SOURCE: Tate, Jonathan. “The Life and Writings of Persius.” In The Satires of A. Persius Flaccus, translated by Jonathan Tate, pp. 4-12. Oxford, Eng.: Basil Blackwell, 1930.

In the following excerpt, Tate contends that Persius's purpose in writing was to explain Stoic doctrine and that he consciously created a style that eschews pleasure.

There is little need for me to repeat in detail the oft-repeated story of Persius' life; and the need is less because the story has of late been admirably re-told by Professor Wight Duff (Literary History of Rome in the Silver Age) whose account of Persius' life and writings could, I think, be improved in only two particulars. These, though they are of little importance, I may mention here. My first criticism is that the best English verse-translation of Persius (Gifford's) is not mentioned in p. 279, note 2; my second, that (as Gifford himself pointed out in...