SATIRE X
by
Juvenal
THE VANITY OF HUMAN
WISHES
IN all the lands that stretch from
western Cadiz to the
eastern horizon and the Ganges,T
there are but few who
can distinguish true blessings from their opposites, put-
ting aside the mists of error. For when does reason
direct our desires or our fears? What project do we
form so auspiciously that we do
not regret our
effort and the granted wish? Whole households
have been destroyed by the compliant Gods in
answer to the masters' prayers;
in camp and city
alike we ask for things that will be our ruin. Many a
man has met death from the rushing flood of his own
eloquence; others from the strength and wondrous
muscles in which they have trusted. More still
have
been ruined by money too carefully amassed, and by
fortunes that surpass all inheritances by as much as the
British whale exceeds the dolphin. It was for this rea-
son that in those terrible days Nero ordered Longinus 2
and the great gardens of the over-wealthy Seneca 3
to be put under siege; for this the noble Palace of
the Laterani 4 was beset by an entire
cohort; it is
but seldom that soldiers find their way into a attic!
2 A famous lawyer
banished by Nero.
3 Forced by Nero
to commit suicide.
4 Plautius
Lateranus was put to death by Nero for joining
in Piso's
conspiracy, A.D. 63.
Though you carry but few plain silver vessels with you
during a night journey, you will be afraid of the
sword
and club of a robber, you will tremble at the shadow
of a reed shaking in the moonlight; but the empty-
handed traveller will whistle in the robber's face.
The foremost of all petitions--the one best
known to every temple--is for riches and their in-
crease, that our money-chest may be the biggest in
the whole Forum. You will drink no aconite
out of
an earthenware cup; but you may dread it when a
jewelled cup is offered you, or
when Setine wine
sparkles in a golden bowl. Will you not commend then
the two wise men, one of whom 1 would laugh
while
the opposite sage 2 would weep every time he
set a
foot outside the door? To condemn by a cutting laugh
comes readily to us all; the wonder is how the other
sage's eyes were supplied with all that water. The
sides of Democritus shook with unceasing laughter,
although in the cities of his day there were no purple-
bordered or purple-striped robes, no fasces, no
litters,
no tribunals. What if he had seen the Praetor uplifted
in his lofty chariot amid the dust of the Circus, attired
in the tunic 3 of Jupiter, hitching an
embroidered
Tyrian toga 3 on to his shoulders, and
carrying a
crown so big that no neck could bear the weight
of it? For a public slave is sweating under the burden;
and that the Consul may not fancy himself too much,
the slave rides in the same chariot with his
master. Add to all this the bird that is perched
on his ivory staff; on this side the trumpeters, on
that the duteous clients preceding him in long
array,
with white-robed Roman citizens, whose friendship
1 Democritus of Abdera.
2
Heraclitus of Ephesus.
3 The
tunica palmata , embroidered with palm, and the
toga picta , with gold, were
triumphal garments, described by
Livy as Iovis optimi maximi ornatus
(xx. 7).
has been gained by the dinner-dole snugly buried in
their purses,1 marching at his bridle-rein.
Even then
the philosopher found food for laughter at every
meeting with his kind: his wisdom shows us that men
of high distinction and destined to set great examples
may be born in a dullard air, and in the land of mutton-
heads.2 He laughed at the troubles,
yes and at the
pleasures, of the crowd, sometimes too at their tears,
while for himself he would bid frowning fortune go
hang, and point at her the finger of derision.
Thus it is that the things for which we pray,
and for which it is right and proper to load the
knees of the Gods with wax, are either profitless
or
pernicious! Some men are
hurled headlong by over-
great power and the envy to which it exposes them;
they are wrecked by the long and illustrious roll of
their honours: down come their statues, obedient to
the rope; the axe hews in pieces their chariot wheels
and the legs of the unoffending
nags. And now
the flames are hissing, and amid the roar of furnace
and of bellows the head of the mighty Sejanus,3
the darling of the mob, is bunting and crackling,
and from that face, which was but lately second
in the entire world, are being fashioned pitchers,
basins, frying-pans and slop-pails! Up with the
laurel-wreaths over your doors! Lead forth a grand
chalked bull to the Capitol ! Sejanus is
being dragged
along by a hook, as a show and joy to all ! "What
a lip the fellow had ! What a face! "--" Believe me,
I never liked the man!"--"But on what charge was
1 In i. 95-6 foll. the
sportula (properly a basket) is spoken
of as a meal actually carried away by the clients.
The
present passage refers to the later practice which
substituted
a sum of 100 quadrantes (4 sesterces) for the meal in
kind.
2 Abdera, in
Thrace, the birthplace of Democritus,
had
the reputation of being a breeder of thick-heads.
3 The upstart
favourite of Tiberius [it sounds like a bust or
statue of him is being melted down].
he condemned? Who informed against him? What
was the evidence, who the witnesses, who made good
the case?"--"Nothing of the sort; a great and
wordy letter came from Capri." 1 --" Good; I
ask no
more."
And what does the mob
of Remus say? It
follows fortune as it always does, and rails against
the condemned. That same
rabble, if Nortia had
smiled upon the Etruscan,2 if the aged
Emperor had
been struck down unawares, would in that very hour
have conferred upon Sejanus the
title of Augustus.
Now that no one buys our votes, the public has long
since cast off its cares; the people that once be-
stowed commands, consulships, legions and all else,
now secures them no more and longs eagerly for
just two things--Bread and Games!
" I hear that many are to perish."--" No doubt
of it; there is a big furnace ready."--"My friend
Brutidius 3 looked a trifle pale when I met
him at
the Altar of Mars. I tremble lest the defeated
Ajax should take vengeance for having been so ill-
defended." 4 --" Let us rush headlong and
trample
on Caesar's enemy, while he lies upon the bank!"--
"Yes, and let our slaves see it
done so that none
will bear witness against us, and drag their trembling
master into court with a halter round his neck."
Such was the talk at the moment about Sejanus;
such were the mutterings of the
crowd. And would
you like to be courted like Sejanus? To be as rich
1 Tiberius was living in
grim solitude in his rock fortress
on the island of Capreae [Capri] when he sent to the
Senate
the famous letter--the verbosa et
grandis epistola--which
hurried Sejanus to his doom on the 18th of October,
A.D. 31. (The passage in
Tacitus which describes the whole
event is unfortunately lost; but the fine account of
Dion
Cassius is given in my Annals of
Tacitus , vol. i. pp. 344 -353.--
G. G. R.).
2 Sejanus was a
native of Volsinii in Etruria; Nortia was
the Etruscan Goddess of
Fortune.
3 A famous orator.
4 Apparently Ajax
here stands for Tiberius, who, it is
thought, may revenge himself by punishing those who have
not sufficiently guarded his person [or "fails to
secure the
conviction of the other persons involved in the conspiracy"
Miller.]
as he was? To bestow on one man the ivory chairs
of office, appoint another to the command of armies,
and be counted guardian of a Prince seated on the
narrow ledge of Capri with his herd of Chaldaean
astrologers? You would like, no doubt, to have the
pikes, cohorts and illustrious 1 cavalry at
your call,
and to possess a camp of your own? Why should you
not? Even those who don't want to kill anybody
would like to have the power to
do it. But what gran-
deur, what high fortune, are worth the having if the
joy is overbalanced by the calamities they bring with
them? Would you rather choose to wear the bordered
robe of the man now being dragged along the streets,
or to be a magnate at Fidenae or Gabii, adjudicating
upon weights, or smashing vessels of short measure,
as a thread-bare Aedile at deserted Ulubrae?
2 You
admit, then, that Sejanus did not know what things
were to be desired; for in coveting excessive honours,
and seeking excessive wealth, he was but building
up the many stories of a lofty tower whence the fall
would be the greater, and the crash of headlong
ruin more terrific. What
was it that overthrew
Crassus and Pompey, and him who brought
the
conquered Quirites under his lash?
3 What but lust
for the highest place pursued by every kind of
means? What but ambitious prayers granted by un-
kindly Gods? Few indeed are the kings who go down
to Ceres' son-in-law 4 but by sword and
slaughter--
few the tyrants that perish by a bloodless death!
Every schoolboy who worships Minerva with a
modest penny offering, attended
by a slave to guard
his little satchel, prays all through his holidays 5
for elo-
1 The highest and richest
class of Equites were called
Equites Illustres or
Splendidi .
2 Fidenae, Gabii,
Ulubrae, small and deserted towns
in
Latium. 3
Julius Caesar. 4
Pluto. 5
March 19th-23rd.
quence, for the fame of a Cicero or a Demosthenes.
Yet it was eloquence that brought both orators to
their death; each perished by the copious and over-
flowing torrent of his own genius. It was his genius
that cut off the hand, and severed the neck, of
Cicero; never yet has the rostra been stained with
the blood of a lesser advocate!
" O happy Fate for the Roman
State
Was the date of my great
Consulate! "
Had Cicero always spoken thus, he might have
avoided the swords of Antony. I prefer
bad
poetry to be laughed at than thee, O famous and
divine Philippic, that comest out second on the
roll !
Terrible, too, was the death of him whom Athens
loved to hear sweeping along and holding in thrall
the crowded theatre. Unfriendly were the Gods,
and evil the star, under whom was born the man
whose father, bleary-eyed with the soot of glow-
ing ore, sent him away from the
coal, the pincers,
and the sword-fashioning anvil of grimy Vulcan,1
to study the art of the rhetorician!
The spoils of war and trophies fastened upon
stumps--a breast-plate, a cheek-strap hanging from
a broken helmet, a yoke shorn of its pole, the flag-
staff of a captured galley, or a captive grieving
on a triumphal arch--such things are deemed the
greatest glories of man; these are the prizes for
which
every General strives, be he Greek, Roman, or bar-
barian; it is for these that he
endures toil and peril:
so much greater is the thirst for glory than for virtue!
For who would embrace virtue herself if you stripped
1 Demosthenes' father, of
the same name, was a blacksmith
--or at least a manufacturer of swords.
her of her rewards! Yet often has a land been
destroyed by the vainglory of a
few, by the lust for
honour and for a title that shall cling to the stones
that guard their ashes--stones which may be rent
asunder by the rude strength of
the barren fig-tree,
seeing that even sepulchres have their doom assigned
to them!
Put Hannibal into the scales; how many pounds'
weight will you find in that greatest of commanders?
This is the man for whom all of
Africa was too small--
a land beaten by the Moorish sea and stretching to
the steaming Nile, and then, again, to the tribes of
Ethiopia and a new breed of elephants!
Spain is
added to his dominions: he overleaps the Pyrenees;
Nature throws in his way Alps and snow: he splits
the rocks asunder, and breaks up the mountain-side
with vinegar! And now Italy is in his grasp,
but
still on he presses: "Nothing is accomplished," he
cries," until my Punic host breaks down the city
gates, and I plant my standard in the midst of the
Subura! " O what a sight was that!
What a picture
it would make, the one-eyed General riding on a
Gaetulian beast ! What then was
his end? Alas
for glory! A conquered man, he flees headlong into
exile, and there he sits, a mighty and marvellous
suppliant, in the King's antechamber, until it please
his Bithynian Majesty 1 to awake! No
sword, no
stone, no javelin shall end the
life which once
wrought havoc throughout the world: no, but that
which shall defend Cannae and avenge so much
blood is a ring 2. On! on! thou
madman, and race over
the wintry Alps, that thou may be the delight of
schoolboys and supply declaimers with a theme!
1 Prusias I., king of
Bithynia. 2
Containing poison.
One globe is all too little for the youth of
Pella;1 he chafes uneasily within the narrow
limits
of the world, as though he were
cooped up within
the rocks of Gyara or the diminutive Seriphos; but
yet when once he shall have entered the city forti-
fied by the potter's art,2 a sarcophagus will
suffice
him! Death alone proclaims how small are our poor
human bodies! We have heard 3 how
ships once
sailed through Mount Athos, and all the
lying tales
of Grecian history; how the sea
was paved by those
self-same ships, and gave solid
support to chariot-
wheels; how deep rivers failed,
and whole streams
were drunk dry when the Persian
breakfasted, with
all the fables of which Sostratus 4 sings
with reeking
pinions. But in what plight did that king 5
return
when he left Salamis? -- he that used to inflict
barbaric lashings upon the winds Corus and Eurus --
never treated so in their Aeolian prison-house
-- he
who had bound the Earth-shaker himself
with chains,
deeming it clemency, indeed, not to think him
worthy of a branding also: what
god, indeed, would
be willing to serve such a master?--in what plight did
he return? Why, in a single ship; on blood-stained
waves, the prow slowly forcing her way through
waters thick with corpses! Such was the penalty
exacted for that long-desired glory!
" Give me length of days, give me many years,
O Jupiter! " Such is your one and only prayer, in
days of strength or of sickness; yet how great, how
unceasing, are the miseries of long old age! Look
first at the misshapen and ungainly face, so unlike its
former self; see the unsightly hide that serves for
1 Alexander the Great,
born at Pella, B.C .
356, died at
Babylon B.C. 323.
2 The famous
walls of Babylon were built of brick.
3 in Herodotus.
4 An unknown poet.
5 Xerxes.
skin; see the baggy cheeks and the wrinkles like
those which a matron ape carves
upon her aged
jaws where Thabraca
l spreads her shaded glades.
The young men differ in various
ways: this man is
handsomer than that, and he than another; one is
far stronger than another: but old men all look alike.
Their voices are as shaky as their limbs, their heads
without hair, their noses drivelling as in childhood.
Their bread, poor wretches, has
to be munched by
toothless gums; so offensive do
they become to their
wives, their children and themselves, that even the
legacy-hunter, Cossus, turns from them in disgust.
Their sluggish palate takes joy
in wine or food no
longer, and all pleasures of the flesh have been long
ago forgotten . . . .
And now consider the loss of another sense:
what joy has the old man in song, however famous
be the singer? what joy in the
harping of Seleucus
himself, or of those who shine resplendent in gold-
embroidered cloaks? What
matters it in what part
of the great theatre he sits when he can scarce hear
the horns and trumpets when they all blow together?
The slave who announces a visitor, or tells the time of
day, needs to shout in his ear if he is to be heard.
Besides all this, the little blood in his now chilly
frame is never warm except with
fever; diseases of
every kind dance around him in array; if you ask
of me their names, I could more
readily tell you the
number of Oppia's paramours, how many patients
Themison killed in one autumn, how many partners
1 A town in Numidia.
were defrauded by Basilus, how many wards by Hirrus,
how many lovers tall Maura wears out in one day, or
how many pupils are debauched by Hamillus; I could
sooner count the number of villas now belonging to the
barber under whose razor my stiff youthful beard used
to grate.l One suffers in the shoulder,
another in the
loins, a third in the hip; another has lost both eyes,
and envies those who have one; another takes food
into his pallid lips from someone else's fingers, while
he whose jaws used to fly open at the sight of his
dinner, now only gapes like the
young swallow as
his self-denying mother flies to him with well-laden
beak. But worse than any
loss in body is the failing
mind which forgets the names of
slaves, and cannot
recognize the face of the old friend who dined with
him last night, nor those of the children whom he has
begotten and brought up. Yes, by a cruel will
he cuts off his own flesh and blood and leaves all his
estate to Phiale --so potent was the breath of
that
alluring mouth which had plied its trade for so many
years in her narrow archway.
And though the powers of his mind be strong
as ever, yet must he carry forth his sons to burial;
he must behold the funeral pyres of his beloved wife
and his brothers, and urns filled with the ashes of his
sisters. Such are the penalties of the long liver: he
sees calamity after calamity befall his house, he lives
in a world of sorrow, he grows old amid continual
lamentation and in the garb of woe. If we have any
belief in mighty Homer, the King of Pylos 2
was
an example of long life second only to the crow;
happy indeed that he had put off death for
so many generations, and had so
often quaffed the
new-made wine, counting now his
years upon his
1 Referring to some
barber who had made money, and
was obnoxious to Juvenal as a rich parvenu.
2 Nestor.
right hand.1 But wait for a moment, and
see how
he bewails the decrees of fate and his too-long thread
of life, when he beholds the beard of his brave
Antilochus 2 in the flames,3
and asks of every friend
around him why he has lived so long, what crime
he has committed to deserve such length of days.
Thus did Peleus also mourn when
he lost Achilles;
and so that other father 4 who had to
bewail the sea-
roving Ithacan. Had Priam perished at some other
time, before Paris began to build his audacious ships,
he would have gone down to the ghost of Assaracus 5
when Troy was still standing, and with regal pomp;
his body would have been borne on the shoulders of
Hector and his brother too amid
the tears of Ilion's
daughters, and the rending of Polyxena's 6
gar-
ments: Cassandra 6 would have led the cries
of woe.
What good did length of days bring to him? He
saw everything in ruins, and Asia perishing by fire
and the sword. Laying aside his tiara, and arming
himself, he fell, a trembling soldier, before the altar
of Almighty Jupiter, like an aged ox discarded by the
thankless plough who offers his
poor lean neck to his
master's knife. Priam's death was at least that of
a human being; but his wife 7 lived on to
open her
mouth with the savage barking of a dog.
I hasten to our own countrymen, passing by
the king of Pontus 8 and Croesus,
9 who was bidden
by the wise and eloquent Solon to look to the
last
lap of a long life. It was this that brought Marius
to exile and to prison, it took
him to the swamps
of Minturnae, and it made him beg for his
bread in
1 i.e
. had begun to count by hundreds.
2 Nestor's
son. 3
ardentem. i.e. on the pyre.
4 Laertes, father
of Ulysses.
5 Son of Tros,
from whom the Trojans took their name.
6 Daughters of
Priam. 7
Hecuba.
8 Mithridates.
9 The wealthy king of
Lydia.
conquered Carthage. What person born in this
world, what man could Rome produce that was
more glorious than him, if after parading his troops
of captives with all the pomp of war he had breathed
forth his soul in glory as he was about to step down
from his Teutonic chariot? 1 Kindly
Campania
gave to Pompey a fever, which he might have prayed
for as a gift;2 but the public prayers of all
those cities
gained the day; so his own fortune and that of Rome
preserved him to be vanquished and to lose his head.
No such cruel thing befell Lentulus;3
Cethegus 3
escaped such punishment and fell whole; and Cati-
line's corpse lay unviolated.
When the loving mother passes the temple of
Venus, she prays in whispered breath for her boys--
and more loudly, and entering into the most trifling
particulars, for her daughters--that they may have
beauty. "And why should I not? " she asks; "did
not Latona rejoice in Diana's beauty?" Yes: but
Lucretia forbids us to pray for
a face like her own;
and Verginia would gladly take Rutila's hump and
give her own to Rutila. A handsome son keeps
his parents in constant fear and misery; so rarely
do modesty and good looks go together. For
though his home be rough and simple, and he
be taught ways as pure as those of the ancient
Sabines, and though Nature too has kindly lav-
ished him with a pure mind and a cheek flushed
with modesty--and what better gift can Nature,
more careful, more potent than any guardian,
bestow upon a youth?--but he will not be allowed
to become a man. The lavish wickedness of
some
seducer will tempt the boy's own parents: such
1 i.e.
after the battle Campi Raudi, near Vercellae, in
B.C. 101.
2 When Pompey lay
dangerously ill of a fever in B.C.
50
many of the towns of Italy
offered vows and sacrifices for his
recovery.
3 Accomplices in
Catiline's conspiracy.
trust can be placed in money! No misshapen youth
was ever unsexed by a cruel tyrant in his castle; never
did Nero have a bandy-legged or
scrofulous favourite,
or one that was hump-backed or pot-bellied !
Go now, you that revel in your son's
beauty;
think of the deadly perils that
lie before him. He
will become a promiscuous gallant, and have to fear
all the vengeance due to outraged husbands; no
luckier than Mars, he will not fail to fall into
the net.
And sometimes the husband's wrath exacts greater
penalties than any law allows; one lover is slain
by the sword, another is cut by
the bloodthirsty lash;
some will undergo the punishment of the mullet.
Your dear Endymion will become the gallant of
some married woman whom he loves; but before long,
after Servilia has taken him into her pay, he will serve
also whom he loves not, and will strip her of all her
ornaments; for what can any woman, be she an Oppia
or a Catulla,l deny to the man who serves her
passion?
It is on her passion that a bad
woman's whole nature
centers. "But how does beauty hurt the chaste?"
you ask. Well, what good
did the firm resolve of
Hippolytus or Bellerophon
2 do? The Cretan lady
flared up as though rejected with scorn: no less
furious
was Stheneboea. Both dames lashed themselves into
a fury; for never is woman so savage as when when
her hatred is goaded on by shame.
And now tell me what counsel you think should
be given to him 3 whom Caesar's wife is
minded to
wed. Best and fairest of
a patrician house, the un-
1 i.e.
however noble the lady may be.
2 As Duff puts
it, "Hippolytus and Bellerophon are
the Josephs of the pagan mythology.''
3 C. Silius,
brought to ruin by the passion entertained for
him by Messalina, wife
of Claudius (Tac. Ann. xi. 12 and
26 foll.).
happy youth is dragged to destruction by Messalina's
eyes. She has long been
seated; her bridal veil is
ready; the Tyrian nuptial couch
is being spread
openly in the gardens; a dowry of one million ses-
terces will be given after the ancient fashion, the
soothsayer and the witnesses will be there. And you
thought these things were secret, did you, known
only to a few? But the lady will not wed except
with
all the due forms. Say what is your resolve: if
you
say no to her, you will have to
perish before the
lighting of the lamps; if you perpetrate the
crime,
you will have a brief respite until the affair, known
already to the city and the people, shall come to the
Prince's ears; he will be the last to know of
the
dishonour of his house. Meanwhile, if you value a
few days of life so highly, then obey your orders:
for whatever you may deem the easier and the
better way, still, that fair white neck of yours will
have to be offered to the sword.
Is there nothing then for which men shall
pray? If you ask my counsel, you will leave it to
the Gods themselves to provide what is good for
us, and what will be serviceable for our state; for,
in place of what is pleasing, they will give us what
is best. Man is dearer to them than he is to
himself. Impelled by strong and blind desire in our
hearts, we ask for wife and offspring; but the Gods
know of what sort the sons, of what sort the wife, will
be. Still, that you may have something to pray for,
and be able to offer to the shrines entrails and por-
tending sausages from a white porker, you should
pray for a sound mind in a sound body; ask for a
stout heart that has no fear of
death, and deems length
of days the least of Nature's gifts; that can endure
any kind of toil; that knows neither wrath nor desire,
and thinks that the woes and hard labours of Hercules
are better than the loves and the banquets and the
downy cushions of Sardanapalus.l What
I recommend
to you, you can give to yourself; for it is assuredly
through virtue that lies the one and only path to a
life of peace. Thou would have no divinity, O
Fortune, if we had but wisdom; it is we that make
a goddess of thee, and place thee in the skies.
1 The last king of the
Assyrian empire of Niveveh. A
proverb of luxury.
T I have altered the
translation here which originally read "from Gades to the Ganges and
the Morn".
Though I do not qualify even as an amateur translator, still, it seems
that the word Morn(ing),
unless it involves an idiom unknown to me, appears not to make any
sense. The Latin word used -
"Auroram", can also mean dawn. Dawn appears on the eastern
horizon and therefore in the
direction of the Ganges River. From context, including the word
"opposites" on the next line,
it seems obvious that Juvenal means something like "across the world"
or "to the opposite ends
of the Earth" as Gades - now Cadiz, figures to be the westernmost city
of any size in the Roman
World, and the Ganges the most prominent feature known on the far East.
I am reluctant to
substitute the names of modern cities for ancient ones not just because
these cities were very
different but because they may have had a much different significance
to the peoples of their
respective times. Since the significant attribute here is the
western location, I have interjected
the word "western" to compensate for what was lost in the substitution.
T defender : vindex
: I see this word being translated as "avenge"; ultor,
"avenger" is also being used in this sentence. I assume translators are
thinking how this is a past event and therefore find it too late to
defend Cannae. I translate literally and guess the meaning is
the future defender of Cannae - that which would keep this from
happening again.
wax : "Wax tablets containing prayers." Miller
attic : i.e. that abode of a poor man
aconite : poison
facses : rods of office.
wheels : "Of the triumphal statues" Miller
mob of Remus : "The lower orders of Rome"
Miller
no one buys our votes : Because "Tiberius deprived
the people of the right of electing magistrates." Miller
none will bear witness against us : by kicking
Sejanus while he is down (and out) they want to remove suspicion
that they were involved in the conspiracy with him.
slave : to remind the Consul that "You are but
a man", something he was periodically required to whisper in
his ear.
bull : to sacrifice in thanksgiving.
Aedile :
"At Rome, two sets of magistrates, the Plebeian (aedilesplebis
or
plebeii) and the Curule (aedilescurules).
The two Plebeian Aediles were
appointed B.C. 494 at the same time with the creation of the
tribuneship of the plebs, as servants of the tribunes, and at first
probably nominated by them till 471, [p. 21] when, like them and under their presidency, they
began to be elected by the whole body of the plebs. They took their
name from the temple (aedes) of the plebeian goddess Ceres, in
which their official archives were kept. Besides the custody of the
plebiscita, and afterwards of the senatusconsulta , it was
their duty to make arrests at the bidding of the tribunes; to carry out
the death-sentences which they passed, by hurling the criminal down
from the Tarpeian Rock; to look after the importation of corn; to watch
the traffic in the markets; and to organize and superintend the
Plebeian and Roman Games. Like the tribunes, they could only be chosen
from the body
of the plebs, and wore no badge of office, not so much as the toga
praetexta
, even after they became an authority independent of the tribunes.
The Curule Aediles, from B.C. 366,
were taken at first from the patrician body alone, soon after from
patricians and plebeians by turns, and lastly from either. Elected
yearly in the Comitia Tributa under the presidency of a consul, they
were, from the first, officers of the whole people, though low in rank;
they sat in the sellacurulis , from which they took their name,
and wore as insignia the toga praetexta . As in rank, so in the
extent of their powers, they stood above the plebeian aediles, being
entitled to exercise civil jurisdiction in market business, where the
latter could only impose a fine. The functions of
the two were very much alike, comprising: (a) the
superintendence of trade in the market, where they had to test weights
and measures and the quality of goods; to keep down the price of
provisions, both by prohibitive measures especially against regraters
of corn, and by the purchase and liberal distribution of food (curaannonae);
and, as regards the money market, to prosecute those who transgressed
the laws of usury; ( b ) the
care of the streets and buildings within the city and the circuit of a
mile outside, by cleansing, paving, and improving the streets, or
stirring
up those who were bound to do it; by seeing that the street traffic was
unimpeded; by keeping in repair the temples, public buildings, and
works,
such as sewers and aqueducts, and seeing that these latter and the fire
apparatus were in working order; (c) a superintendence of health and
morals,
including the inspection of baths, taverns, and brothels, and the
putting-down
of all that endangered public order and decency, e. g. games of hazard,
breaches of sumptuary laws, introduction of foreign religions, etc.;
(d)
the exhibition of games (of which the Roman and Megalensian devolved on
the curule, the Plebeian on the plebeian aediles), the supervision of
festivities
at the feriae Latinae, and at games given by private men. The
cost of the games given by themselves they defrayed partly out of a sum
set apart by the State, but utterly inadequate to the large demands of
later
times; partly out of the proceeds of fines which were also spent on
public
buildings, and partly out of their own resources. Thus the aedileship
became
an expensive luxury, and its enjoyment less and less accessible to men
of moderate means. Ambitious men often spent incredible sums in getting
up games to win the people's favour, with a view to higher honours,
though
the aedileship was not necessary as a stepping-stone to these. In
Cicero's
time the legal age for the curule aedileship was thirty-seven. From
B.C.
366 their number was unchanged, till Caesar, in B.C. 44, added two
more,
the plebeian aediles cereales, to whom
alone
the curaannonae and the management of the Ludi Cereales were
intrusted.
Under the Empire the office of aedile lost much in importance by some
of
its functions being handed over to separate officers, especially by the
transference of its jurisdiction and its control of games to the
praetors; and it fell into such contempt that even Augustus had to make
a tenure
of it, or the tribuneship, a condition of eligibility to the
praetorship; and succeeding emperors often had to fill it by
compulsion. In the third century A.D. it seems to have died out
altogether." Peck
Crassus : The richest man in Rome. Made up part
of the First Triumvirate along with Julius Caesar and Pompey.
Quirites : Romans.
rostra : Cicero's severed head and hand were
placed
here where he spoke.
thus : the above is "one of Cicero's bad verses"
Miller. From the poem De suo Consulatu.
Antony : it was Antony that killed Cicero.
second : This means the oration called the Second
Phillipic
of Cicero's which attacked Antony.
vinegar : "Was vinegar the world's first
bulldozer? Without vinegar, Hannibal's march over the Alps to Rome may
not have been possible! The chronicles of this historic march describe
the essential role vinegar played in the task of getting Hannibal's
elephants over the perilous mountain trails.
Frequently, the tortuous passage across
the Alps was too narrow for the huge elephants. Hannibal's solution was
for his soldiers to cut tree limbs and stack them around the boulders
which blocked their way. Then the limbs were set afire. When the rocks
were good and hot, vinegar was poured onto them.
This turned the stones soft and crumbly.
The soldiers could then chip the rocks away, making a passage for both
the troops and elephants."
http://www.onepaper.com/stthomasvi/?v=d&i=&s=Lifestyles:Home%2FGarden&p=1555
Subura : "The Bowery of ancient Rome,
comprehending the valley between the Esquiline, Quirinal, and Viminal,
densely populated and rather disreputable in its character. Martial
speaks of its noise
( clamosa Subura , xii. 18, 2), and both Persius (v. 32) and
Martial (xi. 78, 11) mention it as the resort of prostitutes."
Peck
Gaetulian beast : "Elephant"
Miller. The one-eyed General is Hannibal.
elephants : That is, African elephants as
opposed to Indian elephants.
Cannae : Great defeat of the Romans at the hands
of Hannibal and the Carthiginians.
Gyara : "A small island in the Aegean Sea"
Sat. I.
Seriphos : Barren island in the Aegean
where criminals were exiled.
Mount Athos " The mountainous peninsula also
called Acté, which projects from Chalcidicé in Macedonia.
At
its extremity it rises to the height of 6349 feet; the voyage round it
was so dreaded by mariners that Xerxes had a canal cut through the
isthmus
which connects the peninsula with the mainland
to
afford a passage to his fleet." Peck
Corus : North-West Wind.
Aeolian prison-house : Aeolus kept the winds in
a cave - Rudd
"Aeŏlus
The ruler of the winds, son of Hippotas and Melanippé,
daughter of Chiron. He reigned over the Aeolian Islands, and made his
residence at Strongylé, the modern Stromboli . The island was
entirely surrounded by a wall of brass, and by smooth, precipitous
rocks; and here he dwelt in continual joy and festivity, with his wife
and his six sons and as
many daughters. The island had no other tenants. The sons and daughters
were married to each other, after the fashion set by Zeus and
Heré.
Odysseus came in the course of his wanderings to the island of Aeolus,
and was hospitably entertained there for an entire month. On his
departure,
he received from Aeolus all the winds but Zephyrus, tied up in a bag of
ox-hide. Zephyrus was favourable for his passage homeward. During nine
days and nights the ships ran merrily before the wind; on the tenth
they
were within sight of Ithaca, when Odysseus , who had hitherto held the
helm himself, fell asleep. His comrades, who fancied that Aeolus had
given
him treasure in the bag, opened it: the winds rushed out, and hurried
them
back to Aeolia. Judging, from what had befallen them, that they were
hated
by the gods, the ruler of the winds drove them with reproaches from his
isle.
The name Aeolus has been derived from aiolos,
“varying,”
“unsteady,” as a descriptive epithet of the winds." Peck
Earth-shaker : Neptune.
Eurus : "The east wind, properly the
eastsoutheast" Peck
forgotten : a merciless commentary on
impotence follows.
Oppia : speculation is that this name may have
come
from a Vestal Virgin condemned in 483 B.C. Themison was
obviously
a well-known doctor or quack.
Phiale : a famous prostitute.
Hecuba "The daughter of Dymas, a Phrygian prince
(or, according to others, of Cisseus, a Thracian king, while others,
again, made her the daughter of the river-god Sangarius and
Metopé). She was the second wife of Priam, king of Troy (
Apollod.iii.12.6), and bore him nineteen children ( Il.xxiv.
496), of whom the chief were Hector, Paris, Deïphobus, Helenus,
Troïlus, Polites, Polydorus, Cassandra, Creüsa, and Polyxena.
When she was pregnant with Paris (q.v.), she dreamed that she brought
into the world a burning torch, which reduced
her husband's palace and all Troy to ashes. On her telling this dream
to
Priam, he sent for his son Aesacus, by a former wife Arisbé, the
daughter of Merops, who had been reared and taught to interpret dreams
by his grandfather. Aesacus declared that the child would be the ruin
of
his country, and recommended him to expose it. As soon as born, the
babe
was given to a servant to be left on Ida to perish; but the attempt
proved
a fruitless one, and the prediction of the soothsayer was fulfilled.
After
the ruin of Troy and the death of Priam, Hecuba fell to the lot of
Odysseus,
and embarked with the conquerors for Greece. The fleet, however, was
detained
off the coast of the Thracian Chersonese by the appearance of the
spectre
of Achilles on the summit of his tomb, demanding to be honoured with a
new offering. Polyxena was, in consequence, torn from Hecuba and
immolated
by Neoptolemus on the grave of his father. The grief of the mother was
increased by the sight of the dead body of her son Polydorus, washed
upon
the shore, who had been cruelly slain by Polymestor, king of Thrace, to
whose care Priam had consigned him. Bent on revenge, Hecuba managed, by
artifice, to get Polymestor and his two children in her power, and, by
the aid of her fellow-captives, she effected the murder of his sons,
and then put out the eyes of the father. This act drew upon her the
vengeance of the Thracians : they assailed her with darts and showers
of stones;
and, in the act of biting a stone with impotent rage, she was suddenly
metamorphosed into a dog (Ovid, Met. xiii. 429 foll.). Hyginus
says
that she threw herself into the sea ( Fab.111), while Servius
states
that she was changed into a dog when on the point of casting herself
into
the waters ( Ad Aen. iii. 6). The story
of Hecuba forms the subject of a play by Euripides (q.v.). " Peck
Solon : " ... So then, they say that Solon, on
visiting Sardis at the invitation of Croesus, had much the same
experience
as an inland man who goes down for the first time to the sea. For just
as such a man thinks each successive river that he sees to be the sea,
so Solon , as he passed through the court and beheld many of the king's
retainers in costly apparel and moving proudly amid a throng of
couriers
and armed guards, thought each in turn to be Croesus , until he was
brought
to the king himself, who was decked out with everything in the way of
precious stones, dyed raiment, and wrought gold that men deem
remarkable,
or extravagant, or enviable, in order that he might present a most
august
and gorgeous spectacle. [3] But when
Solon, in this presence, neither showed any astonishment at what he
saw,
nor made any such comments upon it as Croesus had expected, but
actually
made it clear to all discerning eyes that he despised such vulgarity
and
pettiness, the king ordered his treasure chambers thrown open for the
guest, and that he should be led about to behold the rest of his
sumptuous equipments. Of this there was no need, for the man himself
sufficed to
give Solon an understanding of his character. However, when Solon had
seen everything and had been conducted back again, Croesus asked him if
he had ever known a happier man than he. [4]
Solon said he had, and that the man was Tellus, a fellow-citizen
of his own; Tellus , he went on to say, had proved himself an honest
man,
had left reputable sons behind him, and had closed a life which knew no
serious want with a glorious display of valor in behalf of his country.
Croesus at once judged Solon to be a strange and uncouth fellow, since
he did not make an abundance of gold and silver his measure of
happiness,
but admired the life and death of an ordinary private man more than all
this display of power and sovereignty. [5]
Notwithstanding, he asked him again whether, next to Tellus, he
knew any other man more fortunate than he. Again Solon said he did
naming
Cleobis and Bito, men surpassing all others in brotherly love and in
dutiful
affection towards their mother; for once, he said, when the car in
which
she was riding was delayed by the oxen, they took the yoke upon their
own
shoulders and brought their mother to the temple of Hera , where her
countrymen
called her a happy woman and her heart was rejoiced; then, after
sacrifice
and feasting, they laid themselves to rest, and never rose again, but
were
found to have died a painless and tranquil death with so great honor
fresh
upon them. [6] “What!” said Croesus,
who by this time was angered, “dost thou not count us among happy men
at
all?” Then Solon, who was unwilling to flatter him and did not wish to
exasperate him further, said: “O king of Lydia, as the Deity has given
us Greeks all other blessings in moderation, so our moderation gives us
a kind of wisdom which is timid, in all likelihood, and fit for common
people, not one which is kingly and splendid. This wisdom, such as it
is, observing that human life is ever subject to all sorts of
vicissitudes, forbids us to be puffed up by the good things we have, or
to admire a man's felicity while there
is still time for it to change. [7]
For the future which is advancing upon every one is varied and
uncertain,
but when the Deity bestows prosperity on a man up to the end, that man
we consider happy; to pronounce any one happy, however, while he is
still
living and running the risks of life, is like proclaiming an athlete
victorious
and crowning him while lie is still contending for the prize; the
verdict
is insecure and without authority.” When he had said this, Solon
departed,
leaving Croesus vexed, but none the wiser for it." Plutarch,
Lives (ed. Bernadotte Perrin)
".. Croesus having been made prisoner, a pile was erected, on
which he was placed in order to be burned alive. After keeping silence
for a long time, the royal captive heaved a deep sigh, and with a groan
thrice pronounced the name of Solon. Cyrus sent to know the reason of
this exclamation, and Croesus, after considerable delay, acquainted him
with the conversation between himself and Solon. The Persian king,
relenting upon this, gave orders for Croesus to be released."
Peck
Marius : "Gaius, a distinguished Roman general
and statesman ... Marius was elected consul a third
time in 103, and
a fourth time in 102. In the latter of these years the Cimbri returned
into Gaul. The barbarians now divided their forces. The Cimbri marched
round the northern foot of the Alps, in order to enter Italy by the
northeast, crossing the Tyrolese Alps by the defiles of Tridentum
(Trent). The Teutoni and Ambrones, on the other hand, marched against
Marius, who had taken
up a position in a fortified camp on the Rhône. The decisive
battle
was fought near Aquae Sextiae (Aix). The carnage was dreadful. The
whole
nation was annihilated, for those who did not fall in the battle put an
end to their own lives. The Cimbri, meantime, had forced their way into
Italy. Marius was elected consul a fifth time (B.C. 101), and joined
the
proconsul Catulus in the north of Italy. The two
(generals
gained a great victory over the enemy on a plain called the Campi
Raudii,
near Vercellae Vercelli). The Cimbri met with the same fate as the
Teutoni;
the whole nation was destroyed. Marius was received at Rome with
unprecedented
honours. He was hailed as the saviour of the State; his name was
coupled
with the gods in the libations and at banquets, and he received the
title
of third founder of Rome.
Hitherto the career of Marius had been a glorious one; but the
remainder of his life is full of horrors, and brings out the worst
features
of his character...." Peck
Minturnae : "An important town in Latium,
on the frontiers of
Campania, situated on the Via Appia, and on both banks of the Liris,
and near the mouth of this river. It was an ancient town of the Ausones
or Aurunci, but surrendered to the Romans of its own accord, and
received
a Roman colony B.C. 296. In its neighbourhood was a grove sacred
to the nymph Marica, and also extensive marshes (Paludes Minturnenses
), formed by the overflowing of the river Liris, in which Marius (q.v.)
was taken prisoner. Here are now the remains of an aqueduct and the
ruins
of an amphitheatre, at the modern Trajetta." Peck
Latona, Diana, Lucretia, Verginia : Latona was
the
mother of the goddess Diana; Lucretia was raped; Verginia sought after
by
a Roman official and killed by her father to prevent it.
Sabines : A neighboring people who merged early
with the Romans; known for their modest ways.
scrofulous : run-down,
diseased, or shabby looking.
Mars : He was caught in a net by Vulcan while
fooling
around with Vulcan's wife Venus (Aphrodite as the story is Greek).
mullet : "an unofficial punishment for adultery
was for the offended party to insert this fish with its sharp spines
into the adulterer's rectum." Rudd.
Endymion :
"(Endumiôn). In Greek mythology, the beautiful son of
Aëthlius (or, according to another story, of Zeus) and
Calycé, daughter of Aeolus, king of Elis, father of Epeus,
Aetolus, and Paeon, the first of whom won the government of the country
by conquering in a race which his father had set on foot. He was loved
by Selené, the moon-goddess, by whom he had fifty daughters.
They were supposed to symbolize the fifty lunar months which intervened
between the Olympic Games. His grave was at Olympia. Another story made
him a shepherd or hunter on Mount Latmos in Caria. Zeus bestowed on him
eternal youth and eternal life in the form of unbroken slumber.
Selené descended every night from heaven to visit and embrace
the beautiful sleeper in his grotto. The usual story, however, makes
Selené to have thrown him into a sleep so that she might kiss
and caress him without his knowledge. A beautiful statue in the British
Museum represents Endymion, and the legend inspired Keats to write one
of the most exquisite poems in English literature." Peck
Hippolytus :
"Theseus joined Hercules in his expedition against the
Amazons and carried off Antiope, or, as some say, Melanippe; but
Simonides
calls her Hippolyte.
Wherefore the Amazons marched against Athens, and having taken up a
position about the Areopagus they were vanquished by the Athenians
under
Theseus. And though he had a son Hippolytus by the Amazon, Theseus
afterwards
received from Deucalion in marriage Phaedra, daughter of Minos; and
when
her marriage was being celebrated, the Amazon that had before been
married
to him appeared in arms with her Amazons, and threatened to kill the
assembled
guests. But they hastily closed the doors and killed her. However, some
say that she was slain in battle by Theseus. And Phaedra, after
she
had borne two children, Acamas and Demophon, to Theseus, fell in love
with
the son he had by the Amazon, to wit, Hippolytus, and besought him to
lie
with her. Howbeit, he fled from her embraces, because he hated all
women.
But Phaedra, fearing that he might accuse her to his father, cleft open
the doors of her bed-chamber, rent her garments, and falsely charged
Hippolytus with an assault. Theseus
believed her and prayed to Poseidon that Hippolytus might perish. So,
when Hippolytus was riding in his chariot and driving beside the sea,
Poseidon
sent up a bull from the surf, and the horses were frightened, the
chariot
dashed in pieces, and
Hippolytus, entangled in the reins, was dragged to death. And when
her passion was made public, Phaedra hanged herself
." E 1.16-9. Apollodorus, "Library and
Epitome", Edited by Sir James Frazer.
Bellerophon :
"Bellerophontes (Bellerophontês). Son of Glaucus of
Corinth (or, according to another account, of Poseidon), and grandson
of Sisyphus. His proper name is said to have been Hipponoüs; the
name Bellerophontes implies that he was the slayer of some now unknown
monster... The wife of Proetus, Anteia (or Stheneboea ), fell in love
with the beautiful youth; he was deaf to her entreaties; she slandered
him to her husband, who resolved on his destruction. He sent
Bellerophon
to Lycia, to his father-in-law Iobates, with a tablet in cipher,
begging
him to put the bearer to death. Iobates first commissioned Bellerophon
to destroy the fire-breathing monster Chimaera, a task which he
executed
with the help of his winged horse Pegasus" Peck
lamps : i.e. before nightfall.
Prince's : Caesar's, Claudius'.
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