Aulus Persius Flaccus (34-62 AD) was a Roman of Etruscan origin born in the Etruscan city of Volterra (Pisa region of Italy). His parents were Flaccus and Fulvia Sussina, and it is said that this family was of Equestrian origin. However, at age six, both of Persius' parents passed away, and he then moved to Rome where he met Remmius Palaemon and rhetor Verginius Flavus.
Over the next ten years of Persius' life in Rome, he would go on many travels sith his close friend Thrasea Paetus. Persius often found inspiration for his works on the road, such as a tragedy he wrote dealing with Roman history. During his life, Persius met Seneca, but was not impressed by his work. Persius was described as having "a gentle disposition, girlish modesty and personal beauty.", and is said to have lived a life of devotion towards his mother, his sister and his auntie.
Persius was often critical of the work of his contemporaries. He said in relation to his peers, "You hold onto common words, clever in doing a clash with them, rounding the mouth with beauty to see the fogged up costumes, and wise to nail the guilt with ingenious lick." On the 4th December 62 AD, Aulus Persius Flaccus passed away in his Roman villa at the young age of twenty-eight. The cause of his death is rumored to have been due to a serious illness affecting the stomach. Although some have suggested this is simply a satirical expression indicating Persius' love for alcohol. Despite Persius’ short-lived life, there are valuable lessons we can learn from his experience pursuing what he loved — poetry.
Persius' life gives us a strong sense of what we can do in our own lives in order to achieve fulfilment and happiness. That is, setting one's own personal goals and dedicating oneself to achieving them through means that bring us happiness and joy. In the case of Persius, he fulfilled his life goals through his poetry and satirical work, whilst simultaneously following the philosophical path of Stoicism.
Whilst Stoics such as Persius believed in enduring suffering and suppressing emotions (apátheia), the Epicureans espoused freedom from anything harmful or unpleasant (ataraxía). In this sense, Persius' dedication to his work coupled with the Epicurean notion to live unnoticed (láthe biōsas) would have been a perfect option for a man of his character, and is a remedy we can use today in order to cure inauthentic vanity in the modern world.
As seen with Persius' disagreeable encounter with Seneca, encounters with other philosophers open to public life and political office did happen, and exposed eachother to hatred, envy, unnecessary problems and many more unpleasant situations that would trump the journey to happiness.
The Epicurean láthe biōsas may sound countercultural for our current modern society obsessed with fame, notability and total lack of privacy through social media domination. However, it was also countercultural for late Antiquity Græco-Roman societies in which citizens fulfilled their rights and duties with a successful cursus honorum in politics. Epicureans were establishing a philosophical school against the current, against the entire elite system of Græco-Roman citizenship.