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

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520 EXPLANATORY NOTES. BOOK 11., SATIRE V.
45-54. 45. YaliAus- male. "In feetle health."—46. Sublatus aletmr.
" Shall be reared." Literally, "having been taken up, shall be nartnred."
The term suHatvs has reference here to the Roman custom of lifting a
new-hom infant from the ground. This was done either by the father, or,
in his absence, by some &iend authorize^ to act for him, and was eqaiva*
lent to an acknowledgment of the child's legitimacy. Hence the ,
phrases
^^tollerejilmm" to raise or edacate a son, and "more tollere," to expose.
Ne manifes^m ctdihis obscquiumi, .&c. " L est too open courting of a single
man may expose thee," i. e., may lay open the real motive that actuates
thee. Calebs does not merely denote a bachelor, but a single man
generally, and hence is sometimes, as in the present instance, used to sig-
nify a widower.—47. Leniter in spem arrepe oj^unosus, &c. " Creep gen-
tly, by thy assiduities, into the hope of both being written in his will as
second heir, and, if any chance shall have driven the boy to the shades,
of coming into possession of the vacant inheritance. This game very rare
ly fails."—48. Secundus heres. A second heir was sometimes named in
wills, who was to succeed to the property if the heir or heirs first appointed
did not choose to accept, or died under age.—49. Si qiiis casus puerum
egerU Oreo. Equivalent to " siforte accidat ntJUius prius pat/re Ttioria
tur."—53. Ut limit rapias. "As to ascertain by a hasty side-glance."
Understand oeuliij-r- Quidprima secimdo cera velii versu. By prima cera
is here meant " the first part of the will," i. e., prima pars tabuUe ceraite,
testaments being usually written on tablets covered with wax, because in
them a person could most easily erase what he wished to alter. If a
phraseology he adopted here more in accordance with the custom of our
own day, the whole passage may be rendered as follows : " What the
second line of the first page intimates." In this part of the will would be
contained the names of the heirs.—54. Solus multisne coheres. Understand
sis.
55-57. 55. Plerumgue recoctus Senba ex Quingueviro, Ice. " Oftentimes
will a cunning notary, who has risen from the station of duinquevir,
disappoint the gaping raven." Eecoqvere appears to be a term borrowed
from dyers, who say of any thing that it is recoctum, when it has been dipped
several times, and has taken the color well. Hence those were called
recocli whom long use and practice had rendered expert.—56. Quin.
queairo. The Quinqueviri were individuals chosen fi:om the people to
execute certain minor duties, such as distribnting public lands, repairing
walls and towers, &c. It was a station of no great importance or respectability,
as may be inferred from the text. Corvwn kioTUem. An allusion
to the well-known fable of the fox and the raven. The epithet hiatitem
represents .the bird as in the act of opening its mouth, and aUovring the
meat to fall to the ground.—57. Captator. "The fortune-hunter," or
" will-catcher." Corano. Coranus is the name of the notary to whom
allnsioq has just been made, and the story is told by Tiresias in the 63d
and subsequent verses.
58-69. 59. Niimfuris, tea. "Artthoureally inspired, or dost thou puf'
posely mock jne, in thus uttering obsottrities 1" Furis here refers, to the
supposed influence of prophetic inspiration on the mind of the seer.—
59. Ant erit aut non. " Will either come to pass or will not," as I shall
have predicted.—60. Dimnare. Equivalent to divinandi faeultatem.—
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