The Roman Poets of the Republic Part 28

c.u.m sciam nil esse in vita proprium mortali datum Iam qua tempestate vivo chresin ad me recipio.

Cf. Vitaque mancipio nulli datur, omnibus usu.]

[Footnote 27: Cf. Virtus, Albine, etc. Infra, p. 240.]

[Footnote 28:

Peccare impune rati sunt Posse et n.o.bilitate procul propellere iniquos.]

[Footnote 29:

Hostiliu' contra Pestem permitiemque catax quam et Maniu' n.o.bis.]

[Footnote 30: Cf. Cic. De Or. 1. 16: Sed ut solebat C.

Lucilius saepe dicere, h.o.m.o tibi (i.e. Scaevolae) subiratus, mihi propter eam causam minus quam volebat familiaris, sed tamen et doctus et perurba.n.u.s.

Hor. Sat. ii. 1. 67:--

Aut laeso doluere Metello Famosisque Lupo cooperto versibus?

Pers. i. 115:--

Secuit Lucilius urbem, Te Lupe, te Muci, et genuinum fregit in illis.]

[Footnote 31: Fuit autem inter P. Africanum et Q. Metellum sine acerbitate dissensio.]

[Footnote 32: Cf. Diversisque duobus vitiis, avaritia et luxuria civitatem laborare.--Livy, x.x.xiv. 4.]

[Footnote 33: 'O Publius Gallonius, thou whirlpool of excess; thou art a miserable man, says he; never in thy life hast thou supped well, since thou spendest all thy substance in that lobster of thine and that monstrous sturgeon.'

'This too is the case at dinner, you will give oysters, bought at a thousand sesterces.'

'Sardines and fish-sauce are your death, O Lupus.'

'Long live, ye gluttons, gourmands, belly-G.o.ds.'

'One was attracted by sow-teats and a dish of fatted fowls; another by a gourmandising pike caught between the two bridges.'

'Then he wiped the ample table with a purple cloth.'

The two last pa.s.sages are reproduced by Horace in the lines:--

Unde datum sentis, lupus hic Tiberinus, an alto Captus hiet, pontesne inter iactatus, an amnis Ostia sub Tusci?--Sat. ii. 2. 31.

And

Gausape purpureo mensam pertersit.--Ib. ii. 8. 11.]

[Footnote 34: Cf.

Crescit indulgens sibi dirus hydrops, etc.]

[Footnote 35:

Furei cui neque servus est neque arca, etc.]

[Footnote 36: 'Who has neither beast, nor slave, nor attendant; he carries about him his purse and all his money; with his purse he sleeps, dines, bathes--his whole hopes centre in his purse; this purse is fastened to his arm.']

[Footnote 37: Cp. the speech of Cato (Livy, x.x.xiv. 4) in support of the Oppian law: 'An blandiores in publico quam in privato, et alienis quam vestris estis?']

[Footnote 38: 'These bugbears and goblins from the days of the Fauni and Numa Pompilius fill him with terror; he believes anything of them. As children suppose that statues of bra.s.s are real and living men, so they fancy all these delusions to be real: they believe that there is understanding in brazen images: mere painter's blocks, no reality, all a delusion.'

Cf. Horace, Ep. ii. 2. 208:--

Somnia, terrores magicos, miracula, sagas, Nocturnos lemures portentaque Thessala rides?]

[Footnote 39: De Fin. i. 3.]

[Footnote 40: 'You preferred, Albucius, to be called a Greek, rather than a Roman or Sabine, a fellow-countryman of the Centurions, Pontius, Tritannius, excellent, first-rate men, and our standard-bearers. Accordingly, I, as praetor of Athens, when you approach me, greet you, as you wished to be greeted. "Chaere," I say, t.i.tus; my lictors, escort, staff, address you with "Chaere." Hence you are to me a public and private enemy.']

[Footnote 41: Et Pacuvius, et Pacuvio iam sene Accius, clariorque tunc in poematis corum obtrectandis Lucilius fuit.]

[Footnote 42: E.g.

Ego enim contemnificus fieri et fastidire Agamemnona.-- Di monerint meliora, amentiam averrunca.s.sint tuam.-- Hic cruciatur fame, Frigore, inluvie, inperfundie, inbalnite, incuria.-- Nunc ign.o.bilitas his mirum, taetrum, ac monstrificabile-- Dividant, differant, dissipent, distrahant.]

[Footnote 43: In the same spirit is the following line:--

Verum tristis contorto aliquo ex Pacuviano exordio.

And this from another book of Satires:--

Ransuro tragicus qui carmina perdit Oreste.

Among the phrases of Ennius at which Lucilius carped was one which Virgil did not disdain to adopt. The pa.s.sage of the old poet,--

Hastis longis campus splendet et horret,--

parodied by the Satirist in the form 'horret et alget,' was justified by being reproduced in the Virgilian phrase,

Tum late ferreus hastis Horret ager.]

[Footnote 44: 'Virtue, Albinus, consists in being able to give their true worth to the things on which we are engaged, among which we live. The virtue of a man is to understand the real meaning of each thing: to understand what is right, useful, honourable for him; what things are good, what bad, what is unprofitable, base, dishonourable; to know the due limit and measure in making money; to give its proper worth to wealth; to a.s.sign what is really due to office; to be a foe and enemy of bad men and bad principles; to stand by good men and good principles; to extol the good, to wish them well, to be their friend through life. Lastly, it is true worth to look on our country's weal as the chief good; next to that, the weal of our parents; third and last, our own weal.']

[Footnote 45: 'But now from morning till night, on holiday and work-day, the whole day alike, common people and senators are bustling about within the Forum, never quitting it--all devoting themselves to the same practice and trick of wary word-fencing, fighting craftily, vying with each other in politeness, a.s.suming airs of virtue, plotting against each other as if all were enemies.']

[Footnote 46: Cp. Mr. Monro's criticism in the Journal of Philology.]

[Footnote 47: Pa.s.sages of Lucilius apparently imitated by Lucretius:--