# The Satires of A. Persius Flaccus

## Part 14

Book page: https://www.cyberlibrary.org/la/books/the-satires-of-a-persius-flaccus-22119/index.md

28. #quandoque# = _quandocumque_, as Hor., Od., 4, 1, 17, 2, 34. --#pertusa# = _pervia_, according to Jahn; 'roads and thoroughfares' (Conington); = _calcata_, _trita_, Heinr., which seems more natural. --#compita#: 'The _compitalia_ is meant. Comp. Cato, R. R., 5, 4: _Rem divinam nisi #compital#ibus in #compito# [vilicus] ne faciat._ It was one of the _feriae conceptivae_, held in honor of the _Lares compitales_ on or about the 2d of January. It is said to have been instituted by Servius Tullius, and restored by Augustus (Suet., Aug., 31), and was observed with feasting. Comp. Cato, R. R., 5, 7, and _uncta compitalia_. Anthol. Lat., 2, 246, 27B. n. 105, 27M.' So Pretor, after Jahn. With _com-pit-a_ comp. Greek +pat-os+, _path_. --#figit#: The suspension of the yoke symbolizes the suspension of labor. The yoke stands for the plough as well, Tibull., 2, 1, 5.

29. #metuens deradere#: See 1, 47. Comp. Hor., Sat., 2, 4, 80: _#metuentis reddere# soldum_. --#limum#: 'the dirt' on the jar. Comp. _sive gravis veteri craterae #limus# adhaesit_, Hor., Sat., 2, 4, 80. The Scholiast understands 'the seal.'

30. #hoc bene sit#: The formula in drinking a health. Comp. Plaut., Pers., 5, 1, 20. Here used also as a kind of grace. --#tunicatum | caepe#: +polulopon krommuon+ (Casaubon). _#Tunicatum# caepe_, 'bulbous or coated onion,' as opposed to the _sectile #porrum#_, or 'chives' (Pretor). It may be going too far to exclude _epitheta ornantia_ from Persius, but he certainly uses them sparingly. _Tunicatum_ is commonly understood to mean 'skin and all,' as we say of a potato, 'jacket and all.' Comp. Juv., 14, 153: _#tunicam# mihi malo lupini_. But as the skin of an onion is not very 'filling,' and as _tunica_ may be used in the sense of 'coat' or 'layer,' the slight change to _tunicatim_-- 'layer by layer'-- has suggested itself to me. It is not a whit more exaggerated than Juvenal's _filaque sectivi numerata includere porri_ (14, 133).

31. #farrata olla#: 'porridge pot of spelt,' an every-day meal with others, holiday fare with these unfortunates, hence _plaudentibus_. The Abl. of Cause. _Farratam ollam_ (Jahn [1843] and Hermann) may be defended by Stat., Silv., 5, 3, 140 (cited by Jahn): _#fratrem plausere# Therapnae_, but there is danger of the miser's eating it.

32. #pannosam#: 'mothery.' Every word tells. It is not wine, but vinegar; it is not even good vinegar, but vinegar that is getting flat; it is not even clear vinegar, but the lees of vinegar; and not even honest lees, but mothery lees. --#morientis#: 'Dying vinegar' is not so familiar to us as 'dead wines.' Comp. Mart., 1, 18, 8. --#aceti#: Comp. _faece rubentis #aceti#_, Mart., 11, 56, 7.

33. Picture of a sensualist. --#figas in cute solem#: +eilêtherein+, 'fix the sun in your skin,' 'let the sun's rays pierce your skin,' instead of _bibere_, _combibere solem_, Juv., 11, 203 (quoted above, v. 18), and Mart., 10, 12, 7; or the more prosaic _sole uti_, Mart., 1, 77, 4.

34. #cubito tangat#: an immemorial familiarity. Examples range from Homer, Od., 14, 485 to Aristaen., 1, 19, 27. Persius has in mind Hor., Sat., 2, 5, 42: _nonne vides (aliquis #cubito# stantem prope #tangens#) inquiet_, etc.

35. #acre | despuat#: 'empty acrid spittle,' sc. on you. Others read _in mores_ with Jahn (1843). Jahn (1868) reads with Hermann, _Hi mores_. Of course it is impossible to analyze this spittle, which flows to the end of v. 41. See the Introduction to the Satire. '_Persium_,' as Quintilian says of Horace, _in quibusdam nolim interpretari_ (1, 8, 6). This is one of the passages that called down on our author the rebuke of that verecund gentleman Pierre Bayle: _Les Satires de Perse sont dévergondées_.

42-52. Such is life. We hit and are hit in turn. We disguise our faults-- our _vulnera vitae_-- even from ourselves, and appeal to that common jade, common fame, for a certificate of health. But temptation reveals the corruption within. You are guilty of avarice, lust, swindling, and the praises of the mob are of no moment. Be yourself. Examine yourself, and know how scantily furnished you are.

42. #caedimus#, etc.: Hor., Ep., 2, 2, 97: _#caedimur# et totidem plagis consumimus hostem_ (Casaubon). The resemblance here, as often elsewhere, is merely verbal, as in Horace 'the passage of arms is a passage of compliments' (Conington). --#praebemus#: 'expose,' 'present.'

43. #vivitur hoc pacto#: Negatively expressed _non aliter vivitur_. In other words: _haec est condicio vivendi_, Hor., Sat., 2. 8, 65, which Casaubon compares. 'These are the terms, this the rule of life.' --#sic novimus# = _notum est_ (Jahn). 'So we have learned it.' 'This is its lesson.' --#ilia subter#: G., 414, R. 3. The danger of the wound is well known.

44. #caecum#: 'hidden.' --#lato balteus auro#: The baldric covered the groin, and was often ornamented with bosses of gold. Comp. Verg., Aen., 5, 312: _#lato# quam circumplectitur #auro | balteus#_. This broad gold belt is the symbol of wealth and rank.

45. #ut mavis#: Ironical. Hor., Sat., 1, 4, 21. --#da verba#: Comp. 3, 19. --#decipe nervos#: 'cheat your muscle,' 'cheat yourself into the belief that you are sound;' and certainly self-deception seems to be required by the context. Otherwise _decipe nervos_ might be considered as equivalent to _mentire robur_, _pro sano te iacta_, _sanum te finge_.

47. #non credam?# G., 455; A., 71, 1, R. --#inprobe#: The _inprobus_ is hard-headed as well as hard-hearted. Comp. _plorantesque #inproba# natos-- reliquit_, Juv., 6, 86.

48. #amarum#: Jahn reads _amorum_ in his ed. of 1843, but was sorry for it. In 1868 he reads _amarum_, and punctuates so as to throw it into the grave of the next line.

49. #si puteal#: A _versus conclamatus_ (Jahn). The old explanation makes this passage refer to exorbitant usury. The _puteal_ here meant is supposed to be the one mentioned by Hor., Sat., 2, 6, 13-- the _puteal Libonis_, situated near the praetor's tribunal, and on that account a favorite haunt of usurers, who would naturally have frequent occasion to appear in court. Comp. the poplar-tree, which was the rendezvous of a certain 'ring' of contractors in Athens, Andoc., 1, 133. Local allusions of this kind are the despair of commentators; the _puteal_ is, after all, as mysterious as a 'corner' to the uninitiated, and we can only gather that _puteal flagellare_ is slang for some recondite swindling process, which required a certain amount of knowingness (hence _cautus_). Conington renders, 'flog the exchange with many a stripe.' We may Americanize by 'clean out, thrash out Wall Street.' The Neronians, Casaubon at their head, understand the passage as referring to Nero's habit of going out at night in disguise and maltreating people in the street-- see Tac., Ann., 13, 25; Suet., Nero, 26-- and _cautus_ is supposed to allude to the measures which he took for his personal safety.

50. #bibulas donaveris aures#: The student is by this time familiar with Persius's way of hammering a familiar figure into odd shapes. If ears drink in, then ears are thirsty; if they are thirsty, then they tipple; and if you can give ear, you can bestow ears. 'In vain would you have given up your thirsty ears to be drenched by the praises of the mob.' _Donaveris_, Perf. Subj., +matên pareschêkôs an eiês ta ôta+. Future ascertainment of a completed action. G., 271, 2.

51. #cerdo#: +Kerdôn+, a plebeian proper name. Conington translates by the 'Hob and Dick' of Shakspeare's Coriolanus. The common rendering, 'cobbler,' is a false inference from Mart., 3, 59, 1; 99, 1.

52. #tecum habita#: Comp. 1, 7. --#noris#: The punctuation of all the editors makes _noris_ an Imperative Subjunctive. Still a kind of condition is involved = _si habites, noris_. G., 594, 4; A., 60, 1, _b_. One of the most threadbare quotations from Latin poetry.

CRITICAL APPENDIX.

SATURA IV.

3. #hoc#: o, H. --9. #hoc puta#: _hoc_, puta, H.; puto, Heinr. --13. #theta#: theta? H. --19. #exspecta#: expecta, J{w}. --20. #suffla#: sufla, J{w}. --26. #miluus errat#: milvus oberret, J{a}.; milvus oberrat, H. --31. #farrata olla#: farratam ollam, J{a}., H. --35. #hi mores#: in mores, J{a}. --38. #exstat#: extat, J{w}. --48. #venit amarum#: H.; venit, amarum, J{w}.; venit amorum, J{a}. --_sed mox paenituit_. _Vid. Prolegg._, 193, 1.

* * * * *

SATURA V.

Vatibus hic mos est, centum sibi poscere voces, centum ora et linguas optare in carmina centum, fabula seu maesto ponatur hianda tragoedo, vulnera seu Parthi ducentis ab inguine ferrum. 'Quorsum haec? aut quantas robusti carminis offas 5 ingeris, ut par sit centeno gutture niti? grande locuturi nebulas Helicone legunto, si quibus aut Prognes, aut si quibus olla Thyestae fervebit, saepe insulso cenanda Glyconi; tu neque anhelanti, coquitur dum massa camino, 10 folle premis ventos, nec clauso murmure raucus nescio quid tecum grave cornicaris inepte, nec scloppo tumidas intendis rumpere buccas. verba togae sequeris iunctura callidus acri, ore teres modico, pallentis radere mores 15 doctus et ingenuo culpam defigere ludo. hinc trahe quae dicis, mensasque relinque Mycenis cum capite et pedibus, plebeiaque prandia noris.' Non equidem hoc studeo, bullatis ut mihi nugis pagina turgescat, dare pondus idonea fumo. 20 secreti loquimur; tibi nunc hortante Camena excutienda damus praecordia, quantaque nostrae pars tua sit, Cornute, animae, tibi, dulcis amice, ostendisse iuvat: pulsa, dinoscere cautus, quid solidum crepet et pictae tectoria linguae. 25 his ego centenas ausim deposcere voces, ut, quantum mihi te sinuoso in pectore fixi, voce traham pura, totumque hoc verba resignent, quod latet arcana non enarrabile fibra. Cum primum pavido custos mihi purpura cessit 30 bullaque succinctis Laribus donata pependit; cum blandi comites totaque inpune Subura permisit sparsisse oculos iam candidus umbo; cumque iter ambiguum est et vitae nescius error deducit trepidas ramosa in compita mentes, 35 me tibi supposui: teneros tu suscipis annos Socratico, Cornute, sinu; tum fallere sollers apposita intortos extendit regula mores, et premitur ratione animus vincique laborat artificemque tuo ducit sub pollice vultum. 40 tecum etenim longos memini consumere soles, et tecum primas epulis decerpere noctes: unum opus et requiem pariter disponimus ambo, atque verecunda laxamus seria mensa. non equidem hoc dubites, amborum foedere certo 45 consentire dies et ab uno sidere duci nostra vel aequali suspendit tempora Libra Parca tenax veri, seu nata fidelibus hora dividit in Geminos concordia fata duorum, Saturnumque gravem nostro Iove frangimus una: 50 nescio quod, certe est, quod me tibi temperat astrum. Mille hominum species et rerum discolor usus; velle suum cuique est, nec voto vivitur uno. mercibus hic Italis mutat sub sole recenti rugosum piper et pallentis grana cumini, 55 hic satur inriguo mavult turgescere somno; hic campo indulget, hunc alea decoquit, ille in Venerem putris; sed cum lapidosa cheragra fregerit articulos, veteris ramalia fagi, tunc crassos transisse dies lucemque palustrem 60 et sibi iam seri vitam ingemuere relictam. at te nocturnis iuvat inpallescere chartis; cultor enim iuvenum purgatas inseris aures fruge Cleanthea. petite hinc puerique senesque finem animo certum miserisque viatica canis! 65 'Cras hoc fiet.' Idem cras fiet. 'Quid? quasi magnum nempe diem donas.' Sed cum lux altera venit, iam cras hesternum consumpsimus: ecce aliud cras egerit hos annos et semper paulum erit ultra. nam quamvis prope te, quamvis temone sub uno 70 vertentem sese frustra sectabere cantum, cum rota posterior curras et in axe secundo. Libertate opus est, non hac, ut, quisque Velina Publius emeruit, scabiosum tesserula far possidet. heu steriles veri, quibus una Quiritem 75 vertigo facit! hic Dama est non tressis agaso, vappa lippus et in tenui farragine mendax: verterit hunc dominus, momento turbinis exit Marcus Dama. papae! Marco spondente recusas credere tu nummos? Marco sub iudice palles? 80 Marcus dixit: ita est; adsigna, Marce, tabellas. haec mera libertas; hoc nobis pillea donant! 'An quisquam est alius liber, nisi ducere vitam cui licet, ut voluit? licet ut volo vivere: non sum liberior Bruto?' "Mendose colligis," inquit 85 stoicus hic aurem mordaci lotus aceto "haec reliqua accipio; _licet_ illud et _ut volo_ tolle." 'Vindicta postquam meus a praetore recessi, cur mihi non liceat, iussit quodcumque voluntas, excepto si quid Masuri rubrica vetavit?' 90 Disce, sed ira cadat naso rugosaque sanna, dum veteres avias tibi de pulmone revello. non praetoris erat stultis dare tenuia rerum officia atque usum rapidae permittere vitae: sambucam citius caloni aptaveris alto. 95 stat contra ratio et secretam garrit in aurem, ne liceat facere id quod quis vitiabit agendo. publica lex hominum naturaque continet hoc fas, ut teneat vetitos inscitia debilis actus. diluis helleborum, certo conpescere puncto 100 nescius examen: vetat hoc natura medendi. navem si poscat sibi peronatus arator, luciferi rudis, exclamet Melicerta perisse frontem de rebus. tibi recto vivere talo ars dedit, et veri speciem dinoscere calles, 105 ne qua subaerato mendosum tinniat anro? quaeque sequenda forent, quaeque evitanda vicissim, illa prius creta, mox haec carbone notasti? es modicus voti? presso lare? dulcis amicis? iam nunc astringas, iam nunc granaria laxes, 110 inque luto fixum possis transcendere nummum, nec glutto sorbere salivam Mercurialem? 'haec mea sunt, teneo' cum vere dixeris, esto liberque ac sapiens praetoribus ac Iove dextro, sin tu, cum fueris nostrae paulo ante farinae, 115 pelliculam veterem retines et fronte politus astutam vapido servas sub pectore vulpem, quae dederam supra relego funemque reduco: nil tibi concessit ratio; digitum exsere, peccas, et quid tam parvum est? sed nullo ture litabis, 120 haereat in stultis brevis ut semuncia recti. haec miscere nefas; nec, cum sis cetera fossor, tris tantum ad numeros satyrum moveare Bathylli. 'Liber ego.' Unde datum hoc sentis, tot subdite rebus? an dominum ignoras, nisi quem vindicta relaxat? 125 'I puer et strigiles Crispini ad balnea defer!' si increpuit, 'cessas nugator;' servitium acre te nihil impellit, nec quicquam extrinsecus intrat, quod nervos agitet; sed si intus et in iecore aegro nascuntur domini, qui tu inpunitior exis 130 atque hic, quem ad strigiles scutica et metus egit erilis? Mane piger stertis. 'Surge!' inquit Avaritia 'heia surge!' Negas; instat 'Surge!' inquit. "Non queo." 'Surge!' "Et quid agam?" 'Rogitas? en saperdam advehe Ponto, castoreum, stuppas, hebenum, tus, lubrica Coa; 135 tolle recens primus piper ex sitiente camelo; verte aliquid; iura.' "Sed Iuppiter audiet." 'Eheu! varo, regustatum digito terebrare salinum contentus perages, si vivere cum Iove tendis!' iam pueris pellem succinctus et oenophorum aptas 140 'Ocius ad navem!' nihil obstat, quin trabe vasta Aegaeum rapias, ni sollers Luxuria ante seductum moneat 'Quo deinde, insane, ruis? quo? quid tibi vis? calido sub pectore mascula bilis intumuit, quod non exstinxerit urna cicutae? 145 tu mare transilias? tibi torta cannabe fulto cena sit in transtro, Veientanumque rubellum exalet vapida laesum pice sessilis obba? quid petis? ut nummi, quos hic quincunce modesto nutrieras, pergant avidos sudare deunces? 150 indulge genio, carpamus dulcia! nostrum est quod vivis; cinis et manes et fabula fies. vive memor leti! fugit hora; hoc quod loquor inde est.' en quid agis? duplici in diversum scinderis hamo. huncine, an hunc sequeris? subeas alternus oportet 155 ancipiti obsequio dominos, alternus oberres. nec tu, cum obstiteris semel instantique negaris parere imperio, 'rupi iam vincula' dicas; nam et luctata canis nodum abripit; et tamen illi, cum fugit, a collo trahitur pars longa catenae. 160 'Dave, cito, hoc credas iubeo, finire dolores praeteritos meditor.' crudum Chaerestratus unguem adrodens ait haec 'an siccis dedecus obstem cognatis? an rem patriam rumore sinistro limen ad obscenum frangam, dum Chrysidis udas 165 ebrius ante fores exstincta cum face canto?' "Euge, puer, sapias, dis depellentibus agnam percute." 'Sed censen plorabit, Dave, relicta?' "Nugaris; solea, puer, obiurgabere rubra. ne trepidare velis atque artos rodere casses! 170 nunc ferus et violens; at si vocet, haud mora, dicas: _Quidnam igitur faciam? nec nunc, cum arcessat et ultro_ _supplicet, accedam?_ Si totus et integer illinc exieras, nec nunc." hic hic, quod quaerimus, hic est, non in festuca, lictor quam iactat ineptus. 175 ius habet ille sui palpo, quem ducit hiantem cretata ambitio? vigila et cicer ingere large rixanti populo, nostra ut Floralia possint aprici meminisse senes: _quid pulchrius?_ at cum Herodis venere dies, unctaque fenestra 180 dispositae pinguem nebulam vomuere lucernae portantes violas, rubrumque amplexa catinum cauda natat thynni, tumet alba fidelia vino: labra moves tacitus recutitaque sabbata palles. tum nigri lemures ovoque pericula rupto, 185 tum grandes galli et cum sistro lusca sacerdos incussere deos inflantis corpora, si non praedictum ter mane caput gustaveris alli. Dixeris haec inter varicosos centuriones, continuo crassum ridet Pulfennius ingens, 190 et centum Graecos curto centusse licetur.

NOTES.

FIFTH SATIRE.

The theme of the Fifth Satire is the Stoic doctrine of True Liberty. All men are slaves except the philosopher, and Persius has learned to be a philosopher-- thanks to Cornutus, to whom the Satire is addressed. Compare and contrast Horace's handling of a like subject in Sat., 2, 3. In Teuffel's commentary on his translation of this Satire, the matter is briefly summed up in these words: Horace is an artist, Persius a Preacher. See Introd., xxvi. Comp. also Hor., Sat., 2, 7, 46 seqq.

ARGUMENT.-- Persius speaks: Poets have a way of asking for a hundred mouths, a hundred tongues, whether the theme be tragedy or epic. --Cornutus: A hundred mouths, a hundred tongues! What do you want with them? Or, for that matter, with a hundred gullets either, to worry down the tragic diet which other poets affect. You do not pant like a bellows, nor croak like a jackdaw, nor strain your cheeks to bursting in the high epic fashion. Your language is to be the language of every-day life, to which you are to give an edge by skilful combination. Your utterance is modest, and your art is shown in rasping the unhealthy body of the age, and in impaling its faults with high-bred raillery. Be such your theme. Let others sup full with tragic horrors, if they will. Do you know nothing beyond the frugal luncheon of our daily food (1-18).

Persius: It is not my aim to have my pages swollen with 'Bubbles from the Brunnen of Poesy.' We are alone, far from the madding crowd, and I may throw open my heart to you, for I would have you know how great a part of my soul you are. Knock at the walls of my heart, for you are skilful to distinguish the solid from the hollow, to tell the painted stucco of the tongue from the strong masonry of the soul. To this end I fain would ask-- and ask until I get-- a hundred voices, to show how deeply I have planted you in my heart of hearts; to tell you all that is past telling in my inmost being (19-29). When first the purple garb of boyhood withdrew its guardianship, and the amulet-- no longer potent-- was hung up, an offering to the old-fashioned household gods, when all about me humored me, and when the dress of manhood permitted my eyes to rove at will through the Subura with all its wares and wiles, what time the youth's path is doubtful, and bewilderment, ignorant of life, brings the excited mind to the spot where the great choice of roads is to be made-- in that decisive hour I made myself son to you, and you took me, Cornutus, to your Socratic heart. Where my character was warped, the quiet application of the rule of right straightened what in me was crooked. My mind was constrained by reason, wrestled with its conqueror, and took on new features under your forming hand. How I remember the long days I spent with you, the first-fruits of the festal nights I plucked with you. Our work, our rest we ordered both alike, and the strain of study was eased by the pleasures of a modest table (30-44). Nay, never doubt that there is a harmony between our stars. Our constellation is the Balance or the Twins. The same aspect rules our nativities. Some star, be that star what it may, blends my fate with yours (45-51).

We are attuned each to other; but look abroad, and see how different men are from us and from each other. Each has his own aims in life. One is bent on active merchandise, one is given up to sluggish sleep, another is fond of athletic sports. One is drained dry by dicing, another by chambering and wantonness; but when the chalk-stones of gout rattle among their fingers and toes, they awake to the choke-damp and the foggy light in which they have spent their days, and mourn too late their wasted life (52-61).

But you delight to wax pale over nightly studies. A tiller of the human soul, you prepare the soil, and sow the field of the ear with the pure grain of Stoic wisdom. Hence seek, young and old, an aim for your higher being, provision for your hoary head (62-65).

'Hoary head, you say?' interposes an objector. 'That can be provided for as well to-morrow.' To-morrow! 'Next day the fatal precedent will plead.' Another to-morrow comes, and we have used up yesterday's to-morrow, and so our days are emptied one by one. To-morrow! It is always ahead of us, as the hind wheel can never overtake the front wheel, though both be in the self-same chariot (66-72).

The remedy for this and all the other ills of life is True Liberty-- not such as gives a dole of musty meal, a soup-house ticket to the new-made citizen; not such as makes a tipsy slave free in the twinkling of an eye. Now Dama is a worthless groom, and would sell himself for a handful of provender. Anon he is set free, as you call it-- becomes Marcus Dama. Excellent surety! Most excellent judge! If Marcus says it is so, it is so. Your sign and seal here, good Marcus. Pah! This is the liberty that manumission gives. Up speaks Marcus: 'Well! Who is free except the man that can do as he pleases? I can do as I please. _Argal_ I am free as air.' --'Not so,' says your learned Stoic. 'Your logic is at fault. I grant the rest, but I demur to the clause "as you please."' --'The praetor's wand made me my own man. May I not do what I please, if I offend not against the statute-book?' (73-90).