Ajax - NOTES TO THE SECOND SECTION

NOTES TO THE SECOND SECTION

1. Side note: 33. Henry 8. For it is no reason M. AJAX should have a better gown than his mistress.

2. primus Romanorum] "the first of the Romans."

3. ultimus Romanorum] "the last of the Romans."

4. Side note: Caesar called Brutus son and said to him when he stabbed at him, και συ τεχνον (kai su technon) "And you, child?"

5. Victrix causa placet superis sed victa Catoni.] "The victorious cause pleased those above [i.e. the gods] but the defeated cause pleased Cato." Adapted from a phrase by Lucan, Pharsalia 1, 128.

6. Side note: It seems the writer hereof would fain be thought a Justice of peace.

7. Scandalum magnatum] a defamatory speech or writing published to the injury of a peer, judge, or other great officer of England (Merriam-Webster).

8. Quis non Euristea durum, Aut illaudati nescit Busiridis aras.] "Who knows not pitiless Eurystheus, or the altars of detested Busiris?" (H.R. Fairclough) Virgil, Georgics 3.1.

9. in exhauriendis cloacis.] "In cleaning of sewers."

10. Side note: Martial. 505. [V. 33] Carpere causidicus fertur mea carmina qui sit, nescio si sciero ve tibi causidice. "A lawyer is said to carp at my poems; who he is I don't know: if I do know, woe to you, lawyer!" (Walter Ker).

11. de stillicidiis, de aqua ductibus] "Of water running from roofs, of aqueducts."

12. purgare et reficere cloacam] "to clean and repair a sewer."

13. privatam cloacam facere, qua habeat exitum in publicum] "To make a private sewer, which would discharge into the public one."

14. Tubus, Fistula] "Pipes."

15. obtorto collo] "By the scruff of the neck." Side note: Some of our rude countrymen English this (obtorto collis) hanging an arse.

16. a minore ad majus.] "From smaller to larger," a method of legal argument which proposes a general rule from a particular case.

17. vilissima qua fuerunt vel sunt] "The vilest who ever is or will be." Side note: Agrippa saith of her, that she lay with twenty-two several men in twenty-four hours, at the common stews; et tandem lassata viris non satiata reddit. "And at last though worn out from all these men she was still not sated."

18. beg for a fool] to petition the Court of Wards for the custody of a an idiot.

19. in Capite] A feudal tenure held directly from the King

20. covert baron] "under the legal protection of a husband."

21. plus digne de sang] "Of nobler blood."

22. Side note: Two parts why Claudius was esteemed a fool. Look Sueton.

23. Side note: Claudius was in England.

24. Mortui non mordent] "Dead men don't bite."

25. Side Note: He is called fool to his face.

26. Side Note: But hereby hangs a tale.

27. Side Note: Claudius' judgment like that of Solomon.

28. deliciae humani generis] "The delight of the human race."

29. Side note: Oils, woad, tar &c.

30. a paribus] "equally."

31. recepi] "I have received."

32. Side note: Argumentum quaerit an contigenda sit aqua quae per civitatem Amestrianorum fluit. The contents is, whether he shall cover the water that runs by the town of Amestri.

33. Side note: Che scrisse taccia, et piu no'l faccia "He wrote silently, and did nothing more."

34. Magister incipiens] "A novice teacher."

35. Thomas Coperus omisit plurima verba ] "Thomas Cooper has left out very many words."

36. Side note: A great officer among the boys at Eton. Master of the rods.

37. Qui fueras quondam clarae praepositor aulae] "You who would be the brilliant prefect of the hall."

38. Side note: Eliot's Dictionary, and Cooper's, place these two words too near together.

39. Nero, Domitianus, Trajanus, Antonius, Pontifices Romanos laniarunt.] "Nero, Domitian, Trajan, Antoninus Pius, persecuted the pontiffs of Rome."

40. invincibilis ignorantia recusat] "Invincible ignorance excuses." This is a theological principle, that if a person does not know, and cannot reasonably be expected to know, that what they are doing is wrong, then it is not sinful for them.

41. Conquirendi non sunt] "They should not be hunted down"

42. Side note: S. Damascen. S. Brigid writes this of Trajan: believe them who list; for though it seem popish, yet it ministers an argument against some popish opinions.

43. ex inferno nulla redemptio] "there is no redemption out of Hell."

44. Incipit libri Deuteronomium, caput vicesimum tertium.] "Here begins the Book of Deuteronomy, chapter twenty-three."

45. s't tacete] Shh be quiet."

46. Side note: Authorities of Scripture.

47. Side note: Or a trowel.

48. Omnia munda mundis] "To the pure all things are pure." Titus. i. 15.

49. Fac hoc et viva] "Do this and you will live."

50. Da Domine quod jubes.] "Give me to do what you command, O Lord."

51. poetica licentia] "poetic licence."

52. reprehension] "Refutation", the sixth section of a classical oration, where the speaker answered the opponent's arguments.

53. Side note: There is a comedy called Priscianus vapulans; ("The Flogging of Priscian") where if one should say ignem hanc,("that fire," but ungrammatical — should be ignem hunc) Priscian would cry, his head were broken.

54. Haec tibi Traiano, &c.] "Micasmos, not Secundus, here writes respectfully to you, Trajan, far across land and sea."

55. de claro viis et modis, per annum CCCClxxx.d. "Net of all expenses, 480 pence [2 pounds] a year."

56. Tu autem] "You also", a phrase near the end of a grace or prayer.

57. Et ingressus sum &c.] "And I went out by night by the gate of the valley, even before the dragon well, and to the dung port, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and the gates thereof were consumed with fire." Neh ii. 13.

58. Side note: There is a noble and learned lady, Dowager to the Lord John Russel, that will not name love without save-reverence.

59. Porta stercoris] "Dung gate."

60. Side note: The Brick-kilns.

61. Side note: A reverend bishop told me that the Brownists have written a book called Josias's reformation, to this zealous purpose.

62. spurcitiarum latrinam] "A filthy privy."

63. spelunca latronum] "Dens (lit. caves) of thieves." Hary-Osto i.e. Ariosto, whose Orlando Furioso Queen Elizabeth ordered Harington to translate in full as a punishment for having shown a translation of the naughty bits to her ladies-in-waiting.

64. ne quid respub. detrimenti capiat] "that nothing may be done to harm of the state."

65. Side note: Isiae C. 3. 24. Et erit pro suavi odores foetor. "Instead of sweet smell there shall be stink."

66. poena sensus] Punishment of the senses.

67. Side note: One taught an excellent rule to keep a chimney from smoking and a privy from stinking; viz. to make your fire in the privy, and to set the close-stool in the chimney.

68. fiant clisteria,fiant pillulae, fiant potiones, fiant pessi] "They make enemas, pills, potions and pessaries."

69. Anglorum regi, scribit schola tota salerni.] "The whole school of Salerno writes to the King of the English."

70. Quatuor ex vento veniunt, &c.] "Four things come from wind held in, spasms, dropsy, colic, dizziness."

71. Multiplicant mictum, &c.] "Medlars increase the urine, and tighten the bowels; after pears, drink; after apples, go to the privy."

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