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PROLOGUE TO THE SATIRES.

ARGUMENT.

In this little poem, though irrelevant to the main objects of the work to which it serves as an introduction, there is much pleasantry and spirit. Persius however had little notion of what we call keeping*: and the village bard, 6. diffident of his own talents, and driven by necessity alone to the exercise of them, 8 sqq. is no sooner fairly embarked, than he launches out into a critical examination of the literary pretensions of his contemporaries, S. i. and assumes a decisive tone upon all the subtle disquisitions of the schools. S. iii. and v. G.

The practice of prefixing to a poem, or collection of poems, shorter pieces in a different metre became more common afterwards, with Claudian in particular. K. In our own times we have very felicitous instances of it in Sir Walter Scott's Lay of the Last Minstrel.

Among the liberties, which the Old Comedy allowed itself, one was the little regard it paid to consistency of character. WIE.

NEC fonte labra prolui caballino Nec in bicipiti somniasse Parnasso Memini, ut repente sic poeta prodirem. Heliconidasque pallidamque Pirenen

5 Illis remitto, quorum imagines lambunt

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1. The hackney spring :' a sarcastic version of irongún, CAS. T. though not necessarily so; cf. Juv. x. 6. Aus. Ep. iv. 8. (it is most probable that in this elegant little piece of irony, a constant allusion is maintained to the trite follies of our poet's immediate contemporaries. G.)humor Bellerophontei equi; Prop. III. ii. 2. K. Respecting this spring, see Ov. F. iii. 450 sqq. M. v. 256-268. Stat. Th. vi. 338. Arat. Ph. 205 sqq. Plin. iv. 7. It was in Mount Helicon, v. 4. and sacred to Apollo and the Muses. LU. Those who drank of it were fabled to become poets forthwith. PR. cf. Virg. Æ. vii. 641. x. 163. M. The first trace of this notion appears to be in Mosch. Id. iii. 77 sq. Propertius has refined upon the idea; II. viii. 19 sqq. cf. Hor. I Ep. iii. 10. Stat. S. I. ii. 6. II. vii. 12. V. v. 2. I. iv. 25. BRU, An. t. ii. p. 344. t. i. p. 218. K.

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Proluere labra is to dip the lips,' PR. as cattle do when they drink. cf. Prop. III. ii. 52. Stat. S. V. iii. 122. It is sometimes said of those who drink deep Virg. Æ. i. 738. Cop. 29. Hor. I Sat. v. 16. This the poetasters of our author's day pretended to have done at the inspiring fount. Mart. VIII. lxx. 3. Stat. S. II. vii. 12. Hence the Muses are called madida potata ab Hippocrene; Sidon. ix. 285. K. cf. Ov. Am. I. xv.

35 sq.

Sidonius has imitated this passage: non hic ego commentitiam Terpsichoren more studii veteris adscivi: nec juxta scaturiginem fontis Aganippici per roscidas ripas et pumices musculos stylum traxi: &c. Ep. viii. ult. (9 sqq.) PR.

2. Parnassus had two peaks, Tilhorea and Hyampeum; (or Nauplia and Hy. ampea; cf. Her. viii. 32, note 19.) FA. cf. vi. 10 sq, note. PR. Ov. M. i. 316 sqq. Luc. v. 71 sqq. Sen. Ed. 227. K.

Those who slept in a consecrated spot were supposed to receive aid from the presiding divinity: Virg. Æ. vii. 86 sqq.

Ov. Her. xv. 157 sqq. Arist. Pl. 411. 679 sqq. K.

3. As if he could have forgotten such an event! K.

*Αφνω φιλόσοφος ἡμῖν ἐπανελήλυθεν· Εpict. 22. K. To come forth as Phoebus from the ocean; CAS, or a chick from the shell; or a pitcher from the potter's hands: currente rota urceus exit; Hor. A. P. 22. 4. The Muses are called 'nymphs of Helicon,' from a mountain of Boeotia on the confines of Phocis. LU. CAS.

Pirene was a fountain in Acrocorinthus, the citadel of Corinth, and was likewise sacred to the Muses. LU. CAS. Diod. iv. 74. Paus. Cor. ii. 3. Strab. p. 582. Pind. Ol. xiii. 84 sqq. Ov. Pont. I. iii. 75. Stat. S. I. iv. 15. ośμvor dwę Пugns Eur. M. 69. cf. Tr. 207. It was here that Pegasus was caught by Bellerophon, and hence that he is called “. envaios aos Eur. El. 475. vatum conscius amnis, Gorgoneo percussus equo; Stat. Th. iv. 60 sqq. K.

The epithet pale' refers most probably to the wan hue, by which the votaries of the Muses were distinguished. LU. CAS. v. 62. PR. i. 124. M.

5. To Hesiod, Ennius, and the ancient poets.' LU. The following imitation, which is taken from Hall's opening poem, has great beauty:"Trumpets, and reeds, and socks, and buskins fine, I them bequeath; whose statues, wandring twine Of ivy, mixt with bayes, circlen around, Their living temples likewise laurel-bound." G.

Under the emperors, the busts of eminent poets or literary men, crowned with bay or ivy, were used to ornament public or private libraries. Hor. I S. iv. 21 sqq. Sen. de Tr. An. 9. Plin. xxxv. 2. Suet. Tib. 70. Juv. vii. 29. Plin. Ep. iv. 18. x. 25. K. Sometimes their chaplets were of oak, or of parsley. LU.

The ivy twines like a serpent, and seems to lick with a forky tongue the objects round which it clings. LU. Virg. Æn. ii. 684. K.

Hederæ sequaces: ipse semipaganus

Ad sacra vatuni carmen affero nostrum.
Quis expedivit psittaco suum XAIPE,
Picasque docuit nostra verba conari?
10 Magister artis ingenîque largitor
Venter, negatas artifex sequi voces.
Quod si dolosi spes refulserit nummi,

6. Me doctorum hederae præmia frontium Dis miscent superis; Hor. I Od. i. 29 sq. LU. Properly the ivy' was sacred to Bacchus, in whose train the Muses are often found. Aristoph. N. 603. R. 1242. Prop. IV. vii. 75 sqq. Orph. Arg. 7 sqq. K. Her. viii. 32,

note 19.

Ivy clings and climbs, and may be said to follow' the form of that about which it spreads. Plin. Pan. 4. V. Flac. i. 124. cf. Petron. 83. K.

'Half a clown.' M. Paganus and Miles are opposed to each other. CAS. Juv. xiv. 154. xvi. 33. PR. Plin. Ep. x. 18. Veg. ii. 23. K.

7. I add my uninitiated verse to the inspired productions of the bards.' sacri vates et divúm cura vocamur; Ov. Am. III. ix. 17. The works of eminent poets were deposited in the library consecrated to the Palatine Apollo: Hor. I Ep. iii. 17. LU. Suet. Aug. 29. PR. Dio liii. pr. Ov. Tr. III. i. 59 sqq. Hor. I S. x. 38. II Ep. ii. 92. (BY.) Calp. Sic. 157 sqq. LM. But without reference to this fact, poetry may be called sacred: Prop. III. i. 1. Ov. Pont. ii. x. 17 sqq. III. iv. 65 sqq. IV. viii. 81 sqq. K.

8. This is by way of anticipation to the objection; How can one write without divine inspiration?' He is here attacking others, as it were, in his own person; for Persius himself was a Roman knight, and died young and rich, leaving his preceptor a very handsome fortune. LU.

Who is it that has removed all impediments in the parrot's speech?' LU. Who has made it so ready with its salutation?' M. humanæ solers imitator, psiltace, lingua; Stat. II S. iv. 16 sqq. Apul.ii. Plin. x. 42 sqq. LU. Mart.XIV. lxxiii. lxxvi. M. Petron. 28. Ov. Am. II. vi. 37 sqq. K.

are at present unsuccessful. has primum audiet puer, harum verba effingere imitando conabitur; Quint. I. i. K.

10. Hunger does wonders; and mercenary motives are quite as inspiring, as drinking the waters at Helicon, or bivouacquing for the night on Parnassus.' K. "Necessity is the mother of invention." Paupertas impulit audax, ut versus facerem; Hor. If Ep. ii. 52 sq. FA. Agreeably to the proverbs: multa docet fames: and πολλῶν ὁ λιμὸς γίγνεται διδάσκαλος· PR. Juv. iii. 78. K. Jonson alludes to this and a subsequent passage, in The Poetaster: "They would think it strange, now A man should take but colt's-foot for one day, And between whiles, spit out a better poem Than e'er the master of arts, or giver of wit, Their Belly, made.-Yet, this is possible !" BW. Compare Arist. Pl. 467-594.

Under the name of Genius' may be included the intellectual virtues in general. Cic. de Fin. v. CAS. It applies to poetical talent in particular: Ov. A. A. iii. 57. R.

11. Cunning to follow.' LU. A. Grecism: an expert artist in teaching them to express.' K.

'Denied by nature.' SCH.

12. 'Money' is called 'deceitful,' from the many wiles and frauds which it leads men to practise: quid non mortalia pectora cogis, auri sacra fames! Virg. Æ. iii. 56 sq. LU. or from its decoying men into undertakings for which they are disqualified. K.

"Shall have shone forth suddenly and unexpectedly.' Previously, however they might have wished for money, they could not have hoped for it. CAS. The metaphor is taken either from the gleaming of gold and silver; Virg. Æ. vi. 204. V. Paterc. ii. 103. or from the appearance of a propitious star; Hor. 9. To attempt' applies to efforts which I Od. xii. 27 sqq. K.

Corvos poetas et poetrias picas Cantare credas Pegaseium nectar.

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ußgos Exxwvido; doidñs Nest. Lar. Ep. i. An. Br. t. ii. p. 344. Ov. Pont. III. iv. 55. Martial perhaps was imitating this passage, where he says, post hos honoratior fontigenarum virginum chorus Pegaseae vocis nectare difflucbat; ix. VO. νεκτάριαι λιβάδες Πηγάσιδος κρήνης Honest. Ep. 3. in. Br. An. t. ii. p. 289. K. On the mixture of metaphors see note on pallentes; v. 15. [Livy xxvii, 20, 7. ED.]

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