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

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464 EXPLANATORY NOTES. BOOK I., SATIRE VII.
Virg., .^«., IT., 58), Horace wittily eapposea that this wa» done by him
to ghow his aversion to sach beings as Novius, and to drive them, ai it
were, from his presence..
138-131. 122. Ad quartam jacep.. " 1 lie abed nntil the foorth hoar."
The fonrth hour with the Romans answered to ten o'clock in. the morning.
Lecto aui scripio quad Tne, Sec. "After having read or .written
something tiiat may serve to occupy my thoaghts agreeably when in a
musing moqd." Lecto and. scripto are ablatives, eo being nndetstood.
Some commentators make them frequentative verbs.—124. Non quofrau-
datiSf &c. " Not with such as the. filthy Natta is,, and which he has stolen
from his lamps." Or, more literally, "not with such bs the filthy Katta
is, his lamps being cheated of.their oil."- Natta 4efi^auded the lamps by
using such oil as was only fit for them. "Withfraudatig understand oleo.
—Natta. Understand ungitur.—126. Fiigio campum lummque trigonem.
"X abandon the Campus Martins, and. the game of ball." The, game pf
ball was called^zZa trigonalist or trigone when the parties who played.it
were placed in a, triangle {Tplyuvov), and tossed it fixim one to another
he who first let it come to the ground was the loser. T)ie common text
has jpagio rabiosi tempora signi, i. e., as the scholiast explains it, " aestuosos
diss eaniculareSf"^ or the heat of the dog-days. It is very evident,
howeyer, that this has nothing to do with the object and meaning of the
conteist. Bentley. therefore adopts the reading which we have giveq, on
the authority of the oldest of the Blandinian MSS.—127. Pransua non
tmidei fyi. " Having taken a moderate dinner, sufBcient to prevent my
passing the day with an empty stomach.^ The mid-day meal of the Bomans
was generally very slight, after riches had increased among them,
and the ' principal repast was the casna, or pupper. The meatung of the
poet is, that he took little food during the day, but waited until evening.
128. Domfsticus otior. " I idle away the rest of my time at home."—130.
His me consoler victurum suaviue. " I comfort myself with the hope that
I will lead a happier existence by such rules as these," &o.—131. Quas-
^tor. This term is purposely used in place of either Consul or PratoTt
as containing a satirical allusion