The Satires of Juvenal, Persius, Sulpicia, and Lucilius. Sulpicia

3.

[55] Jus nullum uxori. Cf. Suet., Dom., viii. "Probrosis fœminis ademit jus capiendi legata hæreditatesque."

[56] The Flaminian road ran the whole length of the Campus Martius, and was therefore the most conspicuous thoroughfare in Rome. It is now the Corso.

[57] Lacernatæ. The Lacerna was a male garment: the allusion is probably to Nero and his "eunuch-love" Sporus. Vid. Suet., Nero, 28.

[58] "Signator-falso," sc. testamento. Cf. Sat. xii., 125, and Bekker's Charicles. "Fram'd a short will and gave himself the whole." Hodgson.

      "A few short lines authentic made,

       By a forged seal the inheritance convey'd." Badham.

[59] Locusta. Vid. Tac., Ann., xii., 66, 67. She was employed by Agrippina to poison Claudius, and by Nero to destroy Germanicus. On the accession of Galba she was executed. Cf. Suet., Nero, 33.

[60]

      "Reckless of whispering mobs that hover near." Badham.

       "Nor heed the curse of the indignant throng." Gifford.

[61] Gyarus, a barren island in the Ægean. Vid. Tac., Ann., iii, 68, 69. "Insulam Gyarum immitem et sine cultu hominum esse." Cf. Sat. x., 170; vi., 563.

[62] "The raw noble in his boyish gown." Hodgson. "Stripling debauchee." Gifford. The sons of the nobility wore the toga prætexta till the age of seventeen.

[63] "While whelming torrents swell'd the floods below." Badham.

[64] Arcâ. Cf. Sat. x., 24.

[65] Reddere. Probably "to pay what has been long due."

[66] Secreto, "without their clients," opposed to the "in propatulo" of Val. Max., ii., 5. ἔῤῥ' ἐς κόρακας μονόφαγε. Alex.

[67] In former days the Romans entertained their clients, after the day's officium was over, at supper, which was called "cœna recta." In later times, the clients, instead of this, received their portion of the supper, which they carried away in a small basket, "sportula," or a kind of portable kitchen. Cf. iii., 249. This was again changed, and an equivalent in money (centum quadrantes, about twenty pence English) given instead. Domitian restored the "cœna recta." Cf. Suet., Dom., vii.; Nero, xvi.

[68] Fenestræ. Cf. Xen., Anab., III., i., 31. Exod., xxi., 6.

[69]

      "Shall I then yield, though born perchance a slave,

       To the proud beggar in his laticlave?" Hodgson.

[70] Pallas, the freedman of Claudius, was enormously rich. The wealth and splendor of Licinus is again alluded to, Sat. xiv., 305.

[71] Pedibus albis. The feet of imported slaves were marked with chalk. Cf. Sat. vii., 16. Plin., H. N., xxxv., 17.

[72] Salutato crepitat. It refers either to the chattering of the young birds, when the old birds who have been in quest of food return to their nests (the whole temple being deserted by men, serves, as the Schol. says, for a nidus to birds); or, to the noise made by the old birds striking their beaks to announce their return. Cf. Ov., Met., vi., 97.

[73] Ordine rerum. Cf. Mart., iv., Ep. 8. The Forum is the old Forum Romanum.

[74] Apollo, i.e., the Forum Augusti on the Palatine Hill. In the court where pleas were held stood an ivory statue of Apollo. Cf. Hor., i., Sat. ix., 78.

[75] "And none must venture to pollute the place." Hodgson. Tantum, i.e., tantummodo. Cf. Pers., i. Sat., 114, Sacer est locus, ite profani, Extra meiete!

[76] To all these places the client attends his patron; then, on his return, the rich man's door is closed, and he is at liberty to return home, without any invitation to remain to dinner.

      "The day's attendance closed, and evening come,

       The uninvited client hies him home." Badham.

[77] Nova. "By witty spleen increased." Gifford.

[78]

      "Friends, unenrich'd, shall revel o'er your bier,

       Tell the sad news, nor grace it with a tear." Hodgson.

[79] Tædâ. Cf. viii., 235, "Ausi quod libeat tunica punire molestâ." Tac., Ann., xv., 44, "Aut crucibus adfixi, aut flammandi, atque ubi defecisset dies, in usum nocturni luminis urerentur." Sen., de Ira, iii., 3, "Circumdati defixis corporibus ignes."

[80] Qui dedit, i.e., Tigellinus.

[81] Committas, a metaphor from pairing or matching gladiators in the arena.

      "Achilles may in epic verse be slain,

       And none of all his myrmidons complain;

       Hylas may drop his pitcher, none will cry,

       Not if he drown himself for company." Dryden.

[82] Flaminiâ. The laws of the xii. tables forbade all burials within the city. The road-sides, therefore, were lined with tombs. Hence the common beginning of epitaphs, "Siste gradum viator." The peculiar propriety of the selection of these two roads is the fact that Domitian was buried by the Flaminian, and Paris, the mime, Juvenal's personal enemy, by the Latin road.

SATIRE II.

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