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

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EXPLANATORY NOTES. BOOK II., SATIRE III. 499
61-63. 61. Quum Ilionam edormif. "When he sleeps through the
part of Hiona." Madvig {Opusc. Academ., ii., p. 225) is correct in regarding
edormit here as the simple present, and differs therefore from Zumpt,
who makes it a eontracted perfect. Compare donat in Satire i., 2, 50.
Orelli and Wustemanu agree with Madvig. (OrelU, Praf. ad T., ii., p.
vi.) Catienis mille ducenfis. The audience joined in the cry of Catienus
to the sleeping performer, and hence they are pleasantly styled so many
Catienuses.—62. Huic ego vulgus, ice. The construction is as follows
Ego doeebo cunctum valgus insanire etrorem similem huic eirori. "I
wUl now show that the common herd of mankind are all similarly insane,"
i. e., resemble either one or the other of the two instances which I have
cited. The term vulgus is here purposely employed, as keeping np the
distinction between the wise man of the Stoics and the less favored por-
tion of his fellow-creatures.
64-72. 64. Insanit vetens statuas, &c. Stertinias now proceeds to
prove his assertion that the common herd of mankind are all mad. The
train of ideas is as follows : Damasippus is mad in buying up old statues;
the creditor of Damasippus, who lends him the money wherewith to make
these purchases, is also mad, for he knows very well it will never be repiud
; usurers are mad in putting out money at interest with worthless
and unprincipled men, for, however careful they may be in taking written
obligations for repayment, these Froteus-like rogues will slip through
their fingers. B^inally, he is mad who lends money at such an exorbitant
rate of interest that it can never be paid by the debtor.—65. JSsto. Ae-
cipCj quod numquam, &c. An indirect mode is adopted to prove the insanity
of Damasippus's creditor. The poet, for argument sake, concedes
at first that he is sane (Esio. " Suppose for a moment that he is so"),
only to prove him eventually altogether out of his senses. If I tell thee,
observes Stertinius, to take what I know thou wilt never be able to repay,
will it be madness in thee to accept of it 7 Will it not rather be the
height of madness for thee to refuse such an offer? It is I, then, that am
mad in acting this part to thee.—68. Prasens Mereurim. "Propitious
Mercury."—69. Scribe decern a Nerio: -non est satis, &;c. Stertinius is
now supposed to address some sordid usurer, whom he advises to take
care and not be over-reached in lending out his money. " Write ten obligations
for the repayment of the money, after the form devised by Nerius
'tis not enough : Add the hundred covenants of the knotty Cicnta," i. e.,
make the individual, who borrows of thee, sign his name, not to one mere-
ly, but to ten obligations for repayment, and let these be drawn up after
the form which Nerius, craftiest of bankers, has devised, and which he
compels his own debtors to sign. Still, this form, cautious and guarded
as it is, will not prove strong enough. Add to it the hundred covenants
of the banker Cicuta, with which, as if they were so many knots, he ties
down his debtors to their agreements. With decern supply tabulas. The
form of the obligation or bond is given in the Digests (xii., 1, 40) as follows
" L. Tiliiis seripsi me aecepisie a P. Mievio," &o. This form would be
followed by Nerius, a Nerio being, besides the other changes, substituted
for a P. MeeoiOf and hence the words a Nerio in the text are, in fact, a
quotation from the bond, and serve to indicate it as such. The meaning
of the whole passage is, that the money-lender, with all his precautions,
gives away his money as effectually as the extravagant Damasippus.
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