The works of Horace : with English notes, critical and ... - Cristo Raul

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442 EXPLANATORY NOTES, BOOK 1., SATIRE IV.
Dipbilas, ApoUodoras, and Posidippus. {Theatre of the Greeks, 2d ed., p,
185, seqq.)
3-11. 3. Erat dignus describi, "Deserved to be marked ont." Malus.
"A knave."—5, Famosus. "Infamous." Multa cum libertaie nota-
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bant, *' Branded him with great fireedom."^—6. Hinc omms pendet Lucilius,
Literally, " from these Lncilins entirely hanga," i. e., this freedom
of satire Wf^ also the great characteristic of Lncilins. Lncilins was a
Boman knight^ bom A,U.C. 505, at Snessa, a town in the Anrancan territory.
He was descended of a good family, and was grand nncle, by the
mother's side, to Fompey the Great. His chief characteristic was his
vehement and cutting satire. Macrobius [Sat., iii, 16) calls him "acer et
violcntus pbeta."^~7. Mutatis tantHm pedibus numerisque, &c. "Having
changed merely the feet and the rhythm of his verse." This appUes to
the greater part, not, however, to all of his satires. The Greek comic
writers, like the tragic, wrote in iambic verse (trimeters). Lucilins, on
the other huid, adopted the hexameter versification in twenty books of
his satires, from the commencement, wh^e in the rest, with the exception
of the thirtieth, he employed iambics or troobaics.-^. EmunctiB noris,
durus eomponere versus. " Of nice discernment, thotigh harsh in the
structure ofhis lines." Emv/ncttB na/ris is litbtNally '> of clean-wiped nose,"
which makes the sense of smell more acute. Its figurative meaning here
prevails. Componere versus. A Graecism for in componendis versihus.
So piger ferre, a little farther on.^— ^10. Ut magnum. " As if it were a
great feat." Compare the explanation of the scholiast : "Ta?iqiiamrem
magnam et laude dignam."—Stans pede in uno. " Standing on one foot."
This, of course, must be taken in a figurative sense, and is intended mere-
ly to signify *' in a very short time," or, as we sometimes term it, " off
band." Horace satirizes Lutiilins for his hurried copiousness and facility.
-^11. Quumfiiier&t lutulentuSt &c. " As he flowed muddUy along, there
was always sonKething that one would feel inclined to throw away," i. e^
to take up and cast aside as worthless. Horace compares the whole po
etry of Lucilius to a muddy and tronhled stream, continually bearing im
purities on its surface that one ^gEpuId feel inclined to remove. As regards
the meaning aitoUere here, compare Epist, ii., 2, 123.
13-21. 12. Scribendi labor6m. 3y this is meant, in fact, the labor of
correction, as the pget himself in^piediately after adds. — 13. Scribendi
recte, Sec. " I mean of writing correctly, fbti as to how much he wrote, I
do not at all concern myself about that." After scribendi recte supply
dico. Lucilius was a very voluminous writer.—13. Ecee, Crispinus mikimo
me provoeat. Understand nummo. " gee, Crispinus challenges me,
in the smallest sum I choose to nanje." After minimo supply jngnorel^
The connection in the train of ideas is as follows : But, while I am talking
thus, there is Crispinus, who sets such value on this same readiness and
fertility, that he proposes to give me any odds X wish, and make verses
against me. [Keightleyi ad loa)'— AcdpBi'si vis^ accipiam. The prose
foim of expression, as Heindorf remarks, would be accipe tu, accipiam et
ego.—15. Tahulas. "Tablets."—16, Custodes. "Inspectors/' to see that
they neither brought with them verses already composed, nor such as
were the prodxlction of others.—17. Di bene fecerunt, &c. The idea intended
to be conveyed is this : I will have nothing to do with thy wager
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