“ One of the points of harmony is, however, too subtle for us to believe that a forger evolved it from the works of Persius. It requires indeed a thoughtful reading of the Life before we realize how distinct is the impression it gives of a “bookish” youth, who has never strayed far, at least in spirit, from the domestic hearth and his women-folk. And of course this is notoriously the picture drawn by the Satires. So much better does Persius know his books than the world that he draws the names of his characters from Horace. ”

“ Persius strikes the highest note that Roman satire reached; in earnestness and moral purpose rising far superior to the political rancour or good natured persiflage of his predecessors and the rhetorical indignation of Juvenal, he seems a forerunner of the great Christian Apologists. From him we learn a lesson Seneca never taught, how that wonderful philosophy could work on minds that still preserved the depth and purity of the old Roman gravitas. When the Life speaks of Seneca’s genius as not attracting Persius, it presumably refers to Seneca the philosopher. ”

“ The Life itself, though not free from the suspicion of interpolation and undoubtedly corrupt and disordered in places, is probably trustworthy. The MSS. say it came from the commentary of Valerius Probus, no doubt a learned edition of Persius like those of Virgil and Horace by this same famous “grammarian” of Berytus, the poet’s contemporary. The only case in which it seems to conflict with the Satires themselves is in its statement as to the death of Persius’s father. ”