Membra dedit, vegetus præscripta ad munia surgit. Hic tamen ad melius poterit transcurrere quondam; Sive diem festum rediens advexerit annus, 85 Seu recreare volet tenuatum corpus; ubique Heroas natum tellus me prima tulisset. 91 100 Das aliquid famæ, quæ carmine gratior aurem 105 110 Quo magis his credas: puer hunc ego parvus Ofellum Integris opibus novi non latius usum, Quam nunc accisis. Videas metato in agello, NOTES. 99. Trasius.] Is an unknown person. 114. Metato in agello.] Ofellus was involved in the same dis 120 Cum pecore et gnatis, fortem mercede colonum, 115 aut vos, O pueri, nituistis, ut huc novus incola venit? NOTES. 125 131 135 grace and ruin as Virgil, Tibullus, and Propertius. Their estates were given by Octavius to the veterans, who had served against Brutus and Cassius in the battle of Philippi. That of Ofellus was given to Umbrenus, who hired its former master to till the ground for him, mercede colonum. As each soldier had a certain number of acres, the land was measured, metato agello, before it was divided. SATIRA III. SIC raro scribis, ut toto non quater anno Contemnere miser. Vitanda est improba Siren NOTES. 5 10 The poet intends to prove that all mankind are fools. Such a proposition is little pleasing in itself, and Horace therefore pleasantly gives it to an original, who would believe himself a great philosopher, because he carries a great beard, has a good memory to retain, and a facility of expressing the maxims of the stoic schools. 2. Membranam poscas, &c.] When the ancients composed, they wrote on tablets covered with wax, which gave them an opportunity of erasing whatever they pleased: but when they had put the last hand to a work, they wrote it out fair upon a sort of paper, called charta, made of the filmy part of the bark of the Papyrus, which grew in Egypt; or else on parchment, made of skins, which was properly called membrana. 5. Saturnalibus.] One of the most remarkable festivals among the Romans, celebrated on the fourteenth of the Calends of January, in commemoration of the ancient liberty enjoyed under the reign of Saturn. 8. Iratis natus paries Dis.] The walls of a poet's chamber seem built with the malediction of the gods upon them, since the gods have subjected them to the capricious passions of the rhyming tribe, who curse and strike them in their poetical fits, as if they were the cause of their sterility. 11. Menandro.] An Athenian, by whom the new comedy was raised to its highest perfection, and purged from the rudeness of the old. 15 20 Desidia; aut quidquid vita meliore parasti 25 29 Ut lethargicus hic, cum fit pugil, et medicum urget. Atque a Fabricio non tristem ponte reverti. NOTES. 35 16. Damasippe.] Julius Damasippus, a senator, whom Cicero mentions in his epistles. 17. Donent tonsore.] Our poet knows not better how to express his gratitude, for the solemn advices Damasippus had given him, than by wishing him a good barber; for the stoics valued nothing so much, as this wise and venerable length of hair. 18. Janum ad medium.] The name of Janus was sometimes given to those great arcades which crossed the streets of Rome. Livy tells us there were three of them erected in the forum, the middle of which Horace means, and which he distinguishes from the Janus summus, and Janus imus. 21. Sisyphus.] The son of Æolus, king of Corinth. He is supposed to have lived about 1400 years before the christian æra. 25. Mercuriale.] Mercury was the god of commerce, and when a man had an uncommon skill in buying and selling, he was usually called Mercurialis, or a favourite of Mercury. 33. Stertinius.] A stoic philosopher. 36. Fabricio ponte.] Built by Fabricius the consul. It joined Rome to the isle of the Tiber. Nam, male re gesta, cum vellem mittere operto Insanos qui inter vereare insanus haberi. 40 Primum nam inquiram, quid sit furere: hoc si erit in te Palantes error certo de tramite pellit; 46 Ille sinistrorsum, hic dextrorsum abit; unus utrique Error, sed variis illudit partibus: hoc te NOTES. 51 55 60 38. Dexter.] Opportunus, propitior. The right was by the ancients esteemed the lucky side. 44. Chrysippi porticus.] The Porticus was the place where the stoics taught; and they first received their distinctive name from it. Chrysippus was one of Zeno's disciples, and was so famous for his logical distinctions, and interpretations of his master's doctrines, that he was looked upon by some stoics as the head of their sect. 45. Formula.] Was a law-word, signifying the rules of prac tice in conducting a process. 53. Caudam trahat.] A metaphor taken from a custom amongst children, who tied a tail behind a person, whom they had a mind to laugh at. 60. Fusius.] Was an actor, who, playing in the character of Ilione, was supposed to be asleep, when the ghost of her son |