--What could be more
splendid?
Satires
, 153, "Sed periit postquam
cerdonibus esse timendus cœperat. " viii. , 182, "Et quæ turpia cerdoni
volesos Brutosque decebunt. " "Give back the rabble their tribute of
applause. Let them bear their vile presents elsewhere! "
[1408] _Tecum habita. _ "Retire into yourself; examine yourself
thoroughly; your abilities and powers of governing: and you will find
how little fitted you are for the arduous task you have undertaken. "
Compare the end of the Alcibiades. Juv. , xi. , 33, "Te consule, die tibi
qui sis. " Hor. , i. , Sat. iii. , 34, "Te ipsum concute. " Sen. , Ep. 80,
_fin. _, "Si perpendere te voles, sepone pecuniam, domum, dignitatem:
intus te ipse considera. Nunc qualis sis, aliis credis. "
SATIRE V.
ARGUMENT.
On this Satire, which is the longest and the best of all, Persius
may be said to rest his claims to be considered a Philosopher
and a Poet. It may be compared with advantage with the Third
Satire of the second book of Horace. As the object in that is to
defend what is called the Stoical paradox, "that none but the
Philosopher is of _sound mind_,"
"Quem mala stultitia et quemcunque inscitia veri
Cæecum agit, insanum Chrysippi porticus et grex
Autumat:" i. , 43-45,
so here, Persius maintains that other dogma of the Stoics, "that
none but the Philosopher is truly a _free_ man. " Horace argues
(in the person of a Stoic) that there can be but _one_ path that
leads in the right direction; all others must lead the traveler
only farther astray. "Unus utrique error sed variis illudit
partibus" (ἐσθλοὶ μὲν γὰρ ἁπλῶς, παντοδαπῶς δὲ κακοί. Arist. ,
Eth. , II. , vi. , 4). So Persius argues, whatever are the varied
pursuits of different minds, he that is under the influence of some
overwhelming passion, can offer no claim to be accounted a free
agent. "Mille hominum species, et rerum discolor usus. " (52. ) In
fact, if we substitute "freedom" for "wisdom," the whole argument
of the last part of the Satire may be expressed in the two lines of
Horace:
"Quisquis
_Ambitione_ malâ aut _argenti_ pallet amore
Quisquis _Luxuria_ tristive _Superstitione_
Aut alio mentis morbo calet:"
that man can neither be pronounced free or of sound mind.
The Satire consists of two parts; the first serving as a Proëm to
the other. It is, in fact, the earnest expression of unbounded
affection for his tutor and early friend Annæus Cornutus, from
whom he had imbibed those principles of philosophy, which it is
the object of the latter part of the Satire to elucidate. After a
few lines of ridicule at the hackneyed prologues of the day, he
puts into the mouth of Cornutus that just criticism of poetical
composition which there is very little doubt Persius had in reality
derived from his master; and in answer to this, he takes occasion
to profess his sincere and deep-seated love and gratitude toward
the preceptor, whose kind care had rescued him from the vicious
courses to which a young and ardent temperament was leading him;
and whose sound judgment and dexterous management had weaned him
from the temptations that assail the young, by making him his own
companion in those studies which expanded his intellect while
they rectified the _obliquity_ (to use the Stoics' phrase) of his
moral character. Such mutual affection, he urges, could only exist
between two persons whom something more than mere adventitious
circumstances drew together; and he therefore concludes that the
same natal star must have presided over the horoscope of both.
He then proceeds to the main subject of the Satire, viz. , that all
men should aim at attaining that freedom which can only result from
that perfect "soundness of mind" which we have shown to be the
summum bonum of the Stoics. This real freedom no mere external or
adventitious circumstances can bestow. Dama, though freed at his
master's behest, if he be the slave of passion, is as much a slave
as if he had never felt the prætor's rod. Until he have really cast
off, like the snake, the slough of his former vices, and become
changed in heart and principles as he is in political standing,
he is so far from being really free from bondage that he can not
rightly perform even the most trivial act of daily life. True
freedom consists in virtue alone; but "Virtus est vitium fugere:"
and he who eradicates all other passions, but cherishes still one
darling vice, has but changed his master. The dictates of the
passions that sway his breast are more imperious than those of the
severest task-master. Whether it be avarice, or luxury, or love,
or ambition, or superstition, that is the dominant principle, so
long as he can not shake himself free from the control of these, he
is as much, as real a slave as the drudge that bears his master's
strigil to the bath, or the dog that fancies he has burst his bonds
while the long fragment of his broken chain still dangles from his
neck. The last few lines contain a dignified rebuke of the sneers
which such pure sentiments as these would provoke in the coarse
minds of some into whose hands these lines might fall; perhaps,
too, they may be meant as a gentle reproof of the sly irony in
which the Epicurean Horace indulged, while professing to enunciate
the Stoic doctrine, that none but the true Philosopher can be said
to be of sound mind.
It is the custom of poets to pray for a hundred voices,[1409] and to
wish for a hundred mouths and a hundred tongues for their verses;[1410]
whether the subject proposed be one to be mouthed[1411] by a
grim-visaged[1412] Tragœdian, or the wounds[1413] of a Parthian drawing
his weapon from his groin. [1414]
CORNUTUS. [1415] What is the object of this? or what masses[1416]
of robust song are you heaping up, so as to require the support
of a hundred throats? Let those who are about to speak on grand
subjects collect mists on Helicon;[1417] all those for whom the pot
of Procne[1418] or Thyestes shall boil, to be often supped on by the
insipid Glycon. [1419] You neither press forth the air from the panting
bellows, while the mass is smelting in the furnace; nor, hoarse with
pent-up murmur, foolishly croak out something ponderous, nor strive to
burst your swollen cheeks with puffing. [1420] You adopt the language of
the Toga,[1421] skillful at judicious combination, with moderate style,
well rounded,[1422] clever at lashing depraved morals,[1423] and with
well-bred sportiveness to affix the mark of censure. Draw from this
source what you have to say; and leave at Mycenæ the tables, with the
head[1424] and feet, and study plebeian dinners.
PERSIUS. For my part, I do not aim at this, that my page may be
inflated with air-blown trifles, fit only to give weight[1425]
to smoke. We are talking apart from the crowd. I am now, at the
instigation of the Muse, giving you my heart to sift;[1426] and delight
in showing you, beloved friend, how large a portion of my soul is
yours, Cornutus! Knock then, since thou knowest well how to detect what
rings sound,[1427] and the glozings of a varnished[1428] tongue. For
this I would dare to pray for a hundred voices, that with guileless
voice I may unfold how deeply I have fixed thee in my inmost breast;
and that my words may unseal for thee all that lies buried, too deep
for words, in my secret heart.
When first the guardian purple left me, its timid charge,[1429] and my
boss[1430] was hung up, an offering to the short-girt[1431]
Lares; when my companions were kind, and the white centre-fold[1432]
gave my eyes license to rove with impunity over the whole Suburra; at
the time when the path is doubtful, and error, ignorant of the purpose
of life, makes anxious minds hesitate between the branching cross-ways,
I placed myself under you. You, Cornutus, cherished my tender years
in your Socratic bosom. Then your rule, dexterous in insinuating
itself,[1433] being applied to me, straightened my perverse morals; my
mind was convinced by your reasoning, and strove to yield subjection;
and formed features skillfully moulded by your plastic thumb. For I
remember that many long nights I spent with you; and with you robbed
our feasts of the first hours of night. Our work was one. We both alike
arranged our hours of rest, and relaxed our serious studies with a
frugal meal.
Doubt not, at least, this fact; that both our days harmonize by some
definite compact,[1434] and are derived from the selfsame planet.
Either the Fate, tenacious of truth,[1435] suspended our natal hour in
the equally poised balance, or else the Hour that presides over the
faithful divides between the twins the harmonious destiny[1436] of us
two; and we alike correct the influence of malignant Saturn[1437] by
Jupiter, auspicious to both. At all events, there is some star, I know
not what, that blends my destiny with thine.
There are a thousand species of men; and equally diversified is the
pursuit of objects. Each has his own desire; nor do men live with one
single wish. One barters beneath an orient sun,[1438] wares of Italy
for a wrinkled pepper[1439] and grains of pale cumin. [1440] Another
prefers, well-gorged, to heave in dewy[1441] sleep. Another indulges
in the Campus Martius. Another is beggared by gambling. Another riots
in sensual[1442] pleasures. But when the stony[1443] gout has crippled
his joints, like the branches of an ancient beech--then too late they
mourn that their days have passed in gross licentiousness, their light
has been the fitful marsh-fog; and look back upon the life they have
abandoned. [1444] But your delight is to grow pale over the midnight
papers; for, as a trainer of youths, you plant in their well-purged
ears[1445] the corn of Cleanthes. [1446] From this source seek, ye young
and old, a definite object for your mind, and a provision against
miserable gray hairs.
"It shall be done to-morrow. "[1447] "To-morrow, the case will be just
the same! " What, do you grant me one day as so great a matter? "But
when that other day has dawned, we have already spent yesterday's
to-morrow. For see, another to-morrow wears away our years, and will be
always a little beyond you. For though it is so near you, and under the
selfsame perch, you will in vain endeavor to overtake the felloe[1448]
that revolves before you, since you are the hinder wheel, and on the
second axle. "
It is liberty, of which we stand in need! not such as that which,
when every Publius Velina[1449] has earned, he claims as his due the
mouldy corn, on the production of his tally. Ah! minds barren of all
truth! for whom a single twirl makes a Roman. [1450] Here is Dama,[1451]
a groom,[1452] not worth three farthings! [1453] good for nothing and
blear-eyed; one that would lie for a feed of beans. Let his master give
him but a twirl, and in the spinning of a top, out he comes Marcus
Dama! Ye gods! when Marcus is security, do you hesitate to trust your
money? When Marcus is judge, do you grow pale? Marcus said it: it must
be so. Marcus, put your name to this deed? This is literal liberty.
This it is the cap of liberty[1454] bestows on us.
"Is any one else, then, a freeman, but he that may live as he pleases?
I may live as I please; am not I then a freer man than Brutus? "[1455]
On this the Stoic (his ear well purged[1456] with biting vinegar) says,
"Your inference is faulty; the rest I admit, but cancel '_I may_,' and
'_as I please_. '"
"Since I left the prætor's presence, made my own master by his
rod,[1457] why _may_ I not do whatever my inclination dictates, save
only what the rubric of Masurius[1458] interdicts? "
Learn then! But let anger subside from your nose, and the wrinkling
sneer; while I pluck out those old wives' fables from your breast. It
was not in the prætor's power to commit to fools the delicate duties
of life, or transmit that experience that will guide them through the
rapid course of life. Sooner would you make the dulcimer[1459] suit a
tall porter. [1460]
Reason stands opposed to you, and whispers in your secret ear, not
to allow any one to do that which he will spoil in the doing. The
public law of men--nay, Nature herself contains this principle--that
feeble ignorance should hold all acts as forbidden. Dost thou dilute
hellebore, that knowest not how to confine the balance-tongue[1461] to
a definite point? The very essence of medicine[1462] forbids this. If a
high-shoed[1463] plowman, that knows not even the morning star, should
ask for a ship, Melicerta[1464] would cry out that all modesty had
vanished from the earth. [1465]
Has Philosophy granted to you to walk uprightly? and do you know how
to discern the semblance of truth; lest it give a counterfeit tinkle,
though merely gold laid over brass? And those things which ought to be
pursued, or in turn avoided, have you first marked the one with chalk,
and then the other with charcoal? Are you moderate in your desires?
frugal in your household? kind to your friends? Can you at one time
strictly close, at another unlock your granaries? And can you pass by
the coin fixed in the mud,[1466] nor swallow down with your gullet the
Mercurial saliva?
When you can say with truth, "These are my principles, this I hold;"
then be free and wise too, under the auspices of the prætor and of
Jove himself. But if, since you were but lately one of our batch, you
preserve your old skin, and though polished on the surface,[1467]
retain the cunning fox[1468] beneath your vapid breast; then I recall
all that I just now granted, and draw back the rope. [1469]
Philosophy has given you nothing; nay, put forth your finger[1470]--and
what act is there so trivial? --and you do wrong. But there is no
incense by which you can gain from the gods this boon,[1471] that
one short half-ounce of Right can be inherent in fools. To mix these
things together is an impossibility; nor can you, since you are in all
these things else a mere ditcher, move but three measures of the satyr
Bathyllus. [1472]
"_I am_ free. " Whence do you take this as granted, you that are in
subjection to so many things? [1473] Do you recognize no master, save
him from whom the prætor's rod sets you free? If he has thundered out,
"Go, boy, and carry my strigils to the baths of Crispinus! [1474] Do
you loiter, lazy scoundrel? " This bitter slavery affects not thee;
nor does any thing _from without_ enter which can set thy strings in
motion. [1475] But if _within_, and in thy morbid breast, there spring
up masters, how dost thou come forth with less impunity than those whom
the lash[1476] and the terror of their master drives to the strigils?
Do you snore lazily in the morning? "Rise! " says Avarice. "Come!
rise! " Do you refuse? She is urgent. "Arise! " she says. "I can not. "
"Rise! " "And what am I to do? " "Do you ask? Import fish[1477] from
Pontus, Castoreum,[1478] tow, ebony,[1479] frankincense, purgative Coan
wines. [1480]
"Be the first to unload from the thirsty camel[1481] his fresh
pepper--turn a penny, swear! "
"But Jupiter will hear! " "Oh fool! If you aim at living on good terms
with Jove, you must go on contented to bore your oft-tasted salt-cellar
with your finger! "
Now, with girded loins, you fit the skin and wine flagon to your
slaves. [1482]--"Quick, to the ship! " Nothing prevents your sweeping
over the Ægæan in your big ship, unless cunning luxury should first
draw you aside, and hint, "Whither, madman, are you rushing? Whither!
what do you want? The manly bile has fermented in your hot breast,
which not even a pitcher[1483] of hemlock could quench. Would _you_
bound over the sea? Would _you_ have your dinner on a thwart, seated
on a coil of hemp? [1484] while the broad-bottomed jug[1485] exhales
the red Veientane[1486] spoiled by the damaged pitch! [1487] Why do you
covet that the money you had here put out to interest at a modest five
per cent. , should go on to sweat a greedy eleven per cent. ? Indulge
your Genius! [1488] Let us crop the sweets of life! That you really
_live_ is my boon! You will become ashes, a ghost, a gossip's tale!
Live, remembering you must die. --The hour flies! This very word I speak
is subtracted from it! "
What course, now, do you take? You are torn in different directions by
a two-fold hook. Do you follow this master or that? You must needs by
turns, with doubtful obedience, submit to one, by turns wander forth
free. Nor, even though you may have _once_ resisted, or once refused to
obey the stern behest, can you say with truth, "I have burst my bonds! "
For the dog too by his struggles breaks through his leash, yet even as
he flies a long portion of the chain hangs dragging from his neck.
"Davus! [1489] I intend at once--and I order you to believe me too! --to
put an end to my past griefs. (So says Chærestratus, biting his nails
to the quick. ) Shall I continue to be a disgrace to my sober relations?
Shall I make shipwreck[1490] of my patrimony, and lose my good name,
before these shameless[1491] doors, while drunk, and with my torch
extinguished, I sing[1492] before the reeking doors of Chrysis? "
"Well done, my boy, be wise! sacrifice a lamb to the gods who
ward off[1493] evil! " "But do you think, Davus, she will weep at
being forsaken? " Nonsense! boy, you will be beaten with her red
slipper,[1494] for fear you should be inclined to plunge, and gnaw
through your close-confining toils,[1495] now fierce and violent. But
if she should call you, you would say at once, "What then shall I
do? [1496] Shall I not now, when I am invited, and when of her own act
she entreats me, go to her? " Had you come away from her heart-whole,
you would not, even now. This, this is the man of whom we are in
search. It rests not on the wand[1497] which the foolish Lictor
brandishes.
Is that flatterer[1498] his own master, whom white-robed Ambition[1499]
leads gaping with open mouth? "Be on the watch, and heap vetches[1500]
bountifully upon the squabbling mob, that old men,[1501] as they sun
themselves, may remember our Floralia.
--What could be more splendid? "
But when Herod's[1502] day is come, and the lamps arranged on the
greasy window-sill have disgorged their unctuous smoke, bearing
violets, and the thunny's tail floats, hugging the red dish,[1503]
and the white pitcher foams with wine: then in silent prayer you move
your lips, and grow pale at the sabbaths of the circumcised. Then are
the black goblins! [1504] and the perils arising from breaking an
egg. [1505] Then the huge Galli,[1506] and the one-eyed priestess with
her sistrum,[1507] threaten you with the gods inflating your body,
unless, you have eaten the prescribed head of garlic[1508] three times
of a morning.
Were you to say all this among the brawny centurions, huge
Pulfenius[1509] would immediately raise his coarse laugh, and hold a
hundred Greek philosophers dear at a clipped centussis. [1510]
FOOTNOTES:
[1409] _Centum voces. _ Homer is content with ten. Il. , ii. , 484, Οὐδ εἴ
μοι δέκα μὲν γλῶσσαι δέκα δέ στόματ εἶεν. Virgil squares the number.
Georg. , ii. , 43, "Non mihi si _linguæ centum_ sint, _oraque centum_,
Ferrea vox. " Æn. , vi. , 625. Sil. , iv. , 527, "Non mihi Mæoniæ redeat
si gloria linguæ, _Centenas_que pater det Phœbus fundere _voces_, Tot
cædes proferre queam. " Ov. , Met. , viii. , 532, "Non mihi si _centum_
Deus _ora_ sonantia _linguis_. " Fast. , ii. , 119.
[1410] _In carmina. _ "That their style and language may be amplified
and extended adequately to the greatness and variety of their subjects. "
[1411] _Hianda. _ Juv. , vi. , 636, "Grande Sophocleo carmen bacchamur
hiatu;" alluding to the wide mouths of the tragic masks (οἱ ὑποκριταὶ
μέγα κεχηνότες, Luc. , Nigrin. , i. , p. 28, Ben. ), or to the "ampullæ et
sesquipedalia verba" of the tragedy itself. Hor. , A. P. , 96.
[1412] _Mæsto. _ Hor. , A. P. , 105, "Tristia mæstum vultum verba decent. "
[1413] _Vulnera_, i. e. , "Or whether it be an epic poem on the Parthian
war," which was carried on under Nero. The genitive Parthi may be
either subjective or objective, probably the former, in spite of Hor. ,
ii. , Sat. i. , 15, "Aut labentis equo describat vulnera Parthi. "
[1414] _Ab inguine. _ This may either mean, "drawing out the weapon from
the wound he has received from the Roman," or may describe the manner
in which the Parthian ("versis animosus equis," Hor. , i. , Od. xix. , 11)
draws his bow in his retrograde course. ("Miles sagittas et celerem
fugam Parthi timet," ii. , Od. iii. , 17. ) Casaubon describes, from
Eustathius, three other ways of drawing the bow, παρὰ μαζον, παρ' ὦμον,
and παρὰ τὸ δεξιὸν ὠτίον, "from the ear," like our English archers.
So Propertius, lib. iv. , says of the Gauls, "Virgatis jaculantis ab
inguine braccis. " El. , x. , 43.
[1415] _Cornutus. _ Annæus Cornutus (of the same gens as Mela, Lucan,
and Seneca) was distinguished as a tragic poet as well as a Stoic
philosopher. He was a native of Leptis, in Africa, and came to Rome
in the reign of Nero, where he applied himself with success to the
education of young men. He wrote on Philosophy, Rhetoric, and a
treatise entitled ἡ ἑλληνικὴ θεολογία. Persius, at the age of sixteen
(A. D. 50), placed himself under his charge, and was introduced by him
to Lucan; and at his death left him one hundred sestertia and his
library. Cornutus kept the books, to the number of seven hundred, but
gave back the money to Persius' sisters. Nero, intending to write an
epic poem on Roman History, consulted Cornutus among others; but when
the rest advised Nero to extend it to four hundred books, Cornutus
said, "No one would read them. " For this speech Nero was going to put
him to death; but contented himself with banishing him. This took
place, according to Lubinus, four years after Persius' death; more
probably in A. D. 65, when so many of the Annæan gens suffered. (Cf.
Clinton in Ann. ) Vid. Suid. , p. 2161. Dio. , lxii. , 29. Eus. , Chron. , A.
2080. Suet. in Vit. Pers.
[1416] _Offas. _ "Huge goblets of robustious song. " Gifford.
[1417] _Helicone. _ Cf. Prol. , 1. 4. Hor. , A. P. , 230, "Nubes et inania
captet. "
[1418] _Procnes olla. _ The "pot of Procne, or Thyestes," is said
to _boil_ for them who compose tragedies on the subjects of the
unnatural banquets prepared by Procne for Tereus, and by Atreus for
Thyestes. Cf. , Ov. , Met. , vi. , 424-676. Senec. , Thyest. Hor. , A. P. ,
91. --_Cænanda_ implies that these atrocities were to be actually
represented on the stage, which the good taste even of Augustus' days
would have rejected with horror. Hor. , A. P. , 182-188.
[1419] _Glycon_ was a tragic actor, of whom one Virgilius was part
owner. Nero admired him so much that he gave Virgilius three hundred
thousand sesterces for his share of him, and set him free.
[1420] _Stloppo. _ "The noise made by inflating the cheeks, and then
forcibly expelling the wind by a sudden blow with the hands. " It not
improbably comes from λόπος in the sense of an inflated skin; as stlis
for lis, stlocus for locus; stlataria from latus. Cf. ad Juv. , vii. ,
134.
[1421] _Verba togæ. _ Having pointed out the ordinary defects of poets
of the day as to choice of subjects, style, and language, Cornutus
proceeds to compliment Persius for the exactly contrary merits. First,
for the use of words not removed from ordinary use, but such as were in
use in the most elegant and polished society of Rome, as distinguished
from the rude archaisms then in vogue, or the too familiar vulgarisms
of the tunicatus popellus in the provinces, where none assumed the toga
till he was carried out to burial. (Juv. , Sat. iii, 172. ) But then,
according to Horace's precept ("Dixeris egregiè si notum callida verbum
reddiderit junctura novum," A. P. , 47), grace and dignity was added to
these by the novelty of effect produced by judicious combination. Cf.
Cic. , de Orat. , iii. , 43. There is an allusion to the same metaphor as
in Sat. i. , 65, "Per leve severos effundat junctura ungues. "
[1422] _Ore teres modico. _ The second merit, "a natural and easy mode
of reciting, suited to compositions in a familiar style. " Cicero uses
_teres_ in the same sense. De Orat. , iii. , c. 52, "Plena quædam, sed
tamen teres, et tenuis, non sine nervis ac viribus. " Horace, A. P. ,
323, "Graiis dedit ore rotundo Musa loqui. "
[1423] _Pallentes radere mores. _ The next merit is in the choice of
a subject. Not the unnatural horrors selected to gratify the most
depraved taste, but the gentlemanly, and at the same time searching,
exposure of the profligate morals of the time.
[1424] _Cum capite. _ Cf. Senec. , Thyest. , Act iv. , 1. 763, "Denudat
artus dirus atque ossa amputat: tantum _ora_ servat et datas fidei
_manus_. "
[1425] _Pondus. _ So Horace, i. , Epist. xix. , 42, "Nugis addere pondus. "
[1426] _Excutienda. _ Seneca, Ep. lxxii. , 1, "Explicandus est animus, et
quæcunque apud illum deposita sunt, subinde _excuti_ debent. "
[1427] _Solidum crepet. _ Cf. iii. , 21, "Sonet vitium percussa. "
[1428] _Sinuoso. _ Cf. Hamlet, "Give me that man that is not passion's
slave, and I will wear him in my heart's core; ay, in my heart of
heart, as I do thee, Horatio! " Act iii. , sc. 2.
[1429] _Custos. _ The Prætexta was intended, as the robes of the
priests, to serve as a protection to the youths that wore it. The
purple with which the toga was bordered was to remind them of the
modesty which was becoming to their early years. It was laid aside by
boys at the age of seventeen, and by girls when they were married.
cerdonibus esse timendus cœperat. " viii. , 182, "Et quæ turpia cerdoni
volesos Brutosque decebunt. " "Give back the rabble their tribute of
applause. Let them bear their vile presents elsewhere! "
[1408] _Tecum habita. _ "Retire into yourself; examine yourself
thoroughly; your abilities and powers of governing: and you will find
how little fitted you are for the arduous task you have undertaken. "
Compare the end of the Alcibiades. Juv. , xi. , 33, "Te consule, die tibi
qui sis. " Hor. , i. , Sat. iii. , 34, "Te ipsum concute. " Sen. , Ep. 80,
_fin. _, "Si perpendere te voles, sepone pecuniam, domum, dignitatem:
intus te ipse considera. Nunc qualis sis, aliis credis. "
SATIRE V.
ARGUMENT.
On this Satire, which is the longest and the best of all, Persius
may be said to rest his claims to be considered a Philosopher
and a Poet. It may be compared with advantage with the Third
Satire of the second book of Horace. As the object in that is to
defend what is called the Stoical paradox, "that none but the
Philosopher is of _sound mind_,"
"Quem mala stultitia et quemcunque inscitia veri
Cæecum agit, insanum Chrysippi porticus et grex
Autumat:" i. , 43-45,
so here, Persius maintains that other dogma of the Stoics, "that
none but the Philosopher is truly a _free_ man. " Horace argues
(in the person of a Stoic) that there can be but _one_ path that
leads in the right direction; all others must lead the traveler
only farther astray. "Unus utrique error sed variis illudit
partibus" (ἐσθλοὶ μὲν γὰρ ἁπλῶς, παντοδαπῶς δὲ κακοί. Arist. ,
Eth. , II. , vi. , 4). So Persius argues, whatever are the varied
pursuits of different minds, he that is under the influence of some
overwhelming passion, can offer no claim to be accounted a free
agent. "Mille hominum species, et rerum discolor usus. " (52. ) In
fact, if we substitute "freedom" for "wisdom," the whole argument
of the last part of the Satire may be expressed in the two lines of
Horace:
"Quisquis
_Ambitione_ malâ aut _argenti_ pallet amore
Quisquis _Luxuria_ tristive _Superstitione_
Aut alio mentis morbo calet:"
that man can neither be pronounced free or of sound mind.
The Satire consists of two parts; the first serving as a Proëm to
the other. It is, in fact, the earnest expression of unbounded
affection for his tutor and early friend Annæus Cornutus, from
whom he had imbibed those principles of philosophy, which it is
the object of the latter part of the Satire to elucidate. After a
few lines of ridicule at the hackneyed prologues of the day, he
puts into the mouth of Cornutus that just criticism of poetical
composition which there is very little doubt Persius had in reality
derived from his master; and in answer to this, he takes occasion
to profess his sincere and deep-seated love and gratitude toward
the preceptor, whose kind care had rescued him from the vicious
courses to which a young and ardent temperament was leading him;
and whose sound judgment and dexterous management had weaned him
from the temptations that assail the young, by making him his own
companion in those studies which expanded his intellect while
they rectified the _obliquity_ (to use the Stoics' phrase) of his
moral character. Such mutual affection, he urges, could only exist
between two persons whom something more than mere adventitious
circumstances drew together; and he therefore concludes that the
same natal star must have presided over the horoscope of both.
He then proceeds to the main subject of the Satire, viz. , that all
men should aim at attaining that freedom which can only result from
that perfect "soundness of mind" which we have shown to be the
summum bonum of the Stoics. This real freedom no mere external or
adventitious circumstances can bestow. Dama, though freed at his
master's behest, if he be the slave of passion, is as much a slave
as if he had never felt the prætor's rod. Until he have really cast
off, like the snake, the slough of his former vices, and become
changed in heart and principles as he is in political standing,
he is so far from being really free from bondage that he can not
rightly perform even the most trivial act of daily life. True
freedom consists in virtue alone; but "Virtus est vitium fugere:"
and he who eradicates all other passions, but cherishes still one
darling vice, has but changed his master. The dictates of the
passions that sway his breast are more imperious than those of the
severest task-master. Whether it be avarice, or luxury, or love,
or ambition, or superstition, that is the dominant principle, so
long as he can not shake himself free from the control of these, he
is as much, as real a slave as the drudge that bears his master's
strigil to the bath, or the dog that fancies he has burst his bonds
while the long fragment of his broken chain still dangles from his
neck. The last few lines contain a dignified rebuke of the sneers
which such pure sentiments as these would provoke in the coarse
minds of some into whose hands these lines might fall; perhaps,
too, they may be meant as a gentle reproof of the sly irony in
which the Epicurean Horace indulged, while professing to enunciate
the Stoic doctrine, that none but the true Philosopher can be said
to be of sound mind.
It is the custom of poets to pray for a hundred voices,[1409] and to
wish for a hundred mouths and a hundred tongues for their verses;[1410]
whether the subject proposed be one to be mouthed[1411] by a
grim-visaged[1412] Tragœdian, or the wounds[1413] of a Parthian drawing
his weapon from his groin. [1414]
CORNUTUS. [1415] What is the object of this? or what masses[1416]
of robust song are you heaping up, so as to require the support
of a hundred throats? Let those who are about to speak on grand
subjects collect mists on Helicon;[1417] all those for whom the pot
of Procne[1418] or Thyestes shall boil, to be often supped on by the
insipid Glycon. [1419] You neither press forth the air from the panting
bellows, while the mass is smelting in the furnace; nor, hoarse with
pent-up murmur, foolishly croak out something ponderous, nor strive to
burst your swollen cheeks with puffing. [1420] You adopt the language of
the Toga,[1421] skillful at judicious combination, with moderate style,
well rounded,[1422] clever at lashing depraved morals,[1423] and with
well-bred sportiveness to affix the mark of censure. Draw from this
source what you have to say; and leave at Mycenæ the tables, with the
head[1424] and feet, and study plebeian dinners.
PERSIUS. For my part, I do not aim at this, that my page may be
inflated with air-blown trifles, fit only to give weight[1425]
to smoke. We are talking apart from the crowd. I am now, at the
instigation of the Muse, giving you my heart to sift;[1426] and delight
in showing you, beloved friend, how large a portion of my soul is
yours, Cornutus! Knock then, since thou knowest well how to detect what
rings sound,[1427] and the glozings of a varnished[1428] tongue. For
this I would dare to pray for a hundred voices, that with guileless
voice I may unfold how deeply I have fixed thee in my inmost breast;
and that my words may unseal for thee all that lies buried, too deep
for words, in my secret heart.
When first the guardian purple left me, its timid charge,[1429] and my
boss[1430] was hung up, an offering to the short-girt[1431]
Lares; when my companions were kind, and the white centre-fold[1432]
gave my eyes license to rove with impunity over the whole Suburra; at
the time when the path is doubtful, and error, ignorant of the purpose
of life, makes anxious minds hesitate between the branching cross-ways,
I placed myself under you. You, Cornutus, cherished my tender years
in your Socratic bosom. Then your rule, dexterous in insinuating
itself,[1433] being applied to me, straightened my perverse morals; my
mind was convinced by your reasoning, and strove to yield subjection;
and formed features skillfully moulded by your plastic thumb. For I
remember that many long nights I spent with you; and with you robbed
our feasts of the first hours of night. Our work was one. We both alike
arranged our hours of rest, and relaxed our serious studies with a
frugal meal.
Doubt not, at least, this fact; that both our days harmonize by some
definite compact,[1434] and are derived from the selfsame planet.
Either the Fate, tenacious of truth,[1435] suspended our natal hour in
the equally poised balance, or else the Hour that presides over the
faithful divides between the twins the harmonious destiny[1436] of us
two; and we alike correct the influence of malignant Saturn[1437] by
Jupiter, auspicious to both. At all events, there is some star, I know
not what, that blends my destiny with thine.
There are a thousand species of men; and equally diversified is the
pursuit of objects. Each has his own desire; nor do men live with one
single wish. One barters beneath an orient sun,[1438] wares of Italy
for a wrinkled pepper[1439] and grains of pale cumin. [1440] Another
prefers, well-gorged, to heave in dewy[1441] sleep. Another indulges
in the Campus Martius. Another is beggared by gambling. Another riots
in sensual[1442] pleasures. But when the stony[1443] gout has crippled
his joints, like the branches of an ancient beech--then too late they
mourn that their days have passed in gross licentiousness, their light
has been the fitful marsh-fog; and look back upon the life they have
abandoned. [1444] But your delight is to grow pale over the midnight
papers; for, as a trainer of youths, you plant in their well-purged
ears[1445] the corn of Cleanthes. [1446] From this source seek, ye young
and old, a definite object for your mind, and a provision against
miserable gray hairs.
"It shall be done to-morrow. "[1447] "To-morrow, the case will be just
the same! " What, do you grant me one day as so great a matter? "But
when that other day has dawned, we have already spent yesterday's
to-morrow. For see, another to-morrow wears away our years, and will be
always a little beyond you. For though it is so near you, and under the
selfsame perch, you will in vain endeavor to overtake the felloe[1448]
that revolves before you, since you are the hinder wheel, and on the
second axle. "
It is liberty, of which we stand in need! not such as that which,
when every Publius Velina[1449] has earned, he claims as his due the
mouldy corn, on the production of his tally. Ah! minds barren of all
truth! for whom a single twirl makes a Roman. [1450] Here is Dama,[1451]
a groom,[1452] not worth three farthings! [1453] good for nothing and
blear-eyed; one that would lie for a feed of beans. Let his master give
him but a twirl, and in the spinning of a top, out he comes Marcus
Dama! Ye gods! when Marcus is security, do you hesitate to trust your
money? When Marcus is judge, do you grow pale? Marcus said it: it must
be so. Marcus, put your name to this deed? This is literal liberty.
This it is the cap of liberty[1454] bestows on us.
"Is any one else, then, a freeman, but he that may live as he pleases?
I may live as I please; am not I then a freer man than Brutus? "[1455]
On this the Stoic (his ear well purged[1456] with biting vinegar) says,
"Your inference is faulty; the rest I admit, but cancel '_I may_,' and
'_as I please_. '"
"Since I left the prætor's presence, made my own master by his
rod,[1457] why _may_ I not do whatever my inclination dictates, save
only what the rubric of Masurius[1458] interdicts? "
Learn then! But let anger subside from your nose, and the wrinkling
sneer; while I pluck out those old wives' fables from your breast. It
was not in the prætor's power to commit to fools the delicate duties
of life, or transmit that experience that will guide them through the
rapid course of life. Sooner would you make the dulcimer[1459] suit a
tall porter. [1460]
Reason stands opposed to you, and whispers in your secret ear, not
to allow any one to do that which he will spoil in the doing. The
public law of men--nay, Nature herself contains this principle--that
feeble ignorance should hold all acts as forbidden. Dost thou dilute
hellebore, that knowest not how to confine the balance-tongue[1461] to
a definite point? The very essence of medicine[1462] forbids this. If a
high-shoed[1463] plowman, that knows not even the morning star, should
ask for a ship, Melicerta[1464] would cry out that all modesty had
vanished from the earth. [1465]
Has Philosophy granted to you to walk uprightly? and do you know how
to discern the semblance of truth; lest it give a counterfeit tinkle,
though merely gold laid over brass? And those things which ought to be
pursued, or in turn avoided, have you first marked the one with chalk,
and then the other with charcoal? Are you moderate in your desires?
frugal in your household? kind to your friends? Can you at one time
strictly close, at another unlock your granaries? And can you pass by
the coin fixed in the mud,[1466] nor swallow down with your gullet the
Mercurial saliva?
When you can say with truth, "These are my principles, this I hold;"
then be free and wise too, under the auspices of the prætor and of
Jove himself. But if, since you were but lately one of our batch, you
preserve your old skin, and though polished on the surface,[1467]
retain the cunning fox[1468] beneath your vapid breast; then I recall
all that I just now granted, and draw back the rope. [1469]
Philosophy has given you nothing; nay, put forth your finger[1470]--and
what act is there so trivial? --and you do wrong. But there is no
incense by which you can gain from the gods this boon,[1471] that
one short half-ounce of Right can be inherent in fools. To mix these
things together is an impossibility; nor can you, since you are in all
these things else a mere ditcher, move but three measures of the satyr
Bathyllus. [1472]
"_I am_ free. " Whence do you take this as granted, you that are in
subjection to so many things? [1473] Do you recognize no master, save
him from whom the prætor's rod sets you free? If he has thundered out,
"Go, boy, and carry my strigils to the baths of Crispinus! [1474] Do
you loiter, lazy scoundrel? " This bitter slavery affects not thee;
nor does any thing _from without_ enter which can set thy strings in
motion. [1475] But if _within_, and in thy morbid breast, there spring
up masters, how dost thou come forth with less impunity than those whom
the lash[1476] and the terror of their master drives to the strigils?
Do you snore lazily in the morning? "Rise! " says Avarice. "Come!
rise! " Do you refuse? She is urgent. "Arise! " she says. "I can not. "
"Rise! " "And what am I to do? " "Do you ask? Import fish[1477] from
Pontus, Castoreum,[1478] tow, ebony,[1479] frankincense, purgative Coan
wines. [1480]
"Be the first to unload from the thirsty camel[1481] his fresh
pepper--turn a penny, swear! "
"But Jupiter will hear! " "Oh fool! If you aim at living on good terms
with Jove, you must go on contented to bore your oft-tasted salt-cellar
with your finger! "
Now, with girded loins, you fit the skin and wine flagon to your
slaves. [1482]--"Quick, to the ship! " Nothing prevents your sweeping
over the Ægæan in your big ship, unless cunning luxury should first
draw you aside, and hint, "Whither, madman, are you rushing? Whither!
what do you want? The manly bile has fermented in your hot breast,
which not even a pitcher[1483] of hemlock could quench. Would _you_
bound over the sea? Would _you_ have your dinner on a thwart, seated
on a coil of hemp? [1484] while the broad-bottomed jug[1485] exhales
the red Veientane[1486] spoiled by the damaged pitch! [1487] Why do you
covet that the money you had here put out to interest at a modest five
per cent. , should go on to sweat a greedy eleven per cent. ? Indulge
your Genius! [1488] Let us crop the sweets of life! That you really
_live_ is my boon! You will become ashes, a ghost, a gossip's tale!
Live, remembering you must die. --The hour flies! This very word I speak
is subtracted from it! "
What course, now, do you take? You are torn in different directions by
a two-fold hook. Do you follow this master or that? You must needs by
turns, with doubtful obedience, submit to one, by turns wander forth
free. Nor, even though you may have _once_ resisted, or once refused to
obey the stern behest, can you say with truth, "I have burst my bonds! "
For the dog too by his struggles breaks through his leash, yet even as
he flies a long portion of the chain hangs dragging from his neck.
"Davus! [1489] I intend at once--and I order you to believe me too! --to
put an end to my past griefs. (So says Chærestratus, biting his nails
to the quick. ) Shall I continue to be a disgrace to my sober relations?
Shall I make shipwreck[1490] of my patrimony, and lose my good name,
before these shameless[1491] doors, while drunk, and with my torch
extinguished, I sing[1492] before the reeking doors of Chrysis? "
"Well done, my boy, be wise! sacrifice a lamb to the gods who
ward off[1493] evil! " "But do you think, Davus, she will weep at
being forsaken? " Nonsense! boy, you will be beaten with her red
slipper,[1494] for fear you should be inclined to plunge, and gnaw
through your close-confining toils,[1495] now fierce and violent. But
if she should call you, you would say at once, "What then shall I
do? [1496] Shall I not now, when I am invited, and when of her own act
she entreats me, go to her? " Had you come away from her heart-whole,
you would not, even now. This, this is the man of whom we are in
search. It rests not on the wand[1497] which the foolish Lictor
brandishes.
Is that flatterer[1498] his own master, whom white-robed Ambition[1499]
leads gaping with open mouth? "Be on the watch, and heap vetches[1500]
bountifully upon the squabbling mob, that old men,[1501] as they sun
themselves, may remember our Floralia.
--What could be more splendid? "
But when Herod's[1502] day is come, and the lamps arranged on the
greasy window-sill have disgorged their unctuous smoke, bearing
violets, and the thunny's tail floats, hugging the red dish,[1503]
and the white pitcher foams with wine: then in silent prayer you move
your lips, and grow pale at the sabbaths of the circumcised. Then are
the black goblins! [1504] and the perils arising from breaking an
egg. [1505] Then the huge Galli,[1506] and the one-eyed priestess with
her sistrum,[1507] threaten you with the gods inflating your body,
unless, you have eaten the prescribed head of garlic[1508] three times
of a morning.
Were you to say all this among the brawny centurions, huge
Pulfenius[1509] would immediately raise his coarse laugh, and hold a
hundred Greek philosophers dear at a clipped centussis. [1510]
FOOTNOTES:
[1409] _Centum voces. _ Homer is content with ten. Il. , ii. , 484, Οὐδ εἴ
μοι δέκα μὲν γλῶσσαι δέκα δέ στόματ εἶεν. Virgil squares the number.
Georg. , ii. , 43, "Non mihi si _linguæ centum_ sint, _oraque centum_,
Ferrea vox. " Æn. , vi. , 625. Sil. , iv. , 527, "Non mihi Mæoniæ redeat
si gloria linguæ, _Centenas_que pater det Phœbus fundere _voces_, Tot
cædes proferre queam. " Ov. , Met. , viii. , 532, "Non mihi si _centum_
Deus _ora_ sonantia _linguis_. " Fast. , ii. , 119.
[1410] _In carmina. _ "That their style and language may be amplified
and extended adequately to the greatness and variety of their subjects. "
[1411] _Hianda. _ Juv. , vi. , 636, "Grande Sophocleo carmen bacchamur
hiatu;" alluding to the wide mouths of the tragic masks (οἱ ὑποκριταὶ
μέγα κεχηνότες, Luc. , Nigrin. , i. , p. 28, Ben. ), or to the "ampullæ et
sesquipedalia verba" of the tragedy itself. Hor. , A. P. , 96.
[1412] _Mæsto. _ Hor. , A. P. , 105, "Tristia mæstum vultum verba decent. "
[1413] _Vulnera_, i. e. , "Or whether it be an epic poem on the Parthian
war," which was carried on under Nero. The genitive Parthi may be
either subjective or objective, probably the former, in spite of Hor. ,
ii. , Sat. i. , 15, "Aut labentis equo describat vulnera Parthi. "
[1414] _Ab inguine. _ This may either mean, "drawing out the weapon from
the wound he has received from the Roman," or may describe the manner
in which the Parthian ("versis animosus equis," Hor. , i. , Od. xix. , 11)
draws his bow in his retrograde course. ("Miles sagittas et celerem
fugam Parthi timet," ii. , Od. iii. , 17. ) Casaubon describes, from
Eustathius, three other ways of drawing the bow, παρὰ μαζον, παρ' ὦμον,
and παρὰ τὸ δεξιὸν ὠτίον, "from the ear," like our English archers.
So Propertius, lib. iv. , says of the Gauls, "Virgatis jaculantis ab
inguine braccis. " El. , x. , 43.
[1415] _Cornutus. _ Annæus Cornutus (of the same gens as Mela, Lucan,
and Seneca) was distinguished as a tragic poet as well as a Stoic
philosopher. He was a native of Leptis, in Africa, and came to Rome
in the reign of Nero, where he applied himself with success to the
education of young men. He wrote on Philosophy, Rhetoric, and a
treatise entitled ἡ ἑλληνικὴ θεολογία. Persius, at the age of sixteen
(A. D. 50), placed himself under his charge, and was introduced by him
to Lucan; and at his death left him one hundred sestertia and his
library. Cornutus kept the books, to the number of seven hundred, but
gave back the money to Persius' sisters. Nero, intending to write an
epic poem on Roman History, consulted Cornutus among others; but when
the rest advised Nero to extend it to four hundred books, Cornutus
said, "No one would read them. " For this speech Nero was going to put
him to death; but contented himself with banishing him. This took
place, according to Lubinus, four years after Persius' death; more
probably in A. D. 65, when so many of the Annæan gens suffered. (Cf.
Clinton in Ann. ) Vid. Suid. , p. 2161. Dio. , lxii. , 29. Eus. , Chron. , A.
2080. Suet. in Vit. Pers.
[1416] _Offas. _ "Huge goblets of robustious song. " Gifford.
[1417] _Helicone. _ Cf. Prol. , 1. 4. Hor. , A. P. , 230, "Nubes et inania
captet. "
[1418] _Procnes olla. _ The "pot of Procne, or Thyestes," is said
to _boil_ for them who compose tragedies on the subjects of the
unnatural banquets prepared by Procne for Tereus, and by Atreus for
Thyestes. Cf. , Ov. , Met. , vi. , 424-676. Senec. , Thyest. Hor. , A. P. ,
91. --_Cænanda_ implies that these atrocities were to be actually
represented on the stage, which the good taste even of Augustus' days
would have rejected with horror. Hor. , A. P. , 182-188.
[1419] _Glycon_ was a tragic actor, of whom one Virgilius was part
owner. Nero admired him so much that he gave Virgilius three hundred
thousand sesterces for his share of him, and set him free.
[1420] _Stloppo. _ "The noise made by inflating the cheeks, and then
forcibly expelling the wind by a sudden blow with the hands. " It not
improbably comes from λόπος in the sense of an inflated skin; as stlis
for lis, stlocus for locus; stlataria from latus. Cf. ad Juv. , vii. ,
134.
[1421] _Verba togæ. _ Having pointed out the ordinary defects of poets
of the day as to choice of subjects, style, and language, Cornutus
proceeds to compliment Persius for the exactly contrary merits. First,
for the use of words not removed from ordinary use, but such as were in
use in the most elegant and polished society of Rome, as distinguished
from the rude archaisms then in vogue, or the too familiar vulgarisms
of the tunicatus popellus in the provinces, where none assumed the toga
till he was carried out to burial. (Juv. , Sat. iii, 172. ) But then,
according to Horace's precept ("Dixeris egregiè si notum callida verbum
reddiderit junctura novum," A. P. , 47), grace and dignity was added to
these by the novelty of effect produced by judicious combination. Cf.
Cic. , de Orat. , iii. , 43. There is an allusion to the same metaphor as
in Sat. i. , 65, "Per leve severos effundat junctura ungues. "
[1422] _Ore teres modico. _ The second merit, "a natural and easy mode
of reciting, suited to compositions in a familiar style. " Cicero uses
_teres_ in the same sense. De Orat. , iii. , c. 52, "Plena quædam, sed
tamen teres, et tenuis, non sine nervis ac viribus. " Horace, A. P. ,
323, "Graiis dedit ore rotundo Musa loqui. "
[1423] _Pallentes radere mores. _ The next merit is in the choice of
a subject. Not the unnatural horrors selected to gratify the most
depraved taste, but the gentlemanly, and at the same time searching,
exposure of the profligate morals of the time.
[1424] _Cum capite. _ Cf. Senec. , Thyest. , Act iv. , 1. 763, "Denudat
artus dirus atque ossa amputat: tantum _ora_ servat et datas fidei
_manus_. "
[1425] _Pondus. _ So Horace, i. , Epist. xix. , 42, "Nugis addere pondus. "
[1426] _Excutienda. _ Seneca, Ep. lxxii. , 1, "Explicandus est animus, et
quæcunque apud illum deposita sunt, subinde _excuti_ debent. "
[1427] _Solidum crepet. _ Cf. iii. , 21, "Sonet vitium percussa. "
[1428] _Sinuoso. _ Cf. Hamlet, "Give me that man that is not passion's
slave, and I will wear him in my heart's core; ay, in my heart of
heart, as I do thee, Horatio! " Act iii. , sc. 2.
[1429] _Custos. _ The Prætexta was intended, as the robes of the
priests, to serve as a protection to the youths that wore it. The
purple with which the toga was bordered was to remind them of the
modesty which was becoming to their early years. It was laid aside by
boys at the age of seventeen, and by girls when they were married.
