Persius

“ What? do you know of no master but one who uses the rod? Are you not a slave when your passions drive you this way or that way as they will? Avarice bids you rise and scour the seas for gain. Luxury warns you that you are mad in giving up, for filthy lucre's sake, all the ease and all the joys of life. Which master will you obey? And if you once break free, how long will you keep your freedom? ”

“ Knowledge of men and morals have come to him before his beard; trusting to his birth, his beauty, and his wheedling tongue, he advises the multitude on the most delicate points of right and policy. Yet he has none but the lowest conceptions of life; he has no higher ideals than an old woman who hawks vegetables in the street (1–22) .
Not one of us has any knowledge of himself, though we are all ready to discourse about our neighbours. ”

“ The straight stem represents the period of indeterminate childhood; the branching ways represent the moment when the choice of life has to be made. The steep path to the right is the path of virtue; the sloping path to the left that of vice and pleasure. ”

“ Sagacity, no doubt, and a knowledge of affairs, have come to you quickly, before your beard; you know well what to say, and what to leave unsaid. So when the bile of the multitude has been stirred to heat, the spirit moves you to impose silence on the fevered mob by a lordly waving of the hand. ”

“ Are you not ashamed to live after the fashion of the abandoned Natta? a man deadened by vice, whose heart is overlaid with brawn, who has no sense of sin, no knowledge of what he is losing, and is sunk so deep that he sends up no bubble to the surface? ”

“ It is the flesh that has spoilt our oil by mingling it with casia, and misused Tyrian purple for the soaking of Calabrian fleeces; it is this that has bidden us pluck the pearl from the shell, and tear out the veins of shining ore from the native clay. ”

“ It was that master of the arts, that dispenser of genius, the Belly, who has a rare skill in getting at words which are not his own. ”

“ Do you mean that fellow, hateful alike to the gods and his own Genius, who, on the day when he hangs up his yoke at the Cross Roads, hesitates to wipe off the dirt that has gathered round his cannikin of wine, and groans out, 'May it all be for the best!' and while the slave-lads are revelling over their hasty-pudding, munches an onion, skin and all, with a pinch of salt to it, and sucks down the dregs of some expiring vinegar? ”

“ Hence your idea of overlaying the faces of the gods with triumphal gold; for you say, "Let those among the brazen brothers [15] rank highest who send us dreams most free from gouty vapours, and let their beards be all of gold! Gold has now ousted Numa's crockery, and the bronze vessels of Saturn; [16] it has supplanted the urns and Tuscan pottery [17] of the Vestals.
61O Souls bowed down to earth, and void of all heavenly thoughts! What avails it to bring our ideas into the temples, and to infer from this sinful flesh of ours what is pleasing to the gods? ”

“ Have you any goal in life? Is there any target at which you aim? Or are you just taking random shots at crows with clods and potsherds, not caring whither your feet are taking you, and living from one moment to another? ”

“ I never soused my lips in the Nag's Spring; [1] never, that I can remember, did I dream on the two-topped Parnasus, that I should thus come forth suddenly as a poet. The maidens [2] of Mount Helicon, and the blanching waters of Pirene, [3] I give up to the gentlemen round whose busts the clinging ivy [4] twines; it is but as a half-member [5] of the community that I bring my lay to the holy feast of the bards. Who made it so easy for the parrot to chirp his "good morrow"? [6] Who taught the magpie to ape the language of man? ”

“ Let us gather our sweets! Our life is our own to-day, to-morrow you will be dust, a shade, and a tale that is told. Live mindful of death; the hour flies; the word that I speak is so much taken from it. ”

“ You are not the man to utter a huckster's prayer, such as you could only entrust to the gods in privacy. Most of our great men offer their libations from censers that divulge no secrets; it is not every man that is ready to make away with mutterings and whisperings from the temples, and to offer prayers such as all men may hear. ”

“ But, on the other hand, should you be living in lazy luxury, basking in the sunshine, there is always some one you never knew to jog you with his elbow, and, spitting savagely at you, cry, "Are these your vile practices?" ”

“ Thereupon, as the thrilling strains make their way into the loins, and tickle the inward parts, you may see the burly sons of Rome, [3] quivering in no seemly fashion, and uttering no seemly words. What, you old reprobate? Do you cater for other people's wanton ears?—ears to which, however hardened your hide, you might fain cry 'hold, enough!'"
F. "But what avail study and learning if the yeast, and the wild fig-tree [4] which has sprung up within, are never to break through the bosom and come forth? See our pallid cheeks and aged looks!" ”

“ Persius takes advantage of the birthday of his friend and fellow-pupil Plotius Macrinus to discourse on the folly of the prayers usually offered to the Gods (1–7) . Men pray openly for worthy objects; they pray secretly for money, for inheritances, for the death of all who stand in their way, besieging Jupiter with petitions at which any ordinary citizen would stand aghast (8–30) . Old women offer the most silly prayers on behalf of babes (31–40) . One man prays for health and strength, while raining his constitution by rich living (41–43) ”

“ But men will not learn the one true lesson of life; "To-morrow," they say, "will be soon enough," and then again, "to-morrow": a morrow which is for ever pursued and never reached (62–72) . What we want is freedom; but not the sort of freedom which is bestowed by the lictor's rod (73–82) . "But is not the newly-made Davus free? has he not liberty to do what he likes? "Not so," says the Stoic; "no man is free who has not learnt the proper uses of life; no man is free to do what he will spoil in the doing of it. A doctor must understand medicine, a sailor navigation ”

“ Are you skilled in discerning the appearance of truth, that there be no false ring of copper underneath the gold? Have you marked off the things to be aimed at, and those again to be avoided—the former with a white stone, the latter with a black? Are you moderate in your desires, modest in your establishment, and kindly to your friends? ”

“ Is all your knowledge to go so utterly for nothing unless other people know that you possess it?" ”

“ I care not for the fry that love to vent their wit upon the slippers of the Greeks, nor for the puffed-up local magnate who jeers at a one-eyed man, nor for the man who flouts philosophers and thinks it a fine joke to see a saucy wench pluck a cynic by the beard. Let these enjoy the pleasures they deserve!" (123–134) .
The first satire of Persius seems to have furnished a pattern for the first satire of Juvenal. In each case the poet begins by an attack on the character of his own age, Persius laying stress upon the corruption of literature, Juvenal upon that of morals as a whole. ”

“ The time will come when it will be too late to mend; be wise in time. Learn what you are, and why you were brought here; what is the true end for man, and what are his duties; don't be envious of the rich stores of your wealthy lawyer-neighbour (63–76) . At this no doubt some shaggy soldier will burst into a guffaw and tell us that he doesn't care a fig for all the philosophers in creation, with their dull looks, their bent figures, their dismal mutterings and old-wife dreamings that nothing can come out of nothing, and nothing go back to nothing (77–87) . ”

“ Others may think differently; there are some who meanly stint themselves on feast-days; others waste their substance in good living. Use what you have, say I; thrash out your harvest, and commit a new crop to the soil (18–26) . O, but a friend needs help, you say, lying shipwrecked on the Bruttian shore; then break off a bit of your estate for him, that he may not want. "What? am I to incur the wrath of my heir, and tempt him to neglect my funeral rites?" Bestius does well in condemning all foreign notions (27–40) . Come, my heir, let me have a quiet talk with you. ”

“ Come and learn, O miserable souls, and be instructed in the causes of things; learn what we are, and for what sort of lives we were born; what place was assigned to us at the start; how to round the turning-post gently, and from what point to begin the turn; what limit should be placed on wealth ”

“ It is the fashion of poets to call for a hundred voices, a hundred mouths and a hundred tongues for their lays, [1] whether their theme be a play to be gaped out by a lugubrious tragedian, or a wounded Parthian plucking an arrow from his groin. ”

“ P. "Learning, indeed ! as if knowledge were of no use unless other people know that you possess it!" (26–27) .
F. "But you cannot deny the charm of being praised and of hearing people say 'That's the man!'" (28–30) .
P. "And what kind of praise do they win? Listen to the mawkish stuff poured forth at dinner tables, and the applause given to it by the well-filled guests. How grand and soul-sufficing!" (30–40) .
F. "You are very nasty with your gibes. Do you suppose that any one is so indifferent to fame that he would not care to be ranked among the immortals?" ”

“ For though the tire is close to you, and revolves under the self-same pole, you will in vain pursue it, seeing that your wheel is the hind wheel, and that your axle is the second, not the first.
73What we want is true liberty; [21] not by that kind is it that any Publius enrolled in the Veline tribe becomes the possessor of a ticket for a ration of mangy corn. O souls barren of truth, you who think that one twirl of the thumb can make a Roman citizen! Look at Dama here; an under-strapper not worth three groats; blear-eyed from drink; a man who would tell a lie about a half-feed of corn ”

“ No; your language is that of everyday life; [8] skilled in clever phrasing, rounded but not full-mouthed, you know well how to chide vicious ways, [9] how to hit off men's foibles with well mannered pleasantry. ”

“ The great men signify their approval; will notyour poet's ashes be happy now? will not the grave-stone press more lightly upon his bones? [7] The lesser guests chime in with their assent: will not violets now spring up from those remains, from the tomb and its thrice-blessed ashes?"
F. "You are scoffing, and use your turned-up nose too freely. Do you mean to tell me that any man who has uttered words worthy of cedar oil will disown the wish to have earned a place in the mouths of men, and to leave behind him poems that will have nothing to fear from mackerel or from spice?" ”

“ Persius alternately acts the part of the youth satirised (which explains the use of the first person in stertimus, findor, querimur) and alternately assumes the role of a monitor, expostulating with the young man and trying to recall him to a sense of the follies and wasted opportunities of his life (1–43) . Childish sports are suitable to the age of childhood; but when childhood is past, and knowledge has arrived, the serious purposes of life must be faced (44–62) . ”

“ But your heir, you say, will be wrathful that you have curtailed your property; he will stint the funeral feast, and will commit your bones unscented to the urn, not caring to enquire whether the cinnamon has lost its fragrance or the casia lias been adulterated with cherry. "What?" he will say, "are you to squander your property, and not suffer for it?" And then Bestius [9] has his fling at the Greek philosophers; "It's always so; ever since this emasculated [10] wisdom of ours entered the city along with dates and pepper, our haymakers have spoilt their porridge with thick oils!"—What? ”

“ Reason forbids, and whispers privately into the ear that no man be allowed to do what he will spoil in the doing of it. The public law of man and Nature [24] herself lay down this rule, that ignorance and imbecility should hold action to be forbidden them. ”

“ Thou that art so rare a craftsman in setting to numbers the beginnings of our ancient tongue, [1] and bringing out the manly notes of the Latin lyre; then again a wonderful old man to ply the youthful jest, and sing in lighter but not indecorous strains. ”

“ Why, to fetch salt fish from Pontus, beaver oil, tow, ebony, frankincense and glossy Coan fabrics; be the first to take the fresh pepper off the camel's back before he has had his drink; do some bartering, [32] and then forswear yourself."—"O, but Jupiter will hear!"—"Whew! if you mean to live on terms with Jupiter, you must just go on as you are, content to be a simpleton scraping and scraping away with your thumb at the salt-cellar which you have so often tasted." ”

“ Let my reader be one whose ear has been cleansed and kindled by such strains, not one of the baser sort who loves to poke fun at the slippers of the Greeks, and who could cry out 'Old one-eye!' to a one-eyed man ”

“ You tell me you have no illness, no fever in your pulse. But does not your heart beat. high when you catch sight of money, or when a pretty girl smiles sweetly on you? Can you put up with plain food? Not you! ”

“ A man feels ill and consults his doctor, who orders rest and abstinence. Feeling better after a few days, he returns to his old habits, rejects scornfully the warnings of friends, and bathes on a full stomach. ”

“ F. "Anyhow the public are enchanted. Never, they say, did poets write more smoothly and correctly, or handle great themes more nobly" (63–68) .
P. "Yes, indeed! To-day we find heroic themes attempted by men who cannot describe the simplest scenes of country life without committing absurdities. ”

“ The poem takes the form of a dialogue between Persius and a Friend. Persius recites a line (possibly from Lucilius) which looks like the beginning of a poem. "Who will read stuff like that?" asks the Friend. "Well," says Persius, "what does that matter! The opinion of thick-headed Rome isn't worth a d——n! If only I could say what I think! But when I look at our gloomy way of living, and our affectation of morality, I feel that I must have my laugh out (1–12) . ”

“ you ask, "do you think it a great thing to present me with a single day?"—No, but when to-morrow comes, yesterday's morrow will have been already spent; and lo! a fresh morrow will be for ever making away with our years, each just beyond our grasp. ”

“ the man who wishes to bend me with his tale of woe must shed true tears—not tears that have been got ready overnight." ”