1. Ambubaiarum, music-girls, a class of pipers from the East, not of the best reputation. conlegia: humorously used to describe the troupes of these persons, as if they had an official corporate orgnization, like more respectable guilds, or societies, especially those of the religious musicians. pharmacopolae, quacks, who sold their own medicines, or sellers of perfumes, in both which senses the word is used.
2. mendici, beggars, including many Eastern priests and fortune-tellers, as also jugglers. mimae, low players. The lowest class of farces, the mimes, allowed women on the stage. Actresses is rather too respectable a word here.
genus: i.e. the classes that thrive on the vices (and virtues) of the prodigal, by catering to a life of luxury.
3. Tigelli: Marcus Hermogenes Tigellius was a skilful musician and remarkable singer, and a friend of Julius Caesar, as well as later of Augustus, famous also, like many of that class of persons in later times, for his luxury and prodigality.
4. quippe benignus erat, for he was a generous soul. contra, on the other hand, contrasting another (hic), who is a parsimonious creature.
5. inopi, in want.
6. frigus, etc.: i.e. to clothe and feed him. duram, with both nouns.
7. hunc: a third, but also a prodigal, like Tigellius.
8. ingrata, unsatisfying; lit. that gives no pleasure and yields no return.
9. conductis, borrowed, i.e. at usurious interest. obsonia, dainties, any food which is used to give relish to bread, the main staple of ancient diet.
10. animi parvi, small-souled.
11. respondet: i.e. se stringere, etc., quod, etc. his, this class; illis, the other.
12. Fufidius, a usurer.
13. Rejected by some editors.
14. quinas, i.e. fivefold. As the ordinary rate of interest was one percent a month, this would be sixty percent.
exsecat, slices off, i.e. in advance, as in bank discount.
15. quanto perditior, the nearer to ruin. quisque, one. This use of quisque is common in all kinds of comparisons to make the idea more individual, as if it said, "each man in proportion to," etc.
16. nomina, debts. In the account-books of the Romans, the name at the head of the ledger was the evidence of debt; hence nomen comes to be used for the account (in all senses, as in English), and for the debt against one, where we should say notes or bills. sumpta, etc., just come to manhood, when of their desire for pleasure and their dependence would be greatest. The manly toga, or plain white robe, was put on at the pleasure of the father about the age of seventeen, and this (dies tirocinii) was an important occasion in the life of the young man, as he was then admitted as a man among men.
17. duris, harsh, as not indulging their sons in their pleasures, whence the young men had more need of money.
18. in se. . .sumptum facit, he spends upon himself.
19. pro quaestu, in proportion to his gains. vix, etc.: notice that the connectives are constantly omitted to give the freedom of conversation; on the contrary, or why!
20. quam non amicus, what an enemy, as torturing himself with privation in the miser's fashion. pater ille, the father, i.e. the well-known one.
21. fabula: the Hautontimorumenos, or Self-Tormentor, of Terence. miserum vixisse inducit, shows living in wretchedness. The word inducit properly means brings on to the stage, but, as vixisse is past, it means here "shows to have lived."
22. atque, than, a meaning and use of atque often found in early Latin.
23. quo. . .pertinet, whither. . .tends, i.e. what is shown by these examples?
24. dum vitant, etc.: the general statement of the doctrine of the mean as held by the Peripatetic school.
25. Malthinus, etc.: examples of extremes in other matters. There is a supposed reference to Maecenas, but it might be any one of a hundred others. est qui (sc. ambulat), another.
26. obscenum: translate as adv., indecently; properly, indecent, because not usually exposed. facetus, an exquisite. The word is especially applied to persons who are over-refined by intercourse with society, in one age a dandy, in another a dude.
27. pastillos, lozenges, to perfume the person. As the ancient were unacquainted with distillation, perfumes were conveyed in various vehicles, especially in oils, or, as here, in little cakes. hircum, dirt and sweat. The word is very often used of the smell of the body in confined places, like the armpits. One of the extremes is over-care of the body; the other, neglect of simple cleanliness, of both of which the poet complains.
28. nil medium est, there is no middle course, a repetition in other words of the principal theme. sunt qui, etc.: instances of extremes in another direction. tetigisse: the perf. inf. is apparently an archaic construction, which survived especially in conversational and legal usage.
29. quarum: i.e. matrons, as appears from institia. subsuta, trailing: the instita was apparently a flounce sewed on to the bottom of the stola, or long tunic of married women.
30. fornice: the arches of the Circus Maximus were the special abodes of people of the kind referred to; cf. I.6.113. Hence the name.
31. notus, of his acquaintance.
32. sententia dia, etc.: an imitation of Lucilius (Valeri sententia dia), and Lucretius 3.371; cf. II.1.72.
36. albi: referring to women of respectability, who are not obliged to wear the dark-colored toga of the prostitute.
37. audire est, etc.: imitated for the comic effect from Ennius, who uses this line in regard to the Roman state, of course with vultis in the affirmative.
39. corrupta, spoiled, marred.
40. rara: the pleasure is marred and rare at that.
41. hic, etc.: describing the pericla.
46. iure omnes, served him right, say all. Galba: it is implied that he was one of the sufferers, who naturally can't see the justice of it. He is said by a scholiast to have been a jurisconsult; and if so, negabat is equivalent to non placuit, and refers in jest to his professional opinion, as if he been formally consulted on the point. negabat, thought not.
47. secunda: equally removed from the class of verse 30, and that of verse 29.
48. Sallustius, etc.: but even in this safer course there is a chance for an excess, which is ruinous. Probably the person referred to is an adopted son of the historian.
50. qua, as (really limiting, only so far as). res, his interest, i.e. his pecuniary condition. ratio, reason, good sense. suaderet: changed from suadeat, an apodosis with omitted protasis (would suggest), on account of the tense of vellet; but as licet would be in the indicative on account of the meaning of the word ("verbs of necessity, propriety," etc.), the tense of vellet has no effect on it. modeste munifico: a kind of oxymoron, lavish in moderation.
51. bonus atque benignus, kindly and generous. Notice that these words are much less strong than munifico, which has an idea of princeliness, but they represent what the man means to be. In his want of moderation, however, he oversteps his mark.
53. hoc (abl.): i.e. matronam, etc. Cf. "Compound for sins they are inclined to/ By damning those they have no mind to."
55. Originis, a famous mima.
57. fuerit: hortatory subjunctive.
59. res, property, really the same as in v. 50, but differently expressed in English.
60. personam, the particular character (here matronarum), as opposed to the ruinous vice in general, expressed in illud, etc.
62. ubicumque, in any case, in regard to any of the classes mentioned.
63. togata: the toga was the necessary dress of all such women, as the stola of the respectable matron. (cf. v. 71).
64. Villius, probably Sextus Villius Annalis, a friend of Milo, cf. Cic. ad Fam. II.6.1. in, in the case of, as often. Fausta, wife of Milo and daughter of Sulla. gener: so called in jest.
65. nomine: i.e. Fausta, by which her noble birth was indicated.
67. fore: abl. of foris. Longarenus, another lover of the woman.
68. verbis, on behalf of, as the spokesman. videntis, i.e. suffering.
69. diceret, had said, cf. note to I.3.5. animus, i.e. his passions.
71. stola: worn only by respectable matrons, cf. v. 29, and togata, v. 63.
73. at: opposing the following to the thought contained in magno, etc. pugnantia, utterly at variance, cf. I.1.102. istis: the dative instead of cum, in accordance with the Greek (and perhaps also the popular) usage, cf. I.4.48.
74. dives opis suae, rich in her own resources, i.e. who can easily satisfy her wants. natura, i.e. unsophisticated, not perverted by refinements.
75. dispensare, manage, i.e. use one's means with discretion. fugienda, etc., i.e. confound right and wrong. But the words are used in the sense of the Stoic philosophy in reference to things which nature would suggest to us to seek and to avoid respectively; cf. I.3.144.
76. tuo: in regard to his own desires, which are in his own power to control, so that the trouble arising from want of control is really his own fault. rerum, circumstances, which it is not in his power to prevent, as it is in the other case.
77. nil referre, it makes no difference, i.e. do you think it is all the same whether you bring your misfortunes on yourself, or suffer undeservedly? paeniteat, have reason to repent.
79. est, it is necessary, one is likely. The construction, a favorite one with Horace, seems to be imitated from the Greek.
80. huic, i.e. matronae. lapillos: pearls and emeralds which the women of quality wear.
81. sit licet hoc. . .tuum, though this may be your taste, referring to the preceding line.
85. quo, how she may, ways to.
86. regibus, princes, nabobs, rich men, cf. II.2.45.
87. facies, figure, shape.
88. molli, tender, weak. inducat, take in; a figure derived from the net or snare. hiantem, greedy, Cf. I.1.71.
90. illi, they, as opposed to the lover, who is less careful. ne, so do not, lit. (I tell you this) that you may not, etc. Lyncei (with oculis), one of the Argonauts, famous for his keen sight.
91. Hypsaea, unknown.
92. O crus: the words of the blind admirer.
93. brevi latere, short-waisted.
95. Catia: one of Horace's favorite side hits.
96. nam te, etc.: the common and well-known longing for forbidden fruit.
98. custodes, etc.: i.e. all of this train surrounds, and so conceals her, thus exciting curiosity and desire. ciniflones, dressing-maids, strictly servants who used the curling-tongs.
100. plurima, a thousand things. invideant, hinder. apparere, after the analogy of the infinitive with impedio and prohibeo. rem, i.e. things, as they are.
101. altera: subject of quin appareat, or the like. Translate, with the other, and omit the verb as in Latin. Cois (sc. vestibus): a transparent gauzy kind of silk garments made in Cos, and worn only by this sort of people. est, it is possible, cf. v.29 and II.5.103.
105. ut, how, with cantat.
106. positum, set before him. sic, just as he is, without any trouble on the hunter's part. nolit: cf. I.1.19.
107. cantat, quotes; the sentiment being from Callimachus, Ep.31 (Meineke). amor: abstract.
108. in medio posita, what is set before it, open to everybody. fugientia captat, chases flying game, cf. I.1.68.
109. versiculis, lines; referring to the quotation, but treating it as a charm to conjure away the pangs of love.
110. aestus, fever. pelli, be exorcised, charmed.
111. natura: i.e. natural wants, as opposed to perverted desires born of an artificial civilization.
112. quid (latura), what satisfaction she will give herself. quid negatum, what privation, etc.
113. inane, the show. soldo, the substance (for form see Introduction).
114. num, say, or tell me.
120. illam (sc. esse): opposed to hanc, v.121. sed pluris, but for more money. These quotations are treated as descriptive adjectives, or epithets of the woman.
121. Gallis, the priests of Cybele. Philodemus, an Epicurean philosopher, a contemporary of Cicero. Some lost epigram of his is no doubt quoted or alluded to.
123. sit, should be, must be. munda, adorned. hactenus: as a limitation, only so far. longa: by means of any coiffure or high heels.
124. dat, grants, i.e. than nature has made her.
126. Ilia, etc.: i.e. of the noblest birth.
129. pulsa, with his knocking. vepallida, white as a sheet, with ve- intensive (orig. out? cf. ex).
130. miseram, etc.: in English we should keep the direct discourse, ah, wretched me! conscia, her confidante, a slave, the go-between.
131. cruribus: for heinous offences, such as this treachery to her master would be, slaves had their legs broken on an anvil. deprensa: the woman, who in such a case lost a part of her marriage portion.
133. denique, at any rate, even if he escapes the other misfortunes.
134. Fabio, no doubt the same philosopher mentioned in I.1.14, according to whose doctrine, of course as a Stoic, nothing was miserum to the sage. Yet even he would have to admit that this was. The abrupt ending after the climax in deprendi, etc., is in Horace's favorite manner. However far he may go, he stops unexpectedly, doubtless on purpose to avoid the appearance of formal preaching.