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fluence of these last, that Persius directs the moral part of his fifth satire. He endeavours to show, that without vanquishing those tyrants of the mind, avarice, luxury, love, and ambition, the understanding will lose all its force, and at length sink in drivelling dotage into the vilest and most contemptible state of weakness.

I cannot conclude this Preface, without lamenting that an early and untimely death should have prevented the Poet, whom I have translated, from giving a more finished appearance to his works. His short day was so truly glorious, that it must ever be lamented it was closed so soon. Above all, the fate of Persius must have been mourned by the friendly Cornutus. It was his bosom which had first received, and cherished the neglected plant-it was his hand which had long fostered it with such fond and assiduous culture-it was his arm which had already warded off a thousand dangers. Alas! the flower had just put forth its leaves in full blossom to the morning sun, when the day overcast, and this promised pride of the garden perished by the relentless storm.

THE

LIFE OF PERSIUS.

AULUS PERSIUS FLACCUS, according to the fragment ascribed to Probus, was born on the day before the Nones of December, in the consulship of Fabius Persicus, and Lucius Vitellius; and died in that of Rubrius Marius, and Asinius Gallus, on the eighth of the Kalends of December. But as there were only twenty-eight years between these two consulships, the author of the fragment is afterwards guilty of a glaring mistake, in stating that Persius died at thirty years of age.

Persius was born at Volaterræ in Etruria. He was of the equestrian order, and was allied to some of the noblest families of Rome. The author of the fragment says, his father died when Persius was. scarcely six years old. But the account given by

our Poet himself, seems to contradict this assertion.

Sæpe oculos memini tangebam parvus olivo,

Grandia si nollem morituri verba Catonis
Discere, ab insano multum laudanda magistro,
Quæ pater adductis sudans audiret amicis.
Jure etenim id summum, quid dexter senio ferret,
Scire erat in votis, damnosa canicula quantum
Raderet, &c.

What, could a child, not six years of age, have occasioned his father a sweating, because he could not repeat Cato's dying speech? And was this same infant, who was to have publicly recited the dying words of the Roman patriot, in the habit of playing at hazard, and of making calculations of chances?

Persius studied at Volaterræ, till he was twelve years of age. After that period, he was under the tuition of two masters at Rome, one of whom was a grammarian, and the other a rhetorician. The author of the fragment says, Persius did not become the pupil of Cornutus, till he had reached his sixteenth year. But our Poet tells us, his

acquaintance with Cornutus did not commence till after he had taken the virile gown:

Cum primum pavido custos mihi purpura cessit

Now the age at which the prætexta was laid aside, was seventeen years.

Among the number of friends and companions of Persius, were the poets Lucan and Bassus. The latter is mentioned with respect by Quintilian.

The author of the fragment says, sero cognovit (nempe Persius) Senecam, sed non ut caperetur ejus ingenio. By this I can only understand, that Persius could never relish the pompous eloquence, and declamatory style of Seneca. It is impossible that he should not have admired the talents, and respected the virtues of that philosopher, who was also a Stoic.

Persius was a person of the mildest manners, remarkable for the beauty of his form, and for the modesty of his appearance. His piety was exemplary, in discharging the relative duties of his siWhen he died he left a sum of money,

tuation.

together with his books, to Cornutus. The phi

losopher accepted the books, and delivered the money to the sisters of his pupil.

It appears that Persius wrote seldom and slowly. His satires were much valued by his cotemporaries. The poet Lucan particularly admired them.

He is said to have died of a stomach complaint. He forms one of the few examples of a young man, during the course of a short life, having acquired immortality for his name by his virtues, his talents, and his learning.

ADVERTISEMENT.

In English poetry, where the words heaven, even, &c. are intended to be read as one syllable, they are generally written beav'n, ev'n, with an apostrophe. I have, however, written these words at length; and have left it to the reader to determine the quantity, in which he will be easily guided by his ear.

Page 13, line 5, for do, read does.

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