"
"It is nothing!
"It is nothing!
Satires
_ It was the custom for generals at a triumph to
offer a certain portion of their manubiæ to Capitoline Jove and other
deities.
[1325] _Fratres ahenos. _ It is said that there were in the temple porch
of the Palatine Apollo figures of the fifty Danaides, and opposite
them equestrian statues of the fifty sons of Ægyptus; and that some of
these statues gave oracles by means of dreams. Others refer these lines
to Castor and Pollux: but the words "præcipui sunto" seem to imply a
greater number. The passage is very obscure. Casaubon adopts the former
interpretation.
[1326] _Numæ. _ Numa directed that all vessels used for sacred purposes
should be of pottery-ware. Cf. ad Juv. , xi. , 116.
[1327] _Saturnia. _ Alluding to the Ærarium in the temple of Saturn.
[1328] _Pulpa_ is properly the soft, pulpy part of the fruit between
the skin and the kernel: then it is applied to the soft and flaccid
flesh of young animals, and hence applied to the flesh of men. It is
used here in exactly the scriptural sense, "the flesh. "
[1329] _Casiam. _ Vid. Plin. , xiii. , 3. Persius seems to have had in
his eye the lines in the second Georgic, "Nec varios inhiant pulchra
testudine postes Illusasque auro vestes, Ephyreiaque æra; Alba neque
Assyrio fucatur lana veneno nec _Casiâ_, liquidi _corrumpitur_ usus
_olivi_. " Both the epic poet and the satirist, as Gifford remarks, use
the language of the old republic. They consider the oil of the country
to be vitiated, instead of improved, by the luxurious admixture of
foreign spices.
[1330] _Calabrum. _ The finest wool came from Tarentum in Calabria. Vid.
Plin. , H. N. , viii. , 48; ix. , 61; Colum. , vii. , 2; and from the banks
of the Galesus in its neighborhood. Hor. , Od. , II. , vi. , 10, "Dulce
pellitis ovibus Galesi flumen. " Virg. , G. , iv. , 126. Mart. , xii. , Ep.
64, "Albi quæ superas oves Galesi. "
[1331] _Compositum. _ These lines, as Gifford says, are not only the
quintessence of sanctity, but of language. Closeness would cramp and
paraphrase would enfeeble their sense, which may be felt, but can not
be expressed. Casaubon explains compositum, "animum bene comparatum ad
omnia divina humanaque jura. " τὸ εὔτακτον τῆς ψυχῆς πρὸς τὰ θεῖά τε καὶ
ἀνθρώπινα δίκαια. It may also imply the "harmonious blending of the
two. "
[1332] _Recessus. _ So the Greeks used the phrases μυχοὺς διανοίας,
ἄδυτα ταμιεῖα διανοίας. Cf. Rom. , xi. , 16, τὰ κρυπτὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων.
[1333] _Incoctum_ a metaphor from a fleece double-dyed. So Seneca,
"Quemadmodum lana quosdam colores semel ducit, quosdam nisi sæpius
macerata et recocta non perbibit: sic alias disciplines ingenia cum
accepere, protinus præstant: hæc nisi altè descendit, et diù sedit,
animum non coloravit, sed infecit, nihil ex his quæ promiserat
præstat. " Ep. 71. Cf. Virg. , Georg. , iii. , 307, "Quamvis Milesia magno
vellera mutentur Tyrios _incocta_ rubores. "
[1334] _Litabo. _ Cf. v. , 120, "Soli probi _litare_ dicuntur proprie:
_sacrificare_ quilibet etiam improbi. " Litare therefore is to _obtain_
that for which the sacrifice is offered. Vid. Liv. , xxxviii. , 20,
"Postero die sacrificio facto cum primis hostiis litasset. " Plaut. ,
Pœnul. , ii. , 41, "Tum Jupiter faciat ut semper _sacrificem_ nec unquam
_litem_. " Cf. Lact. ad Stat. Theb. , x. , 610. Suet. , Cæs. , 81. Even the
heathen could see that the deity regarded the purity of the heart,
not the costliness of the offering of the sacrificer. So Laberius,
"_Puras_ deus non _plenas_ aspicit manus. " τὸ δαιμονίον μᾶλλον πρὸς τὸ
τῶν θυόντων ἠθος ἢ πρὸς τὸ τῶν θυομένων πλῆθος βλέπει. Cf. Plat. , Alc. ,
II. , xii. , fin. , "Est litabilis hostia bonus animus et pura mens et
sincera sententia. " Min. , Fel. , 32.
[1335] _Farre. _ The idea is probably taken from Seneca. Ep. 95, "Nec
in victimis, licet opimæ sint, auroque præfulgeant, deorum est honos:
sed pia et recta voluntate venerantium: itaque boni etiam _farre_
ac fictili religiosi. " Hor. , iii. , Od. xxiii. , 17, "Immunis aram si
tetigit manus non sumptuosa blandior hostia mollivit aversos Penates
_farre_ pio et saliente mica. " Cf. Eurip. , Fr. Orion εὖ ἴσθ' ὅταν τις
εὐσεβῶν θύῃ θεοῖς· κἂν μικρὰ θύῃ τυγχάνει σωτηρίας.
SATIRE III.
ARGUMENT.
In this Satire, perhaps more than in any other, we detect Persius'
predilection for the doctrines of the Stoics. With them the
summum bonum was "the sound mind in the sound body. " To attain
which, man must apply himself to the cultivation of virtue, that
is, to the study of philosophy. He that does not can aspire to
neither. Though unknown to himself, he is laboring under a mortal
disease, and though he fancies he possesses a healthy intellect,
he is the victim of as deep-seated and dangerous a delusion as
the recognized maniac. The object of the Satire is to reclaim the
idle and profligate young nobles of his day from their enervating
and pernicious habits, by the illustration of these principles.
The opening scene of the Satire presents us with the bedchamber
where one of these young noblemen, accompanied by some other
youths probably of inferior birth and station, is indulging
in sleep many hours after the sun has risen upon the earth.
The entrance of the tutor, who is a professor of the Stoical
philosophy, disturbs their slumbers, and the confusion consequent
upon his rebuke, and the thin disguise of their ill-assumed
zeal, is graphically described. After a passionate outburst
of contempt at their paltry excuses, the tutor points out the
irretrievable evils that will result from their allowing the
golden hours of youth to pass by unimproved: overthrows all
objections which are raised as to their position in life,
and competency of means rendering such vigorous application
superfluous; and in a passage of solemn warning full of majesty
and power, describes the unavailing remorse which will assuredly
hereafter visit those who have so far quitted the rugged path
that leads to virtue's heights, that all return is hopeless. He
then proceeds to describe the defects of his own education; and
the vices he fell into in consequence of these defects--vices
however which were venial in himself, as those principles which
would have taught him their folly were never inculcated in him.
Whereas those whom he addresses, from the greater care that
has been bestowed on their early training, are without apology
for their neglect of these palpable duties. Then with great
force and vigor, he briefly describes the proper pursuits of
well-regulated minds; and looks down with contemptuous scorn on
the sneers with which vulgar ignorance would deride these truths,
too transcendent for their gross comprehension to appreciate.
The Satire concludes very happily with the lively apologue of
a glutton; who, in despite of all warning and friendly advice,
perseveres even when his health is failing, in such vicious and
unrestrained indulgence, that he falls at length a victim to
his intemperance. The application of the moral is simple. The
mind that is destitute of philosophical culture is hopelessly
diseased, and the precepts of philosophy can alone effect a cure.
He that despises these, in vain pronounces himself to be of sound
mind. On the approach of any thing that can kindle the spark, his
passions burst into flame; and in spite of his boasted sanity,
urge him on to acts that would call forth the reprobation even of
the maniac himself. The whole Satire and its moral, as Gifford
says, may be fitly summed up in the solemn injunction of a wiser
man than the schools ever produced: "Wisdom is the principal
thing: therefore get Wisdom. "
What! always thus! [1336] Already the bright morning is entering the
windows,[1337] and extending[1338] the narrow chinks with light. We
are snoring[1339] as much as would suffice to work off the potent
Falernian,[1340] while the index[1341] is touched by the fifth shadow
of the gnomon. See! What are you about? The raging Dog-star[1342] is
long since ripening the parched harvest, and all the flock is under
the wide-spreading elm. One of the fellow-students[1343] says, "Is
it really so? Come hither, some one, quickly. Is nobody coming! " His
vitreous bile[1344] is swelling. He is bursting with rage: so that you
would fancy whole herds of Arcadia[1345] were braying. Now his book,
and the two-colored[1346] parchment cleared of the hair, and paper,
and the knotty reed is taken in hand. Then he complains that the ink,
grown thick, clogs in his pen; then that the black sepia[1347] vanishes
altogether, if water is poured into it; then that the reed makes blots
with the drops being diluted. O wretch! and every day still more a
wretch! Are we come to such a pitch? Why do you not rather, like the
tender ring-dove,[1348] or the sons of kings, call for minced pap, and
fractiously refuse your nurse's lullaby! --Can I work with such a pen as
this, then?
Whom are you deceiving? Why reiterate these paltry shifts? The stake
is your own! You are leaking away,[1349] idiot! You will become an
object of contempt. The ill-baked jar of half-prepared clay betrays
by its ring its defect, and gives back a cracked sound. You are now
clay, moist and pliant:[1350] even now you ought to be hastily moulded
and fashioned unintermittingly by the rapid wheel. [1351] But, you will
say, you have a fair competence from your hereditary estate; a pure
and stainless salt-cellar. [1352] Why should you fear? And you have a
paten free from care, since it worships your household deities. [1353]
And is this enough? Is it then fitting you should puff out your lungs
to bursting because you trace the thousandth in descent from a Tuscan
stock;[1354] or because robed in your trabea you salute the Censor,
your own kinsman? Thy trappings to the people! I know thee intimately,
inside and out! Are you not ashamed to live after the manner of the
dissolute Natta? [1355]
But he is besotted by vicious indulgence; the gross fat[1356] is
incrusted round his heart: he is free from moral guilt; for he knows
not what he is losing; and sunk in the very depth of vice, will never
rise again to the surface of the wave.
O mighty father of the gods! when once fell lust, imbued with raging
venom, has fired their spirits, vouchsafe to punish fierce tyrants
in no other way than this. Let them see Virtue,[1357] and pine away
at[1358] having forsaken her! Did the brass of the Sicilian[1359]
bull give a deeper groan, or the sword[1360] suspended from the gilded
ceiling over the purple-clad neck strike deeper terror, than if one
should say to himself, "We are sinking, sinking headlong down," and
in his inmost soul, poor wretch, grow pale at what even the wife of
his bosom must not know? I remember when I was young I often used to
touch[1361] my eyes with oil, if I was unwilling to learn the noble
words of the dying Cato;[1362] that would win great applause from my
senseless master, and which my father, sweating with anxiety, would
listen to with the friends he had brought to hear me. And naturally
enough. For the summit of my wishes was to know what the lucky sice
would gain; how much the ruinous ace[1363] would sweep off; not to miss
the neck of the narrow jar;[1364] and that none more skillfully than I
should lash the top[1365] with a whip.
Whereas you are not inexperienced in detecting the obliquity of moral
deflections, and all that the philosophic porch,[1366] painted over
with trowsered Medes, teaches; over which the sleepless and close-shorn
youth lucubrates, fed on husks and fattening polenta. To thee, besides,
the letter that divides the Samian branches,[1367] has pointed out the
path that rises steeply on the right-hand track.
And are you snoring still? and does your drooping head, with muscles
all relaxed, and jaws ready to split with gaping, nod off your
yesterday's debauch? Is there indeed an object at which you aim, at
which you bend your bow? Or are you following the crows, with potsherd
and mud, careless whither your steps lead you, and living only for the
moment?
When once the diseased skin begins to swell, you will see men asking
in vain for hellebore. Meet the disease on its way to attack you.
Of what avail is it to promise mountains of gold to Craterus? [1368]
Learn, wretched men, and investigate the causes of things; what we
are--what course of life we are born to run--what rank is assigned
to us--how delicate the turning round[1369] the goal, and whence the
starting-point--what limit must be set to money--what it is right
to wish for--what uses the rough coin[1370] possesses--how much you
ought to bestow on your country and dear relations--what man the Deity
destined you to be, and in what portion of the human commonwealth your
station is assigned.
Learn: and be not envious because full many a jar grows rancid in his
well-stored larder, for defending the fat Umbrians,[1371] and pepper,
and hams, the remembrances of his Marsian client; or because the
pilchard has not yet failed from the first jar. [1372]
Here some one of the rank brood of centurions may say, "I have
philosophy enough to satisfy me. I care not to be what Arcesilas[1373]
was, and woe-begone Solons, with head awry[1374] and eyes fastened
on the ground, while they mumble suppressed mutterings, or idiotic
silence, or balance words on their lip pouting out, pondering over the
dreams of some palsied dotard, 'that nothing can be generated from
nothing; nothing can return to nothing. '--Is it this over which you
grow pale? Is it this for which one should go without his dinner? " At
this the people laugh, and with wrinkling nose the brawny[1375] youth
loudly re-echo the hearty peals of laughter.
"Examine me! My breast palpitates unusually; and my breath heaves
oppressedly from my fevered jaws: examine me, pray! " He that speaks
thus to his physician, being ordered to keep quiet, when the third
night has seen his veins flow with steady pulse, begs from some
wealthier mansion some mellow Surrentine,[1376] in a flagon of moderate
capacity, as he is about to bathe. "Ho! my good fellow, you look pale!
"
"It is nothing! " "But have an eye to it, whatever it is! Your sallow
skin is insensibly rising. " "Well, you look pale too! worse than I!
Don't play the guardian to me! I buried him long ago--you remain. " "Go
on! I will hold my peace! " So, bloated with feasting and with livid
stomach he takes his bath, while his throat slowly exhales sulphureous
malaria. But shivering[1377] comes on over his cups, and shakes the
steaming beaker[1378] from his hands; his teeth, grinning, rattle in
his head; then the rich dainties dribble from his flaccid lips.
Next follow the trumpets and funeral-torches; and at last this votary
of pleasure, laid out on a lofty bier, and plastered over with thick
unguents,[1379] stretches out his rigid heels[1380] to the door. Then,
with head covered, the Quirites of yesterday[1381] support his bier.
"Feel my pulse, you wretch! put your hand on my breast. There is no
heat here! touch the extremities of my feet and hands. They are not
cold! "
If money has haply met your eye,[1382] or the fair maiden of your
neighbor has smiled sweetly on you, does your heart beat steadily? If
hard cabbage has been served up to you in a cold dish, or flour shaken
through the people's sieve,[1383] let me examine your jaws. A putrid
ulcer lurks in your tender mouth, which it would not be right to grate
against with vulgar beet. [1384] You grow cold, when pallid fear has
roused the bristles on your limbs. Now, when a torch is placed beneath,
your blood begins to boil, and your eyes sparkle with anger; and you
say and do what even Orestes[1385] himself, in his hour of madness,
would swear to be proofs of madness.
FOOTNOTES:
[1336] _Nempe hæc. _ A passage in Gellius exactly describes the opening
scene of this Satire. "Nunc videre est philosophos ultrò currere ut
doceant, ad foras juvenum divitûm, eosque ibi sedere atque operiri
prope ad meridiem, donec discipuli nocturnum omne vinum edormiant. " x. ,
6.
[1337] _Fenestras. _ So Virg. , Æn. , iii. , 151, "Multo manifesti lumine,
quà se plena per insertas fundebat luna fenestras. " Prop. , I. , iii. ,
31, "Donec divisas percurrens luna fenestras. "
[1338] _Extendit_, an hypallage. The light transmitted through the
narrow chinks in the lattices, diverges into broader rays.
[1339] _Stertimus_, for _stertis_. The first person is employed to
avoid giving offense.
[1340] _Falernum. _ The Falernian was a fiery, full-bodied wine of
Campania: hence its epithets, "Severum," Hor. , i. , Od. xxvii. , 9;
"Ardens," ii. , Od. xi. , 19; Mart. , ix. , Ep. lxxiv. , 5; "Forte," ii. ,
Sat. iv. , 24 (cf. Luc. , x. , 163, "Indomitum Meroë cogens spumare
Falernum"); "Acre," Juv. , xiii. , 216. To soften its austerity it
was mixed with Chian wine. Tibull. , II. , i. , 28, "Nunc mihi fumosos
veteris proferte Falernos Consulis, et Chio solvite vincla cado. "
Hor. , i. , Sat. x. , 24, "Suavior ut Chio nota si commista Falerni est. "
_Despumare_ is, properly, "to take off the foam or scum;" "Et foliis
undam trepidi despumat aheni;" then, met. , "to digest. "
[1341] _Linea. _ "It wants but an hour of noon by the sun-dial. " The
Romans divided their day into twelve hours; the _first_ beginning with
the dawn; consequently, at the time of the equinoxes, their hours
nearly corresponded with ours. According to Pliny, H. N. , ii. , 76,
Anaximenes was the inventor of the sun-dial; whereas Diog. Laertius
(II. , i. , 3) and Vitruvius attribute the discovery to Anaximander. They
were, however, known in much earlier times in the East. Cf. 2 Kings,
xx. Sun-dials were introduced at Rome in the time of the second Punic
war; the use of Clepsydræ, "water-clocks," by Scipio Nasica.
[1342] _Canicula. _ Hor. , iii. , Od. xiii. , 9, "Te flagrantis atrox hora
Caniculæ nescit tangere. " III. , xxix. , 19, "Stella vesani Leonis. "
[1343] _Comitum. _ One of the young men of inferior fortune, whom the
wealthy father has taken into his house, to be his son's companion.
[1344] _Vitrea bilis. _ Cf. Hor. , ii. , Sat. iii. , 141, "Jussit quod
splendida bilis;" ubi v. Orell. It is called, by medical writers,
ὑαλώδης χολή.
[1345] _Arcadiæ. _ Juv. , vii. , 160, "Nil salit Arcadico juveni. " Arcadia
was famous for its broods of asses.
[1346] _Bicolor. _ The outer side of the parchment on which the hair
has been is always of a much yellower color than the inner side of
the skin; hence "croceæ membrana tabellæ," Juv. , vii. , 23; though
some think that the color was produced by the oil of citron or cedar.
(Plin. , xiii. , 5. Cf. ad Sat. i. , 43. ) Leaves and the bark of trees
were first used for writing on; hence _folia_ and _liber_: occasionally
linen, or plates of metal or stone; then paper was manufactured from
the Cyperus papyrus, or Egyptian flag. Plin. , xii. , 23; xiii. , 11.
When the Ptolemies stopped the exportation of paper from Egypt, to
prevent the library of Eumenes, king of Pergamus, from rivaling that
of Alexandria, parchment (Pergamenum) was invented to serve as a
substitute. Plin. , x. , 11, 21. Hieron. , Ep. vii. , 2. Hor. , Sat. , II. ,
iii. , 2. The manufacturer of it was termed Membranarius. The parchment
was rendered smooth by rubbing with pumice, and flattened with lead,
and was capable of being made so thin, that we read that the whole
Iliad written on parchment was inclosed within a walnut-shell. Plin. ,
VII. , xxi. , 21. Quintilian says, "that wax tablets were best suited for
writing, as erasures could be so readily made; but that for persons
of weak sight parchment was much better; but that the rapid flow of
thought was checked by the constant necessity for dipping the pen in
the ink. " Quint. , x. , 3. Cf. Catull. , xxii. , 6. Tibull. , III. , i. , 9.
They used reeds (calamus, fistula, arundo) for writing on this, as is
done to the present day in the East. The best came from Egypt. "Dat
chartis habiles calamos Memphitica tellus. " Mart. , xiv. , Ep. 38. Hor. ,
A. P. , 447.
[1347] _Sepia_, put here for the ink. The popular delusion was, that
this fish, when pursued, discharged a black liquid (atramentum), which
rendered the water turbid, and enabled it to make its escape. (Hence it
is still called by the Germans "Tinten-fisch," Ink-fish. ) Vid. Cic. ,
Nat. Deor. , ii. , 50. Plin. , ix. , 29, 45. The old Schol. says that this
liquid was used by the Africans; but that a preparation of lamp-black
was ordinarily used.
[1348] _Palumbo. _ The ring-dove is said to be fed by the undigested
food from the crop of its mother. _Pappare_ is said of children either
calling for food or eating pap (papparium). Hence the male-nurse is
called Pappas. Juv. , iv. , 632, "timidus prægustet pocula Pappas. "
Plaut. , Epid. , v. , 2, 62. It is here put by enallage for the pap
itself; as _lallare_, in the next line, for the "lullaby" of the nurse,
which Ausonius calls _lallum_. Epist. xvi. , 90, "Nutricis inter lemmata
lallique somniferos modos. " Cf.
offer a certain portion of their manubiæ to Capitoline Jove and other
deities.
[1325] _Fratres ahenos. _ It is said that there were in the temple porch
of the Palatine Apollo figures of the fifty Danaides, and opposite
them equestrian statues of the fifty sons of Ægyptus; and that some of
these statues gave oracles by means of dreams. Others refer these lines
to Castor and Pollux: but the words "præcipui sunto" seem to imply a
greater number. The passage is very obscure. Casaubon adopts the former
interpretation.
[1326] _Numæ. _ Numa directed that all vessels used for sacred purposes
should be of pottery-ware. Cf. ad Juv. , xi. , 116.
[1327] _Saturnia. _ Alluding to the Ærarium in the temple of Saturn.
[1328] _Pulpa_ is properly the soft, pulpy part of the fruit between
the skin and the kernel: then it is applied to the soft and flaccid
flesh of young animals, and hence applied to the flesh of men. It is
used here in exactly the scriptural sense, "the flesh. "
[1329] _Casiam. _ Vid. Plin. , xiii. , 3. Persius seems to have had in
his eye the lines in the second Georgic, "Nec varios inhiant pulchra
testudine postes Illusasque auro vestes, Ephyreiaque æra; Alba neque
Assyrio fucatur lana veneno nec _Casiâ_, liquidi _corrumpitur_ usus
_olivi_. " Both the epic poet and the satirist, as Gifford remarks, use
the language of the old republic. They consider the oil of the country
to be vitiated, instead of improved, by the luxurious admixture of
foreign spices.
[1330] _Calabrum. _ The finest wool came from Tarentum in Calabria. Vid.
Plin. , H. N. , viii. , 48; ix. , 61; Colum. , vii. , 2; and from the banks
of the Galesus in its neighborhood. Hor. , Od. , II. , vi. , 10, "Dulce
pellitis ovibus Galesi flumen. " Virg. , G. , iv. , 126. Mart. , xii. , Ep.
64, "Albi quæ superas oves Galesi. "
[1331] _Compositum. _ These lines, as Gifford says, are not only the
quintessence of sanctity, but of language. Closeness would cramp and
paraphrase would enfeeble their sense, which may be felt, but can not
be expressed. Casaubon explains compositum, "animum bene comparatum ad
omnia divina humanaque jura. " τὸ εὔτακτον τῆς ψυχῆς πρὸς τὰ θεῖά τε καὶ
ἀνθρώπινα δίκαια. It may also imply the "harmonious blending of the
two. "
[1332] _Recessus. _ So the Greeks used the phrases μυχοὺς διανοίας,
ἄδυτα ταμιεῖα διανοίας. Cf. Rom. , xi. , 16, τὰ κρυπτὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων.
[1333] _Incoctum_ a metaphor from a fleece double-dyed. So Seneca,
"Quemadmodum lana quosdam colores semel ducit, quosdam nisi sæpius
macerata et recocta non perbibit: sic alias disciplines ingenia cum
accepere, protinus præstant: hæc nisi altè descendit, et diù sedit,
animum non coloravit, sed infecit, nihil ex his quæ promiserat
præstat. " Ep. 71. Cf. Virg. , Georg. , iii. , 307, "Quamvis Milesia magno
vellera mutentur Tyrios _incocta_ rubores. "
[1334] _Litabo. _ Cf. v. , 120, "Soli probi _litare_ dicuntur proprie:
_sacrificare_ quilibet etiam improbi. " Litare therefore is to _obtain_
that for which the sacrifice is offered. Vid. Liv. , xxxviii. , 20,
"Postero die sacrificio facto cum primis hostiis litasset. " Plaut. ,
Pœnul. , ii. , 41, "Tum Jupiter faciat ut semper _sacrificem_ nec unquam
_litem_. " Cf. Lact. ad Stat. Theb. , x. , 610. Suet. , Cæs. , 81. Even the
heathen could see that the deity regarded the purity of the heart,
not the costliness of the offering of the sacrificer. So Laberius,
"_Puras_ deus non _plenas_ aspicit manus. " τὸ δαιμονίον μᾶλλον πρὸς τὸ
τῶν θυόντων ἠθος ἢ πρὸς τὸ τῶν θυομένων πλῆθος βλέπει. Cf. Plat. , Alc. ,
II. , xii. , fin. , "Est litabilis hostia bonus animus et pura mens et
sincera sententia. " Min. , Fel. , 32.
[1335] _Farre. _ The idea is probably taken from Seneca. Ep. 95, "Nec
in victimis, licet opimæ sint, auroque præfulgeant, deorum est honos:
sed pia et recta voluntate venerantium: itaque boni etiam _farre_
ac fictili religiosi. " Hor. , iii. , Od. xxiii. , 17, "Immunis aram si
tetigit manus non sumptuosa blandior hostia mollivit aversos Penates
_farre_ pio et saliente mica. " Cf. Eurip. , Fr. Orion εὖ ἴσθ' ὅταν τις
εὐσεβῶν θύῃ θεοῖς· κἂν μικρὰ θύῃ τυγχάνει σωτηρίας.
SATIRE III.
ARGUMENT.
In this Satire, perhaps more than in any other, we detect Persius'
predilection for the doctrines of the Stoics. With them the
summum bonum was "the sound mind in the sound body. " To attain
which, man must apply himself to the cultivation of virtue, that
is, to the study of philosophy. He that does not can aspire to
neither. Though unknown to himself, he is laboring under a mortal
disease, and though he fancies he possesses a healthy intellect,
he is the victim of as deep-seated and dangerous a delusion as
the recognized maniac. The object of the Satire is to reclaim the
idle and profligate young nobles of his day from their enervating
and pernicious habits, by the illustration of these principles.
The opening scene of the Satire presents us with the bedchamber
where one of these young noblemen, accompanied by some other
youths probably of inferior birth and station, is indulging
in sleep many hours after the sun has risen upon the earth.
The entrance of the tutor, who is a professor of the Stoical
philosophy, disturbs their slumbers, and the confusion consequent
upon his rebuke, and the thin disguise of their ill-assumed
zeal, is graphically described. After a passionate outburst
of contempt at their paltry excuses, the tutor points out the
irretrievable evils that will result from their allowing the
golden hours of youth to pass by unimproved: overthrows all
objections which are raised as to their position in life,
and competency of means rendering such vigorous application
superfluous; and in a passage of solemn warning full of majesty
and power, describes the unavailing remorse which will assuredly
hereafter visit those who have so far quitted the rugged path
that leads to virtue's heights, that all return is hopeless. He
then proceeds to describe the defects of his own education; and
the vices he fell into in consequence of these defects--vices
however which were venial in himself, as those principles which
would have taught him their folly were never inculcated in him.
Whereas those whom he addresses, from the greater care that
has been bestowed on their early training, are without apology
for their neglect of these palpable duties. Then with great
force and vigor, he briefly describes the proper pursuits of
well-regulated minds; and looks down with contemptuous scorn on
the sneers with which vulgar ignorance would deride these truths,
too transcendent for their gross comprehension to appreciate.
The Satire concludes very happily with the lively apologue of
a glutton; who, in despite of all warning and friendly advice,
perseveres even when his health is failing, in such vicious and
unrestrained indulgence, that he falls at length a victim to
his intemperance. The application of the moral is simple. The
mind that is destitute of philosophical culture is hopelessly
diseased, and the precepts of philosophy can alone effect a cure.
He that despises these, in vain pronounces himself to be of sound
mind. On the approach of any thing that can kindle the spark, his
passions burst into flame; and in spite of his boasted sanity,
urge him on to acts that would call forth the reprobation even of
the maniac himself. The whole Satire and its moral, as Gifford
says, may be fitly summed up in the solemn injunction of a wiser
man than the schools ever produced: "Wisdom is the principal
thing: therefore get Wisdom. "
What! always thus! [1336] Already the bright morning is entering the
windows,[1337] and extending[1338] the narrow chinks with light. We
are snoring[1339] as much as would suffice to work off the potent
Falernian,[1340] while the index[1341] is touched by the fifth shadow
of the gnomon. See! What are you about? The raging Dog-star[1342] is
long since ripening the parched harvest, and all the flock is under
the wide-spreading elm. One of the fellow-students[1343] says, "Is
it really so? Come hither, some one, quickly. Is nobody coming! " His
vitreous bile[1344] is swelling. He is bursting with rage: so that you
would fancy whole herds of Arcadia[1345] were braying. Now his book,
and the two-colored[1346] parchment cleared of the hair, and paper,
and the knotty reed is taken in hand. Then he complains that the ink,
grown thick, clogs in his pen; then that the black sepia[1347] vanishes
altogether, if water is poured into it; then that the reed makes blots
with the drops being diluted. O wretch! and every day still more a
wretch! Are we come to such a pitch? Why do you not rather, like the
tender ring-dove,[1348] or the sons of kings, call for minced pap, and
fractiously refuse your nurse's lullaby! --Can I work with such a pen as
this, then?
Whom are you deceiving? Why reiterate these paltry shifts? The stake
is your own! You are leaking away,[1349] idiot! You will become an
object of contempt. The ill-baked jar of half-prepared clay betrays
by its ring its defect, and gives back a cracked sound. You are now
clay, moist and pliant:[1350] even now you ought to be hastily moulded
and fashioned unintermittingly by the rapid wheel. [1351] But, you will
say, you have a fair competence from your hereditary estate; a pure
and stainless salt-cellar. [1352] Why should you fear? And you have a
paten free from care, since it worships your household deities. [1353]
And is this enough? Is it then fitting you should puff out your lungs
to bursting because you trace the thousandth in descent from a Tuscan
stock;[1354] or because robed in your trabea you salute the Censor,
your own kinsman? Thy trappings to the people! I know thee intimately,
inside and out! Are you not ashamed to live after the manner of the
dissolute Natta? [1355]
But he is besotted by vicious indulgence; the gross fat[1356] is
incrusted round his heart: he is free from moral guilt; for he knows
not what he is losing; and sunk in the very depth of vice, will never
rise again to the surface of the wave.
O mighty father of the gods! when once fell lust, imbued with raging
venom, has fired their spirits, vouchsafe to punish fierce tyrants
in no other way than this. Let them see Virtue,[1357] and pine away
at[1358] having forsaken her! Did the brass of the Sicilian[1359]
bull give a deeper groan, or the sword[1360] suspended from the gilded
ceiling over the purple-clad neck strike deeper terror, than if one
should say to himself, "We are sinking, sinking headlong down," and
in his inmost soul, poor wretch, grow pale at what even the wife of
his bosom must not know? I remember when I was young I often used to
touch[1361] my eyes with oil, if I was unwilling to learn the noble
words of the dying Cato;[1362] that would win great applause from my
senseless master, and which my father, sweating with anxiety, would
listen to with the friends he had brought to hear me. And naturally
enough. For the summit of my wishes was to know what the lucky sice
would gain; how much the ruinous ace[1363] would sweep off; not to miss
the neck of the narrow jar;[1364] and that none more skillfully than I
should lash the top[1365] with a whip.
Whereas you are not inexperienced in detecting the obliquity of moral
deflections, and all that the philosophic porch,[1366] painted over
with trowsered Medes, teaches; over which the sleepless and close-shorn
youth lucubrates, fed on husks and fattening polenta. To thee, besides,
the letter that divides the Samian branches,[1367] has pointed out the
path that rises steeply on the right-hand track.
And are you snoring still? and does your drooping head, with muscles
all relaxed, and jaws ready to split with gaping, nod off your
yesterday's debauch? Is there indeed an object at which you aim, at
which you bend your bow? Or are you following the crows, with potsherd
and mud, careless whither your steps lead you, and living only for the
moment?
When once the diseased skin begins to swell, you will see men asking
in vain for hellebore. Meet the disease on its way to attack you.
Of what avail is it to promise mountains of gold to Craterus? [1368]
Learn, wretched men, and investigate the causes of things; what we
are--what course of life we are born to run--what rank is assigned
to us--how delicate the turning round[1369] the goal, and whence the
starting-point--what limit must be set to money--what it is right
to wish for--what uses the rough coin[1370] possesses--how much you
ought to bestow on your country and dear relations--what man the Deity
destined you to be, and in what portion of the human commonwealth your
station is assigned.
Learn: and be not envious because full many a jar grows rancid in his
well-stored larder, for defending the fat Umbrians,[1371] and pepper,
and hams, the remembrances of his Marsian client; or because the
pilchard has not yet failed from the first jar. [1372]
Here some one of the rank brood of centurions may say, "I have
philosophy enough to satisfy me. I care not to be what Arcesilas[1373]
was, and woe-begone Solons, with head awry[1374] and eyes fastened
on the ground, while they mumble suppressed mutterings, or idiotic
silence, or balance words on their lip pouting out, pondering over the
dreams of some palsied dotard, 'that nothing can be generated from
nothing; nothing can return to nothing. '--Is it this over which you
grow pale? Is it this for which one should go without his dinner? " At
this the people laugh, and with wrinkling nose the brawny[1375] youth
loudly re-echo the hearty peals of laughter.
"Examine me! My breast palpitates unusually; and my breath heaves
oppressedly from my fevered jaws: examine me, pray! " He that speaks
thus to his physician, being ordered to keep quiet, when the third
night has seen his veins flow with steady pulse, begs from some
wealthier mansion some mellow Surrentine,[1376] in a flagon of moderate
capacity, as he is about to bathe. "Ho! my good fellow, you look pale!
"
"It is nothing! " "But have an eye to it, whatever it is! Your sallow
skin is insensibly rising. " "Well, you look pale too! worse than I!
Don't play the guardian to me! I buried him long ago--you remain. " "Go
on! I will hold my peace! " So, bloated with feasting and with livid
stomach he takes his bath, while his throat slowly exhales sulphureous
malaria. But shivering[1377] comes on over his cups, and shakes the
steaming beaker[1378] from his hands; his teeth, grinning, rattle in
his head; then the rich dainties dribble from his flaccid lips.
Next follow the trumpets and funeral-torches; and at last this votary
of pleasure, laid out on a lofty bier, and plastered over with thick
unguents,[1379] stretches out his rigid heels[1380] to the door. Then,
with head covered, the Quirites of yesterday[1381] support his bier.
"Feel my pulse, you wretch! put your hand on my breast. There is no
heat here! touch the extremities of my feet and hands. They are not
cold! "
If money has haply met your eye,[1382] or the fair maiden of your
neighbor has smiled sweetly on you, does your heart beat steadily? If
hard cabbage has been served up to you in a cold dish, or flour shaken
through the people's sieve,[1383] let me examine your jaws. A putrid
ulcer lurks in your tender mouth, which it would not be right to grate
against with vulgar beet. [1384] You grow cold, when pallid fear has
roused the bristles on your limbs. Now, when a torch is placed beneath,
your blood begins to boil, and your eyes sparkle with anger; and you
say and do what even Orestes[1385] himself, in his hour of madness,
would swear to be proofs of madness.
FOOTNOTES:
[1336] _Nempe hæc. _ A passage in Gellius exactly describes the opening
scene of this Satire. "Nunc videre est philosophos ultrò currere ut
doceant, ad foras juvenum divitûm, eosque ibi sedere atque operiri
prope ad meridiem, donec discipuli nocturnum omne vinum edormiant. " x. ,
6.
[1337] _Fenestras. _ So Virg. , Æn. , iii. , 151, "Multo manifesti lumine,
quà se plena per insertas fundebat luna fenestras. " Prop. , I. , iii. ,
31, "Donec divisas percurrens luna fenestras. "
[1338] _Extendit_, an hypallage. The light transmitted through the
narrow chinks in the lattices, diverges into broader rays.
[1339] _Stertimus_, for _stertis_. The first person is employed to
avoid giving offense.
[1340] _Falernum. _ The Falernian was a fiery, full-bodied wine of
Campania: hence its epithets, "Severum," Hor. , i. , Od. xxvii. , 9;
"Ardens," ii. , Od. xi. , 19; Mart. , ix. , Ep. lxxiv. , 5; "Forte," ii. ,
Sat. iv. , 24 (cf. Luc. , x. , 163, "Indomitum Meroë cogens spumare
Falernum"); "Acre," Juv. , xiii. , 216. To soften its austerity it
was mixed with Chian wine. Tibull. , II. , i. , 28, "Nunc mihi fumosos
veteris proferte Falernos Consulis, et Chio solvite vincla cado. "
Hor. , i. , Sat. x. , 24, "Suavior ut Chio nota si commista Falerni est. "
_Despumare_ is, properly, "to take off the foam or scum;" "Et foliis
undam trepidi despumat aheni;" then, met. , "to digest. "
[1341] _Linea. _ "It wants but an hour of noon by the sun-dial. " The
Romans divided their day into twelve hours; the _first_ beginning with
the dawn; consequently, at the time of the equinoxes, their hours
nearly corresponded with ours. According to Pliny, H. N. , ii. , 76,
Anaximenes was the inventor of the sun-dial; whereas Diog. Laertius
(II. , i. , 3) and Vitruvius attribute the discovery to Anaximander. They
were, however, known in much earlier times in the East. Cf. 2 Kings,
xx. Sun-dials were introduced at Rome in the time of the second Punic
war; the use of Clepsydræ, "water-clocks," by Scipio Nasica.
[1342] _Canicula. _ Hor. , iii. , Od. xiii. , 9, "Te flagrantis atrox hora
Caniculæ nescit tangere. " III. , xxix. , 19, "Stella vesani Leonis. "
[1343] _Comitum. _ One of the young men of inferior fortune, whom the
wealthy father has taken into his house, to be his son's companion.
[1344] _Vitrea bilis. _ Cf. Hor. , ii. , Sat. iii. , 141, "Jussit quod
splendida bilis;" ubi v. Orell. It is called, by medical writers,
ὑαλώδης χολή.
[1345] _Arcadiæ. _ Juv. , vii. , 160, "Nil salit Arcadico juveni. " Arcadia
was famous for its broods of asses.
[1346] _Bicolor. _ The outer side of the parchment on which the hair
has been is always of a much yellower color than the inner side of
the skin; hence "croceæ membrana tabellæ," Juv. , vii. , 23; though
some think that the color was produced by the oil of citron or cedar.
(Plin. , xiii. , 5. Cf. ad Sat. i. , 43. ) Leaves and the bark of trees
were first used for writing on; hence _folia_ and _liber_: occasionally
linen, or plates of metal or stone; then paper was manufactured from
the Cyperus papyrus, or Egyptian flag. Plin. , xii. , 23; xiii. , 11.
When the Ptolemies stopped the exportation of paper from Egypt, to
prevent the library of Eumenes, king of Pergamus, from rivaling that
of Alexandria, parchment (Pergamenum) was invented to serve as a
substitute. Plin. , x. , 11, 21. Hieron. , Ep. vii. , 2. Hor. , Sat. , II. ,
iii. , 2. The manufacturer of it was termed Membranarius. The parchment
was rendered smooth by rubbing with pumice, and flattened with lead,
and was capable of being made so thin, that we read that the whole
Iliad written on parchment was inclosed within a walnut-shell. Plin. ,
VII. , xxi. , 21. Quintilian says, "that wax tablets were best suited for
writing, as erasures could be so readily made; but that for persons
of weak sight parchment was much better; but that the rapid flow of
thought was checked by the constant necessity for dipping the pen in
the ink. " Quint. , x. , 3. Cf. Catull. , xxii. , 6. Tibull. , III. , i. , 9.
They used reeds (calamus, fistula, arundo) for writing on this, as is
done to the present day in the East. The best came from Egypt. "Dat
chartis habiles calamos Memphitica tellus. " Mart. , xiv. , Ep. 38. Hor. ,
A. P. , 447.
[1347] _Sepia_, put here for the ink. The popular delusion was, that
this fish, when pursued, discharged a black liquid (atramentum), which
rendered the water turbid, and enabled it to make its escape. (Hence it
is still called by the Germans "Tinten-fisch," Ink-fish. ) Vid. Cic. ,
Nat. Deor. , ii. , 50. Plin. , ix. , 29, 45. The old Schol. says that this
liquid was used by the Africans; but that a preparation of lamp-black
was ordinarily used.
[1348] _Palumbo. _ The ring-dove is said to be fed by the undigested
food from the crop of its mother. _Pappare_ is said of children either
calling for food or eating pap (papparium). Hence the male-nurse is
called Pappas. Juv. , iv. , 632, "timidus prægustet pocula Pappas. "
Plaut. , Epid. , v. , 2, 62. It is here put by enallage for the pap
itself; as _lallare_, in the next line, for the "lullaby" of the nurse,
which Ausonius calls _lallum_. Epist. xvi. , 90, "Nutricis inter lemmata
lallique somniferos modos. " Cf.
