Part 2

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.

SATURA VI.

Admovit iam bruma foco te, Basse, Sabino? iamne lyra et tetrico vivunt tibi pectine chordae? mire opifex numeris veterum primordia vocum atque marem strepitum fidis intendisse Latinae, mox iuvenes agitare iocis et pollice honesto 5 egregius lusisse senes. mihi nunc Ligus ora intepet hibernatque meum mare, qua latus ingens dant scopuli et multa litus se valle receptat. Lunai portum, est operae, cognoscite, cives! cor iubet hoc Enni, postquam destertuit esse 10 Maeonides, Quintus pavone ex Pythagoreo. hic ego securus vulgi et quid praeparet auster infelix pecori, securus et angulus ille vicini nostro quia pinguior, etsi adeo omnes ditescant orti peioribus, usque recusem 15 curvus ob id minui senio aut cenare sine uncto, et signum in vapida naso tetigisse lagoena. discrepet his alius! geminos, horoscope, varo producis genio. solis natalibus est qui tingat holus siccum muria vafer in calice empta, 20 ipse sacrum inrorans patinae piper; hic bona dente grandia magnanimus peragit puer. utar ego, utar, nec rhombos ideo libertis ponere lautus, nec tenuis sollers turdarum nosse salivas. messe tenus propria vive et granaria, fas est, 25 emole; quid metuis? occa, et seges altera in herba est. ast vocat officium: trabe rupta Bruttia saxa prendit amicus inops, remque omnem surdaque vota condidit Ionio; iacet ipse in litore et una ingentes de puppe dii, iamque obvia mergis 30 costa ratis lacerae. nunc et de caespite vivo frange aliquid, largire inopi, ne pictus oberret caerulea in tabula. 'Sed cenam funeris heres negleget, iratus quod rem curtaveris; urnae ossa inodora dabit, seu spirent cinnama surdum, 35 seu ceraso peccent casiae, nescire paratus. tune bona incolumis minuas? et Bestius urguet doctores Graios: _Ita fit, postquam sapere urbi_ _cum pipere et palmis venit nostrum hoc maris expers;_ _fenisecae crasso vitiarunt unguine pultes._' 40 Haec cinere ulterior metuas? At tu, meus heres quisquis eris, paulum a turba seductior audi. o bone, num ignoras? missa est a Caesare laurus insignem ob cladem Germanae pubis, et aris frigidus excutitur cinis, ac iam postibus arma, 45 iam chlamydes regum, iam lutea gausapa captis essedaque ingentesque locat Caesonia Rhenos. dis igitur genioque ducis centum paria ob res egregie gestas induco; quis vetat? aude. vae, nisi conives! oleum artocreasque popello 50 largior; an prohibes? dic clare! 'Non adeo,' inquis 'exossatus ager iuxta est.' Age, si mihi nulla iam reliqua ex amitis, patruelis nulla, proneptis nulla manet patrui, sterilis matertera vixit, deque avia nihilum superest, accedo Bovillas 55 clivumque ad Virbi, praesto est mihi Manius heres. 'Progenies terrae?' Quaere ex me, quis mihi quartus sit pater: haud prompte, dicam tamen; adde etiam unum, unum etiam: terrae est iam filius, et mihi ritu Manius hic generis prope maior avunculus exit. 60 qui prior es, cur me in decursu lampada poscis? sum tibi Mercurius; venio deus huc ego ut ille pingitur; an renuis? vin tu gaudere relictis? 'Dest aliquid summae.' Minui mihi; sed tibi totum est, quidquid id est. ubi sit, fuge quaerere, quod mihi quondam 65 legarat Tadius, neu dicta repone paterna: _Faenoris accedat merces; hinc exime sumptus._ _quid reliquum est?_ Reliquum? nunc, nunc inpensius ungue, ungue, puer, caules! mihi festa luce coquetur urtica et fissa fumosum sinciput aure, 70 ut tuus iste nepos olim satur anseris extis, cum morosa vago singultiet inguine vena, patriciae inmeiat vulvae? mihi trama figurae sit reliqua, ast illi tremat omento popa venter? vende animam lucro, mercare atque excute sollers 75 omne latus mundi, nec sit praestantior alter Cappadocas rigida pinguis plausisse castata: rem duplica. 'Feci; iam triplex, iam mihi quarto, iam deciens redit in rugam: depunge, ubi sistam.' Inventus, Chrysippe, tui finitor acervi. 80

[End of duplicated material: see Transcriber's Note at beginning of e-text.]

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_Quando cerco norme di gusto, vado ad Orazio, il più amabile; quando ho bisogno di bile contra le umane ribalderie, visito Giovenale, il più splendido; quando mi studio d'esser onesto, vivo con PERSIO, il più saggio, e con infinito piacere mescolato di vergogna bevo li dettati della ragione su le labbra di questo verecondo e santissimo giovanetto._ VINCENZO MONTI.

+Sunistanto hoi men hôs touton, hoi d' hôs ekeinon plên monou tou Iônos; ekeinos de meson heauton ephulatten.+ +LOUKIANOU.+

_PERSIUS das rechte Ideal eines hoffärtigen und mattherzigen der Poesie beflissenen Jungen._ MOMMSEN.

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INTRODUCTION.

An ancient _Vita Persii_, of uncertain authorship, of evident authenticity, gives all that it is needful for us to know about our poet-- much more than is vouchsafed to us for the rich individuality of Lucilius, much more than we can divine for the unsubstantial character of Juvenal.

Aulus Persius Flaccus was born on the day before the nones of December, A.U.C. 787, A.D. 34, at Volaterrae, in Etruria. That Luna in Liguria was his birthplace is a false inference of some scholars from the words _meum mare_ in a passage of the sixth satire, where he describes his favorite resort on the Riviera.

The family of Persius belonged to the old Etruscan nobility, and more than one Persius appears in inscriptions found at Volaterrae. Other circumstances make for his Etruscan origin: the Etruscan form of his name, _Aules_, so written in most MSS. of his Life; the Etruscan name of his mother, Sisennia; the familiar spitefulness of his mention of Arretium, the allusions to the Tuscan haruspex, to the Tuscan pedigree; the sneering mention of the Umbrians-- fat-witted folk, who lived across the Tuscan border. Most of these, it is true, are minute points, and would be of little weight in the case of an author of wider vision, but well-nigh conclusive in a writer like Persius, who tried to make up for the narrowness of his personal experience by a microscopic attention to details.

Persius belonged to the same sphere of society as Maecenas. Like Maecenas an Etruscan, he was, like Maecenas, an _eques Romanus_. The social class of which he was a member did much for Roman literature; Etruria's contributions were far less valuable, and Mommsen is right when he recognizes in both these men, so unlike in life and in principle-- the one a callous wordling, the other a callow philosopher-- the stamp of their strange race, a race which is a puzzle rather than a mystery. Indeed, the would-be mysterious is one of the most salient points in the style of Persius as in the religion of the Etruscans, and Persius's elaborate involution of the commonplace is parallel with the secret wisdom of his countrymen. The minute detail of the Etruscan ritual has its counterpart in the minute detail of Persius's style, and the want of a due sense of proportion and a certain coarseness of language in our author remind us of the defects of Etruscan art and the harshness of the Etruscan tongue.

Persius was born, if not to great wealth, at least to an ample competence. His father died when the poet was but six years old, and his education was conducted at Volaterrae under the superintendence of his mother and her second husband, Fusius. For the proper appreciation of the career of Persius, it is a fact of great significance that he seems to have been very much under the influence of the women of his household. To this influence he owed the purity of his habits; but feminine training is not without its disadvantages for the conduct of life. For social refinement there is no better school; but the pet of the home circle is apt to make the grossest blunders when he ventures into the larger world of no manners, and attempts to use the language of outside sinners. And so, when Persius undertakes to rebuke the effeminacy of his time, he outbids the worst passages of Horace and rivals the most lurid indecencies of Juvenal.

When Persius was twelve years old he went to Rome, as Horace and Ovid had done before him, for the purpose of a wider and higher education, and was put to school with Verginius Flaccus, the rhetorician, and Remmius Palaemon, the grammarian. Verginius Flaccus was exiled from Rome by Nero, with Musonius Rufus, on account of the prominence which he had achieved as a teacher, and Quintilian quotes him as an authority in his profession. Remmius Palaemon, the other teacher of Persius, a man of high attainments and low principles, was one of the most illustrious grammarians of a time when grammarians could be illustrious. A freedman, with a freedman's character, he was arrogant and vain, grasping and prodigal-- in short, a Sir Epicure Mammon of a professor. But his prodigious memory, his ready flow of words, his power of improvising poetry, attracted many pupils during his prolonged life, and after his death he was cited with respect by other grammarians-- a rare apotheosis among that captious tribe. The first satirical efforts of ingenuous youth are usually aimed at their preceptors, and the verses which Persius quotes in the First Satire are quite as likely to be from the school of Palaemon as from the poems of Nero.

But the true teacher of Persius, the man to whom he himself attributed whatever progress he made in that 'divine philosophy' which deals at once with the constitution of the universe and the conduct of life-- his 'spiritual director,' to use the language of Christian ascetics-- was Cornutus. Persius is one of those literary celebrities whose title to fame is not beyond dispute; and while some maintain his right to high distinction on the ground of intrinsic merit, others seek with perhaps too much avidity for the accidents to which he is supposed to owe his renown. If it is necessary to excuse, as it were, his reputation, the relation of Persius to Cornutus might go far to explain the care which schoolmasters have taken of the memory of the poet. No matter how crabbed the teacher may be, how austere the critic, the opening of the Fifth Satire, with its warm tribute to the guide of his life and the friend of his heart, calls up the image of the ideal pupil, and touches into kindred the brazen bowels of Didymus.

Lucius Annaeus Cornutus, of Leptis in Africa, was a philosopher, grammarian, and rhetorician. It has been conjectured that he was a freedman of the literary family of the Annaei; and this is rendered probable by the fact that Annaeus Lucanus, the nephew of Annaeus Seneca, was his pupil. The year of his life and the year of his death are alike unknown. He was banished from Rome by Nero because he had ventured to suggest that Nero's projected epic on Roman history would be too long if drawn out to four hundred books, and that the imperial poem would find no readers. When one of Nero's flatterers rejoined that Chrysippus was a still more voluminous author, Cornutus had the bad taste to point out the practical importance of the writings of Chrysippus in contrast with Nero's unpractical project; and Nero, who had a poet's temper, if not a poet's gifts, sent him to an island, there to revise his literary judgment. Cornutus was not only a man of various learning in philosophy, rhetoric, and grammar, but a tragic poet of some note, and perhaps a satirist. Whether the jumble that bears the name of Cornutus or Phurnutus, _De Natura Deorum_, is in any measure traceable to our Cornutus, is not pertinent to our subject. Of more importance to us than his varied attainments is his pure and lofty character, which made him worthy of the ardent affection with which Persius clung to his 'Socratic bosom.' It is recorded to his honor that Persius having bequeathed to him his library and a considerable sum of money, he accepted the books only and relinquished the money to the family of Persius. Nor did he cease his loving care for his friend after his ashes, but revised his satires, and suppressed the less mature performances of the young poet.

The social circle in which Persius moved was not wide. The mark of the beast called Coterie, which is upon the foreheads of the most plentifully belaurelled Roman poets, is on his brow also. But it must be said that the men whom he associated with belonged to the chosen few of a corrupt time, albeit they would have been of more service to their country if they had not recognized themselves so conspicuously as the elect. The Stoic _salon_ in which Persius lived and moved and had his being reminds M. Martha of a Puritan household; it reminds us of the sequestered Legitimist opposition to the France of yesterday. We are so apt to see parallels when we are well acquainted with but one of the lines-- or with neither.

Let us pass in review some of the associates and acquaintances of Persius.