Editing Persius (section)

==Life==
According to the ''Life'' contained in the manuscripts, Persius was born into an equestrian family at [[Volterra]] (Volaterrae, in Latin), a small Etruscan city in the province of [[Pisa]], of good stock on both parents' side. When he was six years old he lost his father; his stepfather died a few years later. At the age of twelve Persius came to Rome, where he was taught by [[Quintus Remmius Palaemon|Remmius Palaemon]] and the [[rhetor]] [[Verginius Flavus]]. During the next four years he developed friendships with the [[stoicism|Stoic]] [[Lucius Annaeus Cornutus]], the lyric poet [[Caesius Bassus]] and the poet [[Marcus Annaeus Lucanus|Lucan]].<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Persius|volume=21|pages=254–255}}</ref> Lucan would become a generous admirer of all Persius wrote. He also became close friends with [[Publius Clodius Thrasea Paetus|Thrasea Paetus]], the husband of [[Caecinia Arria|Arria]], a relative of Persius's; over the next ten years Persius and Thrasea Paetus shared many travels together. Later, he met [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], but was not impressed by his genius.

In his boyhood, Persius wrote a [[tragedy]] dealing with an episode in [[Roman history]], and another work, probably on travel (although this would have been before the travels with Thrasea Paetus). Reading the satires of [[Lucilius]] made Persius want to write like him, and he set to work on a book of his own satires. But he wrote seldom and slowly; a premature death (''uitio stomachi'') prevented him from completing the book. He has been described as having "a gentle disposition, girlish modesty and personal beauty", and is said to have lived a life of exemplary devotion towards his mother Fulvia Sisennia, his sister and his aunt. To his mother and sister he left his considerable fortune. Cornutus suppressed all his work except the satires, to which he made some slight alterations before handing it over to Bassus for editing. It proved an immediate success.<ref name="EB1911"/>

===Doubts over his biography===
[[File:Persius.jpg|thumb|left]]
The ''scholia'' add a few details—on what authority is, as generally with such sources, very doubtful. The ''Life'' itself, though not free from the suspicion of interpolation and undoubtedly corrupt and disordered in places, is probably trustworthy. The manuscripts say it came from the commentary of [[Marcus Valerius Probus|Valerius Probus]], no doubt a learned edition of Persius like those of [[Virgil]] and [[Horace]] by this same famous "grammarian" of [[Beirut|Berytus]], the poet's contemporary. The only case in which it seems to conflict with the ''Satires'' ({{lang|la|Saturae}}) themselves is in its statement as to the death of Persius's father. The declaiming of a ''suasoria'' in his presence (Sat. 3.4 sqq.) implies a more mature age than that of six in the performer. But ''pater'' might here mean "stepfather," or Persius may have forgotten his own autobiography, may be simply reproducing one of his models. The mere fact that the ''Life'' and the ''Satires'' agree so closely does not of course prove the authenticity of the former. One of the points of harmony is, however, too subtle for us to believe that a forger evolved it from the works of Persius: the ''Life'' gives the impression of a "bookish" youth, who never strayed far from home and family. This is also the picture drawn by the ''Satires''; many of the characters that Persius creates have the same names as characters found in Horace.<ref name="EB1911"/>

A keen observer of what occurs within his narrow horizon, Persius did not shy away from describing the seamy side of life (cf. e.g. such hints as ''Sat.'' iii.110), especially the relationship between excesses of consumption and moral failure; he shows little of Horace's easy-going acceptance of human weaknesses. Perhaps the sensitive, homebred nature of Persius can also be glimpsed in his frequent references to ridicule, whether of great men by street gamins or of the cultured by [[philistinism|philistines]].<ref name="EB1911"/> [[Montaigne]] mentions Persius several times.{{Citation needed|date=April 2018}}