Note 6, 43 — A. PERSIUS FLACCUS (continued 4)

43. o bone, etc.: The only passage in Persius that deals with the political life of his time, the only passage that has any historic force. A keen observer in his narrow sphere, Persius has hit off very happily the features of this droll triumph of Caligula’s. True, he was only seven years old when it took place; but he lost his father when he was six, and yet recalls him vividly, and this parade must have made an abiding impression, whether he saw it or only heard of it. Caligula’s German expedition is recounted in Suet., Calig., 43 seqq.: ‘He ordered a triumph, which was to be unprecedentedly splendid, and cheap in proportion, as he had a right to the property of his subjects—changed his mind, forbade any proposal on the subject under capital penalties, abused the senate for doing nothing, and finally entered the city in ovation on his birthday’ (Conington). With o bone comp. heus bone, 3, 94.—laurus = laureata epistola, the letter bound with bays, in which victories were announced.