Juvenal and Persius/MSS of Persius
The MSS. of Persius
The text of Persius is in a much better condition than that of Juvenal; Mr. S. G. Owen declares that it is probably purer than that of any other Roman writer, and stands in no need of the art of conjecture.[1] Amid a multitude of MSS. three stand out of conspicuous merit; the Montpellier, 212 (A); the Vatican, H. 36 (B); and the Montpellier, 125 (P), also known by the name Pithoeanus, being the same MS. which contains also the whole of Juvenal.
Of these three MSS., all dating from the ninth century, A and B are so closely allied that they are evidently drawn from a common source. The sign a denotes the agreement of these two MSS.
Where A and P differ, Bücheler, in his edition of 1893, gives the superiority to P; Dr. F. Leo, in the 4th edition (1910), calls in the assistance of the Laurentian MS. 37. 19 (L), of the eleventh century, which occasionally preserves the true reading where both A and P are manifestly wrong (e.g. peronatus, v. 102; crasso, vi. 40; ritu, vi. 59; exit, vi. 68). L shares some corruptions with P, and some with a; but on the whole it is more closely allied to a.
Most ancient of all is the Fragmentum Bobiense of the fourth century, which contains Pers. i. 53-104, and Juv. xiv. 323-xv. 43.
Owen takes P as his first authority; he follows A B P when they agree, and prefers P when they disagree, correcting palpable mistakes from A B. Owen adds to his list Oxoniensis, in the Bodleian Library (O) of the tenth century, and Cantabrigiensis, in the Trinity College Library O. iv. 10 (T), which is also of the tenth century.
The editions of Juvenal are innumerable. Those which I have found the most useful are the following:—
G. A. Ruperti, 1801 and 1825.
C. F. Heinrich, 1839.
Dr. Stocker (including Persius), 1845.
Otto Jahn, 1851; re-edited by Bücheler (including Persius) in 1886, 1893, and by F. Leo in 1910.
Prof. J. E. B. Mayor, 1853; enlarged in 1869, etc.
A. J. Macleane (including Persius), 1857.
G. A. Simcox (Catena Classicorum), 1867.
J. D. Lewis (with translation), 1879.
Pearson and Strong, Clarendon Press, 1887 and 1892.
L. Friedländer, 1895.
J. D. Duff, 1898 and 1914.
A. E. Housman, critical edition, 1905.
Valuable books on Juvenal and Persius are the following:—
H. Nettleship, Lectures and Essays, Second Series, 1895, Arts. II. and V.
Friedlander, Sittengeschichte Roms, 1869.
Tyrrell, Latin Poetry, pp. 216-259.
H. E. Butler, Post-Augustan Poetry, 1900, pp. 79-96, and 287-320.
C. Martha, Les Moralistes sous I' Empire Romain, 1866.
A. Vidal, Juvenal et ses Satires, 1869.
Merivale's History of the Romans under the Empire, Vol. VII., Chap. lxiv.
S. Dill, Roman Society from Nero to Marcus Aurelius, 1904, Chap. ii.
Smith's Classical Dictionaries.
As might be expected with such popular authors, Juvenal and Persius have been frequently translated, and into many languages. The most famous translations of both authors into English verse are the quaint version of Holyday (1673) and the vigorous and scholarly version of Gifford (1802), which may still be read with pleasure. Dryden has translated five of Juvenal's Satires, and the whole of Persius, into the true Drydenic style; and Johnson has achieved immortality by his inimitable translation—or rather paraphrase—of Sat. iii., under the title London, and of Sat. x., under the title The Vanity of Human Wishes. Of prose translations of Juvenal especial mention may be made of the translation of thirteen Satires (omitting ii, vi, and ix) by S. G. Owen (Clarendon Press, 1903), of the same by Strong and Leeper (Macmillan, 1882), also a revised version by Mr. Leeper alone (Macmillan, 1912), and of that by Mr. J. D. Lewis (1879). Mr. S. H. Jeyes has translated the whole of the sixteen Satires (1885), as also the Rev. S. Evans (1869) (Bohn's Library).
Of the numerous editions of Persius the most famous is the great Classical Edition of Isaac Casaubon (Paris, 1605), which has been often reprinted, and which has served as a groundwork of all subsequent editions of the poet. Among later editions may especially be mentioned those of G. L. Koenig (1803 and 1825); Otto Jahn (1843), included with Juvenal in the edition re-edited by Bücheler and Leo; C. F. Heinrich (1844); A. J. Macleane (along with Juvenal) (1857); above all that of J. Conington (1872); and A. Pretor (Catena Classicorum) (1868).
In translating Persius I have paid the greatest attention to the well-known translation of J. Conington, Corpus Professor of Latin in the University of Oxford, which is by far the best existing version of that author.
Footnotes[edit]
- ↑ Preface to his edition of Persius and Juvenal, Clarendon Press, 1907.