temple of Juno Moneta was on the descent from the capitol, and in consequence of the mint being afterwards established near the same spot, the pieces coined there took the name of Moneta : and to this trivial accident do we trace the etymology of that universal and important word, money. POETICAL GENEALOGIES AND EXPLOITS OF FABULOUS PERSONAGES. PORPHYRION was the son of Sisyphus. He is mentioned by Claudian in his Gigantomachy: Ecce autem medium spiris delapsus in æquor, Damastor is another of the giants, in some authors improperly called Adamastor, also mentioned in the Gigantomachy of Claudian : Ille, procul subitis fixus sine vulnere nodis, Ut se letifero sensit durescere visu, (Et steterat jam pæne lapis) "Quo vertimur ?" inquit: "Quæ serpit per membra silex? qui torpor inertem Marmorea me peste ligat ?" Vix pauca locutus, Quod timuit, jam totus erat: sævusque Damastor, Ad depellendos jaculum dum quæreret hostes, Germani rigidum misit, pro rupe, cadaver. Philostratus, in his life of Apollonius, and Freinshemius, on Quintus Curtius, make King Porus out to be an actual giant. Merlin, in his second macaronic, describes the giant Fracassus in the following terms : Primus erat quidam Fracassus prole gigantis, quo mille hominum colpos fracasset in uno. MISCELLANEOUS PASSAGES FROM PERSIUS. Tun', vetule, auriculis alienis colligis escas? Auriculis! quibus et dicas cute perditus, Ohe. "Quo didicisse, nisi hoc fermentum, et quæ semel intus "Innata est, rupto jecore exierit caprificus?" En pallor, seniumque! O mores, usque adeone "At pulchrum est, digito monstrari, et dicier, Hic est. "Ten' cirratorum centum dictata fuisse, "Pro nihilo pendas ?" Ecce, inter pocula, quærunt Romulidæ saturi, quid dia poemata narrent! Sat. 1. It is evident throughout his works, how closely Persius imitated Horace. Many hints are taken from him in the passage above transcribed, and in the following lines which previously occur : Nam Romæ quis non-? Ah, si fas dicere! Sed fas The obscurity of Persius arises principally from the necessity he lay under, being determined not to compromise morality by courtly obsequiousness, so to clothe his satire, writing as he did in the reign of Nero, that what modern lawyers technically term the innuendos should not be too obvious. He was obliged to express himself in allusion rather than in direct attack. Thus in the passage above quoted, he takes aim from behind a bush at the emperor himself, who had ordered his poems to be taught to the curly-pated young nobility in their elementary schools. The practice of teaching parrots and magpies to speak certain common words, as salve, ave, and others, and to appropriate them to the seasons of meeting and parting, was known to the ancients as well as to ourselves. Hunger is supposed to be the powerful engine by which this feat is accomplished. The reward of good, in very small portions, is bestowed on their efforts at articulation. Persius illustrated the fate of scribblers by this allusion, whose necessities drive them to writing verses as mechanically, and with as little meaning, as parrots and magpies utter and even time articulate sounds, by mere dint of habit, without a spark of meaning: Quis expedivit psittaco suum χαῖρε ? |