Chapter XXX: 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.