or any of the many heroines over whom poets have snivelled, filtering out his tones, and tripping up the words against the roof of his delicate mouth. The heroes have expressed approval-now is not the poet happy in his grave? Now does not the stone press on his bones more lightly? The humbler guests follow with their applause now will not a crop of violets spring up from those remains of his—from the sod of his tomb, and from the ashes so highly blest?' F. Ah, you are laughing (says he) and letting your nostrils curl more than they should. Will you ever find a bard who will disown the wish to earn a place in the mouths of men, to deliver utterances worthy of cedar oil, and leave behind him poems which need not fear the contact of mackerel or spices? P. 'Whoever you are, my imaginary opponent, I am not the man if in writing I chance to hatch anything good-for that is a phoenix indeed—but if I do hatch anything good, I am not the man to 41. velle recuset. senio' 6. 15. Jahn. Will you find any man to disclaim the desire of deservedly becoming a household word?' 42. In ore esse' or 'in ora venire,' 'abire,' etc. was a phrase: comp. 'volito vivus per ora virum' Enn. ap. Cic. Tusc. 1. 15. 34, imitated by Virg. G. 3. 9. 'Romana brevi venturus in ora' Hor. I E. 3. 9. For the use of the perf. inf. Jahn comp. vv. 91, 132; 2. 66; 4. 7, 17; 5. 33; 6. 3, 17, 77. cedro, cedar oil.' 'Linenda cedro' Hor. A. P. 332. Persius probably imitated Virg. Aen. 6. 662 Phoebo digna locuti.' 43. scombros, mackerel,' is an image borrowed from Catull. 95. 7 • Volusi annales Paduam morientur ad ipsam, Et laxas scombris saepe dabunt tunicas,' as 'tus' is from Hor. 2 Ep. 1. 269 Deferar in vicum vendentem tus et odores Et piper et quicquid chartis amicitur ineptis.' C 44-62. Persius. I quite admit the value of honest praise well deserved. I should not be human if I did not feel it; but I protest against measuring excellence by this fashionable standard of yoursa standard which accommodates itself to trash like Labeo's and all the mawkish stuff which great folks write when they ought to be digesting their dinners. The praise given in your circles is not disinterested - it is simply payment for patronage received. You are not blessed with the eyes of Janus-so you will need pains to discriminate between what is said to your face and what is said behind your back.' 44. Persius is disputing not with any definite antagonist, but with the spirit of the age, as Passow and Jahn remark. modo, just now,' referring especially to v. 40, and generally to the whole preceding part. 45. exit probably has a double reference -to a vessel turned out by the potter, as Hor. A. P. 22 urceus exit,' and to a bird hatched from an egg, Plin. 10. 16. 18 'exit de ovo a cauda,' as 'rara avis' seems to show. 46. quando used as since' only in poetry and post-Aug. prose. Freund. [But Madvig on Cic. Fin. 5. 8. 21., 23. 67 allows it in Cicero.] rara avis seemingly a proverbial expression, imitated by Juv. 6. 165. Jerome adv. Jovin, t. 1. 4. 2, p. 190 Ben. laudari metuam, neque enim mihi cornea fibra est; euge tuum et belle. nam belle hoc excute totum: et 'verum' inquis 'amo: verum mihi dicite de me.' 57. propenso. (Jahn). A black swan' Juv. 1. c.; a white crow' ib. 7. 200. 47. cornea is applied by Pliny (31. 9. 45) as an epithet to the bodies of fishermen; but this metaphorical use of the word appears to be Persius' own. Heinr. and Jahn refer to Sidon. Apoll. Epp. 4. 1; 8. II. The Stoics, as Casaubon shows, did not altogether exclude fame from consideration, but regarded it as one of the ἀδιάφορα which were προηγμένα: they however differed among themselves as to whether it was desirable for its own sake or for any advantage which it might bring, Chrysippus taking the latter view. fibra, 5. 29. 'the 48. finem extremumque, standard and limit.' Jahn comp. Cic. Fin. 2. 2. 5 Nam hunc ipsum sive finem, sive extremum, sive ultimum definiebas id esse quo omnia, quae recte fierent, referrentur.' recusare, with an object-clause not common. Maxime vero quaestum esse inmani vitae pretio recusabant' Plin. 29. 1. 8. 49. euge tuum et belle. Like 'suum xaipe' Prol. 8. Hor. A. P. 428, a passage which Persius had in view, makes the ' derisor' exclaim Pulchre, bene, recte.' 50 55 50. • What rubbish does it not contain?' What is there not room for in it?' 'Atti Labeonis,' v. 4 note. 51. veratrum was the Latin name for hellebore. Nobis veratrum est acre venenum 'Lucr. 4. 640. Hellebore was taken, according to Pliny (25. 5. 21), not only to cure madness, but to clear the heads of students. Thus it will satirize the artificial helps used for study, as well as the madness which requires deep and intoxicating draughts of hellebore to cure it. elegidia, a contemptuous diminutive. 'Exiguos elegos' Hor. A. P. 77. Comp. Juv. 1. 4. crudi. Crudi tumidique lavemur ' Hor. 1 Ep. 6. 61. 52. Jahn comp. Hor. 2 Ep. 1. 109 'pueri patresque severi Fronde comas vincti cenant et carmina dictant.' 53. For writing in a recumbent posture, comp. Prop. 4. 6. 14 Scriniaque ad lecti clausa iacere pedes.' Augustus retired after supper to his 'lecticula lucubratoria' Suet. Aug. 78. The rich man in Juvenal (3. 241) reads or writes in his litter. citreis. Citron wood, used for couches here, as for tables Cic. Verr. 4. 37. ponere. 3. III' positum est algente catino Durum holus,' 6. 23 'rhombos libertis ponere lautus.' Imitated from Hor. A. P. 422 unctum recte qui ponere. ་ shrink from praise-no-my heartstrings are not of horn. But I utterly deny that the be-all and end-all of excellence is your Bravo and Exquisite for just sift this Exquisite to the bottom, and what do you not find there? Is there not Attius' Iliad deaddrunk with hellebore? Are there not all the sweet little love poems ever dictated by persons of quality after their meals—in a word, all the verse that is produced on couches of citron? You know how to serve up a sow's paunch smoking hot-you know how to present a poor shivering dependant with a cast-off cloak-and you say, 'Truth is my idol-pray tell me Truth about myself.' Truth-how can you expect to hear it? Well, will you have it, then? You're a twaddler, you old baldpate, with your bloated stomach projecting a good half yard before you. O lucky Janus, never to have a stork's bill pecking at you behind—or a hand feriority. 55. Casaubon comp. Plaut. Most. 1. 3. 24, where a girl questions her waitingmaid about her beauty, saying, 'Ego verum amo, verum volo dici mihi, mendacem odi.' Jahn comp. Mart. 8. 76 'Dic verum mihi, Marce, dic amabo: Nil est quod magis audiam libenter Vero verius ergo, quid sit, audi: Verum, Gallice, non libenter audis.' dicite, Jahn, from the majority of MSS., instead of 'dicito.' The host seems to be addressing his dependents en masse. 56. qui pote, supply probably 'sunt verum dicere.' 'Pote' seems rather an abbreviated form of 'potis,' which is itself of all genders and both numbers, than a neuter, as is shown by such passages as Prop. 4. 7. 9 Et mater non iusta piae dare debita terrae, Nec pote cognatos inter humare rogos.' 's' is eli ded before a consonant, and 'i' consequently becomes e,' as the final 'i' in Latin would not be short. So 'magis' and 'mage.' 56. nugari is used elsewhere, as in Hor. 2 Ep. 1. 93, for graceful trifling in art and literature; here it has the force of the bitterest contempt-You are a wretched dilettante.' calve, note on v. 9. 57. aqualiculus is used by Sen. Ep. 90. 22 for the ventricle or ulterior stomach- Cibus cum pervenit in ventrem, aqualiculi fervore coquitur.' The transference to the exterior stomach or paunch is probably Persius' own. The schol. and Isidorus (Orig. II. I) say that it is properly a pig's stomach. propenso is the reading of almost all the MSS., but 'protenso,' which Heinr. adopts, is found in Montep., and in an imitation by Jerome (adv. Jov. 2. t. 4. 2, P. 214 Ben.). 'protento' would be the more usual form. The sentiment is the same as that of the Greek proverb, quoted by Pithous, παχεία γαστὴρ λεπτὸν οὐ τίκτει νόον, probably with the additional notion that the would-be poet is a bloated debauchee, 'pinguis vitiis albusque' (Hor. S. 2. 21). 58. These three ways of making game of a person behind his back appear to be mentioned nowhere else, except in an imitation by Jerome, though the second, the imitation of an ass's ear, is still common in Italy. ciconia. The fingers seem, according to the schol., to have been tapped nec manus auriculas imitari mobilis albas, nec linguae, quantum sitiat canis Apula, tantum! vos, o patricius sanguis, quos vivere fas est occipiti caeco, posticae occurrite sannae! Quis populi sermo est?' quis enim, nisi carmina molli nunc demum numero fluere, ut per leve severos effundat iunctura unguis? scit tendere versum non secus ac si oculo rubricam derigat uno. 'Ecce modo heroas sensus adferre videmus albas distinguishes the ears as belonging to an ass. Ov. Met. II. 174 says of the transformation of Midas, Delius aures .. .. villisque albentibus implet Instabilesque imo (al. illas) facit, et dat posse moveri,' which Persius may have thought of, comp. v. 121, (Nebr.), and the choice of the epithet is quite in the manner of Persius, so that we need not embrace the reading of one MS. ' altas.' 60. sitiat, where a prose writer would have said 'sitiens protendat.' Britannicus says, 'deest cum, ut sit cum sitiet.' The drought of Apulia is a familiar image from Hor. Epod. 3. 16 'siticulosae Apuliae.' Jahn reads tantae with some of the best MSS.; but tantum,' which is supported by most copies, is much neater, and tantae' may have been introduced, 60 65 63-68. Persius resumes his description What is the opinion of the public?' asks the patron. Oh! they say, we have got a poet at last, able to write smoothly, and equal to any kind of composition.' 63. The rich man addresses his dependants, as in v. 55. populi, note on v. 15. enim, used in an answer to a question. Plaut. Poen. 4. 2. 33 ' Quomodo? Ut enim, ubi mihi vapulandum est, tu corium sufferas.' What? Why, what should it be, but.' 64. nunc demum, now at last, the coming poet has come.' numero, sing., 'like in numerum Lucr. 2. 630. Arma gravi numero violentaque bella parabam Edere' Ov. I Am. I. I. that can imitate by its motion a donkey's white ears, or a length of tongue protruded like an Apulian dog's in the dog-days! But you, my aristocratic friends, whom Nature has ordained to live with no eyes behind you, turn round and face this back-stairs gibing. 'What does the town say?' What should it say—but that now at last we have verses which flow in smooth measure, so that the critical nail runs glibly along even where the parts join. He can make a long straight line, just as if he were ruling it with a ruddle cord, with one eye shut. Whatever the subject-the character of the age, its luxurious habits, the banquets of the great, the Muse is sure to inspire our poet with the grand style. 'Yes-lo and behold! we now see heroic sentiments heralded forth per leve, imitated from Hor. 2 S. 7.86 teres atque rotundus, Externi ne quid valeat per leve morari.' The image is that of a polished surface which the nail could run along without being stopped. Whether the image is the same in Horace's factus ad unguem' (1 S. 5. 32), 'castigavit ad unguem' (A. P. 294), is not clear. Jahn in the latter passage would derive it from a workman moulding images in wax or clay (comp. Juv. 7. 237, Pers. 5, 39), quoting from Plut. Symp. Qu. 2. p. 636 ὅταν ἐν ὄνυχι ὁ πηλὸς γένηται. Orelli on Hor. I S. 5. 32 quotes Columella 2. 12, 13 'materiam dolare ad unguem,' and Apuleius, Flor. 23 'lapis ad unguem coaequatus.' We need not think of any 'iunctura' as actually existing in the thing to which the verses are compared. Persius merely says that the verses are turned out so smooth, that there is no break or sense of transition from one foot to another. 65. effundat, stronger than 'sinat perlabi.' [Effundi verba, non figi' of a flowing style, Sen. Ep. 100. 1.] tendere refers to the length and completeness of the verse. He can make his verses as straight as a mason's line.' 66. The mason shuts one eye to make sure of getting the line straight. König comp. Lucian. Icaromenipp. 14 ἐπεὶ καὶ τοὺς τέκτονας πολλάκις ἑωρακέναι μοι Sок OαтÉр тŵv ỏplaλμŵv ἄμεινον πρὸς τοὺς κανόνας ἀπευθύνοντας Tà gúλa. The rubrica' or ruddled cord was stretched along the wood or stone, jerked in the middle, and let go. 67. He is equally great too in satire.' mores, v. 26. prandia regum, then will be the feasts of the great," reges' having a peculiar signification in the mouth of dependants, as in Hor. I Ep. 7. 33; 17. 43; A. P. 434; Juv. 1. 136; 5. 161; 8. 161. (Hor. 2 S. 2. 45' epulis regum.') 'Public entertainments given by the great' were common at Rome, and called ' prandia,' Suet. Jul. 38; Tib. 20, and possibly these may be referred to as a further stroke of irony. 'Bene 68. res grandis='grandia.' mirae eritis res' v. III. 'grandis' expresses the literary quality, which is the great object of ambition: see on v. 14. 69-82. Persius drops his irony, and talks in his own person. Every kind of composition! Yes, we now see heroics written by men who cannot compose a simple rural piece without introducing some heterogeneous jumble. Then there is the mania for archaisms-the affectation of studying the old poets-as if any. thing but corrupt taste and relaxed morality would be the result!' 69. modo, apparently referring to time just past, and so nearly' nunc.' • Modo dolores meatu occipiunt' Ter. Ad. 3. 1. 2, where Donatus says, 'Evidenter hic modo temporis praesentis adverbium est.' 69. heroas, used as an adjective. 'Heroas manus' Prop. 2. 1. 18 (Jahn). sensus, thoughts' or 'sentiments.' |