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SATIRE II.

THIS day, Macrinus, mark with a stone of more auspicious hue, the white day, which adds to your account each year as it glides away. Pour the wine to your genius. You are not the man to make higgling prayers, asking the gods for things which you can only confide to them when you have got them in a corner. Meantime, the mass of our upper classes will go on making libations from a censer that tells no tales. It is not every one who is

3. Scit Genius, natale comes qui temperat astrum, Naturae deus humanae, mortalis in unum Quodque caput, vultu mutabilis, albus et ater' Hor. 2 Ep. 2. 187. The Genius was the deification of the happier or impulsive part of man, so that an offering to it implied that the day was to be spent in real enjoyment. 'Cras Genium mero Placabis, et porco bimestri' Hor. 3 Od. 17. 10; 'vinoque diurno Placari genius festis impune diebus' A. P. 209; 'piabant Floribus et vino Genium, memorem brevis aevi' 2 Ep. 1. 144, where the last words may be compared with the city mouse's exhortation to the country mouse, 2 S. 6. 96 Dum licet, in rebus iucundis vive beatus, Vive memor quam sis aevi brevis.' By connecting funde merum genio with what follows, Persius seems to say that Macrinus may indulge his inclinations safely, and be sure that the gods will grant them. Censorinus tells us, on the authority of Varro, that the Romans offered only flowers and wine to the Genius on their birthday, 'ne die qua ipsi lucem accepissent, aliis demerent:' but Jahn refers to Hertzberg de Dis Rom. Patriis, p. 24, to show that this was not an invariable rule.

emaci, fond of bargaining,' 'higgling,' v. 29 qua tu mercede deorum Emeris auriculas?' Casaubon comp. Hor. 3 Od. 29. 59 'ad miseras preces Decurrere, et votis pacisci.' Jahn comp. Plato Euthyph. p. 14 Ε ἐμπορικὴ ἄρα τις ἂν εἴη τέχνη ἡ ὁσιότης θεοῖς καὶ ἀνθρώποις παρ' ἀλλήλων.

4. seductis. 6. 42 paullum a turba seductior audi.' Casaubon refers to Sen, Ep. 41 for the statement that worshippers used to get the temple-keeper to allow them access to the ears of the statues, that they might be able to be heard better. Facis rem optimam et tibi salutarem, si, ut scribis, perseveras ire ad bonam mentem, quam stultum est optare, cum possis a te impetrare. Non sunt ad caelum elevandae manus, nec exorandus aedituus ut nos ad aures simulacri, quasi magis exaudiri possimus, admittat.' 5. At bona pars hominum' Hor. I S. 1. 61.

libabit, is used to do, and therefore will do, will be found to do. Jahn comp. Juv. 8. 182 quae Turpia cerdoni, Volesos Brutumque decebunt.' 'Farre pio et plena supplex veneratur acerra' Virg. Aen. 5.745.

haud cuivis promptum est murmurque humilisque susurros tollere de templis et aperto vivere voto.

'Mens bona, fama fides' haec clare et ut audiat hospes;

illa sibi introrsum et sub lingua murmurat 'o si
ebulliat patruus, praeclarum funus!' et 'o si
sub rastro crepet argenti mihi seria dextro
Hercule! pupillumve utinam, quem proximus heres
inpello, expungam! namque est scabiosus et acri
bile tumet. Nerio iam tertia ducitur uxor.'
haec sancte ut poscas, Tiberino in gurgite mergis
mane caput bis terque et noctem flumine purgas.
Heus age, responde-minimum est quod scire laboro—

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6. Non cuivis homini contingit' Hor. 1 Ep. 17. 36. 'Formam optat modico pueris, maiore puellis murmure' Juv. 10. 289. Clem. Alex. Strom. 4. 26. § 173 is referred to by Casaubon as giving the Pythagorean rule μετὰ φωνῆς εὔχεσθαι.

7. nec voto vivitur uno' 5. 53. vivere refers to daily prayers for daily blessings.

8. Imitated from Hor. 1 Ep. 16. 57 foll. The secret prayer in Persius is more bona fide,' and consequently more disguised than in Horace, who apparently merely means that while the worshipper asks the gods for one thing his heart is set on another. Possibly Mens bona, Fama, Fides are not things prayed for, but persons, like Janus and Apollo, Hor. 1. c. Casaubon refers to Prop. 4. 24. 19 Mens Bona, si qua Dea es, tua me in sacraria dono,' [and inscriptions Menti Bonae' are given in the Berlin Corpus Inscriptionum, i. nos. 1167, 168, 1237. See Preller's Römische Mythologie, p. 628, note 2.] Against this may be urged that no gods are particularised in the secret prayer, like Laverna Hor. 1. c., with the incidental exception of Hercules. What 'mens bona' is is explained by Sen. (quoted by the Delphin editor and Jahn) Ep. 10 'Roga bonam mentem, bonam valetudinem animi, deinde tunc corporis' (nearly Juvenal's 'mens sana in corpore sano' 10. 356), Ep. 16 Perseverandum est et assiduo stu

13. expungas, nam et est.

17. post minimum q. eras.

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dio robur addendum, donec bona mens sit, quod bona voluntas est,'' health of mind.' [With the whole comp. Sen. Ep. 10. 5 Nunc enim quanta dementia est hominum turpissima vota dis insusurrant : si quis admoverit aurem, conticescunt. Et quod scire hominem nolunt, deo narrant.']

hospes, a stranger,' so that any one may hear.'

9. sub lingua is compared by Casaubon to ὑπ ̓ ὀδόντα.

10. ebulliat is restored by Jahn and Heinr. for ebullit,' the reading of most MSS., which used to be explained as a contraction of ebullierit.' [The synizesis is questioned by Lucian Müller, De Re Metrica, p. 256.] The full expression is 'ebullire (= efflare) animam' (Sen. Apocolocynt. 4).

patruus Orelli, Heinr. Jahn, from some MSS. The majority have 'patrui,' which seems to be a correction made by those who did not understand ebulliat.'

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praeclarum funus is meant to bear the double sense a glorious (welcome) death' and 'a splendid funeral.' Jahn comp. Prop. I. 17. 8 Haeccine parva meum funus arena teget?' Virg. Aen. 9. 486, 7 nec te tua funera mater Produxi.' Heinr. makes funus' cogn. acc. to 'ebulliat.' Comp. Juv. 6. 566, where the wife asks the astrologer quando sororem Efferat et patruos.'

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ready to do away with muttering and whispering from our temples, and live in the use of prayers to which all may listen. 'Sound mind, good report, credit' so much is said aloud even in a stranger's hearing, the rest he mutters to himself under his breath. 'O that my uncle would go off in a splendid obituary. O that I could hear a crock of silver chinking under my harrow, by the blessing of Hercules or that I might strike out my ward, on whose heels I tread as next in succession, so full of scrofula and acrid bile as he is already! There is Nerius actually marrying his third wife!' It is to make prayers like these piously, that you duck your head every morning twice and three times in the Tiber, and wash off the night in the running water.

Come, now, tell me, the question is the merest trifle: What is

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II. 'O si urnam argenti fors quae mihi dives amico Hercule' Hor. 2 S. 6. 10. Casaubon makes a distinction between Hermes, as the bestower of windfalls found on the way, and Hercules, as the patron of treasures that are sought for. There was a custom at Rome [Preller, Römische Myth. p. 652] to consecrate a tenth part of gains to Hercules.

12. Non fraudem socio, puerove incogitat ullam Pupillo' Hor. 2 Ep. 1. 122. The man here does not compass his ward's death, but only prays for it. The Twelve Tables provided that where no guardian was appointed by will, the next of kin would be guardian, and he would of course be heir. Agnatus proximus

tutelam nancitor.'

13. inpello, v. 29, 'unda inpellitur unda' Ov. M. 15. 181, equivalent to urgeo,' 'insto,' 'premo.' Jahn comp.

Lucan. I. 149 inpellens quidquid sibi summa petenti Obstaret.'

expungam from the tablets of the will. He wishes he may have the pleasure of striking the name out, as that of a person deceased.

acri bile. Spiμeîa xoλń, Casaubon, referring to Chrysost. Hom. in Matth. 63. It is not much to grant, a great part has been done already; the gods in fact seem to have contemplated his death, and it would be such a release!' Casaubon quotes Juv. 6. 565 Consulit ictericae lento de funere matris.'

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his images but his names from Horace, e. g. Pedius 1. 85, Craterus 3. 65, Bestius 6. 37. not unnatural in a young writer and probably a recluse, who must have formed his notions of life as much from books as from experience.

For ducitur many MSS. give 'conditur,' perhaps, as Jahn thinks, from a confusion of this passage with Mart. 10. 43. Serv. on Virg. G. 4. 256 explains

ducitur is carried out to burial,' but ducitur uxor' can only have one meaning, and the words properly understood express the sense which Servius wishes, only with more skill. 'Nerius is just marrying a third time (has just buried his second wife).

15. haec, emphatic. It is to ask for this with pure lips.'

Tiberino foll.

'Illo Mane die quo tu indicis ieiunia, nudus In Tiberi stabit'

Hor. 2 S. 3. 290. 'Ter matutino Tiberi mergetur, et ipsis Vorticibus timidum caput abluet' Juv. 6. 523.

16. Ac primum pura somnum tibi discute lympha' Prop. 4. 10. 13. Comp. Virg. Aen. 8. 69, where Aeneas on rising dips his hands in the Tiber.

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purgas, like totum semel expiet annum' Juv. 6. 521.

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de love quid sentis? estne ut praeponere cures

hunc-' Cuinam?' cuinam? vis Staio? an scilicet haeres?

quis potior iudex, puerisve quis aptior orbis?

hoc igitur, quo tu Iovis aurem inpellere temptas,
dic agedum Staio, 'pro Iuppiter! o bone' clamet
'Iuppiter!' at sese non clamet Iuppiter ipse?
ignovisse putas, quia, cum tonat, ocius ilex
sulpure discutitur sacro quam tuque domusque?

an quia non fibris ovium Ergennaque iubente
triste iaces lucis evitandumque bidental,
idcirco stolidam praebet tibi vellere barbam
Iuppiter? aut quidnam est, qua tu mercede deorum
emeris auriculas? pulmone et lactibus unctis?

Ecce avia aut metuens divum matertera cunis exemit puerum frontemque atque uda labella

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17. scire laboro' Hor. I Ep. 3 2, nosse laboro' 2 S. 8. 19.

18. est ut perhaps.' 'Est ut viro vir latius ordinet Arbusta sulcis' Hor. 3 Od. I. 9.

19. Some MSS. give 'cuiquam,' which was the reading of the old editions, and is recalled by Heinr., who points 'Hunc cuiquam? Cuinam vis?'Staio.' The Schol. identifies 'Staius' with Staienus (or Stalenus), who was one of the judges in the trial of Oppianicus (Cic. pro Cluent.); the old commentators, taking the hint, confound him with Oppianicus himself. Jahn, who rejects the story, supposes Persius to have meant some respectable man of the day, but v. 20 looks very like a sarcasm not only on the worshipper, who is assumed to have qualms, but on Staius himself.

scilicet. 'Do you mean to say that you have any hesitation?'

20. The meaning may either be 'Who can be a better judge, or more suitable guardian?' or 'Who can be better or more suitable as a judge in a case between orphans and their guardian?' Plaut. amusingly explains orbis 'orbus proprie dicitur qui lumen oculorum amisit,

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23. Maxime, quis non, Iuppiter, exclamat simul atque audivit ?' Hor. I S. 2. 17. Persius may also have been thinking of I S. 1. 20 'Quid caussae est, merito quin illis Iuppiter ambas Iratus buccas inflet, neque se fore posthac Tam facilem dicat, votis ut praebeat aurem ?'

24. The details intended to be presented appear to be these. The guilty worshipper is in a sacred grove during a thunderstorm; the lightning strikes not him, but one of the sacred trees; and he congratulates himself on his escape,-without reason, as Persius tells him. The circumstances are precisely those used by Lucretius to enforce his sceptical argument, 6. 390 Cur quibus incautum scelus

your view of Jupiter? May I assume that you would think of putting him above-'Above whom?' Whom? Oh, shall we say Staius? You hesitate? as if there could be a better judge or a more desirable guardian for orphan children? Well, then, just say to Staius the prayer which you wish to have an effect on the ear of Jupiter. Jupiter,' he would call out, 'gracious Jupiter !' And won't Jupiter call out his own name, think you? Do you suppose he has ignored all, because when it thunders the sacred bolt rives the oak rather than you and your house? or because you are not this moment lying in that forest, by order of Ergenna and the sheep's liver, a sad trophy of vengeance for men to turn from, is that a reason why Jupiter is to give you his stupid beard to pull? or what is the price you pay for the ears of the gods? a dishfull of lungs and greasy chitterlings?

Look here—a grandmother or a superstitious aunt has taken baby from his cradle, and is charming his forehead and his slavering

aversabile cumque est Non faciunt (sc. Divi) icti flammas ut fulguris halent Pectore perfixo, documen mortalibus acre?' ib. 416 Postremo, cur sancta Deum delubra, suasque Discutit infesto praeclaras fulmine sedes?'

25. Aetherioque nocens fumavit sulpure ferrum' Lucan. 7. 160.

domus. The family of the criminal share his fate, Συμμάρψας ὀλέσει γενεήν, καὶ οἶκον ἅπαντα Oracle Hdt. 6. 86.

26. Prop. 5. I. 104 Aut sibi commissos fibra locuta Deos.'

Ergenna, an Etruscan name like Porsenna, Sisenna, Perpenna, Heinr. 'Prodigiosa fides et Tuscis digna libellis' Juv. 13. 62 (='digna procuratione') Mayor's note. König is wrong in saying that this line in construction follows 'evitandum.' Persius, to make the picture more vivid, fixes not on the moment of death, but on the time when the corpse is lying dead and the augur pronouncing on it. corpse and the place where it fell, which was railed off and held sacred, are identified. Hominem ita exanimatum cremare fas non est, condi terra religio tradidit' Plin. 2. 54 (55).

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27. Triste bidental Moverit incestus' Hor. A. P. 471.

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Tu parum castis inimica mittes Fulmina lucis' Hor. I Od. 12. 60. See Freund v. ' bidental.'

28. vellere barbam, 1. 133. Comp. the story of the Gaul and Papirius. The

images of the gods had beards, v. 58. There may also be an allusion to the mode of supplication by taking hold of the beard (II. 10. 454).

29. Quidnam est ea merces, qua, etc. aut puts another case, like 'aut ego fallor'' nisi fallor.'

30. Jahn explains emere auriculas on the analogy of 'praebere' or 'dare aurem,' to which he might have added 'commodare' Hor. I Ep. I. 40.

pulmone, etc. Comp. Juv. 10. 354 Ut tamen et poscas aliquid, voveasque sacellis Exta et candiduli divina tomacula porci,' 13. 115 'Aut cur In carbone tuo charta pia tura soluta Ponimus, et sectum vituli iecur albaque porci Omenta?' where the details are mentioned contemptuously as here.

lactibus. Ab hoc ventriculo lactes in homine et ove, per quas labitur cibus: in ceteris hillae' Plin. 11. 37 (79).

31-40. No better are the silly prayers of old women for new-born childrenthat the darlings may be rich and marry princesses. They know not what they ask.'

31. Ecce, I. 30.

metuens divum, a translation of deioidaíμav. Mater delira.... Quone malo mentem concussa? timore deorum' Hor. 2 S. 3. 295.

matertera. Amita est patris soror; matertera est matris soror' Paul. Dig. 38.

10. 10. 4.

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