The Satires of Horace and Persius

by Horace

  32–4. protects his forehead… evil eye: The middle finger was called ‘infamis’ because it was used to simulate the penis in rude gestures. Such gestures were often employed to ward off the evil eye. Saliva was also used extensively in magic and medicine. For references see the long note of Jahn.

  36. Licinian domains: Domains like those of Licinus, a freedman of Julius Caesar’s. Under Augustus he was a financial official in Gaul, where he acquired enormous wealth.

  Crassus: M. Licinius Crassus made a huge fortune by buying up the property of men who were killed in Sulla’s proscriptions. By 60 BC he was one of the three most powerful men in the country, the others being Pompey and Caesar. He was killed in 53 BC when leading a campaign against the Parthians.

  54. Your heart… expelling the drops: The greedy man’s heart forces out drops of sweat.

  55–8. Smearing the faces… beards of gold: Since he himself is so excited by gold he assumes that it is equally pleasing to the gods.

  59. Numa: The second king of Rome, esteemed for his simple piety.

  Saturn: A divine figure in whose reign Italy was supposed to have enjoyed an era of unexampled peace.

  65. Calabrian fleece: Calabria is a district on the heel of Italy, which was well known for its wool.

  70. dolls: These presents signified the end of girlhood.

  71. Messalla: (64 BC–AD 8) An aristocrat who was a distinguished general, orator, and patron of letters. See Horace, Satires I. 10. 85. His son L. Aurelius Cotta Messalinus was notorious for his dissolute habits.

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  1. The opening words, ‘nempe haec assidue’, may possibly be spoken by Persius, in which case they mean ‘Always the same story!’ The parallel with Horace II. 3, however, suggests that they belong to the companion who breaks in on the sleeping student. For a defence of the mise-enscene adopted in the translation see Classical Review 20 (1970) 286–8.

  4–5. as the shadow… dial: The time is about 11 a.m.

  10. two-tone parchment: The two sides of the parchment are different in colour. The hair has been removed with pumice.

  29. parade… in full regalia: The knights (equites) used to parade on horseback to be inspected by the Censor.

  31. Natta: The name occurs in Horace, Satires I. 6. 124, but there the character is mean rather than extravagant.

  39. Sicily’s brazen bull: Phaleris was tyrant of Acragas in Sicily in the middle of the sixth century BC. His victims were roasted alive inside a bronze bull.

  40. the blade dangling: Damocles was a courtier of Dionysius of Syracuse (c. 430–367 BC). When he praised the tyrant’s happiness, Dionysius offered to show him what such a life was really like. Damocles was then clothed in purple, and a magnificent feast was set before him. But just above his head hung a sword, attached to the ceiling by a horse’s hair.

  45. Cato: M. Porcius Cato (95–46 BC), a man of austere principles and inflexible will. He upheld the old republican constitution against Pompey, Caesar, and Crassus. Eventually when a choice became necessary he supported Pompey against Caesar. After Pompey’s death he continued to resist Caesar in Africa. Finally, after the battle of Thapsus, he committed suicide rather than surrender. See the account of his life given by Plutarch.

  53. the learned Porch: The Porch or Colonnade in question was built at Athens about 460 BC and decorated with pictures by Polygnotus. One represented the battle of Marathon. From 300 BC on, the building was used by Zeno and his successors, and so their philosophy came to be associated with the Porch or Stoa.

  56. Pythagoras’ Ч: The old form of the Greek capital U; the stem stands for the unreflecting life of infancy and childhood, the branches for the straight and crooked paths of virtue and vice. The Latin is ‘quae Samios diduxit littera ramos’ – ‘the letter which separates the Samian branches’. The adjective Samian is transferred from the letter to the branches. The letter is Samian because Pythagoras came from the island of Samos off the coast of Asia Minor.

  65. Doctor Craterus: Comes from Horace, Satires II. 3. 161.

  73–6. jars piled in a barrister’s… a survivor: The successful lawyer has more presents than he can use.

  79. Arcesilas: A Greek philosopher who was Head of the Academy in the middle of the third century BC.

  Solon: Reformed the economy and constitution of sixth-century Athens, and gave expression to his ideas in poetry. He was counted as one of the seven wise men of Greece.

  83. sick old fool: This is taken in a wholly general sense by Jahn, Coning-ton, and Villeneuve, and it is true that the doctrine mentioned in the next line was held by more than one philosophical school. Yet it is hard to believe that a Roman reader would not have construed ‘gigni/de nihilo nihilum, in nihilum nil posse reverti’ as a parody of Lucretius, e.g. 1.150, 237, 248. In that case Persius had Epicurus chiefly in mind.

  92. Surrentine: A light wine from Sorrento, often recommended for invalids.

  106. men whose caps proclaim them citizens: These slaves had been emancipated by the deceased either just before he died or else through his will. Freedmen shaved their heads and wore a felt skull-cap.

  Persius 4

  11. you can see the straight… crooked: The straight represents the virtuous mean, the crooked the two faults of defect and excess.

  12. the rule misleads… standard: This seems to refer to cases where the right action is not to be seen as a mean between two extremes.

  16. Anticyra: In addition to the Anticyra in Phocis on the gulf of Corinth (see Horace, Satires II. 3. 83 and 166) there was also an Anticyra on the Malian gulf some thirty-five miles further north.

  22. Baucis: The name of an old woman, taken from Ovid, Metamorphoses 8. 640 ff.

  25. Vettidius: Unknown.

  26. Cures: A Sabine town.

  28. On a public holiday… cross-road shrines: The festival referred to is the Compitalia, which took place in early January. The yoke and the plough were hung up as a sign that work had come to an end.

  48–9. if you carefully whip… a weal: The Latin is ‘amarum/si puteal multa cautus vibice flagellas’, literally ‘if careful you whip the harsh well with many a weal.’ No one knows for certain what this means. The well was the place where money-lenders used to congregate; so ‘well’ may be used to denote ‘interest’.

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  4. Parthian: The Parthians were Rome’s traditional enemy in the east. As such they were an appropriate subject for a historical Roman epic. The actual expression is modelled on Horace, Satires II. 1. 15.

  8. Thyestes: Engaged in a long and horrible struggle with his brother Atreus for the throne of Mycenae in the Peloponnese. At one stage Atreus lured him back from exile and served him dinner. When the meal was over Atreus, to show him what he had eaten, uncovered a dish containing the heads, hands, and feet of his two baby sons.

  Procne: On finding that her husband Tereus had violated and mutilated her sister Philomela, Procne murdered her son Itys and served his body up to Tereus. See Ovid, Metamorphoses 6. 424–674.

  9. Sweetman: Glycon, a tragic actor, who in Persius’ view was rather a ham.

  22. Cornutus: L. Annaeus Cornutus, born c. AD 20 at Leptis in Libya. He came to Rome, probably as a slave in the household of Seneca or one of his relations. He was then emancipated and became a teacher of rhetoric and philosophy. With Caesius Bassus he produced a posthumous edition of Persius’ Satires. Soon after the poet’s death Cornutus was exiled by Nero. He was a man of wide erudition, writing on many subjects including Aristotle, Greek mythology, and Virgil.

  30. purple band: At the age of sixteen a Roman boy would exchange his toga praetexta, with its border of purple, for a plain white toga.

  31. locket: The bulla, containing a charm against the evil eye, was worn around the neck. When the boy reached maturity it was dedicated to the household gods.

  33. Subura: A seedy old street specializing in victuals and vice.

  48–9. the even Scales… harmonious lives: ‘The horoscopus, the sign of the zodiac whi
ch is rising at the moment of birth, presides over the first year of a child’s life, the next over the second, and so on until the child is twelve years old and the zodiac exhausted; then the first sign presides over his thirteenth year and the wheel goes round again.’ A. E. Housman, Classical Quarterly 7 (1913) 19. The Scales and the Twins are, of course, Libra and Gemini.

  50. with Jove’s help… power: ‘In the genitures of Persius and Cornutus the planets Jupiter and Saturn had the same relative positions, and such positions that the benignant Jupiter counteracted the maleficent Saturn,’ A. E. Housman, ibid. 21.

  64. Cleanthes: Born 331 BC, he was Head of the Stoic school from 263 until his death in 232. He gave to Stoicism a strongly religious colouring, maintaining that the universe was a living being with God as its soul.

  73–4. Jack… voters’ list: Jack becomes John Smith when he acquires citizen rights.

  76. whirl: A slave was touched with the Praetor’s rod, and his master turned him around saying ‘I wish this man to be free.’

  82. cone-caps: A freed slave wore a distinctive cap; cf. 3. 106.

  90. Sabinus: Masurius Sabinus, a distinguished jurist of the first half of the first century AD, who wrote a standard work on civil law in three books.

  103. Melicerta: A sea deity.

  112. Lord of Lucre: Mercury. The saliva signifies greed.

  115. batch: The Latin ‘farina’ (flour) suggests a metaphor from baking.

  123. Bathyllus’ satyr routine: Bathyllus of Alexandria was a freedman of Maecenas. He won great fame as a comic mime.

  126. Crispinus’ scrapers… baths: Crispinus and the baths come from Horace, Satires I. 3. 138–9.

  132. Lady Greed: Avaritia.

  134. Pontus: An area on the south coast of the Black Sea.

  139. scraping the bottom of the barrel: The Latin is ‘regustatum digito terebrare salinum’ – ‘to scrape a hole in your well-used salt-cellar’.

  148. Veientine: From Veii in Etruria.

  151. What you live is ours: I.e. a day which has been lived to the full is a valuable possession which cannot be taken away. Cf. Horace, Odes III. 29. 41–8. Luxury will share it; hence ‘ours’.

  161–74. ‘Davus, look… genuine break’: This interchange is based on the opening scene of Menander’s Eunuch.

  166. Goldie: The girl is a Greek freedwoman called Chrysis. Her door is wet and her lover’s torch is extinguished because she has thrown down a bucketful of water. Cf. Horace, Satires II. 7. 90–91. Other explanations, referring to rain, tears, and ointment, are much less convincing.

  175. stick: The Praetor’s rod.

  176. the charms of whitened Ambition: Persius is referring to the glamour of the hustings. The Latin is ‘cretata Ambitio’ – ‘Ambition in her whitened toga’. Men seeking public office had their togas whitened with chalk; hence they were ‘candidati’. Political ambition is here personified as a dangerous vamp. I follow those who place a comma after ‘sui’ in v. 176, and take ‘palpo’ as an ablative. The theory that ‘palpo’ is a nominative is not well based.

  179. Flora: The Italian goddess of blooming plants. Her festival began on 28April and was gradually extended to 3 May. It was conducted by the Aediles, who would win popularity by staging shows and distributing food. The licentiousness of the celebrations was much deplored by the serious minded.

  180. Herod: Herod the Great, king of the Jews (c. 73–4 BC) Persius is referring to the Sabbath.

  185. exploding egg: According to the scholiast, priests used to put eggs on the fire and watch where the moisture came out. If the egg burst it was regarded as a bad omen.

  186. Cybele’s towering eunuchs: Cybele was the name given to the great mother goddess of Phrygia. Her priests castrated themselves and dedicated the severed parts to her; they then continued in her service but dressed as women. The object of the rite seems to have been an attempt to give the goddess more of the mana which she needed for the task of reproduction. The priests were known as Galli, because (according to tradition) the water from the river Gallus made men mad. This derivation is suspect but no other has been accepted.

  Isis: The Egyptian goddess had many aspects. When angered she would sometimes punish the delinquent with blindness. The rattle was a mystical object used in her worship. Plutarch (De Iside 63) says that it signified that all things had to be kept in motion; he adds that it was used to repel the evil god Typhon (or Set).

  187. they fill you with gods: Persius says this instead of saying ‘they inspire the fear of the gods. For the swelling caused by a god, cf. Martial IV. 43. 7.

  191. offers a clipped coin… Greeks: The centurions see philosophy as something foreign and contemptible.

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  1. Bassus: Caesius Bassus, a lyric poet mentioned with qualified approval in Quintilian X. 1. 96. After Persius’ death he edited the satires. He is said to have died in the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79.

  5. you’re an expert… love: Bassus seems to have written on love rather in the Horatian vein.

  7–8. I’m wintering here… sea: The sentence hibernat meum mare is controversial. Presumably the sea is Persius’ sea (meum) because he has known and loved the place from his boyhood. Some scholars take hibernat as the equivalent of hiemat (‘is rough’), pointing out that according to some ancient authorities the water became warmer as the sea became rough. But (1) it seems odd (even for Persius) to say ‘the sea is rough’ when one means only to convey that the water is warm. (2) Hibernare normally means ‘to pass the winter’. (3) The description of the inlet running back behind the cliff does not suggest rough water. (4) There is a logical sequence of ideas in a stretch of water spending the winter where the cliffs offer protection and the coastline withdraws.

  9. ‘Good people… worth it!’: A quotation from Ennius. Warmington (Remains of Old Latin, vol. 1) prints it as fragment 14 of the Annals. Skutsch, however, assigns it to the Satires (Studia Enniana, 25–9).

  10–11. Ennius the wise… Pythagoras’ peacock: The soul of Homer is said to have descended to Ennius via a peacock. ‘In Pythagorean southern Italy, and apparently elsewhere, the peacock is a symbol of immortality.’ Also ‘he is the bird of Samos and thus connected with Pythagoras’ (Skutsch, Studia Enniana, 153). For Ennius’ dream see note on Prologue v. 2.

  17. poke my nose… flat: A miser would keep examining the seal of his wine-jar to check whether it was still intact, even though the wine itself wasn’t worth drinking.

  28. Bruttium: An area covering the toe of Italy.

  30. the mighty gods from the stern: A ship carried on its stern images of the gods to whom it was entrusted.

  33. carting around his picture: I.e. as a beggar.

  38. Bruty: The Latin name is Bestius. In making these complaints the heir is of course hypocritical, for he wanted a bigger legacy for himself. In Horace, Epistles I. 15. 37 we hear of a man who denounces luxury like Bestius. There appears to have been something rather suspect about Bestius’ sermons. Perhaps he had once been a notorious spendthrift and then, after ruining himself, had become a fountain of austere wisdom. He may also have been a Lucilian figure.

  39. fancy ideas: The Latin is sapere… nostrum hoc maris expers, which can be interpreted in two ways, (1) by taking maris expers as ‘unmixed with sea-water’, and (2) by taking it as ‘destitute of virility’. In Horace II. 8. 15 we hear of unsalted Chian wine being served at Nasidienus’ dinner-party. Like other items on the menu this was intended to be a sign of the host’s exquisite refinement. We know from Galen (10. 833) that certain Greek wines, including one from Chios, were left unsalted (cf. Pliny, Natural History 14. 73 and 75). Now if Persius was following Horace, the fancy ideas are, like the pepper and dates, unnecessary, exotic, and decadent. If he has changed Horace, then maris comes not from mare (sea) but from mas (male), and the phrase means ‘unmanly’. The two interpretations are not far apart in general sense, and neither is in any way absurd. If we ask ‘What did Persius mean by maris?’ and ‘How would his readers have
understood it?’ the best answer is probably that the word had both meanings. The pun cannot be reproduced in English, but one can choose a word which will include both senses, hence the translation ‘fancy’.

  The actual content of the ideas is not specified (though they are clearly of a hedonistic kind), and so it seems rather over-precise to connect them solely with gastronomy, as Nisbet tentatively proposed.

  43–7. Caligula… the Empress has ordered… Rhine: Caligula was the Emperor Gaius (AD 12–41). Suetonius (Caligula 43ff.) gives an account of his farcical campaign against the Germans and of the subsequent triumph in which fake prisoners were compelled to march. The yellow wigs mentioned by Persius were to be part of their disguise. The Empress in question was Caesonia, Caligula’s fourth wife.

  52. ‘That field… stones’: The heir is afraid to voice his objections, because if the crowd hears him he will be stoned to death. This is Hermann’s interpretation, accepted by Housman. Certainty is impossible.

  55–6. the beggars’ hill at Bovillae: Bovillae was eleven miles down the Appian Way from Rome. The beggars’ hill was the hill of Virbius some four miles farther on. Hippolytus, who was brought back to life by Aesculapius at the request of Diana, was worshipped with her at Aricia under the name of Virbius. As travellers toiled up the hill on their way south, the beggars would accost them.

  61. why shout for the baton: Life is here represented as a relay race.

  62. offering a purse: Mercury, who brought gain, was often portrayed as carrying a purse.

  68. boy: Here Persius addresses his servant. The sermon is resumed in v. 69.

  77. fat Cappadocians: Slaves from Cappadocia, which was on the west of the Euphrates between Pontus in the north and Cilicia in the south.

  80. Chrysippus’ heap: The puzzle of the heap may be illustrated by placing a coffee bean on a table and asking a friend if it makes a heap. He will say no. Add another bean and repeat the question. Eventually, when you have added bean x, he will say ‘yes, that is a heap.’ Then you take off bean x and say ‘Do you mean that a single bean makes it a heap?’ The process also operates in reverse.