Note 1208 — PERSIUS.

Dictata. The allusion is to Nero, who ordered that his verses should be taught to the boys in the schools of Rome. The works of eminent contemporary poets were sometimes the subjects of study in schools, as well as the standard writings of Virgil and Horace. Cf. Juv., vii., 226, "Totidem olfecisse lucernas Quot stabant pueri quum totus decolor esset Flaccus et hæreret nigro fuligo Maroni."