Note 3, 56 — A. PERSIUS FLACCUS (continued 3)

56. Samios = Pythagorean, from Pythagoras of Samos. ‘And the letter, which is disparted into Samian branches, has pointed out to you the steep path whose track is on the right.’—diduxit: as demanded by the sense against the MSS., which have deduxit.—littera: The letter Y, or rather its old form , was selected by Pythagoras to embody the immemorial image of the two paths (Hesiod, O. et D., 287-292), so familiar in the apologue of Hercules at the cross-roads (Xen., Comm., 2, 1, 20), and alluded to again by our author, 5, 34. Hence this letter was called the Pythagorean; Auson., Id., 12, de litt. monos., 9: Pythagorae bivium ramis patet ambiguis Υ (comp. also Id., 15, 1: quod vitae sectabor iter?) Hence the rami Samii above. ‘The stem stands for the unconscious life of infancy and childhood, the diverging branches for the alternative offered to the youth, virtue or vice’ (Conington).