SOURCE: Jenkinson, J. R. Introduction to The Satires, translated by J. R. Jenkinson, pp. 1-8. Wiltshire, Eng.: Aris & Phillips, 1980.

In the following excerpt, Jenkinson explains that Persius was shaped by Stoicism and that his satires are imbued with moral concerns and “continual surprise.”

The full name of the author whose work is translated below was Aules¹ Persius Flaccus. He has left us (not counting a brief introductory piece) six Latin poems of moderate length in the hexameter metre. Their title, Saturae, is usually translated Satires which, as we shall see, is technically correct. But, influenced as we are by modern presuppositions about the word ‘satire’, we might feel that ‘Sermons’ or ‘Moral Essays’ were titles more aptly descriptive of their main content.

Persius belonged to the well-to-do and landowning gentry of Italy.² He lived between 34 and 62 a.d., passing his adult life under the emperors Claudius and Nero...