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

476 EXPLANATOUY NOTES.—BOOK-I., SATIRE X.
Satire X. In this piece, wliicli is entirely critical, Horace supports at
opinion -wliich he had formerly pronounced respecting the satires of Lu
cilias, and which had given offence to the numerous admirers of that an
cient bard.
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1-8. 1. Liicili. The first eight verses of this satire are pi-intedin a dif
fereut type from the rest, because it is uncertain whether they were composed
by Horace or not. Catone. The allusion is to Valerius Cato, a grammarian
and poet. H« lost his patrimony at an early age, and, in consequence,
turned his attention to literary pursuits. Horace here describes
him as preparing to amend the iU-wrought verses of Lucilins. ^,.Male
factos versus. " Thy badly-wrought verses."-^Hi7C leni/as iUe, &c. " In
this he acts a milder, part, by how' mucb -he is a better man, far more
acute than that one who, when a boy, was often urged on," &c., i. e., Cato
makes a fairer defender of Lucilius, and is far more frank in acknowledging
the errors of the old satirist, by how much he possesses a larger share
of critical ability than that grammarian of equestrian rank whose critical
acumen was flogged into him at school.^8. Grammaticorum equitwm,
" Of grammarians of equestrian I'ank.^' The individual here alluded to
is unknown. ,
9-22. 9. Nempe.incompositOf &c. "I did indeed say that the verses of
IiUciliuB r^i not smoothly along^" Compare Sat. i., 4, 8, where Lucilins
is described as being ^/urjis eomponere versus.—10. Tarn inepte. " To so
foolish, a degree."—11, Q,uod sale.multo urbem defrieuit. **^or having
lashed the town witb .abundant humor." Literally, "ibr, haying robbed
down the city with mucb salt," i. e., he rubbed the city, "^itk salt, and
made it smart, as wounds and sores do when thus treated. [Keightleift
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ad loc.)—IS. Charta eadem. " In the same piece;," i. e., in the same satire.
—14. Ijzberi. Laberius was a lUiman knight of respectable family and
character, who occasionally^amused himself with the composition of what
were called mimes. These were a species of drama, to which mimetie
gestures of every kind, except dancing, were essential, as also the exhi-
bition of grotesque characters wbich had often no prototypes in real life.
The titles and a few fragments of forty-three of the mimes of Laberias
are still extant; but, excepting the prologue, these remains are too inconsiderable
and detached to enable us. to judge of their subject or merits.
Horace condemns, in the present passage, an admiration of the mimes
of this writer, but he does not appear to have been an infallible judge
of true poetic excellence. He evidently attached more importance to
correctness and terseness of style, than to originality of genius or fertility
of invention. Probably, too, the freedom of tha prologue, and other passages
of his dramas, contributed to draw down the disapprqb^tipn of the
Augustan critic-T—16. Et est qucsdam tamen, &c. " Though there is a cer-
tain kind of merit, even in this," i. e., in exciting the laughter of an audience.-ylV.
Neu se ivipediatverbiSf &;c. " And may not embairaBS itself by
a multitude of words, that only sei-ve to load the we,aried ears."—19 ^i
sermone opus est, &c. "There is need, too^ of a style at one time grave,
at another playful ; now supporting the character of an orator or a poet,
at times that of a refined and polished rallier, who curbs the force of his
pleasantry and purposely weakens it."—22. Ridiculum acri fortius et
moliuSt &.C. " Ridicule often -decides matters of importance more efibctu
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