[Footnote 1: _Because invocated_)--Ver. 70. "Invocatus." The following Note is extracted from Thornton's Translation of this Play:-- "The reader's indulgence for the coinage of a new term (and perhaps not quite so much out of character from the mouth of a Parasite) is here requested in the use of the word 'invocated' in a sense, which it is owned, there is no authority for, but without it no way occurs to explain the poet's meaning--which, such as it is, and involved in such a pun, is all that can be aimed at. The word 'invocatus' means both 'called upon' and 'not called upon.' Ergasilus here quibbles upon it; for, though at entertainments be attends, as it is the common character of Parasites to do, without invitation, that is 'not called upon;' and as mistresses are 'called upon' that their names so invoked may make their lovers throw the dice with success; still, according to the double sense of the word, they may be compared to each other, as they are both, according to the Latin idiom, 'invocati.'"] [Footnote 2: _That buffoons_)--Ver. 71. "Derisores," "buffoons." By this word he means that particular class of Parasites who earned their dinners by their repartees and bon-mots.] [Footnote 3: _Invokes his mistress_)--Ver. 73. It was the Grecian custom, when they threw dice at an entertainment, for the thrower to call his mistress by name, which invocation was considered to bring good luck.] [Footnote 4: _When business is laid aside_)--Ver. 78. "Ubi res prolatae sunt." Meaning thereby "in vacation-time." In the heat of summer the courts of justice were closed, and the more wealthy portion of the Romans retired into the country or to the seaside. Cicero mentions this vacation as "rerum proliatio." The allusion in the previous line is probably derived from a saying of the Cynic Diogenes: when he saw mice creeping under the table, he used to say, "See the Parasites of Diogenes."] [Footnote 5: _Like mastiffs_)--Ver. 86. "Molossici." Literally, "dogs of Molossus," a country of Epirus.] [Footnote 6: _Annoying-like and very troublesome-like_)--Ver. 87. "Odiosici--incommodestici." These are two extravagant forms of the words "odiosi" and "incommodi," coined by the author for the occasion.] [Footnote 7: _Pots to be broken_)--Ver. 89. By Meursius we are informed that these practical jokes were played upon the unfortunate Parasites with pots filled with cinders, which were sometimes scattered over their clothes, to the great amusement of their fellow-guests.] [Footnote 8: _The Trigeminian Gate_)--Ver. 90. The Ostian Gate was so called because the Horatii left the city by that gate to fight the Curiatii. The brothers being born at one birth were "trigemini," whence the gate received its name. The beggars with their wallets were seated there. See the Trinummus, 1.423, and the Note to the passage.] [Footnote 9: _Since my patron_)--Ver. 92. Rex; literally, "king." The Parasites were in the habit of so calling their entertainers.]