maecenas' circle. This links the poem closely with 6, which concluded the second triad, and which asserted Maecenas' aloofness to ambitious self-seeking, and where Horace exemplifies the 'bore's' converse. It also has a close affinity with 5, in that it is a first-person Horatian narrative (even though the encounter with the 'bore', unlike the journey, may be largely fictitious), and in that much of the fun is at Horace's own expense as he describes his discomfiture with amused detachment. This illustrates that the broad but clear pattern of three triads, with an epilogue concerning Horace's own standards and place in the genre, does not preclude other relationships between the poems: e.g. the address to Maecenas in 6, opening the second half of the book, balances the opening dedication in 1. The book thus reflects the medley origins of satura in its very diversity. It presents essentially serious and constructive moral lessons not only in 1-3 but also in 6, it sets out the poet's personal conception of the literary and moral requirements of the genre and of his own place in it in 4 and 10, and it includes a number of essentially slighter narrative or anecdotal pieces, not only 7-9 but also 5, which vary considerably from one another in the extent to which they are satiric. In all three categories of poem, there is a marked personal or autobiographical element, most pervasive in 4, 5, 6, 9 and 10, but not confined to these poems, and always carefully integrated with the piece in question. However much Horace may differ from his predecessor, all four ingredients go back to Lucilius (Introduction II). Horace's moral purpose in the book should be neither ignored nor exaggerated. A glance at his central moral targets in 1, 2, 3 and 6 is enough to give the lie to the frequent assertion that he attacks merely 'foibles'. A related misconception is that he attacks folly not vice: it would be truer to claim that when he attacks vice, or a serious moral fault, he makes it appear folly, an entirely different matter. However, his insistence at the end of 4 that his attacks on specific individuals are constructive and morally improving for the reader should not suggest the picture of a passionate missionary like Lucretius, seeking with evangelical fervour to bring Roman society its moral deliverance: in any case, he is not aiming at wide circulation but writing for a discriminating minority audience, as 4 and 10 repeatedly stress. The same two satires also make it clear that he gives a high priority to achieving stylistic perfection in the form. Indeed, the Satires can convincingly be argued to be primarily literary in their aim and to be designed to provide pleasure and delight to the reader rather than to improve him: but at the very least it has to be conceded that Horace is not indifferent to the moral content of the Satires, but is concerned to make it essentially edifying and constructive, and that part of the pleasure afforded by the moralising satires, however much the modern reader may deplore, for example, the male chauvinism of the second poem, usually lies in recognising the validity and sound sense of his argument Whether

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INTRODUCTIONIII

his great successor Juvenal is as edifying and constructive is very much another question. A degree of caution is also required with regard to the pervasive personal, subjective and autobiographical aspect of the Satires, which is regarded by critics like Perret (1964) and Williams, Oxford Classical Dictionary, as Horace's greatest debt to Lucilius; in turn Fraenkel (1957) finds self-portraiture the most attractive and successful aspect of the Satires and (p.87) their 'proper end'. The biographical approach to literature is beset with pitfalls and out of fashion: Anderson (1982) 28-9 follows Kernan (1959) in carefully distinguishing the historical Horace from the mask or persona which he adopts as speaker in the Satires, for which he uses the term 'the satirist', and points out that the two are not necessarily identical: he goes on (pp. 50-73) to a speculative exploration of the relationship between art and autobiography in the poet. Obviously the poems include much authentic information about Horace's life, which he had neither motive nor opportunity to invent and which the Suetonian biography usually corroborates: but allowance has to be made for selectivity and playful or ironic misrepresentation, as when (i.6.71) he exaggerates his father's poverty or (Epistles ii.2.50-2) suggests poverty as his own motive for poetic composition (cf. Introduction I); for idealisation, e.g. of his father and his own relationship with him (see, e.g., on 6.85-7) or of the independence and simplicity of his life-style as Maecenas' cliens (see on 6.115, 119-20, 122 and 123), in order to serve his artistic purpose; and for the possibility that the satiric persona of book i displays a more consistently mature, restrained and disciplined outlook than the historical Horace at the age of 25-30. At the same time it is the personality presented by the Satires, of an easy-going, sensible, rational and constructive critic, an 'outspoken friend' or liber amicus in the terminology of i.4.132, committed to clearly defined artistic ideals and an engaging raconteur and ironist who can find amusement in his own misadventures and admit his own shortcomings, that many readers find the most attractive feature of the poems, even if in the last resort this personality, which must at least relate very closely to an ideal of himself in the poet's mind, is to be defined as that of 'the satirist' rather than that of the historical Horace. Although the Satires include attacks on numerous named individuals, Horace differs fundamentally from Lucilius in that he refrains from direct attack on contemporary political figures, and scarcely ever attacks any living contemporary who is at all prominent or influential. Though the information provided by the ancient commentators can be unreliable and identification is often impossible or uncertain, the names seem clearly to fall into a range of diverse categories (cf. Rudd (1966) 132-59), which can be illustrated from book i. They often belong to real living contemporaries, like the literary opponents of 10.78-80 and 90 (though Pantilius appears to be a meaningful nickname), where the whole point depends on the characters being instantly recognisable. However, hardly any such cases involve persons of prominence: the most prominent candidates are the Sallust of 2.48, who may well be the historian (even though he was now politically discredited) and the Tillius of 6.24 and 107, who has regained his senatorial status and achieved the praetorship (though he is clearly unpopular). Some contemporary targets are recently deceased, like the singer Tigellius the Sardinian of 2.3 and 3.3-4 and Antony's dwarf Sisyphus at 3.47, though it is not always clear whether they are living or dead, as with Fausta, Villius and Longarenus at 2.64-7: certainly few in either category are prominent or influential. Thirdly there is the strong probability

INTRODUCTIONIII

13 that a number of names are taken over from Lucilius, enabling Horace simultaneously to pay homage to his predecessor and to avoid odium for an excess of named contemporary attack by using them as types; Maenius 3.21, Labeo 3.82 and possibly Nomentanus 1.102 are candidates for this category, of which Gallonius at ii.2.47 is a more certain example. A fourth group comprises names which usually correspond to actual names in contemporary use but which the context suggests are employed 'meaningfully' to denote types, like Novius ('Newman') for the upstart (6.M>) or Pantolabus ('Grab-all' in Greek) for the sponger (8.11); cf. cases like Maltinus (2.25), Cupiennius (2.36), and Apella (5.100). Fifthly, names are occasionally taken from legend or from earlier history to represent types, as with Tantalus symbolising contemporary greed and insatiability at 1.68 and in all probability Laevinus representing the degenerate noble at 6.12 and 19. Sixthly, there is at least the possibility that some metrically equivalent pseudonyms (like Catullus' 'Lesbia' for Clodia) are utilised: the most celebrated candidate is Canidia, which the scholiasts claim is a cover-name for one Gratidia (see on 8.24). This great diversity of practice reflects how inhibited Horace is, compared to Lucilius, with regard to named contemporary attack. However, this does not prove that personal attack is a negligible element in the Satires or that it did not cause any resentment. The contrary is suggested by his self-defence against the charge of malevolence in i.4 and against the complaints of the champions of Lucilius in i.10, and by his claim that, while some find the opposite, others find him too harsh (nimis acer) in satire (ii.I.I), even though some critics would refuse to take such passages at face value and would see them as merely providing a framework for discussion in the pieces in question. There is, however, some evidence that in writing the Satires Horace progressively reduced the number of named contemporary victims: i.2, often thought to be the earliest written, contains a very high proportion of proper names, and some of the most influential, while in book ii there is certainly a marked decrease in the number of proper names of any category, not just of living contemporaries, suggesting that named attack made Horace enemies and that this led him progressively to reduce it. But if the Satires caused contemporary offence, the use of proper names is not necessarily the sole reason: it would also illustrate the truth of Horace's own famous claim in i.10.14-5, that humour can be more effective than severity, and show that his satire, for all its mildness, found its mark. Although Satires i contains no direct denigration of Octavian's political opponents and enemies, still less any overt praise of the future emperor, a political dimension and propagandist function should not be totally discounted, and the book should not be read without regard to the contemporary political background, of which Syme (1939) gives an admirable account. The triumvirate formed by Octavian, Antony and Lepidus in November 43 was a constitutionally disguised dictatorship based on military power, which had immediately proscribed some 300 senators and 2000 equestrians and, after the defeat of Brutus and Cassius at Philippi a year later, in which the bulk of Rome's traditional ruling class was destroyed, had rewarded the victorious veterans with estates confiscated from dispossessed Italian small-holders. Well before Lepidus was ousted from the political scene in 36, the allocation of the provinces amongst the triumvirate after Philippi had set the stage for the division of the Roman world into a Western half under Octavian and an Eastern half under Antony, and for their struggle for domination, in which, after the threat of war between them had been averted, from 40 onwards, in a

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IN1RODUCTION ill-IV

series of agreements temporarily patching up their differences, Octavian was eventually to prevail at Actium in 31. During the composition of Satiresi, the immooiate problem confronting Octavian and his triumviral colleagues was that of Pompey's son Sextus, who had been outlawoo in 43, but had established such a powerful naval presence in the Mediterranean, supported both by victims of the proscriptions and by survivors from the defeated forces at Philippi who took refuge with him and rallioo to his cause, that by the tteaty of Misenum in 39 Octavian and Antony granted him Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica and Achaea, and the refugees from the proscriptions and Philippi were allowed to return to Italy. Hostilities between Octavian and Sextus were nevertheless quickly renewed in the bellum Siculum,in which Octavian, after serious defeats in 38, finally prevailoo at Naulochus in September 36. During and after this campaign it was important for Octavian to discredit Sextus Pompeius and his supporters, and to present them not as the last champions of the Republican cause but, as Horace does atEpodes 4.19 and 9.9-10, as leading a gang of brigands and runaway slaves and threatening to enslave the city; conversely he neoooo to promote a favourable image of himself and the triumvirate, dispelling any impression of military dictatorship or tyranny, and carefully concealing or playing down any hint of disharmony between himself and Antony, whilst simultaneously increasing his own power and prestige to match that of his rival. DuQuesnay (1984) sees Satires i as contributing to these goals insofar as Horace consciously presents an attractive image of himself and his friends (Maecenas and so in turn the new rulers of Rome) as sophisticated, cultured and intelligent men, humane in their attitudes to others, mindful of Roman tradition, and with a serious moral concern. Thus he regards the diatribe satires as an indication that Maecenas and his friends, including Octavian, so far from being motivated, as their enemies might claim, by greed, ambition and discontent, share Horace's views of these moral evils; he sees the anti-Stoic bias of the first three satires, each of which ends with a gibe at a specific Stoic and which culminate in a sustained attack on the extremism of a Stoic paradox, as probably aimed in particular at the doctrinaire Stoicism of the younger Cato, that staunch and uncompromising champion of the Republican cause who, after Caesar's decisive victory, had committed suicide at Utica; in turn, satires 6 and 9 clearly present an attractive picture of Maecenas and his circle, and the wholesome absence from it of competitive ambition and ruthless self-seeking. To attribute such a propagandist dimension to the book does not imply either that Horace was insincere in his view of and support for Octavian, or that his subject-matter was dictated to him, but merely that he sympathised with Octavian's aims, seeing in him the best chance of peace and stability, and found his own tactfully discreet method of promoting his cause. While DuQuesnay's suggestions do not generally admit of conclusive proof and -may not always win general agreement, he has succeeded in focusing attention on a hitherto largely unexplored aspect of the book.

IV. MANUSCRIPTS AND SCHOUA The oldest surviving manuscripts of Horace belong to the ninth and tenth centuries, but despite their comparative antiquity are not completely accurate and reliable: they not only share a number of errors which suggest ultimate descent from a single archetype,

INTRODUCTION IV 15 but also include corruptions of their own or of their own group. A different tradition was preserved by the oldest (V) of the four Blandinian MSS; these were housed in the monastery of Mont Blandin near Ghent and used by Jacobus Cruquius, professor at Bruges, in preparing his edition of Horace published in 1578: though the four MSS were destroyed when the monastery was sacked in 1566, Cruquius preserves a number of readings from V which differ from the main tradition and seem in some, but by no means all, cases to be superior to it; they are sometimes supported by a much later-MS, g (Gothanus), which dates to the fifteenth century. For the other MSS cited in the brief critical apparatus appended to the text, I have adopted the notation of D.R. Shackleton Bailey's 1985 Teubner edition, whereby a= Ambrosianus 0 136, B = Bemensis 363, C/E = Monacensis 14685, K = codex S. Eugendi (St Claude), R = Vaticanus reginae Christianae 1703: t denotes the consensus of a number of other old, and related, MSS, including 8 (Harleianus 2725), ♦, "1and). (Parisini, Lat. 7974, 7971 and 7972) and 1 (Leidensis, Lat. 28): inferior MSS are denoted by s. The scholia, or ancient explanatory notes, on Horace fall into three categories. Porphyrio's commentary on the complete works belongs to the early third century. Secondly, there is the collection of scholia dating probably to the fifth century which was falsely attributed by medieval scholars to Helenius Acron, who was older than Porphyrio and is cited by him: this group, even though it may contain some material drawn from Acron, is accordingly referred to as 'pseudo-Acron'. Thirdly, there are the scholia found by Cruquius appended to the Blandinian MSS and recorded by him, which are given the collective title of 'Commentator Cruquianus' ('Cruquianus' in the commentary). The scholiasts throw little light on the text, since they scarcely preserve any reading not found in the surviving MSS tradition. As commentators, their value is also very restricted, for while they had access to material which has subsequently been lost and may sometimes preserve authentic information, they are prone to reson to fanciful guess-work, as in the case of Fannius at Satires i.4.21, where he is supposed to have begged to be cremated on a pile of his own books, or Petillius Capitolinus at 4.94: again, they are prone to misunderstanding, as in suggesting at 2.64 that Villius is Fausta's husband, and the name a metrical equivalent for Annius, her actual husband, or to demonstrable error, as in their identification of Cassius Etruscus at 10.61-2. Despite this general unreliability, some of their information is feasible enough and provides the best explanation of a passage that we have.

HORACE SATIRESI

18

I Qui fit, Maecenas, ut nemo, quam sibi sortem seu ratio dederit seu fors obiecerit, illa contentus vivat, laudet diversa sequentis? 'o fortunati mercatores!' gravis annis miles ait multo iam fractus membra labore. contra mercator, navem iactantibus Austris, 'militia est potior. quid enim? concurritur: horae momento cita mors venit aut victoria laeta.' agricolam laudat iuris legumque peritus, sub galli cantum consultor ubi ostia pulsat. ille, datis vadibus qui rure extractus in urbem est, solos felices viventis clamat in urbe. cetera de genere hoe, adeo sunt multa, loquacem delassare valent Fabium. ne te morer, audi quo rem deducam. si quis deus 'en ego' dicat 'iam faciam quod vultis: eris tu, qui modo miles, mercator; tu, consultus modo, rusticus: hinc vos, vos hinc mutatis discedite partibus: eia! quid statis?' nolint atqui licet esse beatis. quid causae est merito quin illis Iuppiter ambas iratus buccas inflet, neque se fore posthac tarn facilem dicat, votis ut praebeat aurem? praeterea ne sic ut qui iocularia ridens percurram - quamquam ridentem dicere verum quid vetat, ut pueris olim dant crustula blandi doctores, elementa velint ut discere prima? sed tamen amoto quaeramus seria ludo: ille gravem duro terram qui vertit aratro, perfidus hie caupo, miles, nautaeque per omne audaces mare qui currunt, hac mente laborem sese ferre, senes ut in otia tuta recedant,

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How is it, Maecenas, that no one lives content with the lot which choice has bestowed on him or chance thrown in his way, but commends those who pursue different paths?'How happy the merchants!' declares the soldier, when the years begin to weigh on hini and his limbs are worn out with the long hani strain. Yet the merchant, when southerly gales toss his barque, cries, 'An anny life beats this! No question! Battle is joined, and in one decisive hour comes a quick death or the joy of victory.' Your specialist in law and statute, when a client knocks on his door before cockcrow, praises the fanning life; yet the man dragged from the country to the city to appear in court swears that city-dwellers alone are blessed. 1be other examples like this, so many are they, are enough to wear out the wordy Fabius. So as not to detain you, let me tell you what I'm leading up to. Suppose some deity were to say, 'Here I am, I'll do what you want on the spot: you, whojust now were a soldier, shall be a merchant; you, the fonner lawyer, a rustic; you lot move over from this side, you from that, exchanging roles. Hey! Why are you standing still?': they'd refuse. And yet they have the chance to be happy! What reason is there to prevent Jupiter - with justification - puffing both cheeks out at them in anger, and declaring that he will not in future be so accommodating as to lend an ear to their prayers? Moreover, so as not to run laughingly through the subject, like someone running through a series of jokes - though what is there to stop anyone telling the truth with a laugh? It's on this principle that coaxing teachers sometimes give children little cakes, to give them the incentive to learn the basic rudiments. But still, let's putjesting aside, and conduct a serious enquiry: the man who turns up the heavy soil with his unremitting plough, the dishonest innkeeper, the soldier, and the sailors who have the nerve to speed over every sea claim that they endure their haniship with this motive, that in old age they may withdraw to a secure

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aiunt, cum sibi sint congesta cibaria: sicut parvula - nam exemplo est - magni fonnica laboris ore trahit quodcumque potest atque add.it acervo quern struit baud ignara ac non incauta futuri. quae, simul inversum contristat Aquarius annum, non usquam prorepit et illis utitur ante quaesitis sapiens, cum te neque fervidus aestus demoveatlucro neque hiems, ignis, mare, ferrum, nil obstet tibi dum ne sit te ditior alter. quid iuvat immensum te argenti pondus et auri furtim defossa timidum deponere terra? 'quod si comminuas, vilem redigatur ad assem.' at ni id fit, quid habet pulchri constructus acervus? milia frumenti tua triverit area centum, non tuus hoe capiet venter plus ac meus, ut, si reticulum panis venalis inter onusto forte vehas umero, nihilo plus accipias quam qui nil portarit. vel die quid referat intra naturae finis viventi, iugera centum an mille aret? 'at suave est ex magno tollere acervo.' dum ex parvo nobis tantundem haurire relinquas, cur tua plus laudes cumeris granaria nostris? ut tibi si sit opus liquidi non amplius urna vel cyatho et dicas 'magno de flumine mallem quam ex hoe fonticulo tantundem sumere.' eo fit plenior ut si quos delectet copia iusto, cum ripa simul avulsos ferat Aufidus acer. at qui tantuli eget quanto est opus, is neque limo turbatam haurit aquam neque vitam amittit in undis. at bona pars hominum decepta cupidine falso 'nil saris est,' inquit 'quia tanti quantum habeas sis.' quid facias illi? iubeas miserum esse, libenter

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the same way, the tiny ant, a giant in effort - for he is their modeldrags whatever he can in his mouth and adds it to the pile he's constructing,not unaware and not heedless of the future. But as soon as Aquariuscasts a pall over the turningyear,the ant does not drag himself out anywhere, and sensibly utilises those earlier acquisitions,whereas neither burning heat nor winter deter you from money-making-fire, sea, sword,nothingstandsin yourway, so long as you can prevent anyone else being richer than you. What pleasure is there for you in digging up the earth and stealthilyandfearfullydepositingan immenseweightof silverand gold in it? 'But if you drew on it, it would be reduced to a paltry penny.' But if you don't, what attractionis there in the pile you've built? If your threshing-floorhas produced a hundred thousand bushelsof grain, your stomachwon't hold more thanmine on that account,just as, if it chancedthat your shoulderwas laden andyou were carrying the bread-bagin a party of slaves,you wouldget no more than the man who'd carried nothing. Again, tell me what differenceit makes to the man living withinthe limits imposedby nature whetherhe ploughsa hundredor a thousandacres? 'But it's nice to draw from a big heap.' Providedyou leaveus free to scoop the same amount from a small one, why should you praise your granariesmore than our bins? It's as if you needed no more than a pitcherful or a glassful of water and said, 'I'd sooner draw the same amount from a big river than from this little fountain.' This resultsin those who delightin a more than reasonablesupplybeing torn off together with the bank and carried away by the violent Aufidus. But the man who asks only for the little he needs neither draws water which is swirling with mud nor loses his life in the waves. But a good many men, led astray by misguideddesire, say, 'Nothing is enough, because you're valued accordingto the scale of yourpossessions.'Whatare you to do with a man like that? You

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quatenus id facit, ut quidam memoratur Athenis sordidus ac dives populi contemnere voces sic solitus: 'populus me sibilat, at mihi plaudo ipse domi, simul ac nummos contemplor in area.' Tantalus a labris sitiens fugientia captat flumina - quid rides? mutato nomine de te fabula narratur: congestis undique saccis indormis inhians et tamquam parcere sacris cogeris aut pictis tamquam gaudere tabellis. nescis quo valeat nummus, quern praebeat usum? panis ematur, bolus, vini sextarius, adde quis humana sibi doleat natura negatis. an vigilare metu exanimem, noctesque diesque formidare malos fures,. incendia, servos, ne te compilent fugientes, hoe iuvat? horum semper ego optarim pauperrimus esse bonorum. 'at si condoluit temptatum frigore corpus, aut alius casus lecto te adfixit, babes qui adsideat, fomenta paret, medicum roget, ut te suscitet ac reddat gnatis carisque propinquis.' non uxor salvum te vult, non filius; omnes vicini oderunt, noti, pueri atque puellae. miraris, cum tu argento post omnia ponas, si nemo praestet quern non merearis amorem? an si cognatos, nullo natura labore quos tibi dat, retinere velis servareque amicos, inf elix operam perdas, ut si quis asellum in Campo doceat parentem currere frenis? denique sit finis quaerendi, cumque habeas plus pauperiem metuas minus, et fmire laborem incipias parto quod ave bas, ne facias quod Ummidiusquidam. non longa est fabula: dives ut metiretur nummos, ita sordidus ut se non umquam servo melius vestiret: adusque supremum tempus ne se penuria victus opprimeret metuebat. at hunc liberta securi

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might as well tell him to be miserable,since he is so by choice, like the mean rich man at Athens, who, the story goes, used to disdainpopulargibes withthis reflection,'The peoplehiss me, but at home I applaud myself, as soon as I gaze on the cash in my coffers.' Tantaluscatchesthirstilyat the riverswhich recedefrom his lips- why the laughter? The name's different.but the story's yours: you heap up yourmoney-bagson everyside and go to sleep on them, mouth agape, and are forced to keep them inviolate as if they were sacredobjects and to enjoythem as if they were painted pictures. Don't you know the purpose of money, the use you can put it to? Bread can be bought,vegetables,a carafe of wine, plus the things which, if denied, make human nature grieve its lot. Or do you enjoy staying awake half-dead with fear, and living night and day in dread of villainousburglars, fires, and your slaves, in casethey rob you and run away? In theseblessings,I myselfwould hope alwaysto be the poorestof the poor. 'But if your body aches with an attack of fever,or someother mischancehas confinedyou to bed, you have someoneto sit by you, to prepare fomentations, to call the doctor so that he can revive you and restore you to your children and your dear relations.• Your wife doesn't want your recovery,nor does your son; all yourneighbourshate you,.allyour acquaintances,even boys and girls. Are you surprised,when you sacrifice everything to money, that no one shows you the love which you don't deserve? I supposethat, if you wanted to retain and preserve the affections of your own flesh and blood, those whom nature gives you with no effort on your part. it would be a fnritlesswasteof time,like teachinga donkeyto gallopon the Plain in obedience to the reins. In short. let there be a limit to your money-making,and when you've increased what you have, fear poverty the less, and begin to limit your striving once you've obtained what you desired, so that you don't follow the example of one Ummidius. It's not a long story; he was so rich that he measuredhis money by the bushel, so mean that he never dressed better than a slave: yet right up to his last breath he was afraid of being overtakenby lack of essentialsustenance. But he was axed

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divisit medium, fortissima Tyndaridarum. 'quid mi igitur suades? ut vivamNaevius aut sic ut Nomentanus?' pergis pugnantia secum frontibus adversis componere: non ego avarum cum veto te fieri vappam iubeo ac nebulonem. est inter Tanain quiddam socerumque Viselli. est modus in rebus, sunt certi denique fines, quos ultra citraque nequit consistere rectum. illuc unde abii redeo, qui nemo, ut avarus, se probet ac potius laudet diversa sequentis, quodque aliena capella gerat distentius uber tabescat neque se maiori pauperiorum turbae comparet, hunc atque hunc superare laboret. sic festinanti semper locupletior obstat, ut, cum carceribus missos rapit ungula currus, instat equis auriga suos vincentibus, illum praeteritum temnens extremos inter euntem. inde fit ut raro, qui se vixisse beatum dicat et exacto contentus tempore vita cedat uti conviva satur, reperire queamus. iam satis est. ne me Crispini scrinia lippi compilasse putes, verbum non amplius addam.

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25 in two by a freedwoman,the bravest of all Tyndareus' descendants. 'What then are you urging me to do? To live like Naeviusor Nomentanus?' Now you're bringingtogether things which are in head-on conflictwith one another. When I tell you not to become a miser, I'm not telling you to become a wastrel and a good-fornothing. 1bere is a certain range between Tanais and Visellius' father-in-law. Things have a proper measure, there are in other words definite limits, beyond or short of which the right course can't lie. I returnto the point from which I've digressed,how no one, because of greed, is satisfied with himself, and rather commends those whopursuedifferentpaths,andwastesawaybecausesomeone else's goat has a more distended udder, instead of comparing himself with the greater mass of men poorer than himself, and laboursto outstripfil'$tthis,then that individual. As he hastenslike this he always has someone richer in his way, just as,·when the poundinghoovessweepon the chariotsoncethey've been released from the starting-gates,a charioteerpresseshard upon the team of horseswhichare leadinghis own,disdainingthat other man whom he's passed and who's fallen back into the pack at the rear. This is why we can rarely find anyonewho says he's lived a happy life, and who, when his time is up, departs from life content, like a satisfied guest. That's enough: in case you think I've plundered the sore-eyed Crispinus' desk, I shan't add a word more. SATIRE ONE

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II Ambubaiarum collegia, phannacopolae, mendici, mimae, balatrones, hoe genus omne maestum ac sollicitum est cantoris morte Tigelli. quippe benignus erat. contra hie, ne prodigus esse dicatur metuens, inopi dare nolit amico frigus quo duramque famem propellere possit. hone si perconteris, avi cur atque parentis praeclaram ingrata stringat malus ingluvie rem, omnia conductis coemens obsonia nummis, sordidos atque animi quod parvi nolit haberi, respondet. laudatur ab his, culpatur ab illis. Fufidios vappae famam timet ac nebulonis, dives agris, dives positis in faenore nummis: quinas hie capiti mercedes exsecat, atqoe quanto perditior qoisque est tanto acrius urget; nomina sectatur modo sumpta veste virili sub patribus duris tironum. 'maxime' quis non 'Ioppiter!' exclamat simul atque aodivit? 'at in se pro quaestu somptum facit.' hie? vix credere possis quam sibi non sit amicos, ita ot pater ille, Terenti fabola quern miserum gnato vixisse fugato indocit, non se peios cruciaverit atque hie. si qois none quaerat 'qoo res haec pertinet?', illoc: dom vitant stulti vitia, in contraria currunt. Maltinus tunicis demissis ambulat, est qui inguen ad obscenum subductis usque; facetus pastillos Rufillus olet, Gargonius hircum. nil medium est. sunt qui nolint tetigisse nisi illas quarum subsuta talos tegat instita veste: contra alius nollam nisi olenti in fomice stantem. quidam notus homo cum exiret fomice, 'macte virtote esto' inqoit sententia dia Catonis:

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The Worshipful Companies of Flute-girls, the pedlars of potions, mendicants, mime-actresses, buffoons and all of that ilk are sadly distressed at the death of Tigellius, the singer. He was so generous! This fellow, on the other hand, afraid of being called a spendthrift, would refuse to give an impoverished friend enough to stave off cold and the pangs of hunger. If you cross-question this fellow here as to why he's whittling away the rich estate of his father and grandfather so culpably through insatiable gluttony, buying up every delicacy with borrowed funds, his reply is that it's because he doesn't want to be thought niggardly and meanminded. He's praised by one side, blamed by the other. Fufidius is afraid of a reputation as a wastrel and good-for-nothing-he's rich both in land and in money which he's lent out at interest. He docks five per cent interest from the principal, and the more desperate anyone's position, the harder he presses him; he chases after the signatures of youths who have just donned the toga of manhood and are under the stem scrutiny of their fathers. On hearing this, 'Good heavens!' goes up the universal cry: 'Still, he spends on himself in proportion to his profits.' Not him! You can scarcely believe how unfriendly he is to himself! So much so, that the father portrayed in Terence's play as having lived a life of misery after sending his son packing didn't tonnent himself more cruelly than he does. Suppose someone now asks 'What's the point of all this?' It's this: in avoiding one fault, fools rush to the opposite extreme. Maltinus goes around with his tunic let down low, another with it obscenely raised right up to his groin; the elegant Rufillus smells of breath-fresheners, Gargonius like a goat. There's no happy medium. There are some who refuse to touch all women but those whose heels are covered by the flounce trimming their dress: conversely, another won't touch any unless she's on sale in a reeking brothel. When a well-known individual was making his exit from a brothel, 'Well done! So may you continue!' was the inspired verdict of Cato: 'As soon as the bane of lust has

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'nam simul ac venas inflavit taetra libido, hue iuvenes aequum est descendere, non alienas pennolere uxores.' 'nolim laudarier' inquit 'sic me' mirator cunni Cupiennius albi. audire est operae pretium, procedere recte qui moechis non vultis, ut omni parte laborent, utque illis multo corrupta dolore voluptas atque haec rara cadat dura inter saepe pericla. hie se praecipitem tecto dedit; ille flagellis ad mortem caesus; fugiens hie decidit acrem praedonum in turbam; dedit hie pro corpore nummos; hunc penninxerunt calones; quin etiam illud accidit, ut quidam testis caudamque salacem demeteret ferro. 'iure' omnes; Galba negabat. tutior at quanto merx est in classe secunda, libertinarum dico, Sallustius in quas non minus insanit quam qui moechatur. at hie si, qua res, qua ratio suaderet, quaque modeste munifico esse licet, vellet bonus atque benignus esse, daret quantum saris esset nee sibi damno dedecorique foret. verum hoe se amplectitur uno, hoe amat et laudat, 'matronam nullam ego tango'; ut quondam Marsaeus, amator Originis ille, qui patrium mimae donat fundumque laremque, 'nil fuerit mi' inquit 'cum uxoribus umquam alienis.' verum est cum mimis, est cum meretricibus, unde fama malum gravius quam res trahit. an tibi abunde personam satis est, non illud quidquid ubique officit evitare? bonam deperdere famam, rem patris oblimare, malum est ubicumque. quid interest in matrona, ancilla peccesne togata?

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29 swollentheir members,it's rightfor youngmen to comedownhere rather than grinding away at other men's wives.' 'I shouldn't like to be praisedfor that' says Cupiennius;whatturm him on is a cunt that's clad in white. SATIRE TWO

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It's worth whileto hearken,you who wish misfortuneupon adulterers,howtheysufferat everytum, howtheirpleasureis spoilt by tremendouspain and how it rarely falls to their lot, in the midst of cruel and constant dangers. One man has hurled himself headlong from a roof, another's been scourgedto death; this one, whilst making his escape, has stumbled into a fierce band of robbers; this one's paid cash to save his person; this one's been irrigatedby grooms; why,it's even come to the point wherea man took his sword and scythedoff his victim's balls and lustful cock. 'Fair enough' said all; Galba didn't agree. But how much safer are the wares offered by the second class - freed women, I mean; yet Sallust is no less crazy for them than is the adultererfor others' wives. But if Sallustwere prepared to be gallantand generouswithinthe limitswhichhis resourcesand reason dictated, and within which he can be bountiful without excess, he would be giving an adequateamount without bringing ruin and disgraceupon himself. But he prides himselfon this one point,this is his fondboast: 'I nevertoucha marriedwoman.' He's just like Marsaeus, the lover of Origo, who once bestowed the paternal hearth and home on a mime-actress. •I wouldn't ever get involved,' saidhe, 'with othermen's wives.' But you areinvolved with mime-actresses,you are involved with prostitutes,and as a resultyourreputationsuffersmoregrievouslythan yourresources. I suppose it's quite enough for you to avoid the role, without avoidingwhatit is that does the damagewhateverthe situation! To destroyyour good name, to fritter away your familyinheritanceis wrong in any circumstances. What difference does it make, whether your transgressioninvolves a married woman or a togaclad maid?

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Villius in Fausta Sullae gener, hoe miser uno nomine deceptus, poenas dedit usque superque quam satis est, pugnis caesus ferroque petitus, exclusus fore cum Longarenus foret intus. huic si mutonis verbis mala tanta videnti diceret haec animus: 'quid vis tibi? numquid ego ate magno prognatum deposco consule cunnum velatumque stola, mea cum conferbuit ira?' quid responderet? 'magno patre nata puella est'! at quanto meliora monet pugnantiaque istis dives opis natura suae, tu si modo recte dispensare velis ac non fugienda petendis immiscere. tuo vitio rerumne labores nil referre putas? quare, ne paeniteat te, desine matronas sectarier, unde laboris plus haurire mali est quam ex re decerpere fructus. nee magis huic, inter niveos viridisque lapillos sit licet, hoe, Cerinthe, tuo tenerum est femur aut crus rectius, atque etiam melius persaepe togatae est. adde hue quod mercem sine fucis gestat, aperte quod venale habet ostendit, nee si quid honesti est iactat habetque palam, quaerit quo turpia celet. regibus hie mos est, ubi equos mercantur: opertos inspiciunt, ne si facies, ut saepe, decora molli fulta pede est emptorem inducat hiantem, quod pulchrae clunes, breve quod caput, ardua cervix. hoe illi recte: ne corporis optima Lyncei contemplere oeulis, Hypsaea caecior ilia quae mala sunt spectes. 'o crus! o bracchia!' verum depugis, nasuta, brevi latere ac pede longo est. matronae praeter faciem nil cemere possis, cetera, ni Catia est, demissa veste tegentis. si interdicta petes, vallo circumdata (nam te hoe facit insanum), multae tibi tum officient res, custodes, lectica, ciniflones, parasitae,

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Villius who, through Fausta, was son-in-law to Sulla, deceived to his cost merely by this great name, paid the penalty right up to and beyond his deserts; he was beaten up, attacked with a sword and had the door shut against him while Longarenus was inside. Suppose, ashe contemplated these indignities, he imagined his prick addressing him in these words: 'What are you up to? Do I demand of you a cunt sprung from a great consul and enveloped in a matron's robe, when my passion has come to the boil?' What would be his reply? 'The girl is born of a great father'! But how much better and opposed to those ideas is the advice of nature, who is rich in the resources at her disposal, if only you were ready to manage them properly andnot to confuse what you should avoid with what you should seek. Do you think it makes no difference whether you suffer through your own fault or that of your circumstances? The~fore, so that you don't live to regret it, stop chasing after married women. a pursuit in which you can incur more pain andmisery than you can reap real satisfaction. Entwined though this lady is with pearls and emeralds, that doesn't make her thigh softer or her leg straighter than yours, Cerinthus, and very often a toga-clad girl is even better. There's the added advantage that she displays her wares undisguised and openly reveals what she has for sale, and doesn't parade and flaunt any becoming feature she has, while seeking to conceal her defects. Kings have the habit, when they are buying horses, of covering them prior to inspection, for fear that if, as often happens, an elegant fonn is supported on a soft hoof, it may seduce the purchaser as he gapes at the sight of the beautiful haunches, the trim head, the tall neck. And they're quite right: you mustn't scrutinise the best physical features with the eyes of a L ynceus, while turning a blinder eye than Hypsaea's on the blemishes. 'What legs! What arms!' But she's no buttocks, she's a massive nose, a diminutive torso, and enonnous feet With a matron, you can't see anything except her face; the rest, unless she's a Catia, she conceals in a full-length gown. If you're after what's forbidden you and is surrounded by a barricade - which is what goads you to your frenzy! - many will be the encumbrances in your path: her attendants, her litter, her

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ad talos stola demissa et circumdata palla, 100 plurima, quae invideant pure apparere tibi rem. altera, nil obstat: Cois tibi paene videre est ut nudam, ne crure malo, ne sit pede turpi; metiri possis oculo latus. an tibi mavis insidias fieri pretiumque avellier ante quam mercem ostendi? leporem venator ut alta 105 in nive sectetur, positum sic tangere nolit cantat, et apponit 'meus est amor huic similis; nam transvolat in medio posita et fugientia captat.' hiscine versiculis speras tibi posse dolores atque aestus curasque gravis e pectorepelli? 110 nonne, cupidinibus statuat natura modum quern, quid latura sibi quid sit dolitura negatum, quaerere plus prodest et inane abscindere soldo? num tibi cum fauces urit sitis, aurea quaeris 115 pocula? num esuriens fastidis omnia praeter pavonem rhombumque? tument tibi cum inguina, num si ancilla aut vema est praesto puer, impetus in quern continua fiat, malls tentigine rumpi? non ego: namque parabilem amo Venerem facilemque. illam 'post paulo', 'sed pluris', 'si exierit vir' 120 Gailis, hanc Philodemus ait sibi quae neque magno stet pretio neque cunctetur cum est iussa venire. candida rectaque sit, munda hactenus ut neque longa nee magis alba velit quam dat natura videri. haec ubi supposuit.dextro corpus mihi laevum 125 Ilia et Egeria est: do nomen quodlibet illi, nee vereor ne dum futuo vir rure recurrat, ianua frangatur, latret canis, undique magno pulsa domus strepitu resonet, vepallida lecto desiliat mulier, miseram se conscia clamet, 130 cruribus haec metuat, doti deprensa, egomet mi. discincta tunica fugiendum est ac pede nudo, ne nummi pereant aut puga aut denique fama. deprendi miserum est; Fabio vel iudice vincam.

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coiffeurs, her hangers-on, her ~e-length robe protected by her mantle- no end of things to grudge you a clear, objective view. With the other, there's no obstacle; in her Coan silk, you can see her practicallynaked, and check that she doesn't have poor legs or defective feet; you can visually measure her torso. Or do you prefer to be duped and to have your payment wrested from you before the goods are displayed?Our friend sings of how the hunter pursues a hare in deep snow, but refuses to touch one which is readily available, and adds that his love is similar: 'What lies at hand it hastens past: its quarry is what flees.' Do you expect effusions like this to be able to drive pain and the tides of passion and the weight of anxiety from your breast? Wouldn't it be more profitableto enquire whatlimitnature sets for the desires, what she can do withoutand what will causepain if deniedher, andto sunder what's empty from what's solid? When your throat's parchedwith thirst, do you demand a golden cup? When you're hungry, do you disdain everything but peacock and turbot? When your loins are swollen, if a maidservantor householdslave-boyis on hand for an immediate attack, would you rather burst with lust? Not me! I like love available and on tap. 'A bit later!' 'No, it'll cost you more!' 'If my husband's away' - that kind of girl, says Philodemus,is for the Galli; his type is the one who doesn't cost a high price and doesn't delay when sent for. She should have a good complexion and bearing andbe well-turnedout, but without wanting to appear either taller or paler than nature allows. When a girl like this has tucked her left side under my right, she is Ilia and Egeria; I give her any name I please, and I'm not afraid in case, while I'm fucking, her husband rushes back from the country, the door is broken down, the dog barks, the house is assailed and resoundson every side with a tremendousdin, the woman,white as a sheet.jumps out of bed, her guilty maid proclaimsher wretchedness,she fearingfor her legs, her mistress, caught in the act, for her dowry, and me for myself. I have to take to my heels barefoot and with my tunic undone, to escape the ruinationof my finances,my backside, or at least my good name. It's wretchedto be caught; I could prove that even to Fabius' satisfaction!

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III Omnibus hoe vitium est cantoribus, inter amicos ut numquam inducant animum cantare rogati, iniussi numquam desistant. Sardus habebat ille Tigellius hoe. Caesar, qui cogere posset, si peteret per amicitiam patris atque suam, non quicquam proficeret; si collibuisset, ab ovo usque ad mala citaret 'io Bacchae!' modo summa voee, modo hac, resonat quae chordis quattuor ima. nil aequale homini fuit illi: saepe velut qui currebat fugiens hostem, persaepe velut qui Iunonis sacra ferret; habebat saepe ducentos, saepe decem servos; modo reges atque tetrarchas, omnia magna loquens, modo 'sit mihi mensa tripes et concha salis purl et toga quae defendere frigus quamvis crassa queat.' decies centena dedisses huic parco, paucis contento, quinque diebus nil erat in loeulis. noetes vigilabat ad ipsum mane, diem totum stertebat; nil fuit umquam sic impar sibi. nunc aliquis dicat mihi 'quid tu? nullane babes vitia?' immo alia et fortasse minora. Maenius absentem Novium cum carperet, 'heus tu' quidam ait, 'ignoras te, an ut ignotum dare nobis verba putas?' 'egomet mi ignosco' Maenius inquit. stultus et improbus hie amor est dignusque notari. cum tua pervideas oeulis mala lippus inunctis, • • • •• CO • cur 1n amicorum v1t11starn cem1s acutum q~am aut aquila aut serpens Epidaurius? at tibi contra evenit, inquirant vitia ut tua rursus et illi. iracundior est paulo, minus aptus acutis naribus horum hominum; rideri possit eo quod 7 BacchaeBE:Baccheceteri

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All singers have this fault: amongst their friends they can never bring themselves to sing when requested, whereas when unbidden they never stop. Tigellius, that product of Sardinia, was like this. Had Caesar, who could have compelled him, asked him in the name of his own and his father's friendship, he wouldn't have got anywhere, whereas had he so pleased he would have proclaimed •Come, devotees of Bacchus! ' from the first course through to the dessert, now in the highest treble, now in the lowest register which the lyre commands. The fellow had no degree of consistency; often he tore along like a man fleeing the enemy, more often he looked as ifhe were carrying the sacred objects of Juno; often he'd keep two hundred slaves, often ten, sometimes talking loftily all the time of kings and potentates, sometimes saying •My wish is for a three-legged table, a shell of clean salt, and a toga, however coarse, to ward off the cold.' Suppose you'd given a million to this frugal, easily satisfied individual: within five days his pockets were sure to be empty. His nights he spent awake right up until dawn; the whole day he spent snoring. Never was there such a mass of contradictions. At this point someone may say to me 'What about you '! Haven't you any faults?' Yes, but others, and perhaps they're smaller. When Maenius was criticising Novius behind his back, 'Hey,' someone interrupted 'don't you know your own character, or do you think you 're putting one over on us because we don't know you'!' 'I'm not forgetting, I'm forgiving myself said Maenius. Such partiality is stupid and brazen and deserving of

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When you scrutinise your own defects through eyes which are inflamed and covered with ointment, why with friends' faults is your sight as keen as an eagle's or an Epidaurian snake's'! But your fate, conversely, is that they too in tum look into your shortcomings. He's a little too prone to anger, not quite suited to the keen sensitivities of today's society; he might be laughed at

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rusticius tonso togadefluitet male laxus ___ in pede calceus haeret: at est bonus, ut meliorvvir non alius quisquam, at tibi amicus, at ingenium ingens inculto latet hoe sub corpore. denique te ipsum concute, num qua tibi vitiorum inseverit olim natura aut etiam consuetudo mala; namque neglectis urenda filix innascitur ams. illuc praevertamur, amatorem quod amicae turpia decipiunt caecum vitia, aut etiam ipsa haec delectant, veluti Balbinum polypus Hagnae. vellem in amicitia sic erraremus, et isti errori nomen virtus posuisset honestum. at pater ut gnati, sic nos debemus amici si quod sit vitium non fastidire: strabon~m appellat paetum pater, et pullum, male parvus si cui filius est, ut abortivus fuit olim Sisyphus; hunc varum distortis cruribus, illum balbutit scaurum pravis fultum male talis!, parcius hie vivit: frugi dica~ ineptu~-,et iactantior hie paulo est: ~onc'i'nnusamicis postulat ut videatu~ .. ~test truculentior atque plus aequo liber: simp'tex fortisque habeatur. caldior est: acris inter numeretur. ~inor, haec res et iungit iunctos et servat amicos. at nos virtutes ipsas invertimus atque sincerum cupimus vas incrustare. probus quis nobiscum vivit, multum demissus homo: illi tardo cognomen, pingui damus. hie fugit omnis insidi~~-_I!_l!lfulue malo latus obdit apertum, cumfgenus hoclhter vitaeversetur ubi acris invidia atque vigent ubi crimina: pro bene sano ac non incauto fictum astutumque vocamus. simplicior quis et est, qualem me saepe libenter obtulerim tibi, Maecenas, ut forte legentem aut taciturn impellat quovis sermone molestus:

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37 SATIRETHREE because his haircut lacks style, his toga's trailing, his shoes are too loose andscarcely stay on his feet: but he's a good man - there's none better - he's your friend, and a tremendous talent is hidden beneath his unsophisticated appearance. Why, give yourselfa good shaking to see whether nature or alternatively bad habit has planted the seeds of any faults in you in the past; for in fields which are neglected ferns take root and have to be burnt away.

Let's tum our attention to this point, that the unsightly defects of a girl-friend escape her lover, in his blindness, or even actually delight him, as Hagna's wen did Balbinus. My wish would be that we made the same mistake in friendship, and that virtue had assigned a respectable name to this error. But, supposing a friend has some defect, we ought, just like a father with his son, not to feel disgust at it; a father talks of a cross-eyed son as 'having a cast', and calls him 'wee chick' if he's woefully stunted like the midget Sisyphus; he gives the pet-name 'pigeon-toes' to this one with distorted legs, 'raw-bones' to this one, who can scarcely stand on his deformed ankles. This individual leads a rather niggardly existence: let's call him 'careful'. This one lacks tact and is a little too full of himself: 'good company' is how he's expecting to appear to his friends. This one, in tum, is rather aggressive andunreasonably outspoken: let's regard him as frank and fearless. He's rather hot-headed: let's count him among the enthusiastic. As I see it, this policy both forms friendships, and once formed, preserves them. But we stand actual virtues on their head, and are eager to tarnish a vessel that's clean. Some modest, thoroughly unassuming fellow is our associate: we give him the nickname 'snail' or 'thickie'. This one escapes every pitfall and doesn't offer an exposed flank to any enemy, seeing that he's engaged in a type of life where envy is keen and mudslinging thrives: instead of 'thoroughly sensible' and 'on his guard' we call him 'bogus' and 'calculating'. Or someone's rather direct-which is how I would hope I've often appeared to you, Maecenas- so as to interrupt a person who happens to be reading or quietly reflecting,

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'communi sensu plane caret' inquimus. eheu, quam temere in nosmet legem sancimus iniquam! nam vitiis nemo sine nascitur: optimus ille est qui minimis urgetur. amicus dulcis, ut aequum est, cum mea compenset vitiis bona, pluribus hisce (si modo plura mihi bona sunt) inclinet, amari si volet: hac lege in trutina ponetur eadem. qui ne tuberibus propriis offendat amicum postulat, ignoscet verrucis illius; aequum est peccatis veniam poscentem reddere rursus. denique, quatenus excidi penitus vitium irae, cetera item nequeunt stultis haerentia, cur non ponderibus modulisque suis ratio utitur, acres ut quaeque est ita suppliciis delicta coercet? si quis cum servum patinam qui tollere iussus semesos piscis tepidumque ligurrierit ius in cruce suffi.gat, Labeone insanior inter sanos dicatur. quanto hoe furiosius atque maius peccawtn est: paulum deliquit amicus, quod nisi concedas habeare insuavis; acerbus odisti et fugis ut Rusonem debitor aeris, q~i-~~s~,cum tI"!~!~~.,nserovenere K:'1endae, mercedem aut nummos unde unde extricat, amaras porrecto iugulo historias ·captivus ut audit. comminxit lectum potus mensave catillum Euandri manibus tritum deiecit; ob bane rem, aut positum ante mea quia pullum in parte catini sustulit esuriens, minus hoe iucundus amicus sit mihi? quid faciam si furtum fecerit, aut si prodiderit commissa tide sponsumve negarit? '

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39 and to pester him with some chatter or other: 'he's quite devoid of consideration' we pronounce. How blindly, alas, are we sanctioning an unkind precedent against ourselves! For no one is born without faults: the best is the man who suffers from the least serious. An agreeable friend, as is fair, should balance my good points against my faults, andcome down on the side of the foimer, which are greater in number- if, that is, my good points aregreater in number! -if he wants to enjoy my affection; on this condition, he'II be set on the same scale. Someone expecting not to repel a friend with his own boils will excuse the friend's warts; it's fair that anyone asking forgiveness for his transgressions should duly grant it in return. SATIRE THREE

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Again, since the fault of anger, and the others likewise which have a grip on the victims of folly, can't be completely cut out, why doesn't reason use weights andmeasures of her own, and 80 deter offences with punishments as each case demands? Imagine a slave, ordered to clear away a dish, has licked the half-eaten fish and lukewaim sauce: if his master crucified him, he'd be branded, in sane circles, as insaner than Labeo. How much crazier and more serious a transgression is this: a friend has committed a slight 85 offence, which you'd be thought ungracious not to overlook; you conceive a bitter loathing for him and avoid him like a debtor avoiding Ruso - unless the wretch can raise the interest or the principal from some source or other, once the melancholy Kalends have overtaken him, he provides a captive audience, as if with a 90 · knife to his throat, for Ruso's dreary histories. He's wet the couch while under the influence, or knocked a bowl worn thin by the hands of Evander off the table: is this, or his having, in his hunger, helped himself to a chicken served up on my side of the dish, any reason why I should find him a less agreeable friend? What am I 95 to do if he commits theft or betrays confidences or disowns his pledge? Those who have laid down that all transgressions are more

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cum ventum ad verum est; sensus moresque repugnant atque ipsa utilitas, iusti prope mater et aequi. cum prorepserunt primis animalia terris, mutum et turpe pecus, glandem atque cubilia propter 100 unguibus et pugnis, dein fustibus, atque ita porro pugnabant armis quae post fabricaverat usus, donec verba quibus voces sensusque notarent nominaque invenere; dehinc absistere hello, oppida coeperunt munire, et ponere leges, 105 ne quis fur esset, neu latro, neu quis adulter. nam fuit ante Helenam cunnus taeterrima belli causa, sed ignotis perierunt mortibus illi, quos Venerem incertam rapientis more ferarum viribus editior caedebat ut in grege taurus. 110 iura inventa metu iniusti f ateare necesse est, tempora si fastosque velis evolvere mundi. nee natura potest iusto secernere iniquum, dividit ut bona diversis, fugienda petendis; nee vincet ratio hoe, tantundem ut peccet idemque 115 qui teneros caulis alieni fregerit horti et qui nocturnus sacra divum legerit. adsit regula, peccatis quae poenas irroget aequas, ne scutica dignum horribili sectere flagello. nam ut ferula caedas meritum maiora subire 120 verbera non vereor, cum dicas esse pares res furta latrociniis, et magnis parva mineris falce recisurum simili te, si tibi regnum permittant homines. si dives, qui sapiens est, 125 et sutor bonus et solus fonnosus et est rex, cur optas quod babes? 'non nosti quid pater' inquit 'Chrysippus dicat: sapiens crepidas sibi numquam ,.,\'·. nee soleas fecit; sutor tamen est sapiens.' qui? - r.-\ 'ut, quamvis tacet, Hennogenes cantor l3,menatque 130 optimus est modulator, ut Alfenus virt"er,omni

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or less equal are up against it when it comes to real cases; instinct and traditionare ranged againstthem, and so is expediency,which is in essence the mother of justice and fairness. When living creatures crawled forth from the newly fashionedearth, a dumb and lawlessbreed, they foughtover acornsand lairs with nails and fists, then withclubs,andso in tum withthe armswhichexperience had subsequentlyfashioned,untiltheydiscoveredverbs andnouns with which to articulate their cries and their feelings; from that point, they began to abstain from war, to build towns and to establishlaws,so as to stop anyoneengagingin theft or brigandage or adultery. Yes, a cunt was the most terrible cause of war well before Helen, but those warriors died unrecordeddeaths, slain, as they snatchedrandomlove in the mannerof wildbeasts,by their superiorin strength,like bulls in a herd. You must needs confess thatjustice was discoveredthroughfearof injustice,if you want to unroll the calendar of the world's ages. Nature cannot separate justice from injustice, as she marks off good things from bad, what's to be sought from what's to be shunned. No more will reason prove the case, that someone who's broken off young vegetablesin someoneelse's garden is guilty of one and the same offenceas someonewho's lifted the sacredemblemsof the gods in the night Let's applya scale,to imposefair penaltiesfor offences, so that you don't inflict the fearfulscourgeon someonedeserving the strap. As for your caning someone who's earned a severer lashing- I've no worrieson that score, as you say that thieving is on the same level as brigandageand threatenthat you'd cut away small offences with the same pruning-hookas great ones, were men to grant you regal power. If the wise man is rich and a good cobbler and if he alone is handsome and king, why do you long for what you al~ady possess? 'You don't understand' comes the reply 'what father Chrysippusmeans. The wise man has never made himself shoes or sandals;the wise man is neverthelessa cobbler.' How? 'Just as Hermogenes,althoughsilent,is neverthelessa splendidsinger and

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abiecto instrumento artis clausaque taberna, sutor erat, sapiens operis sic optimus omnis est opifex solus, sic rex.' vellunt tibi barbam lascivi pueri; quos tu nisi fuste coerces, urgeris turba circum te stante miserque rumperis et latras, magnorum maxime regum. ne longum faciam: dum tu quadrante lavatum rex ibis neque te quisquam stipator ineptum praeter Crispinum sectabitur, et mihi dulces ignoscent, si quid peccaro stultus, amici, inque vicem illorum patiar delicta libenter, privatusque magis vivam te rege beatus.

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musician,just as the shrewd Alfenus, after throwing away every tool of his trade and shuttinghis shop, was a cobbler,in this sense the wise man alone is the best practitionerof every craft, in this sense is he king.' Mischievousboys tweak your beard, and if you don't keep them off with your stick you're surroundedand jostled by a crowd of them, and burst your wretched lungs in barking at them, o greatestof great kings. To put it briefly: while you, king that you are, go to bathe for your farthingwith no escort to attend you save the absurd Crispinus,my kindly friends will pardon me if I, in my folly, commit some transgression, and I in tum will gladly put up with their offences,and in my private station I shall live a happier life than Your Royal Highness.

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IV Eupolis atque Cratinus Aristophanesque poetae, atque alii quorum comoedia prisca virorum est, si quis erat dignus describi quod malus ac fur, quod moechus foret aut sicarius aut alioqui famosus, multa cum libertate notabant. hinc omnis pendet Lucilius, hosce secutus mutatis tantum pedibus numerisque; facetus, emunctae naris, durus componere versus: nam fuit hoe vitiosus: in hora saepe ducentos, ut magnum, versus dictabat stans pede in uno; cum flueret lutulentus, erat quod tollere velles; garrulus atque piger scribendi ferre laborem, scribendi recte: nam ut multum, nil moror. ecce Crispinus minimo me provocat: 'accipe, si vis, accipiam tabulas; detur nobis locus, hora, custodes; videamus uter plus scribere possit.' di bene fecerunt, inopis me quodque pusilli finxerunt animi, raro et perpauca loquentis: at tu eonclusas hircinis follibus auras, usque laborantis dum ferrum molliat ignis, ut mavis, imitare. beatus Fannius ultro delatis capsis et imagine, cum mea nemo scripta legat vulgo recitare timentis ob bane rem, quod sunt quos genus hoe minime iuvat, utpote pluris culpari dignos. quemvis media elige turba: aut ob avaritiam aut misera ambitione laborat; hie nuptarum insanit amoribus, hie puerorum: hunc capit argenti splendor, stupet Albius aere; hie mutat merces surgente a sole ad eum quo vespertina tepet regio, quin per mala praeceps fertur uti pulvis collectus turbine, ne quid summa deperdat metuens aut ampliet ut rem: omnes hi metuunt versus, odere poetas. 'faenum habet in comu; longe fuge: dummodo risum excutiat, sibi non, non cuiquam parcet amico;

14 minimo MSS : nummo Bentley 15 accipiam R l(tV: accipe iam deK 35 sibi MSS: tibi Rutgers non non Rl(t: non hie aE

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FOUR The poets Eupolis, Cratinus and Aristophanes,and other exponents of Old Comedy, had this habit: if anyone deserved to be noted down for being a villain and a thief, for being an adulterer or an assassinor otherwiseinfamous,they wouldshowgreat freedom of speech in branding him. On them Lucilius depends totally; it was themhe followed,changingmerelytheir metres and rhythms; he was witty, with an acute nose, but rough in composing his verses. In this indeed lay his defect: he would often, as a bravura display, dictate two hundred lines in an hour on one leg: as he flowed muddily on, you'd have wanted to remove some of the content. He was a chatterbox,and reluctantto put up with the hard work of writing - writing properly, that is; his quantity doesn't impress me one jot. Look, Crispinuschallengesme at long odds: 'Take yourwriting".'pad, please, and I'll take mine; let's arrange a place, a time and referees, and see which of us can write more.' How kind the gods have been in moulding me to have a puny, poverty-strickenintellect,whichhas very little to say and that only on rare occasions. As for you, follow your preference and give your imitation of wind trapped in goat-skin bellows, straining away until the fire softens the steel. How happy is Fannius, with his unsolicitedoffers of bookcasesand a bust of himself, whereas no one readsmy writings,and I'm afraidto recitethem publiclyfor this reason, that there are some who find not the least pleasure in this genre, seeing that the majority of them deserve censure. Chooseanyoneyou like fromthe midst of a crowd: he's oppressed either with avarice or the wretchednessof ambition; this one's crazywithpassionformarriedwomen,this one forboys: this one's a prisoner to the gleam of silver, Albius is besotted with bro117.e; this one barters his wares from the rising sun to the zone warmed by its evening rays - why, he's carriedheadlongthroughmiseries like dust swept up by a tornado, fearful of losing somethingfrom his capitalor failingto increasewhathe has: all these are afraid of verses, and hate poets. 'There's hay tied to his horns; keep well away! As long as he extracts a laugh, he won't spare himself, he

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et quodcumque semel chartis illeverit, omnis gestiet a fumo redeuntis scire lacuque, et pueros et anus.' agedum, pauca accipe contra. primum ego me illorum, dederim quibus esse poetis, 40 excerpam numero: neque enim concludere versum dixeris esse satis; neque si qui scribat uti nos sermoni propiora, putes hunc esse poetam. ingenium cui sit, cui mens divinior atque os magna sonaturum, des nominis huius honorem. 45 idcirco quidam comoedia neene poema esset quaesivere, quod acer spiritus ac vis nee verbis nee rebus inest, nisi quod pede certo differt sermoni, senno merus. 'at pater ardens saevit, quod meretrice nepos insanus amica filius uxorem grandi cum dote reeuset, 50 ebrius et, magnum quod dedecus, ambulet ante noctem cum facibus.' numquid Pomponius istis audiret leviora, pater si viveret? ergo non satis est purls versum perscribere verbis, 55 quern si dissolvas, quivis stomachetur eodem quo personatus pacto pater. his, ego quae nunc, olim quae scripsit Lucilius, eripias si tempora certa modosque et quod prius ordine verbum est posterius f acias, praeponens ultima primis, 60 non, ut si solvas 'postquam Discordia taetra Belli ferratos postis portasque refregit', invenias etiam disiecti membra poetae. hactenus haee: alias iustum sit necne poema, nunc illud tantum quaeram, meritone tibi sit suspectum genus hoe scribendi. Sulcius acer ambulat et Caprius, rauci male cumque libellis, magnus uterque timor latronibus; at bene si quis

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SATIREFOUR 47 won't spare any friend; and whatever he's once scrawled on his pages he'll be itching for everyoneto know as they return from the bakehouse and the water-tank,both slave-boysand old women.•

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First, I wouldn't includemyself amongstthose I'd recognise as poets, because you wouldn't say it's enough to tum out a metrical line, nor, supposing someone wrote, like me, what's pretty near conversational prose, would you think him a poet. Someone with genius, with inspiration, and a voice capable of a mighty resonance,is the one you'd dignify with this title. It's for this reason that people have raised the question whether or not

comedy is poetry, because an impellingpassion and energy isn't to be found in the language or the subject-matter: apart from the fact that it differs from prose by its set metre, it's unadulterated prose. 'But the father's in a fiery rage because his spendthriftson, crued with passion for his courtesan girl-friend, refuses a wife with a hefty dowry, and brings terrible disgrace by drunkenly walking the streets with torches before it's even dark.• Would Pomponiusget a lesser dressing-downwere his father still alive? So it's not enough to write out a line in plain language, so that, if you broke it up, any fatherwouldexpresshis angerjust like the one in the play. With these verses which I'm writing now or which Lucilius wrote before me, if you stripped away the pattern of quantities and rhythm and put the earlier words later, interchanging first and last, you wouldn't find- as you wouldif you broke up 'when once War's iron-cladposts and ponals dread Discord broke ope•the limbs of even a dismemberedpoet. So much for these questions: whetherthis type of writingis proper poetry or not I'll ask·on another occasion, and confine myself for now to whether your suspicionsof it are justified. The relentlessSulcius and Caprius walk the streets,dreadfullyhoarse, bookletsin hand, each of them a great terrorto robbers;but anyone

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et vivat purls manibus contemnat utrumque. ut sis tu similis Caeli Binique latronum, non ego sim Capri neque Sulci; cur metuas me? 10 nulla tabema meos habeat neque pila libellos, quis manus insudet vulgi Hennogenisque Tigelli, nee recito cuiquam nisi amicis, idque coactus, non ubivis coramve quibuslibet in medio qui scripta foro recitent sunt multi quique lavantes: 75 suave locus voci resonat conclusus. inanis hoe iuvat, baud illud quaerentis, num sine sensu, tempore num faciant alieno. 'laedere gaudes' inquit, 'et hoe studio pravus facis.' unde petitum hoe in me iacis? est auctor quis denique eorum 80 vixi cum quibus? absentem qui rodit amicum, qui non defendit alio culpante, solutos qui captat risus hominum famamque dicacis, fingere qui non visa potest, commissa tacere 85 qui nequit, hie niger est, hunc tu, Romane, caveto. saepe tribus lectis videas cenare quaternos, e quibus unus amet quavis aspergere cunctos praeter cum qui praebet aquam; post hunc quoque potus, condita cum verax aperit praecordia Liber. hie tibi comis et urbanus liberque videtur, 90 infesto nigris. ego si risi quod ineptus pastillos Rufillus olet, Gargonius hircum, livid us et mordax videor 'tibi? mentio si quae de Capitolini furtis iniecta Perilli 95 te coram fuerit, def endas ut tuus est mos: 'me Capitolinus convictore usus amicoque a puero est, causaque mea permulta rogatus fecit, et incolumis laetor quod vivit in urbe; sed tamen admiror, quo pacto iudicium illud 100 fugerit.' hie nigrae sucus lolliginis, haec est

49 whose life was decent and who kept his hands clean could scorn them both. Even supposingyou were like the robbersCaeliusand Birrius,you wouldn't find me like Capriusor Sulcius: why should you fear me'! You wouldn't find any shop or pillar displayingmy little books, for the hands of the mob and ofTigellius Hermogenes to sweat over, and I don't recite my work to anyone except to friends,and then only whenI haveto, not anywhereat all orin front of no matter who. There are many who recite their compositions in the middleof the forum,or while at the baths: theenclosedarea gives an agreeable resonance to their voice. This delights the empty-headed, not those who ask whether their perfonnance shows a lack of tact and of timing. SATIREFOUR

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'You love inflicting pain' comes the cry 'and you do so intentionally,out of malice.' Wheredid you pick up this chargeto hurlatme'!Whichofmyassociatesinlifesubstantiatesit'!Theman who disparagesa friend behind his back, who fails to defend him against someone else's criticisms, who's out for unrestrained public laughterand a reputationas a wit, who can inventthings he hasn't witnessedand who can't keep a confidence,he's the black villain, of him, true Roman, pray beware! Often you see people dining with four to each of the three couchesand one of the guests delightingin casting all manner of aspersionson them all, except the one who's throwingthe party; and later on him too, when he's tipsy enoughand the truthfulgod of Freedomrevealsthe secretsof his heart. This characteryou find agreeable,civilisedand outspoken, you enemy of the black-beaned! If I laughed, because the absurdRufillussmellsof breath-fresheners,Gargoniuslike a goat, do I strike you as maliciousand prone to bite'! If some mentionof Petillius Capitolinus' appropriationscropped up while you were present, you'd defend him in your usual way: 'I've been an associate and friend of Capitolinusfrom boyhood, he's done no end of services on my behalf when asked, and I'm delightedhe's living in the city with no repercussions,but I'm baffled, all the same, as to how he got off at that trial.' This is the ink of the black

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aerugo mera: quod vitium procul afore chartis atque animo, prius ut, si quid promittere de me possum aliud vere, promitto. liberius si dixero quid, si forte ioeosius, hoe mihi iuris cum venia dabis: insuevit pater optimus hoe me, ut fugerem exemplis vitiorum quaeque notando. cum me hortaretur, parce, frugaliter atque viverem uti contentus eo quod mi ipse parasset, 'nonne vides Albi ut male vivatfilius, utque Baius inops? magnum doeumentum ne patriam rem perdere quis velit': a turpi meretricis amore cum deterreret, 'Scetani dissimilis sis': ne sequerer moechas concessa cum Venere uti possem, 'deprensi non bella est fama Treboni' aiebat: 'sapiens, vitatu quidque petitu sit melius, causas reddet tibi: mi satis est si traditum ab antiquis morem servare tuamque, dum custodis eges, vitam famamque tueri incolumem possum; simul ac duraverit aetas membra animumque tuum, nabis sine cortice.' sic me formabat puerum dictis, et sive iubebat ut facerem quid, 'babes auctorem quo facias hoe' (unum ex iudicibus selectis obiciebat), sive vetabat, 'an hoe inhonestum et inutile factu necne sit addubites, flagret rumore malo cum hie atque ille?' avidos vicinum funus ut aegros exanimat mortisque metu sibi parcere cogit, sic teneros animos aliena opprobria saepe absterrent vitiis. ex hoe ego sanus ab illis, perniciem quaecumque ferunt, medioeribus et quis ignoscas vitiis teneor. fortassis et istinc

102 sic inlerpwvcitHousman: animo prius,ut alii

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cuttlefish, this is unadulterated poison. This fault will be far removed from my pages, and from my heart, as it has been in the past; if I canmake any other true promise about myself, I promise this.

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If I make too outspken, or maybe too jesting a comment, you'11be indulgent and grant me this degree of justification: my good father taught me the habit, by branding the various vices by examples,so that I should avoid them. When he was encouraging me to live thriftily and economically,contentwith what he himself had provided me, he'd say 'Don't you see how Albius' son leads a wretched existence, and how Baius is penniless? A fine lesson to anyone not to squander the family fortune!'; when he was warning me against a shameful passion for a prostitute, •Don't copy Scetanus', or against chasing after adulterous wives when I could indulge in a pennissible liaison, 'Trebonius was caught in the act, and you wouldn't envy his reputation. A philosopherwill give you theories as to what it's better to avoid and to pursue: I'm satisfied, if I can uphold the behaviour handed down by our ancestors,and can keep your life and reputation,while you need a guardian, uncomipted: once time has toughened you physically andmentally,you'11swimwithoutyourwater-wings.' He moulded my character as a boy with remarkslike these, and ifhe was telling me to do something, 'You have an authority for doing this', he'd say, holding up one of the chosenjurymen, or if he was deterring me, 'Can youhave anydoubtswhetheror notthis is a dishonourable and unprofitablecourse, when so and so is consumedin a blue of notoriety?' Just as invalids who overeat are petrified by a funeral next door and are forced, by fear of death, to take more care of themselves, so impressionable young minds are often deterred from faults by reproacheslevelled at others. As a result of this, I don't suffer from those various faults which bring destruction, though I am in the grip of less serious,forgivablefailings. Perhaps

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largiter abstulerit longa aetas, liber amicus, consilium proprium: neque enim, cum lectulus aut me porticus excepit, desum mihi: 'rectius hoe est: 135 hoe faciens vivam melius: sic dulcis amicis oecurram: hoe quidam non belle; numquid ego illi imprudens olim faciam simile?' haec ego mecum compressis agito labris; ubi quid datur oti illudo chartis. hoe est mediocribus illis ex vitiis unum; cui si concedere nolis, 140 multa poetarum veniat man us auxilio quae sit mihi (nam multo plures sumus), ac veluti te ludaei cogemus in bane concedere turbam.

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I shall be largely releasedeven from these by maturityof years, by a friend's frankness,or by personal reflection;because, when I'm sunk on my sofa or strolling the colonnade, I don't let myself off: 'This is the more proper course: doing this, I '11be leading a better life: this will make me agreeable in my dealings with my friends: that wasn't a nice thing so and so did- might I ever unwittinglydo something similar?' These are the thoughts which, lips sealed, I put to myself; when I have any leisure, I waste paper. This is one of those less serious failings I mentioned; if you refused to make way for it, a great band of poets would come to my assistance (becausewe 're very much in the majority),and like the Jews we '11 force you to make your way into our throng.

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Egressum magna me accepit Aricia Roma hospitio modico: rhetor comes Heliodorus, Graecorum longe doctissimus; inde Forum Appi, differtum nautis cauponibus atque malignis. hoe iter ignavi divisimus, altius ac nos praecinctis unum: minus est gravis Appia tardis. hie ego propter aquam, quod erat deterrima, ventri indico helium, cenantis baud animo aequo exspectans comites. iam nox inducere terris umbras et caelo diffundere signa parabat. tum pueri nautis, pueris convicia nautae ingerere. 'hue appelle!' 'trecentos inseris: ohe iam satis est!' dum aes exigitur, dum mula ligatur, tota abit hora. mali culices ranaeque palustres avertunt somnos, absentem ut cantat amicam multa prolutus vappa nauta atque viator certatim: tandem fessus dormire viator incipit, ac missae pastum retinacula mulae nauta piger saxo religat stertitque supinus. iamque dies aderat, nil cum procedere lintrem sentimus, donec cerebrosus prosilit unus ac mulae nautaeque caput lumbosque saligno fuste dolat. quarta vix demum exponimur hora. ora manusque tua lavimus, Feronia, lympha. milia tum pransi tria repimus atque subimus impositum saxis late candentibus Anxur. hue venturus erat Maecenas optimus atque Cocceius, missi magnis de rebus uterque legati, aversos soliti componere amicos. hie oculis ego nigra meis collyria lippus illinere. interea Maecenas advenit atque

1 excepitit V 12 inseris.' 'ohe inlerp"""ilHeinze 15 ut omisitcK

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I departed mighty Rome for Aricia. and accommodation in a modest im: as companion I had the Ihetorician Heliodorus, the most learned of theGreeks by far; thence to Forum Appi, crammed with boatmen andstingy innkeepers. We lazily split this journey, which more athletic travellers than ourselves do in one stretch: the Appian is less punishing for slowcoaches. Here, on account of the water, which was quite terrible, I declared war on my stomach, and waited, ill at ease, for my companions to dine. Night was now preparing to cast her shadows over the earth and to sprinkle the constellations throughout the heavens. At this point, the slaves hurl abuse at the boatmen, the boatmen at the slaves. 'Put inhere!• 'You 're cramming hundreds in: whoa. that's enough!• While the fares are collected andthe mule harnessed, a whole hour slips by. 1be damned mosquitoes and marsh-frogs banish slumber, while the boatman, soused in quantities of sour wine, serenades his missing girl-friend, with a traveller setting up in competitioQ:finally the traveller falls asleep exhausted, and the lazy boatman sends the mule to graze, ties the traces to a rock and snores away on his back. And now day had dawned, when we realise the boat isn't moving an inch, until a choleric individual leaps out and lays into mule andboatman on head and rump with a willow-bough. We'd scarcely landed by ten. Ourfacesandhands,Feronia, welavedinthystreams. After breakfasting, we then crawled three miles and came up to Anxur, perched on its rocks which spread their gleam far and wide. Here the good Maecenas andCocceius were to come, despatched, each of them, as ambassadorson a mission of moment, and well used to reconciling estranged friends. Here I smear some black ointment on my eyes for my conjunctivitis. Meanwhile Maecenas and

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Cocceius Capitoque simul Fonteius, ad unguem factus homo, Antoni, non ut magis alter, amicus. Fundos Aufidio Lusco praetore libenter linquimus, insani ridentes praemia scribae, praetextam et latum clavum prunaeque vatillum. in Mamurrarum lassi deinde urbe manemus, Murena praebente domum, Capitone culinam. postera lux oritur multo gratissima; namque Plotius et Varius Sinuessae Vergiliusque occurrunt, animae qualis neque candidiores terra tulit neque quis me sit devinctior alter. o qui complexus et gaudia quanta fuerunt! nil ego contulerim iucundo sanus amico. proxima Campano ponti quae villula, tectum praebuit, et parochi quae debent ligna salemque. hinc muli Capuae clitellas tempore ponunt. lusum it Maecenas, dormitum ego Vergiliusque; namque pila lippis inimicum et ludere crudis. hinc nos Coccei recipit plenissima villa, quae super est Caudi cauponas. nunc mihi paucis Sarmenti scurrae pugnam Messique Cicirri, Musa, velim memores, et quo patre natus uterque contulerit litis. Messi clarum genus Osei; Sarmenti domina exstat: ab his maioribus orti ad pugnam venere. prior Sarmentus: 'equi te esse feri similem dico.' ridemus, et ipse Messius 'accipio', caput et movet. 'o, tua comu ni foret exsecto frons' inquit, 'quid faceres, cum sic mutilus minitaris? at illi foeda cicatrix saetosam laevi frontem turpaverat oris. Campanum in morbum, in faciem permulta iocatus, pastorem saltaret uti Cyclopa rogabat: nil illi larva aut tragicis opus esse cothurnis. multa Cicirrus ad haec: donasset iamne catenam 44 praetulerim C 60 miniteris E

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SATIREFIVE 57 Cocceius arrive and together with them Fonteius Capito, a character of tailored perfection, second to none in his friendship with Antony. Fundi, with Aufidius Luscus as praetor, we were thankful to leave, laughing at the regalia of this lunatic clerk, his bordered toga, his broad stripe and his pan of charcoal. Weary, we then stayed in the city of the Mamurrae, with Murena providing the accommodation and Capito the cuisine. The next day's dawn was easily the most welcome, because at Sinuessa Plotius, Varius and Virgil met us-no fairer spirits has the earth produced, and no one's attachment to them is closer than mine. How we embraced and how great was our joy! While I'm in my right mind, there's nothing I'd compare with the pleasure of friendship.

The lodge which lies next to the Campanian bridge gave us shelter, the suppliers, as they're obliged, fuel and salt. Next, at Capua, the mules laid down their saddle-bags early. Maecenas went off for recreation, Virgil and I for a siesta, because ball-games don't agree with victims of conjunctivitis and dyspepsia. Next, we were entertained at Cocceius' plentifully stocked villa, which looks down on the inns of Caudium. At this point, Muse, I'd like you, in a few words, to recount for me the battle of Sannentus the jester and Messius Cicirrus, and the lineage of each of the contestants in the case. Messius has distinguished ancestry- the Oscans; Sarmentus' mistress is still alive: sprung from such forebears did they come to do battle. Sarmentus first: 'I declare that you're like the wild horse.' We laughed, and Messius for his part replies 'So I am', tossing his head. 'Whatever would you do' cries the other 'if your forehead hadn't had its horn cut off, when, maimed as you are, you threaten us like this?' You see, an ugly scar had disfigured the left side of his shaggy brow. After no end of jokes about his Campanian disease and his features, he asked him to dance the shepherd Cyclops, claiming he had no need of a mask or of tragic buskins. Cicirrus retaliated in full; he enquired whether he'd now honoured

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ex voto Laribus, quaerebat; scriba quod esset, nilo deterius dominae ius esse. rogabat denique cur umquam fugisset, cui satis una farris libra foret, gracili sic tamque pusillo. prorsus iucunde cenam producimus illam. tendimus hinc recta Beneventum, ubi sedulus hospes paene macros arsit dum turdos versat in igni: nam vaga per veterem dilapso flamma culinam Volcano summum properabat lambere tectum. convivas avidos cenam servosque timentis tum rapere, atque omnis restinguere velle videres. incipit ex illo montis Apulia notos ostentare mihi, quos torret Atabulus et quos numquam erepsemus, nisi nos vicina Trivici villa recepisset, lacrimoso non sine fumo, udos cum foliis ramos urente camino. hie ego mendacem stultissimus usque puellam ad mediam noctem exspecto: somnus tamen aufert intentum Veneri; tum immundo somnia visu nocturnam vestem maculant ventremque supinum. quattuor hinc rapimur viginti et milia raedis, mansuri oppidulo quod versu dicere non est, signis perf acile est: venit vilissima rerum hie aqua; sed panis longe pulcherrimus, ultra callidus ut soleat umeris portare viator; nam Canusi lapidosus, aquae non ditior urna qui locus a forti Diomede est conditus olim. flentibus hinc V arius discedit maestus amicis.

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SATIRE FIVE 59 his vow and presented his chains to the HouseholdDeities;just

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From there, we made straight for Beneventum,where our assiduoushost wasalmost,whileturningsomeleanthrusheson the fire, burnt out: Vulcan's blaze disintegrated, and the flames, flitting through the aged kitchen, were hastening to lick the rooftop. You could then have witnessedthe ravenousguests and the timorousslavessnatchingat the dinner, and everyoneeager to quench the conflagration. From this point Apulia began to display her familiar mountains to me. They're scorched by the Atabulus, and we should never have crawled over them had not a house near Trivicumtaken us in, though it wasn't free of tear-jerkingsmoke: the stovewasburningdampbranchescompletewith foliage. Here, I made an utter fool of myself, waitingright up till midnight for a girl who'd told me lies; sleep, however, overtook me, intent on love-makingas I was; my dreamsthen brought obscene fantasies and stained my night-clothesand stomach as I lay on my back. Fromhere, we bowledalongtwenty-fourmilesin carriages, to stay at a little town which can't be named in verse, though it's easy enoughto identifyby its features: here they charge for water, the most accessibleof commodities;but the breadis by far the best, so that the experttravellerwillload his shouldersandtake it further on, becauseat Canusiumit's gritty-that place,whichisn't ajugful richerin water,was foundedof old by the stalwartDiomedes.Here Varius sorrowfullyparted company,to the tears of his friends.

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inde Rubos fessi pervenimus, utpote longum carpentes iter et factum corruptius imbri. postera tempestas melior, via peior adusque Bari moenia piscosi; dein Gnatia Lymphis iratis exstructa dedit risusque iocosque, dum flamma sine tura liquescere limine sacro persuadere cupit. credat ludaeus Apella, non ego: namque deos didici securum agere aevum, nee si quid miri faciat natura, deos id tristis ex alto caeli demittere tecto. Brundisium longae finis chartaeque viaeque est.

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From there we reached Rubi, weary with covering a long road which had been done extra damage by a downpour. Next day the weather was better, but the road worse, as far as the walls of Barium, with its fish; then Gnatia, which was built without the Water-Nymphs' blessing, provided laughter and merriment in its wish to persuade us that incense melts on the sacred threshold without fire. Apella the Jew might believe it, not me, because I've learnt that the gods lead a life free from care, and that, if nature brings about some matvel, the gods do not send it down from their lofty home in heaven because they' re unhappy. Brundisium marks the end of both a long journey and a long screed.

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VI Non quia, Maecenas, Lydorum quidquid Etruscos incoluit finis nemo generosior est te, nee quod aws tibi matemus fuit atque patemus olim qui magnis legionibus imperitarent, ut plerique solent, naso suspendis adunco ignoto aut, ut me, libertino patre natos. cum referre negas quali sit quisque parente natus, dum ingenuus, persuades hoe tibi vere, ante potestatem Tulli atque ignobile regnum multos saepe viros nullis maioribus onos et vixisse probos amplis et honoribus auctos: contra Laevinum, Valeri genus, unde superbus Tarquinius regno pulsus fugit, unius assis non umquam pretio pluris licuisse, notante iudice quo nosti, populo, qui stultus honores saepedat indignis et famae servit ineptus, qui stupet in titulis et imaginibus. quid oportet nos facere a vulgo longe longeque remotos? namque esto populus Laevino mallet honorem quam Decio mandare novo, censorque moveret Appius, ingenuo si non essem patre natus vel merito, quoniam in propria non pelle quiessem! sed fulgente trahit constrictos Gloria curru non minus ignotos generosis. quo tibi, Tilli, sumere depositum clavum fierique tribuno? invidia accrevit, privato quae minor esset. nam ut quisque insanus nigris medium impediit crus pellibus et latum demisit pectore clavum, audit continuo 'quis homo hie est? quo patre natus?' ut si qui aegrotet quo morbo Barrus, haberi et cupiat formosus, eat quacumque, puellis iniciat curam quaerendi singula, quali sit facie, sura, quali pede, dente, capillo, 6 ignoto Palmer : ignotos MSS

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Notwithstanding, Maecenas, that of all the Lydians that have settled in Etruscan territory no one is more nobly born than you, and that you had maternal and paternal ancestors who once held sway over mighty legions, you don't on that account tum your noseup,asismostmen'shabit,atthosebornofanunknownor,like me, of a freedman father. When you say it doesn't matter what sort of parent anyone has, as long as he's a gentleman, you rightly acknowledge that, before Tullius gained power andignoble sovereignty, many men without any ancestry often both lived honest lives and were adornedwith distinguished office, whereasLaevinus, the scion of the Valerius through whom Tarquin the proud was banished and fled from his kingdom, was never thought worth tuppence - and you know in whose judgment! He was given a black mark by the people, which often foolishly bestows office on those who don't deserve it, is stupidly enslaved to renown, which isdazzledbyinscriptionsandancestralbusts. Whatoughtwetodo, who are far, far removed from the common herd? For let's grant that the people would sooner entrust office to a Laevinus thanto a Decius with no background, and that Appius the Censor would strike me off if I hadn't a freeborn father- he'd be quite right, considering that I hadn't kept quiet and been satisfied with my own hide! Still, Glory, with her gleaming chariot, draws on as her prisoners the unknown no less than the nobly born. What did it avail you, Tillius, to resume the stripe you had laid aside and to become a tribune? It increased your unpopularity, which would have been less without office. For as soon as anyone is crazy enough to bind his legs up to the middle with the black leather straps, and has put the broad stripe down his chest, he immediately hears 'Who's this fellow? What's his parentage?' If someone suffered from the same sickness as Barrus and wanted to be considered a beauty, he would make the girls anxious, wherever he went, to find out every detail, what sort off ace and calves he had, what sort of feet, teeth and hair; in the same way one who promises

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sic qui promittit civis, urbem sibi curae, imperium fore et Italiam, delubra deorum, quo patre sit natus, num ignota matte inhonestus, omnis mortalis curare et quaerere cogit. 'tune Syri, Damae aut Dionysi filius, audes deicere de saxo civis aut tradere Cadmo?' 'at Novius collega gradu post me sedet uno; namque est ille, pater quod erat meus.' 'hoe tibi Paullus et Messana videris? at hie, si plaustra ducenta concurrantque Foro tria funera magna, sonabit comua quod vincatque tubas; saltem tenet hoe nos.' nunc ad me redeo libertino patre natum, quern rodunt omnes libertino patre natum, nunc quia sim tibi, Maecenas, convictor, at olim quod mihi pareret legio Romana tribuno. dissimile hoe illi est, quia non, ut forsit honorem iure mihi invideat quivis, ita te quoque amicum, praesertim cautum dignos adsumere prava ambitione procul. felicem die ere non hoe me possim, casu quod te sortitus amicum; null a etenim mihi te fors obtulit: optimus olim Vergilius, post hunc Varius, dixere quid essem. ut veni coram, singultim pauca loeutus (infans namque pudor prohibebat plura profari) non ego me claro natum patre, non ego circum me Satureiano vectari rura caballo, sed quod eram narro. respondes, ut tuus est mos, pauca: abeo, et revoeas nono post mense iubesque esse in amicorum numero. magnum hoe ego duco quod placui tibi, qui tutpi secemis honestum, non patre praeclaro sed vita et pectore puro. atqui si vitiis mediocribus ac mea paucis mendosa est natura, alioquin recta, velut si egregio inspersos reprehendas coipore naevos, 43 post funera interpungunlalii

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65 to care for the citizens, the city, the empire, Italy and the gods' sacredshrinescompelsall mortalsto be anxiousto find out of what

fatherhe's born, whetherhe's disgracedby havingan unknownas his mother. 'Do you, the son of Syrus, Dama or Dionysius, presumeto throw citizensdownfromthe rockorto handthemover to Cadmus?' 'But my colleagueNovius sits one row behind me, becausehe's what my father was.' 'Do you think that makes you a Paullusor a Messalla? But withthis one, supposingtwo hundred wagons and three great funeralsclashed in the Forum, he'll make a din to drown the horns and trumpets; for this at least he commandsour attention.' I now come backto myself,son of a freedmanfather,whom they all run down as son of a freedmanfather, nowadaysbecause I'm an associate of yours, Maecenas, but fonnerly because a Roman legion was under my command as tribune. There's a difference between the two, because it wouldn't be justified for anyone, as it might perhaps be in the case of the office, to grudge me yourfriendshipas well,especiallywhenyou're carefulto adopt those who deserve it and are above unscrupulousself-seeking. I couldn't say that I was lucky in that it was accidentwhich allotted you to me as a friend, becauseit was certainlynot chance that set you in my path; sometime agothegoodVirgilandafterhim Varius told you what I was. When I came face to face, I gulpedout a few words, because tongue-tied shyness stopped me speaking out further,andtold younot that I wasthe son of a distinguishedfather, not that I roderoundmy countryestateson a Tarentinenag, but the facts aboutmyself. Yourreply,afteryour fashion,was brief; I left, and nine months later you called me back and bade me be numberedamongstyourfriends. I considerit a great distinctionto have foundfavourwith you- whocan tell the honourablefromthe base- not becauseof an eminentfatherbut becauseof integrityof life and character. Yet if my nature,whilemarredby a few not too seriousfaults, is otherwisesound (just as you might criticisestray moles on an outstandingbody), if no one will be able fairly to

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si neque avaritiam neque sordis nee mala lustra obiciet vere quisquam mihi, purus et insons (ut me collaudem) si et vivo carus amicis, 10 causa fuit pater his, qui macro pauper agello noluit in Flavi ludum me mittere, magni quo pueri magnis e centurionibus orti, laevo suspensi loculos tabulamque lacerto, ibant octonos referentes ldibus aeris, 75 sed puerum est ausus Romam portare docendum artis quas doceat quivis eques atque senator semet prognatos. vestem servosque sequentis, in magno ut populo, si qui vidisset, avita ex re praeberi sumptus mihi crederet illos. 80 ipse mihi custos incorruptissimus omnes circum doctores aderat. quid multa? pudicum, qui primus virtutis honos, servavit ab omni non solum facto, verum opprobrio quoque turpi, nee timuit sibi ne vitio quis verteret olim 85 si praeco parvas aut, ut fuit ipse, coactor mercedes sequerer; neque ego essem questus: at hoe nunc laus illi debetur et a me gratia maior. nil me paeniteat sanum patris huius, eoque non, ut magna dolo factum negat esse suo pars, quod non ingenuos habeat clarosque parentis, sic me defendam. longe mea discrepat istis et vox et ratio: nam si natura iuberet a certis annis aevum remeare peractum atque alios legere ad fas tum quoscumque parentis optaret sibi quisque, meis contentus honestos fascibus et sellis nollem mihi sumere, demens iudicio vulgi, sanus fortasse tuo, quod nollem onus baud umquam solitus portare molestum. nam mihi continuo maior quaerenda foret res, atque salutandi plures, ducendus et unus 75 octonis ...aera •

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SATIRESIX 67 charge me with avarice or meanness or resoning to low brothels, if (to sing my own praises) I live a life which is pure and innocent and endears me to my friends, this is all thanks to my father. Poor as he was, with only a lean little plot, he refused to send me to flavius' school, where the towering boys, sprung from towering centurions, used to go, with their satchels and slates slung over their left shoulders, duly carrying their eightpenny fee on each Ides; instead, he had the courage to transport his son to Rome, to be taught the skills which any knight or senator teaches his offspring. If anyone had seen my clothes and the slaves attending me (the practice in a greatmetropOlis), he'd have thought that toose expenses were met for me from an ancestral estate. Himself acting as the most irreproachable of guardians, he was with me as I went round all my teachers. No need to elaborate. He kept me unconupted (which is virtue's first blessing), free not only from every shameful deed but from every shameful reproach too, and he wasn't afraid that one day someone might take him to task if I earned small commissions as a crier or, like him, as an auctionbroker; nor would I have complained, but as it is I owe him all the more credit and gratitude. While I'm in my right mind I wouldn't feel the least regret at having such a father, and I wouldn't therefore defend myself in the same way as the majority, who say it's not through any fault of their own that they don't have freeborn or distinguished parents. Far different from this are my own words and ideas: if nature ordered us, when we reached a certain age, to retravel the span we had traversed, and to choose whatever other parents each of us desiredforhimselftosuithispride,I'dbecontentwithmyownand refuse to select people distinguished by magisterial rods and chairs. I'd be crazy in the eyes of the masses, but sensible perhaps in yours, for refusing to bear a tiresome burden I've never been used to. Why, I should immediately have to augment my resources, to exchange more morning calls, and to take one or two

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et comes alter uti ne sol us rusve peregreve exirem; plures calones atque caballi pascendi, ducenda petorrita. nunc mihi curto ire licet mulo vel si libet usque Tarentum, mantica cui lumbos onere ulceret atque eques armos: obiciet nemo sordis mihi quas tibi, Tilli, cum Tiburte via praetorem quinque sequuntur te pueri lasanum portantes oenophorumque. hoe ego commodius quam tu, praeclare senator, milibus atque aliis vivo. quacumque libido est, incedo solus; percontor quanti bolus ac far; fallacem Circum vespertinumque pererro saepe Forum; adsisto divinis; inde domum me ad porri et ciceris refero laganique catinum; cena ministratur pueris tribus, et lapis albus pocula cum cyatho duo sustinet; adstat echinus vilis, cum patera gutus, Campana supellex. deinde eo dormitum, non sollicitus mihi quod eras surgendum sit mane, obeundus Marsya, qui se vultum ferre negat Noviorum posse minoris. ad quartam iaceo; post bane vagor, aut ego lecto aut scripto quod me taciturn iuvet unguor olivo, non quo fraudatis immundus N atta lucemis. ast ubi me fessum sol acrior ire lavatum admonuit, fugio Campum lusumque trigonem. pransus non avide, quantum interpellet inani ventre diem durare, domesticus otior. haec est vita solutorum misera ambitione gravique; his me consolor victurum suavius ac si quaestor avus pater atque meus patruusque fuisset.

102 peregreve S' : peregre aut ceteri: ne aut rus solusve peregre Housman 126 Campum lusumque (lusitque g) trigonem Vg: rabiosi tempora signi ceteri

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69 companionsso as not to go alone either to the country or abroad; I should have to feed more grooms and nags, and to have wagons trailingafterme. As it is, I can, if the moodtakesme, go all the way to Tarentum on a gelded mule, his hind quarters sore from the weight of the saddle-bag,his withers from the rider; no one will accuseme,Tillius,of meanness,as they do you, when on the road to Tibur, though praetor, you have as your retinue five slaves carrying your chamber-potand your wine-container. In this, my life is more comfortablethan yours,great senator,and in countless other ways too. I step out whereverI fancy,on my own; I enquire the price of vegetables and meal; I often wander through the trickster-throngedCircus and the Forum as evening descends; I stand next to the fortune-tellers;then I go back home to a dish of leek and pea minestrone. My meal is served by three slave-boys, and a whitemarbleslab has on it two cups with a ladle;next to them standsa cheapcruet and an oil-flask,with its saucer,of Campanian ware. Then I go off to bed, not worried at having to get up early tomorrow or having to appear before Marsyas, who declares that he can't stand the sight of the youngerNovius' face. I lie in bed till ten, and then take a stroll; or, after readingor writing for my own privateenjoyment,I have oil applied,thoughnot the sort that dirty fellow Natta uses, robbinghis lamps. But when the sun is fiercer and persuadesme to go exhaustedto the baths, I abandonthe Plain and thegame of ball. After a light lunch,enoughto stop me having to last the day on an empty stomach,I idle about at home. 'Ibis is the life of those free from the miseries and burdens of ambition; these are my consolationsas I prepare to lead a sweeterlife than if my grandfather,my father and my uncle had each been quaestor. SATIRESIX

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Proscripti Regis Rupili pus atque venenum hybrida quo pacto sit Persius ultus, opinor omnibus et lippis notum et tonsoribus esse. Persius hie permagna negotia dives habebat Clazomenis, etiam litis cum Regemolestas, durus homo atque odio qui posset vincere Regem, confidens, tumidus, adeo sermonis amari, Sisennas, Barros ut equis praecurreret albis. ad Regem redeo. postquam nihil inter utrumque convenit - hoe etenim sunt omnes iure molesti quo fortes, quibus adversum bellum incidit; inter Hectora Priamiden animosum atque inter Achillem ira fuit capitalis ut ultima divideret mors, non aliam ob causam nisi quod virtus in utroque summa fuit: duo si discordia vexet inertis, aut si disparibus bellum incidat, ut Diomedi cum Lycio Glauco, discedat pigrior ultro muneribus missis - Bruto praetore tenente ditem Asiam, Rupili et Persi par pugnat, uti non compositum melius cum Bitho Bacchius. in ius acres proeurrunt, magnum spectaculum uterque. Persius exponit causam; ridetur ab omni conventu; laudat Brutum laudatque cohortem: solem Asiae Brutum appellat, stellasque salubris appellat comites, excepto Rege; Canem illum, invisum agricolis sidus, venisse. ruebat flumen ut hibernum fertur quo rara securis. tum Praenestinus salso multoque fluenti expressa arbusto regerit convicia, durus vindemiator et invictus, cui saepe viator cessisset magna compellans voee cuculum.

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at Graecus, postquam est ltalo perfusus aceto, Persius exclamat 'per magnos, Brute, deos te oro, qui reges consueris tollere, cur non hunc Regem iugulas? operum hoe, mihi crede, tuorum est.' 35 7 tumidusque I(,

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How the venomous poison that was Rupilius Rex the outlaw was paid back by the cross-breed Persius is well-known, I imagine, both to every barber and to every customer for eye-ointment. This Persius was wealthy and had big business interests at Oazomenae, and also a troublesome lawsuit with Rex; he was a hard man, capable of outstripping Rex in vindictiveness, overbearing and full of bluster, so acid-tongued as to beat men like Sisenna and Barrus by a distance. To come back to Rex: when the two of them failed to come to any agreement- because all those caught up in head-on conflict give trouble by virtue of their bravery; between Hector, son of Priam, and the fiery Achilles so deadly was the fury that only the finality of death could separate them, and this was precisely because there resided in each the highest valour: if two cowards were plagued by disagreement, or ill-matched opponents caught up in war, as with Diomedes and the Lycian Glaucus, the fainterhearted would leave the field, voluntarily despatching gifts. While Brutus, as governor, commanded the rich province of Asia, Rupilius and Persius came to blows, a pair just as well matched as Bacchius and Bithus. They sally forth keenly into court, each a great sight to behold. Persius states his case; there's laughter throughout the assize; he praises Brutus, he praises his staff; he calls Brutus the 'sun of Asia', and he calls his officers its 'beneficent stars', with the exception of Rex; in him, he says, they've had a visitation from the Dog, the star loathsome to f anners. He was rushing on like a torrent in winter, where the wood-cutter's axe is seldom taken. Then, as his wit flows in full spate, the man from Praeneste hurls vineyard-style abuse in return, acting the tough, invincible vinedresser, to whom the passer-by, taunting him with resounding cries of 'Cuckoo', would often have given in. But Persius the Greek, after his dousing in Italian vinegar, cries: 'Tell me, Brutus, in the name of the mighty gods! You're used to regicide: why don't you slit this Rex's throat? The job, believe me, is tailor-made for you!'

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VIII Olim truncus eram ficulnus, inutile lignum, cum faber, incertus scamnum faceretne Priapum, maluit esse deum. deus inde ego, furum aviumque maxima fonnido; nam fures dextra coercet obscenoque ruber porrectus ab inguine palus; ast imponunas volucres in vertice harundo terret fixa vetatque novis considere in hortis. hue prius angustis eiecta cadavera cellis conservus vili ponanda locabat in area; hoe miserae plebi stabat commune sepulcrum, Pantolabo scurrae Nomentanoque nepoti: mille pedes in fronte, trecentos cippus in agrum hie dabat: heredes monumentum ne sequeretur. nunc licet Esquiliis habitare salubribus atque aggere in aprico spatiari, e quo modo tristes albis informem spectabant ossibus agrum, cum mihi non tantum furesque feraeque suetae hunc vexare locum curae sunt atque labori, quantum carminibus quae versant atque venenis humanos animos: has nullo perdere possum nee prohibere modo, simul ac vaga Luna decorum protulit os, quin ossa legant herbasque nocentis. vidi egomet nigra succinctam vadere palla Canidiam, pedibus nudis passoque capillo, cum Sagana maiore ululantem: pallor utrasque fecerat horrendas aspectu. scalpere terram unguibus et pullam divellere mordicus agnam coeperunt; cruor in fossam confusus, ut inde manis elicerent, animas responsa daturas. lanea et effigies erat, altera cerea: maior lanea, quae poenis compesceret inferiorem; cerea suppliciter stabat, servilibus ut quae iam peritura modis. Hecaten vocat altera, saevam

15 e addidi : qua Bentley : qui ApiJz

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Once I was the trunk of a fig-tree, a useless piece of timber, when a carpenter, uncertain whether to make a pedestal or a Priapus, preferred that I should be a god. So god I am, inspiring utter terror in thieves and birds; thieves are kept off by my ·right hand and the red stake stickingout indecentlyfrommy loins, while the pesky birds are scared by the reed attachedto my head, which stops them settling in the new gardens. This is the place to which previouslya slave would arrange for his colleagues' corpses, cast out fromtheir narrowcells,to be carriedin a cheapcoffin;this used to serve as a communal grave for the depressed masses, for Pantolabusthe jester and for Nomentanusthe wastrel;here a pillar allotted a frontage of a thousand feet, a depth of three hundred: 'The monumentnot to descend to the heirs.' Now people have a healthyEsquilineto live on, and they can stroll along the sunswept Mound,from which previouslythey had a gloomyoutlook over a site disfigured by whitening bones; while in my case the thieves and wild creatures which haunt this place don't give me as much trouble and anxiety as the women who bend human minds with spells and potions: there's no way I can foil them or stop them, once the vagrant Moon has displayed her comely face, from collectingbones and noxious herbs. With my own eyes I've seen Canidia roamingabroad, with her black cloak girt up, her feet bare and her hair undone, uttering shrieks along with the elder Sagana: pallor had rendered each dreadful to behold. They began to scrape the ground with their nails and to tear apart a dusky lamb with their teeth; all its blood was poured into a trench, from which they could lure the Spirits of the Dead, ghosts who would give them their replies. There was also a woollen effigy, and another of wax; the woollen one was larger, so as to control the lesser by punishing it: the waxen one stood in the pose of a suppliant,as if on the point of being put to death like a slave. One witch called on Hecate,the other on cruel

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altera Tisiphonen; serpentis atque videres infernas errare canis, Lunamque rubentem ne foret his testis post magna latere sepulcra. mentior at si quid, merdis caput inquiner albis corvorum, atque in me veniat mictum atque cacatum Julius et fragilis Pediatia furque Voranus. singula quid memorem, quo pacto alterna loquentes umbrae cum Saganaresonarent triste et acutum, utque lupi barbam variae cum dente colubrae abdiderint furtim terris, et imagine cerea largior arserit ignis, et ut non testis inultus horruerim voces Furiarum et facta duarum? nam displosa sonat quantum vesica pepecli diffissa nate ficus: at illae currere in urbem. Canidiae dentis, altum Saganae caliendrum excidere atque herbas atque incantata lacertis vincula cum magno risuque iocoque videres.

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SATIRE EIGHT 75 Tisiphone: you could see serpents and the hounds of Hell wandering abroad, and the blushing Moon hiding behind the tall tombs to avoid witnessing such sights. If I'm telling any lie, may I have my head befouled with white crow-droppings, and may Julius and the delicate Miss Pediatius and Voranus the thief come to piss and shit on me. What need to recount the details, in what fashion, in their dialogue with Sagana, the shades returned a sad, shrill sound, how a wolf's beard and the fang of a dappled snake were furtively buried in the ground, how the waxen image made the fire blaze up more fiercely, and how my horror, as witness, at the words and deeds of the two Furies did not go unavenged? With the noise of a balloon bursting, I farted and split my fig-wood buttocks asunder: the witches ran off to the city. The sight of Canidia losing her false teeth, Sagana' s tall wig falling off, and the herbs and enchanted love-knots tumbling from their arms would have made you burst with laughter.

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IX lbam forte via Sacra, sicut meus est mos, nescio quid meditans nugarum, totus in illis. accurrit quidam notus mihi nomine tantum, arreptaque manu: 'quid agis, dulcissime rerum?' 'suaviter, ut nunc est' inquam, 'et cupio omnia quae vis.' 5 cum adsectaretur, 'num quid vis?' occupo. at ille 'noris nos' inquit; 'docti sumus.' hie ego 'pluris hoe' inquam 'mihi eris.' misere discedere quaerens, ire modo ocius, interdum consistere, in aurem 10 dicere nescio quid puero, cum sudor ad imos manaret talos. 'o te, Bolane, cerebri felicem!' aiebam tacitus, cum quidlibet ille garriret, vicos, urbem laudaret. ut illi nil respondebam, 'misere cupis' inquit 'abire; iamdudum video: sed nil agis; usque tenebo; 15 persequar hinc quo nunc iter est tibi.' 'nil opus est te circumagi: quendam volo visere non tibi notum: trans Tiberim longe cubat is, prope Caesaris hortos.' 'nil habeo quod agam et non sum piger: usque sequar te.' demitto auriculas, ut iniquae mentis asellus, 20 cum gravius dorso subiit onus. incipit ille: 'si bene me novi, non Viscum pluris amicum, non Varium f acies: nam quis me scribere pluris aut citius possit versus? quis membra movere 25 mollius? invideat quod et Hermogenes ego canto.' interpellandi locus hie erat: 'est tibi mater, eognati, quis te salvo est opus?' 'baud mihi quisquam: omnis eomposui.' 'feliees! nune ego resto. eonfiee; namque instat faturn mihi triste, Sabella quod puero eeeinit divina mota anus urna: 30 "hune neque dira venena nee hostieus auferet ensis, nee laterum dolor aut tussis, nee tarda podagra; 16 prosequar \II 30 mota divina Cruquius,Bentley

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I happened to be walking on the Sacred Way, thinking over some trifle or other, after my fashion, and quite wrapped up in it. A fellow runs up, who's known to me only by name, and seizes my hand: 'How are you, my dear old thing?' 'Nicely at the moment' I replied, 'and I wish you all the best.' When he tagged after me, I got in first: 'Nothing else, was there?' 'Yes' he countered, 'I'd like you to get to know yours truly; I'm a literary type.' 'I'll rate you the higher for it' said I. Desperately trying to get away, I now went faster, sometimes stopped, whispered something or other to my slave-boy, while the sweat trickled right down to my ankles. 'Bolanus, how lucky you are in your fiery temper!' I muttered to myself, while he babbled on about this, that or the other, praising the streets and the whole city. When I made no reply, he added 'You 're dying to be off: I realised that much earlier, but it's no use; I shall stick to you all the way; I shall dog you from here to your destination.' 'There's no need for you to go out of your way: I'm plannil'!g to visit someone you don't know: he's ill in bed a long way off across the Tiber, near Caesar's gardens.' 'I've nothing to do and I'm not afraid of exercise: I'll follow you all the way.' My ears drooped, like a baleful donkey's, when it's received too heavy a load on its back. 'Unless I'm sadly mistaken' he began, 'you won't rate Viscus' or Varius' friendship higher than mine. Who can write more verses than me, or more quickly? Who can move his limbs more daintily? My singing is something even Hermogenes might envy.' This was my chance to interrupt: 'Have you a mother, or relatives, concerned for your well-being?' 'No, there's no one: I've laid them all to rest.' 'Lucky for them! Now I'm left; finish me off! A grim fate is now overtaking me, which an old Sabine woman, shaking her prophetic um, once foretold to me in boyhood: "Him not fell poisons nor the steel of martial foe Nor painful pleurisy nor cough nor halting gout

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garrulus hunc quando consumet cumque: loquaces, si sapiat, vitet, simul atque adoleverit aetas." ' ventum erat ad Vestae, quarta iam pane diei 35 praeterita, et casu tune respondere vadato debebat, quod ni fecisset, perdere litem. 'si me amas' inquit 'paulum hie ades.' 'inteream si aut valeo stare aut novi civilia iura; et propero quo scis.' 'dubius sum quid faciam' inquit, 40 'tene relinquam an rem.' 'me, sodes.' 'non faciam' ille, et praecedere coepit. ego, ut contendere durum cum victore, sequor. 'Maecenas quomodo tecum?' hinc repetit: 'paucorum hominum et mentis bene sanae. ncmo dexterius fortuna est usus. haberes 45 magnum adiutorem, posset qui ferre secundas, hunc hominem velles si tradere: dispeream ni summosses omnis.' 'non isto vivimus illic quo tu rere modo: domus hac nee purl.or ulla est nee magis his aliena malis; nil mi officit, inquam, 50 ditior hie aut est quia doctior; est locus uni cuique suus.' 'magnum narras, vix credibile.' 'atqui sic habet.' 'accendis, quare cupiam magis illi proximus esse.' 'velis tantummodo, quae tua virtus, expugnabis: et est qui vinci possit, eoque 55 difficilis aditus primos habet.' 'baud mihi dero: muneribus servos corrumpam; non, hodie si exclusus fuero, desistam; tempora quaeram; occurram in triviis; deducam. nil sine magno vita labore dedit mortalibus.' haec dum agit, ecce 60 Fuscus Aristius occurrit, mihi cams et illum qui pulchre nosset. consistimus. 'unde venis et quo tendis?' rogat et respondet. vellere coepi, et pressare manu lentissima bracchia, nu tans, distorquens oculos, ut me eriperet. male salsus 65

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SATIRENINE 79 Shall carry off, but, whenso'erhis end betide, A chatterbox shall wreak it; once his age matures, Let him, if he be wise, avoid the talkative." ' Vesta's temple had been reached, and it was already after nine: as it happened, he had to meet his bail or, if he failed to do so, lose the case. 'Do a friend a favour' says he 'and help me out here for a bit.' 'Damned if I'm up to standing in court or know anything about civil law; and I'm hurrying to get where I told you.' 'I'm not sure what to do' he replies, 'whether to abandon you or my case.' 'Me, please.' 'I won't' says he, beginning to lead the way. As it's hard to contest the issue with one's victor, I follow in his wake. 'What tenns are you on with Maecenas?' he now resumed: 'He keeps exclusive company, and has really sound judgment. No one's exploited his luck more shrewdly. You'd have a great assistant, who could play the minor role, if you were prepared to present yours truly: damned if you wouldn't automatically supplant the lot.' 'Our life there isn't the way you imagine; no household is more untarnished or further removed from those blemishes; I'm not worried in the slightest, I can tell you, that someone is wealthier or has better literary qualifications; every single one has his own place.' 'That's a claim and a half-it's hard to believe.' 'Yet that's how it is. 'You 're stoking up my eagerness to get really close to him.' You've only to want to, and, such is your prowess, you'll take him by stonn; he's subject to conquest, and this is why he makes the initial approaches difficult.' 'I won't let myself down. I'll bribe his slaves with gifts; if I'm kept out today, I won't let up; I'll watch for suitable moments; I'll waylay him in the streets; I'll be his escort ''To mortals life gives naught, save with great toil." ' While he pursued this theme, Aristius Fuscus, none other, bumped into us, a good friend of mine who knew the fellow only too well. We stopped, he asked me my errand and told me his. I began to pluck his sleeve, and to squeeze his anns, which remained totally impassive, nodding, swivelling my eyes to tell him to rescue me. By way of a heartless joke, he smiled and

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ridens dissimulare: meum iecur urere bilis. 'certe nescio quid secreto velle loqui te aiebas mecum.' 'memini bene, sed meliore tempore dicam: hodie tricesima Sabbata: vin tu curtis Iudaeis oppedere?' 'nulla mihi' inquam 'religio est.' 'at mi: sum paulo infirmior, unus multorum: ignosces: alias loquar.' huncine solem tarn nigrum surrexe mihi! fugit improbus ac me sub cultro linquit. casu venit obvius illi adversarius et 'quo tu turpissime?' magna inclamat voce, et 'licet antestari?' ego vero oppono auriculam. rapit in ius: clamor utrimque: undique concursus. sic me servavit Apollo.

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81 pretended not to understand; my heart seethed with rage. 'You definitely said there was something or other you wanted to discuss with me in private.' 'I well remember, but I'll tell you on a more suitable occasion: today's a thirtieth Sabbath-do you want to fart in the faces of the bob-tailed Jews?' 'I've no religious qualms' I sai(J. 'But I have: I'm a bit too weak-minded, one of the many. You '11forgive me; I'll talk another time.' Could so black a day as this have dawned for me? The villain fled and left me under the knife. SATIRE NINE

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As it chanced, the fellow's opponent came face to face with him. 'Where are you off to, you scoundrel?' he challenged at the top of his voice. 'May I claim a witness?' I readily proffered my ear. He hauled him off to court; shouting on both sides; commotion all round. Thus did Apollo deliver me.

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[Lucili,quam sis mendosus,teste Catone, defensore tuo, pervincam, qui malefactos emendareparat versus; hoe lenius ille, quo melior vir et est longe subtilior illo, qui multumpuer et loris et funibus udis exoratus, ut esset opem quife"e poetis antiquisposset contrafastidia nostra, grammaticorumequitum doctissimus.ut redeam illuc:]

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Nempe incomposito dixi pede currere versus Lucili. quis tarn Lucili fautor inepte est ut non hoe fateatur? at idem, quod sale multo urbem defricuit, charta laudatur eadem. nee tamen hoe tribuens dederim quoque cetera: nam sic 5 et Laberi mimos ut pulchra poemata mirer. ergo non satis est risu diducere rictum auditoris: et est quaedam tamen hie quoque virtus: est brevitate opus, ut currat sententia, neu se impediat verbis lassas onerantibus auris; 10 et sennone opus est modo tristi, saepe ioeoso, defendente vicem modo rhetoris atque poetae, interdum urbani, parcentis viribus atque extenuantis eas consulto. ridiculum acri fortius et melius magnas plerumque secat res. 15 illi scripta quibus comoedia prisca viris est hoe stabant, hoe sunt imitandi: quos neque pulcher Hennogenes umquam legit neque simius iste nil praeter Calvum et doetus cantare Catullum. 'at magnum fecit quod verbis Graeca Latinis miscuit.' o seri studiorum! quine putetis difficile et mirum, Rhodio quod Pitholeonti contigit? 'at senno lingua concinnus utraque suavior, ut Chio nota si commixta Falemi est.' cum versus facias, te ipsum percontor, an et cum dura tibi peragenda rei sit causa Petilli? [1A-8A] habenJit et s-:in ceteris desunt

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[Howdefectiveyou are, Lucilius,I shallprove on the evidenceof Cato, your advocate,who ispreparingto emendyourfaulty lines: he behaves more gently, in proportion as he's a better and far subtlerman thanthe onewhowas constantlyprevailedon as a boy by lashesand moist thongsto be one who couldrenderassistance to the poets of old in theface of our disdain,the most learnedof equestriangrammarians.To returnto thatpoint: ] Certainly I said that Lucilius' lines ran haltingly and inelegantly. Who is so fanatical an admirer of Lucilius as not to admit as much? Yet he's also praised on the same page because he scoured the city with the abundant salt of his wit. However, in granting him this, I wouldn't also concede the rest, because that would mean admiring Laberius' mimes, too, as beautiful poetry. So it's not enough to make the listener grin from ear to ear - and yet there is also some virtue in that; what's needed is brevity, to let the thought run on, to stop it entangling itself with words that burden the weary ears, and a style is needed which is sometimes stem, often playful, maintaining the part now of the orator and poet, sometimes of the civilised individual who reserves his strength and deliberately underplays it Humour decides great issues more forcefully and more effectively than severity. This is where the writers of Old Comedy succeeded, this is where they 're to be imitated: they've never been read either by the pretty Hennogenes or by that ape who's trained to recite nothing but Calvus and Catullus. 'But his was a great achievement, in combining Greek words with Latin.' You late learners! Do you really think it difficult to match Pitholeon of Rhodes in his happy knack? 'But a style which nicely blends each tongue is more pleasing, as when the Falernian brand is mixed with Chian.' When you 're writing verses - I put it to you directly - or when you have to negotiate a

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scilicet oblitus patriaeque patrisque Latini, cum Pedius causas exsudet Publicola atque Corvinus, patriis intenniscere petita verba foris malis, Canusini more bilinguis. atque ego cum Graecos facerem, natus mare citra, versiculos, vetuit me tali voee Quirinus, post mediam noetem visus cum somnia vera: 'in silvam non ligna feras insanius ac si magnas Graecorum malis implere catervas.' turgidus Alpinus iugulat dum Memnona dumque defingit Rheni luteum caput, haec ego ludo, quae neque in aede sonent certantia iudice Tarpa, nee redeant iterum atque iterum spectanda theatris. arguta meretrice potes Davoque Chremeta eludente senem comis garrire libellos unus vivorum, Fundani; Pollio regum facta can it pede ter percusso; forte epos acer ut nemo Varius ducit; molle atque facetum Vergilio adnuerunt gaudentes rure Camenae: hoe erat, experto frustra Varrone Atacino atque quidusdam aliis, melius quod scribere possem, inventore minor; neque ego illi detrahere ausim haerentem capiti cum multa laude coronam. at dixi fluere hunc lutulentum, saepe ferentem plura quidem tollenda relinquendis. age, quaeso, tu nihil in magno doetus reprehendis Homero? nil comis tragici mutat Lucilius Acci? non ridet versus Enni gravitate minores, cum de se loquitur non ut maiore reprensis? quid vetat et nosmet Lucili scripta legentis quaerere num illius, num rerum dura negarit versiculos natura magis factos et euntis mollius, ac si quis pedibus quid claudere senis, hoe tantum contentus, amet scripsisse ducentos 27 oblitosBentley Latinia EV : LatineKR I(,

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SATIRETEN 85 difficult case for a defendant like Petillius? No doubt you• d prefer, whereas Pedius Publicola and Coivinus sweat out their cases, to forget your native land and father Latinus and to adulterate your native speech with foreign importations, like a bilingual from Canusium! Indeed, when I, though born on this side of the ocean, was writing some little verses in Greek, Quirinus appeared to me after midnight, when dreams are true, and forbade me in tones like these: 'Carrying timber to a forest would be no crazier than your choosing to swell the packed ranks of the Greeks.' While the turgid Alpman butchers Memnon, and while he moulds a muddy head for the Rhine, I play about with these trifles, which aren't designed either to resound in competition in the temple with Tarpa adjudieating, or to return to be seen again and again in the theatres. You alone of living poets, Fundanius, can rattle off engaging volumes in which the crafty courtesan and Davus fool old Chremes; Pollio sings the deeds of kings in metre thrice accented; Varius is unequalled in his spirited spinning of heroic epic; to Virgil the Muses who delight in the countryside have granted tenderness and charm. It was this form of writing, which had been tried with no success by Varro of Atax and certain others, that I could improve, while remaining inferior to its inventor; nor would I presume to strip him of the crown that clings so gloriously to his head.

But I said that he flowed like a muddy stream, often carrying more that should be removed than left alone. Come, tell me, do you with your expertise find no fault in the great Homer? Doesn't Lucilius, for all his charm, want to change anything in Accius' tragedies, doesn't he laugh at lines of Ennius of inferior dignity, without presenting himself as superior to his critical targets? What's to stop us in our tum, as we read Lucilius' compositions, asking whether it was his own nature, or unkind circumstances, which denied him verses which were more finished and ran more smoothly than someone's who was content simply to enclose something in six feet per line and took delight in having written two

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ante cibum versus, totidem cenatus, Etrusci quale fuit Cassi rapido ferventius amni ingenium, capsis quern fama est esse librisque ambustum propriis? fuerit Lucilius, inquam, comis et urbanus, fuerit limatior idem quam rudis et Graecis intacti carminis auctor, quamque poetarum seniorum turba: sed ille, si foret hoe nostrum fato dilatus in aevum, detereret sibi multa, recideret omne quod ultra perfectum traheretur, et in versu faciendo saepe caput scaberet vivos et roderet unguis. saepe stilum vertas, iterum quae digna legi sint scripturus, neque te ut miretur turba labores, contentus paucis lectoribus. an tua demens vilibus in ludis dictari carmina malis? non ego: nam saris est equitem mihi plaudere, ut audax contemptis aliis explosa Arbuscula dixit. men moveat cimex Pantilius, aut cruciet quod vellicet absentem Demetrius, aut quod ineptus Fannius Hermogenis laedat conviva Tigelli? Plotius et Varius, Maecenas Vergiliusque, Valgius et probet haec Octavius, optimus atque Fuscus, et haec utinam Viscorum laudet uterque! ambitione relegata te dicere possum, Pollio, te, Messalla, tuo cum fratre, simulque vos, Bibule et Servi, simul his te, candide Furni, compluris alios, doctos ego quos et amicos prudens praetereo; quibus haec, sint qualiacumque, arridere velim, doliturus si placeant spe deterius nostra. Demetri, teque, Tigelli, discipularum inter iubeo plorare cathedras. i, puer, atque meo citus haec subscribe libello.

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87 hundredversesbeforedinner and the same number after it.just like Cassius the Etruscan whose inspiration was more fevered than a raging torrent and who, the story goes, was cremated on a pyre of his own books,completewithcases? Grant, I say,thatLucilius had chann anda civilisedwit, grant that he was also more polishedthan the author of unsophisticatedverse untouched by the Greeks and than the crowd of older poets: still, if fate had postponed his life until our present age, he would file off a great deal from his wodc., he would prune everythingthat trailed beyond the ideal limit, and in fashioning his verse he would often scratch his head and gnaw his nails to the quick. SATIRETEN

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You mustoften use your eraser,if you're to write something worth a second reading,and you shouldn't strivefor the admiration of the crowd, but should be satisfied with a limited readership. Or are you crazy enough to prefer your poems to be dictated in paltry schools? Not me; it's enough for the knights to applaud me, as Arbuscula, contemptuousof others, dauntlessly said when hissed off the stage. Should I be upset by that louse Pantilius, or tormented to thjnk that Demetriuscarps at me behind my back, or that the absurdFannius,table-companionto TigelliusHermogenes, runs me down? May Plotius and Varius, Maecenas and Virgil, Valgius and Octavius, along with the worthy Fuscus, approve these compositions, and how I hope that each of the Viscus brothersmay complimentthem! Withoutbeing accusedof flattery I can mention you, Pollio, you, Messana, with your brother, and you also, Bibulus and Servius, and along with these you, Furnius, sincere friend, and a number of others, literary people and friends, whom I deliberately pass over. I should like these compositions, for what they're worth, to delightthem, andI shall be disappointed if they give less pleasure than I hope. As for you, Demetrius, and you, Tigellius, I bid you whine amongst the easy chairs of your lady-pupils. Away, slave-boy, and quickly append this to my little volume.

89

Commentary Satire One The first three satires of the book form a related group, and have more in common with, and owe more to the influence of, the Greek diatribe or philosophical street-sermon than any of the others; in each of them, Horace criticises what he presents as a form of foolish extremism in human behaviour (see Introduction II & ill). Though the beginning and end of Satire 1 deal with man's habitual discontent with his lot in life (µ£µ1f,LµoLp(a: 1-40, 108-21), its central theme is greed or selfish acquisitiveness (avaritia: q>LN>1TN>UT(a or q>LMpyupla): at 41-107, Horace conducts a debate with an avarMS,who vainly tries to justify his attitude and behaviour. Both faults are well-attested targets in the Greek diatribe. Distinguished critics in the past, e.g. Palmer, have accused Horace of an arbitrary combination of the two themes and of manifest stitching, whereas in fact the satire subtly, but clearly, suggests a causal connection between the two failings: man's discontent with his lot is put a constant and insatiable craving to down to his greed, one inevitable aspect of which is ,r~~la, possess more (a) than one has already (b) than anyone else (cf. Plato, Republic 349b-350c). The suggestion of such a causal connection itself goes back to the diatribe, as can be seen from Teles' partially extant On Self-Su.fficiency (1T£pl auTaptC£las) which reports the remarks of Bion (0. Hense, Teletis Reliqu.iae, pp. 10-11) and from letter 17 of the pseudo-Hippocrates, which although later than Horace is generally agreed to have drawn on common sources: cf. Fraenkel (1957) 92-4, Rudd (1966) 21. A comprehensive guide to this debate is provided by H. Herter, Rheinisches Mu.sewn 94 (1951) lff. The pattern may be analysed as follows: after asking the reason for man's allegedly universal discontent with his lot, and ridiculing it as hypocritical on the grounds that no one, given the chance, would really be prepared to exchange places (1-22), Horace promises a serious enquiry into the behaviour of the discontented, who are allowed to explain that their motive in putting up with the tribulations of their lot is financial, to provide for a secme retirement in the manner of the industrious and provident ant (27-35). At this point Horace launches a sudden and dramatic attack, claiming that his imaginary adversary, unlike the ant, is never deterred, by the season or by any obstacle, from his acquisitiveness (36-40). This affords a transition to the attack on the avaru.s (41-107): the implied argument is that the adversary's real reason for enduring the trials of his lot is his greed and competitive envy, which is thus the root cause of his dissatisfaction with his position. At 108-21, where Horace reverts to his opening topic, the causal connection is presented quite explicitly. Despite the problems of text and interpretation at 108-12 (see notes ad loc.), discontent is not only put down to avaritia by u.t avarMSin 108-9, but is coupled throughout 11016 with competitive envy (,r~oveta in sense (b) above): and at 117-9 Horace presents the formal answer to his opening question; man's general dissatisfaction with life stems from the competitive envy (an aspect of avaritia) just described. A definite logic thus lies behind the structure of the satire. At the same time, the combination of two different moral failings, with the discussion of one arising from the other and with the causal connection given any degree of emphasis only at the end, enables Horace to give the satire a characteristically informal, discursive atmosphere; he deliberately represents the attack on greed as a digression (108) when it is in fact the kernel of the poem. This is partly in keeping with the Lucilian tradition, but it also enables Horace to avoid the impression of a formal treatise or

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sermon, and may well be calculated to make the sermon more engaging and persuasive. Few readers, perhaps, would admit to needing a sermon on greed or on discontent with their financial status, had these topics been announced at the beginning;far more might admit to discontent with their lot, claimed by Horace to be universal, and would be interested by the proposed enquiry into the reasons for it. Progressively throughout the satire, the reader is invited to conduct a selfexamination, of the type in which Horace tells us he constantly engages himself (4.133-9). If he's discontented, would he refuse to change if given the chance (15ff.)7 If he'd refuse, claiming to be providing for a secure retirement, is he sure he's not really actuated by the profit-motive as an end in itself (28-40)7 Does he share none of the self-delusions of the avarus which are exposed in the course of 41-1077 Is he sure that his real discontent is not with his financial status rather than with his occupation in life, and that the real cause of his discontent is not competitive envy (108-21)7 The structure seems well calculated to engage the reader at the outset, and to lead him to ask increasingly searching questions about himself without deterring him by the announcement of a sermon on greed at the outset.

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Maecenas: the vocative serves to dedicate the satire, and the book, to Horace's patron and friend (cf. the first Epode, the first Ode, and the first Epistle). C. Maecenas, born c. 69 B.C., was an equestrian descended from a princely Etruscan family (cf. 6.1-4). Though never becoming a senator, he was chief adviser to Octavian/Augustus on domestic and diplomatic affairs from about 40-20 B.C. He died in 8 B.C. a few months before Horace himself. See also Introduction I and Satires 5, 6 and 9, and for a range of views on him and his relationship with Horace, Andre (1967), Dalzell (1956), Horsfall (1981), Lefevre (1981), Nisbet/Hubbard (1970 and 1978) and Reckford (1959). no one: the presentation of discontent as universal makes an arresting opening and constitutes a hyperbole characteristic of the genre; (cf. omnibus 3.1); Horace would obviously regard Maecenas, no less than himself, -as an exception. The over-statement is echoed at 108, but toned down by raro at 117; there, at the end of the poem, Horace admits that contented men, though few in number, do exist, so revealing that the attitudes he has been advocating are attainable. has bestowed ... thrown: dederil and obieceril are perfect subjunctives, attracted to the mood of viva/ 3; cf. portarit 49, delectet 51. but commends: strictly quisque, 'each man', is to be supplied out of nemo to provide a positive subject, as in 108-12 below. lauder in the context is used by Compression for 'praises the lot of, 'calls happy'(= µaicaplCn), as at 9 and 109. How happy the merchants: the heavily spondaic rhythm of o fortunati mercalores seems to belie, or parody, the claim to bliss made for them. when the years begin to weigh on him: a Roman soldier was discharged about the age of 45. his limbs are worn out: literally 'worn out as to his limbs': membra is an adverbial accusative of 'part affected' withfractus. hard strain: labor, toil or hardship, is a key idea of the satire, which helps to link its two main topics (cf. 30, 33, 88, 93 and laboret 112). Here at 4-12, the two pairs of examples envy one another on the transparently mistaken grounds that the labor of the other is less than their own; 28-40 go on to suggest that greed is the real reason which leads men to put up with the labor of which they complain so bitterly. This labor is thus exactly parallel

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with that which the avarus is urged to give up in 93-4 and which is involved in the remorseless competition of 112. In one decisive hour: literally 'in the turning-point of an hour'; momentum is used with 7-8 reference to its root sense, of that which moves the scales. 9 Your specialist In law and statute: i.e. thejurisconsult (consultus, = iuris conswtus, 17), who fulfilled some of the functions of the modem solicitor; Cicero, de Oratore i.212, defmes his three functions as respondere, agere and cavere, i.e. to offer legal advice in reply to enquiries, to execute some legal act (e.g. a will or a contract) for a client, and to safeguard a client in his legal dealings. In Republican times, when financial rem\llleration was forbidden, the reward for his services lay in prestige and influence. 10 before cock-crow: cf. Cicero, pro Murena 22, where in the course of an amusingly unfavourable comparison of the life of the jurisconsult with that of the soldier, Cicero's friend Servius Sulpicius, an eminent legal authority who is a member of the prosecution, is pictured as rising before dawn to reply to his clients' enquiries. 11-12 the man dragged from the country ••• city-dwellers: picking up, but characteristically varying, the specific allusions to the farmer and lawyer, to prevent too predictable a pattern. The court-appearance (for which dalis vadibus denotes the provision of sureties) provides a further link with the world of the lawyer. 13 The other examples like this: cetera de genere hoe is one of a number of characteristically Lucretian phrases echoed by Horace. It occurs some eleven times in Lucretius, e.g. iii.481. 14 Fabius: according to the scholiasts, the author of several volumes of Stoic philosophy, and a Pompeian. The side-swipe at his prolixity enables Horace to cut short his list of examples before it becomes too long or systematic. Cf. the concluding gibe at Crispinus at 120. Fabius reappears at 2.134. 15-19 The introduction of the deus ex mochina is a colourful device, which seems to have been exploited in the moralising of the Hellenistic diatribe: see Kiessling/Heinze on 16. The lively direct speech ackis dramatically to its impact 19 And yet they have the chance to be happy: beatis is used, with devastating irony, from the point of view of the discontented in their previous yearnings: cf. fort,mati 4, felices 12. With licet, sc. eis; beatis is attracted into the same case. 20-2 The device of the deus is now exploited to lend the authority of Jupiter himself to Horace's criticism of the inconsistency of the discontented. But even here he avoids striking too lofty an attitude, by the rather irreverent picture of Jupiter puffmg out both cheeks in his wrath. 23-7 Having raised a laugh at the inconsistency of the discontented, Horace now rules out a jocular treatment as an end in itself and promises a serious enquiry into their attitudes. He thus provides an early indication of his outlook and purpose in satire, which is to be much amplified in poems 4 and 10. percurram 24 is in the context pejorative, suggesting a superficial treatment of the subject, which exploits it simply for laughs. The description may well in part be directed polemically against Lucilius (cf. Anderson (1982) 34-5) cf. the implied criticisms that Lucilius was sometimes content merely to raise a laugh and that his humour was sometimes too caustic (10.7-15). Horace's parenthetic concession, that laughter is compatible with telling the truth (i.e. with a serious ultimate purpose) is an which was the acknowledgment of the validity of the 'joking in earnest' (cnrou6aLoyt>.oi.ov) central principle of the Greek diatribe (Introduction II). The instructive purpose lying

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behind such a technique receives emphasis from the comparison with teachers using cakes as an incentive to their pupils; the image is of a type traditional in Greek philosophical literature (cf. Plato, Laws ii.659e) and is reminiscent of Lucretius' famous comparison of his poetry with the honey smeared round the edge of the cup of his bitter philosophical medicine (i.936ff.). The tag riden1em dicere verwn is often applied to Horace's own method in satire, which is reasonable enough provided that ridenlem is interpreted in its most genial sense, as 'smiling' or 'laughing indulgently'; but Horace does not himself use the phrase to characterise his own technique, but rather to describe a valid alternative which at this point at least he undertakes to avoid. However, unless ludo 27 is to be interpreted pejoratively ('sheer buffoonery'), Horace is here deliberately underestimating his own brand of quiet, often ironic humour, which plays a vital part in the 'serious enquiry' into folly and self-delusion which follows in the rest of the satire. The general requirements as to the tone of satire are set out more fully at 10.11-15, where we learn that the style needed is modo lrisli, saepe iocoso, and that humour can be a highly effective weapon (ridiculwn ocriforlius ... ). 23 Moreover: another echo of Lucretius, who regularly uses praelerea to introduce a new argument. 28-30 The pairings of 4-12 now reappear, but in reverse order, and with the jurisconsult replaced by the innkeeper and the merchants equated with, or replaced by, sailors. The dishonesty of the innkeeper was proverbial (cf. cauponibus atque malignis 5.4) and makes him a far more appropriate example of the avaritia which is now to be branded than the jurisconsult, who received no financial reward. The Labor endured by these categories (30) is emphasised in their descriptions: gravem and duro 28 both reflect the toilsomeness of ploughing, the perfulia of the caupo clearly puts him under a greater strain, and audaces 30 suggests that the naulae are foolhardy to run such risks. 32 heaped themselves up a sufficiency: cibaria is literally a pile of rations. The terminology anticipates the allusion to the ant's pile of food (acervo 34), and simultaneously adds to the apparent respectability of the argument: the professed aim is to save enough to live on, not to amass a fortune for its own sake. In the same way ... : Horace now develops his opponents' apparently perfectly reasonable point as he might have developed a point of his own, by an appeal to the animal kingdom. 33 the tiny ant, a giant in effort: magni laboris not only makes a telling contrast with parvula, but picks up laborem 30 so reinforcing the parallel. The genitive is of quality; in prose a generic word (here animal ) would normally be included with it. For the picture of the provident ant, cf. Virgil, Georgics i.186; the industry and other remarkable qualities of the tiny bees are similarly held up as a model for humans in Georgics iv.149-218. 36-40 Horace now abruptly rounds on a specific imaginary opponent from the ranks of the discontented (le 38, libi and le 40), accusing him in effect of deluding himself with the ant analogy; unlike the ant, the adversary never pauses, whatever the obstacles, from the pursuit of wealth as an end in itself (lucro 39) and from seeking to outstrip all others in it (40). The lines (see introductory note) thus provide a skilful and dramatic transition to the new topic of avaritia, with which competitive envy (rrAEov{(a)is at once associated in 40. 36 But: the connective relative quae is used adversatively, = at ea. the turning year: i.e. the new year: the sun enters Aquarius on January 16th. Others, arguing that this results in imprecise natural history, interpret as a general allusion to

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winter ('the year turned to display its winter side' or 'the changed season'), but this results in imprecise astronomy, with Aquarius having to represent all the winter constellations. 39-40 ftre, sea, sword, nothing ... : ignis, mare andferrum are more naturally taken as subjects of obstet along with nil, from which the necessary negatives are supplied, than as subjects of demoveat along withfervidllS aestllS (i.e. of summer) and hiems. Either way, the two clauses governed by the adversative cum stand in asyndeton. so long as you can prevent: the dum ne clause expresses what the opponent' seeks to forestall, literally 'provided that ... not'. 41-2 Horace now begins his debate with the avarllS,which occupies the main body of the poem. down to 107. He closely associates the acquisitive with the hoarding instinct; this has been foreshadowed in 36-40, where the contrast with the wise ant (37-8) implies that the acquisitive opponent fails to put his resources to practical use, and is confirmed in 42, where the avarllSseeks to ensme the safety of his hoard by bmying it; much of the ensuing discussion turns on Horace's attempts to encourage the avarllS to make more practical use of his assets. The whole argument is characteristic of Horace's method in the 'diatribe' satires (Introduction ill), in that he seeks to expose delusion, and to deter the reader from the moral faults \Dlder discussion with an appeal to self-interest Thusfurtim and timidum 42 provide the first of many allusions to the self-inflicted cares of the avarllS and to his neurotic anxieties for the safety ot his hoard 43-51 The avarllS' objection to drawing from his hoard (43) is easily and effectively demolished by Horace's rejoinder that use is money's only purpose (44). The remainder of the passage presupposes this point accepted, and argues that human needs are limited, so that vast resources are superfluous to their satisfaction. This abstract general point is made, characteristically, by means of vivid specific examples. 45-6 The idea possibly goes back to Lucilius, though this depends on the assumption that fragments 581-2 and 583 (Warmington) belong together, so as to produce: milia ducentum frumenJi tolli' medimnwn, vini mille cadum; aeque fruniscor ego ac tu. The omission of si with the future perfect triverit produces a vivid paratactic construction to express the hypothesis (literally 'A will have happened, B won't follow'); cf. 3.15. With cenJum milia, sc. medimnwn (partitive genitive). hoe is causal ablative and plus oc =plus quam; for the latter, perhaps colloquial, usage, cf. 2.22, 5.5, 6.130, 10.34 and 59. 46-9 The point is illustrated with a colourful analogy from the other end of the social spectrum: the slave carrying the bread-bag, who receives (and needs) no more on that account, serves as the exact counterpart of the grain-baron. reticulum was a net bag used for carrying loaves on a journey: cf. 5.90 and Juvenal 12.60, cum reticulis et pane et venJre lagenae. venal is is used substantivally = servos, and does not denote that the slaves are up for sale. For inter following its case, cf. 116 below, and 3.53 and 60. 49-51 The final, clinching illustration appeals explicitly to the naturae fines, i.e. the natural limits to human needs. On the one hand this evokes Epicurus' classification of the desires into those natural and necessary, which were to be satisfied, natural but unnecessary, which could be satisfied with caution, and unnatural and unnecessary, which were to be completely avoided (cf. ad Menoeceum 127ff.); see also on 73-5 and 2.74-6 and 111-3 below. On the other hand, the idea fits in with Horace's insistence on the traditional Greek and more specifically Aristotelian idea of the golden mean, or happy medium, which lay in the avoidance of all types of excess. The motif of a limit is taken up again in 57 and 59, 92ff., and 101-7 below.

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COMMENTARY: SATIRE ONE to the man living: the dative is unparalleled with refert which elsewhere takes the genitive or ad + accusative, but is used by analogy with the dative of the person judging or

interested. Sl-60 The avarus here shifts his ground, admitting the need to draw on his resources, but his insistence on the attractions of doing so from a large pile is dismissed by Horace as not only absurd but also dangerous. The absurdity depends on the preceding idea of the limits of human need, the logic of which has escaped the avarus; thus 52-3, where a granary cannot provide any more complete satisfaction of a man's hunger than a corn-bin (cumera), echo the agricultural examples of 45-6 and 49-51 and reiterate their poinL The supporting analogy, of drawing the same limited quantity of water from a river or from a small fountain, is further developed in 56-60 and used to symbolise the miseries and dangers to which the avarus exposes himself. The river-drinker now (57) greedily seeks to draw more than he needs (contrast tantundem 56), unlike the fountain-drinker (59) who observes the naturae fines. The former's death by drowning symbolises the dangers besetting the avarus in amassing his fortune (e.g. for the seafaring mercator literal death by drowning is an occupational hazard; cf. the defiance of ignis,mare,ferrum at 39) and perhaps also after amassing it (cf. the fate of Ummidius, 95ff.). The muddied waters of 59-60 symbolise the trials and tribulations, including no doubt guilty conscience, of his quest for wealth, which taint all his satisfaction and help to belie suave in 51. 52 leave us free to scoop: relinquere is used poetically with the dative and infinitive, = 'allow to'; cf. the accusative and infinitive construction in Lucretius i.515 and 703, iii.40. haurire is normally used of drawingliquids, but a pile of grain is reasonably 'fluid', and the word also helps to prepare for the waterimage which follows (cf. haurit 60). from a small one: Horace here admits the validity of having a heap to draw from; he is not recommending a hand-to-mouth existence, and could scarcely deny that a comfortable bank-balance can give a feeling of security: the point at issue is the size of the required reserves. He wisely refrains from trying to specify where precisely the line is to be drawn between the modest competence required to satisfy nature's needs and the excess capacity of the avarus, and is doubtless satisfied if he can prompt the reader to reflect whether he really needs as much as he thinks he does. why should you praise: the subjunctive marks a rhetorical deliberative, or repudiative, 53 question. SS glassful: cyathus is literally a serving-ladle. As a measure it denotes 'a twelfth of a sextarius or pint, while urna denotes half an amphora, some three and a half gallons, but the terms seem more general here. 56 little fountain: the diminutive is contemptuous. 58 Aufidus: a characteristically personal touch: the example chosen is a swift river which flows near Venusia, Horace's birthplace in Apulia; cf. Odes iii.30.10 and iv.9.2. 59 asks only for the little: eget here= 'feels the lack of' and so approximates to 'desires'. The diminutive shows that the correlatives refer to a small quantity. 59-60 The image of the muddied waters is reminiscent of the graphic picture at Lucretius iii.3840, where fear of death sullies the pure spring of human life and all its pleasures. 61-79 Horace now turns to what he presents as the widely held view that prestige depends solely on material possessions, so that one can never have enough of them. As such a principle leads automatically to avaritia in its extreme form, he not unnaturally takes the cases of two misers (64-7, 68-79), the second of whom serves as an imaginary opponent, and seeks

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to expose the self-delusion of their philosophy and the self-inflicted misery to which it leads. 62 you're valued according to the scale of your p~lons: Horace takes over this proverbial idea from Lucilius (Warmington 1194-5): aur,,un alque ambitio specimen virtuti' virique est:/ quantum habeas, tantum ipse sies tantique habemis. Cf. also XPflµaTa xpfiµaT' d.111\p, Pindar, lsthmians 2.ll. Trimalchio proclaims a similar materialistic outlook in Petronius 77.6: assem habeas, assem valeas: habes, habeberis. habeas and ·sis are subjunctives of indefinite second person. What are you to do ••• You might as well: the verbs are indefinite second person. but 63 the subjunctives also express a deliberative question and a jussive respectively. a man like that: illi picks out a specific champion of the view just put into the mouths of the bona pars. 63-4 t.ell him to be miserable: iubeas mi.serumesse, in addition to its literal meaning, implies a contrast with iubeas valere, literally 'to bid to fare well' and so 'to say goodbye to'. For the same word-play, cf. iubeo plorare 10.91. Horace's first reaction is thus to dismiss such a case as hopeless, though libenter qualeruu id f acit simultaneously provides the first indication that such an outlook involves self-inflicted misery. quatenus, 'insofar as', is regularly causal in Horace: cf. Lucretius ii.927. 64-7 like the mean rich man at Athens: equated by pseudo-Acron with the misanthrope Timon. So far from being valued for his riches, which he alone respects, he suffers the misery of popular contempt: the admission populus me sibilal (66) reveals the fallacy of the premiss tanti quantum habeas sis (62). 66 used: with solitus, sc. esse or faisse to complete the nominative and infinitive construction with memoralur . hiss me: sibilal elsewhere takes the dative, not the accusative, but the need for emendation is not guaranteed. 68 Tantalus: for stealing the nectar and ambrosia of the gods, Tantalus was eternally punished either, as here, in the better-known version of the legend, by having to stand in a pool of water which receded whenever he tried to drink, surrounded by fruit-trees which retreated whenever he tried to eat (cf. Homer, Odyssey xi. 582-92), or by having a large stone hanging over him ever about to fall (cf. Pindar, Olympians i.55-64, Lucretius iii.9804): hence English 'tantalise'. 69-72 A miserly adversary, perhaps the illi of 63, here laughs at Tantalus' pathetic efforts to drink, without realising that his own plight is parallel: surrounded by his possessions, he cannot draw on them for fear of diminishing his pile (cf. 43). Teles (Hense 34-5) had used this version of the Tantalus myth as an allegory for avaritia in a similar way; cf. also Lucian, Timon 18. The device adds further colour and variety to Horace's presentation of his case. 71 go to sleep on them: partly from the love of his hoard, partly to ensure its safety. mouth agape: thus matching Tantalus as he tries to drink; the miser, however, gapes from infatuation with his treasures, just as Mars gapes at his mistress Venus at Lucretius i.36,

71-2

inhians in te, dea. are forced: i.e. by your avaritia. sacred objects ••• painted pictures: the two images vividly convey the miser's inability to make any use of his wealth, just as Tantalus is powerless to drink the waters. The

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striking assonance of sacris with saccis 10 makes the comparison of the bags with sacra seem all the more inevitable and appropriate. 73-S The lines not only seek to convince the miser that money exists to be used (cf. 44). but also reflect that a little of it will satisfy all the essential human needs, making vast wealth superfluous (cf. 45-51). The purchases recommended correspond exactly with the Epicurean requirements for the avoidance of bodily pain (cf. humana sibi doleat natura 75); these were for a modicum of sustenance (exemplified in 74), of clothing, and of shelter, all of which came into the category of natural and necessary desires (see on 49-51 above, and cf. Lucretius ii.16ff.). the purpose or money: quo is literally 'to what end'. can be bought: ematur is perhaps potential ('would be, if you knew money's purpose'), perhaps jussive. a carafe: the sextarius approximates to a pint. which, if denied: quis (= quibus) negatis is ablative absolute: the relative clause is generic-consecutive ('of such a sort that .. .'), hence the subjunctive doleat. 76-9 Horace turns from self-delusion to self-inflicted misery, developing the theme of the miser's anxieties for his hoard which was first introduced at 42. 78-9 In these blessings: the ironic bonorum embraces both material possessions, and the miseries they bring. The genitive is poetic, and denotes the sphere of pauperrimus. I ... would hope: optarim is perfect subjunctive of 'cautious assertion'. 80-91 The avarus' final claim. that money ensures attention during illness, is countered with the argument that his preoccupation with money loses him all genuine affection and makes him an object of hatred even to his family. The point about the unpopularity of the Athenian miser (66) is pressed even further here, as Horace nears the climax of his expose, further revealing the fallacy of tanti quantum habeas sis 62. 81-2 someone to sit by you ... call the doctor: it is not entirely clear how far the allusion is to slaves purchased with the avarus' wealth, how far to relations or friends (including perhaps legacy-hunters) to whom, on the principle of tanti quantum habeas sis, he imagines his wealth endears him. adsideat fits the latter category rather better, paret and roget (implying 'go to fetch') the former. The subjunctives in the relative clauses are purposive or 'prospective'. The avarus' argument is the opposite of that of Lucretius at ii.34-6, where wealth is powerless to speed recovery. 83 dear relations: the self-delusion of caris is the point singled out for attack in the reply which follows. 86-7 Are you surprised ... that: indicative would be more usual after mirari si ; the subjunctive praestet is no doubt used by analogy with the indirect question construction. sacrifice everything: post omnia ponas = omnia postponas; the division of the compound (tmesis) is metrically convenient 88-91 I suppose that: ironic, the question with an expecting the answer 'no', as in 76 above. The original disjunctive force of the an can be seen by imagining an ellipse: 'Why not seek to merit their love, or .. .'. whom nature gives you with no effort on your part: there is a contrast with the avarus' material assets, which are acquired with great labor (see on labore 5); the implication is that such funds of natural affection (a) should not be lightly squandered and (b) cost little to retain.

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It would be a fruitless waste of time: i.e. the love of relatives is, in reality, not only worth having, but also not al all difficult to safeguard. The idea of the ease of the task has been prepared for by rudlo natura Labore quos tibi dat (see preceding note) and is developed in infelix ('I suppose you'd be \DlSuccessful'). like teaching a donkey: this task, because it is unnatural and consequently both pointless and difficult. provides an especially apposite contrast with that of retaining the affection which cognati are naturally predisposed to feel. There is an implied antithesis with training horses; which were sometimes ridden on the Plain, i.e. the Campus Martius situated outside Rome's walls and bounded by the Capitoline, Quirinal and Pincian hills and the Tiber: cf. Odes i.8.4. 92-100 Horace now draws the practical moral from his argument with the avarus, illustrating it with an arresting cautionary tale. 92-4 let there be a limit ••• begin to limit ••• : a characteristic appeal for moderation, in which the key motif of thefinis recurs emphatically: see on 49-51 above. The lesson is exactly that which the discontented adversaries of 28-40 have failed, unlike their professed model, the ant. to put into practice: the injunction finire laborem incipias parto quad avebas is especially appropriate to them, since they profess a limited objective in enduring their Labor (30-2) but then go far beyond it (38-40). The echo of their predicament serves as a further link between the two main themes of the poem, and prepares for the reintroduction of the opening theme of discontent al 108ff. For the importance of the key idea of Labor, see on 5 above. when you've increased what you have ... the less: with plus and minus, sc. quam antea; the expression approximates to one of proportion, qua plus habes, eo minusmetuas. The subjunctive habeas suggests that cum has some causal, and not solely temporal, force. once you've obtained what you desired: sc. eo as antecedent of quad avebas to complete the ablative absolute with parto. 95 one Ummidius: this Roman miser, otherwise unknown, resembles his Athenian counterpart at 64-7 as a pathetically ludicrous example of self-dt:lusion; his violent deathal the hands of the freedwoman (whether the motive was robbery or sheer loathing) not only constitutes a grim warning, but exposes the emptiness of his morbid fear of death from starvation. The vague qwdam is appropriate, as Horace clearly does not expect the/abwa to be generally known, which would spoil the surprise effect of its conclusion. Bentley's qui tarn, which makes non longa est fabula parenthetical between tarn and dives, is thus unnecessary. It's not a long story: for the promise of brevity, to prevent boring the reader, cf. ne te morer 14 and ne . .. addam 120-1. On the need for brevity, as opposed to Lucilian prolixity, see 10.9. 95-6 so rich ... so mean: the Athenian miser was similarly defined at 65. With dives, sc. tarn (or ita) erat; the ellipses contribute to the brevity just promised; that of tarn is paralleled at 7.13. measured his money by the bushel: for the proverb, cf. Petronius 37, nwnrnos modio metitur, of Trimalchio's wife. 100 the bravest of all Tyndareus' descendants: the description suggests that the freedwoman's daring excelled even that of Clytaernnestra, daughter of Tyndareus, who axed her husband to death on his return from the Trojan War. Though some scholars have solemnly suggested that, by an amazing coincidence, the freedwoman's name was

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Clytaemnestra or Tyndaris, the phrase is clearly a joke: the allocation to the house of Tyndareus is likely to be based, at most, on the freedwoman being of Greek origin. By introducing an epic comparison in a sordid, quite unepic context, Horace exploits the humour of incongruity, so underlining the irony of Ummidius' tragi-comic fate. Tyndaridariun is genitive of the masculine form Tyndaridae, which can include both sexes; the five-syllabled Greek name at the end of the line produces a characteristically epic cadence; cf., e.g., Lucretius i.477. 101-7 The attack on avaritia ends with a warning against spendthrift prodigality: the proper course lies between the two extremes. 101-2 Naevius or Nomentanus: typical wastrels, as vappam . .. ac nebulonem 104 makes clear. Nomentanus reappears as a spendthrift at 8.11; ii.1.22; ii.3.175 and 224: at ii.8.23 the name seems to have a different, meaningful use, of the man who, like a nomenclator, 'names' Nasidienus' courses. Though the name is restored by conjecture in Lucilius (Warmington 80 and 82), there is no clear connection between the Lucilian figure, if authentic, and the Horatian; cf. Rudd (1966) 142. Naevius has the better MSS authority, but some scholars make the slight change to Maenius, the name of a spendthrift in Epistles i.15.26 (it appears also at 3.21 below); however, this probably makes Horace's use of names more rigidly systematic than it was in practice. 102-3 Now you're bringing together ... one another: i.e. overlooking all the intermediate stages between avarice and prodigality: contrast the use of componere at 7.20, of pitting opponents against one another. pergis + infinitive is literally 'you're proceeding to', implying impetuosity. For fronJibus adversis, cf. Lucretius vi.117. 104 wastrel ... good-for-nothing: according to Pliny, NatMral History xiv.125, vappa is properly must which has deteriorated as a result of spontaneous fermentation. In this transferred, moral sense it is coupled with neblllo again at 2.12. 105 a certain range: i.e. a great range: quiddam is a deliberate understatement Tanals and Visellius' father-in-law: representative of opposed, and probably undesirable, extremes. Porphyrio says that Tanais was a eunuch, and Visellius' father-inlaw ruptured; this may be guess-work. but so are all other attempts to explain the allusions. Palmer, identifying Tanais with the Don and ingeniously supposing that Visellius' wife claimed to be a Rhine-maiden, saw a proverb from the distance between East and West 106-7 Horace here sums up the Aristotelian doctrine of the golden mean, according to which virtue consisted of a middle course lying between opposed vices (see on 2.28 below); this idea plays a prominent part in each of the first three, 'diatribe', satires. a proper measure: i.e. a mean: modMs here denotes a measure or limit not to be exceeded, and is practically synonymous with the certi fines which serve to defme it in what follows. beyond or short of which ••• can't lie: e.g. if the avarus tries to reform but falls short of the flN!s, he remains avaricious: if he goes beyond them, he becomes a spendthrift: right conduct lies in gaining, and staying on, the middle ground enclosed within them. 108-12 I return to the point from which I've digressed: i.e. at 41, where Horace moved on from discontent and its causes to develop his attack on the avarMs. This emphatic signposting of the 'digression' adds to the satire's air of informality and spontaneous improvisation: see introductory note. The language of 108-9 recalls the satire's opening question (la,u;let diversa seq1umtis 109, with qMisqMeagain supplied from the preceding nemo, is repeated verbatim from 3), while both the causal ,a avarus 108 (see below) and

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the coupling of discontent with competitive envy in 110-2 recall the answer suggested in 3~-40, where the root cause of discontent was clearly implied to be greed, with which competitive envy was immediately associated in 40. bow no one, because of greed ••• : Ill avarus can only be causal, = ob avaritiam, with "' = lllpote (cf. Greek s-), as at ii.2.111, Epistles i.7.41 and Odes iii.5.42: it cannot mean (a) 'as the miser is satisfied' (sc. se probat ) or (b) 'as the miser is dissatisfied' (sc. non se probat ), because (a) the avarus has embodied discontent except when, as at 66f., he deludes himself: (b) he cannot logically provide an example of discontent, since the argument is that all the discontented are avari . The reading of V gives a long indirect question (qlli ... laboret 112) which explains illllC, a consttuction of the 'I know thee who thou art' type: the attempt of Fraenkel (1957) 97-9 to prove it impossible after the resumptive formula is arbitrary and unwarranted (cf. F. Klingner, Jownal of Roman Studies 48 ( 1958) 177). qlli, the old ablative of the interrogative, recalls qlli fil 1: it he.re means 'how', not 'why', for otherwise the question would contain its own answer in Ill avarus 108 and the account of competitive envy in 110-2. The alternative reading nemon (= nemone) Mt avarus, with a colon or full stop after redeo and a question-mark after laboret 112, gives satisfactory sense as a repudiative type of question (cf. e.g. men moveat 10.78), 'Is no one, because of his greed, to be satisfied ... is he rather to commend ... 7' (cf. Rudd (1966) 13f. and 274f.), though the switch from rhetorical question to flat statement at 113ff. is anticlimactic. Fraenkel's interpretation of this text (p.100), 'Can it be true that no greedy person is content with his own situation ... r is unconvincing: not only does the formula Mt -ne + subjunctive elsewhere imply indignant rejection rather than surprise, but there is nothing surprising in the discontent of the greedy in the first place. wastes away ... more distended udder: the effective antithesis between the avarus' emaciation and the swollen udder which causes it makes his envy seem the more illogically ridiculous: cf. Epistles i.251, invidus alterius macrescit rebus opimis. This example of the grass being greener on the other side of the fence appears proverbial: cf. Ovid, Ars Amatoria i.349-50, fertilior seges est alienis semper in agrisl vicinwnqwe pecus grandius llber habet. For debilitation through envy, cf. macerat invidia, Lucretius iii.75, where envy is again the corollary of greed, as here, and also of ambition. Instead orcomparing ... poorer than himself: discontent here stems from man's perermial failure to count his blessings. labours to outstrip first this, then that Individual: the competitive greed which produces dissatisfaction with one's own situation finally inspires a 'rat-race': the idea is vividly developed, under the more dignified image of chariot-racing, in the following sentence. 113-6 In this comparison, instat eqllis ... Silos vincentibus, expressing the reaction of the festinans to the locllpletior, also matches hMnc atqwe hMnc s11.perarelaboret 112, while illwn praeteritwn temlll!ns extremos inter ellntem matches neqwe se maiori pa11.periorwn twbae comparet 111-2. that other man: illwn is literally deictic, 'that man there': the idiom is distinct from, and more vivid and specific than, illwn qlli praeteritus est ... ('anyone who ... '). Cf. illis ... qwaesitis 37-8. 117-9 The formal answer to the satire's opening question is now provided: see introductory note. This ls why: i.e. as a result of the competitive greed described from 110-6. rarely: the overstatement of nemo (cf. 108) is now corrected: see note there.

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like a satisfied guest: Horace adopts Lucretius' famous imagery at iii.938, cur non "1 ple,u,s vitae conviva recedis?, and 959-60, ante/ qlUlm satur ac ple,u,s possis discedere rerum. But the resemblance goes further, because Lucretius attributes dissatisfaction with life to the same causes as Horace: cf. 957, sed quia semper aves quod abest, praesentia temnis. l:ZO.l His serious lesson complete, Horace characteristically ends on a lighter note, with a joke not only at Crispinus' expense but at his own. For the insistence on brevity, cf. 95 note. the sore-eyed Crisplnus' desk: according to the scholiasts, Crispinus was a long-winded d.f)E'Ta>.6yos-, or collector of maxims on virtue, of Stoic persuasion (cf. Fabius, the subject of a similar gibe, at 14). This is borne out by, and was perhaps entirely inferred from, his Stoic links at 3.139 and ii.7.45: at 4.14, he appears as a long-winded poet. All three diatribe satires end with a gibe at a specific Stoic, Crispinus in 1 and 3, Fabius in 2. The sore eyes reflect the intensity of Crispinus' literary activities; there is also irony in that Horace himself was prone to lippitudo, conjunctivitis (5.30-1: cf. 3.25 and 7.3). There may perhaps be further irony in the allusion to suspected plagiarism of the Stoic Crispinus, immediately after the striking echo of Lucretius, the Epicurean poet, in 119. scrinia were cylindrical book-boxes in which papyrus rolls, once written on, were stored.

Satire Two The main body of the satire is a plea, addressed exclusively to the Roman male, to avoid obsessive extremism in his sexual relationships and to take a more balanced, dispassionate view of his sexual needs. The principal target, to which by far the most space and emphasis is devoted, is the folly and danger of adulterous relationships with matronae, married women (cf. ii.7.46-71, where Horace's slave Davus lectures him on the folly of enslavement to adultery with all its perils, contrasting the advantages of a meretricula or prostitute) but Horace is also concerned to show that infatuation with any category of woman is a misguided and damaging extreme. The argument, as usual, is conducted on grounds of self-interest, and is based on the miseries, humiliations and hazards, and also on the delusions, of the relationships which are ruled out. The position adopted is reminiscent of that of Lucretius in his famous attack on romantic passion at iv.1058-1287, where enslavement to a particular woman is denounced and sexual drives are to be satisfied on a casual, promiscuous basis (vulgivaga Venere) without loss of self-sufficiency (1071-5): available sex (Horace's Venus parabilis 119) was similarly recommended by the Cynics (see on 125-7) and by Lucilius (Warmington 923-4 and 927-8). Horace's attitude represents a total rejection of that of Catullus in the Lesbia poems and of the Roman love elegists in general. But whereas Lucretius gives vent to an impassioned denunciation, Horace's approach is cooler and more clinically detached, and often, however coarse and bawdy, cynically humorous. As in 1 and 3, the approach to the main subject of the diatribe is indirect: the recent death of the singer Tigellius, who figures also in the introduction to 3, is exploited to provide an arresting opening (the device of using a contemporary event as a launching pad goes back to Lucilius, who had used, e.g., the recent death of Cornelius Lentulus Lupus to lead into his concilium deorum in book i). Tigellius provides the first example in a series of opposed extremes of behaviour, which is used to illustrate the folly of rushing to either (24) and of failing to adopt a middle course or 'golden mean' (nil medium est 28). But this again is only preparatory to the main theme of

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extremism in sexual relationships, which is introduced in 25-36 where the examples first take on a sexual colouring. This discursive technique is again well calculated to button-hole the reader; the arresting opening is followed by some persuasive examples of the folly of rushing to extremes, before the demonstration that certain types of sexual involvement amount to foolish excess. The doctrine of the mean has two principal applications in the main body of the satire, though the frrst is not developed. and the second is left implicit rather than explicitly stated, and has thus escaped the attention of commentators. In the frrst scheme, adultery with mmronae represents one extreme, resort to the lowest form of prostitute the other (28-30): here liaisons with freedwomen (a category embracing many meretrices) are presented (47-8) as a sort of mean, though scarcely a 'golden' mean since Horace immediately focuses on the dangers of infatuation, which can seriously damage both one's reputation and one's finances (49-63). Secondly, this latter passage clearly represents infatuation with any category of woman as an extreme to be avoided. Here, the mean is satisfaction of one's desires on a casual, dispassionate basis, the recommended alternative to adultery throughout the latter part of the satire (64-134). The opposite extreme to infatuation would be complete sexual abstinence, but this solution receives no more mention than does total forgiveness of all faults, the opposite extreme to rigid intolerance, in Satire 3.

1-2

3

A mock-heroic opening, in which the most unusual three-word hexameter, the exotic words ambubaiae and pharmacopolae, the alliteration with b, p and m and the asyndeton combine to give the list of mourners a solemn, impressive ring, which is undermined by the sleazy nature of its constituents. Worshipful Companies of Flute-girls: ambubaiae, Eastern immigrants so-called from their instrument (Aramaic abbub( a)), are significantly listed alongside prostitutes (scorta) by Suetonius, Nero 21. collegia, properly used of trade-guilds, is applied to them ironically, increasing the mock-solemn effect pedlars of potions: i.e. purveyors of quack medicines and, on some occasions, of poisons; cf. Cicero pro Cluentio 40, where an intermediary in murder is referred to as pharmacopola circumforaneus. mime-actresses: mentioned alongside meretrices at 58 as potentially dangerous objects of infatuation. buffoons: probably hangers-on like the scurra (see on 4.86-93), who would entertain their patron with their humour: at ii.8.21 Servilius, one of two hangers-on of Maecenas who attend Nasidienus' banquet with him, has the cognomen or nickname ofBalatro. The noun may be connected with blatero, a babbler, but is derived by Festus from blateae, lumps of clay which, like these dependents, cling tenaciously. all of that Ilk: the colloquial hoe genus omne completes the deflation of the mock-heroic opening. Tigellius, the singer: this musician, Sardinian by birth, had been on familiar terms with Julius Caesar and Octavian; he had quarrelled with Cicero when the orator found himself unable to take on the case of his relative Phamea (ad Familiares vii.24, ad Atticum xiii.4951). He was the subject of a lampoon by Calvus, from which Porphyrio preserves the line Sardi Tigelli putidum caput venit. He figures also in the introduction to Satire 3, at 3-19, but must be distinct from the Tigellius Hermogenes who appears later in that poem and in three other satires in the book; see on 3.129. For the device of opening the satire with a contemporary event, see introductory note above; though the singer does not reappear in

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the poem. the inclusion of ambrd,aiaeand mimae amongst the recipients of his generosity provides a degree of connection with the main theme. 4 so generous: in the eyes of the mourners; the antithesis with hie, the representative of the opposed extreme of meanness, shows that Tigellius was really prodigus. quippe, literally 'for', shows that the grief of the mourners, who will no longer profit from his prodigality, is not entirely disinterested. 7 If you croa-questlon: perconleris is subjunctive of indefinite second person; cf. possis 19. this fellow here: a second example of extravagance, opposed to the niggardly Fufidius (12-22). 8-9 whittling away: the metaphor of stringere is from pruning away leaves. Insatiable gluttony: literally 'ungrateful maw'; the assonance, with triple ing, and the alliteration, with triple I, fit the sense of the line, as if echoing the repeated gulping of ingested food. The alliteration with m, n and o in 9 has a similar insistent effect. Extravagance in diet was a stock topic of Roman satire from Lucilius onwards; Horace treats the theme from contrasting angles in ii.2 and ii.4. 11 by one side ... by the other: the supporters of the opposed extremes, who fail equally to pursue the 'golden mean'. 12 Fufldlus: possibly the same money-lender described as hominem ornatissimum by Cicero, in Pisonem 86. The choice of usurer to oppose to the bon viveur is especially apt, given the allusion to the latter's debts (conductis nummis 9). afraid ... wastrel and good-for-nothing: a variation on ne prodigus esse dicatur metuens 4-5. For vappa and nebulo, cf. 1.104 and note: as there, miserly avaritia (19-22 below) appears as the opposite extreme. 13 he's rich ••• at Interest: the line recurs at Ars Poetica 421, and may possibly be interpolated here to clarify Fufidius' profession, which could be deduced from the context without it. 14 docks five per cent Interest ... : literally 'cuts out five interests each (i.e. on each loan) from the capital', i.e. charges five times the usual monthly rate of interest and deducts the first month's interest in advancing the loan. The normal rate was cenlesima pars, 1% per month or 12% per annum. 15 the more desperate: i.e. financially; perditus can denote either material or moral ruin. pres.ses him: i.e. for payment, illustrating his remorselessness. 16-17 youths .. . toga of manhood: i.e. boys who, at 15 or 16, have exchanged the purpleedged toga (praetexta, cf. 5.36) for the plain white toga (toga pura) worn by adult males. tiro, denoting a raw recruit, and the abstract ooun tirocinium are often used in connection with this ceremony and the subsequent escorting of the new adult to the forum. Sons in patria potestate were technically debarred from entering into contracts before the age of 25 (Cicero, pro Caelio 17); Fufidius flouts this, and hopes to recover the debts either on the death of the father or when the son has reached 25, meanwhile profiting from his exorbitant rate of interest. stern scrutiny of their fathers: the parental sternness explains the restricted allowances which induce the sons to become Fufidius' victims, and underlines his shamelessness in seeking to lead them astray virtually under their father's noses. Both modo sumpta veste virili and sub patribus duris are attached loosely to the noun tironum, an idiom more natural in English than in Latin.

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17-22 The dramatised reaction to Fufidius' rapaciousness, introduced in a vivid rhetorical question (literally 'who does not cry?'), enlivens the discussion as Horace moves on to the main point. his miserliness. 18 Still: at introduces what is presented as the natural, universal assumption, which 19-22 dramatically corrects, revealing the paradox of Fufidius' behaviour: whereas the me8Jllless of the first example was at the expense of others (4-6), Fufidius', lilce Ummidius' at 1.96-7, extends also to himself. 20-1 the father .. . Terence's play: the allusion is to Menedemus, the 'Self-Tormentor' of Terence's HeaMton Timoriunenos; out of remorse for his harshness in driving his son Clinias from home for his indiscretions, he punished himself with hard labour. indMcit, appropriate to bringing a character on stage, here extends its meaning and governs an accusative and infinitive by analogy with verbs lilcefingere or simulare. 22 than he does: for atqMe= quam, see on 1.46. 23 Suppose ... It's this: conversationally elliptical; with illuc, pertinet is to be supplied, while respondeam would complete the syntax of the remote future conditional. 24 In avoiding ... extreme: a summary of the point of the preamble, rather than the actual subject of the piece: see introductory note. 25-6 A contrast between effeminacy and aggressive virility in dress. For a low-slung runic as a sign of effeminacy, cf. Plautus Poenulws 1303 and Quintilian xi.3.138, and for the general importance of cultivating the mean (mediocrilas) in dress, Cicero de Officiis i.130. Maltlnus: probably a significant name for an effeminate dandy; this is how Nonius 37 .6 defmes malta in Lucilius (Warmington 744). The scholiasts record the belief that it is a cover-name for Maecenas, whose effeminate appearance is alluded to by Juvenal 1.66 (cf. 12.39) and Seneca, Moral Epistles 114.4-8, where he appears ungirt (discinctws 4) and with loose, trailing runic (sol1'lis tllnicis 6); but even if, as is by no means certain, the satire pre-dates Horace's introduction to his patron, it seems incredible that such an allusion could have been left to stand when Horace published as a member of his circle. another with It ••• raised: with est qui, sc. ambulet; with subductis, sc. tllnicis (plural alluding to runics worn on different occasions). 26-7 A parallel contrast, between the extremes of over-concern and neglect with regard to personal hygiene, which is reinforced by the expressive alliteration of 27 (smooth liquids for the over-refined Rufillus, harsh gutturals for the repulsive Gargonius). 27 is repeated at 4.92, where Horace is defending himself against the charge of malevolence in satire, to exemplify a personal gibe which had given offence. This suggests, but by no means proves, that Rufillus and Gargonius, otherwise unknown, were real people; the names could have been chosen arbitrarily and mainly for the sake of the alliterative pattern. The line in 4 would then be used to represent personal gibes at specific contemporaries without giving any further offence by repeating an actual example: see on 8.11, which is similarly cited at ii.1.22. elegant: facetMs, though usually denoting wit or humour, as at 4.7. does not do so exclusively, but sometimes conveys elegance or refmement, as here and at 10.44; cf. Quintilian vi. 3.19-20, where allusion is made to the latter passage. The adjective is here used ironically, from Rufillus' point of view; to Horace he is over-elegant (cf. ineptws at 4.91). The line is sometimes punctuated so thatfacetus goes with qui 25, but overrefmement fits the breath-fresheners better than the exhibitionism just described.

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28

flavoured lozenges: Martial i.87 refers to their use to remove the previous day's wine from the breath. Uke a goat: for the evil smell of the goat, often associated with human armpits, cf. Epodes 12.5, Plautus Pseudolus 738 and Catullus 71.1. pastillos and hircum are internal limiting accusatives with olet . There's no happy medium: complementary to the general point made in 24, and based on the Aristotelian idea of virtue as a mean between opposedextremes: cf. Epistles i.18.9,

virtus est medium viliorum et utrimque remotum . 28-30 The third, most exclusively sexual of the transitional contrasts of extremes in 25-30 now establishes sex as the main subject of the satire. refuse to touch: the perfect infinitive, literally suggesting 'refuse to be in a position where they have touched', is influenced in part by the analogy of the Greek aorisL those whose heels ... dress: a periphrasis for matronae, married women of dignity and standing (cf. 54, 63, 78, 94); the instita was a border attached to the hem of their stola, which repels Ovid at Ars Amatoria i.31-2: cf. ad talos demissa stola at 99 below. subsuta veste is ablative absolute, literally 'their dress having been stitched at the bottom'. on sale in a reeking brothel: alluding to the lowest type of prostitute, not to better-class meretrices who would often belong to the ranks of the libertinae recommended at 47-8. stantem, standing on display to prospective purchasers, =prostantem. fornix, primarily an arch. suggests an establishment in underground vaults. The fmal e offornice remains short before the initial st of stantem (cf. 71, 3.44, 5.35, 10.72). Such collocations are normally avoided altogether in loftier poetic genres: see Fordyce on Catullus 64.357. 31-6 A further illustration of the same pair of opposed extremes, this time in reverse order, creating a chiasmic pattern. With considerable irony, Horace playfully presents that notoriously stem moralist, the Elder Cato, as lending his authority to the reeking brothel extreme, by introducing the anecdote, no doubt derived from a collection of Apophthegmata Catonis, of his approval of the brothel as preferable to adultery. To do this, Horace naturally has to suppress the sequel, recorded by the scholiasts, in which Cato, seeing the young man repeatedly frequenting the same establishment, informed him that his praise had been for occasional visits, not for making his home there. 31-2 a well-known individual: notus suggests social status and standing. from a brothel: the repetition offornice in the fifth foot deliberately links it with olenti in fornice 30. Well done! So may you continue: macte virtute esto, originally a religious phrase, became a general term of approval; macte is attracted into the vocative case, literally 'be honoured for your virtue/ excellence.' the inspired verdict of Cato: a mock-epic, heavily ironic phrase, circumlocutory for dius Cato, no doubt influenced by Lucilius' Valeri sententia dia (Warmington 1240); this may be a parody of such a phrase in Ennius, which may in tum have been the basis for Lucretius' non-parodic Democriti ... sancta viri sententia at iii.371. dius (= divus) suggests both inspiration (cf. divinis 6.114) and high authority. 33 their members: for vena used of the penis, which like permolere 35 makes an effective contribution to the deflation of sententia dia above, cf. Persius 6.72, Martial iv.66.12, vi.49.2 and xi.16.5. 34-5 it's right: the central irony, in that Cato justifies what Horace has presented as an unsatisfactory extreme.

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come down here: used by Cato of physical descent. but ironic insofar as it suggests

35-6

37-8

39 40

41-6

41-2 43

stooping to an unattractive and undesirable expedient. grinding away: for the sexual sense of permolere, cf. molere in Lucilius (Warmington 302). to be praised: laudarier is an archaic, metrically convenient form of the passive infinitive, much utilised by Lucretius and occasionally by Virgil and by Horace in the Satires: cf. sectarier 78, avellier 104, torquerier ii.8.67. Cupiennius: probably, like Maltinus 25, a significant name, the root cupio suggesting lust; the name also produces a striking assonance with cunni. Porphyrio implausibly identifies him with C. Cupiennius Libo of Cumae, an intimate of the future Augustus. clad in white: albi = flOla alba velatum (cf. velatum stola 71), alluding to the normal dress of matronae; cunni albi provides an obscene variation on illas ... veste 28-9. A parody of an epic exordiwn in Ennius' Annales (Warmington 471-2) which the Horatian scholiasts here preserve: audire est operae pretium, procedere rectel qui rem Romanam Latiumque augescere voltis (1t's worth while to hearken. you who wish goo4 fortune upon the Roman state, and the increase of Latium'); this is amusingly,deflated by the transfer to the sordid subject of adultery. The allusion to moechis in the Horatian exordium reflects that, of the extremes just introduced, it is to be adultery which is to be his principal target in the main body of the satire. On the impersonal procedit, see Fraenkel (1957) 82, note 2. tremendous pain: caused by anticipation or experience of the pericla of 40. cruel and constant dangers: as the word order suggests, saepe goes with dura pericla, giving an antithesis: the pleasure is occasional, the dangers repeated; to connect it with rara cadat produces a self-contradiction. These dangers, illustrated in 41-6, are taken up again in the conclusion (127-34), so that the body of the poem exhibits ring-composition; cf. also ii.7.58ff. The six illustrations are strategically deployed; the first and third concern accidents in the attempt to escape, the others punishments exacted by the injured party, the last three being closely linked to form a tricolon climax. The father or husband of the adulteress was regarded from the earliest times as entitled, by virtue of the patria potestas, to exact private vengeance from her and her lover, and to kill both on the spot; alternatively the adulteress might be deprived of part of her dowry (cf. 131) and the adulterer flogged, mutilated or otherwise painfully humiliated, or forced to make financial reparation to avoid such penalties. Later, in 18 B.C., Augustus' Lex Julia de adulteriis coercendis, which first made adultery a criminal offence, placed some restrictions on private revenge, but confirmed the right of a father to kill his daughter for adultery in his own or his son-in-law's house, provided that he was called in by the son-in-law and killed both offending parties on the spot; in the event of a trial, both parties on conviction forfeited part of their estate and were exiled to different islands. As at ii.7.58-67, Horace naturally concentrates on the more drastic forms of revenge, which are attested elsewhere (e.g. Gellius x.23; Valerius Maximus vi.1.13, where instances of flogging, castration and rape by slaves are cited), but which were clearly the exception rather than the rule in Horace's day. See further Richlin (1983) 215-9 (Appendix 1). scourged: cf. uri virgis ii.7.58, and Gellius xvii.18. On the flagellum, see on 3.119. paid cash to save bis person: i.e. from beating (41-2), rape or mutilation (44-6); cf. the financial penalty of 133 (ne nwnmi pereant) and ii.7.66-7 (dominoquefurentil committas

rem omnem ).

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Irrigated by grooms: perminxerlllll (cf. permimci lectum in Lucilius, Warmington 1183) is more probably contemptuous for irrumaverlllll than literal; for the conflation of sexual and excretory functions, cf. e.g. meial eodem of intercourse at ii. 7.52 and vesica = CIUUUU at Juvenal 1.39. The grooms belong to the injured husband, who, as in the case of Furius Brocchus cited by Valerius Maximus (see on 41-6 above), has ordered the rape. 46 Galba: an unknown aristocrat, a member of the gens Sulpicia, who is most naturally (and amusingly) taken as the victim of the mutilation. The scholiasts' story, that he was a jurisconsult who disagreed with the drastic punishment because of his own sexual adventures, may have taken rise from iwe, which often figures in judicial formulae. 47-63 Horace now returns to the idea of the mean (medium 28) between the extremes of adultery and the reeking brothel (28-36), suggesting freedwomen as a compromise, but immediately turns aside to attack what is clearly seen as another extreme, infatuation whatever the category of woman (see introductory note). 47 wares: merx, figurative as applied to matronae, has a more literal application to libertinae insofar as Horace is thinking of meretrices amongst their nwnber. The commercial attitude is in evidence again at 83-4 and 103-5. second class: the term evokes Servius Tullius' political division of the citizens into classes, and is transferred playfully to libertinae. Armstrong (1989) 34 further detects a 'low pun' on merx and classis, 'how much safer is your merchandise on the secondjleet'. 48 Sallust: the name is rare and the allusion may well be to the historian; his grand-nephew and adopted son was probably too young to be a target Sallustius' claim not to touch matronae in 54 below, mtless made as a result of bitter experience, conflicts with the story told by Varro (Gellius xvii.18) and Asconius (pseudo-Acron on 41 above), that the historian suffered a beating for adultery with Sulla's notorious daughter Fausta (cf. 64 below) from her husband Milo; however, this tale may be a partisan invention by Varro, while pseudo-Acron's suggestion, in his note on 49 below, that Sallust expressed a predilection for libertinae to defend himself in the senate against a charge of adultery, looks suspiciously like an attempt to resolve the conflict with Varro's story: see Rudd (1966) 135-6 and Syme (1964) 280-4. The historian would be the most prominent of Horace's named victims, even though he was now politically discredited. 49 Is no less crazy for them: insanit introduces a new extreme, of infatuation, which is attributed in equal measure to the adulterer to explain his behaviour; with qui moechalw, sc. in matronas insanit. 49-53 But If Sallust ... : the implication is that his insania manifests itself in spendthrift extravagance to satisfy the whims of the libertinae (cf. the prodigality of Tigellius in 1-4 above), resulting in damage to both resources and reputation (damno dedecorique 52-3, picked up in reverse order by Jama and resin 59 and 61-2). to be gallant and generous ... : i.e. to observe a mean (between prodigality and niggardliness), as modeste (= moderate) 50 reflects. The alliterative pattern reinforces the link between each of the paired words in the sentence, res I ratio, bonus I benignus, modeste munifico, and the predicative datives damno I dedecori. within the limits which: the anaphora with qua (literally 'where') reflects that this is the emphatic clause in the sentence. 53-4 prides himself on this one point: literally 'embraces himself for this one thing.' In avoiding one extreme, adultery, he rushes not to its opposite, like the stulti of 24, but to 44

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SS

56

57 58

59

60-1

62-3

64ff.

107

another, infatuation with successive libertinae: so too Marsaeus, to infatuation with a mima (55-7). Marsaeus ... Orlgo: unknown; cf. the notorious relationship between Antony and the mime-actress Cytheris (Cicero ad Familiares ix.26.2, ad Aaicwn x.10.5 and x.16.5; Pliny, Nattual History viii.55). bestowed the paternal hearth and home••• : a specific and striking example of financial disastez resulting from such insania: cf. damno 52, rem patris oblimare 62. The present,. donat, is a frequent idiom in a relative clause identifying a person with reference to an attested past action; cf. J"git 6.13 and Virgil, Aeneid ix.266. I wouldn't ever get involved ... : a variation on Sallust's boast in 54. faeril is potential subjunctive. But you are Involved ... : Horace's rejoinder in 58-63, initially addressed to Marsaeus, quickly develops into a general attack on infatuation whatever the category of woman. With ver,un est, sc. aliq1'id tibi . with prostitutes: perhaps primarily libertinae, picking up Sallust's form of insania(48-9); see however on 62-3 below. your reputation ... your resources: takingup damno dedecorique 52-3 and the ruin to res specified in 56. The even greater damage to Jama arises not so much from mere recourse to mimae and meretrices, who represent concessa VelUlSin the terminology of 4.113, but from infatuation with them and the ruinous extragavance which results. Cf. Lucretius iv .1123-4, where damage to res and Jama is similarly specified as the price of passion. suffers more grievously: literally 'draws more serious evil (in its train).' I suppose: for the use of an, cf. 1.88 and note, and 103 below. the role: i.e. of adulterer, which the adversaries have rejected in 54 and 57. what It is that does the damage: i.e. loss of res and Jama through infatuation, as bonam ...oblimare at once makes clear. whatever the situation: i.e. whatever the category of woman. as specified at 62-3 (q1'id inter/est ... ). This implies that the adulterer too is a victim of infatuation. which results in parallel damage to his Jama and res: infatuation, one of the two extremes which are the main targets of the satire, thus emerges also as the root cause of the other, adultery (cf. also the adulterer's insania in 49 above). fritter away: literally 'to muddy', i.e. to treat like dirL What difference does It make: for the division of inlerest between two lines, cf. ii.3.1178 (imde-octoginla), Epistles ii.2.93-4 (circwn-spectemus ), andArs Poetica 424-5 (inlernoscere); anle quam at 104-5 below, though often separated in prose, would normally be regarded as a single word where no others intervene, and presents a partial analogy. toga-clad maid: i.e. a meretrix, whose distinc~ve chess was the toga (cf. 82) rather than the matron's stola (see on 36 above). ancilla suggests a slave-girl owned by a leno or pimp; while an allusion to a libertina, the main focus of interest since 47, might have been expected, the passage has now developed into a broader, more general denunciation of infatuation, and ancilla provides a telling contrast with matrona, leaving all the intermediate categories implied. Horace now returns to his major theme, the hazards of adultery, resuming the argument of 37-46.

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Vllllus • • • Fausta . . . Sulla . . . Longarenus: Fausta. daughter of the dictator Sulla, was born in 86 and married to Milo (cf. Cicero ad Atticum v.8.2) but notoriously unfaithful; Villius (no doubt the acquaintance of Milo mentioned by Cicero, ad Familiares ii.6.1) and Longarenus are amongst her lovers, and Villius is ironically described as Sullae gener on the strength of his affair (in Fau.sta, likeforet intu.s 67, no doubt contains a punning reference to intercourse). Horace's example is drawn from some twenty years earlier. Faustus and Fausta (literally 'propitious' or 'lucky') were the distinctive names given by Sulla, himself known by the synonymous cognomen Felix, to his son and daughter; this adds to the point of hoe ... u.nonomine deceptu.s, in that Villius was not only seduced by the high rank reflected in Fausta's name, but also by the omen it contained, making the unpropitious consequences of 65-7 the more ironic. beaten up, attacked with a sword: perhaps by Milo (cf. on 41-6 and 48 above), perhaps by Longarenus or other rivals. bad the door shut ... : a comic anticlimax, suggesting that the deluded Villius regarded his exclusion by his rival as a worse fate than physical attack. 68-72 Suppose ... be Imagined bis prick ... : the illustration is now enlivened by prosopopoeia or personification, together with dialogue, devices characteristic of the diatribe: cf. the personified Poverty in Bion (Hense 7-8), Reru.m Natura in Lucretius iii.931-63, and lnfamia, Veritas and Existimatio in Varro's Menippean Satires; Horace's obscene and apparently unparalleled example may have been prompted by Lucilius' at laeva lacrimas mu.ttoni absterget amica (Warmington 335), the only other extant occurrence of mu.t(t)o. The circumlocutory language (literally 'if his mind were saying these things to him in the words of his mu.to')ncongruously evokes elevated poetic style. 69 What are you up to: a common critical formula (literally 'what do you want for yourself?' or 'what do you mean?'): cf. ii.6.29, Cicero de Oratore ii.269, Livy iv.13.12, Propertius. i.5.3. Do I demand ... : nu.mqu.idapproximates to nu.m, expecting a negative answer; the suffix quid is adverbial accusative (cf. 4.52). 70 The stately solemnity of magno prognatu.m, conveyed by the spondaic rhythm and the dignified compound, is deflated by the harsh c alliteration and concluding obscenity of deposco consu.le cu.nnu.m. 71 enveloped In a matron's robe: cf. 28-9 and 36 above, and on the scansion ofvelatu.mqu.e stola see on 30. my passion: ira here corresponds to libido 33. 72 What would be bis reply: the apodosis to si ... diceret 68-9; cf. quid respondemu.s, indicating the justice of the personified Nature's case at Lucretius iii.950. The girl . .. : Villius' lame response, pointing to Fausta's illustrious parent Sulla, m1derlines the folly of obsession with rank, which Horace presents as a crucial factor behind adultery with matronae. 73-9 Having invoked the muto's authority, Horace now raises the tone by appealing to nature (like Lucretius at iii.931ff., even though Horace does not give her a speech) and putting the same basic argument in more philosophical terms, which, as at 111-3 below, are essentially Epicurean. 74-6 rich In the resources at her disposal: in this context, alluding to the opportunities she offers for sexual satisfaction without the hazards of adultery or infatuation. The Epicureans regarded man's real, essential needs as well provided for by nature and so 64-7

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easily satisfied: cf. Principal Doctrines 15 (Nature's wealth both has limits and is easily procured) and 21 (what removes the pain due to want ... is easy to obtain), and Cicero de Finibus i.45. opis, genitive of sphere, which usually in the singular denotes aid. here has the sense normally borne by the plural. manage them properly: at once defined by non fu.gienda petendis immiscere. In this context, it is the parabilis Venus of 119 or the concessa Venus of 4.113 that is to be sought, and liaisons with maJronae, and any form of infatuation. that are to be avoided. For Epicurus' classification of the desires, which meant that not every pleasure was to be pursued. see on 1.49-51. While Principal Doctrines 26 seems to imply that sexual desire was thought 'necessary', its satisfaction certainly did not require a specific partner. your own fault or that of your circumstances: avoidable folly, in confusingfu.gienda 77 with petenda, is contrasted with inevitable, externally imposed tribulations (e.g. chronic illness): the point is that the adulterer's miseries, like those of the avaru.s in 1, are selfinflicted. 78-9 chasing after: for the archaic form of the infinitive, here deponent, cf. lau.darier 35. a pursuit in which ... real satisfaction: the summary marks a transition in the argument, which so far has been based mainly on the painful penalties (laboris mali) of adultery (cf. omni parte laborent 38, mu.Ito dolore 39, du.ra saepe pericla 40); what follows chiefly develops the theme just suggested in 68-76, and argues that the satisfaction (fru.ctu.s) obtainable from adultery is no greater, if not less, than that to be had from less perilous liaisons, and that the advantages of maJronae as partners are illusory. est is used with the infinitive, like the Greek lcrn, in the sense of licet; cf. videre est 101. ex re, 'in reality', makes a contrast with empty delusion. 80-134 Before a final demonstration at 127ff. of the dire perils of adultery, Horace argues (a) 80-2 that the matrona is not more physically attractive than the togata, (b) 83-105 that she can more readily disguise physical defects, and (c) 105-26 that 'available' sex, represented by togatae and others, is preferable to the inaccessibility of matronae. 80-1 Entwined though this lady is ... : i.e. however wealthy is this maJrona. licet with the paratactic subjunctive sit, 'granted that she is', does the work of a concessive conjunction. pearls and emeralds: literally 'snow-white and green stonelets.' The diminutive is partly contemptuous. that doesn't make: hoe is causal ablative, 'because of this.' yours, Cerinthus: a side-swipe at an effeminate pu.er delicatus who, like Barrus at 6.30, prides himself on his beauty, but is otherwise unknown. On Bentley's solution of the textual problem, see Fraenkel (1957) 84-6. Shackleton Bailey makes sit ... tu.um parenthetic, 'granted that this jewellery is your work, Cerinthus (who is then an ancient Faberge)', but this gives hoe an implausibly cryptic reference. 82 toga-clad girl: i.e. a meretrix : see on 63 above. 83 There's the added advantage: introducing the second point of contrast between maJrona and togata, which continues to 105. For the essentially prosaic formula of transition (literally 'Add to this the fact that') cf. the Lucretian adde qu.od (e.g. i.847) and hu.c accedit u.ti (e.g. i.192). displays her wares undisguised: alluding to the togata. For mercem, developed in quod venale habet 84, cf. 47 above. fu.cus, denoting paint or dye, is often used figuratively for disguise or deception: cf. fu.catus andfucosu.s = counterfeit.

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and doesn't parade ••• : as the malrona, it is implied, does. nee negatives qllllel'il as well as iactat habetque: the two parts of the antithesis stand in asyndeton. to conceal: literally 'that with which she may conceal', a relative clause of purpose. 86-93 These lines, recommending a technique of the horse-market in assessing feminine attractions, contain a warning against the matrona's wiles just described (si qMid ...celet), but simultaneously explain why the togata's open display is such an advantage over the matrona's greater concealment: it provides the opportunity for the objective, point-bypoint inspection here recommended, which is precluded in the case of the matron.a,making her flaunting of her best features the more potentially dangerous. But the reader must also, it is implied, take care not to be seduced by the more striking of the togata's visible assets into overlooking defects, as this could result in infatuation with her. The recommendation of the principle of covered inspection in 86-90 is thus quite consistent with the approval expressed for the togata's exposure (83-5, 101-3). 86 Kings: i.e. reges externi expert in these matters. Kiessling's conjecture Thraecibus is based on the famed excellence of Thracian horses. 87-9 an elegant form: facies in this context denotes the overall appearance; contrast the distinct, more restricted sense in 94. a soft hoof: Xenophon, On Horsemanship 1.2, similarly recommends thick, sturdy hooves, comparing a horse defective in this area (1Ctl,iµa&fis,an adjective applied especially to those who parade their belatedly acquired learning (Theophrastus, Characters 27; Cicero, ad Familiares ix.20.2): studiorum is genitive of sphere. Horace thus immediately demonstrates the correct procedure; cf. the translation of the Homeric tag at 9.78 (see note there). On Grecisms in Lucilius and Horace, see Rudd (1966) 111-4: the latter's Satires, for all their Lalinitas, contain at least the occasional non-naturalised Greek word (e.g. pharmacopolae 2.1, hybrida 1.2, epos 10.43, and the hybrid depugis 2.93 ). Do you really think: the subjunctive marks a causal relative clause ('seeing that you think'), while the suffix -ne queries its truth; cf. Catullus 64.180-3 and 68.91, and Fordyce's notes. 22 Pltholeon or Rhodes: often thought identical with the Pitholaus who had lampooned Julius Caesar (Suetonius, Julius 75). 23 happy knack: contigit ('fell to the lot of) both belies difficile, and, since it normally suggests good fortune, is also ironic. nicely blends: concinnitas, suggesting harmonious balance and construction, was an established stylistic term. 24 more pleasing: Rudd (1966) 119 sees suavitas as a neoteric criterion and a further indication of controversy with champions of Lucilius amongst the neoterics. Falernlan brand ... Chlan: an analogy from blending wines, in which the drier, native Falernian is sweetened with the imported Greek variety. nota is transferred from the label to the wine itself, as at Odes ii.3.8. 25-30 Grecisms are no more appropriate in satire than they would be in a court-room speech. 25-6 Petllllus: for his trial, cf. 4.93-5 and note; his case here exemplifies any daunting forensic task. With te ipsumpercontor, sc. num suavior sit, to which the subjunctives/acias and sit are sub-oblique. 27-30 No doubt you'd prefer: i.e. if you were speaking in court scilicet marks the heavy irony. Pedlus Publlcola ... Corvlnus: shown by the context, with adversative cum and subjunctive, and no doubt also by their reputations, to be representatives of pure Latinity: there is thus no need to read the less attested lAline in 27 (to be taken with exsudet) for the unexceptionable Latini. M. Valerius Messalla Corvinus was a celebrated soldier, statesman, orator and literary patron, whose circle included Tibullus: a panegyric on him is included in the Tibullan corpus. Like Horace, he had fought for Brutus and Cassius at Philippi, but at Actium he was on Octavian's side. At 85 below, he and his brother are amongst those whose approval Horace seeks for the Satires. Possibly on that basis, the scholiasts say that he and Pedius Publicola were brothers, though Dio x 1vii.24 refers to a Gellius Publicola as Messalla's brother, and Pliny, Natural History xxxv.21 mentions a Pedius related to Messalla.

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sweat out their cases: the difficulty arises from their quest for purity of style: the implication is that the incorporation of Greek makes the task easier (cf. diff,cile/ contigil 22-3), perhaps an indirect acknowledgement of the greater wealth of Greek vocabulary. The plural caJUaSshows that these cases are quite distinct from the causa Petilli 26. father Latlnus: king of the Laurentines, whose daughter Lavinia married Aeneas (cf. Virgil, Aeneid vii.45); he appears here as the archetype of the Lalinitas which derives from his name. · to adulterate: the compound intermiscere may have pejorative force (Fraenkel (1957) 134), but his interpretation 'prefer them to contaminate (as you listen)' assumes an unnatural ellipse of eos, a problem which Bentley's oblitos ('prefer them to forget ... and to .. .') had unnecessarily sought to obviate. from Canuslum: cf. 5.91. The inhabitants spoke both Greek and Oscan, the local Italic dialect. The scholiasts record that both Ennius and Lucilius had applied bilingwis to the Apulians of the area. 31-5 The allusion to Horatian poems written entirely in Greek provides a smooth transition to his own choice of the satiric medium (36-49). Such poems, assuming them to be authentic, are likely to belong to his student days in Athens. Quirinus' warning is a burlesque of the motif of the poetic dream, as used by such authors as Callimachus (Aetia fr.1.21ff.) and Ennius (Annales 5.) the ocean: i.e. the Adriatic. 31 32 little verses: versicldos is a self-depreciatory diminutive. Quirinus: the name of the deified Romulus, used, like Latini 21, as a symbol of Roman nationalism, replacing Apollo who more usually appears to poets as an adviser. 33 when dreams are true: cf. Ovid, Heroides 19.195-6, of dreams near dawn. 34-5 timber to a forest: an equivalent of the Greek proverbs 'owl to Athens', 'fish to the Hellespont': cf. 'coals to Newcastle'. The implication is that the 'packed ranks of the Greeks' leave no room for any improvement or display of originality by a foreigner. crazier than: for ac = qu.am,cf. 1.46, and 59 below. 3649 Horace now turns to his own contribution to satire and his relationship to Lucilius, suggesting that he chose to write it because some of the other main genres were in capable hands already and this was the one in which he could improve not on Lucilius but on subsequent efforts. The passage enables him to proclaim his literary standards by specifying the poets he admires and who clearly agree on the need for painstaking composition; three of the four complimented reappear in the list of those Horace hopes to please at 81-8. 36-7 While the turgid Alpman .. .: a side-swipe at a contemporary epic poet, in all probability the Flirius ridiculed for grotesque diction at ii.5.39-41: Quintilian viii.6.17 cites one of the lines in question, lll{Jpiter hibernas cana nive conspuit Alpes, in which Jupiter 'spits snow' over the Alps. Alpinus is no doubt a nickname based either on this notorious line or on the Gallic epic in general: the latter is plausibly identified with an Annales Belli Gallici, praising Caesar for his campaigns in Gaul. The scholiasts' identification of the poet, in both passages, with M. Furius Bibaculus of Cremona, a neoteric poet and former associate of Catullus, is implausible on both literary and political grounds: not only did the neoterics disdain traditional epic, but Tacitus, Annals iv.34, records that Bibaculus, like Catullus, frequently attacked 'the Caesars,' i.e. Julius and Octavian/Augustus. See further Rudd

188

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40-2

42-3

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COMMENTARY: SATIRE TEN (1966) 289-90. IMrgidMSprimarily denotes inflation of style, but may also hint at Flirius' physical distention; cf. pingui tentMSomaso ii.5.40. butchers Memnon: alluding to an epic, lilce the Aethiopis of the Greek Arctinus, recounting how the Ethiopian king was slain, while assisting Troy, by Achilles, and granted immortality by Zeus. iMgidat suggests the 'murder' of the theme as well as the hero, and is an unpoetic word possibly quoted from the poem. moulds a muddy head for the Rhine: a criticism of the poet's style and diction, though in the absence of the original the precise point is not clear. capMI may denote the source or the mouth of the river, or the head of the personified river-god: IMteu is no doubt criticised as W1Suitable for epic, and possibly also as imprecise, meaning 'made of mud', not 'muddy' (IMtidentMS). I play about with these trifles: for the poetic self-depreciation, which is belied by the insistence in both 4 and 10 on poetry as hard work, cf. illiulo chartis 4.139. which aren't designed ... : sonenl and redeanl are purposive subjunctives. temple ... Tarpa adjudicating: Spurius Maecius Tarpa had been chosen by Pompey in 55 to select and stage plays in his new theatre: unless the name is representative ('a man like Tarpa'), he here fulfils a similar function some twenty years later: the competition may be in order to reach the stage, or include other poetic genres. Cicero, ad Familiares vii.1. I, takes a dim view of the plays he approved. and in the present context the allusion is derogatory. He reappears as a critic of literature at Ars Poetica 387. According to the scholiasts, the temple is that of the Muses. to be seen again and again: like the allusion to competition in 38, an indication that Horace is not concerned to win wide publicity for his own works (cf. 4.71ff.), foreshadowing the account of the discerning critics he hopes to please at the end of 10. Fundanius: presented as the contemporary master of New Comedy, in which the courtesan (argMta meretrix ), Davus representing the scheming slave and Chremes representing the repressive father are stock characters. The author is used by Horace to describe Nasidienus' banquet in ii.8, but is otherwise unknown. rattle off engaging volumes in which ••• : garrire has libellos as internal object (cf. ii.6.77) to express the idea of filling the volumes with the chatter of everyday speech. comis, probably accusative plural rather than nominative singular, perhaps deliberately evokes comoedia. libellos may suggest that Fundanius' plays, unlike those of 39, were to be read rather than performed: at least it may be presumed that he and Pollio steered clear of the competition of 38. The ablative absolute meretrice Davoq..e ellldente pins down the sphere of the libelli. Pollio: in the context of "111Lf vivorum 42 and Ml nemo 44, the acknowledged master of his genre, tragedy (indicated by the subject-matter regumfacta). C. Asinius Pollio, addressed in Odes ii. I (and by Virgil in Eclog..es 4 ), was a remarkably versatile figure, who gained a triumph in 39 for victories in Dalmatia, and was not only a tragedian but an orator, historian and literary critic, the founder of Rome's first public library and said to have instituted the practice of literary recitation by living authors (cf. on 3.86 and 4.23) and to have died in 4 B.C. at the age of 80. in metre thrice accented: i.e. in iambic trimeters, where the ictus falls three times, on the first long in each pair of iambi. Varius: see on 5.40; for his pre-eminence in epic prior to the appearance of Virgil's Aeneid, cf. Odes i.6.

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spinning orheroic epic: ducil replaces deducil which is more usual in this metaphor. The Greek l1ToS"is transliterated in the absence of a generic Latin term. 44-S Virgil: here the master of pastoral. known only for the Eclogues, which he began in the late 40s and completed by 37. Muses: the Camenae (from the root carmen) are native Italian prophetic deities, who came to be identified with the Greek Muses: gmuienles riue associates them with pastoral in particular. granted tenderness and charm: on the sense of facetlls here, cf. 2.26 note above, Quintilian vi.3.19-20, and L.P. Wilkinson, The Georgics of Virgil (1969) 21 note. adnllerllnl, here transitive (assent to giving something), has thee of the third person plural perfect shortened, for metrical convenience. 46-7 this form of writing: i.e. satire. Varro of Atax ... certain others: the allusion to Atax, a town in Narbonese Gaul, distinguishes this Varro (82-37 B.C.), otherwise known only as the author of an epic on Caesar's Gallic campaigns, an Argonautica and elegies, and described by Quintilian x.1.87 as an imitator (inlerpres operis alieru), from his famous namesake, the scholar who hailed from the Sabine town of Reate and composed 4 books of verse satires, 150 of Menippean satire (Introduction II). No fragments of the farmer's satires survive, and little is known of other post-Lucilian practitioners, L. Albucius (Varro, Res Rllstica iii.2.17), Saevius Nicanor and Pompeius Lenaeus (Suetonius, de Grammaticis 5 and 15). that I could Improve: a consecutive type of relative clause, hence the subjunctive possem. 48-9 Inferior to Its Inventor: i.e. to Lucilius; Horace acknowledges that, while Ennius and others had written satura earlier, it was Lucilius who had realised its true potential: Horace therefore, despite any refinements in style, cannot match him in originality. For Lucilius' originality, cf. ii.1.62-5, and for Horace's inferiority ii.1.74-5. would I presume: ausim, the old perfect subjunctive from alldere, expresses cautious assertion. the crown: a conventional image for poetic originality and success: cf. Lucretius i.117-9 and 926-30. SO-71 Horace now returns to the major theme, his criticisms of Lucilius, but 51-5 simultaneously sustain the theme of his relationship to his predecessor in the genre and his acknowledged inferiority; Lucilius similarly criticised old masters in other genres, without claiming to surpass them himself. 50-1 But I said: the echo of nempe ... dixi 1 marks the return to the satire's opening theme. flowed like ... often carrying ... : a quotation, and amplification, of 4.11 (cf. jlueret lutulentus and tollere); for the image, see note there. saepe ... plura ... tollenda relinquendis puts the second point more forcibly than the earlier erat quod tollere velles. 52 with your expertise: doctus alludes ironically to the imaginary opponent's literary credentials, perhaps suggesting Alexandrian sympathies once more: cf. 9.7, and 19 above. fault In ... Homer: cf. the famous allusion to Homer nodding at Ars Poetica 359, indignor quandoque bonus dormitat Homerus. Lucilius too had admitted that Homer could be faulted at least on points of detail, 'a line, a word, a thought, or a passage' (Warmington 408-10; cf. 520-3).

190 53

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The 'Golden' type of line, including adjectives A and B, verb, and nouns A and B, matches the elevation of the poetic gffll'es now unda discussion: Accius himself is called altus at Epistles ii.1.56, his ttimeters 'noble' atArs Poetica 258-9. for all bis charm: comispresents the opponent's view of his idol, conceded by Horace, for the sake of argument, at 65 below. want to change: mMtat has conative force, 'is for changing.' Acclus: L. Accius, born in 170 and judged, along with Ennius and Pacuvius, as the greatest of Roman tragedians, is praised and much quoted by Cicero: for Quintilian's verdict, see x.1.97. Porphyrio says that Lucilius' criticisms are especially frequent in his third, ninth and tenth books, and Gellius xvii. 21.49 vouches for the satirist's reputation as a critic of poets including Accius and Ennius (54 below); his objections to Pacuvius are reflected in Warmington 665-9, 727-30, 731-4, 879 and 880. 54 Ennlus: Q. Ennius (239-169), affectionately regarded by the Romans as the father of their poetry, was best known for his Annales, an epic which celebrated Rome's victory over Carthage and for which he introduced the Greek hexameter into Latin, and for his tragedies: his other compositions included the first literary satwal! (Introduction Il). or Inferior dignity: gravitate is ablative of respect with minores: cf. Epistles ii.1.183, virtute et honore minores. Lucilius criticised Ennius' epic line sparsis hastis longis campus splendet et horret, with its five self-contained spondaic feet, ironically suggesting the fmal substitution horret et alget (Warmington 413), and presumably also the line cited from his tragedy Thyestes (Warmington 885). Servius on Virgil's Aeneid preserves other examples of Ennian lack of dignity, saxo cere comminuit brum (for cerebrum comminuit) on i.412, and at tllba te"ibili tonitru taratantara dixit on xi.601. 55 without presenting himself u superior: answering inventore minor 48. The indicative with cum in a concessive context is an old construction, perhaps surviving through emphasis on the temporal relation. There is an element of word-play in the contrast between maiore and minores 54. 56-71 In drawing the conclusion, that Lucilius in tum is not above criticism, Horace takes nothing back from his strictures on his careless style, but now views these deficiencies more sympathetically, attributing them to his predecessor's date in literary history: were he contemporary, his standards would be more exacting. 57-8 bis own nature: the second i of illius, elsewhere short in Horace, is here long, which in combination with the elided monosyllable num perhaps echoes Lucilius' halting rhythm (1; cf. negarit ... senis 57-9), just as the length of the whole sentence (quid ... propriis 5664) seems to imitate his effusive prolixity (amet ...cenatus 60..1). unkind circumstances: the time of his birth, as 68 is later to reveal. rerum natwa probably evokes the personified nature of Lucretius' poem, a playfully inflated phrase. 58-61 more finished: for the sense offactus, cf. oratio polita ac facta qu.odammodo,Cicero, de Oratore iii.184. than someone's who: ac = quam, as at 34 above. content simply to enclose something In six feet per line: cf. conclu.dere versum, of his own 'non-poetic' lines, at 4.40. claudere is a poetic infinitive with contentus, picked up by the ablative hoe: pedibus senis is literally 'in six feet each'. written two hundred verses before dinner ... after It: cf. 4.9-10, where Lucilius' lack of polish is similarly attributed to preoccupation with quantity and speed of production. For the perfect infmitive with amet, cf. on nolint tetigisse 2.28.

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Just like Cassius the Etruscan: the loosely joined comparison (sc. tali ingenio, 'being of similar inspiration to that of Cassius .. .') echoes the breathless garrulity being described: cf. on 57 above. Cassius, wrongly identified by the scholiasts with the Cassius Pannensis of Epistles i.4.3 who was still alive when the Satires appeared, is otherwise unknown. raging torrent: taking up the river image applied to Lucilius at 4.11 and at 50 above, but concentrating on a different aspect of it Cf. also the straining bellows image for prolixity at4.19-21. cremated ... complete with cases: the anecdote provides an amusing deflation of the preceding image, and an effective conclusion for the long, periodic sentence. Cf. the joke about the prolific Fannius and his capsae at 4.21-2. Grant ... charm and a clvUlsed wit: furit is jussive subjunctive, making a concession 64-5 at least for the sake of argument; 11-15 imply at least some reservations about Lucilius' comitas (cf. 53) and rubanilas (13). For their combination cf. 4.90 and note. 65-7 more pollsbed: qualifying d,u,u componere vers,u 4.8; cf. 1 and 57-61 above. The word is a metaphor from filing: cf. limae labor, Ars Poetica 291. the author of unsophisticated verse untouched by the Greeks: Graecis is dative of the agent with intacti. The most convincing explanation of this much disputed line is as an allusion to any writer in primitive, native Italian forms like Satumian verse, whose metre was quite independent of Greek influence: such writers are contrasted, in poetarum seniorum truba, with the earliest Roman poets to adapt Greek metres, like Ennius.Accius and Pacuvius, and Horace concedes to his predecessor a degree of polish resulting from Greek influence and from improvement on the Roman pioneers in Greek metres. Others take 66 as an allusion to Lucilius himself, suggesting (a), like Palmer, 'than the author of ... poetry untouched by the Greeks might be expected to be' or (b), like Gow, 'than the author ... wollld have been'. The denial of Greek influence on satire in (a) is inconsistent with Lucilius' total dependence on Greek Old Comedy at 4.6; (b) avoids this problem, but both interpretations demand the most implausible ellipse of a potential verb, especially since the indicative erat is to be supplied in 67, after the second quam. Others, like G.Highet in the Oxford Classical Dictionary, suppose an allusion to Ennius as the 'originator' of literary salwa, taking inventore 48 to indicate that Lucilius had discovered its true potential: this involves not only, like (a), a contradiction of 4.6, but also a highly dubious distinction between auctor and inventor, as well as a unique allusion by Horace to Ennius as a practitioner of satura. See further Fraenkel (1957) 131, note 3, and Rudd, Phoenix 14 (1960) 36-44. 67-71 The crux of the argument: Lucilius differs from his blind admirers in that, if contemporary, he would acknowledge the need for the limae tabor which modem standards demand. 68 fate bad postponed: fato dilat,u fits rerum natrua's denial of polish in 55 much better than V's fato tklaps,u (a probable correction of the mistaken dilaps,u read by most MSS), 'had he strayed through fate.' 69 would rue off: taking up the metaphor of limatior 65. For the different metaphor of recideret, cf. 3.123. fashioning: faciendo no doubt here has the overtones offactos 58. 70 scratch: scabo, used by Lucilius (Warmington 356), is perhaps a vulgarism. 71 to the quick: vivos, predicative with roderet, = ad vivum. 61-4

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72-91 The general stylistic instructions in 72-5 provide a transition back from Lucilius to Horace himself, and his concluding accowit of the audience at which he is, and is not, aiming. 72 must often use your eraser:: literally 'invert your pen', which had a point for malting impressions on a wax tablet, and a flat or round end for deleting them. The subjunctive, like labores 13, is jussive. The fmal e of saepe remains short before the st of stilrun: cf. 2.30 and note. · 73-4 admiration of the crowd ... limited readership: repeating the attitudes of 4.21-3 and 71-8; cf. 38-9 above. dktated In paltry schools: here and at Epistles i.20.17-8, Horace professes horror at 75 what, as Juvenal 7 .226-7 reflects, was to be his own eventual fate. 76-91 The conclusion is an elegant invasion of a theme of Lucilius, who had claimed (Persi111n noncwo legere, Laeliwn Decimum volo,Wannington 635; cf. also 632-4) to be writing not for the most learned but for a 'middle-brow' audience, on the grounds that the 1ow-brows' would undentand nothing, the very learned more perhaps than he did himself (Cicero, de Oratore ii.25: cf. also de Finibus i.1, claiming that it was in fear of the learned that Lucilius wrote for the people of Tarentum, Consentia and Sicily). Horace inverts this by specifying a far more restricted and discriminating audience, who are docti (cf. 87) especially in the priority they give to formal perfection; he thus implies that Lucilius was mistaken in seeking wider popularity, and that this contributed to his stylistic shortcomings. 76-7 the knights ... Arbuscula: a lively anecdote prefacing the catalogue of Horace's readers. The actress Arbuscula was famous some twenty years earlier: cf. Cicero, ad Atticum iv.15.6. eqwtem is probably collective singular, as at Epistles ii.1.185, representing a social elite (for their seats at the theatre, cf. on 6.40), an analogue for the literary elite Horace hopes to please, but it could conceivably refer to an equestrian lover of the actress, in whose devotion she found consolation for her adverse reception on stage; if singular, eqMitem mihi plawlere as applied to Horace would fit the reception he hopes for from his equestrian patron Maecenas. In any case, the comparison with Arbuscula helps to forestall any impression of pretentiousness in the catalogue which follows. 78-80 Pantlllus: the name, though attested (CorpMs /nscriptionwn LatinarMmx.5925) is here probably a meaningful nickname (from trdv 1-l:UELV, to pluck, or piclc at, everything, which also fits the abusive term cimex ) for a specific critic of Horace, given that the three other enemies mentioned are clearly real persons. Demetrius: associated with Tigellius Hermogenes as an instructor in music in 90-1 below, and therefore perhaps the simius of 18. Fannlus: the prolific, publicity-conscious poet of 4.21. Tlgellius Hermogenes: cf. 18 and 90, and see on 3.129. 81 Plotlus ... Varlus, Maecenas ... Virgil: pride of place in the desired audience is given to the trio in whose companionship Horace delighted on the journey to Brundisium (5.40: see notes there), with Maecenas, to whom Virgil and Varius had introduced him, placed firmly in their midst. The reappearance, from 43-5, of the acknowledged masters of epic and pastoral is significant, reflecting that Horace seeks to apply their exacting standards in his different field 82-3 Valglus: C. Valgius Rufus was an elegist, addressed in Odes ii.9 and praised in the Panegyric onMessalla at 179-80; he was consul in 12 B.C.

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84

85

86

87-9

90-1

92

193

Octavlus: Octavius Musa. a historian, whose death is lamented in the Appendix Vergiliana. Catalepton 11. worthy Fuscus: for Aristius Fuscus, who refused to rescue the poet from the bore's clutches, see on 9.61. optimus is to be taken with Fuscus, atque being postponed, as the combination of strong sense breaks after optimus and Fuscus, before the sixth foot and in the weak caesura position in the first foot of the following line, seems rhythmically intolerable: contrast 5.27 and 10.28. the Viscus brothers: clearly one of them is the Viscus of9.22 (see note there): they are otherwise unknown. Without being accused of nattery: Kiessling/Heim.e and Fraenkel (1957) 132, note 2 make ambitione relegata part of the previous sentence, 'without flattering me', which gives more emphasis to the anaphora of te in 84-86, but an emphatically placed hint that the Visci and other readers might pay insincere lip-service is less than complimentary. Polllo: like Varius and Virgil 81, an acknowledged master in another genre (see on 42-3 above): he and Messalla were also, like Maecenas, renowned literary patrons. Messana: acknowledged for the pure Latinity of his oratory at 28-9: on him and his brother, see notes there. Horace perhaps met them, and also Bibulus 86, while studying in Athens. Blbulus: probably son of the consul who obstructed Caesar in 59, and stepson of Brutus whom he supported at Philippi: he later served Antony and died in 32. He was in Rome in 36-5: see Introduction I. Servlus: perhaps the son of the distinguished jurist, Servius Sulpicius Rufus, of whom Cicero speakshighly (ad Familiares iv .3.4 and 4.5; xiii.27 .4), or the erotic poet mentioned by Ovid, Tristia ii.441. along with these: the earliest instance of simul used as a preposition. in the sense of cum. Furnlus: possibly the skilled orator mentioned by Plutarch, Antony 58, who was consul in 29, or his son, consul in 17. sincere friend: cf. the application of candidus to Plotius, Varius and Virgil at 5.41, and see note there. others ... whom I deliberately pass over: a fairly transparent safety clause to avoid giving offence to anyone omitted, like Fundanius 42. literary people: doctus here carries no irony (contrast 19 and 52), and applies especially to stylistic awareness: see on 76-91 above. for what they're worth: for the commonplace of literary modesty, cf. quidquid hoe libellil qualecwnque, Catullus 1.8-9, and libello 92. delight them: literally 'smile on them', personifying the poems. Demetrius ... Tlgelllus: reswning the antithesis with the rival poetic school of 78-80. I bid you whine: iubeo plorare involves a word-play suggesting (a) an antonym of iubeo valere, 1 bid you fare well' (cf. iubeas miserwn esse 1.63), (b) the literal sense, with plorare applied pejoratively to the sound made in instructing the discipulae. It is not clear whether Demetrius and Tigellius are professional music-teachers, or whether they are giving the ladies in question the benefit of their authoritative advice on the subject. In any case, the concluding gibe characteristically lightens the tone after the earnest passage which began at 81. Away, slave-boy ••• : for a similar instruction to a slave, cf. Propertius iii.23.23. Here it serves as an epilogue to Book i; the slave is instructed to append satire 10 to the other nine,

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COMMENTARY: SATIRE 1EN so that the book can be published amongst the select audience just specified. cilus is not without irony, suggesting that, despite Horace's indifference to publicity and the need for slow, laborious composition, he is impatient to see the book published.