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

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512 EXPLANATORY NOTES. BOOK II., SATIRE IV.
erM dem%ogue, who had long entertained a personal enmity againit
Socrates, for reprehending Ms avarice in depriving hia sons of the benefits
of learning, that they might pursue the gains of trade. The other two
accusers were Meletns, a young tragic poet, and Lycon, an orator.—4. jStc
tempore Icbvo. " At so unseasonable a time."—6 . Interciderit tihi. " Shall
have escaped thee " i. e., in consequence of my interruption.—7. Hoc.
" This facalty," ». Cy of recollecting, or recalling a thing to mind. The al-
lusion is to memory, both natural and artificial.
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Mirus utrogue. Ironical.
8-14. 8. Quin id erai curts, Sec. "Why, I was just then consider
ing how I might retain them all in mind, as being nice matters, and expressed
in nice language."—10. Hominis, The individual who uttered
these precepts to Catius. Hospes, "A stranger," i. e., probably a Greek,
as the Greeks were the great professors of this science. {KeightU^, ad
loc.)—11. Cdahitur auctor. The poet evidently had some person in view,
to whom all could make the application, even though his name was kept
back. It was most probably some man of rank, whom he did not wish
openly to provoke.—12. Longaquibusfades ovi» ereU, &c. "Remember
to serve up those eggs which shall have a long shape, as being of a better
taste, and more nutritions than the round." Catius preserves a regular .
order in delivering his precepts. He begins with the first course (^ the
Boman tables, then proceeds to the fruit, which was called the second
table, and ends his remarks with some general reflections upon ueatDcss
and elegance. The Roman entertainments, it will be recollected, always
commenced with eggs. Consult note on Sat. i., 3, 6.—14, Namque marem.
cohibent callosa viiellum. " For they have a thicker white, and contain
a male yolk." Literally, "for, being of a thicker white, they," &c. The
verb cohihent is extremely well selected ; the albumen of such eggs, being
of a thicker consistence than that of others, keeps the yolk eoj^nedt as it
were, on every side, and in a state of equilibrium.
15-23. 15. Suburhano. " Raised in gardens near the ralrjr."—16. Ir
riguo mMl est elutius horio. "Nothing is more insipid than the produco
of a much-watered garden." The proper meaning of duo is "to wash
out," whence elutius is "more tasteless" or "insipid," the flavor being,
as it were, all washed out by constant watering. {Keightley, ad loc.)
The precept here laid down by Catius is denied by the commentators to
be true, and they cite, in opposition to it, the remark of Palladdus, iii., 24.
Catius, however, may, after all, be right, if he means to contrast merely
the productions of the fields, matured in due season, with the forced offspring
of the gardens.—17. Subito te oppresserit. " Shall have come upon
thee by surprise."—18, Ne galliTia malum responset, &c. " In order that
the hen served tip to him may not prove tough, and badly answer the expectations
of his palate." The hen which is killed on the sudden arrival
of a guest, and immediately thereafter cooked, will prove, according to
Catius, tough and unpleasant. To remedy this evil, the fowl sboold be
plunged, before it is killed, in Falernian must. Fea tells us that the cooks
in Italy at the present day pour strong wine, or brandy, down the throats
of the live fowl, to make their flesh tender.—20. Prafensibus optimafuti'
gis, &c. Coimoisseurs declare that this precept is false, and that the best
mushrooms, generally speaking, are those gathered in woods and on heatbs
or downs. These, they maintain, are more wholesome, and het*:er flavor-