The text of this edition of Persius is in the main that of Jahn's last
recension (1868). The few changes are discussed in the Notes and
recorded in the Critical Appendix.
In the preparation of the Notes I have made large use of Jahn's standard
edition, without neglecting the commentaries of Casaubon, König, and
Heinrich, or the later editions by Macleane, Pretor, and Conington, or
such recent monographs on Persius as I have been able to procure.
Special obligations have received special acknowledgment.
My personal contributions to the elucidation of Persius are too slight
to warrant me in following the prevalent fashion and cataloguing the
merits of my work under the modest guise of aims and endeavors. I shall
be contenf, if I have succeeded in making Persius less distasteful to
the general student; more than content, if those who have devoted long
and patient study to this difficult author shall accord me the credit of
an honest effort to make myself acquainted with the poet himself as well
as with his chief commentators.
In compliance with the wish of the distinguished scholar at whose
instance I undertook this work, Professor Charles Short, of Columbia
College, New York, I have inserted references to my Latin Grammar and to
the Grammar of Allen and Greenough, here and there to Madvig.