Note 70 — A. PERSIUS FLACCUS

nugari graece: ‘dabble in Greek verses,’ a phase of fashionable education, no more peculiar to Nero than to Horace (Sat. 1, 10, 31).—ponere lucum: ‘put before our eyes,’ ‘paint,’ ‘describe.’ Lucus, a favorite poetic theme. Jahn thinks of the grove in which Mars and Rhea Silvia met, Juv., 1, 7. Perhaps young poets tried their skill on groves, as young draughtsmen on trees.