Nec rhombos ideo libertis ponere lautus, Nec tenuem sollers turdarum nosse salivam. Messe tenus propria vive, et granaria, (fas est,) 25 Emole. Quid metuas? occa, et seges altera in herba est. of a hen thrush or fieldfare. The difference of taste between a cock and a hen was imaginary perhaps, but the masculine here would have no force. Though the MSS. differ therefore, and the masculine is the vulgar reading, there is no doubt the feminine is right. This the Scholiast recognizes and explains: "turdarum' abusive posuit cum turdorum' dicere debuerit." Nearly all the MSS. have 'tenues salivas,' which no editor has adopted that I am aware of, except Duebner, who has introduced it into Casaubon's text. 'Saliva' is equivalent to 'sapor," as in Propertius (v. 8. 38, Paley), "et Methymnaei Graeca saliva meri," where it seems Hertzberg disputes this meaning. There is no doubt about it here. Lautus ponere,' 'sollers nosse,' is a construction noticed on Prol. 11. This sense of 'lautus' is common. Forcellini gives examples. See Juv. xi. 1, "Atticus eximie si coenat lautus habetur." 25. Messe tenus propria vive,] We should call this living up to one's income.' He adds, don't hoard, but grind all your grain. What have you to fear? only harrow your ground, and you get another crop.' In herba' is in the blade.' Horace, Epp. ii. 2. 161, has "Cum segetes occat tibi mox frumenta daturas," where see note on 'occare.' 'Quid metuas' is better than 'metuis,' which Jahn adopts, and it has more MSS. authority. 'Quid metuas' occurs in iii. 26. 27. Ast vocat officium;] This is by some taken to be an objection of the man, who does not like parting with his grain. So Halliday translates it, Why, I should thus spend, 39 30 Dryden and Gifford give the same sense, which is not that of Persius. He supposes a case in which a particular duty calls for greater generosity. A friend is wrecked, his property and the vows he offered for its safety all buried alike in the waves; he is cast on shore, and lies grasping the rocks with the ship's gods lying by him, and the gulls flying over the scattered timbers as they float on the waters. In this case, he adds, you may go further, and give the poor man a piece of your land to save him from begging. Trabe' is used for a ship, as in S. v. 141, and Horace, C. i. 1. 13, "trabe Cypria." By way of giving reality to the picture, he fixes the place of the wreck on the south coast of Italy, where he lies like Palinurus in the Aeneid. vi. 360, "Prensantemque uncis manibus capita aspera montis." 'Surdus' is not used elsewhere in this sense exactly. It means vows to which the gods are deaf. Where it means 'silent,' as in Juv. vii. 71; xiii. 194, it is as being unheard, which is an analogous use. As to Ionio, see Juv. vi. 93, n. Images of gods were carried in the stern of a ship. Ovid, describing a storm he encountered on his voyage from Rome, says, "Monte nec inferior prorae puppique re curvae Insilit, et pictos verberat unda Deos." (Trist. i. 4. 7, sq.). 'De cespite vivo frange aliquid' is only a way of expressing 'give the man a piece of land.' 'Vivus cespes' is used by Horace twice for a turf altar, C. i. 19. 13; iii. 8. 4. As to the sailor and his picture, see Juv. xiv. 302, Pers. i. 89. 33. Sed coenam funeris heres] He sup But duty hinders me: for my poor poses the man to be afraid of the revenge friend, His ship being split," &c. his heres' will take if he curtails his pro Coena funeris' Exprimere, 120 Extendi, to be excited, 274 Fees, lawyers', 174 Felix, 326 Fenestra of lectica, 70 rings, 15 Fenoris auctor, 264 Fenestrae, windows, 72, 398 holes for ear Feralis coena, 99 Fercula, 13, 266 Fermentum, 63, 377 Ferre legem, 32 Ferri, to be borne headlong, 170 Fertum, 393 Formica, 140 Fornix, 274 Fortasse, without doubt, Fortis, 78 345 Fortitudo, military courage, 242 resolution, 257 Fortuitus, 311 Fortuna, 12, 157, 234, 257, 340 Romae, 251 sors, 198 worshipped at Praeneste, 323 Forum Augusti, 17. Fracta de merce, 81 |