Page:Juvenal and Persius by G. G. Ramsay.djvu/400

 P. "Whew! what nerveless sputtering trash! Not one sign there of real honest work!" (103–106).

F. "But why vex delicate ears with biting truths like these? See that the doors of your great friends are not closed to you after his. Beware of the dog!" (107–110).

P. "Well! Well! Have your way. Put up a notice—'No nuisance here,' and I'll be off. But Lucilius had his say out, sparing no man; Horace spoke out his mind with well-spiced pleasantry; and am I to keep my mouth shut? am I not to divulge my secret to any one, not even to a ditch? Nay, here is a ditch, and I will dig it in: 'All the world are fools.' This little secret joke of mine I will not sell you for all your Iliads!" (110–123).

"No: let me have for hearers all you that have drawn an inspiring breath from Cratinus, and Eupolis, and the Grand Old Man; I care not for the fry that love to vent their wit upon the slippers of the Greeks, nor for the puffed-up local magnate who jeers at a one-eyed man, nor for the man who flouts philosophers and thinks it a fine joke to see a saucy wench pluck a cynic by the beard. Let these enjoy the pleasures they deserve!" (123–134).

The first satire of Persius seems to have furnished a pattern for the first satire of Juvenal. In each case the poet begins by an attack on the character of his own age, Persius laying stress upon the corruption of literature, Juvenal upon that of morals as a whole. In each case a friend warns the poet of the dangers of such an attack. Both poets justify themselves by the example of Lucilius, and his 314