233. _Prob. vit._ 'sed mox ut a schola magistrisque devertit, lecto Lucili libro decimo vehementer saturas componere studuit; cuius libri principium imitatus est, sibi primo, mox omnibus detrectaturus, cum tanta recentium poetarum et oratorum insectatione,' &c. This can only refer to the prologue and the first satire, and seems to point to its having been the first to be composed. According to the scholiast the opening line is taken from the first satire of Lucilius. 234. Porphyr. _ad Hor. Sat._ i. 10. 53 'facit autem Lucilius hoc cum alias tum vel maxime in tertio libro, ... et nono et decimo. 235. Cp. Nettleship's note ad loc., and Petron. 4. 236. e.g. Dama, Davus, Natta, Nerius, Craterus, Pedius, Bestius. 237. Instances might be almost indefinitely multiplied. The whole of Pers. i, but more especially the conclusion, is strongly influenced by Hor. _Sat._ i. 10. Cp. also Pers. ii. 12, Hor. _Sat._ ii. 5. 45; Pers. iii. 66, Hor. _Ep._ i. 18. 96; Pers. v. 10, Hor. _Sat._ i. 4. 19, &c., &c. 238. i. 92-102. According to the scholiast the last four lines-- torva Mimalloneis implerunt cornua bombis, et raptum vitulo caput ablatura superbo Bassaris et lyncem Maenas flexura corymbis euhion ingeminat, reparabilis adsonat echo (i. 99)-- are by Nero. But it is incredible that Persius should have had such audacity as openly to deride the all-powerful emperor. The same remark applies to other passages where the scholiast and some modern critics have seen satirical allusions to Nero (e.g. prologue and the whole of Sat. iv). The only passage in which it is possible that there was a covert allusion to Nero is i. 121, which, according to the scholiast, originally ran _auriculas asini Mida rex habet_. Cornutus suppressed the words _Mida rex_ and substituted _quis non_. For an ingenious defence of the view that Persius hits directly at Nero see Pretor, _Class. Rev_., vol. xxi, p. 72. 239. i. 76 'Est nunc Brisaei quem venosus liber Acci, | sunt quos Pacuviusque et verrucosa moretur | Antiopa, aerumnis cor luctificabile fulta.' 240. The description of the self-indulgent man who, feeling ill, consults his doctor and then fails to follow his advice (iii. 88), is a possible exception. It is noteworthy that in Sat. iv he addresses a young aspirant to a political career as though free political action was still possible at Rome. 241. e.g. iv. 41. 242. But see below, p. 91. 243. Prob. vita Persii. 244. Our chief authorities for Lucan's life are the 'lives' by Suetonius (fragmentary) and by Vacca (a grammarian of the sixth century). 245. Vacca. 246. Tac. _Ann._ xvi. 17. 247. Vacca. 248. Vacca. 249. The young Lucan is said to have formed a friendship with the satirist at the school of Cornutus; Persius was some five years his senior. _Vita Persii_ (p. 58, Bücheler).