Chapter XXXV: Book XV: Argument

None of the commentators on Lucilius have ventured to give a
decisive opinion on the subject of this book, with the exception
of Duentzer; who says that the poet intended it as a defense
of true tranquillity of mind, in opposition to the precepts
and dogmas of the Stoics. In the sixth Fragment we certainly
have mention made of a philosopher; but it is only to assert
that many common and homely articles in daily and constant use
are of more real value than any philosopher of any sect. This,
however, may be supposed to be the opinion of some vulgar and
ignorant plebeian, or of a woman. In the fifth Fragment we have
the character of a wife portrayed, such as Juvenal describes
so graphically in his sixth Satire. Indolent and slatternly in
her husband's presence, she reserves all her graces of manner
and elegance of ornament for the presence of strangers. We have
besides a notice of the wonders in Homer's narratives, the
praises of a good horse, a picture of a usurer, an account of a
soldier who has seen service in Spain, a eulogy of frugality and
other matters; how all these can possibly be arranged under one
head, is, as Gerlach says, a matter of the greatest obscurity.

1 Men think that many wonders described in Homer's verses are
prodigies; among the chief of which is Polyphemus the Cyclops,
two hundred feet long: and then besides, his walking-stick,
greater than the main-mast in any merchantman--[1779]

2 ... no high-actioned Campanian nag will follow him that has
conquered by a mile or two * * * *[1780]

3 ... moreover, as to price, the first is half an as, the second
a sestertius, and the third more than the whole bushel.

4 ... in the number of whom, first of all Trebellius ... fever,
corruption, weariness, and nausea....[1781]

5 When she is alone with you, any thing is good enough. Are any
strange men likely to see her? She brings out her ribbons, her
robe, her fillets--[1782]

6 A good cloak, if you ask me, or a hackney, a slave, or a
litter-mat, is of more service to me than a philosopher--[1783]

7 ... besides, that accursed usurer, and Syrophœnician, what used
he to do?[1784]

8 ... not a single slave ... that, just as though he were a
slave, no one can speak his mind freely.[1785]

9 ... since he has served as a soldier in the Iberian land, for
about eighteen years of his life--....[1786]

10 ... that in the first place, with them, you are a mad,
crack-brained fellow.[1787]

11 ... he knows what a tunic and toga are....

12 a huge bowl, like a muzzle, hangs from his nostrils.[1788]

13 ... a bell and twig-baskets of pot-herbs.[1789]

14 ... he sets him low, and behind....[1790]

15 ... or who with grim face, pounces upon money.[1791]

16 ... there is no flummery-maker inferior to you--[1792]

17 ... their heads are bound; and their forelocks float, high, and
covering their foreheads, as their custom was.[1793]

18 ... which compelled ... to drink gall, and wrinkle the belly by
coarse bread, and inferior oil, and a loaf from Cumæ.[1794]

FOOTNOTES:

[1779] _Polyphemus._ Hom., Odyss., ix., 319, Κύκλωπος γὰρ ἔκειτο μέγα ῥόπαλον παρὰ σηκῷ . . ὅσσον θ' ἱστὸν νηὸς ἐεικοσόροιο μελαίνης, φορτίδος εὐρείης.

_Corbita_, "navis oneraria," so called, according to Festus, because a basket (corbis) was suspended from the top of the mast. Cf. Plaut., Pæn., III., i., 4. The smaller swift-sailing vessels were called Celoces (a κέλης), hence "Obsecro operam celocem hanc mihi ne corbitam date." Cf. Plant., Pseud., V., ii., 12.

[1780] _Sonipes._ Cf. Virg., Æn., xi., 599, "Fremit æquore toto insultans sonipes, et pressis pugnat habenis." Catull., lxiii., 41, "Sol pepulit noctis umbras vegetis sonipedibus." _Succussor._ Cf. ii., Fr. 10. _Milli_ is apparently an old ablative of the singular form.

[1781] The whole Fragment is so corrupt as to be hopeless. Gerlach's interpolations are scarcely tenable. _Senium_, we learn from Nonius, is equivalent to tædium. So Persius, "En pallor seniumque." i., 26. _Vomitus_ seems to be applicable to a _person_, "an unclear, offensive fellow." So Plaut., Mostell., III., i., 119, "Absolve hunc, quæso, vomitum, ne hic nos enecet."

[1782] Cf. Juv., vi., 461, "Ad mœchum lotâ veniunt cute: quando videri vult formosa domi? mœchis foliata parantur. Interea fœda aspectu ridendaque multo pane tumet facies ... tandem aperit vultum et tectoria prima reponit, incipit agnosci." _Spiram._ Cf. Juv., viii., 208. _Redimicula._ Juv., ii., 84. Virg., Æn., ix., 614.

[1783] _Pænula._ Cf. Juv., v., 79. _Canterius._ Cf. ad lib. iii., Fr. 9. _Segestre_, a kind of straw mat (from seges) used in litters.

[1784] Gerlach's reading is followed. τοκογλύφος is one who calculates his interest to a farthing; a sordid usurer. _Syrophœnix._ Cf. iii., Fr. 33.

[1785] _Ergastulum_ is put sometimes for the slave himself, sometimes for the under-ground dungeon where, as a punishment, he was set to work. Cf. Juv., vi., 151, "Ergastula tota." viii., 180, "Nempe in Lucanos aut Tusca ergastula mittas." xiv., 24, "Quem mire afficiunt inscripta ergastula." Nonius says that the masculine form, ergastulus, is used for the "keeper of the bridewell," custos pœnalis loci.

[1786] The war in Spain may be dated from the refusal of the Segedans to comply with the directions of the senate, and to pay their usual tribute. The failure of M. Fulvius Nobilior in Celtiberia took place B.C. 153, exactly twenty years before the fall of Numantia.

[1787] _Cerebrosus._ "Qui cerebro ita laborat ut facile irascatur." Plaut., Most., IV., ii., 36, "Senex hic cerebrosus est certe." Hor., i., Sat. v., 21, "Donec cerebrosus prosilit unus, ac mulæ nautæque caput lumbosque saligno fuste dolat."

[1788] _Postomis_ (ab ἐπιστομίς), or, as some read, prostomis, is a sort of muzzle or "twitch" put upon the nose of a refractory horse. To this Lucilius compares the drinking-cup applied for so long a time to the lips of the toper, that it looks as though it were suspended from his nose. Cf. Turneb., Adversar., 17, c. ult. _Trulla._ Cf. Juv., iii., 107.

[1789] _Sirpicula_ is a basket made of twigs or rushes, for carrying flowers or vegetables. By _tintinnabulum_ Scaliger understands "genus vehiculi." But sirpiculæ (a sirpando) are also "the twigs with which bundles of fagots, etc., are bound together," which were also used in administering punishment; and the allusion may be to this, as those who were led to punishment sometimes carried bells. Vid. Turneb., Advers., xi., 21. Hence Tintinnaculus. Plaut., Truc., IV., iii., 8.

[1790] The MSS. vary between suffectus and sufferctus. The latter would come from suffercio. Cf. Suet., Ner., 20.

[1791] _Inuncare_ is applied by Apuleius to "an eagle bearing away a lamb in its talons."

[1792] _Alica_ (anciently halica) is a kind of grain, somewhat like spelt. The ζέα or χόνδρος of the Greeks. Of this they prepared a kind of porridge or furmety, of which the Italians were very fond; as of the polenta, and the maccaroni of the present day. Cf. ad Pers., iii., 55.

[1793] _Aptari_ Nonius explains by nexum, illigatum. _Capronæ_ (quasi a capite pronæ) is properly "that part of the mane which falls between the horse's ears in front." Then, like antiæ, applied to the forelocks of women. Vid. Fest. in v.

[1794] _Galla_ is properly the gall-nut, or oak-apple, used, from its astringent qualities, in tanning and dyeing; and hence applied to any harsh, rough, inferior wine. _Acerosum_ (cf. ad ix., Fr. 15) is applied to meal not properly cleared from the husk or bran; the αὐτόπυρος of the Greeks. _Decumanus_ (cf. ad iv., Fr. 2) is often applied to any thing of uncommon size: here it is used for the worst kind of oil (quasi ex decimâ quâque mensurâ rejecto et projecto), or more probably "such oil as the husbandman would select in order to furnish his _decimæ_," i. e., the very worst. Festus says the whole fragment is an admonition to the exercise of frugality and self-denial.