1. Eupolis, etc.: he begins with the origin of satire, connecting it with the Old Comedy of Athens, of which the three names mentioned are the greatest.
2. prisca: used technically of the Old Comedy, which introduced actual persons upon the stage in order to cast ridicule upon them.
5. notabant, stigmatized. See 3.24.
6. hinc = ab his. pendet, springs, i.e. he is an imitation of them, and so hangs on them, or is supported by them. Cf. "On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.")
7. pedibus: using the hexameter instead of the iambic measure. numeris, measures, the same idea in another form.
8. emunctae naris, of keen sense, lit. with his nose free from obstruction, so that his scent is keen. durus, etc.: it would seem that his critics had compared him with Lucilius to his disadvantage, and he proceeds to state the defects of that poet.
10. ut magnum, as a great feat, i.e. he regarded easy and rapid composition as the great object to be attained in art, rather than elegance and polish. pede in uno: proverbial, not changing his position (just as we say "at a stretch") from one foot to the other.
11. flueret lutulentus, hurried on with turbid flow. tollere: the figure is of a freshet carrying all sorts of foreign matter in its course, much of which is worthless, and so ought to be removed. (But cf. Quintil. X.1.94.)
12. garrulus, wordy.
13. ut multum: sc. scripserit. nil moror: a colloquial expression for "I don't care," "I don't mind." ecce, etc.: to show his disregard of rapidity in writing, Horace represents a challenge to himself from the loquacious moralizer Crispinus (see I.120) to show his skill in writing. At the same time he disparages this branch of skill by making a poetaster like Crispinus excel him in it.
14. minimo, at great odds, lit. with a very small wager on my part.
17. di bene, etc.: an expression of thankfulness,--Horace's answer to Crispinus' challenge. inopis, pusilli animi, with an unproductive (opp. to copiosi) and unaspiring (opp. to magni) intellect. quodque, etc.: the full construction would be quod inopis, quodque pusilli, etc. The expression of the second quod with -que, thus implying the first, is almost a mannerism with Horace. Cf. v. 115.
18. raro, in reference to pusilli, perpauca, in reference to inopis, speaking rarely, and very little at that.
20. laborantis, puffing away. dum ferrum, etc.: only to complete the picture.
21. imitare, imperative. Fannius, a poet of the clique opposed to Horace, but otherwise unknown. The sense is "Happy the popular poet, like Fannius, whose admirers present him, etc." The poet now turns from the criticism of Lucilius to a discussion of the difference between himself and the popular poets of the day, and explains why he is not popular.
22. delatis capsis et imagine: the natural meaning would be "with his writings and bust deposited" in some public place, as a library, for instance. It would seem, however, that there was no public library until the one established by Pollio, and in that there was no bust of a living author but that of Varro. The best meaning, perhaps, is presented with, etc. nemo: opposed to the popularity of Fannius, as indicated by the preceding act of his admirers.
23. legat, reads, by himself. recitare: the regular word for public reading, which was the common method at that time of bringing out an author's works. timentis, agreeing with the genitive implied in mea.
24. genus hoc, i.e. satire. pluris, the greater part. In English we must supply a verb, but the Latin construction is a kind of apposition.
26. laborat, is troubled with, a regular word for diseases.
28. hunc capit, is captivated (as better English). stupet, is dazed by the beauty of, i.e. has an admiration which amounts to a craze.
29. hic mutat, etc.: i.e. voyages as a trader to the farthest East and the farthest West.
30. mala, dangers, sufferings.
32. ampliet ut, here in the proper meaning of the construction, that he may not, etc.
33. metuunt: because they are conscious of being proper subjects of satire.
34. faenum, etc.: a mark of dangerous cattle. It may be translated literally, or, abandoning the details of the figure, by, He's a vicious brute. longe fuge, keep well away from him, like "give him a wide berth."
37. a furno redeuntis, etc.: i.e. the common crowd in the street, as they went to get bread or water, things which the better classes would provide in their own homes. These errands were no doubt occasions for gossip.
39. primum ego me, etc.: i.e. first, Horace doesn't claim to be a poet, so that the rules of the art of poetry don't apply to him. He thus avoids criticism as to his style.
40. concludere versum, round off verses, i.e. make metrical lines by bringing them to a proper conclusion.
41. dixeris: an apodosis, but the indefinite second person singular regularly has the subjunctive.
42. sermoni, conversation.
43. ingenium, talent. mens divinior, an inspired genius. os magna sonaturum, a grand and lofty style. As all poetry was originally to be sung, the Latin retains figures in reference to its style derived from sound which we have lost.
45. quidam: the Alexandrine grammarians.
46. acer spiritus, a lively inspiration.
47. verbis, in the diction. rebus, in the matter. pede certo, by its fixed measure.
48. sermo, in apposition with comoedia. at pater, etc.: the objection of one who maintains that comedy has passages of poetry in it. A very common scene in comedy is that of the angry father under the circumstances here referred to.
49. nepos, spendthrift, used as an adjective.
51. ambulet: a common form of revelry was the comissatio, in which the drinkers after a supper paraded through the city with torches, committing all sorts of wild disorder. Here it is done even before night, the intoxicated youth doing it without shame in broad daylight.
52. numquid Pomponius, etc.: the reply is that any dissolute young man would be addressed in the same way in real life; but to express this Horace takes an actual case of a young man of this kind, thus satirizing him as well as making out his own point. These side thrusts are very characteristic of the poet.
53. ergo: the reasoning is, if comedy has only the language of real life, it cannot be called poetry though put into metrical form.
55. dissolvas, i.e. change the order so that the metre disappears. Cf. v. 60.
56. his, etc.: in the same way Lucilius and Horace use only the language of common conversation put into metre; whereas in the extract from Ennius in v. 60, there a poetic diction, and the thoughts suggested are on a higher plane than the language of common life.
62. etiam, still.
63. hactenus haec, so much for that point. iustum, properly, i.e. according to the rights and laws of poetry.
64. suspectum, viewed with suspicion, an allusion to v. 24.
65. Sulcius, etc.: the idea is that those informers who plied a trade in bringing accusations are a terror only to evil-doers, and one would expect the argument to continue: if you are honest men, you have no reason to fear me; but instead of that the poet turns sharply, and says in v. 69, "Though you have all the vices of the worst men, still you need not fear me, for I am no informer."
66. ambulat, walks around. rauci, i.e. with pleading. libellis, their indictments.
71. nulla taberna, etc.: the distinction is that Horace does not publish his strictures. pila: the manuscripts were hung or placed out by the pillars to be inspected by the passer-by, as in our second-hand bookstores.
73. nec recito: i.e. he does not even read in public, but only for the amusement of friends, when urged.
75. recitent, etc.: others are fond of reading in public in the Forum and at the public baths, because they like to hear themselves in the enclosed space, which gives a resonance to their elocution, regardless of tact or time.
78. laedere gaudes: another point made by his enemies, that he is malicious in his satires, in answer to which he calls in the evidence of his friends, asking his detractors where they get that stone to throw at him, i.e. the authority for such an accusation.
81. absentem, etc.: the objector answers: "Your satire shows it; a man who satirizes is a malicious person, and should be shunned by every honest Roman."
85. niger, the black-hearted slanderer. Romane, honest Roman, alluding to the supposed honorable character of the Romans, as opposed to other nations.
86. saepe tribus, etc.: as the usual number was nine a larger company is indicated, of whom no one is safe from the malice of the detractor.
87. aspergere, to bespatter.
88. aquam: of course the host is referred to. Water, to mix with wine and for the washing of hands, which was necessary in the Roman manner of eating, played a more prominent part at a Roman feast than with us.
89. condita praecordia, the hidden secrets of the heart.
90. hic tibi, etc.: i.e. such a fellow seems to you, pretending to be the enemy of slanderers in literature, only an agreeable companion, witty and outspoken; whereas my sportive jests upon the follies of men seem to you expressions of envy, hatred, and malice.
92. pastillos, lozenges, to perfume the person. As the ancients 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.
93. mentio si qua, etc.: a still more striking example of malicious slander in social intercourse under pretence of friendship is introduced to show what that vice really is, and by the contrast to show Horace's freedom from it. Cf. vv. 100 and 101.
94. Capitolini: Petillius is so called in derision on account of his stealing gold from the statue of Jupiter on the Capitol, for which crime he was tried, but escaped through the influence of Augustus.
96. convictore usus, etc.: has enjoyed my intimacy and friendship. causa, etc.: i.e. "I owe much to him."
98. incolumis. . .in urbe, instead of losing his citizenship and being exiled, as he would have been if convicted.
100. nigrae sucus loliginis, i.e. the essence of black malignity. The figure is from the excretion of the cuttlefish from which India ink is made. Cf. hic niger est, v. 85.
101. aerugo mera, pure verdigris: comparing slander to rust eating into bronze, etc., which rust appears to do. Cf. A. P. 330.
102. animo, from my heart. prius, to begin with: not having it in his heart he would not put it down on paper. ut si quid, etc., as truly as I can, etc., lit. I promise, as I promise, in case I can promise anything (else) truly.
103. liberius, with too much freedom. iocosius, with too rough a jest.
104. hoc iuris, this privilege.
105. insuevit, etc.: giving a reason why he should be indulged in his habit of satire, and at the same time showing that there is no malice in his strictures because it is for a moral purpose. hoc, i.e. ut fugerem.
106. exemplis notando, by censuring them through examples,--the manner of insuevit.
107. hortaretur: the so-called subjunctive of repeated action. Cicero would have used the indicative.
108. contentus eo, etc.: i.e. with that style of living which was within the income that his father had left him; not living in the style of the spendthrifts mentioned below.
110. magnum documentum, an urgent warning: the words are in a kind of apposition with the preceding clauses.
111. ne quis velit: an expression of prohibition borrowed from the laws. Cf. the common noli facere. meretricis: this seems a contradiction to what follows, but the kind of person here referred to is the mistress, corresponding to the Parisian woman of the demi monde, to whom a lasting attachment was disapproved.
113. moechas, faithless wives, married women.
114. deprensi Treboni: an example from real life.
115. sapiens, the philosopher, as opposed to the plain practical man. quidque: the -que implies an omitted quid before. Cf. v. 17. quid, depending on the ethical question implied though not expressed in causas, may be rendered, as to what.
116. causas, the theory, lit. the reasons, as a philosophical basis of ethics.
117. morem, the mode of life.
119. duraverit, has matured.
121. dictis, by his precepts.
122. auctorem, an example, properly a voucher for such a course of conduct.
123. iudicibus selectis: the praetor urbanus made a list of the persons qualified to sit as judices (jurors) in criminal cases, in which selection they used their discretion, so that naturally the body would be supposed to be composed of respectable citizens, and for the most part of equites and senators, though in Horace's time other classes were also admitted. Cf. Praetores urbani, qui iurati debent optimum quemque in selectos iudices referre. Cic. pro Cluent. xliii.121.
124. an, why: as often, introducing the real second member of a double question where the first is omitted, "Will you not decide this question or will you still doubt," etc. inutile, injurious.
125. flagret, etc.: ill-fame runs like wild-fire, of this man and that.
126. avidos, greedy, over-eating.
127. sibi parcere, take care of themselves.
128. teneros, youthful (and plastic). Cf. duraverit, v. 119.
130. mediocribus, i.e. and only by these.
131. et istinc = ex istis: the beginning of a statement of the reason why Horace continues the custom derived from his father.
133. consilium, determination, resulting from his own reflection. neque enim, for, you see. . .not. lectulus (for a nap) and porticus (for exercise), i.e. in his moments of leisure,--my couch has received me, or the portico.
134. desum, do I neglect myself. rectius, the truer course.
136. hoc quidam, etc.: Horace thus connects his strictures with his own self-improvement. Of course this is not to be taken too literally, as appears his jest in the following. numquid, etc., I hope I shall not, etc.
138. agito, I turn over. datur, is allowed me.
139. inludo, I playfully jot down. hoc est, etc.: after representing this proceeding as an effort at self-culture, he jocosely says that this fault of writing down his meditations is a pardonable fault, one of those he has not been able to cure himself of.
141. multa, etc.: a droll form of vengeance, forcing his critic to join him in the same offence, the suggestion of which ends his satire with a jest, as usual, and removes all appearance of formal preaching.
142. nam multo, etc.: in the dearth of public interests literature had become the fashionable employment of the day, and everybody wrote poetry that could write and spell. (Cf. Ep. II.1.108.)
143. Iudaei: the Jews were famous with the ancients for their energy in proselyting.