The theme of this Satire is the Wickedness and Folly of Popular Prayers.
The true philosopher is the only man that knows how to pray aright, and
the Stoic is your only true philosopher. Compare, on the subject of
prayer, the Second Alcibiades ascribed to Plato.
ARGUMENT.-- Macrinus, you may well salute your returning birthday. Your
wishes on that day of wishes are pure, whereas most of our magnates pray
for what they dare not utter aloud. Any one can hear their requests for
sound mind and good report, but the petitions for the death of an uncle,
a ward, a wife, the prayer for sudden gain, are mere whispers (1-15).
Strange that, in order to prepare for such impieties as these, men
should go through all manner of lustral services, and trust to the ear
of Jove what they would not breathe to any mortal (15-23). Strange that
men should fancy because Jove is not swift to strike the sinner dead
that he may be insulted with safety, or easily bought off by a lot of
greasy chitterlings (24-30).
Pass from wicked to foolish prayers. Grandam and aunt would have skinny
Master Hopeful a wealthy nabob, would have him make a great match. Girls
are to scramble for him, and roses spring up beneath his feet. Silly
petitions! Refuse them, Jupiter (31-40). Nor less silly are those
prayers whose fulfilment the suppliant himself defeats-- prayers for a
hale old age, despite rich made-dishes (41-43); prayers for wealth,
while the worshipper expends his whole substance in sacrifice (44-51).
The trouble lies in this, that men judge the gods by themselves. Because
gold brings a joyous flutter to their hearts, they think to sway the
gods by gold, and change to gold the vessels of the sanctuary. The gods
are measured by our 'accursed blubber,' that flesh which corrupts all
that it handles. Yet the flesh tastes what it touches, and enjoys the
ruin which it has wrought. But what can a pure god do with our gold? To
him it is a spent toy, an idle offering. Let us give the gods honest and
upright hearts, and a handful of meal will suffice to gain their
blessing (32-75).
Although the colors of the piece pale before the rhetorical glare of
Juvenal's Tenth Satire, which treats of a kindred theme-- the 'Vanity of
Human Wishes'-- the philosophical commonplace is handled with
considerable vigor, and with all the picturesque detail of the author's
style. And Montaigne, who, as a moralist, quotes Persius very often, has
garnished the 56th essay of his First Book with copious extracts from
this Satire.
1-15. Macrinus, your prayers are pure, you need no private audience of
the gods. Not so the petitions of many of our foremost men. Far
different is what they say and what they whisper, when they come before
the gods in prayer.
1. #Hunc diem#: The birthday was always a high-day in Rome, as
elsewhere. In French, _fête_ is a synonym of birthday. --#Macrine#:
'Plotius Macrinus, the scholiast says, was a learned man, who loved
Persius as his son, having studied in the house of the same preceptor,
Servilius. He had sold some property to Persius at a reduced rate'
(Conington). --#meliore#: sc. _solito_. G., 312, 2; A., 17, 5.
--#lapillo#: The Scythians used to drop into a quiver a stone for every
day, white for the good and black for the bad, and when life was over
the stones were counted. There is a similar story of the Thracians,
Plin., H. N., 7, 40, 41 (Jahn). The phrase 'white stone' is so common
that one passage will suffice as a parallel: _Felix utraque lux diesque
nobis | signandi #melioribus lapillis#_, Mart., 9, 52, 4.
2. #labentis#: not simply an _epitheton ornans_, 'the gliding years,'
but 'the years as they glide away.' _Eheu, fugaces, Postume, Postume |
#labuntur anni#_, Hor.., Od., 2, 14, 1. --#apponit#: 'puts to your
account.' Comp. _quem fors dierum cumque dabit lucro | #appone#_, Hor.,
Od., 1, 9, 15. Each day lived may be a day gained or a day lost. Comp.
also Hor., Od., 2, 5, 15. --#candidus#: +leukê hêmera, leukon euameron
phaos+, Soph., Ai., 709. Comp. Catull., 8, 3: _fulsere vere #candidi#
tibi soles_.
3. #genio#: 'The tutelary Deity, or "guardian angel," who was supposed
to attend on every individual from the cradle to the grave. Its cultus
was strictly materialistic, and should be compared with the offerings of
meat, drink, and clothes which were made to the _manes_ of the dead.
Comp. Censorin., De Die Nat., 3; Serv. ad Verg., Georg., 1, 302; Hor.,
Ep., 2, 2, 187: _scit #Genius#, natale comes qui temperat astrum |
naturae deus humanae_, _mortalis in unum | quodque caput, vultu
mutabilis albus et ater_. In character it was the reflex of the man
(comp. Sat. 6, 48, where it represents the _felicitas_ of the emperor);
it might be humored and appeased by proper attention, more especially by
sacrifice (comp. 5, 151), or irritated and made baneful by neglect
(comp. 4, 27; Juv., 10, 129). From these latter passages it would appear
to represent the _alter homo_, or second self.' So Pretor. The _genius_
is the divine element which is born with a man, and when he dies becomes
a _lar_, if he is good; if he is wicked, a _larva_, or a _lemur_.
Departed _genii_ were called _manes_-- 'good fellows'-- doubtless with a
view to propitiation. --#non tu#: Comp. 1, 45. --#emaci#: 'chaffering,
haggling.' Prayer was often conceived as bargain and sale. See v. 29,
and Plato, Euthyphro, 14E (Jahn). By the _prece emaci_ is meant the
_votum_, or vow, the +euchê+, and not the +proseuchê+, as Gregory of
Nyssa puts it (De Orat., Ed. Paris. a. 1638, Tom. 1, p. 724D). Casaubon
compares Hor., Od., 3, 29, 59: _ad miseras preces | decurrere et #votis
pacisci#_.
4. #seductis#: Comp. _paulum a turba #seductior# audi_, 6, 42.
--#nequeas#: G., 633; A., 65, 2.
5. #at bona pars#: Comp. Hor., Sat., 1, 1, 61: _at #bona pars# hominum._
--#libabit#: Gnomic or sententious future. See 3, 93. Jahn comp. Juv.,
8, 182: _quae | turpia cerdoni Volesos Brutumque decebunt_. 'That which
is done is that which shall be done.' The other reading, _libavit_
(gnomic Perfect), is not so good. See G., 228, R. 2, and Dräger,
_Histor. Synt. der lat. Sprache_, § 127.
6. #haud cuivis#: Comp. _non #cuivis# homini contingit_, Hor., Ep., 1,
17, 36. --#humilis#: 'that keep near the ground,' 'groundling,' hence
'low.' Persius delights in rare epithets.
7. #aperto vivere voto#: Comp. Mart., 1, 39, 6: _si quis erit recti
custos, mirator honesti | et #nihil arcano qui roget ore deos#_.
8. #Mens bona#: Comp. Hor., Ep., 1, 16, 59. --#Mens bona, fama, fides#:
are commonly considered to be the things prayed for. They are possibly
persons prayed to. 'Such notions as Welfare (_salus_), Honesty
(_fides_), Harmony (_concordia_), belong to the oldest and holiest Roman
divinities' (Mommsen). --#hospes#: 'a stranger,' 'any body.'
9. #o si#: On this form of the wish, see G., 254, R. 1; A., 57, 4, _b._
_O si_ may be considered an elliptical conditional sentence, but as the
ellipsis is emotional it must not be supplied. Such an apodosis as
scholars are prone to understand for the Greek (+kalôs an echoi+) _bene
sit_, would change the _wish_ into a _thought_. In this passage the
apodosis, which is involved in _praeclarum funus_, comes limping in as
an afterthought.
10. #ebulliat#: is slang. Comp. _tam bonus Chrysanthus animam
#ebulliit#_, Petron., 42 (_nos non pluris sumus quam #bullae#_, ibid.);
Sen., Apocolocynt., 4. Conington renders 'go off.' 'Kick the bucket'
would be worthy of Persius. _Ebulliat_ must be read _ebulljat_ (G.,
717). The best MSS. have _ebullit_, but such a Subjunctive would be more
than doubtful (G., 191, 3; Neue, _Formenl._, 2, 339). --#praeclarum
funus#: Either 'that would be a grand funeral,' or 'that would be a
corpse worth seeing.' In the former case the man of prayer tries to
salve his conscience by promising his uncle (comp. 1, 11) a 'first-class
funeral.' Comp. _#funus# egregie factum laudet vicinia_, Hor., Sat., 2,
5, 105. In the latter, he is welcoming the death of the crabbed old man.
For _funus_, in this connection, Jahn compares Prop., 1, 17, 8: _haecine
parva meum #funus# harena teget?_ The half-light of the passage is well
suited to the paltering knavery of the prayer.
11. #sub rastro#, etc.: Hor., Sat., 2, 6, 10: _O si urnam argenti fors
quae mihi monstret, ut illi_ | _thesauro invento, qui mercennarius
agrum_ | _illum ipsum mercatus aravit, dives amico_ | _Hercule_.
12. #Hercule#: This is Hercules +ploutodotês+, to whom the Romans
consecrated a tithe of their gains. Mommsen and others dissociate this
Hercules from the Greek +Hêraklês+. According to Casaubon and the schol.
(v. 44), Hermes (Mercury) is the bestower of windfalls found on the way,
Hercules the patron of sought treasures. --#pupillum#: 'The Twelve
Tables provided that where no guardian was appointed by will, the next
of kin would be guardian, and he would of course be heir' (Conington,
after Jahn).
13. #inpello#: 'whose kibe I gall,' 'whom I tread hard upon.'
--#expungam#: 'get him out' (of his place in the will). --#namque#:
gives an explanation, which serves at once to heighten and to excuse the
hope. 'You see he is in a bad way already. He is going to die at any
rate, and death would really be a relief to all parties.' --#scabiosus#:
'scrofulous.' --#acri | bile#: +drimeia cholê+, Casaubon, who compares
Juv., 6, 565: _consulit #ictericae# lento de funere matris_.
14. #tumet#: Comp. _turgescit vitrea bilis_, 3, 8; _mascula bilis_ |
_intumuit_, 5, 145. --#Nerio#: Nerius is the usurer in Horace, Sat., 2,
3, 69. Persius borrows his names from Horace, as Horace borrows his from
Lucilius-- progressive bookishness, of which there are several examples.
Comp. Pedius, 1, 85; Craterus, 3, 65; Bestius, 6, 37. --#conditur#: So
Jahn (1868) and Hermann. Jahn (1843) reads _ducitur_ with many MSS.
_Ducitur_ is not to be explained of 'being carried out to burial'
(Servius ad Verg., Georg., 4, 256), but in its ordinary sense of 'being
married.' Nerius has got rid of two wives, and 'is actually marrying a
third.' _Conditur_ is best supported by MS. authority, and gives a
sufficiently good sense. Hermann quotes, in support of _#conditur#_,
Mart., 5, 37, where a man survives the loss of a rich wife, and +gunaika
thaptein kreitton estin ê gamein+, Chaeremon, ap. Stobaeum, Sermon., 88,
22. Among the wishes in Lucian's Icaromen., 25, we find +ô theoi, ton
patera moi tacheôs apothanein+ (comp. v. 10), and +eithe klêronomêsaimi
tês gunaikos+, which is the key of this verse. On the use of the Dative,
see G., 352, R. 1; A., 51, 4, _c_.
15, 16. These are the impious prayers that must be prefaced by pious
observances.