Shadi Bartsch
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- September 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780226241845
- eISBN:
- 9780226241982
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226241982.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
Persius’ Satires have long resisted interpretation. A curious amalgam of satire and philosophy, they are couched in bizarre and violent metaphorical language and unpleasant imagery. They show little ...
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Persius’ Satires have long resisted interpretation. A curious amalgam of satire and philosophy, they are couched in bizarre and violent metaphorical language and unpleasant imagery. They show little concern for the pleasure and understanding of the reader, instead attacking all humans for falling short of Stoic moral standards and depicting their values and behaviour in mocking terms. This short study investigates the function of Persius’ primary metaphors, showing how he turns to digestion, cannibalism, and pederasty to formulate his critique of men, mores, and contemporary poetry as part of the same corrupt framework. Developing elements taken from the poetic tradition and from philosophy, he opposes his own metaphors to those that give pleasure, casting the latter, and the poetry that uses them, as unable to teach or heal the audience. It is only Persius’ own poetry, a bitter and boiled-down brew, that can make us healthier, better and more Stoic, as if it were a form of poetic medicine, a healing draught with no honey on the rim. Ultimately, however, Persius encourages us to leave behind the world of metaphor altogether, even if his metaphors are salutary and not pleasing; instead, we should concentrate on the non-emotive abstract truths of Stoic philosophy and live in a world where neither poetry, nor rich food, nor sexual charm, are put to use in the service of philosophical teaching.Less
Persius’ Satires have long resisted interpretation. A curious amalgam of satire and philosophy, they are couched in bizarre and violent metaphorical language and unpleasant imagery. They show little concern for the pleasure and understanding of the reader, instead attacking all humans for falling short of Stoic moral standards and depicting their values and behaviour in mocking terms. This short study investigates the function of Persius’ primary metaphors, showing how he turns to digestion, cannibalism, and pederasty to formulate his critique of men, mores, and contemporary poetry as part of the same corrupt framework. Developing elements taken from the poetic tradition and from philosophy, he opposes his own metaphors to those that give pleasure, casting the latter, and the poetry that uses them, as unable to teach or heal the audience. It is only Persius’ own poetry, a bitter and boiled-down brew, that can make us healthier, better and more Stoic, as if it were a form of poetic medicine, a healing draught with no honey on the rim. Ultimately, however, Persius encourages us to leave behind the world of metaphor altogether, even if his metaphors are salutary and not pleasing; instead, we should concentrate on the non-emotive abstract truths of Stoic philosophy and live in a world where neither poetry, nor rich food, nor sexual charm, are put to use in the service of philosophical teaching.
Shadi Bartsch
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- September 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780226241845
- eISBN:
- 9780226241982
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226241982.003.0002
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
Persius characterizes his own verse metaphorically as a medicinal counter to the excesses of other poets. As such, he provides an alternative to Plato’s diagnosis of philosophy as medical, and ...
More
Persius characterizes his own verse metaphorically as a medicinal counter to the excesses of other poets. As such, he provides an alternative to Plato’s diagnosis of philosophy as medical, and rhetoric as culinary; his poetry, like philosophy, is itself curative, a substance that can heal its readers. It is in fact like raw beets: healthy, if not that appetizing. He then turns to the signs that betray sick readers and poets in the first place: too much bile in the system is a sign of poetic insanity, and hellebore is the treatment needed to cure this insanity. Unlike Horace’s “mad poet” at the end of the Ars Poetic, Persius himself is an author who is good for people to hear.Less
Persius characterizes his own verse metaphorically as a medicinal counter to the excesses of other poets. As such, he provides an alternative to Plato’s diagnosis of philosophy as medical, and rhetoric as culinary; his poetry, like philosophy, is itself curative, a substance that can heal its readers. It is in fact like raw beets: healthy, if not that appetizing. He then turns to the signs that betray sick readers and poets in the first place: too much bile in the system is a sign of poetic insanity, and hellebore is the treatment needed to cure this insanity. Unlike Horace’s “mad poet” at the end of the Ars Poetic, Persius himself is an author who is good for people to hear.
