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).
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. πέσσω—Varro, 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 lullare ‘voces 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.
31. non pudet: ‘You are not ashamed?’ (you ought to be). See G., 455.—discincti: Comp. discinctus aut perdam nepos, Hor., Epod., 1, 34 (Schol.). The discinctus is ‘a man of loose habits.’—Nattae: taken at random from Hor., Sat., 1, 6, 124.
32. stupet: ἀναισθητεῖ (Casaubon). He is ‘past feeling,’ his conscience is benumbed, is ‘seared with a hot iron.’—fibris increvit opimum pingue: ‘his heart is overgrown with thick collops of fat’ (Conington). The Scriptural parallels are familiar: Psa., 119, 70; Matt., 13, 15; John, 12, 40. The Delphin ed. comp. Tertull., de Anima, 20: Opimitas impedit sapientiam. On opimum pingue, comp. 1, 107.
33. caret culpa: Perhaps because the Stoic would not hold him responsible, Epictet., Diss., 1, 18. Conington well remarks that Casaubon’s quotation from Menand., Mon., 430—ὁ μηδὲν εἰδὼς οὐδὲν ἐξαμαρτάνει—does not meet the case. In Menander we have to do with ‘a sin of ignorance’ against others. Here the sin is against the man’s own nature. Possibly culpa is = conscientia culpae.
34-43. The terrors of remorse.
34. rursum non bullit: ‘he makes no bubbles,’ ‘makes no further struggles,’ ‘he is down among the dead men.’
36. velis: ‘deign.’ Velle gives a reverential turn to the wish.
37. moverit: Perf. Subj. Attraction of mood. G., 666; A., 66, 2.—ferventi tincta veneno: The gelidum venenum chills, this poison fires the blood. Comp. Alciphr., 1, 37, 3: θερμότερον φάρμακον, of a love potion. Occultum inspires ignem fallasque veneno, Verg., Aen., 1, 688. Tincta is a reminiscence of the shirt of Nessus and the bridal-gift of Medea to Glaucé.