Page images
PDF
EPUB

thought non unius convivii numerum sed totam se in illis pelliculis iacuisse, thus laying the whole stress on the skins.

2. Seneca, Ep. 96 (95) § 72, says, proderit dicere Tuberonis ligneos lectos, cum in publicum sternerent, haedinasque pro stragulis pelles, et ante ipsius Iovis cellam adposita conviviis vasa fictilia. He evidently uses the term ligneos in contempt.

3. Isidorus, Orig. XX. II. 3, says, lectuli Punicani, parvi et humiles et lignei; nam huiusmodi lecti ex Carthagine primum advecti sunt. humiles seems=not raised high above the ground, perhaps even 'unpretending.'

4. Pliny, Nat. Hist. XXXIII. 144, tell us that these couches were inlaid with precious metals. One Carvilius Pollio was the first to put silver upon dinner-couches; he, however, did not go so far as to overlay them or make them look as splendid as Delian furniture; he only did them in the Punic style; he applied gold also in the same style; and shortly afterwards the silvered couches were made on the Delian plan. All this ostentation, he adds, was expiated by the Sullan civil war. The Punic style' must mean inlaid work. We see also that the date of Carvilius Pollio falls before B.C. 88; how much, cannot be inferred.

5. Livy, XXXIX. 6, in speaking of the triumph of Gn. Manlius Vulso (B. C. 187) over the Galatians, goes on to remark that it was the Asiatic army that first brought foreign luxury to Rome. As an instance of this he adduces the introduction of couches with bronze feet (lecti aerati). Cicero also, II in Verr. IV. § 60, speaks of the same articles as having been extorted from people in Sicily by Verres; and the context makes it certain that he means them for a mark of luxury.

6. sternere does not imply the providing of the couches themselves. cf. II in Verr. IV. § 58, lectos optime stratos, Tusc. D. v. § 61, in aureo lecto strato pulcherrimo textili stragulo, and many passages in Plautus.

Now, whatever the passage of Isidorus may mean, it is of little or no weight. The passage of Seneca proves that in the opinion of the writer these couches were common and coarse, as being made of wood. But Seneca, though a Stoic in theory, was notoriously luxurious, and would naturally think lightly of couches which might for all that have been magnificent in the days of Tubero (who was a contemporary of the Gracchi). Pliny shews that the Punic couches were of considerable value, though not extravagantly rich if compared with others used in his own day. In fact at the date

of the story (B. C. 129) any metallic ornamentation of a couch was rare and costly. It is not, moreover, clear that Tubero provided the couches and from the language used it is more likely that he did not, for (a) stravit pelliculis haedinis lectulos Punicanos savours strongly of a purposed juxtaposition for the sake of contrast, and (b) he did not provide the tables, or they would have been coarse and rough also, and must have been mentioned; again (c) stravit requires an acc. case, exposuit leaves the 'tables' to be implied; unless then it can be shewn that the tables were rough and provided by Tubero, I maintain that the presumption is that he did not provide the couches. Fabius provided the tables and couches (a great many would be wanted, and no doubt some had to be hired or borrowed), not splendid, but elegant; Tubero put dirty skins on the couches and common Samian ware on the tables, and so I think the story is understood by Valerius Maximus. Lastly, what says Cicero himself? his haedinis pelliculis praetura deiectus est.

The diminutive lectulos seems not to imply contempt, but the employment of ordinary sofas (see pictures in Rich, Dict. Ant.) to make up the large number of couches wanted on this occasion.

E. GELLIUS XX. 10. (Ed. Hertz).

Ex iure manum consertum uerba sunt ex antiquis actionibus, quae, cum lege agitur et uindiciae contenduntur, dici nunc quoque apud praetorem solent. rogaui ego Romae grammaticum, celebri hominem fama et multo nomine, quid haec uerba essent ? tum ille me despiciens: 'aut erras,' inquit, 'adulescens, aut ludis ; rem enim doceo grammaticam, non ius respondeo: si quid igitur ex Vergilio, Plauto, Ennio quaerere habes, quaeras licet.'

'ex Ennio ergo,' inquam, 'est, magister, quod quaero. Ennius enim uerbis hisce usus est.' cumque ille demiratus aliena haec esse a poetis et haud usquam inueniri in carminibus Ennii diceret, tum ego hos uersus ex octauo annali absentes* dixi, nam forte eos tamquam insigniter praeter alios factos memineram : pellitur e medio sapientia, ui geritur res; spernitur orator bonus, horridus miles amatur. haut doctis dictis certantes nec maledictis, miscent inter sese inimicitias agitantes.

non ex iure manu[m] consertum, sed magis ferro rem repetunt regnumque petunt, uadunt solida ui.

cum hos ego uersus Ennianos dixissem: 'credo,' inquit grammaticus, 'iam tibi.' sed tu uelim credas mihi, Quintum Ennium didicisse hoc non ex poeticae literis, set ex iuris aliquo perito. cas igitur tu quoque,' inquit, ' et discas, unde Ennius didicit.'

usus consilio sum magistri, quod docere ipse debuerat, a quo discerem, praetermonstrantis. itaque id, quod ex iureconsultis quodque ex libris eorum didici, inferendum his conmentariis existimaui, quoniam in medio rerum et hominum uitam qui colunt, ignorare non oportet uerba actionum ciuilium celebriora. ('manum conserere.') nam de qua re disceptatur in iure [in re] praesenti, siue ager siue quid aliud est, cum aduersario simul manu prendere et in ea re [soll]emnibus uerbis uindicare, id est 'uindicia.' correptio manus in re atque in loco praesenti apud praetorem ex duodecim tabulis fiebat, in quibus ita scriptum est: si qui in iure manum conserunt. sed postquam praetores propagatis Italiae finibus, datis iurisdictioni(bu)s negotiis occupati, p[rof]icisci uindiciarum dicendarum causa [ad] longinquas res grauabantur, institutum est contra duodecim tabulas tacito [con]sensu, ut litigantes non in iure apud praetorem manum consererent, sed ‘ex iure manum consertum' uocarent, id est alter alterum ex iure ad conserendam manum in rem, de qua ageretur, uocaret atque profecti simul in agrum, de quo litigabatur, terrae aliquid ex eo, uti unam glebam, in ius in urbem ad praetorem deferrent et in ea gleba, tamquam in toto agro, uindicarent. idcirco Ennius significare uolens (bellum), non, ut ad praetorem solitum est, legitimis actionibus neque ex iure manum consertum, sed bello ferroque et uera ui atque solida [..............]; quod uidetur dixisse, conferens uim illam ciuilem et festucariam, quae uerbo diceretur, non quae manu fieret, cum ui bellica et cruenta.

In 1. 11. absentes='from memory,' 'without book.'

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]
« PreviousContinue »