"And cheapens an hundred Greeks at a clipped centussis." q.d. If Pulfenius, the centurion, were to hear what I have said on the subject of liberty, he would not only laugh at it, but, if he were asked what he would give for an hundred philosophers, he would not offer a good six and three penny piece for them all. However, though you may be of the same mind, Dama, yet what I have said is not the less true, nor are philosophers the less valuable in the eyes of all the wise and good. SATIRA VI. ARGUMENT. Persius addresses this epistolary Salire to his friend Casius Bassus, a lyric poet. They both seem, as was usual with the studious among the Romans, in the beginning of winter, to have retired from Rome to their respective country-houses; Persius to his, at the port of Luna, in Liguria; Bassus to his, in the territories of the Sabines. The Poet first inquires after his friend's manner of life and stu AD CESIUM BASSUM. ADMOVIT jam bruma foco te, Basse, Sabino? Jamne lyra, et tetrico vivunt tibi pectine chordæ ? Line 1. Sabine fire-hearth.] The ancient Sabines were a people between the Umbrians and Latins, but, after the rape of the Sabine women, incorporated into one people with the Latins, by agreement between Tatius and Romulus. This part of Italy still retained its name; and here Bassus had a country-house, to which he retired at the beginning of winter, for the more quiet and convenient opportunity of study. This was not far from Rome. -Fire-hearth.] So focus literally signifies, quod foveat ignem--AINSW. but it is sometimes used for the whole house, by synec. and, perhaps, is so to be understood here. Sometimes, by meton. for the fire. 2. Does now the lyre.] The lyre was a stringed instrument, which gave a soft and gentle sound when touched with fingers; but when struck with a quill, which, when so used, was called pecten, gave a louder and harsher sound. The language here is figurative--the lyre stands for lyric, or the softer and gentler kind of poetry; and the strings, or chords, being struck tetrico pectine, with the rough or harsh quill, denote the sharper and severer style of verse. poet inquires whether Bassus, in his retirement, was writing lyric verses, and whether he was alsó employing himself in graver or severer kinds of composition. The -Live to thee.] When an instrument lies by, and is not played on, it may be said to be dead, and when taken up and played on, the strings may be said to be alive, from their motion and sound. 3. Admirable artist !] Opifex-lit. a workman: it also means an inventor, deviser, and framer. SATIRE VI. ARGUMENT. dies. then informs him of his own, and where he now is. He describes himself in his retirement, as quite undisquieted with regard to care or passions; and, with respect to his expenses, neither profuse nor parsimonious. He then treats on the true use of riches; and shews the folly of those who live sordidly themselves for the sake of leaving their riches to others. HAS TO CESIUS BASSUS. AS winter already moved thee, Bassus, to thy Sabine fire. hearth? Does now the lyre, and do the strings, live to thee with a rough quill? Admirable artist! in numbers the beginnings of things To have displayed, and the manly sound of the Latin lute; Mox juvenes agitare jocos; et, pollice honesto, Hic ego securus vulgi, et quid præparet auster 5. Then to agitate young jokes.] Then, in light and lively strains to describe the amours and frolics of young men. -Honest thumb.] Meton. with truth and faithfulness representing the actions and worthy deeds of older men, who have distinguished themselves in a more advanced time of life. 6. Ligurian.] i. e. Being now removed from Rome into Liguria. Ligus ora, from Ligustica ora. 6-7. Coast grows warm.] Either from its situation near mountains, which kept off the cold blasts of wind, or from the circumstance next mentioned, the agitation of the sea, which causes a warmth in the water. TULLY, Nat. Deor. lib. ii. says-"Seas agitated by the winds grow so "warm, as easily to make us understand, "that in those large bodies of water "there is heat included: for that heat "which we perceive, is not to be ac"counted merely external and adventi❝tious, but excited by the agitation "which is in the innermost parts of the "water; this also happens to our bodies, "when by motion they grow warm.” 7. My sea is rough.] That is, the sea near Volaterra, a city of Tuscany, where Persius was born, and near which he now was. -Large side, &c.] The rocks running out far into the sea, present an extensive side to the water, by which the waves are stopped, and a quiet bay formed. 8. The shore draws itself in, &c.] The shore retires, and forms a large circular valley between the mountains; which is 5 10 15 another reason of the warmth of my situation; my house which is situated in that valley being sheltered from the wintry storms. 9. "Port of Luna."] So called from the shape of the bay in which it was situate, which from the circular form of the shore, was like an half-moonLunaï, per diæresim, for Lunæ. —“ It is worth while," &c.] This line is from Ennius, who began his annals of the Roman people with Est operæ pretium, O cives, cognoscere portum. Lunce. 10. The heart of Ennius, &c.] He was an ancient poet, born at Rudiæ, a town of Calabria: he wrote annals of the Roman people; also satires, comedies, and tragedies; but nothing of his is come to us entire. He died 169 years before Christ. Cor means, literally, the heart; and, by meton. the mind, wisdom, judgment. Perhaps the poet means to say, that Ennius, when in his right mind and sober senses, recommended the port of Luna to his countrymen, after he came out of his vagaries after mentioned. -Dreaming, &c.] See Prologue to sat. i. 1. 2, and note. Mæonides was a name given to Homer, on account of his supposed birth at Smyrna, in the country of Mæonia, i. e. Lydia. 11. Fifth from the Pythagorean peacock.] Some are for supposing Quintus, here, to be understood as a prænomen of Ennius:-but it should rather seem, as if Persius were here laughing at the extravagant idea of the Pythagorean doc 5 Then to agitate young jokes, and with an honest thumb coast Grows warm, and my sea is rough, where a large side The rocks give, and the shore draws itself in with much valley. "The port of Luna it is worth while to know, O citizens :" The heart of Ennius commands this, after he ceas'd dreaming that he was Mæonides, the fifth from the Pythagorean peacock. 10 Here [am] I, careless of the vulgar, and what the south, Unfortunate to the cattle, may prepare and unconcerned because that corner Is more fruitful than mine that's next to it: and if all, refuse, 15 On that account, to be diminish'd crooked with old age, or to sup without a dainty, And to have touched with my nose the seal in the vapid cask. trine of transmigration, which Ennius for a while had received, and who is said to have dreamt, that the soul of a peacock had transmigrated, first into Euphorbus, then into Homer, then into Pythagoras, and then into Ennius; so that he stood fifth from the peacock. See DRYD. Trans, and note on this place. This is an evident banter on the Pythagorean notion of the metempsychosis. 12. Here am I, &c.] In this comfortable retreat of the port of Luna, I trouble not my head about what people say of me. What the south, &c.] The south wind, when it blew with any long continuance, was reckoned very unwholesome, particularly to cattle. So VIRG. Geor. i. l. 444. Arboribusque, satisque, Notus, pecorique sinister. The poet seems to say, that he was without care or anxiety in his retreat. The modern Italians call this wind Sirocco, or Scilocco, which blows from the south-east. 13. That corner, &c.] Horace, sat. vi, lib. ii. 1. 8, 9. passage of Horace. 14. And if all, &c.] If ever so many of my inferiors, however lowly and meanly born, should grow so rich, adeo ditescant, as to have their possessions exceed mine 15. I should always refuse, &c.] I should not make myself uneasy, so as to fret upon that account, and to bring on old age before my time, as if bowed under a weight of years. 16. Sup without a dainty.] Unctus, literally, is anointed, greasy, and applied to describe a dainty rich meal, good cheer. Hence unctissimæ cœnæ. See AINSW. Unctus. I'll not live the worse; envy shall not spoil my appetite; I'll not abate a single dish at my table, in order to save up what would make me as rich as my neighbour. 17. And to have touched with my nose, &c.] I shall not bottle up dregs of musty wine, and then examine the seal, which I have put on the mouth of the vessel, as closely as if I meant to run my nose into the pitch which has received its impression, to try whether any of my servants have opened it. q. d. I shall neither fret myself into old age before my time with envy, nor turn niggard, in order to save money, that I may equal my richer neigh -O si angulus ille |