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

490 EXPLANATORY NOTES. BOOK II., SATIRE 11.
rich, could only be procared of three pounds' weight, it lyas esteemed one
of the greatest of rarities, while the lupus, though weighing many pounds,
was thought to be far its inferior.—34. MuUum. Horace here alludes to
a three-pound mullet, as a prize of rare occurrence. In singula quern
minuets pulmenta, necesse est. " Which thou art compelled to cut into
small bits." The allusion is to the small pieces into which the fish must
be divided, in order that each of the guests may have a share. Ofellus,
says Keightley, is wrong here in what he implies, namely, that you might
as well have bought small ones, for the large, full-grown fish is generally
the best.
35-47. 35. Dudt. In the sense ottrahit or ca^it.r~~2T, His. Alluding
to mullets.—38. Jejunus raro stomachus, &c. In constraction (if the line
be genuine), raro must be joined with jejunus, and the allusion is to the
stomach of the rich, which is here described as "rarely hnngiry." This,
therefore, is the reason, according to Ofellus and the poet, why the stomach
of the rich contemns common food, and gives the preference to the
small mullet over the large pike. Bentley considers the line spurioas,
but the sense would be incomplete without it.—39. Magnum. Understand
muUwnt.-^^O. Ait Ha/rpyiis gula digna rapadbus. "Exclaims
a gullet worthy of the ravenous Harpies," i. e., exclaims some glutton,
whose craving paunch renders him a fit companion for the ravenous Harpies.—41.
CoqvAte horum opsonia. "Taint the dishes of these men."
Quamquam pviet apert &c. "Though the hoar and the fresh-caught tarbot
are already nauseous, when surfeiting abundance provokes the sickened
stomach ; when, overloaded with dainties, it prefers rapes and sharp
elecampane." Putet is here equivalent to nauseam creat, and the oxymoron
is worth noting between it and recens.—Rhombus. Consult note
on Epode li., 50.—43. Rapula. The rape is a plant of the genus Brassica,
called also cole-rape and cole-seed, and of which the navew, or French
turnip, is u variety.—44. iTi^las. The elecampane marks a genus of
plants, of many species. The common elecampane has a perennial, thick,
branching roo^ of a strong odor, and is used in medicine. It is Bometimes
called yellow star-wort. Horace applies to this herb the epithet acidas,
uot, as the scholiast pretends, because it was commonly preserved in
vinegar, but from the sharp and pungent nature of the plant itself. Necdnim
omnis dbacta, &c. " Nor is eveiy kind of homely fare yet driven
away from the banquets of the rich." JR^x is here used, as elsewhere in
Horace, in the sense of beatior, ditior, A:c.-^46. Nigris oleis. Oolumella
(xli., 48) recommends the dark-colored olives as the best for preserving.
—Haud ita pridem, &c. " It is not so long ago that the table of 6allonius,
the crier, was exclaimed against by all for having a sturgeon served upon
>t,*' i. e., was exclaimed against by all for this piece of extravagance in
one of such contracted means. This is the Gi-allonius whom Lucilius lashes
in hia satires, and whom, for his gluttony, he calls gurges. The phrase
haud ita pridem^ therefore, must be considered here as used with considerable
latitude ofm.eaning. Coinpare Epist. ad Pis., 254 ; Cicero, de Fin,,
ii., 8.—47. Acipensere. The sturgeon with us is far from being regarded
as a delicacy. In the time of Pliny it would seem to have been viewed as
a common fish, and the naturalist expresses his surprise at the fallen fortones
of this "piscium apud antiquos nobilissimi." So, in the present in-
stance, neitjier Horace nor Ofellus praises the sturgeon, hut they only al'
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