BOOK VIII

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ARGUMENT.

The eighth book, as Schoenbeck supposes, consisted of an exposition of domestic life, with a discussion as to the virtues which a good wife ought to possess. Duentzer would rather connect it with the last book, and imagines unlawful love to have been the theme, and that the ancient title of the book countenanced this opinion. The second, fourth, fifth, eleventh, and thirteenth Fragments seem to confirm the conjecture; the drift of the others is not apparent.

1 When the victor cock proudly rears himself, and raises his front talons--

2 When I drink from the same cup, embrace, press lip to lip....[1715]

3 But on the river, and at the very parting of the waters, ... a merchantman ... with feet of holm-oak.[1716]

4 ... that she is slender, nimble, with clean chest, and like a youth....[1717]

5 ... then she joins side to side, and breast to breast.[1718]

6 If he achieve the whole route, and the steep stadium at an ambling pace--[1719]

7 To salt sea-eels, and bring the wares into the larder.[1720]

8 But all trades and petty gains....

9 the Hiberian island....[1721]

10 a necessary close at hand; a bake-house, store-room, kitchen[1722]

11 ... with friendly hand wipes off the tears....

12 ... giblets, or else liver....[1723]

13 ... the work flags....[1724]

14 ... wine-bibbers.[1725]

FOOTNOTES:

[1715] Nonius reads "fictrices," and explains "fingere" by "lingere." Cf. Schol. ad Aristoph., Aves, 507.

[1716] Gerlach says, "Ex his verbis vix probabilem eruas sensum."

The _cercurus_ was a large merchant-vessel, used by the Asiatics, undecked, and capable of carrying a large freight. It was invented, according to Pliny, by the Cyprians. Plin., vii., 56, 57. Cf. Plaut., Merc., I., i., 86. Stich., II., iii., 34. It appears, however, from Livy, that the name was sometimes applied to a vessel of smaller size. Liv., xxx., 19. _Ilignis pedibus._ Cf. Ter., Adelph., IV., ii., 46. Virg., Georg., iii., 330. For _concinat_, Gerlach proposes to read "concinnat."

[1717] _Pernix_ is the epithet Catullus applies to Atalanta: ii., 12, "Quam ferunt puellæ Pernici aureolum fuisse malum."

[1718] Cf. Lib. v., Fr. 25. Probably from this Horace takes his line, i., Sat. ii., 126.

[1719] _Evadit._ Cf. Virg., Æn., ii., 731; xii., 907. Ov., Met., iii., 19. _Acclivis_ is properly applied to a "gentle ascent." Virg., Georg., ii., 276. Col., iii., 15. _Tolutim_, à tollendo. Pliny (viii., 42) tells us that the people of Asturias in Spain trained their jennets to a particular kind of easy pace: "mollis alterno crurum explicatu glomeratio." Varro speaks of giving a horse to a trainer, that he may teach him this pace: "ut equiso doceat tolutim incedere." Cf. Plaut., As., III., iii., 116, "Demam hercle jam hordeo tolutim ni badizas." Hence the "managed palfrey" of the Middle Ages. The pace probably resembled that now taught by the Americans to their horses, and called "racking." Cf. lib. xiv., 12, "equus gradarius, optimus vector."

[1720] The _frigidarium_ was not only the "cold bath" (Bekker's Gallus, p. 385), but was also applied to a cool cellar or pantry for keeping provisions fresh.

[1721] All the commentators seem to give up this line in despair. _Colustrum_ is properly the first milk that comes after parturition; which, as being apt to curdle, was esteemed unwholesome, and produced an attack called "Colustratio." Schoenbeck supposes that the inhabitants of this "Hibera insula," wherever it was, used _fomenta_ and _colustra_ as medical remedies. Mart., xiii., Ep. 38.

[1722] _Posticum_, Nonius makes equivalent to _Sella_. Gerlach, however, thinks "cella" the correct reading here. The _pistrinum_ was the name both for the bake-house and the mill for grinding the corn. Vid. Bekker's Gallus, p. 265.

[1723] _Gigeria_ are the entrails of poultry: these were sometimes served with a kind of stuffing or forcemeat called _insicia_. The word occurs only in Lucilius, Petronius, and Apicius.

[1724] Scaliger connects this Fragment with lib. vii., Fr. 22, and reads, "Hic est Macedo: si lorum longui' flaccet, Læna manu lacrymas mutoni absterget amicâ."

[1725] _Bua_ was the word taught by Roman nurses to children, equivalent to our "pap." "Potio posita parvulorum." Varro. Hence _Vinibuæ_ for _vinolentæ_.

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