VIII A FIASCO OF A DINNER-PARTY THE poet describes a dinner at which Maecenas was the guest of honour. Three men of letters were also in the company-Fundanius, Viscus, and Varius. The rest of the guests are undistinguished, and are probably imaginary characters who could not be identified. Porcius, for instance, true to his name, eats like a pig. Balatro is a buffoon, and Nomentanus is one of the traditional characters of satire. Moreover, the host, Nasidienus Rufus, is otherwise quite unknown. These facts warrant us in acquitting Fundanius (and therefore the author who introduced him) on the charge of extremely bad taste in heaping ridicule on a host whose hospitality had been accepted. Horace, in fact, adopts a principle, which is illustrated in the previous Satire, of securing a certain amount of verisimilitude through the use of known facts, and of drawing on his imagination for the rest of his material. The Satire is directed, partly against the ostentation and vulgarity sometimes displayed by wealth, and partly against the curious and affected erudition of pronounced epicures. In this latter respect it resembles the fourth Satire of this book. 1. Fundanius; 2. Viscus; 3. Varius; 4. Balatro; 5. Vibidius; 6. Maecenas; 7. Nomentanus; 8. Nasidienus; 9. Porcius. Fiske has shown that Lucilius was "the first to establish the traditions of the Servov in Latin Satire," and that in this Eighth Satire Horace keeps in fairly close touch with the twentieth book of Lucilius, where a banquet given by the praeco Granius was reported to the satirist by L. Licinius Crassus (Lucilius and Horace, pp. 408 ff.). But, as Lucilius wrote at least five satires on banquets, it is not surprising to find that Lejay (p. 580) regards his fifth book as the chief model followed here by Horace. VIII. Ut Nasidieni iuvit te cena beati ? nam mihi quaerenti convivam dictus here illic de medio potare die. 66 in vita fuerit melius." Sic, ut mihi numquam Da,1 si grave non est, 5 10 quae prima iratum ventrem pacaverit esca. 'In primis Lucanus aper; leni fuit Austro captus, ut aiebat cenae pater; acria circum rapula, lactucae, radices, qualia lassum pervellunt stomachum, siser, allec, faecula Coa. his ut sublatis puer alte cinctus acernam gausape purpureo mensam pertersit, et alter sublegit quodcumque iaceret inutile quodque posset cenantis offendere; ut Attica virgo cum sacris Cereris, procedit fuscus Hydaspes Caecuba vina ferens, Alcon Chium maris expers. 15 hic erus: Albanum, Maecenas, sive Falernum te magis appositis delectat, habemus utrumque.' 1 da p: dic Bland. (da is the more unusual). 2pacaverit C: peccaverit E : placaverit ø4. 3 ut C Priscian: ubi E. a A dinner-party usually began at the ninth hour (about 3 P.M.), but an ultra-extravagant one might begin even earlier. The boar with relishes here formed the gustatio, and is another sign of extravagant luxury; cf. Pliny viii. 210, "in principio (cenae) bini ternique mandantur apri." More commonly it would appear as the pièce de résistance. See note on Sat. ii. 4. 11. SATIRE VIII HORACE. How did you like your dinner with the rich Nasidienus? Yesterday, when I tried to get you as my own guest, I was told you had been dining there since midday." FUNDANIUS. So much so that never in my life did I have a better time. HOR. Tell me, if you don't mind, what was the first dish to appease an angry appetite? FUN. First there was a wild boar. It was caught when a gentle south wind was blowing, as the father of the feast kept telling us. Around it were pungent turnips, lettuces, radishes-such things as whet a jaded appetite-skirret, fish-pickle, and Coan lees. When these were removed, a high-girt slave with purple napkin wiped well the maple-wood table, while a second swept up the scraps and anything that could offend the guests. Then, like an Attic maid bearing Ceres' sacred emblems, there came forward dusky Hydaspes with Caecuban wine, and Alcon with Chian, unmixed with brine. Then said our host: If Alban is more to your taste, Maecenas, or Falernian, we have both." 66 ci.e. like a kavnpópos in the rites of Demeter; cf. Sat. i. 3. 9. d The Caecuban was one of the finest Italian, as Chian was one of the best Greek, wines. The host's Chian being very good, he did not do what was often done-add sea-water to give it a tang. Columella (xii. 21. 37) gives directions as to the proportions to be used. The phrase maris expers corresponds to οὐ τεθαλαττωμένον in Athenaeus i. p. 32. Divitias miseras! sed quis cenantibus una, Fundani, pulchre fuerit tibi, nosse laboro. 66 Summus ego et prope1 me Viscus Thurinus et si memini, Varius; cum Servilio Balatrone 66 "Tum Vibidius Balatroni : nos nisi damnose bibimus, moriemur inulti,' et calices poscit maiores. vertere pallor tum parochi faciem nil sic metuentis ut acris potores, vel quod maledicunt liberius vel fervida quod subtile exsurdant vina palatum. invertunt Allifanis vinaria tota Vibidius Balatroque, secutis omnibus; imi1 convivae lecti nihilum nocuere lagoenis. 1 pro V. 2 20 25 30 35 40 quas Goth. 3 simul E. 4 imis C, II. a The umbrae were uninvited guests who came with a man of high station. The cetera turba are the uninitiated guests as contrasted with the knowing Nomentanus. The subject of porrexerat is not the host, as commonly supposed, but Nomentanus, who is doing the work assigned him. Palmer takes ingustata to mean untasted," implying that the odour was enough 66 |