1. The poet begins with a general
charge, but the emphatic position of omnibus
shows that the stricture is supposed to be intended for some particular
person to be mentioned later.
3. iniussi,
unbidden, uninvited. Sardus:
the word may well be supposed to have a disparaging tone, as the Sardinians
were not much esteemed at Rome.
4. Tigellius:
the same person who is mentioned in the second satire.
Caesar: Augustus.
posset,
etc.: these subjunctives are not in the contrary-to-fact construction,
but stand for present tenses transferred to past time. If we imagine
them used of a case in the present, their true character is easily
seen. posset, in any case, comes under the characteristic
class.
5. patris,
i.e. Julius Caesar, his adoptive father.
non quicquam proficeret,
he would not have the least effect.
6. si collibuisset,
if he took a fancy. ab
ovo usque ad mala: i.e. from the beginning to
the end, since the promulsis or antepast consisted of eggs
and the like, and the dessert came last, as with us. If we substitute
oysters for eggs, and dessert for apples,
the translation will be tolerably near.
7. citaret,
would shout. Bacche:
the e is used as long, as standing in the original at the
end of a metrical phrase. summa:
as the lyre was held, the deepest note was above and the highest below.
Hence we must invert the words in English, referring them to pitch
and not position.
8. resonat,
accords. chordis:
dative.
9. aequale,
uniform, regular, consistent. homini
illi, about the man. qui:
sc. curreret.
10. persaepe:
sc. incedebat. Notice the economy of words,
where curreret is suggested by currebat,
and its form by ferret. Again, some word of walking
is indicated by the manner of proceeding described, but its form is
determined by currebat.
11. habebat:
i.e. in his train as he appeared abroad.
12. decem:
a small number for the princely style of the Romans. Cf. I.6.116.
reges,
princes, rich men, i.e. of his intercourse with them, and
of matters in which they were concerned, indicating a life at courts.
13. magna,
on a grand scale. modo,
now saying. tripes,
three-legged, as opposed to the finer tables with one support
in the centre (orbis). concha
salis puri: suggesting simplicity with cleanliness and
decency. There was a kind of sanctity about the saltcellar (salinum),
which was in a manner dedicated to the household gods.
15. deciens
centena: sc. milia sestertium,
a million. dedisses,
suppose that you had given or gave, a hortatory
subjunctive transferred to past time.
16. paucis,
a little.
17. erat,
there would be. The construction is similar to the general
condition. In present time it would be, "Give him a million;
in ten days there is nothing," etc., as a general character of
the man. noctis
vigilabat, he would watch the night through.
18. nil,
no one. The use of the neuter in this way is very common
to make the statement more universal.
19. impar,
inconsistent. nunc
aliquis, etc.: here the poet turns to the proper subject
of the satire, representing some person who hears him as becoming
indignant at this abuse of Tigellius, and asking if he himself is
free from faults, that he is thus severe upon another. He thus shows
that his abuse is an example of what he satirizes.
quid tu: sc.
agis; but the expression has become idiomatic, and
the verb is lost sight of. Translation. How about yourself?
20. immo
alia, oh, no (I do not say that), but different
ones. et
fortasse minora: best assigned with the two preceeding
words to Horace, though by some they are given to the interlocutor.
21. Maenius,
etc.: Horace, as usual, illustrates his meaning by an example.
heus tu, look
here, my friend.
22. quidam,
one, some one, a man. Cf. aliquis, v. 19.
The difference is that in the former no definite person is conceived
of, while here a particular person is meant, though not described
or identified. ut
ignotum (sc. te), as a
stranger to us, or as if we didn't know you, i.e. "Is
it ignorance of your own character, or the hope of deceiving us, that
leads you to attack another man's faults, when you have so many of
your own?" dare
verba, deceive, impose upon, a common
colloquial expression.
23. egomet,
etc.: the naïve answer of Maenius shows the disposition which Horace
is attacking, and serves as a text for the following.
improbus, conscienceless.
24. amor,
self-love. notari,
to be censured. The construction is poetic or colloquial,
for which Ciceronian prose would require ut or qui
with the subjunctive. The meaning of the word comes from the mark
(nota) which the censor in making up the rolls affixed to
the name of any person whom he wished to remove from his position
for misconduct.
25. lippus
inunctis, with your blear eyes daubed with eye-salve.
One is tempted to make in negative in inunctis,
as if the man had weak eyes and did not care to put on the usual remedy.
But there seems to be no authority for this.
27. Epidaurius:
the serpent was a special symbol of the worship of Æsculapius, and
was often identified with the god himself. It was in this form that
the god was supposed to have come from Epidaurius to Rome, where a
temple was built to him on the island in the Tiber. The serpent was
famous for keen vision (c.f. the name drakon), and was supposed
to possess prophetic powers. The connection here is probably only
from Horace's favorite way of giving an individual instead of a class,
and there is no special reference to this particular Æsculapius serpent.
28. rursus
et illi, they too in turn, i.e. those you criticise.
29. iracundior,
quick-tempered, an example of a case where injustice is done
by this criticism, inasmuch as the subject of it cannot, like most
men, disregard it, but is angered by it. minus
aptus: i.e. he has a quick temper impatient
of criticism. acutis
naribus, the keen criticism, the figure derived
from the natural turning up of the nose in fastidious disgust. (Cf.
I.4.8, and I.6.5).
30. horum,
of our day, when this fault is so common.
31. rusticius
tonso: with his hair in rustic style.
toga: the Romans
paid the utmost attention to the set of the toga, plaiting it in folds
which were secured in a fixed position. This requirement of fashion
the man neglects, letting his toga fall loosely and awry.
male laxus, loose
and ill-fitting.
32. at est
bonus, etc.: i.e. he has all these good qualities,
which are lost sight of in this over-fastidious criticism.
34. denique,
etc.: i.e. in short, learn tolerance of such minor faults
by self-examination, through which you will very likely find that
you have some as well.
35. concute:
the figure derived from shaking out the loose garments of the ancients
for purposes of search. We should say your pockets or the like.
olim, at any
time. inseverit:
by changing the voice the order of words and ideas may be kept in
English.
36. namque:
introducing the reason for saying consuetudo as well
as natura. Even if one is free from bad habits by
nature, it may happen that they have grown up unawares, like weeds
in neglected ground.
37. urenda,
to be burned with fire.
38. illuc,
to this point, referring, as often in Latin, to what follows.
praevertamur,
let us turn, in preference to any other subject.
39. decipiunt,
escape the notice of. Cf. fallo.
40. Balbinum:
nothing is known of this case, but it explains itself.
41. vellem:
notice that the wish is contrary to the actual fact.
42. virtus:
i.e. philosophers in their discussions on virtue. The Stoics
are particularly referred to, whose high ideal of virtue and tendency
to puritanism apparently made them especially inclined to censoriousness,
and against whom Horace never loses an opportunity to break a lance.
Cf. v. 96 et seq.
honestum: the
Stoic made "the becoming" (tó prépon), i.e.
what was in accordance with the nature of man and the universe, the
criterion of virtue. Of this expression honestum
is the Latin translation, and the word is here used with reference
to this technical sense. Hence it means virtuous, but as
virtus is best translated virtue, we may
translate honorable. At any rate, the whole means that Ethics
had reckoned this among the virtures, which of course in the Stoic
school it could not do.
43. gnati,
with his son, changing the construction to keep the emphasis
and the order of the words.
44. fastidire,
be too critical. strabonem:
the point of the passage lies in the fact that the descriptive words,
most of which are real Roman names, are of two classes, the first
denoting an excessive degree of the quality referred to, and the second
a slight degree, with which latter class the fond father nicknames
his son. strabonem, his "cock-eyed"
son. All the names should be given in Latin with the translation.
45. appellat:
cf. Lucr. IV.1160. paetum,
Blinky. pullum,
Chicky. male,
wretchedly.
47. Sisyphus:
a famous dwarf, kept by Mark Antony. Such persons were very common
in the suites of the Roman nobles, acting as jesters.
varum, little
Bandy-legs.
48. balbutit,
calls in childish accents. scaurum,
little Stumpy, properly with misshapen ankles.
male, sadly
(with pravis).
49. parcius:
in the same way the moral qualities are expressed by two sets of epithets,
one exaggerating, the other extenuating, the fault.
frugi, thrifty.
ineptus,
an ass; strictly, wanting in the sense of propriety, and
so putting himself forward in the manner which we speak of as "making
an ass of one's self." (Cf. Cic. de Or. II.4.17).
50. iactantior,
forward. concinnus,
agreeable, i.e. making an effort to be prominent in amusing
one's friends.
52. liber,
free-spoken. simplex,
frank. fortis,
fearless, not afraid to speak his mind.
53. acris,
high-spirited. opinor,
I fancy, I take it, with its cognates used of a mere notion
not thoroughly thought out or well-founded, though of course it may
be true.
55. invertimus,
distort; lit. tip them upside down so as to make vices of
them.
56. sincerum,
etc.: the figure is derived from the tartar which forms on the inside
of a wine-har. cupimus,
we are eager, always a stronger word than volo,
etc. probus
quis, some good honest, etc., as an honorable
epithet, but with a suggestion of want of spirit. Cf. silly
(originally good), bonhomme, good-natured,
and New-England clever, as well as the translation suggested.
57. multum,
modifying demissus, a colloquial use. Cf. Pl. Aulul.
II.1.5. demissus,
modest and unassuming.
58. tardo,
pingui, stupid and dull. The text authority
for illi, and the parallelism of the following clauses,
indicate that this is the true meaning, in spite of many objections
that can be made.
59. nulli
malo, to no man's hostile thrust. malo,
masculine.
60. cum genus,
etc.: giving the reason and excuse for the caution.
61. vigent,
are rife. sano,
a level-headed man.
63. simplicior,
thoughtless, outspoken. et,
again.
65. tacitum,
in silent thought. quovis
sermone: taken with impellat. Probably
molestus also belong in the same clause, but it makes
very good sense with the following, the bore, he is absolutely,
etc.
66. communi
sensu: the universal feeling belonging to mankind of
the fitness of things, sense of propriety.
67. temere,
thoughtlessly. sancimus,
set up. iniquam,
harsh and unkind.
70. cum mea,
etc.: set off my good qualities against, etc.
71. amari
si volet, if he wishes me to love him.
72. hac lege,
on this condition, these terms.
in trutina, etc.,
weighted in the same balance.
73. tuberibus,
verrucis, warts (properly wens),
pimples, reducing the scale somewhat, but keeping the proportion.
The Romans seem to have been very subject to wens and similar excrescences
of larger size to which we are not liable.
75. poscentem,
for one asking. reddere
(sc. veniam) rursus,
to render the like again.
76. quatenus:
cf. I.1.64.
irae: perhaps
this fault is chosen because it is regarded as not necessarily a vice,
but possibly a virtue, by the Peripatetics.
77. stultis:
here in its technical meaning, as opposed to sapiens,
the ideal (and, as Horace would intimate, impossible) Stoic sage.
78. ponderibus,
etc.: here first crops out plainly the opposition to the Stoic school,
of which Horace is thinking doubtless throughout, though he has not
till now clearly referred to it. Cf. v.
96.
79. coercet
suppliciis, visit with punishment.
81. ligurrierit,
gobble up, a very common offence of slaves everywhere.
82. in cruce,
the common way of punishing slaves with death.
Labeone: it is
not known what Labeo is referred to, but it is enough to guess that
either his was a well-known case of insanity, or that Horace, as often,
gives him a thrust in passing in regard to some conduct which would
bear the appearance of a craze.
85. acerbus,
embittered, along with insuavis after habeare.
86. ut Rusonem,
etc., as the man that owes him money does Ruso, evidently
a usurer who had unsuccessful literary aspirations in the line of
history. This is another of Horace's side thrusts.
87. Kalendae:
the first of the month was the most common day for payment.
88. mercedem,
the interest. nummos,
the money, i.e. the principal. extricat,
scrapes together. amaras,
dreary.
89. porrecto,
etc.: the position for execution, as of a prisoner of war awaiting
his doom, a situation which Horace no doubt has in his mind in his
description of the poor man bored to death. It is, however, only a
kind of passing though of his, and not to be insisted on too strongly.
90. potus,
in his cups.
91. Evandri:
there are two possible explanations of this name, either as a famous
potter, in which case the dish is valuable for its intrinsic excellence;
or as the ancient king, in which case there is a humorous indication
of its age. The second seems the better. Cf. II.3.21.
92. mea in
parte catini: there is no indication that the Romans
used plates as we do. They no doubt ate with their fingers from small
dishes on the table which stood in the centre of the triclinium.
93. esuriens,
in his hunger. minus
hoc iucundus, etc.: i.e. "Shall I renounce
his friendship?"
94. furtum
fecerit, the technical phrase.
95. commissa
fide (dat.), a trust. The two classes of offences
are of course made as different in enormity as possible, to bring
out more fully the absurdity of the Stoic paradox in v. 96.
96. quis:
the constant use of this old form in the satires is an indication
of their colloquial character. The connection of thought is: Such
offences are recognized as of different magnitude by everyone, and
though the Stoic may preach in theory the paradox paria,
etc., as an answer to Horace's view, yet when we come to real life
(ad verum), he gets into trouble.
97. sensus,
our feelings, our sense of right and wrong, almost equal
to "instincts" or "conscience."
mores, habits,
our customary mode of life. repugnant,
rebel, or protest.
98. utilitas,
utility (as a technical philosophical term), or selfish
advantage, i.e. the selfish interests of mankind, from which,
he goes on to say, the ideas of right and wrong have risen through
the making of laws to protect these interests.
99. cum prorepserunt,
etc.: the doctrine of the development of society, in accordance generally
with the notions of the ancients as to the origin of man, but especially
of the Epicurean school.Cf. Lucretius, V.780 seq. The chief
point is, that the law of the strongest alone obtained at the outset,
though the Stoic would perhaps not admit that right did not exist
because the inhabitants of the earth were not able or inclined to
practise it. The argument is, however, not the mere setting of one
dogma against another, but an explanation of utilitas iusti
mater in accordance with what was in the main the generally
received opinion.
100. mutum,
dumb, speechless, and so unable to defend his rights in any
other way than by fighting. turpe,
shapeless, unsightly, in accord with the Epicurean notion
of development from lower animals. glandem
atque cubilia; i.e. for food and lodging, to
supply their natural wants from Nature's store in which there was
as yet no individual property.
101. unguibus,
etc.: not having learned to make better weapons.
fustibus: one
step in advance, at least an acquired, not a natural, weapon.
atque ita porro,
etc.: and so they went on, till experience taught them the manufacture
of arms. But still there could be no society and no rights until they
invented language, which made association possible.
103. verba
nominaque, words (to express ideas) and
names (to assign to things). voces
sensusque, almost equal to ideas and sensations,
i.e. predications and conceptions.
104. dehinc,
etc.: i.e. as soon as language made association possible,
they exchanged a state of war for mutual rights and individual property,
in order peaceably to satisfy their primal appetites, and protect
themselves in the possession of the means for this satisfaction.
107. nam
fuit, etc.: explanatory of neu quis adulter.
For lust must have caused war long before the famous case of Helen,
but as marriages were not established, no rights were violated, and
the wars were never celebrated in song.
109. venerem
incertam rapientis, satisfying by violence unregulated
passion.
110. editior,
the superior. caedebat,
fell at the hands of, or were slain by.
111. iniusti:
neuter, cf. iusto, vv. 113 and 98.
112. tempora,
history (in its chronological development).
fastos, records
(in chronological order).
113. natura,
i.e. the natural instincts, distinguishing by means of the
senses.
114. bona
diversis, good things from their opposites,
speaking in reference to the natural instincts which are supposed
to teach living creatures through the senses what is good for them.
fugienda
petendis, things to be shunned from objects of desire,
used in the same sense as the preceding, but more technical.
115. vincet,
will maintain, with hoc as a cognate accusative.
tantundem
et idem, in the same degree and kind.
117. legerit,
steals, an old sense preserved in legal phrase, and also
in sacrilegus.
118. regula,
a sliding scale, properly a straight-edge.
inroget, inflict,
the use of the word being derived from punishment inflicted by the
vote of the people, to whom, by early Roman custom, was submitted
(rogare) the bill for the punishment of offenders.
119. scutica,
the whip, an instrument of whipping more severe than the
rod (ferula), and less so than the scourge (flagellum),
which last had pieces of metal attached to its lashes.
120. ut
caedas: the regular grammar requires ne
(as the clause must be affirmative), and no explanation of the irregularity
is satisfactory. Perhaps Horace allows himself a popular construction,
i.e. a mistake in grammar. The mean of course is, "I
say the rule is needed to prevent too great severity, for there is
no fear that the Stoic principle will lead to too great indulgence."
A similar use of ut occurs in Livy, 28.22, where,
as here, the ut clause precedes.
122. furta,
without violence. latrociniis,
accompanied by force. The same distinction exists between theft
and robbery. magnis,
with simili (cf. "hair like the Graces").
123. falce,
etc.: i.e. punishment, regarded as a pruning away of the
vices of the State. tibi:
i.e. the Stoic, against whom the whole argument is aimed,
and against whose follies and unfitness for social life the remainder
of the satire is directed. The transition is afforded by the words
which Horace quotes, as it were from the Stoic: "I would prune
away, etc., if men would make me king," implying a wish to be
so (hence optas, v. 126). Horace then replies, "According
to your doctrine, you are a king already." To which the Stoic
replies, "The Stoic doctrine is not that a sapiens is
an actual king, but only a king in posse." Thus the
Stoic shows the inapplicability of his own doctrines to actual life,
which is the effect Horace wishes to produce, in order to nullify
the excuse which the Stoic views give for censoriousness and harshness.
124. si
dives, etc.: the Stoic paradox is, óti mónos o sophos
plousios, solum sapientem esse divitem. See Cic. Paradox,
VI.
125. sutor:
alluding to the perfection of the sapiens in all directions,
but containing in itself a reductio ad absurdum.
formosus: of
course the perfect man must possess perfect physical beauty among
his other perfections. rex:
according to the Stoic doctrine, the sapiens is king, and
all others are slaves. (Cf. Ep. I.1.106).
126. pater,
the venerable.
127. Chrysippus:
the second great expounder of the Stoic views, so famous that it was
said, eì me gàr èn Chrúsippos, oùk àn èn Stoá.
sapiens, etc:
the Stoic is represented as explaining the doctrine of the existence
in perfection of all qualities in the sapiens by a ridiculous
example, thus, of course, belittling the argument.
129. Hermogenes,
the same person referred to in 2.3
130. Alfenus:
no doubt a side hit at a rich usurer, probably, who had once been
a cobbler, said to be from Cremona, now dead.
133. vellunt,
etc.: the meaning is "Well, enjoy your imaginary royalty (i.e.
your Stoic doctrine which makes you a king), and reject the elegances
of social life; appear as a philosopher in the streets to be the butt
of the street-boys, and howl at the vices of mankind till you burst.
Meanwhile I, adopting a more accomodating doctrine, will enjoy the
pleasures of social intercourse, indulging my friends with charity,
and being indulged in return." barbam:
the long beard, no doubt from adherence to an old fashion, but perhaps
also as indicating want of care of the person, was generally characteristic
of philosophers, especially of the Cynics and Stoics.
134. fuste:
the philosopher regularly carried a staff, probably following the
old fashion.
135. urgeris:
to the stately Roman nothing could be more insulting than to be hustled
in the crowd, and the picture is intended to show the degrading contrast
between his royalty and his actual life.
136. rumperis,
you burst with rage. latras,
howl, i.e. at the crowd. There is a special reference to
the Cynics, so called from kuon(Gr. for dog).
137. quadrante,
a farthing; i.e. you go to the common bath instead of enjoying
the luxires of the rich.
138. stipator,
companion, the regular word for a person belong to an escort
or suite, either as a friend or as a satellite.
ineptum: with
Crispinum.
139. Crispinum:
cf. 1.120.
et, correlative
with -que, v. 141. dulces,
kindly.
141. patiar,
put up with.
142. te:
in prose quam tu. |
