_ The
fountain
of Pirene was in the middle of the forum
of Corinth.
of Corinth.
Satires
, Od.
xv.
, 11, "Intonsi
Catonis," Tib. , II. , i. , 84, "Intonsis avis. "
[1160] _Paganum. _ Cf. ad I. , 8. It appears that under the emperors
husbandmen were exempt from military service, in order that the land
might not fall out of cultivation. The "paganus," therefore, is opposed
to the "armatus" here, and by Pliny, Epist. x. , 18, "Et milites et
pagani. " Epist. vii. , 25, "Ut in castris, sic etiam in literis nostris
(sunt), plures culto pagano quos cinctos et armatos, diligentius
scrutatus invenies. " Pagus is derived from the Doric παγά, because
villages were originally formed round springs of water. Cf. Hooker's
Eccl. Pol. , lib. v. , c. 80.
"With much more ease false witnesses you'll find
To swear away the life of some poor hind,
Than get the true ones all they know to own
Against a soldier's fortune and renown. " Hodgson.
[1161] _Puls annua. _ Cf. Dionys. Hal. , ii. , 9, θεούς τε γὰρ ἡγοῦνται
τοὺς τέρμονας, καὶ θύουσιν αὐτοῖς ἔτι τῶν μὲν ἐμψύχων οὐδὲν· οὐ γὰρ
ὅσιον αἰμάττειν τοὺς λίθους· πελάνους δὲ Δήμητρος, καὶ ἄλλας τινὰς
καρπῶν ἀπαρχάς. "For they hold the boundary stones to be gods; and
sacrifice to them nothing that has life, because it would be impious
to stain the stones with blood; but they offer wheaten cakes, and
other first-fruits of their crops. " The divisions of land were
maintained by investing the stones which served as landmarks with a
religious character: the removal of these, therefore, added the crime
of sacrilege to that of dishonesty, and brought down on the heathen
the curse invoked in the purer system of theology, "Cursed be he that
removeth his neighbor's landmark. " Deut. , xxvii. , 17. To these rude
stones, afterward sculptured (like the Hermæ) into the form of the
god Terminus above, the rustics went in solemn procession annually,
and offered the produce of the soil; flowers and fruits, and the
never-failing wine, and "mola salsa. " Numa is said by Plutarch to have
introduced the custom into Italy, and one of his anathemas is still
preserved: "Qui terminum exarasit, ipsus et boves sacrei sunto. " Cf.
Blunt's Vestiges, p. 204. Hom. , Il. , xxi. , 405. Virg. , Æn. , xii. , 896.
[1162] _Cæditio. _ xiii. , 197, "Pœna sævior illis quas et Cæditius
gravis invenit et Rhadamanthus. " But it is very doubtful whether the
same person is intended here, as also whether Fuscus is the same whose
wife's drinking propensities are hinted at, xii. , 45, "dignum sitiente
Pholo, vel conjuge Fusci. " (Pliny has an Epistle to Corn. Fuscus, vii. ,
9. ) He is probably the Aurelius Fuscus to whom Martial wrote, vii. , Ep.
28.
[1163] _Sufflamine. _
"Nor are their wealth and patience worn away
By the slow drag-chain of the law's delay. " Gifford.
[1164] _Testandi vivo patre. _ Under ordinary circumstances the power
of a father over his son was absolute, extending even to life and
death, and terminating only at the decease of one of the parties. Hence
"peculium" is put for the sum of money that a father allows a son, or a
master a slave, to have at his own disposal. But even this permission
was revocable. A soldier, who was sui juris, was allowed to name an
heir in the presence of three or four witnesses, and if he fell, this
"nuda voluntas testatoris" was valid. This privilege was extended by
Julius Cæsar to those who were "in potestate patris. " "Liberam testandi
factionem concessit, D. Julius Cæsar: sed ea concessio temporalis
erat: postea vero D. Titus dedit: post hoc Domitianus: postea Divis
Nerva plenissimam indulgentiam in milites contulit: eamque et Trajanus
secutus est. " "Julius Cæsar granted them the free power of making a
will; but this was only a temporary privilege. It was renewed by Titus
and Domitian. Nerva afterward bestowed on them full powers, which were
continued to them by Trajan. " Vid. Ulpian, 23, § 10. The old Schol. ,
however, says this privilege was confined to the "peculium Castrense;"
but he is probably mistaken.
[1165] _Labor. _ Ruperti suggests "favor," to avoid the harshness of the
phrase "_labor_ reddit sua dona _labori_. " Browne reads _reddi_.
[1166] _Dona. _ Cf. Sil. , xv. , 254, "Tum merita æquantur _donis_ et
præmia Virtus sanguine parta capit: Phaleris hic pectora fulget: Hic
torque aurato circumdat bellica colla. "
[1167] _Phaleris. _ Cf. ad xi. , 103, "Ut phaleris gauderet equus. "
Siccius Dentatus is said to have had 25 phaleræ, 83 torques, 18 hastæ
puræ, 160 bracelets, 14 civic, 8 golden, 3 mural, and 1 obsidional
crown. Plin. , VII. , xxviii. , 9; xxxiii. , 2.
Here the Satire terminates abruptly. The conclusion is too tame to
be such as Juvenal would have left it, even were the whole subject
thoroughly worked up. It is probably an unfinished draught. The
commentators are nearly equally balanced as to its being the work of
Juvenal or not; but one or two of the touches are too masterly to be by
any other hand.
PERSIUS.
PROLOGUE.
I have neither steeped[1168] my lips in the fountain of
the Horse;[1169] nor do I remember to have dreamt on the
double-peaked[1170] Parnassus, that so I might on a sudden come forth a
poet. The nymphs of Helicon, and pale Pirene,[1171] I resign to those
around whose statues[1172] the clinging ivy twines. [1173] I myself,
half a clown,[1174] bring[1175] my verses as a contribution to the
inspired effusions of the poets.
Who made[1176] the parrot[1177] so ready with his salutation, and
taught magpies to emulate our words? --That which is the master of all
art,[1178] the bounteous giver of genius--the belly: that artist that
trains them to copy sounds that nature has denied[1179] them. But if
the hope of deceitful money shall have shone forth, you may believe
that ravens turned poets, and magpies poetesses, give vent to strains
of Pegaseian nectar. [1180]
FOOTNOTES:
[1168] _Prolui. _ Proluere, "to dip the lips," properly applied to
cattle. So "procumbere," Sulp. , 17. Cf. Stat. Sylv. , V. , iii. , 121,
"Risere sorores Aonides, pueroque chelyn submisit et ora imbuit amne
sacro jam tum tibi blandus Apollo. "
[1169] _Fonte Caballino. _ Caballus is a term of contempt for a horse,
implying "a gelding, drudge, or beast of burden," nearly equivalent
to Cantherius. Cf. Lucil. , ii. , fr. xi. (x. ), "Succussatoris tetri
tardique Caballi. " Hor. , i. , Sat. vi. , 59, "Me Satureiano vectari rura
caballo. " Sen. , Ep. , 87, "Catonem uno caballo esse contentum. " So Juv. ,
x. , 60, "Immeritis franguntur crura caballis. " Juvenal also applies
the term to Pegasus: "Ad quam Gorgonei delapsa est pinna caballi,"
iii. , 118. Pegasus sprang from the blood of Medusa when beheaded by
Perseus. Ov. , Met, iv. , 785, "Eripuisse caput collo: pennisque fugacem
Pegason et fratrem matris de sanguine natos. " The fountain Hippocrene,
ἱππουκρήνη, sprang up from the stroke of his hoof when he lighted on
Mount Helicon. Ov. , Fast. , iii. , 456, "Cum levis Aonias ungula fodit
aquas. " Hes. , Theog. , 2-6. Hesych. , v. ἱππουκρήνη. Paus. , Bœot. , 31.
Near it was the fountain of Aganippe, and these two springs supplied
the rivers Olmius and Permissus, the favorite haunts of the Muses.
Hesiod, _u. s. _ Hence those who drank of these were fabled to become
poets forthwith. Mosch. , Id. , iii. , 77, ἀμφότεροι παγαῖς πεφιλαμένοι· ὃς
μεν ἔπινε Παγασίδος κράνας ὁ δὲ πῶμ' ἔχε τᾶς Ἀρεθοίσας.
[1170] _Bicipiti. _ Parnassus is connected toward the southeast with
Helicon and the Bœotian ridges. It is the highest mountain in Central
Greece, and is covered with snow during the greater portion of the
year. The Castalian spring is fed by these perpetual snows, and pours
down the chasm between the two summits. These are two lofty rocks
rising perpendicularly from Delphi, and obtained for the mountain the
epithet δικόρυφον. Eur. , Phœn. , 234. They were anciently known by the
names of Hyampeia and Naupleia, Herod. , viii. , 39, but sometimes the
name Phædriades was applied to them in common. The name of Tithorea
was also applied to one of them, as well as to the town of Neon in its
neighborhood. Herod. , viii. , 32. These heights were sacred to Bacchus
and the Muses, and those who slept in their neighborhood were supposed
to receive inspiration from them. Cf. Propert. , III. , ii. , 1, "Visus
eram molli recubans Heliconis in umbrâ, Bellerophontei quà fluit humor
equi; Reges, Alba, tuos et regum facta tuorum tantum operis nervis
hiscere posse meis. " Cf. Virg. , Æn. , vii. , 86. Ov. , Heroid. , xv. , 156,
_seq. _
[1171] _Pirenen.
_ The fountain of Pirene was in the middle of the forum
of Corinth. Ov. , Met. , ii. , 240, "Ephyre Pirenidas undas. " It took its
name from the nymph so called, who dissolved into tears at the death of
her daughter Cenchrea, accidentally killed by Diana. The water was said
to have the property of tempering the Corinthian brass, when plunged
red-hot into the stream. Paus. , ii. , 3. Near the source Bellerophon
is said to have seized Pegasus, hence called the Pirenæan steed by
Euripides. Electr. , 475. Cf. Pind. , Olymp. , xiii. , 85, 120. Stat.
Theb. , iv. , 60, "Cenchreæque manus, vatûm qui conscius amnis Gorgoneo
percussus equo. " Ov. , Pont. , I. , iii. , 75. The _Latin_ poets alone make
this spring sacred to the Muses. "Pallidam" may refer either to the
legend of its origin, or to the wan faces of the votaries of the Muses.
[1172] _Imagines. _ Cf. Juv. , vii. , 29, "Qui facis in parvâ sublimia
carmina cellâ ut dignus venias hederis et imagine macrâ. " Poets were
crowned with _ivy_ as well as _bay_. "Doctarum hederæ præmia frontium. "
Hor. , i. , Od. i. , 29. The Muses being the companions of Bacchus as
well as of Apollo. Ov. , A. Am. , iii. , 411. Mart. , viii. , Ep. 82. The
busts of poets and other eminent literary men were used to adorn public
libraries, especially the one in the temple of Palatine Apollo.
[1173] _Lambunt_, properly said of a dog's tongue, then of flame. Cf.
Virg. , Æn. , ii. , 684, "Tractuque innoxia molli Lambere flamma comas, et
circum tempora pasci. " So the ivy, climbing and clinging, seems to lick
with its forked tongue the objects whose form it closely follows.
[1174] _Semipaganus. _ Paganus is opposed to miles. Juv. , xvi. , 33.
Plin. , x. , Ep. xviii. Here it means, "not wholly undisciplined in the
warfare of letters. " So Plin. , vii. , Ep. 25, "Sunt enim ut in castris,
sic etiam in litteris nostris plures cultu pagano, quos cinctos et
armatos, et quidem, ardentissimo ingenio, diligentius scrutatus
invenies. "
[1175] _Affero. _ εἰς μέσον φέρω. Casaubon.
[1176] _Quis expedivit. _ To preserve his incognito, Persius in this 2d
part of the Prologue represents himself as driven by poverty, though
but unprepared, to write for his bread. So Horace, ii. , Ep. xi. , 50,
"Decisis humilem pennis inopemque paterni et Laris et fundi paupertas
impulit audax ut versus facerem. "
[1177] _Psittaco. _ Cf. Stat. Sylv. , II. , iv. , 1, 2, "Psittace, dux
volucrûm, domini facunda voluptas, Humanæ solers imitator, Psittace
linguæ! " Mart. , xiv. , Ep. lxxiii. , 76. χαῖρε was one of the common
words taught to parrots. So εὗ πράττε, Ζεὺς ἵλεως, Cæsar ave. Vid.
Mart. , _u. s. _
[1178] _Magister artis. _ So the Greek proverb, Λιμὸς δὲ πολλῶν γίγνεται
διδάσκαλος. Theoc. , xxi. , Id. 1, Ἁ Πενιὰ, Διοφαντε, μόνα τὰς τέχνας
ἐγείρει. Plaut. Stich. , "Paupertas fecit ridiculus forem. Nam illa
omnes artes perdocet. " Cf. Arist. , Plut. , 467-594. So Ben Jonson, in
the Poetaster, "And between whiles spit out a better poem than e'er the
master of arts, or giver of wit, their belly, made. "
[1179] _Negatas. _ So Manilius, lib. v. , "Quinetiam linguas hominum
sensusque docebit Aerias volucres, novaque in commercia ducet, Verbaque
præcipiet naturæ sorte negatas. "
[1180] _Nectar_ is found in two MSS. ; all the others have "melos,"
which has been rejected as not making a scazontic line. But Homer, in
his Hymn to Mercury, makes the first syllable long; and also Antipater,
in an Epigram on Anacreon, ἀκμὴν οἳ λυρόεν μελίζεται ἀμφι βαθύλλῳ. Cf.
Theoc. , Id. , vii. , 82, οὕνεκά οι γλυκὺ Μοῖσα στόματος χέε νέκταρ.
SATIRE I.
ARGUMENT.
Under the color of declaring his purpose of writing Satire and
the plan he intends to adopt, and of defending himself against
the idle criticism of an imaginary and nameless adversary,
Persius lashes the miserable poets of his own day, and in no
very obscure terms, their Coryphæus himself, Nero. The subject
of the Satire is not very unlike the first of the second book
of Horace's Satires, and comes very near in some points to the
first Satire of Juvenal. But the manner of treatment is distinct
in each, and quite characteristic of the three great Satirists.
Horace's is more full of personality, one might say, of egotism,
and his own dislike and contempt of the authors of his time,
more lively and brilliant, more pungent and witty, than either
of the others; more pregnant with jokes, and yet rising to a
higher tone than the Satire of Persius. That of Juvenal is in a
more majestic strain, as befits the stern censor of the depraved
morals of his day; full of commanding dignity and grave rebuke,
of fiery indignation and fierce invective; and is therefore more
declamatory and oratorical in its style, more elevated in its
sentiment, more refined in its diction. While in that of Persius
we trace the workings of a young and ardent mind, devoted to
literature and intellectual pleasures, of a philosophical turn,
and a chastened though somewhat fastidious taste. We see the
student and devotee of literature quite as much as the censor of
morals, and can see that he grieves over the corruption of the
public _taste_ almost as deeply as over the general depravity of
public _morals_. Still there breathes through the whole a tone of
high and right feeling, of just and stringent criticism, of keen
and pungent sarcasm, which deservedly places this Satire very
high in the rank of intellectual productions.
The Satire opens with a dialogue between the poet himself and some
one who breaks in upon his meditations. This person is usually
described as his "Monitor;" some well-meaning acquaintance,
who endeavors to dissuade the poet from his purpose of
writing Satire. But D'Achaintre's notion, that he is rather
an ill-natured critic than a good-natured adviser, seems the
more tenable one, and the divisions of the first few lines have
been ingeniously made to support that view. After expressing
supreme contempt for the poet's opening line, he advises him,
if he must needs give vent to verse, to write something more
suited to the taste and spirit of the age he lives in. Persius
acknowledges that this would be the more likely way to gain
applause, but maintains that such approbation is not the end at
which a true poet ought to aim. And this leads him to expose
the miserable and corrupt taste of the poetasters of his day,
and to express supreme contempt for the mania for recitation
then prevalent, which had already provoked the sneers of Horace,
and afterward drew down the more majestic condemnation of
Juvenal. He draws a vivid picture of these depraved poets, who
pander to the gross lusts of their hearers by their lascivious
strains. Their affectation of speech and manner, their costly
and effeminate dress, the vanity of their exalted seat, and
the degraded character of their compositions; and on the other
hand, the excessive and counterfeited applause of their hearers,
expressed by extravagance of language and lasciviousness of
gesture corresponding to the nature of the compositions, are
touched with a masterly hand. He then ridicules the pretensions
of these courtly votaries of the Muses, whose vanity is fostered
by the interested praise of dependents and sycophants, who are
the first to ridicule them behind their backs. He then makes a
digression to the bar; and shows that the manly and vigorous
eloquence of Cicero and Hortensius and Cato, as well as the
masculine energy and dignity of Virgil, is frittered away, and
diluted by the introduction of redundant and misplaced metaphor,
labored antitheses, trifling conceits, accumulated epithets, and
bombastic and obsolete words, and a substitution of rhetorical
subtleties for that energetic simplicity which speaks _from_ and
_to_ the heart. Returning to the poets, he brings in a passage
of Nero's own composition as a most glaring example of these
defects. This excites his friend's alarm, and elicits some
cautious advice respecting the risk he encounters; which serves
to draw forth a more daring avowal of his bold purpose, and an
animated description of the persons whom he would wish to have
for his readers.
PERSIUS. "Oh the cares of men! [1181] Oh how much vanity is there in
human affairs! "--
ADVERSARIUS. [1182] Who will read this? [1183]
P. Is it to me you say this?
A. Nobody, by Hercules!
P. Nobody! Say two perhaps, or--
A. Nobody. It is mean and pitiful stuff!
P. Wherefore? No doubt "Polydamas[1184] and Trojan dames" will prefer
Labeo to me--
A. It is all stuff!
P. Whatever turbid Rome[1185] may disparage, do not thou join their
number; nor by that scale of theirs seek to correct thy own false
balance, nor seek[1186] thyself out of thyself. For who is there
at Rome that is not[1187]--Ah! if I might but speak! [1188] But I
may,[1189] when I look at our gray hairs,[1190] and our severe way
of life, and all that we commit since we abandoned our childhood's
nuts. [1191] When we savor of uncles,[1192] then--then forgive!
A. I will not!
P. What must I do? [1193] For I am a hearty laugher with a saucy spleen.
We write, having shut ourselves in,[1194] one man verses, another free
from the trammels of metre, something grandiloquent, which the lungs
widely distended with breath may give vent to.
And this, of course, some day, with your hair combed and a new
toga,[1195] all in white with your birthday Sardonyx,[1196] you
will read out from your lofty seat,[1197] to the people, when you
have rinsed[1198] your throat, made flexible by the liquid gargle;
languidly leering with lascivious eye! Here you may see the tall
Titi[1199] in trembling excitement, with lewdness of manner and
agitation of voice, when the verses enter their loins,[1200] and their
inmost parts are titillated with the lascivious strain.
P. And dost thou, in thy old age,[1201] collect dainty bits for the
ears of others? Ears to which even thou, bursting[1202] with vanity,
wouldst say, "Hold, enough! "
A. To what purpose is your learning, unless this leaven, and this wild
fig-tree[1203] which has once taken life within, shall burst through
your liver and shoot forth?
P. See that pallor and premature old age! [1204] Oh Morals! [1205] Is
then your knowledge so absolutely naught, unless another know you have
that knowledge? [1206]
A. But it is a fine thing to be pointed at with the finger,[1207]
and that it should be said, "That's he! " Do you value it at
nothing, that your works should form the studies[1208] of a hundred
curly-headed[1209] youths?
P. See! [1210] over their cups,[1211] the well-filled Romans[1212]
inquire of what the divine poems tell. Here some one, who has
a hyacinthine robe round his shoulders, snuffling through his
nose[1213] some stale ditty, distills and from his dainty palate
lisps trippingly[1214] his Phyllises,[1215] Hypsipyles, and all the
deplorable strains of the poets. The heroes hum assent! [1216] Now are
not the ashes[1217] of the poet blest? Does not a tomb-stone press
with lighter weight[1218] upon his bones? The guests applaud.
Catonis," Tib. , II. , i. , 84, "Intonsis avis. "
[1160] _Paganum. _ Cf. ad I. , 8. It appears that under the emperors
husbandmen were exempt from military service, in order that the land
might not fall out of cultivation. The "paganus," therefore, is opposed
to the "armatus" here, and by Pliny, Epist. x. , 18, "Et milites et
pagani. " Epist. vii. , 25, "Ut in castris, sic etiam in literis nostris
(sunt), plures culto pagano quos cinctos et armatos, diligentius
scrutatus invenies. " Pagus is derived from the Doric παγά, because
villages were originally formed round springs of water. Cf. Hooker's
Eccl. Pol. , lib. v. , c. 80.
"With much more ease false witnesses you'll find
To swear away the life of some poor hind,
Than get the true ones all they know to own
Against a soldier's fortune and renown. " Hodgson.
[1161] _Puls annua. _ Cf. Dionys. Hal. , ii. , 9, θεούς τε γὰρ ἡγοῦνται
τοὺς τέρμονας, καὶ θύουσιν αὐτοῖς ἔτι τῶν μὲν ἐμψύχων οὐδὲν· οὐ γὰρ
ὅσιον αἰμάττειν τοὺς λίθους· πελάνους δὲ Δήμητρος, καὶ ἄλλας τινὰς
καρπῶν ἀπαρχάς. "For they hold the boundary stones to be gods; and
sacrifice to them nothing that has life, because it would be impious
to stain the stones with blood; but they offer wheaten cakes, and
other first-fruits of their crops. " The divisions of land were
maintained by investing the stones which served as landmarks with a
religious character: the removal of these, therefore, added the crime
of sacrilege to that of dishonesty, and brought down on the heathen
the curse invoked in the purer system of theology, "Cursed be he that
removeth his neighbor's landmark. " Deut. , xxvii. , 17. To these rude
stones, afterward sculptured (like the Hermæ) into the form of the
god Terminus above, the rustics went in solemn procession annually,
and offered the produce of the soil; flowers and fruits, and the
never-failing wine, and "mola salsa. " Numa is said by Plutarch to have
introduced the custom into Italy, and one of his anathemas is still
preserved: "Qui terminum exarasit, ipsus et boves sacrei sunto. " Cf.
Blunt's Vestiges, p. 204. Hom. , Il. , xxi. , 405. Virg. , Æn. , xii. , 896.
[1162] _Cæditio. _ xiii. , 197, "Pœna sævior illis quas et Cæditius
gravis invenit et Rhadamanthus. " But it is very doubtful whether the
same person is intended here, as also whether Fuscus is the same whose
wife's drinking propensities are hinted at, xii. , 45, "dignum sitiente
Pholo, vel conjuge Fusci. " (Pliny has an Epistle to Corn. Fuscus, vii. ,
9. ) He is probably the Aurelius Fuscus to whom Martial wrote, vii. , Ep.
28.
[1163] _Sufflamine. _
"Nor are their wealth and patience worn away
By the slow drag-chain of the law's delay. " Gifford.
[1164] _Testandi vivo patre. _ Under ordinary circumstances the power
of a father over his son was absolute, extending even to life and
death, and terminating only at the decease of one of the parties. Hence
"peculium" is put for the sum of money that a father allows a son, or a
master a slave, to have at his own disposal. But even this permission
was revocable. A soldier, who was sui juris, was allowed to name an
heir in the presence of three or four witnesses, and if he fell, this
"nuda voluntas testatoris" was valid. This privilege was extended by
Julius Cæsar to those who were "in potestate patris. " "Liberam testandi
factionem concessit, D. Julius Cæsar: sed ea concessio temporalis
erat: postea vero D. Titus dedit: post hoc Domitianus: postea Divis
Nerva plenissimam indulgentiam in milites contulit: eamque et Trajanus
secutus est. " "Julius Cæsar granted them the free power of making a
will; but this was only a temporary privilege. It was renewed by Titus
and Domitian. Nerva afterward bestowed on them full powers, which were
continued to them by Trajan. " Vid. Ulpian, 23, § 10. The old Schol. ,
however, says this privilege was confined to the "peculium Castrense;"
but he is probably mistaken.
[1165] _Labor. _ Ruperti suggests "favor," to avoid the harshness of the
phrase "_labor_ reddit sua dona _labori_. " Browne reads _reddi_.
[1166] _Dona. _ Cf. Sil. , xv. , 254, "Tum merita æquantur _donis_ et
præmia Virtus sanguine parta capit: Phaleris hic pectora fulget: Hic
torque aurato circumdat bellica colla. "
[1167] _Phaleris. _ Cf. ad xi. , 103, "Ut phaleris gauderet equus. "
Siccius Dentatus is said to have had 25 phaleræ, 83 torques, 18 hastæ
puræ, 160 bracelets, 14 civic, 8 golden, 3 mural, and 1 obsidional
crown. Plin. , VII. , xxviii. , 9; xxxiii. , 2.
Here the Satire terminates abruptly. The conclusion is too tame to
be such as Juvenal would have left it, even were the whole subject
thoroughly worked up. It is probably an unfinished draught. The
commentators are nearly equally balanced as to its being the work of
Juvenal or not; but one or two of the touches are too masterly to be by
any other hand.
PERSIUS.
PROLOGUE.
I have neither steeped[1168] my lips in the fountain of
the Horse;[1169] nor do I remember to have dreamt on the
double-peaked[1170] Parnassus, that so I might on a sudden come forth a
poet. The nymphs of Helicon, and pale Pirene,[1171] I resign to those
around whose statues[1172] the clinging ivy twines. [1173] I myself,
half a clown,[1174] bring[1175] my verses as a contribution to the
inspired effusions of the poets.
Who made[1176] the parrot[1177] so ready with his salutation, and
taught magpies to emulate our words? --That which is the master of all
art,[1178] the bounteous giver of genius--the belly: that artist that
trains them to copy sounds that nature has denied[1179] them. But if
the hope of deceitful money shall have shone forth, you may believe
that ravens turned poets, and magpies poetesses, give vent to strains
of Pegaseian nectar. [1180]
FOOTNOTES:
[1168] _Prolui. _ Proluere, "to dip the lips," properly applied to
cattle. So "procumbere," Sulp. , 17. Cf. Stat. Sylv. , V. , iii. , 121,
"Risere sorores Aonides, pueroque chelyn submisit et ora imbuit amne
sacro jam tum tibi blandus Apollo. "
[1169] _Fonte Caballino. _ Caballus is a term of contempt for a horse,
implying "a gelding, drudge, or beast of burden," nearly equivalent
to Cantherius. Cf. Lucil. , ii. , fr. xi. (x. ), "Succussatoris tetri
tardique Caballi. " Hor. , i. , Sat. vi. , 59, "Me Satureiano vectari rura
caballo. " Sen. , Ep. , 87, "Catonem uno caballo esse contentum. " So Juv. ,
x. , 60, "Immeritis franguntur crura caballis. " Juvenal also applies
the term to Pegasus: "Ad quam Gorgonei delapsa est pinna caballi,"
iii. , 118. Pegasus sprang from the blood of Medusa when beheaded by
Perseus. Ov. , Met, iv. , 785, "Eripuisse caput collo: pennisque fugacem
Pegason et fratrem matris de sanguine natos. " The fountain Hippocrene,
ἱππουκρήνη, sprang up from the stroke of his hoof when he lighted on
Mount Helicon. Ov. , Fast. , iii. , 456, "Cum levis Aonias ungula fodit
aquas. " Hes. , Theog. , 2-6. Hesych. , v. ἱππουκρήνη. Paus. , Bœot. , 31.
Near it was the fountain of Aganippe, and these two springs supplied
the rivers Olmius and Permissus, the favorite haunts of the Muses.
Hesiod, _u. s. _ Hence those who drank of these were fabled to become
poets forthwith. Mosch. , Id. , iii. , 77, ἀμφότεροι παγαῖς πεφιλαμένοι· ὃς
μεν ἔπινε Παγασίδος κράνας ὁ δὲ πῶμ' ἔχε τᾶς Ἀρεθοίσας.
[1170] _Bicipiti. _ Parnassus is connected toward the southeast with
Helicon and the Bœotian ridges. It is the highest mountain in Central
Greece, and is covered with snow during the greater portion of the
year. The Castalian spring is fed by these perpetual snows, and pours
down the chasm between the two summits. These are two lofty rocks
rising perpendicularly from Delphi, and obtained for the mountain the
epithet δικόρυφον. Eur. , Phœn. , 234. They were anciently known by the
names of Hyampeia and Naupleia, Herod. , viii. , 39, but sometimes the
name Phædriades was applied to them in common. The name of Tithorea
was also applied to one of them, as well as to the town of Neon in its
neighborhood. Herod. , viii. , 32. These heights were sacred to Bacchus
and the Muses, and those who slept in their neighborhood were supposed
to receive inspiration from them. Cf. Propert. , III. , ii. , 1, "Visus
eram molli recubans Heliconis in umbrâ, Bellerophontei quà fluit humor
equi; Reges, Alba, tuos et regum facta tuorum tantum operis nervis
hiscere posse meis. " Cf. Virg. , Æn. , vii. , 86. Ov. , Heroid. , xv. , 156,
_seq. _
[1171] _Pirenen.
_ The fountain of Pirene was in the middle of the forum
of Corinth. Ov. , Met. , ii. , 240, "Ephyre Pirenidas undas. " It took its
name from the nymph so called, who dissolved into tears at the death of
her daughter Cenchrea, accidentally killed by Diana. The water was said
to have the property of tempering the Corinthian brass, when plunged
red-hot into the stream. Paus. , ii. , 3. Near the source Bellerophon
is said to have seized Pegasus, hence called the Pirenæan steed by
Euripides. Electr. , 475. Cf. Pind. , Olymp. , xiii. , 85, 120. Stat.
Theb. , iv. , 60, "Cenchreæque manus, vatûm qui conscius amnis Gorgoneo
percussus equo. " Ov. , Pont. , I. , iii. , 75. The _Latin_ poets alone make
this spring sacred to the Muses. "Pallidam" may refer either to the
legend of its origin, or to the wan faces of the votaries of the Muses.
[1172] _Imagines. _ Cf. Juv. , vii. , 29, "Qui facis in parvâ sublimia
carmina cellâ ut dignus venias hederis et imagine macrâ. " Poets were
crowned with _ivy_ as well as _bay_. "Doctarum hederæ præmia frontium. "
Hor. , i. , Od. i. , 29. The Muses being the companions of Bacchus as
well as of Apollo. Ov. , A. Am. , iii. , 411. Mart. , viii. , Ep. 82. The
busts of poets and other eminent literary men were used to adorn public
libraries, especially the one in the temple of Palatine Apollo.
[1173] _Lambunt_, properly said of a dog's tongue, then of flame. Cf.
Virg. , Æn. , ii. , 684, "Tractuque innoxia molli Lambere flamma comas, et
circum tempora pasci. " So the ivy, climbing and clinging, seems to lick
with its forked tongue the objects whose form it closely follows.
[1174] _Semipaganus. _ Paganus is opposed to miles. Juv. , xvi. , 33.
Plin. , x. , Ep. xviii. Here it means, "not wholly undisciplined in the
warfare of letters. " So Plin. , vii. , Ep. 25, "Sunt enim ut in castris,
sic etiam in litteris nostris plures cultu pagano, quos cinctos et
armatos, et quidem, ardentissimo ingenio, diligentius scrutatus
invenies. "
[1175] _Affero. _ εἰς μέσον φέρω. Casaubon.
[1176] _Quis expedivit. _ To preserve his incognito, Persius in this 2d
part of the Prologue represents himself as driven by poverty, though
but unprepared, to write for his bread. So Horace, ii. , Ep. xi. , 50,
"Decisis humilem pennis inopemque paterni et Laris et fundi paupertas
impulit audax ut versus facerem. "
[1177] _Psittaco. _ Cf. Stat. Sylv. , II. , iv. , 1, 2, "Psittace, dux
volucrûm, domini facunda voluptas, Humanæ solers imitator, Psittace
linguæ! " Mart. , xiv. , Ep. lxxiii. , 76. χαῖρε was one of the common
words taught to parrots. So εὗ πράττε, Ζεὺς ἵλεως, Cæsar ave. Vid.
Mart. , _u. s. _
[1178] _Magister artis. _ So the Greek proverb, Λιμὸς δὲ πολλῶν γίγνεται
διδάσκαλος. Theoc. , xxi. , Id. 1, Ἁ Πενιὰ, Διοφαντε, μόνα τὰς τέχνας
ἐγείρει. Plaut. Stich. , "Paupertas fecit ridiculus forem. Nam illa
omnes artes perdocet. " Cf. Arist. , Plut. , 467-594. So Ben Jonson, in
the Poetaster, "And between whiles spit out a better poem than e'er the
master of arts, or giver of wit, their belly, made. "
[1179] _Negatas. _ So Manilius, lib. v. , "Quinetiam linguas hominum
sensusque docebit Aerias volucres, novaque in commercia ducet, Verbaque
præcipiet naturæ sorte negatas. "
[1180] _Nectar_ is found in two MSS. ; all the others have "melos,"
which has been rejected as not making a scazontic line. But Homer, in
his Hymn to Mercury, makes the first syllable long; and also Antipater,
in an Epigram on Anacreon, ἀκμὴν οἳ λυρόεν μελίζεται ἀμφι βαθύλλῳ. Cf.
Theoc. , Id. , vii. , 82, οὕνεκά οι γλυκὺ Μοῖσα στόματος χέε νέκταρ.
SATIRE I.
ARGUMENT.
Under the color of declaring his purpose of writing Satire and
the plan he intends to adopt, and of defending himself against
the idle criticism of an imaginary and nameless adversary,
Persius lashes the miserable poets of his own day, and in no
very obscure terms, their Coryphæus himself, Nero. The subject
of the Satire is not very unlike the first of the second book
of Horace's Satires, and comes very near in some points to the
first Satire of Juvenal. But the manner of treatment is distinct
in each, and quite characteristic of the three great Satirists.
Horace's is more full of personality, one might say, of egotism,
and his own dislike and contempt of the authors of his time,
more lively and brilliant, more pungent and witty, than either
of the others; more pregnant with jokes, and yet rising to a
higher tone than the Satire of Persius. That of Juvenal is in a
more majestic strain, as befits the stern censor of the depraved
morals of his day; full of commanding dignity and grave rebuke,
of fiery indignation and fierce invective; and is therefore more
declamatory and oratorical in its style, more elevated in its
sentiment, more refined in its diction. While in that of Persius
we trace the workings of a young and ardent mind, devoted to
literature and intellectual pleasures, of a philosophical turn,
and a chastened though somewhat fastidious taste. We see the
student and devotee of literature quite as much as the censor of
morals, and can see that he grieves over the corruption of the
public _taste_ almost as deeply as over the general depravity of
public _morals_. Still there breathes through the whole a tone of
high and right feeling, of just and stringent criticism, of keen
and pungent sarcasm, which deservedly places this Satire very
high in the rank of intellectual productions.
The Satire opens with a dialogue between the poet himself and some
one who breaks in upon his meditations. This person is usually
described as his "Monitor;" some well-meaning acquaintance,
who endeavors to dissuade the poet from his purpose of
writing Satire. But D'Achaintre's notion, that he is rather
an ill-natured critic than a good-natured adviser, seems the
more tenable one, and the divisions of the first few lines have
been ingeniously made to support that view. After expressing
supreme contempt for the poet's opening line, he advises him,
if he must needs give vent to verse, to write something more
suited to the taste and spirit of the age he lives in. Persius
acknowledges that this would be the more likely way to gain
applause, but maintains that such approbation is not the end at
which a true poet ought to aim. And this leads him to expose
the miserable and corrupt taste of the poetasters of his day,
and to express supreme contempt for the mania for recitation
then prevalent, which had already provoked the sneers of Horace,
and afterward drew down the more majestic condemnation of
Juvenal. He draws a vivid picture of these depraved poets, who
pander to the gross lusts of their hearers by their lascivious
strains. Their affectation of speech and manner, their costly
and effeminate dress, the vanity of their exalted seat, and
the degraded character of their compositions; and on the other
hand, the excessive and counterfeited applause of their hearers,
expressed by extravagance of language and lasciviousness of
gesture corresponding to the nature of the compositions, are
touched with a masterly hand. He then ridicules the pretensions
of these courtly votaries of the Muses, whose vanity is fostered
by the interested praise of dependents and sycophants, who are
the first to ridicule them behind their backs. He then makes a
digression to the bar; and shows that the manly and vigorous
eloquence of Cicero and Hortensius and Cato, as well as the
masculine energy and dignity of Virgil, is frittered away, and
diluted by the introduction of redundant and misplaced metaphor,
labored antitheses, trifling conceits, accumulated epithets, and
bombastic and obsolete words, and a substitution of rhetorical
subtleties for that energetic simplicity which speaks _from_ and
_to_ the heart. Returning to the poets, he brings in a passage
of Nero's own composition as a most glaring example of these
defects. This excites his friend's alarm, and elicits some
cautious advice respecting the risk he encounters; which serves
to draw forth a more daring avowal of his bold purpose, and an
animated description of the persons whom he would wish to have
for his readers.
PERSIUS. "Oh the cares of men! [1181] Oh how much vanity is there in
human affairs! "--
ADVERSARIUS. [1182] Who will read this? [1183]
P. Is it to me you say this?
A. Nobody, by Hercules!
P. Nobody! Say two perhaps, or--
A. Nobody. It is mean and pitiful stuff!
P. Wherefore? No doubt "Polydamas[1184] and Trojan dames" will prefer
Labeo to me--
A. It is all stuff!
P. Whatever turbid Rome[1185] may disparage, do not thou join their
number; nor by that scale of theirs seek to correct thy own false
balance, nor seek[1186] thyself out of thyself. For who is there
at Rome that is not[1187]--Ah! if I might but speak! [1188] But I
may,[1189] when I look at our gray hairs,[1190] and our severe way
of life, and all that we commit since we abandoned our childhood's
nuts. [1191] When we savor of uncles,[1192] then--then forgive!
A. I will not!
P. What must I do? [1193] For I am a hearty laugher with a saucy spleen.
We write, having shut ourselves in,[1194] one man verses, another free
from the trammels of metre, something grandiloquent, which the lungs
widely distended with breath may give vent to.
And this, of course, some day, with your hair combed and a new
toga,[1195] all in white with your birthday Sardonyx,[1196] you
will read out from your lofty seat,[1197] to the people, when you
have rinsed[1198] your throat, made flexible by the liquid gargle;
languidly leering with lascivious eye! Here you may see the tall
Titi[1199] in trembling excitement, with lewdness of manner and
agitation of voice, when the verses enter their loins,[1200] and their
inmost parts are titillated with the lascivious strain.
P. And dost thou, in thy old age,[1201] collect dainty bits for the
ears of others? Ears to which even thou, bursting[1202] with vanity,
wouldst say, "Hold, enough! "
A. To what purpose is your learning, unless this leaven, and this wild
fig-tree[1203] which has once taken life within, shall burst through
your liver and shoot forth?
P. See that pallor and premature old age! [1204] Oh Morals! [1205] Is
then your knowledge so absolutely naught, unless another know you have
that knowledge? [1206]
A. But it is a fine thing to be pointed at with the finger,[1207]
and that it should be said, "That's he! " Do you value it at
nothing, that your works should form the studies[1208] of a hundred
curly-headed[1209] youths?
P. See! [1210] over their cups,[1211] the well-filled Romans[1212]
inquire of what the divine poems tell. Here some one, who has
a hyacinthine robe round his shoulders, snuffling through his
nose[1213] some stale ditty, distills and from his dainty palate
lisps trippingly[1214] his Phyllises,[1215] Hypsipyles, and all the
deplorable strains of the poets. The heroes hum assent! [1216] Now are
not the ashes[1217] of the poet blest? Does not a tomb-stone press
with lighter weight[1218] upon his bones? The guests applaud.
