PER'SIIIS (Aldus Persius Fifteens). one of the most famous Roman satirists, was b. at Volaterrai in Etruria, 31 .s.1). lie was of a distinguished equestrian family, was educated under the came of the stoic. Corn uttis, lived on terms of intimacy with the most distinguished personages of his hi Rome. among whom were Luun and Seneca. and died Nov. 24. 62 A.D., in the 28t11 year of his age. The principal authority for the life of Persius is an 2thridgmen I of a " commentary" by one Prohus Valerius. which presents the character of the satirist in a most amiable light. Modest and gentle in his manners, virtuous and pure in his whole conduct and relations, he stands out conspicuously from the mass of compt and profligate persons who formed the Roman "society" of his age: and vin (Heated for himself the right to be severe, by leading a blameless and exemplary life. Ills six satires are very commonly printed with those of Juvenal. They were immensely admired in Persins's own day, and long after, all down through the middle ages. The church fathers, Augustine, Lactantius, and Jerome, were particularly fond of him—the latter, it is said, has quite saturated his style with expressions of the heathen satirist; but the estimate which modern critics have formed of his writings, in a literary point of view, is not quite so high. They are remarkable for the sternness with which they cen
sure the corruption of morals then prevalent at Rome, contrasting it with the old Boman austerity and with the stoic ideal of virtue. The language is terse, homely, and some times obscure, from the nature of the allusions and the expressions used, but his dia logues are the most dramatic in the Latin tongue. The editio princeps appeared at Rome in 1470; later %editions are those of Isaac Casaubon (Par. 1605), Passow (Leip, 1800), Jahn (Leip. 184-3), and Heinrich (Leip. 1844). Persius has been frequently translated; as many as 14 English, 20 French, and considerably more German versions, being known. The two best English ones are those by Dryden and Gifford.