SATIRES OF PERSIUS. [SAT. I. V. 1-6. ALAS, for man! how vain are all his cares! "Not one, by Jove." Not one? "Well! two, or three; Or rather-none: a piteous case, in truth!" Why piteous? lest Polydamas, forsooth, by Casaubon, it is not altogether so vague and irrelevant as some of the criticks have been pleased to represent it. It is connected with the Scribimus indocti, &c. which follows; though the sudden intervention of a new speaker appears to have diverted the poet's attention for a moment, from the immediate subject of his satire. VER. 6. Lest Polydamas, &c.] The criticks are sorely scandalized at this designation of Nero, which must have been detected at an early period, as it is noticed by the pseudo-Cornutus; and it is not improbable but some blundering courtier may have addressed that prince on the occasion, as Goldsmith is said to have done a late statesman on the appearance of the Letters to Malagrida "I wonder why they should - Prætulerint? nuga! Non, si quid turbida Roma Elevet, accedas; examenve improbum in illa Castiges trutina: nec te quæsiveris extra. call you Polydamas, Sire, for Polydamas was an honourable man!" It may be doubted, however, whether Persius had any thing more in view than to point out the leaders of the fashionable taste in poetry, by an expression as readily applied as understood. The Greek poets, and above all Homer, were, to say the least, as familiar to the Romans as they are to us; and the application of passages from them to passing events, created no ambiguity in the mind of the reader. The ancients quoted them, as we do Shakspeare and Milton, without meaning to be literally interpreted. The purport was well comprehended, and the sense of the extract stretched no further than was necessary. The letters of Cicero are full of such happy applications of his reading, and, indeed, the very passage before us, is given by him: 66 Aideoμas non Pompeium modo," (he was obliged to particularise here) "sed Tpwas xaι Тpwadas," &c. and Atticus, we may be confident, was at no loss for the rest of his meaning. With respect to Labeo, nothing more is known of him than is told by the pseudo-Cornutus; who says, that he translated the Iliad and Odyssey: one line of the former work he has happily preserved : Ωμον βεβρωθοις Πριαμον, Πριαμοιο τε παιδας, Lib. iv. 34. "Crudum manduces Priamum Priamique pisinnos :" from which it appears that Nero, if he indeed patronized the poet, was an admirer of literal versions, after the manner of Dr. Trapp; who, in the notes to his Virgil, has done the line into English in a style not altogether unworthy of his great prototype : "And eat up Priam, and his children raw." Some of the commentators suppose that Labeo had the And Troy's proud dames, pronounce my merits fall, Beneath their Labeo's! I can bear it all. Nor should my friend, though still, as fashion sways, The purblind town conspire to sink or raise, honour of fathering a few of the Emperor's verses; but (besides that Nero was probably the better poet of the two) he was much too eager for fame himself, to transfer the chance of it to any other person. VER. 11. Determine, as her wavering beam, &c.] Examenve improbum in illa Castiges trutina. Holiday, who has endeavoured, not very successfully, to introduce these terms into his text, has explained them very correctly in his notes. Lanx, he says, is the scale, libra the beam, examen the tongue, and trutina the cavity in which it plays. There is no dispute, however, about the general meaning of the words: though the commentators, as far as I know, have not fallen upon the true sense of the passage. Persius is already got to one of those technical illustra tions, in which his masters, the Stoicks, so much delighted: examenve improbum, &c. means, to correct the errors of an apothecary's or goldsmith's balance by a common pair of scales, such as are used in weighing bulky commodities-a process sufficiently absurd. Cicero has a similar metaphor in the second book of his Orator, where he speaks of subjects suited to popular, and to philosophical discussion: Hæc enim nostra oratio multitudini est accomodanda, ad oblectandos animos, ad impellendos, ad ea probanda, quæ non aurificis statera, sed quadam populari trutina examinantur. § 159. Nam Romæ quis non-? ah, si fas dicere! sed fas Tunc, quum ad canitiem, et nostrum istud vivere triste Aspexi, et nucibus facimus quæcumque relictis, Quum sapimus patruos: tunc, tunc, ignoscite. "Nolo." Quid faciam? sed sum petulanti splene cachinno. Scilicet hæc populo, pexusque togaque recenti, VER. 16. When I behold, &c.] Here again is an attempt, like that in the Prologue, (just as the Satire begins to grow intelligible,) to mislead enquirers as to the real author. Persius evidently wishes us to understand (though his purpose is rather implied than expressed,) that he is advanced in years, and looks back, from a distance, on the nuts, and other playthings of the boy; not, as some of the translators have it, as one of his Censorial topicks, but as one of the characteristicks of the time of life which justifies him in assuming the office. The popularity of Persius must have been considerable soon after his death, and his authority of some weight even among the criticks by profession, since Quintilian quotes a part of this passage as an example of the figure which he calls partium mutatio. Ut in Satira-nostrum istud vivere triste-cum infinitivo verbo sit usus pro appellatione, nostram enim vitam vult intelligi. VER. 30. Prepares a grand rehearsal, &c.] I have already noticed both the extraordinary fondness of the Romans for these rehearsals, (Juv. vol. i. p. 5.) and the zeal and anxiety of the less popular writers to collect audiences for them. That poet And Rome is "What?" Ah, might the truth be told! And, sure it may, it must. When I behold What fond pursuits have form'd our prime employ, When every brow frowns with Censorial power, For nature framed me of satyrick mould, "Tis done! and now the bard, elate and proud, laughs at those who fastened on people in the publick walks, and forced their verses upon them; a more cruel annoyance than private recitation. The satire of Persius, however, is more poignant than that of his successor. The objects of it are of high rank, ingentes Titos; and the depravity of the age is indignantly characterized by the meretricious language of the reciter, and the indecent and extravagant applause which follows it. VER. 31. in birth-day splendour] Et natalitia tandem cum sardonyche. By a birth-day sardonyx, Madan says, the C |