BOOK III

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ARGUMENT.

We have not only much more ample and satisfactory information respecting the subject of this Satire from ancient writers, but the Fragments which have come down to us give sufficient evidence that their statements are correct. It is the description of a journey which Lucilius took from Rome to Capua, and thence to the Straits of Messina; with an account of some of the halting-places on his route, and incidents of travel. Besides this, which was the main subject, he indulged by the way in a little pleasing raillery against some of his contemporaries, Ennius, Pacuvius, Cæcilius, and Terence, according to the old Scholiast. This Satire formed the model from which Horace copied his Journey to Brundusium, i, Sat., v. The special points of imitation will be seen in the notes; from which it will appear that the particular incidents mentioned by Horace, are probably fictitious. As to the journey itself, Varges and Gerlach are both of opinion that it was a _real_ one, and undertaken solely for purposes of pleasure; as it was not unusual for the wealthier Romans of that day to travel into Campania, or even to Lucania, and as far as the district of the Bruttii. (Cf. Hor., i., Sat. vi., 102, _seq._) These journeys were occasionally performed on foot: as we hear of Cato traveling on foot through the different cities of Italy, bearing his own arms, and attended only by a single slave, who carried his baggage and libation-cup for sacrificing. But Lucilius probably on this occasion had his hackney (canterius), like Horace, which carried not only his master's saddle-bags, but himself also. (Cf. Fr. 9. Hor., i., Sat. vi., 104.)

It is not quite clear whether the scene described at Capua was a gladiatorial exhibition, or merely a drunken brawl that took place in the streets, from which one of the parties came very badly off.

Several of the "uncertain Fragments" may be fairly referred to this book; evidently Fr. inc. 27. Cf. Hor., i., Sat. v., 85. Probably Fr. inc. 77, 95, 53, 11, 10, 14, 36.

1 ... you will find twice five and eighty full miles; from Capua too, two hundred and fifty--[1632]

2 ... from the gate to the harbor, a mile; thence to Salernum.[1633]

3 ... thence to the people of the Dicæarcheans and Delos the less.[1634]

4 Campanian Capua--

5 ... three miles in length.[1635]

6 ... But there, all these things were mere play--and no odds. They were no odds, I say, all mere play--and a joke. The real hard work was, when we came near the Setine country; goat-clambered mountains; Ætnas all of them, rugged Athosès.[1636]

7 Besides, the whole of this way is toilsome and muddy--[1637]

8 Moreover, the scoundrel, like a rascally muleteer, knocked against all the stones--[1638]

9 My portmanteau galled my hackney's ribs by its weight.[1639]

10 We pass the promontory of Minerva with oars--[1640]

11 ... four from this to the river Silarus, and the Alburnian harbor.[1641]

12 Hence, I arrive at midnight, by rowing, at Palinurus--[1642]

13 And you shall see, what you have often before wished, the Straits of Messina, and the walls of Rhegium; then Lipara, and the temple of Diana Phacelitis--[1643]

14 ... here the third passes the truck on the top of the mast:[1644]

15 And you will square out the way, as the camp-measurer does....[1645]

16 ... and we will take a decent time for refreshing our bodies.[1646]

17 There was not a single oyster, or a burret, or peloris:[1647]

18 no asparagus.

19 Waking out of sleep, therefore, with the first dawn I call for the boys--

20 Bending forward at once he covers his[1648]

21 The rabbit-mouthed butcher triumphs; he with the front tooth projecting, like the Ethiopian rhinoceros--[1649]

22 ... the other, successful, returns in safety with seven feathers, and gets clear off--[1650]

23 ... the forum of old decorated with lanterns, at the Roman games.

24 ... besides, the neat-herd Symmachus, already given over, was heaving with panting lungs his last expiring breath.[1651]

25 ... like the thick sparks, as in the mass of glowing iron.[1652]

26 she did not give birth to....

27 ... whoever attacks, can confuse the mind--

28 Tantalus, who pays the penalty for his atrocious acts--

29 ... our senses are turned topsy-turvy by the wine-flagons.[1653]

30 ... when it came to extremity and utter destruction--[1654]

31 then you exhale sour belchings from your breast--

32 we raise our jaws, and indulge in a grin

33 here however is one landlady, a Syrian[1655]

34 The little old woman's flight was rough and premature

35 ... they are studying; look to the wood....

36 propped up on a cushion.

37 seeing that

38 You should receive a share of the glory; you should have partaken with me in the pleasure.

FOOTNOTES:

[1632] It is not known what the places are from which Lucilius meant to mark these distances. Nonius explains _commodum_ by _integrum_, totum, "complete."

[1633] Gronovius supposes the harbor intended to be the Portus Alburnus. Varges says it is Pompeii, which was a little distance from the sea. Gerlach takes it to be Salernum itself: "and there you are at Salernum!"

[1634] This high-sounding line is supposed to be a parody of some of the "sesquipedalia verba" of Ennius. The place meant is Puteoli, now Pozzuoli, so called either from the mephitic smell of the water, or from the quantity of wells there. It became the great emporium of commerce, as Delos had been before, and hence was called Delos Minor. It was a Greek colony, and was called Dicæarcheia, from the strict justice with which its government was administered, or from the name of its founder. Plin., III., v., 9. Stat. Sylv., II., ii., 96, 110. Sil. Ital., viii., 534; xiii., 385.

[1635] _Longe_ pro _logitudine_. Cf. Hor., i., Sat. v., 25, "_Millia_ tum pransi _tria repimus_." What Horace says of his slow journey to Terracina, Lucilius had said of his tedious ascent to Setia. See next Fr.

[1636] _Susque deque_ is properly applied to a thing "about which you are so indifferent that you do not care whether it is _up or down_." Cic., Att., xiv., 6, "de Octavio susque deque." Compare the Greek ἀδιαφορεῖ. A. Gell., xvi., 9. So "susque deque ferre," i. e., æquo animo, "to bear patiently."

_Illud opus._ Virg., Æn., vi., 129, "Hoc opus hic labor est," _Setia_, now Sezza, near the Pomptine marshes, on the Campanian hills. From its high position, Martial gives it the epithet "pendula:" xiii., Ep. 112, "Pendula Pomptinos quæ spectat Setia campos." The country round was a famous wine district. Cf. Plin., iii., 5, 5; xiv., 6, 8. Mart., vi., 86. Juv., v., 34; x., 27; xiii., 213. αἰγίλιποι. The Schol. on Hom., Il., ix., 15, explains this as "a cliff so high that even goats forsake it." Cf., Æsch., Supp., 794. But it more probably comes from λίπτομαι, than λείπομαι, therefore "eagerly sought by goats." Cf. Mart., xiii., Ep. 99.

[1637] _Labosum_ for laboriosum.

[1638] _Quartarius_, "quia partem _quartam_ questûs capiebant." "The mule-drivers were so called, because they received one fourth of the hire." Of course, as the animals were not their own, they were not very careful how they drove them; and hence might run foul of the cippi, which were either tomb-stones by the side of the road, or stones set to mark the boundaries of land. Cf. Juv., Sat. i., 171. Pers., i., 37. Hor., i., Sat. viii., 12.

[1639] Hor., i., Sat. vi., 105, "Mantica cui lumbos onere ulceret atque eques armos." _Canterius_ (more correctly Cantherius), "a gelding."

[1640] The Promontory of Minerva, now P. di Campanella, is the southernmost extremity of the Bay of Naples, a short distance from the island of Capri.

[1641] The _Portus Alburnus_ is the mouth of the river Silarus (now Selo), which separates Lucania from the district of the Picentini. The Mons Alburnus (now Alburno), from which it takes its name, stands near the junction of the Tanager (now Negro) with the Silarus. Virgil mentions this district as abounding in the gad-fly. Georg., iii., 146.

[1642] _Palinurum_ (still called Capo Palinuro) is in Lucania, not far from the town of Velia, at the north of the Laus sinus, or Golfo di Policastra.

[1643] _Messana_, the ancient Zancle, still gives its name to the strait between it and Rhegium. The geological fact from which the latter derives its name (Rhegium, or ῥήγνυμι), is described, Virg., Æn., iii., 414, _seq._ _Lipara_ (now Lipari) is the principal of the Æolian or Vulcanian Islands.

_Phacelitis_, from φάκελος, "a fagot." When Orestes made his escape with Pylades and Iphigenia from Taurica, he carried away with him the image of Artemis, inclosed for the purpose of concealment in a bundle of sticks. Hence her name, Phacelitis, or, according to the Latin form, Facelitis. This image he carried, according to one legend, to Aricia, near which was the grove of Diana Nemorensis; or, as others say, to Syracuse, where he built a temple and established her Cultus. Cf. Sil. Ital., xiv., 260.

[1644] _Carchesium_ is, according to some, "the upper part of the Levantine sail," or "the lower part of the mast." Others explain it as "the cross-trees or _tops_ of the mast, to which the sailors ascended to look out." Or it is "the hollow bowl-shaped top or truck of the mast, through which the halyards work." Hence its use as applied to a drinking-cup. (Virg., Georg., iv., 380. Athen., xi., c. 49. Müller's Archæol. of Art, § 299.) Catull., Pel. et Thet., 236. Liv., Andron. Fr. incert, 1, "Florem antlabant Liberi ex carchesiis."

[1645] _Degrumor._ Properly, "to mark out two lines crossing each other exactly at right angles." There was a point in the camp near the Prætorium, called Groma, at which four lines converged, which divided the camp into four equal portions.

[1646] Hor., i, Epist. ii, 29.

[1647] _Purpura_ is properly the shell-fish from which the famous dye came. (_Ostrum_, cognate with _ostrea_.) The _Peloris_ was a common kind of shell-fish, caught probably off Cape Pelorum, whence its name. Cf. Plin., xxxii, 9, 31. Hor., ii., Sat. iv., 32, "Muria Baiano melior Lucrina peloris." Mart., vi., Ep. xi., 5, "Tu Lucrina voras: me pascit aquosa Peloris." x., Ep. xxxvii., 9.

[1648] _Cernuus_ is applied to one "who falls on his face." "In eam partem quâ _cernimus_." Virg., Æn., x., 894.

[1649] _Brocchus ovat Lanius._ The reading of Junius (cf. Virg., Æn., x., 500), probably part of the description of the street brawl. _Brocchus_ is applied to one "with projecting mouth and teeth, like the jowl of a bull-dog."

[1650] _Abundans._ Ter., Phorm., I., iii., 11, "Amore abundas Antipho." This line either refers to an actual exhibition of gladiators, in Campania perhaps, or Lucilius applies the language of the arena to the street-fight. The Scholiast on Juvenal (iii., 158, ed. Jahn) says, the helmets of the gladiators were adorned with peacocks' _feathers_; others think the upper part of the _helmet_ was so called, which the Samnis wore, and hence his opponent was denominated Pinnirapus.

[1651] _Depôstus_, "despaired of." So Virg., Æn., xii., 395, "Ille ut depositi proferret fata parentis."

[1652] _Strictura_ is either "the mass of iron, generally in a glowing state, ready to be forged," or "the sparks that fly from the iron while it is being hammered." The line probably refers to Lipara, or one of the Vulcanian isles, where the Cyclops had their workshop. (Cf. Fr. 13.) Virgil uses the word also in describing the Cyclops, viii., 420, "Striduntque cavernis _Stricturæ_ Chalybum et fornacibus ignis anhelat." Pers., ii., 66, "_Stringere_ venas _ferventis massæ_."

[1653] _Fundus_ seems to be here used almost like _funditus_; or it may mean "our firm solid basis."

[1654] _Ad incita_, from "in" and "cieo." A metaphor from chess, or some game resembling it (latrunculi or calculi), when one party has lost so many men that he has none more to move; or only in such a position that by the laws of the game they _can not be moved_ (checkmated). The usual phrase is _ad incitas_. Lucilius is the only writer who uses the form _ad incita_.

[1655] Syrus was a common name for a slave, from his country, as Davus, "the Dacian," Geta, "the Goth," etc. Cf. Juv., viii., 159, "Obvius assiduo Syrophœnix udus amomo currit Idumeæ Syrophœnix incola portæ."

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