38. intabescant: belongs to the same sphere of comparison. Intabescere, κατατήκεσθαι, is hopeless pining for a lost love. Comp. Theocr., 1, 66; 11, 14. For the figure, see Ov., Met., 3, 487: ut intabescere flavae | igne levi cerae—solent, sic attenuatus amore | liquitur.—relicta: sc. virtute. Conington comp. Verg., Aen., 4, 692: quaesivit caelo lucem ingemuitque reperta. Relicta = quod religuerint.
39. anne = an.—Siculi iuvenci: Every one has heard of the brazen bull made by Perillus for Phalaris of Agrigentum, Cic., Off., 2, 7, 26, and the sword of Damocles, in the next verse, is a proverb in English. Comp. Hor., Od., 3, 1, 17; Cic., Tusc. Dis., 5, 21, 61.—aera: poet. Plur. Vivid personification and identification.
40. auratis laquearibus = de a. l. Laquearibus, ‘sunken panels (lacus) between the cross-beams of the ceiling.’ See Verg., Aen., 1, 726.—ensis: a poetic word, ‘glaive,’ ‘brand.’
41. purpureas cervices: Damocles was arrayed in royal purple; hence purpureas (Casaubon). Others apply the expression to tyrants generally. Comp. Hor., Od., 1, 35, 12: purpurei tyranni.
42. imus: Better to have a sword hanging by a hair over your neck than yourself to be hanging above an abyss of misery. The commentators refer to Tiberius’s letter to the senate (Tac., Ann., 6, 6; Suet., Tib., 67), by way of illustrating the shuddering perplexity of the sinful tyrant.—dicat: The subject is loosely involved.—intus | palleat: This ‘not very intelligible expression’ (Conington) is paralleled by Shaksp., Macb., 2, 2: ‘My hands are of your color, but I shame | to wear a heart so white.’
43. quod: dependent on the notion of fear contained in pallere. G., 329, R. 1; A., 52, 1, a.—proxima uxor: ‘the wife at his side,’ ‘the wife of his bosom.’—nesciat: ‘is not to know.’
44-51. You have not the excuse of an unenlightened conscience, nor have you the plea of the ignorance of boyhood. Boys will be boys. I was a boy myself, played boyish tricks, loved boyish sports. My training was bad, my behavior only to be justified by my training.
44. parvus: ‘as a small boy:’ Memini quae plagosum mihi parvo | Orbilium dictare, Hor., Ep., 2, 1, 70.—olivo: The boy would tip (tangere) his eyes with oil, in order to make believe, by the use of the remedy, that he was suffering from the disease. For the anointing of sore eyes, see Hor., Sat., 1, 8, 25; Ep., 1, 1, 29.
45. grandia: ‘sublime.’ Grandia verba is the American ‘tall talk.’—nollem: Iterative conditional. G., 569, R. 2; A., 59, 5, b.—morituri Catonis: Such compositions were very much in vogue as rhetorical exercises. Comp. Juv., 1, 16 (oration to Sulla, advising a withdrawal from public life); 7, 161 (speech made for Hannibal). Seneca (Ep., 24, 6) does not seem to regard the theme of Cato’s death as threadbare.
46. discere: better than dicere. The boy shirks the learning rather than the speaking, and the sore eyes would be a better excuse for the one than for the other.—non sano: Comp. Petron., cap. 1; Tac., Or., 35, on this system of training. Hermann reads et insano.—laudanda = quae laudaret, the free adjective use of the Gerundive, which is more common in later times.
47. quae pater audiret: Juv., 7, 166: ut totiens illum pater audiat.—sudans: from excitement; hardly ‘in a glow of perspiring ecstasy’ (Conington). Sudans is thrown in maliciously as a comment.
48. iure: εἰκότως, ‘and well I might.’—etenim: is καὶ γάρ. Theoretically the predicate of the preceding sentence is to be repeated with the et. Practically it is often best to leave et untranslated. G., 500, R. 2 and 3; A., 43, 3, d.—senio, etc.: ‘The game was played with four tali, which, unlike the tesserae, were rounded on two sides, while the other four faces were marked with one, three, four, or six pips, and called respectively unio, ternio, quaternio, senio. The canis was the worst throw, when all four tali showed single pips (Ov., A. A., 2, 206; Trist., 2, 474; Mart., 13, 1, 6; Prop., 4, 8, 46), and the Venus the best, when all the faces turned up were different (Lucian, Amor., p. 415); or else, for it varied upon occasion, when all showed sices. The ace was a losing throw and the sice a winning one, when the pips were counted’ (Pretor, after Jahn). Persius wanted to know the value of each throw, what one brought in (ferret) another swept off (raderet).
49. scire erat in voto: Hoc erat in votis, Hor., Sat., 2, 6, 1.
50. angustae collo non fallier orcae: The allusion is to a game at nuces, called τρόπα or ‘cherry-pit.’ ‘’Tis not for gravity to play at cherry-pit with Satan,’ Shaksp., Twelfth N., 3, 4. Fr. à la fossette. Comp. Rabelais, 1, 2. The modern equivalent of nuces is marbles, and the modern τρόπα is ‘pitch-in-the-hole,’ or ‘knucks.’ Instead of the hole in the ground (βόθρος), the ancients used a small jar (orca), and to enhance the difficulty of getting in, the neck of this jar was made narrow (collo angustae orcae = angusto collo orcae, by Hypallagé, v. 4). So the modern hole admits but one marble. Comp. [Ov.] Nux, 85, 86: Vas quoque saepe cavum spatio distante locatur, | in quod missa levi nux cadat una manu.—fallier: like dicier, 1, 28.
51. neu quis = et ne quis. G., 546. ‘Et [erat in voto] ne quis callidior [esset].’—buxum: ‘top,’ because made of ‘boxwood.’ Comp. Verg., Aen., 7, 382: volubile buxum.—torquere: see Prol., 11, and 1, 118.
52. You have had a better training. You have reached years of discretion. You know Right from Wrong.—curvos = pravos. Comp. scilicet ut possem curvo dinoscere rectum, Hor., Ep., 2, 2, 44, and Persius, 4, 12; 5, 38.
53. quaeque docet: Quae depends by Zeugma on some notion involved in deprendere, such as tenere. G., 690; M., 478, Obs. 4.—sapiens porticus: Comp. sapientem barbam, Hor., Sat., 2, 3, 35; eruditus pulvis, Cic., N. D., 2, 18, 48.—bracatis inlita Medis: The στοὰ ποικίλη, the resort of Zeno and his school, was adorned with paintings by Polygnotus and others. One of these paintings represented the battle of Marathon, hence ‘the wise Porch bepainted with the trouser’d Medes.’ Inlita perhaps contemptuous, not necessarily ‘frescoed.’ The bracae ἀναξυρίδες, θύλακοι, a mark of barbaric luxury and display. Comp. Prop., 4, 3, 17: Tela fugacis equi et bracati militis arcus and Persica braca, Ov., Tr., 5, 10, 34 (Freund).—quibus: Neuter. Quibus et = et quibus. Trajection, G., 693.—detonsa: ‘close-cropped,’ for so the Stoics wore their hair, although they let their beard grow long ἐν χρῷ κουρίαι, Luc., Hermot., 18; Vit. Auct., 20. Comp. Juv., 2, 15: supercilio brevior coma.
55. invigilat: ‘rather tautological after insomnis. Nec capiat somnos invigiletque malis, Ov., Fast., 4, 530’ (Conington). Positive and negative sides of an action are more frequently combined in Latin and Greek than in English, and ‘sleepless vigil’ would not be strange even in English.—siliquis: ‘pulse.’ Hor., Ep., 2, 1, 123: vivit [vates] siliquis et pane secundo.—grandi polenta: ‘mighty messes of porridge;’ coarse, thick stuff (Macleane). ‘Polenta, ἄλφιτα, “pearl barley,” a Greek, not a Roman dish (Plin., H. N., 18, 19, 28), mentioned as a simple article of diet by Attalus, Seneca’s preceptor (Ep., 110, 18)’ (Conington, after Jahn).
56. Samios = Pythagorean, from Pythagoras of Samos. ‘And the letter, which is disparted into Samian branches, has pointed out to you the steep path whose track is on the right.’—diduxit: as demanded by the sense against the MSS., which have deduxit.—littera: The letter Y, or rather its old form different form of Y, was selected by Pythagoras to embody the immemorial image of the two paths (Hesiod, O. et D., 287-292), so familiar in the apologue of Hercules at the cross-roads (Xen., Comm., 2, 1, 20), and alluded to again by our author, 5, 34. Hence this letter was called the Pythagorean; Auson., Id., 12, de litt. monos., 9: Pythagorae bivium ramis patet ambiguis Υ (comp. also Id., 15, 1: quod vitae sectabor iter?) Hence the rami Samii above. ‘The stem stands for the unconscious life of infancy and childhood, the diverging branches for the alternative offered to the youth, virtue or vice’ (Conington).
57. surgentem: The path to the right is the surgens callis of Persius, the ὄρθιος οἶμος of Hesiod. The character itself points upward, and the right-hand path is a clear-cut line (limes), so that there is no mistaking the road, unless you are bent on following Shakspeare’s ‘primrose path of dalliance,’ instead of ‘the steep and thorny path to heaven.’
58. stertis adhuc: The preacher finds his audience still snoring, despite his eloquence. As stertis can not be divorced from what follows, it is better to take it as an exclamation than as a rhetorical question.—laxumque caput, etc.: ‘Your head a-lolling with its coupling loose, yawns a yawn of yesterday with jaws unhinged at every point.’ The head is laxum on account of its weight. Comp. καρηβαρεῖν Alciphr., 3, 32, and Menand., fr. 67 (4, 88 Mein.).
59. oscitat hesternum: ‘Yawning off yesterday’ (Conington); the yawn is yesterday’s yawn, because it comes from yesterday’s debauch, Alexis, fr. 277 (3, 515 Mein.).—undique: ‘from all points of the compass’ (Conington), ‘an intentional exaggeration for utraque parte.’—malis: Jahn’s malis? (1843) is not good. The description is too minute for the interrogative form.
60. est aliquid: Ironical; hence the expectation of a negative answer is suppressed. G., 634, R. 1; A., 65, 2, a.—quo = in quod. Schlüter combines with tendis arcum.—in quod: The other reading, in quo, is unsatisfactorily defended by Hermann and Pretor.
61. ‘A wild-goose chase’ is the corresponding English expression for the Latin corvos sequi, the Greek τὰ πετόμενα διώκειν. ‘Each word is carefully selected. Thus the chase is a random one (passim), the object worthless (corvos), the missile any thing that comes first to hand’ (Pretor, after Jahn). Jahn refers further to Aeschyl., Ag., 394 (Dind.): διώκει παῖς ποτανὸν ὄρνιν. Familiar is Eurip.: πτηνὰς διώκεις, ὦ τέκνον, τὰς ἐλπίδας.
62. ex tempore: ‘for the moment,’ ‘at the beck of the moment,’ ‘by the rule of the moment’ (Conington).
63-76. A general preachment begins. Wake up, you snorer. Wake up, all you snorers. You are all sick, or all threatened with sickness. Do not postpone the remedy until it is too late. That remedy is to be found in the principles of true wisdom; in other words, in the doctrines of the Stoic creed. Before the sermon is finished, the preacher notices an unfriendly stir in his audience, and is punching a member of his congregation when he is interrupted.
63. helleborum: The black hellebore this time (1, 51). The black was good for dropsy, Plin., H. N., 25, 5, 22. It was the great ‘purger of melancholy.’—cutis aegra tumebit: Comp. vv. 95, 98.—venienti occurrite morbo: Every one will remember the well-worn Ovidian Principiis obsta, R. A., 91. The comparison of moral with physical disease was a favorite topic with the Stoics, who overdid it, according to Cic., Tusc. Dis., 4, 10, 23.
64. poscentis: Elsewhere Persius uses after video the less vivid Infinitive, 1, 19. 69; 3, 91. On the difference, see G., 527, R. 1; A., 72, 3, d. So after facio, 1, 44.
65. quid opus: G., 390, R.; A., 52, 3, a.—Cratero: More bookishness. Craterus was a famous physician of the time of Cicero. Hor., Sat., 2, 3, 161.—magnos promittere montis: A proverbial phrase, which survives in several modern languages: Fr. monts et merveilles; Germ. goldene Berge versprechen. Jahn compares Ter., Phormio, 1, 2, 18: modo non montis auri pollicens; Heinr., Sall., Cat. 23: maria montisque polliceri coepit.
66. discite o: To remove the hiatus, Barth suggested io, Guyet vos. Hor., Od., 3, 14, 11: male ominatis, is not a parallel for the hiatus, even if the reading be correct, and the parallel in Catull., 3, 16, is conjectural.—causas cognoscite rerum: Comp. Verg., Georg., 2, 490: Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas, and sapientia est rerum divinarum et humanarum causarumque scientia, Cic., Off., 2, 2, 5. On the connection of the different articles of this catechism, see Knickenberg, l.c. p. 35 seqq. Discite is the exhortation to the study of philosophy. Causas cognoscite rerum bids us pursue what the Stoics called Physic, for without a knowledge of nature there can be no knowledge of duty. Ethic is based on Physic; τέλος ἐστὶ τὸ ὁμολογουμένως τῇ φύσει ζῆν (Stob., Ecl., 2, 132). See Long’s Antoninus, p. 56. The constitution of nature once understood, we shall know what we owe to God, what to ourselves, what to mankind, what things are good, what evil. Quid fas optare refers to our duty to God, quem te deus esse iussit to our duty to ourselves, patriae carisque propinquis to our duty to our neighbors. But nothing is more evident than the absence of any logical development. Comp. with the whole passage, Sen., Ep., 82, 6: sciat quo iturus sit, unde ortus, quod illi bonum, quod malum sit, quid petat, quid evitet, quae sit illa ratio quae appetenda ac fugienda discernat, qua cupiditatum mansuescit insania, timorum saevitia conpescitur.
67. quid sumus: The independent form with the Indicative is more lively; the regular dependent form with the Subjunctive comes in below, v. 71. G., 469, R. 1; A., 67, 2, d.—quidnam = quam vitam. G., 331, R. 2; A., 52, 3, a, N.—victuri: The use of the Participle in an interrogative clause is unnatural in English (G., 471). The future Participle of purpose is late or poetical (G., 673; A., 72, 4, a). ‘And what the life that we are born to lead.’—ordo: According to Heinr. and Jahn ordo is used with reference to the position in the chariot-race, so that the comparison begins here, and not at metae. Soph., El., 710: στάντες δ᾽ ἵν᾽ αὐτοὺς οἱ τεταγμένοι βραβεῖς | κλήροις ἔπηλαν καὶ κατέστησαν διφρους. But as τάξις (ordo) is a Stoic term, it is not unlikely that the use of the word suggested the figure, which came in as an after-thought. The Stoic preacher, as well as the Christian, finds it necessary to repeat himself in slightly different forms, and we must not look for a sharp distinction between ordo quis datus and humana qua parte locatus es in re, between quidnam victuri gignimur and quem te deus esse iussit.
68. quis = qui. So 1, 63. G., 105; A., 21, 1, a.—qua et unde: where (how) it lies and from what point to begin, ‘where to take it’ (Conington). Herm.’s quam is not so good.—metae flexus: ‘turn round the goal.’ The difficulty of rounding the goal in a chariot-race is notorious. See Il., 23, 306 foll.; Soph., El., 720 foll., and the commentators on Plato, Io, 537. With the expression metae flexus Jahn comp. Stat., Theb., 6, 433: flexae—metae. Mollis, ‘gradual,’ ‘easy.’ So Caes., B. G., 5, 9: molle litus, of a gently sloping shore.
69. quis modus argento: The Sixth Satire deals with a similar theme.—quid fas optare: the argument of the Second Satire.—asper nummus: ‘coin fresh from the mint,’ ‘rough from the die,’ Suet., Nero, 44. So Jahn. Others consider this distinction too subtle, and make a. n. simply equivalent to ‘coined silver,’ as opposed to ‘silver plate,’ argentum. Conington suggests the meaning, ‘What is the use of money hoarded up and not circulated (tritus)?’ Comp. Hor., Sat., 1, 1, 41 foll., 73: nescis quo valeat nummus? quem praebeat usum?
70. carisque propinquis: Hor., Sat., 1, 1, 83.
72. locatus: ‘posted,’ τεταγμένος, ‘a military metaphor’ (Arrian, Diss., 1, 9, 16; M. Anton., 11, 13).—humana re: ‘humanity,’ inter homines.
73. disce, nec invideas: sc. discere, according to Jahn. His te quoque iungere, Caesar | invideo, Lucan., 2, 550, like φθονεῖν: μὴ φθόνει μοι ἀποκρίνασθαι τοῦτο, Plat., Gorg., 489A. Persius singles out one of his audience, who is tempted away from philosophy by his gains as an advocate. Others, less satisfactorily, suppose that the lawyer is outside of the congregation. On nec invideas, see 1, 7.—multa fidelia putet: ‘Many a jar of good things is spoiling;’ ‘The details are contemptuous. There is a coarseness in fees paid in kind’ (Conington). Comp. Juv., 7, 119.—pinguibus Umbris: ‘fat’ in every sense, in figure, in fortune, and in wit. In Mart., 7, 53, an Umbrian sends by eight huge Syrian slaves a miscellaneous lot of presents, value 30 nummi—a proceeding due as much to stupidity as to stinginess (parcus Umber, Cat., 39, 11). The appearance of the Umbrians was not prepossessing, if we may judge by Ovid’s portrait of an Umbrian dame (A. A., 3, 303-4).
75. et piper et pernae: The piper is not the Indian, but the inferior Italian (Plin., H. N., 12, 7, 4; 16, 32, 59) (Meister). Pernae, a stock present. Comp. siccus petasunculus et vas | pelamydum, Juv., 7, 119. To supply putet with piper is not satisfactory, and we must take refuge in Zeugma. Pretor is for dropping v. 75, and sees in Persius’s awkwardness traces of a duplex recensio, as in vv. 12-14.—Marsi: For the simplicity of the Marsians, Jahn compares Juv., 3, 169; 14, 180.
76. mena: ‘sprat,’ cheap sea-fish of some sort. ‘You have not yet come to the last sprat of the first barrel’ (Conington).—defecerit: As non quod more commonly takes the Subjunctive, the shifting to the Subjunctive from the Indicative, after nec invideas, is not strange. G., 541, R. 1; A., 66, 1, d, R.
77-85. The discourse is cut short by a military man, who, with the dogmatism of his class (vieux soldat, vieille bête), sets down all philosophers as a pack of noodles. The lines of the picture which he draws are familiar to every student of manners. ‘Persius hates the military cordially (comp. 5, 189-191) as the most perfect specimens of developed animalism, and consequently most antipathetic to a philosopher. See Nisard, Études sur les Poetes Latins [1, 3e éd. 273-277; Martha, Moralistes Romains, p. 141]. Horace merely glances at the education their sons received, as contrasted with that given him by his father, in spite of narrow means, Sat., 1, 6, 72. Juvenal has an entire satire on them (16), in which he complains of their growing power and exclusive privileges, but without any personal jealousy’ (Conington). Persius is so bookish that I suspect Greek influence. Comp. κομψὸς στρατιώτης, οὐδ᾽ ἐὰν πλάττῃ θεός, | οὐδεὶς γένοιτ᾽ ἂν, Menand., fr. 711 (4, 277 Mein.). See Introd., xx.
77. de gente: G., 371, R. 5; A., 50, 2, e, R. 1. Gente, ‘tribe,’ ‘crew.’—hircosa: ‘Rammish’ is not too strong, opposed to unguentatus in a fragment of Sen., ap. Gell., 12, 2, 11 (cited by Jahn). The unsavory soldier and the perfumed dandy are alike foes to the simplicity of the Stoic school. Your old soldier prided himself on his stench, as would appear from the dainty anecdote in Plutarch, Mor., 180C: ὦ βασιλεῦ, θάρρει καὶ μὴ φοβοῦ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν πολεμίων, αὐτὸν γὰρ ἡμῶν τὸν γράσον οὐχ ὑπομενοῦσι.—centurionum: The rank is higher, but the intellectual level is that of the typical German Wachtmeister.
78. Quod sapio satis est mihi: Jahn (1868); Quod satis est sapio mihi, Jahn (1843), Herm. With the latter reading the words quod satis est = satis must be taken together, and a little more stress is laid on mihi. The general sense is the same. Comp. Plato, Phaedr., 242C: ὥσπερ οἱ τὰ γράμματα φαῦλοι ὅσον ἐμαυτῷ μόνον ἱκανός, with a very different tone.—non ego: ‘no—not I.’ See 1, 45.—curo: ‘care,’ i.e., ‘want.’ See 2, 18.
79. Arcesilas: Arcesilaus, the founder of the New Academy, flourished about 300 B.C. His great advance on Socrates was his knowing that he did not even know that he knew nothing, Cic., Acad., 1, 12, 45. Solon flourished about 600 B.C. Our hircose friend is made to jumble his samples.—aerumnosi Solones: Notice the contemptuous use of the Plural. Aerumnosus, κακοδαίμων, ‘God-forsaken,’ ‘poor devil,’ is a strange epithet for Solon, but we have to do with an ignoramus and a jolter-head.
80. obstipo capite: ‘with stooped head,’ ‘bent forward,’ κεκυφότες. Hor., Sat., 2, 5, 92: Davus sis comicus atque | stes capite obstipo, multum similis metuenti. Comp. the description of Ulysses in Il., 3, 217 foll.—figentes lumine terram: Jahn quotes a parallel from Stat., Silv., 5, 1, 140. More common forms are figere lumina terra, in humo, in terram. ‘They bore the ground with their eyes,’ ‘look at it as if they would look through it.’ Casaubon comp. Plat., Alcib. II., 138A. Add Lucian, Vit. Auct., 7; Aristaenet., 1, 15.
81. murmura: Imitated by Auson., Id., 17, 24: murmure concluso rabiosa silentia rodunt.—rabiosa: ‘Mad dogs do not bark.’—silentia: Poetic Plural; very common.—rodunt: ‘biting the lips and grinding the teeth.’ ‘Whether murmura and silentia are Accusatives of the object, or cognates, is not clear’ (Conington). ‘Chewing the cud of mumbled words and mad-dog silence’ is very much in the vein of Persius. Comp. rarus sermo illis et magna libido tacendi, Juv., 2, 14.
82. exporrecto trutinantur: The lips are thrust out (a sign of deep thought) and quiver like a balance; hence they are said ‘to poise their words upon the quivering balance of a thrust-out lip’—a caricature of the simple figure ponderare verba. Jahn compares Luc., Hermot., 1, 1: καὶ τὰ χείλη διεσάλευες ἠρέμα ὑποτονθορύζων; and Casaubon, Aristaen., 2, 3: ἠρέμα τῷ χείλη κινεῖ καὶ ἄττα δήπου πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ψιθυρίζει.
83. aegroti veteris: The aegri somnia of Hor., A. P., 7. As usual, Persius exaggerates, and makes the sick man (aegroti) a dotard to boot (veteris). Jahn understands, ‘a confirmed invalid.’ Comp. Juv., 9, 16: aegri veteris quem tempore longo | torret quarta dies, etc.—gigni | de nihilo nihilum: The cardinal doctrine of Epicurus (Lucr., 1, 150), but not confined to him.
85. hoc est quod palles: G., 331, R. 2; A., 52, 1, b. Comp. 1, 124. The Cognate Accusative is susceptible of a great variety of translations. ‘Is this the stuff that you get pale on?’ (Pretor). ‘Is this what makes you pale?’—prandeat: The prandium, originally a military meal, was dear to the military stomach. Comp. impransi correptus voce magistri, Hor., Sat., 2, 3, 257.
86. his: Abl. Conington makes it a Dative, and cites an evident Abl. to prove it, Verg., Aen., 4, 128. Jahn comp. Hor., Sat., 2, 8, 83: ridetur fictis rerum.—multum: with torosa, according to Jahn.
87. Conington notices the grandiloquence of the line. ‘Cloth of frize’ is often ‘matched’ with ‘cloth of gold’ in Persius.—naso crispante: ‘curling nostrils.’ The mob laughs, the soldiers snicker. The listening rabble is frankly amused. The crew to which the centurion belongs sneer too much to laugh out. Or perhaps the poet makes the distinction between the general ridere (γελᾶν) and the mocking laughter of cachinnare (καγχάζειν).
88-106. It is strange, as Pretor observes, that the sudden change introduced by this line should not have been noticed by the commentators. With a more mature artist there would be a suspicion of dislocation. As it is, the unity of the Satire would gain by omitting 66-87. Persius composed slowly, and we find here as elsewhere traces of piecemeal work.
The preacher takes up his parable. A man feels sick, consults a physician, lies by; is more comfortable, takes a fancy to a bath and a draught of wine. He meets a friend, perhaps his medical friend, on the way. ‘My dear fellow, you are pale as a ghost.’—‘Pshaw!’—‘Look out! You are yellow as saffron, and bless me! if you are not swelling.’—‘Pale? Why, you are paler than I am. Don’t come the guardian over me. My guardian has been dead a year and a day.’—‘Go ahead, I’m mum.’—He goes ahead, stuffs himself, takes his bath. While he is drinking a chill strikes him, and he is a dead man. No expense spared on the funeral. ‘You can’t mean that for me,’ says a literalist. ‘If I’m sick, you are another. I have no fever, no ague.’ Nay, but you are subject to the worst of diseases—to the fever of covetousness, the fever of lust, to daintiness with its sore mouth, to fear with its cold chill, and, worse than all, to the raging delirium of anger.
88. inspice: ἐπίσκεψαι, a medical term. Comp. Plaut., Pers., 2, 5, 15.—nescio quid: G., 469, R. 2; A., 67, 2, e. Quid is the Accusative of the Inner Object. ‘I have a strange fluttering at my heart.’—aegris: ‘out of order.’ As aegris is emphatic, co-ordinate in English. There is ‘something wrong about my throat and—’
89. exsuperat: Neuter. Comp. exsuperant flammae, Verg., Aen., 2, 759.—gravis: ‘foul.’ So Ov., A. A., 3, 277: gravis oris odor.—sodes: The original form is commonly supposed to be si audes (saudes), Plaut., Trin., 2, 1, 18; from audeo (comp. avidus), ‘if you have the heart,’ ‘an thou wilt,’ A., 35, 2, a. Others put sodes under SA (pron.), as akin to sodalis, and comp. ἠθεῖος, ‘own dear friend,’ ‘mon cher.’ See Vaniček, Lat. Etym. Wb., S. 165. Sodes = socius is an old tradition.
90. requiescere: ‘keep quiet.’—postquam vidit: with a causal shade. See 5, 88; 6,10, and G., 567; A., 62, 2, e.
91. tertia nox: The patient thinks that he has the more common semitertian, whereas he has the quartan. When the third night comes without a chill, he fancies that he is safe.
92. de maiore domo: The ‘great house’ is clearly that of a rich friend, rather than that of a large dealer. Casaubon compares Juv., 5, 32: cardiaco numquam cyathum, missurus amico.—modice sitiente lagoena: Thirst and capacity are near akin; a flagon of moderate thirst is a flagon ‘of moderate swallow,’ as Conington renders it. The personification of the flagon is old and not uncommon. See the humorous epigram, Anthol. Pal., 5, 135.
93. lenia Surrentina: Lenia is either ‘mild’ or ‘mellow.’ The Surrentine was a light wine often recommended to invalids, Plin., H. N., 14, 6, 8; 23, 1, 20.—loturo: He asks before bathing; he drinks after bathing. For the custom Jahn compares Sen., Ep., 122, 6.—rogabit: So Jahn (1868) and Hermann. Jahn (1843) reads rogavit, like the Greek Aorist in descriptions. The Future makes it more distinctly a supposed case.
94. videas: rather optative than imperative in its tone.
95. surgit: ‘is swelling,’ ‘getting bloated.’—tacite: ‘insensibly’ (Conington).—pellis: ‘hide.’ Comp. Juv., 10, 192: deformem pro cute pellem.
96. At tu deterius: Le trait est comique. Ce serait de la gaieté, si Perse savait rire, Nisard.—ne sis mihi tutor, etc.: Proverbial. So Hor., Sat., 2, 3, 88: ne sis patruus mihi.
97. iam pridem sepeli: Comp. Omnes composui. Felices! Nunc ego resto, Hor., Sat., 1, 9, 28. Sepeli for sepelii (sepelivi), a rare contraction.—turgidus his epulis: Hor., Ep., 1, 6, 61: crudi tumidique lavemur, and comp. Juv., 1, 142 seqq: paena tamen praesens, cum tu deponis amictus | turgidus et crudum pavonem in balnea portas | hinc subitae mortes atque intestata senectus.—hic: ‘our man.’—albo ventre: Turgidus epulis is one feature, albo ventre another. Ventre does not depend on turgidus. The color (λευκός) is a sign of weakness and sickness. The swollen belly makes a ghastly show.—lavatur: ‘takes his bath.’ Comp. G., 209; A., 39, c, N.
99. sulpureas mefites: Mefitis is originally the vapor from sulphur-water; hence the propriety of the epithet sulpureas.
100. calidum triental: The wine was heated to bring out the sweat. Bibere et sudare vita cardiaci est, Sen., Ep., 15, 3.—triental: restored by Jahn (1843) for trientem, to which he returned in 1868. Triens is the measure, ⅓ sextarius, triental would be the vessel. Comp. with this passage Lucil., 28, 39-40 (L. M.): ad cui? quem febris una atque una ἀπεψια | vini inquam cyathus unus potuit tollere.
101. crepuere: Vivid Aorist, not a simple return to the narrative form. Comp. 5, 187. For the Greek, which Persius imitates, see Kühner, Ausf. Gramm. (2te Ausg.), 2, 138.—retecti: He shows his teeth when he chatters.
102. uncta: Remember the large use of oil in Italian cookery.—cadunt = vomuntur, but there is a certain helplessness in cadunt.—pulmentaria: originally ὄψον, ‘relish,’ afterward ‘dainties.’ See the Dictionaries.
103. hinc: ‘hereupon.’—tuba: Trumpets announced the death, and trumpets were sounded at the funeral. See Hor., Sat., 1, 6, 42.—candelae = cerei, ‘wax lights,’ supposed by Jahn and others to have been used chiefly when the death was sudden, on the basis of Sen., Tranq., 11, 7.—tandem: ‘After all the preliminary performances’ (Macleane).—beatulus: μακαρίτης. Jahn cites Amm. Marcell., 25, 3: quem cum beatum fuisse Sallustius respondisset praefectus, intellexit occisum. ‘The dear departed’ (Conington). ‘Our sainted friend.’—alto: A mark of a first-class funeral.
104. conpositus: ‘laid out.’ ‘By foreign hands thy decent limbs composed,’ Pope.—crassis lutatus amomis: Every word is contemptuous: ‘bedaubed with lots of coarse ointments.’ The Plural amoma indicates the cheap display. With crassis, comp. Hor., A. P., 375: crassum unguentum; with amomis, Juv., 4, 108: amomo | quantum vix redolent duo funera.
105. in portam: A custom at least as old as Homer, Il., 19, 212. Porta here = ianua, fores, but ‘nowhere else’ (Macleane).—rigidas: The gender of calx is unsteady. See Neue, Formenlehre, 1, 694.
106. hesterni Quirites: ‘Citizens of twenty-four hours’ standing’ (Conington); slaves left free by him. Hence capite induto, with the pilleus ‘cap of liberty’ on. The winding up of the man reminds one of Petron., 42: bene elatus est, planctus est optime, manumisit aliquot.
107. Persius hauls out his man-of-straw, his souffre-douleur, and makes him talk.—Tange venas: ‘Feel my pulse,’ the regular expression, as in Sen., Ep., 22, 1: vena tangenda est.—miser: Comp. v. 15. ‘You’re another!’ ‘Poor creature yourself’ (Conington).—pone in pectore dextram: If you are not satisfied with my pulse, put your hand on my heart.
108. nil calet hic: After some hesitation, I have given the whole passage from Tange miser to non frigent to one person, who anticipates the verdict of the monitor by nil calet hic and non frigent. ‘You must admit that my heart is not hot nor my feet cold.’ At the same time the very clearness is an objection.
109. Visa est si forte: On the form of the conditional, see G., 569; A., 59, 2, b. On the obvious thought, see 2, 52 foll.; 4, 47.
111. rite: ‘regularly.’—positum est: ‘served up.’
112. durum holus: ‘tough cabbage,’ ‘half boiled’ (Pretor).—populi (= plebis) cribro: ‘A coarse, common sieve.’ Hence p. c. decussa farina, ‘coarse-bolted flour,’ the panis secundus of Horace, Ep., 2, 1, 123, the ‘seconds’ of the modern miller. The ancients were very dainty in this article. The parasite in Alciphron (1, 21, 2) expresses his disgust at the ἀρτος ὁ ἐξ ἀγορας.
114. putre quod haud deceat: The Relative with the Subjunctive is parallel with the Adjective. G., 439, R. Comp. 1, 14. Haud deceat, ‘it won’t do,’ ‘it won’t answer.’—plebeia beta: The beet is a vulgar vegetable, Mart., 13, 13 (Jahn). The irony is evident, as the beet is proverbially tender. See Dictionaries, s.v. betizare.
115. excussit: Excutere aristas seems to be a vulgar expression, like the English ‘raise a goose-skin, goose-flesh, duck-flesh.’ —aristas = pilos. Jahn refers to Varro, L. L., 6, 49.—timor albus: See note on Prol., 4.
116. face supposita: The heart is the caldron and passion the fire-brand.
118. Orestes: the typical madman.
The theme of this Satire is contained in the closing verses. It is the Apollinic γνῶθι σαυτόν. Want of self-knowledge is the fault which is scourged. The basis is furnished by the Platonic dialogue, known as the First Alcibiades, and the characters are the same. The person lectured under the mask of Alcibiades is a young Roman noble, in whom commentators of a certain school have recognized the familiar features of Nero.
Argument.—Socrates is supposed to be addressing Alcibiades. You undertake to engage in politics? You rely on your genius, do you? What do you know of the norms of right and wrong, you callow youngster? What do you know of the subtle distinctions of casuistry, that you undertake to say what is just and what is unjust? You have a goodly outside, but that is all, and you are fitter for a course of hellebore than for a career of statesmanship. What is your end and aim in life? Dainty dishes and basking in the sunshine? The first old crone you meet has the same exalted ideal. Or do you boast of your descent? You praise your lineage, you trumpet forth your beauty, just as yon market-woman cries up her greens (1-22).
You do not know yourself. Who knows himself? Every one sees his neighbor’s faults, no one his own. You sneer at the curmudgeon who groans out a health over the sour stuff he gives his laborers on a holiday (23-32). And while you make mock at him, some fellow, who is standing at your side, nudges you with his elbow, and tells you that you are as bad as he, though in another way (33-41). And so we give and take punishment. This is our plan of life. We hide our faults from ourselves. We get testimonials from our neighbors to impose on our own consciences. Awake to righteousness! Put your goodness to the test! If you yield to the temptation of covetousness, of lust, in vain will you drink in the praises of the rabble. Reject what you are not. Let Rag, Tag, and Bobtail take away their tributes. Live with yourself, and you will find out how scanty is your moral furniture (42-52).
Jahn regards this Satire as the earliest of the six, and it certainly shows even greater immaturity than the others. The well-known individuality of Socrates is coarsely handled, the irony lacks the subtle play, the mischievous good-nature of the great Athenian; and though the glaring anachronisms may be defended by such exemplars as Horace (notably in Sat., 2, 5), there is all the difference in the world between the sly humor of the older poet, who peeps from behind the Greek mask and winks at the Roman audience, and the grim contortions of the beardless representative of the bearded master.
The indecency of a part of the Satire is considered by Teuffel a valid objection to the view taken by Jahn, but the imagination of early youth and the experience of corrupt old age often meet in disgusting detail, and the obscenities of bookish men are among the worst in literature. Add to this the peculiar views of the Stoic school as to the corruption of the flesh (2, 63), and the consequent Stoic tendency to degrade the body by the most contemptuous representations of physical functions, and we can the more readily understand how Marcus Antoninus, the purest character of his time, should have besmirched his Meditations with passages which lack a parallel for their crudity; and why Persius, the poet of virginal life, should have outdone the praegrandis senex of Attic comedy in the coarseness of his expressions.
1-22. Socrates exposes the incompetence of Alcibiades for affairs of state, his lack of ethical training, his need of a just balance, his grovelling views of life, his puerile pride in his ancient family and in his handsome face. Socrates and Alcibiades were contrasts so tempting that dialogues between them were favorite philosophical exercises.
1. rem populi = rem publicam.—tractas? On the form of the question, see G., 455; A., 71, 1, R. Comp. Plato, Alc. I., p. 106C: διανοεῖ γὰρ παριέναι συμβουλεύσων Ἀθηναίοις ἐντὸς οὐ πολλοῦ χρόνου, and further, p. 118B, and Conv., p. 216A.—barbatum: The beard was the conventional mark of the philosopher in the time of Persius; it is an anachronism in the case of Socrates, who lived before shaving was the rule and the beard a badge. However, the custom was old in Persius’s day, and the slip is slight. So Plato’s long beard is noticed by Ephippus ap. Athen., 11, p. 509C (3, 332 Mein.). Comp. Juv., 14, 12: barbatos—magistros.—crede: advertises a want of art.
2. sorbitio: ‘draught,’ ‘dose.’ So Sen., E. M., 78, 25.—tollit = sustulit. A solitary Historical Present with a relative is harsh to us for all the examples and all the commentators.
3. quo fretus? See 3, 67. Comp. Plato, Alc. I., p. 123E: τὶ οὖν ποτ᾽ ἔστιν ὅτῳ πιστεύει τὸ μειράκιον.—magni pupille Pericli: Because Alcibiades owed his start in life to his guardian and kinsman Pericles. See Plat., l.c. p. 104B. For the form Pericli, see G., 72; A., 11, I., 4.
4. scilicet: Ironical, 1, 15; 2, 19. ‘Of course.’ Comp. the old ‘God wot.’—ingenium et rerum prudentia: ‘wit and wisdom.’ Prudentia may be translated ‘knowledge,’ and rerum ‘world,’ ‘life,’ but not necessarily. See 1, 1.—velox: Predicative (Schol.), ‘have been quick in coming’ (Conington).
5. ante pilos: ‘before your beard.’ ‘A contrast with barbatum magistrum’ (Conington), but b. can hardly be used in the same breath as the mark of mature years and as the ensign of a philosopher.—venit: On the number, see G., 281, Exc. 2; A., 49, 1, b.—dicenda tacendaque: Comp. Hor., Ep., 1, 7, 72—dicenda tacenda locutus—for the expression. For the sense, Conington comp. Aeschylus, Cho., 582: σιγᾶν ὅπου δεῖ καὶ λέγειν τὰ καίρια. In Horace it means ‘all sorts of things;’ here, ‘what you must say, what leave unsaid.’
6. commota fervet bile: Comp. Hor., Od., 1, 13, 4: fervens difficili bile tumet iecur.
7. fert animus: Well-known phrase of Ov., Met., 1, 1. So in Greek, φέρει ὁ νοῦς, ἡ γνώμη, ἡ φρήν. The verse has a stately irony, and should have a stately translation. ‘The spirit moves you’ (Pretor) is degraded to slang. ‘Your bosom’s lord biddeth you wave a hush profound.’—fecisse: Comp. 1, 91.—silentia: Comp. 3, 81.
8. maiestate manus: ‘with majestic hand’. (G., 357, R. 2), ‘by the imposing action of your hand’ (Conington).—quid deinde loquere? The orator has not considered his speech. ‘Now that you have got your silence, what have you got to say.’—Quirites: Persius drops his Greek. Alcibiades is a mere quintain.
9. puta: ‘put case,’ ‘say,’ ‘for instance,’ is an iambic Imperative, with the ultimate shortened, like cavē̆, vidē̆, etc., 1, 108. Hermann gives it to Socrates, which is favored by the sense; Jahn and others to Alcibiades, as caricatured by Socrates, which is favored by the position. Heinrich reads puto.
10. scis etenim, etc.: and (well you may) for you know how, etc. On scis, see 1, 53; on etenim, 3, 48. Comp. Plato, l.c. 110C: ᾤου ἄρα ἐπίστασθαι καὶ παῖς ὤν, ὡς ἔοικε, τὰ δίκαια καὶ τὰ ἄδικα. It may be necessary to observe that all this is sarcasm. Conington takes it literally, and considers these statements as so many concessions.—gemina lance = geminis lancibus. Comp. Ov., A. A., 2, 644: geminus pes.
11. ancipitis: ‘wavering.’—rectum discernis: ‘You can distinguish the straight line when it runs among crooked lines on either hand—ay, even when your square with twisted leg is but a faulty guide.’ The straight line is virtue, the crooked lines are vices. The difficulty of picking out the right course is much enhanced when the rule by which we go is itself warped—that is, ‘as Casaubon explains it, when justice has to be corrected by equity.’ The regula here is not the regula of 5, 38, but the norma, or carpenter’s square.
13. potis es: See 1, 56.—theta: Θ, the initial of θάνατος, was the mark of condemnation used in the time of Persius, instead of the older C (condemno). It was also employed in epitaphs, in army lists, and the like, for ‘deceased.’ Translate ‘black mark.’
14. quin desinis: See 2, 71.—tu: The elision of the monosyllable is harsh (Jahn). See 1, 51. 66. 131.—igitur: ‘If all this is so, why then—.’ Comp. the indignant igitur (εἶτα) of 1, 98.—summa pelle decorus: Hor. Ep., 1, 16, 45: Introrsus turpem, speciosum pelle decora.—nequiquam: ‘because you can not impose on me.’ Comp. 3, 30 (Conington).
15. ante diem: ‘before your time.’—blando caudam iactare popello: Casaubon thinks that a peacock is meant, Jahn suggests a horse. The Scholiast says that the image is that of a (pet) dog. Pelle decorus would not apply to the peacock, nor very well to the horse. It does apply to Alcibiades as the lion’s whelp of Aristoph., Ran., 1431. Comp. the famous description in Aeschyl., Agam., 725 (Dindorf). The comparison of politicians with lions is found also in Plato, Gorg., 483E. The only difficulty lies in blando popello, but petting implies blanditiae on both sides. ‘The dog fawns on those who caress him’ (Conington).—popello: contemptuously, 6, 50; Hor., Ep., 1, 7, 65.
16. Anticyras: There were two towns of that name, one on the Maliac Gulf, the other in Phocis; both famous for their hellebore, but especially the latter. The town for its product, after the pattern of Hor., Sat., 2, 3, 83; A. P., 300 (Jahn). The Plural is the familiar poetic exaggerative.—meracas: ‘undiluted,’ ‘without a drop of water.’Hor., Ep., 2, 2, 137: expulit helleboro morbum bilemque meraco. On the use of hellebore as a preparative for philosophy, comp. the well-known experience of Chrysippus: οὐ θέμις γενέσθαι σοφόν, ἢν μὴ τρὶς ἐφεξῆς τοῦ ἐλλεβόρου πιῃς, Lucian, Vit. Auct., 23 (1, 564 R.).—melior sorbere = qui melius sorberes (comp. quo graves Persae melius perirent, Hor., Od., 1, 2, 22).
17. summa boni = summum bonum.—uncta patella: ‘rich dishes.’ Comp. 3, 102. The reference to a sacrificial dish (3, 26) is less likely. As the character of Alcibiades is not kept up with any care by Persius, it is hardly worth while to note that he was a most sensitive gourmet, as is shown by the curious anecdote, Teles ap. Stob., Flor., 5, 67.—vixisse: The Perfect with intention. G., 275, 1; A., 58, 11, e. ‘To have the satisfaction of having lived on the daintiest fare,’ so that you may say when you come to die, vixi dum vixi bene. Comp. Sen., Ep., 23, 10: Id agendum est ut satis vixerimus.
18. curata cuticula sole: with reference to the apricatio or insolatio. Comp. Juv., 11, 203: nostra bibat vernum contracta cuticula solem. What was a matter of hygiene became a matter of luxury. The sun-cure has been revived of late years. Curare cuticulam, cutem, pelliculam is commonly used of ‘good living’ generally, ‘taking very good care of one’s dear little self.’ See Hor., Ep., 1, 2, 29. 4, 15; Sat., 2, 5, 38; Juv., 2, 105.—haec: δεικτικῶς.—i nunc: ‘Irridentis vel exprobrantis formula,’ Jahn, who gives an overwhelming list of examples (comp. Hor., Ep., 1, 6, 17; 2, 3, 76). The usage requires it to be connected with suffla. ‘Go on, then, and blow as you have been blowing.’ Suffla in this sense is quite as ‘low’ as our Americanism. Persius has the aristocrat’s contempt for superfine language, and by a natural reaction falls, not unfrequently, into slang. Jahn compares 5, 13 and 3, 27, and the Greek proverbial expression φυσᾷ γὰρ οὐ σμικροῖσιν αὐλίσκοις ἔπι. Add Menand., fr. 296 (4, 157 Mein.): οἷοι λαλοῦμεν ὄντες οἱ τρισάθλιοι | ἅπαντες οἱ φυσῶντες ἐφ᾽ ἑαυτοῖς μέγα. ‘Mouth it out’ (Conington), ‘spout it out’ (Macleane).