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quamvis crassa, queat.' Deciens centena dedisses
huic parco, paucis contento, quinque diebus
nil erat in loculis. Noctes vigilabat ad ipsum
mane, diem totum stertebat. Nil fuit umquam
sic impar sibi. - Nunc aliquis dicat mihi: 'Quid tu?
nullane habes vitia?' Immo alia et fortasse minora.
Maenius absentem Novium cum carperet, ' Heus tu,'
quidam ait, 'ignoras te, an ut ignotum dare nobis
verba putas?' 'Egomet mi ignosco,' Maenius inquit.

15. Deciens centena: sc. millia sestertium, a million sesterces. dedisses: a paratactic condition, without si. Cf. Sat. I, I, 45.

16. parco, paucis contento : these words summarize the professions of Tigellius in 13-15. The substance of the passage therefore is: 'But if you had taken this ascetic philosopher at his word and given him a million or two, he would have turned spendthrift in week.'

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19. impar sibi : = (in)aequale, 9. -Nunc : at this point in the talk. - aliquis, mihi: merely the two conventional figures that Horace often employs to enliven his Satires with bits of dialogue. - Quid tu? how about yourself?

21-23. These verses repeat in brief, with the added point of a double pun, the essence of 1-20. Maenius corresponds to the critic, Novius to Tigellius, heus tu to quid tu? ignoras ... putas? is a slight expansion of nullane habes vitia? and egomet mi ignosco is a neater variation upon immo

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Stultus et improbus hic amor est, dignusque notari. Cum tua pervideas oculis mala lippus inunctis, cur in amicorum vitiis tam cernis acutum

quam aut aquila aut serpens Epidaurius? At tibi contra

24. hic amor: such satisfaction as this, that is, as has been exhibited in the preceding verses. dignusque notari: 'a proper subject for a satire.'

Verses 1-24 introduce the subject of the satire with an easy skill which Horace has nowhere surpassed. The passage reads like the talk of a group of men sitting about the fire at a club. There is no attempt to reproduce the exact form of dialogue, and the suggestion of dialogue in the introduction is intended only as an interpretation of the spirit of the passage. Some chance has brought up the oddities of musical people, of which Tigellius affords an excellent illustration. The mention of his name leads easily to the amusing and not illnatured analysis of the character of this much-flattered and extravagant musical artist. But the characterization, though not really ill-natured, illustrates the inconsistency of censuring others for

failings which we excuse in our

vitiis, in the next line. - lippus, inunctis: there are frequent references to this inflammation of the eyelids and to the use of eye-salve (Sat. 1, 5, 30; Epist. 1, 1, 29); both the disease and the remedy obscured for the time the power of vision. - aquila, serpens: the eagle is still used in literature as a symbol of acuteness of sight; the attributing of the same quality to the serpent, common in Greek literature, was due to a supposed connection between δράκων and the stem of δέρκομαι, to see. Epidaurius refers to the story of the bringing of a sacred serpent from the temple of Aesculapius in Epidaurus to Rome. This is the use, frequent in Horace, of the definite and particular for the general. pervideas: taken by many editors to mean examine sharply, making an intentional oxymoron with lippus. But pervidere usually means only to look at, and is here contrasted with cernis acu

tum, as mala is with vitiis and lippus inunctis with aquila and

serpens.

selves, an inconsistency which is even more clearly apparent in the Maenius-Novius anecdote, and which furnishes a subject for the satirist.

25-27. mala : stronger than

27-28. contra, rursus: i.e. when their turn comes. - illi: not referring precisely to amicorum, but more general, 'when the criticized turn critics.'

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35

evenit, inquirant vitia ut tua rursus et illi.
'Iracundior est paulo, minus aptus acutis
naribus horum hominum; rideri possit eo, quod
rusticius tonso toga defluit, et male laxus
in pede calceus haeret.' At est bonus, ut melior vir
non alius quisquam, at tibi amicus, at ingenium ingens
inculto latet hoc sub corpore. Denique te ipsum
concute, num qua tibi vitiorum inseverit olim
natura aut etiam consuetudo mala; namque
neglectis urenda filix innascitur agris.

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folds across the chest. - male: with both laxus and haeret ; is loose and ill-fitting. On these lines cf.

36-37. consuetudo: added as an after-thought, to remind the overcritical censor that he has not only faults which were inborn, but also faults which are due to his own carelessness. neglectis: almost for if you are careless.' - filix: a common pest to the Italian farmer, which he got rid of by burning over the fields.

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Illuc praevertamur: amatorem quod amicae turpia decipiunt caecum vitia, aut etiam ipsa haec delectant, veluti Balbinum polypus Hagnae: vellem in amicitia sic erraremus, et isti errori nomen virtus posuisset honestum. At pater ut gnati, sic nos debemus amici si quod sit vitium non fastidire; strabonem

38-54. As the lover finds in the defects of his mistress only added beauties, and as the father calls his boy by a pet name which minimizes his physical weaknesses, so we should try to see the better side of our friends' qualities.'

Horace is here strengthening his argument by appealing to two well-recognized traits. The blindness of the lover was a commonplace of philosophy (Plato, Rep. 5,474 d; Lucretius, 4, 1160-1169; Ovid, Ars Am. 2, 657 ff.) and the giving of nicknames based upon physical peculiarities was so common among the Romans that most of their family names, including those used in this passage (Paetus, Pullus, Varus, Scaurus), are derived from this custom.

38. Illuc praevertamur, quod: let us turn rather to this fact, that ...; i.e. 'let us prefer to imitate the lover's blindness.'

39. decipiunt: are unnoticed by. Cf. fallere, latere, with acc. of the person.

40. Balbinum: unknown. - Hagnae: ("Αγνη) a common libertina

name.

41. vellem

erraremus: I wish that we made the same mistake; the unfulfilled form of velim ...erremus; there is no implied condition.

42. virtus: ethics, ethical philosophy. Cf. Carm. 2, 2, 17 ff., Phraaten numero beatorum eximit virtus. - honestum: creditable, honorable. Though such blindness to obvious facts may be an error, yet it is so generous an error that philosophers, especially the Stoics, should have given it a name which would recognize its nobler side.

43-48. This passage cannot be exactly translated; modern English, in which physical deformities are ignored or relegated to the scientific vocabulary of surgeons, has no equivalents for paetus, pullus, varus, scaurus. Each of these words designates in an extenuating way deformities which are more broadly described by the corresponding words strabo, male parvus and abortivus, distortis cruribus, pravis talis.

43. At: adversative to the main thought of 29 ff., not exclusively

45.

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appellat paetum pater, et pullum, male parvus
si cui filius est, ut abortivus fuit olim
Sisyphus; hunc varum distortis cruribus; illum
balbutit scaurum pravis fultum male talis.
Parcius hic vivit: frugi dicatur. Ineptus
et iactantior hic paulo est: concinnus amicis
postulat ut videatur. At est truculentior atque
plus aequo liber: simplex fortisque habeatur.
Caldior est: acris inter numeretur.

Opinor

haec res et iungit, iunctos et servat amicos.

to what immediately precedes. The expression is somewhat condensed, for ut pater gnati vitium non fastidit, sic nos debemus amici vitium non fastidire.

47. Sisyphus: a dwarf kept by Antony.

48. balbutit: properly lisps, i.e. the father speaks the word scaurus in gentle tones, in a kind of baby talk, so that it is a pleasant nickname to the child.

49-54. These lines contain the application of the foregoing illustrations. Each of the four qualities mentioned may be regarded as a fault, but each has its good side, so that it may, upon a generous interpretation, be considered a virtue. The words which express the overcritical interpretation are in the comparative degree, as if to suggest that the faults are only exaggerations of good qualities.

49. Parcius: too stingy. -frugi: economical, 'careful in money mat

ters.'

49-51. He sometimes thrusts

himself forward too much (iactantior) and really makes an ass of himself (ineptus), but it is in the effort (postulat) to be entertaining.' The best commentary on these qualities is in Cicero, de Orat. 2, 4, 17, 'qui aut tempus quid postulet non videt aut plura (too much) loquitur aut se ostentat (= iactantior) aut denique in aliquo genere aut inconcinnus aut multus est, is ineptus dicitur.' This sense of postulare, to expect, desire, almost = velle, is common in Plautus and should have fuller treatment in the Lexicons.

...

51-52. Too much inclined to be overbearing, and more free in speech than he ought to be.' On its good side this quality should be regarded as merely frankness and fearlessness.

53. Caldior: = calidior ; cf. soldum, Sat. 2, 5, 65; hot-tempered. -acris: high-spirited.

54. haec res: i.e. this way of treating the qualities of our friends, this generous interpretation.

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