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

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EXPLANATORY NOTES. BOOK I., SATIRE V. 451
25-32. 25. Repimus. This alludes to the slowness of their jom-ney up
till to Terracina.—26. Jmpositam saxis late candenfibus Anxur. " Anxar
perched on rocks conspicuous from afar." This city on the coast of Latinm
was also called Terracina. It stood on the ridge of a mountain, at the foot
of which the modem Tarradna is situated. This monnttun is covered
with the same grayish limestone with which so many other mountains in
Italy are. (KdghtUy, ad loc.)—29. Aversos soliti componere arnicas. The\a^
"friends" here alluded to were Augustus and Antony. Maecenas and
GOcijffinS had already effected the treaty of Brundisium.—30. Nigra eolr
lyria. " Black salve." Oelsus says that the most common kind of colyrium
was called by some KvdtoVt and by others, on account of its ash*
colored appearance, ri^piov. [Cels., vi., 6, } 7.)^ Lippus. " Being afflicted
with sore eyes." This was a complaint td which Horace was subject.
—32. Ad ungnemfoetus homo. "A man of the most polished manners."
A metaphor taken from workers in marble, who try the smoothness of the
marble and the exactness of the joinings by running the thumb-nail over
them. 'We would say, in our own idiom, " a perfect gentleman.**
34-36. 34. Fundos. 'She town of Fundi, in Latium, was situated on
the Appian Way, a little to the northeast of Anxur. Aufidio Ltisco pratore.
In this there is a double joke. First, in the title of prstor being
applied to a mere recorder of a petty town, whether assumed by himsel£
or foolishly given to him by the inhabitants ; and, secondly, in the mode in
which their departure from the place is announced, imitating the formal
Roman way of marking events by consnlships : " We leave Fundi during
the praetorship of Aufidius Lnscus." Libenter. " In high glee."
35. Prasmia. "The magisterial insignia."—36. frmlextam. The toga
praetexta was a white robe, bordered with purple, and used by the higher
class of magistrates. Latum claoim. A tunic or vest, with two borders
of purple, the middle or opening of it woven down to the bottom, in such
a way that, when the tunic-was drawn close, the two pnrple borders join-
ed, and seemed to form a single bibad one. If these borders were large,
the tnnic was called lotus clavus, or tunica laticlama, and was pecnliar
to senators ; if they were narrow, it was then named angustus clavus, or
tunica angusticlavia, and was peculiar to the knights or equites. Prunceque
batillum. This appears to have been a censer or pan containing
coals of flre, and carried before the higher magistrates on solemn occa-
sions, for the purpose of burning perfumes in honor of the gods, as the
Romans were accustomed to perform no important act without a previous
offering to the gods of some kind or other. Luscus deems the arrival
of Maecenas an occasion that calls for such a ceremony, and he foolishly
assumes this badge of dignity among the rest.
37-38. 37. Mamurrarum urbe. The allnsion is to Formiee, now Mola
di Goeta, a short distance to the southeast of Fundi. According to the
scholiast, Horace calls Formiae the city of the Mamnrrae, in allnsion to
Mamorra, a Roman senator of great wealth, who owned the larger part
of .the place. The scholiast, however, forgets to tell us that the poet
means by this appellation to indulge in a stroke of keen, though almost
imperceptible satire. Mamurra was indeed a native of Formiae, but of
obscure origin. He served under Julius Cassar, in Qaol, as prtefectus
fabrorum, and rose so high in favor with him, that Caesar permitted him
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