A COMMENTARY ON PERSIUS* FIFTH SATIRE ■by REGINALD ALFRED HARVEY Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the University of London June 1972 Department of Latin, Bedford College, Regent's Park, N.W.l. ProQuest Number: 10098205 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest. ProQuest 10098205 Published by ProQuest LLC(2016). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 ABSTRACT Persius is not a particularly favoured poet today, and the standard commentaries on his fifth satire are obsolescent and generally inadeg.uate. The present thesis is intended as an exhaustive study of the poem's language and subject- matter. The colloquial, prosaic and poetical elements in Persius' diction and syntax are determined, together with his neologisms, ellipses and abuses of regular Latin practice. Persius' reliance on Horatian syntax and phraseology, and his tendency to modify what he borrows are noted. Inter­ pretations are advanced on his extensive use of pregnant or deliberately ambiguous Latin and on his strikingly harsh verbal collocations. The textual problems of the poem are examined. The sources and precedents for Persius' numerous metaphors are cited, and detailed treatment is accorded those instances of figurative language which are lengthily sustained or more than usually complex and allusive. The essentially orthodox nature of Persius' Stoicism is demonstrated by references to Stoic sources, and his more conventional type of moralising related to the broad-based ethical instruction found in other Latin writers. Many points of obscurity in Persius' subject-matter are investigated. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am most grateful to Professor P.R.D. Goodyear who, in supervising this work, has been a constant source of help and encouragement. I also wish to thank Professor H.D. Jocelyn with whom I discussed various problems. ABBREVIATIONS ALL Archly fur latelnische Lexicographie D-S Daremberg-Saglio, Dictionnaire des antiquités grecques et romaines OLD Oxford Latin Dictionary R-E Paulys Real-Encyclopâdie der classischen Altertums- wissenschaft: Neue Bearbeitung SVP J. von Arnim's Stoicorum Veterum Fragmenta TLL Thesaurus Linguae Latinae Abbreviated references to periodicals usually follow the system of L'Année philologique. The commentaries on Persius by I. Casaubon, 0. Jahn and J. Conington (edited by H. Nettleship) are cited by the authors' names. D. Bo, Auli Persii Flacci Lexicon (Hildesheim, I967) is referred to as Bo, and W.V. Clausen, A. Persii Flacci Saturarum Liber; Accedit vita (Oxford, 1956) as Clausen. A. Otto, Die Sprichworter und sprichwortlichen Redensarten der Romer (Leipzig, I890, repr. Hildesheim, I962) is cited as Otto, Sprichworter. The Grammars of Kuhner-Stegmann and Hofmann-Szantyr, and the etymological dictionaries of Walde-Hofmann (third edition) and Ernout-Meillet (fourth edition) are indicated by the authors' names. Vatibus hic mos est, centum sibi poscere voces, centum ora et linguas optare in carmina centum, fabula seu maesto ponatur hianda tragoedo, volnera seu Parthi ducentis ab inguine ferrum. 'quorsum haec? . aut quantas robusti carminis offas 5 ingeris, ut par sit centeno gutture niti? grande locuturi nebulas Helicone legunto, si quibus aut Procnes aut si quibus olla Thyestae fervebit saepe insulso cenanda Glyconi. tu neque anhelanti, coquitur dum massa camino, 10 folle premis ventos nec clauso murmure raucus nescio quid tecum grave cornicaris inepte nec scloppo tumidas intendis rumpere buccas. 1 verba togae sequeris iunctura callidus acri, ore teres modico, pallentis radere mores 15 doctus et ingenuo culpam defigere ludo. hinc trahe quae dicis mensasque relinque Mycenis cum capite et pedibus plebeiaque prandia noris.* non equidem hoc studeo, pullatis ut mihi nugis pagina turgescat dare pondus idonea fumo. 20 secrete loquimur. tibi nunc hortante Camena excutienda damus praecordia, quantaque nostrae pars tua sit, Cornute, animae, tibi, dulcis amice. ostendisse iuvat. puisa, dinoscere cautus quid solidum crepet et pictae tectoria linguae. 25 hie ego centenas ausim deposcere fauces, ut quantum mihi te sinuoso in pectore fixi voce traham pura, toturnque hoc verba resignent quod latet arcana non enarrabile fibra. cum primum pavido custos mihi purpura cessit 30 bullaque subcinctis Laribus donata pependit, cum blandi comites totaque inpune Subura permisit sparsisse oculos iam candidus umbo, cumque iter ambiguum est et vitae nescius error diducit trépidas ramosa in compita mentes, 35 me tibi supposui. teneros tu suscipis annos Socratico, Cornute, sinu. turn fallere sellers adposita intortos extendit régula mores et premitur ration© animus vincique laborat artificemque tuo ducit sub pollice voltum. i+O tecum etenim longos memini consumere soles et tecum primas epulis decerpere noctes. unum opus et requiem pariter disponimus ambo atque verecunda laxamus seria mensa. non equidem hoc dubites, amborum foedere certo Ij.5 8 consentir© dies et ab uno sidere duci. nostra vel aequali suspendit tempora Libra Parca tenax veri, seu nata fidelibus bora dividit in Geminos concordia fata duorum Saturnumque gravem nostro love frangimus una, 50 nescio quod certe est quod me tibi temperat astrum. mille bominum species et rerum discolor usus; velle suum cuique est nec voto vivitur uno. mercibus hie Italis mutat sub sole recenti rugosum piper et pallentis grana cumini, 55 hie satur inriguo mavult turgescere somno, hie campo indulget, hunc alea decoquit, ille in venerem putris; sed cum lapidosa cheragra fregerit articules veteris ramalia fagi, tunc crassos transisse dies lueemque palustrem go et sibi iam seri vitam ingemuere relictam. at te nocturnis iuvat inpallescere chartis; cultor enim iuvenum purgatas inseris aures fruge Cleanthea. petite hinc, puerique senesque, finem animo certum miserisque viatica canis. 55 'eras hoc fiet.' idem eras fiat. 'quid? quasi magnum nempe diem donas I' sed cum lux altera venit, iam eras hesternum consumpsimus; ecce aliud eras egerit hos annos et semper paulum erit ultra. nam quamvis prope te, quamvis temone sub uno 70 vertentem sese frustra sectabere canthum, cum rota posterior curras et in axe secundo. libertate opus est. non hac, ut quisque Velina Publius emeruit, scabiosum tesserula far possidet. heu stériles veri, quibus una Quiritem 75 vertigo facitl hie Dama est non tresis agaso, vappa lippus et in tenui farragine mendax. verterit hunc dominus, momento turbinis exit Marcus Dama. papael Marco spondente récusas credere tu nummos? Marco sub iudice palles? 80 Marcus dixit, ita est. adsigna, Marce, tabellas. haec mera libertas, hoc nobis pillea donant. 'an quisquam est alius liber, nisi ducere vitam cui licet ut libuit? licet ut volo vivere; non sum liberior Bruto?' 'mendose colligis' inquit 85 Stoicus hie aurem mordaci lotus aceto, 'hoc relicum accipio, "licet" illud et "ut volo" tolle.* 'vindicte postquam meus a praetore recessi, cur mihi non liceat, iussit quodcumque voluntas, excepto slquid Masuri rubrica vetabit?' 90 10 disce, sed ira cadat naso rugosaque sanna, dum veteres avias tibi de pulmone revello. non praetoris erat stultis dare tenuia rerum officia atque usum rapidae permittere vitae; sambucam citius caloni aptaveris alto. 95 stat contra ratio et secretam garrit in aurem, ne liceat facere id quod quis vitiabit agendo. publica lex hominum naturaque continet hoc fas, ut teneat vetitos inscitia debilis actus. diluis elleborum, certo conpescere puncto 100 nescius examen? vetat hoc natura medendi. navem si poscat sibi peronatus arator luciferi rudis, exclamet Melicerta perisse frontem de rebus. tibi recto vivere talo ars dedit et veri speciem dinoscere calles, 105 ne qua subaerato mendosum tinniat auro? quaeque sequenda forent quaeque evitanda vicissim, ilia prius creta, mox haec carbone notasti? es modicus voti, presso lare, dulcis amicis? iam nunc adstringas, iam nunc granaria laxes, 110 inque luto fixum possis transcendere nummum nec gluttu 8orbere salivam Mercurialem? 11 'haec mea sunt, teneo* cum vere dixerls, esto liherque ac sapiens praetorihus ac love dextro. sin tu, cum fueris nostrae paulo ante farinae, 115 pelliculam veterem retines et fronte politus astutam vapido servas in pectore volpem, quae dederam supra relego funemque reduco. nil tihi concessit ratio; digitum exere, peccas, et quid tarn parvum est? sed nullo ture litahis, 120 haereat in stultis brevis ut semuncia recti. haec miscere nefas nec, cum sis cetera fossor, tris tantum ad numéros Satyrum moveare Bathylli. 'liber ego.* unde datum hoc sumis, tôt subdite rebus? an dominum ignoras nisi quem vindicta relaxat? 125 'i, puer, et strigiles Crispini ad balnea defer.' si increpuit 'cessas nugator?', servitium acre te nihil inpellit nec quicquam extrinsecus intrat quod nervos agitet; sed si intus et in iecore aegro nascuntur domini, qui tu inpunitior exis 130 atque hic quem ad strigilis scutica et metus egit erilis? mane piger stertis." 'surge' inquit Avaritia, 'eia surge.' negas. instat. 'surge' inquit. 'non queo.' 'surge.' 'et quid agam?' 'rogati en saperdas advehe Ponto, 12 castoreum, stuppas, hebenum,