PROLOGUE.

Argument.—I never drank of Hippocrene, never dreamed on Parnassus. The maids of Helicon and the waters of Pirene are meat and drink for my masters—the acknowledged classics—not for me, a poor lay-brother, with my humble, homely song (1-7). Others succeed: the parrot with his Greek, the pie with her Latin. They have not dreamed on Parnassus either; but they have a teacher—the great master Belly—and Sixpence is their Phoebus Apollo. Hark how they troll forth their notes! (8-14).

Alas for me! no golden Muse, no silver sixpence inspires me. Quis leget haec?


This prologue is a survival of the dramatic element of the satire, as Casaubon has remarked. Peculiarly personal, the prologue is found in the earlier and in the later stages of art, in ballad literature and in reflective poetry. The spurious verses which precede the Aeneid—Ille ego—were intended to serve as a prologue, and prologues in prose and poetry are familiar to the readers of Martial, Statius, Ausonius, and Claudian.

There is no good reason to doubt the genuineness of the prologue, or to attribute the authorship to Caesius Bassus, the Editor of Persius, as Heinrich has done. Nor is there any sufficient ground for supposing that the prologue is fragmentary. The two parts—of seven verses each—do not hang well together, but the connection of the thought is not so remote after all. ‘In the former part, Persius ridicules the pretended source of the poetical inspiration of his time, in the latter he exposes its real origin’ (Teuffel).

More open to debate is the relation of the prologue to the satires. Is it an introduction to all, or only to the first? It is true that the prologue seems to belong especially to the first. Both furnish us with a programme of the poet’s views, with a confession of faith which consisted in a want of faith in the age; but as the First Satire itself contains a vindication of the poet’s work, and forms an introduction to the other five satires, it is safer not to restrict the prologue to the narrower office.

It is needless to say that these verses have not lacked admirers and imitators. The latter half is parodied by Milton (In Salmasii Hundredam), and the line magister artis ingenique largitor is expanded by Rabelais (4, 59).


The metre is the scazon or choliambus (G., 755; A., 82, 2, a, R), and as the combination of different rhythms is one of the peculiarities of the earlier satura, it is not unlikely that Persius followed an older pattern. In Petronius, cap. 5, the choliambus is in like manner followed by the hexameter, but the analogy is not close. The choliambus, the invention of the great lampoonist Hippōnax, is admirably adapted by its structure for the expression of disappointment, vexation, discontent. The march of the iambus is suddenly checked in the fifth foot, and the rapid measure violently tripped up. It is a mischievous metre, and betrays in its malice the Thersitic character of its inventor.


1. The allusion is to Ennius, the alter Homerus, who drank of Hippocrene (Prop., 3, 2 [4], 6), and dreamed that he had seen his great original on Parnassus (Cic., Ac. Pr., 2, 16, 51).—fonte:in the spring.’ The Latin Abl. often has a locative translation, when the conception is not necessarily or not distinctly locative. (G.,* 387.)—prolui: ‘drenched’ is designedly misused. The figure is Litotes. (G., 448, R. 2.) The greater the depression, the greater the rebound. Non prolui labra = ne primoribus quidem labris attigi. —caballino: Fons caballinus, ‘hack’s spring,’ is a mock translation of Hippocrene = ἵππου κρήνη: the fountain opened by Pegasus with his hoof. Caballus is a comic equivalent of equus. Comp. Juvenal’s Gorgonei caballi (3, 118).

* G. = Gildersleeve’s L. Grammar; A. = Allen and Greenough’s; M. = Madvig’s.

2. bicipiti: ‘two-peaked.’ Parnassus is called biceps, either because it appears to have two peaks from such common points of view as the entrance to the Corinthian Gulf (δικόρυμβος ὁ Παρνασός, Lucian, Char., 5), or because of the two tall cliffs (Ov., Met., 1, 316; 2, 221)—the Φαιδριάδες of Diodorus (16, 28), the δίλοφος πέτρα of Sophocles (Ant., 1126)—between which the Castalian spring takes its rise.—somniasse: sc. me somniasse (G., 527, R. 2; M., 401). With memini the Pres. Inf. is more common of Personal Recollection (G., 277, R; A., 58, 11, b), but the Perfect is also found when the action is distinctly recognized as a by-gone. Comp. saepe velut gemmas eius signumque probarem | per causam memini me tetigisse manum, Tib., 1, 6, 26. Also Ov., Am., 3, 7, 25-6; A. A., 2, 169. The Perfect is especially appropriate here, as the balance of the period would seem to require nec prolui nec (quod meminerim) somniavi; and so Conington with correct instinct translates, ‘never that I can remember.’

3. sic: οὕτως, ‘just so,’ ‘without any warning, any preparation.’—prodirem: ‘make my appearance’ (as it were on the stage).

4. Heliconidas: The Muses. Comp. Hesiod (Theog., 1). Hermann prefers the epic form, Heliconiadas.—-que-que: G., 478; A., 43, 2, a.pallidamque Pirenen: Pirene is the fountain of Acrocorinthus, where Pegasus was broken in by Bellerophon. The poetic virtue of its water was a late discovery. Pallidam, attribute for effect. Comp. pallida mors, χλωρὸν δέος, and the like. The pallor of students and poets needs no illustration.

5. remitto: ἀφίημι, for the more usual relinquo, which is a common v.l. Kisselius (Specimen criticum, p. 51) cites Cic., De Orat., 1, 58: tibi remittunt istam voluptatem et ea se carere patiuntur; and Tac., Hist., 4, 11: vim principis complecti, nomen remittere.—imagines: ‘busts’ (set up in libraries, public and private). Comp. ut dignus venias hederis et imagine macra, Juv., 7, 29.—lambunt: more frequently used of flames.

6. hederae: Notice the plural, ‘ivy wreaths,’ G., 195, R. 6. The ivy, being sacred to Bacchus, formed the wreath of victors in scenic contests; thence transferred to poets generally.—sequaces: ‘lissom, pliant.’ Persius seldom, if ever, uses a merely descriptive epithet, and hence some commentators have detected a sneer in these words, ‘lackeying ivy belicks.’—semipaganus: ‘poor half-brother of the guild’ (Conington). The paganus is admitted to all the sacra pagi (paganalia); the semipaganus is a lay-brother. Persius is not a vates, but a semivates. He is not initiated into what Aristophanes calls the γενναίων ὄργια Μουσῶν, Ran., 356. Those who believe that the Satires of Persius were aimed at Nero, see in semipaganus, ‘half-educated,’ as well as in the last seven verses, a deliberate disguise of the poet’s real condition, as a man of culture and of wealth. They overlook the sneer at the class which he is not worthy to join.

7. vatum: with the same tone of derision as in the English equivalent, ‘bards.’—nostrum: perhaps not simply = meum, but ‘native, home-made.’

8. expedivit: Expedire and conari both imply difficulty (Jahn), but the difficulty is completely conquered in expedire; not so in conari. The parrot, if not a Greek (ψιττακός), is a Hellenized Hindoo (bitak), and has learned to utter glibly his familiar Bonjour. The magpie is an Italian, and not so deft. Others regard this interpretation, which is essentially Jahn’s, as too subtle, and make verba nostra, which many prefer to nostra verba, simply equivalent to ‘human speech.’—chaere = χαῖρε. Greek was the language of small talk, love talk, parrot-talk.

10. magister artis ingenique largitor: Magister, of that which is taught; largitor, of that which comes from nature’s bounty; -que combines the two into an exhaustive unit (G., 478; A., 43, 3, a). The thought recurs in numberless forms. Comp. ἁ πενία, Διόφαντε, μόνα τὰς τέχνας ἐγείρει, Theocr., 21, 1; Paupertas omnes artis perdocet, Plaut., Stich., 1, 3. 23 (Jahn). Add χρεία διδάσκει, κἂν βραδύς τις ᾖ, σοφόν, Eur., fr. 709 (Nauck), and Alexis, fr. 205 (3, 479 Mein.), where the γαστήρ is expressly mentioned. Birds, it seems, were trained to talk by hunger.

11. negatas: (a natura).—artifex sequi: poetic syntax for a. sequendi. G., 424, R. 4. (comp. 429, R. 4); A., 57, 8, f, 3. A so-called Greek construction. See 1, 59. 70. 118; 5, 15. 24; 6, 6. 24.—sequi = sectari.—voces: (articulate) ‘speech.’

12. quod si: ‘Nay, if but.’ Commentators on Horace still indulge in remarks on the unpoetical character of quod si, copying Orelli on Od., 1, 1, 35. If quod si is prosaic, Propertius is to be pitied; he uses it at every turn.—dolosi: ‘seductive, alluring.’ Persius does not deal much in ‘general epithets;’ hence δόλιον κέρδος (Pind., Pyth., 4, 140) is not a sufficient parallel.—refulserit: better every way than refulgeat, which Jahn accepts in his ed. of 1868. The Perf. Subj. is more vivid and more correct than the Present. Re- must not be overlooked. Like the English ‘again,’ it denotes the reversal of a previous condition. Refulgere, ‘to catch the eye by its glitter,’ ‘to flash on the sight’—whereas it lay unnoticed before.—nummi: better translated as a coin. Comp. ‘The Splendid Shilling,’ ‘The Almighty Dollar;’ perhaps ‘The Magic Sixpence.’ Comp. Juv., 7, 8: nam si Pieria quadrans tibi nullus in umbra | ostendatur, etc.

13. corvos poetas et poetridas picas: ‘Raven poets and poetess pies,’ the substantive standing for an epithet, like popa venter, 6, 74. Which of the substantives is adjective to the other does not appear. For the corvus, Poe and Dickens will answer as well as Macrob., Sat. 2, 4. The male poet has a female counterpart in the magpie (pica). According to Ov. (Met., 5, 294, foll.), the daughters of Pierus, the Macedonian, were changed into magpies because they had challenged the Muses to a contest, and reviled the victorious goddesses. There seems to be an allusion to the literary ladies of the day, the blue-stockings of Juvenal’s Satire (6, 434 foll.). See Friedländer, Sittengeschichte, 1, 481. Poetridas after Gr. analogy.

14. cantare nectar: a poetic extension of the cognate accusative = nectareum carmen cantare (G., 331; A., 52, 1, b). Nectar is copied from Pind., Ol., 7, 7 (νέκταρ χυτόν, Μοισᾶν δόσιν), and when combined with Pegaseium is sufficiently grandiloquent to be as absurd as it is intended to be. The old reading, melos (μέλος), with its faulty quantity, rarely finds a champion against nectar.


FIRST SATIRE.

This Satire is an attack on the literature of the day as the efflorescence of the corruption of the times. The age is personified by a critical friend, but it is not always easy to determine when the poet is speaking and when the friend, or when the satirist is meeting an imaginary objection from some other imaginary quarter. The unreality of the whole dialogue is confessed with more candor than art in v. 44. Instead of a firm outline, we have a floating quisquis es.

Argument.—The poem opens with a line, which Persius recites to his man of straw, who forthwith urges him to abandon authorship (1-3). The poet acknowledges that he is at odds with his generation and expects no applause at their hands. But little does he care for their praise; let them prefer a Labeo to him. Their standard is not his standard. He is his own canon. He will not, can not follow the advice of his friend. He must obey the impulse of his temper and speak out (4-12).

Whether we write laborious verse or laborious prose—so the attack begins—it is all one; display and applause are the aim and object of both. The style is fustian; the delivery wanton; the theme prurient. The bard is little better than a bawd (13-23). And yet so deeply rooted is this love of praise that learning is loss, unless it be minted into golden opinions, and knowledge is naught until it be known of men. To be pointed out as a lion, to be used as a school classic—what glory! (24-30). Oh, yes! A glory shared by the dainty ditties, the mewling elegies of lisping, snuffling dandies, for this is what calls forth the approval of the after-dinner circle. Such is the praise that is to bless the poet even after death! (30-40). It is true that fame is not to be despised. No poet but feels his heart vibrate to praise. But the popular acclaim is not the ultimate standard. Mad epics, elegies thrown off in a surfeit, effusions of aristocratic easy-chairs are alike lauded. A man feeds the hungry and clothes the naked, and then asks for a candid opinion. Mockery of criticism! (40-62). The taste of the people relishes nothing but smooth verses—verses without flaw or break, faultless machine-verses—which answer any turn, and serve alike for satire, for eclogues, for heroic strains (63-75). Others, again, call themselves passionate pilgrims to the well of Latin undefiled, and linger over the obsolete magniloquence of Pacuvius and Accius. A fine olla podrida—this jumble of modern affectation and ancient trumpery (76-82). Bad as this is in literature, how much worse it is to find that the jargon of the salon has become the language of the courts, and that the manly Roman speech is dead. Even in a matter of life and death, the accused thinks more of his rhetorical than of his judicial sentence, and listens for a ‘Pretty good,’ as if that were the verdict (83-91). It will not do to say that great improvements have been made in the art of verse. Smooth are the verses and resonant, but at the cost of sense, of manly vigor. Once catch the trick, and any body can reel off such lines (92-106). Ears are ticklish, our satirist admits. Truth is an unwelcome rasp, and the cold shoulder of great men no toothsome meal. Police regulations are stringent. ‘Commit no nuisance’ is posted every where. Ah, well! It was otherwise in the time of Lucilius. That was a free world in which he craunched Lupus and Mucius. It was otherwise in the time of Horace. That was a gay world, in which he tickled while he taught. And is the poet not to mutter even? King Midas’s barber told his master’s secret to a ditch. Where can a ditch be found? Here in this book (107-121). Few readers can our author hope or desire—only such as have studied closely the great masters of the Attic sock, not such as ignorantly make a mock of Greek attire and Greek science, pride themselves on petty local honors, and rise to no higher conception of wit or fun than a dog-fight or a jibe at personal infirmity (122-134).

It has been well observed that this is the only Satire of Persius in the strict sense of the term; the other five have rather the character of essays on moral themes.

One of the best commentaries on this poem is the famous 114th Epistle of Seneca.

The student of English literature will remember that Gifford’s Baviad is an imitation of this piece.


1-7. At the very outset we encounter a difficulty in the distribution of the first lines between P. (Persius) and M. (Monitor, as the second interlocutor is usually called). The arrangement followed in the text may be explained thus:

P. (is discovered absorbed in contemplation. He recites a line from his projected poem).—‘Vanity of vanities!’

M.—Who will read this stuff of yours?

P. (wakes up).—Do you mean that for me? Why, no one, of course.

M.—No one?

P.—Next to no one.

M.—A lame and impotent conclusion!

P.—Why so? Am I to fear that Polydamas and the Trojan dames shall make up their minds to give Labeo the preference over me? Stuff! Don’t assent, when muddled Rome rejects a thing as light weight, and do not trouble yourself to get the faulty tongue of that pair of scales to work right, and look not outside of yourself for what you can find only within yourself.

1. O curas hominum! O quantum est in rebus inane! Homines and res are both used for ‘the world,’ sometimes singly, sometimes together. Res is often to be omitted in translation, or another turn given. O quantum est in rebus inane, ‘Vanity of vanities’—a suitable Stoic text. There seems to be no allusion to Lucretius’s common phrase, in rebus inane.

2. Quis leget haec? a quotation from Lucilius, according to the scholiast. Jahn follows Pinzger in supposing that the quotation begins with O curas hominum! See, however, L. Müller, Lucilius, p. 194.

3. vel duo vel nemo: is more guarded, and hence (by Litotes) stronger than nemo. Comp. Gr. ἢ τις ἢ οὐδείς.

4. ne mihi praetulerint: an elliptical sentence, such as we often find in final relations (A., 70, 3, f), in English as well as in Latin (G., 688, R.). The sequence is not common in the classic period, but see G., 512, R. Comp. Plaut., Aul., 2, 3, 11; Liv., 44, 22, and Weissenborn in loc. The Greek would be: μὴ προτιμήσωσι.—Polydamas: Some write Pulydamas, corresponding with the Homeric form, Πουλυδάμας; but Pōlydamas (Πωλυδάμας) is the Sicilian Doric, like pōlypus (πωλύπος). The allusion is to a familiar passage in Hom., Il., 22, 100. 104. 5: Πουλυδάμας μοι πρῶτος ἐλεγχείην ἀναθήσει—νῦν δ᾽ ἐπεὶ ὤλεσα λαὸν ἀτασθαλίῃσιν ἐμῇσιν | αίδέομαι Τρῶας καὶ Τρῳάδας ἑλκεσιπέπλους. These are the words of Hector, as he steels his great heart to meet Achilles. Polydamas is the counsellor who had urged him (18, 254) to withdraw the Trojans into Troy, and Hector is ashamed to turn back and encounter the rebuke of Polydamas and the reproaches of his people. Persius uses Polydamas as the type of the Roman critic, and by a familiar satiric stroke leaves out the Trojan men, as if they were no men in Rome. Others understand ‘Nero and his effeminate court.’ The Homeric passage had been well worn by Aristotle and Cicero (Att., 2, 5, 1; 7, 1, 4; 8, 16, 2) before it came to Persius. There is perhaps a side-thrust at the pride of the old Roman families in their Trojan descent. Comp. Juv., 1, 100: iubet a praecone vocari | ipsos Troiugenas; also 8, 181. See Friedländer, Sittengesch., 1, 230.—Labeonem: the Attius (Labeo) of v. 50, an unfortunate translator of Homer, who stuck close to the letter. The scholiast has preserved a line. Ὠμὸν βεβρώθοις Πρίαμον Πριάμοιό τε παῖδας (Il., 4, 35) is rendered thus: crudum manduces Priamum Priamique pisinnos. ‘Raw you’d munch both Priam himself and Priam’s papooses.’

5. nugae: The accusative is more common. Comp. G., 340, R. 1.—non accedas—nec quaesiveris: Non and nec, where Quintilian’s rigid rule (1, 5, 50) requires ne and neve. G., 266, R. 1; A., 41, 2, e. Comp. 3, 73 and 5, 45.—turbida: ‘muddle-headed’ (Conington). But comp. Alexandrea turbida, Auson., Clar. Urb., 3, 4.

6, 7. elevet: ‘reject as light.’ The figure is taken from weighing, doubtless a common trope in the schools.—examen: (filum, ligula) is the ‘index, tongue, or needle’ which is said to be inprobum, ‘faulty,’ ‘wilful,’ ‘untoward,’ because it does not move freely or accurately on its pivot.—trutina: (Gr. τρυτάνη, a word of doubtful etymology and loose application, means here ‘a balance,’ ‘a pair of scales,’ not, as the scholiast says, the foramen, ‘fork’ or ‘cheeks,’ in which the examen plays.—castiges = percutias (Schol.) of the tap given to a hitching balance. Gesner, s.v., regards castigare here as equivalent to conpescere (5, 100), a view which has a good deal in its favor. The notion is not ‘do not correct the popular standard,’ but ‘do not try to get an exact result by the popular standard (for your guidance).’ Hermann (Lect. Pers., II., 9) follows those who understand the examen and trutina of different instruments: Noli examen tuum in populi trutina castigare.* So Pretor, who translates: ‘Do not try to correct the erring tongue of your delicate balance by applying to it a pair of ordinary scales.’—nec te quaesiveris extra: (te) ‘Nor look for yourself (what you can find only in yourself) outside of yourself.’ ‘Be your own norm.’ Others arrange: nec quaesiveris extra te, ‘Nor ask any opinion but your own.’

* No satisfactory treatment of this subject is accessible to me. The Greek and Latin dictionaries are wildly at variance with one another and with the authorities. Examen seems to have been originally the strap by which the beam was suspended—not from AG, but from AP. See Isidor., Orig., 16, 23, and comp. amentum (ammentum). Add Lucil., 16, 14 (L. Müller). Eustathius’s τρυτάνη ἐπὶ ζογοῦ ἡ τειρομένη τῷ βάρει τῶν ὄγκων points to the pivot (knife-edge) as the first meaning of trutina.

8-12. The distribution followed is that of Jahn (1843), which gives nolo (v. 11) to the interlocutor. The jerky, self-interrupting discourse is supposed to be characteristic of the petulante splene cachinno. ‘What is the use of consulting Rome? Every body there is an— If I might say what! If I might? Surely I may, when I consider how old we are become, how grum we are, and all the step-fatherly manner of our lives, since the days of “commoneys” and “alley tors.” Indulge me. It can not be. What am I to do? Nothing? But I am a man of laughter with a saucy spleen.’

8. nam Romae quis non? The suppressed predicate is to be supplied from the general scope of the passage. The sentence is not completed in v. 131 (auriculas asini habet), for the simple reason that Persius did not write quis non in that passage, but Mida rex.

9. cum—aspexi: Cum is equivalent to postquam here. G., 567; A., 62, 3, e.—canitiem: ‘premature old age,’ ‘loss of youthful freshness.’ All through this satire the poet lashes old age, as commentators have observed. So here, and 22. 26. 56. 79. The ‘hoary head’ is not a ‘crown of glory,’ but a sign of debauchery; the ‘fair, round belly,’ which is not uncomely in the elderly justice, is nothing but a swagging paunch; the bald pate is not a mirror of honor, but a mirror of dishonor; in short, ‘no fool like an old fool.’ Especially severe is Persius on the ‘used-up’ man; and the affected moralizing of young men, who had outlived their youth before they had had time to forget the games of boyhood, drove him to satire. On the Neronian hypothesis, Persius is endeavoring to masquerade as an old man.—nostrum istud vivere triste: ‘sour way of life.’ This is a so-called figura Graeca, which out-Greeks the Greeks. Good authors are very cautious in adding an attribute to the infinitive, and do not go beyond ipsum, hoc ipsum. Scire tuum, v. 27; ridere meum, v. 122; velle suum, 5, 53; sapere nostrum, 6, 38, can not be rendered literally into the language from which they are supposed to be imitated. Nursery infinitives (3, 17) belong to a different category.

10. nucibus: The modern equivalent is ‘marbles.’ The very games survive. (See 3, 50.) It is hardly necessary to prove that putting away such childish things means becoming a man. Da nuces pueris, iners | concubine: satis diu | lusisti nucibus, Catull., 61, 127-9.

11. patruos: On the accusative, see G., 329, R. 1; A., 52, 1, c. The patruorum rigor was proverbial. Owing to the legal position of the paternal uncle, who was often the guardian, it is the patruus, not the avunculus, who is the type of severity. So the cruel uncle of the ballad of the ‘children in the wood’ is the father’s brother.

12. quid faciam? G., 258; A., 57, 6.—sed: (I know you want me to do nothing), ‘but’ (I can’t keep quiet) ‘I am a laugher born.’—petulante: literally, ‘given to butting,’ hence ‘saucy’—splene: The seat of laughter.—cachinno: a substantive, perhaps built by Persius on the analogy of bibo, epulo, erro, etc. Comp. glutto, 5, 112; palpo, 5, 176. Hermann, following Heindorf, makes cachinno a verb, and reads: tunc, tunc—ignoscite, nolo; quid faciam sed sum petulante splene—cachinno, ‘Then—then—excuse me—I would rather not—what am I to do?—I can’t help it—my spleen is too much for me—I must have my laugh.’ Jahn (1868) accepts tunc, tunc—ignoscite, nolo, but goes no further.

13-23. The battery opens. Verse-wright and writer of prose alike care for nothing except applause. Follows a vivid picture of a popular recitation.

13. Scribimus inclusi: Comp. scribimus indocti, etc. Hor., Ep., 2, 1, 117.—inclusi: ‘in closet pent’ (Gifford’s Baviad), to show the artificial and labored character of the composition in contrast with the beggarly result. Markland’s ingenious conjecture, inclusus numeris, is not necessary. Heinr. admires Markl., but retains numeros as a Greek accusative!—numeros: ‘poetry;’ pede liber = pede libero, ‘foot-loose,’ ‘prose,’ soluta oratio.

14. grande: ‘vast,’ ‘grandiose.’ Grandis is always used with intention, which our word ‘grand’ sometimes fails to give. See 1, 68; 2, 42; 3, 45. 55; 5, 7. 186; 6, 22.—quod pulmo: ‘something vast enough to make a lung generous of breath pant in the utterance of it.’ Jahn (1868) reads quo for quod; quo is not so vigorous.—animae praelargus: a stretch of the adjectives of fulness (G., 373, R. 6; A., 50, 3, b); praelargus = capacissimus.

15. scilicet: Ironical sympathy, ‘O yes!’—haec: The position is emphatic.—populo: ‘to the public,’ ‘in public.’ The political force of populus has ceased.—pexus: ‘with hair and beard well dress’d.’ ‘Combed’ hardly conveys the notion: say ‘shampooed.’—togaque recenti: ‘fresh’ (from the fuller).

16. natalicia sardonyche: Jewelry reserved for great occasions. The brilliancy of the sardonyx is a common theme. Rufe vides ilium subsellia prima tenentem | cuius et hinc lucet sardonychata manus, Mart., 2, 29, 1-2—tandem: shows impatience.—albus = albatus (comp. 2, 40; Hor., Sat., 2, 2, 61) on account of the toga recens. So niveos ad frena Quirites, Juv., 10, 45. Heinr. argues at length in favor of ‘pale.’

17. sede celsa = ex cathedra.—leges: So Jahn (1868), despite the MSS. Legens may be explained at a pinch as lecturus, a comma being put after ocello; Hermann combines with pulmo, and comp. Juv., 10, 238 sq., where os stands for the owner of the same. Add cana gula, Juv., 14, 10. But pexus and albus make such a synecdoche incredible.—liquido: quia liquidam vocem efficit. Comp. Hor., Od., 1, 24, 3: cui liquidam pater | vocem cum cithara dedit. The attribute is put for the effect, as in pallidam Pirenen, Prol., 4.—plasmate: according to Quint., 1, 8, 2, a technical name for the professional training of the voice, a kind of rhetorical solfeggio. Others understand the plasma of a gargle to clear the throat.

18. mobile collueris: Mobile is predicative. Translate: ‘after gargling your throat to suppleness by filtering modulation.’—patranti ocello: ‘an eye that would be doing,’ ‘a leering, lustful eye.’ Quint. (8, 3, 44) says of patrare: mala consuetudine in obscenum intellectum sermo detortus. Comp. ‘do’ in Shaksp., Troil. and Cressida, 4, 2: Go hang yourself, you naughty, mocking uncle! You bring me to do, and then you flout me too.—fractus = effeminatus, ‘debauched,’ ‘languishing,’ κλαδαρός. Conington translates: ‘with a languishing roll of your wanton eye.’

19. neque more probo nec voce serena: Litotes. see Prol., 1.

20. ingentis Titos: Comp. celsi Rhamnes, Hor., A. P., 342. Here, however, there is a reference to size of body (like ingens Pulfennius, 5, 190; torosa iuventus, 3, 86; caloni alto, 5, 95), for which Persius seems to have had a Stoic contempt. Titi, perhaps another form of Tities, the old Sabine nobility (Mommsen, Rom. Gesch., B. 1, K. 4), of whom much aristocratic virtue might have been expected (sanctos licet horrida mores | tradiderit domus ac veteres imitata Sabinos, Juv., 10, 298-9). Instead of that we have great, hulking debauchees.—trepidare: ‘quiver.’ The word is used indifferently of pleasant and unpleasant agitation. The quavering measure thrills them so that they can not sit still. On the infinitive, see 3, 64.

21. scalpuntur intima: ‘their marrow is tickled.’ Scalpere is opposed to radere, 1, 107. Comp. 3, 114; 5, 15.

22. tun: -ne is often found in rhetorical questions.—vetule: ‘you old reprobate,’ ‘you old sinner.’—escas: ‘tidbits;’ ‘escas colligere,’ ‘cater.’

23. quibus et dicas: Et belongs to cute perditus, which is variously explained ‘dropsical,’ ‘unblushing,’ ‘thoroughly diseased.’ The context requires a tough subject, and ‘hide-bound’ or ‘case-hardened’ might answer as a rendering.—ohe: a reminiscence of Hor., Sat. 2, 5, 96: importunus amat laudari; donec ‘Ohe iam | ad caelum manibus sublatis dixerit, urge, | crescentem tumidis infla sermonibus utrem, which last line helps us to understand cute perditus. Persius, as is his wont, tries to improve on Horace, and makes his man inelastic.

24-43. M. Study is useless except to show what a man has in him.—P. A low ideal for a student.—M. Fame is a fine thing.—P. It would be a fine thing if it were not shared by every dinner-table poet.—M. You are too captious. It is a great thing to have written poems that are proof against trunk-maker and pastry-cook.

24. Quo didicisse? The exclamatory infinitive with involved subject. G., 534 (340); A., 57, 8, g.

25. iecore: the seat of the passions. Here ‘heart’ or ‘breast’ would seem to be more appropriate.—caprificus: the wild fig-tree sprouts in the clefts of rocks and cracks of buildings, which it rends in its growth. Ad quae | discutienda valent mala robora fici, Juv., 10, 145.

26. En pallor seniumque: ‘So that’s the meaning of your studious pallor (v. 124; 3, 85; 5, 62) and your (early) old age.’ With senium comp. Hor., Ep., 1, 18, 47: inhumanae senium depone Camenae. Persius mocks at the weariness to the flesh which the student has undergone for so paltry a result. This is the arrangement of Jahn (1843) and Hermann. Jahn (1868) follows Heinr. in giving the line to the remonstrant. En, originally an interrogative, is, after the time of Sallust, confounded with em, and combined with the nom. in the sense of em, which properly takes the accus. alone. So Ribbeck, Beiträge zur Lehre von den latein. Partikeln, S. 35.—o mores: Cicero’s famous ejaculation.—usque adeone: Usque adeone mori miserum est, Verg., Aen., 12, 646; usque adeo nihil est, Juv., 3, 84.

27. scire tuum nihil est, etc.: ‘And is thy knowledge nothing if not known’ (Gifford). These jingles were much admired in antiquity. The passage from Lucilius, which Persius is said to have imitated, reads, according to L. Müller (fr. inc., 40, 73): ne dampnum faciam, scire hoc sibi nesciat is me. A better example in Lucr., 4, 470.

28. At: objects. See G., 490; A., 43, 3, b.—digito monstrari: δακτύλῳ δείκνυσθαι (δακτυλοδεικτεῖσθαι). Quod monstror digito praetereuntium, Hor., Od., 4, 3, 22; saepe aliquis digito vatem designat euntem, Ov., Am., 3, 1. 19.—hic est: οὗτος ἐκεῖνος, in the well-known story of Demosthenes. Cic., Tusc. Dis., 5, 36.—dicier: On the form, see G., 191, 2; A., 30, 6, e, 4. So fallier, 3, 50.

29. cirratorum: ‘curl-pates.’ Jahn cites Mart., 9, 29, 7: Matutini cirrata caterva magistri. School-boys wore their hair long, but Persius does not waste his epithets, and ‘youths of quality’ are doubtless meant. Comp. the lautorum pueros of Juv., 7, 177.—dictata: ‘Persius takes not only higher schools, but higher lessons, dictata being passages from the poets read out by the master (for want of books) and repeated by the boys’ (Conington). Translate ‘a lesson-book,’ a ‘school classic.’

30. Ecce: introduces a satiric sketch of ‘classic poets at work.’—inter pocula: ‘over their cups.’ Poems were read at table by an ἀναγνώστης, as lives of the saints are still read in religious houses.

31. Romulidae: Comp. Titos, v. 20; trossulus, v. 82; Romule, v. 87.—dia: θεῖα, an affected word. ‘Let us hear,’ say the company, ‘what his charming verses are about’ (Pretor). Conington renders: ‘What news from the divine world of poesy?’

32. hyacinthia laena: The dandies of the day wore upper garments of military cut and gay colors. A similar military dandyism on the part of non-military men is observable in the Macedonian period. Comp. χλαμυδηφόροι ἄνδρες, Theocr., 15, 6, with the commentators.

33. rancidulum quiddam: ‘affected stuff,’ ‘namby-pamby trash.’—balba de nare = de nare balbutiens, ‘with a nasal lisp,’ ‘with a snuffle and a lisp’ (Conington). Balbus is especially used of the introduction of an aspirate, and ‘lisp,’ which involves a spirant, is only approximate. Comp. θαῦμα μέγα, inquid balba, Lucil., 6, 20, with L. Müller’s note.—locutus: Perf. Part. where we should expect a Present. G., 278, R.

34. Phyllidas Hypsipylas: Phyllis, fearing that she had been deserted by her lover, Demophon, hanged herself, and was changed into an almond-tree (Ov., Her., 2). Hypsipyle of Lemnos, after bearing two children to Jason, was forsaken by him (Ov., Her., 6). These doleful themes (plorabilia) were popular in Persius’s time. The plural is contemptuous in Latin as in English.

35. eliquat: ‘filters.’ Every rough particle is strained out so as to make the voice ‘liquid.’ The passage from Apul., Flor., p. 351, Elm., cited by Jahn, canticum videtur ore tereti semihiantibus in conatu labellis eliquare, indicates a cooing position of the lips, in which the mouth simulates a colander.—supplantat: ὑποσκελίζει (Lucil., 29, 50, L. M.), ‘trips up.’ To judge by Hor., Sat., 2, 3, 274, balba feris annoso verba palato, of which the language of Persius seems to be an exaggeration, the sounds impinge upon the roof of the mouth instead of coming out boldly—a kind of lolling utterance.—tenero: adds another shade: the tripping is light, for the roof is sensitive; ‘minces his words as though his mouth were sore’ (Pretor).

36. adsensere viri: Observe the Epic vein. Adsensere omnes, Verg., Aen., 2, 130; adsensere dii, Ov., Met., 9, 259 (Jahn). Viri, ‘heroes.’—non-?—non-? On the form of the question, see G., 455; A., 71, 1, R.

37. levior cippus: Sufficiently familiar is the old wish, SIT · TIBI · TERRA · LEVIS, which, like the modern R·I·P·, was promoted to the dignity of initials (S·T·T·L·).—ossa: Patrono meo ossa bene quiescant, Petron., 39.

38. manibus = cineribus, ‘remains’ (Conington). On this ‘materialism,’ see Tylor, Primitive Culture, 2, 24 foll.

40. nascentur violae: ‘Lay her i’ the earth | and from her fair and unpolluted flesh | may violets spring.’ Shaksp., Hamlet, 5, 1.—‘Rides’ ait: As in Hor., Ep., 1, 19, 43. Ait is used like inquit (G., 199, R. 3), without any definite reference.—nimis uncis | naribus indulges: ‘you are too much given to hooking, curling your nose.’ Naribus uti, Hor., Ep., 1, 19, 45; naso adunco, Hor., Sat., 1, 6, 5.

41. an: when used alone is more or less rhetorical, and is intended to force a conclusion involved in the foregoing; ‘What?’ ‘So then?’ G., 459; A., 71, 2, b. Persius’s use of it is instructive: v. 87; 2, 19. 26; 3, 19. 27. 61; 5, 83. 125. 163. 164; 6, 51. 63.—velle meruisse: See G., 275, 2; A., 53, 11, d, for the tense of meruisse. The Perf. after velle is legal rather than Greek. Comp. v. 91, qui me volet incurvasse querela. So Hor. (Sat. 2, 3, 187), mimicking the legal tone: ne quis humasse velit Aiacem, Atrida, vetas? cur? Other Perf. Infinitives with varying motives are found: 1, 132; 2, 66; 4, 7. 17; 5, 24. 33; 6, 4. 6. 17. 77.

42. os populi: ‘popular applause,’ ‘a place in the mouths of men’ (Conington). Comp. the phrase in ore esse.—cedro digna: Cedar oil was used to preserve manuscripts. Speramus carmina fingi | posse linenda cedro, Hor., A. P., 331-2.

43. nec scombros nec tus: The fear of the mackerel is a stroke of Catullus, 95, 8, which Milton imitates, Ep., 10: gaudete scombri. Comp. Mart., 4, 86, 8. For tus, comp. Hor., Ep., 2, 1, 269: deferar in vicum vendentem tus et odores | et piper et quicquid chartis amicitur ineptis. The modern equivalent is the grocer or the pastry-cook.

44-62. The poet gives up his dramatizing and speaks in his own person. ‘I am not indifferent to fame, but I reject a standard which approves such stuff as Labeo’s, such ditties as “persons of quality” dictate after dinner, a standard which makes a hot dish the test of poetic fervor, and covers a multitude of poetic sins with a cast-off cloak. If you had eyes in the back of your head, you would see that all this praise is for value received.’

44. dicere feci: G., 527, R. 1; A., 70, 2.

45. non ego: ‘I do not decline your praise—no, not I.’ G., 447; A., 76, 3, d. Comp. 2, 3; 3, 78; and Hor., Ep., 1, 19, 37, non ego ventosae plebis suffragia venor.—si forte quid aptius exit: ‘if I chance to turn out (off) a rather neat piece of work.’ Exit may mean ‘to leave the shop’ (ex officina exire, Cic., Parad., pr. 5), or ‘to leave the potter’s wheel,’ as urceus exit, Hor., A. P., 22 (Jahn). Conington translates ‘hatch’ on account of rara avis. Κακὸν ᾠόν. The passage is imitated by Quint., 12, 10, 26.

46. quando: gives the reason for his saying si forte. There is no necessity of writing quanquam, but the translation ‘although’ is not unnatural, as causative particles are often adversative. Comp. cum and Gr. ἐπεί.—rara avis: proverbial as in the famous line of Juv., 6, 165.

47. laudari metuam: So Hor., metuens audiri, Ep., 1, 16, 60; metuit tangi, Od., 3, 11, 10. In prose the construction is less common with metuo than with vereor. G., 552, R. 1; M., 376, Obs.—cornea: ‘of horn.’ The metaphorical use seems to be novel. Comp. Hom., Od., 19, 211: ὀφθαλμοὶ δ᾽ ὡς εἰ κέρα ἔστασαν ἠὲ σίδηρος.—fibra: ‘heart.’ See 5, 29.

48. recti finemque extremumque: ‘the ultimate standard.’ Conington renders ‘be-all and end-all.’

49. euge, belle: like decenter (v. 84), are current expressions of approbation at public readings. Euge, ‘bravo!’ belle, ‘well said!’ decenter, ‘pretty fair!’ Martial gives us a list of popular comments (2, 27, 3-4): Effecte! graviter! st! nequiter! euge! beate! | hoc volui!excute: a favorite word with Persius as with Seneca, Ep., 13, 8; 16, 7; 22, 10; 26, 3; De Ira, 3, 36 (Jahn). The metaphor is taken from shaking clothes in order to get out any thing that may be concealed in them—Gr., ἐκσείειν. We should say ‘analyze.’

50. quid non intus habet: The figure is kept up. ‘What is not covered up in that beggarly rag of a belle’?—non = nonne. G., 445 and R.; A., 71, 1.—Atti: See v. 4.—Ilias ebria: Comp. ebrius sermo, Sen., Ep., 19, 9.

51. veratro: white hellebore (album multum terribilius nigro, Plin., II. N., 25, 5, 21), a strong emetic, which students took ‘to quicken their wits.’ The modern veratrum is a different drug.—elegidia: contemptuous, ‘bits of elegies’ on such themes as Phyllis and Hypsipyle. E. a Greek word not in Greek lexicons, like poetridas, Prol., 13.—crudi: with their dinners undigested and their brains muddled.

52. dictarunt: ‘extemporize.’—lectis: ‘sofas.’ The ancients wrote in a recumbent posture far more frequently than we do.

53. citreis: ‘of citron wood,’ ‘wood of the thyia’ (Thyia articulata, African Arbor Vitae, Plin., 15, 29). The fabulous cost of tables of this material is well known. Cic., Verr., 4, 17, 37.—scis: ‘you know how.’ Scire in this sense is related to posse, as Fr. savoir to pouvoir, a traditional distinction.—calidum: ‘hot-and-hot’ (Pretor).—ponere: 1. ‘serve up;’ 2. ‘cause to serve up,’ ‘treat to.’ Heri non tam bonum posui et multo honestiores cenabant, Petron., 34.—sumen: a dainty dish in the eyes of Greek and Roman. Comp. vulva nil pulchrius ampla, Hor., Ep., 1, 15, 41; Plut., Sanit. Praec., 124F; Alciphr., Ep., 1, 20; and the joke in Alexis, fr. 188 (3, 473 Mein.).

54. comitem horridulum trita donare lacerna: This is the kind of patronage that galled Lucian (De Merced. Cond., 37), who mentions the paltry present of an ἐφεστρίδιον ἄθλιον ἢ χιτώνιον ὑπόσαθρον. On the word comitem, see 3, 7. Horridulum comitem, ‘shivering beggar of a companion,’ ‘poor devil in your suite.’ For the custom, comp. Hor., Ep., 1, 19, 37: Non ego ventosae plebis suffragia venor | impensis cenarum et tritae munere vestis.

56. qui pote? Pote is an archaism for potis. Both potis and pote are used as predicates without regard to number and gender.—vis dicam: G., 546, R. 3; A., 70, 3, f, R. Vis does not wait for an answer. See 6, 63.—nugaris: ‘you are a twaddler’ (Conington).—calve: Persius calls up his vetulus (v. 22) again, and gives him a huge ‘bombard’ of a belly. Nero had a venter proiectus, and some editors fancy that Nero’s person is aimed at here, and Nero’s poetry in the verses that follow. See Introd., xxxvi.

57. aqualiculus: (said properly to mean ‘a pig’s stomach’) ‘paunch,’ ‘cloak-bag of guts,’ Shaksp.protenso sesquipede: Comp. the Greek proverb: παχεῖα γαστὴρ λεπτὸν οὐ τίκτει νόον. Even M. Martha is forced to say: Le trait n’est ni spirituel ni poli (Moralistes Romains, p. 147). For the justification, see v. 128. Jahn (1843) reads propenso.

58. Iane: Janus, who sees both ways, is secure from being laughed at behind his back.—ciconia pinsit = pinsendo ludit. The fingers of the mocker imitate the clapping of the stork’s bill. Pinsit, ‘pounds,’ because the ciconia levat ac deprimit rostrum dum clangit, Isidor., Orig., 20, 15, 3. ‘Pecks at’ is not correct; ‘claps’ is nearer. What seems to be meant is mock applause.

59. auriculas: The imitation of ass’s ears by the hands belongs to universal culture.—imitari mobilis = ad imitandum m. G., 424, R. 4; A., 57, 8, f.albas: on account of the white lining. Ov., Met., 11, 176: aures—villis albentibus implet.

60. linguae: The thrusting out of the tongue in derision is as common now as it was then.—canis Apula: Apulia was the δίψιον Ἄργος of Italy. Siticulosae Apuliae, Hor., Epod., 3, 16.—tantae: So Jahn and Herm. ‘Tongues big enough to represent the thirst of an Apulian hound’ (Pretor). Jahn compares for the construction, Luc., 1, 259: quantum rura silent, tanta quies. Conington considers tantum ‘much neater,’ and makes quantum sitiat = quantum sitiens protendat, ‘a length of tongue protruded like an Apulian dog in the dog-days.’

61. vos, o patricius sanguis: Hor., A. P., 291: vos, o | Pompilius sanguis. The Nom. for the Vocative in solemn address. G., 194, R. 3; A., 53, a.fas est = fatum est, ‘it is ordained.’

62. occipiti: Notice the exceptional Abl. in i. Comp. Auson., Epigr., 12, 8: occipiti calvo es, and capiti, v. 83.—posticae: chiefly of the back part of a building: ‘back-stairs’ (Conington).—occurrite: ‘turn round and face’ (Conington and Pretor).—sannae: ‘flout,’ ‘gibe,’ ‘fleer,’ μῶκος.

63-82. Persius takes up the thread which Janus had rudely snapt: ‘We have heard the bounden praise of dependants. What does the town say? Why, they admire the smooth flow of the verse, the grand style. If they find these requisites, little do they care about theme or order of development; the ’prentice hand that bungles an eclogue, undertakes an epic—nay, jumbles eclogue and epic—Bravo, poet! all the same. Another mania is the passion for the old poets, a Pacuvian revival. What is to be expected when all this bubble-and-squeak language is the daily food of our children and the dear delight of lecture-halls?’

63. Quis = qui. G., 105; A., 21, 1, a.quis enim: Enim, like γὰρ; ‘why, what else?’ ‘of course.’ G., 500; A., 43, 3, d.

64. nunc demum: as if something marvellous had been accomplished.—severos: ‘captious, critical.’

65. effundat: ‘suffers to glide smoothly,’ a harsh expression.—iunctura: The image is that of the joining of pieces of marble, as in an opus tessellatum. Comp. Lucil., fr. inc., 10, 33 (L. M.): quam lepide λέξεις conpostae, ut tesserulae, omnes | arte pavimenti atque emblemati’ vermiculati. The poet is compared with an artisan, not with an artist. He knows how to fit the pieces together so perfectly as to present a continuous smooth surface to the pressure of the most exacting nail. Comp. v. 92.—tendere versum: ‘to lay off a verse,’ as a carpenter lays off his work. The propriety of the word tendere is heightened, if we remember that the hexameter was called the versus longus.

66. Carpenter-like, the versewright stretches his ruddled line (rubrica), sights it (oculo derigit uno), and springs it. The modern carpenter uses chalk instead of ruddle, but the red pencil may be regarded as a survival of color. For references, see Rost’s Passow, s.v. στάθμη. For the spelling derigat, remember that dirigere is ‘to point in different directions;’ derigere ‘in one.’—ac si derigat: On the sequence, see G., 604; A., 61, 1, R.

67. sive: seldom used alone; here for vel si.—in mores, in luxum, in prandia regum: a kind of anticlimax. In does not necessarily, though it does naturally, denote hostility. The prandium was originally a very simple meal. The Stoic model is set up in Seneca, Ep. 83, 6: Panis deinde siccus et sine mensa prandium, post quod non sunt lavandae manus. The manger sur le pouce became in time the déjeuner à la fourchette (calidum prandium, Plaut., Poen., 3, 5, 14), and then the déjeuner dinatoire (prandia cenis ingesta, Sen., N. Q., 4, 13, 6). Regum, ‘grandees,’ ‘nabobs,’ belongs to prandia alone.

68. res grandis: ‘sublimities.’

69. heroas: used as an adjective.—sensus: ‘sentiments.’—adferre: ‘parade,’ ‘bring on parade.’ On the Inf., see 3, 64.

70. nugari graece: ‘dabble in Greek verses,’ a phase of fashionable education, no more peculiar to Nero than to Horace (Sat. 1, 10, 31).—ponere lucum: ‘put before our eyes,’ ‘paint,’ ‘describe.’ Lucus, a favorite poetic theme. Jahn thinks of the grove in which Mars and Rhea Silvia met, Juv., 1, 7. Perhaps young poets tried their skill on groves, as young draughtsmen on trees.

71. artifices: With artifices ponere comp. artifex sequi, Prol., 11.—rus saturum: ‘lush, teeming country.’—corbes—focus—porci: all ‘properties’ of country life.

72. fumosa Palilia faeno: The festival called Palilia, in honor of Pales (from the same radical as pa-sco), was celebrated on the anniversary of the founding of Rome, April 21st. It was a day reeking (fumosa) with bonfires of hay (faenum), over which the peasants leaped, doubtless ‘to appease the evil spirit by a pretended sacrifice’ (Pretor). The dictionaries will furnish the loci classici. The other form, Parilia, is due to ‘dissimilation.’ Comp. meridies for medidies.

73. unde: ‘the source of;’ loosely used to show connection.—Remus: not unfrequently takes the place of his longer brother, whose oblique cases do not fit well into dactylic verse. So turba Remi, Juv., 10, 73; reddat signa Remi, Prop., 4, 6, 80; and the other examples in Freund.—sulco:with’ and ‘in the furrow.’ See Prol., v., 1.—terens: ‘wearing bright’ (Conington), ‘furbishing.’ König compares: sulco attritus splendescere vomer, Verg., Georg., 1, 46.—dentalia: ‘share-beams,’ Verg., Georg., 1, 171, with Conington’s note.—Quinti: Cincinnatus, Liv., 3, 26.

74. cum dictatorem induit: So Jahn (1843). Decidedly the easiest reading, but the best in connection with terens. In his ed. of 1868, Jahn reads quem dictatorem. Hermann objects to the expression, and insists on dictaturam, appealing in his preface to Plin., H. N., 18, 3, 20, for dictaturam in the sense of vestem dictatoriam. Surely, to ‘robe dictator’ and to ‘robe with the dictatorship’ are not far apart, and the former is the more striking expression.—trepida: ‘flurried.’ See v. 20.—ante boves: is supposed to give local coloring, and to bring before us the ‘slow, bovine gaze’ of the astonished cattle.

75. tua aratra: Poetic plural.—euge poeta: Here the applause comes in. Mr. Pretor considers the words from corbes to tulit ‘a quotation, perhaps from one of Nero’s poems.’

76. est nunc: Persius attacks the antiquarii in imitation of Horace. The older Latin poets have long been restored to their rights. Accius and Pacuvius hardly need defenders. Hermann makes the sentence interrogative.—Brisaei: ‘Bacchic.’ Brisaeus was an epithet of Bacchus, transferred to the poet of Bacchus, who was perhaps too devoted a worshipper of the god. There was a famous saying of Cratinus, who was in like manner called ταυροφαγος, a surname of Bacchus: ὕδωρ δὲ πίνων οὐδὲν ἂν τέκοι σοφόν, fr. 186 (2, 119 Mein.). Comp. Hor., Ep., 1, 19, 1.—venosus: For the figure, comp. Tac., Dial. 21. The ‘standing out of the veins’ refers not so much to the ‘shrinking of the flesh in old age’ (Conington), as to the scrawniness of the person. So Tacit. uses durus et siccus of Asinius Pollio (l.c.), Gr. ἰσχνός. ‘Angular,’ ‘hard-lined,’ is about what is meant. Others prefer ‘thick-veined,’ ‘turgid.’—liber: of a play, Quint., 1, 10, 18; Prop., 4 (3), 21, 28 (Jahn).—Acci: also written Atti (584-650? A.U.C.). Cicero calls him gravis et ingeniosus poeta, summus poeta (pr. Planc., 24, 59; Sest., 56, 120); Hor., altus (Ep., 2, 1, 56); Ov., animosi oris (Am., 1, 15, 19). Pacuvius said that the compositions of Accius were sonora quidem et grandia sed duriora paulum et acerbiora.

77. Pacuvius: nephew of Ennius (534-622 A.U.C.). His great model was Sophocles.—verrucosa: ‘warty,’ intended to be a climax of ugliness.—moretur: ‘fascinates,’ ‘enthralls.’ Fabula—valdius oblectat populum meliusque moratur, Hor., A. P., 321.

78. Antiopa: imitated from a lost play of Euripides. The fragments have been collected by Ribbeck, Tr. Lat. Reliq., p. 62; comp. p. 278. Antiope, as the mother of Amphion and Zethus, and the victim of Dirce, is famous in literature and in art (the Toro Farnese).—aerumnis cor luctificabile fulta: ‘who props her dolorific heart on teen’ (Gifford). Jahn defends the conception as truly poetical, apart from the obsolete language. ‘The only stay of her sad heart is sorrow.’ The words are doubtless taken from the play itself, of course in different order. Aerumna was out of date as early as the time of Quintilian (8, 3, 26), who protests against the use of it. As to luctificabile, if we go by the fragments, it is Accius, rather than Pacuvius, that indulges in such formations as horrificabilis, aspernabilis, tabificabilis, execrabilis, evocabilis.

79. lippos: of the eyes of the mind. Comp. 2, 72.

80. sartago: literally ‘a frying-pan,’ ‘hubble-bubble’ (Conington), ‘gallimaufry,’ ‘galimatias,’ ‘olio’ (Gifford), ‘olla podrida.’

81. dedecus: The language is disgraced and degraded by this mixture of old and new. Persius would not have enjoyed Tennyson’s resuscitations. See Introd., xxiv.—in quo: ‘at which.’

82. trossulus: an old name of the Roman knights, of disputed origin. It was afterward used in derision. Jahn compares the German Junker.—exsultat: ἀναπηδᾷ, ‘jumps up in delight.’—per subsellia: Jahn understands the ‘benches’ or ‘forms’ in court; others, perhaps more correctly, the seats in the lecture-hall. There is a climax. First, private teaching; next, public lectures; thirdly, practical life, to which we come in the following verse.—levis: the position is emphatic, ‘the smug, womanish creature.’ Levis is levigatus. Ancient literature is full of allusions to this effeminate παρατιλσις.

83. nilne: stronger than nonne, ‘not a blush of shame.’—capiti: rarer Ablative in i. Neue gives examples (Formenlehre, 1, 242). The simple Abl. is found with pellere, even in prose, and the Dative, which some prefer, would be forced.—cano: See note on v. 9.

84. quin optes: G., 551; A., 65, 1, b.tepidum: ‘lukewarm,’ decenter being faint praise. ‘In good taste’ (Conington). Gr. πρεπόντως.

85. ‘Fur es:’ The accuser puts his point plainly enough; in three letters, as the Romans would say.—ait: Comp. v. 40.—Pedio: Jahn thinks it likely that this Pedius is not Horace’s man (Sat., 1, 10, 28), but one Pedius Blaesus, condemned under Nero, Tac., Ann., 14, 18; Hist., 1, 77. Persius knew more about Horace than about the causes célèbres of his own day.—rasis antithetis: commonly rendered ‘polished antitheses.’ With radere comp. the Gr. διεσμιλευμέναι φροντίδες, Alexis, fr. 215 (3, 483 Mein.). But the figure may possibly be taken from the careful removal of overweight in either scale of the balance. The antitheses are scraped down to an exact equipoise.

86. doctas figuras: Doctus, Scaliger’s correction, which requires, moreover, a period at figuras, is unnecessary. Doctas figuras, like artes doctae, dicta docta, doli docti. Figurae, σχήματα, embraces ‘tropes.’—posuisse = quod posuerit. G., 533; A., 70, 5, b.

87. an: ‘what?’ ‘can it be that?’—Romule: bitter, like Titi, Romulidae, trossulus. Comp. Catull., 29, 5. 9.—ceves: ‘Wag the tail’ keeps within bounds of possible translation.

88. men moveat? So men moveat cimex Pantilius, Hor., Sat., 1, 10, 78. The sentiment is that of the well-worn si vis me flere, dolendum est | primum ipsi tibi, Hor., A. P., 102. Moveat sc. Pedius.—quippe: is often ironical, ‘good sooth.’—protulerim: The Perf. Subj. in a sentence involving total negation.

89. cantas? ‘you sing, do you?’—fracta te in trabe pictum: Shipwrecked men appealed to charity by carrying about pictures of the disaster which had overtaken them. Comp. 6, 32. Si fractis enatat exspes | navibus, aere dato qui pingitur, Hor., A. P., 20, and Juv., 14, 302. Trabe is the wrecked vessel as it appears in the picture, although it is possible that the painting may have been put on a broken plank of the ship, in order to heighten the pathos. So Jahn.

90. ex umero: We say ‘on the shoulder,’ from a different point of view. G., 388, R. 2.—nocte paratum: ‘got up overnight.’

91. plorabit: an imperative future.—volet: Observe the greater exactness of the Latin expression. G., 624; A., 27, 2.—incurvasse: See v. 42, and add Liv., 28, 41, 5; 30, 14, 6; 40, 10, 5, and the S. C. de Bacanalibus (passim).

92-106. ‘But,’ rejoins the impersonal personage, whom Persius always has at hand, ‘we have made great advances in art. Contrast this verse and that verse with the roughness of the Aeneid!’—‘The Aeneid rough? Well, what is smooth? [He gives a specimen of fashionable poetry.] If we had an inch of our sires’ backbone, such drivel would be impossible. And as for art—it is as easy as spitting.’

I have followed the distribution as presented in Hermann. Jahn gives vv. 96, 97 to Persius, 98-102 to the interlocutor, the rest to Persius. It is impossible to discuss all the arrangements that have been suggested for this passage.

92. decor: Gr. χάρις.—iunctura: is used as in v. 64, of ‘smoothness,’ ‘harmonious sequence,’ the even surface without a break. See Quint., 9, 4, 33. All the specimen verses that follow avoid mechanically the offences against iunctura that Quintilian enumerates, and do not avail themselves of the license which he accords to a grata neglegentia. There is no elision, no synaloepha, in any of them. As these fashionable verses have been held up to derision by the satirist, commentators have been busy in hunting out defects, and translators have vied with each other in absurd renderings. But Jahn has wisely warned us against an over-curious search into the supposed faults of these verses, which Vossius pronounced superior to any thing in the compositions of the critic himself. It is enough for us to know that to the ear of Persius the lines lacked masculine vigor. The multiplication of diaereses, the length of the words, the careful avoidance of elision, the dainty half-rhyme of bombis and corymbis, the jingle of ablatura and flexura, may be cited as confirmations of the view of Persius, but, with the exception of the desperate verse 95, the diction is in keeping with the theme. If adsonat Echo is not ridiculous in Ovid (Met., 3, 505), it is not ridiculous here; and one surely needs to be told that reparabilis is not a happy adjective for Echo, who is always ‘paying back’ and making good.

93. cludere versum: like concludere versum (Hor., Sat., 1, 4, 40), is ‘round a verse’ (Conington), rather than ‘close a line.’—didicit: What is the subject? ‘Our man,’ ‘our poet,’ the lover of decor et iunctura? So most commentators. Heinr. makes Attis the subject. The personification of iunctura would not be too harsh for Persius.—Berecyntius Attis: It suffices to refer to Catull., 63. Berecyntus, a mountain in Phrygia.

94. Nerea: god of the sea, the water. In modern Gr. νερόν is ‘water.’ The use, which Conington calls ‘grotesque,’ is almost as ‘grotesque’ as Vulcanus for ‘fire.’ The scholiast thinks of Arion’s dolphin. Bacchus’s dolphin is as likely.

95. sic costam longo subduximus Appennino: With the close of the verse, comp. Ov., 2, 226: Aeriaeque Alpes et nubifer Appenninus; and Haupt’s note. ‘We filched a rib from the long Apennine.’ The interpretations are all unsatisfactory. The scholiast sees in the removal of the rib from the mountain a metaphor for the removal of a syllable from the hexameter. The only point worthy of notice in this remark is the emphasis laid on the spondaic verse. The Graece nugari soliti doubtless used spondaic verses more freely than the model Latin poets (comp. Catull., 64). Some understand the words to refer to a forced march (putavi tam pauca milia subripi posse, Sen., Ep., 53, 1); others to the device attributed to Hannibal in crossing the Alps (montem rumpit aceto, Juv., 10, 153). It is all idle guess-work, without a context; but, guess for guess, the expression would suit a ‘Titanomachia,’ and the rib might answer for a weapon, as once a jaw-bone did. The jingle of the verse is like Verg., Aen., 3, 549: cornua velatarum obvertimus antennarum, quoted by the scholiast.

96. Arma virum! ‘Compare with these elegant verses Arma virum; what a rough affair!’ Not only were the opening words of a poem used to indicate the poem itself—Μῆνιν ἄειδε the Iliad, Ἄνδρα μοι ἔννεπε the Odyssey, Arma virum the Aeneid—but the first verses were considered peculiarly significant. So the metrical structure of the first verse of the Iliad is very different from that of the first verse of the Odyssey. Arma virum, etc., with its short words and its frequent caesurae, was harsh to the ear of the interlocutor, and is compared with the rough, cracked bark of the cork-tree.—spumosum et cortice pingui: ‘frothy and fluffy’ (Conington). As usual, Persius works out his comparison into minute details.

97. vegrandi subere: So Jahn, instead of praegrandi subere. Do not translate ‘huge, overgrown bark’ (Conington), but ‘dwarfed, stunted cork-tree.’ See Ribbeck (Beiträge zur Lehre von den lateinischen Partikeln, S. 9), who has discussed ve and this verse at some length. Both Conington and Pretor admire the metaphysics of Jahn, who has ‘explained, after Festus and Nonius, vegrandis as male grandis, so as to include the two senses attributed to it by Gell., 5, 12; 16, 5, of too small and too large.’ But ve- means separation (Vaniček, Etym. Wb., S. 166); ve-cor-s, ‘out of one’s mind;’ ve-sanu-s, ‘out of one’s sound senses;’ ve-grandi-s, ‘shrunken,’ ‘dwarfed,’ ‘undergrown’ (if the word is admissible). For the growth of the cork-tree, R. refers to Plin., N. H., 16, 8, 13: suberi minima arbor—cortex tantum in fructu, praecrassus ac renascens atque etiam in denos pedes undique explanatus. Some of the best commentators give these two verses (96 and 97) to Persius, and consider Arma virum as an invocation of the shades of Vergil, ‘as Horace, A. P., 141, contrasts the opening of the Odyssey with Fortunam Priami cantabo.’ Hoc is supposed to refer to the specimen verses. Ribbeck also (l.c.) regards the swollen, light bark of the low cork-tree as the image of the genus tumidum et leve, as opposed to the grande et grave.—coctum: ‘thoroughly dried.’

98. Quidnam igitur: Igitur is not unfrequently used in questions, as our ‘then.’ So quidnam igitur censes? Juv., 4, 130. But, unless the question is a rejoinder, it is not very appropriate. ‘If the Aeneid is rough, give us something really soft,’ would be a fit reply to Arma virum, etc., in the mouth of the objector. Conington, who gives 96-98 to Persius, connects thus: ‘If these are your specimens of finished versification, give us something peculiarly languishing.’—laxa cervice: the attitude of the mobile guttur, v. 18.

99. Torva mimalloneis: Persius can not wait for a specimen, and gives one himself. This is much more dramatic than the arrangement, which makes the respondent cite the verses. The verses are attributed to Nero by the scholiast, and in fact Nero is said to have composed a poem on the Bacchae, Dio., 61, 20. The theme is so common that no conclusion is to be drawn from that statement. Mr. Pretor, who understands by iunctura ‘a resetting of old verses,’ regards 99-102 as a weak réchauffé of Catull., 64, 257 seqq., and compares Tac., Ann., 14, 16.—Torva: ‘grim.’ So torvumque repente | clamat, Verg., Aen., 7, 399 (of Bacchanalian madness).—mimalloneis: from Mimas, on the coast opposite Chios. With the whole verse comp. multis raucisonos efflabant cornua bombos, Catull., 64, 264, and Lucr., 4, 544.

100. vitulo superbo: variously caricatured as ‘the haughty, the scornful calf.’ No such effect could have been produced by the original. Comp. ταῦροι ὑβρισταί, Eur., Bacch., 743 (Jahn); γαυροτέρα μόσχω, Theocr., 11, 21; equae superbiunt, Plin., 10, 63. The Bacchanal rending of animals is familiar.—ablatura: On this free use of the future participle, see G., 672; A., 72, 4.

101. Bassaris: a Bacchante. Jahn cites a Greek epigram (Anth. Pal., 6, 74), which shows how close a resemblance may be due simply to community of theme.—lyncem: ‘The lynx was sacred to Bacchus as the conqueror of India.’

102. euhion: Gr. εὔιον, Accus. of εὔιος (commonly but falsely spelled Evius), Euhius, Bacchus.—reparabilis: Actively, as Horace’s dissociabilis, Od., 1, 3, 22; ‘renewing,’ ‘restoring,’ ‘reawakening.’ So Ov., Met., 1, 11, of the moon: reparat nova cornua.—adsonat: ‘chimes in.’

103. testiculi vena ulla paterni:Honestius expressit, Ov., Her., 16, 291: si sint vires in semine avorum.’ ‘If we had one spark of our fathers’ manhood alive in us’ (Conington).

104. delumbe: ‘backboneless,’ ‘marrowless.’ Comp. ἰσχιορρωγικόςsaliva: Spittle is ‘foolish rheum’ as well as tears.

105. in udo est Maenas et Attis: ‘Your Maenas and your Attis—it drivels away.’

106. nec pluteum caedit, etc.: Pluteus, which is commonly rendered ‘desk,’ is, ‘according to the scholiast, the back-board of the lecticula lucubratoria,’ or studying-sofa, such as Augustus indulged in, Suet., Aug., 78; comp. v. 53. ‘The man lies on his couch after his meal, listlessly drivelling out his verses, without any physical exertion or even motion of impatience’ (Conington). Persius underrates the artistic finish, as he has overdrawn the moral conclusion.—demorsos: ‘bitten down to the quick.’ Et in versu faciendo | saepe caput scaberet vivos et roderet ungues, Hor., Sat., 1, 10, 70.

107-121. M. But what is the use of offending people? We must not tell the truth at all times. You will have a cool reception at certain great houses. Nay, the dog will be set on you.—P. Well! I make no struggle. Every thing is lovely. No nuisance, you say. All right. Boys, let us go somewhere else. But there was Lucilius—he wielded the lash, he gnawed the bones of his victims. There was Horace—he probed his friend’s heart and punched him in the ribs, and had the town dangling from the gibbet of his tip-tilted nose. And I am not to say—Bo! Not all to myself? Not with a ditch for my confidant? Nowhere? Nowhere, you say? But I will. I have found a place—a ditch. It is my book. Here, book, is my great secret: ‘All the world’s an ass.’ What a relief!

107. quid: What case?—radere: ‘rasp.’—mordaci vero: Verum is so completely a substantive that there is no difficulty about mordaci vero (comp. G., 428, R. 2). Much bolder is generoso honesto, 2, 74; opimum pingue, 3, 32.

108. vidĕ: like cavĕ, and other iambic Imperatives. G., 704, 2; A., 78, 2, d.—sis = si vis, to soften the Imperative, ‘pray do.’—maiorum tibi forte: Hor., Sat., 2, 1, 60: O puer ut sis | vitalis metuo et maiorum ne quis amicus | frigore te feriat. Maiores = ‘grandees.’

109. limina frigescant: like the modern slang, ‘leave one out in the cold.’ Limen is used in many Latin turns where ‘threshold’ would be too stately in English. Mrs. Gamp would render: ‘the great man’s cold doorsteps will settle on your lungs.’—canina littera: ‘R is for the dog,’ Shaksp., Romeo and Jul.; ‘A dog snarling R,’ Ben Jonson. See Dictionaries, s.v. hirrire. Gr. ἀραρίζειν. An allusion to the familiar cave canem. ‘The snarl is that of the great man’ (Scholiast). Conington compares ira cadat naso, 5, 91. The obvious interpretation is the right one. ‘There is a sound of snarling in the air,’ refers simply to the great man’s dog, which will be set on the unwelcome satirist.

110. per me: ‘for all I care,’ ἐμοῦ γ᾽ ἕνεκα, a familiar use of the preposition per: per me habeat licet, Plaut., Mercat., 5, 4, 29.—equidem: Not for ego quidem, although this opinion affected the practice of Cicero, Horace, Vergil, Quintilian, the younger Pliny. Sallust, like Varro, combines equidem with every person. So Ribbeck (l.c. S. 36), who derives equidem from e interj. and quidem. Conington tries to save the rule here by making the expression equivalent to equidem concedo. Another exception is found 5, 45, where C. goes through the same legerdemain: non equidem dubites, ‘I would not have you doubt.’—alba: ‘lovely,’ ‘whitewash them as much as you please.’

111. nil moror, etc.: The whole line, indeed the whole passage, is strongly conversational in its tone. Nil moror, ‘I don’t wish to be in your way, to spoil sport.’ Comp. Ter., Eun., 3, 2, 7, and Gesner, s.v. moror.—bene: Comp. Cic., Fam., 7, 22: bene potus. See also note on 4, 22.—mirae res: ‘wonders of the world’ (Conington), ‘miracles of perfection.’

112. hoc iuvat? ‘I hope that is satisfactory.’—veto quisquam faxit oletum: ‘commit no nuisance.’ Observe the legal tone. Quisquam, on account of the negative idea. The negative ne is omitted after veto as often after caveo. G. 548, R. 2; A., 57, 7, a. Faxit, a disputed form. G., 191, 5; A., 30, 6, e.

113. pinge duos anguis: ‘a sign of dedication rather than of prohibition’ (Pretor). The dedication involves the prohibition. This is one of the innumerable phases of serpent-worship. For the serpent, as the symbol of the genius loci, which is Greek as well as Latin, see Verg., Aen., 5, 95, and the commentators. The reading pinguedo sanguis of some of the best MSS. may be mentioned, animi causa.

114. secuit: ‘cut to the bone.’—Lucilius: The loci classici are Hor., Sat., 1, 4, 6; 1, 10, 1; 2, 1, 62; Juv., 1, 19, 165. The testimonia de Lucilio have been collected and annotated by L. Müller, Lucil., p. 170 seqq.; p. 288 seqq.

115. Lupe, Muci: L. Cornelius Lentulus Lupus Cons. A.U.C. 598, and P. Mucius Scaevola Cons. A.U.C. 621, Juv., 1, 154.—genuinum: ‘Breaking the back-tooth’ shows the eagerness with which the satirist gnawed the bones of his victims. Comp. Petron., 58: venies sub dentem, ‘you will be “chawed” up.’

116. A deservedly admired characteristic of Horace.—vafer: a hard word to catch. Vafer crowns the formidable list of synonyms in the well-known passage of Cic., Off., 3, 13, 57: versuti, obscuri, astuti, fallacis, malitiosi, callidi, veteratoris, vafri, ‘a shuffler, a hoodwinker, a trickster, a cheat, a designing rascal, a cunning fox, a blackleg, a sly dog.’ The indirectness of vafer may sometimes be rendered by ‘politic,’ ‘adroit.’ ‘Rogue’ is a tolerable equivalent.—amico: is much happier than amici would be; it makes the friend a party to the game. Horatius qui ridendo verum dicit (Sat., 1, 1, 24) tam leniter vitia tangit, ut ipse, quem tangit, amicus rideat et poetam, qui dum ludere videtur intima aggreditur, lubens admittat et excipiat (Jahn, after Teuffel).—admissus: ‘gets himself let in,’ ‘gains his entrance’ (Conington, after Gifford).

117. praecordia: ‘heartstrings.’

118. excusso: Persius would not be Persius, if he did not give us a problem even in his best passages. Excusso naso stronger than emunctae naris, Hor., Sat., 1, 4, 8 (Jahn). According to Heinr., excusso = sursum iactato, like excussa brachia, Ov., Met., 5, 596, which seems to suit suspendere. Conington renders, ‘with a sly talent for tossing up his nose and catching the public on it,’ doubtless with reference to ‘tossing in a blanket,’ a pastime not unknown to the ancients: Ibis ab excusso missus in astra sago, Mart., 1, 3, 8. Comp. Suet., Otho, 2; Cervantes, Don Quijote, 1, 17; and on the sagatio, see Friedländer, Sittengesch., 1, 25. As the blanket is drawn tight in order to effect the elevation of the person tossed, we may combine with this figure the old version of an ‘unwrinkled nose,’ a nose that is ‘kept straight’ (exporrectus) by the owner to disguise his merriment (ac si nihil tule ageret). But this is over-interpretation, the besetting sin of the editors of Persius.—callidus suspendere: On the construction, see Prol., 11.—naso: Naso suspendis adunco, Hor., Sat., 1, 6, 5. Comp. 2, 8, 64.

119. men: On ne in rhetorical questions, see v. 22.—nec clam nec cum scrobe: ‘neither to myself nor with a hole in the ground for my listener.’ The negative in nefas is subdivided by nec—nec, G., 444, R. Others supply fas, G., 446, R.—nusquam: The answer of the critic, Jahn (1843). In the ed. of 1868 he writes with Hermann, nusquam? as a part of Persius’s question. The arrangement in the text seems to be more in accordance with Persius’s fashion of anticipating an answer (ἀνθυποφορά). ‘Nowhere? you say.’—scrobe: Allusion to the story of Midas and his barber, for which no reader will need to be referred to Ov., Met., 11, 180 seqq.

121. quis non habet? According to the Vita Persii, the poet had written Mida rex habet, intended for King Populus. Cornutus, afraid that Nero would take the fling to himself, changed the words to quis non habet? The story is not very consistent with the theory that Persius went so far as to ridicule Nero’s poetry.

122. ridere meum: See v. 9.—nulla: G., 304, R. 2.—vendo: ‘I am going to sell;’ familiar present for future; hence = vendito.

123. Iliade: Probably the Iliad of Labeo. Homer’s Iliad would be too extravagant.—audaci quicumque, etc.: The poet distinctly points to the mordant Old Attic Comedy as his model; yet there is little trace of direct imitation of the worthies whom he cites, and the interval of conception is abysmal.—adflate: Persius, like some other Roman poets, goes beyond reasonable bounds in the use of the Vocative as a predicate. G., 324, R. 1; A., 35, b. The Greeks were cautious, and in Vergil the Vocative can be detached and felt as such, but not here, nor in 3, 28.—Cratino: the oldest of the famous comic triumvirate: Eupolis atque Cratinus Aristophanesque poetae, Hor., Sat., 1, 4, 1. Cratinus was the Archilochus of the Attic stage, hence audax. See the famous characteristic in Aristophanes, Eq., 527.

124. iratum Eupolidem: The epithet is borne out by the fragments.—praegrandi cum sene: Aristophanes. The adjective refers to his greatness: ‘the old giant.’ Sene is not to be pressed. Men who come before the public early are often called old before their time. Hannibal calls himself an old man when he was only in his forty-fourth year, Liv., 30, 30. Others understand sene as a compliment to an ‘ancient’ author. Instead of Aristophanes, Heinrich and others suppose that Lucilius is meant. Comp. Hor., Sat., 2, 1, 34: vita senis, although Lucilius was only about forty-five at the time of his death—but see L. Müller, Lucilius, p. 288.—palles: ‘study yourself pale over.’ The combination with the Accusative is bold, but not bolder than other cognate Accusatives. ‘Gain a Eupolidean pallor’ = ‘a pallor due to Eupolis.’ For different phases of pallere with Accus., see 3, 43. 85; 5, 184.

125. decoctius: The figure is from wine that is ‘boiled down,’ ‘well refined.’ Not ‘opposed to the spumosus of v. 96’ (Conington), as is shown by coctum, v. 97.—audis: ‘have an ear for’ (Conington).

126. inde = ab iis, ‘by these’ (G., 613, R. 1; A., 48, 5), ‘by the study of these,’ dependent on vaporata.—vaporata: ‘steamed,’ hence ‘cleansed,’ ‘refined’ (Jahn). Comp. purgatas aures, 5, 63; aurem mordaci lotus aceto, 5, 86.—lector mihi ferveat: Mihi really depends on ferveat, though it may be conveniently translated by ‘my’ with lector. ‘Let my reader be one who comes to me with his ears aglow from the pure effluence of such poetry.’

127. non hic: Hic is different in tone from is, more distinctly demonstrative, and hence more distinctly contemptuous.—in crepidas: The simple Accusative with ludere is the regular construction. Crepidae, a part of the Greek national dress. Comp. Suet., Tib., 13: redegit se [Tiberius], deposito patrio habitu, ad pallium et crepidas. Hence fabulae crepidatae of tragedies with Greek plots.—Graiorum: the rarer and more stilted form for Graecorum, perhaps by way of rebuking the impertinence of this stolid would-be wag.

128. sordidus: ‘low creature,’ ‘dirty dog.’ Himself vulgar, he can not understand refinement of manners or attire.—qui possit: Casaubon reads poscit to match gestit. But Indicative and Subjunctive may well be combined, the former of a fact, the latter of a characteristic: ‘a man who— and a man to—.’ So in the famous line: sunt qui non habeant, est qui non curat habere, Hor., Ep., 2, 2, 182.—lusce: ‘Old One-eye’ (Conington). The lowness of the wit is evident. In v. 56 the poet appears to break his own rule, but baldness and corpulence are in his eyes badges of vice, not simple misfortunes.

129. aliquem: G., 301.—Italo: ‘provincial.’—supinus = superbus. The head is thrown back with the chin in the air, a familiar stage attitude. Others render ‘lolling at his ease.’

130. fregerit: G., 541; A., 63, 2.—heminas iniquas: ‘short half-pint measures.’ This was the duty of the aedile.—Arreti: Arretium in Etruria. So Juvenal takes Ulubrae as the type of a small provincial town: vasa minora | frangere pannosus vacuis aedilis Ulubris, 10, 102.

131. abaco: The abacus was a slab of marble or other material which was covered with sand (pulvis), for the purpose of drawing mathematical figures or making calculations (Jahn). Or pulvere may be dissociated from abaco, and then abacus would be a counting-board, pulvis, the sand on the ground (eruditus pulvis, Cic., N. D., 2, 18, 48), familiar from the story of the murder of Archimedes.—metas: ‘cones.’

132. scit: as if this were a feat. Comp. v. 53.—risisse: γελάσαι, ‘to have his laugh at,’ one of the Perfect Infinitives mentioned in note on v. 41.—vafer: ironical.—gaudere paratus: Paratus, as a Participle from parare, takes the Infinitive with ease. The grammars generally treat it as an exceptional Adjective. Here paratus is οἷος; ‘Just your man to have a fit of glee.’ Comp. Petron., 43: paratus fuit quadrantem de stercore mordicus tollere.

133. Cynico barbam: ‘a Cynic’s beard for him.’ G., 343, R. 2. Vellunt tibi barbam | lascivi pueri, Hor., Sat., 1, 3, 133 (of a Stoic). The beard was the badge of a philosopher.—nonaria: so called because women of that class were not allowed to ply their trade before the ‘ninth hour’—‘callet,’ ‘trull.’—vellat: because dependent; otherwise gaudet si vellit. G., 666; A., 66, 2. The Cynic philosopher and the nonaria (ὁ καὶ ἡ κύων) belong to each other by elective affinity, Alciphron, 3, 55, 9. See an amusing parallel between philosopher and courtesan in the same sophist, 1, 34; and on the worst specimens of the ‘Capuchins of antiquity,’ as the Cynics have been called, comp. Friedländer, Sittengesch., 3, 572.

134. edictum: ‘play-bill,’ after Sen., Ep., 117, 30. Others, ‘the business of the courts,’ the praetor’s court being a favorite lounging-place.—prandia: See v. 67.—Calliroen: possibly one of the elegidia procerum (v. 51), after the order of Phyllis and Hypsipyle (v. 34). Comp. Ov., Met., 9, 407, Rem. Am., 455-6. Others suppose that Persius meant a nonaria. See note on 6, 73, and comp. Plutarch, Quaest. Conv., 3, 6, 4. With this gracious permission, Casaubon compares the edict of Hor., Ep., 1, 19, 8: Forum putealque Libonis | mandabo siccis, adimam cantare severis.


SECOND SATIRE.

The theme of this Satire is the Wickedness and Folly of Popular Prayers. The true philosopher is the only man that knows how to pray aright, and the Stoic is your only true philosopher. Compare, on the subject of prayer, the Second Alcibiades ascribed to Plato.

Argument.—Macrinus, you may well salute your returning birthday. Your wishes on that day of wishes are pure, whereas most of our magnates pray for what they dare not utter aloud. Any one can hear their requests for sound mind and good report, but the petitions for the death of an uncle, a ward, a wife, the prayer for sudden gain, are mere whispers (1-15). Strange that, in order to prepare for such impieties as these, men should go through all manner of lustral services, and trust to the ear of Jove what they would not breathe to any mortal (15-23). Strange that men should fancy because Jove is not swift to strike the sinner dead that he may be insulted with safety, or easily bought off by a lot of greasy chitterlings (24-30).

Pass from wicked to foolish prayers. Grandam and aunt would have skinny Master Hopeful a wealthy nabob, would have him make a great match. Girls are to scramble for him, and roses spring up beneath his feet. Silly petitions! Refuse them, Jupiter (31-40). Nor less silly are those prayers whose fulfilment the suppliant himself defeats—prayers for a hale old age, despite rich made-dishes (41-43); prayers for wealth, while the worshipper expends his whole substance in sacrifice (44-51).

The trouble lies in this, that men judge the gods by themselves. Because gold brings a joyous flutter to their hearts, they think to sway the gods by gold, and change to gold the vessels of the sanctuary. The gods are measured by our ‘accursed blubber,’ that flesh which corrupts all that it handles. Yet the flesh tastes what it touches, and enjoys the ruin which it has wrought. But what can a pure god do with our gold? To him it is a spent toy, an idle offering. Let us give the gods honest and upright hearts, and a handful of meal will suffice to gain their blessing (32-75).


Although the colors of the piece pale before the rhetorical glare of Juvenal’s Tenth Satire, which treats of a kindred theme—the ‘Vanity of Human Wishes’—the philosophical commonplace is handled with considerable vigor, and with all the picturesque detail of the author’s style. And Montaigne, who, as a moralist, quotes Persius very often, has garnished the 56th essay of his First Book with copious extracts from this Satire.

1-15. Macrinus, your prayers are pure, you need no private audience of the gods. Not so the petitions of many of our foremost men. Far different is what they say and what they whisper, when they come before the gods in prayer.

1. Hunc diem: The birthday was always a high-day in Rome, as elsewhere. In French, fête is a synonym of birthday.—Macrine: ‘Plotius Macrinus, the scholiast says, was a learned man, who loved Persius as his son, having studied in the house of the same preceptor, Servilius. He had sold some property to Persius at a reduced rate’ (Conington).—meliore: sc. solito. G., 312, 2; A., 17, 5.—lapillo: The Scythians used to drop into a quiver a stone for every day, white for the good and black for the bad, and when life was over the stones were counted. There is a similar story of the Thracians, Plin., H. N., 7, 40, 41 (Jahn). The phrase ‘white stone’ is so common that one passage will suffice as a parallel: Felix utraque lux diesque nobis | signandi melioribus lapillis, Mart., 9, 52, 4.

2. labentis: not simply an epitheton ornans, ‘the gliding years,’ but ‘the years as they glide away.’ Eheu, fugaces, Postume, Postume | labuntur anni, Hor.., Od., 2, 14, 1.—apponit: ‘puts to your account.’ Comp. quem fors dierum cumque dabit lucro | appone, Hor., Od., 1, 9, 15. Each day lived may be a day gained or a day lost. Comp. also Hor., Od., 2, 5, 15.—candidus: λευκὴ ἡμέρα, λευκὸν εὐάμερον φάος, Soph., Ai., 709. Comp. Catull., 8, 3: fulsere vere candidi tibi soles.

3. genio: ‘The tutelary Deity, or “guardian angel,” who was supposed to attend on every individual from the cradle to the grave. Its cultus was strictly materialistic, and should be compared with the offerings of meat, drink, and clothes which were made to the manes of the dead. Comp. Censorin., De Die Nat., 3; Serv. ad Verg., Georg., 1, 302; Hor., Ep., 2, 2, 187: scit Genius, natale comes qui temperat astrum | naturae deus humanae, mortalis in unum | quodque caput, vultu mutabilis albus et ater. In character it was the reflex of the man (comp. Sat. 6, 48, where it represents the felicitas of the emperor); it might be humored and appeased by proper attention, more especially by sacrifice (comp. 5, 151), or irritated and made baneful by neglect (comp. 4, 27; Juv., 10, 129). From these latter passages it would appear to represent the alter homo, or second self.’ So Pretor. The genius is the divine element which is born with a man, and when he dies becomes a lar, if he is good; if he is wicked, a larva, or a lemur. Departed genii were called manes—‘good fellows’—doubtless with a view to propitiation.—non tu: Comp. 1, 45.—emaci: ‘chaffering, haggling.’ Prayer was often conceived as bargain and sale. See v. 29, and Plato, Euthyphro, 14E (Jahn). By the prece emaci is meant the votum, or vow, the εὐχή, and not the προσευχή, as Gregory of Nyssa puts it (De Orat., Ed. Paris. a. 1638, Tom. 1, p. 724D). Casaubon compares Hor., Od., 3, 29, 59: ad miseras preces | decurrere et votis pacisci.

4. seductis: Comp. paulum a turba seductior audi, 6, 42.—nequeas: G., 633; A., 65, 2.

5. at bona pars: Comp. Hor., Sat., 1, 1, 61: at bona pars hominum.libabit: Gnomic or sententious future. See 3, 93. Jahn comp. Juv., 8, 182: quae | turpia cerdoni Volesos Brutumque decebunt. ‘That which is done is that which shall be done.’ The other reading, libavit (gnomic Perfect), is not so good. See G., 228, R. 2, and Dräger, Histor. Synt. der lat. Sprache, § 127.

6. haud cuivis: Comp. non cuivis homini contingit, Hor., Ep., 1, 17, 36.—humilis: ‘that keep near the ground,’ ‘groundling,’ hence ‘low.’ Persius delights in rare epithets.

7. aperto vivere voto: Comp. Mart., 1, 39, 6: si quis erit recti custos, mirator honesti | et nihil arcano qui roget ore deos.

8. Mens bona: Comp. Hor., Ep., 1, 16, 59.—Mens bona, fama, fides: are commonly considered to be the things prayed for. They are possibly persons prayed to. ‘Such notions as Welfare (salus), Honesty (fides), Harmony (concordia), belong to the oldest and holiest Roman divinities’ (Mommsen).—hospes: ‘a stranger,’ ‘any body.’

9. o si: On this form of the wish, see G., 254, R. 1; A., 57, 4, b. O si may be considered an elliptical conditional sentence, but as the ellipsis is emotional it must not be supplied. Such an apodosis as scholars are prone to understand for the Greek (καλῶς ἂν ἔχοι) bene sit, would change the wish into a thought. In this passage the apodosis, which is involved in praeclarum funus, comes limping in as an afterthought.

10. ebulliat: is slang. Comp. tam bonus Chrysanthus animam ebulliit, Petron., 42 (nos non pluris sumus quam bullae, ibid.); Sen., Apocolocynt., 4. Conington renders ‘go off.’ ‘Kick the bucket’ would be worthy of Persius. Ebulliat must be read ebulljat (G., 717). The best MSS. have ebullit, but such a Subjunctive would be more than doubtful (G., 191, 3; Neue, Formenl., 2, 339).—praeclarum funus: Either ‘that would be a grand funeral,’ or ‘that would be a corpse worth seeing.’ In the former case the man of prayer tries to salve his conscience by promising his uncle (comp. 1, 11) a ‘first-class funeral.’ Comp. funus egregie factum laudet vicinia, Hor., Sat., 2, 5, 105. In the latter, he is welcoming the death of the crabbed old man. For funus, in this connection, Jahn compares Prop., 1, 17, 8: haecine parva meum funus harena teget? The half-light of the passage is well suited to the paltering knavery of the prayer.

11. sub rastro, etc.: Hor., Sat., 2, 6, 10: O si urnam argenti fors quae mihi monstret, ut illi | thesauro invento, qui mercennarius agrum | illum ipsum mercatus aravit, dives amico | Hercule.

12. Hercule: This is Hercules πλουτοδότης, to whom the Romans consecrated a tithe of their gains. Mommsen and others dissociate this Hercules from the Greek Ἡρακλῆς. According to Casaubon and the schol. (v. 44), Hermes (Mercury) is the bestower of windfalls found on the way, Hercules the patron of sought treasures.—pupillum: ‘The Twelve Tables provided that where no guardian was appointed by will, the next of kin would be guardian, and he would of course be heir’ (Conington, after Jahn).

13. inpello: ‘whose kibe I gall,’ ‘whom I tread hard upon.’—expungam: ‘get him out’ (of his place in the will).—namque: gives an explanation, which serves at once to heighten and to excuse the hope. ‘You see he is in a bad way already. He is going to die at any rate, and death would really be a relief to all parties.’—scabiosus: ‘scrofulous.’—acri | bile: δριμεῖα χολή, Casaubon, who compares Juv., 6, 565: consulit ictericae lento de funere matris.

14. tumet: Comp. turgescit vitrea bilis, 3, 8; mascula bilis | intumuit, 5, 145.—Nerio: Nerius is the usurer in Horace, Sat., 2, 3, 69. Persius borrows his names from Horace, as Horace borrows his from Lucilius—progressive bookishness, of which there are several examples. Comp. Pedius, 1, 85; Craterus, 3, 65; Bestius, 6, 37.—conditur: So Jahn (1868) and Hermann. Jahn (1843) reads ducitur with many MSS. Ducitur is not to be explained of ‘being carried out to burial’ (Servius ad Verg., Georg., 4, 256), but in its ordinary sense of ‘being married.’ Nerius has got rid of two wives, and ‘is actually marrying a third.’ Conditur is best supported by MS. authority, and gives a sufficiently good sense. Hermann quotes, in support of conditur, Mart., 5, 37, where a man survives the loss of a rich wife, and γυναῖκα θάπτειν κρεῖττόν ἐστιν ἢ γαμεῖν, Chaeremon, ap. Stobaeum, Sermon., 88, 22. Among the wishes in Lucian’s Icaromen., 25, we find ὦ θεοί, τὸν πατέρα μοι ταχέως ἀποθανεῖν (comp. v. 10), and εἴθε κληρονομήσαιμι τῆς γυναικός, which is the key of this verse. On the use of the Dative, see G., 352, R. 1; A., 51, 4, c.

15, 16. These are the impious prayers that must be prefaced by pious observances.

15. in gurgite mergis: G., 384, R. 1; A., 56, 1, c, R.

16. bis terque: δὶς καὶ τρίς. G., 497.—flumine: Prol., 1. The lustral use of the bath, the pollution of the night, the peculiar virtue of running water, are common to Scriptural and classical antiquity. Lev., chap. 15. Illo | mane die, quo tu indicis ieiunia nudus | in Tiberi stabit, Hor., Sat., 2, 3, 290; Ter matutino Tiberi mergetur et ipsis | verticibus timidum caput abluet, Juv., 6, 523; Ac primum pura somnum tibi discute lympha, Prop., 4, 10, 13. For parallels, see Tylor, Primitive Culture, 2, 388.

17-30. With a sudden dramatic turn, Persius pins his omnipresent Second Person to the wall by an ironical question touching his conception of the divine character. ‘What do you think of God? What can you think of God when you confide to him wishes that you would conceal from a Staius? Are you so bold because God is so slow? Are you so bold because God’s favor is so cheaply bought?’

17. minimum est, etc.: Ironical.—scire laboro: So Hor., Ep., 1, 3, 2, and nosse laboro, Sat., 2, 8, 19.

18. estne ut: On this periphrasis, see G., 558; A., 70, 4, a. Si est, patrue, culpam ut Antipho in se admiserit, Ter., Phormio, 2, 1, 40. Comp. Hec., 3, 5, 51; 4, 1, 43; Adelph., 3, 5, 4; Hor., Od., 3, 1, 9.—cures: Curare, with Inf. usually has a negative (3, 78) or equivalent, as here.

19. ‘cuinam?’ cuinam? The first cuinam is the question of the other man, the second the echo of Persius. Comp. Ar., Ach., 594: ἀλλὰ τίς γὰρ εἶ; Δ. ὅστις; πολίτης χρηστός.vis: Comp. 1, 56.—Staio: Staius can not be identified—homuncio nobis ignotus (König)—and, as Jahn admirably remarks, it makes no difference who he was, whether Staienus, as the scholiast says (Cic., Verr., 2, 32, 79; pro Cluentio, 7, 24, 65), or an average Philistine, or a typical scoundrel. The name was a common one. Jones is measured with Jupiter.—an scilicet haeres: ‘what? are we to suppose that you are hesitating?’

20. quis: may be for uter. Comp. Cic., Att., 16, 14, 1; Fam., 7, 3, 1; Caes., B. G., 5, 44. ‘Which of the two is the better judge?’ And this is the more satisfactory rendering if Staius is a neutral character. If he is a villain, ‘who would be a better judge’ or ‘better as a judge,’ is more suitable.

21. inpellere: ‘smite’ (Verg., Georg., 4, 349; Aen., 12, 618), a rather strong word for humilis susurros. Pretor renders ‘quicken;’ Conington, ‘have an effect on.’ ‘Reach’ is about what is meant. With the thought of the passage, comp. Sen., Ep., 10, 5, cited by Casaubon: Nunc quanta dementia est hominum? Turpissima vota diis insusurrant: si quis admoverit aurem, conticescent; et quod hominem scire nolunt, deo narrant.

22. agedum: Agedum hoc mi expedi primum, Ter., Eun., 4, 4, 27. Dum shows impatience. ‘Be at it,’ or ‘be done with it,’ as the case may be.—clamet: Dic—clamet = si dicas—clamet. G., 594. 4; A., 60, 1, b.

23. sese non clamet: Iovem would make the joke clearer, but Persius would have had to pound his desk and bite his nails to get Iovem in. ‘Because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself,’ Hebr., 6, 13. König compares Hor., Sat., 1, 2, 17: Maxime, quis non, | Juppiter, exclamat simul atque audivit?

24. ‘The guilty worshipper is in a grove (lucis, v. 27) during a thunderstorm; the lightning strikes not him but one of the sacred trees, and he congratulates himself on his escape—without reason, as Persius tells him. The circumstances are precisely those used by Lucretius to enforce his skeptical argument, 6, 390 and 416’ (Conington).

25. sulpure sacro: ‘lightning.’ Comp. the Greek θεῖον, once innocently derived from the Adjective θεῖος.—tuque domusque: Comp. Juv., 13, 206: cum prole domoque. The editors cite the oracle in Herod., 6, 86, 3: πᾶσαν | συμμάρψας ὀλέσει γενεὴν καὶ οἶκον ἅπαντα.

26. fibris: the extremities of the liver, λόβοι.—Ergenna: an Etruscan name. The Etruscans were great bowel-searchers (haruspices) and lightning-doctors.

27. lucis: local Abl. and poetic Plural.—bidental: According to a law of Numa, whosoever was struck dead by lightning was buried where he fell, and the spot was inclosed. The place was called puteal, from the resemblance of the inclosure to a well-curb, or bidental, because of the oves bidentes (sheep with upper and lower teeth, hence ‘full grown’) sacrificed in the consecration of the spot, which was invested with a holy horror (triste), and might not even be looked at (evitandum). Here bidental is transferred from the place to the person: ‘a trophy of vengeance’ (Conington), ‘a monument of wrath’ (Gifford). Triste bidental, Hor., A. P., 471.

28. idcirco: Emphatic resumption.—vellere = vellendam. G., 424, R. 4; A., 57, 8, f. On the phrase vellere barbam, comp. 1, 133. Jupiter was always represented as bearded, γενειήτης, Lucian, Sacrif., 11. ‘Jove, will nothing wake thee? | Must vile Sejanus pull thee by the beard | ere thou wilt open thy black-lidded eyes | and look him dead?’ Ben Jonson, Sejan., 4, 5.

29. aut: Another (negatived) case. See G., 460, R.; A., 71, 2.—quidnam est, qua mercede = quanam mercede; unusual. Not dissimilar, Caes., B. G., 5, 31: Omnia excogitantur quare nec sine periculo maneatur et languore militum et vigiliis periculum augeatur.

30. emeris: Jahn compares praebere and dare aurem, to which Conington adds commodare, Hor., Ep., 1, 1, 40.—pulmone: for the larger, lactibus for the smaller intestines γαλακτίδες. ‘The details are mentioned contemptuously’ (Conington). Comp. Juv., 6, 540; 10, 354; 13, 115.

31-40. Thus far we have had wicked prayers; now we have specimens of silly prayers, of old wives’ wishes.

31. Ecce: transitioni servit (Casaubon). See 1, 30. The showman puts in a new slide, and says ‘Look here.’—avia aut matertera: The doting fondness of grandmothers, aunts, and nurses is proverbial. Their affection is not tempered by responsibility; hence their indiscretion. Matertera is the mother’s sister, as amita (whence ‘aunt’) the father’s; but, significantly enough, there is not the same moral distinction as between patruus and avunculus (whence ‘uncle’).—metuens divum: δεισιδαίμων. G., 374, R. 1; A., 50, 3, b.cunis: Dat. is more picturesque than Abl.

32. exemit: The Perf. brings the scene before us, and makes it particular instead of generic.—uda: ‘slobbering.’

33. infami digito: The middle finger (Juv., 10, 53) being used in mocking and indecent gesture, was considered on that very account to have more power against fascination. The notion still survives, and is embodied in coral ‘amulets’ or ‘charms’ (breloques) manufactured at Genoa.—lustralibus: The lustral day for a girl was the eighth, for a boy the ninth. Such a day would be the day for vows and prayers. On the corresponding Gr. ἀμφιδρόμια, see the Classical Dictionaries.—ante: adverbial, ‘first of all.’—salivis: Spittle has manifold medical and magical virtues among all nationalities. Comp. Plin., H. N., 28, 4, 22; Juv., 8, 112; Petron., 131. The Plural is poetical, perhaps intimating abundance.

34. expiat: ‘charms against mischief’ (Conington).—urentis: ‘blasting,’ ‘withering,’ μαραίνοντας.—oculos: If the belief in the ‘evil eye’ is not too well known and too widely spread to need illustration, comp. Verg., Ecl., 3, 103; Hor., Ep., 1, 14, 37. On the philosophy of the evil eye, see Plutarch, Quaest. Conv., 5, 7.—inhibere perita: On the construction, see Prol., 11.

35. manibus: We say ‘in,’ Prol., 1. Translate ‘arms,’ as often.—quatit: Il., 6, 474: αὐτὰρ ὅ γ᾽ ὃν φίλον υἱὸν ἐπεὶ κύσε πῆλέ τε χερσιν, | εἶπεν ἐπευξάμενος Διί τ᾽ ἄλλοισιν τε θεοῖσιν. ‘Dances,’ ‘dandles.’—spem macram: ‘the skinny hope.’

36. Licini: Licinus, originally slave and steward of Caesar, then set free and made procurator of Gaul, where he acquired immense wealth by extortion. Comp. Juv., 1, 109: Ego possideo plus | Pallante et Licinis.—Crassi: a still more familiar synonym for wealth, Cic., Att., 1, 4, 3. The two combined in Sen., Ep., 119, 9: Quorum nomina cum Crasso Licinoque numerantur.—mittit: ‘transports,’ ‘wafts’ (Pretor); ‘packs off’ (Conington), is not in keeping with the mock-lyrical tone of the passage.

37. hunc: δεικτικῶς König comp. Catullus, 62, 42: Multi illum pueri, multae optavere puellae. On optet, comp. G., 281, Exc. 1; A., 49, 1, d.rex et regina: Comp. 1, 67. ‘My lord and [my] lady’ (Conington). As the prayer is extravagant, Pretor thinks that the words are to be taken literally, and Conington inclines to the same opinion. But there is no objection to regina for domina in itself, Mart., 10, 64.

38. rapiant = diripiant, ἁρπάζοιεν. ‘May the girls have a scramble for him.’ The sexes are to be reversed in his honor. Casaubon comp.: Editum librum continuo mirari homines et diripere coeperunt, Vita Persii.—rosa fiat: Casaubon comp. Claud., Seren., 1, 89: Quocumque per herbam | reptares, fluxere rosae. A fairy-tale wish. Comp. Theocr., 8, 41; Verg., Ecl., 7, 59.

39. ast = at + set. G., 490; R.—nutrici: Quid voveat dulci nutricula maius alumno, Hor., Ep., 1, 4, 8. With the sentiment of the passage Casaubon comp. Sen., Ep., 60, 1: Etiamnum optas quod tibi optavit nutrix aut paedagogus aut mater? Nondum intellegis quantum mali optaverint?

40. albata: ‘clad in white,’ the proper attire of worshippers, Tibull., 2, 1, 13; Plaut., Rud., 1, 5, 12 (Jahn). Hence ‘though she ask it with every requisite form’ (Conington). See v. 15.

41-51. From wicked wishes we have passed to silly wishes, from silly we now pass to insane. Men pray for health and pray for wealth, and all the while are doing their utmost to break down their health and squander their wealth.

41. nervis: ‘thews,’ ‘sinews.’—senectae: may depend on poscis opem or on fidele (Casaubon’s view), ‘to stand you in stead in old age’ (Conington), or ‘to stand your old age in stead.’ The latter is the more forcible.

42. esto: ‘so far, so good’ (Conington).—grandes patinae, etc.: Comp. Hor., Sat., 2, 2, 95: Grandes rhombi patinaeque | grande ferunt una cum damno dedecus. Jahn (1868) reads pingues.—tuccetaque crassa: According to the Schol., ‘beef steeped in a thick gravy, which enables it to keep a year.’ ‘Rich gravies’ (Conington); ‘rich forced meats’ (Pretor). ‘Rich potted meats.’—his = his precibus, votis.—vetuere: Perf. to show that ‘the mischief is already done’ (Pretor). It is not a general Perfect. Comp. 32.

44. rem struere: The Biblical ‘heap up riches.’ Hor., Sat., 1, 1, 35: acervo | quem struit.—caeso bove: An expensive sacrifice. Comp. Gr. βουθυτεῖν.—Mercurium: See note on v. 11. An allusion to Mercury, or rather Hermes, as the God of Flocks and father of Pan, is barely possible.

45. arcessis = in auxilium vocas (Jahn). Conington’s ‘serve a summons on’ is a caricature. Comp. Ov., Fast., 4, 263, and Petron., 122. Accerso is a rarer form than arcesso, and to be reserved for state occasions, according to Brambach.—fibra: See v. 26.—da fortunare = ut fortunent.—fortunare: used absolutely, as in Afranius, v. 84 (Ribbeck). Fortuno a vox sollemnis in prayers (Jahn).—Penatis: Gods of the Basket and Store.

46. quo, pessime, pacto: Hor., Sat., 2, 7, 22: quo pacto, pessime?

47. iunicum = iuvencarum. Observe the extravagance of the sacrifice, and compare with the expression Catull., 90, 6: omentum in flamma pingue liquefaciens.

48. extis et ferto: Comp. vv. 30, 45. Fertum (a ferendo), a kind of sacrificial cake or pudding, libi genus, quod crebrius ad sacra obmovebatur (Jahn).

49. et tamen: at tamen (Hermann), on which see 5, 159.

50-51. Casaubon sees in this passage an imitation of Hesiod, O. et D., 369: δειλὴ δ᾽ ἐνὶ πυθμένι φειδώ (sera parsimonia in fundo est, Sen., Ep., 1, 5). I have followed the old reading, which makes nummus the subject. The personification is in Persius’s vein, as Schlüter correctly remarks. Comp. tacita acerra, v. 5; gemuerunt aera, 3, 39; sapiens porticus, 3, 53; modice sitiente lagoena, 3, 92. Nummi are nursed as children, 5, 149; there is a kind of personification in dolosi nummi, Prol., 12, and literature is full of personified coins, of ‘nimble sixpences,’ ‘slow shillings,’ ‘adventurous guineas.’ Add: ac velut exhausta redivivus pullulet arca | nummus, Juv., 6, 363. Paley (ap. Pretor) suggests that nequiquam may be considered the exclamation of the nummus. This gives so happy a turn that I am almost tempted to put it in the text. It is the familiar story of ‘the bottom dime,’ set to the familiar tune of the ‘Last Rose of Summer.’ Jahn makes the numbskull, not the nummus, the subject, and reads in his ed. of 1843:

Nequiquam fundo, suspiret, nummus in imo!

In his ed. of 1868 he follows Hermann, who reads:

Nequiquam fundo, suspiret, nummus in imo!

Pretor prints:

Nequiquam: fundo, suspiret, nummus in imo!

The scholiast hesitates. All much more prosaic and much less satisfactory.—suspiret: See G., 574, R.; A., 62, 2, d.

52-75. With a sudden start Persius strikes at the root of the matter—the false conception of the divine character. ‘Thou thoughtest,’ saith God, ‘that I was altogether such a one as thyself,’ Ps. 50, 21. Because you love gold, you fancy that God loves gold, and judge of His Holiness by your corruption. God demands a pure heart, and not ‘thousands of rams.’ This is a plane on which the highest expressions of the most various religions meet, so that Hebrew, Greek, and Christian hold almost identical discourse. M. Martha (Moralistes Romains, p. 134) recognizes ‘a progress’ in thoughts, which are immemorial in their antiquity.

52. creterras: preferred by Jahn (1868) and Hermann to crateras, in which the Acc. Sing. of the Greek word κρατήρ seems to be taken as the stem (G., 72, R. 2). See Hor., Od., 3, 18, 7: Sat., 2, 4, 80. Comp. also statera and panthera. G. Meyer (Beitrage zur Stammbildung in Curtius, Studien, 5, 72) questions the Accus. origin.—argenti: The context indicates the material, which in prose would be ex argento or argentea (G., 396; A., 54, 2). The Genitive should give us the contents as in v. 11, argenti seria. Comp. Juv., 9, 141: argenti vascula puri.—incusa: ‘is a translation of ἐμπαιστά (Casaubon), ἐμπαιστικη τέχνη being the art of embossing silver or some other material with golden ornaments (crustae or emblemata). Hence crateras argenti incusaque dona is probably a hendiadys’ (Conington). Chrysendeta, or parcel-gilt plate (Pretor).—pingui: ‘thick,’ not a generic epithet.

53. dona: Predicate.—pectore laevo: Jahn strangely follows Casaubon in understanding pectore laevo as mente laeva. Comp. Verg., Ecl., 1, 16: si mens non laeva fuisset. The side of the heart is meant. König comp. laeva parte mamillae | nil salit Arcadico iuveni, Juv., 7, 159.

54. excutiat: In his ed. of 1868 Jahn has abandoned the harsh excutias of 1843, which leaves laetari praetrepidum cor to take care of itself, with laetari as an histor. Inf. of habit. Comp. Verg., Georg., 1, 200; 4, 134; Aen., 4, 422; 7, 15.—guttas: ‘Your heart in an eager flutter of excited joy would drive the life-drops from your left breast.’ So Pretor, who adds that Persius alludes to the faintness produced by any violent excitement. Comp. Verg., Georg., 3, 105: cum spes arrectae iuvenum exsultantiaque haurit | corda pavor pulsans. With guttas comp. ‘As dear to me as are the ruddy drops that visit this sad heart,’ Shaksp. Jahn understands ‘tears,’ Heinrich ‘sweat’ (comp. Juv., 1, 167: tacita sudant praecordia culpa). In the latter case we should expect ut, as Schlüter observes.—laetari praetrepidum: ‘over-hasty to rejoice’ (Conington). For the construction, comp. Prol., 11, and Hor., Od., 2, 4, 24: cuius octavum trepidavit aetas | claudere lustrum. On the meaning of trepidum, see 1, 20.

55. illud, quod: ‘that strange fashion that,’ instead of the impersonal construction with the Inf. with a different shade of meaning (G., 525; A., 70, 5).—subiīt: On the quantity of the final syllable, see G., 705, Exc. 4; A., 84, g, 5.—auro ovato: Comp. triumphato auro, Ov., Ep. ex Ponto, 2, 1, 41 (Jahn). An allusion to the ‘unjust acquisition of the gold offered to Heaven’ seems to be too modern, despite Juv., 8, 106.

56. nam: ‘for instance.’ G., 500, R. 1.—fratres aenos: ‘brazen brotherhood’ (Gifford). There are various interpretations: 1. The gods generally (Jahn). 2. The fifty sons of Aegyptus, whose statues stood in the portico of the Palatine Apollo over against those of the fifty Danaides, Prop., 2, 31, 1 seqq.; Ov., Trist., 3, 1, 59 seqq. (Scholiast). 3. The Dioscuri. The first explanation is the best. All the gods might appear in vision, but some were more famous for such appearances than others. The very existence of the statues of the sons of Aegyptus is problematical, and their connection with dreams inexplicable (Jahn). As for the Dioscuri, they were notoriously beardless youths, apart from the fact that qui mittunt points to more than two (Casaubon).

57. pituita: trisyllabic, as in Hor., Sat., 2, 2, 76; Ep., 1, 1, 108. Pituita, ‘phlegm,’ ‘gross humor.’ ‘That pituita was supposed to mark a heavy, cloudy intellect, is clear from the meaning of the opposite expression, emunctae naris’ (Pretor). See also the commentators on Hor., ll.cc.

58. aurea barba: Cic., N. D., 3, 34, 83: Aesculapii Epidaurii barbam auream demi iussit [Dionysius], neque enim convenire barbatum esse filium cum in omnibus fanis pater imberbis esset.

59. vasa Numae: called capedines and simpuvia.—Saturnia aera: Old coinage, according to Schol., Casaubon, and Jahn. The earliest coinage is said to have been stamped on one side with the head of Janus, the coiner, on the other with a ship, in honor of Saturn’s arrival in Italy. It is best to translate loosely by ‘brass’ or ‘bronze,’ as the explanation is far from certain.—inpulit: ‘kicked out.’

60. Vestalis urnas: always of earthenware.—Tuscum fictile: ‘Etruscan pottery.’ ‘Etruscan’ both by reason of its origin and its use in Etruscan ritual.

61. O curvae: A passionate apostrophe, which reminds M. Martha of Bossuet.—in terris: So Jahn and Hermann. We should expect in terras, but the Abl. is more forcible as denoting the fixity rather than the tendency of the position.—caelestium inanes: On the Gen., see G., 373, R. 6; A., 50, 3, c. Jahn quotes Hor., Od., 3, 11, 23: inane lymphae | dolium fundo pereuntis imo.

62. quid iuvat hoc: So Jahn. Hos, Hermann’s reading, is not necessary, though natural. Hoc often anticipates the contents of a dependent clause, as here with the Inf., 5, 45; ut with Subj., 5, 19.—templis inmittere mores: is more than ‘the opposite to v. 7: tollere de templis.’ Inmittere, ‘turn loose upon,’ like so many hostes, sicarii, etc. Mores, ‘courses of life.’

63. bona dis: Brachylogy. ‘What is good in the eyes of the gods.’—ducere: ‘infer.’—scelerata pulpa: ‘sinful, pampered flesh’ (Conington). Pulpa is the Stoic σάρξ, σαρκίδιον, in a stronger form. M. Martha (l.c. p. 133, note) says that the Christian σάρξ (caro) is borrowed from the language of philosophy. Others only note the coincidence. Pulpa may be rendered ‘blubber.’

64. haec: sc. pulpa.—sibi: ‘to suit its taste.’—corrupto: The oil is spoiled by the spice, Verg., Georg., 2, 465: Alba nec Assyrio fucatur lana veneno | nec casia liquidi corrumpitur usus olivi.

65. Calabrum: ‘The beauty of the Calabrian fleece consisted in its perfect whiteness,’ which is destroyed by the dye.—coxit: here in a bad sense, as we often use ‘cook,’ ‘doctor.’—vitiato: The murex is spoiled as well as the vellus; both have violence done to their natures. Comp. Juv., 3, 20: ingenuum violarent marmora tofum. On the hard treatment of the murex, or κάλχη, see St. John, Manners and Customs of Ancient Greece, 3, 225 foll.

66. bacam: ‘pearl,’ literally ‘berry.’ The transfer is explained by Auson., Mos., 70: albentes concharum germina bacas. Diluit insignem bacam, Hor., Sat., 2, 3, 241.—rasisse: Perf., like the Greek Aor. Inf. See 1, 42.

67. massae: ‘ore.’—crudo de pulvere: ‘from their primitive slag’ (Conington).

68. vitio utitur: ‘gets some good out of its sin.’—nempe: G., 500, R. 2.

70. pupae: The ancients dedicated to the gods what they had done with. So when the girl was ripe for marriage, she hung up her dolls. The sailor hangs up his clothes, Hor., Od., 1, 5, 16; the lover his harp, Od., 3, 26, 3. The Sixth Book of the Greek Anthology is full of examples. An ingenious friend suggests that the practice of publishing a list of commentators in editions of the classics is a survival of this usage.

71. quin damus: See G., 268; A., 57, 7, d.—lance: ‘sacrificial plate,’ ‘paten.’ Ov., Ep. ex P., 4, 8, 39: nec quae de parva dis pauper libat acerra | tura minus grandi quam data lance valet (Jahn).

72. Messallae propago: Lucius Aurelius Cotta Messalinus (Schol.), an unworthy son of M. Valerius Messalla Corvinus. See Tac., Ann., 6, 7. He was a notorious debauchee in the reign of Tiberius.—lippa: alludes to the effect of his excesses. Comp. 5, 77.

73. conpositum: ‘in just balance,’ ‘well blended’ (Conington).—ius fasque: ‘duty to God and man’ (Conington).—recessus mentis: φρενῶν μυχός Theocr., 29, 3 (Jahn).

74. incoctum: ‘thoroughly imbued.’—generoso honesto: ‘with the honor of a gentleman.’ See note on mordaci vero, 1, 107.

75. cedo: Notice the quantity. G., 190, 4; A., 38, 2, f. Cĕdo, ‘give here,’ ‘let.’ For the construction: cedo ut bibam, Plaut., Most., 2, 1, 26; cedo ut inspiciam, Curc., 5, 2, 54.—admovere: a sacrificial word.—farre litabo: Comp. Hor., Od., 3, 23, 19: mollivit aversos Penatis | farre pio et saliente mica. Litare is the Greek καλλιερεῖν, ‘offer acceptably.’ The sentiment may be illustrated without end. Comp. θυσία μεγίστη τῷ θεῷ τό γ᾽ εὐσεβεῖν, Men., Mon., 246, and Eur., fr. 329 and 940 (Nauck).


THIRD SATIRE.

Argument.—The Satire opens dramatically. A young Roman of the upper classes is discovered asleep, snoring off the effects of yesterday’s debauch. To him one of his familiars, half companion, half tutor, who rouses him by telling him that the sun is already high in the heavens, and it is time to be up. The young fellow bawls for his servants, brays for them, and makes a show of going to work. But nothing suits him. He curses the ink because it is too thick, then he curses it because it is too thin, and finally swears at pen and ink both. ‘You big baby,’ exclaims the monitor. ‘Do you expect me to study with such a pen?’ asks the young man with a whine. ‘Don’t come to me with your puling nonsense, you dab of untempered mortar, you unformed lump of clay. You are lazing away the time, when every minute is of moment, when the potter’s wheel should fly faster and faster, and deft hands should mould the vessel of your life (1-24). But I see you think that you have already attained perfection. You are satisfied with your position in life, move in a good circle. Tell that to the profane vulgar. I know you, every inch of you. Shame on you, that you, with your training, should live like a brutish creature, who does not know what a rich jewel he is flinging away, who sinks without a struggle in the slough of vice, whose soul dies and makes no sign. But you, who know better, will have a dire fate. No worse doom could Jove himself bring down on cruel tyrants than the vain yearning for lost virtue, which they can never hope to regain. Nay, worse than the brazen bull of Phalaris and the pendent sword of Damocles is the consciousness of sin, the pallor that blanches not the cheek only, but the very heart (25-43). You are past the age of childhood, and have not the excuse of tender years. If you were a child, I could understand your behavior. I remember my own childhood, how hateful and unprofitable task-work alternated with frivolous play, how I dodged the learning of the piece I had to speak, how I had no thought for any thing save dice and marbles and tops (44-51). But you have reached a higher level. You know the great norms of life, the doctrines of the Porch; you understand the distinctions of Right and Wrong. Pshaw! As I live, you are snoring still. Wake up, I say, and tell me—have you any aim in life? Or are you nothing better than a boy following sparrows with a pinch of salt?’ (52-62).

Here the poet drops the dramatic form, deserts the individuality of the student, and makes his exhortation general, reserving, of course, the right to pick out at will any member of his congregation for rebuke. He mounts the pulpit and begins to preach. His text is:

‘Be wise to-day; ’tis madness to defer.’ Go back to the first principles of all true philosophy, the constitution of the universe, the position of man in that universe, the great laws of Ethic as derived from the great laws of Physic. In brief, study your Stoic catechism. Do not allow yourself to be diverted from higher study by success in the lower ranges of life. You lawyer there, for instance, do not let hams and sprats, the gifts of thankful clients, seduce you from the ambrosia of true philosophy (63-76).

But hark! some one is talking out in church. It is the voice of the unsavory centurion.

‘I have got all the sense I want. I would not be for all the world one of your painful philosophers, with head tucked down, eyes riveted on the ground, mumbling and muttering a lot of metaphysic trash—chimaera bombinans in vacuo—and the rest of the scholastic stuff. What! get pale for that? What! miss my breakfast for that!’

Great applause in the galleries, and a rippling reduplication of laughter from the muscular humanity of the period (77-87).

A sudden turn, or rather a sudden return to the figure of v. 63. The connection, if there be a connection, seems to be this:

Such men as the centurion are hopelessly lost, have already ‘imbodied and imbruted.’ Like Natta, they are unconscious of their moral ruin. But there are those who, half-conscious of their condition, consult a physician of the soul, a spiritual director. The state of this class is set forth in a dramatic parable. A man feels sick, goes to see a doctor, follows his advice for a while, gets better, and then, despite all remonstrance, violates the plainest rules of diet and falls dead (88-106).

But before our preacher can make the application, he is interrupted by an impatient hearer, perhaps none other than the yawning youth, whose acquaintance we made in the beginning of the Satire. Whoever he is, he is so literal that he does not understand the drift of the apologue.

‘Sick! Who’s sick? Not I. No fever in my veins. No chill in hands or feet.’

‘But,’ says our resolute moralist, ‘the sight of money, the meaning smile of a pretty girl, makes your heart beat a devil’s tattoo. Coarse flour shows that you are mealy-mouthed, and tough cabbage brings out the ulcer in your throat. Kindle the fire of wrath beneath the cauldron of your blood, and Orestes is sane in comparison’ (107-118).


According to Jahn, this Satire is aimed at those that have received a thorough training in ethics, but, owing to the weakness of human nature, fail to follow the true guide of life; and, although well aware of their short-comings, imitate the example of those brutish souls whose sins are excused by their ignorance. In short, the Satire is an expansion of the old theme—Video meliora proboque.

Knickenberg (De Ratione Stoica in Persii Satiris Apparente, p. 16 seqq.) maintains that in conformity with Stoic doctrine, it is not so much the weakness of human nature as imperfect knowledge—the inscitia debilis of v. 99—that is the source of the vices which the author lashes in the present Satire. According to the Stoic, virtue is knowledge, and the snoring youth, with his half-knowledge, which keeps him from rising to the height of virtue, is the pattern of the false philosophy of the time.

But Persius is not an expounder of the Stoic philosophy, as a system, any more than Seneca is; and commentators have attributed to him a profounder knowledge of philosophy than he had, certainly a profounder knowledge than it would have been artistic to show. Persius repeats the catechism of the sect, expands some of their favorite theses, elaborates some of their pet figures, and finds fault with his fellow students in the lofty tone which he had caught from his teachers. A glaring paradox, such as we find in 5, 119, he is but too happy to reproduce, but the subtle analysis for which the Stoics were famous does not appear in his poems.


The Satire is said by the Scholiast to be imitated from the Fourth Book of Lucilius.

1-24. A young student is roused by one of his companions, who, after meditating on his snoring form (1-4), remonstrates with him against lying abed so long. Yawning and headachy, he attempts to go to work, calls his servants testily, has his writing materials brought, swears at them, and is rebuked by his sage friend for his babyishness, and urged to make use of this golden season of life.

1. Nempe: The opening is made very lively by the use of nempe, which implies a preceding statement, and thus plunges at once into the thick of the dialogue. ‘And so’—a clear imitation of Hor., Sat., 1, 10, 1. Comp. the English use of ‘and’ in the first verse of lyrics, and the common stage trick of beginning a scene with conjunctions: Farquhar, Beaux’ Stratagem, 2, 2: ‘And was she the daughter of the house?’ Cibber, The Provoked Wife, 5, 4: ‘But what dost thou think will come of this business?’ This effect is lost by bringing in the comes at v. 5, as some do.—mane: Substantive, the Abl. of which, mane (mani), is in more common use as an Adverb.—fenestras: ‘windows,’ here for ‘window-shutters.’

2. extendit: ‘makes wider,’ ‘makes seem wider,’ a familiar optical effect.—rimas: ‘chinks’ (between the shutters).

3. stertimus: Ironical First Person, excluding the speaker.—indomitum: ‘heady,’ ‘unmanageable’ (Conington). Falernian was a strong wine: ardens, Hor., Od., 2, 11, 9; severum, Od., 1, 27, 19; forte, Sat., 2, 4, 24. Add Lucan, 10, 162: Indomitum Meroe cogens spumare Falernum.—quod sufficiat: ‘what ought to be enough.’ G., 633; A., 65, 2.—despumare: ‘work off,’ ‘carry off the fumes of’ (Conington). Despumare is a technical term ‘skim’ (Verg., Georg., 1, 296), like ‘rack’ in English.

4. quintā dum linea tangitur umbrā: where we should expect quintă linea umbrā, by what is called Hypallagé. Conington compares Aeschyl., Ag., 504: δεκάτῳ σε φέγγει τῷδ᾽ ἀφικόμην ἔτους. See Schneidewin’s note.—dum: ‘while,’ ‘whereas,’ ‘and yet.’ Comp. G., 572, R.; A., 72, 1, c.—linea: of the sun-dial. The fifth hour (about 11 o’clock) was the time of the prandium, according to Auson., Ephem. Loc. Ordin. Coqui, 1, 2 (Casaubon): Sosia, prandendum est, quartam iam totus in horam | sol calet: ad quintam flectitur umbra notam. In Horace’s time breakfast was after 10 (Sat., 1, 5, 25). The sophist Alciphron implies that 12 was the hour in his day (3, 4, 1).

5. en quid agis? Comp. en quid ago? Verg., Aen., 4, 534. In lively questions the present is often used as a future, as: Quoi dono lepidum novum libellum? Catull., 1, 1.—siccas: proleptic or predicative, to be combined with coquit. Conington renders ‘is baking the crops dry,’ but coquere is too common in this sense for such a translation, a criticism which applies to a very large proportion of Conington’s picturesque versions. Coquere is the regular word for ‘ripen’—Gr. πέσσωVarro, R. R., 1, 7, 4; 54, 1. Tr. ‘is ripening hard’ (in the broiling sun).—insana canicula: ‘the mad dog-star’ is, of course, the ‘mad dog’s star’ (Conington). Comp. Hor., Od., 3, 29, 18; Ep., 1, 10, 16.

7. comitum: Comes is a wide term, embracing fellow-students and tutors. The Greek word is οἱ συνοντες. See Lucian’s famous tract, περὶ τῶν ἐπὶ μισθῷ συνόντων (de mercede conductis).

8. aliquis: ‘somebody,’ ‘τις,’ of a servant. Aperite aliquis actutum ostium, Ter., Adelphi, 4, 4, 46. Ὥσπερ ἐν οἴκῳ ἔνιοι δεσπόται προστάττουσι, Ἴτω τις ἐφ᾽ ὕδωρ, Ξύλα τις σχισάτω, Xen., Cyr., 5, 3, 49.—nemon? on the rhetorical -ne, see 1, 22.—vitrea bilis: a medical term, ὑαλώδης χολή, according to Casaubon. Comp. splendida bilis, Hor., Sat., 2, 3, 141.

9. findor: ‘I’m splitting,’ the exclamation of the impatient youth. The old reading, finditur, ‘he’ or ‘it’ (bilis) ‘is splitting,’ has little MS. authority. Others read findimur.—Arcadiae pecuria: The asses of Arcady were famous in antiquity.—rudere: with u long only here and Auson., Epigr., 76, 3.

10. iamque liber: The distribution of these articles is not without its difficulty. According to some, liber is the author to be explained by the teacher; chartae, the papyrus for rough notes; membrana, the parchment for a more careful transcript. According to others, ‘liber is the author out of which the lesson or thesis is to be transcribed, and membrana the parchment wrapper for preserving the loose sheets, as the work progresses’ (Pretor).—bicolor: used either of the two sides of the skin—the one from which the hair had been scraped, yellow, the other white (Casaubon), or, more probably, of the custom of coloring the parchment artificially (Jahn).—capillis: is commonly taken for pilis, a rare use. The hair side of the skin was carefully smoothed with pumice-stone. Arida modo pumice expolitum, Cat., 1, 2; cui pumex tondeat ante comas, Tib., 3, 1, 10. The old explanation, according to which positis capillis = capillis ornatis sive pexis (Plum), has found an advocate in Schlüter. The young man is supposed to have dressed his hair before he goes to work.

11. nodosa harundo = calamus of the next verse.

12. querimur: In his ed. of 1868 Jahn has abandoned queritur (1843) here and in v. 14. Comp. stertimus, v. 3.—calamo: In prose, de calamo.

13. nigra sepia: ‘The blackness of the liquor,’ Conington, who says correctly that nigra is emphatic. Sepia, ‘juice of the cuttle-fish,’ used for ink. Comp. Auson., Epist., 4, 76; 7, 54 (Jahn).

14. fistula = harundo. The nib of the pen was badly slit. Comp. nec iam fissipedis per calami vias | grassetur Cnidiae sulcus harundinis, Auson., Epist., 7, 49-50.

The whole period is very awkward, and is not improved by Jahn’s sed for quod in v. 13. Mr. Pretor suspects a duplex recensio, and brackets v. 13. In any other author I should suggest dilutasque nimis for dilutas querimur, v. 14 (Mp. querimus).

15. ultra miser = miserior.—hucine rerum: Hucine is archaic and colloquial. On rerum, see G., 371, R. 4; A., 50, 2, d. Comp. 1, 1 for the translation.

16. tenero columbo: a pet name for children (Schol.). Columbus is ‘the house-pigeon,’ palumbus ‘the wood-pigeon.’ Some of the best MSS. read palumbo, which Bentley on Hor., Od., 1, 2, 10, prefers. Notice further that nurses often feed their babies pigeon-fashion.—regum pueris: ‘aristocratic babies,’ ‘babies of quality’ (Conington). Regum as in 1, 67.—pappare: (papare, Jahn, 1843) Infin. for Substantive, ‘pap.’ Such Infinitives are hardly parallel with vivere triste (1, 9), and belong rather to the verba togae. They may be called nursery Infinitives. Comp. Titin. (ap. Charisium, 1, p. 99P.), v. 78 Ribb.: Date illi biber, iracunda haec est. Comp. the Greek τὸ πιεῖν, τὸ φαγεῖν, Theocr., 10, 53; Anthol. Pal., 12, 34, 5. The Scholiast calls pappare and lullarevoces mutilas.’—minutum: ‘chewed fine,’ ‘minced.’

18. iratus: ‘in a pet.’—mammae: exactly our ‘mammy;’ depends on lallare, not on iratus.—lallare: like pappare, ‘lullaby.’ ‘Pettishly refusing to let mammy sing you to sleep’ (Conington)—‘to go by-bye for mammy.’

19. studeam: G., 258; A., 57, 6. The absolute use of studere is post-Augustan. Desidioso studere torqueri est, Sen., Ep. M., 71, 23.—Cui verba: sc. das?

20. succinis: ‘sing to an instrument or second to a person,’ hence ‘to sing small’ (Conington), ‘come whimpering, whining with.’—ambages: ‘beating about the bush,’ ‘shuffling excuses.’ Quando pauperiem, missis ambagibus, horres, Hor., Sat., 2, 5, 9.—tibi luditur: Tua res agitur, ‘it is your game,’ ‘your stake,’ ‘your affair.’—effluis amens: with a sudden change of figure. The dissolute young man is compared to a cracked jar, from which all the noble ‘wine of life’ (Shaksp., Macbeth, 2, 3) is escaping. The passage in Ter., Eun., 1, 2, 25, which is often cited in this connection: Plenus rimarum sum; huc atque huc perfluo refers to ‘a leaky vessel,’ one who can not keep a secret.

21. contemnere: A sudden desertion of the metaphor, unless contemnere be a technical term, like ἀποδοκιμάζειν, ‘reject on test.’ Cicero combines conterere et contemnere, contemnere et reicere, contemnere et pro nihilo putare. The Scholiast thinks that the word is an unhappy reminiscence of Hor., Sat., 2, 3, 14: contemnere miser.—sonat vitium = sono indicat vitium. Sonat vitium, like sapit mare, ‘sounds flawy,’ ‘has a flawy ring.’ The Schol. comp. Verg., Aen., 1, 328: nec vox hominem sonat.—maligne: ‘ill-naturedly,’ ‘grudgingly,’ of that which falls short of what was expected. Maligne respondet, ‘gives a short answer,’ ‘a dull sound.’

22. viridi: = crudo, ‘untempered.’ The material is ill-mixed and the crock ill-baked (non cocta).

23. ‘Persius steps back, as it were, while pursuing the metaphor,’ is Conington’s droll defence of Persius’s ὕστερον πρότερον. Common critics would say that Persius had bungled the figure.—properandus et fingendus: not necessarily equivalent to propere fingendus. Comp. Juv., 4, 134: argillam atque rotam citius properate.

24-43. Persius: ‘I know what you are going to say. You have a fair estate, you have nothing to dread, you have good connections, you have a good position. Away with these baubles. I know you yourself. You live no higher life than the dullest sensualist, who knows not what he is losing; but the time will come when you will be roused to the consciousness of your loss, and your soul must be tortured with the expectation of impending ruin and the carking of hidden sin.’—rure paterno: G., 412, R. 1; A., 55, 3, c, R.

25. far modicum: Modicum with a sneer. The young man keeps up a show of Stoic moderation.—salinum—patella: two articles of plate, to which every respectable family aspired. Compare the apostle-spoons and the candle-cup of the Elizabethan period. The salinum and the patella were exempt, when all other gold and silver plate was called for to meet the necessities of the state.—purum et sine labe: literally and metaphorically.

26. quid metuas: ex animo iuvenis. The young man is supposed to ask quid metuam? See v. 19. ‘I have nothing to fear on the score of poverty.’—cultrix foci: The patella was used in the worship of the Lares. Conington preserves the possible double sense of ‘inhabitant’ and ‘worshipper,’ by rendering ‘a dish for fireside service.’—secura: ‘that knows no fear’ (of want).

27. hoc satis? This is very well, but is it enough?—an deceat: The connection is not very plain, and Jahn thinks that another person is apostrophised. Persius is attacking the same man, now as to his fortune, now as to his family. That this is not clearly brought out, is simply his own fault.—ventis: ‘with airs’ (Pretor). See 4, 20.

28. stemmate: Abl. as a whence-case. ‘Comp. Juv., 8, 1-6; Suet., Nero, 37. These stemmata were genealogical trees or tables of pedigree, in which the family portraits (imagines) were connected by winding lines. Comp. stemmata vero lineis discurrebant ad imagines pictas, Plin., H. N., 25, 2, and multae stemmatum flexurae, Sen., de Benef., 3, 28’ (Pretor, after Jahn).—Tusco: The Etruscans were great sticklers for family, as Persius well knew. Comp. Hor., Od., 3, 29, 1; Sat., 1, 6, 1; Prop., 4, 9, 1. Your aristocratic philosopher can afford to be disdainful of birth. A Stoic commonplace: si quid est aliud in philosophia boni, hoc est quod stemma non inspicit, Sen., Ep., 44, 1.—ramum = lineam.—millesime: ‘a thousand times removed’ (Pretor). On the case, 1, 123. Conington recognizes a side-thrust, and compares Savage’s ‘No tenth transmitter of a foolish face.’

29. censoremne: So Casaubon. Jahn (1868) reads -que, thus abandoning the reading which is best supported by MSS., but utterly unsupported by grammar, -ve. The careless use of vel after ve is one of those slips that are simply incredible, nor can -ve—vel be successfully defended by connecting the latter closely with trabeate. Pretor explains, ‘because you have a censor in your family, or are yourself a knight of distinction (sc. quodve censorem tuum salutas vel quod ipse trabeatus es)’. Heinr.’s conjecture, fatuum, with a reference to the censorship of Claudius, is itself almost fatuous. If we are to resort to conjecture, Heinr.’s other suggestion, vetulum, would be mild. Jahn explains this line (after Niebuhr) of the municipales equites, ‘Because you are a great man in your own provincial town.’ Comp. 1, 129. ‘In any case the allusion is to the annual transvectio of the equites before the censor, who used to review them (recognoscere) as they defiled before him on horseback. If censorem is understood of Rome, tuum will imply that the youth is related to the Emperor, like Juvenal’s Rubellius Blandus, 8, 40; otherwise it means “your local censor”’ (Conington).—trabeate: The trabea is the official dress of the equites. Comp. 1, 123.

30. ad populum phaleras: ‘The phalerae included all the trappings of the horse and rider. They were on occasion much ornamented with metal, and Polybius (6, 23) says that they were given as rewards of merit to cavalry soldiers’ (Pretor, after Jahn). ‘To the mob with your trappings, your stars and garters.’—intus et in cute: ‘inside and out;’ a rough equivalent. In cute (Gr. ἐν χρᾦ) means ‘closely’ (‘to a dot, a T’). See Lexx. s.v. χρῶς.