Inspirational Quotes by Persius (Roman Poet)

Persius (34–62 CE,) properly Aulus Perslus Flaccus, was a Roman Stoic poet whose Latin Satires reached a higher ethical tenor than those of other classical Latin poets except for Juvenal.

Persius was born in Volterra, Etruria, Central Italy, of an eminent equestrian family, and was educated in Rome, where he came under Stoic influence. A pupil and friend of the philosopher Lucius Annaeus Cornutus and a fellow student of the poet Lucan, Persius discovered his vocation as a satirist through reading the 10th book of Gaius Lucilius.

Persius wrote painstakingly and sparingly, leaving behind, upon his premature death, only six good satires, the aggregate not exceeding 650 hexameter lines. His friends Cornutus and Caesius Bassus edited and published to immediate success.

Persius’s first satire scorns literary tastes of the day, revealing the decadence of national morals. The remaining books are philosophical deliberations on themes often examined by Seneca, such as what may justifiably be asked of the gods, the need of self-knowledge for public men, and the Stoic principle of self-determination.

Persius’s Satires were emulated by John Donne and translated by John Dryden.

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