PERSIUS.
PROLOGUE.
I have neither steeped[1168] my lips in the fountain of the Horse;[1169] nor do I remember to have dreamt on the double-peaked[1170] Parnassus, that so I might on a sudden come forth a poet. The nymphs of Helicon, and pale Pirene,[1171] I resign to those around whose statues[1172] the clinging ivy twines.[1173] I myself, half a clown,[1174] bring[1175] my verses as a contribution to the inspired effusions of the poets.
Who made[1176] the parrot[1177] so ready with his salutation, and taught magpies to emulate our words?—That which is the master of all art,[1178] the bounteous giver of genius—the belly: that artist that trains them to copy sounds that nature has denied[1179] them. But if the hope of deceitful money shall have shone forth, you may believe that ravens turned poets, and magpies poetesses, give vent to strains of Pegaseian nectar.[1180]
FOOTNOTES:
[1168] Prolui. Proluere, "to dip the lips," properly applied to cattle. So "procumbere," Sulp., 17. Cf. Stat. Sylv., V., iii., 121, "Risere sorores Aonides, pueroque chelyn submisit et ora imbuit amne sacro jam tum tibi blandus Apollo."
[1169] Fonte Caballino. Caballus is a term of contempt for a horse, implying "a gelding, drudge, or beast of burden," nearly equivalent to Cantherius. Cf. Lucil., ii., fr. xi. (x.), "Succussatoris tetri tardique Caballi." Hor., i., Sat. vi., 59, "Me Satureiano vectari rura caballo." Sen., Ep., 87, "Catonem uno caballo esse contentum." So Juv., x., 60, "Immeritis franguntur crura caballis." Juvenal also applies the term to Pegasus: "Ad quam Gorgonei delapsa est pinna caballi," iii., 118. Pegasus sprang from the blood of Medusa when beheaded by Perseus. Ov., Met, iv., 785, "Eripuisse caput collo: pennisque fugacem Pegason et fratrem matris de sanguine natos." The fountain Hippocrene, ἱππουκρήνη, sprang up from the stroke of his hoof when he lighted on Mount Helicon. Ov., Fast., iii., 456, "Cum levis Aonias ungula fodit aquas." Hes., Theog., 2-6. Hesych., v. ἱππουκρήνη. Paus., Bœot., 31. Near it was the fountain of Aganippe, and these two springs supplied the rivers Olmius and Permissus, the favorite haunts of the Muses. Hesiod, u. s. Hence those who drank of these were fabled to become poets forthwith. Mosch., Id., iii., 77, ἀμφότεροι παγαῖς πεφιλαμένοι· ὃς μεν ἔπινε Παγασίδος κράνας ὁ δὲ πῶμ' ἔχε τᾶς Ἀρεθοίσας.
[1170] Bicipiti. Parnassus is connected toward the southeast with Helicon and the Bœotian ridges. It is the highest mountain in Central Greece, and is covered with snow during the greater portion of the year. The Castalian spring is fed by these perpetual snows, and pours down the chasm between the two summits. These are two lofty rocks rising perpendicularly from Delphi, and obtained for the mountain the epithet δικόρυφον. Eur., Phœn., 234. They were anciently known by the names of Hyampeia and Naupleia, Herod., viii., 39, but sometimes the name Phædriades was applied to them in common. The name of Tithorea was also applied to one of them, as well as to the town of Neon in its neighborhood. Herod., viii., 32. These heights were sacred to Bacchus and the Muses, and those who slept in their neighborhood were supposed to receive inspiration from them. Cf. Propert., III., ii., 1, "Visus eram molli recubans Heliconis in umbrâ, Bellerophontei quà fluit humor equi; Reges, Alba, tuos et regum facta tuorum tantum operis nervis hiscere posse meis." Cf. Virg., Æn., vii., 86. Ov., Heroid., xv., 156, seq.
[1171] Pirenen. The fountain of Pirene was in the middle of the forum of Corinth. Ov., Met., ii., 240, "Ephyre Pirenidas undas." It took its name from the nymph so called, who dissolved into tears at the death of her daughter Cenchrea, accidentally killed by Diana. The water was said to have the property of tempering the Corinthian brass, when plunged red-hot into the stream. Paus., ii., 3. Near the source Bellerophon is said to have seized Pegasus, hence called the Pirenæan steed by Euripides. Electr., 475. Cf. Pind., Olymp., xiii., 85, 120. Stat. Theb., iv., 60, "Cenchreæque manus, vatûm qui conscius amnis Gorgoneo percussus equo." Ov., Pont., I., iii., 75. The Latin poets alone make this spring sacred to the Muses. "Pallidam" may refer either to the legend of its origin, or to the wan faces of the votaries of the Muses.