Thee, Lupus, thee, Mutius; and he brake his jaw-tooth upon them. Sly Horace touches every vice, his friend laughing: 115 Cunning to hang up the people with an unwrinkled nose. Is it unlawful for me to mutter? neither secretly, nor with a ditch? M. No where. P. Nevertheless I will dig here. "I have seen, I myself have 66 seen, O little book : 120 "Who has not the ears of an ass ?" I this hidden thing, This laugh of mine, such a nothing, I sell to thee for no Iliad. Ŏ thou whosoever art inspired by bold Cratinus, Art pale over angry Eupolis, with the very great old man, These too behold: if haply any thing more refined you hear, Let the reader glow towards me with an ear evaporated from thence. Satires, in which he derides the objects of them. See 1. 9, and note. 122. Such a nothing.] So insignificant and worthless in thine opinion, my friend, (comp. 1. 2, 3.) and perhaps in the eyes of others, that they would not think them worth reading, as you told me. -I sell to thee, &c.] Nero, as well as Labeo, had written a poem on the destruction of Troy; to these the poet may be supposed to allude, when he says he would not sell his Satires-his nothing, as others esteemed them-for my Iliad: perhaps the word nulla may be understood as extending to Homer himself. 123. O thou whosoever, &c.] Afflatehast read so much of Cratinus, as to be influenced and inspired with his spirit. Cratinus was a Greek comic poet, who, with a peculiar boldness and energy, satirized the evil manners of his time. The poet is about to describe what sort of readers he chooses for his Satires, and those whom he does not choose. 124. Art pale.] With reading and studying hast contracted that paleness of countenance, which is incident to studious people. See Juv. sat. vii. 1. 97; and Pers. sat. v. 1. 62. -Angry Eupolis.] This was another comic poet, who, incensed at the vices of the Athenians, lashed them in the severest manner. He is said to have been thrown into the sea by Alcibiades, for some verses written against him. -With the very great old man.] The 126 poet here meant is Aristophanes, who lived to a very great age. He was of a vehement spirit, had a genius turned to raillery, wit free and elevated, and courage not to fear the person when vice was to be reproved. He wrote thirtyfour comedies, whereof eleven only remain. Hor. lib. i. sat. iv. 1. 1, mentions all these three poets together. Persius gives him the epithet of prægrandi, either on account of his age, for he lived till he was fourscore, or on account of the great eminence of his writings, for he was the prince of the old comedy, as Menander was of the new; but so as we must join, says Ainsworth, Eupolis and Cratinus with the former, Diphilus and Polemon with the latter. 125. These too behold.] Look also on these Satires of mine. -If haply any thing more refined, &c.] The poet speaks modestly of his own writings, si forte, (see before, 1. 44, 5.) if it should so happen, that thou shouldest meet with any thing more clear, well digested, pure, refined than ordinary. Metaph. taken from liquors, which, by being often boiled, lose much of their quantity, but gain more strength and clearness. It is said of Virgil, that he would make fifty verses in a morning, or more, and in the evening correct and purge them till they were reduced to about ten. 126. Let the reader glow, &c.] If, says Non hic, qui in crepidas Graiorum ludere gestit Nec, qui abaco numeros, et secto in pulvere metas, Persius, there be any thing in my writings better than ordinary, let the reader, who has formed his taste on the writings of the poets above mentioned, glow with a fervour of delight towards the author. This I take to be the meaning of the line, which literally is Let the reader glow towards me with an ear evaporated (i. e. purified from the false taste of the present times) from thence (i. e. from, or by, reading and studying the writings of Cratinus, &c.)such I wish to be my readers. Vaporo signifies to send out vapours, to evaporate thus the metaphor is continued through both the lines. 127. Not he, who delights, &c.] Persius now marks out those who were not to be chosen for his readers. The first class of men which he objects to are those who can laugh at the persons and habits of philosophers; this bespeaks a despicable, mean, and sordid mind. -Slippers of the Grecians.] Crepidas Graiorum, a peculiar sort of slippers, or shoes, worn by philosophers-here put by synec. for the whole dress: but it is most likely, that Persius here means the philosophers themselves, and all their wise sayings and institutes; these were originally derived from Greece. 128. Sordid.] See note, No. 1, above, at 1. 127, ad fin. -Say to the blinkard, &c.] Luscus 130 is he that has lost an eye, a one-eyed man. Persius means those who can upbraid and deride the natural infirmities or misfortunes of others, by way of wit : Can mock the blind: and has the wit to cry (Prodigious wit!)—" Why, friend, you "want an eye!" BREWSTER. 129. Thinking himself somebody.] A person of great consequence. -Lifted up, &c.] Puffed up with self-importance, because bearing an office in some country-district of Italy; and therefore flippant of his abuse, by way of being witty, 1. 127, 8. 130. An ædile, &c.] An inferior kind of country-magistrate, who had jurisdiction over weights and measures, and had authority to break and destroy those which were false. Juv. sat. x. Ì. 102. -Aretium.] A city of Tuscany, famous for making earthen-ware, but, perhaps, put here for any country town. So heminas, half sextaries, little measures holding about three quarters of a pint, are put for measures in general. Comp. Juv. sat. x. 101, 2. 131. Nor who, arch, &c.] Another class of people, which Persius would exclude from the number of his readers, are those who laugh at and despise all science whatsoever. Abacus signifies a bench, slate, or Not he, who delights to sport on the slippers of the Grecians, An ædile he may have broken false measures at Aretium. 130 I give to these, in the morning, anedict; after dinner, Callirhoë. table, used for accounts by arithmeticians, and for figures by arithmeticians -here put for arithmetic and mathematics. 132. Bounds in divided dust.] The geometricians made their demonstrations upon dust, or sanded floors, to the end that their lines might easily be changed and struck out again-here geometry is meant. 133. Petulant Nonaria, &c.] Who think it an high joke, if they see an impudent strumpet meet a grave Cynic in the street, and pull him by the beard; which was the greatest affront that could be offered. Comp. Hor. sat. iii. lib. i. 1. 133, 4. The ninth hour, or our three o'clock in the afternoon, was the time when the harlots first made their appearance; hence they were called Nonaria. Perhaps our poet may allude, in this line, to the story of Diogenes, (mentioned by Athen. lib. xiii.) who was in love with Lais, the famous courtezan, and had his beard plucked by her. 134. In the morning, an edict.] To such people as these I assign employ. ments suitable to their talents and characters. It has been usually thought, that edictum here means the prætor's edict, and that by Callirhoe is meant some harlot of that name; and therefore this line is to be understood, as if Persius meant that these illiterate fellows should attend the forum in the morning, and the brothel in the evening: but the former seems too serious an employ for men such as he is speaking of. Marcilius, therefore, more reasonably, takes edictum (consonant to the phrases edictum ludorum, edictum muneris gladiatorii, &c.) to signify a programma, a kind of play-bill, which was stuck up, as ours are, in a morning; and Callirhoe to be the title of some wretched play, written on the story of that famous parricide (who slew her father because he would not consent to her marriage) by some of the writers at which this Satire is levelled, and which was announced to be performed in the evening. q. d. Instead of wishing such to read my Satires, I consign these pretty gentlemen to the study of the play bills in the morning, and to an attendance on the play in the evening. Satire concludes, in conformity with the preceding part of it, with lashing bad writers and their admirers. Thus this Marcilius contends, that this line is to be referred to Nero, against whom, as a poet, this Satire is principally, though covertly, levelled-who, by ordering bills to be distributed, called the people together, in order to hear him sing over his poems on Callirhoe. 2 H VOL. II. SATIRA II. ARGUMENT. It being customary among the Romans for one friend to send a present to another on his birth-day-Persius, on the birthday of his friend Macrinus, presents him with this Satire, which seems (like Juv. Sat. x.) to be founded on Plato's dialogue on prayer, called The Second Alcibiades. The Poet takes occasion to expose the folly and impiety of those, who, thinking the gods to be like themselves, imagined that they were to be bribed into compliance with their prayers by sumptuous presents; whereas, in truth, the gods regard not these, but regard only the pure intention of an honest heart. AD PLOTIUM MACRINUM. HUNC, Macrine, diem numera meliore lapillo, SATIRE II. ARGUMENT, In the course of this Satire, which seems to have given occasion to the Tenth Satire of Juvenal, Persius mentions the impious and hurtful requests which men make, as well as the bad means which they employ to have their wishes fulfilled. The whole of this Satire is very grave, weighty, and instructive; and, like that of Juvenal, contains sentiments, more like a Christian than an heathen. Bishop Burnet says, that "this Satire may well pass for one of the best lectures in divinity." 66 TO PLOTIUS MACRINUS. THIS day, Macrinus, number with a better stone, Which, white, adds to thee sliding years. Pour out wine to your genius. nary prayer, You do not ask with merce Which you cannot commit unless to remote gods; would not take away life on the day on which they received it. They supposed a genius not only to preside at their birth, but to attend and protect them constantly through their life; therefore, on other days, they sacrificed beasts to their genii. Hence Hon. lib. ii. ode xvii. 1. 14-16. -Cras genium mero Curabis, et porco bimestri, Cum famulis operum solutis. The libation of wine on their birthday was attended also with strewing flowers. The former was an emblem of cheerfulness and festivity: the latter, from their soon fading, of the frailty and shortness of human life. HOR. epist. i. lib. ii. 1. 143, 4. Tellurem porco, Sylvanum lucte piàbant, Floribus et vido genium, memorem brevis ævi. 3. Mercenary prayer.] Emaci, from emo, to buy-i. e. with a prayer, with which, as with a bribe, or reward, you were to purchase what you pray for. 4. Which you cannot commit, &c.] Which you must offer to the gods in secret, and as if the gods were taken aside, that nobody but themselves should hear what you say to them. Committere, here, has the sense of to intrust, to impart. |