you lay upon the altars of the gods. Juvenal imitates, and improves the irony of this passage: Ut tamen et poscas aliquid, voveasque sacellis, Ver. 31. Sat. X. aut metuens divum matertera, &c. It may be conjectured, that there were females, whose business it was to perform that lustration, to which the poet alludes. In this case, the prophetess taking the child from its mother, was termed matertera, i. e. mater altera. Ver. 32. - frontemque, atque uda labella Infami digito, et lustralibus ante salivis. Dryden translates this, "Then in the spawl her middle finger dips, This would indeed have been a very nasty sort of lustration. That, to which Persius alludes, was dirty enough of all conscience. The spittle was mixed with dust, and then rubbed upon the forehead. The middle finger (which among the ancients expressed a great deal according to the position in which it was held) was employed to administer this charm. Thus Petronius; Mox turbatum sputo pulverem anus, medio sustulit digito, frontemque repugnantis signat. I extract the following words from Brissonius. At Beda refert morem in ecclesia inolevisse scriptum reliquit, ut sacerdotes illius his, quos percipiendis baptismi sacramentis prepararent, prius inter cetera consecratis exordia de saliva oris sui nares tangerent, et aures, dicentes ephata, &c. Ver. 35. Tunc manibus quatit, &c. This ceremony had a very ancient and illustrious example; and these lines will naturally recur to the recollection of the learned reader. Αυ]ὰρ ὅγ ὁν φίλον υιὸν επει κυσε πῆλε τε χερσιν, Εἶπεν ἐπευξάμενος Διΐ, τ ̓ ἄλλοισίν τε θεοῖσι. Ιλιαδ. ζ. Spem macram for infantem tenellum. Ver. 36. Nunc Licini in campos, &c. This was probably Licinius Stolo, who, according to Livy, was condemned to pay a fine by Popilius Lena, for possessing together with his son, more land than was permitted by the law which he himself had made. Some have supposed that the person meant here, was Licinus, and not Licinius. Licinus was a freedman of Augustus, and possessed great riches. The immense wealth of Crassus is expatiated upon by Plutarch. The word mittit here is borrowed from a law phrase; and the old woman is ludicrously represented as putting the child in possession of houses and estates in the same language, which was employed by the Prætor, when he adjudged what was due to the right owner. Ver. 40. Color autem (says Tully) albus pre cipue decorus Deo est, &c. In the mysteries of Isis and of Ceres the priests were robed in white. Nec ulla lina eis candore mollitiave præferenda, says Pliny, speaking of garments made of cotton: vestes inde (adds he) sacerdotibus Ægypti gratissima. Apuleius affords a yet stronger testimony. Tunc influunt turba sacris divinis initiatæ viri, fœminæque omnis dignitatis, et omnis ætatis, lintea vestis candore puro luminosi. Ovid says, speaking of the festivals of Ceres, Festa pia Cereri celebrabant annua matres Illa, quibus nivea velatæ corpora veste, &c. again, in his Fasti; Met. L. x. Alba decent Cererem, vestes Cerealibus albas The custom of wearing white garments was also common among the Druids and the priests of Gaul. Plin. L. xvi. c. 43. Ver. 42. tucetaque crassa. Tucetum was originally a word taken from the language of the Gauls. See the Thesaurus of R. Stephanus. Persius is here supposed by most of his commentators to mean fifty brazen statues of the sons of Ægyptus, which stood in the porch of Apollo's temple. These statues were consulted as oracles. Ver. 58. sitque illis aurea barba. Videntur (Romani) aureas barbas diis de se bene meritis apposuisse. Casaubon. Ver. 61. O curva in terris animæ, et cœlestium inanes! Et Calabrum coxit vitiato murice vellus: Mentis, et incoctum generoso pectus honesto? Hæc cedo ut admoveam templis, et farre litabo. Some of these verses have much poetical merit; and contain much excellent instruction. Are there not even Christian temples, where they deserve to be written up in letters of gold? This satire is founded upon the second Alcibiades of Plato, which I recommend to the student to read along with it. I have already observed in my Preface, that if ever Persius abandons the doctrines of the Stoics, it is in this poem. The Stoics contended for the existence of a πgóvoia; but they adopted with this belief all the superstitions of the popular worship. Cicero, in the third book of his treatise de Natura Deorum, charges them with admitting all the puerile and contradictory fables, which had imposed upon vulgar credulity; and alludes to that very practice, of offering bribes to the Deity, which Persius condemns with so much just severity. |