Money versus Ancestry
Horace,
Epodes 4.5-6 (tr. Niall Rudd):
You may strut around as proudly as you like on account of your money—
fortune does not alter breeding.
licet superbus ambules pecunia,
fortuna non mutat genus.
David Mankin ad loc.:
5 licet 'although'; cf. 15.19n.
superbus: a term of opprobrium, especially in political contexts
(2.7n.).
ambules 'strut' (OLD s.v. 4), a manner of walking that H. found
particularly hateful (5.71, 8.14 (cf. 17.41), S. 1.2.25, 4.51, 66). There
may be a reference here to Cat. 29.6-7 (of Mamurra) et ille nunc
superbus et superfluens I perambulabit omnium cubilia; cf. 5.69n. ambulo is
unpoetic and possibly colloquial (Blok (1961) 65, ThLL 1 1870).
pecunia: cf. Ep. 1.6.36-7 scilicet uxorem cum dote fidemque et amicos I et
genus et formam regina Pecunia donat.
6 fortuna 'good luck' (C. 1.31.10, 37.11, 3.27.75, 4.4.71, S. 1.9.45,
Ep. 1.5.12, 8.17, 2.1.32), but still only luck (C. 1.34, 3.29.49-56). Cf.
13.7n.
genus '(low) birth'; cf. C. 2.4.15, 4.7.23, S. 2.5.8, Ep. 1.6.37 (5n.),
20.22. The speaker's view of the importance of ancestry is very different from that expressed by H. in S. 1.6 (4 intro.).