BOOK X.

ARGUMENT.

The old Scholiast, in his Life of Persius, tells us that "after he

had quitted school, and the instruction of his tutors, he was

so much struck with the tenth book of the Satires of Lucilius,

that he was seized with a vehement desire of writing Satire,

and immediately applied himself to the imitation of this book,

and after first detracting from his own merits, proceeded to

disparage the poetical attempts of others." Van Heusde supposes

that the book contained a detailed account of the life of

Lucilius; and hence the saying of the Scholiast, that "the whole

life of Lucilius was as distinctly known as if it had been

portrayed in pictures." (So Horace says, Sat., II., i., 30,

"Quo fit ut omnis Votivâ pateat veluti descripta tabella Vita

senis.") He conjectures the difference between the subjects of

the ninth and tenth books to have been this: that in the ninth,

Lucilius criticised the ignorance and corrected the mistakes of

the Librarii; i. e., those who _copied_ the compositions of the

poets, only incidentally, and by the way, touching on the poets

themselves. Whereas the tenth was intended directly as an attack

upon the poets who preceded him. Jahn, in his prolegomena on

Persius, imagines this imitation of the tenth book to have been

carried farther than we are perhaps justified in assuming; he

conjectures that the Hendecasyllabic Prologue of Persius was a

direct imitation of a similar proem, and in the same metre which

formed the commencement of this book. This opinion he fortifies

by two quotations, one from Petronius, Sat. iv., the other from

Apuleius, de Deo Socr., p. 364. In this view Gerlach does not

coincide, though he is disposed to admit that Lucilius in all

probability began the book with a disparagement of himself,

and so far furnished an example for Persius to imitate. It

is a question that must remain doubtful, and is of no great

importance. It is, however, also clear that this book contained

criticisms on the verses of Accius and Ennius. (Vid. Schol. ad

Hor., i., Sat. x.)

Perhaps the Fragments (incert. 3, 4, and 5) on Albutius and Mucius

may have belonged to this book.

1 ... as we wrote before, the judgment to be formed is concerning

the honors of the Crassi ... that is, in each case let us lay

down what I should choose, what not.[1741]

2 Behind stood the nimble skirmisher in his cloak.[1742]

3 ... although suddenly to bring down from three pair of

stairs.[1743]

4 ... you also bind mooring-stakes to very strong cables.[1744]

5 ... might be firmly ... from waves and adverse winds.

6 ... and languor overwhelmed, and sluggishness, and the torpor

of quietude.

7 ... verily, he said I cut up the ox magnificently in the

temple.[1745]

8 ... would seem importunate, boastful, bad and nefarious.

FOOTNOTES:

[1741] Gerlach's reading and interpretation is followed: "Lucilius

would not wish to have all the honors of that illustrious family heaped

upon him, but make his own selection." Nonius also explains _sumere_ by

"eligere." Corpet reads, "Crassi" and "sicut describimus," and supposes

the allusion to be to the eloquence of Crassus, son-in-law of Scævola.

Cf. Cic., Brut., 38-44. But no doubt P. Licinius Crassus Dives Mucianus

is here meant, who, as we learn from Aulus Gellius (I., xiii., 10),

was famous for five things: he was the richest man in Rome, the man of

noblest birth, the most eloquent, the best lawyer, and the Pontifex

Maximus. Lucilius might well be at a loss which of all these he would

choose.

[1742] Cf. lib. vii., Fr. 7. Schol. ad Juv., vi., 400.

[1743] _Quamvis_ may also imply "quamvis fæminam." Cf. Cæcilium in

Asoto (ap. Nonium, p. 517), "nam ego duabus vigiliis transactis _Duco

desubito_ domum." _Trinis scalis_, "from the third story," the upper

rooms being the residence of the poorer classes. Cf. Juv., x., 18,

"rarus venit in cœnacula miles." iii., 201, "altimus ardebit quem

tegula sola tuetur à pluviâ." vii., 118. Mart., i., Ep. cxviii., 7, "Et

scalis habito tribus sed altis." Hor., i., Ep. i., 91. Suet., Vit., 7.

[1744] _Tonsilla_, according to Festus, "is a stake with an iron head,

for sticking in the ground and fastening the mooring cable of a boat

to." Cf. Pacuvium in Medo, "accessi eam et tonsillam pegi læto in

littore." (Fr. 17, ed. Fr. H. Bothe, Lips., 1834.) The MS. reading is

_Consellæ_, "double seats," stretched on ropes, as the beds (grabati).

Lucil., vi., Fr. 13; xi., 13. Nonius explains _aptare_ by "connectere"

and "colligare."

[1745] Cf. Donat. in Terent., Andr., II., i., 24.