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

EXPLANATORY NOTES. BOOK I., SATIRE VII. 465
ion on Horace, who was perhaps present, as he at thitt time followed the
fortimes of the conspirator. [Dunlop's Rom. Lit., vol. iii., p. 251.)
1-5. 1. Proseripli Segis Supili, &a. "In what way. tho mongrel
Fersins took vengeance on the filth and venom of oatlawed B.apiliQS, snrnamed
the King, is known, I imagine, to every blear-eyed person and
barher about town." Accordingto the scholiast, F. Rnpilins Bex was a
native of Proeneste, who, having been proscribed by Octavianns (Augus-
tus), then a trinmvir, fled to the army of Brutus, and became a fellow-
Boldier of the poet. Jealous, however, of the military advancement which
the latter had obtained, Rupilius reproached him with the meanness of
bis origin, and Horace therefore retaliates in the present satire.—2. Ht/irida.
The term hybrida ptoperly denotes a creature begotten between
animals of different species j when applied to human beings, among the
nomana, it designated a person whose parents were of diSbrent countries,
or one of whose parents was a slave. In the present instance, Fersiua is
called hyhrida, because, according to the scholiast, his father was a Greek
and his mother a Homan.—3 Lippis. The disorder of the eyes termed
Uppitudo appears to have been very common at Borne. The offices of
the physiciaz^, therefore, woold: always contain many patients'laboring
nnder this complaint, and who, wbila waiting for their turn to come under
the hands of the practitioner, would amuse themselves, of coarse,
with tho news and gossip of the day.—4. Permagna negotia Jmbebat.
"Was carrying on very extensive moneyed transactions." The allusion is
here, not to trade, as- the> scholiast and many commentators pretend, but
to the loaning of money.—5. Clazomenie. Clazomenie was acity of Asia
Minor, in the region of Ionia. It lay to the west of Smyrna, on ^e Sinus
Smymsens, and, on account of its advantageous situation for commerce,
received many favors from Alexander the Great, and subsequently from
the Bomans.
6-8, 6. Durus homo,&.c, "A fellow of harsh and stubborn temper,
and who in insolent importunity could surpass even the king." As regards
the peculiar meaning, of odium in this passage, compare RuhTbhen, ad Ter-.
ent., Pkorm., v„ 6, 9 ; Ernesti, Cla/o. Cic, s. v.—7. Adeo .sermonis amari.
Sec, " Of so bitter a tongue, as far to outstrip the Sisennae, the Barri."
The terms Sisennas vx^iBarros are here taken as appellative, and the
reference is to persons in general, as infamous for the virulence of their
defamatory railings as gisenna and Bams. With regard to the latter of
these two individuals, consult note on Satire i., 4, 110. Dacier thinks
that the other is the same with Cornelius Sisenna, of whom Dio Cassias
(54, 27) relates a very discreditable anecdote.—8. Egvis priecurreret al
bis. A proverbial form of expressipn, and equivalent to longe superaret.
Various explanafions are assigned for this peculiar mode of speech, the
most common of which is, that white horses were thought by the ancients
to be the swiftest. Compare Erasmus [Chil. 1, cent. 4, 21, p.-138, ed.
Bteph.) : " Ubi quern aliis quapiam in re longe superiorem significabant,
longoque anteire intervallo, eu-m alhis equis prtBcedere dicebaiit ; vel, quod
antiquitus equi albi meliores haberentur ; vel, quo^ victores in triumpha
albigequif vectari solerent; vel, quod albi equi'forlunatiores et auspicatiores
esse eredereatur, ut ad eguestre certamen rejesraimus metaplwramy