Secus = “otherwise.”
Ac = “than.”
Rubricam derigat: another of Persius’s homely metaphors, this one taken from carpentry. It refers to the use of a red chalk line (rubricam) to sight a straight line.
Opus: assume est.
In = “against.” The poet can even be a moralist if need be. The irony of the interlocutor’s trying to dissuade Persius from satire while extolling contemporary poetry’s power to rail against vice should be savored.
Res grandes = is it the Muse that supplies rich subject matter or the times? The divorce between the two is the nub of the problem.
69–75. Satire’s tendency toward xenophobia, a pronounced characteristic in Juvenal, becomes manifest here. Persius replies to the interlocutor that our poets do nothing but present heroes accustomed to babble in Greek (heroas … nugari solitos Graece), and neglect traditional Roman topics.
Heroas sensus: heroas here is used as an adjective modifying sensus [“sentiments”], most commentaries note. In fact, the figure is more complex. The element of personification remains very strong in the image of these “heroic sentiments” babbling in Greek. It might be better to see sensus as the adjective, hence, rather than fully drawn characters, our poets learn to bring forth (adferre docemus) mere ideas of heroes.
Ponere lucum: “to describe a sacred grove.”
Ubi: understand sint.
Corbes < corbis, –is: “wicker basket used for the harvest.”
Palilia: also known as the Parilia, a festival celebrated in honor of Pales, a primitive pastoral divinity, on April 21, the foundation day of Rome. It was a day of purification, on which farmers used a special powder (suffimen) prepared by the Vestals to ensure their family’s and their livestock’s continuing fertility. The holiday featured milk offerings to Pales and the ritual leaping over of burning piles of straw (feno) by drunken peasants.
Unde = “on what account.” Remus appears in place of Romulus for metrical convenience.
Sulco < sulcus, –i: “furrow.”
Dentalia < dentalia, –ium: “the beam over which the plough-share was fitted” (Lee and Barr 1987).
Quinti: vocative for L. Quinctius Cincinnatus, the legendary Roman general who was called from his plough to serve as dictator (dictatorem). His wife is pictured clothing him (induit) in the robe of office. The adverbial ante boves is a comic touch that shows even Persius cannot take these tales of homely Roman virtue too seriously.
Euge poeta!: after its earlier usage, this ejaculation cannot be read without irony. The traditional poet, for all his virtue, cannot avoid the slide into bathos. This prepares us for the next section’s attack on archaicisms in poetry of the period.
76–82. In contrast, to those who pursued the over-refined diction of neo-Callimacheanism [39], there were the deliberate archaicists who sought to impose the literary standards of the second and third centuries BCE on those of the first century CE. They may be less offensive to Persius than the decadents, but they are no more successful. In the end, they too represent the triumph of style over substance, as opposed to Persius whose rigorous pursuit of style bodies forth a new substance of radical self-examination and critique.
76–8: The basic structure is: est nunc quem [moretur] liber Brisaei Acci, sunt quos [moretur] Pacuvius et moretur Antiope? Quem = aliquem. Quos = aliquos.
Brisaei … Acci = Lucius Accius, second century BCE tragedian, here called Brisaeus from a cult title of Dionysus. He wrote a Bacchae.
Venosus = “varicose-veined.” Lee and Barr (1987) point out a pun on vinosus [“boozy”] after Brisaei.
Pacuvius = Marcus Pacuvius, second and third century BCE tragedian and satirist [9, 14], a nephew of Ennius and friend of Accius, his Antiope (Antiopa) was singled out for criticism by Lucilius. Antiope was the mother of Amphion and Zethus, enslaved and mistreated by Dirce. Verrucosa = “warty,” referring both to Antiope’s sad condition and Pacuvius’s diction.
78. As Lee and Barr note (1987), the diction of this line is “a piece of archaicising grotesquerie.” Aerumnis < aerumna, –ae: “labor.” Luctificabile < luctificabilis, –e: “grief-causing.” Fulta < fulcio, –ire, fulsi, fultum: “to prop up, support.”
79–82. And since you see blear-eyed fathers (patres … lippos) pouring this mumbling nonsense into their sons, “where do you think this mess comes from?”
Monitus < monitus, –us: “warning, counsel,” but particularly “signs and omens of the gods.” The old men babble the kind of sententious nonsense found in Accius and Pacuvius to their sons, hence encouraging the archaic style.
Sartago = “frying pan.” See Bramble (1974: 122), “Two basic motifs recur [in the satire], concrete form now embodying metaphoric analogy: the association of literature with food and effeminacy. Poetic diction is a hash cooked up in a frying pan.”
Dedecus = de + decus, neuter noun.
Trossulus = an originally honorary term for the equites, stemming from their capture of an Etruscan town by the same name without the aid of the infantry. It later, however, came to signify aristocratic dandyism and effeminacy. Compare Titos (line 20) and Romulidae (line 31).
Subsellia < subsellium, –i: “bench,” as in the recitation hall. Although, given the focus on forensic pleading in the next section, the reference may be to the law courts as well.
Levis: as in modern slang, “a little light in the loafers.”
83–91. “Is it not shameful to be so caught up in the pursuit of style that you are unable to defend a gray head from danger?” Forensic eloquence was one of the few realms of advancement for young men that had not been curtailed by the empire. On cano, see canitiem, line 9.
Decenter is relatively mild applause.
Quin … optes = “without your wishing”: after a verb of hindering, quin is often translated “without.” See Gildersleeve and Lodge (1895: §556).
Ait: subject = implied aliquis.
Pedius: This is a complicated figure embodying both a rare contemporary allusion and a borrowing from Horace. On the one hand, Tacitus mentions a Pedius Blaesus, condemned by Nero for temple robbery, who responded to the charges by writing a verse apologia. Bramble’s argument that no reference could be intended since the condemnation happened only two years before Persius’s death hardly seems cogent (1994: 125 n.2), especially given that the satires appeared in a posthumous collection. On the other hand, Horace at 1.10.28 mentions a Pedius Publicola as an orator of great power and pure Latinity. This can hardly be the person referred to in this passage, but that does not mean the intertextual resonance is not functional. Rather, it underlines the difference between the Pedii of today and those of yesteryear. Moreover, the Horatian influence on this first satire, as has already been noted, is vast. There are at least twenty-two allusions to the Ars Poetica alone (Hooley 1997: 30–1). Thus, the presence of such an intertextual reminiscence would be the rule.
Crimina rasis / librat in antithetis: Pedius spends less time responding to the charges (crimina) than in crafting them into finely balanced rhetorical antitheses. For a careful reading of Persius’s prosody in these lines, see Anderson (1982: 187–8).
Doctas posuisse figuras / laudatur: worse yet, he’s praised for this.
Bellum: compare line 49.
Romule: compare Titos (line 20), Romulidae (line 31), and trossulus (line 82), all names for traditional Romans and their associated virtues, now effeminized.
Ceves < ceveo, cevi: “to shake the hips, to shimmy.”
Cantet si naufragus: refers to the practice of shipwrecked sailors begging, often with pictures illustrating their plight (fracta te in trabe pictum). A song and dance in this context would obviously be inappropriate; in the same way Pedius’s elaborate rhetorical antitheses in the face of serious charges (crimina), are out of season.
Nocte paratum: paratum is neuter substantive from paro and the object of plorabit, “to wail over”: “He who wishes to have bent (incurvasse) me with his plaint, will not wail over something gotten up the
night before (nocte paratum).”
92–106. Contemporary poetry versus Vergil. The interlocutor returns. Iunctura here implies “harmonious joining,” whereas crudis implies “the raw, undigested.” Compare lines 51 and 65.
Cludere … versum: see Horace 1.4.40.
“Berecyntius Attis”: a poem on Attis’s dedication to the Great Mother Goddess, Cybele. With its tales of orgiastic rites and self-castration, this was a favorite neoteric and Hellenistic topic. See Catullus 63. Berecyntus is a mountain in Phrygia.
94–5. The two specimen lines that follow are technically perfect. There is no elision, no false quantities. They flow smoothly and fluently, with alliteration and internal rhyme. The same is true of lines 99–102. That of course is the problem. These lines are all liquid smoothness devoid of ethical content or of a salutary roughness that could rouse the reader’s critical thought. We can presume the two lines are meant to be quotations from the “Attis.” The spondaic ending of line 95 (subduximus Appennino) [43, 50] was common in Hellenistic poetry and the neoterics, but also in those striving for epic grandeur.
Dirimebat < dirimo, –imere, –emi, –emptum: “to split, separate.”
Nerea: Greek accusative of Nereus, god of the sea, here used metonymically for the sea itself.
Delphin: nominative, masculine singular.
96. “Arma virum”: the opening words of the Aeneid. They would have served as the title. The Augustan masterpiece seems crude to the ear of the interlocutor. That it might possess virtues besides lilting versification is beyond his ken. Note the two elisions in the line.
Spumosom = “swollen.”
Cortice pingui … coctum = “dried with fat cork.” Coctum < coquo coquere coxi coctum: “to cook, bake.”
Ramale = diminutive of ramus.
Vegrandi < vegrandis, –e: “small.”
Subere < suber, –eris: “cork tree.”
98. Understand est. Tener is a common term of neoteric praise. Laxa cervice is a puzzling phrase, but probably meant to recall guttur mobile (lines 17–18).
99–102. Whether these lines are an actual quotation or a pastiche on the part of Persius, they manage to include almost every neoteric affectation possible in the space of four lines of “sound and fury signifying nothing”: the golden line (line 99), internal rhyme, end rhyme, bucolic diaeresis [51], and the borrowing of Greek common and proper nouns. Not one of these stylistic devices is objectionable in itself and all can be found in Vergil, Horace, their predecessors, and contemporaries. It is their degree of unrestrained concentration combined with the inanity of the subject matter that raises hackles. The scholiast attributes the lines to Nero without offering any proof. The scene described is a Bacchic sparagmos. The lines are spoken by the interlocutor in response to Persius’s question in line 98.
Torva < torvus, –a, –um: “grim, savage.”
Mimalloneis < Mimalloneus, –a, –um: Greek proper adjective, “Bacchant.” The scholiast tells us Bacchus was called Mimallo.
Inplerunt: understand Bacchae as subject.
Bombis < bombus, –i < Greek βóμβος: “a loud noise,” onomatopoetic.
Bassaris: feminine, nominative. See Lee and Barr (1987), “From Bassareus, a surname of Dionysus … used in reference to his wearing the pelt of a fox βασσάα.”
Lyncem: the lynx was sacred to Bacchus.
Corymbis < corymbus, –i: “a bunch of ivy berries,” sacred to Bacchus.
Euhion: another name for Bacchus.
Reparabilis: here in the unusual active sense, “restoring.” The adjective is otiose and chosen more for sound than sense.
103–6. “If we had half the balls our fathers had, would this tripe survive?” Delumbe < delumbis, –e: “without loins, impotent, castrated.” See lumbum (line 20).
Udo < udus, –a, –um: “wet,” used as a substantive.
Maenas et Attis stand both for the poems themselves and in the next line are synecdoche for the their authors.
Pluteum < pluteus, –i: the backboard of a reading couch that served as a desk. The true poet pounds the desk and chews his nails (demorsos sapit unguis). See Horace 1.10.70.
107–34. The interlocutor concedes that perhaps all is not perfect, but why does Persius need to offend people by writing satire? The poet makes his defense of the genre.
107–10. Opus: assume est.
Sis = si vis: “if you please.”
Maiorum = “the great.” Satire and truth are dangerous because they offend. Effeminacy and stylistic decadence are the corollaries of ethical and political cowardice in the face of tyranny and philistinism.
Canina littera: the letter “r,” for its perceived snarling sound. Persius should take the hint.
110–12. “By all means then, I’ll say everything is just dandy (alba).” Persius feigns concession.
112–14. “I forbid anyone to commit any offense.” Faxit = an archaic subjunctive of facio, adding an air of legal solemnity.
Oletum = “human excrement.”
Duos anguis: a sign of religious dedication. Such signs were painted as warnings to boys not to relieve themselves in sacred precincts. Shopkeepers often used them for the same purpose. Persius portrays the satirist as a mischievous boy who stands outside society and pisses on his supposed betters.
Meiite < meio, meiere: “to urinate.”
114–15. On Lucilius, compare Horace 1.10.3 and 2.1.69, and Juvenal 1.154. Lupe: See Horace 2.1.62–8. Muci = Q. Mucius Scaevola Augur, praetor 120 BCE, later governor of Asia. His prosecution for extortion by T. Albucius in 118 formed the subject of Lucilius’s second book of satires [35]. These men are precisely the kind of high-profile political figures that Horace, Persius, and Juvenal were no longer able to satirize by name.
Genuinum < genuinus, –i: “molar.”
116–18. Vafer … Flaccus = “sly Flaccus,” a nice formula for Horace’s more indirect style.
Excusso populum suspendere naso: a nice image of Horatian contempt for the crowd, best exemplified in Odes 3.1.1, odi profanum vulgus. Persius combines images from Horace 1.4.8 on Lucilius and from 1.6.5 on Maecenas to produce this passage. Compare also lines 33 and 40–1. Excusso < excutio, –cutere, excussi, excussum: “shake out,” in this context “blow.”
119–21. The poem reaches its climax. The question interrupted in line 8 can finally be posed. Ovid tells, in Metamorphoses 11.172–93, how Midas after judging Apollo’s music inferior to Pan’s was cursed with ass’s ears. He hid them under a turban, but his barber knew. Unable to resist telling someone, the slave dug a hole in the forest and uttered the secret there. Later, reeds grew over the spot and whispered to all who passed by. Persius, however, will confide his secret to his libellus. On Lucilius’s confiding to his books, see Horace 2.1.30–3. Muttire = “to mutter.”
Scrobe < scrobis, –is: “a ditch, a grave.” Compare Juvenal 1.170–1.
Infodiam < infodio, –fodere, –fodi, –fossum: “to dig in, bury.”
Auriculas asini: see line 59.
Quis non: according the vita Persii attached to the manuscripts this originally read Midas rex and was removed by Cornutus [68–8] who felt a reference to Nero might be too readily perceived. There is no confirmation of this story and it is much disputed. The text as it reads now works better structurally in terms of completing the interrupted question at line 8 than the alternative. Moreover, the reference to Midas is still sufficiently clear that Nero could have taken offense had he so chosen. Hence, the vulgate text appears sound.
121–5. On the style of these lines, see the introduction [49].
121–3. Opertum < operio, –perire, –perui, –pertum: “to cover, bury,” hence the participle is used as a substantive meaning “a secret place” or “a secret.”
Ridere = substantive use of the infinitive.
Nulla … Iliade = ablative of price. Is this Homer or Labeo’s Iliad (lines 4–5)?
123–5. On Cratinus and Eupolis, the writers of Old Comedy [34–5], see Horace 1.4.1–5. Pe
rsius, like Lucilius (26.1.589–93) and Horace (1.4.73, 1.10.76–90), only seeks a certain restricted audience.
Audaci quicumque adflate Cratino = “whoever you are who is inspired by bold Cratinus.” This predicative use of a vocative participle (adflate) with a second person verb is repeated at 3.28–9. It is not common.
Praegrandi cum sene = periphrasis for Aristophanes, the third member of the Old Comedy triumvirate.
Palles = “grow pale [with study].”
Haec: understand carmina.
Decoctius = “more boiled down” and hence, “stronger, more concentrated.”
126–34. Persius rejects the coarse humor of the vulgar crowd. See Horace 1.4.39. Vaporata … aure = a “steamed,” and hence well-cleaned ear. Contrast line 121, but compare also lines 107–8.
In … ludere = “to mock.” The construction does not normally require the preposition, and is best viewed as tmesis for illudere.
Crepidas < crepida, –ae: “Greek sandals.” Roman manhood was in many ways a very brittle construct. The slightest deviation from the norms of dress, comportment, and body language were enough to prompt mockery and insinuations of effeminacy (Corbeill 1996: chapter 4).
Lusco < luscus, –a, –um: “one-eyed.”
Qui possit = relative clause of characteristic.
Sese aliquem credens: understand esse.
Supinus: the adjective is much debated. Some take it as referring to the aedile’s general attitude and hence translate “lazy.” Others see a reference to the provincial official’s head thrown back in an attitude of disdain. There seems no adequate way to judge. Parallels for the second meaning are relatively hard to come by, although in some ways it seems more natural to the context.
Italo … honore = “provincial office.”
Fregerit heminas … iniquas: one of the jobs of the aedile was to vouch for the accuracy of weights and measures in the marketplace. The false were broken. Heminas < hemina, –ae: roughly a pint.
Arreti = Arretium (modern Arezzo).
Secto in pulvere metas: refers to the drawing of geometric figures in the sand, a practice that goes back to Pythagoras. Metas < meta, –ae: here in the technical sense, “cone.”
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