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

—
EXPLANATORY NOTES. ^BOOK I., ElfsTLE I 549
bia hall," «. e., is he a married man 1 The nuptial coach was placed in
the hall, opposite the door, and covered with flowers.—88. Si non est. "Jf
it does not stand there," i. e., if he is not married.—89. Protea. Alluding
to the rich man, full of capricious fancies, and whose opinions undergo as
many changes as Proteus was capable of assuming forms.—90. Quid pauper
7 ride, Itt m/atat, &c. It might well seem that this inconsistency, this
wandering of spirit, was peculiar to the rich alone, hut it is the folly of
human nature, to which the poor are equally liable, although they are
guilty ol it only in miniature. Canaeula, lectos, balTiea, tonsores. "His
lodgings, couches, baths, barbers." By ccmacula are meant the highest
chambers or apartments in a house, those immediately under the roof,
which at Home, in consequence of the great population of the city, and
the want of other accommodations, were filled by the poorer sort of peo-
ple. (Compare Vitruvius, ii., 8, adJin.) The term lectos is meant to refer
to the place of supping, some eating-house or tavern, which the poor
man changes with as much fastidious caprice as the rich do the scenes of
their splendid entertainments. As to the balnea or baths, it may be remarked,
that these were the public ones, which the pqor were accustomed
to use i for the rich had private baths of their own : *hile, as the number
of tonsirinee, or barber's shops, was far from small, a person might easily
consult variety in changing from one to another at pleasure.—91. Conducto
navigio aque fiauseat, &C. "He gets as sea-sick in a hired boat
as the rich man whom his own galley conveys."
93-103. 93. Curatns irusquah tonsore capUlos. " With my hair cut
by an uneven barber," i. e., in an uneven manner. By the expression
intcqutdis ionsor is meant, in fact, a barber who cuts in an uneven man-
ner. Horace, as he is drawing to a conclusion, makes a transition to
McEcenas. In a light kind of humor he touches on his own inconsistency,
as he had done at the end of the seventh satire of the second book, and
also on Maecenas's own fastidiousness. (Keightley, ad loc.)—94. Si forte
submcula pexa, &c. " If I chance to have a threadbare shirt under a new
tunic." The subucula was a woolen garment, worn next the skin, like
the modem shirt. It was also called indusium, and by later writers, inferula
and camisia. It would seem, however, that the term subucula
was chiefly used to designate the under tunic or shirt of men, and that interula
was applied equally to the under tunic of both sexes. Linen cloths
were not used by the ancient Komans, and are seldom mentioned in the
classics.—PeEffl. Literally, "with the nap on," i. e., new.—95. Impar.
"Too much on one side."—96. Pugnat secum. "Contradicts itself."
98. jEstuat. "Fluctuates." Disconvenit. "Is at variance with."
100. Insanire pntas solermia me? " Dost thou think me affected with
the current madness V i. e., with a madness common to all the world.--
iOl. Nee curatores egere a prtstore dati. Consult note on Sat. ii., 3, 217.
103. Et prove sectum stomacheris ob unguem. " And art angry at a
badly-pared nail," i. e., and art so careful of me as even to get angry if
thou seest my nails ill pared. A humorous allusion to Maecenas's fastid-
iousness. (KeigUley, ad loc.)
105-107. 105. Ad summam. "To conclude." Sapiens uno minor est
Jme, kc. The idea with which the poet intends to conclude his epistle is
this,'that he alone is happy who regulates his life by the maxims of wi»
—
—