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

KXPLANATORY NOTES. BOOK I., EPISTLE XVI. 591
—«iJ. Pone. " Put it down," i. e., lay aside this appellation of a good and
wise man.—36. Idem H clamet furem, &o. The oonatraction is si idem
clamet me esse furem, &o.—39. Falsus honor. "Undeserved honor."—
Mendax infamia. "Lying calumny." — 40. Mendosum et medicandum.
" The vicious man, and him that stands in need of a cure."—41. Servat.
" Observes." We are here supposed to have duinctins's definition of a
vir bonus, which is the same, in fact, with the definition given by the
crowd.—42. Secantw. "Are decided." Compare Sat. i., 10, 15.—43. Quo
res sponsore, et quo causa teste tenentur. " By whose surety property is
retained, and by whose testimony causes are won."—44. Sed videt hunc
omnis domus, ice.
" Yet all his family and neighbors see this msu to be
polluted within, though imposing to the view with a fair exterior." Vanity,
observes Sanadon, point ofhonor, sense of decency, or some other motive
of interest, disguise mankind when they appear abroad ; but at home
they throw ofi^ the mask, and show their natural face. A magistrate appears
in public with dignity, circumspection, and integrity. A courtier
puts on an air of gayety, politeness, and complaisance. Bat let them enter
into themselves and all is changed. A man may be a very bad man
with all the good qualities given him by our poet's definition, as that slave
may be a bad one who is neither a thief, murderer, nor fugitive.
48-61. 48. Non pasces in cruce eomos. The capital punishment of
slaves was crucifixion. The connection in the train of ideas, which has
already been hinted at, is as follows : The man who aims only at obeying
the laws, is no more than exempt from the penalties annexed to them ;
a slave, who is no fugitive nor thief, escapes punishment. But neither
the one nor the other can on that account claim the character of virtue, because
they may act only from a vicious motive, and, notwithstanding their
strict adherence to the law, be still ready to break it when they can do
so with impunity.—49. Renuil itegilalque Sabellus. Horace here styles
himseU Sabellus, i. e., "the Sabine fai'mer," in imitation of the plain and
simple mode of speaking prevalent among the inhabitants of the country.
—50. Poveam^ " The pitfall." A uSual mode of taking wolves.—51. Miluus.
The '^et alludes to a species of fish, living on prey, and sometimes,
for the sake of obtainmg food, darting up from the water like the
flying-fish when pursued by its foe. Keightley, less correctly, makes it
the kite, remarking that this bird is often caught in this way, or by a snaptrap
baited with a piece of meat.—56. Damnum est, non facinus, mihi
pacta lenius isto. "My loss, it is true, is in this way less, but not thy vil-
lainy." The poet here touches, as it would appear, upon the doctrine of
the Stoics respecting the essential nature of crime. He puts the Stoic
paradox, omnia peccata esse cequalia, in its ti-ue light; for tSXpeccata are
aqualia inasmuch as they are such, but all are not equally injarious, and
BO should not be punished alike. (Keightley, ad loe.)— 57. Vir bonus,
omneforum, &,c. Horace here introduces another vice, common to those
who falsely affect a character of virtue ; they want also to deceive the
world by putting on an exterior of devotion. They go to the temple, offer
sacrifices, and pray so as to be heard by all. When they have prayed to
gain the good opinion of the public, they mutter their secret wishes for
the success of their villainies and hypocrisy. It is not the poefs design to
censure either public or private prayer, but the abase of it, and the «ir
iomis here introduced to our notice is, like the one that has preceded bim,
as