The Satires of Horace and Persius

by Horace

  15. Iarbitas: According to the scholiasts he was a Moor, but nothing definite is known about him.

  Timagenes: A rhetorician and historian from Alexandria who was brought to Rome in 55 BC. He knew Augustus but later incurred his displeasure by his criticisms of the imperial family.

  24. Archilochus: From the island of Paros in the middle of the Aegean. His iambics, written in the seventh century BC, served as a model for Horace’s Epodes. According to tradition, when Lycambes refused to allow his daughter Neobule to marry Archilochus, the latter wrote a venomous poem accusing Lycambes of perfidy and his daughters of immorality. As a result the girls are supposed to have hanged themselves. Cf. vv. 30–31 below.

  28. Sappho: Born c. 612 BC, she lived and wrote on the island of Lesbos. To judge from the fragments, her lyric poetry can hardly have been a major influence on Horace, but he did take over the form of stanza which she used in her first book. Doubtless the adjective ‘manly’ refers to her poetry, but there is no point in trying to exclude any allusion to her sexual orientation.

  29. Alcaeus: Born c. 620 BC, also from Lesbos. He was a major influence on Horace both in metre (the Alcaic stanza) and in subject-matter (he wrote about politics as well as about love, wine, and death).

  43. Jupiter’s ear: I.e. the ear of Augustus.

  47. That position’s unfair: The Latin is displicet iste locus, which I have interpreted as referring (metaphorically) to a wrestling bout. Others prefer to think of a gladiatorial combat.

  Epistle 1. 20

  1. Vertumnus: A god of change (verto) and hence associated with the changing seasons, metamorphoses, and (as here) commercial transactions. He was of Etruscan origin, and his statue stood in the vicus Tuscus (cf. Epistles II. 1. 269).

  Janus: A temple of Janus stood on the opposite side of the Forum to that occupied by Vertumnus. Nearby was the Argiletum, a street with numerous bookstalls.

  2. the Sosii’s pumice: Two brothers called Sosius ran a publishing firm and a bookshop (cf. Ars Poetica v. 345). Pumice was used both for trimming book-rolls and for removing hair. In an extended double entendre the book is represented as a young slave-boy.

  8. kept very tight: Tight shut (for the book), tight for money (for the slave).

  13. Utica: On the coast of North Africa, near Carthage.

  Ilerda: A Spanish town on the Ebro. These names stand for ‘the provinces’ (‘what a come-down’), but at another level they can also stand for ‘the empire’ (‘what glory’).

  18. the end of a street: The Latin is extremis in vicis, which many interpret as the outlying quarters of the city. For the whole passage see S. F. Bonner, American Journal of Philology 93 (1972) 509–28.

  19. warmer sun: School started very early in the morning; as the day warmed up, passers-by would stop to listen.

  28. Lollius: In the year 21 BC M. Lollius was for some time sole Consul, the second place being kept for Augustus. The emperor, however, declined to fill it, and later in the year Q. Aemilius Lepidus was declared Lollius’ colleague (dixit). Horace was born on 8 December 65 BC.

  Epistle 11. 1

  5. Liber: Bacchus.

  10. He who crushed: Hercules.

  24. the criminal code: The twelve tables, drawn up by the Decemvirs in 450 BC.

  regal treaties: Made by Tarquinius Superbus with Gabii (late sixth century) and by Tullus Hostilius with the Sabines (mid seventh century).

  31. a nut hasn’t a shell… olive: I.e. faulty comparisons lead to absurd conclusions. The same point is made in vv. 32–3.

  47. ‘the dwindling pile’: see note on Persius 6. 80.

  49. our Lady of Funerals: Libitina; cf. Satires II. 6. 19.

  51–2. no longer trouble… Pythagorean visions: For Ennius’ dream see notes on Persius Prologue 2 and Satires 6.10–11.

  53. Naevius: See introduction pp. x–xi.

  55. Pacuvius: (219–129 BC) Nephew of Ennius, wrote tragedies on Greek models.

  56. Accius: (170–c. 85 BC) See note on Satires I. 10. 53.

  57. Menander: (342–c. 290 BC) The most famous representative of Greek New Comedy.

  Afranius: Born c. 150 BC; wrote togatae, i.e. comedies based on Italian customs and characters, as distinct from palliatae, i.e. comedies with a Greek setting, like those of Plautus and Terence.

  58. Epicharmus: A Sicilian, writing in the first quarter of the fifth century BC. He seems to have been fond of mythological burlesque.

  Plautus: Born in Umbria, died some time after 184 BC. He was popular and productive, writing over twenty comedies. Horace, with his classical point of view, was rather unfair to Plautus; see vv. 171–6.

  59. Caecilius: Came to Rome as a prisoner from northern Italy; died in 168 BC. His comedies, of which only fragments survive, were admired for their plots and emotional power.

  Terence: From North Africa, died not long after 160 BC. He was more refined, yet also more realistic than the exuberant Plautus.

  62. Livius: Livius Andronicus from Tarentum wrote comedies, tragedies, and a translation of the Odyssey in the second half of the third century BC.

  71. Orbilius: From Beneventum, taught in Rome from 63 BC. He was then fifty years of age. He lived to be a hundred and was honoured with a statue in his home town.

  79. Atta: Died 77 BC. Composer of togatae, of which eleven titles survive.

  80. flowers and saffron: The stage was sprinkled with essence of saffron; there is no other reference to flowers.

  82. Aesopus: A tragic actor in the first half of the first century BC.

  Roscius: A popular and wealthy actor who was particularly effective in comedy; he died about 63 BC.

  86. Numa’s Salian Hymn: Pompilius Numa, second king of Rome, was renowned for his piety. He is supposed to have instituted the Salii, or priests of Mars. By the end of the first century BC their hymns were barely intelligible even to the priests themselves.

  91. what would now be old: I.e. works which conventional Romans admired as old were once new to the Greeks.

  93. Greece abandoned war: After her victories over the Persians in the first part of the fifth century.

  107. But what likes… change: This line comes after v. 100 in the manuscripts. Lachmann, however, put it here, and many editors agree that this is an improvement.

  112. Parthian liar: Since the disaster at Carrhae (53 BC) the Parthians had been a source of anxiety to Rome. But there is no evidence that they were more often guilty of treachery than the Romans themselves.

  132–3. Where would innocent… a poet: A playful allusion to Horace’s Carmen Saeculare (17 BC).

  143. Silvanus: The Roman god of uncultivated land, who had to be placated when inroads were made into his domain.

  144. Genius: The spirit which watched over a man’s life and was coextensive with it; cf. Epistles II. 2. 187–9.

  145. Fescennines: Ribald songs sung at country festivals of marriage and harvest.

  152. a law: There was a law against defamation in the twelve tables.

  158. metre of Saturn: The saturnian was an early type of Latin verse, used by Livius Andronicus and by Naevius.

  163. Aeschylus: (525/4–456 BC) His first victory was in 484 BC. The Oresteia was produced in 458.

  Thespis: Took the first step in turning choral lyric into tragic drama. He won the prize at Athens c. 534 BC.

  Sophocles: (c. 496–406 BC) His best-known tragedies are Antigone and Oedipus Tyrannus.

  193. Corinth: Captured and looted in 146 BC.

  194. Democritus: See note on Epistles I. 12. 12. He was known as the laughing philosopher, no doubt because he wrote a treatise ‘On Cheerfulness’.

  200. deaf ass: This combines two traditional ideas of futility: talking to a deaf person, and talking to an ass.

  202. Gargan forest: Garganus was a mountainous promontory on the coast of north-east Apulia.

  Tuscan Sea: Off the west coast of Italy.

  217. gift so worthy of Phoebus: The library in the temple of Apollo on the Palatine, which was dedica
ted by Augustus in 28 BC.

  233. Choerilus: An epic poet from Iasos in Caria, who attached himself to Alexander. Horace misrepresents the story, if we may judge from the pseudo-Acron, who says that Alexander gave Choerilus a gold piece for every good line. The poet received only seven pieces in all.

  239. Apelles: A famous painter of the fourth century BC. His works included a portrait of Alexander holding a thunderbolt.

  240. Lysippus: A celebrated sculptor from Sicyon; most of his works fell within the latter half of the fourth century BC.

  244. Boeotian climate: The proverbial stupidity of the Boeotians was attributed to the heavy air of their valleys and lake basins.

  250. talks: Horace’s Sermones, which in the main avoided the grand style.

  255. Janus: His temple was closed three times in the reign of Augustus. This was a ritual signifying peace.

  256. the Parthian: See note on Epistles I. 12. 27.

  262–3. a thing that causes merriment… approval: One doesn’t wish to be celebrated by a poet whose lines are memorably ridiculous.

  268. closed box: A box containing the book; also a coffin. As great poets ensure survival, bad poets ensure extinction.

  269. the street that deals in… incense: The vicus Tuscus (Etruscan Street) with a pun on tus (incense).

  Epistle 11. 2

  1. Florus: See Epistles I.3. 1–2.

  26. Lucullus: See note on Epistles I. 6. 40.

  30. the king: Mithradates of Pontus or Tigranes of Armenia; they made an alliance against Rome and were engaged by Lucullus in the third Mithradatic war.

  42. harm was done… wrath of Achilles: A reference to the opening of the Iliad. Achilles harmed the Greeks by withdrawing from battle as a protest against the removal of Briseis by Agamemnon.

  43. Athens the good: I have translated bonae Athenae as ‘Athens the good’ in view of its connection with moral philosophy; others take bonae as ‘kind’ or ‘dear’.

  45. the Academy: The school established by Plato c. 385 BC in a park (named after the hero Academus) in the outskirts of Athens. To search for truth inter silvas Academi has a hint of humorous self-depreciation.

  47–8. the raw recruit: Horace served as a tribune in the army of Brutus.

  49. Philippi: In east Macedonia; site of the battle (42 BC) between the forces of Antony and Octavian and those of Brutus and Cassius.

  53. hemlock: Used as a drug to reduce fever.

  60. Bion: (c. 325–c. 255 BC) From Borysthenes north-west of the Black Sea. He was an important figure in the development of the popular sermon or ‘diatribe’. In Horace’s work the diatribe is represented by the Satires, iambics by the Epodes and lyric by the Odes.

  69. Quirinal… Aventine: Two of the seven hills on which Rome was built.

  80. narrow path: This was recommended by Callimachus and his successors as against the broad highway.

  81–6. The soul… the lyre: The sequence of thought seems to be: even in Athens, with its favourable conditions, dedicated souls fail to get anything done and make themselves ridiculous; so (a fortiori) why should I try to compose in Rome?

  89. ‘Gracchus’: Of the two Gracchi, Tiberius (d. 133 BC) and Gaius (d. 122 BC), the latter was the more famous orator.

  ‘Mucius’: there were three distinguished lawyers called Mucius Scaevola: Publius (Consul 133 BC), Quintus (Consul 117 BC), and Quintus (Consul 95 BC). Horace was probably thinking of the first, who was a contemporary of the Gracchi.

  94. temple: A reference to the library in the temple of Apollo; the Greek spaces were already well stocked.

  97. Samnites: Gladiators whose combats were protracted because of their heavy armour.

  99. ‘Alcaeus’: See note on Epistles I. 19. 29.

  100. ‘Callimachus’: (c. 305–c. 240 BC) A scholar-poet from Cyrene who made his career in Alexandria. His theory of poetry (and his practice), which represented a reaction against the long epic, had a strong influence in Rome, not least upon writers of elegy. As Propertius spoke of himself as the Roman Callimachus (IV.1.64) Horace may well be glancing at him.

  101. ‘Mimnermus’: See note on Epistles I. 6. 5. Propertius (I. 9. 11) said that in matters of love a line of Mimnermus had more power than the whole of Homer.

  110. Censor: This magistrate had the power to remove from the senate any members who had proved unworthy of their position.

  114. Vesta’s temple: As this represented the hearth of the state, Horace seems to be speaking of words which claim to have a legitimate status in the poetic language of Rome. To explain the metaphor more precisely we would need further evidence.

  117. Cato: The Censor, who was Consul in 195 BC. Cethegus: M. Cornelius Cethegus was Consul in 204 BC.

  158. bronze and balance: The jurist Gaius (1. 119) describes the symbolic act of conveying property (mancipatio) whereby one of five witnesses held a balance and the purchaser touched it with a coin of bronze, which he then handed to the vendor.

  159. use: Property could also be acquired by usucapio, i.e. possession for a certain period.

  160. Orbius: Unknown. Horace is now drawing on another sense of ‘use’, viz. ‘benefit’, as if having the benefit of a piece of property was as good as owning it.

  167. Aricia: Fifteen miles south-east of Rome.

  Veii: Ten miles north-west of Rome.

  172. as if anything were ‘ours’: Having read 16off. one might want to point out that after enjoying the benefit of a farm (and paying rent) for fifty years, the tenant would still not end up as the owner. Horace answers by saying, in effect, ‘So what? Eventually the owner himself ends up dead.’

  177–8. Lucanian… Calabria: Lucania and Calabria are large areas in the south of Italy.

  179. Orcus: God of the underworld.

  184. Herod: Herod the Great, who reigned in Judaea from 39–4 BC, had famous groves of date-palms near Jericho.

  188. mortal god: The Genius is the divine projection of the man’s self. It shares his fortune and characteristics, and does not survive his death.

  209. Thessalian: Thessaly in northern Greece was remote and backward, hence mysterious.

  The Ars Poetica

  6. Pisos: According to Porphyrion, these were L. Calpurnius Piso (Consul 15 BC) and his sons. No sons have been certainly identified but see pp. 19–21 of my commentary.

  50. Cethegi: An old patrician family.

  55. Caecilius and Plautus: See notes on Epistles II. 1. 58–9.

  60a. and others… place: The words in italics are supplied by conjecture.

  64. Neptune welcomed ashore: I.e. the construction of a harbour.

  79. Archilochus: See note on Epistles I. 19. 24.

  80. sock and the stately buskin: Comedy and tragedy, as represented by their footwear. The ‘sock’ was a kind of slipper.

  90. Thyestes’ banquet: See note on Persius 5. 8.

  94. Chremes: The angry father was a stock figure in New Comedy; the Chremes of Terence’s Heautontimorumenos was not the only character of that name.

  96. Peleus: Experienced many troubles (including exile on two occasions) before marrying Thetis and becoming the father of Achilles.

  Telephus: Son of Hercules, went to Achilles in a pitiful condition begging him to heal the wound which he had inflicted.

  118. Colchian: A fierce barbarian from the region east of the Black Sea.

  Assyrian: A soft, effeminate type, representing oriental luxury.

  120. dishonoured: The text honoratum (‘honoured’) gives the wrong sense. I have translated Nisbet’s conjecture inornatum (‘deprived of honour’); cf. Odes IV. 9. 31.

  123. Medea: The princess from Colchis who protected Jason but was later abandoned by him and took a terrible revenge. The most famous treatment of the story is that of Euripides.

  Ino: Another tragic heroine, but of a more pathetic kind than the fierce Medea. She was driven mad by Hera for nursing the infant Dionysus.

  124. Ixion: Murdered Eioneus having promised him a generous sum for the hand of his da
ughter. He was purified by Zeus, but repaid him by attempting to violate Hera.

  Io: Loved by Zeus and then turned into a heifer. After many wanderings she reached Egypt, where she was restored to human shape.

  Orestes: Murdered his mother Clytemnestra to avenge the death of his father Agamemnon.

  136. cyclic poet: The epic cycle was a collection of post-Homeric epics artificially arranged in a series so as to run from the creation of the world to the end of the heroic age. The particular poet referred to by Horace has not been identified.

  137–8. Of Priam’s fate… promise: A paraphrase of the opening of the Odyssey.

  145. the cannibal king… Charybdis: The figures mentioned come from Odyssey 10. 100f., 9. 187f., and 12. 81f.

  146. Diomedes’ return: I.e. some cyclic poet began his account of Diomedes’ return from Troy with the death of the hero’s great-uncle Meleager. Homer does not waste time on such tedious preliminaries.

  172. he puts things… the future: A difficult and controversial line. Following Bentley, I have adopted spe lentus instead of spe longus, and pavidus futuri instead of avidus futuri. The reading avidus futuri would mean ‘longs for the future’. Even if it is true that the typical old man is eager for the future (which I doubt), Horace would hardly have used the dynamic avidus along with iners (listless).

  186. Atreus: Murdered the sons of his brother Thyestes and served them to their father at dinner.

  187. Procne: Served her son Itys to her husband Tereus in revenge for Tereus’ rape and mutilation of her sister Philomela. When pursued by Tereus, Procne changed into a nightingale (or a swallow).

  Cadmus: The founder of Thebes, eventually went to Illyria with his wife Harmonia, where they were both turned into large but harmless snakes.

  220. he-goat: Horace is alluding to the derivation of tragedy from tragos, the Greek for he-goat.

  221. satyrs: A reference to the origin of satyric drama.

  237–8. Davus… Pythias… Simo: Comic characters; the first a slave, the second a slave-girl, and the third an old man.