Page:Statius (Mozley 1928) v1.djvu/301

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SILVAE, IV. ix. 9–30

own trouble, well, certainly a ten-a-piece! Yours, moth-eaten and mouldering, like those that are soaked by Libyan olives, or wrap up incense or pepper from the Nile, or cultivate the Byzantine tunny; not containing even your own youthful speeches that you thundered at the three Courts^[1] or the Hundred Judges,^[2] before Germanicus placed the obedient corn-supply under your control, or put you in charge of the posts on all the roads,^[3] but the mumblings of ancient Brutus^[4] out of a wretched book-peddler’s case, that cost you, roughly shall we say, an as of Gaius^[5]—that was your present! Were there then no more felt caps stitched together from rags of tunics, no towels or faded napkins? no writing-paper, or Theban dates, or Carian figs? nowhere a bunch of plums or Syrian figs packed in a collapsible case^[6]? no dry wicks or cast-off jackets of onions?

↑ Roman, Julian, and Augustan. Courts of law were often situated in the buildings of the “fora.”
↑ See iv. 4. 43 n. It usually sat in the Basilica Julia, in the Forum Romanum.
↑ It is a question whether these are two posts or one; if the former, they would be the prefectship of the corn-supply, and supervision of the relay-stations on the great-highways; if the latter, it has been suggested that the post was one of organizing supplies for Domitian’s last Dacian campaign, or, as Hirschfield thinks, of commissariat officer for Domitian when on the march (“sequenti” might support this).
↑ The friend of Cicero and murderer of Caesar. “senis,” because he dates so long back.
↑ The Emperor Gaius had debased the coinage.
↑ Apparently a cone-shaped case (“turbo” is commonly used of objects so shaped, e.g. a top); “ruenti” suggests that the contents could easily be upset into the purchaser’s bag; at any rate it would be a purely temporary receptacle, which is the point here; a paper bag, or paper screw would be the modern equivalent. Vollmer compares Mart. xiii. 25 (of a packet of pine-cones), “poma sumus Cybeles: procul hinc discede viator, ne cadat in miserum nostra ruina caput.” The “torta meta” in which “cottana” were packed. Mart. xiii. 28, may also be compared. “Cottana” were smaller than ordinary figs; as Mart. says, “si maiora forent cottana, ficus erat.” The reader may also be referred to Martial’s 13th book, in which a large number of Xenia, or presents for the Saturnalia, are described, each in a couplet; e.g. incense (4), figs (23), cheeses (30–33), sausage (35), etc.

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[1] Roman, Julian, and Augustan. Courts of law were often situated in the buildings of the “fora.”

[2] See iv. 4. 43 n. It usually sat in the Basilica Julia, in the Forum Romanum.

[3] It is a question whether these are two posts or one; if the former, they would be the prefectship of the corn-supply, and supervision of the relay-stations on the great-highways; if the latter, it has been suggested that the post was one of organizing supplies for Domitian’s last Dacian campaign, or, as Hirschfield thinks, of commissariat officer for Domitian when on the march (“sequenti” might support this).

[4] The friend of Cicero and murderer of Caesar. “senis,” because he dates so long back.

[5] The Emperor Gaius had debased the coinage.

[6] Apparently a cone-shaped case (“turbo” is commonly used of objects so shaped, e.g. a top); “ruenti” suggests that the contents could easily be upset into the purchaser’s bag; at any rate it would be a purely temporary receptacle, which is the point here; a paper bag, or paper screw would be the modern equivalent. Vollmer compares Mart. xiii. 25 (of a packet of pine-cones), “poma sumus Cybeles: procul hinc discede viator, ne cadat in miserum nostra ruina caput.” The “torta meta” in which “cottana” were packed. Mart. xiii. 28, may also be compared. “Cottana” were smaller than ordinary figs; as Mart. says, “si maiora forent cottana, ficus erat.” The reader may also be referred to Martial’s 13th book, in which a large number of Xenia, or presents for the Saturnalia, are described, each in a couplet; e.g. incense (4), figs (23), cheeses (30–33), sausage (35), etc.

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