4. legentis,
selecting. honesta,
honorable friends, but made more genreal by the use of the
neuter.
5. munere,
etc.: the poet while asking what can properly be asked only by an
intimate friend, delicately waives any claim of such intimacy. The
tone certainly implies a want of confidence in the generosity of Tiberius.
One can hardly imagine a Maecenas addressed with such caution.
8. finxisse,
etc.: i.e. he feared he should be charged with refusing because
he wanted all the good things himself, and to have made an excuse
of his want of intimacy.
9. dissimulator,
disparaging. commodus,
etc.: i.e. using his influence in his own behalf alone.
11. frontis,
cf. the slang "cheek." urbanae,
of the astute man of the world (who is free from the modesty
of the simple countryman). descendi,
have descended, as one may be said to descend when having
recourse to a less worthy action. praemia,
privileges, that which the impudence of the man of the world
allows him to seek to gain.
13. gregis:
i.e. cohortis amicorum. The construction
is that of the predicate genitive. fortem
bonumque: cf. Sat. II.5.64 and note; and Od.
IV.4.29. |
