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

EXPLANATORY NOTES. BOOK I., EPISTLE I. 547
Jour hondred thousand sesterces was the fortune which a person must
possess hefore he could be enrolled among the equestrian order. It is on
this rule that the remark of the poet turns. Thou hast spirit, good morals,
eloquence, and unshaken fidelity, but it may so happen that thy fortune
is not exactly equal to the equestrian standard : well, then, a plebeian
wilt thou remain, and all thy good qualities will be as dust in the balance.
—58. At pueri ludentes. Rex eris, aiunt, &c. The play to which the poet
here alludes is supposed to have been a kind of game at ball, in which
the one who made the fewest failures received the appellation of king.
59. Hie mums aetteus esto, &c. This noble passage is introduced by the
poet as a species of parenthesis, and springs naturally, as it were, from the
cry of the boys in their game. After having given it utterance, he returns,
in the 62d verse, to the regular course of his subject. Compare the
explanation of Keightley : "And this is right, adds the poet ; there is a
deeper sense in this than the boys think. To act right is the main point
this is what will defend one like a wall of brass."
61-68. 61. Roscia lex. Alluding to the law of L. Koscius Otho, which
assigned to the equites, at the public spectacles, fourteen rows of seats,
separate from the rest, and next the orchestra, or place where the sena-
tors sat.—62. Nisma. "The song." The common import of the term in
question is, a funeral song or dirge.—63. Et maribus Curiis et decaniata
Camillis. " Sung even in manhood both by the Curii and the Camilli."
Literally, " sung both by the manly Curii and Camilli." The idea intended
to be conveyed is this, that the song of the boys, oifering the kingdom
to those that do right, was not merely sung by Curius and Camillus in the
days of their boyhood, but the principle which it inculcated was acted
upon by them even in matnrer years, and their applause was given, not to
the rich,T)nt to the virtuous and the good.—64. Qui, rem facias, &o. " Who
advises thee to make money ; money, if thou canst, by fab means ; if not,
money in any way." With g^ii understand s«odef. &G. Ut propius species
laerymosa poSmata Pupi. " That thou mayest view from a nearer
bench the moving tragedies of Pnpius," i. e., mayest veiw the representa-
tion as an eques, seated on one of the fourteen rows assigned to that order
by the laws of Otho; in other words, that thou mayest attain to
equestrian rank. Compare note on verse 62.—67. Pupi. Fupius, a
dramatic writer, famed for the effect produced by his tragedies in moving
an audience to tears.—68. Responsare. " Taresist." Compare Sat. ii.,
7, 85.—68. Pmsens. " Standing by," i. e., adding weight to his precepts
by bis presence.
68-79. 68. Cw non lit poriidbus, Ice. '! Why, I do not hold to the
same sentiments with them, as I enjoy the same porticoes, and do not
pursue or shun whatever they themselves admire or dislike." Consnlt
note on Sat. i., 4, 134. As in verse 13 he had supposed Maecenas to ask
him a question, so here be supposes the Roman people to inquire why, as
he lived among them, he did not think as they did ; and to this he replies,
that it is not safe to do so, and, moreover, that they do not think all alike.
{Keightley, ad loc.)— ^73. Quia me vestigia terrent, &o. The fox dreaded
the treachery of the lion, the poet shrinks from the corrupt sentiments and
morals of the populace.—75. Bellna multorum est capitum. •• It is a
many-headed monster." The people, ever prone to error, and constantly
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