The Satire was
probably
written
before Nero had entirely thrown off the mask; at all events, before
he had given the full evidence which he afterward did of the savage
ferocity and gross licentiousness of his true nature.
before Nero had entirely thrown off the mask; at all events, before
he had given the full evidence which he afterward did of the savage
ferocity and gross licentiousness of his true nature.
Satires
, VII.
, i.
, 6.
[1367] _Samios diduxit litera ramos. _ The letter Y was taken by
Pythagoras as the symbol of human life. The stem of the letter
symbolizes the early part of life, when the character is unformed, and
the choice of good or evil as yet undetermined. The right-hand branch,
which is the narrower one, represents the "steep and thorny path"
of virtue. The left-hand branch is the broad and easy road to vice.
Compare the beautiful Episode of Prodicus in Xenophon's Memorabilia.
Servius ad Virg. , Æn. , vi. , 540, "Huic literæ dicebat Pythagoras
humanæ vitæ cursum esse similem, quia unusquisque hominum, cum primum
adolescentiæ limen attigerit, et in eum locum venerit 'partes ubi se
via findit in ambas,' hæreat nutabandus, et nesciat in quam se partem
potius inclinet. " Auson. , Idyll. , xii. , 9, "Pythagoræ bivium ramis
pateo ambiguis Y. " Shakspeare, Hamlet, Act i. , sc. 3. Cic. , de Off. ,
i. , 32. Hesiod, Op. et Di. , 288, μακρὸς δὲ καὶ ὄρθιος οἶμος. Pers. ,
Sat. , v. , 35.
[1368] _Cratero_, a famous physician in Cicero's time. Cic. ad Att. ,
xii. , 13, 14. He is also mentioned by Horace, Sat. , II. , iii. , 161,
"Non est cardiacus, Craterum dixisse putato. "
[1369] _Flexus. _ "There are many periods of life as critical as the
end of the stadium in the chariot-race, where the nicest judgment
is required in turning the corner. " Adrian Turnebe. The reading of
D'Achaintre is followed.
[1370] _Asper Numus. _ Cf. ad Juv. , xiv. , 62.
[1371] _Defensis pinguibus Umbris. _ For the presents which lawyers
received from their clients, cf. Juv. , vii. , 119, "Vas pelamidum. "
[1372] _Orca. _ Cf. sup. , 1. 50. The _Mœna_ was a common coarse kind of
fish (Cic. , Fin. , ii. , 28), commonly used for salting.
[1373] _Arcesilas_ was a native of Pitane, in Æolis. After studying
at Sardis under Autolycus, the mathematician, he came to Athens, and
became a disciple of Theophrastus, and afterward of Crantor. He was the
founder of the Middle Academy. Diog. Laert. , Proœm. , x. , 14. Liv. , iv. ,
c. vi. He maintained that "nothing can be known," and is hence called
"Ignorantiæ Magister. " Lactant. , III. , v. , 6. His doctrine is stated,
Cic. , de Orat. , iii, 18. Acad. , i, 12.
[1374] _Obstipo capite_ implies "the head rigidly fixed in one
position. " Sometimes in an erect one, as in an arrogant and haughty
person. (Suet. , Tib. , 68, "Cervix rigida et obstipa. ") Sometimes bent
forward, which is the characteristic of a slavish and cringing person.
(δουλοπρέπες. Cf. Orell. ad Hor. , ii. , Sat. v. , 92, "Davus sis Comicus
atque Stes capite obstipo multum similis metuenti. ") Sometimes in the
attitude of a meditative person in deep reflection, "with leaden eye
that loves the ground. "
[1375] _Torosa. _ Applied properly to the broad muscles in the breast of
a bull. Ov. , Met. , vii. , 428, "Feriuntque secures Colla torosa boüm. "
[1376] _Surrentina. _ Surrentum, now "Sorrento," on the coast of
Campania, was famous for its wines. Ov. , Met. , xv. , 710, "Et Surrentino
generosos palmite colles. " Pliny assigns it the third place in wines,
ranking it immediately after the Setine and Falernian. He says it was
peculiarly adapted to persons recovering from sickness. XIV. , vi. , 8;
XXIII. , i. , 20. Surrentum was also famous for its drinking-cups of
pottery-ware. XIV. , ii, 4. Mart. , xiv. , Ep. 102; xiii. , 110.
[1377] _Tremor. _ So Hor. , i, Epist. xvi. , 22, "Occultam febrem sub
tempus edendi dissimules, donec manibus tremor incidat unctis. "
[1378] _Trientem_, or _triental_, a cup containing the third part of
the sextarius (which is within a fraction of a pint), equal to four
cyathi Cf. Mart. , vi. , Ep. 86, "Setinum, dominæque nives, densique
trientes, Quando ego vos medico non prohibente bibam? "
[1379] _Amomis. _ Juv. , iv. , 108, "Et matutino sudans Crispinus _amomo_,
Quantum vix redolent duo funera. " The _amomum_ was an Assyrian shrub
with a white flower, from which a very costly perfume was made. Plin. ,
xiii. , 1.
[1380] _Rigidos calces. _ Vid. Plin. , vii. , 8. The dead body was always
carried out with the feet foremost.
[1381] _Hesterni Quirites. _ Slaves, when manumitted, shaved their
heads, to show that, like shipwrecked mariners (Juv. , xii. , 81), they
had escaped the storms of slavery, and then received a pileus (v. , 82)
in the temple of Feronia. Cf. Plaut. , Amph. , I. , i. , 306. The temple,
according to one legend, was founded by some Lacedæmonians who quitted
Sparta to escape from the severity of Lycurgus' laws. Many persons
freed all their slaves at their death, out of vanity, that they might
have a numerous body of freedmen to attend their funeral.
[1382] _Visa est. _ So iv. , 47, "Viso si palles improbe numo. "
[1383] _Cribro. _ The coarse sieve of the common people would let
through much of the bran. The Romans were very particular about the
quality of their bread. Cf. Juv. , v. , 67, _seq. _
[1384] _Beta. _ Martial calls them _fatuæ_, from their insipid flavor
without some condiment, and "fabrorum prandia. " xiii. , Ep. xiii.
[1385] _Orestes. _ Cf. Juv. , xiv. , 285.
SATIRE IV.
ARGUMENT.
Had Persius lived _after_ instead of before Juvenal we might have
imagined that he had taken for the theme the noble lines in his
eighth Satire,
"Omne animi vitium tanto conspectius in se
Crimen habet quanto Major qui peccat habetur. " viii. , 140.
"For still more public scandal Vice extends,
As he is great and noble who offends. "--Dryden.
Or had he drawn from the fountains of inspired wisdom, that he
had had in his eye a passage of still more solemn import: "A
sharp judgment shall be to them that be in high places. For mercy
will soon pardon the meanest; but mighty men shall be mightily
tormented. " Wisdom, vi. , 5. Either of these passages might fairly
serve as the argument of this Satire. What, however, Persius
really took as his model is the First Alcibiades of Plato, and
the imitation of it is nearly as close as is that of the Second
Alcibiades in the Second Satire. And the subject of his criticism
is no less a personage than Nero himself. The close analogy between
Nero and Alcibiades will be further alluded to in the notes. We
must remember that Nero was but seventeen years old when he was
called to take the reins of government, and was but three years
younger than Persius himself.
The Satire was probably written
before Nero had entirely thrown off the mask; at all events, before
he had given the full evidence which he afterward did of the savage
ferocity and gross licentiousness of his true nature. There was
enough indeed for the stern Satirist to censure; but still a spark
of something noble remaining, to kindle the hope that the reproof
might work improvement. In his First Satire he had ridiculed his
pretensions to the name of Poet; in this he exposes his inability
as a Politician. The Satire naturally and readily divides itself
into three parts. In the first he ridicules the misplaced ambition
of those who covet exalted station, and aspire to take the lead in
state affairs, without possessing those qualifications of talent,
education, and experience, which alone could fit them to take the
helm of government; and who hold that the adventitious privileges
of high birth and ancient lineage can countervail the enervating
effects of luxurious indolence and vicious self-indulgence. The
second division of the subject turns on the much-neglected duty of
self-examination; and enforces the duty of uprightness and purity
of conduct from the consideration, that while it is hopeless in
all to escape the keen scrutiny that all men exercise in their
neighbor's failings, while they are at the same time utterly
blind to their own defects, yet that men of high rank and station
must necessarily provoke the more searching criticism, in exact
proportion to the elevation of their position. He points out also
the policy of checking all tendency to satirize the weakness of
others, to which Nero was greatly prone, and in fact had already
aspired to the dignity of a writer of Satire; as such sarcasm only
draws down severer recrimination on ourselves. In the third part
he reverts to the original subject; and urges upon the profligate
nobles of the day the duty of rigid self-scrutiny, by reminding
them of the true character of that worthless rabble, on whose
sordid judgment and mercenary applause they ground their claims to
approbation. This love of the "aura popularis" was Nero's besetting
vice; and none could doubt for whom the advice was meant. Yet
the allusions to Nero throughout the Satire, transparent as they
must have been to his contemporaries, are so dexterously covered
that Persius might easily have secured himself from all charge
of personally attacking the emperor under the plea that his sole
object was a declamatory exercise in imitation of the Dialogue cf
Plato.
"Dost thou wield the affairs of the state? "[1386]--(Imagine the
bearded[1387] master, whom the fell draught of hemlock[1388] took off,
to be saying this:)--Relying on what? Speak, thou ward[1389] of great
Pericles. Has talent, forsooth, and precocious knowledge of the world,
come before thy beard? Knowest thou what must be spoken, and what
kept back? And, therefore, when the populace is boiling with excited
passion, does your spirit move you to impose silence on the crowd by
the majesty of your hand? [1390] and what will you say then? "I think,
Quirites, this is not just! That is bad! This is the properer course? "
For you know how to weigh the justice of the case in the double scale
of the doubtful balance. You can discern the straight line when it lies
between curves,[1391] or when the rule misleads by its distorted foot;
and you are competent to affix the Theta[1392] of condemnation to a
defect.
Why do you not then (adorned in vain with outer skin[1393]) cease to
display your tail[1394] before the day to the fawning rabble, more fit
to swallow down undiluted Anticyras? [1395]
What is your chief good? to have lived always on rich dishes; and a
skin made delicate by constant basking in the sun? [1396] Stay: this
old woman would scarce give a different answer--"Go now! I am son of
Dinomache! "[1397] Puff yourself up! --"I am beautiful. " Granted! Still
Baucis, though in tatters, has no worse philosophy, when she has cried
her herbs[1398] to good purpose to some slovenly slave.
How is it that not a man tries to descend into himself? Not a man! But
our gaze is fixed on the wallet[1399] on the back in front of us! You
may ask, "Do you know Vectidius' farms! " Whose? The rich fellow that
cultivates more land at Cures than a kite[1400] can fly over! Him do
you mean? Him, born under the wrath of Heaven, and an inauspicious
Genius, who whenever he fixes his yoke at the beaten cross ways,[1401]
fearing to scrape off the clay incrusted on the diminutive vessel,
groans out, "May this be well! " and munching an onion in its hull, with
some salt, and a dish of frumety (his slaves applauding the while),
sups up the mothery dregs of vapid vinegar.
But if, well essenced, you lounge away your time and bask in the sun,
there stands by you one, unkenned, to touch you with his elbow, and
spit out his bitter detestation on your morals--on _you_, who by vile
arts make your body delicate! While you comb the perfumed hair[1402] on
your cheeks, why are you closely shorn elsewhere? when, though five
wrestlers pluck out the weeds, the rank fern will yield to no amount of
toil.
"We strike;[1403] and in our turn expose our limbs to the arrows. It is
thus we live. Thus we know it to be. You have a secret wound, though
the baldric hides it with its broad gold. As you please! Impose upon
your own powers; deceive _them_ if you can! "
"While the whole neighborhood pronounces me to be super-excellent,
shall I not credit[1404] them? "
If you grow pale, vile wretch, at the sight of money; if you execute
all that suggests itself to your lust; if you cautiously lash the forum
with many a stroke,[1405] in vain you present to the rabble your
thirsty[1406] ears. Cast off from you that which you are not. Let the
cobbler[1407] bear off his presents. Dwell with yourself,[1408] and you
will know how short your household stuff is.
FOOTNOTES:
[1386] _Rem populi tractas? _ from the Greek περὶ τῶν τοῦ δήμου
πραγμάτων βουλεύεσθαι. The imitations of the First Alcibiades are very
close throughout the Satire. Even in our own day, in looking back upon
ancient history, it would be difficult to find two persons so nearly
counterparts of each other as Nero and Alcibiades; not only in their
personal character but in the adventitious circumstances of their life.
Both came into public life at a very early age. Nero was emperor before
he was seventeen years old, and Alcibiades was barely twenty at the
siege of Potidæa. Seneca was to Nero what Socrates was to Alcibiades.
Both derived their claims to pre-eminence from the _mother's_ side:
Nero through Agrippina, from the Julian gens; Alcibiades through
Dinomache, from the Alemæonidæ. The public influence of both extended
through nearly the same period, thirteen years. Both were notorious
for the same vices: love of self-indulgence, ambition of pre-eminence,
personal vanity, lawless insolence toward others, lavish expenditure,
and utter disregard of all principle. It would be very easy to carry
out the parallel into greater detail. Comp. Suet. , Nero, c. 26, with
Grote's Greece, vol. vii. , ch. 55.
[1387] _Barbatum. _ Cf. Juv. , xiv. , 12, "Barbatos licet admoveas mille
inde magistros. " Cic. , Fin. , iv. , "Barba sylvosa et pulcrè alita
inter hominis eruditi insignia recensetur. " Hor. , ii. , Sat. iii. , 34,
"Tempore quo me solatus jussit sapientem pascere barbam. "
[1388] _Cicutæ. _ Cf. ad Juv. , vii, 206.
[1389] _Pupille. _ Alcibiades was left an orphan at the age of five
years, his father, Clinias, having been killed at the battle of
Coronea; when he was placed with his younger brother Clinias, under
the guardianship of Pericles and his brother Ariphron, to whom his
ungovernable passions, even in his boyhood, were a source of great
grief. Of this connection Alcibiades was very proud. Cf. Plat. , Alc. ,
c. 1. Nero lost his father when scarcely three years old; and at the
age of eleven, he was adopted by Claudius and placed under the care
of Annæus Seneca. It is curious that the first public act of both was
an act of liberality to the people. Compare the account of Nero's
proposing the Congiarium (Suet. , Nero, c. 7), with the anecdote of
the quail of Alcibiades told by Plutarch (in Vit. , c. 10). There is
probably also a bitter sarcasm in the word "pupille," as it was the
term of contempt applied to Nero by Poppæa, who was impatient to be
married to him, which the control of his mother Agrippina, and the
influence of Seneca and Burrhus, delayed. Cf. Tac. , Ann. , xiv. , I,
"Quæ (Poppæa) aliquando per facetias incusaret Principem et _pupillum_
vocaret qui jussis alienis obnoxius non modo imperii sed libertatis
etiam indigeret. " Some imagine _pericli_ to be intended as a pun, "One
that would prove _dangerous_ hereafter;" as Alcibiades was compared to
a lion's whelp, Arist. , Ran. , 1431, οὐ χρὴ λέοντος σκύμνον ἐν πόλει
τρέφειν ἤν δ' ἐκτρέφῃ τις, τοῖς τρόποις ὑπηρετεῖν.
[1390] _Majestate manûs. _ Ov. , Met. , i. , 205, "Quam fuit illa Jovi: qui
postquam voce, _manuque_ Murmura compressit, tenuere silentia cuncti. "
So Lucan says of Cæsar, "Utque satis trepidum turbâ coeunte tumultum
Composuit vultu, _dextrâque_ silentia jussit. " Cf. Acts, xiii. 16.
[1391] _Curva. _ The Stoic notion that virtue is a straight line; vices,
curved: the virtues occasionally approaching nearer to one curve than
the other. Cf. Arist. , Eth. , II. , vii. and viii. ; and Sat. , iii. , 52,
"Haud tibi inexpertum _curvos_ deprendere mores, Quæque docet sapiens
braccatis illita Medis Porticus. "
[1392] _Nigrum Theta. _ The Θ, the first letter of θάνατος, was set
by the Judices against the names of those whom they adjuged worthy
of death, and was hence used by critics to obelize passages they
condemned or disapproved of; the contrary being marked with Χ, for
χρηστόν. Cf. Mart. , vii. , Ep. xxxvii. , 1, "Nosti mortiferum quæstoris,
Castrice, signum, Est operæ pretium discere theta novum. " Auson. , Ep.
128, "Tuumque nomen theta sectilis signet. " Sidon. , Carm. , ix. , 335,
"Isti qui valet exarationi Districtum bonus applicare theta. " (It was
also used on tomb-stones, and as a mark to tick off the dead on the
muster-roll of soldiers. )
[1393] _Summâ pella decorus. _ The personal beauty of Alcibiades is
proverbial. Suetonius does not give a very unfavorable account of
Nero's exterior, "Staturâ fuit prope justâ, sufflavo capillo, vultu
pulchro magis quam venusto, oculis cæsiis. " The rest of the picture
is not quite so flattering. It should be observed, by the way,
that Suetonius speaks in terms by no means disparaging of Nero's
verses, which, he says, flowed easily and naturally: he discards the
insinuation that they were mere translations, or plagiarisms, as he
says he had ocular proof to the contrary. Suet. , Vit. , c. 51, 2.
[1394] _Caudam jactare_, a metaphor either from "a dog fawning," or "a
peacock displaying its tail. " Hor. , ii. , Sat. ii. , 26, "Rara avis et
pictâ pandat spectacula caudâ. "
[1395] _Anticyras. _ Cf. ad Juv. , xiii. , 97. Hor. , ii. , Ep. ii. , 137,
"Expulit helleboro morbum bilemque meraco. " Lucian, ἐν Πλοίῳ, 45, καὶ
ὁ ἑλλέβορος ἱκανὸς ποιῆσαι ζωρότερος ποθείς. _Meracus_ is properly
applied to unmixed _wine_; _merus_, to any _other_ liquid.
[1396] _Curata cuticula sole. _ Cf. ad Juv. , xi. , 203, "Nostra bibat
vernum contracta cuticula solem. " Alluding to the _apricatio_, or
"sunning themselves," of which old men are so fond. Line 33. Sat. v. ,
179. Cic. , de Senect. , xvi. Mart. , x. , Ep. xii. , 7, "I precor et totos
avida cute combibe soles, Quam formosus eris, dum peregrinus eris. "
Plin. , Ep. iii. , 1. "Ubi hora balinei nuntiata est, in sole, si caret
vento, ambulat nudus. " iv.
[1367] _Samios diduxit litera ramos. _ The letter Y was taken by
Pythagoras as the symbol of human life. The stem of the letter
symbolizes the early part of life, when the character is unformed, and
the choice of good or evil as yet undetermined. The right-hand branch,
which is the narrower one, represents the "steep and thorny path"
of virtue. The left-hand branch is the broad and easy road to vice.
Compare the beautiful Episode of Prodicus in Xenophon's Memorabilia.
Servius ad Virg. , Æn. , vi. , 540, "Huic literæ dicebat Pythagoras
humanæ vitæ cursum esse similem, quia unusquisque hominum, cum primum
adolescentiæ limen attigerit, et in eum locum venerit 'partes ubi se
via findit in ambas,' hæreat nutabandus, et nesciat in quam se partem
potius inclinet. " Auson. , Idyll. , xii. , 9, "Pythagoræ bivium ramis
pateo ambiguis Y. " Shakspeare, Hamlet, Act i. , sc. 3. Cic. , de Off. ,
i. , 32. Hesiod, Op. et Di. , 288, μακρὸς δὲ καὶ ὄρθιος οἶμος. Pers. ,
Sat. , v. , 35.
[1368] _Cratero_, a famous physician in Cicero's time. Cic. ad Att. ,
xii. , 13, 14. He is also mentioned by Horace, Sat. , II. , iii. , 161,
"Non est cardiacus, Craterum dixisse putato. "
[1369] _Flexus. _ "There are many periods of life as critical as the
end of the stadium in the chariot-race, where the nicest judgment
is required in turning the corner. " Adrian Turnebe. The reading of
D'Achaintre is followed.
[1370] _Asper Numus. _ Cf. ad Juv. , xiv. , 62.
[1371] _Defensis pinguibus Umbris. _ For the presents which lawyers
received from their clients, cf. Juv. , vii. , 119, "Vas pelamidum. "
[1372] _Orca. _ Cf. sup. , 1. 50. The _Mœna_ was a common coarse kind of
fish (Cic. , Fin. , ii. , 28), commonly used for salting.
[1373] _Arcesilas_ was a native of Pitane, in Æolis. After studying
at Sardis under Autolycus, the mathematician, he came to Athens, and
became a disciple of Theophrastus, and afterward of Crantor. He was the
founder of the Middle Academy. Diog. Laert. , Proœm. , x. , 14. Liv. , iv. ,
c. vi. He maintained that "nothing can be known," and is hence called
"Ignorantiæ Magister. " Lactant. , III. , v. , 6. His doctrine is stated,
Cic. , de Orat. , iii, 18. Acad. , i, 12.
[1374] _Obstipo capite_ implies "the head rigidly fixed in one
position. " Sometimes in an erect one, as in an arrogant and haughty
person. (Suet. , Tib. , 68, "Cervix rigida et obstipa. ") Sometimes bent
forward, which is the characteristic of a slavish and cringing person.
(δουλοπρέπες. Cf. Orell. ad Hor. , ii. , Sat. v. , 92, "Davus sis Comicus
atque Stes capite obstipo multum similis metuenti. ") Sometimes in the
attitude of a meditative person in deep reflection, "with leaden eye
that loves the ground. "
[1375] _Torosa. _ Applied properly to the broad muscles in the breast of
a bull. Ov. , Met. , vii. , 428, "Feriuntque secures Colla torosa boüm. "
[1376] _Surrentina. _ Surrentum, now "Sorrento," on the coast of
Campania, was famous for its wines. Ov. , Met. , xv. , 710, "Et Surrentino
generosos palmite colles. " Pliny assigns it the third place in wines,
ranking it immediately after the Setine and Falernian. He says it was
peculiarly adapted to persons recovering from sickness. XIV. , vi. , 8;
XXIII. , i. , 20. Surrentum was also famous for its drinking-cups of
pottery-ware. XIV. , ii, 4. Mart. , xiv. , Ep. 102; xiii. , 110.
[1377] _Tremor. _ So Hor. , i, Epist. xvi. , 22, "Occultam febrem sub
tempus edendi dissimules, donec manibus tremor incidat unctis. "
[1378] _Trientem_, or _triental_, a cup containing the third part of
the sextarius (which is within a fraction of a pint), equal to four
cyathi Cf. Mart. , vi. , Ep. 86, "Setinum, dominæque nives, densique
trientes, Quando ego vos medico non prohibente bibam? "
[1379] _Amomis. _ Juv. , iv. , 108, "Et matutino sudans Crispinus _amomo_,
Quantum vix redolent duo funera. " The _amomum_ was an Assyrian shrub
with a white flower, from which a very costly perfume was made. Plin. ,
xiii. , 1.
[1380] _Rigidos calces. _ Vid. Plin. , vii. , 8. The dead body was always
carried out with the feet foremost.
[1381] _Hesterni Quirites. _ Slaves, when manumitted, shaved their
heads, to show that, like shipwrecked mariners (Juv. , xii. , 81), they
had escaped the storms of slavery, and then received a pileus (v. , 82)
in the temple of Feronia. Cf. Plaut. , Amph. , I. , i. , 306. The temple,
according to one legend, was founded by some Lacedæmonians who quitted
Sparta to escape from the severity of Lycurgus' laws. Many persons
freed all their slaves at their death, out of vanity, that they might
have a numerous body of freedmen to attend their funeral.
[1382] _Visa est. _ So iv. , 47, "Viso si palles improbe numo. "
[1383] _Cribro. _ The coarse sieve of the common people would let
through much of the bran. The Romans were very particular about the
quality of their bread. Cf. Juv. , v. , 67, _seq. _
[1384] _Beta. _ Martial calls them _fatuæ_, from their insipid flavor
without some condiment, and "fabrorum prandia. " xiii. , Ep. xiii.
[1385] _Orestes. _ Cf. Juv. , xiv. , 285.
SATIRE IV.
ARGUMENT.
Had Persius lived _after_ instead of before Juvenal we might have
imagined that he had taken for the theme the noble lines in his
eighth Satire,
"Omne animi vitium tanto conspectius in se
Crimen habet quanto Major qui peccat habetur. " viii. , 140.
"For still more public scandal Vice extends,
As he is great and noble who offends. "--Dryden.
Or had he drawn from the fountains of inspired wisdom, that he
had had in his eye a passage of still more solemn import: "A
sharp judgment shall be to them that be in high places. For mercy
will soon pardon the meanest; but mighty men shall be mightily
tormented. " Wisdom, vi. , 5. Either of these passages might fairly
serve as the argument of this Satire. What, however, Persius
really took as his model is the First Alcibiades of Plato, and
the imitation of it is nearly as close as is that of the Second
Alcibiades in the Second Satire. And the subject of his criticism
is no less a personage than Nero himself. The close analogy between
Nero and Alcibiades will be further alluded to in the notes. We
must remember that Nero was but seventeen years old when he was
called to take the reins of government, and was but three years
younger than Persius himself.
The Satire was probably written
before Nero had entirely thrown off the mask; at all events, before
he had given the full evidence which he afterward did of the savage
ferocity and gross licentiousness of his true nature. There was
enough indeed for the stern Satirist to censure; but still a spark
of something noble remaining, to kindle the hope that the reproof
might work improvement. In his First Satire he had ridiculed his
pretensions to the name of Poet; in this he exposes his inability
as a Politician. The Satire naturally and readily divides itself
into three parts. In the first he ridicules the misplaced ambition
of those who covet exalted station, and aspire to take the lead in
state affairs, without possessing those qualifications of talent,
education, and experience, which alone could fit them to take the
helm of government; and who hold that the adventitious privileges
of high birth and ancient lineage can countervail the enervating
effects of luxurious indolence and vicious self-indulgence. The
second division of the subject turns on the much-neglected duty of
self-examination; and enforces the duty of uprightness and purity
of conduct from the consideration, that while it is hopeless in
all to escape the keen scrutiny that all men exercise in their
neighbor's failings, while they are at the same time utterly
blind to their own defects, yet that men of high rank and station
must necessarily provoke the more searching criticism, in exact
proportion to the elevation of their position. He points out also
the policy of checking all tendency to satirize the weakness of
others, to which Nero was greatly prone, and in fact had already
aspired to the dignity of a writer of Satire; as such sarcasm only
draws down severer recrimination on ourselves. In the third part
he reverts to the original subject; and urges upon the profligate
nobles of the day the duty of rigid self-scrutiny, by reminding
them of the true character of that worthless rabble, on whose
sordid judgment and mercenary applause they ground their claims to
approbation. This love of the "aura popularis" was Nero's besetting
vice; and none could doubt for whom the advice was meant. Yet
the allusions to Nero throughout the Satire, transparent as they
must have been to his contemporaries, are so dexterously covered
that Persius might easily have secured himself from all charge
of personally attacking the emperor under the plea that his sole
object was a declamatory exercise in imitation of the Dialogue cf
Plato.
"Dost thou wield the affairs of the state? "[1386]--(Imagine the
bearded[1387] master, whom the fell draught of hemlock[1388] took off,
to be saying this:)--Relying on what? Speak, thou ward[1389] of great
Pericles. Has talent, forsooth, and precocious knowledge of the world,
come before thy beard? Knowest thou what must be spoken, and what
kept back? And, therefore, when the populace is boiling with excited
passion, does your spirit move you to impose silence on the crowd by
the majesty of your hand? [1390] and what will you say then? "I think,
Quirites, this is not just! That is bad! This is the properer course? "
For you know how to weigh the justice of the case in the double scale
of the doubtful balance. You can discern the straight line when it lies
between curves,[1391] or when the rule misleads by its distorted foot;
and you are competent to affix the Theta[1392] of condemnation to a
defect.
Why do you not then (adorned in vain with outer skin[1393]) cease to
display your tail[1394] before the day to the fawning rabble, more fit
to swallow down undiluted Anticyras? [1395]
What is your chief good? to have lived always on rich dishes; and a
skin made delicate by constant basking in the sun? [1396] Stay: this
old woman would scarce give a different answer--"Go now! I am son of
Dinomache! "[1397] Puff yourself up! --"I am beautiful. " Granted! Still
Baucis, though in tatters, has no worse philosophy, when she has cried
her herbs[1398] to good purpose to some slovenly slave.
How is it that not a man tries to descend into himself? Not a man! But
our gaze is fixed on the wallet[1399] on the back in front of us! You
may ask, "Do you know Vectidius' farms! " Whose? The rich fellow that
cultivates more land at Cures than a kite[1400] can fly over! Him do
you mean? Him, born under the wrath of Heaven, and an inauspicious
Genius, who whenever he fixes his yoke at the beaten cross ways,[1401]
fearing to scrape off the clay incrusted on the diminutive vessel,
groans out, "May this be well! " and munching an onion in its hull, with
some salt, and a dish of frumety (his slaves applauding the while),
sups up the mothery dregs of vapid vinegar.
But if, well essenced, you lounge away your time and bask in the sun,
there stands by you one, unkenned, to touch you with his elbow, and
spit out his bitter detestation on your morals--on _you_, who by vile
arts make your body delicate! While you comb the perfumed hair[1402] on
your cheeks, why are you closely shorn elsewhere? when, though five
wrestlers pluck out the weeds, the rank fern will yield to no amount of
toil.
"We strike;[1403] and in our turn expose our limbs to the arrows. It is
thus we live. Thus we know it to be. You have a secret wound, though
the baldric hides it with its broad gold. As you please! Impose upon
your own powers; deceive _them_ if you can! "
"While the whole neighborhood pronounces me to be super-excellent,
shall I not credit[1404] them? "
If you grow pale, vile wretch, at the sight of money; if you execute
all that suggests itself to your lust; if you cautiously lash the forum
with many a stroke,[1405] in vain you present to the rabble your
thirsty[1406] ears. Cast off from you that which you are not. Let the
cobbler[1407] bear off his presents. Dwell with yourself,[1408] and you
will know how short your household stuff is.
FOOTNOTES:
[1386] _Rem populi tractas? _ from the Greek περὶ τῶν τοῦ δήμου
πραγμάτων βουλεύεσθαι. The imitations of the First Alcibiades are very
close throughout the Satire. Even in our own day, in looking back upon
ancient history, it would be difficult to find two persons so nearly
counterparts of each other as Nero and Alcibiades; not only in their
personal character but in the adventitious circumstances of their life.
Both came into public life at a very early age. Nero was emperor before
he was seventeen years old, and Alcibiades was barely twenty at the
siege of Potidæa. Seneca was to Nero what Socrates was to Alcibiades.
Both derived their claims to pre-eminence from the _mother's_ side:
Nero through Agrippina, from the Julian gens; Alcibiades through
Dinomache, from the Alemæonidæ. The public influence of both extended
through nearly the same period, thirteen years. Both were notorious
for the same vices: love of self-indulgence, ambition of pre-eminence,
personal vanity, lawless insolence toward others, lavish expenditure,
and utter disregard of all principle. It would be very easy to carry
out the parallel into greater detail. Comp. Suet. , Nero, c. 26, with
Grote's Greece, vol. vii. , ch. 55.
[1387] _Barbatum. _ Cf. Juv. , xiv. , 12, "Barbatos licet admoveas mille
inde magistros. " Cic. , Fin. , iv. , "Barba sylvosa et pulcrè alita
inter hominis eruditi insignia recensetur. " Hor. , ii. , Sat. iii. , 34,
"Tempore quo me solatus jussit sapientem pascere barbam. "
[1388] _Cicutæ. _ Cf. ad Juv. , vii, 206.
[1389] _Pupille. _ Alcibiades was left an orphan at the age of five
years, his father, Clinias, having been killed at the battle of
Coronea; when he was placed with his younger brother Clinias, under
the guardianship of Pericles and his brother Ariphron, to whom his
ungovernable passions, even in his boyhood, were a source of great
grief. Of this connection Alcibiades was very proud. Cf. Plat. , Alc. ,
c. 1. Nero lost his father when scarcely three years old; and at the
age of eleven, he was adopted by Claudius and placed under the care
of Annæus Seneca. It is curious that the first public act of both was
an act of liberality to the people. Compare the account of Nero's
proposing the Congiarium (Suet. , Nero, c. 7), with the anecdote of
the quail of Alcibiades told by Plutarch (in Vit. , c. 10). There is
probably also a bitter sarcasm in the word "pupille," as it was the
term of contempt applied to Nero by Poppæa, who was impatient to be
married to him, which the control of his mother Agrippina, and the
influence of Seneca and Burrhus, delayed. Cf. Tac. , Ann. , xiv. , I,
"Quæ (Poppæa) aliquando per facetias incusaret Principem et _pupillum_
vocaret qui jussis alienis obnoxius non modo imperii sed libertatis
etiam indigeret. " Some imagine _pericli_ to be intended as a pun, "One
that would prove _dangerous_ hereafter;" as Alcibiades was compared to
a lion's whelp, Arist. , Ran. , 1431, οὐ χρὴ λέοντος σκύμνον ἐν πόλει
τρέφειν ἤν δ' ἐκτρέφῃ τις, τοῖς τρόποις ὑπηρετεῖν.
[1390] _Majestate manûs. _ Ov. , Met. , i. , 205, "Quam fuit illa Jovi: qui
postquam voce, _manuque_ Murmura compressit, tenuere silentia cuncti. "
So Lucan says of Cæsar, "Utque satis trepidum turbâ coeunte tumultum
Composuit vultu, _dextrâque_ silentia jussit. " Cf. Acts, xiii. 16.
[1391] _Curva. _ The Stoic notion that virtue is a straight line; vices,
curved: the virtues occasionally approaching nearer to one curve than
the other. Cf. Arist. , Eth. , II. , vii. and viii. ; and Sat. , iii. , 52,
"Haud tibi inexpertum _curvos_ deprendere mores, Quæque docet sapiens
braccatis illita Medis Porticus. "
[1392] _Nigrum Theta. _ The Θ, the first letter of θάνατος, was set
by the Judices against the names of those whom they adjuged worthy
of death, and was hence used by critics to obelize passages they
condemned or disapproved of; the contrary being marked with Χ, for
χρηστόν. Cf. Mart. , vii. , Ep. xxxvii. , 1, "Nosti mortiferum quæstoris,
Castrice, signum, Est operæ pretium discere theta novum. " Auson. , Ep.
128, "Tuumque nomen theta sectilis signet. " Sidon. , Carm. , ix. , 335,
"Isti qui valet exarationi Districtum bonus applicare theta. " (It was
also used on tomb-stones, and as a mark to tick off the dead on the
muster-roll of soldiers. )
[1393] _Summâ pella decorus. _ The personal beauty of Alcibiades is
proverbial. Suetonius does not give a very unfavorable account of
Nero's exterior, "Staturâ fuit prope justâ, sufflavo capillo, vultu
pulchro magis quam venusto, oculis cæsiis. " The rest of the picture
is not quite so flattering. It should be observed, by the way,
that Suetonius speaks in terms by no means disparaging of Nero's
verses, which, he says, flowed easily and naturally: he discards the
insinuation that they were mere translations, or plagiarisms, as he
says he had ocular proof to the contrary. Suet. , Vit. , c. 51, 2.
[1394] _Caudam jactare_, a metaphor either from "a dog fawning," or "a
peacock displaying its tail. " Hor. , ii. , Sat. ii. , 26, "Rara avis et
pictâ pandat spectacula caudâ. "
[1395] _Anticyras. _ Cf. ad Juv. , xiii. , 97. Hor. , ii. , Ep. ii. , 137,
"Expulit helleboro morbum bilemque meraco. " Lucian, ἐν Πλοίῳ, 45, καὶ
ὁ ἑλλέβορος ἱκανὸς ποιῆσαι ζωρότερος ποθείς. _Meracus_ is properly
applied to unmixed _wine_; _merus_, to any _other_ liquid.
[1396] _Curata cuticula sole. _ Cf. ad Juv. , xi. , 203, "Nostra bibat
vernum contracta cuticula solem. " Alluding to the _apricatio_, or
"sunning themselves," of which old men are so fond. Line 33. Sat. v. ,
179. Cic. , de Senect. , xvi. Mart. , x. , Ep. xii. , 7, "I precor et totos
avida cute combibe soles, Quam formosus eris, dum peregrinus eris. "
Plin. , Ep. iii. , 1. "Ubi hora balinei nuntiata est, in sole, si caret
vento, ambulat nudus. " iv.
