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. ἰσχιορρωγικός—saliva: 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.
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.