Nequicquam populo bibulas donaveris aures. Respue quod non es: tollat sua munera cerdo : Tecum habita; noris quam sit tibi curta supellex. word) "enim deinceps, et metuentius in posterum Nero, milites sibi et plerosque gladiatorum circumdederat." And he expressly mentions the Forum as the scene of those enormities. But this, as has been already observed, was too plain and forthright a meaning for the commentators. They could not perceive that the agitated feeling which accompanies the eager desire of wealth, as here described, does not belong to the miser, who is cold, cautious, and calculating; or that, if it did, Persius must be the blindest of poets, to blunder thus out of the way, and dislocate his sentence for the mere sake of shewing how awkward he could be: and accordingly, the pseudo-Cornutus thus opens the mystick sense. "Puteal vicus est apud Urbem ubi fœneratores debitoribus pecuniam credebant. Vibice, dixit cicatrices aλλnyogixãos, quod fœneratores debitoribus suis usuras innodantes, tanquam vulnerum in eis cicatrices aperiant. Flagellas dixit i. e. ad exigendum eos commoves." This is eagerly adopted by Ascensius, Britannicus, and all the commentators collected in the huge folio of Frobenius: but as they merely copy one another in succession, and add nothing to the happy thought of the old scholiast, it is sufficient to mention them; Then, wretch! in vain the voice of praise you hear, And drink the vulgar shout with greedy ear. Hence, with your spurious claims! rejudge your cause, And fling the rabble back their vile applause : unless it be worth noticing, that he is not chargeable with the gross absurdity into which they have all fallen. He attributes no part of this Satire to Nero-a remarkable circumstance-whereas they declare it to be expressly pointed at him, and, in particular, the passage-At si uncius cesses, &c. Koenig, as might be expected, follows the Basle criticks; as do some of our translators :-but it is time to draw to a close. "Puteal, then, (as they will needs have it,) means a usurer; viber a thong, and flagello, either to tie, or, by a trifling stretch of the sense, to take a bond of security!" or better still, according to Sheridan, "puteal may signify a chest, and flagello the act of cording it!" Thus, Nero turns out to be a wary moneylender! and thus-all sense is confounded, and all consistency destroyed! SATIRE V. Argument. The poetical and philosophical claims of Persius rest, in some measure, upon this poem; and it is but justice to say that they are not ill supported by it. The Satire consists of two parts; the first of which is appropriated to the expression of the poet's deep and grateful sense of the kindness of his friend and instructor, Cornutus, and a beautiful summary of the blessings which he has derived from his wisdom und goodness. The second part consists of a laboured and ostentatious display of his proficiency in the esoterick doctrine of the Stoick school, in which something must be forgiven to the ardour of youth, and the vehemency of inexperienced virtue. This division of the Satire is principally occupied with that celebrated paradox of his sect, that the wise man alone was essentially free; and that the passions of avarice, ambition, luxury, superstition, &c. exercised as despotick a control over their victims as the severest taskmaster over his slaves. It cannot be supposed that much new matter should be produced under this head. In fact, both Persius and his preceptor came too late for such a purpose; and could only repeat, in other forms, what had been said a thousand times before. But there may be ingenuity where there is no novelty; and this is not wanting. Some amusement may be found in contrasting the sober earnestness of Persius with the solemn irony of Horace. The language of both is much the same, and the conclusions do not greatly differ : but the Stertinius of the latter, in spite of his inflexible gravity, must have been heard aobes yeλal; while the youthful poet com |