SATIRARUM LIB. II. 6.

Sive Aquilo radit terras seu bruma nivalem
Interiore diem gyro trahit, ire necesse est.
Postmodo, quod mi obsit, clare certumque locuto
Luctandum in turba et facienda injuria tardis.
Quid vis, insane, et quas res agis? improbus urget
Iratis precibus; tu pulses omne quod obstat,
Ad Mæcenatem memori si mente recurras.

Hoc juvat et melli est; non mentiar; at simul atras
Ventum est Esquilias, aliena negotia centum
Per caput et circa saliunt latus. Ante secundam
Roscius orabat sibi adesses ad Puteal cras.
De re communi scribæ magna atque nova te
Orabant hodie meminisses, Quinte, reverti.
Imprimat his cura, Mæcenas, signa tabellis.
Dixeris, Experiar: Si vis, potes, addit et instat.
Septimus octavo propior jam fugerit annus,

26. interiore gyro, an inner or contracted circle.'

bruma, from, brevissima (sc. dies). trahit, 'draws on slowly,' expresses the gradual as well as the late dawning of winter days. Others take it as contrahit, Engl. draws in ;' minus accurate," Or.

27. quod mi obsit . . ., ' stipulations which may bring me into trouble.' There is perhaps an allusion here to the apophthegm of one of the Seven Sages, ἐγγύη πάρα δ ̓ ἄτη, quoted among others in Plato, Charm. p. 165. s. 27. (We may compare also S. S. Prov. vi. 1.)

29. improbus urget. i. e. 'he abuses me without measure."

quiline.' See the descr. of it as a common burial ground in Sat. 1. viii. 10-16.

35. sibi adesses. i. e. as a witness. Cic. Pro Quint. 6. ad tabulam Sestiam sibi adsint. Cp. 1. ix. 38.

Puteal. See Dict. of Antiqq. Cp. Ep. 1. xix. 8.

36. scribæ. See the last Sat. v. 56.

38. signa. The signet of Augustus and the right of using it in his name was entrusted to Mæcenas, with the prefecture of Italy, in B.C.

40. fugerit="fugit, nisi fallor," Doering: it must be now nearly eight years.' See Carm. I. xi. 7. Septimus octavo. These mark

30. tu pulses. "Comice de se loquitur 2da personâ."--Gesner. Orelli assigns the sentence to the 'impro-ings of time seem inconsistent with bus.' the dates proposed by Bentley. (See 32. Hoc, 'this,' i. e. the sense of Chronol. Table, part 1. p. ix.) The my intimacy with Mæcenas.

melli (Dat. of mel), is delicious

mention of the signet (v. 38.) and the Dacian war, or the rumours of it (v. 53.; cp. Carm. III. vi. 14.), apatras Esquilias, the gloomy Es-pear to determine the composition of

to me.'

Ex quo Mæcenas me cœpit habere suorum

In numero, duntaxat ad hoc, quem tollere rheda
Vellet iter faciens et cui concredere nugas

Hoc genus: Hora quota est? Threx est Gallina Syro par?
Matutina parum cautos jam frigora mordent;

Et quæ rimosa bene deponuntur in aure.

Per totum hoc tempus subjectior in diem et horam
Ludos spectaverat una,

Invidiæ noster.

Luserat in campo: Fortunæ filius! omnes.
Frigidus a rostris manat per compita rumor:
Quicunque obvius est, me consulit: O bone,-nam te
Scire, deos quoniam propius contingis, oportet-
Num quid de Dacis audisti? Nil equidem. Ut tu
Semper eris derisor ! At omnes di exagitent me,
Si quidquam. Quid? militibus promissa Triquetra
Prædia Cæsar an est Itala tellure daturus?
Jurantem me scire nihil mirantur ut unum

this satire to the year 30 B.C., or the close of 31 B.C. If so, the first introduction of the poet to his patron (see Sat. 1. vi. 61.) was in 39, or the beginning of 38 B.C. This will agree with the date 37 B.C. for the journey to Brundisium. There is a marking of time in Sat. II. iii. 185., where reference is made to Agrippa's ædileship in 33 B.C.

41. Sat. I. vi. 62.

44. Threx Syro par. "Gladiatorum compositiones," Cic. Ad Fam. II. viii.

46. rimosâ. Patulæ aures, Epist. I. xviii. 70. Contr., tutis auribus, Carm. I. xxvii. 18. Terent. Eun. 1.

ii. 23. sq.:

45

50

55

Insula quem (sc. Empedoclem) Tri

quetris terrarum gessit in oris. Cp. Ov. Fast. iv. 420., Trinacris. A division of lands was made for the veterans in the winter of 30 B.C. (There had been one after the Sici

Quæ vera audivi, taceo, et contineo lian war, which some (e. g. Clinton,

optime:

Sin falsum...

F. H. in 36 B.C.) suppose to be intended in this passage. But see the

Plenus rimarum sum, hac atque note on v. 40.)

illac perfluo.

6

57. unum. Emphatic, as when

48. noster, our friend.' Horace used with superlatives.

Scilicet egregii mortalem altique silenti.

Perditur hæc inter misero lux non sine votis:

O rus, quando ego te adspiciam, quandoque licebit,
Nunc veterum libris nunc somno et inertibus horis
Ducere sollicitæ jucunda oblivia vitæ ?

O quando faba Pythagoræ cognata simulque
Uncta satis pingui ponentur oluscula lardo?
O noctes cœnæque deum! quibus ipse meique
Ante Larem proprium vescor vernasque procaces
Pasco libatis dapibus. Prout cuique libido est,
Siccat inæquales calices conviva solutus
Legibus insanis, seu quis capit acria fortis.

60

65

Pocula seu modicis uvescit lætius. Ergo

70

Sermo oritur, non de villis domibusve alienis,

Nec male necne Lepos saltet; sed quod magis ad nos

Pertinet et nescire malum est agitamus: utrumne

Divitiis homines an sint virtute beati ;

Quidve ad amicitias, usus rectumne, trahat nos ;

75

Et quæ sit natura boni summumque quid ejus.
Cervius hæc inter vicinus garrit aniles
Ex re fabellas. Si quis nam laudat Arelli
Sollicitas ignarus opes, sic incipit: Olim

Rusticus urbanum murem mus paupere fertur
Accepisse cavo, veterem vetus hospes amicum,
Asper et attentus quæsitis, ut tamen arctum
Solveret hospitiis animum. Quid multa? neque ille
Sepositi ciceris nec longæ invidit avenæ,
Aridum et ore ferens acinum semesaque lardi

80

85

Carm. II

63. faba Pythagoræ cognata. 66. Cp. Epod. ii. 65. See Lucian, Bíwv πрâσis, c. 6.; and 69. Legibus insanis. ὄνειρος, c. 4.: μήτε κυάμους ἐσθίειν, vii. ad fin. ἥδιστον ἐμοὶ γοῦν ὄψον ἐκτράπεζον ἀποφαίνων κυάμους φαγόντα, ν. 39. ὡς ἂν εἰ τὴν κεφαλὴν τοῦ πατρὸς ἐδηδόκεις.

70. uvescit. So uvidus, Carm. 1V.

....

75. Οr. Ex Pont. II. iii. 8. :

Vulgus amicitias utilitate probat.

Frusta dedit, cupiens varia fastidia cœna
Vincere tangentis male singula dente superbo:
Cum pater ipse domus palea porrectus in horna
Esset ador loliumque, dapis meliora relinquens.
Tandem urbanus ad hunc: Quid te juvat, inquit, amice,
Prærupti nemoris patientem vivere dorso?

Vis tu homines urbemque feris præponere silvis?
Carpe viam, mihi crede, comes, terrestria quando
Mortales animas vivunt sortita neque ulla est
Aut magno aut parvo leti fuga: quo, bone, circa,
Dum licet, in rebus jucundis vive beatus,
Vive memor quam sis ævi brevis. Hæc ubi dicta
Agrestem pepulere, domo levis exsilit; inde
Ambo propositum peragunt iter, urbis aventes
Moenia nocturni subrepere. Jamque tenebat
Nox medium cœli spatium, cum ponit uterque
In locuplete domo vestigia, rubro ubi cocco
Tincta super lectos canderet vestis eburnos,
Multaque de magna superessent fercula coena,
Quæ procul exstructis inerant hesterna canistris.
Ergo ubi purpurea porrectum in veste locavit
Agrestem, veluti succinctus cursitat hospes
Continuatque dapes, nec non verniliter ipsis
Fungitur officiis, prælambens omne quod affert.
Ille cubans gaudet mutata sorte bonisque
Rebus agit lætum convivam, cum subito ingens

95. This is commonly compared with Eurip. Alc. 782. sqq.

103. lectos, vestis. See on Sat. II. iv. 84.

91

95

100

105

110

105. procul, apart;' not necessarily afar.' Cp. Epist. 1. vii. 32. (Gesn. expl. "in altum," quoting Virg. Ecl. i. 83., which hardly supports the explanation.)

108. ipsis fungitur, 'performs the actual duties of a page; or, perhaps, performs to the life.' 111. agit lætum convivam, 'encanderet, glowed, shone bril-joys himself;' lit., plays the guest:' liantly; almost always restricted to a form of expr. analogous to ducem the idea of whiteness' or 'heat.' " | profitetur, shows the (skill and cha

6

6

Valvarum strepitus lectis excussit utrumque.
Currere per totum pavidi conclave, magisque
Exanimes trepidare, simul domus alta Molossis
Personuit canibus. Tum rusticus: Haud mihi vita
Est opus hac, ait, et valeas; me silva cavusque
Tutus ab insidiis tenui solabitur ervo.

115

SATIRA VII.

JAMDUDUM ausculto et cupiens tibi dicere servus
Pauca reformido. Davusne? Ita, Davus, amicum
Mancipium domino et frugi quod sit satis, hoc est,
Ut vitale putes. Age, libertate Decembri,
Quando ita majores voluerunt, utere; narra.
Pars hominum vitiis gaudet constanter, et urget
Propositum; pars multa natat, modo recta capessens,
Interdum pravis obnoxia. Sæpe notatus
Cum tribus anellis, modo læva Priscus inani,
Vixit inæqualis, clavum ut mutaret in horas;
Ædibus ex magnis subito se conderet, unde
Mundior exiret vix libertinus honeste;
Jam machus Romæ, jam mallet doctor Athenis
Vivere: Vertumnis quotquot sunt natus iniquis.

racter of a) general, Ov. Art. Am.
i. 181. Cp. Virg. Æn. ii. 591.:
confessa Deam. So in Moschus,
Europa, 79.: κpúе Deóν, he hid the
god (i. e. his true character as one).
114. Molossis. Epod. vi. 5.

SAT. VII.

4. Ut vitale putes. i. e. not too good to live. Cp. Ov. Am. 11. vi. 39.:

Optima prima fere manibus rapiun-
tur avaris;
Implentur numeris deteriora suis.

5

10

Decembri. Sat. II. iii. 5. 10. inæqualis. Sat. 1. iii. 9. clavum mutaret. See Dict. of Antiqq., art. CLAVUS; with the quotation from Ovid, Trist. IV. x. 35. : clavi mensura coacta est. 13. mœchus, a rake.' 14. Vertumnis natus iniquis. Cp. Sat. II. iii. 8., Iratis natus dis; Epist. II. i. 68., Jove æquo. 'Born under the evil star of all the Vertumni.'

Vertumnus (from verto), the god of change.